A modelling study of ecosystem dynamics and nutrient cycling in the Humber plume, UK

The European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) has been coupled with a two-dimensional depth-averaged transport model of the Humber plume region and run to simulate 1988–1989. Simulations of the spatial and temporal variations in chlorophyll-a, nitrate, phosphate and suspended particulate matter distributions in winter, spring and summer show how the development of the spring bloom and subsequent maintenance of primary production is controlled by the physicochemical environment of the plume zone. Results are also shown for two stations, one characterised by the high nutrient and suspended matter concentrations of the plume and the other by the relatively low nutrient and sediment concentrations of the offshore waters. The modelled net primary production at the plume site was 105 g C m⁻² a⁻¹ and 127 g C m⁻² a⁻¹ offshore. Primary production was controlled by light limitation between October and March and by the availability of nutrients during the rest of the year. The phytoplankton nutrient demand is met by in-situ recycling processes during the summer. The likely effect of increasing and decreasing anthropogenic riverine inputs of nitrate and phosphate upon ecosystem function was also investigated. Modelling experiments indicate that increasing the nitrogen to silicate ratio in freshwater inputs increased the production of non-siliceous phytoplankton in the plume. The results of this model have been used to calculate the annual and quarterly mass balances describing the usage of inorganic nitrogen, phosphate and silicate within the plume zone for the period of the NERC North Sea survey (September 1988 to October 1989). The modelled Humber plume retains 3.9% of the freshwater dissolved inorganic nitrogen, 2.2% of the freshwater phosphate and 1.3% of the freshwater silicate input over the simulated seasonal cycle. The remainder is transported into the southern North Sea in either dissolved or particulate form. The reliability of these results is discussed.     

Estimates of the characteristics of the horizontal turbulent exchange in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean

Estimates of the characteristics of the horizontal turbulent exchange (coefficients of horizontal exchange, scales of deviations of the velocity of geostrophic currents from the background flows, and horizontal scales of perturbations) in the upper ocean layer were obtained on the basis of the data of expeditions held in 1978 and 1980 in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. It is shown that the characteristics of the horizontal turbulent exchange strongly depend on the structure of the background flows, and one of the causes of their variability is related to tropical cyclones. A tendency to a decrease (to different degrees) of the turbulent coefficients in the wake of a tropical cyclone is noted.     

Study of the mutual influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation processes and the North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations

On the basis of the nonlinear techniques for the estimation of coupling between oscillatory systems from time series, we investigate the dynamics of climatic modes characterizing global and Northern Hemisphere (NH) processes. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Arctic Oscillation indices and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices are analyzed in terms of the most reliable data from 1950 through 2004 and earlier data since the 19th century. These indices characterize changes in NH atmospheric pressure (specifically, sea-level pressure in the North Atlantic and NH extratropical latitudes as a whole) and in equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature and sea-level pressure to which the strongest variations of global surface temperature and global climate on interannual time scales and of regional climatic anomalies in the NH are linked. The methods used are based on phase-dynamics modeling and nonlinear prediction models (a nonlinear version of Granger causality). From both methods and various ENSO indices, the inference about the ENSO effect on the NAO during the latter half of the 20th century and in the early 21st century is made with confidence probability of at least 0.95. The influence is characterized by a time delay of about two years. No inverse influence is found with a similar degree of reliability. Results of estimating the coupling between the ENSO and the NAO depend on the type of index that is used to describe the NAO. The ENSO effect on the NAO is detected with sufficient confidence when the NAO index is chosen to be a larger scale characteristic. However, when a more local index of the NAO is used, no statistically significant coupling to the ENSO is found. Increasing the length of the analyzed ENSO and NAO series (over more than 100 yr) does not lead to any more reliable detection of coupling. Analysis of the data for different time intervals during 1950–2004 has revealed a strengthening of the ENSO effect on the NAO, although this inference is not reliable.     

Intrusive Stratification of the Gulf-Stream Frontal Zone According to the Results of Investigations Performed during Cruise 43 of the R/V Akademik Vernadskii

We analyze the data of investigation of the intrusive structure of the Gulf-Stream frontal zone obtained in making frequent drift sections with the help of an MGI-8102 probing complex, study the regularities of variation of temperature, salinity, and density along separate intrusions, and present a series of results connected with the specific features of initiation and development of intrusions and the types of exchange processes determining their transformations. It is shown that the T-diagrams of all intrusions are well separated into segments with different slopes. Moreover, by comparing the slopes and locations of these segments with each other and with the T-diagrams of the Gulf Stream and slope waters, we can fairly reliably attribute the corresponding segments of intrusions to one of the following four types: initial dynamic folds of the frontal zone, layers of domestic water separating the intrusive segments of foreign water from each other, intrusive segments characterized by the penetration of ambient water, and segments not intrusive initially but getting the required slope as a result of interaction with upper and lower intrusive segments. For segments of the last two types, it is possible to specify the predominant type of exchange.     

Control over natural resources in ecological economical systems

We consider the problem of stable development of natural economical complexes from the viewpoint of basic balances in an ecological economical system. We construct a basic dynamical model of the complex capable of predicting various scenarios of the industrial development, consumption of natural resources, and pollution of the environment and propose a mechanism of control over the process of development by introducing rent payments for the use of natural resources and ecological fines for the pollution of the environment. The efficiency of the applied model is demonstrated by analysing the process of control over the concentration of biological resources in marine media as an example. We describe the results of numerical experiments performed to show the possibility of creation of the information technology of control over marine bioresources. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

An aromatase inhibitor and tamoxifen decrease plasma levels of o,p'-DDT and its metabolites in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

The objective of this study was to determine if tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor (4-hydroxyandrostenedione; 4-OHA) affected plasma concentrations of o,p' -DDT and its metabolites, o,p'-DDD and o,p'-DDE, in mature tilapia. Male and female tilapia were injected 6 times intraperitoneally with o,p'-DDT (40 mg/kg) alone or in combination with 4-OHA (2 mg/kg) over a 12 day period. An additional group of male fish was injected with tamoxifen (5 mg/kg) plus o,p'-DDT. At the end of the treatment period, plasma samples were extracted and analyzed by GC/ECD. Females injected only with o,p'-DDT had significantly higher levels of o,p'-DDT compared with males. Interestingly, females and males treated concomitantly with o,p'-DDT and 4-OHA or tamoxifen had significantly lower concentrations of plasma o,p'-DDT (about 50%) compared with fish treated with only o,p'-DDT. These initial results suggest that an interaction between endocrine-active compounds occurs in vivo in tilapia and may involve alterations in metabolism of o,p'-DDT.     

Burial and scour around short cylinder under progressive shoaling waves

The results of a laboratory experimental program aimed at better understanding the scour around and burial of heavy cylindrical objects under oscillating flow on a sandy bed are described. This study was motivated by its application to the dynamics of isolated cobbles/mines on a sandy floor under nonlinear progressive waves, such as that occur in shallow coastal waters beyond the wave-breaking region. In the experiments, nonlinear progressive waves were generated in a long wave tank of rectangular cross-section with a bottom slope. Model mines (short cylinders) were placed on the sandy bottom and the temporal evolution of the bed profile and the velocity field in the near field of the object were observed. Experiments were conducted at relatively high Reynolds numbers for a range of flow conditions, which can be characterized by the Keulegan–Carpenter number and Shields parameter. Depending on the values of these parameters, four different scour regimes around the cylinder including periodical burial of cylinder under migrating sand ripples were observed; they were classified as: (i) no scour/burial, (ii) initial scour, (iii) expanded scour, and (iv) periodic burial cases. A scour regime diagram was developed and the demarcation criteria between different regimes were deduced. Semi-empirical formulae that permit estimation of the scour depth with time, the equilibrium maximum scour depth and length, and conditions necessary for the burial of the cylinder as a function of main external parameters are also proposed.     

Barotropic Response of the Sea of Okhotsk to Wind Forcing

We have examined wind-induced circulation in the Sea of Okhotsk using a barotropic model that contains realistic topography with a resolution of 9.25 km. The monthly wind stress field calculated from daily European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) Re-Analysis data is used as the forcing, and the integration is carried out for 20 days until the circulation attains an almost steady state. In the case of November (a representative for the winter season from October to March), southward currents of velocity 0.1–0.3 m s⁻¹ occur along the bottom contours off the east of Sakhalin Island. The currents are mostly confined to the shelf (shallower than 200 m) and extend as far south as the Hokkaido coast. In the July case (a representative for the summer season from April to September), significant currents do not occur, even in the shallow shelves. The simulated southward current over the east Sakhalin shelf appears to correspond to the near-shore branch of the East Sakhalin Current (ESC), which was observed with the surface drifters. These seasonal variations simulated in our experiments are consistent with the observations of the ESC. Dynamically, the simulated ESC is interpreted as the arrested topographic wave (ATW), which is the coastally trapped flow driven by steady alongshore wind stress. The volume transport of the simulated ESC over the shelf reaches about 1.0 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³s⁻¹) in the winter season, which is determined by the integrated onshore Ekman transport in the direction from which shelf waves propagate. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.