A coupled tide-wave model for the NW European shelf seas

Understanding the interaction of tides and waves is essential in many studies, including marine renewable energy, sediment transport, long-term seabed morphodynamics, storm surges and the impacts of climate change. In the present research, a COAWST model of the NW European shelf seas has been developed and applied to a number of physical processes. Although many aspects of wave–current interaction can be investigated by this model, our focus is on the interaction of barotropic tides and waves at shelf scale. While the COWAST model was about five times more computationally expensive than running decoupled ROMS (ocean model) and SWAN (wave model), it provided an integrated modelling system which could incorporate many wave–tide interaction processes, and produce the tide and wave parameters in a unified file system with a convenient post-processing capacity. Some applications of the model such as the effect of tides on quantifying the wave energy resource, which exceeded 10% in parts of the region, and the effect of waves on the calculation of the bottom stress, which was dominant in parts of the North Sea and Scotland, during an energetic wave period are presented, and some challenges are discussed. It was also shown that the model performance in the prediction of the wave parameters can improve by 25% in some places where the wave-tide interaction is significant.     

Revised palaeoclimatic significance of Mueller Glacier moraines,Southern Alps,New Zealand

A sequence of Late Holocene moraines on the foreland of the Mueller Glacier, Southern Alps, New Zealand, forms part of a local moraine‐age database used to establish a regional glacier chronology and subsequently to investigate potential intra‐hemispheric and global climate forcing mechanisms. We present new sedimentological and geomorphological evidence that a set of these moraine ridges, previously considered to represent individual advances, constitutes a single moraine complex (the ‘Mueller Memorial Moraine’) formed by supraglacial transport of a large volume of landslide debris to the glacier terminus. Because a moraine formed in this way is not necessarily associated with an advance triggered by a climate event, we question the palaeoclimatic significance of the Mueller Memorial Moraine, as well as that of other moraines in comparable settings. Our findings suggest that the mode of formation and glacio‐dynamical context of moraines whose ages contribute to existing palaeoclimate reconstructions need to be re‐examined in order to assess the reliability of these reconstructions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internal solitary wave-induced flow over a corrugated bed

A combined numerical and experimental study of the propagation of an internal solitary wave (ISW) over a corrugated bed is presented, in which the amplitude and the wavelength of the corrugated bed, together with the wave amplitude and wave speed of the ISW, have been varied parametrically. Both ISWs of elevation and depression have been considered. The wave-induced currents over the corrugated bed cause flow separation at the apex of the corrugations and a sequence of lee vortices forms as a result. These vortices develop fully after the main wave has passed over the topographic feature, resulting in deformation of the overlying pycnocline and, in some instances, significant vertical mixing. It is found that the intensity of the vortex formation is dependent on both the amplitude and wavelength of the bottom topography. In the case of an ISW of depression, the generation of vertically (upward)-propagating vortices is seen to result in entrainment of fluid from a bottom boundary jet (Carr and Davies, Phys Fluids 18:016601, 2006), while, in the elevation case, a second mechanism is present to induce significant turbulent mixing in the water column. It occurs when the bottom corrugations reach into, or are very near, the pycnocline at rest. Large waves of elevation that are stable on approach to the corrugations exhibit evidence of a spatio-temporally developing shear instability as they interact with the bottom corrugation. The shear instability takes the form of billows that have a vertical extent that can reach 50% of the wave amplitude.     

Planetary dynamics in stellar clusters

We investigate how the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems can be affected by stellar encounters that occur in the crowded conditions of a stellar cluster. Using plausible estimates of cluster evolution, we show how planet formation may be suppressed in globular clusters while planets wider than ≳0.1 au that do form in such environments can be ejected from their stellar system. Less crowded systems such as open clusters have a much reduced effect on any planetary system. Planet formation is unaffected in open clusters and only the wider planetary systems will be disrupted during the cluster's lifetime. The potential for free-floating planets in these environments is also discussed.     

Transmissivity variations in mudstones

Many people in sub-Saharan Africa have to rely on meager water resources within mudstones for their only water supply. Although mudstones have been extensively researched for their low permeability behavior, little research has been undertaken to examine their ability to provide sustainable water supplies. To investigate the factors controlling the occurrence of usable ground water in mudstone environments, an area of Cretaceous mudstones in southeastern Nigeria was studied over a 3 yr period. Transmissivity (T) variations in a range of mudstone environments were studied. The investigations demonstrate that within the top 40 m of mudstones, transmissivity can be sufficient to develop village water supplies (T > 1 m2/d). Transmissivity is controlled by two factors: low-grade metamorphism and the presence of other, subordinate, lithologies within the mudstones. Largely unaltered mudstones (early diagenetic zone), comprising mainly smectite clays, are mostly unfractured and have a low T of < 0.1 m2/d. Mudstones that have undergone limited metamorphism (late diagenetic zone) comprise mixed layered illite/smectite clays, and ground water is found in widely spaced fracture zones (T > 1 m2/d in large fracture zones; T < 0.1 m2/d away from fracture zones). Mudstones that have been further altered and approach the anchizone comprise illite clays, are pervasively fractured, and have the highest transmissivity values (T > 4 m2/d). Dolerite intrusions in unaltered, smectitic mudstones are highly fractured with transmissivity in the range of 1 < T < 60 m2/d. Thin limestone and sandstone layers can also enhance transmissivity sufficiently to provide community water supplies.     

Investigating Late Holocene Climate Variability in Central Mexico using Carbon Isotope Ratios in Organic Materials and Oxygen Isotope Ratios from Diatom Silica within Lacustrine Sediments

Previous studies have shown that moisture availability in the central highlands of Mexico during the last 3000 years has been highly variable, but evidence remains ambiguous since the climatic signal is partially masked by that of human activity. Here we use two isotope systems to provide evidence for environmental change in Laguna Zacapu, Michoacán covering this time period. Carbon isotope ratios of organic material suggest that there have been fluctuations in the carbon pool related to plant productivity, possibly as a result of changes in the abundance of aquatic plants around the lake margins. The drainage basin and lake have been managed intensively during the 20th century. Lake level apparently fell during the early part of the century, but has been artificially controlled since the 1950s. The oxygen isotope ratios from diatom silica should provide the more unambiguous climate signal, although we show that the interpretation of the diatom oxygen isotope record is far from straight forward. Zacapu is a spring-fed, non-evaporating system and changes in δ¹⁸O_diatom are likely to be a function of changes in δ¹⁸O of precipitation, due to either temperature and salinity variation in the Gulf of Mexico (associated with changes in the Bond cycles from the North Atlantic or the Loop current from the Carribean) and/or changing moisture contributions from different air masses (Gulf of Mexico vs. Pacific). Changes in the Gulf of Mexico are possibly at a resolution comparable to the periodicity we see in the δ¹⁸O_diatom record, although without better dating the comparison is speculative.