Net Sinking Research Articles

Relationships Between Plankton Size Spectra, Net Primary Production, and the Biological Carbon Pump

AbstractPhotosynthesis in the surface ocean and subsequent export of a fraction of this fixed carbon leads to carbon dioxide sequestration in the deep ocean. Ecological relationships among plankton functional groups and theoretical relationships between particle size and sinking rate suggest that carbon export from the euphotic zone is more efficient when communities are dominated by large organisms. However, this hypothesis has never been tested against measured size spectra spanning the >5 orders of magnitude found in plankton communities. Using data from five ocean regions (California Current Ecosystem, North Pacific subtropical gyre, Costa Rica Dome, Gulf of Mexico, and Southern Ocean subtropical front), we quantified carbon‐based plankton size spectra from heterotrophic bacteria to metazoan zooplankton (size class cutoffs varied slightly between regions) and their relationship to net primary production and sinking particle flux. Slopes of the normalized biomass size spectra (NBSS) varied from −1.6 to −1.2 (median slope of −1.4 equates to large 1–10 mm organisms having a biomass equal to only 7.6% of the biomass in small 1–10 μm organisms). Net primary production was positively correlated with the NBSS slope, with a particularly strong relationship in the microbial portion of the size spectra. While organic carbon export co‐varied with NBSS slope, we found only weak evidence that export efficiency is related to plankton community size spectra. Multi‐variate statistical analysis suggested that properties of the NBSS added no explanatory power over chlorophyll, primary production, and temperature. Rather, the results suggest that both plankton size spectra and carbon export increase with increasing system productivity.

C, N, and P Mass Balances in the Bottom Seawater–Surface Sediment Interface in the Reducing Environment due to Anoxic Water of Gamak Bay, Korea

Current mass balances of C, N, and P were estimated using a model (Fluxin = Fluxout + ΔFlux) from Gamak Bay, Korea, in August 2017, where eutrophication and reducing conditions are prevalent. To examine the current fluxes of particulate organic carbon (POC), nitrogen (PON), and phosphorus (POP), sinking and re-floating sediment traps were deployed, a sediment oxygen demand (SOD) chamber experiment and ex-situ nutrient incubation experiment were conducted, and Fick’s first law of diffusion was applied. The principal component analysis and cluster analysis were performed to identify the three groups of water masses based on the characteristics of the bay, including the effects of the reducing environment due to the anoxic water mass using 14 bottom water quality parameters. In the reducing environment (sampling point GA4), the SOD20 flux was 3047.2 mg O2/m2/d. Additionally, the net sinking POC flux was 861.0 mg C/m2/d, while 131.8% of the net sinking POC flux (1134.5 mg C/m2/d) was removed toward the overlying water. This indicates that the organic matter that had been deposited was decomposed as a flux of 273.6 mg C/m2/d. The net sinking PON flux was 187.9 mg N/m2/d, whereas 15.8% of the net sinking PON flux was eluted, and 84.2% remained in the surface sediments. The dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) elution flux from the surface sediments consisted of NH4+ elution (33.7 mg N/m2/d) and NOx− elution (−4.1 mg N/m2/d) fluxes. Despite the net sinking POP flux being 26.0 mg P/m2/d, the 47.7 mg P/m2/d of DIP elution flux (179.5% of the net sinking POP flux) was eluted to the overlying water. Similar to C mass balance, the additional elution flux occurred. Therefore, severe eutrophication (16.5 of the Okaichi eutrophication index) with the lowest N:P ratio (2.6) in GA4 was noted. This indicates that not only the freshly exported organic matter to the surface sediments but also the biochemical processes under anoxic conditions played an essential role as a remarkable nutrient source–particularly P–for eutrophication in Gamak Bay, Korea.

Hazard Identification and Job Safety Analysis for Improving Occupational Health and Safety in Fishing Net Sinking Process in Southern Thailand

The fishing net sinker workers are exposed to numerous workplace hazards that can endanger their health and safety. We utilized a walk-through survey and Job Safety Analysis (JSA) technique to assess each step of the work process, identify potential hazards on each job and suggest the safest approach to fishing net sinker workers in southern Thailand. A JSA is a useful tool for mitigating risk in the workplace. It emphasizes the interaction between workers, tools or equipment, the working environment, and the tasks. The results show thata total of 52potential hazards occur with varying severity and likelihood, 20% of which are categorized at the highest level. The mesh and lead ball making activities carry an extreme risk rating (RR=12). This work has possible hazards, namely occupational lung and asthma disorders. 40% are categorized at the high-risk level, namely fingers cut by tools (RR=8), and repetitive strain disorder (RR=8). Workers can be more proactive in implementing health and safety measures through appropriate risk control. The result of the paired-sample’s t-test showed that the average risk scorediffers before taking control measures (M= 7.54, SD = 2.62)and after taking control measure(M= 4.31, SD = 1.55)at the 0.0001 level of significance (t= 7.6513, df = 51, n=52, P< 0.0001, 95% confidence interval of this difference 2.39 to 4.07). On an average, risk reduction was about 3.23 point lower after taking control measures.Ensuring that workers use tools and equipment safely and also that they maintain this equipment properly. Thus, it was suggested that the government agencies concerned should carry out regular surveillance and further develop the learning process and solutions to work safety procedures as guidelines to improve their safety, wellbeing, and working conditions. These enhancements will also contribute to the higher efficiency and effectiveness of their work and advance the dynamic interest and participation of the fishing net sinker workers in other areas, including careers for the informal workers of similar work characteristics.

Trammel net design engineering for operation with the sweeping method (Ciker net)

The active operation of a trammel net by a sweeping technique is commonly used by fishermen in Cilacap, which are often referred as ciker nets. They are operated by lowering the net in a straight line and pulling the tail end from a ship moving in a full circle, while the other end functions as a circular axis. The effect of active operation allows for changes in performance with time, such as easy lifting or less buoyancy, and the unstable display of gears. This makes it necessary to perform design engineering, especially on buoys, sinkers, and high nets. However, the suitable quantity of these components for ciker net has never been ascertained. Calculations about how many buoys, sinkers, and net height to add need to be done to enhance ciker net construction for active operation. This research aimed to determine the optimum configuration of buoys, sinkers, and net height, and determine the engineering design of ciker nets based on the optimum ratio of buoyancy force to the sinking force of the trammel net. Therefore, the parameters measured include hanging ratio, stretched net length, buoyancy force, and sinking force. The results showed that the optimum configuration of buoys, sinkers, and net height was 59 pieces, 341 pieces, and 1.5 m respectively. Changes in the design of ciker nets, especially in the three components that affect the addition of buoyancy and sinking force ratio were based on the comparison of the trammel nets which was 1:5 greater than the design owned by fishermen at 1:4.Keywords:Bouyancy forceSinking forceCiker netTrammel netShrimp

Seasonal and regional variations of sinking in the subpolar North Atlantic from a high-resolution ocean model

Abstract. Previous studies have indicated that most of the net sinking associated with the downward branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) must occur near the subpolar North Atlantic boundaries. In this work we have used monthly mean fields of a high-resolution ocean model (0.1∘ at the Equator) to quantify this sinking. To this end we have calculated the Eulerian net vertical transport (W∑) from the modeled vertical velocities, its seasonal variability, and its spatial distribution under repeated climatological atmospheric forcing conditions. Based on this simulation, we find that for the whole subpolar North Atlantic W∑ peaks at about −14 Sv at a depth of 1139 m, matching both the mean depth and the magnitude of the meridional transport of the AMOC at 45∘ N. It displays a seasonal variability of around 10 Sv. Three sinking regimes are identified according to the characteristics of the accumulated W∑ with respect to the distance to the shelf: one within the first 90 km and onto the bathymetric slope at around the peak of the boundary current speed (regime I), the second between 90 and 250 km covering the remainder of the shelf where mesoscale eddies exchange properties (momentum, heat, mass) between the interior and the boundary (regime II), and the third at larger distances from the shelf where W∑ is mostly driven by the ocean's interior eddies (regime III). Regimes I and II accumulate ∼90 % of the total sinking and display smaller seasonal changes and spatial variability than regime III. We find that such a distinction in regimes is also useful to describe the characteristics of W∑ in marginal seas located far from the overflow areas, although the regime boundaries can shift a few tens of kilometers inshore or offshore depending on the bathymetric slope and shelf width of each marginal sea. The largest contributions to the sinking come from the Labrador Sea, the Newfoundland region, and the overflow regions. The magnitude, seasonal variability, and depth at which W∑ peaks vary for each region, thus revealing a complex picture of sinking in the subpolar North Atlantic.

Overturning the Mediterranean Thermohaline Circulation

AbstractFor more than five decades, the Mediterranean Sea has been identified as a region of so‐called thermohaline circulation, namely, of basin‐scale overturning driven by surface heat and freshwater exchanges. The commonly accepted view is that of an interaction of zonal and meridional conveyor belts that sink at intermediate or deep convection sites. However, the connection between convection and sinking in the overturning circulation remains unclear. Here we use a multidecadal eddy‐permitting numerical simulation and glider transport measurements to diagnose the location and physical drivers of this sinking. We find that most of the net sinking occurs within 50 km of the boundary, away from open sea convection sites. Vorticity dynamics provides the physical rationale for this sinking near topography: only dissipation at the boundary is able to balance the vortex stretching induced by any net sinking, which is hence prevented in the open ocean. These findings corroborate previous idealized studies and conceptually replace the historical offshore conveyor belts by boundary sinking rings. They challenge the respective roles of convection and sinking in shaping the oceanic overturning circulation and confirm the key role of boundary currents in ventilating the interior ocean.

Reply to “Comment on ‘Abyssal Upwelling and Downwelling Driven by Near-Boundary Mixing’”

AbstractLedwell, in a comment on McDougall and Ferrari, discusses the dianeutral upwelling and downwelling that occurs near isolated topographic features, by performing a buoyancy budget analysis that integrates the diffusive buoyancy fluxes only out to a set horizontal distance from the topography. The consequence of this choice of control volume is that the magnitude of the area-integrated diffusive buoyancy flux decreases to zero at the base of a topographic feature resulting in a net dianeutral upwelling of water. Based on this result, Ledwell argues that isolated topographic features are preferential locations for the upwelling of waters from the abyss. However the assumptions behind Ledwell’s analysis may or may not be typical of abyssal mixing in the ocean. McDougall and Ferrari developed general expressions for the balance between area-integrated dianeutral advection and diffusion, and then illustrated these general expressions using the very simple assumption that the magnitude of the buoyancy flux per unit area at the top of the turbulent boundary layer was constant. In these pedagogical illustrations, McDougall and Ferrari concentrated on the region near the top (rather than near the base) of isolated topographic features, and they found net sinking of abyssal waters. Here we show that McDougall and Ferrari’s conclusion that isolated topographic features cause dianeutral downwelling is in fact a result that applies for general geometries and for all forms of bottom-intensified mixing profiles at heights above the base of such topographic features.

Turning Ocean Mixing Upside Down

AbstractIt is generally understood that small-scale mixing, such as is caused by breaking internal waves, drives upwelling of the densest ocean waters that sink to the ocean bottom at high latitudes. However, the observational evidence that the strong turbulent fluxes generated by small-scale mixing in the stratified ocean interior are more vigorous close to the ocean bottom boundary than above implies that small-scale mixing converts light waters into denser ones, thus driving a net sinking of abyssal waters. Using a combination of theoretical ideas and numerical models, it is argued that abyssal waters upwell along weakly stratified boundary layers, where small-scale mixing of density decreases to zero to satisfy the no density flux condition at the ocean bottom. The abyssal ocean meridional overturning circulation is the small residual of a large net sinking of waters, driven by small-scale mixing in the stratified interior above the bottom boundary layers, and a slightly larger net upwelling, driven by the decay of small-scale mixing in the boundary layers. The crucial importance of upwelling along boundary layers in closing the abyssal overturning circulation is the main finding of this work.

Abundance and sinking of particulate black carbon in the western Arctic and Subarctic Oceans.

The abundance and sinking of particulate black carbon (PBC) were examined for the first time in the western Arctic and Subarctic Oceans. In the central Arctic Ocean, high PBC concentrations with a mean of 0.021 ± 0.016 μmol L−1 were observed in the marginal ice zone (MIZ). A number of parameters, including temperature, salinity and 234Th/238U ratios, indicated that both the rapid release of atmospherically deposited PBC on sea ice and a slow sinking rate were responsible for the comparable PBC concentrations between the MIZ and mid-latitudinal Pacific Ocean (ML). On the Chukchi and Bering Shelves (CBS), PBC concentrations were also comparable to those obtained in the ML. Further, significant deficits of 234Th revealed the rapid sinking of PBC on the CBS. These results implied additional source terms for PBC in addition to atmospheric deposition and fluvial discharge on the western Arctic shelves. Based on 234Th/238U disequilibria, the net sinking rate of PBC out of the surface water was −0.8 ± 2.5 μmol m−3 d−1 (mean ± s.d.) in the MIZ. In contrast, on the shelves, the average sinking rate of PBC was 6.1 ± 4.6 μmol m−3 d−1. Thus, the western Arctic Shelf was probably an effective location for burying PBC.

Establishing Restoration Strategy of Eastern Oyster via a Coupled Biophysical Transport Model

For marine fish and invertebrates, larval dispersal plays a critical role in determining connections among source and sink habitats, and the lack of a predictive understanding of larval dispersal is a fundamental obstacle to the development of spatially explicit restoration plans for marine populations. We investigated larval dispersal patterns of eastern oyster in an estuary along the Northern Gulf of Mexico under different simulation scenarios of tidal amplitude and phase, river discharge, wind direction, and larval vertical migration, using a coupled biophysical transport model. We focused on the dispersal of larvae released from the commercially exploited (Cedar Point, CP) and non‐exploited (Bon Secour Bay, BSB) oyster populations. We found that high flushing rates through the dominant inlet prevented larval exchange between the commercially exploited and non‐exploited populations, resulting in negligible connectivity between them. Variations in tidal amplitude, river discharge and wind direction played a more important role in the amount of larvae retained in Mobile Bay when they are released from CP than from BSB. Under most of the scenarios, larvae from BSB were retained around the spawning area, while larvae from CP showed a predominant westward flow. Net sinking behavior of late‐stage larvae increased larval retention in the bay, but physical transport showed a higher impact in the amount of larvae retained. These findings have enhanced our understanding of larval dispersal of eastern oyster in a wide, shallow estuarine system, and been used to establish spatially explicit strategies for oyster restoration in the Mobile Bay system, Alabama.

Buoyancy-Forced Downwelling in Boundary Currents

Abstract The issue of downwelling resulting from surface buoyancy loss in boundary currents is addressed using a high-resolution, nonhydrostatic numerical model. It is shown that the net downwelling is determined by the change in the mixed layer density along the boundary. For configurations in which the density on the boundary increases in the direction of Kelvin wave propagation, there is a net downwelling within the domain. For cases in which the density decreases in the direction of Kelvin wave propagation, cooling results in a net upwelling within the domain. Symmetric instability within the mixed layer drives an overturning cell in the interior, but it does not contribute to the net vertical motion. The net downwelling is determined by the geostrophic flow toward the boundary and is carried downward in a very narrow boundary layer of width E1/3, where E is the Ekman number. For the calculations here, this boundary layer is O(100 m) wide. A simple model of the mixed layer temperature that balances horizontal advection with surface cooling is used to predict the net downwelling and its dependence on external parameters. This model shows that the net sinking rate within the domain depends not only on the amount of heat loss at the surface but also on the Coriolis parameter, the mixed layer depth (or underlying stratification), and the horizontal velocity. These results indicate that if one is to correctly represent the buoyancy-forced downwelling in general circulation models, then it is crucial to accurately represent the velocity and mixed layer depth very close to the boundary. These results also imply that processes that lead to weak mixing within a few kilometers of the boundary, such as ice formation or freshwater runoff, can severely limit the downwelling forced by surface cooling, even if there is strong heat loss and convection farther offshore.

Impact of Labrador Sea Convection on the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

Abstract The overturning and horizontal circulations of the Labrador Sea are deduced from a composite vertical section across the basin. The data come from the late-spring/early-summer occupations of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) AR7W line, during the years 1990–97. This time period was chosen because it corresponded to intense wintertime convection—the deepest and densest in the historical record—suggesting that the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) would be maximally impacted. The composite geostrophic velocity section was referenced using a mean lateral velocity profile from float data and then subsequently adjusted to balance mass. The analysis was done in depth space to determine the net sinking that results from convection and in density space to determine the diapycnal mass flux (i.e., the transformation of light water to Labrador Sea Water). The mean overturning cell is calculated to be 1 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1), as compared with a horizontal gyre of 18 Sv. The total water mass transformation is 2 Sv. These values are consistent with recent modeling results. The diagnosed heat flux of 37.6 TW is found to result predominantly from the horizontal circulation, both in depth space and density space. These results suggest that the North Atlantic MOC is not largely impacted by deep convection in the Labrador Sea.

Real time observations of coastal algal blooms by an early warning system

In eutrophic sub-tropical coastal waters around Hong Kong, phytoplankton or unicellular microalgae can grow rapidly to very high concentrations under favourable environmental conditions. These harmful algal blooms (HABs) have led to massive fish kills, hypoxia, and beach closures. However, to date the causality and mechanism of coastal algal blooms are still poorly understood. A remotely controlled autonomous real time field monitoring system has been developed to continuously track the changes in chlorophyll fluorescence, dissolved oxygen and other hydro-meteorological variables at two representative mariculture zones. The system can give an alarm when a bloom is detected, so that timely manual water quality sampling can be carried out to supplement the telemetric data. During 2000–2003, the system has successfully tracked 19 algal blooms. In the shallow weakly flushed coastal water (depth 7–10 m, tidal current 5–19 cm s −1), the bloom is short-lived, typically lasting a few days to over a week, with chlorophyll and DO concentrations in the range of 20–40 mg m −3 and 2–15 g m −3, respectively. It is found that: (1) the chlorophyll concentration is strongly correlated with its past values in the previous week, suggesting an auto-regressive type of algal dynamics; (2) the dissolved oxygen can reach highly super-saturated levels (12 g m −3) during a diatom bloom, and decreases to below 4 g m −3 at the tail of the growth phase; (3) in contrast, a dinoflagellate bloom is characterized by a much more pronounced vertical structure. Diel vertical migration and aggregation to dense layers are clearly observed. Significant dissolved oxygen consumption is associated with the migration, resulting in DO drops by as much as 6 g m −3 during the bloom; (4) the predominance of diatoms and dinoflagellates at the two sites can be explained in terms of the different hydrographic and nutrient conditions (the N:P ratio). Net algal growth rate, sinking and swimming velocities are derived from the in situ bloom data. The 4-year high frequency data set provides a basis for development of models for forecast of harmful algal blooms.

Deep-Water Formation and Meridional Overturning in a High-Resolution Model of the North Atlantic

The authors use different versions of the model of the wind- and thermohaline-driven circulation in the North and Equatorial Atlantic developed under the WOCE Community Modeling Effort to investigate the mean flow pattern and deep-water formation in the subpolar region, and the corresponding structure of the basin-scale meridional overturning circulation transport. A suite of model experiments has been carded out in recent years, differing in horizontal resolution (1° × 1.2°, 1/3° × 0.4°, 1/6° × 0.2°), thermohaline boundary conditions, and parameterization of small-scale mixing. The mass transport in the subpolar gyre and the production of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) appears to be essentially controlled by the outflow of dense water from the Greenland and Norwegian Seas. in the present model simulated by restoring conditions in a buffer zone adjacent to the boundary near the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. Deep winter convection homogenizes the water column in the center of the Labrador Sea to about 2000 m. The water mass properties (potential temperature about 3°C, salinity about 34.9 psu) and the volume (1.1×1053 km3) of the homogenized water are in fair agreement with observations. The convective mixing has only little effect on the net sinking of upper-layer water in the subpolar gyre. Sensitivity experiments show that the export of NADW from the subpolar North Atlantic is more strongly affected by changes in the overflow conditions than by changes in the surface buoyancy fluxes over the Labrador and Irminger Seas, even if these suppress the deep convection completely. The host of sensitivity experiments demonstrates that realistic meridional overturning and heat transport distributions for the North Atlantic (with a maximum of 1 PW) can be obtained with NADW production rates of 15–16 Sv, provided the spurious upwelling of deep water that characterizes many model solutions in the Gulf Stream regime is avoided by adequate horizontal resolution add mixing parameterization.

Subsidence of aircraft engine exhaust in the stratosphere: Implications for calculated ozone depletions

The deposition altitude of nitrogen oxides and other exhaust species emitted by stratospheric aircraft is a crucial parameter in determining the impact of these emissions on stratospheric ozone. We have utilized a model for the wake of a High‐Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) to estimate the enhancements in water and reductions in ozone in these wakes as a function of time. Radiative calculations indicate differential cooling rates as large as −5K/day at the beginning of the far‐wake regime, mostly due to the enhanced water abundance. These cooling rates would imply a net sinking of the wakes of about 1.2 km after three days in the limit of no mixing. Calculated mid‐latitude column ozone reductions due to emissions from a Mach 2.4 HSCT would then change from about −1% to −0.6%. However, more realistic calculations adopting moderate mixing for the wake reduce the net sinking to less than 0.2 km, making the impact of radiative subsidence negligible.

Body Form and Locomotion in Sharks

A revised interpretation of the mode of action of the heterocercal tail in sharks shows that the upturned tail axis tends to produce a thrust directed downwards behind the centre of balance of the fish and thus gives a moment turning the head upwards. This is countered in two ways—by the rotation of the tail along its longitudinal axis during each lateral beat, and through the action of the ventral hypochordal lobe. The shape of the tail and the mode of action of the tail in all sharks so far considered reflects a balance between these three factors, in all of them the net effect being the production of a forward thrust from the tail that passes directly through the centre of balance of the fiish. There is normally therefore no tendency for the fish to turn around the centre of balance in a sagittal plane but there is a net sinking effect that is countered by the planning effect of the pectoral fins and the ventral surface of the head. A study of 56 species of sharks shows that the tail is constructed according to a remarkably consistent common plan, the extremes being the high angled rather symmetrical tail of pelagic sharks such as hums, Lamna and Rhincodon and the straight tails of benthic sharks such as Ginglymostoma in which a ventral hypochordal lobe is absent. When the general body shape of sharks, including the position of insertion of the median and paired fins and the pattern of growth of fin surface areas is considered, the uniformity of the shark body plan and locomolor function is further emphasised. Four patterns of body form in sharks are recognised: 1) The fast swimming pelagic sharks and the whale sharks have a tail with a high aspect ratio, a conical head, a lateral fluke on the caudal peduncle. 2) The generalised sharks typified by the Carcharhinidae, have lower heterocercal angles, a flattened ventral surface on the head and lack the caudal fluke. 3) The demersal sharks typified by the catsharks (Scyliorhinidae) have a very low, almost straight tail. The ventral hypochordal lobe is absent and the first dorsal fin is posterior in position. 4) The squalomorph sharks are distinct in the absence of the anal fin, presence of a marked epicaudal lobe in the tail and often an elevated insertion of the pectorals. The anal and second dorsal fins are always the smallest fins and the pectorals grow at the fastest rate. In general there is an inverse relationship between size and rale of growth of all fins and the ventral surface of the head. In hammerheads the growth data confirms that the head has a significant planing action in swimming. The pectoral, second dorsal and anal fins show an extreme constancy of position of insertion in all sharks studied. The locomotor mechanism of sharks is adapted for an efficient cruising swimming but at the same time, the potential instability in the sagittal plan allows for the production of turning moments that are used in attack and feeding.

Comments on the Antarctic bottom water problem and high-latitude thermohaline sinking

It is pointed out that (1) the formation of bottom water and (2) net sinking of mass in high latitudes as part of the global scale vertical thermal circulation in the ocean are essentially distinct processes and not, as is often tacitly assumed, one and the same thing, even though both are at least partly driven by intense cooling of the ocean in high latitudes. It is further pointed out that very little is actually known either theoretically or observationally about the location or magnitude of the sinking that compensates for the upwelling that some authors have suggested occurs in the main thermocline. Technical errors in several previous contributions to the antarctic bottom water problem are discussed.