The Bremen ocean bottom tiltmeter (OBT) – a technical article on a new instrument to monitor deep sea floor deformation and seismicity level

The Bremen ocean bottom tiltmeter is a new 6000 m-depth deep sea instrument for autonomous observation of sea floor tilt with signal periods longer than 7.5 s. The instrument also records vertical acceleration in the frequency range from DC to 1 Hz. The tiltmeter has an Applied Geomechanics Inc. 756 wide angle biaxial bubble tilt sensor with a resolution of 1.0μ rad (0.2 arc second). A Kistler Corp. MEMS accelerometer of type Servo K-Beam 8330A2.5 with about 10⁻⁵m/s² resolution is used for the acceleration measurements. An Oceanographic Embedded Systems AD24 24 bit Sigma-Delta converter, which is controlled by a low-power Persistor Inc. embedded computer system of type CF 2, samples the data. The duration of tiltmeter operation is more than one year, which is controlled by the battery life. In our design the tiltmeter does not need active leveling devices, i.e., servo motors or other moving components to adjust sensors or frame. We designed the instrument for deployments by means of a remote operated vehicle. Since May 2005 the Bremen ocean bottom tiltmeter has recorded sea floor deformation and seismicity level in the Logatchev hydrothermal vent field, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The tiltmeter is a part of the monitoring system of project ‘Logatchev Long-Term Environmental Monitoring,’ called LOLEM, of the German research program with the name ‘Schwerpunktprogramm 1144: Vom Mantel zum Ozean.’     

泛黄海海区的物理海洋特征

本文扼要综述了至今的我国海洋调查的重要事件,它们包括:1)全国性综合性调查,2)特定海洋现象的专项调查,3)各项中外合作海洋调查.在海洋调查基础上,本文还综述了泛黄海区主要海洋环流分量的特征,并尽可能从数学物理角度简要阐明了这些海洋现象的形成和维持机制.     

Tidal Mixing in the Kuril Straits and Its Impact on Ventilation in the North Pacific Ocean

A numerical study using a 3-D nonhydrostatic model has been applied to baroclinic processes generated by the K ₁ tidal flow in and around the Kuril Straits. The result shows that large-amplitude unsteady lee waves are generated and cause intense diapycnal mixing all along the Kuril Island Chain to levels of a maximum diapycnal diffusivity exceeding 10³ cm²s⁻¹. Significant water transformation by the vigorous mixing in shallow regions produces the distinct density and potential vorticity (PV) fronts along the Island Chain. The pinched-off eddies that arise and move away from the fronts have the ability to transport a large amount of mixed water (∼14 Sv) to the offshore regions, roughly half being directed to the North Pacific. These features are consistent with recent satellite imagery and in-situ observations, suggesting that diapycnal mixing within the vicinity of the Kuril Islands has a greater impact than was previously supposed on the Okhotsk Sea and the North Pacific. To examine this influence of tidal processes at the Kurils on circulations in the neighboring two basins, another numerical experiment was conducted using an ocean general circulation model with inclusion of tidal mixing along the islands, which gives a better representation of the Okhotsk Sea Mode Water than in the case without the tidal mixing. This is mainly attributed to the added effect of a significant upward salt flux into the surface layer due to tidal mixing in the Kuril Straits, which is subsequently transported to the interior region of the Okhotsk Sea. With a saline flux into the surface layer, cooling in winter in the northern part of the Okhotsk Sea can produce heavier water and thus enhance subduction, which is capable of reproducing a realistic Okhotsk Sea Mode Water. The associated low PV flux from the Kuril Straits to the open North Pacific excites the 2nd baroclinic-mode Kelvin and Rossby waves in addition to the 1st mode. Interestingly, the meridional overturning in the North Pacific is strengthened as a result of the dynamical adjustment caused by these waves, leading to a more realistic reproduction of the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) than in the case without tidal mixing. Accordingly, the joint effect of tidally-induced transport and transformation dominating in the Kuril Straits and subsequent eddy-transport is considered to play an important role in the ventilation of both the Okhotsk Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

一种新型深海海洋平台——几何形Spar和集成浮力桶的试验研究

介绍了一种新型深海海洋平台——几何形Spar壳体概念和集成浮力桶立管支撑概念，并与常规Spar和桁架式Spar进行了比较。为测定多角形Spar和集成浮力桶在不同环境条件下运动响应的总体性能，设计并完成了在海洋工程水池中的模型试验，此类试验在国内尚属首次。     

Tsunami Travel Time Atlas for the Atlantic Ocean

Compared to the Pacific Ocean, tsunamis are rare both in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. However, the December 26, 2004, tsunami demonstrated that, no matter how rare they may be, when a major tsunami occurs, it could be very disastrous. The most basic information in tsunami warning center requires are charts showing tsunami travel times to various locations around the rim of the ocean. With this in mind, a tsunami travel time atlas for the Atlantic Ocean is in preparation. The Caribbean Sea is also included in this Atlas, as it is more or less a part of the Atlantic Basin.     

海洋环境监测系统动态集成框架研究

区域性／全国性的海洋环境监测系统需要集成许多已有业务化运行的海洋信息系统,并且要为成千上万的应用系统提供服务,迫切需要一个支持分布式异构环境的海洋监测信息及服务集成框架来指导系统的建设。论文提出的基于XML,Web Service,Ontology,等技术的集成框架包括集成总线及Adapter Setvice,元数据库及集成协调器与供二次开发的API及Web Service工具集。这一集成框架是开放的可扩充的,它实现了数据互操作,软件互操作与语义互操作,可以应用于大规模海洋监测系统的动态集成,并能有效利用网上丰富的涉海商业Web服务。     

An East-West Comparison of the Transition Zone Coastal Pelagic Nekton of the North Pacific Ocean

During the 1980s and 1990s, scientific research cruises were conducted in both the eastern and western boundary regions of the North Pacific Ocean. The main purpose of these cruises was to examine the abundance and distribution patterns of juvenile salmon in coastal waters. These studies created one of the most extensive databases ever collected on the species composition of coastal Transition Zone epipelagic nekton in the North Pacific Ocean. Catch data from two purse seine and two surface trawl surveys (one each from off northern Japan and eastern Russia and off the West Coast of the U.S.) were examined using multivariate techniques to analyze the community structure of nektonic cephalopods, elasmobranchs, and teleosts in the coastal zone during the summer and autumn months. Juvenile salmonids are generally among the most common species caught, but in terms of overall abundance, other potential competitors with juvenile salmon, such as small squids and clupeoid fishes predominated the catches. Species diversity and dominance varied among areas and gear types. Distinct assemblages were found in each area, but the two regions had closely related species occupying similar ecological positions in each habitat. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of fluid column dynamics on longitudinal vibrations of an ultra deepwater riser covered by an orifice plug

The paper studies longitudinal vibrations of an ultra-deepwater drilling riser whose bottom end is disconnected from the sea floor and covered by a plug (a blind one or the one with a hole). An elastic shell is used as a model of a riser pipe. The fluid column motion in the riser is described by the Navier–Stokes equation for a compressible fluid. Losses of fluid pressure during its flowing through a hole in the plug are taken into account. Solution of the riser equations is carried out in the frequency domain. Analysis of the effect which the riser length, wave period and height, and the plug-hole diameter on the amplitude of the riser's tension vibrations is conducted. A riser manufactured of strong aluminium alloys, some of prospective materials for ultra deepwater drilling, was considered as a prototype. It has been shown that risers 2000–4000 m long, plug-hole, and a riser 6000 m long with plug-hole of 0.087 m in diameter can withstand wave height of >15 m throughout the frequency range.     

Characteristic analysis of wind field and sea wave field over the NW Pacific Ocean

The NW Pacific Ocean is not onIy the only transportation way between America andAsia, but also the source influencing on inIand climate and marine variability of adjacentseas in China. Based on ship observation data during l950 - l995 in the NW Pacific,with data from several hundreds to 30 thousand in every 5"x5" grid network, throughanalyzing the monthly mean directions of prevailing wind, wave and swelI, wind speed,pressure, wave height and frequencies of gaIe of 6 and 8 sca1e, high sea…     

ENSO related variations in biogeochemistry of AA and HA in settling particles along the equatorial Pacific Ocean

Four year-long time-series sediment trap experiments were conducted along the equatorial Pacific Ocean in order to understand the biogeochemistry of particulate organic matter (POM) on the basis of amino acid (AA) and hexosamine (HA) compositions of the settling particles. Total mass flux in the study area varied over 4 orders of magnitude without a common seasonality among all trap sites. Planktonic blooms were apparent in terms of total mass and AA fluxes at the easternmost end of the Niño-4 region. AA fluxes closely followed the total mass flux profiles, suggesting that increased particle flux delivered a greater amount of labile OM to the deep ocean. A labile OM index (LI)-based classification showed that during the El Niño conditions in 2002, the eastern side of the equatorial Pacific transported relatively more labile OM than the western equatorial Pacific. An overall change in AA and HA composition of settling particles could be revealed with the help of discriminant analysis, suggesting that settling particles during El Niño were compositionally different from those settling during La Niña condition in the equatorial Pacific.