Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms

Today's surface ocean is saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, but increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are reducing ocean pH and carbonate ion concentrations, and thus the level of calcium carbonate saturation. Experimental evidence suggests that if these trends continue, key marine organisms--such as corals and some plankton--will have difficulty maintaining their external calcium carbonate skeletons. Here we use 13 models of the ocean-carbon cycle to assess calcium carbonate saturation under the IS92a 'business-as-usual' scenario for future emissions of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. In our projections, Southern Ocean surface waters will begin to become undersaturated with respect to aragonite, a metastable form of calcium carbonate, by the year 2050. By 2100, this undersaturation could extend throughout the entire Southern Ocean and into the subarctic Pacific Ocean. When live pteropods were exposed to our predicted level of undersaturation during a two-day shipboard experiment, their aragonite shells showed notable dissolution. Our findings indicate that conditions detrimental to high-latitude ecosystems could develop within decades, not centuries as suggested previously.     

气候变暖对渭北旱塬降水量的影响

利用1955－1997年陕西渭北旱塬地区5个县,市的年平均气温,年降水量和季平均气温,季降水量资料,对近43年来陕西 北地区降水量与气温间的相关性进行了分析研究,结果表明,本区全年,夏季,春季降水量与全年及夏季,春季的平均气温之间有极显著的相关性,温度越高,降水量越少,二者之间的关系可以用二次多项式回归方程量化表示,冬季降水量与冬季平均气温之间有显著相关性,降水随温度升高呈指数式减少。     

影响海洋生物多样性因素的研究进展

海洋生物多样性在近几十年来呈现不断变化的迹象,这是多重因素共同作用的结果,其中气候变化和内分泌干扰物被认为是目前最主要的两个对海洋生物多样性和海洋生态系统产生影响的威胁.本文针对近年来国内外对影响海洋生物多样性因素的研究情况,分别从环境污染、气候变化、物种入侵、过度开发和栖息地退化等几个方面进行了探讨,并对内分泌干扰物对海洋生物的影响进行了分析.     

The influence of rivers on marine boron isotopes and implications for reconstructing past ocean pH

Ocean pH is particularly sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide content. Records of ocean pH can therefore be used to estimate past atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The isotopic composition of boron (delta11B) contained in the carbonate shells of marine organisms varies according to pH, from which ocean pH can be reconstructed. This requires independent estimates of the delta11B of dissolved boron in sea water through time. The marine delta11B budget, however, is still largely unconstrained. Here we show that, by incorporating the global flux of riverine boron (as estimated from delta11B measurements in 22 of the world's main rivers), the marine boron isotope budget can be balanced. We also derive ocean delta11B budgets for the past 120 Myr. Estimated isotope compositions of boron in sea water show a remarkable consistency with records of delta11B in foraminiferal carbonates, suggesting that foraminifera delta11B records may in part reflect changes in the marine boron isotope budget rather than changes in ocean pH over the Cenozoic era.     

Tracking apex marine predator movements in a dynamic ocean

Pelagic marine predators face unprecedented challenges and uncertain futures. Overexploitation and climate variability impact the abundance and distribution of top predators in ocean ecosystems. Improved understanding of ecological patterns, evolutionary constraints and ecosystem function is critical for preventing extinctions, loss of biodiversity and disruption of ecosystem services. Recent advances in electronic tagging techniques have provided the capacity to observe the movements and long-distance migrations of animals in relation to ocean processes across a range of ecological scales. Tagging of Pacific Predators, a field programme of the Census of Marine Life, deployed 4,306 tags on 23 species in the North Pacific Ocean, resulting in a tracking data set of unprecedented scale and species diversity that covers 265,386 tracking days from 2000 to 2009. Here we report migration pathways, link ocean features to multispecies hotspots and illustrate niche partitioning within and among congener guilds. Our results indicate that the California Current large marine ecosystem and the North Pacific transition zone attract and retain a diverse assemblage of marine vertebrates. Within the California Current large marine ecosystem, several predator guilds seasonally undertake north-south migrations that may be driven by oceanic processes, species-specific thermal tolerances and shifts in prey distributions. We identify critical habitats across multinational boundaries and show that top predators exploit their environment in predictable ways, providing the foundation for spatial management of large marine ecosystems.     

Significant decadal-scale impact of volcanic eruptions on sea level and ocean heat content

Ocean thermal expansion contributes significantly to sea-level variability and rise. However, observed decadal variability in ocean heat content and sea level has not been reproduced well in climate models. Aerosols injected into the stratosphere during volcanic eruptions scatter incoming solar radiation, and cause a rapid cooling of the atmosphere and a reduction in rainfall, as well as other changes in the climate system. Here we use observations of ocean heat content and a set of climate simulations to show that large volcanic eruptions result in rapid reductions in ocean heat content and global mean sea level. For the Mt Pinatubo eruption, we estimate a reduction in ocean heat content of about 3 x 10(22) J and a global sea-level fall of about 5 mm. Over the three years following such an eruption, we estimate a decrease in evaporation of up to 0.1 mm d(-1), comparable to observed changes in mean land precipitation. The recovery of sea level following the Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991 explains about half of the difference between the long-term rate of sea-level rise of 1.8 mm yr(-1) (for 1950-2000), and the higher rate estimated for the more recent period where satellite altimeter data are available (1993-2000).     

海洋强国建设背景下加快海洋能开发利用的思考

 分析了中国海洋可再生能源开发利用在资源、政策、技术、经费支持、从业规模等方面的现状和取得的成绩;提出了在海洋强国建设背景下,中国海洋可再生能源开发利用作为战略性新兴产业面临的机遇与挑战;总结了发展海洋可再生能源产业急需解决的激励政策和产业引导、稳定发电的技术、公共服务平台建设三方面问题。     

The global warming debate

Nowadays, global warming and the anthropogenic impact on the climate is one of the hottest topics of scientific re-search and world media interest. Concerns about this issue culminated with the Copenhagen Conference on December 7–18, 2009......     

E690海洋平台用钢力学性能和海洋大气腐蚀行为

以传统的E36海洋平台钢为对比钢,研究三种E690海洋平台钢的组织和力学性能,以及模拟海洋大气环境下的腐蚀行为.通过失重法测得实验钢在不同腐蚀时间下的腐蚀速率,利用扫描电镜和X射线衍射仪观察并测定了锈层的形貌特征和相组成,采用电子背散射衍射技术对实验钢的晶界类型进行分析.结果表明:以贝氏体组织为特征的E690海洋平台钢具有优异的力学性能,-40℃的冲击值超过了200J;晶界类型主要为3°～15°的亚晶界和大于50°的大角度晶界;E690海洋平台钢周浸16 d后的锈层致密且腐蚀速率已趋于稳定,最低腐蚀速率为0.84 mm.a-1,远低于组织为铁素体+珠光体钢的1.4 mm.a-1,实验钢的锈层主要由Fe3O4、α-FeOOH、β-FeOOH及γ-FeOOH四种晶态相和非晶无定形物组成.通过分析得出,热处理工艺和组织构成对材料的初期腐蚀行为有重要影响,而化学成分和锈层自身的致密性对材料后期腐蚀行为起决定作用.     

填海作用对海积软土的渗透性影响试验研究

以钦州港临海园区和防城港企沙工业园区填海场地海积软土为研究对象,采用机制模拟装置(一种土的浸泡荷载联动装置)模拟了海积软土赋存环境要素:填海层附加荷载应力和孔隙水化学组分离子浓度发生变化的情况;并成功地获得了人工土样。对人工土样的渗透特性及其孔隙比进行了测试研究,分析了填海层附加荷载应力和孔隙水化学组分离子浓度发生变化对人工软土样的渗透性的影响。研究表明:人工土样的e-lgk曲线近似呈直线关系;人工土样的孔隙比e和渗透系数k,随填海层附加荷载应力和孔隙水化学组分离子浓度变化而变化;填海层附加荷载应力与孔隙水化学组分两要素对人工土样的孔隙比e和渗透系数k的影响存在相互影响、相互耦合的效应。