Effects of variable winds on biological productivity on continental shelves in coastal upwelling systems

The production and distribution of biological material in wind-driven coastal upwelling systems are of global importance, yet they remain poorly understood. Production is frequently presumed to be proportional to upwelling rate, yet high winds can lead to advective losses from continental shelves, where many species at higher trophic levels reside. An idealized mixed-layer conveyor (MLC) model of biological production from constant upwelling winds demonstrated previously that the amount of new production available to shelf species increased with upwelling at low winds, but declined at high winds [Botsford, L.W., Lawrence, C.A., Dever, E.P., Hastings, A., Largier, J., 2003. Wind strength and biological productivity in upwelling systems: an idealized study. Fisheries Oceanography 12, 245–259]. Here we analyze the response of this model to time-varying winds for parameter values and observed winds from the Wind Events and Shelf Transport (WEST) study region. We compare this response to the conventional view that the results of upwelling are proportional to upwelled volume. Most new production per volume upwelled available to shelf species occurs following rapid increases in shelf transit time due to decreases in wind (i.e. relaxations). However, on synoptic, event time-scales shelf production is positively correlated with upwelling rate. This is primarily due to the effect of synchronous periods of low values in these time series, paradoxically due to wind relaxations. On inter-annual time-scales, computing model production from wind forcing from 20 previous years shows that these synchronous periods of low values have little effect on correlations between upwelling and production. Comparison of model production from 20 years of wind data over a range of shelf widths shows that upwelling rate will predict biological production well only in locations where cross-shelf transit times are greater than the time required for phytoplankton or zooplankton production. For stronger mean winds (narrower shelves), annual production falls below the peak of constant wind prediction [Botsford et al., 2003. Wind strength and biological productivity in upwelling systems: an idealized study. Fisheries Oceanography 12, 245–259], then as winds increase further (shelves become narrower) production does not decline as steeply as the constant wind prediction.     

The impact of wave loads and pore-water pressure generation on initiation of sediment transport

The build-up of pore-water pressure by waves can lead to sediment liquefaction and subsequent transport by traction currents. This process was investigated by measuring pore-water pressures both in a field experiment and laboratory wave tank tests. Liquefaction was observed in the wave tank tests. The results suggest that sand is less susceptible than silts to wave-induced liquefaction because of the tendency to partially dissipate pore-water pressures. However, previous studies have determined that pore-water pressures must approach liquefaction before current velocities necessary to initiate transport are reduced. Once liquefaction has occurred more sediment can be transported.     

Chlorinated hydrocarbons in seawater: Analytical method and levels in the northeastern Pacific

A method is described for analyzing nanogram quantities of chlorinated hydrocarbons from 1-1 samples of seawater. Seawater samples are pumped through a copper column containing a mixture by weight of 5% activated carbon powder, 10% MgO and 85% refined diatomaceous earth. The chlorinated hydrocarbons in the seawater are adsorbed or trapped on the column and subsequently eluted with 30% benzene in acetone (v/v) for analysis by gas-liquid chromatography.This procedure was used to analyze chlorinated hydrocarbon levels in samples collected off the southern California coast. We suggest that anthropogenic chlorinated hydrocarbons can be used for the investigation of large-scale ocean currents and mixing processes.     

Multi-AUV Control and Adaptive Sampling in Monterey Bay

Operations with multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have a variety of underwater applications. For example, a coordinated group of vehicles with environmental sensors can perform adaptive ocean sampling at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. We describe a methodology for cooperative control of multiple vehicles based on virtual bodies and artificial potentials (VBAP). This methodology allows for adaptable formation control and can be used for missions such as gradient climbing and feature tracking in an uncertain environment. We discuss our implementation on a fleet of autonomous underwater gliders and present results from sea trials in Monterey Bay in August, 2003. These at-sea demonstrations were performed as part of the Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN) II project     

A random walk model for simulating simultaneous currents at several depths

Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is used in conjunction with Markov chains to generate simultaneous current time series at several depths with a random walk model. Duration statistics and probability distributions for EOF modes obtained from real data are used to generate transition probability matrices for the random walk model. New time series of EOF modes are generated, and then combined to produce current time series. The technique has been tested on data from Haltenbanken. Statistical properties of real and simulated time series were compared. Results indicate that the model is acceptable as a tool in simulating current time series to be used in offshore operation models.     

Sea Grant in Latin America?: Adapting the US Sea Grant model of linked applied research,extension, and education to a Latin American Context—Is there a fit?

This paper explores the application of the US Sea Grant model of applied research, extension, and education to two case studies in Latin America: Coastal Ecuador and the Gulf of Fonseca. The analysis is based on a series of meetings and roundtables with in-country partners and leaders of the US Sea Grant program. We conclude that the Sea Grant model provides an institutional structure that Latin America lacks and the model's features would improve governance of marine and coastal resources through more effective linkages between coastal communities, universities, and policy/decision makers at local, national, and international levels.     

A new titanium-bearing calcium aluminosilicate phase: II. Crystallography and crystal chemistry of grains formed in slowly cooled melts with bulk compositions of calcium- aluminum-rich inclusions

Abstract The crystallography and crystal chemistry of a new calcium-titanium-aluminosilicate mineral (UNK) observed in synthetic analogs to calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) from carbonaceous chondrites was studied by electron diffraction techniques. The unit cell is primitive hexagonal or trigonal, with a = 0.790 ± 0.002 nm and c = 0.492 ± 0.002 nm, similar to the lattice parameters of melilite and consistent with cell dimensions for crystals in a mixer furnace slag described by Barber and Agrell (1994). The phase frequently displays an epitactic relationship in which melilite acts as the host, with (0001)_UNK | (001)_mel and <10T0>_UNK | <100>_mel. If one of the two space groups determined by Barber and Agrell (1994) for their sample of UNK is applicable (P3ml or P31m), then the structure is probably characterized by puckered sheets of octahedra and tetrahedra perpendicular to the c-axis with successive sheets coordinated by planar arrays of Ca. In this likely structure, each unit cell contains three Ca sites located in mirror planes, one octahedrally coordinated cation located along a three-fold axis and five tetrahedrally coordinated cations, three in mirrors and two along triads. The octahedron contains Ti but, because there are 1.3–1.9 cations of Ti/formula unit, some of the Ti must also be in tetrahedral coordination, an unusual but not unprecedented situation for a silicate. Tetrahedral sites in mirror planes would contain mostly Si, with lesser amounts of Al while those along the triads correspondingly contain mostly Al with subordinate Ti. The structural formula, therefore, can be expressed as with Si + Ti = 4. Compositions of meteoritic and synthetic Ti-bearing samples of the phase can be described in terms of a binary solid solution between the end-members Ca₃TiAl₂Si₃O₁₄ and Ca₃Ti(AlTi)(AlSi₂)O₁₄. A Ti-free analog with a formula of Ca₃Al₂Si₄O₁₄ synthesized by Paque et al. (1994) is thought to be related structurally but with the octahedral site being occupied by Al, that is      

Water ice polymorphs and their significance on planetary surfaces

Impacts into an icy surface could produce significant amounts of high pressure forms of water ice. Due to the relatively low ambient surface temperatures on satellites in the outer solar system and the modest temperature rises accompanying the impact pressures required for water ice metamorphism, high-pressure polymorphs will be created by and may remain after large cratering events. If so, those high-pressure ices should be ubiquitous. Low-pressure cubic ice may be abundant as well. Impacts into an icy regolith may both produce high-pressure polymorphs from ice I and destroy high-pressure polymorphs already present. The result will be an (unknown) equilibrium concentration of high pressure polymorphs in the regolith. Polymorphs may be detectable and mappable by reflection spectroscopy at vacuum ultraviolet and mid-infrared wavelengths.     

Atmospheric water vapor flux,bifurcation of the thermohaline circulation,and climate change

Latitudinal heat transport in the ocean and atmosphere represents a fundamental process of the Earth's climate system. The ocean component of heat transport is effected by the thermohaline circulation. Changes in this circulation, and hence latitudinal heat transport, would have a significant effect on global climate. Paleoclimate evidence from the Greenland ice cores and deep sea sediment cores suggests that during much of glacial time the climate system oscillated between two different states. Bimodal equilibrium states of the thermohaline circulation have been demonstrated in climate models. We address the question of the role of the atmospheric hydrological cycle on the global thermohaline circulation and the feedback to the climate system through changes in the ocean's latitudinal heat transport, with a simple coupled ocean-atmosphere energy-salt balance model. Two components of the atmospheric hydrological cycle, i.e., latitudinal water vapor transport and the net flux of water vapor from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean appear to play separate roles. If the inter-basin transport is sufficiently large, small changes in water vapor transport over the North Atlantic can effect bifurcation or a rapid transition between two different equilibria in the global thermohaline circulation; maximum difference between the modes occurs in the North Atlantic. If the inter-basin transport is from the Pacific to the Atlantic and sufficiently large, latitudinal vapor transport in the North Pacific controls the bifurcations, with maximum changes occurring in the North Pacific. For intermediate values of inter-basin transport, no rapid transitions occur in either basin. In the regime with vapor flux from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the on mode has strong production of deep water in the North Atlantic and a large flux of heat to the atmosphere from the high latitude North Atlantic. The off mode has strong deep water production in the Southern Ocean and weak production in the North Pacific. Heat transport into the high latitude North Atlantic by the ocean is reduced to about 20% of the on mode value. For estimated values of water vapor transport for the present climate the model asserts that while water vapor transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean is sufficiently large to make the North Atlantic the dominant region for deep water production, latitudinal water vapor transport is sufficiently low that the thermohaline circulation appears stable, i.e., far from a bifurcation point. This conclusion is supported to some extent by the fact that the high latitude temperature of the atmosphere as recorded in the Greenland ice cores has changed little over the last 9000 years.