The influence of underwater data transmission sounds on the displacement behaviour of captive harbour seals (Phoca vitulina)     

Kastelein RA  van der Heul S  Verboom WC  Triesscheijn RJ  Jennings NV 《Marine environmental research》2006,61(1):19-39

To prevent grounding of ships and collisions between ships in shallow coastal waters, an underwater data collection and communication network (ACME) using underwater sounds to encode and transmit data is currently under development. Marine mammals might be affected by ACME sounds since they may use sound of a similar frequency (around 12 kHz) for communication, orientation, and prey location. If marine mammals tend to avoid the vicinity of the acoustic transmitters, they may be kept away from ecologically important areas by ACME sounds. One marine mammal species that may be affected in the North Sea is the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina). No information is available on the effects of ACME-like sounds on harbour seals, so this study was carried out as part of an environmental impact assessment program. Nine captive harbour seals were subjected to four sound types, three of which may be used in the underwater acoustic data communication network. The effect of each sound was judged by comparing the animals' location in a pool during test periods to that during baseline periods, during which no sound was produced. Each of the four sounds could be made into a deterrent by increasing its amplitude. The seals reacted by swimming away from the sound source. The sound pressure level (SPL) at the acoustic discomfort threshold was established for each of the four sounds. The acoustic discomfort threshold is defined as the boundary between the areas that the animals generally occupied during the transmission of the sounds and the areas that they generally did not enter during transmission. The SPLs at the acoustic discomfort thresholds were similar for each of the sounds (107 dB re 1 microPa). Based on this discomfort threshold SPL, discomfort zones at sea for several source levels (130-180 dB re 1 microPa) of the sounds were calculated, using a guideline sound propagation model for shallow water. The discomfort zone is defined as the area around a sound source that harbour seals are expected to avoid. The definition of the discomfort zone is based on behavioural discomfort, and does not necessarily coincide with the physical discomfort zone. Based on these results, source levels can be selected that have an acceptable effect on harbour seals in particular areas. The discomfort zone of a communication sound depends on the sound, the source level, and the propagation characteristics of the area in which the sound system is operational. The source level of the communication system should be adapted to each area (taking into account the width of a sea arm, the local sound propagation, and the importance of an area to the affected species). The discomfort zone should not coincide with ecologically important areas (for instance resting, breeding, suckling, and feeding areas), or routes between these areas.  相似文献   

Inferring catchment flow path responses using a data-driven model: an exploratory study based on a generalized additive model     

Dipangkar Kundu  R. Willem Vervoort  Floris F. van Ogtrop 《水文科学杂志》2017,62(12):1965-1979

Identifying physical catchment processes from streamflow data, such as quick- and slow-flow paths, remains challenging. This study is designed to explore whether a flexible nonparametric regression model (generalized additive model, GAM) can be used to infer different flow paths. This assumes that the data relationship in data-driven models is also a reflection of catchment physical processes. The GAM, using time-lagged flow covariates, was fitted to synthetic rainfall–runoff data simulated using simple linear reservoirs. Partial plots of the time-lagged covariates show that the model could differentiate simple and more complex flow paths in simulated synthetic data with short and long memory systems and varying between dry and wet climates. Further analysis of data from real catchments showed that the model could differentiate catchments dominated by slow flow and by quick flow. Therefore, this study indicates that GAM can be used to identify catchment storages and delay processes from streamflow data.  相似文献   

Dispatch approaches for scheduling radio telescope observations     

I. Moser  Willem van Straten 《Experimental Astronomy》2018,46(2):285-307

Radio telescopes are a scarce resource designed to provide experimental data for astrophysical research, and various studies have focused on the design of observing schedules that make optimal use of available telescope time. We consider strategies for minimising the time required to observe a fixed set of pulsars, which provides an excellent example of scheduling in an unpredictable environment. First, owing to scintillation, the intensity of a pulsar signal is variable and random; therefore, the decision to abort or prolong an observation can be made only after some fraction of the scheduled observation has been completed. Second, observations may be interrupted by radio frequency interference or when the source sets below the horizon. Some sources are visible for more or less time depending on their declination and the latitude of the observing telescope. Formulating the problem in these terms leads to a highly dynamic shortest path problem with uncertainty. Unlike other documented telescope scheduling approaches, we demonstrate how a simple earliest setting policy achieves sets of pulsar observations in a rather short timespan. The policy is fast to apply due to a novel algorithm that pre-calculates the subset of next candidates before the end of the current integration. Our simulation also clarifies that the uncertainty arising from the scintillation (signal strength) encountered on arrival adds significantly to the variation in overall durations and that different hourly start times can favour or hamper the progress of a set of observations.  相似文献   

The organic carbon pump in the Atlantic     

Anne Willem Omta  Jorn Bruggeman  Bas Kooijman  Henk Dijkstra 《Journal of Sea Research》2009,62(2-3):179

The growth, sinking and remineralisation of phytoplankton constitute the soft-tissue carbon pump. Here we derive the expression for the strength of this carbon pump in terms of the nutrient utilisation and the carbon:nutrient ratio of plankton. Furthermore, we aim to determine how the physical environment affects this carbon pump. Thereto, we have used a plankton physiological model with a novel representation of the effect of temperature and light on plankton stoichiometry; it predicts that the effect of temperature on the carbon:nutrient ratio depends on the light conditions. Using this model combined with a mechanistic model for the mixed layer, we have studied the biological carbon pump at the BATS site and at various locations along a meridional transect through the Atlantic Ocean. Our results suggest that the soft-tissue carbon pump is stronger at mid-latitudes than in the (sub-)tropics and near the poles as a consequence of latitudinal variations in algal stoichiometry.  相似文献   

Climate change and other trends in streamflow observations in Australian forested catchments since 1970     

R. Willem Vervoort  Michaela M. Dolk  Floris F. van Ogtrop 《水文研究》2021,35(1):e13999

The effect of climate change on water resources has been an area of continued research, especially in Australia. Previous studies have suggested significant trends in rainfall, and these are amplified causing larger changes in streamflow. However, most of the previous analysis was based on annual time scales or modelled data and did not account for changes in land cover, which could interact with changes in climate. Climate data and streamflow data between 1970 and 2010 from 13 mostly forested small catchments (<250 km²) in Australia were analysed for trends. Non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend analysis, generalized additive mixed modelling and rainfall-runoff modelling were combined for the analysis. This indicates consistent increases in maximum temperature and varied decreases in rainfall. The streamflow in the studied catchments indicated small decreases in streamflow, which amplified observed trends in the rainfall. In general, overall decreases are much smaller than suggested in earlier research.  相似文献   

Patagonian ash on sub‐Antarctic South Georgia: expanding the tephrostratigraphy of southern South America into the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean          下载免费PDF全文

Lea Toska Oppedal  Willem G. M. van der Bilt  Nicholas L. Balascio  Jostein Bakke 《第四纪科学杂志》2018,33(5):482-486

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The Space Package: Tight Integration between Space and Semantics     

Willem Robert Van Hage  Jan Wielemaker  Guus Schreiber 《Transactions in GIS》2010,14(2):131-146

Interpretation of spatial features often requires combined reasoning over geometry and semantics. We introduce the Space package, an open source SWI‐Prolog extension that provides spatial indexing capabilities. Together with the existing semantic web reasoning capabilities of SWI‐Prolog, this allows efficient integration of spatial and semantic queries and provides an infrastructure for declarative programming with space and semantics. There are few systems that provide indexing and reasoning facilities for both spatial and semantic data. A common solution is to combine separate semantic reasoning and geospatial services. Such loose coupling has the disadvantage that each service cannot make use of the statistics of the other. This makes optimization of such a service‐oriented architecture hard. The SWI‐Prolog Space and Semantic web packages provide a native Prolog interface to both spatial and semantic indexing and reasoning, which makes it easy to write combined query optimizers. Another advantage of the Space package is that it allows declarative logic programming, which means in practice that you say what you want to compute instead of how to compute it. The actual indexing machinery is encapsulated inside Prolog predicates. In this article we describe the interface of the Space package, compare its functionality to alternative software libraries, and show how to work with it using three example applications. These example illustrations include reasoning over movement patterns, dynamically loading geospatial linked data off the semantic web, and setting up a simple KML server.  相似文献   

Deterring effects of 8-45 kHz tone pulses on harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in a large pool     

Kastelein RA  van der Heul S  Terhune JM  Verboom WC  Triesscheijn RJ 《Marine environmental research》2006,62(5):356-373

The marine aquaculture industry suffers losses due to pinniped attacks which damage net enclosures and fish stocks. Acoustic harassment devices (AHDs) emit loud sounds which are intended to deter pinnipeds from approaching aquaculture enclosures. At present, many AHDs emit sounds in the 8-20 kHz frequency range. It is not known whether sounds of higher frequencies have a deterrent effect on seals. Therefore five captive harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were subjected to four series of tone pulses together spanning a broad frequency range (8, 16, 32 and 45 kHz). Pulse duration was 250 ms and pulse interval was 5s. Each of the four sounds was made deterrent by increasing the amplitude. The seals reacted by swimming away from the sounds. The displacement effect of each sound was judged by comparing the animals' surface positions, and number of surfacings, during ten 45 min baseline periods with ten 45 min test periods per frequency (one frequency per day in rotation, 40 sessions in total). The seals were displaced by all four frequencies throughout the 40 trial days. The seals came to the surface more often when the test tones were produced than in the baseline periods. The initial displacement distances did not change over the 40 test days. This suggests that operating AHDs for only short periods will be more effective and less likely to result in habituation by the seals than operating them continuously. The discomfort threshold sound pressure level (SPL) was established for each of the four pulse frequencies. The acoustic discomfort threshold SPL is defined as the boundary SPL between the area that the animals generally occupied during the transmission of the sounds and the area that they generally did not enter during sound transmission. The discomfort threshold SPL may depend on the context.  相似文献   

Sequence stratigraphy of an argillaceous,deepwater basin-plain succession: Vischkuil Formation (Permian), Karoo Basin,South Africa     

Willem C. van der Merwe  Stephen S. FlintDavid M. Hodgson 《Marine and Petroleum Geology》2010

The 380 m thick fine-grained Vischkuil Formation comprises laterally extensive hemipelagic mudstones, separated by packages of graded sandstone and siltstone turbidites, and volcanic ash beds, and is an argillaceous precursor to a 1 km thick sand-prone basin floor fan to shelf succession. The Vischkuil Formation provides an insight into the process by which regional sand supply is initiated and for testing sequence stratigraphic principles in a basin plain setting. Regionally mapped 1–2 m thick hemipelagic mudstone units are interpreted as condensed drapes that represent the starved basin plain equivalents of transgressive systems tracts and maximum flooding surface on the coeval shelf (now removed during later uplift). The section above each mudstone drape comprises siltstone turbidites interpreted as highstand systems tract deposits and a surface of regional extent, marked by an abrupt grain size shift to fine sandstone. These surfaces are interpreted as sequence boundaries, related to abrupt increases in flow volume and delivery of sand grade material to the basin-plain. The interpreted lowstand systems tract comprises sandstone-dominated turbidites and is overlain by another hemipelagic mudstone drape. The upper Vischkuil Formation is marked by three 20–45 m thick debrites, with intraformational sandstone clasts up to 20 cm in diameter that can be mapped over 3000 km². In each case, debrite emplacement resulted in widespread deformation of the immediately underlying 3–10 m of silty turbidites. A sequence boundary is interpreted at the base of each deformation/debrite package. Six depositional sequences are recognised and the interfered energy shift across each successive sequence boundary and LSTs include a larger volume of sandstone increases up section. The lower two sequences thin to the NW and show NW-directed palaeocurrents. The four overlying sequences show a polarity switch in palaeocurrent directions and thinning, to the E and SE. Sequence 6 is overlain sharply by the 300 m thick sandstone dominated Fan A of the Laingsburg Formation. The LST debrites may indicate gradual development of major routing conduits that subsequently fed Fan A. The polarity shift from westward flowing turbidity currents to an eastward prograding deepwater to shelf system represents establishment of a long term feeder system from the west. Sand supply to the Karoo basin floor was established in an incremental, stepwise manner. Given the early post-glacial setting in an icehouse climate, glacio-eustatic sea-level changes are considered to have been the main control on sequence development.  相似文献   

Corrigendum to “The effect of a northward shift in the southern hemisphere westerlies on the global ocean” [Prog Oceanogr 79 (2008) 1-19]     

Willem P. Sijp  Matthew H. England 《Progress in Oceanography》2009,82(3):225

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