An upper‐ocean general circulation model for the north pacific: Preliminary experiments

Abstract

A model with two active layers, a mixed layer and a pycnocline layer, over a semipassive deep ocean is described. The model is used to simulate a climatological seasonal cycle in the upper North Pacific. The formulation is similar to that in Cherniawsky et al. (1990). The model resolution is 1° latitude by 1.5° longitude, extending from 62°N to the equator. It is driven with monthly wind stress (Hellerman and Rosenstein, 1983) and with Newtonian heat and freshwater fluxes, which were inferred from climatological (Levitus, 1982) sea‐surface monthly temperatures and annual mean salinities. The monthly temperature anomalies (without the annual mean) are multiplied by a prescribed gain factor and advanced in time, compensating for time delay in the response of the mixed layer. No‐slip and no‐flux constraints are applied on north, east, west and land boundaries, while the following open boundary conditions are used at the equator: (a) free‐slip on zonal velocities in the two layers; (b) a prescribed meridional transport, due to local curl of the wind stress, in the mixed layer; (c) an antisymmetric meridional velocity plus a small flux‐balancing term in the second layer; and (d) across‐equator symmetry for layer depths, temperatures and salinities. Sensitivity to two aspects of parametrization is investigated: (1) the change to horizontal diffusion/viscosity coefficients that depend on the velocity deformation field (as in Smagorinsky, 1963), and (2) the use of idealized piecewise‐linear profiles for second‐layer temperatures and salinities for calculating mixed layer entrainment fluxes.     

Numerical Modeling and Observations of Tsunami Waves in Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound, British Columbia

Alberni Inlet is a long and narrow fjord adjacent to Barkley Sound on the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. Port Alberni, at the head of the inlet, was affected in 1964 by the largest Pacific tsunami waves in Canadian history. We use observations and results from two numerical models to investigate the resonant characteristics of the region and amplification of tsunami waves in Barkley Sound and Alberni Inlet. The first model (A) was forced at its open boundary with a stationary autoregressive signal, similar to the observed background noise. The second model (B) used an initial sea-level deformation from a potential earthquake off California in the southern segment of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, producing transient tsunami waves. Spectral, cross-spectral and frequency-time (f-t) analyses of the observations were used to examine the resonant properties and topographic response of the local area. The respective results show large admittance functions over a wide 0.5–0.9 cph frequency band, implying a low Q factor but high amplification of arriving waves. This unusual behavior is a result of two effects: A quarter-wave resonance of the system for its fundamental Helmholtz mode and amplification due to the narrowing of the channel cross section from Barkley Sound to Alberni Inlet. The model A numerical results agree favorably with the observations, indicating an energetic resonant mode at frequency of ~0.53 cph (112 min), with its nodal line located near the entrance to Barkley Sound and amplification factor value close to 12. The results from the tsunami propagation model (B) yield spectral characteristics similar to those from the model A and from the observations. The maximum tsunami current speed for this scenario is 2.4 ms^?1 in Sproat Narrows, which divides Alberni Inlet into two parts, while the largest computed wave height is 1.6 m in the northern Alberni Inlet, in the area of Port Alberni.     

从极化区的功能探讨长江三角洲的扩展范围

极化区作为一种具有全球意义的区域发展模式和空间组合形式,日益成为集聚经济要素和支配国家乃至全球经济命脉的巨大载体,承担着引领国家经济发展、参与世界竞争的功能.长江三角洲地区经过了近30年的高速发展,已经初具极化区的特征.但是,与其它世界级极化区相比,长江三角洲地区整体实力和带动能力仍然不足,国际竞争力还很有限.通过扩展极化区范围,可以扩大长江三角洲核心地区的腹地,缓解极化区资源环境瓶颈约束.关于长江三角洲地区的合理范围,各界意见纷纭,争论较多.基于"长三角"作为世界极化区的要求,从极化氏的科学概念、条件和以提高国际竞争力、完善极化区功能的目标出发,通过区域内城市之间的功能互补和经济联系分析,结合区域一体化的现实性,研究了扩大"长三角"的合理范围,得出了应把温州、金华、盐城、淮安、马鞍山、芜湖、铜陵、巢湖、合肥、滁州、宣城等城市作为扩展优先选择区,把宿迁、徐州、连云港、丽水、衢州、池州、安庆、蚌埠、黄山、宿州等城市作为扩展保留资格区,从而把长江三角洲地区从16个城市逐步扩大到37个城市的结论.     

The Western Bohemia/Vogtland Region in the Light of the Webnet Network

The local network of digital seismic stations WEBNET monitors the seismic activitv of practically the whole region of Western Bohemia/Vogtland swarms. The network consists of ten short-period stations and one very broadband station. The paper describes the configuration of the network, instrumental equipment and the basic parameters of the stations. The method of and formula for computing the local magnitudes from the WEBNET and KRASLICE seismograms are also given. Based on continuous WEBNET observations in the period 1995-1999, we were able to improve the model of temporal and spatial energy release in the region, the principal characteristics of which are summarised in the paper. Apart from direct P and S waves, the WEBNET seismograms also contain other significant P- and S-type waves, provisionally interpreted as reflected PxP, SxS and SxP waves. The fundamental characteristics of these waves are given in the paper, and tentative mechanisms of their origination are discussed. The large residua in the travel times of the P and S waves, and the discrepancies in the seismograms recorded at stations located east of the principal focal zone are pointed out.     

Refined Locations of The Swarm Earthquakes In The Nový Kostel Focal Zone and Spatial Distribution of The January 1997 Swarm In Western Bohemia,Czech Republic

In order to improve the accuracy of the spatial distribution of earthquake foci in the principal Novy Kostel focal zone, refined focal locations of about 1500 micro-earthquakes of the 1991 – 1997 period were determined using the relative Master-Event location method. To estimate the reduction in the scatter of located hypocentres, the results were compared with those obtained by routinely used FASTHYPO method and cluster analysis (the nearest-neighbour method) was applied to the located foci to evaluate the spatial distribution of the foci. Based on the results of refined location and of the cluster analysis, a concept of seismic energy release in space and time in the main focal zone was developed. Especially the January 1997 earthquake swarm was studied in detail: 946 events were located with the Master-Event location method, and the dimensions and geometry of focal clusters were determined. Type analysis was applied to waveforms to divide approximately 800 located events into eight multiplet groups to each of which a characteristic source mechanism was assigned. The spatial distribution of the foci as well as of the eight types of source mechanisms was revealed in this way and also the planes fitting the clusters of foci with two predominant source mechanisms were determined fairly well.     

Homogeneous Velocity Models of The West Bohemian Swarm Region Obtained By Grid Search

West Bohemian earthquake swarms are used to determine the parameters of simple homogeneous velocity models of the individual subregions of the given area, based on a group of earthquakes that occurred in these subregions. The grid search method is used for location. Models yielding the minimum sum of squares of the travel-time residua in locating the whole group of earthquakes in the given subregion are considered suitable. Relocation obtained by grid search is compared with that obtained by the FASTHYPO method. The computations indicate that the subregions under consideration can be, from the point of view of earthquake location, sufficiently represented by homogeneous models, but the models differ for the data from different subregions. The velocities of these models are given. The models under consideration are compared with some of the previously published 1-D models of the broader region of Western Bohemia.     

Biological and ecological mechanisms for overcoming sperm limitation in invasive dreissenid mussels

Many broadcast-spawning benthic invertebrates are subject to sperm limitation yet achieve high population densities, as for example dreissenid mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and Dreisssena bugensis) that were introduced into the Laurentian Great Lakes. The question remains whether biological or ecological/physical mechanisms reduce sperm limitation. Gamete dilution/longevity experiments were undertaken to determine whether dreissenid mussels are subject to sperm limitation, and computational fluid dynamic modeling was used to determine the potential influence of bottom roughness on sperm dilution in nature. Results indicated that dreissenid mussels may be sperm limited, but the extent to which sperm dilution affects them is lower than what was reported for other broadcast spawning invertebrates. Importantly, model mussel clusters influenced external fertilization by retaining sperm in downstream eddies but allowing downstream transport from one cluster to another. This, in addition to high sperm potency at low sperm concentrations, may help to explain the success of dreissenid mussels as invasive species.     

Depth limit of littoral vegetation in a storage reservoir: A case study of Lipno Reservoir (Czech Republic)

Controlling factors for the occurrence of littoral macrophyte species were investigated in Lipno Reservoir (area: 46.5 km²; z_mean: 6.6 m; z_max: 22 m; water residence time: 0.6 yr), a dam impoundment with moderately fluctuating water level (amplitude up to 4 m) which is used for hydropower and downstream flow augmentation. The options of supporting littoral macrophyte growth for improving the reservoir's ecological potential were evaluated according to the European Water Framework Directive's definitions. Macrophytes were examined at 115 sites, each 50 m long, along the whole reservoir perimeter at regular 1 km intervals. Sites were surveyed for their phytocoenology, shore morphometry, pedological characteristics of substrate, transparency of water, and anthropogenic impacts. Most of the sites were characterised by a wide eulittoral zone with a tenuous cover of terrestrial hydrophilic, amphibious, and/or emergent macrophytes and a low proportion of silt, clay, and organic fractions in the substrate. Infralittoral submerged and floating-leaved macrophytes were restricted to a few sites within the mouths of the main and side tributaries where transparency was maintained by clear inflow water independent of reservoir pool fluctuations. Water transparency was low (1-2 m) compared to annual changes of water level (2 to >3 m). Multivariate statistical analysis (DCA, CCA) confirmed relationships between the occurrence of macrophyte species and morphological and substrate characteristics of the shore. Improvement of macrophyte cover and establishment of vital infralittoral zones requires improvements in water transparency and changes in reservoir operation, i.e., limiting the range of water level fluctuation to less than ca. 1 m.     

Iterative Spherical Downward Continuation Applied to Magnetic and Gravitational Data from Satellite

In the last few decades, satellites have acquired various potential data sets hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Conventionally, these global magnetic and gravitational data sets are approximated by using spherical harmonics that allow straightforward work with both fields outside the Earth’s mass. In this article, we present an alternative approach for working with potential data in mass-free space given over a regular coordinate grid on a spherical surface. The algorithm is based on an iterative scheme and the Poisson integral equation for the sphere. With help from the Fourier transform, global potential (magnetic or gravitational) data can efficiently be continued from a mean orbital sphere down to a reference surface without using the spherical harmonics. This is illustrated both with simulated magnetic field data and with real data from the satellite gradiometry mission GOCE. In the case of simulated magnetic data and the downward continuation for 450 km, we have achieved a root mean square at the level of 0.05 nT, while it was <1 E (eotvos) for real GOCE data continued for 250 km. The crucial point is to apply the algorithm twice as a large part of noise can be removed from the input data.