Experimental studies on the slowly varying drift motion of a berthed container ship model

The effects of free-surface waves on the floating structures are of great importance in the offshore industry. Among the six degrees of motions of a surface ship the absence of restoring forces in surge, sway and yaw led to critical situations for moored ships in the recent times. The order of forces in horizontal plane and their exciting frequencies are matters of interest. The resonance with the presence of moored chains led to many accidents in the recent past. The lines in dry conditions may not give good damping and in wet condition they may trigger the system to chaotic motions and jumps. Two different loading conditions of a container ship model are tested with waves in laboratory conditions in two different drafts. The mooring lines are chosen as per scale law and the energy under the response spectrum is determined from the plots. The results give new insights into the movement of a berthed ships subjected to waves. Response of the moored ship to different loading conditions in different water depths are discussed in this paper. The paper gives the order of energy due to first-order and slowly varying movement of a berthed container model in a towing tank.     

Electronic atlas of the Russian Arctic coastal zone

A set of digital maps including geology, Quaternary sediments, landscapes, engineering-geological, vegetation, geocryological and the series of regional sources have been selected to characterize the Russian Arctic coast. Based on this data, new maps of engineering geocryological zoning and zoning of the coast with respect to the intensity of exogenous geological processes and risk of technogenic impacts have been generated at the scales of 1:4,000,000–1:8,000,000. These maps are a tool to assess the impact of industry on the Arctic coast of the country.     

Target echo enhancement using a single-element time reversal mirror

Iterative Time Reversal (TR) procedures have been demonstrated to be successful in detecting scatterers even in a highly reverberant environment. The success of the method is attributable to a Time Reversal Mirror (TRM) consisting of an array of transceivers that allows one to reconstruct and reverse-propagate wavefronts of interest. This paper deals with the limiting case of a TRM reduced to a single transceiver, tested using a tank experiment with three scattering objects in free-field conditions. It is shown that it is possible to excite a resonance between the TR operator and the strongest mode of the target in the bandwidth of insonification. A simple free-field scattering model is used to study the mechanisms of convergence and to drive the physics-based analysis of data.     

Surface circulation of the Levantine Basin: Comparison of model results with observations

The eastern Mediterranean (Levantine Basin) hydrography and circulation are investigated by comparing the results of a high-resolution primitive equation model with observations. After a 10-year integration, the model is able to reproduce the major water masses and the circulation patterns of the eastern Mediterranean. Comparisons with the POEM hydrographical observations show good agreement. The vertical distribution of the water masses matches that of the observations quite well in terms of monthly mean. The model surface circulation is in agreement with circulation schemes derived from recent observations. Some well-known mesoscale features of the upper thermocline circulation are also realistically reproduced. In agreement with satellite observations, the model shows that high-energy mesoscale eddies dominate the upper thermocline circulation in the southern and the central parts of the Levantine Basin. Most of the Atlantic Water follows the north African coast and forms a strong coastal jet near the Libyan coast rather than forming the Mid-Mediterranean Jet described by several authors. The sub-basin circulation shows a strong seasonal signal. A strong and stable current flows along the isobaths in winter, becoming weaker and with more meanders in summer. The mesoscale eddies throughout the whole basin are more energetic in summer than in winter.     

Dynamic-Stochastic Modeling of Natural Processes

We propose a method for the construction of dynamic-stochastic models of natural systems based on the assimilation of the data of observations in the prognostic equations of coupled processes. In these models, the method of adaptive balance of causes is used to deduce evolutionary equations of the analyzed processes and assimilate the data of observations in these equations. The deduced general equations are considered for an example of a marine ecosystem characterized by the development of four coupled processes. It is shown that the optimal prediction of these processes requires the solution of 11 systems of equations with simultaneous adaptation of prognostic estimates and the coefficients of the models to the data of observations. A numerical simulation experiment explaining the algorithm of the proposed method of modeling is considered. A conclusion is made that the application of this method in the geoinformation systems of monitoring of the environment is quite promising.__________Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 6, pp. 31–42, November–December, 2004.     

Method and results of assimilation of climatic data on temperature,salinity, and sea level into a numerical model of the Black Sea

A method for combined assimilation of climatic hydrologic fields of temperature, salinity, and the climatic dynamic level of the Black Sea into a model of sea dynamics is proposed. The monthly mean fields of the dynamic sea level were obtained from the results of assimilation of satellite altimetry data into the model. The statistical characteristics of errors in the forecasts of the level, salinity, and temperature were assumed to be proportional to the statistical characteristics of the differences between monthly mean climatic fields of temperature, salinity, and sea level calculated by means of assimilating altimetry observations of the sea level and analogous climatic hydrologic fields. The climatic fields of currents are reconstructed and analyzed. The assimilation of the climatic altimetry level allows the reproduction (in current fields) of quasi-stationary synoptic anticyclonic eddies located along the periphery of the Black Sea Rim Current.     

An experimental study on non-linear progressive wave-induced dynamic stresses in seabed

In this study, the dynamic stresses within the seabed induced by non-linear progressive waves were explored through a series of hydraulic model tests on a movable bed within a wave flume. By comparing Stokes’ 2nd-order wave theory with the theory of wave-induced dynamic stresses within the seabed as proposed by Yamamoto et al. [1978. On the response of a poro-elastic bed to water waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 87 (1), 193–206.] and Hsu and Jeng [1994. Wane-induced soil response in an unsaturated anisotropic seabed of finite thickness. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 18, 785–807], the experimental results show that the pressure on the seabed surface, the pore water pressure within the seabed as well as the vertical and the horizontal stresses are all smaller than their theoretical values. If we were to obtain the characteristics of seabed soil, the analytical solution of Hsu and Jeng [1994. Wane-induced soil response in an unsaturated anisotropic seabed of finite thickness. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 18, 785–807] might agree to the simulation of the wave-induced effective stresses and shear stress in the sandy seabed. A different phase shift exists among all the three soil stresses. Their influences on the three dynamic stresses within seabed soil are important for seabed stability, and can be used in the verification of numerical models. In the whole, the non-linear progressive waves and the naturally deposited seabed are found to have a strong interaction, and the behavior of the induced dynamic stresses within the seabed is very complicated, and should be investigated integrally.     

Study of the seawater transparency field in the Crimea-Caucasus shelf area

This paper discussesin situ observational data on the directed light attenuation index in the near-surface layer, collected in September 1987. The absolute light attenuation index has been evaluated for a near-shore strip of water 10–15 miles in width. When multidisciplinary research is conducted in the open sea, this part of the sea surface remains unstudied, as the observational grid for it is made larger than the spatial-temporal parameters of the biophysical processes producing optical inhomogeneities.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

On geostrophic reference levels in the Bering Sea basin

Various data sets in the deep Bering Sea are examined in an effort to find suitable reference levels for geostrophic transport computations. Because of the lack of other data, classical methods are used: mainly vertical structure of differences in geopotential (method of Defant) and mass conservation. In the western Bering Sea, maximum transports are usually, but not always, obtained by using reference levels near the bottom. In the central region, there is considerable variability, both spatial and temporal, in the depth of the most suitable reference level, which varies from 500 to at least 1500 db. The variations seem to be related to depth of inflow in the passes, to near-surface salinity gradients, and to features such as upward movement of water or well-developed eddies.