Physiographic influences on dense shelf-water cascading down the Antarctic continental slope

Predicting the source areas for Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) requires knowledge of how cold, dense water masses form and move from the Antarctic shelves to the continental slope. Here we use a review of nearly 50 years of direct hydrographic observations to infer the main broad-scale influences on the distribution of dense shelf-water (DSW) overflows that cascade down the continental slope around Antarctica. The dynamics and distribution of large ice shelves, coastal polynyas and the physiography of the Antarctic continental shelves are each considered. The catalogue we present increases the number of DSW observations to 26, adds 20 additional stations where this process is likely to have occurred, and identifies 41 areas where DSW appears to be absent. Our pan-Antarctic, multi-decadal review enhances the understanding of the formation and export of DSW and highlights the variability and complexity of ice-ocean systems on high-latitude continental margins. The study also provides a context for understanding recent episodes of Antarctic ice-shelf instability, and how the relationship between DSW and AABW may evolve with climatic and oceanographic changes.EU Marie Curi

Slope Instability along the northeastern Iberian and Balearic continental margins

This paper gathers the available information on submarine landslides identified in the northeastern Iberian continental margin and presents new data on both already known landslides and new, previously unknown ones. The 2,000 km2, 26 km3 resulting deposit of the BIG’95 debris flow in the Ebro margin; the 4 up to 16 km2, 0.4 km3 Eivissa slides in the Eivissa Channel; the 2 up to 65.6 km2, 1.46 km3 Barcelona slides in the shallow southern Catalan margin; and the western Gulf of Lions debris flow in the deep north Catalan margin are presented. This compilation is completed with several other previously undescribed small-scale mass-wasting deposits together with those observed in the Balearic Promontory. The amount and widespreading of submarine landslide deposits in the northern Iberian margins demonstrate that these margins are not an exception to the common occurence of these kind of structures worldwide, and gives an idea on this phenomena recurrence even in margins considered moderately quiet, in terms of seismicit

Commercial bottom trawling: a driver of deep seascape evolution in the Anthropocene?

EGU General Assembly 2013, 7-12 April, 2013, Vienna, AustriaThe offshore displacement of bottom trawling fleets has raised concerns over the impact of this human activity on deep-sea ecosystems and associated living resources, which are characterized by a lower resilience than shallow water correlatives. However, the effects of bottom trawling on sediment remobilization across continental margins and on the alteration of seafloor morphology still remain largely unaddressed. We present a compilation of results from studies conducted during the last decade in the La Fonera (Palamós) submarine canyon (NW Mediterranean Sea), where a bottom trawling fishing fleet is active on a daily basis at depths from 400 to 800 m. Deployments of mooring lines equipped with punctual and profiling current-meters, turbidimeters and sediment traps have documented that trawling gears passing along the canyon flanks generate daily sediment gravity flows, implying a periodic sediment removal from fishing grounds. These sediment-laden flows are able to reach the main canyon axis and progress to a minimum depth of 1200 m. Also, sediment accumulation rates in the lower canyon have increased since the industrialization of the local trawling fleet (1970s), suggesting a human-induced enhancement of along-canyon transfer of sediments from the fishing grounds to greater depths. Sedimentological and 210Pb analysis of interface sediment cores collected from the canyon flanks confirm that widespread erosion and stirring of surface sediments is notable on trawled areas when compared to control (untrawled) sites at similar depths. This chronic reworking and removal of surface sediments from trawling grounds has ultimately led to modifications of the seafloor morphology over large spatial scales, as revealed by high-resolution multibeam bathymetry and Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) data sets. Untrawled canyon flank segments are dominated by a dense network of tributary valleys that progress upslope from the main canyon axis, reaching up to five orders of bifurcation. Such complex morphology is missing in the trawled depth range and slightly below, where the sea floor becomes smoother and only the main branches of the tributary valley networks are preserved. Given the global dimension of commercial bottom trawling, our findings suggest that this human activity may have become a significant driver of sediment dynamics and seascape evolution over substantial parts of the world's upper continental slopesPeer Reviewe

Transient erosion in the Valencia Trough turbidite systems, NW Mediterranean Basin

12 pages, 9 figuresSubmarine canyons can efficiently drain sediments from continental margins just as river systems do in subaerial catchments. Like in river systems, submarine canyons are often arranged as complex drainage networks that evolve from patterns of erosion and deposition. In the present paper we use a morphometric analysis of submarine canyon-channel long-profiles to study the recent sedimentary history of the Valencia Trough turbidite system (VTTS) in the NW Mediterranean Sea. The VTTS is unique in that it drains sediment from margins with contrasting morphologies through a single “trunk” conduit, the Valencia Channel. The Valencia Channel has been active since the late Miocene, evolving in response to Plio-Quaternary episodes of erosion and deposition. The integrated analysis of long-profiles obtained from high-resolution bathymetric data across the entire turbidite system shows evidence for transient canyon incision in the form of knickpoints and hanging tributaries. Multiple factors appear to have triggered these periods of incision. These include a large debris flow at 11,500 yr BP that disrupted the upper reaches of the VTTS and glacio-eustatic lowstands that forced shifting of sediment input to the VTTS. Based on these inferences, long-term time-averaged incision rates for the Valencia Channel have been estimated. The evidence we present strongly suggests that Foix Canyon has played a key role in the drainage dynamics of the VTTS in the past. This study builds conceptually on a recent modeling study that provides a morphodynamic explanation for the long-term evolution of submarine canyon thalweg profiles. The procedure and results from this work are of potential application to other submarine sediment drainage systems, past and present, including those containing mid-ocean type valleys like the Valencia ChannelThis research was supported by the HERMIONE project, EC contract 226354-HERMIONE, funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, and the HERMES Project, EC contract GOCE-CT-2005-511234, funded by the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme under the priority “Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems”. It has also benefited from inputs by the PROMETEO (CTM2007-66316-C02-01/MAR), EDINSED3D (CTM2007-64880/MAR), and the GRACCIE CONSOLIDER (CSD2007-00067) projects, funded by the Spanish RTD Programme. GRC Geociències Marines is supported by Generalitat de Catalunya “Grups de Recerca Consolidats” grant 2009 SGR 1305Peer reviewe

Slope Instability along the northeastern Iberian and Balearic continental margins

This paper gathers the available information on submarine landslides identified in the northeastern Iberian continental margin and presents new data on both already known landslides and new, previously unknown ones. The 2,000 km2, 26 km3 resulting deposit of the BIG'95 debris flow in the Ebro margin; the 4 up to 16 km2, 0.4 km3 Eivissa slides in the Eivissa Channel; the 2 up to 65.6 km2, 1.46 km3 Barcelona slides in the shallow southern Catalan margin; and the western Gulf of Lions debris flow in the deep north Catalan margin are presented. This compilation is completed with several other previously undescribed small-scale mass-wasting deposits together with those observed in the Balearic Promontory. The amount and widespreading of submarine landslide deposits in the northern Iberian margins demonstrate that these margins are not an exception to the common occurence of these kind of structures worldwide, and gives an idea on this phenomena recurrence even in margins considered moderately quiet, in terms of seismicity

Estrategias e indicadores para la evaluación de la docencia en el marco del EEES

En este artículo se describen las estrategias que ha emprendido la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (UPC) para implantar las nuevas titulaciones de Ingeniería adaptadas al Espacio Europeo de Enseñanza Superior (EEES). Estas estrategias pueden ser de utilidad para otras universidades. Partiendo de un análisis detallado del contexto general de la Universidad española y de la UPC en particular, se muestra el sistema de planificación estratégica de nuestra institución. Asimismo se describe en detalle el sistema de indicadores estadísticos que se usa para medir el rendimiento de centros y departamentos en el referido marco de planificación estratégica. Por último, también se detallan las acciones que se han emprendido para evaluar la actividad docente del profesorado

Real-time lossless compression of multibeam echosounder water column data

Multibeam echosounders can generate vast amounts of data when recording the complete water column, which poses logistic, economic and technical challenges. Lossy data compression can reduce data size up to one or two orders of magnitude, but often at the expense of significant image distortion. Lossless compression ratios tend to be modest and at a high computing cost. In this work we test a high-performance data compression algorithm, FAPEC, initially developed for Space data communications with low computing requirements. FAPEC provides good compression ratios and supports tailored pre-processing stages. Here we show its advantages over standard and high-end lossless compression solutions currently available, both in terms of ratios and speedR+D work on FAPEC is supported by the ESA Business Incubation Programme through Barcelona Activa, by the MINECO (Spanish Ministry of Economy) – FEDER through grants ESP2014-55996-C2-1-R, AYA2014-59084-P and MDM-2014-0369 of ICCUB (Unidad de Excelencia ‘María de Maeztu’), and by the AGAUR. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 658358 (D. Amblas). The authors acknowledge funding received from the Spanish RTD grant NUREIEV (CTM2013-44598-R) and from EC contract MIDAS (GA-603418). GRC Geociencies Marines is recognized by Generalitat de Catalunya as an excellence research group (ref. 2014 SGR 1068)

A submarine volcanic eruption leads to a novel microbial habitat

Postprin

Estrategias e indicadores para la evaluación de la docencia en el marco del EEES

En este artículo se describen las estrategias que ha emprendido la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (UPC) para implantar las nuevas titulaciones de Ingeniería adaptadas al Espacio Europeo de Enseñanza Superior (EEES). Estas estrategias pueden ser de utilidad para otras universidades. Partiendo de un análisis detallado del contexto general de la Universidad española y de la UPC en particular, se muestra el sistema de planificación estratégica de nuestra institución. Asimismo se describe en detalle el sistema de indicadores estadísticos que se usa para medir el rendimiento de centros y departamentos en el referido marco de planificación estratégica. Por último, también se detallan las acciones que se han emprendido para evaluar la actividad docente del profesorado.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version