A note on the seafloor coupling characteristics of the new ONR ocean-bottom seismometer

A series of transient tests were conducted to determine the seafloor coupling characteristics of a new ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) developed for the United States Office of Naval Research (ONR). The OBS comprises a large recording package and a separate sensor package that is deployed from the recording package. In addition to the coupling characteristics of both the sensor and the recording packages, the seismic energy radiated from the main recording package as a result of motion of the recording package was measured. The observed vertical coupling resonances of both the recording package and the sensor package are in good agreement with those predicted by a simple model of soil-structure interaction. The most important result of this study is that significant energy is radiated from the recording package in response to horizontal motions of the recording package. When the sensor package is 1 m from the recording package, the amplitude of the recorded signal is similar to that recorded in the recording package. In the field, this effect will result in distortion of seismic signals and increased background noise recorded by the sensor package if the recording package is disturbed by seafloor currents or biological activity. The amplitude of this signal attenuates by approximately a factor of two as sensor/recorder separation is increased from 1 to 6 m, suggesting that an improved response can be achieved by increasing the separation between the recording package and the sensors. This effect is much less severe for vertical disturbances of the recording package.     

Airborne imagery of a disintegrating Sargassum drift line

Airborne hyperspectral and thermal infrared imagery collected over the Florida Current provide a view of the disintegration of a Sargassum drift line in 5 m s⁻¹ winds. The drift line consists mostly of rafts 20-80 m² in size, though aggregations larger than 1000 m² also occur. Rafts tend to be elongated, curved in the upwind direction, and 0.1-0.5 °C warmer than the surrounding ocean surface. Long weed ‘trails’ extending upwind from the rafts are evidence of plants dropping out and being left behind more rapidly drifting rafts. The raft line may be a remnant of an earlier Sargassum frontal band, which is detectible as an upwind thermal front and areas of submerged weed. Issues are identified that require future field measurements.     

Cloning of the major 3-MC inducible phase I and phase II detoxification enzymes of plaice liver

cDNA's coding for cytochrome P4501A1 (CYP1A1), phenol UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT) and glutathione S-transferase (GST-A) were cloned and sequenced from an expression library prepared from the liver of a 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC) induced plaice. Plaice CYP1A1 and Phenol UDPGT display a high degree of structural conservation with homologous mammalian isoforms and their mRNAs were shown to be highly induced in liver after 3-MC treatment of fish. Expression of plaice GST-A, which displays closer homology to GSTs from plants and invertebrates than those of mammals, is repressed after 3-MC treatment.     

Characterization and molecular analysis of hepatic microsomal UDP-glucuronosyltransferases in the marine fish, Pleuronectes platessa

Here we report the results of the first molecular enzymological study of fish UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT). UDPGT activities of plaice liver microsomes were greatest for planar phenols and there was low but measurable conjugation of bilirubin, testosterone and androsterone. A highly purified preparation was isolated which possessed activities towards 1-naphthol, bilirubin and testosterone, containing several molecular weight species of M_r 52–56 kDa. On immunoblot analysis these proteins cross-reacted with a polyspecific anti-rat UDPGT antibody, suggesting that a number of plaice UDPGT isoforms with epitopes in common with the corresponding rat enzymes had been purified.     

The toxicity of one-hour silver exposures to early-life stages of the surf Spisula solidissima (Dillwyn)

Early life stages of Spisula solidissima (1-, 4-, 8- and 12-h post-fertilization) were exposed to various concentrations of silver in solution (0, 4, 8, 24, 44, 124 and 278 μg liter^?1) for 1 h. An additional group of 1-h post-fertilized eggs was treated with 0, 4, 11 and 24 μg liter^?1 silver continuously for 48h. Results indicate that younger embryos are more susceptible to Ag. Exposure of one-hour-old embryos to silver for only 1 h gives results similar to a continuous 48-h exposure to the same concentration of Ag. The calculated EC₅₀ for 48-h continuously exposed embryos was similar to the EC₅₀ for 1-h post-fertilized embryos that were exposed to silver for only 1 h.     

Effects of pulsed nutrient inputs on phytoplankton assemblage structure and blooms in an enclosed coastal area

The response of phytoplankton assemblage structure to terrestrial nutrient inputs was examined for the Gulf of Kalloni in the Northern Aegean Sea, a productive semi-enclosed coastal marine ecosystem. The study was focused on a typical annual cycle, and emphasis was placed on the comparative analysis between blooms developing after significant nutrient inputs from the watershed, and naturally occurring blooms. Baseline information was collected on a monthly basis from a network of stations located in the oligotrophic open sea and the interior and more productive part of the embayment. Intensive sampling was also carried out along a gradient in the vicinity of a river which was the most important source of freshwater and nutrient input for the Gulf. Phytoplankton assemblage structure was analyzed from 188 samples using diversity indices (Shannon and Average Taxonomic Distinctness), multivariate plotting methods (NMDS), multivariate statistics (PERMANOVA), and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Three characteristic assemblages were recognized: (1) an autumn assemblage developed under nutrient depleted conditions, having low diversity due to the dominance of two small diatoms, (2) a winter bloom of the potentially toxic species Pseudo-nitzschia calliantha occurring immediately after a nutrient peak and characterized by very low diversity, and (3) a naturally occurring early summer bloom of centric diatoms with relatively high diversity. The results of the study support the view that moderate nutrient inputs may have a beneficial effect on the functioning of coastal ecosystems, stimulating the taxonomic diversity through the growth of different taxonomic groups and taxa. On the other hand, a sudden pulse of high nutrient concentrations may greatly affect the natural succession of organisms, have a negative effect on the diversity through the dominance of a single species, and can increase the possibility of a harmful algal bloom development.     

Storms and shoreline retreat in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence

Storms play a major role in shoreline recession on transgressive coasts. In the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL), southeastern Canada, long-term relative sea-level rise off the North Shore of Prince Edward Island has averaged 0.3 m/century over the past 6000 years (>0.2 m/century over 2000 years). This has driven long-term coastal retreat at mean rates >0.5 m/a but the variance and details of coastal profile response remain poorly understood. Despite extensive sandy shores, sediment supply is limited and sand is transferred landward into multidecadal to century-scale storage in coastal dunes, barrier washover deposits, and flood-tidal delta sinks. Charlottetown tide-gauge records show mean relative sea-level rise of 3.2 mm/a (0.32 m/century) since 1911. A further rise of 0.7±0.4 m is projected over the next 100 years. When differenced from tidal predictions, the water-level data provide a 90-year record of storm-surge occurrence. Combined with wind, wave hindcast, and sea-ice data, this provides a catalogue of potentially significant coastal storms. We also document coastal impacts from three recent storms of great severity in January and October 2000 and November 2001. Digital photogrammetry (1935–1990) and shore-zone surveys (1989–2001) show large spatial and temporal variance in coastal recession rates, weakly correlated with the storm record, in part because of wave suppression or coastal protection by sea ice. Large storms cause rapid erosion from which recovery depends in part on local sand supply, but barrier volume may be conserved by washover deposition. Barrier shores with dunes show high longshore and interdecadal variance, with extensive multidecadal healing of former inlet and overwash gaps. This reflects recovery from an episode of widespread overwash prior to 1935, possibly initiated by intense storms or groups of storms in the latter half of the 19th century. With evidence from the storms of 2000–2001, this points to the importance of storm clustering on scales of weeks to years in determining erosion vulnerability, as well as the need for a long-term, large-scale perspective in assessing coastal stability. The expected acceleration in relative sea-level rise, together with projections of increasing storm intensity and greatly diminished winter ice cover in the southern GSL, implies a significant increase in coastal erosion hazards in future.