Sedimentology,palaeoecology and geochronology of Last Interglacial deposits from Deeping St James,Lincolnshire, England

Pollen, plant macrofossil, molluscan and coleopteran data from organic muds below the low terrace of the River Welland at Deeping St James, Lincolnshire indicate deposition in the mixed oak forest phase of a Late Pleistocene interglacial. Coleopteran and molluscan data suggest summer temperatures up to 4°C warmer than at present in eastern England, and plant macrofossil material suggests a climate more continental than that of Britain in the Holocene. No direct analogue of this biota, however, exists currently in Europe. Biostratigraphical indications from the pollen coleoptera and Mollusca suggest an age in the Ipswichian Interglacial. Thermoluminescence dates between 120 ka and 75 ka and amino-acid ratios with a mean of 0.11 show that deposition of the sediments took place during Oxygen Isotope Stage 5. This accurate dating of a partial Ipswichian succession allows discussion of the ages of a number of other interglacial sites in eastern England of assumed Ipswichian age. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

热带西太平洋海温距平与Rossby波传播对1993和1994年东亚夏季风异常影响的差异

利用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料、Hadley中心海温资料与降水资料,分析了1993和1994年东亚夏季风异常的天气气候特征以及大气环流的差异.分析结果表明: 1993年东亚夏季风弱,副热带西风急流和副热带高压位置偏南,来自于孟加拉湾和南海的水汽仅输送到35°N以南地区.东亚地区出现低温凉夏天气.1994年东亚夏季风强,副热带西风急流和副热带高压位置偏北,7～8月副高持续偏强并控制日本,水汽可以输送到45°N以北的较高纬度,东亚发生破纪录的热浪干旱.对1993和1994年东亚夏季风异常物理过程差异的研究发现,副热带西风急流中静止Rossby波的传播和热带西太平洋暖池海温距平激发出来的PJ型遥相关波列作用的叠加引起1994和1993年东亚夏季风异常差异.     

新疆东昆仑-阿尔金地区航磁反映的断裂构造特征

本文根据最新的航磁资料,将东昆仑-阿尔金山地区按照不同的磁异常面貌特征进行了分区描述,其总体展布以北东和近东西向为主,磁异常具有明显的分区、分带性。同时辅以卫星重力资料,通过解析延拓、任意水平方向导数计算等处理,得到大量与断裂相关的地球物理场信息,并结合地质资料综合分析,揭示了研究区内断裂构造尤其是深大断裂在磁场上的特征。这些特征主要以不同磁场分界线、磁异常梯度带和串珠状异常等形式呈现,明显的表现为磁场分区、分带的界线。在此基础上,根据航磁资料解释和实际应用结果对深大断裂与成矿的关系进行了探讨。本文实例揭示已知的中小型矿床多位于深大断裂附近。     

How well is the EU protecting its seabirds? Progress in implementing the Birds Directive at sea

The European Commission has repeatedly requested its Member States to fully implement one of the world's oldest nature legislation laws, the Birds Directive, by designating Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in the marine environment. The current work analyses the spatial coverage offered by the SPA network to the 82 species of seabirds that occur in EU waters, and compare it to that of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), as defined by BirdLife International. Marine SPAs represent 3.9% of the EU's marine area, while the IBA network represents 4.4%. On average, only 0.05% of the EU marine area is protected, and there are enormous regional differences. On average, SPAs and IBAs both cover 16.0% of the breeding distribution range of seabird species, but only1.4% of their non-breeding distribution range. SPAs cover more than 50% of the breeding range of only one seabird family, Procellariidae, and both SPA and IBA networks offer greater coverage to threatened species than to non-threatened ones. The year when Member States were legally obliged (2008 onwards) to declare their marine SPA networks is not significantly related to their network size, and that those species subjected to tracking studies or have well known breeding colonies benefit from higher coverage. Methodological challenges that were once posed to implement the Birds Directive at sea are largely overcome, and political will is the main driver for identifying, designating and managing a complete network of marine SPAs in the EU.     

The Baltic Sea environment and the European Union: Analysis of governance barriers

The EU enlargement brought the Baltic Sea into the sphere of EU environmental policymaking, making the sea, with the exception of Russia, an EU inland sea. Yet, the state of the Baltic Sea environment is deteriorating at an alarming pace. This paper describes the evolution of the EU governance of the Baltic Sea environment, focussing on governance barriers. The findings demonstrate how the choice of analytical lens influences the construction of governance barriers and the respective intervention strategies. Such understanding can help policy practitioners in their search for successful measures to improve the governance situation in the Baltic Sea region.     

European policies on ship recycling: A stakeholder survey

After almost a decade of intensive regulatory activities focused on ship-recycling around the world, special reference is made to combating the problems of ship dismantling practices on the shores of Southern Asian countries. “The Hong Kong International Convention” was adopted in 2009, to provide a uniform shipbreaking management approach. However, in globalised maritime transport, with the majority of shipowners using Open Registries, the European Union has prepared a common approach considering the implementation of a new legal framework. Regulation 1257/2013 implemented by the EU on ship-recycling should be more rigorous than those in the rest of the world. In this article, stakeholder perceptions of this Regulation are presented, based on an online survey. The results show significantly different perceptions in the ship-recycling industry regarding the developing ship-recycling measures within the EU.     

钓鱼岛东北冷涡特征及其生长消亡规律

利用1987到2011年期间7个航次的调查数据揭示了夏季钓鱼岛东北海域存在冷涡的事实,首次将其命名为钓鱼岛东北冷涡,并初步分析了钓鱼岛东北冷涡特征及其生长消亡规律。结果表明:钓鱼岛东北冷涡是由底层海水涌升形成的中尺度冷涡,但其凸起的温盐等值线不能在海表面露头,不能从海表层水文特征识别该涡;该涡尺度在150km左右,其水团特征盐度为34.70—34.80,特征温度低于20°C;该涡是季节性冷涡,每年夏季都会出现,该涡5、6月份开始形成,到8月份强度最强,此时其向上涌升的趋势可以达到水深30m以浅,然后开始减弱,可以持续到10月份左右,其它时间则不存在;从50m层的温盐特征来看,不同年份夏季冷涡核心位置稍有不同,整体位置在123.2—124.2°E,26—27°N的范围内。     

东太平洋CC区西区表层沉积物黏土矿物和地球化学特征

本文以太平洋CC区西区12个表层沉积物样品作为研究对象,对其粒度、化学组分和矿物成分进行分析,讨论其沉积环境和物质来源。研究区地处深海,主要以深海黏土和硅钙质黏土为主,含有少量的硅质黏土、黏土质硅质软泥和黏土质钙质软泥。黏土矿物成分主要是蒙皂石和伊利石,含有部分的高岭石和绿泥石。黏土矿物组成表明,区内沉积物主要是陆源,由高空气流携带而来,南极底流和热液活动对其物源的来源有一定影响。沉积物地球化学特征也表明,物源以陆源为主,稀土元素分布曲线和北太平洋表层海水稀土曲线类似,且表现出强的Ce亏损,表明生物活动导致的生物沉降对表层沉积物也有一定的影响。     

King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures?

Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors. The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful scale and speed are also considered in this paper.     

Identification of important marine areas using ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSAs) criteria in the East to Southeast Asia region and comparison with existing registered areas for the purpose of conservation

The biodiversity of East to Southeast (E–SE) Asian waters is rapidly declining because of anthropogenic effects ranging from local environmental pressures to global warming. To improve marine biodiversity, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets were adopted in 2010. The recommendation of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), encourages application of the ecologically or biologically significant area (EBSA) process to identify areas for conservation. However, there are few examples of the use of EBSA criteria to evaluate entire oceans. In this article, seven criteria are numerically evaluated to identify important marine areas (EBSA candidates) in the E–SE Asia region. The discussion includes 1) the possibility of EBSA criteria quantification throughout the E–SE Asia oceans and the suitability of the indices selected; 2) optimal integration methods for criteria, and the relationships between the criteria and data robustness and completeness; and; 3) a comparison of the EBSA candidates identified and existing registered areas for the purpose of conservation, such as marine protected areas (MPAs). Most of the EBSA criteria could be quantitatively evaluated throughout the Asia-Pacific region. However, three criteria in particular showed a substantial lack of data. Our methodological comparison showed that complementarity analysis performed better than summation because it considered criteria that were evaluated only in limited areas. Most of the difference between present-day registered areas and our results for EBSAs resulted from a lack of data and differences in philosophy for the selection of indices.