An Application of Direct Ritz Method for Random Seismic Responses of Jacket Platforms

1 .IntroductionNowadays tremendous efforts have been devotedtothe analysis of randomseismic responses .Forexample ,American PetroleumInstitute (API) has declared that the analysis of randomseismic re-sponsesis a useful tool for safety inspection. Owing to the complexity of platformand randomness ofload,it is difficult to carry out the randomresponse analysis of a jacket platform. The conventionalrandomvibration methods ,such as square root of the sumof squares (SRSS) and complete quadratic…     

底部浮泥表层推移速度分布的ADCP—GPS估测方法

ADCP对底跟踪走航观测的流速数据中包含水体底部浮泥、底沙运动信息,对比GPS定位方法算出的水体流速数据可以分离出浮泥相对于GPS定位的运动信号,从而达到对底质推移观测的目的。     

Hydrocarbon Potential of Pre-cenozoic Strata in the North Yellow Sea Basin

The North Yellow Sea Basin ( NYSB ), which was developed on the basement of North China (Huabei) continental block, is a typical continental Mesozoic Cenozoic sedimentary basin in the sea area. Its Mesozoic basin is a residual basin, below which there is probably a larger Paleozoic sedimentary basin. The North Yellow Sea Basin comprises four sags and three uplifts. Of them, the eastern sag is a Mesozoic Cenozoic sedimentary sag in NYSB and has the biggest sediment thickness; the current Korean drilling wells are concentrated in the eastern sag. This sag is comparatively rich in oil and gas resources and thus has a relatively good petroleum prospect in the sea. The central sag has also accommodated thick Mesozoic-Cenozoic sediments. The latest research results show that there are three series of hydrocarbon source rocks in the North Yellow Sea Basin, namely, black shales of the Paleogene, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The principal hydrocarbon source rocks in NYSB are the Mesozoic black shale. According to the drilling data of Korea, the black shales of the Paleogene, Jurassic and Cretaceous have all come up to the standards of good and mature source rocks. The NYSB owns an intact system of oil generation, reservoir and capping rocks that can help hydrocarbon to form in the basin and thus it has the great potential of oil and gas. The vertical distribution of the hydrocarbon resources is mainly considered to be in the Cretaceous and then in the Jurassic.     

Seasonal dynamics in pelagic fish abundance in a Baltic Sea coastal area

The spring-spawning Baltic Sea herring spawn in coastal areas that also serve as nursery areas for the young fish during their first summer. In a bay known as a herring spawning and nursery area, the pelagic fish abundance was quantified using hydroacoustics every second week from late spring to autumn in 2000 and 2001. A dense system of survey transects allowed determination of the acoustic index (the nautical area scattering coefficient) for fish abundance with high precision. The variation, expressed as the geostatistical coefficient of variation, was on average 5% both years and ranged from 3–11% (2000) and 3–8% (2001). Through the hydroacoustic data intra-annual dynamics in acoustic fish abundance, densities and size composition could be followed, which showed similar trends in both years. In spring and early summer acoustic fish densities were low, followed by a drastic, 20-fold increase in late summer. Hydroacoustic data and biological samples suggest that the increase was caused mainly by the recruitment of young-of-the-year herring to the acoustically assessable pelagic fish community. This age class is commonly not well represented in catches when using traditional sampling gears such as gill nets and trawls, and hydroacoustics may help to improve quantitative estimates of small juvenile fish in order to increase the understanding of biological processes in coastal nursery areas.     

Jellyfish patch formation investigated by aerial photography and drifter experiment

Jellyfish patch formation is investigated by conducting a drifter experiment combined with aerial photography of a sustained patch of the moon jellyfish in Hokezu Bay, Japan. Jellyfish patches are aggregations of individuals that are caused by a combination of swimming (active influence) and advection by currents (passive influence). The drifter experiment involved the injection of 49 drifters around a distinct surface patch of jellyfish within an area of approximately 300 m × 300 m. The drifters’ motion, caused only by the passive influence, was recorded in a series of 38 aerial photographs taken over approximately 1 h. The ambient uniform current field larger than the patch scale was estimated from the movement of the centroid position of drifters, while the distribution of horizontal divergence and relative vorticity around the patch was estimated from the time-derivative in areas of triangles formed by the drifters. The centroid positions of both drifters and patches moved stably toward the bay head at different speeds. The difference vector between the patch and drifter centroids was directed to the sun, and was opposite to the ambient current. The distributions of vorticity and divergence around patches exhibited inhomogeneity within the patch scale, and the drifters in this nonuniform current field aggregated near the convergence area within 1 h. The results suggest that horizontal patch formation is predominantly influenced by passive factors at the surface of Hokezu Bay. Furthermore, the upward swimming against downwelling may make sustained patch in surface layer.     

Relationship between the seismicity and geologic structure of the Blanco Transform Fault Zone

Morphologic studies of an oceanic transform, the Blanco Transform Fault Zone (BTFZ), have shown it to consist of a series of extensional basins that offset the major strike-slip faults. The largest of the extensional basins, the Cascadia Depression, effectively divides the transform into a northwest segment, composed of several relatively short strike-slip faults, and a southeast segment dominated by fewer, longer faults. The regional seismicity distribution (m _b 4.0) and frequency-magnitude relationships (b-values) of the BTFZ show that the largest magnitude events are located on the southeast segment. Furthermore, estimates of the cumulative seismic moment release and seismic moment release rate along the southeast segment are significantly greater than that of the northwest segment. These observations suggest that slip along the southeast segment is accommodated by a greater number of large magnitude earthquakes. Comparison of the seismic moment rate, derived from empirical estimates, with the seismic moment rate determined from plate motion constraints suggests a difference in the seismic coupling strength between the segments. This difference in coupling may partially explain the disparity in earthquake size distribution. However, the results appear to confirm the relation between earthquake size and fault length, observed along continental strike-slip faults, for this oceanic transform.     

Use of Continuous Plankton Recorder information in support of marine management: applications in fisheries, environmental protection, and in the study of ecosystem response to environmental change

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey was conceived from the outset as a programme of applied research designed to assist the fishing industry. Its survival and continuing vigour after 70 years is a testament to its utility, which has been achieved in spite of great changes in our understanding of the marine environment and in our concerns over how to manage it. The CPR has been superseded in several respects by other technologies, such as acoustics and remote sensing, but it continues to provide unrivalled seasonal and geographic information about a wide range of zooplankton and phytoplankton taxa. The value of this coverage increases with time and provides the basis for placing recent observations into the context of long-term, large-scale variability and thus suggesting what the causes are likely to be. Information from the CPR is used extensively in judging environmental impacts and producing quality status reports (QSR); it has shown the distributions of fish stocks, which had not previously been exploited; it has pointed to the extent of ungrazed phytoplankton production in the North Atlantic, which was a vital element in establishing the importance of carbon sequestration by phytoplankton.The CPR continues to be the principal source of large-scale, long-term information about the plankton ecosystem of the North Atlantic. It has recently provided extensive information about the biodiversity of the plankton and about the distribution of introduced species. It serves as a valuable example for the design of future monitoring of the marine environment and it has been essential to the design and implementation of most North Atlantic plankton research.     

Relationship between Shot-Induced Noise and Shot Interval in Seismic Refraction Experiments at Sea

Seismic noise induced by the seismic source during continuous profiling reduces the signal-to-noise ratio and hence the data quality. This noise is largely dependent on the shot interval. In this paper, the noise amplitude of refraction seismic records from a special experiment is analysed as a function of the shot interval. An empirical exponential relationship between mean peak noise amplitude and shot interval is deduced. By increasing the shot interval, the induced noise can be minimized on all successive records. This results in an improvement of the data, predominantly the signal-to-noise ratio. Because the seismic signal and the shot-induced noise have nearly the same spectra, the chance of improving the signal-to-noise ratio by stacking is significantly reduced.