The transmission of spatially-compact internal wave packets through a critical level

Results are presented from numerical simulations of the incidence of a spatially-compact beam of internal waves on a shear layer containing a critical level. It is found that a significant fraction of the energy of the incident beam is transmitted across the critical level when the packet is narrow in physical space and when the energy density of the packet is not too high so that nonlinear effects are weak. As either the packet width or its energy density increases, the presence of a critical level renders the shear layer increasingly opaque to the transmission of energy. The familiar exponentially small value of the transmission coefficient is recovered as the spatial width of the packet exceeds (roughly) eight to ten wave lengths.     

A homogeneous model of the Deacon cell in a circumpolar ocean

Dynamics of the three-dimensional structure of the wind-driven Deacon cell in a β-plane channel are discussed in a homogeneous model in the presence of a sufficiently high ridge. The emphasis is on the water mass balance: how the northward surface Ekman drift is returned. It is demonstrated that a sufficiently high ridge can break up the geostrophic constraint and a net geostrophic volume flux across the open latitude band is allowed. It is found that: (1) the Deacon cell is a fundamentally three-dimensional structure, (2) wind forcing can drive an inter-basin water mass exchange in the Southern Ocean, and (3) zonal through-channel transport in the circumpolar ocean varies at different longitudes.     

Effect of land–ocean contrast on the structure of anomaly tropical circulation

While the important role of land–ocean contrast (LOC) in the mean atmospheric circulation is well-known, an intriguing question remains as to whether LOC can also significantly influence the anomaly circulation. This question is particularly important in the tropics, where a large part of the variabilities is known to be due to convective internal dynamics, which in turn can be significantly affected by LOC. In the present work, we investigate this question using a model of convectively driven anomaly circulation in the tropics. Emphasizing the lower tropospheric flow, we adopt a model describing the horizontal dynamics of the first baroclinic mode on an equatorial β-plane, in the presence of moist feedbacks. We introduce LOC in both latitudinal and longitudinal directions. Land surface dryness is taken into account in the moisture budget through the control of evaporative flux. A constant non-latent heating term is used over land in order to represent radiative and sensible heating effects. First, a control run is performed, numerically, without any LOC using random initial perturbations. The gravest mode that emerges from the control run, which is a wave-2 feature with a period around 20 days, is then used as the initial field for the model runs with LOC. The results show that LOC can significantly influence even the tropical variabilities. A latitudinal LOC, with a land mass in the northern hemisphere (north of 10°N), tends to shift the region of maximum precipitation slightly north of the equator with accompanying steeper gradients near the land–ocean boundary. The implications of this result for our understanding of Asian summer monsoon conditions are discussed. When LOC is only in the longitudinal direction, the dominant wave structure that emerges from the model run has wavenumber one and a period of about 35 days, very similar to the observed 30–60 day oscillation. In our final experiment, which is nearer to the realistic land–ocean configuration in the tropics, it is found that both latitudinal and longitudinal effects of LOC are important aspects of the tropical anomaly circulation. It is suggested that some of the patterns in the precipitation distribution, observed in the tropics and simulated using general circulation models are results of convectively induced internal dynamics, modulated by LOC.     

Potential Impact of Production Chemicals on the Toxicity of Produced Water Discharges from North Sea Oil Platforms

Production chemicals are used on offshore oil production platforms to prevent corrosion and scale formation, and to assist oil–water separation. A proportion of these chemicals may enter the marine environment via the produced water discharge. This study investigated the potential impact of 11 oilfield production chemicals on the toxicity of the produced water discharge. The Microtox® system was used for toxicity assessment of the chemicals, both directly in aqueous preparations and following their partitioning between oil (crude and low toxicity mineral base oil) and North Sea brine. For the majority of the chemicals tested, the toxicity of the aqueous phase to the test organism following partitioning against crude oil, was not significantly altered by the presence of process chemicals when used in their normal field dosage concentrations. However, there was evidence that certain chemicals could increase the partitioning of oil components into the aqueous phase by an order of magnitude, when applied at high dosage concentrations.     

Multiple Discriminant Analysis of Marine Sediment Data

A multivariate statistical approach was used in the analysis of inter-relationships among marine benthic infaunal structure, physical and chemical characteristics of sediment samples and toxicity data derived from laboratory tests at 16 locations in shallow, inshore waters of Hong Kong. The method involved classification (cluster analysis using the Bray–Curtis similarity index) and ordination (multi-dimensional scaling) of infaunal patterns and the use of multiple discriminant analysis to relate groupings of the locations to the selected environmental and toxicity data. Analysis of the combined sediment physical, biological, chemical and toxicity dataset by stepwise multiple discriminant analysis allowed identification of those variables most sensitive for discriminating location groups. The use of multiple discriminant analysis in sediment quality characterization was evaluated against the Sediment Quality Triad approach and other statistical techniques.     

Sediment disturbance off the Tagus Estuary, Western Portugal: chronic contamination, sewage outfall operation and runoff events

Sediment disturbance patterns in the coastal area off the Tagus Estuary (Portugal) have been assessed using a set of combined techniques. The potential sources of disturbance in the area include chronic contamination of the fine sediments originating from the estuary, a local input from a long-sea sewage outfall and occasional high runoff episodes following torrential rain. The Sediment Quality Triad approach, combining environmental chemistry (namely organic contaminants), macrofaunal benthic communities and laboratory sediment toxicity assays, was performed on sediment samples from 20 sites. The samples were collected before the outfall commenced operation and four years after commissioning, in order to evaluate the relative magnitudes of the three potential sources of disturbance. The sediment contamination created by the estuary was identified as the most important cause of reduced sediment quality, as disturbance in all three components of the Sediment Quality Triad were only found in a site located near the estuary.     

Sperm motility in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) is affected by nonylphenol

Nonylphenol, a widespread aquatic pollutant with endocrine-disrupting potential has been found to affect sperm motility in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg). This marine invertebrate, a global aquaculture species, was exposed to nonylphenol at concentrations of 1 and 100 μg l⁻¹ for a duration of 72 h during the period of gametogenesis. Growth was monitored at regular intervals until sexual maturity when sperm motility was assessed. The growth rate of C. gigas remained unaffected by exposure to nonylphenol during gametogenesis. However, the number of individuals with motile sperm was significantly reduced.     

有毒铜绿微囊藻对鱼和溞的毒性

用有毒铜绿微囊藻细胞及其从毒细胞中提取的毒素喂养和腹腔注射鱼类，结果表明：（1）微囊藻毒素MCYST－LR对所有实验过的鱼有毒害作用（LD_(50)为110－500μg／kg）．注射毒素24h后，鱼肝电镜超微结构观察均表现出肝损伤．（2）在受控条件下，当用有毒铜绿微囊藻作为食物喂养日鲢和罗非鱼时，鱼类能在以毒藻为唯一食物的环境中生活20d以上．白鲢和罗非鱼粪便的毒性比喂食藻类的毒性分别降低约2—4．5倍，其肝的超微结构现察仍有轻度损伤．（3）在培养液中加入15μg／mLMCYST－LR和用实验室纯培养的铜绿微囊藻作为食物培养枝角类时，均可使它们在48h死亡．以无毒微囊藻培养时则生长不良亦不怀卵，表明它不是枝角类合适的食物．     

Differential developmental toxicity of naphthoic acid isomers in medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widespread persistent pollutants that readily undergo biotic and abiotic conversion to numerous transformation products in rivers, lakes and estuarine sediments. Here we characterize the developmental toxicity of four PAH transformation products each structural isomers of hydroxynaphthoic acid: 1H2NA, 2H1NA, 2H3NA, and 6H2NA. Medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) embryos and eleutheroembryos were used to determine toxicity. A 96-well micro-plate format was used to establish a robust, statistically significant platform for assessment of early life stages. Individual naphthoic acid isomers demonstrated a rank order of toxicity with 1H2NA > 2H1NA > 2H3NA > 6H2NA being more toxic. Abnormalities of circulatory system were most pronounced including pericardial edema and tube heart. To determine if HNA isomers were AhR ligands, spatial-temporal expression and activity of CYP1A was measured via in vivo EROD assessments. qPCR measurement of CYP1A induction proved different between isomers dosed at respective concentrations affecting 50% of exposed individuals (EC50s). In vitro, all ANH isomers transactivated mouse AhR using a medaka CYP1A promoter specific reporter assay. Circulatory abnormalities followed P450 induction and response was consistent with PAH toxicity. A 96-well micro-plates proved suitable as exposure chambers and provided statistically sound evaluations as well as efficient toxicity screens. Our results demonstrate the use of medaka embryos for toxicity analysis thereby achieving REACH objectives for the reduction of adult animal testing in toxicity evaluations.