Hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in the German Bight. A focus on observations and numerical modelling in the East Frisian Wadden Sea

This work deals with analysis of hydrographic observations and results of numerical simulations. The data base includes acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) observations, continuous measurements on data stations and satellite data originating from the medium resolution imaging spectrometer (MERIS) onboard the European Space Agency (ESA) satellite ENVISAT with a spatial resolution of 300 m. Numerical simulations use nested models with horizontal resolutions ranging from 1 km in the German Bight to 200 m in the East Frisian Wadden Sea coupled with a suspended matter transport model. Modern satellite observations have now a comparable horizontal resolution with high-resolution numerical model of the entire area of the East Frisian Wadden Sea allowing to describe and validate new and so far unknown patterns of sediment distribution. The two data sets are consistent and reveal an oscillatory behaviour of sediment pools to the north of the back-barrier basins and clear propagation patterns of tidally driven suspended particulate matter outflow into the North Sea. The good agreement between observations and simulations is convincing evidence that the model simulates the basic dynamics and sediment transport processes, which motivates its further use in hindcasting, as well as in the initial steps towards forecasting circulation and sediment dynamics in the coastal zone.     

Connectivity of the Apalachicola River flow variability and the physical and bio-optical oceanic properties of the northern West Florida Shelf

Maps of satellite-derived estimates of monthly averaged chlorophyll a concentration over the northern West Florida Shelf show interannual variations concentrated near the coastline, but also extending offshore over the shelf in a tongue-like pattern from the Apalachicola River during the late winter and early spring. These anomalies are significantly correlated with interannual variability in the flow rate of the Apalachicola River, which is linked to the precipitation anomalies over the watershed, over a region extending 150–200 km offshore out to roughly the 100 m isobath. This study examines the variability of the Apalachicola River and its impacts on the variability of water properties over the northern West Florida Shelf. A series of numerical model experiments show that episodic wind-driven offshore transport of the Apalachicola River plume is a likely physical mechanism for connecting the variability of the river discharge with oceanic variability over the middle and outer shelf.     

海潮对倾斜仪及伸缩仪观测的影响

利用Farrell模式，结合烟台海洋洁潮汐，估算了海潮对烟台地倾斜、伸缩仪观测影响的量值。有了这一数据，就可以根据烟台的海潮观测资料对地倾斜、伸缩仪观测资料进行海潮影响的改正。     

Miocene pinnipeds of the otariid subfamily Allodesminae in the North Pacific Ocean: Systematics and relationships

Abstract Fossil pinnipeds in the extinct otariid subfamily Allodesminae are large, relatively highly evolved marine carnivores that became abundant and diverse in Middle Miocene time and were restricted to the North Pacific Ocean. Their record extends from early Middle Miocene through Late Miocene, with records from California, Oregon, Washington, Baja California and Japan. Allodesmines are characterized by extreme sexual dimorphism, a large orbit, retracted orbital margin of the zygomatic arch, a deeply mortised jugal-squamosal junction, wide palate, bulbous cheek tooth crowns, nearly flat tympanic bulla with wrinkled ventral surface, a large tympanohyal fossa, large ear ossicles and deep mandible. Eleven allodesmine species are known (eight of which are named), in at least four genera, and most belong to the typical genus Allodesmus Kellogg, 1922. The earliest and most generalized allodesmine known is from the early Middle Miocene (ca 16 Ma) Astoria Formation in coastal Oregon. The last known records are from Late Miocene rocks (ca 10 Ma) in California and Washington. New taxa proposed here are: the genus Brachyallodesmus Barnes and Hirota, to contain Allodesmus packardi Barnes, 1972; the genus Megagomphos Hirota and Barnes, to contain Allodesmus sinanoensis (Nagao, 1941); the species Allodesmus sadoensis Hirota, (Middle Miocene, Japan); the species Allodesmus megallos Hirota (Middle Miocene, Japan); and the species Allodesmus gracilis Barnes (Middle Miocene, California). Additionally, the genus Atopotarus Downs, 1956, and the species Allodesmus kelloggi Mitchell, 1966, are resurrected. Allodesmines were apparently a rapidly evolving group, and most appear to have been adapted to roles later filled by otariine, dusignathine and imagotariine otariids, and the Phocidae (true seals). They became extinct in Late Miocene time and left no living descendants. Although some of their characters evolved convergently with various living species of the pinniped family Phocidae, Allodesminae are an otariid group and not part of the evolutionary history of Phocidae.     

1993年7—9月的全球地震动态

１９９３年第三季度，全球地震活动水平为中等偏高，明显高于上半年平均水平。日本北海道西南近海发生７．６级浅源地震，但不属于日本海沟地震。埃及西奈半岛发生５．７级地震，为今年亚欧带西段之最大地震。马里亚纳群岛发生８．１级中深震，使西北太平洋地区地震水平达到全球第一。兴都库什地区接连发生三次较大中深震，可能对我国西部地区地震活动有影响。墨西哥恰帕斯州近海发生７．３级地震，美洲带新的地震活动轮回正式开始。印度南部发生６．３级中强震，属于板内地震。     

大洋钻探与我国地球科学的发展

１９６８－１９８３年的深海钻探（ＤＳＤＰ）导致了地球科学的革命；１９８５年以来的大洋钻探（ＯＤＰ）正在把地球科学提升到地球系统演化的高度。本文从地壳与上地幔的成分、结构与动态和大洋与气候变化的原因与效应两方面简述了大洋钻探的学术成果与研究方向，指出大洋钻探与我国地球科学的密切关系。当前，世界上正在组织＂新世纪大洋钻探＂计划，我国是参与还是旁观？这将在很大程度上决定我国地球科学下世纪的前景。     

Paleogeographic maps of the Japanese Islands: Plate tectonic synthesis from 750 Ma to the present

Abstract A series of paleogeographic maps of the Japanese Islands, from their birth at ca 750–700 Ma to the present, is newly compiled from the viewpoint of plate tectonics. This series consists of 20 maps that cover all of the major events in the geotectonic evolution of Japan. These include the birth of Japan at the rifted continental margin of the Yangtze craton ( ca 750-700 Ma), the tectonic inversion of the continental margin from passive to active ( ca 500 Ma), the Paleozoic accretionary growth incorporating fragments from seamounts and oceanic plateaux ( ca 480-250 Ma), the collision between Sino-Korea and Yangtze (250–210 Ma), the Mesozoic to Cenozoic accretionary growth (210 Ma-present) including the formation of the Cretaceous paired metamorphic belts (90 Ma), and the Miocene back-arc opening of the Japan Sea that separated Japan as an island arc (25-15 Ma).     

IGGOS as a potential partner in IGOS

This short note reviews our thinking on how IGGOS can best achieve a high status within the set of global monitoring programmes. If such a high status can be obtained, then the importance of geodetic networks and services will be recognized more widely, and their activities will consequently be better resourced in the long term. One particular aspect concerns how IGGOS can complement the roles of the various IGOS partners within global monitoring. The different ways in which IGGOS can contribute to IGOS are outlined.     

Stochastic modelling of unresolved eddy fluxes

A subgrid-scale parameterization scheme motivated by statistical closure theory, but employing statistics obtained from high-resolution direct numerical simulations, is applied to large eddy simulations of two-level quasigeostrophic turbulence on the sphere. It is shown that these parameterizations are consistent with the phenomenology of quasigeostrophic turbulence. The parameterizations consist of 2 × 2 dissipation and stochastic forcing covariance matrices at each wavenumber, with the off-diagonal elements of the matrices representing vertical mixing. Two flow regimes, characterized by their deformation scales, are considered, namely atmospheric and oceanic. In the former, the deformation scale is fully resolved, and the truncation scale is within the enstrophy cascading interial range. In the latter, the deformation scale is not fully resolved, and the truncation scale is within the energy cascading inertial range. It is demonstrated through numerical experiments that both stochastic and deterministic variants of the scheme give comparable results for the energy spectra in the atmospheric regime. In the oceanic regime, the stochastic variant again gives excellent results, but the deterministic variant is found to be numerically unstable.     

Convection with heat flux prescribed on the boundaries of the system. I. The effect of temperature dependence of material properties

Abstract

We study the bifurcation to steady two-dimensional convection with the heat flux prescribed on the fluid boundaries. The fluid is weakly non-Boussinesq on account of a slight temperature dependence of its material properties. Using expansions in the spirit of shallow water theory based on the preference for large horizontal scales in fixed flux convection, we derive an evolution equation for the horizontal structure of convective cells. In the steady state, this reduces to a simple nonlinear ordinary differential equation. When the horizontal scales of the cells exceed a certain critical size, the bifurcation to steady convection is subcritical and the degree of subcriticality increases with increasing cell size.