Observations of the Labrador Sea eddy field

This paper is an observational study of small-scale coherent eddies in the Labrador Sea, a region of dense water formation thought to be of considerable importance to the North Atlantic overturning circulation. Numerical studies of deep convection emphasize coherent eddies as a mechanism for the lateral transport of heat, yet their small size has hindered observational progress. A large part of this paper is therefore devoted to developing new methods for identifying and describing coherent eddies in two observational platforms, current meter moorings and satellite altimetry. Details of the current and water mass structure of individual eddy events, as they are swept past by an advecting flow, can then be extracted from the mooring data. A transition is seen during mid-1997, with long-lived boundary current eddies dominating the central Labrador Sea year-round after this time, and convectively formed eddies similar to those seen in deep convection modeling studies apparent prior to this time. The TOPEX / Poseidon altimeter covers the Labrador Sea with a loose “net” of observations, through which coherent eddies can seem to appear and disappear. By concentrating on locating and describing anomalous events in individual altimeter tracks, a portrait of the spatial and temporal variability of the underlying eddy field can be constructed. The altimeter results reveal an annual “pulsation” of energy and of coherent eddies originating during the late fall at a particular location in the boundary current, pinpointing the time and place of the boundary current-type eddy formation. The interannual variability seen at the mooring is reproduced, but the mooring site is found to be within a localized region of greatly enhanced eddy activity. Notably lacking in both the annual cycle and interannual variability is a clear relationship between the eddies or eddy energy and the intensity of wintertime cooling. These eddy observations, as well as hydrographic evidence, suggest an active role for boundary current dynamics in shaping the energetics and water mass properties of the interior region.     

A conceptual design of an underwater vehicle

The paper presents a conceptual design of an underwater star wars’ system, which will be more difficult to detect by the enemy than a recently proposed ‘surface’ star wars’ system.The paper suggests that for the proposed structures needed for the underwater star wars’ system, the material of construction should be a composite and not a metal, as use of the latter for large deep diving underwater vessels will result in such structures sinking to the bottom of the ocean like stones, due to the fact that they will have no reserve buoyancy. The paper also shows that composites have better sound absorption characteristics, thereby making the underwater structures difficult to detect through sonar equipment. It is proposed that these underwater structures should operate up to a depth of 7.16 miles (11.52 km), as at this depth, all of the oceans’ bottoms can be reached.The author shows that current technology can be used to construct and operate such vessels, but more progress needs to be made with metal matrix and ceramic composites, so that the hulls of underwater missiles and torpedoes can be constructed in these materials.     

Spatial and temporal distribution patterns of deep‐sea mesozooplankton in the eastern Mediterranean – indications of a climatically induced shift?

Zooplankton samples from the eastern Mediterranean were collected in April/May 1999 with a multiple opening and closing net (mesh size 333 μm) to examine the distribution and taxonomic composition of mesozooplankton, mainly Calanoida (Copepoda), some years after the onset of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT), a climatically induced shift in hydrography. The samples from seven stations on a transect from the Ionian Sea to the eastern part of the Levantine Basin were collected at closely spaced vertical intervals from the surface to water depths of 4250 m. Data from January 1987, June 1993, January 1998 and October 2001 from the main site of investigation, south of Crete, were used to describe the temporal evolution before (1987), during (1993) and after (1998–2001) the EMT. The eastern Mediterranean mesozooplankton fauna is dominated by three Calanoida species along the west–east transect, with varying abundances in different depth‐zones: Haloptilus longicornis in the epipelagic zone, Eucalanus monachus in the mesopelagic zone, and Lucicutia longiserrata in the bathypelagic zone. A drastic change in mesozooplankton composition and abundance occurred at the main site during the EMT, whereupon increased abundances of Candacia elongata and L. longiserrata were observed in the bathypelagic zone in the following years; L. longiserrata accounted for 43% of the total mesozooplankton in this zone. The hypothesis is posed that the Mediterranean deep‐sea ecosystem is able to respond quickly to changes in the environment and memorizes these changes over time. We claim that the biological effects of climatically induced changes can be easily monitored in the deep eastern Mediterranean Sea using calanoid copepod key species due to the hydrographically extreme, but ‘simply structured’ ecosystem.     

Mean flow and variability in the southwestern East Sea

The Ulleung Basin is one of three deep basins that are contained within the East/Japan Sea. Current meter moorings have been maintained in this basin beginning in 1996. The data from these moorings are used to investigate the mean circulation pattern, variability of deep flows, and volume transports of major water masses in the Ulleung Basin with supporting hydrographic data and help from a high-resolution numerical model. The bottom water within the Ulleung Basin, which must enter through a constricted passage from the north, is found to circulate cyclonically—a pattern that seems prevalent throughout the East Sea. A strong current of about 6 cms⁻¹ on average flows southward over the continental slope off the Korean coast underlying the northward East Korean Warm Current as part of the mean abyssal cyclonic circulation. Volume transports of the northward East Korean Warm Current, and southward flowing East Sea Intermediate Water and East Sea Proper Water are estimated to be 1.4 Sv (1 Sv=10⁻⁶ m³ s⁻¹), 0.8 Sv, and 3.0–4.0 Sv, respectively. Deep flow variability involves a wide range of time scales with no apparent seasonal variations, whereas the deep currents in the northern East Sea are known to be strongly seasonal.     

莱州湾海湾扇贝养殖区海水中悬浮颗粒的动态变化

1997年10月和1998年6月，在莱州湾两个主要海湾扇贝养殖区－芙蓉岛海区和金城海区，各定点进行了24h连续观测和取样，并在实验室内分析了总颗粒物（TPM）、颗粒有机物（POM）和叶绿素α的含量。结果表明，6月份金城海区的颗粒有机物和叶绿素α的含量均高于荚蓉岛海区；在10月份，芙蓉岛海区颗粒有机物的含量高于金城海区，但其叶绿素α的含量却低于金城海区，表明金城海区颗粒有机物的质量高于芙蓉岛海区。     

对我国西南地区河谷深厚覆盖层成因机理的新认识

近年来,在我国水能资源开发过程中,发现各河流现代河床以下普遍堆积厚达数十米甚至上百米的松散堆积物。河谷深厚覆盖层的存在,不仅严重制约了工程坝址的选择,影响相关流域水电资源的开发利用,也给坝工设计带来巨大的困难。由于深厚覆盖层埋藏于现代河床之下,其形成年代一般先于一二级阶地,有悖于河流发育演化的常理,其成因一直令人费解。首次将河谷深切和深厚堆积事件与全球气候变化、海平面升降运动、地壳运动等有机地联系起来,并提出冰期、间冰期全球海平面大幅度升降,是导致河流深切成谷并形成深厚堆积的主要原因的新观点。在此基础上,引入层序地层学原理,从理论上较好地解释了全球气候变化导致海平面和河流侵蚀基准面大幅变化,并产生河谷深切和深厚堆积的原因和过程。最后,进一步将沿河大型古滑坡的孕育和发生与河谷深切事件相联系,提出沿河大型古滑坡是在河谷深切期因前缘临空较好而形成的新观点,从而对沿河古滑坡前缘剪出口高程往往低于现代河床数十米的原因给出了较合理的解释。     

安徽池州铜山铜矿深部找矿实践与启示

铜山铜矿资源储量日益枯竭。危机矿山接替资源勘查中,采用地质、物探综合手段圈定异常区,经深部钻探验证,取得突破。     

云南勐兴铅锌矿矿体空间特征及预测前景

借助ArcGIS软件的空间统计分析功能,对矿体主要参数进行分析,获得矿体空间特征。认为铅和锌品位具有明显的正相关,品位与厚度也属正相关。在此基础上对矿区找矿远景区进行初步圈定,为探矿工程的布置提供依据。     

Deep structure of the Central Alps in the light of recent seismic data

The deep seismic reflection traverses across the Central Alps (NFP 20, ECORS-CROP) contain a new set of data on the lower crust which has been interpreted in different ways. One currently fashionable model depicts the European lower crust (ELC) as gently dipping below the Adriatic crust. However, this model requires that an observed sharp termination of the ELC under the internal border of the External Massifs is due to the non-transmission of organized seismic energy through the complex upper crust. This explanation is questioned as other reflections in this and similarly complex areas are recorded, and as the same sharp termination of the ELC under the internal border of the External Massifs is observed on all seismic lines for a length of 300 km. A tectonic — metamorphic cause appears to more satisfactorily explain the obeservations, and therefore an alternative model combining surface and deep geophysical data is proposed. It consists of three mutually largely decoupled tectonic levels. (1) The shallow obducted part or lid, bounded at its base by the combined Late Miocene Jura and Lombardic basal thrusts. Estimates of shortening based on balanced sections are at least about 100 km. (2) The intermediate level between the brittle-ductile transition and the top of the subducted mantle. It contains a stack of lower crust imbrications (with a minor admixture of upper mantle) accommodated by (inducted into) the ductile middle crust. Estimates of shortening based on area balancing are again of the order of slightly more than 100 km. (3) The subducted upper mantle, for which there are no reflection data.In the Central Alps the Late Miocene phase was dextrally transpressive, producing flower structures at the shallow level (External Massifs); the stacks of lower crust imbrications at the intermediate level may be the equivalent of the External Massifs at that level. Inverted flower structures of the subducted mantle are possible, but no detailed data are available.     

An integrable case of a rotational motion analogous to that of Lagrange and Poisson for a gyrostat in a Newtonian force field

The scope of the present paper is to provide analytic solutions to the problem of the attitude evolution of a symmetric gyrostat about a fixed point in a central Newtonian force field when the potential function isV ⁽²⁾.We assume that the center of mass and the gyrostatic moment are on the axis of symmetry and that the initial conditions are the following: (t ₀)=₀, (t ₀)=₀, (t ₀)=(t ₀)=₀, ₁(t ₀)=0, ₂(t ₀)=0 and ₃(t ₀)= ₃ ⁰ .The problem is integrated when the third component of the total angular momentum is different from zero (B ₁ 0). There now appear equilibrium solutions that did not exist in the caseB ₁=0, which can be determined in function of the value ofl ₃ ^r (the third component of the gyrostatic momentum).The possible types of solutions (elliptic, trigonometric, stationary) depend upon the nature of the roots of the functiong(u). The solutions for Euler angles are given in terms of functions of the timet. If we cancel the third component of the gyrostatic momentum (l ₃ ^r =0), the obtained solutions are valid for rigid bodies.