Variations of antioxidant efficiency and presence of endosymbiotic diatoms in the Antarctic porifera Haliclona dancoi

The role of endosymbiotic diatoms as pro-oxidant stressors in porifera has been investigated in the Antarctic sponge Haliclona dancoi in which the presence of diatoms is influenced by marked seasonal variations during the austral summer. Both chlorophaeopigments and frustules were absent in sponge tissues sampled in early November at the beginning of the summer and increased from the mid of December with slightly shifted temporal trends. The efficiency of antioxidant defenses in the sponge showed a marked response to symbionts with clearly enhanced values corresponding to the peak of diatoms.     

Harpacticoida taxocen diversity in the silty-sandy littoral zone of Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea

The fauna composition, ecological groups, and life forms of Harpacticoids of soft littoral grounds from 15 sites off the Karelian coast in Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea were studied. Six types of harpacticoid taxocens with different sets of dominating species are described. On silty sands with clear signs of desalination, the Stenchelia palustris taxocen is common; medium-grained sands are characterized by the Heterolaophonte minuta, Paraleptastacus kliei — Huntemannia jadensis, and Amphiascoides nanus — Scottopsyllus minor taxocens; while on coarse sands, the Ameira parvula and Ameira scotti — Mesochra lilljeborgi taxocens have developed. The diversity of the taxocens is partly explained by the differences in the grain-size composition and salinity at different sites. In addition, groups of various taxocens dwelling on the same type of the sediments were found in different minor bights of the coastline.     

Algorithm for non-hydrostatic dynamics in the Regional Oceanic Modeling System

A non-hydrostatic algorithm for the Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) is proposed. It is based on a decomposition technique for hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic pressure. The algorithm has a pressure-correction scheme with split-explicit time-stepping for baroclinic and barotropic vertical modes with a free surface. The algorithm implementation requires solving a Poisson equation for a non-hydrostatic pressure that has a non-symmetric matrix in discrete form. The efficiency of a different class of solvers and preconditioners were tested. The algorithm is successfully implemented with several examples where non-hydrostatic effects are important. These include standing external gravity waves; strongly nonlinear internal wave generation and transformation; stratified shear instability and its associated mixing; and nonlinear internal tidal generation over a ridge. The corresponding changes in the pre-processing and post-processing infrastructure in the existing hydrostatic ROMS code were performed to implement parallel elliptic solvers and a new set of dynamical equations.     

The wadic project: A comprehensive field evaluation of directional wave instrumentation

The results of a comprehensive field trial of nearly all commercially available directional wave measurement systems at the Edda field in the North Sea during winter 1985-86 are presented. The results summarize the accuracy of the principal engineering wave parameters from each system and the dependence on sea state. Limiting factors on system performance and operational problems are also included in the assessment. Overall experience has been good with systems utilizing widely different measurement principles returning consistent results.     

The choice of a dynamico-stochastic model for ocean monitoring — A compromise between the accuracy and cost of computations

In this paper we compare, two dynamico-stochastic models (DSMs) with different hydrodynamic parts, designed to study a large-scale North Atlantic region. As a performance criterion, RMS errors (over the horizon) in density and velocity field reconstruction are used. It has been shown that in some cases it seems rational to use DSMs with simplified hydrodynamic parts. This helps to expedite the computations and to reduce the related costs without much detriment to the quality of hydrophysical field simulation.UDK 551.465.001.573(261.1).Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.