The role of damped equatorial waves in the oceanic response to winds

In inviscid shallow water models currents generated by spatially uniform winds are transient and are eliminated by Rossby and equatorial Kelvin waves excited at the eastern and western coasts, respectively. The inclusion of mixing processes can lead to an entirely different steady state in which currents are present. It is shown that the mixing of heat affects the steady state more than does the mixing of momentum because the waves that are important in the oceanic adjustment are divergent.     

Uptake of plutonium from seawater and sediment by a marine polychaete worm

The results of the uptake of plutonium 239 from sediment by a marine polychaete wormNereis diversicolor is reported in the present paper. A comparison is made of the relative importance of two possible uptake pathways, sediment and seawater by which this worm may obtain its plutonium body-burden. Under the laboratory conditions used for the comparison of those two routes it would appear thatNereis obtains greater than 98% of its body activity from seawater.     

Estimation of the leeway drift of small craft

Small craft (<6·4 m) leeway is determined as a function of the wind speed in the range of 5–20 knots (3·6–10·3 m/sec). Leeway is calculated relative to the surface current by measurement of the separation distance of the small craft from a dyed patch of surface water at sea, using time-sequenced aerial photography. Leeway increases linearly with wind speed for small craft equipped with or without a sea anchor in the wind range studied. Leeway for small craft without sea anchor can be calculated from the equation U_L = 0.07 U_W + 0.04 where U_W is the wind speed at 2 m elevation. Leeway for small craft drifted off the be calculated from the equation U_LD = 0·05 U_W − 0·12. The small craft drifted off the downwind direction in about 80% of the experiments. The drift angle is variable and difficult to predict.     

Improved in situ gamma-ray transmission densitometer for marine sediments

The first-generation University of Illinois gamma-ray transmission densitometer, designed for the in situ measurement of sediment bulk density, was modified by incorporating in the detector probe (1) an Americium-241 alpha particle pulser and an anti-walk gain stabilization control to maintain better temperature stability and (2) a small power supply and a IC preamplifier to eliminate the need for a high-voltage coaxial cable between the detector and external signal conditioning electronics package. This second-generation Lehigh University system has been successfully deployed since 1971 in routine use from ships and submersibles in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. Results are presented of system operations to (1) measure bulk density over the range of 1.2–1.8 Mg/m³ in the Hudson Canyon, (2) penetrate 1.9 m into the seafloor in the San Diego trough and, (3) be lowered to a water depth of 3.6 km in the Gulf of Mexico.     

Evaporative weathering of petroleum residues: The age of pelagic tar

The rate of evaporative weathering of a component of crude oil residue is assumed to be proportional to its equilibrium vapor pressure and to the amount remaining in the sample. This model is tested using literature data on normal paraffin profiles of crude oil weathered artificially and gas chromatographic data on crude oil residues weathered on rocky shores. Semiquantitative agreement over the time range from 1 to 400 days is demonstrated. Application of the model to gas chromatograms of pelagic tar lumps collected at Station S near Bermuda in 1972 implies that most of these lumps were formed by fragmentation of much larger and older masses, some within less than one day of the time they were collected. The weathering of pelagic tar thus involves a great deal more physical fragmentation than was previously supposed.     

A pockmark field in the Patras Gulf (Greece) and its activation during the 14/7/93 seismic event

During a recent oceanographical-geophysical survey carried out in the southeastern part of the Gulf of Patras in Western Greece for the construction of an outfall, an active pockmark field was found. The pockmark field was formed in soft layered Holocene silts. The pockmarks are associated with acoustic anomalies attributed to gas-charged sediments. The pockmarks vary in size and shape from 25 to 250 m in diameter and from 0.5 to 15 m in depth and are among the largest and deepest observed in the world.

On July 14th, 1993, during the survey, a major earthquake of magnitude 5.4 on the Richter scale occurred in the area. During the 24 hour period prior to the earthquake the bottom water temperature anomalously increased on three occasions, whilst for a few days after the earthquake it was noted that the majority of the pockmarks were venting gas bublles.

It is considered that the three abrupt sea-water temperature increases were probably the result of upward migrating high-temperature gas bubbles in the water column. It is further suggested that the earthquake was the triggering mechanism and that the gas expulsion was caused by the reduction in the pore volume in the sediments resulting from changes in the stress regime prior to the earthquake. Therefore, it can be suggested that in seismic areas adjacent to pockmark fields, earthquake prediction may be achieved by monitoring the water temperature and/or the rate of gas venting in the pockmark field.

Our analysis indicates that the pockmark field in the Patras Gulf has formed slowly during the Holocene by continuous gas venting, which is periodically being interrupted by short-duration events of enhanced gas seepage triggered by earthquakes.