Cirene : air-sea iInteractions in the Seychelles-Chagos thermocline ridge region

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 90 (2009): 1337-1350, doi:10.1175/2008BAMS2499.1.The Vasco—Cirene program ex-plores how strong air—sea inter-actions promoted by the shallow thermocline and high sea surface temperature in the Seychelles—Chagos thermocline ridge results in marked variability at synoptic, intraseasonal, and interannual time scales. The Cirene oceano-graphic cruise collected oceanic, atmospheric, and air—sea flux observations in this region in Jan-uary—February 2007. The contem-poraneous Vasco field experiment complemented these measure-ments with balloon deployments from the Seychelles. Cirene also contributed to the development of the Indian Ocean observing system via deployment of a moor-ing and 12 Argo profilers. Unusual conditions prevailed in the Indian Ocean during Janu-ary and February 2007, following the Indian Ocean dipole climate anomaly of late 2006. Cirene measurements show that the Seychelles—Chagos thermocline ridge had higher-than-usual heat content with subsurface anomalies up to 7°C. The ocean surface was warmer and fresher than average, and unusual eastward currents prevailed down to 800 m. These anomalous conditions had a major impact on tuna fishing in early 2007. Our dataset also sampled the genesis and maturation of Tropical Cyclone Dora, including high surface temperatures and a strong diurnal cycle before the cyclone, followed by a 1.5°C cool-ing over 10 days. Balloonborne instruments sampled the surface and boundary layer dynamics of Dora. We observed small-scale structures like dry-air layers in the atmosphere and diurnal warm layers in the near-surface ocean. The Cirene data will quantify the impact of these finescale features on the upper-ocean heat budget and atmospheric deep convection.CNES funded the Vasco part of the experiment; INSU funded the Cirene part. R/V Suroît is an Ifremer ship. The contributions from ODU, WHOI, and FOI (Sweden) are supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 0525657. The participation of the University of Miami group was funded though NASA (NNG04HZ33C). PMEL participation was supported through NOAA’s Office of Climate Observation

Perspectives on key principles of generalist medical practice in public service in sub-saharan africa: a qualitative study

The original publication is available at http://www.biomedcentral.comAbstract Background: The principles and practice of Family Medicine that arose in developed Western countries have been imported and adopted in African countries without adequate consideration of their relevance and appropriateness to the African context. In this study we attempted to elicit a priori principles of generalist medical practice from the experience of long-serving medical officers in a variety of African counties, through which we explored emergent principles of Family Medicine in our own context. Methods A descriptive study design was utilized, using qualitative methods. 16 respondents who were clinically active medical practitioners, working as generalists in the public services or non-profit sector for at least 5 years, and who had had no previous formal training or involvement in academic Family Medicine, were purposively selected in 8 different countries in southern, western and east Africa, and interviewed. Results The respondents highlighted a number of key issues with respect to the external environment within which they work, their collective roles, activities and behaviours, as well as the personal values and beliefs that motivate their behaviour. The context is characterized by resource constraints, high workload, traditional health beliefs, and the difficulty of referring patients to the next level of care. Generalist clinicians in sub-Saharan Africa need to be competent across a wide range of clinical disciplines and procedural skills at the level of the district hospital and clinic, in both chronic and emergency care. They need to understand the patient's perspective and context, empowering the patient and building an effective doctor-patient relationship. They are also managers, focused on coordinating and improving the quality of clinical care through teamwork, training and mentoring other health workers in the generalist setting, while being life-long learners themselves. However, their role in the community, was found to be more aspirational than real. Conclusions The study derived a set of principles for the practice of generalist doctors in sub-Saharan Africa based on the reported activities and approaches of the respondents. Patient-centred care using a biopsychosocial approach remains as a common core principle despite wide variations in context. Procedural and hospital care demands a higher level of skills particularly in rural areas, and a community orientation is desirable, but not widely practiced. The results have implications for the postgraduate training of family physicians in sub-Saharan Africa, and highlight questions regarding the realization of community-orientated primary care.Publishers' Versio

Stoichiometry of the degradation of dissolved and particulate biogenic organic matter in the NW Iberian upwelling

The average composition of the dissolved and particulate products of early degradation of marine phytoplankton has been established for the first time in a coastal upwelling system using a mixing analysis along isopycnal surfaces combined with a stoichiometric model. About 17–18% of the mineralized organic matter is derived from the decomposition of organic particulates, and 16–35% is from the dissolved organic matter. The remaining 50–70% is derived probably from large fast sinking particles. On average, the mineralized material on large particles has the closest composition to the Redfield formula. The ratio of dissolved saccharides to dissolved organic matter respiration is >40% higher than expected from a material of Redfield composition. Finally, the ratio of lipid to particulate organic matter respiration is >80% larger than expected from a material of Redfield composition. Regarding the decomposition of hard structures, biogenic silica dissolves predominantly in the inner shelf, where organic carbon oxidation is more intense, and diatom deposition occurs preferentially

Some environmental factors influencing phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean around South Georgia

Data on phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass, and physical and chemical variables, are combined with a published multivariate description of diatom species composition to interpret variation within an area around South Georgia surveyed during an austral summer. Large-scale species distributions could be equated to the different water masses which reflected the interaction of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current with the island and the Scotia Ridge. Small-scale factors were found to act at an interstation scale and imposed local variation on the biogeographic pattern. Nutrient depletion could be related to phytoplankton biomass but no single inorganic nutrient of those measured (NO 3 −N, PO 4 −P and silica) could be identified as important. The ratio Si:P appeared to be more important as an ecological factor. The impact of grazing by krill and other zooplankton could only be resolved as differences in phytoplankton biomass and phaeopigment content. Diatom species composition showed a relation to local krill abundance very different from that suggested by published studies, but could be explained as the effect of earlier grazing outside the study area. The effects of vertical mixing could not account for interstation differences as pycnocline depth was uniformly greater than euphotic depth, and vertical stability very low. Some comparison was made with data collected in 1926–31 by the Discovery Investigations. Significant differences in the distribution of certain taxa such as Chaetoceros criophilum and C. socialis were traced to major differences in hydrology.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46983/1/300_2004_Article_BF00443379.pd