A comparison of biological trends from four marine ecosystems: Synchronies, differences, and commonalities

Major features of four marine ecosystems were analyzed based on a broad range of fisheries-associated datasets and a suite of oceanographic surveys. The ecosystems analyzed included the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, the Norwegian/Barents Seas in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, and the eastern Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. We examined survey trends in major fish abundances, total system fish biomass, and zooplankton biomasses. We standardized each time series and examined trends and anomalies over time, using both time series and cross-correlational statistical methods. We compared dynamics of functionally analogous species from each of these four ecosystems. Major commonalities among ecosystems included a relatively stable amount of total fish biomass and the importance of large calanoid copepods, small pelagic fishes and gadids. Some of the changes in these components were synchronous across ecosystems. Major differences between ecosystems included gradients in the magnitude of total fish biomass, commercial fish biomass, and the timing of major detected events. This work demonstrates the value of comparative analysis across a wide range of marine ecosystems, suggestive of very few but none-the-less detectable common features across all northern hemisphere ocean systems.     

The Southwest Atlantic intertidal burrowing crab Neohelice granulata modifies nutrient loads of phreatic waters entering coastal area

Along the coastal areas of the Southwest Atlantic estuaries and embayments, phreatic water often circulates through very extended areas (up to several hundred meters perpendicular to the coast), dominated by dense assemblages of deep burrows of the crab Neohelice granulata (formerly Chasmagnathus granulatus). This crab inhabits the intertidal area, from mudflats to marshes vegetated by species of Spartina, Sarcocornia and Juncus, generating extensive burrowing beds where burrow density may reach up to 60 burrows m⁻². Since the lower limit of the crab burrows is usually the water table, we investigated through field experiments the effect of N. granulata and their burrows on the chemical characteristics of this phreatic water. Water analysis from experimental (1) occupied burrows (with crabs), (2) unoccupied burrows (where crabs were excluded), and (3) sediment pore water show remarkable differences. Water oxygenation, and nitrate, ammonium and sulphate concentrations inside occupied burrows were higher than in the water inside unoccupied burrows or pore waters. Moreover, directed sampling of phreatic water entering and leaving the crab bed, shows that dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration is enhanced as the water crosses the crab bed. These results may be ascribed to the fact that in the salt marsh the crabs spend most of their time within burrows, where presumably they store food (plants) and defecate. These activities generate an area of accumulation of excrements and nutrients in different decomposition states. The present work shows a novel way by which bioturbating organisms can affect nutrients exportation from salt marshes to the open waters.     

Fundamental frequency of tapered plates by the method of eigensensitivity analysis

The fundamental frequency of a rectangular isotropic plate having a linear thickness variation is computed using the method of eigensensitivity analysis. The approach incorporates eigen derivatives to evaluate a Maclaurin series representation of the desired eigenvalue, here the fundamental frequency. Comparison with published results, for various taper ratios, aspect ratios, and support conditions, demonstrates the accuracy and utility of the expression and methodology.     

Predicting the optical properties of the West Florida Shelf: resolving the potential impacts of a terrestrial boundary condition on the distribution of colored dissolved and particulate matter

Predicting the distribution of Inherent Optical Properties (IOPs) in the water column requires predicting the physical, chemical, biological, and optical interactions in a common framework that facilitates feedback responses. This work focuses on the development of ecological and optical interaction equations embedded in a 2D hindcast model of the shallow water optical properties on the West Florida Shelf (WFS) during late summer/fall of 1998. This 2D simulation of the WFS includes one case with a Loop Current intrusion above the 40-m isobath and one with the Loop Current intrusion in addition to a periodic terrestrial nutrient supply below the 10-m isobath. The ecological and optical interaction equations are an expansion of a previously developed model for open ocean conditions (Bissett, W.P., Carder, K.L., Walsh, J.J., Dieterle, D.A., 1999a. Carbon cycling in the upper waters of the Sargasso Sea: II. Numerical simulation of apparent and inherent optical properties. Deep-Sea Research, Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 46 (2), 271–317; Bissett, W.P., Walsh, J.J., Dieterle, D.A., Carder, K.L., 1999b. Carbon cycling in the upperwaters of the Sargasso Sea: I. Numerical simulation of differential carbon and nitrogen fluxes. Deep-Sea Research, Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 46 (2), 205–269). The expansion includes an increase in the number of elemental pools to include silica, phosphorus, and iron, an increase in the number of phytoplankton functional groups, and a redevelopment of the Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) and Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) interaction equations. It was determined from this simulation that while the Loop Current alone was able to predict the water column conditions present during the summer, the Loop Current alone was not enough to simulate the magnitude of optical constituents present in the fall of 1998 when compared to satellite imagery. Simulating terrestrial inorganic and organic nutrients and CDOM pulses coinciding with significant meteorological events and high freshwater pulses released from the major rivers feeding the WFS were required to accurately predict the distribution and scale of the inherent optical properties at the surface during the fall months. Modeling the in situ light field for phytoplankton growth and community competition requires addressing the CDOM optical constituent explicitly. The majority of the annually modeled CDOM on WFS was created via in situ production; however, it was also rapidly removed via advection and photochemical destruction. A pulse of terrestrial nutrient and organic color was required to simulate the dramatic changes in surface color seen in satellite imagery on the WFS. The dynamics of the biogeochemical portion of the simulation demonstrate the importance of nonstoichiometric supplies of terrestrial nutrients on the WFS to the prediction of nutrient and CDOM fluxes.     

Predicting seasonal ocean variability around New Zealand using a coupled ocean-atmosphere model

We present a first assessment of the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and 300m Heat Content (HC) ensemble mean skill of the Australian Community Climate and Earth-System Simulator-Seasonal v1.0 (ACCESS-S1) around New Zealand on seasonal timescales, using a set of retrospective ensemble forecasts for 1990-2012. This was verified against Reynolds AVHRR analysis and Bluelink ReANalysis 3.5 (BRAN3.5). For inshore areas with depth <300m, the model shows skill forecasting for summer at a lead time of 0 months, with 66% and 65% of model grid cells having correlation coefficients exceeding 0.6 for SST and 300m HC respectively. Regions of lower skill seem to be associated with the model representation of the complex and variable frontal systems around New Zealand, and an overly-strong response to the El Niño Southern-Oscillation (ENSO). Nevertheless, the skill of ACCESS-S1 around New Zealand suggests there is potential for the development of useful seasonal forecast products for the region.     

Collision of comets with meteoroids

Statistical analysis of the quantity of dust in the cometary atmosphere in relation to the direction of motion of the comet about the Sun suggests an excess of dust for the retrograde comets. This excess is analyzed in the light of Harwit's theory of the cloud of “boulders” and of Öpik's impact theory. A comparison is also made between these excesses and other cometary phenomena such as splittings and outbursts.