Econometric analysis of the ship demolition market

The topic of ship recycling has obtained considerable attention during the last two decades for a variety of reasons with the likelihood of the adoption of a new international convention under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This study applies econometric modeling to a unique data set to provide insight into the dynamics of the ship recycling market. The data set contains information on 51,112 ships over 100 gt and includes 748,621 events over a period of 29 years. The analysis confirms a negative relationship of earnings and a positive relationship of scrap prices for all locations while Bangladesh seems to be more sensitive to changes in earnings than the other locations and more likely demolishes larger and older vessels. The results for flag and ownership vary across scrapping locations with Malta and Cyprus indicating potential importance from a registry perspective. The overall safety profile of a vessel seems to be less important towards the probability of a ship being scrapped. Possible implementation of the convention at EU level will mostly likely affect Turkey while non-ratification of one of the major flags will most likely affect China or Bangladesh.     

44 years hindcast of sea level in the Atlantic Coast of Europe

The sea level of Northeast Atlantic Ocean is calculated for the period between 1958 and 2001 using a state-of-the-art barotropic model with a grid size of 10′ × 15′ (long × lat). The model includes astronomic effects, considering seven components of the tide, and the meteorological effects of wind and atmospheric pressure, allowing obtaining the astronomic tide, the atmospheric residuals and the non-linear addition of both components of sea level.     

Review of recent findings on the water masses and circulation in the East Sea (Sea of Japan)

Recent findings on water masses, biogeochemical tracers, deep currents and basin-scale circulation in the East/Japan Sea, and numerical modeling of its circulation are reviewed. Warming continues up to 2007 despite an episode of bottom water formation in the winter of 2000–2001. Water masses have definitely changed since the 1970s and further changes are expected due to the continuation of warming. Accumulation of current data in deep waters of the East/Japan Sea reveals that the circulation in the East/Japan Sea is primarily cyclonic with sub-basin scale cyclonic and anticyclonic cells in the Ulleung Basin (Tsushima Basin). Our understanding of the circulation of intermediate water masses has been deepened through high-resolution numerical studies, and the implementation of data assimilation has had initial success. However, the East/Japan Sea is unique in terms of the fine vertical structures of physical and biogeochemical properties of cold water mass measured at the highest precision and their rapid change with the global warming, so that full understanding of the structures and their change requires in-depth process studies with continuous monitoring programs.     

Reflected and transmitted waves in a channel with side porous mattresses

The problem of wave propagation and wave damping in a channel with side porous mattresses of arbitrary shape protruding from the walls is studied. The solution was achieved by applying 3-D boundary element method and was employed to study wave field in the channel and to analyze the effect of the geometry of the mattresses and physical and hydraulic properties of porous material on wave damping. The results show that wave damping in the channel strongly depends on wave parameters, especially, on the wave number. Wave reflection and transmission decrease with increasing the wave number. The results also show that the wave field in the channel strongly depends on the geometry of the mattresses as well as on physical and hydraulic properties of porous material used to build these wave dampers. The geometry of the mattresses and physical and hydraulic properties of porous material have a moderate effect on wave reflection and a significant effect on wave transmission. The results show that wave transmission down the channel decreases with increasing the length and thickness of the mattresses. Moreover, wave transmission decreases with increasing the porosity and damping properties of porous media used to build the mattresses. The analysis shows that porous mattresses protruding from the channel walls are very efficient in damping water waves propagating down the channel and may be built in channels to reduce high waves and achieve desired wave conditions. Theoretical results are in reasonable agreement with experimental data.     

SELFE: A semi-implicit Eulerian–Lagrangian finite-element model for cross-scale ocean circulation

Unstructured-grid models grounded on semi-implicit, finite-volume, Eulerian–Lagrangian algorithms, such as UnTRIM and ELCIRC, have enjoyed considerable success recently in simulating 3D estuarine and coastal circulation. However, opportunities for improving the accuracy of this type of models were identified during extensive simulations of a tightly coupled estuary–plume–shelf system in the Columbia River system. Efforts to improve numerical accuracy resulted in SELFE, a new finite-element model for cross-scale ocean modeling. SELFE retains key benefits, including computational efficiency of existing semi-implicit Eulerian–Lagrangian finite-volume models, but relaxes restrictions on grids, uses higher-order shape functions for elevation, and enables superior flexibility in representing the bathymetry. Better representation of the bathymetry is enabled by a novel, “localized” vertical grid that resembles unstructured grids. At a particular horizontal location, SELFE uses either S coordinates or SZ coordinates, but the equations are consistently solved in Z space. SELFE also performs well relative to volume conservation and spurious oscillations, two problems that plague some finite-element models. This paper introduces SELFE as an open-source code available for community use and enhancement. The main focus here is on describing the formulation of the model and on showing results for a range of progressively demanding benchmark tests. While leaving details to separate publications, we also briefly illustrate the superior performance of SELFE over ELCIRC in a field application to the Columbia River estuary and plume.     

Approach to modeling and virtual-reality-based simulation for plant canopy lighting

Over the past 20 years, significant progress has been made in virtual plant modeling corresponding to the rapid advances in information technology. Virtual plant research has broad applications in agronomy, forestry, ecology and remote sensing. As many biological processes are driven by light, it is the key for virtual plant to estimate the light absorbed by each organ. This paper presents the radiance equation suitable for calculating sun and sky light intercepted by plant organs based on the principles of the interaction between light and plant canopy firstly; analyzes the process principles of plant canopy primary lighting based on ray casting and projection secondly; describes the multiple scattering of plant lighting based on Monte Carlo ray tracing method and on the radiosity method thirdly; and confirms the research with 3D visualization based on Virtual Reality Modeling Language （VRML） finally. The research is the primary work of digital agriculture, and important for monitoring and estimating corn growth in Northeast China.     

Results of recent Pacific-Arctic ice-ocean modeling studies at the Naval Postgraduate School

Summary of results from a high - resolution pan - Arctic ice - ocean model are presented for the northern North Pacific, Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas. The main focus is on the mean circulation, communication from the Gulf of Alaska across the Bering Sea into the western Arctic Ocean and on mesoscale eddy activity within several important ecosystems. Model results from 1979 -2004 are compared to observations whenever possible. The high spatial model resolution at 1/12o （or -9 - km） in the horizontal and 45 levels in the vertical direction allows for representation of eddies with diameters as small as 36 km. However, we believe that upcoming new model integrations at even higher resolution will allow us to resolve even smaller eddies. This is especially important at the highest latitudes where the Rossby radius of deformation is as small as 10 km or less.     

Modeling Arctic Ocean heat transport and warming episodes in the 20th century caused by the intruding Atlantic Water

This study investigates the Arctic Ocean warming episodes in the 20th century using both a high-resolution coupled global climate model and historical observations. The model, with no flux adjustment, reproduces well the Atlantic Water core temperature （AWCT） in the Arctic Ocean and shows that four largest decadalscale warming episodes occurred in the 1930s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, in agreement with the hydrographic observational data. The difference is that there was no pre-warming prior to the 1930s episode, while there were two pre-warming episodes in the 1970s and 80s prior to the 1990s, leading the 1990s into the largest and prolonged warming in the 20th century. Over the last century, the simulated heat transport via Fram Strait and the Barents Sea was estimated to be, on average, 31.32 TW and 14.82 TW, respectively, while the Bering Strait also provides 15.94 TW heat into the west- ern Arctic Ocean. Heat transport into the Arctic Ocean by the Atlantic Water via Fram Strait and the Barents Sea correlates significantly with AWCT （ C = 0.75 ） at 0- lag. The modeled North Atlantic Oscillation （NAO） index has a significant correlation with the heat transport （ C = 0.37 ）. The observed AWCT has a significant correlation with both the modeled AWCT （ C =0.49） and the heat transport （ C =0.41 ）. However, the modeled NAO index does not significantly correlate with either the observed AWCT （ C = 0.03 ） or modeled AWCT （ C = 0.16 ） at a zero-lag, indicating that the Arctic climate system is far more complex than expected.     

一种基于GTP的复杂地质体真3维

在总结分析现有复杂断层及倒转褶皱3维建模方法的基础上,提出一种基于广义三棱柱（GTP）的3维交互建模方法（岩柱体分区RPBP建模法）。文中定义了岩柱体、界限三角形两个重要概念,RPBP法可以通过构建断层界限三角形,将复杂断层系转化为多个简单断层系,然后采用构建简单断层系模型的方法来实现复杂断层系的3维建模;而对于倒转褶皱,RPBP法则通过构建褶皱轴界限三角形避免数据局部重复和冲突,使GTP建模过程得以顺利进行。实验表明,该方法能便捷可靠地实现含多断层相互切割、倒转褶皱等复杂地质体的真3维建模。