ALBERT

Description: Hurricanes and other strong storms can cause important decreases in sea surface temperature by means of vertical mixing within the upper ocean, and by air–sea heat exchange. Here we use satellite-derived infrared images of the western North Atlantic to study sea surface cooling caused by hurricane Gloria (1985). Significant regional variations in sea surface cooling are well correlated with hydrographic conditions. The greatest cooling (up to 5°C) occurred in slope waters north of the Gulf Stream where the seasonal thermocline is shallowest and most compressed; moderate cooling (up to 3 °C) occurred in the open Sargasso Sea where the thermocline is deeper and more diffused; little or no cooling occurred in shallow coastal waters (bottom depth less than 20 m) which were isothermal before the passage of hurricane Gloria. There is a pronounced right-side asymmetry of sea surface cooling with stronger (by a factor of 4) and more extensive (by a factor of 3) cooling found on the right side of the hurricane track. These qualitative results are consistent with the notion that vertical mixing within the upper ocean is the dominant sea surface cooling mechanism of hurricanes.

Description: Benthic metabolism and standing stocks were investigated in the deep Red Sea between 21o and 27oN, Activity was assessed by the determination of respiration rates with a shipboard method and by calculating oxygen consumption from the activity in the electron transport system. We attempted to compare results from different latitudes within the warm Red Sea and with data from cold Atlantic environments. Our investigations were part of an environmental risk assessment to evaluate future mining of metalliferous sediments from the Atlantis II Deep.

Description: The diet of the king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus at Marion Island was examined throughout the year by analysis of stomach samples. Fish accounted for 87% by wet mass, 75% by numbers and 69% by reconstituted mass. Their proportional importance by wet mass increased from 68% during winter to almost 100% in summer and probably reflects a real increase in their local availability. Squid comprised most of the remainder with crustaceans forming less than 1% of the diet by numbers. Prey items were generally small, the most abundant being three species of myctophid fish, Krefftichthys anderssoni, Protomyctophum tenisonì and Electrona carlsbergi, and a squid Kondakovia longimana. King penguins took both juvenile and adult Krefftichthys anderssoni and P. tenisoni, but only adult E. carlshergi. The juvenile and adult modal size classes of K. anderssoni and P. tenisoni increased from March through to February and the proportion of juvenile to adult fish increased in winter. The increase in the modal size class of the K. anderssoni/P. tenisoni complex during the year probably reflects growth of the fish, rather than movement of different populations in and out of the area exploited by king penguins. All squid consumed were probably juveniles. The modal size class of Kondakovia longimana increased from March to August, but in September to October smaller squid again formed a large proportion of the squid component of the diet. Numbers of measurable squid beaks recovered from November to February were low. This is the first time that mesopelagic myctophid fish have been shown to comprise a major component of the diet of a vertebrate predator in the Southern Ocean.

Description: There is now clear evidence that changes in the Earth's climate may be sudden rather than gradual. It is time to put research into the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on a better footing.

Description: Blidingia minima var. ramifera is reported for the first time in eastern North America. It occurs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia and in Maine. In the estuary of the West and Rights Rivers (Antigonish Harbour, Nova Scotia) it is the most common intertidal alga and during its maximum growth period (June‐August) covers 75–90% of the intertidal zone for several km of shoreline at the mouth of the Rights River. In culture, spore germination and early development were typical of the taxon as described from Europe. The taxon is raised to specific status as Blidingia ramifera stat. nov. Blidingia subsalsa is confirmed from New England based on observations of spore germination in plants from Maine and Connecticut.