ALBERT

Description: Using inorganic carbon measurements from an international survey effort in the 1990s and a tracer-based separation technique, we estimate a global oceanic anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) sink for the period from 1800 to 1994 of 118 ± 19 petagrams of carbon. The oceanic sink accounts for ∼48% of the total fossil-fuel and cement-manufacturing emissions, implying that the terrestrial biosphere was a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere of about 39 ± 28 petagrams of carbon for this period. The current fraction of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions stored in the ocean appears to be about one-third of the long-term potential.

Description: Measurements of the age difference between coexisting benthic and planktic foraminifera from western equatorial Pacific deep-sea cores suggest that during peak glacial time the radiocarbon age of water at 2-kilometers depth was no greater than that of today. These results make unlikely suggestions that a slowdown in deep-ocean ventilation was responsible for a sizable fraction of the increase of the ratio of carbon-14 (14C) to carbon in the atmosphere and surface ocean during glacial time. Comparison of 14C ages for coexisting wood and planktic foraminifera from the same site suggests that the atmosphere to surface ocean 14C to C ratio difference was not substantially different from today's.

Description: In the Campeche Knolls, in the southern Gulf of Mexico, lava-like flows of solidified asphalt cover more than 1 square kilometer of the rim of a dissected salt dome at a depth of 3000 meters below sea level. Chemosynthetic tubeworms and bivalves colonize the sea floor near the asphalt, which chilled and contracted after discharge. The site also includes oil seeps, gas hydrate deposits, locally anoxic sediments, and slabs of authigenic carbonate. Asphalt volcanism creates a habitat for chemosynthetic life that may be widespread at great depth in the Gulf of Mexico.

Description: In vertebrates, genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), with their pronounced polymorphism, potentially represent outstanding examples for the selective advantages of genetic diversity (1). Theoretical models predicted that, within an individual, MHC alleles can be subjected to two opposing selective forces, resulting in an optimal number of genes at intermediate individual MHC diversity (2, 3). Diversifying selection increases heterozygosity and enables wider recognition of pathogens (4). This process is opposed by the need to delete T cells that react with self peptide–MHC combinations (5) from the repertoire, which has been proposed as a possible mechanism constraining expansion of MHC genes. Because too high MHC diversity might delimit T cell diversity, it might also impose limitations on the efficiency of pathogen recognition. However, empirical evidence demonstrating fitness benefits in terms of parasite resistance caused by this type of optimal MHC diversity has been lacking. Therefore, we tested whether three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) carrying an intermediate level of individual MHC diversity also displayed the strongest level of resistance against parasite infection. Sticklebacks are particularly suited to test MHC optimality, because MHC class II genotypes can differ markedly in the number of MHC class IIB alleles (6). We caught fish from an outbred population and used these to breed six sibships of immunologically naïve fish (i.e., they had no previous contact to parasites). Immunogenetic diversity ranged from three to nine MHC class IIB alleles found in reverse-transcribed messenger RNA (mRNA) [see (6) for details on genotyping]. The MHC genotypes within these sibships segregated above and below the hypothesized optimal number of ∼5 MHC class IIB alleles, which had previously been estimated in an epidemiological field survey (7). In individual infection treatments, fish from all sibships were simultaneously exposed to three of the most abundant parasite species identified in the field (Fig. 1A) (8). After two rounds of infection, separated by an interval of 8 weeks, we found a significant minimal mean infection rate at an intermediate number of individual MHC class IIB variants [i.e., 5.82 expressed alleles (Fig. 1B)]. This result was also confirmed when sibships were considered separately [i.e., 4.96 alleles (Fig. 1C)] (9). The strong pattern only appeared when infection with all three parasites was accounted for simultaneously. This may not be surprising, because single alleles are expected to correlate with single diseases and multiple alleles can contribute to resistance against several infectious agents (2).

Description: In vertebrates, genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), with their pronounced polymorphism, potentially represent outstanding examples for the selective advantages of genetic diversity (1). Theoretical models predicted that, within an individual, MHC alleles can be subjected to two opposing selective forces, resulting in an optimal number of genes at intermediate individual MHC diversity (2, 3). Diversifying selection increases heterozygosity and enables wider recognition of pathogens (4). This process is opposed by the need to delete T cells that react with self peptide–MHC combinations (5) from the repertoire, which has been proposed as a possible mechanism constraining expansion of MHC genes. Because too high MHC diversity might delimit T cell diversity, it might also impose limitations on the efficiency of pathogen recognition. However, empirical evidence demonstrating fitness benefits in terms of parasite resistance caused by this type of optimal MHC diversity has been lacking. Therefore, we tested whether three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) carrying an intermediate level of individual MHC diversity also displayed the strongest level of resistance against parasite infection. Sticklebacks are particularly suited to test MHC optimality, because MHC class II genotypes can differ markedly in the number of MHC class IIB alleles (6). We caught fish from an outbred population and used these to breed six sibships of immunologically naïve fish (i.e., they had no previous contact to parasites). Immunogenetic diversity ranged from three to nine MHC class IIB alleles found in reverse-transcribed messenger RNA (mRNA) [see (6) for details on genotyping]. The MHC genotypes within these sibships segregated above and below the hypothesized optimal number of ∼5 MHC class IIB alleles, which had previously been estimated in an epidemiological field survey (7). In individual infection treatments, fish from all sibships were simultaneously exposed to three of the most abundant parasite species identified in the field (Fig. 1A) (8). After two rounds of infection, separated by an interval of 8 weeks, we found a significant minimal mean infection rate at an intermediate number of individual MHC class IIB variants [i.e., 5.82 expressed alleles (Fig. 1B)]. This result was also confirmed when sibships were considered separately [i.e., 4.96 alleles (Fig. 1C)] (9). The strong pattern only appeared when infection with all three parasites was accounted for simultaneously. This may not be surprising, because single alleles are expected to correlate with single diseases and multiple alleles can contribute to resistance against several infectious agents (2).

Description: A tomographic image of the upper mantle beneath central Tibet from INDEPTH data has revealed a subvertical high-velocity zone from ~ 100- to ~ 400- kilometers depth, located approximately south of the Bangong-Nujiang Suture. We interpret this zone to be downwelling Indian mantle lithosphere. This additional lithosphere would account for the total amount of shortening in the Himalayas and Tibet. A consequence of this downwelling would be a deficit of asthenosphere, which should be balanced by an upwelling counterflow, and thus could explain the presence of warm mantle beneath north-central Tibet.

Description: Recent insights into bacterial genome organization and function have improved our understanding of the nature of pathogenic bacteria and their ability to cause disease. It is becoming increasingly clear that the bacterial chromosome constantly undergoes structural changes due to gene acquisition and loss, recombination, and mutational events that have an impact on the pathogenic potential of the bacterium. Even though the bacterial genome includes additional genetic elements, the chromosome represents the most important entity in this context. Here, we will show that various processes of genomic instability have an influence on the many manifestations of infectious disease

Description: The Alpine Iceman provides a unique window into the Neolithic-Copper Age of Europe. We compared the radiogenic (strontium and lead) and stable (oxygen and carbon) isotope composition of the Iceman's teeth and bones, as well as 40Ar/39Ar mica ages from his intestine, to local geology and hydrology, and we inferred his habitat and range from childhood to adult life. The Iceman's origin can be restricted to a few valleys within ∼60 kilometers south(east) of the discovery site. His migration during adulthood is indicated by contrasting isotopic compositions of enamel, bones, and intestinal content. This demonstrates that the Alpine valleys of central Europe were permanently inhabited during the terminal Neolithic.

Description: In January and February 1998, when an unprecedented fourth repetition of the zonal hydrographic transect at 24.5°N in the Atlantic was undertaken, carbon measurements were obtained for the second time in less than a decade. The field of total carbon along this section is compared to that provided by 1992 cruise which followed a similar path (albeit in a different season). Consistent with the increase in atmospheric carbon levels, an increase in anthropogenic carbon concentrations of Full-size image (〈1 K) was found in the surface layers. Using an inverse analysis to determine estimates of absolute velocity, the flux of inorganic carbon across 24.5° is estimated to be −0.74±0.91 and Full-size image (〈1 K) southward in 1998 and 1992, respectively. Estimates of total inorganic carbon flux depend strongly upon the estimated mass transport, particularly of the Deep Western Boundary Current. The 1998 estimate reduces the large regional divergence in the meridional carbon transport suggested by previous studies and brings into question the idea that the tropical Atlantic constantly outgasses carbon, while the subpolar Atlantic sequesters it. Uncertainty in the carbon transports themselves, dominated by the uncertainty in the total mass transport estimates, are a hindrance to determining the “true” picture. The flux of anthropogenic carbon (C★ANTH) across the two transects is estimated as northward at 0.20±0.08 and Full-size image (〈1 K) for the 1998 and 1992 sections, respectively. The net transport of C★ANTH across 24.5°N is strongly affected by the difference in concentrations between the northward flowing shallow Florida Current and the mass balancing, interior return flow. The net northward transport of C★ANTH is opposite the net flow of total carbon and suggests, as has been found by others, that the pre-industrial southward transport of carbon within the Atlantic was stronger than it is today. Combining these flux results with estimates of atmospheric and riverine inorganic carbon input, it is determined that today's oceanic carbon system differs from the pre-industrial system in that today there is an uptake of anthropogenic carbon to the south that is advected northward and stored within the North Atlantic basin.

Description: Exchanges of water south of Africa between the South Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean are an important component of the global thermohaline circulation. Evidence exists that the variability in these exchanges, on both meso- and longer time scales, may significantly influence weather and climate patterns in the southern African region and the significance of these regional ocean–atmosphere interactions is discussed. Observations of the inter-ocean exchange are limited and it is necessary to augment these with estimates derived from models. As a first step in this direction, this study uses an eddy-permitting model to investigate the heat and volume transport in the oceanic region south of Africa and its variability on meso, seasonal and inter-annual time scales. On the annual mean, about Full-size image (〈1 K) (standard deviation Full-size image (〈1 K)) of heat flows west into the South Atlantic across 20°E (longitude of Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa), with just over Full-size image (〈1 K) (standard deviation Full-size image (〈1 K)) flowing north into the South Atlantic across 35°S. The seasonal variations in this transport are about 10% at 35°S in the South Atlantic and around 20% through 20°E; the model value of Full-size image (〈1 K) for summer (standard deviation ranging from Full-size image (〈1 K) in January to Full-size image (〈1 K) in March) appears consistent with respective estimates of 0.51 and Full-size image (〈1 K) derived from two WOCE summer cruises southwest of Cape Town to 45°S in 1990 and 1993. Volume transports of the Agulhas Current section through 35°S in the SW Indian Ocean range from 58 to Full-size image (〈1 K) in summer/autumn to 64–Full-size image (〈1 K) in winter/spring. The model results suggest that the inter-ocean exchange south of Africa is highly variable on seasonal through to interannual scales. If this variability is also the case in the real ocean (and the limited observations suggest that this is so), then there are likely to be significant implications for climate.

Description: The active channel–levee system of the middle Bengal Fan was studied by a combined analysis of Parasound echosounder and Hydrosweep swathsounder data. The channel is characterized by highly variable sinuosities. Compared to other mud-rich submarine fans, an exceptionally low channel slope is found. The system can be subdivided into inner and outer zones of significantly different depositional architecture. The inner zone consists of the active channel and sharply separated vertical blocks, which are characterized by parallel, distinct reflectors and planforms of bends. These blocks are interpreted as abandoned channel segments (cut-off loops). The outer zones represent undisturbed levees, which are constructed of parallel and wedge-shaped sedimentary units. The wedge-shaped units, varying significantly in thickness and lateral extent, are found at the outer convex arcs of active and abandoned channel loops caused by overspilling of channelized turbidity currents at sharp bends. The parallel units are the deposits of turbidity currents, which spread their sediments over wide areas as their size significantly exceeds the cross-section of the channel. The complex vertical and horizontal distribution of partially small sedimentary units suggests a more complicated deposition in time and space as hitherto reported from other submarine fans. Within the inner zone, more than 20 cut-off loops were identified over a channel length of 90 km. In contrast to most other large mud-rich submarine fans, channel avulsion within the active channel–levee system is a frequent process. In particular, a temporal succession of at least 4 cut-off loops was reconstructed in the southern study area, indicating channel avulsion on average every 750 years. Channel avulsion seems to be a repetitious process caused by erosion through turbidite currents in a highly sinuous channel. Compared to other submarine fans, no morphological parameter shows a remarkable difference except the channel slope, which is significantly smaller than, for example, on Amazon, Congo and Mississippi fans. The interaction between this low channel slope and the flow parameter of the turbidity currents is most likely the reason for the instability of the active channel planform, leading to an exceptionally large number of meander loop breaches and cut-off loops.

Description: Combining in-situ Lagrangian intermediate depth velocity measurements from the KAPEX (Cape of Good Hope Experiments) float program with sea-surface height data, this study reviews the inter-ocean exchange mechanisms around southern Africa. In the southeastern Cape Basin, a highly energetic field of coexisting anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies is documented. Agulhas Rings of typically 200 km diameter are observed to merge, split, deform, and to reconnect to the Agulhas Retroflection. Concomitant, slightly smaller cyclones are observed to drift across the northwestward migration path of the Agulhas Rings. These cyclones, with typical diameters of 120 km, are formed within the Cape Basin along the African shelf, inshore of the Agulhas Current, and in the subantarctic region south of Africa. The data suggest the annual formation of 3–6 long-lived Agulhas Rings that eventually cross 5°E longitude, while approximately twice the number of rings occur in the southeastern Cape Basin. Within this region, cyclones outnumber anticyclones by a factor of 3:2. Both cyclones and anticyclones extend through the upper thermocline into the intermediate depth layer. Mean drifts of anticyclones are 3.8±1.2 cm s−1 to the northwest, while cyclones follow a west–southwestward route at 3.6±0.8 cm s−1. Transport estimates suggest that the intermediate depth layer in the southeastern Cape Basin is primarily supplied from the east (approximately 9 Sv), with minor direct inflow from the Atlantic to the west and south. Cyclone/anticyclone interaction is surmised to result in vigorous stirring and mixing processes in the southeastern Cape Basin, which necessitates a review of the traditional concept of Indo-Atlantic inter-ocean exchange. We propose to limit the concept of “isolated Agulhas Rings embedded in a sluggish Benguela Drift” to the northwestern Cape Basin and beyond, while linking this regime to the Agulhas Retroflection proper through a zone of turbulent stirring and mixing in the southeastern Cape Basin, named for the first time the “Cape Cauldron” hereinafter.

Description: Overexploitation threatens the future of many large vertebrates. In the ocean, tunas and sea turtles are current conservation concerns because of this intense pressure. The status of most shark species, in contrast, remains uncertain. Using the largest data set in the Northwest Atlantic, we show rapid large declines in large coastal and oceanic shark populations. Scalloped hammerhead, white, and thresher sharks are each estimated to have declined by over 75% in the past 15 years. Closed-area models highlight priority areas for shark conservation, and the need to consider effort reallocation and site selection if marine reserves are to benefit multiple threatened species.

Description: Two hypotheses have been put forward to explain the large and abrupt climate changes that punctuated glacial time. One attributes such changes to reorganizations of the ocean's thermohaline circulation and the other to changes in tropical atmosphere-ocean dynamics. In an attempt to distinguish between these hypotheses, two lines of evidence are examined. The first involves the timing of the freshwater injections to the northern Atlantic that have been suggested as triggers for the global impacts associated with the Younger Dryas and Heinrich events. The second has to do with evidence for precursory events associated with the Heinrich ice-rafted debris layers in the northern Atlantic and with the abrupt Dansgaard-Oeschger warmings recorded in the Santa Barbara Basin.

Description: The combined analysis of hydrographic, kinematic, and dynamic data collected during the 1997–1999 KAPEX (CAPe of Good Hope EXperiments) reveals a quasi-stationary meandering pattern of the Agulhas Retroflection Current east and upstream of the Southwest-Indian Ridge. The current meanders between 38°S and 40°S in a spatially and temporally continuous fashion and has a core width of approximately Full-size image (〈1 K) with an associated transport of Full-size image (〈1 K) in the upper Full-size image (〈1 K). Peak surface velocities decrease from Full-size image (〈1 K) near the Agulhas Retroflection to Full-size image (〈1 K) around 32°E. Meander troughs (northward extremes) are found predominantly near 26.8°E, 32.6°E and 38.9°E, while crests (southward extremes) are located with high probability near 29.7°E, 35.5°E and 42.9°E, resulting in a typical wavelength of Full-size image (〈1 K). Cold eddies are shed along the northern boundary of the current from meander troughs into the recirculation regime between the Agulhas Current proper and the Agulhas Return Current. Strongest cyclonic eddies are preferably shed in austral autumn. The cyclonic eddies so formed propagate westward at an average phase-speed of Full-size image (〈1 K), with, however, a variability of at least the same magnitude. Subsequently, the cyclones are absorbed by the next meander trough located upstream and to the west of the shedding trough.

Description: Climate policy needs to address the multidecadal to centennial time scale of climate change. Although the realization of short-term targets is an important first step, to be effective climate policies need to be conceived as long-term programs that will achieve a gradual transition to an essentially emission-free economy on the time scale of a century. This requires a considerably broader spectrum of policy measures than the primarily market-based instruments invoked for shorter term mitigation policies. A successful climate policy must consist of a dual approach focusing on both short-term targets and long-term goals

Description: Rings shed at the Agulhas retroflection are an integral part of interoceanic exchange south of Africa. There is clear evidence of westward ring translation from the northern Cape Basin across the South Atlantic Ocean. Early ring development and translation from the southern to the northern Cape Basin, however, are obscured by an intensely variable kinematic field close to the spawning site. In this study unique in situ observations, obtained in March to September 1997, are analyzed to improve the understanding of the early development of a juvenile Agulhas Ring. In March the ring was surveyed near 37°S, 16°E, approximately 4 months after its generation. Its strength and size were in the upper range typical for Agulhas Rings, and its trapping depth extended down to at least 1600 dbar according to geostrophic velocities and RAFOS trajectories in the ring. Between March and September the ring propagated in a general northwestward direction; however, RAFOS trajectories and MODAS sea-surface steric height fields revealed a large variability of the translation speed (Full-size image (〈1 K) to more than Full-size image (〈1 K)) and direction. In September 1997, the mature ring was examined near 31°S, 9°E. By this time, its available heat and salt anomaly were reduced by about 30% and its available potential energy was reduced by about 70%. This indicates that a significant loss of the ring characteristics occurred on the way from the southern to the northern Cape Basin. One-third of this loss is due to changes at intermediate depth (between 800 and Full-size image (〈1 K)).

Description: Massive microbial mats covering up to 4-meter-high carbonate buildups prosper at methane seeps in anoxic waters of the northwestern Black Sea shelf. Strong 13C depletions indicate an incorporation of methane carbon into carbonates, bulk biomass, and specific lipids. The mats mainly consist of densely aggregated archaea (phylogenetic ANME-1 cluster) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcusgroup). If incubated in vitro, these mats perform anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulfate reduction. Obviously, anaerobic microbial consortia can generate both carbonate precipitation and substantial biomass accumulation, which has implications for our understanding of carbon cycling during earlier periods of Earth's history.

Description: Observations from cruises in the Arabian Sea and data from satellites are interpreted using different realizations of a multi-level primitive equation model and an eddy-permitting reduced-gravity shallow water model of the Indian Ocean. The focus is on the interannual circulation variability of the Arabian Sea, and especially of the meridional location of the Great Whirl (GW). The results suggest that the variability in the western Arabian Sea is not only due to the interannual variability in the wind field, but that a substantial part is caused by the chaotic nature of the ocean dynamics. Decreasing the friction coefficient from 1000 to 500m2s-1 in a 19o numerical reduced-gravity model, the variance of the GW location increases dramatically, and the mean position moves southward by one degree. In the eddy-permitting experiments analyzed, both mechanisms appear to determine the GW location at the onset of the GW dynamics in late summer.

Description: Sea-surface height data acquired by the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite over the Arabian Sea from October 1992 to October 1998 are analyzed. Strong seasonal fluctuations are found between 61 and 101N, which are mainly associated with westward propagating annual Rossby waves radiated from the western side of the Indian subcontinent and that are continuously forced by the action of the wind-stress curl over the central Arabian Sea. An analysis of hydrographic data acquired during August 1993 and during January 1998 at 81N in the Arabian Sea reveals the existence of first- and second-mode annual Rossby waves. These waves, which can be traced as perturbations in the density fields, have wavelengths of 12�103 and 4.4�103km as well as phase velocities of 0.38 and 0.14 m/s, respectively. The waves are associated with a time-dependent meridional overturning cell that sloshes water northward and southward. Between 581 and 681E in the central Arabian Sea, we found a Rossby-wave induced transport in the upper 500m of about 10 Sv southward in August 1993 and northward in January 1998. Below 2000 m, there was still a northward transport of 3.2 Sv in August 1993 and a southward transport of 4.8 Sv in January 1998. A comparison of steric height differences between August 1993 and January 1998 calculated from the observed density fields as well as calculated from the reconstructed density fields using first- and second-mode annual Rossby waves agree quite well with the corresponding sea-surface height differences. Implications resulting from the reflection of annual Rossby waves, like fluctuations of the western boundary currents, are discussed.

Description: Between 1991 and 1999, carbon measurements were made on twenty-five WOCE/JGOFS/OACES cruises in the Pacific Ocean. Investigators from 15 different laboratories and four countries analyzed at least two of the four measurable ocean carbon parameters (DIC, TAlk, fCO2, and pH) on almost all cruises. The goal of this work is to assess the quality of the Pacific carbon survey data and to make recommendations for generating a unified data set that is consistent between cruises. Several different lines of evidence were used to examine the consistency, including comparison of calibration techniques, results from certified reference material analyses, precision of at-sea replicate analyses, agreement between shipboard analyses and replicate shore based analyses, comparison of deep water values at locations where two or more cruises overlapped or crossed, consistency with other hydrographic parameters, and internal consistency with multiple carbon parameter measurements. With the adjustments proposed here, the data can be combined to generate a Pacific Ocean data set, with over 36,000 unique sample locations analyzed for at least two carbon parameters in most cases. The best data coverage was for DIC, which has an estimated overall accuracy of ∼3 μmol kg−1. TAlk, the second most common carbon parameter analyzed, had an estimated overall accuracy of ∼5 μmol kg−1. To obtain additional details on this study, including detailed crossover plots and information on the availability of the compiled, adjusted data set, visit the Global Data Analysis Project web site at: http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/oceans/glodap.

Description: The bottom and deep circulation in the Somali Basin are investigated on the basis of hydrographic and direct velocity profiles from three shipboard surveys carried out during the southwest monsoon in 1995 and of velocity time series from the WOCE mooring array ICM7. The inflow of bottom water into the Somali Basin through the Amirante Passage drives a thermohaline circulation, which may be modulated by the monsoon wind forcing. Details of the abyssal circulation have been discussed controversially. Deep velocity records from the mooring array in the northern Somali Basin are dominated by fluctuations with periods of 30–50 days and amplitudes above Full-size image (〈1 K). Despite this strong variability annual record averages indicate the existence of a deep western boundary current (DWBC) below Full-size image (〈1 K) at the base of the continental slope south of Socotra Island as part of a cyclonic bottom circulation. The southwestward DWBC transport off Socotra Island is estimated to Full-size image (〈1 K). The bottom and deep water exchange between the Somali and Arabian Basin north of 7°N is estimated from two cross-basin geostrophic velocity sections referenced by vertically averaged LADCP currents. For the bottom water, an eastward transport into the Arabian Basin of Full-size image (〈1 K) and Full-size image (〈1 K) was determined in June and August, respectively, while for the deep-water layer above Full-size image (〈1 K) eastward transports of Full-size image (〈1 K) in June and Full-size image (〈1 K) in August were obtained.

Description: The differences in the water mass distributions and transports in the Arabian Sea between the summer monsoon of August 1993 and the winter monsoon of January 1998 are investigated, based on two hydrographic sections along approximately 8°N. At the western end the sections were closed by a northward leg towards the African continent at about 55°E. In the central basin along 8°N the monsoon anomalies of the temperature and density below the surface-mixed layer were dominated by annual Rossby waves propagating westward across the Arabian Sea. In the northwestern part of the basin the annual Rossby waves have much smaller impact, and the density anomalies observed there were mostly associated with the Socotra Gyre. Salinity and oxygen differences along the section reflect local processes such as the spreading of water masses originating in the Bay of Bengal, northward transport of Indian Central Water, or slightly stronger southward spreading of Red Sea Water in August than in January. The anomalous wind conditions of 1997/98 influenced only the upper 50–100 m with warmer surface waters in January 1998, and Bay of Bengal Water covered the surface layer of the section in the eastern Arabian Sea. Estimates of the overturning circulation of the Arabian Sea were carried out despite the fact that many uncertainties are involved. For both cruises a vertical overturning cell of about 4–6 Sv was determined, with inflow below 2500 m and outflow between about 300 and 2500 m. In the upper 300–450 m a seasonally reversing shallow meridional overturning cell appears to exist in which the Ekman transport is balanced by a geostrophic transport. The heat flux across 8°N is dominated by the Ekman transport, yielding about –0.6 PW for August 1993, and 0.24 PW for January 1998. These values are comparable to climatological and model derived heat flux estimates. Freshwater fluxes across 8°N also were computed, yielding northward freshwater fluxes of 0.07 Sv in January 1998 and 0.43 Sv in August 1993. From climatological salinities the stronger freshwater flux in August was found to be caused by the seasonal change of salinity storage in the Arabian Sea north of 8°N. The near-surface circulation follows complex pathways, with generally cyclonic-circulation in January 1998 affected at the eastern side by the Laccadive High, and anticyclonic circulation in August 1993.

Description: Three View the MathML sourceacoustic transceivers were deployed on either side of the eastern entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar during April–May 1996 to determine the feasibility of using acoustic methods to make routine, rapidly repeated, horizontally integrated measurements of flow and temperature in straits. Reciprocal transmissions between the transceivers were used to test the feasibility of using traditional ray differential travel times to monitor the component of flow along the acoustic paths. Transmissions directly across the Strait were used to test the feasibility of using horizontal arrival angle fluctuations and acoustic intensity scintillations to monitor the flow perpendicular to the acoustic path. The geometry was selected to provide ray paths that only sample the lower-layer Mediterranean water, so that the feasibility of monitoring the Mediterranean outflow using the various methods could be evaluated. The acoustic scintillation method did not yield useful current estimates, but the experimental parameters were not optimized for this approach. Since the low-frequency variability in log-amplitude was found to be highly correlated at receivers View the MathML source apart, it is possible that acoustic scintillation measurements using different receiver spacings and more rapid sampling might yield better results. The horizontal deflection method gave encouraging results at the time of neap tides, but less so during spring tides. For this approach, both theoretical estimates and measured phase differences between the horizontally separated receivers suggest that internal-wave-induced horizontal arrival angle fluctuations may fundamentally limit the precision with which arrival angles can be measured. Further work is needed to determine if a smaller horizontal spacing and higher signal-to-noise ratios would yield better results. Reciprocal travel time measurements diagonally across the Strait performed the best of the three methods, giving absolute flow estimates consistent with those derived from current-meter data. The fractional uncertainty variance for the lower layer tidal transport from a single tomographic path was estimated to be 0.017 (i.e. 98% of the a priori tidal transport variance was resolved). The spatial scales of the sub-tidal flow are thought to be significantly shorter than those of the tidal flow, however, which means that a more elaborate monitoring network is required to achieve the same performance for sub-tidal variability. Finally, sum travel times from the reciprocal transmissions were found to provide good measurements of the temperature and heatcontent in the lower layer.

Description: The late Tertiary tectonic and geological evolution of the Southern Andes at 33–34°S has been strongly controlled by the Challenger–Juan Fernández–Maipo (CH–JF–M) structural system. The present configuration of a flat slab between 28–33°S may be explained by a series of favorable conditions evolving with time since the breakup of the Farallon Plate at 25 Ma. The dramatic shift of the pole of rotation and the rapid eastward propagating rift along the Challenger Fracture Zone induced an unbalanced slab pull force, south of the CH–JF–M, that may have triggered the detachment of the subducting slab. The upwelling of a warmer asthenospheric material and the partial melts of the slab are likely consequences that are consistent with the anhydrous tholeiitic late Oligocene volcanism and the anomalous adakite-type magmatism of the early Miocene, respectively. The present seismogenic zone across the CH–JF–M tectonic boundary shows a continuity for more than 600 km along the flat slab segment, in contrast with the much shorter slab southward. Such a tectonic configuration is probably a quasi-steady condition since 25 Ma. Gravity modeling along the JF chain and the broadly located focal mechanisms at the locus of the already subducted JF chain indicate a thick (〉25 km), wide (100 km), and continuous belt of lighter oceanic crust, which is the major contribution to the positive buoyancy of the slab. The decoupling of the subducted slab at intermediate depths further contributes to the flattening of the slab, focusing the buoyancy forces associated with the thickened oceanic crust along the already subducted JF chain. The absolute plate reconstruction during the Miocene shows that the JF collision against the margin migrates southward, in agreement with geological and tectonic observations that further support the causative relationship between the flattening of the slab and the subduction of the JF chain. Preliminary deformation models for the indentation of the JF ridge against the continental lithosphere is consistent with the particular east–west trend of the Maipo deformation zone, connecting in this way the CH–JF–M major tectonic boundary in the ocean-continent lithosphere system.

Description: In this paper, different types of new data sets (hydrography, Lagrangian and Eulerian current measurements) and Quasi-Geostrophic model results, obtained after altimetric data assimilation, are used to study the structure and variability of the Azores Current and Frontal system. The Azores Current was observed to transport between 11.0 and 18.0 Sv eastwards and the associated Counter Current some 2.0–10.0 Sv to the west, resulting in a net value of about 8–9 Sv. Furthermore, both data and model results revealed a meandering Azores Current, where some freely rotating eddies were also identified. These hydrographic and Lagrangian results exhibit space and time scales that agree fairly well with the dynamics shaped by baroclinic instability. Current meters moored across the Azores Current system delineated a mean Counter Current flowing westwards with a maximum subsurface core of about 2.0 cm/s at a mean depth of 800 dbar. This is in excellent agreement with previous studies, which explains this Azores Counter Current as the rectification process of the geostrophic turbulence occurring north of the main Azores Current stream. A new scheme is proposed for the formation mechanism of the freely rotating cyclonic eddies observed south of the Azores. It is shown that the north–south contrast thickness of the 17–19°C water layer across the Azores Front decreases downstream. This will create, in turn, a downstream increase of the most unstable wavelength, in a non-linear baroclinic instability context. As a consequence, both large cyclonic and anticyclonic features are able to form at the eastern side of the Azores Current (around 19°W), while at the western side (around 35°W) only large anticyclones will survive (western-generated cyclones will be small enough to be quickly dissipated). This means that the eastern cyclones of the Azores Current may live longer than the shorter western ones. However, because longer-lived cyclonic eddies propagate westwards with a mean speed of 2.5 km/day, they may be observed south of Azores and of the main stream several months later, although they were not formed there.

Description: To study the EasternBoundaryCurrentsystem off Northwest Africa in detail several CTD/ADCP-sections and long-term mooring work were carried out in the channel between Lanzarote and Africa. The observations are compared with a fine-resolution model, which was developed in the framework of the CANIGO project. The water masses, which are observed in this area, are characterised and classified in density ranges. The current field shows a high spatial and temporal variability with maximum velocities of about 35 cm/s. Seasonal means as well as currents averaged across the channel are only a few cm/s. In the surface water a steady southward flow in the middle of the channel indicates the CanaryCurrent in this area. During fall a strong northward current is observed close to the African shelf. Though the CanaryCurrent strengthens during summer and fall due to an increase of the trade winds, the transport in the channel decreases or turns northward during that time due to the enhanced poleward current at the eastern side. A northward undercurrent with a mean velocity of +2.3 cm/s is observed at the African slope in 950 m depth. The poleward transport of AAIW increases during fall and a strong influence of relatively fresh AAIW is observed during that time. Most of the observations fit well to the results of the CANIGO model, but the occurrence of MW at the bottom of the channel and the corresponding southward flow cannot be resolved by the model.

Description: Light abundance is a major prerequisite for primary production in pelagic ecosystems, influencing the evolution of the marine environment. Realistic simulations of planktonic ecosystems therefore require an appropriate representation of the underwater light field. Taking a look at the different biogeochemical models discussed in literature, one finds a variety of descriptions for the distribution of light, or more specific, photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) in the water column. This paper compares the effect of different parameterizations of PAR on the primary production and phytoplankton evolution at the European Station for Time-Series in the Ocean Canary Islands (ESTOC) station (29°10′N, 15°30′W) north of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. Observations from two cruises in 1997 are used to illustrate the winter and spring situation at the time-series site. Four alternative PAR descriptions are used in a one-dimensional coupled biological–physical model of the upper ocean driven by daily forcing fields over a 5-year period. The biological model is a simple nitrate-phytoplankton–zooplankton-detritus model. Although the different descriptions are found to have only a small effect (±3%) on the annual primary production, we observe significant changes in the vertical distribution of simulated phytoplankton. The large variation (±32%) in the near-surface chlorophyll contents will be of particularly crucial importance when using satellite ocean-color sensors for model validation and parameter estimation. For future three-dimensional biogeochemical models, a computationally efficient and accurate parameterization of the light field will be particularly relevant.

Description: Atlantic climate variability is an important driving force of climate in the surrounding land areas. In his Perspective, Visbeck explores recent advances toward understanding and predicting climate variability in the tropical Atlantic and the North Atlantic, and elucidating the role played by the ocean's circulation.

Description: Long sediment cores recovered from the deep portions of Lake Titicaca are used to reconstruct the precipitation history of tropical South America for the past 25,000 years. Lake Titicaca was a deep, fresh, and continuously overflowing lake during the last glacial stage, from before 25,000 to 15,000 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.), signifying that during the last glacial maximum (LGM), the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru and much of the Amazon basin were wetter than today. The LGM in this part of the Andes is dated at 21,000 cal yr B.P., approximately coincident with the global LGM. Maximum aridity and lowest lake level occurred in the early and middle Holocene (8000 to 5500 cal yr B.P.) during a time of low summer insolation. Today, rising levels of Lake Titicaca and wet conditions in Amazonia are correlated with anomalously cold sea-surface temperatures in the northern equatorial Atlantic. Likewise, during the deglacial and Holocene periods, there were several millennial-scale wet phases on the Altiplano and in Amazonia that coincided with anomalously cold periods in the equatorial and high-latitude North Atlantic, such as the Younger Dryas.

Description: Previous work has shown that during early summer, the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO(2)) in surface waters north of about 45 degreesN in the Atlantic exhibits widespread undersaturation. In many areas. this follows after a "spring bloom" of phytoplankton, at which time, nutrient concentrations and pCO(2) decrease sharply from their winter surface values. As part of OMEX I, the late summer distribution of surface water pCO(2) was surveyed in the northeastern Atlantic on cruises of R/V Poseidon and R/V Belgica in 1995. The pattern of the surface distribution of the sea-air pCO(2) difference (Delta pCO(2)) measured on these ship surveys was generally iri accord with that observed in this area in early to mid-summer of 1981. The greatest CO2 undersaturation (-95 mu atm) during our surveys was observed near the west coast of Iceland, with Delta pCO(2) increasing to about -60 mu atm away from the coast. In shelf waters south of Ireland, the pCO(2) was relatively higher than in surface waters of the open ocean adjacent to the Celtic Shelf margin, but the Celtic Shelf waters were still undersaturated relative to the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Because of the variation of wind speed, the synoptic distribution of air-sea CO2 flux, derived from the transfer velocity and Delta pCO(2), does not resemble the distribution of Delta pCO(2) itself. The sharp increase in wind speed at about 53 degreesN, 20 degreesW during the R/V Poseidon survey produces an order of magnitude rise in the estimated air-sea flux of CO2, to a level of about 10-14 mol m(-2) a(-1). The overall synoptic picture appears to be one of moving centers of higher air-sea fluxes that occur where storms pass over regions of surface water pCO(2) undersaturation.

Description: Assimilation experiments with data from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS, 1989¯1993) were performed with a simple mixed-layer ecosystem model of dissolvedinorganic nitrogen (N), phytoplankton (P) and herbivorous zooplankton (H). Our aim is to optimize the biological model parameters, such that the misfits between model results andobservations are minimized. The utilized assimilation method is the variational adjoint technique, starting from a wide range of first-parameter guesses. A twin experiment displayedtwo kinds of solutions, when Gaussian noise was added to the model-generated data. The expected solution refers to the global minimum of the misfit model-data function, whereasthe other solution is biologically implausible and is associated with a local minimum. Experiments with real data showed either bottom-up or top-down controlled ecosystemdynamics, depending on the deep nutrient availability. To confine the solutions, an additional constraint on zooplankton biomass was added to the optimization procedure. Thisinclusion did not produce optimal model results that were consistent with observations. The modelled zooplankton biomass still exceeded the observations. From the model-datadiscrepancies systematic model errors could be determined, in particular when the chlorophyll concentration started to decline before primary production reached its maximum. Adirect comparision of measured 14C-production data with modelled phytoplankton production rates is inadequate at BATS, at least when a constant carbon to nitrogen C : N ratio isassumed for data assimilation.

Description: In the framework of the Ocean Margin Exchange project, a multi-disciplinary study has been conducted at the shelf edge and slope of the Goban Spur in order to determine the spatial distribution, quantity and quality of particle flux, and delineate the transport mechanisms of the major organic and inorganic components. We present here a synthesis view of the major transport modes of both biogenic and lithogenic material being delivered to the open slope of the Goban Spur. We attempt to differentiate between the direct biogenic flux from the surface mixed layer and the advective component, both biogenic and lithogenic. Long-term moorings, instrumented with sediment traps, current meters and transmissometers have yielded samples and near-continuous recordings of hydrographic variables (current direction and speed, temperature and salinity) and light transmission for a period of 2.5 years. Numerous stations have been occupied for CTD casts with light transmission and collection of water samples. The sedimenting material has been analysed for a variety of marker compounds including phytoplankton pigments, isotopic, biomineral and trace metal composition and microscopical analyses. These samples are augmented by seasonal information on the distribution and composition of fine particles and marine snow in the water column. The slope shows well-developed bottom nepheloid layers always present and intermediate nepheloid layers intermittently present. Concentrations are mainly in the range 50–130 mg m−3 in nepheloid layers and 6–25 mg m−3 in clear water. A seasonal variability in the concentration at the clear water minimum is argued to be related to seasonal variations in vertical flux and aggregate break-up in transit during summer months. It is suggested that the winter sink for this seasonal change in particulate matter involves some re-aggregation and scavenging, and some conversion of particulate to dissolved organic matter. This may provide a slow seasonal pump of dissolved organic carbon to the deep ocean interior. Differences in trapped quantities at different water depths are interpreted as due to lateral flux from the continental margin. There is a major lateral input between 600 and 1050 m at an inner station and between 600 and 1440 m at an outer one. The transport is thought to be related to intermediate nepheloid layers, but those measured are too dilute to be able to supply the flux. Observed bottom nepheloid layers are highly concentrated very close to the bed (up to 5 g m−3), with a population of large aggregates. Some of these are capable of delivering the flux seen offshore during intermittent detachment of nepheloid layers into mid-water. Concentrated bottom nepheloid layers are also able to deliver large particles with unstable phytoplankton pigments to the deep sea floor in a few tens of days. Calculated CaCO3 fluxes are adjusted for dissolution, which is inferred from Ca/Al ratios to be occurring in the CaCO3-saturated upper water column where up to 80% of the CaCO3 resulting from primary production is dissolved.

Description: The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) dictates climate variability from the eastern seaboard of the United States to Siberia and from the Arctic to the subtropical Atlantic, especially during winter. It strongly affects agricultural yields, water management, fish inventories, and terrestrial ecology. In their Perspective, Hurrell, Kushnir, and Visbeck report recent research into the NAO discussed at an American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference at the end of 2000. Much remains to be learned about the NAO, but it seems increasingly less likely that natural variability is the cause for the recent upward NAO trend.

Description: The benthic diagenetic model OMEXDIA has been used to reproduce observed benthic pore water and solid phase profiles obtained during the OMEX study in the Goban Spur Area (N.E. Atlantic), and to dynamically model benthic profiles at site OMEX III (3660-m depth), with the sediment trap organic flux as external forcing. The results of the dynamic modelling show that the organic flux as determined from the lowermost sediment trap (400 metres above the bottom) at OMEX III is insufficient to explain the organic carbon and pore water profiles. The best fitting was obtained by maintaining the seasonal pattern as observed in the traps, while multiplying the absolute values of the flux by a factor of 1.85. The “inverse modelling” of diagenetic processes resulted in estimates of total mineralisation rate and of degradability of the organic matter at the different stations. These diagenetic model-based estimates are used to constrain the patterns of lateral and vertical transports of organic matter. Using the observed degradability as a function of depth, we show that the observed organic matter fluxes at the different depths are consistent with a model where at all stations along the gradient the same vertical export flux occurs at 200 m, and where organic matter sinks with a constant sinking rate of around 130 m d−1. If sinking rates were higher, in the order of 200 m d−1, the observations could be consistent with an off-slope gradient in export production of approximately a factor of 1.5 between the shallowest and deepest sites. The derived high degradability of the arriving organic matter and the consistency of the mass fluxes at the different stations exclude the possibility of a massive deposition, on the margin, of organic matter produced on the shelf or shelf break. However, other hypotheses to explain the patterns found in the sediment trap data of both OMEX and other continental margin study sites also suffer from different inconsistencies. Further, close examination of the flow patterns at the margin will be needed to examine the question.

Description: Starting with the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment in 1989 oceanographers from 2 variety of countries and scientific disciplines have studied biogeochemical processes in the North Atlantic ocean as a contribution to the Jomt Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). The papers collected in this special issue of Deep-Sea Research Part II are a contribution to the oncjoing international sqnthesis of this decade long effect. In the introduction we give an overview on the major results presented by the individual papers.

Description: The last glacial period was far from quiet. During so-called Heinrich events, large armadas of icebergs were shed from the ice sheet that covered much of North America. The tracks of debris left by the melting icebergs can still be seen in sediment cores from the North Atlantic. In their Perspective, Broecker and Hemming report from a recent miniconference that attempted to chart the climatic impacts of these events.

Description: During the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1200 A.D.), the Vikings colonized Greenland. In his Perspective, Broecker discusses whether this warm period was global or regional in extent. He argues that it is the last in a long series of climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic, that it was likely global, and that the present warming should be attributed in part to such an oscillation, upon which the warming due to greenhouse gases is superimposed.

Description: We have reconstructed the glacial-age distribution of carbonate ion concentration in the deep waters of the equatorial ocean on the basis of differences in weight between glacial and Holocene foraminifera shells picked from a series of cores spanning a range of water depth on the western Atlantic's Ceara Rise and the western Pacific's Ontong Java Plateau. The results suggest that unlike today's ocean, sizable vertical gradients in the carbonate ion concentration existed in the glacial-age deep ocean. In the equatorial Pacific, the concentration increased with depth, and in the Atlantic, it decreased with depth. In addition, the contrast between the carbonate ion concentration in deep waters produced in the northern Atlantic and deep water in the Pacific appears to have been larger than in today's ocean.

Description: For goal-directed arm movements, the nervous system generates a sequence of motor commands that bring the arm toward the target. Control of the octopus arm is especially complex because the arm can be moved in any direction, with a virtually infinite number of degrees of freedom. Here we show that arm extensions can be evoked mechanically or electrically in arms whose connection with the brain has been severed. These extensions show kinematic features that are almost identical to normal behavior, suggesting that the basic motor program for voluntary movement is embedded within the neural circuitry of the arm itself. Such peripheral motor programs represent considerable simplification in the motor control of this highly redundant appendage.

Description: We provide an overview of the role of biological processes in the Benthic boundary layer (BBL) and in sediments on the cycling of particulate organic material in the Goban Spur area (Northeast Atlantic). The benthic fauna, sediment and BBL characteristics were studied along a transect ranging from 208 to 4460 m water depth in different seasons over 3 years. Near-bottom flow velocities are high at the upper part of the slope (1000–1500 m), and high numbers of filter-feeding taxa are found there such that organic carbon normally passing this area during high flow conditions is probably trapped, accumulated, and/or remineralised by the fauna. Overall metabolism in shelf and upper slope sediments is dominated by the macrofauna. More than half of the organic matter flux is respired by macrofauna, with a lower contribution of metazoan meiofauna (4%) and anoxic and suboxic bacterial mineralisation (21%); the remainder (23%) being channelled through nanobiota and oxic bacteria. By its feeding activity and movement, the macrofauna intensely reworks the sediments on the shelf and upper slope. Mixing intensity of bulk sediment and of organic matter are of comparable magnitude. The benthos of the lower slope and abyssal depth is dominated by the microbiota, both in terms of total biomass (〉90%) and carbon respiration (about 80%). The macrofauna (16%), meiofauna (4%) and megafauna (0.5%) only marginally contribute to total carbon respiration at depths below 1400 m. Because large animals have a lower share in total metabolism, mixing of organic matter within the sediments is reduced by a factor of 5, whereas mixing of bulk sediment is one to two orders of magnitude lower than on the shelf. The food quality of organic matter in the sediments in the shallowest part of the Goban Spur transect is significantly higher than in sediments in the deeper parts. The residence time of mineralisable carbon is about 120 d on the shelf and compares well with the residence time of the biota. In the deepest station, the mean residence time of mineralisable carbon is more than 3000 d, an order of magnitude higher than that of biotic biomass.

Description: Bottom-tethered sediment traps deployed in the deep eastern North Atlantic between 54°N 20°W and 33°N 20°W (L1, L2, L3), at the European continental margin at 49°N (OMEX) and off the Canary Islands (ESTOC) were investigated for the determination of 230Th trapping efficiencies. The ratios of 230Th flux measured in the traps (Fa) to the expected 230Th flux from the production rate of 230Th in the overlying water column (Fp) ranged between 0.09 and 1.26. For the traps with deployment periods 〉300 days the interannual variation of Fa/Fp ratios (different years but same location and water depth) were up to 10%, suggesting that the average 230Th flux to the sediment traps did not vary significantly. The influence of lateral advection on the 230Th flux was taken into account either by applying a mass balance of 230Th and 231Pa or by assuming a constant removal rate of 230Th from the water column, an assumption based on similar 230Th concentration-depth profiles observed at most locations investigated. 230Th trapping efficiencies were between 9 and 143%, showing a trend of increasing efficiencies with increasing water depth. No relation was found between current velocities and 230Th trapping efficiencies. Our investigations suggest that the observation of constant or even increasing particle flux rates with increasing water depths in several sediment trap arrays investigated may be a result of sediment trap biases. The correction for the trapping biases is important for the understanding of the regional differences in the particle flux in the eastern North Atlantic.

Description: A geochemical model of the Peru Basin deep-sea floor, based on an extensive set of field data as well as on numerical simulations, is presented. The model takes into account the vertical oscillations of the redox zonation that occur in response to both long-term (glacial/interglacial) and short-term (El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) time scale) variations in the depositional flux of organic matter. Field evidence of reaction between the pore water NO3− and an oxidizable fraction of the structural Fe(II) in the clay mineral content of the deep-sea sediments is provided. The conditions of formation and destruction of reactive clay Fe(II) layers in the sea floor are defined, whereby a new paleo-redox proxy is established. Transitional NO3− profile shapes are explained by periodic contractions and expansions of the oxic zone (ocean bottom respiration) on the ENSO time scale. The near-surface oscillations of the oxic–suboxic boundary constitute a redox pump mechanism of major importance with respect to diagenetic trace metal enrichments and manganese nodule formation, which may account for the particularly high nodule growth rates in this ocean basin. These conditions are due to the similar depth ranges of both the O2 penetration in the sea floor and the bioturbated high reactivity surface layer (HRSL), all against the background of ENSO-related large variations in depositional Corg flux. Removal of the HRSL in the course of deep-sea mining would result in a massive expansion of the oxic surface layer and, thus, the shut down of the near-surface redox pump for centuries, which is demonstrated by numerical modeling.

Description: Evidence is presented that North Atlantic climate change since 1950 is linked to a progressive warming of tropical sea surface temperatures, especially over the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The ocean changes alter the pattern and magnitude of tropical rainfall and atmospheric heating, the atmospheric response to which includes the spatial structure of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The slow, tropical ocean warming has thus forced a commensurate trend toward one extreme phase of the NAO during the past half-century.

Description: Kimberlite eruptions bring exotic rock fragments and minerals, including diamonds, from deep within the mantle up to the surface. Such fragments are rapidly absorbed into the kimberlite magma so their appearance at the surface implies rapid transport from depth. High spatial resolution Ar-Ar age data on phlogopite grains in xenoliths from Malaita in the Solomon Islands, southwest Pacific, and Elovy Island in the Kola Peninsula, Russia, indicate transport times of hours to days depending upon the magma temperature. In addition, the data show that the phlogopite grains preserve Ar-Ar ages recorded at high temperature in the mantle, 700°C above the conventional closure temperature.

Description: During the large-scale deep-sea programme BIGSET in situ measurements of sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC) were carried out during three cruises between 1995–1998 at five abyssal sites (3190–4450 m water depth) in the deep Arabian Sea in order to elucidate the regional and temporal variation of benthic carbon remineralisation. SCOC ranged from 0.9–6.3 mmol O2 m−2 d−1, with highest values in the western and northern Arabian Sea and lowest values in the southern Arabian Sea. For the central Arabian Sea intermediate oxygen uptake rates were detected. This regional pattern mirrors the overall regional pattern of primary productivity in surface waters and vertical particulate organic carbon (POC) flux at 1000 mab. Primary productivity in Arabian Sea surface waters and particulate flux into the deep-sea are controlled by the monsoon system and the flux maxima during the SW and NE monsoon are among the highest particle fluxes recorded in the deep open ocean. Highest flux rates were recorded in the western and northern Arabian Sea and decreased towards the central and southern Arabian Sea. SCOC at our western, northern and eastern Arabian Sea stations WAST, NAST and EAST were considerably higher than so far detected in other abyssal areas of the global oceans, and vertical POC flux can account for only 20–50% of benthic carbon remineralisation (BCR). Possible explanations for the high rates of BCR at these stations that are situated close to the continental margins are discussed: the accelerated deposition of very labile organic matter due to eolian dust particles, enhanced rain efficiencies, and lateral advection. A significant temporal variability in SCOC only could be detected at the eastern and western Arabian Sea stations WAST and EAST.

Description: The Redfield ratio [carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus (C:N:P)] of particle flux to the deep ocean is a key factor in marine biogeochemical cycling. Changes in oceanic carbon sequestration have been linked to variations in the Redfield ratio on geological time scales, but this ratio generally is assumed to be constant with time in the modern ocean. However, deep-water Redfield ratios in the northern hemisphere show evidence for temporal trends over the past five decades. The North Atlantic Ocean exhibits a rising N:P ratio, which may be related to increased deposition of atmospheric nitrous oxides from anthropogenic N emissions. In the North Pacific Ocean, increasing C:N and C:P ratios are accompanied by rising remineralization rates, which suggests intensified export production. Stronger export of carbon in this region may be due to enhanced bioavailability of aeolian iron. These findings imply that the biological part of the marine carbon cycle currently is not in steady state.

Description: Benthic fluxes and pore-water compositions of silicic acid, nitrate and phosphate were investigated for surface sediments of the abyssal Arabian Sea during four cruises (1995-1998). Five sites located in the northern (NAST), western (WAST), central (CAST), eastern (EAST), and southern (SAST) Arabian Sea were revisited during intermonsoonal periods after the NE- and SW-Monsoon. At these sites, benthic fluxes of remineralized nutrients from the sediment to the bottom water of 36-106, 102-350 and 4-16 mmol m-2 yr-1 were measured for nitrate, silicic acid and phosphate, respectively. The benthic fluxes and pore-water compositions showed a distinct regional pattern. Highest fluxes were observed in the western and northern region of the Arabian Sea, whereas decreasing fluxes were derived towards the southeast. At WAST, the general temporal pattern of primary production, related to the NE- and SW-Monsoon, is reflected by benthic fluxes. In contrast, at sites NAST, SAST, CAST, and EAST a temporal pattern of fluxes in response to the monsoon is not obvious. Our results reveal a clear coupling between the general regional pattern of production in surface waters and the response of the benthic environment, as indicated by the flux of remineralized nutrients, though a spatially differing degree of decoupling during transport and remineralization of particulate organic matter and biogenic opal was observed. This has to be taken into account regarding budget calculations and paleoceanographic topics.

Description: Effects of monsoon-induced enhanced depositional regimes of particulate organic carbon (POC) on regional variability and distribution patterns and size spectra of metazoan meiofauna, particularly of nematodes, were investigated at five sites 3158–4414 m deep in the Arabian Sea. The sampling sites were subjected to different flux rates of POC. Total meiofaunal abundance ranged from 109 to 320 ind./10 cm2. Nematodes were the numerically most abundant taxon, with a relative abundance of 82.5–88.7%, followed by copepods and ostracods. Mean individual nematode biomass ranged from 0.0272 to 0.1033 μgC, and Mean nematode population biomass varied between 0.0026 and 0.0133 mgC/10 cm2. Mean nematode lengths ranged from 614.2 to 832.6 μm. The length distributions of nematodes at the different sites were typically skewed with the distributions extending into the longer size classes. At the sites with higher POC deposition rates, nematodes displayed deeper distributions in the sediment column (47.4–58.5% of nematodes in the top 1 cm layer of the sediment) in contrast to very shallow distributions at a site of low POC flux (75.1% of nematodes in the top 1 cm of the sediment). Regional variability of nematode biomass, size and vertical distribution was related to monsoon-driven gradients of POC- and chlorophyll a (chl. a) flux rates and bacterial biomass i.e. bioavailable organic carbon. This was in contrast to nematode abundance which did not correlate significantly with any of these environmental parameters. The differential pattern between biomass and abundance, distribution might be related to POC-dependent alterations in the species composition of the nematode assemblages at the different sites. The hypothesis of increased meiobenthic stocks due to monsoon-induced enhanced sedimentation could not be confirmed compared to data from other less productive oceanic regions. Nematode abundance and biomass in the Arabian Sea were similar to values obtained from the abyssal temperate NE-Atlantic.

Description: As part of the large-scale, interdisciplinary deep-sea study “BIGSET”, the relationship between the monsoon-induced regional and temporal variability of POC deposition and the small-sized benthic community was investigated at several sites 2316–4420 m deep in the Arabian Sea during four cruises between 1995 and 1998. Vertical and horizontal distribution patterns of chloroplastic pigments (a measure of phytodetritus deposition), readily soluble protein and activity, and biomass parameters of the small-sized benthic community (Electron Transport System Activity (ETSA); bacterial ectoenzymatic activity (FDA turnover) and DNA concentrations) were measured concurrently with the vertical fluxes of POC and chloroplastic pigments. Sediment chlorophyll a (chl. a) profiles were used to calculate chl. a flux rates and to estimate POC flux across the sediment water interface using two different transport reaction models. These estimates were compared with corresponding flux rates determined in sediment traps. Regional variability of primary productivity and POC deposition at the deep-sea floor creates a trophic gradient in the Arabian Basin from the NW to the SE, which is primarily related to the activity of monsoon winds and processes associated with the topography of the Arabian Basin and the vicinity of land masses. Inventories of sediment chloroplastic pigments closely corresponded to this trophic gradient. For ETSA, FDA and DNA, however, no clear coupling was found, although stations WAST (western Arabian Sea) and NAST (northern Arabian Sea) were characterised by high concentrations and activities. These parameters exhibited high spatial and temporal variability, making it impossible to recognise clear mechanisms controlling temporal and spatial community patterns of the small-sized benthic biota. Nevertheless, the entire Arabian Basin was recognised as being affected by monsoonal activity. Comparison of two different transport reaction models indicates that labile chl. a buried in deeper sediment layers may escape rapid degradation in Arabian deep-sea sediments.

Description: The distribution, biomass, and diversity of living (Rose Bengal stained) deep-sea benthic foraminifera (〉30 [mu]m) were investigated with multicorer samples from seven stations in the Arabian Sea during the intermonsoonal periods in March and in September/October, 1995. Water depths of the stations ranged between 1916 and 4425 m. The distribution of benthic foraminifera was compared with dissolved oxygen, % organic carbon, % calcium carbonate, ammonium, % silica, chloroplastic pigment equivalents, sand content, pore water content of the sediment, and organic carbon flux to explain the foraminiferal patterns and depositional environments. A total of six species-communities comprising 178 living species were identified by principal component analysis. The seasonal comparison shows that at the western stations foraminiferal abundance and biomass were higher during the Spring Intermonsoon than during the Fall Intermonsoon. The regional comparison indicates a distinct gradient in abundance, biomass, and diversity from west to east, and for biomass from north to south. Highest values are recorded in the western part of the Arabian Sea, where the influence of coastal and offshore upwelling are responsible for high carbon fluxes. Estimated total biomass of living benthic foraminifera integrated for the upper 5 cm of the sediment ranged between 11 mg Corg m-2 at the southern station and 420 mg Corg m-2 at the western station. Foraminifera in the size range from 30 to 125 [mu]m, the so-called microforaminifera, contributed between 20 and 65% to the abundance, but only 3% to 28% to the biomass of the fauna. Highest values were found in the central and southern Arabian Sea, indicating their importance in oligotrophic deep-sea areas. The overall abundance of benthic foraminifera is positively correlated with oxygen content and pore volume, and partly with carbon content and chloroplastic pigment equivalents of the sediment. The distributional patterns of the communities seem to be controlled by sand fraction, dissolved oxygen, calcium carbonate and organic carbon content of the sediment, but the critical variables are of different significance for each community.

Description: δ13C values of N. pachyderma (sin.) from the water column and from core top sediments are compared in order to determine the 13C decrease caused by the addition of anthropogenic CO2 to the atmosphere. This effect, which is referred to as the surface ocean Suess effect, is estimated to be about −0.9‰(±0.2‰) within the Arctic Ocean halocline waters and to about −0.6‰(±0.1‰) in the Atlantic-derived waters of the southern Nansen Basin. This means that the area where the Arctic Ocean halocline waters are formed, the Arctic shelf regions, are relatively well ventilated with respect to CO2. Nevertheless, δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) in the Arctic Ocean halocline waters is far from isotopic equilibrium. Absolute values of δ13C of N. pachyderma (sin.) covary with the surface ocean Suess effect, and we interprete changes in both parameters as a reflection of the degree of ventilation of the waters on the shelf sea. Measurements of δ13C of N. pachyderma (sin.) in the Arctic Ocean from plankton tows reveal a “vital effect” of about −2‰, significantly different from other published values. A first-order estimate of the total anthropogenic carbon inventory shows, that despite of its permanent sea-ice cover, the Arctic Ocean, with 2% of the global ocean area, is responsible for about 4–6% of the global ocean's CO2 uptake.

Description: The cause of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific Ocean and North America is investigated by the analysis of data from a multidecadal integration with a state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmosphere model and observations. About one-third of the low-frequency climate variability in the region of interest can be attributed to a cycle involving unstable air-sea interactions between the subtropical gyre circulation in the North Pacific and the Aleutian low-pressure system. The existence of this cycle provides a basis for long-range climate forecasting over the western United States at decadal time scales.

Description: The benthic response to the sedimentation of particulate organic matter (POM) was investigated during 1985–1990 at 47°N, 20°W (BIOTRANS station). The first noticeable annual sedimentation of phytodetritus, as indicated by chlorophyll a concentrations in the sediment, occurred as early as late April-early May. Maximum amounts were found in June–July. Two different sedimentation pulses to the sea bed are described that demonstrate interannual variation: the occurrence of salp faecal pellets early in the year 1988 and the massive fall out of a plankton bloom in summer 1986, which deposited approximately 15 mmol C m−2. The benthic reaction to POM pulses was quite diverse. The mega-, macro- and meiobenthos showed no change in biomass, whereas bacterial biomass doubled between March and July. This corresponds to a seasonal maximum of total adenylate biomass. The relative abundance of Foraminifera among the meiobenthos increased during the summer. Benthic activity (ATP, ratio ATP/ETSA), as well as in situ sediment community oxygen consumption rates (SCOC), showed distinct seasonal maxima in July–August of 0.75 mmol C m−2 day−1. Based on SCOC and the carbon demand for growth, a benthic carbon consumption of 0.94 mmol C m−2 day−1 was estimated. This represents about 1.1% of spring bloom primary production and 9.6% of the export flux beneath the 150 m layer, measured during the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment. Bacteria and protozoans colonizing the epibenthic phytodetrital layer were responsible for 60–80% of the seasonal increase in SCOC. The strong reaction of the smaller benthic size groups (bacteria, protozoans) to POM pulses stresses their particular importance for sediment-water interface flux rates.

Description: Zooplankton sampling took place during cruise 5 Leg 3 of the R.V. Meteor (March-June 1987) in three hydrographically and ecologically different areas of the Arabian Sea (Indian Ocean): an upwelling area at the coast of Oman; an oligotroph area in the central Arabian Sea; and a shelf area off the coast of Pakistan. All three areas were expected to hace similar ichthyoplankton and cephalopod components and similar light conditions. These are important prerequisites for the present comparative study, which is concerned with the importance of the structure of the water column (physical stability and prey availability), compared with the influence of the light intensity (day/night) on the vertical distribution of species and size classes of fish larvae and cephalopod paralarvae in the subtropical pelagial. First results show that the vertical structure of the water column, especially the occurrence of a pynocline and the varying mixed-layer width, either directly or indirectly had important impact on the vertical distribution patterns of both fish larvae and cephalopod paralarvae. In addition, cephalopods were influenced more consistently by the diurnal change of light intensity than fish larvae. Both taxa occurred mainly below the mixed surface layer. However, cephalopod paralarvae preferred shallower depths than fish larvae in all three areas and were closer related to the pycnocline than fish larvae in most cases. In the absence of a significant pycnocline, larvae appeared close to the surface.

Description: During leg 1 of Meteor cruise 10 in March/April 1989 at 18 circ N, 30 circ W, the high spatial and temporal resolution of hydrographic CTD-stations indicated that the study site was in a hydrographically complex region in the transition zone between the Canary Current and the North Equatorial Current at the southern boundary of the subtropical gyre. Strong variability was found within the upper 120 m due to interleavings of warmer and saltier subtropical salinity maximum water with colder and less saline upper thermocline water. The interleavings caused unexpected nose-like temperature, salinity, nitrate and oxygen profiles yet not described in the literature. A second variability source was found in the Central Water area, because the study area was situated in the vicinity of the Central Water Boundary dividing North and South Atlantic Central Water. Hydrographic analysis of the study shows that interpretations of biological and chemical data can only be done in conjunction with high resolution CTD-profiling

Description: Long-range global climate forecasts were made by use of a model for predicting a tropical Pacific sea-surface temperature (SST) in tandem with an atmospheric general circulation model. The SST is predicted first at long lead times into the future. These ocean forecasts are then used to force the atmospheric model and so produce climate forecasts at lead times of the SST forecasts. Prediction of seven large climatic events of the 1970s to 1990s by this technique are in good agreement with observations over many regions of the globe.

Description: Abstract l. In Antarctica, two Adélie penguins were implanted with heart rate (HR) transmitters and released in their breeding colony where they resumed incubation. 2. HR while at rest and lying in the colony were 67 and 77 beats per min (bpm), respectively. 3. For diving experiments, the birds were introduced into a still-water canal, 21 m long, with one respiration chamber at each end. 4. The birds swam underwater for 49 and 76% of the time at speeds of 1.5 and 2.5 m/sec, respectively. 5. When floating quietly at the surface, HR in the first penguin was 89 bpm. 6. Pre-dive HR varied with duration of the inter-dive interval, being highest (250 bpm) when the bird dived in rapid succession (surface times 〈 5 see) and close to diving HR when surface time was 50 sec. 7. Mean HR while diving was constant (107 bpm) and did not vary either with surface time, or with time submerged (0–15 sec). 8. Pre-dive HR and diving HR were not correlated, 9. The extent of bradycardia upon immersion was dependent upon surface time. 10. There was a good correlation between HR and oxygen consumption in both birds, suggesting that HR might be used to determine energy expenditure.

Description: Since large, rapidly-sinking particles account for most of the vertical flux in the ocean, mechanisms responsible for particle aggregation largely control the transport of carbon to depth. The particle flux resulting from a variety of different phytoplankton bloom conditions was simulated with a numerical model in which phytoplankton growth dynamics were combined with physical aggregation, particle size-dependent sedimentation and degradation. Model results demonstrated that particle flux to the deep ocean be generated by solely invoking physical aggregation during phytoplankton blooms. Sensitivity of the model in response to variations of both physico-chemical and biological paramters was tested. The model outcome, described as the fraction of export production leaving the upper ocean carbon pool, proved to be most sensitive to biological variables such as phytoplankton cell size, stickness, and growth characteristics (i.e. solitary vs chain-forming). Changes in these factors strongly affect the efficiency of the “biological pump” and could be explain interannual and geographic variance in deep-ocean flux.

Description: Sediment cores from the Norwegian and Greenland Seas and the Nansen Basin were studied to determine the origin of sediment pellets, centimetre-sized aggregations of clay to sandsized sediment occurring in the cores. By comparing the grain size, grain shape and composition of the pellet sediments to sediments collected directly from the surfaces of sea ice in the Nansen Basin and from icebergs in the Barents Sea, the pelleted sediment was found to be more similar to that in the icebergs than that on the sea ice. The pellets may be formed on, in or under a glacier or during transport on/in an iceberg. When icebergs overturn or melt, the pellets fall out and are consolidated enough to survive a drop of up to 4 km to the ocean bottom and to retain their integrity even after burial on the seafloor.

Description: During R.V. Polarstern expeditions ARK IV/3 and ARK VI/1, well preserved diatom assemblages were recovered from particle-laden sea ice collected from the western Barents Shelf and the Arctic Ocean between Svalbard (81°N) and the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge (86°N). Distinct variations in the abundance pattern and species composition of diatoms were found north and south of ca 83°N. Highest diatom concentrations were encountered in multi-year sea ice in the core of the Transpolar Drift Stream between 83 and 86°N. In this area diatom assemblages are dominated by marine-?brackish benthic species. Apparently, these assemblages originate in shelf waters north and east of Siberia, where they are incorporated into the sea ice as a bottom ice assemblage. During the transport of the ice floes across the Eurasian Basin within the Transpolar Drift Stream, seasonal basal freezing and surface melting processes may have led to an accumulation of diatoms at the sea ice surface. South of ca 83°N the sea ice samples contained significantly lower numbers of diatoms, dominated by freshwater taxa. Between 83 and 81°N these assemblages are dominated by planktonic freshwater taxa, but on the Barents Sea Shelf east of Svalbard significant numbers of benthic freshwater taxa and benthic marine-?brackish species also are found. This ice may originate in the Barents Sea and/or the Kara Sea, which receive a large influx of freshwater from Siberian rivers.

Description: Seasonal records of tropical sea-surface temperature (SST) over the past 10(5) years can be recovered from high-precision measurements of coral strontium/calcium ratios with the use of thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The temperature dependence of these ratios was calibrated with corals collected at SST recording stations and by (18)O/(16)O thermometry. The results suggest that mean monthly SST may be determined with an apparent accuracy of better than 0.5 degrees C. Measurements on a fossil coral indicate that 10,200 years ago mean annual SSTs near Vanuatu in the southwestern Pacific Ocean were about 5 degrees C colder than today and that seasonal variations in SST were larger. These data suggest that tropical climate zones were compressed toward the equator during deglaciation.

Description: The term Cape Verde Frontal Zone is introduced to characterize the southeastern corner of the subtropical gyre circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean far west of the upwelling area off the Mauretanean shelf. Two water mass fronts, one overlying the other, are identified with a quasi-synoptic set of CTD-OZ and nutrient data from November 1986. In the warm water sphere we encounter North and South Atlantic Central Water (NACWISACW) superimposed on extensions of Mediterranean outflow and Antarctic Intermediate Water. The Central Water Boundary, as the separator of NACW from SACW, represents the southeastern side of the Canary/North Equatorial Current system. It acts as a barrier between the well-ventilated, nutrient-poor inner part of the basin-wide circulation of the North Atlantic and the shadow zone with its lowly oxygenated and nutrified cross-equatorial influx. Year-long current meter records, having fluctuations over typical time scales of 5(1`90 days, attest to the highly variable nature of the Cape Verde Frontal Zone. Incidentally, we observe in the data an intrathermocline eddy, called Meddy BIRGIT, which has a double maximum in the vertical salinity structure. Simultaneous Lagrangian observations by RiCHAttDSON et al. (1989, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 19, 371-383) confirm the expected anticyclonic motion of this salt lens, which must have travelled without significant mixing for at least 2500 km from its likely generation region in the Gulf of Cadiz.

Description: After acclimation to 100, 75 and 50 % of sea water (SW) external salinities, a significant reduction in MET (Mean Epithelial Thickness) and MDR (Mean Diverticular Radius) indicates a decrease in the digestive cell volume dependant on the lowering of environmental salinity. The interstitial connective tissue seems to be unable to osmoregulate and hence stand severe changes in cell size depending on external salinity. 50 % SW acclimated periwinkles show a general pattern of general stress response (decreasing MET and MDR, and increasing ND ~Numerical Density of lysosomes- and lysosomal size). A reduction in number and size of digestive lysosomes in winkles acclimated to 75 % of Sea Water evidences the functioning of reglatory mechanisms of digestive cell volume.

Description: A mechanism exists whereby global greenhouse warning could, by intensifying the alongshore wind stress on the ocean surface, lead to acceleration of coastal upwelling. Evidence from several different regions suggests that the major coastal upwelling systems of the world have been growing in upwelling intensity as greenhouse gases have accumulated in the earth's atmosphere. Thus the cool foggy summer conditions that typify the coastlands of northern California and other similar upwelling regions might, under global warming, become even more pronounced. Effects of enhanced upwelling on the marine ecosystem are uncertain but potentially dramatic.

Description: Geostrophic volume transports in the upper 500 m are computed from historical hydrographic data for the area off the Brazilian coast west of 30°W and between 7° and 20°S. On the basis of water mass distributions, potential density surfaces of σθ = 27.05 kg m−3 (360–670 m) and σθ = 27.6 kg m−3 (∼1200 m) are used for referencing the meridional and zonal components of the geostrophic shears, respectively. Near 15°S a northwestward flow of 8 Sv crosses 30°W. This current reaches the shelf near 10°S in February and March, the only two months for which observations are available near that latitude along the coast; of the 8 Sv, about 4 Sv continue towards the northwest into the North Brazil Current while another branch also carrying 4 Sv turns southward as the beginning of the Brazil Current. Between 10° and 20°S the Brazil Current does not appear to strengthen appreciably, but because of the likely existence of flow on the shelf these transport values represent lower limits to the actual ones. At 30°W, another westward flow of approximately 8–10 Sv enters the area near 10°S and serves to strengthen the North Brazil Current. The total transfer of 12 Sv or more from the South Equatorial Current into the North Brazil Current and later to other currents and the northern hemisphere may be an important factor contributing to the well-known weakness of the Brazil Current in its more northerly latitudes.

Description: Two stacked outflow cores of the Mediterranean Water undercurrent pass through a broad “gateway” between Cape St. Vincent and Gettysburg Bank entering the Iberian Basin. The upper core (depth ∼750 m, σ1=31.85) shows a strong tendency to follow the contours of the Portuguese continental rise. Yet, the lower core (depth ∼1250 m, σ1=32.25) primarily meanders west and northwestward forming large blobs of Mediterranean Water. The predominance of isolated Meddy structures embedded in a background field is reflected in a long-term current meter record from the deep Iberian Basin.