The Structure of the Shear Layer in Flows over Rigid and Flexible Canopies

Flume experiments were conducted with rigid and flexible model vegetation to study the structure of coherent vortices (a manifestation of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability) and vertical transport in shallow vegetated shear flows. The vortex street in a vegetated shear layer creates a pronounced oscillation in the velocity profile, with the velocity near the top of a model canopy varying by a factor of three during vortex passage. In turn, this velocity oscillation drives the coherent waving of flexible canopies. Relative to flows over rigid vegetation, the oscillation in canopy geometry has the effect of decreasing the amount of turbulent vertical momentum transport in the shear layer. Using a waving plant to determine phase in the vortex cycle, each vortex is shown to consist of a strong sweep at its front (during which the canopy is most deflected), followed by a weak ejection at its rear (when the canopy height is at a maximum). Whereas in unobstructed mixing layers the vortices span the entire layer, they encompass only 70% of the flexibly obstructed shear layer studied here.     

Using surface drifter observations to measure tidal vortices and relative diffusion at Aransas Pass,Texas

Tidal vortices play an important role in the flushing of coastal regions. At the mouth of a tidal inlet, the input of circulation by the ebb tide may force the formation of a starting-jet dipole vortex. The continuous ebb jet current also creates a periodic sequence of secondary vortices shed from the inlet mouth. In each case, these tidal vortices have a shallow aspect ratio, with a lateral extent much greater than the water depth. These shallow vortices affect the transport of passive tracers, such as nutrients and sediment from the estuary to the ocean and vice versa. Field observation of tidal vortices primarily relies on ensemble averaging over several vortex events that are repeatable in space and can be sampled by a fixed Eulerian measurement grid. This paper presents an adaptive approach for locating and measuring within tidal vortices that propagate offshore near inlets and advect along variable trajectories set by the wind-driven currents. A field experiment was conducted at Aransas Pass, Texas to measure these large-scale vortices. Locations of the vortices produced during ebb tide were determined using near real-time updates from surface drifters deployed near or within the inlet during ebb tide, and the paths of towed acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) transects were selected by analysis of the drifter observations. This method allowed ADCP transects to be collected within ebb generated tidal vortices, and the paths of the drifters indicated the presence of both the starting-jet dipole and the secondary vortices of the unstable ebb tidal jet. Drifter trajectories were also used to estimate the size of each observed vortex as well as the statistics of relative diffusion offshore of Aransas Pass. The field data confirmed the starting-jet spin-up time (time until the vortex dipole begins to propagate offshore) measured in the laboratory by Bryant et al. [6] and that the Strouhal condition of \(St=0.2\) predicts the shedding of secondary vortices from the inlet mouth. The size of the rotational core of the vortex is also shown to be approximated physically by the inlet width or by \(0.02UT\) , where U is the maximum velocity through the inlet channel and T is the tidal period, and confirms results found in laboratory experiments by Nicolau del Roure et al. [23]. Additionally, the scale of diffusion was approximately 1–15 km and the apparent diffusivity was between 2–130  \(m^2/s\) following Richardsons law.     

Formation of tidal starting-jet vortices through idealized barotropic inlets with finite length

This paper presents a surface particle image velocimetry study to investigate the dynamics of shallow starting-jet dipoles formed by tidal flow through inlets and their interaction with vorticity formed at the inlet channel lateral boundaries. Vortical structure in the flow field is identified using a local swirl strength criterion evaluated from the two-dimensional flow field. The starting jet dipole vortices and vortices formed as the lateral boundary layers are expelled during flow reversal are characterized by their trajectory, size, and circulation. Using these quantities, a model is developed to predict the size and strength of the expelled lateral boundary layer vortices based on the inlet velocity, channel length, and width of the lateral boundary layer. The expelled boundary layer vortices are found to disrupt the formation of the primary tidal jet dipole through two mechanisms. First, because the boundary layer vortices themselves form a dipole with each half of the starting-jet dipole, the starting-jet vortices are pulled apart and advected away from the inlet mouth early in the tidal cycle, resulting in a reduction in the spin-up time and the amount of vorticity input during starting-jet vortex formation. Second, the advection of each dipole away from the inlet disconnects each starting-jet vortex from the starting jet; hence, the vortices are not fed by fluid in the jet or energized by shear in the jet boundary layers. These influences of the lateral boundary layer on the starting-jet vortices’ formation and propagation are found to be a function of the channel length L, maximum velocity U, and tidal period T, resulting in a predictive value to characterize their trajectory, strength, and evolution.     

A statistical test to detect vortices in the current fields of bodies of water

Vortices could play an important role in the occurrence of certain biological phenomena, such as the massive proliferation of harmful algae in bodies of water. Many measures exist to detect vortices in fluids, but little is known about the stochastic behavior of these quantities with data that contain statistical noise. Consequently they do not provide control over the probability of false positives and give little information about the risk of false negatives. Obtaining such control requires a statistical testing procedure. In this paper, we develop a test for vortices in random current fields using only the directions of the current observed at points on a regular grid. We construct a change-point test for spatially ordered angular data to detect the presence of a local vortex. A global vortex detection procedure based on this test is developed and applied to a data set from a lagoon located in the south of France. It is shown that this procedure can detect the presence of multiple vortices with good accuracy.     

Turbulent secondary flows in wall turbulence: vortex forcing,scaling arguments,and similarity solution

Spanwise surface heterogeneity beneath high-Reynolds number, fully-rough wall turbulence is known to induce a mean secondary flow in the form of counter-rotating streamwise vortices—this arrangement is prevalent, for example, in open-channel flows relevant to hydraulic engineering. These counter-rotating vortices flank regions of predominant excess(deficit) in mean streamwise velocity and downwelling(upwelling) in mean vertical velocity. The secondary flows have been definitively attributed to the lower surface conditions, and are now known to be a manifestation of Prandtl’s secondary flow of the second kind—driven and sustained by spatial heterogeneity of components of the turbulent (Reynolds averaged) stress tensor (Anderson et al. J Fluid Mech 768:316–347, 2015). The spacing between adjacent surface heterogeneities serves as a control on the spatial extent of the counter-rotating cells, while their intensity is controlled by the spanwise gradient in imposed drag (where larger gradients associated with more dramatic transitions in roughness induce stronger cells). In this work, we have performed an order of magnitude analysis of the mean (Reynolds averaged) transport equation for streamwise vorticity, which has revealed the scaling dependence of streamwise circulation intensity upon characteristics of the problem. The scaling arguments are supported by a recent numerical parametric study on the effect of spacing. Then, we demonstrate that mean streamwise velocity can be predicted a priori via a similarity solution to the mean streamwise vorticity transport equation. A vortex forcing term has been used to represent the effects of spanwise topographic heterogeneity within the flow. Efficacy of the vortex forcing term was established with a series of large-eddy simulation cases wherein vortex forcing model parameters were altered to capture different values of spanwise spacing, all of which demonstrate that the model can impose the effects of spanwise topographic heterogeneity (absent the need to actually model roughness elements); these results also justify use of the vortex forcing model in the similarity solution.     

Interaction of North Brazil Current rings with the Lesser Antilles Arc and Barbados Island: laboratory experiments and observations

The interaction of North Brazil Current (NBC) rings with the Lesser Antilles Arc (LAA) and the Barbados Island (BI) is addressed by experimental modeling and observations. Our results compare well with previous experimental results and numerical simulations. Several sizes, intensities and two different vorticity profiles (non-isolated and initially isolated vortices) were tested. Three regimes were found namely: (1) the vortex surrounds the BI and its translational motion (TM) stops North of BI; (2) the vortex passes through the corridor between the LAA and the BI by reducing its size; and (3) The vortex stopped at the entrance to the corridor South of the BI. Isolated vortices were prone to stopped North of the BI. Apparently the intensity in the outer vorticity ring has an influence on the fate of the NBC ring. Non-isolated vortices can also stop its TM North of the BI because when in \(\beta\) plane they develop an outer ring similar to the isolated vortices. From these results we conclude that intense and big NBC rings are likely to stop its TM North of the BI. Medium and moderate vortices stops its TM South of the BI and they reduce their size until they are able to pass through the corridor between the LAA and the BI. Mild vortices of all sizes stop South of the corridor, close to the BI and the LAA. Drifter trajectories and Sea Surface Height altimetry confirm the results.     

Determination of the optimum MM5 configuration for long term CMAQ simulations of aerosol bound pollutants in Europe

Realistic meteorological fields are a prerequisite for the determination of pollutant concentrations and depositions by means of a chemistry transport model. Different configurations of the 5th generation NCAR/Penn State University mesoscale meteorological model MM5 were tested to determine the optimum set up for long term hindcasts that cover several months up to years. Four dimensional data assimilation (FDDA) significantly enhances the spatio temporal representation of temperature, humidity and wind. Best agreement with radiosonde observations could be achieved when temperature, humidity and wind were grid nudged every 6 h. The quality of the resulting meteorological fields showed no significant systematic temporal or spatial variation over Europe in a model run of the year 2000. It was found that the hydrological cycle was not correctly reproduced by the model when no nudging was applied. The relevant model run showed too high relative humidity and too high rainfall when compared to observations. This led to considerably lower aerosol concentrations close to ground and a shift in the deposition patterns of particle bound pollutants like the carcinogenic benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P). Guest Editor: Dr. S. T. Rao.     

Microscale genetic differentiation in a sessile invertebrate with cloned larvae: investigating the role of polyembryony

Microscale genetic differentiation of sessile organisms can arise from restricted dispersal of sexual propagules, leading to isolation by distance, or from localised cloning. Cyclostome bryozoans offer a possible combination of both: the localised transfer of spermatozoa between mates with limited dispersal of the resulting larvae, in association with the splitting of each sexually produced embryo into many clonal copies (polyembryony). We spatially sampled 157 colonies of Crisia denticulata from subtidal rock overhangs from one shore in Devon, England at a geographic scale of ca. 0.05 to 130 m plus a further 21 colonies from Pembrokeshire, Wales as an outgroup. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that the majority (67%) of genetic variation was distributed among individuals within single rock overhangs, with only 16% of variation among different overhangs within each shore and 17% of variation between the ingroup and outgroup shores. Despite local genetic variation, pairwise genetic similarity analysed by spatial autocorrelation was greatest at the smallest inter-individual distance we tested (5 cm) and remained significant and positive across generally within-overhang comparisons (<4 m). Spatial autocorrelation and AMOVA analyses both indicated that patches of C. denticulata located on different rock overhangs tended to be genetically distinct, with the switch from positive to negative autocorrelation, which is often considered to be the distance within which individuals reproduce with their close relatives or the radius of a patch, occurring at the 4–8 m distance class. Rerunning analyses with twenty data sets that only included one individual of each multilocus genotype (n = 97) or the single data set that contained just the unique genotypes (n = 67) revealed that the presence of repeat genotypes had an impact on genetic structuring (PhiPT values were reduced when shared genotypes were removed from the dataset) but that it was not great and only statistically evident at distances between individuals of 1–2 m. Comparisons to a further 20 randomisations of the data set that were performed irrespective of genotype (n = 97) suggested that this conclusion is not an artefact of reduced sample size. A resampling procedure using kinship coefficients, implemented by the software package GENCLONE gave broadly similar results but the greater statistical power allowed small but significant impacts of repeat genotypes on genetic structure to be also detected at 0.125–0.5 and 4–16 m. Although we predict that a proportion of the repeat multilocus genotypes are shared by chance, such generally within-overhang distances may represent a common distance of cloned larval dispersal. These results suggests that closely situated potential mates include a significant proportion of the available genetic diversity within a population, making it unlikely that, as previously hypothesised, the potential disadvantage of producing clonal broods through polyembryony is offset by genetic uniformity within the mating neighbourhood. We also report an error in the published primer note of Craig et al. (Mol Ecol Notes 1:281–282, 2001): loci Cd5 and Cd6 appear to be the same microsatellite. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Simulation of Jeddah multi-port sea outfall

Jeddah wastewater multi-port outfall was analyzed using CORMIX2 for average ambient conditions. The numerical analysis of the outfall shows that the near-field mixing extends 187.5 m downstream of the diffuser and the dilution at the end of near-field reaches 1,047.8. The concentration of the plume drops sharply from 100 at the exit point to 0.0954 at the end of near-field zone. In the far-field zone the reduction in concentration is gradual and will reach 0.0061 at a distance of 20,000 m downstream of the diffuser, while dilution exceeds 16,440 at this point. The plume rises rapidly due to the buoyancy and touches the water surface at a distance of 187.5 m downstream. The thickness of the plume reaches a maximum value of 37.5 m at the interface of near-field and far-Field zones, and then it starts spreading horizontally maintaining a thickness of about 13 m over a distance of about 4 km. As the plume mixes with ambient sea water, it starts spreading again in vertical direction and fills the entire water depth at a distance of 18,927 m down stream. The plume maintains nearly a constant width in the near-field zone but spreads progressively horizontally in the far-field zone till the plume touches the left bank at a distance of 18,482.52 m downstream. The plume spreads at a distance of 2,069 m from the coastline at the end of simulation zone. It can be concluded from numerical results that if the discharged water meets local and international standards for treated wastewater, the plume will not pose any threats to the local venerable environment as the dilution is considerably high due to high exit momentum and favorable cross current.     

Vortex formation and foraging in polyphenic spadefoot toad tadpoles

Animal aggregations are widespread in nature and can exhibit complex emergent properties not found at an individual level. We investigate one such example here, collective vortex formation by congeneric spadefoot toad tadpoles: Spea bombifrons and Spea multiplicata. Tadpoles of these species develop into either an omnivorous or a carnivorous (cannibalistic) morph depending on diet. Previous studies show that S. multiplicata are more likely to develop into omnivores and feed on suspended organic matter in the water body. The omnivorous morph is frequently social, forming aggregates that move and forage together and form vortices in which they adopt a distinctive slowly rotating circular formation. This behaviour has been speculated to act as a means to agitate the substratum in ponds and thus could be a collective foraging strategy. Here we perform a quantitative investigation of the behaviour of tadpoles within aggregates. We found that only S. multiplicata groups exhibited vortex formation, suggesting that social interactions differ between species. The probability of collectively forming a vortex, in response to introduced food particles, increased for higher tadpole densities and when tadpoles were hungry. Individuals inside a vortex moved faster and exhibited higher (by approximately 27%) tailbeat frequencies than those outside the vortex, thus incurring a personal energetic cost. The resulting environmental modification, however, suggests that vortex behaviour may be an adaptation to actively create and exploit a resource patch within the environment.     

Mass Transport in Vegetated Shear Flows

Submerged aquatic vegetation has the potential to greatly improve water quality through the removal of nutrients, particulates and trace metals. The efficiency of this removal depends heavily upon the rate of vertical mixing, which dictates the timescale over which these constituents remain in the canopy. Continuous dye injection experiments were conducted in a flume with model vegetation to characterize vertical mass transport in vegetated shear flows. Through the absorbance–concentration relationship of the Beer–Lambert Law, digital imaging was used to provide high-resolution concentration profiles of the dye plumes. Vertical mass transport is dominated by the coherent vortices of the vegetated shear layers. This is highlighted by the strong periodicity of the transport and its simple characterization based on properties of the shear layer. For example, the vertical turbulent diffusivity is directly proportional to the shear and thickness of the layer. The turbulent diffusivity depends upon the size of the plume, such that the rate of plume growth is lower near the source. In the far-field, mass is mixed more than twice as rapidly as momentum. Finally, plume size is dictated predominantly by X, a dimensionless distance that scales upon the number of vortex rotations experienced by the plume.     

Zooplankton community structure across an eddy-generated upwelling band close to a tropical bay-mangrove ecosystem

Mesoscale eddies in the world’s oceans are ubiquitous and bring about episodic pulses of nutrients into the photic zone. Transient in nature, the role of eddy pumping in coastal enrichment via plankton production, and subsequent organic flux is not yet fully realised. In the context of a cyclonic cold-core eddy that propagates annually under the influence of the East India Coastal Current and enriches coastal waters in the western Bay of Bengal north of 16°N, a detailed study on zooplankton community structure along with phytoplankton composition and associated water quality was undertaken during April–May 2002 coinciding with the spring intermonsoon. Zooplankton samples were collected at 32 hydrographically different (salinity 24.5–35.6 PSU) GPS fixed locations representing bay-mangrove areas and nearshore waters (30 m) close to the River Godavari, which is one of India’s largest estuarine systems. During the study, the bay-coastal waters were typified by elevated nutrient levels (nitrate 10.73–22.04 μM), high salinity (27.98–35.52 PSU), and relatively low temperatures (30.63–31.40°C). Altogether, 95 zooplankton taxa were encountered with copepods forming the predominant population. Agglomerative Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (AHCA) and Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) based on Bray–Curtis similarity (PRIMER) analysis revealed appreciable alterations in zooplankton structure across bay-mangrove locations and coastal waters (Stress 0.11; ANOSIM test Global R: 0.94, P = 0.1%). Similarity Percentage (SIMPER) analysis revealed zooplankton associations through “discriminating species” for each location (Kakinada Bay, Cluster I, 27.9 ± 3.0 PSU; upwelling band, cluster II, 35.5 ± 0.2 PSU; offshore waters, cluster III, 34.2 ± 0.4 PSU; mangrove outlets, cluster IV, 32.7 ± 1.3 PSU and mangrove creeks, cluster V, 33.5 ± 0.6 PSU). The index of multivariate dispersion (IMD) illustrated high variability in zooplankton standing stock for mangrove/sea locations relative to the bay. Concurrent observations on phytoplankton revealed the importance of diatoms (r: 0.640, P ≤ 0.05). Within the eddy-generated band of upwelled water, a significant top-down control of diatoms by herbivorous zooplankton resulted in a comparative increase in abundance of dinophyceans. Based on zooplankton abundance data and species association patterns, it was possible to distinguish different zooplankton/copepod communities in accordance with mesoscale variability in physical, chemical and biological processes under tropical conditions. This was confirmed through canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) that represented coastal-offshore waters and the Bay environment in this area.     

Clonal architecture in an intertidal bed of the dwarf eelgrass <Emphasis Type="Italic">Zostera noltii</Emphasis> in the Northern Wadden Sea: persistence through extreme physical perturbation and the importance of a seed bank

Genotypic structure and temporal dynamics of the dwarf seagrass, Zostera noltii, were studied in an intertidal meadow that has persisted since prior to 1936 near the Wadden Sea island of Sylt. Samples were collected from two 10 × 10 m plots separated by 250 m from May 2002 to June 2005 and from four 1 × 1 m plots from June 2003 to September 2004. All the samples were genotyped with nine microsatellite loci. No genotypes were shared between the plots separated by 250 m. Genetic diversity was higher in the Wadden Sea than in the other regions of its geographic range. The average clone size (genets) (SD) in the two plots was 1.38 (0.26) and 1.46 (0.4) m2, respectively, with a range up to 9 m2 and <20% persisted for >4 years. A high genetic and genotypic diversity was maintained by annual recruitment of seedlings despite a dramatic decrease in ramet density that coincided with the severe heat stress event of 2003. Fine-scale (1 m2) analysis suggested that extensive loss of seagrass cover precluded space competition among the genets, while a persistent seed bank prevented local extinction. Long-term persistence of Z. noltii meadows in the intertidal Wadden Sea was achieved by high genet turnover and frequent seedling recruitment from a seed bank, in contrast to the low diversity observed in large and long-living clones of Z. noltii and other seagrasses in subtidal habitats.     

Spatial autocorrelation analysis of small-scale genetic structure in a clonal soft coral with limited larval dispersal

The philopatric larval dispesal and small effective population sizes characteristic of many clonal species should promote the development of significant small-scale genetic structure within populations as a result of isolation-by-distance. We used spatial autocorrelation statistics to detect genetic structure, arising from both clonal reproduction and philopatric dispersal of sexual propagules, for five allozyme loci within populations of the soft coral Alcyonium sp. In a population on Tatoosh Island, Washington, USA, sampled in 1991/1992, we found significant positive spatial autocorrelation at all loci among individuals separated by <40 cm, reflecting the presence of significant smallscale genetic structure due to associations among clonemates. For 4 of 5 loci, however, we detected no significant spatial autocorrelation among the different clones within this population over distances of 1 to 40 m. Analysis of soft-coral populations from six additional, topographically diverse sites in the north-east Pacific also did not reveal significant spatial autocorrelation among clones at any loci. This general lack of spatial autocorrelation of genotypes among clones suggests that significant small-scale genetic structure has not arisen in populations of Alcyonium sp. as a consequence of isolation-by-distance.     

Landslides into reservoirs and their impacts on banks

Mass wasting processes, like slope failures, on the margins of dam reservoirs, lakes, bays and oceans may generate large water waves that can produce disasters due to flooding over the banks, run up along the shoreline and overtopping dam crests. Therefore, the study of slope failures, the subsequent generation of impulse waves and their consequences are of paramount importance for safety. In this paper the generation and propagation of water waves in reservoirs induced by landslides and their impact on banks were investigated by means of a laboratory study carried out at University of Coimbra wave channel, in a flume measuring 12.0 m  ×  1.5 m  ×  1.0 m (L  ×  H  ×  W), where two banks with variable slope were placed. The study considered the sliding of calcareous blocks over a sliding slope bank into the reservoir, the generation of impulse waves, their propagation in the reservoir and their impact on the downstream bank. A number of waves were generated by different fallings of calcareous blocks, considering different volumes, sliding slopes, initial positions and reservoir depths. All fallings were recorded by video-camera and the results were processed afterwards to obtain the time history of the falling. The water surface variations due to transient waves were measured at five gauges placed between the banks. The waves overtopping and breaking on the downstream bank were also filmed using a video camera, and the hydrodynamic forces on this bank were also measured using four pressure transducers.     

Shallow wake behind exposed wood-induced bar in a gravel-bed river

Recent theoretical research indicates that dynamics of shallow flows can be strongly affected by waves developing on the free surface. In this study a shallow wake with an oblique pressure wave behind a model of a tree-centered emergent bar is investigated in a gravel-bed river. A bar was constructed in a shallow river reach with nearly uniform flow. The structure of flow was assessed with an array of velocimeters. Flow visualization with a solute of fluorescent dye complemented the measurements and provided qualitative information on the wake behavior. This study indicates that quantitative criteria for shallow wakes classification developed in laboratory setups are not straightforward in explaining the field results. According to the wake stability criteria, the expected dynamics for examined wake flow is a vortex street (VS) type. Contrary to this expectation, measurements and visualizations in this study show that mean momentum differential and turbulent vortices in the wake decrease stronger than expected in VS type and therefore the wake should be classified as unsteady bubble type with a weak downstream instability. Analysis of velocity differential dynamics in the examined shallow wake suggests that the bed friction alone is insufficient to explain the inconsistency of VS criterion whereas accounting for advective fluxes driven by inhomogeneous pressure field leads to a correct prediction of the wake behavior.     

Metabolic enzyme activities in shallow- and deep-water chondrichthyans: implications for metabolic and locomotor capacity

Biochemical indices of white (WM) and red muscle (RM) aerobic and anaerobic metabolic capacity were measured in 14 species of benthic and benthopelagic chondrichthyans from a depth of ~90 to 2,200 m to evaluate the relationship between metabolic capacity and depth of occurrence, phylogeny, and locomotor mode. Maximal activities of the enzymes citrate synthase, malate dehydrogenase (MDH), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and pyruvate kinase (PK) were analyzed in muscle tissue at 10 °C. These were combined with previously published elasmobranch data in order to represent a comprehensive range of depths, phylogeny, and locomotor modes (i.e., benthic, benthopelagic, pelagic). Significant decreases in WM PK and LDH activities and a lack of significant trends in RM enzyme activities with increasing median depth of occurrence (MDO) indicate a depth-related reduction in both burst-locomotor and metabolic capacity. These trends are consistent with the “visual-interactions hypothesis.” Phylogeny and locomotor mode had little influence on enzyme activities compared to MDO, and the present study suggests similar activities in co-occurring demersal sharks and rays. Overall, the present study indicates low metabolic capacities in deep-sea chondrichthyans, which is important to consider when managing deep-sea fisheries.     

Fluid dynamics at the margin of rotational control

Geophysicists have developed a perspective on the dynamical influence of Earth’s rotation, while most other areas of fluid dynamics can safely disregard rotation. In this essay the dominant turbulence and wave behaviors in the rotating and non-rotating fluid-dynamical realms are described, and particular attention is given to their borderlands, where rotational influences are significant but not dominant. Contrary to the inverse energy cascade of geostrophic turbulence toward larger scales, a forward energy cascade toward microscale dissipation develops within the borderlands from the breakdown of diagnostic force balances, frontogenesis, and frontal instabilities, and then it continues further through the small-scale non-rotating realm until it dissipates at the microscale.     

Mesoscale, finescale and microscale distribution of micro- and nanoplankton in the Irish Sea, with emphasis on ciliates and their prey

We examined the degree of mesoscale (km), finescale (m), and microscale (cm) patchiness of ciliates and their prey in waters of varying hydrographic conditions. Samples were taken throughout the water column, along a transect across the Irish Sea (54°N), at scales ranging from 0.15 to 10⁵ m. We examined physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. The eastern and western Irish Sea were stratified, with a pycnocline at ∼20 to 30 m. The central waters were mixed and had adjacent frontal regions. Euphotic depth was ∼20 to 35 m. Generally, the upper waters were nitrogen-limited, with elevated levels associated with frontal regions and deeper waters. Microphytoplankton exhibited fine-mesoscale patchiness: diatom numbers were low in stratified waters, with higher levels in mixed and frontal regions; dinoflagellates were abundant in subsurface waters near the fronts. Nanoflagellate numbers and biomass decreased with depth below the pycnocline, and exhibited microscale distribution in upper waters; these micropatches may provide increased food levels for ciliates. Microscale distribution of ciliates was rare and only occurred at mixed/frontal sites; finescale ciliate patches were a more prominent feature of the water column. These finescale patches can be composed of a variety of taxa but can also be virtually monospecific. Finescale patches may produce localised regions of high productivity that is available to fishes and copepods, but may also be a sink, as patches can be short-lived and thus unavailable to predators. Received: 28 September 1998 / Accepted: 26 January 1999     

Flow Dynamics in Eccentrically Rotating Flasks Used for Dispersant Effectiveness Testing

The evaluation of dispersant effectiveness used for oil spills is commonly done using tests conducted in laboratory flasks. We used a Hot Wire Anemometer (HWA) to characterize mixing dynamics in the Swirling Flask (SF) and the Baffled Flask (BF), the latter is being considered by the EPA to replace the prior to test dispersant effectiveness in the laboratory. Five rotation speeds of the orbital shaker carrying the flasks were considered, Ω = 50, 100, 150, 175 and 200 rpm. The radial and azimuthal water speeds were measured for each Ω. It was found that the flow in the SF is, in general, two-dimensional changing from horizontal at low Ω to axi-symmetric at high Ω. The flow in the BF appeared to be three-dimensional at all rotation speeds. This indicates that the BF is more suitable for representing the (inherently) 3-D flow at sea. In the SF, the speeds and energy dissipation rates ɛ increased gradually as the rotation speed increased. Those in the BF increased sharply at rotation speeds greater than 150 rpm. At 200 rpm, the Kolmogorov scale (i.e., size of smallest eddies) was about 250 and 50 μm in the SF and BF, respectively. Noting that the observed droplet sizes of dispersed oils range from 50 to 400 μm (hence most of it is less than 250 μm), one concludes that the mixing in the SF (even at 200 rpm) is not representative of the vigorous mixing occurring at sea.