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Editor's Commentary: Gravitational Circulation In Straits And Estuaries, Kenneth H. Brink, Maurice Rattray Jr.
Editor's Commentary: Gravitational Circulation In Straits And Estuaries, Kenneth H. Brink, Maurice Rattray Jr.
Journal of Marine Research
For decades, people understood the rudiments of how idealized estuaries work: fresh water flows outward above saltier water that intrudes into the estuary. At the same time, mixing smooths out contrasts, so that the ultimate shallow outflow water is much saltier that the upstream riverine inflow had been. But, this vision is qualitative, so that it is hard to predict or diagnose flow structures or the outflow salinity. Hansen and Rattray provided a major step forward in an age before any sophisticated numerical models could deal simultaneously with the many competing effects...
Classic Article: Gravitational Circulation In Straits And Estuaries, Donald V. Hansen, Maurice Rattray Jr.
Classic Article: Gravitational Circulation In Straits And Estuaries, Donald V. Hansen, Maurice Rattray Jr.
Journal of Marine Research
A coupled set of partial differential equations and associated boundary conditions is written to describe circulation and salt-flux processes for estuaries in which turbulent mixing results primarily from tidal currents. Similarity solutions, motivated by characteristic salinity distributions observed in estuaries, are obtained for this set of equations and are compared with observational data. The circulation is separated into modes analogous to the barotropic, baroclinic, and Ekman modes of oceanic circulation. The salinity distribution, although coupled to the velocity distribution, is found to vary independently of it as well. The theoretical results are discussed in regard to: (i) correlation between the …
Editor's Commentary: A Bathythermograph, Kenneth H. Brink
Editor's Commentary: A Bathythermograph, Kenneth H. Brink
Journal of Marine Research
In this classic, Athelstan Spilhaus reports on his progress on a prototype of the mechanical bathythermograph, a project that C.-G. Rossby encouraged him to pursue. Although now most often seen in museums or on movie sets (they look a bit like rockets), bathythermographs were extremely influential from the later 1930s into the 1950s. These remarkable, durable instruments allowed continuous traces of temperature versus depth (previously measured as bottle temperatures at typically 50-m separations), and so opened up an entirely new vision of what ocean thermal structure actually looks like. Spilhaus further provides some actual data...
Classic Article: Control Of Salinity In An Estuary By A Transition, Henry Stommel, Harlow G. Farmer
Classic Article: Control Of Salinity In An Estuary By A Transition, Henry Stommel, Harlow G. Farmer
Journal of Marine Research
A theoretical reason is developed to explain why the mouth of a vertically stratified estuary should act as a constraint on the amount of salt water available for mixing in the estuary. Flume experiments designed to test this idea are described. The effect of tides on the control action and application to various estuaries is discussed.
Editor's Commentary: On Properties Of Seawater Defined By Temperature, Salinity, And Pressure, Kenneth H. Brink
Editor's Commentary: On Properties Of Seawater Defined By Temperature, Salinity, And Pressure, Kenneth H. Brink
Journal of Marine Research
A classical, and highly productive, approach to studying hydrographic data in the ocean is to use T–S (Temperature–Salinity) analysis. This is a convenient methodology that allows definition of water mass types and quantification of mixing. Information about temperature, salinity and pressure (depth) can further be used to calculate the water’s density...
Classic Article: A Bathythermograph, Athelstan F. Spilhaus
Classic Article: A Bathythermograph, Athelstan F. Spilhaus
Journal of Marine Research
In the study of the homogeneous layer in the ocean, Rossby and Montgomery (1935) found it desirable to have an instrument which would provide a continuous record of temperature against pressure in the surface layers of the ocean. A preliminary instrument named an “oceanograph” was constructed and used during the summer of 1934. The manifold uses to which such an instrument could be put presaged a widespread employment of the apparatus. This, however, did not come about because of certain inherent difficulties in Rossby’s design. The record was made on a large smoked foil, and thus entailed the attachment of …
Editor's Commentary: On The Process Of Upwelling, Kenneth H. Brink
Editor's Commentary: On The Process Of Upwelling, Kenneth H. Brink
Journal of Marine Research
Although Harald Sverdrup is now probably best known for his work on basin-scale ocean circulation, his interests were remarkably diverse, and included continental shelf processes. As a coastal oceanographer, I can’t resist highlighting this contribution to the coastal upwelling literature. A relatively simple data set is exploited here, consisting of cross-shelf sections taken near Point Conception, California...
Observations Of Nonlinear Momentum Fluxes Over The Inner Continental Shelf, Thomas P. Connolly, Steven J. Lentz
Observations Of Nonlinear Momentum Fluxes Over The Inner Continental Shelf, Thomas P. Connolly, Steven J. Lentz
Journal of Marine Research
Nonlinear momentum fluxes over the inner continental shelf are examined using moored observations from multiple years at two different locations in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Inner shelf dynamics are often described in terms of a linear alongshore momentum balance, dominated by frictional stresses generated at the surface and bottom. In this study, observations over the North Carolina inner shelf show that the divergence of the cross-shelf flux of alongshore momentum is often substantial relative to the wind stress during periods of strong stratification. During upwelling at this location, offshore fluxes of alongshore momentum in the surface layer partially balance the …
Classic Article: On The Process Of Upwelling, H. U. Sverdrup
Classic Article: On The Process Of Upwelling, H. U. Sverdrup
Journal of Marine Research
The phenomenon of upwelling which is present along many coasts has been discussed from various points of view. A general explanation of the phenomenon has been given by application of Ekman’s theory of wind driven currents (Thorade 1909; McEwen 1912), and emphasis has been put on the velocity of the vertical motion (McEwen 1934) or on the depth from which water is brought to the surface (Sverdrup 1930; Gunther 1936). Defant (1936) has discussed the horizontal and vertical motion and the distribution of density within the region of upwelling off the coast of southwest Africa, but his analysis is based …
Editor's Commentary: Control Of Salinity In An Estuary By A Transition, Kenneth H. Brink, Harlow G. Farmer
Editor's Commentary: Control Of Salinity In An Estuary By A Transition, Kenneth H. Brink, Harlow G. Farmer
Journal of Marine Research
In 1900, Martin Knudson (Knudson 1900; Burchard et al. 2018) considered the salt and volume fluxes for a steady-state estuary. He arrived at very useful relationships between the flux of fresh water coming in from upstream compared to the output salinity and volume flux. While these relations are fundamental and extremely useful, they do not close the problem. Rather, there is always one more piece of information needed; for example, to know the flux of brackish water onto the shelf, you still have to know the outflow salinity...
Classic Article: On Properties Of Seawater Defined By Temperature, Salinity, And Pressure, George Veronis
Classic Article: On Properties Of Seawater Defined By Temperature, Salinity, And Pressure, George Veronis
Journal of Marine Research
Hydrographic station data, consisting principally of temperature and salinity determinations, have been used by physical oceanographers to develop a climatological picture of the distribution of these quantities in the oceans of the world. Density as determined by Knudsen's formula, taken together with hydrostatic and geostrophic dynamics, also provides a crude picture of oceanic flow. However, the data probably contain substantially more information than has been derived from them in the past.The quantity that is orthogonal to potential-density curves in the θS plane is suggested as a useful variable to complement the information contained in potential density. The derivation of …
Upwelling Velocity And Ventilation In The Western South China Sea Deduced From Cfc-12 And Sf6 Observations, Weimin Wang, Peng Huang, Hengxiang Deng, Mian Chen, Minggang Cai, Zhiyou Jing, Shihao Luo, Xuehong Zheng, Chunhui Wang, Hongwei Ke
Upwelling Velocity And Ventilation In The Western South China Sea Deduced From Cfc-12 And Sf6 Observations, Weimin Wang, Peng Huang, Hengxiang Deng, Mian Chen, Minggang Cai, Zhiyou Jing, Shihao Luo, Xuehong Zheng, Chunhui Wang, Hongwei Ke
Journal of Marine Research
This study presents observations of the transient tracers CFC-12 and SF6 in the western South China Sea during the fall of 2015. A CFC-12 maximum was discovered in the western South China Sea at the subsurface layer (150–200 m), which could be traced back to the North Pacific Tropical Water. The transit time distribution approach was used to estimate the ventilation time in this area. The constrained Δ /Γ ratio of 0.5 was obtained using CFC-12/SF6 tracer pair. This ratio is lower than the empirical unit ratio of one as used for previous estimates. Waters in the northern …
Nitrogen Cycling In Muddy Sediments Of Great Peconic Bay, Usa: Seasonal N Reaction Balances And Multi-Year Flux Patterns, Stuart Waugh, Robert C. Aller
Nitrogen Cycling In Muddy Sediments Of Great Peconic Bay, Usa: Seasonal N Reaction Balances And Multi-Year Flux Patterns, Stuart Waugh, Robert C. Aller
Journal of Marine Research
To better understand the capacity of sediments to serve as both source and sink of nitrogen (N) and to identify any evidence of evolving changes in sedimentary N cycling, N2 production, N remineralization, and N2 fixation were studied over a multi-year period (2010–2015) in bioturbated mud of Great Peconic Bay, a temperate northeastern U. S. estuary. Benthic fluxes and rates of organic matter remineralization were measured using in situ and ex situ incubations. Net annual NH+ 4, NO–3/NO–2, and N2–N fluxes (μ = 1.1, 0.03, and 1.2 mmol m –2 …
Density And Size-Dependent Bioturbation Effects Of The Infaunal Polychaete Nephtys Incisa On Sediment Biogeochemistry And Solute Exchange, Emma Michaud, Robert C. Aller, Qingzhi Zhu, Christina Heilbrun, Georges Stora
Density And Size-Dependent Bioturbation Effects Of The Infaunal Polychaete Nephtys Incisa On Sediment Biogeochemistry And Solute Exchange, Emma Michaud, Robert C. Aller, Qingzhi Zhu, Christina Heilbrun, Georges Stora
Journal of Marine Research
The impact of bioturbation on the geochemistry of aquatic sediments is known to depend on the benthic infauna species that are present. However, burrowing and activity patterns of each species may also change during the different stages of a life cycle. In this study, we examined the effects of four size classes of the polychaete Nephtys incisa on burrow networks and sediment biogeochemistry. In our experimental aquaria, the total biovolume (~ biomass) of Nephtys was kept constant, but different age classes were introduced, so the size and abundance varied between treatments. Despite differences in the geometry of burrow networks (due …
Relation Between Variations In The Intensity Of The Zonal Circulation Of The Atmosphere And The Displacements Of The Semi-Permanent Centers Of Action, C.-G. Rossby
Journal of Marine Research
This paper attempts to interpret, from a single point of view, several at first sight independent phenomena brought into focus through the synoptic investigations carried on at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the last few years. Since this interpretation is very largely based on a consideration of the changes in vorticity which must occur in vertical air columns which are displaced from one latitude to another and since such vorticity changes play a fundamental role also in Ekman’s general ocean current theory (Ekman 1932), the results would appear to be of enough interest to physical oceanographers to warrrant their …
Editor's Commentary: On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, C.-G. Rossby
Editor's Commentary: On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, C.-G. Rossby
Journal of Marine Research
These are the original geostrophic adjustment papers. Rossby starts out by asking what,if anything, limits the ability for a flow to be in geostrophic balance (to precisely follow pressure contours on a rotating planet). This topic is now a classroom standard, but we often forget how insightful the original articles are...
On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, C.-G. Rossby
On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, C.-G. Rossby
Journal of Marine Research
The writer (Rossby 1936) recently advanced the hypothesis that the horizontal pressure gradients observed in the current systems of the atmosphere and the ocean to a large extent must be interpreted as reactions to the Coriolis’ forces impressed upon these systems by the rotation of the earth. Observational support for this point of view was found in the fact that both the temperature-salinity and oxygen-salinity correlation curves obtained from stations on both sides of the Gulf Stream in the region between Nova Scotia and Bermuda are very nearly identical, even though the individual isotherms may drop as much as 700 …
Editor's Commentary: Relation Between Variations In The Intensity Of The Zonal Circulation Of The Atmosphere And The Displacements Of The Semi Permanent Centers Of Action, C.-G. Rossby
Journal of Marine Research
Rossby waves! Beta-plane! Here Carl-Gustav Rossby, motivated by observations of weather patterns that move upstream relative to the dominant mid-latitude eastward wind flow, formulates a com-pletely novel linearized theory to account for the tendency for large-scale disturbances to move westward and smaller-scale disturbances to move eastward relative to the winds.
On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, Ii, C.-G. Rossby
On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, Ii, C.-G. Rossby
Journal of Marine Research
In a previous report (Rossby 1937) the author investigated certain changes in the mass distribution which accompany the slow lateral diffusion of momentum in a straight parallel current in an unlimited ocean of constant depth…
Editor's Commentary: On The Oxidation Of Organic Matter In Marine Sediments By Bacteria, Robert C. Aller, Margaret Hotchkiss
Editor's Commentary: On The Oxidation Of Organic Matter In Marine Sediments By Bacteria, Robert C. Aller, Margaret Hotchkiss
Journal of Marine Research
Selman Waksman is best known for his work on natural antibiotics, for which he originated the term and received a Nobel Prize. However, he and co-workers also extensively investigated soil microbes and their interactions with biogeochemical processes and elemental cycling...
Antioxidant Compounds From Marine Seaweeds And Their Mechanism Of Action, Trishna Debnath, Eun-Kyung Kim, Kwang-Geun Lee, Narayan Chandra Debnath, Ramkumar Mathur
Antioxidant Compounds From Marine Seaweeds And Their Mechanism Of Action, Trishna Debnath, Eun-Kyung Kim, Kwang-Geun Lee, Narayan Chandra Debnath, Ramkumar Mathur
Journal of Marine Research
Investigation of natural products has moved toward marine environments as they are a source of many biologically active agents. The natural antioxidant compounds isolated from seaweeds provide a valuable contribution to the innovation of new drugs for chronic diseases associated with oxidative stress. While the antioxidant activity and nutritional benefits of various seaweed products are well recognized, their proper utilization as antioxidants remains at initial stages that require further investigative studies. This review provides a detailed study of isolated antioxidant compounds from seaweeds and their major mechanism of action by focusing on the reports from 2015 to 2019. The report …
Classic Article: On The Oxidation Of Organic Matter In Marine Sediments By Bacteria, Selman A. Waksman, Margaret Hotchkiss
Classic Article: On The Oxidation Of Organic Matter In Marine Sediments By Bacteria, Selman A. Waksman, Margaret Hotchkiss
Journal of Marine Research
The question as to whether the organic matter in the sea bottom is inert or is available as a nutrient for the bottom fauna and bottom-inhabiting bacteria is a problem of special interest in the cycle of life in the sea. A number of marine animals, making up the benthos or the bottom fauna, must depend upon this organic matter for their nutrition while the sea bottom also harbors an extensive bacterial population which require the energy to be derived from various nutrient elements for cell synthesis and respiration...
Editor's Commentary: The Relationship Of Vertical Turbulence And Spring Diatom Flowerings, Peter Franks
Editor's Commentary: The Relationship Of Vertical Turbulence And Spring Diatom Flowerings, Peter Franks
Journal of Marine Research
The dynamics of spring blooms of phytoplankton in temperate waters are usually associated with H.U. Sverdrup’s 1953 “critical depth” model. However, more than a decade earlier, Gordon Riley published a statistical and mechanistic analysis of data he had gathered over two spring “flowerings” on Georges Bank...
Editor's Commentary: The Influence Of Deposit-Feeding Organisms On Sediment Stability And Community Trophic Structure, Robert C. Aller, David K. Young
Editor's Commentary: The Influence Of Deposit-Feeding Organisms On Sediment Stability And Community Trophic Structure, Robert C. Aller, David K. Young
Journal of Marine Research
This seminal paper by Donald Rhoads and David Young was a highly creative, interdisciplinary break from the standards of the time. It brought a new focus onto how benthic organisms modify sediment properties, potentially mediating interactions with other species, structuring community distributions, and governing coupling between sedimentary deposits and overlying waters...
Effects Of Hard Clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria) Density And Bottom Shear Stress On Cohesive Sediment Erodibility And Implications For Benthic-Pelagic Coupling, Elka T. Porter, Barbara J. Johnson, Lawrence P. Sanford
Effects Of Hard Clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria) Density And Bottom Shear Stress On Cohesive Sediment Erodibility And Implications For Benthic-Pelagic Coupling, Elka T. Porter, Barbara J. Johnson, Lawrence P. Sanford
Journal of Marine Research
The interacting effects of little neck hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) density and bottom shear stress on cohesive sediment erodibility were investigated. Short-term stepwise erosion experiments in 30 and 40 cm diameter Gust microcosms over a range of 0.0083 to 0.1932 Pa were performed using sequential 20-minute constant shear stress steps while sampling turbidity regularly. In addition, sediment erodibility was monitored in two one-month long ecosystem experiments with tidal resuspension and 0, 10, and 50 hard clams in 1 m3 shear turbulence resuspension mesocosms (STURM) with an initial stepwise erosion experiment (0.313 to 0.444 Pa). In short-term erosion …
Classic Article: Steady Flow In A Frictionless Homogenous Ocean, N. P. Fofonoff
Classic Article: Steady Flow In A Frictionless Homogenous Ocean, N. P. Fofonoff
Journal of Marine Research
A mathematical model is developed to study the free (frictionless) steady horizontal flow which can occur in a homogeneous ocean of constant depth. The flow satisfies the dynamic constraint that the vertical component of absolute vorticity is constant along a streamline. The conclusion is reached that in an enclosed ocean a free steady circulation cannot have any slow broad eastward currents. The eastward currents must occur as narrow streams of high velocity and high relative vorticity. Intensified currents are present along the eastern and western coasts. The theory which is developed for the homogeneous ocean of constant depth can be …
Editor's Commentary: Effect Of Coriolis Force On Edge Waves (I) Investigation Of The Normal Modes, Kenneth H. Brink
Editor's Commentary: Effect Of Coriolis Force On Edge Waves (I) Investigation Of The Normal Modes, Kenneth H. Brink
Journal of Marine Research
In the oceanographic literature, there are not too many publications so clearly ahead of their time as is this one. Reid starts out by asking about the effect of Earth’s rotation on edge waves. Edge waves are essentially long gravity waves found over the continental shelf and up onto the beach. They are topographically constrained to propagate strictly alongshore, but in either direction. By the mid-1950s, interest in this was growing as people realized that edge waves are more than a mathematical curiosity. Rotation was expected to be important for long, low frequency (periods of tens of minutes, out to …
Editor's Commentary: Steady Flow In A Frictionless Homogenous Ocean, Kenneth H. Brink
Editor's Commentary: Steady Flow In A Frictionless Homogenous Ocean, Kenneth H. Brink
Journal of Marine Research
Before the publication of this article, Stommel (1948) and Munk (1950) published their linear, frictional models of steady wind-driven ocean gyres. The innovative advance they introduced was that their models included western boundary currents (e.g., the Gulf Stream)for the first time. These were really exciting advances. Yet, these models had some dreamlike qualities (to paraphrase Stommel) in that the flow patterns were very smooth, that the intense current always hugged the western boundary, and that the eastward interior flow is broadly distributed across latitudes...
Classic Article: The Relationship Of Vertical Turbulence And Spring Diatom Flowerings, Gordon A. Riley
Classic Article: The Relationship Of Vertical Turbulence And Spring Diatom Flowerings, Gordon A. Riley
Journal of Marine Research
The causes underlying the initiation of the spring diatom flowering have been a subject of vigorous discussion in recent years. With the gradual accumulation of records it has become quite clear that no one factor controls this peculiar phenomenon. The obvious prerequisite, an abundant supply of nutrient salts in the euphotic zone, is generally satisfied during the autumn and early winter, yet a flowering does not in most cases follow immediately. In a few localities, such as Cape Cod Bay and Ipswich Bay (Bigelow 1926), the Woods Hole region (Fish 1925), and Long Island Sound (Riley 1941a), diatom bursts have …
Classic Article: Effect Of Coriolis Force On Edge Waves (I) Investigation Of The Normal Modes, Robert O. Reid
Classic Article: Effect Of Coriolis Force On Edge Waves (I) Investigation Of The Normal Modes, Robert O. Reid
Journal of Marine Research
Essentially two classes of free edge waves can exist on a sloping continental shelf in the presence of Coriolis force. For small longshore wave length, fundamental waves of the first class behave like Stokes edge waves. However, for great wave lengths (of several hundred kilometers or more) the characteristics of the first class are significantly altered. In the northern hemisphere the phase speed for waves moving to the right (facing shore from the sea) exceeds the speed for waves which move to the left. Also, the group velocity for a given edge wave mode has a finite upper limit. Waves …