The importance of extratropical and tropical cyclones on the short-term evolution of barrier islands along the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA     

Gregory W. Stone  Baozhu Liu  David A. Pepper  Ping Wang 《Marine Geology》2004,210(1-4):63-78

Data are presented indicating the complexity and highly variable response of beaches to cold front passages along the northern Gulf of Mexico, in addition to the impacts of tropical cyclones and winter storms. Within the past decade, an increase in the frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes impacting the northern Gulf has dramatically altered the long-term equilibrium of a large portion of this coast. A time series of net sediment flux for subaerial and nearshore environments has been established for a section of this coast in Florida, and to a lesser extent, Mississippi. The data incorporate the morphological signature of six tropical storms/hurricanes and more than 200 frontal passages.

Data indicate that (1) barrier islands can conserve mass during catastrophic hurricanes (e.g., Hurricane Opal, a strong category 4 hurricane near landfall); (2) less severe hurricanes and tropical storms can promote rapid dune aggradation and can contribute sediment to the entire barrier system; (3) cold fronts play a critical role in the poststorm adjustment of the barrier by deflating the subaerial portion of the overwash terrace and eroding its marginal lobe along the bayside beach through locally generated, high frequency, steep waves; and (4) barrier systems along the northern Gulf do not necessarily enter an immediate poststorm recovery phase, although nested in sediment-rich nearshore environments. While high wave energy conditions associated with cold fronts play an integral role in the evolution and maintenance of barriers along the northern Gulf, these events are more effective in reworking sediment after the occurrence of extreme events such as hurricanes. This relationship is even more apparent during the clustering of tropical cyclones.

It is anticipated that these findings will have important implications for the longer term evolution of barrier systems in midlatitude, microtidal settings where the clustering of storms is apparent, and winter storms are significant in intensity and frequency along the coast.  相似文献   

Elucidating the dynamics and mixing agents of a shallow fjord through age tracer modelling     

Karin E. Gustafsson  Jrgen Bendtsen 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2007,74(4):641

The mixing agents and their role in the dynamics of a shallow fjord are elucidated through an Eulerian implementation of artificial tracers in a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The time scales of vertical mixing in this shallow estuary are short, and the artificial tracers are utilized in order to reveal information not detectable in the temperature or salinity fields. The fjord's response to external forcing is investigated through a series of model experiments in which we quantify vertical mixing, transport time scales of fresh water runoff and estuarine circulation in relation to external forcing.Using age tracers released at surface and bottom, we quantify the time scales of downward mixing of surface water and upward mixing of bottom water. Wind is shown to be the major agent for vertical mixing at nearly all depth levels in the fjord, whereas the tide or external sea level forcing is a minor agent and only occasionally more important just close to the bottom. The time scale of vertical mixing of surface water to the bottom or ventilation time scale of bottom water is estimated to be in the range 0.7 h to 9.0 days, with an average age of 2.7 days for the year 2004.The fjord receives fresh water from two streams entering the innermost part of the fjord, and the distribution and age of this water are studied using both ageing and conservative tracers. The salinity variations outside this fjord are large, and in contrast to the salinity, the artificial tracers provide a straight forward analysis of river water content. The ageing tracer is used to estimate transport time scales of river water (i.e. the time elapsed since the water left the river mouth). In May 2004, the typical age of river water leaving the fjord mouth is 5 days. As the major vertical mixing agent is wind, it controls the estuarine circulation and export of river water. When the wind stress is set to zero, the vertical mixing is reduced and the vertical salinity stratification is increased, and the river water can be effectively exported out of the fjord.We also analyse the river tracer fields and salinity field in relation to along estuary winds in order to detect signs of wind-induced straining of the along estuary density gradient. We find that events of down estuary winds are primarily associated with a reduced along estuary salinity gradient due to increased surface salinity in the innermost part of the fjord, and with an overall decrease in vertical stratification and river water content at the surface. Thus, our results show no apparent signs of wind-induced straining in this shallow fjord but instead they indicate increased levels of vertical mixing or upwelling during down estuary wind events.  相似文献   

Pelagic fish abundance in relation to regional environmental variation in the Gulf of Finland, northern Baltic Sea     

Peltonen  Heikki; Luoto  Miska; Paakkonen  Jari-Pekka; Karjalainen  Miina; Tuomaala  Antti; Ponni  Jukka; Viitasalo  Markku 《ICES Journal of Marine Science》2007,64(3):487-495

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Modeling erosion of sedimentary coasts in the western Russian Arctic     

I. O. Leont'yev   《Coastal Engineering》2003,47(4):413-429

Morphodynamic modeling is employed in the present work to predict the long-term evolution (over the next 100 years) of typical sedimentary coasts in the western Russian Arctic. The studied objects are the coasts of Varandey (the Barents Sea), Baydaratskaya Bay and Harasavey (the Kara Sea). The model developed takes into account both the short-term processes (storm events) and long-term factors (for example, changes in sea level, inter-annual variations in gross sediment flux, lack or excess of sediment supply). Predicted and observed morphological changes in coastal profiles are shown to agree well for time scales ranging from weeks to decades. It is revealed that under given environmental conditions, the morphological evolution is strongly influenced by storm surges and associated wind-driven circulation. The water level gradient created by a surge generates a seaward flow at the bed. This outflow is shown to be an important destructive mechanism contributing to the erosion and recession of Arctic coasts. The rate of change is found to depend on both the exposure of the coast (relative to the direction of dominant winds) and its height above the sea. The open coast of Varandey is expected to retreat as much as 300–500 m over 100 years, while recession of the less exposed coasts of Baydaratskaya Bay would not exceed about 100 m/century. If long-term sediment losses are insignificant, the rate of erosion decays with time and the morphodynamic system may tend toward equilibrium. It is concluded that the expected relative sea-level rise (up to 1 m over the nearest 100 years) is non-crucial to the future coastal evolution if an erosion activity is already high enough.  相似文献   

Annual Anthropogenic Carbon Transport into the North Pacific Intermediate Water through the Kuroshio/Oyashio Interfrontal Zone: An Estimation from CFCs Distribution     

Tsuneo Ono  Yutaka W. Watanabe  Katsuyuki Sasaki 《Journal of Oceanography》2000,56(6):675-689

Vertical distribution of anthropogenic carbon content of the water (exDIC) in the Oyashio area just outside of the Kuroshio/Oyashio Interfrontal Zone (K/O Zone) was estimated by the simple 1-D advection-diffusion model calibrated by the distribution of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The average concentration of exDIC for = 26.60–27.00 is multiplied by the volume transport of Oyashio water into the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) to estimate the annual transport of exDIC into NPIW through K/O Zone. The estimated transport of exDIC was 0.018–0.020 GtC/y, which corresponds to 15% of the whole total exDIC accumulation in the temperate North Pacific. A simple assessment using the NPIW 1-box model indicates that the current study explains at least 70% of the total annual transport of exDIC into NPIW, and that small exDIC sources for NPIW still exists in addition to K/O Zone.  相似文献   

廉州湾南部海域泥沙来源及运移趋势分析     

谷东起  吴桑云 《海洋科学进展》2001,19(1):25-31

重矿物组合、含量变化和特征矿物的分布及变化规律是沿海泥沙来源和运移趋势判断的重要手段之一。通过对廉州湾南部海域海底表层沉积物的重矿物分析 ,发现该区重矿物分布以北海地角为界 ,其百分含量和特征矿物南北有别 ,可能分别代表不同的物质来源区。其中廉州湾北部南流江流域来沙是该区主要物源 ,运移趋势为自 NE向 SW;地角西南岸段、岭南侧海岸侵蚀及银滩来沙也为该区提供了部分物源 ,运移趋势为绕过冠头岭沿海岸向 N方向运移。由于缺乏北海陆域陆相地层重矿物含量等相关资料 ,暂未做物质来源区的具体判断  相似文献   

底部浮泥表层推移速度分布的ADCP—GPS估测方法   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

吴中  陈力平等 《海洋工程》2002,20(4):85-88

ADCP对底跟踪走航观测的流速数据中包含水体底部浮泥、底沙运动信息,对比GPS定位方法算出的水体流速数据可以分离出浮泥相对于GPS定位的运动信号,从而达到对底质推移观测的目的。  相似文献   

3D gravity modelling for Anyongbok Seamount in the East Sea     

Moo Hee Kang  Hyun-Chul Han  Hyesu Yun  Gee Soo Kong  Kyong O. Kim  Youn Soo Lee 《Marine Geophysical Researches》2007,28(3):257-269

A seamount chain with an approximately WNW trend is observed in the northeastern Ulleung Basin. It has been argued that these seamounts, including two islands called Ulleung and Dok islands, were formed by a hotspot process or by ridge related volcanism. Many geological and geophysical studies have been done for all the seamounts and islands in the chain except Anyongbok Seamount, which is close to the proposed spreading ridge. We first report morphological characteristics, sediment distribution patterns, and the crustal thickness of Anyongbok Seamount using multibeam bathymetry data, seismic reflection profiles, and 3D gravity modeling. The morphology of Anyongbok Seamount shows a cone shaped feature and is characterized by the development of many flank cones and flank rift zones. The estimated surface volume is about 60 km³, and implies that the seamount is smaller than the other seamounts in the chain. No sediments have been observed on the seamount except the lower slope, which is covered by more than 1,000 m of strata. The crustal structure obtained from a 3D gravity modeling (GFR = 3.11, SD 3.82 = mGal) suggests that the seamount was formed around the boundary of the Ulleung Plateau and the Ulleung Basin, and the estimated crustal thickness is about 20 km, which is a little thicker than other nearby seamounts distributed along the northeastern boundary of the Ulleung Basin. This significant crustal thickness also implies that Anyongbok Seamount might not be related to ridge volcanism.  相似文献   

The dimensions of sand ripples in full-scale oscillatory flows   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

T. O'Donoghue  J.S. Doucette  J.J. van der Werf  J.S. Ribberink 《Coastal Engineering》2006,53(12):997-1012

New large-scale experiments have been carried out in two oscillatory flow tunnels to study ripple regime sand suspension and net sand transport processes in full-scale oscillatory flows. The paper focuses on ripple dimensions and the new data are combined with existing data to make a large dataset of ripple heights and lengths for flows with field-scale amplitudes and periods. A feature of the new experiments is a focus on the effect of flow irregularity. The combined dataset is analysed to examine the range of hydraulic conditions under which oscillatory flow ripples occur, to examine the effects of flow irregularity and ripple three-dimensionality on ripple dimensions and to test and improve existing methods for predicting ripple dimensions.The following are the main conclusions. (1) The highest velocities in a flow time-series play an important role in determining the type of bedform occurring in oscillatory flow. Bedform regime is well characterised by mobility number based on maximum velocity in the case of regular flow and based on the mean of the highest one tenth peak velocities in the case of irregular flow. (2) For field-scale flows, sand size is the primary factor determining whether equilibrium ripples will be 2D or 3D. 2D ripples occur when the sand D₅₀ ≥ 0.30 mm and 3D ripples occur when D₅₀ ≤ 0.22 mm (except when the flow orbital diameter is low). (3) Ripple type (2D or 3D) is the same for regular and irregular flows and ripple dimensions produced by equivalent regular and irregular flows follow a similar functional dependence on mobility number, with mobility number based on maximum velocity in the case of regular flow and based on the mean of the highest one tenth velocities in the case of irregular flow. For much of the ripple regime, ripple dimensions have weak dependency on mobility number and ripple dimensions are similar for regular and irregular flows with the same flow orbital amplitude. However, differences in ripples produced by equivalent regular and irregular flows become significant at the high mobility end of the ripple regime. (4) Ripple dimensions predicted using the Wiberg and Harris formulae are in poor agreement with measured ripple dimensions from the large-scale experiments. Predictions based on the Mogridge et al. and the Nielsen formulae show better overall agreement with the data but also show systematic differences in cases of 3D ripples and ripples generated by irregular flows. (5) Based on the combined large-scale data, modifications to the Nielsen ripple dimension equations are proposed for the heights and lengths of 2D ripples. The same equations apply to regular and irregular flows, but with mobility number appropriately defined. 3D ripples are generally smaller than 2D ripples and estimates of 3D ripple height and length may be obtained by applying multipliers of 0.55 and 0.73 respectively to the 2D formulae. The proposed modified Nielsen formulae provide an improved fit to the large-scale data, accounting for flow irregularity and ripple three-dimensionality.  相似文献   

Indirect economic indicators in bio-economic fishery models: agricultural price indicators and fish stocks in Lake Victoria   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Simonit  Silvio; Perrings  Charles 《ICES Journal of Marine Science》2005,62(3):483-492

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