Cross-Calibration and Long-Term Monitoring of the Microwave Radiometers of ERS, TOPEX, GFO, Jason, and Envisat

The radiometers on board the satellites ERS-1, TOPEX/Poseidon, ERS-2, GFO, Jason-1, and Envisat measure brightness temperatures at two or three different frequencies to determine the total columnal water vapor content and wet tropospheric path delay, a major correction to the altimeter range measurements. In order to asses the long-term stability of the path delay, the radiometers are calibrated against vicarious cold and hot references, against each other, and against several atmospheric models. Four of these radiometers exhibit significant drifts in at least one of the channels, resulting in yet unmodeled errors in path delay of up to 1 mm/year, thus limiting the accuracy at which global sea level rise can be inferred from the altimeter range measurements.     

东太平洋下中新统氧同位素地层与古海洋学意义

研究取自于东太平洋CC48柱状样的钙质超微化石和底栖有孔虫的氧同位素成分变化的结果表明,该区下中新统至少可分出九个氧同位素地层(期),反映该区在早中新世期间至少经历了4次气温上升和5次下降的古气候变化。南极大陆冰川应是形成于早中新世而不是前人认为的中中新世。在早中新世,南极冰体体积有较大的变化。受古气候变化的影响,在早中新世期间东太平洋水柱热结构或温度梯度有比较大的变化,海平面出现多次上升与下降。     

Long-term changes in the fish community structure from the Tsushima warm current region of the Japan/East Sea with an emphasis on the impacts of fishing and climate regime shift over the last four decades

Japanese fisheries production in the Japan/East Sea between 1958 and 2003 increased to their peak (1.76 million tons) in the late 1980s and decreased abruptly with the collapse of Japanese sardine. Catch results for 58 fisheries and various environmental time-series data sets and community indices, including mean trophic level (MTL) and Simpson’s diversity index (DI), were used to investigate the impacts of fishing and climate changes on the structure of the fish community in the Tsushima warm current (TWC) region of the Japan/East Sea. The long-term trend in fisheries production was largely dependent on the Japanese sardine that, as a single species, contributed up to 60% of the total production in the Japanese waters of the Japan/East Sea during the late 1980s. Excluding Japanese sardine, production of the small pelagic species was higher during 1960s and 1990s but lower during 1970s and 1980s. This variation pattern generally corresponds with the trend in water temperature, warmer before early 1960s and after 1990s but colder during 1970s and 1980s. The warm-water, large predatory fishes and cold water demersal species show opposite responses to the water temperature in the TWC region, indicating the significant impact of oceanic conditions on fisheries production of the Japan/East Sea. Declines in demersal fishes and invertebrates during 1970s and 1980s suggested some impact of fishing. MTL and DI show a similar variation pattern: higher during 1960s and 1990s but lower during 1970s and 1980s. In particular, the sharp decline during the 1980s resulted from the abundant sardine catches, suggesting that dominant species have a large effect on the structure of the fish community in the Japan/East Sea. Principal component analysis for 58 time-series data sets of fisheries catches suggested that the fish community varied on inter-annual to inter-decadal scales; the abrupt changes that occurred in the mid-1970s and late 1980s seemed to correspond closely with the climatic regime shifts in the North Pacific. These results strongly suggest that the structure of the fish community in the Japan/East Sea was largely affected by climatic and oceanic regime shifts rather than by fishing. There is no evidence showing “fishing down food webs” in the Japan/East Sea. However, in addition to the impacts of abrupt shifts that occurred in the late 1980s, the large predatory and demersal fishes seem to be facing stronger fishing pressure with the collapse of the Japanese sardine.     

Are Global Tide Gauge Data Stationary in Variance?

Tide gauges distributed all over the world provide valuable information for monitoring mean sea level changes. The statistical models used in estimating sea level change from the tide gauge data assume implicitly that the random model components are stationary in variance. We show that for a large number of global tide gauge data this is not the case for the seasonal part using a variate-differencing algorithm. This finding is important for assessing the reliability of the present estimates of mean sea level changes because nonstationarity of the data may have marked impact on the sea level rate estimates, especially, for the data from short records.     

A preliminary study of carbon system in the East China Sea

In the central part of the East China Sea, the activity of CO₂ in the surface water and total carbonate, pH and alkalinity in the water column were determined in winter and autumn of 1993. The activity of CO₂ in the continental shelf water was about 50 ppm lower than that of surface air. This decrease corresponds to the absorption of about 40 gC/m²/yr of atmospheric CO₂ in the coastal zone or 1 GtC/yr in the global continental shelf, if this rate is applicable to entire coastal seas. The normalized total carbonate contents were higher in the water near the coast and near the bottom. This increase toward the bottom may be due to the organic matter deposited on the bottom. This conclusion is supported by the distribution of pH. The normalized alkalinity distribution also showed higher values in the near-coast water, but in the surface water, indicating the supply of bicarbonate from river water. The residence time of the East China Sea water, including the Yellow Sea water, has been calculated to be about 0.8 yr from the excess alkalinity and the alkalinity input. Using this residence time and the excess carbonate, we can estimate that the amount of dissolved carbonate transported from the coastal zone to the oceanic basin is about 70 gC/m²/yr or 2 GtC/yr/area-of-global-continental-shelf. This also means that the rivers transport carbon to the oceans at a rate of 30 gC/m²/yr of the coastal sea or 0.8 GtC/yr/ area-of-global shelf, the carbon consisting of dissolved inorganic carbonate and terrestrial organic carbon decomposed on the continental shelf.     

温度变化对刺参同工酶的影响

采用同工酶电泳方法,对在不同温度处理下刺参(Apostichopus japonicus)的乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)、酯酶(EST)和超氧化歧化酶(SOD)的表达情况进行分析。本文结果显示刺参组织内无LDH同工酶的表达。在10℃到20℃的温度突变处理中,12 h内EST和SOD均有新增酶带,在20℃到10℃的温度突变1 h内EST表达有新增酶带。3 h内SOD表达有新增酶带。在不同变温幅度的处理中,EST和SOD只有1条酶带。这表明,刺参对温度突变可产生积极的响应,对于其适应环境温度的变化具有重要意义。     

基于RS和GIS的唐山沿海地区湿地结构动态监测

利用历史资料和Landsat TM卫星遥感图像,研究了唐山市沿海地区湿地结构自上世纪80年代以来的演变特征,着重对1987~2004年陡河——滦河之间的湿地结构类型进行了识别,绘制了不同时期的湿地面积解译图。利用Mapinfo制图软件计算出两个时期的面积转化矩阵,对该区主要湿地类型浅海水域、滩涂、芦苇沼泽、水稻田、养殖场、盐田等湿地的面积进行了年份比较,从而分析得出唐山市沿海湿地结构从80年代至今以来破碎化加重,应该加强湿地结构的动态监测。     

Temporal change of clustered distribution of planktonic ciliates in Toyama Bay in summers of 1989 and 1990

Temporal change of clustered distribution in vertical profiles of three nutritional groups of planktonic ciliates, e.g. heterotrophic naked ciliates, mixotrophic naked ciliates and heterotrophic loricated ciliates, was investigated by following a drifting buoy in Toyama Bay on the Japan Sea coast of central Japan in summers of 1989 and 1990. Clustered distribution, represented as the mode of population density in the vertical plane, occurred mainly in the oligotrophic upper layer (0–50 m depth) above the subsurface chlorophyll-a maximum layer. Its clustered degree was stronger when the mode of population density in the vertical plane was formed at shallower depth, while its longevity was shorter as mentioned above. Vertical distribution of ciliates during summer in Toyama Bay is characterized by ephemeral clustered distribution, or in other wards, by rapid alternations of appearance and disappearance of the clustered distribution.