A low level supplementary heating system for free divers

A simple and effective method of heating divers in extreme cold water has been developed. The local heating concept utilizes a uniformly distributed granular mixture of magnesium and iron particles packed in small sachets. Upon activation by sea water, the two metal mixture behaves as a multitude of short-circuited electrolytic cells, producing thermal energy rather than electrical energy. The 45 mm-square sachets may be placed where heating is required on the diver's body, thus giving rise to the term “local heating”, obviously, the heating system requires no pumping device, or distribution network. Heating rate and duration of output of the sachets are controlled by particle size, and mixture ratio of the constituent Mg and Fe particles.This paper described the development, testing and performance of the heating sachets. Results of live tests in different dive situations are also presented and discussed.     

Seismic evidence for pervasive deformation of oceanic sediments in the Eastern Equatorial Atlantic

Seismic reflection profiles from the equatorial Atlantic off Africa between 12°N and 1°N reveal remarkably widespread deformation of oceanic sediments in an area lacking teleseismic activity. Uplift of abyssal plain sequences has occurred along the eastern extensions of large-offset fracture zones on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Between the major transforms pervasive deformation is imaged in the sedimentary column. Diapirism and faulting may have been associated with extensive fluid migration and sediment mobilization. The deformation occurred during the late Cenozoic and was probably related to reactivation of Cretaceous transforms.     

Effects of water-borne copper on metallothionein and lipid peroxidation in the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta

The aim of the current work was to determine over 10 days the effects of water-borne exposure of the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta to 4 microgCu l(-1) on the metallothionein (MT; measured by differential pulse polarography) protection system and lipid peroxidation (LP: thiobarbituric acid-reactive malondialdehyde equivalents) as a measure of oxidative damage. MT levels in exposed animals increased significantly at day 2 (36% > control; P < 0.001) and remained high at days 6 and 10 (55 and 38%, respectively, P < 0.001). The maximum level of MT at day 6 coincided with the highest Cu body-burden. LP increased within I day of exposure, indicative of Cu as an oxidative stressor. However, in contrast to MT, the highest LP level was seen at day 4 (68% > control, P < 0.001) before returning to control values by day 6, indicating a protective role of MT against the pro-oxidant effects of Cu.     

Evaluation of long-term extreme response statistics of jack-up platforms

This paper is concerned with the models appropriate for the dynamic assessment of jack-ups, concentrating particularly on the long-term response due to random ocean waves and on work-hardening plasticity models used for spud-can response. A methodology for scaling of short-term statistics, calculated using a Constrained NewWave technique, is shown in a numerical experiment for an example jack-up and central North Sea location. The difference in long-term extreme response statistics due to various footing assumptions is emphasised. Results for two environmental load conditions are described (one excluding and one including wind and current effects) and the role of sea-state severity in the variation of short-term extreme response statistics is also highlighted.     

Characterizing Observed Environmental Variability With HF Doppler Radar Surface Current Mappers and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers: Environmental Variability in the Coastal Ocean

A network of high-frequency (HF) radars is deployed along the New Jersey coast providing synoptic current maps across the entire shelf. These data serve a variety of user groups from scientific research to Coast Guard search and rescue. In addition, model forecasts have been shown to improve with surface current assimilation. In all applications, there is a need for better definitions and assessment of the measurement uncertainty. During a summer coastal predictive skill experiment in 2001, an array of in situ current profilers was deployed near two HF radar sites, one long-range and one standard-range system. Comparison statistics were calculated between different vertical bins on the same current profiler, between different current profilers, and between the current profilers and the different HF radars. The velocity difference in the vertical and horizontal directions were then characterized using the observed root-mean-square (rms) differences. We further focused on two cases, one with relatively high vertical variability, and the second with relatively low vertical variability. Observed differences between the top bin of the current profiler and the HF radar were influenced by both system accuracy and the environment. Using the in situ current profilers, the environmental variability over scales based on the HF radar sampling was quantified. HF radar comparisons with the current profilers were on the same order as the observed environmental difference over the same scales, indicating that the environment has a significant influence on the observed differences. Velocity variability in the vertical and horizontal directions both contribute to these differences. When the potential effects of the vertical variability could be minimized, the remaining difference between the current profiler and the HF radar was similar to the measured horizontal velocity difference (~2.5 cm/s) and below the resolution of the raw radial data at the time of the deployment     

Filters for linear sea-wave prediction

Deterministic sea-wave prediction (DSWP) models are appearing in the literature designed for quiescent interval prediction in marine applications dominated by large swell seas. The approach has focused upon spectral methods which are straightforward and intuitively attractive. However, such methods have the disadvantage that while the sea is aperiodic in nature, the standard discrete spectral processing techniques force an absolutely periodic structure onto the resulting sea surface prediction models. As it is the shape of the sea surface that is important in such applications, particularly near the end of the domain which is important, the standard windowing techniques used in signal processing work to reduce leakage artifacts cannot be employed. This has necessitated the use of end matching methods that can be both inconvenient and may reduce the fraction of the time for which legitimate predictions are available. As a result, an investigation has been undertaken of the use of finite impulse response prediction filters to provide the necessary dispersive phase shifting required in DSWP systems. The present work examines the theoretical basis for such filters and explores their properties together with their application to both long and short crested swell seas. It is shown that wide band forms of such filters are only convergent in the sense of distributions having both infinite duration impulse responses and asymptotically divergent first derivatives. However, appropriate band limitation can produce useful finite impulse responses allowing implementation via standard discrete convolution methods. It is demonstrated that despite the prediction filters having a non-causal impulse response such filters can be used in practice due to a combination of the asymmetric nature of the impulse response and the fundamental nature of the prediction process. The findings are confirmed against actual sea-wave data.     

Variability in oceanographic and ecological processes in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

This paper brings together unpublished historical data sets and published literature to review the role of climatic, oceanographic and ecological processes in the marine ecosystem of the eastern Canadian Archipelago. Physical data include characteristics of the water masses, circulation patterns, sea ice conditions, and climatic records from 1950s onward. Biological data include unpublished data sets on nutrients, primary and secondary production, and sedimentation, which were collected during the 1980–1990s in the eastern Canadian Archipelago. These results show high year-to-year variability in nutrient inventories and ratios, the magnitude of the ice algae and phytoplankton bloom, the timing of ice algae sedimentation in the spring, and the composition of the zooplankton community. The significance of this high interannual variability and its effect on pelagic–benthic coupling processes is discussed in the context of climatic and oceanographic forcing, with emphasis on recent (past decade) Arctic changes. An estimate of total primary production in the Archipelago is also presented, along with published production estimates for other Arctic shelves, showing that the Archipelago may support up to 32% of the total primary production of Arctic shelves. The high year-to-year variability in production and carbon transfer pathways (e.g. pelagic versus benthic) in the Archipelago suggest that the system might be resilient to the increased variability in climatic conditions occurring in the past decade. However, this increased variability combined with directional change in climatic and oceanographic conditions might also modify the existing balance of ecological processes. For example, shifts in the timing of events appear to have already occurred in the past decade, with potential cascading effects throughout the ecosystem.     

Abundance of the introduced seastar, Asterias amurensis, and spatial variability in soft sediment assemblages in SE Tasmania: Clear correlations but complex interpretation

The northern Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis, was first collected in southeast Tasmania in 1986. Mistaken for the endemic asteroid Uniophora granifera, its true identity was not realised until 1992. It is now a conspicuous predator in soft sediment habitats in this region, and is considered a major threat to native assemblages and commercial species. We examined the structure of soft sediment assemblages at different spatial scales in southeast Tasmania, and correlated spatial variation in community composition with seastar abundances. We found that the structure of soft sediment assemblages is highly variable at a range of spatial scales from metres to tens of kilometres. Clear differences in the composition of assemblages and abundances of major taxa were detected between areas with and without seastars and between areas with low and high seastar densities. However, the nature of these patterns suggests that they are more likely due to differences in sediment characteristics than due to impacts of the seastar. Thus, spatial differences in soft sediment assemblages might have been erroneously attributed to seastars without detailed information on important physical factors such as sediment characteristics. A second survey, using larger sampling units (1 m²) but across a more limited spatial extent, targeted bivalves and heart urchins that were identified as important prey of the seastar in observations of feeding and in experimental studies. Large-scale patterns of abundance and size structure were consistent with seastar effects anticipated from small-scale experimental and feeding studies for some, but not all, species. While the field survey ultimately provided evidence about the presence or absence of seastar impacts at large-scales, the identification of key ecological variables in experimental and feeding studies proved crucial to both the design and interpretation of patterns observed in the large-scale surveys. Overall, this work highlighted the necessity to consider multiple lines of evidence rather than relying on a single ‘inferential’ test, in the absence of pre-impact data.