Seasonal cycle of surface circulation in the coastal North Indian Ocean

Monthly-mean winds and currents have been used to identify the driving mechanisms of seasonal coastal circulation in the North Indian Ocean. The main conclusions are: (i) the surface circulation off Arabia is typical of a wind-driven system with similar patterns of longshore current and wind stress; (ii) circulation off the west coast of India is consistent with the dynamics of a wind-driven eastern boundary current only during the southwest monsoon. During the northeast monsoon it is possible that the influence of the interior flow is important. (iii) There are at least three mechanisms that influence the surface circulation off the east coast of India: wind-stress, influence of fresh-water run off and contribution of the interior flow. It is difficult at present to assess the relative importance of these three processes.     

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.     

The warm pool in the Indian Ocean

The structure of the warm pool (region with temperature greater than 28°C) in the equatorial Indian Ocean is examined and compared with its counterpart in the Pacific Ocean using the climatology of Levitus. Though the Pacific warm pool is larger and warmer, a peculiarity of the pool in the Indian Ocean is its seasonal variation. The surface area of the pool changes from 24 × 10⁶ km² in April to 8 × 10⁶ km² in September due to interaction with the southwest monsoon. The annual cycles of sea surface temperature at locations covered by the pool during at least a part of the year show the following modes: (i) a cycle with no significant variation (observed in the western equatorial Pacific and central and eastern equatorial Indian Ocean), (ii) a single maximum/minimum (northern and southern part of the Pacific warm pool and the south Indian Ocean), (iii) two maxima/minima (Arabian Sea, western equatorial Indian Ocean and southern Bay of Bengal), and (iv) a rapid rise, a steady phase and a rapid fall (northern Bay of Bengal).     

Sq外源和内源电流体系的经度效应和UT变化

根据ＩＧＹ／ＩＧＣ期间全球地磁台网以及中国地磁台站的资料，计算出每－ＵＴ小时的Ｓ_ｑ外源和内源电流体系．对Ｓ_ｑ电流体系ＵＴ变化和经度效应的分析研究表明，Ｓ_ｑ外源电流体系的空间图案没有显著的ＵＴ变化，电流涡焦点的地理纬度与磁赤道有密切关系，其变化范围，北半球为２５°－３５°Ｎ，南半球为３０°－４２．５°Ｓ．外源电流总强度的平均值为２２９ｋＡ（北半球）和１７３ｋＡ（南半球），其变化范围为±５０ｋＡ（北半球）和±４０ｋＡ（南半球）．Ｓ_ｑ内源电流体系的图案和强度有显著的ＵＴ变化，电流体系焦点纬度有类似于外源电流系的变化．在大西洋、印度洋、北太平洋地区，内源电流体系的总强度明显小于大陆地区的内源电流强度，表明这些大洋地区上地幔电导率低于大陆地区．     

Circulation and water masses of the Arabian Sea

The dynamics and thermodynamics of the surface layer of the Arabian Sea, north of about 10N, are dominated by the monsoon-related annual cycle of air-sea fluxes of momentum and heat. The currents in open-sea regime of this layer can be largely accounted for by Ekman drift and the thermal field is dominated by local heat fluxes. The geostrophic currents in open-sea subsurface regime also show a seasonal cycle and there is some evidence that signatures of this cycle appear as deep as 1000 m. The forcing due to Ekman suction is an important mechanism for the geostrophic currents in the central and western parts of the Sea. Recent studies suggest that the eastern part is strongly influenced by the Rossby waves radiated by the Kelvin waves propagating along the west coast of India. The circulation in the coastal region off Oman is driven mainly by local winds and there is no remotely driven western boundary current. Local wind-driving is also important to the coastal circulation off western India during the southwest monsoon but not during the northeast monsoon when a strong (approximately 7 × 10⁶m³/sec) current moves poleward against weak winds. This current is driven by a pressure gradient which forms along this coast during the northeast monsoon due to either thermohaline-forcing or due to the arrival of Kelvin waves from the Bay of Bengal. The present speculation about flow of bottom water (deeper than about 3500 m) in the Arabian Sea is that it moves northward and upwells into the layer of North Indian Deep Water (approximately 1500–3500m). It is further speculated that the flow in this layer consists of a poleward western boundary current and a weak equatorward flow in the interior. It is not known if there is an annual cycle associated with the deep and the bottom water circulation.     

Late Ordovician evolution of the intracratonic basins in north-west Gondwana

The Palaeozoic intracratonic basins in northwest Gondwana, i.e. the Amazonas, Parnaiba and Acera basins, probably opened during late Caradoc and Ashgill times. The fluviatile sedimentation later changed to littoral at the basinal margins. A transgression from the north-west region of Gondwana slowly overlapped the margins of the intracratonic basins. The transgression reached its maximum in the Rawtheyan (late Ashgill), as evidenced by fossiliferous shallow marine sediments in the Amazonas Basin. The Hirnantian glaciation in north Gondwana lowered the sea level, and in the Amazonas Basin a littoral sedimentation followed on shallow marine strata. From the opening of the basins onwards, a shallow sea probably existed close to the epicontinental basins in north-west Gondwana. The basins were connected via a narrow passage between the Guayana and Ivorian cratons.     

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。     

1986年和1987年秋季西太平洋赤道附近海域的辐射状况

本文利用1986和1987年秋季在西太平洋赤道海域取得的短期辐射资料,分析了这一特定海域的辐射状况。揭示了所在海域太阳辐射的一些特征。这对了解该海域海气界面上的热状况以及它对所在海域天气气候的影响无疑都有帮助。     

The main issues affecting coasts of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans: a meta-analysis from Seas at the Millennium

A review of the world oceans in three volumes by 365 scientists, provides scope for several ‘meta-analyses' of the main problems affecting over 100 areas in the year 2000. This article summarises the main issues affecting a sub-set of the reviewed areas, covering Asian, African and Arabian countries dealt with in Volume 2, which included over 50 articles. From all issues raised, assessment is made of the nature of the major ones, including evaluation of reasons why so many of them remain important issues after so much attention to them. These include long standing problems, several problems more newly flagged as becoming particularly important, the issue of global warming and no less than three related issues connected with fishing and over exploitation. One or two issues such as industrial pollution and sewage, previously considered of almost universal concern, almost traditional pollution issues even, continue to feature strongly for some countries, but while these were almost always referred to in Seas chapters, by and large these categories appear not to be the most pressing of issues today, except in localized areas (albeit areas where huge numbers of people live). Perhaps other issues have simply taken over. They are excluded from this article.     

Forecasting extreme events in the tropical Indian Ocean sector climate

Prospects for forecasting climate variability over the tropical Indian Ocean sector, specifically extreme positive events of the Indian Dipole Mode (IDM), with lead times of a season or more are investigated using the NASA Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Project (NSIPP) coupled-model system. The coupled system presents biases in its climatology over the Indian Ocean sector, which include (i) warmest sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) occurring in the central equatorial basin rather than on the eastside with the eastern (western) tropical SSTs up to 1 °C too cool (warm), (ii) a too northwest lying InterTropical Convergence Zonal over the ocean in boreal fall, (iii) a thermocline shallower (deeper) than observed west of Sumatra-Java (north of Madagascar), (iv) a delay of about a month in the onset (cessation) of the southwest (southeast) monsoon in the west (east) in boreal spring (fall). These biases affect the effectiveness of the SST-clouds-shortwave radiation negative feedback, the sensitivity of SST to wind-stress perturbations, and the character of equatorial coupled ocean-atmosphere modes. Despite these biases, ensemble hindcasts of the SST anomalies averaged over the eastern and western poles of the IDM for the decade 1993–2002, which included extreme positive events in 1994 and 1997/1998, are encouragingly good at 3-months lead. The onset of the 1997/1998-event is delayed by about a month, though the peak and decay are correctly timed. At 6-months lead-time, the forecast at the eastern pole deteriorates with either positive or negative false alarms generated each boreal fall. The forecast at the western pole remains good.