Survivorship of coral juveniles in a fish farm environment

Intensive fish farming is an emerging coastal activity that can potentially enhance sedimentation and promote eutrophication in fringing coral reefs. Here, we investigate the effect of fish farm effluent on the juvenile survivorship of the reef-building coral Seriatopora caliendrum. One-month old juvenile corals (on terracotta tiles) were deployed in fish farm and reference (reef) sites in Bolinao, the Philippines at a depth of 2m. After forty days, no survivor was recovered in the fish farm, while survivorship was low (11%) in the reference site, with the survivors' growth rate at 3.3polypsmo(-1) or 1.3mm(2)mo(-1). The fish farm deployed tiles were covered with muddy sediment and were colonized by barnacles, whereas those in the reference site were overgrown by a short stand of filamentous macroalgae. Environmental monitoring revealed higher nutrient levels (ammonia and phosphate), sedimentation rate, and organic matter flux, as well as diminished water transparency and dissolved oxygen levels in the fish farm compared to the reference site. Hence, intensive fish farming offers a suite of physical, chemical and biological modifications of the coastal marine environment which have a detrimental effect on the survivorship of coral juveniles.     

The solar particle event of July 16–19, 1966 and its possible association with a flare on the invisible solar hemisphere

An energetic solar proton and electron event was observed by particle detectors aboard Explorer 33 (AIMP-1) and OGO-3 during the period July 16–19, 1966. Optical and radio observations of the sun suggest that these particles were produced by a flare which may have occurred on July 16 near the central meridian of the invisible hemisphere. The active region to which the flare is assigned is known to have produced the energetic particle events of July 7 and 28, 1966. The propagation of the particles in the July 16–19 event over the 180° extent of solar longitude from the flare to the earth is discussed, and it is concluded that there must exist a means of rapidly distributing energetic particles over a large area of the sun. Several possible mechanisms are suggested.     

On the relation between the amplitude of light and radial velocity variations of β Canis Majoris stars

The relation between the amplitude of light m and the amplitude of the radial velocity 2K for Canis Majoris stars is investigated. A linear relationship between m and 2K is found. However, the two stars BW Vul and Sco, which have the largest radial velocity variations, do not seem to share this relationship.     

Amplitude ratios of several groups of variable stars

The observed positions of classical cepheids, RR Lyrae stars, Scuti stars and dwarf cepheids in the logg-logT _e plane form a continuous sequence, thereby defining the location of maximum instability. The amplitude ratio (the ratio of radial velocity amplitude to light amplitude) is small for variables at the upper end of the instability strip and increases almost linearly towards the lower end of the strip. The theory of radial pulsation predicts the trend of this correlation.     

Differential survival of coral transplants on various substrates under elevated water temperatures

Closely related scleractinian coral species that exhibited similar survival patterns under relatively normal field conditions responded very differently to the occurrence of an environmental disturbance. The two species studied were Porites cylindrica and Porites rus which occur in the same reef zones in shallow reef flats. Transplants of both species were evenly distributed and attached to three different types of substrate: live coral colonies of P. cylindrica, dead coral colonies (also of P. cylindrica), and epoxy coated metal grids that were raised above the sandy substrate. With the onset of above-normal water temperatures due to the El Ni?o episode of 1998, P. cylindrica transplants immediately showed signs of bleaching stress and tissue necrosis, followed by algal overgrowth and mortality soon afterwards. In contrast, transplants of P. rus bleached more slowly and suffered less mortality, with a few actually showing signs of recovery at the end of the experimental period which covered a total of 14 weeks. These differences in responses could be attributed to properties of the symbiotic zooxanthellae, of the host coral tissue itself, or both. Over-all, survival was good on the metal grids (average of 35%), and on the live coral (average of 22%). It was poor on the dead coral (average of 6%). The metal grids as well as live coral tissue apparently provided a favorable substrate for the attached coral fragments, even for those of a different species. Under the conditions of this particular study, attachment of live coral fragments on already dead colonies for the purpose of increasing live coral cover on the reef did not yield favorable results. This is an area that requires further investigation.     

Regional climate model projections for the State of Washington

Global climate models do not have sufficient spatial resolution to represent the atmospheric and land surface processes that determine the unique regional climate of the State of Washington. Regional climate models explicitly simulate the interactions between the large-scale weather patterns simulated by a global model and the local terrain. We have performed two 100-year regional climate simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). One simulation is forced by the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) and the second is forced by a simulation of the Max Plank Institute, Hamburg, global model (ECHAM5). The mesoscale simulations produce regional changes in snow cover, cloudiness, and circulation patterns associated with interactions between the large-scale climate change and the regional topography and land-water contrasts. These changes substantially alter the temperature and precipitation trends over the region relative to the global model result or statistical downscaling. To illustrate this effect, we analyze the changes from the current climate (1970–1999) to the mid twenty-first century (2030–2059). Changes in seasonal-mean temperature, precipitation, and snowpack are presented. Several climatological indices of extreme daily weather are also presented: precipitation intensity, fraction of precipitation occurring in extreme daily events, heat wave frequency, growing season length, and frequency of warm nights. Despite somewhat different changes in seasonal precipitation and temperature from the two regional simulations, consistent results for changes in snowpack and extreme precipitation are found in both simulations.     

Assessing uncertainties in climate change impact analyses on the river flow regimes in the UK. Part 2: future climate

The first part of this paper demonstrated the existence of bias in GCM-derived precipitation series, downscaled using either a statistical technique (here the Statistical Downscaling Model) or dynamical method (here high resolution Regional Climate Model HadRM3) propagating to river flow estimated by a lumped hydrological model. This paper uses the same models and methods for a future time horizon (2080s) and analyses how significant these projected changes are compared to baseline natural variability in four British catchments. The UKCIP02 scenarios, which are widely used in the UK for climate change impact, are also considered. Results show that GCMs are the largest source of uncertainty in future flows. Uncertainties from downscaling techniques and emission scenarios are of similar magnitude, and generally smaller than GCM uncertainty. For catchments where hydrological modelling uncertainty is smaller than GCM variability for baseline flow, this uncertainty can be ignored for future projections, but might be significant otherwise. Predicted changes are not always significant compared to baseline variability, less than 50% of projections suggesting a significant change in monthly flow. Insignificant changes could occur due to climate variability alone and thus cannot be attributed to climate change, but are often ignored in climate change studies and could lead to misleading conclusions. Existing systematic bias in reproducing current climate does impact future projections and must, therefore, be considered when interpreting results. Changes in river flow variability, important for water management planning, can be easily assessed from simple resampling techniques applied to both baseline and future time horizons. Assessing future climate and its potential implication for river flows is a key challenge facing water resource planners. This two-part paper demonstrates that uncertainty due to hydrological and climate modelling must and can be accounted for to provide sound, scientifically-based advice to decision makers.     

Thallium isotopes as a potential tracer for the origin of cratonic eclogites

Cratonic eclogites are inferred to originate either from subducted ocean crust or mantle melts accreted onto the roots of continents. These models have different implications for the growth of continents, but it is currently difficult to determine the origin of individual eclogite suites.Upper ocean crust altered at low temperatures and marine sediments both display high thallium (Tl) concentrations and strongly fractionated Tl isotope signatures relative to the ambient upper mantle. In this study we carry out the first examination of the suitability of Tl isotopes as a tracer for an ocean-crust origin of cratonic eclogites. We have analysed the Tl isotope composition of clinopyroxene and garnet in six eclogites from the Kaalvallei and Bellsbank kimberlite pipes in South Africa. Minerals were pre-cleaned with an HCl leaching technique and the leachates display variably light Tl isotope ratios. These most likely reflect low-temperature hydrothermal alteration occurring after eruption of the kimberlite that carried the eclogites to the surface.The leached mineral pairs all display identical Tl isotope ratios, strongly suggesting that the source of the analysed Tl is identical for each mineral pair. It is, however, not possible to exclude the possibility that the analysed Tl originates from kimberlitic material that was not removed by the cleaning procedure.Only one of the six samples exhibits a Tl isotope composition different from ambient mantle. Assuming that the Tl isotope signatures indeed represent the eclogite minerals and not any form of contamination, the Tl isotope composition in this sample is consistent with containing a minor component (<3%) of ocean crust altered at low temperatures.Thallium isotopes may become one of the most sensitive indicators for the presence of low-T altered ocean crust because of the stark contrast in Tl concentration and isotopic composition between the mantle and altered ocean crust. In fact, no other chemical or isotopic tracer could have provided an indication that any of the samples studied here had a subduction origin. However, much work is still required before it becomes clear if Tl isotope measurements are a viable means to establish the origin of cratonic eclogites.     

Linear and nonlinear vibration of non-uniform beams on two-parameter foundations using p-elements

A hierarchical finite element is presented for the geometrically nonlinear free and forced vibration of a non-uniform Timoshenko beam resting on a two-parameter foundation. Legendre orthogonal polynomials are used as enriching shape functions to avoid the shear-locking problem. With the enriching degrees of freedom, the accuracy of the computed results and the computational efficiency are greatly improved. The arc-length iterative method is used to solve the nonlinear eigenvalue equation. The computed results of linear and nonlinear vibration analyses show that the convergence of the proposed element is very fast with respect to the number of Legendre orthogonal polynomials used. Since the elastic foundation and the axial load applied at both ends of the beam affect the ratios of linear frequencies associated with the internal resonance, they influence the nonlinear vibration characteristics of the beam. The axial tensile stress of the beam in nonlinear vibration is investigated in this paper, and attention should be paid to the geometrically nonlinear vibration resulting in considerably large axial tensile stress in the beam.