Physical and biological factors influencing the spatial distribution of age-0 walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) around the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea

The waters around the Pribilof Islands, in the southeast Bering Sea, are a main nursery area for age-0 pollock. Each summer, the islands are surrounded by a well-mixed inshore region, separated from a stratified offshore region by a frontal zone. To study the spatial distribution of age-0 pollock around this frontal structure in relation to physical and biological factors that are likely to influence it, such as advection, age-0 pollock feeding, and predation, samples were collected during September of four consecutive years, 1994–97, along two transects. Samples collected included water column hydrography and currents, acoustic backscatter, and groundfish predator density.Our analysis suggested that different mechanisms may be involved in controlling age-0 pollock distribution north and south of the islands. On the shelf area north of the islands, high age-0 pollock density was significantly associated with areas of high potential for growth only in years or portions of the frontal transect in which predator numbers were relatively low, indicating the importance of predation in controlling fish distribution in this area. In contrast, south of the islands, age-0 pollock distribution was associated more with prey availability, which appeared to be determined by vertical spatial overlap between predators and prey. Moreover, south of the islands, the stronger geostrophic currents, typical of the slope region, were more likely to affect the overall standing biomass of juvenile pollock, by constantly advecting fish away from the area.     

An experimental pressure compensated wet suit

Personal thermal insulation by means of neoprene from wet suits provides adequate temporary control of body heat loss only at the shallow end of the air diving depth range, but it constitutes by far the most popular approach to diver thermal support. Howewer, compression of the trapped gas phase in neoprene foam seriously reduces its insulation performance on exposure to high ambient pressure. With conventional wet suits equipped with heating, the necessary level of power required at depths greater than about 30 m is too high, and also unsafe without the back up that increased insulation would provide. One approach to the goal of depth-insensitive insulation is to use a wet suit with a continuous internal gas space pressurized nominally to ambient pressure, so that its thickness remains substantially constant at all depths. The composite material properties required are: outer skins that are tough, flexible and free of pin holes; an open foam internal structure capable of resisting, without significant dimensional change, the relatively small pressure changes that occur over the height of a man; and a high bond strength.Samples of a composite material that meets these requirements have been developed, and a prototype suit has been successfully fabricated by conventional techniques.     

Statistical characteristics of currents and seawater temperature near the Florida Strait

Average and extreme values of the current velocity, seawater temperature, and their standard deviations are considered on the basis of measurements carried out at three moorings deployed in the Florida Strait. The contributions of the low-frequency (synoptic) and mesoscale variations of currents and the seawater temperature to their temporal variability are estimated. The kinetic energy values of the averaged current and the synoptic and mesoscale variations are given. Their contributions to the general (total) kinetic energy of currents are determined. It is shown that the pulsations of the north-east trade wind can be one of the reasons for the synoptic variations in the field of currents and seawater temperature.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Generation of a double Kelvin wave resulting from the reflection of the Rossby wave by the jump layer

This paper considers the evolution of a spatially-localized divergent Rossby wave field near the depth jump. If the jump magnitude is comparable to the depth, Rossby waves are fully reflected and a double Kelvin wave is then generated. The Rossby waves and the double Kelvin wave are described by the first- and zero-approximation fields of the asymptotic expansion, respectively. Over the characteristic Rossby wave period, the level elevation produced by the double Kelvin wave spreads over an extensive area, theraby making up for the change in the total fluid mass of the Rossby waves.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Assimilation of altimetry data in the numerical model of the circulation in the Black Sea: The model numerical experiments

The numerical algorithm of the Kalman optimum filtration generalized for the case of three-dimensional fields and a multicomponent vector of the ocean state, with level measurements discrete over space and time being available, is given. The results of model numerical experiments on the assimilation of data on the Black Sea level are given. An attempt to estimate the effect of the time interval of data input on the results of field reconstruction was made.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Harpacticoida taxocen diversity in the silty-sandy littoral zone of Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea

The fauna composition, ecological groups, and life forms of Harpacticoids of soft littoral grounds from 15 sites off the Karelian coast in Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea were studied. Six types of harpacticoid taxocens with different sets of dominating species are described. On silty sands with clear signs of desalination, the Stenchelia palustris taxocen is common; medium-grained sands are characterized by the Heterolaophonte minuta, Paraleptastacus kliei — Huntemannia jadensis, and Amphiascoides nanus — Scottopsyllus minor taxocens; while on coarse sands, the Ameira parvula and Ameira scotti — Mesochra lilljeborgi taxocens have developed. The diversity of the taxocens is partly explained by the differences in the grain-size composition and salinity at different sites. In addition, groups of various taxocens dwelling on the same type of the sediments were found in different minor bights of the coastline.     

Interstitial water chemistry of villefranche bay sediments: Trace metal diagenesis

Pore water aliquots were taken with an in situ close interval sampler: the “Peeper”.We report here the pore water concentration profiles of TCO₂, SO₄, TH₂S, Ca and the trace metals Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Cr from sediments of a relatively polluted area, the Villefranche Bay, on the French Riviera (close to Nice).We investigated the major ion concentrations in order to establish geochemical mass balances of organic matter oxidation. ΔTCO₂/ΔSO₄ was <−2.0, reflecting the precipitation of calcite as confirmed by the calcium profile. Reduction of sulfate led to increasing sulfide concentrations with depth.Trace metal interstitial water concentrations decreased from 63 to 5 nM, 18 to 4 nM and 6.6 to less than 2 nM for Cu, Pb and Cr, respectively. Cd showed a different pattern with top and deep values of 0.7 nM and a minimum of 0.27 nM.Thermodynamic calculations were performed which suggest the potential formation of mineral phases such as sulfides.