A Holocene record of Neotropical savanna dynamics from El Salvador

The historical ecology of the Ahuachapan savanna is reconstructed from a 4.83-m sediment core from Laguna Llano del Espino, Ahuachapan, western El Salvador. Stable carbon isotopes (¹³C), pollen, and charred grass cuticles indicate Holocene grassland dominance from at least ca. 3300 cal yr B.P. to the present. The role of people in the creation and maintenance of Central American savannas is considered in light of the paleoecological record. The data suggest that pre-Columbian inhabitants of western El Salvador suppressed shrub and tree encroachment via frequent burning from ca. 2500 to 500 cal yr. B.P. A substantial increase in woody taxa (Mimosoideae, Urticales) and a decrease in biomass burning are evident in the pollen and charcoal records beginning around the time of the first European contact (ca 500 cal yr B.P.). Evidence for frequent burning and grassland dominance before the arrival of the Europeans, followed by shrub and tree encroachment amid a near absence of fire after contact, suggests that the openness of the Ahuachapan savanna was maintained by the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Rio Paz Valley throughout the late Holocene.     

热带西太平洋8°N 断面上部的水团特征及其对厄尔尼诺的响应

西太平洋北赤道逆流槽上部水域1 000m 以浅分布4个水团:北太平洋热带表层水、北太平洋次表层水、北太平洋中层水和南极太平洋中层水,它们的交界分别位于75、200和310m 深左右。在1986～1987年的El Ni(?)o 事件前期,海区温跃层明显上移;上均匀层盐度降低约0.35,近海表面温度略有增加。在1988～1989年的反厄尔尼诺事件盛期,海区温跃层明显下移;上均匀层盐度降低约0.35,近海表面温度则略有升高。     

广东、广西沿岸海水盐度周期分析

用方差分析法对涠洲、硇洲、闸坡、万山、云澳五个海洋站多年观测的盐度月平均值序列作周期性检验。发现万山以西的三个站的盐度序列有明显的3.4—3.5a长周期波动,万山和云澳站序列也存在明显的2.1,6.9和7.25a等长周期波动。经分析还发现这些长周期波的振幅与年周期波的振幅有相同的数量级。因此不能忽视长周期波动的影响。文章最后对某些周期波动的成因作了讨论,认为这些长周期变化的成因与厄尔尼诺事件有一定关系。     

The coastal ocean off Oregon and northern California during the 1997–8 El Niño

The evolution and decay of El Niño 1997–8 was observed in coastal waters off Oregon in a sequence of cruises along 44.6°N from the coast to more than 150 km offshore. Hydrographic observations were made during eleven cruises between July 1997 and April 1999 at stations on the Newport Hydrographic Line, which had been occupied regularly from 1961 to 1971. The data from the earlier decade provide a basis for defining ‘normal’ conditions and allow comparisons with the recent El Niño in terms of T, S, spiciness and geostrophic velocity. Independent of El Niño, the ocean in July 1997 was already anomalously warm offshore of 50 km and above 100 m. By September 1997 there were unambiguous indications of El Niño: isotherms and isohalines sloped down toward the coast indicating poleward flow over shelf and slope, and anomalously spicy water was present at the shelf-break. In November 1997 and February 1998 shelf-break waters were even warmer, and there was strong poleward flow inshore of 100 km, extending to depths greater than 200 m. The April 1998 section closely resembled that of April 1983 (another El Niño year) but by June 1998 the anomalies were mostly gone. November 1998 was near normal and the sections from subsequent cruises resemble the mean sections from 1961–1971.Four cruises between November 1997 and November 1998 included sampling at several latitudes between 38° and 45°N. As expected, these sections show significant alongshore gradients, but also a surprising degree of homogeneity in the anomalous features associated with El Niño (in the temperature, salinity, spiciness and geostrophic velocity fields). The anomalous signature of El Niño was stronger at its winter peak in 1998 than in 1983, but the signature in the temperature and spiciness fields, and in coastal sea level, did not persist as long as in 1983. By April 1999, the coastal ocean from 38°N to 45°N was significantly colder than it had been in April 1984.     

两类（反）El Nio年与热带风暴活动的初步分析

本文分析了两类（反）ＥＩＮｉｎｏ年１９４９～１９８８年西北太平洋热带风暴活动的气候特点，包括热带风暴生成数和登陆数、风暴生成位置及路径，并讨论了其与太平洋副热带高压的关系。分析结果表明，在ＥＩＮｉｎｏⅠ类年，１０５°～１１９．９°Ｅ经度范围内的热带风暴生成数偏多，而１２０°～１７９．９°Ｅ范围内的风暴生成数偏少；风暴生成位置偏西、偏北；移动趋势多转向路径而少西行路径；另外，登陆我国的热带风暴数也偏多，此时，副高脊线偏南，西伸脊点偏东，强度及面积指数均偏弱，Ⅱ类年则相反。同样，分析反ＥＩＮｉｎｏⅠ、Ⅱ类年亦可得到类似的结果。     

Hydrography, nutrients and chlorophyll during El Niño and La Niña 1997–99 winters in the Gulf of the Farallones, California

Nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations were measured in January 1997, 1998 and 1999 in the Gulf of the Farallones, CA at locations stretching north/south from Point Reyes to Half Moon Bay, and seaward from the Golden Gate to the Farallon Islands. The cruises were all carried out during periods of high river flow, but under different climatological conditions with 1997 conditions described as relatively typical or ‘neutral/normal’, compared to the El Niño warmer water temperatures in 1998, and the cooler La Niña conditions in 1999. Near-shore sea-surface temperatures ranged from cold (9.5–10.5°C) during La Niña 1999, to average (11–13°C) during 1997 to warm (13.5–15°C) during El Niño 1998. Nutrients are supplied to the Gulf of the Farallones both from San Francisco Bay (SFB) and from oceanic sources, e.g. coastal upwelling near Point Reyes. Nutrient supplies are strongly influenced by the seasonal cycle of fall calms, with storms (commencing in January), and the spring transition to high pressure and northerly upwelling favorable winds. The major effect of El Niño and La Niña climatic conditions was to modulate the relative contribution of SFB to nutrient concentrations in the coastal waters of the Gulf of the Farallones; this was intensified during the El Niño winter and reduced during La Niña. During January 1998 (El Niño) the oceanic water was warm and had low or undetectable nitrate, that did not reach the coast. Instead, SFB dominated the supply of nutrients to the coastal waters. Additionally, these data indicate that silicate may be a good tracker of SFB water. In January, delta outflow into SFB produces low salinity, high silicate, high nitrate water that exits the bay at the Golden Gate and is advected northward along the coast. This occurred in both 1997 and 1998. However during January 1999, a La Niña, this SFB feature was reduced and the near-shore water was more characteristic of high salinity oceanic water penetrated all the way to the coast and was cold (10°C) and nutrient rich (16 μM NO₃, 30 μM Si(OH)₄). January chlorophyll concentrations ranged from 1–1.5 μg l⁻¹ in all years with the highest values measured in 1999 (2.5–3 μg l⁻¹) as a result of elevated nutrients in the area. The impact of climatic conditions on chlorophyll concentrations was not as pronounced as might be expected from the high temperatures and low nutrient concentrations measured offshore during El Niño due to the sustained supply of nutrients from the Bay supporting continued primary production.