Emerging coral diseases: a temperature‐driven process?

In the last few decades there has been a surge in research focusing on coral disease. While climate change, specifically rising sea surface temperature, has been proposed as a major and growing driver of the emergence of marine diseases, to date a solid connection between disease epizootics and elevated sea surface temperature has not been established. However, a wealth of data now exists, compiled from many different perspectives, that may support such a connection. In this work we provide a comprehensive review targeting one coral disease, black band disease, that spans the infection process, pathobiology, and epizootiology, and links specific mechanisms of the disease process to increasing temperatures. This temperature‐driven pattern of infection can be expanded to include similar processes associated with other temperature‐related coral diseases. The conclusions presented here are based upon the results of many studies using a diverse suite of approaches that have been synthesized to argue that the emergence and continuing spread of black band disease is linked to warming sea surface temperatures. In summary, as global ocean temperatures increase seasonally and over decades, the environment shifts to become more favorable for the growth of potentially pathogenic microorganisms endemic to the immediate environment of the reef. The increase in the relative number of potential pathogens in the microbial community produces microenvironments conducive to the growth of other potential pathogens, leading to infection by a polymicrobial consortium. This consortium is easily perturbed by a (seasonal) temperature decrease, but remains associated with the coral host and can be reactivated with a subsequent seasonal increase in temperature, resulting in a cycle of temperature‐dependent disease emergence.     

Remote sensing and surface POC concentration in the South Atlantic

Several SeaWiFS products have been compared with shipboard data to assess the possibility of using remote sensing to estimate particulate organic carbon (POC) concentration in surface waters. Transmissometer data were collected during six South Atlantic Ventilation Experiment (SAVE) hydrographic expeditions conducted between November 1987 and March 1989 from R/V Knorr, and Melville. A total of 361 beam attenuation profiles were made with a SeaTech transmissometer interfaced with a CTD/rosette. In order to calculate the POC concentration from transmissometer profiles, a regression between beam attenuation and POC for open Atlantic Ocean waters derived from our research in the North Atlantic (North Atlantic Bloom Experiment, NABE) and enhanced by data from the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series Station (BATS) was applied. The profiles were processed and examined as vertical sections of the surface 250 m. The data were collected in two successive years, during the same season, which allowed us to compile a combined data set over the austral summer for examination. Beam attenuation/POC concentrations were integrated down to one attenuation depth with the intent of making comparisons with satellite optical data. No satellite optical data were available for 1987–1989, so the only option was to compare our integrated data with SeaWiFS-derived variables from later years averaged over the same season as SAVE data. Analysis of four SeaWiFS products acquired from 1997 to 2002 demonstrated very low variations from year to year for seasonally averaged data, suggesting that making comparisons of the beam attenuation/POC fields with averaged satellite optical products from later years is a valid (though not optimal) approach for this area. The highest correlation between beam attenuation/POC concentration and remotely derived products was found with normalized water-leaving radiance at 555 nm. Other SeaWiFS-derived variables—chlorophyll concentration, diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm and integral chlorophyll (integrated over one attenuation depth)—were also compared but showed a slightly less satisfactory correlation.     

The mid-depth circulation of the northwestern tropical Atlantic observed by floats

A comprehensive analysis of velocity data from subsurface floats in the northwestern tropical Atlantic at two depth layers is presented: one representing the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW, pressure range 600–1050 dbar), the other the upper North Atlantic Deep Water (uNADW, pressure range 1200–2050 dbar). New data from three independent research programs are combined with previously available data to achieve blanket coverage in space for the AAIW layer, while coverage in the uNADW remains more intermittent. Results from the AAIW mainly confirm previous studies on the mean flow, namely the equatorial zonal and the boundary currents, but clarify details on pathways, mostly by virtue of the spatial data coverage that sets float observations apart from e.g. shipborne or mooring observations. Mean transports in each of five zonal equatorial current bands is found to be between 2.7 and 4.5 Sv. Pathways carrying AAIW northward beyond the North Brazil Undercurrent are clearly visible in the mean velocity field, in particular a northward transport of 3.7 Sv across 16°N between the Antilles islands and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. New maps of Lagrangian eddy kinetic energy and integral time scales are presented to quantify mesoscale activity. For the uNADW, mean flow and mesoscale properties are discussed as data availability allows. Trajectories in the uNADW east of the Lesser Antilles reveal interactions between the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) and the basin interior, which can explain recent hydrographic observations of changes in composition of DWBC water along its southward flow.     

Mixed terrigenous—Carbonate sedimentation in the Hispaniola—Caicos turbidite basin

Sedimentation in the 9500 km², 4100 m deep Hispaniòla—Caicos Basin is dominated by turbidity currents. Carbonate turbidites originate from the Bahama Islands, Great Inagua and Caicos at the north end of the basin. Mixed carbonate—non-carbonate flows come from Hispaniola and perhaps Cuba. Most flows originate on insular slopes rather than in shallow water. The relatively low CaCO₃ content of hemipelagic sequences throughout the entire basin reveals that the influence of non-carbonate Hispaniola—Cuba sources is widespread.The basin was sampled with closely spaced piston cores. Sand-layer isopach and frequency maps reveal four or five major basin entry points for turbidity currents. Flow size is proportional to the size of source areas. Average volumes of flows originating from Hispaniola—Cuba, the largest source, are 10⁹ m³. This compares to an average flow volume of 10⁶ m³ for flows derived from the smallest source area, the Southeastern Caicos Bank. Measures of turbidity-current activity, such as thickness and frequency, change in a regular fashion away from each entry point. Average lutite thickness (combining hemipelagic and turbiditic lutite) are greatest near the basin entry points. On the abyssal plain occupying the south half of the basin, Bouma turbidite sedimentary structure sequences tend to be complete. However, on the Caicos Fan, the sedimentary structure sequences in turbidites are characterized by missing or repeated units. Six radiocarbon dates of two widespread presumed pelagic units in the basin yielded younger dates in stratigraphically older positions. The reversed dates are assumed to reflect storm erosion of older sediment on adjacent insular shelves.Consideration of a north—south reflection seismic profile over the basin indicates that the present sediment regimen has pertained through much of the Neogene. The coherence, convergence and termination of reflections in the seismic section are consistent with and tend to confirm conclusions based on the core study regarding the greater extent and volume of sediment deposits derived from the Hispaniola source area.     

Using Statistical Multivariable Models to Understand the Relationship Between Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejecta and Magnetic Flux Ropes

In-situ measurements of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) display a wide range of properties. A distinct subset, “magnetic clouds” (MCs), are readily identifiable by a smooth rotation in an enhanced magnetic field, together with an unusually low solar wind proton temperature. In this study, we analyze Ulysses spacecraft measurements to systematically investigate five possible explanations for why some ICMEs are observed to be MCs and others are not: i) An observational selection effect; that is, all ICMEs do in fact contain MCs, but the trajectory of the spacecraft through the ICME determines whether the MC is actually encountered; ii) interactions of an erupting flux rope (FR) with itself or between neighboring FRs, which produce complex structures in which the coherent magnetic structure has been destroyed; iii) an evolutionary process, such as relaxation to a low plasma-β state that leads to the formation of an MC; iv) the existence of two (or more) intrinsic initiation mechanisms, some of which produce MCs and some that do not; or v) MCs are just an easily identifiable limit in an otherwise continuous spectrum of structures. We apply quantitative statistical models to assess these ideas. In particular, we use the Akaike information criterion (AIC) to rank the candidate models and a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to uncover any intrinsic clustering of the data. Using a logistic regression, we find that plasma-β, CME width, and the ratio O ⁷/O ⁶ are the most significant predictor variables for the presence of an MC. Moreover, the propensity for an event to be identified as an MC decreases with heliocentric distance. These results tend to refute ideas ii) and iii). GMM clustering analysis further identifies three distinct groups of ICMEs; two of which match (at the 86 % level) with events independently identified as MCs, and a third that matches with non-MCs (68 % overlap). Thus, idea v) is not supported. Choosing between ideas i) and iv) is more challenging, since they may effectively be indistinguishable from one another by a single in-situ spacecraft. We offer some suggestions on how future studies may address this.     

Currents and sediment transport in the Mississippi Canyon and effects of Hurricane Georges

The temporal variability in currents, temperature, and particulate matter concentration were measured in the Mississippi Canyon axis where the thalweg was 300 m deep from May–July and August–November 1998 using current meters, thermographs, a light-scattering sensor, and sediment traps. Canyon sediments were sampled by coring and observed using an ROV video camera. Currents in the upper Mississippi Canyon generally oscillated up/down canyon with diurnal periodicity and were bottom-intensified. Mean current speed at 3.5 mab was approximately 8 cm s^?1 during both deployments, reaching maximum speeds of over 50 cm s^?1 under normal conditions. Based on current velocities, critical bed shear stress for resuspension of canyon-floor sediments was exceeded about 30% of the time during both deployments. In late September, Hurricane Georges passed 150 km NE of the study site, significantly intensifying current velocities, bed shear stress, resuspension, trap fluxes and temperature fluctuations. As the hurricane passed, maximum current speed reached 68 cm^?s and temperature decreased ～7 °C in less than two hours. Critical bed shear stress for sediment resuspension was exceeded approximately 50% of the time during the five days of hurricane influence. Further evidence for sediment resuspension was the five-fold (and perhaps 70–130 fold) increase in trap fluxes and compositional similarities between canyon surface sediment and material collected by traps.     

Two-body motion in the post-Newtonian approximation

The motion of two massive particles is considered within the framework of the first post-Newtonian approximation. The system Hamiltonian is constructed and normalized through first order using a canonical transformation method of implicit variables. Closed-form solutions for the Delaunay elements in the phase space are obtained. The bridge between the phase space and the state space of the Lagrangian of the motion is provided by a velocity-dependent Legendre transformation. By explicit inversion of this transformation, expressions for the Keplerian elements in the state space are obtained from the Delaunay element solutions.     

A note on a Lagrangian formulation for motion about the collinear points

A lagrangian formulation for the three-dimensional motion of a satellite in the vicinity of the collinear points of the circular-restricted problem is reconsidered. It is shown that the influence of the primaries can be expressed in the form of two third-body disturbing functions. By use of this approach, the equations for the Lagrangian and for the motion itself are readily developed into highly compact expressions. All orders of the non-linear developments are shown to be easily obtainable using well-known recursive relationships. The resulting forms for these equations are well suited for use in the initial phase of canonical or non-canonical investigations.