Measurement of environmental trace-metal levels in Mediterranean coastal areas with transplanted mussels and DGT techniques

Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) devices were deployed together for three one-month periods in coastal waters of Sardinia (Italy), in order to assess the levels of Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb in areas differently affected by anthropogenic activities. DGT devices were more sensitive than mussels in detecting differences in metal concentrations between sites, while interpretation of the biomonitoring data revealed difficulties related to the biotic and abiotic factors that can influence the measurements. Regression analysis showed a significant correlation between Cd and Pb concentrations measured in the mussel tissues and bioavailable metal levels in seawater. Moreover transplanted mussels did not accumulate Cu and Ni following pre-exposure, although DGT showed significant concentrations of bioavailable forms of these metals in seawater. The results provided an estimate of the water quality with respect to dissolved metals and pointed out the usefulness of a combination of biomonitoring and DGT techniques for a better understanding of trace metal availability in coastal waters.     

The oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) off Chile as intense source of CO2 and N2O

The oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are recognized as intense sources of N₂O greenhouse gas (GHG) and could also be potential sources of CO₂, the most important GHG for the present climate change. This study evaluates, for one of the most intense and shallow OMZ, the Chilean East South Pacific OMZ, the simultaneous N₂O and CO₂ fluxes at the air–sea interface. Four cruises (2000–2002) and 1 year of monitoring (21°–30°–36°S) off Chile allowed the determination of the CO₂ and N₂O concentrations at the sea surface and the analysis of fluxes variations associated with different OMZ configurations. The Chilean OMZ area can be an intense GHG oceanic local source of both N₂O and CO₂. The mean N₂O fluxes are 5–10 times higher than the maximal previous historical source in an OMZ open area as in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. For CO₂, the mean fluxes are also positive and correspond to very high oceanic sources. Even if different coupling and decoupling between N₂O and CO₂ are observed along the Chilean OMZ, 65% of the situations represent high CO₂ and/or N₂O sources. The high GHG sources are associated with coastal upwelling transport of OMZ waters rich in N₂O and probably also in CO₂, located at a shallow depth. The integrated OMZ role on GHG should be better considered to improve our understanding of the past and future atmospheric CO₂ and N₂O evolutions.     

Statistical model on the surface elevation of waves with breaking

In the surface wind drift layer with constant momentum flux, two sets of the consistent surface eleva- tion expressions with breaking and occurrence conditions for breaking are deduced from the first in- tegrals of the energy and vortex variations and the kinetic and mathematic breaking criterions, then the expression of the surface elevation with wave breaking is established by using the Heaviside function. On the basis of the form of the sea surface elevation with wave breaking and the understanding of small slope sea waves, a triple composite function of real sea waves is presented including the func- tions for the breaking, weak-nonlinear and basic waves. The expression of the triple composite func- tion and the normal distribution of basic waves are the expected theoretical model for surface elevation statistics.     

“两权分离”方法解决海域勘界中的历史遗留问题

“坚持尊重历史,注重现实的原则”是福建省海域勘界的三大总体原则之一．在海域勘界过程中,常出现海域历史归属和现实的海域开发利用不在同一行政区的历史遗留问题,协调好二者的矛盾冲突关系到海域勘界工作的顺利进行．本研究以泉州湾和东山湾的2条海域勘界线的工作实例,就如何利用“管辖权”和“使用权”分离的方法来解决海域勘界管辖中历史遗留的问题进行阐述．     

北冰洋西部楚科奇海盆晚第四纪生源沉积物及其古海洋学意义

通过北冰洋西部楚科奇海盆M03孔晚第四纪以来生源沉积物,有孔虫丰度和冰筏碎屑(Ice．Rafted Detritus,IRD)的综合研究表明,海洋氧同位素(Marine Isotope Stage,MIS)7期以来,碳酸钙(CaCO )含量和浮游有孔虫丰度在间冰期的增加和冰期的降低,分别指示大西洋水输入的加强和减弱。而有机碳(TOC)和生源蛋白石(Biogenic Opa1)含量的变化可能主要与输入到海底的TOC降解和Opal溶解作用与底层水中的溶解氧有关。间冰期低的TOC和Opal含量可能反映楚
科奇海盆海冰覆盖减少,营养盐供给多,表层生产力增加,通气作用好,底层水富氧,降解和溶解作用增强,保存在沉积物中的TOC和Opal减少;而冰期相对高的TOC和Opal含量可能反映楚科奇海盆海冰覆盖时间较长,营养盐供给少,表层生产力较低,通气作用差,底层水少氧,降解和溶解作用减弱,保存在沉积物中的TOC和Opal增多。     

东南极大陆边缘地区夏季近地面层风场特征分析

本文介绍了“2007-2008国际极地年”期间在南极东部大陆边缘伊丽莎白公主地区进行的风场结构观测实验。自动气象站(Automatic Weather Station,AWS)观测数据的统计分析结果表明,夏季该地区冰盖上的近表面风场主要是由下降风控制,而沿海地区的风场则由于海陆热力学性质的差异呈现出冰盖下降风与局地海陆风交互作用的特点。个例研究表明在冰盖下降风占优时段内,伊丽莎白公主地区的近表面风场具有相当规律的日变化特征,太阳人射辐射规律的日变化是这一现象出现的根本原因。多普勒声雷达对风场垂直结构的观测表明,150 m以下的各高度水平风矢量的变化特征与近地面层风场近似一致,冰盖下降风和海陆风旺盛阶段,偏东风和偏西风的高度可达650 m之高。     

Mean sea level trends around the English Channel over the 20th century and their wider context

This paper provides estimates of rates of change in mean sea level around the English Channel, based on an extensive new hourly sea level data set for the south coast of the UK, derived from data archaeology. Mean sea level trends are found to vary by between 0.8 and 2.3 mm/yr around the Channel. The rates of mean sea level change are calculated by removing the coherent part of the sea level variability from the time series of annual mean sea level before fitting linear trends. The improvement in accuracy gained by using this approach is assessed by comparing trends with those calculated using the more traditional method, in which linear trends are fitted directly to the original records. Removal of the coherent part of the sea level variability allows more precise trends to be calculated from records spanning 30 years. With the traditional approach 50 years is required to obtain the same level of accuracy. Rates of vertical land movement are approximated by subtracting the mean sea level trends from the most recent regional estimate of change in sea level due to oceanographic processes only. These estimated rates are compared to measurements from geological data and advanced geodetic techniques. There is good agreement around most of the UK. However, the rates estimated from the sea level records imply that the geological data suggest too much submergence along the western and central parts of the UK south coast. Lastly, the paper evaluates whether the high rates of mean sea level rise of the last decade are unusual compared to trends observed at other periods in the historical record and finds that they are not.     

Reconstruction of paleocoastlines for the northwestern South China Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum

The range of relative sea level rise in the northwestern South China Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum was over 100 m. As a result, lowland regions including the Northeast Vietnam coast, Beibu Gulf, and South China coast experienced an evolution from land to sea. Based on the principle of reconstructing paleogeography and using recent digital elevation model, relative sea level curves, and sediment accumulation data, this paper presents a series of paleogeographic scenarios back to 20 cal. ka BP for the northwestern South China Sea. The scenarios demonstrate the entire process of coastline changes for the area of interest. During the late glacial period from 20 to 15 cal. ka BP, coastline slowly retreated, causing a land loss of only 1×10⁴ km², and thus the land-sea distribution remained nearly unchanged. Later in 15–10 cal. ka BP coastline rapidly retreated and area of land loss was up to 24×10⁴km², causing lowlands around Northeast Vietnam and South China soon to be underwater. Coastline retreat continued quite rapidly during the early Holocene. From 10 to 6 cal. ka BP land area had decreased by 9×10⁴km², and during that process the Qiongzhou Strait completely opened up. Since the mid Holocene, main controls on coastline change are from vertical crustal movements and sedimentation. Transgression was surpassed by regression, resulting in a land accretion of about 10×10⁴km². Supported by Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. MSGL0711), the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 04001309) and Open Fund of the Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. MGE2007KG04)     

ENSO signals and their spatial-temporal variation characteristics recorded by the sea-level changes in the northwest Pacific margin during 1965–2005

Sea-level is closely linked to the Earth’s climate and its change is important as a metric for global and regional climate change. Identifying, extracting, and revealing such information through detailed analysis is the prerequisite for understanding the mechanisms of sea-level change. The monthly- average tide-change records reported and examined in this paper are from 10 tide gauge stations distributed in the northwest margin of the Pacific Ocean, registered during the period 1965-2005. In particular, we have utilized the Second Order Blind Identification (SOBI) method to identify and the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method to extract the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals imprinted in those tide gauge records; and subsequently, we have investigated the spatial-temporal characteristics of the extracted ENSO signals using wavelet analysis methods. The following results are obtained: (1) the ENSO events recorded by each tide gauge series are of different types and intensity, which show considerable temporal-spatial variation characteristics, with sea-level responses to ENSO signals remarkably stronger in low latitude areas than in medium-high latitude areas; (2) due to the influences of ocean currents, topographical conditions, and other factors, there exist variations in the type of relationship between the sea-level changes and the recorded ENSO events at different latitudes; (3) sea-level changes can also denote scale-variation characteristics of ENSO events, and particularly, since 1980s, all the tide gauges located south of Kanmen show intense responses to ENSO and the timescale of ENSO events extended gradually from around 4 years to 2–8 years, reflecting variations in the intensity and frequency of ENSO events; and (4) reverse changes of certain scale were noted before and after strong ENSO events recorded by sea-level changes, supporting the research findings about the interaction (mutual coupling and superimposition) between the probability of occurrence of strong ENSO events and their time scale.     

ENSO signals and their spatial-temporal variation characteristics recorded by the sea-level changes in the northwest Pacific margin during 1965-2005

Sea-level is closely linked to the Earth's climate and its change is important as a metric for global and regional climate change. Identifying, extracting, and revealing such information through detailed analysis is the prerequisite for understanding the mechanisms of sea-level change. The monthlyaverage tide-change records reported and examined in this paper are from 10 tide gauge stations distributed in the northwest margin of the Pacific Ocean, registered during the period 1965-2005. In particular, we ha...