Red Sea Outflow Experiment (REDSOX) : DLD2 RAFOS float data report February 2001 - March 2003

This is the final data report of all acoustically tracked second-generation Deep Lagrangian Drifter (DLD2) RAFOS float data collected by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2001-2003 during the Red Sea Outflow Experiment (REDSOX). The float component of REDSOX was comprised of two deployments on the R/V Knorr and R/V Ewing: the first in February-March 2001, with 26 floats, and the second in August-September 2001, with 27 floats. The isobaric floats were ballasted for 650 decibars to target the intermediate-depth, high-salinity outflow waters from the Red Sea. The objectives of the Lagrangian float study were (1) to identify the spreading pathways of the equilibrated Red Sea outflow, and to quantify the velocities and eddy variability typical of this outflow and of the background oceanic environment in the Gulf of Aden, and (2) to identify and describe the mesoscale processes which contribute to the seaward transport of Red Sea Overflow Water properties through the Gulf of Aden and into the western Indian Ocean. In addition to floats activated and launched during the two cruises, four time-series sites were chosen for dual-release float moorings. The dual-release floats were released every two months between cruises and every two months after the second cruise, with the final release in March 2002. A pirate attack on the R/V Ewing forced some modification of the float deployment plan during the second cruise.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number OCE-9818464

Redrawing the Iceland−Scotland overflow water pathways in the North Atlantic

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zou, S., Bower, A., Furey, H., Susan Lozier, M., & Xu, X. Redrawing the Iceland−Scotland overflow water pathways in the North Atlantic. Nature Communications, 11(1), (2020): 890, doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15513-4.Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) is a primary deep water mass exported from the Norwegian Sea into the North Atlantic as part of the global Meridional Overturning Circulation. ISOW has historically been depicted as flowing counter-clockwise in a deep boundary current around the subpolar North Atlantic, but this single-boundary-following pathway is being challenged by new Lagrangian observations and model simulations. We show here that ISOW leaves the boundary and spreads into the interior towards the central Labrador and Irminger basins after flowing through the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. We also describe a newly observed southward pathway of ISOW along the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The partitioning of these pathways is shown to be influenced by deep-reaching eddies and meanders of the North Atlantic Current. Our results, in tandem with previous studies, call for a revision in the historical depiction of ISOW pathways throughout the North Atlantic.S.Z., A.B. and H.F. gratefully acknowledge the support from the Physical Oceanography Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation (grant number OCE-17-56361). S.Z. and M.S.L. also acknowledge support from NSF-OCE-17-56143. X.X. acknowledges support from NSF award 1537136. Gratitude is also extended to C. Böning and A. Biastoch for sharing FLAME output and trajectory calculation code

GTRACK: A PC program for computing Goldstein's growth constancy index and an alternative measure of tracking

This paper reviews Goldstein's `growth constancy index,' [xi], a measure of tracking which can be used to determine whether or not individuals maintain their relative positions in the distribution of a given measurement as that distribution changes over time. We suggest that [xi] is an appropriate measure of tracking when the (standardized) measurements arise in the context of a Model I ANOVA, but that the intraclass correlation coefficient, rl, may be preferred when a Model II ANOVA is applicable. We also describe -- and make available -- a PC program which allows the user to choose between Model I and Model II, and computes the appropriate tracking index and confidence intervals for the corresponding parameter.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/31409/1/0000326.pd

PC program extending the two-stage polynomial growth curve model to allow missing data

A stand-alone, menu-driven PC program, written in GAUSS386i, extending the analysis of one-sample longitudinal data sets satisfying the two-stage polynomial growth curve model (Ten Have et al., Am J Hum Biol, 3 (1991) 269-279) to allow missing data is described, illustrated and made available to interested readers. The method and the program are illustrated using data previously analyzed by the authors (Schneiderman and Kowalski, Am J Phys Anthropol, 67 (1985) 323-333) but with several randomly chosen data points discarded and treated as missing.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/30475/1/0000103.pd

Somali Current rings in the eastern Gulf of Aden

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 111 (2006): C09039, doi:10.1029/2005JC003338.New satellite-based observations reveal that westward translating anticyclonic rings are generated as a portion of the Somali Current accelerates northward through the Socotra Passage near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. Rings thus formed exhibit azimuthal geostrophic velocities exceeding 50 cm/s, are comparable in overall diameter to the width of the Gulf of Aden (250 km), and translate westward into the gulf at 5–8 cm/s. Ring generation is most notable in satellite ocean color imagery in November immediately following the transition between southwest (boreal summer) and northeast (winter) monsoon regimes. The observed rings contain anomalous fluid within their core which reflects their origin in the equator-crossing Somali Current system. Estimates of Socotra Passage flow variability derived from satellite altimetry provide evidence for a similar ring generation process in May following the winter-to-summer monsoon transition. Cyclonic recirculation eddies are observed to spin up on the eastern flank of newly formed rings with the resulting vortex pair translating westward together. Recent shipboard and Lagrangian observations indicate that vortices of both sign have substantial vertical extent and may dominate the lateral circulation at all depths in the eastern Gulf of Aden.This investigation is a component of the Red Sea Outflow Experiment (REDSOX) sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation through grants OCE 98-18464 and OCE 04-24647 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and OCE 98-19506 and OCE 03-51116 to the University of Miami

Seasonality of the Meridional Overturning Circulation in the subpolar North Atlantic

Understanding the variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is essential for better predictions of our changing climate. Here we present an updated time series (August 2014 to June 2020) from the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program. The 6-year time series allows us to observe the seasonality of the subpolar overturning and meridional heat and freshwater transports. The overturning peaks in late spring and reaches a minimum in early winter, with a peak-to-trough range of 9.0 Sv. The overturning seasonal timing can be explained by winter transformation and the export of dense water, modulated by a seasonally varying Ekman transport. Furthermore, over 55% of the total meridional freshwater transport variability can be explained by its seasonality, largely owing to overturning dynamics. Our results provide the first observational analysis of seasonality in the subpolar North Atlantic overturning and highlight its important contribution to the total overturning variability observed to date

New loci for body fat percentage reveal link between adiposity and cardiometabolic disease risk

To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of adiposity and its links to cardiometabolic disease risk, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of body fat percentage (BF%) in up to 100,716 individuals. Twelve loci reached genome-wide significance (P<5 × 10−8), of which eight were previously associated with increased overall adiposity (BMI, BF%) and four (in or near COBLL1/GRB14, IGF2BP1, PLA2G6, CRTC1) were novel associations with BF%. Seven loci showed a larger effect on BF% than on BMI, suggestive of a primary association with adiposity, while five loci showed larger effects on BMI than on BF%, suggesting association with both fat and lean mass. In particular, the loci more strongly associated with BF% showed distinct cross-phenotype association signatures with a range of cardiometabolic traits revealing new insights in the link between adiposity and disease risk

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely