Sovereign rights and responsibilities: Applying public trust principles to the management of EEZ space and resources

Since the United States proclaimed its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone in 1983, US agencies have given little attention to the need to develop effective management principles and strategies for the resources of this vast ocean area. Instead, they have relied upon existing programs and authorities to oversee the development of ocean energy and fisheries. This approach has been criticized by marine policy analysts because it perpetuates the existing, fragmented single-sector ocean regime characterized by inconsistent policies and endemic use conflicts.This paper proposes the adoption of certain principles deriving from the common law public trust doctrine in the management of EEZ resources and space. Historically, the public trust doctrine protected the public's rights and interests in nearshore resources and uses (commerce, navigation, and fishing). These traditional public rights were held by the crown or the government in trust for the people and could not be readily destroyed even though shorelands and coastal waters subject to the public trust might be conveyed into private ownership. In modern times the doctrine has been expanded in the United States to protect public rights in other uses and activities (e.g. conservation, scenic and ecological values, and preservation of open space and habitat) and extended geographically to apply to inland rivers, streams, and lakes.The public trust doctrine already applies in many states to the space, resources, and uses of the territorial sea. Because of the overlap of EEZ and territorial sea resources and uses, this paper considers the advantages of applying public trust principles and concepts to managing the EEZ. These principles include the need to preserve trust lands, waters, and resources for public use and benefit. The doctrine also provides a basis for distinguishing between, and ranking, public uses of trust resources, and imposes both substantive and procedural standards against which the conduct of the govermental trustees of trust, resources may be measured.The authors contrast the public trust doctrine with the ‘public trust’ deriving from the property clause of the US Constitution, and conclude that the broad discretion afforded federal officals under the latter is inconsistent with effective environmental management. Finally, the authors recommend a set of ‘presumptions’ derived from public trust principles that federal courts might follow to resolve serious EEZ space and resource-use conflicts.     

Investigation of unrestrained cylinders rolling in steady uniform flows

The goal of this study is to understand the movement of unexploded ordnance that may become unburied and forced by currents. Symmetrical, smooth, finite-length, unrestrained cylinders were studied in steady, uniform flows over a range of Reynolds numbers in a smooth-bottomed, horizontal flume. The study uses PIV tracking methods in the laboratory to identify the movement of ordnance simulated by unrestrained cylinders. The PIV is supported with a numerical analysis using a RANS flow solver. The simulations showed that at low Reynolds numbers the cylinders should roll at speeds near 70% of the free-stream flow.     

Models of Jupiter's growth incorporating thermal and hydrodynamic constraints

We model the growth of Jupiter via core nucleated accretion, applying constraints from hydrodynamical processes that result from the disk-planet interaction. We compute the planet's internal structure using a well tested planetary formation code that is based upon a Henyey-type stellar evolution code. The planet's interactions with the protoplanetary disk are calculated using 3-D hydrodynamic simulations. Previous models of Jupiter's growth have taken the radius of the planet to be approximately one Hill sphere radius, RH. However, 3-D hydrodynamic simulations show that only gas within ∼0.25RH remains bound to the planet, with the more distant gas eventually participating in the shear flow of the protoplanetary disk. Therefore in our new simulations, the planet's outer boundary is placed at the location where gas has the thermal energy to reach the portion of the flow not bound to the planet. We find that the smaller radius increases the time required for planetary growth by ∼5%. Thermal pressure limits the rate at which a planet less than a few dozen times as massive as Earth can accumulate gas from the protoplanetary disk, whereas hydrodynamics regulates the growth rate for more massive planets. Within a moderately viscous disk, the accretion rate peaks when the planet's mass is about equal to the mass of Saturn. In a less viscous disk hydrodynamical limits to accretion are smaller, and the accretion rate peaks at lower mass. Observations suggest that the typical lifetime of massive disks around young stellar objects is ∼3 Myr. To account for the dissipation of such disks, we perform some of our simulations of Jupiter's growth within a disk whose surface gas density decreases on this timescale. In all of the cases that we simulate, the planet's effective radiating temperature rises to well above 1000 K soon after hydrodynamic limits begin to control the rate of gas accretion and the planet's distended envelope begins to contract. According to our simulations, proto-Jupiter's distended and thermally-supported envelope was too small to capture the planet's current retinue of irregular satellites as advocated by Pollack et al. [Pollack, J.B., Burns, J.A., Tauber, M.E., 1979. Icarus 37, 587-611].     

Physical properties of (2) Pallas

Ground-based high angular-resolution images of asteroid (2) Pallas at near-infrared wavelengths have been used to determine its physical properties (shape, dimensions, spatial orientation and albedo distribution).We acquired and analyzed adaptive optics (AO) J/H/K-band observations from Keck II and the Very Large Telescope taken during four Pallas oppositions between 2003 and 2007, with spatial resolution spanning 32-88 km (image scales 13-20 km/pixel). We improve our determination of the size, shape, and pole by a novel method that combines our AO data with 51 visual light-curves spanning 34 years of observations as well as archived occultation data.The shape model of Pallas derived here reproduces well both the projected shape of Pallas on the sky (average deviation of edge profile of 0.4 pixel) and light-curve behavior (average deviation of 0.019 mag) at all the epochs considered. We resolved the pole ambiguity and found the spin-vector coordinates to be within 5° of [longitude, latitude] = [30°, −16°] in the Ecliptic J2000.0 reference frame, indicating a high obliquity of about 84°, leading to high seasonal contrast. The best triaxial-ellipsoid fit returns ellipsoidal radii of , and . From the mass of Pallas determined by gravitational perturbation on other minor bodies , [Michalak, G., 2000. Astron. Astrophys. 360, 363-374], we derive a density of significantly different from the density of C-type (1) Ceres of [Carry, B., Dumas, C., Fulchignoni, M., Merline, W.J., Berthier, J., Hestroffer, D., Fusco, T., Tamblyn, P., 2008. Astron. Astrophys. 478 (4), 235-244]. Considering the spectral similarities of Pallas and Ceres at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, this may point to fundamental differences in the interior composition or structure of these two bodies.We define a planetocentric longitude system for Pallas, following IAU guidelines. We also present the first albedo maps of Pallas covering ∼80% of the surface in K-band. These maps reveal features with diameters in the 70-180 km range and an albedo contrast of about 6% with respect to the mean surface albedo.     

A new method in palaeoecology: fish community structure indicates environmental changes

A new method to reconstruct aquatic palaeoenvironments is presented. It is based on a non-metrical ‘fish environment reconstruction index’ (FERI), calculated for the total fish community recorded at an archaeological site. As an example, a FERI is generated for the Baltic Sea using the ecological requirements of northern European fish species. The present study evaluates the proposed method by using fish bone assemblages from a region (the middle Holocene Baltic Sea coast) with well-studied hydrographic history. The bones originate from consecutive human riparian and coastal settlements of hunter-gatherers. The results obtained for the parameters salinity and sediment structure correlate well with geological knowledge. The new method shows a successive change from freshwater to brackish and finally to nearly marine conditions before, during, and towards the end of the marine transgression that created the present Baltic Sea. Additionally, a shift in the sediment structure from muddy to sandy/rocky conditions is recognisable.     

Monitored Natural Attenuation of Contaminants in the Subsurface: Applications

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the application of passive technologies to reduce or remove contaminants from the subsurface environment including soil and ground water. In most cases, the impetus for this interest lies in a perceived savings compared with more traditional remedial alternatives. In a few cases, the infrastructure at contaminated sites, such as buildings, paved areas, and utilities, makes the use of conventional remedial measures difficult and expensive.
To demonstrate that natural processes are effective in reaching established goals, it is necessary to determine that transformation processes are taking place at a rate that is protective of human health and the environment and that these processes will continue for an acceptable period of time. The basic conditions that must be present to confirm natural attenuation processes arc taking place are discussed along with the behavior of contaminated plumes, monitoring requirements, data analysis, rates of degradation, and mathematical modeling.     

Effect of sea water interaction on strontium isotope composition of deep-sea basalts

Analyses of rim-to-interior samples of fresh tholeiitic pillow basalts, deuterically altered holocrystalline basalts, and older, weathered tholeiitic basalts from the deep sea indicate that ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the older basalts are raised by low temperature interaction with strontium dissolved in sea water. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr correlates positively with H₂O in these basalts; however, there is little detectable modification of the strontium isotope composition in rocks with H₂O contents less than 1%. The isotope changes appear to be a function of relatively long-term, low-temperature weathering, rather than high-temperature or deuteric alteration. Strontium abundance and isotopic data for these rocks suggest that strontium content is only slightly modified by interaction with sea water, and it is a relatively insensitive indicator of marine alteration. Average Rb-Sr parameters for samples of apparently unaltered basalt are: Rb= 1.11ppm; Sr= 132ppm; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr= 0.70247.     

New estimates of rapid sea-floor spreading rates and the identification of young magnetic anomalies on the East Pacific rise, 6° and 11° S

Detailed surveys of the crest of the East Pacific Rise at 6° and 11°S form the basis for estimates of sea-floor spreading rates of 8.2 and 8.3 cm/yr, respectively. These estimates are significantly higher than previous ones of 6.5 to 7.5 cm/yr. The high quality of the magnetic profile at 6°S allows identification of shorter magnetic events such as the two Olduvai events of Cox. DSDP drill-hole data indicate that the present spreading rates have persisted throughout the Cenozoic.