An artificial sand wave on the Dutch shoreface of the North Sea has been studied in conditions with relatively strong tidal currents in the range of 0.5 to 1 m/s and sediments in the medium sand size range of 0.2 to 0.5 mm. The sand wave is perpendicular to the tidal current and has a maximum height and length of the order of 5 m and 1 km, respectively. The sand wave is dynamically active and shows migration rates of the order of a few metres per year. A numerical morphodynamic model (DELFT3D model) has been used to simulate the morphological behaviour of the sand wave in the North Sea. This model approach is based on the numerical solution of the three-dimensional shallow water equations in combination with a surface wave propagation model (wind waves) and the advection–diffusion equation for the sediment particles with online bed updating after each time step. The model results show that the sand wave grows in the case of dominant bed-load transport (weak tidal currents; relatively coarse sediment; small roughness height; low waves) and that the sand wave decays in the case of dominant suspended transport (strong currents, relatively fine sediment, large roughness height; storm waves). 相似文献
Most marginal seas in the North Pacific are fed by nutrients supported mainly by upwelling and many are undersaturated with
respect to atmospheric CO2 in the surface water mainly as a result of the biological pump and winter cooling. These seas absorb CO2 at an average rate of 1.1 ± 0.3 mol C m−2yr−1 but release N2/N2O at an average rate of 0.07 ± 0.03 mol N m−2yr−1. Most of primary production, however, is regenerated on the shelves, and only less than 15% is transported to the open oceans
as dissolved and particulate organic carbon (POC) with a small amount of POC deposited in the sediments. It is estimated that
seawater in the marginal seas in the North Pacific alone may have taken up 1.6 ± 0.3 Gt (1015 g) of excess carbon, including 0.21 ± 0.05 Gt for the Bering Sea, 0.18 ± 0.08 Gt for the Okhotsk Sea; 0.31 ± 0.05 Gt for
the Japan/East Sea; 0.07 ± 0.02 Gt for the East China and Yellow Seas; 0.80 ± 0.15 Gt for the South China Sea; and 0.015 ±
0.005 Gt for the Gulf of California. More importantly, high latitude marginal seas such as the Bering and Okhotsk Seas may
act as conveyer belts in exporting 0.1 ± 0.08 Gt C anthropogenic, excess CO2 into the North Pacific Intermediate Water per year. The upward migration of calcite and aragonite saturation horizons due
to the penetration of excess CO2 may also make the shelf deposits on the Bering and Okhotsk Seas more susceptible to dissolution, which would then neutralize
excess CO2 in the near future. Further, because most nutrients come from upwelling, increased water consumption on land and damming
of major rivers may reduce freshwater output and the buoyancy effect on the shelves. As a result, upwelling, nutrient input
and biological productivity may all be reduced in the future. As a final note, the Japan/East Sea has started to show responses
to global warming. Warmer surface layer has reduced upwelling of nutrient-rich subsurface water, resulting in a decline of
spring phytoplankton biomass. Less bottom water formation because of less winter cooling may lead to the disappearance of
the bottom water as early as 2040. Or else, an anoxic condition may form as early as 2200 AD.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
High-resolution side-scan mosaics, sediment analyses, and physical process data have revealed that the mixed carbonate/siliciclastic, inner shelf of west-central Florida supports a highly complex field of active sand ridges mantled by a hierarchy of bedforms. The sand ridges, mostly oriented obliquely to the shoreline trend, extend from 2 km to over 25 km offshore. They show many similarities to their well-known counterparts situated along the US Atlantic margin in that both increase in relief with increasing water depth, both are oriented obliquely to the coast, and both respond to modern shelf dynamics. There are significant differences in that the sand ridges on the west-central Florida shelf are smaller in all dimensions, have a relatively high carbonate content, and are separated by exposed rock surfaces. They are also shoreface-detached and are sediment-starved, thus stunting their development. Morphological details are highly distinctive and apparent in side-scan imagery due to the high acoustic contrast. The seafloor is active and not a relict system as indicated by: (1) relatively young AMS 14C dates (<1600 yr BP) from forams in the shallow subsurface (1.6 meters below seafloor), (2) apparent shifts in sharply distinctive grayscale boundaries seen in time-series side-scan mosaics, (3) maintenance of these sharp acoustic boundaries and development of small bedforms in an area of constant and extensive bioturbation, (4) sediment textural asymmetry indicative of selective transport across bedform topography, (5) morphological asymmetry of sand ridges and 2D dunes, and (6) current-meter data indicating that the critical threshold velocity for sediment transport is frequently exceeded. Although larger sand ridges are found along other portions of the west-central Florida inner shelf, these smaller sand ridges are best developed seaward of a major coastal headland, suggesting some genetic relationship. The headland may focus and accelerate the N–S reversing currents. An elevated rock terrace extending from the headland supports these ridges in a shallower water environment than the surrounding shelf, allowing them to be more easily influenced by currents and surface gravity waves. Tidal currents, storm-generated flows, and seasonally developed flows are shore-parallel and oriented obliquely to the NW–SE trending ridges, indicating that they have developed as described by the Huthnance model. Although inner shelf sand ridges have been extensively examined elsewhere, this study is the first to describe them in a low-energy, sediment-starved, dominantly mixed siliciclastic/carbonate sedimentary environment situated on a former limestone platform. 相似文献
A repeat hydrographic section has been maintained over two decades along the 180° meridian across the subarctic-subtropical
transition region. The section is naturally divided into at least three distinct zones. In the Subarctic Zone north of 46°N,
the permanent halocline dominates the density stratification, supporting a subsurface temperature minimum (STM). The Subarctic
Frontal Zone (SFZ) between 42°–46°N is the region where the subarctic halocline outcrops. To the south is the Subtropical
Zone, where the permanent thermocline dominates the density stratification, containing a pycnostad of North Pacific Central
Mode Water (CMW). The STM water colder than 4°C in the Subarctic Zone is originated in the winter mixed layer of the Bering
Sea. The temporal variation of its core temperature lags 12–16 months behind the variations of both the winter sea surface
temperature (SST) and the summer STM temperature in the Bering Sea, suggesting that the thermal anomalies imposed on the STM
water by wintertime air-sea interaction in the Bering Sea spread over the western subarctic gyre, reaching the 180° meridian
within a year or so. The CMW in this section originates in the winter mixed layer near the northern edge of the Subtropical
Zone between 160°E and 180°. The CMW properties changed abruptly from 1988 to 1989; its temperature and salinity increased
and its potential density decreased. It is argued that these changes were caused by the climate regime shift in 1988/1989
characterized by weakening of the Aleutian Low and the westerlies and increase in the SST in the subarctic-subtropical transition
region.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
Identification of the distinctive circulation patterns of storminess on the Atlantic margin of Europe forms the main objective of this study; dealing with storm frequency, intensity and tracking. The climatology of the extratropical cyclones that affect this region has been examined for the period 1940–1998. Coastal meteorological data from Ireland to Spain have been linked to the cyclone history for the North Atlantic in the analysis of storm records for European coasts. The study examines the evolution in the occurrence of storms since the 1940s and also their relationship with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Results indicate a seasonal shift in the wind climate, with regionally more severe winters and calmer summers established. This pattern appears to be linked to a northward displacement in the main North Atlantic cyclone track.
An experiment with the ECHAM4 A-GCM at high resolution (T106) has also been used to model the effect of a greenhouse gases induced warming climate on the climatology of coastal storms in the region. The experiment consists of (1), a 30-year control time-slice representing present-day equivalent CO2 concentrations and (2), a 30-year perturbed period corresponding to a time when the radiative forcing has doubled in terms of equivalent CO2 concentrations. The boundary conditions have been obtained from an atmosphere-ocean coupled OA-GCM simulation at low horizontal resolution. An algorithm was developed to allow the identification of individual cyclone movements in selected coastal zones. For most of the northern part of the study region, covering Ireland and Scotland, results describe the establishment by ca. 2060 of a tendency for fewer but more intense storms.
The impacts of these changes in storminess for the vulnerability of European Atlantic coasts are considered. For low-lying, exposed and ‘soft’ sedimentary coasts, as in Ireland, these changes in storminess are likely to result in significant localised increases in coastal erosion. 相似文献
On 7 December 2001, Jason-1 was successfully launched by a Boeing Delta II rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Jason-1 satellite will maintain the high accuracy altimeter service provided since 1992 by TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), ensuring the continuity in observing and monitoring the Ocean Dynamics (intraseasonal to interannual changes, mean sea level, tides, etc.). Despite one-fourth the mass and power, the Jason-1 system has been designed to have basically the same performance as T/P, measuring sea surface topography at a centimetric level. This new CNES/NASA mission also provides near real-time data for sea state and ocean forecast. The first two months of the Jason-1 mission have been dedicated to the assessment of the overall system. The goals of this assessment phase were:
1. To assess the behavior of the spacecraft at the platform and payload levels (Jason-1 being the first program to call on the PROTEUS versatile multimission platform for Low and Medium Earth Orbit Missions developed in partnership between Alcatel Space and CNES);
2. To verify that platform performance requirements are met with respect to Jason-1 requirements;
3. To verify that payload instruments performance requirements evaluated at instrument level are met;
4. To assess the performance of the Jason-1 Ground System.
This article will display the main outputs of the assessment of the system. It will demonstrate that all the elements of the onboard and ground systems are within the specifications. Provision of data to the Jason-1 Science Working Team started at the end of March 2002. This is the goal of a six-month phase after closure of the initial assessment phase to derive the error budget of the system in terms of altimetry user products. 相似文献