港湾中海啸流的模拟及其时空演变特征对输入条件不确定性的响应分析

一直以来,海啸波特征作为表征海啸潜在破坏性的参数指标得到了广泛应用,特别是针对近场极端海啸事件造成的灾害来说,这种表征具有较好的适用性.然而总结分析历史海啸事件造成的损失发现：在远场近岸及港湾系统中,海啸诱导的强流却是造成损失的主要原因.陆架或港湾振荡导致海啸波幅快速升降诱发强流,可能促使港工设施受到威胁及损害,进而对海啸预警服务及海事应急管理提出了新的挑战.因此,全面理解与评估海啸在港湾中诱发的灾害特征,探索港湾中海啸流的数值模拟方法,发展针对港湾尺度的海啸预警服务指导产品尤为迫切.受限于海啸流验证数据的缺乏及准确模拟海啸流技术方法的诸多不确定性,大部分海啸数值模拟研究工作主要是针对水位特征的研究及验证,可能导致对港湾中海啸灾害危险性认识的曲解与低估.本研究基于非线性浅水方程,针对夏威夷群岛三个典型港湾建立了精细化海啸数值模型（空间分辨率达到10 m）,并联合有限断层破裂模型计算分析了日本东北地震海啸在三个港湾及其邻近区域的海啸特征,波、流计算结果与实测结果吻合较好,精细化的海啸港湾模型模拟结果可信.模拟发现港湾中较小的波幅,同样可以产生强流.综合分析日本东北地震海啸波、流特征对输入条件不确定性的响应结果发现：港湾中海啸波-流能量的空间分布特征差异较大,这与港湾系统中海啸波的驻波特性相关;相比海啸波幅空间特征,海啸流特征具有更强的空间敏感性;海啸流时空分布特征对输入条件的不确定性响应比海啸波幅对这些不确定性的响应更强,海啸流的模拟与预报更有挑战性;不确定性对海啸流计算精度的影响会进一步传导放大港湾海啸流危险性的评估及对港工设施产生的应力作用的误差,合理的输入条件对海啸流的精确模拟至关重要.最后,希望通过本文的研究可以从海啸波-流特征角度更加全面认识近岸海啸灾害特征,拓展海啸预警服务的广度与深度,从而为灾害应急管理部门提供更加科学合理的辅助决策产品.

     

渤海盐度年代际变异对环流结构的影响

收集并利用1950年代~1990年代后共5个年代的渤海盐度统计资料,诊断计算了不同时期的渤海密度流分布及其变化。通过对比分析,揭示了冬、夏两季渤海盐度的年代际变异特征及其对环流结构的影响。结果显示,自1980年代以来,渤海的盐度格局发生了显著的变化,盐度的水平梯度减小,渤海内部盐度由明显低于海峡区向普遍高于海峡区转变。渤海密度流在冬季较弱,对总环流的贡献较小,而在夏季较强,并在总环流中占优。夏季,渤海密度流随盐度变异有所改变,在1990年代后环流系统在海区中部、渤海湾以及莱州湾呈现出局部的差异,原有流动明显减弱。夏季渤海重要断面的密度流流量和盐通量值整体上呈减小趋势,渤海与外海间的平均水及盐交换量由1950年代的7.85×104 m3/s、2.49×106kg/s降至1990年代后的7.09×104 m3/s、2.27×106 kg/s。     

The role of current velocity in structuring eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows

Measurements of velocity profiles, bathymetry, and surface sediment characteristics across eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows yielded information on community development processes and functional attributes of this ecosystem. Height/length ratios of the meadows were positively correlated with tidal current velocity. Low, medium, and high current regimes were separated by surface current velocities of approximately 50 and 90 cm s^?1. Z. marina can tolerate approximately 120–150 cm/sec current velocities in the areas studied. Per cent silt-clay and organic matter content of the surface sediments are negatively associated with shear velocity, suggesting that meadows in high current areas are sources while meadows in low current areas are sinks of autochthonous detritus. Current velocity maintains seagrass meadows at different equilibrium levels (relative climaxes). We theorize these different equilibrium levels provide unequal habitat utilization potentials for the associated faunal community.     

Surface and deep water response to rapid climate changes at the Western Iberian Margin

Rapid climate changes at the onset of the last deglaciation and during Heinrich Event H4 were studied in detail at IMAGES cores MD95-2039 and MD95-2040 from the Western Iberian margin. A major reorganisation of surface water hydrography, benthic foraminiferal community structure, and deepwater isotopic composition commenced already 540 years before the Last Isotopic Maximum (LIM) at 17.43 cal. ka and within 670 years affected all environments. Changes were initiated by meltwater spill in the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic that commenced 100 years before concomitant changes were felt off western Iberia. Benthic foraminiferal associations record the drawdown of deepwater oxygenation during meltwater and subsequent Heinrich Events H1 and H4 with a bloom of dysoxic species. At a water depth of 3380 m, benthic oxygen isotopes depict the influence of brines from sea ice formation during ice-rafting pulses and meltwater spill. The brines conceivably were a source of ventilation and provided oxygen to the deeper water masses. Some if not most of the lower deep water came from the South Atlantic. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages display a multi-centennial, approximately 300-year periodicity of oxygen supply at 2470-m water depth. This pattern suggests a probable influence of atmospheric oscillations on the thermohaline convection with frequencies similar to Holocene climate variations. For Heinrich Events H1 and H4, response times of surface water properties off western Iberia to meltwater injection to the Nordic Seas were extremely short, in the range of a few decades only. The ensuing reduction of deepwater ventilation commenced within 500–600 years after the first onset of meltwater spill. These fast temporal responses lend credence to numerical simulations that indicate ocean–climate responses on similar and even faster time scales.     

Seismic stratigraphy, buried beach ridges and contourite drifts: the Late Quaternary history of the closed Lago Cardiel basin, Argentina (49°S)

The results of a seismic stratigraphic analysis of a closed lake basin, Lago Cardiel, in southernmost South America are reported. Very few high-resolution, continental records spanning the Late Quaternary have been obtained from this region. Seismic sequence stratigraphic analysis allows a reconstruction of lake level variations. Two major hiatuses of unknown age occurred during the early evolution of the basin with the deposition of an alluvial fan in a restricted area in the intervening time period. Following the development of a relatively shallow lake during the late Pleistocene and a short desiccation pulse around 11 220 ¹⁴C yr BP, a transgression of over 135 m occurred at the beginning of the Holocene. The transgression was associated with the formation of beach ridges preserved in the lake stratigraphy on the floor of the modern Lago Cardiel at four different elevations. The preservation of largely unreworked beach ridges indicates a stepwise rise in the lake level. There is no seismic evidence of a major lowering of the lake below modern level during the entire Holocene. Deposition since the mid-Holocene is marked by strong lateral differences in sediment accumulation with a depocentre slightly to the north of the basin midpoint and a pronounced mounded distribution. Seismic reflection geometries, as well as sedimentological characteristics indicate a lacustrine contourite drift covering an area of 80–100 km². As Lago Cardiel is under the influence of westerly winds, these most likely drove lake circulation. The identification of drowned beach ridges and of contourite drifts illustrates that high-resolution seismic stratigraphy is not only a powerful tool in reconstructing past lake level elevations for closed lake basins, but it can also provide information about the rate of lake level changes and the presence and strength of lake currents.     

An Upper Pliocene coarse pumice breccia generated by a shallow submarine explosive eruption,Milos, Greece

The Filakopi Pumice Breccia (FPB) is a very well exposed, Pliocene volcaniclastic unit on Milos, Greece, and has a minimum bulk volume of 1 km³. It consists of three main units: (A) basal lithic breccia (4–8 m) mainly composed of angular to subangular, andesitic and dacitic clasts up to 2.6 m in diameter; (B) very thickly bedded, poorly sorted pumice breccia (16–17 m); and (C) very thick, reversely graded, grain-supported, coarse pumice breccia (6.5–20 m), at the top. The depositional setting is well constrained as shallow marine (up to a few hundred metres) by overlying fossiliferous and bioturbated mudstone. This large volume of fine pumice clasts is interpreted to be the product of an explosive eruption from a submarine vent because: (1) pumice clasts are the dominant component; (2) the coarse pumice clasts (>64 mm) have complete quenched margins; (3) very large (>1 m) pumice clasts are common; (4) overall, the formation shows good hydraulic sorting; and (5) a significant volume of ash was deposited together with the coarsest pyroclasts.The bed forms in units A and B suggest deposition from lithic-rich and pumiceous, respectively, submarine gravity currents. In unit C, the coarse (up to 6.5 m) pumice clasts are set in matrix that grades upwards from diffusely stratified, fine (1–2 cm) pumice clasts at the base to laminated shard rich mud at the top. The coarse pumice clasts in unit C were settled from suspension and the framework was progressively infilled by fine pumice clasts from waning traction currents and then by water-settled ash. The FPB displays important features of the products of submarine explosive eruptions that result from the ambient fluid being seawater, rather than volcanic gas or air. In particular, submarine pyroclastic deposits are characterised by the presence of very coarse juvenile pumice clasts, pumice clasts with complete quenched rims, and good hydraulic sorting.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article if you access the article at . A link in the frame on the left on that page takes you directly to the supplementary material.Editorial responsibility: J. Donelly-Nolan     

Tidal currents,energy flux and bottom boundary layer thickness in the Clyde Sea and North Channel of the Irish Sea

A high-resolution three-dimensional model of the Clyde Sea and the adjacent North Channel of the Irish Sea is used to compute the major diurnal and semidiurnal tides in the region, the associated energy fluxes and thickness of the bottom boundary layer. Initially, the accuracy of the model is assessed by performing a detailed comparison of computed tidal elevations and currents in the region, against an extensive database that exists for the M₂, S₂, N₂, K₁ and O₁ tides. Subsequently, the model is used to compute the tidal energy flux vectors in the region. These show that the major energy flux is confined to the North Channel region, with little energy flux into the Clyde Sea. Comparison with the observed energy flux in the North Channel shows that its across-channel distribution and its magnitude are particularly sensitive to the phase difference between elevation and current. Consequently, small changes in the computed values of these parameters due to slight changes of the order of the uncertainty in the open-boundary values to the model, can significantly influence the computed energy flux. The thickness of the bottom boundary layer in the region is computed using a number of formulations. Depending upon the definition adopted, the empirical coefficient C used to determine its thickness varies over the range 0.1 to 0.3, in good agreement with values found in the literature. In the North Channel, the boundary layer thickness occupies the whole water depth, and hence tidal turbulence produced at the sea bed keeps the region well mixed. In the Clyde Sea, the boundary layer thickness is a small fraction of the depth, and hence the region stratifies.Responsible Editor: Phil Dyke     

Transport of waste heat from a nuclear power plant into coastal water

A numerical and experimental modeling is presented for studying the transport of waste heat from a nuclear power plant into coastal water by using a full-field physical model with scale distortion, a local physical model with normal scale and a depth-averaged k− turbulence model with a modified second-order upwind scheme. Field investigations are also used to provide the calibration and validation of the modeling. A case study simulating the turbulent tidal flow and waste heat transport in the coastal water near Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Southern China was conducted. The experimental result of the case study shows that the water temperature in coastal water was a little oversimulated near the surface and was a little undersimulated near the bottom of heated-water layer by the full-field physical model. The numerical study shows that the depth-averaged k− turbulence model presented a satisfied prediction of turbulent tidal flow and far-field temperature distribution in coastal water, although the near-field stratification due to the heated water effluent was not accounted for. The result of the effect of scale distortion on physical model shows that a full-field physical model with a scale distortion of 10 produced a satisfied result of temperature distribution in the present case study.