Instrument calibration of ocean bottom seismographs

To increase the accuracy of measuring sea floor motion with ocean bottom seismometers, we calibrate the seismometer system on the ocean floor. Data from the sea floor calibration, augmented with electronic and land calibration data, enables us to find the OBS transfer function to an accuracy of 0.5% in the frequency range of 0.1 to 32 Hz. We are able to distinguish between temperature, instrument and OBS ground coupling effects, all of which alter the transfer function. This paper reviews our method of calibration and discusses the effects of temperature and some of the instrument design features on the vertical seismometer transfer function.     

A Zonal Pathway for NADW in the South Atlantic

Several large deployments of neutrally buoyant floats took place within the Antarctic Intermediate (AAIW), North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), and the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) of the South Atlantic in the 1990s and a number of hydrographic sections were occupied as well. Here we use the spatially and temporally averaged velocities measured by these floats, combined with the hydrographic section data and various estimates of regional current transports from moored current meter arrays, to determine the circulation of the three major subthermocline water masses in a zonal strip across the South Atlantic between the latitudes of 19°S and 30°S. We concentrate on this region because the historical literature suggests that it is where the Deep Western Boundary Current containing NADW bifurcates. In support of this notion, we find that a net of about 5 Sv. of the 15–20 Sv that crosses 19°S does continue zonally eastward at least as far as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Once across the ridge it takes a circuit to the north along the ridge flanks before returning to the south in the eastern half of the Angola Basin. The data suggest that the NADW then continues on into the Indian Ocean. This scheme is discussed in the context of distributions of dissolved oxygen, silicate and salinity. In spite of the many float-years of data that were collected in the region a surprising result is that their impact on the computed solutions is quite modest. Although the focus is on the NADW we also discuss the circulation for the AAIW and AABW layers.     

Regimes and the history of the major fisheries off Canada's west coast

The major fisheries on the Pacific coast of Canada can be grouped into 12 species that have consistently represented about 80–90% of the total catch from the past to the present. A review of population dynamics of these species indicates that climate and the ocean environment have a major impact on their productivity. We review the history of Canada's Pacific coast fishery to show that trends in catch were similar to trends in the climate and ocean environment. Decadal scale patterns in climate and the ocean are termed regimes and we show that it is the regime scale of climate variability that most influences the long-term trends in the catches in these major fisheries. Ignoring the impacts of regime shifts on the abundance trends in the future could result in collapses of major fisheries. The difficulty of knowing when a regime shift will occur may be overcome as we discover more about the mechanisms that affect the decadal-scale trends in the rotational velocity of the solid earth which is measured as the length of day (LOD).     

Seasonal variation of pteropods from the Western Arabian Sea sediment trap

Sediment trap samples collected from the Western Arabian Sea yielded a rich assemblage of intact and non-living (opaque white) pteropod tests from a water depth of 919 m during January to September 1993. Nine species of pteropods were recorded, all (except one) displaying distinct seasonality in abundance, suggesting their response to changing hydrographical conditions influenced by the summer/winter monsoon cycle. Pteropod fluxes increased during the April–May peak of the intermonsoon, and reached maximum levels in the late phase of the southwest summer monsoon, probably due to the shallowing of the mixed layer depth. This shallowing, coupled with enhanced nutrient availability, provides ideal conditions for pteropod growth, also reflected in corresponding fluctuations in the flux of the foraminifer Globigerina bulloides. Pteropod/planktic foraminifer ratios displayed marked seasonal variations, the values increasing during the warmer months of April and May when planktic foraminiferal fluxes declined. The variation in fluxes of calcium carbonate, organic carbon and biogenic opal show positive correlations with fluxes of pteropods and planktic foraminifers. Calcium carbonate was the main contributor to the total particulate flux, especially during the SW monsoon. In the study area, pteropod flux variations are similar to the other flux patterns, indicating that they, too could be used as a potential tool for palaeoclimatic reconstruction of the recent past.     

Distribution of nonlinear wave crests

The distribution of nonlinear wave crests is examined on the basis of a theoretical probability density previously given elsewhere (J. Eng. Mech. 120 (1994) 1009). Certain errors contained in the original theoretical density are corrected, and the corresponding exceedance distribution is derived. The resulting theoretical forms of the probability density and exceedance distribution are then slightly simplified and compared with nonlinear wave data gathered under hurricane conditions. The results indicate that the proposed theoretical forms describe the observed distributions of large wave crests better than the Rayleigh law. However, the quantitative accuracy of the predictions is somewhat poor, as is typical of approximate theories based on Gram–Charlier-type expansions.     

Unevenly compressed flexural-gravitity waves

Free flexural-gravity waves unevenly compressed in an ice-covered basin have been studied using a linear formulation. The conditions were specified allowing determination of the bounds of the angular area of wave disturbances and of the oscillation frequency intervals due to compression. The paper considers the distribution of the wave characteristics over frequency depending on compressive stresses and the direction of wave propagation.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

On the nature of the calcareous substrate of a ferromanganese crust from the Vityaz Fracture Zone, Central Indian Ridge: inferences on paleoceanography

A 15-cm-thick carbonate substrate encrusted with ferromanganese oxides from the Vityaz Fracture Zone, Central Indian Ridge was analyzed to reconstruct the paleoceanography of the region. Based on the calcareous nannoplankton assemblage, an early Pliocene age has been assigned to the calcareous substrate. Among the nannoplankton, discoasters outnumber coccoliths and show signs of dissolution. The presence of certain species of benthic Foraminifera such as Uvigerina, Lenticulina, Bulimina and Bolivina, indicates the infringement of the oxygen minimum zone during the deposition of the carbonates. The occurrence of a Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilica zone of early Pliocene age suggests a change in depositional conditions coinciding with the time of formation of the large depositional hiatuses documented in sediment cores from adjacent basins of the western Indian Ocean. These hiatuses resulted from the prevalence of intermediate subsurface currents such as the Somali Current or the Western Boundary Current.