Sea/land breeze climatological characteristics along the northern Croatian Adriatic coast

Summary Climatological characteristics along the northern Croatian Adriatic coast have been examined for nine meteorological stations for the summertime sea/land breeze circulation. The stations considered are Pula-airport, Opatija, Rijeka, Senj, Malinska, Rijeka-airport, Mali Lošinj, Rab and Zadar. The hourly surface measurements at each station from June to September for the period 1991–2004 as well as the radiosoundings in Zadar (from 2002 to 2004) were used for the analysis. A dataset with the sea/land breeze days was formed according to the several criteria. The mean daily maxima of both air and sea surface temperatures were more influenced by the large scale disturbances toward north (e.g. in Rijeka or Opatija) compared to the values for e.g. Zadar. Furthermore, the influence of the large scale disturbances diminished toward the south concerning the sea–land temperature difference only at the stations placed at Rijeka Bay and Velebit channel. The strongest sea breeze was found at Pula-airport and the most frequent ones at Opatija and Zadar. At Senj the rarest, the weakest and the shortest sea breeze was observed. The climatological records of wind speed and air-sea temperature difference (ΔT) showed for Opatija, Malinska and Zadar that the maximum measured wind speed is around 4.5 °C confirming the nonlinear relationship between the sea breeze speeds and the ΔT during the day. At most stations, the clockwise rotation of the hodographs prevails which is typical for the Northern hemisphere due to Coriolis force, with the exception at Senj and Malinska. While the hodographs for Pula, Rijeka-airport and Mali Lošinj display a later onset of the prevailing sea breeze because of the interaction among several sea breeze circulations, the results for Opatija, Zadar and Senj show considerably distorted hodographs because of the nearby channeling of the air flow.     

A procedure for identifying significant environmental aspects in sea ports

A new methodology has been designed to identify and rank the significant environmental aspects in sea ports. The main objective of the Strategic Overview of Significant Environmental Aspects (SOSEA) is to help port managers to identify significant environmental aspects and to reinforce the awareness about them in order to prioritise work in environmental management. Developed in close collaboration with port environmental managers and tested in a set of ports, it is a user-friendly tool that can be applied in approximately half a working day. It is based on ISO 14001 vocabulary and requirements and it can be considered as the base for the implementation of any Environmental Management System for port communities.     

230Th-238U radioactive disequilibria in tholeiites from the FAMOUS zone (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 36°50′N): Th and Sr isotopic geochemistry

We analyzed, U, Th and²³⁰Th/²³²Th activity ratios for a few tholeiites from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge FAMOUS zone at 36°50′N. The results show a fairly wide scatter for both Th/U and (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) ratios. Seawater contamination appears to be responsible for this scatter and, for the uranium, produces an increase in content yielding a (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) ratio greater than 1 and, for the Th, an increase of the (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) ratio which is a very sensitive indicator for contamination. Also, the latter often is selective: U, Th and Sr are not affected in the same manner.When discarding all data for contaminated samples, the FAMOUS zone appears to be very homogeneous with aTh/U ratio value of 3.05 and a (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) ratio value of 1.24. Comparison with other active volcanic areas reveals a negative correlation between (²³⁰Th/²³²Th) and⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios for present lavas which is indicative of a consistency in Th-U and Rb-Sr fractionation in the source regions of these magmas. The Th isotopic geochemistry can thus provide useful information for the study of present volcanism, information as valuable as that from Sr, Pb or Nd isotopes.     

Anthropogenic load on the estuarine area of the Northern Dvina River

The results of calculation and analysis of the inflow of dissolved chemical substances to the estuarine area of the Northern Dvina River are considered. Based on the long-term regime hydrochemical information of the State Service of Observation and Monitoring of the Natural Environmental State, the anthropogenic load of dissolved chemical substances on the estuarine area and on the estuarine coastal water is estimated per inflow volumes. The extent of the water environment pollution of the near-delta part of the Northern Dvina River and its delta is estimated. The distribution of pollutant inflow among arms and channels in delta is under consideration.     

Chemical signature of intermediate water masses along western Portuguese margin

Although the circulation of intermediate water masses in the eastern North Atlantic remains poorly defined, the presence of fresher intermediate waters, the Sub-Artic (SAIW) and the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), as well the saline intermediate Mediterranean Water (MW), has been tracked using biogeochemical properties. Here we assess the hydrographic and chemical structures of intermediate waters along the western Portuguese margin by examining the vertical distributions and property-property plots of chemical tracers (oxygen and nutrients). AAIW was traced by low oxygen and high nutrients, while SAIW was recognized by low nutrients. The Mediterranean Water (MW) undercurrent is shown to spread towards the eastern flank of Gorringe bank. Concurrently, the fresher waters gained salt by direct incorporation of MW, while this water was enriched in nutrients on its way northward and westward owing, to a great extent, to the entrainment of an AAIW branch. The distributions of nutrients and apparent oxygen utilization are discussed in terms of regional ocean circulation. Our analysis suggests a circulation pattern of the various intermediate waters along the western Portuguese margin: MW extends all over the area, but its presence is more pronounced around cape St. Vincent; SAIW apparently moves southward, reaching the Gorringe bank region, and AAIW flows northward along the coast and around the bank.     

Effects of Steady Flow on Magnetoacoustic-Gravity Surface Waves: I. The Weak Field Case

Magnetoacoustic gravity (MAG) waves have been studied for some time. In this article, we investigate the effect that a shear flow at a tangential discontinuity embedded in a gravitationally stratified and magnetised plasma has on MAG surface waves. The dispersion relation found is algebraically analogous to the relation of the non-flow cases obtained by Miles and Roberts (Solar Phys. 141, 205, 1992), except for the introduction of a Doppler-shifted frequency for the eigenvalue. This feature, however, introduces rather interesting physics, including the asymmetric presence of forward- and backward-propagating surface waves. We find that increasing the equilibrium flow speed leads to a shift in the permitted regions of propagation for surface waves. For most wave number combinations this leads to the fast mode being completely removed, as well as more limited phase speed regimes for slow-mode propagation. We also find that upon increasing the flow, the phase speeds of the backward propagating waves are increased. Eventually, at high enough flow speeds, the wave’s direction of propagation is reversed and is in the positive direction. However, the phase speed of the forward-propagating wave remains mainly the same. For strong enough flows we find that the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability can also occur when the forward- and backward-propagating modes couple.