A biologically relevant method for considering patterns of oceanic retention in the Southern Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Mao; Corney, Stuart P.; Melbourne-Thomas, Jessica; Klocker, Andreas; Sumner, Michael; Constable, Andrew

2017-12-01

Many marine species have planktonic forms - either during a larval stage or throughout their lifecycle - that move passively or are strongly influenced by ocean currents. Understanding these patterns of movement is important for informing marine ecosystem management and for understanding ecological processes generally. Retention of biological particles in a particular area due to ocean currents has received less attention than transport pathways, particularly for the Southern Ocean. We present a method for modelling retention time, based on the half-life for particles in a particular region, that is relevant for biological processes. This method uses geostrophic velocities at the ocean surface, derived from 23 years of satellite altimetry data (1993-2016), to simulate the advection of passive particles during the Southern Hemisphere summer season (from December to March). We assess spatial patterns in the retention time of passive particles and evaluate the processes affecting these patterns for the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Our results indicate that the distribution of retention time is related to bathymetric features and the resulting ocean dynamics. Our analysis also reveals a moderate level of consistency between spatial patterns of retention time and observations of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) distribution.

The Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems program: Understanding and managing our coastal ocean. Volume 1: Strategic summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1990-05-15

The proposed COPS (Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems) program is concerned with combining numerical models with observations (through data assimilation) to improve our predictive knowledge of the coastal ocean. It is oriented toward applied research and development and depends upon the continued pursuit of basic research in programs like COOP (Coastal Ocean Processes); i.e., to a significant degree it is involved with ``technology transfer`` from basic knowledge to operational and management applications. This predictive knowledge is intended to address a variety of societal problems: (1) ship routing, (2) trajectories for search and rescue operations, (3) oil spill trajectory simulations, (4) pollution assessments, (5) fisheries management guidance, (6) simulation of the coastal ocean`s response to climate variability, (7) calculation of sediment transport, (8) calculation of forces on structures, and so forth. The initial concern is with physical models and observations in order to provide a capability for the estimation of physical forces and transports in the coastal ocean. For all these applications, there are common needs for physical field estimates: waves, tides, currents, temperature, and salinity, including mixed layers, thermoclines, fronts, jets, etc. However, the intent is to work with biologists, chemists, and geologists in developing integrated multidisciplinary prediction systems as it becomes feasible to do so. From another perspective, by combining observations with models through data assimilation, a modern approach to monitoring is provided through whole-field estimation.

Dispersal from deep ocean sources: physical and related scientific processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, A.R.; Kupferman, S.L.

1985-02-01

This report presents the results of the workshop ''Dispersal from Deep Ocean Sources: Physical and Related Scientific Processes,'' together with subsequent developments and syntheses of the material discussed there. The project was undertaken to develop usable predictive descriptions of dispersal from deep oceanic sources. Relatively simple theoretical models embodying modern ocean physics were applied, and observational and experimental data bases were exploited. All known physical processes relevant to the dispersal of passive, conservative tracers were discussed, and contact points for inclusion of nonconservative processes (biological and chemical) were identified. Numerical estimates of the amplitude, space, and time scales of dispersion were made for various mechanisms that control the evolution of the dispersal as the material spreads from a bottom point source to small-, meso-, and world-ocean scales. Recommendations for additional work are given. The volume is presented as a handbook of dispersion processes. It is intended to be updated as new results become available

Processes of multibathyal aragonite undersaturation in the Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Wynn, J. G.; Robbins, L. L.; Anderson, L. G.

2016-11-01

During 3 years of study (2010-2012), the western Arctic Ocean was found to have unique aragonite saturation profiles with up to three distinct aragonite undersaturation zones. This complexity is produced as inflow of Atlantic-derived and Pacific-derived water masses mix with Arctic-derived waters, which are further modified by physiochemical and biological processes. The shallowest aragonite undersaturation zone, from the surface to ˜30 m depth is characterized by relatively low alkalinity and other dissolved ions. Besides local influence of biological processes on aragonite undersaturation of shallow coastal waters, the nature of this zone is consistent with dilution by sea-ice melt and invasion of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere. A second undersaturated zone at ˜90-220 m depth (salinity ˜31.8-35.4) occurs within the Arctic Halocline and is characterized by elevated pCO2 and nutrients. The nature of this horizon is consistent with remineralization of organic matter on shallow continental shelves bordering the Canada Basin and the input of the nutrients and CO2 entrained by currents from the Pacific Inlet. Finally, the deepest aragonite undersaturation zone is at greater than 2000 m depth and is controlled by similar processes as deep aragonite saturation horizons in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The comparatively shallow depth of this deepest aragonite saturation horizon in the Arctic is maintained by relatively low temperatures, and stable chemical composition. Understanding the mechanisms controlling the distribution of these aragonite undersaturation zones, and the time scales over which they operate will be crucial to refine predictive models.

Processes of multibathyal aragonite undersaturation in the Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Wynn, J.G.; Robbins, L.L.; Anderson, L.G.

2016-01-01

During 3 years of study (2010–2012), the western Arctic Ocean was found to have unique aragonite saturation profiles with up to three distinct aragonite undersaturation zones. This complexity is produced as inflow of Atlantic-derived and Pacific-derived water masses mix with Arctic-derived waters, which are further modified by physiochemical and biological processes. The shallowest aragonite undersaturation zone, from the surface to ∼30 m depth is characterized by relatively low alkalinity and other dissolved ions. Besides local influence of biological processes on aragonite undersaturation of shallow coastal waters, the nature of this zone is consistent with dilution by sea-ice melt and invasion of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere. A second undersaturated zone at ∼90–220 m depth (salinity ∼31.8–35.4) occurs within the Arctic Halocline and is characterized by elevated pCO2 and nutrients. The nature of this horizon is consistent with remineralization of organic matter on shallow continental shelves bordering the Canada Basin and the input of the nutrients and CO2 entrained by currents from the Pacific Inlet. Finally, the deepest aragonite undersaturation zone is at greater than 2000 m depth and is controlled by similar processes as deep aragonite saturation horizons in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The comparatively shallow depth of this deepest aragonite saturation horizon in the Arctic is maintained by relatively low temperatures, and stable chemical composition. Understanding the mechanisms controlling the distribution of these aragonite undersaturation zones, and the time scales over which they operate will be crucial to refine predictive models.

Ocean Robotic Networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schofield, Oscar [Rutgers University

2012-05-23

We live on an ocean planet which is central to regulating the Earth’s climate and human society. Despite the importance of understanding the processes operating in the ocean, it remains chronically undersampled due to the harsh operating conditions. This is problematic given the limited long term information available about how the ocean is changing. The changes include rising sea level, declining sea ice, ocean acidification, and the decline of mega fauna. While the changes are daunting, oceanography is in the midst of a technical revolution with the expansion of numerical modeling techniques, combined with ocean robotics. Operating together, these systems represent a new generation of ocean observatories. I will review the evolution of these ocean observatories and provide a few case examples of the science that they enable, spanning from the waters offshore New Jersey to the remote waters of the Southern Ocean.

Understanding the nature of atmospheric acid processing of mineral dusts in supplying bioavailable phosphorus to the oceans.

Science.gov (United States)

Stockdale, Anthony; Krom, Michael D; Mortimer, Robert J G; Benning, Liane G; Carslaw, Kenneth S; Herbert, Ross J; Shi, Zongbo; Myriokefalitakis, Stelios; Kanakidou, Maria; Nenes, Athanasios

2016-12-20

Acidification of airborne dust particles can dramatically increase the amount of bioavailable phosphorus (P) deposited on the surface ocean. Experiments were conducted to simulate atmospheric processes and determine the dissolution behavior of P compounds in dust and dust precursor soils. Acid dissolution occurs rapidly (seconds to minutes) and is controlled by the amount of H + ions present. For H + 10 -4 mol/g of dust, the amount of P (and calcium) released has a direct proportionality to the amount of H + consumed until all inorganic P minerals are exhausted and the final pH remains acidic. Once dissolved, P will stay in solution due to slow precipitation kinetics. Dissolution of apatite-P (Ap-P), the major mineral phase in dust (79-96%), occurs whether calcium carbonate (calcite) is present or not, although the increase in dissolved P is greater if calcite is absent or if the particles are externally mixed. The system was modeled adequately as a simple mixture of Ap-P and calcite. P dissolves readily by acid processes in the atmosphere in contrast to iron, which dissolves more slowly and is subject to reprecipitation at cloud water pH. We show that acidification can increase bioavailable P deposition over large areas of the globe, and may explain much of the previously observed patterns of variability in leachable P in oceanic areas where primary productivity is limited by this nutrient (e.g., Mediterranean).

Oceanic forcing of coral reefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Ryan J; Falter, James L

2015-01-01

Although the oceans play a fundamental role in shaping the distribution and function of coral reefs worldwide, a modern understanding of the complex interactions between ocean and reef processes is still only emerging. These dynamics are especially challenging owing to both the broad range of spatial scales (less than a meter to hundreds of kilometers) and the complex physical and biological feedbacks involved. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of these processes, ranging from the small-scale mechanics of flow around coral communities and their influence on nutrient exchange to larger, reef-scale patterns of wave- and tide-driven circulation and their effects on reef water quality and perceived rates of metabolism. We also examine regional-scale drivers of reefs such as coastal upwelling, internal waves, and extreme disturbances such as cyclones. Our goal is to show how a wide range of ocean-driven processes ultimately shape the growth and metabolism of coral reefs.

Impacts of ocean acidification on sediment processes in shallow waters of the Arctic Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Gazeau, Frédéric; van Rijswijk, Pieter; Pozzato, Lara; Middelburg, Jack J

2014-01-01

Despite the important roles of shallow-water sediments in global biogeochemical cycling, the effects of ocean acidification on sedimentary processes have received relatively little attention. As high-latitude cold waters can absorb more CO2 and usually have a lower buffering capacity than warmer waters, acidification rates in these areas are faster than those in sub-tropical regions. The present study investigates the effects of ocean acidification on sediment composition, processes and sediment-water fluxes in an Arctic coastal system. Undisturbed sediment cores, exempt of large dwelling organisms, were collected, incubated for a period of 14 days, and subject to a gradient of pCO2 covering the range of values projected for the end of the century. On five occasions during the experimental period, the sediment cores were isolated for flux measurements (oxygen, alkalinity, dissolved inorganic carbon, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and silicate). At the end of the experimental period, denitrification rates were measured and sediment samples were taken at several depth intervals for solid-phase analyses. Most of the parameters and processes (i.e. mineralization, denitrification) investigated showed no relationship with the overlying seawater pH, suggesting that ocean acidification will have limited impacts on the microbial activity and associated sediment-water fluxes on Arctic shelves, in the absence of active bio-irrigating organisms. Only following a pH decrease of 1 pH unit, not foreseen in the coming 300 years, significant enhancements of calcium carbonate dissolution and anammox rates were observed. Longer-term experiments on different sediment types are still required to confirm the limited impact of ocean acidification on shallow Arctic sediment processes as observed in this study.

Structures within the oceanic crust of the central South China Sea basin and their implications for oceanic accretionary processes

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Weiwei; Sun, Zhen; Dadd, Kelsie; Fang, Yinxia; Li, Jiabiao

2018-04-01

Internal structures in mature oceanic crust can elucidate understanding of the processes and mechanism of crustal accretion. In this study, we present two multi-channel seismic (MCS) transects across the northern flank of the South China Sea basin to reveal the internal structures related to Cenozoic tectono-magmatic processes during seafloor spreading. Bright reflectors within the oceanic crust, including the Moho, upper crustal reflectors, and lower crustal reflectors, are clearly imaged in these two transects. The Moho reflection displays varied character in continuity, shape and amplitude from the continental slope area to the abyssal basin, and becomes absent in the central part of the basin where abundant seamounts and seamount chains formed after the cessation of seafloor spreading. Dipping reflectors are distinct in most parts of the MCS data but generally confined to the lower crust above the Moho reflection. These lower crustal reflectors merge downward into the Moho without offsetting it, probably arising from shear zones between the crust and mantle characterized by interstitial melt, although we cannot exclude other possibilities such as brittle faulting or magmatic layering in the local area. A notable feature of these lower crustal reflector events is their opposite inclinations. We suggest the two groups of conjugate lower crustal reflector events observed between magnetic anomalies C11 and C8 were associated with two unusual accretionary processes arising from plate reorganizations with southward ridge jumps.

Preface for Discussion on Mid-Ocean Ridges: dynamics of processes associated with creation of new ocean crust

Science.gov (United States)

Cann, J. R.; Elderfield, H.; Laughton, A.

Preface for Discussion on Mid-Ocean Ridges: dynamics of processes associated with creation of new ocean crust. A Discussion held at the Royal Society on 6th and 7th March 1996. Organized and edited by J. R. Cann, H. Elderfield and A. Laughton.

Understanding oceanic migrations with intrinsic biogeochemical markers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raül Ramos

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Migratory marine vertebrates move annually across remote oceanic water masses crossing international borders. Many anthropogenic threats such as overfishing, bycatch, pollution or global warming put millions of marine migrants at risk especially during their long-distance movements. Therefore, precise knowledge about these migratory movements to understand where and when these animals are more exposed to human impacts is vital for addressing marine conservation issues. Because electronic tracking devices suffer from several constraints, mainly logistical and financial, there is emerging interest in finding appropriate intrinsic markers, such as the chemical composition of inert tissues, to study long-distance migrations and identify wintering sites. Here, using tracked pelagic seabirds and some of their own feathers which were known to be grown at different places and times within the annual cycle, we proved the value of biogeochemical analyses of inert tissue as tracers of marine movements and habitat use. Analyses of feathers grown in summer showed that both stable isotope signatures and element concentrations can signal the origin of breeding birds feeding in distinct water masses. However, only stable isotopes signalled water masses used during winter because elements mainly accumulated during the long breeding period are incorporated into feathers grown in both summer and winter. Our findings shed new light on the simple and effective assignment of marine organisms to distinct oceanic areas, providing new opportunities to study unknown migration patterns of secretive species, including in relation to human-induced mortality on specific populations in the marine environment.

Acoustic explorations of the upper ocean boundary layer

Science.gov (United States)

Vagle, Svein

2005-04-01

The upper ocean boundary layer is an important but difficult to probe part of the ocean. A better understanding of small scale processes at the air-sea interface, including the vertical transfer of gases, heat, mass and momentum, are crucial to improving our understanding of the coupling between atmosphere and ocean. Also, this part of the ocean contains a significant part of the total biomass at all trophic levels and is therefore of great interest to researchers in a range of different fields. Innovative measurement plays a critical role in developing our understanding of the processes involved in the boundary layer, and the availability of low-cost, compact, digital signal processors and sonar technology in self-contained and cabled configurations has led to a number of exciting developments. This talk summarizes some recent explorations of this dynamic boundary layer using both active and passive acoustics. The resonant behavior of upper ocean bubbles combined with single and multi-frequency broad band active and passive devices are now giving us invaluable information on air-sea gas transfer, estimation of biological production, marine mammal behavior, wind speed and precipitation, surface and internal waves, turbulence, and acoustic communication in the surf zone.

Retrospective satellite ocean color analysis of purposeful and natural ocean iron fertilization

Science.gov (United States)

Westberry, Toby K.; Behrenfeld, Michael J.; Milligan, Allen J.; Doney, Scott C.

2013-03-01

Significant effort has been invested in understanding the role of iron in marine ecosystems over the past few decades. What began as shipboard amendment experiments quickly grew into a succession of in situ, mesoscale ocean iron fertilization (OIF) experiments carried out in all three high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) regions of the world ocean. Dedicated process studies have also looked at regions of the ocean that are seasonally exposed to iron-replete conditions as natural OIF experiments. However, one problem common to many OIF experiments is determination of biological response beyond the duration of the experiment (typicallyfloristic shifts in the phytoplankton community. Further, a consistent pattern of decreased satellite fluorescence efficiency (FLH:Chl or ϕf) following OIF is observed that is in agreement with current understanding of phytoplankton physiological responses to relief from iron stress. The current study extends our ability to retrieve phytoplankton physiology from space-based sensors, strengthens the link between satellite fluorescence and iron availability, and shows that satellite ocean color analyses provide a unique tool for monitoring OIF experiments.

Transdisciplinary science: a path to understanding the interactions among ocean acidification, ecosystems, and society

Science.gov (United States)

Yates, Kimberly K.; Turley, Carol; Hopkinson, Brian M.; Todgham, Anne E.; Cross, Jessica N.; Greening, Holly; Williamson, Phillip; Van Hooidonk, Ruben; Deheyn, Dimitri D.; Johnson, Zachary

2015-01-01

The global nature of ocean acidification (OA) transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The scientific community recognizes that the biggest challenge in improving understanding of how changing OA conditions affect ecosystems, and associated consequences for human society, requires integration of experimental, observational, and modeling approaches from many disciplines over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Such transdisciplinary science is the next step in providing relevant, meaningful results and optimal guidance to policymakers and coastal managers. We discuss the challenges associated with integrating ocean acidification science across funding agencies, institutions, disciplines, topical areas, and regions, and the value of unifying science objectives and activities to deliver insights into local, regional, and global scale impacts. We identify guiding principles and strategies for developing transdisciplinary research in the ocean acidification science community.

The Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO): Sensor and Data Processing Overview

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-20

backscattering coefficients, and others. Several of these software modules will be developed within the Automated Processing System (APS), a data... Automated Processing System (APS) NRL developed APS, which processes satellite data into ocean color data products. APS is a collection of methods...used for ocean color processing which provide the tools for the automated processing of satellite imagery [1]. These tools are in the process of

From magma-poor Ocean Continent Transitions to steady state oceanic spreading: the balance between tectonic and magmatic processes

Science.gov (United States)

Gillard, Morgane; Manatschal, Gianreto; Autin, Julia; Decarlis, Alessandro; Sauter, Daniel

2016-04-01

The evolution of magma-poor rifted margins is linked to the development of a transition zone whose basement is neither clearly continental nor oceanic. The development of this Ocean-Continent Transition (OCT) is generally associated to the exhumation of serpentinized mantle along one or several detachment faults. That model is supported by numerous observations (IODP wells, dredges, fossil margins) and by numerical modelling. However, if the initiation of detachment faults in a magma-poor setting tends to be better understood by numerous studies in various area, the transition with the first steady state oceanic crust and the associated processes remain enigmatic and poorly studied. Indeed, this latest stage of evolution appears to be extremely gradual and involves strong interactions between tectonic processes and magmatism. Contrary to the proximal part of the exhumed domain where we can observe magmatic activity linked to the exhumation process (exhumation of gabbros, small amount of basalts above the exhumed mantle), in the most distal part the magmatic system appears to be independent and more active. In particular, we can observe large amounts of extrusive material above a previously exhumed and faulted basement (e.g. Alps, Australia-Antarctica margins). It seems that some faults can play the role of feeder systems for the magma in this area. Magmatic underplating is also important, as suggested by basement uplift and anomalously thick crust (e.g. East Indian margin). It results that the transition with the first steady state oceanic crust is marked by the presence of a hybrid basement, composed by exhumed mantle and magmatic material, whose formation is linked to several tectonic and magmatic events. One could argue that this basement is not clearly different from an oceanic basement. However, we consider that true, steady state oceanic crust only exists, if the entire rock association forming the crust is created during a single event, at a localized

SPURS: Salinity Processes in the Upper-Ocean Regional Study: THE NORTH ATLANTIC EXPERIMENT

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, Eric; Bryan, Frank; Schmitt, Ray

2015-01-01

In this special issue of Oceanography, we explore the results of SPURS-1, the first part of the ocean process study Salinity Processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study (SPURS). The experiment was conducted between August 2012 and October 2013 in the subtropical North Atlantic and was the first of two experiments (SPURS come in pairs!). SPURS-2 is planned for 20162017 in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean.

Impacts of ocean acidification on sediment processes in shallow waters of the Arctic Ocean

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gazeau, F.; van Rijswijk, P.; Pozzato, L.; Middelburg, J.J.

Despite the important roles of shallow-water sediments in global biogeochemical cycling, the effects of ocean acidification on sedimentary processes have received relatively little attention. As high-latitude cold waters can absorb more CO2 and usually have a lower buffering capacity than warmer

Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Sediment Processes in Shallow Waters of the Arctic Ocean

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gazeau, F.; van Rijswijk, P.; Pozzato, L.; Middelburg, J.J.

2014-01-01

Despite the important roles of shallow-water sediments in global biogeochemical cycling, the effects of ocean acidification on sedimentary processes have received relatively little attention. As high-latitude cold waters can absorb more CO2 and usually have a lower buffering capacity than warmer

Understanding ocean acidification impacts on organismal to ecological scales

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Andreas J; Kline, David I; Edmunds, Peter J; Archer, Stephen D; Bednaršek, Nina; Carpenter, Robert C; Chadsey, Meg; Goldstein, Philip; Grottoli, Andrea G.; Hurst, Thomas P; King, Andrew L; Kübler, Janet E.; Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Mackey, Katherine R M; Menge, Bruce A.; Paytan, Adina; Riebesell, Ulf; Schnetzer, Astrid; Warner, Mark E; Zimmerman, Richard C

2015-01-01

Ocean acidification (OA) research seeks to understand how marine ecosystems and global elemental cycles will respond to changes in seawater carbonate chemistry in combination with other environmental perturbations such as warming, eutrophication, and deoxygenation. Here, we discuss the effectiveness and limitations of current research approaches used to address this goal. A diverse combination of approaches is essential to decipher the consequences of OA to marine organisms, communities, and ecosystems. Consequently, the benefits and limitations of each approach must be considered carefully. Major research challenges involve experimentally addressing the effects of OA in the context of large natural variability in seawater carbonate system parameters and other interactive variables, integrating the results from different research approaches, and scaling results across different temporal and spatial scales.

Coastal biogeochemical processes in the north Indian Ocean (14, S-W)

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Naqvi, S.W.A.; Narvekar, P.V.; Desa, E.

of the region are also shown with the numbers denoting the annual runoff in 10" m3. Due to the proximity to landmasses, the North Indian Ocean is probably af- fected by processes originating at the land-ocean boundary more than any other region. Lndeed... IN TIiE NORTH INDIAN OCEAN tion of contributions by the Indian oceanographic community, most of this infor- mation has been generated by scientists from countries outside this region under international efforts that started with the John Murray...

AFSC/ABL: Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) fish and oceanography data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Understanding the processes that regulate early marine survival of salmon is a major goal of the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) Northeast Pacific (NEP)...

Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, Tsung-Hung; Takahashi, Taro

1993-01-01

Factors controlling the capacity of the ocean for taking up anthropogenic C0 2 include carbon chemistry, distribution of alkalinity, pCO 2 and total concentration of dissolved C0 2 , sea-air pCO 2 difference, gas exchange rate across the sea-air interface, biological carbon pump, ocean water circulation and mixing, and dissolution of carbonate in deep sea sediments. A general review of these processes is given and models of ocean-atmosphere system based on our understanding of these regulating processes axe used to estimate the magnitude of C0 2 uptake by the ocean. We conclude that the ocean can absorb up to 35% of the fossil fuel emission. Direct measurements show that 55% Of C0 2 from fossil fuel burning remains in the atmosphere. The remaining 10% is not accounted for by atmospheric increases and ocean uptake. In addition, it is estimated that an amount equivalent to 30% of recent annual fossil fuel emissions is released into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation and farming. To balance global carbon budget, a sizable carbon sink besides the ocean is needed. Storage of carbon in terrestrial biosphere as a result of C0 2 fertilization is a potential candidate for such missing carbon sinks

Increasing ocean sciences in K and 1st grade classrooms through ocean sciences curriculum aligned to A Framework for K-12 Science Education, and implementation support.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedemonte, S.; Weiss, E. L.

2016-02-01

Ocean and climate sciences are rarely introduced at the early elementary levels. Reasons for this vary, but include little direct attention at the national and state levels; lack of quality instructional materials; and, lack of teacher content knowledge. Recent recommendations by the National Research Council, "revise the Earth and Space sciences core ideas and grade band endpoints to include more attention to the ocean whenever possible" (NRC, 2012, p. 336) adopted in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), may increase the call for ocean and climate sciences to be addressed. In response to these recommendations' and the recognition that an understanding of some of the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) would be incomplete without an understanding of processes or phenomena unique to the ocean and ocean organisms; the ocean Literacy community have created documents that show the alignment of NGSS with the Ocean Literacy Principles and Fundamental Concepts (Ocean Literacy, 2013) as well as the Ocean Literacy Scope and Sequence for Grades K-12 (Ocean Literacy, 2010), providing a solid argument for how and to what degree ocean sciences should be part of the curriculum. However, the percentage of science education curricula focused on the ocean remains very low. This session will describe a new project, that draws on the expertise of curriculum developers, ocean literacy advocates, and researchers to meet the challenges of aligning ocean sciences curriculum to NGSS, and supporting its implementation. The desired outcomes of the proposed project are to provide a rigorous standards aligned curricula that addresses all of the Life Sciences, and some Earth and Space Sciences and Engineering Design Core Ideas for Grades K and 1; and provides teachers with the support they need to understand the content and begin implementation. The process and lessons learned will be shared.

Simulating and understanding the gap outflow and oceanic response over the Gulf of Tehuantepec during GOTEX

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Xiaodong; Peng, Melinda; Wang, Shouping; Wang, Qing

2018-06-01

Tehuantepecer is a strong mountain gap wind traveling through Chivela Pass into eastern Pacific coast in southern Mexico, most commonly between October and February and brings huge impacts on local and surrounding meteorology and oceanography. Gulf of Tehuantepec EXperiment (GOTEX) was conducted in February 2004 to enhance the understanding of the strong offshore gap wind, ocean cooling, vertical circulations and interactions among them. The gap wind event during GOTEX was simulated using the U.S. Navy Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS®). The simulations are compared and validated with the observations retrieved from several satellites (GOES 10-12, MODIS/Aqua/Terra, TMI, and QuikSCAT) and Airborne EXpendable BathyThermograph (AXBT). The study shows that the gap wind outflow has a fanlike pattern expending from the coast and with a strong diurnal variability. The surface wind stress and cooling along the axis of the gap wind outflow caused intense upwelling and vertical mixing in the upper ocean; both contributed to the cooling of the ocean mixed layer under the gap wind. The cooling pattern of sea surface temperature (SST) also reflects temperature advection by the nearby ocean eddies to have a crescent shape. Two sensitivity experiments were conducted to understand the relative roles of the wind stress and heat flux on the ocean cooling. The control has more cooling right under the gap flow region than either the wind-stress-only or the heat-flux-only experiment. Overall, the wind stress has a slightly larger effect in bringing down the ocean temperature near the surface and plays a more important role in local ocean circulations beneath the mixed layer. The impact of surface heat flux on the ocean is more limited to the top 30 m within the mixed layer and is symmetric to the gap flow region by cooling the ocean under the gap flow region and reducing the warming on both sides. The effect of surface wind stress is to induce more cooling

Data assimilation in modeling ocean processes: A bibliographic study

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Mahadevan, R.; Fernandes, A.A.; Saran, A.K.

An annotated bibliography on studies related to data assimilation in modeling ocean processes has been prepared. The bibliography listed here is not comprehensive and is not prepared from the original references. Information obtainable from...

An updated synthesis of the observed and projected impacts of climate change on the chemical, physical and biological processes in the oceans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ella Louise Howes

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The 5th Assessment Report (AR5 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC states with very high certainty that anthropogenic emissions have caused measurable changes in the physical ocean environment. These changes are summarized with special focus on those that are predicted to have the strongest, most direct effects on ocean biological processes; namely, ocean warming and associated phenomena (including stratification and sea level rise as well as deoxygenation and ocean acidification. The biological effects of these changes are then discussed for microbes (including phytoplankton, plants, animals, warm and cold-water corals, and ecosystems. The IPCC AR5 highlighted several areas related to both the physical and biological processes that required further research. As a rapidly developing field, there have been many pertinent studies published since the cut off dates for the AR5, which have increased our understanding of the processes at work. This study undertook an extensive review of recently published literature to update the findings of the AR5 and provide a synthesized review on the main issues facing future oceans. The level of detail provided in the AR5 and subsequent work provided a basis for constructing projections of the state of ocean ecosystems in 2100 under two the Representative Concentration Pathways RCP4.5 and 8.5. Finally the review highlights notable additions, clarifications and points of departure from AR5 provided by subsequent studies.

Detecting the influence of ocean process on the moisture supply for India summer monsoon from Satellite Sea Surface Salinity

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, W.; Yueh, S. H.; Liu, W. T.; Fore, A.; Hayashi, A.

2016-02-01

A strong contrast in the onset of Indian summer monsoon was observed by independent satellites: average rain rate over India subcontinent (IS) in June was more than doubled in 2013 than 2012 (TRMM); also observed are larger area of wet soil (Aquarius) and high water storage (GRACE). The difference in IS rainfall was contributed to the moisture inputs through west coast of India, estimated from ocean wind (OSCAT2) and water vapor (TMI). This is an interesting testbed for studying the role of ocean on terrestrial water cycle, in particular the Indian monsoon, which has tremendous social-economical impact. What is the source of extra moisture in 2013 or deficit in 2012 for the monsoon onset? Is it possible to quantify the contribution of ocean process that maybe responsible for redistributing the freshwater in favor of the summer monsoon moisture supply? This study aims to identify the influence of ocean processes on the freshwater exchange between air-sea interfaces, using Aquarius sea surface salinity (SSS). We found two areas in Indian Ocean with high correlation between IS rain rate and Aquarius SSS: one area is in the Arabian Sea adjacent to IS, another area is a horizontal patch from 60°E to 100°E centered around 10°S. On the other hand, E-P (OAflux, TRMM) shows no similar correlation patterns with IS rain. Based on the governing equation of the salt budget in the upper ocean, we define the freshwater flux, F, from the oceanic branch of the water cycle, including contributions from salinity tendency, advection, and subsurface process. The tendency and advection terms are estimated using Aquarius SSS and OSCAR ocean current. We will present results of analyzing the spatial and temporal variability of F and evidence of and hypothesis on how the oceanic processes may enhance the moisture supply for summer Indian monsoon onset in 2013 comparing with 2012. The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) has been producing the global soil moisture (SM) every 2-3 days

Advances in Understanding Decadal Climate Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Busalacchi, Antonio J.

1999-01-01

Recently, a joint Brazil-France-U.S. program, known as PIRATA (Pilot Research moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic), was proposed to begin the deployment of moored measurement platforms in the tropical Atlantic in order to enhance the existing observational data base and subsequent understanding of the processes by which the ocean and atmosphere couple in key regions of the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Empirical studies have suggested that there are strong relationships between tropical Atlantic upper ocean variability, SST, ocean-atmosphere coupling and regional climate variability. During the early 1980's a coordinated set of surface wind, subsurface thermal structure, and subsurface current observations were obtained as part of the U.S.-France SEQUAL-FOCAL process experiment designed to observe the seasonal response of the tropical Atlantic Ocean to surface forcing. Since that time, however, the observational data base for the tropical Atlantic Ocean has disintegrated to a few ship-tracks measuring ocean temperatures and a small collection of tide gauge stations measuring sea level. A more comprehensive set of observations, modeling and empirical studies is now in order to make progress on understanding the regional climate variability. The proposed PIRATA program will use mooring platforms similar to the tropical Pacific Ocean TAO array to measure surface fluxes of momentum and heat and the corresponding changes in the upper ocean thermal structure. It is anticipated that the oceanic data from this monitoring array will also be used in a predictive mode for initialization studies of regional coupled climate models. Of particular interest are zonal and meridional modes of ocean-atmosphere variability within the tropical Atlantic basin that have significant impacts on the regional climate of the bordering continents.

Understanding the El Niño-like Oceanic Response in the Tropical Pacific to Global Warming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Yiyong; Lu, Jian; Liu, Fukai; Liu, Wei

2015-10-10

The enhanced central and eastern Pacific SST warming and the associated ocean processes under global warming are investigated using the ocean component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), Parallel Ocean Program version 2 (POP2). The tropical SST warming pattern in the coupled CESM can be faithfully reproduced by the POP2 forced with surface fluxes computed using the aerodynamic bulk formula. By prescribing the wind stress and/or wind speed through the bulk formula, the effects of wind stress change and/or the wind-evaporation-SST (WES) feedback are isolated and their linearity is evaluated in this ocean-alone setting. Result shows that, although the weakening of the equatorial easterlies contributes positively to the El Niño-like SST warming, 80% of which can be simulated by the POP2 without considering the effects of wind change in both mechanical and thermodynamic fluxes. This result points to the importance of the air-sea thermal interaction and the relative feebleness of the ocean dynamical process in the El Niño-like equatorial Pacific SST response to global warming. On the other hand, the wind stress change is found to play a dominant role in the oceanic response in the tropical Pacific, accounting for most of the changes in the equatorial ocean current system and thermal structures, including the weakening of the surface westward currents, the enhancement of the near-surface stratification and the shoaling of the equatorial thermocline. Interestingly, greenhouse gas warming in the absence of wind stress change and WES feedback also contributes substantially to the changes at the subsurface equatorial Pacific. Further, this warming impact can be largely replicated by an idealized ocean experiment forced by a uniform surface heat flux, whereby, arguably, a purest form of oceanic dynamical thermostat is revealed.

Twentieth century North Atlantic climate change. Part II: Understanding the effect of Indian Ocean warming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoerling, M.P.; Xu, T.; Bates, G.T. [Climate Diagnostics Center NOAA, Boulder, CO 80305-3328 (United States); Hurrell, J.W.; Phillips, A.S. [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)

2004-09-01

Ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments are used in an effort to understand the boreal winter Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropical climate response to the observed warming of tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the last half of the twentieth Century. Specifically, we inquire about the origins of unusual, if not unprecedented, changes in the wintertime North Atlantic and European climate that are well described by a linear trend in most indices of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The simulated NH atmospheric response to the linear trend component of tropic-wide SST change since 1950 projects strongly onto the positive polarity of the NAO and is a hemispheric pattern distinguished by decreased (increased) Arctic (middle latitude) sea level pressure. Progressive warming of the Indian Ocean is the principal contributor to this wintertime extratropical response, as shown through additional AGCM ensembles forced with only the SST trend in that sector. The Indian Ocean influence is further established through the reproducibility of results across three different models forced with identical, idealized patterns of the observed warming. Examination of the transient atmospheric adjustment to a sudden ''switch-on'' of an Indian Ocean SST anomaly reveals that the North Atlantic response is not consistent with linear theory and most likely involves synoptic eddy feedbacks associated with changes in the North Atlantic storm track. The tropical SST control exerted over twentieth century regional climate underlies the importance of determining the future course of tropical SST for regional climate change and its uncertainty. Better understanding of the extratropical responses to different, plausible trajectories of the tropical oceans is key to such efforts. (orig.)

77 FR 40860 - Strategic Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-11

... Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries... Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification is being made available for public review and... understanding of the process of ocean acidification, its effects on marine ecosystems, and the steps that could...

Hydrographic processing considerations in the “Big Data” age: An overview of technology trends in ocean and coastal surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Holland, M.; Hoggarth, A.; Nicholson, J.

2016-04-01

The quantity of information generated by survey sensors for ocean and coastal zone mapping has reached the “Big Data” age. This is influenced by the number of survey sensors available to conduct a survey, high data resolution, commercial availability, as well as an increased use of autonomous platforms. The number of users of sophisticated survey information is also growing with the increase in data volume. This is leading to a greater demand and broader use of the processed results, which includes marine archeology, disaster response, and many other applications. Data processing and exchange techniques are evolving to ensure this increased accuracy in acquired data meets the user demand, and leads to an improved understanding of the ocean environment. This includes the use of automated processing, models that maintain the best possible representation of varying resolution data to reduce duplication, as well as data plug-ins and interoperability standards. Through the adoption of interoperable standards, data can be exchanged between stakeholders and used many times in any GIS to support an even wider range of activities. The growing importance of Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) is also contributing to the increased access of marine information to support sustainable use of ocean and coastal environments. This paper offers an industry perspective on trends in hydrographic surveying and processing, and the increased use of marine spatial data.

Evaluation of Scaling Approaches for the Oceanic Dissipation Rate of Turbulent Kinetic Energy in the Surface Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Esters, L. T.; Ward, B.; Sutherland, G.; Ten Doeschate, A.; Landwehr, S.; Bell, T. G.; Christensen, K. H.

2016-02-01

The air-sea exchange of heat, gas and momentum plays an important role for the Earth's weather and global climate. The exchange processes between ocean and atmosphere are influenced by the prevailing surface ocean dynamics. This surface ocean is a highly turbulent region where there is enhanced production of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The dissipation rate of TKE (ɛ) in the surface ocean is an important process for governing the depth of both the mixing and mixed layers, which are important length-scales for many aspects of ocean research. However, there exist very limited observations of ɛ under open ocean conditions and consequently our understanding of how to model the dissipation profile is very limited. The approaches to model profiles of ɛ that exist, differ by orders of magnitude depending on their underlying theoretical assumption and included physical processes. Therefore, scaling ɛ is not straight forward and requires open ocean measurements of ɛ to validate the respective scaling laws. This validated scaling of ɛ, is for example required to produce accurate mixed layer depths in global climate models. Errors in the depth of the ocean surface boundary layer can lead to biases in sea surface temperature. Here, we present open ocean measurements of ɛ from the Air-Sea Interaction Profiler (ASIP) collected during several cruises in different ocean basins. ASIP is an autonomous upwardly rising microstructure profiler allowing undisturbed profiling up to the ocean surface. These direct measurements of ɛ under various types of atmospheric and oceanic conditions along with measurements of atmospheric fluxes and wave conditions allow us to make a unique assessment of several scaling approaches based on wind, wave and buoyancy forcing. This will allow us to best assess the most appropriate ɛ-based parameterisation for air-sea exchange.

Electromagnetic exploration of the oceanic mantle.

Science.gov (United States)

Utada, Hisashi

2015-01-01

Electromagnetic exploration is a geophysical method for examining the Earth's interior through observations of natural or artificial electromagnetic field fluctuations. The method has been in practice for more than 70 years, and 40 years ago it was first applied to ocean areas. During the past few decades, there has been noticeable progress in the methods of instrumentation, data acquisition (observation), data processing and inversion. Due to this progress, applications of this method to oceanic regions have revealed electrical features of the oceanic upper mantle down to depths of several hundred kilometers for different geologic and tectonic environments such as areas around mid-oceanic ridges, areas around hot-spot volcanoes, subduction zones, and normal ocean areas between mid-oceanic ridges and subduction zones. All these results estimate the distribution of the electrical conductivity in the oceanic mantle, which is key for understanding the dynamics and evolution of the Earth together with different physical properties obtained through other geophysical methods such as seismological techniques.

Numerical Simulations of Melting-Crystallisation Processes at the Boundaries Between Magma Oceans and Solid Mantle

Science.gov (United States)

Bolrão, D. P.; Rozel, A.; Morison, A.; Labrosse, S.; Tackley, P. J.

2017-12-01

The idea that the Earth had a global magma ocean, mostly created by impacts, core formation, radiogenic and tidal heating, is well accepted nowadays. When this ocean starts to crystallise, if the melt is denser than the solid, a basal magma ocean is created below the solid part. These two magma oceans influence the dynamics and evolution of solid mantle. Near the boundaries, the vertical flow in the solid part creates a topography. If this topography is destroyed by melting/crystallisation processes in a time scale much shorter than the time needed to adjust the topography by viscous relaxation, then matter can cross the boundary. In this case, the boundary is said to be permeable. On the other hand, if this time is longer, matter cannot cross and the boundary is said impermeable. This permeability is defined by a non-dimensional phase change number, φ, introduced by Deguen, 2013. This φ is the ratio of the two timescales mentioned, and defines a permeable boundary when φ « 1, and an impermeable one when φ » 1. To understand the impact of magma oceans on the dynamics of the solid mantle, we use the convection code StagYY, with a 2D spherical annulus geometry, to compute the convection of the solid part. Our results show different convection behaviours depending on the type of boundary chosen. For the permeable case, we investigate the thermo-compositional evolution of the solid domain, explicitly taking into account the compositional evolution of the magma oceans. Reference: Deguen, R. Thermal convection in a spherical shell with melting/freezing at either or both of its boundaries. Journal of Earth Science, Vol. 24, No. 5, p. 669-682, 2013. doi: 10.1007/s12583-013-0364-8

Tide Gauge Records Reveal Improved Processing of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Time-Variable Mass Solutions over the Coastal Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Piecuch, Christopher G.; Landerer, Felix W.; Ponte, Rui M.

2018-05-01

Monthly ocean bottom pressure solutions from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), derived using surface spherical cap mass concentration (MC) blocks and spherical harmonics (SH) basis functions, are compared to tide gauge (TG) monthly averaged sea level data over 2003-2015 to evaluate improved gravimetric data processing methods near the coast. MC solutions can explain ≳ 42% of the monthly variance in TG time series over broad shelf regions and in semi-enclosed marginal seas. MC solutions also generally explain ˜5-32 % more TG data variance than SH estimates. Applying a coastline resolution improvement algorithm in the GRACE data processing leads to ˜ 31% more variance in TG records explained by the MC solution on average compared to not using this algorithm. Synthetic observations sampled from an ocean general circulation model exhibit similar patterns of correspondence between modeled TG and MC time series and differences between MC and SH time series in terms of their relationship with TG time series, suggesting that observational results here are generally consistent with expectations from ocean dynamics. This work demonstrates the improved quality of recent MC solutions compared to earlier SH estimates over the coastal ocean, and suggests that the MC solutions could be a useful tool for understanding contemporary coastal sea level variability and change.

Transport process of Pu isotope in marginal seas of the western North Pacific Ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamada, Masatoshi [Department of Radiation Chemistry, Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, 036-8564, Aomori (Japan); Zheng, Jian [Research Center for Radiation Protection, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage, 263-8555, Chiba (Japan)

2014-07-01

Significant quantities of Pu isotopes have been released into the marine environment as the result of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Most radionuclides globally dispersed in atmospheric nuclear weapons testing were released into the environment during the 1950's and 1960's. In the western North Pacific Ocean, the principal source can be further distinguished as two distinct sources of Pu: close-in tropospheric fallout from nuclear weapons testing at the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG) in the Marshall Islands and global stratospheric fallout. Since the {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratio is characteristic for the Pu emission source, information on Pu isotopic signature is very useful to better understand the transport process in the oceans and to identify the sources of Pu. The mean atom ratio of {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu from the global stratospheric fallout is 0.180 ±0.014 based on soil sample data, whereas that from close-in tropospheric fallout from the PPG is 0.33 - 0.36. The {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratios in seawater samples collected in marginal seas of the western North Pacific Ocean will provide important and useful data for understanding the process controlling Pu transport and for distinguishing future Pu sources. The objectives of this study were to measure the {sup 239+240}Pu concentrations and {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratios in seawater from the Sea of Okhotsk, Japan Sea, South China Sea and Sulu Sea and to discuss the transport process of Pu. Large-volume seawater samples (250 L each) were collected from the surface to the bottom in marginal seas of the western North Pacific Ocean with acoustically triggered quadruple PVC sampling bottles during the R/V Hakuho-Maru cruise. The {sup 239}Pu and {sup 240}Pu concentrations and {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratios were measured with a double-focusing SF-ICP-MS, which was equipped with a guard electrode to eliminate secondary discharge in the plasma and to enhance overall sensitivity. In

Ocean heat content variability and change in an ensemble of ocean reanalyses

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, M. D.; Roberts, C. D.; Balmaseda, M.; Chang, Y.-S.; Chepurin, G.; Ferry, N.; Fujii, Y.; Good, S. A.; Guinehut, S.; Haines, K.; Hernandez, F.; Köhl, A.; Lee, T.; Martin, M. J.; Masina, S.; Masuda, S.; Peterson, K. A.; Storto, A.; Toyoda, T.; Valdivieso, M.; Vernieres, G.; Wang, O.; Xue, Y.

2017-08-01

Accurate knowledge of the location and magnitude of ocean heat content (OHC) variability and change is essential for understanding the processes that govern decadal variations in surface temperature, quantifying changes in the planetary energy budget, and developing constraints on the transient climate response to external forcings. We present an overview of the temporal and spatial characteristics of OHC variability and change as represented by an ensemble of dynamical and statistical ocean reanalyses (ORAs). Spatial maps of the 0-300 m layer show large regions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans where the interannual variability of the ensemble mean exceeds ensemble spread, indicating that OHC variations are well-constrained by the available observations over the period 1993-2009. At deeper levels, the ORAs are less well-constrained by observations with the largest differences across the ensemble mostly associated with areas of high eddy kinetic energy, such as the Southern Ocean and boundary current regions. Spatial patterns of OHC change for the period 1997-2009 show good agreement in the upper 300 m and are characterized by a strong dipole pattern in the Pacific Ocean. There is less agreement in the patterns of change at deeper levels, potentially linked to differences in the representation of ocean dynamics, such as water mass formation processes. However, the Atlantic and Southern Oceans are regions in which many ORAs show widespread warming below 700 m over the period 1997-2009. Annual time series of global and hemispheric OHC change for 0-700 m show the largest spread for the data sparse Southern Hemisphere and a number of ORAs seem to be subject to large initialization `shock' over the first few years. In agreement with previous studies, a number of ORAs exhibit enhanced ocean heat uptake below 300 and 700 m during the mid-1990s or early 2000s. The ORA ensemble mean (±1 standard deviation) of rolling 5-year trends in full-depth OHC shows a relatively steady

Coastal processes study at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, CA: summary of data collection 2004-2006

Science.gov (United States)

Barnard, Patrick L.; Eshleman, Jodi; Erikson, Li H.; Hanes, Daniel M.

2007-01-01

Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California, contains a persistent erosional section in the shadow of the San Francisco ebb tidal delta and south of Sloat Boulevard that threatens valuable public infrastructure as well as the safe recreational use of the beach. Coastal managers have been discussing potential mediation measures for over a decade, with little scientific research available to aid in decision making. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) initiated the Ocean Beach Coastal Processes Study in April 2004 to provide the scientific knowledge necessary for coastal managers to make informed management decisions. This study integrates a wide range of field data collection and numerical modeling techniques to document nearshore sediment transport processes at the mouth of San Francisco Bay, with emphasis on how these processes relate to erosion at Ocean Beach. The Ocean Beach Coastal Processes Study is the first comprehensive study of coastal processes at the mouth of San Francisco Bay.

Studying ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Lisa

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healey and its United Nations Convention Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) cruises has produced new synoptic data from samples collected in the Arctic Ocean and insights into the patterns and extent of ocean acidification. This framework of foundational geochemical information will help inform our understanding of potential risks to Arctic resources due to ocean acidification.

Navigating a sea of values: Understanding public attitudes toward the ocean and ocean energy resources

Science.gov (United States)

Lilley, Jonathan Charles

In examining ocean values and beliefs, this study investigates the moral and ethical aspects of the relationships that exist between humans and the marine environment. In short, this dissertation explores what the American public thinks of the ocean. The study places a specific focus upon attitudes to ocean energy development. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research: elicits mental models that exist in society regarding the ocean; unearths what philosophies underpin people's attitudes toward the ocean and offshore energy development; assesses whether these views have any bearing on pro-environmental behavior; and gauges support for offshore drilling and offshore wind development. Despite the fact that the ocean is frequently ranked as a second-tier environmental issue, Americans are concerned about the state of the marine environment. Additionally, the data show that lack of knowledge, rather than apathy, prevents people from undertaking pro-environmental action. With regard to philosophical beliefs, Americans hold slightly more nonanthropocentric than anthropocentric views toward the environment. Neither anthropocentrism nor nonanthropocentrism has any real impact on pro-environmental behavior, although nonanthropocentric attitudes reduce support for offshore wind. This research also uncovers two gaps between scientific and public perceptions of offshore wind power with respect to: 1) overall environmental effects; and 2) the size of the resource. Providing better information to the public in the first area may lead to a shift toward offshore wind support among opponents with nonanthropocentric attitudes, and in both areas, is likely to increase offshore wind support.

Dynamic Biological Functioning Important for Simulating and Stabilizing Ocean Biogeochemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, P. J.; Matear, R. J.; Chase, Z.; Phipps, S. J.; Bindoff, N. L.

2018-04-01

The biogeochemistry of the ocean exerts a strong influence on the climate by modulating atmospheric greenhouse gases. In turn, ocean biogeochemistry depends on numerous physical and biological processes that change over space and time. Accurately simulating these processes is fundamental for accurately simulating the ocean's role within the climate. However, our simulation of these processes is often simplistic, despite a growing understanding of underlying biological dynamics. Here we explore how new parameterizations of biological processes affect simulated biogeochemical properties in a global ocean model. We combine 6 different physical realizations with 6 different biogeochemical parameterizations (36 unique ocean states). The biogeochemical parameterizations, all previously published, aim to more accurately represent the response of ocean biology to changing physical conditions. We make three major findings. First, oxygen, carbon, alkalinity, and phosphate fields are more sensitive to changes in the ocean's physical state. Only nitrate is more sensitive to changes in biological processes, and we suggest that assessment protocols for ocean biogeochemical models formally include the marine nitrogen cycle to assess their performance. Second, we show that dynamic variations in the production, remineralization, and stoichiometry of organic matter in response to changing environmental conditions benefit the simulation of ocean biogeochemistry. Third, dynamic biological functioning reduces the sensitivity of biogeochemical properties to physical change. Carbon and nitrogen inventories were 50% and 20% less sensitive to physical changes, respectively, in simulations that incorporated dynamic biological functioning. These results highlight the importance of a dynamic biology for ocean properties and climate.

The Ocean Literacy Campaign

Science.gov (United States)

Schoedinger, S. E.; Strang, C.

2008-12-01

"Ocean Literacy is an understanding of the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean." This simple statement captures the spirit of a conceptual framework supporting ocean literacy (COSEE et al., 2005). The framework comprises 7 essential principles and 44 fundamental concepts an ocean literate person would know (COSEE et al., 2005). The framework is the result of an extensive grassroots effort to reach consensus on (1) a definition for ocean literacy and (2) an articulation of the most important concepts to be understood by ocean-literate citizen (Cava et al., 2005). In the process of reaching consensus on these "big ideas" about the ocean, what began as a series of workshops has emerged as a campaign "owned" by an ever-expanding community of individuals, organizations and networks involved in developing and promoting the framework. The Ocean Literacy Framework has provided a common language for scientists and educators working together and serves as key guidance for the ocean science education efforts. This presentation will focus on the impact this Ocean Literacy Campaign has had to date as well as efforts underway to provide additional tools to enable educators and educational policy makers to further integrate teaching and learning about the ocean and our coasts into formal K-12 education and informal education. COSEE, National Geographic Society, NOAA, College of Exploration (2005). Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences Grades K-12, a jointly published brochure, URL: http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy/documents/OceanLitChart.pdf Cava, F., S. Schoedinger , C. Strang, and P. Tuddenham (2005). Science Content and Standards for Ocean Literacy: A Report on Ocean Literacy, URL: http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy/documents/OLit2004-05_Final_Report.pdf.

Slow science: the value of long ocean biogeochemistry records.

Science.gov (United States)

Henson, Stephanie A

2014-09-28

Sustained observations (SOs) have provided invaluable information on the ocean's biology and biogeochemistry for over 50 years. They continue to play a vital role in elucidating the functioning of the marine ecosystem, particularly in the light of ongoing climate change. Repeated, consistent observations have provided the opportunity to resolve temporal and/or spatial variability in ocean biogeochemistry, which has driven exploration of the factors controlling biological parameters and processes. Here, I highlight some of the key breakthroughs in biological oceanography that have been enabled by SOs, which include areas such as trophic dynamics, understanding variability, improved biogeochemical models and the role of ocean biology in the global carbon cycle. In the near future, SOs are poised to make progress on several fronts, including detecting climate change effects on ocean biogeochemistry, high-resolution observations of physical-biological interactions and greater observational capability in both the mesopelagic zone and harsh environments, such as the Arctic. We are now entering a new era for biological SOs, one in which our motivations have evolved from the need to acquire basic understanding of the ocean's state and variability, to a need to understand ocean biogeochemistry in the context of increasing pressure in the form of climate change, overfishing and eutrophication.

The Second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2)

Science.gov (United States)

Cowie, Greg; Hood, Raleigh

2015-04-01

The International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) was one of the greatest international, interdisciplinary oceanographic research efforts of all time. Planning for the IIOE began in 1959 and the project officially continued through 1965, with forty-six research vessels participating under fourteen different flags. The IIOE motivated an unprecedented number of hydrographic surveys (and repeat surveys) over the course of the expedition covering the entire Indian Ocean basin. And it was an interdisciplinary endeavor that embraced physical oceanography, chemical oceanography, meteorology, marine biology, marine geology and geophysics. The end of 2015 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the completion of the IIOE. SCOR and the IOC are working to stimulate a new phase of coordinated international research focused on the Indian Ocean for a 5-year period beginning in late 2015 and continuing through 2020. The goal is to help to organize ongoing research and stimulate new initiatives in the 2015-2020 time frame as part of a larger expedition. Several International programs that have research ongoing or planned in the Indian Ocean during this time period and many countries are planning cruises in this time frame as well. These programs and national cruises will serve as a core for the new Indian Ocean research focus, which has been dubbed "IIOE-2." The overarching goal of the IIOE-2 is to advance our understanding of interactions between geological, oceanic and atmospheric processes that give rise to the complex physical dynamics of the Indian Ocean region, and to determine how those dynamics affect climate, extreme events, marine biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and human populations. This understanding is required to predict the impacts of climate change, pollution, and increased fish harvesting on the Indian Ocean and its nations, as well as the influence of the Indian Ocean on other components of the Earth System. New understanding is also fundamental to policy makers for

Distribution of Tritium and {sup 137}CS in South Indian Ocean Waters - Implications of Water Transport Processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Povinec, P. P.; Jeskovsky, M.; Sykora, I. [Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Bratislava (Slovakia); Aoyama, M. [Meteorological Research Institute, Tsukuba (Japan); Gastaud, J.; Levy, I. [International Atomic Energy Agency, Marine Environment Laboratories (Monaco); Hamajima, Y. [Kanazawa University, Low-Level Radioactivity Laboratory, Nomi (Japan); Hirose, K. [Sophia University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo (Japan); Sanchez-Cabeza, J. A. [Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Spain)

2013-07-15

The World Ocean, and specifically the Indian Ocean, plays a significant role in the better understanding of the climate. The distribution of global fallout {sup 3}H, {sup 14}C, {sup 90}Sr, {sup 129}I and {sup 137}Cs in the seawater of the Indian Ocean, after their main injection from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests during the 1960s, have been investigated. Results obtained in the framework of the SHOTS (Southern Hemisphere Ocean Tracer Studies) project are evaluated and compared with previously published data. The enhanced {sup 3}H and {sup 137}Cs levels observed in the south Indian ocean indicate transport of water masses labelled with these radionuclides from the central Pacific Ocean via the Indonesian Seas to the Indian Ocean. The observed surface gradients and presence of several water masses in the south Indian ocean makes this ocean one of the most dynamic parts of the World ocean. (author)

LOTUS— Preparing Sentinel-3 SAR Altimetry Processing for Ocean and Land

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Per; Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Nielsen, Karina

2016-01-01

methods and processing chains need to be developed. Subsequently, new potential Copernicus products should be developed that utilize the improved alongtrack resolution over both the oceans and over land. The main objective of the LOTUS project is to prepare the scientific and operational use of data from......The Sentinel-3 satellite mission with its SRAL instrumentation contains new features compared to the conventional radar altimeter mission that form the basis for new innovative scientific analyses of both ocean and inland water levels. To utilize the full potential of the new data source, new...... that they will be used for commercial activities. LOTUS will develop processing scheme for extracting high-resolution sea surface heights, wave heights and wind speeds from SAR mode data. Over land, the LOTUS will develop processing scheme for extracting high-resolution river and lake heights, soil moisture, and snow...

Societal need for improved understanding of climate change, anthropogenic impacts, and geo-hazard warning drive development of ocean observatories in European Seas

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruhl, H.A.; Andre, M.; Beranzoli, L.; Çagatay, M.N.; Colaço, A.; Cannat, M.; Dañobeitia, J.J.; Favali, P.; Géli, L.; Gillooly, M.; Greinert, J.; Hall, P.O.J.; Huber, R.; Karstensen, J.; Lampitt, R.S.; Larkin, K.E.; Lykousis, V.; Mienert, J.; Miranda, J.M.; Person, R.; Priede, I.G.; Puillat, I.; Thomsen, L.; Waldmann, C.

2011-01-01

Society's needs for a network of in situ ocean observing systems cross many areas of earth and marine science. Here we review the science themes that benefit from data supplied from ocean observatories. Understanding from existing studies is fragmented to the extent that it lacks the coherent

Warm ocean processes and carbon cycling in the Eocene.

Science.gov (United States)

John, Eleanor H; Pearson, Paul N; Coxall, Helen K; Birch, Heather; Wade, Bridget S; Foster, Gavin L

2013-10-28

Sea surface and subsurface temperatures over large parts of the ocean during the Eocene epoch (55.5-33.7 Ma) exceeded modern values by several degrees, which must have affected a number of oceanic processes. Here, we focus on the effect of elevated water column temperatures on the efficiency of the biological pump, particularly in relation to carbon and nutrient cycling. We use stable isotope values from exceptionally well-preserved planktonic foraminiferal calcite from Tanzania and Mexico to reconstruct vertical carbon isotope gradients in the upper water column, exploiting the fact that individual species lived and calcified at different depths. The oxygen isotope ratios of different species' tests are used to estimate the temperature of calcification, which we converted to absolute depths using Eocene temperature profiles generated by general circulation models. This approach, along with potential pitfalls, is illustrated using data from modern core-top assemblages from the same area. Our results indicate that, during the Early and Middle Eocene, carbon isotope gradients were steeper (and larger) through the upper thermocline than in the modern ocean. This is consistent with a shallower average depth of organic matter remineralization and supports previously proposed hypotheses that invoke high metabolic rates in a warm Eocene ocean, leading to more efficient recycling of organic matter and reduced burial rates of organic carbon.

Understanding Science and Technology Interactions Through Ocean Science Exploration: A Summer Course for Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Baldauf, J.; Denton, J.

2003-12-01

In order to replenish the national supply of science and mathematics educators, the National Science Foundation has supported the formation of the Center for Applications of Information Technology in the Teaching and Learning of Science (ITS) at Texas A&M University. The center staff and affiliated faculty work to change in fundamental ways the culture and relationships among scientists, educational researchers, and teachers. ITS is a partnership among the colleges of education, science, geosciences, agriculture and life science at Texas A&M University. Participants (teachers and graduate students) investigate how science is done and how science is taught and learned; how that learning is assessed, and how scholarly networks among all engaged in this work can be encouraged. While the center can offer graduate degrees most students apply as non-degree seekers. ITS participants are schooled on classroom technology applications, experience working on project teams, and access very current research work being conducted by scientists. ITS offers a certificate program consisting of two summer sessions over two years that results in 12 hours of graduate credit that can be applied to a degree. Interdisciplinary project teams spend three intense weeks connecting current research to classroom practices. During the past summer with the beginning of the two-year sequence, a course was implemented that introduced secondary teachers to Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) contributions to major earth science themes, using core and logging data, engineering (technology) tools and processes. Information Technology classroom applications were enhanced through hands-on laboratory exercises, web resources and online databases. The course was structured around the following objectives. 1. Distinguish the purpose and goals of the Ocean Drilling Program from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and describe the comparable science themes (ocean circulation, marine sedimentation, climate history

Sulfur and carbon geochemistry of the Santa Elena peridotites: Comparing oceanic and continental processes during peridotite alteration

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarzenbach, Esther M.; Gill, Benjamin C.; Gazel, Esteban; Madrigal, Pilar

2016-05-01

Ultramafic rocks exposed on the continent serve as a window into oceanic and continental processes of water-peridotite interaction, so called serpentinization. In both environments there are active carbon and sulfur cycles that contain abiogenic and biogenic processes, which are eventually imprinted in the geochemical signatures of the basement rocks and the calcite and magnesite deposits associated with fluids that issue from these systems. Here, we present the carbon and sulfur geochemistry of ultramafic rocks and carbonate deposits from the Santa Elena ophiolite in Costa Rica. The aim of this study is to leverage the geochemistry of the ultramafic sequence and associated deposits to distinguish between processes that were dominant during ocean floor alteration and those dominant during low-temperature, continental water-peridotite interaction. The peridotites are variably serpentinized with total sulfur concentrations up to 877 ppm that is typically dominated by sulfide over sulfate. With the exception of one sample the ultramafic rocks are characterized by positive δ34Ssulfide (up to + 23.1‰) and δ34Ssulfate values (up to + 35.0‰). Carbon contents in the peridotites are low and are isotopically distinct from typical oceanic serpentinites. In particular, δ13C of the inorganic carbon suggests that the carbon is not derived from seawater, but rather the product of the interaction of meteoric water with the ultramafic rocks. In contrast, the sulfur isotope data from sulfide minerals in the peridotites preserve evidence for interaction with a hydrothermal fluid. Specifically, they indicate closed system abiogenic sulfate reduction suggesting that oceanic serpentinization occurred with limited input of seawater. Overall, the geochemical signatures preserve evidence for both oceanic and continental water-rock interaction with the majority of carbon (and possibly sulfate) being incorporated during continental water-rock interaction. Furthermore, there is

Assimilation of ocean colour to improve the simulation and understanding of the North West European shelf-sea ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

Ciavatta, Stefano; Brewin, Robert; Skakala, Jozef; Sursham, David; Ford, David

2017-04-01

Shelf-seas and coastal zones provide essential goods and services to humankind, such as fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and climate regulation. The understanding and management of these regions can be enhanced by merging ocean-colour observations and marine ecosystem simulations through data assimilation, which provides (sub)optimal estimates of key biogeochemical variables. Here we present a range of applications of ocean-colour data assimilation in the North West European shelf-sea. A reanalysis application illustrates that assimilation of error-characterized chlorophyll concentrations could provide a map of the shelf sea vulnerability to oxygen deficiency, as well as estimates of the shelf sea uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in the last decade. The interannual variability of CO2 uptake and its uncertainty were related significantly to interannual fluctuations of the simulated primary production. However, the reanalysis also indicates that assimilation of total chlorophyll did not improve significantly the simulation of some other variables, e.g. nutrients. We show that the assimilation of alternative products derived from ocean colour (i.e. spectral diffuse attenuation coefficient and phytoplankton size classes) can overcome this limitation. In fact, these products can constrain a larger number of model variables, which define either the underwater light field or the structure of the lower trophic levels. Therefore, the assimilation of such ocean-colour products into marine ecosystem models is an advantageous novel approach to improve the understanding and simulation of shelf-sea environments.

Importance of 3D Processes Near the Ocean's Surface for Material Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Ozgokmen, T. M.

2014-12-01

There are a number of practical problems that demand an accurate knowledge of ocean currents near the surface of the ocean. It is known that oceanic coherent features transport heat and carry out vertical exchange of biogeochemical tracers. Ocean currents can affect biological primary production, air-sea gas exchanges and global tracer budgets. Ocean currents are also important for the dispersion of substances that pose a danger to society, economy and human health. Examples of such events include algal blooms, the Fukushima nuclear plant incident in the Pacific Ocean in 2011, and repeated large oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, namely the IXTOC in 1978 and the Deepwater Horizon event in 2010. Such incidents demand accurate answers to questions such as ``where will the pollutant go?", ``how fast will it get there?" and ``how much pollutant will arrive there?", and in some instances ``where did the pollutant come from?". The answers to these questions are critical to the allocation of limited response resources, and in determining the overall impact of the events. We will summarize the efforts by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). One of the primary objectives of CARTHE is to improve predictive modeling capability for flows near the air-sea interface. In particular, two large experiments, Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD) and Surf-zone and Coastal Oil Pathways Experiment (SCOPE), coordinated with real-time modeling were instructive on processes influencing near-surface material transport. Findings on submesoscale flows as well as model deficiencies to capture processes relevant to transport will be discussed. Insight into future modeling and observational plans will be provided.

Ocean Mixed Layer Response to Gap Wind Scenarios

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Konstantinou, Nikolaos

2006-01-01

This study focuses on understanding the oceanic response to gap outflow and the air-sea interaction processes during the gap wind event between 26 and 28 February 2004 over the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico. The U.S...

Aspects of marine geoscience: a review and thoughts on potential for observing active processes and progress through collaboration between the ocean sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Neil C

2012-12-13

Much progress has been made in the UK in characterizing the internal structures of major physiographic features in the oceans and in developing understanding of the geological processes that have created or shaped them. UK researchers have authored articles of high impact in all areas described here. In contrast to terrestrial geoscience, however, there have been few instrumented observations made of active processes by UK scientists. This is an area that could be developed over the next decades in the UK. Research on active processes has the potential ability to engage the wider public: Some active processes present significant geo-hazards to populations and offshore infrastructure that require monitoring and there could be commercial applications of technological developments needed for science. Some of the suggestions could involve studies in shallow coastal waters where ship costs are much reduced, addressing tighter funding constraints over the near term. The possibilities of measuring aspects of volcanic eruptions, flowing lava, turbidity currents and mass movements (landslides) are discussed. A further area of potential development is in greater collaboration between the ocean sciences. For example, it is well known in terrestrial geomorphology that biological agents are important in modulating erosion and the transport of sediments, ultimately affecting the shape of the Earth's surface in various ways. The analogous effect of biology on large-scale geomorphology in the oceans is also known but remains poorly quantified. Physical oceanographic models are becoming increasingly accurate and could be used to study further the patterns of erosion, particle transport and deposition in the oceans. Marine geological and geophysical data could in turn be useful for further verification of such models. Adapting them to conditions of past oceans could address the shorter-period movements, such as due to internal waves and tides, which have been barely addressed in

Relating tropical ocean clouds to moist processes using water vapor isotope measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Lee

2011-01-01

Full Text Available We examine the co-variations of tropospheric water vapor, its isotopic composition and cloud types and relate these distributions to tropospheric mixing and distillation models using satellite observations from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES over the summertime tropical ocean. Interpretation of these process distributions must take into account the sensitivity of the TES isotope and water vapor measurements to variations in cloud, water, and temperature amount. Consequently, comparisons are made between cloud-types based on the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISSCP classification; these are clear sky, non-precipitating (e.g., cumulus, boundary layer (e.g., stratocumulus, and precipitating clouds (e.g. regions of deep convection. In general, we find that the free tropospheric vapor over tropical oceans does not strictly follow a Rayleigh model in which air parcels become dry and isotopically depleted through condensation. Instead, mixing processes related to convection as well as subsidence, and re-evaporation of rainfall associated with organized deep convection all play significant roles in controlling the water vapor distribution. The relative role of these moisture processes are examined for different tropical oceanic regions.

The Role of Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal in Supporting Ocean Planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard G. Lathrop

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO was established in 2009 to enhance the vitality of the region's ocean ecosystem and economy. One of MARCO's first action items was the development of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal to serve as an on-line platform to engage stakeholders across the region with the objective of improving their understanding of how ocean resources and places are being used, managed, and conserved. A key component is the Marine Planner, an interactive map-based visualization and decision support tool. These types of on-line tools are becoming increasingly popular means of putting essential data and state-of-the-art visualization technology into the hands of the agencies, industry, community leaders, and stakeholders engaged in ocean planning. However, to be effective, the underlying geospatial data has to be seen as objective, comprehensive, up-to-date and regionally consistent. To meet this challenge, the portal utilizes a distributed network of web map services from credible and authoritative sources. Website analytics and feedback received during the review and comment period of the 2016 release of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Action Plan confirm that the Data Portal is viewed as integral to this ocean planning process by the MidAtlantic Regional Planning Body and key stakeholders. While not all stakeholders may agree with specific planning decisions, there is broad based agreement on the need for better data and making access to that data widely available.

What makes process models understandable?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mendling, J.; Reijers, H.A.; Cardoso, J.; Alonso, G.; Dadam, P.; Rosemann, M.

2007-01-01

Despite that formal and informal quality aspects are of significant importance to business process modeling, there is only little empirical work reported on process model quality and its impact factors. In this paper we investigate understandability as a proxy for quality of process models and focus

Birth of an oceanic spreading center at a magma-poor rift system.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillard, Morgane; Sauter, Daniel; Tugend, Julie; Tomasi, Simon; Epin, Marie-Eva; Manatschal, Gianreto

2017-11-08

Oceanic crust is continuously created at mid-oceanic ridges and seafloor spreading represents one of the main processes of plate tectonics. However, if oceanic crust architecture, composition and formation at present-day oceanic ridges are largely described, the processes governing the birth of a spreading center remain enigmatic. Understanding the transition between inherited continental and new oceanic domains is a prerequisite to constrain one of the last major unsolved problems of plate tectonics, namely the formation of a stable divergent plate boundary. In this paper, we present newly released high-resolution seismic reflection profiles that image the complete transition from unambiguous continental to oceanic crusts in the Gulf of Guinea. Based on these high-resolution seismic sections we show that onset of oceanic seafloor spreading is associated with the formation of a hybrid crust in which thinned continental crust and/or exhumed mantle is sandwiched between magmatic intrusive and extrusive bodies. This crust results from a polyphase evolution showing a gradual transition from tectonic-driven to magmatic-driven processes. The results presented in this paper provide a characterization of the domain in which lithospheric breakup occurs and enable to define the processes controlling formation of a new plate boundary.

Geotechnical aspects of deep ocean radioactive waste disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freeman, T.J.

1990-01-01

The methods that might be used to bury radioactive waste in the deep ocean, and their likely effect on the sediment barrier, have been the subject of an international research program performed during the last ten years. This paper reviews the geotechnical aspects of deep ocean disposal and discusses how far the research performed has gone towards providing the information needed to assess this form of disposal. Considerable progress has been made during the course of the international program towards understanding the processes involved in the emplacement of heat generating waste (HGW) into the deep ocean bed and the subsequent interactions between the waste and the sediments. These processes do not appear to have a deleterious effect on the barrier properties of the sediments, and it is concluded that it is likely that HGW could be emplaced in the deep ocean in such a way that the seabed would provide an effective containment for the radionuclides

Europa the ocean moon : search for an alien biosphere

CERN Document Server

Greenberg, Richard

2004-01-01

Europa - The Ocean Moon tells the story of the Galileo spacecraft probe to Jupiter's moon, Europa. It provides a detailed description of the physical processes, including the dominating tidal forces that operate on Europa, and includes a comprehensive tour of Europa using images taken by Galileo's camera. The book reviews and evaluates the interpretative work carried out to date, providing a philosophical discussion of the scientific process of analyzing results and the pitfalls that accompany it. It also examines the astrobiological constraints on this possible biosphere, and implications for future research, exploration and planetary biological protection. Europa - The Ocean Moon provides a unique understanding of the Galileo images of Europa, discusses the theory of tidal processes that govern its icy ridged and disrupted surface, and examines in detail the physical setting that might sustain extra-terrestrial life in Europa's ocean and icy crust.

Impact of hydrothermalism on the ocean iron cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Tagliabue, Alessandro; Resing, Joseph

2016-11-28

As the iron supplied from hydrothermalism is ultimately ventilated in the iron-limited Southern Ocean, it plays an important role in the ocean biological carbon pump. We deploy a set of focused sensitivity experiments with a state of the art global model of the ocean to examine the processes that regulate the lifetime of hydrothermal iron and the role of different ridge systems in governing the hydrothermal impact on the Southern Ocean biological carbon pump. Using GEOTRACES section data, we find that stabilization of hydrothermal iron is important in some, but not all regions. The impact on the Southern Ocean biological carbon pump is dominated by poorly explored southern ridge systems, highlighting the need for future exploration in this region. We find inter-basin differences in the isopycnal layer onto which hydrothermal Fe is supplied between the Atlantic and Pacific basins, which when combined with the inter-basin contrasts in oxidation kinetics suggests a muted influence of Atlantic ridges on the Southern Ocean biological carbon pump. Ultimately, we present a range of processes, operating at distinct scales, that must be better constrained to improve our understanding of how hydrothermalism affects the ocean cycling of iron and carbon.This article is part of the themed issue 'Biological and climatic impacts of ocean trace element chemistry'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Summertime calcium carbonate undersaturation in shelf waters of the western Arctic Ocean – how biological processes exacerbate the impact of ocean acidification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. R. Bates

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The Arctic Ocean accounts for only 4% of the global ocean area, but it contributes significantly to the global carbon cycle. Recent observations of seawater CO2-carbonate chemistry in shelf waters of the western Arctic Ocean, primarily in the Chukchi Sea, from 2009 to 2011 indicate that bottom waters are seasonally undersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate (CaCO3 minerals, particularly aragonite. Nearly 40% of sampled bottom waters on the shelf have saturation states less than one for aragonite (i.e., Ωaragonite 3-secreting organisms, while 80% of bottom waters present had Ωaragonite values less than 1.5. Our observations indicate seasonal reduction of saturation states (Ω for calcite (Ωcalcite and aragonite (Ωaragonite in the subsurface in the western Arctic by as much as 0.8 and 0.5, respectively. Such data indicate that bottom waters of the western Arctic shelves were already potentially corrosive for biogenic and sedimentary CaCO3 for several months each year. Seasonal changes in Ω are imparted by a variety of factors such as phytoplankton photosynthesis, respiration/remineralization of organic matter and air–sea gas exchange of CO2. Combined, these processes either increase or enhance in surface and subsurface waters, respectively. These seasonal physical and biological processes also act to mitigate or enhance the impact of Anthropocene ocean acidification (OA on Ω in surface and subsurface waters, respectively. Future monitoring of the western Arctic shelves is warranted to assess the present and future impact of ocean acidification and seasonal physico-biogeochemical processes on Ω values and Arctic marine ecosystems.

Understanding Ocean Acidification

Science.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2011

2011-01-01

This curriculum module is designed for students who are taking high school chemistry. Students should already have some experience with the following: (1) Understanding and reading the pH scale; (2) Knowledge of the carbon cycle; (3) Using scientific notation to express large and small values; and (4) Reading chemical equations. This curriculum…

Oceanic archipelagos

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Triantis, Kostas A.; Whittaker, Robert James; Fernández-Palacios, José María

2016-01-01

Since the contributions of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, oceanic archipelagos have played a central role in the development of biogeography. However, despite the critical influence of oceanic islands on ecological and evolutionary theory, our focus has remained limited to either the i...... of the archipelagic geological dynamics that can affect diversity at both the island and the archipelagic level. We also reaffirm that oceanic archipelagos are appropriate spatiotemporal units to frame analyses in order to understand large scale patterns of biodiversity....

Influence of ocean acidification on the complexation of iron and copper by organic ligands in estuarine waters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gledhill, M.; Achterberg, E.P.; Li, K.; Mohamed, K.N.; Rijkenberg, M.J.

2015-01-01

The uptake of anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 by the oceans causes a shift in the carbonate chemistry system which includes a lowering of pH; this process has been termed ocean acidification. Our understanding of the specific effects of ocean acidification on chemical speciation of trace metals, in

Understanding Rossby wave trains forced by the Indian Ocean Dipole

Science.gov (United States)

McIntosh, Peter C.; Hendon, Harry H.

2018-04-01

Convective variations over the tropical Indian Ocean associated with ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole force a Rossby wave train that appears to emanate poleward and eastward to the south of Australia and which causes climate variations across southern Australia and more generally throughout the Southern Hemisphere extratropics. However, during austral winter, the subtropical jet that extends from the eastern Indian Ocean into the western Pacific at Australian latitudes should effectively prohibit continuous propagation of a stationary Rossby wave from the tropics into the extratropics because the meridional gradient of mean absolute vorticity goes to zero on its poleward flank. The observed wave train indeed exhibits strong convergence of wave activity flux upon encountering this region of vanishing vorticity gradient and with some indication of reflection back into the tropics, indicating the continuous propagation of the stationary Rossby wave train from low to high latitudes is inhibited across the south of Australia. However, another Rossby wave train appears to emanate upstream of Australia on the poleward side of the subtropical jet and propagates eastward along the waveguide of the eddy-driven (sub-polar) jet into the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. This combination of evanescent wave train from the tropics and eastward propagating wave train emanating from higher latitudes upstream of Australia gives the appearance of a continuous Rossby wave train propagating from the tropical Indian Ocean into higher southern latitudes. The extratropical Rossby wave source on the poleward side of the subtropical jet stems from induced changes in transient eddy activity in the main storm track of the Southern Hemisphere. During austral spring, when the subtropical jet weakens, the Rossby wave train emanating from Indian Ocean convection is explained more traditionally by direct dispersion from divergence forcing at low latitudes.

New satellite altimetry products for coastal oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Dufau, Claire; Mercier, F.; Ablain, M.; Dibarboure, G.; Carrere, L.; Labroue, S.; Obligis, E.; Sicard, P.; Thibaut, P.; Birol, F.; Bronner, E.; Lombard, A.; Picot, N.

Since the launch of Topex-Poseidon in 1992, satellite altimetry has become one of the most essential elements of the Earth's observing system. Its global view of the ocean state has permitted numerous improvements in the environment understanding, particularly in the global monitoring of climate changes and ocean circulation. Near the coastlines where human activities have a major impact on the ocean, satellite altimeter techniques are unfortunately limited by a growth of their error budget. This quality loss is due to land contamination in the altimetric and radiometric footprints but also to inaccurate geophysical corrections (tides, high-frequency processes linked to atmospheric forcing).Despite instrumental perturbations by emerged lands until 10 km (altimeter) and 50 km (radiometer) off the coasts, measurements are made and may contain useful information for coastal studies. In order to recover these data close to the coast, the French Spatial Agency (CNES) has funded the development of the PISTACH prototype dedicated to Jason-2 altimeter processing in coastal ocean. Since November 2008, these new satellite altimeter products have been providing new retracking solutions, several state-of-the-art or with higher resolution corrections in addition to standard fields. This presentation will present and illustrate this new set of satellite data for the coastal oceans.

Plankton networks driving carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Larhlimi, Abdelhalim; Roux, Simon; Darzi, Youssef; Audic, Stephane; Berline, Léo; Brum, Jennifer; Coelho, Luis Pedro; Espinoza, Julio Cesar Ignacio; Malviya, Shruti; Sunagawa, Shinichi; Dimier, Céline; Kandels-Lewis, Stefanie; Picheral, Marc; Poulain, Julie; Searson, Sarah; Stemmann, Lars; Not, Fabrice; Hingamp, Pascal; Speich, Sabrina; Follows, Mick; Karp-Boss, Lee; Boss, Emmanuel; Ogata, Hiroyuki; Pesant, Stephane; Weissenbach, Jean; Wincker, Patrick; Acinas, Silvia G.; Bork, Peer; de Vargas, Colomban; Iudicone, Daniele; Sullivan, Matthew B.; Raes, Jeroen; Karsenti, Eric; Bowler, Chris; Gorsky, Gabriel

2015-01-01

The biological carbon pump is the process by which CO2 is transformed to organic carbon via photosynthesis, exported through sinking particles, and finally sequestered in the deep ocean. While the intensity of the pump correlates with plankton community composition, the underlying ecosystem structure driving the process remains largely uncharacterised. Here we use environmental and metagenomic data gathered during the Tara Oceans expedition to improve our understanding of carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean. We show that specific plankton communities, from the surface and deep chlorophyll maximum, correlate with carbon export at 150 m and highlight unexpected taxa such as Radiolaria, alveolate parasites, as well as Synechococcus and their phages, as lineages most strongly associated with carbon export in the subtropical, nutrient-depleted, oligotrophic ocean. Additionally, we show that the relative abundance of just a few bacterial and viral genes can predict most of the variability in carbon export in these regions. PMID:26863193

Plankton networks driving carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

The biological carbon pump is the process by which CO2 is transformed to organic carbon via photosynthesis, exported through sinking particles, and finally sequestered in the deep ocean. While the intensity of the pump correlates with plankton community composition, the underlying ecosystem structure driving the process remains largely uncharacterized. Here we use environmental and metagenomic data gathered during the Tara Oceans expedition to improve our understanding of carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean. We show that specific plankton communities, from the surface and deep chlorophyll maximum, correlate with carbon export at 150 m and highlight unexpected taxa such as Radiolaria and alveolate parasites, as well as Synechococcus and their phages, as lineages most strongly associated with carbon export in the subtropical, nutrient-depleted, oligotrophic ocean. Additionally, we show that the relative abundance of a few bacterial and viral genes can predict a significant fraction of the variability in carbon export in these regions.

The Influence of Ice-Ocean Interactions on Europa's Overturning Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, P.; Manucharyan, G. E.; Thompson, A. F.; Goodman, J. C.; Vance, S.

2016-12-01

Jupiter's moon Europa appears to have a global liquid ocean, which is located beneath an ice shell that covers the moon's entire surface. Linking ocean dynamics and ice-ocean interactions is crucial to understanding observed surface features on Europa as well as other satellite measurements. Ocean properties and circulation may also provide clues as to whether the moon has the potential to support extraterrestrial life through chemical transport governed by ice-ocean interactions. Previous studies have identified a Hadley cell-like overturning circulation extending from the equator to mid latitudes. However, these model simulations do not consider ice-ocean interactions. In this study, our goal is to investigate how the ocean circulation may be affected by ice. We study two ice-related processes by building idealized models. One process is horizontal convection driven by an equator-to-pole buoyancy difference due to latitudinal ice transport at the ocean surface, which is found to be much weaker than the convective overturning circulation. The second process we consider is the freshwater layer formed by ice melting at the equator. A strong buoyancy contrast between the freshwater layer and the underlying water suppresses convection and turbulent mixing, which may modify the surface heat flux from the ocean to the bottom of the ice. We find that the salinity of the ocean below the freshwater layer tends to be homogeneous both vertically and horizontally with the presence of an overturning circulation. Critical values of circulation strength constrain the freshwater layer depth, and this relationship is sensitive to the average salinity of the ocean. Further coupling of temperature and salinity of the ice and the ocean that includes mutual influences between the surface heat flux and the freshwater layer may provide additional insights into the ice-ocean feedback, and its influence on the latitudinal difference of heat transport.

New perspectives in ocean acidification research: editor's introduction to the special feature on ocean acidification.

Science.gov (United States)

Munday, Philip L

2017-09-01

Special Feature are from authors who attended the symposium and address cutting-edge questions and emerging topics in ocean acidification research, across the taxonomic spectrum from plankton to top predators. They cover the three streams of research identified as crucial to understanding the biological impacts of ocean acidification: (i) the relationship with other environmental drivers, (ii) the effects on ecological process and species interactions, and (iii) the role that individual variation, phenotypic plasticity and adaptation will have in shaping the impacts of ocean acidification and warming on marine ecosystems. © 2017 The Author(s).

Ocean acidification and marine microorganisms: responses and consequences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Surajit Das

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Ocean acidification (OA is one of the global issues caused by rising atmospheric CO2. The rising pCO2 and resulting pH decrease has altered ocean carbonate chemistry. Microbes are key components of marine environments involved in nutrient cycles and carbon flow in marine ecosystems. However, these marine microbes and the microbial processes are sensitive to ocean pH shift. Thus, OA affects the microbial diversity, primary productivity and trace gases emission in oceans. Apart from that, it can also manipulate the microbial activities such as quorum sensing, extracellular enzyme activity and nitrogen cycling. Short-term laboratory experiments, mesocosm studies and changing marine diversity scenarios have illustrated undesirable effects of OA on marine microorganisms and ecosystems. However, from the microbial perspective, the current understanding on effect of OA is based mainly on limited experimental studies. It is challenging to predict response of marine microbes based on such experiments for this complex process. To study the response of marine microbes towards OA, multiple approaches should be implemented by using functional genomics, new generation microscopy, small-scale interaction among organisms and/or between organic matter and organisms. This review focuses on the response of marine microorganisms to OA and the experimental approaches to investigate the effect of changing ocean carbonate chemistry on microbial mediated processes.

How ocean acidification can benefit calcifiers.

Science.gov (United States)

Connell, Sean D; Doubleday, Zoë A; Hamlyn, Sarah B; Foster, Nicole R; Harley, Christopher D G; Helmuth, Brian; Kelaher, Brendan P; Nagelkerken, Ivan; Sarà, Gianluca; Russell, Bayden D

2017-02-06

Reduction in seawater pH due to rising levels of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the world's oceans is a major force set to shape the future of marine ecosystems and the ecological services they provide [1,2]. In particular, ocean acidification is predicted to have a detrimental effect on the physiology of calcifying organisms [3]. Yet, the indirect effects of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms, which may counter or exacerbate direct effects, is uncertain. Using volcanic CO 2 vents, we tested the indirect effects of ocean acidification on a calcifying herbivore (gastropod) within the natural complexity of an ecological system. Contrary to predictions, the abundance of this calcifier was greater at vent sites (with near-future CO 2 levels). Furthermore, translocation experiments demonstrated that ocean acidification did not drive increases in gastropod abundance directly, but indirectly as a function of increased habitat and food (algal biomass). We conclude that the effect of ocean acidification on algae (primary producers) can have a strong, indirect positive influence on the abundance of some calcifying herbivores, which can overwhelm any direct negative effects. This finding points to the need to understand ecological processes that buffer the negative effects of environmental change. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ocean Biological Pump Sensitivities and Implications for Climate Change Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Romanou, Anastasia

2013-01-01

The ocean is one of the principal reservoirs of CO2, a greenhouse gas, and therefore plays a crucial role in regulating Earth's climate. Currently, the ocean sequesters about a third of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, mitigating the human impact on climate. At the same time, the deeper ocean represents the largest carbon pool in the Earth System and processes that describe the transfer of carbon from the surface of the ocean to depth are intimately linked to the effectiveness of carbon sequestration.The ocean biological pump (OBP), which involves several biogeochemical processes, is a major pathway for transfer of carbon from the surface mixed layer into the ocean interior. About 75 of the carbon vertical gradient is due to the carbon pump with only 25 attributed to the solubility pump. However, the relative importance and role of the two pumps is poorly constrained. OBP is further divided to the organic carbon pump (soft tissue pump) and the carbonate pump, with the former exporting about 10 times more carbon than the latter through processes like remineralization.Major uncertainties about OBP, and hence in the carbon uptake and sequestration, stem from uncertainties in processes involved in OBP such as particulate organicinorganic carbon sinkingsettling, remineralization, microbial degradation of DOC and uptakegrowth rate changes of the ocean biology. The deep ocean is a major sink of atmospheric CO2 in scales of hundreds to thousands of years, but how the export efficiency (i.e. the fraction of total carbon fixation at the surface that is transported at depth) is affected by climate change remains largely undetermined. These processes affect the ocean chemistry (alkalinity, pH, DIC, particulate and dissolved organic carbon) as well as the ecology (biodiversity, functional groups and their interactions) in the ocean. It is important to have a rigorous, quantitative understanding of the uncertainties involved in the observational measurements, the models and the

Crustal processes of the Mid-Ocean Ridge

Science.gov (United States)

Ballard, Richard D.; Craig, H.; Edmond, J.; Einaudi, M.; Holcomb, R.; Holland, H.D.; Hopson, C.A.; Luyendyk, B.P.; Macdonald, K.; Morton, J.; Orcutt, J.; Sleep, N.

1981-01-01

.5 percent of the world's rivers, but the effective transport rates of elements are comparable to those of rivers in that anomalies for individual elements are frequently between 100 and 1000 times the average river composition. The degree of subsurface dilution determines the final exit temperature and composition of the hydrothermal fluids, ranging from manganese domination at extreme dilution to iron at intermediate levels to sulfide deposition when low dilution occurs. The discovery of massive sulfide deposits on the East Pacific Rise is destined to have a profound impact on our understanding of ore-forming processes. Whether it will have any economic significance remains to be seen. Copyright ?? 1981 AAAS.

Crustal processes of the mid-ocean ridge.

Science.gov (United States)

1981-07-03

.5 percent of the world's rivers, but the effective transport rates of elements are comparable to those of rivers in that anomalies for individual elements are frequently between 100 and 1000 times the average river composition. The degree of subsurface dilution determines the final exit temperature and composition of the hydrothermal fluids, ranging from manganese domination at extreme dilution to iron at intermediate levels to sulfide deposition when low dilution occurs. The discovery of massive sulfide deposits on the East Pacific Rise is destined to have a profound impact on our understanding of ore-forming processes. Whether it will have any economic significance remains to be seen.

Coastal Ocean Observing Network - Open Source Architecture for Data Management and Web-Based Data Services

Science.gov (United States)

Pattabhi Rama Rao, E.; Venkat Shesu, R.; Udaya Bhaskar, T. V. S.

2012-07-01

The observations from the oceans are the backbone for any kind of operational services, viz. potential fishing zone advisory services, ocean state forecast, storm surges, cyclones, monsoon variability, tsunami, etc. Though it is important to monitor open Ocean, it is equally important to acquire sufficient data in the coastal ocean through coastal ocean observing systems for re-analysis, analysis and forecast of coastal ocean by assimilating different ocean variables, especially sub-surface information; validation of remote sensing data, ocean and atmosphere model/analysis and to understand the processes related to air-sea interaction and ocean physics. Accurate information and forecast of the state of the coastal ocean at different time scales is vital for the wellbeing of the coastal population as well as for the socio-economic development of the country through shipping, offshore oil and energy etc. Considering the importance of ocean observations in terms of understanding our ocean environment and utilize them for operational oceanography, a large number of platforms were deployed in the Indian Ocean including coastal observatories, to acquire data on ocean variables in and around Indian Seas. The coastal observation network includes HF Radars, wave rider buoys, sea level gauges, etc. The surface meteorological and oceanographic data generated by these observing networks are being translated into ocean information services through analysis and modelling. Centralized data management system is a critical component in providing timely delivery of Ocean information and advisory services. In this paper, we describe about the development of open-source architecture for real-time data reception from the coastal observation network, processing, quality control, database generation and web-based data services that includes on-line data visualization and data downloads by various means.

Processes governing transient responses of the deep ocean buoyancy budget to a doubling of CO2

Science.gov (United States)

Palter, J. B.; Griffies, S. M.; Hunter Samuels, B. L.; Galbraith, E. D.; Gnanadesikan, A.

2012-12-01

Recent observational analyses suggest there is a temporal trend and high-frequency variability in deep ocean buoyancy in the last twenty years, a phenomenon reproduced even in low-mixing models. Here we use an earth system model (GFDL's ESM2M) to evaluate physical processes that influence buoyancy (and thus steric sea level) budget of the deep ocean in quasi-steady state and under a doubling of CO2. A new suite of model diagnostics allows us to quantitatively assess every process that influences the buoyancy budget and its temporal evolution, revealing surprising dynamics governing both the equilibrium budget and its transient response to climate change. The results suggest that the temporal evolution of the deep ocean contribution to sea level rise is due to a diversity of processes at high latitudes, whose net effect is then advected in the Eulerian mean flow to mid and low latitudes. In the Southern Ocean, a slowdown in convection and spin up of the residual mean advection are approximately equal players in the deep steric sea level rise. In the North Atlantic, the region of greatest deep steric sea level variability in our simulations, a decrease in mixing of cold, dense waters from the marginal seas and a reduction in open ocean convection causes an accumulation of buoyancy in the deep subpolar gyre, which is then advected equatorward.

Radiative transfer modeling through terrestrial atmosphere and ocean accounting for inelastic processes: Software package SCIATRAN

Science.gov (United States)

Rozanov, V. V.; Dinter, T.; Rozanov, A. V.; Wolanin, A.; Bracher, A.; Burrows, J. P.

2017-06-01

SCIATRAN is a comprehensive software package which is designed to model radiative transfer processes in the terrestrial atmosphere and ocean in the spectral range from the ultraviolet to the thermal infrared (0.18-40 μm). It accounts for multiple scattering processes, polarization, thermal emission and ocean-atmosphere coupling. The main goal of this paper is to present a recently developed version of SCIATRAN which takes into account accurately inelastic radiative processes in both the atmosphere and the ocean. In the scalar version of the coupled ocean-atmosphere radiative transfer solver presented by Rozanov et al. [61] we have implemented the simulation of the rotational Raman scattering, vibrational Raman scattering, chlorophyll and colored dissolved organic matter fluorescence. In this paper we discuss and explain the numerical methods used in SCIATRAN to solve the scalar radiative transfer equation including trans-spectral processes, and demonstrate how some selected radiative transfer problems are solved using the SCIATRAN package. In addition we present selected comparisons of SCIATRAN simulations with those published benchmark results, independent radiative transfer models, and various measurements from satellite, ground-based, and ship-borne instruments. The extended SCIATRAN software package along with a detailed User's Guide is made available for scientists and students, who are undertaking their own research typically at universities, via the web page of the Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen: http://www.iup.physik.uni-bremen.de.

Collaborative Oceanographic Research Opportunities with Schmidt Ocean Institute

Science.gov (United States)

Zykov, V.

2014-12-01

Schmidt Ocean Institute (http://www.schmidtocean.org/) was founded by Dr. Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt in 2009 to support frontier oceanographic research and exploration to expand the understanding of the world's oceans through technological advancement, intelligent, data-rich observation and analysis, and open sharing of information. Schmidt Ocean Institute operates a state-of-the-art globally capable research vessel Falkor (http://www.schmidtocean.org/story/show/47). After two years of scientific operations in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Eastern and Central Pacific, R/V Falkor is now preparing to support research in the Western Pacific and Eastern Indian Oceans in 2015 and 2016. As part of the long term research program development for Schmidt Ocean Institute, we aim to identify initiatives and projects that demonstrate strong alignment with our strategic interests. We focus on scientific opportunities that highlight effective use of innovative technologies to better understand the oceans, such as, for example, research enabled with remotely operated and autonomous vehicles, acoustics, in-situ sensing, telepresence, etc. Our technology-first approach to ocean science gave rise to infrastructure development initiatives, such as the development of a new full ocean depth Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle, new 6000m scientific Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, live HD video streaming from the ship to YouTube, shipboard high performance supercomputing, etc. We also support projects focusing on oceanographic technology research and development onboard R/V Falkor. We provide our collaborators with access to all of R/V Falkor's facilities and instrumentation in exchange for a commitment to make the resulting scientific data openly available to the international oceanographic community. This presentation aims to expand awareness about the interests and capabilities of Schmidt Ocean Institute and R/V Falkor among our scientific audiences and further

Atmospheric correction using near-infrared bands for satellite ocean color data processing in the turbid western Pacific region.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Menghua; Shi, Wei; Jiang, Lide

2012-01-16

A regional near-infrared (NIR) ocean normalized water-leaving radiance (nL(w)(λ)) model is proposed for atmospheric correction for ocean color data processing in the western Pacific region, including the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea. Our motivation for this work is to derive ocean color products in the highly turbid western Pacific region using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) onboard South Korean Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). GOCI has eight spectral bands from 412 to 865 nm but does not have shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands that are needed for satellite ocean color remote sensing in the turbid ocean region. Based on a regional empirical relationship between the NIR nL(w)(λ) and diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (K(d)(490)), which is derived from the long-term measurements with the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, an iterative scheme with the NIR-based atmospheric correction algorithm has been developed. Results from MODIS-Aqua measurements show that ocean color products in the region derived from the new proposed NIR-corrected atmospheric correction algorithm match well with those from the SWIR atmospheric correction algorithm. Thus, the proposed new atmospheric correction method provides an alternative for ocean color data processing for GOCI (and other ocean color satellite sensors without SWIR bands) in the turbid ocean regions of the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea, although the SWIR-based atmospheric correction approach is still much preferred. The proposed atmospheric correction methodology can also be applied to other turbid coastal regions.

Marine isoprene production and consumption in the mixed layer of the surface ocean - a field study over two oceanic regions

Science.gov (United States)

Booge, Dennis; Schlundt, Cathleen; Bracher, Astrid; Endres, Sonja; Zäncker, Birthe; Marandino, Christa A.

2018-02-01

Parameterizations of surface ocean isoprene concentrations are numerous, despite the lack of source/sink process understanding. Here we present isoprene and related field measurements in the mixed layer from the Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean to investigate the production and consumption rates in two contrasting regions, namely oligotrophic open ocean and the coastal upwelling region. Our data show that the ability of different phytoplankton functional types (PFTs) to produce isoprene seems to be mainly influenced by light, ocean temperature, and salinity. Our field measurements also demonstrate that nutrient availability seems to have a direct influence on the isoprene production. With the help of pigment data, we calculate in-field isoprene production rates for different PFTs under varying biogeochemical and physical conditions. Using these new calculated production rates, we demonstrate that an additional significant and variable loss, besides a known chemical loss and a loss due to air-sea gas exchange, is needed to explain the measured isoprene concentration. We hypothesize that this loss, with a lifetime for isoprene between 10 and 100 days depending on the ocean region, is potentially due to degradation or consumption by bacteria.

Monitoring of ocean storage projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caldeira, K. [Energy and Environment Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (United States)

2003-02-01

It has been proposed that atmospheric CO2 accumulation could be slowed by capture of CO2 from point sources and subsequent storage of that CO2 in the ocean. If applied, such sequestration efforts would need to be monitored for compliance, effectiveness, and unintended consequences. Aboveground inspection and monitoring of facilities and practices, combined with ocean observations, could assure compliance with ocean sequestration guidelines and regulations. Ocean observations could be made using a variety of sensors mounted on moorings or underwater gliders. Long-term effectiveness and leakage to the atmosphere must be estimated from models, since on large spatial scales it will be impossible to observationally distinguish carbon stored by a project from variable concentrations of background carbon. Furthermore, the ocean naturally would absorb roughly 80% of fossil fuel CO2 released to the atmosphere within a millennium. This means that most of the CO2 sequestered in the ocean that leaks out to the atmosphere will be reabsorbed by the ocean. However, there is no observational way to distinguish remaining carbon from reabsorbed carbon. The science of monitoring unintended consequences in the deep ocean interior is at a primitive state. Little is understood about ecosystems of the deep ocean interior; and even less is understood about how those ecosystems would respond to added CO2. High priority research objectives should be (1) to improve our understanding of the natural ecosystems of the deep ocean, and (2) to improve our understanding of the response of these ecosystems to increased oceanic CO2 concentrations and decreased ocean pH.

Near-inertial waves and deep ocean mixing

Science.gov (United States)

Shrira, V. I.; Townsend, W. A.

2013-07-01

For the existing pattern of global oceanic circulation to exist, there should be sufficiently strong turbulent mixing in the abyssal ocean, the mechanisms of which are not well understood as yet. The review discusses a plausible mechanism of deep ocean mixing caused by near-inertial waves in the abyssal ocean. It is well known how winds in the atmosphere generate near-inertial waves in the upper ocean, which then propagate downwards losing their energy in the process; only a fraction of the energy at the surface reaches the abyssal ocean. An open question is whether and, if yes, how these weakened inertial motions could cause mixing in the deep. We review the progress in the mathematical description of a mechanism that results in an intense breaking of near-inertial waves near the bottom of the ocean and thus enhances the mixing. We give an overview of the present state of understanding of the problem covering both the published and the unpublished results; we also outline the key open questions. For typical ocean stratification, the account of the horizontal component of the Earth's rotation leads to the existence of near-bottom wide waveguides for near-inertial waves. Due to the β-effect these waveguides are narrowing in the poleward direction. Near-inertial waves propagating poleward get trapped in the waveguides; we describe how in the process these waves are focusing more and more in the vertical direction, while simultaneously their group velocity tends to zero and wave-induced vertical shear significantly increases. This causes the development of shear instability, which is interpreted as wave breaking. Remarkably, this mechanism of local intensification of turbulent mixing in the abyssal ocean can be adequately described within the framework of linear theory. The qualitative picture is similar to wind wave breaking on a beach: the abyssal ocean always acts as a surf zone for near-inertial waves.

Near-inertial waves and deep ocean mixing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shrira, V I; Townsend, W A

2013-01-01

For the existing pattern of global oceanic circulation to exist, there should be sufficiently strong turbulent mixing in the abyssal ocean, the mechanisms of which are not well understood as yet. The review discusses a plausible mechanism of deep ocean mixing caused by near-inertial waves in the abyssal ocean. It is well known how winds in the atmosphere generate near-inertial waves in the upper ocean, which then propagate downwards losing their energy in the process; only a fraction of the energy at the surface reaches the abyssal ocean. An open question is whether and, if yes, how these weakened inertial motions could cause mixing in the deep. We review the progress in the mathematical description of a mechanism that results in an intense breaking of near-inertial waves near the bottom of the ocean and thus enhances the mixing. We give an overview of the present state of understanding of the problem covering both the published and the unpublished results; we also outline the key open questions. For typical ocean stratification, the account of the horizontal component of the Earth's rotation leads to the existence of near-bottom wide waveguides for near-inertial waves. Due to the β-effect these waveguides are narrowing in the poleward direction. Near-inertial waves propagating poleward get trapped in the waveguides; we describe how in the process these waves are focusing more and more in the vertical direction, while simultaneously their group velocity tends to zero and wave-induced vertical shear significantly increases. This causes the development of shear instability, which is interpreted as wave breaking. Remarkably, this mechanism of local intensification of turbulent mixing in the abyssal ocean can be adequately described within the framework of linear theory. The qualitative picture is similar to wind wave breaking on a beach: the abyssal ocean always acts as a surf zone for near-inertial waves. (paper)

A Multi-Process Test Case to Perform Comparative Analysis of Coastal Oceanic Models

Science.gov (United States)

Lemarié, F.; Burchard, H.; Knut, K.; Debreu, L.

2016-12-01

Due to the wide variety of choices that need to be made during the development of dynamical kernels of oceanic models, there is a strong need for an effective and objective assessment of the various methods and approaches that predominate in the community. We present here an idealized multi-scale scenario for coastal ocean models combining estuarine, coastal and shelf sea scales at midlatitude. The bathymetry, initial conditions and external forcings are defined analytically so that any model developer or user could reproduce the test case with its own numerical code. Thermally stratified conditions are prescribed and a tidal forcing is imposed as a propagating coastal Kelvin wave. The following physical processes can be assessed from the model results: estuarine process driven by tides and buoyancy gradients, the river plume dynamics, tidal fronts, and the interaction between tides and inertial oscillations. We show results obtained using the GETM (General Estuarine Transport Model) and the CROCO (Coastal and Regional Ocean Community model) models. Those two models are representative of the diversity of numerical methods in use in coastal models: GETM is based on a quasi-lagrangian vertical coordinate, a coupled space-time approach for advective terms, a TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) tracer advection scheme while CROCO is discretized with a quasi-eulerian vertical coordinate, a method of lines is used for advective terms, and tracer advection satisfies the TVB (Total Variation Bounded) property. The multiple scales are properly resolved thanks to nesting strategies, 1-way nesting for GETM and 2-way nesting for CROCO. Such test case can be an interesting experiment to continue research in numerical approaches as well as an efficient tool to allow intercomparison between structured-grid and unstructured-grid approaches. Reference : Burchard, H., Debreu, L., Klingbeil, K., Lemarié, F. : The numerics of hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models: state of

Understanding variability of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation in CORE-II models

Science.gov (United States)

Downes, S. M.; Spence, P.; Hogg, A. M.

2018-03-01

The current generation of climate models exhibit a large spread in the steady-state and projected Southern Ocean upper and lower overturning circulation, with mechanisms for deep ocean variability remaining less well understood. Here, common Southern Ocean metrics in twelve models from the Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiment Phase II (CORE-II) are assessed over a 60 year period. Specifically, stratification, surface buoyancy fluxes, and eddies are linked to the magnitude of the strengthening trend in the upper overturning circulation, and a decreasing trend in the lower overturning circulation across the CORE-II models. The models evolve similarly in the upper 1 km and the deep ocean, with an almost equivalent poleward intensification trend in the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. However, the models differ substantially in their eddy parameterisation and surface buoyancy fluxes. In general, models with a larger heat-driven water mass transformation where deep waters upwell at the surface ( ∼ 55°S) transport warmer waters into intermediate depths, thus weakening the stratification in the upper 2 km. Models with a weak eddy induced overturning and a warm bias in the intermediate waters are more likely to exhibit larger increases in the upper overturning circulation, and more significant weakening of the lower overturning circulation. We find the opposite holds for a cool model bias in intermediate depths, combined with a more complex 3D eddy parameterisation that acts to reduce isopycnal slope. In summary, the Southern Ocean overturning circulation decadal trends in the coarse resolution CORE-II models are governed by biases in surface buoyancy fluxes and the ocean density field, and the configuration of the eddy parameterisation.

Ocean acidification postcards

Science.gov (United States)

Schreppel, Heather A.; Cimitile, Matthew J.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting research on ocean acidification in polar, temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions including the Arctic, West Florida Shelf, and the Caribbean. Project activities include field assessment, experimental laboratory studies, and evaluation of existing data. The USGS is participating in international and interagency working groups to develop research strategies to increase understanding of the global implications of ocean acidification. Research strategies include new approaches for seawater chemistry observation and modeling, assessment of physiological effects on organisms, changes in marine ecosystem structure, new technologies, and information resources. These postcards highlight ongoing USGS research efforts in ocean acidification and carbon cycling in marine and coastal ecosystems in three different regions: polar, temperate, and tropical. To learn more about ocean acidification visit: http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/ocean-acidification/.

B-DEOS: British Dynamics of Earth and Ocean systems- new approaches for a multidisciplinary ocean observing system in the Atlantic and S Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Schultz, A.; Lampitt, R. S.

2001-12-01

Advances in theoretical understanding of the natural systems in the sea and in the Earth below have been closely associated with new data sets made possible by technological advances. The plate tectonic revolution, the discovery of hydrothermal circulation, and many other examples can be attributed to the application of innovative new technology to the study of the sea. A consortium of research groups and institutions within the United Kingdom is planning a system of multidisciplinary ocean observatories to study the components of, and linkages between the physical, chemical and biological processes regulating the earth-ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system. An engineering feasibility design study has been completed which has resulted in a robust and flexible design for a telecommunications/power buoy system, and a UK NERC Thematic Programme is in the advanced planning stage. Representatives of the US, Japan, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany and other countries have been involved in consultations, and a coordinated international effort is expected to develop throughout the Atlantic and S Oceans, with collaborations extended to observatories operated by cooperating partners in other regions. The B-DEOS observatory system is designed to allow studies on scales of order cm to 1000 km, as well as to supplement on larger spatial scales the emerging global ocean and seafloor solid earth observatory network. The facility will make it possible to obtain requisite long-term synoptic baseline data, and to monitor natural and man-made changes to this system by: 1) Establishing a long-term, permanent and relocatable network of instrumented seafloor platforms, moorings and profiler vehicles, provided with power from the ocean surface and internal power supplies, and maintaining a real- or near-real time bidirectional Internet link to shore. 2) Examining the time varying properties of these different environments (solid earth, ocean, atmosphere, biosphere), exploring the links

Equatorial Indian Ocean subsurface current variability in an Ocean General Circulation Model

Science.gov (United States)

Gnanaseelan, C.; Deshpande, Aditi

2018-03-01

The variability of subsurface currents in the equatorial Indian Ocean is studied using high resolution Ocean General Circulation Model (OGCM) simulations during 1958-2009. February-March eastward equatorial subsurface current (ESC) shows weak variability whereas strong variability is observed in northern summer and fall ESC. An eastward subsurface current with maximum amplitude in the pycnocline is prominent right from summer to winter during strong Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) years when air-sea coupling is significant. On the other hand during weak IOD years, both the air-sea coupling and the ESC are weak. This strongly suggests the role of ESC on the strength of IOD. The extension of the ESC to the summer months during the strong IOD years strengthens the oceanic response and supports intensification and maintenance of IODs through modulation of air sea coupling. Although the ESC is triggered by equatorial winds, the coupled air-sea interaction associated with IODs strengthens the ESC to persist for several seasons thereby establishing a positive feedback cycle with the surface. This suggests that the ESC plays a significant role in the coupled processes associated with the evolution and intensification of IOD events by cooling the eastern basin and strengthening thermocline-SST (sea surface temperature) interaction. As the impact of IOD events on Indian summer monsoon is significant only during strong IOD years, understanding and monitoring the evolution of ESC during these years is important for summer monsoon forecasting purposes. There is a westward phase propagation of anomalous subsurface currents which persists for a year during strong IOD years, whereas such persistence or phase propagation is not seen during weak IOD years, supporting the close association between ESC and strength of air sea coupling during strong IOD years. In this study we report the processes which strengthen the IOD events and the air sea coupling associated with IOD. It also unravels

Understanding Patients? Process to Use Medical Marijuana

OpenAIRE

Crowell, Tara L

2016-01-01

Given the necessity to better understand the process patients need to go through in order to seek treatment via medical marijuana, this study investigates this process to better understand this phenomenon. Specifically, Compassion Care Foundation (CCF) and Stockton University worked together to identify a solution to this problem. Specifically, 240 new patients at CCF were asked to complete a 1-page survey regarding various aspects associated with their experience prior to their use of medici...

Preventing blue ocean from turning into red ocean: A case study of a room escape game

OpenAIRE

Gündüz, Şafak

2018-01-01

The weariness of competitive business environment has made it one of the hot topics of recent business management literature to find ways to escape from the intense Red Ocean by creating a Blue Ocean where there is no competition. Rene and Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy (2004) provides a reasonable solution for this issue. Blue Ocean Strategy studies demonstrate that every blue ocean will eventually turn red due to fast entries into the market and the literature leaves a gap in understanding...

IMOS: How seals are changing the way we monitor the Southern Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Harcourt, R.; McMahon, C.; Jonsen, I.; Goldsworthy, S.; Hindell, M.; Hoenner, X.; Thums, M.

2016-02-01

IMOS (Integrated Marine Observing System) operates a wide range of ocean observing equipment throughout Australia's coastal waters and also the open oceans. This fully integrated, national system, covers physical, chemical and biological ocean sciences forming the basis for robust and informed study of the worlds oceans. Of particular interest in understanding global climate processes is the Southern Ocean (SO), but studying this remote region is difficult and most observations are collected during the short ice-free summer when the region is accessible. Through Winter and Spring it is extremely difficult to collect biophysical ocean information in the Southern Ocean. The importance of good observations from this region, the home of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the largest current system in the world, which connects water masses from the global ocean basins cannot be over emphasised. IMOS through the Australian Animal Tracking and Monitoring System (AATAMS) has made important inroads into collecting otherwise hard to obtain observations from the SO by using CTD bio-loggers to monitor coastal and oceanic movements of marine animals from the Australian mainland as far south as the Antarctic continent. In particular seals equipped with satellite-linked CTD tags have provided unique temporal and spatial coverage of the Southern Ocean. This includes extensive data from the Antarctic continental slope and shelf regions during the winter months, which is outside the conventional areas of Argo autonomous floats and ship-based studies. Over 75,000 temperature and salinity profiles have been collected from 20-140 °E, between the Kerguelen archipelago and Prydz Bay Antarctica. These data offer invaluable new insights into the water masses, oceanographic processes and provides a vital tool for oceanographers seeking to advance our understanding of this key component of the global ocean climate. Here we present an overview of the IMOS database of hydrographic (i

A machine learning approach to understand business processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maruster, L.

2003-01-01

Business processes (industries, administration, hospitals, etc.) become nowadays more and more complex and it is difficult to have a complete understanding of them. The goal of the thesis is to show that machine learning techniques can be used successfully for understanding a process on the basis of

Ice sheet-ocean interactions and sea level change

Science.gov (United States)

Heimbach, Patrick

2014-03-01

Mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has increased rapidly since the mid-1990s. Their combined loss now accounts for about one-third of global sea level rise. In Greenland, a growing body of evidence points to the marine margins of these glaciers as the region from which this dynamic response originated. Similarly, ice streams in West Antarctica that feed vast floating ice shelves have exhibited large decadal changes. We review observational evidence and present physical mechanisms that might explain the observed changes, in particular in the context of ice sheet-ocean interactions. Processes involve cover 7 orders of magnitudes of scales, ranging from mm boundary-layer processes to basin-scale coupled atmosphere-ocean variability. We discuss observational needs to fill the gap in our mechanistic understanding.

Seasonality in ocean microbial communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Giovannoni, Stephen J; Vergin, Kevin L

2012-02-10

Ocean warming occurs every year in seasonal cycles that can help us to understand long-term responses of plankton to climate change. Rhythmic seasonal patterns of microbial community turnover are revealed when high-resolution measurements of microbial plankton diversity are applied to samples collected in lengthy time series. Seasonal cycles in microbial plankton are complex, but the expansion of fixed ocean stations monitoring long-term change and the development of automated instrumentation are providing the time-series data needed to understand how these cycles vary across broad geographical scales. By accumulating data and using predictive modeling, we gain insights into changes that will occur as the ocean surface continues to warm and as the extent and duration of ocean stratification increase. These developments will enable marine scientists to predict changes in geochemical cycles mediated by microbial communities and to gauge their broader impacts.

Radionuclide tracers for the fate of metals in the Savannah estuary: River-ocean exchange processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olsen, C.R.; Thein, M.; Larsen, I.L.; Byrd, J.T.; Windom, H.L.

1989-01-01

Plutonium-238 from the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant labels riverborne particles, providing a unique opportunity for examining the fate of metals in estuaries and for tracing river-ocean exchange processes. Results indicate that plutonium and lead-210 are enriched on estuarine particles and that inputs of plutonium from oceanic sources greatly exceed inputs from riverborne or drainage-basin sources as far upstream as the landward limit of seawater penetration. We suggest that these radionuclides (and other chemically reactive metals) are being scavenged from oceanic water by sorption onto particles in turbid estuarine and coastal areas. Since estuaries, bays, mangroves, and intertidal areas serve as effective traps for fine particles and associated trace substances, these results have important implications concerning the disposal of chemically reactive substances in oceanic waters. 13 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

NOAA's Role in Sustaining Global Ocean Observations: Future Plans for OAR's Ocean Observing and Monitoring Division

Science.gov (United States)

Todd, James; Legler, David; Piotrowicz, Stephen; Raymond, Megan; Smith, Emily; Tedesco, Kathy; Thurston, Sidney

2017-04-01

The Ocean Observing and Monitoring Division (OOMD, formerly the Climate Observation Division) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office provides long-term, high-quality global observations, climate information and products for researchers, forecasters, assessments and other users of environmental information. In this context, OOMD-supported activities serve a foundational role in an enterprise that aims to advance 1) scientific understanding, 2) monitoring and prediction of climate and 3) understanding of potential impacts to enable a climate resilient society. Leveraging approximately 50% of the Global Ocean Observing System, OOMD employs an internationally-coordinated, multi-institution global strategy that brings together data from multiple platforms including surface drifting buoys, Argo profiling floats, flux/transport moorings (RAMA, PIRATA, OceanSITES), GLOSS tide gauges, SOOP-XBT and SOOP-CO2, ocean gliders and repeat hydrographic sections (GO-SHIP). OOMD also engages in outreach, education and capacity development activities to deliver training on the social-economic applications of ocean data. This presentation will highlight recent activities and plans for 2017 and beyond.

Investigating Undergraduate Science Students’ Conceptions and Misconceptions of Ocean Acidification

Science.gov (United States)

Danielson, Kathryn I.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2015-01-01

Scientific research exploring ocean acidification has grown significantly in past decades. However, little science education research has investigated the extent to which undergraduate science students understand this topic. Of all undergraduate students, one might predict science students to be best able to understand ocean acidification. What conceptions and misconceptions of ocean acidification do these students hold? How does their awareness and knowledge compare across disciplines? Undergraduate biology, chemistry/biochemistry, and environmental studies students, and science faculty for comparison, were assessed on their awareness and understanding. Results revealed low awareness and understanding of ocean acidification among students compared with faculty. Compared with biology or chemistry/biochemistry students, more environmental studies students demonstrated awareness of ocean acidification and identified the key role of carbon dioxide. Novel misconceptions were also identified. These findings raise the question of whether undergraduate science students are prepared to navigate socioenvironmental issues such as ocean acidification. PMID:26163563

Understanding r-process nucleosynthesis with dwarf galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Alexander P.

2018-06-01

The Milky Way's faintest dwarf galaxy satellites each sample short, independent bursts of star formation from the first 1-2 Gyr of the universe. Their simple formation history makes them ideal systems to understand how rare events like neutron star mergers contribute to early enrichment of r-process elements. I will focus on the ultra-faint galaxy Reticulum II, which experienced a single prolific r-process event that left ~80% of its stars extremely enriched in r-process elements. I will present abundances of ~40 elements derived from the highest signal-to-noise high-resolution spectrum ever taken for an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy star. Precise measurements of elements from all three r-process peaks reaffirm the universal nature of the r-process abundance pattern from Ba to Ir. The first r-process peak is significantly lower than solar but matches other r-process enhanced stars. This constrains the neutron-richness of r-process ejecta in neutron star mergers. The radioactive element thorium is detected with a somewhat low abundance. Naive application of currently predicted initial production ratios could imply an age >20 Gyr, but more likely indicates that the initial production ratios require revision. The abundance of lighter elements up to Zn are consistent with extremely metal-poor Milky Way halo stars. These elements may eventually provide a way to test for other hypothesized r-process sites, but only after a more detailed understanding of the chemical evolution in this galaxy. Reticulum II provides a clean view of early r-process enrichment that can be used to understand the increasing number of r-process measurements in other dwarf galaxies.

Empirical methods for the estimation of Southern Ocean CO2: support vector and random forest regression

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Gregor, Luke

2017-12-01

Full Text Available understanding with spatially integrated air–sea flux estimates (Fay and McKinley, 2014). Conversely, ocean biogeochemical process models are good tools for mechanis- tic understanding, but fail to represent the seasonality of CO2 fluxes in the Southern Ocean... of including coordinate variables as proxies of 1pCO2 in the empirical methods. In the inter- comparison study by Rödenbeck et al. (2015) proxies typi- cally include, but are not limited to, sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll a (Chl a), mixed layer...

Exploring Ocean-World Habitability within the Planned Europa Clipper Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Pappalardo, R. T.; Senske, D.; Korth, H.; Blaney, D. L.; Blankenship, D. D.; Collins, G. C.; Christensen, P. R.; Gudipati, M. S.; Kempf, S.; Lunine, J. I.; Paty, C. S.; Raymond, C. A.; Rathbun, J.; Retherford, K. D.; Roberts, J. H.; Schmidt, B. E.; Soderblom, J. M.; Turtle, E. P.; Waite, J. H., Jr.; Westlake, J. H.

2017-12-01

A key driver of planetary exploration is to understand the processes that lead to potential habitability across the solar system, including within oceans hosted by some icy satellites of the outer planets. In this context, it is the overarching science goal of the planned Europa Clipper mission is: Explore Europa to investigate its habitability. Following from this goal are three mission objectives: (1) Characterize the ice shell and any subsurface water, including their heterogeneity, ocean properties, and the nature of surface-ice-ocean exchange; (2) Understand the habitability of Europa's ocean through composition and chemistry; and (3) Understand the formation of surface features, including sites of recent or current activity, and characterize high science interest localities. Folded into these objectives is the desire to search for and characterize any current activity, notably plumes and thermal anomalies. A suite of nine remote-sensing and in-situ observing instruments is being developed that synergistically addresses these objectives. The remote-sensing instruments are the Europa UltraViolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS), the Europa Imaging System (EIS), the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE), the Europa THErMal Imaging System (E-THEMIS), and the Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON). The instruments providing in-situ observations are the Interior Characterization of Europa using Magnetometry (ICEMAG), the Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS), the MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration (MASPEX), and the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA). In addition, gravity science can be achieved via the spacecraft's telecommunication system, and the planned radiation monitoring system could provide information on Europa's energetic particle environment. Working together, the mission's robust investigation suite can be used to test hypotheses and enable discoveries relevant to the interior, composition, and geology of

Numerical simulation of small-scale mixing processes in the upper ocean and atmospheric boundary layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Druzhinin, O; Troitskaya, Yu; Zilitinkevich, S

2016-01-01

The processes of turbulent mixing and momentum and heat exchange occur in the upper ocean at depths up to several dozens of meters and in the atmospheric boundary layer within interval of millimeters to dozens of meters and can not be resolved by known large- scale climate models. Thus small-scale processes need to be parameterized with respect to large scale fields. This parameterization involves the so-called bulk coefficients which relate turbulent fluxes with large-scale fields gradients. The bulk coefficients are dependent on the properties of the small-scale mixing processes which are affected by the upper-ocean stratification and characteristics of surface and internal waves. These dependencies are not well understood at present and need to be clarified. We employ Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) as a research tool which resolves all relevant flow scales and does not require closure assumptions typical of Large-Eddy and Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations (LES and RANS). Thus DNS provides a solid ground for correct parameterization of small-scale mixing processes and also can be used for improving LES and RANS closure models. In particular, we discuss the problems of the interaction between small-scale turbulence and internal gravity waves propagating in the pycnocline in the upper ocean as well as the impact of surface waves on the properties of atmospheric boundary layer over wavy water surface. (paper)

Breaking of ocean surface waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babanin, A.V.

2009-01-01

Wind-generated waves are the most prominent feature of the ocean surface, and so are breaking waves manifested by the appearance of sporadic whitecaps. Such breaking represents one of the most interesting and most challenging problems for both fluid mechanics and physical oceanography. It is an intermittent random process, very fast by comparison with other processes in the wave breaking on the water surface is not continuous, but its role in maintaining the energy balance within the continuous wind-wave field is critical. Ocean wave breaking also plays the primary role in the air-sea exchange of momentum, mass and heat, and it is of significant importance for ocean remote sensing, coastal and maritime engineering, navigation and other practical applications. Understanding the wave breaking its occurrence, the breaking rates and even ability to describe its onset has been hindered for decades by the strong non-linearity of the process, together with its irregular and ferocious nature. Recently, this knowledge has significantly advanced, and the review paper is an attempt to summarise the facts into a consistent, albeit still incomplete picture of the phenomenon. In the paper, variety of definitions related to the were breaking are discussed and formulated and methods for breaking detection and measurements are examined. Most of attention is dedicated to the research of wave breaking probability and severity. Experimental, observational, numerical and statistical approaches and their outcomes are reviewed. Present state of the wave-breaking research and knowledge is analysed and main outstanding problems are outlined (Authors)

The Polar Ocean in a Warming Planet: Understanding for managing a unique resource of the Humankind

Science.gov (United States)

Azzolini, R.; Campus, P.; Weber, J.

2012-04-01

There is no doubt that changes in the Polar Regions are of great significance at the global level, such as having far-reaching effects on atmospheric and ocean circulation. Changes in ocean currents, temperature conditions, ice cover and reduction of permafrost regions are having impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic Regions of Europe and Northern Hemisphere. Human activity is putting pressure on the environment in these regions; maritime transport between Europe and Asia through the northern sea route and accessibility conditions to hidden Arctic resources as well as new technologies of exploitation will have a significant impact on the marine environment, on the living resources and on the regional social organization and needs. There are still unresolved issues related to national claims on continental shelf and sea areas that involve international law; in these respects science can provide crucial elements for supporting political agreements. Such scenarios will present new opportunities for economic activities, but also risks which will result in new demands for marine management, monitoring systems, emergency response systems, search and rescue services as well as closer international cooperation. It will also require the development of an international regime based on the improvement of the present regulations on exploration, accessibility, exploitation and liability. Dialogue and international agreements based on scientific evidences and foresight are key elements for finding solutions. On the opposite hemisphere, the ocean surrounding Antarctica plays a primary role in all global climatic processes, through the annual sea ice evolution, the circum-Antarctic circulation driving the exchange of heat between low and high latitudes and the atmospheric circulation, through the density bottom currents that affect the global Thermohaline circulation (THC), and the biogeochemical cycles that have peculiar characteristics in the icy Antarctic

Process studies of the carbonate system in coastal and ocean environments of the Atlantic Ocean

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Salt, L.A.

2014-01-01

The increase in anthropogenic, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has been largely mitigated by ocean uptake since the start of the Industrial Revolution, with the Atlantic Ocean providing the largest store of anthropogenic carbon. The thesis of Lesley Salt examines how the uptake of CO2 varies in

Applications of Radium Isotopes to Ocean Studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moore, W. S. [Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)

2013-07-15

With half-lives ranging from 3.7 days to 1600 a, naturally occurring radium isotopes have been used to study a variety of processes in the ocean. New techniques, which allow rapid analyses of the short lived isotopes, {sup 224}Ra (half-life = 3.7 days) and {sup 223}Ra (half-life = 11 days), have lead to many novel ways to apply radium to oceanography. This paper will focus on how the use of these isotopes has led to breakthroughs in quantifying: (1) the residence time of water in estuaries, (2) coastal ocean mixing rates and (3) submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). With this new understanding of rates and fluxes in the near shore environment, scientists and coastal managers are now able to evaluate sources of nutrients, carbon, and metals and their impact on the coastal ocean. For example, it is now known that SGD rivals rivers as a nutrient source to many coastal environments. (author)

Climate Ocean Modeling on Parallel Computers

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, P.; Cheng, B. N.; Chao, Y.

1998-01-01

Ocean modeling plays an important role in both understanding the current climatic conditions and predicting future climate change. However, modeling the ocean circulation at various spatial and temporal scales is a very challenging computational task.

Massive Cloud-Based Big Data Processing for Ocean Sensor Networks and Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Schwehr, K. D.

2017-12-01

Until recently, the work required to integrate and analyze data for global-scale environmental issues was prohibitive both in cost and availability. Traditional desktop processing systems are not able to effectively store and process all the data, and super computer solutions are financially out of the reach of most people. The availability of large-scale cloud computing has created tools that are usable by small groups and individuals regardless of financial resources or locally available computational resources. These systems give scientists and policymakers the ability to see how critical resources are being used across the globe with little or no barrier to entry. Google Earth Engine has the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra, MODIS Aqua, and Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (GLDAS) data catalogs available live online. Here we demonstrate these data to calculate the correlation between lagged chlorophyll and rainfall to identify areas of eutrophication, matching these events to ocean currents from datasets like HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) to check if there are constraints from oceanographic configurations. The system can provide addition ground truth with observations from sensor networks like the International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set / Voluntary Observing Ship (ICOADS/VOS) and Argo floats. This presentation is intended to introduce users to the datasets, programming idioms, and functionality of Earth Engine for large-scale, data-driven oceanography.

Understanding the biological underpinnings of ecohydrological processes

Science.gov (United States)

Huxman, T. E.; Scott, R. L.; Barron-Gafford, G. A.; Hamerlynck, E. P.; Jenerette, D.; Tissue, D. T.; Breshears, D. D.; Saleska, S. R.

2012-12-01

Climate change presents a challenge for predicting ecosystem response, as multiple factors drive both the physical and life processes happening on the land surface and their interactions result in a complex, evolving coupled system. For example, changes in surface temperature and precipitation influence near-surface hydrology through impacts on system energy balance, affecting a range of physical processes. These changes in the salient features of the environment affect biological processes and elicit responses along the hierarchy of life (biochemistry to community composition). Many of these structural or process changes can alter patterns of soil water-use and influence land surface characteristics that affect local climate. Of the many features that affect our ability to predict the future dynamics of ecosystems, it is this hierarchical response of life that creates substantial complexity. Advances in the ability to predict or understand aspects of demography help describe thresholds in coupled ecohydrological system. Disentangling the physical and biological features that underlie land surface dynamics following disturbance are allowing a better understanding of the partitioning of water in the time-course of recovery. Better predicting the timing of phenology and key seasonal events allow for a more accurate description of the full functional response of the land surface to climate. In addition, explicitly considering the hierarchical structural features of life are helping to describe complex time-dependent behavior in ecosystems. However, despite this progress, we have yet to build an ability to fully account for the generalization of the main features of living systems into models that can describe ecohydrological processes, especially acclimation, assembly and adaptation. This is unfortunate, given that many key ecosystem services are functions of these coupled co-evolutionary processes. To date, both the lack of controlled measurements and experimentation

Dazzled by ice and snow: improving medium ocean color images in Arctic waters

Science.gov (United States)

Babin, M.; Goyens, C.; Belanger, S.

2016-02-01

The importance of phytoplankton blooms for the Arctic marine ecosystem is well recognized but studies disagree as the consequences of sea ice melt on the phytoplankton distribution and growth. This limited understanding in actual and future Arctic phytoplankton dynamics mostly results from a lack of accurate data at the receding ice-edges where phytoplankton blooms are known to occur. Ocean color sensors on-board satellites represent therefore a crucial tool providing a synoptic view of the ocean systems over broad spatio-temporal scales. However, today the use of ocean color data in Arctic environments remains strongly compromised due to, among others, sea ice contamination. Indeed, medium ocean color data along the receding ice edge are "dazzled" by nearby and/or sub-pixel highly reflective ice floes. Standard ocean color data methods ignore ice-contamination during data processing which deteriorates the quality of the radiometric data and subsequent satellite derived bio-geochemical products. Moreover, since Arctic phytoplankton spring blooms typically develop along the receding ice-edges, ignoring ice-contaminated pixels may lead to wrong interpretation of satellite data. The present study shows how adjacent and sub-pixel sea-ice floes affect the retrieved ocean color data. A correction approach is also suggested to improve the "dazzled" ocean color pixels along the receding ice edge in the aim to provide additional support to better understand current and future trends in phytoplankton dynamics.

Oceans Past

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Based on research for the History of Marine Animal Populations project, Oceans Past examines the complex relationship our forebears had with the sea and the animals that inhabit it. It presents eleven studies ranging from fisheries and invasive species to offshore technology and the study of marine...... environmental history, bringing together the perspectives of historians and marine scientists to enhance understanding of ocean management of the past, present and future. In doing so, it also highlights the influence that changes in marine ecosystems have upon the politics, welfare and culture of human...

Wave measurement in severe ocean currents

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Diwan, S.G.; Suryavanshi, A.K.; Nayak, B.U.

The measurement of ocean waves has been of particular interest, as wave data and understanding of wave phenomena are essential to ocean engineering, coastal engineering and to many marine operations. The National Institute of Oceanography, Goa...

Restricted regions of enhanced growth of Antarctic krill in the circumpolar Southern Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Eugene J; Thorpe, Sally E; Tarling, Geraint A; Watkins, Jonathan L; Fielding, Sophie; Underwood, Philip

2017-07-31

Food webs in high-latitude oceans are dominated by relatively few species. Future ocean and sea-ice changes affecting the distribution of such species will impact the structure and functioning of whole ecosystems. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a key species in Southern Ocean food webs, but there is little understanding of the factors influencing its success throughout much of the ocean. The capacity of a habitat to maintain growth will be crucial and here we use an empirical relationship of growth rate to assess seasonal spatial variability. Over much of the ocean, potential for growth is limited, with three restricted oceanic regions where seasonal conditions permit high growth rates, and only a few areas around the Scotia Sea and Antarctic Peninsula suitable for growth of the largest krill (>60 mm). Our study demonstrates that projections of impacts of future change need to account for spatial and seasonal variability of key ecological processes within ocean ecosystems.

A simple model of the effect of ocean ventilation on ocean heat uptake

Science.gov (United States)

Nadiga, Balu; Urban, Nathan

2017-11-01

Transport of water from the surface mixed layer into the ocean interior is achieved, in large part, by the process of ventilation-a process associated with outcropping isopycnals. Starting from such a configuration of outcropping isopycnals, we derive a simple model of the effect of ventilation on ocean uptake of anomalous radiative forcing. This model can be seen as an improvement of the popular anomaly-diffusing class of energy balance models (AD-EBM) that are routinely employed to analyze and emulate the warming response of both observed and simulated Earth system. We demonstrate that neither multi-layer, nor continuous-diffusion AD-EBM variants can properly represent both surface-warming and the vertical distribution of ocean heat uptake. The new model overcomes this deficiency. The simplicity of the models notwithstanding, the analysis presented and the necessity of the modification is indicative of the role played by processes related to the down-welling branch of global ocean circulation in shaping the vertical distribution of ocean heat uptake.

Historical and future trends in ocean climate and biogeochemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doney, Scott C.; Bopp, Laurent; Long, Matthew C.

2014-01-01

Changing atmospheric composition due to human activities, primarily carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from fossil fuel burning, is already impacting ocean circulation, biogeochemistry, and ecology, and model projections indicate that observed trends will continue or even accelerate over this century. Elevated atmospheric CO 2 alters Earth's radiative balance, leading to global-scale warming and climate change. The ocean stores the majority of resulting anomalous heat, which in turn drives other physical, chemical, and biological impacts. Sea surface warming and increased ocean vertical stratification are projected to reduce global-integrated primary production and export flux as well as to lower subsurface dissolved oxygen concentrations. Upper trophic levels will be affected both directly by warming and indirectly from changes in productivity and expanding low oxygen zones. The ocean also absorbs roughly one-quarter of present-day anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. The resulting changes in seawater chemistry, termed ocean acidification, include declining pH and saturation state for calcium carbon minerals that may have widespread impacts on many marine organisms. Climate warming will likely slow ocean CO 2 uptake but is not expected to significantly reduce upper ocean acidification. Improving the accuracy of future model projections requires better observational constraints on current rates of ocean change and a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling key physical and biogeochemical processes. (authors)

Multidecadal-scale adjustment of the ocean mixed layer heat budget in the tropics: examining ocean reanalyses

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Kerry H.; Vizy, Edward K.; Sun, Xiaoming

2018-03-01

Distributions of ocean mixed layer temperature trends and trends in the net heat flux from the atmosphere differ, indicating the important role of the transport of heat within the ocean for determining temperature trends. Annual-mean, linear trends in the components of the tropical ocean mixed layer heat budget for 1980-2015 are diagnosed in 4 ocean reanalyses to improve our physical understanding of multidecadal-scale SST trends. The well-known temperature trend in the tropical Pacific, with cooling in the east and warming in the west, is reproduced in each reanalysis with high statistical significance. Cooling in the east is associated with negative trends in the net heat flux from the atmosphere and enhanced equatorial upwelling related to a strengthening of the subtropical cells. Negative trends in the net heat flux also occur in the western tropical Pacific, but advective warming associated with a strengthening and shoaling of the equatorial undercurrent overwhelms these negative trends. The strengthening of the equatorial undercurrent is consistent with enhanced easterly wind stress, which is applied to the ocean reanalyses, and differential sea level trends that enhance the negative zonal height gradient across the Pacific. The Pacific North Equatorial countercurrent is also strengthening in all 4 reanalyses in association with a strengthening of the sea level trough at 10°N in the central and eastern Pacific. All 4 ocean reanalyses produce warming of 0.1-0.3 K/decade in the North Atlantic with statistical significance levels ranging from below 90-99%. The Atlantic is similar to the Pacific in having the equatorial undercurrent strengthening, but indications of shoaling are less consistent in the reanalyses and the North Equatorial Countercurrent in the Atlantic is not strengthening. Large-scale ocean mixed layer warming trends in the Indian Ocean in the reanalyses are interrupted by some regional cooling close to the equator. Net surface heat flux trends

Effect of Linked Rules on Business Process Model Understanding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Wei; Indulska, Marta; Sadiq, Shazia

2017-01-01

Business process models are widely used in organizations by information systems analysts to represent complex business requirements and by business users to understand business operations and constraints. This understanding is extracted from graphical process models as well as business rules. Prior...

Life cycle assessment of ocean energy technologies

OpenAIRE

UIHLEIN ANDREAS

2015-01-01

Purpose Oceans offer a vast amount of renewable energy. Tidal and wave energy devices are currently the most advanced conduits of ocean energy. To date, only a few life cycle assessments for ocean energy have been carried out for ocean energy. This study analyses ocean energy devices, including all technologies currently being proposed, in order to gain a better understanding of their environmental impacts and explore how they can contribute to a more sustainable energy supply. Methods...

The deep ocean under climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Lisa A.; Le Bris, Nadine

2015-11-01

The deep ocean absorbs vast amounts of heat and carbon dioxide, providing a critical buffer to climate change but exposing vulnerable ecosystems to combined stresses of warming, ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and altered food inputs. Resulting changes may threaten biodiversity and compromise key ocean services that maintain a healthy planet and human livelihoods. There exist large gaps in understanding of the physical and ecological feedbacks that will occur. Explicit recognition of deep-ocean climate mitigation and inclusion in adaptation planning by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could help to expand deep-ocean research and observation and to protect the integrity and functions of deep-ocean ecosystems.

Phylogeography of the crown-of-thorns starfish in the Indian Ocean.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine Vogler

Full Text Available Understanding the limits and population dynamics of closely related sibling species in the marine realm is particularly relevant in organisms that require management. The crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci, recently shown to be a species complex of at least four closely related species, is a coral predator infamous for its outbreaks that have devastated reefs throughout much of its Indo-Pacific distribution.In this first Indian Ocean-wide genetic study of a marine organism we investigated the genetic structure and inferred the paleohistory of the two Indian Ocean sister-species of Acanthaster planci using mitochondrial DNA sequence analyses. We suggest that the first of two main diversification events led to the formation of a Southern and Northern Indian Ocean sister-species in the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene. The second led to the formation of two internal clades within each species around the onset of the last interglacial. The subsequent demographic history of the two lineages strongly differed, the Southern Indian Ocean sister-species showing a signature of recent population expansion and hardly any regional structure, whereas the Northern Indian Ocean sister-species apparently maintained a constant size with highly differentiated regional groupings that were asymmetrically connected by gene flow.Past and present surface circulation patterns in conjunction with ocean primary productivity were identified as the processes most likely to have shaped the genetic structure between and within the two Indian Ocean lineages. This knowledge will help to understand the biological or ecological differences of the two sibling species and therefore aid in developing strategies to manage population outbreaks of this coral predator in the Indian Ocean.

Europa's Compositional Evolution and Ocean Salinity

Science.gov (United States)

Vance, S.; Glein, C.; Bouquet, A.; Cammarano, F.; McKinnon, W. B.

2017-12-01

Europa's ocean depth and composition have likely evolved through time, in step with the temperature of its mantle, and in concert with the loss of water and hydrogen to space and accretion of water and other chemical species from comets, dust, and Io's volcanism. A key aspect to understanding the consequences of these processes is combining internal structure models with detailed calculations of ocean composition, which to date has not been done. This owes in part to the unavailability of suitable thermodynamic databases for aqueous chemistry above 0.5 GPa. Recent advances in high pressure aqueous chemistry and water-rock interactions allow us to compute the equilibrium ionic conditions and pH everywhere in Europa's interior. In this work, we develop radial structure and composition models for Europa that include self-consistent thermodynamics of all materials, developed using the PlanetProfile software. We will describe the potential hydration states and porosity of the rocky interior, and the partitioning of primordial sulfur between this layer, an underlying metallic core, and the ocean above. We will use these results to compute the ocean's salinity by extraction from the upper part of the rocky layer. In this context, we will also consider the fluxes of reductants from Europa's interior due to high-temperature hydrothermalism, serpentinization, and endogenic radiolysis.

Skill Assessment in Ocean Biological Data Assimilation

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson W.; Friedrichs, Marjorie A. M.; Robinson, Allan R.; Rose, Kenneth A.; Schlitzer, Reiner; Thompson, Keith R.; Doney, Scott C.

2008-01-01

There is growing recognition that rigorous skill assessment is required to understand the ability of ocean biological models to represent ocean processes and distributions. Statistical analysis of model results with observations represents the most quantitative form of skill assessment, and this principle serves as well for data assimilation models. However, skill assessment for data assimilation requires special consideration. This is because there are three sets of information in the free-run model, data, and the assimilation model, which uses Data assimilation information from both the flee-run model and the data. Intercom parison of results among the three sets of information is important and useful for assessment, but is not conclusive since the three information sets are intertwined. An independent data set is necessary for an objective determination. Other useful measures of ocean biological data assimilation assessment include responses of unassimilated variables to the data assimilation, performance outside the prescribed region/time of interest, forecasting, and trend analysis. Examples of each approach from the literature are provided. A comprehensive list of ocean biological data assimilation and their applications of skill assessment, in both ecosystem/biogeochemical and fisheries efforts, is summarized.

Understanding Quality in Process Modelling: Towards a Holistic Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Recker

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Quality is one of the main topics in current conceptual modelling research, as is the field of business process modelling. Yet, widely acknowledged academic contributions towards an understanding or measurement of business process model quality are limited at best. In this paper I argue that the development of methodical theories concerning the measurement or establishment of process model quality must be preceded by methodological elaborations on business process modelling. I further argue that existing epistemological foundations of process modelling are insufficient for describing all extrinsic and intrinsic traits of model quality. This in turn has led to a lack of holistic understanding of process modelling. Taking into account the inherent social and purpose-oriented character of process modelling in contemporary organizations I present a socio-pragmatic constructionist methodology of business process modelling and sketch out implications of this perspective towards an understanding of process model quality. I anticipate that, based on this research, theories can be developed that facilitate the evaluation of the ’goodness’ of a business process model.

Comparative Analysis of Upper Ocean Heat Content Variability from Ensemble Operational Ocean Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Yan; Balmaseda, Magdalena A.; Boyer, Tim; Ferry, Nicolas; Good, Simon; Ishikawa, Ichiro; Rienecker, Michele; Rosati, Tony; Yin, Yonghong; Kumar, Arun

2012-01-01

Upper ocean heat content (HC) is one of the key indicators of climate variability on many time-scales extending from seasonal to interannual to long-term climate trends. For example, HC in the tropical Pacific provides information on thermocline anomalies that is critical for the longlead forecast skill of ENSO. Since HC variability is also associated with SST variability, a better understanding and monitoring of HC variability can help us understand and forecast SST variability associated with ENSO and other modes such as Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). An accurate ocean initialization of HC anomalies in coupled climate models could also contribute to skill in decadal climate prediction. Errors, and/or uncertainties, in the estimation of HC variability can be affected by many factors including uncertainties in surface forcings, ocean model biases, and deficiencies in data assimilation schemes. Changes in observing systems can also leave an imprint on the estimated variability. The availability of multiple operational ocean analyses (ORA) that are routinely produced by operational and research centers around the world provides an opportunity to assess uncertainties in HC analyses, to help identify gaps in observing systems as they impact the quality of ORAs and therefore climate model forecasts. A comparison of ORAs also gives an opportunity to identify deficiencies in data assimilation schemes, and can be used as a basis for development of real-time multi-model ensemble HC monitoring products. The OceanObs09 Conference called for an intercomparison of ORAs and use of ORAs for global ocean monitoring. As a follow up, we intercompared HC variations from ten ORAs -- two objective analyses based on in-situ data only and eight model analyses based on ocean data assimilation systems. The mean, annual cycle, interannual variability and longterm trend of HC have

Airborne Optical Remote Sensing of Ocean Surface Current Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, S. P.; Zuckerman, S.; Stuart, G.

2016-02-01

Accurate and timely knowledge of open ocean surface currents are needed for a variety of engineering and emergency missions, as well as for improving scientific understanding of ocean dynamics. This paper presents surface current observations from a new airborne current measurement capability called the Remote Ocean Current Imaging System (ROCIS). ROCIS exploits space-time processing of airborne ocean wave imagery to produce real-time maps of surface currents every 1 km along the flight track. Post-processing of the data allows for more in depth sensitivity studies than can be undertaken with the real-time measurements alone, providing swaths of current retrievals at higher spatial resolutions. Currents can be calculated on scales down to 100 m, across swaths 3 km wide, along the entire flight path. Here, we report on results for multiple ROCIS data collection flights over the Gulf of Mexico conducted in 2012, 2014 and 2015. We show comparisons to in situ current measurements, explore performance as a function of altitude, dwell, wind speed, and wave height, and discuss sources of error. We present examples of current retrievals revealing mesoscale and submesoscale variability. Lastly, we present horizontal kinetic energy spectra from select flights covering a range of spatial scales from hundreds of meters to hundreds of kilometers.

Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States for the Next Decade: An Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2007-01-01

.... Understanding society's impact on the ocean and the ocean's impact on society forms the basis for ensuring a clean, healthy, and stable ocean environment that can be responsibly used and enjoyed for generations to come...

Modeling of oceanic vortices

Science.gov (United States)

Cushman-Roisin, B.

Following on a tradition of biannual meetings, the 5th Colloquium on the Modeling of Oceanic Vortices was held May 21-23, 1990, at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. The colloquium series, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, is intended to gather oceanographers who contribute to our understanding of oceanic mesoscale vortices via analytical, numerical and experimental modeling techniques.

CROOS - Collaborative Research on Oregon Ocean Salmon

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Goal 1: Improve understanding of salmon ocean ecology by integrating stock-specific distribution patterns over space and time with biological and environmental data....

Partial melting of lower oceanic crust gabbro: Constraints from poikilitic clinopyroxene primocrysts

Science.gov (United States)

Leuthold, Julien; Lissenberg, C. Johan; O'Driscoll, Brian; Karakas, Ozge; Falloon, Trevor; Klimentyeva, Dina N.; Ulmer, Peter

2018-03-01

Successive magma batches underplate, ascend, stall and erupt along spreading ridges, building the oceanic crust. It is therefore important to understand the processes and conditions under which magma differentiates at mid ocean ridges. Although fractional crystallization is considered to be the dominant mechanism for magma differentiation, open-system igneous complexes also experience Melting-Assimilation-Storage-Hybridization (MASH, Hildreth and Moorbath, 1988) processes. Here, we examine crystal-scale records of partial melting in lower crustal gabbroic cumulates from the slow-spreading Atlantic oceanic ridge (Kane Megamullion; collected with Jason ROV) and the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (Hess Deep; IODP expedition 345). Clinopyroxene oikocrysts in these gabbros preserve marked intra-crystal geochemical variations that point to crystallization-dissolution episodes of the gabbro eutectic assemblage. Kane Megamullion and Hess Deep clinopyroxene core1 primocrysts and their plagioclase inclusions indicate crystallization from high temperature basalt (>1160 and >1200°C, respectively), close to clinopyroxene saturation temperature (fundamental mechanisms for generating the wide compositional variation observed in mid-ocean ridge basalts. We furthermore propose that such processes operate at both slow- and fast-spreading ocean ridges. Thermal numerical modelling shows that the degree of lower crustal partial melting at slow-spreading ridges can locally increase up to 50%, but the overall crustal melt volume is low (less than ca. 5% of total mantle-derived and crustal melts; ca. 20% in fast-spreading ridges).

The deep ocean under climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Lisa A; Le Bris, Nadine

2015-11-13

The deep ocean absorbs vast amounts of heat and carbon dioxide, providing a critical buffer to climate change but exposing vulnerable ecosystems to combined stresses of warming, ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and altered food inputs. Resulting changes may threaten biodiversity and compromise key ocean services that maintain a healthy planet and human livelihoods. There exist large gaps in understanding of the physical and ecological feedbacks that will occur. Explicit recognition of deep-ocean climate mitigation and inclusion in adaptation planning by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could help to expand deep-ocean research and observation and to protect the integrity and functions of deep-ocean ecosystems. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Towards understanding how surface life can affect interior geological processes: a non-equilibrium thermodynamics approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. G. Dyke

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Life has significantly altered the Earth's atmosphere, oceans and crust. To what extent has it also affected interior geological processes? To address this question, three models of geological processes are formulated: mantle convection, continental crust uplift and erosion and oceanic crust recycling. These processes are characterised as non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems. Their states of disequilibrium are maintained by the power generated from the dissipation of energy from the interior of the Earth. Altering the thickness of continental crust via weathering and erosion affects the upper mantle temperature which leads to changes in rates of oceanic crust recycling and consequently rates of outgassing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Estimates for the power generated by various elements in the Earth system are shown. This includes, inter alia, surface life generation of 264 TW of power, much greater than those of geological processes such as mantle convection at 12 TW. This high power results from life's ability to harvest energy directly from the sun. Life need only utilise a small fraction of the generated free chemical energy for geochemical transformations at the surface, such as affecting rates of weathering and erosion of continental rocks, in order to affect interior, geological processes. Consequently when assessing the effects of life on Earth, and potentially any planet with a significant biosphere, dynamical models may be required that better capture the coupled nature of biologically-mediated surface and interior processes.

The ocean carbon sink - impacts, vulnerabilities and challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Heinze, C.; Meyer, S.; Goris, N.; Anderson, L.; Steinfeldt, R.; Chang, N.; Le Quéré, C.; Bakker, D. C. E.

2015-06-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is, next to water vapour, considered to be the most important natural greenhouse gas on Earth. Rapidly rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations caused by human actions such as fossil fuel burning, land-use change or cement production over the past 250 years have given cause for concern that changes in Earth's climate system may progress at a much faster pace and larger extent than during the past 20 000 years. Investigating global carbon cycle pathways and finding suitable adaptation and mitigation strategies has, therefore, become of major concern in many research fields. The oceans have a key role in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations and currently take up about 25% of annual anthropogenic carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Questions that yet need to be answered are what the carbon uptake kinetics of the oceans will be in the future and how the increase in oceanic carbon inventory will affect its ecosystems and their services. This requires comprehensive investigations, including high-quality ocean carbon measurements on different spatial and temporal scales, the management of data in sophisticated databases, the application of Earth system models to provide future projections for given emission scenarios as well as a global synthesis and outreach to policy makers. In this paper, the current understanding of the ocean as an important carbon sink is reviewed with respect to these topics. Emphasis is placed on the complex interplay of different physical, chemical and biological processes that yield both positive and negative air-sea flux values for natural and anthropogenic CO2 as well as on increased CO2 (uptake) as the regulating force of the radiative warming of the atmosphere and the gradual acidification of the oceans. Major future ocean carbon challenges in the fields of ocean observations, modelling and process research as well as the relevance of other biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gases are discussed.

Understanding Patients’ Process to Use Medical Marijuana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tara L Crowell

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Given the necessity to better understand the process patients need to go through in order to seek treatment via medical marijuana, this study investigates this process to better understand this phenomenon. Specifically, Compassion Care Foundation (CCF and Stockton University worked together to identify a solution to this problem. Specifically, 240 new patients at CCF were asked to complete a 1-page survey regarding various aspects associated with their experience prior to their use of medicinal marijuana—diagnosis, what prompted them to seek treatment, level of satisfaction with specific stages in the process, total length of time the process took, and patient’s level of pain. Results reveal numerous patient diagnoses for which medical marijuana is being prescribed; the top 4 most common are intractable skeletal spasticity, chronic and severe pain, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Next, results indicate a little over half of the patients were first prompted to seek alternative treatment from their physicians, while the remaining patients indicated that other sources such as written information along with friends, relatives, media, and the Internet persuaded them to seek treatment. These data indicate that a variety of sources play a role in prompting patients to seek alternative treatment and is a critical first step in this process. Additional results posit that once patients began the process of qualifying to receive medical marijuana as treatment, the process seemed more positive even though it takes patients on average almost 6 months to obtain their first treatment after they started the process. Finally, results indicate that patients are reporting a moderately high level of pain prior to treatment. Implication of these results highlights several important elements in the patients’ initial steps toward seeking medical marijuana, along with the quality and quantity of the process patients must engage in prior to

Ocean carbon uptake and storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tilbrook, Bronte

2007-01-01

Full text: The ocean contains about 95% of the carbon in the atmosphere, ocean and land biosphere system, and is of fundamental importance in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. In the 1990s an international research effort involving Australia was established to determine the uptake and storage of anthropogenic C02 for all major ocean basins. The research showed that about 118 of the 244 + 20 billion tons of the anthropogenic carbon emitted through fossil fuel burning and cement production has been stored in the ocean since preindustrial times, thus helping reduce the rate of increase in atmospheric C02. The research also showed the terrestrial biosphere has been a small net source of C02 (39 ± 28 billion tons carbon) to the atmosphere over the same period. About 60% of the total ocean inventory of the anthropogenic C02 was found in the Southern Hemisphere, with most in the 30 0 S to 50 0 S latitude band. This mid-latitude band is where surface waters are subducted as Mode and Intermediate waters, which is a major pathway controlling ocean C02 uptake. High storage (23% of the total) also occurs in the North Atlantic, associated with deep water formation in that basin. The ocean uptake and storage is expected to increase in the coming decades as atmospheric C02 concentrations rise. However, a number of feedback mechanisms associated with surface warming, changes in circulation, and biological effects are likely to impact on the uptake capacity. The accumulation or storage-of the C02 in the ocean is also the major driver of ocean acidification with potential to disrupt marine ecosystems. This talk will describe the current understanding of the ocean C02 uptake and storage and a new international research strategy to detect how the ocean uptake and storage will evolve on interannual through decadal scales. Understanding the ocean response to increasing atmospheric C02 will be a key element in managing future C02 increases and establishing

Understanding Student Cognition about Complex Earth System Processes Related to Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

McNeal, K. S.; Libarkin, J.; Ledley, T. S.; Dutta, S.; Templeton, M. C.; Geroux, J.; Blakeney, G. A.

2011-12-01

The Earth's climate system includes complex behavior and interconnections with other Earth spheres that present challenges to student learning. To better understand these unique challenges, we have conducted experiments with high-school and introductory level college students to determine how information pertaining to the connections between the Earth's atmospheric system and the other Earth spheres (e.g., hydrosphere and cryosphere) are processed. Specifically, we include psychomotor tests (e.g., eye-tracking) and open-ended questionnaires in this research study, where participants were provided scientific images of the Earth (e.g., global precipitation and ocean and atmospheric currents), eye-tracked, and asked to provide causal or relational explanations about the viewed images. In addition, the students engaged in on-line modules (http://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/climate/index.html) focused on Earth system science as training activities to address potential cognitive barriers. The developed modules included interactive media, hands-on lessons, links to outside resources, and formative assessment questions to promote a supportive and data-rich learning environment. Student eye movements were tracked during engagement with the materials to determine the role of perception and attention on understanding. Students also completed a conceptual questionnaire pre-post to determine if these on-line curriculum materials assisted in their development of connections between Earth's atmospheric system and the other Earth systems. The pre-post results of students' thinking about climate change concepts, as well as eye-tracking results, will be presented.

Hess Deep Interactive Lab: Exploring the Structure and Formation of the Oceanic Crust through Hands-On Models and Online Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Kurtz, N.; Marks, N.; Cooper, S. K.

2014-12-01

Scientific ocean drilling through the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) has contributed extensively to our knowledge of Earth systems science. However, many of its methods and discoveries can seem abstract and complicated for students. Collaborations between scientists and educators/artists to create accurate yet engaging demonstrations and activities have been crucial to increasing understanding and stimulating interest in fascinating geological topics. One such collaboration, which came out of Expedition 345 to the Hess Deep Rift, resulted in an interactive lab to explore sampling rocks from the usually inacessible lower oceanic crust, offering an insight into the geological processes that form the structure of the Earth's crust. This Hess Deep Interactive Lab aims to explain several significant discoveries made by oceanic drilling utilizing images of actual thin sections and core samples recovered from IODP expeditions. . Participants can interact with a physical model to learn about the coring and drilling processes, and gain an understanding of seafloor structures. The collaboration of this lab developed as a need to explain fundamental notions of the ocean crust formed at fast-spreading ridges. A complementary interactive online lab can be accessed at www.joidesresolution.org for students to engage further with these concepts. This project explores the relationship between physical and on-line models to further understanding, including what we can learn from the pros and cons of each.

Global assessment of benthic nepheloid layers and linkage with upper ocean dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Wilford D.; Richardson, Mary Jo; Mishonov, Alexey V.

2018-01-01

Global maps of the maximum bottom concentration, thickness, and integrated particle mass in benthic nepheloid layers are published here to support collaborations to understand deep ocean sediment dynamics, linkage with upper ocean dynamics, and assessing the potential for scavenging of adsorption-prone elements near the deep ocean seafloor. Mapping the intensity of benthic particle concentrations from natural oceanic processes also provides a baseline that will aid in quantifying the industrial impact of current and future deep-sea mining. Benthic nepheloid layers have been mapped using 6,392 full-depth profiles made during 64 cruises using our transmissometers mounted on CTDs in multiple national/international programs including WOCE, SAVE, JGOFS, CLIVAR-Repeat Hydrography, and GO-SHIP during the last four decades. Intense benthic nepheloid layers are found in areas where eddy kinetic energy in overlying waters, mean kinetic energy 50 m above bottom (mab), and energy dissipation in the bottom boundary layer are near the highest values in the ocean. Areas of intense benthic nepheloid layers include the Western North Atlantic, Argentine Basin in the South Atlantic, parts of the Southern Ocean and areas around South Africa. Benthic nepheloid layers are weak or absent in most of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic basins away from continental margins. High surface eddy kinetic energy is associated with the Kuroshio Current east of Japan. Data south of the Kuroshio show weak nepheloid layers, but no transmissometer data exist beneath the Kuroshio, a deficiency that should be remedied to increase understanding of eddy dynamics in un-sampled and under-sampled oceanic areas.

Mercury biogeochemical cycling in the ocean and policy implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Robert P; Choi, Anna L; Fitzgerald, William F; Hammerschmidt, Chad R; Lamborg, Carl H; Soerensen, Anne L; Sunderland, Elsie M

2012-11-01

Anthropogenic activities have enriched mercury in the biosphere by at least a factor of three, leading to increases in total mercury (Hg) in the surface ocean. However, the impacts on ocean fish and associated trends in human exposure as a result of such changes are less clear. Here we review our understanding of global mass budgets for both inorganic and methylated Hg species in ocean seawater. We consider external inputs from atmospheric deposition and rivers as well as internal production of monomethylmercury (CH₃Hg) and dimethylmercury ((CH₃)₂Hg). Impacts of large-scale ocean circulation and vertical transport processes on Hg distribution throughout the water column and how this influences bioaccumulation into ocean food chains are also discussed. Our analysis suggests that while atmospheric deposition is the main source of inorganic Hg to open ocean systems, most of the CH₃Hg accumulating in ocean fish is derived from in situ production within the upper waters (ocean basins are changing at different rates due to differences in atmospheric loading and that the deeper waters of the oceans are responding slowly to changes in atmospheric Hg inputs. Most biological exposures occur in the upper ocean and therefore should respond over years to decades to changes in atmospheric mercury inputs achieved by regulatory control strategies. Migratory pelagic fish such as tuna and swordfish are an important component of CH₃Hg exposure for many human populations and therefore any reduction in anthropogenic releases of Hg and associated deposition to the ocean will result in a decline in human exposure and risk. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ocean Science for Decision-Making: Current Activities of the National Research Council's Ocean Studies Board

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, S.; Glickson, D.; Mengelt, C.; Forrest, S.; Waddell, K.

2012-12-01

The National Research Council is a private, nonprofit organization chartered by Congress in 1916 as an expansion of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Its mission is to improve the use of science in government decision making and public policy, increase public understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health. Within the National Research Council, the Ocean Studies Board (OSB) mission is to explore the science, policies, and infrastructure needed to understand, manage, and conserve coastal and marine environments and resources. OSB undertakes studies and workshops on emerging scientific and policy issues at the request of federal agencies, Congress, and others; provides program reviews and guidance; and facilitates communication on oceanographic issues among different sectors. OSB also serves as the U.S. National Committee to the international, nongovernmental Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). OSB has produced reports on a wide range of topics of interest to researchers and educators, the federal government, the non-profit sector, and industry. Recent reports have focused on ecosystem services in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, sea level rise on the U.S. west coast, scientific ocean drilling needs and accomplishments, requirements for sustained ocean color measurements, critical infrastructure for ocean research, tsunami warning and preparedness, ocean acidification, and marine and hydrokinetic power resource assessments. Studies that are currently underway include responding to oil spills in the Arctic, evaluating the effectiveness of fishery stock rebuilding plans, and reviewing the National Ocean Acidification Research Plan. OSB plays an important role in helping create policy decisions and disseminating important information regarding various aspects of ocean science.

Arctic-COLORS (Coastal Land Ocean Interactions in the Arctic) - a NASA field campaign scoping study to examine land-ocean interactions in the Arctic

Science.gov (United States)

Hernes, P.; Tzortziou, M.; Salisbury, J.; Mannino, A.; Matrai, P.; Friedrichs, M. A.; Del Castillo, C. E.

2014-12-01

The Arctic region is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet, triggering rapid social and economic changes and impacting both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Yet our understanding of critical processes and interactions along the Arctic land-ocean interface is limited. Arctic-COLORS is a Field Campaign Scoping Study funded by NASA's Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program that aims to improve understanding and prediction of land-ocean interactions in a rapidly changing Arctic coastal zone, and assess vulnerability, response, feedbacks and resilience of coastal ecosystems, communities and natural resources to current and future pressures. Specific science objectives include: - Quantify lateral fluxes to the arctic inner shelf from (i) rivers and (ii) the outer shelf/basin that affect biology, biodiversity, biogeochemistry (i.e. organic matter, nutrients, suspended sediment), and the processing rates of these constituents in coastal waters. - Evaluate the impact of the thawing of Arctic permafrost within the river basins on coastal biology, biodiversity and biogeochemistry, including various rates of community production and the role these may play in the health of regional economies. - Assess the impact of changing Arctic landfast ice and coastal sea ice dynamics. - Establish a baseline for comparison to future change, and use state-of-the-art models to assess impacts of environmental change on coastal biology, biodiversity and biogeochemistry. A key component of Arctic-COLORS will be the integration of satellite and field observations with coupled physical-biogeochemical models for predicting impacts of future pressures on Arctic, coastal ocean, biological processes and biogeochemical cycles. Through interagency and international collaborations, and through the organization of dedicated workshops, town hall meetings and presentations at international conferences, the scoping study engages the broader scientific community and invites participation of

A Blueprint for the Ecological Monitoring of Australia's Oceans.

Science.gov (United States)

Bax, N. J.; Hayes, K. R.; Dambacher, J. M.; Hosack, G. R.; Dunstan, P. K.; Fulton, E.; Thompson, P. A.; Hartog, J. R.; Hobday, A. J.; Bradford, R.; Foster, S.; Hedge, P.; Smith, D.; Marshall, C. M.

2016-02-01

Monitoring Australia's marine area is fundamental to understanding and documenting how the ocean is changing in response to human pressures. Fifty-four key ecological features (KEFs) were identified as areas of particular value to the Australian Government over the last 8 years. These were divided into six reporting groups: areas of enhanced pelagic productivity, canyons, deep seabeds, seamounts, shelf reefs and seabeds. Ecosystem models were built for 33 KEF systems that have the strongest datasets, based on a theoretical understanding of how they function. Human pressures were identified by regional specialists and combined with the KEF models to create a set of medium-term pressure scenarios for each KEF. Between four and 25 pressure scenarios were identified for each KEF. Examples of human pressures include the strengthening of the East Australian Current and shifts in ocean upwelling due to climate change, major fluctuations in pelagic fish and fur seal populations, and fishing, shipping and oil and gas activities. KEF models encompass parts of the ecosystem that have potential to be monitored as long-term indicators that increase, decrease, or remain unchanged under each pressure scenario. Suitable indicators are those that respond in predictable ways across all pressure scenarios for a KEF. Results from pressure scenarios developed to test indicators for Australia's nine enhanced pelagic productivity KEFs will be presented. Satellite observations were analysed to tease out the long-term trend in phytoplankton and ocean upwelling. The comparison of predicted and observed trends in indicators leads to an improved understanding of KEF systems and the utility of the indicators. A change in indicator is a signal that something was happening to a valued system. The prediction-observation process would explain why. This process is repeatable and can be updated as new information comes available.

Data Processing and First Products from the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) on the International Space Station

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

NRL Stennis Space Center (NRL-SSC) for further processing using the NRL SSC Automated Processing System (APS). APS was developed for processing...have not previously developed automated processing for 73 hyperspectral ocean color data. The hyperspectral processing branch includes several

The Ocean: Our Future

Science.gov (United States)

Independent World Commission On The Oceans; Soares, Mario

1998-09-01

The Ocean, Our Future is the official report of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans, chaired by Mário Soares, former President of Portugal. Its aim is to summarize the very real problems affecting the ocean and its future management, and to provide imaginative solutions to these various and interlocking problems. The oceans have traditionally been taken for granted as a source of wealth, opportunity and abundance. Our growing understanding of the oceans has fundamentally changed this perception. We now know that in some areas, abundance is giving way to real scarcity, resulting in severe conflicts. Territorial disputes that threaten peace and security, disruptions to global climate, overfishing, habitat destruction, species extinction, indiscriminate trawling, pollution, the dumping of hazardous and toxic wastes, piracy, terrorism, illegal trafficking and the destruction of coastal communities are among the problems that today form an integral part of the unfolding drama of the oceans. Based on the deliberations, experience and input of more than 100 specialists from around the world, this timely volume provides a powerful overview of the state of our water world.

Collaborative Project. Understanding the effects of tides and eddies on the ocean dynamics, sea ice cover and decadal/centennial climate prediction using the Regional Arctic Climate Model (RACM)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hutchings, Jennifer [Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); Joseph, Renu [Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States)

2013-09-14

The goal of this project is to develop an eddy resolving ocean model (POP) with tides coupled to a sea ice model (CICE) within the Regional Arctic System Model (RASM) to investigate the importance of ocean tides and mesoscale eddies in arctic climate simulations and quantify biases associated with these processes and how their relative contribution may improve decadal to centennial arctic climate predictions. Ocean, sea ice and coupled arctic climate response to these small scale processes will be evaluated with regard to their influence on mass, momentum and property exchange between oceans, shelf-basin, ice-ocean, and ocean-atmosphere. The project will facilitate the future routine inclusion of polar tides and eddies in Earth System Models when computing power allows. As such, the proposed research addresses the science in support of the BER’s Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Long Term Measure as it will improve the ocean and sea ice model components as well as the fully coupled RASM and Community Earth System Model (CESM) and it will make them more accurate and computationally efficient.

Use of satellite ocean color observations to refine understanding of global geochemical cycles

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, J. J.; Dieterle, D. A.

1985-01-01

In October 1978, the first satellite-borne color sensor, the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), was launched aboard Nimbus-7 with four visible and two infrared bands, permitting a sensitivity about 60 times that of the Landsat-1 multispectral scanner. The CZCS radiance data can be utilized to estimate ocean chlorophyll concentrations by detecting shifts in sea color, particularly in oceanic waters. The obtained data can be used in studies regarding problems of overfishing, and, in addition, in investigations concerning the consequences of man's accelerated extraction of nitrogen from the atmosphere and addition of carbon to the atmosphere. The satellite data base is considered along with a simulation analysis, and ships providing ground-truth chlorophyll measurements in the ocean.

Sustaining observations in the polar oceans.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrahamsen, E P

2014-09-28

Polar oceans present a unique set of challenges to sustained observations. Sea ice cover restricts navigation for ships and autonomous measurement platforms alike, and icebergs present a hazard to instruments deployed in the upper ocean and in shelf seas. However, the important role of the poles in the global ocean circulation provides ample justification for sustained observations in these regions, both to monitor the rapid changes taking place, and to better understand climate processes in these traditionally poorly sampled areas. In the past, the vast majority of polar measurements took place in the summer. In recent years, novel techniques such as miniature CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) tags carried by seals have provided an explosion in year-round measurements in areas largely inaccessible to ships, and, as ice avoidance is added to autonomous profiling floats and gliders, these promise to provide further enhancements to observing systems. In addition, remote sensing provides vital information about changes taking place in sea ice cover at both poles. To make these observations sustainable into the future, improved international coordination and collaboration is necessary to gain optimum utilization of observing networks. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Mass transfer processes in crystalline aggregates containing a fluid phase

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, H.J.M.

1999-01-01

Understanding mass transfer processes in porous crystalline aggregates containing a fluid phase is of major importance for modelling partially molten regions of the Earth's mantle, such as those under mid-ocean spreading ridges. Despite the fact that mid-ocean ridges can be considered the

Mass transfer processes in crystalline aggregates containing a fluid phase

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, H.J.M.

1999-01-01

Understanding mass transfer processes in porous crystalline aggregates containing a fluid phase is of major importance for modelling partially molten regions of the Earth's mantle, such as those under mid-ocean spreading ridges. Despite the fact that mid-ocean ridges can be considered the simplest

What can Citizen Science do for Ocean Science and Ocean Scientists?

Science.gov (United States)

Best, M.; Hoeberechts, M.; Mangin, A.; Oggioni, A.; Orcutt, J. A.; Parrish, J.; Pearlman, J.; Piera, J.; Tagliolato, P.

2016-12-01

The ocean represents over 70% of our planet's surface area, over 90% of the living space. Humans are not marine creatures, we therefore have fundamentally not built up knowledge of the ocean in the same way we have on land. The more we learn about the ocean, the more we understand it is the regulatory engine of our planet…How do we catch up? Answers to this question will need to come from many quarters; A powerful and strategic option to complement existing observation programs and infrastructure is Citizen Science. There has been significant and relevant discussion of the importance of Citizen Science to citizens and stakeholders. The missing effective question is sometimes what is the potential of citizen science for scientists? The answers for both scientists and society are: spatial coverage, remote locations, temporal coverage, event response, early detection of harmful processes, sufficient data volume for statistical analysis and identification of outliers, integrating local knowledge, data access in exchange for analysis (e.g. with industry) and cost-effective monitoring systems. Citizens can be involved in: instrument manufacture and maintenance, instrument deployment/sample collection, data collection and transmission, data analysis, data validation/verification, and proposals of new topics of research. Such opportunities are balanced by concern on the part of scientists about the quality, the consistency and the reliability of citizen observations and analyses. Experience working with citizen science groups continues to suggest that with proper training and mentoring, these issues can be addressed, understanding both benefits and limitations. How to do it- implementation and maintenance of citizen science: How to recruit, engage, train, and maintain Citizen Scientists. Data systems for acquisition, assessment, access, analysis, and visualisation of distributed data sources. Tools/methods for acquiring observations: Simple instruments, Smartphone Apps

Advancing Ocean Science Through Coordination, Community Building, and Outreach

Science.gov (United States)

Benway, H. M.

2016-02-01

The US Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Program (www.us-ocb.org) is a dynamic network of scientists working across disciplines to understand the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle and how marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles are responding to environmental change. The OCB Project Office, which is based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), serves as a central information hub for this network, bringing different scientific disciplines together and cultivating partnerships with complementary US and international programs to address high-priority research questions. The OCB Project Office plays multiple important support roles, such as hosting and co-sponsoring workshops, short courses, working groups, and synthesis activities on emerging research issues; engaging with relevant national and international science planning initiatives; and developing education and outreach activities and products with the goal of promoting ocean carbon science to broader audiences. Current scientific focus areas of OCB include ocean observations (shipboard, autonomous, satellite, etc.); changing ocean chemistry (acidification, expanding low-oxygen conditions, etc.); ocean carbon uptake and storage; estuarine and coastal carbon cycling; biological pump and associated biological and biogeochemical processes and carbon fluxes; and marine ecosystem response to environmental and evolutionary changes, including physiological and molecular-level responses of individual organisms, as well as shifts in community structure and function. OCB is a bottom-up organization that responds to the continually evolving priorities and needs of its network and engages marine scientists at all career stages. The scientific leadership of OCB includes a scientific steering committee and subcommittees on ocean time-series, ocean acidification, and ocean fertilization. This presentation will highlight recent OCB activities and products of interest to the ocean science community.

Global ocean monitoring for the World Climate Research Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Revelle, R; Bretherton, F

1986-07-01

Oceanic research and modelling for the World Climate Research Program will utilize several recently-developed instruments and measuring techniques as well as well-tested, long-used instruments. Ocean-scanning satellites will map the component of the ocean-surface topography related to ocean currents and mesoscale eddies and to fluctuating water volumes caused by ocean warming and cooling. Other satellite instruments will measure the direction and magnitude of wind stress on the sea surface, surface water temperatures, the distribution of chlorophyll and other photosynthetic pigments, the characteristics of internal waves, and possible precipitation over the ocean. Networks of acoustic transponders will obtain a three-dimensional picture of the distribution of temperature from the surface down to mid-depth and of long-term changes in temperature at depth. Ocean research vessels will determine the distribution and fate of geochemical tracers and will also make high-precision, deep hydrographic casts. Ships of opportunity, using expendable instruments, will measure temperature, salinity and currents in the upper water layers. Drifting and anchored buoys will also measure these properties as well as those of the air above the sea surface. Tide gauges installed on islands and exposed coastal locations will measure variations in monthly and shorter-period mean sea level. These tide gauges will provide 'ground truth' for the satellite maps of sea-surface topography, and will also determine variations in ocean currents and temperature.All these instruments will be used in several major programs, the most ambitious of which is the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) designed to obtain global measurements of major currents throughout the world ocean, greater understanding of the transformation of water masses, and the role of advective, convective, and turbulent processes in exchange of properties between surface and deep-ocean layers.A five- to ten-year experiment

Experimental strategies to assess the biological ramifications of multiple drivers of global ocean change-A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyd, Philip W; Collins, Sinead; Dupont, Sam; Fabricius, Katharina; Gattuso, Jean-Pierre; Havenhand, Jonathan; Hutchins, David A; Riebesell, Ulf; Rintoul, Max S; Vichi, Marcello; Biswas, Haimanti; Ciotti, Aurea; Gao, Kunshan; Gehlen, Marion; Hurd, Catriona L; Kurihara, Haruko; McGraw, Christina M; Navarro, Jorge M; Nilsson, Göran E; Passow, Uta; Pörtner, Hans-Otto

2018-06-01

Marine life is controlled by multiple physical and chemical drivers and by diverse ecological processes. Many of these oceanic properties are being altered by climate change and other anthropogenic pressures. Hence, identifying the influences of multifaceted ocean change, from local to global scales, is a complex task. To guide policy-making and make projections of the future of the marine biosphere, it is essential to understand biological responses at physiological, evolutionary and ecological levels. Here, we contrast and compare different approaches to multiple driver experiments that aim to elucidate biological responses to a complex matrix of ocean global change. We present the benefits and the challenges of each approach with a focus on marine research, and guidelines to navigate through these different categories to help identify strategies that might best address research questions in fundamental physiology, experimental evolutionary biology and community ecology. Our review reveals that the field of multiple driver research is being pulled in complementary directions: the need for reductionist approaches to obtain process-oriented, mechanistic understanding and a requirement to quantify responses to projected future scenarios of ocean change. We conclude the review with recommendations on how best to align different experimental approaches to contribute fundamental information needed for science-based policy formulation. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ocean Networks Canada's "Big Data" Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Dewey, R. K.; Hoeberechts, M.; Moran, K.; Pirenne, B.; Owens, D.

2013-12-01

Ocean Networks Canada operates two large undersea observatories that collect, archive, and deliver data in real time over the Internet. These data contribute to our understanding of the complex changes taking place on our ocean planet. Ocean Networks Canada's VENUS was the world's first cabled seafloor observatory to enable researchers anywhere to connect in real time to undersea experiments and observations. Its NEPTUNE observatory is the largest cabled ocean observatory, spanning a wide range of ocean environments. Most recently, we installed a new small observatory in the Arctic. Together, these observatories deliver "Big Data" across many disciplines in a cohesive manner using the Oceans 2.0 data management and archiving system that provides national and international users with open access to real-time and archived data while also supporting a collaborative work environment. Ocean Networks Canada operates these observatories to support science, innovation, and learning in four priority areas: study of the impact of climate change on the ocean; the exploration and understanding the unique life forms in the extreme environments of the deep ocean and below the seafloor; the exchange of heat, fluids, and gases that move throughout the ocean and atmosphere; and the dynamics of earthquakes, tsunamis, and undersea landslides. To date, the Ocean Networks Canada archive contains over 130 TB (collected over 7 years) and the current rate of data acquisition is ~50 TB per year. This data set is complex and diverse. Making these "Big Data" accessible and attractive to users is our priority. In this presentation, we share our experience as a "Big Data" institution where we deliver simple and multi-dimensional calibrated data cubes to a diverse pool of users. Ocean Networks Canada also conducts extensive user testing. Test results guide future tool design and development of "Big Data" products. We strive to bridge the gap between the raw, archived data and the needs and

Assessing ocean alkalinity for carbon sequestration

Science.gov (United States)

Renforth, Phil; Henderson, Gideon

2017-09-01

Over the coming century humanity may need to find reservoirs to store several trillions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from fossil fuel combustion, which would otherwise cause dangerous climate change if it were left in the atmosphere. Carbon storage in the ocean as bicarbonate ions (by increasing ocean alkalinity) has received very little attention. Yet recent work suggests sufficient capacity to sequester copious quantities of CO2. It may be possible to sequester hundreds of billions to trillions of tons of C without surpassing postindustrial average carbonate saturation states in the surface ocean. When globally distributed, the impact of elevated alkalinity is potentially small and may help ameliorate the effects of ocean acidification. However, the local impact around addition sites may be more acute but is specific to the mineral and technology. The alkalinity of the ocean increases naturally because of rock weathering in which >1.5 mol of carbon are removed from the atmosphere for every mole of magnesium or calcium dissolved from silicate minerals (e.g., wollastonite, olivine, and anorthite) and 0.5 mol for carbonate minerals (e.g., calcite and dolomite). These processes are responsible for naturally sequestering 0.5 billion tons of CO2 per year. Alkalinity is reduced in the ocean through carbonate mineral precipitation, which is almost exclusively formed from biological activity. Most of the previous work on the biological response to changes in carbonate chemistry have focused on acidifying conditions. More research is required to understand carbonate precipitation at elevated alkalinity to constrain the longevity of carbon storage. A range of technologies have been proposed to increase ocean alkalinity (accelerated weathering of limestone, enhanced weathering, electrochemical promoted weathering, and ocean liming), the cost of which may be comparable to alternative carbon sequestration proposals (e.g., $20-100 tCO2-1). There are still many

A Dual Process Approach to Understand Tourists’ Destination Choice Processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kock, Florian; Josiassen, Alexander; Assaf, Albert

2017-01-01

Most studies that investigate tourists' choices of destinations apply the concept of mental destination representations, also referred to as destination image. The present study investigates tourists’ destination choice processes by conceptualizing how different components of destination image...... are mentally processed in tourists' minds. Specifically, the seminal dual processing approach is applied to the destination image literature. By doing this, we argue that some components of mental destination representations are processed systematically while others serve as inputs for heuristics...... that individuals apply to inform their decision making. Understanding how individuals make use of their mental destination representations and how they color their decision-making is essential in order to better explain tourist behavior....

Glacial ocean circulation and stratification explained by reduced atmospheric temperature

OpenAIRE

Jansen, Malte F.

2016-01-01

To understand climatic swings between glacial and interglacial climates we need to explain the observed fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), which in turn are most likely driven by changes in the deep ocean circulation. This study presents a model for differences in the deep ocean circulation between glacial and interglacial climates consistent with both our physical understanding and various proxy observations. The results suggest that observed changes in ocean circulation and s...

Air-Sea Momentum and Enthalpy Exchange in Coupled Atmosphere-Wave-Ocean Modeling of Tropical Cyclones

Science.gov (United States)

Curcic, M.; Chen, S. S.

2016-02-01

The atmosphere and ocean are coupled through momentum, enthalpy, and mass fluxes. Accurate representation of these fluxes in a wide range of weather and climate conditions is one of major challenges in prediction models. Their current parameterizations are based on sparse observations in low-to-moderate winds and are not suited for high wind conditions such as tropical cyclones (TCs) and winter storms. In this study, we use the Unified Wave INterface - Coupled Model (UWIN-CM), a high resolution, fully-coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean model, to better understand the role of ocean surface waves in mediating air-sea momentum and enthalpy exchange in TCs. In particular, we focus on the explicit treatment of wave growth and dissipation for calculating atmospheric and oceanic stress, and its role in upper ocean mixing and surface cooling in the wake of the storm. Wind-wave misalignment and local wave disequilibrium result in difference between atmospheric and oceanic stress being largest on the left side of the storm. We find that explicit wave calculation in the coupled model reduces momentum transfer into the ocean by more than 10% on average, resulting in reduced cooling in TC's wake and subsequent weakening of the storm. We also investigate the impacts of sea surface temperature and upper ocean parameterization on air-sea enthalpy fluxes in the fully coupled model. High-resolution UWIN-CM simulations of TCs with various intensities and structure are conducted in this study to better understand the complex TC-ocean interaction and improve the representation of air-sea coupling processes in coupled prediction models.

A conceptual prediction model for seasonal drought processes using atmospheric and oceanic standardized anomalies: application to regional drought processes in China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhenchen; Lu, Guihua; He, Hai; Wu, Zhiyong; He, Jian

2018-01-01

Reliable drought prediction is fundamental for water resource managers to develop and implement drought mitigation measures. Considering that drought development is closely related to the spatial-temporal evolution of large-scale circulation patterns, we developed a conceptual prediction model of seasonal drought processes based on atmospheric and oceanic standardized anomalies (SAs). Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is first applied to drought-related SAs at 200 and 500 hPa geopotential height (HGT) and sea surface temperature (SST). Subsequently, SA-based predictors are built based on the spatial pattern of the first EOF modes. This drought prediction model is essentially the synchronous statistical relationship between 90-day-accumulated atmospheric-oceanic SA-based predictors and SPI3 (3-month standardized precipitation index), calibrated using a simple stepwise regression method. Predictor computation is based on forecast atmospheric-oceanic products retrieved from the NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2), indicating the lead time of the model depends on that of CFSv2. The model can make seamless drought predictions for operational use after a year-to-year calibration. Model application to four recent severe regional drought processes in China indicates its good performance in predicting seasonal drought development, despite its weakness in predicting drought severity. Overall, the model can be a worthy reference for seasonal water resource management in China.

The Lunar Magma Ocean: Sharpening the Focus on Process and Composition

Science.gov (United States)

Rapp, J. F.; Draper, D. S.

2014-01-01

The currently accepted model for the formation of the lunar anorthositic crust is by flotation from a crystallizing lunar magma ocean (LMO) shortly following lunar accretion. Anorthositic crust is globally distributed and old, whereas the mare basalts are younger and derived from a source region that has experienced plagioclase extraction. Several attempts at modelling such a crystallization sequence have been made [e.g. 1, 2], but our ever-increasing knowledge of the lunar samples and surface have raised as many questions as these models have answered. This abstract presents results from our ongoing ex-periments simulating LMO crystallization and address-ing a range of variables. We investigate two bulk com-positions, which span most of the range of suggested lunar bulk compositions, from the refractory element enriched Taylor Whole Moon (TWM) [3] to the more Earth-like Lunar Primitive Upper Mantle (LPUM) [4]. We also investigate two potential crystallization mod-els: Fully fractional, where crystallizing phases are separated from the magma as they form and sink (or float in the case of plagioclase) throughout magma ocean solidification; and a two-step process suggested by [1, 5] with an initial stage of equilibrium crystalliza-tion, where crystals remain entrained in the magma before the crystal burden increases viscosity enough that convection slows and the crystals settle, followed by fractional crystallization. Here we consider the frac-tional crystallization part of this process; the equilibri-um cumulates having been determined by [6].

Broader Impact Guidance for Florida Ocean Scientists: Process, Products and Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

2016-02-01

In response to the 2011 National Science Board report National Science Foundation's Merit Review Criteria: Review and Revision, in 2012 significant changes were made to the portions of the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Grant Proposal Guide that describe the Foundation's expectations with respect to the Broader Impacts (BI) criterion and what reviewers should look for in assessing the quality of the required BI components of proposals. Over the past 5 years, COSEE Florida (the Florida Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence) has provided individualized content and editorial `coaching' on Broader Impacts for Florida scientists and educators submitting proposals to NSF. As of September 2015, 32% of the plans prepared with our guidance have been associated with projects that have received support. This presentation will review 1) the current BI guidance provided by NSF in the 2012 and subsequent editions of the Grant Proposal Guide, 2) the administrative process used by COSEE Florida to identify and assist scientists in understanding these changes and preparing fundable BI plans, 3) the characteristics of submitted plans in terms of type of plan, PI career stage and demographics 4) `lessons learned' about plan strengths and weaknesses and 5) the products developed (or currently under development) as COSEE Florida legacy documents to guide current and future scientists in addressing the Broader Impacts criterion. Resources developed by other Centers in the national COSEE network and the new National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) will also be described.

Ocean water cycle: its recent amplification and impact on ocean circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Vinogradova, Nadya

2016-04-01

Oceans are the largest reservoir of the world's water supply, accounting for 97% of the Earth's water and supplying more than 75% of the evaporated and precipitated water in the global water cycle. Therefore, in order to predict the future of the global hydrological cycle, it is essential to understand the changes in its largest component, which is the flux of freshwater over the oceans. Here we examine the change in the ocean water cycle and the ocean's response to such changes that were happening during the last two decades. The analysis is based on a data-constrained ocean state estimate that synthesizes all of the information available in the surface fluxes, winds, observations of sea level, temperature, salinity, geoid, etc., as well as in the physical constraints, dynamics, and conservation statements that are embedded in the equations of the MIT general circulation model. Closeness to observations and dynamical consistency of the solution ensures a physically realistic correspondence between the atmospheric forcing and oceanic fluxes, including the ocean's response to freshwater input. The results show a robust pattern of change in the ocean water cycle in the last twenty years. The pattern of changes indicates a general tendency of drying of the subtropics, and wetting in the tropics and mid-to-high latitudes, following the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer" paradigm in many ocean regions. Using a closed property budget analysis, we then investigate the changes in the oceanic state (salinity, temperature, sea level) during the same twenty-year period. The results are discussed in terms of the origin of surface signatures, and differentiated between those that are attributed to short-term natural variability and those that result from an intensified hydrological cycle due to warming climate.

Using Remote Sensing and Field Observations of Colored Dissolved Organic Material (CDOM) to Improve Understanding of Carbon Dynamics at the Land-Ocean Interface

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, L.; Tzortziou, M.; Gilerson, A.; Foster, R.

2013-12-01

Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) and its colored component, (CDOM) are sensitive indicators of environmental pollution, nutrient enrichment, water quality and plays a key role in a broad range of processes and climate-related biogeochemical cycles in estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Because of its strong influence on how ocean color is viewed, CDOM can provide an invaluable optical tool for coastal zone environmental assessment and from space. There is a continuous cycle of sources and sinks of CDOM from terrestrial sources to the wetlands to the estuaries and to the ocean waters. Terrestrial inputs from natural processes, anthropogenic activities, exchanges with the atmosphere, rich biodiversity and high primary productivity, physical, photochemical and microbial processes affect not only the amount but also the quality and optical signature of CDOM in near-shore waters. In this study, new measurements are presented of the optical characteristics of CDOM collected from the Chesapeake Bay estuarine environment. Measured parameters include absorption spectra, estimated spectral slopes, slope ratios, DOC-specific CDOM absorption as well as 3D CDOM fluorescence emission-excitation matrices. Such results will provide insight of the measured CDOM in this complex environment and the complex process that affect CDOM quality and amount during transport to the estuary and coastal ocean. New field campaigns will be conducted in August and September in the Chesapeake Bay estuary and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to collect more samples for analysis of CDOM dynamics and link field observations and measurements to satellite ocean color retrievals of estuarine biogeochemical processes. In addition, advanced satellite CDOM data distribution and usage is discussed as it has considerable operational value and practical application beyond the scientific community and research. Keywords: CDOM, carbon dynamics, estuaries, coastal ecosystems, optical properties, satellite applications

Investigating Undergraduate Science Students' Conceptions and Misconceptions of Ocean Acidification

Science.gov (United States)

Danielson, Kathryn I.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2015-01-01

Scientific research exploring ocean acidification has grown significantly in past decades. However, little science education research has investigated the extent to which undergraduate science students understand this topic. Of all undergraduate students, one might predict science students to be best able to understand ocean acidification. What…

Understanding and Managing Process Interaction in IS Development Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bygstad, Bendik; Nielsen, Peter Axel

2005-01-01

Increasingly, information systems must be developed and implemented as a part of business change. This is a challenge for the IS project manager, since business change and information systems development usually are performed as separate processes. Thus, there is a need to understand and manage......-technical innovation in a situation where the organisational change process and the IS development process are parallel but incongruent. We also argue that iterative software engineering frameworks are well structured to support process interaction. Finally, we advocate that the IS project manager needs to manage...... the relationship between these two kinds of processes. To understand the interaction between information systems development and planned organisational change we introduce the concept of process interaction. We draw on a longitudinal case study of an IS development project that used an iterative and incremental...

LOTUS— Preparing Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land SAR Altimetry Processing for Copernicus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Per; Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Jain, Maulik

2014-01-01

for commercial activities. The main objectives of the LOTUS project is to prepare the take-up of data from Sentinels 3. In the initial phase, LOTUS will develop processing scheme for extracting high-resolution sea surface heights, wave heights and wind speeds from SAR mode data. Over land, the LOTUS will develop...... potential of the new data source, new methods and processing chains need to be developed. Also, new potential Copernicus products should be developed that utilize the improved along-track resolution over both the oceans and over land. Then new operational processing, validation and delivery mechanisms need...... processing scheme for extracting high-resolution river and lake heights, soil moisture, and snow water equivalents. This presentation show some preliminary results based on analyses using CRYOSAT data. Furthermore, new DEMO data sets are presented. These data sets facilitate the development of marine...

Increasing process understanding by analyzing complex interactions in experimental data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Naelapaa, Kaisa; Allesø, Morten; Kristensen, Henning Gjelstrup

2009-01-01

understanding of a coating process. It was possible to model the response, that is, the amount of drug released, using both mentioned techniques. However, the ANOVAmodel was difficult to interpret as several interactions between process parameters existed. In contrast to ANOVA, GEMANOVA is especially suited...... for modeling complex interactions and making easily understandable models of these. GEMANOVA modeling allowed a simple visualization of the entire experimental space. Furthermore, information was obtained on how relative changes in the settings of process parameters influence the film quality and thereby drug......There is a recognized need for new approaches to understand unit operations with pharmaceutical relevance. A method for analyzing complex interactions in experimental data is introduced. Higher-order interactions do exist between process parameters, which complicate the interpretation...

Effect of ocean acidification on the benthic foraminifera Ammonia sp. is caused by a decrease in carbonate ion concentration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Keul

2013-10-01

Full Text Available About 30% of the anthropogenically released CO2 is taken up by the oceans; such uptake causes surface ocean pH to decrease and is commonly referred to as ocean acidification (OA. Foraminifera are one of the most abundant groups of marine calcifiers, estimated to precipitate ca. 50 % of biogenic calcium carbonate in the open oceans. We have compiled the state of the art literature on OA effects on foraminifera, because the majority of OA research on this group was published within the last three years. Disparate responses of this important group of marine calcifiers to OA were reported, highlighting the importance of a process-based understanding of OA effects on foraminifera. We cultured the benthic foraminifer Ammonia sp. under a range of carbonate chemistry manipulation treatments to identify the parameter of the carbonate system causing the observed effects. This parameter identification is the first step towards a process-based understanding. We argue that [CO32−] is the parameter affecting foraminiferal size-normalized weights (SNWs and growth rates. Based on the presented data, we can confirm the strong potential of Ammonia sp. foraminiferal SNW as a [CO32−] proxy.

Influence of Complete Coriolis Force on the Dispersion Relation of Ocean Internal-wave in a Background Currents Field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Yongjun

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this thesis, the influence of complete Coriolis force (the model includes both the vertical and horizontal components of Coriolis force on the dispersion relation of ocean internal-wave under background currents field are studied, it is important to the study of ocean internal waves in density-stratified ocean. We start from the control equation of sea water movement in the background of the non-traditional approximation, and the vertical velocity solution is derived where buoyancy frequency N(z gradually varies with the ocean depth z. The results show that the influence of complete Coriolis force on the dispersion relation of ocean internal-wave under background currents field is obvious, and these results provide strong evidence for the understanding of dynamic process of density stratified ocean internal waves.

Ethane ocean on Titan

Science.gov (United States)

Lunine, J. I.; Stevenson, D. J.; Yung, Y.L.

1983-01-01

Voyager I radio occultation data is employed to develop a qualitative model of an ethane ocean on Titan. It is suggested that the ocean contains 25 percent CH4 and that the ocean is in dynamic equilibrium with an N2 atmosphere. Previous models of a CH4 ocean are discounted due to photolysis rates of CH4 gas. Tidal damping of Titan's orbital eccentricity is taken as evidence for an ocean layer approximately 1 km deep, with the ocean floor being covered with a solid C2H2 layer 100 to 200 m thick. The photolytic process disrupting the CH4, if the estimates of the oceanic content of CH4 are correct, could continue for at least one billion years. Verification of the model is dependent on detecting CH4 clouds in the lower atmosphere, finding C2H6 saturation in the lower troposphere, or obtaining evidence of a global ocean.

Seafloor 2030 - Building a Global Ocean Map through International Collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrini, V. L.; Wigley, R. A.; Falconer, R. K. H.; Jakobsson, M.; Allen, G.; Mayer, L. A.; Schmitt, T.; Rovere, M.; Weatherall, P.; Marks, K. M.

2016-12-01

With more than 85% of the ocean floor unmapped, a huge proportion of our planet remains unexplored. Creating a comprehensive map of seafloor bathymetry remains a true global challenge that can only be accomplished through collaboration and partnership between governments, industry, academia, research organizations and non-government organizations. The objective of Seafloor 2030 is to comprehensively map the global ocean floor to resolutions that enable exploration and improved understanding of ocean processes, while informing maritime policy and supporting the management of natural marine resources for a sustainable Blue Economy. Seafloor 2030 is the outcome of the Forum for Future of Ocean Floor Mapping held in Monaco in June 2016, which was held under the auspices of GEBCO and the Nippon Foundation of Japan. GEBCO is the only international organization mandated to map the global ocean floor and is guided by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. The task of completely mapping the ocean floor will require new global coordination to ensure that both existing data are identified and that new mapping efforts are coordinated to help efficiently "map the gaps." Fundamental to achieving Seafloor 2030 will be greater access to data, tools and technology, particularly for developing and coastal nations. This includes bathymetric post-processing and analysis software, database technology, computing infrastructure and gridding techniques as well as the latest developments in seafloor mapping methods and emerging crowd-sourced bathymetry initiatives. The key to achieving this global bathymetric map is capacity building and education - including greater coordination between scientific research and industry and the effective engagement of international organizations such as the United Nations.

Ocean-Atmosphere Coupling Processes Affecting Predictability in the Climate System

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, A. J.; Subramanian, A. C.; Seo, H.; Eliashiv, J. D.

2017-12-01

Predictions of the ocean and atmosphere are often sensitive to coupling at the air-sea interface in ways that depend on the temporal and spatial scales of the target fields. We will discuss several aspects of these types of coupled interactions including oceanic and atmospheric forecast applications. For oceanic mesoscale eddies, the coupling can influence the energetics of the oceanic flow itself. For Madden-Julian Oscillation onset, the coupling timestep should resolve the diurnal cycle to properly raise time-mean SST and latent heat flux prior to deep convection. For Atmospheric River events, the evolving SST field can alter the trajectory and intensity of precipitation anomalies along the California coast. Improvements in predictions will also rely on identifying and alleviating sources of biases in the climate states of the coupled system. Surprisingly, forecast skill can also be improved by enhancing stochastic variability in the atmospheric component of coupled models as found in a multiscale ensemble modeling approach.

Wind Forcing of the Pacific Ocean Using Scatterometer Wind Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Kathryn A.

1999-01-01

The long-term objective of this research was an understanding of the wind-forced ocean circulation, particularly for the Pacific Ocean. To determine the ocean's response to the winds, we first needed to generate accurate maps of wind stress. For the ocean's response to wind stress we examined the sea surface height (SSH) both from altimeters and from numerical models for the Pacific Ocean.

Consensuses and discrepancies of basin-scale ocean heat content changes in different ocean analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gongjie; Cheng, Lijing; Abraham, John; Li, Chongyin

2018-04-01

Inconsistent global/basin ocean heat content (OHC) changes were found in different ocean subsurface temperature analyses, especially in recent studies related to the slowdown in global surface temperature rise. This finding challenges the reliability of the ocean subsurface temperature analyses and motivates a more comprehensive inter-comparison between the analyses. Here we compare the OHC changes in three ocean analyses (Ishii, EN4 and IAP) to investigate the uncertainty in OHC in four major ocean basins from decadal to multi-decadal scales. First, all products show an increase of OHC since 1970 in each ocean basin revealing a robust warming, although the warming rates are not identical. The geographical patterns, the key modes and the vertical structure of OHC changes are consistent among the three datasets, implying that the main OHC variabilities can be robustly represented. However, large discrepancies are found in the percentage of basinal ocean heating related to the global ocean, with the largest differences in the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Meanwhile, we find a large discrepancy of ocean heat storage in different layers, especially within 300-700 m in the Pacific and Southern Oceans. Furthermore, the near surface analysis of Ishii and IAP are consistent with sea surface temperature (SST) products, but EN4 is found to underestimate the long-term trend. Compared with ocean heat storage derived from the atmospheric budget equation, all products show consistent seasonal cycles of OHC in the upper 1500 m especially during 2008 to 2012. Overall, our analyses further the understanding of the observed OHC variations, and we recommend a careful quantification of errors in the ocean analyses.

Measuring Ocean Literacy in Pre-Service Teachers: Psychometric Properties of the Greek Version of the Survey of Ocean Literacy and Experience (SOLE)

Science.gov (United States)

Markos, Angelos; Boubonari, Theodora; Mogias, Athanasios; Kevrekidis, Theodoros

2017-01-01

The aim of the present study was to respond to the increasing demand for comprehensive tools for the measurement of ocean literacy, by investigating the psychometric characteristics of a Greek version of the Survey of Ocean Literacy and Experience (SOLE), an instrument that assesses conceptual understanding of general ocean sciences content,…

Impacts of Ocean Acidification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bijma, Jelle (Alfred Wegener Inst., D-27570 Bremerhaven (Germany)) (and others)

2009-08-15

often not well known or are completely unknown, a strategic workshop was organised by the ESF Standing Committee for Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences (LESC) in cooperation with the ESF EUROCORES Programme EuroCLIMATE. The aim was to address the issue of the impacts of ocean acidification on both the natural and socioeconomic systems, and to identify the gaps of knowledge in this field. The present Science Policy Briefing resulting from this strategic workshop has undergone external international peer review and has been approved by both the Marine Board-ESF and LESC. The ESF considers this Science Policy Briefing on the Impacts of Ocean Acidification an important step towards raising awareness amongst a wide range of research actors, policy makers and funding agencies. Taking into account the range of priorities and key areas of research requiring action at the pan-European level, a series of recommendations for European actions have been drawn up under the following five headings: (i) increase understanding and improve quantification of the organismal and ecosystem responses to ocean acidification; (ii) include the human dimension by increasing collaboration and integration efforts between natural and social sciences; (iii) rationalise, improve and focus monitoring and data gathering, management, processing and accessibility efforts; (iv) increase dissemination, outreach and capacity-building efforts, in particular related to communicating ocean acidification to stakeholders (policy makers, research founders, public, media, etc.); and (v) improve coordination of ocean acidification research and collaboration both at the national and international levels

How well-connected is the surface of the global ocean?

OpenAIRE

Froyland, G; Stuart, RM; van Sebille, E

2014-01-01

The Ekman dynamics of the ocean surface circulation is known to contain attracting regions such as the great oceanic gyres and the associated garbage patches. Less well-known are the extents of the basins of attractions of these regions and how strongly attracting they are. Understanding the shape and extent of the basins of attraction sheds light on the question of the strength of connectivity of different regions of the ocean, which helps in understanding the flow of buoyant material like p...

Modern and ancient geochemical constraints on Proterozoic atmosphere-ocean redox evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Hardisty, D. S.; Horner, T. J.; Wankel, S. D.; Lu, Z.; Lyons, T.; Nielsen, S.

2017-12-01

A detailed understanding of the spatiotemporal oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere-ocean system through the Precambrian has important implications for the environments capable of sustaining early eukaryotic life and the evolving oxidant budget of subducted sediments. Proxy records suggest an anoxic Fe-rich deep ocean through much of the Precambrian and atmospheric and surface-ocean oxygenation that started in earnest at the Paleoproterozoic Great Oxidation Event (GOE). The marine photic zone represented the initial site of oxygen production and accumulation via cyanobacteria, yet our understanding of surface-ocean oxygen contents and the extent and timing of oxygen propagation and exchange between the atmosphere and deeper ocean are limited. Here, we present an updated perspective of the constraints on atmospheric, surface-ocean, and deep-ocean oxygen contents starting at the GOE. Our research uses the iodine content of Proterozoic carbonates as a tracer of dissolved iodate in the shallow ocean, a redox-sensitive species quantitatively reduced in modern oxygen minimum zones. We supplement our understanding of the ancient record with novel experiments examining the rates of iodate production from oxygenated marine environments based on seawater incubations. Combining new data from iodine with published shallow marine (Ce anomaly, N isotopes) and atmospheric redox proxies, we provide an integrated view of the vertical redox structure of the atmosphere and ocean across the Proterozoic.

Contrasting self-aggregation over land and ocean surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Inda Diaz, H. A.; O'Brien, T. A.

2017-12-01

The spontaneous organization of convection into clusters, or self-aggregation, demonstrably changes the nature and statistics of precipitation. While there has been much recent progress in this area, the processes that control self-aggregation are still poorly understood. Most of the work to date has focused on self-aggregation over ocean-like surfaces, but it is particularly pressing to understand what controls convective aggregation over land, since the associated change in precipitation statistics—between non-aggregated and aggregated convection—could have huge impacts on society and infrastructure. Radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE), has been extensively used as an idealized framework to study the tropical atmosphere. Self-aggregation manifests in numerous numerical models of RCE, nevertheless, there is still a lack of understanding in how it relates to convective organization in the observed world. Numerous studies have examined self-aggregation using idealized Cloud Resolving Models (CRMs) and General Circulation Models over the ocean, however very little work has been done on RCE and self-aggregation over land. Idealized models of RCE over ocean have shown that aggregation is sensitive to sea surface temperature (SST), more intense precipitation occurs in aggregated systems, and a variety of feedbacks—such as surface flux, cloud radiative, and upgradient moisture transport— contribute to the maintenance of aggregation, however it is not clear if these results apply over land. Progress in this area could help relate understanding of self-aggregation in idealized simulations to observations. In order to explore the behavior of self-aggregation over land, we use a CRM to simulate idealized RCE over land. In particular, we examine the aggregation of convection and how it compares with aggregation over ocean. Based on previous studies, where a variety of different CRMs exhibit a SST threshold below which self-aggregation does not occur, we hypothesize

Anomalous intraseasonal events in the thermocline ridge region of Southern Tropical Indian Ocean and their regional impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Jayakumar, A.; Gnanaseelan, C.

2012-03-01

The present study explores the mechanisms responsible for the strong intraseasonal cooling events in the Thermocline Ridge region of the southwestern Indian Ocean. Air sea interface and oceanic processes associated with Madden Julian Oscillation are studied using an Ocean General Circulation Model and satellite observations. Sensitivity experiments are designed to understand the ocean response to intraseasonal forcing with a special emphasis on 2002 cooling events, which recorded the strongest intraseasonal perturbations during the last well-observed decade. This event is characterized by anomalous Walker circulation over the tropical Indian Ocean and persistent intraseasonal heat flux anomaly for a longer duration than is typical for similar events (but without any favorable preconditioning of ocean basic state at the interannual timescale). The model heat budget analysis during 1996 to 2007 revealed an in-phase relationship between atmospheric fluxes associated with Madden Julian Oscillation and the subsurface oceanic processes during the intense cooling events of 2002. The strong convection, reduced shortwave radiation and increased evaporation have contributed to the upper ocean heat loss in addition to the slower propagation of active phase of convection, which supported the integration of longer duration of forcing. The sensitivity experiments revealed that dynamic response of ocean through entrainment at the intraseasonal timescale primarily controls the biological response during the event, with oceanic interannual variability playing a secondary role. This study further speculates the role of oceanic intraseasonal variability in the 2002 droughts over Indian subcontinent.

Assessing ocean vertical mixing schemes for the study of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, A. M.; Lindo, F.; Fells, J.; Tulsee, V.; Cheng, Y.; Canuto, V.

2014-12-01

Climate change is a burning issue of our time. It is critical to know the consequences of choosing "business as usual" vs. mitigating our emissions for impacts e.g. ecosystem disruption, sea-level rise, floods and droughts. To make predictions we must model realistically each component of the climate system. The ocean must be modeled carefully as it plays a critical role, including transporting heat and storing heat and dissolved carbon dioxide. Modeling the ocean realistically in turn requires physically based parameterizations of key processes in it that cannot be explicitly represented in a global climate model. One such process is vertical mixing. The turbulence group at NASA-GISS has developed a comprehensive new vertical mixing scheme (GISSVM) based on turbulence theory, including surface convection and wind shear, interior waves and double-diffusion, and bottom tides. The GISSVM is tested in stand-alone ocean simulations before being used in coupled climate models. It is also being upgraded to more faithfully represent the physical processes. To help assess mixing schemes, students use data from NASA-GISS to create visualizations and calculate statistics including mean bias and rms differences and correlations of fields. These are created and programmed with MATLAB. Results with the commonly used KPP mixing scheme and the present GISSVM and candidate improved variants of GISSVM will be compared between stand-alone ocean models and coupled models and observations. This project introduces students to modeling of a complex system, an important theme in contemporary science and helps them gain a better appreciation of climate science and a new perspective on it. They also gain familiarity with MATLAB, a widely used tool, and develop skills in writing and understanding programs. Moreover they contribute to the advancement of science by providing information that will help guide the improvement of the GISSVM and hence of ocean and climate models and ultimately our

The importance of understanding during the teaching process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dubljanin Saša

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Learning in the teaching process often goes on without proper understanding which is one of important problems that modern didactics tries to solve. In order to direct the totality of teaching towards understanding it is necessary to answer the question what understanding is, which is why we analysed different philosophical views on the concept of understanding and stressed their semblance to pedagogic explanations. Different kinds of understanding were analyzed as well as their role and contribution in different teaching situations, especially in the context of problem solving. As an alternative to the teaching based on accumulation of knowledge the characteristics and some principles of teaching focused on understanding are described, and the need for stimulating and developing understanding as an important goal of education. The results of our research unequivocally show that learning with understanding enables students to memorize the teaching material better, as well as to understand the whole teaching subject and efficiently apply the acquired knowledge out of school, and leads to more flexible behaviour and better coping in everyday life.

Net community production in the northern Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sarma, V.V.S.S.

. On the other hand, Sarma [2004, Net community production in the Bay of Bengal: Oxygen mass balance approach, submitted to Bio- geochemistry, 2008] computed NCP using a regional model of oxygen mass balance in the NIO. Bates et al. [2006] also estimated NCP... using an inorganic carbon mass balance model for the entire Indian Ocean. This chapter combines the results obtained from direct measurements and models and aims at improving our understanding of processes con­ trolling NCP in the NIO...

Demonstrating the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Marine Organisms to Support Climate Change Understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Amanda L.; Hanson, Paul R.; Kelley, Stephanie A.

2015-01-01

Ocean acidification, a product of CO[subscript 2] absorption by the world's oceans, is largely driven by the anthropogenic combustion of fossil fuels and has already lowered the pH of marine ecosystems. Organisms with calcium carbonate shells and skeletons are especially susceptible to increasing environmental acidity due to reduction in the…

Acoustic Green's function extraction in the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Zang, Xiaoqin

The acoustic Green's function (GF) is the key to understanding the acoustic properties of ocean environments. With knowledge of the acoustic GF, the physics of sound propagation, such as dispersion, can be analyzed; underwater communication over thousands of miles can be understood; physical properties of the ocean, including ocean temperature, ocean current speed, as well as seafloor bathymetry, can be investigated. Experimental methods of acoustic GF extraction can be categorized as active methods and passive methods. Active methods are based on employment of man-made sound sources. These active methods require less computational complexity and time, but may cause harm to marine mammals. Passive methods cost much less and do not harm marine mammals, but require more theoretical and computational work. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages that should be carefully tailored to fit the need of each specific environment and application. In this dissertation, we study one passive method, the noise interferometry method, and one active method, the inverse filter processing method, to achieve acoustic GF extraction in the ocean. The passive method of noise interferometry makes use of ambient noise to extract an approximation to the acoustic GF. In an environment with a diffusive distribution of sound sources, sound waves that pass through two hydrophones at two locations carry the information of the acoustic GF between these two locations; by listening to the long-term ambient noise signals and cross-correlating the noise data recorded at two locations, the acoustic GF emerges from the noise cross-correlation function (NCF); a coherent stack of many realizations of NCFs yields a good approximation to the acoustic GF between these two locations, with all the deterministic structures clearly exhibited in the waveform. To test the performance of noise interferometry in different types of ocean environments, two field experiments were performed and ambient noise

Task-specific visual cues for improving process model understanding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petrusel, Razvan; Mendling, Jan; Reijers, Hajo A.

2016-01-01

Context Business process models support various stakeholders in managing business processes and designing process-aware information systems. In order to make effective use of these models, they have to be readily understandable. Objective Prior research has emphasized the potential of visual cues to

Biogeochemical linkage between atmosphere and ocean in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean: Results from the EqPOS research cruise

Science.gov (United States)

Furutani, H.; Inai, Y.; Aoki, S.; Honda, H.; Omori, Y.; Tanimoto, H.; Iwata, T.; Ueda, S.; Miura, K.; Uematsu, M.

2012-12-01

Eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean is a unique oceanic region from several biogeochemical points of view. It is a remote open ocean with relatively high marine biological activity, which would result in limited influence of human activity but enhanced effect of marine natural processes on atmospheric composition. It is also characterized as high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) ocean, in which availability of trace metals such as iron and zinc limits marine primary production and thus atmospheric deposition of these trace elements to the ocean surface is expected to play an important role in regulating marine primary production and defining unique microbial community. High sea surface temperature in the region generates strong vertical air convection which efficiently brings tropospheric atmospheric composition into stratosphere. In this unique eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, EqPOS (Equatorial Pacific Ocean and Stratospheric/Tropospheric Atmospheric Study) research cruise was organized as a part of SOLAS Japan activity to understand biogeochemical ocean-atmospheric interaction in the region. Coordinated atmospheric, oceanic, and marine biological observations including sampling/characterization of thin air-sea interfacial layer (sea surface microlayer: SML) and launching large stratospheric air sampling balloons were carried out on-board R/V Hakuho Maru starting from 29 January for 39 days. Biogeochemically important trace/long-lived gases such as CO2, dimethyl sulfide (DMS), and some volatile organic carbons (VOCs) both in the atmosphere and seawater were continuously monitored and their air-sea fluxes were also observed using gradient and eddy-covariance techniques. Atmospheric gas measurement of CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, CO, H2, Ar and isotopic composition of selected gases were further extended to stratospheric air by balloon-born sampling in addition to a vertical profiling of O3, CO2, and H2O with sounding sondes. Physical and chemical properties of marine

The Ocean as a teaching tool: the first MOOC on Ocean Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Santin, Selvaggia; Santoro, Francesca

2017-04-01

Education its broader understanding (in both formal and informal settings) serves as a high potential channel to reach young citizens. As a lack of sufficient 'Ocean Literacy' has been identified in many countries, this clearly presents a barrier for citizens to engage in ocean responsible behaviour or consider ocean-related careers. In order to sensitize and enable teachers and students to incorporate ocean literacy into educational programmes we build up a first Massive Open Online Course on Emma Platform, an European Multiple MOOC Aggregator that provides a system for the delivery of free, open, online courses in multiple languages from different European universities. Almost 500 students were enrolled from all over the world and we proposed a multi-perspective approach building on the UNESCO experience in the field of education for sustainable development. The course had two sections: a narrative format which introduces to the Ocean Literacy principles, focusing on how to incorporate them into lessons with tips, advice, references and activities; and an interactive section with webinairs which covers contemporary and emerging issues such as seafood, marine pollution and human health, simulating a "real-world experiences" with a problems-solutions approach.

Processes of 30-90 days sea surface temperature variability in the northern Indian Ocean during boreal summer

Science.gov (United States)

Vialard, J.; Jayakumar, A.; Gnanaseelan, C.; Lengaigne, M.; Sengupta, D.; Goswami, B. N.

2012-05-01

During summer, the northern Indian Ocean exhibits significant atmospheric intraseasonal variability associated with active and break phases of the monsoon in the 30-90 days band. In this paper, we investigate mechanisms of the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) signature of this atmospheric variability, using a combination of observational datasets and Ocean General Circulation Model sensitivity experiments. In addition to the previously-reported intraseasonal SST signature in the Bay of Bengal, observations show clear SST signals in the Arabian Sea related to the active/break cycle of the monsoon. As the atmospheric intraseasonal oscillation moves northward, SST variations appear first at the southern tip of India (day 0), then in the Somali upwelling region (day 10), northern Bay of Bengal (day 19) and finally in the Oman upwelling region (day 23). The Bay of Bengal and Oman signals are most clearly associated with the monsoon active/break index, whereas the relationship with signals near Somali upwelling and the southern tip of India is weaker. In agreement with previous studies, we find that heat flux variations drive most of the intraseasonal SST variability in the Bay of Bengal, both in our model (regression coefficient, 0.9, against ~0.25 for wind stress) and in observations (0.8 regression coefficient); ~60% of the heat flux variation is due do shortwave radiation and ~40% due to latent heat flux. On the other hand, both observations and model results indicate a prominent role of dynamical oceanic processes in the Arabian Sea. Wind-stress variations force about 70-100% of SST intraseasonal variations in the Arabian Sea, through modulation of oceanic processes (entrainment, mixing, Ekman pumping, lateral advection). Our ~100 km resolution model suggests that internal oceanic variability (i.e. eddies) contributes substantially to intraseasonal variability at small-scale in the Somali upwelling region, but does not contribute to large-scale intraseasonal SST

Remote Sensing of Ocean Color

Science.gov (United States)

Dierssen, Heidi M.; Randolph, Kaylan

The oceans cover over 70% of the earth's surface and the life inhabiting the oceans play an important role in shaping the earth's climate. Phytoplankton, the microscopic organisms in the surface ocean, are responsible for half of the photosynthesis on the planet. These organisms at the base of the food web take up light and carbon dioxide and fix carbon into biological structures releasing oxygen. Estimating the amount of microscopic phytoplankton and their associated primary productivity over the vast expanses of the ocean is extremely challenging from ships. However, as phytoplankton take up light for photosynthesis, they change the color of the surface ocean from blue to green. Such shifts in ocean color can be measured from sensors placed high above the sea on satellites or aircraft and is called "ocean color remote sensing." In open ocean waters, the ocean color is predominantly driven by the phytoplankton concentration and ocean color remote sensing has been used to estimate the amount of chlorophyll a, the primary light-absorbing pigment in all phytoplankton. For the last few decades, satellite data have been used to estimate large-scale patterns of chlorophyll and to model primary productivity across the global ocean from daily to interannual timescales. Such global estimates of chlorophyll and primary productivity have been integrated into climate models and illustrate the important feedbacks between ocean life and global climate processes. In coastal and estuarine systems, ocean color is significantly influenced by other light-absorbing and light-scattering components besides phytoplankton. New approaches have been developed to evaluate the ocean color in relationship to colored dissolved organic matter, suspended sediments, and even to characterize the bathymetry and composition of the seafloor in optically shallow waters. Ocean color measurements are increasingly being used for environmental monitoring of harmful algal blooms, critical coastal habitats

Ecological Stoichiometry of Ocean Plankton

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Allison R.; Martiny, Adam C.

2018-01-01

Marine plankton elemental stoichiometric ratios can deviate from the Redfield ratio (106C:16N:1P); here, we examine physiological and biogeochemical mechanisms that lead to the observed variation across lineages, regions, and seasons. Many models of ecological stoichiometry blend together acclimative and adaptive responses to environmental conditions. These two pathways can have unique molecular mechanisms and stoichiometric outcomes, and we attempt to disentangle the two processes. We find that interactions between environmental conditions and cellular growth are key to understanding stoichiometric regulation, but the growth rates of most marine plankton populations are poorly constrained. We propose that specific physiological mechanisms have a strong impact on plankton and community stoichiometry in nutrient-rich environments, whereas biogeochemical interactions are important for the stoichiometry of the oligotrophic gyres. Finally, we outline key areas with missing information that is needed to advance understanding of the present and future ecological stoichiometry of ocean plankton.

Experimentally Testing Hydrothermal Vent Origin of Life on Enceladus and Other Icy/Ocean Worlds.

Science.gov (United States)

Barge, Laura M; White, Lauren M

2017-09-01

We review various laboratory strategies and methods that can be utilized to simulate prebiotic processes and origin of life in hydrothermal vent systems on icy/ocean worlds. Crucial steps that could be simulated in the laboratory include simulations of water-rock chemistry (e.g., serpentinization) to produce hydrothermal fluids, the types of mineral catalysts and energy gradients produced in vent interfaces where hydrothermal fluids interface with the surrounding seawater, and simulations of biologically relevant chemistry in flow-through gradient systems (i.e., far-from-equilibrium experiments). We describe some examples of experimental designs in detail, which are adaptable and could be used to test particular hypotheses about ocean world energetics or mineral/organic chemistry. Enceladus among the ocean worlds provides an ideal test case, since the pressure at the ocean floor is more easily simulated in the lab. Results for Enceladus could be extrapolated with further experiments and modeling to understand other ocean worlds. Key Words: Enceladus-Ocean worlds-Icy worlds-Hydrothermal vent-Iron sulfide-Gradient. Astrobiology 17, 820-833.

Chapter 1. Impacts of the oceans on climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Philip C; Fischer, Astrid C; Lewis-Brown, Emily; Meredith, Michael P; Sparrow, Mike; Andersson, Andreas J; Antia, Avan; Bates, Nicholas R; Bathmann, Ulrich; Beaugrand, Gregory; Brix, Holger; Dye, Stephen; Edwards, Martin; Furevik, Tore; Gangstø, Reidun; Hátún, Hjálmar; Hopcroft, Russell R; Kendall, Mike; Kasten, Sabine; Keeling, Ralph; Le Quéré, Corinne; Mackenzie, Fred T; Malin, Gill; Mauritzen, Cecilie; Olafsson, Jón; Paull, Charlie; Rignot, Eric; Shimada, Koji; Vogt, Meike; Wallace, Craig; Wang, Zhaomin; Washington, Richard

2009-01-01

further releases of the potent greenhouse gas methane from hydrates and permafrost. The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in driving, modifying and regulating global climate change via the carbon cycle and through its impact on adjacent Antarctica. The Antarctic Peninsula has shown some of the most rapid rises in atmospheric and oceanic temperature in the world, with an associated retreat of the majority of glaciers. Parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet are deflating rapidly, very likely due to a change in the flux of oceanic heat to the undersides of the floating ice shelves. The final section on modelling feedbacks from the ocean to climate change identifies limitations and priorities for model development and associated observations. Considering the importance of the oceans to climate change and our limited understanding of climate-related ocean processes, our ability to measure the changes that are taking place are conspicuously inadequate. The chapter highlights the need for a comprehensive, adequately funded and globally extensive ocean observing system to be implemented and sustained as a high priority. Unless feedbacks from the oceans to climate change are adequately included in climate change models, it is possible that the mitigation actions needed to stabilise CO2 and limit temperature rise over the next century will be underestimated.

The ocean circulation inverse problem

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wunsch, C

1996-01-01

.... This book addresses the problem of inferring the state of the ocean circulation, understanding it dynamically, and even forecasting it through a quantitative combination of theory and observation...

North Pacific Mesoscale Coupled Air-Ocean Simulations Compared with Observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koracin, Darko; Cerovecki, Ivana; Vellore, Ramesh; Mejia, John; Hatchett, Benjamin; McCord, Travis; McLean, Julie; Dorman, Clive

2013-04-11

Executive summary The main objective of the study was to investigate atmospheric and ocean interaction processes in the western Pacific and, in particular, effects of significant ocean heat loss in the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension regions on the lower and upper atmosphere. It is yet to be determined how significant are these processes are on climate scales. The understanding of these processes led us also to development of the methodology of coupling the Weather and Research Forecasting model with the Parallel Ocean Program model for western Pacific regional weather and climate simulations. We tested NCAR-developed research software Coupler 7 for coupling of the WRF and POP models and assessed its usability for regional-scale applications. We completed test simulations using the Coupler 7 framework, but implemented a standard WRF model code with options for both one- and two-way mode coupling. This type of coupling will allow us to seamlessly incorporate new WRF updates and versions in the future. We also performed a long-term WRF simulation (15 years) covering the entire North Pacific as well as high-resolution simulations of a case study which included extreme ocean heat losses in the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension regions. Since the extreme ocean heat loss occurs during winter cold air outbreaks (CAO), we simulated and analyzed a case study of a severe CAO event in January 2000 in detail. We found that the ocean heat loss induced by CAOs is amplified by additional advection from mesocyclones forming on the southern part of the Japan Sea. Large scale synoptic patterns with anomalously strong anticyclone over Siberia and Mongolia, deep Aleutian Low, and the Pacific subtropical ridge are a crucial setup for the CAO. It was found that the onset of the CAO is related to the breaking of atmospheric Rossby waves and vertical transport of vorticity that facilitates meridional advection. The study also indicates that intrinsic parameterization of the surface fluxes

Connecting Coastal Communities with Ocean Science: A Look at Ocean Sense and the Inclusion of Place-based Indigenous Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

McLean, M. A.; Brown, J.; Hoeberechts, M.

2016-02-01

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, develops, operates, and maintains cabled ocean observatory systems. Technologies developed on the world-leading NEPTUNE and VENUS observatories have been adapted for small coastal installations called "community observatories," which enable community members to directly monitor conditions in the local ocean environment. In 2014, ONC pioneered an innovative educational program, Ocean Sense: Local observations, global connections, which introduces students and teachers to the technologies installed on community observatories. The program introduces middle and high school students to research methods in biology, oceanography and ocean engineering through hands-on activities. Ocean Sense includes a variety of resources and opportunities to excite students and spark curiosity about the ocean environment. The program encourages students to connect their local observations to global ocean processes and the observations of students in other geographic regions. The connection to place and local relevance of the program is further enhanced through an emphasis on Indigenous and place-based knowledge. ONC is working with coastal Indigenous communities in a collaborative process to include local knowledge, culture, and language in Ocean Sense materials. For this process to meaningful and culturally appropriate, ONC is relying on the guidance and oversight of Indigenous community educators and knowledge holders. Ocean Sense also includes opportunities for Indigenous youth and teachers in remote communities to connect in person, including an annual Ocean Science Symposium and professional development events for teachers. Building a program which embraces multiple perspectives is effective both in making ocean science more relevant to Indigenous students and in linking Indigenous knowledge and place-based knowledge to ocean science.

Making sense of ocean biota: how evolution and biodiversity of land organisms differ from that of the plankton.

Science.gov (United States)

Smetacek, Victor

2012-09-01

The oceans cover 70% of the planet's surface, and their planktonic inhabitants generate about half the global primary production, thereby playing a key role in modulating planetary climate via the carbon cycle. The ocean biota have been under scientific scrutiny for well over a century, and yet our understanding of the processes driving natural selection in the pelagic environment - the open water inhabited by drifting plankton and free-swimming nekton - is still quite vague. Because of the fundamental differences in the physical environment, pelagic ecosystems function differently from the familiar terrestrial ecosystems of which we are a part. Natural selection creates biodiversity but understanding how this quality control of random mutations operates in the oceans - which traits are selected for under what circumstances and by which environmental factors, whether bottom-up or top-down - is currently a major challenge. Rapid advances in genomics are providing information, particularly in the prokaryotic realm, pertaining not only to the biodiversity inventory but also functional groups. This essay is dedicated to the poorly understood tribes of planktonic protists (unicellular eukaryotes) that feed the ocean's animals and continue to run the elemental cycles of our planet. It is an attempt at developing a conceptually coherent framework to understand the course of evolution by natural selection in the plankton and contrast it with the better-known terrestrial realm. I argue that organism interactions, in particular co-evolution between predators and prey (the arms race), play a central role in driving evolution in the pelagic realm. Understanding the evolutionary forces shaping ocean biota is a prerequisite for harnessing plankton for human purposes and also for protecting the oceanic ecosystems currently under severe stress from anthropogenic pressures.

Trends and frontiers for the science and management of the oceans.

Science.gov (United States)

Mumby, Peter J

2017-06-05

People have an enduring fascination with the biology of the oceans. When the BBC's 'Blue Planet' series first aired on British television almost a quarter of the nation tuned in. As the diversity of science in this special issue of Current Biology attests, the ocean presents a challenging environment for study while also exhibiting some of the most profound and disruptive symptoms of global change. Marine science has made major advances in the past few decades, which were primarily made possible through important technological innovations. This progress notwithstanding, there are persistent challenges in achieving an understanding of marine processes at appropriate scales and delivering meaningful insights to guide ocean policy and management. Naturally, the examples chosen below betray my ecological leanings, but I hope that many of the issues raised resonate with readers in many different disciplines. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular biogeochemical provinces in the Atlantic Surface Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, B. P.; Flerus, R.; Schmitt-Kopplin, P.; Lechtenfeld, O. J.; Bracher, A.; Cooper, W.; Frka, S.; Gašparović, B.; Gonsior, M.; Hertkorn, N.; Jaffe, R.; Jenkins, A.; Kuss, J.; Lara, R. J.; Lucio, M.; McCallister, S. L.; Neogi, S. B.; Pohl, C.; Roettgers, R.; Rohardt, G.; Schmitt, B. B.; Stuart, A.; Theis, A.; Ying, W.; Witt, M.; Xie, Z.; Yamashita, Y.; Zhang, L.; Zhu, Z. Y.; Kattner, G.

2010-12-01

One of the most important aspects to understand marine organic carbon fluxes is to resolve the molecular mechanisms which convert fresh, labile biomolecules into semi-labile and refractory dissolved and particulate organic compounds in the ocean. In this interdisciplinary project, which was performed on a cruise with RV Polarstern, we carried out a detailed molecular characterisation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on a North-South transect in the Atlantic surface ocean in order to relate the data to different biological, climatic, oceanographic, and meteorological regimes as well as to terrestrial input from riverine and atmospheric sources. Our goal was to achieve a high resolution data set for the biogeochemical characterisation of the sources and reactivity of DOM. We applied ultrahigh resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), nutrient, trace element, amino acid, and lipid analyses and other biogeochemical measurements for 220 samples from the upper water column (0-200m) and eight deep profiles. Various spectroscopic techniques were applied continuously in a constant sample water flow supplied by a fish system and the moon pool. Radiocarbon dating enabled assessing DOC residence time. Bacterial abundance and production provided a metabolic context for the DOM characterization work and pCO2 concentrations. Combining molecular organic techniques and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) established an important link between organic and inorganic biogeochemical studies. Multivariate statistics, primarily based on FT-ICR-MS data for 220 samples, allowed identifying geographical clusters which matched ecological provinces proposed previously by Longhurst (2007). Our study demonstrated that marine DOM carries molecular information reflecting the “history” of ocean water masses. This information can be used to define molecular biogeochemical provinces and to improve our understanding of element fluxes in

Microbially-mediated fluorescent organic matter transformations in the deep ocean

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aparicio, Fran L.; Nieto-Cid, Mar; Borrull, Encarna

2015-01-01

The refractory nature of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) increases while it travels from surface waters to the deep ocean. This resistant fraction is in part composed of fluorescent humic-like material, which is relatively difficult to metabolize by deep water prokaryotes, and it can also b....... These findings contribute to the understanding of FDOM variability in deep waters and provide valuable information for studies where fluorescent compounds are used in order to track water masses and/or microbial processes.......The refractory nature of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) increases while it travels from surface waters to the deep ocean. This resistant fraction is in part composed of fluorescent humic-like material, which is relatively difficult to metabolize by deep water prokaryotes, and it can also...

Molecular processes of transgenerational acclimation to a warming ocean

KAUST Repository

Veilleux, Heather D.; Ryu, Tae Woo; Donelson, Jennifer M.; van Herwerden, Lynne; Seridi, Loqmane; Ghosheh, Yanal; Berumen, Michael L.; Leggat, William; Ravasi, Timothy; Munday, Philip L.

2015-01-01

Some animals have the remarkable capacity to acclimate across generations to projected future climate change1, 2, 3, 4; however, the underlying molecular processes are unknown. We sequenced and assembled de novo transcriptomes of adult tropical reef fish exposed developmentally or transgenerationally to projected future ocean temperatures and correlated the resulting expression profiles with acclimated metabolic traits from the same fish. We identified 69 contigs representing 53 key genes involved in thermal acclimation of aerobic capacity. Metabolic genes were among the most upregulated transgenerationally, suggesting shifts in energy production for maintaining performance at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, immune- and stress-responsive genes were upregulated transgenerationally, indicating a new complement of genes allowing the second generation of fish to better cope with elevated temperatures. Other differentially expressed genes were involved with tissue development and transcriptional regulation. Overall, we found a similar suite of differentially expressed genes among developmental and transgenerational treatments. Heat-shock protein genes were surprisingly unresponsive, indicating that short-term heat-stress responses may not be a good indicator of long-term acclimation capacity. Our results are the first to reveal the molecular processes that may enable marine fishes to adjust to a future warmer environment over multiple generations.

Molecular processes of transgenerational acclimation to a warming ocean

KAUST Repository

Veilleux, Heather D.

2015-07-20

Some animals have the remarkable capacity to acclimate across generations to projected future climate change1, 2, 3, 4; however, the underlying molecular processes are unknown. We sequenced and assembled de novo transcriptomes of adult tropical reef fish exposed developmentally or transgenerationally to projected future ocean temperatures and correlated the resulting expression profiles with acclimated metabolic traits from the same fish. We identified 69 contigs representing 53 key genes involved in thermal acclimation of aerobic capacity. Metabolic genes were among the most upregulated transgenerationally, suggesting shifts in energy production for maintaining performance at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, immune- and stress-responsive genes were upregulated transgenerationally, indicating a new complement of genes allowing the second generation of fish to better cope with elevated temperatures. Other differentially expressed genes were involved with tissue development and transcriptional regulation. Overall, we found a similar suite of differentially expressed genes among developmental and transgenerational treatments. Heat-shock protein genes were surprisingly unresponsive, indicating that short-term heat-stress responses may not be a good indicator of long-term acclimation capacity. Our results are the first to reveal the molecular processes that may enable marine fishes to adjust to a future warmer environment over multiple generations.

Observational and numerical evidence for ocean frontogenesis inducing submesoscale processes and impacting biochemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Claret, M.; Ruiz, S.; Pascual, A.; Olita, A.; Mahadevan, A.; Tovar, A.; Troupin, C.; Tintore, J.; Capet, A.

2016-02-01

We present the results of ALBOREX, a multi-platform and multi-disciplinary experiment completed in May 2014 as a part of PERSEUS EU funded project. This unique process-oriented experiment in the eastern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) examined mesoscale and submesoscale dynamics at an intense front. The field campaign, conducted during 8 days, included 25 drifters, 2 gliders, 3 Argo floats and one ship (66 CTDs and 500 biochemical samples). The drifters followed coherently an anticyclonic gyre. ADCP data showed consistent patterns with currents up to 1 m/s in the southern part of the domain and Rossby numbers up to 1.5 suggesting significant ageostrophic motion. We show observational evidence for mesoscale frontogenesis produced by the confluence of (fresh) Atlantic Water and the resident (more saline) Mediterranean Water. This confluence resulted in lateral density gradients of the order of 1 kg/m3 in 10 km and associated vertical velocities of about ±20 m/day, diagnosed using the QG Omega equation. However, the vertical velocity is likely underestimated due to unresolved submesoscale processes (<10 km), which are induced by intense mesoscale frontogenesis. In order to assess the role of these submesoscale processes in the frontal vertical transport, a high-resolution Process Ocean Model Study is initialized with hydrographic data (0.5-1 km resolution) from underwater gliders. Numerical results show that observed lateral buoyancy gradients are large enough to trigger submesoscale mixed layer instabilities. The coupling between mesoscale and submesoscale phenomena can explain remarkable subduction events of chlorophyll and oxygen captured by ocean gliders, as well as local increases of primary production.

Attorneys for the Ocean - Graduate Training in the Transatlantic Helmholtz Research School for Ocean System Science and Technology (HOSST/TOSST)

Science.gov (United States)

van den Bogaard, Christel; Dullo, Christian; Devey, Colin; Kienast, Markus; Wallace, Douglas

2016-04-01

The worldwide growth in population and standards of living is leading to ever increasing human pressure on the oceans: as a source of resources, a transportation/trade pathway, and a sink for pollutants. However, use of the world's ocean is not presently guided by any over-arching management plan at either national or international level. Marine science and technology provide the necessary foundation, both in terms of system understanding and observational and modeling tools, to address these issues and to ensure that management of ocean activities can be placed on the best-possible scientific footing. The transatlantic Helmholtz Research School Ocean Science and Technology pools the complementary expertise of the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Dalhousie University and the Institute for Ocean Research Enterprise (IORE), to train the next generation of researchers in the key scientific areas critical for responsible resource utilization and management of the ocean with special emphasis on our "local ocean" - the North Atlantic. The Research School is organized around three themes which encompass key sensitivities of the North Atlantic to external forcing and resource exploitation: 4D Ocean Dynamics, Ecosystem Hotspots, and Seafloor Structures. Interactions within and between these themes regulate how the ocean system responds to both anthropogenic and natural change. The HOSST/TOSST fellows gain an in-depth understanding of how these ocean systems interact, which in turn provides a solid understanding for the formulation of scientifically-sound management practices. Given the broad scope of the school, student education is two-pronged: it provides excellent institutional support where needed, including scientific input, personal support and financial incentives, while simultaneously generating an open "intellectual space" in which ingenious, often unpredictable, ideas can take root, overcoming

Entropy budget of the earth,atmosphere and ocean system

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

GAN Zijun; YAN Youfangand; QI Yiquan

2004-01-01

The energy budget in the system of the earth, atmosphere and ocean conforms to the first law of thermodynamics, namely the law of conservation of energy, and it is balanced when the system is in a steady-state condition. However, the entropy budget following the second law of thermodynamics is unbalanced. In this paper, we deduce the expressions of entropy flux and re-estimate the earth, atmosphere and ocean annual mean entropy budget with the updated climatologically global mean energy budget and the climatologically air-sea flux data. The calculated results show that the earth system obtains a net influx of negative entropy (-1179.3 mWm-2K-1) from its surroundings, and the atmosphere and the ocean systems obtain a net input of negative entropy at about -537.4 mWm-2K-1 and -555.6 mWm-2K-1, respectively. Calculations of the entropy budget can provide some guidance for further understanding the spatial-temporal change of the local entropy flux, and the entropy production resulting from all kinds of irreversible processes inside these systems.

Oceans and Human Health: Linking Ocean, Organism, and Human Health for Sustainable Management of Coastal Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Sandifer, P. A.; Trtanj, J.; Collier, T. K.

2012-12-01

Human Health Act of 2004. Major outcomes of the OHH Act of 2004 include: --A national focus on ocean health and its relation to human health and well-being; --Enhanced interagency coordination and cooperation in research, development, and education; --Emphasis on development of a new, interdisciplinary community of practice; --Increased understanding of linkages between marine animal health and human health and the dangers of transmission of zoonotic diseases from the marine environment; --A richer understanding of factors affecting the occurrence and impacts of ocean health threats; --An enhanced ability of the ocean science and public health communities to respond to health-related emergencies; --A strong focus on development of ecological forecasts that are providing early warning of ocean health threats and impacts, thus improving the effectiveness of protection and mitigation actions. Taken together, these outcomes contribute significantly to more sustainable management of coastal resources and communities.

Understanding Combustion Processes Through Microgravity Research

Science.gov (United States)

Ronney, Paul D.

1998-01-01

A review of research on the effects of gravity on combustion processes is presented, with an emphasis on a discussion of the ways in which reduced-gravity experiments and modeling has led to new understanding. Comparison of time scales shows that the removal of buoyancy-induced convection leads to manifestations of other transport mechanisms, notably radiative heat transfer and diffusional processes such as Lewis number effects. Examples from premixed-gas combustion, non-premixed gas-jet flames, droplet combustion, flame spread over solid and liquid fuels, and other fields are presented. Promising directions for new research are outlined, the most important of which is suggested to be radiative reabsorption effects in weakly burning flames.

How can present and future satellite missions support scientific studies that address ocean acidification?

Science.gov (United States)

Salisbury, Joseph; Vandemark, Douglas; Jonsson, Bror; Balch, William; Chakraborty, Sumit; Lohrenz, Steven; Chapron, Bertrand; Hales, Burke; Mannino, Antonio; Mathis, Jeremy T.; Reul, Nicolas; Signorini, Sergio; Wanninkhof, Rik; Yates, Kimberly K.

2016-01-01

Space-based observations offer unique capabilities for studying spatial and temporal dynamics of the upper ocean inorganic carbon cycle and, in turn, supporting research tied to ocean acidification (OA). Satellite sensors measuring sea surface temperature, color, salinity, wind, waves, currents, and sea level enable a fuller understanding of a range of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena that drive regional OA dynamics as well as the potentially varied impacts of carbon cycle change on a broad range of ecosystems. Here, we update and expand on previous work that addresses the benefits of space-based assets for OA and carbonate system studies. Carbonate chemistry and the key processes controlling surface ocean OA variability are reviewed. Synthesis of present satellite data streams and their utility in this arena are discussed, as are opportunities on the horizon for using new satellite sensors with increased spectral, temporal, and/or spatial resolution. We outline applications that include the ability to track the biochemically dynamic nature of water masses, to map coral reefs at higher resolution, to discern functional phytoplankton groups and their relationships to acid perturbations, and to track processes that contribute to acid variation near the land-ocean interface.

Coupled atmosphere-ocean models of Titan's past

Science.gov (United States)

Mckay, Christopher P.; Pollack, James B.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Courtin, Regis

1993-01-01

The behavior and possible past evolution of fully coupled atmosphere and ocean model of Titan are investigated. It is found that Titan's surface temperature was about 20 K cooler at 4 Gyr ago and will be about 5 K warmer 0.5 Gyr in the future. The change in solar luminosity and the conversion of oceanic CH4 to C2H6 drive the evolution of the ocean and atmosphere over time. Titan appears to have experienced a frozen epoch about 3 Gyr ago independent of whether an ocean is present or not. This finding may have important implications for understanding the inventory of Titan's volatile compounds.

Upper-Ocean Heat Balance Processes and the Walker Circulation in CMIP5 Model Projections

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, F. R.; Roberts, J. B.; Funk, C.; Lyon, B.; Ricciardulli, L.

2012-01-01

Considerable uncertainty remains as to the importance of mechanisms governing decadal and longer variability of the Walker Circulation, its connection to the tropical climate system, and prospects for tropical climate change in the face of anthropogenic forcing. Most contemporary climate models suggest that in response to elevated CO2 and a warmer but more stratified atmosphere, the required upward mass flux in tropical convection will diminish along with the Walker component of the tropical mean circulation as well. Alternatively, there is also evidence to suggest that the shoaling and increased vertical stratification of the thermocline in the eastern Pacific will enable a muted SST increase there-- preserving or even enhancing some of the dynamical forcing for the Walker cell flow. Over the past decade there have been observational indications of an acceleration in near-surface easterlies, a strengthened Pacific zonal SST gradient, and globally-teleconnected dislocations in precipitation. But is this evidence in support of an ocean dynamical thermostat process posited to accompany anthropogenic forcing, or just residual decadal fluctuations associated with variations in warm and cold ENSO events and other stochastic forcing? From a modeling perspective we try to make headway on this question by examining zonal variations in surface energy fluxes and dynamics governing tropical upper ocean heat content evolution in the WCRP CMIP5 model projections. There is some diversity among model simulations; for example, the CCSM4 indicates net ocean warming over the IndoPacific region while the CSIRO model concentrates separate warming responses over the central Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. The models, as with observations, demonstrate strong local coupling between variations in column water vapor, downward surface longwave radiation and SST; but the spatial patterns of changes in the sign of this relationship differ among models and, for models as a whole, with

Blue ocean leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, W Chan; Mauborgne, Renée

2014-05-01

Ten years ago, two INSEAD professors broke ground by introducing "blue ocean strategy," a new model for discovering uncontested markets that are ripe for growth. In this article, they apply their concepts and tools to what is perhaps the greatest challenge of leadership: closing the gulf between the potential and the realized talent and energy of employees. Research indicates that this gulf is vast: According to Gallup, 70% of workers are disengaged from their jobs. If companies could find a way to convert them into engaged employees, the results could be transformative. The trouble is, managers lack a clear understanding of what changes they could make to bring out the best in everyone. Here, Kim and Mauborgne offer a solution to that problem: a systematic approach to uncovering, at each level of the organization, which leadership acts and activities will inspire employees to give their all, and a process for getting managers throughout the company to start doing them. Blue ocean leadership works because the managers' "customers"-that is, the people managers oversee and report to-are involved in identifying what's effective and what isn't. Moreover, the approach doesn't require leaders to alter who they are, just to undertake a different set of tasks. And that kind of change is much easier to implement and track than changes to values and mind-sets.

Red ocean vs blue ocean strategies

OpenAIRE

Λαΐνος, Ιάσονας

2011-01-01

This paper is about the strategies that a company can adopt in order to get a competitive advantage over its rivals, and thus be successful (Red Ocean Strategies). We also tried to explain what actually entrepreneurship is, to be able to understand why the corporate strategies are formed as they do, and why companies are choosing to follow them. The following project is a part of our master thesis that we will present for the University of Piraeus for the MBA-TQM master department. The thesis...

Modeling Europa's Ice-Ocean Interface

Science.gov (United States)

Elsenousy, A.; Vance, S.; Bills, B. G.

2014-12-01

This work focuses on modeling the ice-ocean interface on Jupiter's Moon (Europa); mainly from the standpoint of heat and salt transfer relationship with emphasis on the basal ice growth rate and its implications to Europa's tidal response. Modeling the heat and salt flux at Europa's ice/ocean interface is necessary to understand the dynamics of Europa's ocean and its interaction with the upper ice shell as well as the history of active turbulence at this area. To achieve this goal, we used McPhee et al., 2008 parameterizations on Earth's ice/ocean interface that was developed to meet Europa's ocean dynamics. We varied one parameter at a time to test its influence on both; "h" the basal ice growth rate and on "R" the double diffusion tendency strength. The double diffusion tendency "R" was calculated as the ratio between the interface heat exchange coefficient αh to the interface salt exchange coefficient αs. Our preliminary results showed a strong double diffusion tendency R ~200 at Europa's ice-ocean interface for plausible changes in the heat flux due to onset or elimination of a hydrothermal activity, suggesting supercooling and a strong tendency for forming frazil ice.

Developing improved MD codes for understanding processive cellulases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crowley, M F; Nimlos, M R; Himmel, M E; Uberbacher, E C; Iii, C L Brooks; Walker, R C

2008-01-01

The mechanism of action of cellulose-degrading enzymes is illuminated through a multidisciplinary collaboration that uses molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and expands the capabilities of MD codes to allow simulations of enzymes and substrates on petascale computational facilities. There is a class of glycoside hydrolase enzymes called cellulases that are thought to decrystallize and processively depolymerize cellulose using biochemical processes that are largely not understood. Understanding the mechanisms involved and improving the efficiency of this hydrolysis process through computational models and protein engineering presents a compelling grand challenge. A detailed understanding of cellulose structure, dynamics and enzyme function at the molecular level is required to direct protein engineers to the right modifications or to understand if natural thermodynamic or kinetic limits are in play. Much can be learned about processivity by conducting carefully designed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the binding and catalytic domains of cellulases with various substrate configurations, solvation models and thermodynamic protocols. Most of these numerical experiments, however, will require significant modification of existing code and algorithms in order to efficiently use current (terascale) and future (petascale) hardware to the degree of parallelism necessary to simulate a system of the size proposed here. This work will develop MD codes that can efficiently use terascale and petascale systems, not just for simple classical MD simulations, but also for more advanced methods, including umbrella sampling with complex restraints and reaction coordinates, transition path sampling, steered molecular dynamics, and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical simulations of systems the size of cellulose degrading enzymes acting on cellulose

High colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption in surface waters of the central-eastern Arctic Ocean: Implications for biogeochemistry and ocean color algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonçalves-Araujo, Rafael; Rabe, Benjamin; Peeken, Ilka; Bracher, Astrid

2018-01-01

As consequences of global warming sea-ice shrinking, permafrost thawing and changes in fresh water and terrestrial material export have already been reported in the Arctic environment. These processes impact light penetration and primary production. To reach a better understanding of the current status and to provide accurate forecasts Arctic biogeochemical and physical parameters need to be extensively monitored. In this sense, bio-optical properties are useful to be measured due to the applicability of optical instrumentation to autonomous platforms, including satellites. This study characterizes the non-water absorbers and their coupling to hydrographic conditions in the poorly sampled surface waters of the central and eastern Arctic Ocean. Over the entire sampled area colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) dominates the light absorption in surface waters. The distribution of CDOM, phytoplankton and non-algal particles absorption reproduces the hydrographic variability in this region of the Arctic Ocean which suggests a subdivision into five major bio-optical provinces: Laptev Sea Shelf, Laptev Sea, Central Arctic/Transpolar Drift, Beaufort Gyre and Eurasian/Nansen Basin. Evaluating ocean color algorithms commonly applied in the Arctic Ocean shows that global and regionally tuned empirical algorithms provide poor chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) estimates. The semi-analytical algorithms Generalized Inherent Optical Property model (GIOP) and Garver-Siegel-Maritorena (GSM), on the other hand, provide robust estimates of Chl-a and absorption of colored matter. Applying GSM with modifications proposed for the western Arctic Ocean produced reliable information on the absorption by colored matter, and specifically by CDOM. These findings highlight that only semi-analytical ocean color algorithms are able to identify with low uncertainty the distribution of the different optical water constituents in these high CDOM absorbing waters. In addition, a clustering of the Arctic Ocean

Ocean Disposal of Dredged Material

Science.gov (United States)

Permits and authorizations for the ocean dumping of dredged material is issued by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Information is provided about where to dispose dredged material and the process for obtaining an ocean dumping permit for dredged material.

Customizing Process to Align with Purpose and Program: The 2003 MS PHD'S in Ocean Sciences Program Evaluative Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, V. A.; Pyrtle, A. J.

2004-12-01

How did the 2003 Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success (MS PHD'S) in Ocean Sciences Program customize evaluative methodology and instruments to align with program goals and processes? How is data captured to document cognitive and affective impact? How are words and numbers utilized to accurately illustrate programmatic outcomes? How is compliance with implicit and explicit funding regulations demonstrated? The 2003 MS PHD'S in Ocean Sciences Program case study provides insightful responses to each of these questions. MS PHD'S was developed by and for underrepresented minorities to facilitate increased and sustained participation in Earth system science. Key components of this initiative include development of a community of scholars sustained by face-to-face and virtual mentoring partnerships; establishment of networking activities between and among undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate students, scientists, faculty, professional organization representatives, and federal program officers; and provision of forums to address real world issues as identified by each constituent group. The evaluative case study of the 2003 MS PHD'S in Ocean Sciences Program consists of an analysis of four data sets. Each data set was aligned to document progress in the achievement of the following program goals: Goal 1: The MS PHD'S Ocean Sciences Program will successfully market, recruit, select, and engage underrepresented student and non-student participants with interest/ involvement in Ocean Sciences; Goal 2: The MS PHD'S Ocean Sciences Program will provide meaningful engagement for participants as determined by quantitative analysis of user-feedback; Goal 3: The MS PHD'S Ocean Sciences Program will provide meaningful engagement for participants as determined by qualitative analysis of user-feedback, and; Goal 4: The MS PHD'S Ocean Sciences Program will develop a constituent base adequate to demonstrate evidence of interest, value, need and sustainability in

International Search for Life in Ocean Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwood, B.

2015-12-01

We now know that our solar system contains diverse "ocean worlds." One has abundant surface water and life; another had significant surface water in the distant past and has drawn significant exploration attention; several contain large amounts of water beneath ice shells; and several others evince unexpected, diverse transient or dynamic water-related processes. In this century, humanity will explore these worlds, searching for life beyond Earth and seeking thereby to understand the limits of habitability. Of our ocean worlds, Enceladus presents a unique combination of attributes: large reservoir of subsurface water already known to contain salts, organics, and silica nanoparticles originating from hydrothermal activity; and able to be sampled via a plume predictably expressed into space. These special circumstances immediately tag Enceladus as a key destination for potential missions to search for evidence of non-Earth life, and lead to a range of potential mission concepts: for orbital reconnaissance; in situ and returned-sample analysis of plume and surface-fallback material; and direct sulcus, vent, cavern, and ocean exploration. Each mission type can address a unique set of science questions, and would require a unique set of capabilities, most of which are not yet developed. Both the questions and the capability developments can be sequenced into a programmatic precedence network, the realization of which requires international cooperation. Three factors make this true: exploring remote oceans autonomously will cost a lot; the Outer Space Treaty governs planetary protection; and discovery of non-Earth life is an epochal human imperative. Results of current planning will be presented in AGU session 8599: how ocean-world science questions and capability requirements can be parsed into programmatically acceptable mission increments; how one mission proposed into the Discovery program in 2015 would take the next step on this path; the Decadal calendar of

Structural styles and zircon ages of the South Tianshan accretionary complex, Atbashi Ridge, Kyrgyzstan: Insights for the anatomy of ocean plate stratigraphy and accretionary processes

Science.gov (United States)

Sang, Miao; Xiao, Wenjiao; Orozbaev, Rustam; Bakirov, Apas; Sakiev, Kadyrbek; Pak, Nikolay; Ivleva, Elena; Zhou, Kefa; Ao, Songjian; Qiao, Qingqing; Zhang, Zhixin

2018-03-01

The anatomy of an ancient accretionary complex has a significance for a better understanding of the tectonic processes of accretionary orogens and complex because of its complicated compositions and strong deformation. With a thorough structural and geochronological study of a fossil accretionary complex in the Atbashi Ridge, South Tianshan (Kyrgyzstan), we analyze the structure and architecture of ocean plate stratigraphy in the western Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The architecture of the Atbashi accretionary complex is subdivisible into four lithotectonic assemblages, some of which are mélanges with "block-in-matrix" structure: (1) North Ophiolitic Mélange; (2) High-pressure (HP)/Ultra-high-pressure (UHP) Metamorphic Assemblage; (3) Coherent & Mélange Assemblage; and (4) South Ophiolitic Mélange. Relationships between main units are tectonic contacts presented by faults. The major structures and lithostratigraphy of these units are thrust-fold nappes, thrusted duplexes, and imbricated ocean plate stratigraphy. All these rock units are complicatedly stacked in 3-D with the HP/UHP rocks being obliquely southwestward extruded. Detrital zircon ages of meta-sediments provide robust constraints on their provenance from the Ili-Central Tianshan Arc. The isotopic ages of the youngest components of the four units are Late Permian, Early-Middle Triassic, Early Carboniferous, and Early Triassic, respectively. We present a new tectonic model of the South Tianshan; a general northward subduction polarity led to final closure of the South Tianshan Ocean in the End-Permian to Late Triassic. These results help to resolve the long-standing controversy regarding the subduction polarity and the timing of the final closure of the South Tianshan Ocean. Finally, our work sheds lights on the use of ocean plate stratigraphy in the analysis of the tectonic evolution of accretionary orogens.

Processes of 30-90 days sea surface temperature variability in the northern Indian Ocean during boreal summer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vialard, J. [Univerite P. et M. Curie, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Case 100, CNRS, IRD, Paris Cedex 05 (France); Jayakumar, A.; Gnanaseelan, C.; Goswami, B.N. [Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (India); Lengaigne, M. [Univerite P. et M. Curie, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Case 100, CNRS, IRD, Paris Cedex 05 (France); CSIR, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (India); Sengupta, D. [Indian Institute of Sciences, Centre of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Bangalore (India)

2012-05-15

During summer, the northern Indian Ocean exhibits significant atmospheric intraseasonal variability associated with active and break phases of the monsoon in the 30-90 days band. In this paper, we investigate mechanisms of the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) signature of this atmospheric variability, using a combination of observational datasets and Ocean General Circulation Model sensitivity experiments. In addition to the previously-reported intraseasonal SST signature in the Bay of Bengal, observations show clear SST signals in the Arabian Sea related to the active/break cycle of the monsoon. As the atmospheric intraseasonal oscillation moves northward, SST variations appear first at the southern tip of India (day 0), then in the Somali upwelling region (day 10), northern Bay of Bengal (day 19) and finally in the Oman upwelling region (day 23). The Bay of Bengal and Oman signals are most clearly associated with the monsoon active/break index, whereas the relationship with signals near Somali upwelling and the southern tip of India is weaker. In agreement with previous studies, we find that heat flux variations drive most of the intraseasonal SST variability in the Bay of Bengal, both in our model (regression coefficient, 0.9, against {proportional_to}0.25 for wind stress) and in observations (0.8 regression coefficient); {proportional_to}60% of the heat flux variation is due do shortwave radiation and {proportional_to}40% due to latent heat flux. On the other hand, both observations and model results indicate a prominent role of dynamical oceanic processes in the Arabian Sea. Wind-stress variations force about 70-100% of SST intraseasonal variations in the Arabian Sea, through modulation of oceanic processes (entrainment, mixing, Ekman pumping, lateral advection). Our {proportional_to}100 km resolution model suggests that internal oceanic variability (i.e. eddies) contributes substantially to intraseasonal variability at small-scale in the Somali upwelling region

Climate change and ocean acidification impacts on lower trophic levels and the export of organic carbon to the deep ocean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Yool

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Most future projections forecast significant and ongoing climate change during the 21st century, but with the severity of impacts dependent on efforts to restrain or reorganise human activity to limit carbon dioxide (CO2 emissions. A major sink for atmospheric CO2, and a key source of biological resources, the World Ocean is widely anticipated to undergo profound physical and – via ocean acidification – chemical changes as direct and indirect results of these emissions. Given strong biophysical coupling, the marine biota is also expected to experience strong changes in response to this anthropogenic forcing. Here we examine the large-scale response of ocean biogeochemistry to climate and acidification impacts during the 21st century for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 2.6 and 8.5 using an intermediate complexity global ecosystem model, MEDUSA-2.0. The primary impact of future change lies in stratification-led declines in the availability of key nutrients in surface waters, which in turn leads to a global decrease (1990s vs. 2090s in ocean productivity (−6.3%. This impact has knock-on consequences for the abundance of the low trophic level biogeochemical actors modelled by MEDUSA-2.0 (−5.8%, and these would be expected to similarly impact higher trophic level elements such as fisheries. Related impacts are found in the flux of organic material to seafloor communities (−40.7% at 1000 m, and in the volume of ocean suboxic zones (+12.5%. A sensitivity analysis removing an acidification feedback on calcification finds that change in this process significantly impacts benthic communities, suggesting that a~better understanding of the OA-sensitivity of calcifying organisms, and their role in ballasting sinking organic carbon, may significantly improve forecasting of these ecosystems. For all processes, there is geographical variability in change – for instance, productivity declines −21% in the Atlantic and increases +59% in

Photosynthetic oxygen production in a warmer ocean: the Sargasso Sea as a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Katherine; Bendtsen, Jørgen

2017-09-13

Photosynthetic O 2 production can be an important source of oxygen in sub-surface ocean waters especially in permanently stratified oligotrophic regions of the ocean where O 2 produced in deep chlorophyll maxima (DCM) is not likely to be outgassed. Today, permanently stratified regions extend across approximately 40% of the global ocean and their extent is expected to increase in a warmer ocean. Thus, predicting future ocean oxygen conditions requires a better understanding of the potential response of photosynthetic oxygen production to a warmer ocean. Based on our own and published observations of water column processes in oligotrophic regions, we develop a one-dimensional water column model describing photosynthetic oxygen production in the Sargasso Sea to quantify the importance of photosynthesis for the downward flux of O 2 and examine how it may be influenced in a warmer ocean. Photosynthesis is driven in the model by vertical mixing of nutrients (including eddy-induced mixing) and diazotrophy and is found to substantially increase the downward O 2 flux relative to physical-chemical processes alone. Warming (2°C) surface waters does not significantly change oxygen production at the DCM. Nor does a 15% increase in re-mineralization rate (assuming Q 10  = 2; 2°C warming) have significant effect on net sub-surface oxygen accumulation. However, changes in the relative production of particulate (POM) and dissolved organic material (DOM) generate relatively large changes in net sub-surface oxygen production. As POM/DOM production is a function of plankton community composition, this implies plankton biodiversity and food web structure may be important factors influencing O 2 production in a warmer ocean.This article is part of the themed issue 'Ocean ventilation and deoxygenation in a warming world'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Extracting Hydrologic Understanding from the Unique Space-time Sampling of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Nickles, C.; Zhao, Y.; Beighley, E.; Durand, M. T.; David, C. H.; Lee, H.

2017-12-01

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission is jointly developed by NASA, the French space agency (CNES), with participation from the Canadian and UK space agencies to serve both the hydrology and oceanography communities. The SWOT mission will sample global surface water extents and elevations (lakes/reservoirs, rivers, estuaries, oceans, sea and land ice) at a finer spatial resolution than is currently possible enabling hydrologic discovery, model advancements and new applications that are not currently possible or likely even conceivable. Although the mission will provide global cover, analysis and interpolation of the data generated from the irregular space/time sampling represents a significant challenge. In this study, we explore the applicability of the unique space/time sampling for understanding river discharge dynamics throughout the Ohio River Basin. River network topology, SWOT sampling (i.e., orbit and identified SWOT river reaches) and spatial interpolation concepts are used to quantify the fraction of effective sampling of river reaches each day of the three-year mission. Streamflow statistics for SWOT generated river discharge time series are compared to continuous daily river discharge series. Relationships are presented to transform SWOT generated streamflow statistics to equivalent continuous daily discharge time series statistics intended to support hydrologic applications using low-flow and annual flow duration statistics.

Global Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Coordination

Science.gov (United States)

Telszewski, Maciej; Tanhua, Toste; Palacz, Artur

2016-04-01

The complexity of the marine carbon cycle and its numerous connections to carbon's atmospheric and terrestrial pathways means that a wide range of approaches have to be used in order to establish it's qualitative and quantitative role in the global climate system. Ocean carbon and biogeochemistry research, observations, and modelling are conducted at national, regional, and global levels to quantify the global ocean uptake of atmospheric CO2 and to understand controls of this process, the variability of uptake and vulnerability of carbon fluxes into the ocean. These science activities require support by a sustained, international effort that provides a central communication forum and coordination services to facilitate the compatibility and comparability of results from individual efforts and development of the ocean carbon data products that can be integrated with the terrestrial, atmospheric and human dimensions components of the global carbon cycle. The International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) was created in 2005 by the IOC of UNESCO and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research. IOCCP provides an international, program-independent forum for global coordination of ocean carbon and biogeochemistry observations and integration with global carbon cycle science programs. The IOCCP coordinates an ever-increasing set of observations-related activities in the following domains: underway observations of biogeochemical water properties, ocean interior observations, ship-based time-series observations, large-scale ocean acidification monitoring, inorganic nutrients observations, biogeochemical instruments and autonomous sensors and data and information creation. Our contribution is through the facilitation of the development of globally acceptable strategies, methodologies, practices and standards homogenizing efforts of the research community and scientific advisory groups as well as integrating the ocean biogeochemistry observations with the

Were Oceanic Plateaus Instrumental for Calcareous Nannoplankton Evolution?

Science.gov (United States)

Erba, E.; Casellato, C.; Bottini, C.

2011-12-01

The history of calcareous nannoplankton shows a general increase in species richness through the Mesozoic. Fertility and chemistry of the oceans, climate and pCO2 seem instrumental for nannoplankton abundance, diversification and adaptation, but high-resolution chronology of paleobiological and geological events is crucial for the understanding of evolutionary processes relative to ecosystem perturbations. Natural variations in atmospheric CO2 are essentially triggered by igneous activity and the role of ocean crust production in the evolution of seawater composition, nutrient cycling, climate change and, consequently, in calcareous nannoplankton biodiversity, might be more relevant than generally thought. Indeed, two major steps in nannofloral Mesozoic evolution correlate with construction of gigantic oceanic plateaus, namely the Shatsky Rise (SR) (Tithonian/Berriasian boundary interval) and the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) (Barremian/Aptian boundary interval). During the latest Jurassic calcareous nannoplankton experienced a rapid diversification and rise in abundance of several taxa including heavily calcified nannoliths with consequent major increase in biogenic calcite production. The Tithonian origination of coccoliths and nannoliths suggests ideal paleoecological conditions for calcareous nannoplankton, presumably thriving in stable, relatively oligotrophic and cool oceans under low pCO2. Recent data indicate that this speciation and calcification episode was interrupted during magnetochron CM19r, prior to massive diversification of nannoconids. In the late Barremian-early Aptian interval, the nannoconid decline and crisis are paralleled by a major nannoplankton (mainly coccolith) speciation episode. Such calcification failure and coccolith diversification might reflect disruption of the thermocline, increased fertility and warming under excess CO2 levels. These evolutionary steps show rapid speciation, but differ because nannoliths became dominant in the late

Dynamic control on serpentine crystallization in veins: Constraints on hydration processes in oceanic peridotites

OpenAIRE

Andréani , Muriel; Mével , C.; Boullier , A.-M.; Escartín , J.

2007-01-01

International audience; Deformation and hydration processes are intimately linked in the oceanic lithosphere, but the feedbacks between them are still poorly understood, especially in ultramafic rocks where serpentinization results in a decrease of rock density that implies a volume increase and/or mass transfer. Serpentinization is accompanied by abundant veining marked by different generations of vein-filling serpentines with a high variety of morphologies and textures that correspond to di...

Decadal Changes in Global Ocean Annual Primary Production

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson; Conkright, Margarita E.; Behrenfeld, Michael J.; Ginoux, Paul; Casey, Nancy W.; Koblinsky, Chester J. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) has produced the first multi-year time series of global ocean chlorophyll observations since the demise of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) in 1986. Global observations from 1997-present from SeaWiFS combined with observations from 1979-1986 from the CZCS should in principle provide an opportunity to observe decadal changes in global ocean annual primary production, since chlorophyll is the primary driver for estimates of primary production. However, incompatibilities between algorithms have so far precluded quantitative analysis. We have developed and applied compatible processing methods for the CZCS, using modern advances in atmospheric correction and consistent bio-optical algorithms to advance the CZCS archive to comparable quality with SeaWiFS. We applied blending methodologies, where in situ data observations are incorporated into the CZCS and SeaWiFS data records, to provide improvement of the residuals. These re-analyzed, blended data records provide maximum compatibility and permit, for the first time, a quantitative analysis of the changes in global ocean primary production in the early-to-mid 1980's and the present, using synoptic satellite observations. An intercomparison of the global and regional primary production from these blended satellite observations is important to understand global climate change and the effects on ocean biota. Photosynthesis by chlorophyll-containing phytoplankton is responsible for biotic uptake of carbon in the oceans and potentially ultimately from the atmosphere. Global ocean annual primary decreased from the CZCS record to SeaWiFS, by nearly 6% from the early 1980s to the present. Annual primary production in the high latitudes was responsible for most of the decadal change. Conversely, primary production in the low latitudes generally increased, with the exception of the tropical Pacific. The differences and similarities of the two data records provide evidence

The Ocean's Carbon Factory: Ocean Composition. The Growth Patterns of Phytoplankton Species

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson

2000-01-01

According to biological data recorded by the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) satellite, the ocean contains nearly half of all the Earth's photosynthesis activity. Through photosynthesis, plant life forms use carbon from the atmosphere, and in return, plants produce the oxygen that life requires. In effect, ocean chlorophyll works like a factory, taking carbon and "manufacturing" the air we breathe. Most ocean-bound photosynthesis is performed by single-celled plants called phytoplankton. "These things are so small," according to Michael Behrenfeld, a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, "that if you take hundreds of them and stack them end-to-end, the length of that stack is only the thickness of a penny". The humble phytoplankton species plays a vital role in balancing the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Therefore, understanding exactly how phytoplankton growth works is important.

Regional Arctic System Model (RASM): A Tool to Advance Understanding and Prediction of Arctic Climate Change at Process Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Maslowski, W.; Roberts, A.; Osinski, R.; Brunke, M.; Cassano, J. J.; Clement Kinney, J. L.; Craig, A.; Duvivier, A.; Fisel, B. J.; Gutowski, W. J., Jr.; Hamman, J.; Hughes, M.; Nijssen, B.; Zeng, X.

2014-12-01

The Arctic is undergoing rapid climatic changes, which are some of the most coordinated changes currently occurring anywhere on Earth. They are exemplified by the retreat of the perennial sea ice cover, which integrates forcing by, exchanges with and feedbacks between atmosphere, ocean and land. While historical reconstructions from Global Climate and Global Earth System Models (GC/ESMs) are in broad agreement with these changes, the rate of change in the GC/ESMs remains outpaced by observations. Reasons for that stem from a combination of coarse model resolution, inadequate parameterizations, unrepresented processes and a limited knowledge of physical and other real world interactions. We demonstrate the capability of the Regional Arctic System Model (RASM) in addressing some of the GC/ESM limitations in simulating observed seasonal to decadal variability and trends in the sea ice cover and climate. RASM is a high resolution, fully coupled, pan-Arctic climate model that uses the Community Earth System Model (CESM) framework. It uses the Los Alamos Sea Ice Model (CICE) and Parallel Ocean Program (POP) configured at an eddy-permitting resolution of 1/12° as well as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) models at 50 km resolution. All RASM components are coupled via the CESM flux coupler (CPL7) at 20-minute intervals. RASM is an example of limited-area, process-resolving, fully coupled earth system model, which due to the additional constraints from lateral boundary conditions and nudging within a regional model domain facilitates detailed comparisons with observational statistics that are not possible with GC/ESMs. In this talk, we will emphasize the utility of RASM to understand sensitivity to variable parameter space, importance of critical processes, coupled feedbacks and ultimately to reduce uncertainty in arctic climate change projections.

Model Testing - Bringing the Ocean into the Laboratory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aage, Christian

2000-01-01

Hydrodynamic model testing, the principle of bringing the ocean into the laboratory to study the behaviour of the ocean itself and the response of man-made structures in the ocean in reduced scale, has been known for centuries. Due to an insufficient understanding of the physics involved, however......, the early model tests often gave incomplete or directly misleading results.This keynote lecture deals with some of the possibilities and problems within the field of hydrodynamic and hydraulic model testing....

Understanding Global Change: Tools for exploring Earth processes and biotic change through time

Science.gov (United States)

Bean, J. R.; White, L. D.; Berbeco, M.

2014-12-01

Teaching global change is one of the great pedagogical challenges of our day because real understanding entails integrating a variety of concepts from different scientific subject areas, including chemistry, physics, and biology, with a variety of causes and impacts in the past, present, and future. With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, which emphasize climate change and other human impacts on natural systems, there has never been a better time to provide instructional support to educators on these topics. In response to this clear need, the University of California Museum of Paleontology, in collaboration with the National Center for Science Education, developed a new web resource for teachers and students titled "Understanding Global Change" (UGC) that introduces the drivers and impacts of global change. This website clarifies the connections among deep time, modern Earth system processes, and anthropogenic influences, and provides K-16 instructors with a wide range of easy-to-use tools, strategies, and lesson plans for communicating these important concepts regarding global change and the basic Earth systems processes. In summer 2014, the UGC website was field-tested during a workshop with 25 K-12 teachers and science educators. Feedback from participants helped the UGC team develop and identify pedagogically sound lesson plans and instructional tools on global change. These resources are accessible through UGC's searchable database, are aligned with NGSS and Common Core, and are categorized by grade level, subject, and level of inquiry-based instruction (confirmation, structured, guided, open). Providing a range of content and tools at levels appropriate for teachers is essential because our initial needs assessment found that educators often feel that they lack the content knowledge and expertise to address complex, but relevant global change issues, such as ocean acidification and deforestation. Ongoing needs assessments and surveys of

Climate Modeling: Ocean Cavities below Ice Shelves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petersen, Mark Roger [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences Division

2016-09-12

The Accelerated Climate Model for Energy (ACME), a new initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy, includes unstructured-mesh ocean, land-ice, and sea-ice components using the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) framework. The ability to run coupled high-resolution global simulations efficiently on large, high-performance computers is a priority for ACME. Sub-ice shelf ocean cavities are a significant new capability in ACME, and will be used to better understand how changing ocean temperature and currents influence glacial melting and retreat. These simulations take advantage of the horizontal variable-resolution mesh and adaptive vertical coordinate in MPAS-Ocean, in order to place high resolution below ice shelves and near grounding lines.

The oceanic sediment barrier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francis, T.J.G.; Searle, R.C.; Wilson, T.R.S.

1986-01-01

Burial within the sediments of the deep ocean floor is one of the options that have been proposed for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. An international research programme is in progress to determine whether oceanic sediments have the requisite properties for this purpose. After summarizing the salient features of this programme, the paper focuses on the Great Meteor East study area in the Northeast Atlantic, where most oceanographic effort has been concentrated. The geological geochemical and geotechnical properties of the sediments in the area are discussed. Measurements designed to determine the rate of pore water movement through the sediment column are described. Our understanding of the chemistry of both the solid and pore-water phases of the sediment are outlined, emphasizing the control that redox conditions have on the mobility of, for example, naturally occurring manganese and uranium. The burial of instrumented free-fall penetrators to depths of 30 m beneath the ocean floor is described, modelling one of the methods by which waste might be emplaced. Finally, the nature of this oceanic environment is compared with geological environments on land and attention is drawn to the gaps in our knowledge that must be filled before oceanic burial can be regarded as an acceptable disposal option. (author)

Oceanic-type accretion may begin before complete continental break-up

Science.gov (United States)

Geoffroy, L.; Zalan, P. V.; Viana, A. R.

2011-12-01

Oceanic accretion is thought to be the process of oceanic crust (and lithosphere) edification through adiabatic melting of shallow convecting mantle at oceanic spreading ridges. It is usually considered as a post-breakup diagnostic process following continents rupturing. However, this is not always correct. The structure of volcanic passive margins (representing more than 50% of passive continental margins) outlines that the continental lithosphere is progressively changed into oceanic-type lithosphere during the stage of continental extension. This is clear at least, at crustal level. The continental crust is 'changed' from the earliest stages of extension into a typical -however thicker- oceanic crust with the typical oceanic magmatic layers (from top to bottom: lava flows/tuffs, sheeted dyke complexes, dominantly (sill-like) mafic intrusions in the lower crust). The Q-rich continental crust is highly extended and increases in volume (due to the magma) during the extensional process. At the continent-ocean transition there is, finally, no seismic difference between this highly transformed continental crust and the oceanic crust. Using a large range of data (including deep seismic reflection profiles), we discuss the mantle mechanisms that governs the process of mantle-assisted continental extension. We outline the large similarity between those mantle processes and those acting at purely-oceanic spreading axis and discuss the effects of the inherited continental lithosphere in the pattern of new mafic crust edification.

The Oceans 2015 Initiative, Part II - An updated understanding of the observed and projected impacts of ocean warming and acidification on marine and coastal socioeconomic activities/sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weatherdon, Lauren; Sumaila, Rashid; Cheung, William W.L.; Rogers, Alex; Magnan, Alexandre

2015-01-01

Between 1971 and 2010, the oceans have absorbed approximately 93% of the excess heat caused by global warming, leading to several major changes such as the increase in stratification, limitation in the circulation of nutrients from deep waters to the surface, and sea level rise. In addition, the oceans absorbed 26% of anthropogenic CO 2 emitted since the start of the Industrial Revolution, which resulted in ocean acidification. Together, these processes strongly affect marine and coastal species' geographic distribution, abundance, migration patterns and phenology. As a consequence of these complex environmental changes, marine and coastal human sectors (i.e., fisheries, aquaculture, coastal tourism and health) are in turn at risk. This report provides an updated synthesis of what the science tells us about such a risk, based upon IPCC AR5 (2013- 2014) and published scientific articles and grey literature that have been published between July 2013 and April 2015. Although uncertainty remains strong, there is growing scientific evidence that ocean warming and acidification will affect key resources for societies through ecosystems services. For example, while AR5 indicated that coral reefs had little scope for adaptation, recent research has suggested that there may be some capacity for some coral species to recover from climatic hocks and bleaching events, and to acquire heat resistance through acclimatization. This will have huge implications on many coastal economies in the developing and developed countries. More generally, key sectors will be affected. For example, while the fish catch potential is expected to decrease at the global scale, it will show diversified trends at the regional scale as fish stocks have started shifting in latitudes or by depth. This will impact regional to local fisheries systems. Also, climate and acidification-related impacts to existing aquaculture are expected to be generally negative, with impacts varying by location

ONR Ocean Wave Dynamics Workshop

Science.gov (United States)

In anticipation of the start (in Fiscal Year 1988) of a new Office of Naval Research (ONR) Accelerated Research Initiative (ARI) on Ocean Surface Wave Dynamics, a workshop was held August 5-7, 1986, at Woods Hole, Mass., to discuss new ideas and directions of research. This new ARI on Ocean Surface Wave Dynamics is a 5-year effort that is organized by the ONR Physical Oceanography Program in cooperation with the ONR Fluid Mechanics Program and the Physical Oceanography Branch at the Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity (NORDA). The central theme is improvement of our understanding of the basic physics and dynamics of surface wave phenomena, with emphasis on the following areas: precise air-sea coupling mechanisms,dynamics of nonlinear wave-wave interaction under realistic environmental conditions,wave breaking and dissipation of energy,interaction between surface waves and upper ocean boundary layer dynamics, andsurface statistical and boundary layer coherent structures.

Chemistry teachers’ understanding of science process skills in relation of science process skills assessment in chemistry learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hikmah, N.; Yamtinah, S.; Ashadi; Indriyanti, N. Y.

2018-05-01

A Science process skill (SPS) is a fundamental scientific method to achieve good knowledge. SPS can be categorized into two levels: basic and integrated. Learning SPS helps children to grow as individuals who can access knowledge and know how to acquire it. The primary outcomes of the scientific process in learning are the application of scientific processes, scientific reasoning, accurate knowledge, problem-solving, and understanding of the relationship between science, technology, society, and everyday life’s events. Teachers’ understanding of SPS is central to the application of SPS in a learning process. Following this point, this study aims to investigate the high school chemistry teachers’ understanding of SPS pertains to their assessment of SPS in chemistry learning. The understanding of SPS is measured from the conceptual and operational aspects of SPS. This research uses qualitative analysis method, and the sample consists of eight chemistry teachers selected by random sampling. A semi-structured interview procedure is used to collect the data. The result of the analysis shows that teachers’ conceptual and operational understanding of SPS is weak. It affects the accuracy and appropriateness of the teacher’s selection of SPS assessment in chemistry learning.

Ocean Observatories and the Integrated Ocean Observing System, IOOS: Developing the Synergy

Science.gov (United States)

Altalo, M. G.

2006-05-01

The National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations is responsible for the planning, coordination and development of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, IOOS, which is both the U.S. contribution to GOOS as well as the ocean component of GEOSS. The IOOS is comprised of global observations as well as regional coastal observations coordinated so as to provide environmental information to optimize societal management decisions including disaster resilience, public health, marine transport, national security, climate and weather impact, and natural resource and ecosystem management. Data comes from distributed sensor systems comprising Federal and state monitoring efforts as well as regional enhancements, which are managed through data management and communications (DMAC) protocols. At present, 11 regional associations oversee the development of the observing System components in their region and are the primary interface with the user community. The ocean observatories are key elements of this National architecture and provide the infrastructure necessary to test new technologies, platforms, methods, models, and practices which, when validated, can transition into the operational components of the IOOS. This allows the IOOS to remain "state of the art" through incorporation of research at all phases. Both the observatories as well as the IOOS will contribute to the enhanced understanding of the ocean and coastal system so as to transform science results into societal solutions.

Impact of oceanic processes on the carbon cycle during the last termination

Science.gov (United States)

Bouttes, N.; Paillard, D.; Roche, D. M.; Waelbroeck, C.; Kageyama, M.; Lourantou, A.; Michel, E.; Bopp, L.

2012-01-01

During the last termination (from ~18 000 years ago to ~9000 years ago), the climate significantly warmed and the ice sheets melted. Simultaneously, atmospheric CO2 increased from ~190 ppm to ~260 ppm. Although this CO2 rise plays an important role in the deglacial warming, the reasons for its evolution are difficult to explain. Only box models have been used to run transient simulations of this carbon cycle transition, but by forcing the model with data constrained scenarios of the evolution of temperature, sea level, sea ice, NADW formation, Southern Ocean vertical mixing and biological carbon pump. More complex models (including GCMs) have investigated some of these mechanisms but they have only been used to try and explain LGM versus present day steady-state climates. In this study we use a coupled climate-carbon model of intermediate complexity to explore the role of three oceanic processes in transient simulations: the sinking of brines, stratification-dependent diffusion and iron fertilization. Carbonate compensation is accounted for in these simulations. We show that neither iron fertilization nor the sinking of brines alone can account for the evolution of CO2, and that only the combination of the sinking of brines and interactive diffusion can simultaneously simulate the increase in deep Southern Ocean δ13C. The scenario that agrees best with the data takes into account all mechanisms and favours a rapid cessation of the sinking of brines around 18 000 years ago, when the Antarctic ice sheet extent was at its maximum. In this scenario, we make the hypothesis that sea ice formation was then shifted to the open ocean where the salty water is quickly mixed with fresher water, which prevents deep sinking of salty water and therefore breaks down the deep stratification and releases carbon from the abyss. Based on this scenario, it is possible to simulate both the amplitude and timing of the long-term CO2 increase during the last termination in agreement with

Ocean Sciences Sequence for Grades 6-8: Climate Change Curriculum Developed Through a Collaboration Between Scientists and Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Halversen, C.; Weiss, E. L.; Pedemonte, S.

2016-02-01

Today's youth have been tasked with the overwhelming job of addressing the world's climate future. The students who will become the scientists, policy makers, and citizens of tomorrow must gain a robust understanding of the causes and effects of climate change, as well as possible adaptation strategies. Currently, few high quality curriculum materials exist that address climate change in a developmentally appropriate manner. The NOAA-funded Ocean Sciences Sequence for Grades 6-8: The Ocean-Atmosphere Connection and Climate Change (OSS) addresses this gap by providing teachers with scientifically accurate climate change curriculum that hits on some of the most salient points in climate science, while simultaneously developing students' science process skills. OSS was developed through a collaboration between some of the nation's leading ocean and climate scientists and the Lawrence Hall of Science's highly qualified curriculum development team. Scientists were active partners throughout the entire development process, from initial brainstorming of key concepts and creating the conceptual storyline for the curriculum to final review of the content and activities. The goal was to focus strategically and effectively on core concepts within ocean and climate sciences that students should understand. OSS was designed in accordance with the latest research from the learning sciences and provides numerous opportunities for students to develop facility with science practices by "doing" science.Through hands-on activities, technology, informational readings, and embedded assessments, OSS deeply addresses a significant number of standards from the Next Generation Science Standards and is being used by many teachers as they explore the shifts required by NGSS. It also aligns with the Ocean Literacy and Climate Literacy Frameworks. OSS comprises 33 45-minute sessions organized into three thematic units, each driven by an exploratory question: (1) How do the ocean and atmosphere

Dynamic ocean provinces: a multi-sensor approach to global marine ecophysiology

Science.gov (United States)

Dowell, M.; Campbell, J.; Moore, T.

The concept of oceanic provinces or domains has existed for well over a century. Such systems, whether real or only conceptual, provide a useful framework for understanding the mechanisms controlling biological, physical and chemical processes and their interactions. Criteria have been established for defining provinces based on physical forcings, availability of light and nutrients, complexity of the marine food web, and other factors. In general, such classification systems reflect the heterogeneous nature of the ocean environment, and the effort of scientists to comprehend the whole system by understanding its various homogeneous components. If provinces are defined strictly on the basis of geospatial or temporal criteria (e.g., latitude zones, bathymetry, or season), the resulting maps exhibit discontinuities that are uncharacteristic of the ocean. While this may be useful for many purposes, it is unsatisfactory in that it does not capture the dynamic nature of fluid boundaries in the ocean. Boundaries fixed in time and space do not allow us to observe interannual or longer-term variability (e.g., regime shifts) that may result from climate change. The current study illustrates the potential of using fuzzy logic as a means of classifying the ocean into objectively defined provinces using properties measurable from satellite sensors (MODIS and SeaWiFS). This approach accommodates the dynamic variability of provinces which can be updated as each image is processed. We adopt this classification as the basis for parameterizing specific algorithms for each of the classes. Once the class specific algorithms have been applied, retrievals are then recomposed into a single blended product based on the "weighted" fuzzy memberships. This will be demonstrated through animations of multi-year time- series of monthly composites of the individual classes or provinces. The provinces themselves are identified on the basis of global fields of chlorophyll, sea surface temperature

Carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in the North Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

DileepKumar, M.; Naqvi, S.W.A; Jayakumar, D.A; George, M.D.; Narvekar, P.V.; DeSousa, S

The understanding of biogeochemical cycling of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in the oceans is essential for predicting the fate of anthropogenically emitted components. The North Indian Ocean, with its diverse regimes, provides us with a natural...

Volcanic signals in oceans

KAUST Repository

Stenchikov, Georgiy L.

2009-08-22

Sulfate aerosols resulting from strong volcanic explosions last for 2–3 years in the lower stratosphere. Therefore it was traditionally believed that volcanic impacts produce mainly short-term, transient climate perturbations. However, the ocean integrates volcanic radiative cooling and responds over a wide range of time scales. The associated processes, especially ocean heat uptake, play a key role in ongoing climate change. However, they are not well constrained by observations, and attempts to simulate them in current climate models used for climate predictions yield a range of uncertainty. Volcanic impacts on the ocean provide an independent means of assessing these processes. This study focuses on quantification of the seasonal to multidecadal time scale response of the ocean to explosive volcanism. It employs the coupled climate model CM2.1, developed recently at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\\'s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, to simulate the response to the 1991 Pinatubo and the 1815 Tambora eruptions, which were the largest in the 20th and 19th centuries, respectively. The simulated climate perturbations compare well with available observations for the Pinatubo period. The stronger Tambora forcing produces responses with higher signal-to-noise ratio. Volcanic cooling tends to strengthen the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Sea ice extent appears to be sensitive to volcanic forcing, especially during the warm season. Because of the extremely long relaxation time of ocean subsurface temperature and sea level, the perturbations caused by the Tambora eruption could have lasted well into the 20th century.

Seafloor Eruptions Offer a Teachable Moment to Help SEAS Students Understand Important Geological and Ecological Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Goehring, L.; Williams, C. S.

2006-12-01

In education parlance, a teachable moment is an opportunity that arises when students are engaged and primed to learn, typically in response to some memorable event. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, even natural disasters, if meaningful to the student, often serve to catalyze intense learning. Recent eruptions at the East Pacific Rise offer a potential teachable moment for students and teachers involved with SEAS, a Ridge 2000 education outreach program. SEAS uses a combination of web-facilitated and teacher-directed activities to make the remote deep-sea environment and the process of science relevant and meaningful. SEAS is a web-based, inquiry-oriented education program for middle and high school students. It features the science associated with Ridge 2000 research. Since 2003, SEAS has focused on the integrated study site at the East Pacific Rise (EPR) to help students understand geological and ecological processes at mid-ocean ridges and hydrothermal vents. SEAS students study EPR bathymetry maps, images of lava formations, photomosaics of diffuse flow communities, succession in the Bio-Geo Transect, as well as current research conducted during spring cruises. In the Classroom to Sea Lab, students make direct comparisons between shallow-water mussels and vent mussels (from the EPR) to understand differences in feeding strategies. The recent eruptions and loss of seafloor fauna at this site offer the Ridge 2000 program the opportunity to help students better understand the ephemeral and episodic nature of ridge environments, as well as the realities and processes of science (particularly field science). In January 2007, the SEAS program will again sail with a Ridge 2000 research team, and will work with scientists to report findings through the SEAS website. The eruptions at the EPR covered much of the study site, and scientists' instruments and experiments, in fresh lava. We intend to highlight the recency and effect of the eruptions, using the students

UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER PROCESSES THROUGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RELATIONAL RANDOM FORESTS

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER PROCESSES THROUGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RELATIONAL RANDOM FORESTS AMY MCGOVERN, TIMOTHY SUPINIE, DAVID JOHN GAGNE II, NATHANIEL TROUTMAN,...

Uncertainty in Earth System Models: Benchmarks for Ocean Model Performance and Validation

Science.gov (United States)

Ogunro, O. O.; Elliott, S.; Collier, N.; Wingenter, O. W.; Deal, C.; Fu, W.; Hoffman, F. M.

2017-12-01

The mean ocean CO2 sink is a major component of the global carbon budget, with marine reservoirs holding about fifty times more carbon than the atmosphere. Phytoplankton play a significant role in the net carbon sink through photosynthesis and drawdown, such that about a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 emissions end up in the ocean. Biology greatly increases the efficiency of marine environments in CO2 uptake and ultimately reduces the impact of the persistent rise in atmospheric concentrations. However, a number of challenges remain in appropriate representation of marine biogeochemical processes in Earth System Models (ESM). These threaten to undermine the community effort to quantify seasonal to multidecadal variability in ocean uptake of atmospheric CO2. In a bid to improve analyses of marine contributions to climate-carbon cycle feedbacks, we have developed new analysis methods and biogeochemistry metrics as part of the International Ocean Model Benchmarking (IOMB) effort. Our intent is to meet the growing diagnostic and benchmarking needs of ocean biogeochemistry models. The resulting software package has been employed to validate DOE ocean biogeochemistry results by comparison with observational datasets. Several other international ocean models contributing results to the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) were analyzed simultaneously. Our comparisons suggest that the biogeochemical processes determining CO2 entry into the global ocean are not well represented in most ESMs. Polar regions continue to show notable biases in many critical biogeochemical and physical oceanographic variables. Some of these disparities could have first order impacts on the conversion of atmospheric CO2 to organic carbon. In addition, single forcing simulations show that the current ocean state can be partly explained by the uptake of anthropogenic emissions. Combined effects of two or more of these forcings on ocean biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems

Bringing an Ocean to School.

Science.gov (United States)

MacMillan, Mark W.

1997-01-01

Describes a school program in which two sixth-grade science classes researched, created, and put together an ocean museum targeted at kindergarten through eighth graders who are geographically distanced from the ocean. Details the process for investigating topical areas, organizing teams of students, researching, writing, creating displays, and…

Kanaka Maoli and Kamáāina Seascapes - Knowing Our Ocean Through Times of Change

Science.gov (United States)

Puniwai, N.

2017-12-01

In Hawaíi our oceans define us, we come from the ocean. Our oceans change, and we change with them, as we always have. By learning from people who are dependent on their environment, we learn how to observe and how to adapt. Through the lens of climate change, we interviewed respected ocean observers and surfers to learn about changes they have witnessed over time and the spatial scales and ocean conditions important to them. We looked at our ancient and historical texts to see what processes they recorded and the language they used to ascribe their observations, interactions and relationships to these places. Yet, we also integrate what our mechanical data sensors have recorded over recent time. By expanding our time scales of reference, knowledge sources, and collaborators, these methods teach us how our ancestors adapted and how climate change may impact our subsistence, recreation, and interactions with the environment. Managing complex seascapes requires the integration of multiple ways of knowing; strengthening our understanding of seascapes and their resiliency in this changing environment.

Building transparent data access for ocean observatories: Coordination of U.S. IOOS DMAC with NSF's OOI Cyberinfrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Arrott, M.; Alexander, Corrine; Graybeal, J.; Mueller, C.; Signell, R.; de La Beaujardière, J.; Taylor, A.; Wilkin, J.; Powell, B.; Orcutt, J.

2011-01-01

The NOAA-led U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the National Science Foundation's Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) have been collaborating since 2007 on advanced tools and technologies that ensure open access to ocean observations and models. Initial collaboration focused on serving ocean data via cloud computing-a key component of the OOI cyberinfrastructure (CI) architecture. As the OOI transitioned from planning to execution in the Fall of 2009, an OOI/IOOS team developed a customer-based "use case" to align more closely with the emerging objectives of OOI-CI team's first software release scheduled for Summer 2011 and provide a quantitative capacity for stress-testing these tools and protocols. A requirements process was initiated with coastal modelers, focusing on improved workflows to deliver ocean observation data. Accomplishments to date include the documentation and assessment of scientific workflows for two "early adopter" modeling teams from IOOS Regional partners (Rutgers-the State University of New Jersey and University of Hawaii's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology) to enable full understanding of data sources and needs; generation of all-inclusive lists of the data sets required and those obtainable through IOOS; a more complete understanding of areas where IOOS can expand data access capabilities to better serve the needs of the modeling community; and development of "data set agents" (software) to facilitate data acquisition from numerous data providers and conversions of the data format to the OOI-CI canonical form. ?? 2011 MTS.

Role of the ocean in climate changes

Science.gov (United States)

Gulev, Sergey K.

1992-01-01

The present program aimed at the study of ocean climate change is prepared by a group of scientists from State Oceanographic Institute, Academy of Science of Russia, Academy of Science of Ukraine and Moscow State University. It appears to be a natural evolution of ideas and achievements that have been developed under national and international ocean research projects such as SECTIONS, WOCE, TOGA, JGOFS and others. The two primary goals are set in the program ROCC. (1) Quantitative description of the global interoceanic 'conveyor' and it's role in formation of the large scale anomalies in the North Atlantic. The objectives on the way to this goal are: to get the reliable estimates of year-to-year variations of heat and water exchange between the Atlantic Ocean and the atmosphere; to establish and understand the physics of long period variations in meridianal heat and fresh water transport (MHT and MFWT) in the Atlantic Ocean; to analyze the general mechanisms, that form the MHT and MFWT in low latitudes (Ekman flux), middle latitudes (western boundary currents) and high latitudes (deep convection) of the North Atlantic; to establish and to give quantitative description of the realization of global changes in SST, surface salinity, sea level and sea ice data. (2) Development of the observational system pointed at tracing the climate changes in the North Atlantic. This goal merges the following objectives: to find the proper sites that form the inter annual variations of MHT; to study the deep circulation in the 'key' points; to develop the circulation models reflecting the principle features of interoceanic circulation; and to define global and local response of the atmosphere circulation to large scale processes in the Atlantic Ocean.

The oceanic literary reading mind : An impression

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burke, M.

2016-01-01

The mind and brain processes of the literary reading mind are most accurately defined as oceanic: the mind is an ocean. This is the essential premise that I put forward in my book Literary Reading, Cognition and Emotion: An Exploration of the Oceanic Mind (Routledge, 2011).1 The statement is of

Ocean Hydrodynamics Numerical Model in Curvilinear Coordinates for Simulating Circulation of the Global Ocean and its Separate Basins.

Science.gov (United States)

Gusev, Anatoly; Diansky, Nikolay; Zalesny, Vladimir

2010-05-01

scope of the CMIP-5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project). On the base of the complex proposed the Pacific Ocean circulation eddy-resolving model was realized. The integration domain covers the Pacific from Equator to Bering Strait. The model horizontal resolution is 0.125 degree and it has 20 non-uniform sigma-levels in depth. The model adequately reproduces circulation large-scale structure and its variability: Kuroshio meandering, ocean synoptic eddies, frontal zones, etc. Kuroshio high variability is shown. The distribution of contaminant was simulated that is admittedly wasted near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The results demonstrate contaminant distribution structure and provide us understanding of hydrological fields formation processes in the North-West Pacific.

The causes of alkalinity variations in the global surface ocean

OpenAIRE

Fry, Claudia Helen

2016-01-01

Human activities have caused the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) to increase by 120 ppmv from pre-industrial times to 2014. The ocean takes up approximately a quarter of the anthropogenic CO2, causing ocean acidification (OA). Therefore it is necessary to study the ocean carbonate system, including alkalinity, to quantify the flux of CO2 into the ocean and understand OA. Since the 1970s, carbonate system measurements have been undertaken which can be analyzed to quantify the...

Dust storms and their impact on ocean and human health: dust in Earth's atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Dale W.; Kellog, Christina A.

2004-01-01

Satellite imagery has greatly influenced our understanding of dust activity on a global scale. A number of different satellites such as NASA's Earth-Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and Se-viewing Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) acquire daily global-scale data used to produce imagery for monitoring dust storm formation and movement. This global-scale imagery has documented the frequent transmission of dust storm-derived soils through Earth's atmosphere and the magnitude of many of these events. While various research projects have been undertaken to understand this normal planetary process, little has been done to address its impact on ocean and human health. This review will address the ability of dust storms to influence marine microbial population densities and transport of soil-associated toxins and pathogenic microorganisms to marine environments. The implications of dust on ocean and human health in this emerging scientific field will be discussed.

Radiative transfer in atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jin, Z.; Stamnes, K.; Weeks, W.F. [Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); Tsay, S.C. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)

1996-04-01

Radiative energy is critical in controlling the heat and mass balance of sea ice, which significantly affects the polar climate. In the polar oceans, light transmission through the atmosphere and sea ice is essential to the growth of plankton and algae and, consequently, to the microbial community both in the ice and in the ocean. Therefore, the study of radiative transfer in the polar atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean system is of particular importance. Lacking a properly coupled radiative transfer model for the atmosphere-sea ice-ocean system, a consistent study of the radiative transfer in the polar atmosphere, snow, sea ice, and ocean system has not been undertaken before. The radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere and in the ice and ocean have been treated separately. Because the radiation processes in the atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean depend on each other, this separate treatment is inconsistent. To study the radiative interaction between the atmosphere, clouds, snow, sea ice, and ocean, a radiative transfer model with consistent treatment of radiation in the coupled system is needed and is under development.

Ocean Acidification | Smithsonian Ocean Portal

Science.gov (United States)

Natural History Blog For Educators At The Museum Media Archive Ocean Life & Ecosystems Mammals Sharks Mangroves Poles Census of Marine Life Planet Ocean Tides & Currents Waves & Storms The Seafloor ocean is affected. Such a relatively quick change in ocean chemistry doesn't give marine life, which

Toward understanding dynamic annealing processes in irradiated ceramics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Myers, Michael Thomas [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

2013-05-01

High energy particle irradiation inevitably generates defects in solids. The ballistic formation and thermalization of the defect creation process occur rapidly, and are believed to be reasonably well understood. However, knowledge of the evolution of defects after damage cascade thermalization, referred to as dynamic annealing, is quite limited. Unraveling the mechanisms associated with dynamic annealing is crucial since such processes play an important role in the formation of stable postirradiation disorder in ion-beam-processing of semiconductors, and determines the “radiation tolerance” of many nuclear materials. The purpose of this dissertation is to further our understanding of the processes involved in dynamic annealing. In order to achieve this, two main tasks are undertaken.

Duality of Ross Ice Shelf systems: crustal boundary, ice sheet processes and ocean circulation from ROSETTA-Ice surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Tinto, K. J.; Siddoway, C. S.; Padman, L.; Fricker, H. A.; Das, I.; Porter, D. F.; Springer, S. R.; Siegfried, M. R.; Caratori Tontini, F.; Bell, R. E.

2017-12-01

Bathymetry beneath Antarctic ice shelves controls sub-ice-shelf ocean circulation and has a major influence on the stability and dynamics of the ice sheets. Beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, the sea-floor bathymetry is a product of both tectonics and glacial processes, and is influenced by the processes it controls. New aerogeophysical surveys have revealed a fundamental crustal boundary bisecting the Ross Ice Shelf and imparting a duality to the Ross Ice Shelf systems, encompassing bathymetry, ocean circulation and ice flow history. The ROSETTA-Ice surveys were designed to increase the resolution of Ross Ice Shelf mapping from the 55 km RIGGS survey of the 1970s to a 10 km survey grid, flown over three years from New York Air National Guard LC130s. Radar, LiDAR, gravity and magnetic instruments provide a top to bottom profile of the ice shelf and the underlying seafloor, with 20 km resolution achieved in the first two survey seasons (2015 and 2016). ALAMO ocean-profiling floats deployed in the 2016 season are measuring the temperature and salinity of water entering and exiting the sub-ice water cavity. A significant east-west contrast in the character of the magnetic and gravity fields reveals that the lithospheric boundary between East and West Antarctica exists not at the base of the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM), as previously thought, but 300 km further east. The newly-identified boundary spatially coincides with the southward extension of the Central High, a rib of shallow basement identified in the Ross Sea. The East Antarctic side is characterized by lower amplitude magnetic anomalies and denser TAM-type lithosphere compared to the West Antarctic side. The crustal structure imparts a fundamental duality on the overlying ice and ocean, with deeper bathymetry and thinner ice on the East Antarctic side creating a larger sub-ice cavity for ocean circulation. The West Antarctic side has a shallower seabed, more restricted ocean access and a more complex history of

ExplorOcean H2O SOS: Help Heal the Ocean-Student Operated Solutions: Operation Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, N.; Wood, J. H.

2016-12-01

The ExplorOcean H2O SOS: Help Heal the Ocean—Student Operated Solutions: Operation Climate Change, teaches middle and high school students about ocean threats related to climate change through hands-on activities and learning experiences in the field. During each session (in-class or after-school as a club), students build an understanding about how climate change impacts our oceans using resources provided by ExplorOcean (hands-on activities, presentations, multi-media). Through a student leadership model, students present lessons to each other, interweaving a deep learning of science, 21st century technology, communication skills, and leadership. After participating in learning experiences and activities related to 6 key climate change concepts: 1) Introduction to climate change, 2) Increased sea temperatures, 3) Ocean acidification, 4) Sea level rise, 5) Feedback mechanisms, and 6) Innovative solutions. H2O SOS- Operation Climate change participants select one focus issue and use it to design a multi-pronged campaign to increase awareness about this issue in their local community. The campaign includes social media, an interactive activity, and a visual component. All participating clubs that meet participation and action goals earn a field trip to ExplorOcean where they dive deeper into their selected issue through hands-on activities, real-world investigations, and interviews or presentations with experts. In addition to self-selected opportunities to showcase their focus issue, teams will participate in one of several key events identified by ExplorOcean, including ExplorOcean's annual World Oceans Day Expo.

A distributed atmosphere-sea ice-ocean observatory in the central Arctic Ocean: concept and first results

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppmann, Mario; Nicolaus, Marcel; Rabe, Benjamin; Wenzhöfer, Frank; Katlein, Christian; Scholz, Daniel; Valcic, Lovro

2017-04-01

To understand the current evolution of the Arctic Ocean towards a less extensive, thinner and younger sea ice cover is one of the biggest challenges in climate research. Especially the lack of simultaneous in-situ observations of sea ice, ocean and atmospheric properties leads to significant knowledge gaps in their complex interactions, and how the associated processes impact the polar marine ecosystem. Here we present a concept for the implementation of a long-term strategy to monitor the most essential climate- and ecosystem parameters in the central Arctic Ocean, year round and synchronously. The basis of this strategy is the development and enhancement of a number of innovative autonomous observational platforms, such as rugged weather stations, ice mass balance buoys, ice-tethered bio-optical buoys and upper ocean profilers. The deployment of those complementing platforms in a distributed network enables the simultaneous collection of physical and biogeochemical in-situ data on basin scales and year round, including the largely undersampled winter periods. A key advantage over other observatory systems is that the data is sent via satellite in near-real time, contributing to numerical weather predictions through the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and to the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP). The first instruments were installed on ice floes in the Eurasian Basin in spring 2015 and 2016, yielding exceptional records of essential climate- and ecosystem-relevant parameters in one of the most inaccessible regions of this planet. Over the next 4 years, and including the observational periods of the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP, 2017-2019) and the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of the Arctic Climate (MOSAiC, 2020), the distributed observatory will be maintained by deployment of additional instruments in the central Arctic each year, benefitting from international logistical efforts.

Variational Data Assimilation for the Global Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

ocean includes the Geoid (a fixed gravity equipotential surface ) as well as the MDT, which is not known accurately enough relative to the centimeter...scales, including processes that control the surface mixed layer, the formation of ocean eddies, meandering ocean J.A. Cummings (E3) nography Division...variables. Examples of this in the ocean are integral quantities, such as acous^B travel time and altimeter measures of sea surface height, and direct

An initial assessment of Ocean Energy Resources in the Western Indian Ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hammar, Linus; Ehnberg, Jimmy

2011-07-01

The demand for modern energy is accelerating in the Western Indian Ocean (coastal East Africa). A mixture of different energy sources will by necessity be the option for the long-term future and the most adequate solutions naturally vary between locations. The vast coastlines and many islands of the region make ocean energy (OE) a relevant field to explore. With an early understanding of the resources strategic planning towards sustainable development is facilitate. Moreover, early awareness facilitates a respectful integration of new technologies in the fragile and for local people invaluable ecosystems. This study provides a first assessment of the frontier OE technologies and corresponding resources in the region. Five renewable Ocean Energy technologies have been reviewed and the physical resource abundance for respective energy source has been screened based on available literature and databases. The Western Indian Ocean is shared between nine African countries and two French departments. The studied countries are the Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, the Seychelles, Tanzania, and Reunion. The energy situation is insufficient throughout the region, either as consequence of lacking domestic energy sources or rudimentary grid extension. The results indicate that ocean energy resources are abundant in much of the region, but different sources have potential in different areas. Several countries have favourable physical conditions for extracting energy from waves and from the temperature gradient between the surface and deep water. Wave power is a young but currently available technology which can be utilized for both large- and small-scale applications. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is a technology under development that, once proven, may be applicable for large-scale power production. The physical conditions for small-scale tidal barrage power, tidal stream power, and ocean current power are less pronounced but may be of interest at

Post-1980 shifts in the sensitivity of boreal tree growth to North Atlantic Ocean dynamics and seasonal climate. Tree growth responses to North Atlantic Ocean dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Ols, Clémentine; Trouet, Valerie; Girardin, Martin P.; Hofgaard, Annika; Bergeron, Yves; Drobyshev, Igor

2018-06-01

The mid-20th century changes in North Atlantic Ocean dynamics, e.g. slow-down of the Atlantic meridional overturning thermohaline circulation (AMOC), have been considered as early signs of tipping points in the Earth climate system. We hypothesized that these changes have significantly altered boreal forest growth dynamics in northeastern North America (NA) and northern Europe (NE), two areas geographically adjacent to the North Atlantic Ocean. To test our hypothesis, we investigated tree growth responses to seasonal large-scale oceanic and atmospheric indices (the AMOC, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Arctic Oscillation (AO)) and climate (temperature and precipitation) from 1950 onwards, both at the regional and local levels. We developed a network of 6876 black spruce (NA) and 14437 Norway spruce (NE) tree-ring width series, extracted from forest inventory databases. Analyses revealed post-1980 shifts from insignificant to significant tree growth responses to summer oceanic and atmospheric dynamics both in NA (negative responses to NAO and AO indices) and NE (positive response to NAO and AMOC indices). The strength and sign of these responses varied, however, through space with stronger responses in western and central boreal Quebec and in central and northern boreal Sweden, and across scales with stronger responses at the regional level than at the local level. Emerging post-1980 associations with North Atlantic Ocean dynamics synchronized with stronger tree growth responses to local seasonal climate, particularly to winter temperatures. Our results suggest that ongoing and future anomalies in oceanic and atmospheric dynamics may impact forest growth and carbon sequestration to a greater extent than previously thought. Cross-scale differences in responses to North Atlantic Ocean dynamics highlight complex interplays in the effects of local climate and ocean-atmosphere dynamics on tree growth processes and advocate for the use of different spatial scales in

Ocean Drilling: Forty Years of International Collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Deborah K.; Exon, Neville; Barriga, Fernando J. A. S.; Tatsumi, Yoshiyuki

2010-10-01

International cooperation is an essential component of modern scientific research and societal advancement [see Ismail-Zadeh and Beer, 2009], and scientific ocean drilling represents one of Earth science's longest-running and most successful international collaborations. The strength of this collaboration and its continued success result from the realization that scientific ocean drilling provides a unique and powerful tool to study the critical processes of both short-term change and the long-term evolution of Earth systems. A record of Earth's changing tectonics, climate, ocean circulation, and biota is preserved in marine sedimentary deposits and the underlying basement rocks. And because the ocean floor is the natural site for accumulation and preservation of geological materials, it may preserve a continuous record of these processes.

IAEA Meeting Focuses on Nuclear and Isotopic Science to Protect Oceans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

Full text: The marine ecosystems that keep the oceans healthy are subject to increasing stress. Levels of acidity are rising in a process that is taking place at a more rapid pace than ever observed before. This poses risks to all life in the ocean - and all who depend on the oceans. Starting today, some of the world's top marine scientists are meeting in Vienna to discuss this multi-faceted problem and ways to tackle it. Science conducted and coordinated by the IAEA that uses isotopic techniques plays a key role in learning about ocean acidification and its effects. ''In dealing with threats to the health of the seas, governments need accurate data. For that, they need skilled researchers who can devise accurate models to help predict future conditions. That way, governments can start implementing the appropriate strategies to protect the seas and oceans,'' IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told participants in the IAEA's Scientific Forum, titled The Blue Planet - Nuclear Applications for a Sustainable Marine Environment. ''The IAEA helps to make this possible. We promote a comprehensive approach to the study, monitoring and protection of marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems. We support effective global cooperation to address the threats to our oceans.'' The oceans not only produce as much as half of the world's oxygen; they also absorb more than a quarter of man-made CO 2 . This reduces the greenhouse effect, but it also increases the acidity of seawater, resulting in a hostile environment for calciferous plankton, crustaceans, molluscs and coral reefs. With all parts of the ecosystem connected, all life in the oceans suffers from the increased level of acidity. The two-day Forum, held on the sidelines of the IAEA's annual General Conference, is divided into three sessions. The first session focuses on the pressures faced by the coastal and marine systems and the need for partnerships and science to develop targeted responses. The second session addresses

Compete or Leapfrog: Creating Blue Ocean through Entrepreneurial Orientation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arslan Ayub

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The study analyzes the role of entrepreneurial orientation with mediating effect of knowledge creation process to creating Blue Ocean in corporate sector in Pakistan There is an increasing competition among companies due to globalization and technological advancements. Thus, it requires a study to measure the multifaceted influence of entrepreneurial orientation on knowledge creation process and Blue Ocean besides the actual paradigm of this terminology. This concept has been well discussed in this research arena since its inception in 2005. Numerous such initiatives have already been taken, however this concept invites a lot more addition, related companies are still in pursuit to materialize the research concepts. We highlight the contingencies in the shift from a red ocean to Blue Ocean. The study uses exploratory approach; primary data is collected from 391 professionals working in different sectors of Pakistan. The study uses structural equation model (SEM technique to test the hypotheses. The study found a positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and Blue Ocean, entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge creation process, and Blue Ocean. The study throws light on the importance of entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge creation process to head on this fast-paced competition.

Scientific Ocean Drilling to Assess Submarine Geohazards along European Margins

Science.gov (United States)

Ask, M. V.; Camerlenghi, A.; Kopf, A.; Morgan, J. K.; Ocean DrillingSeismic Hazard, P. E.

2008-12-01

Submarine geohazards are some of the most devastating natural events in terms of lives lost and economic impact. Earthquakes pose a big threat to society and infrastructure, but the understanding of their episodic generation is incomplete. Tsunamis are known for their potential of striking coastlines world-wide. Other geohazards originating below the sea surface are equally dangerous for undersea structures and the coastal population: submarine landslides and volcanic islands collapse with little warning and devastating consequences. The European scientific community has a strong focus on geohazards along European and nearby continental margins, especially given their high population densities, and long historic and prehistoric record of hazardous events. For example, the Mediterranean is surrounded by very densely-populated coastline and is the World's leading holiday destination, receiving up 30% of global tourism. In addition, its seafloor is criss-crossed by hydrocarbon pipelines and telecommunication cables. However, the governing processes and recurrence intervals of geohazards are still poorly understood. Examples include, but are not limited to, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions along the active tectonic margins of the Mediterranean and Sea of Marmara, landslides on both active and passive margins, and tsunamites and seismites in the sedimentary record that suggest a long history of similar events. The development of geophysical networks, drilling, sampling and long-term monitoring are crucial to the understanding of earthquake, landslide, and tsunami processes, and to mitigate the associated risks in densely populated and industrialized regions such as Europe. Scientific drilling, particularly in the submarine setting, offers a unique tool to obtain drill core samples, borehole measurements and long-term observations. Hence, it is a critical technology to investigate past, present, and possible future influences of hazardous processes in this area. The

Bifurcation analysis of 3D ocean flows using a parallel fully-implicit ocean model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thies, J.; Wubs, F.W.; Dijkstra, H.A.

2009-01-01

To understand the physics and dynamics of the ocean circulation, techniques of numerical bifurcation theory such as continuation methods have proved to be useful. Up to now these techniques have been applied to models with relatively few degrees of freedom such as multi-layer quasi-geostrophic and

Bifurcation analysis of 3D ocean flows using a parallel fully-implicit ocean model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thies, Jonas; Wubs, Fred; Dijkstra, Henk A.

2009-01-01

To understand the physics and dynamics of the ocean circulation, techniques of numerical bifurcation theory such as continuation methods have proved to be useful. Up to now these techniques have been applied to models with relatively few (O(10(5))) degrees of freedom such as multi-layer

Models for ecological models: Ocean primary productivity

Science.gov (United States)

Wikle, Christopher K.; Leeds, William B.; Hooten, Mevin B.

2016-01-01

The ocean accounts for more than 70% of planet Earth's surface, and it processes are critically important to marine and terrestrial life.  Ocean ecosystems are strongly dependent on the physical state of the ocean (e.g., transports, mixing, upwelling, runoff, and ice dynamics(.  As an example, consider the Coastal Gulf of Alaska (CGOA) region.

Role of tropical Indian and Atlantic Oceans variability on ENSO

Science.gov (United States)

Prodhomme, Chloé; Terray, Pascal; Masson, Sebastien; Boschat, Ghyslaine

2014-05-01

There are strong evidences of an interaction between tropical Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Nevertheless, these interactions remain deeply controversial. While some authors claim the tropical Indian and Atlantic oceans only play a passive role with respect to ENSO, others suggest a driving role for these two basins on ENSO. The mecanisms underlying these relations are not fully understood and, in the Indian Ocean, the possible role of both modes of tropical variability (the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the Indian Ocean Basin mode (IOB)) remain unclear. To better quantify and understand how the variability of the tropical Indian and Atlantic Oceans impact ENSO variability, we performed two sensitivity experiments using the SINTEX-F2 coupled model. For each experiment, we suppressed the variability of SST and the air-sea coupling in either the tropical Indian Ocean or tropical Atlantic Ocean by applying a strong nudging of the SST to the observed SST climatology. In both experiments, the ENSO periodicity increases. In the Atlantic experiment, our understanding of this increased periodicity is drastically limited by the strongly biased mean state in this region. Conversely, in the Indian Ocean experiment, the increase of ENSO periodicity is related to the absence of the IOB following the El Niño peak, which leads to a decrease of westerly winds in the western Pacific during late winter and spring after the peak. These weaker westerlies hinders the transition to a La Niña phase and thus increase the duration and periodicity of the event.

Ocean plankton. Structure and function of the global ocean microbiome.

Science.gov (United States)

Sunagawa, Shinichi; Coelho, Luis Pedro; Chaffron, Samuel; Kultima, Jens Roat; Labadie, Karine; Salazar, Guillem; Djahanschiri, Bardya; Zeller, Georg; Mende, Daniel R; Alberti, Adriana; Cornejo-Castillo, Francisco M; Costea, Paul I; Cruaud, Corinne; d'Ovidio, Francesco; Engelen, Stefan; Ferrera, Isabel; Gasol, Josep M; Guidi, Lionel; Hildebrand, Falk; Kokoszka, Florian; Lepoivre, Cyrille; Lima-Mendez, Gipsi; Poulain, Julie; Poulos, Bonnie T; Royo-Llonch, Marta; Sarmento, Hugo; Vieira-Silva, Sara; Dimier, Céline; Picheral, Marc; Searson, Sarah; Kandels-Lewis, Stefanie; Bowler, Chris; de Vargas, Colomban; Gorsky, Gabriel; Grimsley, Nigel; Hingamp, Pascal; Iudicone, Daniele; Jaillon, Olivier; Not, Fabrice; Ogata, Hiroyuki; Pesant, Stephane; Speich, Sabrina; Stemmann, Lars; Sullivan, Matthew B; Weissenbach, Jean; Wincker, Patrick; Karsenti, Eric; Raes, Jeroen; Acinas, Silvia G; Bork, Peer

2015-05-22

Microbes are dominant drivers of biogeochemical processes, yet drawing a global picture of functional diversity, microbial community structure, and their ecological determinants remains a grand challenge. We analyzed 7.2 terabases of metagenomic data from 243 Tara Oceans samples from 68 locations in epipelagic and mesopelagic waters across the globe to generate an ocean microbial reference gene catalog with >40 million nonredundant, mostly novel sequences from viruses, prokaryotes, and picoeukaryotes. Using 139 prokaryote-enriched samples, containing >35,000 species, we show vertical stratification with epipelagic community composition mostly driven by temperature rather than other environmental factors or geography. We identify ocean microbial core functionality and reveal that >73% of its abundance is shared with the human gut microbiome despite the physicochemical differences between these two ecosystems. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Towards an Understanding of Enabling Process Knowing in Global Software Development: A Case Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zahedi, Mansooreh; Babar, Muhammad Ali

2014-01-01

Shared understanding of Software Engineering (SE) processes, that we call process knowing, is required for effective communication and coordination and communication within a team in order to improve team performance. SE Process knowledge can include roles, responsibilities and flow of informatio...... challenges of lack of process knowing and how an organization can enable process knowing for achieving the desired results that also help in increasing social interactions and positive behavioral changes......Shared understanding of Software Engineering (SE) processes, that we call process knowing, is required for effective communication and coordination and communication within a team in order to improve team performance. SE Process knowledge can include roles, responsibilities and flow of information...... over a project lifecycle. Developing and sustaining process knowledge can be more challenging in Global Software Development (GSD). GSD distances can limit the ability of a team to develop a common understanding of processes. Anecdotes of the problems caused by lack of common understanding of processes...

Geographical Distribution and Sources of Nutrients in Atmospheric Aerosol Over the Pacific Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Uematsu, M.

2016-12-01

The Pacific Ocean, the world's largest (occupying about 30% of the Earth's total surface area) has several distinguishing biogeochemical features. In the western Pacific, dust particles originating from arid and semi-arid regions in Asia and Australia are transported to the north and south, respectively. Biomass burning emissions from Southeast Asia are exported to the tropical Pacific, and anthropogenic substances flowing out of Asia and Eurasia spread both regionally and globally. Over high primary productive areas such as the subarctic North Pacific, the equatorial Pacific and the Southern Ocean, biogenic gasses are released to the atmosphere and transported to other areas. These processes may affect cloud and rainfall patterns, air quality, and the radiative balance of downwind regions. The deposition of atmospheric aerosols containing iron and other essential nutrients is important for biogeochemical cycles in the oceans because this source of nutrients helps sustain primary production and affects food-web structure; these effects in turn influence the chemical properties of marine atmosphere. From an atmospheric chemistry standpoint, sea-salt aerosols produced by strong winds and marine biogenic gases emitted from highly productive waters affect the physicochemical characteristics of marine aerosols. As phytoplankton populations are patchy and atmospheric processes sporadic, the interactions between atmospheric chemical constituents and marine biota vary for different regions as well as seasonally and over longer timescales. To address these and other emerging issues, and more generally to better understand the important biogeochemical processes and interactions occurring over the open oceans, more long-term recurrent research cruises with standardized atmospheric shipboard measurements will be needed in the future.

National Ocean Sciences Bowl in 2014: A National Competition for High School Ocean Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-31

and Environmental Science (NJ). Through creative storytelling and visualization, "Ocean Acidification" addressed human actions that increase carbon... history . They also are beginning to understand the interplay between areas of science, something that is rarely taught. To he an effective scientist

Modeling selective pressures on phytoplankton in the global ocean.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason G Bragg

Full Text Available Our view of marine microbes is transforming, as culture-independent methods facilitate rapid characterization of microbial diversity. It is difficult to assimilate this information into our understanding of marine microbe ecology and evolution, because their distributions, traits, and genomes are shaped by forces that are complex and dynamic. Here we incorporate diverse forces--physical, biogeochemical, ecological, and mutational--into a global ocean model to study selective pressures on a simple trait in a widely distributed lineage of picophytoplankton: the nitrogen use abilities of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus cyanobacteria. Some Prochlorococcus ecotypes have lost the ability to use nitrate, whereas their close relatives, marine Synechococcus, typically retain it. We impose mutations for the loss of nitrogen use abilities in modeled picophytoplankton, and ask: in which parts of the ocean are mutants most disadvantaged by losing the ability to use nitrate, and in which parts are they least disadvantaged? Our model predicts that this selective disadvantage is smallest for picophytoplankton that live in tropical regions where Prochlorococcus are abundant in the real ocean. Conversely, the selective disadvantage of losing the ability to use nitrate is larger for modeled picophytoplankton that live at higher latitudes, where Synechococcus are abundant. In regions where we expect Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus populations to cycle seasonally in the real ocean, we find that model ecotypes with seasonal population dynamics similar to Prochlorococcus are less disadvantaged by losing the ability to use nitrate than model ecotypes with seasonal population dynamics similar to Synechococcus. The model predictions for the selective advantage associated with nitrate use are broadly consistent with the distribution of this ability among marine picocyanobacteria, and at finer scales, can provide insights into interactions between temporally varying

Modeling selective pressures on phytoplankton in the global ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Bragg, Jason G; Dutkiewicz, Stephanie; Jahn, Oliver; Follows, Michael J; Chisholm, Sallie W

2010-03-10

Our view of marine microbes is transforming, as culture-independent methods facilitate rapid characterization of microbial diversity. It is difficult to assimilate this information into our understanding of marine microbe ecology and evolution, because their distributions, traits, and genomes are shaped by forces that are complex and dynamic. Here we incorporate diverse forces--physical, biogeochemical, ecological, and mutational--into a global ocean model to study selective pressures on a simple trait in a widely distributed lineage of picophytoplankton: the nitrogen use abilities of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus cyanobacteria. Some Prochlorococcus ecotypes have lost the ability to use nitrate, whereas their close relatives, marine Synechococcus, typically retain it. We impose mutations for the loss of nitrogen use abilities in modeled picophytoplankton, and ask: in which parts of the ocean are mutants most disadvantaged by losing the ability to use nitrate, and in which parts are they least disadvantaged? Our model predicts that this selective disadvantage is smallest for picophytoplankton that live in tropical regions where Prochlorococcus are abundant in the real ocean. Conversely, the selective disadvantage of losing the ability to use nitrate is larger for modeled picophytoplankton that live at higher latitudes, where Synechococcus are abundant. In regions where we expect Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus populations to cycle seasonally in the real ocean, we find that model ecotypes with seasonal population dynamics similar to Prochlorococcus are less disadvantaged by losing the ability to use nitrate than model ecotypes with seasonal population dynamics similar to Synechococcus. The model predictions for the selective advantage associated with nitrate use are broadly consistent with the distribution of this ability among marine picocyanobacteria, and at finer scales, can provide insights into interactions between temporally varying ocean processes and

Atmospheric and Oceanic Response to Southern Ocean Deep Convection Oscillations on Decadal to Centennial Time Scales in Climate Models

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, T.; Reintges, A.; Park, W.; Latif, M.

2014-12-01

Many current coupled global climate models simulate open ocean deep convection in the Southern Ocean as a recurring event with time scales ranging from a few years to centennial (de Lavergne et al., 2014, Nat. Clim. Ch.). The only observation of such event, however, was the occurrence of the Weddell Polynya in the mid-1970s, an open water area of 350 000 km2 within the Antarctic sea ice in three consecutive winters. Both the wide range of modeled frequency of occurrence and the absence of deep convection in the Weddell Sea highlights the lack of understanding concerning the phenomenon. Nevertheless, simulations indicate that atmospheric and oceanic responses to the cessation of deep convection in the Southern Ocean include a strengthening of the low-level atmospheric circulation over the Southern Ocean (increasing SAM index) and a reduction in the export of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), potentially masking the regional effects of global warming (Latif et al., 2013, J. Clim.; Martin et al., 2014, Deep Sea Res. II). It is thus of great importance to enhance our understanding of Southern Ocean deep convection and clarify the associated time scales. In two multi-millennial simulations with the Kiel Climate Model (KCM, ECHAM5 T31 atmosphere & NEMO-LIM2 ~2˚ ocean) we showed that the deep convection is driven by strong oceanic warming at mid-depth periodically overriding the stabilizing effects of precipitation and ice melt (Martin et al., 2013, Clim. Dyn.). Sea ice thickness also affects location and duration of the deep convection. A new control simulation, in which, amongst others, the atmosphere grid resolution is changed to T42 (~2.8˚), yields a faster deep convection flip-flop with a period of 80-100 years and a weaker but still significant global climate response similar to CMIP5 simulations. While model physics seem to affect the time scale and intensity of the phenomenon, the driving mechanism is a rather robust feature. Finally, we compare the atmospheric and

GOCE Data for Ocean Modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herceg, Matija

and order. The method makes use of all available GOCE gradient data in addition to the global models and aims at improving the determination of Earth’s gravitational field in regional areas. Subsequently, the calculated equipotential surface, known as the geoid, is used together with measurements of sea...... surface height in a calculation of the Mean Dynamic Topography (MDT). This reflects the geostrophic ocean currents and leads to a better understanding of ocean mass and heat transfer. In regional geoid recovery from GOCE gradients, two methods are used, one of them being Least-Squares Collocation (LSC...

Understanding and Projecting Climate and Human Impacts on Terrestrial-Coastal Carbon and Nutrient Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Lohrenz, S. E.; Cai, W. J.; Tian, H.; He, R.; Fennel, K.

2017-12-01

Changing climate and land use practices have the potential to dramatically alter coupled hydrologic-biogeochemical processes and associated movement of water, carbon and nutrients through various terrestrial reservoirs into rivers, estuaries, and coastal ocean waters. Consequences of climate- and land use-related changes will be particularly evident in large river basins and their associated coastal outflow regions. Here, we describe a NASA Carbon Monitoring System project that employs an integrated suite of models in conjunction with remotely sensed as well as targeted in situ observations with the objectives of describing processes controlling fluxes on land and their coupling to riverine, estuarine and ocean ecosystems. The nature of our approach, coupling models of terrestrial and ocean ecosystem dynamics and associated carbon processes, allows for assessment of how societal and human-related land use, land use change and forestry and climate-related change affect terrestrial carbon transport as well as export of materials through watersheds to the coastal margins. Our objectives include the following: 1) Provide representation of carbon processes in the terrestrial ecosystem to understand how changes in land use and climatic conditions influence the export of materials to the coastal ocean, 2) Couple the terrestrial exports of carbon, nutrients and freshwater to a coastal biogeochemical model and examine how different climate and land use scenarios influence fluxes across the land-ocean interface, and 3) Project future changes under different scenarios of climate and human impact, and support user needs related to carbon management and other activities (e.g., water quality, hypoxia, ocean acidification). This research is providing information that will contribute to determining an overall carbon balance in North America as well as describing and predicting how human- and climate-related changes impact coastal water quality including possible effects of coastal

Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup

Science.gov (United States)

Dreyer, Pia; Haahr, Anita; Martinsen, Bente

2011-01-01

The creative processes of understanding patients’ experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905–1981), this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup's thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients’ experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup's thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomenological research, and that his thinking can be seen as an epistemological ground for these processes. We argue with Løgstrup that sense-based impressions can facilitate an flash of insight, i.e., the spontaneous, intuitive flash of an idea. Løgstrup stresses that an “flash of insight” is an important source in the creation of cognition and understanding. Relating to three empirical phenomenological studies of patients’ experiences, we illustrate how the notions of impression and flash of insight can add new dimensions to increased understanding of the creative processes in phenomenological research that have previously not been discussed. We illustrate that sense-based impressions can facilitate creative flash of insights that open for understanding of patients’ experiences in the research process as well as in the communication of the findings. The nature of impression and flash of insight and their relevance in the creation of cognition and understanding contributes to the sparse descriptions in the methodological phenomenological research literature of the creative processes of this research. An elaboration of the creative processes in phenomenological research can help researchers to articulate these processes. Thus, Løgstrup's life philosophy has proven to be valuable in adding new dimensions to phenomenological empirical research as well as embracing lived experience. PMID:22076123

Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelise Norlyk

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The creative processes of understanding patients’ experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905–1981, this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup's thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients’ experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup's thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomenological research, and that his thinking can be seen as an epistemological ground for these processes. We argue with Løgstrup that sense-based impressions can facilitate an flash of insight, i.e., the spontaneous, intuitive flash of an idea. Løgstrup stresses that an “flash of insight” is an important source in the creation of cognition and understanding. Relating to three empirical phenomenological studies of patients’ experiences, we illustrate how the notions of impression and flash of insight can add new dimensions to increased understanding of the creative processes in phenomenological research that have previously not been discussed. We illustrate that sense-based impressions can facilitate creative flash of insights that open for understanding of patients’ experiences in the research process as well as in the communication of the findings. The nature of impression and flash of insight and their relevance in the creation of cognition and understanding contributes to the sparse descriptions in the methodological phenomenological research literature of the creative processes of this research. An elaboration of the creative processes in phenomenological research can help researchers to articulate these processes. Thus, Løgstrup's life philosophy has proven to be valuable in adding new dimensions to phenomenological empirical research as well as embracing lived experience.

Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup.

Science.gov (United States)

Norlyk, Annelise; Dreyer, Pia; Haahr, Anita; Martinsen, Bente

2011-01-01

The creative processes of understanding patients' experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905-1981), this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup's thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients' experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup's thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomenological research, and that his thinking can be seen as an epistemological ground for these processes. We argue with Løgstrup that sense-based impressions can facilitate an flash of insight, i.e., the spontaneous, intuitive flash of an idea. Løgstrup stresses that an "flash of insight" is an important source in the creation of cognition and understanding. Relating to three empirical phenomenological studies of patients' experiences, we illustrate how the notions of impression and flash of insight can add new dimensions to increased understanding of the creative processes in phenomenological research that have previously not been discussed. We illustrate that sense-based impressions can facilitate creative flash of insights that open for understanding of patients' experiences in the research process as well as in the communication of the findings. The nature of impression and flash of insight and their relevance in the creation of cognition and understanding contributes to the sparse descriptions in the methodological phenomenological research literature of the creative processes of this research. An elaboration of the creative processes in phenomenological research can help researchers to articulate these processes. Thus, Løgstrup's life philosophy has proven to be valuable in adding new dimensions to phenomenological empirical research as well as embracing lived experience.

Handbook of Ocean Wave Energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book offers a concise, practice-oriented reference-guide to the field of ocean wave energy. The ten chapters highlight the key rules of thumb, address all the main technical engineering aspects and describe in detail all the key aspects to be considered in the techno-economic assessment...... in the wave energy sector. •Offers a practice-oriented reference guide to the field of ocean wave energy •Presents an overview as well as a deeper insight into wave energy converters •Covers both the economic and engineering aspects related to ocean wave energy conversion...... of wave energy converters. Written in an easy-to-understand style, the book answers questions relevant to readers of different backgrounds, from developers, private and public investors, to students and researchers. It is thereby a valuable resource for both newcomers and experienced practitioners...

Handbook of Ocean Wave Energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book offers a concise, practice-oriented reference-guide to the field of ocean wave energy. The ten chapters highlight the key rules of thumb, address all the main technical engineering aspects and describe in detail all the key aspects to be considered in the techno-economic assessment...... of wave energy converters. Written in an easy-to-understand style, the book answers questions relevant to readers of different backgrounds, from developers, private and public investors, to students and researchers. It is thereby a valuable resource for both newcomers and experienced practitioners...... in the wave energy sector. •Offers a practice-oriented reference guide to the field of ocean wave energy •Presents an overview as well as a deeper insight into wave energy converters •Covers both the economic and engineering aspects related to ocean wave energy conversion...

Sustaining observations of the unsteady ocean circulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Frajka-Williams, E

2014-09-28

Sustained observations of ocean properties reveal a global warming trend and rising sea levels. These changes have been documented by traditional ship-based measurements of ocean properties, whereas more recent Argo profiling floats and satellite records permit estimates of ocean changes on a near real-time basis. Through these and newer methods of observing the oceans, scientists are moving from quantifying the 'state of the ocean' to monitoring its variability, and distinguishing the physical processes bringing signals of change. In this paper, I give a brief overview of the UK contributions to the physical oceanographic observations, and the role they have played in the wider global observing systems. While temperature and salinity are the primary measurements of physical oceanography, new transbasin mooring arrays also resolve changes in ocean circulation on daily timescales. Emerging technologies permit routine observations at higher-than-ever spatial resolutions. Following this, I then give a personal perspective on the future of sustained observations. New measurement techniques promise exciting discoveries concerning the role of smaller scales and boundary processes in setting the large-scale ocean circulation and the ocean's role in climate. The challenges now facing the scientific community include sustaining critical observations in the case of funding system changes or shifts in government priorities. These long records will enable a determination of the role and response of the ocean to climate change. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Ocean iron fertilization in the context of the Kyoto protocol and the post-Kyoto process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertram, Christine

2010-01-01

Ocean iron fertilization is currently discussed as a potential measure to mitigate climate change by enhancing oceanic CO 2 uptake. Its mitigation potential is not yet well explored, and carbon offsets generated through iron fertilization activities could currently not be traded on regulated carbon markets. Still, commercial interests in ocean iron fertilization already exist, which underlines the need to investigate a possible regulatory framework for it. To this end, I first discuss important basic aspects of ocean iron fertilization, namely its scientific background, quantitative potential, side effects, and costs. In a second step, I review regulatory aspects connected to ocean iron fertilization, like its legal status and open access issues. Moreover, I analyze how the regulations for afforestation and reforestation activities within the framework of the Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) could be applied to ocean iron fertilization. Main findings are that the quantitative potential of ocean iron fertilization is limited, that costs are higher than initially hoped, and that potential adverse side effects are severe. Moreover, the legal status of ocean iron fertilization is currently not well defined, open access might cause inefficiencies, and the CDM regulations could not be easily applied to ocean iron fertilization.

Linking small-scale circulation dynamics with large-scale seasonal production (phytoplankton) in the Southern Ocean

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nicholson, S

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Understanding the seasonal and intra-seasonal (daily to weekly) changes of the upper ocean and the impact on the primary production in the Southern Ocean is key to better understanding the sensitivities of the global carbon cycle....

Mercury Biogeochemical Cycling in the Ocean and Policy Implications

OpenAIRE

Mason, Robert P.; Choi, Anna L.; Fitzgerald, William F.; Hammerschmidt, Chad R.; Lamborg, Carl H.; Soerensen, Anne L.; Sunderland, Elsie M.

2012-01-01

Anthropogenic activities have enriched mercury in the biosphere by at least a factor of three, leading to increases in total mercury (Hg) in the surface ocean. However, the impacts on ocean fish and associated trends in human exposure as a result of such changes are less clear. Here we review our understanding of global mass budgets for both inorganic and methylated Hg species in ocean seawater. We consider external inputs from atmospheric deposition and rivers as well as internal production ...

Recent Trends in Global Ocean Chlorophyll

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson; Casey, Nancy

2004-01-01

Recent analyses of SeaWiFS data have shown that global ocean chlorophyll has increased more than 5% since 1998. The North Pacific ocean basin has increased nearly 19%. To understand the causes of these trends we have applied the newly developed NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Assimilation Model (OBAM), which is driven in mechanistic fashion by surface winds, sea surface temperature, atmospheric iron deposition, sea ice, and surface irradiance. The mode1 utilizes chlorophyll from SeaWiFS in a daily assimilation. The model has in place many of the climatic variables that can be expected to produce the changes observed in SeaWiFS data. Ths enables us to diagnose the model performance, the assimilation performance, and possible causes for the increase in chlorophyll.

Uncertainty in the ocean-atmosphere feedbacks associated with ENSO in the reanalysis products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumar, Arun; Hu, Zeng-Zhen [NCEP/NWS/NOAA, Climate Prediction Center, Camp Springs, MD (United States)

2012-08-15

The evolution of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability can be characterized by various ocean-atmosphere feedbacks, for example, the influence of ENSO related sea surface temperature (SST) variability on the low-level wind and surface heat fluxes in the equatorial tropical Pacific, which in turn affects the evolution of the SST. An analysis of these feedbacks requires physically consistent observational data sets. Availability of various reanalysis data sets produced during the last 15 years provides such an opportunity. A consolidated estimate of ocean surface fluxes based on multiple reanalyses also helps understand biases in ENSO predictions and simulations from climate models. In this paper, the intensity and the spatial structure of ocean-atmosphere feedback terms (precipitation, surface wind stress, and ocean surface heat flux) associated with ENSO are evaluated for six different reanalysis products. The analysis provides an estimate for the feedback terms that could be used for model validation studies. The analysis includes the robustness of the estimate across different reanalyses. Results show that one of the ''coupled'' reanalysis among the six investigated is closer to the ensemble mean of the results, suggesting that the coupled data assimilation may have the potential to better capture the overall atmosphere-ocean feedback processes associated with ENSO than the uncoupled ones. (orig.)

Methyl bromide: ocean sources, ocean sinks, and climate sensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Anbar, A D; Yung, Y L; Chavez, F P

1996-03-01

The oceans play an important role in the geochemical cycle of methyl bromide (CH3Br), the major carrier of O3-destroying bromine to the stratosphere. The quantity of CH3Br produced annually in seawater is comparable to the amount entering the atmosphere each year from natural and anthropogenic sources. The production mechanism is unknown but may be biological. Most of this CH3Br is consumed in situ by hydrolysis or reaction with chloride. The size of the fraction which escapes to the atmosphere is poorly constrained; measurements in seawater and the atmosphere have been used to justify both a large oceanic CH3Br flux to the atmosphere and a small net ocean sink. Since the consumption reactions are extremely temperature-sensitive, small temperature variations have large effects on the CH3Br concentration in seawater, and therefore on the exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. The net CH3Br flux is also sensitive to variations in the rate of CH3Br production. We have quantified these effects using a simple steady state mass balance model. When CH3Br production rates are linearly scaled with seawater chlorophyll content, this model reproduces the latitudinal variations in marine CH3Br concentrations observed in the east Pacific Ocean by Singh et al. [1983] and by Lobert et al. [1995]. The apparent correlation of CH3Br production with primary production explains the discrepancies between the two observational studies, strengthening recent suggestions that the open ocean is a small net sink for atmospheric CH3Br, rather than a large net source. The Southern Ocean is implicated as a possible large net source of CH3Br to the atmosphere. Since our model indicates that both the direction and magnitude of CH3Br exchange between the atmosphere and ocean are extremely sensitive to temperature and marine productivity, and since the rate of CH3Br production in the oceans is comparable to the rate at which this compound is introduced to the atmosphere, even small

Temperature-dependent growth and photophysiology of prokaryotic and eukaryotic oceanic picophytoplankton

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kulk, G.; de Vries, P.; van de Poll, W.H.; Visser, R.J.W.; Buma, A.G.J.

2012-01-01

It is expected that climate change will expand the open oligotrophic oceans by enhanced thermal stratification. Because temperature defines the geographic distribution of picophytoplankton in open-ocean ecosystems and regulates photophysiological responses, it is important to understand how

A Watched Ocean World Never Boils: Inspecting the Geochemical Impact on Ocean Worlds from Their Thermal Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Spiers, E. M.; Schmidt, B. E.

2018-05-01

I aim to acquire better understanding of coupled thermal evolution and geochemical fluxes of an ocean world through a box model. A box model divides the system into plainer elements with realistically-solvable, dynamic equations.

The ocean planet.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinrichsen, D

1998-01-01

The Blue Planet is 70% water, and all but 3% of it is salt water. Life on earth first evolved in the primordial soup of ancient seas, and though today's seas provide 99% of all living space on the planet, little is known about the world's oceans. However, the fact that the greatest threats to the integrity of our oceans come from land-based activities is becoming clear. Humankind is in the process of annihilating the coastal and ocean ecosystems and the wealth of biodiversity they harbor. Mounting population and development pressures have taken a grim toll on coastal and ocean resources. The trend arising from such growth is the chronic overexploitation of marine resources, whereby rapidly expanding coastal populations and the growth of cities have contributed to a rising tide of pollution in nearly all of the world's seas. This crisis is made worse by government inaction and a frustrating inability to enforce existing coastal and ocean management regulations. Such inability is mainly because concerned areas contain so many different types of regulations and involve so many levels of government, that rational planning and coordination of efforts are rendered impossible. Concerted efforts are needed by national governments and the international community to start preserving the ultimate source of all life on earth.

Predicting interactions among fishing, ocean warming, and ocean acidification in a marine system with whole-ecosystem models.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffith, Gary P; Fulton, Elizabeth A; Gorton, Rebecca; Richardson, Anthony J

2012-12-01

An important challenge for conservation is a quantitative understanding of how multiple human stressors will interact to mitigate or exacerbate global environmental change at a community or ecosystem level. We explored the interaction effects of fishing, ocean warming, and ocean acidification over time on 60 functional groups of species in the southeastern Australian marine ecosystem. We tracked changes in relative biomass within a coupled dynamic whole-ecosystem modeling framework that included the biophysical system, human effects, socioeconomics, and management evaluation. We estimated the individual, additive, and interactive effects on the ecosystem and for five community groups (top predators, fishes, benthic invertebrates, plankton, and primary producers). We calculated the size and direction of interaction effects with an additive null model and interpreted results as synergistic (amplified stress), additive (no additional stress), or antagonistic (reduced stress). Individually, only ocean acidification had a negative effect on total biomass. Fishing and ocean warming and ocean warming with ocean acidification had an additive effect on biomass. Adding fishing to ocean warming and ocean acidification significantly changed the direction and magnitude of the interaction effect to a synergistic response on biomass. The interaction effect depended on the response level examined (ecosystem vs. community). For communities, the size, direction, and type of interaction effect varied depending on the combination of stressors. Top predator and fish biomass had a synergistic response to the interaction of all three stressors, whereas biomass of benthic invertebrates responded antagonistically. With our approach, we were able to identify the regional effects of fishing on the size and direction of the interacting effects of ocean warming and ocean acidification. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Submesoscale processes promote seasonal restratification in the Subantarctic Ocean

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Du Plessis, M

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, the mechanism driving the seasonal restratification of the Southern Ocean mixed layer (ML) is thought to be the onset of springtime warming. Recent developments in numerical modeling and North Atlantic observations have shown...

Understanding and Managing Process Interaction in IS Development Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bygstad, Bendik; Nielsen, Peter Axel

2012-01-01

Software-based information systems must be developed and implemented as a part of business change. This is a major challenge, since business change and the development of software-based information systems usually are performed in separate processes. Thus, there is a need to understand and manage...... critical events in the case, what led to the events, and what the consequences are. We discuss the implications for information systems research and in particular we discuss the contribution to project management of iterative and incremental software development.......Software-based information systems must be developed and implemented as a part of business change. This is a major challenge, since business change and the development of software-based information systems usually are performed in separate processes. Thus, there is a need to understand and manage...

Oceans and continents: Similarities and differences in the mechanisms of heat loss

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sclater, J.G.; Parsons, B.; Jaupart, C.

1981-01-01

The principal objective of this paper is to present a simple and self-consistent review of the basic physical processes controlling heat loss from the earth. To accomplish this objective, we give a short summary of the oceanic and continental data and compare and contrast the respective mechanisms of heat loss . In the oceans we concentrate on the effect of hydrothermal circulation, and on the continents we consider in some detail a model relating surface heat flow to varying depth scales for the distribution of potassium, thorium, and uranium. From this comparison we conclude that the range in possible geotherms at depths below 100 to 150 km under continents and oceans overlaps and the thermal structure beneath an old stable continent is indistinguishable from that beneath an ocean were it at equilibrium. Oceans and continents are part of the same thermal system. Both have an upper rigid mechanical layer where heat loss is by conduction and a lower thermal boundary layer where convection is dominant. The simple conductive definition of the plate thickness is an oversimplification. The observed distribution of area versus age in the ocean allows us to investigate the dominant mechanism of heat loss which is plate creation. This distribution and an understanding of the heat flow through oceans and continents can be used to calculate the heat loss of the earth. This heat loss is 10 13 cal/s (4.2 x 10 13 W) of which more than 60% results from the creation of oceanic plate. The relation between area and age of the oceans is coupled to the ridge and subducting slab forces that contribute to the driving mechanism for plate motions. These forces are self-regulating and maintain the rate of plate generation required to achieve a balance between heat loss and heat generation

Ocean ventilation and deoxygenation in a warming world: introduction and overview

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, John G.; Brewer, Peter G.; Oschlies, Andreas; Watson, Andrew J.

2017-08-01

Changes of ocean ventilation rates and deoxygenation are two of the less obvious but important indirect impacts expected as a result of climate change on the oceans. They are expected to occur because of (i) the effects of increased stratification on ocean circulation and hence its ventilation, due to reduced upwelling, deep-water formation and turbulent mixing, (ii) reduced oxygenation through decreased oxygen solubility at higher surface temperature, and (iii) the effects of warming on biological production, respiration and remineralization. The potential socio-economic consequences of reduced oxygen levels on fisheries and ecosystems may be far-reaching and significant. At a Royal Society Discussion Meeting convened to discuss these matters, 12 oral presentations and 23 posters were presented, covering a wide range of the physical, chemical and biological aspects of the issue. Overall, it appears that there are still considerable discrepancies between the observations and model simulations of the relevant processes. Our current understanding of both the causes and consequences of reduced oxygen in the ocean, and our ability to represent them in models are therefore inadequate, and the reasons for this remain unclear. It is too early to say whether or not the socio-economic consequences are likely to be serious. However, the consequences are ecologically, biogeochemically and climatically potentially very significant, and further research on these indirect impacts of climate change via reduced ventilation and oxygenation of the oceans should be accorded a high priority. This article is part of the themed issue 'Ocean ventilation and deoxygenation in a warming world'.

Ocean ventilation and deoxygenation in a warming world: introduction and overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, John G; Brewer, Peter G; Oschlies, Andreas; Watson, Andrew J

2017-09-13

Changes of ocean ventilation rates and deoxygenation are two of the less obvious but important indirect impacts expected as a result of climate change on the oceans. They are expected to occur because of (i) the effects of increased stratification on ocean circulation and hence its ventilation, due to reduced upwelling, deep-water formation and turbulent mixing, (ii) reduced oxygenation through decreased oxygen solubility at higher surface temperature, and (iii) the effects of warming on biological production, respiration and remineralization. The potential socio-economic consequences of reduced oxygen levels on fisheries and ecosystems may be far-reaching and significant. At a Royal Society Discussion Meeting convened to discuss these matters, 12 oral presentations and 23 posters were presented, covering a wide range of the physical, chemical and biological aspects of the issue. Overall, it appears that there are still considerable discrepancies between the observations and model simulations of the relevant processes. Our current understanding of both the causes and consequences of reduced oxygen in the ocean, and our ability to represent them in models are therefore inadequate, and the reasons for this remain unclear. It is too early to say whether or not the socio-economic consequences are likely to be serious. However, the consequences are ecologically, biogeochemically and climatically potentially very significant, and further research on these indirect impacts of climate change via reduced ventilation and oxygenation of the oceans should be accorded a high priority.This article is part of the themed issue 'Ocean ventilation and deoxygenation in a warming world'. © 2017 The Author(s).

The role of nutricline depth in regulating the ocean carbon cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Cermeño, Pedro; Dutkiewicz, Stephanie; Harris, Roger P; Follows, Mick; Schofield, Oscar; Falkowski, Paul G

2008-12-23

Carbon uptake by marine phytoplankton, and its export as organic matter to the ocean interior (i.e., the "biological pump"), lowers the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO(2)) in the upper ocean and facilitates the diffusive drawdown of atmospheric CO(2). Conversely, precipitation of calcium carbonate by marine planktonic calcifiers such as coccolithophorids increases pCO(2) and promotes its outgassing (i.e., the "alkalinity pump"). Over the past approximately 100 million years, these two carbon fluxes have been modulated by the relative abundance of diatoms and coccolithophores, resulting in biological feedback on atmospheric CO(2) and Earth's climate; yet, the processes determining the relative distribution of these two phytoplankton taxa remain poorly understood. We analyzed phytoplankton community composition in the Atlantic Ocean and show that the distribution of diatoms and coccolithophorids is correlated with the nutricline depth, a proxy of nutrient supply to the upper mixed layer of the ocean. Using this analysis in conjunction with a coupled atmosphere-ocean intermediate complexity model, we predict a dramatic reduction in the nutrient supply to the euphotic layer in the coming century as a result of increased thermal stratification. Our findings indicate that, by altering phytoplankton community composition, this causal relationship may lead to a decreased efficiency of the biological pump in sequestering atmospheric CO(2), implying a positive feedback in the climate system. These results provide a mechanistic basis for understanding the connection between upper ocean dynamics, the calcium carbonate-to-organic C production ratio and atmospheric pCO(2) variations on time scales ranging from seasonal cycles to geological transitions.

Summertime calcium carbonate undersaturation in shelf waters of the western Arctic Ocean – how biological processes exacerbate the impact of ocean acidification

OpenAIRE

N. R. Bates; M. I. Orchowska; R. Garley; J. T. Mathis

2013-01-01

The Arctic Ocean accounts for only 4% of the global ocean area, but it contributes significantly to the global carbon cycle. Recent observations of seawater CO2-carbonate chemistry in shelf waters of the western Arctic Ocean, primarily in the Chukchi Sea, from 2009 to 2011 indicate that bottom waters are seasonally undersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals, particularly aragonite. Nearly 40% of sampled bottom waters on the shelf have saturation states...

Optimizing Ocean Space: Co-siting Open Ocean Aquaculture

Science.gov (United States)

Cobb, B. L.; Wickliffe, L. C.; Morris, J. A., Jr.

2016-12-01

In January of 2016, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service released the Gulf Aquaculture Plan (GAP) to manage the development of environmentally sound and economically sustainable open ocean finfish aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico (inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ]). The GAP provides the first regulatory framework for aquaculture in federal waters with estimated production of 64 million pounds of finfish, and an estimated economic impact of $264 million annually. The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most industrialized ocean basins in the world, with many existing ocean uses including oil and natural gas production, shipping and commerce, commercial fishing operations, and many protected areas to ensure conservation of valuable ecosystem resources and services. NOAA utilized spatial planning procedures and tools identifying suitable sites for establishing aquaculture through exclusion analyses using authoritative federal and state data housed in a centralized geodatabase. Through a highly collaborative, multi-agency effort a mock permitting exercise was conducted to illustrate the regulatory decision-making process for the Gulf. Further decision-making occurred through exploring co-siting opportunities with oil and natural gas platforms. Logistical co-siting was conducted to reduce overall operational costs by looking at distance to major port and commodity tonnage at each port. Importantly, the process of co-siting allows aquaculture to be coupled with other benefits, including the availability of previously established infrastructure and the reduction of environmental impacts.

Understanding the Advising Learning Process Using Learning Taxonomies

Science.gov (United States)

Muehleck, Jeanette K.; Smith, Cathleen L.; Allen, Janine M.

2014-01-01

To better understand the learning that transpires in advising, we used Anderson et al.'s (2001) revision of Bloom's (1956) taxonomy and Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia's (1964) affective taxonomy to analyze eight student-reported advising outcomes from Smith and Allen (2014). Using the cognitive processes and knowledge domains of Anderson et al.'s…

Environmental issues and challenges. Tomorrow's Ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livingston, H.

1998-01-01

In this Un Year of the Ocean -1998- multiple activities are focusing the attention of the public, policy-makers, and media on the planet's largest natural resource. As the new millennium approaches, there is an increasing urgency to highlight the ocean's role in a broad range of human activities and to heighten awareness about the need to preserve this vital resource for the future. The health and understanding of the oceans will continue to be of critical concern for the foreseeable future. Among these many activities is a major event, led by the IAEA, to focus attention on the ocean - the International Symposium on Marine Pollution to be held in Monaco. 5-9 October 1998. This article briefly reviews major issues being examined at the Symposium that affect the ocean's health and future, and highlights cooperative initiatives involving and the IAEA and its global partners. Other featured articles in this edition of the IAEA Bulletin present contemporary examples of how the IAEA's Marine Environment Laboratory (MEL) in Monaco is serving the interests of countries in matters pertaining to the quality of the ocean environment. They address not only the activities of MEL itself, but also those organized in association with other IAEA departments, UN agencies and international organizations

Artificial radionuclides in the oceans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Templeton, W.L.

1979-10-01

The report highlights the areas of major contributions that the nuclear era has made to the understanding of oceanography and the marine sciences, and in particular the application to the public health problems that arise through anthropogenic exploitation of the oceans for the disposal of radioactive materials

Plastic debris in the open ocean

KAUST Repository

Cozar, Andres

2014-06-30

There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density. However, the global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale. This sink may involve a combination of fast nano-fragmentation of the microplastic into particles of microns or smaller, their transference to the ocean interior by food webs and ballasting processes, and processes yet to be discovered. Resolving the fate of the missing plastic debris is of fundamental importance to determine the nature and significance of the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean.

Plastic debris in the open ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Cózar, Andrés; Echevarría, Fidel; González-Gordillo, J Ignacio; Irigoien, Xabier; Ubeda, Bárbara; Hernández-León, Santiago; Palma, Alvaro T; Navarro, Sandra; García-de-Lomas, Juan; Ruiz, Andrea; Fernández-de-Puelles, María L; Duarte, Carlos M

2014-07-15

There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density. However, the global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale. This sink may involve a combination of fast nano-fragmentation of the microplastic into particles of microns or smaller, their transference to the ocean interior by food webs and ballasting processes, and processes yet to be discovered. Resolving the fate of the missing plastic debris is of fundamental importance to determine the nature and significance of the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean.

Plastic debris in the open ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Cózar, Andrés; Echevarría, Fidel; González-Gordillo, J. Ignacio; Irigoien, Xabier; Úbeda, Bárbara; Hernández-León, Santiago; Palma, Álvaro T.; Navarro, Sandra; García-de-Lomas, Juan; Ruiz, Andrea; Fernández-de-Puelles, María L.; Duarte, Carlos M.

2014-01-01

There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density. However, the global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale. This sink may involve a combination of fast nano-fragmentation of the microplastic into particles of microns or smaller, their transference to the ocean interior by food webs and ballasting processes, and processes yet to be discovered. Resolving the fate of the missing plastic debris is of fundamental importance to determine the nature and significance of the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean. PMID:24982135

New Techniques for Radar Altimetry of Sea Ice and the Polar Oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Armitage, T. W. K.; Kwok, R.; Egido, A.; Smith, W. H. F.; Cullen, R.

2017-12-01

Satellite radar altimetry has proven to be a valuable tool for remote sensing of the polar oceans, with techniques for estimating sea ice thickness and sea surface height in the ice-covered ocean advancing to the point of becoming routine, if not operational, products. Here, we explore new techniques in radar altimetry of the polar oceans and the sea ice cover. First, we present results from fully-focused SAR (FFSAR) altimetry; by accounting for the phase evolution of scatterers in the scene, the FFSAR technique applies an inter-burst coherent integration, potentially over the entire duration that a scatterer remains in the altimeter footprint, which can narrow the effective along track resolution to just 0.5m. We discuss the improvement of using interleaved operation over burst-more operation for applying FFSAR processing to data acquired by future missions, such as a potential CryoSat follow-on. Second, we present simulated sea ice retrievals from the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), the instrument that will be launched on the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission in 2021, that is capable of producing swath images of surface elevation. These techniques offer the opportunity to advance our understanding of the physics of the ice-covered oceans, plus new insight into how we interpret more conventional radar altimetry data in these regions.

Ocean life breaking rules by building shells in acidic extremes.

Science.gov (United States)

Doubleday, Zoë A; Nagelkerken, Ivan; Connell, Sean D

2017-10-23

Rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO 2 )from fossil fuel combustion is acidifying our oceans [1,2]. This acidification is expected to have negative effects on calcifying animals because it affects their ability to build shells [3,4]. However, the effects of ocean acidification in natural environments, subject to ecological and evolutionary processes (such as predation, competition, and adaptation), is uncertain [5,6]. These processes may buffer, or even reverse, the direct, short-term effects principally measured in laboratory experiments (for example, [6]). Here we describe the discovery of marine snails living at a shallow-water CO 2 vent in the southwest Pacific, an environment 30 times more acidic than normal seawater (Figure 1). By measuring the chemical fingerprints locked within the shell material, we show that these snails have a restricted range of movement, which suggests that they live under these conditions for their entire lives. The existence of these snails demonstrates that calcifying animals can build their shells under the acidic and corrosive conditions caused by extreme CO 2 enrichment. This unforeseen capacity, whether driven by ecological or adaptive processes, is key to understanding whether calcifying life may survive a high-CO 2 future. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Barriers to teaching ocean science in Greek schools

Science.gov (United States)

Papathanassiou, Martha; McHugh, Patricia; Domegan, Christine; Gotensparre, Susan; Fauville, Geraldine; Parr, Jon

2017-04-01

Most European citizens are not aware of the full extent of the medical, economic, social, political and environmental importance of the sea to Europe and beyond. Most citizens are not aware of how our day-to-day actions can have a cumulative effect on the health of the ocean - a necessary resource that must be protected for all life on the planet Earth to exist. In other words, European citizens lack a sense of "Ocean Literacy" - an understanding of the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. Sea Change, a 3.5 million EU-funded project started in March 2015, is designed to bring about a fundamental 'Sea Change' in the way European citizens view their relationship with the sea, by empowering them as 'Ocean Literate' citizens - to take direct and sustainable action towards healthy seas and ocean, healthy communities and ultimately, a healthy planet. The project involves 17 partners from nine countries across Europe and will bring about real actions using behavior change and social engagement methodologies. Building upon the latest research on citizen and stakeholder attitudes, perceptions and values, the Sea Change partnership will design and implement mobilisation activities focused on education, community, government agencies, policy makers and citizens. Eight consultations were held around Europe with regards to barriers to teaching ocean science at schools. All project partners used a Collective Intelligence (CI) methodology to involve target group(s) in active, direct participation for Sea Change. CI is a "barriers and value" structuring methodology, a process of critical learning and reflection followed by action, and then by more critical learning to enable mobilisation, design and development 'with' people rather than on their behalf. In Greece, the consultation was carried out by HCMR, the lead partner for Greece. Participants were recruited through personal contact and existing education networks that the HCMR has previously worked with. In

Marine radioactivity studies in the World Oceans (MARS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Povinec, P.P.; Togawa, O.

1999-01-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency's Marine Environment Laboratory is carrying out from 1996 a project with international participation 'Marine Radioactivity Studies in the World Oceans (MARS)'. The main objectives of the project are to provide new data on marine radioactivity and to develop a better understanding of the present radionuclide distribution in the open ocean. Within the framework of the project, various research activities are being carried out to fulfill the objectives: Coordinated Research Programme (CRP), scientific expeditions to the open ocean, development of a database for marine radioactivity, evaluation of radionuclide distributions and dose assessments. (author)

Variability of the reflectance coefficient of skylight from the ocean surface and its implications to ocean color.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilerson, Alexander; Carrizo, Carlos; Foster, Robert; Harmel, Tristan

2018-04-16

The value and spectral dependence of the reflectance coefficient (ρ) of skylight from wind-roughened ocean surfaces is critical for determining accurate water leaving radiance and remote sensing reflectances from shipborne, AERONET-Ocean Color and satellite observations. Using a vector radiative transfer code, spectra of the reflectance coefficient and corresponding radiances near the ocean surface and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) are simulated for a broad range of parameters including flat and windy ocean surfaces with wind speeds up to 15 m/s, aerosol optical thicknesses of 0-1 at 440nm, wavelengths of 400-900 nm, and variable Sun and viewing zenith angles. Results revealed a profound impact of the aerosol load and type on the spectral values of ρ. Such impacts, not included yet in standard processing, may produce significant inaccuracies in the reflectance spectra retrieved from above-water radiometry and satellite observations. Implications for satellite cal/val activities as well as potential changes in measurement and data processing schemes are discussed.

Will high-resolution global ocean models benefit coupled predictions on short-range to climate timescales?

Science.gov (United States)

Hewitt, Helene T.; Bell, Michael J.; Chassignet, Eric P.; Czaja, Arnaud; Ferreira, David; Griffies, Stephen M.; Hyder, Pat; McClean, Julie L.; New, Adrian L.; Roberts, Malcolm J.

2017-12-01

As the importance of the ocean in the weather and climate system is increasingly recognised, operational systems are now moving towards coupled prediction not only for seasonal to climate timescales but also for short-range forecasts. A three-way tension exists between the allocation of computing resources to refine model resolution, the expansion of model complexity/capability, and the increase of ensemble size. Here we review evidence for the benefits of increased ocean resolution in global coupled models, where the ocean component explicitly represents transient mesoscale eddies and narrow boundary currents. We consider lessons learned from forced ocean/sea-ice simulations; from studies concerning the SST resolution required to impact atmospheric simulations; and from coupled predictions. Impacts of the mesoscale ocean in western boundary current regions on the large-scale atmospheric state have been identified. Understanding of air-sea feedback in western boundary currents is modifying our view of the dynamics in these key regions. It remains unclear whether variability associated with open ocean mesoscale eddies is equally important to the large-scale atmospheric state. We include a discussion of what processes can presently be parameterised in coupled models with coarse resolution non-eddying ocean models, and where parameterizations may fall short. We discuss the benefits of resolution and identify gaps in the current literature that leave important questions unanswered.

Oceans 2.0: Interactive tools for the Visualization of Multi-dimensional Ocean Sensor Data

Science.gov (United States)

Biffard, B.; Valenzuela, M.; Conley, P.; MacArthur, M.; Tredger, S.; Guillemot, E.; Pirenne, B.

2016-12-01

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) operates ocean observatories on all three of Canada's coasts. The instruments produce 280 gigabytes of data per day with 1/2 petabyte archived so far. In 2015, 13 terabytes were downloaded by over 500 users from across the world. ONC's data management system is referred to as "Oceans 2.0" owing to its interactive, participative features. A key element of Oceans 2.0 is real time data acquisition and processing: custom device drivers implement the input-output protocol of each instrument. Automatic parsing and calibration takes place on the fly, followed by event detection and quality control. All raw data are stored in a file archive, while the processed data are copied to fast databases. Interactive access to processed data is provided through data download and visualization/quick look features that are adapted to diverse data types (scalar, acoustic, video, multi-dimensional, etc). Data may be post or re-processed to add features, analysis or correct errors, update calibrations, etc. A robust storage structure has been developed consisting of an extensive file system and a no-SQL database (Cassandra). Cassandra is a node-based open source distributed database management system. It is scalable and offers improved performance for big data. A key feature is data summarization. The system has also been integrated with web services and an ERDDAP OPeNDAP server, capable of serving scalar and multidimensional data from Cassandra for fixed or mobile devices.A complex data viewer has been developed making use of the big data capability to interactively display live or historic echo sounder and acoustic Doppler current profiler data, where users can scroll, apply processing filters and zoom through gigabytes of data with simple interactions. This new technology brings scientists one step closer to a comprehensive, web-based data analysis environment in which visual assessment, filtering, event detection and annotation can be integrated.

How Two Sides of the Atlantic Contributed to Understanding of the Global Oceans: Charles Yentsch and Andre Morel

Science.gov (United States)

Acker, James G.

2013-01-01

In a few short days in September of this year, the ocean color/ocean optics community lost two of the founding members of its Hall of FameCharles Yentsch and Andre Morel. Yentsch passed away at the age of 85 on September 19, and Morel passed away on September 23 at the age of 79. It might sound clich to say that someone was instrumental to the advance of science in a particular field, but in the case of Yentsch and Morel and ocean color instrumentation, such an assessment would likely be accurate. Each mans career complimented that of the other Yentsch was one of the first to make measurements of the light field of the ocean from altitude and to advocate an instrument in space that could observe the spectrum of ocean radiance Morels theoretical underpinnings established a firm foundation for the measurements such an instrument could make, allowing their successful interpretation.

Hydrothermal impacts on trace element and isotope ocean biogeochemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

German, C R; Casciotti, K A; Dutay, J-C; Heimbürger, L E; Jenkins, W J; Measures, C I; Mills, R A; Obata, H; Schlitzer, R; Tagliabue, A; Turner, D R; Whitby, H

2016-11-28

Hydrothermal activity occurs in all ocean basins, releasing high concentrations of key trace elements and isotopes (TEIs) into the oceans. Importantly, the calculated rate of entrainment of the entire ocean volume through turbulently mixing buoyant hydrothermal plumes is so vigorous as to be comparable to that of deep-ocean thermohaline circulation. Consequently, biogeochemical processes active within deep-ocean hydrothermal plumes have long been known to have the potential to impact global-scale biogeochemical cycles. More recently, new results from GEOTRACES have revealed that plumes rich in dissolved Fe, an important micronutrient that is limiting to productivity in some areas, are widespread above mid-ocean ridges and extend out into the deep-ocean interior. While Fe is only one element among the full suite of TEIs of interest to GEOTRACES, these preliminary results are important because they illustrate how inputs from seafloor venting might impact the global biogeochemical budgets of many other TEIs. To determine the global impact of seafloor venting, however, requires two key questions to be addressed: (i) What processes are active close to vent sites that regulate the initial high-temperature hydrothermal fluxes for the full suite of TEIs that are dispersed through non-buoyant hydrothermal plumes? (ii) How do those processes vary, globally, in response to changing geologic settings at the seafloor and/or the geochemistry of the overlying ocean water? In this paper, we review key findings from recent work in this realm, highlight a series of key hypotheses arising from that research and propose a series of new GEOTRACES modelling, section and process studies that could be implemented, nationally and internationally, to address these issues.This article is part of the themed issue 'Biological and climatic impacts of ocean trace element chemistry'. © 2015 The Authors.

Cryosphere-hydrosphere interactions: numerical modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) at different scales

Science.gov (United States)

Bergamasco, A.; Budgell, W. P.; Carniel, S.; Sclavo, M.

2005-03-01

Conveyor belt circulation controls global climate through heat and water fluxes with atmosphere and from tropical to polar regions and vice versa. This circulation, commonly referred to as thermohaline circulation (THC), seems to have millennium time scale and nowadays--a non-glacial period--appears to be as rather stable. However, concern is raised by the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (IPCC, Third assessment report: Climate Change 2001. A contribution of working group I, II and III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK) 2001, http://www.ipcc.ch) as these may affect the THC conveyor paths. Since it is widely recognized that dense-water formation sites act as primary sources in strengthening quasi-stable THC paths (Stommel H., Tellus131961224), in order to simulate properly the consequences of such scenarios a better understanding of these oceanic processes is needed. To successfully model these processes, air-sea-ice-integrated modelling approaches are often required. Here we focus on two polar regions using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In the first region investigated, the North Atlantic-Arctic, where open-ocean deep convection and open-sea ice formation and dispersion under the intense air-sea interactions are the major engines, we use a new version of the coupled hydrodynamic-ice ROMS model. The second area belongs to the Antarctica region inside the Southern Ocean, where brine rejections during ice formation inside shelf seas origin dense water that, flowing along the continental slope, overflow becoming eventually abyssal waters. Results show how nowadays integrated-modelling tasks have become more and more feasible and effective; numerical simulations dealing with large computational domains or challenging different climate scenarios can be run on multi-processors platforms and on systems like LINUX clusters, made of the same hardware as PCs, and

Atmospheric processing of combustion aerosols as a source of soluble iron to the open ocean

OpenAIRE

伊藤, 彰記; ITO, Akinori

2015-01-01

The majority of bioavailable iron (Fe) from the atmosphere is delivered from arid and semiarid regions to the oceans because the global deposition of iron from combustion sources is small compared with that from mineral dust. Atmospheric processing of mineral aerosols by inorganic and organic acids from anthropogenic and natural sources has been shown to increase the iron solubility of soils (initially < 0.5%) up to about 10%. On the other hand, atmospheric observations have shown that iron i...

Once upon a time : Understanding team processes as relational event networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leenders, R.T.A.J.; Contractor, N.; DeChurch, L.

2016-01-01

For as long as groups and teams have been the subject of scientific inquiry, researchers have been interested in understanding the relationships that form within them, and the pace at which these relationships develop and change. Despite this interest in understanding the process underlying the

Importance of isotopes for understanding the sedimentation processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manjunatha, B.R.

2012-01-01

Isotopes of either radioactive or stable depending upon radiation emitted or not respectively which have wide applications in understanding not only the history of sedimentation, but also provide information about paleoclimate. Stable isotope mass difference occurs due to changes in physicochemical conditions of the ambient environment, for instance temperature, evaporation, precipitation, redox processes, and changes in the mobility of elements during weathering processes, biological uptake, metabolism, re-mineralization of biogenic material, etc. In contrast, radionuclides emit radiation because of excess of neutrons present in the nucleus when compared to protons of an atom. The decay of radioactive isotopes is unaffected despite changes in physicochemical variations; hence, they are useful for determining ages of different types of materials on earth. The radioisotopes can be classified based on origin and half life into primordial or long-lived, cosmogenic and artificial radionuclides or fission products. In this study, the importance of 137 Cs artificial radionuclides will be highlighted to understand short-term sedimentation processes, particularly in estuaries, deltas/continental shelf of west coast of India. The distribution of 137 Cs in sediments of south-western continental margin of India indicates that coastal marginal environments are filters or sinks for fall-out radionuclides. The sparse of 137 Cs in the open continental shelf environment indicates that most of sediments are either older or sediments being diluted by components generated in the marine environment

Investigating Solution Convergence in a Global Ocean Model Using a 2048-Processor Cluster of Distributed Shared Memory Machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chris Hill

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Up to 1920 processors of a cluster of distributed shared memory machines at the NASA Ames Research Center are being used to simulate ocean circulation globally at horizontal resolutions of 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16-degree with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model, a finite volume code that can scale to large numbers of processors. The study aims to understand physical processes responsible for skill improvements as resolution is increased and to gain insight into what resolution is sufficient for particular purposes. This paper focuses on the computational aspects of reaching the technical objective of efficiently performing these global eddy-resolving ocean simulations. At 1/16-degree resolution the model grid contains 1.2 billion cells. At this resolution it is possible to simulate approximately one month of ocean dynamics in about 17 hours of wallclock time with a model timestep of two minutes on a cluster of four 512-way NUMA Altix systems. The Altix systems' large main memory and I/O subsystems allow computation and disk storage of rich sets of diagnostics during each integration, supporting the scientific objective to develop a better understanding of global ocean circulation model solution convergence as model resolution is increased.

IPCC workshop on impacts of ocean acidification on marine biology and ecosystems. Workshop report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Field, C.B.; Barros, V.; Stocker, T.F.; Dahe, Q.; Mach, K.J.; Plattner, G.-K.; Mastrandrea, M.D.; Tignor, M.; Ebi, K.L.

2011-09-15

Understanding the effects of increasing atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations on ocean chemistry, commonly termed ocean acidification, as well as associated impacts on marine biology and ecosystems, is an important component of scientific knowledge about global change. The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will include comprehensive coverage of ocean acidification and its impacts, including potential feedbacks to the climate system. To support ongoing AR5 assessment efforts, Working Group II and Working Group I (WGII and WGI) of the IPCC held a joint Workshop on Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Biology and Ecosystems in Okinawa, Japan, from 17 to 19 January 2011. The workshop convened experts from the scientific community, including WGII and WGI AR5 authors and review editors, to synthesise scientific understanding of changes in ocean chemistry due to increased CO{sub 2} and of impacts of this changing chemistry on marine organisms, ecosystems, and ecosystem services. This workshop report summarises the scientific content and perspectives presented and discussed during the workshop. It provides syntheses of these perspectives for the workshop's core topics: (i) the changing chemistry of the oceans, (ii) impacts of ocean acidification for individual organisms, and (iii) scaling up responses from individual organisms to ecosystems. It also presents summaries of workshop discussions of key cross-cutting themes, ranging from detection and attribution of ocean acidification and its impacts to understanding ocean acidification in the context of other stressors on marine systems. Additionally, the workshop report includes extended abstracts for keynote and poster presentations at the workshop. (Author)

Open ocean tide modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Parke, M. E.

1978-01-01

Two trends evident in global tidal modelling since the first GEOP conference in 1972 are described. The first centers on the incorporation of terms for ocean loading and gravitational self attraction into Laplace's tidal equations. The second centers on a better understanding of the problem of near resonant modelling and the need for realistic maps of tidal elevation for use by geodesists and geophysicists. Although new models still show significant differences, especially in the South Atlantic, there are significant similarities in many of the world's oceans. This allows suggestions to be made for future locations for bottom pressure gauge measurements. Where available, estimates of M2 tidal dissipation from the new models are significantly lower than estimates from previous models.

Observationally-based Metrics of Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemical Variables are Essential for Evaluating Earth System Model Projections

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, J. L.; Sarmiento, J. L.

2017-12-01

The Southern Ocean is central to the climate's response to increasing levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases as it ventilates a large fraction of the global ocean volume. Global coupled climate models and earth system models, however, vary widely in their simulations of the Southern Ocean and its role in, and response to, the ongoing anthropogenic forcing. Due to its complex water-mass structure and dynamics, Southern Ocean carbon and heat uptake depend on a combination of winds, eddies, mixing, buoyancy fluxes and topography. Understanding how the ocean carries heat and carbon into its interior and how the observed wind changes are affecting this uptake is essential to accurately projecting transient climate sensitivity. Observationally-based metrics are critical for discerning processes and mechanisms, and for validating and comparing climate models. As the community shifts toward Earth system models with explicit carbon simulations, more direct observations of important biogeochemical parameters, like those obtained from the biogeochemically-sensored floats that are part of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project, are essential. One goal of future observing systems should be to create observationally-based benchmarks that will lead to reducing uncertainties in climate projections, and especially uncertainties related to oceanic heat and carbon uptake.

Global Climate Change and Ocean Education

Science.gov (United States)

Spitzer, W.; Anderson, J.

2011-12-01

The New England Aquarium, collaborating with other aquariums across the country, is leading a national effort to enable aquariums and related informal science education institutions to effectively communicate the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine animals, habitats and ecosystems. Our goal is to build on visitors' emotional connection with ocean animals, connect to their deeply held values, help them understand causes and effects of climate change and motivate them to embrace effective solutions. Our objectives are to: (1) Build a national coalition of aquariums and related informal education institutions collaborating on climate change education; (2) Develop an interpretive framework for climate change and the ocean that is scientifically sound, research-based, field tested and evaluated; and (3) Build capacity of aquariums to interpret climate change via training for interpreters, interactive exhibits and activities and communities of practice for ongoing support. Centers of informal learning have the potential to bring important environmental issues to the public by presenting the facts, explaining the science, connecting with existing values and interests, and motivating concern and action. Centers that work with live animals (including aquariums, zoos, nature centers, national parks, national marine sanctuaries, etc.) are unique in that they attract large numbers of people of all ages (over 140 million in the US), have strong connections to the natural, and engage many visitors who may not come with a primary interest in science. Recent research indicates that that the public expects and trusts aquariums, zoos, and museums to communicate solutions to environmental and ocean issues, and to advance ocean conservation, and that climate change is the environmental issue of most concern to the public; Ironically, however, most people do not associate climate change with ocean health, or understand the critical role that the ocean plays in

75 FR 18778 - Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show 2010, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-13

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show 2010, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... zone on the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Ocean City, Maryland to support the Ocean City Air Show. This action is intended to restrict vessel traffic movement on the Atlantic Ocean to protect mariners...

Ocean transport and variability studies of the South Pacific, Southern, and Indian Oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Church, John A.; Cresswell, G. R.; Nilsson, C. S.; Mcdougall, T. J.; Coleman, R.; Rizos, C.; Penrose, J.; Hunter, J. R.; Lynch, M. J.

1991-01-01

The objectives of this study are to analyze ocean dynamics in the western South Pacific and the adjacent Southern Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean. Specifically, our objectives for these three regions are, for the South Pacific Ocean: (1) To estimate the volume transport of the east Australian Current (EAC) along the Australian coast and in the Tasman Front, and to estimate the time variability (on seasonal and interannual time scales) of this transport. (2) To contribute to estimating the meridional heat and freshwater fluxes (and their variability) at about 30 deg S. Good estimates of the transport in the western boundary current are essential for accurate estimates of these fluxes. (3) To determine how the EAC transport (and its extension, the Tasman Front and the East Auckland Current) closes the subtropical gyre of the South Pacific and to better determine the structure at the confluence of this current and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. (4) To examine the structure and time variability of the circulation in the western South Pacific and the adjacent Southern Ocean, particularly at the Tasman Front. For the Indian Ocean: (5) To study the seasonal interannual variations in the strength of the Leeuwin Current. (6) To monitor the Pacific-Indian Ocean throughflow and the South Equatorial and the South Java Currents between northwest Australia and Indonesia. (7) To study the processes that form the water of the permanent oceanic thermocline and, in particular, the way in which new thermocline water enters the permanent thermocline in late winter and early spring as the mixed layer restratifies. For the Southern Ocean: (8) To study the mesoscale and meridional structure of the Southern Ocean between 150 deg E and 170 deg E; in particular, to describe the Antarctic frontal system south of Tasmania and determine its interannual variability; to estimate the exchanges of heat, salt, and other properties between the Indian and Pacific Oceans; and to investigate the

Physical and radiological chemistry on ocean solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1976-01-01

This study is designed to investigate the rates and mechanisms of ocean mixing processes using natural and artificial radionuclides as tracers of these processes. Using these same radionuclides, especially 7 Be, rates of air-to-sea transfer of atmospheric aerosol can be determined. Measurement of the concentrations of anthropogenic pollutants in the aerosol provides the means for determining the magnitude of injection of these pollutants to the world's oceans

Are Global In-Situ Ocean Observations Fit-for-purpose? Applying the Framework for Ocean Observing in the Atlantic.

Science.gov (United States)

Visbeck, M.; Fischer, A. S.; Le Traon, P. Y.; Mowlem, M. C.; Speich, S.; Larkin, K.

2015-12-01

There are an increasing number of global, regional and local processes that are in need of integrated ocean information. In the sciences ocean information is needed to support physical ocean and climate studies for example within the World Climate Research Programme and its CLIVAR project, biogeochemical issues as articulated by the GCP, IMBER and SOLAS projects of ICSU-SCOR and Future Earth. This knowledge gets assessed in the area of climate by the IPCC and biodiversity by the IPBES processes. The recently released first World Ocean Assessment focuses more on ecosystem services and there is an expectation that the Sustainable Development Goals and in particular Goal 14 on the Ocean and Seas will generate new demands for integrated ocean observing from Climate to Fish and from Ocean Resources to Safe Navigation and on a healthy, productive and enjoyable ocean in more general terms. In recognition of those increasing needs for integrated ocean information we have recently launched the Horizon 2020 AtlantOS project to promote the transition from a loosely-coordinated set of existing ocean observing activities to a more integrated, more efficient, more sustainable and fit-for-purpose Atlantic Ocean Observing System. AtlantOS takes advantage of the Framework for Ocean observing that provided strategic guidance for the design of the project and its outcome. AtlantOS will advance the requirements and systems design, improving the readiness of observing networks and data systems, and engaging stakeholders around the Atlantic. AtlantOS will bring Atlantic nations together to strengthen their complementary contributions to and benefits from the internationally coordinated Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Blue Planet Initiative of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). AtlantOS will fill gaps of the in-situ observing system networks and will ensure that their data are readily accessible and useable. AtlantOS will demonstrate the utility of

Southern Ocean carbon-wind stress feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Bronselaer, Ben; Zanna, Laure; Munday, David R.; Lowe, Jason

2018-02-01

The Southern Ocean is the largest sink of anthropogenic carbon in the present-day climate. Here, Southern Ocean pCO2 and its dependence on wind forcing are investigated using an equilibrium mixed layer carbon budget. This budget is used to derive an expression for Southern Ocean pCO2 sensitivity to wind stress. Southern Ocean pCO2 is found to vary as the square root of area-mean wind stress, arising from the dominance of vertical mixing over other processes such as lateral Ekman transport. The expression for pCO2 is validated using idealised coarse-resolution ocean numerical experiments. Additionally, we show that increased (decreased) stratification through surface warming reduces (increases) the sensitivity of the Southern Ocean pCO2 to wind stress. The scaling is then used to estimate the wind-stress induced changes of atmospheric pCO_2 in CMIP5 models using only a handful of parameters. The scaling is further used to model the anthropogenic carbon sink, showing a long-term reversal of the Southern Ocean sink for large wind stress strength.

Sensitivity of sequestration efficiency to mixing processes in the global ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mignone, B.K.

2004-01-01

A number of large-scale sequestration strategies have been considered to help mitigate rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Here, we use an ocean general circulation model (OGCM) to evaluate the efficiency of one such strategy currently receiving much attention, the direct injection of liquid CO 2 into selected regions of the abyssal ocean. We find that currents typically transport the injected plumes quite far before they are able to return to the surface and release CO 2 through air-sea gas exchange. When injected at sufficient depth (well within or below the main thermocline), most of the injected CO 2 outgasses in high latitudes (mainly in the Southern Ocean) where vertical exchange is most favored. Virtually all OGCMs that have performed similar simulations confirm these global patterns, but regional differences are significant, leading efficiency estimates to vary widely among models even when identical protocols are followed. In this paper, we make a first attempt at reconciling some of these differences by performing a sensitivity analysis in one OGCM, the Princeton Modular Ocean Model. Using techniques we have developed to maintain both the modeled density structure and the absolute magnitude of the overturning circulation while varying important mixing parameters, we estimate the sensitivity of sequestration efficiency to the magnitude of vertical exchange within the low-latitude pycnocline. Combining these model results with available tracer data permits us to narrow the range of model behavior, which in turn places important constraints on sequestration efficiency. (author)

Monitoring and assessment of ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean-A scoping paper

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Lisa L.; Yates, Kimberly K.; Feely, Richard; Fabry, Victoria

2010-01-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is absorbed at the ocean surface by reacting with seawater to form a weak, naturally occurring acid called carbonic acid. As atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, the concentration of carbonic acid in seawater also increases, causing a decrease in ocean pH and carbonate mineral saturation states, a process known as ocean acidification. The oceans have absorbed approximately 525 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or about one-quarter to one-third of the anthropogenic carbon emissions released since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Global surveys of ocean chemistry have revealed that seawater pH has decreased by about 0.1 units (from a pH of 8.2 to 8.1) since the 1700s due to absorption of carbon dioxide (Raven and others, 2005). Modeling studies, based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) CO2 emission scenarios, predict that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels could reach more than 500 parts per million (ppm) by the middle of this century and 800 ppm by the year 2100, causing an additional decrease in surface water pH of 0.3 pH units. Ocean acidification is a global threat and is already having profound and deleterious effects on the geology, biology, chemistry, and socioeconomic resources of coastal and marine habitats. The polar and sub-polar seas have been identified as the bellwethers for global ocean acidification.

Evaluating nurse understanding and participation in the informed consent process.

Science.gov (United States)

Axson, Sydney A; Giordano, Nicholas A; Hermann, Robin M; Ulrich, Connie M

2017-01-01

Informed consent is fundamental to the autonomous decision-making of patients, yet much is still unknown about the process in the clinical setting. In an evolving healthcare landscape, nurses must be prepared to address patient understanding and participate in the informed consent process to better fulfill their well-established role as patient advocates. This study examines hospital-based nurses' experiences and understandings of the informed consent process. This qualitative descriptive study utilized a semi-structured interview approach identifying thematic concerns, experiences, and knowledge of informed consent across a selected population of clinically practicing nurses. Participants and research context: In all, 20 baccalaureate prepared registered nurses practicing in various clinical settings (i.e. critical care, oncology, medical/surgical) at a large northeastern academic medical center in the United States completed semi-structured interviews and a demographic survey. The mean age of participants was 36.6 years old, with a mean of 12.2 years of clinical experience. Ethical considerations: Participation in this study involved minimal risk and no invasive measures. This study received Institutional Review Board approval from the University of Pennsylvania. All participants voluntarily consented. The majority of participants (N = 19) believe patient safety is directly linked to patient comprehension of the informed consent process. However, when asked if nurses have a defined role in the informed consent process, nearly half did not agree (N = 9). Through this qualitative approach, three major nursing roles emerged: the nurse as a communicator, the nurse as an advocate, and the clerical role of the nurse. This investigation contributes to the foundation of ethical research that will better prepare nurses for patient engagement, advance current understanding of informed consent, and allow for future development of solutions. Nurses are at the forefront of

AFSC/RACE/SAP/Swiney: Effects of ocean acidification and increased temperatures on juvenile red king crab

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Multiple stressor studies are needed to better understand the effects of oceanic changes on marine organisms. To determine the effects of near-future ocean...

EarthLabs Modules: Engaging Students In Extended, Rigorous Investigations Of The Ocean, Climate and Weather

Science.gov (United States)

Manley, J.; Chegwidden, D.; Mote, A. S.; Ledley, T. S.; Lynds, S. E.; Haddad, N.; Ellins, K.

2016-02-01

EarthLabs, envisioned as a national model for high school Earth or Environmental Science lab courses, is adaptable for both undergraduate middle school students. The collection includes ten online modules that combine to feature a global view of our planet as a dynamic, interconnected system, by engaging learners in extended investigations. EarthLabs support state and national guidelines, including the NGSS, for science content. Four modules directly guide students to discover vital aspects of the oceans while five other modules incorporate ocean sciences in order to complete an understanding of Earth's climate system. Students gain a broad perspective on the key role oceans play in fishing industry, droughts, coral reefs, hurricanes, the carbon cycle, as well as life on land and in the seas to drive our changing climate by interacting with scientific research data, manipulating satellite imagery, numerical data, computer visualizations, experiments, and video tutorials. Students explore Earth system processes and build quantitative skills that enable them to objectively evaluate scientific findings for themselves as they move through ordered sequences that guide the learning. As a robust collection, EarthLabs modules engage students in extended, rigorous investigations allowing a deeper understanding of the ocean, climate and weather. This presentation provides an overview of the ten curriculum modules that comprise the EarthLabs collection developed by TERC and found at http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/index.html. Evaluation data on the effectiveness and use in secondary education classrooms will be summarized.

Societal rationality; towards an understanding of decision making processes in society

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wahlstroem, Bjoern

2001-01-01

In a search for new ways to structure decision making on complex and controversial issues it is necessary to build an understanding of why traditional decision making processes break down. One reason is connected to the issues themselves. They represent steps into the unknown and decisions should therefore be made with prudence. A second reason is connected to a track record according to which new technologies are seen as generating more problems than solutions. A third and more fundamental reason is connected to the decision making processes themselves and a need to find better ways to approach difficult questions in the society. One way to approach societal decision making processes is to investigate their hidden rationality in an attempt to understand causes of observed difficulties. The paper is based mainly on observations from the nuclear industry, but it builds also on controversies experienced in attempts to agree on global efforts towards sustainable approaches to development. It builds on an earlier paper, which discussed the basis of rationality both on an individual and a societal level. Research in societal decision making has to rely on a true multi-disciplinary approach. It is nor enough to understand the technical and scientific models by which outcomes are predicted, but it is also necessary to understand how people make sense of their environment and how they co-operate. Rationality is in this connection one of the key concepts, with an understanding that people always are rational in their own frame of action. The challenge in this connection is to understand how this subjective rationality is formed. Societal rationality has to do with the allocation of resources. There are decisions in which several conflicting views have to be considered. Spending time and resources ex ante may support a consensus ex post, but unfortunately there is no panacea for approaching difficult decisions. Decisions with an uncertain future have to be more robust than

Societal rationality; towards an understanding of decision making processes in society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wahlstroem, Bjoern [Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo (Finland)

2001-07-01

In a search for new ways to structure decision making on complex and controversial issues it is necessary to build an understanding of why traditional decision making processes break down. One reason is connected to the issues themselves. They represent steps into the unknown and decisions should therefore be made with prudence. A second reason is connected to a track record according to which new technologies are seen as generating more problems than solutions. A third and more fundamental reason is connected to the decision making processes themselves and a need to find better ways to approach difficult questions in the society. One way to approach societal decision making processes is to investigate their hidden rationality in an attempt to understand causes of observed difficulties. The paper is based mainly on observations from the nuclear industry, but it builds also on controversies experienced in attempts to agree on global efforts towards sustainable approaches to development. It builds on an earlier paper, which discussed the basis of rationality both on an individual and a societal level. Research in societal decision making has to rely on a true multi-disciplinary approach. It is nor enough to understand the technical and scientific models by which outcomes are predicted, but it is also necessary to understand how people make sense of their environment and how they co-operate. Rationality is in this connection one of the key concepts, with an understanding that people always are rational in their own frame of action. The challenge in this connection is to understand how this subjective rationality is formed. Societal rationality has to do with the allocation of resources. There are decisions in which several conflicting views have to be considered. Spending time and resources ex ante may support a consensus ex post, but unfortunately there is no panacea for approaching difficult decisions. Decisions with an uncertain future have to be more robust than

Radium 228 as a tracer of basin wide processes in the Abyssal Ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarmiento, J.L.; Rooth, C.G.H.; Broecker, W.S.

1982-01-01

A simple model of isopycnal mixing in a circular basin is developed in order to examine the utility of the 5.75-year half-life tracer radium 228 for studying basin wide processes in the deep ocean. The model shows that it is possible to resolve diffusivities of 7 cm 2 s - 1 in a basin of approx.3000-km diameter with profiles measured near the center and edge of the basin. A least squares fit of the model to four abyssal profiles measured during GEOSECS in the North American Basin gives an isopycnal diffusivity of 6 x 10 7 cm 2 s - 1

Radiative transfer modeling through terrestrial atmosphere and ocean accounting for inelastic processes: Software package SCIATRAN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rozanov, V.V.; Dinter, T.; Rozanov, A.V.; Wolanin, A.; Bracher, A.; Burrows, J.P.

2017-01-01

SCIATRAN is a comprehensive software package which is designed to model radiative transfer processes in the terrestrial atmosphere and ocean in the spectral range from the ultraviolet to the thermal infrared (0.18–40 μm). It accounts for multiple scattering processes, polarization, thermal emission and ocean–atmosphere coupling. The main goal of this paper is to present a recently developed version of SCIATRAN which takes into account accurately inelastic radiative processes in both the atmosphere and the ocean. In the scalar version of the coupled ocean–atmosphere radiative transfer solver presented by Rozanov et al. we have implemented the simulation of the rotational Raman scattering, vibrational Raman scattering, chlorophyll and colored dissolved organic matter fluorescence. In this paper we discuss and explain the numerical methods used in SCIATRAN to solve the scalar radiative transfer equation including trans-spectral processes, and demonstrate how some selected radiative transfer problems are solved using the SCIATRAN package. In addition we present selected comparisons of SCIATRAN simulations with those published benchmark results, independent radiative transfer models, and various measurements from satellite, ground-based, and ship-borne instruments. The extended SCIATRAN software package along with a detailed User's Guide is made available for scientists and students, who are undertaking their own research typically at universities, via the web page of the Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen: (http://www.iup.physik.uni-bremen.de). - Highlights: • A new version of the software package SCIATRAN is presented. • Inelastic scattering in water and atmosphere is implemented in SCIATRAN. • Raman scattering and fluorescence can be included in radiative transfer calculations. • Comparisons to other radiative transfer models show excellent agreement. • Comparisons to observations show consistent results.

Using process monitor wafers to understand directed self-assembly defects

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Yi; Her, YoungJun; Delgadillo, Paulina R.; Vandenbroeck, Nadia; Gronheid, Roel; Chan, Boon Teik; Hashimoto, Yukio; Romo, Ainhoa; Somervell, Mark; Nafus, Kathleen; Nealey, Paul F.

2013-03-01

As directed self-assembly (DSA) has gained momentum over the past few years, questions about its application to high volume manufacturing have arisen. One of the major concerns is about the fundamental limits of defectivity that can be attained with the technology. If DSA applications demonstrate defectivity that rivals of traditional lithographic technologies, the pathway to the cost benefits of the technology creates a very compelling case for its large scale implementation. To address this critical question, our team at IMEC has established a process monitor flow to track the defectivity behaviors of an exemplary chemo-epitaxy application for printing line/space patterns. Through establishing this baseline, we have been able to understand both traditional lithographic defect sources in new materials as well as new classes of assembly defects associated with DSA technology. Moreover, we have explored new materials and processing to lower the level of the defectivity baseline. The robustness of the material sets and process is investigated as well. In this paper, we will report the understandings learned from the IMEC DSA process monitor flow.

Climate | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Science.gov (United States)

Jump to Content Enter Search Terms Weather Climate Oceans & Coasts Fisheries Satellites your local weather Enter your ZIP code GO Enter Search Terms Content OUR WORK Climate From to help people understand and prepare for climate variability and change. Climate. NOAA From

An Auto-Photographic Study of Undergraduate Students' Conceptions of Ocean Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chi-I; Li, Yuh-Yuh

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate students' understandings of ocean sustainability and the pedagogical influence of higher education on those conceptions. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptions of ocean sustainability of 54 university students of various academic disciplines enrolled in the 2014/2015 semester course…

Investigating transport pathways in the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Griffa, Annalisa; Haza, Angelique; Özgökmen, Tamay M.; Molcard, Anne; Taillandier, Vincent; Schroeder, Katrin; Chang, Yeon; Poulain, P.-M.

2013-01-01

The ocean is a very complex medium with scales of motion that range from thousands of kilometers to the dissipation scales. Transport by ocean currents plays an important role in many practical applications ranging from climatic problems to coastal management and accident mitigation at sea. Understanding transport is challenging because of the chaotic nature of particle motion. In the last decade, new methods have been put forth to improve our understanding of transport. Powerful tools are provided by dynamical system theory, that allow the identification of the barriers to transport and their time variability for a given flow. A shortcoming of this approach, though, is that it is based on the assumption that the velocity field is known with good accuracy, which is not always the case in practical applications. Improving model performance in terms of transport can be addressed using another important methodology that has been recently developed, namely the assimilation of Lagrangian data provided by floating buoys. The two methodologies are technically different but in many ways complementary. In this paper, we review examples of applications of both methodologies performed by the authors in the last few years, considering flows at different scales and in various ocean basins. The results are among the very first examples of applications of the methodologies to the real ocean including testing with Lagrangian in-situ data. The results are discussed in the general framework of the extended fields related to these methodologies, pointing out to open questions and potential for improvements, with an outlook toward future strategies.

Pan-Arctic distributions of continental runoff in the Arctic Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Fichot, Cédric G; Kaiser, Karl; Hooker, Stanford B; Amon, Rainer M W; Babin, Marcel; Bélanger, Simon; Walker, Sally A; Benner, Ronald

2013-01-01

Continental runoff is a major source of freshwater, nutrients and terrigenous material to the Arctic Ocean. As such, it influences water column stratification, light attenuation, surface heating, gas exchange, biological productivity and carbon sequestration. Increasing river discharge and thawing permafrost suggest that the impacts of continental runoff on these processes are changing. Here, a new optical proxy was developed and implemented with remote sensing to determine the first pan-Arctic distribution of terrigenous dissolved organic matter (tDOM) and continental runoff in the surface Arctic Ocean. Retrospective analyses revealed connections between the routing of North American runoff and the recent freshening of the Canada Basin, and indicated a correspondence between climate-driven changes in river discharge and tDOM inventories in the Kara Sea. By facilitating the real-time, synoptic monitoring of tDOM and freshwater runoff in surface polar waters, this novel approach will help understand the manifestations of climate change in this remote region.

Sensitivity of the regional ocean acidification and carbonate system in Puget Sound to ocean and freshwater inputs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bianucci

2018-03-01

Full Text Available While ocean acidification was first investigated as a global phenomenon, coastal acidification has received significant attention in recent years, as its impacts have been felt by different socio-economic sectors (e.g., high mortality of shellfish larvae in aquaculture farms. As a region that connects land and ocean, the Salish Sea (consisting of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Georgia receives inputs from many different sources (rivers, wastewater treatment plants, industrial waste treatment facilities, etc., making these coastal waters vulnerable to acidification. Moreover, the lowering of pH in the Northeast Pacific Ocean also affects the Salish Sea, as more acidic waters get transported into the bottom waters of the straits and estuaries. Here, we use a numerical ocean model of the Salish Sea to improve our understanding of the carbonate system in Puget Sound; in particular, we studied the sensitivity of carbonate variables (e.g., dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, pH, saturation state of aragonite to ocean and freshwater inputs. The model is an updated version of our FVCOM-ICM framework, with new carbonate-system and sediment modules. Sensitivity experiments altering concentrations at the open boundaries and freshwater sources indicate that not only ocean conditions entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but also the dilution of carbonate variables by freshwater sources, are key drivers of the carbonate system in Puget Sound.

Individual and population-level responses to ocean acidification.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Ben P; McKeown, Niall J; Rastrick, Samuel P S; Bertolini, Camilla; Foggo, Andy; Graham, Helen; Hall-Spencer, Jason M; Milazzo, Marco; Shaw, Paul W; Small, Daniel P; Moore, Pippa J

2016-01-29

Ocean acidification is predicted to have detrimental effects on many marine organisms and ecological processes. Despite growing evidence for direct impacts on specific species, few studies have simultaneously considered the effects of ocean acidification on individuals (e.g. consequences for energy budgets and resource partitioning) and population level demographic processes. Here we show that ocean acidification increases energetic demands on gastropods resulting in altered energy allocation, i.e. reduced shell size but increased body mass. When scaled up to the population level, long-term exposure to ocean acidification altered population demography, with evidence of a reduction in the proportion of females in the population and genetic signatures of increased variance in reproductive success among individuals. Such increased variance enhances levels of short-term genetic drift which is predicted to inhibit adaptation. Our study indicates that even against a background of high gene flow, ocean acidification is driving individual- and population-level changes that will impact eco-evolutionary trajectories.

Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup

OpenAIRE

Annelise Norlyk; Pia Dreyer; Anita Haahr; Bente Martinsen

2011-01-01

The creative processes of understanding patients’ experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905-1981), this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup’s thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients’ experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup’s thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomeno...

Climate, carbon cycling, and deep-ocean ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, K L; Ruhl, H A; Bett, B J; Billett, D S M; Lampitt, R S; Kaufmann, R S

2009-11-17

Climate variation affects surface ocean processes and the production of organic carbon, which ultimately comprises the primary food supply to the deep-sea ecosystems that occupy approximately 60% of the Earth's surface. Warming trends in atmospheric and upper ocean temperatures, attributed to anthropogenic influence, have occurred over the past four decades. Changes in upper ocean temperature influence stratification and can affect the availability of nutrients for phytoplankton production. Global warming has been predicted to intensify stratification and reduce vertical mixing. Research also suggests that such reduced mixing will enhance variability in primary production and carbon export flux to the deep sea. The dependence of deep-sea communities on surface water production has raised important questions about how climate change will affect carbon cycling and deep-ocean ecosystem function. Recently, unprecedented time-series studies conducted over the past two decades in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic at >4,000-m depth have revealed unexpectedly large changes in deep-ocean ecosystems significantly correlated to climate-driven changes in the surface ocean that can impact the global carbon cycle. Climate-driven variation affects oceanic communities from surface waters to the much-overlooked deep sea and will have impacts on the global carbon cycle. Data from these two widely separated areas of the deep ocean provide compelling evidence that changes in climate can readily influence deep-sea processes. However, the limited geographic coverage of these existing time-series studies stresses the importance of developing a more global effort to monitor deep-sea ecosystems under modern conditions of rapidly changing climate.

Ocean transport and the facilitation of trade

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veenstra, A.W.; Lee, C.Y.; Meng, Q.

2015-01-01

In this chapter, we describe transactions in international trade transaction, and we zoom in on the ocean transport part of that transaction. We use transaction cost economics as our theoretical framework. We highlighted a number of ocean transport related processes that generate uncertainty and

The Ocean Acidification Curriculum Collection - sharing ocean science resources for k-12 classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, P.

2016-02-01

The fish and shellfish provided by ecosystems that abound in the waters of Puget Sound have sustained the Suquamish Tribe for millennia. However, years of development, pollution and over-harvest have reduced some fish and shellfish populations to just a fraction of their former abundance. Now, ocean acidification (OA) and climate change pose additional threats to these essential natural resources. Ocean acidification can't be stopped; however, many of the other human-caused stressors to ocean health can. If human behaviors that harm ocean health can be modified to reduce impacts, fish populations and ecosystems could become more resilient to the changing ocean conditions. School is arguably the best place to convey the ideas and awareness needed for people to adopt new behaviors. Students are open to new ideas and they influence their peers and parents. In addition, they are captive audiences in classrooms for many years.The Suquamish Tribe is helping to foster new generations of ocean stewards by creating an online searchable database (OACurriculumCollection.org). This site is designed to facilitate finding, reviewing and sharing free educational materials on OA. At the same time, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were released providing a great opportunity to get new materials into classrooms. OA provides highly appropriate context to teach many of the ideas in the new standards making it attractive to teachers looking for interesting and relevant materials. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how teachers can use the site as a place to find and share materials on OA. We will also present a framework developed by teachers for understanding OA, its impacts, and the many ways students can help ease the impacts on ocean ecosystems. We will provide examples of how OA can be used as context and content for the NGSS and finally, we will discuss the failures and successes on our journey to get relevant materials into the classroom.

Understanding the IT/business partnership - a business process perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siurdyban, Artur

2014-01-01

From a business process perspective, the business value of information technologies (IT) stems from how they improve or enable business processes. At the same time, in the field of strategic IT/business alignment, the locus of discussion has been how IT/business partnerships enhance the value of IT....... Despite this apparent relationship, the business process perspective has been absent from the IT/business alignment discussion. In this paper, we use the case of an industrial company to develop a model for understanding IT/business partnerships in business process terms. Based on our findings, we define...... these partnerships by allocating responsibilities between central IT and the local business during two stages of a process lifecycle: formation and standardization. The significance of the findings lies in how the model’s configuration leads to different types of IT units’ process centricity. This in turn affects...

Rare earth elements in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baar, H.J.W. de; Bacon, M.P.; Brewer, P.G.; Bruland, K.W.

1985-01-01

The first profiles of Pr, Tb, Ho, Tm and Lu in the Pacific Ocean, as well as profiles of La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd and Yb are reported. Concentrations of REE (except Ce) in the deep water are two to three times higher than those observed in the deep Atlantic Ocean. Surface water concentrations are typically lower than in the Atlantic Ocean, especially for the heavier elements Ho,Tm,Yb and Lu. Cerium is strongly depleted in the Pacific water column, but less so in the oxygen minimum zone. The distribution of the REE group is consistent with two simultaneous processes: (1) cycling similar to that of opal and calcium carbonate, and (2) adsorptive scavenging by settling particles and possibly by uptake at ocean boundaries. However, the first process can probably not be sustained by the low REE contents of shells, unless additional adsorption on surfaces is invoked. The second process, adsorptive scavenging, largely controls the oceanic distribution and typical seawater pattern of the rare earths. (author)

Chemistry of Frozen NaCl and MgSO4 Brines - Implications for Surface Expression of Europa's Ocean Composition

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, P. V.; Hodyss, R. P.; Choukroun, M.; Vu, T. H.

2015-12-01

The composition of Europa's subsurface ocean is a critical determinant of its habitability, but current analysis of the ocean composition is limited to its expression on the Europan surface. While there is observational evidence indicating that ocean materials make their way to the surface, our understanding of the chemical processes that can alter this material under Europan surface conditions is limited. We present experimental data on the chemistry of mixed solutions of NaCl and MgSO4 as they are frozen to 100 K, replicating the conditions that may occur when subsurface ocean fluids are emplaced onto Europa's surface. Confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy is used to study the formation of salts during the freezing process, and the interaction of ions in the frozen brines. Our data indicate that mixed aqueous solutions of NaCl and MgSO4 form Na2SO4 and MgCl2 preferentially when frozen, rather than making NaCl and MgSO4 precipitates. The detection of epsomite (MgSO4Ÿ•7H2O) on Europa's surface may therefore imply an ocean composition relatively low in sodium, unless radiolytic chemistry converts MgCl2 to MgSO4 as suggested by Hand and Brown 2013 (ApJ 145 110). These results have important implications for the interpretation of remote sensing data of Europa's surface.

Collaborative project. Ocean-atmosphere interaction from meso-to planetary-scale. Mechanisms, parameterization, and variability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Small, Richard [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Bryan, Frank [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Tribbia, Joseph [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Park, Sungsu [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Dennis, John [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Saravanan, R. [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Schneider, Niklas [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States); Kwon, Young-Oh [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)

2015-06-11

This project aims to improve long term global climate simulations by resolving ocean mesoscale activity and the corresponding response in the atmosphere. The main computational objectives are; i) to perform and assess Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulations with the new Community Atmospheric Model (CAM) spectral element dynamical core; ii) use static mesh refinement to focus on oceanic fronts; iii) develop a new Earth System Modeling tool to investigate the atmospheric response to fronts by selectively filtering surface flux fields in the CESM coupler. The climate research objectives are 1) to improve the coupling of ocean fronts and the atmospheric boundary layer via investigations of dependency on model resolution and stability functions: 2) to understand and simulate the ensuing tropospheric response that has recently been documented in observations: and 3) to investigate the relationship of ocean frontal variability to low frequency climate variability and the accompanying storm tracks and extremes in high resolution simulations. This is a collaborative multi-institution project consisting of computational scientists, climate scientists and climate model developers. It specifically aims at DOE objectives of advancing simulation and predictive capability of climate models through improvements in resolution and physical process representation.

Ocean eddies and climate predictability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirtman, Ben P; Perlin, Natalie; Siqueira, Leo

2017-12-01

A suite of coupled climate model simulations and experiments are used to examine how resolved mesoscale ocean features affect aspects of climate variability, air-sea interactions, and predictability. In combination with control simulations, experiments with the interactive ensemble coupling strategy are used to further amplify the role of the oceanic mesoscale field and the associated air-sea feedbacks and predictability. The basic intent of the interactive ensemble coupling strategy is to reduce the atmospheric noise at the air-sea interface, allowing an assessment of how noise affects the variability, and in this case, it is also used to diagnose predictability from the perspective of signal-to-noise ratios. The climate variability is assessed from the perspective of sea surface temperature (SST) variance ratios, and it is shown that, unsurprisingly, mesoscale variability significantly increases SST variance. Perhaps surprising is the fact that the presence of mesoscale ocean features even further enhances the SST variance in the interactive ensemble simulation beyond what would be expected from simple linear arguments. Changes in the air-sea coupling between simulations are assessed using pointwise convective rainfall-SST and convective rainfall-SST tendency correlations and again emphasize how the oceanic mesoscale alters the local association between convective rainfall and SST. Understanding the possible relationships between the SST-forced signal and the weather noise is critically important in climate predictability. We use the interactive ensemble simulations to diagnose this relationship, and we find that the presence of mesoscale ocean features significantly enhances this link particularly in ocean eddy rich regions. Finally, we use signal-to-noise ratios to show that the ocean mesoscale activity increases model estimated predictability in terms of convective precipitation and atmospheric upper tropospheric circulation.

Cryptic lineage differentiation among Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the northwest Indian Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, H W I; Nishida, S; Welch, A J; Moura, A E; Tanabe, S; Kiani, M S; Culloch, R; Möller, L; Natoli, A; Ponnampalam, L S; Minton, G; Gore, M; Collins, T; Willson, A; Baldwin, R; Hoelzel, A R

2018-05-01

Phylogeography can provide insight into the potential for speciation and identify geographic regions and evolutionary processes associated with species richness and evolutionary endemism. In the marine environment, highly mobile species sometimes show structured patterns of diversity, but the processes isolating populations and promoting differentiation are often unclear. The Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins) are a striking case in point and, in particular, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.). Understanding the radiation of species in this genus is likely to provide broader inference about the processes that determine patterns of biogeography and speciation, because both fine-scale structure over a range of kilometers and relative panmixia over an oceanic range are known for Tursiops populations. In our study, novel Tursiops spp. sequences from the northwest Indian Ocean (including mitogenomes and two nuDNA loci) are included in a worldwide Tursiops spp. phylogeographic analysis. We discover a new 'aduncus' type lineage in the Arabian Sea (off India, Pakistan and Oman) that diverged from the Australasian lineage ∼261 Ka. Effective management of coastal dolphins in the region will need to consider this new lineage as an evolutionarily significant unit. We propose that the establishment of this lineage could have been in response to climate change during the Pleistocene and show data supporting hypotheses for multiple divergence events, including vicariance across the Indo-Pacific barrier and in the northwest Indian Ocean. These data provide valuable transferable inference on the potential mechanisms for population and species differentiation across this geographic range. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A model for understanding and learning of the game process of computer games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Lasse Juel; Majgaard, Gunver

This abstract focuses on the computer game design process in the education of engineers at the university level. We present a model for understanding the different layers in the game design process, and an articulation of their intricate interconnectedness. Our motivation is propelled by our daily...... teaching practice of game design. We have observed a need for a design model that quickly can create an easily understandable overview over something as complex as the design processes of computer games. This posed a problem: how do we present a broad overview of the game design process and at the same...... time make sure that the students learn to act and reflect like game designers? We fell our game design model managed to just that end. Our model entails a guideline for the computer game design process in its entirety, and at same time distributes clear and easy understandable insight to a particular...

Toward Process-resolving Synthesis and Prediction of Arctic Climate Change Using the Regional Arctic System Model

Science.gov (United States)

Maslowski, W.

2017-12-01

The Regional Arctic System Model (RASM) has been developed to better understand the operation of Arctic System at process scale and to improve prediction of its change at a spectrum of time scales. RASM is a pan-Arctic, fully coupled ice-ocean-atmosphere-land model with marine biogeochemistry extension to the ocean and sea ice models. The main goal of our research is to advance a system-level understanding of critical processes and feedbacks in the Arctic and their links with the Earth System. The secondary, an equally important objective, is to identify model needs for new or additional observations to better understand such processes and to help constrain models. Finally, RASM has been used to produce sea ice forecasts for September 2016 and 2017, in contribution to the Sea Ice Outlook of the Sea Ice Prediction Network. Future RASM forecasts, are likely to include increased resolution for model components and ecosystem predictions. Such research is in direct support of the US environmental assessment and prediction needs, including those of the U.S. Navy, Department of Defense, and the recent IARPC Arctic Research Plan 2017-2021. In addition to an overview of RASM technical details, selected model results are presented from a hierarchy of climate models together with available observations in the region to better understand potential oceanic contributions to polar amplification. RASM simulations are analyzed to evaluate model skill in representing seasonal climatology as well as interannual and multi-decadal climate variability and predictions. Selected physical processes and resulting feedbacks are discussed to emphasize the need for fully coupled climate model simulations, high model resolution and sensitivity of simulated sea ice states to scale dependent model parameterizations controlling ice dynamics, thermodynamics and coupling with the atmosphere and ocean.

Sensitivity of sequestration efficiency to mixing processes in the global ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

B.K. Mignone; J.L. Sarmiento; R.D. Slater; A. Gnanadesikan [Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (United States). Department of Geosciences

2003-07-01

A number of large-scale sequestration strategies have been considered to help mitigate rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}). Here an ocean general circulation model (OGCM) is used to evaluate the efficiency of one such strategy currently receiving much attention, the direct injection of liquid CO{sub 2} into selected regions of the abyssal ocean. It was found that currents typically transport the injected plumes quite far before they are able to return to the surface and release CO{sub 2} through air-sea gas exchange. When injected at sufficient depth (well within or below the main thermocline), most of the injected CO{sub 2} outgases in high latitudes (mainly in the Southern Ocean) where vertical exchange is most favored. Virtually all OGCMs that have performed similar simulations confirm these global patterns, but regional differences are significant, leading efficiency estimates to vary widely among models even when identical protocols are followed. In this paper, a first attempt is made at reconciling some of these differences by performing a sensitivity analysis in one OGCM, the Princeton Modular Ocean Model. Using techniques developed to maintain both the modeled density structure and the absolute magnitude of the overturning circulation while varying important mixing parameters, the sensitivity of sequestration efficiency to the magnitude of vertical exchange within the low-latitude pycnoclineis is estimated. Combining these model results with available tracer data allows a narrowing of the range of allowable mixing in the model, which in turn places important constraints on sequestration efficiency. 35 refs., 1 fig.

Sensitivity of sequestration efficiency to mixing processes in the global ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mignone, B.K. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Geosciences; Sarmiento, J.L.; Slater, R.D. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences; Gnanadesikan, A. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences; Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab., NOAA, Princeton, NJ (United States)

2004-08-01

A number of large-scale sequestration strategies have been considered to help mitigate rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}). Here, we use an ocean general circulation model (OGCM) to evaluate the efficiency of one such strategy currently receiving much attention, the direct injection of liquid CO{sub 2} into selected regions of the abyssal ocean. We find that currents typically transport the injected plumes quite far before they are able to return to the surface and release CO{sub 2} through air-sea gas exchange. When injected at sufficient depth (well within or below the main thermocline), most of the injected CO{sub 2} outgasses in high latitudes (mainly in the Southern Ocean) where vertical exchange is most favored. Virtually all OGCMs that have performed similar simulations confirm these global patterns, but regional differences are significant, leading efficiency estimates to vary widely among models even when identical protocols are followed. In this paper, we make a first attempt at reconciling some of these differences by performing a sensitivity analysis in one OGCM, the Princeton Modular Ocean Model. Using techniques we have developed to maintain both the modeled density structure and the absolute magnitude of the overturning circulation while varying important mixing parameters, we estimate the sensitivity of sequestration efficiency to the magnitude of vertical exchange within the low-latitude pycnocline. Combining these model results with available tracer data permits us to narrow the range of model behavior, which in turn places important constraints on sequestration efficiency. (author)

Understanding and Predicting the Process of Software Maintenance Releases

Science.gov (United States)

Basili, Victor; Briand, Lionel; Condon, Steven; Kim, Yong-Mi; Melo, Walcelio L.; Valett, Jon D.

1996-01-01

One of the major concerns of any maintenance organization is to understand and estimate the cost of maintenance releases of software systems. Planning the next release so as to maximize the increase in functionality and the improvement in quality are vital to successful maintenance management. The objective of this paper is to present the results of a case study in which an incremental approach was used to better understand the effort distribution of releases and build a predictive effort model for software maintenance releases. This study was conducted in the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center(GSFC). This paper presents three main results: 1) a predictive effort model developed for the FDD's software maintenance release process; 2) measurement-based lessons learned about the maintenance process in the FDD; and 3) a set of lessons learned about the establishment of a measurement-based software maintenance improvement program. In addition, this study provides insights and guidelines for obtaining similar results in other maintenance organizations.

Processes controlling the surface temperature signature of the Madden-Julian oscillation in the thermocline ridge of the Indian Ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jayakumar, A.; Gnanaseelan, C. [Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (India); Vialard, Jerome; Lengaigne, M. [CNRS, UPMC, IRD, Case 100, Universite P. et M. Curie, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie Experimentation et Approches Numeriques, LOCEAN, Paris Cedex 05 (France); National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (India); McCreary, Julian P. [University of Hawaii, International Pacific Research Centre, Hawaii (United States); Praveen Kumar, B. [National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (India)

2011-12-15

During boreal winter, there is a prominent maximum of intraseasonal sea-surface temperature (SST) variability associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) along a Thermocline Ridge located in the southwestern Indian Ocean (5 S-10 S, 60 E-90 E; TRIO region). There is an ongoing debate about the relative importance of air-sea heat fluxes and oceanic processes in driving this intraseasonal SST variability. Furthermore, various studies have suggested that interannual variability of the oceanic structure in the TRIO region could modulate the amplitude of the MJO-driven SST response. In this study, we use observations and ocean general circulation model (OGCM) experiments to quantify these two effects over the 1997-2006 period. Observational analysis indicates that Ekman pumping does not contribute significantly (on average) to intraseasonal SST variability. It is, however, difficult to quantify the relative contribution of net heat fluxes and entrainment to SST intraseasonal variability from observations alone. We therefore use a suite of OGCM experiments to isolate the impacts of each process. During 1997-2006, wind stress contributed on average only about 20% of the intraseasonal SST variability (averaged over the TRIO region), while heat fluxes contributed about 70%, with forcing by shortwave radiation (75%) dominating the other flux components (25%). This estimate is consistent with an independent air-sea flux product, which indicates that shortwave radiation contributes 68% of intraseasonal heat flux variability. The time scale of the heat-flux perturbation, in addition to its amplitude, is also important in controlling the intraseasonal SST signature, with longer periods favouring a larger response. There are also strong year-to-year variations in the respective role of heat fluxes and wind stress. Of the five strong cooling events identified in both observations and the model (two in 1999 and one in 2000, 2001 and 2002), intraseasonal-wind stress dominates

The great challenges in Arctic Ocean paleoceanography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stein, Ruediger

2011-01-01

Despite the importance of the Arctic in the climate system, the data base we have from this area is still very weak, and large parts of the climate history have not been recovered at all in sedimentary sections. In order to fill this gap in knowledge, international, multidisciplinary expeditions and projects for scientific drilling/coring in the Arctic Ocean are needed. Key areas and approaches for drilling and recovering undisturbed and complete sedimentary sequences are depth transects across the major ocean ridge systems, i.e., the Lomonosov Ridge, the Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge, and the Chukchi Plateau/Northwind Ridge, the Beaufort, Kara and Laptev sea continental margins, as well as the major Arctic gateways towards the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The new detailed climate records from the Arctic Ocean spanning time intervals from the Late Cretaceous/Paleogene Greenhouse world to the Neogene-Quaternary Icehouse world and representing short- and long-term climate variability on scales from 10 to 10 6 years, will give new insights into our understanding of the Arctic Ocean within the global climate system and provide an opportunity to test the performance of climate models used to predict future climate change. With this, studying the Arctic Ocean is certainly one of the major challenges in climate research for the coming decades.

Robust non-local effects of ocean heat uptake on radiative feedback and subtropical cloud cover

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, B. E. J.

2016-02-01

Much recent work has pointed to the limitations of the global mean planetary energy budget as a useful diagnostic tool for understanding transient climate response, because the climate sensitivity (or radiative feedback) governing the relationships between ocean heat content, surface temperature and top-of-atmosphere energy imbalance depends sensitively on timescale, spatial pattern and nature of the climate forcing. Progress has been made by treating the slowly-evolving (and spatially complex) pattern of ocean heat uptake as a quasi-equilibrium forcing on the "fast" components of the climate system: the atmospheric radiative-dynamical processes that link air-sea heat exchange to the top-of-atmosphere energy budget. Differences between these feedbacks and those on CO2 radiative forcing can be expressed as an "efficacy" of ocean heat uptake. We use idealized slab ocean GCMs forced by prescribed steady energy sinks limited to specific latitude bands (representing heat exchange with the deep ocean) to quantify how (and why) the efficacy depends on the spatial pattern of ocean heat uptake. By repeating the experiment across several independent GCMs we identify robust and non-robust aspects of the response. We find that the efficacy of sub-polar heat uptake is 3 to 4 times larger than the efficacy of tropical heat uptake. Radiative kernel analysis allows an accurate partition into feedbacks due to temperature, water vapor and clouds. We find large and robust differences in clear-sky lapse rate feedbacks, associated with robust differences in large-scale atmospheric circulation and stratification driven by ocean heat uptake. A more novel and surprising result is the robustness across several independent GCMs of the differences in subtropical low cloud feedback (positive under high-latitude uptake, strongly negative under tropical uptake). We trace these robust differences to thermodynamic constraints associated with lower-tropospheric stability and boundary layer

Deciphering ocean carbon in a changing world

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moran, Mary Ann; Kujawinski, Elizabeth B.; Stubbins, Aron; Fatland, Rob; Aluwihare, Lihini I.; Buchan, Alison; Crump, Byron C.; Dorrestein, Pieter C.; Dyhrman, Sonya T.; Hess, Nancy J.; Howe, Bill; Longnecker, Krista; Medeiros, Patricia M.; Niggemann, Jutta; Obernosterer, Ingrid; Repeta, Daniel J.; Waldbauer, Jacob R.

2016-03-07

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the oceans is one of the largest pools of reduced carbon on Earth, comparable in size to the atmospheric CO2 reservoir. The cycling of DOM over short and long time scales has profound impacts on the quantity of carbon sequestered in the oceans and the foundations of the food webs that support ocean life. At the heart of this cycle lie molecular-level relationships between the individual molecules in DOM and the members of the ocean microbiome that produce and consume them. In the past, these connections have defied clear definition and study because both DOM and microbial communities consist of many thousands of individual components. Emerging tools in analytical chemistry, microbiology and informatics are breaking down the barriers to a fuller appreciation of these connections. Here we highlight questions that are being addressed using this new toolkit and consider how these advances are transforming our understanding of some of the most important reactions of the marine carbon cycle.

Ocean Modeling and Visualization on Massively Parallel Computer

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Yi; Li, P. Peggy; Wang, Ping; Katz, Daniel S.; Cheng, Benny N.

1997-01-01

Climate modeling is one of the grand challenges of computational science, and ocean modeling plays an important role in both understanding the current climatic conditions and predicting future climate change.

Critical Infrastructure for Ocean Research and Societal Needs in 2030

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

National Research Council

2011-04-22

The United States has jurisdiction over 3.4 million square miles of ocean expanse greater than the land area of all fifty states combined. This vast marine area offers researchers opportunities to investigate the ocean's role in an integrated Earth system, but also presents challenges to society, including damaging tsunamis and hurricanes, industrial accidents, and outbreaks of waterborne diseases. The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill and 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami are vivid reminders that a broad range of infrastructure is needed to advance our still-incomplete understanding of the ocean. The National Research Council (NRC)'s Ocean Studies Board was asked by the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, comprised of 25 U.S. government agencies, to examine infrastructure needs for ocean research in the year 2030. This request reflects concern, among a myriad of marine issues, over the present state of aging and obsolete infrastructure, insufficient capacity, growing technological gaps, and declining national leadership in marine technological development; issues brought to the nation's attention in 2004 by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. A 15-member committee of experts identified four themes that encompass 32 future ocean research questions enabling stewardship of the environment, protecting life and property, promoting economic vitality, and increasing fundamental scientific understanding. Many of the questions in the report (e.g., sea level rise, sustainable fisheries, the global water cycle) reflect challenging, multidisciplinary science questions that are clearly relevant today, and are likely to take decades of effort to solve. As such, U.S. ocean research will require a growing suite of ocean infrastructure for a range of activities, such as high quality, sustained time series observations or autonomous monitoring at a broad range of spatial and temporal scales

Amino Acid Stability in the Early Oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, E. T.; Brinton, K. L.; Burton, A. S.; Glavin, D. P.; Dworkin, J. P.; Bada, J. L.

2015-01-01

It is likely that a variety of amino acids existed in the early oceans of the Earth at the time of the origin and early evolution of life. "Primordial soup", hydrothermal vent, and meteorite based processes could have contributed to such an inventory. Several "protein" amino acids were likely present, however, based on prebiotic synthesis experiments and carbonaceous meteorite studies, non-protein amino acids, which are rare on Earth today, were likely the most abundant. An important uncertainty is the length of time these amino acids could have persisted before their destruction by abiotic and biotic processes. Prior to life, amino acid concentrations in the oceans were likely regulated by circulation through hydro-thermal vents. Today, the entire ocean circulates through vent systems every 10(exp 7) years. On the early Earth, this value was likely smaller due to higher heat flow and thus marine amino acid life-time would have been shorter. After life, amino acids in the oceans could have been assimilated by primitive organisms.

Biogeochemical proxies in Scleractinian corals used to reconstruct ocean circulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guilderson, T.P.; Kashgarian, M.; Schrag, D.P.

2002-01-01

We utilize monthly 14 C data derived from coral archives in conjunction with ocean circulation models to address two questions: 1) how does the shallow circulation of the tropical Pacific vary on seasonal to decadal time scales and 2) which dynamic processes determine the mean vertical structure of the equatorial Pacific thermocline. Our results directly impact the understanding of global climate events such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). To study changes in ocean circulation and water mass distribution involved in the genesis and evolution of ENSO and decadal climate variability, it is necessary to have records of climate variables several decades in length. Continuous instrumental records are limited because technology for continuous monitoring of ocean currents has only recently been available, and ships of opportunity archives such as COADS contain large spatial and temporal biases. In addition, temperature and salinity in surface waters are not conservative and thus can not be independently relied upon to trace water masses, reducing the utility of historical observations. Radiocarbon ( 14 C) in sea water is a quasi-conservative water mass tracer and is incorporated into coral skeletal material, thus coral 14 C records can be used to reconstruct changes in shallow circulation that would be difficult to characterize using instrumental data. High resolution Δ 14 C time-series such as these, provide a powerful constraint on the rate of surface ocean mixing and hold great promise to augment onetime surveys such as GEOSECS and WOCE. These data not only provide fundamental information about the shallow circulation of the Pacific, but can be used as a benchmark for the next generation of high resolution ocean models used in prognosticating climate change. (author)

Radiative transfer solutions for coupled atmosphere ocean systems using the matrix operator technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollstein, André; Fischer, Jürgen

2012-01-01

Accurate radiative transfer models are the key tools for the understanding of radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere and ocean, and for the development of remote sensing algorithms. The widely used scalar approximation of radiative transfer can lead to errors in calculated top of atmosphere radiances. We show results with errors in the order of±8% for atmosphere ocean systems with case one waters. Variations in sea water salinity and temperature can lead to variations in the signal of similar magnitude. Therefore, we enhanced our scalar radiative transfer model MOMO, which is in use at Freie Universität Berlin, to treat these effects as accurately as possible. We describe our one-dimensional vector radiative transfer model for an atmosphere ocean system with a rough interface. We describe the matrix operator scheme and the bio-optical model for case one waters. We discuss some effects of neglecting polarization in radiative transfer calculations and effects of salinity changes for top of atmosphere radiances. Results are shown for the channels of the satellite instruments MERIS and OLCI from 412.5 nm to 900 nm.

Design and implementation of a 3D ocean virtual reality and visualization engine

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ge; Li, Bo; Tian, Fenglin; Ji, Pengbo; Li, Wenqing

2012-12-01

In this study, a 3D virtual reality and visualization engine for rendering the ocean, named VV-Ocean, is designed for marine applications. The design goals of VV-Ocean aim at high fidelity simulation of ocean environment, visualization of massive and multidimensional marine data, and imitation of marine lives. VV-Ocean is composed of five modules, i.e. memory management module, resources management module, scene management module, rendering process management module and interaction management module. There are three core functions in VV-Ocean: reconstructing vivid virtual ocean scenes, visualizing real data dynamically in real time, imitating and simulating marine lives intuitively. Based on VV-Ocean, we establish a sea-land integration platform which can reproduce drifting and diffusion processes of oil spilling from sea bottom to surface. Environment factors such as ocean current and wind field have been considered in this simulation. On this platform oil spilling process can be abstracted as movements of abundant oil particles. The result shows that oil particles blend with water well and the platform meets the requirement for real-time and interactive rendering. VV-Ocean can be widely used in ocean applications such as demonstrating marine operations, facilitating maritime communications, developing ocean games, reducing marine hazards, forecasting the weather over oceans, serving marine tourism, and so on. Finally, further technological improvements of VV-Ocean are discussed.

The Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO (trademark)) Provides a New View of the Coastal Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-09

The calibrated data are then sent to NRL Stennis Space Center (NRL-SSC) for further processing using the NRL SSC Automated Processing System (APS...hyperspectral sensor in space we have not previously developed automated processing for hyperspectral ocean color data. The hyperspectral processing branch

Organizing the collection and automated processing of information about oil pollution of the world's oceans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mikhaylov, V.A.; Surago, A.V.

1983-01-01

A system is examined for collecting, testing, storing and processing of data about pollution of the world's ocean by oil within the MOK-VMO test project on a computer (EVM). Forms for recording the results of observations and analysis in the form of an observation log for each form of oil pollution are cited. A description is given of the operation of the system.

Distribution of some chemical elements between dissolved and particulate phases in the ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spencer, D.W.; Bacon, M.P.; Sachs, P.L.; Fleer, A.P.; Shafer, D.K.; Belastock, R.A.; Hammer, T.R.

1985-01-01

The long-range goal of our research is to understand the processes that control the distribution and fate of chemical elements in the ocean, with emphasis on the rates at which the governing processes operate. Such an understanding is essential in predicting the fate of substances such as heavy metals and radionuclides that are released to the environment as a consequence of energy-producing activities. In pursuit of this goal we have, during the present contract period, devoted all of our effort to participation in the Shelf-Edge Exchange Processes (SEEP) program. Initial results from SEEP-1 are consistent with our hypothesis of enhanced scavenging of reactive chemical substances in upper slope sediments. During the next year we will complete our analytical work for SEEP-1 and carry out quantitative interpretations of our data with mathematical models to assess the importance of boundary uptake in this region of the continental margin. 8 references, 5 figures, 1 table

Autonomous observing strategies for the ocean carbon cycle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bishop, James K.; Davis, Russ E.

2000-07-26

Understanding the exchanges of carbon between the atmosphere and ocean and the fate of carbon delivered to the deep sea is fundamental to the evaluation of ocean carbon sequestration options. An additional key requirement is that sequestration must be verifiable and that environmental effects be monitored and minimized. These needs can be addressed by carbon system observations made from low-cost autonomous ocean-profiling floats and gliders. We have developed a prototype ocean carbon system profiler based on the Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observer (SOLO; Davis et al., 1999). The SOLO/ carbon profiler will measure the two biomass components of the carbon system and their relationship to physical variables, such as upper ocean stratification and mixing. The autonomous observations within the upper 1500 m will be made on daily time scales for periods of months to seasons and will be carried out in biologically dynamic locations in the world's oceans that are difficult to access with ships (due to weather) or observe using remote sensing satellites (due to cloud cover). Such an observational capability not only will serve an important role in carbon sequestration research but will provide key observations of the global ocean's natural carbon cycle.

Astronomical Ice: The Effects of Treating Ice as a Porous Media on the Dynamics and Evolution of Extraterrestrial Ice-Ocean Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Buffo, J.; Schmidt, B. E.

2015-12-01

With the prevalence of water and ice rich environments in the solar system, and likely the universe, becoming more apparent, understanding the evolutionary dynamics and physical processes of such locales is of great importance. Piqued interest arises from the understanding that the persistence of all known life depends on the presence of liquid water. As in situ investigation is currently infeasible, accurate numerical modeling is the best technique to demystify these environments. We will discuss an evolving model of ice-ocean interaction aimed at realistically describing the behavior of the ice-ocean interface by treating basal ice as a porous media, and its possible implications on the formation of astrobiological niches. Treating ice as a porous media drastically affects the thermodynamic properties it exhibits. Thus inclusion of this phenomenon is critical in accurately representing the dynamics and evolution of all ice-ocean environments. This model utilizes equations that describe the dynamics of sea ice when it is treated as a porous media (Hunke et. al. 2011), coupled with a basal melt and accretion model (Holland and Jenkins 1999). Combined, these two models produce the most accurate description of the processes occurring at the base of terrestrial sea ice and ice shelves, capable of resolving variations within the ice due to environmental pressures. While these models were designed for application to terrestrial environments, the physics occurring at any ice-water interface is identical, and these models can be used to represent the evolution of a variety of icy astronomical bodies. As terrestrial ice shelves provide a close analog to planetary ice-ocean environments, we truth test the models validity against observations of ice shelves. We apply this model to the ice-ocean interface of the icy Galilean moon Europa. We include profiles of temperature, salinity, solid fraction, and Darcy velocity, as well as temporally and spatially varying melt and

Studying fish near ocean energy devices using underwater video

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matzner, Shari; Hull, Ryan E.; Harker-Klimes, Genevra EL; Cullinan, Valerie I.

2017-09-18

The effects of energy devices on fish populations are not well-understood, and studying the interactions of fish with tidal and instream turbines is challenging. To address this problem, we have evaluated algorithms to automatically detect fish in underwater video and propose a semi-automated method for ocean and river energy device ecological monitoring. The key contributions of this work are the demonstration of a background subtraction algorithm (ViBE) that detected 87% of human-identified fish events and is suitable for use in a real-time system to reduce data volume, and the demonstration of a statistical model to classify detections as fish or not fish that achieved a correct classification rate of 85% overall and 92% for detections larger than 5 pixels. Specific recommendations for underwater video acquisition to better facilitate automated processing are given. The recommendations will help energy developers put effective monitoring systems in place, and could lead to a standard approach that simplifies the monitoring effort and advances the scientific understanding of the ecological impacts of ocean and river energy devices.

Ocean Research - Perspectives from an international Ocean Research Coordination Network