Reef status in the Rasfari region (North Malé Atoll,Maldives) five years before the mass mortality event of 1998     

Carla Morri  Stefano Aliani  Carlo Nike Bianchi 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2010

The Maldives was severely hit by massive coral bleaching and subsequent mortality in 1998. The results of reef monitoring in the following years have supported contrasting views about their recovery potential, partly because of the scarcity of information on the situation before 1998. Quantitative data on coral assemblages collected in 1993 in the Rasfari region (North Malé Atoll) may provide a base-line for the evaluation of the present status of the Maldivian reefs. Five years before the 1998 mortality, most coral communities appeared to be similar, in terms of both coral cover and growth-form composition, to those described in 1958 and 1964, notwithstanding increased human pressure and local events such as minor bleaching episodes in 1987 and crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) attacks in 1989. Three lessons can be learnt from these results to help to understand the present situation, some ten years after the 1998 mass mortality. First, Maldivian reefs proved in the past to be capable of maintaining flourishing coral life despite various disturbances. Second, four years had been sufficient for complete reef recovery after a (minor) bleaching event. Third, recovery after both COTS attack and bleaching follows a predictable path suggesting that the presence of a three-dimensional community structure, which should reduce post settlement mortality of coral recruits, is essential for rapid coral recovery. As coral recruitment remains high and large tabular Acropora colonies are now reappearing, it is expected that Maldivian reefs should return to their original condition within the next few years.  相似文献   

柳江流域冲积型粉质粘土的物理特征     

莫雷呜 《南方国土资源》1999,12(2):43-46

通过收集数年工程地质勘察土工试验资料、获得了柳江流域ⅡⅢ级阶地的粉质粘土的大量实验数据。运用数理统计的方法、分析归纳出这一地带粉质粘土的基本物理特征。  相似文献   

A review of the climatological characteristics of landfalling Gulf hurricanes for wind, wave, and surge hazard estimation   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

D.H. Levinson  P.J. Vickery 《Ocean Engineering》2010,37(1):13-25

The climatological characteristics of landfalling Gulf of Mexico hurricanes are presented, focusing on the basic parameters needed for accurately determining the structure and intensity of hurricanes for ocean response models. These include the maximum sustained wind, radius of maximum winds, the Holland-B parameter, the peripheral or far-field pressure, the surface roughness and coefficient of drag, and the central pressure for historical hurricanes in the Gulf.Despite evidence of a slight increase in the annual number of named storms over the past 50 years, presently there is no statistically significant trend in tropical storms, hurricanes, or major hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the long-term variability of tropical cyclones in the Gulf reflects the observed variability in the Atlantic basin as a whole. Analyses of hurricane winds from multiple sources suggest the presence of a bias toward overestimating the strength of winds in the HURDAT dataset from 7% to 15%. Results presented comparing HURDAT with other sources also show an overestimation of intensity at landfall, with an estimated bias of ~10%.Finally, a review of recent studies has shown that hurricane frequencies and intensities appear to vary on a much more localized scale than previously believed. This exacerbates the sampling problem for accurate characterization of hurricane parameters for design and operational applications.  相似文献   

Distribution of phytoplankton community in relation to environmental parameters in cage culture area of Sepanggar Bay,Sabah, Malaysia   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Madihah Jaffar Sidik  Md. Rashed-Un-NabiMd. Azharul Hoque 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2008

This paper covers spatial and temporal variation in phytoplankton communities and physico-chemical water properties in the cage culture area of Sepanggar Bay, Sabah, Malaysia based on field measurement conducted during July 2005 to January 2006 to study the spatial and temporal variation in phytoplankton communities and physico-chemical water properties of the bay. Phytoplankton samples and water parameters data were collected from five different stations located inside the bay during Southwest, Interseasonal and Northeast monsoons. Forty phytoplankton genera, representatives of 23 families, were found in the study area with a mean abundance of 1.55 ± 1.19 × 10⁶ cells L⁻¹. Most of these genera belong to diatoms (82.17%), Dinoflagellates (17.55%) and cyanobacteria (0.29%). Three genera were found to be dominant (>10%) in phytoplankton abundance and these were Coscinodiscus spp. (36.38%), Chaetoceros spp (17.65%) and Bacteriastrum spp. (10.98%). The most dominant genus was Coscinodiscus spp. which showed high abundance during all monsoons and stations (except Station 3). Among the seven environmental parameters tested in this study, water temperature, pH and suspended sediment concentration were found to be significantly different between monsoons. On the other hand, no significant differences were found between stations for the studied physico-chemical parameters. A clear differences in phytoplankton densities were observed between monsoons and stations with higher mean abundances during interseasonal monsoon (2.40 ± 1.37 × 10⁶ cells L⁻¹) and at station five (2.05 ± 0.74 × 10⁶ cells L⁻¹), respectively. Conversely, the diversity indices, both Shannon–Wiener (H^′)$\left(H^{\prime }\right)$ and Pielou (J^′)$\left(J^{\prime }\right)$, showed no significant difference throughout stations and monsoons (except (H^′)$\left(H^{\prime }\right)$ for monsoons). Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) results demonstrated temporal differences in phytoplankton community structure with highly diverse phytoplankton assemblage. Through cluster analysis five groups of phytoplankton were attained (at 40% similarity level) though no marked separation of the taxonomic classes pointed towards the constant pattern of the phytoplankton assemblage in the studied area.  相似文献   

Reproductive Biology of Yeilowfin Tuna T. albacares in the West-Central Indian Ocean     

ZHU Guoping  XU Liuxiong  ZHOU Yingqi  SONG Liming 《中国海洋大学学报(英文版)》2008,7(3)

Survey of yellowfin tuna in the west-central Indian Ocean was conducted on board of Chinese Iongliners during 2003, 2004 and 2005, which is a part of Chinese Tuna Fishery Scientific Observer Program (CTFSOP). The reproductive biology has been investigated. A total of 1023 samples are collected including 417 ovaries and 606 testes. Spawning activities of yellowfin tuna have been studied for both male and female from January to June. The data showed that the average monthly sex ratio is 0.59, and the minimum length at sexual maturity is 101 cm for female and 110 cm for male respectively. Length at 50% sexual maturity is esti- mated at 113.77 cm for female and 120.20 cm for male, whereas maturation rate is 0.066 cm-1 for female and 0.091 cm-1 for male. Sex ratio by length class indicates that the proportion of male is higher than female's along with size increasing; for instance, in the group of the body length longer than 145 cm, some females have their body length from 145 to 160 cm and males have their body length at 160 cm and even longer. Statistically, yellowfin tuna has a significant seasonal reproduction.  相似文献   

GPS/LEO掩星技术中超折射效应的修正   总被引：4，自引：3，他引：1  

严豪健  郭鹏  洪振杰  刘敏 《天文学报》2004,45(4):437-446

在GPS掩星探测地球大气技术中，Abel积分变换要求大气折射指数n是折射半径a的单值函数，当大气折射率的垂直梯度达到小于一个极限值dN／dr≈-0．16N-unit m^-1上述单值性不成立，称其为超折射，此时Abel积分变换不再适用,如果还是在形式上应用经典的Abel变换，在反演结果中就会产生负大气折射率偏差．描述了低对流层中超折射现象的物理特性和数学表示；在广义Abel积分变换的基础上，讨论了超折射层内和超折射层下的大气剖面反演算法；选择了一个简单的采样间隔内等大气折射率垂直梯度假设，对英国高分辨率无线电探空观测资料进行模拟计算，验证了负超折射与大气折射率偏差的关系，并提出的广义Abel变换的合理性.  相似文献   

Dissolved iron in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean (CLIVAR SR3 section): Meridional and seasonal trends     

P.N. Sedwick  A.R. Bowie  T.W. Trull   《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2008,55(8):911-925

We report measurements of dissolved iron (dFe, <0.4 μm) in seawater collected from the upper 300 m of the water column along the CLIVAR SR3 section south of Tasmania in March 1998 (between 42°S and 54°S) and November–December 2001 (between 47°S and 66°S). Results from both cruises indicate a general north-to-south decrease in mixed-layer dFe concentrations, from values as high as 0.76 nM in the Subtropical Front to uniformly low concentrations (<0.1 nM) between the Polar Front and the Antarctic continental shelf. Samples collected from the seasonal sea-ice zone in November–December 2001 provide no evidence of significant dFe inputs from the melting pack ice, which may explain the absence of pronounced ice-edge algal blooms in this sector of the Southern Ocean, as implied by satellite ocean-color images. Our data also allow us to infer changes in the dFe concentration of surface waters during the growing season. South of the Polar Front, a comparison of near-surface with subsurface (150 m depth) dFe concentrations in November–December 2001 suggests a net seasonal biological uptake of at least 0.14–0.18 nM dFe, of which 0.05–0.12 nM is depleted early in the growing season (before mid December). A comparison of our spring 2001 and fall 1998 data indicates a barely discernible seasonal depletion of dFe (0.03 nM) within the Polar Frontal Zone. Further north, most of our iron profiles do not exhibit near-surface depletions, and mixed-layer dFe concentrations are sometimes higher in samples from fall 1998 compared to spring 2001; here, the near-surface dFe distributions appear to be dominated by time-varying inputs of aerosol iron or advection of iron-rich subtropical waters from the north.  相似文献   

源地黑潮及其上下游流量的变化特征   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：2  

蔡榕硕  张启龙  齐庆华 《台湾海峡》2009,28(3):299-307

本文基于长时间序列的海流和温盐资料（最新版SODA高分辩率再分析资料和137°E断面的观测资料），计算了黑潮流系四个主要断面的流量，并分析了它们的变化特征．结果表明，黑潮流系各主要断面流量具有显著的季节性差异，其年际、年代际变化明显．相关分析表明，源地黑潮及其上下游流量变化具有较强的独立性，变化不尽一致，其中，短期气候变化特征可能与热带太平洋的年际变化有明显关联，而年代际变化则可能与发生于北太平洋的年代际变化以及其它副热带中尺度涡旋等变化有一定联系．  相似文献   

Pteropods in Southern Ocean ecosystems   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

B.P.V. Hunt  E.A. Pakhomov  G.W. Hosie  P. Ward 《Progress in Oceanography》2008,78(3):193-221

To date, little research has been carried out on pelagic gastropod molluscs (pteropods) in Southern Ocean ecosystems. However, recent predictions are that, due to acidification resulting from a business as usual approach to CO₂ emissions (IS92a), Southern Ocean surface waters may begin to become uninhabitable for aragonite shelled thecosome pteropods by 2050. To gain insight into the potential impact that this would have on Southern Ocean ecosystems, we have here synthesized available data on pteropod distributions and densities, assessed current knowledge of pteropod ecology, and highlighted knowledge gaps and directions for future research on this zooplankton group.Six species of pteropod are typical of the Southern Ocean south of the Sub-Tropical Convergence, including the four Thecosomes Limacina helicina antarctica, Limacina retroversa australis, Clio pyramidata, and Clio piatkowskii, and two Gymnosomes Clione limacina antarctica and Spongiobranchaea australis. Limacina retroversa australis dominated pteropod densities north of the Polar Front (PF), averaging 60 ind m⁻³ (max = 800 ind m⁻³) and 11% of total zooplankton at the Prince Edward Islands. South of the PF L. helicina antarctica predominated, averaging 165 ind m⁻³ (max = 2681 ind m⁻³) and up to >35% of total zooplankton at South Georgia, and up to 1397 ind m⁻³ and 63% of total zooplankton in the Ross Sea. Combined pteropods contributed <5% to total zooplankton in the Lazarev Sea, but 15% (max = 93%) to macrozooplankton in the East Antarctic. In addition to regional density distributions we have synthesized data on vertical distributions, seasonal cycles, and inter-annual density variation.Trophically, gymnosome are specialist predators on thecosomes, while thecosomes are considered predominantly herbivorous, capturing food with a mucous web. The ingestion rates of L. retroversa australis are in the upper range for sub-Antarctic mesozooplankton (31.2-4196.9 ng pig ind⁻¹ d⁻¹), while those of L. helicina antarctica and C. pyramidata are in the upper range for all Southern Ocean zooplankton, in the latter species reaching 27,757 ng pig ind⁻¹ d⁻¹ and >40% of community grazing impact. Further research is required to quantify diet selectivity, the effect of phytoplankton composition on growth and reproductive success, and the role of carnivory in thecosomes.Life histories are a significant knowledge gap for Southern Ocean pteropods, a single study having been completed for L. retroversa australis, making population studies a priority for this group. Pteropods appear to be important in biogeochemical cycling, thecosome shells contributing >50% to carbonate flux in the deep ocean south of the PF. Pteropods may also contribute significantly to organic carbon flux through the production of fast sinking faecal pellets and mucous flocs, and rapid sinking of dead animals ballasted by their aragonite shells. Quantification of these contributions requires data on mucous web production rates, egestion rates, assimilation efficiencies, metabolic rates, and faecal pellet morphology for application to sediment trap studies.Based on the available data, pteropods are regionally significant components of the Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem. However, there is an urgent need for focused research on this group in order to quantify how a decline in pteropod densities may impact on Southern Ocean ecosystems.  相似文献   

Are sea-level-rise trends along the coasts of the north Indian Ocean consistent with global estimates?   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

A.S. Unnikrishnan  D. Shankar 《Global and Planetary Change》2007,57(3-4):301-307

Mean-sea-level data from coastal tide gauges in the north Indian Ocean were used to show that low-frequency variability is consistent among the stations in the basin. Statistically significant trends obtained from records longer than 40 years yielded sea-level-rise estimates between 1.06–1.75 mm yr^− 1, with a regional average of 1.29 mm yr^− 1, when corrected for global isostatic adjustment (GIA) using model data. These estimates are consistent with the 1–2 mm yr^− 1 global sea-level-rise estimates reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  相似文献