Marine Ecology - A Century of Changes

Abstract. The major changes within the concepts of marine ecology are investigated, with the aim to design this new journal's scientific format. Four phases of marine sciences are distinguished: the phase of seafarers, of oceanographic expeditions, of marine stations, and of field research. The changes in the latter two are discussed in detail. The changes are described as occurring along three axes. First, as a movement towards the object; accomplished by fieldwork, scientific diving, remote controlled equipment, and by underwater experimentation. Second, the cooperation between several disciplines that led towards bridging gaps. And lastly, how the discovery of unifying principles in ecology (the development of an ecological theory) led the approach in marine ecology towards increasing complexity.     

Dynamic data integration for structural modeling: model screening approach using a distance-based model parameterization

This paper proposes a novel history-matching method where reservoir structure is inverted from dynamic fluid flow response. The proposed workflow consists of searching for models that match production history from a large set of prior structural model realizations. This prior set represents the reservoir structural uncertainty because of interpretation uncertainty on seismic sections. To make such a search effective, we introduce a parameter space defined with a “similarity distance” for accommodating this large set of realizations. The inverse solutions are found using a stochastic search method. Realistic reservoir examples are presented to prove the applicability of the proposed method.     

Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake of one of the largest hydrological systems in the Levant and may thus be viewed as a large rain gauge for the region. Variations of its level are indicative of the climate variations in the region. Here, we present the decadal- to centennial-resolution Holocene lake-level curve of the Dead Sea. Then we determine the regional hydroclimatology that affected level variations. To achieve this goal we compare modern natural lake-level variations and instrumental rainfall records and quantify the hydrology relative to lake-level rise, fall, or stability. To quantify that relationship under natural conditions, rainfall data pre-dating the artificial Dead Sea level drop since the 1960s are used. In this respect, Jerusalem station offers the longest uninterrupted pre-1960s rainfall record and Jerusalem rains serve as an adequate proxy for the Dead Sea headwaters rainfall. Principal component analysis indicates that temporal variations of annual precipitation in all stations in Israel north of the current 200 mm yr⁻¹ average isohyet during 1940–1990 are largely synchronous and in phase (70% of the total variance explained by PC1). This station also represents well northern Jordan and the area all the way to Beirut, Lebanon, especially during extreme drought and wet spells. We (a) determine the modern, and propose the past regional hydrology and Eastern Mediterranean (EM) climatology that affected the severity and length of droughts/wet spells associated with multiyear episodes of Dead Sea level falls/rises and (b) determine that EM cyclone tracks were different in average number and latitude in wet and dry years in Jerusalem. The mean composite sea level pressure and 500-mb height anomalies indicate that the potential causes for wet and dry episodes span the entire EM and are rooted in the larger-scale northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation. We also identified remarkably close association (within radiocarbon resolution) between climatic changes in the Levant, reflected by level changes, and culture shifts in this region.     

The terrestrial fauna of the Late Triassic Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry fissures,South Wales,UK and a new species of Clevosaurus (Lepidosauria: Rhynchocephalia)

Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in South Wales yielded a rich cache of fossils in the early 1950s, including articulated specimens of new species (the small sauropodomorph dinosaur Pantydraco caducus and the crocodylomorph Terrestrisuchus gracilis), but no substantial study of the wider fauna of the Pant-y-ffynnon fissure systems has been published. Here, our overview of existing specimens, a few described but mostly undescribed, as well as freshly processed material, provides a comprehensive picture of the Pant-y-ffynnon palaeo-island of the Late Triassic. This was an island with a relatively impoverished fauna dominated by small clevosaurs (rhynchocephalians), including a new species, Clevosaurus cambrica, described here from a partially articulated specimen and isolated bones. The new species has a dental morphology that is intermediate between the Late Triassic Clevosaurus hudsoni, from Cromhall Quarry to the east, and the younger C. convallis from Pant Quarry to the west, suggesting adaptive radiation of clevosaurs in the palaeo-archipelago. The larger reptiles on the palaeo-island do not exceed 1.5?m in length, including a small carnivorous crocodylomorph, Terrestrisuchus, and a possible example of insular dwarfism in the basal dinosaur Pantydraco.     

太原盆地历史地震活动特征及未来地震形势估计

对公元1000－1985年太原盆地M≥4.0地震进行了时序分析，结果表明，它们在时间轴上和山西地震带及至华北地区有着相似的平静一起伏变化特点，以此划出4个地震活动期和若干活动幕，指出活动最大地震存在逐步升级现象；在空间上重复性高，形成3个地震巢和以巢为主的地震条带与地震跳迁现象，认为在2000年前后，太原盆地将处在地震高活动时段，有可能在地震巢附近发生若干个中强地震，山西和华北地区强震活动也有可能与之同步。     

Newly identified historical tornadoes in the Czech Republic from 16th to the 20th centuries

Tornadoes have occurred in the territory of the Czech Republic throughout history. Although their frequency and intensity are not as high as in the USA, they can cause severe damage as well. That is why a systematic effort to document individual occurrences of this dangerous meteorological phenomenon as far as possible back into the past began in the 1990s. The aim of this investigation is to extend the first European catalogue of tornadoes originally published by Wegener [Wegener A., 1917. Wind-und Wasserhosen in Europe], by the addition of these cases from the Czech Republic.This paper adds further to Setvák, Šálek and Munzar [Setvák M., Šálek M., Munzar J., 2003. Tornadoes within the Czech Republic—from medieval chronicles to the internet society. Atmos. Res. 67–68, 589–605], who reported the earliest documented tornado in the land of the Czech Republic which occurred in AD 1119 in Prague. In so doing, it presents recently discovered tornado cases from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, found in a variety of historical sources since the last ECSS conference held in Prague in 2002. In particular we will focus on the case from Jablonec nad Nisou (northern Bohemia) in 1925, which was probably the first case in the Czech Republic with accompanying photographic documentation of damage caused by a tornado.     

The history of Jonsmod 1981–2006

This is a history of shallow sea modelling developments as viewed through the Jonsmod modelling conferences over the past 25 years. The conferences are reviewed, and what emerges is a coherent progression to present-day modelling. We also see advances in computing and oceanographic observation, although these are, of course, incidental to the modelling from the point of view of these conferences.     

Hybridization of the probability perturbation method with gradient information

Geostatistically based history-matching methods make it possible to devise history-matching strategies that will honor geologic knowledge about the reservoir. However, the performance of these methods is known to be impeded by slow convergence rates resulting from the stochastic nature of the algorithm. It is the purpose of this paper to introduce a method that integrates qualitative gradient information into the probability perturbation method to improve convergence. The potential of the proposed method is demonstrated on a synthetic history-matching example. The results indicate that inclusion of qualitative gradient information improves the performance of the probability perturbation method.     

Piešt'any–thermal H2S water and mud

 Slovakia has very rich sources of mineral and thermal waters. One of the warmest is located in Piešt'any. Its discharge rate is 40 l/s; it is Ca-Mg-SO₄-HCO₃-Cl type with T.D.S. 1.4 g/l, H₂S 10 mg/l and temperature 68  °C. The waters seep on the spa island, which lies between the river Váh and its branch. The characteristics of the water and mud predestine the existence of this great spa in Slovakia. Its reputation is based on the treatment of rheumatic and neurological disesases. Received: 15 November 1996 · Accepted: 13 January 1998     

THE START AND EARLY HISTORY OF CHEMOMETRICS:SELECTED INTERVIEWS.PART 1

This is a first foray into the historical start and early years of chemometrics from about 1972 onwards.We have gathered interviews with three originators(Kowalski,Wold and Massart)as well as with aselected group of six other well-known chemometricians who gradually became active in the 1970s(Christie,Clementi,Hopke,Martens,Brown and Deming).The interviews include amongst a host ofsubjective recollections a succinct record of the key historical literature as highlighted by the interviewees'own rankings of‘earliest’and‘best’.A discussion of the most general commonalities in these interviews together with other historicalmaterial is presented in the second part of the paper.