Zooplankton sampling has been carried out by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey since the 1930s enabling the study of long-term changes in plankton populations, the elucidation of seasonal patterns of abundance, and more recently providing zooplankton biomass estimates for ecosystem models. Data for zooplankton abundance collected by CPR tows in the Western English Channel (between 1988 and 1998) were compared to vertically integrated samples collected from station L4 off Plymouth, UK. Comparisons were made for locally abundant copepods (including Acartia, Calanus, Para/Pseudocalanus, Centropages, Oithona and Temora) collected by CPR and WP-2 nets. All dominant species recorded at L4 were also common to the CPR data. However, the position of the taxa in the two datasets was not equivalent. Seasonal cycles revealed by CPR data were significantly similar to those recorded throughout the water column at L4 for most taxa. However, absolute levels of abundance differed for the two datasets: abundances were underestimated by CPR samples when compared to those of vertically integrated samples by a factor of between 2 and 35, with the exception of Centropages. The differing mesh sizes (200 and 270 μm) of the WP-2 net and CPR mesh could only partially explain these differences in abundance, implying that the behaviour of individual taxa and their depth in the water column also influenced the abundance recorded. 相似文献
Four hurricanes impacted the reefs of Florida in 2005. In this study, we evaluate the combined impacts of hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma on a population of Acropora palmata using a newly developed video‐mosaic methodology that provides a high‐resolution, spatially accurate landscape view of the reef benthos. Storm damage to A. palmata was surprisingly limited; only 2 out of 19 colonies were removed from the study plot at Molasses Reef. The net tissue losses for those colonies that remained were only 10% and mean diameter of colonies decreased slightly from 88.4 to 79.6 cm. In contrast, the damage to the reef framework was more severe, and a large section (6 m in diameter) was dislodged, overturned, and transported to the bottom of the reef spur. The data presented here show that two‐dimensional video‐mosaic technology is well‐suited to assess the impacts of physical disturbance on coral reefs and can be used to complement existing survey methodologies. 相似文献
An index of ENSO in the Pacific during early boreal winter is shown to account for a significant part of the variability of coastal SST anomalies measured a few months later within the wind driven West African coastal upwelling region from 10°N to 26°N. This teleconnection is thought to result from an atmospheric bridge between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, leading to warm (cold) ENSO events being associated with a relaxation (intensification) of the Atlantic trade winds and of the wind-induced coastal upwelling. This ENSO related modulation of the wind-driven coastal upwelling appears to contribute to the connection observed at the basin-scale between ENSO and SST in the north Atlantic. The ability to use this teleconnection to give warnings of large changes in the West African upwelling several months in advance is successfully tested using data from the 1998 and 1999 ENSO events. 相似文献
We describe recent mechanical andeelectronic modifications to the Cambridge Ocean Bottom Hydrophone system, enabling it to record in addition three geophone channels from a deployed, disposable geophone package. Examples of data from seismic refraction experiments show good correspondence between records of ground motion detected by the hydrophone and the vertical geophone. Seismic signals are undistorted by noise from instrument related sources. Clear examples of P to S conversions just below the receiver are observed. Improved recording conditions are achieved by deploying the geophones in a small pressure vessel as far away as possible from the main instrument package. 相似文献
This paper brings together unpublished historical data sets and published literature to review the role of climatic, oceanographic and ecological processes in the marine ecosystem of the eastern Canadian Archipelago. Physical data include characteristics of the water masses, circulation patterns, sea ice conditions, and climatic records from 1950s onward. Biological data include unpublished data sets on nutrients, primary and secondary production, and sedimentation, which were collected during the 1980–1990s in the eastern Canadian Archipelago. These results show high year-to-year variability in nutrient inventories and ratios, the magnitude of the ice algae and phytoplankton bloom, the timing of ice algae sedimentation in the spring, and the composition of the zooplankton community. The significance of this high interannual variability and its effect on pelagic–benthic coupling processes is discussed in the context of climatic and oceanographic forcing, with emphasis on recent (past decade) Arctic changes. An estimate of total primary production in the Archipelago is also presented, along with published production estimates for other Arctic shelves, showing that the Archipelago may support up to 32% of the total primary production of Arctic shelves. The high year-to-year variability in production and carbon transfer pathways (e.g. pelagic versus benthic) in the Archipelago suggest that the system might be resilient to the increased variability in climatic conditions occurring in the past decade. However, this increased variability combined with directional change in climatic and oceanographic conditions might also modify the existing balance of ecological processes. For example, shifts in the timing of events appear to have already occurred in the past decade, with potential cascading effects throughout the ecosystem. 相似文献
The turbulent motions responsible for ocean mixing occur on scales much smaller than those resolved in numerical simulations
of oceanic flows. Great progress has been made in understanding the sources of energy for mixing, the mechanisms, and the
rates. On the other hand, we still do not have adequate answers to first order questions such as the extent to which the thermohaline
circulation of the ocean, and hence the earth's climate, is sensitive to the present mixing rates in the ocean interior. Internal
waves, generated by either wind or flow over topography, appear to be the principle cause of mixing. Mean and eddy flows over
topography generate internal lee waves, while tidal flows over topography generate internal tides. The relative importance
of these different internal wave sources is unknown. There are also great uncertainties about the spatial and temporal variation
of mixing. Calculations of internal tide generation are becoming increasingly robust, but we do not know enough about the
subsequent behavior of internal tides and their eventual breakdown into turbulence. It does seem, however, that most internal
tide energy flux is radiated away from generation sites as low modes that propagate over basin scales. The mechanisms of wave-wave
interaction and topographic scattering both act to transfer wave energy from low modes to smaller dissipative scales.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
During the Quaternary, the Mac. Robertson shelf of East Antarctica was deeply eroded by glaciers and currents exposing the underlying basement, resulting in a scalped shelf. Major geomorphic zones are: (1) high-relief, ridge and valley topography (200–1400 m); (2) smooth sea floors associated with low-energy, depositional shelf valleys and basins (400–800 m); (3) low-relief, planated banktops (100–200 m); and (4) iceberg gouged and current reworked seaward-bank margins and upper slope (200 to < 630 m). About 90% of the shelf's surface has net erosional conditions and about 10% is net depositional. The sedimentary processes and deposits may be common to large areas of the East Antarctic margin. 相似文献
The mathematical framework for turbulent transport in the ocean is reasonably well established. It may be applied to large-scale fields of scalars in the ocean and to the instantaneous or continuous discharge from a point. The theory and its physical basis can also provide an interpretation of passive scalar spectra. Spatial variations in the rate of turbulent transfer can be related to the movement of the center of mass of a scalar and to a formulation in terms of entrainment. The relative dispersion of a scalar with respect to its center of mass and the streakiness of the concentration field within the relative dispersion domain need to be considered. In many of these problems it is valuable to think in terms of simple models for individual streaks, as well as overall statistical properties. 相似文献
The formation of incised valleys on continental shelves is generally attributed to fluvial erosion under low sea level conditions. However, there are exceptions. A multibeam sonar survey at the northern end of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, adjacent to the southern edge of the Gulf of Papua, mapped a shelf valley system up to 220 m deep that extends for more than 90 km across the continental shelf. This is the deepest shelf valley yet found in the Great Barrier Reef and is well below the maximum depth of fluvial incision that could have occurred under a − 120 m, eustatic sea level low-stand, as what occurred on this margin during the last ice age. These valleys appear to have formed by a combination of reef growth and tidal current scour, probably in relation to a sea level at around 30–50 m below its present position.
Tidally incised depressions in the valley floor exhibit closed bathymetric contours at both ends. Valley floor sediments are mainly calcareous muddy, gravelly sand on the middle shelf, giving way to well-sorted, gravely sand containing a large relict fraction on the outer shelf. The valley extends between broad platform reefs and framework coral growth, which accumulated through the late Quaternary, coincides with tidal current scour to produce steep-sided (locally vertical) valley walls. The deepest segments of the valley were probably the sites of lakes during the last ice age, when Torres Strait formed an emergent land-bridge between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Numerical modeling predicts that the strongest tidal currents occur over the deepest, outer-shelf segment of the valley when sea level is about 40–50 m below its present position. These results are consistent with a Pleistocene age and relict origin of the valley.
Based on these observations, we propose a new conceptual model for the formation of tidally incised shelf valleys. Tidal erosion on meso- to macro-tidal, rimmed carbonate shelves is enhanced during sea level rise and fall when a tidal, hydraulic pressure gradient is established between the shelf-lagoon and the adjacent ocean basin. Tidal flows attain a maximum, and channel incision is greatest, when a large hydraulic pressure gradient coincides with small channel cross sections. Our tidal-incision model may explain the observation of other workers, that sediment is exported from the Great Barrier Reef shelf to the adjacent ocean basins during intermediate (rather than last glacial maximum) low-stand, sea level positions. The model may apply to other rimmed shelves, both modern and ancient. 相似文献