Indicators of ocean health and human health: developing a research and monitoring framework

This is the final version of the article. Available from NIEHS via the DOI in this record.We need to critically assess the present quality of the marine ecosystem, especially the connection between ecosystem change and threats to human health. In this article we review the current state of indicators to link changes in marine organisms with eventual effects to human health, identify research opportunities in the use of indicators of ocean and human health, and discuss how to establish collaborations between national and international governmental and private sector groups. We present a synthesis of the present state of understanding of the connection between ocean health and human health, a discussion of areas where resources are required, and a discussion of critical research needs and a template for future work in this field. To understand fully the interactions between ocean health and human health, programs should be organized around a "models-based" approach focusing on critical themes and attributes of marine environmental and public health risks. Given the extent and complex nature of ocean and human health issues, a program networking across geographic and disciplinary boundaries is essential. The overall goal of this approach would be the early detection of potential marine-based contaminants, the protection of marine ecosystems, the prevention of associated human illness, and by implication, the development of products to enhance human well-being. The tight connection between research and monitoring is essential to develop such an indicator-based effort.This work was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO), and the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc. (contribution 1615)

Resonances in an evolving hole in the swash zone

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of American Society of Civil Engineers for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering 138 (2012): 299–302, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000136.Water oscillations observed in a 10-m diameter, 2-m deep hole excavated on the foreshore just above the low-tide line on an ocean beach are consistent with theory. When swashes first filled the initially circular hole on the rising tide, the dominant mode observed in the cross-shore velocity was consistent with a zero-order Bessel function solution (sloshing back and forth). As the tide rose and swash transported sediment, the hole diameter decreased, the water depth inside the hole remained approximately constant, and the frequency of the sloshing mode increased according to theory. About an hour after the swashes first reached the hole, it had evolved from a closed circle to a semi-circle, open to the ocean. When the hole was nearly semi-circular, the observed cross-shore velocity had two spectral peaks, one associated with the sloshing of a closed circle, the other associated with a quarter-wavelength mode in an open semi-circle, both consistent with theory. As the hole evolved further toward a fully semi-circular shape, the circular sloshing mode decreased, while the quarter-wavelength mode became dominant.The Office of Naval Research, a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Career award, and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship provided support

Modelling sub-surface dynamics in the Black Sea

Dependency of major hydrophysical/chemical features of highly stratified basins on density surfaces in the vertical makes isopycnic models an attractive tool for simulating the dynamics of marginal marine environments such as the Black Sea because of the ability of these models to restrict vertical transport to some desirable degree. In the present work the seasonal variations of the subsurface dynamics of the Black Sea are investigated using an isopycnic model. Particular attention is given to the interfaces of the Cold inter-mediate layer and Suboxic layer and finally, the deep layer circulation in the basin is studied. It appears that although the depth range of the base of the Cold intermediate layer and the lower Soboxic layer interface do not change seasonally, their horizontal distribution is defined by the upper layer dynamics of the basin. Cyclonic surface circulation diminishes with increasing depth and the deep layer circulation is characterised by an anti-cyclonic rim current driven by density gradients created from river runoff and the influx of Mediterranean water. (C) 2002 Ifremer/CNRS/IRD/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.La liaison entre les facteurs hydrologiques et chimiques et les densités de surface dans les mers stratifiées rend attractive lˈutilisation de modèles isopycnaux pour simuler la dynamique de mers comme la mer Noire. Ce modèle réduit en effet le transport vertical à un niveau acceptable. Les variations saisonnières de la dynamique de sub-surface de la Mer Noire ont été simulées en se servant dˈun modèle isopycne. Une attention particulière a été portée aux interfaces entre la couche intermédiaire froide et la couche faiblement oxygénée. Finalement, la circulation profonde du bassin est étudiée. Alors que le niveau dˈimmersion de la base intermédiaire et de lˈinterface inférieure de la couche sous- oxygénée ne présentent pas de fluctuations saisonnières, leur répartition horizontale dépend de la dynamique de la couche de surface. La circulation cyclonique superficielle diminue quand la profondeur augmente et la circulation profonde est caractérisée par un courant annulaire anticyclonique entraîné par le gradient de densité crée par lˈapport dˈeau douce et lˈentrée d’eau méditerranéenne

Co-operation across former boundaries: The Black Sea marine project

A co-operative regional marine research programme carried out among countries with economies in transition is discussed. The region is the Black Sea and the co-operation involves the top marine institutions of the riparian states (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey). Institutions from other regions of the globe, notably from the U.S., also participate in this international effort. The project's purpose reflects a regionally binding socio-economic issue of significant global scientific interest: The improvement of the health of the Black Sea through ecosystem models, capacity building, and fostering an interactive scientific community. Difficulties encountered and the remedies developed are discussed

Oceanography of the Black Sea: a review of some recent results

A new synthesis of the Black Sea oceanography is presented, primarily based on studies carried out in the southern Black Sea, as well as on some recent work covering the entire basin, obtained in a new era of increasing cooperation between the riparian countries. A review of the physical environment is given. Seasonal and interannual climatic variability of the system are discussed in relation to its hydrology. Water mass variability and formation are studied, with emphasis on the inflow of Mediterranean waters, pycnocline variability, shelf and internal mixing, and double diffusive convection. The general circulation of the basin, and the roles of stratification, topography and coastline variations in determining the behaviour of the rapid, unstable boundary currents and upwelling along the coast are discussed, based on hydrographic data and satellite observations. Impacts of the physical processes on the ecosystem are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V

THE EVOLUTION OF MEDITERRANEAN WATER IN THE BLACK-SEA - INTERIOR MIXING AND MATERIAL TRANSPORT BY DOUBLE-DIFFUSIVE INTRUSIONS

After its entry into the Black Sea from the Bosphorus Strait, Mediterranean Water first evolves by mixing with the Cold Intermediate Water on the shelf region, and later sinks along the continental slope, reaching the halocline in the form of cold anomalies. The intrusion of the modified waters drives a series of intermediate depth nepheloid layers spreading from the southwestern margin into the interior of the Black Sea basin. In many cases, the temperature, salinity, suspended matter and other properties of the intruding layers in the interior can be traced back to the southwest shelf region. The opposing effects of the existing temperature and salinity gradients on the stability of the interior density stratification, and the anomalous temperature and salinity of the intrusions themselves, result in a unique mechanism of double diffusive convection at intermediate depth

SIMULTANEOUS DEEP AND INTERMEDIATE DEPTH CONVECTION IN THE NORTHERN LEVANTINE SEA, WINTER 1992

The northern Levantine Sea is the primary source region for the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) in the Mediterranean Sea. The Deep Water (DW) of the Eastern Mediterranean mainly originates in the Adriatic basin, but local contributions from the Levantine Sea have also been suspected in the past. Observations in the northern Levantine Sea during March 1992 shed new light on the above processes, showing simultaneous formation of DW in the cyclonic Rhodes Gyre (Rhodes Gyre) area, and of LIW in the adjacent regions. The deep convection region coincides with the permanent dome structure of the Rhodes Gyre, where overturning of the water is generated by cooling during sufficiently severe winters. The LIW is produced in a much larger area of the northern Levantine Sea than previously thought, by direct surface cooling and mixing of the near-surface stratified waters

THE UPPER LAYER CIRCULATION OF THE BLACK-SEA - ITS VARIABILITY AS INFERRED FROM HYDROGRAPHIC AND SATELLITE-OBSERVATIONS

Quasi-synoptic hydrographic data and satellite imagery are used to describe the circulation and the structural variability of the Black Sea with particular emphasis on the Turkish coast. The circulation is indicated to involve a variable cyclonic circulation with no apparent central locus and a well-defined cyclonic "Rim Current" containing meanders and interacting eddy fields confined to the shelf slope. Interspersed between the coastal eddies are filaments and intense jets, often with dipole eddies at their termina. The extension of these features across the shelf-slope into the central basin offshore waters implies important dynamical processes related to the shelf-deep basin exchanges. These features are often steered by the topography and evolve continuously through the mixed baroclinic-barotropic instability of the Rim Current