Seasonal Variation in the Biomass of Marine Macrophyta from Greek Coasts

Abstract. The marine plant communities of the littoral zone in different biotopes of the Greek coasts were investigated in 1980-81. Seasonal distribution and variation of marine plant biomass were assessed. The communities of Cystoseira crinita and C. compressa were outstanding with maximum biomass during the summer months. Corallina officinalis and Pterocladia capillacea + Viva rigida communities predominated with maximum biomass in autumn and exhibited a decrease in winter, except in stressed biotopes. The species diversity and productivity of seaweeds along the Greek coasts are interpreted in relation to a number of environmental parameters.     

Interstitial water chemistry of Jamaican reef sediment: sulfate reduction and submarine cementation

Chemical and isotopic analyses of pore waters from Jamaican reef sediment suggest the importance of microbial sulfate reduction as a major control upon the origin, distribution, and composition of submarine cements in this fringing reef setting. Fore-reef sediment pore waters exhibit active sulfate reduction and enrichment in ¹⁸O which is consistent with associated active magnesian calcite cementation, alkalinity consumption, and cement enrichment in ¹⁸O. Conversely, lack of widespread submarine cementation in the back-reef corresponds to the diminished resupply of sulfate coupled with input of CO₂-charged meteoric water from a nearby unconfined aquifer into the more stagnant pore waters which lower pore-water magnesian calcite saturation states and preclude active submarine cementation.     

The formation and evolution of East Australian current warm-core eddies

Data on East Australian Current (EAC) warm-core eddies were obtained over the period 1976–1978 by the Department of Defence and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). In that time we have learned that warm eddies form by pinch-off of poleward EAC meanders, can coalesce with the EAC and appear generally similar to Gulf Stream, Kuroshio and other current system eddies. Two eddies were tracked over 1977–1978 with satellite buoys and one (eddy B) was repeatedly studied over eleven months. A deep winter core formed by winter convective cooling and the following summer a new surface mixed layer formed on top of the core. The seasonal changes have been analysed for heat content and changes in dynamic relief. The eddy decayed with a time constant of 650 ± 150 days, due to upwelling below the seasonal thermocline. Surface cooling had little effect on eddy lifetime. The eddy contracted horizontally, possibly after some interaction with the EAC, giving rise to eddy spin-up with increasing age. Surface currents increased after eleven months to 2.0 m s^?1. The dynamic relief during summer was also apparently boosted by contact with the EAC. Eddy B was observed to coalesce with a new meander of the EAC rather than drift away to the south. It is proposed that the formation of these eddies is governed by the westward propagation of the baroclinic Rossby wave known as the Tasman Front. Pinch-off of eddies adjacent to the coast and the variable flow of the EAC may be caused by the baroclinic wave ‘breaking’ on the coast. The eddy formation rate is about two per year and most eddies coalesce with the EAC and do not escape to the south. Eddies coalesce and re-separate, creating many subsurface isothermal layers from old cores south of 34°S.     

Parameters of JONSWAP spectral model for surface gravity waves—II. Predictability from real data

Monte Carlo simulation of wave spectra was carried out to provide an assessment of JONSWAP spectral model and parameters. The simulation method is found to be satisfactory because (a) it excludes the spectral variability due to geophysical factors from the sampling errors in the spectral estimates and the statistical uncertainty in determining the model parameters; and (b) the simulated spectra can represent ideal spectral estimates where the sampling errors have been minimized by increasing the degrees of freedom of the spectra. The latter (b) allows both the magnitude of sampling errors to be evaluated and errors due to statistical uncertainty to be isolated. Thus, the stimulation study provides a useful error analysis to assess the JONSWAP spectral model and parameters. For instance, it is found from the results that the sampling errors could be as high as 20% while errors due to uncertainty in determining the model parameter could be as high as 17%. However, the overall errors may be reduced to the minimum of approx. 15% if the simulated spectra have 80 degrees of freedom and constant values of σ_a and σ_b i.e. σ_a = 0.07 and σ_b = 0.09. This implies that the maximum accuracy of 85% may be achieved in JONSWAP spectral model even though the α parameter has been underestimated by about 1.5%. The overestimated values of γ might come from the underestimated α and the biased φ_m estimator caused by the statistical uncertainty in the presence of a sharp spectral peak. Although the scale parameters (α and φ_m) exhibit smaller errors and variability than the shape parameters (ψ, σ_a and σ_b), they are more sensitive to the degrees of freedom of the spectra and their estimators are not better than the estimators of shape parameters. The simulation experiments have also shown that simulated spectra at 20–40 degrees of freedom contain a substantial amount of sampling errors. Therefore, the measured wave spectra at the same degrees of freedom (20–40) are not suitable and should not be used for evaluating the accuracy of any wave spectral model.     

A stochastic model of the atmospheric precipitation in the coastal zone of the Tropical Atlantic

A stochastic prognostic model of the atmospheric precipitation in the tropical area of the Atlantic Ocean is developed on the basis of a large data array. The data represent a series of monthly precipitation rates for 31 towns in the Republic of Guinea covering a period of 35–64 years as well as satellite data on the meridional displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone during 11 years. The model takes into account major regularities of the tropical precipitation: their impulsive periodic regime, trends, and the modulation of the stochastic component by the determined variability.Translated by Mikhai M. Trufanov.     

Joint Soviet-Turkish expedition in the Black Sea

The hydrological and hydrochemical structures of the upper 300 m water column of the Black Sea in autumn 1988 have been studied. Regularities in the distribution of the physico-chemical characteristics in the zone of interaction between aerobic and anaerobic waters as well as the topography of the H₂S zone boundary and its connection with a certain density gradient have been found.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

The distributions of particulate atmospheric trace metals and mineral aerosols over the Indian Ocean

Data are presented for the concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, Cr, V, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in aerosols collected over two contrasting regions of the Indian Ocean. These are: (1) the northern Arabian Sea (AS), from which samples were collected in the northeast monsoon, during which the region receives an input of crustal material from the surrounding arid land masses; and (2) the Tropical Southern Indian Ocean (TSIO), a remote region from which samples were collected from air masses for which there were no large-scale up-wind continental aerosol sources. The TSIO samples can be divided into two populations: Population I aerosols, collected from air masses which have probably impinged on Madagascar, and Population II aerosols, which have been confined to open-ocean regions to the south of the area.The data indicate that there are strong latitudinal variations in the chemical signatures of aerosols over the Indian Ocean. The input of crustal material to the Arabian Sea gives rise to an average Al concentration of about 1000 ng m⁻³ of air in the northeast monsoon regime. As a result, the concentrations of all trace metals are relatively high, and the values of crustal enrichment factors are less than 10 for most metals, in the AS aerosols. In contrast, TSIO Population II ‘open-ocean southern air’ sampled during the southwest monsoon season, has an average Al concentration of only about 10 ng m⁻³ of air. Trace metal concentrations in the TSIO ‘open-ocean southern air’ during the southwest monsoon season are representative of ‘clean’ remote marine air and are generally similar to those reported over the central North Pacific.Mineral dust concentrations over the Indian Ocean decrease in a north to south direction, from about 15–20 μg m⁻³ of air in the extreme north to about 0.01–0.25 μg m⁻³ of air in the far south. The deposition of mineral dust over the northern Arabian Sea can account for approximately 75% of the non-carbonate material incorporated into the underlying sediments.In the Arabian Sea the dissolved atmospheric inputs of all the trace metals, with the exception of Cu and Co, exceed those from fluvial run-off by factors which range from 9.6 for Pb to 1.6 for Cr.     

An inexpensive instrument for measuring benthic current velocity and direction at sea

An instrument which measures the velocity and direction of benthic water currents at depths of up to 80 m is described. Characteristics of this meter include: (i) readings are not affected by water flow during sinking or retrieval; (ii) it is portable; (iii) it operates unattended; (iv) it is inexpensive; and (v) it requires only simple maintenance. A timing circuit which operates two time periods in succession is used to activate and de-activate a revolution counter and a fluidfilled compass which are mounted on a special frame and vane system. In the field, the instrument accurately measured average current velocities of up to 6 m s⁻¹. Data are presented which illustrate the usefulness of this instrument in describing the velocity and direction of benthic currents along the east coast of Australia and demonstrate a positive correlation between benthic current velocity and catch rates of the commercially-exploited spanner crab Ranina ranina.