Progress in Scatterometer Application

Progress in the scientific application of space-based scatterometer data over the past two decades is reviewed. There has been continuous improvement in coverage, resolution, and accuracy. Besides the traditional applications in weather and ocean-atmosphere interaction, which are based on ocean surface wind vectors, emerging applications over land and ice are also described. Future missions and new technology are introduced. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Experimental studies on the slowly varying drift motion of a berthed container ship model

The effects of free-surface waves on the floating structures are of great importance in the offshore industry. Among the six degrees of motions of a surface ship the absence of restoring forces in surge, sway and yaw led to critical situations for moored ships in the recent times. The order of forces in horizontal plane and their exciting frequencies are matters of interest. The resonance with the presence of moored chains led to many accidents in the recent past. The lines in dry conditions may not give good damping and in wet condition they may trigger the system to chaotic motions and jumps. Two different loading conditions of a container ship model are tested with waves in laboratory conditions in two different drafts. The mooring lines are chosen as per scale law and the energy under the response spectrum is determined from the plots. The results give new insights into the movement of a berthed ships subjected to waves. Response of the moored ship to different loading conditions in different water depths are discussed in this paper. The paper gives the order of energy due to first-order and slowly varying movement of a berthed container model in a towing tank.     

山东胜利油田海洋石油勘探开发现状及前景分析

胜利油田海上勘探区 ,位于渤海湾南部的极浅海海域 ,其范围为 :西起四女寺河口 ,经套儿河口、老黄河口、新黄河口、小青河口 ,东到潍河口 ,海岸长 4 1 4km,胜利矿产登记线内面积 4 870 km2 ,水深一般 0～ 5m,最深 1 8m。截止 2 0 0 0年年底 ,已完成二维地震 71 3 6.1 km,三维地震 1 588.58km2 ,完钻探井 1 0 2口 ,测井解释油气层井 87口 ,试油 85口 ,其中 74口获工业油流 ,6口获低产油流。发现了埕岛、埕北 3 0、新滩 3个油田 ,在明化镇组、馆陶组、东营组、沙河街组、中生界、上古生界、下古生界、太古界中发现了 8套含油层系 ,6种类型的油气藏 ,已探明含油面积 1 45.8km2 ,石油地质储量 3 860 9万 t;控制含油面积57.5km2 ,石油地质储量 894 8万 t,其中埕岛油田是渤海域发现最早的亿吨级油田 ,目前已建成 2 1 6万 t年生产能力 ,累积产油 1 0 57万 t。根据两轮资源评价及勘探实践的认识 ,与本区有关的 8个生油凹陷 (岐口、沙南、渤中、埕北、桩东、青东、莱州湾、潍北 )总资源量约 1 2 .0亿 t,目前已找到探明加控制石油地质储量为 4 .75亿 t,仍有较大的勘探开发潜力。今后将对 8个构造带 (埕子口、埕岛、埕北 3 0、长堤、垦东、青东、青坨子、潍北 )进行勘探 ,落实探明储量 ,进一步投入开发 ,为胜利油田     

好望角附近海域春季大风的几种主要形势分析

通过普查和分析，概括出了春季好望角附近海域三种主要大风出现时的模型图，并以一个月中逐日4次船舶测风报告为例，分析了好望角大风的某些主要特征。     

High Frequency Current Fluctuations and Cross-shelf Flows around the Pycnocline near the Shelf Break in the East China Sea

Relation between internal waves with short time scale and density distribution near the shelf break in the East China Sea is studied utilizing moored current meters, thermometers and conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts. A well developed pycnocline was frequently observed around 150–200 m depth near the shelf break accompanied with the development of internal waves with short time scale. During the cruise in May 1998, the intensified internal wave motion with short time scale and the distinct offshore flow were observed just below the lower pycnocline, which shoaled and extended above the shelf area. It is suggested that vertical mixing generated by amplified internal waves would produce cross-shelf ageostophic density current around the pycnocline. During the cruise in May 1999, on the other hand, the lower pycnocline was located offshore below the shelf break, and the internal wave motion was amplified just above the lower pycnocline. In this case, the offshore flow should be generated above the lower pycnocline, but vertical profiles of current velocity were not obtained because acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data were not available around the lower pycnocline.     

Eddy Diffusion Coefficients of Suspended Particulate Matter: Effects of Wind Energy Transfer and Stratification

Gross sedimentation rates (GSR) have been measured using sediment traps placed at nine different levels above the bed (0·3, 0·5, 0·8, 1·0, 2·0, 4·0, 6·0, 8·0 and 10·0 m). The sediment traps were deployed for 1·25 years and recovered 28 times during the study period. Low average GSR values of 5·5 g m^-2 day^-1 were obtained at 10·0 m, and high average GSR values of 114·8 g m^-2 day^-1 were obtained at 0·3 m. An expression for the eddy diffusion coefficient of suspended particulate matter (K_s), based on the measured GSR is given. The expression has been used for modelling of K_s at the different trap levels above the bed. High values (≈42 cm² s^-1) of K_s were obtained at the upper traps, whereas low values (≈2 cm² s^-1) were obtained near the bed. Comparison between level of turbulent energy in terms of shear stress at the boundaries of the water column, i.e. from the wind and the bed flow, showed that wind energy exceeded that of the bed flow by a factor 16. At 5·0 m K_s was positively correlated (r=0·66) to the eddy diffusion coefficient of momentum (K_m) derived from the wind energy transfer to the water, giving an average β of 0·5 for K_s =βK_m. The density difference between surface and bottom waters has been designated a parameter of stratification, and is discussed in relation to variations of K_s and K_m .     

Response-based method for determining the extreme behaviour of floating offshore platforms

The accurate prediction of extreme excursion and mooring force of floating offshore structures due to multi-variete environmental conditions which requires the joint probability analysis of environmental conditions for the worst case situation is still impractical as the processing of large amount of met-ocean data is required. On the other hand, the simplified multiple design criteria (e.g. the N-year wave with associated winds and currents) recommended by API known as traditional method does lead neither to the N-year platform response nor to the N-year mooring force. Therefore, in order to reduce the level of conservatism as well as uncertainties involved in the traditional method the response-based method can be used as a reliable alternative approach. In this paper this method is described. In order to perform the calculations faster using large databases of sea states, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is designed and employed. In the paper the response-based method is applied to a 200,000 tdw FPSO and the results are discussed.     

On the Polyps of the Common Jellyfish Aurelia aurita in Kagoshima Bay

There is the natural habitat of polyps of the common jellyfish Aurelia aurita in the Taniyama area, Kagoshima Bay. We examined the attachment substrata, density, colony structure and strobilation of the polyps. The polyps were observed only on the horizontal undersurface of floating piers. They attached specifically to Mytilus shells, solitary ascidians, calcareous polychaete tubes, muddy amphipod tubes and the gap space that fouling animals peeled off the substrata. The polyp colonies were distributed in patches. Spatial distribution patterns of the polyps within their colonies were uniform. Strobilation occurred during late December to March, when water temperatures were 16–17°C, and a large number of ephyrae were released. An increase in man-made structures such as floating piers in coastal areas may lead to bloomings of Aurelia aurita medusae. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Damage Detection Methods for Offshore Platforms Based on Wavelet Packet Transform

1 .IntroductionInthe whole service period of the platforms ,some damage is unavoidable due to the corrosion,impact ,fatigue and so on.The damage whould cause the structures’ultimate capacity and safety de-crease .Presently,it is generally acceptedthat the detection of damage involes considerable statisticaluncertainties,thus lot of efforts is made for the damage probalility model ,for example Song and Lu(1996) usedthefuzzy-settheoryto estimatethe humanerrorsthroughthe definitionof inspection…