Using the Mellor–Yamada mixing scheme in seasonally ice-covered seas—Corrigendum to: Parameterization of vertical mixing in the Weddell Sea [Ocean Modelling 6 (2004) 83–100]

A coding error in the s-Coordinate Primitive Equation Model (SPEM) has led to misleading statements about the behaviour of the Mellor–Yamada level 2 parameterization of vertical mixing. It has been claimed that the scheme removes static instability only very slowly and preserves statically unstable stratifications for an unrealistic long time. This note corrects this statement by demonstrating that the Mellor–Yamada mixing scheme, if implemented correctly, tends to overestimate rather than underestimate vertical mixing in seasonally ice-covered seas. Similar to other mixing schemes with the same behaviour, this leads to spurious open ocean deep convection, an unrealistic homogenization of the water column, and a significant reduction of sea ice volume.     

Cretaceous metamorphism in the Austroalpine Matsch Unit (Eastern Alps): The interrelation between deformation and chemical equilibration processes

In the polymetamorphic Austroalpine Matsch Unit (European Eastern Alps) Cretaceous upper greenschist facies metamorphism overprinted Variscan and Permian magmatic and metamorphic assemblages. Mineral compositional and (micro-)structural data of metapelites and metapegmatites document different mechanisms of interrelated deformation and (re-)equilibration during Cretaceous overprinting: i) Microfractures in relic garnet represented pathways for material transport, and thus established material exchange between intragranular domains and the matrix. Major element equilibration by fast diffusion along microfractures contrasts with limited volume diffusion in adjacent host garnet. ii) Syn-tectonic breakdown of staurolite initially to paragonite, then chloritoid allows correlating reaction progress with the formation of different fracture sets. iii) Syn-tectonic mineral growth with shape-preferred orientation in foliation domains contrasts with radial growth in microlithons and strain shadows of the mylonitic foliation. iv) Syn-tectonic unmixing of pre-existing oligoclase (an_14–16) produced fine-grained aggregates of two supposedly coexisting plagioclase-phases (an_3–6 and an_20–25) in strain shadows of the oligoclase-clasts. v) Pre-existing deformation-induced heterogeneities in the spatial distribution of phases and their preferred orientation influence the kinetics of phase equilibration. Understanding the mechanisms of the mutual interrelation between deformation and phase equilibration is a prerequisite for deducing PT-constraints from strained metamorphic rocks. New garnet—whole rock Sm-Nd data from metapegmatites indicate their emplacement at 263–280 Ma and provide an important age constraint on the interrelated deformation and re-equilibration processes.     

Low-frequency damping of a moored semisubmersible obtained from simulated extinction tests and mean wave drift forces

Low-frequency damping of a moored semisubmersible drilling platform was obtained from numerical extinction tests simulated in still water and in regular waves and from mean wave drift forces calculated at zero forward speed. The influence of drag forces was represented by the modified Morison equation. The platform as used for the 18th ITTC Comparative Mooring Study was analyzed in irregular beam waves. The computed time series of sway as well as the corresponding sway response spectrum compared favourably with model test measurements, demonstrating that this procedure to determine low-frequency damping can be effective.     

Influence of relative sea level changes on the construction of the Mississippi Fan

A conceptual sea-level-driven depositional model for individual fanlobes (channel-overbank systems) of the Mississippi Fan does not permit direct application of the sequence stratigraphic principles of Vail and colleagues. Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 96 results suggest that, during initial relative lowering of sea level, the canyon and upper fan channel were formed; excavated fine-grained slope sediments may have formed a debris flow deposit base for the fanlobe. Continued lowering produced constructional channel-levee-overbank deposits. Rising relative sea level inhibited input of coarse clastics, and channel depressions filled with muds. A blanket of (hemi)pelagics represents relative high sea level stand.     

The choice of a dynamico-stochastic model for ocean monitoring — A compromise between the accuracy and cost of computations

In this paper we compare, two dynamico-stochastic models (DSMs) with different hydrodynamic parts, designed to study a large-scale North Atlantic region. As a performance criterion, RMS errors (over the horizon) in density and velocity field reconstruction are used. It has been shown that in some cases it seems rational to use DSMs with simplified hydrodynamic parts. This helps to expedite the computations and to reduce the related costs without much detriment to the quality of hydrophysical field simulation.UDK 551.465.001.573(261.1).Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Rocking buoy wave energy converter

A device for converting ocean wave energy into electricity utilizing a rocking buoy and a hydrogen pressure cell is described. The moored buoy contains a pneumatic tube filled with a dense liquid which rocks back and forth as a result of the ocean wave activity. Hydrogen gas, maintained above the dense fluid is alternatively compressed and expanded by the moving fluid. The hydrogen gas communicates with a hydrogen pressure cell and the resulting pressure difference across the cell leads to an electrical voltage and under load, to electrical power.     

Maternal transfer of bioactive polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons in spawning chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha)

The biological potency (relative to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. TCDD) of planar polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (PCHs) in extracts of eggs and flesh from spawning female chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) from Lake Michigan was determined by measuring the induction of 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity in H-4-II-E rat hepatoma cells. TCDD-equivalents in flesh and egg samples ranged from 0 to 115·8 pg/g, and were approximately 5-fold greater in eggs than in flesh. These results suggest that the maternal transfer of PCHs may play a role in determining the reproductive success of Lake Michigan chinook salmon.     

Uptake and transformation of C-labelled tributyltin chloride by the dog-whelk, nucella lapillus: Importance of absorption from the diet

The importance of the diet as a source of tributyltin (TBT) in Nucella lapillus was studied using [¹⁴C]tributyltin chloride. In N. lapillus provided with prelabelled mussels, Mytilus edulis, in labelled water (mean 20·5 ng/litre TBT) the rate of accumulation of total ¹⁴C was 2–3 times that in unfed animals. Owing to its degradation in the tissues of both fed and unfed animals, concentrations of [¹⁴C]TBT tended to reach a plateau after only 28 days. However, total concentrations of ¹⁴C were still increasing after 49 days. Under experimental conditions (15°C, ample food, no disturbance) the diet accounted for about 50% of the body burden of TBT in N. lapillus after 49 days exposure: concentration factors (dry tissue/water) for [¹⁴C]TBT in both male and female N. lapillus were similar at about 60 000 in fed and 30 000 in unfed animals. It is concluded that the diet may contribute less than half of the body burden of TBT found in natural populations subjected to life-long exposure.     

The Feni Drift: The importance and meaning of slump deposits on the eastern slope of the Rockall Bank

Sedimentary facies of cores from the eastern side of the Rockall Bank and the Feni Drift (55°–58°N) have been studied. They confirm the existence of slumping which contributes only in small part to drift build-up.

These slumps occurred at different episodes during last Glacial and early Post-Glacial periods. They are sandwiched in between more important turbidites, and are found in places where the drift lies against the slope and so is acted upon by continental-rise sedimentary processes. The sea level rise periods with ice melting seems to favour gravity flow release.     

Storm-built sand ridges on the Maryland inner shelf: a preliminary report

Several aspects of the Maryland ridge field are pertinent to the problem of ridge genesis in response to Holocene sea-level rise. There is a systematic morphologic change fromshoreface ridges throughnearshore ridges tooffshore ridges, which reflects the changing hydraulic regime. Grain size is 90° out of phase with topography, so that the coarsest sand lies between the axis of each trough and the adjacent seaward ridge crest, while the finest sand lies between each ridge crest and the axis of the adjacent seaward trough. Finally, analysis over a 43-year period on an outer ridge reveals a systematic pattern of landward flank erosion, seaward flank deposition, and seaward crest migration. These relationships support a model which explains the ridges as consequences of the up-current shift of maximum bottom shear stress with respect to the crests of initial bottom irregularities. The oblique orientation of the ridges with respect to the beach may be at least partly due to the more rapid migration rate of the ridges’ inshore ends.