Modern modes of provenance and dispersal of terrigenous sediments in the North Pacific and Bering Sea: implications and perspectives for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

During expedition 202 aboard the RV Sonne in 2009, 39 seafloor surface sediment sites were sampled over a wide sector of the North Pacific and adjoining Bering Sea. The data served to infer land–ocean linkages of terrigenous sediment supply in terms of major sources and modes of sediment transport within an over-regional context. This is based on an integrated approach dealing with grain-size analysis, bulk mineralogy and clay mineralogy in combination with statistical data evaluation (end-member modelling of grain-size data, fuzzy cluster analysis of mineralogical data). The findings on clay mineralogy served to update those of earlier work extracted from the literature. Today, two processes of terrigenous sediment supply prevail in the study area: far-distance aeolian sediment supply to the pelagic North Pacific, and hemipelagic sediment dispersal from nearby land sources via ocean currents along the continental margins and island arcs. Aeolian particles show the finest grain sizes (clay and fine silt), whereas hemipelagic sediments have high abundances of coarse silt. Exposed sites on seamounts and the continental slope are partly swept by strong currents, leading to residual enrichment of fine sand. Four sediment sources can be distinguished on the basis of distinct index minerals revealed by statistical data analysis: dust plumes from central Asia (quartz, illite), altered materials from the volcanic regions of Kamchatka and the Aleutian Arc (smectite), detritus from the Alaskan Cordillera (chlorite, hornblende), and fluvial detritus from far-eastern Siberia and the Alaska mainland (quartz, feldspar, illite). These findings confirm those of former studies but considerably expand the geographic range of this suite of proxies as far south as 39°N in the open North Pacific. The present integrated methodological approach proved useful in identifying the major modern processes of terrigenous sediment supply to the study region. This aspect deserves attention in the selection of sediment core sites for future palaeoenvironmental reconstructions related to aeolian and glacial dynamics, as well as the recognition of palaeo-ocean circulation patterns in general.     

Experimental study of nonlinear behaviors of a free-floating body in waves

Nonlinear behaviors of a free-floating body in waves were experimentally investigated in the present study. The experiments were carried out for 6 different wave heights and 6 different wave periods to cover a relatively wide range of wave nonlinearities. A charge-coupled device (CCD) camera was used to capture the real-time motion of the floating body. The measurement data show that the sway, heave and roll motions of the floating body are all harmonic oscillations while the equilibrium position of the sway motion drifts in the wave direction. The drift speed is proportional to wave steepness when the size of the floating body is comparable to the wavelength, while it is proportional to the square of wave steepness when the floating body is relatively small. In addition, the drift motion leads to a slightly longer oscillation period of the floating body than the wave period of nonlinear wave and the discrepancy increases with the increment of wave steepness.     

基于动态极值理论和Copula函数的极端海平面高度预测建模

全球气候变化背景下,海平面上升是一个潜在的重大风险,为防范气候灾害,应对极端气象海洋事件,需客观、定量地对未来极端海平面变化进行科学预测。为此,基于Copula函数和动态极值分析理论,综合考虑平均海平面变化(包括垂直陆地运动和基准的局地变化)与潮、涌、浪等其他气候变化的增水对极端海平面高度的影响,采用DREAM方法改进Bayes推断对动态极值模型的参数空间估计问题,提出一种新的模型对未来极端海平面高度变化进行预测,旨在改进传统模型存在的不确定性问题,并运用该模型对气候变化背景下厦门地区未来35年的海平面变化情景进行了模型应用和实验模拟。     

Production and Certification of Synthetic Selenium Isotopic Reference Materials

Due to intensive research into selenium isotopes in recent years, the increasing requirement for reliable and comparable measurement results has created a strong demand for selenium isotopic certified reference materials (iCRM) that were previously not available. To address this, eleven selenium iCRMs were developed, including ten synthetic iCRMs (GBW 04447–GBW 04456) and one natural iCRM (GBW 04457). The synthetic iCRMs were prepared with ⁷⁶Se, ⁷⁸Se, ⁸⁰Se and ⁸²Se solutions and a natural selenium solution; the natural iCRM was prepared with highly pure selenium material. The property values of isotope ratios in these iCRMs were certified by calibrated mass spectrometry with a collision cell multi‐collector ICP‐MS. The mass discrimination effect of the instrument was corrected with corresponding ⁷⁸Se/⁷⁶Se isotope mixtures and ⁸²Se/⁷⁶Se isotope mixtures, which were gravimetrically prepared with purified, isotopically enriched selenium materials. Homogeneity and stability tests were performed, and no significant influences were found. The uncertainty of the property values of the iCRMs was evaluated according to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) of ISO/BIPM and ISO Guide 35. The δ^82/76Se value of GBW 04457 relative to NIST SRM 3149 was also calculated. These iCRMs are intended for use in calibration of instruments and evaluation of methods for the determination of selenium isotope ratios.