Widespread rocky reef occurrence in the central English Channel and the implications for predictive habitat mapping

Reefs are one of the marine habitats listed in Annex I of the European Union's Habitats Directive, which aims to establish a coherent European ecological network of Special Areas of Conservation. EU Member States are required to prepare and propose a national list of sites for evaluation under the scheme, but currently the occurrence of reefs in the United Kingdom's nearshore and offshore areas is not well documented. Here we report on our search for rocky reefs in the central English Channel, which unexpectedly revealed an extensive reef system covering an area of 1100 km². Prior to our work, it was generally perceived that the seabed in this area comprised mostly gravel, with a few isolated rock outcrops.Our approach to determining the location, extent and character of these reefs incorporated broad, medium and fine-scale analyses over a 3200 km² area of seabed, using single- and multi-beam acoustic data, ground-truthed by underwater video and stills imagery. A benthic terrain model was developed in ArcGIS to map topographic features at the broad and medium scales. Biotope assignments were made at the fine scale through detailed analysis of video footage obtained from 30 sampling stations. The study area has a complex geological history and lies at the centre of a major bedload-parting zone. Together, these strongly influence the seabed character and the distribution of biotopes. An integrated assessment of the physical and biological features was used to map the study area to level 4 of the EUNIS habitat classification system.Similar physical conditions exist in other areas of the UK continental shelf, raising the prospect of predicting where other rocky reef systems might occur. In the absence of a co-ordinated national seabed survey programme, such predictions, coupled with interpretation of existing single-beam bathymetry data, can help prioritise areas where limited survey resources could be most effectively deployed.     

海底沉积物声速实验室测量结果校正研究

海底沉积物实验室测量状态与海底原状态存在较大差异,因此有必要进行声速校正.基于研究海底浅表层沉积物采样样品的原状态与实验室环境的差异,提出运用Hamilton声速校正模型对实验室测量沉积物声速数据进行校正,实现表层沉积物标准测量环境(23℃,1个大气压)下的声速校正到海底原状态;设计了温度变化实验测试南海海底沉积物的声速比变化,验证了Hamilton模型的可行性并将其推广到室温状态下各个温度的校正;分析了Hamilton声速校正模型应用于海底浅表层沉积物声速校正的可行性.     

利用高分辨率地球影像研究全球洋壳活断层分布

利用谷歌三维地图勾绘出全球海底现今主要断层构造带的分布图,为观察海洋地壳运动与演化过程提供新的方法和视角,对海底活断层的分布和演化机理、海底扩张、地幔对流等方面的深入研究和探索具有重要意义。     

海底地震监测网络发展现状

近年来随着地面与空间的遥测遥感通信技术,特别是随之衍生而来的海底光纤电缆技术的发展,海洋学者可以从海底回头向上观测整个海洋世界,对深入海底做近距离和全天候监测海洋信息变为可能。近年来许多国家正在逐步策划和建设以海啸减灾为目的,以海底电缆为主轴、海底地震监测为核心内容的海底观测网络。本文分别针对美国、加拿大、欧洲、日本以及中国多种典型海底观测网的主要观测技术进行分析,提出发展中国海底地震监测网络的建议。     

多波束海底声像图的形成及应用研究

在探讨多波束海底声像图形成原理基础上,重点研究多个扇面、多个条带的反向散射强度数据拼接、镶嵌方法,将海底反向散射强度值向图像灰度值转换,最后形成海底声像图,为海底地貌解译、海底目标物探测以及海底底质类型划分提供判读依据。     

南海北部陆坡海洋沉积物稀土元素及物源和成岩环境

通过对0DP184航次1146站位海底岩心沉积物中稀土元素含量及其配分模式的研究,确立了其分配规律,即相对富集轻稀土,Eu亏损等,并且与东海大陆架及中国黄土的稀土分布模式相似,表明本区沉积物物源主要来自陆源,是大陆岩石分化过程的产物。对富集因子的研究也证明了沉积物主要来自陆源。δCe的弱负异常值与∑REE和δEu值一样,主要受陆源源区气候环境变化控制,而与海水关系不大。稀土元素与生物作用基本无关,可能主要是赋存于陆源碎屑矿物的晶格中。通过对岩心沉积物间隙水成分的研究,表明成岩环境主要为还原环境。68m(mcd)以上主要为硫酸盐的还原作用,68m以下主要为甲烷的生物生成作用。     

海上警戒浮标实时监控系统

为有效保护近海海底观测网观测安全,免受渔船拖网和抛锚等损坏的问题,设计了一套多警戒浮标(直径2.4~3.0 m)的实时监控系统,该警戒浮标可获取浮标本身工作状态,并能实时、动态、连续的将警戒浮标的运行状态发送到陆基岸站,实现对保护目标海域的实时监控,同时该浮标系统可进行扩充实现对海洋环境要素的观测。警戒浮标布设采用正多边形(三角形、正方形和正五边形等)预警保护方式,浮标以保护节点为中心等距布放,组网形成有效的海上保护围栏,保障海底观测系统的安全运行;供电系统采用太阳能电池和蓄电池组合供能方式,可保证在连续阴天的情况下警戒浮标系统运行100天。该警戒浮标技术已在东海海底观测网保护中成功示范运行6个月,该技术可为近海海底观测保护提供有效技术保障。     

Helium, neon and argon isotope compositions of fluid inclusions in massive sulfides from the Jade hydrothermal field, the Okinawa Trough

Helium, neon and argon isotope compositions of fluid inclusions have been measured in massive sulfide samples from the Jade hydrothermal field in the central Okinawa Trough. Fluid-inclusion 3He/4He ratios are between 6.2 and 10. l times the air value (Ra), and with a mean of 7.8Ra, which are consistent with the mid-ocean ridge basalt values [3He/^4He≈(6Ra- 11Ra)]. Values for ^20Ne/^22Ne are from 10.7 to 11.3, which are significantly higher than the atmospheric ratio (9.8). And the fluid-inclusion ^40Ar/^36Ar ratios range from 287 to 334, which are close to the atmosperic values (295.5). These results indicate that the noble gases of trapped hydrothermal fluids in massive sulfides are a mixture of mantle- and seawater-derived components, and the helium of fluid inclusions is mainly from mantle, the nelium and argon isotope compositions are mainly from seawater.     

海底底质分类反向散射强度三维概率密度法

反向散射强度随入射角变化信息蕴含海底底质特性,是多波束海底底质分类的重要数据源。目前,多波束海底底质分类主要提取平均反向散射强度随入射角的变化信息或基于声呐图像,没有综合考虑两者的相关信息。本文综合考虑平均反向散射强度随入射角变化信息及其概率密度分布,绘制三维概率密度图,提出了基于反向散射强度三维概率密度图的海底底质分类方法。实例计算结果表明:该方法能直观表达多波束条带覆盖区内不同海底底质类型的数量,有效判断不同海底底质类型的边界,实现海底底质类型的快速识别。     

Acoustic Ray Tracing Comparisons in the Context of Geodetic Precise off-shore Positioning Experiments

The GNSS-Acoustics (GNSS-A) method couples acoustics with GNSS to allow the precise localization of a seafloor reference in a global frame. This method can extend on-shore GNSS networks and allows the monitoring of hazardous oceanic tectonic phenomena. The goal of this study is to test the influence of both acoustics ray tracing techniques and spatial heterogeneities of acoustic wave speed on positioning accuracy. We test three different ray tracing methods: the eikonal method (3D sound speed field), the Snell-Descartes method (2D sound speed profile), and an equivalent sound speed method. We also compare the processing execution time. The eikonal method is compatible with the Snell-Descartes method (by up to 10 ppm in term of propagation time difference) but takes approximately a thousand times longer to run. We used the 3D eikonal ray tracing to characterize the influence of a lateral sound speed gradient on acoustic ray propagation and positioning accuracy. For a deep water (? 3,000 m) situation, frequent in subduction zones such as the Lesser Antilles, not accounting for lateral sound speed gradients can induce an error of up to 5 cm in the horizontal positioning of a seafloor transponder, even when the GNSS-A measurements are made over the barycenter of a seafloor transponder array.