Том 56, № 4 (2016)

Cascading of cold Antarctic shelf water (ASW) initiates compensatory isopycnic upwelling of the warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). The baroclinic/thermoclinic Antarctic slope front (ASF) is formed, and a mesoscale intrusive structure develops on the shelf edge and slope. Mesoscale processes when the ASF peaks are periodically accompanied by local baroclinic instability, which forms a smaller-scale intrusive structure. Therefore, the ASF is naturally subdivided into two layers according to the intrusion scales (vertical δН and horizontal L) and the horizontal parameters of the front (thermoclinity (T_L)_ρ and baroclinity γ_ρ). Analysis of ASF intrusive layering due to the baroclinic factor supports the following conclusion: the higher the (T_L)_ρ of the ASF, the greater the intrusion intensity |δθ| (temperature anomaly amplitude), while an increase in γ_ρ of the ASF leads to a decrease in intrusion scales δН and L. Frontal intrusions can be distinguished by a development degree. Regardless of the degree of development, all warm intrusions are characterized by vertical density stratification, while cold intrusions are characterized by density quasihomogeneity. According to field data, the ASF instability process is subdivided into four stages. When theASF is baroclinically unstable, the local baroclinic deformation radius Rd_L of the front is close in magnitude to the horizontal scale L of the intrusions that form, and their characteristic vertical scale δH is close to the typical vertical scale of front instability.

The nonhydrostatic boundary problem for an arbitrary three-dimensional domain with a seamount is considered. The problem is integrated into curvilinear boundary-fitted coordinates on a nonuniform grid. In order to identify nonhydrostatic effects the grid is condensed on the slopes of the seamount preserving a coarse resolution in the rest of the domain, where the problem is solved in the hydrostatic approximation. Calculation results for the nonhydrostatic tidal dynamics and hydrology of the Strait of Messina in the area of a seamount are presented.

Observed along-track data of sea surface height anomalies (SSHAs) over the Atlantic Ocean from the Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites were assimilated into the Hybrid-Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) with the Ensemble Optimal Interpolation scheme (EnOI). The impact of assimilation of SSHA with focus on oceanic dynamics was investigated. Time series of analyzed and forecasted values were compared with a model free run with the same forcing but without assimilation. In addition, the results were compared with an independent run, the so-called HYCOM + NCODA analysis from the US Navy. The study shows that the assimilation technique with some modifications allowed substantial improvement in the 24 h ocean prediction by reducing the forecast errors in comparison with the free run. It is also shown that the analyzed sea surface fields contain mesoscale and synoptic variability, which are poorly seen in the free run.

The paper analyzes the most popular models of photosynthesis and growth of marine phytoplankton in the literature and demonstrates their limitations. A new approach to modeling is proposed and used to obtain new models of marine phytoplankton photosynthesis and growth. An important feature of the proposed models is their ability to describe coupled multisubstrate cyclical interactions typical of biochemical and physiological processes. As a first approximation, the mathematical models are represented by equations of nonrectangular hyperbolas. The models describe the stoichiometry of extraction of elements from the medium, whatever the degree of their limitation, an important feature in describing biogeochemical cycles of elements. This stoichiometry is governed by measurable internal parameters of an organism (substrate parameters) and can be a key cause of stoichiometric formation of elements in the ambient medium, described, for example, by the Redfield ratio. The substrate constants are fundamental characteristics of the models, which form “automatically” in the construction of model equations in arbitrary units.

The qualitative and quantitative compositions of free-living marine nematodes were studied in Rifovaya Bay (Peter the Great Gulf, Sea of Japan). It was found that the density distribution of nematode populations in bottom sediments of Rifovaya Bay is nonuniform. In total, 72 nematode species were found, including Oncholaimium paraolium, Viscosia epapilosa, and Monoposthia latiannulata on all types of substrates. The dominant trophic group comprised “predators” (2B) and “scrapers” (2A). It was shown that the species composition of nematodes in Rifovaya Bay is very similar to the species composition of nematodes in the other areas of Peter the Great Gulf.

The behavior of the coastal system represented by Nyiskii Inlet (lagoon) and Plastun Spit is investigated by modeling morphodynamic processes. The observable advance of Plastun Spit and displacement of the Anuchin Strait are explained by changes in the alongshore sediment flux transporting material to the end of the spit from the south. It is shown that severe storms combined with a surge and tide tend to deepen the lagoon bottom. The model of a tidal inlet system is proposed to describe the evolution of tidal flats under conditions of a relative rise in sea level. It is concluded that the volume of tidal flats can be reduced several times in the next 100 years. This trend should accelerate erosion of the inlet coasts due to decreased dissipation of the energy received from the open sea.

A 2D variant of the inversion method for determining velocities within the Benioff zone of Kamchatka is developed with respect to the time of seismic wave travel from the foci group to Shipunskii station located in the region where the zone outcrops at the ocean bottom. The method is based on the idea of seismic tomography on the relationship between travel time discrepancies along the focus–station path and the value of seismic slowness, which is inverse to the velocity and corresponds to the gradient of the time field or the derivative of a hodograph with respect to the distance dt/dl. From this viewpoint, the field of discrepancies observed is the difference between the experimental and theoretical values of slowness. Its averaging with respect to depth and epicentral distance in 50 × 50 km rectangular windows and subsequent inversion make it possible to obtain a discrete velocity field using the GoldenSoftware Surfer program. Resmoothing with the same software leads to a variant of continuous velocity distribution = in the axial plane of the Benioff zone. The described procedure was used to calculate the velocities in this zone of the southern Kuril Islands and southern and central Kamchatka. The principal result in the latter case is identification of a sharp jump in the velocities of body waves in the upper mantle (up to 1.3 km/s for P-waves and up to 0.8 km/s for S-waves) beneath the Kronotskii Peninsula in the 7 years before the catastrophic Kronotskii earthquake that occurred in 1997 (M = 7.9) with an upthrow focal mechanism. This jump reflects the concentration of stresses in the epicentral zone of the earthquake. This result is important for medium-term forecasting of strong earthquakes.

The results of a test experiment comparing quasi-synchronous data of three adjacent acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) deployed on the shelf bottom of the Black Sea in September 2014 are considered. The direct aim of the experiment was quantitative comparison of data from different ADCPs placed in maximally similar conditions to simultaneously measure the sea current parameters at one geographic point. The goals and the scheme of the experiment, methods for processing the measurement results, main results, and their interpretations and analysis, including practical results and conclusions, are described.