Oceanic Regimes Research Articles

In search of an ocean regime: The negotiations in the General Assembly's Seabed Committee 1968–1970

This study deals with the opening phase of the UN negotiations concerning the future international regime for ocean space. It seeks to establish how the technological and economic capabilities of member nations condition the manner and style of negotiation, the definition of national objectives, and the growth of attitudes and expectations with regard to such a regime. By the end of the 1968–70 period expectations about the future international regime had narrowed noticeably. Yet, for long-range tactical reasons many delegations were still holding out in anticipation of a new Law of the Sea Conference. The original Maltese seabed proposal envisaged a comprehensive international regime. In general, developing countries favored such a solution in the beginning, while industrialized countries preferred an intermediate solution. Eventually the Maltese proposal and the negotiating situation inadvertently set off a wave of claims for various forms of national jurisdiction. This meant that the emphasis at the end was more on the rights of the coastal states and less on the capacity of the world community to deal collectively with the future of ocean space.

Interpretation of low-frequency attenuation in a surface duct

Computed values of the attenuation coefficient, which were derived from long-range measurements of acoustic transmission loss in an ice-free surface duct in the vicinity of the Arctic ice-water boundary are analyzed in the frequency range 0.1 to 1.0 Hz. The resultant attenuation in this oceanic regime, which has also been measured by D. L. Bradley et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 52, 172(A) (1972)] with similar results, is significantly greater than the attenuation measured in the deep sound channel. The observed results are discussed in terms of three previously proposed contributions to the total attenuation, viz. (1) volume absorption loss as formulated by W. H. Thorpe [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 38, 648–654 (1965)], (2)attenuation by sea-surface scattering loss, as derived by H. W. Marsh, M. Schulkin, and S. G. Kneale [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 33, 334–340 (1961)], and (3) a depth-dependent diffusion loss as postulated by K. M. Guthrie et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 55, 545(A) (1974)]. The surprisingly good agreement between the observed and the computed magnitudes of attenuation appears to lend some support to the hypothesis that volume attenuation is depth dependent.

U.S. Security Interests in Ocean Law

Abstract This paper discusses the need for reassessing U.S. security interests in the developing laws and practices concerning the use of ocean space. The nature of these security interests is identified and their importance is weighed in terms of U.S. foreign policy interests and the requirements for maintaining those interests. A projection is made of the international political context within which the U.S. must act over the next decade. Estimates are made of the effects of different ocean regimes on U.S. strategic nuclear interests and other security interests. Conclusions are offered concerning, from the standpoint of U.S. security interests, the desirability and feasibility of resolving various ocean jurisdictional issues by means of the projected law of the sea treaty.

STRUCTURE OF ISLAND ARCS BOUNDING THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENTAL PLATE

The New Global Tectonic theory is proving exceedingly valuable to understanding the geological history of large parts of the world's surface. However, in island arc areas, such as those bounding the Australian Continental Plate, the theory is meeting with certain difficulties. These might be due to (a) the theory itself not being valid here, or (b) it needs modification.Certain spectacular aspects of the geology of Timor, New Guinea, New Caledonia and Northland New Zealand suggest that a good case could be made for modification. Large areas of each of these islands are covered by thick chaotic masses of layered ultrabasic igneous rock, radiolarian chert, shale and other sediments of a pelagic nature normally associated with oceanic regimes. Moreover, this sequence of rocks appears to have been tectonically emplaced from an oceanward direction on to sediments of a continental shelf environment. Emplacement seems to have occurred at approximately the same time and to have involved rocks of approximately the same age in all areas.A logical way to account for the observations above in terms of the New Global Tectonic theory is as follows:In Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time the northern and eastern edge of the Australian continental plate was dragged down and began to underthrust the oceanic mantle along a north to north-east dipping subduction zone (the Tethian subduction zone, which is still active along the western edge of the Indonesian Arc).From Early to Middle Tertiary time, light continental crust could no longer be subducted under heavier mantle and subduction ceased. Isostatic re-adjustment occurred, raising the northern edge of the Australian plate which still carried large remnants of oceanic crust that had been emplaced above it.At about the same time, and continuing to the present, a new pattern of south to east dipping subduction formed. Edges of the Australian plate were torn away and migrated eastward, leaving areas of new oceanic crust behind.If the sequence of events above is essentially a true picture, it leads not only to some interesting modifications of the New Global Tectonic theory, but also to certain implications as to mineral and petroleum prospects within island arc areas.

Corporate Enterprises in the Emerging Ocean Regime

A supranational government of the deep oceans is an urgent need of our times—exploitation of its resources, commercial pollution, and use for military ends must be controlled. This article describes proposals for such a governing body (particularly the Borgese Model and variations of it) and their legislative, executive and judicial aspects.

Oxidation-reduction potential Eh and pH of sediments in the north-eastern Pacific : R omankevich, E. A. and N. V. P etrov, 1961. Trud. Inst. Okeanol., Akad. Nauk SSSR, 45: 72–85.

Our investigations in the northern South China Sea (SCS) have revealed warm-core anticyclonic eddies that had a depressed pycnocline and a high biological productivity and phytoplankton abundance. With an elliptical shape of 420–430 km in major axis and 240–260 km in minor axis, these eddies were formed in the winter as the Kuroshio Current intruded through the Luzon Strait into the SCS under the prevailing northeast monsoon. They were characterized by a deep mixed layer up to 140–180 m, in which nitrate was relatively abundant. Although chlorophyll a concentration per volume of seawater was not always higher inside than outside the eddies, water-column (0–200 m) integrated chlorophyll a concentration and abundances of Synechococcus, coccolithophores, and diatoms were higher inside than outside the eddies. Primary productivity and nitrate-uptake new production inside the eddies were higher than or equal to those outside the eddies. Unlike the mode-water anticyclonic eddy that is biologically productive with a domed shallow seasonal pycnocline, the eddies we investigated had high surface temperatures and depressed pycnoclines in the upper water column. Possible explanations for these biological aspects were that the eddies were at their decaying stage, the eddies re-incorporated intermittently with an intruding Kuroshio branch, or the passage of the prevalent high amplitude internal tides introduced nutrients to the eddies. Frequent occurrences of eddies in oceanic regimes, especially cold eddies, are associated with high biological activity. Some warm eddies, such as these investigated in the present study, also have high biological activities, indicating that more rigorous in situ studies relating to eddy biological activity are needed in ocean regimes such as the SCS, where a half of the eddies are warm eddies.