Detection of Pacific tropical water variability by taut-line moorings in the western equatorial Pacific

This study uses temperature and salinity time series acquired with taut-line moorings in the western equatorial Pacific to investigate water mass behavior on the thermocline layer. Basically, it is insufficient to trace water mass variation by the original discrete depth coordinate data because of relatively high variability of density at fixed depth near the thermocline. A reconstruction method based on the density surface motion caused by tidal forcing was used to derive continuous profiles of temperature and salinity from vertically discrete measurements at fixed depths. This method can represent detailed vertical salinity structures and their variation, especially along the potential density surface of 24.8σ_θ, where the salinity maximum of South Pacific tropical water (SPTW) appeared. Variability around the 24.8σ_θ surface at each site was as large as that observed at the surface, which suggests a strong influence of SPTW behavior. High salinity along the 24.8σ_θ surface within the equatorial band of the western Pacific appeared during boreal fall-winter at sites far from New Guinea. In contrast, high salinity appeared near New Guinea during the boreal spring-summer. These features suggest the influence of the New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent. Over longer time scales, several higher salinity events were observed. The most pronounced salinity event occurred during 2007–2008. Interannual variation of the salinity anomaly along the 24.8σ_θ surface was negatively correlated with the Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature anomaly. A long-term salinity anomaly shift from negative to positive occurred around the end of 2002. The relationship with decadal variation in subtropical cell transport is also discussed.     

Fifteen years progress of the TRITON array in the Western Pacific and Eastern Indian Oceans

The Triangle Trans‐Ocean Buoy Network (TRITON) project by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology began with deployment in the western tropical Pacific Ocean in 1998 and has shifted to steady, long-term observations since 1999. After on-site inter-comparison with the Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System mooring system of the Tropical Atmosphere and Ocean (TAO) array by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the TRITON array became the international TAO/TRITON array in 2000 as a key component of the Global Ocean and Climate Observing Systems. The TAO/TRITON array took over from the TAO array, which was developed during the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere program (1985–1994), and replaced the western part of TAO with new additional real-time measurements of salinity and ocean currents. In 2001, two TRITON moorings were deployed in the eastern Indian Ocean for capturing the eastern pole of the Indian Ocean Dipole. From this initiative, the Indian Ocean Observing System (IndOOS) was designed, and the Indian Ocean mooring array (Research Moored Array for Africa–Asian–Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction) was developed as a key component of IndOOS. In this paper, 15 years of progress in the TRITON project in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans is reviewed with regards to scientific outcomes, technological development, and collaborations with international and domestic partners. Future directions for sustainable observation in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are also discussed.     

Long-term measurement of temperature variabilities off Mindanao Island by the ocean acoustic tomography

Oceanic variabilities off Mindanao Island, Philippines where the North Equatorial Current branches into the Kuroshio and the Mindanao Current were measurerd for a period from 14 Feb.–1 Jun. 1992 by the oceean acoustic tomography (OAT). From the beginning of April, the travel time of acoustic rays propagating over a horizontal distance of about 250km, through the depth range of 80–4700 m around the underwater sound channel began to decrease, implying a warming of water. This variability was also confirmed with the results of temperature measurement at the sites where a sound source and receiver were located. The TOGA/TAO array data show that the OAT experiment was done when the 1991–1992 El Nino was at a decaying stage and the resulting warming-up of water occurred at the western Pacific. This study provides us a first evidence of ENSO-related variabilities detected by the OAT.     

Contents of hepatic and renal metallothioneins in Hyposarcus pardalis: for construction of biomarker for heavy metal contamination in environments

The pollution of water by heavy metals is one of the most serious problems in the developing countries, where watercourses play important roles in transport and economic activities. The aim of this study was to examine whether Hyposarcus pardalis, a fish species widespread in the freshwater environment in Indonesia, could be used as a biomarker for environmental pollution by metals. To this effect, the concentrations of metallothioneins and metals in the livers and kidneys of H. pardalis were measured. In addition, to clarify the relationship between metallothionein concentrations and metal exposure, the concentrations of metallothioneins and metals were determined in the liver and the kidney of fish exposed to 50 and 500 ppb Cu and 500 ppb Mn, compared with those kept in clean water. Sufficient concentrations of metallothionein were detected in fish captured from Lake Rawakalong located in an industrial area in the suburbs of Jakarta. The results of exposure experiments suggested that H. pardalis retained a history of pollution in its organs for a long duration, and the metals bound to metallothioneins in the liver and kidney could be replaced with Cu following exposure. In conclusion, the hepatic and renal metallothioneins in H. pardalis are a useful candidate biomarker for monitoring heavy metal contamination.     

Star formation triggered by supernova explosions in young galaxies

We study the evolution of supernova remnants in a low-metallicity medium   Z /Z_⊙= 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻²  in the early universe, using one-dimensional hydrodynamics with non-equilibrium chemistry. Once a post-shock layer is able to cool radiatively, a dense shell forms behind the shock. If this shell becomes gravitationally unstable and fragments into pieces, next-generation stars are expected to form from these fragments. To explore the possibility of this triggered star formation, we apply a linear perturbation analysis of an expanding shell to our results and constrain the parameter range of ambient density, explosion energy and metallicity where fragmentation of the shell occurs. For the explosion energy of  10⁵¹ erg (10⁵² erg)  , the shell fragmentation occurs for ambient densities higher than  ≳10² cm⁻³ (10 cm⁻³  ), respectively. This condition depends little on the metallicity in the ranges we examined. We find that the mode of star formation triggered occurs only in massive  (≳10⁸ M_⊙)  haloes.     

Comparison of community structures between particle-associated and free-living prokaryotes in tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean surface waters

The subtropical and tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean are less productive than other oceanic regions. Although particle association should be an important strategy for heterotrophic prokaryotes to survive in such environments, we have little information on particle-associated (PA) prokaryotes in these regions. The specific aim of this study was to determine bacterial and archaeal community structures in the PA assemblage in comparison to the free-living (FL) assemblage in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre, and an eastern equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean. Community profiles and phylogenetic identities were obtained by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, 454-pyrosequencing, and cloning followed by Sanger sequencing of 16Sr RNA gene amplicons. The distribution patterns of some abundant groups in three regions and two lifestyles (PA and FL) are shown in this study. Also, the PA community structures of bacteria differed from the FL ones and exhibited higher diversity than the FL ones, while the archaeal community structures did not show significant differences between PA and FL assemblages. We found that specific phylotypes of Gammaproteobacteria and Flavobacteria were abundant in PA bacterial assemblages, suggesting that they prefer to attach and consume particulate organic matter. In summary, the surface seawater PA assemblages represent very different bacterial and archaeal community structures between three different oceanic regions, each of which had distinct PA and FL community structures. These results imply that environmental factors determine microbial community structures.     

Equivalent linear method considering frequency dependent characteristics of stiffness and damping

Equivalent linear dynamic response analysis of ground is based on complex moduli and Fourier series expansion; therefore, it is not an equivalent method but an approximate method. Two deficiencies in the conventional equivalent linear method represented by SHAKE are described first. The maximum shear strength is overestimated, resulting in overestimation of the peak acceleration under a strong ground motion, and the amplification is underestimated at high frequency. The latter sometimes results in underestimation of the peak acceleration under weak ground shaking, and gives an incident wave with unrealistic large accelerations or a divergence of analysis in deconvolution analysis under strong ground motion. Both deficiencies are shown to come from the same cause, i.e. computing the effective strain as a constant fraction of the maximum strain. Since this is a key concept of the equivalent linear analysis, one cannot overcome both deficiencies at the same time in the conventional method. An apparent frequency dependence in stiffness and damping is shown to appear in the dynamic response, although soil itself does not show frequency dependent characteristics. Following this observation, the effective strain is expressed in terms of frequency from the similarity concept of the strain–frequency relationship between time domain and frequency domain. This enables the reduction of both deficiencies at the same time, resulting in a marked improvement in the equivalent linear analysis. The accuracy of the proposed method is examined by the simulations of three vertical array records during large earthquakes. The proposed method always gives much better prediction than conventional equivalent linear methods for both convolution and deconvolution analyses, and it is confirmed to be applicable at more than 1% shear strain.     

Distribution of sea cucumbers in relation to sediment characteristics in coral reef lagoons and adjacent waters around Ishigaki Island,southern Japan

To elucidate which environmental factors affect lagoonal‐scale sea cucumber distributions in Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, intertidal and subtidal areas of three coral reef lagoons were classified into several ground divisions by bottom characteristics, and sea cucumber densities therein were compared with the composition of sediment cover, grain size and organic content, and coverage of macroalgae, seagrass, and massive corals. Holothuria atra, Holothuria leucospilota, Stichopus chloronotus, and Synapta maculata had highest densities in the nearshore areas but were rare in reef flats, probably because of wave disturbance and low areal cover of sand sediment as potential feeding environments. No relationship was observed between sea cucumber densities and sediment organic content or grain size. Thus, even if these sea cucumbers have selectivity for habitats with a high sediment organic content, the effect of such selectivity on the distribution seems to be limited to relatively small areas. The sea cucumber distributions can be classified by bottom sediment/biota composition into bedrock (H. leucospilota), sand (H. atra), and lagoonal types (St. chloronotus and Sy. maculata). These habitat selections were possibly related to various aspects of sea cucumber ecology such as refuge from predators or turbulence, or settlement and nursery place, which have implications for importance of the complexity of lagoonal‐scale topography and sediment/biota conditions for the coexistence of various holothurian species.