东海沉积物中轻矿物的研究

本文对东海大陆架、冲绳海槽及长江表层沉积物中的轻矿物进行了研究。调查区范围为121°-129°E,32°-26°30′N。长江采样区段为芜湖——长江口。共分析了124个样品,其中长江样品11个,东海大陆架样品100个,冲绳海槽样品13个。使用的样品粒级为0.1-0.25毫米。     

东海大陆架异养细菌的生态分布

从海洋物质循环的观点来看,异养细菌在分解有机物质和无机化过程中起着极重要的作用。从海洋食物链的角度来看,分解各种类型有机物而得以增殖的异养细菌自身也是海洋原生动物、浮游动物及底栖动物的营养源。异养细菌在海洋生态系中占有极重要的位置。对海洋中某些细菌的代谢活动与其他海洋生物之间的相互关系的研究日益受到普遍的重视。 海洋异养细菌的生态分布资料已有不少报道。但至今尚未有人发表过东海大陆架海域海洋微生物生态调查的报告。东海大陆架海域江河交汇人海,大陆对海洋的影响极为突出,水文和底质情况复杂,水产资源丰富,因而特别富有多样化的有机物来源。调查和了解这一海域中异养细薗生态分布规律,并研究其参与物质转化过程的特异性,不仅有助于深入研究海洋生态学问题,而且对于阐述东海大陆架的特点也极有价值。本文着重讨论异养细菌在东海大陆架的生态分布特征及菌群组成的特点。     

Seasonality and selectivity in the feeding ecology and reproductive biology of deep-sea bathyal holothurians

Chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments were determined from the gut sediments of five species of bathyal holothurian in the NE Atlantic, sampled shortly after the spring/summer phytoplankton bloom in 2001 and prior to the spring bloom in 2002. Three species, Laetmogone violacea, Paroriza pallens and Bathyplotes natans, sampled within a similar depth range (900–1100 m) in the summer of 2001 showed significant differences in their chlorophyll and carotenoid pigment concentrations. This suggests they may select for slightly different components from the available food resource. Four species sampled in early spring 2002, Laetmogone violacea, Paroriza pallens, Benthogone rosea and Benthothuria funebris, also had significant differences in their pigment concentrations. These species were sampled over a wider depth range (1000–3100 m) showing a bathymetric trend in pigment concentrations. There was a distinct seasonal change in the composition and concentration of the pigments, linked to a reduction in the availability of fresh organic material during autumn and winter periods.Ovarian tissue was also examined. The carotenoid pigments found in the ovary also occurred in the OM ingested by the holothurians. The dominant gonadal carotenoid pigments were β-carotene, echinenone and zeaxanthin. The potential for using these carotenoids to gain a competitive advantage through selectivity of chlorophyll and carotenoid pigment biomarkers are discussed in relation to competition for food resources by deposit-feeders. The results were also compared with selectivity in abyssal species.     

Algorithm for HF radar vector current measurements

A new algorithm is proposed, called the stream function method (SFM) for producing vector current maps from radial data measured by dual-site high frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR). In SFM, a scalar stream function is constructed under some oceanographic assumptions. The function describes the two-dimensional (2-D) ocean surface water motion and is used to obtain the distribution of vector currents. The performance of SFM is evaluated using simulated radial data, which demonstrates that SFM has advantages over typical vectorial combination methods (VCM) both in error acceptance and robustness, and excels another method based on least-squares fitting (LSF) in recovering the complicated current models. Furthermore, SFM is capable of providing the total currents based on radials from single-site radar. We also test the assumptions of horizontal non-divergence in the simulation. The new algorithm is applied to the field experiment data of Wuhan University’s ocean state measuring and analyzing radar (OSMAR), collected in the coastal East China Sea during April 11–17, 2004. Quantitative comparisons are given between radar results by three current algorithms and in-situ current meter measurements. Preliminary analysis of the vertical current shear is given based on the current meter measurements.     

Tectonic core of a sedimentary drift: a potential ridge propagation feature beneath the Blake Outer Ridge

The Blake Outer Ridge is a 480–kilometer long linear sedimentary drift ridge striking perpendicular to the North American coastline. By modeling free-air gravity anomalies we tested for the presence of a crustal feature that may control the location and orientation of the Blake Outer Ridge. Most of our crustal density models that match observed gravity anomalies require an increase in oceanic crustal thickness of 1–3 km on the southwest side of the Blake Outer Ridge relative to the northeast side. Most of these models also require 1–4 km of crustal thinning in zone 20–30 km southwest of the crest of the Blake Outer Ridge. Although these features are consistent with the structure of oceanic fracture zones, the Blake Outer Ridge is not parallel to adjacent known fracture zones. Magnetic anomalies suggest that the ocean crust beneath this feature formed during a period of mid-ocean ridge reorganization, and that the Blake Outer Ridge may be built upon the bathymetric expression of an oblique extensional feature associated with ridge propagation. It is likely that the orientation of this trough acted as a catalyst for sediment deposition with the start of the Western Boundary Undercurrent in the mid-Oligocene.     

Spatial variability in the partial pressures of CO2 in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas

In the summers of 1999 and 2003, the 1st and 2nd Chinese National Arctic Research Expeditions measured the partial pressure of CO₂ in the air and surface waters (pCO₂) of the Bering Sea and the western Arctic Ocean. The lowest pCO₂ values were found in continental shelf waters, increased values over the Bering Sea shelf slope, and the highest values in the waters of the Bering Abyssal Plain (BAP) and the Canadian Basin. These differences arise from a combination of various source waters, biological uptake, and seasonal warming. The Chukchi Sea was found to be a carbon dioxide sink, a result of the increased open water due to rapid sea-ice melting, high primary production over the shelf and in marginal ice zones (MIZ), and transport of low pCO₂ waters from the Bering Sea. As a consequence of differences in inflow water masses, relatively low pCO₂ concentrations occurred in the Anadyr waters that dominate the western Bering Strait, and relatively high values in the waters of the Alaskan Coastal Current (ACC) in the eastern strait. The generally lower pCO₂ values found in mid-August compared to at the end of July in the Bering Strait region (66–69°N) are attributed to the presence of phytoplankton blooms. In August, higher pCO₂ than in July between 68.5 and 69°N along 169°W was associated with higher sea-surface temperatures (SST), possibly as an influence of the ACC. In August in the MIZ, pCO₂ was observed to increase along with the temperature, indicating that SST plays an important role when the pack ice melts and recedes.     

Multi-AUV Control and Adaptive Sampling in Monterey Bay

Operations with multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have a variety of underwater applications. For example, a coordinated group of vehicles with environmental sensors can perform adaptive ocean sampling at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. We describe a methodology for cooperative control of multiple vehicles based on virtual bodies and artificial potentials (VBAP). This methodology allows for adaptable formation control and can be used for missions such as gradient climbing and feature tracking in an uncertain environment. We discuss our implementation on a fleet of autonomous underwater gliders and present results from sea trials in Monterey Bay in August, 2003. These at-sea demonstrations were performed as part of the Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN) II project     

How are large western hemisphere warm pools formed?

During the boreal summer the Western Hemisphere warm pool (WHWP) stretches from the eastern North Pacific to the tropical North Atlantic and is a key feature of the climate of the Americas and Africa. In the summers following nine El Niño events during 1950–2000, there have been five instances of extraordinarily large warm pools averaging about twice the climatological annual size. These large warm pools have induced a strengthened divergent circulation aloft and have been associated with rainfall anomalies throughout the western hemisphere tropics and subtropics and with more frequent hurricanes. However, following four other El Niño events large warm pools did not develop, such that the mere existence of El Niño during the boreal winter does not provide the basis for predicting an anomalously large warm pool the following summer.In this paper, we find consistency with the hypothesis that large warm pools result from an anomalous divergent circulation forced by sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Pacific, the so-called atmospheric bridge. We also find significant explanations for why large warm pools do not always develop. If the El Niño event ends early in the eastern Pacific, the Pacific warm anomaly lacks the persistence needed to force the atmospheric bridge and the Atlantic portion of the warm pool remains normal. If SST anomalies in the eastern Pacific do not last much beyond February of the following year, then the eastern North Pacific portion of the warm pool remains normal. The overall strength of the Pacific El Niño does not appear to be a critical factor. We also find that when conditions favor a developing atmospheric bridge and the winter atmosphere over the North Atlantic conforms to a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern (as in 1957–58 and 1968–69), the forcing is reinforced and the warm pool is stronger. On the other hand, if a positive NAO pattern develops the warm pool may remain normal even if other circumstances favor the atmospheric bridge, as in 1991–92. Finally, we could find little evidence that interactions internal to the tropical Atlantic are likely to mitigate for or against the formation of the largest warm pools, although they may affect smaller warm pool fluctuations or the warm pool persistence.