Water masses and decadal variability in the East Sea (Sea of Japan)

Water masses in the East Sea are newly defined based upon vertical structure and analysis of CTD data collected in 1993–1999 during Circulation Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas (CREAMS). A distinct salinity minimum layer was found at 1500 m for the first time in the East Sea, which divides the East Sea Central Water (ESCW) above the minimum layer and the East Sea Deep Water (ESDW) below the minimum layer. ESCW is characterized by a tight temperature–salinity relationship in the temperature range of 0.6–0.12 °C, occupying 400–1500 m. It is also high in dissolved oxygen, which has been increasing since 1969, unlike the decrease in the ESDW and East Sea Bottom Water (ESBW). In the eastern Japan Basin a new water with high salinity in the temperature range of 1–5 °C was found in the upper layer and named the High Salinity Intermediate Water (HSIW). The origin of the East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW), whose characteristics were found near the Korea Strait in the southwestern part of the East Sea in 1981 [Kim, K., & Chung, J. Y. (1984) On the salinity-minimum and dissolved oxygen-maximum layer in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), In T. Ichiye (Ed.), Ocean Hydrodynamics of the Japan and East China Seas (pp. 55–65). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers], is traced by its low salinity and high dissolved oxygen in the western Japan Basin. CTD data collected in winters of 1995–1999 confirmed that the HSIW and ESIW are formed locally in the Eastern and Western Japan Basin. CREAMS CTD data reveal that overall structure and characteristics of water masses in the East Sea are as complicated as those of the open oceans, where minute variations of salinity in deep waters are carefully magnified to the limit of CTD resolution. Since the 1960s water mass characteristics in the East Sea have changed, as bottom water formation has stopped or slowed down and production of the ESCW has increased recently.     

Attachment and feeding of pelagic copepods on larvacean houses

The attachment and feeding of pelagic copepods on discarded and occupied oikopleurid larvacean houses were investigated from May 1989 to August 1991 at an offshore station in the Nansei Islands, which is strongly influenced by the Kuroshio Current, and an inshore station in the central Seto Inland Sea.Oncaea spp.,Microsetella norvegica, and other calanoid and cyclopoid copepods were found attached onto discarded and occupied houses throughout the year at the offshore station, whereas neither discarded nor occupied houses, carried copepods at the inshore station at any time. The feeding behavior ofOncaea sp. in a discarded house was observed with a video tape recorder system.     

Microtopographic analysis of plant distribution in polar desert

We suggest methods for the analysis of the spatial distribution of plant species in a research area divided into a quadrat lattice. In particular, information about the topography and the spaces without plants is used for the analysis. At sites with a homogeneous substratum, we classify the topography by whether a target grid is concave or convex with respect to a standard surface of altitude. At other sites, we classify the topography according to whether the grid is located at the edge of rock and/or at a water pool. Information about the topography and the plant existence is used for constructing 2 × 2 contingency tables. In order to determine the strength of dependence between the topography and plant existence, the Akaike information criterion (AIC) is used. The methods are applied to data of the microtopography and distribution of mosses in continental Antarctica.     

Meteor Orbit Determinations with Multistatic Receivers Using the MU Radar

The MU radar of RISH (Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University), which is a MST radar (46.5 MHz, 1 MW peak power), has been successfully applied to meteor studies by using its very high versatility. The system has recently renewed with 25 channel digital receivers which significantly improved the sensitivity and precision of interferometer used in meteor observation. The transmission is now synchronized to GPS signals, and two external receiving sites with a ranging capability has additionally been operated in order to determine the trajectories and speeds of meteoroids.     

Large‐scale erosion and overbank deposition caused by the July 2013 flood of the Abu River,Yamaguchi City,Japan

This paper reports on the erosion, transport, and deposition processes associated with an overbank deposit formed by the flooding of the Abu River on July 28, 2013, in Yamaguchi City, Japan. At the study site, river flows overtopped the levee revetment upstream of a meander bend cutting it off and flowing back into the main channel downstream. In this sequential process, it deposited large amounts of sediments, ranging from mud to cobbles, on the floodplain. The surface of paddy fields adjacent to a railway line, located at the center of the affected floodplain, was severely eroded by the flood flows. Overbank deposits composed of both upstream finer sediments and eroded coarser terrestrial sediments are laid down in the affected area. Large amounts of pebbles and cobbles originating from the eroded terrestrial area formed a gravelly pile on top of the sand and gravel sediments derived from the river. This finding indicates that sands and gravels were deposited prior to the formation of the gravelly pile, probably before and during peak flood flows. An inverse grading structure is evident in the lower to middle part of these comparatively thick deposits, most likely due to differences in transport pattern between entrained terrestrial gravels and upstream finer sediments.     

Temporal variations in the abundance and sinking flux of diatoms under fast ice in summer near Syowa Station, East Antarctica

To investigate the fate of ice algae released from sea ice, we investigated the abundance, species composition, and sinking flux of diatoms in the water column under fast ice near Syowa Station, Antarctica during the summer of 2005/2006. The diatom assemblage in the water column consisted of chain-forming planktonic species, in contrast to the under-ice assemblage dominated by pennate species reported from this site in the past; this dissimilarity suggests the presence of an unconsolidated platelet ice layer under the congelation ice, within which planktonic species can bloom. Among the dominant diatoms, Porosira pseudodenticulata and Pseudo-nitzschia cf. turgiduloides were dominant in the water column, and their water column stocks were higher than their mass sedimentation. These species apparently maintain their populations in the surface layer, as their production remains in the water column. In contrast, Fragilariopsis kerguelensis and Thalassiosira australis were scarce in the water column but rich in the flux, indicating active sinking and export of their production to the benthic ecosystem. This distinction in buoyancy control and sinking characteristics of the dominant diatoms on release from the fast ice influences the diatom species composition and carbon flow under the ice.     

Chaos in cosmic ray air showers

Unexpected chaotic features are found in time series of arrival time intervals of successive air showers with (E > 3 × 10¹⁴ eV). Over 99 % of air shower arrival time intervals obey the Poisson distribution law representing stochastic behaviors, but occasionally there are air showers showing real chaotic behaviors as distinguished from both random and colored noises. With two systems of the Kinki university installations, we found 13 cases showing chaotic time series in 3.36 yr with the system-1 and the 1.37 yr with the system-2. Five out of 10 chaotic air showers of the Kinki installation are detected during the same time zone also by the Osaka City university installation which is at 115 km distance from the Kinki one. In a remarkable example of September 19, 1991, the correlation dimension was observed to have dropped from about 4 to the minimum of 1.3 and recovered smoothly in about 38 h. The chaos structure in this case is detected in nearly the same time zone at the Ohya station of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, which is separated from the Kinki one by 460 km. Formation of chaos structure due to energetic cosmic ray dust particles is suggested. Progress of cosmic ray physics may be expected with the study of air showers marked with chaos.     

The influence of the equatorial anomaly on the ground reception of non-ducted whistlers at low latitudes

It is the purpose of this paper to study whether the non-ducted propagation in the inner plasmasphere in the presence of the equatorial anomaly might be relevant to daytime whistlers observed on the ground at low latitudes. Realistic models of the equatorial anomaly simulating the satellite observations have been incorporated in the ray tracing computations. It is found that there are two different non-ducted modes able to penetrate through the ionosphere onto the ground; (1) whispering gallery mode around the anomaly field line which is trapped just by the outer boundary of the anomaly, and (2) pro-longitudinal (PL) mode at a latitude around 30° which is supported by the horizontal gradient in the tail of the anomaly. These modes may provide a new interpretation for some whistlers observed on the ground. The properties of these modes are examined in detail and then compared with those of ducted propagation. This study may be useful for distinguishing the propagation mode in future ground-based experiments.