Delineation of the 85°E ridge and its structure in the Mahanadi Offshore Basin,Eastern Continental Margin of India (ECMI), from seismic reflection imaging

The passive Eastern Continental Margin of India (ECMI) evolved during the break up of India and East Antarctica in the Early Cretaceous. The 85°E ridge is a prominent linear aseismic feature extending from the Afanasy Nikitin Seamounts northward to the Mahanadi basin along the ECMI. Earlier workers have interpreted the ridge to be a prominent hot spot trail. In the absence of conclusive data, the extension of the ridge towards its northern extremity below the thick Bengal Fan sediments was a matter of postulation. In the present study, interpretation of high resolution 2-D reflection data from the Mahanadi Offshore Basin, located in the northern part of the ridge, unequivocally indicates continuation of the ridge across the continent–ocean boundary into the slope and shelf tracts of the ECMI. Its morphology and internal architecture suggest a volcanic plume related origin that can be correlated with the activity of the Kerguelen hot spot in the nascent Indian Ocean. In the continental region, the plume related volcanic activity appears to have obliterated all seismic features typical of continental crust. The deeper oceanic crust, over which the hot spot plume erupted, shows the presence of linear NS aligned basement highs, corresponding with the ridge, underlain by a depressed Moho discontinuity. In the deep oceanic basin, the ridge influences the sediment dispersal pattern from the Early Cretaceous (?)/early part of Late Cretaceous times till the end of Oligocene, which is an important aspect for understanding the hydrocarbon potential of the basin.     

Reef status in the Rasfari region (North Malé Atoll,Maldives) five years before the mass mortality event of 1998

The Maldives was severely hit by massive coral bleaching and subsequent mortality in 1998. The results of reef monitoring in the following years have supported contrasting views about their recovery potential, partly because of the scarcity of information on the situation before 1998. Quantitative data on coral assemblages collected in 1993 in the Rasfari region (North Malé Atoll) may provide a base-line for the evaluation of the present status of the Maldivian reefs. Five years before the 1998 mortality, most coral communities appeared to be similar, in terms of both coral cover and growth-form composition, to those described in 1958 and 1964, notwithstanding increased human pressure and local events such as minor bleaching episodes in 1987 and crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) attacks in 1989. Three lessons can be learnt from these results to help to understand the present situation, some ten years after the 1998 mass mortality. First, Maldivian reefs proved in the past to be capable of maintaining flourishing coral life despite various disturbances. Second, four years had been sufficient for complete reef recovery after a (minor) bleaching event. Third, recovery after both COTS attack and bleaching follows a predictable path suggesting that the presence of a three-dimensional community structure, which should reduce post settlement mortality of coral recruits, is essential for rapid coral recovery. As coral recruitment remains high and large tabular Acropora colonies are now reappearing, it is expected that Maldivian reefs should return to their original condition within the next few years.     

Introducing a transferable fishing day management regime for Pacific Island countries

On 1 December 2007, eight ‘Small Island Developing States’ in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean implemented a management regime restricting the total number of days fished by tuna purse seine vessels within their waters, commonly referred to as the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS). The VDS is seen as one component of management arrangements to reduce fishing mortality on bigeye and yellowfin tuna, constrain fishing effort, and increase the rate of return from access fees by Distant Water Fishing Nations.     

基于形态法的西北太平洋柔鱼种群结构研究

西北太平洋柔鱼是我国鱿钓渔业重要捕捞对象,种群结构是渔业生物学研究的基础内容.文中根据2007年7~10月40°N~45°N,151°E~158°E海域连续采集的1 342尾柔鱼样本,测定其胴长(ML)、腕长等12项形态指标,利用正态线性转化、主成分分析和判别分析等方法研究雌雄个体的种群结构.结果表明,该海域雌、雄柔鱼均存在大小2个种群.均数差异显著性表明,雌性个体2个种群在MW/ML和FW/ML存在显著差异,雄性个体在MW/ML和AL_3/ML存在显著差异,但其形态差异仍属于种内差异.主成分分析和逐步判别分析的判别准确率(雌性60.3%,雄性60.1%),说明所划分的种群在部分形态比指标上差异明显.研究认为,形态学指标可初步区分西北太平洋柔鱼种群,但需结合其他生态学指标和耳石等硬组织进一步划分.     

基于印度洋海温信号的我国西北地区东部夏季降水组合降尺度预测方法研究

利用国家气候中心第二代气候模式预测业务系统(BCC-CPSv2)预测产品,引入印度洋海温信号,采用组合降尺度方法建立了西北地区东部汛期降水预测模型。该预测模型对1991—2017年西北地区东部夏季降水的回报技巧较BCC-CPSv2预测技巧显著提高,空间相关系数由0.42提高到0.75,均方根误差明显减小,最多下降达80%。预测模型对降水空间分布型的预测能力较好,很好地回报了典型年份（1987年和2010年）夏季的降水距平百分率分布。通过抓住气象变量的空间分布特征,组合降尺度方法可以修正动力模式产品的预测误差,为西北地区东部夏季降水预测提供科学依据和技术支持,具有较好的应用前景。     

5月南极涛动对青藏高原西部夏季气温影响的诊断分析

青藏高原是全球气候变暖最敏感的地区之一,是北半球夏季最大的热源,其气候响应受到广泛关注。然而,有关南极涛动与青藏高原夏季气温的关系和机理知之甚少。为了研究南极涛动与青藏高原夏季气温的关系,基于1979—2020年英国东安哥拉大学气候研究中心（CRU）的逐月气温、美国国家海洋和大气管理局（NOAA）的逐月海表面温度和大气环流再分析数据以及南极涛动指数等数据,采用相关、回归、合成分析等方法进行研究。结果表明,北半球夏季青藏高原西部气温与5月南极涛动存在显著负相关,即当5月南极涛动异常偏弱时,夏季青藏高原西部气温异常偏高。其影响过程为,南极涛动为正位相时,在南印度洋中高纬地区出现“负-正-负”的经向“三极子”海温模态,该模态可持续到夏季,在印度洋形成异常的纬向-垂直环流,相应在热带西印度洋和东印度洋-海洋性大陆之间的降水异常导致热带正“偶极子”降水模态,通过该降水模态在青藏高原西部引起异常反气旋环流和下沉运动,有利于高原西部气温偏高。研究结果显示,海洋的热惯性在“延长”南极涛动影响过程中起着重要的桥梁作用,可为青藏高原夏季气温预测提供科学依据。     

内蒙古沙巴尔吐地区中二叠世蛇绿构造混杂岩及同期花岗质杂岩的发现及地质意义

中亚造山带东段内蒙古兴安盟扎赉特旗地区作为二连-贺根山断裂的东延部分,蕴含了古亚洲洋俯冲消亡过程及洋-陆转换的关键信息,然而对于该区蛇绿构造混杂岩的研究相对薄弱,成为制约古亚洲洋构造演化研究的瓶颈.本文在扎赉特旗沙巴尔吐地区发现了蛇绿构造混杂岩、与岛弧环境相关的英云闪长岩-奥长花岗岩和碱长花岗岩组合.对蛇绿构造混杂岩中...     

中亚造山带西段俯冲起始时限及机制探讨

中亚造山带是世界上最大的显生宙增生型造山带,是研究增生造山过程和大陆地壳生长的绝佳场所,其形成记录了新元古代—早中生代古亚洲洋发展演化历程,主要由一系列微陆块、岛弧、海山/大洋高原、增生杂岩及蛇绿混杂岩构成.中亚造山带西段蛇绿混杂岩物质组成基本一致,除了典型的蛇绿岩组分外,大多发育典型的海山岩石组合,即枕状玄武岩、火山...     

A note on the deflection of a baroclinic current by a continental shelf

The deflection, at a step-shelf fronted coast, of a constant potential vorticity current in a reduced-gravity, inviscid model ocean is studied theoretically. The step shelf, with a depth smaller than the reservoir depth, forces the uplifting of the approaching current and causes water column foreshortening, leading to relative vorticity generation that enhances current deflection to the right (facing the coast). As a consequence, in comparison to the case of a vertical wall coast, the proportion of the transport to the right is increased. For normal incidence for a shelf-depth/reservoir-depth ratio of 0.3 and shelf width to deformation radius ratio of 1.5, more than 90% of the approaching current transport goes to the right and less than 10% to the left. In addition, the (barotropic) dynamic pressure at the coast is low to the right and high to the left (with the highest pressure at the stagnation point). In the vertical wall case, the wall pressures on the flank are equal. For oblique incidence from the left, the deflection to the left is drastically reduced. In fact, there is practically no steady-state flow diverted to the left (less than 2%) when the approach angle is greater than 60° to the left of normal. In the vertical wall case, the same angle would have to be 90° for the flow to the left to vanish, namely only when the approach current is parallel to the coast to the right.     

Satellite-tracked drifting buoy observations in the south equatorial current in the Indian Ocean

Three satellite-tracked drifting buoys released in the south equatorial current in the Indian Ocean followed the path of the current moving westward approximately zonally in the vicinity of 10 S latitude. On nearing the east coast of Africa two buoys moved north and the third moved south. Over the open sea regime the buoys moved with a speed of approximately 30 cm/s at an angle of about 35° to the left of the wind. The overall tendencies seen in the buoy drift are similar to those observed elsewhere in the world oceans.