ALBERT

Description: Scattered groups of these ancient fish may all stem from a single remote population. Coelacanths were discovered in the Comoros archipelago to the northwest of Madagascar in 1952. Since then, these rare, ancient fish have been found to the south off Mozambique, Madagascar and South Africa, and to the north off Kenya and Tanzania — but it was unclear whether these are separate populations or even subspecies. Here we show that the genetic variation between individuals from these different locations is unexpectedly low. Combined with earlier results from submersible and oceanographic observations1, 2, our findings indicate that a separate African metapopulation is unlikely to have existed and that locations distant from the Comoros were probably inhabited relatively recently by either dead-end drifters or founders that originated in the Comoros.

Description: High-resolution acoustic data and several sediment gravity cores taken in the Ob and Yenisei estuaries and the central Kara Sea shelf allow us to balance the Holocene sediment budget of the central Kara Sea shelf and to reconstruct the sedimentary history. Cores were radiocarbon dated and linked to acoustic profiles using whole-core physical properties. The Ob and Yenisei estuaries, with their sea water fresh water mixing zone, act as major sediment sinks for fluvial derived terrigeneous material in Holocene times. Most of the suspended and large amounts of dissolved matter precipitate in this zone termed “marginal filter”. High thickness of Holocene sediments occurs between 72°N and 73°30`N where a distinct decrease in thickness is observed to the north. Two major acoustic Units could be differentiated, separated by a prominent reflector interpreted as the base of the Holocene. High-resolution echosound data suggest a fluvial dominated depositional environment for the early Holocene displaying lateral accretion as point bars and vertical accreted overbank deposits in a fluvial channel-levee-complex. During the early Holocene sea-level rise the marginal filter migrated progressively southward (upstream) to its present position forming a typical high-stand system tract in acoustic images. Estuarine sedimentation in a sedimentary environment similar to today started at approximately 5 Cal. kyrs. BP. An estimated total of 14.3 * 1010 t and 9.2 * 1010 t of fine-grained brackish-marine sediments, in the Ob and Yenisei estuaries, respectively, were accumulated during Holocene times. This is only about 75 % and about 50 % of Ob and Yenisei estuarine sediment budgets, respectively, estimated by extrapolation of recent river run-off data over the last 7500 years. Filled paleoriver channels indicate active river incision in the southern part of the Kara Sea shelf prior to the Holocene. New Parasound data obtained during the recent (2003) cruise of RV “Boris Petrov” and the interpretation of the existing data allow a first estimate of Holocene sediment volume deposited on the Kara Sea shelf .

Description: Long-term measurements of temperature, salinity, as well as the transient tracers tritium, He-3, CFC-11, and CFC-12 have been used to study the renewal rates of deep water in the Greenland Sea. Early evaluation of the data sets revealed an abrupt change in deep water formation around 1980 with a drop in the deep water formation rate from ca. 0.5 Sv to 0.1 Sv. Whereas the data before 1990 were compiled from cruises of opportunity, annual crusies were conducted during the 1990s. The resulting time series allows us to deduce information on the change in water mass properties throughout the water column. In this contribution we explore if and how the observed changes in the hydrographic and tracer properties of the Greenland Sea are related to the forcing at the atmosphere/ocean interface. Additionally, we derive average and single-event related deep water formation rates during the 1990s. Finally, we discuss the impact of the change in deep water formation on the hydrography and the exchange of deep water between the Nordic seas and the Arctic Ocean.

Description: Coastal dynamics directly reflecting the complicated land-ocean interactions play an important role in the balance of sediments, organic carbon and nutrients in the Arctic basin. Recent studies indicate that sediment input to the Arctic shelves resulting from erosion of ice-rich, permafrost-dominated coasts may be equal to or greater than input from rivers. Thus, the understanding and quantification of coastal processes is critical for interpreting the geological history of the Arctic shelves. The predictions of future behavior of these coasts in response to climatic and sea level changes is an important issue because most of the human activity that occurs at high latitudes concentrates on the Arctic coastlines. Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-national project of the International Arctic Sciences Committee (IASC) and the International Permafrost Association (IPA). Its overall objective is to improve our understanding of circum-Arctic coastal dynamics as a function of environmental forcing, coastal geology and cryology and morphodynamic behavior. In particular, ACD aims to: establish the rates and magnitudes of erosion and accumulation of Arctic coasts; develop a network of long-term monitoring sites; identify and undertake focused research on critical processes; estimate the amount of sediments and organic carbon derived from coastal erosion; refine and apply an Arctic coastal classification (includes ground-ice, permafrost, geology etc.) in digital form (GIS format); extract and utilize existing information on relevant environmental forcing parameters (e.g. wind speed, sea level, fetch, sea ice etc.); produce a series of thematic and derived maps (e.g. coastal classification, ground-ice, sensitivity etc.); develop empirical models to assess the sensitivity of Arctic coasts to environmental variability and human impacts. At the present state, emphasis is on developing a reliable circum-Arctic estimate of sediment and organic carbon input from coastal erosion to the inner shelf, which involves classifying and segmenting the entire circum-Arctic coastline into common elements based primarily on morphology, ground-ice composition and erosion rates. During the third IASC-sponsored ACD workshop, held in Oslo (Norway) on 2-5 Dec. 2002, regional working groups continued previous efforts for their sectors and the final version of the segmentation and classification will be available at the next ACD workshop to be organized in St. Petersburg (Russia) in Nov. 2003. Additionally, representative photographs of coastal sites for each sector for inclusion in a coastal photo library available at the ACD web site were selected during the Oslo meeting. Finally, two circum-Arctic working groups focused on GIS development and extraction and presentation of environmental data, respectively.

Description: In the context of gradual Cenozoic cooling, the timing of the onset of significant Northern Hemisphere glaciation 2.7 million years ago is consistent with Milankovitch's orbital theory, which posited that ice sheets grow when polar summertime insolation and temperature are low. However, the role of moisture supply in the initiation of large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets has remained unclear. The subarctic Pacific Ocean represents a significant source of water vapour to boreal North America, but it has been largely overlooked in efforts to explain Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Here we present alkenone unsaturation ratios and diatom oxygen isotope ratios from a sediment core in the western subarctic Pacific Ocean, indicating that 2.7 million years ago late-summer sea surface temperatures in this ocean region rose in response to an increase in stratification. At the same time, winter sea surface temperatures cooled, winter floating ice became more abundant and global climate descended into glacial conditions. We suggest that the observed summer warming extended into the autumn, providing water vapour to northern North America, where it precipitated and accumulated as snow, and thus allowed the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

Description: The open oceans comprise most of the biosphere, yet patterns and trends of species diversity there are enigmatic. Here, we derive worldwide patterns of tuna and billfish diversity over the past 50 years, revealing distinct subtropical "hotspots" that appeared to hold generally for other predators and zooplankton. Diversity was positively correlated with thermal fronts and dissolved oxygen and a nonlinear function of temperature (~25°C optimum). Diversity declined between 10 and 50% in all oceans, a trend that coincided with increased fishing pressure, superimposed on strong El Niño–Southern Oscillation–driven variability across the Pacific. We conclude that predator diversity shows a predictable yet eroding pattern signaling ecosystem-wide changes linked to climate and fishing.

Description: Sexual mimicry among animals is widespread, but does it impart a fertilization advantage in the widely accepted ‘sneak–guard’ model of sperm competition? Here we describe field results in which a dramatic facultative switch in sexual phenotype by sneaker-male cuttlefish leads to immediate fertilization success, even in the presence of the consort male. These results are surprising, given the high rate at which females reject copulation attempts by males, the strong mate-guarding behaviour of consort males, and the high level of sperm competition in this complex mating system

Description: Here we report bipedal movement with a hydrostatic skeleton. Two species of octopus walk on two alternating arms using a rolling gait and appear to use the remaining six arms for camouflage. Octopus marginatus resembles a coconut, and Octopus (Abdopus) aculeatus, a clump of floating algae. Using underwater video, we analyzed the kinematics of their strides. Each arm was on the sand for more than half of the stride, qualifying this behavior as a form of walking.

Description: The tropics have been suggested as the drivers of global ocean and atmosphere circulation and biogeochemical cycling during the extreme warmth of the Cretaceous period1, 2; but the links between orbital forcing, freshwater runoff and the biogeochemistry of continental margins in extreme greenhouse conditions are not fully understood. Here we present Cretaceous records of geochemical tracers for freshwater runoff obtained from a sediment core off the Ivory Coast that indicate that alternating periods of arid and humid African climate were driven by orbital precession. Our simulations of the precession-driven patterns of river discharge with a global climate model suggest that ocean anoxia and black shale sedimentation were directly caused by high river discharge, and occurred specifically when the northern equinox coincided with perihelion (the minimum distance between the Sun and the Earth). We conclude that, in a warm climate, the oceans off tropical continental margins respond rapidly and sensitively to even modest changes in river discharge.