Atmospherically-promoted photosynthetic activity in a well-mixed ecosystem: Significance of wet deposition events of nitrogen compounds

Wet atmospheric deposition of dissolved N, P and Si species is studied in well-mixed coastal ecosystem to evaluate its potential to stimulate photosynthetic activities in nutrient-depleted conditions. Our results show that, during spring, seawater is greatly depleted in major nutrients: Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN), Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus (DIP) and Silicic acid (Si), in parallel with an increase of phytoplanktonic biomass. In spring (March–May) and summer (June–September), wet atmospheric deposition is the predominant source (>60%, relative to riverine contribution) for nitrates and ammonium inputs to this N-limited coastal ecosystem. During winter (October–February), riverine inputs of DIN predominate (>80%) and are annually the most important source of DIP (>90%). This situation allows us to calculate the possibility for a significant contribution to primary production in May 2003, from atmospheric deposition (total input for DIN ≈300 kg km⁻² month⁻¹). Based on usual Redfield ratios and assuming that all of the atmospheric-derived N (AD-N) in rainwater is bioavailable for phytoplankton growth, we can estimate new production due to AD-N of 950 mg C m⁻² month⁻¹, during this period of depletion in the water column. During the same episode (May 2003), photosynthetic activity rate, considered as gross primary production, was estimated to approximately 30 300 mg C m⁻² month⁻¹. Calculation indicates that new photosynthetic activity due to wet atmospheric inputs of nitrogen could be up to 3%.     

Subsurface Water Masses in the Central North Pacific Transition Region: The Repeat Section along the 18° Meridian

A repeat hydrographic section has been maintained over two decades along the 180° meridian across the subarctic-subtropical transition region. The section is naturally divided into at least three distinct zones. In the Subarctic Zone north of 46°N, the permanent halocline dominates the density stratification, supporting a subsurface temperature minimum (STM). The Subarctic Frontal Zone (SFZ) between 42°–46°N is the region where the subarctic halocline outcrops. To the south is the Subtropical Zone, where the permanent thermocline dominates the density stratification, containing a pycnostad of North Pacific Central Mode Water (CMW). The STM water colder than 4°C in the Subarctic Zone is originated in the winter mixed layer of the Bering Sea. The temporal variation of its core temperature lags 12–16 months behind the variations of both the winter sea surface temperature (SST) and the summer STM temperature in the Bering Sea, suggesting that the thermal anomalies imposed on the STM water by wintertime air-sea interaction in the Bering Sea spread over the western subarctic gyre, reaching the 180° meridian within a year or so. The CMW in this section originates in the winter mixed layer near the northern edge of the Subtropical Zone between 160°E and 180°. The CMW properties changed abruptly from 1988 to 1989; its temperature and salinity increased and its potential density decreased. It is argued that these changes were caused by the climate regime shift in 1988/1989 characterized by weakening of the Aleutian Low and the westerlies and increase in the SST in the subarctic-subtropical transition region. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Processes Causing the Temporal Changes in Si/N Ratios of Nutrient Consumptions and Export Flux during the Spring Diatom Bloom

Two processes are generally explained as causes of temporal changes in the stoichiometric silicon/nitrogen (Si/N) ratios of sinking particles and of nutrient consumption in the surface water during the spring diatom bloom: (1) physiological changes of diatom under the stress of photosynthesis of diatom and (2) differences of regeneration between silicon and nitrogen. We investigated which process plays an important role in these changes using a one-dimensional ecosystem model that explicitly represents diatom and the other non-silicious phytoplankton. The model was applied to station A7 (41°30′ N, 145°30′ E) in the western North Pacific, where diatom regularly blooms in spring. Model simulations show that the Si/N ratios of the flux exported by the sinking particles at 100 m depth and of nutrient consumptions in the upper 100 m surface water have their maxima at the end of the spring diatom bloom, the values and timings of which are significantly different from each other. Analyses of the model results show that the differences of regeneration between silicon and nitrogen mainly cause the temporal changes of the Si/N ratios. On the other hand, the physiological changes of diatoms under stress can hardly cause these temporal changes, because the effect of the change in the diatom's uptake ratio of silicon to nitrogen is cancelled by that in its sinking rate.     

Bathymetry of Molloy Deep: Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland

The sea floor of Fram Strait, the over 2500 m deep passage between the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, is part of a complex transform zone between the Knipovich mid-oceanic ridge of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge of the Arctic Ocean. Because linear magnetic anomalies formed by sea-floor spreading have not been found, the precise location of the boundary between the Eurasian and the North American plate is unknown in this region. Systematic surveying of Fram Strait with SEABEAM and high resolution seismic profiling began in 1984 and continued in 1985 and 1987, providing detailed morphology of the Fram Strait sea floor and permitting better definition of its morphotectonics. The 1984 survey presented in this paper provided a complete set of bathymetric data from the southernmost section of the Svalbard Transform, including the Molloy Fracture Zone, connecting the Knipovich Ridge to the Molloy Ridge; and the Molloy Deep, a nodal basin formed at the intersection of the Molloy Transform Fault and the Molloy Ridge. This nodal basin has a revised maximum depth of 5607 m water depth at 79°8.5N and 2°47E.     

Intrusion of Kuroshio water onto the continental shelf of the East China Sea

As a fundamental study to evaluate the contribution of the Kuroshio to primary production in the East China Sea (ECS), we investigated the seasonal pattern of the intrusion from the Kuroshio onto the continental shelf of the ECS and the behavior of the intruded Kuroshio water, using the RIAM Ocean Model (RIAMOM). The total intruded volume transport across the 200m isobath line was evaluated as 2.74 Sv in winter and 2.47 Sv in summer, while the intruded transport below 80m was estimated to be 1.32 Sv in winter and 1.64 Sv in summer. Passive tracer experiments revealed that the main intrusion from the Kuroshio to the shelf area of the ECS, shallower than 80m, takes place through the lower layer northeast of Taiwan in summer, with a volume transport of 0.19 Sv. Comparative studies show several components affecting the intrusion of the Kuroshio across the 200 m isobath line. The Kuroshio water intruded less onto the shelf compared with a case without consideration of tide-induced bottom friction, especially northeast of Taiwan. The variations of the transport from the Taiwan Strait and the east of Taiwan have considerable effects on the intrusion of the Kuroshio onto the shelf.     

南极布兰斯菲尔德海峡表层沉积物的酸解烃

本文研究了南极布兰斯菲尔德海峡表层沉积物的酸解烃分布特征，并佐以热释汞和蚀变碳酸盐的分析。从酸解烃中甲烷含量的低值和Ｃ１／（Ｃ２＋Ｃ３）比值，以及乙烯的存在等判断，布兰斯菲尔德海峡沉积物的烃类气体来自于生物成因。     

Several significant hydrographic characteristics and their formation mechanism in the South China Sea during the spring and summer of 1998

INTRODUCTIONTheSCSisthelargestmarginseainthewestoftheNorthPacificOcean .Theprevailingwindinwinterisnortheast,whileinsummeritissouthwest .Itisstilluncertainthathowthecirculationandtemperature -salinityfieldassociatewiththemonsoonforcingandaccompanywithseveralkindsofvariationsbeforeorafterthesummermonsoonburst .DuringSECMEXin 1 998,twointensiveobservationperiods (IOP)havebeencarriedoutntheSCS (Fig 1 ) :IOP1 ,from 1 0Aprilto 5May ;IOP2 ,from 1 2JunetoJuly 6 ,inordertounderstandthe…     

台湾海峡金色小沙丁鱼幼鱼索饵群体研究

本文研究了台湾海峡南部和北部的金色小沙丁鱼当年生幼鱼计数性状和量度性状特征差异,并结合其生物学特性、产卵场、洄游及海区环境特征进行综合分析。结果表明,台湾海峡南部和北部的索饵幼鱼仍属于同一地方种群:闽南-台湾浅滩语地方种群。根据其索饵洄游特点,可分为台湾海峡南部和北部两个索饵群体.