Coral reefs of the Glorieuses Islands,western Indian Ocean

The benthic fauna on reefs around the Glorieuses Islands, a small and protected Indian Ocean archipelago northwest of Madagascar, was surveyed in November 2015, focusing particularly on the orders Alcyonacea (soft corals and gorgonians) and Scleractinia (stony corals). The species richness of both groups was rather low for a protected, relatively pristine environment in the region. Though certain soft ‘fugitive’ alcyonacean species were noticeably abundant, other soft corals were rare. Sediment-tolerant faviid corals were abundant among the scleractinians. The sediment around the reefs was fine-grained and white, and appeared to be derived from abundant green macroalgae Halimeda and coralline seaweeds. The abundance of these, in turn, might have been attributable to nutrient enrichment from guano deposited on one of the islands by migratory seabirds, causing the aforementioned anomalies in coral biodiversity and abundance.     

地震作用对南海南沙群岛渚碧礁的影响研究

评估珊瑚礁的稳定性具有十分重要的意义。近年来,在中国南海海域开展了越来越多的工程建设项目。珊瑚礁是造礁石珊瑚群体死亡后其残骸经过漫长的地质作用而形成的岩土体,是一种特殊的海洋岩土介质。晚渐新世后,生长在碳酸盐台地上的珊瑚礁进入繁盛期,礁体内部可划分为5至6个主要的沉积相。同时,珊瑚礁已被认为是近代地震发生时间的记录器。文章结合南沙群岛的珊瑚礁体工程地质分带和岩体结构特征,设计了岛礁模型,研究地震对珊瑚礁的影响。在研究中,通过利用岩土工程的模拟仿真软件GeoStudio,使用Newmark滑块分析法,模拟了6种不同强度的地震作用下珊瑚礁体的受力状态和变形情况,采用极限平衡条分法计算了安全系数,并测算出可能的危险滑移面位置及滑移规模。通过模拟计算结果,得到地震作用对珊瑚礁的影响有：（1）珊瑚礁在自重状态下具有良好的稳定性;（2）地震发生后,安全系数小于1（FS<1）可能导致斜坡失稳并发生滑塌;（3）随着地震强度的增加,安全系数是降低的,且经一段时间后,安全系数围绕某特定值波动;（4）在地震作用下,作为珊瑚礁体浅层新发育的部分,更小的滑坡部位会更易发生坍塌。综上,利用岩土工程的方法对海洋中珊瑚礁体的稳定性进行评价是可行的,能够为今后岛礁工程设计的提供参考。     

2013年南沙群岛海域温跃层的季节变化及形成机理

利用调查数据及遥感数据揭示了2013年南沙群岛海域温跃层的季节变化特征,温跃层上界深度平均值春、夏、冬季基本一致,介于45~47 m之间,秋季最大,达60 m;温跃层厚度平均值夏、秋、冬季基本一致,介于85~87 m之间,春季相对较小,为78 m。温跃层强度平均值春、夏、秋、冬季几乎一致,介于0.13~0.15℃/m之间。调查海域温跃层上界深度季节变化的形成机理为:春季西深东浅的原因是西部受净热通量较小、大风速、负的风应力旋度以及中南半岛东部外海的中尺度暖涡和反气旋环流共同作用,东部近岸海域净热通量高值、风速相对较小及风应力旋度引起的Ekman抽吸效应共同控制;夏季深度分布较均匀的原因是10°N以北风致涡动混合强但受Ekman抽吸影响,10°N以南风致涡动混合弱但风应力旋度为负值;秋季深度较其他季节平均加深15 m的原因是南沙群岛海域被暖涡占据,暖涡引起的反气旋式环流使得温跃层上界深度被海水辐聚下压;冬季正的风应力旋度产生的Ekman抽吸和冷涡引起的气旋式环流共同作用,使得温跃层上界深度较秋季平均抬升15 m。     

南海北部东沙群岛西部海域的海底沙波与内波的研究进展

南海北部外陆架和上陆坡分布着大量的各种类型的深水沙波,经过统计,这些沙波的活动性十分迥异,有着不同于浅水沙波的运移机制。基于国内外对该地区沙波研究成果的总结,指出天文潮、风暴潮等因素均不可能造成海底沙波的持续运动。南海北部同时是世界上内波活动最频繁的区域,与沙波活动区存在空间一致性。经过本文的综述分析,南海北部频发的内波可以造成海底的强流,是造成该海域海底沙波活动的主要原因,未来应在此框架理论下,进行相关证实研究。     

Recent population trends of sooty and light-mantled albatrosses breeding on Marion Island

Sub-Antarctic Marion Island is one of the few islands where both species of Phoebetria albatrosses breed sympatrically. The last published assessment of their population trends, which reported counts up to 2008, concluded that the numbers of breeding pairs of sooty albatross P. fusca (Endangered) were decreasing, whereas numbers of light-mantled albatross P. palpebrata (Near Threatened) were increasing. Extending the counts to 2014 reversed these trends, with numbers of sooty albatrosses increasing from 2006 to 2014, and numbers of light-mantled albatrosses decreasing from 2007 to 2014. Confidence in island-wide counts is low due to the cryptic nature of the albatrosses on their largely inaccessible cliff-side nest sites, as well as counts for sooty albatrosses taking place late in the incubation period when 10?20% of nests have already failed. Given the greater conservation concern for the sooty albatross, we recommend that dedicated annual counts be conducted during the early incubation period, and be repeated shortly after the chicks hatch (late December), mid-way through the nestling period (late February) and prior to fledging (late April), to give a better idea of breeding success. Count zones also should be revised to facilitate more accurate counts, ensuring more reliable estimates of sooty albatross population trends at Marion Island.     

西沙群岛海洋资源调查评估与南海渔业开发维权

海洋移动自主观测平台在海洋观测技术中越来越为人们所倚重,发达国家相继投入了大量的研究和部署.研究一种具有全天候、长续航力的海洋移动自主观测平台是当前一系列海洋装备中的研究热点和未来趋势,尤其是最近5年,这项工作更是达到了新的高度.针对长续航力海洋移动自主观测平台的特征,文中将其分为长续航力自主潜航器系列和水下滑翔机系列两大类,结合其共性问题分析了世界各国的研究现状,并对其未来发展趋势作了展望,最后简要讨论了这些平台未来发展中的关键技术.     

Mineral provinces and material provenance of the surficial sediments near the Zhongsha Islands in the South China Sea

1 IntroductionThe South China Sea is one of the northwesternPacific marginal basins, which is located atthe junc-tion region among Euro-Asia plate, Pacific plate andIndia plate. Owing to its unique geological charac-teristics, the South China Sea has beco…     

琉球群岛以东海域表层沉积物元素地球化学特征

对琉球群岛以东海域134个站位表层沉积物的化学元素含量进行了系统测试,结合矿物学资料等,对研究区的表层沉积物元素地球化学特征进行了分析。结果表明:(1)琉球群岛以东海域沉积物具有半深海沉积物的地球化学特征;(2)通过元素因子分析,把25种元素或氧化物分为4种组合,每一种组合对应不同的物质来源,分别为陆源成因组合(SiO2,K2O,Zr,TiO2,Y,Sc,Na2O,La,Al2O3,P2O5,Ce),生物成因组合(Sr,CaO,L.O.I,CaCO3),火山源成因组合(MgO,V,Fe2O3,Cr,Li,Co),自生源成因组合(Ni,MnO,Cu,Ba);(3)控制本区元素分布的因素主要是水深、物质来源以及生物和铁锰物质的自生作用。     

Dominant spatial variability scales from observations around the Hawaiian Islands

We utilize a variety of available observations with a semivariogram technique to quantify the oceanic variability around the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands have a significant impact on the North Pacific circulation, and quantifying the characteristics of the variability is important for understanding the eddy energy, as well as required for statistical techniques to work with the data, such as optimal interpolation, data assimilation, etc. Both satellite sea surface height and temperature data are used to determine horizontal scales of variability, while Argo profiles, ship-borne profiles, and autonomous Seagliders provide estimates of the vertical scales. In the lee of the islands, satellite data reveal an increase in horizontal variability attributed to enhanced eddy activity that persists for over 1000 km westward; however, only within 400 km of the immediate lee the horizontal length scales are greatly reduced. Further west, length scales increase significantly indicating a change in the generation mechanism for eddy variability and where eddies merge and coalesce. The meridional length scale gradient is found to be larger than previous results and more representative of the gradient of the first baroclinic mode of the internal Rossby radius. Vertical length scales are shown to increase in the lee, with vertical temperature variability doubled from the windward side.     

中国近海及其附近海域若干涡旋研究综述Ⅱ.东海和琉球群岛以东海域

综述东海和琉球群岛以东海域若干气旋型和反气旋型涡旋的研究.对东海陆架、200m以浅海域,主要讨论了东海西南部反气旋涡、济州岛西南气旋式涡和长江口东北气旋式冷涡.东海两侧和陆坡附近出现了各种不同尺度的涡旋,其动力原因之一是与东海黑潮弯曲现象有很大关系,其次也与地形、琉球群岛存在等有关.东海黑潮有两种类型弯曲:黑潮锋弯曲和黑潮路径弯曲.黑潮第一种弯曲出现了锋面涡旋,评述了锋面涡旋的存在时间尺度与空间尺度和结构等;也指出了黑潮第二种弯曲,即路径弯曲时在其两侧出现了中尺度气旋式和反气旋涡,讨论了它们的变化的特性.特别讨论了冲绳北段黑潮弯曲路径和中尺度涡的相互作用,着重指出,当气旋式涡在冲绳海槽北段成长,并充分地发展,其周期约在1~3个月时,它的空间尺度成长到约为200km(此尺度相当于冲绳海槽的纬向尺度)时,黑潮路径从北段转移到南段.也分析了东海黑潮流量和其附近中尺度涡的相互作用.最后指出在琉球群岛以东、以南海域,经常出现各种不同的中尺度反气旋式和气旋式涡,讨论了它们在时间与空间尺度上变化的特征.