A model, describing the influence of water management alternatives on dike stability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. W. M. Lambert

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The awareness is rising that economic effects of Land Subsidence are high. Nevertheless, quantifying these economic losses is difficult and, as far as known, not yet done in a sophisticated way. Also, to be able to decide about future strategies, for example to avoid or decrease subsidence, it is necessary to know the financial consequences of measures and possible solutions. As a first step to quantify these economic effects, a MODFLOW-SCR (coupled MODFLOW-Settlements model is coupled with the model DAM. Based on the local stratigraphy, the shape and composition of the existing dike or levee, the level of the surface water and the surface level, macro-stability of the dike is calculated and – if the dike does not meet the required stability – adaptions are proposed. The model enables to separate effects that are caused by sea-level rise and the effects of subsidence. Coupling the DAM model with an economic model to calculate costs of these adaptions is under construction.

METHODOLOGY FOR HYDRAULIC CALCULATION OF RIVER REGULATION AND DETERMINATION OF DIKE PARAMETERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. I. Mikhnevich

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Territory protection against flood water inundation and creation of polder systems are carried out with the help of protection dikes. One of the main requirements to the composition of polder systems in flood plains is a location of border dikes beyond meander belt in order to avoid their erosion when meander development occurs. Meander belt width can be determined on the basis of the analysis of multi-year land surveying pertaining top river-bed building and in the case when such data is not available this parameter is calculated in accordance with the Snishchenko formula. While banking-up a river bed a flooded area is decreasing and, consequently, water level in inter-dike space and rate of flood water are significantly increasing. For this reason it is necessary to locate dikes at a such distance from a river bed which will not cause rather high increase in water level and flow velocity in the inter-dike space. Methodology for hydraulic calculation of river regulation has been developed in order to substantiate design parameters for levee systems, creation of favourable hydraulic regime in these systems and provision of sustainability for dikes. Its main elements are calculations of pass-through capacity of the leveed channel and rise of water level in inter-dike space, and distance between dikes and their crest level. Peculiar feature of the proposed calculated formulae is an interaction consideration of channel and inundated flows. Their mass-exchanging process results in slowing-down of the channel flow and acceleration of the inundated flow. This occurrence is taken into account and coefficients of kinematic efficiency are introduced to the elements of water flow rate in the river channel and flood plain, respectively. The adduced dependencies for determination of a dike crest level (consequently their height take into consideration a rise of water level in inter-dike space for two types of polder systems: non-inundable (winter dikes with

[Estimation of spur dike-affected fish habitat area].

Science.gov (United States)

Ray-Shyan, Wu; Yan-Ru, Chen; Yi-Liang, Ge

2012-04-01

Based on the HEC-RAS and River 2D modes, and taking 5% change rate of weighted usable area (WUA) as the threshold to define the spur dike- affected area of target fish species Acrossocheilus paradoxus in Fazi River in Taiwan, this paper studied the affected area of the fish habitat by spur dike, and, in combining with the references about the installations of spur dikes in Taiwan in recent 10 years, analyzed the relative importance of related affecting factors such as dike height, dike length (water block rate), average slope gradient of river way, single or double spur dike, and flow discharge. In spite of the length of the dike, the affected area in downstream was farther, and was about 2-6 times as large as that in upstream. The ratio of the affected area in downstream / upstream decreased with increasing slope gradient, but increased with increasing dike length and flow discharge. When the discharge was approximate to 10 years return periods, the ratio of the affected area would be close to a constant of 2. Building double spur dike would produce a better WUA than building single spur dike.

Constraints on dike propagation from continuous GPS measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Segall, P.; Cervelli, Peter; Owen, S.; Lisowski, M.; Miklius, Asta

2001-01-01

The January 1997 East Rift Zone eruption on Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, occurred within a network of continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. The GPS measurements reveal the temporal history of deformation during dike intrusion, beginning ??? 8 hours prior to the onset of the eruption. The dike volume as a function of time, estimated from the GPS data using elastic Green's functions for a homogeneous half-space, shows that only two thirds of the final dike volume accumulated prior to the eruption and the rate of volume change decreased with time. These observations are inconsistent with simple models of dike propagation, which predict accelerating dike volume up to the time of the eruption and little or no change thereafter. Deflationary tilt changes at Kilauea summit mirror the inferred dike volume history, suggesting that the rate of dike propagation is limited by flow of magma into the dike. A simple, lumped parameter model of a coupled dike magma chamber system shows that the tendency for a dike to end in an eruption (rather than intrusion) is favored by high initial dike pressures, compressional stress states, large, compressible magma reservoirs, and highly conductive conduits linking the dike and source reservoirs. Comparison of model predictions to the observed dike volume history, the ratio of erupted to intruded magma, and the deflationary history of the summit magma chamber suggest that most of the magma supplied to the growing dike came from sources near to the eruption through highly conductive conduits. Interpretation is complicated by the presence of multiple source reservoirs, magma vesiculation and cooling, as well as spatial variations in dike-normal stress. Reinflation of the summit magma chamber following the eruption was measured by GPS and accompanied a rise in the level of the Pu'u O'o lava lake. For a spheroidal chamber these data imply a summit magma chamber volume of ??? 20 km3, consistent with recent estimates from seismic

Red-Sea rift magmatism near Al Lith, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Pallister, J.S.

1986-01-01

A newly recognized Tertiary dike complex and comagmatic volcanic rocks exposed on the central Saudi Arabian coastal plain record early stages of magmatism related to Red Sea rifting. Intrusive and stratigraphic relationships, and new potassium-argon dating indicate episodic magmatism from about 30 Ma to the present. Additional stratigraphic and radiometric evidence suggests that limited rift-related magmatism may have began as early as about 50 Ma ago. An early phase of crustal extension in the region was accompanied by faulting and graben formation and by dike-swarm intrusion. The style of extension and intrusion changed approximately 20 Ma ago. Localized volcanism and sheeted dike injection ceased and were replaced by the intrusion of thick gabbro dikes. This change may mark the onset of sea-floor spreading in the central Red Sea.

The Importance of Hydraulic Structures for Society: Quay Walls and Dikes in the Netherlands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

de Gijt J.G.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Since mankind exists, men have undertaken engineering activities to make their life more pleasant and secure. However this has not been an easy task, especially in the past. The knowledge of mathematics and physics to describe engineering problems became available only since 1400-1500. Nevertheless, great achievements have been made by man before that time, e.g. the pyramids in Egypt, the first sluice in China, the Borobudur temple in Indonesia, and the design and building activities of the Inca’s in South America. To illustrate this development, also the world economy, world ecology will be shortly mentioned. The structures that are briefly discussed in this paper are: soil and concrete dams for generating electricity, reservoirs for irrigation and drinking water, dikes, sluices, inland and sea, tunnels, and quay walls. This paper presents an overview of hydraulic structures in general with the emphasis on quay walls and dikes in the Netherlands. Examples of these structures will be discussed illustrating present state of the art and also with a view to the future. Conclusions and recommendations are given to enhance the knowledge of hydraulic structures.

Operational wave now- and forecast in the German Bight as a basis for the assessment of wave-induced hydrodynamic loads on coastal dikes

Science.gov (United States)

Dreier, Norman; Fröhle, Peter

2017-12-01

The knowledge of the wave-induced hydrodynamic loads on coastal dikes including their temporal and spatial resolution on the dike in combination with actual water levels is of crucial importance of any risk-based early warning system. As a basis for the assessment of the wave-induced hydrodynamic loads, an operational wave now- and forecast system is set up that consists of i) available field measurements from the federal and local authorities and ii) data from numerical simulation of waves in the German Bight using the SWAN wave model. In this study, results of the hindcast of deep water wave conditions during the winter storm on 5-6 December, 2013 (German name `Xaver') are shown and compared with available measurements. Moreover field measurements of wave run-up from the local authorities at a sea dike on the German North Sea Island of Pellworm are presented and compared against calculated wave run-up using the EurOtop (2016) approach.

Asymmetrical to symmetrical magnetic fabric of dikes: Paleo-flow orientations and Paleo-stresses recorded on feeder-bodies from the Motru Dike Swarm (Romania)

Science.gov (United States)

Féménias, Olivier; Diot, Hervé; Berza, Tudor; Gauffriau, Antoine; Demaiffe, Daniel

2004-08-01

The fabric in a dike is representative of the magmatic flow, considered as Newtonian. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the rocks gives a good representation of the shape-preferred orientation which, in turn, is a marker of the magmatic flow. Generally, a symmetrical pattern of the fabric across the dike is in agreement with a flow of magma within a channel: the flow direction is then reliable with this imbrication. An asymmetrical fabric is dependent on the flow and displacement of the wall. We present the case of both symmetrical and asymmetrical dike fabrics recording different emplacements. From a Pan-African calc-alkaline dike swarm (of basaltic-andesitic-dacitic-rhyolitic composition) of the Alpine Danubian window from South Carpathians (Romania), two populations of dikes have been described: thick (1-30 m) N-S-trending dikes and thin (movement of the walls. In contrast, the thin dikes are symmetrical and frequently display an arteritic morphology that limits the dike length, with no cartographic extension. We propose to relate the two types of dikes to the same regional stress field in a continuum of emplacement during a regional brittle event.

Dike zones on Venus

Science.gov (United States)

Markov, M. S.; Sukhanov, A. L.

1987-01-01

Venusian dike zone structures were identified from Venera 15 and 16 radar images. These include: a zone of subparallel rows centered at 30 deg N, 7 deg E; a system of intersecting bands centered at 67 deg N, 284 deg E; polygonal systems in lavas covering the structural base uplift centered at 47 deg N, 200 deg E; a system of light bands in the region of the ring structure centered at 43 deg N, 13 deg E; and a dike band centered at 27 deg N, 36 deg E.

Magma flow through elastic-walled dikes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bokhove, Onno; Woods, A.W.; de Boer, A

2005-01-01

A convection–diffusion model for the averaged flow of a viscous, incompressible magma through an elastic medium is considered. The magma flows through a dike from a magma reservoir to the Earth’s surface; only changes in dike width and velocity over large vertical length scales relative to the

Graben Formation and Dike Arrest during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir Dike Intrusion in Saudi Arabia: Insights from InSAR, Stress Calculations and Analog Experiments

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Corbi, Fabio; Rivalta, Eleonora

2016-01-01

Detailed spatial and temporal accounts of propagating dikes from crustal deformation data, including their interplay with faulting, are rare, leaving many questions about how this interplay affects graben formation and the arrest of dikes unanswered. Here we use InSAR observations, stress calculations and analog experiments to investigate the interaction between an intruding dike and normal faulting during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir dike intrusion in western Saudi Arabia. We generated five displacement maps from InSAR data to unravel the temporal evolution of deformation covering the majority of the intrusion. We find that the observed surface displacements can be modeled by a ~2-m-thick dike with an upper tip ~2 km below the surface on 16 May 2009, four weeks after the onset of seismic unrest. In the following three days, the dike propagated to within ~1 km of the surface with graben-bounding normal faulting dominating the near-field deformation. The volume of the dike doubled between mid-May and mid-June. We carried out analog experiments that indicate that the wedge-shaped graben grew outwards with the faulting style changing progressively from normal faulting to oblique. Coulomb failure stress change calculations show that the intruding dike caused two zones of shallow horizontal tension on both sides of the dike, producing two zones of fissuring and normal faulting at the surface. In return, the faulting provoked compression around the upper tip of the dike, holding back its vertical propagation.

Graben Formation and Dike Arrest during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir Dike Intrusion in Saudi Arabia: Insights from InSAR, Stress Calculations and Analog Experiments

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin

2016-03-04

Detailed spatial and temporal accounts of propagating dikes from crustal deformation data, including their interplay with faulting, are rare, leaving many questions about how this interplay affects graben formation and the arrest of dikes unanswered. Here we use InSAR observations, stress calculations and analog experiments to investigate the interaction between an intruding dike and normal faulting during the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir dike intrusion in western Saudi Arabia. We generated five displacement maps from InSAR data to unravel the temporal evolution of deformation covering the majority of the intrusion. We find that the observed surface displacements can be modeled by a ~2-m-thick dike with an upper tip ~2 km below the surface on 16 May 2009, four weeks after the onset of seismic unrest. In the following three days, the dike propagated to within ~1 km of the surface with graben-bounding normal faulting dominating the near-field deformation. The volume of the dike doubled between mid-May and mid-June. We carried out analog experiments that indicate that the wedge-shaped graben grew outwards with the faulting style changing progressively from normal faulting to oblique. Coulomb failure stress change calculations show that the intruding dike caused two zones of shallow horizontal tension on both sides of the dike, producing two zones of fissuring and normal faulting at the surface. In return, the faulting provoked compression around the upper tip of the dike, holding back its vertical propagation.

Experiments and Numerical Simulations of Dike Erosion due to a Wave Impact

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefania Evangelista

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Dike erosion is a crucial issue in coastal and fluvial flood risk management. These defense structures appear vulnerable to extreme hydrological events, whose potential occurrence risk seems to be recently increased due to climate change. Their design and reinforcement is, however, a complex task, and although numerical models are very powerful nowadays, real processes cannot be accurately predicted; therefore, physical models constitute a useful tool to investigate different features under controlled conditions. This paper presents some laboratory experimental results of erosion of a sand dike produced by the impact of a dam break wave. Experiments have been conducted in the Water Engineering Laboratory at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy, in a rectangular channel: here, the sudden opening of a gate forming the reservoir generates the wave impacting the dike, made in turn of two different, almost uniform sands. The physical evidence proves that the erosion process is strongly unsteady and significantly different from a gradual overtopping and highlights the importance of apparent cohesion for the fine sand dike. The experimental results have also been compared against the ones obtained through the numerical integration of a two-phase model, which shows the reasonable predictive capability of the temporal free surface and dike profile evolution.

Do we have to take an acceleration of sea level rise into account?

Science.gov (United States)

Dillingh, D.; Baart, F.; de Ronde, J.

2012-04-01

, particularly for the high scenario. Dutch design levels for coastal water defence structures (dikes and dunes) are based on extreme value statistics of long time series of high water levels. These design levels have typically return periods of 2000, 4000 and 10.000 years, depending on the importance of the protected dike ring. The last statistical analysis for the update of the design levels refers to the sea level situation of 1985. According to the Water Act Dutch design levels must be tested periodically (every 6 years). Due to sea level rise and tidal changes the design levels are corrected for the rise of the mean high waters from 1985 until the end of the testing period under consideration. This demands a tailoring approach for different regions or locations instead of a national average as for coastal preservation. Runs with climate models and coupled hydrodynamic models in the framework of the Essence project and the Delta Committee 2008 showed no indication for a change in the statistics of extreme storm surge levels. For the estimation of sea level rise over the last 120 years a linear regression gives the most robust estimate. Showing decadal variability needs more sophisticated models. For the last update of the design levels the elegant Whittaker smoother has been applied. Dutch policy prescribes to account for a future sea level rise of 60 cm per century for the design of new dikes or dike reinforcements and 85 cm per century for the long term (200 years) allocation of space for future reinforcements, in agreement with the KNMI'06 scenario's for sea level rise (central value and upper limit).

Evaluation of computer-based library services at Kenneth Dike ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study evaluated computer-based library services/routines at Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan. Four research questions were developed and answered. A survey research design was adopted; using questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. A total of 200 respondents randomly selected from 10 ...

Uncertainty assessment of a dike with an anchored sheet pile wall using FEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rippi Aikaterini

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Dutch design codes for the dikes with retaining walls rely on Finite Element Analysis (FEM in combination with partial safety factors. However, this can lead to conservative designs. For this reason, in this study, a reliability analysis is carried out with FEM calculations aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of reliability analysis for a dike with an anchored sheet pile wall modelled in the 2D FEM, Plaxis. Sensitivity and reliability analyses were carried out and enabled by coupling the uncertainty package, OpenTURNS and Plaxis. The most relevant (ultimate limit states concern the anchor, the sheet pile wall, the soil body failure (global instability and finally the system. The case was used to investigate the applicability of the First Order Reliability Method (FORM and Directional Sampling (DS to analysing these limit states. The final goal is to estimate the probability of failure and identify the most important soil properties that affect the behaviour of each component and the system as a whole. The results of this research can be used to assess and optimize the current design procedure for dikes with retaining walls.

Experimental investigation of fluvial dike breaching due to flow overtopping

Science.gov (United States)

El Kadi Abderrezzak, K.; Rifai, I.; Erpicum, S.; Archambeau, P.; Violeau, D.; Pirotton, M.; Dewals, B.

2017-12-01

The failure of fluvial dikes (levees) often leads to devastating floods that cause loss of life and damages to public infrastructure. Overtopping flows have been recognized as one of the most frequent cause of dike erosion and breaching. Fluvial dike breaching is different from frontal dike (embankments) breaching, because of specific geometry and boundary conditions. The current knowledge on the physical processes underpinning fluvial dike failure due to overtopping remains limited. In addition, there is a lack of a continuous monitoring of the 3D breach formation, limiting the analysis of the key mechanisms governing the breach development and the validation of conceptual or physically-based models. Laboratory tests on breach growth in homogeneous, non-cohesive sandy fluvial dikes due to flow overtopping have been performed. Two experimental setups have been constructed, permitting the investigation of various hydraulic and geometric parameters. Each experimental setup includes a main channel, separated from a floodplain by a dike. A rectangular initial notch is cut in the crest to initiate dike breaching. The breach development is monitored continuously using a specific developed laser profilometry technique. The observations have shown that the breach develops in two stages: first the breach deepens and widens with the breach centerline being gradually shifted toward the downstream side of the main channel. This behavior underlines the influence of the flow momentum component parallel to the dike crest. Second, the dike geometry upstream of the breach stops evolving and the breach widening continues only toward the downstream side of the main channel. The breach evolution has been found strongly affected by the flow conditions (i.e. inflow discharge in the main channel, downstream boundary condition) and floodplain confinement. The findings of this work shed light on key mechanisms of fluvial dike breaching, which differ substantially from those of dam

Magma Reservoirs Feeding Giant Radiating Dike Swarms: Insights from Venus

Science.gov (United States)

Grosfils, E. B.; Ernst, R. E.

2003-01-01

Evidence of lateral dike propagation from shallow magma reservoirs is quite common on the terrestrial planets, and examination of the giant radiating dike swarm population on Venus continues to provide new insight into the way these complex magmatic systems form and evolve. For example, it is becoming clear that many swarms are an amalgamation of multiple discrete phases of dike intrusion. This is not surprising in and of itself, as on Earth there is clear evidence that formation of both magma reservoirs and individual giant radiating dikes often involves periodic magma injection. Similarly, giant radiating swarms on Earth can contain temporally discrete subswarms defined on the basis of geometry, crosscutting relationships, and geochemical or paleomagnetic signatures. The Venus data are important, however, because erosion, sedimentation, plate tectonic disruption, etc. on Earth have destroyed most giant radiating dike swarm's source regions, and thus we remain uncertain about the geometry and temporal evolution of the magma sources from which the dikes are fed. Are the reservoirs which feed the dikes large or small, and what are the implications for how the dikes themselves form? Does each subswarm originate from a single, periodically reactivated reservoir, or do subswarms emerge from multiple discrete geographic foci? If the latter, are these discrete foci located at the margins of a single large magma body, or do multiple smaller reservoirs define the character of the magmatic center as a whole? Similarly, does the locus of magmatic activity change with time, or are all the foci active simultaneously? Careful study of giant radiating dike swarms on Venus is yielding the data necessary to address these questions and constrain future modeling efforts. Here, using giant radiating dike swarms from the Nemesis Tessera (V14) and Carson (V43) quadrangles as examples, we illustrate some of the dike swarm focal region diversity observed on Venus and briefly explore some

Modeling of self-potential anomalies near vertical dikes.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitterman, D.V.

1983-01-01

The self-potential (SP) Green's function for an outcropping vertical dike is derived from solutions for the dc resistivity problem for the same geometry. The Green's functions are numerically integrated over rectangular source regions on the contacts between the dike and the surrounding material to obtain the SP anomaly. The analysis is valid for thermoelectrical source mechanisms. Two types of anomalies can be produced by this geometry. When the two source planes are polarized in opposite directions, a monopolar anomaly is produced. This corresponds to the thermoelectrical properties of the dike being in contrast with the surrounding material. When the thermoelectric coefficients change monotonically across the dike, a dipolar anomaly is produced. In either case positive and negative anomalies are possible, and the greatest variation in potential will occur in the most resistive regions. -Author

Climate Change Impact Assessment of Dike Safety and Flood Risk in the Vidaa River System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, H.; Sunyer Pinya, Maria Antonia; Larsen, J.

2013-01-01

The impact of climate change on the flood risk and dike safety in the Vidaa River system, a cross-border catchment located in the southern part of Jutland, Denmark and northern Germany, is analysed. The river discharges to the Wadden Sea through a tidal sluice, and extreme water level conditions...... in the river system occur in periods of high sea water levels where the sluice is closed and increased catchment run-off take place. Climate model data from the ENSEMBLES data archive are used to assess the changes in climate variables and the resulting effect on catchment run-off. Extreme catchment run......-off is expected to increase about 8 % in 2050 and 14 % in 2100. The changes in sea water level is assessed considering climate projections of mean sea level rise, isostatic changes, and changes in storm surge statistics. At the Vidaa sluice a mean sea level rise of 0.15–0.39 m in 2050 and 0.41–1.11 m in 2010...

Tectonic implications of a paleomagnetic direction obtained from a Miocene dike swarm in central Honshu, Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Hoshi, H.; Sugisaki, Y.

2017-12-01

Central Honshu of Japan is an ideal field for the study of crustal deformation related to arc-arc collision. In this study we obtained rock magnetic and paleomagnetic results from early Miocene igneous rocks in central Honshu in order to examine rotational deformation caused by the collision of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) arc with central Honshu. In Takane of the Hida region, gabbro intrusions and older sedimentary rocks are intruded by numerous andesitic dikes that comprise a parallel dike swarm. The dikes formed under two different normal-faulting paleostress conditions, which were suggested using a method of clustering dike orientations. Cross-cutting relationships indicate that the two paleostress conditions existed during the same period. More than 240 oriented cores were taken at 38 sites in two localities for magnetic study. The andesites and gabbros generally have magnetite, and some andesites also contain pyrrhotite. The magnetite records easterly deflected remanent magnetization directions of dual polarities that pass the reversals test. Positive baked contact tests at two sites demonstrate that the easterly deflected direction is a thermoremanent magnetization acquired at the time of intrusion. The overall in situ (i.e., in geographic coordinates) mean direction for andesitic dikes is judged to be highly reliable, although there are two possible scenarios for explaining the easterly deflection: (1) clockwise rotation and (2) tilting to the northwest. We prefer the former scenario and conclude that 45° clockwise rotation occurred in Takane with respect to the North China Block of the Asian continent. This rotation must represent the clockwise rotation of entire Southwest Japan during the opening period of the Japan Sea. Very little difference is observed between the amount of the easterly deflection in Takane and those in the Tokai and Hokuriku regions, indicating no significant relative rotation. Thus, the crust beneath Takane has not suffered rotation

Magma Expansion and Fragmentation in a Propagating Dike (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Jaupart, C. P.; Taisne, B.

2010-12-01

The influence of magma expansion due to volatile exsolution and gas dilation on dike propagation is studied using a new numerical code. Many natural magmas contain sufficient amounts of volatiles for fragmentation to occur well below Earth's surface. Magma fragmentation has been studied for volcanic flows through open conduits but it should also occur within dikes that rise towards Earth's surface. We consider the flow of a volatile-rich magma in a hydraulic fracture. The mixture of melt and gas is treated as a compressible viscous fluid below the fragmentation level and as a gas phase carrying melt droplets above it. A numerical code solves for elastic deformation of host rocks, the flow of the magmatic mixture and fracturing at the dike tip. With volatile-free magma, a dike fed at a constant rate in a uniform medium adopts a constant shape and width and rises at a constant velocity. With volatiles involved, magma expands and hence the volume flux of magma increases. With no fragmentation, this enhanced flux leads to acceleration of the dike. Simple scaling laws allow accurate predictions of dike width and ascent rate for a wide range of conditions. With fragmentation, dike behavior is markedly different. Due to the sharp drop of head loss that occurs in gas-rich fragmented material, large internal overpressures develop below the tip and induce swelling of the nose region, leading to deceleration of the dike. Thus, the paradoxical result is that, with no viscous impediment on magma flow and a large buoyancy force, the dike stalls. This process may account for some of the tuffisite veins and intrusions that are found in and around magma conduits, notably in the Unzen drillhole, Japan. We apply these results to the two-month long period of volcanic unrest that preceded the May 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens. An initial phase of rapid earthquake migration from the 7-8 km deep reservoir to shallow levels was followed by very slow progression of magma within the

Rock mass joint treated by jet grouting at Diavik A418 dike south abutment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baisre, C.A. [SNC-Lavalin, Montreal, PQ (Canada); Hatch Energy, Montreal, PQ (Canada)

2009-07-01

In order to exploit the diamond pipes at the Diavik mines, located in the Northwest Territories, two dikes were built into the Lac de Gras, dikes A154 and A418. However, during the construction of the curtain grouting of the A418 Dike, the pressure grouting technique did not achieve the desired closure of a subhorizontal joint located at variable depth beneath the dike foundation into the granite rock mass at the south abutment. The joint was filled mainly with silt, sand and gravel. This paper reviewed the problems with the pressure grouting treatment methodology, and the final decision of the designers and construction manager to treat the joint by jet grouting. The paper outlined pressure grouting, with particular reference to technical specifications; curtain grouting analysis; and joint grouting investigation. The joint treatment by jet grouting was described and the most important features of the core drilling after jetting were outlined. The permeability of the joint was reduced significantly in the treated area, according to observations made during jetting and in the recovered cores and the permeability tests. 1 tab., 7 figs.

Geometric and kinematic features of the dike complex at Mt. Somma, Vesuvio (Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Porreca, M.; Acocella, V.; Massimi, E.; Mattei, M.; Funiciello, R.; De Benedetti, A. A.

2006-05-01

Dikes provide important information on the structure, state of stress and activity of a volcano. Mt. Somma borders part of the Vesuvio cone (Italy), displaying ˜ 100 dikes emplaced between ˜ 18 and 30 ka. Field, AMS (anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility) and thin section analyses are used to characterize their geometry and kinematics (direction and sense of flow). The dikes mostly have a NNW-SSE to NE-SW strike. Approximately 57% are radial to the older Somma edifice, ˜ 27% are oblique and ˜ 16% tangential. Among the latter two groups, ˜ 32% are outward dipping and ˜ 11% inward dipping. The dike thickness varies between 0.2 and 3 m, with a mean value of 1.17 m. The kinematics of 19 dikes is determined through a combination of field (8 dikes), AMS (16 dikes) and thin section analyses (15 dikes). Thirteen dikes have a vertical upward flow, whereas six have an oblique-subhorizontal flow, suggesting a lateral propagation from the summit or eccentric vents of the former Somma edifice. These propagation paths differ from those deducible from the recent activity, as all the seven major fissure eruptions between 1631 and 1944 were related to the lateral propagation of radial dikes. We propose that these different behaviours in dike propagation may be mainly related to the opening conditions of the summit conduit. The laterally propagating dikes in 1631-1944 formed with an open conduit. Conversely, the vertically propagating dikes may have formed, between 18 and 30 ka, with a closed conduit.

Abrupt spatial and geochemical changes in lamprophyre magmatism related to Gondwana fragmentation prior, during and after opening of the Tasman Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van der Meer, Quinten; Storey, Michael; Scott, James

2016-01-01

High-precision 40Ar/39Ar dating of lamprophyre dike swarms in the Western Province of New Zealand reveals that these dikes were emplaced into continental crust prior to, during and after opening of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Dike ages form distinct clusters concentrated...... at the inception of opening of the Tasman Sea. Magmatic quiescence followed until ~72–68Ma,when another swarmof dikes was emplaced. The composition of the dikes reveals a dramatic change in primary melt sources while continental extension and lithospheric thinning were ongoing. The 102–100 Ma South Westland dikes...... the Alpine Schist at 72–68 Ma indicates a period of possible reactivation of this proto Alpine Fault before it served as a zone of weakness during the opening of the oceanic Emerald Basin (at ~45 Ma) and eventually the formation of the present-day plate boundary (~25 Ma–recent)....

Uncertainty assessment of a dike with an anchored sheet pile wall using FEM

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rippi, Aikaterini; Nuttall, Jonathan; Teixeira, Ana; Schweckendiek, T.; Lang, M.; Klijn, F.; Samuels, P.

2016-01-01

The Dutch design codes for the dikes with retaining walls rely on Finite Element Analysis (FEM) in combination with partial safety factors. However, this can lead to conservative designs. For this reason, in this study, a reliability analysis is carried out with FEM calculations aiming to

Propagation of dikes at Vesuvio (Italy) and the effect of Mt. Somma

Science.gov (United States)

Acocella, V.; Porreca, M.; Neri, M.; Massimi, E.; Mattei, M.

2006-04-01

Dikes provide crucial information on how magma propagates within volcanoes. Somma-Vesuvio (Italy) consists of the active Vesuvio cone, partly bordered by the older Mt. Somma edifice. Historical chronicles on the fissure eruptions in 1694-1944 are matched with an analytical solution to define the propagation path of the related dikes and to study any control of the Mt. Somma relief. The fissures always consisted of the downslope migration of vents from an open summit conduit, indicating lateral propagation as the predominant mechanism for shallow dike emplacement. No fissure emplaced beyond Mt. Somma, suggesting that its buttressing hinders the propagation of the radial dikes. An analytical solution is defined to describe the mechanism of formation of the laterally propagating dikes and to evaluate the effect of topography. The application to Somma-Vesuvio suggests that, under ordinary excess magmatic pressures, the dikes should not propagate laterally at depths >240-480 m below the surface, as the increased lithostatic pressure requires magmatic pressures higher than average. This implies that, when the conduit is open, the lateral emplacement of dikes is expectable on the S, W and E slopes. The lack of fissures N of Mt. Somma is explained by its buttressing, which hinders dike propagation.

Overview of Hole GT3A: The sheeted dike/gabbro transition

Science.gov (United States)

Abe, N.; Harris, M.; Michibayashi, K.; de Obeso, J. C.; Kelemen, P. B.; Takazawa, E.; Teagle, D. A. H.; Coggon, J. A.; Matter, J. M.; Phase I Science Party, T. O. D. P.

2017-12-01

Hole GT3A (23.11409 N, 58.21172 E) was drilled by the Oman Drilling Project (OmDP) into Wadi Abdah of the Samail ophiolite, Oman. OmDP is an international collaboration supported by the International Continental Scientifi1c Drilling Program, the Deep Carbon Observatory, NSF, IODP, JAMSTEC, and the European, Japanese, German and Swiss Science Foundations, with in-kind support in Oman from the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, Public Authority of Mining, Sultan Qaboos University, and the German University of Technology. Hole GT3A was diamond cored in February to March 2017 to a total depth of 400 m. The outer surfaces of the cores were imaged and described on site before being curated, boxed and shipped to the IODP drill ship Chikyu, where they underwent comprehensive visual and instrumental analysis. Hole GT3A recovered predominantly sheeted dikes and gabbros and has been sub-divided into 4 igneous groups based on the abundance of gabbro downhole. Group 1 (Upper Sheeted Dike Sequence) occurs from 0 to 111.02 m, group II (Upper Gabbro Sequence) is from 111.02 to 127.89 m, group III (Lower Sheeted Dike Sequence) is between 127.89 to 233.84 m and group IV (Lower Gabbro Sequence) is from 233.84 to 400 m. Group II and IV are both associated with almost equal proportions of dikes to gabbroic lithologies, whereas group I & III have >95% dikes. The sheeted dikes were logged as either basalt (46.9 %) or diabase (26.2 %) depending on the predominant grain size of the dike. Gabbroic lithologies include (most to least abundant) gabbro, oxide gabbro and olivine gabbro. Other lithologies present include diorite (7.5%) and tonalite and trondhjemite (1%). Tonalite and trondhjemite are present as cm-sized dikelets and are found within group II and IV. Gabbroic lithologies generally display a varitextured appearance and are characterised by the co-existence of poikilitic and granular domains. Detailed observations of chilled margins and igneous contacts reveal

Geological characteristics of dike-structural belt in Taoshan orefield and its relationship to uranium deposits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Wanliang; Zou Maoqing; Shao Fei; Nie Bin

2009-01-01

Taoshan uranium field is occurred in the Taoshan composite batholith in the central Jiangxi Province. The main body of the batholith was formed in Triassic-Early Cretaceous. In Late Cretaceous-Eogene, NE strike fault structure and dike belt were developed in the batholith. From the north to the south, there are successive Xiaobu-Matian dike-structural belt, Wangnitian dike- structural belt, Huangtan-Yueyuan dike-structural belt, Xibei-Shangluo dike-structural belt, Jipoling dike-structural belt, Wangce dike-structural belt and Shiyuanling dike-structural belt. These belts are controlled by the main fault, share the same space and similar time with the uranium mineralization, which is one of the important factors in positioning the uranium ore as well as the prospecting direction of exploration. (authors)

Clastic dike from Baga, Goa

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Setty, M.G.A.P.; Wagle, B.G.

analogous to igneous dikes in appearance and also in their field relationships. These are injections of mobilized sediment into fracture zones and bedding planes of sedimentary sequences and reported from widely scattered regions throughout the world...

New Experiences in Dike Construction with Soil-Ash Composites and Fine-Grained Dredged Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duszyński Remigiusz

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The supporting structure inside a coastal dike is often made of dredged non-uniform sand with good compaction properties. Due to the shortage of natural construction material for both coastal and river dikes and the surplus of different processed materials, new experiments were made with sand-ash mixtures and fine-grained dredged materials to replace both dike core and dike cover materials resulting in economical, environmentally friendly and sustainable dikes. Ash from EC Gdańsk and dredged sand from the Vistula river were mixed to form an engineering material used for dike construction. The optimum sand-ash composites were applied at a field test site to build a large-scale research dike. Fine-grained dredged materials from Germany were chosen to be applied in a second full-scale research dike in Rostock. All materials were investigated according to the standards for soil mechanical analysis. This includes basic soil properties, mechanical characteristics, such as grain-size distribution, compaction parameters, compressibility, shear strength, and water permeability. In the field, the infiltration of water into the dike body as well as the erosion resistance of the cover material against overflowing water was determined. Results of both laboratory and field testing are discussed in this paper. In conclusion, the mixing of bottom ash with mineral soil, such as relatively uniform dredged sand, fairly improves the geotechnical parameters of the composite, compared to the constituents. Depending on the composite, the materials may be suitable to build a dike core or an erosion-resistant dike cover.

New Experiences in Dike Construction with Soil-Ash Composites and Fine-Grained Dredged Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Duszyński, Remigiusz; Duszyńska, Angelika; Cantré, Stefan

2017-12-01

The supporting structure inside a coastal dike is often made of dredged non-uniform sand with good compaction properties. Due to the shortage of natural construction material for both coastal and river dikes and the surplus of different processed materials, new experiments were made with sand-ash mixtures and fine-grained dredged materials to replace both dike core and dike cover materials resulting in economical, environmentally friendly and sustainable dikes. Ash from EC Gdańsk and dredged sand from the Vistula river were mixed to form an engineering material used for dike construction. The optimum sand-ash composites were applied at a field test site to build a large-scale research dike. Fine-grained dredged materials from Germany were chosen to be applied in a second full-scale research dike in Rostock. All materials were investigated according to the standards for soil mechanical analysis. This includes basic soil properties, mechanical characteristics, such as grain-size distribution, compaction parameters, compressibility, shear strength, and water permeability. In the field, the infiltration of water into the dike body as well as the erosion resistance of the cover material against overflowing water was determined. Results of both laboratory and field testing are discussed in this paper. In conclusion, the mixing of bottom ash with mineral soil, such as relatively uniform dredged sand, fairly improves the geotechnical parameters of the composite, compared to the constituents. Depending on the composite, the materials may be suitable to build a dike core or an erosion-resistant dike cover.

Dike-induced contraction along oceanic and continental divergent plate boundaries

KAUST Repository

Trippanera, D.

2014-10-28

The axis of divergent plate boundaries shows extension fractures and normal faults at the surface. Here we present evidence of contraction along the axis of the oceanic ridge of Iceland and the continental Main Ethiopian Rift. Contraction is found at the base of the tilted hanging wall of dilational normal faults, balancing part of their extension. Our experiments suggest that these structures result from dike emplacement. Multiple dike injection induces subsidence above and uplift to the sides of the dikes; the transition in between is accommodated by reverse faults and subsequent peripheral inward dipping normal faults. Our results suggest that contraction is a direct product of magma emplacement along divergent plate boundaries, at various scales, marking a precise evolutionary stage and initiating part of the extensional structures (extension fractures and normal faults). Key Points Contraction along divergent plate boundaries results from dike emplacementContraction generates extensional structures along divergent plate boundariesSurface deformation along divergent plate boundaries may be magma induced

Dike-induced contraction along oceanic and continental divergent plate boundaries

KAUST Repository

Trippanera, D.; Acocella, V.; Ruch, Joel

2014-01-01

The axis of divergent plate boundaries shows extension fractures and normal faults at the surface. Here we present evidence of contraction along the axis of the oceanic ridge of Iceland and the continental Main Ethiopian Rift. Contraction is found at the base of the tilted hanging wall of dilational normal faults, balancing part of their extension. Our experiments suggest that these structures result from dike emplacement. Multiple dike injection induces subsidence above and uplift to the sides of the dikes; the transition in between is accommodated by reverse faults and subsequent peripheral inward dipping normal faults. Our results suggest that contraction is a direct product of magma emplacement along divergent plate boundaries, at various scales, marking a precise evolutionary stage and initiating part of the extensional structures (extension fractures and normal faults). Key Points Contraction along divergent plate boundaries results from dike emplacementContraction generates extensional structures along divergent plate boundariesSurface deformation along divergent plate boundaries may be magma induced

Combining sea state and land subsidence rates in an assessment of flooding hazards at the Danish North Sea coast

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Carlo Sass; Broge, Niels; Knudsen, Per

Sand nourishments (2-3 M3/y) counteract erosion on the central North Sea coast of Denmark and dikes and artificial dunes protect the low-lying hinterland from flooding. The fisheries towns of Thyboron, Thorsminde and Hvide Sande are all liable to flooding during storm surges. Tide gauge series fr...... the coast are presented and the town of Thyboron is used as a case where, in addition to SLR and extremes, analyses of land movement and ocean-groundwater interactions are included in an integrated method for assessing future coastal flooding hazards.......Sand nourishments (2-3 M3/y) counteract erosion on the central North Sea coast of Denmark and dikes and artificial dunes protect the low-lying hinterland from flooding. The fisheries towns of Thyboron, Thorsminde and Hvide Sande are all liable to flooding during storm surges. Tide gauge series from...

How diking affects the longer-term structure and evolution of divergent plate boundaries

KAUST Repository

Trippanera, Daniele

2015-04-01

Recurrent diking episodes along divergent plate boundaries, as at Dabbahu (2005, Afar) or at Bardarbunga (2014, Iceland) , highlight the possibility to have m-wide opening in a short time (days to weeks). This suggests a prominent role of magma enhancing transient plate separations. However, the role of diking on a longer term (> 102 years) and its influence on the structure and the evolution of a divergent plate boundary is still poorly investigated. Here we use field surveys along the oceanic Icelandic and continental Ethiopian plate boundaries, along five eruptive fissures and four rift segments. Field observations have also been integrated with analogue and numerical models of dike emplacement to better understand the effect of dike emplacement at depth and at the surface. Our results show that the dike-fed eruptive fissures are systematically associated with graben structures formed by inward dipping normal faults having throws up to 10 m and commonly propagating downward. Moreover, rift segments (i.e. mature rift zones), despite any asymmetry and repetition, are characterized by the same features as the eruptive fissures, the only difference lying in the larger size (higher fault throws, up to 40 m, and wider deformation zones). Analogue and numerical models of dike intrusion confirm that all the structural features observed along the rift segments may be dike-induced; these features include downward propagating normal faults bordering graben structures, contraction at the base of the hanging walls of the faults and upward propagating faults. Simple calculations based on the deeper structure of the eroded rift segments in eastern and western Iceland also suggest that all the fault slip in the active rift segments may result from diking. These results suggest that the overall deformation pattern of eruptive fissures and rift segments may be explained only by dike emplacement. In a magmatic rift, the regional tectonic stress may rarely be high enough to be

Mean Flow and Turbulence Near a Series of Dikes

Science.gov (United States)

Yaeger, M. A.; Duan, J. G.

2008-12-01

Scour around various structures obstructing flow in an open channel is a common problem faced by river engineers. To better understand why this occurs, two questions must be answered: what are the mean flow and turbulence distributions around these structures and how do these two fields affect sediment transport? In addition, are the mean flow or turbulence properties more important in predicting the local transport rate? To answer these questions, a near-bed turbulence and shear stress study was conducted in a flat, fixed bed laboratory flume. Three dikes were placed on the left wall at right angles to the flow, extending partway into the flow, and remaining fully emerged throughout the experiment. A micro acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) was used to measure velocities near the bed in the x, y, and z directions and then the turbulence intensities and Reynolds stresses were calculated from these measurements. Preliminary results showed that mean velocity has no relation to the formation of scour near the tips of the dikes but that Reynolds stresses and turbulence intensities do. It was shown that the horizontal component of the Reynolds stress near the bed contributed the most to the formation of scour. The maximum value of this component was over 200 times that of the mean bed shear stress of the incoming flow, whereas in a single dike field, the same Reynolds stress is about 60 times that of the incoming flow. The magnitudes of the other two components of the Reynolds stress were less than that of the horizontal component, with magnitudes about 20 times that of the incoming flow. This may be attributed to the very small contribution of the vertical velocity in these components. Turbulence intensity magnitudes were about 3 to 5 times that of the incoming flow, with the largest being u'. The largest values for both Reynolds stresses and turbulence intensities were seen at the tip of the second dike in the series. Better understanding of these flow processes will

Scattering of electromagnetic plane waves by a buried vertical dike

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Batista Lurimar S.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The complete and exact solution of the scattering of a TE mode frequency domain electromagnetic plane wave by a vertical dike under a conductive overburden has been established. An integral representation composed of one-sided Fourier transforms describes the scattered electric field components in each one of the five media: air, overburden, dike, and the country rocks on both sides of the dike. The determination of the terms of the series that represents the spectral components of the Fourier integrals requires the numerical inversion of a sparse matrix, and the method of successive approaches. The zero-order term of the series representation for the spectral components of the overburden, for given values of the electrical and geometrical parameters of the model, has been computed. This result allowed to determine an approximate value of the variation of the electric field on the top of the overburden in the direction perpendicular to the strike of the dike. The results demonstrate the efficiency of this forward electromagnetic modeling, and are fundamental for the interpretation of VLF and Magnetotelluric data.

Reliability analysis of the Red River dikes system in Viet Nam

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pham Quang, T.

2014-01-01

This dissertation presents the applications of probabilistic-based frameworks in geotechnical and hydraulic engineering, for the assessment of the Red River dikes in Viet Nam. Dike along rivers often spread over the deltaic environment and its earthen structures are parts of a long civilian history,

Wind turbines and dike safety : Influence of time dependant loads and focus on long term behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holscher, P.; Kothuis, Baukje; Kok, Matthijs

2017-01-01

Dikes are attractive locations to construct wind turbines. Wind turbines can accentuate the dike as a linear element in the landscape. Dikes are often windy spots, that are accessible for construction and maintenance using the existing work road along the dike. With

Volcanic and Tectonic Activity in the Red Sea Region (2004-2013): Insights from Satellite Radar Interferometry and Optical Imagery

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin

2015-04-01

Studying recent volcanic and tectonic events in the Red Sea region is important for improving our knowledge of the Red Sea plate boundary and for regional geohazard assessments. However, limited information has been available about the past activity due to insufficient in-situ data and remoteness of some of the activity. In this dissertation, I have used satellite remote sensing to derive new information about several recent volcanic and tectonic events in the Red Sea region. I first report on three volcanic eruptions in the southern Red Sea, the 2007-8 Jebel at Tair eruption and the 2011-12 & 2013 Zubair eruptions, which resulted in formation of two new islands. Series of high- resolution optical images were used to map the extent of lava flows and to observe and analyze the growth and destructive processes of the new islands. I used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data to study the evolution of lava flows, to estimate their volumes, as well as to generate ground displacements maps, which were used to model the dikes that fed the eruptions. I then report on my work of the 2009 Harrat Lunayyir dike intrusion and the 2004 Tabuk earthquake sequence in western Saudi Arabia. I used InSAR observations and stress calculations to study the intruding dike at Harrat Lunayyir, while I combined InSAR data and Bayesian estimation to study the Tabuk earthquake activity. The key findings of the thesis are: 1) The recent volcanic eruptions in the southern Red Sea indicate that the area is magmatically more active than previously acknowledged and that a rifting episode has been taken place in the southern Red Sea; 2) Stress interactions between an ascending dike intrusion and normal faulting on graben-bounding faults above the dike can inhibit vertical propagation of magma towards the surface; 3) InSAR observations can improve locations of shallow earthquakes and fault model uncertainties are useful to associate earthquake activity with mapped faults; 4). The

A laser profilometry technique for monitoring fluvial dike breaching in laboratory experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Dewals, Benjamin; Rifai, Ismail; Erpicum, Sébastien; Archambeau, Pierre; Violeau, Damien; Pirotton, Michel; El kadi Abderrezzak, Kamal

2017-04-01

A challenging aspect for experimental modelling of fluvial dike breaching is the continuous monitoring of the transient breach geometry. In dam breaching cases induced by flow overtopping over the whole breach crest (plane erosion), a side view through a glass wall is sufficient to monitor the breach formation. This approach can be extended for 3D dam breach tests (spatial erosion) if the glass wall is located along the breach centreline. In contrast, using a side view does not apply for monitoring fluvial dike breaching, because the breach is not symmetric in this case. We present a non-intrusive, high resolution technique to record the breach development in experimental models of fluvial dikes by means of a laser profilometry (Rifai et al. 2016). Most methods used for monitoring dam and dike breaching involve the projection of a pattern (fringes, grid) on the dam or dike body and the analysis of its deformation on images recorded during the breaching (e.g., Pickert et al. 2011, Frank and Hager 2014). A major limitation of these methods stems from reflection on the water surface, particularly in the vicinity of the breach where the free surface is irregular and rippled. This issue was addressed by Spinewine et al. (2004), who used a single laser sheet so that reflections on the water surface were strongly limited and did not hamper the accurate processing of each image. We have developed a similar laser profilometry technique tailored for laboratory experiments on fluvial dike breaching. The setup is simple and relatively low cost. It consists of a digital video camera (resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels at 60 frames per second) and a swiping red diode 30 mW laser that enables the projection of a laser sheet over the dike body. The 2D image coordinates of each deformed laser profile incident on the dike are transformed into 3D object coordinates using the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) algorithm. All 3D object coordinates computed over a swiping cycle of the

Distributed optical fiber-based monitoring approach of spatial seepage behavior in dike engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Huaizhi; Ou, Bin; Yang, Lifu; Wen, Zhiping

2018-07-01

The failure caused by seepage is the most common one in dike engineering. As to the characteristics of seepage in dike, such as longitudinal extension engineering, the randomness, strong concealment and small initial quantity order, by means of distributed fiber temperature sensor system (DTS), adopting an improved optical fiber layer layout scheme, the location of initial interpolation point of the saturation line is obtained. With the barycentric Lagrange interpolation collocation method (BLICM), the infiltrated surface of dike full-section is generated. Combined with linear optical fiber monitoring seepage method, BLICM is applied in an engineering case, which shows that a real-time seepage monitoring technique is presented in full-section of dike based on the combination method.

How integrating 3D LiDAR data in the dike surveillance protocol: The French case

Science.gov (United States)

Bretar, F.; Mériaux, P.; Fauchard, C.

2012-04-01

The recent and dramatic floods of the last years in Europe (e.g. Rhône river major flood, December 2003, Windstorm Xynthia, February 2010, in France) and in the United-States (Hurricane Katrina, August 2005) showed the vulnerability of flood or coastal defence systems. The first key point for avoiding these dramatic damages and the high cost of a failure and its consequences lies in the appropriate conception and construction of the dikes, but above all in the relevance of the surveillance protocol. Many factors introduce weaknesses in the fluvial or maritime dikes. Most of them are old embankment structures. For instance, some of the French Loire River dikes were built several centuries ago. They may have been rebuilt, modified, heightened several times, with some materials that do not necessarily match the original conception of the structure. In other respects, tree roots or animal burrows could modify the structure of the dike and reduce the watertightness or mechanical properties. The French government has built a national database, "BarDigues", since 1999 to inventory and characterize dikes. Today, there are approx. 9000 km of dikes protecting 1.5 to 2 millions of people. In the meantime, a GIS application, called « Dike SIRS » [Maurel P., 2004] , provides an operational and accurate tool to several great stakeholders in charge of managing more than 100 km of dikes. Today, the dike surveillance and diagnosis protocol consists in identifying the weaknesses of the structure and providing the degree of safety by making a preliminary study (historical research, geological and morphodynamic study, topography), geophysical study (e.g. electromagnetic methods and electrical resistivity tomography) and at last geotechnical study (e.g. drillings and stability modelling) at the very local scale when necessary [Mériaux P. & Royet P, 2007] . Considering the stretch of hundreds of kilometres, rapid, cost-effective and reliable techniques for surveying the dike must be

Structure - Riverine Flow Structure (Dike/Wingdam)

Data.gov (United States)

Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, Department of Defense — A natural or man-made flow (or sediment) control structure in a water course or water body such as a dike or weir. This feature should not be used to model a levee....

Structural control on basaltic dike and sill emplacement, Paiute Ridge mafic intrusion complex, southern Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carter Krogh, K.E.; Valentine, G.A.

1996-08-01

Late Miocene basaltic sills and dikes in the Paiute Ridge area of southern nevada show evidence that their emplacement was structurally controlled. Basaltic dikes in this area formed by dilating pre-existing vertical to steeply E-dipping normal faults. Magma propagation along these faults must have required less energy than the creation of a self-propagated fracture at dike tips and the magma pressure must have been greater than the compressive stress perpendicular to the fault surface. N- to NE-trending en echelon dikes formed locally and are not obviously attached to the three main dikes in the area. The en echelon segments are probably pieces of deeper dikes, which are segmented perhaps as a result of a documented rotation of the regional stresses. Alternatively, changes in orientation of principal stresses in the vicinity of each en echelon dike could have resulted from local loads associated with paleotopographic highs or nearby structures. Sills locally branched off some dikes within 300 m of the paleosurface. These subhorizontal bodies occur consistently in the hanging wall block of the dike-injected faults, and intrude Tertiary tuffs near the Paleozoic-Tertiary contact. The authors suggest that the change in stresses near the earth's surface, the material strength of the tuff and paleozoic rocks, and the Paleozoic bedding dip direction probably controlled the location of sill formation and direction of sill propagation. The two largest sills deflected the overlying tuffs to form lopoliths, indicating that the magma pressure exceeded vertical stresses at that location and that the shallow level and large size of the sills allowed interaction with the free (earth's) surface. 32 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

Buffered and unbuffered dike emplacement on Earth and Venus - Implications for magma reservoir size, depth, and rate of magma replenishment

Science.gov (United States)

Parfitt, E. A.; Head, J. W., III

1993-01-01

Models of the emplacement of lateral dikes from magma chambers under constant (buffered) driving pressure conditions and declining (unbuffered) driving pressure conditions indicate that the two pressure scenarios lead to distinctly different styles of dike emplacement. In the unbuffered case, the lengths and widths of laterally emplaced dikes will be severely limited and the dike lengths will be highly dependent on chamber size; this dependence suggests that average dike length can be used to infer the dimensions of the source magma reservoir. On Earth, the characteristics of many mafic-dike swarms suggest that they were emplaced in buffered conditions (e.g., the Mackenzie dike swarm in Canada and some dikes within the Scottish Tertiary). On Venus, the distinctive radial fractures and graben surrounding circular to oval features and edifices on many size scales and extending for hundreds to over a thousand km are candidates for dike emplacement in buffered conditions.

Investigation of hydrodynamics on local scour by shape of single spur dike in river bend

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masjedi, A; Foroushani, E P

2012-01-01

A series of experiments were conducted in which the the scour hole associated with model spur dike was measured in a 180 degree laboratory flume bend under clear-water overtopping flows. In this study, the local scour were conducted for three different shapes of oblong, rectangulat chamfered of straight spur dikes at the bend with various Froude number. The main goals of the experiments were to evaluate the effect of the three different shapes of straight spur dikes on the volume of scour and potential aquatic habitat and on minimizing erosion adjacent to the streambanks. The experiments showed that of the three different shapes of straight spur dikes tested, the least erosion of the around in the near bank region was associated with the spur dikes with oblong shape, while the greatest volume of the scour hole was associated with the rectangular shape. So it was observed that, as Froude number increases, the scour increases.

Influence of Clastic Dikes on Vertical Migration of Contaminants in the Vadose Zonde at Hanford

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murray, Christopher J.; Ward, Anderson L.; Wilson, John L.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the hypothesis that clastic dikes could form a preferential flow path through the vadose zone to the water table at the Hanford Site. Clastic dikes are subvertical structures that form within sedimentary sequences after deposition and cut across the original sedimentary layers. They are common throughout the Hanford Site, often occurring in organized polygonal networks. In the initial phase of the project, we analyzed the large-scale geometry of the clastic dikes and developed an algorithm for simulating their spatial distribution. This result will be useful in providing maps of the potential distribution of clastic dikes in areas where they are not exposed at the surface (e.g., where covered by windblown sand or construction of facilities like tank farms at the surface). In addition to the study of the large-scale distribution of the dikes, a major focus of the project was on field, laboratory, and modeling studies of the hydrogeological properties of the clastic dikes and the effect that they have on transport of water through the vadose zone. These studies were performed at two field locations at the Hanford Site. We performed an extensive series of field and laboratory measurements of a large number of samples from the clastic dikes, linked with infrared (IR) and visual imagery of the clastic dikes and surrounding matrix. We developed a series of correlations from the sample data that allowed us to estimate the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the dike and matrix at an extremely high resolution (approximately 1 mm). The resulting grids, each of which measured several meters on a side and included nearly four million grid nodes, were used to study the distribution of moisture between the clastic dike and surrounding matrix, as well as the relative velocities that moisture would have through the clastic dike and matrix for a number of different recharge scenarios. Results show the development of complex flow networks

Pandora and Dike in Hesiod’s Works and days

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine Olstein

1980-12-01

Full Text Available Pandora and Dike are negative and positive analogues integral as such to the most important themes of the poem. Pandora's myth explains why strife is deadly and must be rejected for accumulating Bios on the land. As punishment for Prometheus' attempts to trick Zeus, Pandora and her descendants eternally trick men who also cheat each other, neglecting productive work. The evils from Pandora's jar and the several ages of unjust men destroyed by Zeus represent respectively individual and generational mortality. Nevertheless, through Dike —harmonious work and Bios attained in the Just City, a new Golden Age— men may hope to recapture their immortality.

K-Ar geology, geochemistry and geochronology from the Maria River region dikes, Parana State southeastern part, Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva Junior, Renato Oliveira da; Dall'Agnol, Roberto; Oliveira, Elson Paiva de

1996-01-01

The paper synthesizes the geological, petrographical, geochemical and geochronological data from the Maria River region dikes, situated at the southeastern part of the Para State, Brazil. It identifies five groups of dikes and determines the age of these dikes, through the Potassium-Argon (K-Ar) methodology

Structure and Geochemistry of the Continental-Oceanic Crust Boundary of the Red Sea and the Rifted Margin of Western Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Dilek, Y.; Furnes, H.; Schoenberg, R.

2009-12-01

The continental-oceanic crust boundary and an incipient oceanic crust of the Red Sea opening are exposed within the Arabian plate along a narrow zone of the Tihama Asir coastal plain in SW Saudi Arabia. Dike swarms, layered gabbros, granophyres and basalts of the 22 Ma Tihama Asir (TA) continental margin ophiolite represent products of magmatic differentiation formed during the initial stages of rifting between the African and Arabian plates. Nearly 4-km-wide zone of NW-trending sheeted dikes are the first products of mafic magmatism associated with incipient oceanic crust formation following the initial continental breakup. Gabbro intrusions are composed of cpx-ol-gabbro, cpx-gabbro, and norite/troctolite, and are crosscut by fine-grained basaltic dikes. Granophyre bodies intrude the sheeted dike swarms and are locally intrusive into the gabbros. Regional Bouger gravity anomalies suggest that the Miocene mafic crust represented by the TA complex extends westward beneath the coastal plain sedimentary rocks and the main trough of the Red Sea. The TA complex marks an incipient Red Sea oceanic crust that was accreted to the NE side of the newly formed continental rift in the earliest stages of seafloor spreading. Its basaltic to trachyandesitic lavas and dikes straddle the subalkaline-mildly alkaline boundary. Incompatible trace element relationships (e.g. Zr-Ti, Zr-P) indicate two distinct populations. The REE concentrations show an overall enrichment compared to N-MORB; light REEs are enriched over the heavy ones ((La/Yb)n > 1), pointing to an E-MORB influence. Nd-isotope data show ɛNd values ranging from +4 to +8, supporting an E-MORB melt source. The relatively large variations in ɛNd values also suggest various degrees of involvement of continental crust during ascent and emplacement, or by mixing of another mantle source.

Wind turbines along highways and on the dikes Houtribdijk and Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johanson, J.C.P.; Meesters, H.J.N.

1993-01-01

Attention is paid to the safety, control and maintenance of dikes with regard to the placing of wind turbines on the dikes, as mentioned in the title. Also the possible damage to the bird population and the visual impact of wind turbines are dealt with. 5 refs

RESTORING A DAMAGED 16-YEAR -OLD INSULATING POLYMER CONCRETE DIKE OVERLAY: REPAIR MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

SUGAMA,T.

2007-01-01

The objective of this program was to design and formulate organic polymer-based material systems suitable for repairing and restoring the overlay panels of insulating lightweight polymer concrete (ILPC) from the concrete floor and slope wall of a dike at KeySpan liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, just over sixteen years ago. It also included undertaking a small-scale field demonstration to ensure that the commercial repairing technologies were applicable to the designed and formulated materials.

The Morphological Characteristics and Mechanical Formation of Giant Radial Dike Swarms on Venus: An Overview Emphasizing Recent Numerical Modeling Insights

Science.gov (United States)

McGovern, P. J., Jr.; Grosfils, E. B.; Le Corvec, N.; Ernst, R. E.; Galgana, G. A.

2017-12-01

Over 200 giant radial dike swarms have been identified on Venus using Magellan data, yielding insight into morphological characteristics long since erased by erosion and other processes on Earth. Since such radial dike systems are typically associated with magma reservoirs, large volcanoes and/or larger-scale plume activity—and because dike geometry reflects stress conditions at the time of intrusion—assessing giant radial dike formation in the context of swarm morphology can place important constraints upon this fundamental volcanotectonic process. Recent numerical models reveal that, contrary to what is reported in much of the published literature, it is not easy, mechanically, to produce either large or small radial dike systems. After extensive numerical examination of reservoir inflation, however, under conditions ranging from a simple halfspace to complex flexural loading, we have thus far identified four scenarios that produce radial dike systems. Two of these scenarios yield dike systems akin to those often associated with shield and stratocone volcanoes on Earth, while the other two, our focus here, are more consistent with the giant radial dike system geometries catalogued on Venus. In this presentation we will (a) review key morphological characteristics of the giant radial systems identified on Venus, (b) briefly illustrate why it is not easy, mechanically, to produce a radial dike system, (c) present the two volcanological circumstances we have identified that do allow a giant radial dike system to form, and (d) discuss current model limitations and potentially fruitful directions for future research.

Emplacement controls for the basaltic-andesitic radial dikes of Summer Coon volcano and implications for flank vents at stratovolcanoes

Science.gov (United States)

Harp, A. G.; Valentine, G. A.

2018-02-01

Mafic flank eruptions are common events that pose a serious hazard to the communities and infrastructure often encroaching on the slopes of stratovolcanoes. Flank vent locations are dictated by the propagation path of their feeder dikes. The dikes are commonly thought to propagate either laterally from the central conduit or vertically from a deeper source. However, these interpretations are often based on indirect measurements, such as surface deformation and seismicity at active systems, and several studies at eroded volcanoes indicate the propagation paths may be more complex. We investigated the Oligocene age Summer Coon volcano (Colorado, USA), where erosion has exposed over 700 basaltic-andesitic radial dikes, to constrain the propagation directions, geometries, and spatial distributions of mafic dikes within a stratovolcano. The mean fabric angle of aligned plagioclase crystals was measured in oriented samples from the margins of 77 dikes. Of the 41 dikes with statistically significant flow fabrics, 85% had fabric angles that were inclined—plunging both inward and outward relative to the center of the volcano. After comparing fabric angles to those reported in other studies, we infer that, while most of the dikes with outward-plunging fabrics descended toward the flanks from a source within the edifice and near its axis, dikes with inward-plunging fabrics ascended through the edifice and toward the flanks from a deeper source. A possible control for the inclination of ascending dikes was the ratio between magma overpressure and the normal stress in the host rock. While higher ratios led to high-angle propagation, lower ratios resulted in inclined emplacement. Dikes crop out in higher frequencies within a zone surrounding the volcano axis at 2500 m radial distance from the center and may be the result of ascending dikes, emplaced at similar propagation angles, intersecting the current level of exposure at common distances from the volcano axis. The process

A jurassic-cretaceous dolerite dike from Sri Lanka

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, M.; Vitanage, P.W.

1989-01-01

A dolerite dike from southwestern Sri Lanka gave whole-rock K-Ar ages of 152.6 ± 7.6 Ma and 143.3 ± 7.2 Ma. Many of the other dolerite dikes of Sri Lanka are considered to be of Mesozoic ages judging from the present age data and tectonometamorphic history of Sri Lanka. Petrographic similarities should not be used for age correlations, because dolerites of different age may have the same petrography. Preliminary natural remanent magnetization (NRM) after AF and thermal demagnetization gave a mean inclination of 24.6deg and declination of 67.5deg with α95=21.7deg. A virtual geomagnetic pole position calculated from the mean NRM was rotated relative to Antarctica so as to fit with that obtained from the Jurassic Ferrar dolerite of Antarctica. This rotation results in the location and attitude of Sri Lanka to attach with Antarctica at Lutzow-Holm Bay as suggested by Barron et al. (1978). (author). 18 refs

Case studies of extended model-based flood forecasting: prediction of dike strength and flood impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Stuparu, Dana; Bachmann, Daniel; Bogaard, Tom; Twigt, Daniel; Verkade, Jan; de Bruijn, Karin; de Leeuw, Annemargreet

2017-04-01

Flood forecasts, warning and emergency response are important components in flood risk management. Most flood forecasting systems use models to translate weather predictions to forecasted discharges or water levels. However, this information is often not sufficient for real time decisions. A sound understanding of the reliability of embankments and flood dynamics is needed to react timely and reduce the negative effects of the flood. Where are the weak points in the dike system? When, how much and where the water will flow? When and where is the greatest impact expected? Model-based flood impact forecasting tries to answer these questions by adding new dimensions to the existing forecasting systems by providing forecasted information about: (a) the dike strength during the event (reliability), (b) the flood extent in case of an overflow or a dike failure (flood spread) and (c) the assets at risk (impacts). This work presents three study-cases in which such a set-up is applied. Special features are highlighted. Forecasting of dike strength. The first study-case focusses on the forecast of dike strength in the Netherlands for the river Rhine branches Waal, Nederrijn and IJssel. A so-called reliability transformation is used to translate the predicted water levels at selected dike sections into failure probabilities during a flood event. The reliability of a dike section is defined by fragility curves - a summary of the dike strength conditional to the water level. The reliability information enhances the emergency management and inspections of embankments. Ensemble forecasting. The second study-case shows the setup of a flood impact forecasting system in Dumfries, Scotland. The existing forecasting system is extended with a 2D flood spreading model in combination with the Delft-FIAT impact model. Ensemble forecasts are used to make use of the uncertainty in the precipitation forecasts, which is useful to quantify the certainty of a forecasted flood event. From global

Fish assemblages, connectivity, and habitat rehabilitation in a diked Great Lakes coastal wetland complex

Science.gov (United States)

Kowalski, Kurt P.; Wiley, Michael J.; Wilcox, Douglas A.

2014-01-01

Fish and plant assemblages in the highly modified Crane Creek coastal wetland complex of Lake Erie were sampled to characterize their spatial and seasonal patterns and to examine the implications of the hydrologic connection of diked wetland units to Lake Erie. Fyke netting captured 52 species and an abundance of fish in the Lake Erie–connected wetlands, but fewer than half of those species and much lower numbers and total masses of fish were captured in diked wetland units. Although all wetland units were immediately adjacent to Lake Erie, there were also pronounced differences in water quality and wetland vegetation between the hydrologically isolated and lake-connected wetlands. Large seasonal variations in fish assemblage composition and biomass were observed in connected wetland units but not in disconnected units. Reestablishment of hydrologic connectivity in diked wetland units would allow coastal Lake Erie fish to use these vegetated habitats seasonally, although connectivity does appear to pose some risks, such as the expansion of invasive plants and localized reductions in water quality. Periodic isolation and drawdown of the diked units could still be used to mimic intermediate levels of disturbance and manage invasive wetland vegetation.

Assessment of Shallow-Water Habitat Availability in Modified Dike Structures, Lower Missouri River, 2004

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Robert B.; Elliott, Caroline M.; Johnson, Harold E.

2004-01-01

This study documented the effects of wing-dike notching on the availabilit of shallow water habitat in the Lower Missouri River. Five wing dikes were surveyed in late May 2004 after they were notched in early May as part of shallow-water habitat (SWH) rehabilitation activities undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Surveys included high-resolution hydroacoustic depth, velocity, and substrate mapping. Relations of bottom elevations within the wing dike fields to index discharges and water-surface elevations indicate that little habitat meeting the SWH definition was created immediately following notching. This result is not unexpected, as significant geomorphic adjustment may require large flow events. Depth, velocity, and substrate measurements in the post-rehabilitation time period provide baseline data for monitoring ongoing changes. Differences in elevation and substrate were noted at all sites. Most dike fields showed substantial aggradation and replacement of mud substrate with sandier sediment, although the changes did not result in increased availability of SWH at the index discharge. It is not known how much of the elevation and substrate changes can be attributed directly to notching and how much would result from normal sediment transport variation.

GPR Imaging of Clastic Dikes at the Hanford Site, Hanford, Washington

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clement, William P.; Murray, Christopher J.

2007-01-01

We use ground penetrating radar (GPR) data to help determine the spatial distribution and the subsurface geometry of clastic injection dikes at the Hanford site. This information will help to improve the understanding of the hydrological role of these ubiquitous clastic dikes at the Hanford Site. We collected 100 MHz ground penetrating radar (GPR) 3D surface reflection data at two sites, the S-16 Pond and the Army Loop Road sites, and 2D reflection data along a 6.9 km linear transect near the Army Loop Road site. The dikes are distinguished in the GPR data by a strongly attenuated zone, disruptions in the continuity of reflections, and diffractions where reflections are disrupted. In general, the data quality is better at the Army Loop Road and Traverse sites than at the S-16 Pond site, probably due to the presence of cobbles at the S-16 Pond site. A high-moisture, fine-grained unit probably causes the strong reflections at the Army Loop Road site and the Traverse survey site. The signal penetration varies between 5 to 12 m below the land surface

Hazard Models From Periodic Dike Intrusions at Kı¯lauea Volcano, Hawai`i

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery-Brown, E. K.; Miklius, A.

2016-12-01

The persistence and regular recurrence intervals of dike intrusions in the East Rift Zone (ERZ) of Kı¯lauea Volcano lead to the possibility of constructing a time-dependent intrusion hazard model. Dike intrusions are commonly observed in Kı¯lauea Volcano's ERZ and can occur repeatedly in regions that correlate with seismic segments (sections of rift seismicity with persistent definitive lateral boundaries) proposed by Wright and Klein (USGS PP1806, 2014). Five such ERZ intrusions have occurred since 1983 with inferred locations downrift of the bend in Kı¯lauea's ERZ, with the first (1983) being the start of the ongoing ERZ eruption. The ERZ intrusions occur on one of two segments that are spatially coincident with seismic segments: Makaopuhi (1993 and 2007) and Nāpau (1983, 1997, and 2011). During each intrusion, the amount of inferred dike opening was between 2 and 3 meters. The times between ERZ intrusions for same-segment pairs are all close to 14 years: 14.07 (1983-1997), 14.09 (1997-2011), and 13.95 (1993-2007) years, with the Nāpau segment becoming active about 3.5 years after the Makaopuhi segment in each case. Four additional upper ERZ intrusions are also considered here. Dikes in the upper ERZ have much smaller opening ( 10 cm), and have shorter recurrence intervals of 8 years with more variability. The amount of modeled dike opening during each of these events roughly corresponds to the amount of seaward south flank motion and deep rift opening accumulated in the time between events. Additionally, the recurrence interval of 14 years appears to be unaffected by the magma surge of 2003-2007, suggesting that flank motion, rather than magma supply, could be a controlling factor in the timing and periodicity of intrusions. Flank control over the timing of magma intrusions runs counter to the historical research suggesting that dike intrusions at Kı¯lauea are driven by magma overpressure. This relatively free sliding may have resulted from decreased

Seismic Amplitude Ratio Analysis of the 2014-2015 Bár∂arbunga-Holuhraun Dike Propagation and Eruption

Science.gov (United States)

Caudron, Corentin; White, Robert S.; Green, Robert G.; Woods, Jennifer; Ágústsdóttir, Thorbjörg; Donaldson, Clare; Greenfield, Tim; Rivalta, Eleonora; Brandsdóttir, Bryndís.

2018-01-01

Magma is transported in brittle rock through dikes and sills. This movement may be accompanied by the release of seismic energy that can be tracked from the Earth's surface. Locating dikes and deciphering their dynamics is therefore of prime importance in understanding and potentially forecasting volcanic eruptions. The Seismic Amplitude Ratio Analysis (SARA) method aims to track melt propagation using the amplitudes recorded across a seismic network without picking the arrival times of individual earthquake phases. This study validates this methodology by comparing SARA locations (filtered between 2 and 16 Hz) with the earthquake locations (same frequency band) recorded during the 2014-2015 Bár∂arbunga-Holuhraun dike intrusion and eruption in Iceland. Integrating both approaches also provides the opportunity to investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of magma migration during the dike intrusion and ensuing eruption. During the intrusion SARA locations correspond remarkably well to the locations of earthquakes. Several exceptions are, however, observed. (1) A low-frequency signal was possibly associated with a subglacial eruption on 23 August. (2) A systematic retreat of the seismicity was also observed to the back of each active segment during stalled phases and was associated with a larger spatial extent of the seismic energy source. This behavior may be controlled by the dike's shape and/or by dike inflation. (3) During the eruption SARA locations consistently focused at the eruptive site. (4) Tremor-rich signal close to ice cauldrons occurred on 3 September. This study demonstrates the power of the SARA methodology, provided robust site amplification; Quality Factors and seismic velocities are available.

Sea-Shore Interface Robotic Design

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

for various beachfront terrains. Robotics , Robot , Amphibious Vehicles, Mobility, Surf-Zone, Autonomous, Wheg, exoskeleton Unclassified Unclassified...controllers and to showcase the benefits of a modular construction. The result was an exoskeleton design with modular components, see Figure 2.1. Figure 2.1...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS SEA-SHORE INTERFACE ROBOTIC DESIGN by Timothy L. Bell June 2014 Thesis Advisor: Richard Harkins

On the physical links between the dynamics of the Izu Islands 2000 dike intrusions and the statistics of the induced seismicity

Science.gov (United States)

Passarelli, Luigi; Rivalta, Eleonora; Simone, Cesca; Aoki, Yosuke

2014-05-01

The emplacement of magma-filled dikes often induce abundant seismicity in the surrounding host rocks. Most of the earthquakes are thought to occur close to the propagating tip (or edges, in 3D) of the dike, where stresses are concentrated. The resulting seismicity often appears as a swarm, controlled mainly by dike-induced stresses and stressing rate and by other factors, such as the background stressing rate, tectonic setting, regional stresses and tectonic history. The spatial distribution and focal mechanisms of the seismicity bear information on the interaction of the dike stress field and the tectonic setting of the area. The seismicity accompanying the intrusion of a dike is usually characterized by weak events, for which it is difficult to calculate the focal mechanisms. Therefore, only for a few well-recorded dike intrusions a catalog of focal mechanisms, allowing to perform a robust statistical analysis, is available. The 2000 dike intrusion at Miyakejima is in this sense an outstanding case, as about 18000 seismic events were recorded in a time span of three months. This seismic swarm was one of the most energetic ever recorded with five M>6 earthquakes. For this swarm a catalog of 1500 focal mechanisms is avalable (NIED, Japan). We perform a clustering analysis of the focal mechanism solutions, in order to infer the most frequent focal mechanism features prior to the intrusion (pre-diking period) and during the co-diking period. As previously suggested, we find that the dike stress field modified substantially the pre-existing seismicity pattern, by shadowing some non-optimally oriented strike-slip structures and increasing seismic rate on optimally oriented strike-slip tectonic structures. Alongside, during the co-diking period a large number of normal and oblique-normal faulting were observed. These events cannot be explained within the tectonics of the intrusion area. We suggest they are directly generated by the intense stress field induced at the

Resilience as strategy for climate adaptation under uncertainty. Case study on the area outside the dike of Rotterdam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Jong, A.

2008-07-01

This study has two aims; (1) to obtain insight in the concepts resilience and uncertainty; to gain insight in how a resilience oriented approach deals with uncertainties about the future; and (2) putting the resilience oriented approach into operation in a case: the area outside the dike of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which is designated for new buildings [nl

Experiments of dike-induced deformation: Insights on the long-term evolution of divergent plate boundaries

KAUST Repository

Trippanera, D.

2015-10-22

The shallow transport of magma occurs through dikes causing surface deformation. Our understanding of the effects of diking at the surface is limited, especially on the long term, for repeated intrusive episodes. We use analogue models to study the upper crustal deformation induced by dikes. We insert metal plates within cohesive sand with three setups: in setup A, the intrusion rises upward with constant thickness and in setups B and C, the intrusion thickens at a fixed depth, with final rectangular (setup B) or triangular (setup C) shape in section. Setup A creates a doming delimited by reverse faults, with secondary apical graben, without close correspondence in nature. In setups B and C, a depression flanked by two uplifted areas is bordered by inward dipping normal faults propagating downward and, for deeper intrusions in setup B, also by inner faults, reverse at the surface; this deformation is similar to what is observed in nature, suggesting a consistent physical behavior. Dikes in nature initially propagate developing a mode I fracture at the tip, subsequently thickened by magma intrusion, without any host rock translation in the propagation direction (as in setup A). The deformation pattern in setups B and C depends on the intrusion depth and thickness, consistently to what is observed along divergent plate boundaries. The early deformation in setups B and C is similar to that from a single rifting episode (i.e., Lakagigar, Iceland, and Dabbahu, Afar), whereas the late stages resemble the structure of mature rifts (i.e., Krafla, Iceland), confirming diking as a major process in shaping divergent plate boundaries.

Topographic and Structural Effects on Dike Propagation and Eruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

E. Gaffney

2006-01-01

We have modeled magma flow in a dike rising in a crack whose strike runs from a highland or ridge to an adjacent lowland to determine the effect of topography on the flow, using a 3D hydromechanical code, FLAC3D (http://www.itascacg.com). The aperture, a, is calculated as a variable in a sheet of zones of fixed width d during the simulation as a function of model deformation. The permeability tensor of each zone is adjusted at each time step in response to the pressure in the cell according to the relationship k ij = (delta) ij α 3 /12μd, which is obtained by equating the flow through the layer of permeable zones from Darcy's law with Poiseuille's law under the same gradient. The fluid viscosity is μ, and the crack width is a We found a distinct tendency for the flow to be diverted away from the highland end of the strike toward the lowland. For the 4-km long strike length we modeled, eruption was offset between 500 and 1250 m toward the lowland from the center of the strike length. Separation of the geometric effect of the topography from the topographic overburden effect on lateral confining stresses at the crack indicates that both contribute to the effect. Although this analysis explains a tendency for volcanic eruptions to occur in low lands, it does not preclude eruptions on highlands. If the strike on the dike is parallel to the length of a ridge, the effect described here will not operate. Another possibility is that the strike length of a dike may be so short that its strike does not extend far beyond the edge of the ridge. A separate simulation used a 2D discrete element code, UDEC (http://www.itascacg.com) to investigate the interaction of magma in a vertical dike with normal faults and stratigraphy. We found that steeper faults are more easily intruded and that, as the magma rises to within a few hundred meters of the surface, sills are intruded into stratigraphic discontinuities in the hanging wall but not into the foot wall. The particular

Conceptual model for reinforced grass on inner dike slopes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhagen, H.J.; ComCoast

2005-01-01

A desk study has been carried out in order to develop a conceptual model for the erosion of inner dike slopes with reinforced grass cover. Based on the results the following can be concluded: The presence of a geosynthetic in a grass slope can be taken into account in the EPM method by increasing

Study of Water Quality Changes due to Offshore Dike Development Plan at Semarang Bay

Science.gov (United States)

Wibowo, M.; Hakim, B. A.

2018-03-01

Now, coast of Semarang Gulf is experiencing rapid growth because Semarang as a center economic growth in Central Java. On the other hand, coast of Gulf Semarang also experience a variety of very complex problems, such as tidal flood, land subsidence, as well as coastal damage due to erosion and sedimentation process. To overcome these problems BPPT and other institutions proposed construction of offshore dike. Construction of the offshore dike is a technology intervention to the marine environment that will certainly affect the hydrodynamic balance in coastal water including water quality in the Gulf of Semarang. Therefore, to determine changes in water quality that will happen is necessary to study the water quality modeling. The study was conducted by using a computational modeling software MIKE-21 Eco Lab Module from DHI. Based on this study result knowed that development offshore dike will change water quality in the west and east dam that formed. In west dam the average value of the DO decline 81.56% - 93.32 % and the average value of BOD rise from 22.01 to 31.19% and in the east dam, there is an increase average value DO of 83.19% - 75.80%, while the average value of BOD decrease by 95,04% - 96.01%. To prevent the downward trend in water quality due to the construction of the offshore dike, its necessary precautions at the upstream area before entering the Gulf of Semarang.

Mesozoic mafic dikes from the Shandong Peninsula, North China Craton: Petrogenesis and tectonic implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Shen; Hu Ruizhong; Zhao Junhong; Feng Caixia; Zou, Haibo

2006-01-01

Mesozoic mafic dikes are widely distributed in Luxi (Mengyin and Zichuan) and Jiaodong regions of the Shandong Peninsula, China, providing an opportunity of investigating the nature of the lost lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton (NCC). The mafic dikes are characterized by strong depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE), enrichment in light rare earth elements (LREE), highly variable Th/U ratios, high initial ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) i (0.7050-0.7099) and negative ε Nd (T) (-6.0 to -17.6). They were derived from melting of metasomatized portions of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, followed by fractionation of clinopyroxenes. The similarity in Nd isotopic compositions between the Mengyin gabbro dikes and the Paleozoic peridotite xenoliths suggests that ancient lithospheric mantle was still retained at 120 Ma below Mengyin, although the ancient lithospheric mantle in many other places beneath NCC had been severely modified. There might be multiple enrichment events in the lithospheric mantle. An early-stage (before or during Paleozoic) rutile-rich metasomatism affected the lithospheric mantle below Mengyin, Jiaodong and Zichuan. Since then, the lithospheric mantle beneath Mengyin was isolated. A late-stage metasomatism by silicate melts modified the lithospheric mantle beneath Jiaodong and Zichuan but not Mengyin. The removal of the enriched lithospheric mantle and the generation of the mafic dikes may be mainly related to the convective overturn accompanying Jurassic-Cretaceous subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate. (author)

New insights into the origin of ladder dikes: Implications for punctuated growth and crystal accumulation in the Cathedral Peak granodiorite

Science.gov (United States)

Wiebe, R. A.; Jellinek, A. M.; Hodge, K. F.

2017-04-01

Ladder dikes are steep tabular bodies, typically a meter or less thick, composed of moderately dipping, concave upward, alternating dark (i.e. schlieren) and light bands oriented roughly perpendicular to the ladder dike margins. These structures occur widely but sparsely in granitic rocks and are found prominently in the Cathedral Peak granodiorite (CPG) of the Tuolumne Intrusive suite. Previous studies have interpreted that ladder dikes form as a result of processes including the downward flow of crystal mush in cracks within strong crystal mush or by upward flow in steep tubes that migrate within a strong crystal mush. Our new observations indicate that ladder dikes formed by downward flow of crystal mush in troughs or valleys, in a manner potentially comparable to trough bands in mafic layered intrusions. Extensions of the schlieren outward and upward away from the ladder dike margins into the host granite demonstrate that the host granite was deposited as mounds on both sides at the same time as the ladder dikes. Ladder dikes, therefore, record lateral flows of crystal mush on a magma chamber floor. Vertical exposures suggest these flows are on the order of ten meters thick. Some steep exposures on granite domes indicate multiple ladder dikes (and flows) over a stratigraphic height of 80-100 m. Later (stratigraphically higher) flows commonly deform and erode the top of an earlier flow, and granitic material rich in K-feldspar megacrysts has locally engulfed large blocks of ladder dikes, demonstrating that the megacrysts were also transported in flows. Flows in the CPG are directed away from the center of the pluton toward the western and eastern margins and apparently spread along a strong crystal mush floor and into a rheologically complex CPG magma. Whereas established dynamical models for spreading (single phase) gravity currents with simple and complex rheologies explain the elongate geometry, spacing and orientation of the tabular bodies, the origin and

Topographic and Structural Effects on Dike Propagation and Eruption

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

E. Gaffney

2006-04-13

We have modeled magma flow in a dike rising in a crack whose strike runs from a highland or ridge to an adjacent lowland to determine the effect of topography on the flow, using a 3D hydromechanical code, FLAC3D (http://www.itascacg.com). The aperture, a, is calculated as a variable in a sheet of zones of fixed width d during the simulation as a function of model deformation. The permeability tensor of each zone is adjusted at each time step in response to the pressure in the cell according to the relationship k{sub ij} = {delta}{sub ij} {alpha}{sup 3}/12{mu}d, which is obtained by equating the flow through the layer of permeable zones from Darcy's law with Poiseuille's law under the same gradient. The fluid viscosity is {mu}, and the crack width is a We found a distinct tendency for the flow to be diverted away from the highland end of the strike toward the lowland. For the 4-km long strike length we modeled, eruption was offset between 500 and 1250 m toward the lowland from the center of the strike length. Separation of the geometric effect of the topography from the topographic overburden effect on lateral confining stresses at the crack indicates that both contribute to the effect. Although this analysis explains a tendency for volcanic eruptions to occur in low lands, it does not preclude eruptions on highlands. If the strike on the dike is parallel to the length of a ridge, the effect described here will not operate. Another possibility is that the strike length of a dike may be so short that its strike does not extend far beyond the edge of the ridge. A separate simulation used a 2D discrete element code, UDEC (http://www.itascacg.com) to investigate the interaction of magma in a vertical dike with normal faults and stratigraphy. We found that steeper faults are more easily intruded and that, as the magma rises to within a few hundred meters of the surface, sills are intruded into stratigraphic discontinuities in the hanging wall but not into the

Inflation and Collapse of the Wai'anae Volcano (Oahu,Hawaii, USA):Insights from Magnetic Fabric Studies of Dikes

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, J. K. S.; Herrero-Bervera, E.; Moreira, M. A. D. A.

2016-12-01

The Waianae Volcano is the older of two shield volcanoes that make up the island of Oahu. Previous age determinations suggest that the subaerial portion of the edifice erupted between approximately 3.7 and 2.7 Ma. The eroded Waianae Volcano had a well-developed caldera centered near the back of its two most prominent valleys and two major rift zones: a prominent north-west rift zone, well-defined by a complex of sub-parallel dikes trending approximately N52W, and a more diffuse south rift zone trending between S20W to due South. In order to investigate the volcanic evolution, the plumbing and the triggering mechanisms of the catastrophic mass wasting that had occurred in the volcano, we have undertaken an AMS study of 7 dikes from the volcano. The width of the dikes ranged between 0.5 to 4 m. Low-field susceptibility versus temperature (k-T) and SIRM experiments were able to identify magnetite at 575 0C and at about 250-300 0C, corresponding to titanomagnetite.. Magnetic fabric studies of the dikes along a NW-SE section across the present southwestern part of the Waianae volcano have been conducted. The flow direction was studied using the imbrication angle between the dike walls and the magnetic foliation. The flow direction has been obtained in the 7 studied dikes. For the majority of the cases, the maximum axis, K1, appears to be perpendicular to the flow direction, and in some cases, with a permutation with respect to the intermediate axis, K2, or even with respect to the minimum axis, K3. In addition, in one of the sites studied, the minimum axis, K3, is very close to the flow direction. In all cases, the magma flowed along a direction with a moderate plunge. For six of the dikes, the interpreted flow was from the internal part of the volcano towards the volcano border, and corresponds probably to the inflation phase of the volcano. In two cases (dikes located on the northwestern side of the volcano), the flow is slightly downwards, possibly related to the

Compressible magma flow in a two-dimensional elastic-walled dike

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woods, A.W.; Bokhove, Onno; de Boer, A; Hill, B.E.

2006-01-01

The ascent of magma to the Earth's surface is commonly modeled by assuming a fixed dike or flow geometry from a deep subsurface reservoir to the surface. In practice, however, this flow geometry is produced by deformation of the crust by ascending overpressured magma. Here, we explore how this

Mathematical investigation of tsunami-like long waves interaction with submerge dike of different thickness

Science.gov (United States)

Zhiltsov, Konstantin; Kostyushin, Kirill; Kagenov, Anuar; Tyryshkin, Ilya

2017-11-01

This paper presents a mathematical investigation of the interaction of a long tsunami-type wave with a submerge dike. The calculations were performed by using the freeware package OpenFOAM. Unsteady two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations were used for mathematical modeling of incompressible two-phase medium. The Volume of Fluid (VOF) method is used to capture the free surface of a liquid. The effects caused by long wave of defined amplitude motion through a submerged dike of varying thickness were discussed in detail. Numerical results show that after wave passing through the barrier, multiple vortex structures were formed behind. Intensity of vortex depended on the size of the barrier. The effectiveness of the submerge barrier was estimated by evaluating the wave reflection and transmission coefficients using the energy integral method. Then, the curves of the dependences of the reflection and transmission coefficients were obtained for the interaction of waves with the dike. Finally, it was confirmed that the energy of the wave could be reduced by more than 50% when it passed through the barrier.

Assessment of study space usage in the Kenneth Dike Library ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper explored the actual use of the physical space in Kenneth Dike Library by the students' population, the role these spaces are playing for learning and for related services in the university of Ibadan academic environment. It looked at the suitability of available spaces and suggestions for improvement. Survey ...

Petrophysical characterization of the hydrothermal root zone in the sheeted dike complex from IODP Hole 1256D.

Science.gov (United States)

Violay, M.; Pezard, P. A.; Ildefonse, B.; Belghoul, A.; Mainprice, D.

2009-04-01

IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.) Site 1256 is located on the Cocos Plate in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean. It samples 15 Ma-old oceanic lithosphere that was formed at the EPR during a period of superfast spreading rate (> 200mm/yr). Drilling operations at Site 1256 were conducted during three ODP and IODP expeditions, and reached for the first time gabbros below the sheeted dike complex in Hole 1256D. This offers a unique opportunity to study in situ the fossil root zone of the sheeted dike complex in present-day oceanic crust. This zone is a boundary layer between the magmatic system of the melt lens (around 1100 °C), and the overlying high temperature hydrothermal system (≤ 450 °C). This boundary layer during crustal accretion is critical to our understanding of crustal processes along mid-ocean ridges. This work focuses on the petrophysical characterization of the root zone. Physical properties were determined from downhole geophysical profiles and images, and from laboratory petrophysical measurements from 21 minicores. Dikes, granoblastic dikes and gabbros testify to an important hydrothermal circulation in the vicinity of the magmatic lens. Porosity is primarily controlled by sample initial texture, hydrothermal alteration, and recrystallization processes. Green schist facies alteration of basalts is associated to relatively higher porosity values (≈ 2%) and a very variable organization of the pore space, as revealed by electrical properties. The electrical formation factor in diabase is high and variable (920 to 6087). Granoblastic dikes are characterized by locally recrystallized texture with Cpx and Opx (granulite facies) and little alteration at low temperature. The recrystallization induces abrupt decrease in porosity (fairly constant porosity, which likely consist mostly in microcracks. Crack density increases linearly with depth from 0.02 in diabase to 0.08 in gabbros. It is consistent with a fissural porosity (crack aspect ratio

Sedimentation and contamination patterns of dike systems along the Rhône River (France)

Science.gov (United States)

Seignemartin, Gabrielle; Tena, Alvaro; Piégay, Hervé; Roux, Gwenaelle; Winiarski, Thierry

2017-04-01

Humans have historically modified the Rhône River, especially in the last centuries. In the 19th century, the river was systematically embanked for flood protection purposes, and works continued along the 20th century with dike system engineering work for navigation. The Rhône was canalised and its historical course by-passed by a series of hydroelectric dams. Besides, industrial activity polluted the river. For example, high levels of PCB's were attributed to the inputs of the heavily industrialized zone downstream from Lyon. During floods, these contaminants, associated with the suspended sediment, were trapped by the engineering works and the floodplain. Currently, a master plan to reactivate the river dynamics in the alluvial margins by removing the groyne-fields and dikes in the by-passed sections is being implemented. Within this context, this work aims to assess historical dynamics of sediment and associated contaminants in the floodplain (e.g. trace metal elements), notably in the dike system, in order to evaluate the contamination risk related to bank protection removal. With this objective, a transversal methodology has been applied coupling GIS diachronic analysis (old maps, bathymetric data, Orthophotos, LIDAR, etc.) to understand the historical floodplain evolution, sediment survey to obtain sediment thickness (metal rod and Ground Penetrating Radar), and sediment sampling (manual auger and core sampling) to obtain the metal element concentrations (X-Ray Fluorescence and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry). By this way, metal element patterns were defined and used as contamination tracing indicators to apprehend the contamination history but also as geochemical background indicators to define the sediment source influence. We found that sediment temporal patterns are directly related with the by-pass construction year. Spatially, fine sediment deposition predominates in the dike systems, being lower in the floodplain already disconnected in

Monogenetic volcanoes fed by interconnected dikes and sills in the Hopi Buttes volcanic field, Navajo Nation, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Muirhead, James D.; Van Eaton, Alexa R.; Re, Giuseppe; White, James D. L.; Ort, Michael H.

2016-01-01

Although monogenetic volcanic fields pose hazards to major cities worldwide, their shallow magma feeders (networks. Analysis of vent alignments using the pyroclastic massifs and other eruptive centers (e.g., maar-diatremes) shows a NW-SE trend, parallel to that of dikes in the region. We therefore infer that dikes fed many of the eruptions. Dikes are also observed in places transforming to transgressive (ramping) sills. Estimates of the observable volume of dikes (maximum volume of 1.90 × 106 m3) and sills (minimum volume of 8.47 × 105 m3) in this study reveal that sills at Hopi Buttes make up at least 30 % of the shallow intruded volume (∼2.75 × 106 m3 total) within 350 m of the paeosurface. We have also identified saucer-shaped sills, which are not traditionally associated with monogenetic volcanic fields. Our study demonstrates that shallow feeders in monogenetic fields can form geometrically complex networks, particularly those intruding poorly consolidated sedimentary rocks. We conclude that the Hopi Buttes eruptions were primarily fed by NW-SE-striking dikes. However, saucer-shaped sills also played an important role in modulating eruptions by transporting magma toward and away from eruptive conduits. Sill development could have been accompanied by surface uplifts on the order of decimeters. We infer that the characteristic feeder systems described here for the Hopi Buttes may underlie monogenetic fields elsewhere, particularly where magma intersects shallow, and often weak, sedimentary rocks. Results from this study support growing evidence of the important role of shallow sills in active monogenetic fields.

Clinopyroxenite dikes crosscutting banded peridotites just above the metamorphic sole in the Oman ophiolite: early cumulates from the primary V3 lava

Science.gov (United States)

Ishimaru, Satoko; Arai, Shoji; Tamura, Akihiro

2013-04-01

Oman ophiolite is one of the well-known ophiolites for excellent exposures not only of the mantle section but also of the crustal section including effusive rocks and the underlying metamorphic rocks. In the Oman ophiolite, three types of effusive rocks (V1, V2 and V3 from the lower sequences) are recognized: i.e., V1, MORB-like magma, V2, island-arc type lava, and V3, intra-plate lava (Godard et al., 2003 and references there in). V1 and V2 lavas are dominant (> 95 %) as effusive rocks and have been observed in almost all the blocks of northern part of the Oman ophiolite (Godard et al., 2003), but V3 lava has been reported only from Salahi area (Alabaster et al., 1982). It is clear that there was a time gap of lava eruption between V1-2 and V3 based on the presence of pelagic sediments in between (Godard et al., 2003). In addition, V3 lavas are fed by a series of doleritic dikes crosscutting V2 lava (Alley unit) (Alabaster et al., 1982). We found clinopyroxenite (CPXITE) dikes crosscutting deformation structure of basal peridotites just above the metamorphic sole in Wadi Ash Shiyah. The sole metamorphic rock is garnet amphibolite, which overlies the banded and deformed harzburgite and dunite. The CPXITE is composed of coarse clinopyroxene (CPX) with minor amount of chlorite, garnet (hydrous/anhydrous grossular-andradite) with inclusions of titanite, and serpentine formed at a later low-temperature stage. The width of the CPXITE dikes is 2-5 cm (10 cm at maximum) and the dikes contain small blocks of wall harzburgite. Almost all the silicates are serpentinized in the harzburgite blocks except for some CPX. The Mg# (= Mg/(Mg + Fe) atomic ratio) of the CPX is almost constant (= 0.94-0.95) in the serpentinite blocks but varies within the dikes, highest at the contact with the block (0.94) and decreasing with the distance from the contact to 0.81 (0.85 on average). The contents of Al2O3, Cr2O3, and TiO2 in the CPX of the dikes are 0.5-2.0, 0.2-0.6, and 0

Assessment of chevron dikes for the enhancement of physical-aquatic habitat within the Middle Mississippi River, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Remo, Jonathan W. F.; Khanal, Anish; Pinter, Nicholas

2013-09-01

Blunt-nosed chevron dikes, a new invention now being widely constructed on the Middle Mississippi River (MMR), have been justified as a tool for enhancing physical-aquatic habitat. Chevron dikes were initially designed to concentrate flow, induce channel scour, and thus facilitate river navigation. More recently, these structures have been justified, in part, for promoting habitat heterogeneity. The ability of chevrons to create and diversify physical-aquatic habitat, however, has not been empirically evaluated. To assess the ability of chevrons to create and diversify physical-aquatic habitat, we compiled hydrologic and geospatial data for three channel reference conditions along a 2.0 km (∼140 ha) reach of the MMR where three chevrons were constructed in late 2007. We used the hydrologic and hydraulic data to construct detailed 2-D hydrodynamic models for three reference condition: historic (circa 1890), pre-chevron, and post-chevron channel conditions. These models documented changes in depths and flow dynamics for a wide range of in-channel discharges. Depth-velocity habitat classes were used to assess change in physical-aquatic habitat patches and spatial statistical tools in order to evaluate the reach-scale habitat patch diversity. Comparisons of pre- and post-chevron conditions revealed increases in deep to very deep (>3.0 m) areas of slow moving (3.0 m], low velocity [<0.6 m/s]). Chevron construction also created some (0.8-3.8 ha) shallow-water habitat (0-1.5 m depth with a 0-0.6 m/s velocity) for flows ⩽2.0 × MAF and contributed to an 8-35% increase in physical-aquatic-habitat diversity compared to pre-chevron channel conditions. However, modeling of the historic reference condition (less engineered channel, circa 1890) revealed that the historical physical-aquatic-habitat mosaic consisted of a wider and shallower channel with: 45-390% more shallow-water habitat (2.4-11.0 ha) and 22-83% more physical-aquatic-habitat diversity, but little over

Three-Dimensional Analysis of dike/fault interaction at Mono Basin (California) using the Finite Element Method

Science.gov (United States)

La Marra, D.; Battaglia, M.

2013-12-01

Mono Basin is a north-trending graben that extends from the northern edge of Long Valley caldera towards the Bodie Hills and is bounded by the Cowtrack Mountains on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. The Mono-Inyo Craters volcanic chain forms a north-trending zone of volcanic vents extending from the west moat of the Long Valley caldera to Mono Lake. The Hartley Springs fault transects the southern Mono Craters-Inyo Domes area between the western part of the Long Valley caldera and June Lake. Stratigraphic data suggest that a series of strong earthquakes occurred during the North Mono-Inyo eruption sequence of ~1350 A.D. The spatial and temporal proximity between Hartley Springs Fault motion and the North Mono-Inyo eruption sequence suggests a possible relation between seismic events and eruptions. We investigate the interactions between slip along the Hartley Springs fault and dike intrusion beneath the Mono-Inyo craters using a three-dimensional finite element model of the Mono Basin. We employ a realistic representation of the Basin that includes topography, vertical and lateral heterogeneities of the crust, contact relations between fault planes, and a physical model of the pressure required to propagate the dike. We estimate (a) the distribution of Coulomb stress changes to study the influence of dike intrusion on Hartley Springs fault, and (b) the local stress and volumetric dilatation changes to understand how fault slip may influence the propagation of a dike towards the surface.

3-D flow and scour near a submerged wing dike: ADCP measurements on the Missouri River

Science.gov (United States)

Jamieson, E.C.; Rennie, C.D.; Jacobson, R.B.; Townsend, R.D.

2011-01-01

Detailed mapping of bathymetry and three-dimensional water velocities using a boat-mounted single-beam sonar and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was carried out in the vicinity of two submerged wing dikes located in the Lower Missouri River near Columbia, Missouri. During high spring flows the wing dikes become submerged, creating a unique combination of vertical flow separation and overtopping (plunging) flow conditions, causing large-scale three-dimensional turbulent flow structures to form. On three different days and for a range of discharges, sampling transects at 5 and 20 m spacing were completed, covering the area adjacent to and upstream and downstream from two different wing dikes. The objectives of this research are to evaluate whether an ADCP can identify and measure large-scale flow features such as recirculating flow and vortex shedding that develop in the vicinity of a submerged wing dike; and whether or not moving-boat (single-transect) data are sufficient for resolving complex three-dimensional flow fields. Results indicate that spatial averaging from multiple nearby single transects may be more representative of an inherently complex (temporally and spatially variable) three-dimensional flow field than repeated single transects. Results also indicate a correspondence between the location of calculated vortex cores (resolved from the interpolated three-dimensional flow field) and the nearby scour holes, providing new insight into the connections between vertically oriented coherent structures and local scour, with the unique perspective of flow and morphology in a large river.

Dike Strength Analysis on a Regional Scale Based On a Stochastic Subsoil Model

Science.gov (United States)

Koelewijn, A. R.; Vastenburg, E. W.

2013-12-01

About two-third of the Netherlands is protected against flooding by dikes and levees. The subsoil can be characterized by fluvial and marine sediments. Maintaining the safety of these dikes and levees is of vital importance. Insufficient safety is not permissible, but excessive safety would imply a waste of money and other resources. Therefore safety assessments are carried out on a regular basis. Over the past decades, a practice has grown to calculate a limited number of cross-sections, roughly one every 500 to 1000 meters. For this purpose, a representative cross-section is selected as an estimate of the most vulnerable surface geometry and the subsoil conditions determined from boreholes and cone penetration tests, for which slope stability and piping analyses are carried out. This is a time-consuming procedure which is not only expensive, but also neglects geological knowledge. A method to incorporate geological knowledge of an area, including updating on the basis of additional investigations, has been described in Koelewijn et al. [2011]. In addition, various groups have worked to incorporate geotechnical stability models and detailed Lidar-measurements of the surface into a more efficient and rational calculation process [Knoeff et al. 2011, Lam et al. 2013, van den Ham & Mastbergen, 2013]. Combining this experience with the 3D subsoil model opens possibilities for cost-effective additional soil investigations for those locations where ruling out unfavorable conditions really influences the decisions to be made regarding rejection and improvement, see the figure for examples of different subsoil profiles along a dike. The resulting system has been applied for semi-automated calculations of dikes in various parts of the Netherlands, totalling over 4000 km by now, and a part of the Mississippi levee system. [van den Ham & Mastbergen, 2013] G.A. van den Ham & D.R. Mastbergen, A semi-probabilistic assessment method for flow slides. AGU Fall meeting, 2013

Case Study: Wenduine, Belgium : Vulnerability of buildings on a coastal dike

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, X.; Kothuis, Baukje; Kok, Matthijs

2017-01-01

On coastal dikes in Belgium, many residential buildings are found. Most of the old buildings are masonry structures with two to three floors (Figure 1). The ground floors are always elevated (Figure 2), and the entrances of the basements are closed by shutters

Mississippian lamprophyre dikes in western Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina: Evidence of transtensional tectonics along the SW margin of Gondwana

Science.gov (United States)

Martina, Federico; Canelo, Horacio N.; Dávila, Federico M.; de Hollanda, María Helena M.; Teixeira, Wilson

2018-04-01

In the Famatina range, Sierras Pampeanas of Argentina (SW Gondwana), subvertical calc-alkaline lamprophyric dike swarms crop out through >300 km. The dikes cut Ordovician units with a prominent NW-SE trending and are covered by continental sedimentary successions of Pennsylvanian to Permian age. The dikes show a strong structural control associated with Riedel fault systems. Detailed field analysis suggested a ∼N-S opening direction oblique to the attitude of dike walls and a left-lateral transtensional tectonics during the emplacement. 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of a lamprophyric sample defined a crystallization age (plateau; whole rock) of 357.1 ± 7.1 Ma (MSWD = 2.3). Coetaneous ductile zones with dominant strike-slip motion, documented along western Argentina for >600 km, suggest a regional event in SW Gondwana during the Mississippian. We propose that this deformation was the result of the counterclockwise fast rotation of Gondwana between 365 and 345 Ma, when the Famatina range and western Argentina occupied a sub-polar position. A transform margin along SW Gondwana better explains our (and others) data rather than a subduction margin. This scenario is also consistent with the occurrence of A-type granites and normal-fault basins within the foreland as well as bimodal volcanics.

Erratum: Correction to: Emplacement controls for the basaltic-andesitic radial dikes of Summer Coon volcano and implications for flank vents at stratovolcanoes

Science.gov (United States)

Harp, A. G.; Valentine, G. A.

2018-06-01

In the article "Emplacement controls for the basaltic-andesitic radial dikes of Summer Coon volcano and implications for flank vents at stratovolcanoes", the vertical axis for Fig. 8 a was incorrectly labeled (i.e., the value for dikes per km2).

Pre-eruption deformation caused by dike intrusion beneath Kizimen volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, observed by InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Lingyun; Lu, Zhong; Dzurisin, Daniel; Senyukov, Sergey

2013-01-01

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) images reveal a pre-eruption deformation signal at Kizimen volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, where an ongoing eruption began in mid-November, 2010. The previous eruption of this basaltic andesite-to-dacite stratovolcano occurred in 1927–1928. InSAR images from both ascending and descending orbital passes of Envisat and ALOS PALSAR satellites show as much as 6 cm of line-of-sight shortening from September 2008 to September 2010 in a broad area centered at Kizimen. About 20 cm of opening of a nearly vertical dike provides an adequate fit to the surface deformation pattern. The model dike is approximately 14 km long, 10 km high, centered 13 km beneath Kizimen, and strikes NE–SW. Time-series analysis of multi-temporal interferograms indicates that (1) intrusion started sometime between late 2008 and July 2009, (2) continued at a nearly constant rate, and (3) resulted in a volume expansion of 3.2 × 107 m3 by September 2010, i.e., about two months before the onset of the 2010 eruption. Earthquakes located above the tip of the dike accompanied the intrusion. Eventually, magma pressure in the dike exceeded the confining strength of the host rock, triggering the 2010 eruption. Our results provide insight into the intrusion process that preceded an explosive eruption at a Pacific Rim stratovolcano following nearly a century of quiescence, and therefore have implications for monitoring and hazards assessment at similar volcanoes elsewhere.

Investigation of the geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of the dikes associated with copper mineralization at the southeastern Ardestan (NE Isfahan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Salehi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The Ardestan study area lies in the northeast of Isfahan and at the outer margin of Urumieh -Dokhtar Volcanic Arc (UDMA. In this area, copper mineralization is associated with dikes. Mineralization occurred as sulfides (chalcocite, chalcopyrite and bornite and oxides (malachite and azurite. According to field studies as well as petrographic and geochemical investigations, two different types of dikes are present. The first type, trending NW-SE and comprising fine crystalline gabbro, whereas the second type with relatively E-W trend are gabbro and pyroxene diorite. Geochemically, these rock are characterized by SiO2 = 45.8 to 52.8 wt.%, MgO with 6.9 wt.% (average, Na2O+K2O = 5.6 wt.%, and Al2O3/TiO2 = 16.8%. All dikes are alkaline, related to back-arc tectonic setting in a wider concept associated with changing in source of magmatism. The second type shows enrichment in Ba, Sr, Rb, K, Zr, Nb, Ti, Cr and Ni in comparison to the first type. The first type is generated as a result of a subducted modified mantle while the latter shows an enriched astenospheric mantle source. It appears that there is a weak correlation between ore-forming and volatile elements in the mafic dikes. Overall, the same tectonic stresses are an essential controlling factor for the formation of second type E-W dikes associated with mineralization.

The rheological behavior of fracture-filling cherts: example of Barite Valley dikes, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Ledevin, M.; Arndt, N.; Simionovici, A.

2014-05-01

A 100 m-thick complex of near-vertical carbonaceous chert dikes marks the transition from the Mendon to Mapepe Formations (3260 Ma) in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Fracturing was intense in this area, as shown by the profusion and width of the dikes (ca. 1 m on average) and by the abundance of completely shattered rocks. The dike-and-sill organization of the fracture network and the upward narrowing of some of the large veins indicate that at least part of the fluid originated at depth and migrated upward in this hydrothermal plumbing system. Abundant angular fragments of silicified country rock are suspended and uniformly distributed within the larger dikes. Jigsaw-fit structures and confined bursting textures indicate that hydraulic fracturing was at the origin of the veins. The confinement of the dike system beneath an impact spherule bed suggests that the hydrothermal circulations were triggered by the impact and located at the external margin of a large crater. From the geometry of the dikes and the petrography of the cherts, we infer that the fluid that invaded the fractures was thixotropic. On one hand, the injection of black chert into extremely fine fractures is evidence for low viscosity at the time of injection; on the other hand, the lack of closure of larger veins and the suspension of large fragments in a chert matrix provide evidence of high viscosity soon thereafter. The inference is that the viscosity of the injected fluid increased from low to high as the fluid velocity decreased. Such rheological behavior is characteristic of media composed of solid and colloidal particles suspended in a liquid. The presence of abundant clay-sized, rounded particles of silica, carbonaceous matter and clay minerals, the high proportion of siliceous matrix and the capacity of colloidal silica to form cohesive 3-D networks through gelation, account for the viscosity increase and thixotropic behavior of the fluid that filled the veins. Stirring and

How diking affects the longer-term structure and evolution of divergent plate boundaries

KAUST Repository

Trippanera, Daniele; Acocella, Valerio; Ruch, Joel; Rivalta, Eleonora

2015-01-01

Recurrent diking episodes along divergent plate boundaries, as at Dabbahu (2005, Afar) or at Bardarbunga (2014, Iceland) , highlight the possibility to have m-wide opening in a short time (days to weeks). This suggests a prominent role of magma

A hybrid composite dike suite from the northern Arabian Nubian Shield, southwest Jordan: Implications for magma mixing and partial melting of granite by mafic magma

Science.gov (United States)

Jarrar, Ghaleb H.; Yaseen, Najel; Theye, Thomas

2013-03-01

The Arabian Nubian Shield is an exemplary juvenile continental crust of Neoproterozoic age (1000-542 Ma). The post-collisional rift-related stage (~ 610 to 542 Ma) of its formation is characterized among others by the intrusion of several generations of simple and composite dikes. This study documents a suite of hybrid composite dikes and a natural example of partial melting of granite by a mafic magma from the northernmost extremity of Arabian Nubian Shield in southwest Jordan. The petrogenesis of this suite is discussed on the basis of field, petrographic, geochemical, and Rb/Sr isotopic data. These dikes give spectacular examples of the interaction between basaltic magma and the granitic basement. This interaction ranges from brecciation, partial melting of the host alkali feldspar granite to complete assimilation of the granitic material. Field structures range from intrusive breccia (angular partially melted granitic fragments in a mafic groundmass) to the formation of hybrid composite dikes that are up to 14 m in thickness. The rims of these dikes are trachyandesite (latite) with alkali feldspar ovoids (up to 1 cm in diameter); while the central cores are trachydacite to dacite and again with alkali feldspar ovoids and xenoliths from the dike rims. The granitic xenoliths in the intrusive breccia have been subjected to at least 33% partial melting. A seven-point Rb/Sr isochron from one of these composite dikes yields an age of 561 ± 33 Ma and an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.70326 ± 0.0003 (2σ) and MSWD of 0.62. Geochemical modeling using major, trace, rare earth elements and isotopes suggests the generation of the hybrid composite dike suite through the assimilation of 30% to 60% granitic crustal material by a basaltic magma, while the latter was undergoing fractional crystallization at different levels in the continental crust.

The Weakest Link : Spatial Variability in the Piping Failure Mechanism of Dikes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kanning, W.

2012-01-01

Piping is an important failure mechanism of flood defense structures. A dike fails due to piping when a head difference causes first the uplift of an inland blanket layer, and subsequently soil erosion due to a ground water flow. Spatial variability of subsoil parameters causes the probability of

Delayed recolonization of foraminifera in a suddenly flooded tidal (former freshwater) marsh in Oregon (USA): Implications for relative sea-level reconstructions

Science.gov (United States)

Milker, Yvonne; Horton, Benjamin P.; Khan, Nicole S.; Nelson, Alan R.; Witter, Robert C.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Ewald, Michael; Brophy, Laura; Bridgeland, William T.

2016-04-01

Stratigraphic sequences beneath salt marshes along the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast preserve 7000 years of plate-boundary earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction zone. The sequences record rapid rises in relative sea level during regional coseismic subsidence caused by great earthquakes and gradual falls in relative sea level during interseismic uplift between earthquakes. These relative sea-level changes are commonly quantified using foraminiferal transfer functions with the assumption that foraminifera rapidly recolonize salt marshes and adjacent tidal flats following coseismic subsidence. The restoration of tidal inundation in the Ni-les'tun unit (NM unit) of the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge (Oregon), following extensive dike removal in August 2011, allowed us to directly observe changes in foraminiferal assemblages that occur during rapid "coseismic" (simulated by dike removal with sudden tidal flooding) and "interseismic" (stabilization of the marsh following flooding) relative sea-level changes analogous to those of past earthquake cycles. We analyzed surface sediment samples from 10 tidal stations at the restoration site (NM unit) from mudflat to high marsh, and 10 unflooded stations in the Bandon Marsh control site. Samples were collected shortly before and at 1- to 6-month intervals for 3 years after tidal restoration of the NM unit. Although tide gauge and grain-size data show rapid restoration of tides during approximately the first 3 months after dike removal, recolonization of the NM unit by foraminifera was delayed at least 10 months. Re-establishment of typical tidal foraminiferal assemblages, as observed at the control site, required 31 months after tidal restoration, with Miliammina fusca being the dominant pioneering species. If typical of past recolonizations, this delayed foraminiferal recolonization affects the accuracy of coseismic subsidence estimates during past earthquakes because significant postseismic uplift may shortly follow

Innovative Design for Sea Dikes and Breakwaters for Wave Energy Conversion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vicinanza, Diego; Stagonas, Dimitris; Müller, Gerald

2012-01-01

This paper intends contributing to an economically and environmentally sustainable development of coastal infrastructures by investigating the possibility of combining together breakwaters and Wave Energy Converters (WEC). The latter change the wave energy to electricity, which may serve both the...... the rubble mound breakwaters and seawall related activity and the energy demand of small human communities....

Ring faults and ring dikes around the Orientale basin on the Moon.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C; Head, James W; Johnson, Brandon; Keane, James T; Kiefer, Walter S; McGovern, Patrick J; Neumann, Gregory A; Wieczorek, Mark A; Zuber, Maria T

2018-08-01

The Orientale basin is the youngest and best-preserved multiring impact basin on the Moon, having experienced only modest modification by subsequent impacts and volcanism. Orientale is often treated as the type example of a multiring basin, with three prominent rings outside of the inner depression: the Inner Rook Montes, the Outer Rook Montes, and the Cordillera. Here we use gravity data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to reveal the subsurface structure of Orientale and its ring system. Gradients of the gravity data reveal a continuous ring dike intruded into the Outer Rook along the plane of the fault associated with the ring scarp. The volume of this ring dike is ~18 times greater than the volume of all extrusive mare deposits associated with the basin. The gravity gradient signature of the Cordillera ring indicates an offset along the fault across a shallow density interface, interpreted to be the base of the low-density ejecta blanket. Both gravity gradients and crustal thickness models indicate that the edge of the central cavity is shifted inward relative to the equivalent Inner Rook ring at the surface. Models of the deep basin structure show inflections along the crust-mantle interface at both the Outer Rook and Cordillera rings, indicating that the basin ring faults extend from the surface to at least the base of the crust. Fault dips range from 13-22° for the Cordillera fault in the northeastern quadrant, to 90° for the Outer Rook in the northwestern quadrant. The fault dips for both outer rings are lowest in the northeast, possibly due to the effects of either the direction of projectile motion or regional gradients in pre-impact crustal thickness. Similar ring dikes and ring faults are observed around the majority of lunar basins.

Lunar floor-fractured craters: Modes of dike and sill emplacement and implications of gas production and intrusion cooling on surface morphology and structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Lionel; Head, James W.

2018-05-01

Lunar floor-fractured craters (FFCs) represent the surface manifestation of a class of shallow crustal intrusions in which magma-filled cracks (dikes) rising to the surface from great depth encounter contrasts in host rock lithology (breccia lens, rigid solidified melt sheet) and intrude laterally to form a sill, laccolith or bysmalith, thereby uplifting and deforming the crater floor. Recent developments in the knowledge of lunar crustal thickness and density structure have enabled important revisions to models of the generation, ascent and eruption of magma, and new knowledge about the presence and behavior of magmatic volatiles has provided additional perspectives on shallow intrusion processes in FFCs. We use these new data to assess the processes that occur during dike and sill emplacement with particular emphasis on tracking the fate and migration of volatiles and their relation to candidate venting processes. FFCs result when dikes are capable of intruding close to the surface, but fail to erupt because of the substructure of their host impact craters, and instead intrude laterally after encountering a boundary where an increase in ductility (base of breccia lens) or rigidity (base of solidified melt sheet) occurs. Magma in dikes approaching the lunar surface experiences increasingly lower overburden pressures: this enhances CO gas formation and brings the magma into the realm of the low pressure release of H2O and sulfur compounds, both factors adding volatiles to those already collected in the rising low-pressure part of the dike tip. High magma rise velocity is driven by the positive buoyancy of the magma in the part of the dike remaining in the mantle. The dike tip overshoots the interface and the consequent excess pressure at the interface drives the horizontal flow of magma to form the intrusion and raise the crater floor. If sill intrusion were controlled by the physical properties at the base of the melt sheet, dikes would be required to approach to

A transitional alkalic dolerite dike suite of Mesozoic age in Southeastern New England

Science.gov (United States)

Hermes, O. Don; Rao, J. M.; Dickenson, M. P.; Pierce, T. A.

1984-12-01

Dike rocks from the New England platform of Rhode Island and adjacent Massachusetts consist of premetamorphic and post-metamorphic suites. The older group includes metamorphosed dolerite, minette, and schistose dioritic rocks. Post-metamorphic dikes consist of dolerite and sparse monchiquite. The post-metamorphic dolerites are of comparable age to the Eastern North American dolerite suite associated with the Mesozoic basins along the eastern seaboard of North America. However, the southeastern New England dolerites exhibit mineralogy and chemistry more typical of a transitional alkalic suite compared to the more subalkalic tholeiitic dolerites of the Eastern North American suite. Both suites are compatible with a rift tectonic setting, but the more alkalic dolerites may represent a deeper source of small volume melts compared to the Eastern North American dolerites. These more alkaline melts may have concentrated at local centers, or they may be typical of flank dolerites as opposed to the less alkalic varieties that occur within the central axial rift.

Experimental Investigation on the Scour Hole Geometric Dimensions in Different Spur Dikes in 90 Degree Bend for Non-Submerged Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

somayeh rahimi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Outer bank region is always exposed to destruction and scour due to secondary flow. Different methods are generally used to protect the outer bank. One of the most common and economical ways is spur dike. As an obstacle in the flow, spur dikes protect the outer bank through decreasing the velocity and forming vortexes between them and as a result sedimentation along that area. However, the spur dike increases the shear stress and local scour around the spur, especially its nose.. This study investigates the scour hole dimensions around three types of spur dike including permeable, impermeable and bandal-like spur dike which is done as a combination of permeable and impermeable spur dike. Few studies were focused on field applications and laboratory experiments to investigate the practical applicability of the bandal-like structure in natural rivers. Rahman et al. (4 Studied the prediction of main channel degradation and local scour around hydraulic structures (impermeable and bandal-like spur dikes under non-submerged condition. Teraguchi et al. (9 Investigated the influenced of submerged condition on flow characteristics and sediment transport process caused by bandal-like structures with different spacing and alignment under live-bed scour condition through laboratory experiments. Materials and Methods: Experiments were carried out in the Physical Modeling Laboratory of Faculty of Water Science Engineering of Shahid Chamran University, Ahwaz. The main channel consisted of a 5m long upstream and a 3m long downstream straight reaches. A 90 degree bend was located between the two straight reach. The channel was of rectangular cross section, having a width of 0.7m and depth of 0.6m, with mild bends (ratio of radius to a width equal to 4 and it was filled with almost uniform sediment with a median particle size of D50=1.5 mm. The discharges were measured using an ultrasonic flow meter, which was installed on the pipe inlet of the

Effect of inflow discharges on the development of matric suction and volumetric water content for dike during overtopping tests

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, Marwan A.; Ismail, Mohd A. M.

2017-10-01

The point of this review is to depict the impact of various inflow discharge rate releases on the instruments of matric suction and volumetric water content during an experimental test of spatial overtopping failure at school of civil engineering in universiti Sains of Malaysia. A dry sand dike was conducted inside small flume channel with twelve sensors of tensiometer and Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR). Instruments are installed in the soil at different locations in downstream and upstream slopes of the dike for measuring the response of matric suction and volumetric water content, respectively. Two values of inflow discharge rates of 30 and 40 L/min are utilized as a part of these experiments to simulate the effectiveness of water reservoirs in erosion mechanism. The outcomes demonstrate that the matric suction and volumetric water content are decreased and increased, respectively for both inflow discharges. The higher inflow discharges accelerate the saturation of dike soil and the erosion process faster than that for the lower inflow discharges.

A Jurassic Shock-Aftershock Earthquake Sequence Recorded by Small Clastic Pipes and Dikes within Dune Cross-Strata, Zion National Park, Utah

Science.gov (United States)

Loope, D. B.; Zlotnik, V. A.; Kettler, R. M.; Pederson, D. T.

2012-12-01

Eolian sandstones of south-central and southeast Utah contain large volumes of contorted cross-strata that have long been recognized as products of liquefaction caused by seismic shaking. Unlike most sites where Navajo Sandstone is exposed, in Zion National Park (southwestern Utah), the Navajo contains very, very few contorted strata. We have, however, mapped the distribution of more than 1,000 small-scale, vertical pipes and dikes in uncontorted cross-strata of the Navajo at two small study sites in Zion. Pipes are 2-5 cm in diameter and up to 3 m long; dikes are ~6 cm wide. Clusters of the water-escape structures lie directly above and below numerous, near-horizontal bounding surfaces. Dikes are restricted to the wind-ripple strata that lie above the bounding surfaces. Pipes are common both above and below the bounding surfaces. In map view, most pipes are arranged in lines. Near the bounding surfaces, pipes merge upward with shallow dikes trending parallel to the lines of pipes. Pipes formed in grainflows—homogeneous, well-sorted sand lacking cohesion. Dikes formed above the bounding surface, in more-cohesive, poorly sorted, wind-ripple strata. As liquefaction began, expansion of subsurface sand caused spreading within the unliquified (capping) beds near the land surface. Dikes intruded cracks in the wind-ripple strata, and pipes rose from the better-sorted sand to interdune surfaces, following trends of cracks. Because the wind-ripple strata had low cohesive strength, a depression formed around each rupture, and ejected sand built upward to a flat-topped surface rather than forming the cone of a classic sand volcano. In one 3 m2 portion of the map area, a cluster of about 20 pipes and dikes, many with truncated tops, record eight stratigraphically distinct seismic events. The large dunes that deposited the Navajo cross-strata likely moved ~1m/yr. When, in response to seismic shaking, a few liters of fluidized sand erupted onto the lowermost portion of the

Wind turbines along highways and on the dikes Houtribdijk and Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands. Windmolens langs autosnelwegen en op de waterkeringen Houtribdijk en Afsluitdijk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johanson, J C.P.; Meesters, H J.N.

1993-10-29

Attention is paid to the safety, control and maintenance of dikes with regard to the placing of wind turbines on the dikes, as mentioned in the title. Also the possible damage to the bird population and the visual impact of wind turbines are dealt with. 5 refs.

IJsselmij realises Europe's largest windfarm (7,5 MW) on the dike of the Noordoostpolder

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paes, H F; Nauta, Y

1988-01-01

IJsselmij is an energy distribution company in the eastern part of the Netherlands. The company realized in 1987 a 7.5 MW windfarm along the IJsselmeer-dike north of Urk village. The windfarm, erected in the Noordoostpolder at the inside of the dike, consists of 25 wind turbines with a rotordiameter of 25 meters and a rated power of 300 kW each. The total investment will be 23 million Dutch guilders. Successively the following items with regard to the project are discussed: selection of the location for the wind turbines; construction of the foundations; description of the wind turbines; the electric connection of the wind turbine transformers to the grid; the data-communication system which consists of the wind turbine computer and the central computer in the control building; financial-economical aspects and aspects on sound and birds. Finally technical specifications of the windfarm are given. 6 figs., 1 ref.

Changes in optical properties, chemistry, and micropore and mesopore characteristics of bituminous coal at the contact with dikes in the Illinois Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Mastalerz, Maria; Drobniak, A.; Schimmelmann, A.

2009-01-01

Changes in high-volatile bituminous coal (Pennsylvanian) near contacts with two volcanic intrusions in Illinois were investigated with respect to optical properties, coal chemistry, and coal pore structure. Vitrinite reflectance (Ro) increases from 0.62% to 5.03% within a distance of 5.5??m from the larger dike, and from 0.63% to 3.71% within 3.3??m from the small dike. Elemental chemistry of the coal shows distinct reductions in hydrogen and nitrogen content close to the intrusions. No trend was observed for total sulfur content, but decreases in sulfate content towards the dikes indicate thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR). Contact-metamorphism has a dramatic effect on coal porosity, and microporosity in particular. Around the large dike, the micropore volume, after a slight initial increase, progressively decreases from 0.0417??cm3/g in coal situated 4.7??m from the intrusive contact to 0.0126??cm3/g at the contact. Strongly decreasing mesopore and micropore volumes in the altered zone, together with frequent cleat and fracture filling by calcite, indicate deteriorating conditions for both coalbed gas sorption and gas transmissibility. ?? 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Petrogenesis of Early Cretaceous dioritic dikes in the Shanyang-Zhashui area, South Qinling, central China: Evidence for partial melting of thickened lower continental crust

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lei; Yan, Zhen; Wang, Zongqi; Wang, Kunming

2018-06-01

The dioritic dikes distributed in the Shanyang-Zhashui area of the South Qinling region play an important role in understanding the deep magmatic processes and tectonic evolution during the orogenic process. The zircon Usbnd Pb ages of the dioritic dikes indicate that they were emplaced at ∼144 Ma and therefore postdate the dikes that formed in the intracontinental orogenic background after the continental collision between the North China Block (NCB) and the South China Block (SCB). The dioritic dikes have SiO2 contents of 56.86-64.93 wt%; K2O contents of 1.65-3.21 wt%; low MgO (1.50-2.66 wt%), Y (14.4-25.5 ppm) and heavy rare earth element (HREE) contents; low Mg# values (39.9-49); high Sr contents (528-4833 ppm); and high Sr/Y ratios (32.8-189). They exhibit highly fractionated REE and flat HREE patterns, strong enrichment in large ion lithophile elements (LILEs; e.g., Rb, Ba, and U) and depletion in high field strength elements (HFSEs) (e.g., Nb), as well as positive Sr and negative Ti anomalies. Furthermore, these dioritic dikes exhibit (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios ranging from 0.7048 to 0.7083, εNd(t) values ranging from -3.3 to -1.4, and εHf(t) values ranging from -4.1 to 1.6. The geochemical patterns of the dioritic dikes indicate that they possess adakitic characteristics. Moreover, the low MgO contents, Mg# values, Ni contents, Th/Ce ratios, and Srsbnd Ndsbnd Hf isotopic features all indicate that these dioritic dikes were generated by the partial melting of thickened mafic lower crust. The high La/Yb and Sr/Y ratios, low Y and Yb contents, absence of significant Eu anomalies, flat HREE patterns, and low Nb/Ta ratios of these rocks suggest that the adakitic melts were derived from the melting of garnet-bearing amphibolite. The geochronologic, elemental and isotopic evidence suggests that the dioritic dikes may have formed in a locally extensional environment within an overall N-S compressional setting or during the transition from compressional to extensional

Risks of Coastal Storm Surge and the Effect of Sea Level Rise in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James E. Neumann

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the impact of sea level rise and storm surge on the Red River delta region of Vietnam. Permanently inundated lands and temporary flood zones are analyzed by combining sea level rise scenarios for 2050 with simulated storm surge levels for the 100-year event. Our analysis finds that sea level rise through 2050 could increase the effective frequency of the current 100-year storm surge, which is associated with a storm surge of roughly five meters, to once every 49 years. Approximately 10% of the Hanoi region’s GDP is vulnerable to permanent inundation due to sea level rise, and more than 40% is vulnerable to periodic storm surge damage consistent with the current 100-year storm. We conclude that coastal adaptation measures, such as a planned retreat from the sea, and construction of a more substantial seawall and dike system, are needed to respond to these threats.

Down and Out at Pacaya Volcano: A Glimpse of Magma Storage and Diking as Interpreted From GPS Geodesy

Science.gov (United States)

Lechner, H. N.; Waite, G. P.; Wauthier, D. C.; Escobar-Wolf, R. P.; Lopez-Hetland, B.

2017-12-01

Geodetic data from an eight-station GPS network at Pacaya volcano Guatemala allows us to produce a simple analytical model of deformation sources associated with the 2010 eruption and the eruptive period in 2013-2014. Deformation signals for both eruptive time-periods indicate downward vertical and outward horizontal motion at several stations surrounding the volcano. The objective of this research was to better understand the magmatic plumbing system and sources of this deformation. Because this down-and-out displacement is difficult to explain with a single source, we chose a model that includes a combination of a dike and spherical source. Our modelling suggests that deformation is dominated the inflation of a shallow dike seated high within the volcanic edifice and deflation of a deeper, spherical source below the SW flank of the volcano. The source parameters for the dike feature are in good agreement with the observed orientation of recent vent emplacements on the edifice as well the horizontal displacement, while the parameters for a deeper spherical source accommodate the downward vertical motion. This study presents GPS observations at Pacaya dating back to 2009 and provides a glimpse of simple models of possible deformation sources.

Morphology versus U-Pb systematics in zircon: A high-resolution isotopic study of a zircon population from a Variscan dike in the Central Alps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bossart, P.J.; Meier, M.; Oberli, F.; Steiger, R.H.

1986-01-01

U/Pb isotopic measurements on individual zircon crystals combined with morphological analyses permit the identification of three distinct components within the zircon population of the Saedelhorn diorite, a Variscan dike from the western Gotthard (Central Alps, Switzerland): (i) 94% of the grains in the zircon population are elongate crystals with pronounced skeletal morphology indicative of rapid growth from a supercooled melt. (ii) 5% of the population consist of turbid, mostly subhedral zircons frequently showing D-type morphology and elevated uranium contents compared to the skeletal variety. Single-crystal and multi-grain U-Pb isotopic data of group (i) and (ii) zircons define an intrusion age of 293 + 5/ -4 m.y. for the dike. (iii) Rare, transparent zircon crystals (< 1% of the zircons population) yield apparent U-Pb ages in the range of 370-490 m.y. and display morphological and isotopic characteristics closely resembling those of a Caledonian orthogneiss intruded by the dike. This implies presence of assimilated wall-rock components in the macroscopically homogeneous dike sample. (orig./WB)

Nation-building Behind the Dike: Dutch Nationalism and the Visual Culture of Hydraulic Engineering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ensel, R.

2017-01-01

This article charts a crucial chapter in the history of Dutch nationalism, i. e. the topic of ‘water management’, by delving into the debate on the construction of the Afsluitdijk. The closure of the Zuiderzee by the construction of a dike is one of the most significant infrastructural projects of

Geodetic evidence for en echelon dike emplacement and concurrent slow slip during the June 2007 intrusion and eruption at Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery-Brown, E. K.; Sinnett, D.K.; Poland, M.; Segall, P.; Orr, T.; Zebker, H.; Miklius, Asta

2010-01-01

A series of complex events at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii, 17 June to 19 June 2007, began with an intrusion in the upper east rift zone (ERZ) and culminated with a small eruption (1500 m3). Surface deformation due to the intrusion was recorded in unprecedented detail by Global Positioning System (GPS) and tilt networks as well as interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data acquired by the ENVISAT and ALOS satellites. A joint nonlinear inversion of GPS, tilt, and InSAR data yields a deflationary source beneath the summit caldera and an ENE-striking uniform-opening dislocation with ~2 m opening, a dip of ∼80° to the south, and extending from the surface to ~2 km depth. This simple model reasonably fits the overall pattern of deformation but significantly misfits data near the western end of an inferred dike-like source. Three more complex dike models are tested that allow for distributed opening including (1) a dike that follows the surface trace of the active rift zone, (2) a dike that follows the symmetry axis of InSAR deformation, and (3) two en echelon dike segments beneath mapped surface cracks and newly formed steaming areas. The en echelon dike model best fits near-field GPS and tilt data. Maximum opening of 2.4 m occurred on the eastern segment beneath the eruptive vent. Although this model represents the best fit to the ERZ data, it still fails to explain data from a coastal tiltmeter and GPS sites on Kīlauea's southwestern flank. The southwest flank GPS sites and the coastal tiltmeter exhibit deformation consistent with observations of previous slow slip events beneath Kīlauea's south flank, but inconsistent with observations of previous intrusions. Slow slip events at Kīlauea and elsewhere are thought to occur in a transition zone between locked and stably sliding zones of a fault. An inversion including slip on a basal decollement improves fit to these data and suggests a maximum of ~15 cm of seaward fault motion, comparable to previous slow

Modeling Thermal Pressurization Around Shallow Dikes Using Temperature-Dependent Hydraulic Properties: Implications for Deformation Around Intrusions

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Meredith R.

2018-01-01

Pressurization and flow of groundwater around igneous intrusions depend in part on the hydraulic diffusivity of the host rocks and processes that enhance diffusivity, such as fracturing, or decrease diffusivity, such as mineral precipitation during chemical alteration. Characterizing and quantifying the coupled effects of alteration, pore pressurization, and deformation have significant implications for deformation around intrusions, geothermal energy, contact metamorphism, and heat transfer at mid-ocean ridges. Fractures around dikes at Ship Rock, New Mexico, indicate that pore pressures in the host rocks exceeded hydrostatic conditions by at least 15 MPa following dike emplacement. Hydraulic measurements and petrographic analysis indicate that mineral precipitation clogged the pores of the host rock, reducing porosity from 0.25 to reducing permeability by 5 orders of magnitude. Field data from Ship Rock are used to motivate and constrain numerical models for thermal pore fluid pressurization adjacent to a meter-scale dike, using temperature-dependent hydraulic properties in the host rock as a proxy for porosity loss by mineral precipitation during chemical alteration. Reduction in permeability by chemical alteration has a negligible effect on pressurization. However, reduction in porosity by mineral precipitation increases fluid pressure by constricting pore volume and is identified as a potentially significant source of pressure. A scaling relationship is derived to determine when porosity loss becomes important; if permeability is low enough, pressurization by porosity loss outweighs pressurization by thermal expansion of fluids.

Finite element analysis of ground deformation due to dike intrusion with applications to Mt. Etna volcano

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. La Rosa

2004-06-01

Full Text Available A 2D finite elements study was carried out to analyse the effects caused by dike intrusion inside a heterogeneous medium and with a realistic topography of Mt. Etna volcano. Firstly, the method (dimension domain, elements type was calibrated using plane strain models in elastic half-spaces; the results were compared with those obtained from analytical dislocation models. Then the effects caused both by the topographic variations and the presence of multi-layered medium on the surface, were studied. In particular, an application was then considered to Mt. Etna by taking into account the real topography and the stratification deduced from seismic tomography. In these conditions, the effects expected by the dike, employed to model the 2001 eruption under simple elastic half-space medium conditions, were computed, showing that topography is extremely important, at least in the near field.

Titaniferous magnetite and barite from the San Gregorio de Polanco dike swarm, Paraná Magmatic Province, Uruguay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rossana Muzio

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The San Gregorio de Polanco Dike Swarm (Tacuarembó Department, Uruguay is the southernmost set of dikes in the Paraná Magmatic Province of Uruguay. Five major dikes have been identified with two main structural trends: N140º–N170º and N50º–N80º. The dikes have tholeiitic affinities and are composed of plagioclase (An55, augite and augite-pigeonite, relicts of olivine and opaque minerals. These rocks have high contents of Fe–Ti oxides (titanomagnetites, the mineralogical and textural characteristics of which have been studied using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry techniques (SEM – EDS. These features, along with other mineralogical and textural relationships, have been used to propose the following crystallization sequence for the dikes: (i crystallization of olivine, plagioclase and Ca-rich pyroxene phenocrysts; (ii precipitation of the first population of Ti-magnetite; (iii crystallization of plagioclase and pyroxene in the groundmass; (iv partial dissolution of Ti-magnetite by reaction with magmatic fluids; (v crystallization of the second population of Ti-magnetite and finally, (vi crystallization of interstitial barite.   Resumen El Haz de Diques de San Gregorio de Polanco (Departamento de Tacuarembó, Uruguay es la ocurrencia más meridional de diques pertenecientes a la Provincia Magmática Paraná en Uruguay. Fueron identificados cinco 5 diques principales con dos direcciones estructurales principales: N140º - N170º y N50º - N80º, respectivamente. Son diques de afinidad tholeítica compuestos por plagioclasa (An55, augita y augita-pigeonita, relictos de olivina y minerales opacos. Estos diques se caracterizan por el alto contenido de óxidos de Fe y Ti (titanomagnetitas, cuyas características mineralógicas y texturales fueron estudiadas con microscopio electrónico de barrido y espectrometría de energía dispersiva (SEM-EDS, incluyendo mapeos composicionales. Estas caracter

Marine Structures with Extreme Overtopping Rates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kofoed, Jens Peter; Frigaard, Peter

2000-01-01

In design of sea defence structures like seawalls, breakwaters and dikes, one of the main objectives is to minimize or even eliminate wave overtopping. For this reason numerous investigations have been performed over the past many years to determine the amount of overtopping occurring for typical...

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

MATLAB-based algorithm to estimate depths of isolated thin dike-like sources using higher-order horizontal derivatives of magnetic anomalies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekinci, Yunus Levent

2016-01-01

This paper presents an easy-to-use open source computer algorithm (code) for estimating the depths of isolated single thin dike-like source bodies by using numerical second-, third-, and fourth-order horizontal derivatives computed from observed magnetic anomalies. The approach does not require a priori information and uses some filters of successive graticule spacings. The computed higher-order horizontal derivative datasets are used to solve nonlinear equations for depth determination. The solutions are independent from the magnetization and ambient field directions. The practical usability of the developed code, designed in MATLAB R2012b (MathWorks Inc.), was successfully examined using some synthetic simulations with and without noise. The algorithm was then used to estimate the depths of some ore bodies buried in different regions (USA, Sweden, and Canada). Real data tests clearly indicated that the obtained depths are in good agreement with those of previous studies and drilling information. Additionally, a state-of-the-art inversion scheme based on particle swarm optimization produced comparable results to those of the higher-order horizontal derivative analyses in both synthetic and real anomaly cases. Accordingly, the proposed code is verified to be useful in interpreting isolated single thin dike-like magnetized bodies and may be an alternative processing technique. The open source code can be easily modified and adapted to suit the benefits of other researchers.

Outdoor recreational use of the Salton Sea with reference to potential impacts of geothermal development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Twiss, R.; Sidener, J.; Bingham, G.; Burke, J.E.

1978-04-01

The objectives of this study were to describe the types, levels, and locations of outdoor recreation uses in the Salton Sea area, the number and principal activities of visitors, and to estimate the consequences upon outdoor recreation of geothermal development and other activities that might affect the Salton Sea. It is concluded that since the Salton Sea is considered legally to be a sump for agricultural, municipal, and presumably geothermal waste waters, recreational use of the Sea for fishing and boating (from present marinas) will undoubtedly continue to decline, unless there is a major policy change. Use of the shoreline for camping, the surrounding roads and lands for scenic viewing, ORV events, and retirement or recreation communities will not decline, and will probably increase, assuming control of hydrogen sulfide odors. Two ways in which the fishing and present boating facilities could be returned to a wholly usable steady state are discussed. One is by construction of a diked evaporation pond system at the south end of the Sea. This would allow a means of control over both water level and salinity. Another means, less costly but more difficult to effectively control, would be to budget geothermal plant use of, and disposal of wastes in, Salton Sea water. (JGB)

Water Resources Research Program. Abatement of malodors at diked, dredged-material disposal sites. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harrison, W.; Dravnieks, A.; Zussman, R.; Goltz, R.

1976-06-01

Samples of malodorous air and dredged material were collected at diked disposal sites at the following locations: Buffalo, NY; Milwaukee, WI; Mobile, AL; York Harbor, ME; Houston, TX; Detroit, MI; and Anacortes, WA; during the period July--October, 1975. Odorous compounds in the air samples were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, while the detection threshold, intensity, and character of the various odors were determined by experienced panelists using a dynamic, forced-choice-triangle olfactometer. Although significant problems with malodors were not observed beyond the disposal-area dikes during site visits, noteworthy odor episodes had occurred at some sites. An odor-abatement strategy is presented for handling the expected range of odor conditions at dredged-material disposal sites. Its aim is to reduce to an acceptable level the intensity of malodors in an affected community. The main steps in the strategy cover selection of the disposal site, site preparation, odor characterization of sediments to be dredged, malodor abatement during dredging and disposal operations, malodor abatement after filling of the disposal site, and the handling of malodor complaints.

Comparing Acoustic Tag Attachments Designed for Mobile Tracking of Hatchling Sea Turtles

OpenAIRE

Hoover, Aimee L.; Shillinger, George L.; Swiggs, Jennifer; Bailey, Helen

2017-01-01

The poorly understood movements of sea turtles during the “lost years” of their early life history have been characterized as a “passive drifter” stage. Biologging technology allows us to study patterns of dispersal, but the small body size of young life stages requires particular consideration that such tagging does not significantly impede animal movements. We tested the effect of instrument attachment methods for mobile acoustic tracking of hatchling sea turtles, including a design that wo...

Rb-Sr and Nd-Sr isotope geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Misho Mountains mafic dikes (NW Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Ahankoub

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction There are some theories about the Paleotethys event during the Paleozoic that have been proposed by geologists (Metcalfe, 2006. Some scientist offered some pieces of evidence about the northern margin of Gondwana (Zhu et al., 2010. The Paleotethys Ocean and Hercynian orogenic report first in Iran, have been Offered from the Morrow and Misho Mountain (Eftekharnejad, 1981. Misho Mountains is located between the north and south Misho faults and cause the formation of a positive flower structure (Moayyed and Hossainzade, 2011. There is theory about Misho southern fault as the best candidate of the Paleotethys suture zone (Moayyed and Hossainzade, 2011. Geochemistry and Sr –Nd isotopic data of the A2 granitic and Synite rocks of the East Misho, indicate that the magmatism post collision has occurred in the active continental margin by extensional zones of the following the closure of the Paleotethys (Ahankoub, 2012. Granite and syenite rocks have been cut by mafic dikes. Mafic dikes are often formed in extensional tectonic settings related to mantle plume or continental break –up (Zhu et al., 2009. In this paper, we use the geochemistry and Nd-Sr isotope data to determined petrogenesis, tectono-magmatic setting and age of Misho mafic dikes. Materials and methods After petrography study of 30 thin sections of mafic dike rocks, 8 samples were selected for whole-rock chemical analyses using ICP-MS and ICP-AES instruments by ACME Company in Vancouver, Canada. We prepared 6 sample For Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr analysis. Sr and Nd isotope ratios were measured with a thermal ionization mass spectrometer, VG Sector 54–30 at the Nagoya University. The isotope abundances of Rb, Sr, Nd, and Sm were measured by the ID method with a Finnigan MAT Thermoquad THQ thermal ionization quadrupole mass spectrometer at the Nagoya University. NBS987 and JNdi-1 were measured as natural Sr and Nd isotope ratio standards (Tanaka et al., 2000. Averages and 2σ errors

Sedimentation rate in Ariake Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Momoshima, Noriyuki; Nishio, Souma; Honza, Eiichi

2004-01-01

The Ariake Sea is a shallow and almost enclosed sea located in western Kyushu, Japan with an area of about 1,700 km 2 and the deepest up to 30 m at north area. The most inner part of the bay area is very shallow and during low tide big mudflats tideland appears and extends up to several km. The tidal range is the highest in Japan with a maximum of about 6 m. The area is one of Japan's most important area for fishery, with over 40% of the total seaweed production in Japan In the year 2001, due to environmental conditions, the seaweed population decreased substantially with a production drop of about 50%. This was caused by an earlier winter outbreak of red tide that affected the seaweed quality. One proposed cause for this decline might be the land reclamation project in the western part of Ariake Sea, Isahaya Bay. This project started in April 1997 were more than 3,000 ha of the bay where closed by a 7 km long seawall. Contaminated water is regularly discharged from the reservoir inside the dike, which have resulted in changes in water flows and perhaps a decrease in tidal range. In 2002, the gates at the dike were open for two months for a survey campaign and the seaweed harvest in the winter 2002-2003 was quite good. However, the problem may be linked to totally different causes, e.g. increase in industrial pollution discharge, chemicals used in the disinfection methods of washing seaweed, or change in water pH after the volcanic eruptions of the Unzen mountain in 1992 and 1993. The purpose of the research is to elucidate present condition of the Ariake Sea and past history using by radiometric methods, and obtained useful information will resolve the environmental status of Ariake Sea and give us answers way to save the Ariake Sea. Sea sediment cores were taken on board in 2003 at several points covering the Ariake sea. Two cores taken in inner area of the sea were sectioned at every 2 cm intervals and subjected to gamma spectrometry to determine sedimentation

Participatory Design of Multi-Use Platforms at Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sander van den Burg

2016-01-01

Full Text Available European oceans are subject to rapid development. New activities such as aquaculture and ocean energy have gained importance. This triggers interest in “multi-use platforms at sea” (MUPS, i.e., areas at sea in which different activities are combined. MUPS are complex features with regards to technology, governance, and financial, socioeconomic, and environmental aspects. To identify realistic and sustainable solutions and designs for MUPS, the MERMAID project applied a participatory design process (PDP involving a range of stakeholders representing companies, authorities, researchers, and NGOs. This paper evaluates if and how the participatory design process contributed to the design of multi-use platforms. It is based on interviews with the managers of the case study sites and a questionnaire administered to all stakeholders participating in the PDP workshops. Analyzing the four case studies, we conclude that the participatory design process has had a valuable contribution to the development of the four different designs of MUPS, even though the preconditions for carrying out a participatory design process differed between sites. In all four cases, the process has been beneficial in generating new and shared knowledge. It brought new design issues to the table and increased knowledge and understanding among the different stakeholders.

Estimating the Mediterranean Sea Water Budget: impact of RCM design

Science.gov (United States)

Somot, S.; Elguindi, N.; Sanchez-Gomez, E.; Herrmann, M.; Déqué, M.

2009-09-01

scientific questions deal with the RCM design for the following points: Q1. the horizontal resolution Q2. the physics of the RCM Q3. the regional modelling technique (stretched-grid model, limited area model, spectral nudging technique) Q4. the regional air-sea-river coupling Q5. the RCM internal variability Up-to-date observation estimates of the various terms of the MSWB are used to sort out between the different configurations of the RCMs.

Exploring the utility of quantitative network design in evaluating Arctic sea ice thickness sampling strategies

OpenAIRE

Kaminski, T.; Kauker, F.; Eicken, H.; Karcher, M.

2015-01-01

We present a quantitative network design (QND) study of the Arctic sea ice-ocean system using a software tool that can evaluate hypothetical observational networks in a variational data assimilation system. For a demonstration, we evaluate two idealised flight transects derived from NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne ice surveys in terms of their potential to improve ten-day to five-month sea-ice forecasts. As target regions for the forecasts we select the Chukchi Sea, a...

Paleomagnetic evidence bearing on Tertiary tectonics of the Tihamat Asir coastal plain, southwestern Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Kellogg, K.S.; Blank, H.R.

1982-01-01

Paleomagnetic directions determined for an upper Oligocene to lower Miocene dike swarm and from two lower Miocene layered gabbros in the Tihamat Asir coastal plain of southwestern Saudi Arabia are used to test several hypotheses concerning the tectonics of rifting along the eastern margin of the Red Sea. The dikes and gabbros were emplaced during the initial phases of Red Sea rifting and may mark the transition between continental and oceanic crust. Although these rocks have been hydrothermally altered to varying degrees, reliable remanent directions after alternating-field demagnetization were obtained for 23 dikes and for gabbros at Jabal at Tirf and Wadi Liyyah. Twelve of the dikes are reversely magnetized. After the directions of the reversely magnetized dikes are inverted 180?, the mean direction calculated for the normal dikes is approximately 24? more downward than that calculated for the reversed dikes. This result is similar to that found for the As Sarat volcanic field, 100 km to the north, and may be due to a displaced dipole source for the field. The unrotated mean remanent direction for the dikes (inverting reversed dike directions 180?) is D (declination) = 353.2? and I (inclination) = 6.8? with a95 (radius of the cone of 95 percent confidence) = 8.9? whereas directions from the Jabal at Tirf and Wadi Liyyah gabbros lie at D = 176.2?, I = -1.6? (a95 = 7 1 ?) and D = 17.1?, I = 16.3? (a 95 = 8.7?), respectively. Comparing these results with the results from the As Sarat volcanic field, all the paleomagnetic evidence supports a model for approximately 20 ? of westward tilting of the Wadi Damad and Wadi Jizan areas after the emplacement of the Jabal at Tiff gabbro. The Wadi Liyyah area may have been tilted even more toward the Red Sea. The paleomagnetic directions from three widely separated localities in the Jabal at Tirf gabbro are not significantly different, a fact which indicates that the body cooled in approximately its present bowl shape. Evidence

Cooling water intake and discharge facilities for Ikata Nuclear Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishihara, Hisashi; Iwabe, Masakazu

1977-01-01

Igata Nuclear Power Station is located at the root of Sadamisaki peninsula in the western part of Ehime Prefecture, Japan, and faces the Iyonada sea area in Seto Inland Sea. The most part of the shoreline forms the cliffs, and the bottom of the sea is rather steep, reaching 60 m depth at 300 m offshore. Considering warm water discharge measures in addition to the natural conditions of tide and current, temperature of sea water, water quality and wave data, it was decided that the deep layer intake system using bottom laid intake pipes and the submerged discharge system with caisson penetrable dike would be adopted for cooling water. The latter was first employed in Japan, and the submerged discharge system with caisson penetrable dike had been developed. The intake was designed to take sea water of about 38 m 3 per sec for each condenser unit at the depth of approximately 17 m with 4.8 m diameter and 116 m length pipes and its calculation details and construction are described. The discharge system was designed to provide a horseshoe-shaped discharge pond with inner diameter of approximately 50 m, surrounded by 17 concrete caissons, and to spout warm water discharge from eight openings of 1.58 m diameter, at the location of approximately 300 m eastward of the intake. Its hydraulic studies and model experiments and its construction are reported. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Ferroan Dolomitization by Seawater Interaction with Mafic Igneous Dikes and Carbonate Host Rock at the Latemar Platform, Dolomites, Italy: Numerical Modeling of Spatial, Temporal, and Temperature Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Blomme

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Numerous publications address the petrogenesis of the partially dolomitized Latemar carbonate platform, Italy. A common factor is interpretation of geochemical data in terms of heating via regional igneous activity that provided kinetically favorable conditions for replacement dolomitization. New field, petrographic, XRD, and geochemical data demonstrate a spatial, temporal, and geochemical link between replacement dolomite and local mafic igneous dikes that pervasively intrude the platform. Dikes are dominated by strongly altered plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Significantly, where ferroan dolomite is present, it borders dikes. We hypothesize that seawater interacted with mafic minerals, causing Fe enrichment in the fluid that subsequently participated in dolomitization. This hypothesis was tested numerically through thermodynamic (MELTS, Arxim-GEM and reactive flow (Arxim-LMA simulations. Results confirm that seawater becomes Fe-enriched during interaction with clinopyroxene (diopside-hedenbergite and plagioclase (anorthite-albite-orthoclase solid solutions. Reaction of modified seawater with limestone causes ferroan and nonferroan replacement dolomitization. Dolomite quantities are strongly influenced by temperature. At 40 to 80°C, ferroan dolomite proportions decrease with increasing temperature, indicating that Latemar dolomitization likely occurred at lower temperatures. This relationship between igneous dikes and dolomitization may have general significance due to the widespread association of carbonates with rifting-related igneous environments.

Comparing Acoustic Tag Attachments Designed for Mobile Tracking of Hatchling Sea Turtles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aimee L. Hoover

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The poorly understood movements of sea turtles during the “lost years” of their early life history have been characterized as a “passive drifter” stage. Biologging technology allows us to study patterns of dispersal, but the small body size of young life stages requires particular consideration that such tagging does not significantly impede animal movements. We tested the effect of instrument attachment methods for mobile acoustic tracking of hatchling sea turtles, including a design that would be suitable for leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea. We obtained 8-week-old hatchery-reared green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas (n = 12 individuals and examined the effect of attaching Vemco V5 acoustic tags. Each animal's swim speed, swimming depth, and stroke frequency were determined under three scenarios: control, direct Velcro® attachment to the carapace, and harness attachment, to determine if there was a significant difference amongst treatments. Turtle swimming speed was significantly slower during the middle period of the trial for the harness attachment compared with the control. No significant change in swim speed was observed when the tag was attached directly with Velcro®, and no significant change in dive depth was observed for either treatment compared to the control. Stroke frequency was significantly greater compared to the control at the end of the trial for the Velcro® attachment only, although there was no corresponding increase in swimming speed. This information can be used to design effective approaches for actively tracking free-ranging hatchling sea turtles to understand dispersal and survival of these vulnerable marine species.

A Protocol for Bioinspired Design: A Ground Sampler Based on Sea Urchin Jaws

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Michael B.; Naleway, Steven E.; Wirth, Taylor S.; Jung, Jae-Young; Cheung, Charlene L.; Loera, Faviola B.; Medina, Sandra; Sato, Kirk N.; Taylor, Jennifer R. A.; McKittrick, Joanna

2016-01-01

Bioinspired design is an emerging field that takes inspiration from nature to develop high-performance materials and devices. The sea urchin mouthpiece, known as the Aristotle's lantern, is a compelling source of bioinspiration with an intricate network of musculature and calcareous teeth that can scrape, cut, chew food and bore holes into rocky substrates. We describe the bioinspiration process as including animal observation, specimen characterization, device fabrication and mechanism bioexploration. The last step of bioexploration allows for a deeper understanding of the initial biology. The design architecture of the Aristotle's lantern is analyzed with micro-computed tomography and individual teeth are examined with scanning electron microscopy to identify the microstructure. Bioinspired designs are fabricated with a 3D printer, assembled and tested to determine the most efficient lantern opening and closing mechanism. Teeth from the bioinspired lantern design are bioexplored via finite element analysis to explain from a mechanical perspective why keeled tooth structures evolved in the modern sea urchins we observed. This circular approach allows for new conclusions to be drawn from biology and nature. PMID:27166636

Adaptation to Sea Level Rise: A Multidisciplinary Analysis for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Scussolini, Paolo; Tran, Thi Van Thu; Koks, Elco; Diaz-Loaiza, Andres; Ho, Phi Long; Lasage, Ralph

2017-12-01

One of the most critical impacts of sea level rise is that flooding suffered by ever larger settlements in tropical deltas will increase. Here we look at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and quantify the threats that coastal floods pose to safety and to the economy. For this, we produce flood maps through hydrodynamic modeling and, by combining these with data sets of exposure and vulnerability, we estimate two indicators of risk: the damage to assets and the number of potential casualties. We simulate current and future (2050 and 2100) flood risk using IPCC scenarios of sea level rise and socioeconomic change. We find that annual damage may grow by more than 1 order of magnitude, and potential casualties may grow 5-20-fold until the end of the century, in the absence of adaptation. Impacts depend strongly on the climate and socioeconomic scenarios considered. Next, we simulate the implementation of adaptation measures and calculate their effectiveness in reducing impacts. We find that a ring dike would protect the inner city but increase risk in more rural districts, whereas elevating areas at risk and dryproofing buildings will reduce impacts to the city as a whole. Most measures perform well from an economic standpoint. Combinations of measures seem to be the optimal solution and may address potential equity conflicts. Based on our results, we design possible adaptation pathways for Ho Chi Minh City for the coming decades; these can inform policy-making and strategic thinking.

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos: The first circumferential dike intrusion observed by GPS and InSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Chadwick, W.W.; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Geist, Dennis J.; Poland, M.; Johnson, Daniel J.; Batt, S.; Harpp, Karen S.; Ruiz, A.

2011-01-01

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos, occurred along circumferential fissures parallel to the caldera rim and fed lava flows down the steep southwestern slope of the volcano for several weeks. This was the first circumferential dike intrusion ever observed by both InSAR and GPS measurements and thus provides an opportunity to determine the subsurface geometry of these enigmatic structures that are common on Galápagos volcanoes but are rare elsewhere. Pre- and post- eruption ground deformation between 2002 and 2006 can be modeled by the inflation of two separate magma reservoirs beneath the caldera: a shallow sill at ~1 km depth and a deeper point-source at ~5 km depth, and we infer that this system also existed at the time of the 2005 eruption. The co-eruption deformation is dominated by uplift near the 2005 eruptive fissures, superimposed on a broad subsidence centered on the caldera. Modeling of the co-eruption deformation was performed by including various combinations of planar dislocations to simulate the 2005 circumferential dike intrusion. We found that a single planar dike could not match both the InSAR and GPS data. Our best-fit model includes three planar dikes connected along hinge lines to simulate a curved concave shell that is steeply dipping (~45–60°) toward the caldera at the surface and more gently dipping (~12–14°) at depth where it connects to the horizontal sub-caldera sill. The shallow sill is underlain by the deep point source. The geometry of this modeled magmatic system is consistent with the petrology of Fernandina lavas, which suggest that circumferential eruptions tap the shallowest parts of the system, whereas radial eruptions are fed from deeper levels. The recent history of eruptions at Fernandina is also consistent with the idea that circumferential and radial intrusions are sometimes in a stress-feedback relationship and alternate in time with one another.

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos: The first circumferential dike intrusion observed by GPS and InSAR

KAUST Repository

Chadwick, William W Jr; Jonsson, Sigurjon; Geist, Dennis J.; Poland, Michael P.; Johnson, Daniel J.; Batt, Spencer; Harpp, Karen S.; Ruiz, André s Gorki

2010-01-01

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos, occurred along circumferential fissures parallel to the caldera rim and fed lava flows down the steep southwestern slope of the volcano for several weeks. This was the first circumferential dike intrusion ever observed by both InSAR and GPS measurements and thus provides an opportunity to determine the subsurface geometry of these enigmatic structures that are common on Galápagos volcanoes but are rare elsewhere. Pre- and post- eruption ground deformation between 2002 and 2006 can be modeled by the inflation of two separate magma reservoirs beneath the caldera: a shallow sill at ~1 km depth and a deeper point-source at ~5 km depth, and we infer that this system also existed at the time of the 2005 eruption. The co-eruption deformation is dominated by uplift near the 2005 eruptive fissures, superimposed on a broad subsidence centered on the caldera. Modeling of the co-eruption deformation was performed by including various combinations of planar dislocations to simulate the 2005 circumferential dike intrusion. We found that a single planar dike could not match both the InSAR and GPS data. Our best-fit model includes three planar dikes connected along hinge lines to simulate a curved concave shell that is steeply dipping (~45-60°) toward the caldera at the surface and more gently dipping (~12-14°) at depth where it connects to the horizontal sub-caldera sill. The shallow sill is underlain by the deep point source. The geometry of this modeled magmatic system is consistent with the petrology of Fernandina lavas, which suggest that circumferential eruptions tap the shallowest parts of the system, whereas radial eruptions are fed from deeper levels. The recent history of eruptions at Fernandina is also consistent with the idea that circumferential and radial intrusions are sometimes in a stress-feedback relationship and alternate in time with one another. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos: The first circumferential dike intrusion observed by GPS and InSAR

KAUST Repository

Chadwick, William W Jr

2010-12-15

The May 2005 eruption of Fernandina volcano, Galápagos, occurred along circumferential fissures parallel to the caldera rim and fed lava flows down the steep southwestern slope of the volcano for several weeks. This was the first circumferential dike intrusion ever observed by both InSAR and GPS measurements and thus provides an opportunity to determine the subsurface geometry of these enigmatic structures that are common on Galápagos volcanoes but are rare elsewhere. Pre- and post- eruption ground deformation between 2002 and 2006 can be modeled by the inflation of two separate magma reservoirs beneath the caldera: a shallow sill at ~1 km depth and a deeper point-source at ~5 km depth, and we infer that this system also existed at the time of the 2005 eruption. The co-eruption deformation is dominated by uplift near the 2005 eruptive fissures, superimposed on a broad subsidence centered on the caldera. Modeling of the co-eruption deformation was performed by including various combinations of planar dislocations to simulate the 2005 circumferential dike intrusion. We found that a single planar dike could not match both the InSAR and GPS data. Our best-fit model includes three planar dikes connected along hinge lines to simulate a curved concave shell that is steeply dipping (~45-60°) toward the caldera at the surface and more gently dipping (~12-14°) at depth where it connects to the horizontal sub-caldera sill. The shallow sill is underlain by the deep point source. The geometry of this modeled magmatic system is consistent with the petrology of Fernandina lavas, which suggest that circumferential eruptions tap the shallowest parts of the system, whereas radial eruptions are fed from deeper levels. The recent history of eruptions at Fernandina is also consistent with the idea that circumferential and radial intrusions are sometimes in a stress-feedback relationship and alternate in time with one another. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

The design of an acoustic data link for a deep-sea probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coates, R.; Mathams, R.F.; Owens, A.R.

1986-01-01

The report describes a digital computer simulation of the performance of possible acoustic digital data link designs for use with a deep ocean penetrometer. It concludes with a description of the acoustic and electronic parts of a prototype system. The digital computer was developed with the assumption that the transmitter would need to be able to pass a low error rate data signal vertically upwards through some tens of metres of sea-bed sediment as well as some thousands of metres of sea water. The model allowed for variability in sediment attenuation, sea-state, transmitter power and modulation technique. It was concluded that, at acceptable transmitter powers, a useable signal should be recoverable under all expected environmental conditions. The prototype system was built and tested in laboratory conditions. The tests indicated that satisfactory performance should be achievable with a field equipment derived from this prototype. (author)

Microfossil measures of rapid sea-level rise: Timing of response of two microfossil groups to a sudden tidal-flooding experiment in Cascadia

Science.gov (United States)

Horton, B.P.; Milker, Yvonne; Dura, T.; Wang, Kelin; Bridgeland, W.T.; Brophy, Laura S.; Ewald, M.; Khan, Nicole; Engelhart, S.E.; Nelson, Alan R.; Witter, Robert C.

2017-01-01

Comparisons of pre-earthquake and post-earthquake microfossils in tidal sequences are accurate means to measure coastal subsidence during past subduction earthquakes, but the amount of subsidence is uncertain, because the response times of fossil taxa to coseismic relative sea-level (RSL) rise are unknown. We measured the response of diatoms and foraminifera to restoration of a salt marsh in southern Oregon, USA. Tidal flooding following dike removal caused an RSL rise of ∼1 m, as might occur by coseismic subsidence during momentum magnitude (Mw) 8.1–8.8 earthquakes on this section of the Cascadia subduction zone. Less than two weeks after dike removal, diatoms colonized low marsh and tidal flats in large numbers, showing that they can record seismically induced subsidence soon after earthquakes. In contrast, low-marsh foraminifera took at least 11 months to appear in sizeable numbers. Where subsidence measured with diatoms and foraminifera differs, their different response times may provide an estimate of postseismic vertical deformation in the months following past megathrust earthquakes.

Optimization of coastal protection measures on small islands in the northfrisian part of the North Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wöffler, T.; Jensen, J.; Schüttrumpf, H.

2017-12-01

Low lying small islands are among the most vulnerable regions worldwide due to the consequences of climate change. The reasons for this are the concentration of infrastructure, geographical features and their small size. Worldwide special forms and adaptations of coastal protection strategies and measures can be found on small islands. In the northfrisian part of the North Sea worldwide unique strategies and measures have been developed in the last centuries due to the geographic location and the isolation during extreme events. One special feature of their coastal protection strategy is the lack of dikes. For this reason, the houses are built on artificial dwelling mounds in order to protect the inhabitants and their goods against frequently occurring inundations during storm surge seasons (up to 30 times a year). The Hallig islands themselves benefit by these inundations due to sediments, which are accumulated on the island's surfaces. This sedimentation has enabled a natural adaption to sea level rise in the past. Nevertheless, the construction methods of the coastal protection measures are mainly based on tradition and the knowledge of the inhabitants. No resilient design approaches and safety standards for these special structures like dwelling mounds and elevated revetments exist today. For this reason, neither a cost efficient construction nor a prioritization of measures is possible. Main part of this paper is the scientific investigation of the existing coastal protection measures with the objective of the development of design approaches and safety standards. The results will optimize the construction of the existing coastal protection measures and can be transferred to other small islands and low lying areas worldwide.

40 CFR 264.221 - Design and operating requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

..., and other equipment; and human error. (h) A surface impoundment must have dikes that are designed... (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT, STORAGE, AND DISPOSAL FACILITIES... external hydrogeologic forces), physical contact with the waste or leachate to which they are exposed...

Chemical and isotopic characterization of water-rock interactions in shales induced by the intrusion of a basaltic dike: A natural analogue for radioactive waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Techer, Isabelle; Rousset, Davy; Clauer, Norbert; Lancelot, Joel; Boisson, Jean-Yves

2006-01-01

Disposal of nuclear waste in deep geological formations is expected to induce thermal fluxes for hundreds of years with maximum temperature reaching about 100-150 deg. C in the nearfield argillaceous environment. The long-term behavior of clays subjected to such thermal gradients needs to be perfectly understood in safety assessment considerations. In this respect, a Toarcian argillaceous unit thermally disturbed by the intrusion of a 1.1-m wide basaltic dike at the Perthus pass (Herault, France), was studied in detail as a natural analogue. The thermal imprint induced by the dike was evaluated by a mineralogical, chemical and K-Ar study of the <2 μm clay fraction of shale samples collected at increasing distance from the basalt. The data suggest that the mineral composition of the shales was not significantly disturbed when the temperature was below 100-150 deg. C. Closer to the dike at 150-300 deg. C, changes such as progressive dissolution of chlorite and kaolinite, increased content of the mixed layers illite-smectite with more illite layers, complete decalcification and subsequent increased content of quartz, were found. At the eastern contact with the dike, the mineral and chemical compositions of both the shales and the basalt suggest water-rock interactions subsequent to the intrusion with precipitation of palagonite and renewed but discrete deposition of carbonate. A pencil cleavage developed in the shales during the dike emplacement probably favored water circulation along the contact. Strontium isotopic data suggest that the fluids of probable meteoric origin, reacted with Bathonian and Bajocian limestones before entering the underlying Toarcian shales. By analogy with deep geological radioactive waste repositories, the results report discrete mineralogical variations of the clays when subjected to temperatures of 100-150 deg. C that are expected in deep storage conditions. Beyond 150 deg. C, significant mineralogical changes may alter the physical and

Cascade-sea : Computer Assisted Curriculum Analysis, Design & Evaluation for Science Education in Africa.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McKenney, Susan; van den Akker, Jan; Maribe, Robert; Gustafson, Kent; Nieveen, Nienke; Plomp, Tjeerd

1999-01-01

The CASCADE-SEA program aims to support curriculum development within the context of secondary level science and mathematics education in sub-Saharan Africa. This project focuses on the iterative design of a computer-based curriculum development support system for the creation of classroom

Risk reduction by combining nature values with flood protection?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van Loon-Steensma Jantsje M.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In the Netherlands, the concept of a multifunctional dike has already often been implemented, and has been identified as a promising climate adaptation measure. In a multifunctional dike, functions like urban development, transport infrastructure, recreation, agriculture or nature are deliberately combined with its primary flood protection function. This means that the design must be based on the requirements and life span of all different functions, while in a monofunctional dike only the flood protection function is considered. By accommodating other functions, a multifunctional dike may easier fit into, or even contribute to the quality of the landscape. Moreover, these other functions may help in financing the flood protection works, but governance is more complicated. To avoid costly adjustments forthcoming from changed safety standards, incorporation of multiple functions can require a more “robust” flood defence than a monofunctional flood defence. A robust flood defence can withstand more extreme situations than required by the present safety standards, and has a substantially lower flooding probability. Therefore, a multifunctional dike may be attractive in view of the uncertainties regarding the effects of climate change and a changing world. Moreover, it will result in reduced flood risk. As part of the Dutch Delta programme, several explorative studies on multifunctional dikes were initiated. Most studies focused on urban areas, but also in the rural area interest emerged for multifunctional dikes, e.g. for the integration of salt marshes into the flood defences. Marshes provide valuable habitat for vegetation and invertebrate species, and are important for wading birds. Furthermore, under condition of abundant sediment availability they can keep pace with sea level rise. Explorative modelling results indicate that vegetated forelands affect wave heights, even under extreme conditions. However, the inclusion of a vegetated

A multi-stage oil-water-separating process design for the sea oil spill recovery robot

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Min-ge; Wu, Jian-guo; Lin, Xinhua; Wang, Xiao-ming

2018-03-01

Oil spill have the most common pollution to the marine ecological environment. In the late stage of physical method recovery, because of the thin oil and the strong sea breeze, the recovery vessels has low efficiency and high energy consumption. This paper develops a multi-stage oil-water-separating process carried by the sea oil spill recovery robot in severe conditions. This design consists of three separation process, among which both the first and third process adopt corrugated sheets horizontal oil-water separator, while the second is hydraulic rotary breaker. This design also equiptment with rectifier and cyclone separator and other important components. This process has high flexibility and high recovery efficiency. The implement effect is significant.

Dike intrusions into bituminous coal, Illinois Basin: H, C, N, O isotopic responses to rapid and brief heating

Science.gov (United States)

Schimmelmann, A.; Mastalerz, Maria; Gao, L.; Sauer, P.E.; Topalov, K.

2009-01-01

Unlike long-term heating in subsiding sedimentary basins, the near-instantaneous thermal maturation of sedimentary organic matter near magmatic intrusions is comparable to artificial thermal maturation in the laboratory in terms of short duration and limited extent. This study investigates chemical and H, C, N, O isotopic changes in high volatile bituminous coal near two Illinois dike contacts and compares observed patterns and trends with data from other published studies and from artificial maturation experiments. Our study pioneers in quantifying isotopically exchangeable hydrogen and measuring the D/H (i.e., 2H/1H) ratio of isotopically non-exchangeable organic hydrogen in kerogen near magmatic contacts. Thermal stress in coal caused a reduction of isotopically exchangeable hydrogen in kerogen from 5% to 6% in unaltered coal to 2-3% at contacts, mostly due to elimination of functional groups (e.g., {single bond}OH, {single bond}COOH, {single bond}NH2). In contrast to all previously published data on D/H in thermally matured organic matter, the more mature kerogen near the two dike contacts is D-depleted, which is attributed to (i) thermal elimination of D-enriched functional groups, and (ii) thermal drying of hydrologically isolated coal prior to the onset of cracking reactions, thereby precluding D-transfer from relatively D-enriched water into kerogen. Maxima in organic nitrogen concentration and in the atomic N/C ratio of kerogen at a distance of ???2.5 to ???3.5 m from the thicker dike indicate that reactive N-compounds had been pyrolytically liberated at high temperature closer to the contact, migrated through the coal seam, and recombined with coal kerogen in a zone of lower temperature. The same principle extends to organic carbon, because a strong ??13Ckerogen vs. ??15Nkerogen correlation across 5.5 m of coal adjacent to the thicker dike indicates that coal was functioning as a flow-through reactor along a dynamic thermal gradient facilitating back

Spreading Design of Radioactivity in Sea Water, Algae and Fish Samples inthe Coastal of Muria Peninsula Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutjipto; Muryono; Sumining

2000-01-01

Spreading design of radioactivity in sea water, brown algae (phaeopyceae)and kerapu fish (epeniphelus) samples in the coastal of Muria peninsula areahas been studied. This research was carried out with designed beside to knowspreading each radioactivity but also spreading design in relation to thecontent of Pu-239 and Cs-137. Samples taken, preparation and analysis basedon the procedures of environmental radioactivity analysis. The instrumentused for the analysis radioactivity were alpha counter with detector ZnS, lowlevel beta counter modified P3TM-BATAN with detector GM and spectrometergamma with detector Ge(Li). Alpha radioactivity obtained of sea water, algaeand fish were the fluctuation form of the natural background. Radionuclide ofPu-239 in samples not detect, because its concentration/radioactivity stillbelow the maximum concentration detection value of Pu-239 for algae and fishwas that 1.10 Bq/g, whereas for sea water was that 0.07 Bq/mL. Result for theradioactivity which give the highest alpha radioactivity obtained on thekerapu fish was that 1.56 x 10 -3 Bq/g, beta radioactivity on sea water wasthat 1.75 x 10 2 mBq/L, gamma radioactivity of K-40 on brown algae was that3.72 x 10 -2 Bq/g and gamma radioactivity of Tl-208 on fish as mentionedabove was that 1.35 x 10 -2 Bq/g. All the peak spectrum gamma energy ofCs-137 do not detect with gamma counter, so there are not the radionuclide ofCs-137 in the samples. Spreading design of radioactivity which occur in thecoastal of Muria peninsula area for alpha radioactivity was found on kerapufish, beta radioactivities on sea water and gamma radioactivity on brownalgae and kerapu fish. (author)

Designing Local-Scale Marine Protected Area Networks in the Central Saudi Arabian Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Khalil, Maha T.

2015-01-01

Coral reefs around the world are at risk from overexploitation and climate change, and coral reefs of the Red Sea are no exception. Science-based designation of marine protected areas (MPAs), within which human activities are restricted, has become

Resonance oscillations of the Soufrière Hills Volcano (Montserrat, W.I.) magmatic system induced by forced magma flow from the reservoir into the upper plumbing dike

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chin-Wu; Huang, Hsin-Fu; Hautmann, Stefanie; Sacks, I. Selwyn; Linde, Alan T.; Taira, Taka'aki

2018-01-01

Short-period deformation cycles are a common phenomenon at active volcanoes and are often attributed to the instability of magma flow in the upper plumbing system caused by fluctuations in magma viscosity related to cooling, degassing, and crystallization. Here we present 20-min periodic oscillations in ground deformation based on high-precision continuous borehole strain data that were associated with the 2003 massive dome-collapse at the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat (West Indies). These high-frequency oscillations lasted 80 min and were preceded by a 4-hour episode of rapid expansion of the shallow magma reservoir. Strain amplitude ratios indicate that the deformational changes were generated by pressure variations in the shallow magma reservoir and - with reversed polarity - the adjacent plumbing dike. The unusually short period of the oscillations cannot be explained with thermally induced variations in magma properties. We investigate the underlying mechanism of the oscillations via a numerical model of forced magma flow through a reservoir-dike system accounting for time-dependent dilation/contraction of the dike due to a viscous response in the surrounding host rock. Our results suggest that the cyclic pressure variations are modulated by the dynamical interplay between rapid expansion of the magma chamber and the incapacity of the narrow dike to take up fast enough the magma volumes supplied by the reservoir. Our results allow us to place first order constraints on the viscosity of crustal host rocks and consequently its fractional melt content. Hence, we present for the first time crustal-scale in situ measurements of rheological properties of mush zones surrounding magmatic systems.

A mechanical design for a detection unit for a deep-sea neutrino telescope

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berbee, E.M.; Boer Rookhuizen, H.; Heine, E.; de Wolf, E.

2013-01-01

The future KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be built on the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea at a depth between three and five kilometers. The high ambient pressure, but also the fact that the detector is hardly accessible, put severe constraints on the mechanical design of the detection units of the

An Introduction to camptonite lamprophyric dikes at Misho Mountains (Almas area - East Azarbaijan Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohsen moayyed

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The Almas area in NW of the East Azarbaijan Province, is a part of the Soltaniye-Misho zone. The lamprophyric dikes crosscut the Kahar Formation. The principal minerals of these rocks are amphibole (amphibole phenocrysts are longer than 3 cm, biotite, pyroxene, olivine, plagioclase, apatite, calcite and chlorite with porphyritic texture. According to mineralogical and geochemical evidences, the studied lamprophyres are camptonite with alkaline nature. The plotted spider diagrams indicate that the studied lamprophyres are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE and incompatible elements in comparison to heavy rare earth elements (HREE. The parent magma is probably generated from spinel lherzolite mantle with low rate partial melting.

PTAGIS - Development of Large PIT-Tag Antennas to Estimate Migration Timing and Survival for Adult Salmonids near Pile Dikes in the Columbia River Estuary

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — We continued research and development of a passive PIT-tag detection system along a pile dike in the estuary (rkm 70). Target fish for this system are returning...

The Volcanic Myths of the Red Sea - Temporal Relationship Between Magmatism and Rifting

Science.gov (United States)

Stockli, D. F.; Bosworth, W.

2017-12-01

The Cenozoic Red Sea is one of the premier examples of continental rifting and active break-up. It has been cited as an example for both prototypical volcanic, pure shear rift systems with limited crustal stretching as well as magma-poor simple-shear rifting and highly asymmetric rift margins characterized by low-angle normal faults. In light of voluminous Oligocene continental flood basalts in the Afar/Ethiopian region, the Red Sea has often been viewed as a typical volcanic rift, despite evidence for asymmetric extension and hyperextended crust (Zabargad Island). An in-depth analysis of the timing, spatial distribution, and nature of Red Sea volcanism and its relationship to late Cenozoic extensional faulting should shed light on some of the misconceptions. The Eocene appearance of the East African super-plume was not accompanied by any recognized significant extensional faulting or rift-basin formation. The first phase of volcanism more closely associated with the Red Sea occurred in northern Ethiopia and western Yemen at 31-30 Ma and was synchronous with the onset of continental extension in the Gulf of Aden. Early Oligocene volcanism has also been documented in southern and central Saudi Arabia and southern Sudan. However, this voluminous Oligocene volcanism entirely predates Red Sea extensional faulting and rift formation. Marking the onset of Red Sea rifting, widespread, spatially synchronous intrusion of basaltic dikes occurred at 24-21 Ma along the entire Red Sea-Gulf of Suez rift and continuing into northern Egypt. While the initiation of lithospheric extension in the central and northern and central Red Sea and Gulf of Suez was accompanied by only sparse basaltic volcanism and possible underplating, the main phase of rifting in the Miocene Red Sea/Gulf of Suez completely lacks any significant rift-related volcanism, suggesting plate-boundary forces probably drove overall separation of Arabia from Africa. During progressive rifting, there is also no

General Concerns Life-Cycle Design of Economical Ice-Resistant Structures in the Bohai Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Da-yong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In China, the oil and natural gas resources of Bohai Bay are mainly marginal oil fields. It is necessary to build both iceresistant and economical offshore platforms. However, there are many risks during the life cycle of offshore platforms due to the imperfect preliminary design for the Bohai Sea economical ice-resistant structures. As a result, the whole life-cycle design should be considered, including plan, design, construction, management and maintenance design. Based on the demand of existing codes and research of the basic design, structural ice-resistant performance and the reasonable management and maintenance, the life-cycle design theory is discussed. It was concluded that the life-cycle cost-effective optimum design proposed will lead to a minimum risk.

Metamorphism Near the Dike-Gabbro Transition in the Ocean Crust Based on Preliminary Results from Oman Drilling Project Hole GT3A

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, C. E.; Nozaka, T.; Harris, M.; Michibayashi, K.; de Obeso, J. C.; D'Andres, J.; Lefay, R.; Leong, J. A. M.; Zeko, D.; Kelemen, P. B.; Teagle, D. A. H.

2017-12-01

Oman Drilling Project Hole GT3A intersected 400 m of altered basaltic dikes, gabbros, and diorites. The 100% recovery affords an unprecedented opportunity to study metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration near the dike-gabbro transition in the ocean crust. Hydrothermal alteration is ubiquitous; all rocks are at least moderately altered, and mean alteration intensity is 54%. The earliest alteration in all rock types is background replacement of igneous minerals, some of which occurred at clinopyroxene amphibolite facies, as indicated by brown-green hornblende, calcic plagioclase, and secondary cpx. In addition, background alteration includes greenschist, subgreenschist, and zeolite facies minerals. More extensive alteration is locally observed in halos around veins, patches, and zones related to deformation. Dense networks of hydrothermal veins record a complex history of fluid-rock alteration. During core description, 10,727 individual veins and 371 vein networks were logged in the 400 m of Hole GT3A. The veins displayed a range of textures and connectivities. The total density of veins in Hole GT3A is 26.8 veins m-1. Vein density shows no correlation with depth, but may be higher near dike margins and faults. Vein minerals include amphibole, epidote, quartz, chlorite, prehnite, zeolite (chiefly laumontite) and calcite in a range of combinations. Analysis of crosscutting relations leads to classification of 4 main vein types. In order of generally oldest to youngest these are: amphibole, quartz-epidote-chlorite (QEC), zeolite-prehnite (ZP), and calcite. QEC and ZP vein types may contain any combination of minerals except quartz alone; veins filled only by quartz may occur at any relative time. Macroscopic amphibole veins are rare and show no variation with depth. QEC vein densities appear to be higher (>9.3 veins m-1) in the upper 300 m of GT3A, where dikes predominate. In contrast, there are 5.5 veins m-1 at 300-400 m, where gabbros and diorites are abundant. ZP

Composition of coarse-grained magnetite from pegmatite dikes related to plutons of quartz monzonite in the Jabal Lababa area, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Overstreet, William C.; Mousa, Hassan; Matzko, John J.

1985-01-01

Crystals of magnetite as large as 30 mm long and 7 mm thick are locally present in quartz-rich zones of interior and exterior pegmatite dikes related to plutons of quartz monzonite in the Jabal Lababa area. Niobium, tin, and yttrium are strongly enriched in six specimens of magnetite from interior pegmatite dikes in a small pluton where these elements form geochemical anomalies in nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates from wadi sediment. Less abundant anomalous elements in the magnetite are molybdenum, lead, and zirconium, which also tend to be present in anomalous amounts in the nonmagnetic concentrates from the niobium-bearing pluton. The most anomalous trace element in the magnetite is zinc, which is at least 10 times as abundant as it is in the quartz monzonite plutons or in the nonmagnetic concentrates. The capacity of magnetite to scavenge molybdenum, zinc, niobium, lead, tin, yttrium, and zirconium suggests the possible utility of magnetite as a geochemical sample medium.

Paleointensity determination on Neoarchaean dikes within the Vodlozerskii terrane of the Karelian craton

Science.gov (United States)

Shcherbakova, V. V.; Lubnina, N. V.; Shcherbakov, V. P.; Zhidkov, G. V.; Tsel'movich, V. A.

2017-09-01

The results of paleomagnetic studies and paleointensity determinations from two Neoarchaean Shala dikes with an age of 2504 Ma, located within the Vodlozerskii terrane of the Karelian craton, are presented. The characteristic components of primary magnetization with shallow inclinations I = -5.7 and 1.9 are revealed; the reliability of the determinations is supported by two contact tests. High paleointensity values are obtained by the Thellier-Coe and Wilson techniques. The calculated values of the virtual dipole moment (11.5 and 13.8) × 1022 A m2 are noticeably higher than the present value of 7.8 × 1022 A m2. Our results, in combination with the previous data presented in the world database, support the hypothesized existence of a period of high paleointensity in the Late Archaean-Early Proterozoic.

Comparison of invasive and non-invasive electromagnetic methods in soil water content estimation of a dike model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preko, Kwasi; Scheuermann, Alexander; Wilhelm, Helmut

2009-01-01

Water infiltration through a dike model under controlled flooding and drainage conditions was investigated using the gravimetric soil water sampling technique and electromagnetic techniques, in particular ground penetrating radar (GPR) applied in different forms, time domain reflectometry with intelligent microelements (TRIME-TDR) and spatial-time domain reflectometry (S-TDR). The experiments were conducted on the model in two phases. In the first phase, the model was flooded with varying water levels between 0 and 1.25 m above the waterproof base of the model. In the second phase, the characteristics of the temporal water content changes were investigated over a period of 65 days as the flood water drained off from the 1.25 m level. The dike model was constructed with soil of the texture class loamy sand. The aim of the experiment was to investigate whether GPR-based invasive and non-invasive methods were able to quantitatively observe and correctly monitor temporal changes in the volumetric water content (VWC) within embankment dams. The VWC values from the various techniques corresponded very well, especially with low VWC values. A comparison with the VWC of gravimetric soil water sampling showed a satisfactory reproducibility. Characteristic discrepancies were recorded with higher values of the VWC. Under saturated conditions only the invasive methods were able to produce reasonable values of the VWC. After the release of the highest flood level, the drainage phase could be characterized by two invasive methods based on the TDR and GPR techniques

The rheological behaviour of fracture-filling cherts: example of Barite Valley dikes, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Ledevin, M.; Arndt, N.; Davaille, A.; Ledevin, R.; Simionovici, A.

2015-02-01

In the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, a 100-250 m thick complex of carbonaceous chert dikes marks the transition from the Mendon Formation to the Mapepe Formation (3260 Ma). The sub-vertical- to vertical position of the fractures, the abundance of highly shattered zones with poorly rotated angular fragments and common jigsaw fit, radial structures, and multiple injection features point to repetitive hydraulic fracturing that released overpressured fluids trapped within the shallow crust. The chemical and isotopic compositions of the chert favour a model whereby seawater-derived fluids circulated at low temperature (clay-sized, rounded particles of silica, carbonaceous matter and minor clay minerals, all suspended in a siliceous colloidal solution. The dike geometry and characteristics of the slurry concur on that the chert was viscoelastic, and most probably thixotropic at the time of injection: the penetration of black chert into extremely fine fractures is evidence for low viscosity at the time of injection and the suspension of large country rock fragments in the chert matrix provides evidence of high viscosity soon thereafter. We explain the rheology by the particulate and colloidal structure of the slurry, and by the characteristic of silica suspensions to form cohesive 3-D networks through gelation. Our results provide valuable information about the compositions, physical characteristics and rheological properties of the fluids that circulated through Archean volcano-sedimentary sequences, which is an additional step to understand conditions on the floor of Archean oceans, the habitat of early life.

The possible designation of the Mediterranean Sea as a SECA: A case study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Panagakos, George P.; Stamatopoulou, Eirini V.; Psaraftis, Harilaos N.

2014-01-01

In view of the ongoing discussions concerning the possible designation of the Mediterranean Sea as a Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA), a modal split model was applied to a case involving the transportation of consolidated cargoes between Thessaloniki, Greece and industrial hubs of northern...... with a small transport service provider, typical for Greece, and are based on actual trips made (revealed preferences). The results predict that the designation of the Mediterranean as a SECA will cause a modal shift in favour of the road-only route by 5.2%, which under certain assumptions can reach 17...

Magma sources during Gondwana breakup: chemistry and chronology of Cretaceous magmatism in Westland, New Zealand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van der Meer, Quinten Har Adriaan; Waight, Tod Earle; Scott, James M.

2013-01-01

by emplacement of granitoid plutons, the deposition of terrestrial Pororari Group sediments in extensional half-grabens across on- and offshore Westland, and the intrusion of mafic dikes from 90 Ma. These dikes are concentrated in the swarms of the Paparoa and Hohonu Ranges and were intruded prior...... to and simultaneous with volumetrically minor A-type plutonism at 82 Ma. The emplacement of mafic dikes and A-type plutonism at 82 Ma is significant as it coincides with the age of the oldest seafloor in the Tasman Sea, therefore it represents magmatism coincident with the initiation of seafloor spreading which...

High occurrence of Bathyarchaeota (MCG) in the deep-sea sediments of South China Sea quantified using newly designed PCR primers.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Tiantian; Liang, Qianyong; Niu, Mingyang; Wang, Fengping

2017-08-01

The archaeal phylum Bathyarchaeota, which is composed of a large number of diverse lineages, is widespread and abundant in marine sediments. Environmental factors that control the distribution, abundance and evolution of this largely diversified archaeal phylum are currently unclear. In this study, a new pair of specific primers that target the major marine subgroups of bathyarchaeotal 16S rRNA genes was designed and evaluated to investigate the distribution and abundance of Bathyarchaeota in marine sediments. The abundance of Bathyarchaeota along two sediment cores from the deep-sea sediments of South China Sea (SCS, each from the Dongsha and Shenhu area) was determined. A strong correlation was found between the bathyarchaeotal abundance and the content of total organic carbon (TOC), suggesting an important role of Bathyarchaeota in organic matter remineralisation in the sediments of SCS. Furthermore, diversity analysis revealed that subgroups Bathy-2, Bathy-8 and Bathy-10 were dominant bathyarchaeotal members of the deep-sea sediments in the SCS. Bathy-8 was found predominantly within the reducing and deeper sediment layers, while Bathy-10 occurred preferentially in the oxidizing and shallower sediment layers. Our study lays a foundation for the further understanding of the ecological functions and niche differentiation of the important but not well-understood sedimentary archaeal group. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Geophysical investigation of an upper tertiary subbasin in the southern Egyptian Red Sea shelf and its bearing on oil exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Khattab, M. M.

Several narrow, elongate and Red Sea-trending gravity lows, suggested recently as due to depositional troughs, are shown on the Egyptian Red Sea shelf Bouguer map. Few drilling data and poor reflectivity below the Pliocene-Miocene uncorformity hinder subsurface evaluation. A 1 mgal anomaly (25 km north of Ras Benas Peninsula) was analysed along a crossing sessmic reflection line. The interpretation was aided by: lithology at an off-shore well, seismic data above the unconformity and aeromagnetic data in the southerly-located Foul Bay. The best fit of computed to observed gravity was for a three-layers model (water, post-evaporites and evaporites) where maximum sediment thickness was 3.8 km of which layers 2 and 3 constittted 1.6 and 2.2 km. The subbasin configuration was found to be controlled by Quaternary (similar to that mapped at Egyptian and Saudi Arabian coastal provinces) and pre-middle Miocence (affecting only middle Miocene evaprites beneath a reflection line at the western margin of the main trough near latitude 24°N) faulting which supports the conceot of Red Sea arching and subsequent faulting at marginal shelves. This subbasin is found associated, in part, with a sea--floor trough and with part of Foul Bay magnetic lineations (interpreted recently as caused by oceanic crust) which, in turn, are shown to constitute continuation of mapped onshore tholeiitic dikes.

Paleomagnetism of Early Cambrian Itabaiana mafic dikes (NE Brazil) and the final assembly of Gondwana

Science.gov (United States)

Trindade, Ricardo I. F.; D'Agrella-Filho, Manoel S.; Epof, Igor; Brito Neves, Benjamim B.

2006-04-01

Paleomagnetic analysis on 15 early Cambrian mafic dikes from Itabaiana (Paraíba State) yielded a southern (northwestern) direction with steep upward (downward) inclination ( Dm = 167.5°, Im = - 63.7°, α95 = 7.3°). AF and Thermal demagnetization, thermomagnetic curves, and hysteresis results suggest that this component is dominantly carried by fine-grained SD magnetite. The high stability of this component and positive baked contact tests on three dikes indicate it represents a primary thermoremanent magnetization. Ar-Ar analysis on whole-rock samples from two sites provides a strong constraint on the age of the Itabaiana paleomagnetic pole (134.6° E, 34.9° S; A95 = 7.3, K = 28) defined by plateau ages of 525 ± 5 and 526 ± 4 Ma. This pole completely satisfies six out of the seven quality criteria proposed by Van der Voo [R. Van der Voo, The reliability of paleomagnetic data, Tectonophysics 184 (1990) 1-9.] and permits a tight constraint on the Early Cambrian sector of the Gondwana apparent polar wander path. Paleogeographic reconstructions consistent with the available paleomagnetic and geological record show that Gondwana was sutured along three major orogenies, the Mozambique (Brasilano/Pan-African) Orogeny (800-650 Ma), the Kuunga Orogeny (570-530 Ma) and the Pampean-Araguaia Orogeny (540-520 Ma). We suggest that after rifting away from Laurentia at the end of the Neoproterozoic, opening the Iapetus ocean, the Amazonian craton and minor adjoining blocks, such as Rio Apa and Pampia, collided with the proto-Gondwana by Cambrian times at ca. 530-520 Ma. Unless for small adjustments, Gondwana was completely formed by 525 Ma whose paleogeography is defined by the Itabaiana pole.

Cost-Based Design and Selection of Point Absorber Devices for the Mediterranean Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincenzo Piscopo

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Sea wave energy is one of the most promising renewable sources, even if relevant technology is not mature enough for the global energy market and is not yet competitive if compared with solar, wind and tidal current devices. Particularly, among the variety of wave energy converters developed in the last decade, heaving point absorbers represent one of the most feasible and studied technologies, as shown by the small-scale testing and full-scale prototypes, deployed in the last years throughout the world. Nevertheless, the need for further reduction of the energy production costs requires a specialized design of wave energy converters, accounting for the restraints provided by the power take-off unit and the device operational profile. Hence, actual analysis focuses on a new cost-based design procedure for heaving point absorbers. The device is equipped with a floating buoy with an optional fully submerged mass connected, by means of a tensioned line, to the power take-off unit. It consists of a permanent magnet linear generator, lying on the seabed and equipped with a gravity-based foundation. The proposed procedure is applied to several candidate deployment sites located in the Mediterranean Sea; the incidence of the power take-off restraint and the converter operational profile is fully investigated and some recommendations for preliminary design of wave energy converter devices are provided. Current results show that there is wide scope to make the wave energy sector more competitive on the international market, by properly selecting the main design parameters of point absorbers, on the basis of met-ocean conditions at the deployment site.

The MajuagaaA Kimberlite Dike, Maniitsoq Regio, West Greenland: Constraints on an Mg-rich Silicocarbonatitic Melt Composition from Groundmass Mineralogy and Bulk Compositions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Troels F. D.; Sand, Karina Krarup

2008-01-01

The Majuagaa kimberlite dike in the Maniitsoq region, southern West Greenland, is 564 Ma old, 2.5 km long, and up to 2 m wide. It is well exposed and very fresh, allowing detailed petrographic and chemical investigations. Little or no serpentinization is observed, and primary petrographic...

A Study on Control System Design Based on ARM Sea Target Search System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin Xinwei

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The infrared detector is used for sea target search, which can assist humans in searching suspicious objects at night and under poor visibility conditions, and improving search efficiency. This paper applies for interrupt and stack technology to solve problems of data losses that may be caused by one-to-many multi-byte protocol communication. Meanwhile, this paper implements hardware and software design of the system based on industrial-grade ARM control chip and uC / OS-II embedded operating system. The control system in the sea target search system is an information exchange and control center of the whole system, which solves the problem of controlling over the shooting angle of the infrared detector in the process of target search. After testing, the control system operates stably and reliably, and realizes rotation and control functions of the pan/tilt platform during automatic search, manual search and track.

Licensing experiences, risk assessment, demonstration test on nuclear fuel packages and design criteria for sea going vessel carrying spent fuel in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoki, S.; Ikeda, K.

1978-01-01

In Japan spent fuels from nuclear power plants shall be shipped to reprocessing plants by sea-going vessels. Atomic Energy Committee has initiated a board of experts to implement the assessment of environmental safety for sea transport. As a part of the assessment a study has been conducted by Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry under sponsorship of Nuclear Safety Bureau, which is intended to guarantee the safety of sea transport. Nuclear Safety Bureau also has a program to carry out a long term demonstration test on spent fuel package using full scale package models. The test consists of drop, heat transfer, fire, collapse under high external pressure, immersion, shielding and subcritical test. The purpose of this test is to obtain the public acceptance and also to verify the adequacy of the safety analysis for nuclear fuel packages. In order to secure the safety of sea transport, the Ministry of Transportation has provided for the design criteria for sea-going vessel in the case of full load shipping, which aims to make minimum the probability of sinking at collision, grounding and other unforeseen accidents on the sea and also to retain the radiation exposure to crews as low as possible. The design criteria consists of the following items: (1) structural strength of vessel, (2) collision protective structure, (3) arrangement of holds, (4) stability after damage, (5) grounding protective structure, (6) cooling system, (7) tie-down equipment, (8) radiation inspection apparatus, (9) decontamination facilities, (10) emergency water flooding equipment for ship fire, (11) emergency electric sources, etc. Based on the design criteria a sea-going vessel names HINOURA-MARU has been reconstructed to transport spent fuel packages from nuclear power stations to the reprocessing plant

Geochronology and Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic composition of the granites, enclaves, and dikes in the Karamay area, NW China: Insights into late Carboniferous crustal growth of West Junggar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Di Li

2015-03-01

Full Text Available New whole-rock major and trace elements, and zircon U–Pb and Hf–Nd isotope compositions are reported for the Karamay dikes, enclaves, and host granites in the West Junggar, NW China. Zircon U–Pb dating of the Karamay pluton yields an age of 300.7 ± 2.3 Ma for the enclave and 300.0 ± 2.6 Ma for the host granite, which was intruded by dike with an age of 298 Ma. The host granites exhibit relatively low SiO2 contents and A/CNK and Ga/Al ratios, low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.703421–0.703526 and positive εHf(t (5.5–14.1 and εNd(t (7.3–8.1 values with a young model age, suggesting that they are I-type granites and were mainly derived from a juvenile lower crustal source. The enclaves and dikes belong to an andesitic calc-alkaline series and have high MgO concentrations at low silica content and positive εHf(t (7.6–13.2, 14.2–14.9 and εNd(t (6.8–8.3, ∼6.9 values. They are enriched in LILEs (Rb, Ba and U and LREE and depleted in HFSEs (Nb and Ta with insignificant negative Eu anomalies, indicating that the melts were derived from an enriched lithospheric mantle modified by subducted oceanic crust-derived melts and minor fluids, followed by fractional crystallization. The Karamay host granites and enclaves are of mixed origin and are most probably formed by the interaction between the lower crust- and lithospheric mantle-derived magmas, and were intruded by the unmixed dikes subsequently. The upwelling mantle through a slab window in an island arc environment might have triggered partial melting of the lithospheric mantle and its subsequent interaction with the granitic magma, further suggesting that the ridge subduction played an important role in the crustal growth of West Junggar.

Smart sensor-based geospatial architecture for dike monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Herle, S.; Becker, R.; Blankenbach, J.

2016-04-01

Artificial hydraulic structures like dams or dikes used for water level regulations or flood prevention are continuously under the influence of the weather and variable river regimes. Thus, ongoing monitoring and simulation is crucial in order to determine the inner condition. Potentially life-threatening situations, in extreme case a failure, must be counteracted by all available means. Nowadays flood warning systems rely exclusively on water level forecast without considering the state of the structure itself. Area-covering continuous knowledge of the inner state including time dependent changes increases the capability of recognizing and locating vulnerable spots for early treatment. In case of a predicted breach, advance warning time for alerting affected citizens can be extended. Our approach is composed of smart sensors integrated in a service-oriented geospatial architecture to monitor and simulate artificial hydraulic structures continuously. The sensors observe the inner state of the construction like the soil moisture or the stress and deformation over time but also various external influences like water levels or wind speed. They are interconnected in distributed network architecture by a so-called sensor bus system based on lightweight protocols like Message Queue Telemetry Transport for Sensor Networks (MQTT-SN). These sensor data streams are transferred into an OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) data structure providing high-level geo web services to end users. Bundled with 3rd party geo web services (WMS etc.) powerful processing and simulation tools can be invoked using the Web Processing Service (WPS) standard. Results will be visualized in a geoportal allowing user access to all information.

Localization of Volcanic Activity: Topographic Effects on Dike Propagation, Eruption and COnduit Formation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

E.S. Gaffney; B. Damjanac

2006-05-12

Magma flow in a dike rising in a crack whose strike runs from a highland or a ridge to an adjacent lowland has been modeled to determine the effect of topography on the flow. It is found that there is a distinct tendency for the flow to be diverted away from the highland end of the strike toward the lowland. Separation of the geometric effect of the topography from its effect on lateral confining stresses on the crack indicates that both contribute to the effect but that the effect of stress is less important. Although this analysis explains a tendency for volcanic eruptions to occur in low lands, it does not preclude eruptions on highlands. The particular configuration modeled mimics topography around the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, so that the results may indicate some reduction in the volcanic hazard to the site.

Localization of Volcanic Activity: Topographic Effects on Dike Propagation, Eruption and Conduit Formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

E.S. Gaffney; B. Damjanac

2006-01-01

Magma flow in a dike rising in a crack whose strike runs from a highland or a ridge to an adjacent lowland has been modeled to determine the effect of topography on the flow. It is found that there is a distinct tendency for the flow to be diverted away from the highland end of the strike toward the lowland. Separation of the geometric effect of the topography from its effect on lateral confining stresses on the crack indicates that both contribute to the effect but that the effect of stress is less important. Although this analysis explains a tendency for volcanic eruptions to occur in low lands, it does not preclude eruptions on highlands. The particular configuration modeled mimics topography around the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, so that the results may indicate some reduction in the volcanic hazard to the site

Flood early warning system : Design, implementation and computational modules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V.; Shirshov, G.S.; Melnikova, N.B.; Belleman, R.G.; Rusadi, F.I.; Broekhuijsen, B.J.; Gouldby, B.P.; Lhomme, J.; Balis, B.; Bubak, M.; Pyayt, A.L.; Mokhov, I.I.; Ozhigin, A.V.; Lang, B.; Meijer, R.J.

2011-01-01

We present a prototype of the flood early warning system (EWS) developed within the UrbanFlood FP7 project. The system monitors sensor networks installed in flood defenses (dikes, dams, embankments, etc.), detects sensor signal abnormalities, calculates dike failure probability, and simulates

Design Sea State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burcharth, H. F.; Liu, Z.

National codes of practice which specifies the design wave climate on a given location do not yet exist. Nevertheless, decision on the design wave climate is one of the most important tasks of the designer....

Rapakivi texture in porphyritic dikes within the Karavanke Granitic Massif (Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuliano Bellieni

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The northern Karavanke Granitic Massif straddles the Slovenian–Austrian border. The investigated area lies in northern Slovenia, and extends from the western Slovenian–Austrian border to the east for about 30 km, with a maximum width of 2 km. The massif exhibits a bimodal magmatic association comprising mainly syenogranite and syenite with contemporaneous gabbroic rocks. Rocks of intermediate composition are less abundant and show field, textural and chemical features suggesting that they have formed as a result of the interaction (mixing and mingling between felsic and mafic magmas. Plagioclasemantled alkali feldspars occur in dikes of porphyritic syenite, which cut larger bodies of gabbroic rocks. Field, mineralogical, petrographic and geochemical evidences suggest that the porphyritic syenite is a hybrid rock, formed by the interaction of mafic and felsic magmas. The formation of plagioclase-mantled alkali feldspar can be explained by the introduction of alkali feldspar from felsic, syenogranitic magma into more mafic magma, causing local undercooling in the portion of mafic magma surrounding the crystals. This resulted in the growth of cellular plagioclase, with quartz infilling, in a thermally and compositionally equilibrating system.

The 2007-8 volcanic eruption on Jebel at Tair island (Red Sea) observed by satellite radar and optical images

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin; Jonsson, Sigurjon

2014-01-01

We use high-resolution optical images and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data to study the September 2007-January 2008 Jebel at Tair eruption. Comparison of pre- and post-eruption optical images reveals several fresh ground fissures, a new scoria cone near the summit, and that 5.9 ± 0.1 km2 of new lava covered about half of the island. Decorrelation in the InSAR images indicates that lava flowed both to the western and to the northeastern part of the island after the start of the eruption, while later lavas were mainly deposited near the summit and onto the north flank of the volcano. From the InSAR data, we also estimate that the average thickness of the lava flows is 3.8 m, resulting in a bulk volume of around 2.2 × 107 m3. We observe no volcano-wide pre- or post-eruption uplift, which suggests that the magma source may be deep. The co-eruption interferograms, on the other hand, reveal local and rather complex deformation. We use these observations to constrain a tensile dislocation model that represents the dike intrusion that fed the eruption. The model results show that the orientation of the dike is perpendicular to the Red Sea rift, implying that the local stresses within the volcanic edifice are decoupled from the regional stress field. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

The 2007-8 volcanic eruption on Jebel at Tair island (Red Sea) observed by satellite radar and optical images

KAUST Repository

Xu, Wenbin

2014-01-31

We use high-resolution optical images and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data to study the September 2007-January 2008 Jebel at Tair eruption. Comparison of pre- and post-eruption optical images reveals several fresh ground fissures, a new scoria cone near the summit, and that 5.9 ± 0.1 km2 of new lava covered about half of the island. Decorrelation in the InSAR images indicates that lava flowed both to the western and to the northeastern part of the island after the start of the eruption, while later lavas were mainly deposited near the summit and onto the north flank of the volcano. From the InSAR data, we also estimate that the average thickness of the lava flows is 3.8 m, resulting in a bulk volume of around 2.2 × 107 m3. We observe no volcano-wide pre- or post-eruption uplift, which suggests that the magma source may be deep. The co-eruption interferograms, on the other hand, reveal local and rather complex deformation. We use these observations to constrain a tensile dislocation model that represents the dike intrusion that fed the eruption. The model results show that the orientation of the dike is perpendicular to the Red Sea rift, implying that the local stresses within the volcanic edifice are decoupled from the regional stress field. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Designing Local-Scale Marine Protected Area Networks in the Central Saudi Arabian Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Khalil, Maha T.

2015-12-01

Coral reefs around the world are at risk from overexploitation and climate change, and coral reefs of the Red Sea are no exception. Science-based designation of marine protected areas (MPAs), within which human activities are restricted, has become a popular method for conserving biodiversity, restoring degraded habitats, and replenishing depleted populations. The aim of this project was to explore adaptable methods for designing locally-manageable MPAs for various conservation goals near Thuwal in the central Saudi Arabian Red Sea while allowing human activities to continue. First, the potential for using simple spatial habitat distribution metrics to aid in designing MPAs that are well-connected with larval supply was explored. Results showed that the degree of habitat patchiness may be positively correlated with realized dispersal distances, making it possible to space MPAs further apart in patchier habitats while still maintaining larval connectivity. However, this relationship requires further study and may be informative to MPA design only in the absence of spatially-explicit empirical dispersal data. Next, biological data was collected, and the spatial variation in biomass, trophic structure, biodiversity, and community assemblages on Thuwal reefs was analyzed in order to inform the process of prioritizing reefs for inclusion in MPA networks. Inshore and offshore reef community assemblages were found to be different and indicated relatively degraded inshore habitats. These trends were used to select species and benthic categories that would be important to conserve in a local MPA. The abundances of these “conservation features” were then modeled throughout the study area, and the decision support software “Marxan” was used to design MPA networks in Thuwal that included these features to achieve quantitative objectives. While achieving objectives relevant to fisheries concerns was relatively more challenging, results showed that it is possible to

A mechanical design for a detection unit for a deep-sea neutrino telescope

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berbee, E.M.; Boer Rookhuizen, H.; Heine, E.; Mul, G. [Nikhef, Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands); Wolf, E. de, E-mail: e.dewolf@nikhef.nl [University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (Netherlands); Nikhef, Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2013-10-11

The future KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be built on the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea at a depth between three and five kilometers. The high ambient pressure, but also the fact that the detector is hardly accessible, put severe constraints on the mechanical design of the detection units of the telescope. A detection unit is a vertical structure that supports the optical sensors of the telescope. It has a height of almost 900 m; two data cables run along the full length of the structure. The detection unit will be installed at the seabed as a compact package. Once acoustically released, it unfurls to its full length. The stability of the detection unit during unfurling and during operation is an important requirement for the mechanical design of the structure. We present the evolution of the design of the detection unit for the KM3NeT detector.

A mechanical design for a detection unit for a deep-sea neutrino telescope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berbee, E.M.; Boer Rookhuizen, H.; Heine, E.; Mul, G.; Wolf, E. de

2013-01-01

The future KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be built on the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea at a depth between three and five kilometers. The high ambient pressure, but also the fact that the detector is hardly accessible, put severe constraints on the mechanical design of the detection units of the telescope. A detection unit is a vertical structure that supports the optical sensors of the telescope. It has a height of almost 900 m; two data cables run along the full length of the structure. The detection unit will be installed at the seabed as a compact package. Once acoustically released, it unfurls to its full length. The stability of the detection unit during unfurling and during operation is an important requirement for the mechanical design of the structure. We present the evolution of the design of the detection unit for the KM3NeT detector

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

Important aspects of residue sampling in drilling dikes; Aspectos importantes para a amostragem de residuos em diques de perfuracao

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Gilvan Ferreira da [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas. Div. de Explotacao

1990-12-31

This paper describes the importance of sampling in the evaluation of physical and chemical properties of residues found in drilling dikes, considering the later selection of treatment methods or discard of these residues. We present the fundamental concepts of applied statistics, which are essential to the elaboration of sampling plans, with views of obtaining exact and precise results. Other types of samples are also presented, as well as sampling equipment and methods for storage and preservation of the samples. As a conclusion, we the example of the implementation of a sampling plan. (author) 3 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs.

Important aspects of residue sampling in drilling dikes; Aspectos importantes para a amostragem de residuos em diques de perfuracao

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Gilvan Ferreira da [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas. Div. de Explotacao

1989-12-31

This paper describes the importance of sampling in the evaluation of physical and chemical properties of residues found in drilling dikes, considering the later selection of treatment methods or discard of these residues. We present the fundamental concepts of applied statistics, which are essential to the elaboration of sampling plans, with views of obtaining exact and precise results. Other types of samples are also presented, as well as sampling equipment and methods for storage and preservation of the samples. As a conclusion, we the example of the implementation of a sampling plan. (author) 3 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs.

Japan nuclear ship sea trial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamazaki, Hiroshi; Kitamura, Toshikatus; Mizushima, Toshihiko

1992-01-01

The sea trial of the first Japan nuclear Ship 'MUTSU' was conducted from the end of October to December in 1990. The purpose of the sea trial was to verify the nuclear propulsive performances and maneuverabilities. The present report describes the results of the sea trial. These results are classified into four items: 1. Speed test and engineering performance tests 2. Maneuvering performance tests 3. Vibration tests 4. Other tests. Acceptable performances were demonstrated, as expected in the original design. The experience of the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which were newly adopted for the sea trial, is also reported. (author)

SeaRAM: an evaluation of the safety of RAM transport by sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConnell, P.; Sorenson, K.B.; Carter, M.H.; Keane, M.P.; Keith, V.F.; Heid, R.J.

1995-01-01

SeaRAM is a multi-year Department of Energy (DOE) project designed to validate the safety of shipping radioactive materials (RAM) by sea. The project has an ultimate goal of developing and demonstrating analytic tools for performing comprehensive analyses to evaluate the risks to humans and the environment due to sea transport of plutonium, vitrified high-level waste (VHLW), and spent fuel associated with reprocessing and research reactors. To achieve this end, evaluations of maritime databases and structural an thermal analyses of particular severe collision and fire accidents have been and will continue to be conducted. Program management for SeaRAM is based at the DOE's Office of Environmental Restoration. Technical activities for the project are being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Several private organizations are also involved in providing technical support, notably Engineering Computer Optecnomics, Inc. (ECO). The technical work performed for SeaRAM also supports DOE participation in an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Cooperative Research Program (CRP) entitled Accident Severity at Sea During Transport of Radioactive Material. This paper discusses activities performed during the first year of the project

The global distribution of giant radiating dike swarms on Venus: Implications for the global stress state

Science.gov (United States)

Grosfils, Eric B.; Head, James W.

1994-01-01

Magellan radar data of Venus reveal 163 large radial lineament systems composed of graben, fissure, and fracture elements. On the basis of their structure, plan view geometry, and volcanic associations, at least 72% are interpreted to have formed primarily through subsurface dike swarm emplacement, the remainder through uplift or a combination of these two mechanisms. The population of swarms is used to determine regional and global stress orientation. The stress configuration recorded from 330-210 deg E (Aphrodite Terra) is best explained by isostatic compensation of existing long wavelength topography or coupling between mantle flow and the lithosphere. The rest are correlated with concentrations of rifting and volcanism in the Beta-Atla-Themis region. The global stress field on Venus is different than that of Earth, where plate boundary forces dominate.

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

Generic Hurricane Extreme Seas State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wehmeyer, Christof; Skourup, Jesper; Frigaard, Peter

2012-01-01

Extreme sea states, which the IEC 61400-3 (2008) standard requires for the ultimate limit state (ULS) analysis of offshore wind turbines are derived to establish the design basis for the conceptual layout of deep water floating offshore wind turbine foundations in hurricane affected areas....... Especially in the initial phase of floating foundation concept development, site specific metocean data are usually not available. As the areas of interest are furthermore not covered by any design standard, in terms of design sea states, generic and in engineering terms applicable environmental background...... data is required for a type specific conceptual design. ULS conditions for different return periods are developed, which can subsequently be applied in siteindependent analysis and conceptual design. Recordings provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of hurricanes along...

Sea level trends in South East Asian Seas (SEAS)

Science.gov (United States)

Strassburg, M. W.; Hamlington, B. D.; Leben, R. R.; Manurung, P.; Lumban Gaol, J.; Nababan, B.; Vignudelli, S.; Kim, K.-Y.

2014-10-01

Southeast Asian Seas (SEAS) span the largest archipelago in the global ocean and provide a complex oceanic pathway connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The SEAS regional sea level trends are some of the highest observed in the modern satellite altimeter record that now spans almost two decades. Initial comparisons of global sea level reconstructions find that 17 year sea level trends over the past 60 years exhibit good agreement in areas and at times of strong signal to noise associated decadal variability forced by low frequency variations in Pacific trade winds. The SEAS region exhibits sea level trends that vary dramatically over the studied time period. This historical variation suggests that the strong regional sea level trends observed during the modern satellite altimeter record will abate as trade winds fluctuate on decadal and longer time scales. Furthermore, after removing the contribution of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to sea level trends in the past twenty years, the rate of sea level rise is greatly reduced in the SEAS region. As a result of the influence of the PDO, the SEAS regional sea level trends during 2010s and 2020s are likely to be less than the global mean sea level (GMSL) trend if the observed oscillations in wind forcing and sea level persist. Nevertheless, long-term sea level trends in the SEAS will continue to be affected by GMSL rise occurring now and in the future.

Air sea ratio reduction initiative

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oberle, Jean

2010-09-15

Airfreight is the most expensive mode of transportation as well as the most impacting in terms of CO{sup 2} emissions. It is 7 times more expensive on average to ship by air than shipping by sea 1. Airfreight transportation mode emits 30 times more CO{sup 2} than sea freight mode 2. These elements provided a compelling platform to design a global logistics program to initiate a modal shift from air to sea freight without compromising service to customers.

Human Impacts On The Bengal Delta's Response To Rapid Climate And Sea-Level Changes: Who Threatens Whom? (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Goodbred, S. L.

2009-12-01

The densely populated country of Bangladesh is often cited as being severely threatened by predicted changes in climate and accelerated sea-level rise. Justification for this grave assessment is founded in part on the low-lying nation's frequent inundation by river floods and storm surges, which affect millions of people annually. Indeed, nearly 50% of the delta system lies natural environment it speaks more to a healthful future than decline. Here I present field-based observations of sediment dispersal in the modern Bengal delta, which demonstrate how the system may remain relatively stable over the next century. However, this potentially acceptable outcome becomes increasingly unlikely if human interferences are considered. For example, short-term strategies to mitigate flooding would likely involve artificial leveeing of the river and the diking of coastal lowlands, both of which would limit sedimentation and diminish relative elevation of the delta surface. Threats upstream of the delta also include river damming to address demands for hydroelectric power and water resources in India, with a resulting decline in sediment discharge to the coast. Ultimately, it may be the impacts of such direct human-modification to the Bengal delta and river systems that outpace - in time and severity - those resulting from climate and sea-level changes alone.

Transient deformation in the Asal-Ghoubbet Rift (Djibouti) since the 1978 diking event: Is deformation controlled by magma supply rates?

Science.gov (United States)

Smittarello, D.; Grandin, R.; de Chabalier, J. B.; Doubre, C.; Deprez, A.; Masson, F.; Socquet, A.; Ibrahim Ahmed, S.

2016-12-01

Within the Afar Depression, the Asal-Ghoubbet Rift (AG Rift)in Djibouti lies in the subaerial continuation of the Aden ridge system. This segment constitutes a natural laboratory to study rifting processes and mechanisms involved in continental breakup and oceanic spreading. In November 1978, an exceptional rifting event occurred in the AG Rift. Regularly upgraded and improved geodetic technology has been used to monitor this event and the postdiking deformation. In light of recent results obtained for the Manda Hararo-Dabbahu rifting event (2005-2010), we propose that the horizontal and vertical geodetic data can be modeled with a double source, involving a dike-like inflation component aligned along the rift axis and a spherical pressure source located at midsegment below the Fieale caldera. By revisiting the codiking data, we propose that the reservoir below Fieale could have fed, at least partially, the 1978 injection and the contemporaneous Ardoukoba eruption and potentially induced local subsidence due to magma draining out of the central reservoir. As an alternative to previously proposed viscoelastic relaxation models, we reinterpret postdiking observations using a purely elastic rheology. We determine the relative contribution of a midsegment reservoir inflation and a dike-like opening component, together with their respective time evolutions. Our results suggest that interactions between steadily accumulating tectonic strain and temporal variations in melt supply to the shallow magma plumbing system below the AG Rift may entirely explain the geodetic observations and that viscoelastic deformation processes played a minor role in the 30 years following the 1978 rifting event.

Conceptual process design for uranium recovery from sea water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Motoyuki; Chihara, Kazuyuki; Fujimoto, Masahiko; Yagi, Hiroshi; Wada, Akihiko.

1985-01-01

Based on design of uranium recovery process from sea water, total cost for uranium production was estimated. Production scale of 1,000 ton-uranium per year was supposed, because of the big demand for uranium in the second age, i.e., fast breeder reactor age. The process is described as follows: Fluidized bed of hydrous titanium oxide (diameter is 0.1 mm, saturated adsorption capacity is 510 μg-U/g-Ad, adsorption capacity for ten days is 150 μg-U/g-Ad) is supposed, as an example, to be utilized as the primarily concentration unit. Fine adsorbent particles can be transferred as slurry in all of the steps of adsorption, washing, desorption, washing, regeneration. As an example, ammonium carbonate is applied to desorb the adsorbed uranium from titanium oxide. Then, stripping method is adopted for desorbent recovery. As for the secondary concentration, strong basic anion exchange method is supposed. The first step of process design is to determine the mass balance of each component through the whole process system by using the signal diagram. Then, the scale of each unit process, with which the mass balances are satisfied, is estimated by detailed chemical engineering calculation. Also, driving cost of each unit operation is estimated. As a result, minimum total cost of 160,000 yen/kg-U is obtained. Adsorption process cost is 80 to 90 % of the total cost. Capital cost and driving cost are fifty-fifty in the adsorption process cost. Pump driving cost forms a big part of the driving cost. Further concentrated study should be necessary on the adsorption process design. It might be important to make an effort on direct utilization of ocean current for saving the pump driving cost. (author)

33 CFR 320.2 - Authorities to issue permits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

...), prohibits the construction of any dam or dike across any navigable water of the United States in the absence... Chief of Engineers, may grant permission for the temporary occupation or use of any sea wall, bulkhead...

Vision in the deep sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Warrant, Eric J; Locket, N Adam

2004-08-01

The deep sea is the largest habitat on earth. Its three great faunal environments--the twilight mesopelagic zone, the dark bathypelagic zone and the vast flat expanses of the benthic habitat--are home to a rich fauna of vertebrates and invertebrates. In the mesopelagic zone (150-1000 m), the down-welling daylight creates an extended scene that becomes increasingly dimmer and bluer with depth. The available daylight also originates increasingly from vertically above, and bioluminescent point-source flashes, well contrasted against the dim background daylight, become increasingly visible. In the bathypelagic zone below 1000 m no daylight remains, and the scene becomes entirely dominated by point-like bioluminescence. This changing nature of visual scenes with depth--from extended source to point source--has had a profound effect on the designs of deep-sea eyes, both optically and neurally, a fact that until recently was not fully appreciated. Recent measurements of the sensitivity and spatial resolution of deep-sea eyes--particularly from the camera eyes of fishes and cephalopods and the compound eyes of crustaceans--reveal that ocular designs are well matched to the nature of the visual scene at any given depth. This match between eye design and visual scene is the subject of this review. The greatest variation in eye design is found in the mesopelagic zone, where dim down-welling daylight and bio-luminescent point sources may be visible simultaneously. Some mesopelagic eyes rely on spatial and temporal summation to increase sensitivity to a dim extended scene, while others sacrifice this sensitivity to localise pinpoints of bright bioluminescence. Yet other eyes have retinal regions separately specialised for each type of light. In the bathypelagic zone, eyes generally get smaller and therefore less sensitive to point sources with increasing depth. In fishes, this insensitivity, combined with surprisingly high spatial resolution, is very well adapted to the

Magmatism during Gondwana break-up : new geochronological data from Westland, New Zealand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Meer, Q.H.A.; Scott, J.M.; Waight, T.E.; Sudo, M.; Schersten, A.; Cooper, A.F.; Spell, T.L.

2013-01-01

Newly determined Late Cretaceous 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages on megacrystic kaersutite from four lamprophyre dikes, and a U-Pb zircon age on a trachyte, from central and north Westland (New Zealand) are presented. These ages suggest that the intrusion of mafic dikes (88-86 and 69 Ma) was not necessarily restricted to the previously established narrow age range of 80-92 Ma. The younger lamprophyre and trachyte dikes (c. 68-70 Ma) imply that tensional stresses in the Western Province were either renewed at this time, or that extension and related magmatism continued during opening of the Tasman Sea. Extension-related magmatism in the region not only preceded Tasman seafloor spreading initiation (starting at c. 83 Ma, lasting to c. 53 Ma), but may have sporadically continued for up to 15 Ma after continental break-up. (author)

The Sargassum Early Advisory System (SEAS)

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, D.; Gallegos, S. C.

2016-02-01

The Sargassum Early Advisory System (SEAS) web-app was designed to automatically detect Sargassum at sea, forecast movement of the seaweed, and alert users of potential landings. Inspired to help address the economic hardships caused by large landings of Sargassum, the web app automates and enhances the manual tasks conducted by the SEAS group of Texas A&M University at Galveston. The SEAS web app is a modular, mobile-friendly tool that automates the entire workflow from data acquisition to user management. The modules include: 1) an Imagery Retrieval Module to automatically download Landsat-8 Operational Land Imagery (OLI) from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), 2) a Processing Module for automatic detection of Sargassum in the OLI imagery, and subsequent mapping of theses patches in the HYCOM grid, producing maps that show Sargassum clusters; 3) a Forecasting engine fed by the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) model currents and winds from weather buoys; and 4) a mobile phone optimized geospatial user interface. The user can view the last known position of Sargassum clusters, trajectory and location projections for the next 24, 72 and 168 hrs. Users can also subscribe to alerts generated for particular areas. Currently, the SEAS web app produces advisories for Texas beaches. The forecasted Sargassum landing locations are validated by reports from Texas beach managers. However, the SEAS web app was designed to easily expand to other areas, and future plans call for extending the SEAS web app to Mexico and the Caribbean islands. The SEAS web app development is led by NASA, with participation by ASRC Federal/Computer Science Corporation, and the Naval Research Laboratory, all at Stennis Space Center, and Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Training Course on the Marine Ecology of the Red Sea. Red Sea & Gulf of Aden Programme (PERSGA).

Science.gov (United States)

Arab Organization for Education and Science, Cairo (Egypt).

This document presents a training course on the marine ecology of the Red Sea designed by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) in collaboration with the Marine Science Department of UNESCO for the Program for Environmental Studies, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA). It was hosted by the Marine Science Station,…

Farming the Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, William

1971-01-01

Florida has initiated a training program in an entirely new dimension--Sea Farming. Presented is a description of the vocational agriculture program designed to teach propagation, cultivation, harvesting, marketing, and conservation practices related to production of oysters, shrimp, scallops, crabs, and fin fishes. (Editor/GB)

Gabbroic lithologies of the dike-gabbro transition, Hole GT3A, Oman Drilling Project

Science.gov (United States)

Jesus, A. P. M.; Koepke, J.; Morishita, T.; Beinlich, A.; Johnson, K. T. M.; Greenberger, R. N.; Harris, M.; Michibayashi, K.; de Obeso, J. C.

2017-12-01

Hole GT3A intersects 400 m of oceanic crust providing unique insight into the dike-gabbro transition and the variability of the high level gabbros in the Samail ophiolite. Olivine gabbro and olivine bearing gabbro occur exclusively within the Upper Gabbro Sequence (16 % thickness; 111.02 m - 127.89 m) whereas oxide gabbro and disseminated oxide gabbro represent ca 5 % of the Lower Gabbro Sequence (233.84 m - 398.21 m). Gabbro with less than 1 vol. % olivine and oxide is the most common lithology in both Gabbro Sequences (10-13 %). Most gabbroic rocks were classified as "varitextured" due to textural and grain size macroscopic variations forming irregular domains/patches. Varitextured gabbros are medium-grained (1-5 mm), with seriate grain size distribution and subophitic/poikilitic to granular textural domains. Poikilitic domains comprise clinopyroxene with plagioclase chadacrysts, whereas in granular domains plagioclase interstices are filled by green-brown magmatic hornblende; plagioclase is zoned in both domains. Olivine (bearing) gabbros have 4-8 mm skeletal olivine pseudomorphs with roundish inclusions of chromite and plagioclase. Oxide (disseminated) gabbros comprise variable amounts of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, Oman paleo ridge.

Design of a Data Distribution Core Model for Seafloor Observatories in East China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, H.; Qin, R.; Xu, H.

2017-12-01

High loadings of nutrients and pollutants from agriculture, industries and city waste waters are carried by Changjiang (Yangtze) River and transformed into the foodweb in the river freshwater plume. Understanding these transport and transformation processes is essential for the ecosystem protection, fisheries resources management, seafood safety and human health. As Xiaoqushan Seafloor Observatory and Zhujiajian Seafloor Observatory built in East China Sea, it is an opportunity and a new way for the research of Changjiang River plume. Data collected by seafloor observatory should be accessed conveniently by end users in real time or near real time, which can make it play a better role. Therefore, data distribution is one of major issues for seafloor observatory characterized by long term, real time, high resolution and continuous observation. This study describes a Data Distribution core Model for Seafloor Observatories in East China Sea (ESDDM) containing Data Acquisition Module (DAM), Data Interpretation Module (DIM), Data Transmission Module (DTM) and Data Storage Module (DTM), which enables acquiring, interpreting, transmitting and storing various types of data in real time. A Data Distribution Model Makeup Language (DDML) based on XML is designed to enhance the expansibility and flexibility of the system implemented by ESDDM. Network sniffer is used to acquire data by IP address and port number in DAM promising to release the operating pressure of junction boxes. Data interface, core data processing plugins and common libraries consist of DIM helping it interpret data in a hot swapping way. DTM is an external module in ESDDM transmitting designated raw data packets to Secondary Receiver Terminal. The technology of database connection pool used in DSM facilitates the efficiency of large volumes of continuous data storage. Given a successful scenario in Zhujiajian Seafloor Observatory, the protosystem based on ESDDM running up to 1500h provides a reference for

MAPPING OF THE RUSSIAN NORTHERN SEAS BOTTOM RELIEF USING DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. M. Koshel

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The task of the project is the design of the digital elevation models (DEM of the bottoms of Barents Sea, Pechora Sea, and the White Sea. Accuracy (resolution of DEMs allows for adequate delineation of morphological structures and peculiarities of the sea bottoms and the design of bathymetrical and derivative maps. DEMs of the sea bottom were compiled using data from navigation charts of different scales, where additional isobaths were drawn manually taking into account the classification features of the bottom topography forms. Next procedures were carried out: scanning of these charts, processing of scanned images, isobaths vectorization and creation of attribute tables, vector layers transformation to geographical coordinates as well editing, merging and joining of the map sheets, correction of geometry and attributes. For generation of digital model of bottom topography it is important to choose algorithm which allows for representation all of the sea bottom features expressed by isobaths in most details. The original algorithm based on fast calculation of distances to the two different nearest isobaths was used. Interpretation of isolines as vector linear objects is the main peculiarity of this algorithm. The resulted DEMs were used to design bathymetrical maps of Barents Sea of 1:2 500 000 scale, Pechora Sea of 1:1 000 000 scale, and White Sea of 1:750 000 scale. Different derivative maps were compiled based on DEM of the White Sea.

Sea level trends in Southeast Asian seas

Science.gov (United States)

Strassburg, M. W.; Hamlington, B. D.; Leben, R. R.; Manurung, P.; Lumban Gaol, J.; Nababan, B.; Vignudelli, S.; Kim, K.-Y.

2015-05-01

Southeast Asian seas span the largest archipelago in the global ocean and provide a complex oceanic pathway connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans. The Southeast Asian sea regional sea level trends are some of the highest observed in the modern satellite altimeter record that now spans almost 2 decades. Initial comparisons of global sea level reconstructions find that 17-year sea level trends over the past 60 years exhibit good agreement with decadal variability associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and related fluctuations of trade winds in the region. The Southeast Asian sea region exhibits sea level trends that vary dramatically over the studied time period. This historical variation suggests that the strong regional sea level trends observed during the modern satellite altimeter record will abate as trade winds fluctuate on decadal and longer timescales. Furthermore, after removing the contribution of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to sea level trends in the past 20 years, the rate of sea level rise is greatly reduced in the Southeast Asian sea region. As a result of the influence of the PDO, the Southeast Asian sea regional sea level trends during the 2010s and 2020s are likely to be less than the global mean sea level (GMSL) trend if the observed oscillations in wind forcing and sea level persist. Nevertheless, long-term sea level trends in the Southeast Asian seas will continue to be affected by GMSL rise occurring now and in the future.

Sea Level Rise Data Discovery

Science.gov (United States)

Quach, N.; Huang, T.; Boening, C.; Gill, K. M.

2016-12-01

Research related to sea level rise crosses multiple disciplines from sea ice to land hydrology. The NASA Sea Level Change Portal (SLCP) is a one-stop source for current sea level change information and data, including interactive tools for accessing and viewing regional data, a virtual dashboard of sea level indicators, and ongoing updates through a suite of editorial products that include content articles, graphics, videos, and animations. The architecture behind the SLCP makes it possible to integrate web content and data relevant to sea level change that are archived across various data centers as well as new data generated by sea level change principal investigators. The Extensible Data Gateway Environment (EDGE) is incorporated into the SLCP architecture to provide a unified platform for web content and science data discovery. EDGE is a data integration platform designed to facilitate high-performance geospatial data discovery and access with the ability to support multi-metadata standard specifications. EDGE has the capability to retrieve data from one or more sources and package the resulting sets into a single response to the requestor. With this unified endpoint, the Data Analysis Tool that is available on the SLCP can retrieve dataset and granule level metadata as well as perform geospatial search on the data. This talk focuses on the architecture that makes it possible to seamlessly integrate and enable discovery of disparate data relevant to sea level rise.

DualSPHysics: A numerical tool to simulate real breakwaters

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Feng; Crespo, Alejandro; Altomare, Corrado; Domínguez, José; Marzeddu, Andrea; Shang, Shao-ping; Gómez-Gesteira, Moncho

2018-02-01

The open-source code DualSPHysics is used in this work to compute the wave run-up in an existing dike in the Chinese coast using realistic dimensions, bathymetry and wave conditions. The GPU computing power of the DualSPHysics allows simulating real-engineering problems that involve complex geometries with a high resolution in a reasonable computational time. The code is first validated by comparing the numerical free-surface elevation, the wave orbital velocities and the time series of the run-up with physical data in a wave flume. Those experiments include a smooth dike and an armored dike with two layers of cubic blocks. After validation, the code is applied to a real case to obtain the wave run-up under different incident wave conditions. In order to simulate the real open sea, the spurious reflections from the wavemaker are removed by using an active wave absorption technique.

Titan Submarine : AUV Design for Cryogenic Extraterrestrial Seas of Hydrocarbons

Science.gov (United States)

Lorenz, Ralph D.; Oleson, Steven; Colozza, Tony; Hartwig, Jason; Schmitz, Paul; Landis, Geoff; Paul, Michael; Walsh, Justin

2016-04-01

Saturn's moon Titan has three seas, apparently composed predominantly of liquid methane, near its north pole. The largest of these, Ligeia Mare and Kraken Mare, span about 400km and 1000km respectively, and are linked by a narrow strait. Radar measurements from the Cassini spacecraft (currently in orbit around Saturn) show that Ligeia at least is 160m deep, Kraken perhaps deeper. Titan has a nitrogen atmosphere somewhat denser than Earth's, and gravity about the same as the Earth's moon, and its surface temperature is about 92K ; the seas are liquid under conditions rather similar to those of liquified natural gas (LNG) a commodity with familiar engineering properties. We report a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) study into a submersible vehicle able to explore these seas, to survey shoreline geomorphology, investigate air-sea exchange processes, measure composition to evaluate stratification and mixing, and map the seabed. The Titan environment poses unique thermal management and buoyancy control challenges (the temperature-dependent solubility of nitrogen in methane leads to the requirement to isolate displacement gas from liquid in buoyancy control tanks, and may result in some effervescence due to the heat dissipation into the liquid from the vehicle's radioisotope power supply, a potential noise source for sonar systems). The vehicle must also be delivered from the air, either by parachute extraction from or controlled ditching of a slender entry system, and must communicate its results back to Earth. Nominally the latter function is achieved with a large dorsal phased-array antenna, operated while surfaced, but solutions using an orbiting relay spacecraft and even communication while submerged, are being examined. While these aspects seem fantastical, in many respects the structural, propulsion and navigation/autonomy challenges of such a vehicle are little different from terrestrial autonomous underwater vehicles. We discuss the results of the study

Design and skill assessment of an Operational Forecasting System for currents and sea level variability to the Santos Estuarine System - Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Godoi Rezende Costa, C.; Castro, B. M.; Blumberg, A. F.; Leite, J. R. B., Sr.

2017-12-01

Santos City is subject to an average of 12 storm tide events per year. Such events bring coastal flooding able to threat human life and damage coastal infrastructure. Severe events have forced the interruption of ferry boat services and ship traffic through Santos Harbor, causing great impacts to Santos Port, the largest in South America, activities. Several studies have focused on the hydrodynamics of storm tide events but only a few of those studies have pursued an operational initiative to predict short term (operational forecasting system built to predict sea surface elevation and currents in the Santos Estuarine System and (ii) to evaluate model performance in simulating observed sea surface elevation. The Santos Operational Forecasting System (SOFS) hydrodynamic module is based on the Stevens Institute Estuarine and Coastal Ocean Model (sECOM). The fully automated SOFS is designed to provide up to 71 h forecast of sea surface elevations and currents every day. The system automatically collects results from global models to run the SOFS nested into another sECOM based model for the South Brazil Bight (SBB). Global forecasting results used to force both models come from Mercator Ocean, released by Copernicus Marine Service, and from the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS) stablished by the Center for Weather Forecasts and Climate Studies (with Portuguese acronym CPTEC). The complete routines task take about 8 hours of run time to finish. SOFS was able to hindcast a severe storm tide event that took place in Santos on August 21-22, 2016. Comparisons with observed sea level provided skills of 0.92 and maximum root mean square errors of 25 cm. The good agreement with observed data shows the potential of the designed system to predict storm tides and to support both human and assets protection.

SeaTrack: Ground station orbit prediction and planning software for sea-viewing satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, Kenneth S.; Gregg, Watson W.; Hoisington, Charles M.; Patt, Frederick S.

1993-01-01

An orbit prediction software package (Sea Track) was designed to assist High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) stations in the acquisition of direct broadcast data from sea-viewing spacecraft. Such spacecraft will be common in the near future, with the launch of the Sea viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) in 1994, along with the continued Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) series on NOAA platforms. The Brouwer-Lyddane model was chosen for orbit prediction because it meets the needs of HRPT tracking accuracies, provided orbital elements can be obtained frequently (up to within 1 week). Sea Track requires elements from the U.S. Space Command (NORAD Two-Line Elements) for the satellite's initial position. Updated Two-Line Elements are routinely available from many electronic sources (some are listed in the Appendix). Sea Track is a menu-driven program that allows users to alter input and output formats. The propagation period is entered by a start date and end date with times in either Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or local time. Antenna pointing information is provided in tabular form and includes azimuth/elevation pointing angles, sub-satellite longitude/latitude, acquisition of signal (AOS), loss of signal (LOS), pass orbit number, and other pertinent pointing information. One version of Sea Track (non-graphical) allows operation under DOS (for IBM-compatible personal computers) and UNIX (for Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations). A second, graphical, version displays orbit tracks, and azimuth-elevation for IBM-compatible PC's, but requires a VGA card and Microsoft FORTRAN.

Development of polymer concrete for dike insulation at LNG facilities: Phase 4, Low cost materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kukacka, L.E.

1991-01-01

Earlier GRI-sponsored work at Brookhaven National Laboratory has resulted in the development and utilization of insulating polymer concrete composites (IPC) as a means of reducing the evaporation rate of liquified natural gas in the event of a spill into a containment dike, thereby improving the safety at these sites. Although all of the required properties can be attained with the IPC, it was estimated that a low-cost replacement for the expensive organic binder would be necessary before use of the material would be cost-effective. In the current program, several latex modified cement formulations were evaluated and the most promising one identified. A mixture of two carboxylated styrene-butadiene latexes was selected for use in detailed laboratory property characterizations and a subsequent field evaluation. When compared to the properties of IPC, the latex-modified insulating materials display somewhat higher thermal conductivities, greater permeability to water, and reduced strength. However, these properties still meet most of the performance criteria, and the unit cost of the material is less than one-fifth that of IPC made with epoxy binders. When installed as a 0.75-in. thick overlay, material costs are estimated to be $1.00/ft{sup 2}.

Middle Holocene coastal environment and the rise of the Liangzhu City complex on the Yangtze delta, China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yan; Sun, Qianli; Thomas, Ian; Zhang, Li; Finlayson, Brian; Zhang, Weiguo; Chen, Jing; Chen, Zhongyuan

2015-11-01

The large prehistoric city of Liangzhu and its associated earthen dike emerged on the Yangtze delta-coast after two millennia of occupation in this area by scattered communities. Details of its development have been widely discussed in the literature. Our results reveal that the city was selectively built at the head of an embayment backed by hills, with close access to food, freshwater and timber, and with protection from coastal hazards. Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating shows that it was built around 4.8-4.5 ka, and the earthen dike was constructed a little later at 4.1 ka. During this time, saltwater wetlands were changing to freshwater in response to rapid coastal progradation as the postglacial sea-level rise stabilized. This facilitated rice farming and furthered the development of the city with elaborate city planning. The younger large-scale earthen dike and artificial ponds possibly suggest increasing demand for flood mitigation and irrigation.

The Governance of Multi-Use Platforms at Sea for Energy Production and Aquaculture: Challenges for Policy Makers in European Seas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marian Stuiver

2016-04-01

Full Text Available European seas are encountering an upsurge in competing marine activities and infrastructures. Traditional exploitation such as fisheries, tourism, transportation, and oil production are accompanied by new sustainable economic activities such as offshore windfarms, aquaculture, and tidal and wave energy. One proposed solution to overcome possible competing claims at sea lies in combining these economic activities as part of Multi-Use Platforms at Sea (MUPS. MUPS can be understood as areas at sea, designated for a combination of activities, either completely integrated in a platform or in shared marine space. MUPS can potentially benefit from each other in terms of infrastructure, maintenance, etc. Developing MUPS in the marine environment demands adequate governance. In this article, we investigate four European sites to find out how governance arrangements may facilitate or complicate MUPs. In particular, we apply a framework specifying policy, economic, social, technical, environmental, and legal (PESTEL factors to explore governance arrangements in four case study sites in different sea basins around Europe (the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, and the Baltic Sea. The article concludes with policy recommendations on a governance regime for facilitating the development of MUPS in the future.

FROM PONDS TO MAN-MADE SEAS IN RUSSIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey Gorshkov

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Russia has more than 2200 reservoirs and large ponds. As time went by, ponds lost their importance in some aspects of human life, while newly created man-made seas impacted the nature and the people in two ways. The costs involved in designing, constructing, and operating the artificial seas, especially on the plains, have been too high to consider them as an undisputed achievement of the Soviet scientists transforming the nature. This paper discusses the problem of ponds and man-made seas in Russia.

The status of taxonomy and venom in sea snakes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Redsted Rasmussen, Arne; Sanders, Kate L.

2017-01-01

The status of taxonomy and venom in sea snakesArne R Rasmussen1, Kate L Sanders21 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design & Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark2 School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, AustraliaSea...... snakes form two aquatic groups of snakes with a flat vertically paddle-form tail (sea kraits and viviparous sea snakes). Sea snakes belong to the same family Elapidae, which also includes the terrestrial mambas, cobra, kraits, taipan and brown snake. All elapids are characterized by the anterior position...... of the poison-fangs on the maxillary bone (proteroglyphous). Globally there are some 70 species of sea snake found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Most species are found in the Indo-Malayan Archipelago, the China Sea, Indonesia, and the Australian region...

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)...

Observational analysis of air-sea fluxes and sea water temperature offshore South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Bi, X.; Huang, J.; Gao, Z.; Liu, Y.

2017-12-01

This paper investigates the air-sea fluxes (momentum flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) from eddy covariance method based on data collected at an offshore observation tower in the South China Sea from January 2009 to December 2016 and sea water temperature (SWT) on six different levels based on data collected from November 2011 to June 2013. The depth of water at the tower over the sea averages about 15 m. This study presents the in-situ measurements of continuous air-sea fluxes and SWT at different depths. Seasonal and diurnal variations in air-sea fluxes and SWT on different depths are examined. Results show that air-sea fluxes and all SWT changed seasonally; sea-land breeze circulation appears all the year round. Unlike winters where SWT on different depths are fairly consistent, the difference between sea surface temperature (SST) and sea temperature at 10 m water depth fluctuates dramatically and the maximum value reaches 7 °C during summer.

Atmospheric forcing of sea ice leads in the Beaufort Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, B. J.; Hutchings, J.; Mahoney, A. R.; Shapiro, L. H.

2016-12-01

Leads in sea ice play an important role in the polar marine environment where they allow heat and moisture transfer between the oceans and atmosphere and act as travel pathways for both marine mammals and ships. Examining AVHRR thermal imagery of the Beaufort Sea, collected between 1994 and 2010, sea ice leads appear in repeating patterns and locations (Eicken et al 2005). The leads, resolved by AVHRR, are at least 250m wide (Mahoney et al 2012), thus the patterns described are for lead systems that extend up to hundreds of kilometers across the Beaufort Sea. We describe how these patterns are associated with the location of weather systems relative to the coastline. Mean sea level pressure and 10m wind fields from ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis are used to identify if particular lead patterns can be uniquely forecast based on the location of weather systems. Ice drift data from the NSIDC's Polar Pathfinder Daily 25km EASE-Grid Sea Ice Motion Vectors indicates the role shear along leads has on the motion of ice in the Beaufort Gyre. Lead formation is driven by 4 main factors: (i) coastal features such as promontories and islands influence the origin of leads by concentrating stresses within the ice pack; (ii) direction of the wind forcing on the ice pack determines the type of fracture, (iii) the location of the anticyclone (or cyclone) center determines the length of the fracture for certain patterns; and (iv) duration of weather conditions affects the width of the ice fracture zones. Movement of the ice pack on the leeward side of leads originating at promontories and islands increases, creating shear zones that control ice transport along the Alaska coast in winter. . Understanding how atmospheric conditions influence the large-scale motion of the ice pack is needed to design models that predict variability of the gyre and export of multi-year ice to lower latitudes.

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.

Sea salt

OpenAIRE

Galvis-Sánchez, Andrea C.; Lopes, João Almeida; Delgadillo, Ivone; Rangel, António O. S. S.

2013-01-01

The geographical indication (GI) status links a product with the territory and with the biodiversity involved. Besides, the specific knowledge and cultural practices of a human group that permit transforming a resource into a useful good is protected under a GI designation. Traditional sea salt is a hand-harvested product originating exclusively from salt marshes from specific geographical regions. Once salt is harvested, no washing, artificial drying or addition of anti-caking agents are all...

Sea-ice indicators of polar bear habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, Harry L.; Laidre, Kristin L.

2016-09-01

Nineteen subpopulations of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are found throughout the circumpolar Arctic, and in all regions they depend on sea ice as a platform for traveling, hunting, and breeding. Therefore polar bear phenology - the cycle of biological events - is linked to the timing of sea-ice retreat in spring and advance in fall. We analyzed the dates of sea-ice retreat and advance in all 19 polar bear subpopulation regions from 1979 to 2014, using daily sea-ice concentration data from satellite passive microwave instruments. We define the dates of sea-ice retreat and advance in a region as the dates when the area of sea ice drops below a certain threshold (retreat) on its way to the summer minimum or rises above the threshold (advance) on its way to the winter maximum. The threshold is chosen to be halfway between the historical (1979-2014) mean September and mean March sea-ice areas. In all 19 regions there is a trend toward earlier sea-ice retreat and later sea-ice advance. Trends generally range from -3 to -9 days decade-1 in spring and from +3 to +9 days decade-1 in fall, with larger trends in the Barents Sea and central Arctic Basin. The trends are not sensitive to the threshold. We also calculated the number of days per year that the sea-ice area exceeded the threshold (termed ice-covered days) and the average sea-ice concentration from 1 June through 31 October. The number of ice-covered days is declining in all regions at the rate of -7 to -19 days decade-1, with larger trends in the Barents Sea and central Arctic Basin. The June-October sea-ice concentration is declining in all regions at rates ranging from -1 to -9 percent decade-1. These sea-ice metrics (or indicators of habitat change) were designed to be useful for management agencies and for comparative purposes among subpopulations. We recommend that the National Climate Assessment include the timing of sea-ice retreat and advance in future reports.

Designing a point-absorber wave energy converter for the Mediterranean Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Archetti, Renata; Moreno Miquel, Adria; Antonini, Alessandro; Passoni, Giuseppe; Bozzi, Silvia; Gruosso, Giambattista; Scarpa, Francesca; Bizzozero, Federica; Giassi, Marianna

2015-01-01

This work aims to assess the potential for wave energy production in the Italian seas by the deployment of arrays of heaving point absorbers, specifically optimized for mild climates. We model a single-body WEC, consisting of a cylindrical heaving buoy, attached to a linear electric generator placed on the seabed. The model includes both hydrodynamic and electromechanical forces. The results show that the best buoy-generator configuration at the selected sites (Alghero and Mazara del Vallo) is given by a 6 to 10 kW device and with a buoy with diameter between 4 and 5 m. This device can be brought to resonance, increasing the performances, by adding a submerged sphere. These results are encouraging and enlarge the perspective on wave energy production in the Italian seas. [it

Low coverage sequencing of three echinoderm genomes: the brittle star Ophionereis fasciata, the sea star Patiriella regularis, and the sea cucumber Australostichopus mollis.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Kyle A; Nossa, Carlos W; Sewell, Mary A; Putnam, Nicholas H; Ryan, Joseph F

2016-01-01

There are five major extant groups of Echinodermata: Crinoidea (feather stars and sea lillies), Ophiuroidea (brittle stars and basket stars), Asteroidea (sea stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins, sea biscuits, and sand dollars), and Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers). These animals are known for their pentaradial symmetry as adults, unique water vascular system, mutable collagenous tissues, and endoskeletons of high magnesium calcite. To our knowledge, the only echinoderm species with a genome sequence available to date is Strongylocentrotus pupuratus (Echinoidea). The availability of additional echinoderm genome sequences is crucial for understanding the biology of these animals. Here we present assembled draft genomes of the brittle star Ophionereis fasciata, the sea star Patiriella regularis, and the sea cucumber Australostichopus mollis from Illumina sequence data with coverages of 12.5x, 22.5x, and 21.4x, respectively. These data provide a resource for mining gene superfamilies, identifying non-coding RNAs, confirming gene losses, and designing experimental constructs. They will be important comparative resources for future genomic studies in echinoderms.

The distribution and diversity of sea cucumbers in the coral reefs of the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Sau Pinn; Yasin, Zulfigar; Ismail, Siti Hasmah; Tan, Shau Hwai

2013-11-01

A study on the distribution and diversity of sea cucumbers in the coral reefs of the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea was carried out in July 2009. The survey was done using wandering transect underwater with SCUBA. Twelve species of sea cucumber were found from four different families and nine genera. The most dominant family was Holothuriidae (five species), followed by Stichopodidae (three species), Synaptidae (three species) and Cucumariidae with only one species. The most dominant species found around the island was Pearsonothuria graffei, which can be found abundantly on substrate of dead corals in a wide range of depth (6-15 m). The Sulawesi Sea showed a higher diversity of sea cucumber with seven different species compared to the South China Sea with only six different species and Sulu Sea with only two species. Ordination by multidimensional scaling of Bray-Curtis similarities clustered the sampling locations to three main clusters with two outgroups. Previous studies done indicated a higher diversity of sea cucumber as compared to this study. This can be indication that the population and diversity of sea cucumbers in the reef is under threat.

Modelling climate change effects on a dutch coastal groundwater system using airborne electromagnetic measurements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Faneca S̀anchez, M.; Gunnink, J.L.; Baaren, E.S. van; Oude Essink, G.H.P.; Siemon, B.; Auken, E.; Elderhorst, W.; Louw, P.G.B. de

2012-01-01

The forecast of climate change effects on the groundwater system in coastal areas is of key importance for policy makers. The Dutch water system has been deeply studied because of its complex system of low-lying areas, dunes, land won to the sea and dikes, but nowadays large efforts are still being

Assessing Flood Risk Under Sea Level Rise and Extreme Sea Levels Scenarios: Application to the Ebro Delta (Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Sayol, J. M.; Marcos, M.

2018-02-01

This study presents a novel methodology to estimate the impact of local sea level rise and extreme surges and waves in coastal areas under climate change scenarios. The methodology is applied to the Ebro Delta, a valuable and vulnerable low-lying wetland located in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Projections of local sea level accounting for all contributions to mean sea level changes, including thermal expansion, dynamic changes, fresh water addition and glacial isostatic adjustment, have been obtained from regionalized sea level projections during the 21st century. Particular attention has been paid to the uncertainties, which have been derived from the spread of the multi-model ensemble combined with seasonal/inter-annual sea level variability from local tide gauge observations. Besides vertical land movements have also been integrated to estimate local relative sea level rise. On the other hand, regional projections over the Mediterranean basin of storm surges and wind-waves have been used to evaluate changes in extreme events. The compound effects of surges and extreme waves have been quantified using their joint probability distributions. Finally, offshore sea level projections from extreme events superimposed to mean sea level have been propagated onto a high resolution digital elevation model of the study region in order to construct flood hazards maps for mid and end of the 21st century and under two different climate change scenarios. The effect of each contribution has been evaluated in terms of percentage of the area exposed to coastal hazards, which will help to design more efficient protection and adaptation measures.

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 Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Bosworth, William; Huchon, Philippe; McClay, Ken

2005-10-01

We here summarize the evolution of the greater Red Sea-Gulf of Aden rift system, which includes the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden marine basins and their continental margins, and the Afar region. Plume related basaltic trap volcanism began in Ethiopia, NE Sudan (Derudeb), and SW Yemen at ˜31 Ma, followed by rhyolitic volcanism at ˜30 Ma. Volcanism thereafter spread northward to Harrats Sirat, Hadan, Ishara-Khirsat, and Ar Rahat in western Saudi Arabia. This early magmatism occurred without significant extension, and continued to ˜25 Ma. Much of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region was at or near sea level at this time. Starting between ˜29.9 and 28.7 Ma, marine syn-tectonic sediments were deposited on continental crust in the central Gulf of Aden. At the same time the Horn of Africa became emergent. By ˜27.5-23.8 Ma a small rift basin was forming in the Eritrean Red Sea. At approximately the same time (˜25 Ma), extension and rifting commenced within Afar itself. At ˜24 Ma, a new phase of volcanism, principally basaltic dikes but also layered gabbro and granophyre bodies, appeared nearly synchronously throughout the entire Red Sea, from Afar and Yemen to northern Egypt. This second phase of magmatism was accompanied in the Red Sea by strong rift-normal extension and deposition of syn-tectonic sediments, mostly of marine and marginal marine affinity. Sedimentary facies were laterally heterogeneous, being comprised of inter-fingering siliciclastics, evaporite, and carbonate. Throughout the Red Sea, the principal phase of rift shoulder uplift and rapid syn-rift subsidence followed shortly thereafter at ˜20 Ma. Water depths increased dramatically and sedimentation changed to predominantly Globigerina-rich marl and deepwater limestone. Within a few million years of its initiation in the mid-Oligocene the Gulf of Aden continental rift linked the Owen fracture zone (oceanic crust) with the Afar plume. The principal driving force for extension

Precise mean sea level measurements using the Global Positioning System

Science.gov (United States)

Kelecy, Thomas M.; Born, George H.; Parke, Michael E.; Rocken, Christian

1994-01-01

This paper describes the results of a sea level measurement test conducted off La Jolla, California, in November of 1991. The purpose of this test was to determine accurate sea level measurements using a Global Positioning System (GPS) equipped buoy. These measurements were intended to be used as the sea level component for calibration of the ERS 1 satellite altimeter. Measurements were collected on November 25 and 28 when the ERS 1 satellite overflew the calibration area. Two different types of buoys were used. A waverider design was used on November 25 and a spar design on November 28. This provided the opportunity to examine how dynamic effects of the measurement platform might affect the sea level accuracy. The two buoys were deployed at locations approximately 1.2 km apart and about 15 km west of a reference GPS receiver located on the rooftop of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. GPS solutions were computed for 45 minutes on each day and used to produce two sea level time series. An estimate of the mean sea level at both locations was computed by subtracting tide gage data collected at the Scripps Pier from the GPS-determined sea level measurements and then filtering out the high-frequency components due to waves and buoy dynamics. In both cases the GPS estimate differed from Rapp's mean altimetric surface by 0.06 m. Thus, the gradient in the GPS measurements matched the gradient in Rapp's surface. These results suggest that accurate sea level can be determined using GPS on widely differing platforms as long as care is taken to determine the height of the GPS antenna phase center above water level. Application areas include measurement of absolute sea level, of temporal variations in sea level, and of sea level gradients (dominantly the geoid). Specific applications would include ocean altimeter calibration, monitoring of sea level in remote regions, and regional experiments requiring spatial and

Projecting future sea level

Science.gov (United States)

Cayan, Daniel R.; Bromirski, Peter; Hayhoe, Katharine; Tyree, Mary; Dettinger, Mike; Flick, Reinhard

2006-01-01

geometry of these structures. Rising sea levels from climate change will increase the frequency and duration of extreme high water levels, causing historical coastal and San Francisco Bay/Delta structure design criteria to be exceeded.

Greenhouse effect, sea level rise, and coastal drainage systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Titus, J G; Kuo, C Y; Gibbs, M J; LaRoche, T B; Webb, M K; Waddell, J O

1987-01-01

Increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other gases are expected to warm the earth several degrees in the next century, which would raise sea level a few feet and alter precipitation patterns. Both of these changes would have major impacts on the operation of coastal drainage systems. However, because sea level rise and climate change resulting from the greenhouse effect are still uncertain, most planners and engineers are ignoring the potential implications. Case studies of the potential impact on watersheds in Charleston, South Carolina, and Fort Walton Beach, Florida, suggest that the cost of designing a new system to accommodate a rise in sea level will sometimes be small compared with the retrofit cost that may ultimately be necessary if new systems are not designed for a rise. Rather than ignore the greenhouse effect until its consequences are firmly established, engineers and planners should evaluate whether it would be worthwhile to insure that new systems are not vulnerable to the risks of climate change and sea level rise.

Sea-ice indicators of polar bear habitat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. L. Stern

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Nineteen subpopulations of polar bears (Ursus maritimus are found throughout the circumpolar Arctic, and in all regions they depend on sea ice as a platform for traveling, hunting, and breeding. Therefore polar bear phenology – the cycle of biological events – is linked to the timing of sea-ice retreat in spring and advance in fall. We analyzed the dates of sea-ice retreat and advance in all 19 polar bear subpopulation regions from 1979 to 2014, using daily sea-ice concentration data from satellite passive microwave instruments. We define the dates of sea-ice retreat and advance in a region as the dates when the area of sea ice drops below a certain threshold (retreat on its way to the summer minimum or rises above the threshold (advance on its way to the winter maximum. The threshold is chosen to be halfway between the historical (1979–2014 mean September and mean March sea-ice areas. In all 19 regions there is a trend toward earlier sea-ice retreat and later sea-ice advance. Trends generally range from −3 to −9 days decade−1 in spring and from +3 to +9 days decade−1 in fall, with larger trends in the Barents Sea and central Arctic Basin. The trends are not sensitive to the threshold. We also calculated the number of days per year that the sea-ice area exceeded the threshold (termed ice-covered days and the average sea-ice concentration from 1 June through 31 October. The number of ice-covered days is declining in all regions at the rate of −7 to −19 days decade−1, with larger trends in the Barents Sea and central Arctic Basin. The June–October sea-ice concentration is declining in all regions at rates ranging from −1 to −9 percent decade−1. These sea-ice metrics (or indicators of habitat change were designed to be useful for management agencies and for comparative purposes among subpopulations. We recommend that the National Climate Assessment include the timing of sea-ice retreat and advance in

The Wadden Sea region: towards a science for sustainable development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bazelmans, J.G.A.; Kabat, P.

2012-01-01

The Wadden Sea is one of the largest intertidal areas in the world and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its unique natural features. Major changes in the morphology and ecology of the Wadden Sea over the past millennium resulted from increasing anthropogenic

The Wadden Sea Region : Towards a science for sustainable development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kabat, Pavel; Bazelmans, Jos; van Dijk, Jouke; Herman, Peter M. J.; van Oijen, Tim; Pejrup, Morten; Reise, Karsten; Speelman, Hessel; Wolff, Wim J.

2012-01-01

The Wadden Sea is one of the largest intertidal areas in the world and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its unique natural features. major changes in the morphology and ecology of the Wadden Sea over the past millennium resulted from increasing anthropogenic

The Wadden Sea Region: Towards a science for sustainable development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kabat, P.; Bazelmans, J.; Dijk, van J.; Hermans, P.; Oijen, van T.

2012-01-01

The Wadden Sea is one of the largest intertidal areas in the world and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its unique natural features. Major changes in the morphology and ecology of the Wadden Sea over the past millennium resulted from increasing anthropogenic

A user-centred design process of new cold-protective clothing for offshore petroleum workers operating in the Barents Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Naesgaard, Ole Petter; Storholmen, Tore Christian Bjørsvik; Wiggen, Øystein Nordrum; Reitan, Jarl

2017-12-07

Petroleum operations in the Barents Sea require personal protective clothing (PPC) to ensure the safety and performance of the workers. This paper describes the accomplishment of a user-centred design process of new PPC for offshore workers operating in this area. The user-centred design process was accomplished by mixed-methods. Insights into user needs and context of use were established by group interviews and on-the-job observations during a field-trip. The design was developed based on these insights, and refined by user feedback and participatory design. The new PPC was evaluated via field-tests and cold climate chamber tests. The insight into user needs and context of use provided useful input to the design process and contributed to tailored solutions. Providing users with clothing prototypes facilitated participatory design and iterations of design refinement. The group interviews following the final field test showed consensus of enhanced user satisfaction compared to PPC in current use. The final cold chamber test indicated that the new PPC provides sufficient thermal protection during the 60 min of simulated work in a wind-chill temperature of -25°C. Accomplishing a user-centred design process contributed to new PPC with enhanced user satisfaction and included relevant functional solutions.

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 Coastal Observing System for Northern and Arctic Seas (COSYNA)

OpenAIRE

Baschek, Burkard; Schroeder, Friedhelm; Brix, Holger; Riethmüller, Rolf; Badewien, Thomas H.; Breitbach, Gisbert; Brügge, Bernd; Colijn, Franciscus; Doerffer, Roland; Eschenbach, Christiane; Friedrich, Jana; Fischer, Philipp; Garthe, Stefan; Horstmann, Jochen; Krasemann, Hajo

2017-01-01

The Coastal Observing System for Northern and Arctic Seas (COSYNA) was established in order to better understand the complex interdisciplinary processes of northern seas and the Arctic coasts in a changing environment. Particular focus is given to the German Bight in the North Sea as a prime example of a heavily used coastal area, and Svalbard as an example of an Arctic coast that is under strong pressure due to global change. The COSYNA automated observing and modelling system is designed...

A Climate Change Adaptation Planning Process for Low-Lying, Communities Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristi Tatebe

2012-09-01

Full Text Available While the province of British Columbia (BC, Canada, provides guidelines for flood risk management, it is local governments’ responsibility to delineate their own flood vulnerability, assess their risk, and integrate these with planning policies to implement adaptive action. However, barriers such as the lack of locally specific data and public perceptions about adaptation options mean that local governments must address the need for adaptation planning within a context of scientific uncertainty, while building public support for difficult choices on flood-related climate policy and action. This research demonstrates a process to model, visualize and evaluate potential flood impacts and adaptation options for the community of Delta, in Metro Vancouver, across economic, social and environmental perspectives. Visualizations in 2D and 3D, based on hydrological modeling of breach events for existing dike infrastructure, future sea level rise and storm surges, are generated collaboratively, together with future adaptation scenarios assessed against quantitative and qualitative indicators. This ‘visioning package’ is being used with staff and a citizens’ Working Group to assess the performance, policy implications and social acceptability of the adaptation strategies. Recommendations based on the experience of the initiative are provided that can facilitate sustainable future adaptation actions and decision-making in Delta and other jurisdictions.

A performance evaluation of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) processes within the South African context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Retief, Francois

2007-01-01

SEA has been described as being more about process than about product. Yet very little research has been conducted to gain a better understanding of how SEA processes perform within developing country contexts. To address this gap in knowledge the research underlying this paper aimed to evaluate the quality of SEA processes within the South African context against specifically designed key performance indicators. Comparison of the different data patterns revealed general SEA process features as well as three broad models, namely the 'stand alone', 'central to decision making' and 'integrated' models. The research results suggest a particularly poor performance in terms of process quality for the SEA case studies investigated. Moreover, it shows that there is no one understanding of SEA process within the South African context. The main limitations related to a weak understanding of the decision making processes SEA aimed to inform, as well as an inability to incorporate flexibility into process design. To take the debate forward it is proposed that SEA follow-up and effectiveness research be explored to determine which of these models (if any) ultimately contributed to influencing decision making and promote sustainability

Air pollution related to sea transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massin, J.M.; Hertz, O.

1993-01-01

Sea transportation contributes only 1-2% of world CO 2 emissions. Owing to the sulphur concentration in the bunker fuels, this transportation mode represents over 4% of the world SO 2 emissions. In addition, NO x emissions are likely to exceed 7% of the world emissions. SO 2 emissions in the North Sea and the Channel account for 15% of the whole French emissions, NO x emissions for about 10% and CO 2 emissions for about 3%. There are several potential measures to reduce the emissions of ship engines - propelling engines or generator driving engines - improvement of fuel quality, by desulphurizing and prohibiting the use of noxious additives such as PCB; use of alternative fuels; engine optimizing; exhaust gas processing; use of new propelling systems. A new organisation of world marketing of fuels with low or high sulphur levels could also be set up. The Sea Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) discussed this problem during its meeting in 1990. The 73/78 MARPOL convention provides the IMO with an international juridical tool, especially designed for the preclusion of pollution due to sea transportation. It can address the issue of air pollution which requires a concerted approach between seaside countries and the drawing up of international regulations relating to the protection of the sea world. Fuel quality is already controlled by international standards drawn up by ISO. These standards should be improved to reduce air pollution due to sea transportation

Tender moments in the North Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fox, C

1991-04-01

Described is tender-assisted drilling (TAD) on the UK North Sea Gannet field. The Gannet field is developed by Shell UK Exploration and Production (Shell Expro). In March 1990, Shell Expro awarded Sedco Forex the design and engineering contract to convert the semisubmersible drilling rig Sedco 704 into the Gannet TSV (Tender Support Vessel). The only semisubmersible TSV operation so far to have completed drilling in the North Sea has been in the Norwegian sector. The Odin field, operated by Esso Norge a/s, was developed using the converted drilling rig Treasure Hunter. 1 fig., 1 ill., 3 refs.

Water resources of Windward Oahu, Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Takasaki, K.J.; Hirashima, George Tokusuke; Lubke, E.R.

1969-01-01

larger streams are those that cut deepest into high-level reservoirs. Except near the coast in the northern end of the area, where dikes are absent, total base flow of streams equals total ground-water discharge. Development of high-level water by tunnels and wells diverts ground-water discharge from streams, decreasing the base flow of these streams. Construction of Haiku tunnel decreased the flow of Kahaluu Stream, 2 ? miles away, by about 26 percent. The dependable flow of water is estimated at 118 mgd (million gallons per day), of which 84 mgd is discharged by streams, tunnels, springs, and wells The remaining 34 mgd is underflow, most of it discharging into the sea near the northern end of ,the area. Average flow is estimated at 220 mgd, of which 159 mgd is. inventoried flow and 61 mgd is estimated underflow. Specific capacity of wells tapping lava flows of the Koolau Volcanic Series ranges from less than 1 to 11 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown in the dike-complex zone and from 2 to 100 in the marginal dike zone. A transmissivity of 4,000,000 gallons per day per foot was determined for the basal aquifer. Permeabilities of rocks in high mountainous areas penetrated by water-development tunnels were compared by recession constants determined from free-flow drainage. Evapotranspiration was estimated from regression curves obtained by correlating median annual rainfall and median annual pan evaporation. Evapotranspiration values from these curves compared favorably w4th values obtained from water-budget listings of rainfall and measured ground-water flow. The chemical quality of water in wells and tunnels tapping rocks of the Koolau and Honolulu Volcanic Series is excellent. Except in a few isolated areas near the shore, the chloride content of the water from these sources is generally less than 100 parts per million. Wells tapping calcareous materials are subject to sea-water contamination under heavy pumping.

Animals of the Sea: Coelenterates, Protozoa, and Sponges.

Science.gov (United States)

Awkerman, Gary L.

These three units are designed for use with standard science curricula. These publications, relating to animals of the sea, are: Protozoa, Sponges, and Coelenterates. Included are teacher guides, student activities, and demonstrations designed to impart ocean science understanding to high school students. Objectives to be attained from the unit on…

Reducing uncertainty in high-resolution sea ice models.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peterson, Kara J.; Bochev, Pavel Blagoveston

2013-07-01

Arctic sea ice is an important component of the global climate system, reflecting a significant amount of solar radiation, insulating the ocean from the atmosphere and influencing ocean circulation by modifying the salinity of the upper ocean. The thickness and extent of Arctic sea ice have shown a significant decline in recent decades with implications for global climate as well as regional geopolitics. Increasing interest in exploration as well as climate feedback effects make predictive mathematical modeling of sea ice a task of tremendous practical import. Satellite data obtained over the last few decades have provided a wealth of information on sea ice motion and deformation. The data clearly show that ice deformation is focused along narrow linear features and this type of deformation is not well-represented in existing models. To improve sea ice dynamics we have incorporated an anisotropic rheology into the Los Alamos National Laboratory global sea ice model, CICE. Sensitivity analyses were performed using the Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications (DAKOTA) to determine the impact of material parameters on sea ice response functions. Two material strength parameters that exhibited the most significant impact on responses were further analyzed to evaluate their influence on quantitative comparisons between model output and data. The sensitivity analysis along with ten year model runs indicate that while the anisotropic rheology provides some benefit in velocity predictions, additional improvements are required to make this material model a viable alternative for global sea ice simulations.

Miocene Basaltic Lava Flows and Dikes of the Intervening Area Between Picture Gorge and Steens Basalt of the CRBG, Eastern Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Cahoon, E. B.; Streck, M. J.

2016-12-01

Mid-Miocene basaltic lavas and dikes are exposed in the area between the southern extent of the Picture Gorge Basalt (PGB) and the northern extent of Steens Basalt in a wide corridor of the Malheur National Forest, eastern Oregon. An approximate mid-Miocene age of sampled basaltic units is indicated by stratigraphic relationships to the 16 Ma Dinner Creek Tuff. Lavas provide an opportunity to extend and/or revise distribution areas of either CRBG unit and explore the petrologic transition between them. The PGB and the Steens Basalt largely represent geochemically distinct tholeiitic units of the CRBG; although each unit displays internal complexity. Lavas of PGB are relatively primitive (MgO 5-9 wt.%) while Steens Basalt ranges in MgO from >9 to 3 wt.% but both units are commonly coarsely porphyritic. Conversely, Steens Basalt compositions are on average more enriched in highly incompatible elements (e.g. Rb, Th) and relatively enriched in the lesser incompatible elements (e.g. Y, Yb) compared to the Picture Gorge basalts. These compositional signatures produce inclined and flat patterns on mantle-normalized incompatible trace element plots but with similar troughs and spikes, respectively. New compositional data from our study area indicate basaltic lavas can be assigned as PGB lava flows and dikes, and also to a compositional group chemically distinct between Steens Basalt and PGB. Distribution of lava flows with PGB composition extend this CRBG unit significantly south/southeast closing the exposure gap between PGB and Steens Basalt. We await data that match Steens Basalt compositions but basaltic lavas with petrographic features akin to Steens Basalt have been identified in the study area. Lavas of the transitional unit share characteristics with Upper Steens and Picture Gorge basalt types, but identify a new seemingly unique composition. This composition is slightly more depleted in the lesser incompatible elements (i.e. steeper pattern) on mantle normalized

Socio-Technical Security Metrics (Dagstuhl Seminar 14491)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gollmann, Dieter; Herley, Cormac; Koenig, Vincent; Pieters, Wolter; Sasse, Martina Angela

2015-01-01

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 14491 "Socio-Technical Security Metrics". In the domain of safety, metrics inform many decisions, from the height of new dikes to the design of nuclear plants. We can state, for example, that the dikes should be high enough to

PERSPECTIVE: The tripping points of sea level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Hecht, Alan D.

2009-12-01

When President Nixon created the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 he said the environment must be perceived as a single, interrelated system. We are nowhere close to achieving this vision. Jim Titus and his colleagues [1] highlight one example of where one set of regulations or permits may be in conflict with another and where regulations were crafted in the absence of understanding the cumulative impact of global warming. The issue here is how to deal with the impacts of climate change on sea level and the latter's impact on wetland polices, clean water regulations, and ecosystem services. The Titus paper could also be called `The tripping points of sea level rise'. Titus and his colleagues have looked at the impact of such sea level rise on the east coast of the United States. Adaptive responses include costly large- scale investment in shore protection (e.g. dikes, sand replenishment) and/or ecosystem migration (retreat), where coastal ecosystems move inland. Shore protection is limited by available funds, while ecosystem migrations are limited by available land use. The driving factor is the high probability of sea level rise due to climate change. Estimating sea level rise is difficult because of local land and coastal dynamics including rising or falling land areas. It is estimated that sea level could rise between 8 inches and 2 feet by the end of this century [2]. The extensive data analysis done by Titus et al of current land use is important because, as they observe, `property owners and land use agencies have generally not decided how they will respond to sea level rise, nor have they prepared maps delineating where shore protection and retreat are likely'. This is the first of two `tripping points', namely the need for adaptive planning for a pending environmental challenge that will create economic and environment conflict among land owners, federal and state agencies, and businesses. One way to address this gap in adaptive management

When wind turbines go to the sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupin, L.

2010-01-01

Land wind turbines are not designed to operate in the open seas. In order to enhance their reliability, facilitate their maintenance and increase their power, existing technologies are adapted to the offshore constraints (direct drive for the blades, maintenance optimization, etc.) while innovating designs (such as vertical axis wind turbines, floating platforms, etc.) are presently tested. Several of these new concepts are described

The biomass of the deep-sea benthopelagic plankton

Science.gov (United States)

Wishner, K. F.

1980-04-01

Deep-sea benthopelagic plankton samples were collected with a specially designed opening-closing net system 10 to 100 m above the bottom in five different oceanic regions at depths from 1000 to 4700 m. Benthopelagic plankton biomasses decrease exponentially with depth. At 1000 m the biomass is about 1% that of the surface zooplankton, at 5000 m about 0.1%. Effects of differences in surface primary productivity on deep-sea plankton biomass are much less than the effect of depth and are detectable only in a few comparisons of extreme oceanic regions. The biomass at 10 m above the bottom is greater than that at 100 m above the bottom (in a three-sample comparison), which could be a consequence of an enriched near-bottom environment. The deep-sea plankton biomass in the Red Sea is anomalously low. This may be due to increased decomposition rates in the warm (22°C) deep Red Sea water, which prevent much detritus from reaching the deep sea. A model of organic carbon utilization in the benthic boundary layer (bottom 100 m), incorporating results from deep-sea sediment trap and respiration studies, indicates that the benthopelagic plankton use only a small amount of the organic carbon flux. A large fraction of the flux is unaccounted for by present estimates of benthic and benthopelagic respiration.

Climatology of sea breezes along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia

KAUST Repository

Khan, Basit

2018-04-25

Long-term near-surface observations from five coastal stations, high-resolution model data from Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and high-resolution daily sea surface temperature (SST) from National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are used to investigate the climatology of sea breezes over the eastern side of the Red Sea region. Results show existence of separate sea breeze systems along different segments of the Red Sea coastline. Based on the physical character and synoptic influences, sea breezes in the Red Sea are broadly divided into three regions: the north and the middle Red Sea (NMRS), the Red Sea convergence zone (RSCZ) and the southern Red Sea (SRS) regions. On average, sea breezes developed on 67% of days of the 10-year study period. Although sea breezes occur almost all year, this mesoscale phenomenon is most frequent from May to October (78% of the total sea breeze days). The sea breeze frequency increases from north to south (equatorwards), and sea breeze characteristics appear to vary both temporally and spatially. In addition to land-sea thermal differential, coastline shape, latitude and topography, the prevailing northwesterly at NMRS region, the convergence of northwesterly and southeasterly wind system at RSCZ region and the northeast and southwest monsoon at SRS region play an important role in defining the sea breeze characteristics over the Red Sea.

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).

Intraseasonal sea surface temperature variability in Indonesian seas

Science.gov (United States)

Napitu, A. M.; Gordon, A. L.; Yuan, X.

2012-12-01

The satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) data, 1998-mid 2012, are used to examine intraseasonal variability (ISV; 20-90 days) across the Indonesian seas. The most energetic ISV is observed in the Banda Sea and across the Indo-Australia basin with an The satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) data, 1998-mid 2012, are used to examine intraseasonal variability (ISV; 20-90 days) across the Indonesian seas. The most energetic ISV is observed in the Banda Sea and across the Indo-Australia basin with an average SST standard deviation (STD) between 0.4-0.5°C, with strongest signature during boreal winter. What physical processes force the SST ISV variability within the Indonesian seas? Ocean process, sea-air interaction, or both? To help identify the main forcing, the satellite derived outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and wind stress data in the region are examined. The OLR shows robust intraseasonal variations and is significantly correlated with the SST, particularly for variability with periods of 30-60 days, with OLR accounting for ~60-70% of the SST variance. The OLR is also maximum during boreal winter. Conversely, the surface wind may play insignificant role in perturbing the SST at intraseasonal timescales as shown by weak correlation between wind stress and SST. We thus suspect that the surface solar flux (suggested by the OLR) is likely more dominant than the surface turbulent heat flux (indicated by the surface wind) as the main source for the ISV in the SST in Indonesian seas. Furthermore the maximum OLR phase, coupled with a period of minimum mixed layer depth, may explain the strong SST variation during boreal winter in Indonesian seas. The influence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on the OLR and SST variability is currently being evaluated.

Optimization and Simulation of a Maritime Transportation System with Transshipments at Sea

OpenAIRE

Holm, Magnus Bolstad; Medbøen, Carl Axel Benjamin

2017-01-01

This Master's thesis presents an operations research study of the Short Sea Pioneer logistics system which is a conceptual maritime logistics system between continental Europe and the Norwegian coastline. The aim is to make short sea shipping more cost efficient and attractive by having transshipments at sea between mother and daughter ships. Few guidelines regarding system designed are determined, and this Master's thesis presents a modeling framework to establish a deeper understanding ...

Water transparency measurements in the deep Ionian Sea

CERN Document Server

Anassontzis, E G; Belias, A; Fotiou, A; Grammatikakis, G; Kontogiannis, H; Koske, P; Koutsoukos, S; Lykoussis, V; Markopoulos, E; Psallidas, A; Resvanis, L K; Siotis, I; Stavrakakis, S; Stavropoulos, G; Zhukov, V A

2010-01-01

A long optical base line spectrophotometer designed to measure light transmission in deep sea waters is described. The variable optical path length allows measurements without the need for absolute or external calibration. The spectrophotometer uses eight groups of uncollimated light sources emitting in the range 370–530 nm and was deployed at various depths at two locations in the Ionian Sea that are candidate sites for a future underwater neutrino telescope. Light transmission spectra at the two locations are presented and compared.

Evaluation of sea level rise in Bohai Bay and associated responses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ke-Xiu LIU

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Tide gauge data from 1950 to 2015 are used to analyze sea level change, tidal change, return levels, and design tide levels under rising sea level scenarios in Bohai Bay. Results show the following: 1 Since 1950 sea levels in Bohai Bay show a significant rising trend of 3.3 mm per year. The speed has been particularly rapid in 1980–2015 at a rate of 4.7 mm per year. 2 Astronomical tides showed a clear long-term trend in 1950–2015. The amplitude and phase lag of the M2 tide constituent decreased at a rate of 0.21 cm per year and 0.11° per year, respectively and the phase lag of K1 decreased at a rate of 0.09° per year, whereas there was little change in its amplitude. The mean high and low tides increased at a rate of 0.08 and 0.52 cm per year, respectively, whereas the mean tidal range decreased at a rate of 0.44 cm per year. Results from numerical experiments show that local sea level rise plays an important role in the tidal dynamics change in Bohai Bay. 3 It is considered that the sea level return periods will decrease owing to the influence of sea level rise and land subsidence, therefore design tide level will change in relation to sea level rise. Therefore, the ability of seawalls to withstand water will diminish, and storm surge disasters will become more serious in the future.

North Sea focus on radwaste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cope, D.

1990-01-01

At the recent North Sea Conference in the Netherlands possible future strategies for managing radioactive waste (radwaste) proved to be a contentious issue. Several of its North Sea littoral neighbours sought a categorical assurance that the UK would forego the option of constructing a subterranean radwaste repository which though accessed from land, extends under the coastline, or a sub-seabed facility reached from an offshore structure. It was pointed out that the UK has no present plans for such a radwaste repository. However, sub-seabed designs as a possibility for future repositories were not ruled out. NIREX has decided to concentrate its exploration work at two sites -Sellafield and Dounreay. Both sites are coastal locations and the government is aware that detailed geological exploration may favour extension of a radwaste repository beyond the shoreline, even if initially developed entirely on land. The design of such a radioactive waste repository is outlined. The position of NIREX and the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee is discussed. (author)

Specific chelating reagent to extract uranium from the sea water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tabushi, Iwao; Kobuke, Yoshiaki

1982-01-01

The behavior of uranyl ions as seen from the chemistry of complex as the object of molecule recognition was examined on the basis of the research of structure and equilibrium in solution, in an attempt for the search of specific ligands and the molecular design of adsorbents. What is the most essential for the extraction of uranyl ions from sea water is the development of an excellent adsorbent with rapid adsorption, large equilibrium adsorption and high physical-chemical stability. Based on this appreciation, attempt has been made to find out the molecular design of an excellent adsorbent, starting with the chemistry of complex of uranyl ions. For the purpose, the following matters are reviewed: uranium in nature, the chemistry of complex of uranyl ions, specific ligands for the uranyl ions in sea water, the adsorbent resins for sea-water uranium, the proposals for an adsorbent system. (Mori, K.)

Sea-ice evaluation of NEMO-Nordic 1.0: a NEMO-LIM3.6-based ocean-sea-ice model setup for the North Sea and Baltic Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Pemberton, Per; Löptien, Ulrike; Hordoir, Robinson; Höglund, Anders; Schimanke, Semjon; Axell, Lars; Haapala, Jari

2017-08-01

The Baltic Sea is a seasonally ice-covered marginal sea in northern Europe with intense wintertime ship traffic and a sensitive ecosystem. Understanding and modeling the evolution of the sea-ice pack is important for climate effect studies and forecasting purposes. Here we present and evaluate the sea-ice component of a new NEMO-LIM3.6-based ocean-sea-ice setup for the North Sea and Baltic Sea region (NEMO-Nordic). The setup includes a new depth-based fast-ice parametrization for the Baltic Sea. The evaluation focuses on long-term statistics, from a 45-year long hindcast, although short-term daily performance is also briefly evaluated. We show that NEMO-Nordic is well suited for simulating the mean sea-ice extent, concentration, and thickness as compared to the best available observational data set. The variability of the annual maximum Baltic Sea ice extent is well in line with the observations, but the 1961-2006 trend is underestimated. Capturing the correct ice thickness distribution is more challenging. Based on the simulated ice thickness distribution we estimate the undeformed and deformed ice thickness and concentration in the Baltic Sea, which compares reasonably well with observations.

Course of sea-level change

Science.gov (United States)

Carlowicz, Michael

This summer, the Environment and Climate Program of the European Union will offer an advanced study course on “sea-level changes on micro to macro timescales: measurements, modeling, interpretation, and application.” The short course will be taught from July 1-12 at the Aesclepon Conference Center on the island of Kos, Greece.The interdisciplinary course is designed to bring together at least 40 students from different disciplines in an attempt to share and disseminate fundamental ideas about sea level change, focusing particularly on changes influenced by anthropogenic factors. Participants will be selected by a scientific panel; the European Union will conduct the course free of charge and will provide free lodging. Students must pay for their own travel expenses and food.

Sea level report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwartz, M.L.

1979-01-01

Study of Cenozoic Era sea levels shows a continual lowering of sea level through the Tertiary Period. This overall drop in sea level accompanied the Pleistocene Epoch glacio-eustatic fluctuations. The considerable change of Pleistocene Epoch sea level is most directly attributable to the glacio-eustatic factor, with a time span of 10 5 years and an amplitude or range of approximately 200 m. The lowering of sea level since the end of the Cretaceous Period is attributed to subsidence and mid-ocean ridges. The maximum rate for sea level change is 4 cm/y. At present, mean sea level is rising at about 3 to 4 mm/y. Glacio-eustacy and tectono-eustacy are the parameters for predicting sea level changes in the next 1 my. Glacio-eustatic sea level changes may be projected on the basis of the Milankovitch Theory. Predictions about tectono-eustatic sea level changes, however, involve predictions about future tectonic activity and are therefore somewhat difficult to make. Coastal erosion and sedimentation are affected by changes in sea level. Erosion rates for soft sediments may be as much as 50 m/y. The maximum sedimentation accumulation rate is 20 m/100 y

Sea Fighter Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

2007-02-01

which is used by the model to drive the normal activities of the crew (Figure C.1-2). These routines consist of a sequential list of high- level...separately. Figure C.1-3: Resources & Logic Sheet C.1.1.4 Scenario The scenario that is performed during a model run is a sequential list of all...were marked with a white fore and aft lineup stripe on both landing spots. Current Sea Fighter design does not provide a hangar; however, there

Science Objectives and Design of the European Seas Observatory NETwork (ESONET)

Science.gov (United States)

Ruhl, H.; Géli, L.; Karstensen, J.; Colaço, A.; Lampitt, R.; Greinert, J.; Phannkuche, O.; Auffret, Y.

2009-04-01

The needs for a network of ocean observing systems cross many applied and research areas of earth and marine science. Many of the science areas that can be examined using such systems have direct impacts on societal health and well being and our understanding of ocean function in a shifting climate. The European Seas Observatory NETwork (ESONET) Network of Excellence has been evaluating ocean observatory design requirements, data management needs, standardization and interoperability concerns, social implications, outreach and education, as well as financial and legal aspects of developing such a system. ESONET has great potential to address a growing set of Earth science questions that require a broad and integrated network of ocean and seafloor observations. ESONET activities are also importantly integrating researchers in the European Community, as well as internationally. There is now wide recognition that research addressing science questions of international priority, such as understanding the potential impacts of climate change or geohazards like earthquakes and tsunamis should be conducted in a framework that can address questions across adequate temporal and spatial scales. We will present the relevant science priorities in the four interconnected fields of geoscience, physical oceanography, biogeochemistry, and marine ecology, and some of the practical ways in which these questions can be addressed using ESONET. Several key questions persist that will require comprehensive interdisciplinary approaches including: How can monitoring of factors such as seismic activity, fluid pore chemistry and pressure, improve seismic, slope failure, and tsunami warning? To what extent do seabed processes influence ocean physics, biogeochemistry, and marine ecosystems? How are physical and biogeochemical processes that occur at differing scales related? What aspects of physical oceanography and biogeochemical cycling will be most sensitive to climate change? What will the

Development of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) larvicides

Science.gov (United States)

Howell, John H.; Lech, John J.; Allen, John L.

1980-01-01

Larvicides are used to control sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in the Great Lakes. These larvicides are useful because they are more toxic to sea lamprey than fish species found in the same habitat. The lampricides come from two classes of chemical compounds: (1) halonitrophenols, and (2) halonitrosalicylanilides. Selectivity of the larvicides appears to be based on the differences in the ability of sea lamprey larvae and fishes to detoxify and/or excrete the chemicals. Glucuronide conjugation is an important mechanism for detoxification of these larvicides by fish, and selectivity of larvicides may be due to differences in glucuronyl transferase activity between lamprey and fishes. If more detailed information were available on uptake, metabolism, excretion, and the biochemistry and physiology of lamprey as compared to fishes, it might be possible to design chemicals that would be more selective than those now in use.

Further development of the SEA-Clam wave energy converter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bellamy, N.W.; Peatfield, A.M.

1984-04-01

The final design of the SEA-Clam as a unit for a large 2 GW scheme has been described. This is the leading wave energy device arising out of the UK National Wave Energy Program and is seen as having the greatest potential for further development particularly for smaller scale applications. The small scale market for wave energy is examined and the design and cost parameters evaluated for the 250 kW to 1000 kW range of SEA-Clam units. Building a demonstration prototype rated at 650 kW and producing an annual average output of 250 kW is identified as the next step towards the commercial exploitation of wave energy.

The wind sea and swell waves climate in the Nordic seas

Science.gov (United States)

Semedo, Alvaro; Vettor, Roberto; Breivik, Øyvind; Sterl, Andreas; Reistad, Magnar; Soares, Carlos Guedes; Lima, Daniela

2015-02-01

A detailed climatology of wind sea and swell waves in the Nordic Seas (North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea), based on the high-resolution reanalysis NORA10, developed by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, is presented. The higher resolution of the wind forcing fields, and the wave model (10 km in both cases), along with the inclusion of the bottom effect, allowed a better description of the wind sea and swell features, compared to previous global studies. The spatial patterns of the swell-dominated regional wave fields are shown to be different from the open ocean, due to coastal geometry, fetch dimensions, and island sheltering. Nevertheless, swell waves are still more prevalent and carry more energy in the Nordic Seas, with the exception of the North Sea. The influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the winter regional wind sea and swell patterns is also presented. The analysis of the decadal trends of wind sea and swell heights during the NORA10 period (1958-2001) shows that the long-term trends of the total significant wave height (SWH) in the Nordic Seas are mostly due to swell and to the wave propagation effect.

An overview of sea otter studies

Science.gov (United States)

Ballachey, Brenda E.; Bodkin, James L.; DeGange, Anthony R.; Loughlin, Thomas R.

1994-01-01

The Exxron Valdez oil spill (EVOS) on 24 March 1989 threatened extensive areas of prime sea otter (Enhydra lutris) habitat along the coasts of south-central Alaska. The spill occurred in northeastern Prince William Sound (PWS), and oil moved rapidly south and west through PWS into the Gulf of Alaska. Much of the coastline of western PWS was heavily oiled, and the slick eventually spread as far southwest as Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula (Galt and Payton 1990; Morris and Loughlin, Chapter 1). All coastal waters affected by the spill were inhabited by sea otters.Concern for the survival of sea otters following the oil spill was immediate and well founded. Sea otters are particularly vulnerable to oil contamination because they rely on pelage rather than blubber for insulation, and oiling drastically reduces the insulative value of the fur (Costa and Kooyman 1982; Siniff et al. 1982; Geraci and Williams 1990). Within days of the spill, recovery of oiled live otters and carcasses began. During the several months following the spill, sea otters became symbolic of the mortality associated with the spilled oil, and of the hope for rescue and recovery of injured wildlife (Batten 1990).An extensive sea otter rescue and rehabilitation effort was mounted in the weeks and months following the spill. Handling and treatment of the captive sea otters posed an enormous and difficult challenge, given the large number of otters held at the facilities and minimal prior experience in caring for oiled sea otters. Rehabilitation of sea otters was a separate effort from the postspill studies designed to evaluate injury to the otter populations and is not addressed in this chapter only as it relates to evaluation of damage assessment studies. Detailed information on the rehabilitation effort is presented in Bayha and Kormendy (1990) and Williams and Davis (1990).Sea otters retained a high profile in the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) studies largely because the initial

Literary Genres in Poetic Texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls

Science.gov (United States)

Pickut, William Douglas

2017-01-01

Among the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are four literary compositions that bear the superscriptional designations shir and mizmor. These designations correspond directly to superscriptional designations provided many times in both the now-canonical Psalter and the various witnesses to those texts unearthed at Qumran. On its face, this fact…

Afforestation of a desert in the sea. Success in artificial development of a sea jungle; Umi no sabaku wo ryokuka suru. Kaichurin no jinko zosei ni seiko

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kawasaki, Y. [Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo (Japan)

1994-08-20

A place where kelps such as Eisenia bicyclis and other large edible seaweeds grow gregariously is called `sea jungle` and is the suitable habitat for fishes and shellfishes. Because of the development of sea areas and changes in natural environment, sea jungles in the sea area around Japan have decreased, and the sea has been deforested. A technique to create sea jungles artificially on the sandy seabed where sea jungles are difficult to grow has been developed. Fundamentally, it is required to place sea-sap blocks and natural stones on the sandy seabed to create the foundation for kelps to grow. It is also necessary to choose the proper depth of water for each kelp and the proper site where natural sea jungles exist close by. As for sea-sap blocks, their arms are made to gear each other so that they can endure the wave force, and their height should be over 1.2m so that they cannot be buried in the sand. Projections (kelp knobs) are installed on the upper surface of the blocks. Their shape is especially designed for spores of kelps so that they can easily adhere to. It is appropriate to place these blocks in the period from September to November when many germs of kelps are generated. It has been demonstrated that sea jungles can be created by this method. 3 figs.

76 FR 2027 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Steller Sea Lion Protection Measures for the...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-12

.... 101006495-0498-01] RIN 0648-BA31 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Steller Sea Lion... 13, 2010, to implement Steller sea lion protection measures to ensure that the Bering Sea and... existence of the western distinct population segment of Steller sea lions or adversely modify its designated...

Investigating Arctic Sea Ice Survivability in the Beaufort Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Tooth

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Arctic sea ice extent has continued to decline in recent years, and the fractional coverage of multi-year sea ice has decreased significantly during this period. The Beaufort Sea region has been the site of much of the loss of multi-year sea ice, and it continues to play a large role in the extinction of ice during the melt season. We present an analysis of the influence of satellite-derived ice surface temperature, ice thickness, albedo, and downwelling longwave/shortwave radiation as well as latitude and airborne snow depth estimates on the change in sea ice concentration in the Beaufort Sea from 2009 to 2016 using a Lagrangian tracking database. Results from this analysis indicate that parcels that melt during summer in the Beaufort Sea reside at lower latitudes and have lower ice thickness at the beginning of the melt season in most cases. The influence of sea ice thickness and snow depth observed by IceBridge offers less conclusive results, with some years exhibiting higher thicknesses/depths for melted parcels. Parcels that melted along IceBridge tracks do exhibit lower latitudes and ice thicknesses, however, which indicates that earlier melt and breakup of ice may contribute to a greater likelihood of extinction of parcels in the summer.

A New Remotely Operated Sensor Platform for Interdisciplinary Observations under Sea Ice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Katlein

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Observation of the climate and ecosystem of ice covered polar seas is a timely task for the scientific community. The goal is to assess the drastic and imminent changes of the polar sea ice cover induced by climate change. Retreating and thinning sea ice affects the planets energy budget, atmospheric, and oceanic circulation patterns as well as the ecosystem associated with this unique habitat. To increase the observational capabilities of sea ice scientists, we equipped a remotely operated vehicle (ROV as sensor platform for interdisciplinary research at the ice water interface. Here, we present the technical details and operation scheme of the new vehicle and provide data examples from a first campaign in the Arctic in autumn 2016 to demonstrate the vehicle's capabilities. The vehicle is designed for efficient operations in the harsh polar conditions. Redundant modular design allows operation by three scientists simultaneously operating a wide variety of sensors. Sensors from physical, chemical, and biological oceanography are combined with optical and acoustic sea ice sensors to provide a comprehensive picture of the underside of sea ice. The sensor suite provides comprehensive capabilities and can be further extended as additional ports for power and communication are available. The vehicle provides full six degrees of freedom in navigation, enabling intervention, and manipulation skills despite its simple one function manipulator arm.

Sea level change

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Church, J.A.; Clark, P.U.; Cazenave, A.; Gregory, J.M.; Jevrejeva, S.; Levermann, A.; Merrifield, M.A.; Milne, G.A.; Nerem, R.S.; Nunn, P.D.; Payne, A.J.; Pfeffer, W.T.; Stammer, D.; Unnikrishnan, A.S.

This chapter considers changes in global mean sea level, regional sea level, sea level extremes, and waves. Confidence in projections of global mean sea level rise has increased since the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) because of the improved...

Air-sea exchange studies at the North Sea

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuw, G. de; Eijk, A.M.J. van; Kunz, G.J.; Veefkind, P.J.

1996-01-01

The North Sea can be considered as a local 'inner' sea in which many processes are quite different from these over the open ocean. The surrounding land has a major influence, being the source for man-made aerosols and gases, whereas the North Sea acts as a sink for these. At the same time the North

Sea ice dynamics across the Mid-Pleistocene transition in the Bering Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Detlef, H; Belt, S T; Sosdian, S M; Smik, L; Lear, C H; Hall, I R; Cabedo-Sanz, P; Husum, K; Kender, S

2018-03-05

Sea ice and associated feedback mechanisms play an important role for both long- and short-term climate change. Our ability to predict future sea ice extent, however, hinges on a greater understanding of past sea ice dynamics. Here we investigate sea ice changes in the eastern Bering Sea prior to, across, and after the Mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT). The sea ice record, based on the Arctic sea ice biomarker IP 25 and related open water proxies from the International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1343, shows a substantial increase in sea ice extent across the MPT. The occurrence of late-glacial/deglacial sea ice maxima are consistent with sea ice/land ice hysteresis and land-glacier retreat via the temperature-precipitation feedback. We also identify interactions of sea ice with phytoplankton growth and ocean circulation patterns, which have important implications for glacial North Pacific Intermediate Water formation and potentially North Pacific abyssal carbon storage.

Sea trials of MARTIN - a European survey AUV

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Lars; Bjerrum, A.; Ishoy, A.

1995-01-01

are currently being performed. A new navigation system has been developed for MARTIN. The low-drag flat-fish shaped, modular designed hull has been thoroughly tested in a towing tank and in the open sea. The hydrodynamic parameters were used in computer simulations of the vehicle dynamics. An autopilot based...... software was developed by the Institute of Automation, Danish Technical University in co-operation with Reson AS and Maridan ApS. The paper includes a description of the navigation system, results from simulations and preliminary results from the first sea trials...

Illicit drugs and their metabolites in 36 rivers that drain into the Bohai Sea and north Yellow Sea, north China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, De-Gao; Zheng, Qiu-Da; Wang, Xiao-Ping; Du, Juan; Tian, Chong-Guo; Wang, Zhuang; Ge, Lin-Ke

2016-08-01

Illicit drugs and their metabolites have recently been recognized as an emerging group of contaminants due to their potential ecotoxicological impact in aquatic ecosystems. To date, information on the occurrence of these compounds in the aquatic environment of China remains limited. In this study, we collected surface water samples from 36 rivers in north China that discharge into the Bohai Sea and north Yellow Sea and measured the concentrations of amphetamine-like compounds, ketamines, cocainics, and opioids. The occurrence and spatial patterns of these substances show significant differences between the rivers and regions. Two designer drugs, methamphetamine (METH) and ketamine (KET), were the most abundant compounds detected in the entire set of samples (detection frequency of 92 and 69 %). The concentrations of METH and KET ranged from illicit drugs consumed in China. The high concentrations of these illicit drugs and their metabolites were found in areas that have a high population density. The riverine input of total illicit drugs into the Bohai Sea and north Yellow Sea was estimated to be in the range of 684 to 1160 kg per year.

Baltic Sea biodiversity status vs. cumulative human pressures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Jesper H.; Halpern, Benjamin S.; Korpinen, Samuli

2015-01-01

Abstract Many studies have tried to explain spatial and temporal variations in biodiversity status of marine areas from a single-issue perspective, such as fishing pressure or coastal pollution, yet most continental seas experience a wide range of human pressures. Cumulative impact assessments have...... been developed to capture the consequences of multiple stressors for biodiversity, but the ability of these assessments to accurately predict biodiversity status has never been tested or ground-truthed. This relationship has similarly been assumed for the Baltic Sea, especially in areas with impaired...... status, but has also never been documented. Here we provide a first tentative indication that cumulative human impacts relate to ecosystem condition, i.e. biodiversity status, in the Baltic Sea. Thus, cumulative impact assessments offer a promising tool for informed marine spatial planning, designation...

ACCELERATION OF SEA LEVEL RISE OVER MALAYSIAN SEAS FROM SATELLITE ALTIMETER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. I. A. Hamid

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Sea level rise becomes our concern nowadays as a result of variously contribution of climate change that cause by the anthropogenic effects. Global sea levels have been rising through the past century and are projected to rise at an accelerated rate throughout the 21st century. Due to this change, sea level is now constantly rising and eventually will threaten many low-lying and unprotected coastal areas in many ways. This paper is proposing a significant effort to quantify the sea level trend over Malaysian seas based on the combination of multi-mission satellite altimeters over a period of 23 years. Eight altimeter missions are used to derive the absolute sea level from Radar Altimeter Database System (RADS. Data verification is then carried out to verify the satellite derived sea level rise data with tidal data. Eight selected tide gauge stations from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are chosen for this data verification. The pattern and correlation of both measurements of sea level anomalies (SLA are evaluated over the same period in each area in order to produce comparable results. Afterwards, the time series of the sea level trend is quantified using robust fit regression analysis. The findings clearly show that the absolute sea level trend is rising and varying over the Malaysian seas with the rate of sea level varies and gradually increase from east to west of Malaysia. Highly confident and correlation level of the 23 years measurement data with an astonishing root mean square difference permits the absolute sea level trend of the Malaysian seas has raised at the rate 3.14 ± 0.12 mm yr-1 to 4.81 ± 0.15 mm yr-1 for the chosen sub-areas, with an overall mean of 4.09 ± 0.12 mm yr-1. This study hopefully offers a beneficial sea level information to be applied in a wide range of related environmental and climatology issue such as flood and global warming.

Acceleration of Sea Level Rise Over Malaysian Seas from Satellite Altimeter

Science.gov (United States)

Hamid, A. I. A.; Din, A. H. M.; Khalid, N. F.; Omar, K. M.

2016-09-01

Sea level rise becomes our concern nowadays as a result of variously contribution of climate change that cause by the anthropogenic effects. Global sea levels have been rising through the past century and are projected to rise at an accelerated rate throughout the 21st century. Due to this change, sea level is now constantly rising and eventually will threaten many low-lying and unprotected coastal areas in many ways. This paper is proposing a significant effort to quantify the sea level trend over Malaysian seas based on the combination of multi-mission satellite altimeters over a period of 23 years. Eight altimeter missions are used to derive the absolute sea level from Radar Altimeter Database System (RADS). Data verification is then carried out to verify the satellite derived sea level rise data with tidal data. Eight selected tide gauge stations from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are chosen for this data verification. The pattern and correlation of both measurements of sea level anomalies (SLA) are evaluated over the same period in each area in order to produce comparable results. Afterwards, the time series of the sea level trend is quantified using robust fit regression analysis. The findings clearly show that the absolute sea level trend is rising and varying over the Malaysian seas with the rate of sea level varies and gradually increase from east to west of Malaysia. Highly confident and correlation level of the 23 years measurement data with an astonishing root mean square difference permits the absolute sea level trend of the Malaysian seas has raised at the rate 3.14 ± 0.12 mm yr-1 to 4.81 ± 0.15 mm yr-1 for the chosen sub-areas, with an overall mean of 4.09 ± 0.12 mm yr-1. This study hopefully offers a beneficial sea level information to be applied in a wide range of related environmental and climatology issue such as flood and global warming.

The Potential for Wave Energy in the North Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, H. C.; Chozas, Julia Fernandez

2010-01-01

The North Sea has not yet been regarded as prime area for wave energy development in Europe except in Denmark, Benelux and Germany. The reason is the relatively low intensity of waves (12-17kW/m) compared to the Atlantic with a wave climate of 24-48kW/m. Further on the design wave load is almost ...... is resulting in a prediction of a yearly production of 23TWh; the latter is estimating a yearly production of 77TWh. This equals to 6% of the electricity demand around the North Sea, where the annual electricity consumption is about 1,300TWh.......The North Sea has not yet been regarded as prime area for wave energy development in Europe except in Denmark, Benelux and Germany. The reason is the relatively low intensity of waves (12-17kW/m) compared to the Atlantic with a wave climate of 24-48kW/m. Further on the design wave load is almost...... as in the Atlantic and the distance to shore relatively long compared to sites with good wave climate like Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the west coast of UK. The increasing activities within offshore wind in the North Sea and the attempt to build a super grid connecting the wind sites with the major consumers around...

Pesticides in soil and sediment of a dyke-protected area of the Red River Delta, Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Braun, Gianna; Bläsing, Melanie; Kruse, Jens; Amelung, Wulf; Renaud, Fabrice; Sebesvari, Zita

2017-04-01

Coastal regions are densely populated but at the same time represent important agricultural areas for food production of the growing world population. To sustain high agricultural yields, in monocultures such as permanent rice systems, pesticides are used in high quantity and frequency. While earlier studies monitored the fate of pesticides in paddy rice systems, the overall fate of these compounds is altered nowadays due to the construction of dykes, which are needed in many delta regions to protect them from high tides, storm surges and salt water intrusion such as in the Red River Delta. The dyke system regulates the discharge and water exchange inside the diked area including irrigation channels for the paddy rice production. Local authorities observed increasing pollution towards the sea (highest pollution close to the dykes) and hypothesized that the dyke system would prevent water exchange and thus lead to an accumulation of pollutants within the diked area. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dykes on pesticide pollution patterns in coastal delta regions of the Red River Delta. The study was conducted in the district Giao Thuy of the Red River Delta, Vietnam. This area is surrounded by a sea and river dyke; both have several inlet and outlet gates to control the water level in the irrigation channels. We determined the pesticide pollution pattern in a diked agricultural area, as well as along salinity gradients in and outside the diked areas. Samples were taken from rice fields and sediments from irrigation channels inside the diked area as well from saline aquaculture fields located outside the dyke. Pesticide analysis was conducted by accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), followed up by the clean-up process described by Laabs et al. (2007) and analyses using gas chromatography coupled with a mass selective detector (MSD). Preliminary results suggest that out of the 26 analysed compounds chlorpyrifos, propiconazole and

Temperature, Salinity, Oxygen, Phosphate, pH and Alkalinity data collected in the North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea and White Sea from R/Vs Artemovsk, Atlantida, Okeanograf, Professor Rudovits, and ice observations, 1957 - 1995 (NODC Accession 0073674)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature, Salinity, Oxygen, Phosphate, pH and Alkalinity data collected in the North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, North Sea, Norwegian...

Impacts of 21st century sea-level rise on a Danish major city - an assessment based on fine-resolution digital topography and a new flooding algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold; Svenning, Jens-Christian [Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University (Denmark); Boecher, Peder Klith [Department of Agroecology and Environment, Aarhus University (Denmark); Moelhave, Thomas; Arge, Lars, E-mail: jesper.moeslund@biology.au.d [MADALGO - Center for Massive Data Algorithmics, Aarhus University (Denmark)

2009-11-01

This study examines the potential impact of 21st century sea-level rise on Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark, emphasizing the economic risk to the city's real estate. Furthermore, it assesses which possible adaptation measures that can be taken to prevent flooding in areas particularly at risk from flooding. We combine a new national Digital Elevation Model in very fine resolution ({approx}2 meter), a new highly computationally efficient flooding algorithm that accurately models the influence of barriers, and geospatial data on real-estate values to assess the economic real-estate risk posed by future sea-level rise to Aarhus. Under the A2 and A1FI (IPCC) climate scenarios we show that relatively large residential areas in the northern part of the city as well as areas around the river running through the city are likely to become flooded in the event of extreme, but realistic weather events. In addition, most of the large Aarhus harbour would also risk flooding. As much of the area at risk represent high-value real estate, it seems clear that proactive measures other than simple abandonment should be taken in order to avoid heavy economic losses. Among the different possibilities for dealing with an increased sea level, the strategic placement of flood-gates at key potential water-inflow routes and the construction or elevation of existing dikes seems to be the most convenient, most socially acceptable, and maybe also the cheapest solution. Finally, we suggest that high-detail flooding models similar to those produced in this study will become an important tool for a climate-change-integrated planning of future city development as well as for the development of evacuation plans.

Impacts of 21st century sea-level rise on a Danish major city - an assessment based on fine-resolution digital topography and a new flooding algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Boecher, Peder Klith; Moelhave, Thomas; Arge, Lars

2009-01-01

This study examines the potential impact of 21st century sea-level rise on Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark, emphasizing the economic risk to the city's real estate. Furthermore, it assesses which possible adaptation measures that can be taken to prevent flooding in areas particularly at risk from flooding. We combine a new national Digital Elevation Model in very fine resolution (∼2 meter), a new highly computationally efficient flooding algorithm that accurately models the influence of barriers, and geospatial data on real-estate values to assess the economic real-estate risk posed by future sea-level rise to Aarhus. Under the A2 and A1FI (IPCC) climate scenarios we show that relatively large residential areas in the northern part of the city as well as areas around the river running through the city are likely to become flooded in the event of extreme, but realistic weather events. In addition, most of the large Aarhus harbour would also risk flooding. As much of the area at risk represent high-value real estate, it seems clear that proactive measures other than simple abandonment should be taken in order to avoid heavy economic losses. Among the different possibilities for dealing with an increased sea level, the strategic placement of flood-gates at key potential water-inflow routes and the construction or elevation of existing dikes seems to be the most convenient, most socially acceptable, and maybe also the cheapest solution. Finally, we suggest that high-detail flooding models similar to those produced in this study will become an important tool for a climate-change-integrated planning of future city development as well as for the development of evacuation plans.

Design and deployment of autoclave pressure vessels for the portable deep-sea drill rig MeBo (Meeresboden-Bohrgerät)

Science.gov (United States)

Pape, Thomas; Hohnberg, Hans-Jürgen; Wunsch, David; Anders, Erik; Freudenthal, Tim; Huhn, Katrin; Bohrmann, Gerhard

2017-11-01

Pressure barrels for sampling and preservation of submarine sediments under in situ pressure with the robotic sea-floor drill rig MeBo (Meeresboden-Bohrgerät) housed at the MARUM (Bremen, Germany) were developed. Deployments of the so-called MDP (MeBo pressure vessel) during two offshore expeditions off New Zealand and off Spitsbergen, Norway, resulted in the recovery of sediment cores with pressure stages equaling in situ hydrostatic pressure. While initially designed for the quantification of gas and gas-hydrate contents in submarine sediments, the MDP also allows for analysis of the sediments under in situ pressure with methods typically applied by researchers from other scientific fields (geotechnics, sedimentology, microbiology, etc.). Here we report on the design and operational procedure of the MDP and demonstrate full functionality by presenting the first results from pressure-core degassing and molecular gas analysis.

First biological measurements of deep-sea corals from the Red Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Roder, C; Berumen, M L; Bouwmeester, J; Papathanassiou, E; Al-Suwailem, A; Voolstra, C R

2013-10-03

It is usually assumed that metabolic constraints restrict deep-sea corals to cold-water habitats, with 'deep-sea' and 'cold-water' corals often used as synonymous. Here we report on the first measurements of biological characters of deep-sea corals from the central Red Sea, where they occur at temperatures exceeding 20°C in highly oligotrophic and oxygen-limited waters. Low respiration rates, low calcification rates, and minimized tissue cover indicate that a reduced metabolism is one of the key adaptations to prevailing environmental conditions. We investigated four sites and encountered six species of which at least two appear to be undescribed. One species is previously reported from the Red Sea but occurs in deep cold waters outside the Red Sea raising interesting questions about presumed environmental constraints for other deep-sea corals. Our findings suggest that the present understanding of deep-sea coral persistence and resilience needs to be revisited.

First biological measurements of deep-sea corals from the Red Sea.

KAUST Repository

Roder, Cornelia

2013-10-03

It is usually assumed that metabolic constraints restrict deep-sea corals to cold-water habitats, with \\'deep-sea\\' and \\'cold-water\\' corals often used as synonymous. Here we report on the first measurements of biological characters of deep-sea corals from the central Red Sea, where they occur at temperatures exceeding 20°C in highly oligotrophic and oxygen-limited waters. Low respiration rates, low calcification rates, and minimized tissue cover indicate that a reduced metabolism is one of the key adaptations to prevailing environmental conditions. We investigated four sites and encountered six species of which at least two appear to be undescribed. One species is previously reported from the Red Sea but occurs in deep cold waters outside the Red Sea raising interesting questions about presumed environmental constraints for other deep-sea corals. Our findings suggest that the present understanding of deep-sea coral persistence and resilience needs to be revisited.

Exploration and development of offshore oil and gas fields. [North Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-01-01

In the last 9 years, the British companies, based on their rich engineering and commercial experience, have directed a considerable part of their material and manpower resources at developing oil and gas fields in the North Sea. The technological innovations used by British industry are: aero- and marine surveys to prospect for oil, underwater laying of pipelines, arrangement of platforms, etc.; exploratory drilling in the open sea and on dry land; design of platforms with regard for the depth of the water and unique weather conditions of the North Sea, their assembly and development; use of auxiliary ships and helicopters, and diving equipment.

The Effect of the South Asia Monsoon on the Wind Sea and Swell Patterns in the Arabian Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Semedo, Alvaro

2015-04-01

Ocean surface gravity waves have a considerable impact on coastal and offshore infrastructures, and are determinant on ship design and routing. But waves also play an important role on the coastal dynamics and beach erosion, and modulate the exchanges of momentum, and mass and other scalars between the atmosphere and the ocean. A constant quantitative and qualitative knowledge of the wave patterns is therefore needed. There are two types of waves at the ocean surface: wind-sea and swell. Wind-sea waves are growing waves under the direct influence of local winds; as these waves propagate away from their generation area, or when their phase speed overcomes the local wind speed, they are called swell. Swell waves can propagate thousands of kilometers across entire ocean basins. The qualitative analysis of ocean surface waves has been the focus of several recent studies, from the wave climate to the air-sea interaction community. The reason for this interest lies mostly in the fact that waves have an impact on the lower atmosphere, and that the air-sea coupling is different depending on the wave regime. Waves modulate the exchange of momentum, heat, and mass across the air-sea interface, and this modulation is different and dependent on the prevalence of one type of waves: wind sea or swell. For fully developed seas the coupling between the ocean-surface and the overlaying atmosphere can be seen as quasi-perfect, in a sense that the momentum transfer and energy dissipation at the ocean surface are in equilibrium. This can only occur in special areas of the Ocean, either in marginal seas, with limited fetch, or in Open Ocean, in areas with strong and persistent wind speed with little or no variation in direction. One of these areas is the Arabian Sea, along the coasts of Somalia, Yemen and Oman. The wind climate in the Arabian sea is under the direct influence of the South Asia monsoon, where the wind blows steady from the northeast during the boreal winter, and

The status of taxonomy and venom in sea snakes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Redsted Rasmussen, Arne; Sanders, Kate L.

2017-01-01

The status of taxonomy and venom in sea snakesArne R Rasmussen1, Kate L Sanders21 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design & Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark2 School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia......, the Aipysurus group was separated from the other viviparous sea snakes at around 5.8 million years before present and in the Hydrophis lineage the Hydrophis group was separated from the three semi-marine lineages at around 4.4 million years before present. The venoms of sea snakes are rather simple, typically...... containing a-neurotoxins and phospholipases A2 (PLA2s), and in terms of lethality are known to be more potent than the venoms from terrestrial snakes....

Phosphorus dynamics in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, N.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/372617034

2017-01-01

The dynamics of the key nutrient phosphorus (P) in hypoxic and anoxic marine basins are still incompletely understood. This thesis focuses on the cycling of P in two of such basins: the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Water column particulates and sediments from the deep basin of the Black Sea were

Design and challenges for a tsunami early warning system in the Marmara Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Necmioğlu, Öcal

2016-01-01

Since 1900, around 90,000 people have lost their lives in 76 earthquakes in Turkey, with a total affected population of around 7 million and direct losses of around 25 billion USD. Based on a time-dependent model that includes coseismic and post-seismic effects of the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake with moment magnitude Mw = 7.4, Parsons (J Geophys Res. 109, 2004) concluded that the probability of an earthquake with Mw > 7 in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul is 35 to 70 % in the next 30 years. According to a 2011 study, an earthquake with Mw = 7.25 on the Main Marmara Fault is expected to heavily damage or destroy 2 to 4 % of around 1,000,000 buildings in Istanbul with a population around 13 million, with 9 to 15 % of the buildings receiving medium damage and 20 to 34 % of the buildings damaged lightly (Erdik, Science 341:72, 2013). In the absence of adequate post-earthquake assembly areas especially in the heavily urbanized Istanbul, it is evident that after a major earthquake, especially in the coastal parts of the city, citizens would be storming to landfill assembly and recreational areas. Besides earthquakes, around 30 tsunamis have been reported by Altınok et al. (Natural Hazards Earth System Science 11:273-293, 2011) in the Marmara Sea. Among those, catastrophic earthquakes such as 1509, 1766, and 1894 resulted in considerable tsunamis and some damage. The latest tsunami observed in Marmara was due to a triggered submarine landslide of the 1999 Mw = 7.4 Kocaeli earthquake which led to reported run-up heights of 1-3 m in most places (Tinti et al., Marine Geology 225:311-330, 2006). In this study, I propose a design for a tsunami warning system specific for the Marmara region that is strongly coupled with the earthquake early warning system (due to the short arrival times of tsunami) and stakeholders of the tsunami mitigation activities, such as local and regional components of disaster and emergency management and civil protection units, to ensure that the citizens

SeaWiFS calibration and validation plan, volume 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooker, S.B.; Firestone, E.R.; Mcclain, C.R.; Esaias, W.E.; Barnes, W.; Guenther, B.; Endres, D.; Mitchell, B.G.; Barnes, R.

1992-09-01

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) will be the first ocean-color satellite since the Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), which ceased operation in 1986. Unlike the CZCS, which was designed as a proof-of-concept experiment, SeaWiFS will provide routine global coverage every 2 days and is designed to provide estimates of photosynthetic concentrations of sufficient accuracy for use in quantitative studies of the ocean's primary productivity and biogeochemistry. A review of the CZCS mission is included that describes that data set's limitations and provides justification for a comprehensive SeaWiFS calibration and validation program. To accomplish the SeaWiFS scientific objectives, the sensor's calibration must be constantly monitored, and robust atmospheric corrections and bio-optical algorithms must be developed. The plan incorporates a multi-faceted approach to sensor calibration using a combination of vicarious (based on in situ observations) and onboard calibration techniques. Because of budget constraints and the limited availability of ship resources, the development of the operational algorithms (atmospheric and bio-optical) will rely heavily on collaborations with the Earth Observing System (EOS), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) oceans team, and projects sponsored by other agencies, e.g., the U.S. Navy and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Other elements of the plan include the routine quality control of input ancillary data (e.g., surface wind, surface pressure, ozone concentration, etc.) used in the processing and verification of the level-0 (raw) data to level-1 (calibrated radiances), level-2 (derived products), and level-3 (gridded and averaged derived data) products

Assessment of the sea-ice carbon pump: Insights from a three-dimensional ocean-sea-ice biogeochemical model (NEMO-LIM-PISCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sébastien Moreau

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract The role of sea ice in the carbon cycle is minimally represented in current Earth System Models (ESMs. Among potentially important flaws, mentioned by several authors and generally overlooked during ESM design, is the link between sea-ice growth and melt and oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC and total alkalinity (TA. Here we investigate whether this link is indeed an important feature of the marine carbon cycle misrepresented in ESMs. We use an ocean general circulation model (NEMO-LIM-PISCES with sea-ice and marine carbon cycle components, forced by atmospheric reanalyses, adding a first-order representation of DIC and TA storage and release in/from sea ice. Our results suggest that DIC rejection during sea-ice growth releases several hundred Tg C yr−1 to the surface ocean, of which < 2% is exported to depth, leading to a notable but weak redistribution of DIC towards deep polar basins. Active carbon processes (mainly CaCO3 precipitation but also ice-atmosphere CO2 fluxes and net community production increasing the TA/DIC ratio in sea-ice modified ocean-atmosphere CO2 fluxes by a few Tg C yr−1 in the sea-ice zone, with specific hemispheric effects: DIC content of the Arctic basin decreased but DIC content of the Southern Ocean increased. For the global ocean, DIC content increased by 4 Tg C yr−1 or 2 Pg C after 500 years of model run. The simulated numbers are generally small compared to the present-day global ocean annual CO2 sink (2.6 ± 0.5 Pg C yr−1. However, sea-ice carbon processes seem important at regional scales as they act significantly on DIC redistribution within and outside polar basins. The efficiency of carbon export to depth depends on the representation of surface-subsurface exchanges and their relationship with sea ice, and could differ substantially if a higher resolution or different ocean model were used.

Modified Inverse First Order Reliability Method (I-FORM) for Predicting Extreme Sea States.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eckert-Gallup, Aubrey Celia; Sallaberry, Cedric Jean-Marie; Dallman, Ann Renee; Neary, Vincent Sinclair

2014-09-01

Environmental contours describing extreme sea states are generated as the input for numerical or physical model simulation s as a part of the stand ard current practice for designing marine structure s to survive extreme sea states. Such environmental contours are characterized by combinations of significant wave height ( ) and energy period ( ) values calculated for a given recurrence interval using a set of data based on hindcast simulations or buoy observations over a sufficient period of record. The use of the inverse first - order reliability method (IFORM) i s standard design practice for generating environmental contours. In this paper, the traditional appli cation of the IFORM to generating environmental contours representing extreme sea states is described in detail and its merits and drawbacks are assessed. The application of additional methods for analyzing sea state data including the use of principal component analysis (PCA) to create an uncorrelated representation of the data under consideration is proposed. A reexamination of the components of the IFORM application to the problem at hand including the use of new distribution fitting techniques are shown to contribute to the development of more accurate a nd reasonable representations of extreme sea states for use in survivability analysis for marine struc tures. Keywords: In verse FORM, Principal Component Analysis , Environmental Contours, Extreme Sea State Characteri zation, Wave Energy Converters

Address to the international workshop on greenhouse gas mitigation, technologies and measures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kant, A.

1996-12-31

The Netherlands has a long history in combatting natural forces for it`s mere survival and even creation. Around half of the country was not Yet existent around 2000 years ago: it was still below sea level that time. Building dikes and the discovery of eolic energy applied in windmills, allowing to pump water from one side of the dike to the other, are technologies that gradually shaped the country into its current form, a process that continues to materialize till the present day. Water has not always been an enemy of the country. In the Hundred Year War with Spain, during which the country was occupied territory for most of the time, the water was used to drive the Spanish armies from the country. As large parts are well below sea level breaking the dikes resulted in flooding the country which made the armoury of the Spanish army useless. In this way they had to give up the siege of several major Dutch cities that time. These events marked the gradual liberation of the Dutch territory. Consequently, in the discussion on adaption and prevention of the greenhouse effect the Netherlands has a clear stand. The greenhouse effect will occur anyway, even if countries deploy all possible counter measures at once. So their aim is to prevent the occurrence of the greenhouse effect to the highest extent possible, and to protect the most vulnerable areas meanwhile, especially the coastal zones. In order to reach these goals the Dutch government has established a Joint Implementation Experimental Programme in accordance with the provisions made by the Conference of Parties in Berlin (1995).

Use of reactor plants of enhanced safety for sea water desalination, industrial and district heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panov, Yu.; Polunichev, V.; Zverev, K.

1997-01-01

Russian designers have developed and can deliver nuclear complexes to provide sea water desalination, industrial and district heating. This paper provides an overview of these designs utilizing the ABV, KLT-40 and ATETS-80 reactor plants of enhanced safety. The most advanced nuclear powered water desalination project is the APVS-80. This design consists of a special ship equipped with the distillation desalination plant powered at a level of 160 MW(th) utilizing the type KLT-40 reactor plant. More than 20 years of experience with water desalination and reactor plants has been achieved in Aktau and Russian nuclear ships without radioactive contamination of desalinated water. Design is also proceeding on a two structure complex consisting of a floating nuclear power station and a reverse osmosis desalination plant. This new technology for sea water desalination provides the opportunity to considerably reduce the specific consumption of power for the desalination of sea water. The ABV reactor is utilized in the ''Volnolom'' type floating nuclear power stations. This design also features a desalinator ship which provides sea water desalination by the reverse osmosis process. The ATETS-80 is a nuclear two-reactor cogeneration complex which incorporates the integral vessel-type PWR which can be used in the production of electricity, steam, hot and desalinated water. (author). 9 figs

Study on the possibility of sea-disposal of krypton-85

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalen, A. van; Vons, L.H.; Verkerk, B.

1980-01-01

Results of a feasibility study, performed under a contract with the Commission of the European Communities, regarding technical and radiological aspects of sea-disposal of all krypton-85 retained in a large fuel reprocessing facility, are presented. The design of a double-walled, essentially spherical container is described that provides both double containment of the compressed gas and permanent 'disposable' radiation shielding. Three sizes have been studied, i.e. with internal volumes of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 m 3 , each designed to hold 0.1 m 3 (STP) of krypton, and each containing approximately 400 TBq of 85 Kr per 0.001 m 3 sphere volume. This results in an internal heat production of 17.5 kW/m 3 . Calculations of temperatures and stresses that would result from the conditions of the required fire test for B(U) transport packages showed that the design would allow the containers to pass this test. Radiological consequences have been considered for disposal of petabecquerel amounts of 85 Kr as a function of undamaged container lifetime on the sea bed. Finally, an indication is given of the necessary amendments to the London Convention in order to allow sea-disposal of these large amounts of radioactive krypton. (author)

Development of method for evaluating estimated inundation area by using river flood analysis based on multiple flood scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, T.; Takahashi, T.

2017-12-01

Non-structural mitigation measures such as flood hazard map based on estimated inundation area have been more important because heavy rains exceeding the design rainfall frequently occur in recent years. However, conventional method may lead to an underestimation of the area because assumed locations of dike breach in river flood analysis are limited to the cases exceeding the high-water level. The objective of this study is to consider the uncertainty of estimated inundation area with difference of the location of dike breach in river flood analysis. This study proposed multiple flood scenarios which can set automatically multiple locations of dike breach in river flood analysis. The major premise of adopting this method is not to be able to predict the location of dike breach correctly. The proposed method utilized interval of dike breach which is distance of dike breaches placed next to each other. That is, multiple locations of dike breach were set every interval of dike breach. The 2D shallow water equations was adopted as the governing equation of river flood analysis, and the leap-frog scheme with staggered grid was used. The river flood analysis was verified by applying for the 2015 Kinugawa river flooding, and the proposed multiple flood scenarios was applied for the Akutagawa river in Takatsuki city. As the result of computation in the Akutagawa river, a comparison with each computed maximum inundation depth of dike breaches placed next to each other proved that the proposed method enabled to prevent underestimation of estimated inundation area. Further, the analyses on spatial distribution of inundation class and maximum inundation depth in each of the measurement points also proved that the optimum interval of dike breach which can evaluate the maximum inundation area using the minimum assumed locations of dike breach. In brief, this study found the optimum interval of dike breach in the Akutagawa river, which enabled estimated maximum inundation area

Adapting to Rising Sea Level: A Florida Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Parkinson, Randall W.

2009-07-01

Global climate change and concomitant rising sea level will have a profound impact on Florida's coastal and marine systems. Sea-level rise will increase erosion of beaches, cause saltwater intrusion into water supplies, inundate coastal marshes and other important habitats, and make coastal property more vulnerable to erosion and flooding. Yet most coastal areas are currently managed under the premise that sea-level rise is not significant and the shorelines are static or can be fixed in place by engineering structures. The new reality of sea-level rise and extreme weather due to climate change requires a new style of planning and management to protect resources and reduce risk to humans. Scientists must: (1) assess existing coastal vulnerability to address short term management issues and (2) model future landscape change and develop sustainable plans to address long term planning and management issues. Furthermore, this information must be effectively transferred to planners, managers, and elected officials to ensure their decisions are based upon the best available information. While there is still some uncertainty regarding the details of rising sea level and climate change, development decisions are being made today which commit public and private investment in real estate and associated infrastructure. With a design life of 30 yrs to 75 yrs or more, many of these investments are on a collision course with rising sea level and the resulting impacts will be significant. In the near term, the utilization of engineering structures may be required, but these are not sustainable and must ultimately yield to "managed withdrawal" programs if higher sea-level elevations or rates of rise are forthcoming. As an initial step towards successful adaptation, coastal management and planning documents (i.e., comprehensive plans) must be revised to include reference to climate change and rising sea-level.

Monitoring sea level and sea surface temperature trends from ERS satellites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Knudsen, Per; Beckley, B.

2002-01-01

Data from the two ESA satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2 are used in global and regional analysis of sea level and sea surface temperature trends over the last, 7.8 years. T he ERS satellites and in the future the ENVISAT satellite provide unique opportunity for monitoring both changes in sea level and sea...

Transplant experiments uncover Baltic Sea basin-specific responses in bacterioplankton community composition and metabolic activities

OpenAIRE

Lindh, Markus V.; Figueroa, Daniela; Sjöstedt, Johanna; Baltar, Federico; Lundin, Daniel; Andersson, Agneta; Legrand, Catherine; Pinhassi, Jarone

2015-01-01

Anthropogenically induced changes in precipitation are projected to generate increased river runoff to semi-enclosed seas, intensifying loads of terrestrial dissolved organic matter and decreasing salinity. To determine how bacterial community structure and functioning adjust to such changes, we designed microcosm transplant experiments with Baltic Proper (salinity 7.2) and Bothnian Sea (salinity 3.6) water. Baltic Proper bacteria generally reached higher abundance than Bothnian Sea bacteria ...

The KM3NeT deep-sea neutrino telescope

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Margiotta, Annarita

2014-12-01

KM3NeT is a deep-sea research infrastructure being constructed in the Mediterranean Sea. It will host the next generation Cherenkov neutrino telescope and nodes for a deep sea multidisciplinary observatory, providing oceanographers, marine biologists, and geophysicists with real time measurements. The neutrino telescope will complement IceCube in its field of view and exceed it substantially in sensitivity. Its main goal is the detection of high energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. The detector will have a modular structure with six building blocks, each consisting of about 100 Detection Units (DUs). Each DU will be equipped with 18 multi-PMT digital optical modules. The first phase of construction has started and shore and deep-sea infrastructures hosting the future KM3NeT detector are being prepared in offshore Toulon, France and offshore Capo Passero on Sicily, Italy. The technological solutions for the neutrino detector of KM3NeT and the expected performance of the neutrino telescope are presented and discussed. - Highlights: • A deep-sea research infrastructure is being built in the Mediterranean Sea. • It will host a km{sup 3}-size neutrino telescope and a deep-sea multidisciplinary observatory. • The main goal of the neutrino telescope is the search for Galactic neutrino sources. • A major innovation is adopted in the design of the optical module. • 31 3 in. photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) will be hosted in the same glass sphere.

Development of the Red Sea Biogeographic Information System

KAUST Repository

Machda, Fahmi

2010-05-01

Marine studies, surveys, and observational activities are continuously generating new and diverse data, which are hard to keep track of with tables and spreadsheets. Integrated data and information management systems that collect, analyze, and combine data are needed in order to provide a comprehensive picture of marine environments under study. For these reasons, we started to develop the Red Sea Biogeographic Information System (RBIS) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as a web application utilizing the most updated Web 2.0 technologies. RBIS is designed to have an easily accessible interface that is able to host and display research activities conducted in the Red Sea. Its data model is designed to deal with any kind of marine data. For its data structure, RBIS is organizing the data into three main categories: biological data, physicochemical data, and human activities. Spatial distribution of these data is visualized on a Google-Maps mashup. Dynamic charts are used to visualize the statistics of the data. With these functionalities, data model, and data structure, RBIS is able to organize, visualize, and do instantly combined analyses of research data from the Red Sea. The current version is accessible at http://www.kaust.edu.sa/rbis. © 2010 IEEE.

Diversity and distribution of microbes in deep-sea sub-vent systems, using newly designed in situ growth chambers

Science.gov (United States)

Higashi, Y.; Sunamura, M.; Utsumi, M.; Urabe, T.; Maruyama, A.

2004-12-01

Subsurface of deep-sea hydrothermal vent environments is one of the most difficult fields on the Earth to approach and collect reliable samples for microbiological study. In our Archaean Park project, we developed in situ incubation instruments to directly collect microbes from sub-vent fields through a drilled borehole. After excavation using a portable submarine driller (BMS) around deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Suiyo Seamount on the Izu-Bonin Arc (2001, 2002) and the South Mariana (2003), microbial diversity was examined in samples collected from the boreholes, as well as natural vents, using catheter- and column-type in situ growth chambers. In the catheter samples collected from the Suiyo Seamount, several novel phylotypes of microbial SSU rRNA genes were assigned within epsilon-Proteobacteria and hyperthermophile-related Euryarchaea groups. The former novel epsilon group (SSSV-BE1) was also detected in the South Mariana, but they only appeared in the catheter samples collected just below the venting seafloor. These suggest that the group must be significant in warm, shallow and microaerobic sub-vent layers over the sea, at least in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The column-type in situ growth chamber was specially designed for creating and maintaining physico-chemical gradients in a ca. 40-cm-long column situated on an active vent. In Suiyo Seamount samples (vent temp.: ca. 30-100 degree C), a unique vertical profile was found in the diversity of Archaea. At the column bottom, most of the clones were assigned to be members within the lithoautotrophic thermophilic Ignicoccus, while heterotrophic thermophilic Thermococcus were abundant at the column top. Similar vertical profile has also been appeared in the column samples from the South Mariana. Further quantitative population analysis is now under going using these samples. Our approach to the sub-vent biosphere by the combination of drilling and in situ incubation is almost sure to give us important clues

Winter sea ice export from the Laptev Sea preconditions the local summer sea ice cover and fast ice decay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Itkin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Ice retreat in the eastern Eurasian Arctic is a consequence of atmospheric and oceanic processes and regional feedback mechanisms acting on the ice cover, both in winter and summer. A correct representation of these processes in numerical models is important, since it will improve predictions of sea ice anomalies along the Northeast Passage and beyond. In this study, we highlight the importance of winter ice dynamics for local summer sea ice anomalies in thickness, volume and extent. By means of airborne sea ice thickness surveys made over pack ice areas in the south-eastern Laptev Sea, we show that years of offshore-directed sea ice transport have a thinning effect on the late-winter sea ice cover. To confirm the preconditioning effect of enhanced offshore advection in late winter on the summer sea ice cover, we perform a sensitivity study using a numerical model. Results verify that the preconditioning effect plays a bigger role for the regional ice extent. Furthermore, they indicate an increase in volume export from the Laptev Sea as a consequence of enhanced offshore advection, which has far-reaching consequences for the entire Arctic sea ice mass balance. Moreover we show that ice dynamics in winter not only preconditions local summer ice extent, but also accelerate fast-ice decay.

Processes driving sea ice variability in the Bering Sea in an eddying ocean/sea ice model: Mean seasonal cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Linghan; McClean, Julie L.; Miller, Arthur J.; Eisenman, Ian; Hendershott, Myrl C.; Papadopoulos, Caroline A.

2014-12-01

The seasonal cycle of sea ice variability in the Bering Sea, together with the thermodynamic and dynamic processes that control it, are examined in a fine resolution (1/10°) global coupled ocean/sea-ice model configured in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) framework. The ocean/sea-ice model consists of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Parallel Ocean Program (POP) and the Los Alamos Sea Ice Model (CICE). The model was forced with time-varying reanalysis atmospheric forcing for the time period 1970-1989. This study focuses on the time period 1980-1989. The simulated seasonal-mean fields of sea ice concentration strongly resemble satellite-derived observations, as quantified by root-mean-square errors and pattern correlation coefficients. The sea ice energy budget reveals that the seasonal thermodynamic ice volume changes are dominated by the surface energy flux between the atmosphere and the ice in the northern region and by heat flux from the ocean to the ice along the southern ice edge, especially on the western side. The sea ice force balance analysis shows that sea ice motion is largely associated with wind stress. The force due to divergence of the internal ice stress tensor is large near the land boundaries in the north, and it is small in the central and southern ice-covered region. During winter, which dominates the annual mean, it is found that the simulated sea ice was mainly formed in the northern Bering Sea, with the maximum ice growth rate occurring along the coast due to cold air from northerly winds and ice motion away from the coast. South of St Lawrence Island, winds drive the model sea ice southwestward from the north to the southwestern part of the ice-covered region. Along the ice edge in the western Bering Sea, model sea ice is melted by warm ocean water, which is carried by the simulated Bering Slope Current flowing to the northwest, resulting in the S-shaped asymmetric ice edge. In spring and fall, similar thermodynamic and dynamic

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

Study of infrastructure considerations for microwave energy ground receiving stations. Satellite Power System (SPS) offshore rectenna siting study in western Europe. An executive summary. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bresters, A.R.

1980-11-01

The feasibility of offshore rectenna sites in the North Sea based on a reference SPS concept of 5 GW was investigated. Site criteria include a 20 km wide safety zone between the site and the shore, a 300 km limit to centers of power consumption, and a water depth of 30 m. Artificial islands, polders, atolls and exposed gravity or jacket structures were considered. Only the island and polder concept permit antenna installation without modifications to the reference design. The polder concept was selected, costing half that of the artificial island (160 km sq). Construction material requirements are given for the dikes. Total construction time is 8.5 years. Costs range between 4.7 and 5.4 billion in 1980 dollars, or $0.02 per kw hr over 30 years. (ESA)

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.

Contemporary Arctic Sea Level

Science.gov (United States)

Cazenave, A. A.

2017-12-01

During recent decades, the Arctic region has warmed at a rate about twice the rest of the globe. Sea ice melting is increasing and the Greenland ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerated rate. Arctic warming, decrease in the sea ice cover and fresh water input to the Arctic ocean may eventually impact the Arctic sea level. In this presentation, we review our current knowledge of contemporary Arctic sea level changes. Until the beginning of the 1990s, Arctic sea level variations were essentially deduced from tide gauges located along the Russian and Norwegian coastlines. Since then, high inclination satellite altimetry missions have allowed measuring sea level over a large portion of the Arctic Ocean (up to 80 degree north). Measuring sea level in the Arctic by satellite altimetry is challenging because the presence of sea ice cover limits the full capacity of this technique. However adapted processing of raw altimetric measurements significantly increases the number of valid data, hence the data coverage, from which regional sea level variations can be extracted. Over the altimetry era, positive trend patterns are observed over the Beaufort Gyre and along the east coast of Greenland, while negative trends are reported along the Siberian shelf. On average over the Arctic region covered by satellite altimetry, the rate of sea level rise since 1992 is slightly less than the global mea sea level rate (of about 3 mm per year). On the other hand, the interannual variability is quite significant. Space gravimetry data from the GRACE mission and ocean reanalyses provide information on the mass and steric contributions to sea level, hence on the sea level budget. Budget studies show that regional sea level trends over the Beaufort Gyre and along the eastern coast of Greenland, are essentially due to salinity changes. However, in terms of regional average, the net steric component contributes little to the observed sea level trend. The sea level budget in the Arctic

Sea Surface Temperature and Ocean Color Variability in the South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Conaty, A. P.

2001-12-01

The South China Sea is a marginal sea in the Southeast Asian region whose surface circulation is driven by monsoons and whose surface currents have complex seasonal patterns. Its rich natural resources and strategic location have made its small islands areas of political dispute among the neighboring nations. This study aims to show the seasonal and interannual variability of sea surface temperature and ocean color in South China Sea. It makes use of NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data sets on sea surface temperature for the period 1981-2000 and NASA's Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) satellite data sets on pigment concentration (ocean color) for the period 1981-1996 and 1997-2000, respectively. Transect lines were drawn along several potential hotspot areas to show the variability in sea surface temperature and pigment concentration through time. In-situ data on sea surface temperature along South China Sea were likewise plotted to see the variability with time. Higher seasonal variability in sea surface temperature was seen at higher latitudes. Interannual variability was within 1-3 Kelvin. In most areas, pigment concentration was higher during northern hemisphere winter and autumn, after the monsoon rains, with a maximum of 30 milligrams per cubic meter.

Vulnerability of marginal seas to sea level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Gomis, Damia; Jordà, Gabriel

2017-04-01

Sea level rise (SLR) is a serious thread for coastal areas and has a potential negative impact on society and economy. SLR can lead for instance to land loss, beach reduction, increase of the damage of marine storms on coastal infrastructures and to the salinization of underground water streams. It is well acknowledged that future SLR will be inhomogeneous across the globe, with regional differences of up to 100% with respect to global mean sea level (GMSL). Several studies have addressed the projections of SLR at regional scale, but most of them are based on global climate models (GCMs) that have a relatively coarse spatial resolution (>1°). In marginal seas this has proven to be a strong limitation, as their particular configurations require spatial resolutions that are not reachable by present GCMs. A paradigmatic case is the Mediterranean Sea, connected to the global ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow passage of 14 km width. The functioning of the Mediterranean Sea involves a variety of processes including an overturning circulation, small-scale convection and a rich mesoscale field. Moreover, the long-term evolution of Mediterranean sea level has been significantly different from the global mean during the last decades. The observations of present climate and the projections for the next decades have lead some authors to hypothesize that the particular characteristics of the basin could allow Mediterranean mean sea level to evolve differently from the global mean. Assessing this point is essential to undertake proper adaptation strategies for the largely populated Mediterranean coastal areas. In this work we apply a new approach that combines regional and global projections to analyse future SLR. In a first step we focus on the quantification of the expected departures of future Mediterranean sea level from GMSL evolution and on the contribution of different processes to these departures. As a result we find that, in spite of its particularities

Deep-sea Hexactinellida (Porifera) of the Weddell Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Janussen, Dorte; Tabachnick, Konstantin R.; Tendal, Ole S.

2004-07-01

New Hexactinellida from the deep Weddel Sea are described. This moderately diverse hexactinellid fauna includes 14 species belonging to 12 genera, of which five species and one subgenus are new to science: Periphragella antarctica n. sp., Holascus pseudostellatus n. sp., Caulophacus (Caulophacus) discohexactinus n. sp., C. ( Caulodiscus) brandti n. sp., C. ( Oxydiscus) weddelli n. sp., and C. ( Oxydiscus) n. subgen. So far, 20 hexactinellid species have been reported from the deep Weddell Sea, 15 are known from the northern part and 10 only from here, while 10 came from the southern area, and five of these only from there. However, this apparent high "endemism" of Antarctic hexactinellid sponges is most likely the result of severe undersampling of the deep-sea fauna. We find no reason to believe that a division between an oceanic and a more continental group of species exists. The current poor database indicates that a substantial part of the deep hexactinellid fauna of the Weddell Sea is shared with other deep-sea regions, but it does not indicate a special biogeographic relationship with any other ocean.

Constraints on the creation of a HIMU-Like isotopic reservoir beneath New Zealand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van der Meer, Quinten; Waight, Tod Earle; Scott, James

2013-01-01

The New Zealand microcontinent (Zealandia) formed as the active eastern margin of Gondwana. Upon cessation of subduction at ~110 Ma, extension led to opening of the Tasman Sea at 82 Ma, preceded by the formation of metamorphic core complexes, the opening and filling of halfgraben structures...... and the intrusion of mafic dikes (~88 to 68 Ma). Subsequently, Zealandia has been punctuated by volumetrically minor, intermittent yet widespread intraplate magmatism from ~100 Ma through to recent times. This magmatism has typical OIB-like trace element abundances and radiogenic isotope compositions that trend....... The variably diluted HIMU signature is interpreted to be the result of mixing between depleted mantle bearing a HIMU component with an Enriched Mantle or continental crust component. New geochemical and isotopic analyses suggest the dike swarms also have an OIB-like chemistry. Initial Pb isotopic compositions...

Sea Ice Drift Monitoring in the Bohai Sea Based on GF4 Satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Y.; Wei, P.; Zhu, H.; Xing, B.

2018-04-01

The Bohai Sea is the inland sea with the highest latitude in China. In winter, the phenomenon of freezing occurs in the Bohai Sea due to frequent cold wave influx. According to historical records, there have been three serious ice packs in the Bohai Sea in the past 50 years which caused heavy losses to our economy. Therefore, it is of great significance to monitor the drift of sea ice and sea ice in the Bohai Sea. The GF4 image has the advantages of short imaging time and high spatial resolution. Based on the GF4 satellite images, the three methods of SIFT (Scale invariant feature - the transform and Scale invariant feature transform), MCC (maximum cross-correlation method) and sift combined with MCC are used to monitor sea ice drift and calculate the speed and direction of sea ice drift, the three calculation results are compared and analyzed by using expert interpretation and historical statistical data to carry out remote sensing monitoring of sea ice drift results. The experimental results show that the experimental results of the three methods are in accordance with expert interpretation and historical statistics. Therefore, the GF4 remote sensing satellite images have the ability to monitor sea ice drift and can be used for drift monitoring of sea ice in the Bohai Sea.

Climatology of sea breezes along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia

KAUST Repository

Khan, Basit; Abualnaja, Yasser; Al-Subhi, Abdullah M.; Nellayaputhenpeedika, Mohammedali; Nellikkattu Thody, Manoj; Sturman, Andrew P.

2018-01-01

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are used to investigate the climatology of sea breezes over the eastern side of the Red Sea region. Results show existence of separate sea breeze systems along different segments of the Red Sea coastline. Based on the physical

Phylogenetic relationships of Scomberomorus commerson using sequence analysis of the mtDNA D-loop region in the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Arabian Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Mansourkiaei

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus commerson, is an epipelagic and migratory species of family Scombridae which have a significant role in terms of ecology and fishery. 100 samples were collected from the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Arabian Sea. Part of their dorsal fins was snipped and transferred to micro-tubes containing ethanol; then, DNAs were extracted and HRM-Real Time PCR was performed to designate representative specimens for sequencing. Phylogenetic relationships of S. commerson from Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and Arabian Sea were investigated using sequence data of mitochondrial DNA D-loop region. None clustered Neighbor Joining tree indicated the proximity amid S. commerson in four sites. As numbers demonstrated in sequence analyses of mitochondrial DNA D-Loop region a sublimely high degree of genetic similarity among S. commerson from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea were perceived, thereafter, having one stock structure of S. commerson in four regions were proved, and this approximation can be merely justified by their migration process along the coasts of Oman Sea and Persian Gulf. Therefore, the assessment of distribution patterns of 20 haplotypes in the constructed phylogenetic tree using mtDNA D-Loop sequences ascertained that no significant clustering according to the sampling sites was concluded.

Seasonal variation of deep-sea bioluminescence in the Ionian Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, Jessica; Jamieson, Alan J.; Bagley, Philip M.; Priede, Imants G.

2011-01-01

The ICDeep (Image Intensified Charge Coupled Device for Deep sea research) profiler was used to measure the density of deep bioluminescent animals (BL) through the water column in the east, west and mid-Ionian Sea and in the Algerian Basin. A west to east decrease in BL density was found. Generalized additive modelling was used to investigate seasonal variation in the east and west Ionian Sea (NESTOR and NEMO neutrino telescope sites, respectively) from BL measurements in autumn 2008 and spring 2009. A significant seasonal effect was found in the west Ionian Sea (p<0.001), where a deep autumnal peak in BL density occurred between 500 and 2400 m. No significant seasonal variation in BL density was found in the east Ionian Sea (p=0.07). In both spring and autumn, significant differences in BL density were found through the water column between the east and west Ionian Sea (p<0.001).

Seasonal variation of deep-sea bioluminescence in the Ionian Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Craig, Jessica, E-mail: j.craig@abdn.ac.u [University of Aberdeen, Oceanlab, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, AB41 6AA (United Kingdom); Jamieson, Alan J.; Bagley, Philip M.; Priede, Imants G. [University of Aberdeen, Oceanlab, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, AB41 6AA (United Kingdom)

2011-01-21

The ICDeep (Image Intensified Charge Coupled Device for Deep sea research) profiler was used to measure the density of deep bioluminescent animals (BL) through the water column in the east, west and mid-Ionian Sea and in the Algerian Basin. A west to east decrease in BL density was found. Generalized additive modelling was used to investigate seasonal variation in the east and west Ionian Sea (NESTOR and NEMO neutrino telescope sites, respectively) from BL measurements in autumn 2008 and spring 2009. A significant seasonal effect was found in the west Ionian Sea (p<0.001), where a deep autumnal peak in BL density occurred between 500 and 2400 m. No significant seasonal variation in BL density was found in the east Ionian Sea (p=0.07). In both spring and autumn, significant differences in BL density were found through the water column between the east and west Ionian Sea (p<0.001).

Deep-sea geohazards in the South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Shiguo; Wang, Dawei; Völker, David

2018-02-01

Various geological processes and features that might inflict hazards identified in the South China Sea by using new technologies and methods. These features include submarine landslides, pockmark fields, shallow free gas, gas hydrates, mud diapirs and earthquake tsunami, which are widely distributed in the continental slope and reefal islands of the South China Sea. Although the study and assessment of geohazards in the South China Sea came into operation only recently, advances in various aspects are evolving at full speed to comply with National Marine Strategy and `the Belt and Road' Policy. The characteristics of geohazards in deep-water seafloor of the South China Sea are summarized based on new scientific advances. This progress is aimed to aid ongoing deep-water drilling activities and decrease geological risks in ocean development.

50 CFR 697.12 - At-sea sea sampler/observer coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... sampler/observer access to and use of the vessel's communications equipment and personnel upon request for...) Allow the sea sampler/observer to inspect and copy the vessel's log, communications log, and records... must: (1) Notify the sea sampler/observer of any sea turtles, marine mammals, or other specimens taken...

Comparison of different statistical methods for estimation of extreme sea levels with wave set-up contribution

Science.gov (United States)

Kergadallan, Xavier; Bernardara, Pietro; Benoit, Michel; Andreewsky, Marc; Weiss, Jérôme

2013-04-01

Estimating the probability of occurrence of extreme sea levels is a central issue for the protection of the coast. Return periods of sea level with wave set-up contribution are estimated here in one site : Cherbourg in France in the English Channel. The methodology follows two steps : the first one is computation of joint probability of simultaneous wave height and still sea level, the second one is interpretation of that joint probabilities to assess a sea level for a given return period. Two different approaches were evaluated to compute joint probability of simultaneous wave height and still sea level : the first one is multivariate extreme values distributions of logistic type in which all components of the variables become large simultaneously, the second one is conditional approach for multivariate extreme values in which only one component of the variables have to be large. Two different methods were applied to estimate sea level with wave set-up contribution for a given return period : Monte-Carlo simulation in which estimation is more accurate but needs higher calculation time and classical ocean engineering design contours of type inverse-FORM in which the method is simpler and allows more complex estimation of wave setup part (wave propagation to the coast for example). We compare results from the two different approaches with the two different methods. To be able to use both Monte-Carlo simulation and design contours methods, wave setup is estimated with an simple empirical formula. We show advantages of the conditional approach compared to the multivariate extreme values approach when extreme sea-level occurs when either surge or wave height is large. We discuss the validity of the ocean engineering design contours method which is an alternative when computation of sea levels is too complex to use Monte-Carlo simulation method.

Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins

Science.gov (United States)

Cronin, Thomas M.; O'Regan, Matt; Pearce, Christof; Gemery, Laura; Toomey, Michael; Semiletov, Igor; Jakobsson, Martin

2017-09-01

Deglacial (12.8-10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1), and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1). Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM; ˜ 24 kiloannum or ka) minimum sea level of ˜ 125-130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.). Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1) followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal) period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ˜ 400 cm of core depth) is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42-47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas.

Incentive-based approaches in marine conservation: Applications for sea turtles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gjertsen Heidi

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Conservation practitioners are increasingly turning to incentive-based approaches to encourage local resource users to change behaviors that impact biodiversity and natural habitat. We assess the design and performance of marine conservation interventions with varying types of incentives through an analysis of case studies from around the world. Here we focus on seven examples that are particularly relevant to designing incentives for sea turtle conservation. Four of the cases are focused on sea turtle conservation, and the others contain elements that may be applied to turtle projects. Many more opportunities exist for interventions that combine the strengths of these approaches, such as performance-based agreements that provide funds for education or alternative livelihood development, and leasing fishing rights to reduce bycatch.

Situation in the sea area between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Situationen i havsomraadet mellan Nordsjoen och Oestersjoen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dybern, B.I.; Soederstroem, J.; Thorell, L.

1984-01-01

Due to the special topographical and hydrological features the seas surrounding Sweden are very sensitive to both natural changes and changes caused by man. The sea area between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea has come into focus during the last few decades due to problems with pollution and its impact on the ecosystems and to overfishing of some commer- cially important species. In order to elucidate the present situation from the Swedish viewpoint, the National Board of Fisheries, the National Environment Protection Board and the County Council of the County Goeteborg and Bohyslaen arranged a Symposium on the Situation in the Sea Area between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in Goeteborg, 14-16 March, 1983. This volume contains lectures given at that Symposium. In most cases there are English summaries and English translations of texts to figures and tables.

The MEUST deep sea infrastructure in the Toulon site

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lamare Patrick

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The MEUST infrastructure (Mediterranean Eurocentre for Underwater Sciences and Technologies is a permanent deep sea cabled infrastructure currently being deployed off shore of Toulon, France. The design and the status of the infrastructure are presented.

Use of species-specific PCR for the identification of 10 sea cucumber species

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Jing; Zeng, Ling

2014-11-01

We developed a species-specific PCR method to identify species among dehydrated products of 10 sea cucumber species. Ten reverse species-specific primers designed from the 16S rRNA gene, in combination with one forward universal primer, generated PCR fragments of ca. 270 bp length for each species. The specificity of the PCR assay was tested with DNA of samples of 21 sea cucumber species. Amplification was observed in specific species only. The species-specific PCR method we developed was successfully applied to authenticate species of commercial products of dehydrated sea cucumber, and was proven to be a useful, rapid, and low-cost technique to identify the origin of the sea cucumber product.

Sea-ice cover in the Nordic Seas and the sensitivity to Atlantic water temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Mari F.; Nisancioglu, Kerim H.; Spall, Michael A.

2017-04-01

Changes in the sea-ice cover of the Nordic Seas have been proposed to play a key role for the dramatic temperature excursions associated with the Dansgaard-Oeschger events during the last glacial. However, with its proximity to the warm Atlantic water, how a sea-ice cover can persist in the Nordic Seas is not well understood. In this study, we apply an eddy-resolving configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model with an idealized topography to study the presence of sea ice in a Nordic Seas-like domain. We assume an infinite amount of warm Atlantic water present in the south by restoring the southern area to constant temperatures. The sea-surface temperatures are restored toward cold, atmospheric temperatures, and as a result, sea ice is present in the interior of the domain. However, the sea-ice cover in the margins of the Nordic Seas, an area with a warm, cyclonic boundary current, is sensitive to the amount of heat entering the domain, i.e., the restoring temperature in the south. When the temperature of the warm, cyclonic boundary current is high, the margins are free of sea ice and heat is released to the atmosphere. We show that with a small reduction in the temperature of the incoming Atlantic water, the Nordic Seas-like domain is fully covered in sea ice. Warm water is still entering the Nordic Seas, however, this happens at depths below a cold, fresh surface layer produced by melted sea ice. Consequently, the heat release to the atmosphere is reduced along with the eddy heat fluxes. Results suggest a threshold value in the amount of heat entering the Nordic Seas before the sea-ice cover disappears in the margins. We study the sensitivity of this threshold to changes in atmospheric temperatures and vertical diffusivity.

A Model of Icebergs and Sea Ice in a Joint Continuum Framework

Science.gov (United States)

VaÅková, Irena; Holland, David M.

2017-11-01

The ice mélange, a mixture of sea ice and icebergs, often present in front of outlet glaciers in Greenland or ice shelves in Antarctica, can have a profound effect on the dynamics of the ice-ocean system. The current inability to numerically model the ice mélange motivates a new modeling approach proposed here. A continuum sea-ice model is taken as a starting point and icebergs are represented as thick and compact pieces of sea ice held together by large tensile and shear strength, selectively introduced into the sea-ice rheology. In order to modify the rheology correctly, an iceberg tracking procedure is implemented within a semi-Lagrangian time-stepping scheme, designed to exactly preserve iceberg shape through time. With the proposed treatment, sea ice and icebergs are considered a single fluid with spatially varying rheological properties. Mutual interactions are thus automatically included without the need for further parametrization. An important advantage of the presented framework for an ice mélange model is its potential to be easily included within sea-ice components of existing climate models.

Past and present Aral Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Dukhovniy, Viktor; Stulina, Galina; Eshchanov, Odylbek

2013-04-01

The tragedy of disappearing of Aral Sea is well known to the World. Before and after collapse of Soviet Union, a huge quantity of scientific and popular editions described with grief the situation around the Aral Sea. After the NIS states became independent, World Bank, UNDP, UNEP in proper competition with each other had provided some assessment of the situation through presentation of some small and medium grants, but after 2000, the local population remained alone with own problems. Although on the eyes of the present generation a unique transformation of great water body into deserts took place, the global scientific community did not find forces and financing for real and detail investigation of the processes accompanying the Sea shrinking and land formation. We should acknowledge and give big respect to NATO, later to German Government that through GTZ (now GIZ) - German International Collaboration Agency - and GFZ (Potzdam) paid attention to this area of environment crisis and organized scientific and protective design in the so-called Priaralie - the territory around the drying Sea and delta of the two rivers - Amudarya and Syrdarya. Thank to this assistance, the local specialists in collaboration with limited a number of foreign scientists (N.Aladin, P.Zavialov, Joop de Schutter, Hans Wilps, Hedi Oberhansli) organized significant works for detail socioeconomic, ecological and hydrological assessment situation in Priaralie and on the Aral sea coast. On this base, Ministry of Agriculture and Water resources of Uzbekistan and State Committee of Water resources of Kazakhstan developed a plan of rehabilitation of Amudarya and Syrdarya deltas and started implementation of these projects. If Kazakh water authority moved ahead in wetland restoration faster, a forestation of delta and drying bed of Aral Sea got big success in Uzbek territory. 244 thousands hectares of saxsaul and tamarix were planted for protection of the Priaralie. By request of GTZ SIC, ICWC

Radioactive Waste Disposal into the Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1961-01-01

Preventing pollution of the seas from the discharge of radioactive wastes has been recognized as an international problem of considerable magnitude. In April 1958 the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted a Convention on the High Seas, Article 25 of which provides that every State shall take measures to prevent pollution of the seas from the dumping of radioactive wastes, taking into account any standards and regulations which may be formulated by the competent international organizations. The Conference also adopted a resolution recommending that the IAEA pursue studies and take action to assist States in controlling the discharge of radioactive materials into the sea. Later the same year, a Panel of experts was invited by me to meet in Vienna to study the technical and scientific problems connected with radioactive waste disposal into the sea, and Mr. H. Brynielsson of Sweden was designated Chairman of the Panel. Representatives of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization participated in the work of the Panel. After a second series of meetings in 1959, the Panel completed its study, setting forth the result of its work in a report dated 6 April 1960, which has been submitted to the Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee and to Member States for their information. The Panel's report is now published in the present volume of the Agency's Safety Series in the form in which it was submitted by the Chairman of the Panel. I should like to add that the report represents the views of the experts participating in their individual capacity in the work of the Panel. It is offered as an information document and it should not be regarded as an official statement by the Agency of its views or policies in relation to the subject discussed.

Variability and Trends in Sea Ice Extent and Ice Production in the Ross Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Comiso, Josefino; Kwok, Ronald; Martin, Seelye; Gordon, Arnold L.

2011-01-01

Salt release during sea ice formation in the Ross Sea coastal regions is regarded as a primary forcing for the regional generation of Antarctic Bottom Water. Passive microwave data from November 1978 through 2008 are used to examine the detailed seasonal and interannual characteristics of the sea ice cover of the Ross Sea and the adjacent Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas. For this period the sea ice extent in the Ross Sea shows the greatest increase of all the Antarctic seas. Variability in the ice cover in these regions is linked to changes in the Southern Annular Mode and secondarily to the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave. Over the Ross Sea shelf, analysis of sea ice drift data from 1992 to 2008 yields a positive rate of increase in the net ice export of about 30,000 sq km/yr. For a characteristic ice thickness of 0.6 m, this yields a volume transport of about 20 cu km/yr, which is almost identical, within error bars, to our estimate of the trend in ice production. The increase in brine rejection in the Ross Shelf Polynya associated with the estimated increase with the ice production, however, is not consistent with the reported Ross Sea salinity decrease. The locally generated sea ice enhancement of Ross Sea salinity may be offset by an increase of relatively low salinity of the water advected into the region from the Amundsen Sea, a consequence of increased precipitation and regional glacial ice melt.

Coastal and Estuarine Mangrove Squeeze in the Mekong and Saigon Delta

Science.gov (United States)

Stive, M.

2016-02-01

Both in the Mekong and Saigon deltas coastal squeeze is a frequent and pregnant problem, which leads to amazingly alarmous coastal and estuarine erosion rates. From the landside the squeeze is due to encroaching dike relocations and agri- and aquacultures, from the sea side it is due to decreasing sediment sources and relative sea level rise. These multiple pressures at some locations, certainly away from the sediment sources (like Ca Mau) leads to unprecedentent erosion rates. Managed retreat may be a longer term solution, but this will require a new way of thinking. Sandy and silt nourishment strategies may be an innovative alternative, but will require underbuilding scientific and practical research.

Temporal and spatial variations of oceanic pCO2 and air-sea CO2 flux in th Greenland Sea and the Barents Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakaoka, Shin-Ichiro; Aoki, Shuji; Nakazawa, Takakiyo; Yoshikawa-Inoue, Hisayuki

2006-01-01

In order to elucidate the seasonal and inter annual variations of oceanic CO 2 uptake in the Greenland Sea and the Barents Sea, the partial pressure of CO 2 in the surface ocean (pCO 2 sea ) was measured in all seasons between 1992 and 2001. We derived monthly varying relationships between pCO 2 sea and sea surface temperature (SST) and combined them with the SST data from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis to determine pCO 2 sea and air-sea CO 2 flux in these seas. The pCO 2 sea values were normalized to the year 1995 by assuming that pCO 2 sea increased at the same growth rate (1.5 μatm/yr) of the pCO 2 in the air (pCO 2 air ) between 1992 and 2001. In 1995, the annual net air-sea CO 2 fluxes were evaluated to be 52 ± 20 gC/m 2 /yr in the Greenland Sea and 46 ± 18 gC/m 2 /yr in the Barents Sea. The CO 2 flux into the ocean reached its maximum in winter and minimum in summer. The wind speed and (delta)pCO 2 (=pCO 2 air -pCO 2 sea ) exerted a greater influence on the seasonal variation than the sea ice coverage. The annual CO 2 uptake examined in this study (70-80 deg N, 20 deg W-40 deg E) was estimated to be 0.050 ± 0.020 GtC/yr in 1995. The inter annual variation in the annual CO 2 uptake was found to be positively correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) via wind strength but negatively correlated with (delta)pCO 2 and the sea ice coverage. The present results indicate that the variability in wind speed and sea ice coverage play a major role, while that in (delta)pCO 2 plays a minor role, in determining the interannual variation of CO 2 uptake in this area

First biological measurements of deep-sea corals from the Red Sea

OpenAIRE

C. Roder; M. L. Berumen; J. Bouwmeester; E. Papathanassiou; A. Al-Suwailem; C. R. Voolstra

2013-01-01

It is usually assumed that metabolic constraints restrict deep-sea corals to cold-water habitats, with ?deep-sea? and ?cold-water? corals often used as synonymous. Here we report on the first measurements of biological characters of deep-sea corals from the central Red Sea, where they occur at temperatures exceeding 20?C in highly oligotrophic and oxygen-limited waters. Low respiration rates, low calcification rates, and minimized tissue cover indicate that a reduced metabolism is one of the ...

Sea-land segmentation for infrared remote sensing images based on superpixels and multi-scale features

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Sen; Zou, Zhengxia; Liu, Dunge; Xia, Zhenghuan; Shi, Zhenwei

2018-06-01

Sea-land segmentation is a key step for the information processing of ocean remote sensing images. Traditional sea-land segmentation algorithms ignore the local similarity prior of sea and land, and thus fail in complex scenarios. In this paper, we propose a new sea-land segmentation method for infrared remote sensing images to tackle the problem based on superpixels and multi-scale features. Considering the connectivity and local similarity of sea or land, we interpret the sea-land segmentation task in view of superpixels rather than pixels, where similar pixels are clustered and the local similarity are explored. Moreover, the multi-scale features are elaborately designed, comprising of gray histogram and multi-scale total variation. Experimental results on infrared bands of Landsat-8 satellite images demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain more accurate and more robust sea-land segmentation results than the traditional algorithms.

Sea Urchin Embryogenesis as Bioindicators of Marine Pollution in Impact Areas of the Sea of Japan/East Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk.

Science.gov (United States)

Lukyanova, Olga N; Zhuravel, Elena V; Chulchekov, Denis N; Mazur, Andrey A

2017-08-01

The embryogenesis of the sea urchin sand dollar Scaphechinus mirabilis was used as bioindicators of seawater quality from the impact areas of the Sea of Japan/East Sea (Peter the Great Bay) and the Sea of Okhotsk (northwestern shelf of Sakhalin Island and western shelf of Kamchatka Peninsula). Fertilization membrane formation, first cleavage, blastula formation, gastrulation, and 2-armed and 4-armed pluteus formation have been analyzed and a number of abnormalities were calculated. Number of embryogenesis anomalies in sand dollar larvae exposed to sea water from different stations in Peter the Great Bay corresponds to pollution level at each area. The Sea of Okhotsk is the main fishing area for Russia. Anthropogenic impact on the marine ecosystem is caused by fishing and transport vessels mainly. But two shelf areas are considered as "hot spots" due to oil and gas drilling. Offshore oil exploitation on the northeastern Sakhalin Island has been started and at present time oil is being drill on oil-extracting platforms continuously. Significant reserves of hydrocarbons are prospected on western Kamchatka shelf, and exploitation drilling in this area was intensified in 2014. A higher number of abnormalities at gastrula and pluteus stages (19-36%) were detected for the stations around oil platforms near Sakhalin Island. On the western Kamchatka shelf number of abnormalities was 7-21%. Such anomalies as exogastrula, incomplete development of pairs of arms were not observed at all; only the delay of development was registered. Eggs, embryos, and larvae of sea urchins are the suitable bioindicators of early disturbances caused by marine pollution in impact ecosystems.

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.

Sustainable development - billions of watts under the seas - Marine current turbines play simple - Technological waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucas, Th.

2011-01-01

The author evokes the opportunities of power generation by the development of sea current or tidal stream turbines. Some developments are already tested by Norwegian, French, Danish, British and American companies. Some specific turbines are briefly presented. In order to reduce the cost of the electricity production from sea currents, manufacturers are using simple and robust technologies, and exploit the experience gained on wind turbines. Some designs and prototypes are evoked for the production of electricity by sea waves (Pelamis and Oyster projects). Principles, strengths and production projects are briefly indicated. The challenge of maintenance in sea environment is outlined for these projects

Walrus areas of use in the Chukchi Sea during sparse sea ice cover

Science.gov (United States)

Jay, Chadwick V.; Fischbach, Anthony S.; Kochnev, Anatoly A.

2012-01-01

The Pacific walrus Odobenus rosmarus divergens feeds on benthic invertebrates on the continental shelf of the Chukchi and Bering Seas and rests on sea ice between foraging trips. With climate warming, ice-free periods in the Chukchi Sea have increased and are projected to increase further in frequency and duration. We radio-tracked walruses to estimate areas of walrus foraging and occupancy in the Chukchi Sea from June to November of 2008 to 2011, years when sea ice was sparse over the continental shelf in comparison to historical records. The earlier and more extensive sea ice retreat in June to September, and delayed freeze-up of sea ice in October to November, created conditions for walruses to arrive earlier and stay later in the Chukchi Sea than in the past. The lack of sea ice over the continental shelf from September to October caused walruses to forage in nearshore areas instead of offshore areas as in the past. Walruses did not frequent the deep waters of the Arctic Basin when sea ice retreated off the shelf. Walruses foraged in most areas they occupied, and areas of concentrated foraging generally corresponded to regions of high benthic biomass, such as in the northeastern (Hanna Shoal) and southwestern Chukchi Sea. A notable exception was the occurrence of concentrated foraging in a nearshore area of northwestern Alaska that is apparently depauperate in walrus prey. With increasing sea ice loss, it is likely that walruses will increase their use of coastal haul-outs and nearshore foraging areas, with consequences to the population that are yet to be understood.

SEA and planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stoeglehner, G.; Brown, A.L.; Kørnøv, Lone

2009-01-01

, and the relationship of the SEA to the planning activity itself. This paper focuses on the influence that planners have in these implementation processes, postulating the hypothesis that these are key players in achieving effectiveness in SEA. Based upon implementation theory and empirical experience, the paper......As the field of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has matured, the focus has moved from the development of legislation, guidelines and methodologies towards improving the effectiveness of SEA. Measuring and of course achieving effectiveness is both complex and challenging. This paper...

Crossing seas and occurrence of rogue waves

Science.gov (United States)

Bitner-Gregersen, Elzbieta; Toffoli, Alessandro

2017-04-01

The study is addressing crossing wave systems which may lead to formation of rogue waves. Onorato et al. (2006, 2010) have shown using the Nonlinear Schr?dringer (NLS) equations that the modulational instability and rogue waves can be triggered by a peculiar form of directional sea state, where two identical, crossing, narrow-banded random wave systems interact with each other. Such results have been underpinned by numerical simulations of the Euler equations solved with a Higher Order Spectral Method (HOSM) and experimental observations (Toffoli et al., 2011). They substantiate a dependence of the angle between the mean directions of propagation of the two crossing wave systems, with a maximum rogue wave probability for angles of approximately 40 degrees. Such an unusual sea state of two almost identical wave systems (approximately the same significant wave height and mean frequency) with high steepness and different directions was observed during the accident to the cruise ship Louis Majesty (Cavaleri et al. 2012). Occurrence of wind sea and swell having almost the same spectral period and significant wave height and crossing at the angle 40o low and intermediate wave conditions. They have not been found in a location off coast of Australia and Nigeria. There are some indications that in the future climate we may expect an increase number of occurrence of rogue-prone crossing sea states in some ocean regions An adopted partitioning procedure of a wave spectrum will impact the results. References Bitner-Gregersen, E.M. and Toffoli, A., 2014. Probability of occurrence of rogue sea states and consequences for design of marine structures. Special Issue of Ocean Dynamics, ISSN 1616-7341, 64(10), DOI 10.1007/s10236-014-0753-2. Cavaleri, L., Bertotti, L., Torrisi, L. Bitner-Gregersen, E., Serio, M. and Onorato, M., 2012. Rogue Waves in Crossing Seas: The Louis Majesty accident. J. Geophysical Research, 117, C00J10, doi:10.1029/2012JC007923 Onorato, M., A. Osborne, A

Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins

Science.gov (United States)

Cronin, Thomas M.; O'Regan, Matt; Pearce, Christof; Gemery, Laura; Toomey, Michael; Semiletov, Igor

2017-01-01

Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1), and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1). Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM;  ∼  24 kiloannum or ka) minimum sea level of  ∼  125–130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.). Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1) followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal) period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ∼  400 cm of core depth) is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42–47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas.

Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. M. Cronin

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1 and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1, and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1. Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM;  ∼  24 kiloannum or ka minimum sea level of  ∼  125–130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.. Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1 followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ∼  400 cm of core depth is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42–47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas.

Sensitivity of modeled atmospheric nitrogen species and nitrogen deposition to variations in sea salt emissions in the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Neumann

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Coarse sea salt particles are emitted ubiquitously from the ocean surface by wave-breaking and bubble-bursting processes. These particles impact the atmospheric chemistry by affecting the condensation of gas-phase species and, thus, indirectly the nucleation of new fine particles, particularly in regions with significant air pollution. In this study, atmospheric particle concentrations are modeled for the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions in northwestern Europe using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ modeling system and are compared to European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP measurement data. The sea salt emission module is extended by a salinity-dependent scaling of the sea salt emissions because the salinity in large parts of the Baltic Sea is very low, which leads to considerably lower sea salt mass emissions compared to other oceanic regions. The resulting improvement in predicted sea salt concentrations is assessed. The contribution of surf zone emissions is considered separately. Additionally, the impacts of sea salt particles on atmospheric nitrate and ammonium concentrations and on nitrogen deposition are evaluated. The comparisons with observational data show that sea salt concentrations are commonly overestimated at coastal stations and partly underestimated farther inland. The introduced salinity scaling improves the predicted Baltic Sea sea salt concentrations considerably. The dates of measured peak concentrations are appropriately reproduced by the model. The impact of surf zone emissions is negligible in both seas. Nevertheless, they might be relevant because surf zone emissions were cut at an upper threshold in this study. Deactivating sea salt leads to minor increases in NH3 +  NH4+ and HNO3 +  NO3− and a decrease in NO3− concentrations. However, the overall effect on NH3 +  NH4+ and HNO3 +  NO3− concentrations is smaller than the deviation from the measurements. Nitrogen wet deposition is

The Ross Sea Dipole - temperature, snow accumulation and sea ice variability in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica, over the past 2700 years

Science.gov (United States)

Bertler, Nancy A. N.; Conway, Howard; Dahl-Jensen, Dorthe; Emanuelsson, Daniel B.; Winstrup, Mai; Vallelonga, Paul T.; Lee, James E.; Brook, Ed J.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.; Fudge, Taylor J.; Keller, Elizabeth D.; Baisden, W. Troy; Hindmarsh, Richard C. A.; Neff, Peter D.; Blunier, Thomas; Edwards, Ross; Mayewski, Paul A.; Kipfstuhl, Sepp; Buizert, Christo; Canessa, Silvia; Dadic, Ruzica; Kjær, Helle A.; Kurbatov, Andrei; Zhang, Dongqi; Waddington, Edwin D.; Baccolo, Giovanni; Beers, Thomas; Brightley, Hannah J.; Carter, Lionel; Clemens-Sewall, David; Ciobanu, Viorela G.; Delmonte, Barbara; Eling, Lukas; Ellis, Aja; Ganesh, Shruthi; Golledge, Nicholas R.; Haines, Skylar; Handley, Michael; Hawley, Robert L.; Hogan, Chad M.; Johnson, Katelyn M.; Korotkikh, Elena; Lowry, Daniel P.; Mandeno, Darcy; McKay, Robert M.; Menking, James A.; Naish, Timothy R.; Noerling, Caroline; Ollive, Agathe; Orsi, Anaïs; Proemse, Bernadette C.; Pyne, Alexander R.; Pyne, Rebecca L.; Renwick, James; Scherer, Reed P.; Semper, Stefanie; Simonsen, Marius; Sneed, Sharon B.; Steig, Eric J.; Tuohy, Andrea; Ulayottil Venugopal, Abhijith; Valero-Delgado, Fernando; Venkatesh, Janani; Wang, Feitang; Wang, Shimeng; Winski, Dominic A.; Winton, V. Holly L.; Whiteford, Arran; Xiao, Cunde; Yang, Jiao; Zhang, Xin

2018-02-01

High-resolution, well-dated climate archives provide an opportunity to investigate the dynamic interactions of climate patterns relevant for future projections. Here, we present data from a new, annually dated ice core record from the eastern Ross Sea, named the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core. Comparison of this record with climate reanalysis data for the 1979-2012 interval shows that RICE reliably captures temperature and snow precipitation variability in the region. Trends over the past 2700 years in RICE are shown to be distinct from those in West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea captured by other ice cores. For most of this interval, the eastern Ross Sea was warming (or showing isotopic enrichment for other reasons), with increased snow accumulation and perhaps decreased sea ice concentration. However, West Antarctica cooled and the western Ross Sea showed no significant isotope temperature trend. This pattern here is referred to as the Ross Sea Dipole. Notably, during the Little Ice Age, West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea experienced colder than average temperatures, while the eastern Ross Sea underwent a period of warming or increased isotopic enrichment. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. All three regions show current warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea but increasing in the western Ross Sea. We interpret this pattern as reflecting an increase in sea ice in the eastern Ross Sea with perhaps the establishment of a modern Roosevelt Island polynya as a local moisture source for RICE.

Authigenic gypsum in a deep sea core from Southeastern Arabian Sea

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Guptha, M.V.S.

Authigenic gypsum has been encountered in a deep sea core RC9-157 from the southeastern Arabian Sea at a depth of 4111 m which is a zone of lysocline. The formation of gypsum in the deep sea region is attributed to the prevailing sulphate rich...

The Sea Floor: A Living Learning Residential Community

Science.gov (United States)

Guentzel, J. L.; Rosch, E.; Stoughton, M. A.; Bowyer, R.; Mortensen, K.; Smith, M.

2016-02-01

Living learning communities are collaborations between university housing and academic departments designed to enhance the overall student experience by integrating classroom/laboratory learning, student life and extracurricular activities. At Coastal Carolina University, the residential community associated with the Marine Science program is known as the Sea Floor. Students selected to become members of the Sea Floor remain "in residence" for two consecutive semesters. These students are first-time freshman that share a common course connection. This course is usually Introduction to Marine Science (MSCI 111) or MSCI 399s, which are one credit field/laboratory centered internships. The common course connection is designed so residents can establish and maintain an educational dialog with their peers. Activities designed to enhance the students' networking skills and educational and social development skills include monthly lunches with marine science faculty and dinner seminars with guest speakers from academia, industry and government. Additionally, each semester several activities outside the classroom are planned so that students can more frequently interact with themselves and their faculty and staff partners. These activities include field trips to regional aquariums, local boat trips that include water sample collection and analysis, and an alternative spring break trip to the Florida Keys to study the marine environment firsthand. The resident advisor that supervises the Sea Floor is usually a sophomore or junior marine science major. This provides the residents with daily communication and mentoring from a marine science major that is familiar with the marine science program and residence life. Assessment activities include: a university housing community living survey, student interest housing focus groups, fall to spring and fall to fall retention, and evaluation of program advisors and program activities.

Revealing Holobiont Structure and Function of Three Red Sea Deep-Sea Corals

KAUST Repository

Yum, Lauren

2014-12-01

Deep-sea corals have long been regarded as cold-water coral; however a reevaluation of their habitat limitations has been suggested after the discovery of deep-sea coral in the Red Sea where temperatures exceed 20˚C. To gain further insight into the biology of deep-sea corals at these temperatures, the work in this PhD employed a holotranscriptomic approach, looking at coral animal host and bacterial symbiont gene expression in Dendrophyllia sp., Eguchipsammia fistula, and Rhizotrochus sp. sampled from the deep Red Sea. Bacterial community composition was analyzed via amplicon-based 16S surveys and cultured bacterial strains were subjected to bioprospecting in order to gauge the pharmaceutical potential of coralassociated microbes. Coral host transcriptome data suggest that coral can employ mitochondrial hypometabolism, anaerobic glycolysis, and surface cilia to enhance mass transport rates to manage the low oxygen and highly oligotrophic Red Sea waters. In the microbial community associated with these corals, ribokinases and retron-type reverse transcriptases are abundantly expressed. In its first application to deep-sea coral associated microbial communities, 16S-based next-generation sequencing found that a single operational taxonomic unit can comprise the majority of sequence reads and that a large number of low abundance populations are present, which cannot be visualized with first generation sequencing. Bioactivity testing of selected bacterial isolates was surveyed over 100 cytological parameters with high content screening, covering several major organelles and key proteins involved in a variety of signaling cascades. Some of these cytological profiles were similar to those of several reference pharmacologically active compounds, which suggest that the bacteria isolates produce compounds with similar mechanisms of action as the reference compounds. The sum of this work offers several mechanisms by which Red Sea deep-sea corals cope with environmental

Sea level hazards: Altimetric monitoring of tsunamis and sea level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Hamlington, Benjamin Dillon

Whether on the short timescale of an impending tsunami or the much longer timescale of climate change-driven sea level rise, the threat stemming from rising and inundating ocean waters is a great concern to coastal populations. Timely and accurate observations of potentially dangerous changes in sea level are vital in determining the precautionary steps that need to be taken in order to protect coastal communities. While instruments from the past have provided in situ measurements of sea level at specific locations across the globe, satellites can be used to provide improved spatial and temporal sampling of the ocean in addition to producing more accurate measurements. Since 1993, satellite altimetry has provided accurate measurements of sea surface height (SSH) with near-global coverage. Not only have these measurements led to the first definitive estimates of global mean sea level rise, satellite altimetry observations have also been used to detect tsunami waves in the open ocean where wave amplitudes are relatively small, a vital step in providing early warning to those potentially affected by the impending tsunami. The use of satellite altimetry to monitor two specific sea level hazards is examined in this thesis. The first section will focus on the detection of tsunamis in the open ocean for the purpose of providing early warning to coastal inhabitants. The second section will focus on estimating secular trends using satellite altimetry data with the hope of improving our understanding of future sea level change. Results presented here will show the utility of satellite altimetry for sea level monitoring and will lay the foundation for further advancement in the detection of the two sea level hazards considered.

Sea-level and deep-sea-temperature variability over the past 5.3 million years.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohling, E J; Foster, G L; Grant, K M; Marino, G; Roberts, A P; Tamisiea, M E; Williams, F

2014-04-24

Ice volume (and hence sea level) and deep-sea temperature are key measures of global climate change. Sea level has been documented using several independent methods over the past 0.5 million years (Myr). Older periods, however, lack such independent validation; all existing records are related to deep-sea oxygen isotope (δ(18)O) data that are influenced by processes unrelated to sea level. For deep-sea temperature, only one continuous high-resolution (Mg/Ca-based) record exists, with related sea-level estimates, spanning the past 1.5 Myr. Here we present a novel sea-level reconstruction, with associated estimates of deep-sea temperature, which independently validates the previous 0-1.5 Myr reconstruction and extends it back to 5.3 Myr ago. We find that deep-sea temperature and sea level generally decreased through time, but distinctly out of synchrony, which is remarkable given the importance of ice-albedo feedbacks on the radiative forcing of climate. In particular, we observe a large temporal offset during the onset of Plio-Pleistocene ice ages, between a marked cooling step at 2.73 Myr ago and the first major glaciation at 2.15 Myr ago. Last, we tentatively infer that ice sheets may have grown largest during glacials with more modest reductions in deep-sea temperature.

Dancing-drawing fields of presence in SeaUnSea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ramsgaard Thomsen, Mette

2008-01-01

Dance and architecture have much in common as both are concerned with practices of space. For a dancer, the act of choreography occurs through the unfolding of spaces by means of gesture and embodied movement, whereas for an architect, space is the medium through which form emerges and habitation...... is constructed. For both, the first space of experience is the space of the body. This essay is a writing out of the interstices of these two disciplines as they touch and inform each other in the process and production of SeaUnSea, an interactive dance installation which premiered at Siobhan Davies Studios...... as part of Dance Umbrella in London, October 2006. SeaUnSea is a collaboration between the authors, choreographer Carol Brown and architect Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, working with programmer Chiron Mottram....

CICE, The Los Alamos Sea Ice Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2017-05-12

The Los Alamos sea ice model (CICE) is the result of an effort to develop a computationally efficient sea ice component for a fully coupled atmosphere–land–ocean–ice global climate model. It was originally designed to be compatible with the Parallel Ocean Program (POP), an ocean circulation model developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for use on massively parallel computers. CICE has several interacting components: a vertical thermodynamic model that computes local growth rates of snow and ice due to vertical conductive, radiative and turbulent fluxes, along with snowfall; an elastic-viscous-plastic model of ice dynamics, which predicts the velocity field of the ice pack based on a model of the material strength of the ice; an incremental remapping transport model that describes horizontal advection of the areal concentration, ice and snow volume and other state variables; and a ridging parameterization that transfers ice among thickness categories based on energetic balances and rates of strain. It also includes a biogeochemical model that describes evolution of the ice ecosystem. The CICE sea ice model is used for climate research as one component of complex global earth system models that include atmosphere, land, ocean and biogeochemistry components. It is also used for operational sea ice forecasting in the polar regions and in numerical weather prediction models.

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...

Internasional Symposium On Lowland Technology (ISLT 2012) SUbstainability of Lowlands to Climated Change and Natural Disasters

OpenAIRE

Lawalenna

2011-01-01

???Lowland??? denotes regions of low elevation, which are particularly vulnerable to climatic and environmental changes. For example, global warming, which appears to be causing a rise in sea level, must ultimately affect the safety of coastal dikes and other coastal infrastructures, as well as threaten the water and ecological systems in lowland areas. Lowland regions are also particularly susceptible to natural disasters. Action is now required for the development of new tech...

Guidelines for sea dumping packages of radioactive waste. Revised version.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1979-04-01

The purpose of these Guidelines is to establish general requirements and provide practical information for the design and manufacture of packages for sea dumping of radioactive waste, in accordance with the terms of the OECD Council Decision establishing a Multilateral Consultation and Surveillance Mechanism for Sea Dumping of Radioactive Waste. These Guidelines are in compliance with the IAEA Revised Definition and Recommendations of 1978, for applying the London Dumping Convention to radioactive waste, and are intended for application under the responsibility of the appropriate national authorities of countries participating in the NEA Mechanism

Development of Speciality polymer to extract uranium from sea water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tabushi, Iwao

1983-01-01

Polymer adsorbents were designed to extract uranium efficiently from sea water. The unique coordination structure of uranyl ion was suggested from x-ray crystallography and determining factors influencing equilibrium constants were elucidated. A quantitative estimation of the ligand efficiency was obtained. Based on these considerations on the coordination chemistry of uranyl ion, new polymer adsorbents were prepared and found to show excellent adsorption characteristics. The macrocyclic ligands mimicking crystallographic structure of the complex: planer headentate, were found to show large equilibrium constants as well as high selectivities toward metal ions. Direct usage of sea current was proposed as a most economical way of treating a huge amount of sea water. The polymer adsorbent could recover uranium with large adsorption rate just by immersing the resin into Kuroshio. (author)

Towards The Operational Oceanographic Model System In Estonian Coastal Sea, Baltic Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Kõuts, T.; Elken, J.; Raudsepp, U.

An integrated system of nested 2D and 3D hydrodynamic models together with real time forcing data asquisition is designed and set up in pre-operational mode in the Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Riga, the Baltic Sea. Along the Estonian coast, implicit time-stepping 3D models are used in the deep bays and 2D models in the shallow bays with ca 200 m horizontal grid step. Specific model setups have been verified by in situ current measurements. Optimum configuration of initial parameters has been found for certain critical locations, usually ports, oil terminals, etc. Operational system in- tegrates also section of historical database of most important hydrologic parameters in the region, allowing use of certain statistical analysis and proper setup of initial conditions for oceanographic models. There is large variety of applications for such model system, ranging from environmental impact assessment at local coastal sea pol- lution problems to forecast of offshore blue algal blooms. Most probable risk factor in the coastal sea engineering is oil pollution, therefore current operational model sys- tem has direct custom oriented output the oil spill forecast for critical locations. Oil spill module of the operational system consist the automatic weather and hydromet- ric station (distributed in real time to internet) and prognostic model of sea surface currents. System is run using last 48 hour wind data and wind forecast and estimates probable oil deposition areas on the shoreline under certain weather conditions. Cal- culated evolution of oil pollution has been compared with some real accidents in the past and there was found good agreement between model and measurements. Graphi- cal user interface of oil spill model is currently installed at location of port authorities (eg. Muuga port), so in case of accidents it could be used in real time supporting the rescue operations. In 2000 current pre-operational oceanographic model system has been sucessfully used to

Sea water desalination by horizontal tubes evaporator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohammadi, H.K.; Mohit, M.

1986-01-01

Desalinated water supplies are one of the problems of the nuclear power plants located by the seas. This paper explains saline water desalination by a Horizontal Tube Evaporator (HTE) and compares it with flash evaporation. A thermo compressor research project using HTE method has been designed, constructed, and operated at the Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center ENTC. The poject's ultimate goal is to obtain empirical formulae based on data gathered during operation of the unit and its subsequent development towards design and construction of desalination plants on an industrial scale

Petrogenesis of an Early Cretaceous lamprophyre dike from Kyoto Prefecture, Japan: Implications for the generation of high-Nb basalt magmas in subduction zones

Science.gov (United States)

Imaoka, Teruyoshi; Kawabata, Hiroshi; Nagashima, Mariko; Nakashima, Kazuo; Kamei, Atsushi; Yagi, Koshi; Itaya, Tetsumaru; Kiji, Michio

2017-10-01

We studied a 107 Ma vogesite (a kind of lamprophyre with alkali-feldspar > plagioclase, and hornblende ± clinopyroxene ± biotite) dike in the Kinki district of the Tamba Belt, Kyoto Prefecture, SW Japan, using petrography, mineralogy, K-Ar ages, and geochemistry to evaluate its petrogenesis and tectonic implications. The dike has the very specific geochemical characteristics of a primitive high-Mg basalt, with 48-50 wt.% SiO2 (anhydrous basis), high values of Mg# (67.3-72.4), and high Cr ( 431 ppm), Ni ( 371 ppm), and Co ( 52 ppm) contents. The vogesite is alkaline and ne-normative with high concentrations of large ion lithophile elements (LILEs: Sr = 1270-2200 ppm, Ba = 3910-26,900 ppm), light rare earth elements (LREEs) [(La/Yb)n = 58-62), and high field strength elements (HFSEs: TiO2 = 1.5-1.8 wt.%, Nb = 24-33 ppm, Zr = 171-251 ppm), and the vogesite can be classified as a high-Nb basalt (HNB). The vogesite was formed by the lowest degree of melting of metasomatized mantle in the garnet stability field, and it may also have been formed at higher melting pressures than other Kyoto lamprophyres. The low degree of melting is the primary reason for the high-Nb content of the vogesite, not mantle metasomatism, and a higher degree of melting would have changed the primary magma composition from a HNB to a Nb-enriched basalt (NEB). The vogesite magma was contaminated at an early stage of its development by melts derived from sediments drawn down a subduction zone, as indicated by some geochemical indices and the initial Nd isotope ratios. The vogesite exhibits positive correlations between εSr(107 Ma) values (5.4-50.9) and its high Ba and Sr concentrations, and it has a limited range of εNd(107 Ma) values (+ 0.97 to + 2.4). The fact that the vogesite contains centimeter-sized xenoliths of chert, which are composed of polycrystalline quartz, calcite, barite, pyrite, and magnetite, indicates that the barium contamination took place during the ascent of the

Sea ice contribution to the air-sea CO(2) exchange in the Arctic and Southern Oceans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rysgaard...[], Søren; Bendtsen, Jørgen; Delille, B.

2011-01-01

Although salt rejection from sea ice is a key process in deep-water formation in ice-covered seas, the concurrent rejection of CO(2) and the subsequent effect on air-sea CO(2) exchange have received little attention. We review the mechanisms by which sea ice directly and indirectly controls the air......-sea CO(2) exchange and use recent measurements of inorganic carbon compounds in bulk sea ice to estimate that oceanic CO(2) uptake during the seasonal cycle of sea-ice growth and decay in ice-covered oceanic regions equals almost half of the net atmospheric CO(2) uptake in ice-free polar seas. This sea......-sea CO(2) exchange during winter, and (3) release of CO(2)-depleted melt water with excess total alkalinity during sea-ice decay and (4) biological CO(2) drawdown during primary production in sea ice and surface oceanic waters....

Zooplankton community structure in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea in autumn

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongju Chen

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Study on zooplankton spatial distribution is essential for understanding food web dynamics in marine ecosystems and fishery management. Here we elucidated the composition and distribution of large mesozooplankton on the continental shelf of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, and explored the zooplankton community structure in these water masses. Sixty vertical hauls (bottom or 200 m in deep water to surface using a ring net (diameter 0.8 m, 505-μm mesh were exploited in November 2007. The biogeographic patterns of zooplankton communities were investigated using multivariate analysis methods; copepod biodiversity was analyzed using univariate indices. Copepods and protozoans were dominate in the communities. Based on the species composition, we divided the study areas into six station groups. Significant differences in zooplankton assemblages were detected between the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Species richness was higher in East China Sea groups than those in Yellow Sea, whereas taxonomic distinctness was higher in Yellow Sea than in East China Sea. There was a clear relationship between the species composition and water mass group.

Taxonomic research on deep-sea macrofauna in the South China Sea using the Chinese deep-sea submersible Jiaolong.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xinzheng

2017-07-01

This paper reviews the taxonomic and biodiversity studies of deep-sea invertebrates in the South China Sea based on the samples collected by the Chinese manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong. To date, 6 new species have been described, including the sponges Lophophysema eversa, Saccocalyx microhexactin and Semperella jiaolongae as well as the crustaceans Uroptychus jiaolongae, Uroptychus spinulosus and Globospongicola jiaolongi; some newly recorded species from the South China Sea have also been reported. The Bathymodiolus platifrons-Shinkaia crosnieri deep-sea cold seep community has been reported by Li (2015), as has the mitochondrial genome of the glass sponge L. eversa by Zhang et al. (2016). The population structures of two dominant species, the shrimp Shinkaia crosnieri and the mussel Bathymodiolus platifrons, from the cold seep Bathymodiolus platifrons-Shinkaia crosnieri community in the South China Sea and the hydrothermal vents in the Okinawa Trough, were compared using molecular analysis. The systematic position of the shrimp genus Globospongicola was discussed based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. © 2017 International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Arctic sea ice decline: Projected changes in timing and extent of sea ice in the Bering and Chukchi Seas

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, David C.

2010-01-01

The Arctic region is warming faster than most regions of the world due in part to increasing greenhouse gases and positive feedbacks associated with the loss of snow and ice cover. One consequence has been a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice over the past 3 decades?a decline that is projected to continue by state-of-the-art models. Many stakeholders are therefore interested in how global warming may change the timing and extent of sea ice Arctic-wide, and for specific regions. To inform the public and decision makers of anticipated environmental changes, scientists are striving to better understand how sea ice influences ecosystem structure, local weather, and global climate. Here, projected changes in the Bering and Chukchi Seas are examined because sea ice influences the presence of, or accessibility to, a variety of local resources of commercial and cultural value. In this study, 21st century sea ice conditions in the Bering and Chukchi Seas are based on projections by 18 general circulation models (GCMs) prepared for the fourth reporting period by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007. Sea ice projections are analyzed for each of two IPCC greenhouse gas forcing scenarios: the A1B `business as usual? scenario and the A2 scenario that is somewhat more aggressive in its CO2 emissions during the second half of the century. A large spread of uncertainty among projections by all 18 models was constrained by creating model subsets that excluded GCMs that poorly simulated the 1979-2008 satellite record of ice extent and seasonality. At the end of the 21st century (2090-2099), median sea ice projections among all combinations of model ensemble and forcing scenario were qualitatively similar. June is projected to experience the least amount of sea ice loss among all months. For the Chukchi Sea, projections show extensive ice melt during July and ice-free conditions during August, September, and October by the end of the century, with high agreement

International Surveillance Mechanism for Sea Dumping of Radioactive Waste

Science.gov (United States)

OECD Observer, 1977

1977-01-01

The OECD consultation and surveillance mechanism is discussed in detail in this article. Four phases are identified and examined: (1) Notification, (2) Consultation, (3) Supervision, (4) Post-operation. This system is designed to provide the safest possible conditions for sea dumping of radioactive wastes. (MA)

Wind Profiles and Wave Spectra for Potential Wind Farms in South China Sea. Part II: Wave Spectrum Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yichao Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Along with the commercialization of offshore wind energy in China, the South China Sea has been identified as ideal for constructing offshore wind farms, especially for farms consisting of floating wind turbines over deep waters. Since the wind profiles and wave spectra are somewhat primitive for the design of an offshore wind turbine, engineering models describing the wind and wave characteristics in the South China Sea area are necessary for the offshore wind energy exploitation given the meteorological, hydrological, and geographical differences between the South China Sea and the North/Norwegian Sea, where the commonly used wind profile and wave spectrum models were designated. In the present study; a series of numerical simulations were conducted to reveal the wave characteristics in the South China Sea under both typhoon and non-typhoon conditions. By analyzing the simulation results; the applicability of the Joint North Sea Wave Project (JONSWAP spectrum model; in terms of characterizing the wind-induced wave fields in the South China Sea; was discussed. In detail; the key parameters of the JONSWAP spectrum model; such as the Phillips constant; spectral width parameter; peak-enhancement factor, and high frequency tail decay; were investigated in the context of finding suitable values.

South China Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morton, Brian [Hong Kong Univ., Swire Inst. of Marine Science, Hong Kong (China); Hong Kong Univ., Dept. of Ecology and Biodiversity, Hong Kong (China); Blackmore, Graham [Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Dept. of Biology, Hong Kong (China)

2001-07-01

The South China Sea is poorly understood in terms of its marine biota, ecology and the human impacts upon it. What is known is most often contained in reports and workshops and conference documents that are not available to the wider scientific community. The South China Sea has an area of some 3.3 million km{sup 2} and depths range from the shallowest coastal fringe to 5377m in the Manila Trench. It is also studded with numerous islets, atolls and reefs many of which are just awash at low tide. It is largely confined within the Tropic of Cancer and, therefore, experiences a monsoonal climate being influenced by the Southwest Monsoon in summer and the Northeast Monsoon in winter. The South China Sea is a marginal sea and, therefore, largely surrounded by land. Countries that have a major influence on and claims to the sea include China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, although Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan have some too. The coastal fringes of the South China Sea are home to about 270 million people that have had some of the fastest developing and most vibrant economics on the globe. Consequently, anthropogenic impacts, such as over-exploitation of resources and pollution, are anticipated to be huge although, in reality, relatively little is known about them. The Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province, at the centre of which the South China Sea lies, is probably the world's most diverse shallow-water marine area. Of three major nearshore habitat types, i.e., coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, 45 mangrove species out of a global total of 51, most of the currently recognised 70 coral genera and 20 of 50 known seagrass species have been recorded from the South China Sea. The island groups of the South China Sea are all disputed and sovereignty is claimed over them by a number of countries. Conflicts have in recent decades arisen over them because of perceived national rights. It is perhaps because of this that so little research has been undertaken

South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Morton, Brian; Blackmore, Graham

2001-01-01

The South China Sea is poorly understood in terms of its marine biota, ecology and the human impacts upon it. What is known is most often contained in reports and workshop and conference documents that are not available to the wider scientific community. The South China Sea has an area of some 3.3 million km2 and depths range from the shallowest coastal fringe to 5377 m in the Manila Trench. It is also studded with numerous islets, atolls and reefs many of which are just awash at low tide. It is largely confined within the Tropic of Cancer and, therefore, experiences a monsoonal climate being influenced by the Southwest Monsoon in summer and the Northeast Monsoon in winter. The South China Sea is a marginal sea and, therefore, largely surrounded by land. Countries that have a major influence on and claims to the sea include China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, although Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan have some too. The coastal fringes of the South China Sea are home to about 270 million people that have had some of the fastest developing and most vibrant economies on the globe. Consequently, anthropogenic impacts, such as over-exploitation of resources and pollution, are anticipated to be huge although, in reality, relatively little is known about them. The Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province, at the centre of which the South China Sea lies, is probably the world's most diverse shallow-water marine area. Of the three major nearshore habitat types, i.e., coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, 45 mangrove species out of a global of 51, most of the currently recognised 70 coral genera and 20 of 50 known seagrass species have been recorded from the South China Sea. The island groups of the South China Sea are all disputed and sovereignty is claimed over them by a number of countries. Conflicts have in recent decades arisen over them because of perceived national rights. It is perhaps because of this that so little research has been undertaken on the South

Detector design studies for a cubic kilometre Deep Sea neutrino telescope - KM3NeT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, J; Dornic, D; Cohen, F; Jouvenot, F; Maurin, G; Naumann, C

2008-01-01

The KM3NeT consortium is currently preparing the construction of a cubic-kilometre sized neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea as a continuation of the previous efforts by the three Mediterranean projects ANTARES, NEMO and NESTOR and as a counterpart to the South-Pole based IceCube detector. The main physics goals of KM3NeT include the detection of neutrinos from astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei, supernova remnants and gamma-ray bursts as well as the search for new physics, such as neutrino signals from neutralino annihilation. A key point during the early phases of this experiment is the determination of the ideal detector layout as well as of important design criteria such as required spatial and temporal resolution of the sensor elements, to optimise the sensitivity in the energy range of interest. For this purpose, several independent Monte-Carlo studies using a range of possible detector configurations are being performed. In this presentation, one of these studies, using the fast and flexible Mathematica-based simulation and reconstruction package NESSY, is described in more detail together with expected results for some exemplary detector configurations.

Coupling analysis on the soft ground settlement laws in Qinshan nuclear power phase I sea wall project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Feng; Pan Rong; Zhu Xiuyun; Zhang Dingli

2011-01-01

Qinshan Nuclear Power Phase I sea wall project is a barrier engineering in defending the design basis flooding, which is of importance to the safety of NPP. The geological condition has the feature of high compressibility and low penetration, such as the soft ground of 1 + 450 section of Qinshan Nuclear Power Phase I sea wall. Based on parameters acquired from the site experiment, 3-D finite difference analysis is put forward to study the feature of consolidation settlement laws, which can embody the fluid-solid coupling interaction. The conclusions of numerical analysis agree well with the in-site measured data, and it, can contribute to the design and construction of raising sea wall project. (authors)

Radioactivity in the Arctic Seas. Report for the International Arctic Seas Assessment Project (IASAP)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-04-01

This report provides comprehensive information on environmental conditions in the Arctic Seas as required for the study of possible radiological consequences from dumped high level radioactive wastes in the Kara Sea. The report describes the oceanography of the regions, with emphasis on the Kara and Barents Seas, including the East Novaya Zemlya Fjords. The ecological description concentrates on biological production, marine food-weds and fisheries in the Arctic Seas. The report presents data on radionuclide concentrations in the Kara and Barents Seas and uses these data to estimate the inventories of radionuclides currently in the marine environment of the Kara and Barents Seas

Failure of Grass Covered Flood Defences with Roads on Top Due to Wave Overtopping: A Probabilistic Assessment Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan P. Aguilar-López

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Hard structures, i.e., roads, are commonly found over flood defences, such as dikes, in order to ensure access and connectivity between flood protected areas. Several climate change future scenario studies have concluded that flood defences will be required to withstand more severe storms than the ones used for their original design. Therefore, this paper presents a probabilistic methodology to assess the effect of a road on top of a dike: it gives the failure probability of the grass cover due to wave overtopping over a wide range of design storms. The methodology was developed by building two different dike configurations in computational fluid dynamics Navier–Stokes solution software; one with a road on top and one without a road. Both models were validated with experimental data collected from field-scale experiments. Later, both models were used to produce data sets for training simpler and faster emulators. These emulators were coupled to a simplified erosion model which allowed testing storm scenarios which resulted in local scouring conditioned statistical failure probabilities. From these results it was estimated that the dike with a road has higher probabilities (5 × 10−5 > Pf >1 × 10−4 of failure than a dike without a road (Pf < 1 × 10−6 if realistic grass quality spatial distributions were assumed. The coupled emulator-erosion model was able to yield realistic probabilities, given all the uncertainties in the modelling process and it seems to be a promising tool for quantifying grass cover erosion failure.

Late Holocene sea ice conditions in Herald Canyon, Chukchi Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, C.; O'Regan, M.; Rattray, J. E.; Hutchinson, D. K.; Cronin, T. M.; Gemery, L.; Barrientos, N.; Coxall, H.; Smittenberg, R.; Semiletov, I. P.; Jakobsson, M.

2017-12-01

Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has been in steady decline in recent decades and, based on satellite data, the retreat is most pronounced in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Historical observations suggest that the recent changes were unprecedented during the last 150 years, but for a longer time perspective, we rely on the geological record. For this study, we analyzed sediment samples from two piston cores from Herald Canyon in the Chukchi Sea, collected during the 2014 SWERUS-C3 Arctic Ocean Expedition. The Herald Canyon is a local depression across the Chukchi Shelf, and acts as one of the main pathways for Pacific Water to the Arctic Ocean after entering through the narrow and shallow Bering Strait. The study site lies at the modern-day seasonal sea ice minimum edge, and is thus an ideal location for the reconstruction of past sea ice variability. Both sediment cores contain late Holocene deposits characterized by high sediment accumulation rates (100-300 cm/kyr). Core 2-PC1 from the shallow canyon flank (57 m water depth) is 8 meter long and extends back to 4200 cal yrs BP, while the upper 3 meters of Core 4-PC1 from the central canyon (120 mwd) cover the last 3000 years. The chronologies of the cores are based on radiocarbon dates and the 3.6 ka Aniakchak CFE II tephra, which is used as an absolute age marker to calculate the marine radiocarbon reservoir age. Analysis of biomarkers for sea ice and surface water productivity indicate stable sea ice conditions throughout the entire late Holocene, ending with an abrupt increase of phytoplankton sterols in the very top of both sediment sequences. The shift is accompanied by a sudden increase in coarse sediments (> 125 µm) and a minor change in δ13Corg. We interpret this transition in the top sediments as a community turnover in primary producers from sea ice to open water biota. Most importantly, our results indicate that the ongoing rapid ice retreat in the Chukchi Sea of recent decades was unprecedented during the

Coastal seas as resource for Blue Growth - SmartSea project

Science.gov (United States)

Kotilainen, Aarno; Alvi, Kimmo; Boman, Anton; Hämäläinen, Jyrki; Kaskela, Anu; Rantataro, Jyrki; Vallius, Henry; Virtasalo, Joonas

2017-04-01

Blue growth is a long term strategy of the European Union (EU) to enhance the sustainable growth of the maritime sector. Our surrounding seas have been drivers for the European economy for a long time, but still they have great potential for further exploiting of natural resources and economic growth. Especially if the growth can be achieved in an environmentally sustainable way, benefits are obvious. It has been estimated that improvement of the state of the Baltic Sea would until 2030 create 900 000 jobs in the whole Baltic Sea area, mainly in Blue Tech, tourism, real estate and building businesses (Dahlgren et al. 2015). However, coastal seas already experience multiple stressors like off-shore construction, pollution, eutrophication, shipping, over-fishing, and climate change. In order to obtain sustainable Blue Growth, it is necessary to localize and assess the current maritime activities, estimate their growth potential, and investigate their present and future effects on each other and on the marine environment. The purpose of the SmartSea project is to support the growth of commercial marine activities in the Gulf of Bothnia region, in the northern Baltic Sea. The Gulf of Bothnia is an essential resource in terms of fish farming and wind power, for example, and it is also possible to make use of the geological resources of the gulf. Moreover, the rapid growth of the commercial marine activities and the consequences of the climate change may lead to conflicts between the different activities and harm the marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Bothnia. The SmartSea project aims to identify these risks and find solutions for the sustainable use of the sea. SmartSea project is funded by the Strategic Research Council of Academy of Finland, grant No: 292 985. The project will last for six years (2015-2020) and its funding totals nearly 8 million euros. The project involves close to 40 researchers from eight different institutions: the Finnish Meteorological Institute

How Changing Human Lifestyles are Shaping Europe's Regional Seas

Science.gov (United States)

Mee, L. D.; Lowe, C. D.; Langmead, O.; McQuatters-Gollop, A.; Attrill, M.; Cooper, P.; Gilbert, A.; Knudsen, S.; Garnacho, E.

2007-05-01

European society is experiencing unprecedented changes triggered by expansion of the European Union, the fall of Communism, economic growth and the onset of globalisation. Europe's regional seas, the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean and North-East Atlantic (including the North Sea), provide key goods and services to the human population but have suffered from severe degradation in past decades. Their integrity as coupled social and ecological systems depends on how humanity will anticipate potential problems and deal with its ecological footprint in the future. We report the outcome of an EU-funded 15-country, 28 institution project entitled European Lifestyles and Marine Ecosystems (ELME). Our studies were designed to inform new EU policy and legislation that incorporates Ecosystem-Based Management. ELME has modelled the key relationships between economic and social drivers (D), environmental pressures (P) and changes in the state of the environment (S) in Europe's regional seas. We examined four key issues in each sea: habitat change, eutrophication, chemical pollution and fisheries. We developed conceptual models for each regional sea and employed a novel stochastic modelling technique to examine the interrelationship between key components of the conceptual models. We used the models to examine 2-3 decade projections of current trends in D, P and S and how a number of alternative development scenarios might modify these trends. These simulations demonstrate the vulnerability of Europe's seas to human pressure. As affluence increases in countries acceding to the EU, so does the demand for marine goods and services. There are `winners' and `losers' amongst marine species; the winners are often species that are opportunistic invaders or those with low economic value. In the case of eutrophication, semi-enclosed seas such as the Baltic or Black Sea are already affected by the `legacy of the past'; nutrients that have accumulated in soils, ground waters and

Regional ocean-colour chlorophyll algorithms for the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Brewin, Robert J.W.

2015-05-18

The Red Sea is a semi-enclosed tropical marine ecosystem that stretches from the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba in the north, to the Gulf of Aden in the south. Despite its ecological and economic importance, its biological environment is relatively unexplored. Satellite ocean-colour estimates of chlorophyll concentration (an index of phytoplankton biomass) offer an observational platform to monitor the health of the Red Sea. However, little is known about the optical properties of the region. In this paper, we investigate the optical properties of the Red Sea in the context of satellite ocean-colour estimates of chlorophyll concentration. Making use of a new merged ocean-colour product, from the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative, and in situ data in the region, we test the performance of a series of ocean-colour chlorophyll algorithms. We find that standard algorithms systematically overestimate chlorophyll when compared with the in situ data. To investigate this bias we develop an ocean-colour model for the Red Sea, parameterised to data collected during the Tara Oceans expedition, that estimates remote-sensing reflectance as a function of chlorophyll concentration. We used the Red Sea model to tune the standard chlorophyll algorithms and the overestimation in chlorophyll originally observed was corrected. Results suggest that the overestimation was likely due to an excess of CDOM absorption per unit chlorophyll in the Red Sea when compared with average global conditions. However, we recognise that additional information is required to test the influence of other potential sources of the overestimation, such as aeolian dust, and we discuss uncertainties in the datasets used. We present a series of regional chlorophyll algorithms for the Red Sea, designed for a suite of ocean-colour sensors, that may be used for further testing.

Air–Sea Interaction and Horizontal Circulation in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Bower, Amy S.

2015-01-01

This chapter discusses the horizontal circulation of the Red Sea and the surface meteorology that drives it, and recent satellite and in situ measurements from the region are used to illustrate properties of the Red Sea circulation and the atmospheric forcing. The surface winds over the Red Sea have rich spatial structure, with variations in speed and direction on both synoptic and seasonal timescales. Wintertime mountain-gap wind jets drive large heat losses and evaporation at some locations, with as much as 9 cm of evaporation in a week. The near-surface currents in the Red Sea exhibit similarly rich variability, with an energetic and complex flow field dominated by persistent, quasi-stationary eddies, and convoluted boundary currents. At least one quasi-stationary eddy pair is driven largely by winds blowing through a gap in the mountains (Tokar Gap), but numerical simulations suggest that much of the eddy field is driven by the interaction of the buoyancy-driven flow with topography. Recent measurements suggest that Gulf of Aden Intermediate Water (GAIW) penetrates further northward into the Red Sea than previously reported.

Field-trip guide to the vents, dikes, stratigraphy, and structure of the Columbia River Basalt Group, eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington

Science.gov (United States)

Camp, Victor E; Reidel, Stephen P.; Ross, Martin E.; Brown, Richard J.; Self, Stephen

2017-06-22

The Columbia River Basalt Group covers an area of more than 210,000 km2 with an estimated volume of 210,000 km3. As the youngest continental flood-basalt province on Earth (16.7–5.5 Ma), it is well preserved, with a coherent and detailed stratigraphy exposed in the deep canyonlands of eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The Columbia River flood-basalt province is often cited as a model for the study of similar provinces worldwide.This field-trip guide explores the main source region of the Columbia River Basalt Group and is written for trip participants attending the 2017 International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) Scientific Assembly in Portland, Oregon, USA. The first part of the guide provides an overview of the geologic features common in the Columbia River flood-basalt province and the stratigraphic terminology used in the Columbia River Basalt Group. The accompanying road log examines the stratigraphic evolution, eruption history, and structure of the province through a field examination of the lavas, dikes, and pyroclastic rocks of the Columbia River Basalt Group.

Spinning projectile's attitude measurement with LW infrared radiation under sea-sky background

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Miaomiao; Bu, Xiongzhu; Yu, Jing; He, Zilu

2018-05-01

With the further development of infrared radiation research in sea-sky background and the requirement of spinning projectile's attitude measurement, the sea-sky infrared radiation field is used to carry out spinning projectile's attitude angle instead of inertial sensors. Firstly, the generation mechanism of sea-sky infrared radiation is analysed. The mathematical model of sea-sky infrared radiation is deduced in LW (long wave) infrared 8 ∼ 14 μm band by calculating the sea surface and sky infrared radiation. Secondly, according to the movement characteristics of spinning projectile, the attitude measurement model of infrared sensors on projectile's three axis is established. And the feasibility of the model is analysed by simulation. Finally, the projectile's attitude calculation algorithm is designed to improve the attitude angle estimation accuracy. The results of semi-physical experiments show that the segmented interactive algorithm estimation error of pitch and roll angle is within ±1.5°. The attitude measurement method is effective and feasible, and provides accurate measurement basis for the guidance of spinning projectile.

North Sea oil and the environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cairns, W.J.

1992-01-01

This book, which is arranged in five sections, provides an historical record of the development of North Sea oil and gas over the past twenty years and records the lessons learnt from this experience. This first section provides an introductory framework to the three main themes, namely resources, environment and development. Section 2 is primarily concerned with the economic and social consequences of oil related development at two levels; firstly on the national economy and secondly the impact on local communities. Section 3 deals with impacts upon the physical environment and introduces the statutory land use planning system in Scotland. The Scottish approach to environmental assessment is reviewed and the need for mitigation by design explored. Section 4 examines specific field developments, and reviews the statutory controls and international initiatives regulating the extent of environmental disturbance and pollution from offshore operations. The effects of oil spillage and submarine pipelines on the environment and their impact on the fishing industry is followed by a discussion on the decommissioning and abandonment of offshore installations. Section 5 deals with the role and value of hazard and risk analysis in the siting, layout and safety zoning of onshore facilities and develops a case study on a major fractionation facility. The means of mitigating acute and chronic environmental risks are considered. A postscript provides a range of past comments and criticisms and finally draws some conclusions on the performance of environmental management and North Sea oil development. The North Sea oil and gas development experience proves that with wisdom, forethought and goodwill, industrial exploiters of natural resources can operate economically within legislative, policy, scientific, technical and design parameters without causing long-term irreversible environmental damage. (author)

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.

Sea Turtle Conservation on Bonaire. Sea Turtle Club Bonaire 1997. Project Report

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schuit, M.; Put, van A.L.L.M.; Valkering, N.P.; Eijck, van T.J.W.

1998-01-01

The Sea Turtle Club Bonaire (STCB) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization. Its main goal is the conservation of the sea turtles that occur on Bonaire. To reach this goal, annual projects are undertaken, such as research and the promotion of public awareness on sea turtle conservation. The

Species distribution models of tropical deep-sea snappers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Céline Gomez

Full Text Available Deep-sea fisheries provide an important source of protein to Pacific Island countries and territories that are highly dependent on fish for food security. However, spatial management of these deep-sea habitats is hindered by insufficient data. We developed species distribution models using spatially limited presence data for the main harvested species in the Western Central Pacific Ocean. We used bathymetric and water temperature data to develop presence-only species distribution models for the commercially exploited deep-sea snappers Etelis Cuvier 1828, Pristipomoides Valenciennes 1830, and Aphareus Cuvier 1830. We evaluated the performance of four different algorithms (CTA, GLM, MARS, and MAXENT within the BIOMOD framework to obtain an ensemble of predicted distributions. We projected these predictions across the Western Central Pacific Ocean to produce maps of potential deep-sea snapper distributions in 32 countries and territories. Depth was consistently the best predictor of presence for all species groups across all models. Bathymetric slope was consistently the poorest predictor. Temperature at depth was a good predictor of presence for GLM only. Model precision was highest for MAXENT and CTA. There were strong regional patterns in predicted distribution of suitable habitat, with the largest areas of suitable habitat (> 35% of the Exclusive Economic Zone predicted in seven South Pacific countries and territories (Fiji, Matthew & Hunter, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu and Wallis & Futuna. Predicted habitat also varied among species, with the proportion of predicted habitat highest for Aphareus and lowest for Etelis. Despite data paucity, the relationship between deep-sea snapper presence and their environments was sufficiently strong to predict their distribution across a large area of the Pacific Ocean. Our results therefore provide a strong baseline for designing monitoring programs that balance resource exploitation and

The Ross Sea Dipole – temperature, snow accumulation and sea ice variability in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica, over the past 2700 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. A. N. Bertler

2018-02-01

Full Text Available High-resolution, well-dated climate archives provide an opportunity to investigate the dynamic interactions of climate patterns relevant for future projections. Here, we present data from a new, annually dated ice core record from the eastern Ross Sea, named the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE ice core. Comparison of this record with climate reanalysis data for the 1979–2012 interval shows that RICE reliably captures temperature and snow precipitation variability in the region. Trends over the past 2700 years in RICE are shown to be distinct from those in West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea captured by other ice cores. For most of this interval, the eastern Ross Sea was warming (or showing isotopic enrichment for other reasons, with increased snow accumulation and perhaps decreased sea ice concentration. However, West Antarctica cooled and the western Ross Sea showed no significant isotope temperature trend. This pattern here is referred to as the Ross Sea Dipole. Notably, during the Little Ice Age, West Antarctica and the western Ross Sea experienced colder than average temperatures, while the eastern Ross Sea underwent a period of warming or increased isotopic enrichment. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. All three regions show current warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea but increasing in the western Ross Sea. We interpret this pattern as reflecting an increase in sea ice in the eastern Ross Sea with perhaps the establishment of a modern Roosevelt Island polynya as a local moisture source for RICE.

The Swedish sea transportation system for safety reasons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dybeck, P.

1993-01-01

Sweden began to design and build a sea transportation system. The ship M/S SIGYN is specially designed for transports of radioactive waste. It is a combined roll-on/roll-off and lift-on/lift-off vessel. It is built for world wide operation and with the highest requirements of two independent classification societies, Lloyds Register of Shipping and Bureau Veritas. The ship is also designed to conform to the Swedish/Finish ice class 1A. The transport cask for spent fuel, TN 17/2, and core component TN 17-CC are designed as type (B) casks and manufactured to comply with the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials, 1973. (J.P.N.)

Uprated OMS Engine Status-Sea Level Testing Results

Science.gov (United States)

Bertolino, J. D.; Boyd, W. C.

1990-01-01

The current Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering Engine (OME) is pressure fed, utilizing storable propellants. Performance uprating of this engine, through the use of a gas generator driven turbopump to increase operating pressure, is being pursued by the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Component level design, fabrication, and test activities for this engine system have been on-going since 1984. More recently, a complete engine designated the Integrated Component Test Bed (ICTB), was tested at sea level conditions by Aerojet. A description of the test hardware and results of the sea level test program are presented. These results, which include the test condition operating envelope and projected performance at altitude conditions, confirm the capability of the selected Uprated OME (UOME) configuration to meet or exceed performance and operational requirements. Engine flexibility, demonstrated through testing at two different operational mixture ratios, along with a summary of projected Space Shuttle performance enhancements using the UOME, are discussed. Planned future activities, including ICTB tests at simulated altitude conditions, and recommendations for further engine development, are also discussed.

Sea Reclamation Status of Countries around the South China Sea from 1975 to 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junjue Zhang

2017-05-01

Full Text Available As a way of turning sea into land for living space for humans, the actions of sea reclamation bring about significant benefits. Nevertheless, it is also an under-recognized threat to the environment and the marine ecosystem. Based on images in two periods, sea reclamation information of countries around the South China Sea was extracted from 1975 to 2010. The spatial state and driven forces of sea reclamation are then discussed. Results show that the overall strength of sea reclamation in the South China Sea was great. New reclaimed land added up to 3264 km2. Sea reclamation for fish farming was the main reclamation type and widely distributed in the whole area, especially on the coast from the Pearl River Delta to the Red River Delta, and the coast of Ca Mau Peninsula. Sea reclamation in China and Vietnam was rather significant, which occupies 80.6% of the total reclamation area. Singapore had the highest level of sea reclamation. New reclaimed land for fish farming holds a key role in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, while new reclaimed land for construction and docks dominated in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Areas and use-type compositions of new reclaimed land in countries varied greatly due to the differences of economic factors, policy inclination, and landscapes in the respective countries.

The deep sea Acoustic Detection system AMADEUS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naumann, Christopher Lindsay

2008-01-01

As a part of the ANTARES neutrino telescope, the AMADEUS (ANTARES Modules for Acoustic Detection Under the Sea) system is an array of acoustical sensors designed to investigate the possibilities of acoustic detection of ultra-high energy neutrinos in the deep sea. The complete system will comprise a total of 36 acoustic sensors in six clusters on two of the ANTARES detector lines. With an inter-sensor spacing of about one metre inside the clusters and between 15 and 340 metres between the different clusters, it will cover a wide range of distances as will as provide a considerable lever arm for point source triangulation. Three of these clusters have already been deployed in 2007 and have been in operation since, currently yielding around 2GB of acoustic data per day. The remaining three clusters are scheduled to be deployed in May 2008 together with the final ANTARES detector line. Apart from proving the feasibility of operating an acoustic detection system in the deep sea, the main aim of this project is an in-depth survey of both the acoustic properties of the sea water and the acoustic background present at the detector site. It will also serve as a platform for the development and refinement of triggering, filtering and reconstruction algorithms for acoustic particle detection. In this presentation, a description of the acoustic sensor and read-out system is given, together with examples for the reconstruction and evaluation of the acoustic data.

GEBCO-NF Alumni Team's entry for Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. An innovative seafloor mapping system of an AUV integrated with the newly designed USV SEA-KIT.

Science.gov (United States)

Wigley, R. A.; Anderson, R.; Bazhenova, E.; Falconer, R. K. H.; Kearns, T.; Martin, T.; Minami, H.; Roperez, J.; Rosedee, A.; Ryzhov, I.; Sade, H.; Seeboruth, S.; Simpson, B.; Sumiyoshi, M.; Tinmouth, N.; Zarayskaya, Y.; Zwolak, K.

2017-12-01

The international team of Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Alumni was formed to compete in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition. The aim of the Team is to build an innovative seafloor mapping system, not only to successfully compete in the XPRIZE challenge, but also to make a step towards autonomously mapping the complex global seafloor at resolutions not achievable by standard surface mapping systems. This new technology is linked to goals of the recently announced Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, aiming in highest possible resolution bathymetric mapping of global World Ocean floor by 2030. The mapping system is composed of three main elements: an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and an on-shore control station. A newly designed, USV, called SEA-KIT, was be built to interact with any AUV, acting as remote surface access to the deep ocean. The major function of the SEA-KIT in the system design is 1) the potential transportation of a commercially available AUV to and from the launch site to the survey site and 2) the deployment and recovery of the AUV. In further development stages, options for AUV charging and data transfer are considered. Additionally, the SEA-KIT will offer a positioning solution during AUV operations, utilizing an Ultra Short Base Line (USBL) acoustic system. The data acquisition platform (AUV) is equipped with a high-end technology interferometric sonar with synthetic aperture options, providing the possibility of collecting bathymetric data co-registered with seafloor object imagery. An automated data processing workflow is highly desirable due to the large amount of data collected during each mission. The processing workflow is being designed to be as autonomous as possible and an algorithm for automated data processing onboard are being considered to reduce the time of data processing and make a final products available as soon as possible after the completion of data collection. No human

An Investigation of the Radiative Effects and Climate Feedbacks of Sea Ice Sources of Sea Salt Aerosol

Science.gov (United States)

Horowitz, H. M.; Alexander, B.; Bitz, C. M.; Jaegle, L.; Burrows, S. M.

2017-12-01

In polar regions, sea ice is a major source of sea salt aerosol through lofting of saline frost flowers or blowing saline snow from the sea ice surface. Under continued climate warming, an ice-free Arctic in summer with only first-year, more saline sea ice in winter is likely. Previous work has focused on climate impacts in summer from increasing open ocean sea salt aerosol emissions following complete sea ice loss in the Arctic, with conflicting results suggesting no net radiative effect or a negative climate feedback resulting from a strong first aerosol indirect effect. However, the radiative forcing from changes to the sea ice sources of sea salt aerosol in a future, warmer climate has not previously been explored. Understanding how sea ice loss affects the Arctic climate system requires investigating both open-ocean and sea ice sources of sea-salt aerosol and their potential interactions. Here, we implement a blowing snow source of sea salt aerosol into the Community Earth System Model (CESM) dynamically coupled to the latest version of the Los Alamos sea ice model (CICE5). Snow salinity is a key parameter affecting blowing snow sea salt emissions and previous work has assumed constant regional snow salinity over sea ice. We develop a parameterization for dynamic snow salinity in the sea ice model and examine how its spatial and temporal variability impacts the production of sea salt from blowing snow. We evaluate and constrain the snow salinity parameterization using available observations. Present-day coupled CESM-CICE5 simulations of sea salt aerosol concentrations including sea ice sources are evaluated against in situ and satellite (CALIOP) observations in polar regions. We then quantify the present-day radiative forcing from the addition of blowing snow sea salt aerosol with respect to aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions. The relative contributions of sea ice vs. open ocean sources of sea salt aerosol to radiative forcing in polar regions is

Sea-level rise modeling handbook: Resource guide for coastal land managers, engineers, and scientists

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Thomas W.; Chivoiu, Bogdan; Enwright, Nicholas M.

2015-08-24

Global sea level is rising and may accelerate with continued fossil fuel consumption from industrial and population growth. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted more than 30 training and feedback sessions with Federal, State, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) coastal managers and planners across the northern Gulf of Mexico coast to evaluate user needs, potential benefits, current scientific understanding, and utilization of resource aids and modeling tools focused on sea-level rise. In response to the findings from the sessions, this sea-level rise modeling handbook has been designed as a guide to the science and simulation models for understanding the dynamics and impacts of sea-level rise on coastal ecosystems. The review herein of decision-support tools and predictive models was compiled from the training sessions, from online research, and from publications. The purpose of this guide is to describe and categorize the suite of data, methods, and models and their design, structure, and application for hindcasting and forecasting the potential impacts of sea-level rise in coastal ecosystems. The data and models cover a broad spectrum of disciplines involving different designs and scales of spatial and temporal complexity for predicting environmental change and ecosystem response. These data and models have not heretofore been synthesized, nor have appraisals been made of their utility or limitations. Some models are demonstration tools for non-experts, whereas others require more expert capacity to apply for any given park, refuge, or regional application. A simplified tabular context has been developed to list and contrast a host of decision-support tools and models from the ecological, geological, and hydrological perspectives. Criteria were established to distinguish the source, scale, and quality of information input and geographic datasets; physical and biological constraints and relations; datum characteristics of water and land components

Hydrothermal alteration of deep sea sediments from the Izu-Bonin fore arc basin, leg 126, ODp. Izuter dot Ogasawara ko no shinkaitei taisekibutsu ni okeru netsusui henshitsu sayo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tazaki, K. (Shimane Univ., Shimane (Japan). Faculty of Science)

1991-08-25

The deep sea drilling according to ODP has been performed in the Izu-Bonin arc during a period of April 22 to June 19 in 1989, and the drilling across the forearc, island arc and backarc was successful in the Leg 126 of it. The drill length of 1682 m at Site 793 was achieved and it is the deepest world record including the drilling of basement. In this report, the various measurements and observations were performed focussing the hydrothermal effects accompanied with the volcanic activities, on the Site 793 achieved the longest drilling in the forearc basin and the Site 792 in the same forearc. As a result, there are many dehydration veins, clastic dikes and small faults in the volcanic sediments, and the gypsum, smectite, zeolite and prehnite etc. are filled in these parts as a zonal distribution, suggesting the thermal gradient and thermal history at that time. The volcanic glass and feldspar etc. are changed partly to the smectite and zeolite etc. by the hydrothermal alteration. The effective keys as mentioned above were obtained about the temperature condition of hydrothermal alteration and the paleo-environment. 31 refs., 15figs.

Machine-operated low temperature system for cooling a germanium detector at great depths of the sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruederle, F.; Hain, K.; Huebener, J.; Schloss, F.

1978-07-01

The report outlines the conceptual design and technical implementation phases of a very reliable low temperature system for long-time cooling of a germanium detector at great depths of the sea. The approach chosen as the solution involves the choise of a proven commercial small-scale refrigeration unit operation by the Gifford-Mc Mahon process, which is modified so as to suit special requirements. Testing for the severe conditions of use is carried out on a jarring table for the critical components and on a rolling test rig for the whole low temperature machine so as to simulate the stresses imposed by ships and high seas. The cooling system designed in this way has demonstrated its full functioning capability in a test conducted at sea. (orig.) 891 HP [de

Arctic Sea Level Reconstruction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Peter Limkilde

Reconstruction of historical Arctic sea level is very difficult due to the limited coverage and quality of tide gauge and altimetry data in the area. This thesis addresses many of these issues, and discusses strategies to help achieve a stable and plausible reconstruction of Arctic sea level from...... 1950 to today.The primary record of historical sea level, on the order of several decades to a few centuries, is tide gauges. Tide gauge records from around the world are collected in the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) database, and includes data along the Arctic coasts. A reasonable...... amount of data is available along the Norwegian and Russian coasts since 1950, and most published research on Arctic sea level extends cautiously from these areas. Very little tide gauge data is available elsewhere in the Arctic, and records of a length of several decades,as generally recommended for sea...

Putting SEA in context: A discourse perspective on how SEA contributes to decision-making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Runhaar, Hens

2009-01-01

Over the last couple of years there is an ongoing debate in the environmental assessment literature about the contribution of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to public decision-making and how this can be understood and enhanced by better incorporating insights from policy analysis, planning theory and political sciences. By explicitly framing SEA as an element in a process where stakeholders with diverging interests struggle, acceptability of SEA processes and results by stakeholders has become an important element in SEA evaluation. In addition, the importance of other context variables, such as the institutional organisation, and the need for SEA to adapt to this context, is stressed. Thus far, publications in this area have been dealing with the operationalisation of SEA's 'contribution', typologies of roles that SEA can or should play in different policy settings and on factors that stimulate or impede SEA to play these roles. In this paper an alternative approach is suggested that starts from the deliberative processes around a particular policy issue or decision supported by SEA. Of particular interest are 'discourses': the frames through which groups of actors give meaning to aspects of the policy issues and decisions that are supported by SEA. Discourses do not only reflect conflicts of interests and power play, but also the ways in which actors perceive and understand aspects of the world. Decision-making is conceptualised as a 'system of competing discourse coalitions and their struggles to 'control shared meanings' and to gain acceptance of their framing of a policy issue' [Durning D. A review of Fischer and Forrester (1993) The argumentative turn in policy analysis and planning. Policy Sci 1995;28(1):102-8]. SEA is one of the events in this process that may impact upon dominant discourses. Discourse analysis allows for an understanding of arguments that are considered legitimate for (not) incorporating particular elements of SEA. In addition it

Sea-ice thickness from field measurements in the northwestern Barents Sea

Science.gov (United States)

King, Jennifer; Spreen, Gunnar; Gerland, Sebastian; Haas, Christian; Hendricks, Stefan; Kaleschke, Lars; Wang, Caixin

2017-02-01

The Barents Sea is one of the fastest changing regions of the Arctic, and has experienced the strongest decline in winter-time sea-ice area in the Arctic, at -23±4% decade-1. Sea-ice thickness in the Barents Sea is not well studied. We present two previously unpublished helicopter-borne electromagnetic (HEM) ice thickness measurements from the northwestern Barents Sea acquired in March 2003 and 2014. The HEM data are compared to ice thickness calculated from ice draft measured by ULS deployed between 1994 and 1996. These data show that ice thickness varies greatly from year to year; influenced by the thermodynamic and dynamic processes that govern local formation vs long-range advection. In a year with a large inflow of sea-ice from the Arctic Basin, the Barents Sea ice cover is dominated by thick multiyear ice; as was the case in 2003 and 1995. In a year with an ice cover that was mainly grown in situ, the ice will be thin and mechanically unstable; as was the case in 2014. The HEM data allow us to explore the spatial and temporal variability in ice thickness. In 2003 the dominant ice class was more than 2 years old; and modal sea-ice thickness varied regionally from 0.6 to 1.4 m, with the thinner ice being either first-year ice, or multiyear ice which had come into contact with warm Atlantic water. In 2014 the ice cover was predominantly locally grown ice less than 1 month old (regional modes of 0.5-0.8 m). These two situations represent two extremes of a range of possible ice thickness distributions that can present very different conditions for shipping traffic; or have a different impact on heat transport from ocean to atmosphere.

Sea level ~400 000 years ago (MIS 11: analogue for present and future sea-level?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Q. Bowen

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Comparison of the sea-level today with that of 400 000 years ago (MIS 11, when the Earth's orbital characteristics were similar may provide, under conditions of natural variability, indications of future sea-level during the present interglacial. Then, as now, orbital eccentricity was low and precession dampened. Evidence for MIS 11 sea-level occurs on uplifting coastlines where shorelines with geochronological ages have been preserved. The sea-level term and the uplift term may be separated with an "uplift correction" formula. This discovers the original sea-level at which the now uplifted shoreline was fashioned. Estimates are based on average uplift rates of the "last interglacial" sea-level (MIS 5.5 using a range of estimates for sea-level and age at that time at different locations. These, with varying secular tectonic regimes in different ocean basins, provide a band of estimates for the MIS 11 sea-level. They do not support the hypothesis of an MIS 11 sea-level at ~20 m, and instead show that it was closer to its present level.

Monitoring of sinkholes and subsidence affecting the Jordanian coast of the Dead Sea through Synthetic Aperture Radar data and last generation Sentinel-1 data

Science.gov (United States)

Tessari, Giulia; Riccardi, Paolo; Lecci, Daniele; Pasquali, Paolo; Floris, Mario

2017-04-01

Since the mid-1980s the coast of the Dead Sea is affected by sinkholes occurring over and around the emerged mud and salt flats. Strong subsidence and landslides also affect some segments of the coast. Nowadays, several thousands of sinkholes attest that the degradation of the Dead Sea coast is worsening. Furthermore, soil deformations are interesting the main streets running along both the Israeli and Jordanian sides of the Dead Sea. These hazards are due to the dramatic dropping of the Dead Sea level, characterized by an increasing rate from about 60 cm/yr in the 1970s up to 1 m/yr in the 2000s, which provokes a lowering of the fresh-saline groundwater interface, replacing the hypersaline groundwater with fresh water and causing a consequent erosion of the subsurface salt layers. Subsidence, sinkholes, river erosion and landslides damage bridges, roads, dikes, houses, factories worsening this ongoing disaster. One of the most emblematic effects is the catastrophic collapse of a 12-km newly constructed dyke, located on the Lisan Peninsula (Jordan), occurred in 2000. Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques and Advanced stacking DInSAR techniques (A-DInSAR) were applied to investigate sinkholes and subsidence affecting the Jordanian coast of the Dead Sea. The use of SAR data already proof to be efficient on the risk management of the area, allowing to identify a vulnerable portion of an Israeli highway, averting a possible collapse. Deformation analysis has been focused on the Ghor Al Haditha area and Lisan peninsula, located in the South-Eastern part of the lake coast. The availability of a huge database of SAR data, since the beginning of the 90s, allowed to observe the evolution of the displacements which are damaging this area. Furthermore, last generation Sentinel-1 data, acquired by the ESA mission, were processed to obtain information about the recent evolution of the subsidence and sinkholes affecting the study area, from

The radioactivity of the sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, M.I.; Rose, K.S.B.

1990-01-01

The radioactivity in the world's surface sea water averages 13.6 Bq/kg of water. Over 88% of this activity arises from a single natural radionuclide, 40 K, and 7% of the remainder results from nuclear weapon test fallout. Variations in the radioactivity occur due to changes in salinity, weapon test fallout and discharges of artificial radionuclides, and are examined here on the basis of published measurements. The most radioactive sea identified by these measurements is the Dead Sea, which averages 178 Bq/kg due to its high salinity. Other enclosed, highly saline waters can be expected to have similar levels. The radioactivity in open seas varies within a much narrower range, generally within 20% of the world average. The highest averages are found in the Persian Gulf (22 Bq/kg), the Red Sea (15 Bq/kg) and the Eastern Mediterranean (14.6 Bq/kg). The Irish Sea averaged 13.7 Bq/kg in 1987, with the effect of the Sellafield discharges being partly offset by lower than average salinity. Although higher levels occurred in the Irish Sea during the 1970s when the Sellafield discharges were higher, the average level has always been much less than that in the Dead Sea, so that the Irish Sea has never been the most radioactive sea in the world. Exceptionally low levels of radioactivity (4 Bq/kg) occur in the Baltic Sea due to dilution by fresh water. (author)

Potential of sea level rise impact on South China Sea: a preliminary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effect of the sea level rise was involved the existence of sea water intrusion and coastal erosion phenomenon in the coastal of Terengganu. This study aim to determine fluctuation of high and low tides of the South China Sea in their relation to water quality value of Marang and Paka Rivers as well as from wells ...

Formation and spreading of Red Sea Outflow Water in the Red Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Ping; Bower, Amy S.; Smethie, William M.; Pratt, Larry J.

2015-09-01

Hydrographic data, chlorofluorocarbon-12 (CFC-12) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) measurements collected in March 2010 and September-October 2011 in the Red Sea, as well as an idealized numerical experiment are used to study the formation and spreading of Red Sea Outflow Water (RSOW) in the Red Sea. Analysis of inert tracers, potential vorticity distributions, and model results confirm that RSOW is formed through mixed-layer deepening caused by sea surface buoyancy loss in winter in the northern Red Sea and reveal more details on RSOW spreading rates, pathways, and vertical structure. The southward spreading of RSOW after its formation is identified as a layer with minimum potential vorticity and maximum CFC-12 and SF6. Ventilation ages of seawater within the RSOW layer, calculated from the partial pressure of SF6 (pSF6), range from 2 years in the northern Red Sea to 15 years at 17°N. The distribution of the tracer ages is in agreement with the model circulation field which shows a rapid transport of RSOW from its formation region to the southern Red Sea where there are longer circulation pathways and hence longer residence time due to basin wide eddies. The mean residence time of RSOW within the Red Sea estimated from the pSF6 age is 4.7 years. This time scale is very close to the mean transit time (4.8 years) for particles from the RSOW formation region to reach the exit at the Strait of Bab el Mandeb in the numerical experiment.

Formation of Barents Sea Branch Water in the north-eastern Barents Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vidar S. Lien

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The Barents Sea throughflow accounts for approximately half of the Atlantic Water advection to the Arctic Ocean, while the other half flows through Fram Strait. Within the Barents Sea, the Atlantic Water undergoes considerable modifications before entering the Arctic Ocean through the St. Anna Trough. While the inflow area in the south-western Barents Sea is regularly monitored, oceanographic data from the outflow area to the north-east are very scarce. Here, we use conductivity, temperature and depth data from August/September 2008 to describe in detail the water masses present in the downstream area of the Barents Sea, their spatial distribution and transformations. Both Cold Deep Water, formed locally through winter convection and ice-freezing processes, and Atlantic Water, modified mainly through atmospheric cooling, contribute directly to the Barents Sea Branch Water. As a consequence, it consists of a dense core characterized by a temperature and salinity maximum associated with the Atlantic Water, in addition to the colder, less saline and less dense core commonly referred to as the Barents Sea Branch Water core. The denser core likely constitutes a substantial part of the total flow, and it is more saline and considerably denser than the Fram Strait branch as observed within the St. Anna Trough. Despite the recent warming of the Barents Sea, the Barents Sea Branch Water is denser than observed in the 1990s, and the bottom water observed in the St. Anna Trough matches the potential density at 2000 m depth in the Arctic Ocean.

Sea ice contribution to the air-sea CO{sub 2} exchange in the Arctic and Southern Oceans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rysgaard, Soeren (Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Inst. of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland (Denmark); Centre for Earth Observation Science, CHR Faculty of Environment Earth and Resources, Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg (Canada)), e-mail: rysgaard@natur.gl; Bendtsen, Joergen (Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Inst. of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland (Denmark); Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Inst., Univ. of Copenhagen, Copenhagen O (Denmark)); Delille, Bruno (Unit' e d' Oceanographie Chimique, Interfacultary Centre for Marine Research, Universite de Liege, Liege (Belgium)); Dieckmann, Gerhard S. (Alfred Wegener Inst. for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven (Germany)); Glud, Ronnie N. (Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Inst. of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland (Denmark); Scottish Association of Marine Sciences, Scotland UK, Southern Danish Univ. and NordCee, Odense M (Denmark)); Kennedy, Hilary; Papadimitriou, Stathys (School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor Univ., Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales (United Kingdom)); Mortensen, John (Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Inst. of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland (Denmark)); Thomas, David N. (School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor Univ., Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales (United Kingdom); Finnish Environment Inst. (SYKE), Marine Research Centre, Helsinki (Finland)); Tison, Jean-Louis (Glaciology Unit, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, (Belgium))

2011-11-15

Although salt rejection from sea ice is a key process in deep-water formation in ice-covered seas, the concurrent rejection of CO{sub 2} and the subsequent effect on air-sea CO{sub 2} exchange have received little attention. We review the mechanisms by which sea ice directly and indirectly controls the air-sea CO{sub 2} exchange and use recent measurements of inorganic carbon compounds in bulk sea ice to estimate that oceanic CO{sub 2} uptake during the seasonal cycle of sea-ice growth and decay in ice-covered oceanic regions equals almost half of the net atmospheric CO{sub 2} uptake in ice-free polar seas. This sea-ice driven CO{sub 2} uptake has not been considered so far in estimates of global oceanic CO{sub 2} uptake. Net CO{sub 2} uptake in sea-ice-covered oceans can be driven by; (1) rejection during sea-ice formation and sinking of CO{sub 2}-rich brine into intermediate and abyssal oceanic water masses, (2) blocking of air-sea CO{sub 2} exchange during winter, and (3) release of CO{sub 2}-depleted melt water with excess total alkalinity during sea-ice decay and (4) biological CO{sub 2} drawdown during primary production in sea ice and surface oceanic waters

The flooding hazard. State of the art prior to the elaboration of the flooding guide for nuclear installations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lafon, F.; Benoit, M.; Cheviet, C.; Violeau, D.; Besnard, A.; Duluc, C.M.; Rebour, V.; Blanc, P.L.; Guimier, L.; Guigueno, Y.; Tarallo, F.; Pineau, L.; Ardhuin, F.; Goasguen, G.; L'Her, J.; Perherin, C.; Pedreros, R.; Krien, Y.; Poisson, B.; Perret, C.; Garcon, R.; Paquier, A.; Lavabre, J.; Roult, D.; Desbordes, M.; Laborde, J.P.; Kateb, L.; Hollender, F.; Rzepka, J.P.; LLop, L.; Bordes, D.; Lefranc, M.; Fry, J.J.; Aelbrecht, D.; Sidaner, J.F.; Martineau, D.; Blanchard, M.; Meurville, C.

2013-01-01

This publication gathers contributions of scientists which propose detailed discussions of various aspects related to water levels. A first part gathers contributions related to sea level and associated phenomena: high sea levels, waves and sea state, waves generated by a ship, sea levels in estuaries. The second part addresses rises of water level in rivers and the associated events: waterway hydro-metry, assessment of extreme flow rates by the 'methode du renouvellement', hydraulic aspects of rise in water levels, rise in water levels in small drainage basins, works failures, dike failure, lapping. The next set of contributions addresses phenomena which could affect all types of sites: rain waters and run-off, consequences of a wave on a site, underground water rising, degradation or dysfunction of works, circuits or equipment, dysfunction of hydraulic works, overstepping due to waves. A last part addresses the probabilistic characterization of extreme phenomena, and rain and flow rate warning systems

Powering and Motion Predictions of High Speed Sea Lift (HSSL) Ships

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gorski, Joseph; Miller, Ronald; Carrica, Pablo; Kandasamy, Mani; Stern, Fred

2007-01-01

High Speed Sea Lift (HSSL) is an important area of in terest for the US Navy. Computational tools are needed to predict the hydrodynamics of these configurations for their proper design and analysis in many areas including...

The Red Sea during the Last Glacial Maximum: implications for sea level reconstructions

Science.gov (United States)

Gildor, H.; Biton, E.; Peltier, W. R.

2006-12-01

The Red Sea (RS) is a semi-enclosed basin connected to the Indian Ocean via a narrow and shallow strait, and surrounded by arid areas which exhibits high sensitivity to atmospheric changes and sea level reduction. We have used the MIT GCM to investigate the changes in the hydrography and circulation in the RS in response to reduced sea level, variability in the Indian monsoons, and changes in atmospheric temperature and humidity that occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The model results show high sensitivity to sea level reduction especially in the salinity field (increasing with the reduction in sea level) together with a mild atmospheric impact. Sea level reduction decreases the stratification, increases subsurface temperatures, and alters the circulation pattern at the Strait of Bab el Mandab, which experiences a transition from submaximal flow to maximal flow. The reduction in sea level at LGM alters the location of deep water formation which shifts to an open sea convective site in the northern part of the RS compared to present day situation in which deep water is formed from the Gulf of Suez outflow. Our main result based on both the GCM and on a simple hydraulic control model which takes into account mixing process at the Strait of Bab El Mandeb, is that sea level was reduced by only ~100 m in the Bab El Mandeb region during the LGM, i.e. the water depth at the Hanish sill (the shallowest part in the Strait Bab el Mandab) was around 34 m. This result agrees with the recent reconstruction of the LGM low stand of the sea in this region based upon the ICE-5G (VM2) model of Peltier (2004).

Biologically-Oriented Processes in the Coastal Sea Ice Zone of the White Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Melnikov, I. A.

2002-12-01

The annual advance and retreat of sea ice is a major physical determinant of spatial and temporal changes in the structure and function of marine coastal biological communities. Sea ice biological data obtained in the tidal zone of Kandalaksha Gulf (White Sea) during 1996-2001 period will be presented. Previous observations in this area were mainly conducted during the ice-free summer season. However, there is little information on the ice-covered winter season (6-7 months duration), and, especially, on the sea-ice biology in the coastal zone within tidal regimes. During the January-May period time-series observations were conducted on transects along shorelines with coastal and fast ice. Trends in the annual extent of sea ice showed significant impacts on ice-associated biological communities. Three types of sea ice impact on kelps, balanoides, littorinas and amphipods are distinguished: (i) positive, when sea ice protects these populations from grinding (ii) negative, when ice grinds both fauna and flora, and (iii) a combined effect, when fast ice protects, but anchored ice grinds plant and animals. To understand the full spectrum of ecological problems caused by pollution on the coastal zone, as well as the problems of sea ice melting caused by global warming, an integrated, long-term study of the physical, chemical, and biological processes is needed.

Warming in the Nordic Seas, North Atlantic storms and thinning Arctic sea ice

Science.gov (United States)

Alexeev, Vladimir A.; Walsh, John E.; Ivanov, Vladimir V.; Semenov, Vladimir A.; Smirnov, Alexander V.

2017-08-01

Arctic sea ice over the last few decades has experienced a significant decline in coverage both in summer and winter. The currently warming Atlantic Water layer has a pronounced impact on sea ice in the Nordic Seas (including the Barents Sea). More open water combined with the prevailing atmospheric pattern of airflow from the southeast, and persistent North Atlantic storms such as the recent extremely strong Storm Frank in December 2015, lead to increased energy transport to the high Arctic. Each of these storms brings sizeable anomalies of heat to the high Arctic, resulting in significant warming and slowing down of sea ice growth or even melting. Our analysis indicates that the recently observed sea ice decline in the Nordic Seas during the cold season around Svalbard, Franz Joseph Land and Novaya Zemlya, and the associated heat release from open water into the atmosphere, contributed significantly to the increase in the downward longwave radiation throughout the entire Arctic. Added to other changes in the surface energy budget, this increase since the 1960s to the present is estimated to be at least 10 W m-2, which can result in thinner (up to at least 15-20 cm) Arctic ice at the end of the winter. This change in the surface budget is an important contributing factor accelerating the thinning of Arctic sea ice.

Polarimetric signatures of sea ice in the Greenland Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skriver, Henning; Pedersen, Leif Toudal

1995-01-01

Polarimetric SAR data of sea ice have been acquired by the Danish polarimetric SAR (EMISAR) during a mission at the Greenland Sea in August 1994. Video recordings from a low-altitude acquisition have been used for interpretation of the SAR data. Also, ERS-1 SAR data and NOAA AVHRR-data have been...

Baltic Earth - Earth System Science for the Baltic Sea Region

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, Markus; Rutgersson, Anna; Lehmann, Andreas; Reckermann, Marcus

2014-05-01

for the Baltic Sea 1960-2100 • Outreach and Communication • Education The issue of anthropogenic changes and impacts on the Earth system of the Baltic Sea region is recognized as a major topic, and shall receive special attention. The intention of the "Outreach and Communication" and "Education" groups will be to initiate and design potential outreach activities and to provide an arena for scientific exchange and discussion around the Baltic Sea, to communicate findings and exchange views within the Baltic Earth research community internally and to other researchers and society, both professionals and non-professionals. A regular international Baltic Earth Summer School shall be established from 2015. There will be a strong continuity related to BALTEX in infrastructure (secretariat, conferences, publications) and the network (people and institutions).

Micro-CT of sea urchin ossicles supplemented with microbeam diffraction

Science.gov (United States)

Stock, Stuart R.; Ignatiev, Konstantin I.; Veis, Arthur; De Carlo, Francesco; Almer, J. D.

2004-10-01

Sea urchins employ as wide a range of composite reinforcement strategies as are seen in engineering composites. Besides tailoring reinforcement morphology and alignment to the functional demands of position, solid solution strengthening (high Mg calcite), inclusion toughening (macromolecules), functional gradients in mineral reinforcement morphology, composition and dimensions and mineral interface tailoring are other tactics important to achieving high toughness and high strength in sea urchin teeth. Teeth from different echinoid families illustrate combinations of reinforcement parameters and toughening mechanisms providing good functionality, a virtual probe of the available design space. This paper focuses on a multi-mode x-ray investigation of sea urchin teeth studied on scales approaching 1 μm in millimeter-sized samples, in particular mapping 3-D microarchitecture with synchrotron and laboratory microCT and mapping Ca1-xMgxCO3 crystal composition x and microstrain and crystallite size via microbeam diffraction.

Temperature, salinity, and nutrients data collected from North Atlantic Ocean, White Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Sea of Azov from 1924-03-19 to 1989-11-19 by multiple Soviet Union institutes (NODC Accession 0077413)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature, salinity, and nutrients data collected from North Atlantic Ocean, White Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Sea of Azov from 1924-03-19 to 1989-11-19...

Duel frequency echo data acquisition system for sea-floor classification

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Navelkar, G.S.; Desai, R.G.P.; Chakraborty, B.

An echo data acquisition system is designed to digitize echo signal from a single beam shipboard echo-sounder for use in sea-floor classification studies using a 12 bit analog to digital (A/D) card with a maximum sampling frequency of 1 MHz. Both 33...

Environmental impact of sea bass cage farming in the north Adriatic Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Domenico Lanari

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of the research was to reduce the organic and nutrient load under the net pen fish farms. An exper- iment was conducted to study the effects of artificial barriers fixed under a set of sea cages in order to reduce the envi- ronmental impact. The artificial barriers were made of four submerged galvanized steel pipes coated with plastic and placed on the sea floor (10 m depth in the Trieste gulf. The experimental design was as follows: control (C, cages with barriers (B, cages without barriers (WB. Measurements were taken on the surface as well as at 4 and 8m of depth. The trial lasted from the end of June 2000 to December 2001. Water quality parameters were not significantly influenced by the fish cages. Surface samples were characterised by lower levels of salinity and higher levels of oxygen and nitrate compared to those taken at 4 and 8 m. The artificial barriers favoured the establishment of a rich epiphytic fauna that took advantage of the presence of organic matter derived from fish cages. The two species Nucula nucleusand Neanthes caudataand the total bacterial counts were identified as potential indicators of pollution under the fish cage farms.

Raising the Dead without a Red Sea-Dead Sea project? Hydro-economics and governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. E. Rosenberg

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Seven decades of extractions have dramatically reduced Jordan River flows, lowered the Dead Sea level, opened sink holes, and caused other environmental problems. The fix Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinians propose would build an expensive multipurpose conveyance project from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea that would also generate hydropower and desalinate water. This paper compares the Red-Dead project to alternatives that may also raise the Dead Sea level. Hydro-economic model results for the Jordan-Israel-Palestinian inter-tied water systems show two restoration alternatives are more economically viable than the proposed Red-Dead project. Many decentralized new supply, wastewater reuse, conveyance, conservation, and leak reduction projects and programs in each country can together increase economic benefits and reliably deliver up to 900 MCM yr⁻¹ to the Dead Sea. Similarly, a smaller Red-Dead project that only generates hydropower can deliver large flows to the Dead Sea when the sale price of generated electricity is sufficiently high. However, for all restoration options, net benefits fall and water scarcity rises as flows to the Dead Sea increase. This finding suggests (i each country has no individual incentive to return water to the Dead Sea, and (ii outside institutions that seek to raise the Dead must also offer countries direct incentives to deliver water to the Sea besides building the countries new infrastructure.

[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.

Frost flowers and sea-salt aerosols over seasonal sea-ice areas in northwestern Greenland during winter–spring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Hara

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Sea salts and halogens in aerosols, frost flowers, and brine play an important role in atmospheric chemistry in polar regions. Simultaneous sampling and observations of frost flowers, brine, and aerosol particles were conducted around Siorapaluk in northwestern Greenland during December 2013 to March 2014. Results show that water-soluble frost flower and brine components are sea-salt components (e.g., Na+, Cl−, Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, Br−, and iodine. Concentration factors of sea-salt components of frost flowers and brine relative to seawater were 1.14–3.67. Sea-salt enrichment of Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, and halogens (Cl−, Br−, and iodine in frost flowers is associated with sea-salt fractionation by precipitation of mirabilite and hydrohalite. High aerosol number concentrations correspond to the occurrence of higher abundance of sea-salt particles in both coarse and fine modes, and blowing snow and strong winds. Aerosol number concentrations, particularly in coarse mode, are increased considerably by release from the sea-ice surface under strong wind conditions. Sulfate depletion by sea-salt fractionation was found to be limited in sea-salt aerosols because of the presence of non-sea-salt (NSS SO42−. However, coarse and fine sea-salt particles were found to be rich in Mg. Strong Mg enrichment might be more likely to proceed in fine sea-salt particles. Magnesium-rich sea-salt particles might be released from the surface of snow and slush layer (brine on sea ice and frost flowers. Mirabilite-like and ikaite-like particles were identified only in aerosol samples collected near new sea-ice areas. From the field evidence and results from earlier studies, we propose and describe sea-salt cycles in seasonal sea-ice areas.

Frost flowers and sea-salt aerosols over seasonal sea-ice areas in northwestern Greenland during winter-spring

Science.gov (United States)

Hara, Keiichiro; Matoba, Sumito; Hirabayashi, Motohiro; Yamasaki, Tetsuhide

2017-07-01

Sea salts and halogens in aerosols, frost flowers, and brine play an important role in atmospheric chemistry in polar regions. Simultaneous sampling and observations of frost flowers, brine, and aerosol particles were conducted around Siorapaluk in northwestern Greenland during December 2013 to March 2014. Results show that water-soluble frost flower and brine components are sea-salt components (e.g., Na+, Cl-, Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, Br-, and iodine). Concentration factors of sea-salt components of frost flowers and brine relative to seawater were 1.14-3.67. Sea-salt enrichment of Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, and halogens (Cl-, Br-, and iodine) in frost flowers is associated with sea-salt fractionation by precipitation of mirabilite and hydrohalite. High aerosol number concentrations correspond to the occurrence of higher abundance of sea-salt particles in both coarse and fine modes, and blowing snow and strong winds. Aerosol number concentrations, particularly in coarse mode, are increased considerably by release from the sea-ice surface under strong wind conditions. Sulfate depletion by sea-salt fractionation was found to be limited in sea-salt aerosols because of the presence of non-sea-salt (NSS) SO42-. However, coarse and fine sea-salt particles were found to be rich in Mg. Strong Mg enrichment might be more likely to proceed in fine sea-salt particles. Magnesium-rich sea-salt particles might be released from the surface of snow and slush layer (brine) on sea ice and frost flowers. Mirabilite-like and ikaite-like particles were identified only in aerosol samples collected near new sea-ice areas. From the field evidence and results from earlier studies, we propose and describe sea-salt cycles in seasonal sea-ice areas.