Monitoring of chlorophyll-a and sea surface silicate concentrations in the south part of Cheju island in the East China sea using MODIS data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yuanzhi; Huang, Zhaojun; Fu, Dongyang; Tsou, Jin Yeu; Jiang, Tingchen; Liang, X. San; Lu, Xia

2018-05-01

Continually supplied with nutrients, phytoplankton maintains high productivity under ideal illumination and temperature conditions. Data in the south part of Cheju Island in the East China Sea (ECS), which has experienced a spring bloom since the 2000s, were acquired during a research cruise in the spring of 2007. Compared with in-situ measurements, MODIS chlorophyll-a measurements showed high stability in this area. Excluding some invalid stations data, the relationships between nutrients and chlorophyll-a concentrations in the study area were examined and compared with the results in 2015. A high positive correlation between silicate and chlorophyll-a concentration was identified, and a regression relationship was proposed. MODIS chlorophyll-a measurements and sea surface temperature were utilized to determine surface silicate distribution. The silicate concentration retrieved from MODIS exhibited good agreement with in-situ measurements with R2 of 0.803, root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.326 μmol/L (8.23%), and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.925 μmol/L (23.38%). The study provides a new solution to identify nutrient distributions using satellite data such as MODIS for water bodies, but the method still needs to be refined to determine the relationship of chlorophyll-a and nutrients during other seasons to monitor water quality in this and other areas.

Impact of the Sun on Remote Sensing of Sea Surface Salinity from Space

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Le Vine, David M; Abraham, Saji; Wentz, F; Lagerloef, G. S

2005-01-01

... to monitor soil moisture and sea surface salinity. Radiation from the sun can impact passive remote sensing systems in several ways, including line-of-sight radiation that comes directly from the sun and enters through antenna side lobes...

Integration of wireless sensor networks into cyberinfrastructure for monitoring Hawaiian "mountain-to-sea" environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Kido, Michael H; Mundt, Carsten W; Montgomery, Kevin N; Asquith, Adam; Goodale, David W; Kaneshiro, Kenneth Y

2008-10-01

Monitoring the complex environmental relationships and feedbacks of ecosystems on catchment (or mountain)-to-sea scales is essential for social systems to effectively deal with the escalating impacts of expanding human populations globally on watersheds. However, synthesis of emerging technologies into a robust observing platform for the monitoring of coupled human-natural environments on extended spatial scales has been slow to develop. For this purpose, the authors produced a new cyberinfrastructure for environmental monitoring which successfully merged the use of wireless sensor technologies, grid computing with three-dimensional (3D) geospatial data visualization/exploration, and a secured internet portal user interface, into a working prototype for monitoring mountain-to-sea environments in the high Hawaiian Islands. A use-case example is described in which native Hawaiian residents of Waipa Valley (Kauai) utilized the technology to monitor the effects of regional weather variation on surface water quality/quantity response, to better understand their local hydrologic cycle, monitor agricultural water use, and mitigate the effects of lowland flooding.

Effects of Sea-Surface Waves and Ocean Spray on Air-Sea Momentum Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ting; Song, Jinbao

2018-04-01

The effects of sea-surface waves and ocean spray on the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) at different wind speeds and wave ages were investigated. An MABL model was developed that introduces a wave-induced component and spray force to the total surface stress. The theoretical model solution was determined assuming the eddy viscosity coefficient varied linearly with height above the sea surface. The wave-induced component was evaluated using a directional wave spectrum and growth rate. Spray force was described using interactions between ocean-spray droplets and wind-velocity shear. Wind profiles and sea-surface drag coefficients were calculated for low to high wind speeds for wind-generated sea at different wave ages to examine surface-wave and ocean-spray effects on MABL momentum distribution. The theoretical solutions were compared with model solutions neglecting wave-induced stress and/or spray stress. Surface waves strongly affected near-surface wind profiles and sea-surface drag coefficients at low to moderate wind speeds. Drag coefficients and near-surface wind speeds were lower for young than for old waves. At high wind speeds, ocean-spray droplets produced by wind-tearing breaking-wave crests affected the MABL strongly in comparison with surface waves, implying that wave age affects the MABL only negligibly. Low drag coefficients at high wind caused by ocean-spray production increased turbulent stress in the sea-spray generation layer, accelerating near-sea-surface wind. Comparing the analytical drag coefficient values with laboratory measurements and field observations indicated that surface waves and ocean spray significantly affect the MABL at different wind speeds and wave ages.

HYDROOPTICS FOR ECOLOGICAL MONITORING OF BLACK SEA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MARTYNOV, Victor

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The article describes a method for environmental monitoring of the Black Sea basin. The main indicator of environmental changes of water masses authors considers the variation of their transparency. In the currently used method for measuring the transparency of water environment based on definition ZW – depth visibility of white standard disc diameter of 300 millimeters, called the white disс, which falls into the aquatic environment from the deck of a surface ship. This method for measuring the transparency has significant drawbacks, among them – the ability to determine the transparency of the water only in the surface layer, dependent on weather conditions and the low accuracy of the measurement ZW value. To eliminate these drawbacks the authors propose another method of measuring the transparency of water environment based on the use of laser technologies.

Wind-sea surface temperature-sea ice relationship in the Chukchi-Beaufort Seas during autumn

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jing; Stegall, Steve T.; Zhang, Xiangdong

2018-03-01

Dramatic climate changes, especially the largest sea ice retreat during September and October, in the Chukchi-Beaufort Seas could be a consequence of, and further enhance, complex air-ice-sea interactions. To detect these interaction signals, statistical relationships between surface wind speed, sea surface temperature (SST), and sea ice concentration (SIC) were analyzed. The results show a negative correlation between wind speed and SIC. The relationships between wind speed and SST are complicated by the presence of sea ice, with a negative correlation over open water but a positive correlation in sea ice dominated areas. The examination of spatial structures indicates that wind speed tends to increase when approaching the ice edge from open water and the area fully covered by sea ice. The anomalous downward radiation and thermal advection, as well as their regional distribution, play important roles in shaping these relationships, though wind-driven sub-grid scale boundary layer processes may also have contributions. Considering the feedback loop involved in the wind-SST-SIC relationships, climate model experiments would be required to further untangle the underlying complex physical processes.

The Potential and Challenges of Using Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP Sea Surface Salinity to Monitor Arctic Ocean Freshwater Changes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenqing Tang

2018-06-01

response to discharge anomalies from the Ob’ and Yenisei rivers between 2015 and 2016, providing an assessment of runoff impact in a region where no in situ salinity data are available for validation. The Kara Sea SSS anomaly observed by SMAP is missing in the HYCOM SSS, which assimilates climatological runoffs without interannual changes. We explored the feasibility of using SMAP SSS to monitor the sea surface salinity variability at the major Arctic Ocean gateways. Results show that although the SMAP SSS is limited to about 1 psu accuracy, many large salinity changes are observable. This may lead to the potential application of satellite SSS in the Arctic monitoring system as a proxy of the upper ocean layer freshwater exchanges with subarctic oceans.

Optimisation of sea surface current retrieval using a maximum cross correlation technique on modelled sea surface temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Heuzé, Céline; Eriksson, Leif; Carvajal, Gisela

2017-04-01

Using sea surface temperature from satellite images to retrieve sea surface currents is not a new idea, but so far its operational near-real time implementation has not been possible. Validation studies are too region-specific or uncertain, due to the errors induced by the images themselves. Moreover, the sensitivity of the most common retrieval method, the maximum cross correlation, to the three parameters that have to be set is unknown. Using model outputs instead of satellite images, biases induced by this method are assessed here, for four different seas of Western Europe, and the best of nine settings and eight temporal resolutions are determined. For all regions, tracking a small 5 km pattern from the first image over a large 30 km region around its original location on a second image, separated from the first image by 6 to 9 hours returned the most accurate results. Moreover, for all regions, the problem is not inaccurate results but missing results, where the velocity is too low to be picked by the retrieval. The results are consistent both with limitations caused by ocean surface current dynamics and with the available satellite technology, indicating that automated sea surface current retrieval from sea surface temperature images is feasible now, for search and rescue operations, pollution confinement or even for more energy efficient and comfortable ship navigation.

Sea Surface Height Variability and Eddy Statistical Properties in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Zhan, Peng

2013-01-01

Satellite sea surface height (SSH) data over 1992-2012 are analyzed to study the spatial and temporal variability of sea level in the Red Sea. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis suggests the remarkable seasonality of SSH in the Red Sea

Measuring currents, ice drift, and waves from space: the Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM) concept

Science.gov (United States)

Ardhuin, Fabrice; Aksenov, Yevgueny; Benetazzo, Alvise; Bertino, Laurent; Brandt, Peter; Caubet, Eric; Chapron, Bertrand; Collard, Fabrice; Cravatte, Sophie; Delouis, Jean-Marc; Dias, Frederic; Dibarboure, Gérald; Gaultier, Lucile; Johannessen, Johnny; Korosov, Anton; Manucharyan, Georgy; Menemenlis, Dimitris; Menendez, Melisa; Monnier, Goulven; Mouche, Alexis; Nouguier, Frédéric; Nurser, George; Rampal, Pierre; Reniers, Ad; Rodriguez, Ernesto; Stopa, Justin; Tison, Céline; Ubelmann, Clément; van Sebille, Erik; Xie, Jiping

2018-05-01

We propose a satellite mission that uses a near-nadir Ka-band Doppler radar to measure surface currents, ice drift and ocean waves at spatial scales of 40 km and more, with snapshots at least every day for latitudes 75 to 82°, and every few days for other latitudes. The use of incidence angles of 6 and 12° allows for measurement of the directional wave spectrum, which yields accurate corrections of the wave-induced bias in the current measurements. The instrument's design, an algorithm for current vector retrieval and the expected mission performance are presented here. The instrument proposed can reveal features of tropical ocean and marginal ice zone (MIZ) dynamics that are inaccessible to other measurement systems, and providing global monitoring of the ocean mesoscale that surpasses the capability of today's nadir altimeters. Measuring ocean wave properties has many applications, including examining wave-current interactions, air-sea fluxes, the transport and convergence of marine plastic debris and assessment of marine and coastal hazards.

Sea Surface Salinity and Wind Retrieval Algorithm Using Combined Passive-Active L-Band Microwave Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yueh, Simon H.; Chaubell, Mario J.

2011-01-01

Aquarius is a combined passive/active L-band microwave instrument developed to map the salinity field at the surface of the ocean from space. The data will support studies of the coupling between ocean circulation, the global water cycle, and climate. The primary science objective of this mission is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variation of the large scale features of the surface salinity field in the open ocean with a spatial resolution of 150 kilometers and a retrieval accuracy of 0.2 practical salinity units globally on a monthly basis. The measurement principle is based on the response of the L-band (1.413 gigahertz) sea surface brightness temperatures (T (sub B)) to sea surface salinity. To achieve the required 0.2 practical salinity units accuracy, the impact of sea surface roughness (e.g. wind-generated ripples and waves) along with several factors on the observed brightness temperature has to be corrected to better than a few tenths of a degree Kelvin. To the end, Aquarius includes a scatterometer to help correct for this surface roughness effect.

Radioactive surface contamination monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoyama, Kei; Minagoshi, Atsushi; Hasegawa, Toru

1994-01-01

To reduce radiation exposure and prevent contamination from spreading, each nuclear power plant has established a radiation controlled area. People and articles out of the controlled area are checked for the surface contamination of radioactive materials with surface contamination monitors. Fuji Electric has repeatedly improved these monitors on the basis of user's needs. This paper outlines typical of a surface contamination monitor, a personal surface contamination monitor, an article surface contamination monitor and a laundry monitor, and the whole-body counter of an internal contamination monitor. (author)

On the need for the organization of integrated monitoring of the Caspian Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. G. Kostianoy

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the organization of comprehensive monitoring of the Caspian Sea. We discuss the goals and objectives of the environmental monitoring, as well as the functions of federal services and agencies in the organization and implementation of the monitoring. The basic characteristics of the marine observation network in the seas of Russia are shown. We discuss modern satellite environmental monitoring methods, as well as specific applications of satellite data for the study and monitoring of the Caspian Sea region. Particular attention is given to satellite monitoring of oil pollution of the sea.

Sea ice and primary production proxies in surface sediments from a High Arctic Greenland fjord

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ribeiro, Sofia; Sejr, Mikael K; Limoges, Audrey

2017-01-01

Monitoring Programme. Clear spatial gradients in organic carbon and biogenic silica contents reflected marine influence, nutrient availability and river-induced turbidity, in good agreement with in situ measurements. The sea ice proxy IP25 was detected at all sites but at low concentrations, indicating...... that IP25 records from fjords need to be carefully considered and not directly compared to marine settings. The sea ice-associated biomarker HBI III revealed an open-water signature, with highest concentrations near the mid-July ice edge. This proxy evaluation is an important step towards reliable......In order to establish a baseline for proxy-based reconstructions for the Young Sound–Tyrolerfjord system (Northeast Greenland), we analysed the spatial distribution of primary production and sea ice proxies in surface sediments from the fjord, against monitoring data from the Greenland Ecosystem...

Response of Antarctic sea surface temperature and sea ice to ozone depletion

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, D.; Gnanadesikan, A.; Kostov, Y.; Marshall, J.; Seviour, W.; Waugh, D.

2017-12-01

The influence of the Antarctic ozone hole extends all the way from the stratosphere through the troposphere down to the surface, with clear signatures on surface winds, and SST during summer. In this talk we discuss the impact of these changes on the ocean circulation and sea ice state. We are notably motivated by the observed cooling of the surface Southern Ocean and associated increase in Antarctic sea ice extent since the 1970s. These trends are not reproduced by CMIP5 climate models, and the underlying mechanism at work in nature and the models remain unexplained. Did the ozone hole contribute to the observed trends?Here, we review recent advances toward answering these issues using "abrupt ozone depletion" experiments. The ocean and sea ice response is rather complex, comprising two timescales: a fast ( 1-2y) cooling of the surface ocean and sea ice cover increase, followed by a slower warming trend, which, depending on models, flip the sign of the SST and sea ice responses on decadal timescale. Although the basic mechanism seems robust, comparison across climate models reveal large uncertainties in the timescales and amplitude of the response to the extent that even the sign of the ocean and sea ice response to ozone hole and recovery remains unconstrained. After briefly describing the dynamics and thermodynamics behind the two-timescale response, we will discuss the main sources of uncertainties in the modeled response, namely cloud effects and air-sea heat exchanges, surface wind stress response and ocean eddy transports. Finally, we will consider the implications of our results on the ability of coupled climate models to reproduce observed Southern Ocean changes.

Deep Coherent Vortices and Their Sea Surface Expressions

Science.gov (United States)

Ienna, Federico; Bashmachnikov, Igor; Dias, Joaquim; Peliz, Alvaro

2017-04-01

Mediterranean Water eddies, known as Meddies, are an important dynamic process occurring at depths of 1000-meters in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Meddies occur as a direct result of the Mediterranean Outflow exiting through the Gibraltar Strait, and represent a prevalent mechanism that can be found extensively throughout the ocean. Moreover, Meddy cores are known to produce measurable expressions at the sea surface in the form of rotating coherent vortices, not only affecting the sea surface from beneath, but also allowing for the possibility to remotely study these deep phenomena through data gathered at the sea surface. While many past studies have focused on the properties of Meddy cores, only a handful of studies focus on the physical characteristics and behavior of the surface expressions produced. Are Meddy surface expressions different from other like vortices that dominate the physical ocean surface? What are the relationships between deep and surface mechanisms, and do any feedbacks exist? To shed light on these questions, we investigate the relationship between Meddies and their sea-surface expressions through observations using in-situ float and drifter profiles and satellite altimetry. A total of 782 Meddy cores were examined in the Northeast Atlantic using temperature and salinity data obtained by CTD and Argo during the Mecanismos de transporte e de dispersão da Água Mediterrânica no Atlântico Nordeste (MEDTRANS) project, and their corresponding sea-level expressions were geo-temporally matched in satellite altimetry data. We report several statistical properties of the sea-surface expressions of Meddies, including their mean diameter and vertical magnitude, and compare the properties of their surface features to the underlying Meddy cores. We investigate how the deep core affects the surface, and whether surface expressions may in return yield information about the underlying cores. Additionally, we examine the variability of the surface

Highly variable Pliocene sea surface conditions in the Norwegian Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. E. Bachem

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The Pliocene was a time of global warmth with small sporadic glaciations, which transitioned towards the larger-scale Pleistocene glacial–interglacial variability. Here, we present high-resolution records of sea surface temperature (SST and ice-rafted debris (IRD in the Norwegian Sea from 5.32 to 3.14 Ma, providing evidence that the Pliocene surface conditions of the Norwegian Sea underwent a series of transitions in response to orbital forcing and gateway changes. Average SSTs are 2 °C above the regional Holocene mean, with notable variability on millennial to orbital timescales. Both gradual changes and threshold effects are proposed for the progression of regional climate towards the Late Pliocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Cooling from 4.5 to 4.3 Ma may be linked to the onset of poleward flow through the Bering Strait. This cooling was further intensified by a period of cool summers due to weak obliquity forcing. A 7 °C warming of the Norwegian Sea at 4.0 Ma suggests a major increase in northward heat transport from the North Atlantic, leading to an enhanced zonal SST gradient in the Nordic Seas, which may be linked to the expansion of sea ice in the Arctic and Nordic Seas. A warm Norwegian Sea and enhanced zonal temperature gradient between 4.0 and 3.6 Ma may have been a priming factor for increased glaciation around the Nordic Seas due to enhanced evaporation and precipitation at high northern latitudes.

Long-term changes in sea surface temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, D.E.

1994-01-01

Historical observations of sea surface temperature since 1856 have been improved by applying corrections to compensate for the predominant use of uninsulated or partly insulated buckets until the Second World War. There are large gaps in coverage in the late nineteenth century and around the two world wars, but a range of statistical techniques suggest that these gaps do not severely prejudice estimates of global and regional climatic change. Nonetheless, to improve the analysis on smaller scales, many unused historical data are to be digitized and incorporated. For recent years, satellite-based sea surface temperatures have improved the coverage, after adjustments for their biases relative to in situ data. An initial version of a nominally globally complete sea ice and interpolated sea surface temperature data set, beginning in 1871, has been created for use in numerical simulations of recent climate. Long time series of corrected regional, hemispheric, and global sea surface temperatures are mostly consistent with corresponding night marine air temperature series, and confirm the regionally specific climatic changes portrayed in the Scientific Assessments of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The observations also show an El Nino-like oscillation on bidecadal and longer time scales

Improving Surface Mass Balance Over Ice Sheets and Snow Depth on Sea Ice

Science.gov (United States)

Koenig, Lora Suzanne; Box, Jason; Kurtz, Nathan

2013-01-01

Surface mass balance (SMB) over ice sheets and snow on sea ice (SOSI) are important components of the cryosphere. Large knowledge gaps remain in scientists' abilities to monitor SMB and SOSI, including insufficient measurements and difficulties with satellite retrievals. On ice sheets, snow accumulation is the sole mass gain to SMB, and meltwater runoff can be the dominant single loss factor in extremely warm years such as 2012. SOSI affects the growth and melt cycle of the Earth's polar sea ice cover. The summer of 2012 saw the largest satellite-recorded melt area over the Greenland ice sheet and the smallest satellite-recorded Arctic sea ice extent, making this meeting both timely and relevant.

[Multiple scattering of visible and infrared light by sea fog over wind driving rough sea surface].

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Xian-Ming; Wang, Hai-Hua; Lei, Cheng-Xin; Shen, Jin

2013-08-01

The present paper is concerned with computing the multiple scattering characteristics of a sea fog-sea surface couple system within this context. The single scattering characteristics of sea fog were studied by Mie theory, and the multiple scattering of sunlight by single sea fog layer was studied by radiative transfer theory. The reflection function of a statistically rough ocean surface was obtained using the standard Kirchhoff formulation, with shadowing effects taken into account. The reflection properties of the combined sea fog and ocean surface were obtained employing the adding method, and the results indicated that the reflected light intensity of sea fog increased with the sea background.

A global standard for monitoring coastal wetland vulnerability to accelerated sea-level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Edward L.; Friess, Daniel A.; Krauss, Ken W.; Cahoon, Donald R.; Guntenspergen, Glenn R.; Phelps, Jacob

2013-01-01

Sea-level rise threatens coastal salt-marshes and mangrove forests around the world, and a key determinant of coastal wetland vulnerability is whether its surface elevation can keep pace with rising sea level. Globally, a large data gap exists because wetland surface and shallow subsurface processes remain unaccounted for by traditional vulnerability assessments using tide gauges. Moreover, those processes vary substantially across wetlands, so modelling platforms require relevant local data. The low-cost, simple, high-precision rod surface-elevation table–marker horizon (RSET-MH) method fills this critical data gap, can be paired with spatial data sets and modelling and is financially and technically accessible to every country with coastal wetlands. Yet, RSET deployment has been limited to a few regions and purposes. A coordinated expansion of monitoring efforts, including development of regional networks that could support data sharing and collaboration, is crucial to adequately inform coastal climate change adaptation policy at several scales.

Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST), Version 4

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) dataset is a global monthly sea surface temperature analysis on a 2x2 degree grid derived from the...

Measuring currents, ice drift, and waves from space: the Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Ardhuin

2018-05-01

Full Text Available We propose a satellite mission that uses a near-nadir Ka-band Doppler radar to measure surface currents, ice drift and ocean waves at spatial scales of 40 km and more, with snapshots at least every day for latitudes 75 to 82°, and every few days for other latitudes. The use of incidence angles of 6 and 12° allows for measurement of the directional wave spectrum, which yields accurate corrections of the wave-induced bias in the current measurements. The instrument's design, an algorithm for current vector retrieval and the expected mission performance are presented here. The instrument proposed can reveal features of tropical ocean and marginal ice zone (MIZ dynamics that are inaccessible to other measurement systems, and providing global monitoring of the ocean mesoscale that surpasses the capability of today's nadir altimeters. Measuring ocean wave properties has many applications, including examining wave–current interactions, air–sea fluxes, the transport and convergence of marine plastic debris and assessment of marine and coastal hazards.

NOAA NDBC SOS, 2008-present, sea_floor_depth_below_sea_surface

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA NDBC SOS server is part of the IOOS DIF SOS Project. The stations in this dataset have sea_floor_depth_below_sea_surface data. Because of the nature of SOS...

Recent trends in sea surface temperature off Mexico

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lluch-Cota, S.E.; Tripp-Valdéz, M.; Lluch-Cota, D.B.; Lluch-Belda, D.; Verbesselt, J.; Herrera-Cervantes, H.; Bautista-Romero, J.

2013-01-01

Changes in global mean sea surface temperature may have potential negative implications for natural and socioeconomic systems; however, measurements to predict trends in different regions have been limited and sometimes contradictory. In this study, an assessment of sea surface temperature change

GHRSST Level 4 DMI_OI North Sea and Baltic Sea Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis by the Danish...

Monitoring the impact of simulated deep-sea mining in Central Indian Basin

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sharma, R.; Nath, B.N.; Jaisankar, S.

Monitoring the Impact of Simulated Deep-sea Mining in Central Indian Basin R. SHARMA, B. NAGENDER NATH, AND S. JAI SANKAR National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India Monitoring of deep-sea disturbances, natural or man-made, has gained... has shown a partial recovery of the benthic ecosystem, with indications of restoration and recolonization. Keywords deep-sea mining, environmental impact, Central Indian Basin Deep-sea mineral deposits such as the polymetallic nodules and crusts...

[Monitoring "green tide" in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea using multi-temporal and multi-source remote sensing images].

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Qian-Guo; Zheng, Xiang-Yang; Shi, Ping; Hao, Jia-Jia; Yu, Ding-Feng; Liang, Shou-Zhen; Liu, Dong-Yan; Zhang, Yuan-Zhi

2011-06-01

Landsat-TM (Theme Mapper) and EOS (Earth Observing System)-MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectrora-diometer) Terra/Aqua images were used to monitor the macro-algae (Ulva prolifera) bloom since 2007 at the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. At the turbid waters of Northern Jiangsu Shoal, there is strong spectral mixing behavior, and satellite images with finer spatical resolution are more effective in detection of macro-algae patches. Macro-algae patches were detected by the Landsat images for the first time at the Sheyang estuary where is dominated by very turbid waters. The MODIS images showed that the macro-algae from the turbid waters near the Northern Jiangsu Shoal drifted southwardly in the early of May and affected the East China Sea waters; with the strengthening east-asian Summer Monsoon, macro-algae patches mainly drifted in a northward path which was mostly observed at the Yellow Sea. Macro-algae patches were also found to drift eastwardly towards the Korea Peninsular, which are supposed to be driven by the sea surface wind.

Decadal trends in Red Sea maximum surface temperature

KAUST Repository

Chaidez, Veronica

2017-08-09

Ocean warming is a major consequence of climate change, with the surface of the ocean having warmed by 0.11 °C decade-1 over the last 50 years and is estimated to continue to warm by an additional 0.6 - 2.0 °C before the end of the century1. However, there is considerable variability in the rates experienced by different ocean regions, so understanding regional trends is important to inform on possible stresses for marine organisms, particularly in warm seas where organisms may be already operating in the high end of their thermal tolerance. Although the Red Sea is one of the warmest ecosystems on earth, its historical warming trends and thermal evolution remain largely understudied. We characterized the Red Sea\\'s thermal regimes at the basin scale, with a focus on the spatial distribution and changes over time of sea surface temperature maxima, using remotely sensed sea surface temperature data from 1982 - 2015. The overall rate of warming for the Red Sea is 0.17 ± 0.07 °C decade-1, while the northern Red Sea is warming between 0.40 and 0.45 °C decade-1, all exceeding the global rate. Our findings show that the Red Sea is fast warming, which may in the future challenge its organisms and communities.

Global Monitoring RSEM System for Crop Production by Incorporating Satellite-based Photosynthesis Rates and Anomaly Data of Sea Surface Temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneko, D.; Sakuma, H.

2014-12-01

The first author has been developing RSEM crop-monitoring system using satellite-based assessment of photosynthesis, incorporating meteorological conditions. Crop production comprises of several stages and plural mechanisms based on leaf photosynthesis, surface energy balance, and the maturing of grains after fixation of CO2, along with water exchange through soil vegetation-atmosphere transfer. Grain production in prime countries appears to be randomly perturbed regionally and globally. Weather for crop plants reflects turbulent phenomena of convective and advection flows in atmosphere and surface boundary layer. It has been difficult for scientists to simulate and forecast weather correctly for sufficiently long terms to crop harvesting. However, severely poor harvests related to continental events must originate from a consistent mechanism of abnormal energetic flow in the atmosphere through both land and oceans. It should be remembered that oceans have more than 100 times of energy storage compared to atmosphere and ocean currents represent gigantic energy flows, strongly affecting climate. Anomalies of Sea Surface Temperature (SST), globally known as El Niño, Indian Ocean dipole, and Atlantic Niño etc., affect the seasonal climate on a continental scale. The authors aim to combine monitoring and seasonal forecasting, considering such mechanisms through land-ocean biosphere transfer. The present system produces assessments for all continents, specifically monitoring agricultural fields of main crops. Historical regions of poor and good harvests are compared with distributions of SST anomalies, which are provided by NASA GSFC. Those comparisons fairly suggest that the Worst harvest in 1993 and the Best in 1994 relate to the offshore distribution of low temperature anomalies and high gaps in ocean surface temperatures. However, high-temperature anomalies supported good harvests because of sufficient solar radiation for photosynthesis, and poor harvests because

Predicting East African spring droughts using Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature indices

Science.gov (United States)

Funk, Christopher C.; Hoell, Andrew; Shukla, Shraddhanand; Blade, Ileana; Liebmann, Brant; Roberts, Jason B.; Robertson, Franklin R.

2014-01-01

In southern Ethiopia, Eastern Kenya, and southern Somalia poor boreal spring rains in 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 contributed to severe food insecurity and high levels of malnutrition. Predicting rainfall deficits in this region on seasonal and decadal time frames can help decision makers support disaster risk reduction while guiding climate-smart adaptation and agricultural development. Building on recent research that links more frequent droughts to a stronger Walker Circulation, warming in the Indo-Pacific warm pool, and an increased western Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) gradient, we explore the dominant modes of East African rainfall variability, links between these modes and sea surface temperatures, and a simple index-based monitoring-prediction system suitable for drought early warning.

GHRSST Level 4 EUR Mediterranean Sea Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily by Ifremer/CERSAT (France) using optimal...

NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST), Version 5

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) dataset is a global monthly sea surface temperature dataset derived from the International...

Observer and At Sea Monitor Database (OBDBS)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Northeast Fisheries Observer Database System (OBDBS) contains data collected on commercial fishing vessels by observers from 1989 - present and at-sea monitors...

GHRSST Level 4 ODYSSEA Mediterranean Sea Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at Ifremer/CERSAT...

Decadal trends in Red Sea maximum surface temperature

KAUST Repository

Chaidez, Veronica; Dreano, Denis; Agusti, Susana; Duarte, Carlos M.; Hoteit, Ibrahim

2017-01-01

Ocean warming is a major consequence of climate change, with the surface of the ocean having warmed by 0.11 °C decade-1 over the last 50 years and is estimated to continue to warm by an additional 0.6 - 2.0 °C before the end of the century1. However, there is considerable variability in the rates experienced by different ocean regions, so understanding regional trends is important to inform on possible stresses for marine organisms, particularly in warm seas where organisms may be already operating in the high end of their thermal tolerance. Although the Red Sea is one of the warmest ecosystems on earth, its historical warming trends and thermal evolution remain largely understudied. We characterized the Red Sea's thermal regimes at the basin scale, with a focus on the spatial distribution and changes over time of sea surface temperature maxima, using remotely sensed sea surface temperature data from 1982 - 2015. The overall rate of warming for the Red Sea is 0.17 ± 0.07 °C decade-1, while the northern Red Sea is warming between 0.40 and 0.45 °C decade-1, all exceeding the global rate. Our findings show that the Red Sea is fast warming, which may in the future challenge its organisms and communities.

Decadal trends in Red Sea maximum surface temperature.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaidez, V; Dreano, D; Agusti, S; Duarte, C M; Hoteit, I

2017-08-15

Ocean warming is a major consequence of climate change, with the surface of the ocean having warmed by 0.11 °C decade -1 over the last 50 years and is estimated to continue to warm by an additional 0.6 - 2.0 °C before the end of the century 1 . However, there is considerable variability in the rates experienced by different ocean regions, so understanding regional trends is important to inform on possible stresses for marine organisms, particularly in warm seas where organisms may be already operating in the high end of their thermal tolerance. Although the Red Sea is one of the warmest ecosystems on earth, its historical warming trends and thermal evolution remain largely understudied. We characterized the Red Sea's thermal regimes at the basin scale, with a focus on the spatial distribution and changes over time of sea surface temperature maxima, using remotely sensed sea surface temperature data from 1982 - 2015. The overall rate of warming for the Red Sea is 0.17 ± 0.07 °C decade -1 , while the northern Red Sea is warming between 0.40 and 0.45 °C decade -1 , all exceeding the global rate. Our findings show that the Red Sea is fast warming, which may in the future challenge its organisms and communities.

Satellite altimetry in sea ice regions - detecting open water for estimating sea surface heights

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Felix L.; Dettmering, Denise; Bosch, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

The Greenland Sea and the Farm Strait are transporting sea ice from the central Arctic ocean southwards. They are covered by a dynamic changing sea ice layer with significant influences on the Earth climate system. Between the sea ice there exist various sized open water areas known as leads, straight lined open water areas, and polynyas exhibiting a circular shape. Identifying these leads by satellite altimetry enables the extraction of sea surface height information. Analyzing the radar echoes, also called waveforms, provides information on the surface backscatter characteristics. For example waveforms reflected by calm water have a very narrow and single-peaked shape. Waveforms reflected by sea ice show more variability due to diffuse scattering. Here we analyze altimeter waveforms from different conventional pulse-limited satellite altimeters to separate open water and sea ice waveforms. An unsupervised classification approach employing partitional clustering algorithms such as K-medoids and memory-based classification methods such as K-nearest neighbor is used. The classification is based on six parameters derived from the waveform's shape, for example the maximum power or the peak's width. The open-water detection is quantitatively compared to SAR images processed while accounting for sea ice motion. The classification results are used to derive information about the temporal evolution of sea ice extent and sea surface heights. They allow to provide evidence on climate change relevant influences as for example Arctic sea level rise due to enhanced melting rates of Greenland's glaciers and an increasing fresh water influx into the Arctic ocean. Additionally, the sea ice cover extent analyzed over a long-time period provides an important indicator for a globally changing climate system.

Geodetic infrastructure at the Barcelona harbour for sea level monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez-Benjamin, Juan Jose; Gili, Josep; Lopez, Rogelio; Tapia, Ana; Pros, Francesc; Palau, Vicenc; Perez, Begona

2015-04-01

The presentation is directed to the description of the actual geodetic infrastructure of Barcelona harbour with three tide gauges of different technologies for sea level determination and contribution to regional sea level rise and understanding past and present sea level rise in the Barcelona harbour. It is intended that the overall system will constitute a CGPS Station of the ESEAS (European Sea Level) and TIGA (GPS Tide Gauge Benchmark Monitoring) networks. At Barcelona harbour there is a MIROS radar tide gauge belonging to Puertos del Estado (Spanish Harbours).The radar sensor is over the water surface, on a L-shaped structure which elevates it a few meters above the quay shelf. 1-min data are transmitted to the ENAGAS Control Center by cable and then sent each 1 min to Puertos del Estado by e-mail. The information includes wave forescast (mean period, significant wave height, sea level, etc.This sensor also measures agitation and sends wave parameters each 20 min. There is a GPS station Leica Geosystems GRX1200 GG Pro and antenna AX 1202 GG. The Control Tower of the Port of Barcelona is situated in the North dike of the so-called Energy Pier in the Barcelona harbor (Spain). This tower has different kind of antennas for navigation monitoring and a GNSS permanent station. As the tower is founded in reclaimed land, and because its metallic structure, the 50 m building is subjected to diverse movements, including periodic fluctuations due to temperature changes. In this contribution the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 the necessary monitoring campaigns are described. In the framework of a Spanish Space Project, the instrumentation of sea level measurements has been improved by providing the Barcelona site with a radar tide gauge Datamar 2000C from Geonica S.L. in June 2014 near an acoustic tide gauge from the Barcelona Harbour installed in 2013. Precision levelling has been made several times in the last two years because the tower is founded in reclaimed land and

Development of Oil Spill Monitoring System for the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Barents/Kara Seas (DEMOSS)

Science.gov (United States)

Sandven, Stein; Kudriavtsev, Vladimir; Malinovsky, Vladimir; Stanovoy, Vladimir

2008-01-01

DEMOSS will develop and demonstrate elements of a marine oil spill detection and prediction system based on satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and other space data. In addition, models for prediction of sea surface pollution drift will be developed and tested. The project implements field experiments to study the effect of artificial crude oil and oil derivatives films on short wind waves and multi-frequency (Ka-, Ku-, X-, and C-band) dual polarization radar backscatter power and Doppler shift at different wind and wave conditions. On the basis of these and other available experimental data, the present model of short wind waves and radar scattering will be improved and tested.A new approach for detection and quantification of the oil slicks/spills in satellite SAR images is developed that can discriminate human oil spills from biogenic slicks and look-alikes in the SAR images. New SAR images are obtained in coordination with the field experiments to test the detection algorithm. Satellite SAR images from archives as well as from new acquisitions will be analyzed for the Black/Caspian/Kara/Barents seas to investigate oil slicks/spills occurrence statistics.A model for oil spills/slicks transport and evolution is developed and tested in ice-infested arctic seas, including the Caspian Sea. Case studies using the model will be conducted to simulate drift and evolution of oil spill events observed in SAR images. The results of the project will be disseminated via scientific publications and by demonstration to users and agencies working with marine monitoring. The project lasts for two years (2007 - 2009) and is funded under INTAS Thematic Call with ESA 2006.

The Dead Sea

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth at 418 meters below sea level, and also one of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth with a salinity of about 300 parts-per-thousand (nine times greater than ocean salinity). It is located on the border between Jordan and Israel, and is fed by the Jordan River. The Dead Sea is located in the Dead Sea Rift, formed as a result of the Arabian tectonic plate moving northward away from the African Plate. The mineral content of the Dead Sea is significantly different from that of ocean water, consisting of approximately 53% magnesium chloride, 37% potassium chloride and 8% sodium chloride. In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced that the Sea was a natural deposit of potash and bromine. From the Dead Sea brine, Israel and Jordan produce 3.8 million tons potash, 200,000 tons elemental bromine, 45,000 tons caustic soda, 25, 000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. Both countries use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping, and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining

AATSR - Precise Sea-Surface Temperature for Climate Monitoring and for Operational Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Llewellyn-Jones, David; Corlett, Gary; Donlon, Craig; Stark, John

The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) is an imaging radiometer specifi- cally designed to measure Sea-Surface Temperature (SST) to the demanding levels of accuracy and stability required for climate research. AATSR, which has been operating continuously on ESA's Envisat Satellite since its launch in 2002, achieves the required levels of accuracy on account of its unique dual view, whereby each terrestrial scene is viewed twice, once at nadir and then through an inclined path which uses a different atmospheric path-length, thereby providing a direct observation of atmospheric effects, leading to an exceptionally accurate atmospheric correction. This feature is accompanied by an advanced calibration system combined with excellent optical and thermal designs. Recent rigorous and extensive comparisons with in situ data have shown that, for most of the global oceans, AATSR can achieve and accuracy of around 0.2o C with high stability, which has qualified them for use in climate analysis schemes. Because AATSR is the third sensor in a near-continuous series which started with the launch of ATSR-1 on ERS-1 satellite in 1991, there is a time-series of 16+ years of climate standard SSTs which have recently been re-processed and are now becoming available to the World-wide user community from data centres in Europe. SST data from AATSR have been included in the suite of operational SST products generated by the GODAE/GHRSST Pilot Project, on a timescale needed by operational users and in a format which allows easy ingestion and error estimates for data from AATSR and most of the other sensors currently providing SST measurements from space. Within the GODAE/GHRSST data-products, AATSR SST data are generally regarded as the benchmark for accuracy and are used to provide bias corrections for data from the other sensors, which often have superior coverage, thus exploiting synergistically the complementary qualities if the different data-sets. The UK Met Office

Sea level and turbidity controls on mangrove soil surface elevation change

Science.gov (United States)

Lovelock, Catherine E.; Fernanda Adame, Maria; Bennion, Vicki; Hayes, Matthew; Reef, Ruth; Santini, Nadia; Cahoon, Donald R.

2015-01-01

Increases in sea level are a threat to seaward fringing mangrove forests if levels of inundation exceed the physiological tolerance of the trees; however, tidal wetlands can keep pace with sea level rise if soil surface elevations can increase at the same pace as sea level rise. Sediment accretion on the soil surface and belowground production of roots are proposed to increase with increasing sea level, enabling intertidal habitats to maintain their position relative to mean sea level, but there are few tests of these predictions in mangrove forests. Here we used variation in sea level and the availability of sediments caused by seasonal and inter-annual variation in the intensity of La Nina-El Nino to assess the effects of increasing sea level on surface elevation gains and contributing processes (accretion on the surface, subsidence and root growth) in mangrove forests. We found that soil surface elevation increased with mean sea level (which varied over 250 mm during the study) and with turbidity at sites where fine sediment in the water column is abundant. In contrast, where sediments were sandy, rates of surface elevation gain were high, but not significantly related to variation in turbidity, and were likely to be influenced by other factors that deliver sand to the mangrove forest. Root growth was not linked to soil surface elevation gains, although it was associated with reduced shallow subsidence, and therefore may contribute to the capacity of mangroves to keep pace with sea level rise. Our results indicate both surface (sedimentation) and subsurface (root growth) processes can influence mangrove capacity to keep pace with sea level rise within the same geographic location, and that current models of tidal marsh responses to sea level rise capture the major feature of the response of mangroves where fine, but not coarse, sediments are abundant.

Sea surface temperatures and salinities from platforms in the Barents Sea, Sea of Japan, North Atlantic Ocean, Philippine Sea, Red Sea, and the South China Sea (Nan Hai) from 1896-1950 (NODC Accession 0000506)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Surface temperatures and salinities were collected in the Barents Sea, Sea of Japan, North Atlantic Ocean, Philippine Sea, Red Sea, and South China Sea (Nan Hai)...

Improved measurements of mean sea surface velocity in the Nordic Seas from synthetic aperture radar

Science.gov (United States)

Wergeland Hansen, Morten; Johnsen, Harald; Engen, Geir; Øie Nilsen, Jan Even

2017-04-01

The warm and saline surface Atlantic Water (AW) flowing into the Nordic Seas across the Greenland-Scotland ridge transports heat into the Arctic, maintaining the ice-free oceans and regulating sea-ice extent. The AW influences the region's relatively mild climate and is the northern branch of the global thermohaline overturning circulation. Heat loss in the Norwegian Sea is key for both heat transport and deep water formation. In general, the ocean currents in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean is a complex system of topographically steered barotropic and baroclinic currents of which the wind stress and its variability is a driver of major importance. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Doppler centroid shift has been demonstrated to contain geophysical information about sea surface wind, waves and current at an accuracy of 5 Hz and pixel spacing of 3.5 - 9 × 8 km2. This corresponds to a horizontal surface velocity of about 20 cm/s at 35° incidence angle. The ESA Prodex ISAR project aims to implement new and improved SAR Doppler shift processing routines to enable reprocessing of the wide swath acquisitions available from the Envisat ASAR archive (2002-2012) at higher resolution and better accuracy than previously obtained, allowing combined use with Sentinel-1 and Radarsat-2 retrievals to build timeseries of the sea surface velocity in the Nordic Seas. Estimation of the geophysical Doppler shift from new SAR Doppler centroid shift retrievals will be demonstrated, addressing key issues relating to geometric (satellite orbit and attitude) and electronic (antenna mis-pointing) contributions and corrections. Geophysical Doppler shift retrievals from one month of data in January 2010 and the inverted surface velocity in the Nordic Seas are then addressed and compared to other direct and indirect estimates of the upper ocean current, in particular those obtained in the ESA GlobCurrent project.

Seasonal variability of the Red Sea, from GRACE time-variable gravity and altimeter sea surface height measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Wahr, John; Smeed, David; Leuliette, Eric; Swenson, Sean

2014-05-01

Seasonal variability of sea surface height and mass within the Red Sea, occurs mostly through the exchange of heat with the atmosphere and wind-driven inflow and outflow of water through the strait of Bab el Mandab that opens into the Gulf of Aden to the south. The seasonal effects of precipitation and evaporation, of water exchange through the Suez Canal to the north, and of runoff from the adjacent land, are all small. The flow through the Bab el Mandab involves a net mass transfer into the Red Sea during the winter and a net transfer out during the summer. But that flow has a multi-layer pattern, so that in the summer there is actually an influx of cool water at intermediate (~100 m) depths. Thus, summer water in the southern Red Sea is warmer near the surface due to higher air temperatures, but cooler at intermediate depths (especially in the far south). Summer water in the northern Red Sea experiences warming by air-sea exchange only. The temperature profile affects the water density, which impacts the sea surface height but has no effect on vertically integrated mass. Here, we study this seasonal cycle by combining GRACE time-variable mass estimates, altimeter (Jason-1, Jason-2, and Envisat) measurements of sea surface height, and steric sea surface height contributions derived from depth-dependent, climatological values of temperature and salinity obtained from the World Ocean Atlas. We find good consistency, particularly in the northern Red Sea, between these three data types. Among the general characteristics of our results are: (1) the mass contributions to seasonal SSHT variations are much larger than the steric contributions; (2) the mass signal is largest in winter, consistent with winds pushing water into the Red Sea through the Strait of Bab el Mandab in winter, and out during the summer; and (3) the steric signal is largest in summer, consistent with summer sea surface warming.

ISLSCP II Sea Surface Temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important indicator of the state of the earth climate system as well as a key variable in the coupling between the atmosphere and...

Arctic Sea Ice Basal Melt Onset Variability and Associated Ocean Surface Heating

Science.gov (United States)

Merrick, R. A.; Hutchings, J. K.

2015-12-01

The interannual and regional variability in Arctic sea ice melt has previously been characterized only in terms of surface melting. A focus on the variability in the onset of basal melt is additionally required to understand Arctic melt patterns. Monitoring basal melt provides a glimpse into the importance of ocean heating to sea ice melt. This warming is predominantly through seawater exposure due to lead opening and the associated solar warming at the ocean's surface. We present the temporal variability in basal melt onset observed by ice mass balance buoys throughout the Arctic Ocean since 2003, providing a different perspective than the satellite microwave data used to measure the onset of surface melt. We found that melt onset varies greatly, even for buoys deployed within 100km of each other. Therefore large volumes of data are necessary to accurately estimate the variability of basal melt onset. Once the variability of basal melt onset has been identified, we can investigate how this range has been changing as a response to atmospheric and oceanic warming, changes in ice morphology as well as the intensification of the ice albedo feedback.

Trends in Sea Ice Cover, Sea Surface Temperature, and Chlorophyll Biomass Across a Marine Distributed Biological Observatory in the Pacific Arctic Region

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, K. E.; Grebmeier, J. M.; Cooper, L. W.; Wood, C.; Panday, P. K.

2011-12-01

The northern Bering and Chukchi Seas in the Pacific Arctic Region (PAR) are among the most productive marine ecosystems in the world and act as important carbon sinks, particularly during May and June when seasonal sea ice-associated phytoplankton blooms occur throughout the region. Recent dramatic shifts in seasonal sea ice cover across the PAR should have profound consequences for this seasonal phytoplankton production as well as the intimately linked higher trophic levels. In order to investigate ecosystem responses to these observed recent shifts in sea ice cover, the development of a prototype Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) is now underway in the PAR. The DBO is being developed as an internationally-coordinated change detection array that allows for consistent sampling and monitoring at five spatially explicit biologically productive locations across a latitudinal gradient: (1) DBO-SLP (south of St. Lawrence Island (SLI)), (2) DBO-NBS (north of SLI), (3) DBO-SCS (southern Chukchi Sea), (4) DBO-CCS (central Chukchi Sea), and (5) DBO-BCA (Barrow Canyon Arc). Standardized measurements at many of the DBO sites were made by multiple research cruises during the 2010 and 2011 pilot years, and will be expanded with the development of the DBO in coming years. In order to provide longer-term context for the changes occurring across the PAR, we utilize multi-sensor satellite data to investigate recent trends in sea ice cover, chlorophyll biomass, and sea surface temperatures for each of the five DBO sites, as well as a sixth long-term observational site in the Bering Strait. Satellite observations show that over the past three decades, trends in sea ice cover in the PAR have been heterogeneous, with significant declines in the Chukchi Sea, slight declines in the Bering Strait region, but increases in the northern Bering Sea south of SLI. Declines in the persistence of seasonal sea ice cover in the Chukchi Sea and Bering Strait region are due to both earlier sea

Performance evaluation of sea surface simulation methods for target detection

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Renjie; Wu, Xin; Yang, Chen; Han, Yiping; Zhang, Jianqi

2017-11-01

With the fast development of sea surface target detection by optoelectronic sensors, machine learning has been adopted to improve the detection performance. Many features can be learned from training images by machines automatically. However, field images of sea surface target are not sufficient as training data. 3D scene simulation is a promising method to address this problem. For ocean scene simulation, sea surface height field generation is the key point to achieve high fidelity. In this paper, two spectra-based height field generation methods are evaluated. Comparison between the linear superposition and linear filter method is made quantitatively with a statistical model. 3D ocean scene simulating results show the different features between the methods, which can give reference for synthesizing sea surface target images with different ocean conditions.

SeaDataNet network services monitoring: Definition and Implementation of Service availability index

Science.gov (United States)

Lykiardopoulos, Angelos; Mpalopoulou, Stavroula; Vavilis, Panagiotis; Pantazi, Maria; Iona, Sissy

2014-05-01

SeaDataNet (SDN) is a standardized system for managing large and diverse data sets collected by the oceanographic fleets and the automatic observation systems. The SeaDataNet network is constituted of national oceanographic data centres of 35 countries, active in data collection. SeaDataNetII project's objective is to upgrade the present SeaDataNet infrastructure into an operationally robust and state-of-the-art infrastructure; therefore Network Monitoring is a step to this direction. The term Network Monitoring describes the use of system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages. Network monitoring is crucial when implementing widely distributed systems over the Internet and in real-time systems as it detects malfunctions that may occur and notifies the system administrator who can immediately respond and correct the problem. In the framework of SeaDataNet II project a monitoring system was developed in order to monitor the SeaDataNet components. The core system is based on Nagios software. Some plug-ins were developed to support SeaDataNet modules. On the top of Nagios Engine a web portal was developed in order to give access to local administrators of SeaDataNet components, to view detailed logs of their own service(s). Currently the system monitors 35 SeaDataNet Download Managers, 9 SeaDataNet Services, 25 GeoSeas Download Managers and 23 UBSS Download Managers . Taking advantage of the continuous monitoring of SeaDataNet system components a total availability index will be implemented. The term availability can be defined as the ability of a functional unit to be in a state to perform a required function under given conditions at a given instant of time or over a given time interval, assuming that the required external resources are provided. Availability measures can be considered as a are very important benefit becauseT - The availability trends that can be

Zooplankton incidence in abnormally high sea surface temperature in the Eastern Arabian Sea

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Goswami, S.C.

Zooplankton in an abnormally high sea surface temperature (33.1 to 33.8 degrees C) and alternate bands of slick formation were studied in the Eastern Arabian Sea during 26 and 29 April 1981. The phenomenon which may be due to intense diurnal heating...

Development of a GPS buoy system for monitoring tsunami, sea waves, ocean bottom crustal deformation and atmospheric water vapor

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Teruyuki; Terada, Yukihiro; Nagai, Toshihiko; Koshimura, Shun'ichi

2010-05-01

We have developed a GPS buoy system for monitoring tsunami for over 12 years. The idea was that a buoy equipped with a GPS antenna and placed offshore may be an effective way of monitoring tsunami before its arrival to the coast and to give warning to the coastal residents. The key technology for the system is real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS technology. We have successfully developed the system; we have detected tsunamis of about 10cm in height for three large earthquakes, namely, the 23 June 2001 Peru earthquake (Mw8.4), the 26 September 2003 Tokachi earthquake (Mw8.3) and the 5 September 2004 earthquake (Mw7.4). The developed GPS buoy system is also capable of monitoring sea waves that are mainly caused by winds. Only the difference between tsunami and sea waves is their frequency range and can be segregated each other by a simple filtering technique. Given the success of GPS buoy experiments, the system has been adopted as a part of the Nationwide Ocean Wave information system for Port and HArborS (NOWPHAS) by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan. They have established more than eight GPS buoys along the Japanese coasts and the system has been operated by the Port and Airport Research Institute. As a future scope, we are now planning to implement some other additional facilities for the GPS buoy system. The first application is a so-called GPS/Acoustic system for monitoring ocean bottom crustal deformation. The system requires acoustic waves to detect ocean bottom reference position, which is the geometrical center of an array of transponders, by measuring distances between a position at the sea surface (vessel) and ocean bottom equipments to return the received sonic wave. The position of the vessel is measured using GPS. The system was first proposed by a research group at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in early 1980's. The system was extensively developed by Japanese researchers and is now capable of detecting ocean

Monitoring of the sea: Report for the year 1983. Pt. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

In the context of collaboration with foreign authorities in monitoring compliance with international agreements to protect the marine environment, many measurements were taken by the German Hydrographic Institute in the North Sea and the Baltic in the year 1983. The feedstuff and oxygen contents, loading with heavy metals, concentrations of halogenized hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, radioactivity, monitoring of the bottom of the sea for heavy metals, flows, temperatures and salt contents are shown in detailed tables and maps. (BAT) [de

Northern Alaskan land surface response to reduced Arctic sea ice extent

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Higgins, Matthew E. [University of Colorado, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO (United States); Cassano, John J. [University of Colorado, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Boulder, CO (United States)

2012-05-15

With Arctic sea ice extent at near-record lows, an improved understanding of the relationship between sea ice and the land surface is warranted. We examine the land surface response to changing sea ice by first conducting a simulation using the Community Atmospheric Model version 3.1 with end of the twenty-first century sea ice extent. This future atmospheric response is then used to force the Weather and Research Forecasting Model version 3.1 to examine the terrestrial land surface response at high resolution over the North Slope of Alaska. Similar control simulations with twentieth century sea ice projections are also performed, and in both simulations only sea ice extent is altered. In the future sea ice extent experiment, atmospheric temperature increases significantly due to increases in latent and sensible heat flux, particularly in the winter season. Precipitation and snow pack increase significantly, and the increased snow pack contributes to warmer soil temperatures for most seasons by insulating the land surface. In the summer, however, soil temperatures are reduced due to increased albedo. Despite warmer near-surface atmospheric temperatures, it is found that spring melt is delayed throughout much of the North Slope due to the increased snow pack, and the growing season length is shortened. (orig.)

OW NOAA GOES Sea-Surface Temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The dataset contains satellite-derived sea-surface temperature measurements collected by means of the Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite. The data is...

Estimating the Ocean Flow Field from Combined Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Surface Height Data

Science.gov (United States)

Stammer, Detlef; Lindstrom, Eric (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This project was part of a previous grant at MIT that was moved over to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) together with the principal investigator. The final report provided here is concerned only with the work performed at SIO since January 2000. The primary focus of this project was the study of the three-dimensional, absolute and time-evolving general circulation of the global ocean from a combined analysis of remotely sensed fields of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface height (SSH). The synthesis of those two fields was performed with other relevant physical data, and appropriate dynamical ocean models with emphasis on constraining ocean general circulation models by a combination of both SST and SSH data. The central goal of the project was to improve our understanding and modeling of the relationship between the SST and its variability to internal ocean dynamics, and the overlying atmosphere, and to explore the relative roles of air-sea fluxes and internal ocean dynamics in establishing anomalies in SST on annual and longer time scales. An understanding of those problems will feed into the general discussion on how SST anomalies vary with time and the extend to which they interact with the atmosphere.

Sea level: measuring the bounding surfaces of the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Tamisiea, Mark E.; Hughes, Chris W.; Williams, Simon D. P.; Bingley, Richard M.

2014-01-01

The practical need to understand sea level along the coasts, such as for safe navigation given the spatially variable tides, has resulted in tide gauge observations having the distinction of being some of the longest instrumental ocean records. Archives of these records, along with geological constraints, have allowed us to identify the century-scale rise in global sea level. Additional data sources, particularly satellite altimetry missions, have helped us to better identify the rates and causes of sea-level rise and the mechanisms leading to spatial variability in the observed rates. Analysis of all of the data reveals the need for long-term and stable observation systems to assess accurately the regional changes as well as to improve our ability to estimate future changes in sea level. While information from many scientific disciplines is needed to understand sea-level change, this review focuses on contributions from geodesy and the role of the ocean's bounding surfaces: the sea surface and the Earth's crust. PMID:25157196

Predicting monsoon rainfall and pressure indices from sea surface temperature

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sadhuram, Y.

The relationship between the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Indian Ocean and monsoon rainfall has been examined by using 21 years data set (1967-87) of MOHSST.6 (Met. Office Historical Sea Surface Temperature data set, obtained from U.K. Met...

The effects of sea surface temperature gradients on surface turbulent fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Steffen, John

A positive correlation between sea surface temperature (SST) and wind stress perturbation near strong SST gradients (DeltaSST) has been observed in different parts of the world ocean, such as the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic and the Kuroshio Extension east of Japan. These changes in winds and SSTs can modify near-surface stability, surface stress, and latent and sensible heat fluxes. In general, these small scale processes are poorly modeled in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and climate models. Failure to account for these air--sea interactions produces inaccurate values of turbulent fluxes, and therefore a misrepresentation of the energy, moisture, and momentum budgets. Our goal is to determine the change in these surface turbulent fluxes due to overlooking the correlated variability in winds, SSTs, and related variables. To model these air--sea interactions, a flux model was forced with and without SST--induced changes to the surface wind fields. The SST modification to the wind fields is based on a baroclinic argument as implemented by the University of Washington Planetary Boundary-Layer (UWPBL) model. Other input parameters include 2-m air temperature, 2-m dew point temperature, surface pressure (all from ERA--interim), and Reynolds Daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST). Flux model runs are performed every 6 hours starting in December 2002 and ending in November 2003. From these model outputs, seasonal, monthly, and daily means of the difference between DeltaSST and no DeltaSST effects on sensible heat flux (SHF), latent heat flux (LHF), and surface stress are calculated. Since the greatest impacts occur during the winter season, six additional December-January-February (DJF) seasons were analyzed for 1987--1990 and 1999--2002. The greatest differences in surface turbulent fluxes are concentrated near strong SST fronts associated with the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio Extension. On average, 2002---2003 DJF seasonal differences in SHF

Offshore Wind Energy: Wind and Sea Surface Temperature from Satellite Observations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karagali, Ioanna

as the entire atmosphere above. Under conditions of light winds and strong solar insolation, warming of the upper oceanic layer may occur. In this PhD study, remote sensing from satellites is used to obtain information for the near-surface ocean wind and the sea surface temperature over the North Sea......, demonstrate that wind information from SAR is more appropriate when small scale local features are of interest, not resolved by scatterometers. Hourly satellite observations of the sea surface temperature, from a thermal infra-red sensor, are used to identify and quantify the daily variability of the sea...

Analysed foundation sea surface temperature, global

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The through-cloud capabilities of microwave radiometers provide a valuable picture of global sea surface temperature (SST). To utilize this, scientists at Remote...

Electromagnetic backscattering from one-dimensional drifting fractal sea surface II: Electromagnetic backscattering model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Tao; Zhao Shang-Zhuo; Fang He; Yu Wen-Jin; He Yi-Jun; Perrie, William

2016-01-01

Sea surface current has a significant influence on electromagnetic (EM) backscattering signals and may constitute a dominant synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging mechanism. An effective EM backscattering model for a one-dimensional drifting fractal sea surface is presented in this paper. This model is used to simulate EM backscattering signals from the drifting sea surface. Numerical results show that ocean currents have a significant influence on EM backscattering signals from the sea surface. The normalized radar cross section (NRCS) discrepancies between the model for a coupled wave-current fractal sea surface and the model for an uncoupled fractal sea surface increase with the increase of incidence angle, as well as with increasing ocean currents. Ocean currents that are parallel to the direction of the wave can weaken the EM backscattering signal intensity, while the EM backscattering signal is intensified by ocean currents propagating oppositely to the wave direction. The model presented in this paper can be used to study the SAR imaging mechanism for a drifting sea surface. (paper)

Sea Ice Monitoring from Space with Synthetic Aperture Radar

Science.gov (United States)

Eltoft, T.; Dierking, W.; Doulgeris, A.; Kasapoglu, G.; Kraemer, T.

2013-03-01

This paper summarizes the knowledge status in some areas of SAR monitoring of sea ice. It starts with a brief summary of the whitepaper by Breivik et al. from OceanObs’09 [3], and then focuses on segmentation and classification, drift estimation, and assimilation strategies, which are considered as key areas in the development of more mature sea ice products from SAR and polarimetric SAR (PoLSAR) data.

Effects of the surface waves on air-sea interactions of the sea spray

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Francius, M.J.; Eijk, A.M.J. van

2006-01-01

Aerosols are important to a large number of processes in the marine boundary layer. On a micro-meteorological scale, they influence the heat and moisture budgets near the sea surface. Since the ocean acts both as a source and a sink for aerosols, the sea spray droplets may transfer water vapour and

Daily Radiation Budget of the Baltic Sea Surface from Satellite Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zapadka Tomasz

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Recently developed system for assessment of radiation budget for the Baltic Sea has been presented and verified. The system utilizes data from various sources: satellite, model and in situ measurements. It has been developed within the SatBałtyk project (Satellite Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Environment - www.satbaltyk.eu where the energy radiation budget is one of the key element. The SatBałtyk system generates daily maps of the all components of radiation budget on every day basis. We show the scheme of making daily maps, applied algorithms and empirical data collection within the system. An empirical verification of the system has been carried out based on empirical data collected on the oil rig placed on the Baltic Sea. This verification concerned all the components of the surface radiation budget. The average daily NET products are estimated with statistical error ca. 13 Wm-2. The biggest absolute statistical error is for LWd component and equals 14 Wm-2. The relative error in relation to the average annual values for whole Baltic is the biggest for SWu and reaches 25%. All estimated components have correlation coefficient above 0.91.

Electromagnetic Scattering from Rough Sea Surface with PM Spectrum Covered by an Organic Film

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Rui; Guo Li-Xin; Wang An-Qi; Wu Zhen-Sen

2011-01-01

The rough sea surface covered by an organic film will cause attenuation of capillarity waves, which implies that the organic films play an important role in rough sea surface processes. We focus on a one-dimensional (1D) rough sea surface with the Pierson—Moskowitz (PM) spectrum distributed to the homogeneous insoluble organic slicks. First, the impact of the organic film on the PM surface spectrum is presented, as well as that of the correlation length, the rms height and slope of the rough sea surface. The damping effect of the organic film changes the physical parameters of the rough sea surface. For example, the organic film will reduce the rms height and slopee of the rough sea surface, which results in the attenuation of the high-frequency components of the PM spectrum leading to modification of the surface PM spectrum. Then, the influence of the organic film on the electromagnetic (EM) scattering coefficients from PM rough sea surface covered by the organic film is investigated and discussed in detail, compared with the clean PM rough sea surface through the method of moments. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

Sea Surface Height, Absolute, Aviso, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aviso Absolute Sea Surface Height is the Sea Surface Height Deviation plus the long term mean dynamic height. This is Science Quality data.

Microwave emission measurements of sea surface roughness, soil moisture, and sea ice structure

Science.gov (United States)

Gloersen, P.; Wilheit, T. T.; Schmugge, T. J.

1972-01-01

In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the microwave radiometers to be carried aboard the Nimbus 5 and 6 satellites and proposed for one of the earth observatory satellites, remote measurements of microwave radiation at wavelengths ranging from 0.8 to 21 cm have been made of a variety of the earth's surfaces from the NASA CV-990 A/C. Brightness temperatures of sea water surfaces of varying roughness, of terrain with varying soil moisture, and of sea ice of varying structure were observed. In each case, around truth information was available for correlation with the microwave brightness temperature. The utility of passive microwave radiometry in determining ocean surface wind speeds, at least for values higher than 7 meters/second has been demonstrated. In addition, it was shown that radiometric signatures can be used to determine soil moisture in unvegetated terrain to within five percentage points by weight. Finally, it was demonstrated that first year thick, multi-year, and first year thin sea ice can be distinguished by observing their differing microwave emissivities at various wavelengths.

Salton Sea ecosystem monitoring and assessment plan

Science.gov (United States)

Case(compiler), H. L.; Boles, Jerry; Delgado, Arturo; Nguyen, Thang; Osugi, Doug; Barnum, Douglas A.; Decker, Drew; Steinberg, Steven; Steinberg, Sheila; Keene, Charles; White, Kristina; Lupo, Tom; Gen, Sheldon; Baerenklau, Ken A.

2013-01-01

The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, provides essential habitat for several fish and wildlife species and is an important cultural and recreational resource. It has no outlet, and dissolved salts contained in the inflows concentrate in the Salton Sea through evaporation. The salinity of the Salton Sea, which is currently nearly one and a half times the salinity of ocean water, has been increasing as a result of evaporative processes and low freshwater inputs. Further reductions in inflows from water conservation, recycling, and transfers will lower the level of the Salton Sea and accelerate the rate of salinity increases, reduce the suitability of fish and wildlife habitat, and affect air quality by exposing lakebed playa that could generate dust. Legislation enacted in 2003 to implement the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) stated the Legislature’s intent for the State of California to undertake the restoration of the Salton Sea ecosystem. As required by the legislation, the California Resources Agency (now California Natural Resources Agency) produced the Salton Sea Ecosystem Restoration Study and final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR; California Resources Agency, 2007) with the stated purpose to “develop a preferred alternative by exploring alternative ways to restore important ecological functions of the Salton Sea that have existed for about 100 years.” A decision regarding a preferred alternative currently resides with the California State Legislature (Legislature), which has yet to take action. As part of efforts to identify an ecosystem restoration program for the Salton Sea, and in anticipation of direction from the Legislature, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) established a team to develop a monitoring and assessment plan (MAP). This plan is the product of that effort. The

THRESHOLD DETERMINATION FOR LOCAL INSTANTANEOUS SEA SURFACE HEIGHT DERIVATION WITH ICEBRIDGE DATA IN BEAUFORT SEA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Zhu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The NASA Operation IceBridge (OIB mission is the largest program in the Earth’s polar remote sensing science observation project currently, initiated in 2009, which collects airborne remote sensing measurements to bridge the gap between NASA’s ICESat and the upcoming ICESat-2 mission. This paper develop an improved method that optimizing the selection method of Digital Mapping System (DMS image and using the optimal threshold obtained by experiments in Beaufort Sea to calculate the local instantaneous sea surface height in this area. The optimal threshold determined by comparing manual selection with the lowest (Airborne Topographic Mapper ATM L1B elevation threshold of 2 %, 1 %, 0.5 %, 0.2 %, 0.1 % and 0.05 % in A, B, C sections, the mean of mean difference are 0.166 m, 0.124 m, 0.083 m, 0.018 m, 0.002 m and −0.034 m. Our study shows the lowest L1B data of 0.1 % is the optimal threshold. The optimal threshold and manual selections are also used to calculate the instantaneous sea surface height over images with leads, we find that improved methods has closer agreement with those from L1B manual selections. For these images without leads, the local instantaneous sea surface height estimated by using the linear equations between distance and sea surface height calculated over images with leads.

Sea level: measuring the bounding surfaces of the ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamisiea, Mark E; Hughes, Chris W; Williams, Simon D P; Bingley, Richard M

2014-09-28

The practical need to understand sea level along the coasts, such as for safe navigation given the spatially variable tides, has resulted in tide gauge observations having the distinction of being some of the longest instrumental ocean records. Archives of these records, along with geological constraints, have allowed us to identify the century-scale rise in global sea level. Additional data sources, particularly satellite altimetry missions, have helped us to better identify the rates and causes of sea-level rise and the mechanisms leading to spatial variability in the observed rates. Analysis of all of the data reveals the need for long-term and stable observation systems to assess accurately the regional changes as well as to improve our ability to estimate future changes in sea level. While information from many scientific disciplines is needed to understand sea-level change, this review focuses on contributions from geodesy and the role of the ocean's bounding surfaces: the sea surface and the Earth's crust. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Reduced near-surface thermal inversions in 2005-06 in the southeastern Arabian Sea (Lakshadweep Sea)

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nisha, K.; Rao, S.A.; Gopalakrishna, V.V.; Rao, R.R.; GirishKumar, M.S.; Pankajakshan, T.; Ravichandran, M.; Rajesh, S.; Girish, K.; Johnson, Z.; Anuradha, M.; Gavaskar, S.S.M.; Suneel, V.; Krishna, S.M.

Repeat XBT transects made at near-fortnightly intervals in the Lakshadweep Sea (southeastern Arabian Sea) and ocean data assimilation products are examined to describe the year-to-year variability in the observed near-surface thermal inversions...

Sea Surface Temperature Average_SST_Master

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Sea surface temperature collected via satellite imagery from http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.noaa.ersst.html and averaged for each region using ArcGIS...

Northern Mariana Islands Marine Monitoring Team Sea Temperature Measurements

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Site specific monitoring of sea temperature is conducted using submersible temperature dataloggers at selected sites and depths around the islands of Saipan and Rota.

Flow-dependent assimilation of sea surface temperature in isopycnal coordinates with the Norwegian Climate Prediction Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

François Counillon

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We document a pilot stochastic re-analysis computed by assimilating sea surface temperature (SST anomalies into the ocean component of the coupled Norwegian Climate Prediction Model (NorCPM for the period 1950–2010 (doi: 10.11582/2016.00002. NorCPM is based on the Norwegian Earth System Model and uses the ensemble Kalman filter for data assimilation (DA. Here, we assimilate SST from the stochastic HadISST2 historical reconstruction. The accuracy, reliability and drift are investigated using both assimilated and independent observations. NorCPM is slightly overdispersive against assimilated observations but shows stable performance through the analysis period. It demonstrates skills against independent measurements: sea surface height, heat and salt content, in particular in the Equatorial and North Pacific, the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre (SPG region and the Nordic Seas. Furthermore, NorCPM provides a reliable monitoring of the SPG index and represents the vertical temperature variability there, in good agreement with observations. The monitoring of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is also encouraging. The benefit of using a flow-dependent assimilation method and constructing the covariance in isopycnal coordinates are investigated in the SPG region. Isopycnal coordinates discretisation is found to better capture the vertical structure than standard depth-coordinate discretisation, because it leads to a deeper influence of the assimilated surface observations. The vertical covariance shows a pronounced seasonal and decadal variability that highlights the benefit of flow-dependent DA method. This study demonstrates the potential of NorCPM to compute an ocean re-analysis for the 19th and 20th centuries when SST observations are available.

The dependence of sea surface slope on atmospheric stability and swell conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Paul A.; Shemdin, Omar H.

1988-01-01

A tower-mounted optical device is used to measure the two-orthogonal components of the sea surface slope. The results indicate that an unstable stratification at the air-sea interface tends to enhance the surface roughness. The presence of a long ocean swell system steers the primary direction of shortwave propagation away from wind direction, and may increase or reduce the mean square slope of the sea surface.

Sea surface temperature mapping using a thermal infrared scanner

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

RameshKumar, M.R; Pandya, R; Mathur, K.M.; Charyulu, R; Rao, L.V.G.

1 metre water column below the sea surface. A thermal infrared scanner developed by the Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad was operated on board R.V. Gaveshani in April/May 1984 for mapping SST over the eastern Arabian Sea. SST values...

Oceanic whitecaps: Sea surface features detectable via satellite that ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

experiments that the air-sea gas transfer coefficient for each of a wide range of gases, including carbon dioxide and .... generators with which the basin was equipped, the .... whitecaps in air-sea gas exchange; Gas Transfer at Water. Surfaces ...

Information About Dynamics of the Sea Surface as a Means to Improve Safety of the Unmanned Vessel at Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Przyborski Marek

2016-12-01

Full Text Available One of the fundamental states of the sea surface is its heave. Despite of years of the intense scientific inquiry, no clear understanding of the influence of this aspect on the dynamics of the sea environment has emerged. The separation of two nearby fluid elements which one may observed for example as a free floating of small objects on the sea surface (rescuers on the rough sea or small research vessels is caused by the interaction of different components. On the other hand one may say that the heave of the sea is also a summary interaction of a few components describing the dynamics of the sea. Therefore it is the most important aspect, which influenced the dispersion phenomenon. This observation has important consequences for many different problems as for example conducting Search and Rescue missions and using unmanned ships. We would like to present results of our experiment focused on finding the answer to question about nature of the heave of the sea and its influence on safety of Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV.

Sea Surface Temperature Climate Data Record for the North Sea and Baltic Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høyer, Jacob L.; Karagali, Ioanna

2016-01-01

A 30-yr climate data record (CDR) of sea surface temperature (SST) has been produced with daily gap-free analysis fields for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea region from 1982 to 2012 by combining the Pathfinder AVHRR satellite data record with the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) Reprocessing...... for Climate (ARC) dataset and with in situ observations. A dynamical bias correction scheme adjusts the Pathfinder observations toward the ARC and in situ observations. Largest Pathfinder-ARC differences are found in the summer months, when the Pathfinder observations are up to 0.4 °C colder than the ARC...... observations on average. Validation against independent in situ observations shows a very stable performance of the data record, with a mean difference of -0.06 °C compared to moored buoys and a 0.46 °C standard deviation of the differences. The mean annual biases of the SST CDR are small for all years...

OW NOAA GOES-POES Sea Surface Temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The dataset contains blended satellite-derived sea-surface temperature measurements collected by means of the Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellites (GOES)...

Remote sensing algorithm for sea surface CO2 in the Baltic Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Parard, G.; Charantonis, A. A.; Rutgerson, A.

2014-08-01

Studies of coastal seas in Europe have brought forth the high variability in the CO2 system. This high variability, generated by the complex mechanisms driving the CO2 fluxes makes their accurate estimation an arduous task. This is more pronounced in the Baltic Sea, where the mechanisms driving the fluxes have not been as highly detailed as in the open oceans. In adition, the joint availability of in-situ measurements of CO2 and of sea-surface satellite data is limited in the area. In this paper, a combination of two existing methods (Self-Organizing-Maps and Multiple Linear regression) is used to estimate ocean surface pCO2 in the Baltic Sea from remotely sensed surface temperature, chlorophyll, coloured dissolved organic matter, net primary production and mixed layer depth. The outputs of this research have an horizontal resolution of 4 km, and cover the period from 1998 to 2011. The reconstructed pCO2 values over the validation data set have a correlation of 0.93 with the in-situ measurements, and a root mean square error is of 38 μatm. The removal of any of the satellite parameters degraded this reconstruction of the CO2 flux, and we chose therefore to complete any missing data through statistical imputation. The CO2 maps produced by this method also provide a confidence level of the reconstruction at each grid point. The results obtained are encouraging given the sparsity of available data and we expect to be able to produce even more accurate reconstructions in the coming years, in view of the predicted acquisitions of new data.

Improving SMOS Sea Surface Salinity in the Western Mediterranean Sea through Multivariate and Multifractal Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Estrella Olmedo

2018-03-01

Full Text Available A new methodology using a combination of debiased non-Bayesian retrieval, DINEOF (Data Interpolating Empirical Orthogonal Functions and multifractal fusion has been used to obtain Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS Sea Surface Salinity (SSS fields over the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The debiased non-Bayesian retrieval mitigates the systematic errors produced by the contamination of the land over the sea. In addition, this retrieval improves the coverage by means of multiyear statistical filtering criteria. This methodology allows obtaining SMOS SSS fields in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the resulting SSS suffers from a seasonal (and other time-dependent bias. This time-dependent bias has been characterized by means of specific Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs. Finally, high resolution Sea Surface Temperature (OSTIA SST maps have been used for improving the spatial and temporal resolution of the SMOS SSS maps. The presented methodology practically reduces the error of the SMOS SSS in the Mediterranean Sea by half. As a result, the SSS dynamics described by the new SMOS maps in the Algerian Basin and the Balearic Front agrees with the one described by in situ SSS, and the mesoscale structures described by SMOS in the Alboran Sea and in the Gulf of Lion coincide with the ones described by the high resolution remotely-sensed SST images (AVHRR.

Recent sea surface temperature trends and future scenarios for the Mediterranean Sea:

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Shaltout

2014-06-01

Full Text Available We analyse recent Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures (SSTs and their response to global change using 1/4-degree gridded advanced very-high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR daily SST data, 1982-2012. These data indicate significant annual warming (from 0.24°C decade-1 west of the Strait of Gibraltar to 0.51°C decade-1 over the Black Sea and significant spatial variation in annual average SST (from 15ºC over the Black Sea to 21°C over the Levantine sub-basin. Ensemble mean scenarios indicate that the study area SST may experience significant warming, peaking at 2.6°C century-1 in the Representative Concentration Pathways 85 (RCP85 scenario.

Anomalous sea surface structures as an object of statistical topography

Science.gov (United States)

Klyatskin, V. I.; Koshel, K. V.

2015-06-01

By exploiting ideas of statistical topography, we analyze the stochastic boundary problem of emergence of anomalous high structures on the sea surface. The kinematic boundary condition on the sea surface is assumed to be a closed stochastic quasilinear equation. Applying the stochastic Liouville equation, and presuming the stochastic nature of a given hydrodynamic velocity field within the diffusion approximation, we derive an equation for a spatially single-point, simultaneous joint probability density of the surface elevation field and its gradient. An important feature of the model is that it accounts for stochastic bottom irregularities as one, but not a single, perturbation. Hence, we address the assumption of the infinitely deep ocean to obtain statistic features of the surface elevation field and the squared elevation gradient field. According to the calculations, we show that clustering in the absolute surface elevation gradient field happens with the unit probability. It results in the emergence of rare events such as anomalous high structures and deep gaps on the sea surface almost in every realization of a stochastic velocity field.

Development of radioactive surface contamination monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashimoto, Tadao; Hasegawa, Toru; Fukumoto, Keisuke; Ooki, Yasushi

2008-01-01

In the radiation facilities such as nuclear power plants, surface contamination of the people accessing or articles conveyed in and out of the radiation controlled areas is detected and monitored by installing contamination monitors at the boundary of controlled areas and uncontrolled areas against the expansion of the radioactive materials to out of the facilities. It is required for the surface contamination of articles to be tightened of control criteria as 'Guidelines for discrimination ways of nonradioactive waste (not classified as radioactive waste) generated from nuclear power plants' (hereinafter referred to as 'the Guideline') was established by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in August, 2005. It predicts that the control criteria of monitors other than article monitors are also tightened in the future. Fuji electric has been fabricating and delivering surface contamination detecting monitors. Now we are developing the new contamination monitor corresponding to the tightening of the control criteria. 'Large article transfer monitor', 'Clothing monitor' and 'Body surface contamination monitor' are introduced in this article. (author)

OW NOAA AVHRR-GAC Sea-Surface Temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The dataset contains satellite-derived sea-surface temperature measurements collected by means of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer - Global Area Coverage...

AQUARIUS: A Passive/Active Microwave Sensor to Monitor Sea Surface Salinity Globally from Space

Science.gov (United States)

LeVine, David; Lagerloef, Gary S. E.; Colomb, F. Raul; Chao, Yi

2004-01-01

Salinity is important for understanding ocean dynamics, energy exchange with the atmosphere and the global water cycle. Existing data is limited and much of the ocean has never even been sampled. Sea surface salinity can be measured remotely by satellite and a three year mission for this purpose called AquariudSAC-D has recently been selected by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program. The objective is to map the salinity field globally with a spatial resolution of 100 km and a monthly average accuracy of 0.2 psu. The mission, scheduled for launch in 2008, is a partnership of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the Argentine Comision National de Actividades Epaciales (CONAE).

Seasonal dynamics of surface chlorophyll concentration and sea surface temperature, as indicator of hydrological structure of the ocean (by satellite data)

Science.gov (United States)

Shevyrnogov, Anatoly; Vysotskaya, Galina

Continuous monitoring of phytopigment concentrations and sea surface temperature in the ocean by space-borne methods makes possible to estimate ecological condition of biocenoses in critical areas. Unlike land vegetation, hydrological processes largely determine phytoplank-ton dynamics, which may be either recurrent or random. The types of chlorophyll concentration dynamics and sea surface temperature can manifest as zones quasistationary by seasonal dynamics, quasistationary areas (QSA). In the papers of the authors (A. Shevyrnogov, G. Vysotskaya, E. Shevyrnogov, A study of the stationary and the anomalous in the ocean surface chlorophyll distribution by satellite data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 25, No.7-8, pp. 1383-1387, April 2004 & A. P. Shevyrnogov, G. S. Vysotskaya, J. I. Gitelson, Quasistationary areas of chlorophyll concentra-tion in the world ocean as observed satellite data Advances in Space Research, Volume 18, Issue 7, Pages 129-132, 1996) existence of zones, which are quasi-stationary with similar seasonal dynamics of chlorophyll concentration at surface layer of ocean, was shown. Results were obtained on the base of processing of time series of satellite images SeaWiFS. It was shown that fronts and frontal zones coincide with dividing lines between quasi-stationary are-as, especially in areas of large oceanic streams. To study the dynamics of the ocean for the period from 1985 through 2012 we used data on the temperature of the surface layer of the ocean and chlorophyll concentration (AVHRR, SeaWiFS and MODIS). Biota of surface oceanic layer is more stable in comparison with quickly changing surface tem-perature. It gives a possibility to circumvent influence of high-frequency component (for exam-ple, a diurnal cycle) in investigation of dynamics of spatial distribution of surface streams. In addition, an analyses of nonstable ocean productivity phenomena, stood out time series of satellite images, showed existence of areas with

The Fast Simulation of Scattering Characteristics from a Simplified Time Varying Sea Surface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yiwen Wei

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at applying a simplified sea surface model into the physical optics (PO method to accelerate the scattering calculation from 1D time varying sea surface. To reduce the number of the segments and make further improvement on the efficiency of PO method, a simplified sea surface is proposed. In this simplified sea surface, the geometry of long waves is locally approximated by tilted facets that are much longer than the electromagnetic wavelength. The capillary waves are considered to be sinusoidal line superimposing on the long waves. The wavenumber of the sinusoidal waves is supposed to satisfy the resonant condition of Bragg waves which is dominant in all the scattered short wave components. Since the capillary wave is periodical within one facet, an analytical integration of the PO term can be performed. The backscattering coefficient obtained from a simplified sea surface model agrees well with that obtained from a realistic sea surface. The Doppler shifts and width also agree well with the realistic model since the capillary waves are taken into consideration. The good agreements indicate that the simplified model is reasonable and valid in predicting both the scattering coefficients and the Doppler spectra.

Postrelease monitoring of radio-instrumented sea otters in Prince William Sound

Science.gov (United States)

Monnett, C.; Rotterman, L.M.; Stack, C.; Monson, Daniel H.; Bayha, Keith; Kormendy, Jennifer

1990-01-01

Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) that were captured in western Prince William Sound (PWS) or the Gulf of Alaska, treated, and held in captivity at the temporary rehabilitation centers established in response to the T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill were instrumented with radio transmitters, released into eastern PWS, and monitored by radiotelemetry. We undertook the present study to gain information for guiding the release of the remaining captive otters and evaluating the efficacy of sea otter rehabilitation after exposure to crude oil. Radio transmitters were attached to the flippers of seven sea otters released in May 1989 and monitored for periods of a few hours to more than 60 days. However, little was learned about the fate of these animals because the radio transmitters used proved unreliable. Forty-five additional sea otters from the rehabilitation centers were implanted with radio transmitters, released into northeastern PWS and monitored for 8 months. During the first 20 days after the first release of these implanted otters (n = 21), they were more mobile than wild-caught and released sea otters studied in PWS, from 1984 through 1990. All were alive and vigorous at the end of the 20-day period. Tracking of all 45 implanted sea otters during the 8-month period showed that the otters remained highly mobile. Many (46.6%) crossed into western PWS. However, by the end of the 8 months, 12 of the instrumented otters were dead and 9 were missing. One radio failed. These mortality and missing rates are much higher than those normally observed for adult sea otters in PWS. The death rate was highest in winter. These data suggest that, despite the tremendous amount of money and energy directed toward the treatment and care of these animals, the sea otters released from the centers were not completely rehabilitated, that is, not returned to a normal state. We recommend that future policies focus on preventing otters from becoming oiled, rather than attempting to treat them

NOAA Daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA 1/4° daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (or daily OISST) is an analysis constructed by combining observations from different platforms...

Protocol for Microplastics Sampling on the Sea Surface and Sample Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kovač Viršek, Manca; Palatinus, Andreja; Koren, Špela; Peterlin, Monika; Horvat, Petra; Kržan, Andrej

2016-01-01

Microplastic pollution in the marine environment is a scientific topic that has received increasing attention over the last decade. The majority of scientific publications address microplastic pollution of the sea surface. The protocol below describes the methodology for sampling, sample preparation, separation and chemical identification of microplastic particles. A manta net fixed on an »A frame« attached to the side of the vessel was used for sampling. Microplastic particles caught in the cod end of the net were separated from samples by visual identification and use of stereomicroscopes. Particles were analyzed for their size using an image analysis program and for their chemical structure using ATR-FTIR and micro FTIR spectroscopy. The described protocol is in line with recommendations for microplastics monitoring published by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter. This written protocol with video guide will support the work of researchers that deal with microplastics monitoring all over the world. PMID:28060297

The lowering of sea surface temperature in the east central Arabian sea associated with a cyclone

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Murty, V.S.N.; Rao, D.P.; Sastry, J.S.

An analysis of thermal Structure in the East Central Arabian Sea associated with a moderate cyclone is presented. The heat storage and the heat budget components have been computed. Under the influence of the cyclone the Sea Surface Temperature (SST...

OW AVISO Sea-Surface Height & Niiler Climatology

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The dataset contains satellite-derived sea-surface height measurements collected by means of the TOPEX/Poseidon/ERS, JASON-1/Envisat, and Jason-2/Envisat satellite...

Recent sea surface temperature trends and future scenarios for the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Shaltout

2014-06-01

Full Text Available We analyse recent Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures (SSTs and their response to global change using 1/4-degree gridded advanced very-high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR daily SST data, 1982–2012. These data indicate significant annual warming (from 0.24 °C decade−1 west of the Strait of Gibraltar to 0.51 °C decade−1 over the Black Sea and significant spatial variation in annual average SST (from 15 °C over the Black Sea to 21 °C over the Levantine sub-basin. Ensemble mean scenarios indicate that the study area SST may experience significant warming, peaking at 2.6 °C century−1 in the Representative Concentration Pathways 85 (RCP85 scenario.

The global mean sea surface model WHU2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taoyong Jin

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The mean sea surface (MSS model is an important reference for the study of charting datum and sea level change. A global MSS model named WHU2013, with 2′ × 2′ spatial resolution between 80°S and 84°N, is established in this paper by combining nearly 20 years of multi-satellite altimetric data that include Topex/Poseidon (T/P, Jason-1, Jason-2, ERS-2, ENVISAT and GFO Exact Repeat Mission (ERM data, ERS-1/168, Jason-1/C geodetic mission data and Cryosat-2 low resolution mode (LRM data. All the ERM data are adjusted by the collinear method to achieve the mean along-track sea surface height (SSH, and the combined dataset of T/P, Jason-1 and Jason-2 from 1993 to 2012 after collinear adjustment is used as the reference data. The sea level variations in the non-ERM data (geodetic mission data and LRM data are mainly investigated, and a combined method is proposed to correct the sea level variations between 66°S and 66°N by along-track sea level variation time series and beyond 66°S or 66°N by seasonal sea level variations. In the crossover adjustment between multi-altimetric data, a stepwise method is used to solve the problem of inconsistency in the reference data between the high and low latitude regions. The proposed model is compared with the CNES-CLS2011 and DTU13 MSS models, and the standard derivation (STD of the differences between the models is about 5 cm between 80°S and 84°N, less than 3 cm between 66°S and 66°N, and less than 4 cm in the China Sea and its adjacent sea. Furthermore, the three models exhibit a good agreement in the SSH differences and the along-track gradient of SSH following comparisons with satellite altimetry data.

SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paul Higley; J. Robert Woolsey; Ralph Goodman; Vernon Asper; Boris Mizaikoff; Angela Davis

2005-11-01

A Consortium, designed to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research, has been established at the University of Mississippi's Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, CMRET. The primary objective of the group is to design and emplace a remote monitoring station on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2005, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water and sea floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Development of the station allows for the possibility of expanding its capabilities to include biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in this relatively new research arena. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembled to promote innovative research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. Noteworthy achievements one year into the extended life of this cooperative agreement include: (1) Progress on the vertical line array (VLA) of sensors: (1a) Repair attempts of the VLA cable damaged in the October >1000m water depth deployment failed; a new design has been tested successfully. (1b) The acoustic modem damaged in the October deployment was repaired successfully. (1c) Additional acoustic modems with greater depth rating and the appropriate surface communications units have been purchased. (1d) The VLA computer system is being modified for real time communications to the surface vessel using radio telemetry and fiber optic cable. (1e) Positioning sensors--including compass and tilt sensors--were completed and tested. (1f) One of the VLAs has been redesigned to collect near sea floor geochemical data. (2

Increased Surface Wind Speeds Follow Diminishing Arctic Sea Ice

Science.gov (United States)

Mioduszewski, J.; Vavrus, S. J.; Wang, M.; Holland, M. M.; Landrum, L.

2017-12-01

Projections of Arctic sea ice through the end of the 21st century indicate the likelihood of a strong reduction in ice area and thickness in all seasons, leading to a substantial thermodynamic influence on the overlying atmosphere. This is likely to have an effect on winds over the Arctic Basin, due to changes in atmospheric stability and/or baroclinicity. Prior research on future Arctic wind changes is limited and has focused mainly on the practical impacts on wave heights in certain seasons. Here we attempt to identify patterns and likely mechanisms responsible for surface wind changes in all seasons across the Arctic, particularly those associated with sea ice loss in the marginal ice zone. Sea level pressure, near-surface (10 m) and upper-air (850 hPa) wind speeds, and lower-level dynamic and thermodynamic variables from the Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble Project (CESM-LE) were analyzed for the periods 1971-2000 and 2071-2100 to facilitate comparison between a present-day and future climate. Mean near-surface wind speeds over the Arctic Ocean are projected to increase by late century in all seasons but especially during autumn and winter, when they strengthen by up to 50% locally. The most extreme wind speeds in the 90th percentile change even more, increasing in frequency by over 100%. The strengthened winds are closely linked to decreasing lower-tropospheric stability resulting from the loss of sea ice cover and consequent surface warming (locally over 20 ºC warmer in autumn and winter). A muted pattern of these future changes is simulated in CESM-LE historical runs from 1920-2005. The enhanced winds near the surface are mostly collocated with weaker winds above the boundary layer during autumn and winter, implying more vigorous vertical mixing and a drawdown of high-momentum air.The implications of stronger future winds include increased coastal hazards and the potential for a positive feedback with sea ice by generating higher winds and

Sea Surface Temperature (14 KM North America)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Product shows local sea surface temperatures (degrees C). It is a composite gridded-image derived from 8-km resolution SST Observations. It is generated every 48...

Seasonal signatures in SFG vibrational spectra of the sea surface nanolayer at Boknis Eck Time Series Station (SW Baltic Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Laß

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The very thin sea surface nanolayer on top of the sea surface microlayer, sometimes just one monomolecular layer thick, forms the interface between ocean and atmosphere. Due to the small dimension and tiny amount of substance, knowledge about the development of the layer in the course of the year is scarce. In this work, the sea surface nanolayer at Boknis Eck Time Series Station (BE, southwestern Baltic Sea, has been investigated over a period of three and a half years. Surface water samples were taken monthly by screen sampling and were analyzed in terms of organic content and composition by sum frequency generation spectroscopy, which is specifically sensitive to interfacial layers. A yearly periodicity has been observed with a pronounced abundance of sea surface nanolayer material (such as carbohydrate-rich material during the summer months. On the basis of our results we conclude that the abundance of organic material in the nanolayer at Boknis Eck is not directly related to phytoplankton abundance alone. We speculate that indeed sloppy feeding of zooplankton together with photochemical and/or microbial processing of organic precursor compounds is responsible for the pronounced seasonality.

Seasonal signatures in SFG vibrational spectra of the sea surface nanolayer at Boknis Eck Time Series Station (SW Baltic Sea)

Science.gov (United States)

Laß, K.; Bange, H. W.; Friedrichs, G.

2013-08-01

The very thin sea surface nanolayer on top of the sea surface microlayer, sometimes just one monomolecular layer thick, forms the interface between ocean and atmosphere. Due to the small dimension and tiny amount of substance, knowledge about the development of the layer in the course of the year is scarce. In this work, the sea surface nanolayer at Boknis Eck Time Series Station (BE), southwestern Baltic Sea, has been investigated over a period of three and a half years. Surface water samples were taken monthly by screen sampling and were analyzed in terms of organic content and composition by sum frequency generation spectroscopy, which is specifically sensitive to interfacial layers. A yearly periodicity has been observed with a pronounced abundance of sea surface nanolayer material (such as carbohydrate-rich material) during the summer months. On the basis of our results we conclude that the abundance of organic material in the nanolayer at Boknis Eck is not directly related to phytoplankton abundance alone. We speculate that indeed sloppy feeding of zooplankton together with photochemical and/or microbial processing of organic precursor compounds is responsible for the pronounced seasonality.

Remote sensing the sea surface CO2 of the Baltic Sea using the SOMLO methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Parard, G.; Charantonis, A. A.; Rutgerson, A.

2015-06-01

Studies of coastal seas in Europe have noted the high variability of the CO2 system. This high variability, generated by the complex mechanisms driving the CO2 fluxes, complicates the accurate estimation of these mechanisms. This is particularly pronounced in the Baltic Sea, where the mechanisms driving the fluxes have not been characterized in as much detail as in the open oceans. In addition, the joint availability of in situ measurements of CO2 and of sea-surface satellite data is limited in the area. In this paper, we used the SOMLO (self-organizing multiple linear output; Sasse et al., 2013) methodology, which combines two existing methods (i.e. self-organizing maps and multiple linear regression) to estimate the ocean surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in the Baltic Sea from the remotely sensed sea surface temperature, chlorophyll, coloured dissolved organic matter, net primary production, and mixed-layer depth. The outputs of this research have a horizontal resolution of 4 km and cover the 1998-2011 period. These outputs give a monthly map of the Baltic Sea at a very fine spatial resolution. The reconstructed pCO2 values over the validation data set have a correlation of 0.93 with the in situ measurements and a root mean square error of 36 μatm. Removing any of the satellite parameters degraded this reconstructed CO2 flux, so we chose to supply any missing data using statistical imputation. The pCO2 maps produced using this method also provide a confidence level of the reconstruction at each grid point. The results obtained are encouraging given the sparsity of available data, and we expect to be able to produce even more accurate reconstructions in coming years, given the predicted acquisition of new data.

Monitoring of surface and airborne contamination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pradeep Kumar, K S [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay (India)

1997-06-01

Indian nuclear energy programme aims at total safety in all activities involved in the entire fuel cycle for the occupational workers, members of the public and the environment as a whole. Routine radiation monitoring with clearly laid out procedures are followed for ensuring the safety of workers and public. Radiation monitoring carried out for the nuclear installations comprises of process monitoring, monitoring of effluent releases and also of the radiation protection monitoring of the individuals, work place and environment. Regulations like banning of smoking and consumption of food and drink etc. reduces the risk of direct ingestion even if inadvertent spread of contamination takes place. Though limit of transportable surface contamination is prescribed, the health physicists always follow a ``clean on swipe`` philosophy which compensates any error in the measurement of surface contamination. In this paper, the following items are contained: Necessity of contamination monitoring, accuracy required in the calibration of surface contamination monitors, methodology for contamination monitoring, air monitoring, guidelines for unrestricted release of scrap materials, and problems in contamination monitoring. (G.K.)

Indonesia sea surface temperature from TRMM Microwave Imaging (TMI) sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Marini, Y.; Setiawan, K. T.

2018-05-01

We analysis the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) data to monitor the sea surface temperature (SST) of Indonesia waters for a decade of 2005-2014. The TMI SST data shows the seasonal and interannual SST in Indonesian waters. In general, the SST average was highest in March-May period with SST average was 29.4°C, and the lowest was in June – August period with the SST average was 28.5°C. The monthly SST average fluctuation of Indonesian waters for 10 years tends to increase. The lowest SST average of Indonesia occurred in August 2006 with the SST average was 27.6° C, while the maximum occurred in May 2014 with the monthly SST average temperature was 29.9 ° C.

Noninvasive monitoring of stress hormone levels in a female steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) pup undergoing rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrauskas, L; Tuomi, P; Atkinson, S

2006-03-01

Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) rarely strand in areas monitored by humans, and there is little published data on the diseases, parasites, nutritional state, and stress levels of Steller sea lions in the wild. In May 2002, a female Steller sea lion pup (EJS-02-01) was sighted separated from her mother after strong storms in Southeast Alaska. After 5 days of observations, EJS-02-01 was transferred to the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) in Seward, Alaska. During 11 mo of rehabilitation at ASLC, body weight was monitored and opportunistic fecal samples (n = 86) were analyzed for corticosterone concentrations. Fecal corticosterone concentrations ranged from 15 to 3,805 ng/ g for EJS-02-01. Peak corticosterone values reflected responses to acute stressors during rehabilitation. EJS-02-01 was successfully released at Gran Point, Alaska, in April 2003. Fecal corticosterone assay monitoring provided a valuable tool to monitor various stressors and is useful in monitoring long-term situations like rehabilitation.

GHRSST Level 4 ODYSSEA Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at Ifremer/CERSAT...

GHRSST Level 4 GAMSSA Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Australian Bureau...

GHRSST Level 4 OSPO Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Office of...

Variations in sea surface roughness induced by the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman tsunami

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. A. Godin

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Observations of tsunamis away from shore are critically important for improving early warning systems and understanding of tsunami generation and propagation. Tsunamis are difficult to detect and measure in the open ocean because the wave amplitude there is much smaller than it is close to shore. Currently, tsunami observations in deep water rely on measurements of variations in the sea surface height or bottom pressure. Here we demonstrate that there exists a different observable, specifically, ocean surface roughness, which can be used to reveal tsunamis away from shore. The first detailed measurements of the tsunami effect on sea surface height and radar backscattering strength in the open ocean were obtained from satellite altimeters during passage of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman tsunami. Through statistical analyses of satellite altimeter observations, we show that the Sumatra-Andaman tsunami effected distinct, detectable changes in sea surface roughness. The magnitude and spatial structure of the observed variations in radar backscattering strength are consistent with hydrodynamic models predicting variations in the near-surface wind across the tsunami wave front. Tsunami-induced changes in sea surface roughness can be potentially used for early tsunami detection by orbiting microwave radars and radiometers, which have broad surface coverage across the satellite ground track.

Binned level-3 Sea Surface Salinity from Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission in support of the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) data quality monitoring system (DQMS) from 2011-08-28 to 2015-06-10 (NCEI Accession 0151631)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The data quality monitoring system (DQMS) for the Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D satellites level-2 sea-surface salinity (SSS) swath data...

Developing hydrological monitoring system based on HF radar for islands and reefs in the South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Li, J.; Shi, P.; Chen, J.; Zhu, Y.; Li, B.

2016-12-01

There are many islands (or reefs) in the South China Sea. The hydrological properties (currents and waves) around the islands are highly spatially variable compared to those of coastal region of mainland, because the shorelines are more complex with much smaller scale, and the topographies are step-shape with a much sharper slope. The currents and waves with high spatial variations may destroy the buildings or engineering on shorelines, or even influence the structural stability of reefs. Therefore, it is necessary to establish monitoring systems to obtain the high-resolution hydrological information. This study propose a plan for developing a hydrological monitoring system based on HF radar on the shoreline of a typical island in the southern South China Sea: firstly, the HF radar are integrated with auxiliary equipment (such as dynamo, fuel tank, air conditioner, communication facilities) in a container to build a whole monitoring platform; synchronously, several buoys are set within the radar visibility for data calibration and validation; and finally, the current and wave observations collected by the HF radar are assimilated with numerical models to obtain long-term and high-precision reanalysis products. To test the feasibility of this plan, our research group has built two HF radar sites at the western coastal region of Guangdong Province. The collected data were used to extract surface current information and assimilated with an ocean model. The results show that the data assimilation can highly improve the surface current simulation, especially for typhoon periods. Continuous data with intervals between 6 and 12 hour are the most suitable for ideal assimilations. On the other hand, the test also reveal that developing similar monitoring system on island environments need advanced radars that have higher resolutions and a better performance for persistent work.

Sea surface temperature and sea ice variability in the subpolar North Atlantic from explosive volcanism of the late thirteenth century

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sicre, M. -A.; Khodri, M.; Mignot, J.

2013-01-01

In this study, we use IP25 and alkenone biomarker proxies to document the subdecadal variations of sea ice and sea surface temperature in the subpolar North Atlantic induced by the decadally paced explosive tropical volcanic eruptions of the second half of the thirteenth century. The short-and long......-term evolutions of both variables were investigated by cross analysis with a simulation of the IPSL-CM5A LR model. Our results show short-term ocean cooling and sea ice expansion in response to each volcanic eruption. They also highlight that the long response time of the ocean leads to cumulative surface cooling...... and subsurface heat buildup due to sea ice capping. As volcanic forcing relaxes, the surface ocean rapidly warms, likely amplified by subsurface heat, and remains almost ice free for several decades....

Sea surface wind perturbations over the Kashevarov Bank of the Okhotsk Sea. A satellite study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tarkhova, T.I.; Permyakov, M.S.; Potalova, E.Yu.; Semykin, V.I. [V.I. Il' ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (Russian Federation). Lab. of the Ocean and Atmosphere Interaction Studies

2011-07-01

Sea surface wind perturbations over sea surface temperature (SST) cold anomalies over the Kashevarov Bank (KB) of the Okhotsk Sea are analyzed using satellite (AMSR-E and QuikSCAT) data during the summerautumn period of 2006-2009. It is shown, that frequency of cases of wind speed decreasing over a cold spot in August- September reaches up to 67%. In the cold spot center SST cold anomalies reached 10.5 C and wind speed lowered down to {proportional_to}7ms {sup -1} relative its value on the periphery. The wind difference between a periphery and a centre of the cold spot is proportional to SST difference with the correlations 0.5 for daily satellite passes data, 0.66 for 3-day mean data and 0.9 for monthly ones. For all types of data the coefficient of proportionality consists of {proportional_to}0.3 {sup -1} on 1 C. (orig.)

Reconstruction of the sea surface elevation from the analysis of the data collected by a wave radar system

Science.gov (United States)

Ludeno, Giovanni; Soldovieri, Francesco; Serafino, Francesco; Lugni, Claudio; Fucile, Fabio; Bulian, Gabriele

2016-04-01

X-band radar system is able to provide information about direction and intensity of the sea surface currents and dominant waves in a range of few kilometers from the observation point (up to 3 nautical miles). This capability, together with their flexibility and low cost, makes these devices useful tools for the sea monitoring either coastal or off-shore area. The data collected from wave radar system can be analyzed by using the inversion strategy presented in [1,2] to obtain the estimation of the following sea parameters: peak wave direction; peak period; peak wavelength; significant wave height; sea surface current and bathymetry. The estimation of the significant wave height represents a limitation of the wave radar system because of the radar backscatter is not directly related to the sea surface elevation. In fact, in the last period, substantial research has been carried out to estimate significant wave height from radar images either with or without calibration using in-situ measurements. In this work, we will present two alternative approaches for the reconstruction of the sea surface elevation from wave radar images. In particular, the first approach is based on the basis of an approximated version of the modulation transfer function (MTF) tuned from a series of numerical simulation, following the line of[3]. The second approach is based on the inversion of radar images using a direct regularised least square technique. Assuming a linearised model for the tilt modulation, the sea elevation has been reconstructed as a least square fitting of the radar imaging data[4]. References [1]F. Serafino, C. Lugni, and F. Soldovieri, "A novel strategy for the surface current determination from marine X-band radar data," IEEE Geosci.Remote Sens. Lett., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 231-235, Apr. 2010. [2]Ludeno, G., Brandini, C., Lugni, C., Arturi, D., Natale, A., Soldovieri, F., Serafino, F. (2014). Remocean System for the Detection of the Reflected Waves from the Costa

Long-chain alkenones in Baltic Sea surface sediments: New insights

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kaiser, J.; van der Meer, M.T.J.; Arz, H.W.

2017-01-01

C37 alkenones produced by certain haptophytes of the Isochrysidales are valuable sedimentary biomarkers used to estimate sea surface temperature (SST) in the open ocean. However, in coastal seas the role of salinity gradients on alkenone producing species and SST estimates is poorly known. Alkenones

Screening of seaweeds in the East China Sea as potential bio-monitors of heavy metals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Yaoru; Wernberg, Thomas; de Bettignies, Thibaut; Holmer, Marianne; Li, Ke; Wu, Jiaping; Lin, Fang; Yu, Yan; Xu, Jiang; Zhou, Chaosheng; Huang, Zhixing; Xiao, Xi

2018-03-30

Seaweeds are good bio-monitors of heavy metal pollution and have been included in European coastal monitoring programs. However, data for seaweed species in China are scarce or missing. In this study, we explored the potential of seaweeds as bio-monitor by screening the natural occurring seaweeds in the "Kingdom of seaweed and shellfish" at Dongtou Islands, the East China Sea. Totally, 12 seaweed species were collected from six sites, with richness following the sequence of Rhodophyta > Phaeophyta > Chlorophyta. The concentration of heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn, Pb, Cd, As) in the seaweeds was determined, and the bioaccumulation coefficient was calculated. A combination of four seaweeds, Pachydictyon coriaceum, Gelidium divaricatum, Sargassum thunbergii, and Pterocladiella capillacea, were proposed as bio-monitors due to their high bioaccumulation capabilities of specific heavy metals in the East China Sea and hence hinted the importance of using seaweed community for monitoring of pollution rather than single species. Our results provide first-hand data for the selection of bio-monitor species for heavy metals in the East China Sea and contribute to selection of cosmopolitan bio-monitor communities over geographical large area, which will benefit the establishment of monitoring programs for coastal heavy metal contamination.

Microwave Remote Sensing Modeling of Ocean Surface Salinity and Winds Using an Empirical Sea Surface Spectrum

Science.gov (United States)

Yueh, Simon H.

2004-01-01

Active and passive microwave remote sensing techniques have been investigated for the remote sensing of ocean surface wind and salinity. We revised an ocean surface spectrum using the CMOD-5 geophysical model function (GMF) for the European Remote Sensing (ERS) C-band scatterometer and the Ku-band GMF for the NASA SeaWinds scatterometer. The predictions of microwave brightness temperatures from this model agree well with satellite, aircraft and tower-based microwave radiometer data. This suggests that the impact of surface roughness on microwave brightness temperatures and radar scattering coefficients of sea surfaces can be consistently characterized by a roughness spectrum, providing physical basis for using combined active and passive remote sensing techniques for ocean surface wind and salinity remote sensing.

Influence of Sea Surface Roughness on the Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in the Duct Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X. Zhao

2010-12-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with a study of the influence of sea surface roughness on the electromagnetic wave propagation in the duct environment. The problem of electromagnetic wave propagation is modeled by using the parabolic equation method. The roughness of the sea surface is computed by modifying the smooth surface Fresnel reflection coefficient to account for the reduction in the specular reflection due to the roughness resulting from sea wind speed. The propagation model is solved by the mixed Fourier split-step algorithm. Numerical experiments indicate that wind-driven roughened sea surface has an impact on the electromagnetic wave propagation in the duct environment, and the strength is intensified along with the increment of sea wind speeds and/or the operating frequencies. In a fixed duct environment, however, proper disposition of the transmitter could reduce these impacts.

Nearshore, seasonally persistent fronts in sea surface temperature on Red Sea tropical reefs

KAUST Repository

Blythe, J. N.

2011-07-08

Temperature variability was studied on tropical reefs off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea using remote sensing from Aqua and Terra satellites. Cross-shore gradients in sea surface temperature (SST) were observed, including cold fronts (colder inshore) during winter and warm fronts (warmer inshore) during summer. Fronts persisted over synoptic and seasonal time-scales and had a periodic annual cycle over a 10-year time-series. Measurements of cross-shore SST variability were conducted at the scale of tens of kilometres, which encompassed temperature over shallow tropical reef complexes and the continental slope. Two tropical reefs that had similar reef geomorphology and offshore continental slope topography had identical cold fronts, although they were separated by 100 km along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Satellite SST gradients across contours of topography of tropical reefs can be used as an index to flag areas potentially exposed to temperature stress. © 2011 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

Nearshore, seasonally persistent fronts in sea surface temperature on Red Sea tropical reefs

KAUST Repository

Blythe, J. N.; da Silva, J. C. B.; Pineda, J.

2011-01-01

Temperature variability was studied on tropical reefs off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea using remote sensing from Aqua and Terra satellites. Cross-shore gradients in sea surface temperature (SST) were observed, including cold fronts (colder inshore) during winter and warm fronts (warmer inshore) during summer. Fronts persisted over synoptic and seasonal time-scales and had a periodic annual cycle over a 10-year time-series. Measurements of cross-shore SST variability were conducted at the scale of tens of kilometres, which encompassed temperature over shallow tropical reef complexes and the continental slope. Two tropical reefs that had similar reef geomorphology and offshore continental slope topography had identical cold fronts, although they were separated by 100 km along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Satellite SST gradients across contours of topography of tropical reefs can be used as an index to flag areas potentially exposed to temperature stress. © 2011 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

Trend patterns in global sea surface temperature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barbosa, S.M.; Andersen, Ole Baltazar

2009-01-01

Isolating long-term trend in sea surface temperature (SST) from El Nino southern oscillation (ENSO) variability is fundamental for climate studies. In the present study, trend-empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, a robust space-time method for extracting trend patterns, is applied to iso...

Ocean Surface Current Vectors from MODIS Terra/Aqua Sea Surface Temperature Image Pairs, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Satellites that record imagery of the same sea surface area, at times separated by a few hours, can be used to estimate ocean surface velocity fields based on the...

Sea surface wind perturbations over the Kashevarov Bank of the Okhotsk Sea: a satellite study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. I. Tarkhova

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Sea surface wind perturbations over sea surface temperature (SST cold anomalies over the Kashevarov Bank (KB of the Okhotsk Sea are analyzed using satellite (AMSR-E and QuikSCAT data during the summer-autumn period of 2006–2009. It is shown, that frequency of cases of wind speed decreasing over a cold spot in August–September reaches up to 67%. In the cold spot center SST cold anomalies reached 10.5 °C and wind speed lowered down to ~7 m s−1 relative its value on the periphery. The wind difference between a periphery and a centre of the cold spot is proportional to SST difference with the correlations 0.5 for daily satellite passes data, 0.66 for 3-day mean data and 0.9 for monthly ones. For all types of data the coefficient of proportionality consists of ~0.3 m s−1 on 1 °C.

Safety during sea transport of radioactive materials. Probabilistic safety analysis of package fro sea surface fire accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuoka, Takeshi; Obara, Isonori; Akutsu, Yukio; Aritomi, Masanori

2000-01-01

The ships carrying irradiated nuclear fuel, plutonium and high level radioactive wastes(INF materials) are designed to keep integrity of packaging based on the various safety and fireproof measures, even if the ship encounters a maritime fire accident. However, granted that the frequency is very low, realistic severe accidents should be evaluated. In this paper, probabilistic safety assessment method is applied to evaluate safety margin for severe sea fire accidents using event tree analysis. Based on our separate studies, the severest scenario was estimated as follows; an INF transport ship collides with oil tanker and induces a sea surface fire. Probability data such as ship's collision, oil leakage, ignition, escape from fire region, operations of cask cooling system and water flooding systems were also introduced from above mentioned studies. The results indicate that the probability of which packages cannot keep their integrity during the sea surface fire accident is very low and sea transport of INF materials is carried out very safely. (author)

The effects of additional black carbon on Arctic sea ice surface albedo: variation with sea ice type and snow cover

OpenAIRE

A. A. Marks; M. D. King

2013-01-01

Black carbon in sea ice will decrease sea ice surface albedo through increased absorption of incident solar radiation, exacerbating sea ice melting. Previous literature has reported different albedo responses to additions of black carbon in sea ice and has not considered how a snow cover may mitigate the effect of black carbon in sea ice. Sea ice is predominately snow covered. Visible light absorption and light scattering coefficients are calculated for a typical first year and multi-y...

1994 Average Monthly Sea Surface Temperature for California

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA/ NASA AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder sea surface temperature data are derived from the 5-channel Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) on board the...

Quality Assurance statistics for AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 L3-Collated (L3C) sea surface temperature in global and selected regions (NODC Accession 0111871)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These quality monitoring data for Pathfinder Version 5.2 (PFV5.2) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) are based on the concept of a Rich Inventory developed by the...

Airborne Spectral Measurements of Surface-Atmosphere Anisotropy for Arctic Sea Ice and Tundra

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, G. Thomas; Tsay, Si-Chee; King, Michael D.; Li, Jason Y.; Soulen, Peter F.

1999-01-01

Angular distributions of spectral reflectance for four common arctic surfaces: snow-covered sea ice, melt-season sea ice, snow-covered tundra, and tundra shortly after snowmelt were measured using an aircraft based, high angular resolution (1-degree) multispectral radiometer. Results indicate bidirectional reflectance is higher for snow-covered sea ice than melt-season sea ice at all wavelengths between 0.47 and 2.3 pm, with the difference increasing with wavelength. Bidirectional reflectance of snow-covered tundra is higher than for snow-free tundra for measurements less than 1.64 pm, with the difference decreasing with wavelength. Bidirectional reflectance patterns of all measured surfaces show maximum reflectance in the forward scattering direction of the principal plane, with identifiable specular reflection for the melt-season sea ice and snow-free tundra cases. The snow-free tundra had the most significant backscatter, and the melt-season sea ice the least. For sea ice, bidirectional reflectance changes due to snowmelt were more significant than differences among the different types of melt-season sea ice. Also the spectral-hemispherical (plane) albedo of each measured arctic surface was computed. Comparing measured nadir reflectance to albedo for sea ice and snow-covered tundra shows albedo underestimated 5-40%, with the largest bias at wavelengths beyond 1 pm. For snow-free tundra, nadir reflectance underestimates plane albedo by about 30-50%.

Detection of Small Sea-Surface Targets with a Search Lidar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, J.C. van den; Bekman, H.H.P.T.; Putten, F.J.M.; Cohen, L.A.

2007-01-01

Naval operations in the littoral have to deal with the threat of small sea-surface targets. These targets have a low radar cross-section and low velocity, which makes them hard to detect by radar in the presence of sea clutter. Typical threats include periscopes, jet skies, FIAC’s, and speedboats.

Influence of Sea Surface Roughness on the Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in the Duct Environment

OpenAIRE

Zhao, X.; Huang, S.

2010-01-01

This paper deals with a study of the influence of sea surface roughness on the electromagnetic wave propagation in the duct environment. The problem of electromagnetic wave propagation is modeled by using the parabolic equation method. The roughness of the sea surface is computed by modifying the smooth surface Fresnel reflection coefficient to account for the reduction in the specular reflection due to the roughness resulting from sea wind speed. The propagation model is solved by the mixed ...

1993 Average Monthly Sea Surface Temperature for California

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA/NASA AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder sea surface temperature data are derived from the 5-channel Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) on board the NOAA...

Innovative eco-friendly bio- solvent for combating sea surface and sedimented oil pollution

Science.gov (United States)

Theodorou, Paraskevas

2017-04-01

The combating of oil spill at sea surface by chemical dispersants accelerates the evaporation and disperse the oil into the water column, where it is broken down by natural processes and/or is sedimented at the sea bottom, especially at near coastal shallow areas, ports and marinas. The usual methodology for cleaning the sedimented oil from the sea bottom is mainly carried out via excavation and dumping of the polluted sediment into deeper sea areas, where the contamination is transferred from one area to another. The eco-friendly bio-solvent MSL Aqua 250 is an innovative new solution based mainly on natural constituents. The action mechanism and the effectiveness of this eco-friendly solvent is based on the high surface tension process. Organic compounds, including hydrocarbons upon coming in contact with MSL Aqua 250 solvent generate a significant surface tension reaction, which is able to alter the organic compounds to liquid form and then to drastically evaporate it. The use of MSL Aqua 250 solvent, both at sea surface and at the bottom, has the following advantages compared to the dispersants: • Efficient solution without transferring the pollution from sea surface to the water column and to the bottom or disturbing the Aquatic Eco System. • Non-Toxic. • Environmentally friendly with a restoration of marine life in the Eco System. • Cost effective. The MSL Aqua 250 solvent has been tested in cooperation with the Cyprus Department of Fisheries and Marine Research and the Technological University of Cyprus and used during the years 2015 and 2016 in marinas and fishing shelters in Cyprus faced oil pollution, with high concentration in the sea water and at the sea bottom of chemical parameters (BOD5, COD, FOG, TKN, TP, TPH), with excellent results.

GHRSST Level 4 DMI_OI Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis by the Danish...

E-PERM alpha surface monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fricke, V.

1999-01-01

Innovative Technology Summary Reports are designed to provide potential users with the information they need to quickly determine if a technology would apply to a particular environmental management problem. They are also designed for readers who may recommend that a technology be considered by prospective users. Each report describes a technology, system, or process that has been developed and tested with funding from DOE's Office of Science and Technology (OST). The E-PERMreg s ign Alpha Surface Monitor is an integrating electret ion chamber innovative technology used to measure alpha radiation on surfaces of materials. The technology is best used on surfaces with low contamination levels such as areas with potential for free release, but can also be used in areas with higher levels of contamination. Measurement accuracy and production of the E-PERM reg s ign Alpha Surface Monitor compared favorably with the baseline technology. The innovative technology cost is approximately 28% higher than the baseline with an average unit cost per reading costing %6.04 vs. $4.36; however, the flexibility of the E-PERMreg s ign Alpha Surface Monitor may offer advantages in ALARA, reduction of operator error, waste minimization, and measurement accuracy

Ciguatera fish poisoning and sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies.

Science.gov (United States)

Tester, Patricia A; Feldman, Rebecca L; Nau, Amy W; Kibler, Steven R; Wayne Litaker, R

2010-10-01

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a circumtropical disease caused by ingestion of a variety of reef fish that bioaccumulate algal toxins. Distribution and abundance of the organisms that produce these toxins, chiefly dinoflagellates of the genus Gambierdiscus, are reported to correlate positively with water temperature. Consequently, there is growing concern that increasing temperatures associated with climate change could increase the incidence of CFP. This concern prompted experiments on the growth rates of six Gambierdiscus species at temperatures between 18 degrees C and 33 degrees C and the examination of sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean and West Indies for areas that could sustain rapid Gambierdiscus growth rates year-round. The thermal optimum for five of six Gambierdiscus species tested was >/=29 degrees C. Long-term SST data from the southern Gulf of Mexico indicate the number of days with sea surface temperatures >/=29 degrees C has nearly doubled (44 to 86) in the last three decades. To determine how the sea surface temperatures and Gambierdiscus growth data correlate with CFP incidences in the Caribbean, a literature review and a uniform, region-wide survey (1996-2006) of CFP cases were conducted. The highest CFP incidence rates were in the eastern Caribbean where water temperatures are warmest and least variable. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

GHRSST Level 4 OSPO Global Nighttime Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Office of...

GHRSST Level 4 RAMSSA Australian Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Australian Bureau...

Local Effects of Ice Floes on Skin Sea Surface Temperature in the Marginal Ice Zone from UAVs

Science.gov (United States)

Zappa, C. J.; Brown, S.; Emery, W. J.; Adler, J.; Wick, G. A.; Steele, M.; Palo, S. E.; Walker, G.; Maslanik, J. A.

2013-12-01

Recent years have seen extreme changes in the Arctic. Particularly striking are changes within the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean, and especially in the seas north of the Alaskan coast. These areas have experienced record warming, reduced sea ice extent, and loss of ice in areas that had been ice-covered throughout human memory. Even the oldest and thickest ice types have failed to survive through the summer melt period in areas such as the Beaufort Sea and Canada Basin, and fundamental changes in ocean conditions such as earlier phytoplankton blooms may be underway. Marginal ice zones (MIZ), or areas where the "ice-albedo feedback" driven by solar warming is highest and ice melt is extensive, may provide insights into the extent of these changes. Airborne remote sensing, in particular InfraRed (IR), offers a unique opportunity to observe physical processes at sea-ice margins. It permits monitoring the ice extent and coverage, as well as the ice and ocean temperature variability. It can also be used for derivation of surface flow field allowing investigation of turbulence and mixing at the ice-ocean interface. Here, we present measurements of visible and IR imagery of melting ice floes in the marginal ice zone north of Oliktok Point AK in the Beaufort Sea made during the Marginal Ice Zone Ocean and Ice Observations and Processes EXperiment (MIZOPEX) in July-August 2013. The visible and IR imagery were taken from the unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) ScanEagle. The visible imagery clearly defines the scale of the ice floes. The IR imagery show distinct cooling of the skin sea surface temperature (SST) as well as a intricate circulation and mixing pattern that depends on the surface current, wind speed, and near-surface vertical temperature/salinity structure. Individual ice floes develop turbulent wakes as they drift and cause transient mixing of an influx of colder surface (fresh) melt water. The upstream side of the ice floe shows the coldest skin SST, and

Chemical Controls of Ozone Dry Deposition to the Sea Surface Microlayer

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, L.; Chance, R.; Tinel, L.; Saint, A.; Sherwen, T.; Loades, D.; Evans, M. J.; Boxhall, P.; Hamilton, J.; Stolle, C.; Wurl, O.; Ribas-Ribas, M.; Pereira, R.

2017-12-01

Oceanic dry deposition of atmospheric ozone (O3) is both the largest and most uncertain O3 depositional sink, and is widely acknowledged to be controlled largely by chemical reactions in the sea surface microlayer (SML) involving iodide (I-) and dissolved organic material (DOM). These reactions not only determine how quickly O3 can be removed from the atmosphere, but also result in emissions of trace gases including volatile organic compounds and may constitute a source of secondary organic aerosols to the marine atmosphere. Iodide concentrations at the sea surface vary by approximately an order of magnitude spatially, leading to more than fivefold variation in ozone deposition velocities (and volatile iodine fluxes). Sea-surface temperature is a reasonable predictor of [I-], however two recent parameterisations for surface I- differ by a factor of two at low latitudes. The nature and reactivity of marine DOM to O3 is almost completely unknown, although studies have suggested approximately equivalent chemical control of I- and DOM on ozone deposition. Here we present substantial new measurements of oceanic I- in both bulk seawater and the overlying SML, and show improved estimates of the global sea surface iodide distribution. We also present analyses of water-soluble DOM isolated from the SML and bulk seawater, and corresponding laboratory studies of ozone uptake to bulk and SML seawater, with the aim of characterizing the reactivity of O3 towards marine DOM.

Multi-Sensor Improved Sea Surface Temperature (MISST) for GODAE

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gentemann, Chelle L; Wick, Gary A; Cummings, James; Bayler, Eric

2004-01-01

...) sensors and to then demonstrate the impact of these improved sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on operational ocean models, numerical weather prediction, and tropical cyclone intensity forecasting...

COBE-SST2 Sea Surface Temperature and Ice

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A new sea surface temperature (SST) analysis on a centennial time scale is presented. The dataset starts in 1850 with monthly 1x1 means and is periodically updated....

Daytime sea fog retrieval based on GOCI data: a case study over the Yellow Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Yibo; Qiu, Zhongfeng; Sun, Deyong; Wang, Shengqiang; Yue, Xiaoyuan

2016-01-25

In this paper, a new daytime sea fog detection algorithm has been developed by using Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) data. Based on spectral analysis, differences in spectral characteristics were found over different underlying surfaces, which include land, sea, middle/high level clouds, stratus clouds and sea fog. Statistical analysis showed that the Rrc (412 nm) (Rayleigh Corrected Reflectance) of sea fog pixels is approximately 0.1-0.6. Similarly, various band combinations could be used to separate different surfaces. Therefore, three indices (SLDI, MCDI and BSI) were set to discern land/sea, middle/high level clouds and fog/stratus clouds, respectively, from which it was generally easy to extract fog pixels. The remote sensing algorithm was verified using coastal sounding data, which demonstrated that the algorithm had the ability to detect sea fog. The algorithm was then used to monitor an 8-hour sea fog event and the results were consistent with observational data from buoys data deployed near the Sheyang coast (121°E, 34°N). The goal of this study was to establish a daytime sea fog detection algorithm based on GOCI data, which shows promise for detecting fog separately from stratus.

GHRSST Level 4 MW_OI Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) global Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on a 0.25 degree grid at Remote Sensing...

Copper in the sediment and sea surface microlayer near a fallowed, open-net fish farm.

Science.gov (United States)

Loucks, Ronald H; Smith, Ruth E; Fisher, Clyde V; Fisher, E Brian

2012-09-01

Sediment and sea surface microlayer samples near an open-net salmon farm in Nova Scotia, were analysed for copper. Copper is a constituent of the feed and is an active ingredient of anti-foulants. The salmon farm was placed in fallow after 15 years of production. Sampling was pursued over 27 months. Elevated copper concentrations in the sediments indicated the farm site as a source. Bubble flotation due to gas-emitting sediments from eutrophication is a likely process for accumulating copper in the sea surface microlayer at enriched concentrations. Elevated and enriched concentrations in the sea surface microlayer over distance from the farm site led, as a result of wind-drift, to an enlarged farm footprint. The levels of copper in both sediments and sea surface microlayer exceeded guidelines for protection of marine life. Over the 27 months period, copper levels persisted in the sediments and decreased gradually in the sea surface microlayer. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heat in the Barents Sea: transport, storage, and surface fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. H. Smedsrud

2010-02-01

Full Text Available A column model is set up for the Barents Sea to explore sensitivity of surface fluxes and heat storage from varying ocean heat transport. Mean monthly ocean transport and atmospheric forcing are synthesised and force the simulations. Results show that by using updated ocean transports of heat and freshwater the vertical mean hydrographic seasonal cycle can be reproduced fairly well.

Our results indicate that the ~70 TW of heat transported to the Barents Sea by ocean currents is lost in the southern Barents Sea as latent, sensible, and long wave radiation, each contributing 23–39 TW to the total heat loss. Solar radiation adds 26 TW in the south, as there is no significant ice production.

The northern Barents Sea receives little ocean heat transport. This leads to a mixed layer at the freezing point during winter and significant ice production. There is little net surface heat loss annually in the north. The balance is achieved by a heat loss through long wave radiation all year, removing most of the summer solar heating.

During the last decade the Barents Sea has experienced an atmospheric warming and an increased ocean heat transport. The Barents Sea responds to such large changes by adjusting temperature and heat loss. Decreasing the ocean heat transport below 50 TW starts a transition towards Arctic conditions. The heat loss in the Barents Sea depend on the effective area for cooling, and an increased heat transport leads to a spreading of warm water further north.

Chemistry of the sea-surface microlayer. 3. Studies on the nutrient chemistry of the northern Arabian Sea

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Singbal, S.Y.S.; Narvekar, P.V.; Nagarajan, R.

Nutrients showed enrichment in the surface microlayer compared to those in sub-surface water and there was a decreasing trend in the enrichment factor from nearshore to offshore in Northern Arabian Sea. The nutrient concentrations were correlated...

Influence of surface condition on the corrosion resistance of copper alloy condenser tubes in sea water

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sato, S; Nagata, K; Yamauchi, S

1979-07-01

Investigation was made on the influence of various surface conditions of aluminum brass tube. The corrosion behavior of aluminum brass tube, with nine kinds of surface conditions, was studied in stagnant 0.1N NaHCo/sub 3/ solution and flowing sea water (natural, Fe/sup + +/ containing and S/sup - -/ containing water). Surface treatments investigated contained bright annealing, special annealing to form carbon film, hot oxidizing and pickling. Anodic polarization measurements in 0.1N NaHCO/sub 3/ solution showed that the oxidized surface was superior and that the pickled surface was inferior. However, relation between these characteristics and corrosion resistance in sea water has not been established. Electrochemical characteristics in flowing sea water were dependent on the surface conditions in the very beginning of immersion time; nobler corrosion potential for the surface with carbon film, higher polarization resistance for the bright annealed and the oxidized surface, and faster decrease of polarization resistance in S/sup - -/ containing sea water for the pickled surface. However, these differences disappeared in the immersion time of only 2 to 7 days. It was revealed, by the statistical analysis on the corrosion depth in corrosion test in flowing sea water and in jet impingement test, that the corrosion behavior was not influenced by surface conditions, but was significantly influenced by quality of sea water and sponge ball cleaning. Sulfide ion of 0.05 ppm caused severe pitting corrosion, and sponge ball cleaning of 5 chances a week caused erosion corrosion. From above results, it was concluded that surface conditions of aluminum brass were not important to sea water corrosion, and that quality of sea water and operating condition such as sponge ball cleaning were more significant.

Laboratory experiments to investigate radionuclide enrichment in the sea-surface microlayer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hickmott, S.J.B.

1982-02-01

Samples of simulated seawater, and seawater from the Irish Sea, were contained in a plastic tank in the laboratory, and bubbles were passed through them to burst at the water surface. The emitted jet droplets, as representing the surface microlayer, were collected on filter papers. Such measurements are easier to perform than similar measurements at sea, and the lack of waves enables greater collection efficiencies to be obtained. The droplet samples were analysed for stable Na, 137 Cs and actinides, and compared with the concentrations in the bulk tank water, in order to examine possible concentration factors for radionuclides in the surface microlayer. (author)

Retrieval of sea surface air temperature from satellite data over Indian Ocean: An empirical approach

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sathe, P.V.; Muraleedharan, P.M.

the sea surface air temperature from satellite derived sea surface humidity in the Indian Ocean. Using the insitu data on surface met parameters collected on board O.R.V. Sagar Kanya in the Indian Ocean over a period of 15 years, the relationship between...

Analysis of the Scattering Characteristics of Sea Surface with the Influence from Internal Wave

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Yi-wen

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The internal wave travels beneath the sea surface and modulate the roughness of the sea surface through the wave-current interaction. This makes some dark and bright bands can be observed in the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR images. In this paper, we first establish the profile of the internal wave based on the KdV equations; then, the action balance equation and the wave-current interaction source function are used to modify the sea spectrum; finally, the two-scale theory based facet model is combined with the modified sea spectrum to calculate the scattering characteristics of the sea. We have simulated the scattering coefficient distribution of the sea with an internal wave traveling through. The influence on the scattering coefficients and the Doppler spectra under different internal wave parameters and sea state parameters are analyzed.

Climate Prediction Center - Monitoring & Data Index

Science.gov (United States)

Weather Service NWS logo - Click to go to the NWS home page Climate Prediction Center Site Map News Oceanic & Atmospheric Monitoring and Data Monitoring Weather & Climate in Realtime Climate Diagnostics Bulletin Preliminary Climate Diagnostics Bulletin Figures Monthly Atmospheric & Sea Surface

NOAA High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Analysis Products

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This archive covers two high resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis products developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The analyses have a...

The surface elevation table and marker horizon technique: A protocol for monitoring wetland elevation dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

James C. Lynch,; Phillippe Hensel,; Cahoon, Donald R.

2015-01-01

The National Park Service, in response to the growing evidence and awareness of the effects of climate change on federal lands, determined that monitoring wetland elevation change is a top priority in North Atlantic Coastal parks (Stevens et al, 2010). As a result, the NPS Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network (NCBN) in collaboration with colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have developed a protocol for monitoring wetland elevation change and other processes important for determining the viability of wetland communities. Although focused on North Atlantic Coastal parks, this document is applicable to all coastal and inland wetland regions. Wetlands exist within a narrow range of elevation which is influenced by local hydrologic conditions. For coastal wetlands in particular, local hydrologic conditions may be changing as sea levels continue to rise. As sea level rises, coastal wetland systems may respond by building elevation to maintain favorable hydrologic conditions for their survival. This protocol provides the reader with instructions and guidelines on designing a monitoring plan or study to: A) Quantify elevation change in wetlands with the Surface Elevation Table (SET). B) Understand the processes that influence elevation change, including vertical accretion (SET and Marker Horizon methods). C) Survey the wetland surface and SET mark to a common reference datum to allow for comparing sample stations to each other and to local tidal datums. D) Survey the SET mark to monitor its relative stability. This document is divided into two parts; the main body that presents an overview of all aspects of monitoring wetland elevation dynamics, and a collection of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that describes in detail how to perform or execute each step of the methodology. Detailed instruction on the installation, data collection, data management and analysis are provided in this report

GHRSST Level 4 MUR North America Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced as a retrospective dataset at the JPL Physical...

Monitoring the sedimentary carbon in an artificially disturbed deep-sea sedimentary environment

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nath, B.N.; Khadge, N.H.; Nabar, S.; Raghukumar, C.; Ingole, B.S.; Valsangkar, A.B.; Sharma, R.; Srinivas, K.

1 Author version: Environ. Monit. Assess., vol.184; 2012; 2829-2844 Monitoring the sedimentary carbon in an artificially disturbed deep-sea sedimentary environment B. Nagender Nath * , N.H. Khadge, Sapana Nabar, C. Raghu Kumar, B.S. Ingole... community two years after an artificial rapid deposition event. Publication of Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 39(1), 17-27. Gage, J.D. (1978). Animals in deep-sea sediments. Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh, 768, 77-93. Gage, J.D., & Tyler...

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Sea Surface Temperature - WHOI, Version 2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NOAA Ocean Surface Bundle (OSB) Climate Data Record (CDR) consist of three parts: sea surface temperature, near-surface atmospheric properties, and heat fluxes....

Monitoring population status of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska: options and considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Esslinger, George G.; Esler, Daniel N.; Howlin, S.; Starcevich, L.A.

2015-06-25

After many decades of absence from southeast Alaska, sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are recolonizing parts of their former range, including Glacier Bay, Alaska. Sea otters are well known for structuring nearshore ecosystems and causing community-level changes such as increases in kelp abundance and changes in the size and number of other consumers. Monitoring population status of sea otters in Glacier Bay will help park researchers and managers understand and interpret sea otter-induced ecosystem changes relative to other sources of variation, including potential human-induced impacts such as ocean acidification, vessel disturbance, and oil spills. This report was prepared for the National Park Service (NPS), Southeast Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network following a request for evaluation of options for monitoring sea otter population status in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. To meet this request, we provide a detailed consideration of the primary method of assessment of abundance and distribution, aerial surveys, including analyses of power to detect interannual trends and designs to reduce variation around annual abundance estimates. We also describe two alternate techniques for evaluating sea otter population status—(1) quantifying sea otter diets and energy intake rates, and (2) detecting change in ages at death. In addition, we provide a brief section on directed research to identify studies that would further our understanding of sea otter population dynamics and effects on the Glacier Bay ecosystem, and provide context for interpreting results of monitoring activities.

Monitoring the Dead Sea Region by Multi-Parameter Stations

Science.gov (United States)

Mohsen, A.; Weber, M. H.; Kottmeier, C.; Asch, G.

2015-12-01

The Dead Sea Region is an exceptional ecosystem whose seismic activity has influenced all facets of the development, from ground water availability to human evolution. Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians living in the Dead Sea region are exposed to severe earthquake hazard. Repeatedly large earthquakes (e.g. 1927, magnitude 6.0; (Ambraseys, 2009)) shook the whole Dead Sea region proving that earthquake hazard knows no borders and damaging seismic events can strike anytime. Combined with the high vulnerability of cities in the region and with the enormous concentration of historical values this natural hazard results in an extreme earthquake risk. Thus, an integration of earthquake parameters at all scales (size and time) and their combination with data of infrastructure are needed with the specific aim of providing a state-of-the-art seismic hazard assessment for the Dead Sea region as well as a first quantitative estimate of vulnerability and risk. A strong motivation for our research is the lack of reliable multi-parameter ground-based geophysical information on earthquakes in the Dead Sea region. The proposed set up of a number of observatories with on-line data access will enable to derive the present-day seismicity and deformation pattern in the Dead Sea region. The first multi-parameter stations were installed in Jordan, Israel and Palestine for long-time monitoring. All partners will jointly use these locations. All stations will have an open data policy, with the Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ, Potsdam, Germany) providing the hard and software for real-time data transmission via satellite to Germany, where all partners can access the data via standard data protocols.

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta): A target species for monitoring litter ingested by marine organisms in the Mediterranean Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Matiddi, Marco; Hochsheid, Sandra; Camedda, Andrea; Baini, Matteo; Cocumelli, Cristiano; Serena, Fabrizio; Tomassetti, Paolo; Travaglini, Andrea; Marra, Stefano; Campani, Tommaso; Scholl, Francesco; Mancusi, Cecilia; Amato, Ezio; Briguglio, Paolo; Maffucci, Fulvio; Fossi, Maria Cristina; Bentivegna, Flegra; de Lucia, Giuseppe Andrea

2017-11-01

Marine litter is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment. Ingestion of marine litter can have lethal and sub-lethal effects on wildlife that accidentally ingests it, and sea turtles are particularly susceptible to this threat. The European Commission drafted the 2008/56/EC Marine Strategy Framework Directive with the aim to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES), and the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta, Linnaeus 1758) was selected for monitoring the amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals. An analogous decision has been made under the UNEP/MAP Barcelona Convention for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, following the Ecosystem Approach. This work provides for the first time, two possible scenarios for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive GES, both related to "Trends in the amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals" in the Mediterranean Sea. The study validates the use of the loggerhead turtle as target indicator for monitoring the impact of litter on marine biota and calls for immediate use of this protocol throughout the Mediterranean basin and European Region. Both GES scenarios are relevant worldwide, where sea turtles and marine litter are present, for measuring the impact of ingested plastics and developing policy strategies to reduce it. In the period between 2011 and 2014, 150 loggerhead sea turtles, found dead, were collected from the Italian Coast, West Mediterranean Sea Sub-Region. The presence of marine litter was investigated using a standardized protocol for necropsies and lab analysis. The collected items were subdivided into 4 main categories, namely, IND-Industrial plastic, USE-User plastic, RUB-Non plastic rubbish, POL-Pollutants and 14 sub-categories, to detect local diversity. Eighty-five percent of the individuals considered (n = 120) were found to have ingested an average of 1.3 ± 0.2 g of

Rapid changes in surface water carbonate chemistry during Antarctic sea ice melt

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Elizabeth M.; Bakker, Dorothee C. E.; Venables, Hugh J.; Whitehouse, Michael J.; Korb, Rebecca E.; Watson, Andrew J.

2010-11-01

ABSTRACT The effect of sea ice melt on the carbonate chemistry of surface waters in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence, Southern Ocean, was investigated during January 2008. Contrasting concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity (TA) and the fugacity of carbon dioxide (fCO2) were observed in and around the receding sea ice edge. The precipitation of carbonate minerals such as ikaite (CaCO3.6H2O) in sea ice brine has the net effect of decreasing DIC and TA and increasing the fCO2 in the brine. Deficits in DIC up to 12 +/- 3 μmol kg-1 in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) were consistent with the release of DIC-poor brines to surface waters during sea ice melt. Biological utilization of carbon was the dominant processes and accounted for 41 +/- 1 μmol kg-1 of the summer DIC deficit. The data suggest that the combined effects of biological carbon uptake and the precipitation of carbonates created substantial undersaturation in fCO2 of 95 μatm in the MIZ during summer sea ice melt. Further work is required to improve the understanding of ikaite chemistry in Antarctic sea ice and its importance for the sea ice carbon pump.

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE and Other Data from MULTIPLE SHIPS From Sea of Japan from 19930101 to 19930630 (NODC Accession 9300173)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The sea surface temperature data in this accession was collected in Sea of Japan. Data in this accession was collected over a six month period from thermistor. The...

An analytical model for the description of the full-polarimetric sea surface Doppler signature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fois, F.; Hoogeboom, P.; Le Chevalier, F.; Stoffelen, A.

2015-01-01

This paper describes an analytical model of the full-polarimetric sea surface scattering and Doppler signature. The model combines the small-slope-approximation theory (at the second order) with a weak nonlinear sea surface representation. Such a model is used to examine the variation of the Doppler

GHRSST Level 4 G1SST Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis by the JPL OurOcean...

GHRSST Level 4 OSTIA Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS versions 1 and 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the UK Met Office...

Estimates of radiance reflected towards the zenith at the surface of the sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Aas

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Remote sensing of water colour by ship-mounted sensors represents an important tool for the validation of satellite products and the monitoring of water quality. The recorded radiance from the sea has to be corrected for the surface-reflected radiance from sun and sky in order to obtain the water-leaving radiance. Here the simple case of radiance reflected towards the zenith is studied. A set of observed sky radiance and solar irradiance data from Oslo has been used together with a Gaussian slope distribution for the sea surface in order to estimate the reflected radiance. The spectral range studied is 405–650 nm, the solar zenith angles are in the range 37°–76°, and the wind speeds are up to 10 m s⁻¹. The analysis of the results show that the reflected radiance has to be separated into three contributions: sky radiance and sun rays reflected at the foam-free surface and irradiance reflected by whitecaps and foam. It is then demonstrated that by using four input values, namely the downward irradiance, the sky radiance from the zenith, the solar zenith angle and the wind speed, it is possible to obtain by simple expressions estimates of the reflected radiance that only differ from the former calculated values by relative errors of less than 5%. The analysis also indicates that for the spectral range studied neither the water-leaving radiance nor the surface-reflected radiance can be disregarded relative to the other one in the Case 2 waters of the Oslofjord-Skagerrak area. The results form a first step towards the study of reflected radiance in viewing angles differing from the nadir direction.

Sea surface temperature and Ekman transport in the Persian Gulf

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. H.

2002-12-01

Full Text Available   The wind drift motion of the water which is produced by the stress of the wind exerted upon the surface of the ocean is described by Ekmans theory (1905. Using the mean monthly values for the wind stress and SST, seasonal Ekman transport for the Persian Gulf was computed and contoured. The geostrophic winds have combined with the SST to estimate the effect of cooling due to Ekman transport of colder northern waters and inflow from the Oman Sea. The monthly SST mainly obtained from the 10 10 grided data of Levitus atlas and Hormuz Cruis Experiment for 1997.   Analyses show a NW to SE Ekman transport due to wind stress and significant interannual variability of SST on sea surface in the Persian Gulf. The seasonal variation of SST shows a continental pattern due to severe interaction between the land and sea. But these variations somehow moderates because of Ekman transport in Persian Gulf.

Radioecological monitoring of the Black Sea basin following the Chernobyl NPP accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulebakina, L.G.; Polikarpov, G.G.

1991-01-01

A monitoring programme was drawn up to study the radioecological situation of the Black Sea basin following the Chernobyl NPP accident, with studies being carried out from May 1986 onwards to determine the levels of radioactive contamination in various parts of the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Aegean Sea, including the estuaries of major rivers (Dnieper, Danube, Dniester and Don) and shelf areas of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The work focused on long-lived radionuclides ( 90 Sr and 137 Cs), with the migration dynamics of these radionuclides in the aquatic environment, bed sediments and aquatic biota (including plants, molluscs, crustacea and fish) being studied. We compared the behaviour of radionuclides in the aquatic environment of the Dnieper reservoirs following the Chernobyl accident (our data) with the behaviour of radionuclides in lakes in the Urals following the Kyshtym accident (published data). As in the case of the lakes in the Urals, the Dnieper waters contain substantial concentrations of 90 Sr as a result of the Chernobyl accident, and 90 Sr therefore enters the Black Sea with the Dnieper waters. The paper compares the contribution of the Chernobyl accident to radioactive contamination of the Black Sea with that of global fallout. (author)

GHRSST Level 4 AVHRR_AMSR_OI Global Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) global Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on a 0.25 degree grid at the NOAA...

Sea Surface Height Variability and Eddy Statistical Properties in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Zhan, Peng

2013-05-01

Satellite sea surface height (SSH) data over 1992-2012 are analyzed to study the spatial and temporal variability of sea level in the Red Sea. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis suggests the remarkable seasonality of SSH in the Red Sea, and a significant correlation is found between SSH variation and seasonal wind cycle. A winding-angle based eddy identification algorithm is employed to derive the mesoscale eddy information from SSH data. Totally more than 5500 eddies are detected, belonging to 2583 eddy tracks. Statistics suggest that eddies generate over the entire Red Sea, with two regions in the central basin of high eddy frequency. 76% of the detected eddies have a radius ranging from 40km to 100km, of which both intensity and absolute vorticity decrease with eddy radius. The average eddy lifespan is about 5 weeks, and eddies with longer lifespan tend to have larger radius but less intensity. Different deformation rate exists between anticyclonic eddies (AEs) and cyclonic eddies (CEs), those eddies with higher intensity appear to be less deformed and more circular. Inspection of the 84 long-lived eddies suggests the AEs tend to move a little more northward than CEs. AE generation during summer is obviously lower than that during other seasons, while CE generation is higher during spring and summer. Other features of AEs and CEs are similar with both vorticity and intensity reaching the summer peaks in August and winter peaks in January. Inter-annual variability reveals that the eddies in the Red Sea are isolated from the global event. The eddy property tendencies are different from the south and north basin, both of which exhibit a two-year cycle. Showing a correlation coefficient of -0.91, Brunt–Väisälä frequency is negatively correlated with eddy kinetic energy (EKE), which results from AE activities in the high eddy frequency region. Climatological vertical velocity shear variation is identical with EKE except in the autumn, suggesting the

The Carbon Dioxide System in the Baltic Sea Surface Waters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wesslander, Karin

2011-05-15

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) in the atmosphere is steadily increasing because of human activities such as fossil fuel burning. To understand how this is affecting the planet, several pieces of knowledge of the CO{sub 2} system have to be investigated. One piece is how the coastal seas, which are used by people and influenced by industrialization, are functioning. In this thesis, the CO{sub 2} system in the Baltic Sea surface water has been investigated using observations from the last century to the present. The Baltic Sea is characterized of a restricted water exchange with the open ocean and a large inflow of river water. The CO{sub 2} system, including parameters such as pH and partial pressure of CO{sub 2} (pCO{sub 2}), has large seasonal and inter-annual variability in the Baltic Sea. These parameters are affected by several processes, such as air-sea gas exchange, physical mixing, and biological processes. Inorganic carbon is assimilated in the primary production and pCO{sub 2} declines to approx150 muatm in summer. In winter, pCO{sub 2} levels increase because of prevailing mineralization and mixing processes. The wind-mixed surface layer deepens to the halocline (approx60 m) and brings CO{sub 2}- enriched water to the surface. Winter pCO{sub 2} may be as high as 600 muatm in the surface water. The CO{sub 2} system is also exposed to short-term variations caused by the daily biological cycle and physical events such as upwelling. A cruise was made in the central Baltic Sea to make synoptic measurements of oceanographic, chemical, and meteorological parameters with high temporal resolution. Large short-term variations were found in pCO{sub 2} and oxygen (O{sub 2}), which were highly correlated. The diurnal variation of pCO{sub 2} was up to 40 muatm. The CO{sub 2} system in the Baltic Sea changed as the industrialization increased around 1950, which was demonstrated using a coupled physical-biogeochemical model of the CO{sub 2} system

Long-term monitoring of sea ice conditions in the Kerch Strait by remote sensing data

Science.gov (United States)

Lavrova, Olga Yu.; Mityagina, Marina I.; Bocharova, Tatiana Yu.; Kostianoy, Andrey G.

2017-10-01

The results of multi-year satellite monitoring of ice conditions in the Kerch Strait connecting the Black and Azov Seas are discussed. The issue gained importance in view of the ongoing construction of the Crimean Bridge across the strait. Our monitoring has been based on the whole variety of available satellite data including visible and radar data over the past 17 years. Every year the Azov Sea becomes fully or partially covered by ice during the cold season. In severe winters, ice often is carried to the Kerch Strait and even the Black Sea. An analysis of ice drift hydrometeorological conditions is presented. The ice conditions of 2017 are under special consideration. Everyday satellite monitoring of the Kerch Strait, including the construction area of the Crimean Bridge, revealed ice formation and drift features on the way from the Azov Sea through the Kerch Strait as well as ice interaction with the piers of the main and technological bridges under construction. It was found that, even under strong northeast winds, ice can pass neither through the piers, nor via the widest shipway. At present, it is hard to discern the impacts of the two bridges on floating ice, nevertheless when the construction is over and the technological bridge is gone, by all appearances the main bridge will strongly affect ice conditions in the Kerch Strait. This perspective calls for continuous satellite monitoring of the area that is enabled by cutting-edge systems and technologies.

Variability of surface meteorological parameters over the Arabian Sea

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

RameshKumar, M.R.; Fernandes, A.A

different parameters shows that the sea surface temperature and air temperature are positively and significantly correlated over the study area. A similar relationship is found between wind speed and cloudiness amount. Wind speed and cloudiness...

Linking Regional Winter Sea Ice Thickness and Surface Roughness to Spring Melt Pond Fraction on Landfast Arctic Sea Ice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sasha Nasonova

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The Arctic sea ice cover has decreased strongly in extent, thickness, volume and age in recent decades. The melt season presents a significant challenge for sea ice forecasting due to uncertainty associated with the role of surface melt ponds in ice decay at regional scales. This study quantifies the relationships of spring melt pond fraction (fp with both winter sea ice roughness and thickness, for landfast first-year sea ice (FYI and multiyear sea ice (MYI. In 2015, airborne measurements of winter sea ice thickness and roughness, as well as high-resolution optical data of melt pond covered sea ice, were collected along two ~5.2 km long profiles over FYI- and MYI-dominated regions in the Canadian Arctic. Statistics of winter sea ice thickness and roughness were compared to spring fp using three data aggregation approaches, termed object and hybrid-object (based on image segments, and regularly spaced grid-cells. The hybrid-based aggregation approach showed strongest associations because it considers the morphology of the ice as well as footprints of the sensors used to measure winter sea ice thickness and roughness. Using the hybrid-based data aggregation approach it was found that winter sea ice thickness and roughness are related to spring fp. A stronger negative correlation was observed between FYI thickness and fp (Spearman rs = −0.85 compared to FYI roughness and fp (rs = −0.52. The association between MYI thickness and fp was also negative (rs = −0.56, whereas there was no association between MYI roughness and fp. 47% of spring fp variation for FYI and MYI can be explained by mean thickness. Thin sea ice is characterized by low surface roughness allowing for widespread ponding in the spring (high fp whereas thick sea ice has undergone dynamic thickening and roughening with topographic features constraining melt water into deeper channels (low fp. This work provides an important contribution towards the parameterizations of fp in

Monitoring and trend mapping of sea surface temperature (SST) from MODIS data: a case study of Mumbai coast.

Science.gov (United States)

Azmi, Samee; Agarwadkar, Yogesh; Bhattacharya, Mohor; Apte, Mugdha; Inamdar, Arun B

2015-04-01

Sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the most important parameters in monitoring ecosystem health in the marine and coastal environment. Coastal ecosystem is largely dependent on ambient temperature and temperature fronts for marine/coastal habitat and its sustainability. Hence, thermal pollution is seen as a severe threat for ecological health of coastal waters across the world. Mumbai is one of the largest metropolises of the world and faces severe domestic and industrial effluent disposal problem, of which thermal pollution is a major issue with policy-makers and environmental stakeholders. This study attempts to understand the long-term SST variation in the coastal waters off Mumbai, on the western coast of India, and to identify thermal pollution zones. Analysis of SST trends in the near-coastal waters for the pre- and post-monsoon seasons from the year 2004 to the year 2010 has been carried out using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) Thermal Infra-red (TIR) bands. SST is calculated with the help of bands 31 and 32 using split window method. Several statistical operations were then applied to find the seasonal averages in SST and the standard deviation of SST in the study area. Maximum variation in SST was found within a perpendicular distance of 5 km from the shoreline during the study period. Also, a warm water mass was found to form consistently off coast during the winter months. Several anthropogenic sources of thermal pollution could be identified which were found to impact various locations along the coast.

Global 1-km Sea Surface Temperature (G1SST)

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — JPL OurOcean Portal: A daily, global Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data set is produced at 1-km (also known as ultra-high resolution) by the JPL ROMS (Regional Ocean...

State of the Salton Sea—A science and monitoring meeting of scientists for the Salton Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Barnum, Douglas A.; Bradley, Timothy; Cohen, Michael; Wilcox, Bruce; Yanega, Gregor

2017-01-19

IntroductionThe Salton Sea (Sea) is an ecosystem facing large systemic changes in the near future. Managers and stakeholders are seeking solutions to the decline of the Sea and have turned to the scientific community for answers. In response, scientists gathered in Irvine, California, to review existing science and propose scientific studies and monitoring needs required for understanding how to retain the Sea as a functional ecosystem. This document summarizes the proceedings of this gathering of approximately 50 scientists at a September 8–10, 2014, workshop on the State of the Salton Sea.

Plasticity of noddy parents and offspring to sea-surface temperature anomalies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carol A Devney

Full Text Available Behavioral and/or developmental plasticity is crucial for resisting the impacts of environmental stressors. We investigated the plasticity of adult foraging behavior and chick development in an offshore foraging seabird, the black noddy (Anous minutus, during two breeding seasons. The first season had anomalously high sea-surface temperatures and 'low' prey availability, while the second was a season of below average sea-surface temperatures and 'normal' food availability. During the second season, supplementary feeding of chicks was used to manipulate offspring nutritional status in order to mimic conditions of high prey availability. When sea-surface temperatures were hotter than average, provisioning rates were significantly and negatively impacted at the day-to-day scale. Adults fed chicks during this low-food season smaller meals but at the same rate as chicks in the unfed treatment the following season. Supplementary feeding of chicks during the second season also resulted in delivery of smaller meals by adults, but did not influence feeding rate. Chick begging and parental responses to cessation of food supplementation suggested smaller meals fed to artificially supplemented chicks resulted from a decrease in chick demands associated with satiation, rather than adult behavioral responses to chick condition. During periods of low prey abundance, chicks maintained structural growth while sacrificing body condition and were unable to take advantage of periods of high prey abundance by increasing growth rates. These results suggest that this species expresses limited plasticity in provisioning behavior and offspring development. Consequently, responses to future changes in sea-surface temperature and other environmental variation may be limited.

Arctic Storms and Their Influence on Surface Climate in the Chukchi-Beaufort Seas

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Y.; Zhang, X.; Rinke, A.; Zhang, J.

2017-12-01

Increases in the frequency and intensity of Arctic storms and resulting weather hazards may endanger the offshore environment, coastal community, and energy infrastructure in the Arctic as sea ice retreats. Advancing ability to identify fine-scale variations in surface climate produced by progressively stronger storm would be extremely helpful to resources management and sustainable development for coastal community. In this study, we analyzed the storms and their impacts on surface climate over the Beaufort-Chukchi seas by employing the date sets from both the hindcast simulations of the coupled Arctic regional climate model HIRHAM-NAOSIM and the recently developed Chukchi-Beaufort High-resolution Atmospheric Reanalysis (CBHAR). Based on the characteristics of spatial pattern and temporal variability of the Arctic storm activity, we categorized storms to three groups with their different origins: the East Siberia Sea, Alaska and the central Arctic Ocean. The storms originating from the central Arctic Ocean have the strongest intensity in winter with relatively less storm number. Storms traveling from Alaska to the Beaufort Sea most frequently occurred in autumn with weaker intensity. A large portion of storms originated from the East Siberia Sea region in summer. Further statistical analysis suggests that increase in surface air temperature and wind speed could be attributed to the increased frequency of storm occurrence in autumn (September to November) along the continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea.

The DTU15 MSS (Mean Sea Surface) and DTU15LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide) reference surface

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Stenseng, Lars; Piccioni, Gaia

in the Arctic Ocean for DTU10MSS and DTU13MSS.A new reference surface for off-shore vertical referencing is introduced. This is called the DTU15LAT.The surface is derived from the DTU15MSS and the DTU10 Global ocean tide to give a 19 year Lowest Astronomical Tide referenced to either the Mean sea surface...

Study of radioactivity among te Bulgarian Black Sea coastal zone - results from the NIMH monitoring program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Veleva, B.; Kolarova, M.; Mungov, G. [National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (Bulgaria)

2011-07-01

In the frame of the NIMH at BAS investigations of the Black sea radioactivity were initiated in 1978 with a development of a monitoring campaign. Samples of sea waters, sediments and algae were collected from several sampling sites along the coastal zone and measured by gamma-spectrometry. Results on gamma-emitting radio-nuclide's measurements in the Black sea coastal waters were published in the 80's. After the Chernobyl accident during the period between 1986-1989 seasonal-fields sampling campaigns were organised and radioactivity of algae and bottom sediments was estimated. Harmonized sampling strategies, analytical procedures and related data information exchange for radioactivity of seawater, sediment and biota in coastal areas of Black Sea countries were developed under the IAEA TCP Black Sea Project. The present work reports results of the monitoring programme of the NIMH of Bulgaria developed in the frame of the IAEA projects for the Black Sea basin. From 1993 to 2005 regular seasonal sampling was performed in 5 sampling sites along the Bulgarian Black Sea shore. Results of the dissolved '1'3'7Cs concentrations in sea water, sand, algae, and fish samples are discussed. The data for the different radio-isotopes measured in algae, fish and sea sediment samples are given in comparison with other investigations. A complex assessment of Cs-137 concentrations as important tracer and indicator of the marine processes is made on a long-term basis. (author)

Study of radioactivity among te Bulgarian Black Sea coastal zone - results from the NIMH monitoring program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veleva, B.; Kolarova, M.; Mungov, G.

2011-01-01

In the frame of the NIMH at BAS investigations of the Black sea radioactivity were initiated in 1978 with a development of a monitoring campaign. Samples of sea waters, sediments and algae were collected from several sampling sites along the coastal zone and measured by gamma-spectrometry. Results on gamma-emitting radio-nuclide's measurements in the Black sea coastal waters were published in the 80's. After the Chernobyl accident during the period between 1986-1989 seasonal-fields sampling campaigns were organised and radioactivity of algae and bottom sediments was estimated. Harmonized sampling strategies, analytical procedures and related data information exchange for radioactivity of seawater, sediment and biota in coastal areas of Black Sea countries were developed under the IAEA TCP Black Sea Project. The present work reports results of the monitoring programme of the NIMH of Bulgaria developed in the frame of the IAEA projects for the Black Sea basin. From 1993 to 2005 regular seasonal sampling was performed in 5 sampling sites along the Bulgarian Black Sea shore. Results of the dissolved '1'3'7Cs concentrations in sea water, sand, algae, and fish samples are discussed. The data for the different radio-isotopes measured in algae, fish and sea sediment samples are given in comparison with other investigations. A complex assessment of Cs-137 concentrations as important tracer and indicator of the marine processes is made on a long-term basis. (author)

Micro contaminants in surface sediments and macrobenthic invertebrates of the North Sea

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Everaarts, J.M.; Fischer, C.V.

1989-01-01

Trace metal concentrations (copper, zinc, cadmium and lead) were measured in the silt fraction (grainsize < 63 µm) of surface sediment of the North Sea. The concentrations varied in different areas of the Dutch continental shelf of the North Sea. The trace metal concentrations were highly related

Design of self-contained sensor for monitoring of deep-sea offshore platform

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Yang; Yu, Yan; Zhang, Chunwei; Dong, Weijie; Ou, Jinping

2013-04-01

Offshore platform, which is the base of the production and living in the sea, is the most important infrastructure for developing oil and gas resources. At present, there are almost 6500 offshore platforms servicing in the 53 countries' sea areas around the world, creating great wealth for the world. In general, offshore platforms may work for 20 years, however, offshore platforms are expensive, complex, bulky, and so many of them are on extended active duty. Because of offshore platforms servicing in the harsh marine environment for a long time, the marine environment have a great impact on the offshore platforms. Besides, with the impact and erosion of seawater, and material aging, the offshore platform is possible to be in unexpected situations when a badly sudden situation happens. Therefore, it is of great significance to monitor the marine environment and offshore platforms. The self-contained sensor for deep-sea offshore platform with its unique design, can not only effectively extend the working time of the sensor with the capability of converting vibration energy to electrical energy, but also simultaneously collect the data of acceleration, inclination, temperature and humidity of the deep sea, so that we can achieve the purpose of monitoring offshore platforms through analyzing the collected data. The self-contained sensor for monitoring of deep-sea offshore platform includes sensing unit, data collecting and storage unit, the energy supply unit. The sensing unit with multi-variables, consists of an accelerometer LIS344ALH, an inclinometer SCA103T and a temperature and humidity sensor SHT11; the data collecting and storage unit includes the MSP430 low-power MCU, large capacity memory, clock circuit and the communication interface, the communication interface includes USB interface, serial ports and wireless interface; in addition, the energy supply unit, converting vibration to electrical energy to power the overall system, includes the electromagnetic

Geodetic Infrastructure in the Ibiza and Barcelona Harbours for Sea Level Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez-Benjamin, J. J.; Gili, J.; Lopez, R.; Tapia, A.; Perez, B.; Pros, F.

2013-12-01

The presentation is directed to the description of the actual situation and relevant information of the geodetic infrastructure of Ibiza and Barcelona sites for sea level determination and contribution to regional sea level rise. Time series are being analysed for mean sea level variations www.puertos.es. .In the framework of a Spanish Space Project, the instrumentation of sea level measurements has been improved by providing the Barcelona site with a radar tide gauge Datamar 2000C from Geonica s.l. near an acoustic tide gauge. Puertos del Estado installed in 2007 a MIROS radar tide gauge and the Barcelona Harbour Authority a GPS referente station in the roof of the new Control Tower situated in the Energy Pier. The radar sensor is over the water surface, on a L-shaped structure which elevates it a few meters above the quay shelf. 1-min data are transmitted to the ENAGAS Control Center by cable and then sent each 1 min to Puertos del Estado by e-mail. There is a GPS station Leica Geosystems GRX1200 GG Pro and antenna 1202. Precision levelling has been made several times in the last two years because the tower is founded in reclaimed land. The measured settlement rate is about 1cm/year that may be could mask the values registered by the tide gauge. A description of the actual infrastructure at Ibiza harbour at Marina de Botafoch, is presented and its applications to sea level monitoring and altimeter calibration in support of the main CGPS at Ibiza harbour. It is described the geometrical precision levelling made in June 2013 between the radar tide gauge and the GPS station. In particular, the CGPS located at Ibiza harbour is essential for its application to the marine campaign Baleares 2013, near Ibiza island. The main objective is to determine the altimeter bias for Jason-2, about 9:09 UTC September 15, 2013, and Saral/AltiKa, about 05:30 UTC September 16, UTC. These activities has been received funding of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion under Spanish

Measuring sea surface height with a GNSS-Wave Glider

Science.gov (United States)

Morales Maqueda, Miguel Angel; Penna, Nigel T.; Foden, Peter R.; Martin, Ian; Cipollini, Paolo; Williams, Simon D.; Pugh, Jeff P.

2017-04-01

A GNSS-Wave Glider is a novel technique to measure sea surface height autonomously using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). It consists of an unmanned surface vehicle manufactured by Liquid Robotics, a Wave Glider, and a geodetic-grade GNSS antenna-receiver system, with the antenna installed on a mast on the vehicle's deck. The Wave Glider uses the differential wave motion through the water column for propulsion, thus guaranteeing an, in principle, indefinite autonomy. Solar energy is collected to power all on-board instrumentation, including the GNSS system. The GNSS-Wave Glider was first tested in Loch Ness in 2013, demonstrating that the technology is capable of mapping geoid heights within the loch with an accuracy of a few centimetres. The trial in Loch Ness did not conclusively confirm the reliability of the technique because, during the tests, the state of the water surface was much more benign than would normally be expect in the open ocean. We now report on a first deployment of a GNSS-Wave Glider in the North Sea. The deployment took place in August 2016 and lasted thirteen days, during which the vehicle covered a distance of about 350 nautical miles in the north western North Sea off Great Britain. During the experiment, the GNSS-Wave Glider experienced sea states between 1 (0-0.1 m wave heights) and 5 (2.5-4 m wave heights). The GNSS-Wave Glider data, recorded at 5 Hz frequency, were analysed using a post-processed kinematic GPS-GLONASS precise point positioning (PPP) approach, which were quality controlled using double difference GPS kinematic processing with respect to onshore reference stations. Filtered with a 900 s moving-average window, the PPP heights reveal geoid patterns in the survey area that are very similar to the EGM2008 geoid model, thus demonstrating the potential use of a GNSS-Wave Glider for marine geoid determination. The residual of subtracting the modelled or measured marine geoid from the PPP signal combines information

GHRSST Level 4 K10_SST Global 1 meter Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Naval...

GHRSST Level 4 ODYSSEA Eastern Central Pacific Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at Ifremer/CERSAT...

GHRSST Level 4 ODYSSEA North-Western Europe Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at Ifremer/CERSAT...

Climate Prediction Center - Monitoring and Data Index

Science.gov (United States)

Weather Service NWS logo - Click to go to the NWS home page Climate Prediction Center Home Site Map News ; Atmospheric Monitoring and Data Monitoring Weather & Climate in Realtime Climate Diagnostics Bulletin Preliminary Climate Diagnostics Bulletin Figures Monthly Atmospheric & Sea Surface Temperature Indices

GHRSST Level 4 CMC0.1deg Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature (SST) analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Canadian...

GHRSST Level 4 CMC0.2deg Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature (SST) analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the Canadian...

Sea surface microlayer in a changing ocean – A perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliver Wurl

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The sea surface microlayer (SML is the boundary interface between the atmosphere and ocean, covering about 70% of the Earth’s surface. With an operationally defined thickness between 1 and 1000 μm, the SML has physicochemical and biological properties that are measurably distinct from underlying waters. Recent studies now indicate that the SML covers the ocean to a significant extent, and evidence shows that it is an aggregate-enriched biofilm environment with distinct microbial communities. Because of its unique position at the air-sea interface, the SML is central to a range of global biogeochemical and climate-related processes. The redeveloped SML paradigm pushes the SML into a new and wider context that is relevant to many ocean and climate sciences.

Influence of ice thickness and surface properties on light transmission through Arctic sea ice.

Science.gov (United States)

Katlein, Christian; Arndt, Stefanie; Nicolaus, Marcel; Perovich, Donald K; Jakuba, Michael V; Suman, Stefano; Elliott, Stephen; Whitcomb, Louis L; McFarland, Christopher J; Gerdes, Rüdiger; Boetius, Antje; German, Christopher R

2015-09-01

The observed changes in physical properties of sea ice such as decreased thickness and increased melt pond cover severely impact the energy budget of Arctic sea ice. Increased light transmission leads to increased deposition of solar energy in the upper ocean and thus plays a crucial role for amount and timing of sea-ice-melt and under-ice primary production. Recent developments in underwater technology provide new opportunities to study light transmission below the largely inaccessible underside of sea ice. We measured spectral under-ice radiance and irradiance using the new Nereid Under-Ice (NUI) underwater robotic vehicle, during a cruise of the R/V Polarstern to 83°N 6°W in the Arctic Ocean in July 2014. NUI is a next generation hybrid remotely operated vehicle (H-ROV) designed for both remotely piloted and autonomous surveys underneath land-fast and moving sea ice. Here we present results from one of the first comprehensive scientific dives of NUI employing its interdisciplinary sensor suite. We combine under-ice optical measurements with three dimensional under-ice topography (multibeam sonar) and aerial images of the surface conditions. We investigate the influence of spatially varying ice-thickness and surface properties on the spatial variability of light transmittance during summer. Our results show that surface properties such as melt ponds dominate the spatial distribution of the under-ice light field on small scales (sea ice-thickness is the most important predictor for light transmission on larger scales. In addition, we propose the use of an algorithm to obtain histograms of light transmission from distributions of sea ice thickness and surface albedo.

Trace Elements in the Sea Surface Microlayer: Results from a Two Year Study in the Florida Keys

Science.gov (United States)

Ebling, A. M.; Westrich, J. R.; Lipp, E. K.; Mellett, T.; Buck, K. N.; Landing, W. M.

2016-02-01

Natural and anthropogenic aerosols are a significant source of trace elements to oligotrophic ocean surface waters, where they provide episodic pulses of limiting micronutrients for the microbial community. Opportunistic bacteria have been shown to experience rapid growth during deposition events. However, little is known about the fate of trace elements at the air-sea interface, i.e. the sea surface microlayer. It has been hypothesized that dust particles would be retained in the sea surface microlayer long enough to undergo chemical and physical changes that would affect the bioavailability of trace elements. In this study, aerosols, sea surface microlayer, and underlying water column samples were collected in the Florida Keys in July 2014 and May 2015 at various locations and analyzed for a suite of dissolved and particulate trace elements. Sea surface microlayer samples ( 50 μm) were collected using a cylinder of ultra-pure quartz glass; a novel adaptation of the glass plate technique. Sampling sites ranged from a more pristine environment approximately ten kilometers offshore to a more anthropogenic environment within a shallow bay a few hundred meters offshore. While it was clear from the results that dust deposition events played a large role in the chemical composition of the sea surface microlayer (elevated concentrations in dissolved and particulate trace elements associated with dust deposition), the location where the samples were collected also had a large impact on the sea surface microlayer as well as the underlying water column. The results were compared with other parameters analyzed such as Vibrio cultures as well as iron speciation, providing an important step towards our goal of understanding of the fate of trace elements in the sea surface microlayer as well as the specific effects of aeolian dust deposition on heterotrophic microbes in the upper ocean.

Hourly changes in sea surface salinity in coastal waters recorded by Geostationary Ocean Color Imager

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Rongjie; Zhang, Jie; Yao, Haiyan; Cui, Tingwei; Wang, Ning; Zhang, Yi; Wu, Lingjuan; An, Jubai

2017-09-01

In this study, we monitored hourly changes in sea surface salinity (SSS) in turbid coastal waters from geostationary satellite ocean color images for the first time, using the Bohai Sea as a case study. We developed a simple multi-linear statistical regression model to retrieve SSS data from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) based on an in situ satellite matched-up dataset (R2 = 0.795; N = 41; Range: 26.4 to 31.9 psμ). The model was then validated using independent continuous SSS measurements from buoys, with the average percentage difference of 0.65%. The model was applied to GOCI images from the dry season during an astronomical tide to characterize hourly changes in SSS in the Bohai Sea. We found that the model provided reasonable estimates of the hourly changes in SSS and that trends in the modeled and measured data were similar in magnitude and direction (0.43 vs 0.33 psμ, R2 = 0.51). There were clear diurnal variations in the SSS of the Bohai Sea, with a regional average of 0.455 ± 0.079 psμ (0.02-3.77 psμ). The magnitude of the diurnal variations in SSS varied spatially, with large diurnal variability in the nearshore, particularly in the estuary, and small variability in the offshore area. The model for the riverine area was based on the inverse correlation between SSS and CDOM absorption. In the offshore area, the water mass of the North Yellow Sea, characterized by high SSS and low CDOM concentrations, dominated. Analysis of the driving mechanisms showed that the tidal current was the main control on hourly changes in SSS in the Bohai Sea.

Drone Use in Monioring Open Ocean Surface Debris, Including Paired Manta and Tucker Trawls for Relateing Sea State to Vertical Debris Distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Lattin, G.

2016-02-01

Monitoring debris at sea presents challenges not found in beach or riverine habitats, and is typically done with trawl nets of various apertures and mesh sizes, which limits the size of debris captured and the area surveyed. To partially overcome these limitations in monitoring floating debris, a Quadcopter drone with video transmitting and recording capabilities was deployed at the beginning and the end of manta trawl transects within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre's eastern convergence zone. Subsurface tucker trawls at 10 meters were conducted at the same time as the manta trawls, in order to assess the effect of sea state on debris dispersal. Trawls were conducted on an 11 station grid used repeatedly since 1999. For drone observations, the operator and observer were stationed on the mother ship while two researchers collected observed debris using a rigid inflatable boat (RIB). The drone was flown to a distance of approximately 100 meters from the vessel in a zigzag or circular search pattern. Here we examine issues arising from drone deployment during the survey: 1) relation of area surveyed by drone to volume of water passing through trawl; 2) retrieval of drone-spotted and associated RIB spotted debris. 3) integrating post- flight image analysis into retrieved debris quantification; and 4) factors limiting drone effectiveness at sea. During the survey, debris too large for the manta trawl was spotted by the drone, and significant debris not observed using the drone was recovered by the RIB. The combination of drone sightings, RIB retrieval, and post flight image analysis leads to improved monitoring of debris at sea. We also examine the issue of the distribution of floating debris during sea states varying from 0-5 by comparing quantities from surface manta trawls to the tucker trawls at a nominal depth of 10 meters.

Black Sea impact on its west-coast land surface temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Cheval, Sorin; Constantin, Sorin

2018-03-01

This study investigates the Black Sea influence on the thermal characteristics of its western hinterland based on satellite imagery acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The marine impact on the land surface temperature (LST) values is detected at daily, seasonal and annual time scales, and a strong linkage with the land cover is demonstrated. The remote sensing products used within the study supply LST data with complete areal coverage during clear sky conditions at 1-km spatial resolution, which is appropriate for climate studies. The sea influence is significant up to 4-5 km, by daytime, while the nighttime influence is very strong in the first 1-2 km, and it gradually decreases westward. Excepting the winter, the daytime temperature increases towards the plateau with the distance from the sea, e.g. with a gradient of 0.9 °C/km in the first 5 km in spring or with 0.7 °C/km in summer. By nighttime, the sea water usually remains warmer than the contiguous land triggering higher LST values in the immediate proximity of the coastline in all seasons, e.g. mean summer LST is 19.0 °C for the 1-km buffer, 16.6 °C for the 5-km buffer and 16.0 °C for the 10-km buffer. The results confirm a strong relationship between the land cover and thermal regime in the western hinterland of the Black Sea coast. The satellite-derived LST and air temperature values recorded at the meteorological stations are highly correlated for similar locations, but the marine influence propagates differently, pledging for distinct analysis. Identified anomalies in the general observed trends are investigated in correlation with sea surface temperature dynamics in the coastal area.

TOPEX/El Nino Watch - Satellite shows El Nino-related Sea Surface Height, Mar, 14, 1998

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea surface height measurements taken by the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. The image shows sea surface height relative to normal ocean conditions on Mar. 14, 1998 and sea surface height is an indicator of the heat content of the ocean. The image shows that the sea surface height along the central equatorial Pacific has returned to a near normal state. Oceanographers indicate this is a classic pattern, typical of a mature El Nino condition. Remnants of the El Nino warm water pool, shown in red and white, are situated to the north and south of the equator. These sea surface height measurements have provided scientists with a detailed view of how the 1997-98 El Nino's warm pool behaves because the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite measures the changing sea surface height with unprecedented precision. In this image, the white and red areas indicate unusual patterns of heat storage; in the white areas, the sea surface is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal; in the red areas, it's about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above normal. The green areas indicate normal conditions, while purple (the western Pacific) means at least 18 centimeters (7 inches) below normal sea level. The El Nino phenomenon is thought to be triggered when the steady westward blowing trade winds weaken and even reverse direction. This change in the winds allows a large mass of warm water (the red and white area) that is normally located near Australia to move eastward along the equator until it reaches the coast of South America. The displacement of so much warm water affects evaporation, where rain clouds form and, consequently, alters the typical atmospheric jet stream patterns around the world. Using satellite imagery, buoy and ship data, and a forecasting model of the ocean-atmosphere system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA), has continued to issue an advisory indicating the so-called El Nino weather

Temporal and Spatial Variabilities of Japan Sea Surface Temperature and Atmospheric Forcings

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Chu, Peter C; Chen, Yuchun; Lu, Shihua

1998-01-01

...) and surface air temperature (SAT) data during 1982-1994 and the National Center for Atmospheric Research surface wind stress curl data during 1982-1989 to investigate the Japan Sea SST temporal and spatial variabilities...

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) from AVHRR Pathfinder, Version 5.2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 Sea Surface Temperature data set (PFV52) is a collection of global, twice-daily 4km sea surface temperature data produced in a...

Results of the first Wave Glider experiment in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Aulicino

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A wave-propelled autonomous vehicle (Wave Glider instrumented with a variety of oceanographic and meteorological sensors was launched from Gulf of Naples on the 12th of September 2012 for a two-week mission in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. The main objective of the mission was a preliminary evaluation of the potential of commercial autonomous platforms to provide reliable measurements of sea surface parameters which can complement existing satellite based products moving from the local to the synoptic scale. To this aim Wave Glider measurements were compared to equivalent, or near-equivalent, satellite products achieved from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer sensors onboard the EOS (Earth Observing System satellite platforms and from AVISO (Archiving Validation and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic Data. Level-3 near real time and Level-4 reprocessed sea surface foundation temperature products provided by the CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service were also included in this study as well as high resolution model output supplied by NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean. The Wave Glider was equipped with sensors to measure temperature, salinity, currents, as well as Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM, turbidity and refined fuels fluorescence. The achieved results confirmed the emerging value of Wave Gliders in the framework of multiplatform monitoring systems of the ocean surface parameters. In particular, they showed that Wave Glider measurements captured the southern Tyrrhenian Sea major surface oceanographic features, including the coast to open sea haline gradient and the presence of a cyclone-anticyclone system in the southeastern sub-region. The Wave Glider also had the capability to monitor upper ocean currents at finer spatial and temporal scales than satellite altimetric observations and model outputs. Nonetheless, results stressed the existence of several limits in the combined

Study of sea surface temperature distribution, in Angra dos Reis Nuclear Plant region - Mission Angra 01

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, M.R.; Steffen, C.A.; Villagra, H.M.I.

1982-03-01

A study of spectral and temporal variations of sea surface temperature, using data obtained from level of satellite, aircraft and surface, with the purpose of evaluate and plot the small scale variations of sea surface temperature, due to thermal discharge from a nuclear the results of the first mission called Angra 1. (maps). (C.G.C.)

Tropical sea surface temperatures and the earth's orbital eccentricity cycles

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gupta, S.M.; Fernandes, A.A.; Mohan, R.

The tropical oceanic warm pools are climatologically important regions because their sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are positively related to atmospheric greenhouse effect and the cumulonimbus-cirrus cloud anvil. Such a warm pool is also present...

Interannual variability of surface and bottom sediment transport on the Laptev Sea shelf during summer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Wegner

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Sediment transport dynamics were studied during ice-free conditions under different atmospheric circulation regimes on the Laptev Sea shelf (Siberian Arctic. To study the interannual variability of suspended particulate matter (SPM dynamics and their coupling with the variability in surface river water distribution on the Laptev Sea shelf, detailed oceanographic, optical (turbidity and Ocean Color satellite data, and hydrochemical (nutrients, SPM, stable oxygen isotopes process studies were carried out continuously during the summers of 2007 and 2008. Thus, for the first time SPM and nutrient variations on the Laptev Sea shelf under different atmospheric forcing and the implications for the turbidity and transparency of the water column can be presented.

The data indicate a clear link between different surface distributions of riverine waters and the SPM transport dynamics within the entire water column. The summer of 2007 was dominated by shoreward winds and an eastward transport of riverine surface waters. The surface SPM concentration on the southeastern inner shelf was elevated, which led to decreased transmissivity and increased light absorption. Surface SPM concentrations in the central and northern Laptev Sea were comparatively low. However, the SPM transport and concentration within the bottom nepheloid layer increased considerably on the entire eastern shelf. The summer of 2008 was dominated by offshore winds and northward transport of the river plume. The surface SPM transport was enhanced and extended onto the mid-shelf, whereas the bottom SPM transport and concentration was diminished. This study suggests that the SPM concentration and transport, in both the surface and bottom nepheloid layers, are associated with the distribution of riverine surface waters which are linked to the atmospheric circulation patterns over the Laptev Sea and the adjacent Arctic Ocean during the open water season. A continuing trend toward

Rising Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperatures Amplify Extreme Summer Precipitation in Central Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Volosciuk, Claudia; Maraun, Douglas; Semenov, Vladimir A.; Tilinina, Natalia; Gulev, Sergey K.; Latif, Mojib

2016-08-01

The beginning of the 21st century was marked by a number of severe summer floods in Central Europe associated with extreme precipitation (e.g., Elbe 2002, Oder 2010 and Danube 2013). Extratropical storms, known as Vb-cyclones, cause summer extreme precipitation events over Central Europe and can thus lead to such floodings. Vb-cyclones develop over the Mediterranean Sea, which itself strongly warmed during recent decades. Here we investigate the influence of increased Mediterranean Sea surface temperature (SST) on extreme precipitation events in Central Europe. To this end, we carry out atmosphere model simulations forced by average Mediterranean SSTs during 1970-1999 and 2000-2012. Extreme precipitation events occurring on average every 20 summers in the warmer-SST-simulation (2000-2012) amplify along the Vb-cyclone track compared to those in the colder-SST-simulation (1970-1999), on average by 17% in Central Europe. The largest increase is located southeast of maximum precipitation for both simulated heavy events and historical Vb-events. The responsible physical mechanism is increased evaporation from and enhanced atmospheric moisture content over the Mediterranean Sea. The excess in precipitable water is transported from the Mediterranean Sea to Central Europe causing stronger precipitation extremes over that region. Our findings suggest that Mediterranean Sea surface warming amplifies Central European precipitation extremes.

GHRSST Level 4 REMO_OI_SST_5km Regional Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature (SST) analysis produced daily on an operational basis by the...

Empirical data and optimal monitoring policies: the case of four Russian sea harbours

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deissenberg, C. [CEFI-CNRS, Les Milles (France); Gurman, V.; Shevchuk, E. [RAS, Program Systems Inst., Pereslavl-Zalessky (Russian Federation); Ryumina, E. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation). Inst. of Economic Market Problems; Shevlyagin, K. [State Committee of the Environment Protection of the Russian Federation, Moscow (Russian Federation). Marine Environment Dept.

2001-07-01

In this paper, we describe the present state of empirical information about oil spills and oil monitoring activities in Russian harbours. We explain how we gathered, organized, and estimated the data needed to run the monitoring efforts optimization model of Deissenberg et al. (2001). We present, analyse, and discuss the results of the optimizations carried out with this model on the basis of the empirical data. These results show, in particular, that the economic efficiency of the monitoring activities decreases rapidly as the corresponding budget increases. This suggests that, rather urgently, measures other than monitoring should be initiated to control sea harbour pollution. (Author)

Seasonal variability of sea surface chlorophyll-a of waters around ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

days during 1978--1986 are processed to produce sea surface chlorophyll maps ... shallow water areas, in particular waters in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, should be carried out in order .... The circulation penetrates deeper, affecting the.

Potential contribution of surface-dwelling Sargassum algae to deep-sea ecosystems in the southern North Atlantic

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Philip; Minzlaff, Ulrike; Schoenle, Alexandra; Schwabe, Enrico; Hohlfeld, Manon; Jeuck, Alexandra; Brenke, Nils; Prausse, Dennis; Rothenbeck, Marcel; Brix, Saskia; Frutos, Inmaculada; Jörger, Katharina M.; Neusser, Timea P.; Koppelmann, Rolf; Devey, Colin; Brandt, Angelika; Arndt, Hartmut

2018-02-01

Deep-sea ecosystems, limited by their inability to use primary production as a source of carbon, rely on other sources to maintain life. Sedimentation of organic carbon into the deep sea has been previously studied, however, the high biomass of sedimented Sargassum algae discovered during the VEMA Transit expedition in 2014/2015 to the southern North Atlantic, and its potential as a regular carbon input, has been an underestimated phenomenon. To determine the potential for this carbon flux, a literature survey of previous studies that estimated the abundance of surface water Sargassum was conducted. We compared these estimates with quantitative analyses of sedimented Sargassum appearing on photos taken with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) directly above the abyssal sediment during the expedition. Organismal communities associated to Sargassum fluitans from surface waters were investigated and Sargassum samples collected from surface waters and the deep sea were biochemically analyzed (fatty acids, stable isotopes, C:N ratios) to determine degradation potential and the trophic significance within deep-sea communities. The estimated Sargassum biomass (fresh weight) in the deep sea (0.07-3.75 g/m2) was several times higher than that estimated from surface waters in the North Atlantic (0.024-0.84 g/m2). Biochemical analysis showed degradation of Sargassum occurring during sedimentation or in the deep sea, however, fatty acid and stable isotope analysis did not indicate direct trophic interactions between the algae and benthic organisms. Thus, it is assumed that components of the deep-sea microbial food web form an important link between the macroalgae and larger benthic organisms. Evaluation of the epifauna showed a diverse nano- micro-, meio, and macrofauna on surface Sargassum and maybe transported across the Atlantic, but we had no evidence for a vertical exchange of fauna components. The large-scale sedimentation of Sargassum forms an important trophic link

Quantitative estimation of Holocene surface salinity variation in the Black Sea using dinoflagellate cyst process length

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mertens, Kenneth Neil; Bradley, Lee R.; Takano, Yoshihito

2012-01-01

Reconstruction of salinity in the Holocene Black Sea has been an ongoing debate over the past four decades. Here we calibrate summer surface water salinity in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea with the process length of the dinoflagellate cyst Lingulodinium machaerophorum. We then apply ...

Statistical analysis of global surface temperature and sea level using cointegration methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Torben; Johansen, Søren; Thejll, Peter

2012-01-01

Global sea levels are rising which is widely understood as a consequence of thermal expansion and melting of glaciers and land-based ice caps. Due to the lack of representation of ice-sheet dynamics in present-day physically-based climate models being unable to simulate observed sea level trends......, semi-empirical models have been applied as an alternative for projecting of future sea levels. There is in this, however, potential pitfalls due to the trending nature of the time series. We apply a statistical method called cointegration analysis to observed global sea level and land-ocean surface air...... temperature, capable of handling such peculiarities. We find a relationship between sea level and temperature and find that temperature causally depends on the sea level, which can be understood as a consequence of the large heat capacity of the ocean. We further find that the warming episode in the 1940s...

Poseidon: A marine environmental monitoring, forecasting and information system for the Greek seas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.H. SOUKISSIAN

2000-06-01

Full Text Available The scope of this work is twofold: i to discuss and analyze some principles, issues and problems related to the development and advancement of Operational Oceanography in Greece and ii to present a real-time monitoring and forecasting system for the Aegean Sea, which is currently under implementation. Operational Oceanography in Greece has become a necessity today, since it can provide aid to find solutions on problems related to societal, economic, environmental and scientific issues. Most of the Greek coastal regions are under pressure, susceptible to damages due to the increasing tendency of the population to move from the inland to the coast, marine environmental pollution, competitive development of the coastal market sector, etc. Moreover, the complex geomorphology of the coastal areas and the interdependence between natural processes and human activities causes significant alterations in this delicate environment. A rational treatment of these problems can be based on integrated coastal zone management (ICZM. An absolutely necessary means for establishing ICZM is the operation of marine moni- toring systems. Such a system ("POSEIDON system" is under implementation by the National Centre for Marine Research. POSEIDON is a comprehensive marine monitoring and forecasting system, that aims to improve environmental surveillance and facilitate sea transport, rescue and safety of life at sea, fishing and aquaculture, protection of the marine ecosystem, etc. POSEIDON is expected to enhance considerably the capabilities to manage, protect and develop the marine resources of the Greek Seas and to promote Greek Operational Oceanography.

GHRSST Level 4 MW_IR_OI Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature analysis (GDS versions 1 and 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) global Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on a 0.81 degree grid at Remote Sensing...

Norwegian 1990 sediment data for the North Sea Task Force (NSTF) and the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Green, N.W.; Klungsoeyr, J.

1994-12-31

This report presents the 1990 sediment data compiled as part of the Norwegian contribution to the North Sea Task Force Monitoring Master Plan and the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). The JMP is ordered under the Oslo and Paris Commissions, which were established to protect the marine environment against anthropogenic contamination. The stations monitored by Norway are spread over the Kattegat, Skagerrak, North Sea south to the Dogger Bank and the Faeroe Islands. The contaminants investigated are mainly selected metals, organochlorines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and the samples were collected by gravity cores and grab/box samplers. The raw data and the mean and standard deviations of parallel samples (if relevant) are presented. 6 refs., 2 tabs.

An Improved Semi-Empirical Model for Radar Backscattering from Rough Sea Surfaces at X-Band

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taekyeong Jin

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We propose an improved semi-empirical scattering model for X-band radar backscattering from rough sea surfaces. This new model has a wider validity range of wind speeds than does the existing semi-empirical sea spectrum (SESS model. First, we retrieved the small-roughness parameters from the sea surfaces, which were numerically generated using the Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum and measurement datasets for various wind speeds. Then, we computed the backscattering coefficients of the small-roughness surfaces for various wind speeds using the integral equation method model. Finally, the large-roughness characteristics were taken into account by integrating the small-roughness backscattering coefficients multiplying them with the surface slope probability density function for all possible surface slopes. The new model includes a wind speed range below 3.46 m/s, which was not covered by the existing SESS model. The accuracy of the new model was verified with two measurement datasets for various wind speeds from 0.5 m/s to 14 m/s.

Interannual variability of north Atlantic Sea surface temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhatt, U.S.; Battisiti, D.S.; Alexander, M.A.

1994-01-01

In the midlatitude north Atlantic Ocean the pattern of sea surface temperature anomalies (ssta) is characterized by a north-south dipole. Bjerknes was the first to propose that the banded structure was associated with the interannual variability. Recently, these patterns have been studied more extensively. In this study the quantitative aspects of these patterns are examined through the use of a mixed-layer model (MLM)

Late Quaternary Palaeoceanographic Changes in Sea Surface Conditions in the Tropical Atlantic

Science.gov (United States)

Fischel, Andrea; Seidenkrantz, Marit-Solveig; Kuijpers, Antoon; Nürnberg, Dirk

2013-04-01

Palaeoceanographic changes and the variability in surface water mass hydrography are reconstructed in order to track tropical ocean and climate variability and inter-hemispheric heat exchange through the last 42,000 year BP. Our studies are based on the relative abundance of planktonic foraminifera combined with sea surface temperature approximation based Mg/Ca measurements, XRF scanning and stable oxygen isotope analyses in a 5 m long gravity core Ga307-Win-12GC (17°50.80N, 64°48.7290W), retrieved in the Virgin Island Basin in approx. 3,960 m water depth. The Virgin Island Basin is the deepest part of the Anegada-Jungfern Passage in the northeast Caribbean, one of the most important pathways for water mass exchange between the Central Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. Due to its bathymetry surface waters as well as deep water mass strata from the northern and southern hemisphere enter the basin, comprising Caribbean Surface Water (CSW), Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), Atlantic Intermediate Water (AIW) and North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The planktonic foraminiferal assemblage suggests rather stable sea-surface conditions during the Holocene in the NE Caribbean. However, major changes in the hydrographic setting could be identified within the glacial period. During the glacial period, clear millennial-scale variability in sea-surface temperature and productivity are present. Fluctuations in the relative abundance of Globigerinoides ruber in the sediment core may be correlated to Dansgaard-Oeschger events in the northern North Atlantic. Furthermore an increase in relative abundance of Globorotalia rubescens occurs synchronous with ice rafted debris layers described from the North Atlantic. The faunal changes in the tropical Atlantic may thus be correlated to major climate changes in the North Atlantic, mainly D-O cyclicity as well as Heinrich events. Thus, the synchronous change in water mass distribution and hydrographic cyclicity suggests a possible linkage

REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF SEA-SURFACE-TEMPERATURE PATTERNS FOR THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN.

Science.gov (United States)

SEA WATER, *SURFACE TEMPERATURE, *OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA, PACIFIC OCEAN, REGRESSION ANALYSIS , STATISTICAL ANALYSIS, UNDERWATER EQUIPMENT, DETECTION, UNDERWATER COMMUNICATIONS, DISTRIBUTION, THERMAL PROPERTIES, COMPUTERS.

Measurement of the sea surface wind speed and direction by an airborne microwave radar altimeter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nekrassov, A. [GKSS-Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH (Germany). Inst. fuer Hydrophysik

2001-07-01

A pilot needs operational information about wind over sea as well as wave height to provide safety of a hydroplane landing on water. Near-surface wind speed and direction can be obtained with an airborne microwave scatterometer, radar designed for measuring the scatter characteristics of a surface. Mostly narrow-beam antennas are applied for such wind measurement. Unfortunately, a microwave narrow-beam antenna has considerable size that hampers its placing on flying apparatus. In this connection, a possibility to apply a conventional airborne radar altimeter as a scatterometer with a nadir-looking wide-beam antenna in conjunction with Doppler filtering for recovering the wind vector over sea is discussed, and measuring algorithms of sea surface wind speed and direction are proposed. The obtained results can be used for creation of an airborne radar system for operational measurement of the sea roughness characteristics and for safe landing of a hydroplane on water. (orig.)

Hourly to Decadal variability of sea surface carbon parameters in the north western Mediteranean Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Boutin, Jacqueline; Merlivat, Liliane; Antoine, David; Beaumont, Laurence; Golbol, Melek; Velluci, Vincenzo

2017-04-01

Sea surface CO2 fugacity, fCO2, is recorded hourly in the north western Mediterranean Sea since 2013 by two CARIOCA (Carbon Interface Ocean Atmosphere) sensors installed on the BOUSSOLE (Buoy for the acquisition of long term optical time series, http://www.obs-vlfr.fr/Boussole/html/project/introduction.php) mooring at 3m and 10m depth. fCO2 exhibits a large seasonal cycle, about 150 microatm peak to peak, very consistent with earlier CARIOCA measurements taken in 1995-1999 at the DYFAMED site (located 6km apart from the BOUSSOLE mooring) (Hood and Merlivat, JMR, 2001; Copin-Montegut et al., Mar. Chem., 2004): this seasonal cycle is driven primarily by intense mixing in Winter, biological uptake during Spring and warming during Summer. Interannual variability of these processes leads to interannual variability of monthly mean fCO2 that can reach more than 20 microatm. The short term variability (1 hour to 1 week) is large, especially during Summer 2014 (more than 40 microatm) due to a very strong vertical stratification and to the influence of internal waves. The hourly CARIOCA measurements allow to correctly filter out the high frequency variability while the three year long time series allow to smooth out interannual variability. Hence, for the first time, we get a precise estimate of the change of fCO2 in surface waters within 20 years. Over the 1995-2015 interval, we estimate an increase of fCO2 computed at a constant temperature of 13˚ C equal to 1.8 microatm per year. Given the alkalinity/salinity relationship in this region, we estimate mean annual rates of change of -0.0023+/-0.0001 pH unit and of +1.47+/-0.03 μmol kg-1 for pH and DIC respectively. These results give a quantitative estimate of the penetration of anthropogenic carbon in the surface waters of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, about 80% via air-sea exchange and 20% via transport of carbon from the Atlantic across the Strait of Gibraltar as suggested by Palmieri et al (BG, 2015). We estimate

Simulation of tsunami effects on sea surface salinity using MODIS satellite data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramlan, N E F; Genderen, J van; Hashim, M; Marghany, M

2014-01-01

Remote sensing technology has been recognized as powerful tool for environmental disaster studies. Ocean surface salinity is considered as a major element in the marine environment. In this study, we simulate the 2004 tsunami's impact on a physical ocean parameter using the least square algorithm to retrieve sea surface salinity (SSS) from MODIS satellite data. The accuracy of this work has been examined using the root mean of sea surface salinity retrieved from MODIS satellite data. The study shows a comprehensive relationship between the in situ measurements and least square algorithm with high r 2 of 0.95, and RMS of bias value of ±0.9 psu. In conclusion, the least square algorithm can be used to retrieve SSS from MODIS satellite data during a tsunami event

SIMULATION OF THE Ku-BAND RADAR ALTIMETER SEA ICE EFFECTIVE SCATTERING SURFACE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tonboe, Rasmus; Andersen, Søren; Pedersen, Leif Toudal

2006-01-01

A radiative transfer model is used to simulate the sea ice radar altimeter effective scattering surface variability as a function of snow depth and density. Under dry snow conditions without layering these are the primary snow parameters affecting the scattering surface variability. The model is ...

On the diurnal ranges of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

(Solomon and Jin 2005). The diurnal change in. SST has also been examined to study the possible feedbacks on the atmosphere (Clayson and Chen. 2002; Bernie et al 2007). Solar heating of the sea surface in low-wind conditions can lead to the development of a stable warm layer of a few meters thickness at the surface.

Sea Surface Height Deviation, Aviso, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aviso Sea Surface Height Deviation is the deviation from the mean geoid as measured from 1993 - 1995. This is Science Quality data.

AVHRR Pathfinder version 5.3 level 3 collated (L3C) global 4km sea surface temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.3 (PFV53) L3C Sea Surface Temperature data set is a collection of global, twice-daily (Day and Night) 4km sea surface temperature...

On the sea surface temperature high in the Lakshadweep Sea before the onset of the southwest monsoon

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shenoi, S.S.C.; Shankar, D.; Shetye, S.R.

The north Indian Ocean becomes the warmest area of the world oceans prior to the onset of southwest monsoon in June. During this period a zonal band of high sea surface temperature (SST), the ``thermal equator'' (TE), moves over this region...

Sea surface temperature control of taxon specific phytoplankton production along an oligotrophic gradient in the Mediterranean Sea

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Poll, W.H.V.; Boute, P.G.; Rozema, P.D.; Buma, A.; Kulk, G.; Rijkenberg, M.J.

2015-01-01

The current study aimed to assess changes in phytoplankton composition and productivity along an oligotrophic gradient in relation to changes in sea surface temperature (SST). Phytoplankton pigments, nutrients, and physical water column properties were studied along a longitudinal transect in the

Sea ice local surface topography from single-pass satellite InSAR measurements: a feasibility study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Dierking

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Quantitative parameters characterizing the sea ice surface topography are needed in geophysical investigations such as studies on atmosphere–ice interactions or sea ice mechanics. Recently, the use of space-borne single-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR for retrieving the ice surface topography has attracted notice among geophysicists. In this paper the potential of InSAR measurements is examined for several satellite configurations and radar frequencies, considering statistics of heights and widths of ice ridges as well as possible magnitudes of ice drift. It is shown that, theoretically, surface height variations can be retrieved with relative errors  ≤  0.5 m. In practice, however, the sea ice drift and open water leads may contribute significantly to the measured interferometric phase. Another essential factor is the dependence of the achievable interferometric baseline on the satellite orbit configurations. Possibilities to assess the influence of different factors on the measurement accuracy are demonstrated: signal-to-noise ratio, presence of a snow layer, and the penetration depth into the ice. Practical examples of sea surface height retrievals from bistatic SAR images collected during the TanDEM-X Science Phase are presented.

Clean Air Markets - Monitoring Surface Water Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Learn about how EPA uses Long Term Monitoring (LTM) and Temporily Integrated Monitoring of Ecosystems (TIME) to track the effect of the Clean Air Act Amendments on acidity of surface waters in the eastern U.S.

Statistical analysis of global surface air temperature and sea level using cointegration methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmith, Torben; Johansen, Søren; Thejll, Peter

Global sea levels are rising which is widely understood as a consequence of thermal expansion and melting of glaciers and land-based ice caps. Due to physically-based models being unable to simulate observed sea level trends, semi-empirical models have been applied as an alternative for projecting...... of future sea levels. There is in this, however, potential pitfalls due to the trending nature of the time series. We apply a statistical method called cointegration analysis to observed global sea level and surface air temperature, capable of handling such peculiarities. We find a relationship between sea...... level and temperature and find that temperature causally depends on the sea level, which can be understood as a consequence of the large heat capacity of the ocean. We further find that the warming episode in the 1940s is exceptional in the sense that sea level and warming deviates from the expected...

Enrichment of Fusobacteria in Sea Surface Oil Slicks from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

OpenAIRE

Gutierrez, Tony; Berry, David; Teske, Andreas; Aitken, Michael D.

2016-01-01

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill led to rapid microbial community shifts in the Gulf of Mexico, including the formation of unprecedented quantities of marine oil snow (MOS) and of a massive subsurface oil plume. The major taxa that bloomed in sea surface oil slicks during the spill included Cycloclasticus, and to a lesser extent Halomonas, Alteromonas, and Pseudoalteromonas?organisms that grow and degrade oil hydrocarbons aerobically. Here, we show that sea surface oil slicks at DWH cont...

Macrobenthic monitoring in the Milford Haven waterway following the Sea Empress oil spill of February 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hobbs, G.; Smith, J.

1998-03-01

Surveys were carried out in the Milford Haven waterway between Lawrenny and West Angle Bay in March 1996 and April 1997 as part of a programme to monitor the impact of the Sea Empress spill on the sea bed macrofauna within the Haven. Samples were taken at eleven locations for macrobenthos, sediment particle size analysis and determination of hydrocarbon content. Additional data was obtained from a larger scale survey of the waterway in October 1996 which included nine of the eleven stations designated for this sampling programme and 'baseline' data was taken from a similar survey carried out in October 1993. The most noticeable feature of the post-spill data is the low abundance and diversity of the amphipod fauna of the water compared with the October 1993 'baseline'. Although this cannot be ascribed with certainty to the Sea Empress oil spill due to the 21/2 year interval during which no monitoring occurred, depletion of the amphipod fauna is a consistent feature of many previous post-spill studies where there was definitive analytical evidence of oil contamination of the sediments. This project has provided a sound basis for monitoring the progress of the macrobenthic fauna of the Haven in the years after the incident. The greatest benefit in such programmes will only be realised in the long term and it is recommended that monitoring should continue. (author)

Transport of contaminants by Arctic sea ice and surface ocean currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfirman, S.

1995-01-01

Sea ice and ocean currents transport contaminants in the Arctic from source areas on the shelves, to biologically active regions often more than a thousand kilometers away. Coastal regions along the Siberian margin are polluted by discharges of agricultural, industrial and military wastes in river runoff, from atmospheric deposition and ocean dumping. The Kara Sea is of particular concern because of deliberate dumping of radioactive waste, as well as the large input of polluted river water. Contaminants are incorporated in ice during suspension freezing on the shelves, and by atmospheric deposition during drift. Ice releases its contaminant load through brine drainage, surface runoff of snow and meltwater, and when the floe disintegrates. The marginal ice zone, a region of intense biological activity, may also be the site of major contaminant release. Potentially contaminated ice from the Kara Sea is likely to influence the marginal ice zones of the Barents and Greenland seas. From studies conducted to date it appears that sea ice from the Kara Sea does not typically enter the Beaufort Gyre, and thus is unlikely to affect the northern Canadian and Alaskan margins

Distribution and characteristics of organic micropollutants in surface sediments from Bohai Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Wenxin; Chen Jianglin; Lin Xiumei; Tao Shu

2006-01-01

Spatial distribution and compositional characteristics of PAHs, DDTs and PCBs in surface sediments from Bohai Sea were investigated. Proportion of LMW PAHs at Jinzhou Bay was significant, due probably to the petrogenic sources from neighboring oil wells and plants, while HMW PAHs were dominant in the other sea areas, inferred pyrogenic origins mainly from coal or petroleum combustion. The average ERL quotient for the PAH species in Qinhuangdao and Liaodong Bay indicated relatively stronger potential ecological risk. The concentration ratios of DDT to metabolites (DDD + DDE) exceeded 1.0 in the coastal areas of Qinhuangdao, Liaodong Bay and Bohai Bay, demonstrated some recent inputs of DDT nearby, and DDD as the major degradation product. The concentrations of PCBs were generally low, however, the contents of DDTs were greater than the ERL guidelines in the coastal areas of Qinhuangdao, Liaodong Bay and Bohai Bay, and suggested the potential ecological risk. - The recent inputs of DDT in surface sediments at some sites of Bohai Sea indicated potential ecological risk

GHRSST Level 4 MUR Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (v4.1) (GDS versions 1 and 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced as a retrospective dataset (four day latency) and...

An Improved Local Gradient Method for Sea Surface Wind Direction Retrieval from SAR Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lizhang Zhou

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sea surface wind affects the fluxes of energy, mass and momentum between the atmosphere and ocean, and therefore regional and global weather and climate. With various satellite microwave sensors, sea surface wind can be measured with large spatial coverage in almost all-weather conditions, day or night. Like any other remote sensing measurements, sea surface wind measurement is also indirect. Therefore, it is important to develop appropriate wind speed and direction retrieval models for different types of microwave instruments. In this paper, a new sea surface wind direction retrieval method from synthetic aperture radar (SAR imagery is developed. In the method, local gradients are computed in frequency domain by combining the operation of smoothing and computing local gradients in one step to simplify the process and avoid the difference approximation. This improved local gradients (ILG method is compared with the traditional two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D FFT method and local gradients (LG method, using interpolating wind directions from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF reanalysis data and the Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP wind vector product. The sensitivities to the salt-and-pepper noise, the additive noise and the multiplicative noise are analyzed. The ILG method shows a better performance of retrieval wind directions than the other two methods.

Monitoring plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis in the North Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Franeker, Jan A. van, E-mail: Jan.vanfraneker@wur.nl [IMARES Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen-UR, PO Box 167, 1790AD Den Burg, Texel (Netherlands); Blaize, Christine [Le CHENE, Centre de Sauvegarde de la Faune Sauvage et Musee de la Nature, 12 Rue du Musee, F-76190 Allouville-Bellefosse (France); Danielsen, Johannis [Norouri i Sundum 7, FO-410 Kollafjorour (Faroe Islands); Fairclough, Keith [Fairclough Ecological Orkney FEO Viewforth, Swannay by Evie, Orkney, KW17 2NR, Scotland (United Kingdom); Gollan, Jane [Kermouroux, FR-56 470 Saint Philibert (France); Guse, Nils [Research and Technology Centre West coast FTZ, University of Kiel, Hafentoern 1, D-25761 Buesum (Germany); Hansen, Poul-Lindhard [Naturhistorisk Museum Skagen, Skagen Naturcenter, Flagbakkevej 30, DK-9990 Skagen (Denmark); Heubeck, Martin [University of Aberdeen (SOTEAG), Sumburgh Head Lighthouse, Virkie, Shetland ZE3 9JN, Scotland (United Kingdom); Jensen, Jens-Kjeld [Zoological conservator, I Geilini 37, FO-270 Nolsoy (Faroe Islands); Le Guillou, Gilles [Groupe Ornithologique Normand, 118 route d' ORCHER, F-76700 Gonfreville l' Orcher (France); Olsen, Bergur [Faroe Marine Research Institute c/o Natturugripasavnio, Futalag 40, FO-100 Torshavn (Faroe Islands); Olsen, Kare-Olav [Postveien 43, N-4563 Borhaug (Norway); Pedersen, John [Skagen Uddannelsescenter SUC, Vestmolen 15, DK-9990 Skagen (Denmark); Stienen, Eric W.M. [Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Kliniekstraat 25, B-1070 Brussels (Belgium); Turner, Daniel M. [9 Haswell Gardens, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE30 2DP, England (United Kingdom)

2011-10-15

The abundance of plastics in stomachs of northern fulmars from the North Sea is used in the OSPAR Ecological Quality Objective (EcoQO) for marine litter. The preliminary EcoQO defines acceptable ecological quality as the situation where no more than 10% of fulmars exceed a critical level of 0.1 g of plastic in the stomach. During 2003-2007, 95% of 1295 fulmars sampled in the North Sea had plastic in the stomach (on average 35 pieces weighing 0.31 g) and the critical level of 0.1 g of plastic was exceeded by 58% of birds, with regional variations ranging from 48 to 78%. Long term data for the Netherlands since the 1980s show a decrease of industrial, but an increase of user plastics, with shipping and fisheries as the main sources. The EcoQO is now also used as an indicator for Good Environmental Status in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. - Highlights: > Trends in marine debris can be monitored by plastics in stomachs of seabirds. > In the North Sea 95% of Fulmars has plastic in the stomach (35 particles; 0.31 g). > The policy target is that less than 10% of Fulmars has over 0.1 g of plastic. > Currently 58% of North Sea fulmars exceeds the 0.1 g critical limit. > Over the past 30 years industrial plastics decreased and user plastic increased. - Trends and patterns in the abundance of plastics in northern fulmar stomachs show that seabirds can be a valuable tool for monitoring marine litter.

Monitoring plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis in the North Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franeker, Jan A. van; Blaize, Christine; Danielsen, Johannis; Fairclough, Keith; Gollan, Jane; Guse, Nils; Hansen, Poul-Lindhard; Heubeck, Martin; Jensen, Jens-Kjeld; Le Guillou, Gilles; Olsen, Bergur; Olsen, Kare-Olav; Pedersen, John; Stienen, Eric W.M.; Turner, Daniel M.

2011-01-01

The abundance of plastics in stomachs of northern fulmars from the North Sea is used in the OSPAR Ecological Quality Objective (EcoQO) for marine litter. The preliminary EcoQO defines acceptable ecological quality as the situation where no more than 10% of fulmars exceed a critical level of 0.1 g of plastic in the stomach. During 2003-2007, 95% of 1295 fulmars sampled in the North Sea had plastic in the stomach (on average 35 pieces weighing 0.31 g) and the critical level of 0.1 g of plastic was exceeded by 58% of birds, with regional variations ranging from 48 to 78%. Long term data for the Netherlands since the 1980s show a decrease of industrial, but an increase of user plastics, with shipping and fisheries as the main sources. The EcoQO is now also used as an indicator for Good Environmental Status in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. - Highlights: → Trends in marine debris can be monitored by plastics in stomachs of seabirds. → In the North Sea 95% of Fulmars has plastic in the stomach (35 particles; 0.31 g). → The policy target is that less than 10% of Fulmars has over 0.1 g of plastic. → Currently 58% of North Sea fulmars exceeds the 0.1 g critical limit. → Over the past 30 years industrial plastics decreased and user plastic increased. - Trends and patterns in the abundance of plastics in northern fulmar stomachs show that seabirds can be a valuable tool for monitoring marine litter.

Support of Gulf of Mexico Hydrate Research Consortium: Activities to Support Establishment of a Sea Floor Monitoring Station Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carol Lutken

2006-09-30

: one in April, one in June, one in September. April's effort was dedicated to surveying the mound at MC118 with the Surface-Source-Deep-Receiver (SSDR) seismic surveying system. This survey was completed in June and water column and bottom samples were collected via box coring. A microbial filtering system developed by Consortium participants at the University of Georgia was also deployed, run for {approx}12 hours and retrieved. The September cruise, designed to deploy, test, and in some cases recover, geochemical and microbial instruments and experiments took place aboard Harbor Branch's Seward Johnson and employed the Johnson SeaLink manned submersible. The seafloor monitoring station/observatory is funded approximately equally by three federal Agencies: Minerals Management Services (MMS) of the Department of the Interior (DOI), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST), an agency of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Subcontractors with FY03 funding fulfilled their technical reporting requirements in a previously submitted report (41628R10). Only unresolved matching funds issues remain and will be addressed in the report of the University of Mississippi's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. In addition, Barrodale Computing Services Ltd. (BCS) completed their work; their final report is the bulk of the semiannual report that precedes (abstract truncated)

Loki Patera as the Surface of a Magma Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Matson, D. L.; Davies, A. G.; Veeder, G. J.; Rathbun, J. A.; Johnson, T. V.

2004-01-01

Inspired by the finding of Schubert et al that Io's figure is consistent with a hydrostatic shape, we explore the consequences of modeling Loki Patera as the surface of a large magma sea. This model is attractive because of its sheer simplicity and its usefulness in interpreting and predicting observations. Here, we report on that work.

Temporal sea-surface gravity changes observed near the source area prior to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, T.; Tsuboi, S.

2013-12-01

Recent seismological studies suggested subsurface activities preceding the 2011 Tohoku earthquake; the occurrence of migration of seismicity (Kato et al., 2012) and slow slip events (Ito et al., 2013) in and around the source area one month before the mainshock. In this study, we investigated sea-surface gravity changes observed by the shipboard gravimeter mounted on research vessels before the mainshock. The vessels incidentally passed through the source area along almost the same cruise track twice, four months before and one month before the mainshock. Comparing the sea surface gravity in the former track with that in the latter after Bouguer correction, we find the gravity changes of approximately 7 mGal in coseismic slip areas near the trench axis during the three months. We find these gravity changes even in the crossing areas of the cruise tracks where seafloor topographies have no differences between the tracks. We also find that the topographic differences show positive changes but the gravity changes negative ones in other areas, which is a negative correlation inconsistent with the theoretical relationship between the topographic difference and the gravity change. These mean that the differences of seafloor topographies due to differences between the two cruise tracks are not main causes of the observed gravity changes there. The changes cannot also be explained by drifts of the gravimeter and geostrophic currents. Although we have not had any clear evidences, we speculate that the possible cause may be density increases around the seismogenic zone or uplifts of seafloor in order to explain the changes of this size. We estimate the density increases of 1.0 g/cm**3 in a disk with a radius of 40 km and a width of 200 m or the uplifts of several tens of meters in seafloor areas for the observed gravity changes. Our results indicate that sea-surface gravity observations may be one of valid approaches to monitor the approximate location of a possible great

GLOBAL CHANGES IN THE SEA ICE COVER AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE TEMPERATURE CHANGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. C. Comiso

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The trends in the sea ice cover in the two hemispheres have been observed to be asymmetric with the rate of change in the Arctic being negative at −3.8 % per decade while that of the Antarctic is positive at 1.7 % per decade. These observations are confirmed in this study through analyses of a more robust data set that has been enhanced for better consistency and updated for improved statistics. With reports of anthropogenic global warming such phenomenon appears physically counter intuitive but trend studies of surface temperature over the same time period show the occurrence of a similar asymmetry. Satellite surface temperature data show that while global warming is strong and dominant in the Arctic, it is relatively minor in the Antarctic with the trends in sea ice covered areas and surrounding ice free regions observed to be even negative. A strong correlation of ice extent with surface temperature is observed, especially during the growth season, and the observed trends in the sea ice cover are coherent with the trends in surface temperature. The trend of global averages of the ice cover is negative but modest and is consistent and compatible with the positive but modest trend in global surface temperature. A continuation of the trend would mean the disappearance of summer ice by the end of the century but modelling projections indicate that the summer ice could be salvaged if anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are kept constant at the current level.

Hyperspectral and Radar Airborne Imagery over Controlled Release of Oil at Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sébastien Angelliaume

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Remote sensing techniques are commonly used by Oil and Gas companies to monitor hydrocarbon on the ocean surface. The interest lies not only in exploration but also in the monitoring of the maritime environment. Occurrence of natural seeps on the sea surface is a key indicator of the presence of mature source rock in the subsurface. These natural seeps, as well as the oil slicks, are commonly detected using radar sensors but the addition of optical imagery can deliver extra information such as thickness and composition of the detected oil, which is critical for both exploration purposes and efficient cleanup operations. Today, state-of-the-art approaches combine multiple data collected by optical and radar sensors embedded on-board different airborne and spaceborne platforms, to ensure wide spatial coverage and high frequency revisit time. Multi-wavelength imaging system may create a breakthrough in remote sensing applications, but it requires adapted processing techniques that need to be developed. To explore performances offered by multi-wavelength radar and optical sensors for oil slick monitoring, remote sensing data have been collected by SETHI (Système Expérimental de Télédection Hyperfréquence Imageur, the airborne system developed by ONERA (the French Aerospace Lab, during an oil spill cleanup exercise carried out in 2015 in the North Sea, Europe. The uniqueness of this dataset lies in its high spatial resolution, low noise level and quasi-simultaneous acquisitions of different part of the EM spectrum. Specific processing techniques have been developed to extract meaningful information associated with oil-covered sea surface. Analysis of this unique and rich dataset demonstrates that remote sensing imagery, collected in both optical and microwave domains, allows estimating slick surface properties such as the age of the emulsion released at sea, the spatial abundance of oil and the relative concentration of hydrocarbons remaining on

On the interpretation of SAR imagery from the Sea Empress oil spill

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, B.; Mitchelson-Jacob, E.G.

1998-01-01

A method for monitoring oil spills using SAR imagery is suggested, based on the simulation of the wave spectrum using modelled surface winds. A first order separation of the purely wind-driven backscatter distribution and its modifications due to surfactant was made by parametrizing the effect of surfactant on the wave growth rate and on the reflective properties of the sea surface. The technique was applied to an SAR image showing the Sea Empress oil spill, in south-west Wales, UK. (author)

Investigation of Range Profiles from a Simplified Ship on Rough Sea Surface and Its Multipath Imaging Mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siyuan He

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The range profiles of a two-dimension (2 D perfect electric conductor (PEC ship on a wind-driven rough sea surface are derived by performing an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT on the wide band backscattered field. The rough sea surface is assuming to be a PEC surface. The back scattered field is computed based on EM numerical simulation when the frequencies are sampled between 100 MHz and 700 MHz. Considering the strong coupling interactions between the ship and sea, the complicated multipath effect to the range profile characteristics is fully analyzed based on the multipath imaging mechanisms. The coupling mechanisms could be explained by means of ray theory prediction and numerical extraction of the coupling currents. The comparison of the range profile locations between ray theory prediction and surface current simulation is implemented and analyzed in this paper. Finally, the influence of different sea states on the radar target signatures has been examined and discussed.

Mesoscale model response to random, surface-based perturbations — A sea-breeze experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Garratt, J. R.; Pielke, R. A.; Miller, W. F.; Lee, T. J.

1990-09-01

The introduction into a mesoscale model of random (in space) variations in roughness length, or random (in space and time) surface perturbations of temperature and friction velocity, produces a measurable, but barely significant, response in the simulated flow dynamics of the lower atmosphere. The perturbations are an attempt to include the effects of sub-grid variability into the ensemble-mean parameterization schemes used in many numerical models. Their magnitude is set in our experiments by appeal to real-world observations of the spatial variations in roughness length and daytime surface temperature over the land on horizontal scales of one to several tens of kilometers. With sea-breeze simulations, comparisons of a number of realizations forced by roughness-length and surface-temperature perturbations with the standard simulation reveal no significant change in ensemble mean statistics, and only small changes in the sea-breeze vertical velocity. Changes in the updraft velocity for individual runs, of up to several cms-1 (compared to a mean of 14 cms-1), are directly the result of prefrontal temperature changes of 0.1 to 0.2K, produced by the random surface forcing. The correlation and magnitude of the changes are entirely consistent with a gravity-current interpretation of the sea breeze.

Eddy-induced Sea Surface Salinity changes in the tropical Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Delcroix, T. C.; Chaigneau, A.; Soviadan, D.; Boutin, J.

2017-12-01

We analyse the Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) signature of westward propagating mesoscale eddies in the tropical Pacific by collocating 5 years (2010-2015) of SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) SSS and altimetry-derived sea level anomalies. The main characteristics of mesoscale eddies are first identified in SLA maps. Composite analyses in the Central and Eastern ITCZ regions then reveal regionally dependent impacts with opposite SSS anomalies for the cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies. In the Central region (where we have the largest meridional SSS gradient), we found dipole-like SSS changes with maximum anomalies on the leading edge of the eddy. In the Eastern region (where we have the largest near-surface vertical salinity gradient) we found monopole-like SSS changes with maximum anomalies in the eddy centre. These dipole/monopole patterns and the rotational sense of eddies suggest the dominant role of horizontal and vertical advection in the Central and Eastern ITCZ regions, respectively.

Monthly version of HadISST sea surface temperature state-space components

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — State-Space Decomposition of Monthly version of HadISST sea surface temperature component (1-degree). See Rayner, N. A., Parker, D. E., Horton, E. B., Folland, C....

Dissolved aluminium in the surface microlayer of the eastern Arabian Sea

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Narvekar, P.V.; Singbal, S.Y.S.

Measurements of dissolved aluminium (Al) in surface microlayer (SML) samples from the eastern Arabian Sea during the southwest (summer) and northwast (winter) monsoon periods have revealed much higher concentrations (23-657 nmol kg sup(-1)) than...

LRAD surface monitoring results at TA-21

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bounds, J.A.

1995-01-01

In August/September 1994, NIS-6 personnel used LRAD soil surface monitor technology to characterize the extent of alpha contamination on the surface of a parking lot adjacent to TA-21, LANL, known as Material Disposal Area B. This report documents that monitoring. Based on this survey, there is no reason for concern about significant contamination in the parking area as a whole, although unexpected small hot spots could exist between the grid points where monitoring was performed. However, the grouping of high readings on the east side of the parking area does point to possible contamination at the level of 100 dpm/100 cm 2 or less (above background). Further monitoring or remediation of this area seems appropriate. In addition, because this was an alpha survey, one cannot rule out contamination under the asphalt or possibly between layers if it was paved more than once

Methane excess in Arctic surface water-triggered by sea ice formation and melting.

Science.gov (United States)

Damm, E; Rudels, B; Schauer, U; Mau, S; Dieckmann, G

2015-11-10

Arctic amplification of global warming has led to increased summer sea ice retreat, which influences gas exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere where sea ice previously acted as a physical barrier. Indeed, recently observed enhanced atmospheric methane concentrations in Arctic regions with fractional sea-ice cover point to unexpected feedbacks in cycling of methane. We report on methane excess in sea ice-influenced water masses in the interior Arctic Ocean and provide evidence that sea ice is a potential source. We show that methane release from sea ice into the ocean occurs via brine drainage during freezing and melting i.e. in winter and spring. In summer under a fractional sea ice cover, reduced turbulence restricts gas transfer, then seawater acts as buffer in which methane remains entrained. However, in autumn and winter surface convection initiates pronounced efflux of methane from the ice covered ocean to the atmosphere. Our results demonstrate that sea ice-sourced methane cycles seasonally between sea ice, sea-ice-influenced seawater and the atmosphere, while the deeper ocean remains decoupled. Freshening due to summer sea ice retreat will enhance this decoupling, which restricts the capacity of the deeper Arctic Ocean to act as a sink for this greenhouse gas.

Surface currents in the Bohai Sea derived from the Korean Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI)

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, L.; Wang, M.

2016-02-01

The first geostationary ocean color satellite sensor, the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) onboard the Korean Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite can monitor and measure ocean phenomena over an area of 2500 × 2500 km2 around the western Pacific region centered at 36°N and 130°E. Hourly measurements during the day around 9:00 to 16:00 local time are a unique capability of GOCI to monitor ocean features of higher temporal variability. In this presentation, we show some recent results of GOCI-derived ocean surface currents in the Bohai Sea using the Maximum Cross-Correlation (MCC) feature tracking method and compare the results with altimetry-inversed tidal current observations produced from Oregon State University (OSU) Tidal Inversion Software (OTIS). The performance of the GOCI-based MCC method is assessed and the discrepancies between the GOCI- and OTIS-derived currents are evaluated. A series of sensitivity studies are conducted with images from various satellite products and of various time differences, MCC adjustable parameters, and influence from other forcings such as wind, to find the best setups for optimal MCC performance. Our results demonstrate that GOCI can effectively provide real-time monitoring of not only water optical, biological, and biogeochemical variability, but also the physical dynamics in the region.

Estimation of Melt Ponds over Arctic Sea Ice using MODIS Surface Reflectance Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Y.; Cheng, X.; Liu, J.

2017-12-01

Melt ponds over Arctic sea ice is one of the main factors affecting variability of surface albedo, increasing absorption of solar radiation and further melting of snow and ice. In recent years, a large number of melt ponds have been observed during the melt season in Arctic. Moreover, some studies have suggested that late spring to mid summer melt ponds information promises to improve the prediction skill of seasonal Arctic sea ice minimum. In the study, we extract the melt pond fraction over Arctic sea ice since 2000 using three bands MODIS weekly surface reflectance data by considering the difference of spectral reflectance in ponds, ice and open water. The preliminary comparison shows our derived Arctic-wide melt ponds are in good agreement with that derived by the University of Hamburg, especially at the pond distribution. We analyze seasonal evolution, interannual variability and trend of the melt ponds, as well as the changes of onset and re-freezing. The melt pond fraction shows an asymmetrical growth and decay pattern. The observed melt ponds fraction is almost within 25% in early May and increases rapidly in June and July with a high fraction of more than 40% in the east of Greenland and Beaufort Sea. A significant increasing trend in the melt pond fraction is observed for the period of 2000-2017. The relationship between melt pond fraction and sea ice extent will be also discussed. Key Words: melt ponds, sea ice, Arctic

Radiocesium monitoring in Indonesian waters of the Indian Ocean after the Fukushima nuclear accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suseno, Heny; Wahono, Ikhsan Budi; Muslim

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The accident at Fukushima becomes public concern in Indonesia. • Very few data on anthropogenic radionuclide concentrations in marine areas. • Monitoring have been performed at West Sumatra Sea and South Java Sea. - Abstract: As data on anthropogenic radionuclide concentrations (i.e., 134 Cs and 137 Cs) in Indonesian marine environments including the Indian Ocean are scarce, offshore monitoring has been performed in the West Sumatra and South Java Seas. The activity concentration of 137 Cs ranges from below minimum detectable activity (MDA) to 0.13 Bq m −3 in the surface seawater of the South Java Sea and from lower than MDA to 0.28 Bq m −3 in the surface seawater of the West Sumatra Sea. The concentrations of 137 Cs in the surface seawater of the West Sumatra and South Java Seas are lower than the estimation of 137 Cs concentration in the subsurface waters owing to the input of the North Pacific Ocean via the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). The concentrations of 134 Cs in the sampling locations were lower than MDA. These results have indicated that these Indonesian marine waters have not yet been influenced by the Fukushima radioactive release

Cell surface of sea urchin micromeres and primary mesenchyme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeSimone, D.W.

1985-01-01

The cell surface and extracellular matrix (ECM) of the sea urchin embryo were studied during the early morphogenetic events involved in the differentiation of the micromere cell lineage. Sixteen-cell and early cleavage stage blastomeres were isolated and the protein composition of their cell surfaces examined by 125 I-labelling followed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Micromere-specific cell surface proteins are reported for Arbacia punctulata, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Cell surface glycoproteins were characterized on the basis of lectin binding specificity with a novel lectin affinity transfer technique. Using this procedure, cell-type specific surface proteins, which are also lectin-binding specific, can be detected. In addition, fluorescein conjugated lectins were microinjected into the blastocoels of living S. drobachiensis and Lytechinus pictus embryos and the patterns of lectin bindings observed by fluorescence microscopy. The evidence presented in this thesis suggests that the differentiation of the primary mesenchyme cells is correlated with changes in the molecular composition of the cell-surface and the ECM

Comparison of the ocean surface vector winds over the Nordic Seas and their application for ocean modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Dukhovskoy, Dmitry; Bourassa, Mark

2017-04-01

Ocean processes in the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic are strongly controlled by air-sea heat and momentum fluxes. The predominantly cyclonic, large-scale atmospheric circulation brings the deep ocean layer up to the surface preconditioning the convective sites in the Nordic Seas for deep convection. In winter, intensive cooling and possibly salt flux from newly formed sea ice erodes the near-surface stratification and the mixed layer merges with the deeper domed layer, exposing the very weakly stratified deep water mass to direct interaction with the atmosphere. Surface wind is one of the atmospheric parameters required for estimating momentum and turbulent heat fluxes to the sea ice and ocean surface. In the ocean models forced by atmospheric analysis, errors in surface wind fields result in errors in air-sea heat and momentum fluxes, water mass formation, ocean circulation, as well as volume and heat transport in the straits. The goal of the study is to assess discrepancies across the wind vector fields from reanalysis data sets and scatterometer-derived gridded products over the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic and to demonstrate possible implications of these differences for ocean modeling. The analyzed data sets include the reanalysis data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis 2 (NCEPR2), Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR) and satellite wind products Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) wind product version 1.1 and recently released version 2.0, and Remote Sensing Systems QuikSCAT data. Large-scale and mesoscale characteristics of winds are compared at interannual, seasonal, and synoptic timescales. Numerical sensitivity experiments are conducted with a coupled ice-ocean model forced by different wind fields. The sensitivity experiments demonstrate differences in the net surface heat fluxes during storm events. Next, it is hypothesized that discrepancies in the wind vorticity

Modelling explicit tides in the Indonesian seas: An important process for surface sea water properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Nugroho, Dwiyoga; Koch-Larrouy, Ariane; Gaspar, Philippe; Lyard, Florent; Reffray, Guillaume; Tranchant, Benoit

2017-06-16

Very intense internal tides take place in Indonesian seas. They dissipate and affect the vertical distribution of temperature and currents, which in turn influence the survival rates and transports of most planktonic organisms at the base of the whole marine ecosystem. This study uses the INDESO physical model to characterize the internal tides spatio-temporal patterns in the Indonesian Seas. The model reproduced internal tide dissipation in agreement with previous fine structure and microstructure observed in-situ in the sites of generation. The model also produced similar water mass transformation as the previous parameterization of Koch-Larrouy et al. (2007), and show good agreement with observations. The resulting cooling at the surface is 0.3°C, with maxima of 0.8°C at the location of internal tides energy, with stronger cooling in austral winter. The cycle of spring tides and neap tides modulates this impact by 0.1°C to 0.3°C. These results suggest that mixing due to internal tides might also upwell nutrients at the surface at a frequency similar to the tidal frequencies. Implications for biogeochemical modelling are important. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Salton Sea Ecosystem Monitoring Project

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, A. Keith; Ricca, Mark A.; Meckstroth, Anne; Spring, Sarah E.

2009-01-01

The Salton Sea is critically important for wintering and breeding waterbirds, but faces an uncertain future due to water delivery reductions imposed by the Interstate and Federal Quantification Settlement Agreement of 2003. The current preferred alternative for wetland restoration at the Salton Sea is saline habitat impoundments created to mitigate the anticipated loss of wetland habitat. In 2006, a 50-hectare experimental complex that consisted of four inter-connected, shallow water saline habitat ponds (SHP) was constructed at the southeastern shoreline of the Salton Sea and flooded with blended waters from the Alamo River and Salton Sea. The present study evaluated ecological risks and benefits of the SHP concept prior to widespread restoration actions. This study was designed to evaluate (1) baseline chemical, nutrient, and contaminant measures from physical and biological constituents, (2) aquatic invertebrate community structure and colonization patterns, and (3) productivity of and contaminant risks to nesting waterbirds at the SHP. These factors were evaluated and compared with those of nearby waterbird habitat, that is, reference sites.

Multisensor satellite data integration for sea surface wind speed and direction determination

Science.gov (United States)

Glackin, D. L.; Pihos, G. G.; Wheelock, S. L.

1984-01-01

Techniques to integrate meteorological data from various satellite sensors to yield a global measure of sea surface wind speed and direction for input to the Navy's operational weather forecast models were investigated. The sensors were launched or will be launched, specifically the GOES visible and infrared imaging sensor, the Nimbus-7 SMMR, and the DMSP SSM/I instrument. An algorithm for the extrapolation to the sea surface of wind directions as derived from successive GOES cloud images was developed. This wind veering algorithm is relatively simple, accounts for the major physical variables, and seems to represent the best solution that can be found with existing data. An algorithm for the interpolation of the scattered observed data to a common geographical grid was implemented. The algorithm is based on a combination of inverse distance weighting and trend surface fitting, and is suited to combing wind data from disparate sources.

Coupled sea surface temperature-seawater delta O-18 reconstructions in the Arabian Sea at the millennial scale for the last 35 ka

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anand, P.; Kroon, D.; Singh, A.D.; Ganssen, G.M.

2008-01-01

Two sediment cores from the western (905; 10.46°9′N, 51.56°4′E, water depth 1586 m) and eastern (SK17; 15°15′N, 72°58′E, water depth 840 m) Arabian Sea were used to study past sea surface temperatures (SST) and seawater δ

Open-source algorithm for detecting sea ice surface features in high-resolution optical imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. C. Wright

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Snow, ice, and melt ponds cover the surface of the Arctic Ocean in fractions that change throughout the seasons. These surfaces control albedo and exert tremendous influence over the energy balance in the Arctic. Increasingly available meter- to decimeter-scale resolution optical imagery captures the evolution of the ice and ocean surface state visually, but methods for quantifying coverage of key surface types from raw imagery are not yet well established. Here we present an open-source system designed to provide a standardized, automated, and reproducible technique for processing optical imagery of sea ice. The method classifies surface coverage into three main categories: snow and bare ice, melt ponds and submerged ice, and open water. The method is demonstrated on imagery from four sensor platforms and on imagery spanning from spring thaw to fall freeze-up. Tests show the classification accuracy of this method typically exceeds 96 %. To facilitate scientific use, we evaluate the minimum observation area required for reporting a representative sample of surface coverage. We provide an open-source distribution of this algorithm and associated training datasets and suggest the community consider this a step towards standardizing optical sea ice imagery processing. We hope to encourage future collaborative efforts to improve the code base and to analyze large datasets of optical sea ice imagery.

Open-source algorithm for detecting sea ice surface features in high-resolution optical imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Nicholas C.; Polashenski, Chris M.

2018-04-01

Snow, ice, and melt ponds cover the surface of the Arctic Ocean in fractions that change throughout the seasons. These surfaces control albedo and exert tremendous influence over the energy balance in the Arctic. Increasingly available meter- to decimeter-scale resolution optical imagery captures the evolution of the ice and ocean surface state visually, but methods for quantifying coverage of key surface types from raw imagery are not yet well established. Here we present an open-source system designed to provide a standardized, automated, and reproducible technique for processing optical imagery of sea ice. The method classifies surface coverage into three main categories: snow and bare ice, melt ponds and submerged ice, and open water. The method is demonstrated on imagery from four sensor platforms and on imagery spanning from spring thaw to fall freeze-up. Tests show the classification accuracy of this method typically exceeds 96 %. To facilitate scientific use, we evaluate the minimum observation area required for reporting a representative sample of surface coverage. We provide an open-source distribution of this algorithm and associated training datasets and suggest the community consider this a step towards standardizing optical sea ice imagery processing. We hope to encourage future collaborative efforts to improve the code base and to analyze large datasets of optical sea ice imagery.

Study of the Electromagnetic Waves Propagation over the Improved Fractal Sea Surface Based on Parabolic Equation Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenwan Ding

2016-01-01

Full Text Available An improved fractal sea surface model, which can describe the capillary waves very well, is introduced to simulate the one-dimension rough sea surface. In this model, the propagation of electromagnetic waves (EWs is computed by the parabolic equation (PE method using the finite-difference (FD algorithm. The numerical simulation results of the introduced model are compared with those of the Miller-Brown model and the Elfouhaily spectrum inversion model. It has been shown that the effects of the fine structure of the sea surface on the EWs propagation in the introduced model are more apparent than those in the other two models.

Assessing Confidence in Pliocene Sea Surface Temperatures to Evaluate Predictive Models

Science.gov (United States)

Dowsett, Harry J.; Robinson, Marci M.; Haywood, Alan M.; Hill, Daniel J.; Dolan, Aisling. M.; Chan, Wing-Le; Abe-Ouchi, Ayako; Chandler, Mark A.; Rosenbloom, Nan A.; Otto-Bliesner, Bette L.;

Sea surface temperature contributes to marine crocodylomorph evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Jeremy E; Amiot, Romain; Lécuyer, Christophe; Benton, Michael J

2014-08-18

During the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, four distinct crocodylomorph lineages colonized the marine environment. They were conspicuously absent from high latitudes, which in the Mesozoic were occupied by warm-blooded ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Despite a relatively well-constrained stratigraphic distribution, the varying diversities of marine crocodylomorphs are poorly understood, because their extinctions neither coincided with any major biological crises nor with the advent of potential competitors. Here we test the potential link between their evolutionary history in terms of taxic diversity and two abiotic factors, sea level variations and sea surface temperatures (SST). Excluding Metriorhynchoidea, which may have had a peculiar ecology, significant correlations obtained between generic diversity and estimated Tethyan SST suggest that water temperature was a driver of marine crocodylomorph diversity. Being most probably ectothermic reptiles, these lineages colonized the marine realm and diversified during warm periods, then declined or became extinct during cold intervals.

Radiological monitoring. Controlling surface water pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morin, Maxime

2018-01-01

Throughout France, surface waters (from rivers to brooks) located at the vicinity of nuclear or industrial sites, are subject to regular radiological monitoring. An example is given with the radiological monitoring of a small river near La Hague Areva's plant, where contaminations have been detected with the help of the French IRSN nuclear safety research organization. The sampling method and various measurement types are described

Deformation offshore Northern Chile monitored by a seafloor geodetic network (GeoSEA)

Science.gov (United States)

Hannemann, Katrin; Lange, Dietrich; Kopp, Heidrun; Petersen, Florian; Contreras-Reyes, Eduardo

2017-04-01

The Nazca-South American plate boundary around 21°S has last ruptured in an earthquake in 1877 and was identified as a seismic gap prior to the 2014 Iquique earthquake (Mw=8.1). The southern portion of this segment is still unbroken. The geodetic monitoring of the Chilean subduction zone is crucial to understand the deformation processes in this area. Most geodetic measurements rely on GPS and are therefore limited to onshore campaigns. In December 2015, we installed the GeoSEA (Geodetic Earthquake Observatory on the SEAfloor) array around 21°S of the Nazca-South American plate boundary with RV SONNE to extend the geodetic observations to the offshore areas. The GeoSEA array consists of autonomous acoustic seafloor transponders mounted on 4 m high tripods. These transponders are able to continuously measure the two-way travel time of acoustic signals between station pairs (baselines) and the properties of the sea water (sound speed, temperature and pressure) at each transponder. These measurements are used to retrieve the distances between the transponders and give insights into the deformation of the seafloor. At the Chilean subduction zone, we installed in total 23 transponders in 3 subarrays with interstation distances of up to 2500 m. On the middle continental slope in 2300 m water depth, an array consisting of 8 transponders measures across crustal faults seen in AUV mapping. A second array of 5 stations located on the outer rise monitors extension across normal plate-bending faults. The deepest deployment in 5000 m water depth located on the lower continental slope with 10 stations is designed to measure diffuse strain build-up. The transponders are intended to monitor the seafloor deformation for 3.5 years. In November 2016 during a cruise of RV Langseth, the first 11 months of data were successfully uploaded via an acoustic modem. Furthermore, an additional component of the network, GeoSURF, a self-steering autonomous vehicle (wave glider), was

Spatial Gradients in Trace Metal Concentrations in the Surface Microlayer of the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio eTovar-Sanchez

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The relationship between dust deposition and surface water metal concentrations is poorly understood. Dissolution, solubility, and partitioning reactions of trace metals from dust particles are governed by complex chemical, biological, and physical processes occurring in the surface ocean. Despite that, the role of the sea surface microlayer (SML, a thin, but fundamental component modulating the air-sea exchange of materials has not been properly evaluated. Our study revealed that the SML of the Mediterranean Sea is enriched with bioactive trace metals (i.e., Cd, Co, Cu and Fe, ranging from 8 (for Cd to 1000 (for Fe times higher than the dissolved metal pool in the underlying water column. The highest enrichments were spatially correlated with the atmospheric deposition of mineral particles. Our mass balance results suggest that the SML in the Mediterranean Sea contains about 2 tonnes of Fe. However, we did not detect any trends between the concentrations of metals in SML with the subsurface water concentrations and biomass distributions. These findings suggest that future studies are needed to quantify the rate of metal exchange between the SML and the bioavailable pool and that the SML should be considered to better understand the effect of atmospheric inputs on the biogeochemistry of trace metals in the ocean.

The interaction of trace heavy metal with lipid monolayer in the sea surface microlayer.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Siyang; Du, Lin; Tsona, Narcisse T; Wang, Wenxing

2018-04-01

Lipid molecules and trace heavy metals are enriched in sea surface microlayer and can be transferred into the sea spray aerosol. To better understand their impact on marine aerosol generation and evolution, we investigated the interaction of trace heavy metals including Fe 3+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cu 2+ , Ni 2+ , Cr 3+ , Cd 2+ , and Co 2+ , with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) monolayers at the air-water interface. Phase behavior of the DPPC monolayer on heavy metal solutions was probed with surface pressure-area (π-A) isotherms. The conformation order and orientation of DPPC alkyl chains were characterized by infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). The π-A isotherms show that Zn 2+ and Fe 3+ strongly interact with DPPC molecules, and induce condensation of the monolayers in a concentration-dependent manner. IRRAS spectra show that the formation of cation-DPPC complex gives rise to conformational changes and immobilization of the headgroups. The current results suggest that the enrichment of Zn 2+ in sea spray aerosols is due to strong binding to the DPPC film. The interaction of Fe 3+ with DPPC monolayers can significantly influence their surface organizations through the formation of lipid-coated particles. These results suggest that the sea surface microlayer is capable of accumulating much higher amounts of these metals than the subsurface water. The organic and metal pollutants may transfer into the atmosphere by this interaction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Atmospheric components of the surface energy budget over young sea ice: Results from the N-ICE2015 campaign

Science.gov (United States)

Walden, Von P.; Hudson, Stephen R.; Cohen, Lana; Murphy, Sarah Y.; Granskog, Mats A.

2017-08-01

The Norwegian young sea ice campaign obtained the first measurements of the surface energy budget over young, thin Arctic sea ice through the seasonal transition from winter to summer. This campaign was the first of its kind in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic. This study describes the atmospheric and surface conditions and the radiative and turbulent heat fluxes over young, thin sea ice. The shortwave albedo of the snow surface ranged from about 0.85 in winter to 0.72-0.80 in early summer. The near-surface atmosphere was typically stable in winter, unstable in spring, and near neutral in summer once the surface skin temperature reached 0°C. The daily average radiative and turbulent heat fluxes typically sum to negative values (-40 to 0 W m-2) in winter but then transition toward positive values of up to nearly +60 W m-2 as solar radiation contributes significantly to the surface energy budget. The sensible heat flux typically ranges from +20-30 W m-2 in winter (into the surface) to negative values between 0 and -20 W m-2 in spring and summer. A winter case study highlights the significant effect of synoptic storms and demonstrates the complex interplay of wind, clouds, and heat and moisture advection on the surface energy components over sea ice in winter. A spring case study contrasts a rare period of 24 h of clear-sky conditions with typical overcast conditions and highlights the impact of clouds on the surface radiation and energy budgets over young, thin sea ice.

Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) Monthly Analysis, Version 3b

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Version 3b (v3b) of the Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) dataset is a monthly SST analysis on a 2-degree global grid based on the International...

Zonal surface wind jets across the Red Sea due to mountain gap forcing along both sides of the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Jiang, Houshuo

2009-01-01

[1] Mesoscale atmospheric modeling over the Red Sea, validated by in-situ meteorological buoy data, identifies two types of coastal mountain gap wind jets that frequently blow across the longitudinal axis of the Red Sea: (1) an eastward-blowing summer daily wind jet originating from the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese Red Sea coast, and (2) wintertime westward-blowing wind-jet bands along the northwestern Saudi Arabian coast, which occur every 10-20 days and can last for several days when occurring. Both wind jets can attain wind speeds over 15 m s-1 and contribute significantly to monthly mean surface wind stress, especially in the cross-axis components, which could be of importance to ocean eddy formation in the Red Sea. The wintertime wind jets can cause significant evaporation and ocean heat loss along the northeastern Red Sea coast and may potentially drive deep convection in that region. An initial characterization of these wind jets is presented. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

Search-Lidar Demonstrator for Detection of Small Sea-Surface Targets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, J.C. van den; Bekman, H.H.P.T.; Putten, F.J.M. van; Cohen, L.H.; Schleijpen, H.M.A.

2008-01-01

Coastal surveillance and naval operations in the littoral both have to deal with the threat of small sea-surface targets. These targets have a low radar cross-section and a low velocity that makes them hard to detect by radar. Typical threats include jet skis, FIAC’s, and speedboats. Lidar

Remote Sensing of Salinity: The Dielectric Constant of Sea Water

Science.gov (United States)

LeVine, David M.; Lang, R.; Utku, C.; Tarkocin, Y.

2011-01-01

Global monitoring of sea surface salinity from space requires an accurate model for the dielectric constant of sea water as a function of salinity and temperature to characterize the emissivity of the surface. Measurements are being made at 1.413 GHz, the center frequency of the Aquarius radiometers, using a resonant cavity and the perturbation method. The cavity is operated in a transmission mode and immersed in a liquid bath to control temperature. Multiple measurements are made at each temperature and salinity. Error budgets indicate a relative accuracy for both real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant of about 1%.

Distribution and pollution assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments in Xiaoqing river estuary and its adjacent sea of Laizhou bay

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Li; Luo, Xianxiang; Fan, Yuqing

2018-03-01

In this paper, the monitoring results of four heavy metals Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg at 10 sampling stations in Xiaoqing river estuary and its adjacent sea of Laizhou Bay in November 2008 were analyzed and evaluated. The results showed that the concentrations of heavy metals in the steam channel and estuary are higher than those in the adjacent sea, and the metal concentrations were below the standard for I class of marine sediment quality, excepting the station 2 in the steam channel and station 5 in the estuary. The assessment of the single-factor pollution index showed that the overall pollution level of the study area was relatively low, but there was serious pollution phenomenon in individual station. The potential ecological risk of heavy metals in the surface sediments was generally at a low level, and Hg had the highest potential risk.

GHRSST Level 4 RTO Terra MODIS-AMSRE Day North America Regional Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the JPL Physical...

GHRSST Level 4 RTO Terra MODIS-AMSRE Night North America Regional Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the JPL Physical...

GHRSST Level 4 RTO Aqua MODIS-AMSRE Night North America Regional Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the JPL Physical...

GHRSST Level 4 RTO Aqua MODIS-AMSRE Day North America Regional Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on an operational basis at the JPL Physical...

Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madison Smith

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract The rapidly changing Arctic sea ice cover affects surface wave growth across all scales. Here, in situ measurements of waves, observed from freely-drifting buoys during the 2014 open water season, are interpreted using open water distances determined from satellite ice products and wind forcing time series measured in situ with the buoys. A significant portion of the wave observations were found to be limited by open water distance (fetch when the wind duration was sufficient for the conditions to be considered stationary. The scaling of wave energy and frequency with open water distance demonstrated the indirect effects of ice cover on regional wave evolution. Waves in partial ice cover could be similarly categorized as distance-limited by applying the same open water scaling to determine an ‘effective fetch’. The process of local wave generation in ice appeared to be a strong function of the ice concentration, wherein the ice cover severely reduces the effective fetch. The wave field in the Beaufort Sea is thus a function of the sea ice both locally, where wave growth primarily occurs in the open water between floes, and regionally, where the ice edge may provide a more classic fetch limitation. Observations of waves in recent years may be indicative of an emerging trend in the Arctic Ocean, where we will observe increasing wave energy with decreasing sea ice extent.

DNSC08 mean sea surface and mean dynamic topography models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Knudsen, Per

2009-01-01

-2004. It is the first global MSS without a polar gap including all of the Arctic Ocean by including laser altimetry from the ICESat mission. The mean dynamic topography (MDT) is the quantity that bridges the geoid and the mean sea surface constraining large-scale ocean circulation. Here we present a new high...

TAO/TRITON, RAMA, and PIRATA Buoys, Daily, 1992-present, Sea Surface Salinity

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset has daily Sea Surface Salinity data from the TAO/TRITON (Pacific Ocean, https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/gtmba/ ), RAMA (Indian Ocean,...

GeoSEA: Geodetic Earthquake Observatory on the Seafloor

Science.gov (United States)

Kopp, Heidrun; Lange, Dietrich; Flueh, Ernst R.; Petersen, Florian; Behrmann, Jan-Hinrich; Devey, Colin

2014-05-01

Space geodetic observations of crustal deformation have contributed greatly to our understanding of plate tectonic processes in general, and plate subduction in particular. Measurements of interseismic strain have documented the active accumulation of strain, and subsequent strain release during earthquakes. However, techniques such as GPS cannot be applied below the water surface because the electromagnetic energy is strongly attenuated in the water column. Evidence suggests that much of the elastic strain build up and release (and particularly that responsible for both tsunami generation and giant earthquakes) occurs offshore. To quantify strain accumulation and assess the resultant hazard potential we urgently need systems to resolve seafloor crustal deformation. Here we report on first results of sea trials of a newly implemented seafloor geodesy array. The GeoSEA (Geodetic Earthquake Observatory on the Seafloor) array consists of a seafloor transponder network comprising 35 units and a wave glider acting as a surface unit (GeoSURF) to ensure satellite correspondence, data transfer and monitor system health. Seafloor displacement occurs in the horizontal (x,y) and vertical direction (z). The vertical displacement is measured by monitoring pressure variations at the seafloor. Horizontal seafloor displacement can be measured either using an acoustic/GPS combination to provide absolute positioning (requiring a suitably equipped vessel to perform repeated cruises to provide the GPS fixes) or by long-term acoustic telemetry between different beacons fixed on the seafloor to determine relative distances by using the travel time observations to each other, which is the technique tested during our short sea trials. For horizontal direct path measurements, the system utilizes acoustic ranging techniques with a ranging precision better than 15 mm and long term stability over 2 km distances. Vertical motion is obtained from pressure gauges. Integrated inclinometers

Deep-sea bioluminescence blooms after dense water formation at the ocean surface.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Tamburini

Full Text Available The deep ocean is the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth. It hosts numerous pelagic organisms, most of which are able to emit light. Here we present a unique data set consisting of a 2.5-year long record of light emission by deep-sea pelagic organisms, measured from December 2007 to June 2010 at the ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope in the deep NW Mediterranean Sea, jointly with synchronous hydrological records. This is the longest continuous time-series of deep-sea bioluminescence ever recorded. Our record reveals several weeks long, seasonal bioluminescence blooms with light intensity up to two orders of magnitude higher than background values, which correlate to changes in the properties of deep waters. Such changes are triggered by the winter cooling and evaporation experienced by the upper ocean layer in the Gulf of Lion that leads to the formation and subsequent sinking of dense water through a process known as "open-sea convection". It episodically renews the deep water of the study area and conveys fresh organic matter that fuels the deep ecosystems. Luminous bacteria most likely are the main contributors to the observed deep-sea bioluminescence blooms. Our observations demonstrate a consistent and rapid connection between deep open-sea convection and bathypelagic biological activity, as expressed by bioluminescence. In a setting where dense water formation events are likely to decline under global warming scenarios enhancing ocean stratification, in situ observatories become essential as environmental sentinels for the monitoring and understanding of deep-sea ecosystem shifts.

Deep-sea bioluminescence blooms after dense water formation at the ocean surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamburini, Christian; Canals, Miquel; Durrieu de Madron, Xavier; Houpert, Loïc; Lefèvre, Dominique; Martini, Séverine; D'Ortenzio, Fabrizio; Robert, Anne; Testor, Pierre; Aguilar, Juan Antonio; Samarai, Imen Al; Albert, Arnaud; André, Michel; Anghinolfi, Marco; Anton, Gisela; Anvar, Shebli; Ardid, Miguel; Jesus, Ana Carolina Assis; Astraatmadja, Tri L; Aubert, Jean-Jacques; Baret, Bruny; Basa, Stéphane; Bertin, Vincent; Biagi, Simone; Bigi, Armando; Bigongiari, Ciro; Bogazzi, Claudio; Bou-Cabo, Manuel; Bouhou, Boutayeb; Bouwhuis, Mieke C; Brunner, Jurgen; Busto, José; Camarena, Francisco; Capone, Antonio; Cârloganu, Christina; Carminati, Giada; Carr, John; Cecchini, Stefano; Charif, Ziad; Charvis, Philippe; Chiarusi, Tommaso; Circella, Marco; Coniglione, Rosa; Costantini, Heide; Coyle, Paschal; Curtil, Christian; Decowski, Patrick; Dekeyser, Ivan; Deschamps, Anne; Donzaud, Corinne; Dornic, Damien; Dorosti, Hasankiadeh Q; Drouhin, Doriane; Eberl, Thomas; Emanuele, Umberto; Ernenwein, Jean-Pierre; Escoffier, Stéphanie; Fermani, Paolo; Ferri, Marcelino; Flaminio, Vincenzo; Folger, Florian; Fritsch, Ulf; Fuda, Jean-Luc; Galatà, Salvatore; Gay, Pascal; Giacomelli, Giorgio; Giordano, Valentina; Gómez-González, Juan-Pablo; Graf, Kay; Guillard, Goulven; Halladjian, Garadeb; Hallewell, Gregory; van Haren, Hans; Hartman, Joris; Heijboer, Aart J; Hello, Yann; Hernández-Rey, Juan Jose; Herold, Bjoern; Hößl, Jurgen; Hsu, Ching-Cheng; de Jong, Marteen; Kadler, Matthias; Kalekin, Oleg; Kappes, Alexander; Katz, Uli; Kavatsyuk, Oksana; Kooijman, Paul; Kopper, Claudio; Kouchner, Antoine; Kreykenbohm, Ingo; Kulikovskiy, Vladimir; Lahmann, Robert; Lamare, Patrick; Larosa, Giuseppina; Lattuada, Dario; Lim, Gordon; Presti, Domenico Lo; Loehner, Herbert; Loucatos, Sotiris; Mangano, Salvatore; Marcelin, Michel; Margiotta, Annarita; Martinez-Mora, Juan Antonio; Meli, Athina; Montaruli, Teresa; Moscoso, Luciano; Motz, Holger; Neff, Max; Nezri, Emma Nuel; Palioselitis, Dimitris; Păvălaş, Gabriela E; Payet, Kevin; Payre, Patrice; Petrovic, Jelena; Piattelli, Paolo; Picot-Clemente, Nicolas; Popa, Vlad; Pradier, Thierry; Presani, Eleonora; Racca, Chantal; Reed, Corey; Riccobene, Giorgio; Richardt, Carsten; Richter, Roland; Rivière, Colas; Roensch, Kathrin; Rostovtsev, Andrei; Ruiz-Rivas, Joaquin; Rujoiu, Marius; Russo, Valerio G; Salesa, Francisco; Sánchez-Losa, Augustin; Sapienza, Piera; Schöck, Friederike; Schuller, Jean-Pierre; Schussler, Fabian; Shanidze, Rezo; Simeone, Francesco; Spies, Andreas; Spurio, Maurizio; Steijger, Jos J M; Stolarczyk, Thierry; Taiuti, Mauro G F; Toscano, Simona; Vallage, Bertrand; Van Elewyck, Véronique; Vannoni, Giulia; Vecchi, Manuela; Vernin, Pascal; Wijnker, Guus; Wilms, Jorn; de Wolf, Els; Yepes, Harold; Zaborov, Dmitry; De Dios Zornoza, Juan; Zúñiga, Juan

2013-01-01

The deep ocean is the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth. It hosts numerous pelagic organisms, most of which are able to emit light. Here we present a unique data set consisting of a 2.5-year long record of light emission by deep-sea pelagic organisms, measured from December 2007 to June 2010 at the ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope in the deep NW Mediterranean Sea, jointly with synchronous hydrological records. This is the longest continuous time-series of deep-sea bioluminescence ever recorded. Our record reveals several weeks long, seasonal bioluminescence blooms with light intensity up to two orders of magnitude higher than background values, which correlate to changes in the properties of deep waters. Such changes are triggered by the winter cooling and evaporation experienced by the upper ocean layer in the Gulf of Lion that leads to the formation and subsequent sinking of dense water through a process known as "open-sea convection". It episodically renews the deep water of the study area and conveys fresh organic matter that fuels the deep ecosystems. Luminous bacteria most likely are the main contributors to the observed deep-sea bioluminescence blooms. Our observations demonstrate a consistent and rapid connection between deep open-sea convection and bathypelagic biological activity, as expressed by bioluminescence. In a setting where dense water formation events are likely to decline under global warming scenarios enhancing ocean stratification, in situ observatories become essential as environmental sentinels for the monitoring and understanding of deep-sea ecosystem shifts.

Pronounced zonal heterogeneity in Eocene southern high-latitude sea surface temperatures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Douglas, P.M.J.; Affek, H.P.; Ivany, L.C.; Houben, A.J.P.; Sijp, W.P.; Sluijs, A.; Schouten, S.; Pagani, M.

2014-01-01

Paleoclimate studies suggest that increased global warmth during the Eocene epoch was greatly amplified at high latitudes, a state that climate models cannot fully reproduce. However, proxy estimates of Eocene near-Antarctic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have produced widely divergent results at

Sea surface temperature trends in the coastal ocean

OpenAIRE

Amos, C.L.; Al-Rashidi, Thamer B.; Rakha, Karim; El-Gamily, Hamdy; Nicholls, R.J.

2013-01-01

Sea surface temperature (SST) trends in the coastal zone are shown to be increasing at rates that exceed the global trends by up to an order of magnitude. This paper compiles some of the evidence of the trends published in the literature. The evidence suggests that urbanization in the coastal hinterland is having a direct effect on SST through increased temperatures of river and lake waters, as well as through heated run-off and thermal effluent discharges from coastal infrastructure. These l...

Rapid formation of a sea ice barrier east of Svalbard

Science.gov (United States)

Nghiem, S. V.; van Woert, M. L.; Neumann, G.

2005-11-01

Daily SeaWinds scatterometer images acquired by the QuikSCAT satellite show an elongated sea ice feature that formed very rapidly (˜1-2 days) in November 2001 east of Svalbard over the Barents Sea. This sea ice structure, called "the Svalbard sea ice barrier," spanning approximately 10° in longitude and 2° in latitude, restricts the sea route and poses a significant navigation hazard. The secret of its formation appears to lie in the bottom of the sea: A comparison between bathymetry from the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean data and the pattern of sea ice formation from scatterometer data reveals that the sea ice barrier conforms well with and stretches above a deep elongated channel connecting the Franz Josef-Victoria Trough to the Hinlopen Basin between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land. Historic hydrographic data from this area indicate that this sea channel contains cold Arctic water less than 50 m below the surface. Strong and persistent cold northerly winds force strong heat loss from this shallow surface layer, leading to the rapid formation of the sea ice barrier. Heat transfer rates estimated from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts temperature and wind data over this region suggest that the surface water along the deep channel can be rapidly cooled to the freezing point. Scatterometer results in 1999-2003 show that sea ice forms in this area between October and December. Understanding the ice formation mechanisms helps to select appropriate locations for deployment of buoys measuring wind and air-sea temperature profile and to facilitate ice monitoring, modeling, and forecasting.

TAO/TRITON, RAMA, and PIRATA Buoys, Daily, 1977-present, Sea Surface Temperature

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset has daily Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data from the TAO/TRITON (Pacific Ocean, https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/gtmba/ ), RAMA (Indian Ocean,...

Models of bedrock surface and overburden thickness over Olkiluoto island and nearby sea area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moenkkoenen, H. [WSP Finland Oy, Helsinki (Finland)

2012-04-15

In this report, a model of bedrock surface and a model of overburden thickness over the Olkiluoto Island and the nearby sea area are presented. Also in purpose to produce material for biosphere and radionuclide transport modelling, stratigraphy models of different sediment layers were created at two priority areas north and south of the Olkiluoto Island. The work concentrated on the collection and description of available data of bedrock surface and overburden thickness. Because the information on the bedrock surface and overburden is collected from different sources and is based on a number of types of data the quality and applicability of data sets varies. Consequently also the reliability in different parts of the models varies. Input data for the bedrock surface and overburden thickness models include 2928 single points and additional outcrops observations (611 polygons) in the modelled area. In addition, the input data include 173 seismic refraction lines (6534 points) and acousticseismic sounding lines (26655 points from which 13721 points are located in model area) in the Olkiluoto offshore area. The average elevation of bedrock surface in area is 2.1 metres above the sea level. The average thickness of overburden is 2.5 metres varying typically between 2 - 4 metres. Thickest overburden covers (approximately 16 metres) of terrestrial area are located at the western end of the Olkiluoto Island and in sea basin south of the island. (orig.)

Accurate Modelling of Surface Currents and Internal Tides in a Semi-enclosed Coastal Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, S. E.; Soontiens, N. K.; Dunn, M. B. H.; Liu, J.; Olson, E.; Halverson, M. J.; Pawlowicz, R.

2016-02-01

The Strait of Georgia is a deep (400 m), strongly stratified, semi-enclosed coastal sea on the west coast of North America. We have configured a baroclinic model of the Strait of Georgia and surrounding coastal waters using the NEMO ocean community model. We run daily nowcasts and forecasts and publish our sea-surface results (including storm surge warnings) to the web (salishsea.eos.ubc.ca/storm-surge). Tides in the Strait of Georgia are mixed and large. The baroclinic model and previous barotropic models accurately represent tidal sea-level variations and depth mean currents. The baroclinic model reproduces accurately the diurnal but not the semi-diurnal baroclinic tidal currents. In the Southern Strait of Georgia, strong internal tidal currents at the semi-diurnal frequency are observed. Strong semi-diurnal tides are also produced in the model, but are almost 180 degrees out of phase with the observations. In the model, in the surface, the barotropic and baroclinic tides reinforce, whereas the observations show that at the surface the baroclinic tides oppose the barotropic. As such the surface currents are very poorly modelled. Here we will present evidence of the internal tidal field from observations. We will discuss the generation regions of the tides, the necessary modifications to the model required to correct the phase, the resulting baroclinic tides and the improvements in the surface currents.

Models of bedrock surface and overburden thickness over Olkiluoto island and nearby sea area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moenkkoenen, H.

2012-04-01

In this report, a model of bedrock surface and a model of overburden thickness over the Olkiluoto Island and the nearby sea area are presented. Also in purpose to produce material for biosphere and radionuclide transport modelling, stratigraphy models of different sediment layers were created at two priority areas north and south of the Olkiluoto Island. The work concentrated on the collection and description of available data of bedrock surface and overburden thickness. Because the information on the bedrock surface and overburden is collected from different sources and is based on a number of types of data the quality and applicability of data sets varies. Consequently also the reliability in different parts of the models varies. Input data for the bedrock surface and overburden thickness models include 2928 single points and additional outcrops observations (611 polygons) in the modelled area. In addition, the input data include 173 seismic refraction lines (6534 points) and acousticseismic sounding lines (26655 points from which 13721 points are located in model area) in the Olkiluoto offshore area. The average elevation of bedrock surface in area is 2.1 metres above the sea level. The average thickness of overburden is 2.5 metres varying typically between 2 - 4 metres. Thickest overburden covers (approximately 16 metres) of terrestrial area are located at the western end of the Olkiluoto Island and in sea basin south of the island. (orig.)

An Airborne Campaign Measuring Wind Signatures from the Sea Surface using an L-band Polarimetric Radiometer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søbjærg, Sten Schmidl; Skou, Niels

2003-01-01

A series of circle flights have been carried out over the sea surface, using the EMIRAD L-band polarimetric radiometer. Motion compensation is applied, and polarimetric azimuth signatures are generated. Single tracks show geophysical noise, typically about 2 K, but averaging decreases the noise, ......, but a comparison of the signature to the downwelling galactic background radiation indicates, that the signature may not origin from the wind driven sea surface pattern....

Sea surface freshening inferred from SMOS and ARGO salinity: impact of rain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Boutin

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The sea surface salinity (SSS measured from space by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS mission has recently been revisited by the European Space Agency first campaign reprocessing. We show that, with respect to the previous version, biases close to land and ice greatly decrease. The accuracy of SMOS SSS averaged over 10 days, 100 × 100 km² in the open ocean and estimated by comparison to ARGO (Array for Real-Time Geostrophic Oceanography SSS is on the order of 0.3–0.4 in tropical and subtropical regions and 0.5 in a cold region. The averaged negative SSS bias (−0.1 observed in the tropical Pacific Ocean between 5° N and 15° N, relatively to other regions, is suppressed when SMOS observations concomitant with rain events, as detected from SSM/Is (Special Sensor Microwave Imager rain rates, are removed from the SMOS–ARGO comparisons. The SMOS freshening is linearly correlated to SSM/Is rain rate with a slope estimated to −0.14 mm⁻¹ h, after correction for rain atmospheric contribution. This tendency is the signature of the temporal SSS variability between the time of SMOS and ARGO measurements linked to rain variability and of the vertical salinity stratification between the first centimeter of the sea surface layer sampled by SMOS and the 5 m depth sampled by ARGO. However, given that the whole set of collocations includes situations with ARGO measurements concomitant with rain events collocated with SMOS measurements under no rain, the mean −0.1 bias and the negative skewness of the statistical distribution of SMOS minus ARGO SSS difference are very likely the mean signature of the vertical salinity stratification. In the future, the analysis of ongoing in situ salinity measurements in the top 50 cm of the sea surface and of Aquarius satellite SSS are expected to provide complementary information about the sea surface salinity stratification.

Long-term changes of South China Sea surface temperatures in winter and summer

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Young-Gyu; Choi, Ara

2017-07-01

Utilizing available atmospheric and oceanographic reanalysis data sets, the long-term trend in South China Sea (SCS) sea surface temperature (SST) between 1950 and 2008 and the governing processes are investigated. Both winter and summer SST increased by comparable amounts, but the warming patterns and the governing processes were different. Strong warming in winter occurred in a deep central area, and during summer in the southern region. In winter the net heat flux into the sea increased, contributing to the warming. The spatial pattern of the heat flux, however, was different from that of the warming. Heat flux increased over the coastal area where warming was weaker, but decreased over the deeper area where warming was stronger. The northeasterly monsoon wind weakened lowering the shoreward Ekman transport and the sea surface height gradient. The cyclonic gyre which transports cold northern water to the south weakened, thereby warming the ocean. The effect was manifested more strongly along the southward western boundary current inducing warming in the deep central part. In summer however, the net surface heat flux decreased and could not contribute to the warming. Over the southern part of the SCS, the weakening of the southwesterly summer monsoon reduced southeastward Ekman transport, which is parallel to the mean SST gradient. Southeastward cold advection due to Ekman transport was reduced, thereby warming the surface near the southeastern boundary of the SCS. Upwelling southeast of Vietnam was also weakened, raising the SST east of Vietnam contributing to the southern summer warming secondarily. The weakening of the winds in each season was the ultimate cause of the warming, but the responses of the ocean that lead to the warming were different in winter and summer.

Late holocene primary productivity and sea surface temperature variations in the northeastern Arabian Sea: Implications for winter monsoon variability.

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Boll, A.; Luckge, A.; Munz, P.; Forke, S.; Schulz, H.; Ramaswamy, V.; Rixen, T.; Gaye, B.; Emeis, K.-C.

changes in winter monsoon strength with winds from the northeast that drive convective mixing and high surface ocean productivity in the northeastern Arabian Sea. To establish a high-resolution record of winter monsoon variability for the late Holocene, we...

Interannual Variation of Surface Circulation in the Japan/East Sea due to External Forcings and Intrinsic Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Byoung-Ju; Cho, Seong Hun; Jung, Hee Seok; Lee, Sang-Ho; Byun, Do-Seong; Kwon, Kyungman

2018-03-01

The interannual variation of surface ocean currents can be as large as seasonal variation in the Japan/East Sea (JES). To identify the major factors that cause such interannual variability of surface ocean circulation in the JES, surface circulation was simulated from 1998 to 2009 using a three-dimensional model. Contributions of atmospheric forcing (ATM), open boundary data (OBC), and intrinsic variability (ITV) of the surface flow in the JES on the interannual variability of surface ocean circulation were separately examined using numerical simulations. Variability in surface circulation was quantified in terms of variance in sea surface height, 100-m depth water temperature, and surface currents. ITV was found to be the dominant factor that induced interannual variabilities of surface circulation, the main path of the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC), and surface kinetic energy on a time scale of 2-4 years. OBC and ATM were secondary factors contributing to the interannual variation of surface circulation. Interannual variation of ATM changed the separation latitude of EKWC and increased the variability of surface circulation in the Ulleung Basin. Interannual variation of OBC enhanced low-frequency changes in surface circulation and eddies in the Yamato Basin. It also modulated basin-wide uniform oscillations of sea level. This study suggests that precise estimation of initial conditions using data assimilation is essential for long-term prediction of surface circulation in the JES.

Calibration of alpha surface contamination monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freitas, I.S.M. de; Goncalez, O.L.

1990-01-01

In this work, the results, as well as the methodology, of the calibration of an alpha surface contamination monitor are presented. The calibration factors are obtained by least-squares fitting with effective variance. (author)

SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paul Higley; J. Robert Woolsey; Ralph Goodman; Vernon Asper; Boris Mizaikoff; Angela Davis

2005-08-01

A Consortium, designed to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research, has been established at the University of Mississippi's Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, CMRET. The primary objective of the group is to design and emplace a remote monitoring station on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2005, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water and sea floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Development of the station allows for the possibility of expanding its capabilities to include biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in this relatively new research arena. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembled to innovate research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. A year into the life of this cooperative agreement, we note the following achievements: (1) Progress on the vertical line array (VLA) of sensors: (A) Software and hardware upgrades to the data logger for the prototype vertical line array, including enhanced programmable gains, increased sampling rates, improved surface communications, (B) Cabling upgrade to allow installation of positioning sensors, (C) Adaptation of SDI's Angulate program to use acoustic slant ranges and DGPS data to compute and map the bottom location of the vertical array, (D) Progress in T''0'' delay and timing issues for improved control in data recording, (E) Successful deployment and recovery of the VLA twice during an October, 2003 cruise, once in 830m water, once in 1305m water, (F) Data collection and recovery from the DATS

SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paul Higley; J. Robert Woolsey; Ralph Goodman; Vernon Asper; Boris Mizaikoff; Angela Davis; Bob A. Hardage; Jeffrey Chanton; Rudy Rogers

2006-03-01

The Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium was established in 1999 to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research. The group is administered by the Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, CMRET, at the University of Mississippi. The primary objective of the group is to design and emplace a remote monitoring station or sea floor observatory on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2005, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water and sea floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Development of the station has always included the possibility of expanding its capabilities to include biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health. This possibility has recently received increased attention and the group of researchers working on the station has expanded to include several microbial biologists. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in this relatively new research arena. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembled to promote innovative research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. Initial components of the observatory, a probe that collects pore-fluid samples and another that records sea floor temperatures, were deployed in Mississippi Canyon 118 in May of 2005. Follow-up deployments are planned for fall 2005 and center about the use of the vessel M/V Ocean Quest and its two manned submersibles. The subs will be used to effect bottom surveys, emplace sensors and sea floor experiments and make connections between sensor data loggers and the integrated data power unit (IDP). Station/observatory completion is anticipated for 2007 following the

Monitoring System for ALICE Surface Areas

CERN Document Server

Demirbasci, Oguz

2016-01-01

I have been at CERN for 12 weeks within the scope of Summer Student Programme working on a monitoring system project for surface areas of the ALICE experiment during this period of time. The development and implementation of a monitoring system for environmental parameters in the accessible areas where a cheap hardware setup can be deployed were aim of this project. This report explains how it was developed by using Arduino, Raspberry PI, WinCC OA and DIM protocol.

Development and evaluation of an empirical diurnal sea surface temperature model

Science.gov (United States)

Weihs, R. R.; Bourassa, M. A.

2013-12-01

An innovative method is developed to determine the diurnal heating amplitude of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) using observations of high-quality satellite SST measurements and NWP atmospheric meteorological data. The diurnal cycle results from heating that develops at the surface of the ocean from low mechanical or shear produced turbulence and large solar radiation absorption. During these typically calm weather conditions, the absorption of solar radiation causes heating of the upper few meters of the ocean, which become buoyantly stable; this heating causes a temperature differential between the surface and the mixed [or bulk] layer on the order of a few degrees. It has been shown that capturing the diurnal cycle is important for a variety of applications, including surface heat flux estimates, which have been shown to be underestimated when neglecting diurnal warming, and satellite and buoy calibrations, which can be complicated because of the heating differential. An empirical algorithm using a pre-dawn sea surface temperature, peak solar radiation, and accumulated wind stress is used to estimate the cycle. The empirical algorithm is derived from a multistep process in which SSTs from MTG's SEVIRI SST experimental hourly data set are combined with hourly wind stress fields derived from a bulk flux algorithm. Inputs for the flux model are taken from NASA's MERRA reanalysis product. NWP inputs are necessary because the inputs need to incorporate diurnal and air-sea interactive processes, which are vital to the ocean surface dynamics, with a high enough temporal resolution. The MERRA winds are adjusted with CCMP winds to obtain more realistic spatial and variance characteristics and the other atmospheric inputs (air temperature, specific humidity) are further corrected on the basis of in situ comparisons. The SSTs are fitted to a Gaussian curve (using one or two peaks), forming a set of coefficients used to fit the data. The coefficient data are combined with

Spatial diversity of bacterioplankton communities in surface water of northern South China Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jialin; Li, Nan; Li, Fuchao; Zou, Tao; Yu, Shuxian; Wang, Yinchu; Qin, Song; Wang, Guangyi

2014-01-01

The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal seas, with relatively frequent passage of eddies and featuring distinct spatial variation in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. Here, we report a phylogenetic study of bacterial community structures in surface seawater of the northern South China Sea (nSCS). Samples collected from 31 sites across large environmental gradients were used to construct clone libraries and yielded 2,443 sequences grouped into 170 OTUs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 23 bacterial classes with major components α-, β- and γ-Proteobacteria, as well as Cyanobacteria. At class and genus taxon levels, community structure of coastal waters was distinctively different from that of deep-sea waters and displayed a higher diversity index. Redundancy analyses revealed that bacterial community structures displayed a significant correlation with the water depth of individual sampling sites. Members of α-Proteobacteria were the principal component contributing to the differences of the clone libraries. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited heterogeneity within zones of upwelling and anticyclonic eddies. Our results suggested that surface bacterial communities in nSCS had two-level patterns of spatial distribution structured by ecological types (coastal VS. oceanic zones) and mesoscale physical processes, and also provided evidence for bacterial phylogenetic phyla shaped by ecological preferences.

Spatial diversity of bacterioplankton communities in surface water of northern South China Sea.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jialin Li

Full Text Available The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal seas, with relatively frequent passage of eddies and featuring distinct spatial variation in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. Here, we report a phylogenetic study of bacterial community structures in surface seawater of the northern South China Sea (nSCS. Samples collected from 31 sites across large environmental gradients were used to construct clone libraries and yielded 2,443 sequences grouped into 170 OTUs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 23 bacterial classes with major components α-, β- and γ-Proteobacteria, as well as Cyanobacteria. At class and genus taxon levels, community structure of coastal waters was distinctively different from that of deep-sea waters and displayed a higher diversity index. Redundancy analyses revealed that bacterial community structures displayed a significant correlation with the water depth of individual sampling sites. Members of α-Proteobacteria were the principal component contributing to the differences of the clone libraries. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited heterogeneity within zones of upwelling and anticyclonic eddies. Our results suggested that surface bacterial communities in nSCS had two-level patterns of spatial distribution structured by ecological types (coastal VS. oceanic zones and mesoscale physical processes, and also provided evidence for bacterial phylogenetic phyla shaped by ecological preferences.

Assimilation of Sea Surface Temperature in a doubly, two-way nested primitive equation model of the Ligurian Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, A.; Alvera-Azcarate, A.; Rixen, M.; Beckers, J.-M.; Testut, C.-E.; Brankart, J.-M.; Brasseur, P.

2003-04-01

The GHER 3D primitive equation model is implemented with three different resolutions: a low resolution model (1/4^o) covering the whole Mediterranean Sea, an intermediate resolution model (1/20^o) of the Liguro-Provençal basin and a high resolution model (1/60^o) simulating the fine mesoscale structures in the Ligurian Sea. Boundary conditions and the averaged fields (feedback) are exchanged between two successive nesting levels. The model of the Ligurian Sea is also coupled with the assimilation package SESAM. It allows to assimilate satellite data and in situ observations using the local adaptative SEEK (Singular Evolutive Extended Kalman) filter. Instead of evolving the error space by the numerically expensive Lyapunov equation, a simplified algebraic equation depending on the misfit between observation and model forecast is used. Starting from the 1st January 1998 the low and intermediate resolution models are spun up for 18 months. The initial conditions for the Ligurian Sea are interpolated from the intermediate resolution model. The three models are then integrated until August 1999. During this period AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature of the Ligurian Sea is assimilated. The results are validated by using CTD and XBT profiles of the SIRENA cruise from the SACLANT Center. The overall objective of this study is pre-operational. It should help to identify limitations and weaknesses of forecasting methods and to suggest improvements of existing operational models.

Polygenetic Karsted Hardground Omission Surfaces in Lower Silurian Neritic Limestones: a Signature of Early Paleozoic Calcite Seas

Science.gov (United States)

James, Noel P.; Desrochers, André; Kyser, Kurt T.

2015-04-01

Exquisitely preserved and well-exposed rocky paleoshoreline omission surfaces in Lower Silurian Chicotte Formation limestones on Anticosti Island, Quebec, are interpreted to be the product of combined marine and meteoric diagenesis. The different omission features include; 1) planar erosional bedding tops, 2) scalloped erosional surfaces, 3) knobs, ridges, and swales at bedding contacts, and 4) paleoscarps. An interpretation is proposed that relates specific omission surface styles to different diagenetic-depositional processes that took place in separate terrestrial-peritidal-shallow neritic zones. Such processes were linked to fluctuations in relative sea level with specific zones of diagenesis such as; 1) karst corrosion, 2) peritidal erosion, 3) subtidal seawater flushing and cementation, and 4) shallow subtidal deposition. Most surfaces are interpreted to have been the result of initial extensive shallow-water synsedimentary lithification that were, as sea level fell, altered by exposure and subaerial corrosion, only to be buried by sediments as sea level rose again. This succession was repeated several times resulting in a suite of recurring polyphase omission surfaces through many meters of stratigraphic section. Synsedimentary cloudy marine cements are well preserved and are thus interpreted to have been calcitic originally. Aragonite components are rare and thought to have to have been dissolved just below the Silurian seafloor. Large molluscs that survived such seafloor removal were nonetheless leached and the resultant megamoulds were filled with synsedimentary calcite cement. These Silurian inner neritic-strandline omission surfaces are temporally unique. They are part of a suite of marine omission surfaces that are mostly found in early Paleozoic neritic carbonate sedimentary rocks. These karsted hardgrounds formed during a calcite-sea time of elevated marine carbonate saturation and extensive marine cement precipitation. The contemporaneous greenhouse

SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paul Higley; J. Robert Woolsey; Ralph Goodman; Vernon Asper; Boris Mizaikoff; Angela Davis

2005-09-01

A Consortium, designed to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research, has been established at the University of Mississippi's Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, CMRET. The primary objective of the group is to design and emplace a remote monitoring station on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2005, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water and sea floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Development of the station allows for the possibility of expanding its capabilities to include biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in this relatively new research arena. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembled to promote innovative research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. Noteworthy achievements six months into the extended life of this cooperative agreement include: (1) Progress on the vertical line array (VLA) of sensors: Analysis and repair attempts of the VLA used in the deep water deployment during October 2003 have been completed; Definition of an interface protocol for the VLA DATS to the SFO has been established; Design modifications to allow integration of the VLA to the SFO have been made; Experience gained in the deployments of the first VLA is being applied to the design of the next VLAs; One of the two planned new VLAs being modified to serve as an Oceanographic Line Array (OLA). (2) Progress on the Sea Floor Probe: The decision to replace the Sea Floor Probe technology with the borehole emplacement of a geophysical array was reversed due to the 1300m water depth at the

Modeled Oceanic Response and Sea Surface Cooling to Typhoon Kai-Tak

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Heng Tseng

2010-01-01

Full Text Available An ocean response to typhoon Kai-Tak is simulated using an accurate fourth-order, basin-scale ocean model. The surface winds of typhoon Kai-Tak were obtained from QuikSCAT satellite images blended with the ECMWF wind fields. An intense nonlinear mesoscale eddy is generated in the northeast South China Sea (SCS with a Rossby number of O(1 and on a 50 - 100 km horizontal scale. Inertial oscillation is clearly observed. Advection dominates as a strong wind shear drives the mixed layer flows outward, away from the typhoon center, thus forcing upwelling from deep levels with a high upwelling velocity (> 30 m day-1. A drop in sea surface temperature (SST of more than 9°C is found in both observation and simulation. We attribute this significant SST drop to the influence of the slow moving typhoon, initial stratification and bathymetry-induced upwelling in the northeast of the SCS where the typhoon hovered.

Distribution of 137Cs in surface seawater and sediment around Sabahs Sulu-Sulawesi Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohd Izwan Abdul Aziz; Ahmad Sanadi Abu Bakar; Yii, Mei Wo; Nurrul Assyikeen Jaffary; Zaharudin Ahmad

2010-01-01

The studies on distribution of 137 Cs in surface seawater and sediment around Sabahs Sulu-Sulawesi Sea were carried out during Ekspedisi Pelayaran Saintifik Perdana (EPSP) in July 2009. About sixteen and twenty five sampling locations were identified for surface seawater and sediment respectively in Sabahs Sulu-Sulawesi Sea. Large volumes of seawater samples are collected and co-precipitation technique was employed to concentrate cesium content before known amounts of 134 Cs tracer were added as yield determinant. Grab sampler were used to collect surface sediment sample. The caesium precipitate and sediment were dried and finely ground before counted using gamma-ray spectrometry system at 661 keV. The activity of 137 Cs was found in surface seawater and sediment to be in the range 1.73 Bq/ m 3 to 5.50 Bq/ m 3 and 1.15 Bq/ kg to 4.53 Bq/ kg respectively. (author)

Development and implementation of cellular-based real-time reporting and internet accessible coastal sea-level gauge - A vital tool for monitoring storm surge and tsunami

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Desai, R.G.P.; Joseph, A.; Agarvadekar, Y.; Dabholkar, N.; Mehra, P.; Gouveia, A.D.; Tengali, S.; VijayKumar, K.; Parab, A.

illustration of the predicted fair-weather sea-level, current sea-level, and residual sea-level (i.e. measured minus predicted fairweather sea-level), which can be monitored via Internet from any part of the world. This system provides a cost...

Meteorological, hydrological and hydrogeological monitoring data and near-surface hydrogeological properties data from Laxemar-Simpevarp. Site descriptive modelling SDM-Site Laxemar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Werner, Kent (EmpTec, Taeby (Sweden)); Oehman, Johan (Golder Associates AB, Stockholm (Sweden)); Holgersson, Bjoern (SWECO VIAK, Stockholm (Sweden)); Roennback, Kristoffer (Aqualog AB, Goeteborg (Sweden)); Marelius, Fredrick (WSP Sverige, Stockholm (Sweden))

2008-12-15

This report presents and analyses meteorological, hydrological and hydrogeological time-series data and near-surface hydrogeological properties data from the Laxemar-Simpevarp area, available in SKB's Sicada database at time of the Laxemar 2.3 data freeze (Aug. 31, 2007). The meteorological data set includes data from two local stations, located on the island of Aespoe and at Plittorp, located further inland. In addition, the data evaluation uses a longer-term data set from 7 surrounding stations, operated by SMHI. As part of this study, a time series is constructed of the water content of snow. According to the data evaluation, the site-average annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration can be estimated to be on the order of 600 and 535 mm, respectively. In particular, precipitation demonstrates a near-coastal gradient, with less precipitation at the coast compared to areas further inland. The surface-water level data set includes data from 4 lake-level gauging stations and 3 sea-level gauging stations. All lakes are located above sea level, including the near-coastal Lake Soeraa. Hence, no intrusion of sea water to lakes takes place. There is a strong co-variation among the monitored lake-water levels, typically with maxima during spring and minima during late summer and early autumn. Concerning the sea as a hydraulic boundary, the maximum and minimum sea levels (daily averages) during the site-investigation period were -0.52 and 0.71 metres above sea level, respectively, whereas the average sea level was 0.03 metres above sea level (RHB 70). The data set on stream discharge, surface-water temperature and electrical conductivity includes data from 9 discharge-gauging stations in 7 streams. Based on the discharge data, the site-average specific discharge for the years 2005-2007 can be estimated to 165 mm/y, which is within the interval of the estimated long-term average. Overall, discharge-data errors are likely to be small. The hydrogeological

Distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from the Bering Sea and western Arctic Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Mengwei; Wang, Weiguo; Liu, Yanguang; Dong, Linsen; Jiao, Liping; Hu, Limin; Fan, Dejiang

2016-03-15

To analyze the distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and evaluate their potential ecological risks, the concentrations of 16 PAHs were measured in 43 surface sediment samples from the Bering Sea and western Arctic Ocean. Total PAH (tPAH) concentrations ranged from 36.95 to 150.21 ng/g (dry weight). In descending order, the surface sediment tPAH concentrations were as follows: Canada Basin>northern Chukchi Sea>Chukchi Basin>southern Chukchi Sea>Aleutian Basin>Makarov Basin>Bering Sea shelf. The Bering Sea and western Arctic Ocean mainly received PAHs of pyrogenic origin due to pollution caused by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. The concentrations of PAHs in the sediments of the study areas did not exceed effects range low (ERL) values. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the lower atmosphere and surface waters of the Chinese Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and Yangtze River estuary.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Zhen; Tang, Jianhui; Mi, Lijie; Tian, Chongguo; Zhong, Guangcai; Zhang, Gan; Wang, Shaorui; Li, Qilu; Ebinghaus, Ralf; Xie, Zhiyong; Sun, Hongwen

2017-12-01

Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), in the forms of neutral polyfluoroalkyl substances in the gas phase of air and ionic perfluoroalkyl substances in the dissolved phase of surface water, were investigated during a sampling campaign in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and Yangtze River estuary in May 2012. In the gas phase, the concentrations of neutral ∑PFASs were within the range of 76-551pg/m 3 . Higher concentrations were observed in the South Yellow Sea. 8:2 fluorotelomer alcohol (FTOH) was the predominant compound as it accounted for 92%-95% of neutral ∑PFASs in all air samples. Air mass backward trajectory analysis indicated that neutral ∑PFASs came mainly from the coast of the Yellow Sea, including the Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces of China, and the coastal region of South Korea. The fluxes of gas phase dry deposition were simulated for neutral PFASs, and neutral ∑PFASs fluxes varied from 0.37 to 2.3pg/m 2 /s. In the dissolved phase of the surface water, concentrations of ionic ∑PFASs ranged from 1.6 to 118ng/L, with the Bohai Sea exhibiting higher concentrations than both the Yellow Sea and the Yangtze River estuary. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was the predominant compound accounting for 51%-90% of the ionic ∑PFAS concentrations. Releases from industrial and domestic activities as well as the semiclosed geographical conditions increased the level of ionic ∑PFASs in the Bohai Sea. The spatial distributions of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and perfluoroalkane sulfonic acids (PFSAs) were different significantly. The Laizhou Bay was the major source region of PFCAs and the Yangtze River estuary was the major source of PFSAs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sea ice in the Baltic Sea - revisiting BASIS ice, a~historical data set covering the period 1960/1961-1978/1979

Science.gov (United States)

Löptien, U.; Dietze, H.

2014-06-01

The Baltic Sea is a seasonally ice-covered, marginal sea, situated in central northern Europe. It is an essential waterway connecting highly industrialised countries. Because ship traffic is intermittently hindered by sea ice, the local weather services have been monitoring sea ice conditions for decades. In the present study we revisit a historical monitoring data set, covering the winters 1960/1961. This data set, dubbed Data Bank for Baltic Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperatures (BASIS) ice, is based on hand-drawn maps that were collected and then digitised 1981 in a joint project of the Finnish Institute of Marine Research (today Finish Meteorological Institute (FMI)) and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). BASIS ice was designed for storage on punch cards and all ice information is encoded by five digits. This makes the data hard to access. Here we present a post-processed product based on the original five-digit code. Specifically, we convert to standard ice quantities (including information on ice types), which we distribute in the current and free Network Common Data Format (NetCDF). Our post-processed data set will help to assess numerical ice models and provide easy-to-access unique historical reference material for sea ice in the Baltic Sea. In addition we provide statistics showcasing the data quality. The website www.baltic-ocean.org hosts the post-prossed data and the conversion code. The data are also archived at the Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science PANGEA (doi:10.1594/PANGEA.832353).

Sea ice in the Baltic Sea - revisiting BASIS ice, a historical data set covering the period 1960/1961-1978/1979

Science.gov (United States)

Löptien, U.; Dietze, H.

2014-12-01

The Baltic Sea is a seasonally ice-covered, marginal sea in central northern Europe. It is an essential waterway connecting highly industrialised countries. Because ship traffic is intermittently hindered by sea ice, the local weather services have been monitoring sea ice conditions for decades. In the present study we revisit a historical monitoring data set, covering the winters 1960/1961 to 1978/1979. This data set, dubbed Data Bank for Baltic Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperatures (BASIS) ice, is based on hand-drawn maps that were collected and then digitised in 1981 in a joint project of the Finnish Institute of Marine Research (today the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)) and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). BASIS ice was designed for storage on punch cards and all ice information is encoded by five digits. This makes the data hard to access. Here we present a post-processed product based on the original five-digit code. Specifically, we convert to standard ice quantities (including information on ice types), which we distribute in the current and free Network Common Data Format (NetCDF). Our post-processed data set will help to assess numerical ice models and provide easy-to-access unique historical reference material for sea ice in the Baltic Sea. In addition we provide statistics showcasing the data quality. The website http://www.baltic-ocean.org hosts the post-processed data and the conversion code. The data are also archived at the Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science, PANGAEA (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.832353).

Concentration and toxicity of sea-surface contaminants in Puget Sound

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hardy, J.T.; Crecelius, E.A.; Kocan, R.

1986-04-01

The Marine Research Laboratory conducted studies during CY 1985 to evaluate the effects of sea-surface contamination on the reproductive success of a valued marine species. Microlayer and bulk water samples were collected from a rural bay, central Puget Sound, and three urban bays and analyzed for a number of metal and organic contaminants as well as for densities of neuston and plankton organisms. Fertilized neustonic eggs of sand sole (Psettichthys melanostictus) were exposed to the same microlayer samples during their first week of embryonic and larval development. Also, we evaluated the effects of microlayer extracts on the growth of trout cell cultures. Compared to rural sites, urban bays generally contained lower densities of neustonic flatfish eggs during the spawning season. Also, in contrast to the rural sites or the one central Puget Sound site, approximately half of the urban bay microlayer samples resulted in significant increases in embryo mortality (up to 100%), kyphosis (bent spine abnormalities) in hatched larvae, increased anaphase aberrations in developing embryos, and decreased trout cell growth. The toxic samples generally contained high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic and/or chlorinated hydrocarbons and/or potentially toxic metals. In some cases, concentrations of contaminants on the sea surface exceeded water-quality criteria by several orders of magnitude. Several samples of subsurface bulk water collected below highly contaminated surfaces showed no detectable contamination or toxicity.

Inter-Relationship Between Subtropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperature, Arctic Sea Ice Concentration, and the North Atlantic Oscillation in Recent Summers and Winters

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Young-Kwon; Cullather, Richard I.; Nowicki, Sophie M.; Kim, Kyu-Myong

2017-01-01

The inter-relationship between subtropical western-central Pacific sea surface temperatures (STWCPSST), sea ice concentration in the Beaufort Sea (SICBS), and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are investigated for the last 37 summers and winters (1980-2016). Lag-correlation of the STWCPSST×(-1) in spring with the NAO phase and SICBS in summer increases over the last two decades, reaching r = 0.4-0.5 with significance at 5 percent, while winter has strong correlations in approximately 1985-2005. Observational analysis and the atmospheric general circulation model experiments both suggest that STWCPSST warming acts to increase the Arctic geopotential height and temperature in the following season. This atmospheric response extends to Greenland, providing favorable conditions for developing the negative phase of the NAO. SIC and surface albedo tend to decrease over the Beaufort Sea in summer, linked to the positive surface net shortwave flux. Energy balance considering radiative and turbulent fluxes reveal that available energy that can heat surface is larger over the Arctic and Greenland and smaller over the south of Greenland, in response to the STWCPSST warming in spring. XXXX Arctic & Atlantic: Positive upper-level height/T anomaly over the Arctic and Greenland, and a negative anomaly over the central-eastern Atlantic, resembling the (-) phase of the NAO. Pacific: The negative height/T anomaly over the mid-latitudes, along with the positive anomaly over the STWCP, where 1degC warming above climatology is prescribed. Discussion: It is likely that the Arctic gets warm and the NAO is in the negative phase in response to the STWCP warming. But, there are other factors (e.g., internal variability) that contribute to determination of the NAO phase: not always the negative phase of the NAO in the event of STWCP warming (e.g.: recent winters and near neutral NAO in 2017 summer).

Hyperspectral imaging simulation of object under sea-sky background

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Biao; Lin, Jia-xuan; Gao, Wei; Yue, Hui

2016-10-01

Remote sensing image simulation plays an important role in spaceborne/airborne load demonstration and algorithm development. Hyperspectral imaging is valuable in marine monitoring, search and rescue. On the demand of spectral imaging of objects under the complex sea scene, physics based simulation method of spectral image of object under sea scene is proposed. On the development of an imaging simulation model considering object, background, atmosphere conditions, sensor, it is able to examine the influence of wind speed, atmosphere conditions and other environment factors change on spectral image quality under complex sea scene. Firstly, the sea scattering model is established based on the Philips sea spectral model, the rough surface scattering theory and the water volume scattering characteristics. The measured bi directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) data of objects is fit to the statistical model. MODTRAN software is used to obtain solar illumination on the sea, sky brightness, the atmosphere transmittance from sea to sensor and atmosphere backscattered radiance, and Monte Carlo ray tracing method is used to calculate the sea surface object composite scattering and spectral image. Finally, the object spectrum is acquired by the space transformation, radiation degradation and adding the noise. The model connects the spectrum image with the environmental parameters, the object parameters, and the sensor parameters, which provide a tool for the load demonstration and algorithm development.

Aliphatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from South China Sea off Kuching Division, Sarawak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hafidz Yusoff; Zaini Assim; Samsur Mohamad

2012-01-01

Eighteen surface sediment samples collected from South China Sea off Kuching Division, Sarawak were analyzed for aliphatic hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons were recovered from sediment by Soxhlet extraction method and then analyzed using gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometer (GC/ MS). Total concentrations of aliphatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from South China Sea off Kuching division are ranged from 35.6 μg/ g to 1466.1 μg/ g dry weights. The sediments collected from Bako Bay, Kuching showed high concentrations of total aliphatic hydrocarbons. Several molecular indices were used to predict the predominant sources of hydrocarbons. Carbon preference index (CPI) value revealed widespread anthropogenic input in this study area (CPI= 0 to 4.1). The ratio of C 31 / C 19 and C 29 / C 31 indicated that major input of aliphatic hydrocarbon mostly transfer by lateral input to the marine environment than atmospheric movements. Generally, the concentrations of aliphatic hydrocarbons in sediment from South China Sea off Kuching division are generally higher compare to other area in the world. (author)

Distribution and pollution assessment of heavy metals in surface sediments in the Yellow Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Xin; Teng, Ankang; Xu, Wenzhe; Liu, Xiaoshou

2014-06-15

Heavy metal concentrations in surface sediments at 56 stations during two cruises in the Yellow Sea in summer and winter, 2011 were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The pollution status was assessed via the Geoaccumulation index and Hankanson potential ecological risk index. Higher concentrations of heavy metals (except for Mn) were found in the central Southern Yellow Sea and the western Northern Yellow Sea. The higher contents of Mn were much closer to Shandong Peninsula. Correlation analyses indicated that Pb, Cu, Fe, Ni, Zn and Co probably had the same origin and were controlled by grain size and total organic carbon. Pollution assessment showed that most areas of the Yellow Sea were not or lowly contaminated with the exception of the northwest and south parts of the Southern Yellow Sea showing Cd-contamination. The pollution status of the Yellow Sea in summer was worse than that in winter. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Absolute Sea Level Monitoring and Altimeter Calibration At Gavdos, Crete, Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Pavlis, E. C.; Gavdos Team

We present the mean sea level (MSL) monitoring aspect of the altimeter calibration fa- cility under deployment on western Crete and the isle of Gavdos. The Eastern Mediter- ranean area is one of great interest for its intense tectonic activity as well as for its regional oceanography. Recent observations have convincingly demonstrated the im- portance of that area for the regional meteorological and climatological changes. Tide- gauge monitoring with GPS has gained importance lately since tectonics contaminate the inferred sea level variations, and a global network of tide-gauges with long his- torical records can be used as satellite altimeter calibration sites for current and fu- ture missions (e.g. TOPEX/POSEIDON, GFO, JASON-1, ENVISAT, etc.). This is at present a common IOC-GLOSS-IGS effort, already underway (TIGA). Crete hosts two of the oldest tide-gauges in the regional network and our project will further ex- pand it to the south of the island with a new site on the isle of Gavdos, the southernmost European parcel of land. One component of our "GAVDOS" project is the repeated occupation of two already in existence tide-gauge sites at Souda Bay and Heraklion, and their tie to the new facility. We show here initial results from positioning of these sites and some of the available tidal records. Gavdos is situated under a ground-track crossing point of the present T/P and JASON-1 orbits. It is an ideal calibration site if the tectonic motions are monitored precisely and continuously. Our plans include the deployment of additional instrumentation at this site: GPS and DORIS beacons for positioning, transponders for direct calibration, water vapor radiometers, GPS-loaded buoys, airborne surveys with gravimeters and laser profiling lidars, etc., to ensure the best possible and most reliable results.

Reassessing biases and other uncertainties in sea surface temperature observations measured in situ since 1850: 2. Biases and homogenization

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, J. J.; Rayner, N. A.; Smith, R. O.; Parker, D. E.; Saunby, M.

2011-07-01

Changes in instrumentation and data availability have caused time-varying biases in estimates of global and regional average sea surface temperature. The size of the biases arising from these changes are estimated and their uncertainties evaluated. The estimated biases and their associated uncertainties are largest during the period immediately following the Second World War, reflecting the rapid and incompletely documented changes in shipping and data availability at the time. Adjustments have been applied to reduce these effects in gridded data sets of sea surface temperature and the results are presented as a set of interchangeable realizations. Uncertainties of estimated trends in global and regional average sea surface temperature due to bias adjustments since the Second World War are found to be larger than uncertainties arising from the choice of analysis technique, indicating that this is an important source of uncertainty in analyses of historical sea surface temperatures. Despite this, trends over the twentieth century remain qualitatively consistent.

Seasonal sea surface temperature contrast between the Holocene and last glacial period in the western Arabian Sea (Ocean Drilling Project Site 723A): Modulated by monsoon upwelling

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Naidu, P.D.; Malmgren, B.A.

Annual, summer, and winter sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the western Arabian Sea were reconstructed through the last 22 kyr using artificial neural networks (ANNs) based on quantitative analyses of planktic foraminifera. Down-core SST estimates...

AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 Level 3 Collated (L3C) Global 4km Sea Surface Temperature for 1981-2012

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 Sea Surface Temperature data set (PFV52) is a collection of global, twice-daily 4km sea surface temperature data produced in a...

The role of surface and subsurface processes in keeping pace with sea level rise in intertidal wetlands of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Lovelock, Catherine E.; Bennion, Vicki; Grinham, Alistair; Cahoon, Donald R.

2011-01-01

Increases in the elevation of the soil surfaces of mangroves and salt marshes are key to the maintenance of these habitats with accelerating sea level rise. Understanding the processes that give rise to increases in soil surface elevation provides science for management of landscapes for sustainable coastal wetlands. Here, we tested whether the soil surface elevation of mangroves and salt marshes in Moreton Bay is keeping up with local rates of sea level rise (2.358 mm y-1) and whether accretion on the soil surface was the most important process for keeping up with sea level rise. We found variability in surface elevation gains, with sandy areas in the eastern bay having the highest surface elevation gains in both mangrove and salt marsh (5.9 and 1.9 mm y-1) whereas in the muddier western bay rates of surface elevation gain were lower (1.4 and -0.3 mm y-1 in mangrove and salt marsh, respectively). Both sides of the bay had similar rates of surface accretion (~7–9 mm y-1 in the mangrove and 1–3 mm y-1 in the salt marsh), but mangrove soils in the western bay were subsiding at a rate of approximately 8 mm y-1, possibly due to compaction of organic sediments. Over the study surface elevation increments were sensitive to position in the intertidal zone (higher when lower in the intertidal) and also to variation in mean sea level (higher at high sea level). Although surface accretion was the most important process for keeping up with sea level rise in the eastern bay, subsidence largely negated gains made through surface accretion in the western bay indicating a high vulnerability to sea level rise in these forests.

Productivity and sea surface temperature are correlated with the pelagic larval duration of damselfishes in the Red Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Robitzch, Vanessa S N; Lozano-Cortés, Diego; Kandler, Nora M; Salas, Eva; Berumen, Michael L

2016-04-30

We examined the variation of pelagic larval durations (PLDs) among three damselfishes, Dascyllus aruanus, D. marginatus, and D. trimaculatus, which live under the influence of an environmental gradient in the Red Sea. PLDs were significantly correlated with latitude, sea surface temperature (SST), and primary production (CHLA; chlorophyll a concentrations). We find a consistent decrease in PLDs with increasing SST and primary production (CHLA) towards the southern Red Sea among all species. This trend is likely related to higher food availability and increased metabolic rates in that region. We suggest that food availability is a potentially stronger driver of variation in PLD than temperature, especially in highly oligotrophic regions. Additionally, variations in PLDs were particularly high among specimens of D. marginatus, suggesting a stronger response to local environmental differences for endemic species. We also report the first average PLD for this species over a broad geographic range (19.82 ± 2.92 days). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Productivity and sea surface temperature are correlated with the pelagic larval duration of damselfishes in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Robitzch, Vanessa S.N.

2015-12-01

We examined the variation of pelagic larval durations (PLDs) among three damselfishes, Dascyllus aruanus, D. marginatus, and D. trimaculatus, which live under the influence of an environmental gradient in the Red Sea. PLDs were significantly correlated with latitude, sea surface temperature (SST), and primary production (CHLA; chlorophyll a concentrations). We find a consistent decrease in PLDs with increasing SST and primary production (CHLA) towards the southern Red Sea among all species. This trend is likely related to higher food availability and increased metabolic rates in that region. We suggest that food availability is a potentially stronger driver of variation in PLD than temperature, especially in highly oligotrophic regions. Additionally, variations in PLDs were particularly high among specimens of D. marginatus, suggesting a stronger response to local environmental differences for endemic species. We also report the first average PLD for this species over a broad geographic range (19.82 ± 2.92 days).

Productivity and sea surface temperature are correlated with the pelagic larval duration of damselfishes in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Robitzch, Vanessa S.N.; Lozano-Corté s, Diego; Kandler, Nora; Salas, Eva; Berumen, Michael L.

2015-01-01

We examined the variation of pelagic larval durations (PLDs) among three damselfishes, Dascyllus aruanus, D. marginatus, and D. trimaculatus, which live under the influence of an environmental gradient in the Red Sea. PLDs were significantly correlated with latitude, sea surface temperature (SST), and primary production (CHLA; chlorophyll a concentrations). We find a consistent decrease in PLDs with increasing SST and primary production (CHLA) towards the southern Red Sea among all species. This trend is likely related to higher food availability and increased metabolic rates in that region. We suggest that food availability is a potentially stronger driver of variation in PLD than temperature, especially in highly oligotrophic regions. Additionally, variations in PLDs were particularly high among specimens of D. marginatus, suggesting a stronger response to local environmental differences for endemic species. We also report the first average PLD for this species over a broad geographic range (19.82 ± 2.92 days).

BIO ARGO floats: tools for operational monitoring of the Black Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Palazov, Atanas; Slabakova, Violeta; Peneva, Elisaveta; Stanev, Emil

2014-05-01

The assessment of ecological status in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the physical and biogeochemical processes that determine the functioning of marine ecosystems. One of the main challenges however is the need of data with frequency relevant to the spatial and temporal scales of the ecological processes. The majority of in situ observations that are commonly used for ecological monitoring of the Black Sea are generally based on near-shore monitoring programs or irregular oceanographic cruises that provide either non-synoptic, coarse resolution realizations of large scale processes or detailed, but time and site specific snapshots of local features. These gaps can be filled by two independent sources: satellite observation and profiling floats. In fact satellite ocean color sensors allows for determination at synoptic scale of water quality parameters through its absorption properties. However the satellite ocean color methods have a number of limitations such as: measurements can only be made during daylight hours; require cloud-free conditions and are sensitive to atmospheric aerosols; provide information only for the upper layer of the ocean (approximately the depth of 10% incident light); algorithms developed for global applications are a source of large uncertainties in the marginal seas and costal areas. These constrains of the optical remote sensing observations can be avoided by using miniature biogeochemical sensors and autonomous platforms that offer remarkable perspectives for observing the "biological" ocean, notably at critical spatiotemporal scales which have been out of reach until recently (Claustre et al., 2010). In the frame of "E-AIMS: Euro-Argo Improvements for the GMES marine Service" 7 EC FP project two Bio Argo floats were deployed in the Black Sea. Beside the traditionally CTD the floats were equipped with biogeochemical

Innovative coatings and surface modification of titanium for sea water condenser applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

George, R.P.; Anandkumar, B.; Vanithakumari, S.C.; Kamachi Mudali, U.

2016-01-01

Effectiveness of cooling water systems in various power plants to maintain highest electrical energy output per tonne of fuel is important as part of good energy management. Cooling water systems of nuclear power plants using seawater for cooling comes under constant attack from the marine and sea water environment. Many metallic components and civil structures in the cooling water systems like bridges, intake wells, intake pipes, pump house wells, water boxes, condenser pipes are subjected to severe fouling and corrosion which limits the service life and availability of power plants. The experience with a coastal water cooled power plant at Kalpakkam (MAPS), India, showed that chlorination and screening control macrofouling to a great extend by controlling protozoans, invertebrates, algae and fungi. However 90% of marine bacteria are resistant to such control measures, and they cause microfouling of condenser pipes leading to poor heat transfer and microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) failures. Titanium is used as condenser for Indian nuclear power plants employing sea water cooling, including the PFBR at Kalpakkam. Though titanium is excellent with respect to corrosion behavior under sea water conditions, its biocompatible nature results in biofouling and MIC during service. Therefore innovative antifouling coatings and surface modification techniques for titanium condenser applications in seawater and marine environments are the need of the hour. Extensive investigations were carried out by different methods including nanostructuring of surfaces for making them antibacterial. The microroughness of titanium was produced by repeated pickling and polishing which by itself reduced microbial adhesion. To utilize photocatalytic activity for antibacterial property, anodization of titanium surfaces followed by heat treatment was adopted and this also has controlled microbial fouling. Electroless plating of nanofilm of copper-nickel alloy decreased biofouling of

Some aspects of floating ice related to sea surface operations in the Barents sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loeset, S.

1993-01-01

The present work highlights some aspects of floating ice related to sea surface operations in the Barents sea. The thesis consists of eight papers which fall into two main categories; one part deals with numerical modeling of the temperature distribution and ablation of icebergs (three papers), and the other part studies the behavior of broken ice, focusing on both laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. The temperature distribution within an iceberg affects the mechanical strength of the ice and is therefore crucial in engineering applications when estimating loads from impinging icebergs on offshore structures. A numerical model which simulates the temperature distribution and ablation of icebergs has been developed. The model shows that the depth of the thermal disturbance and slope of the temperature gradient of an iceberg depend on the boundary conditions and the time at sea. By about 12 m into the ice, the temperature is virtually free of any thermal boundary influence. Oil spill response techniques are vulnerable to the presence of sea ice. Deflecting ice upstream of a spill site by means of a flexible boom will facilitate the application of conventional oil spill recovery systems such as oil skimmers and booms. Experiments with such an ice deflecting boom were conducted in an ice tank to determine the loads on the boom and to study the ice-free wake. The study indicated the technical feasibility of the ice boom concept as an operational tool for oil spill cleanups. A two-dimensional discrete element model has been developed. This model simulates the dynamics and interaction forces between distinct ice floes in a broken ice field. The numerical model was applied to estimate the loads on a boom used for ice management. 121 refs., 70 figs., 10 tabs

Long term persistence in the sea surface temperature fluctuations

OpenAIRE

Monetti, Roberto A.; Havlin, Shlomo; Bunde, Armin

2002-01-01

We study the temporal correlations in the sea surface temperature (SST) fluctuations around the seasonal mean values in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. We apply a method that systematically overcome possible trends in the data. We find that the SST persistence, characterized by the correlation $C(s)$ of temperature fluctuations separated by a time period $s$, displays two different regimes. In the short-time regime which extends up to roughly 10 months, the temperature fluctuations display a...

Sea surface temperature variations in the western Mediterranean Sea over the last 20 kyr: A dual-organic proxy (U

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodrigo-Gámiz, M.; Martínez-Ruiz, F.; Rampen, S.W.; Schouten, S.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.

2014-01-01

A high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) reconstruction of the western Mediterranean was accomplished using two independent, algae-based molecular organic proxies, i.e., the U-37(K) index based on long-chain unsaturated ketones and the novel long-chain diol index (LDI) based on the relative

Sea surface temperature and salinity from the Global Ocean Surface Underway Data (GOSUD) from 1980-01-03 to present

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This collection contains the Global Ocean Surface Underway Data (GOSUD) from 1980-01-03 to present as submitted to NOAA/NCEI. The data includes information about sea...

Body surface mounted biomedical monitoring system using Bluetooth.

Science.gov (United States)

Nambu, Masayuki

2007-01-01

Continuous monitoring in daily life is important for the health condition control of the elderly. However, portable or wearable devices need to carry by user on their own will. On the other hand, implantation sensors are not adoptable, because of generic users dislike to insert the any object in the body for monitoring. Therefore, another monitoring system of the health condition to carry it easily is necessary. In addition, ID system is necessary even if the subject live with few families. Furthermore, every measurement system should be wireless system, because not to obstruct the daily life of the user. In this paper, we propose the monitoring system, which is mounted on the body surface. This system will not obstruct the action or behavior of user in daily life, because this system attached the body surface on the back of the user. In addition, this system has wireless communication system, using Bluetooth, and acquired data transfer to the outside of the house via the Internet.

Comparative influence of land and sea surfaces on the Sahelian drought: a numerical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arona Diedhiou

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to compare the relative impact of land and sea surface anomalies on Sahel rainfall and to describe the associated anomalies in the atmospheric general circulation. This sensitivity study was done with the Météo-France climate model: ARPEGE. The sensitivity to land surface conditions consists of changes in the management of water and heat exchanges by vegetation cover and bare soil. The sensitivity to ocean surfaces consists in forcing the lower boundary of the model with worldwide composite sea surface temperature (SST anomalies obtained from the difference between 4 dry Sahel years and 4 wet Sahel years observed since 1970. For each case, the spatiotemporal variability of the simulated rainfall anomaly and changes in the modelled tropical easterly jet (TEJ and African easterly jet (AEJ are discussed. The global changes in land surface evaporation have caused a rainfall deficit over the Sahel and over the Guinea Coast. No significant changes in the simulated TEJ and an enhancement of the AEJ are found; at the surface, the energy budget and the hydrological cycle are substantially modified. On the other hand, SST anomalies induce a negative rainfall anomaly over the Sahel and a positive rainfall anomaly to the south of this area. The rainfall deficit due to those anomalies is consistent with previous diagnostic and sensitivity studies. The TEJ is weaker and the AEJ is stronger than in the reference. The composite impact of SST and land surfaces anomalies is also analyzed: the simulated rainfall anomaly is similar to the observed mean African drought patterns. This work suggests that large-scale variations of surface conditions may have a substantial influence on Sahel rainfall and shows the importance of land surface parameterization in climate change modelling. In addition, it points out the interest in accurately considering the land and sea surfaces conditions in sensitivity studies on Sahel rainfall.

Comparative influence of land and sea surfaces on the Sahelian drought: a numerical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Diedhiou

1996-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to compare the relative impact of land and sea surface anomalies on Sahel rainfall and to describe the associated anomalies in the atmospheric general circulation. This sensitivity study was done with the Météo-France climate model: ARPEGE. The sensitivity to land surface conditions consists of changes in the management of water and heat exchanges by vegetation cover and bare soil. The sensitivity to ocean surfaces consists in forcing the lower boundary of the model with worldwide composite sea surface temperature (SST anomalies obtained from the difference between 4 dry Sahel years and 4 wet Sahel years observed since 1970. For each case, the spatiotemporal variability of the simulated rainfall anomaly and changes in the modelled tropical easterly jet (TEJ and African easterly jet (AEJ are discussed. The global changes in land surface evaporation have caused a rainfall deficit over the Sahel and over the Guinea Coast. No significant changes in the simulated TEJ and an enhancement of the AEJ are found; at the surface, the energy budget and the hydrological cycle are substantially modified. On the other hand, SST anomalies induce a negative rainfall anomaly over the Sahel and a positive rainfall anomaly to the south of this area. The rainfall deficit due to those anomalies is consistent with previous diagnostic and sensitivity studies. The TEJ is weaker and the AEJ is stronger than in the reference. The composite impact of SST and land surfaces anomalies is also analyzed: the simulated rainfall anomaly is similar to the observed mean African drought patterns. This work suggests that large-scale variations of surface conditions may have a substantial influence on Sahel rainfall and shows the importance of land surface parameterization in climate change modelling. In addition, it points out the interest in accurately considering the land and sea surfaces conditions in sensitivity studies on Sahel rainfall.

An Assessment of State-of-the-Art Mean Sea Surface and Geoid Models of the Arctic Ocean: Implications for Sea Ice Freeboard Retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Skourup, Henriette; Farrell, Sinéad Louise; Hendricks, Stefan; Ricker, Robert; Armitage, Thomas W. K.; Ridout, Andy; Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Haas, Christian; Baker, Steven

2017-11-01

State-of-the-art Arctic Ocean mean sea surface (MSS) models and global geoid models (GGMs) are used to support sea ice freeboard estimation from satellite altimeters, as well as in oceanographic studies such as mapping sea level anomalies and mean dynamic ocean topography. However, errors in a given model in the high-frequency domain, primarily due to unresolved gravity features, can result in errors in the estimated along-track freeboard. These errors are exacerbated in areas with a sparse lead distribution in consolidated ice pack conditions. Additionally model errors can impact ocean geostrophic currents, derived from satellite altimeter data, while remaining biases in these models may impact longer-term, multisensor oceanographic time series of sea level change in the Arctic. This study focuses on an assessment of five state-of-the-art Arctic MSS models (UCL13/04 and DTU15/13/10) and a commonly used GGM (EGM2008). We describe errors due to unresolved gravity features, intersatellite biases, and remaining satellite orbit errors, and their impact on the derivation of sea ice freeboard. The latest MSS models, incorporating CryoSat-2 sea surface height measurements, show improved definition of gravity features, such as the Gakkel Ridge. The standard deviation between models ranges 0.03-0.25 m. The impact of remaining MSS/GGM errors on freeboard retrieval can reach several decimeters in parts of the Arctic. While the maximum observed freeboard difference found in the central Arctic was 0.59 m (UCL13 MSS minus EGM2008 GGM), the standard deviation in freeboard differences is 0.03-0.06 m.

HadISDH: an updateable land surface specific humidity product for climate monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. M. Willett

2013-03-01

Full Text Available HadISDH is a near-global land surface specific humidity monitoring product providing monthly means from 1973 onwards over large-scale grids. Presented herein to 2012, annual updates are anticipated. HadISDH is an update to the land component of HadCRUH, utilising the global high-resolution land surface station product HadISD as a basis. HadISD, in turn, uses an updated version of NOAA's Integrated Surface Database. Intensive automated quality control has been undertaken at the individual observation level, as part of HadISD processing. The data have been subsequently run through the pairwise homogenisation algorithm developed for NCDC's US Historical Climatology Network monthly temperature product. For the first time, uncertainty estimates are provided at the grid-box spatial scale and monthly timescale. HadISDH is in good agreement with existing land surface humidity products in periods of overlap, and with both land air and sea surface temperature estimates. Widespread moistening is shown over the 1973–2012 period. The largest moistening signals are over the tropics with drying over the subtropics, supporting other evidence of an intensified hydrological cycle over recent years. Moistening is detectable with high (95% confidence over large-scale averages for the globe, Northern Hemisphere and tropics, with trends of 0.089 (0.080 to 0.098 g kg−1 per decade, 0.086 (0.075 to 0.097 g kg−1 per decade and 0.133 (0.119 to 0.148 g kg−1 per decade, respectively. These changes are outside the uncertainty range for the large-scale average which is dominated by the spatial coverage component; station and grid-box sampling uncertainty is essentially negligible on large scales. A very small moistening (0.013 (−0.005 to 0.031 g kg−1 per decade is found in the Southern Hemisphere, but it is not significantly different from zero and uncertainty is large. When globally averaged, 1998 is the moistest year since monitoring began in 1973, closely

Indicators and SEA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gao, Jingjing; Kørnøv, Lone; Christensen, Per

Abstract: Indicators are widely used in SEA to measure, communicate and monitor impacts from a proposed policy, plan or programme, and can improve the effectiveness for the SEA by simplifying the complexity of both assessment and presentation. Indicators can be seen as part of the implementation...... and if the information requirement for different target groups is not addressed. Indicators are widely used in SEA to measure, communicate and monitor impacts from a proposed policy, plan or programme, and can improve the effectiveness for the SEA by simplifying the complexity of both assessment and presentation...... process helping to understand, communicate and, integrate important environmental issues in planning and decision-making. On the other hand, use of indicators can also limit SEA effectiveness, if the ones chosen are biased or limited, if the aggregation gives incorrect interpretation...

Dependence of Indian monsoon rainfall on moisture fluxes across the Arabian Sea and the impact of coupled model sea surface temperature biases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, Richard C. [Met Office Hadley Centre, Devon (United Kingdom); Turner, Andrew G. [University of Reading, NCAS-Climate, Department of Meteorology, Reading (United Kingdom)

2012-06-15

The Arabian Sea is an important moisture source for Indian monsoon rainfall. The skill of climate models in simulating the monsoon and its variability varies widely, while Arabian Sea cold sea surface temperature (SST) biases are common in coupled models and may therefore influence the monsoon and its sensitivity to climate change. We examine the relationship between monsoon rainfall, moisture fluxes and Arabian Sea SST in observations and climate model simulations. Observational analysis shows strong monsoons depend on moisture fluxes across the Arabian Sea, however detecting consistent signals with contemporaneous summer SST anomalies is complicated in the observed system by air/sea coupling and large-scale induced variability such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation feeding back onto the monsoon through development of the Somali Jet. Comparison of HadGEM3 coupled and atmosphere-only configurations suggests coupled model cold SST biases significantly reduce monsoon rainfall. Idealised atmosphere-only experiments show that the weakened monsoon can be mainly attributed to systematic Arabian Sea cold SST biases during summer and their impact on the monsoon-moisture relationship. The impact of large cold SST biases on atmospheric moisture content over the Arabian Sea, and also the subsequent reduced latent heat release over India, dominates over any enhancement in the land-sea temperature gradient and results in changes to the mean state. We hypothesize that a cold base state will result in underestimation of the impact of larger projected Arabian Sea SST changes in future climate, suggesting that Arabian Sea biases should be a clear target for model development. (orig.)

Sea ice algal biomass and physiology in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin R. Arrigo

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Sea ice covers approximately 5% of the ocean surface and is one of the most extensive ecosystems on the planet. The microbial communities that live in sea ice represent an important food source for numerous organisms at a time of year when phytoplankton in the water column are scarce. Here we describe the distributions and physiology of sea ice microalgae in the poorly studied Amundsen Sea sector of the Southern Ocean. Microalgal biomass was relatively high in sea ice in the Amundsen Sea, due primarily to well developed surface communities that would have been replenished with nutrients during seawater flooding of the surface as a result of heavy snow accumulation. Elevated biomass was also occasionally observed in slush, interior, and bottom ice microhabitats throughout the region. Sea ice microalgal photophysiology appeared to be controlled by the availability of both light and nutrients. Surface communities used an active xanthophyll cycle and effective pigment sunscreens to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet and visible radiation. Acclimation to low light microhabitats in sea ice was facilitated by enhanced pigment content per cell, greater photosynthetic accessory pigments, and increased photosynthetic efficiency. Photoacclimation was especially effective in the bottom ice community, where ready access to nutrients would have allowed ice microalgae to synthesize a more efficient photosynthetic apparatus. Surprisingly, the pigment-detected prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica was an important component of surface communities (slush and surface ponds where its acclimation to high light may precondition it to seed phytoplankton blooms after the sea ice melts in spring.

14 km Sea Surface Temperature for North America, 1986 - present (NODC Accession 0099042)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This product presents local sea surface temperatures (degrees C). It is a composite gridded-image derived from 8-km resolution SST observations collected by Advanced...

Development of tools for integrated monitoring and assessment of hazardous substances and their biological effects in the Baltic Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehtonen, Kari K; Sundelin, Brita; Lang, Thomas; Strand, Jakob

2014-02-01

The need to develop biological effects monitoring to facilitate a reliable assessment of hazardous substances has been emphasized in the Baltic Sea Action Plan of the Helsinki Commission. An integrated chemical-biological approach is vitally important for the understanding and proper assessment of anthropogenic pressures and their effects on the Baltic Sea. Such an approach is also necessary for prudent management aiming at safeguarding the sustainable use of ecosystem goods and Services. The BEAST project (Biological Effects of Anthropogenic Chemical Stress: Tools for the Assessment of Ecosystem Health) set out to address this topic within the BONUS Programme. BEAST generated a large amount of quality-assured data on several biological effects parameters (biomarkers) in various marine species in different sub-regions of the Baltic Sea. New indicators (biological response measurement methods) and management tools (integrated indices) with regard to the integrated monitoring approach were suggested.

Operational SAR-based sea ice drift monitoring over the Baltic Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Karvonen

2012-07-01

Full Text Available An algorithm for computing ice drift from pairs of synthetic aperture radar (SAR images covering a common area has been developed at FMI. The algorithm has been developed based on the C-band SAR data over the Baltic Sea. It is based on phase correlation in two scales (coarse and fine with some additional constraints. The algorithm has been running operationally in the Baltic Sea from the beginning of 2011, using Radarsat-1 ScanSAR wide mode and Envisat ASAR wide swath mode data. The resulting ice drift fields are publicly available as part of the MyOcean EC project. The SAR-based ice drift vectors have been compared to the drift vectors from drifter buoys in the Baltic Sea during the first operational season, and also these validation results are shown in this paper. Also some navigationally useful sea ice quantities, which can be derived from ice drift vector fields, are presented.

The sea surface microlayer: biology, chemistry and anthropogenic enrichment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hardy, J T

1982-01-01

Recent studies increasingly point to the interface between the world's atmosphere and hydrosphere (the sea-surface microlayer) as an important biological habitat and a collection point for anthropogenic materials. Newly developed sampling techniques collect different qualitative and quantitative fractions of the upper sea surface from depths of less than one micron to several centimeters. The microlayer provides a habitat for a biota, including the larvae of many commercial fishery species, which are often highly enriched in density compared to subsurface water only a few cm below. Common enrichments for bacterioneuston, phytoneuston, and zooneuston are 10/sup 2/-10/sup 4/, 1-10/sup 2/, and 1-10, respectively. The trophic relationships or intergrated functioning of these neustonic communities have not been examined. Surface tension forces provide a physically stable microlayer, but one which is subjected to greater environmental and climatic variation than the water column. A number of poorly understood physical processes control the movement and flux of materials within and through the microlayer. The microlayer is generally coated with a natural organic film of lipid and fatty acid material overlying a polysaccharide protein complex. The microlayer serves as both a source and a sink for materials in the atmosphere and the water column. Among these materials are large quantities of anthropogenic substances which frequently occur at concentrations 10/sup 2/-10/sup 4/ greater than those in the water column. These include plastics, tar lumps, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and potentially toxic metals, such as, lead, copper, zinc, and nickel. How the unique processes occurring in the microlayer affect the fate of anthropogenic substances is not yet clear.

GHRSST Level 4 AVHRR_OI Global Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (GDS version 2) from NCEI (GDS versions 1 and 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) global Level 4 sea surface temperature analysis produced daily on a 0.25 degree grid at the NOAA...

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE and Other Data from 19940301 to 19940331 (NCEI Accession 9400060)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) data for March 1994 was provided by Kunio Sakurai of Japan Meteorological Agency, Tokyo, Japan. SST were collected from ships in El...

Sea Surface Temperature Products and Research Associated with GHRSST

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser-Weiss, Andrea K.; Minnett, Peter J.; Kaplan, Alexey; Wick, Gary A.; Castro, Sandra; Llewellyn-Jones, David; Merchant, Chris; LeBorgne, Pierre; Beggs, Helen; Donlon, Craig J.

2012-03-01

GHRSST serves its user community through the specification of operational Sea Surface Temperature (SST) products (Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4) based on international consensus. Providers of SST data from individual satellites create and deliver GHRSST-compliant near-real time products to a global GHRSST data assembly centre and a long-term stewardship facility. The GHRSST-compliant data include error estimates and supporting data for interpretation. Groups organised within GHRSST perform research on issues relevant to applying SST for air-sea exchange, for instance the Diurnal Variability Working Group (DVWG) analyses the evolution of the skin temperature. Other GHRSST groups concentrate on improving the SST estimate (Estimation and Retrievals Working Group EARWiG) and on improving the error characterization, (Satellite SST Validation Group, ST-VAL) and on improving the methods for SST analysis (Inter-Comparison Technical Advisory Group, IC-TAG). In this presentation we cover the data products and the scientific activities associated with GHRSST which might be relevant for investigating ocean-atmosphere interactions.

Surface combatant readiness to confront a sea control navy

OpenAIRE

Wissel, Nicholas E.

2008-01-01

This thesis proposes to correct the shortfalls in the US Surface Combatants ability to counter a Sea-Control Navy. The concept counters this threat using unmanned aerial systems, decoys, and a layered defense. We analyze the performance with a Filtering Model of Salvo Warfare that is an extension of the Hughes Salvo Equations. The model incorporates the diluting effect of decoys upon enemy salvos and accounts for the historical reality of leakers. We conclude that in the absence of air suppor...

A GIS Approach to Wind,SST(Sea Surface Temperature) and CHL(Chlorophyll) variations in the Caspian Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Mirkhalili, Seyedhamzeh

2016-07-01

Chlorophyll is an extremely important bio-molecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to absorb energy from light. At the base of the ocean food web are single-celled algae and other plant-like organisms known as Phytoplankton. Like plants on land, Phytoplankton use chlorophyll and other light-harvesting pigments to carry out photosynthesis. Where Phytoplankton grow depends on available sunlight, temperature, and nutrient levels. In this research a GIS Approach using ARCGIS software and QuikSCAT satellite data was applied to visualize WIND,SST(Sea Surface Temperature) and CHL(Chlorophyll) variations in the Caspian Sea.Results indicate that increase in chlorophyll concentration in coastal areas is primarily driven by terrestrial nutrients and does not imply that warmer SST will lead to an increase in chlorophyll concentration and consequently Phytoplankton abundance.

Adriatic Sea surface temperature and ocean colour variability during the MFSPP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Böhm

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Two years and six months of night-time Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR sea surface temperature (SST and daytime Sea viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWiFS data collected during the MFSPP have been used to examine spatial and temporal variability of SST and chlorophyll (Chl in the Adriatic Sea. Flows along the Albanian and the Italian coasts can be distinguished year-round in the monthly averaged Chl but only in the colder months in the monthly averaged SST’s. The Chl monthly-averaged fields supply less information on circulation features away from coastal boundaries and where conditions are generally oligotrophic, except for the early spring bloom in the Southern Adriatic Gyre. To better characterise the year-to-year and seasonal variability, exploratory data analysis techniques, particularly the plotting of multiple Chl-SST histograms, are employed to make joint quantitative use of monthly-averaged fields. Modal water mass (MW, corresponding to the Chl-SST pairs in the neighbourhood of the maximum of each monthly histogram, are chosen to represent the temporal and spatial evolution of the prevalent processes and their variability in the Adriatic Sea. Over an annual cycle, the MW followed a triangular path with the most pronounced seasonal and interannual variations in both Chl-SST properties and spatial distributions of the MW in the colder part of the year. The winter of 1999 is the colder (by at least 0.5°C and most eutrophic (by 0.2 mg/m 3. The fall of the year 2000 is characterised by the lack of cooling in the month of November that was observed in the previous year. In addition to characterising the MW, the two-dimensional histogram technique allows a distinction to be made between different months in terms of the spread of SST values at a given Chl concentration. During spring and summer, the spread is minimal indicating surface homothermal conditions. In fall and winter, on the other hand, a spread of points

Low Abundance of Plastic Fragments in the Surface Waters of the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Martí, Elisa

2017-11-08

The floating plastic debris along the Arabian coast of the Red Sea was sampled by using surface-trawling plankton nets. A total of 120 sampling sites were spread out over the near-shore waters along 1,500 km of coastline during seven cruises performed during 2016 and 2017. Plastic debris, dominated by millimeter-sized pieces, was constituted mostly of fragments of rigid objects (73%) followed by pieces of films (17%), fishing lines (6%), and foam (4%). These fragments were mainly made up by polyethylene (69%) and polypropylene (21%). Fibers, likely released from synthetic textiles, were ubiquitous and abundant, although were analyzed independently due to the risk of including non-plastic fibers and airborne contamination of samples in spite of the precautions taken. The plastic concentrations (excluding possible plastic fibers) contrasts with those found in other semi-closed seas, such as the neighboring Mediterranean. They were relatively low all over the Red Sea ( < 50,000 items km; mean ± SD = 3,546 ± 8,154 plastic item km, 1.1 ± 3.0 g km) showing no clear spatial relationship with the distribution of coastal population. Results suggests a low plastic waste input from land as the most plausible explanation for this relative shortage of plastic in the surface waters of the Red Sea; however, the additional intervention of particular processes of surface plastic removal by fish or the filtering activity of the extensive coral reefs along the coastline cannot be discarded. In addition, our study highlights the relevance of determining specific regional conversion rates of mismanaged plastic waste to marine debris, accounting for the role of near-shore activities (e.g., beach tourism, recreational navigation), in order to estimate plastic waste inputs into the ocean.

Low Abundance of Plastic Fragments in the Surface Waters of the Red Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisa Martí

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The floating plastic debris along the Arabian coast of the Red Sea was sampled by using surface-trawling plankton nets. A total of 120 sampling sites were spread out over the near-shore waters along 1,500 km of coastline during seven cruises performed during 2016 and 2017. Plastic debris, dominated by millimeter-sized pieces, was constituted mostly of fragments of rigid objects (73% followed by pieces of films (17%, fishing lines (6%, and foam (4%. These fragments were mainly made up by polyethylene (69% and polypropylene (21%. Fibers, likely released from synthetic textiles, were ubiquitous and abundant, although were analyzed independently due to the risk of including non-plastic fibers and airborne contamination of samples in spite of the precautions taken. The plastic concentrations (excluding possible plastic fibers contrasts with those found in other semi-closed seas, such as the neighboring Mediterranean. They were relatively low all over the Red Sea (<50,000 items km−2; mean ± SD = 3,546 ± 8,154 plastic item km−2, 1.1 ± 3.0 g km−2 showing no clear spatial relationship with the distribution of coastal population. Results suggests a low plastic waste input from land as the most plausible explanation for this relative shortage of plastic in the surface waters of the Red Sea; however, the additional intervention of particular processes of surface plastic removal by fish or the filtering activity of the extensive coral reefs along the coastline cannot be discarded. In addition, our study highlights the relevance of determining specific regional conversion rates of mismanaged plastic waste to marine debris, accounting for the role of near-shore activities (e.g., beach tourism, recreational navigation, in order to estimate plastic waste inputs into the ocean.

Trace elements in the sea surface microlayer: rapid responses to changes in aerosol deposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alina M. Ebling

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Natural and anthropogenic aerosols are a significant source of trace elements to oligotrophic ocean surface waters, where they provide episodic pulses of limiting micronutrients for the microbial community. However, little is known about the fate of trace elements at the air-sea interface, i.e. the sea surface microlayer. In this study, samples of aerosols, sea surface microlayer, and underlying water column were collected in the Florida Keys during a dusty season (July 2014 and non-dusty season (May 2015 and analyzed for the dissolved and particulate elements Al, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb. Microlayer samples were collected using a cylinder of ultra-pure SiO2 (quartz glass, a novel adaptation of the glass plate technique. A significant dust deposition event occurred during the 2014 sampling period which resulted in elevated concentrations of trace elements in the microlayer. Residence times in the microlayer from this event ranged from 12 to 94 minutes for dissolved trace elements and from 1.3 to 3.4 minutes for particulate trace elements. These residence times are potentially long enough for the atmospherically derived trace elements to undergo chemical and biological alterations within the microlayer. Characterizing the trace element distributions within the three regimes is an important step towards our overall goals of understanding the rates and mechanisms of the solubilization of trace elements following aeolian dust deposition and how this might affect microorganisms in surface waters.

Exposure to elevated sea-surface temperatures below the bleaching threshold impairs coral recovery and regeneration following injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonesso, Joshua Louis; Leggat, William; Ainsworth, Tracy Danielle

2017-01-01

Elevated sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are linked to an increase in the frequency and severity of bleaching events due to temperatures exceeding corals' upper thermal limits. The temperatures at which a breakdown of the coral- Symbiodinium endosymbiosis (coral bleaching) occurs are referred to as the upper thermal limits for the coral species. This breakdown of the endosymbiosis results in a reduction of corals' nutritional uptake, growth, and tissue integrity. Periods of elevated sea surface temperature, thermal stress and coral bleaching are also linked to increased disease susceptibility and an increased frequency of storms which cause injury and physical damage to corals. Herein we aimed to determine the capacity of corals to regenerate and recover from injuries (removal of apical tips) sustained during periods of elevated sea surface temperatures which result in coral stress responses, but which do not result in coral bleaching (i.e., sub-bleaching thermal stress events). In this study, exposure of the species Acropora aspera to an elevated SST of 32 °C (2 °C below the bleaching threshold, 34 °C) was found to result in reduced fluorescence of green fluorescent protein (GFP), reduced skeletal calcification and a lack of branch regrowth at the site of injury, compared to corals maintained under ambient SST conditions (26 °C). Corals maintained under normal, ambient, sea surface temperatures expressed high GFP fluorescence at the injury site, underwent a rapid regeneration of the coral branch apical tip within 12 days of sustaining injury, and showed extensive regrowth of the coral skeleton. Taken together, our results have demonstrated that periods of sustained increased sea surface temperatures, below the corals' bleaching threshold but above long-term summertime averages, impair coral recovery from damage, regardless of the onset or occurrence of coral bleaching.

Speciated particle dry deposition to the sea surface: Results from ASEPS '97

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pryor, S.C.; Barthelmie, R.J.; Geernaert, L.L.S.

1999-01-01

on Precipitation Scavenging and Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Processes. AMS, Richland, Washington, USA, 12pp.) model to calculate size-segregated dry deposition of particle inorganic nitrogen compounds to the western Baltic during the late Spring of 1997 based on data collected as part of the Air-Sea Exchange...

Remote sensing of surface currents in the Fraser River plume with the SeaSonde HF radar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hodgins, D.O.; Hardy, J.S.; Tinis, S.E.

1994-09-01

The SeaSonde 12.5-MHz radar system was deployed to measure surface currents in the Juan de Fuca Strait in July 1992. Reliable data were obtained from the two radars installed, and successful trials were conducted with the Infosat satellite link to transmit data from the remote site. Data recovery from the SeaSonde was generally good, with maximum ranges varying from 15 km to over 30 km. Sea echo return strength at both radars was correlated with wind, consistent with lower Bragg scattering at lower wind speeds. A simple surface current forecasting algorithm, based on decomposing the signal into tidal and residual bands, was examined. It was found that tides account for the greatest portion of currents in the study area, and could be forecasted out to 48 h with 1-2 d of input data. The nonpredictable, fluctuating part of the current signal was isolated and its statistics were calculated. The algorithm tests showed that the SeaSonde data can be used to measure and predict the slowly varying tidal and mean flow velocities, as well as the random part of the signal, both of which are important in oil spill modelling. Surface flow patterns and time-series data from the SeaSonde measurements, and from a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, were compared from an oil spill modelling perspective. In general, surface flow patterns from the model were smoother than those observed. The differences were most noticeable in the cross-channel direction. The radar data indicate that a flow-dependent eddy viscosity formulation, with coefficients calibrated to reproduce the features observed with the radar, would improve agreement and yield a good model for data assimilation. 21 refs., 478 figs., 3 tabs

Pleurochrysis pseudoroscoffensis (Prymnesiophyceae) blooms on the surface of the Salton Sea, California

Science.gov (United States)

Reifel, K.M.; McCoy, M.P.; Tiffany, M.A.; Rocke, T.E.; Trees, C.C.; Barlow, S.B.; Faulkner, D.J.; Hurlbert, S.H.

2001-01-01

Dense populations of the coccolithophore Pleurochrysis pseudoroscoffensis were found in surface films at several locations around the Salton Sea in February-August, 1999. An unidentified coccolithophorid was also found in low densities in earlier studies of the lake (1955-1956). To our knowledge, this is the first record of this widespread marine species in any lake. Samples taken from surface films typically contained high densities of one or two other phytoplankton species as well as high densities of the coccolithophore. Presence or absence of specific algal pigments was used to validate direct cell counts. In a preliminary screen using a brine shrimp lethality assay, samples showed moderate activity. Extracts were then submitted to a mouse bioassay, and no toxic activity was observed. These results indicate that blooms of P. pseudoroscoffensis are probably not toxic to vertebrates and do not contribute to the various mortality events of birds and fish that occur in the Salton Sea.

Biogeographical distribution and diversity of bacterial communities in surface sediments of the South China Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Tao; Wang, Peng

2013-05-01

This paper aims at an investigation of the features of bacterial communities in surface sediments of the South China Sea (SCS). In particular, biogeographical distribution patterns and the phylogenetic diversity of bacteria found in sediments collected from a coral reef platform, a continental slope, and a deep-sea basin were determined. Bacterial diversity was measured by an observation of 16S rRNA genes, and 18 phylogenetic groups were identified in the bacterial clone library. Planctomycetes, Deltaproteobacteria, candidate division OP11, and Alphaproteobacteria made up the majority of the bacteria in the samples, with their mean bacterial clones being 16%, 15%, 12%, and 9%, respectively. By comparison, the bacterial communities found in the SCS surface sediments were significantly different from other previously observed deep-sea bacterial communities. This research also emphasizes the fact that geographical factors have an impact on the biogeographical distribution patterns of bacterial communities. For instance, canonical correspondence analyses illustrated that the percentage of sand weight and water depth are important factors affecting the bacterial community composition. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of adequately determining the relationship between geographical factors and the distribution of bacteria in the world's seas and oceans.

Monitoring hydrocarbons and trace metals in Beaufort Sea sediments and organisms. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehm, P.; LeBlanc, L.; Trefry, J.; Marajh-Whittemore, P.; Brown, J.

1990-01-01

As part of the Minerals Management Service's environmental studies of oil and gas exploration and production activities in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, a study was conducted in 1989 to monitor the marine environment for inputs of chemicals related to drilling and exploration. The 1989 Beaufort Sea Monitoring Program (BSMP) was designed to monitor sediments and selected benthic organisms for trace metals and hydrocarbons so as to infer any changes that might have resulted from drilling and production activities. A series of 49 stations were sampled during the program. The study area extended from Cape Halkett on the western end of Harrison Bay to Griffin Point, east of Barter Island. The sampling design combined an area-wide approach in which stations were treated as replicates of 8 specific geographic regions, with an activity-specific approach, which focused on the potential establishment of metal or hydrocarbon concentration gradients with distance from the Endicott Production Field in Prudhoe Bay. The analytical program focused on the analysis of the fine-fraction of the sediment for a series of trace metals and elements and the analysis of a suite of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons in the bulk sediment. The total organic carbon (TOB) content and the grain size distribution in the sediments were determined as well. Benthic bivalve molluscs, representative of several feeding types were collected from those stations for which data previously existed from the 1984-1986 BSMP, and were analyzed for metals and saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons. The benthic amphipods were collected, pooled by station or region, and analyzed as well

A global high resolution mean sea surface from multi mission satellite altimetry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Per

1999-01-01

Satellite altimetry from the GEOSAT and the ERS-1 geodetic missions provide altimeter data with a very dense coverage. Hence, the heights of the sea surface may be recovered very detailed. Satellite altimetry from the 35 days repeat cycle mission of the ERS satellites and, especially, from the 10...

Sea Surface Temperature Modeling using Radial Basis Function Networks With a Dynamically Weighted Particle Filter

KAUST Repository

Ryu, Duchwan

2013-03-01

The sea surface temperature (SST) is an important factor of the earth climate system. A deep understanding of SST is essential for climate monitoring and prediction. In general, SST follows a nonlinear pattern in both time and location and can be modeled by a dynamic system which changes with time and location. In this article, we propose a radial basis function network-based dynamic model which is able to catch the nonlinearity of the data and propose to use the dynamically weighted particle filter to estimate the parameters of the dynamic model. We analyze the SST observed in the Caribbean Islands area after a hurricane using the proposed dynamic model. Comparing to the traditional grid-based approach that requires a supercomputer due to its high computational demand, our approach requires much less CPU time and makes real-time forecasting of SST doable on a personal computer. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. © 2013 American Statistical Association.

Automation system for tritium contaminated surface monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Culcer, Mihai; Iliescu, Mariana; Curuia, Marian; Raceanu, Mircea; Enache, Adrian; Stefanescu, Ioan; Ducu, Catalin; Malinovschi, Viorel

2005-01-01

The low energy of betas makes tritium difficult to detect. However, there are several methods used in tritium detection, such as liquid scintillation and ionization chambers. Tritium on or near a surface can be also detected using proportional counter and, recently, solid state devices. The paper presents our results in the design and achievement of a surface tritium monitor using a PIN photodiode as a solid state charged particle detector to count betas emitted from the surface. That method allows continuous, real-time and non-destructively measuring of tritium. (authors)

Marine environmental monitoring related to sea disposal of radioactive waste in the NE Atlantic Ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bettencourt, A.O.; Elias, M.D.T.; Ferrador, G.C.

1988-01-01

Reference is made to the sea disposal of packaged radioactive waste in the NE Atlantic and to the role of the OCDE Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) since 1967, in the dumping operations. The objectives of marine environmental monitoring in relation to sea disposal of radioactive wastes are described as well as the coordinated research and environmental surveillance programme (CRESP) developed within NEA frame. The Portuguese on-going programme in this field is presented and the results concerning measurements of 239+240 Pu, 238 Pu, 241 Am and 137 Cs in samples of water, sediments and fish collected at Madeira and Continental Portuguese coasts, are discussed. It was observed that these radionuclides concentrations are lower for deep-sea fishes than for the shallow-water ones. The obtained results are compared with those found in the literature. From the observation of the large spectrum of results available, it can be concluded that no generalized contamination of the marine environment due to the sea dumping of radioactive wastes if observed at present. On the other hand, there is an interest in pursuing analyses of deep-sea fish with the aim of early detection of any possible modifications in the actual levels of radioactivity in the marine environment. (author) [pt

Acidification at the Surface in the East Sea: A Coupled Climate-carbon Cycle Model Study

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Young-Gyu; Seol, Kyung-Hee; Boo, Kyung-On; Lee, Johan; Cho, Chunho; Byun, Young-Hwa; Seo, Seongbong

2018-05-01

This modeling study investigates the impacts of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration on acidification in the East Sea. A historical simulation for the past three decades (1980 to 2010) was performed using the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model (version 2), a coupled climate model with atmospheric, terrestrial and ocean cycles. As the atmospheric CO2 concentration increased, acidification progressed in the surface waters of the marginal sea. The acidification was similar in magnitude to observations and models of acidification in the global ocean. However, in the global ocean, the acidification appears to be due to increased in-situ oceanic CO2 uptake, whereas local processes had stronger effects in the East Sea. pH was lowered by surface warming and by the influx of water with higher dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from the northwestern Pacific. Due to the enhanced advection of DIC, the partial pressure of CO2 increased faster than in the overlying air; consequently, the in-situ oceanic uptake of CO2 decreased.

Tidal influence on the sea-to-air transfer of CH4 in the coastal ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahm, Doshik; Kim, Guebuem; Lee, Yong-Woo; Nam, Sungh-Yun; Kim, Kyung-Ryul; Kim, Kuh

2006-01-01

We obtained real-time monitoring data of water temperature, salinity, wind, current, CH 4 and other oceanographic parameters in a coastal bay in the southern sea of Korea from July 8 to August 15, 2003, using an environmental monitoring buoy. In general, the transfer velocity of environmental gases across the air-sea interface is obtained exclusively from empirical relationships with wind speeds. However, our monitoring data demonstrate that the agitation of the aqueous boundary layer is controlled significantly by tidal turbulence, similar to the control exercised by wind stress in the coastal ocean. The sea-to-air transfer of CH 4 is enhanced significantly during spring tide due to an increase in the gas transfer velocity and vertical CH 4 transport from bottom water to the surface layer. Thus, our unique time-series results imply that the sea-to-air transfer of gases, such as CH 4 , DMS, DMHg, N 2 O, CO 2 and 222 Rn, from highly enriched coastal bottom waters, is controlled not only by episodic wind events but also by regular tidal turbulence in the coastal ocean

Radiological emergency monitoring systems in the Nordic and Baltic Sea countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Devell, L.; Lauritzen, B.

2001-02-01

This report describes the national systems for emergency monitoring of radioactivity in the five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as in the six Baltic Sea countries, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Russian Federation. Similarities and differences regarding strategy and equipment are shown briefly. The main feature for early warning is the national network of automatic gamma monitoring stations. This network is supplemented by manual stations and/or survey teams, often measuring at predetermined locations. Air filter stations are used for nuclide analyses of particles and gases. Dose rate maps and fallout maps of ground deposited nuclides, e.g., cesium-137, are produced based on data from airborne measurements, monitoring stations, survey teams and environmental samples. Most countries describe programs for checking food contamination. Whole body counting and organ measurements are used to determine internal contamination. External contamination of people, vehicles, goods etc is checked with survey meters and other equipment at checkpoint or as needed. Field measurements of various kinds complete the national systems. Possible future development and planned improvement are discussed. This report is an extension and update of a previous NKS report covering the Nordic countries. (au)

Remote environmental monitoring of the upper sea (REMUS) : Implementation in the strait of Gibraltar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mrabet, R.El.; Dehbi, N.; Khoukhi, T.El.; Laissaoui, A.; Delecaut, G.; Lacroix, J.P.; Abril, J.M.

2008-01-01

Full text: Interest in the need of environmental monitoring in the Gibraltar strait, in which a wide range of oceanic processes and interactions of global interest occur, has recently increased in order to ensure proper surveillance and control of marine pollution and consequently to complying with international recommendations and binding agreements pertaining to the protection of marine environment. The effects of the english submarine incident (end 2000) in the Gibraltar strait and the radiological incident of Algeciras, Spain (melting of a Cs- 137 source at a steel manufactory ACENIROX) suggest an adequate national and regional technical capabilities and expertise for long-term environmental monitoring as a key to control the area and to develop emergency model in the case of any future accident in the zone. REMUS involves new technologic developments that allow real-time and continuous remote monitoring of sea areas using autonomous probes in anchored buoys, powered with solar panels and equipped with low consumption sensors and one onboard PC that communicates via GSM with central laboratory in land. Sensors incorporate a very sensitive (few Bq m -3 ) NaI detector for gamma-emitting radionuclides, oceanographic instruments (current meters, CTDs), and chemical sensors (pH,chlorophyl1,..). This technology allows the remote environmental monitoring of the upper sea (although some additional sensors can be equally deployed in depth) combining the interest in the early detection of environmental risks (releases of many hazardous materials) and the fundmental research in marine systems, as chalenge in the preservation of natural resources and the human health through the knowledge. Thus, the development of predictive models is also one objective of this project. [fr

A model study of the seasonal cycle of the Arabian Sea surface temperature

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shetye, S.R.

The annual variation of the SST along a zonal strip from the coast of Somalia to the southwest coast of India was simulated using available data (monthly-mean heat and momentum fluxes across the air-sea interface, surface advective field, etc...

Chemistry of the sea surface microlayer. 1. Fabrication and testing of the sampler

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Singbal, S.Y.S.; Narvekar, P.V.

A screen sampler fabricated to study the sea surface microlayer (SML) has been described. The screen sampler was tested in the Mandovi estuary and adjacent waters. Physico-chemical parameters of the subsurface waters from a depth of 25 cm was also...

Response of water temperature to surface wave effects in the Baltic Sea: simulations with the coupled NEMO-WAM model

Science.gov (United States)

Alari, Victor; Staneva, Joanna; Breivik, Øyvind; Bidlot, Jean-Raymond; Mogensen, Kristian; Janssen, Peter

2016-04-01

The effects of wind waves on the Baltic Sea water temperature has been studied by coupling the hydrodynamical model NEMO with the wave model WAM. The wave forcing terms that have been taken into consideration are: Stokes-Coriolis force, seastate dependent energy flux and sea-state dependent momentum flux. The combined role of these processes as well as their individual contributions on simulated temperature is analysed. The results indicate a pronounced effect of waves on surface temperature, on the distribution of vertical temperature and on upwellinǵs. In northern parts of the Baltic Sea a warming of the surface layer occurs in the wave included simulations. This in turn reduces the cold bias between simulated and measured data. The warming is primarily caused by sea-state dependent energy flux. Wave induced cooling is mostly observed in near coastal areas and is mainly due to Stokes-Coriolis forcing. The latter triggers effect of intensifying upwellings near the coasts, depending on the direction of the wind. The effect of sea-state dependent momentum flux is predominantly to warm the surface layer. During the summer the wave induced water temperature changes were up to 1 °C.

Coupling of WRF meteorological model to WAM spectral wave model through sea surface roughness at the Balearic Sea: impact on wind and wave forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Tolosana-Delgado, R.; Soret, A.; Jorba, O.; Baldasano, J. M.; Sánchez-Arcilla, A.

2012-04-01

Meteorological models, like WRF, usually describe the earth surface characteristics by tables that are function of land-use. The roughness length (z0) is an example of such approach. However, over sea z0 is modeled by the Charnock (1955) relation, linking the surface friction velocity u*2 with the roughness length z0 of turbulent air flow, z0 = α-u2* g The Charnock coefficient α may be considered a measure of roughness. For the sea surface, WRF considers a constant roughness α = 0.0185. However, there is evidence that sea surface roughness should depend on wave energy (Donelan, 1982). Spectral wave models like WAM, model the evolution and propagation of wave energy as a function of wind, and include a richer sea surface roughness description. Coupling WRF and WAM is thus a common way to improve the sea surface roughness description of WRF. WAM is a third generation wave model, solving the equation of advection of wave energy subject to input/output terms of: wind growth, energy dissipation and resonant non-linear wave-wave interactions. Third generation models work on the spectral domain. WAM considers the Charnock coefficient α a complex yet known function of the total wind input term, which depends on the wind velocity and on the Charnock coefficient again. This is solved iteratively (Janssen et al., 1990). Coupling of meteorological and wave models through a common Charnock coefficient is operationally done in medium-range met forecasting systems (e.g., at ECMWF) though the impact of coupling for smaller domains is not yet clearly assessed (Warner et al, 2010). It is unclear to which extent the additional effort of coupling improves the local wind and wave fields, in comparison to the effects of other factors, like e.g. a better bathymetry and relief resolution, or a better circulation information which might have its influence on local-scale meteorological processes (local wind jets, local convection, daily marine wind regimes, etc.). This work, within the

An Assessment of State-of-the-Art Mean Sea Surface and Geoid Models of the Arctic Ocean: Implications for Sea Ice Freeboard Retrieval

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skourup, Henriette; Farrell, Sinéad Louise; Hendricks, Stefan

2017-01-01

in a given model in the high frequency domain, primarily due to unresolved gravity features, can result in errors in the estimated along-track freeboard. These errors are exacerbated in areas with a sparse lead distribution in consolidated ice pack conditions. Additionally model errors can impact ocean......State-of-the-art Arctic Ocean mean sea surface (MSS) models and global geoid models (GGMs) are used to support sea ice freeboard estimation from satellite altimeters, as well as in oceanographic studies such as mapping sea level anomalies and mean dynamic ocean topography. However, errors...... geostrophic currents, derived from satellite altimeter data, while remaining biases in these models may impact longer-term, multi-sensor oceanographic time-series of sea level change in the Arctic. This study focuses on an assessment of five state-of-the-art Arctic MSS models (UCL13/04, DTU15...

Different Planctomycetes diversity patterns in latitudinal surface seawater of the open sea and in sediment.

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Qinglong; Jiao, Nianzhi

2008-04-01

The 16S rRNA gene approach was applied to investigate the diversity of Planctomycetes in latitudinal surface seawater of the Western Pacific Ocean. The results revealed that the Pirellula-Rhodopirellula-Blastopirellula clade dominated the Planctomycetes community at all surface seawater sites while the minority genera Gemmata and Planctomyces were only found at sites H5 and H2 respectively. Although the clone frequency of the PRB clade seemed stable (between 83.3% and 94.1%) for all surface seawater sites, the retrieved Pirellula-Rhodopirellula-Blastopirellula clade presented unexpected diversity. Interestingly, low latitude seawater appeared to have higher diversity than mid-latitudes. integral-LIBSHUFF software analysis revealed significantly different diversity patterns between in latitudinal surface seawater and in the sediment of South China Sea station M2896. Our data suggested that different hydrological and geographic features contributed to the shift of Planctomycetes diversity in marine environments. This is, to our knowledge, the first systematic assessment of Planctomycetes in latitudinal surface seawater of the open sea and the first comparison of diversity pattern between surface seawater and sediments and has broadened our understanding of Planctomycetes diversity in marine environments.

NOAA Optimum Interpolation 1/4 Degree Daily Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) Analysis, Version 2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) analysis product was developed using an optimum interpolation (OI) technique. The SST analysis has a spatial grid...

Sea-ice monitoring by ship-based visual observation during JARE ―Simplification of observation method based on the ASPeCt protocol―

OpenAIRE

Kay I. Ohshima; Shuki Ushio; Akihisa S. Otsuki

2006-01-01

A protocol for ship-based visual observation of sea ice is proposed for the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE). The protocol is a simplified version of the ASPeCt protocol, used for extracting quantitative information on sea ice. The ship-based visual observations started from JARE-46. In the pack ice region, ice thickness, ratio of deformed ice, and total ice volume increased toward the coast. Continuous monitoring of sea ice, particularly its thickness, by ship-based observation ...

Enhancement of the surface methane hydrate-bearing layer based on the specific microorganisms form deep seabed sediment in Japan Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Hata, T.; Yoneda, J.; Yamamoto, K.

2017-12-01

A methane hydrate-bearing layer located near the Japan Sea has been investigated as a new potential energy resource. In this study examined the feasibility of the seabed surface sediment strength located in the Japan Sea improvement technologies for enhancing microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) process. First, the authors cultivated the specific urease production bacterium culture medium from this surface methane hydrate-bearing layer in the seabed (-600m depth) of Japan Sea. After that, two types of the laboratory test (consolidated-drained triaxial tests) were conducted using this specific culture medium from the seabed in the Japan Sea near the Toyama Prefecture and high urease activities bacterium named Bacillus pasteurii. The main outcomes of this research are as follows. 1) Specific culture medium focused on the urease production bacterium can enhancement of the urease activities from the methane hydrate-bearing layer near the Japan Sea side, 2) This specific culture medium can be enhancement of the surface layer strength, 3) The microbial induced carbonate precipitation process can increase the particle size compared to that of the original particles coating the calcite layer surface, 4) The mechanism for increasing the soil strength is based on the addition of cohesion like a cement stabilized soil.

Ecological characterization of toxic phytoplankton species (Dinophysis spp., Dinophyceae) in Slovenian mariculture areas (Gulf of Trieste, Adriatic Sea) and the implications for monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

France, Janja . E-mail france@mbss.org; Mozetic, Patricija

2006-01-01

Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) events are often registered in Slovenian mariculture areas (Gulf of Trieste, Adriatic Sea) and are related to the occurrence of Dinophysis spp. The annual dynamic of this genus and succession of the most important species were studied at two shellfish farms during monitoring fieldwork in the period 1995-2003. Results indicate that the Dinophysis genus maintains a relatively stable inter-annual dynamic at both sites. The Dinophysis community is characterized by two surface maxima in June and September, while in the middle layer only the autumn peak is pronounced (peak median 92 cells l -1 ). Occasional abundance maxima of around 2000 cells l -1 in the surface layer indicate that potential outbursts of toxic species are less predictable than their seasonal dynamic. On the basis of multivariate analysis, Dinophysis sacculus was characterized as a typical late spring-early summer species, and Dinophysis caudata and Dinophysis fortii as autumn species. Correlation analysis revealed the influence of stratified conditions only on the most abundant species, D. sacculus. Ecological characteristics of the species were combined with shellfish safety requirements towards a more effective monitoring

Support of Gulf of Mexico Hydrate Research Consortium: Activities to Support Establishment of a Sea Floor Monitoring Station Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. Robert Woolsey; Thomas M. McGee; Carol Blanton Lutken; Elizabeth Stidham

2007-03-31

The Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium (GOM-HRC) was established in 1999 to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research. The Consortium is administered by the Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology, CMRET, at the University of Mississippi. The primary objective of the group is to design and emplace a remote monitoring station or sea floor observatory (MS/SFO) on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2007, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission, although unavoidably delayed by hurricanes and other disturbances, necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the marine environment, including sea water and sea-floor sediments, on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. In 2005, biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health, was added to the mission of the MS/SFO. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in the arena of gas hydrates research. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembled to promote innovative research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. The observatory has now achieved a microbial dimension in addition to the geophysical, geological, and geochemical components it had already included. Initial components of the observatory, a probe that collects pore-fluid samples and another that records sea floor temperatures, were deployed in Mississippi Canyon 118 (MC118) in May of 2005. Follow-up deployments, planned for fall 2005, had to be postponed due to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina (and later, Rita) on the Gulf Coast. Station/observatory completion, anticipated for 2007, will likely be delayed by at least one year. These delays caused scheduling and deployments difficulties but many