Wave effect on the ocean circulations through mass transport and wave-induced pumping

The wave Coriolis-Stokes-Force-modified ocean momentum equations are reviewed in this paper and the wave Stokes transport is pointed out to be part of the ocean circulations. Using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-year reanalysis data (ERA-40 data) and the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) version 2.2.4 data, the magnitude of this transport is compared with that of wind-driven Sverdrup transport and a 5-to-10-precent contribution by the wave Stokes transport is found. Both transports are stronger in boreal winter than in summers. The wave effect can be either contribution or cancellation in different seasons. Examination with Kuroshio transport verifies similar seasonal variations. The clarification of the efficient wave boundary condition helps to understand the role of waves in mass transport. It acts as surface wind stress and can be functional down to the bottom of the ageostrophic layer. The pumping velocities resulting from wave-induced stress are zonally distributed and are significant in relatively high latitudes. Further work will focus on the model performance of the wave-stress-changed-boundary and the role of swells in the eastern part of the oceans.     

海岸裂流的研究进展及其展望

近岸裂流是海岸工程和海岸演变中非常重要的动力因素,对污染物排放和游泳者安全有很重要的意义。详细回顾了国内外对海岸裂流方面的研究与进展,具体包括对裂流的实验室实验和现场观测测量技术、理论分析、裂流的形成机理以及数值模拟等方面,概述了该领域的研究现状与发展趋势。总结了已有研究存在的不足,提出了需要进一步研究的课题。     

Dynamics of the Leeuwin Current: Part 2. Impacts of mixing,friction, and advection on a buoyancy-driven eastern boundary current over a shelf

The boundary currents over the Western Australian continental shelf and slope consist of the poleward flowing Leeuwin Current (LC) and the equatorward flowing Leeuwin Undercurrent (LUC). Key properties of the LC are its poleward strengthening, deepening to the south, and shelfbreak intensification. The alongshore flow reverses direction below about 300 m, forming the LUC at greater depths. To investigate the processes that cause these features, we obtain solutions to an idealized, regional ocean model of the South Indian Ocean. Solutions are forced by relaxing surface density to a prescribed, meridionally varying density profile ρ^*(y) with a timescale of δt. In addition, vertical diffusion is intensified near the ocean surface. This diffusion establishes the minimum thickness over which density is well-mixed. We define this thickness as the “upper layer”. Solutions are obtained with and without a continental shelf and slope off Western Australia and for a range of values of δt and mixing parameters. Within this upper layer, there is a meridional density gradient that balances a near-surface, eastward geostrophic flow. The eastward current downwells near the eastern boundary, leading to westward flow at depth. The upper layer's meridional structure and zonal currents crucially depend on coastal processes, including the presence of topography near the eastern boundary. Kelvin waves inhibit the upper layer from deepening at the coast. Rossby waves propagate the coastal density structure offshore, hence modifying the interior currents. A comparison of the solutions with or without a continental shelf and slope demonstrate that topographic trapping of Rossby waves is a necessary process for maintaining realistic eastern boundary current speeds. Significant poleward speeds occur only onshore of where the upper layer intersects the slope, that is, at a grounding line. Its poleward transport increases when surface-enhanced vertical mixing is applied over a greater depth. When the timescale δt is sufficiently short, the poleward current is nearly barotropic. The current's spatial structure over the shelf is controlled by horizontal mixing, having the structure of a Munk layer. Increasing vertical diffusion deepens the upper layer thickness and strengthens the alongshore current speed. Bottom drag leads to an offshore flow along the bottom, reducing the net onshore transport and weakening the current's poleward acceleration. When δt is long, poleward advection of buoyancy forms a density front near the shelf break, intensifying poleward speeds near the surface. With bottom drag, a bottom Ekman flow advects density offshore, shifting the jet core offshore of the shelf break. The resulting cross-shelf density gradient reverses the meridional current's direction at depth, leading to an equatorward undercurrent.     

Advances in Numerical Modeling of Astrophysical and Space Plasmas

Advances in the simulation of astrophysical and cosmic plasmas are the direct result of advances in computational capabilities, today consisting of new techniques such as multilevel concurrent simulation, multi-teraflop computational platforms and experimental facilities for producing and diagnosing plasmas under extreme conditions for the benchmarking of simulations. Examples of these are the treatment of mesoscalic plasma and the scaling to astrophysical and cosmic dimensions and the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative whose goal is to construct petaflop (10¹⁵ floating operations per second) computers, and pulsed power and laser inertial confinement plasmas where megajoules of energy are delivered to highly-diagnosed plasmas. This paper concentrates on the achievements to date in simulating and experimentally producing plasmas scaled to both astrophysical and cosmic plasma dimensions. A previous paper (Part I, Peratt, 1997) outlines the algorithms and computational growth.     

印度河扇水道堤岸外侧更新世沉积物波发育特征与形成过程分析*

印度河扇更新世发育的沉积物波结构复杂、形态多样,其形成过程的认识程度低。本次研究通过高分辨率地震数据和地震解释技术,研究了印度河扇沉积物波的波长、形态、波峰变化等形态特征;阐述了沉积物波与沉积物变形特征的差异、识别了两者的区分标志;总结了水道堤岸斜坡和区域斜坡上沉积物波的分布规律;在此基础上,讨论了沉积物波的形成机理和控制因素,分析了沉积物波的形成过程,并建立了印度河扇沉积物波的形成模式。研究表明: (1)研究区沉积物波波长平均为486.84 m,最大1473 m;波高在10~60 m之间,平均30 m。(2)沉积物波的形态有对称型和非对称型,其迁移方式有上坡迁移型、加积型和下坡迁移型;沉积物波主要发育在水道堤岸的斜坡上,在区域斜坡上也发育少量的沉积物波,这2种沉积物波波脊的走向差异很大,水道堤岸斜坡上的沉积物波主要分布于水道凹岸堤岸的外侧,距离水道越远其规模(波长、波高)越小,波脊走向近于NE-SW方向,与水道的走向平行或斜交;区域斜坡上的沉积物波波脊的走向多为NW-SE向,平行于区域斜坡的走向,离源区越远规模越大。(3)水道堤岸斜坡上的沉积物波是由水道型浊流在离心力的作用下,溢出水道的凹岸,在堤岸外侧的斜坡上沉积形成的,堤岸斜坡的角度对沉积物波的发育规模影响不大,浊流的强度和输沙量对其规模影响大;区域斜坡上发育的沉积物波是由顺坡而下的非水道化的浊流沉积形成;滑塌变形造成的起伏地貌以及早期沉积物波的存在,也都影响了后期沉积物波的发育。     

平直沙坝海岸叠加波浪的裂流试验

为研究叠加波浪场的裂流特征,在平直沙坝海岸地形进行了叠加波浪形成的沿岸波高周期性变化的裂流试验研究。试验中叠加波浪是由波浪在垂直岸线的丁坝反射所形成的两列交叉波浪叠加产生,交叉波浪是具有等频率但入射角相反的两波列。通过对叠加波浪节腹点垂直岸线位置浪高的测量和沙坝范围内沿岸布置的声学多普勒测速仪流速测量结果来分析沙坝海岸丁坝反射波形成的裂流特性,讨论了波浪节腹点对裂流位置和裂流空间尺度的影响。对不同周期情况在x=5 m沙坝顶处的速度剖面对比,分析了不同周期对裂流的影响。     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000905

Although there has been significant progress in the seismic imaging of mantle heterogeneity,the outstanding issue that remains to be resolved is the unknown distribution of mantle temperature anomalies in the distant geological past that give rise to the present-day anomalies inferred by global tomography models.To address this question,we present 3-D convection models in compressible and self-gravitating mantle initialised by different hypothetical temperature patterns.A notable feature of our forward convection modelling is the use of self-consistent coupling of the motion of surface tectonic plates to the underlying mantle flow,without imposing prescribed surface velocities(i.e.,plate-like boundary condition).As an approximation for the surface mechanical conditions before plate tectonics began to operate we employ the no-slip(rigid) boundary condition.A rigid boundary condition demonstrates that the initial thermally-dominated structure is preserved,and its geographical location is fixed during the evolution of mantle flow.Considering the impact of different assumed surface boundary conditions(rigid and plate-like) on the evolution of thermal heterogeneity in the mantle we suggest that the intrinsic buoyancy of seven superplumes is most-likely resolved in the tomographic images of present-day mantle thermal structure.Our convection simulations with a plate-like boundary condition reveal that the evolution of an initial cold anomaly beneath the Java-Indonesian trench system yields a long-term,stable pattern of thermal heterogeneity in the lowermost mantle that resembles the presentday Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces(LLSVPs),especially below the Pacific.The evolution of subduction zones may be,however,influenced by the mantle-wide flow driven by deeply-rooted and longlived superplumes since Archean times.These convection models also detect the intrinsic buoyancy of the Perm Anomaly that has been identified as a unique slow feature distinct from the two principal LLSVPs.We find there is no need for dense chemical ’piles’ in the lower mantle to generate a stable distribution of temperature anomalies that are correlated to the LLSVPs and the Perm Anomaly.Our tomography-based convection simulations also demonstrate that intraplate volcanism in the south-east Pacific may be interpreted in terms of shallow small-scale convection triggered by a superplume beneath the East Pacific Rise.     

Interplay between an axial channel belt,slope gullies and overbank deposition in the Puchkirchen Formation in the Molasse Basin,Austria

Deep‐water sediments in the Molasse Basin, Austria, were deposited in a narrow foreland basin dominated by a large channel belt located between the steep Alpine fold and thrust belt to the south and the gentler northern slope off the Bohemian Massif. Several gas fields occur outside the channel belt, along the outer bend of a large meander. Accumulation of these overbank sediments reflects a complicated interplay between slope accommodation and debris‐flow and turbidity‐flow interaction within the channel. The tectonically oversteepened northern slope of the basin (ca 2 to 3°) developed a regionally important erosional surface, the Northern Slope Unconformity, which can be traced seismically for >100 km in an east–west direction and >20 km from the channel to the north. The slope preserves numerous gullies sourced from the north that eroded into the channel belt. These gullies were ca 20 km long, <1 km wide and ca 200 m deep. As the channel aggraded, largely inactive and empty gullies served as entry points into the overbank area for turbidity currents within the axial channel. Subsequently, debris‐flow mounds, 7 km wide and >15 km long, plugged and forced the main channel to step abruptly ca 7 km to the south. This resulted in development of an abrupt turn in the channel pathway that propagated to the east and probably played a role in forming a sinuous channel later. As debris‐flow topography was healed, flows spread out onto narrow area between the main channel and northern slope forming a broad fine‐grained apron that serves as the main gas reservoir in this area. This model of the overbank splay formation and the resulting stratigraphic architecture within the confined basin could be applied in modern and ancient systems or for subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs where three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection data is limited. This study elucidates the geomorphology of the oversteepened slope of the under‐riding plate and its effects on the sedimentation.     

The role of current velocity in structuring eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows

Measurements of velocity profiles, bathymetry, and surface sediment characteristics across eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadows yielded information on community development processes and functional attributes of this ecosystem. Height/length ratios of the meadows were positively correlated with tidal current velocity. Low, medium, and high current regimes were separated by surface current velocities of approximately 50 and 90 cm s^?1. Z. marina can tolerate approximately 120–150 cm/sec current velocities in the areas studied. Per cent silt-clay and organic matter content of the surface sediments are negatively associated with shear velocity, suggesting that meadows in high current areas are sources while meadows in low current areas are sinks of autochthonous detritus. Current velocity maintains seagrass meadows at different equilibrium levels (relative climaxes). We theorize these different equilibrium levels provide unequal habitat utilization potentials for the associated faunal community.