scholarly journals DESIGN OF MAIN BREAKWATER AT SINES HARBOUR

1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dorrington Mettam

In March 1972 the author's firm in association with two Portuguese firms of consulting engineers, Consulmar and Lusotecna, were appointed by the Portuguese Government agency Gabinete da Area de Sines to prepare designs for the construction of a new harbour at Sines on the west coast of Portugal. The location is shown in Figure 1. The main breakwater, which is the subject of this paper, is probably the largest breakwater yet built, being 2 km long and in depths of water of up to 50 m. It is exposed to the North Atlantic and has been designed for a significant wave height of 11 m. Dolos units invented by Merrifield (ref. 1) form the main armour. The project programme required that studies be first made of a wide range of alternative layouts for the harbour. After the client had decided on the layout to be adopted, documents were to be prepared to enable tenders for construction to be invited in January 1973. This allowed little time for the design to be developed and only one series of flume tests, using regular waves, was completed during this period. Further tests in the regular flume were completed during the tender period and a thorough programme of testing with irregular waves was commenced later in the year, continuing until August 1974 when the root of the breakwater was complete and the construction of the main cross-section was about to start. The model tests, which were carried out at the Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil in Lisbon, were reported by Morals in a paper presented to the 14th International Coastal Engineering Conference in 1974. (ref. 2)

Author(s):  
R. S. Wimpenny

Consideration has been given to the cell diameters of twenty-four samples of Rhizosolenia styliformis var.oceanica from a wide range of latitude together with material from eleven other collections already briefly recorded in Part II of this paper.It was found that the cells of the smallest diameter occurred in high latitudesand that the average values were greater at lower latitudes.More auxospore generations were present simultaneously in higher latitudes. An interpretation of these observations is that the prevalence of smaller cell diameters and the simultaneous presence of more auxospore generations in high latitudes could be due to relatively lighter grazing by herbivorous zooplankton in these regions.Measurements of a few samples of a form of Rhizosolenia styliformis (Bright-well) which I called var. oceanica have been published earlier (Wimpenny, 1946), and auxospore formation was recorded from the Faroe-Shetland area. Since that time, owing to the kindness of the late Dr Vedel Taning, I have been able to see sixteen samples taken in the North Atlantic by the Danish research ship 'Dana' in1948. Mr J. Corlett of the Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft, has also been good enough to have made available to me three collections containing this variety from the Weather Ships 'Jig' and 'Item' in 1950 and two from the west ofBear Island in 1952. Finally, I have to add two samples of 33 and 50 specimens fromthe northern North Sea area made available to me many years ago by the late Miss Ogilvie and another sample from which I have been able to measure 100 specimens givenme by Dr James Fraser (E 34, 1934).


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Albenis Pérez-Alarcón ◽  
José C. Fernández-Alvarez ◽  
Rogert Sorí ◽  
Raquel Nieto ◽  
Luis Gimeno

The combined effect of the sea surface temperature (SST) and the North Atlantic subtropical high-pressure system (NASH) in the interannual variability of the genesis of tropical cyclones (TCs) and landfalling in the period 1980–2019 is explored in this study. The SST was extracted from the Centennial Time Scale dataset from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and TC records were obtained from the Atlantic Hurricane Database of the NOAA/National Hurricane Center. The genesis and landfalling regions were objectively clustered for this analysis. Seven regions of TC genesis and five for landfalling were identified. Intercluster differences were observed in the monthly frequency distribution and annual variability, both for genesis and landfalling. From the generalized least square multiple regression model, SST and NASH (intensity and position) covariates can explain 22.7% of the variance of the frequency of TC genesis, but it is only statistically significant (p < 0.1) for the NASH center latitude. The SST mostly modulates the frequency of TCs formed near the West African coast, and the NASH latitudinal variation affects those originated in the Lesser Antilles arc. For landfalling, both covariates explain 38.7% of the variance; however, significant differences are observed in the comparison between each region. With a statistical significance higher than 90%, SST and NASH explain 33.4% of the landfalling variability in the archipelago of the Bahamas and central–eastern region of Cuba. Besides, landfalls in the Gulf of Mexico and Central America seem to be modulated by SST. It was also found there was no statistically significant relationship between the frequency of genesis and landfalling with the NASH intensity. However, the NASH structure modulates the probability density of the TCs trajectory that make landfall once or several times in their lifetime. Thus, the NASH variability throughout a hurricane season affects the TCs trajectory in the North Atlantic basin. Moreover, we found that the landfalling frequency of TCs formed near the West Africa coast and the central North Atlantic is relatively low. Furthermore, the SST and NASH longitude center explains 31.6% (p < 0.05) of the variance of the landfalling intensity in the archipelago of the Bahamas, while the SST explains 26.4% (p < 0.05) in Central America. Furthermore, the 5-year moving average filter revealed decadal and multidecadal variability in both genesis and landfalling by region. Our findings confirm the complexity of the atmospheric processes involved in the TC genesis and landfalling.


Author(s):  
Julio Parapar ◽  
Juan MOREIRA ◽  
Ruth BARNICH

Ampharete oculicirrata sp. nov. (Annelida: Ampharetidae) is described from samples collected by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Marine Scotland Science, in the West Shetland Shelf NCMPA in the NE Atlantic. This species is characterised by a very small body size, thin and slender paleae, twelve thoracic and eleven abdominal uncinigers, presence of eyes both in the prostomium and the pygidium, the latter provided with a pair of long lateral cirri. The external micro-morphology of the new taxon was studied using scanning electron microscopy and compared with species described or reported from the North Atlantic. Two complementary keys to all species of Ampharete in the area are also provided.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 2351-2370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Arzel ◽  
Thierry Huck

AbstractAtmospheric stochastic forcing associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and intrinsic ocean modes associated with the large-scale baroclinic instability of the North Atlantic Current (NAC) are recognized as two strong paradigms for the existence of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). The degree to which each of these factors contribute to the low-frequency variability of the North Atlantic is the central question in this paper. This issue is addressed here using an ocean general circulation model run under a wide range of background conditions extending from a supercritical regime where the oceanic variability spontaneously develops in the absence of any atmospheric noise forcing to a damped regime where the variability requires some noise to appear. The answer to the question is captured by a single dimensionless number Γ measuring the ratio between the oceanic and atmospheric contributions, as inferred from the buoyancy variance budget of the western subpolar region. Using this diagnostic, about two-thirds of the sea surface temperature (SST) variance in the damped regime is shown to originate from atmospheric stochastic forcing whereas heat content is dominated by internal ocean dynamics. Stochastic wind stress forcing is shown to substantially increase the role played by damped ocean modes in the variability. The thermal structure of the variability is shown to differ fundamentally between the supercritical and damped regimes, with abrupt modifications around the transition between the two regimes. Ocean circulation changes are further shown to be unimportant for setting the pattern of SST variability in the damped regime but are fundamental for a preferred time scale to emerge.


Ocean Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 809-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien G. Desbruyères ◽  
Herlé Mercier ◽  
Guillaume Maze ◽  
Nathalie Daniault

Abstract. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) impacts ocean and atmosphere temperatures on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Here we use observational datasets to validate model-based inferences on the usefulness of thermodynamics theory in reconstructing AMOC variability at low frequency, and further build on this reconstruction to provide prediction of the near-future (2019–2022) North Atlantic state. An easily observed surface quantity – the rate of warm to cold transformation of water masses at high latitudes – is found to lead the observed AMOC at 45∘ N by 5–6 years and to drive its 1993–2010 decline and its ongoing recovery, with suggestive prediction of extreme intensities for the early 2020s. We further demonstrate that AMOC variability drove a bi-decadal warming-to-cooling reversal in the subpolar North Atlantic before triggering a recent return to warming conditions that should prevail at least until 2021. Overall, this mechanistic approach of AMOC variability and its impact on ocean temperature brings new key aspects for understanding and predicting climatic conditions in the North Atlantic and beyond.


2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Hearty

AbstractOver 100 whole-rock amino acid racemization (AAR) ratios from outcrops around Rottnest Island (32.0° S Latitude near Perth) indicate distinct pulses of eolian deposition during the late Quaternary. Whole-rock d-alloisoleucine/l-isoleucine (A/I) ratios from bioclastic carbonate deposits fall into three distinct modal classes or “aminozones.” The oldest, Aminozone E, averages 0.33 ± 0.04 (n = 21). Red palaeosol and thick calcrete generally cap the Aminozone E deposits. A younger Aminozone C averages 0.22 ± 0.03 (n = 63); comprising two submodes at 0.26 ± 0.01 (n = 14) and 0.21 ± 0.02 (n = 49). Multiple dune sets of this interval are interrupted by relatively weak, brown to tan “protosols.” A dense, dark brown rendzina palaeosol caps the Aminozone C succession. Ratios from Holocene dune and marine deposits (“Aminozone A”) center on 0.11 ± 0.02 (n = 15), comprising submodes of 0.13 ± 0.01 (9) and 0.09 ± 0.01 (6). Calibration of A/I averages from Aminozones E and A are provided by U/Th and 14C radiometric ages of 125,000 yr (marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5e and 2000–6000 14C yr B.P. (MIS 1), respectively. The whole-rock A/I results support periodic deposition initiated during MIS 5e, continuing through MIS 5c, and then peaking at the end of MIS 5a, about 70,000–80,000 yr ago. Oceanographic evidence indicates the area was subjected to much colder conditions during MIS 2–4 (10,000 to 70,000 yr ago), greatly slowing the epimerization rate. Eolianite deposition resumed in the mid Holocene (∼6000 yr ago) up to the present. The A/I epimerization pathway constructed from Rottnest Island shows remarkable similarity to that of Bermuda in the North Atlantic (32° N Latitude). These findings suggest that, like Bermuda, the eolian activity on Rottnest occurred primarily during or shortly after interglacial highstands when the shoreline was near the present datum, rather than during glacial lowstands when the coastline was positioned 10–20 km to the west.


2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 2611-2628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inga M. Koszalka ◽  
Thomas W. N. Haine ◽  
Marcello G. Magaldi

Abstract The Denmark Strait Overflow (DSO) supplies about one-third of the North Atlantic Deep Water and is critical to global thermohaline circulation. Knowledge of the pathways of DSO through the Irminger Basin and its transformation there is still incomplete, however. The authors deploy over 10 000 Lagrangian particles at the Denmark Strait in a high-resolution ocean model to study these issues. First, the particle trajectories show that the mean position and potential density of dense waters cascading over the Denmark Strait sill evolve consistently with hydrographic observations. These sill particles transit the Irminger Basin to the Spill Jet section (65.25°N) in 5–7 days and to the Angmagssalik section (63.5°N) in 2–3 weeks. Second, the dense water pathways on the continental shelf are consistent with observations and particles released on the shelf in the strait constitute a significant fraction of the dense water particles recorded at the Angmagssalik section within 60 days (~25%). Some particles circulate on the shelf for several weeks before they spill off the shelf break and join the overflow from the sill. Third, there are two places where the water density following particle trajectories decreases rapidly due to intense mixing: to the southwest of the sill and southwest of the Kangerdlugssuaq Trough on the continental slope. After transformation in these places, the overflow particles exhibit a wide range of densities.


Studies of dredged and drilled samples from the North Atlantic ocean have revealed that basalts with a wide range of major and trace element compositions have been generated at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (M.A.R.). Many of the basalts erupted between latitudes 30° and 70° N do not have the geochemical characteristics of normal mid-ocean ridge basalts (m.o.r.b.) depleted in the more-hygromagmatophile (hyg.) elements. Drilling along mantle flow lines transverse to the ridge has shown that different segments of the M.A.R. have produced basalts with a distinct compositional range for tens of millions of years. As more data have become available, the nature and scale of this variation have been established and tighter constraints can now be placed on the petrogenetic processes involved. The rare earth elements are used to test quantitatively the effects of open and closed system fractional crystallization, equilibrium partial melting (including continuous melting), zone refining and mantle mixing processes on basalt chemistry. When evaluated in terms of the more-hyg. elements, the results show that major heterogeneities must exist in the mantle sources feeding the M.A.R. Ratios of many of the more-hyg. elements remain consistent in space and time in basalts erupted at a particular ridge segment, but vary widely between different ridge segments. These ratios are not significantly modified by the processes of basalt generation. The hyg. element relations provide a major constraint on the nature of heterogeneity in the Earth’s mantle and the processes producing it. The mantle sources of anomalous ridge segments can be best explained in terms of variable veining of a hyg. element depleted host by a hyg. element enriched liquid or fluid generated by very small degrees of partial melting. Such incipient melting, as well as subduction zone processes, may be viable mechanisms for changing hyg. element ratios in the mantle source regions on the scale observed. These processes can be integrated into a model for mantle evolution which involves (1) upward migration of incipient melts to provide a hyg. element enriched source for alkali basalts and a hyg. element depleted source for normal m.o.r.b., and (2) extraction of continental crust and recycling of the depleted residue into the mantle at subduction zones. Also, some recycling of continental material into the mantle may be required to explain Pb isotope patterns.


The estimates of the thickness of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments found in the western Channel show that the deposition of these sediments was controlled by two independent processes. (1) In the longitudinal direction, the displacement of maximum sedimentation, from east to west is entirely dependent on the opening of the North Atlantic. (2) In a transverse direction, it is probable that the difference of subsidence between the two sides of the Aurigny—Ouessant fault originated from the fracturing of the original Atlantic rift in the Western Approaches. Transverse compressions and extensions have disturbed the continual depression of the Channel towards the west.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3425 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARC ELÉAUME ◽  
JENS-MICHAEL BOHN ◽  
MICHEL ROUX ◽  
NADIA AMÉZIANE

During the last decades, R/V Meteor and R/V Polarstern deep-sea investigations in the south Atlantic and neighbouringSouthern Ocean collected new samples of stalked crinoids belonging to the families Bathycrinidae, Phrynocrinidae andHyocrinidae which are herein described. The species found are Bathycrinus australis A.H. Clark, 1907b (the most abun-dant), Dumetocrinus aff. antarcticus (Bather, 1908), Hyocrinus bethellianus Thomson, 1876, Feracrinus heinzelleri newspecies, and Porphyrocrinus cf. incrassatus (Gislén, 1933). As only stalk fragments of bathycrinids were frequently col-lected, a distinction between the two Atlantic species B. australis and B. aldrichianus is proposed using characters of co-lumnal articulations. A few specimens attributed to Porphyrocrinus cf. incrassatus, Hyocrinus bethellianus and Hyocrinussp. collected by the N/O Jean Charcot on the Walvis Ridge are also described, plus a new specimen of Porphyrocrinusincrassatus collected in the central mid-Atlantic. Biogeography and close affinities between species in the genera Bathy-crinus and Porphyrocrinus suggest an Antarctic origin of some stalked crinoids among the north Atlantic deep-sea fauna.The presence of B. australis in both the Angola and Cape basins suggests that the Walvis Ridge is not a bio-geographicalbarrier for this relatively eurybathic species, which can attach to hard substrates as well as anchor in sediment. The genusDumetocrinus seems to be an example of colonization of the west Antarctic platform from deeper environment where its ancestor lived.


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