The impact of the M2 internal tide on data-assimilative model estimates of the surface tide

We use a synthetic data experiment to assess the accuracy of ocean tides estimated from satellite altimetry data, with emphasis on the impact of the phase-locked internal tide, which has a surface expression of several centimeters near its sites of genesis. Previous tidal estimates have regarded this signal as a random measurement error; however, it is deterministic and not scale-separated from the barotropic (surface) tide around complex bathymetric features. The synthetic data experiments show that the internal tide has a negligible impact on the barotropic tidal fields inferred under these circumstances, and the barotropic dissipation (a quadratic functional of the tidal fields) is in good agreement with the energetics of the three-dimensional regional primitive equations model which is the source of the synthetic data.     

On the Generation of ULF Magnetic Variations by Conductivity Fluctuations in a Fault Zone

v--vPrior to the October 18, 1989 Loma Prieta M_s 7.1 earthquake, Fraser-Smith et al. (1990) recorded a 10-100 fold increase in ultra-low frequency (ULF) magnetic fields near the earthquake epicenter. Several mechanisms for generation of these ULF fields by fluid flow in the earth have been advanced, but all appear to require unrealistic fluid velocities or hydraulic permeabilities to match the observations. As an alternative explanation, Merzer and Klemperer (1998) proposed that the increase in ULF magnetic fields could result from induced electric currents flowing in a fault-zone made temporarily much more electrically conductive by stress-induced reorganization of pore geometry. Using a numerical model we show that while this mechanism could produce a significant increase in ULF variations, mutual induction between the fault zone and the surrounding crust would probably limit the amplitude increase to levels well below those observed at Loma Prieta. We consider a variant on this quasi-static conductive fault zone model in which low frequency telluric currents are modulated by small higher frequency variations of bulk fault zone conductivity. We show that because the spectrum of natural EM variations is red, substantially larger relative increases in ULF magnetic fields could be produced by this mechanism with even small conductivity fluctuations at these frequencies. These variations would be easy to detect with a well-designed experiment, if they occurred. In principle this mechanism could explain the Loma Prieta ULF observations, however the magnitude of conductivity fluctuations that would be required to match the very large reported amplification factors still appears to be too large to be physically plausible.     

Managed water levels and the expansion of emergent vegetation along a lakeshore

Water-level fluctuations may be used to promote the expansion of emergent vegetation along lakeshores. We present the case of the lake Volkerak-Zoommeer in the Netherlands, a fresh-water lake created in 1987 after the enclosure of an estuary. Using an experimental area in which the water level could be manipulated, it was shown that partial summer drawdown of the shoreline created suitable conditions for germination and growth of tall emergent species (in particular Phragmites australis). Plant survival and growth depended on subsequent water-level fluctuations and grazing by waterbirds. Based on the experiment and empirical data, a model was developed to predict the effects of the water-level regime on potential reed bed development. The model was applied for four hydrological scenarios that have been considered for the water-level management of the lake.     

Mapping nonlinear shallow-water tides: a look at the past and future

Overtides and compound tides are generated by nonlinear mechanisms operative primarily in shallow waters. Their presence complicates tidal analysis owing to the multitude of new constituents and their possible frequency overlap with astronomical tides. The science of nonlinear tides was greatly advanced by the pioneering researches of Christian Le Provost who employed analytical theory, physical modeling, and numerical modeling in many extensive studies, especially of the tides of the English Channel. Le Provost’s complementary work with satellite altimetry motivates our attempts to merge these two interests. After a brief review, we describe initial steps toward the assimilation of altimetry into models of nonlinear tides via generalized inverse methods. A series of barotropic inverse solutions is computed for the M tide over the northwest European Shelf. Future applications of altimetry to regions with fewer in situ measurements will require improved understanding of error covariance models because these control the tradeoffs between fitting hydrodynamics and data, a delicate issue in coastal regions. While M can now be robustly determined along the Topex/Poseidon satellite ground tracks, many other compound tides face serious aliasing problems. In memory of Christian Le Provost     

Removal of water‐surface reflection effects with a temporal minimum filter for UAV‐based shallow‐water photogrammetry

The recent development of structure‐from‐motion (SfM) and multi‐view stereo (MVS) photogrammetry techniques has enabled semi‐automatic high‐resolution bathymetry using aerial images taken by consumer‐grade digital cameras mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, the applicability of these techniques is sometimes limited by sun and sky reflections at the water surface, which render the point‐cloud density and accuracy insufficient. In this research, we present a new imaging technique to suppress the effect of these water‐surface reflections. In this technique, we order a drone to take a short video instead of a still picture at each waypoint. We then apply a temporal minimum filter to the video. This filter extracts the smallest RGB values in all the video frames for each pixel, and composes an image with greatly reduced reflection effects. To assess the performance of this technique, we applied it at three small shallow‐water sites. Specifically, we evaluated the effect of the technique on the point cloud density and the accuracy and precision of the photogrammetry. The results showed that the proposed technique achieved a far denser point cloud than the case in which a randomly chosen frame was used for each waypoint, and also showed better overall accuracy and precision in estimating water‐bottom elevation. The effectiveness of this new technique should depend on the surface wave state and sky radiance distribution, and this dependence, as well as the applicability to large areas, should be investigated in future research. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mapping the Land Cover of Mexico Using AVHRR Time‐Series Data Sets

Abstract

An important methodological and analytical requirement for analyzing spatial relationships between regional habitats and species distributions in Mexico is the development of standard methods for mapping the country's land cover/land use formations. This necessarily involves the use of global data such as that produced by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). We created a nine‐band time‐series composite image from AVHRR Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) bi‐weekly data. Each band represented the maximum NDVI for a particular month of either 1992 or 1993. We carried out a supervised classification approach, using the latest comprehensive land cover/vegetation map created by the Mexican National Institute of Geography (INEGI) as reference data. Training areas for 26 land cover/vegetation types were selected and digitized on the computer's screen by overlaying the INEGI vector coverage on the NDVI image. To obtain specific spectral responses for each vegetation type, as determined by its characteristic phenology and geographic location, the statistics of the spectral signatures were subjected to a cluster analysis. A total of 104 classes distributed among the 26 land cover types were used to perform the classification. Elevation data were used to direct classification output for pine‐oak and coastal vegetation types. The overall correspondence value of the classification proposed in this paper was 54%; however, for main vegetation formations correspondence values were higher (60‐80%). In order to obtain refinements in the proposed classification we recommend further analysis of the signature statistics and adding topographic data into the classification algorithm.     

临界转换的早期预警信号

从生态系统到金融市场和气候在内的很多复杂动力系统,都会有临界点,在这样的点上系统可能会发生突变,从而演变到一个对立的动力模式上。在这样的临界点到达之前对其进行预测极为困难,但是现在,不同科学领域的研究工作表明,普遍性的早期预警信号有迹可循。对一系列不同类型的系统来说,这些信号会指示是否正在趋近一个临界阈值。     

Tidal data inversion: interpolation and inference

Initial efforts in applying inverse methods to studies of ocean tides have focused on making the best use of a small number of observations to map tidal fields in a large area. As such, inversion can be viewed as an objective analysis scheme which uses a dynamically appropriate spatial covariance, derived from the shallow water equations, to interpolate and smooth a sparse data set. Data from recent altimetry missions are not sparsely distributed relative to tidal wavelengths in the open ocean, apparently reducing the need for complicated dynamically based interpolation schemes. Altimetric data sets are also quite large, making application of rigorous inversion methods to global tidal modeling a challenging computational problem. We describe here a new iterative solution scheme which allows us for the first time to fit the full set of TOPEX/Poseidon cross-over differences. The resulting solution (TPXO.3) fits validation tide gauges significantly better than previous inverse solutions. TPXO.3 also reduces residual cross-over variances relative to other recent inverse and empirical solutions, particularly in shallow water where improvements are dramatic. With the new solution approach very significant improvements in global tidal models should be possible in shallow areas and in the vicinity of complex bathymetry, where high-accuracy tidal modeling remains a challenging problem. With the recent improvements in the definition of tidal elevations in the open ocean it should now also be possible to resolve some long unanswered questions about tidal energetics and dynamics. Inverse methods provide a natural framework for addressing these issues, and making inferences about tidal dynamics. In particular, by bringing data and dynamics together in a single solution, we can rigorously test the consistency of the two. We present results of global and local inversions which suggest that over elongated bathymetric features oriented perpendicular to tidal flows, energy dissipation in the open ocean is significantly enhanced, presumably due to conversion of barotropic tidal motions into baroclinic modes. For the M₂ tide our preliminary results suggest that perhaps as much as 0.5 TW of energy is dissipated in this manner. However, due to the simplified linear dynamics and limited spatial resolution used for our inversion, there are significant uncertainties associated with these results. A more careful application of inverse methods to make more rigorous inferences about tidal energetics, including use of more reasonable prior dynamics, and the highest possible spatial resolution, should allow for closure of the tidal energy budget within the next few years.     

Mechanisms for marine regime shifts: Can we use lakes as microcosms for oceans?

Although striking regime shifts have been observed in marine systems, mechanistic explanations for these phenomena remain scarce. Here, we review studies of regime shifts in lakes and compare them to what has been found in marine systems to explore the extent to which lakes can be viewed as microcosms for studying essential ecosystem feedbacks in marine systems. We conclude that despite obvious differences, which have been discussed by several authors, lakes are in fact quite similar to oceans in many aspects. In particular, similar mechanisms may be involved in causing alternative attractors (and thus a tendency to show occasional regime shifts) in both systems. A striking similarity exists between the mechanisms that may have caused massive marine anoxic events in the distant past, and the shift of many deep lakes to a mode of anoxic phosphorus recycling. Biotic interactions are relatively poorly understood in the oceans. However, based on what we know from lakes, we expect competitive interactions and diffuse multi-species interactions to be a common cause of alternative attractors in marine communities. In addition, overexploitation traps are an obvious cause of multiple attractors to be expected in the oceans. These should not be limited to direct effects of human overexploitation. Shifts between overexploited and under-exploited states may happen at various trophic levels. Finally, we conclude from observed patterns and theoretical results that implications of alternative attractors will be quite different in benthic and open ocean systems. Benthic regime shifts might happen easily but can be relatively local. By contrast, open ocean shifts might not arise so easily but tend to be impressive in magnitude and scale when they happen.