Hotspots in ambient noise caused by ice-edge eddies in the Greenland and Barents Seas

Mesoscale eddies are frequently observed in the Greenland and Barents Seas' marginal ice zone (MIZ). The objective of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that acoustic hotspots along the ice-edge region are due to mesoscale eddy currents interacting with the broken-up ice floes in the MIZ. To test this hypothesis, ambient-noise case studies were carried out during the MIZEX 85-87 and SIZEX 89 field experiments. In each experiment, ice-edge eddies were localized visually from aircraft and by use of satellite remote-sensing data obtained in near real time. Sonobuoys were, thereafter, deployed by fix-wing aircraft and helicopters in selected eddy areas. Ambient-noise data, recorded over several hours by aircraft, were analyzed estimating averaged ambient-noise levels at four selected frequencies: 40, 100, 315, and 1000 Hz. The analysis showed high mean levels and large gradients in ambient noise near ice-edge eddies and during strong wind and wave forcing against the ice edge. The conclusion of this study is that mapping of the ice edge and localization of mesoscale ocean processes using remote sensing from space will provide important input to ambient-noise prediction in the MIZ.     

Application of wavelet transforms to the decoupling of free-roll decay data

This study presents the results of the decoupling of a free-roll decay test by wavelet transforms. A free-roll decay test was performed to determine the coefficients of damping terms in equations of motion. No motion of the model was restricted during the experiment. A slight yaw motion was found while the model was in the free-roll decay motion. It was necessary to extract a pure roll motion from the experimental data. Wavelet transforms were applied to the signals to extract the pure roll motion. The results were compared to those found through the Fourier transform. Discrete wavelet transforms were able to efficiently decouple the test signals, while the continuous wavelet transform and the Fourier transform could not.     

Change of multifractal thermal characteristics in the western Philippine sea upper layer during internal wave-soliton propagation

The upper layer (above 140 m depth) temperature in the western Philippine Sea near Taiwan was sampled using a coastal monitoring buoy (CMB) with 15 attached thermistors during July 28–August 7, 2005. The data were collected every 10 min at 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 m using the CMB sensors, and every 15 sec at 15 different depths between 25 m and 140 m. Internal waves and solitons were identified from the time-depth plot of the temperature field. Without the internal waves and solitons, the power spectra, structure functions, and singular measures (representing the intermittency) of temperature field satisfy the power law with multi-scale characteristics at all depths. The internal waves do not change the basic characteristics of the multifractal structure. However, the internal solitons change the power exponent of the power spectra drastically, especially in the low wave number domain; they also break down the power law of the structure function and increase the intermittency parameter. The physical mechanisms causing these different effects need to be explored further.     

Hydroacoustic Field of a Point Source in an Inhomogeneous Marine Medium Containing a Cylindrical Body Floating on the Surface

We study the problem of determination of the sound field of a point harmonic source in the coastal zone and the influence of a cylindrical body floating above the source on the sound field formed in the marine medium. A numerical-analytic method is proposed for the determination of the velocity potential. According to this method, the unknown coefficients in the general solution of the problem are determined from the corresponding infinite system of linear algebraic equations by the method of reduction. We present results of numerical calculations for a special case of a waveguide whose parameters are typical of the coastal part of the sea and perform the comparative analysis of the data obtained as a result of variation of the indicated parameters.     

Preliminary attempt to characterize the rotation of seafloor in the Pito Deep area of the Easter Microplate using a submersible magnetometer

Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for the rotation of the nearly north-south abyssal hill fabric formed on the East Pacific Rise north of the Easter Microplate to the nearly east-west trends in the northern microplate interior. Proposed mechanisms include rigid microplate rotation, transform fault – parallel shear, and bookshelf faulting during the transfer of lithosphere from the Nazca Plate to the microplate. We used a submersible magnetometer on a NAUTILE dive program to measure the magnetic vector rotation of a pillow basalt and dike spur near Pito Deep, the present location of the tip of the propagating rift system that created the microplate. Our results, although too limited to draw strong conclusions from, suggest clockwise rotations of the seafloor magnetic vectors inconsistent with the transform-parallel shear model, and larger than can be explained solely by rigid microplate rotation.     

Spatial variation of the intertidal sediments and macrozoo-benthic assemblages along Eighty-mile Beach, North-western Australia

The extensive intertidal flats along Eighty-mile Beach in North-western Australia appear to be monotonous and homogeneous and seem ideally suited to study tidal zonation in macrozoo-benthic communities and their possible correlates with characteristics of the sediment. In October 1999, we sampled benthic invertebrates and sediments at a total of 895 sampling stations distributed over six different locations, each location separated by 15 km of unsampled foreshore along Eighty-mile Beach. To test for the presence or absence of patterns of tidal zonation (distinct height-related zones of specific sediment grain sizes or zoobenthic taxonomic groups) or patchiness (distinct patches of specific sediment grain sizes or zoobenthic taxonomic groups not related to tidal height) each location was divided into three along-shore sections and each section (transect) was examined at two or three tidal heights. Zonation was observed for sediment grain sizes. Sediments were coarser at the highest intertidal level and finer towards the low water line. Benthic assemblages also differed among tidal heights, but in terms of species-composition the differences were not consistent among the locations. Each location supported a unique collection of benthic invertebrates. Therefore the hypothesis of the presence of distinct zones of specific species or zoobenthic taxonomic groups was rejected; the presence of benthic patches was confirmed. The distribution of sediments and the composition of benthic assemblages were surprisingly poorly correlated compared to those reported in 12 previous quantitative studies around the world. One possible explanation might be that super-cyclone Vance, which hit the study-area only six months before this study, contributed to this poor correlation. Alternatively, the poor correlation may indicate that biotic interactions are more important than the assumed abiotic structuring.     

Problems with biogenic silica measurement in marginal seas

Surface sediment samples from the Bohai, Yellow Sea, and the Pacific were used to assess biogenic silica (BSi) content and to study uncertainties in BSi measurements. The contents of BSi in the Bohai and Yellow Sea are all less than 1%. The dissolution of BSi in sediments from the Bohai and Yellow Sea is very important to maintain high levels of silicate in the water column. The non-biogenic silica from clay minerals has an obvious effect on BSi of sediment samples in the Bohai and Yellow Sea with low BSi and high clay minerals. The solid to solution ratio was found to have a great influence on BSi measurement, which can induce uncertainties up to 75%. The effect of loss by sorption and centrifugation is negligible. Interlaboratory comparison of techniques for BSi measurement by the wet alkaline extraction technique of Mortlock and Froelich [Deep-Sea Res. 36 (1989) 1415-1426] with clay correction was suggested to give no significant differences. However, differences in sediment compositions and reagent to sample ratio may limit the application of the wet alkaline extraction method.     

Free spanning analysis of offshore pipelines

A rigorous procedure was established on the free span analysis of offshore pipelines. The closed form solutions of the beam–column equation, considering tension and compressive force, were derived for the various possible boundary conditions. The solutions can be used to find the natural frequencies of the free spans using the energy balance concept. The results can be applied to improve the current design codes. The improved procedure will yield more realistic calculations of the allowable free span lengths of offshore pipelines. Some calculations are included to present the sensitivity of the axial forces on the allowable free spanning lengths.     

Kuroshio extension variability explored through assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data into a quasi-geostrophic model

Mesoscale features in the eastward extension of the Kuroshio were investigated using assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) data into a three-layer quasi-geostrophic model. The T/P data exhibited an elongated state of the southern recirculation gyre in 1993–95 and 1997, between whose two periods the gyre had a contracted state in 1995–96. A few stationary eddies were located in the southern gyre during the contracted state. The baroclinic instability, which was indicated by the phase shift from the uppermost-to the lowest-layer anomalies toward the downstream side, was evident near the Kuroshio Extension (KE) path. Since the instability never appeared in the artificial model without bottom topography, the topographic barrier for the eastward flow in the lowest layer was a necessary condition for the instability. The instability synchronized with the transition in the western region of the KE axis from the elongated to the contracted states. This evolution was interpreted as if the baroclinic instability played some part in the KE states and was a trigger for the transition from the elongated to the contracted states.     

Seismic evidence of small-scale lacustrine drifts in Lake Baikal (Russia)

High resolution, single-channel seismic sparker profiles across the Akademichesky Ridge, an intra-basin structural high in Lake Baikal (Russia), reveal the presence of small sediment mounds and intervening moats in the upper part of the sedimentary cover. Such features interrupt the generally uniform and even acoustic facies and are not consistent with the hemipelagic sedimentation, which is expected on such an isolated high and which would produce a uniform sediment drape over bottom irregularities. The influence of turbidity currents is excluded since the ridge is an isolated high elevated more than 600-1000 m above adjacent basins. The mounded seismic facies, including migrating sediment waves and non-depositional/erosional incisions, strongly suggest that sediment accumulation was controlled by bottom-current activity. We interpret the mounds as small-scale (< few tens of km² in area) lacustrine drifts. Four basic types of geometry are identified: 1) slope-plastered patch sheets; 2) patch drifts; 3) confined drifts; 4) fault-controlled drifts. The general asymmetry in the sedimentary cover of the ridge, showing thicker deposits on the NW flank, and the common location of patch drifts on the northeast side of small basement knolls indicate that deposition took preferentially place at the lee sides of obstacles in a current flowing northward or sub-parallel to the main contours. Deep-water circulation in the ridge area is not known in detail, but there are indications that relatively cold saline water masses are presently flowing out of the Central Basin and plunging into the deep parts of the North Basin across the ridge, a process that appears to be driven mainly by small differences in salinity. We infer that the process responsible for the observed bottom-current-controlled sedimentary features has to be sought in these large-scale water-mass movements and their past equivalents. The age of the onset of the bottom-current-controlled sedimentation, based on an average sedimentation rate of 4.0 cm/ky, is roughly estimated to be as least as old as 3.5 Ma, which is generally regarded as the age of the onset of the last major tectonic pulse of rift basin development in the Baikal region.