Congruence between euphausiid community and water region in the northwestern Pacific: particularly in the Oyashio–Kuroshio Mixed Water Region

The relationship between euphausiid community structure and water region was studied during a 2-year seasonal survey in the northwestern (NW) Pacific Ocean. The euphausiid community structure and its associated species were analyzed from 38 micronekton samples collected during eight cruises. The euphausiid community structure and its distribution patterns clearly corresponded to physical oceanographic features in the Oyashio region, Oyashio–Kuroshio Mixed Water Region (OKMWR), and Kuroshio region. In contrast, community structure was unrelated to seasonality. The 19 species out of 40 identified in this area were grouped and named after their habitats. The six cold-water species were grouped into three regional types: two coastal Oyashio species, three Oyashio–OKMWR species, and one Oyashio–Kuroshio species. The four species dominating in the OKMWR were categorized into each specific types: Nematoscelis difficilis as OKMWR–Oyashio species, Euphausia gibboides as OKMWR species, Euphausia similis as OKMWR–Oyashio & OKMWR–Kuroshio species, and Euphausia recurva as OKMWR–Kuroshio species. The seven warm-water species were categorized as Kuroshio–OKMWR species or Kuroshio species. The other two species were categorized as cosmopolitan species. In particular, regarding the result in the OKMWR, our study suggest that (1) the OKMWR has high species diversity, and (2) the dominant species, such as Euphausia pacifica, N. difficilis, E. similis, and E. gibboides, are considered to be key species in the food webs in this region.     

Geologic evidence for late Quaternary repetitive surface faulting on the Isurugi fault along the northwestern margin of the Tonami Plain,north‐central Japan

Our detailed field investigation, paleoseismic trenching, and airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR)‐derived topographic data provides the first direct evidence for late Quaternary repetitive surface faulting on the northeast‐striking Isurugi fault along the northwestern margin of the Tonami Plain in the Hokuriku region of north‐central Japan. This fault has been interpreted previously by different researchers as both inactive and active, owing to a lack of geologic evidence and a failure to identify fault‐related geomorphic features. Our mapping of LiDAR topography revealed a series of northeast‐trending warped fluvial terraces, about 1.5 km long and 170 m wide, with an age of ≤ 29 ka. We interpreted these geomorphologic features to represent an active pop‐up structure bounded to the southeast by the northwest‐dipping main thrust of the Isurugi fault and to the northwest by a southeast‐dipping backthrust that splays off the main thrust in the shallow subsurface. Paleoseismic trenching across the northwestern part of an elongate terrace exposed a series of southeast‐dipping backthrusts and associated northwest‐verging monoclines. The deformation and depositional age of the strata provide evidence for repetitive surface rupturing on the backthrusts since the latest Pleistocene; the latest of these events occurred in the Holocene between about 4.0 and 0.9 ka. Despite the poor preservation of the surface expression of the Isurugi fault, repetitive scarp‐forming faulting in the late Quaternary and the proximity of the Oyabe River and its tributaries to the fault trace suggest that there may be an extension of the Isurugi fault to the northeast and southwest beneath the Tonami Plain that makes the fault long enough to generate a large earthquake (Mw ≥ 6.8) accompanied by surface rupture.     

Medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances observed by GPS receiver network in Japan: a short review

Medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTID) are wave-like perturbations of the ionospheric plasma with wavelengths of several hundred kilometres and velocities of several hundred metres per second. MSTID is one of the most common ionospheric phenomena that generally induce the perturbations of ionospheric total electron content (TEC) by ∼10¹⁶ electron/m², which corresponds to ∼54 ns (16.2 cm) delay at GPS L1 signal. In the past decade, several new characteristics on MSTIDs have been revealed by the TEC observations using the dense GPS receiver network in Japan. In this paper, we provide a short review of these new observations and summarize the morphological characteristics of MSTIDs in Japan.     

Relationship between trace elements and depositional environments in shallow sediments: a case study from Southern Kanto Plain,Central Japan

Underground developments such as subways and shopping facilities have been increasing in number and magnitude in the relatively shallow subsurface of many urban areas where the earth materials commonly are composed of marine sediments. Marine sediments can contain significant amounts of toxic trace elements such as arsenic, boron, and lead. Changes in the subsurface environment caused by excavation and construction in underground developments could potentially cause these toxic elements to be dissolved into pore water of the sediments, which might lead to groundwater pollution. The purpose of this study is to investigate correlations among chemical properties of marine sediments, such as pH and electrical conductivity (EC), concentrations of toxic trace elements, and stratigraphic characteristics of the sediments. We selected three sites with different stratigraphic settings in the southern Kanto Plain around the Tokyo Metropolis. We collected core samples from shallow strata at a site in the Arakawa Lowland, southern Saitama, and at two sites in the Musashino Upland, Middle Tokyo. All sites have both marine and non-marine sediments up to 50–60 m in thickness. We determined trace element concentrations in the pore water, pH, EC, and loss on ignition. The results show that (1) the marine sediments tend to have low pH, high EC, and high sulfur concentration compared to the non-marine sediments (2) the concentration of most of the soluble heavy metals vary depending on the concentration of sulfate, the pH, and the formation processes of the strata, (3) the arsenic concentration is not related to sulfur concentration but apparently to Fe and Al concentrations, (4) the boron concentration is not related to any other properties implying that the boron level is independent of and cannot be predicted by common chemical properties, and (5) for all three sites, concentrations of most of the trace elements, EC, pH, and sulfate concentration were correlated with each other. This study shows that the concentration and potential mobilization of many toxic trace elements in marine sediments could be predicted by easily measurable pore water chemical properties such as pH and EC. This could be useful for predicting and avoiding the risk of groundwater pollution during underground development projects.     

Magnetic pulsation Pi2 as a sensitive indicator of magnetospheric substorm

The identification of substorm onset is quite important in studying the mechanism of excitation of substorm disturbances. At present, one of the most practical methods to identify accurately the onset of substorms is to use low-latitude Pi2, which is sensitively related to the plasma instability in the magnetosphere, that triggers the substorm disturbances. This method is applied to examine the onset times of three substorm events which were already defined by various methods other than the low-latitude Pi2 method. Preceding the onset times, other evident substorm onsets are clearly determined with Pi2 onsets for all the three events by examining only the H-component of rapid-run magnetogram from a single low-latitude station in the dark hemisphere. Cooperative monitoring of Pi2 at three low-latitude stations on three well-separated meridians, therefore, is really effective in detecting most substorms.     

Petrogenesis of the Kaikomagatake granitoid pluton in the Izu Collision Zone, central Japan: implications for transformation of juvenile oceanic arc into mature continental crust

The Miocene Kaikomagatake pluton is one of the Neogene granitoid plutons exposed in the Izu Collision Zone, which is where the juvenile Izu-Bonin oceanic arc is colliding against the mature Honshu arc. The pluton intrudes into the Cretaceous to Paleogene Shimanto accretionary complex of the Honshu arc along the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line, which is the collisional boundary between the two arcs. The pluton consists of hornblende–biotite granodiorite and biotite monzogranite, and has SiO₂ contents of 68–75 wt%. It has high-K series compositions, and its incompatible element abundances are comparable to the average upper continental crust. Major and trace element compositions of the pluton show well-defined chemical trends. The trends can be interpreted with a crystal fractionation model involving the removal of plagioclase, biotite, hornblende, quartz, apatite, and zircon from a potential parent magma with a composition of ~68 wt% SiO₂. The Sr isotopic compositions, together with the partial melting modeling results, suggest that the parent magma is derived by ~53% melting of a hybrid lower crustal source comprising ~30% Shimanto metasedimentary rocks of the Honshu arc and ~70% K-enriched basaltic rocks of the Izu-Bonin rear-arc region. Together with previous studies on the Izu Collision Zone granitoid plutons, the results of this study suggest that the chemical diversity within the parental magmas of the granitoid plutons reflects the chemical variation of basaltic sources (i.e., across-arc chemical variation in the Izu-Bonin arc), as well as a variable contribution of the metasedimentary component in the lower crustal source regions. In addition, the petrogenetic models of the Izu Collision Zone granitoid plutons collectively suggest that the contribution of the metasedimentary component is required to produce granitoid magma with compositions comparable to the average upper continental crust. The Izu Collision Zone plutons provide an exceptional example of the transformation of a juvenile oceanic arc into mature continental crust.     

The effects of precipitation schemes and horizontal resolution on the major rainband in typhoon Flo (1990) predicted by the MRI mesoscale nonhydrostatic model

Summary ?This paper describes a numerical study of the major spiral rainband in typhoon Flo (1990) using the Meteorological Research Institute Mesoscale Nonhydrostatic Model (MRI-NHM). The effects of precipitation schemes and horizontal resolution on the representation of the simulated rainband are discussed. Dynamic and thermodynamic structures of the simulated major rainband to the north of the storm center are well represented in the model with a 5 km horizontal resolution. The structures are consistent with observational results reported for other tropical cyclones. Among the realistic features are: a cold pool and convergence on the inner side of the band; convergence above low-level inflow layers; and the outward slope of the updraft with height. The band is caused by the motion of the storm through its surroundings where horizontal wind has vertical shear. The simulation of the structure and precipitation pattern associated with the major rainband depends on the precipitation scheme rather than the horizontal resolution. The band appears more realistic when using explicit cloud microphysics as a precipitation scheme, rather than moist convective adjustment. This result is attributable to the difference in scheme triggering. In the simulation with moist convective adjustment, the elimination of vertical instability in low-level atmosphere is excessive, suppressing band formation. The overall structure of the band is also more realistic in the simulation using explicit cloud microphysics, because a cold pool exists in the lower layers and the vertical axis of upward flow tilts outward. This result suggests that prediction will partly depend on variables associated with cloud microphysics, such as the mixing ratio of cloud water. The horizontal grid distance, which varied between 5 and 20 km, quantitatively influenced the rainfall amount, although the large-scale band structure remained unchanged. The rainfall amount increased as the grid interval was reduced from 20 to 10-km but decreased as the interval was further reduced from 10 to 5 km. Received March 20, 2001; revised August 20, 2001     

Mesozooplankton responses to iron-fertilization in the western subarctic Pacific (SEEDS2001)

A mesoscale iron-fertilization experiment was carried out in the western subarctic Pacific during summer 2001. The iron-patch was traced for 14 days after the fertilization, and the abundance and behavior of mesozooplankton were compared with those outside of the patch. The phytoplankton biomass in the patch rapidly increased to over 15 times the initial level by the later half of the observation period, and was composed of large-sized (>10 mm), centric diatoms. Dominant zooplankton species in the upper 200-m depth were large copepods: Neocalanus plumchrus, Neocalanus cristatus, Eucalanus bungii and Metridia pacifica. Mesozoplankton biomass as well as species composition did not change significantly in the patch over the observation period. Furthermore, no changes of vertical distribution or diel vertical migration were observed for any species or stages of mesozooplankton throughout the observation period. However, the abundance of the first copepodite stages of N. plumchrus and E. bungii increased several fold in the patch after the diatom bloom formation compared to the densities outside the patch. The increases of both species are considered to be due to lowered mortality during the egg and nauplius stages. Spawning of N. plumchrus takes place at depth using lipid storage, while spawning of E. bungii takes place in the surface layer supported by grazing. These facts suggest that the relative importance of nauplii in the diets of the large copepods was decreased in the patch by the diatom bloom. Gut-pigment contents of dominant copepods in the patch increased 4–18 times, and the maximum values were observed during the bloom peak. However, the grazing impact on phytoplankton was low throughout the experiment, especially during the bloom period (<6% of the primary production).     

The Brightness Temperature of the Quiet Solar Chromosphere at 2.6 mm

The absolute brightness temperature of the Sun at millimeter wavelengths is an important diagnostic of the solar chromosphere. Because the Sun is so bright, measurement of this property usually involves the operation of telescopes under extreme conditions and requires a rigorous performance assessment of the telescope. In this study, we establish solar observation and calibration techniques at 2.6 mm wavelength for the Nobeyama 45 m telescope and accurately derive the absolute solar brightness temperature. We tune the superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) receiver by inducing different bias voltages onto the SIS mixer to prevent saturation. Then, we examine the linearity of the receiver system by comparing outputs derived from different tuning conditions. Furthermore, we measure the lunar filled beam efficiency of the telescope using the New Moon, and then derive the absolute brightness temperature of the Sun. The derived solar brightness temperature is \(7700 \pm 310~\mbox{K}\) at 115 GHz. The telescope beam pattern is modeled as a summation of three Gaussian functions and derived using the solar limb. The real shape of the Sun is determined via deconvolution of the beam pattern from the observed map. Such well-calibrated single-dish observations are important for high-resolution chromospheric studies because they provide the absolute temperature scale that is lacking from interferometer observations.     

Miocene intra-arc bending at an arc-arc collision zone, central Japan

Abstract Recent paleomagnetic studies are reviewed in an effort to clarify the relationship between the intra-arc deformation of central Japan and the collision tectonics of the Izu-Bonin Arc. The cusp structure of the pre-Neogene terranes of central Japan, called the Kanto Syntaxis, suggests a collisional origin with the Izu-Bonin Arc. The paleomagnetic results and newly obtained radiometric ages of the Kanto Mountains revealed the Miocene rotational history of the east wing of the Kanto Syntaxis. More than 90° clockwise rotation of the Kanto Mountains took place after deposition of the Miocene Chichibu Basin (planktonic foraminiferal zone of N.8: 16.6–15.2 Ma). After synthesizing the paleomagnetic data of the Japanese Islands and collision tectonics of central Japan, it appears that approximately a half rotation (40–50°) probably occurred at ca 15 Ma in association with the rapid rotation of Southwest Japan. The remainder (50-40°) continued until 6 Ma, resulting in the sharp bent structure of the pre-Neogene accretionary complexes (Kanto Syntaxis). The latter rotation seems to have been caused by the collision of the Izu-Bonin Arc on the northwestward migrating Philippine Sea Plate.