Application of a validated primary production model (BLOOM) as a screening tool for marine, coastal and transitional waters

In order to manage aquatic systems, it is necessary to apply methods relating the environmental variables and system-state parameters with external factors that affect the system. External factors can be natural (i.e. the movement of water) or partly-anthropogenic (i.e. nutrient loads). In addition to the national authorities, who have been implementing environmental policies for several decades, the EU is presently implementing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) aimed at establishing a new set of standards for the ecological and water quality of water systems. Among these are the phytoplankton biomass and composition. Phytoplankton affects turbidity, oxygen depletion, total productivity of the system and the occurrence of (harmful) algal blooms. A range of methods is available to relate phytoplankton to the controlling environmental conditions. Among these are statistical relations for instance of the Vollenweider type as well as deterministic simulation models. At the end of the 1970s, a generic deterministic phytoplankton module called BLOOM was developed, which has since been applied to a wide range of fresh water and marine systems. Here we test the applicability of this model as a screening tool for coastal waters. We conclude that the model is able to reproduce observed chlorophyll levels adequately under a wide range of conditions. Subsequently the model is applied to demonstrate the potential impacts of reductions in nitrogen, phosphorus or both nutrients simultaneously. Depending on which factors are initially controlling, the impacts of these reductions vary considerably both between locations and during the season. While this type of application lacks explicit relations between nutrient concentrations and external loadings, it does consider a number of relevant conditions in a consistent way and requires remarkably little data and effort. It is therefore a valuable screening tool.     

沿海地区海洋经济可持续发展能力实证研究

实现海洋经济可持续发展是解决当前人类所面临的资源匮乏、空间紧张、环境恶化等问题的一条有效途径。本文通过构建可持续发展的评价指标体系,运用主成分分析法对我国沿海地区11个省市的可持续发展能力进行定量评价和分析,量度了沿海地区海洋经济可持续发展的总体能力和水平。该研究可以对沿海地区实施海洋开发战略,获取最优的经济和社会效益提供依据。     

A study of the response of chlorophyll-a biomass to a winter upwelling event off Western Iberia using SeaWiFS and in situ data

Observations of a winter upwelling event off Western Iberia shelf/slope in the area of influence of the Western Iberia Buoyant Plume (WIBP) were conducted in February 2000. Spatial patterns and time evolution of the chlorophyll-a (chl-a) biomass are analysed, based on in situ and satellite data. SeaWiFS-derived chl-a concentration L2 products were used to track the chlorophyll front and estimate its westward migration velocity (maximum up to 29 km day⁻¹), as well as to characterize the frontal system and its evolution. A method associating the type of spectral signature of a pixel to the fraction of chlorophyll probed by SeaWiFS enabled the estimation of the chl-a biomass within error intervals. High chlorophyll concentrations (for wintertime) were observed over the shelf and slope, up to large distances to the coast. Due to the WIBP, a shallow Ekman layer developed, being nearly coincident with the stratified upper meters. The transport comprised westward advection and stretching of the plume, with little entrainment with the offshore deep mixed layer waters. The relative enlargement of the total area of the Inside-Front Zone (IFZ) during the upwelling event was roughly accompanied by the maintenance of the average biomass per unit of area, considering the water column up to depths of interest. This suggests that there was a net increase of chl-a biomass inside the water column associated with the IFZ, roughly proportional to the increase in the IFZ area. Retention of phytoplankton in the shallow stratified nutrient-rich waters of the WIBP was a key factor for this increase in chl-a biomass.     

Air–sea CO2 fluxes in the Caribbean Sea from 2002–2004

Air–sea fluxes in the Caribbean Sea are presented based on measurements of partial pressure of CO₂ in surface seawater, pCO_2sw, from an automated system onboard the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas for 2002 through 2004. The pCO_2sw values are used to develop algorithms of pCO_2sw based on sea surface temperature (SST) and position. The algorithms are applied to assimilated SST data and remotely sensed winds on a 1° by 1° grid to estimate the fluxes on weekly timescales in the region. The positive relationship between pCO_2sw and SST is lower than the isochemical trend suggesting counteracting effects from biological processes. The relationship varies systematically with location with a stronger dependence further south. Furthermore, the southern area shows significantly lower pCO_2sw in the fall compared to the spring at the same SST, which is attributed to differences in salinity. The annual algorithms for the entire region show a slight trend between 2002 and 2004 suggesting an increase of pCO_2sw over time. This is in accord with the increasing pCO_2sw due the invasion of anthropogenic CO₂. The annual fluxes of CO₂ yield a net invasion of CO₂ to the ocean that ranges from − 0.04 to − 1.2 mol m^− 2 year^− 1 over the 3 years. There is a seasonal reversal in the direction of the flux with CO₂ entering into the ocean during the winter and an evasion during the summer. Year-to-year differences in flux are primarily caused by temperature anomalies in the late winter and spring period resulting in changes in invasion during these seasons. An analysis of pCO_2sw before and after hurricane Frances (September 4–6, 2004), and wind records during the storm suggest a large local enhancement of the flux but minimal influence on annual fluxes in the region.     

The winter St. Helena climate index and extreme Benguela upwelling

Climate changes in the subtropical South-east Atlantic turn out to be well described by the St. Helena Island Climate Index (HIX) and observed fluctuations are in good agreement with inter-decadal variability of the entire South Atlantic Ocean. Year-to-year variations of the averaged austral winter HIX (July–September), representative of the main upwelling season, were compared with (i) corresponding averages of the geostrophic alongshore component of the south-east trade wind (SET) between St. Helena Island in the south-west and Luanda/Angola in the north-east, (ii) the meridional distribution of surface waters colder than 13 °C to characterise intense Benguela upwelling (IBU), and (iii) the meridional position of the Angola-Benguela Frontal Zone (ABFZ) determined by means of sea surface temperature images for offshore distances between 50 and 400 km. Temporal changes of these parameters were investigated and showed that the frequency of consecutive years of strong and relaxed Benguela upwelling is characterised by a quasi-cycle of about 11–14 years. It is proposed that the index of the winter HIX may be used as a ‘surveyor’s rod' to describe interannual changes in the Benguela upwelling regime as well as those of the embedded marine ecosystem.     

Multivariate assimilation in MERCATOR project: New statistical parameters from forecast error estimation

The new operational prototype of Mercator (french Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment contribution) is composed of a North Atlantic primitive equation ocean model OPA (Ocean Parallel Algorithm between 20°S and 70°N, [Madec, G., P. Delecluse, M. Imbard and C. Lévy (1998). OPA8.1 ocean general circulation model reference manuel. Notes du pôle de modélisation IPSL. n°11: 91p]) and of a multivariate and multidata assimilation scheme [De Mey, P. and M. Benkiran (2002). “A multivariate reduced-order optimal interpolation method and its application in Mediterranean basin-scale circulation.” Ocean Forecasting : Conceptual basis and application, Pinardi, N., Springer Verlag.] This system has already given some significant improvements from previous Mercator configurations (M. Benkiran, personal communication). However some biases on ocean state still remain in the tropics where the reduced-order optimal interpolation scheme is suspected to be ill-parameted in the model forecast error. Indeed the guess error covariance matrix is decomposed into an error variance value and a spatio-temporal correlation function which are assumed to have some “good” properties (spatial homogeneity of the correlation function, constant ratio between signal and error variance). This study shows how we can use ensemble methods to validate these assumptions. We can see that the correlation function can reach negative values locally, mostly in regions of high variability contradictory with the homogeneous hypothesis. The reduced space used in the operational configuration is based on the signal seasonal Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs). An empirical relationship between signal and error variance has been set and the correlation function is the same on every dimension of the reduced space. By projection of the estimated guess error variance onto the reduced space, we find a repartition of this quantity quite different to what was set in the system. The error statistics is found to be inhomogeneous compared to hypothesis made in the assimilation scheme. These two new parameters tested separately in the assimilation scheme gives significant improvements of the forecast and analysis results. This is particularly obvious in the tropics. But relationship between signal and error statistics (as assumed in the optimal interpolation) is found to be complex.     

Evolution of the open-sea eddy ALGERS'98 in the Algerian Basin with Lagrangian trajectories and remote sensing observations

The westward evolution of an open-sea anticyclonic eddy along the western Algerian Basin is shown, for the first time, by means of 15 buoy trajectories and remote sensing observations. For 3 months, the buoy trajectories described several anticyclonic loops in periods of 4–21 days. The eddy's movement, translation, and rotation were separated with a kinematic model, resulting in a mean translation speed of 2 km/day, which fits the self-propulsion speed predicted on theoretical models for isolated eddies on a beta plane. Fluctuations in translation speed were associated with advection of the mean flow and topographic interactions. Both mechanisms changed the eddy's horizontal shape from circular to elliptical, inducing fluctuations in its swirl velocity and solid-body rotation. The initial stage of the eddy is an isolated asymmetric dipole, comprised by a small cyclone and a large anticyclone, the latter generated from a frontal instability, which under the Coriolis term acquires anticyclonic relative vorticity. During its first days of life, the anticyclonic eddy was shallow Ro=0.9 and small (diameter less than 50 km). Later on, it reached a diameter of 150 km and a vertical structure of 3 km (Ro=0.1). A retrospective analysis with infrared images shows that the eddy's generation took place at about 3–4°E. Then, the eddy completed a counterclockwise circuit never before reported in other studies and ended up at the entrance of the Algerian Basin, where the interaction with the topography and the coastal instability induced its decay. The eddy's life span was 10 months. Computations of the heating rate following clusters of buoy trajectories show fluctuations throughout the eddy's journey, induced by advection and a seasonal warming.     

航运与广州城市变迁

广州自古就是“青山半入城,六脉皆通海”的滨海城市。独特的海江联运网络推动了广州海上交通与贸易的发达,也促成了既中外兼容又具有浓烈地方特色的广府文化的形成。可以说,航运是广州城市化进程中的蓝色推动力。     

基于沿海开发背景的南通高职院校服务地方经济社会探析

文章分析了南通地区高职院校在服务南通地方经济方面的作用,指出了存在的问题,并从打造人才基地、提供人才培训与技术服务、提升技能培训的国际化水平等几方面提出了相应的解决措施,具有一定的指导价值。     

Catalyzing Coastal Management in Kenya and Zanzibar: Building Capacity and Commitment

Site-based projects were initiated in Chawka Bay-Paje, Zanzibar, and Nyali-Bamburi-Shanzu, Kenya, to demonstrate the benefits of an integrated coastal management (ICM) approach for addressing coastal issues such as tourism development and enhancement of resource-dependent village economies in eastern Africa. A two-year, multidonor project used three primary strategies to make rapid, but sustainable, progress toward ICM. These included using interagency government teams for ICM planning, adopting an internationally recognized framework for ICM as a project ''road map,'' and explicitly incorporating capacity-building strategies into all aspects of the project. Within two years, integrated ICM action strategies, prepared through participatory processes, were being implemented at both sites, and both teams were working to expand the scale and scope of ICM in their nation. More importantly, the project helped create committed, capable, interagency groups that continue to work together to address urgent ICM issues.