Northern Adriatic phytoplankton response to short Po River discharge pulses during summer stratified conditions

A 275‐km‐long transversel Northern Adriatic profile from the mouth of the Po River (Italian Adriatic coast) to the Kvarner region (Croatian coastal island area) was investigated in three successive case studies in August 2008, 2009 and 2010. The short Po River pulses in August result in the surface advection of riverine water, nutrients and phytoplankton from the western to the eastern side of the Adriatic. This surface spreading exhibits inter‐annual variability depending on the riverine discharge in the preceding period. The Po River discharge pulse in August 2010 in particular resulted in an extraordinary tongue‐like advection of riverine water, nutrients, and phytoplankton towards the Eastern Adriatic coast. The phenomenon was detected using both satellite imagery and classical oceanographic measurements. In the advective water, toxic dinoflagellates were most abundant in August 2010, when the influence of the Po was greatest.     

Numerical modeling of hyperpycnal flows in an idealized river mouth

Numerical experiments in an idealized river mouth are conducted using a three-dimensional hydrodynamics model (EFDC model) to examine the impacts of suspended sediment concentration (SSC), settling velocity of sediment and tidal mixing on the formation and maintenance of estuarine hyperpycnal flows. The standard experiment presents an illustrative view of hyperpycnal flows that carry high-concentrated sediment and low-salinity water in the bottom layer (>1.0 m in thickness) along the subaqueous slope. The structure and intra-tidal variation of the simulated hyperpycnal flows are quite similar to those previously observed off the Huanghe (Yellow River) mouth. Results from the three control experiments show that SSC of river effluents is the most important parameter to the formation of hyperpycnal flows. High SSC will increase the bulk density of river effluents and thus offset the density difference between freshwater and seawater. Low SSC of river effluents will produce a surface river plume, as commonly observed in most large estuaries. Both the settling velocity of sediment particles and the tidal mixing play an important role in maintaining the hyperpycnal flows. Increasing settling velocity enhances the deposition of sediment from the hyperpycnal layer and thus accelerates the attenuation of hyperpycnal flows, whereas increasing tidal mixing destroys the stratification of water column and therefore makes the hyperpycnal flows less evident. Our results from numerical experiments are of importance to understand the initiation and maintenance of hyperpycnal flows in estuaries and provide a reference to the rapidly decaying hyperpycnal flows off the Huanghe river mouth due to climatic and anthropogenic forcing over the past several decades.     

Modeling erosion of sedimentary coasts in the western Russian Arctic

Morphodynamic modeling is employed in the present work to predict the long-term evolution (over the next 100 years) of typical sedimentary coasts in the western Russian Arctic. The studied objects are the coasts of Varandey (the Barents Sea), Baydaratskaya Bay and Harasavey (the Kara Sea). The model developed takes into account both the short-term processes (storm events) and long-term factors (for example, changes in sea level, inter-annual variations in gross sediment flux, lack or excess of sediment supply). Predicted and observed morphological changes in coastal profiles are shown to agree well for time scales ranging from weeks to decades. It is revealed that under given environmental conditions, the morphological evolution is strongly influenced by storm surges and associated wind-driven circulation. The water level gradient created by a surge generates a seaward flow at the bed. This outflow is shown to be an important destructive mechanism contributing to the erosion and recession of Arctic coasts. The rate of change is found to depend on both the exposure of the coast (relative to the direction of dominant winds) and its height above the sea. The open coast of Varandey is expected to retreat as much as 300–500 m over 100 years, while recession of the less exposed coasts of Baydaratskaya Bay would not exceed about 100 m/century. If long-term sediment losses are insignificant, the rate of erosion decays with time and the morphodynamic system may tend toward equilibrium. It is concluded that the expected relative sea-level rise (up to 1 m over the nearest 100 years) is non-crucial to the future coastal evolution if an erosion activity is already high enough.     

菲律宾海热含量分布及其变化的初步探讨

本文利用1986年及1987年秋季在菲律宾以东海域进行的CTD观测资料,分析了该海域上层海水热含量分布及变化,得出,热含量由南向北随纬度逐渐增大,这主要是北赤道流引起的等温线自南向北下倾造成的,另外也与南部和北部的冷涡和暖涡有关。本文认为,两年里热含量的差异可能与1986年生成的El Nin有关。另外,北太平洋赤道流体积输送量的变化与菲律宾海热含量的变化也有一定的联系。     

基于拉格朗日拟序结构的吕宋海峡表层水交换研究

黑潮通过吕宋海峡入侵南海呈现明显的瞬态特征。以往的研究通常将黑潮在吕宋海峡附近的流态分为几种不同类型。本文基于表层地转流计算得到的有限时间李雅普诺夫指数场（FTLE）,展示了拉格朗日视角下的吕宋海峡上层水交换特征。从FTLE场提取的拉格朗日拟序结构（LCSs）很好地识别了吕宋海峡附近的典型流态和旋涡活动。此外,这些LCSs还揭示了吕宋海峡周围复杂的输运路径和流体域,这些特征得到了卫星跟踪浮标轨迹的验证,且从流速场中是无法直接识别的。FTLE场显示,吕宋海峡附近表层水体的输运形态主要可分为四类。其中,黑潮直接向北流动的“跨越”形态和顺时针旋转的“流套”形态的发生频次明显高于直接进入南海的黑潮分支“渗入”形态和南海水流出至太平洋的“外流”形态。本文还进一步分析了黑潮在吕宋海峡处的涡旋脱落事件,突出强调了LCSs在评估涡旋输运方面的重要性。反气旋涡旋的脱落个例表明,这些涡旋主要源自黑潮“流套”,涡旋脱落之前可有效地俘获黑潮水。LCS所指示的输运通道信息有助于预测最终被反气旋涡所挟卷水体在上游的位置。而在气旋涡的形成过程中,LCS的分布特征表明,大部分气旋涡并未与黑潮水的输运路径相连通。因此,气旋涡对从太平洋到南海的上层水交换的贡献较小。     

人工砾石海滩变化及输移率研究

在我国采用砾石海滩在某些强动力区域进行海滩养护是一种新的尝试,具有很好的适用性。以厦门天泉湾人工砾石滩为研究对象,对2015年至2016年间10条海滩剖面开展了5次周期性监测,通过综合分析,得出在人工砾石滩竣工完成后的一年时间内,滩肩外沿线、岸线及滩面底角的砂砾分界线大幅度后退,滩肩宽度变窄;滩肩外沿线明显隆起,形成滩肩脊线;滩面坡度变大,且上游侧海滩的滩面普遍比下游侧海滩的滩面陡,一年后,岸滩整体变化趋于稳定。针对砾石滩不断向西南方向运移的现状,采用Leo C.van Rijn输移率公式计算砾石滩年平均输移率,并通过测量断面法、体积变化量法对Leo C.van Rijn公式计算结果进行验证,得出砾石滩年平均输移率的范围约为1 015.66~2 392.5 m~3/a。     

Variations of Kuroshio geostrophic transport south of Japan estimated from long-term IES observations

Two inverted echo sounders were maintained on coastal and offshore sides of the Kuroshio south of Japan from October 1993 to July 2004. Applying the gravest empirical mode method, we obtained a time series of geostrophic transport. Estimated transports generally agree well with geostrophic transports estimated from hydrography. Their agreement with the hydrographic transports is better than that of transports estimated from satellite altimetry data. The geostrophic transport is expressed as the surface transport per unit depth multiplied by the equivalent depth. The geostrophic transport varies mostly with the surface transport and fractionally with the equivalent depth. Seasonal variation of the geostrophic transport has a minimum in March and a maximum in September, with a range of about one fifth of the total transport.     

Coherent spectroscopy of a strongly driven triple quantum dot molecule

Based on a calculation model, we study the interference phenomena of serially coupled V-type and Λ-type triple quantum dots (CTQDs) driven simultaneously by a strong driving field and a weak probe field. Strongly depending on the configuration of the three-level CTQD, the probe absorption spectra, which are shown in the tunneling current, exhibit various quantum coherence properties. In the case where the two pairs of transitions of the CTQD have a small eigenfrequency difference Δω, the double-coupling effect of the driving field results in two Autler-Townes doublets and one weak Mollow triplet in one spectrum. With the value of Δω increasing, only one Autler-Townes splitting remains due to the single-coupling of the field. We also find that the effect of spontaneous emission of phonons may lead to an obvious background current, which can be used to distinguish which transition is driven by the driving field in experiment. The interesting quantum property of a CTQD revealed in our results suggests its potential applications in quantum modulators and quantum logic devices.     

Multi-sourced depositional sequences in the Neogene to Quaternary succession of the Venice area (northern Italy)

The Plio-Pleistocene succession of the Venice area represents part of the infill of a foreland region located between three mountain chains: the Northern Apennines, the Southern Alps and the Dinarides. This structural setting favored the development of a complex stratigraphic architecture of the succession, mostly due to the conveying of sediments from the Southern Alps to the north and the Northern Apennines to the south, in particular since the activation of strong subsidence related to the NE-ward migration of the Apennine foredeep in the early Pleistocene. Accordingly, the studied succession is composed of five third-order sequences mostly controlled by tectonics, the most recent of which display complex patterns due to the interfingering of sedimentary bodies showing contrasting directions of progradation and pinch-out. Despite this, the sequence stratigraphic method still can be applied in the present context, allowing to recognize diagnostic stratal architectures and reconstruct the relative sea-level history of the region. Moreover, the recognized peculiar stratigraphic architecture of the basin fill may serve as an analogue that needs to be taken into account to predict the distribution of porous coarse-grained sedimentary units in similar contexts, aiding for a profitable exploration and production of reservoirs and source/sealing rocks.     

A Note on the Flux-Variance Similarity Relationships for Heat and Water Vapour in the Unstable Atmospheric Surface Layer

Atmospheric surface layer (ASL) experiments over the past 10 years demonstrate that the flux-variance similarity functions for water vapour are consistently larger in magnitude than their temperature counterpart. In addition, latent heat flux calculations using the flux-variance method do not compare as favorably to eddy- correlation measurements when compared to their sensible heat counterpart. These two findings, in concert with measured heat to water vapour transport efficiencies in excess of unity, are commonly used as evidence of dissimilarity between heat and water vapour transport in the unstable atmospheric surface layer. In this note, it is demonstrated that even if near equality in flux-profile similarity functions for heat and water vapour is satisfied, the flux-variance similarity functions for water vapour are larger in magnitude than temperature for a planar, homogeneous, unstably-stratified turbulent boundary-layer flow.