Application of the Genetic Algorithm to the Problem of Reconstruction of Missing Data

We study the problem of reconstruction (interpolation and extrapolation) of the vertical profiles of hydrochemical and hydrobiological elements according to incomplete sets of data with simultaneous filtration of short-period components based on expansions in empirical orthogonal functions. The genetic algorithm is used to compute the coefficients of expansion of profiles with missing data. We present the results of processing the data arrays on oxygen, chlorophyll A, and biogenic elements collected in the Black Sea in 1982–1993. The mean error of reconstruction of the profiles enables us to conclude that the proposed method has considerable advantages over the conventional approaches.     

Statistical Modeling of Monthly Anomalies of Atmospheric Precipitations for the Region of the Ukraine and Black Sea

The data array accumulated for the period 1946–1995 is used to select the most significant predictor of monthly anomalies of precipitation in the region of the Ukraine and Black Sea, namely, a large-scale circulation in a sector covering the North Atlantic and Europe. Three large-scale predictors (geopotential at a level of 500GPa, sea-level pressure, and the difference between the geopotentials at levels of 500 and 1000GPa) give almost identical results: their correlation with anomalies of precipitation is equal to 0.7–0.8 in winter and 0.4–0.5 in summer. The predominant mechanism of the influence of circulation on precipitations at low frequencies is the response of the trajectories of European cyclones to changes in the upper-tropospheric jet currents in the Atlantic-European sector described as the superposition of the North-Atlantic oscillation and the Eurasian mode. The decomposition of the fields of precipitations and circulation in the eigenmodes of the canonical correlation analysis opens a possibility of direct computation of the monthly average fields of precipitations for the entire territory of the Ukraine and Black Sea region according to the large-scale geopotential fields.     

墨西哥湾西北部陆坡气体水合物资源评价

气体水合物是一种似冰状的结晶物质 ,烃类和非烃类气体赋存于水分子笼形格架内。全球海底气体水合物储集层可能含有２×１０１４（Ｓｏｌｏｖｉｅｗ，２０００）～７．６×１０１７ ｍ３（Ｄｂｒｙｎｉｎ等，１９８１）的甲烷。目前 ,在墨西哥湾西北部陆坡水深４４０～＞２４００ｍ处采集了５０个热成因和细菌成因的气体水合物样品。通过活塞柱状取样和科学考察深潜器 ,研究者已经从海底取到细菌成因Ⅰ型构造的甲烷水合物和热成因Ⅱ型和Ｈ型的气体水合物。近年来 ,ＧＯＭ (墨西哥湾 )深水区已经成为对石油勘探具有重要意义的地区。１９９９…     

Relationship between the depth of visibility of Secchi disk and biooptical characteristics of the Black-Sea waters

We present the parameters of empirical relationships between the depth of visibility of Secchi disk and optical and biological characteristics of the Black-Sea surface waters. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

Atmospherically-promoted photosynthetic activity in a well-mixed ecosystem: Significance of wet deposition events of nitrogen compounds

Wet atmospheric deposition of dissolved N, P and Si species is studied in well-mixed coastal ecosystem to evaluate its potential to stimulate photosynthetic activities in nutrient-depleted conditions. Our results show that, during spring, seawater is greatly depleted in major nutrients: Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN), Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus (DIP) and Silicic acid (Si), in parallel with an increase of phytoplanktonic biomass. In spring (March–May) and summer (June–September), wet atmospheric deposition is the predominant source (>60%, relative to riverine contribution) for nitrates and ammonium inputs to this N-limited coastal ecosystem. During winter (October–February), riverine inputs of DIN predominate (>80%) and are annually the most important source of DIP (>90%). This situation allows us to calculate the possibility for a significant contribution to primary production in May 2003, from atmospheric deposition (total input for DIN ≈300 kg km⁻² month⁻¹). Based on usual Redfield ratios and assuming that all of the atmospheric-derived N (AD-N) in rainwater is bioavailable for phytoplankton growth, we can estimate new production due to AD-N of 950 mg C m⁻² month⁻¹, during this period of depletion in the water column. During the same episode (May 2003), photosynthetic activity rate, considered as gross primary production, was estimated to approximately 30 300 mg C m⁻² month⁻¹. Calculation indicates that new photosynthetic activity due to wet atmospheric inputs of nitrogen could be up to 3%.     

Estimation of Uplift Capacity of Rapidly Loaded Plate Anchors in Soft Clay

Plate anchors are extensively used in civil engineering constructions as they provide an economical alternative to gravity and other embedded anchors. The rate of loading is one of the important factors that affects the magnitude of soil resistance as well as soil suction force. This article outlines the effect of pullout rate on uplift behavior of plate anchors (70 mm diameter) buried in soft saturated clay by varying the pullout rate from 1.4 mm/min to 21.0 mm/min. The variation of breakout force and suction force with embedment depth and rate of pull are presented. A correlation between the rate of increase of undrained strength of clay and anchor capacity with rate of strain has been established. Finally an empirical equation has been proposed that includes the rate of pull in the estimation of breakout capacity of anchors.     

Manifestation of the Arctic Oscillation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the tropical stratosphere

Characteristics of the Arctic Oscillation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation effects manifested on interannual scales in the equatorial stratosphere are determined. Wavelet analysis of local phase shifts, coherence, and correlation is used to obtain correlation portraits of the largest factors of climate variability against the background of coherent variations in the equatorial stratospheric wind speed at the 50- and 15-hPa pressure levels. It is shown that the Arctic Oscillation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation signals may reach the tropical stratosphere. The signals are easily identified in a wide range of scales, including quasi-biennial, 3-to 5-year, and 10-to 11-year periods. The results obtained reflect a coherent pattern of the manifestation of these signals at the selected stratospheric levels. It is found that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation effect at periods close to 10–11 years reaches the stratospheric level rather rapidly, in the same or next month, while the effects of the Arctic Oscillation index are delayed by nine months. The estimates obtained show that a phase shift of almost 180° in the Arctic Oscillation index relative to the equatorial stratospheric wind occurred in almost all of the range of interannual periods in 1978 and 1992. For the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, an increase in local correlations on a scale of 3-to 5-year variations was observed in 1980–1990, a 180° phase shift occurred in 1992, and the correlation with stratospheric wind increased in 1992–2004. The estimates obtained are indicative of a change in the atmospheric circulation pattern that took place in the Northern Hemisphere in 1978–1991.     

A comparative mineralogical study of gas-related sediments of the Gulf of Cádiz

The Gulf of Cádiz area has been extensively surveyed in recent years and several gas-related fluid escape seafloor structures have been identified. In this study, gravity cores, collected during the ANASTASYA/00 and ANASTASYA/01 cruises, on mud volcanoes, hemipelagic sediments and dredged material from diapiric structures, have been studied. A comparative mineralogical analysis by XRD and SEM of samples from different areas has been performed in order to determine whether there is a characteristic mineralogy related to these fluid escape structures, and also to determine the origin of the mud matrix and constrain the depth of the parent units. The mineralogical analysis reflects the different origins of the different units described in the cores: hemipelagic material of the slope, clays that underlie the mud volcanoes and are discharged at the sea bottom surface, and authigenic and diagenetic minerals possibly involved in the anaerobic oxidation of methane in the mud volcano sediments.     

Supply and precipitation of hydrothermal iron in the rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 26° and 29° N

This publication considers the probing data on aquatic anomalies (hydrothermal plumes) in the areas of 26° and 29° N of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). The mass of the hydrothermal iron supply and the intensity of the iron sedimentation onto the bottom were estimated by means of sediment traps. It was found that the plume of the TAG hydrothermal vent 6 km³ in volume contained about 67 t of suspended Fe; the plume of the Broken Spur field (up to 8.24 km³ in volume) contained 23.5 t or less because of the lower concentration. The data on the sedimentary matter fluxes showed that 0.3–0.5% of the hydrothermal iron was precipitated immediately from a plume of neutral buoyancy onto the bottom; the bulk of the iron was dissipated into the environment. From the dimensions of the plumes, the flow dynamics, the iron concentrations in the plumes, and the amounts of iron supplied by hydrothermal vents, it was found that the resident time of the plumes considered was from 5 to 10 days.