Vol 56, No 2 (2016)

The statistical significance of Global Atmospheric Oscillation (GAO), whose main element is the well-known El Niño–Southern Oscillation in the equatorial Pacific, was assessed from monthly mean atmospheric pressure data at sea level at the nodes of a regular 5° × 5° grid covering the entire surface of the Earth. The data were collected in 1920–2012. It was found that statistically reliable GAO signals cover almost the entire tropical zone and they also appear at mid- and high latitudes of both hemispheres.

Global satellite sea surface temperature (SST) measurements and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis wind data for the period of 1982–2009 have been used to study the relationship between long-term variability of oceanic frontal zones (OFZ) and large-scale atmospheric forcing. Statistically significant positive correlations between the maximum magnitude of the meridional gradient of zonally averaged SST and meridional shear of zonal wind (which is an estimate of the Ekman convergence intensity) were found for all subpolar and subtropical OFZ of the World Ocean. Variability of the latitudinal position of OFZ cores may be associated with Ekman advection variability due to zonal wind variations. Strengthening of zonal wind results in a shift of subpolar OFZ cores to the south/north in the Northern/Southern hemispheres.

Numerical simulation based on the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) was performed for a region of the Southeast Baltic in order to compare data on the spatial distribution of velocity and bottom sediments. Special attention was focused on the influence of western and northeastern winds, which generate intense quasi-geostrophic currents can may cause very high velocities in the near bottom layer, which results in the elution of bottom sediments and transport of their fine fractions. An abrupt change in wind velocity intensifies the effect of elution due to generation of inertial internal waves that penetrate into the bottom layer. The spatial distributions of the velocity in the surface and near bottom layers are compared with data on bottom sediments. It turned out that areas with the highest velocities that formed under the effect of western and northeastern winds in most cases coincide with areas where bottom sediments are represented by coarse-grain fractions of gravel and sands.

The study verifies the Black Sea wave model using field data obtained from the Katsiveli research platform. The WAM and mesoscale MM5 and WRF atmospheric models, which are used to calculate the wind field for the wave model, were recently adjusted to the Black Sea region at the Marine Hydrophysical Institute. The results of the work are presented as characteristics of the simulation quality used in world practice in other regions. The scatter index for a significant wave height is 70% in summer and 50% in winter. The values of the scatter index of wave parameters and wind speed appear to be at the same level as in semi-enclosed seas on the northern side of the Mediterranean Sea. It is shown that atmospheric simulation correctly reproduces the interaction between synoptic processes and the mountain range extending alongshore. Error sources in wave simulation are discussed. The most significant drawback is the possibility of mesoscale instability in the atmospheric model without assimilation of observation data within the computational domain.

The concentration distribution was studied for dissolved oxygen, phosphorus forms, and particulate matter in Curonian Bay of the Baltic Sea in poorly known consolidated ice cover conditions during the winter seasons of 2010, 2011, and 2013. The surface and near-bottom waters were sampled at 51 stations. The ice cover exerts no significant effect on the typical seasonal variation of all considered parameters in the basin. The concentrations of mineral and organic phosphorus in the bay appeared to be lower by factors of 2–4 compared to summer values. A two- to threefold decrease in the concentrations of organic phosphorus since 2010 to 2011 and then to 2013 was recorded in the bay, which resulted from a decrease in phosphorus production by phytoplankton. Despite water being isolated from air by ice, the absence of wave mixing, and the decrease in oxygen production owing to the seasonal winter decrease in the intensity photosynthetic processes, no oxygen deficiency was found in the basin. This is because oxygen supplied to the bay by river runoff and production by photosynthesis in the bay exceed the utilization for oxidation of organic matter resulting from low bioproductivity of the waters during winter. The winter decrease in the fraction of biogenic particulate matter is seen as a four- to sevenfold drop in its total concentration in the waters compared to summer seasons. The absence of wave roiling of bottom sediments also caused a decrease in the secondary supply of biogenic particulate matter from sediments into near-bottom waters. No negative trends of geoecological conditions in the bay were revealed by the studied parameters under consolidated ice cover conditions.

Salinity tolerance, energy metabolism, buoyancy, and passive sinking and swimming speeds have been studied for comparative assessment of the adaptive potential of two species of cyclopoid copepods in the Black Sea, the native Oithona similis and new invader Oithona davisae. Both species were considered marine euryhaline copepods, but the range of salinity tolerance of O. davisae was much broader (5–55‰). The energy metabolism, locomotor activity, mean body mass density, and speed of passive sinking at the same temperature were significantly higher in O. davisae than in O. similis. The relationship between the physiological and behavioral parameters and ecological characteristics of the species are discussed.

Variations in the content of chlorin (a derivate of chlorophyll a) in 11 cores of bottom sediments from different parts of the Sea of Okhotsk are studied. The data show variations in paleoproductivity of this sea for the past 160000 years from the end of marine isotope stage (MIS) 6 until recently. A common pattern of the variation in paleoproductivity is established for the entire Sea of Okhotsk. During the interglacials (MIS 5e and 1), productivity increased, and in glacial periods, it decreased, probably due to the longer lasting marine ice cover throughout the year. The features of variations in productivity through time are recorded in the eastern part of the sea, which is more prone to the influence of inflowing Pacific waters.

Two main events determined the formation, geological history, magmatism, and geodynamics of the Jan Mayen microcontinent: (1) drift of this segment of the Laurasian plate over the Iceland plume in the Early Paleogene; (2) propagation of the rift zone of the mid-Atlantic Ridge into this region and separation of the Jan Mayen lithospheric block from northeastern Greenland. The lithosphere was reduced at the block boundary when it was separated. This process was accompanied by the formation of depressions intruded by magma of the Iceland plume, which resulted in the appearance of a new volcanic center with active volcanoes of the central type. They supplied pyroclastic material to the sedimentary cover of the expanding Norwegian‒Greenland Basin in the Eocene and Oligocene. The wedging of the Jan Mayen plate (microcontinent) into the triple junction of the plates (Greenland, Eurasian, Jan Mayen) promoted intense volcanism and the formation of two large volcanic complexes: (1) the Greenland‒Faroes and the (2) Trail‒Vøring. Recent volcanoes of the Jan Mayen hot spot are fed by magma from the Iceland plume as well as from relict and newly formed cambers in a zone of deep-seated Jan Mayen transform faults.

A new database of ocean wave parameters has been created based on satellite altimetry observations. The basis was data from the European Space Agency project GlobWave (www.globwave.org), which was transformed to suit upcoming requirements for global wave analysis. The new database contains additional wave characteristics (altimetry wind speed estimated using different parametric models, steepness, period, and some quality control parameters). It provides up-to-date tools for mass data preprocessing. The new database makes it possible to optimize wave field diagnostics on regional and global scales. Using the Envisat and Jason-1 satellite missions as an the example, we demonstrate the specific features of using the initial GlobalWave data set and the modified database.