ALBERT

Description: BREVIA

Description: We report on the discovery in southern Egypt of an impact crater 45 m in diameter with a pristine rayed structure. Such pristine structures have been previously observed only on atmosphereless rocky or icy planetary bodies in the Solar System. This feature and the association with an iron meteorite impactor and shock metamorphism provides a unique picture of small-scale hypervelocity impacts on the Earth's crust. Contrary to current geophysical models, ground data indicate that iron meteorites with masses of the order of tens of tons can penetrate the atmosphere without significant fragmentation.

Description: Published

Description: 804

Description: 1.8. Osservazioni di geofisica ambientale

Description: 3.8. Geofisica per l'ambiente

Description: JCR Journal

Description: open

Description: The composition and abundance of algal pigments provide information on characteristics of a phytoplankton community in respect to its photoacclimation, overall biomass, and taxonomic composition. Particularly, these pigments play a major role in photoprotection and in the light-driven part of photosynthesis. Most phytoplankton pigments can be measured by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) techniques to filtered water samples. This method, like others when water samples have to be analysed in the laboratory, is time consuming and therefore only a limited number of data points can be obtained. In order to receive information on phytoplankton pigment composition with a higher temporal and spatial resolution, we have developed a method to assess pigment concentrations from continuous optical measurements. The method applies an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis to remote sensing reflectance data derived from ship-based hyper-spectral underwater radiometric and from multispectral satellite data (using the MERIS Polymer product developed by Steinmetz et al., 2011) measured in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic. Subsequently we developed statistically linear models with measured (collocated) pigment concentrations as the response variable and EOF loadings as predictor variables. The model results, show that surface concentrations of a suite of pigments and pigment groups can be well predicted from the ship-based reflectance measurements, even when only a multi-spectral resolution is chosen (i.e. eight bands similar to those used by MERIS). Based on the MERIS reflectance data, concentrations of total and monovinyl chlorophyll a and the groups of photoprotective and photosynthetic carotenoids can be predicted with high quality. The fitted statistical model constructed on the satellite reflectance data as input was applied to one month of MERIS Polymer data to predict the concentration of those pigment groups for the whole Eastern Tropical Atlantic area. Bootstrapping explorations of cross-validation error indicate that the method can produce reliable predictions with relatively small data sets (e.g., 〈 50 collocated values of reflectance and pigment concentration). The method allows for the derivation of time series from continuous reflectance data of various pigment groups at various regions, which can be used to study variability and change of phytoplankton composition and photo-physiology.

Description: Methane plays an important role in the Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and radiative balance being the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Methane is released to the atmosphere by a wide number of sources, both natural and anthropogenic, with the latter being twice as large as the former (IPCC, 2007). It has recently been established that significant amounts of geological methane, produced within the Earth’s crust, are currently released naturally into the atmosphere (Etiope, 2004). Active or recent volcanic/geothermal areas represent one of these sources of geological methane. But due to the fact that methane flux measurements are laboratory intensive, very few data have been collected until now and the contribution of this source has been generally indirectly estimated (Etiope et al., 2007). The Greek territory is geodynamically very active and has many volcanic and geothermal areas. Here we report on methane flux measurements made at two volcanic/geothermal systems along the South Aegean volcanic arc: Sousaki and Nisyros. The former is an extinct volcanic area of Plio-Pleistocene age hosting nowadays a low enthalpy geothermal field. The latter is a currently quiescent active volcanic system with strong fumarolic activity due to the presence of a high enthalpy geothermal system. Both systems have gas manifestations that emit significant amounts of hydrothermal methane and display important diffuse carbon dioxide emissions from the soils. New data on methane isotopic composition and higher hydrocarbon contents point to an abiogenic origin of the hydrothermal methane in the studied systems. Measured methane flux values range from –48 to 29,000 (38 sites) and from –20 to 1100 mg/mˆ2/d (35 sites) at Sousaki and Nisyros respectively. At Sousaki measurement sites covered almost all the degassing area and the diffuse methane output can be estimated in about 20 t/a from a surface of about 10,000 mˆ2. At Nisyros measurements covered the Stephanos and Kaminakia areas, which represent only a part of the entire degassing area. The two areas show very different methane degassing pattern with latter showing much higher flux values. Methane output can be estimated in about 0.25 t/a from an area of about 30,000 mˆ2 at Stephanos and about 1 t/a from an area of about 20,000 mˆ2 at Kaminakia. The total output from the entire geothermal system of Nisyros probably should not exceed 2 t/a.

Description: Published

Description: Vienna, Austria

Description: 4.5. Studi sul degassamento naturale e sui gas petroliferi

Description: open

Description: A biomonitoring survey, above tree line level, using two endemic species (Senecio aethnensis and Rumex aethnensis) was performed on Mt. Etna, in order to evaluate the dispersion and the impact of volcanic atmospheric emissions. Samples of leaves were collected in summer 2008 from 30 sites in the upper part of the volcano (1500- 3000 m a.s.l). Acid digestion of samples was carried out with a microwave oven, and 44 elements were analyzed by using plasma spectrometry (ICP-MS and ICP-OES). The highest concentrations of all investigated elements were found in the samples collected closest to the degassing craters, and in the downwind sector, confirming that the eastern flank of Mt. Etna is the most impacted by volcanic emissions. Leaves collected along two radial transects from the active vents on the eastern flank, highlight that the levels of metals decrease one or two orders of magnitude with increasing distance from the source. This variability is higher for volatile elements (As, Bi, Cd, Cs, Pb, Sb, Tl) than for more refractory elements (Al, Ba, Sc, Si, Sr, Th, U). The two different species of plants do not show significant differences in the bioaccumulation of most of the analyzed elements, except for lanthanides, which are systematically enriched in Rumex leaves. The high concentrations of many toxic elements in the leaves allow us to consider these plants as highly tolerant species to the volcanic emissions, and suitable for biomonitoring researches in the Mt. Etna area.

Description: Published

Description: Vienna, Austria

Description: 4.4. Scenari e mitigazione del rischio ambientale

Description: open

Description: Etna volcano, Italy, hosts one of the major groundwater systems of the island of Sicily. Waters circulate within highly permeable fractured, mainly hawaiitic, volcanic rocks. Aquifers are limited downwards by the underlying impermeable sedimentary terrains. Thickness of the volcanic rocks generally does not exceed some 300 m, preventing the waters to reach great depths. This is faced by short travel times (years to tens of years) and low thermalisation of the Etnean groundwaters. Measured temperatures are, in fact, generally lower than 25 °C. But the huge annual meteoric recharge (about 0.97 kmˆ3) with a high actual infiltration coefficient (0.75) implies a great underground circulation. During their travel from the summit area to the periphery of the volcano, waters acquire magmatic heat together with volcanic gases and solutes through water-rock interaction processes. In the last 20 years the Etnean aquifers has been extensively studied. Their waters were analysed for dissolved major, minor and trace element, O, H, C, S, B, Sr and He isotopes, and dissolved gas composition. These data have been published in several articles. Here, after a summary of the obtained results, the estimation of the magmatic heat flux through the aquifer will be discussed. To calculate heat uptake during subsurface circulation, for each sampling point (spring, well or drainage gallery) the following data have been considered: flow rate, water temperature, and oxygen isotopic composition. The latter was used to calculate the mean recharge altitude through the measured local isotopic lapse rate. Mean recharge temperatures, weighted for rain amount throughout the year, were obtained from the local weather station network. Calculations were made for a representative number of sampling points (216) including all major issues and corresponding to a total water flow of about 0.315 kmˆ3/a, which is 40% of the effective meteoric recharge. Results gave a total energy output of about 140 MW/a the half of which is ascribable to only 13 sampling points. These correspond to the highest flow drainage galleries with fluxes ranging from 50 to 1000 l/s and wells with pumping rates from 70 to 250 l/s. Geographical distribution indicates that, like magmatic gas leakage, heat flow is influenced by structural features of the volcanic edifice. The major heat discharge through groundwater are all tightly connected either to the major regional tectonic systems or to the major volcanic rift zones along which the most important flank eruptions take place. But rift zones are much more important for heat upraise due to the frequent dikes injection than for gas escape because generally when dikes have been emplaced the structure is no more permeable to gases because it becomes sealed by the cooling magma.

Description: Published

Description: Vienna, Austria

Description: 1.2. TTC - Sorveglianza geochimica delle aree vulcaniche attive

Description: open

Description: During the 2007-2008 antarctic campaign, the Italian PNRA installed a Low Power Magnetometer within the framework of the AIMNet (Antarctic International Magnetometer Network) project, proposed and coordinated by BAS. The magnetometer is situated at Talos Dome, around 300 km geographically North-West from Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS), and approximately at the same geomagnetic latitude as MZS. In this work we present a preliminary analysis of the geomagnetic field 1-min data, and a comparison with simultaneous data from different Antarctic stations.

Description: Published

Description: Vienna, Austria

Description: 1.6. Osservazioni di geomagnetismo

Description: open

Description: In this study temporal variations of coccolithophore blooms are investigated using satellite data. Eight years, from 2003 to 2010, of data of SCIAMACHY, a hyper-spectral satellite sensor on-board ENVISAT, were processed by the PhytoDOAS method to 5 monitor the biomass of coccolithophores in three selected regions. These regions are characterized by frequent occurrence of large coccolithophore blooms. The retrieval results, shown as monthly mean time-series, were compared to related satellite products, including the total surface phytoplankton, i.e., total chlorophyll-a (from GlobColour merged data) and the particulate inorganic carbon (from MODIS-Aqua). The 10 inter-annual variations of the phytoplankton bloom cycles and their maximum monthly mean values have been compared in the three selected regions to the variations of the geophysical parameters: sea-surface temperature (SST), mixed-layer depth (MLD) and surface wind speed, which are known to affect phytoplankton dynamics. For each region the anomalies and linear trends of the monitored parameters over the period of this 15 study have been computed. The patterns of total phytoplankton biomass and specific dynamics of coccolithophores chlorophyll-a in the selected regions are discussed in relation to other studies. The PhytoDOAS results are consistent with the two other ocean color products and support the reported dependencies of coccolithophore biomass’ dynamics to the compared geophysical variables. This suggests, that PhytoDOAS 20 is a valid method for retrieving coccolithophore biomass and for monitoring its bloom developments in the global oceans. Future applications of time-series studies using the PhytoDOAS data set are proposed, also using the new upcoming generations of hyper-spectral satellite sensors with improved spatial resolution.

Description: The gradual cooling of the climate during the Cenozoic has generally been attributed to a decrease in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. The lack of transient climate models and in particular the lack of high-resolution proxy records of CO2, beyond the ice-core record prohibit however a full understanding of for example the inception of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation and mid-Pleistocene transition. Here we elaborate on an inverse modelling technique to reconstruct a continuous CO2 series over the past 20 million year (Myr), by decomposing the global deep-sea benthic d18O record into a mutually consistent temperature and sea level record, using a set of 1-D models of the major Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheets. We subsequently compared the modelled temperature record with ice core and proxy-derived CO2 data to create a continuous CO2 reconstruction over the past 20 Myr. Results show a gradual decline from 450 ppmv around 15 Myr ago to 225 ppmv for mean conditions of the glacial-interglacial cycles of the last 1 Myr, coinciding with a gradual cooling of the global surface temperature of 10 K. Between 13 to 3 Myr ago there is no long-term sea level variation caused by ice-volume changes. We find no evidence for a change in the long-term relation between temperature change and CO2, other than the effect following from the saturation of the absorption bands for CO2. The reconstructed CO2 record shows that the Northern Hemisphere glaciation starts once the long-term average CO2 concentration drops below 265 ppmv after a period of strong decrease in CO2. Finally, only a small long-term decline of 23 ppmv is found during the mid-Pleistocene transition, constraining theories on this major transition in the climate system. The approach is not accurate enough to revise current ideas about climate sensitivity.

Description: The ongoing disintegration of large ice shelf parts in Antarctica raise the need for a better understanding of the physical processes that trigger critical crack growth in ice shelves. Finite elements in combination with configurational forces facilitate the analysis of single surface fractures in ice under various boundary conditions and material parameters. The principles of linear elastic fracture mechanics are applied to show the strong influence of different depth dependent functions for the density and the Young’s modulus on the stress intensity factor KI at the crack tip. Ice, for this purpose, is treated as an elastically compressible solid and the conse- quences of this choice in comparison to the predominant in- compressible approaches are discussed. The computed stress intensity factors KI for dry and water filled cracks are com- pared to critical values KIc from measurements that can be found in literature.

Description: The reconstruction of the stable carbon isotope evolution in atmospheric CO2 (δ13Catm), as archived in Antarctic ice cores, bears the potential to disentangle the contributions of the different carbon cycle fluxes causing past CO2 variations. Here we present a new record of δ13Catm before, during and after the Marine Isotope Stage 5.5 (155 000 to 105 000 yr BP). The dataset is archived on the data repository PANGEA® (www.pangea.de) under 10.1594/PANGAEA.817041. The record was derived with a well established sublimation method using ice from the EPICA Dome C (EDC) and the Talos Dome ice cores in East Antarctica. We find a 0.4‰ shift to heavier values between the mean δ13Catm level in the Penultimate (~ 140 000 yr BP) and Last Glacial Maximum (~ 22 000 yr BP), which can be explained by either (i) changes in the isotopic composition or (ii) intensity of the carbon input fluxes to the combined ocean/atmosphere carbon reservoir or (iii) by long-term peat buildup. Our isotopic data suggest that the carbon cycle evolution along Termination II and the subsequent interglacial was controlled by essentially the same processes as during the last 24 000 yr, but with different phasing and magnitudes. Furthermore, a 5000 yr lag in the CO2 decline relative to EDC temperatures is confirmed during the glacial inception at the end of MIS5.5 (120 000 yr BP). Based on our isotopic data this lag can be explained by terrestrial carbon release and carbonate compensation.

Description: Stable carbon isotope analysis of methane (δ13C of CH4) on atmospheric samples is one key method to constrain the current and past atmospheric CH4 budget. A frequently applied measurement technique is gas chromatography (GC) isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) coupled to a combustion-preconcentration unit. This report shows that the atmospheric trace gas krypton (Kr) can severely interfere during the mass spectrometric measurement, leading to significant biases in δ13C of CH4, if krypton is not sufficiently separated during the analysis. According to our experiments, the krypton interference is likely composed of two individual effects, with the lateral tailing of the doubly charged 86Kr peak affecting the neighbouring m/z 44 and partially the m/z 45 Faraday cups. Additionally, a broad signal affecting m/z 45 and especially m/z 46 is assumed to result from scattered ions of singly charged krypton. The introduced bias in the measured isotope ratios is dependent on the chromatographic separation, the krypton-to-CH4 mixing ratio in the sample, the focusing of the mass spectrometer as well as the detector configuration and can amount to up to several per mil in δ13C. Apart from technical solutions to avoid this interference, we present correction routines to a posteriori remove the bias.

Description: Permafrost is one of the essential climate variables addressed by the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GCOS). Remote sensing data provide area-wide monitoring of e.g. surface temperatures or soil surface status (frozen or thawed state) in the Arctic and Subarctic, where ground data collection is difficult and restricted to local measurements at few monitoring sites. The task of the ESA Data User Element (DUE) Permafrost project is to build-up an Earth observation service for northern high-latitudinal permafrost applications with extensive involvement of the international permafrost research community (www.ipf.tuwien.ac.at/permafrost). The satellite-derived DUE Permafrost products are Land Surface Temperature, Surface Soil Moisture, Surface Frozen and Thawed State, Digital Elevation Model (locally as remote sensing product and circumpolar as non-remote sensing product) and Subsidence, and Land Cover. Land Surface Temperature, Surface Soil Moisture, and Surface Frozen and Thawed State will be provided for the circumpolar permafrost area north of 55° N with 25 km spatial resolution. In addition, regional products with higher spatial resolution were developed for five case study regions in different permafrost zones of the tundra and taiga (Laptev Sea [RU], Central Yakutia [RU], Western Siberia [RU], Alaska N-S transect, [US] Mackenzie River and Valley [CA]). This study shows the evaluation of two DUE Permafrost regional products, Land Surface Temperature and Surface Frozen and Thawed State, using freely available ground truth data from the Global Terrestrial Network of Permafrost (GTN-P) and monitoring data from the Russian-German Samoylov research station in the Lena River Delta (Central Siberia, RU). The GTN-P permafrost monitoring sites with their position in different permafrost zones are highly qualified for the validation of DUE Permafrost remote sensing products. Air and surface temperatures with high-temporal resolution from eleven GTN-P sites in Alaska and four sites in Siberia were used to match up LST products. Daily average GTN-P borehole- and air temperature data for three Alaskan and six Western Siberian sites were used to evaluate surface frozen and thawed. First results are promising and demonstrate the great benefit of freely available ground truth databases for remote sensing products.

Description: The Toba eruption that occurred some 74 ka ago in Sumatra, Indonesia, is among the largest volcanic events on Earth over the last 2 million years. Tephra from this eruption has been spread over vast areas in Asia, where it constitutes a major time marker close to the Marine Isotope Stage 4/5 boundary. As yet, no tephra associated with Toba has been identified in Greenland or Antarctic ice cores. Based on new accurate dating of Toba tephra and on accurately dated European stalagmites, the Toba event is known to occur between the onsets of Greenland interstadials (GI) 19 and 20. Furthermore, the existing linking of Greenland and Antarctic ice cores by gas records and by the bipolar seesaw hypothesis suggests that the Antarctic counterpart is situated between Antarctic Isotope Maxima (AIM) 19 and 20. In this work we suggest a direct synchronization of Greenland (NGRIP) and Antarctic (EDML) ice cores at the Toba eruption based on matching of a pattern of bipolar volcanic spikes. Annual layer counting between volcanic spikes in both cores allows for a unique match. We first demonstrate this bipolar matching technique at the already synchronized Laschamp geomagnetic excursion (41 ka BP) before we apply it to the suggested Toba interval. The Toba synchronization pattern covers some 2000 yr in GI-20 and AIM-19/20 and includes nine acidity peaks that are recognized in both ice cores. The suggested bipolar Toba synchronization has decadal precision. It thus allows a determination of the exact phasing of inter-hemispheric climate in a time interval of poorly constrained ice core records, and it allows for a discussion of the climatic impact of the Toba eruption in a global perspective. The bipolar linking gives no support for a long-term global cooling caused by the Toba eruption as Antarctica experiences a major warming shortly after the event. Furthermore, our bipolar match provides a way to place palaeo-environmental records other than ice cores into a precise climatic context.

Description: Here we present results of the first comprehensive study of sulphur compounds and methane in the oligotrophic tropical West Pacific Ocean. The concentrations of dimethylsuphide (DMS), dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP), dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), and methane (CH4), as well as various phytoplankton marker pigments in the surface ocean were measured along a north-south transit from Japan to Australia in October 2009. DMS (0.9 nmol l−1), dissolved DMSP (DMSPd, 1.6 nmol l−1) and particulate DMSP (DMSPp, 2 nmol l−1) concentrations were generally low, while dissolved DMSO (DMSOd, 4.4 nmol l−1) and particulate DMSO (DMSOp, 11.5 nmol l−1) concentrations were comparably enhanced. Positive correlations were found between DMSO and DMSP as well as DMSP and DMSO with chlorophyll a, which suggests a similar source for both compounds. Similar phytoplankton groups were identified as being important for the DMSO and DMSP pool, thus, the same algae taxa might produce both DMSP and DMSO. In contrast, phytoplankton seemed to play only a minor role for the DMS distribution in the western Pacific Ocean. The observed DMSPp : DMSOp ratios were very low and seem to be characteristic of oligotrophic tropical waters representing the extreme endpoint of the global DMSPp : DMSOp ratio vs. SST relationship. It is most likely that nutrient limitation and oxidative stress in the tropical West Pacific Ocean triggered enhanced DMSO production leading to an accumulation of DMSO in the sea surface. Positive correlations between DMSPd and CH4, as well as between DMSO (particulate and total) and CH4, were found along the transit. We conclude that both DMSP and DMSO serve as substrates for methanogenic bacteria in the western Pacific Ocean.

Description: The Lena Delta in Northern Siberia is one of the largest river deltas in the world. During peak discharge, after the ice melt in spring, it delivers between 60–8000 m3 s−1 of water and sediment into the Arctic Ocean. The Lena Delta and the Laptev Sea coast also constitute a continuous permafrost region. Ongoing climate change, which is particularly pronounced in the Arctic, is leading to increased rates of permafrost thaw. This has already profoundly altered the discharge rates of the Lena River. But the chemistry of the river waters which are discharged into the coastal Laptev Sea have also been hypothesized to undergo considerable compositional changes, e.g. by increasing concentrations of inorganic nutrients such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and methane. These physical and chemical changes will also affect the composition of the phytoplankton communities. However, before potential consequences of climate change for coastal arctic phytoplankton communities can be judged, the inherent status of the diversity and food web interactions within the delta have to be established. In 2010, as part of the AWI Lena Delta programme, the phyto- and microzooplankton community in three river channels of the delta (Trofimov, Bykov and Olenek) as well as four coastal transects were investigated to capture the typical river phytoplankton communities and the transitional zone of brackish/marine conditions. Most CTD profiles from 23 coastal stations showed very strong stratification. The only exception to this was a small, shallow and mixed area running from the outflow of Bykov channel in a northerly direction parallel to the shore. Of the five stations in this area, three had a salinity of close to zero. Two further stations had salinities of around 2 and 5 throughout the water column. In the remaining transects, on the other hand, salinities varied between 5 and 30 with depth. Phytoplankton counts from the outflow from the Lena were dominated by diatoms (Aulacoseira species) cyanobacteria (Aphanizomenon, Pseudanabaena) and chlorophytes. In contrast, in the stratified stations the plankton was mostly dominated by dinoflagellates, ciliates and nanoflagellates, with only an insignificant diatom component from the genera Chaetoceros and Thalassiosira (brackish as opposed to freshwater species). Ciliate abundance was significantly coupled with the abundance of total flagellates. A pronounced partitioning in the phytoplankton community was also discernible with depth, with a different community composition and abundance above and below the thermocline in the stratified sites. This work is a first analysis of the phytoplankton community structure in the region where Lena River discharge enters the Laptev Sea.

Description: There are a number of clear examples in the instrumental period where positive El Niño events were coincident with a severely weakened summer monsoon over India (ISM). ENSO's influence on the Indian Monsoon has therefore remained the centerpiece of various predictive schemes of ISM rainfall for over a century. The teleconnection between the monsoon and ENSO has undergone a protracted weakening since the late 1980's suggesting the strength of ENSO's influence on the monsoon may vary considerably on multidecadal timescales. The recent weakening has specifically prompted questions as to whether this shift represents a natural mode of climate variability or a fundamental change in ENSO and/or ISM dynamics due to anthropogenic warming. The brevity of empirical observations and large systematic errors in the representation of these two systems in state-of-the-art general circulation models hamper efforts to reliably assess the low frequency nature of this dynamical coupling under varying climate forcings. Here we place the 20th century ENSO-Monsoon relationship in a millennial context by assessing the phase angle between the two systems across the time spectrum using a continuous tree-ring ENSO reconstruction from North America and a speleothem oxygen isotope (δ18O) based reconstruction of the ISM. The results suggest that in the high-frequency domain (≤ 15 yr), El Niño (La Niña) events persistently lead to a weakened (strengthened) monsoon consistent with the observed relationship between the two systems during the instrumental period. However, in the low frequency domain (≥ 60 yr), periods of strong monsoon are, in general, coincident with periods of enhanced ENSO variance. This relationship is opposite to which would be predicted dynamically and leads us to conclude that ENSO is not pacing the prominent multidecadal variability that has characterized the ISM over the last millennium.

Description: Sea ice thickness information is important for sea ice modelling and ship operations. Here a method to detect the thickness of sea ice up to 50 cm during the freeze-up season based on high incidence angle observations of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite working at 1.4 GHz is suggested. By comparison of thermodynamic ice growth data with SMOS brightness temperatures, a high correlation to intensity and an anticorrelation to the difference between vertically and horizontally polarised brightness temperatures at incidence angles between 40 and 50° are found and used to develop an empirical retrieval algorithm sensitive to thin sea ice up to 50 cm thickness. The algorithm shows high correlation with ice thickness data from airborne measurements and reasonable ice thickness patterns for the Arctic freeze-up period.

Description: Following the launch of ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, it has been shown that brightness temperatures at a low microwave frequency of 1.4 GHz (L-band) are sensitive to sea ice properties. In the first demonstration study, sea ice thickness up to 50 cm has been derived using a semi-empirical algorithm with constant tie-points. Here, we introduce a novel iterative retrieval algorithm that is based on a thermodynamic sea ice model and a three-layer radiative transfer model, which explicitly takes variations of ice temperature and ice salinity into account. In addition, ice thickness variations within the SMOS spatial resolution are considered through a statistical thickness distribution function derived from high-resolution ice thickness measurements from NASA's Operation IceBridge campaign. This new algorithm has been used for the continuous operational production of a SMOS-based sea ice thickness data set from 2010 on. The data set is compared to and validated with estimates from assimilation systems, remote sensing data, and airborne electromagnetic sounding data. The comparisons show that the new retrieval algorithm has a considerably better agreement with the validation data and delivers a more realistic Arctic-wide ice thickness distribution than the algorithm used in the previous study (Kaleschke et al., 2012).

Description: The ice shelf caverns around Antarctica are sources of cold and fresh water which contributes to the formation of Antarctic bottom water and thus to the ventilation of the deep basins of the World Ocean. While a realistic simulation of the cavern circulation requires high resolution, because of the complicated bottom topography and ice shelf morphology, the physics of melting and freezing at the ice shelf base is relatively simple. We have developed an analytically solvable box model of the cavern thermohaline state, using the formulation of melting and freezing as in Olbers and Hellmer (2010). There is high resolution along the cavern's path of the overturning circulation whereas the cross-path resolution is fairly coarse. The circulation in the cavern is prescribed and used as a tuning parameter to constrain the solution by attempting to match observed ranges for outflow temperature and salinity at the ice shelf front as well as of the mean basal melt rate. The method, tested for six Antarctic ice shelves, can be used for a quick estimate of melt/freeze rates and the overturning rate in particular caverns, given the temperature and salinity of the inflow and the above mentioned constrains for outflow and melting. In turn, the model can also be used for testing the compatibility of remotely sensed basal mass loss with observed cavern inflow characteristics.

Description: Bio-optical measurements and sampling were carried out in the delta of the Lena River (northern Siberia, Russia) between 26 June and 4 July 2011. The aim of this study was to determine the inherent optical properties of the Lena water, i.e., absorption, attenuation, and scattering coefficients, during the period of maximum runoff. This aimed to contribute to the development of a bio-optical model for use as the basis for optical remote sensing of coastal water of the Arctic. In this context the absorption by CDOM (colored dissolved organic matter) and particles, and the concentrations of total suspended matter, phytoplankton-pigments, and carbon were measured. CDOM was found to be the most dominant parameter affecting the optical properties of the river, with an absorption coefficient of 4.5–5 m−1 at 442 nm, which was almost four times higher than total particle absorption values at visible wavelength range. The wavelenght-dependence of absorption of the different water constituents was chracterized by determining the semi logarithmic spectral slope. Mean CDOM, and detritus slopes were 0.0149 nm−1(standard deviation (stdev) = 0.0003, n = 18), and 0.0057 nm−1 (stdev = 0.0017, n = 19), respectively, values which are typical for water bodies with high concentrations of dissolved and particulate carbon. Mean chlorophyll a and total suspended matter were 1.8 mg m−3 (stdev = 0.734 n = 18) and 31.9 g m−3 (stdev = 19.94, n = 27), respectively. DOC (dissolved organic carbon) was in the range 8–10 g m−3 and the total particulate carbon (PC) in the range 0.25–1.5 g m−3. The light penetration depth (Secchi disc depth) was in the range 30–90 cm and was highly correlated with the suspended matter concentration. The period of maximum river runoff in June was chosen to obtain bio-optical data when maximum water constituents are transported into the Laptev Sea. However, we are aware that more data from other seasons and other years need to be collected to establish a general bio-optical model of the Lena water and conclusively characterize the light climate with respect to primary production.

Description: The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT), an activity of the international marine carbon research community, provides access to synthesis and gridded fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) products for the surface oceans. Version 2 of SOCAT is an update of the previous release (version 1) with more data (increased from 6.3 million to 10.1 million surface water fCO2 values) and extended data coverage (from 1968–2007 to 1968–2011). The quality control criteria, while identical in both versions, have been applied more strictly in version 2 than in version 1. The SOCAT website (http://www.socat.info/) has links to quality control comments, metadata, individual data set files, and synthesis and gridded data products. Interactive online tools allow visitors to explore the richness of the data. Applications of SOCAT include process studies, quantification of the ocean carbon sink and its spatial, seasonal, year-to-year and longerterm variation, as well as initialisation or validation of ocean carbon models and coupled climate-carbon models.

Description: In a feasibility study, the potential of proxy data for the temperature and salinity during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, about 19 000 to 23 000 years before present) in constraining the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) with a general ocean circulation model was explored. The proxy data were simulated by drawing data from four different model simulations at the ocean sediment core locations of the Multiproxy Approach for the Reconstruction of the Glacial Ocean surface (MARGO) project, and perturbing these data with realistic noise estimates. The results suggest that our method has the potential to provide estimates of the past strength of the AMOC even from sparse data, but in general, paleo-sea-surface temperature data without additional prior knowledge about the ocean state during the LGM is not adequate to constrain the model. On the one hand, additional data in the deep-ocean and salinity data are shown to be highly important in estimating the LGM circulation. On the other hand, increasing the amount of surface data alone does not appear to be enough for better estimates. Finally, better initial guesses to start the state estimation procedure would greatly improve the performance of the method. Indeed, with a sufficiently good first guess, just the sea-surface temperature data from the MARGO project promise to be sufficient for reliable estimates of the strength of the AMOC.

Description: Grounding zones, where ice sheets transition between resting on bedrock to full floatation, help regulate ice flow. Exposure of the sea floor by the 2002 Larsen-B Ice Shelf collapse allowed detailed morphologic mapping and sampling of the embayment sea floor. Marine geophysical data collected in 2006 reveal a large, arcuate, complex grounding zone sediment system at the front of Crane Fjord. Radiocarbon-constrained chronologies from marine sediment cores indicate loss of ice contact with the bed at this site about 12,000 years ago. Previous studies and morphologic mapping of the fjord suggest that the Crane Glacier grounding zone was well within the fjord before 2002 and did not retreat further until after the ice shelf collapse. This implies that the 2002 Larsen-B Ice Shelf collapse likely was a response to surface warming rather than to grounding zone instability, strengthening the idea that surface processes controlled the disintegration of the Larsen Ice Shelf .

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution April 1985

Description: The biochemical and physiological bases underlying primary production of particulate protein amino acids were investigated in an effort to understand the relationship between algal protein metabolism and particulate organic matter composition. In order to examine biochemical processes associated with conversion of inorganic carbon and nitrogen into protein, the effects of NH+4 limitation on free amino acid and protein composition and incorporation of inorganic 14C were studied in the marine chlorophyte, Nannochloris sp. (clone GSB Nanna). Free amino acid metabolism was sensitive to changes in steady state NH+4-limited growth rates. Reduced carbon and nitrogen flux into protein resulting from nitrogen limitation of growth was associated with reductions in proportions of cellular carbon and nitrogen in the intracellular free amino acid (IFAA) pool. Growth rate-dependent changes IFAA pool composition reflected changes in rate limiting steps which were intermediate between assimilation of inorganic nitrogen and the incorporation of nitrogen into macromolecules. The proportion of cellular carbon in both protein and pools of free amino acids decreased with decreasing growth rate. Distributions of incorporated inorganic 14C among free amino acids and protein provided qualitative descriptions of growth related compositional variations. Saturation rates of (IFAA) carbon with dissolved inorganic 14C did not significantly change as growth rates decreased. In contrast, saturation rates of free glutamate, glycine + alanine and valine did decrease with growth rate. At low growth rate, specific activities of the newly assimilated glutamate, valine, and glycine + alanine in protein were higher than specific activities of their corresponding free amino acid pools. This was likely a consequence of metabolic segregation and more rapid saturation of protein precursor pools. Enrichment of NH+4-limited steady state cultures of Nannochloris sp. with NH+4 led to a dramatic time dependent increase in free glutamine concentrations accompanied by differential increases in other free amino acids. Patterns of isotope incorporation into the free amino acids reflected real changes in concentrations. Increases were associated with the diversion of photosynthetically fixed carbon from lipophilic material towards amino acid biosynthesls, and signalled the onset of increased protein synthesis. Preliminary investigations of two other marine phytoplankton species, Dunaliella tertiolecta (clone Dun) and Thalassiosira weissflogii (clone Actin), suggested that the nature and timing of the biochemical response to NH+4 enrichment is different among different species. At high light intensity, increased NH+4 limitation of Nannochloris sp. was associated with decreases in cellular protein, protein to carbon ratios, and protein to chlorophyll a ratios. At low light intensities, cellular protein and protein to carbon ratios did not decrease with increasing NH+4 limitation. Chlorophyll a to protein ratios were generally higher at low light intensity and decreased with increasing NH+4 limitation, suggesting that nitrogen limitation suppressed low light enhancement of chlorophyll a production. Observed incorporation rates of inorganic 14C exceeded predicted rates for glycine and alanine in protein under combined conditions of light and nitrogen limitation, an indication that protein turnover in excess of net synthesis was important under these conditions. The characteristics of protein composition and incorporation of inorganic 14C were examined in steady state NH+4-limited cultures of three other species of marine phytoplankton. The species studied included Chaetoceros simplex (clone BBSM). Chattonella luteus (clone Olisth), and Chroomonas salina (clone 3C). Saturation of protein precursors was different for different species and for different protein amino acids. Nannochloris sp. displayed the most rapid and complete equilibration, while C. simplex exhibited relatively slow or incomplete saturation and high sensitivity to nitrogen depletion. Intermediate patterns were observed for the other species. For all species examined, protein glycine and alanine demonstrated relatively rapid and complete equilibration of precursor pools, and were least sensitive to nitrogen depletion. With the knowledge that these selected amino acids consistently demonstrated relatively rapid and complete equilibration of precursor pools with 14C-inorganlc carbon in several taxonomically distinct marine algae, primary production of particulate protein amino acids and its relationship to the composition of particulate organic matter was investigated in the epilimnion of a semi-enclosed marine basin, Salt Pond, MA. Studies were conducted previous to and throughout a major bloom of Olisthodiscus magnus. Before the bloom, the ratio of particulate protein amino acid (PPAA) production to particulate organic carbon (POC) production was not significantly different from the relative proportions of PPAA and POC in the particulate organic matter. Comparisons between estimated production and observed concentration changes indicated residence times of POC and PPAA were similar (10 - 20 days). Thus with respect to POC and PPAA, particulate organic matter composition reflected the composition of organic matter being produced by photoautotrophs. During the bloom decline, the PPAA/POC production ratio, a reflection of the activities of the metabolically active algal population, was significantly less than the PPAA/POC ratio of the particulate organic matter. This discrepancy can be attributed either to increased turnover of protein associated with the low inorganic nitrogen concentrations and in situ light intensities, or selective removal of PPAA carbon by secondary transformational processes.

Description: Financial support for this research was provided by the Coastal Research Center (25/67.10) through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, by the National Science Foundation (OCE-82-15854), and by the Education Department.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution December 1985

Description: Samples from time-series sediment traps deployed in three distinct oceanographic settings (North Pacific, Panama Basin, and Black Sea) provide strong evidence for rapid settling of marine particles by aggregates. Particle water column residence times were determined by measuring the time lag between the interception of a flux event in a shallow trap and the interception of the same event in a deeper trap at the same site. Effective sinking speeds were determined by dividing the vertical offset of the traps (meters) by the interception lag time (days). At station Papa in the North Pacific, all particles settle at 175 m day-1, regardless of their composition, indicating that all types of material may be settling in common packages. Evidence from the other two sites (Panama Basin and Black Sea) shows that particle transport may be vertical, lateral, or a combination of directions, with much of the Black Sea flux signal being dominated by lateral input. In order to ascertain whether marine snow aggregates represent viable transport packages, surveys were conducted of the abundance of these aggregates at several stations in the eastern North Atlantic and Panama Basin using a photographic technique. Marine snow aggregates were found in concentrations ranging from ~1 mm3 liter-1 to more than 500 mm3 liter-1. In open ocean environments, abundances are higher near the surface (production) and decline with depth (decomposition). However, in areas near sources of deep input of resuspended material, concentrations reach mid-water maxima, reflecting lateral transport. A model is proposed to relate the observed aggregate abundances, time series sediment flux and inferred circulation. In this model, depthwise variations in sediment flux and aggregate abundance result from suspension from the sea floor and lateral transport of suspended aggregates which were produced or modified on the sea floor. Temporal changes in sediment flux result from variations in the input of fast-sinking material which falls from the surface, intercepts the suspended aggregates, and transports them to the sea floor. A new combination sediment trap and camera system was built and deployed in the Panama Basin with the intent of measuring the flux of marine snow aggregates. This device consists of a cylindrical tube which is open at the top and sealed at the bottom by a clear plate. Material lying on the bottom plate is illuminated by strobe lights mounted in the wall of the cylinder and photographed by a camera which is positioned below the bottom plate. Flux is determined as the number of aggregates arriving during the time interval between photographic frames (# area-1 time-1). Results show that essentially all material arrives in the form of aggregates with minor contributions of fecal pellets and solitary particles. Sinking speeds (m day-1), calculated by dividing the flux of aggregates (# m-2 day-1) by their abundance (# m-3), indicate that the larger (4-5mm) aggregates are flocculent and sink slowly (~1m day-1) while the smaller aggregates (1-2.5mm) are more compact and sink more quickly (~36m day-1). These large, slow-sinking aggregates may have been re-suspended from the sediment water interface at nearby basin margins.

Description: This research was supported by ONR contract numbers N00014-82-C-0019 and N00014-85-C-0001, NSF grant numbers OCE-83-09024, OCE-84-17106, and DPP-85-01152 and the WHO1 education office.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1986

Description: A study of the remineralization of organic carbon was conducted in the organic-rich sediments of Buzzards Bay, MA. Major processes affecting the carbon chemistry in sediments are reflected by changes in the stable carbon isotope ratios of dissolved inorganic carbon (ΣCO2) in sediment pore water. Six cores were collected seasonally over a period of two years. The following species were measured in the pore waters: ΣCO2, δ13C-ΣCO2, PO4, ΣH2S, Alk, DOC, and Ca. Measurements of pore water collected seasonally show large gradients with depth, which are larger in summer than in winter. The δ13C (PDB) of ΣCO2 varies from 1.3 o/oo in the bottom water to approximately -10 o/oo at 30 cm. During all seasons, there was a trend towards more negative values with depth in the upper 8 cm due to the remineralization of organic matter. There was a trend toward more positive values below 8 cm, most likely due to biological irrigation of sediments with bottom water. Below 16-20 cm, a negative gradient was re-established which indicates a return to remineralization as the main process affecting pore water chemistry. Using the ΣCO2 depth profile, it was estimated that 67-85 gC/m2 are oxidized annually and 5 gC/m2-yr are buried. The amount of carbon oxidized represented remineralization occurring within the sediments. This estimate indicated that approximately 20% of the annual primary productivity reached the sediments. The calculated remineralization rates varied seasonally with the high of 7.5 x 10-9 mol/L-sec observed in August 84 and the low (0.6 x 10-9) in December 83. The calculated remineralization rates were dependent on the amount of irrigation in the sediments; if the irrigation parameter is known to ±20%, then the remineralization rates are known to this certainty also. The amount of irrigation in the sediments was estimated using the results of a seasonal study of 222Rn/22R6a disequilibria at the same study site (Martin, 1985). Estimates of the annual remineralization in the sediments using solid-phase data indicated that the solid-phase profiles were not at steady-state concentrations. The isotopic signature of ΣCO2 was used as an indicator of the processes affecting ΣCO2 in pore water. During every month, the oxidation of organic carbon to CO2 provided over half of the carbon added to the ΣCO2 pool. However, in every month, the δ13C of ΣCO2 added to the pore water in the surface sediments was greater than -15 o/oo, significantly greater than the δ13C of solid-phase organic carbon in the sediments (-20.6 o/oo). The δ13C of ΣCO2 added to the pore water in the sediments deeper than 7 cm was between -20 and -21 o/oo, similar to the organic carbon in the sediments. Possible explanations of the 13C-enrichment observed in the surface sediments were: a) significant dissolution of CaC0, (δ13C = + 1.7 o/oo), b) the addition of significant amounts of carbonate ion from bottom water to pore water, c) an isotopic difference between the carbon oxidized in the sediments and that remaining in the sediments. The effect of CaCO3 dissolution was quantified using measured dissolved Ca profiles and was not large enough to explain the observed isotopic enrichment. An additional source of 13C-enriched carbon was bottom water carbonate ion. In every month studied, there was a net flux of ΣCO2 from pore water to bottom water. The flux of pore water ΣCO2 to bottom water ranged from a minimum of 10 x 10-12 mol/cm2-sec in December 83 to a maximum of 50 x 10-12 mol/cm2-sec in August 84. However, because the pH of bottom water was about 8 while that of the pore water was less than or equal to 7, the relative proportion of the different species of inorganic carbon (H2CO*3, HCO-3, CO2-3 was very different in bottom water and pore water. Thus, while there was a net flux of ΣCO2 from pore water to bottom water, there was a flux of carbonate ion from bottom water to pore water. Because bottom water ΣCO2 was more 13C-enriched than pore water ΣCO2, the transfer of bottom water carbonate ion to pore water was a source of 13C-enriched carbon to the pore water. If the δ13C of CO2 added to the pore water from the oxidation of organic carbon was -20.6 o/oo, then the flux of Co2-3 from bottom water to pore water must have been 10-30% of the total flux of ΣCO2 from pore water to bottom water. This is consistent with the amount calculated from the observed gradient in carbonate ion. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine whether the δ13C of CO2 produced from the oxidation of organic carbon (δ13C-OCox) was different from the δ13C of organic carbon in the sediments (δ13C-SOC). In the laboratory experiments, mud from the sampling site was incubated at a constant temperature. Three depths were studied (0-3, 10-15, and 20-25 cm). For the first study (IE1), sediment was stirred to homogenize it before packing into centrifuge tubes for incubation. For the second study (IE2), sediment was introduced directly into glass incubation tubes by subcoring. The second procedure greatly reduced disturbance to the sediment. Rates of CO2 production were calculated from the concentrations of ΣCO2 measured over up to 46 days. In both studies, the values of Rc in the deeper intervals were about 10% of the surface values. This was consistent with the field results, although the rates decreased more rapidly in the field. In all cases, the remineralization rates during the beginning of IE1 were much greater than those at the beginning of IE2. The sediment for IE1 was collected in February 84. The measured value of Rc in the surface sediment of the laboratory experiment (24 x 10-9 mol/L-sec) was much greater than the value of Rc observed in the field in another winter month, December 83 (.62 x 10-9). The sediment for IE2 was collected in August 85. The measured values of Rc in the surface sediment (6.6-12 x 10-9 mol/L-sec) were consistent with the field values from August 84 (7.5 x 10-9). The ΣCO2 results indicated that IE2 reproduced field conditions more accurately than IE1 did. The isotopic results from the experiments strongly suggested that δ13C-OCox in the surface sediments (-17.8 o/oo ± 1.9 o/oo) was greater than δ13C-SOC (-20.6 ± 0.2 o/oo). The magnitude of the observed fractionation was small enough that the observed values of δ13C-ΣCO2 in the pore waters could be explained by fractionated oxidation coupled with the diffusion of carbonate ion from bottom water to pore water. The observed fractionation was most likely due to the multiple sources of organic carbon to coastal sediments. A study of the natural levels of radiocarbon In these sediments indicated that the carbon preserved in the sediments is approximately 30% terrestrial while the rest is from phytoplankton.

Description: Financial support was provided by the Education Office of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program In Oceanography, by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to the Coastal Research Center, WHOI, and by the National Science foundation under grant NSF OCE83-15412.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1991

Description: The effluent from a collection of diffuse hydrothennal vents was modelled to determine the fate of this source of flow under typical environmental conditions at seafloor spreading centers. A laboratory simulation was conducted to test an analytic model of diffuse plume rise. The results showed that diffuse plumes are likely to remain near the seafloor, with their maximum rise height scaled with the diameter of the source of diffuse flow. The entrainment of ambient seawater into these plumes is limited by the proximity to the seafloor, thus slowing the rate of dilution. The model of diffuse plume behaviour was used to guide the design and implementation of a scheme for monitoring the flow from diffuse hydrothermal vents in the ocean. A deployment of an array at the Southern Juan de Fuca Ridge yielded measurements of a variety of diffuse plume properties, including total heat output. Two distinct sources of hydrothermal flow were detected during the field deployment. The larger source was 1-1 .5km north of the instrument array. and its energy output was 450±270MW. A smaller source was located 100m east of one instrument in the array. The energy output of this source was 12±8MW. The rise heights of the centerlines of these plumes were 45m and 10m, respectively.

Description: Supported by the WHOI Friends of Vents, with a grant from the Mellon Foundation, by the WHOI ScaGrant (NA86-AA-D-SG090, WHOI project number R10-11-PD), and by the National Science Foundation (OCE-8917448).

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2010

Description: In the present work, we study the statistics of wavefields obtained from non-linear phase-resolved simulations. The numerical model used to generate the waves models wave-wave interactions based on the fully non-linear Zakharov equations. We vary the simulated wavefield's input spectral properties: directional spreading function, Phillips parameter and peak shape parameter. We then investigate the relationships between a wavefield's input spectral properties and its output physical properties via statistical analysis. We investigate surface elevation distribution, wave definition methods in a nonlinear wavefield with a two-dimensional wavenumber, defined waves' distributions, and the occurrence and spacing of large wave events.

Description: This project was supported by the US Office of Naval Research and the Joint Program between MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution April 1975

Description: The influence of natural short-term fluctuations in environmental parameters on three components of transient benthic invertebrate community structure: abundance of individuals and species, biomass of individuals, and species diversity, were investigated in this study. The effect of low dissolved-oxygen on transient benthic community structure was studied with samples from Golfo Dulce, an intermittently anoxic basin off the west coast of Costa Rica and the Posa de Cariaco, an anoxoic trench off the north coast of Venezuela. Periodic fluctuations in oxygen concentration were accompanied by a community numerically dominated by a single polychaete species and low species diversity. As the frequency of fluctuations in oxygen concentration decreased, the number of species and individuals in the community increased with a corresponding increase in species diversity. In contrast to fluctuating oxygen conditions which eliminated many species from the community, fluctuating amounts of suspended matter in the bottom water allowed one species to proliferate while maintaining the total species list length. High rates of terrigenious sedimentation occurring naturally off the Spanish Sahara coast produced conditions which apparently hampered the feeding mechanisms of a spionid polychaete. Further offshore, where the diversity should be expected to increase, the spionids were able to flourish. The result was greater numerical abundance and biomass offshore and a lower transient diversity value. Results of simulation of catastophic burial by in situ burial of small isolated portions of Buzzards Bay sediment indicated that sedimentation rates recorded off Spanish Sahara would not eliminate species by burial. However, the small size of the organisms found off Spanish Sahara is probably a result of the constant expenditure of energy for escape. In regions of fluctuating environmental conditions, diversity values are low, principally because of dominance by a single species. Increasingly stable conditions, even though stressful, result in a more even distribution of individuals among the species present and a correspondingly high transient value.

Description: This work was funded by a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Predoctoral Fellowship, N.S.F. Grant GA-3655l, and N.S.F. Grant GA-33502.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2009

Description: Interaction between the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the continental slope/shelf in the Marguerite Bay and west Antarctic Peninsula is examined as interaction between a wind-driven channel flow and a zonally uniform slope with a bay-shaped shelf to the south. Two control mechanisms, eddy advection and propagation of topographic waves, are identified in barotropic vortex-escarpment interactions. The two mechanisms advect the potential vorticity (PV) perturbations in opposite directions in anticyclone-induced interactions but in the same direction in cyclone-induced interactions, resulting in dramatic differences in the two kinds of interactions. The topographic waves become more nonlinear near the western(eastern if in the Northern Hemisphere) boundary of the bay, where strong cross-escarpment motion occurs. In the interaction between a surface anticyclone and a slope penetrating into the upper layer in a two-layer isopycnal model, the eddy advection decays on length scales on the order of the internal deformation radius, so shoreward over a slope that is wider than the deformation radius, the wave mechanism becomes noticeably significant. It acts to spread the cross-isobath transport in a much wider range while the transport directly driven by the anticyclone is concentrated in space. A two-layer wind-driven channel flow is constructed to the north of the slope in the Southern Hemisphere, spontaneously generating eddies through baroclinic instability. A PV front forms in the first layer shoreward of the base of the topography due to the lower-layer eddy-slope interactions. Perturbed by the jet in the center of the channel, the front interacts with the slope/shelf persistently yet episodically, driving a clockwise mean circulation within the bay as well as crossisobath transport. Both the transports across the slope edge and out of the bay are comparable with the maximum Ekman transport in the channel, indicative of the significance of the examined mechanism. The wave-boundary interaction identified in the barotropic model is found essential for the out-of-bay transport and responsible for the heterogeneity of the transport within the bay. Much more water is transported out of the bay from the west than from the east, and the southeastern area is the most isolated region. These results suggest that strong out-of-bay transport may be found near the western boundary of the Marguerite Bay while the southeastern region is a retention area where high population of Antarctic krill may be found.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1984

Description: The distribution and feeding behavior of bacterivorous micro flagellates (2-20 μm protozoa) and their ingestion by copepods were examined in an attempt to assess the importance of these protozoa as a trophic link between planktonic bacteria and zooplankton. The abundance of microflagellates relative to other picoplankton (0.2-2.0 μm) and nanoplankton (2-20 μm) populations in water samples in the North Atlantic and in Lake Ontario and on macroaggregates in the North Atlantic was determined using direct microscopical and culture estimation techniques. Seasonal, vertical and geographical changes in the density of microflagellates were generally not greater than one order of magnitude. Microscopical counts of heterotrophic nanoplankton (presumably microflagellates) typically ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand m1-1 for a variety of planktonic environments. They constituted approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the nanoplankton in the euphotic zone and dominated the nanoplankton in the aphotic zone. Most Probable Number (MPN) estimation of the density of bacterivorous protozoa indicated that microflagellates were, on average, an order of magnitude more abundant than bacterivorous ciliates and amoebae. MPN and direct microscopical counts of microflagellates differed by as much as 104. This discrepancy was smaller in eutrophic environments (e.g. Continental Shelf and Lake Ontario) and on macroscopic detrital aggregates. All microbial populations enumerated were highly concentrated on macroscopic detrital aggregates relative to their abundance in the water surrounding the aggregates. Enrichment factors (the ratio of abundance of a population on a macroaggregate to its abundance in the surrounding water) increased along a eutrophic-to-oligotrophic gradient because of the combined effects of an increased abundance of microorganisms on macroaggregates in oligotrophic environments and a decreased abundance in the surrounding water in these same environments. Average enrichment factors for direct microscopical counts of heterotrophic nanoplankton (range = 17-114) were not as large as enrichment factors observed for MPN estimates of the number of bacterivorous microflagellates (range = 273-18400). Microflagellates numerically dominated the bacterivorous protozoa cultured from macroaggregates by one to two orders of magnitude, but ciliates and amoebae were also highly enriched on macroaggregates. Microenvironments are therefore a potentially important aspect for the ecology of planktonic microorganisms. Observations on the microbial colonization of mucus sloughed by ctenophores and discarded appendicularian houses suggest that these materials may be important sources of macroaggregates. Batch and continuous culture experiments were conducted with clonal cultures of microflagellates to test their ability to grow on various types and densities of bacteria. The doubling time of Monas sp. 1 ranged from 43 hr (when fed the cyanobacterium Synechococcus Strain WH 8101) to 6.9 hr (when fed the heterotrophic bacterium Serratia marinorubra). Cell yields (i.e. the conversion of bacterial biomass into protozoan biomass) of Monas sp. 1 fed two species of heterotrophic bacteria were greater than yields for the microflagellate fed two species chroococcoid cyanobacteria (range = 7-68%). Cell yields of two other species of microflagellates (Monas sp. 2 and Cryptobia maris) were 48% and 61%, respectively, on the bacterium Pseudomonas halodurans. Microflagellates grew in continuous culture at concentrations of bacteria which were lower than bacterial densities required for the growth of ciliates as shown by other investigations. Therefore, microflagellates appear to be well-adapted for grazing bacterioplankton. Microflagellates were also investigated for their ability to graze bacteria attached to particles. Bodo nanorensis and Rhynchomonas nasuta both showed a marked ability to graze attached bacteria and a limited ability to graze unattached cells. These results suggest that microflagellates may also be important consumers of bacteria attached to particles in the plankton and may explain the highly elevated densities of microflagellates on macroaggregates. Grazing experiments performed with the copepod Acartia tonsa indicated that heterotrophic microflagellates were ingested by the copepods at rates comparable to the ingestion of phytoplankton of similar size. The presence of heterotrophic microflagellates did not depress filtration rates of the copepods, and one species (Cryptobia maris) appeared to be selectively grazed. Survival of A. tonsa on a diet of heterotrophic microflagellates was similar to survival on a diet of phytoplankton and was significantly longer than survival of starved Controls or copepods fed only bacteria. Due to their ability to grow at in-situ densities of planktonic bacteria, their relatively high cell yields, and their acceptability as food for zooplankton, it is concluded that bacterivorous microflagellates may constitute an important trophic link between bacteria and zooplankton. This link may provide a mechanism whereby organic material and energy from the detrital food chain can be returned to the classical phytoplankton-copepod-fish food chain.

Description: This research was supported by National Science Foundation grants OCE80-2444l and OCE82-l4928 and Ocean Industry Program grant 4473 awarded to Dr. Laurence P. Madin, NSF Doctoral Dissertation grant OCE8l-l299l, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Education Program and the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution Biology Department.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2009

Description: Halogenated 1’-methyl-1,2’-bipyrroles (MBPs) are a distinctive class of marine organic compounds. They are naturally produced, they have a unique carbon structure, they are highly halogenated, and they bioaccumulate in upper trophic levels. MBPs share many characteristics with persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and may prove to be useful natural analogues for these anthropogenic compounds. Further, their unique structure suggests that their biosynthetic organism(s) may have new genes to add to current knowledge of biosynthetic chemistry. The objectives of this dissertation were to further clarify the environmental distribution of MBPs, to examine whether MBPs biomagnify, and to investigate possible origins of these compounds through their stable nitrogen isotopic signatures. Results from these investigations have shown that over 40 highly brominated MBP congeners are present in marine mammals, fish, and squid from the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean. The most abundant MBPs do appear to biomagnify through the food web to reach the concentrations observed in marine mammals. This additional evidence affords greater confidence in the use of MBPs as natural analogues for POPs. However, differences in the environmental chemistry of MBPs and anthropogenic compounds are also evident, and may be due to these compounds’ different origins, or to the capacity of degradative enzymes to act upon them. Finally, compound-specific nitrogen isotope analyses on MBPs isolated from dolphin blubber show that these compounds are dramatically enriched in 15N relative to other biosynthetic organic compounds. This enrichment is likely a signal imparted during biosynthesis, and may assist in elucidating the organism(s) and mechanism(s) responsible for the biosynthesis of MBPs.

Description: This dissertation was made possible with funding provided by the National Science Foundation, through their Graduate Research Fellowship Program and OCE grant number 0550486 (PI: Dr. Christopher M. Reddy), and by The Seaver Institute, the J. Seward Johnson Fund, the Virginia Walker Smith Fund, and the WHOI Ocean Ventures Fund.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution January 1984

Description: Proximate analysis was carried out on developing Homarus americanus Milne Edwards larvae and eggs. Lipids were further analyzed for class and fatty acid composition. During embryogenesis, triacylglycerol supplied most of the energy and the fatty acid 20:5 was selectively utilized. Absence of prolonged cold incubation temperatures resulted in increased yolk reserves in newly hatched larvae. Weight, ash, protein, carbohydrate and lipid varied in association with the larval molt cycle. Scant metabolic reserves were accumulated in premetamorphic larvae while large triacylglycerol reserves were stored in postmetamorphic (fourth stage) animals. Absolute levels of metabolic reserves limited the extent of their utilization. Triacylglycerol was the preferred (first used) energy substrate but was usually limited in amount; hence protein was the major source of metabolic energy during starvation in premetamorphic larvae. Dietary intake of carbohydrate and possibly protein based gluconeogenesis were responsible for most chitin synthesis as established carbohydrate reserves were not sufficient. Triacylglycerol served mainly as an energy storage form. P. choline appeared to exist in two metabolic pools; one of which could be catabolized without concomitant tissue loss. P. ethanolamine and sterols were primarily associated with cellular membranes. During tissue catabolism (starvation), P. ethanolamine was catabolized but sterol was conserved. On average, P. ethanolamine fatty acids were the most unsaturated, followed by the fatty acids of P. choline and then triacylglycerol. The type of fatty acid may influence food consumption and rates of absorption. Compared to a diet containing 16:0, one containing 20:5 was related to greater consumption and faster lipid absorption. The fatty acid pattern of the larvae was heavily influenced by diet. The fatty acids 16:0, 18:0, 20:4, 20:5, and 22:6 were conserved under starvation. Conservation of the saturated fatty acids was probably related to control of cellular membrane fluidity. 16:0 and 18:0 were probably used to compensate for the increased membrane unsaturation from the conserved, potentially essential 20:4, 20:5, and 22:6 fatty acids.

Description: This research was supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography, the WHOI Ocean Industry Program, the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management under Contract No. AA551-CT9-5 and the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Sea Grant under Grant No. NA80-AA-D-00077 (R/P-5 and R/P-11).

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1984

Description: This thesis addresses several aspects of the problem of determining the effect of the low-frequency eddy variability on the mean circulation of the Western North Atlantic. A framework for this study is first established by scale analysis of the eddy and mean terms in the mean momentum, vorticity, and heat balances in three regions of the Western North Atlantic -- the northern recirculation, the southern recirculation, and the mid-ocean. The data from the last decade of field experiments suggest somewhat different conclusions from the earlier analysis of Harrison (1980). In the momentum balance we confirm that the eddy terms are negligible compared to the lowest order mean geostrophic balance. The eddy term may be an 0(1) term in the vorticity balance only in the northern recirculation region where the mean flow is anisotropic. In the mean heat balance, if the mean temperature advection is scaled using the thermal wind relation, then the eddy heat flux is negligible in the mid-ocean, but it may be important in the recirculation areas. For all the balances the eddy terms are comparable to or an order of magnitude larger than the mean advective terms. We conclude from the scale analysis that the eddy field is most likely to be important in the Gulf Stream recirculation region. These balances are subsequently examined in more detail using data from the Local Dynamics Experiment (LDE). Several inconsistencies are first shown in McWilliams' (1983) model for the mean dynamical balances in the LDE. The sampling uncertainties do not allow us to draw conclusions about the long-term dynamical balances. However, it is shown that if we assume that the linear vorticity balance holds between the surface and the thermocline for a finite record, then the vertical velocity induced by the eddy heat flux divergence is non-zero. The local effect of the mesoscale eddy field on the mean potential vorticity distribution of the Gulf Stream recirculation region is determined from the quasigeostrophic eddy potential vorticity flux. This flux is calculated by finite difference of current and temperature time series from the Local Dynamics Experiment. This long-term array of moorings is the only experimental data from which the complete eddy flux can be calculated. The total eddy flux is dominated by the term due to the time variation in the thickness of isopycnal layers. This thickness flux is an order of magnitude larger than the relative vorticity flux. The total flux is statistically significant and directed 217° T to the southwest with a magnitude of 1.57 x 10 -5 cm/2s. The direction of the eddy flux with respect to the mean large scale potential vorticity gradient from hydrographic data indicates that eddies in this region tend to reduce the mean potential vorticity gradient. The results are qualitatively consistent with numerical model results and with other data from the Gulf Stream recirculation region. We find that the strength of the eddy transfer in the enstrophy cascade is comparable to the source terms in the mean enstrophy balance. The Austauch coefficient for potential vorticity mixing is estimated to be 0(107cm2/sec). An order of magnitude estimate of the enstrophy dissipation due only to the internal wave field shows that other processes must be important in enstrophy dissipation. The measured eddy potential vorticity fluxes are compared to the linear stability model of Gill, Green, and Simmons (1974). An earlier study (Hogg, 1984) has shown agreement between the empirical orthogonal modes of the data and the predicted wavenumbers, growth rates, and phase speeds of the most unstable waves. However, we show substantial disagreement in a comparison of the higher moments the eddy heat and potential vorticity fluxes. Because the critical layer of the model is located near the surface, the model predicts that most of the eddy potential vorticity and eddy heat flux should occur within about 300 meters of the surface. The data show much greater deep eddy heat flux than predicted by the model. It is suggested that the unstable modes in the ocean have a longer vertical scale because of the reduction in the buoyancy frequency near the surface. The evidence for in situ instability is also examined in the decay region of the Gulf Stream from an array of current and temperature recorders. Although there is vertical phase propagation in the empirical orthogonal modes for some of the variables at some of the moorings, there is not much evidence for a strong ongoing process of wave generation.

Description: This research has been conducted under NSF contract numbers OCE 77-19403, ATM 79-21431, and OCE 82-00154.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1987

Description: Several problems connected by the theme of thermal forcing are addressed herein. The main topic is the stratification and flow field resulting from imposing a specified heat flux on a fluid that is otherwise confined to a rigid insulating basin. In addition to the traditional eddy viscosity and diffusivity, turbulent processes are also included by a convective overturning adjustment at locations where the local density field is unstable. Two classes of problems are treated. The first is the large scale meridional pattern of a fluid in an annulus. The detailed treatment is carried out in two steps. In the beginning (chapter 2) it is assumed that the fluid is very diffusive, hence, to first approximation no flow field is present. It is found that the convective overturning adjustment changes the character of the stratification in all the regions that are cooled from the top, resulting in a temperature field that is nearly depth independent in the northernmost latitudes. The response to a seasonal cycle in the forcing, and the differences between averaging the results from the end of each season compared to driving the fluid by a mean forcing are analyzed. In particular, the resulting sea surface temperature is warmer in the former procedure. This observation is important in models where the heat flux is sensitive to the gradient of air to sea surface temperatures. The analysis of the problem continues in chapter 5 where the contribution of the flow field is included in the same configuration. The dimensionless parameter controlling the circulation is now the Rayleigh number, which is a measure of the relative importance of gravitational and viscous forces. The effects of the convective overturning adjustment is investigated at different Rayleigh numbers. It is shown that not only is the stratification now always stable, but also that the vigorous vertical mixing reduces the effective Rayleigh number; thereby the flow field is more moderate, the thermocline deepens, and the horizontal surface temperature gradients are weaker. The interior of the fluid is colder compared to cases without convective overturning, and, because the amount of heat in the system is assumed to be fixed, the surface temperature is warmer. The fluid is not only forced by a mean heat flux, or a seasonally varying one, but its behavior under permanent winter and summer conditions is also investigated. A steady state for the experiments where the net heat flux does not vanish is defined as that state where the flow field and temperature structure are not changing with time except for an almost uniform temperature decrease or increase everywhere. It is found that when winter conditions prevail the circulation is very strong, while it is rather weak for continuous summer forcing. In contrast to those results, if a yearly cycle is imposed, the circulation tends to reach a minimum in the winter time and a maximum in the summer. This suggests that, depending on the Rayleigh number, there is a phase leg of several months between the response of the ocean and the imposed forcing. Differences between the two averaging procedures mentioned before are also observed when the flow field is present, especially for large Rayleigh numbers. The circulation is found to be weaker and the sea surface temperature colder in the mean of the seasonal realizations compared to the steady state derived by the mean forcing. As an extension to the numerical results, an analytic model is presented in chapter 4 for a similar annular configuration. The assumed dynamics is a bit different, with a mixed layer on top of a potential vorticity conserving interior. It is demonstrated that the addition of the thermal wind balance to the conservation of potential vorticity in the axially symmetric problem leads to the result that typical fluid trajectories in the interior are straight lines pointing downward going north to south. The passage of information in the system is surprisingly in the opposite sense to the clockwise direction of the flow. A model for water mass formation by buoyancy loss in the absence of a flow field is introduced in chapter 3. The idea behind it is to use the turbulent mixing parameterization to generate chimney-like structures in open water, followed by along-isopycnal advection and diffusion. This model can be applied to many observations of mode water. In particular, in this work it is related to the chimneys observed by the MEDOC Group (1970), and the Levantine Intermediate Water in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin. An analytic prediction of the depth of the water mass is derived and depends on the forcing and initial stratification. It suggests that the depth of shallow mode water like the 18°C water or the Levantine Intermediate Water would not be very sensitive to reasonable changes in atmospheric forcing. Similar conclusions were also reached by Warren (1972) by assuming that the temperature in the thermocline decreases linearly with depth, and by approximating the energy balance in a water column by a Newtonian cooling law.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution October 1985

Description: The outer continental margin of Nova Scotia is divided by a diapir province, 40-110 km wide and ~1000km long, that trends subparallel to the shelf edge along the upper continental rise and slope. The growth pattern for a small region of this margin (61°-64°W) during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic was studied using seismic stratigraphy and well data. Structure maps show that a steep continental slope existed landward of the diapir province (~2200-3800 m water depth) from Early Cretaceous until Miocene time when onlapping upper rise sediments reduced the gradient. Shelf edge canyons were cut during the late Maestrichtian-early Paleocene, Eocene-Oligocene, and Pleistocene. Extensions of Tertiary canyons onto the slope are poorly defined, but small Paleocene fans of interbedded chalk and mudstone on the upper rise indicate that slope canyons existed at that time. Abyssal currents eroded the upper rise and smoothed relief on the continental slope in the Oligocene and middle(?) Miocene. In the Miocene, turbidites may have ponded on the upper rise landward of seafloor highs uplifted by salt ridges or pillows. Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments drape over pre-existing topography. At the beginning and end of the Pleistocene, turbidity currents, caused by delivery of large sediment loads to the shelf edge by glaciers, eroded the present canyon morphology. The late Cenozoic section of the lower continental rise thins seaward from ~2 km near the diapir province and rests on Horizon Au, a prominent unconformity eroded during the Oligocene by abyssal currents. The morphology of the lower rise is largely due to construction by down-slope deposits shed in the Miocene-Pliocene from uplift of the diapir province. Abyssal currents episodically eroded sediment, but current controlled deposition formed only a thin (〈300 m) deposit in the Pliocene(?). Uplift in the diapir province accelerated during the Pleistocene and olistostromes up to 300 m thick were shed onto the lower rise. In the latest Pleistocene, sediments transported down-slope by near-bottom processes accumulated west of a sharp boundary running near 62°30'W from 500 m seaward to the abyssal plain. To the east, hemipelagic sediments accumulated above 4300 m, while turbidity currents, originating in deep canyons to the east, and abyssal currents reworked sediments below 4300 m. A glacial sediment source and relict shelf morphology controlled sedimentation processes and, thus, the location of depocenters on the slope and rise.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1986

Description: The Flying Fish is an autonomous, streamlined, gravity driven underwater vehicle of high speed (15 knots) vertical excursions to depths of 6000 meters. This prototype uses short baseline acoustic interferometry to guide itself to a monochromatic acoustic beacon at the surface. Phase difference measurements made on two orthogonal axes are used to deduce the relative bearing to the beacon. An autopilot uses this information to actuate control surfaces and correct vehicle attitude. This thesis describes the oceanographic context in which the vehicle will be used, translates the scientific mission into a set of coherent engineering specifications, describes a prototype design that meets these specifications, and demonstrates proof-of-concept with a series of sea trials. Some recommendations are made for future refinements.

Description: This research was conducted under NSF contract number OCE-8310168

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2010

Description: Observational and modeling techniques are employed to investigate the thermal and inertial upper ocean response to wind and buoyancy forcing in the North Atlantic Ocean. First, the seasonal kinetic energy variability of near-inertial motions observed with a moored profiler is described. Observed wintertime enhancement and surface intensification of near-inertial kinetic energy support previous work suggesting that near-inertial motions are predominantly driven by surface forcing. The wind energy input into surface ocean near-inertial motions is estimated using the Price-Weller- Pinkel (PWP) one-dimensional mixed layer model. A localized depth-integrated model consisting of a wind forcing term and a dissipation parameterization is developed and shown to have skill capturing the seasonal cycle and order of magnitude of the near-inertial kinetic energy. Focusing in on wintertime storm passage, velocity and density records from drifting profiling floats (EM-APEX) and a meteorological spar buoy/tethered profiler system (ASIS/FILIS) deployed in the Gulf Stream in February 2007 as part of the CLIvar MOde water Dynamics Experiment (CLIMODE) were analyzed. Despite large surface heat loss during cold air outbreaks and the drifting nature of the instruments, changes in the upper ocean heat content were found in a mixed layer heat balance to be controlled primarily by the relative advection of temperature associated with the strong vertical shear of the Gulf Stream. Velocity records from the Gulf Stream exhibited energetic near-inertial oscillations with frequency that was shifted below the local resting inertial frequency. This depression of frequency was linked to the presence of the negative vorticity of the background horizontal current shear, implying the potential for near-inertial wave trapping in the Gulf Stream region through the mechanism described by Kunze and Sanford (1984). Three-dimensional PWP model simulations show evidence of near-inertial wave trapping in the Gulf Stream jet, and are used to quantify the resulting mixing and the effect on the stratification in the Eighteen Degree Water formation region.

Description: This work was supported by National Science Foundation grants OCE-0241354 and OCE-0424865, as well as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Ocean and Cli- mate Change Institute. Funding to initiate the McLane Moored Pro ler observations at Line W were provided by grants from the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation and the Comer Charitable Fund to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutions Ocean and Climate Change Institute.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution December 1986

Description: The focus of this dissertation is on the description and dynamical interpretation of the tidal band current fluctuations over the continental shelf off northern California. The term "tidal band" is used here to denote fluctuations with periods from about one-half to one day, including all the major diurnal and semidiurnal tidal constituents. The semidiurnal frequency is super-inertial, and the diurnal frequency sub-inertial, at this mid-latitude location. Kinetic and potential energy are strongly peaked at the diurnal and semidiurnal frequencies. Although inertial currents are occasionally observed, particularly during the winter when internal wave energy in general is elevated in this locale, they do not contribute significantly to the current variance. Consequently, the treatment here is divided into discussion of the diurnal and semidiurnal variability. Each chapter emphasizes a process which can cause the tidal currents to deviate from what would be anticipated based solely on observations of sea level. In Chapter II, the diurnal current variability is discussed, and the role played by atmospheric forcing is examined in detail. In Chapter III, the barotropic semidiurnal tidal currents over the shelf are described, and the effect of small-scale bumps in the coastline is evaluated. The baroclinic semi diurnal tidal currents, which are dependent upon the local time-varying hydrographic conditions, are examined in Chapter IV.

Description: Support from the WHOI Education Office, a NASA traineeship, and NSF grants OCE 80-14941 and OCE 84-17769.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1987

Description: This thesis develops a new technique for estimating quasi-homogeneous and quasi-stationary sea surface wave frequency-direction spectra using acoustic tomography. The analysis of acoustic (mode and ray) phase and travel time perturbations due to a rough sea surface is presented. Two canonical waveguides (ideal shallow water and linear squared index of refraction) are used as examples for the mode perturbation. The analysis is used to explain high mode coherence measured in the FRAM N experiment. The forward problem of computing the acoustic phase and travel time perturbation spectra given the surface wave spectrum is solved to first order. An application of the technique to ray phase data taken during the MIZEX '84 experiment is shown. The inverse problems for the homogeneous and quasi-homogel1eous frequency-direction spectrum are introduced. The theory is applied to synthetic data which simulate a fetch-dependent sea. The estimates made agree well with the "actual" (synthetic data) spectrum. The effect of noise in the travel time estimates is studied. The sensitivity of the technique. to the number of rays used in the inversion is investigated and the resolution and variance of the inverse method are addressed.

Description: gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Office of Naval Research, the General Electric Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1985

Description: The acoustic properties of marine sediments have a direct effect on the propagation of sound in the ocean. In the frequency range of interest (50 - 500 Hz) the sediment can be modelled as a fluid. Assuming horizontal stratification of the ocean bottom, the acoustic parameters of interest are the compressional wave speed, the compressional wave attenuation and density as a function of depth. An inverse method based on a perturbation technique is presented in this thesis for the determination of these parameters. A monochromatic source experiment is proposed because of the desirability of such an experiment for determining the acoustic properties of an anelastic medium. The input information is the plane wave reflection coerricent as a function of the angle of incidence at a fixed frequency. A nonlinear integral equation relating the variations of these acoustic properties from a known reference value to the plane wave reflection coefficient is derived. This is then linearised using the Born approximation. The region of validity of the Born approximation is derived and based on this the optimum angular aperture for the input data is obtained. The linearised integral equation is a Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. An acceptable stable solution of the integral equation is obtained by imposing a priori constraints on the solution. The inversion method is tested using synthetic data and inversions are carried out for various examples of the attenuation coefficient profile and the sound speed profile. The results obtained with noise free data show good agreement between the true profiles and the reconstructed profiles. The resolution obtainable with the data set is studied using the resolving power theory of Backus and Gilbert and the inversion method is shown to provide adequate resolution. The effect of additive noise in data is examined and inversions performed with noisy data yielded stable acceptable results.

Description: I acknowledge the financial support provided by the education office in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Office of Naval Research.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2000

Description: This thesis investigates the physical mechanisms of air-water gas transfer through direct measurements of turbulence at the air--water interface. To enable this study, a new approach to the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is developed in order to quantify free-surface flows. Two aspects of this work are innovative. First, the use of a three-dimensional laser light cone and optical filtering of the camera allow for the motion of fluorescent flow tracers at the water surface to be isolated and measured. Validation experiments indicate that this measurement reflects the fluid motion within the upper few hundred microns. A key benefit to this approach is the ability to deal with deforming surfaces, provided the amplitudes are not prohibitively large. This feature was used in this thesis to explore the surface flow induced by mechanically generated waves. Second, a new hybrid PIV image processing algorithm was developed that provides high accuracy velocity estimation with improved computational efficiency. This algorithm combines the concepts of dynamic Fourier-domain cross-correlation with a localized direct multiplicative correlation. In order to explore relationships between free-surface hydrodynamics and air-water gas transfer, an oscillating grid-stirred tank was constructed. By its design, this tank can be managed for chemical cleanliness, offers an unobstructed free surface, and is suited for turbulent mixing and air--water gas-exchange studies. A series of acoustic Doppler velocimeter, PIV, and infrared imaging experiments are presented that characterize the flow for the grid forcing conditions studied. Results indicate that the flows are stationary and reasonably repeatable. In addition, the flows exhibit near-isotropic turbulence and are quasi-homogeneous in horizontal planes. Secondary circulations are revealed and investigated. Finally, PIV measurements of free-surface turbulence are performed with concurrent measurements of gas transfer in the grid tank for a range of turbulent mixing and surface conditions. Surface turbulence, vorticity, and divergence are all affected by the presence of a surface film, with significant effects realized for relatively small surface pressures. Results show that while a relationship between surface turbulence and the gas-transfer velocity is an obvious improvement over that found using an estimate of the bulk flow turbulence, this relationship is dependent on the flow regime. This is revealed through additional surface wave studies. However, the data from both the wave experiments and the grid turbulence experiments can be reconciled by a single relationship between the gas-transfer velocity and the 1/2-power of the surface divergence, which agrees with previous conceptual models. These results (1) further our understanding of interfacial transport processes, (2) demonstrate the important role of surface divergence in air-water gas exchange, and (3) relate, in a physically meaningful way, the interactions between surface renewal, surfactants, and gas transfer.

Description: I was supported as an Office of Naval Research Graduate Fellow. This assistance was the impetus for my pursuit of a doctoral degree and is gratefully acknowledged. Very special thanks also to the WHOI Ocean Ventures Fund Program, Mr. F. Thomas Westcott, and the WHOI Education Department for generous financial support over the past several years.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2000

Description: A spectral camera (ALISS - Ambient Light Imaging and Spectral System) was used to image ambient light from high-temperature vents at 9°N East Pacific Rise and the Juan de Fuca Ridge during 1997 and 1998 Alvin dive cruises. ALISS is a low-light digital camera with custom-designed optics. A set of nine lenses, each covered by an individual bandpass filter (50 and 100 nm nominal bandwidths), allows vents to be imaged in nine wavelength bands simultaneously spanning the range of 400-1 000 nm. Thus, both spatial and spectral information are obtained. ALISS was used to image three types of vents: black smokers, flange pools, and beehives. The primary source of light is thermal radiation due to the high temperature of the hydrothermal fluid (-350°C). This light is dominant at wavelengths greater than 700 nm. At flange pools, where the fluid is relatively stable, only thermal radiation is present. Black smokers and beehives, however, are subject to mixing with ambient seawater (2°C) leading to mineral precipitation. Data from these types of vents show the existence of non-thermal, temporally varying light in the 400-700 nm region. This light is probably caused by mechanisms related to mixing and precipitation, such as chemiluminescence, crystalloluminescence and triboluminescence.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2001

Description: This thesis studies interactions between mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes using geophysics, geochemistry, and geodynamical modeling. Chapter 1 investigates the effects of the Marion and Bouvet hotspots on the ultra-slow spreading, highly-segmented Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). Gravity data indicate that both Marion and Bouvet impart high-amplitude mantle Bouguer anomaly lows to the ridge axis, and suggest that long-offset transforms may diminish along-axis plume flow. Building upon this observation, Chapter 2 presents a series of 3D numerical models designed to quantify the sensitivity of along-axis plume-driven mantle flow to transform offset length, spreading rate, and mantle viscosity structure. The calculations illustrate that long-offset transforms in ultra-slow spreading environments may significantly curtail plume dispersion. Chapter 3 investigates helium isotope systematics along the western SWIR as well as near a global array of hotspots. The first part of this study reports uniformly low 3HetHe ratios of 6.3-7.3 RlRa along the SWIR from 9°-24°E, compared to values of 8±1 Ra for normal mid-ocean ridge basalt. The favored explanation for these low values is addition of (U+ Th) into the mantle source by crustal and/or lithospheric recycling. Although high HetHe values have been observed along the SWIR near Bouvet Island to the west, there is no evidence for elevated 3HetHe ratios along this section of the SWIR. The second part of Chapter 3 investigates the relationship between 3HetHe ratios and geophysical indicators of plume robustness for nine hotspots. A close correlation between a plume's flux and maximum 3HetHe ratio suggests a link between plume upwelling strength and origination in the deep, relatively undegassed mantle. Chapter 4 studies 3D mantle flow and temperature patterns beneath oceanic ridge-ridge-ridge triple junctions (TJs). In non-hotspot- affected TJs with geometry similar to the Rodrigues TJ, temperature and upwelling velocity along the slowest-spreading of the three ridges are predicted to increase within a few hundred kilometers of the TJ, to approach those of the fastest-spreading ridge. Along the slowest-spreading branch in hotspot-affected TJs such as the Azores, a strong component of along-axis flow directed away from the TJ is predicted to advect a hotspot thermal anomaly away from its deep-seated source.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through grants OCE- 9811924 and OCE-9907630, and by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1986

Description: The dual issues of modal decomposition for tonal sound fields and the temporal coherence of the modal amplitudes are investigated for the case of the central Arctic sound channel at very low frequencies (15-80 Hz). A detailed study of the Arctic modal structure for these frequencies reveals the central role played by the strong Arctic surface duct. The performance of each of four different modal beamforming algorithms when applied to the vertical array deployed during the FRAM IV Arctic Acoustic Experiment is analyzed. A multiple beam (or decoupled beam) least squares processor produces the most acceptable results for Arctic conditions. The modal decomposition is sensitive to vertical array tilt caused by hydrodynamic drag; a technique for its estimation from the acoustie data is developed. Tonal data taken from both the horizontal and vertical arrays deployed during FRAM IV is analyzed. Horizontal array results confirm the modal amplitudes generated from vertical array data. The rough surface scattering from the ice canopy places an upper limit of 40 Hz on efficient surface duct propagation. Attenuation measurements for the first mode show excellent agreement with predictions made for ice scattering using the method of small perturbations and experimental ice statistics. The high levels of coherence observed (O.95 to 0.99) show that tonal signal propagation in the Arctic channel is essentially deterministic for time periods well in excess of one hour. The various modes may then be considered to maintain a constant phase relationship over time.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2000

Description: The thesis develops and demonstrates methods of classifying ocean processes using an underwater moving platform such as an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The "mingled spectrum principle" is established which concisely relates observations from a moving platform to the frequency-wavenumber spectrum of the ocean process. It clearly reveals the role of the AUV speed in mingling temporal and spatial information. For classifying different processes, an AUV is not only able to jointly utilize the time-space information, but also at a tunable proportion by adjusting its cruise speed. In this respect, AUVs are advantageous compared with traditional oceanographic platforms. Based on the mingled spectrum principle, a parametric tool for designing an AUVbased spectral classifier is developed. An AUV's controllable speed tunes the separability between the mingled spectra of different processes. This property is the key to optimizing the classifier's performance. As a case study, AUV-based classification is applied to distinguish ocean convection from internal waves. The mingled spectrum templates are derived from the MIT Ocean Convection Model and the Garrett-Munk internal wave spectrum model. To allow for mismatch between modeled templates and real measurements, the AUVbased classifier is designed to be robust to parameter uncertainties. By simulation tests on the classifier, it is demonstrated that at a higher AUV speed, convection's distinct spatial feature is highlighted to the advantage of classification. Experimental data are used to test the AUV-based classifier. An AUV-borne flow measurement system is designed and built, using an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV). The system is calibrated in a high-precision tow tank. In February 1998, the AUV acquired field data of flow velocity in the Labrador Sea Convection Experiment. The Earth-referenced vertical flow velocity is extracted from the raw measurements. The classification test result detects convection's occurrence, a finding supported by more traditional oceanographic analyses and observations. The thesis work provides an important foundation for future work in autonomous detection and sampling of oceanographic processes.

Description: This thesis research has been funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under Grants NOOOl4-95-1-1316, NOO0l4-97-1-0470, and by the MIT Sea Grant College Program under Grant NA46RG0434.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2000

Description: Processes affecting organic carbon distribution and composition can control the speciation of organic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and ultimately determine their residence time in a particular environment. In marine systems, the microbial loop influences organic carbon dynamics by recycling a significant fraction of dissolved and particulate organic matter. The goal of this thesis was to understand how these recycling processes affect chlorobiphenyl (CB) cycling in marine systems by monitoring CB dynamics among organic carbon pools represented by dissolved organic matter, bacterial prey and phagotrophic protozoan grazers. Initially, I studied the extent to which a protozoan grazer (Uronema sp. - 10μm ciliate) equilibrated with aqueous PCBs within 2-3 hours. Initial calculations predicted rapid equilibration via passive diffusion. Experimentally, no difference in equilibration time was noted between grazing and non-grazing protozoa, indicating that diffusion was the primary uptake pathway for these organisms. The results were extended to determine the transition size of an organism where the rates of diffusive and ingested uptake are equivalent (100-500μm). Disassociation rate constants were estimated for complexes of CB congeners and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). CB-DOC complexes enhanced the diffusive uptake rate constant for Tenax resin and, by inference, protozoan grazers. In the second phase of this work, concentrations of surfactants, organic carbon and cells were monitored over time in protozoan cultures. The effects of bacterial growth substrate and protozoan species were examined. Surfactants increased during protozoan exponential growth while total DOC concentrations decreased. Production of surface-active material in ciliate cultures was significantly higher than in flagellate cultures, and all protozoan cultures were higher than the bacterial control. Common headspace vessels were then used to compare and contrast the affinity of protozoan and bacterial culture filtrates (〈0.2μm) for PCBs relative to a seawater control. Affinities were normalized to bulk DOC and surfactant concentrations to determine underlying relationships among these parameters. Values of equilibrium partition coefficients (Koc) ranged from 1046 in Vineyard Sound seawater to 105.4 and 105.5 in protist cultures, indicating that "grazer-enhanced" DOM was a better sorbent for PCBs than DOM in bacterial controls and Vineyard Sound seawater.

Description: The work described herein was supported by National Science Foundation Contract No. OCE-9253910 and Office of Naval Research AASERT Grant No. NOOO14-96-1-0718.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution December 1999

Description: A new, global inversion is used to estimate the large scale oceanic circulation based on the World Ocean Circulation Experiment and Java Australia Dynamic Experiment hydrographic data. A linear inverse "box" model is used to combine consistently the transoceanic sections. The circulation is geostrophic with an Ekman layer at the surface and oceanic layers defined by neutral surfaces. Near-conservation of mass, salt and top-to-bottom silica is required and, in addition, heat and the phosphate-oxygen combination (170[P04]+[02]) are conserved in layers that are not in contact with the surface. A globally-consistent solution is obtained for a depth-independent adjustment to the thermal wind field, freshwater flux divergenees, the Ekman transport, and the advective and diffusive dianeutral fluxes between layers. A detailed error budget permits calculation of statistical uncertainties, taking into account both the non-resolved part of the solution and the systematic errors due to the temporal oceanic variability. The estimated water mass transports during the WOCE period (1985-1996) are generally similar to previous published estimates. However, important differences are found. In particular, the inflow of bottom waters into the Pacific Ocean is smaller than in most previous estimates. Utilization of property anomaly conservation constraints allows the estimation of significant dianeutral diffusivities in deep layers, with a global average of 3 ± lcm2s- 1 north of 30°S. Dianeutral transfers indicate that about 20 Sv of bottom water is formed in the Southern Ocean. Significant ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes are found, with a global heating of 2.3 ± 0.4PW in the tropical band and a corresponding cooling at high latitudes. The signature of a large-scale average export production is found for nutrients in several temperate regions. Despite the large uncertainties, the production magnitudes are consistent with independent measurements from sediment traps and isotopic data. Net nutrient sources or sinks are found in several regions, suggesting either transport of dissolved organic matter or a seasonal alias. Oxygen indicates large exchanges with the atmosphere, with intake at high latitudes and outgassing/remineralization at low latitudes.

Description: This work was supported in part by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/CALTECH (contract #958125), and by gifts from Ford, General Motors, and Daimler-Chrysler to MIT's Climate Modelling Initiative.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 13, 1987

Description: The inverse problem of obtaining particle size distributions from observations of the angular distribution of near forward scattered light is reexamined. Asymptotic analysis of the forward problem reveals the information content of the observations, and the sources of non-uniqueness and instability in inverting them. A sampling criterion, such that the observations uniquely specify the size distribution is derived, in terms of the largest particle size, and an angle above which the intensity is indistinguishable from an asymptote. The instability of inverting unevenly spaced data is compared to that of super-resolving Fourier spectra. Resolution is shown to be inversely proportional to the angular range of observations. The problem is rephrased so that the size weighted number density is sought from the intensity weighted by the scattering angle cubed. Algorithms which impose positivity and bounds on particle size improve the stability of inversions. The forward problem can be represented by an over-determined matrix equation by choosing a large integration increment in size dependent on the frequency content of the angular intensity, further improving stability. Experimental data obtained using a linear CCD array illustrates the theory, with standard polystyrene spheres as scatterers. The scattering from single and tri-modal distributions is successfully inverted.

Description: I was supported by a NASA Technology Transfer Traineeship grant (NGT-014-800, Supplement 5), and by the Joint Program in Oceanographic Engineering between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The experimental work was funded by the Coastal Research Laboratory of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, through the generosity of the Mellon Foundation.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution March 1988

Description: Inverse methods are applied to historical hydrographic data to address two aspects of the general circulation of the Atlantic Ocean. The method allows conservation statements for mass and other properties, along with a variety of other constraints, to be combined in a dynamically consistent way to estimate the absolute velocity field and associated property transports. The method is first used to examine the exchange of mass and heat between the South Atlantic and the neighboring ocean basins. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) carries a surplus of intermediate water into the South Atlantic through Drake Passage which is compensated by a surplus of deep and bottom water leaving the basin south of Africa. As a result, the ACC loses .25±.18x1015 W of heat in crossing the Atlantic. At 32°S the meridional flux of heat is .25±.19x1015 W equatorward, consistent in sign but smaller in magnitude than other recent estimates. This heat flux is carried primarily by a meridional overturning cell in which the export of 17 Sv of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is balanced by an equatorward return flow equally split between the surface layers, and the intermediate and bottom water. No "leak" of warm Indian Ocean thermocline water is necessary to account for the equatorward heat flux across 32°S; in fact, a large transfer of warm water from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic is found to be inconsistent with the present data set. Together these results demonstrate that the Atlantic as a whole acts to convert intermediate water to deep and bottom water, and thus that the global thermohaline cell associated with the formation and export of NADW is closed primarily by a "cold water path," in which deep water leaving the Atlantic ultimately returns as intermediate water entering the basin through Drake Passage. The second problem addressed concerns the circulation and property fluxes across 24°and 36°N in the subtropical North Atlantic. Conservation statements are considered for the nutrients as well as mass, and the nutrients are found to contribute significant information independent of temperature and salinity. Silicate is particularly effective in reducing the indeterminacy of circulation estimates based on mass conservation alone. In turn, the results demonstrate that accurate estimates of the chemical fluxes depend on relatively detailed knowledge of the circulation. The zonal-integral of the circulation consists of an overturning cell at both latitudes, with a net export of 19 Sv of NADW. This cell results in a poleward heat flux of 1.3±.2x1015 Wand an equatorward oxygen flux of 2900±180 kmol S-l across each latitude. The net flux of silicate is also equatorward: 138±38 kmol s-1 and 152±56 kmol s -1 across 36°and 24° N, respectively. However, in contrast to heat and oxygen, the overturning cell is not the only important mechanism responsible for the net silicate transport. A horizontal recirculation consisting of northward flow of silica-rich deep water in the eastern basin balanced by southward flow of low silica water in the western basin results in a significant silicate flux to the north. The net equatorward flux is thus smaller than indicated by the overturning cell alone. The net flux of nitrate across 36°N is n9±35 kmol 8- 1 to the north and is indistinguishable from zero at 24°N (-8±39 kmol 8-1 ), leading to a net divergence of nitrate between these two latitudes. Forcing the system to conserve nitrate leads to an unreasonable circulation. The dominant contribution to the nitrate flux at 36°N results from the correlation of strong northward flow and relatively high nitrate concentrations in the sub-surface waters of the Gulf Stream. The observed nitrate divergence between 24°and 36°N, and convergence north of 36°N, can be accounted for by a shallow cell in which the northward flow of inorganic nitrogen (nitrate) in the Gulf Stream is balanced by a southward flux of dissolved organic nitrogen in the recirculation gyre. Oxidation of the dissolved organic matter during its transit of the subtropical gyre supplies the required source of regenerated nitrate to the Gulf Stream and consumes oxygen, consistent with recent observations of oxygen utilization in the Sargasso Sea.

Description: This research was supported by NASA under contract NAG5-534 and NSF under contract OCE-8521685.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1997

Description: In order to constrain the processes controlling the cycles of biogeochemically important gases such as 02 and C02, and thereby infer rates of biological activity in the upper ocean or the uptake of radiatively important "greenhouse" gases, the noble gases are used to characterize and quantify the physical processes affecting the dissolved gases in aquatic environments. The processes of vertical mixing, gas exchange, air injection, and radiative heating are investigated using a 2 year time-series of the noble gases, temperature, and meteorological data from Station S near Bermuda, coupled with a 1- dimensional upper ocean mixing model to simulate the physical processes in the upper ocean. The rate of vertical mixing that best simulates the thermal cycle is 1.1±0.1 x104 m The gas exchange rate required to simulate the data is consistent with the formulation of Wanninkhof (1992) to ± 40%, while the formulation of Liss and Merlivat 1986 must be increased by a factor of 1.7± 0.6. The air injection rate is consistent with the formulation of Monahan and Torgersen (1991) using an air entrainment velocity of 3±1 cm s1. Gas flux from bubbles is dominated on yearly time-scales by larger bubbles that do not dissolve completely, while the bubble flux is dominated by complete dissolution of bubbles in the winter at Bermuda. In order to obtain a high-frequency time-series of the noble gases to better parameterize the gas flux from bubbles, a moorable, sequential noble gas sampler was developed. Preliminary results indicate that the sampler is capable of obtaining the necessary data. Dissolved gas concentrations can be significantly modified by ice formation and melting, and due to the solubility of He and Ne in ice, the noble gases are shown to be unique tracers of these interactions. A three-phase equilibrium partitioning model was constructed to quantify these interactions in perennially ice-covered Lake Fryxell, and this work was extended to oceanic environments. Preliminary surveys indicate that the noble gases may provide useful and unique information about interactions between water and ice.

Description: This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation - OCE 9302812 and DPP 9118363, the Ocean Ventures Fund Ditty Bag Fund and Westcott Fund and the WHOI Education Office.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1998

Description: A freshwater plume often forms when a river or an estuary discharges water onto the continental shelf. Freshwater plumes are ubiquitous features of the coastal ocean and usually leave a striking signature in the coastal hydrography. The present study combines both hydrographic data and idealized numerical simulations to examine how ambient currents and winds influence the transport and mixing of plume waters. The first portion of the thesis considers the alongshore transport of freshwater using idealized numerical simulations. In the absence of any ambient current, the downstream coastal current only carries a fraction of the discharged fresh water; the remaining fraction recirculates in a continually growing "bulge" of fresh water in the vicinity of the river mouth. The fraction of fresh water transported in the coastal current is dependent on the source conditions at the river mouth. The presence of an ambient current augments the transport in the plume so that its freshwater transport matches the freshwater source. For any ambient current in the same direction as the geostrophic coastal current, the plume will evolve to a steady-state width. A key result is that an external forcing agent is required in order for the entire freshwater volume discharged by a river to be transported as a coastal current. The next section of the thesis addresses the wind-induced advection of a river plume, using hydrographic data collected in the western Gulf of Maine. The observations suggest that the plume's cross-shore structure varies markedly as a function of fluctuations in alongshore wind forcing. Consistent with Ekman dynamics, upwelling favorable winds spread the plume offshore, at times widening it to over 50 km in offshore extent, while downwelling favorable winds narrow the plume width to a few Rossby radii. Near-surface current meters show significant correlations between cross-shore currents and alongshore wind stress, consistent with Ekman theory. Estimates of the terms in the alongshore momentum equation calculated from moored current meter arrays also indicate an approximate Ekman balance within the plume. A significant correlation between alongshore currents and alongshore wind stress suggests that interfacial drag may be important. The final section of the thesis is an investigation of the advection and mixing of a surface-trapped river plume in the presence of an upwelling favorable wind stress, using a three-dimensional model in a simple, rectangular domain. Model simulations demonstrate that the plume thins and is advected offshore by the crossshore Ekman transport. The thinned plume is susceptible to significant mixing due to the vertically sheared horizontal currents. The first order plume response is explained by Ekman dynamics and a Richardson number mixing criterion. Under a sustained wind event, the plume evolves to a quasi-steady, uniform thickness. The rate of mixing slowly decreases for longer times as the stratification in the plume weakens, but mixing persists under a sustained upwelling wind until the plume is destroyed. Mixing is most intense at the seaward plume front due to an Ekman straining mechanism in which the advection of cross-shore salinity gradients balances vertical mixing. The mean mixing rate observed in the plume is consistent with the mixing power law suggested by previous studies of I-D mixing, in spite of the two-dimensional dynamics driving the mixing in the plume.

Description: This research was funded by a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship, and Gulf of Maine Regional Marine Research Program grants UM-S227 and UM-S276.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 1998

Description: In this thesis, I investigated the how the life history characteristics of the clam Mya arenaria determine the population response to chronic contaminant exposure. To predict the potential responses of a broadcast-spawning life history such as that of M. arenaria, I surveyed the literature on a variety of bivalve species. By incorporating information on growth, survival, and reproduction into matrix population models I could evaluate the relative contributions of these factors to fitness. For broadcast-spawners, long life is an important factor enabling them to gamble on rare, large recruitment events. Another important aspect of the broadcast spawning strategy is the possibility of high variation in larval settlement from year to year. I evaluated the role that this variability plays using a stochastic matrix model, and showed that it tends to increase population growth because of the larger size of rarer, successful recruitment events. With an understanding of how the life history traits of M. arenaria might control its responses to change in the environment, I analyzed the vital rates of clams at clean and contaminated sites. The effects of contaminants measured in the lab do not necessarily predict population condition in the field. Since surviving with a long life span contributes the most to fitness in broadcast-spawning bivalves, effects on reproductive output and juvenile survival, which are strong in many lab studies, may not necessarily playa large role in field populations. The life history of this clam, with natural variation in recruitment from year to year, further reduces the population dependence on high reproductive output and larval survival. The combination of little population-level relevance of the strongest contaminant effects, and potential contaminant effects on very important clam predators, could explain why populations at contaminated sites are observed to be growing the fastest. The interaction of contaminant exposure and normal ecological processes determines the overall impact on the population.

Description: This research was supported by a Massachusetts Bay Programs grant to Judith McDowell and Damian Shea, NSF grant # DEB-9211945 to Hal Caswell, a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship to Bonnie Ripley, a Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment to Judith McDowell, Sea Grant grant # NA46RG0470 (project # RIP-54), and by the M.I.T./W.H.O.I. Joint Program Education Office.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2011

Description: Corals are increasingly threatened by warming sea surface temperatures and other anthropogenic changes. The delicate symbiosis between corals and their algal endosymbionts (zooxanthellae) is easily disrupted by thermal stress, leading to bleaching and eventual mortality. The use of lipid ratios as biomarkers of environmental conditions is well established. Coral biomass contains abundant lipids, and the potential of lipid parameters to diagnose thermal tolerance in zooxanthellae has been previously suggested. In this thesis, I explore the response of specific fatty acids, sterols, and thylakoid membrane lipids to thermal and disease stress in zooxanthellae grown in culture, as well as those isolated from living corals. I present the discovery of a bioactive thylakoid lipid within zooxanthellae cells, and show how this compound is selectively mobilized in thermally stressed cells. I present a plausible mechanism for the breakdown of this compound into products that may cause apoptosis and disrupt the coral-­‐algal symbiosis, eventually causing bleaching. I present two new lipid biomarkers of thermal stress in zooxanthellae, the C18 fatty acid unsaturation ratio, and the fatty acid to sterol ratio. I calibrate the decline of these two parameters to levels of thermal stress comparable to those needed to cause bleaching. I further show that these parameters are sensitive to pathogen stress as well. In several case studies of diseased and thermally stressed corals, I demonstrate that these lipid biomarkers of coral stress may be applied to zooxanthellae isolated from environmental samples. I show that these same compounds are preserved within coral aragonite, which opens up the potential to retrieve lipid-­‐based historical records of coral health from annual layers of coral skeleton. This work demonstrates the value of using lipid biomarkers to assess coral health and better understand the biochemical mechanisms of coral bleaching.

Description: This work was supported by a grant from the Summit Foundation, Award No. USA 00002/KSA 00011 made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and funding from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution April 1999

Description: The goal of this thesis was to use high resolution analytical techniques coupled with molecular level analyses to chemically characterize high molecular weight (〉 1 k Da (HMW)) dissolved organic matter (DOM) isolated from seawater in an attempt to provide new insights in to the cycling of DOM in the ocean. While a variety of sites spanning different environments (fluvial, coastal and oceanic) and ocean basins were examined, the chemical structure of the isolated HMW DOM varied little at both the polymer and monomer levels. All samples show similar ratios of carbohydrate: acetate: lipid carbon (80±4: 10±2:9±4) indicating that these biochemicals are present within a family of related polymers. The carbohydrate fraction shows a characteristic distribution of seven major neutral monosaccharides: rhamnose, fucose, arabinose, xylose, mannose, glucose and galactose; and additionally contains Nacetylated amino sugars as seen by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR). This family of compounds, consisting of a specifically linked polysaccharide backbone that is acylated at several positions, has been termed acylated polysaccharides (APS) by our laboratory. APS accounts for 50% of the carbon in HMW DOM isolated from the surface ocean and 20% of the carbon in HMW DOM isolated from the deep ocean. In order to identify a possible source for APS three species of phytoplankton, Thalassiossira weissflogii, Emiliania huxleyi and Phaeocystis, were cultured in seawater and their HMW DOM exudates examined by variety of analytical techniques. Both the T. weissflogii and E. huxleyi exudates contain compounds that resemble APS indicating that phytoplankton are indeed a source of APS to the marine environment. Furthermore, the degradation of the T. weissflogii exudate by a natural assemblage of microorganisms indicates that the component resembling APS is more resistant to microbial degradation compared to other polysaccharides present in the culture. Molecular level analyses show the distribution of monosaccharides to be conservative in surface and deep waters suggesting that APS is present throughout the water column. In order to determine the mechanism by which APS is delivered to the deep ocean the Δ14C value of APS in the deep ocean was compared to the Δ14C value of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) at the same depth. If the formation of deep water is the dominant mode of transport then both the DIC and APS will have similar Δ14C values. However, if APS is injected into the deep ocean from particles or marine snow then the Δ14C value of APS will be higher than the DIC at the same depth. Our results indicate that APS in the deep Pacific Ocean carries a modem Δ14C value and is substantially enriched in 14C relative to the total HMW DOM and the DIC at that depth. Thus, particle dissolution appears to be the most important pathway for the delivery of APS to the deep ocean.

Description: This thesis was funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy, Ocean Margins Program.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1999

Description: Odontocetes are assumed to use echolocation for navigation and foraging, but neither of these uses of biosonar has been conclusively demonstrated in free-ranging animals. Many bats are known to use echolocation throughout foraging sequences, changing the structure and timing of clicks as they progress towards prey capture. For odontocetes, however, we do not know enough about their foraging behavior to describe such sequences. To conduct detailed behavioral observations of any subject animal, the observer must be able to maintain continuous visual contact with the subject for a period commensurate with the duration of the behavior(s) of interest. Behavioral studies of cetaceans, which spend approximately 95% of their time below the water's surface, have been limited to sampling surface behavior except in special circumstances, e.g. clear-water environments, or with the use of technological tools. I addressed this limitation through development of an observation platform consisting of a remote controlled video camera suspended from a tethered airship with boat-based monitoring, adjustment, and recording of video. The system was used successfully to conduct continuous behavioral observations of bottlenose dolphins in the Sarasota Bay, FL area. This system allowed me to describe previously unreported foraging behaviors and elucidate functions for behaviors already defined but poorly understood. Dolphin foraging was modeled as a stage-structured sequence of behaviors, with the goal-directed feeding event occurring at the end of a series of search, encounter, and pursuit behaviors. The behaviors preceding a feeding event do not occur in a deterministic sequence, but are adaptive and plastic. A single-step transition analysis beginning with prey capture and receding in time has identified significant links between observed behaviors and demonstrated the stage-structured nature of dolphin foraging. Factors affecting the occurrence of specific behaviors and behavioral transitions include mesoscale habitat variation and individual preferences. The role of sound in foraging, especially echolocation, is less well understood than the behavioral component. Recent studies have explored the use of echolocation in captive odontocete foraging and presumed feeding in wild animals, but simultaneous, detailed behavioral and acoustic observations have eluded researchers. The current study used two methods to obtain acoustic data. The overhead video system includes two towed hydrophones used to record 'ambient' sounds of dolphin foraging. The recordings are of the 'ambient' sounds because the source of the sounds, i.e. animal, could not be localized. Many focal follows, however, were conducted with single animals, and from these records the timing of echolocation and other sounds relative to the foraging sequence could be examined. The 'ambient' recordings revealed that single animals are much more vocal than animals in groups, both overall and during foraging. When not foraging, single animals vocalized at a rate similar to the per animal rate in groups of ≥2 animals. For single foraging animals, the use of different sound types varies significantly by the habitat in which the animal is foraging. These patterns of use coupled with the characteristics of the different sound types suggest specific functions for each. The presence of multiple animals in a foraging group apparently reduces the need to vocalize, and potential reasons for this pattern are discussed. In addition, the increased vocal activity of single foraging animals lends support to specific hypotheses of sound use in bottlenose dolphins and odontocetes in general. The second acoustic data collection method records sounds known to be from a specific animal. An acoustic recording tag was developed that records all sounds produced by an animal including every echolocation click. The tag also includes an acoustic sampling interval controller and a sensor suite that measures pitch, roll, heading, and surfacing events. While no foraging events occurred while an animal was wearing an acoustic data logger, the rates of echolocation and whistling during different activities, e.g. traveling, were measured.

Description: This work was supported by the Education Office of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, two grants from the Rinehart Coastal Research Center, the Ocean Ventures Fund; WHOI Sea Grant, ONR Grant #N00014-94-1-0692 to P. Tyack, and a Graduate Fellowship from the Office of Naval Research.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2011

Description: Eastern oceanic boundary currents are subject to hydrodynamic instability, generate small scale features that are visible in satellite images and may radiate westward into the interior, where they can be modified by the large-scale circulations. This thesis studies the stability of an eastern boundary current with and without the large-scale flow influence in an idealized framework represented by barotropic quasi-geostrophic dynamics. The linear stability analysis of a meridional current with a continuous velocity profile shows that meridional eastern and western boundary currents support a limited number of radiating modes with long meridional and zonal wavelengths and small growth rates. However, the linearly stable, long radiating modes of an eastern boundary current can become nonlinearly unstable by resonating with short trapped unstable modes. This phenomenon is clearly demonstrated in the weakly nonlinear simulations. Results suggest that linearly stable longwave modes deserve more attention when the radiating instability of a meridional boundary current is considered. A large-scale flow affects the short trapped unstable mode and long radiating mode through different mechanisms. The large-scale flow modifies the structure of the boundary current to stabilize or destabilize the unstable modes, leading to a meridionally localized maximum in the perturbation kinetic energy field. The shortwave mode is accelerated or decelerated by the meridional velocity adjustment of the large-scale flow to have an elongated or a squeezed meridional structure, which is confirmed both in a linear WKB analysis and in nonlinear simulations. The squeezed or elongated unstable mode detunes the nonlinear resonance with the longwave modes, which then become less energetic. These two modes show different meridional structures in kinetic energy field because of the different mechanisms. In spite of the model simplicity, these results can potentially explain the formation of the zonal jets observed in altimeter data, and indicate the influence of the large-scale wind-driven circulation on eastern boundary upwelling systems in the real ocean. Studies with more realistic configurations remain future challenges.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2011

Description: The colonization dynamics and life histories of pioneer species are vital components in understanding the early succession of nascent hydrothermal vents. The reproductive ecology of pioneer species at deep-sea hydrothermal vents may provide insight into their dispersal, population connectivity, and ability to colonize after disturbance. An opportunity to study the reproductive traits of two pioneer gastropod species, Ctenopelta porifera and Lepetodrilus tevnianus, presented itself in 2006 after an eruption on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) eliminated vent communities near 9°50ʹ′N. Standard histological techniques were used to determine whether reproductive characteristics, such as timing of gamete release, fecundity, or time to maturation, differed from other vent gastropods in ways that might explain arrival of these two species as early colonizers. Both species exhibited two-component oocyte size frequency distributions that indicated they were quasi-continuous reproducers with high fecundity. In C. porifera, the oocyte size distributions differed slightly between two collection dates, suggesting that environmental cues may introduce some variability in gamete release. In samples collected within one year of the estimated eruption date, individuals in populations of both C. porifera and L. tevnianus were reproductively mature. The smallest reproducing C. porifera were 4.2 mm (males) and 5.4 mm (females) in shell length, whereas reproductive L. tevnianus were smaller (2.3 and 2.4 mm in males and females respectively). Most C porifera in the population were large (〉 6.0 mm) compared to their settlement size and reproductively mature. In contrast, most L tevnianus were small (〈 1.0 mm) and immature. Reproductive traits of the two species are consistent with opportunistic colonization, but are also similar to those of other Lepetodrilus species and peltospirids at vents, and do not explain why these particular two species were the dominant pioneers. It is likely that their larvae were in high supply immediately after the eruption due to oceanographic transport processes from remote source populations.

Description: This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE- 0424953 to Mullineaux and by funds provided through the WHOI Summer Student Fellowship program and the Brown University Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department to Bayer.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1999

Description: This study is a geochemical investigation ofthe evolution of the Kerguelen plume, on the basis of upper mantle and lower crustal xenoliths. Ultramafic xenoliths include harzburgites predominant, a lherzolite, dunites and pyroxenites, whereas lower crustal xenoliths are cumulate gabbros recrystallized under granulite facies conditions. On the basis of the whole rock major element characteristics and trace element abundance patterns in clinopyroxenes, the harzburgites were found to be residues of extensive melting at high pressures within the Kerguelen plume. These were then recrystallized at low pressures and metasomatized by plume generated melts. Details of the metasomatic process were determined from trace element variations in clinopyroxene in connection to texture. This demonstrated that meltrock reaction and the precipitation of new clinopyroxenes occurred by metasomatic carbonatitic melts. It was also found that some of the harzburgites had distinctly unradiogenic Os isotopic compositions and were identified as originating from the sub-Gondwanaland lithosphere. On the basis of major and trace element compositions, the granulite xenoliths were found to be originally gabbroic cumulates formed from plume-derived basaltic melts emplaced at the base of the crust by underplating and subsequently recrystallized isobarically under granulite conditions. The Sr, Nd and Os isotopic compositions of the peridotite and granulite xenoliths demonstrate that the Kerguelen plume is isotopically heterogeneous and displays a temporal progression toward more enriched Sr and Nd isotopic compositions from the Ninetyeast Ridge to granulite xenoliths to Kerguelen basalts and Heard Island basalts.

Description: This research was supported by the National Geographic Society 4629-9 1, the National Science Foundation EAR-9219158 and OPP-9417806, and William Van Alan Clark Senior Scientist Chair to Nobu Shimizu. I was also supported by a Cecil and Ida Green Fellowship and a Education Graduate Research Fellowship.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 1999

Description: The objective of this thesis is to develop the methods necessary for evaluating the role of learning in the natural whistle development of bottlenose dolphins. Bottlenose dolphins provide a unique opportunity to study social influences on vocal learning in a highly social non-human mammal. Vocal learning is critical for the development of human language but plays a much smaller role in the vocal development of most non-human terrestrial mammals. Preliminary evidence has indicated that the signature whistles of dolphin calves are modeled on the whistles in the calves' early environments and that the calves' social interactions influence the choice of model. The methods currently used to study the acoustic and social behavior of dolphins are insufficient to evaluate the role of learning in whistle development and the social influences on that development. The techniques necessary to perform such a study have therefore been developed and tested in this thesis. The methods used to study vocal learning in various species were reviewed and a study of vocal learning appropriate to dolphins was designed. A strategy for sampling the dolphins' social and acoustic behavior was developed. To test the sampling strategy, and to provide data for the development of analysis techniques, a pilot study was performed on dolphin calves born in captivity. Focal samples of the social interactions of dolphin mothers and calves were taken over several months before and after the births of four calves, with simultaneous acoustic recordings during all focal sessions. A test of sampling times determined that five focal samples spaced throughout the day adequately represented the dolphins' behavior for the entire day. The interactions recorded during the focal samples were analyzed with loglinear analysis, multidimensional scaling, and hierarchical cluster analysis to determine the types of social relationships that occurred between the dolphins. For both calves and adults, three types of relationships were found. An analysis of a prolonged alloparenting incident demonstrated that the social relationship between mothers and calves was a care-giving relationship independent of their genetic relationship. Measures other than the total association were found to be necessary to the evaluation of the subtle relationships between the dolphins. Methods for the quantitative analysis of the whistles produced by the dolphins were needed. Therefore, programs were developed to automatically detect and extract the whistles from the recordings in an unbiased manner. Several methods for categorizing whistles were compared and hierarchical cluster analysis of dynamic time warping of extracted contours was shown to perform well for comparing both stereotyped and un-stereotyped whistles. These techniques were then used to compare the early acoustic environments of the calves born in the pilot study. The early environments of the four calves were found to be distinctive. In particular, the putative signature whistle of each calf s mother made up a substantial proportion of the whistles in that calf's early environment. The combination techniques developed in this thesis for the analysis of the social and acoustic behavior of dolphins will allow a study of vocal learning in dolphin whistle development to be performed in a quantitative, unbiased manner.

Description: The first five years of my thesis work were funded by a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The WHOI Education office funded the following year and a half. My fieldwork was funded by two grants, from the Rinehart Coastal Research Center and the Ocean Ventures Fund.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 1999

Description: This thesis studies the problems of generation and maintenance of recirculations by Gulf Stream instabilities. Observations show that the horizontal structure of the jet and its recirculations suffer significant changes in time. Here, the role of internal dynamics of the jet is isolated as one of the possible sources of such variability, and the differences between barotropic and baroclinic instabilities are investigated. The problem of recirculation development is considered in a framework of a free spin down of the 2-layer and the 1-layer, zonally symmetric, quasi-geostrophic jets. Linear stability analysis shows that in strongly baroclinic basic flows, eddies are capable of driving recirculations in the lower layer through the residual meridional circulation. In strongly barotropic jets, the linearly most unstable wave simply diffuses the jet. Nonlinear stability analysis indicates that recirculations are robust features of the 2-layer model. The strength of recirculations is a function of the model’s parameters. It increases with a decrease in the value of the nondimensional /3 due to potential vorticity homogenization constrained by enstrophy conservation. The recirculation strength is a non-monotonic function of the baroclinic velocity parameter; it is the strongest for strongly baroclinic basic flows, weakest for flows with intermediate baroclinic structure and of medium strength for strongly barotropic basic flows. Such non-monotonic behavior is the result of two different processes responsible for the recirculation development: linear eddy-mean flow interactions for strongly baroclinic basic flows and strongly nonlinear eddy-eddy and eddy-mean flow interaction for strongly barotropic flows. In the case of the reduced-gravity model, recirculations develop only for infinite deformation raduis. Basic flows with finite deformation radius are only weakly supercritical and therefore produced negligible recirculations after equilibration. The problem of maintenance of the recirculations is coupled to the questions of existence of low frequency variability and of multiple dynamical regimes of a system consisting of a quasi-geostrophic jet and its recirculations. The problem is studied in a framework of a 2-layer or a reduced-gravity colliding jets model which has no windforcing. Instead, it is forced by inflows and outflows through the open boundaries. Oniy the western boundary of the domain is closed, and a free slip boundary condition is used there. The results of the numerical experiments show that when oniy the mechanism of barotropic instability is present, the model has two energy states for a wide range of interfacial friction coefficients. The high energy state is characterized by well-developed recirculations and displays strong variability associated with either large recirculating gyres and a weak eddy field or small recirculations and a strong eddy field. The iow energy state is characterized by large meridional excursions in the separation point and large amplitude, westward propagating meanders that produce strong rings after interacting with the western wall. For physically relevant bottom friction values, the presence of baroclinic in stability in the recirculation regions of the 2-layer model allows for a unique dynamical regime characterized by well-developed recirculations in both layers. The low-frequency variability associated with the regime is weak and is related to meridional shifts in the position of the jet, to wrapping of the recirculations around each other, and to pulsations in their zonal extent. For strong bottom friction, the 2-layer model has only the mechanism of barotropic instability which reduces it to a 1 1/2-layer configuration; the model displays two dynamical regimes and strong low frequency variability in the upper layer, while the lower layer is strongly frictional.

Description: Financial support for this research was provided by NSF grant number OCE 9617848.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2011

Description: Sampling the vast volumes of the ocean requires tools capable of observing from a distance while retaining detail necessary for biology and ecology, ideal for optical methods. Algorithms that work with existing SeaBED AUV imagery are developed, including habitat classi fication with bag-of-words models and multi-stage boosting for rock sh detection. Methods for extracting images of sh from videos of longline operations are demonstrated. A prototype digital holographic imaging device is designed and tested for quantitative in situ microscale imaging. Theory to support the device is developed, including particle noise and the effects of motion. A Wigner-domain model provides optimal settings and optical limits for spherical and planar holographic references. Algorithms to extract the information from real-world digital holograms are created. Focus metrics are discussed, including a novel focus detector using local Zernike moments. Two methods for estimating lateral positions of objects in holograms without reconstruction are presented by extending a summation kernel to spherical references and using a local frequency signature from a Riesz transform. A new metric for quickly estimating object depths without reconstruction is proposed and tested. An example application, quantifying oil droplet size distributions in an underwater plume, demonstrates the efficacy of the prototype and algorithms.

Description: Funding was provided by NOAA Grant #5710002014, NOAA NMFS Grant #NA17RJ1223, NSF Grant #OCE-0925284, and NOAA Grant #NA10OAR4170086

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution January 1999

Description: Today, deep waters produced in the North Atlantic are exported through the western South Atlantic. Antarctic intermediate water AAJW also enters the Atlantic in this region. Circumpolar deep water (CDW) fills the depths below AAIW and above and below northern source waters. A depth transect of cores from 1567-3909 m water depth in the western South Atlantic are ideally located to monitor inter-ocean exchange of deep water, and variations in the relative strength of northern versus southern source water production. Last glacial maximum (LGM) Cd/Ca and δ13C data indicate a nutrient-depleted intermediate-depth water mass. In the mid-depth western South Atlantic, a simple conversion of LGM δ13C data suggests significantly less nutrient enrichment than LGM Cd/Ca ratios, but Cd/Ca and δ13C data can be reconciled when plotted in CdW/δ13C space. Paired LGM Cd/Ca and δ13C data from mid-depth cores suggest increasingly nutrient rich waters below 2000 m, but do not require an increase in Southern Ocean water contribution relative to today. Cd/Ca data suggest no glacial-interglacial change in the hydrography of the deepest waters ofthe region. To maintain relatively low Cd/Ca ratios low nutrients in the deepest western South Atlantic waters, and in CDW in general, during the LGM requires an increased supply ofnutrient-depleted glacial North Atlantic intermediate water (GNA1W) and/or nutrient-depleted glacial Subantarctic surface waters to CDW to balance reduced NADW contribution to CDW. LGM Cd/Ca and δ13C data suggest strong GNA1W influence in the western South Atlantic which in turn implies export of GNAIW from the Atlantic, and entrainment of GNA1W into the Antarctic Circumpolar current.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 1999

Description: Changes in morphology of the Marquesas Fracture Zone are correlated with small changes in Pacific-Farallon relative motion. The simple flexural signal of a locked fracture zone may be obscured by tectonic effects, and there is no evidence for the release of shear stress on the fracture zone by vertical slip after leaving the active transform. One such small change in plate motion is documented in the South ern Austral Island region of the South Pacific. A twelve degree clock wise change in Pacific-Farallon relative motion occurred around fifty million years ago. This Eocene change in spreading direction and rate is locally constrained with observations of magnetic anomalies and spreading fabric orientation. At the southeastern end of the Cook-Austral Island chain, multiple episodes of volcanism have left a diverse population of seamounts. Volume estimates from geophysical data and modeling show that one-half to two-thirds of the volcanic material is over thirty million years old, while the remainder is less than five million years old. Seismic and bathymetric data imply the presence of abyssal basalt flows in the flexural moat of the Austral Islands, probably associated with Austral Islands volcanism, which may contribute a significant amount of material to the archipelagic apron.

Description: The research presented in Chapter 2 was supported by National Science Founda tion grants OCE-9012949 and OCE-9012529. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 were supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE-9415930. A National Science Foundation graduate fellowship supported my first three years of graduate study.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1999

Description: This thesis focuses on improving the productivity of autonomous and telemanipulation systems consisting of a manipulator arm mounted to a free flying underwater vehicle. Part I minimizes system sensitivity to misalignment by developing a gripper and a suite of handles that passively self align when grasped. After presenting a gripper guaranteed to passively align cylinders we present several other self aligning handles. The mix of handle alignment and load resisting properties enables handles to be matched to the needs of each task. Part I concludes with a discussion of successful field use of the system on the Jason Remotely Operated Undersea Vehicle operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. To enable the exploitation of contact with the environment to help stabilize the vehicle, Part II develops a technique which identifies the contact state of a planar vehicle interacting with a fixed environment. Knowing the vehicle geometry and velocity we identify kinematically feasible contact points, from which we construct the set of feasible contact models. The measured vehicle data violates each model’s constraints; we use the associated violation power and work to select the best overall model. Part II concludes with experimental confirmation of the contact identification techniques efficacy.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1999

Description: During July and August of 1996, a large acoustics/physical oceanography experiment was fielded in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, south of Nantucket Island, MA. Known as the Shelfbreak Front PRIMER Experiment, the study combined acoustic data from a moored array of sources and receivers with very high resolution physical oceanographic measurements. This thesis addresses two of the primary goals of the experiment, explaining the properties of acoustic propagation in the region, and tomographic inversion of the acoustic data. In addition, this thesis develops a new method for predicting acoustic coherence in such regions. Receptions from two 400 Hz tomography sources, transmitting from the continental slope onto the shelf, are analyzed. This data, along with forward propagation modeling utilizing SeaSoar thermohaline measurements, reveal that both the shelfbreak front and tidally-generated soliton packets produce stronger coupling between the acoustic waveguide modes than expected. Arrival time wander and signal spread show variability attributable to the presence of a shelf water meander, changes in frontal configuration, and variability in the soliton field. The highly-coupled nature of the acoustic mode propagation prevents detailed tomographic inversion. Instead, methods based on only the wander of the mode arrivals are used to estimate path-averaged temperatures and internal tide "strength". The modal phase structure function is introduced as a useful proxy for acoustic coherence, and is related via an integral transform to the environmental sound speed correlation function. Advantages of the method are its flexibility and division of the problem into independent contributions, such as from the water column and seabed.

Description: Office of Naval Research for providing funding for this thesis through AASERT Grant N00014-96-1-0918, and through ONR Grant N00014-98-1-0059.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 1999

Description: In this thesis the analysis of natural ice events is carried out based on direct measurements of ice-borne seismo-acoustic waves generated by ice fracturing processes. A major reason for studying this phenomenon is that this acoustic emission is a significant contributor to Arctic ocean ambient noise. Also the Arctic contains rich mineral and oil resources and in order to design mining facilities able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions, we need to have a better understanding of the processes of sea ice mechanics. The data analyzed in this thesis were collected during the Sea Ice Mechanics Initiative SIMI’94 experiment which was carried out in the spring of 1994 in the Central Arctic. One of the contributions of this thesis was the determination of the polarization characteristics of elastic waves using multicomponent geophone data. Polarization methods are well known in seismology, but they have never been used for ice event data processing. In this work one of the polarization methods so called Motion Product Detector method has been successfully applied for localization of ice events and determination of polarization characteristics of elastic waves generated by fracturing events. This application demonstrates the feasibility of the polarization method for ice event data processing because it allows one to identify areas of high stress concentration and "hot spots" in ridge building process. The identification of source mechanisms is based on the radiation patterns of the events. This identification was carried out through the analysis of the seismo-acoustic emission of natural ice events in the ice sheet. Previous work on natural ice event identification was done indirectly by analyzing the acoustic energy radiated into the water through coupling from elastic energy in the ice sheet. After identification of the events, the estimation of the parameters of fault processes in Arctic ice is carried out. Stress drop, seismic moment and the type of ice fracture are determined using direct near-field measurements of seismo-acoustic signals generated by ice events. Estimated values of fracture parameters were in good agreement with previous work for marginal ice zone. During data processing the new phenomenon was discovered: "edge waves", which are waves propagating back and forth along a newly opened ice lead. These waves exhibit a quasi-periodic behavior suggesting some kind of stick-slip generation mechanism somewhere along the length of the lead. The propagation characteristics of these waves were determined using seismic wavenumber estimation techniques. In the low frequency limit the dispersion can be modeled approximately by an interaction at the lead edges of the lowest order, antisymmetric modes of the infinite plate.

Description: Support for this thesis was provided by Office of Naval Research.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1999

Description: In the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri two intercellular homoserine-Iactone signal molecules (luxI-dependent 30C6-HSL and the ainS-dependent C8-HSL) and the transcriptional activator LuxR regulate the luminescence system in a cell-density dependent manner by a process termed quorum sensing. In this study, five additional proteins whose production is regulated by quorum sensing are described, and the genes encoding four of the five proteins, denoted as QsrP, RibB, QsrV, and AcfA, are analyzed. Each protein is positively regulated by 30C6-HSL and LuxR and negatively regulated at low population density by C8-HSL. Probable LuxR/autoinducer binding sites are found in the promoter region of each. QsrP and RibB are encoded monocistronically, whereas AcfA and QsrV appear to be encoded by a two-gene operon. On the basis of sequence similarity to proteins of known function from other organisms, RibB is believed to be an enzyme that catalyzes the transformation of ribulose 5-phosphate to 3,4-dihydroxy-2- butanone 4-phosphate, a precursor for the xylene ring of riboflavin; AcfA is believed to be a pilus subunit; and the functions of QsrP and QsrV are unknown at this time. A qsrP mutant was reduced in its ability to colonize its symbiotic partner, Euprymna scolopes when placed in competition with the parent strain. On the other hand, a mutant strain of V. fischeri containing an insertion in acfA, which is believed to be polar with respect to qsrV, displayed enhanced colonization competence in a competition assay. A ribB mutant grew well on media not supplemented with additional riboflavin and displayed normal induction of luminescence. Both phenotypes suggest that the lack of a functional ribB gene is complemented by another gene of similar function in the mutant. Oriented divergently from acfA are open reading frames that code for two putative proteins that are similar in sequence to members of the LysR family of transcriptional regulators. Organization of the two divergent sets of genes and the shared promoter region suggests that transcription of acfA and qsrV may be regulated by one or both of these divergently transcribed proteins. This work defines a quorum-sensing regulon in V. fischeri. A model describing its regulation is presented.

Description: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, including The J. Seward Johnson Fund, for contributing financially

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution] June 1975

Description: Many species of prosobranch gastropod deposit their eggs in tough capsules affixed to hard substrates. Generally, there is a small opening near the top of such capsules, occluded by a firm plug (operculum) which must be removed before the veligers can escape. Although the removal of the operculum is generally attributed to embryonic secretion of enzymes, there is little experimental support for this sugsestion. In the limited experiments which have been reported, all dealing with species that emerge as juvenile snails, no attempt was made to determine the properties of the hatching substance, or the timing of its production. My research has dealt with the escape of veligers from the egg capsules of two related species, Nassarius obsoletus and N. trivittatus. Their egg capsules are quite similar in size, number of eggs contained, general morphology, and the thickness of the material plugging the opening at the top. Both hatch as swimming veligers, after about one week of encapsulated. development. By adding fresh plug material to small volumes of sea-water containing veligers obtained prior to, or at known times after their normal hatching, I have demonstrated conclusively the essentially chemical nature of operculum removal for these two species. In addition, the hatching substance was found to be produced in a short pulse, to be functionally short-lived, and to be species-specific in its action for the two species considered. There is no evidence that the secretion of the hatching substance is stimulated by short pulses of light or increased temperature; the capsules of N. obsoletus contain many more embryos than are needed to successfully remove the plug, so that complete synchrony of hatching substance production by all individuals within a capsule is probably not necessary. Lastly, the observed rates at which N. obsoletus veligers leave their egg capsules were compared with those predicted from an equation assuming random movement of individuals. A close agreement was found, the capsules losing 98% of their residents within 45 to 55 minutes of the first escape. Thus, the location of the exit by an individual is probably by chance.

Description: This work was supported by a graduate fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2011

Description: The ocean depths provide an ever changing and complex imaging environment. As scientists and researches strive to document and study more remote and optically challenging areas, specifically scatter-limited environments. There is a requirement for new illumination systems that improve both image quality and increase imaging distance. One of the most constraining optical properties to underwater image quality are scattering caused by ocean chemistry and entrained organic material. By reducing the size of the scatter interaction volume, one can immediately improve both the focus (forward scatter limited) and contrast (backscatter limited) of underwater images. This thesis describes a relatively simple, cost-effective and field-deployable low-power dynamic lighting system that minimizes the scatter interaction volume with both subjective and quantifiable improvements in imaging performance.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2011

Description: Melting and crystallization processes on the Earth and Moon are explored in this thesis, and the topics of melt generation, transport, and crystallization are discussed in three distinct geologic environments: the Moon's mantle, the Greenland ice sheet, and the Earth's crust. Experiments have been conducted to determine the conditions of origin for two high-titanium magmas from the Moon. The lunar experiments (Chapter 2) were designed to explore the e ects of variable oxygen fugacity (fO2) on the high pressure and high temperature crystallization of olivine and orthopyroxene in high-Ti magmas. The results of these experiments showed that the source regions for the high-Ti lunar magmas are distributed both laterally and vertically within the lunar mantle, and that it is critical to estimate the pre-eruptive oxygen fugacity in order to determine true depth of origin for these magmas within the lunar mantle. Chapter 3 models the behavior of water ow through the Greenland ice sheet driven by hydrofracture of water through ice. The results show that melt water in the ablation zone of Greenland has almost immediate access to the base of the ice sheet in areas with up two kilometers of ice. Chapter 4 is an experimental study of two hydrous high-silica mantle melts from the Mt. Shasta, CA region. Crystallization is simulated at H2O saturated conditions at all crustal depths, and a new geobarometerhygrometer based on amphibole magnesium number is calibrated. In Chapter 5 I use the new barometer to study a suite of ma c enclaves from the Mt. Shasta region, and apply it to amphiboles in these enclaves. Evidence for pre-eruptive H2O contents of up to 14 wt% is presented, and bulk chemical analyses of the inclusions are used to show that extensive magma mixing has occurred at all crustal depths up to 35km beneath Mt. Shasta.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2011

Description: Remote sensing and in situ observations are used to investigate the ocean response to the Tokar Wind Jet in the Red Sea. The wind jet blows down the pressure gradient through the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese coast, at about 18°N, during the summer monsoon season. It disturbs the prevailing along-sea (southeastward) winds with strong cross-sea (northeastward) winds that can last from days to weeks and reach amplitudes of 20-25 m/s. By comparing scatterometer winds with along-track and gridded sea level anomaly observations, it is shown that an intense dipolar eddy spins up in less than seven days in response to the wind jet. The eddy pair has a horizontal scale of 140 km. Maximum ocean surface velocities can reach 1 m/s and eddy currents extend at least 200 m into the water column. The eddy currents appear to cover the width of the sea, providing a pathway for rapid transport of marine organisms and other drifting material from one coast to the other. Interannual variability in the strength of the dipole is closely matched with variability in the strength of the wind jet. The dipole is observed to be quasi-stationary, although there is some evidence for slow eastward propagation—simulation of the dipole in an idealized high-resolution numerical model suggests that this is the result of self-advection. These and other recent in situ observations in the Red Sea show that the upper ocean currents are dominated by mesoscale eddies rather than by a slow overturning circulation.

Description: This work is supported by Award Nos. USA 00002, KSA 00011 and KSA 00011/02 made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1983

Description: Novel methods were developed for the determination of 12 of the 14 Rare Earth Elements (REE) in seawater. Initial extractions of the REE by chelating ion exchange chromatography is followed by cation exchange for removal of co-extracted U and remaining traces of major ions. Finally traces of U are removed by anion exchange before irradiation for 8 hours at a flux of 5 x 1013 neutrons.cm-2.sec-l. After post-irradiation separation of 24 Na, the gamma spectra are recorded over four different time intervals with a Ge(Li) detector. An internal standard (144Ce) is carried all along the procedure for improved precision by avoidance of counting geometry errors. Vertical profiles are reported for three stations in respectively the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Cariaco Trench, an anoxic basin. This data set represents the first detailed profiles of Pr, Tb, Ho, Tm and Lu in seawater, together with profiles of La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd and Yb. The first observations of positive Ce anomalies in seawater are ascribed to regeneration of Ce under reducing conditions. The first reported positive Gd anomalies are ascribed to the unique chemical properties of the Gd(III)-cation, which has an exactly half-filled 4f electron shell. Concentrations of the REE range from 0.3 pmol.kg-l (Lu) to 86 pmol.kg-l (Ce) and are among the lowest reported so far for trace elements in seawater. The REE as a group typically exhibit a quasi-linear increase with depth. In the deep water there appears to be some degree of correlation with silicate. Concentration levels in the deep Pacific Ocean are 2-4 times those in deep Atlantic waters. Ce has an opposite behaviour, with very strong depletions in deep Pacific waters. In the Cariaco Trench all REE, but especially Ce, are strongly affected by the chemical changes across the oxic/anoxic interface. The REE distributions normalized versus shales (crustal abundance) exhibit four major features: i) a gradual enrichment of the heavy REE, most strongly developed in the deep Pacific Ocean. This is compatible with the stabilization of heavy REE by stronger inorganic complexation in seawater as predicted by the TURNER- WHITFIELD-DICKSON speciation model. ii) the first description of positive Gd anomalies, in agreement with the anomalously strong complexation of the Gd(III)-cation predicted by the same speciation model. iii) most commonly negative, but sometimes positive, Ce anomalies. iv) a linear Eu/Sm relation for all samples. Distributions of the dissolved REE in ocean waters seem to be dominated by their internal cycling within the ocean basins. With a few notable exceptions, the ultimate external sources (riverine, aeolian, hydrothermal) and sinks (authigenic minerals) appear to have little impact on the spatial distribution of the REE in oceanic water masses. Analogies with distributions of other properties within the oceans suggest that the REE as a group are controlled by two simultaneous processes: A) cycling like or identical to opal and calcium-carbonate, with circumstantial evidence in support of the latter as a possible carrier. B) adsorptive scavenging, possibly by manganese-oxide phases on settling particles. The latter mechanism is strongly supported by the parallels between REE(III) speciation in seawater and the 'typical 1 seawater REE pattern. This general correspondence is highlighted by the very distinct excursions of Gd in both Gd(III) speciation and the observed seawater REE patterns. Combination of both apparent mechanisms, for instance scavenging of REE by adsorptive coatings (Mn oxides) on settling skeletal material, is very well conceivable. Upon dissolution of the shells at or near the seafloor the adsorbed REE fraction would be released into the bottom waters. The observations of positive Ce anomalies in Northwest Atlantic surface waters, enhanced Ce anomalies and Mn levels in the OZ-minimum zone of the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean, and enhanced Ce concentrations in anoxic waters all support the contention that a vigorous cycling driven by oxidation and reduction reactions dominates both Ce and Mn in the ocean basins. Under conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium, Ce tends to become depleted in well-oxygenated open ocean waters, and normal or enriched in waters below a pOZ threshold of about 0.001-0.010 atm partial pressure. The latter threshold level generally lies below the sediment/water interface. However, the kinetics of oxidation (and reduction) of Ce appears to be slow relative to various transport processes. This leads to disequilibria, i.e. a major uncoupling of the pOZ threshold level and the Ce anomaly distribution. The REE are definitely non-conservative in seawater and in general the REE pattern or 143Nd/144Nd isotopic ratio cannot be treated as ideal water mass tracers. The continuous redistribution of Ce within the modern ocean, combined with the likelihood of active diagenesis, precludes the use of Ce anomalies as indicators of oxic versus anoxic conditions in ancient oceans. On the other hand, the Eu/Sm ratio, possibly combined with 143Nd/144Nd , would have potential as a tracer for understanding modern and ancient processes of hydrothermal circulation.

Description: This research was supported by Department of Energy contract DE-AS02-76EV03566 and Office of Naval Research Contract NOOOl 4-82-C-00l 9 NR 083-004.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1998

Description: Two cytochrome P4501A-dependent mechanisms of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist toxicity were examined in the marine teleost scup (Stenotomus chrysops), alteration of arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In scup hepatic microsomes, cytochrome P450s including CYP1A and CYP2B-like proteins catalyzed regioselective metabolism of AA to eicosatrienoic and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids. Benzo[a]pyrene (BP) treatment induced liver microsomal AA metabolism, but that effect varied with season. Endogenous AA epoxides were recovered from scup liver, heart, and kidney, and their composition in the liver was altered by treatment with BP or 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. In scup and mammals, the formation of ROS was stimulated by binding of 3,3',4,4-tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB) to CYP1A, apparently CYP1Al. Attack of that ROS inactivated scup CYP1A. ROS release and inactivation of CYP1A were stimulated only by substrates of CYP1A that are slowly metabolized. In vivo, 3,3',4,4',5- pentachlorobiphenyl (PeCB) potently induced CYP1A mRNA, protein and catalytic activity at low doses (0.01-0.1 mg/kg), suppressed induction of CYP1A protein and catalytic activity at a high dose (1 mg/kg) and transiently induced oxidative stress in scup liver. The suppression of CYP1A induction was organ-dependent, with hepatic CYP1A being most susceptible to inactivation. The results suggest that ROS could be involved in the in vivo suppression of scup liver CYP1A by planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons. The reactive oxygen sensitive transcription factor, nuclear factor-KB (NF-KB), was characterized in scup. An NF-KB consensus binding sequence bound specifically to 3 proteins in scup liver, heart and kidney. One protein was recognized by an antibody to mammalian p50. Injection alone appeared to activate NF-KB. BP did not increase the activation ofNF-KB, and PeCB activated NF-KB in only 1 of 2 experiments. Last, CYP1A induction in endothelial cells of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata), a site which may be particularly susceptible to alterations in AA metabolism and ROS production, was described. Eel liver CYP1A responded to BP, 13-naphthoflavone and TCB in a dose-dependent fashion, and induction was correlated with hepatic inducer concentration. Endothelial CYP1A was inducible in a number of organs and was metabolically active. In the rete mirabile, penetration of endothelial CYP1A induction increased with increasing dose of AhR agonists, corresponding with an increase in inducer concentration. A transition from endothelial to epithelial staining occurred in the gill, heart and kidney at high inducer doses.

Description: My research was supported in part by the Lyons Fellowship, the MIT!WHOI Joint program, the Rinehart Coastal Research Center, NIH grant P42-ES07381, EPA grant R823890 and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant F40620-94-1039.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2012

Description: The distribution and magnitude of marine primary production helps determine the ocean's role in global carbon cycling. Constraining factors that impact this productivity and elucidating selective pressures that drive the composition of marine microbial communities are thus essential aspects of marine biogeochemistry. Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a cobalt containing organometallic micronutrient produced by some bacteria and archaea and required by many eukaryotic phytoplankton for methionine biosynthesis and regeneration. Although the potential for vitamin B12 availability to impact primary production and phytoplankton species composition has long been recognized, the lack of molecular-level tools for studying B12 production, use and acquisition has limited inquiry into the role of the vitamin in marine biogeochemical processes. This thesis describes the development of such tools and implements them for the study of B12 dynamics in an Antarctic shelf ecosystem. Nucleic acid probes for B12 biosynthesis genes were designed and used to identify a potentially dominant group of B12 producers in the Ross Sea. The activity of this group was then verified by mass spectrometry-based peptide measurements. Then, possible interconnections between iron and B12 dynamics in this region were identified using field-based bottle incubation experiments and vitamin uptake measurements, showing that iron availability may impact both B12 production and consumption. Changes in diatom proteomes induced by low B12 and low iron availability were then examined and used to identify a novel B12 acquisition protein, CBA 1, in diatoms. This represents the first identification of a B12 acquisition protein in eukaryotic phytoplankton. Transcripts encoding CBAl were detected in natural phytoplankton communities, confirming that B12 acquisition is an important part of phytoplankton molecular physiology. Selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry was used to measure the abundance of CBA 1 and methionine synthase proteins in diatoms cultures, revealing distinct protein abundance patterns as a function ofB12 availability. These peptide measurements were implemented to quantify methionine synthase proteins in McMurdo Sound, revealing that there is both B12 utilization and starvation in natural diatom communities and that these peptide measurements hold promise for revealing the metabolic status of marine ecosystems with respect to vitamin B12.

Description: The work described in this thesis was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (2007037200) and an Environmental Protection Agency STAR Fellowship (F6E20324), the WHOI Ocean Life Institute, the WHOI Ocean Ventures Fund, the MIT Houghton Fund, NSF awards ANT 0732665, OCE 0752291, OPP 0440840, OCE 0327225, OCE 0452883, OCE 0723667, OCE 1031271, and OCE 0928414, the Center for Environmental Bioinorganic Chemistry at Princeton, the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (CMORE), the Australian Research Council and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2012

Description: This thesis presents a system for automatically building 3-D optical and bathymetric maps of underwater terrain using autonomous robots. The maps that are built improve the state of the art in resolution by an order of magnitude, while fusing bathymetric information from acoustic ranging sensors with visual texture captured by cameras. As part of the mapping process, several internal relationships between sensors are automatically calibrated, including the roll and pitch offsets of the velocity sensor, the attitude offset of the multibeam acoustic ranging sensor, and the full six-degree of freedom offset of the camera. The system uses pose graph optimization to simultaneously solve for the robot’s trajectory, the map, and the camera location in the robot’s frame, and takes into account the case where the terrain being mapped is drifting and rotating by estimating the orientation of the terrain at each time step in the robot’s trajectory. Relative pose constraints are introduced into the pose graph based on multibeam submap matching using depth image correlation, while landmark-based constraints are used in the graph where visual features are available. The two types of constraints work in concert in a single optimization, fusing information from both types of mapping sensors and yielding a texture-mapped 3-D mesh for visualization. The optimization framework also allows for the straightforward introduction of constraints provided by the particular suite of sensors available, so that the navigation and mapping system presented works under a variety of deployment scenarios, including the potential incorporation of external localization systems such as long-baseline acoustic networks. Results of using the system to map the draft of rotating Antarctic ice floes are presented, as are results fusing optical and range data of a coral reef.

Description: My first year was funded through an MIT Presidential Fellowship. Since then, I’ve been covered first by the National Science Foundation Censsis ERC under grant number EEC-9986821, and then by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under grant number NA090AR4320129.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2012

Description: As analysis of imagery and environmental data plays a greater role in mission construction and execution, there is an increasing need for autonomous marine vehicles to transmit this data to the surface. Without access to the data acquired by a vehicle, surface operators cannot fully understand the state of the mission. Communicating imagery and high-resolution sensor readings to surface observers remains a significant challenge – as a result, current telemetry from free-roaming autonomous marine vehicles remains limited to ‘heartbeat’ status messages, with minimal scientific data available until after recovery. Increasing the challenge, longdistance communication may require relaying data across multiple acoustic hops between vehicles, yet fixed infrastructure is not always appropriate or possible. In this thesis I present an analysis of the unique considerations facing telemetry systems for free-roaming Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) used in exploration. These considerations include high-cost vehicle nodes with persistent storage and significant computation capabilities, combined with human surface operators monitoring each node. I then propose mechanisms for interactive, progressive communication of data across multiple acoustic hops. These mechanisms include wavelet-based embedded coding methods, and a novel image compression scheme based on texture classification and synthesis. The specific characteristics of underwater communication channels, including high latency, intermittent communication, the lack of instantaneous end-to-end connectivity, and a broadcast medium, inform these proposals. Human feedback is incorporated by allowing operators to identify segments of data thatwarrant higher quality refinement, ensuring efficient use of limited throughput. I then analyze the performance of these mechanisms relative to current practices. Finally, I present CAPTURE, a telemetry architecture that builds on this analysis. CAPTURE draws on advances in compression and delay tolerant networking to enable progressive transmission of scientific data, including imagery, across multiple acoustic hops. In concert with a physical layer, CAPTURE provides an endto- end networking solution for communicating science data from autonomous marine vehicles. Automatically selected imagery, sonar, and time-series sensor data are progressively transmitted across multiple hops to surface operators. Human operators can request arbitrarily high-quality refinement of any resource, up to an error-free reconstruction. The components of this system are then demonstrated through three field trials in diverse environments on SeaBED, OceanServer and Bluefin AUVs, each in different software architectures.

Description: Thanks to the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for their funding of my education and this work.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2012

Description: The focus of this thesis is the design and development of a system for rapid extraction of dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater and groundwater samples for radiocarbon dating. The Rapid Extraction of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon System (REDICS) consists of two subsystems – one for sample introduction, acidification, and carbon dioxide extraction, and one for carbon dioxide quantification and storing. The first subsystem efficiently extracts the dissolved inorganic carbon from the water sample in the form of carbon dioxide by utilizing a gas-permeable polymer membrane contractor. The second subsystem traps, quantifies and stores the extracted gas using cryogenics. The extracted carbon dioxide is further processed for stable and radiocarbon isotope analysis at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Facility at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The REDICS system was tested using seawater standards collected at 470m and 4000m depth in the Atlantic Ocean and analyzing the extracted CO2. The results were compared to the results for the same standards processed on the current NOSAMS water stripping line. The results demonstrate that the system successfully extracts more than 99% of the dissolved inorganic carbon in less than 20 minutes. Stable isotope and radiocarbon isotope analyses demonstrated system precision of 0.02‰ and 3.5‰ respectively.

Description: Funded by the National Science Foundation as well as the MIT WHOI Joint Program

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2012

Description: Observations from a three-year field program on the inner shelf south of Martha's Vineyard, MA and a numerical model are used to describe the effect of stratification on inner shelf circulation, transport, and sediment resuspension height. Thermal stratification above the bottom mixed layer is shown to cap the height to which sediment is resuspended. Stratification increases the transport driven by cross-shelf wind stresses, and this effect is larger in the response to offshore winds than onshore winds. However, a one-dimensional view of the dynamics is not sufficient to explain the relationship between circulation and stratification. An idealized, cross-shelf transect in a numerical model (ROMS) is used to isolate the effects of stratification, wind stress magnitude, surface heat flux, cross-shelf density gradient, and wind direction on the inner shelf response to the cross-shelf component of the wind stress. In well mixed and weakly stratified conditions, the cross-shelf density gradient can be used to predict the transport efficiency of the cross-shelf wind stress. In stratified conditions, the presence of an along-shelf wind stress component makes the inner shelf response to cross-shelf wind stress strongly asymmetric.

Description: This work was supported through National Science Foundation grant no. OCE-0548961, the WHOI Academic Programs Office, and the WHOI Coastal Ocean Institute.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2012

Description: Adaptive equalization is an important aspect of communication systems in various environments. It is particularly important in underwater acoustic communication systems, as the channel has a long delay spread and is subject to the effects of time- varying multipath fading and Doppler spreading. The design of the adaptation algorithm has a profound influence on the performance of the system. In this thesis, we explore this aspect of the system. The emphasis of the work presented is on applying concepts from inference and decision theory and information theory to provide an approach to deriving and analyzing adaptation algorithms. Limited work has been done so far on rigorously devising adaptation algorithms to suit a particular situation, and the aim of this thesis is to concretize such efforts and possibly to provide a mathematical basis for expanding it to other applications. We derive an algorithm for the adaptation of the coefficients of an equalizer when the receiver has limited or no information about the transmitted symbols, which we term the Soft-Decision Directed Recursive Least Squares algorithm. We will demonstrate connections between the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and the Recursive Least Squares algorithm, and show how to derive a computationally efficient, purely recursive algorithm from the optimal EM algorithm. Then, we use our understanding of Markov processes to analyze the performance of the RLS algorithm in hard-decision directed mode, as well as of the Soft-Decision Directed RLS algorithm. We demonstrate scenarios in which the adaptation procedures fail catastrophically, and discuss why this happens. The lessons from the analysis guide us on the choice of models for the adaptation procedure. We then demonstrate how to use the algorithm derived in a practical system for underwater communication using turbo equalization. As the algorithm naturally incorporates soft information into the adaptation process, it becomes easy to fit it into a turbo equalization framework. We thus provide an instance of how to use the information of a turbo equalizer in an adaptation procedure, which has not been very well explored in the past. Experimental data is used to prove the value of the algorithm in a practical context.

Description: Support from the agencies that funded this research- the Academic Programs Office at WHOI and the Office of Naval Research (through ONR Grant #N00014-07-10738 and #N00014-10-10259).

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 1998

Description: Work on the forward problem in zooplankton bioacoustics has resulted in the identification of three categories of acoustic scatterers: elastic-shelled (e.g. pteropods), fluid-like (e.g. euphausiids), and gas-bearing (e.g. siphonophores). The relationship between backscattered energy and animal biomass has been shown to vary by a factor of —19,000 across these categories, so that to make accurate estimates of zooplankton biomass from acoustic backscatter measurements of the ocean, the acoustic characteristics of the species of interest must be well-understood. This thesis describes the development of both feature based and model based classification techniques to invert broadband acoustic echoes from individual zooplankton for scatterer type, as well as for particular parameters such as animal orientation. The feature based Empirical Orthogonal Function Classifier (EOFC) discriminates scatterer types by identifying characteristic modes of variability in the echo spectra, exploiting only the inherent characteristic structure of the acoustic signatures. The model based Model Parameterisation Classifier (MPC) classifies based on correlation of observed echo spectra with simplified parameterisations of theoretical scattering models for the three classes. The Covariance Mean Variance Classifiers (CMVC) are a set of advanced model based techniques which exploit the full complexity of the theoretical models by searching the entire physical model parameter space without employing simplifying parameterisations. Three different CMVC algorithms were developed: the Integrated Score Classifier (ISC), the Pairwise Score Classifier (PSC) and the Bayesian Probability Classifier (BPC); these classifiers assign observations to a class based on similarities in covariance, mean, and variance, while accounting for model ambiguity and validity. These feature based and model based inversion techniques were successfully applied to several thousand echoes acquired from broadband (-350 kHz - 750 kHz) insonifications of live zooplankton collected on Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine to determine scatterer class. CMVC techniques were also applied to echoes from fluid-like zooplankton (Antarctic krill) to invert for angle of orientation using generic and animal-specific theoretical and empirical models. Application of these inversion techniques in situ will allow correct apportionment of backscattered energy to animal biomass, significantly improving estimates of zooplankton biomass based on acoustic surveys.

Description: Thanks to the WHOI/MIT Joint Program Education Office for partial funding. Other sources of funding for my thesis work include the Ocean Acoustics, Oceanic Biology and URIP programs of the Office of Naval Research grant numbers N00014-89- J-1729, N00014-95-1-0287 and N00014-924-1527, and the Biological Oceanography program of the National Science Foundation grant number OCE-9201264.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2012

Description: Estuarine density stratification may be controlled primarily by cross-shore processes (analogous to longitudinal control in narrow estuaries), or by both cross- and alongshore processes (typical of coastal plumes). Here field observations and numerical modeling are used to investigate stratification on the low-sloped, periodically inundated Skagit Bay tidal flats. Advection of stratification by the depth-averaged velocity, straining of the horizontal density gradient by velocity shear, and turbulent mixing are shown to be the dominant processes. On the south-central flats (near the south fork river mouth) velocities are roughly rectilinear, and the largest terms are in the major velocity direction (roughly cross-shore). However, on the north flats (near the north fork river mouth), velocity ellipses are nearly circular owing to strong alongshore tidal flows and alongshore stratification processes are important. Stratification was largest in areas where velocities and density gradients were aligned. The maximum stratification occurred during the prolonged high water of nearly diurnal tides when advection and straining with relatively weak flows increased stratification with little mixing. Simulations suggest that the dominance of straining (increasing stratification) or mixing (decreasing stratification) on ebb tides depends on the instantaneous Simpson number being above or below unity.

Description: Support for the work was provided by the Office of Naval Research, contracts N00014-10-10220, N00014-08-10050, N00014- 07-10461, N00014-0710755, N00014-0810787, N00014-0910933, the National Science foundation, grant OCE-0622844 the PADI Foundation, grant 74, an MIT Linden Earth Systems Fellowship, 2006-2007, and Academic Programs Office funds.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution December 1988

Description: In a field study of blue shark swimming behavior, acoustic telemetry was used to record depth, swimming speed and tailbeat frequency from free-ranging blue sharks (Prionace glauca) in northwestern Atlantic slope waters. Records obtained from five sharks show a consistent pattern of vertical migration between the surface and depths as great as 450 meters, with the deepest dives occurring during the daytime and shallower dives at night. Mean swimming speed was 44.5 ± 1.6 (X±S.E.) cm.s-1 (0.179 ± 0.014 lengths.s-1) for three sharks, with short bursts up to 180 cm.s-1. Mean tailbeat frequency was 0.335 ± 0.021 beats.s-1. Measurement of swimming speed and rate of vertical movement during dives permits calculation of angles of ascent and descent. For 84 dives deeper than 50 m, the descent angle averaged 8.0 ± 0.7 degrees from the horizontal while the ascent angle was 6.4 ± 0.5 degrees. Tailbeat records indicate that blue sharks actively swam downward during most of the descent, with brief periods of gliding which appear to be associated with the most rapid descent rates. The observed diving behavior does not match that predicted by theory to be energetically optimal for migration, and may instead represent a strategy for encountering and capturing prey. Heart rate, metabolic rate and activity were simultaneously recorded in the laboratory from lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) during rest and spontaneous exercise, and from leopard sharks (Triakis semifasciata) during steady swimming at controlled speeds to evaluate the usefulness of heart rate as a measure of field metabolic rate. Heart rate was monitored by acoustic telemetry using a frequency modulated ECG transmitter, and metabolic rate was measured as oxygen consumption rate. For seven lemon sharks at 25°C, mean resting values for heart rate and oxygen consumption rate were 52.0 + 0.4 (S.E.) beats.min-1 and 162.0 ± 2.0 (S.E.) mg02.kg-1hr-1, respectively. Both parameters increased significantly (p〈.001) during swimming, to means of 55.9 ± 0.2 beats.min-1 and 233.6 + 2.3 mg Oz.kg-1hr-1, at a mean swimming speed of 0.400 ± 0.003 body heart rate and oxygen consumption rate were 36.6 + 1.8 beats.min-1 and 105.3 ± 35.6 mg Oz.kg-1.hr-1. While swimming-at the maximum sustained speed (0.84 ± 0.03 lengths.s-1) for 30-60 minutes, these rates were 46.9 + 0.9 beats.min- and 229.3 + 13.2 mg Oz.kg-1.hr-1. The observed elevations in heart rate from rest to exercise account for 20% of the increase in oxygen uptake in the lemon shark and 32% in the leopard shark, leaving the remainder to be brought about by increases in stroke volume and/or arteriovenous oxygen difference. Significant linear regressions of oxygen consumption rate on heart rate were obtained for both lemon sharks and leopard sharks; separate regressions were obtained for individual lemon sharks . Heart rate was approximately as closely correlated to oxygen consumption rate as was swimming speed.

Description: Financial support throughout this project was from several sources: the WHO! education office, a grant from the Coastal Research Center to the author, and NSF grants OCE-8311512 to FGC, OCE-8743949 to SHG, and DCB-8416852 to JBG.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1989

Description: The dynamics of deeply-towed cable/vehicle systems are governed by nonlinear partial differential equations and as a result, trajectory control is generally difficult using the available techniques. This work examines the possibility of utilizing parametric dynamic models in differential equation form, to present a far more tractable controls problem. A learning-model method for generating accurate approximations of this type is used, and the identification process is unique in that an analytically-based model provides the primary data sets, allowing for a priori characterization of system responses without using any real data. The performances of the parametric forms are then verified through comparison of model output against actual sea data obtained during recent cruises in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. The respective merits and limitations of several different model structures are discussed, with respect to both pure performance and identification efficiency.

Description: The Office of Naval Research is gratefully acknowledged for its financial support of my graduate education, under Contract N00014-85-G-0084; in addition, this work has been sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation under Contract OCE-8511431. Finally, the International Business Machines Corporation is acknowledged for graciously providing the computing facilities that were critical to this thesis.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ocean Engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1989

Description: When ocean waves in deep water interact with a current, the direction of propagation and characteristics of the waves such as height and length are affected. Swell in the open ocean can undergo significant refraction as it passes through major current systems like the Gulf Stream or Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Remote sensing techniques such as synthetic aperture radars (SAR) have the potential to detect wave systems over a wide geographical area. Combining a model for wave refraction in the presence of currents with SAR measurements, the inverse problem of using the measured wave data can be solved to determine the direction and magnitude of the intervening currents. In this study the behavior of swell measured by SAR on a satellite pass over the Gulf Stream is examined. The refraction predicted by a numerical model under conditions of varying current profiles and velocities is compared to SAR generated wave spectra. By matching the current profile which results in the best correlation of wave refraction to the SAR data, the tomographic problem of measuring the Gulf Stream current is solved. The best correlation between the model and SAR data is obtained when a current is modeled by a top hat velocity profile with a direction of 75° and a current speed of 2 m/s. The direction agrees with that visually observed from the SAR images, and the direction and speeds are close to the Coast Guard estimates for the Gulf Stream at the time of the SEASAT,pass. The current profiles used did not take into account a possible widening of the Gulf Stream at the position of the satellite overpass. There is a great deal of scatter in the SAR data, both before and in the Gulf Stream, so it is difficult to correlate every point with specific current behavior, but the increase in wave length and change in wave angle in the center of the Gulf Stream seem to indicate that there may be a non-uniform feature such as the formation of an eddy or other lateral variability near the current's edge.

Description: I was supported by the U. S. Navy.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1990

Description: An acoustic tomography experiment consisting of a source near Hawaii and seven receivers along the west coast of North America was conducted from November 1987 to May 1988 and from February 1989 to July 1989. In this thesis, the acoustic ray travel times are analyzed in order to investigate inter-annual basin-scale thermal variability. These thermal fluctuations may help detect any greenhouse warming and greater understanding of them will increase knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions which affect weather and climate. A discussion of the program for finding the travel times is included along with a comparison of two methods of measuring travel times.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1990

Description: Travel-times of acoustic signals were measured between a bottom-mounted source near Oahu and four bottom-mounted receivers located near Washington, Oregon, and California in 1988 and 1989. This paper discusses the observed tidal signals. At three out of four receivers, observed travel times at M2 and S2 periods agree with predictions from barotropic tide models to within ±30° in phase and a factor of 1.6 in amplitude. The discrepancy at the fourth receiver can be removed by including predicted effects of phase-locked baroclinic tides generated by seamounts. Our estimates of barotropic M2 tidal dissipation by seamounts vary between 2 x 1016 and 1 X 1018 erg·s-1. The variation by two orders of magnitude is due to uncertainties in the numbers and sizes of seamounts. The larger dissipation (1 x 1018 erg·s-1) is the same order as previous estimates and amounts to 4% of the total dissipation at M2.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1990

Description: A recently developed technique for determining past sea surface temperatures (SST), based on an analysis of the unsaturation ratio of long chain C37 methyl alkenones (Uk37) produced by Prymnesiophyceae phytoplankton, has been applied to late Quaternary sediment cores. Previous studies have shown that the Uk37 ratio of these alkenones is linearly proportional to the sea-water temperature in which the plankton grow, both in culture and water column samples. Furthermore, a reasonable correlation has been found between open ocean paleo-SST estimates based on Uk37 values and those derived from δ180, for the period spanning approximately the last 100,000 years (Brassell, 1986b). These results indicate this technique has potential for determining paleo-SST from analysis of alkenones extracted from marine sediments. In order to apply the Uk37 method quantitatively, it is necessary to calibrate the method for sediment samples, and to assess how well the alkenones maintain their temperature signal under some common conditions of sediment deposition and sample handling. It is also necessary to determine the method's usefulness downcore, that is, back in time, by comparing it to established methods. This study examined the effect on Uk37 of conditions that cause dissolution of carbonates in the sediment, and methods of storage and 'sample handling. These are two problems that must be resolved before the method can be applied rigorously and quantitatively to sediments for paleotemperature estimations. A comparison of duplicate samples collected and stored frozen versus those stored at room temperature for up to four years showed no resolvable differences in Uk37. Laboratory experiments of carbonate dissolution indicated there is no effect on Uk37 values under the acidic conditions that dissolve carbonates. Initial field results support this, but indicate more studies are necessary. The Uk37 "thermometer" was calibrated by analyzing Uk37 in coretops from widely varying open ocean sites. Sediment values of Uk37 reflected overlying SST for the appropriate season of the phytoplankton bloom, which for this study was assumed to be summer in high latitudes. These results fall on the same regression line for culture and water column samples derived by Prahl and Wakeham (1987), indicating that their equation (Uk37 = 0.033 T + 0.043) is suitable for use in converting Uk37 values in sediments to overlying SST for the season of coccolith bloom. Using this calibration for sediments, the Uk37 paleotemperature method can be quantitatively applied down core to open ocean sediments. In the Equatorial Atlantic, Uk37 temperature estimates were compared to those obtained from δ18O of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer, and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages for the last glacial cycle. The alkenone method showed ~1.56°C cooling at the last glacial maximum. This is about half the decrease shown by both the isotopic method ( ~3.40°C) and foraminiferal assemblages (~3.75°C), implying that, if Uk37 estimates are correct, SST in the equatorial Atlantic was only reduced slightly in the last glaciation. In the Northeast Atlantic, Uk37 temperature estimates show a profile downcore which is similar to the estimates from foram assemblages but with a constant offset toward warmer values throughout the core. Uk37 SST estimates are substantially warmer than foraminiferal estimates at all times, which may indicate inaccuracy in Uk37 temperatures at this site. Uk37 indicates a SST of 12°C for the late glacial and 18°C for the Recent, whereas assemblages give estimates of 9°C and 13°C, respectively. At 12,700 yrs BP, the Uk37 and foram assemblage methods indicate a 2°C warming. A temperature change of 2°C can account for only 0.44°/oo of the observed 1.2°/oo δ18O signal, indicating that the additional 0.8°/oo change in δ18O must result from changes in surface salinity most likely due to a meltwater lid. Uk37 estimates show the major temperature shift from glacial to interglacial temperatures occured at about 9,000 yrs BP disagreeing with assemblage data which shows the shift to Holocene values at about 12,700 yrs BP. If Uk37 temperature estimates are accurate, this disagreement may reflect differing habitats of flora and fauna under the unusual sea surface conditions in this area during the deglaciation.

Description: Primary financial support for this research came from the Ocean Ventures Fund (grant 25/ 85.08), without which this project would not have been possible. Funding supporting the labs of John Farrington (OCE 88-11409) and Lloyd Keigwin (OCE 83-08893 and ATM 84-14335) in which I worked also provided funding for part for this research.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1990

Description: Estimates of the heat output of hydrothermal vents, identified along the Endeavor and Southern Segments of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, are used to evaluate the total heat flux associated with hydrothermal circulation for the ridge segment. An array carried by D/V ALVIN sampled the temperature and velocity structure of hydrothermal plumes from individual vents . The maximum heat flux calculated for a single vent is 50 MW, but the average vent output is only 13 MW per vent for 31 vents. The estimates for any given vent may vary over an order of magnitude. This uncertainty is due mainly to the difficulty of locating the centerline of the plume relative to the point of measurement, although the uncertainty in determining the constants from the appropriate equations based on laboratory experiments contributes a significant share to the net error. For the Endeavor Segment, the minimum total geothermal heat flux due to hydrothermal circulation exceeds 70 MW. The minimum estimate for the Southern Segment is 16 MW. The maximum estimate is probably closer to the total heat flux (236 MW and 66 MW respectively) . The estimated heat flux density is 3300 W/m2 for the Endeavor vent field and 39 W/m2 for the Southern vent field. Focused hydrothermal venting accounts for only a small fraction of the heat available according to steady-state predictions of conductive heat flux; however, other hydrothermal phenomena (e.g., diffuse flow) account for the greater share of the total hydrothermal heat flux.

Description: This project was supported by NSF grant #OCE87-14511 and by the WHOI Education Office.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 1990

Description: The variation in the depth and width of the median valley along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) suggests that the formation of ocean crust at slow spreading centers is not a simple two-dimensional process in which crustal accretion occurs uniformly both along the ridge axis and with time. Rather, it has been proposed that the ridge axis can be divided into a number of distinct segments or spreading cells. This thesis investigates the segmentation model by studying the variability in the structure and tectonics within spreading cells at 23°N and 26°N along the MAR. The results support the segmentation model in which accretion varies along the ridge, evolving as independent spreading cells or segments, with different portions of the ridge system being in different stages of volcanic and tectonic evolution. Chapter 2 presents an overview of morphologic and tectonic variations along a 100- km-length of the MAR south of the Kane Fracture Zone (MARK area). Sea MARC.I side scan sonar data and multi-beam Sea Beam bathymetry are used to document the distribution of crustal magmatism and extensional tectonism near 23°N. The data indicate a complex median valley composed by two distinct en echelon spreading cells which overlap in a discordant zone that lacks a well-developed rift valley or neovolcanic zone. The northern cell, immediately south of the fracture zone, is dominated by a large constructional volcanic ridge and is associated with active high-temperature hydrothermal activity. In contrast, the southern cell is characterized by a NNE-trending band of small fissured and faulted volcanos that are built upon relatively old, fissured and sediment-covered lavas; this cell is inferred to be in a predominantly extensional phase with only small, isolated volcanic eruptions. Despite the complexity of the MARK area, volcanic and tectonic activity appears to be confined to the 10-17 km wide inner rift valley. Small-offset normal faulting along near-vertical planes begins within a few kilometers of the ridge axis and appears to be largely completed by the time the crust moves out of the median valley. Mass-wasting and gullying of scarp faces, and sedimentation which buries low-relief seafloor features, are the major geological processes occurring outside the rift valley. In Chapters 3 and 4, the microearthquake characteristics and P wave velocity structure beneath the median valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 26°N are studied; this ridge segment is characterized by a large high-temperature hydrothermal field situated within the inner floor at the along-axis high. Chapter 3 explores the tectonic variations within the crust as evidenced from the distribution and source mechanisms of microearthquakes observed by a network of seven ocean bottom hydrophones and two ocean bottom seismometers over a three week period in 1985. Hypocenters were determined for 189 earthquakes, with good resolution of focal depth obtained for 105 events. Almost all events occurred at depths between 3 and 7 km beneath the seafloor, with earthquakes occurring at shallower depths beneath the along-axis high (〈4 km). The distribution of hypocenters and the diversity of faulting associated with earthquakes beneath the inner floor and walls suggests a spatially variable tectonic state for the ridge segment at 26°N. These variations are presumably a signature of lateral heterogeneity in the depth region over which brittle failure occurs, and are a consequence of along-axis changes in the thermal structure and state of stress. We suggest that at present the hydrothermal activity and deposition of massive sulfides is being sustained by heat generated by a recent magmatic intrusion. A consequence of this scenario is that thermal stresses play a dominant role in controlling the distribution of earthquakes and nature of faulting. Such a hypothesis is consistent with an apparent lack of seismicity beneath the hydrothermal field, the location of hypocenters around the low velocity zone (Chapter 4), attenuation of P wave energy to instruments atop the high (Chapter 4), the higher b-values associated with the along-axis high region, and the occurrence of high-angle (or very low angle) normal faulting and reverse faulting, as well as the variability in nodal plane orientations, associated with inner floor events beneath the along-axis high and the volcano. In Chapter 4, we report results from the explosive refraction line and from the tomographic inversion of P wave travel time residuals for seismic velocity structure in the vicinity of the hydrothermal field. The twcrdimensional along-axis P wave structure beneath the inner floor indicates that young oceanic crust cannot be adequately characterized by a simple, laterally homogeneous velocity structure, but that one-dimensional StruGtures are at least locally valid (at 5-10 km length scales). The shallowmost crust (upper 1-2 km) beneath an axial volcano and the along-axis high is characterized by significantly higher velocities (by more than 1 km/s) than are associated with the upper crust in the deepest portions of the median valley. The variation is inferred to be a consequence of more recent magmatic and volcanic activity in the along-axis high region, as compared with the alongaxis deep where tectonic fissuring has created a highly porous crust characterized by lower seafloor velocities. The crust beneath the along-axis deep appears to be typical of normal young oceanic crust, with a mantle velocity of 8.25 krn/s observed at 5 k:m depth. A low velocity zone centered beneath the along-axis high and extending under an axial volcano is imaged from 3 to 5 km depth (7.2 km/s to 6.0 km/s); the velocity decrease is required to satisfy the travel time residual data and to explain the severe attenuation in compressional wave energy to instruments atop the along-axis high. The presence of an active high-temperature hydrothermal field atop the along-axis high, together with the observations of lower P wave velocities, the absence of microearthquake activity greater than 4 km in depth, and the propagation of S waves through the crust beneath the volcano and along-axis high (Chapter 3), suggest that the volume corresponds to a region of hot rock with no seismically-resolvable pockets of partial melt. The shallow velocity gradients describing the low velocity volume(〈0.6 s-l) appear to be a corrunon characteristic of inferred zones of magmatic intrusion on the MAR. Comparison of the depth to the velocity inversion with the depths determined in other seismic studies at locally high regions along the MAR, the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and the East Pacific Rise reveals a correlation between lid thickness and spreading rate, suggesting that the amount of magma available at each location is spatially variable, or that the differences in lid thickness are describing the temporal evolution of magmatic intrusions beneath mid-ocean ridges. In Chapter 5, the first direct measurement of upper mantle P- and S-wave delay times beneath an oceanic spreading center is presented. Two independent estimates of the epicenters and origin times are made for each of two earthquakes in a 1985 earthquake swarm near 25°50'N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge using local and teleseismic arrival time data. Comparison indicates a 14-20 km northward bias in the epicenters teleseismically located using a Herrin [1968] Earth model. The bias is due to departures of the actual velocity structure from that implicit in the travel time tables used for the locations, combined with unbalanced station distribution. The comparison of origin times for the best-located event, after correction for the epicentral bias and for an oceanic crustal thickness, shows there to be only slightly lower velocities than a Herrin [1968] upper mantle; the P-wave delay is +0.3 ± 0.9 s (+0.2 ± 0.9 sand -2.4 ± 0.9 s relative to the isotropic Preliminary Earth Reference Model (PREM) and the Jeffreys-Bullen [1940] (JB) travel time tables, respectively). The lack of a resolvable P-wave delay suggests that the Herrin [1968] model is a good approximation to the average upper mantle velocity beneath this segment of the MAR. Measurement of the S-wave delay for the same MAR swarm event shows there to be a positive delay (+3.1 ± 2.0 s), or larger travel times and slower velocities compared to the JB S-wave tables (+ 3.9 ± 2.0 s relative to the isotropic PREM S-wave model). In contrast to the larger P-wave delays found in other MAR studies, the lack of a significant seismic anomaly near 26°N indicates that sizeable regions of low velocity material do not presently exist in the upper few hundred kilometers of mantle beneath this section of the ridge. This evidence argues for substantial along-axis variations in the active upwel~ng of mantle material along the slowly-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In order to explain the observation of a smaller than expected P wave delay in a region where the S delay suggests significant temperature anomalies (low velocities), we propose a model for mantle upwelling in which the decrease in travel time is due to an anisotropic P wave structure (fast direction vertical); the anisotropy results from the reorientation of olivine crystals parallel to the ascending flow and balances the travel time delay due to a region of low velocities.

Description: This thesis was funded in part by grants EAR-8407798, EAR-8407745, and EAR- 8817173 from the National Science Foundation.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1990

Description: Numerous studies have shown dinoflagellate blooms to be closely related to density discontinuities and fronts in the ocean. The spatial and temporal patterns of the dinoflagellate population depend on the predominant mode of physical forcing, and its scales of variability. The present study combined field sampling of hydrographic and biological variables to examine the relationship of dinoflagellate population distributions to physical factors along the southwestern cost of the Gulf of Maine. A bloom of Ceratium longipes occurred along this coast during the month of June, 1987. A simple model which coupled along-isopycnal diffusion with the logistic growth equation suggested that the cells had a growth rate of about 0.1 d-1 , and had reached a steady horizontal across-shelf distribution within about 10 d. Fur~her variations in population density appeared to be related to fluctuations of light with periods of -10 d. To our knowledge, this was the first use of this simple diffusion model as a diagnostic tool for quantifying parameters describing the growth and movement of a specific phytoplankton population. Blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium tamarense have been nearly annual features along the coasts of southern Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts since 1972; however the mechanisms controlling the distribution of cells and concomitant shellfish toxicity are relatively poorly understood. Analysis of field data gathered from April to September, 1987-1989, showed that in two years when toxicity was detected in the southern part of this region, A. tamarense cells were apparently transported into the study area between Portsmouth and Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in a coastally trapped buoyant plume. This plume appears to have been formed off Maine by the outflow from the Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers. Flow rates of these rivers, hydrographic sections, and satellite images suggest that the plume had a duration of about a month, and extended alongshore for several hundred kilometers. The distribution of cells followed the position of the plume as it was influenced by wind and topography. Thus when winds were downwelling-favourable, cells were moved alongshore to the south, and were held to the coast; when winds were upwelling-favourable, the plume sometimes separated from the coast, advecting the cells offshore. The alongshore advection of toxic cells within a coastally trapped buoyant plume can explain the temporal and spatial patterns of shellfish toxicity along the coast. The general observation of a north-to-south temporal trend of toxicity is consistent with the southward advection of the plume. In 1987 when no plume was present, Alexandrium tamarense cells were scarce, and no toxicity was recorded at the southern stations. A hypothesis was formulated explaining the development and spread of toxic dinoflagellate blooms in this region. This plume-advection hypothesis included: source A. tamarense populations in the north, possibly associated with the Androscoggin and Kennebec estuaries; a relationship between toxicity patterns and river flow volume and timing of flow peaks; and a relationship between wind stresses and the distribution of low salinity water and cells. Predictions of the plume-advection hypothesis were tested with historical records of shellfish toxicity, wind speed and direction, and river flow. The predictions tested included the north-south progression of toxic outbreaks, the occurrence of a peak in river flow prior to the PSP events, the relationship of transit time of PSP toxicity along the coast with river flow volume, and the influence of surface wind stress on the timing and location of shellfish toxicity. All the predictions tested were supported by the historical records. In addition it was found that the plume-advection hypothesis explains many details of the timing and spread of shellfish toxicity, including the sporadic nature of toxic outbreaks south of Massachusetts Bay, and the apparently rare occurrence of toxicity well offshore on Nantucket Shoals and Georges Bank.

Description: This research was supported by ONR contract N00014-87-K-0007 and ONR grant N00014-89-J-111 to Donald M. Anderson, and NOAA Office of Sea Grant contract NA86AA-D-SG090.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution May 1993

Description: Breaking waves charge the surface layer of the ocean with small air bubbles which play an important role in air-sea gas transfer and in underwater acoustics near the ocean surface. This work reports on a series of laboratory and field experiments on the measurement on air entrainment by breaking waves. The first part of this thesis addresses the measurement of high volumetric concentrations of air (0.3% to 100% void-fraction) found immediately beneath breaking waves. Instrumentation based on the change of electrical impedance of the bubbly mixture with change in void-fraction is developed. Laboratory measurements are conducted in a wave channel and in a large three-dimensional wave basin. Maps of the evolution of the void-fraction distribution in bubble plumes generated by various size breaking waves are presented. Moments of the void-fraction field are shown to scale with the initially enclosed air volume at breaking and the energy dissipated by breaking. A significant fraction (30 to 50%) of the energy dissipated by breaking is found to be expanded in entraining bubbles against their buoyancy. The results reveal that the bubble plumes experience rapid transformations within the first wave period after the onset of breaking. In particular, the plumes loose 95% of the initially entrained air volume during the fust wave period. Predictions of the low-frequency resonant oscillations of the bubble plumes from measurements of the void-fraction compare well with acoustic measurements. Measurements near the ocean surface show high void-fractions up to 24% immediately beneath breaking waves. These are several orders of magnitude greater than previously reported time-averaged measurements. The second part addresses the measurement of very low void-fractions. Instrumentation based on the propagation velocity of low-frequency acoustic pulses is developed. Simultaneous measurements of the sound-speed (and thus the void-fraction) at several depths are conducted during two field experiments. Time-series of sound-speed and attenuation show dramatic fluctuations over time periods on the order of minutes or less. These are attributed to the formation of bubble plumes or passage of bubble clouds. Frequent occurences of sound-speed anomalies greater than 1 OOrnls and attenuation greater than 30dB/m are observed for moderate wind conditions (8m/s). The signals at various depths are highly correlated and mostly coherent at frequencies below 0.05Hz. The time-averaged (20min) sound-speed profile is found to be significantly more pronounced and shallower than previously reported. Simultaneous measurements at several acoustic frequencies show that the sound-speed is non-dispersive below 20kHz for moderate wind conditions. Bubble size distributions are inferred from the soundspeed and attenuation measurements.

Description: This research was funded by the Office of Naval Research (Ocean Acoustics and Oceanography) and the National Science Foundation.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1993

Description: We begin with the linearized irrotational theory describing the diffraction of an incoming plane wave by a vertical cylinder. From the free-surface motion, we describe the boundary-layer flow field U0i near that cylinder. The flow field is then used to calculate the modified convective velocities Ui and symmetric dispersivities Dij. Through our calculations we have demonstrated convective flow reversal for both large and very small cylinders. In addition we have characterized four regions of waves and transport about the large cylinder relating to the different characteristics of each region: reflected region, scattered region, plane wave region, and sharp-edged shadow region. Our understanding of the transport velocities and dispersivities allows us to speculate qualitatively on the transport of fine particles near a round island in a diffracted wave field.

Description: National Science Foundation's Creativity Award for Graduate Study in Engineering for funding the author's fellowship; the Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-89 J 3128) for partial research assistantship

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1992

Description: The family Labridae, or wrasses, is one of the most speciose fish families and is exceptional in its wide range of morphological and behavioral diversities. The cunner Tautogolabrus adspersus is one of two temperate-dwelling Western North Atlantic representatives of this family, and they are one of the few fishes that remain in New England waters throughout the year. In the winter, the cunner enters a state of "torpor" which has previously been described based solely on behavioral observations. The present study showed that cunner undergo physiological torpor, or hibernation, based on low oxygen consumption rates in winter, contributing to a large Q10 value of 8.5. It is thus established as one of the few marine species that is known to hibernate. Cunner withstood four months of starvation at 4°C. Glycogen, lipid, and protein in the liver decreased during this period, as did the liver/body ratio, but these components did not decrease significantly in the whole-body samples. Since liver components were not exhausted, and body components were not significantly affected, cunner can withstand long periods without eating. Regression analysis predicts that they can live at least 6 months given the rate of decrease of glycogen and lipid reserves, and 9 months based on their protein reserves. Oxygen consumption rates were monitored continuously over several days to determine diel variations in metabolic rate. The values obtained at night were significantly lower than the daytime values. Cunner did not maintain a diel cycle throughout the year; the length of this cycle varied from approximately 24 hours during warm temperatures to approximately 48 hours at temperatures generally below 8°C. Metabolic rates were more variable at warmer temperatures, which is in agreement with the expected increase in spontaneous activity. Two tropicallabroids, the wrasse Thalassoma bifasciatwn and the parrotfish Scarus iserti, also had significantly higher oxygen consumption rates during the day than at night. Both hibernation and sleep are thought to be energy conserving mechanisms in fishes. The ability of labrids to sleep may have predisposed them to becoming established in temperate waters by surviving cold temperatures through hibernation.

Description: Funding for this research came from the Ocean Ventures Fund (OVF), and from private funding from the Mobil Co. administered by the Coastal Research Center (CRC) at WHO!. This research was also partially the result of research sponsored by NOAA National Sea Grant College Program Office, Dept. of Commerce, under Grant No. NA86- AA-D-SG090, WHOI Sea Grant Project Nos. R/A-26-PD and R/B-106-PD.