States’ obligations relating to marine monitoring and observation

Ocean data determining the state of the ocean are required for various purposes. The data are needed to understand the ocean and its interrelation, for instance, with the climate as well as to provide information and benefits for numerous sectors, such as for the coastal protection or pollution control. In order to meet the multiple needs for ocean information, a global and sustained system for ocean observation activities is necessary. Steps towards such a global system have been taken within the last decades, especially by setting up the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). However, the existing international structures and systems have been lacking governmental support and are held to be insufficient. In this context, the questions are raised whether states are already required by international law to observe and monitor the ocean and to cooperate in doing so and whether states are even obliged to contribute to international ocean observing programmes. Although to some extent, states’ obligations can be found in international conventions, such as in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), they cannot meet all the various needs for ocean data. Specific and substantive obligations in international law meeting the multiple needs for ocean data are, however, required. If such obligations were included in the UNCLOS, issues relating to Marine Scientific Research would have to be kept in mind. Another option of creating specific commitments could be seen in a new agreement relating to the GOOS.     

Inorganic carbon fluxes through the boundaries of the Greenland Sea Basin based on in situ observations and water transport estimates

A carbon budget for the exchange of total dissolved inorganic carbon C_T between the Greenland Sea and the surrounding seas has been constructed for winter and summer situations. An extensive data set of C_T collected over the years 1994–1997 within the European Sub-polar Ocean Programmes (ESOP1 and ESOP2) are used for the budget calculation. Based on these data, mean values of C_T in eight different boxes representing the inflow and outflow of water through the boundaries of the Greenland Sea Basin are estimated. The obtained values are then combined with simulated water transports taken from the ESOP2 version of the Miami Isopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model (MICOM). The fluxes of inorganic carbon are presented for three layers; a surface mixed layer, an intermediate layer and a deep layer, and the imbalance in the fluxes are attributed to air–sea exchange, biological fixation of inorganic carbon, and sedimentation. The main influx of carbon is found in the surface and the deep layers in the Fram Strait, and in the surface waters of direct Atlantic origin, whereas the main outflux is found in the surface layer over the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone and the Knipovich Ridge, transporting carbon into the Atlantic Ocean via the Denmark Strait and towards the Arctic Ocean via the Norwegian Sea, respectively. The flux calculation indicates that there is a net transport of carbon out of the Greenland Sea during wintertime. In the absence of biological activity, this imbalance is attributed to air sea exchange, and requires an oceanic uptake of CO₂ of 0.024±0.006 Gt C yr⁻¹. The flux calculations from the summer period are complicated by biological fixation of inorganic carbon, and show that data on organic carbon is required in order to estimate the air–sea exchange in the area.     

Decadal sea level trends in the Bay of Biscay from tide gauges, GPS and TOPEX

Sea level time series derived from TOPEX altimeter and from tide gauge measurements in the Bay of Biscay (Eastern North Atlantic Ocean) are used to investigate the regional sea level rise. Altimetry sea level anomalies are computed from TOPEX measurements and resampled into fixed along track bins in order to obtain consistent records and to approach as close as possible to the coast. Tidal corrections are critical in the estimation of sea level trends; therefore an additional analysis has been carried out in order to identify and correct for residual tidal signals. The obtained mean sea level rise in the region is + 3.09 ± 0.21 mm/year over the period 1993–2002. Tide gauges have been corrected for vertical land motions by means of collocated GPS measurements. GPS-corrected tide gauges and nearby altimetry trends are found to be statistically consistent. The relationship with the atmospheric forcing is also investigated revealing that 15% of this sea level rise is attributed to the atmospheric pressure effects.     

Comparison between a reanalyzed product by 3-dimensional variational assimilation technique and observations in the Ulleung Basin of the East/Japan Sea

Reanalyzed products from a MOM3-based East Sea Regional Ocean Model with a 3-dimentional variational data assimilation module (DA-ESROM), have been compared with the observed hydrographic and current datasets in the Ulleung Basin (UB) of the East/Japan Sea (EJS). Satellite-borne sea surface temperature and sea surface height data, and in-situ temperature profiles have been assimilated into the DA-ESROM. The performance of the DA-ESROM appears to be efficient enough to be used in an operational ocean forecast system.Comparing with the results from Mitchell et al. [Mitchell, D. A., Watts, D. R., Wimbush, M., Teague, W.J., Tracey, K. L., Book, J. W., Chang, K.-I., Suk, M.-S., Yoon, J.-H., 2005a. Upper circulation patterns in the Ulleung Basin. Deep-Sea Res. II, 52, 1617-1638.], the DA-ESROM fairly well simulates the high variability of the Ulleung Warm Eddy and Dok Cold Eddy as well as the branching of the Tsushima Warm Current in the UB. The overall root-mean-square error between 100 m temperature field reproduced by the DA-ESROM and the observed 100-dbar temperature field is 2.1 °C, and the spatially averaged grid-to-grid correlation between the two temperature fields is high with a mean value of 0.79 for the inter-comparison period.The DA-ESROM reproduces the development of strong southward North Korean Cold Current (NKCC) in summer consistent with the observational results, which is thought to be an improvement of the previous numerical models in the EJS. The reanalyzed products show that the NKCC is about 35 km wide, and flows southward along the Korean coast from spring to summer with maximum monthly mean volume transport of about 0.8 Sv in August–September.     

Maritime accident risk estimation for sea lanes based on a dynamic Bayesian network

ABSTRACT

The safety of maritime transportation has become increasingly important with the development of international economics and trade. This paper introduces a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) model to facilitate the estimation of the dynamic emergency risk in sea lanes. The DBN model is a novel model that can efficiently represent and infer complex stochastic knowledge. To construct this model, available data, which were collected from emergency investigation reports by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), are employed in conjunction with expert knowledge to develop and demonstrate a BN; an evidence theory approach is applied to calculate the prior probability with the help of historical data; the conditional probability is learned by the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm; and the transition probability is obtained by a Markov model. Finally, the Viterbi algorithm is adopted to estimate emergency risk. The emergencies that occurred in the Indian Ocean from 2009 to 2018 were used as a case study for risk estimation. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify significant influential factors. The results show that the sea lane risk in the Indian Ocean fluctuates within a small range, presenting an overall downward trend over time. These findings provide a reference for maritime stakeholders to make proper decisions.     

Primary productivity of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Area and the Southern Ocean

A major objective of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (Palmer LTER) project is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the various components of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Phytoplankton production plays a key role in this so-called high nutrient, low chlorophyll environment, and factors that regulate production include those that control cell growth (light, temperature, and nutrients) and those that control cell accumulation rate and hence population growth (water column stability, grazing, and sinking). Sea ice mediates several of these factors and frequently conditions the water column for a spring bloom which is characterized by a pulse of production restricted in both time and space. This study models the spatial and temporal variability of primary production within the Palmer LTER area west of the Antarctic Peninsula and discusses this production in the context of historical data for the Southern Ocean. Primary production for the Southern Ocean and the Palmer LTER area have been computed using both light-pigment production models [Smith, R.C., Bidigare, R.R., Prézelin, B.B., Baker, K.S., Brooks, J.M., 1987. Optical characterization of primary productivity across a coastal front. Mar. Biol. (96), 575–591; Bidigare, R.R., Smith, R.C., Baker, K.S., Marra, J., 1987. Oceanic primary production estimates from measurements of spectral irradiance and pigment concentrations. Global Biogeochem. Cycles (1), 171–186; Morel, A., Berthon, J.F., 1989. Surface pigments, algal biomass profiles and potential production of the euphotic layer—relationships reinvestigated in view of remote-sensing applications. Limnol. Oceanogr. (34), 1545–1562] and an ice edge production model [Nelson, D.M., Smith, W.O., 1986. Phytoplankton bloom dynamics of the western Ross Sea ice edge: II. Mesoscale cycling of nitrogen and silicon. Deep-Sea Res. (33), 1389–1412; Wilson, D.L., Smith, W.O., Nelson, D.M., 1986. Phytoplankton bloom dynamics of the Western Ross Sea ice edge: I. primary productivity and species-specific production. Deep-Sea Res., 33, 1375–1387; Smith, W.O., Nelson, D.M., 1986. Importance of ice edge phytoplankton production in the Southern Ocean. BioScience (36), 251–257]. Chlorophyll concentrations, total photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) and sea ice concentrations were derived from satellite data. These same parameters, in addition to hydrodynamic conditions, have also been determined from shipboard and Palmer Station observations during the LTER program. Model results are compared, sensitivity studies evaluated, and productivity of the Palmer LTER region is discussed in terms of its space time distribution, seasonal and interannual variability, and overall contribution to the marine ecology of the Southern Ocean.     

The Mercator global ocean operational analysis system: Assessment and validation of an 11-year reanalysis

This paper presents Prototype Système 2 Global (PSY2G), the first Mercator global Ocean General Circulation Model (OGCM) to assimilate along-track sea level anomaly (SLA) satellite data. Based on a coarse resolution ocean model, this system was developed mainly for climatic purposes and will provide, for example, initial oceanic states for coupled ocean-atmosphere seasonal predictions. It has been operational since 3 September 2003 and produces an analysis and a two-week forecast for the global ocean every week. The PSY2G system uses an incremental assimilation scheme based on the Cooper and Haines [Cooper, M., Haines, K., 1996. Data assimilation with water property conservation. J. Geophys. Res., 101, 1059-1077.] lifting–lowering of isopycnals. The SLA increment is obtained using an optimal interpolation method then the correction is partitioned into baroclinic and barotropic contributions. The baroclinic ocean state correction consists of temperature, salinity and geostrophic velocity increments and the barotropic correction is a barotropic velocity increment. A reanalysis (1993–2003) was carried out that enabled the PSY2G system to perform its first operational cycle. All available SLA data sets (TOPEX/Poséïdon, ERS2, Geosat-Follow-On, Jason1 and Envisat) were assimilated for the 1993–2003 period. The major objective of this study is to assess the reanalysis from both an assimilation and a thermodynamic point of view in order to evaluate its realism, especially in the tropical band which is a key region for climatic studies. Although the system is also able to deliver forecasts, we have mainly focused on analysis. These results are useful because they give an a priori estimation of the qualities and capabilities of the operational ocean analysis system that has been implemented. In particular, the reanalysis identifies some regional biases in sea level variability such as near the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, in the eastern Equatorial Pacific and in the Norwegian Sea (generally less than 1 cm) with a small seasonal cycle. This is attributed to changes in mean circulation and vertical stratification caused by the assimilation methodology. But the model's low resolution, inaccurate physical parameterisations (especially for ocean–ice interactions) and surface atmospheric forcing also contribute to the occurrence of the SLA biases. A detailed analysis of the thermohaline structure of the ocean reveals that the isopycnal lifting–lowering tends to diffuse vertically the main thermocline. The impact on temperature is that the surface layer (0–200 m) becomes cooler whereas in deeper waters (from 500 to 1500 m), the ocean becomes slightly warmer. This is particularly true in the tropics, between 30°N and 30°S. However it can be demonstrated that the assimilation improves the variability in both surface currents and sub-surface temperature in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean.     

基于有限元的整船结构多学科设计优化

目前在同时考虑舰船水动力性能和结构性能的多学科设计优化模型中,水动力性能和结构性能的预报通常只能采用精度较低的经验公式。为了提高多学科设计优化模型的计算精度,必须要实现的技术就是将舰船水动力性能预报依赖于CFD的分析和将结构性能预报依赖于有限元的分析。重点研究了在多学科设计优化框架中集成有限元软件进行结构优化的技术。首先以一个简单的耐压圆柱壳为例子,介绍了iSIGHT调用Ansys进行包括参数化建模在内的结构优化的流程。然后对某船的整船有限元分析模型进行了整船结构优化研究。由于该船的整船结构有限元模型包含202个板和梁的属性,优化模型的设计变量很多,超出了目前很多优化算法的使用范围。在经过了多种优化算法的比较后,最终得到了优化解,实现了基于有限元的整船结构多学科设计优化。     

Late-Quaternary changes in productivity of the Southern Ocean

Paleoceanographic records based on new proxies of export production have been constructed for the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. A radionuclide-ratio proxy of particle flux (¹⁰Be/²³⁰Th) and the accumulation rate of authigenic uranium, which responds to the flux of organic carbon to the sea bed, both indicate a dramatic increase, compared to the present, in the export production of the Subantarctic zone (approximately the region between the present-day positions of the Subtropical Convergence and the Antarctic Polar Front) during glacial periods. If the South Atlantic is representative of the entire Southern Ocean, then export production in the Southern Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum was substantially greater than at present. Previous studies, focusing on the burial of biogenic opal, failed to recognize the glacial increase in export production of the Southern Ocean because of a strong non-linearity between accumulation rates of opal and of organic carbon.     

大型钢结构非滑道建造过程中风荷载作用的研究

海洋大型钢结构一般在滑道上建造,而本工程的18个大型模块需在非滑道的码头强夯土基础上建造。本研究通过建立在码头强夯地基上模块结构整体的有限元模型,对结构物在建造过程中,受海上风载作用下结构支点的作用进行分析,为结构建造过程中的安全分析提供理论依据。     

海上溢油收集装置概念设计

随着海洋石油开采和运输事业的日益发展,海上溢油问题的研究越来越受到重视,具有重要的理论价值和实际意义.论文针对各类海上溢油事故,在现有技术的基础上进行突破和创新,提出了三套新概念的海上溢油处理装置,热气球海上浮油收集装置、海上铲车浮油收集器和下潜式浮油收集器,分别利用漩涡原理,面面接触的物理方式和生物环保技术,有效提高海上溢油的收集效率,丰富了溢油处理装置的设计理念,为后续的详细设计奠定了基础.     

State ocean policy initiatives in Florida

Abstract

A territorial sea comprising 6.7 million acres of offshore lands extending three geographic miles into the Atlantic Ocean three marine leagues (nine geographic miles) into the Gulf of Mexico makes Florida the second largest “oceanowning”; state in the contiguous United States. Florida's history, climate, economic development, and worldwide reputation have evolved from the state's relationship with the sea. The state is now becoming aware that aggressive management of its ocean resources is necessary to preserve the future of that relationship. The purpose of this article is to present some of Florida's recent legal and policy initiatives that have been directed toward better understanding and management of ocean resources and uses.     

多模块MOB连接器动力特性研究

以7模块MOB为研究对象,利用RMFC模型,基于势流理论对7个构成模块单元进行3D水动力性能分析,计算过程中考虑了由于遮蔽效应而导致的浮体间相互作用.编制基于频域的多浮体运动和柔性连接器载荷计算程序,计算在规则波和不规则波下的连接器载荷值,并比较不同连接器刚度下各柔性连接器载荷值.计算结果表明,波浪入射角、波频、连接器刚度和海况对连接器载荷响应具有显著影响.本文的计算结果可为MOB柔性连接器设计与模块耐波性设计提供参考.     

Scientific requirements for an abyssal benthic laboratory

For over thirty years man has studied “outer space” and installed satellites which watch the surface of the Earth. The great depths of the world ocean are, however, practically unknown and there is an urgent need to put abyssal benthic laboratories into “inner space” in order to study basic phenomena of interest to marine science and climatology as well as man's impact on the oceans.In view of the numerous problems related to global change, as a first step emphasis should first be on the role of the oceans and their inherent processes, which are the focus of such international programmes as the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). Multi-disciplinary registration of key events at selected key sites investigating the variability in time and space are of the utmost importance. The same methods and techniques must be used for the study of human impacts on the deep oceans caused by mining of metalliferous resources and by waste disposal as well as in basic studies. However, the investigation of the inner space of our planet has certain requirements. As long-term and large-scale investigations become more and more important, development of automized systems, largely independent from research vessels will be required. This will demand high capacities of energy for all technical functions as well as high storage capacities for data and samples. As a consequence the needs for two different—although overlapping—functional approaches are defined for future deep-sea deployments.(A) A system for long-term registration of the natural variability and long-term monitoring of human impacts: (B) A system for short-term observations and short-time experimentations. This report summarizes their technological demands. The envisioned interdisciplinary technology should deliver information on physical, biological and geochemical processes and their variabilities in the deep oceans. The prospected systems need to have the ability for real time video observation, data transfer and experimental manipulation, as well as sensing and sampling facilities with large storage capacities for long-term deployments.Prospective costs of the described multipurpose abyssal benthic laboratory will presumably exceed the funds for deep-sea research of a single country. A joint European effort could solve this problem and help to manifest a leading role for European marine science in international deep-sea and global change research.     

Old laws for new risks at sea: mineral resources, climate change, sea lanes, and cables

Maritime security in a broad sense means more than piracy and terrorism. This paper concentrates on the risk potential of current and future resource-related activities on the seabed. The seabed mining of hard mineral resources??in addition to hydrocarbons??leads to new controversial maritime boundary claims of states in their effort to expand national access rights to raw materials. Outer continental shelf claims in the Arctic Ocean are today's test bench for law of the sea conflicts. Fiber-optic cables running through regional seas, straits, and land bridges may become another risky issue, while the pattern of maritime transport routes is moving from Northern to Southern waters. Under a medium-term perspective, the sea level rise will endanger ports and coasts. Borderlines of maritime zones will move and thus generate more injustice and conflicts among states. The tools to solve borderline conflicts and options for dispute settlement are available in UNCLOS. Some other legal gaps are covered by the 2005 SUA Convention and by bilateral agreements, while resolutions by the UN Security Council begin to broaden rights of intervention and interdiction. The need for new laws remains.     

我国海上遇险和安全通信系统价值分析

概述了海上遇险和安全通信系统(Global Maritime Distress and Safety System,以下简称GMDSS)的背景、系统构成,对系统功能、地位和作用进行了比较详细的介绍;重点分析了系统工程的价值,由此提出我国建设GMDSS的首要目的是最大限度地保障海上人命与财产安全,并对实施海洋开发具有战略意义;针对我国GMDSS存在的不足,提出了改进措施,为我国GMDSS发展和管理的技术政策、战略、规划等宏观决策提供参考。     

基于Vega的虚拟海洋视景仿真研究

虚拟海洋视景仿真系统足虚拟现实技术在军事领域中的应用.由于海浪运动的随机性,虚拟海洋的计算机生成成为视景仿真领域的研究难点.文中详细讨论了两种海浪模型,重点研究Vega中海浪原理和海洋模块的计算机实现,基于Vega软件生成海浪.从效果图中可以看出,模拟的海浪效果比较好,能够满足实际应用的需求.     

Coastal erosion and sea level rise: Implications for ocean beach and San Francisco's westside transport project

Abstract

One of the consequences of sea level rise resulting from the greenhouse effect is increased coastal erosion. This article discusses a model of erosion that can be used to estimate the response of beaches to sea level rise. The model is applied to Ocean Beach, California, with particular attention to the consequences of accelerated erosion for the San Francisco Westside Sewer Transport. Results obtained show that erosion produced by accelerated sea level rise could cause substantial damage to the structure. Large expenditures on beach nourishment will be required to protect the transport and the recreational value of the beach.     

CO2 air–sea disequilibrium and preformed alkalinity in the Pacific and Indian oceans calculated from subsurface layer data

This work estimates new regionalized empirical parameterizations for preformed alkalinity (A_T^o) and the CO₂ air–sea disequilibrium (?C_dis). Both are key terms for the computation of anthropogenic CO₂ in the back-calculation methods. Data from the subsurface layer (75–180 m depth range) covering an area from North to South and from 19°E to 67.5°W (Pacific and Indian oceans) were taken from GLODAP (The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project) database. The subsurface layer is proved as a reliable reference for representing the main characteristics of the different water masses of the oceans. Besides, handing data from the two ocean basins altogether makes the new parameterizations of A_T^o and ?C_dis to be more globally consistent. Nevertheless, each ocean basin, at least in some regions, has different oceanographic characteristics based on its proper dynamical processes and water masses formation. In order to maintain each ocean basin ‘identity’ the whole domain was divided in six different regions (two of them sharing waters from Pacific and Indian oceans) and parameterizations in each region for both terms were obtained. Previously, data were transformed into a grid of 4°lat. × 5°lon. and the results obtained from the parameterizations were visualized and compare with pCO₂ climatologies. From the comparisons with previous ?C_dis estimations good results are obtained showing the reliability and robustness of the new regionalized empiric parameterizations.     

OSGi架构在海上信息系统应用研究

OSGi是目前互联网、桌面程序、移动设备和企业级应用等领域中最流行的系统架构方法之一。文章介绍了当前海上信息系统仍需解决的问题,指出了OSGi天生的动态模块化优势,重点阐述了OSGi在海上信息系统上典型应用模型,最后论述了海上信息系统的发展动向。