Identification of the distinctive circulation patterns of storminess on the Atlantic margin of Europe forms the main objective of this study; dealing with storm frequency, intensity and tracking. The climatology of the extratropical cyclones that affect this region has been examined for the period 1940–1998. Coastal meteorological data from Ireland to Spain have been linked to the cyclone history for the North Atlantic in the analysis of storm records for European coasts. The study examines the evolution in the occurrence of storms since the 1940s and also their relationship with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Results indicate a seasonal shift in the wind climate, with regionally more severe winters and calmer summers established. This pattern appears to be linked to a northward displacement in the main North Atlantic cyclone track.
An experiment with the ECHAM4 A-GCM at high resolution (T106) has also been used to model the effect of a greenhouse gases induced warming climate on the climatology of coastal storms in the region. The experiment consists of (1), a 30-year control time-slice representing present-day equivalent CO2 concentrations and (2), a 30-year perturbed period corresponding to a time when the radiative forcing has doubled in terms of equivalent CO2 concentrations. The boundary conditions have been obtained from an atmosphere-ocean coupled OA-GCM simulation at low horizontal resolution. An algorithm was developed to allow the identification of individual cyclone movements in selected coastal zones. For most of the northern part of the study region, covering Ireland and Scotland, results describe the establishment by ca. 2060 of a tendency for fewer but more intense storms.
The impacts of these changes in storminess for the vulnerability of European Atlantic coasts are considered. For low-lying, exposed and ‘soft’ sedimentary coasts, as in Ireland, these changes in storminess are likely to result in significant localised increases in coastal erosion. 相似文献
Seawater samples were collected in the lagoon of Nouméa (southwest New Caledonia) along two transects from eutrophic coastal bays to the oligotrophic barrier reef. Land-based emissions to the lagoon were measured with dissolved and particulate concentrations of chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni), used as tracers of both terrigenous and industrial (Ni ore treatment) activities, as well as dissolved and particulate concentrations of zinc (Zn), used as a tracer of urban effluents. The spatial variability of metal concentrations was related to geochemical and hydrodynamic conditions, i.e., respectively: (1) natural and anthropogenic emission sources, and chemical processes occurring in the water column; and (2) water residence times. The parameter used to describe the residence time of water masses was the local e-flushing time, i.e. the time required for a tracer mass contained within a given station to be reduced by a factor 1/e. High metal concentrations were found in coastal areas (up to 9000 ng dissolved Ni L−1), and steeply decreased with distance from the coast (down to 101 ng dissolved Ni L−1 near the barrier reef) to reach levels similar to those found in remote Pacific waters, suggesting a rapid renewal of waters close to the barrier. Distributions of metals in the lagoon are controlled upstream by land-based emission sources and later chemical processes. Then hydrodynamics constrain metal distributions, as shown by the observed relationship between local e-flushing times and the spatial variability of metal concentrations. In addition, a change in the direction of prevailing winds yielded a decrease of dissolved metal concentrations at the same site by a factor of 2.5 (Cr and Ni) and 2.9 (Zn). It is suggested that the residence time is a key parameter in the control of elemental concentrations in the lagoon waters, as much as land-based emission sources. 相似文献
1Introduction With the development and application of remotesensing technology, people fromthe international re-mote sensing community have realized the issue thatwe have immoderately emphasized characteristics ofvast volume data and great detail of remot… 相似文献
The ridge located between 31° S and 34°30′S is spreading at a rate of 35 mm yr−1, a transitional velocity between the very slow (≤20 mm yr−1) opening rates of the North Atlantic and Southwest Indian Oceans, and the intermediate rates (60 mm yr−1) of the northern limb of the East Pacific Rise, and the Galapagos and Juan de Fuca Ridges. A synthesis of multi-narrow beam,
magnetics and gravity data document that in this area the ridge represents a dynamically evolving system. Here the ridge is
partitioned into an ensemble of six distinct segments of variable lengths (12 to 100 km) by two transform faults (first-order
discontinuities) and three small offset (< 30 km) discontinuities (second-order discontinuities) that behave non-rigidly creating
complex and heterogeneous morphotectonic patterns that are not parallel to flow lines. The offset magnitudes of both the first
and second-order discontinuities change in response to differential asymmetric spreading. In addition, along the fossil trace
of second-order discontinuities, the lengths of abyssal hills located to either side of a discordant zone are observed to
lengthen and shorten creating a saw-toothed pattern. Although the spreading rate remains the same along the length of the
ridge studied, the morphology of the spreading segments varies from a deep median valley with characteristics analogous to
the rift segments of the North Atlantic to a gently rifted axial bulge that is indistinguishable from the shape and relief
of the intermediate rate spreading centers of the East Pacific Rise (i.e., 21°N). Like other carefully surveyed ridge segments
at slow and fast rates of accretion, the along-axis profiles of each ridge segment are distinctly convex upwards, and exhibit
along-strike changes in relief of 500m to 1500 between the shallowest portion of the segment (approximate center) and the
segment ends. Such spatial variations create marked along-axis changes in the morphology and relief of each segment. A relatively
low mantle Bouguer anomaly is known to be associated with the ridge segment characterized by a gently rifted axial bulge and
is interpreted to indicate the presence of focused mantle upwelling (Kuo and Forsyth, 1988). Moreover, the terrain at the
ends of each segment are known to be highly magnetized compared to the centers of each segment (Carbotte et al, 1990). Taken
together, these data clearly establish that these profound spatial variations in ridge segment properties between adjoining
segments, and along and across each segment, indicate that the upper mantle processes responsible for the formation of this
contrasting architecture are not solely related to passive upwelling of the asthenosphere beneath the ridge axis. Rather,
there must be differences in the thermal and mechanical structure of the crust and upper mantle between and along the ridge
segments to explain these spatial variations in axial topography, crustal structure and magnetization. These results are consistent
with the results of investigations from other parts of the ridge and suggest that the emplacement of magma is highly focused
along segments and positioned beneath the depth minimum of a given segment. The profound differences between segments indicate
that the processes governing the behavior of upwelling mantle are decoupled and the variations in the patterns of axis flanking
morphology and rate of accretion indicate that processes controlling upwelling and melt production vary markedly in time as
well. At this spreading rate and in this area, the accretionary processes are clearly three-dimensional. In addition, the
morphology of a ridge segment is not governed so much by opening rate as by the thermal structure of the mantle which underlies
the segment. 相似文献