Seismic analyses of Cenozoic contourite drift development in the Northern Norwegian Sea

Four drift accumulations have been identified on the continental margin of northern Norway; the Lofoten Drift, the Vesterålen Drift, the Nyk Drift and the Sklinnadjupet Drift. Based on seismic character these drifts were found to belong to two main groups; (1) mounded, elongated, upslope accretion drifts (Lofoten Drift, Vesterålen Drift and Nyk Drift), and (2) infilling drifts (Sklinnadjupet Drift). The drifts are located on the continental slope. Mainly surface and intermediate water circulation, contrary to many North Atlantic and Antarctic drifts that are related to bottom water circulation, and sediment availability have controlled their growth. Sediments were derived both from winnowing of the shelf and upper slope and from ice sheets when present on the shelf. The main source area was the Vøring margin. This explains the high maximum average sedimentation rate of the nearby Nyk (1.2 m/ka) and Sklinnadjupet (0.5 m/ka) Drifts compared with the distal Lofoten (0.036 m/ka) and Vesterålen (0.060 m/ka) Drifts. The high sedimentation rate of the Nyk Drift, deposited during the period between the late Saalian and the late Weichselian is of the same order of magnitude as previously reported for glacigenic slope sediments deposited during glacial maximum periods only. The Sklinnadjupet Drift is infilling a paleo-slide scar. The development of the infilling drift was possible due to the available accommodation space, a slide scar acting as a sediment trap. Based on the formation of diapirs originating from the Sklinnadjupet Drift sediments we infer these sediments to have a muddy composition with relatively high water content and low density, more easily liquefied and mobilised compared with the glacigenic diamictons.     

北大西洋高纬度海区湍流热通量对全球增暖的响应

大西洋经向翻转环流(the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation,AMOC)由低纬输送大量热量至高纬度北大西洋海区,并通过热通量由海洋输送给大气,主导了附近区域的气候形态,并对北半球尺度的气候变化产生显著影响。本文根据CMIP5多模式多增暖情景的预估模拟结果,通过与增暖前控制试验的对比发现,全球增暖可导致该海区湍流热通量的减小,且减小的幅度随增暖强度增大,模拟结果与观测一致。进一步研究发现,热通量的减小存在季节差异,冬季的减小幅度远大于夏季。结合淡水扰动试验的分析表明,全球增暖下AMOC强度的减弱导致大西洋经向热输送减少,进而导致高纬度北大西洋海洋向大气的热输送减小。     

High-latitude dust deposition in snow on the glaciers of James Ross Island,Antarctica

High-latitude dust (HLD) depositions on four glaciers of James Ross Island (the Ulu Peninsula) were analysed. The deposition rate on the selected glaciers varies from 11.8 to 64.0 g m⁻², which is one order of magnitude higher compared to the glaciers in Antarctica or elsewhere in the world. A strong negative relationship between the sediment amount and altitude of a sampling site was found. This is most likely caused by the higher availability of aeolian material in the atmospheric boundary layer. General southerly and south-westerly wind directions over the Ulu Peninsula – with exceptions based on local terrain configuration – help to explain the significantly lower level of sediment deposition on San Jose Glacier and the high level on Triangular Glacier. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrophotometry was used to estimate the relative proportions of the main and trace (lithophile) elements in the sediment samples. Both the sediment amount and the XRF results are analysed in a depth profile at each locality and compared among the glaciers, suggesting long-range transport of fine mineral material from outside James Ross Island. The distribution of aeolian sediment among the glaciers corresponds well with the prevailing wind direction on the Ulu Peninsula. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of size at first maturity in two South African coral species

The corals Acropora austera and Platygyra daedalea have been the subject of extensive reproductive and population genetic studies in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (iSimangaliso), on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, eastern South Africa. Despite this, estimates of size at first maturity in these two species are lacking. This information could be used to provide a baseline to differentiate juveniles from adult sizes of corals, an important factor for assessing the condition of scleractinian communities in reefs. Here, we present the methods followed to provide such estimates for these two hard corals. Using generalised linear models and assuming knife-edge maturity (50% probability), it was estimated that A. austera from iSimangaliso matures at c. 15 cm mean colony diameter (MCD) (95% CI: 9.25–20.75 cm MCD) and P. daedalea matures at c. 7 cm MCD (95% CI: 4.55–8.39 cm MCD). These estimates were comparable to those for tropical species which is remarkable considering the high-latitude nature of the sampled reefs. It is expected that the findings from this study will assist in the assessment of reproduction, recruitment, survival and genetic variation in clonal organisms such as corals, and will provide a baseline to assess the effects of climate change on coral communities in the region.     

全球变暖和核电站温排水对大亚湾滨珊瑚钙化的影响

全球变暖引起的珊瑚白化和珊瑚钙化能力减弱,对全球珊瑚礁生态系统构成了严重威胁.在这样的背景下,相对高纬度海域石珊瑚(Scleractinia)群落被认为是珊瑚物种延续的最后避难所.通过分析大亚湾海域持续生长46年(1962-2007年)的滨珊瑚Porites骨骼参数(生长率、密度和钙化率),研究相对高纬度海域石珊瑚钙化对全球变暖以及人为热排放的响应模式.结果显示,滨珊瑚平均生长率、密度和钙化率分别为0.97cm·a-1(0.41-1.32cm·a-1)、1.45g·cm-3(1.17-1.65g·cm-3)和1.40g·(cm2·a)-1[0.59-1.93g·(cm2·a)-1].海表温度(SST)是该海域石珊瑚钙化的主导控制因素.1962-1993年,全球变暖、SST上升对大亚湾滨珊瑚生长有缓解冬季低温胁迫、促进骨骼钙化的作用.然而,随着SST持续上升以及大亚湾核电站的运行,全球变暖与核电站温排水对滨珊瑚骨骼形成高密度带造成抑制作用,导致自1993年以后滨珊瑚骨骼生长率和钙化率呈下降趋势,并出现1997-2001年和2006年的低谷.因此,全球变暖,至少是初期,对相对高纬度海域石珊瑚钙化乃至珊瑚礁发育是有促进作用的.但随着SST持续上升,加上ENSO等极端高温事件以及人类活动的影响,可能在未来会出现相对高纬度海域的大面积石珊瑚白化.     

北部湾涠洲岛珊瑚礁的研究历史、现状与特色

分析多年来涠洲岛珊瑚礁的研究成果,得出以下认识：1）近20多年来涠洲岛活珊瑚覆盖率呈快速下降趋势,北部活珊瑚覆盖率由2005年的63.70%下降到2010年的12.10%,东南部由1991年的60.00%下降到2010年的17.58%,西南部由1991年的80.00%下降到2010年的8.45%;2）处于相对高纬度区域的涠洲岛珊瑚礁,是研究全球气候变暖背景下珊瑚向高纬度或相对高纬度海域迁移的珊瑚避难所这一假说的理想区域;3）涠洲岛的珊瑚礁直接发育于火山基岩之上,是检验达尔文关于环礁成因假说的理想场所;4）涠洲岛珊瑚礁主要受到极端气候事件与人类活动的双重影响,是研究珊瑚礁响应人类活动和极端气候事件的天然实验室。因此,涠洲岛珊瑚礁除了与其他珊瑚礁一样具备重要的资源、生态与环境特征之外,还具有独特的科学研究价值,需要引起高度重视并进行有效保护,为南海珊瑚的北向迁移创造条件。     

Radio Tomography: A New Experimental Technique

The technique of radio tomography has developed during the past fifteen years from a theoretical concept to an established experimental method, used for geophysical investigations ofsolar-terrestrial processes. It also has potential in the mapping and modelling of the ionised atmosphere for application to practical radio systems. The method involves measurement of the electron content of the ionosphere along a large number of intersecting satellite-to-receiver ray paths, with tomographic inversion of the data to give a two-dimensional image of the spatial distribution of plasma density in the region of ray-path intersection. The emphasis in this review is on experimental tomographic observations, which have highlighted the capabilities and potential of the technique. Examples are presented from the equatorial sector where the equatorial anomaly is a significant feature, the mid-latitude sector where radio propagation is often influenced by the presence of the main ionisation trough, and the auroral and polar regions where footprints of solar-terrestrial coupling processes are frequently to be seen.     

Long-term community changes on a high-latitude coral reef in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, South Africa

South African coral reefs are limited in size but, being marginal, provide a model for the study of many of the stresses to which these valuable systems are being subjected globally. Soft coral cover, comprising relatively few species, exceeds that of scleractinians over much of the reefs. The coral communities nevertheless attain a high biodiversity at this latitude on the East African coast. A long-term monitoring programme was initiated in 1993, entailing temperature logging and image analysis of high resolution photographs of fixed quadrats on representative reef. Sea temperatures rose by 0.15 degrees C p.a. at the site up to 2000 but have subsequently been decreasing by 0.07 degrees C p.a. Insignificant bleaching was encountered in the region during the 1998 El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, unlike elsewhere in East Africa, but quantifiable bleaching occurred during an extended period of warming in 2000. Peak temperatures on the South African reefs thus appear to have attained the coral bleaching threshold. While this has resulted in relatively little bleaching thus far, the increased temperatures appear to have had a deleterious effect on coral recruitment success as other anthropogenic influences on the reefs are minimal. Recruitment success diminished remarkably up to 2004 but appears again to be improving. Throughout, the corals have also manifested changes in community structure, involving an increase in hard coral cover and reduction in that of soft corals, resulting in a 5.5% drop in overall coral cover. These "silent" effects of temperature increase do not appear to have been reported elsewhere in the literature.     

Multiple Flux Rope Events at the High-Latitude Magnetopause: Cluster/Rapid Observation on 26 January, 2001

Cluster measurements of the cusp and high latitude magnetopause boundary on 26 January, 2001 confirm that the cusp is a dynamic region full of energetic charged particles and turbulence. An energetic ion layer at high-latitudes beyond and adjacent to the duskside magnetopause exists when the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) has a southward orientation. Multiple energetic ion flux bursts were observed in the energetic ion layer. Each energetic ion flux burst was closely related to a magnetic flux rope. The axes of the flux ropes lie in the direction pointing duskward/tailward and somewhat upward. An intense axis-aligned current flows inside the ropes, with the current density reaching ∼10⁻⁸ A/m². The main components of the energetic ions are protons, helium and CNO ions, which originate from the magnetosphere, flowing out into the magnetosheath along the axis of the flux ropes. The velocity of the magnetosheath thermal plasma relative to the deHoffman-Teller (DHT) frame is found to be basically along the axis of the flux ropes also, but towards the magnetosphere. These flux ropes seem to be produced somewhere away via magnetic reconnection and move at similar DHT velocities passing over the spacecraft. These observations further confirm that the high-latitude magnetopause boundary region plays an important role in the solar wind-magnetopause coupling.     

高纬地区罕见的MCC卫星云图特征分析

2005年7月16日夜间在黑龙江省中北部的黑河、伊春、齐齐哈尔等地出现了罕见的MCC,产生了雷暴、冰雹、暴雨等强对流天气,利用FY-2卫星云图和相关资料,对本次MCC的特征进行了分析,并与本地非MCC强降水天气、其他地区MCC进行对比分析,为高纬度地区预报这类灾害性天气提供依据.