Joint Soviet-Turkish expedition in the Black Sea

The hydrological and hydrochemical structures of the upper 300 m water column of the Black Sea in autumn 1988 have been studied. Regularities in the distribution of the physico-chemical characteristics in the zone of interaction between aerobic and anaerobic waters as well as the topography of the H₂S zone boundary and its connection with a certain density gradient have been found.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Digital preprocessing techniques for GLORIA II sonar images

Image processing techniques are discussed that correct distortions in GLORIA II side scan sonar imagery including water column offset, slant-range distortion, multiple returns, aspect ratio, speckle noise, striping, and cross-track power drop-off. The software operates within NASA's ELAS image processing system and is applied to the original 12-bit GLORIA II data. Procedures are discussed for generating large scale mosaics and three-dimensional overlays with sea floor bathymetry. The results are shown in four sonographs acquired off the southern coast of California.     

Bioavailability: the organism as sensor

The use of a system of continuous culture of phytoplankton at constant population density, the ‘cage-culture’ turbidostat, as a monitor of the bioavailability of pollutant materials, is illustrated. In the case of proposed dredge spoils from two polluted areas, it is shown that bulk analyses for scheduled materials cannot be equated with bioavailability. Monitoring for the effect of the whole pollutant mixture on a properly chosen test population could obviate the necessity for chemical analyses for each component.     

Hypothesis for a submarine landslide and cohesionless sediment flows resulting from a 17th century earthquake-triggered landslide in Quebec,Canada

Textural isotopic and microfossil data from two gravity cores obtained in Saguenay Fjord, Quebec, suggest that a distinctive sandy clay bed was deposited as the result of a major landslide in the Saguenay River basin. Pb-210 dating of the cores indicate that the bed is of similar age to the magnitude 7 earthquake of February 5, 1663. The slide involved sensitive marine clays and may have occurred in two stages. Slide sediments carried into the Saguenay River channel were probably reworked and subsequently transported down the Fjord basin as two distinct cohesionless mass flows. Fine clay laminae that overlie the older mass flow bed record the modulation of depositional processes by tidal currents for several weeks after this event.     

Experimental study of the fine structure of the wind field near a rough surface

The air-flow velocity field near the water surface is studied in the zone of wind-wave intensification. Caused by a periodic separation of eddies, a nonzero time-averaged value of the wind velocity in the near-water streamline is detected at the leading slope of the wave. The distribution of pressure along the wave with allowance for the vertical velocity shear and disturbances produced by eddies and a periodic deceleration of the viscous layer was calculated with the aid of the Cauchy-Lagrange integral. This procedure made it possible to calculate the growth rate of the wave amplitude, whose value was found to be close to its experimental value at the initial stage of acceleration.     

On the form of crests in limiting gravity waves

Properties of surface singularities and the form of wave crests of limiting gravity waves in steady-state flows of an ideal liquid are considered by analyzing the kinematic boundary condition. It is shown that, for rotational waves, the angle at the crest can have any value from 0° to 180°, while it has the only value 90° in the case of irrotational waves. Two inferences are made from Bernoulli’s integral and the properties of singularities: (i) the Stokes wave is a rotational wave and (ii) no angular points can appear on the profiles of capillary-gravity and capillary waves.     

Condition of coastal mesoplankton communities in the northeastern area of the Black Sea in 2005

The structure and distribution of mesoplankton in the northeastern part of the Black Sea along 6-mile and 100-mile sections in the area off Golubaya Bay (near the city of Gelendzhik) were analyzed. The studies were performed from R/V Akvanavt and the boat Ashamba. The observations were carried out during the vegetation season from the beginning of June to the first half of October 2005. Samples of mesoplankton were collected with use of a BSD net with an opening of 0.1 m² and a mesh size of 180 μm. Both the total (over the entire water column) and layer-by-layer (separately for the upper quasi-homogeneous layer, the seasonal thermocline, and the subthermocline layer) hauls were performed down to the bottom (at sea depths of less than 200 m) or down to the upper boundary of the hydrogen sulfide waters. The particular hydrophysical conditions that were observed in 2005 resulted in an approximately one-month advance of the phenological condition of the planktonic community as compared to the usual pattern. Beroe ovata appeared in the plankton at the end of July, the mass development of Mnemiopsis leidyi was suppressed, and the duration of its influence on edible zooplankton was essentially reduced. As a result, the total mesoplankton biomass in August–October 2005 was 1.5–2 times as great as that in 2004. The abundance of Acartia clausi increased approximately 4–5 times and the quantity of Sagitta setosa also considerably increased. At selected stations, Mnemiopsis leidyias, the main predator in the community, was replaced by Sagitta setosa.     

Adaptive optimal control of an autonomous underwater vehicle in the dive plane using dorsal fins

In this paper, adaptive control of low speed bio-robotic autonomous underwater vehicles (BAUVs) in the dive plane using dorsal fins is considered. It is assumed that the model parameters are completely unknown and only the depth of the vehicle is measured for feedback. Two dorsal fins are mounted in the horizontal plane on either side of the BAUV. The normal force produced by the fins, when cambered, is used for the maneuvering. The BAUV model considered here is non-minimum phase. An indirect adaptive control system is designed for the depth control using the dorsal fins. The control system consists of a gradient based identifier for online parameter estimation, an observer for state estimation, and an optimal controller. Simulation results are presented which show that the adaptive control system accomplishes precise depth control of the BAUV using dorsal fins in spite of large uncertainties in the system parameters.