Raising the packing density of computerized oceanographic data records

In this paper the peculiarities of compiled oceanographic data sets, which consist primarily in the presence of some characteristic information as well as in the planned incomplete filling of the files with observations, are discussed. A number of special ways are suggested which essentially improve the packing density of computerized data without applying special archiving algorithms. The effectiveness of these methods has been tested by treating thein situ hydrological/chemical data file compiled in the Black Sea in 1988.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Variability of demographic parameters and population dynamics of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in a southwest French river

When this article was originally published there were a     

Fully nonlinear numerical wave tank (NWT) simulations and wave run-up prediction around 3-D structures

A finite-difference scheme and a modified marker-and-cell (MAC) algorithm have been developed to investigate the interactions of fully nonlinear waves with two- or three-dimensional structures of arbitrary shape. The Navier–Stokes (NS) and continuity equations are solved in the computational domain and the boundary values are updated at each time step by the finite-difference time-marching scheme in the framework of a rectangular coordinate system. The fully nonlinear kinematic free-surface condition is implemented by the marker-density function (MDF) technique developed for two fluid layers.To demonstrate the capability and accuracy of the present method, the numerical simulation of backstep flows with free-surface, and the numerical tests of the MDF technique with limit functions are conducted. The 3D program was then applied to nonlinear wave interactions with conical gravity platforms of circular and octagonal cross-sections. The numerical prediction of maximum wave run-up on arctic structures is compared with the prediction of the Shore Protection Manual (SPM) method and those of linear and second-order diffraction analyses based on potential theory and boundary element method (BEM). Through this comparison, the effects of non-linearity and viscosity on wave loading and run-up are discussed.     

Transfer-function modelling between environmental variation and mesozooplankton in the Baltic Sea

Time series of freshwater runoff, seawater salinity, temperature and oxygen were used in transfer functions (TF) to model changes of mesozooplankton taxa in the Baltic Sea from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. The models were then compared with long term zooplankton monitoring data from the same period. The TF models for all taxa over the whole Baltic proper and at different depth layers showed statistically significant estimates in t-tests. TF models were further compared using parsimony as a criterion. We present models showing 1) r² > 0.4, 2) the smallest residual standard error with the combination of exploratory variables, 3) the lowest number of parameters and 4) the highest proportional decrease in error term when the TF model residual standard error was compared with those of the univariate ARIMA model of the same response variable. Most often (7 taxa out of a total of 8), zooplankton taxa were dependent on freshwater runoff and/or seawater salinity. Cladocerans and estuarine copepods were more conveniently modelled through the inclusion of seawater temperature and oxygen data as independent variables. Our modelling, however, explains neither the overall increase in zooplankton abundance nor a simultaneous decrease found in the neritic copepod, Temora longicornis. Therefore, biotic controlling agents (e.g. nutrients, primary production and planktivore diets) are suggested as independent variables for further TF modelling. TF modelling enabled us to put the controlling factors in a time frame. It was then possible, despite the inherent multiple correlation among parameters studied to deduce a chain-of-events from the environmental controls and biotic feedback mechanisms to changes in zooplankton species. We suggest that the documented long-term changes in zooplankton could have been driven by climatic regulation only. The control by climate could be mediated to zooplankton through marine chemical and physical factors, as well as biotic factors if all of these were responding to the same external control, such as changes in the freshwater runoff. Increased runoff would explain both the increasing eutrophication, causing the overall increase of zooplankton, and the changes in selective predation, contributing to decline of Temora.