Volume transport in the Soya Strait during 2006–2008

Time-series data of the vertical structure of the Soya Warm Current (SWC) were obtained by a bottom-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) in the middle of the Soya Strait from September 2006 to July 2008. The site of the ADCP measurement was within the coverage of the ocean-radar measurement around the strait. The volume transport of the SWC through the strait is estimated on the basis of both the vertical structure observed by the ADCP and the horizontal structure observed by the radars for the first time. The annual transport estimates are 0.62–0.67 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³s⁻¹). They are somewhat smaller than the difference between the previous estimates of the inflow and outflow through other straits in the Sea of Japan, and smaller than those obtained in the region downstream of the strait during 2004–05 (0.94–1.04 Sv). The difference in the two periods may be attributed to interannual variability of the SWC and/or the different measurement locations.     

Study on the fate of petroleum-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the effect of chemical dispersant using an enclosed ecosystem,mesocosm

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the components found in oil and are of interest because some are toxic. We studied the environmental fate of PAHs and the effects of chemical dispersants using experimental 500 l mesocosm tanks that mimic natural ecosystems. The tanks were filled with seawater spiked with the water-soluble fraction of heavy residual oil. Water samples and settling particles in the tanks were collected periodically and 38 PAH compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Low molecular weight (LMW) PAHs with less than three benzene rings disappeared rapidly, mostly within 2 days. On the other hand, high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs with more than four benzene rings remained in the water column for a longer time, up to 9 days. Also, significant portions (10-94%) of HMW PAHs settled to the bottom and were caught in the sediment trap. The addition of chemical dispersant accelerated dissolution and biodegradation of PAHs, especially HMW PAHs. The dispersant amplified the amounts of PAHs found in the water column. The amplification was the greater for the more hydrophobic PAHs, with an enrichment factor of up to six times. The increased PAHs resulting from dispersant use overwhelmed the normal degradation and, as a result, higher concentrations of PAHs were observed in water column throughout the experimental period. We conclude that the addition of the dispersant could increase the concentration of water column PAHs and thus increase the exposure and potential toxicity for organisms in the natural environment. By making more hydrocarbon material available to the water column, the application of dispersant reduced the settling of PAHs. For the tank with dispersant, only 6% of chrysene initially introduced was detected in the sediment trap whereas 70% was found in the trap in the tank without dispersant.     

Dissipation of the rare gases contained in the primordial Earth's atmosphere

If the Earth was formed by accumulation of rocky bodies in the presence of the gases of the primordial solar nebula, the Earth at this formation stage was surrounded by a massive primordial atmosphere (of about 1 × 10²⁶ g) composed mainly of H₂ and He. We suppose that the H₂ and He escaped from the Earth, owing to the effects of strong solar wind and EUV radiation, in stages after the solar nebula itself dissipated into the outer space.The primordial atmosphere also contained the rare gases Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe whose amounts were much greater than those contained in the present Earth's atmosphere. Thus, we have studied in this paper the dissipation of these rare gases due to the drag effect of outflowing hydrogen molecules. By means of the two-component gas kinetic theory and under the assumption of spherically symmetric flow, we have found that the outflow velocity of each rare gas relative to that of hydrogen is expressed in terms of only two parameters — the rate of hydrogen mass flow across the spherical surface under consideration and the temperature at this surface. According to this result, the rare gases were dissipated below the levels of their contents in the present atmosphere, when the mass loss rate of hydrogen was much greater than 1 × 10¹⁷ g/yr throughout the stages where the atmospheric mass decreased from 1 × 10²⁶ g to 4 × 10¹⁹ g.