The fate of dumped sediments monitored by a high-resolution multibeam echosounder system,Weser Estuary,German Bight

With the development of high-resolution multibeam echosounder systems (MBES) for surveying shallow-water areas a new tool is available to monitor rapid changes in seabed morphology as, e.g., caused by the dumping of dredge spoil in coastal waters. In this study, four data sets of repeated bathymetric surveys with a MBES were processed and analyzed. The data were collected in a 1.94-km² dumping site in the outer Weser Estuary (German Bight). Between June and December 1998, 2.6 million m³ of dredged sediment were deposited there. The bathymetric maps generated in the course of this study reveal features such as subaqueous dunes, scour holes, and mounds of dumped dredge spoil. The mean water depth decreased by about 1 m during the dumping period. Furthermore, difference grids showing changes in sediment volume allowed a calculation of the sediment budget for the monitored area. After a time period of only 5 months, 0.5 million m³ of the originally dumped 2.6 million m³ of dredge spoil had already been removed from the dumping site.     

Jason-1: Assessment of the System Performances

On 7 December 2001, Jason-1 was successfully launched by a Boeing Delta II rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Jason-1 satellite will maintain the high accuracy altimeter service provided since 1992 by TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P), ensuring the continuity in observing and monitoring the Ocean Dynamics (intraseasonal to interannual changes, mean sea level, tides, etc.). Despite one-fourth the mass and power, the Jason-1 system has been designed to have basically the same performance as T/P, measuring sea surface topography at a centimetric level. This new CNES/NASA mission also provides near real-time data for sea state and ocean forecast. The first two months of the Jason-1 mission have been dedicated to the assessment of the overall system. The goals of this assessment phase were:

1. To assess the behavior of the spacecraft at the platform and payload levels (Jason-1 being the first program to call on the PROTEUS versatile multimission platform for Low and Medium Earth Orbit Missions developed in partnership between Alcatel Space and CNES);

2. To verify that platform performance requirements are met with respect to Jason-1 requirements;

3. To verify that payload instruments performance requirements evaluated at instrument level are met;

4. To assess the performance of the Jason-1 Ground System.

This article will display the main outputs of the assessment of the system. It will demonstrate that all the elements of the onboard and ground systems are within the specifications. Provision of data to the Jason-1 Science Working Team started at the end of March 2002. This is the goal of a six-month phase after closure of the initial assessment phase to derive the error budget of the system in terms of altimetry user products.     

Accumulation of organic and inorganic carbon in Pliocene–Pleistocene sediments along the SW African margin

The Ocean Drilling Program Leg 175 recovered a unique series of stratigraphically continuous sedimentary sections along the SW African margin, an area which is presently affected by active coastal upwelling. The accumulation rates of organic and inorganic carbon are a major component of this record. Four Leg 175 sites (1082, 1084, 1085, 1087) are chosen as part of a latitudinal transect from the present northern to southern boundaries of the Benguela Current upwelling system, to decipher the Pliocene–Pleistocene history of biogenic production and its relationship with global and local changes in oceanic circulation and climate. The pattern of CaCO₃ and C_org mass accumulation rates (MARs) over 0.25-Myr intervals indicates that the evolution of carbon burial is highly variable between the northern and the southern Benguela regions, as well as between sites that have similar hydrological conditions. This, as well as the presence over most locations of high-amplitude, rapid changes of carbon burial, reflect the partitioning of biogenic production and patterns of sedimentation into local compartments over the Benguela margin. The combined mapping of CaCO₃ and C_org MARs at the study locations suggests four distinct evolutionary periods, which are essentially linked with major steps in global climate change: the early Pliocene, the mid-Pliocene warm event, a late Pliocene intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation and the Pleistocene. The early Pliocene spatially heterogeneous patterns of carbon burial are thought to reflect the occurrence of mass-gravitational movements over the Benguela slope which resulted in disruption of the recorded biogenic production. This was followed (3.5–3 Ma) by an episode of peak carbonate accumulation over the whole margin and, subsequently, by the onset of Benguela provincialism into a northern and a southern sedimentary regime near 2 Ma. This mid and late Pliocene evolution is interpreted as a direct response to changes in the ventilation of bottom and intermediate waters, as well as to dynamics of the subtropical gyral circulation and associated wind stress.     

Marine tether dynamics: retrieval and deployment from a heaving platform

A tether management system of a winch module in a marine environment is proposed. For the purpose of this study the subsea body is considered as a mass attached at the free end of a long tether which is wrapped around a circular drum controlled by an external torque. The winch is considered mounted on a heaving platform. The effect of the heaving platform on the motions of the drum, tether and attached mass are studied with respect to the longitudinal vibrations of the tether in one dimension. The hydrodynamic effects are considered on the deployed portion of the tether and the tethered mass, both of which are assumed submerged in otherwise still water. The resulting nonlinear system of equations of motion is developed and solved numerically for an example of a marine tether system. The effect of the tether extensibility on the operation threshold of the system is identified. Comparison with an inextensible tether case is provided. The numerical results and their analysis for the retrieval/deployment of the system are presented.     

鲁苏榴辉岩的地球化学

以微量元素、稀土元素、Ｓｒ和Ｎｄ同位素变异特征为依据，确定鲁苏榴辉岩为多成因、多来源和多阶段，指出主要是在印支期扬子陆块与华北陆块碰撞造山作用过程中，挤入的上地幔碎片以及不同原岩类型的壳内高压变质岩碎块。燕山晚期的区域构造热事件使得某些榴辉岩的同位素体系再平衡。     

Hammerstein型非线性积分方程解的存在性

该文采用化为积分方程组的方法 ,利用锥上不动点指数计算 ,在不要求非线性项 f (x,u)非负的情况下 ,证明 Hammerstein型非线性积分方程 φ(x) =∫Gκ(x,y) f (y,φ(y) ) dy非平凡解和多解存在性的一些新的结果。此结果可用来证明非线性常微分方程两点边值问题解的存在性。     

水槽造流系统水力计算与泵机选择

提供一种完整的用于试验水槽造流系统的水力计算和泵机选择方法 ,可用于其他类似工程设计。     

Microhabitat preferences and depth distribution of combtooth blennies (Blenniidae) in the Gulf of Trieste (North Adriatic Sea)

The microhabitat preferences and depth distribution of blenniid species (Blenniidae) in the Gulf of Trieste (North Adriatic Sea) were surveyed using the all‐occurrence sampling method, a non‐destructive visual census method, aided by SCUBA diving. Fourteen species were identified during the entire survey. Four species showed to be indiscriminate in their microhabitat choice while 10 species were classified as infrequent in the surveyed coastal area. A statistically significant correlation was found between the blenniid assemblage and nine microhabitat variables. The blenniid assemblage was divided in two main groups, by the use of canonical correspondence analysis, electivity index, and the depth distribution analysis. The first group comprises species that dwell in surface waters and show a high positive correlation with boulders, the presence of Mytilus galloprovincialis, cirripeds and empty holes bored by Lithophaga lithophaga. The second group includes species that mostly inhabit deeper waters and show a high positive correlation with rocks covered by precoralligenous bioformations.     

On dynamic coupling effects between a spar and its mooring lines

The responses of a spar constrained by slack mooring lines to steep ocean waves and tensions in the mooring lines are simulated using two different numerical schemes: a quasi-static approach (SMACOS) and a coupled dynamic approach (COUPLE). The two approaches are the same in computing wave loads on the structure. Their difference is in modeling dynamic forces of mooring lines; that is the dynamic forces are included in the computation of COUPLE but neglected in SMACOS. The numerical simulation is examined against the laboratory measurements of the JIP Spar in a water depth of 318 m. The dynamic coupling effects between the JIP Spar and its mooring lines in different water depths (318, 618 and 1018 m) are investigated by the comparison of numerical simulations obtained using the quasi-static and coupled dynamic approaches. It is found that the damping of mooring lines reduces the slow-drift surge and pitch of the Spar, especially in deep water. The reduction in the amplitude of slow-drift surge can reach about 10% in a water depth of 1018 m. The tension in mooring lines may greatly increase in the wave frequency range when dynamic forces in mooring lines are considered. The mooring-line tension in the wave frequency range predicted by the coupled dynamic approach can be eight times as great as the corresponding prediction by the quasi-static approach in a water depth of 1018 m. This finding may have important implications for the estimation of the fatigue strength and life span of the mooring lines deployed in deep water oceans.     

海底勘查技术的最新发展

本文将介绍用于探测海底三维地质特征的海底勘查的最新发展。它主要包括海底地形测绘技术，海底形貌观测技术、海底地层声学探测技术等。