Trace metals in selected organisms from the Adriatic sea

Extensive surveys were made to establish the concentrations of several metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu and Hg) in various marine organisms from different parts of the Adriatic Sea in the period from 1979 to 1985. The results obtained are based on analyses which were performed in conjunction with carefully tested procedures. Proper sampling, sample storage, treatment of samples and final analytical determination has excluded artefacts which would influence the accuracy, or cause contamination and/or trace metal losses.The metal concentrations in shellfish from the coastal areas of the Adriatic Sea are in the range of the lowest values obtained for similar organisms from other localities throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Special attention has been paid to the anthropogenic influence on trace metal concentrations in organisms living in the vicinity of domestic sewage and/or industrial waste-water outflows.     

Sea-structure interaction for tripod-type steel gravity platform

The paper deals with a numerical integrated procedure to calculate the effects of the interaction between sea waves and a tripod-type steel gravity platform. The main aspects to be taken into account for a reliable wave loading analysis of such a new type of platform are emphasized. Among them, the field perturbation effect due to the large bodies presence is analysed. Finally, some principal results in terms of structure global loads obtained by the numerical integrated procedure are presented.     

Waveform Shaping of Sonar Transducers for Improving the Vertical Resolution in Sub-bottom Sediments Profiling

Vertical resolution is of fundamental importance in sonar exploration and is directly related to the duration of the acoustic pulse generated by the transducer. The shorter the radiated pulse, the higher the vertical resolution. Many sub-bottom profiling sonar systems use piezoelectric transducers because they are reversible and well understood. Piezoelectric projectors are normally resonant transducers, which are intrinsically narrowband. A piezoelectric transducer is usually driven by a tone-burst. However, it is possible to use Fourier techniques to find a pre-compensated electrical driving function so that the transducer radiates a prescribed wider band acoustic waveform. This technique can be applied to synthesize zero-phase cosine-magnitude, Gaussian, and bionic pulses, with a conventional sandwich transducer. Zero-phase cosine-magnitude waveforms provide minimum length pulses (and therefore maximum resolution) within a prescribed frequency band.The aim of this paper is to illustrate the synthesis of wideband acoustic pulses using an underwater piezoelectric projector. The conventional acoustic waveform radiated when a Tonpiltz transducer is transiently excited using a “click” and allows its frequency response function to be measured. This function is used to design the electrical signal which then drives the transducer so that it radiates the shortest pulse compatible with its mechanical response. The significant resolution enhancement of the waveform shaping process is illustrated by its application to a sediment wedge model.     

Seismic structure and tectonics of the Shackleton Fracture Zone (Drake Passage,Scotia Sea)

The structural framework of the southern part of the Shackleton Fracture Zone has been investigated through the analysis of a 130-km-long multichannel seismic reflection profile acquired orthogonally to the fracture zone near 60° S. The Shackleton Fracture Zone is a 800-km-long, mostly rectilinear and pronounced bathymetric lineation joining the westernmost South Scotia Ridge to southern South America south of Cape Horn, separating the western Scotia Sea plate from the Antarctic plate. Conventional processing applied to the seismic data outlines the main structures of the Shackleton Fracture Zone, but only the use of enhanced techniques, such as accurate velocity analyses and pre-stack depth migration, provides a good definition of the acoustic basement and the architecture of the sedimentary sequences. In particular, a strong and mostly continuous reflector found at about 8.0 s two-way traveltime is very clear across the entire section and is interpreted as the Moho discontinuity. Data show a complex system of troughs developed along the eastern flank of the crustal ridge, containing tilted and rotated blocks, and the presence of a prominent listric normal fault developed within the oceanic crust. Positive flower structures developed within the oceanic basement indicate strike-slip tectonism and partial reactivation of pre-existing faults. Present-day tectonic activity is found mostly in correspondence to the relief, whereas fault-induced deformation is negligible across the entire trough system. This indicates that the E–W-directed stress regime present in the Drake Passage region is mainly dissipated along a narrow zone within the Shackleton Ridge axis. A reappraisal of all available magnetic anomaly identifications in the western Scotia Sea and in the former Phoenix plate, in conjunction with new magnetic profiles acquired to the east of the Shackleton Fracture Zone off the Tierra del Fuego continental margin, has allowed us to propose a simple reconstruction of Shackleton Fracture Zone development in the general context of the Drake Passage opening.     

Simulations of Annual Cycle of Phytoplankton Production and the Utilization of Nitrogen in the Yellow Sea

A nutrient dynamic model coupled with a 3D physical model has been developed to study the annual cycle of phytoplankton production in the Yellow Sea. The biological model involves interactions between inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium), phosphate and phytoplankton biomass. The model successfully reproduces the main features of phytoplankton-nutrient variation and dynamics of production. 1. The well-mixed coastal water is characterized by high primary production, as well as high new production. 2. In summer, the convergence of tidal front is an important hydrodynamic process, which contributes to high biomass at frontal areas. 3. The evolution of phytoplankton blooms and thermocline in the central region demonstrate that mixing is a dominant factor to the production in the Yellow Sea. In this simulation, nitrate- and ammonium-based productions are estimated regionally and temporally. The northern Yellow Sea is one of the highly ranked regions in the Yellow Sea for the capability of fixing carbon and nitrogen. The annual averaged f-ratio of 0.37 indicates that regenerated production prevails over the Yellow Sea. The result also shows that phosphate is the major nutrient, limiting phytoplankton growth throughout the year and it can be an indicator to predict the bloom magnitude. Finally, the relative roles of external nutrient sources have been evaluated, and benthic fluxes might play a significant role in compensating 54.6% of new nitrogen for new production consumption.     

Total Lipid and Fatty Acid Classes in Decomposing Mangrove Leaves of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bruguiera gymnorrhiza</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kandelia candel</Emphasis>: Significance with respect to Lipid Input

Changes in the concentration of total lipid and fatty acids (FAs) during the decomposition of mangrove leaves were investigated by field experiments using yellow leaves of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (L.) Lamk. and Kandelia candel (L.) Druce, in order to quantify mangrove contribution to lipid and fatty acid inputs to marine sediments. Total lipid and total FA in the fresh (green and yellow) and decomposing leaves of both species were significantly higher during winter than summer. During decomposition, total lipid content and FA concentration, in particular branched chain fatty acids (BrFAs) and bacterial fatty acids (BFAs), increased to a maximum concentration in 45 days during winter and in 17 days during summer. Lipids were lost faster in K. candel leaf detritus than in B. gymnorrhiza leaf detritus in which >90% of the total lipid original weight was lost during the summer experiment and <60% during the winter experiment. The changes in the concentrations of total lipids and FAs in the decomposing leaves also indicate that mangrove leaves are significant sources of fatty acids and probably other lipid compounds to estuarine ecosystems and that tidal waters transport the lipids and FAs adsorbed to particulate matter from mangroves to adjacent estuarine sediments and the ocean.     

An application of a Markov-chain model of shore erosion for describing the dynamics of sediment flux

Acquisition of coastline retreat rate time sequences (RRTS) is an important component of Arctic coastal monitoring. These data can be used not only to estimate sediment input into the sea during a fixed time period, but also to dynamically simulate sediment flux intensity. The RRTS were investigated at the Marre-Sale (Kara Sea) and Malii Chukochii Cape (East Siberian Sea) key sites. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the RRTS possess Markov characteristic. This allowed coastline dynamics to be described using a Markov-chain model. A model is discussed that combines Markov characteristic and information about the composition and structure of the permafrost sediments to describe sediment flux dynamics.     

Scattering of Semidiurnal Internal Kelvin Wave at Step Bottom Topography

A three-dimensional, multi-level model was used to study the energy dissipation of semidiurnal internal Kelvin waves due to their interaction with bottom topography. A simplified topography consisting of a channel with an additional shallow bay was used to clarify the wave’s scattering process. When the first mode semidiurnal internal wave given at an open boundary arrives at the bay mouth, higher-mode internal waves are generated at a step bottom of the bay mouth. As a result, the energy of the first mode internal Kelvin wave is effectively decayed. The decay rate of the internal Kelvin wave depends on both the width and length of the additional bay. The maximum decay rate was found when a resonance condition occurs the bay, that is, the bay length is equal to a quarter of wave length of the first mode internal wave on the shallow region. The decay rate in the wide bay cases is higher than that in a narrow case, due to a contribution from the scattering due to the Poincare wave that emanates from the corners of the bay head. The decay rate with the additional bay is 1.1–1.8 times that of the case without the additional bay. The decay rate due to the scattering process is found to be of the same order as that of the internal and bottom friction.     

Possible Density Change of the Origin of North Pacific Intermediate Water Due to Double Diffusion in the Mixed Water Region

In this study we test Talley's hypothesis that Oyashio winter mixed-layer water (26.5–26.6σ _θ) increases its density to produce the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) salinity minimum (26.7– 26.8σ_θ) in the Mixed Water Region, assuming a combination of cabbeling and double diffusion. The possible density change of Oyashio winter mixed-layer water is discussed using an instantaneous ratio of the change of temperature and salinity along any particular intrusion (R _l ). We estimate the range of R _l ^DD required to convert Oyashio winter mixed-layer water to the NPIW salinity minimum due to double diffusion, and then assume double-diffusive intrusions as this conversion mechanism. A double-diffusive intrusion model is used to estimate R _l ^DD in a situation where salt fingering dominates vertical mixing, as well as to determine whether Oyashio winter mixed-layer water can become the NPIW salinity minimum. Possible density changes are estimated from the model R _l ^DD by assuming the amount of density change due to cabbeling. From these results, we conclude that Oyashio winter mixed-layer water contributes to a freshening of the lighter layer of the NPIW salinity minimum (around 26.70σ_θ) in the MWR.     

Using ocean ambient noise for array self-localization and self-synchronization

Estimates of the travel times between the elements of a bottom hydrophone array can be extracted from the time-averaged ambient noise cross-correlation function (NCF). This is confirmed using 11-min-long data blocks of ambient noise recordings that were collected in May 1995 near the southern California coast at an average depth of 21 m in the 150-700 Hz frequency range. Coherent horizontal wavefronts emerging from the time derivative of the NCF are obtained across the array's aperture and are related to the direct arrival time of the time-domain Green's function (TDGF). These coherent wavefronts are used for array element self-localization (AESL) and array element self-synchronization (AESS). The estimated array element locations are used to beamform on a towed source.