Variations of Kuroshio geostrophic transport south of Japan estimated from long-term IES observations

Two inverted echo sounders were maintained on coastal and offshore sides of the Kuroshio south of Japan from October 1993 to July 2004. Applying the gravest empirical mode method, we obtained a time series of geostrophic transport. Estimated transports generally agree well with geostrophic transports estimated from hydrography. Their agreement with the hydrographic transports is better than that of transports estimated from satellite altimetry data. The geostrophic transport is expressed as the surface transport per unit depth multiplied by the equivalent depth. The geostrophic transport varies mostly with the surface transport and fractionally with the equivalent depth. Seasonal variation of the geostrophic transport has a minimum in March and a maximum in September, with a range of about one fifth of the total transport.     

Vertical double silicate maxima in the sea-ice reduction region of the western Arctic Ocean: Implications for an enhanced biological pump due to sea-ice reduction

The R/V Mirai conducted hydrographic surveys in the western Arctic Ocean during summer 2004 (Mirai04) over wide east-west ranges from Alaska to eastern Siberia, where sea-ice cover has been greatly reduced in recent summers. The obtained data reveal differences in silicate profiles between shelf slope areas east and west of the Chukchi Plateau, the ridge that divides the Canada Basin into the Alaskan and east Siberian sides. East of the plateau, a single silicate maximum was found in a layer of Pacific-origin winter water, as examined in many previous studies. In contrast, west of the plateau, we found vertical double silicate maxima, which are reported for the first time in this study. The shallower silicate maximum corresponded to an N** minimum, signaling denitrification at the shelf bottom. This suggests that the shallower silicate maximum was caused by the spreading of shelf water. In contrast, the deeper silicate maximum corresponded to an oxygen minimum and a maximum silicate/phosphate ratio (Si/P), suggesting that this deeper maximum resulted from the decomposition of opal-shelled organisms. We also compared a silicate profile from Mirai04 to aprofile from the Arctic Ocean Section 94 (AOS94) expedition of 1994, a heavy ice year. The results suggest that sea-ice loss has enhanced biological activities, likely resulting in the appearance of the deeper silicate maximum.     

Rapid Identification of Water-Conducting Fractures Using a Trace Methane Gas Measurement

Identification of water-conducting fractures is important for the safety assessment of underground projects in crystalline rocks at geological disposal sites. We applied a portable methane gas analyzer by wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectroscopy to detect the water-conducting fractures in the underground tunnel of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory, central Japan. The tunnel is excavated in granite with CH₄-rich groundwater. Two approaches were taken to obtain the profile of CH₄ concentration along the gallery walls: (1) “Scan by walking” at the speed of 0.5 m/s and (2) monitoring for 30 s at 0.5 or 1 m intervals. In the Scan by walking approach, the peaks of the CH₄ concentration corresponded well with the occurrence of high water flow rate fractures. Thus, this method is useful for rapid identification of major water-conducting fractures. Monitoring at constant intervals takes more time than the Scan by walking approach; however, this method can largely detect occurrences of fractures with low fluid fluxes.     

Multi-aquifer pumping test to determine cutoff wall length for groundwater flow control during site excavation in Tokyo, Japan

Multi-aquifer pumping tests, using a multi-screen pumping well and multi-level piezometers, were carried out for groundwater flow control in a large-scale excavation site in Tokyo, Japan. The site was underlain by multi-layered confined aquifers. In the tests, pumping was carried out using a multi-aquifer pumping well in which a screen depth was chosen arbitrarily. Changes in groundwater pressure heads in each aquifer were measured at each screen position of the multi-aquifer pumping well. Hydraulic conductivity (K) and specific storage (S _s) of not only aquifers, but also for low permeability layers between the aquifers, were estimated using the Cooper-Jacob method, and calibrated by a finite element method (FEM) groundwater model. Four different cutoff wall lengths were assumed for final excavation depth, and correlations among wall length, pumping discharge and drawdown at the back of the cutoff wall were obtained from simulations using the K and S _s parameters in the FEM model. Then, the most suitable wall length was selected based on the simulated correlations considering environmental condition, construction period and cost of the cutoff wall.     

Geochemical behavior of rare earth elements in hydrothermally altered rocks of the Kuroko mining area,Japan

In this study we analyzed the chemical composition of hydrothermally altered dacite and basalt from the Kuroko mining area, northeastern Honshu, Japan, by REE (rare earth element). Features of rare earth element analyses include: (1) altered footwall dacite exhibits a negative Eu anomaly compared with fresh dacite, suggesting preferential removal of Eu²⁺ from the altered dacite via hydrothermal solutions, (2) altered hangingwall dacite and basalt and dacite and basalt adjacent to ore deposits exhibit positive Eu anomalies compared with fresh dacite and basalt, suggesting addition of Eu²⁺ from hydrothermal solutions, (3) LREE ratio (∑LREE/∑REE) from altered dacite of chlorite–sericite zone and K-feldspar zone show a negative relationship with δ¹⁸O, and La/Sm ratios show a positive correlation with the K₂O index. These trends indicate the addition of light rare earth elements such as La to the altered dacite from hydrothermal solution and/or leaching of heavy rare earth elements such as Sm and Yb, (4) Principal component analysis (PCA) indicates that light rare earth elements enrichment is related to the formation of sericite zone near the Kuroko deposits but not to the formations of chlorite and K-feldspar zones, and (5) The correlations among REE features (LREE ratio, MREE ratio, HREE ratio, Eu/Eu?), δ¹⁸O and K₂O index are not found for montmorillonite zone, mixed layer clay mineral zone and mordenite zone. Therefore, it is inferred that sericite, chlorite and K-feldspar alterations are related to the Kuroko and vein-type mineralization, but montmorillonite and mordenite alterations are not related to the mineralizations, and probably they formed at the post-mineralization stage.     

Stress-induced crack path in Aji granite under tensile stress

The double-torsion test using Aji granite was carried out to investigate the interaction between stress-induced crack path and mineral grains. Crack velocities were controlled at range 10^–7 m/s to 10^–1 m/s. After the stressed specimens were dyed, we checked the crack path by thin section analysis, using an optical microscope. The stress-induced crack path was divided into two types, transgranular and intergranular cracks, and each path was subdivided with respect to mineral grains. In spite of the extensive range of crack velocities, the ratios between the transgranular and intergranular crack lengths did not change. The crack paths were all jagged, and often showed detour around the grain boundary when faced with obstacles like hard grains or preexisting cracks. That is to say, quartz grain played an important role as an obstacle. Feldspar grain could change the crack path because of its cleavage plane. Biolite grain had a serious effect on the path even if its constitution ratio is very small. Fractal dimensions of the crack paths were calculated by three methods, as indicators of surface roughness. The fractal dimensions were shown in a slight trend with the change of crack velocity. This trend can be explained from the point of limited cracking rate in stress corrosion.     

Model analysis of radar echo split observed in an artificial cloud seeding experiment

An artificial cloud seeding experiment was performed over the Japan Sea in winter to show how massive seeding could be effective to mitigate heavy snowfall damage. The results showed that 20 min after cloud seeding, a portion of the radar echo beneath the seeding track was weakened to divide the radar echo into two parts. In order to analyze the results, a numerical simulation was conducted by using the Weather Research and Forecasting model verion 3.5.1. In this simulation, the seeding effects were represented as phenomena capable of changing rain particles by accreting cloud ice and snow to form graupel particles and by changing cloud liquid water to snow particles. The graupel particles fell rapidly, thus temporarily intensifying the rainfall, which subsequently decreased. Therefore, the weakened radar echo in the field experiment is deemed to have been caused by the increase in rapidly falling graupel particles.     

Space–time multiple regression model for grid-based population estimation in urban areas

We can collect, store, and analyze a huge amount of information about human mobility and social interaction activities due to the emergence of information and communication technologies and location-enabled mobile devices under cyber physical system frameworks. The high spatial resolution of population data on a multi-temporal scale is required by transport planners, human geographers, social scientists, and emergency management teams. In this study, we build a space-time multiple regression model to estimate grid-based (500 m × 500 m) spatial resolution at multi-temporal scale (30-min intervals) population data based on the space-time relationship among geospatially enabled person trip (PT) survey data and incorporate both mobile call (MC) and geotagged Twitter (GT) data. Since using geospatially enabled PT survey data as dependent variables enables us to acquire actual population amounts, which strongly depend on MCs and social interaction activities. Although many grids have a strong correlation between PT and MC/GT, some show fewer correlation results, especially where the grids have factories, schools, and workshops in which fewer MCs are found but a large population is presented. Although GT data are sparser than MCs, people from amusement and tourist areas can be detected by GT data. The space-time multiple regression model can also estimate the different amounts of populations based on human travel behavior that changes over space and time. According to accuracy assessments, the night-time estimated results, especially between 00:00 and 06:30, strongly correlate with national census data except in places where the grids have railway and subway stations.     

Impact of in-consistency between the climate model and its initial conditions on climate prediction

We investigated the influence of dynamical in-consistency of initial conditions on the predictive skill of decadal climate predictions. The investigation builds on the fully coupled global model “Coupled GCM for Earth Simulator” (CFES). In two separate experiments, the ocean component of the coupled model is full-field initialized with two different initial fields from either the same coupled model CFES or the GECCO2 Ocean Synthesis while the atmosphere is initialized from CFES in both cases. Differences between both experiments show that higher SST forecast skill is obtained when initializing with coupled data assimilation initial conditions (CIH) instead of those from GECCO2 (GIH), with the most significant difference in skill obtained over the tropical Pacific at lead year one. High predictive skill of SST over the tropical Pacific seen in CIH reflects the good reproduction of El Niño events at lead year one. In contrast, GIH produces additional erroneous El Niño events. The tropical Pacific skill differences between both runs can be rationalized in terms of the zonal momentum balance between the wind stress and pressure gradient force, which characterizes the upper equatorial Pacific. In GIH, the differences between the oceanic and atmospheric state at initial time leads to imbalance between the zonal wind stress and pressure gradient force over the equatorial Pacific, which leads to the additional pseudo El Niño events and explains reduced predictive skill. The balance can be reestablished if anomaly initialization strategy is applied with GECCO2 initial conditions and improved predictive skill in the tropical Pacific is observed at lead year one. However, initializing the coupled model with self-consistent initial conditions leads to the highest skill of climate prediction in the tropical Pacific by preserving the momentum balance between zonal wind stress and pressure gradient force along the equatorial Pacific.

     

Observation of the Soya Warm Current using HF ocean radar

Three High Frequency (HF) ocean radar stations were installed around the Soya/La Perouse Strait in the Sea of Okhotsk in order to monitor the Soya Warm Current (SWC). The frequency of the HF radar is 13.9 MHz, and the range and azimuth resolutions are 3 km and 5 deg., respectively. The radar covers a range of approximately 70 km from the coast. The surface current velocity observed by the HF radars was compared with data from drifting buoys and shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs). The current velocity derived from the HF radars shows good agreement with that observed using the drifting buoys. The root-mean-square (rms) differences were found to be less than 20 cm s⁻¹ for the zonal and meridional components in the buoy comparison. The observed current velocity was also found to exhibit reasonable agreement with the shipboard ADCP data. It was shown that the HF radars clearly capture seasonal and short-term variations of the SWC. The velocity of the Soya Warm Current reaches its maximum, approximately 1 m s⁻¹, in summer and weakens in winter. The velocity core is located 20 to 30 km from the coast, and its width is approximately 40 km. The surface transport by the SWC shows a significant correlation with the sea level difference along the strait, as derived from coastal tide gauge records at Wakkanai and Abashiri. Deceased.