Renewable energy from the ocean

Growing concern over the threat of global climate change has led to an increased interest in research and development of renewable energy technologies. The ocean provides a vast source of potential energy resources, and as renewable energy technology develops, investment in ocean energy is likely to grow. Research in ocean thermal energy conversion, wave energy, tidal energy, and offshore wind energy has led to promising technologies and in some cases, commercial deployment. These sources have the potential to help alleviate the global climate change threat, but the ocean environment should be protected while these technologies are developed. Renewable energy sources from the ocean may be exploited without harming the marine environment if projects are sited and scaled appropriately and environmental guidelines are followed.     

Hydrodynamic coefficients of a harmonically oscillated tower

A tower hinged at the bottom was oscillated mechanically in a sinusoidal fashion in a plane in still water. An instrumented section in the tower measured the inline and transverse forces locally on the tower due to the hydrodynamic effects. These forces are analyzed for the added mass, drag and lift coefficients which are presented as functions of Keulegan-Carpenter and Reynolds number. The lift force frequencies are also investigated. The measured overall reactions on the tower are used to verify the values of the local coefficients. The results presented here are not only applicable to articulated towers but to other moving elements of an offshore structure, e.g. risers, tension-legs, etc.     

Uncertainties in field-line tracing in the magnetosphere. Part I: the axisymmetric part of the internal geomagnetic field

The technique of tracing along magnetic field lines is widely used in magnetospheric physics to provide a magnetic frame of reference that facilitates both the planning of experiments and the interpretation of observations. The precision of any such magnetic frame of reference depends critically on the accurate representation of the various sources of magnetic field in the magnetosphere. In order to consider this important problem systematically, a study is initiated to estimate first the uncertainties in magnetic-field-line tracing in the magnetosphere that arise solely from the published (standard) errors in the specification of the geomagnetic field of internal origin. Because of the complexity in computing these uncertainties for the complete geomagnetic field of internal origin, attention is focused in this preliminary paper on the uncertainties in magnetic-field-line tracing that result from the standard errors in just the axisymmetric part of the internal geomagnetic field. An exact analytic equation exists for the magnetic field lines of an arbitrary linear combination of axisymmetric multipoles. This equation is used to derive numerical estimates of the uncertainties in magnetic-field-line tracing that are due to the published standard errors in the axisymmetric spherical harmonic coefficients (i.e. g_n⁰ ± g_n⁰). Numerical results determined from the analytic equation are compared with computational results based on stepwise numerical integration along magnetic field lines. Excellent agreement is obtained between the analytical and computational methods in the axisymmetric case, which provides great confidence in the accuracy of the computer program used for stepwise numerical integration along magnetic field lines. This computer program is then used in the following paper to estimate the uncertainties in magnetic-field-line tracing in the magnetosphere that arise from the published standard errors in the full set of spherical harmonic coefficients, which define the complete (non-axisymmetric) geomagnetic field of internal origin. Numerical estimates of the uncertainties in magnetic-field-line tracing in the magnetosphere, calculated here for the axisymmetric part of the internal geomagnetic filed, should be regarded as first approximations in the sense that such estimates are only as accurate as the published standard errors in the set of axisymmetric spherical harmonic coefficients. However, all procedures developed in this preliminary paper can be applied to the derivation of more realistic estimates of the uncertainties in magnetic-field-line tracing in the magnetosphere, following further progress in the determination of more accurate standard errors in the spherical harmonic coefficients.Also Visiting Reader in Physics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK     

Carbon stars in infrared surveys

In order to prepare the analysis of the forthcoming near-IR surveys (DENIS, 2MASS) and to interpret them in terms of galactic structure and AGB evolution, we present model predictions of AGB distributions in K, in 12m and in (J-K, [12–25]) space, as they will be obtained from these surveys, cross-correlated with IRAS Catalog. The simulations have been made by adding the AGB to the Besançon model.     

Introduction

An ICES Symposium on The Influence of Climate Change on NorthAtlantic Fish Stocks was held in Bergen, Norway, from 11 to14 May 2004. The Symposium, sponsored by the ICES/GLOBEC WorkingGroup on Cod and Climate Change (WGCCC) as part of their synthesisactivities, was convened to address the issue of climate variabilityand its impact on cod and other fish stocks in the North Atlantic.It followed 11 years after the first WGCCC-sponsored ICES Symposiumon Cod and Climate (ICES, 1994) in Reykjavík, Iceland,which was convened to gather together the then current knowledgeof the influence of climate variability on cod. The 2004 Symposiumwas timely     

Seasonal cycle of suspended barite in the mediterranean sea

Biogenic barium (Ba_xs) was measured in suspended particles at the DYFAMED site in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, on a monthly basis between February and June 2003. The barium content of barite (BaSO₄) micro-crystals was investigated using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Suspended particles were collected by filtration of small volumes of seawater (∼10 L), as well as large volumes up to 2400 L in March and in May. The Ba_xs profiles obtained from small-volume filtration display the typical mesopelagic maximum reported by earlier studies at ∼200 m depth, with concentrations up to 595 pmol L⁻¹. In addition, suspended Ba_xs was found almost exclusively in the form of micro-crystalline barite, except in February. The Ba_xs profiles obtained from large-volume filtration are consistent with the small-volume filtration findings, but reveal a significant Ba_xs peak of 1698 pmol L⁻¹ in the surface waters in May. Seasonal sampling at the DYFAMED site shows a net increase in barite concentration during phytoplanktonic blooms, confirming the involvement of biological systems in barite formation, as well as the potential role of barite as a primary productivity tracer. In addition, the coincidence between the mesopelagic barite maximum and the oxygen minimum layer suggests that barite is primarily found at depths of intense remineralization, in agreement with the hypothesis that barite forms within microenvironments of decaying organic matter.     

Mineralogy and origin of rhizoliths on the margins of saline,alkaline Lake Bogoria,Kenya Rift Valley

A wide range of rhizoliths occurs around the margins of Lake Bogoria, Kenya. These include root casts, moulds, tubules, rhizocretions, and permineralised root systems. These rhizoliths are variably composed of opaline silica, calcite, zeolites (mainly analcime), fluorite, and possibly fluorapatite, either alone or in combinations. Some rhizoliths are infilled moulds with detrital silicate grains. Most rhizoliths are in situ, showing both vertical and horizontal orientations. Reworked rhizoliths have been concentrated locally to form dense rhizolites.Hot-spring fluids, concentrated by evapotranspiration and capillary evaporation, have provided most of the silica for the permineralisation of the plant tissues. Precipitation involved the growth of silica nanospheres and microspheres that coalesced into homogeneous masses. Calcite rhizoliths formed following evaporative concentration, evapotranspiration, and (or) CO₂ degassing of Ca-bearing runoff water that infiltrated the sediment, or by mixing of runoff with saline, alkaline groundwater. Fluorite precipitated in areas where mixing of hot-spring and meteoric waters occurred, or possibly where hot-spring fluids came into contact with pre-existing calcite. Zeolitic rhizoliths formed during a prolonged period of aridity, when capillary rise and evaporative pumping brought saline, alkaline waters into contact with detrital silicate minerals around roots.     

Stable isotope evidence for regional-scale fluid migration in a Barrovian metamorphic terrane,Vermont, USA

We measured the C- and O-isotopic composition of carbonate minerals in the Waits River Formation, eastern Vermont, to determine the extent of fluid infiltration during regional metamorphism over an approx. 2000 km² area in a deep-seated (>25 km) Barrovian terrane. From a petrologic study of this terrane, Ferry proposed the existence of a large regional metamorphic hydrothermal system with two first-order features: (1) on the scale of the entire terrane fluid flow was focused into the axes of two major antiforms of regional extent; (2) on a smaller scale (about 100 km²) flow was further focused around synmetamorphic granitic plutons that intruded along the axes of the antiforms. We find isotopic evidence for both the regional hydrothermal activity along the antiforms and the more intense fluid flow around synmetamorphic plutons. The evidence for hydrothermal activity around the plutons is large heavy isotope depletions, up to 6–9 in ¹⁸O_carb and ¹³C_carb, in diopside zone rocks adjacent to the plutons. These isotopic shifts are greater than can be explained solely by prograde metamorphic reactions. We find two lines of evidence for the more diffuse regional flow that was focused into axes of the antiforms. First, ¹⁸O_carb and ¹³C_carb, within individual outcrops become increasingly homogeneous with increasing grade towards antiform axes, indicating that the rocks equilibrated with a permeating fluid. Second, there are depletions in ¹⁸O near the margins of the Waits River Formation which can be interpreted as a dispersed, advective infiltration front displaced toward the antiform axes. These fronts were modelled using Eq. 13 of Bickle and Baker and imply time-integrated fluid of 10⁵–10⁶ cm³/cm², which are consistent with values derived by Ferry from measured progress of prograde devolatilization reactions.