A multidisciplinary Amazon Shelf SEDiment Study (AmasSeds) : physical oceanography moored array component

A Multidisciplinary Amazon Shelf SEDiment Study (AmasSeds) is a cooperative research program by geological, chemical, physical, and biological oceanographers from Brazil and the United States to study sedimentary processes occurring over the continental shelf near the mouth of the Amazon River. The physical oceanography component of AmasSeds included a moored array deployed on the continental shelf approximately 300km northwest of the Amazon River mouth near 3.5°N. The moored array consisted of a cross-shelf transect of three mooring sites located on the 18-m, 65-m, and 103-m isobaths. The moored array was deployed for approximately 4 months, from early February, 1990 to mid-June, 1990, obtaining time series measurements of current, temperature, conductivity, and wind. This report describes the physical oceanography moored array component and provides a statistical and graphical summary of the moored observations.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through Grant Nos. OCE 88-12917 and OCE 91-15712

Southern Ocean GLOBEC moored array and automated weather station data report

Southern Ocean GLOBal ocean ECosystemsAs part of the U.S. Southern Ocean GLOBEC program, moored time series measurements of temperature, conductivity (salinity), pressure, velocity, and acoustic backscatter were made from March 2001 to March 2003 in and near Marguerite Bay, located on the Antarctic Peninsula western shelf. To monitor surface forcing during the moored array observations, two automatic weather stations (AWSs) were deployed on islands in Marguerite Bay and time series of wind, air temperature, pressure, and relative humidity were collected from May 2001 through March 2003. This report describes the individual moorings, their locations and local bathymetry, the instrumentation used and measurement depths, calibration and data processing steps taken to produce final time series, and basic plots of the final time series. The AWS data acquisition and processing are also described and basic plots of the final meteorological time series presented. Directions are given about how to access the raw and processed moored and AWS data via the SO GLOBEC website (http://globec.whoi.edu/jg/dir/globec/soglobec/).Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under contract number OPP-99-10092

Wind-induced, cross-frontal exchange on Georges Bank : a mechanism for early summer on-bank biological particle transport

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2003. 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 108, C11 (2003): 8011, doi:10.1029/2002JC001358.Water exchange across the tidal-mixing front on the southern flank of Georges Bank (GB) is examined using a two-dimensional (2D) primitive equation ocean model. The model domain features a cross-frontal transect including a June 1999 hydrographic (CTD)/ADCP study made as part of the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank program. The model was initialized with temperature and salinity fields taken on the 15 June 1999 CTD section and run prognostically with tidal forcing, measured winds, and representative surface heat flux. The results show that fluctuations of wind plus tidal mixing can play the following essential role in the short-term transport of water and particles from the stratified region to the mixed region on GB in early summer, when stratification is just developing with a weak thermocline at a depth of about 10 m. First, a passing weather front drives a wind-induced on-bank Ekman transport of the upper part of the water column at the tidal-mixing front and associated particles in the surface mixed layer. Then, when the wind relaxes or changes direction, the water in the on-bank extension of the front (above the thermocline) mixes quickly through enhanced tidal motion in shallower depths of water. As a result, particles that are advected along the extended front stay in the previously well-mixed region of the bank. Surface heating tends to increase the strength of the thermocline and reduce the thickness of the surface mixed layer. This in turn accelerates the on-bank movement of the front under an easterly wind favorable for Ekman transport and thus enhances the on-bank, cross-frontal transport of particles. Since the wind-induced, cross-frontal on-bank transport of water can occur episodically during passages of meteorological fronts, these could produce a larger net cross-frontal flux than that produced by just tidal forcing on equivalent timescales. Therefore wind-induced processes can be important in the on-bank cross-frontal flux of copepods and other zooplankton species that exhibit shallow maxima in their vertical distributions over the southern flank of GB in early summer.This research was supported by the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank program through NOAA grants NA56RG0487, NA960P003, and NA960P005 to C. Chen, NOAA support to R. Schlitz, G. R. Lough, K. Smith, and J. Manning, and NSF grants OCE 96-32357, OCE 98-06379, and OCE 02-27679 to R. Beardsley

A Spectroscopic Study of Field and Runaway OB Stars

Identifying binaries among runaway O- and B-type stars offers valuable insight into the evolution of open clusters and close binary stars. Here we present a spectroscopic investigation of 12 known or suspected binaries among field and runaway OB stars. We find new orbital solutions for five single-lined spectroscopic binaries (HD 1976, HD 14633, HD 15137, HD 37737, and HD 52533), and we classify two stars thought to be binaries (HD 30614 and HD 188001) as single stars. In addition, we reinvestigate their runaway status using our new radial velocity data with the UCAC2 proper motion catalogs. Seven stars in our study appear to have been ejected from their birthplaces, and at least three of these runaways are spectroscopic binaries and are of great interest for future study.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, 7 tables; Accepted to Ap

Ocean variability contributing to basal melt rate near the ice front of Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2014. 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: Oceans 119 (2014): 4214–4233, doi:10.1002/2014JC009792.Basal melting of ice shelves is an important, but poorly understood, cause of Antarctic ice sheet mass loss and freshwater production. We use data from two moorings deployed through Ross Ice Shelf, ∼6 and ∼16 km south of the ice front east of Ross Island, and numerical models to show how the basal melting rate near the ice front depends on sub-ice-shelf ocean variability. The moorings measured water velocity, conductivity, and temperature for ∼2 months starting in late November 2010. About half of the current velocity variance was due to tides, predominantly diurnal components, with the remainder due to subtidal oscillations with periods of a few days. Subtidal variability was dominated by barotropic currents that were large until mid-December and significantly reduced afterward. Subtidal currents were correlated between moorings but uncorrelated with local winds, suggesting the presence of waves or eddies that may be associated with the abrupt change in water column thickness and strong hydrographic gradients at the ice front. Estimated melt rate was ∼1.2 ± 0.5 m a−1 at each site during the deployment period, consistent with measured trends in ice surface elevation from GPS time series. The models predicted similar annual-averaged melt rates with a strong annual cycle related to seasonal provision of warm water to the ice base. These results show that accurately modeling the high spatial and temporal ocean variability close to the ice-shelf front is critical to predicting time-dependent and mean values of meltwater production and ice-shelf thinning.The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) participation in the ANDRILL Coulman High Program was supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (NSF ANT-0839108) through a subcontract from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL 25-0550-0004-004). I. Arzeno was supported as a 2011 WHOI Summer Student Fellow through the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates program (OCE- 0649139). L. Padman and S. Springer were supported by NASA grant NNX10AG19G to Earth & Space Research (ESR). M. Williams and C. Stewart were supported by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA) core funding under the National Climate Centre, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (Contract CO5X1001).2015-01-0

The EoR Sensitivity of the Murchison Widefield Array

Using the final 128 antenna locations of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), we calculate its sensitivity to the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) power spectrum of red- shifted 21 cm emission for a fiducial model and provide the tools to calculate the sensitivity for any model. Our calculation takes into account synthesis rotation, chro- matic and asymmetrical baseline effects, and excludes modes that will be contaminated by foreground subtraction. For the fiducial model, the MWA will be capable of a 14{\sigma} detection of the EoR signal with one full season of observation on two fields (900 and 700 hours).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Supplementary material will be available in the published version, or by contacting the author

Comparison of observed and model-computed low frequency circulation and hydrography on the New England Shelf

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. 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 113 (2008): C09015, doi:10.1029/2007JC004394.The finite volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) is configured to study the interannual variability of circulation in the Gulf of Maine (GoM) and Georges Bank. The FVCOM-GoM system incorporates realistic time-dependent surface forcing derived from a high-resolution mesoscale meteorological model (MM5) and assimilation of observed quantities including sea surface temperature and salinity and temperature fields on the open boundary. An evaluation of FVCOM-GoM model skill on the New England shelf is made by comparison of computed fields and data collected during the Coastal Mixing and Optics (CMO) Program (August 1996–June 1997). Model mean currents for the full CMO period compare well in both magnitude and direction in fall and winter but overpredict the westward flow in spring. The direction and ellipticity of the subtidal variability correspond but computed magnitudes are around 20% below observed, partially due to underprediction of the variability by MM5. Response of subtidal currents to wind-forcing shows the model captures the directional dependence, as well as seasonal variability of the lag. Hydrographic results show that FVCOM-GoM resolves the spatial and temporal evolution of the temperature and salinity fields. The model-computed surface salinity field compares well, except in May when there is no indication of the fresh surface layer from the Connecticut River discharge noted in the observations. Analysis of model-computed results indicates that the plume was unable to extend to the mooring location due to the presence of a westward mean model-computed flow during that time that was stronger than observed. Overall FVCOM-GoM captures well the dynamics of the mean and subtidal flow on the New England shelf.G. Cowles was supported by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI) through NOAA grants DOC/NOAA/ NA04NMF4720332 and DOC/NOAA/NA05NMF4721131, S. Lentz by the NSF Ocean Sciences Division through grants OCE-841292 and OCE- 848961, C. Chen and Q. Xu through the NSF/NOAA GLOBEC/Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank Program under NSF grants OCE-0234545 and OCE-0227679 and NOAA grants NA-16OP2323, and R. Beardsley through NOAA grant NA-17RJ1223

A new layout optimization technique for interferometric arrays, applied to the MWA

Antenna layout is an important design consideration for radio interferometers because it determines the quality of the snapshot point spread function (PSF, or array beam). This is particularly true for experiments targeting the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization signal as the quality of the foreground subtraction depends directly on the spatial dynamic range and thus the smoothness of the baseline distribution. Nearly all sites have constraints on where antennas can be placed---even at the remote Australian location of the MWA (Murchison Widefield Array) there are rock outcrops, flood zones, heritages areas, emergency runways and trees. These exclusion areas can introduce spatial structure into the baseline distribution that enhance the PSF sidelobes and reduce the angular dynamic range. In this paper we present a new method of constrained antenna placement that reduces the spatial structure in the baseline distribution. This method not only outperforms random placement algorithms that avoid exclusion zones, but surprisingly outperforms random placement algorithms without constraints to provide what we believe are the smoothest constrained baseline distributions developed to date. We use our new algorithm to determine antenna placements for the originally planned MWA, and present the antenna locations, baseline distribution, and snapshot PSF for this array choice.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Between the Natural and the Artificial: The Sublime Sexual Sensation of Car Crashes in J.G. Ballard’s Crash

At a time when technology progressively pushes back nature, the sexual act runs the risk of being denaturalised. The notion of the sublime, which I argue is how humans react to the machine as a surrogate for nature and as a sexual stimulus in Crash (1973), is therefore of central interest in this article. Ballard himself has described Crash as ‘the first pornographic novel based on technology’ (1973, 6). This engagement with a technologised sexuality is explored as a subjective narrative stance, which grants authenticity to the fictive alter ego, who can probe alternatives to an extra-textual reality. This narrative mode is notably potent in relation to the narrator’s estimation of the merge between sexuality and technology in the form of car crashes uniting Eros and Thanatos. I therefore suggest that Crash can be read as an attempt to localise the natural and human in a world dictated by artificiality and technology

Gridded and direct Epoch of Reionisation bispectrum estimates using the Murchison Widefield Array

We apply two methods to estimate the 21~cm bispectrum from data taken within the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) project of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Using data acquired with the Phase II compact array allows a direct bispectrum estimate to be undertaken on the multiple redundantly-spaced triangles of antenna tiles, as well as an estimate based on data gridded to the $uv$-plane. The direct and gridded bispectrum estimators are applied to 21 hours of high-band (167--197~MHz; $z$=6.2--7.5) data from the 2016 and 2017 observing seasons. Analytic predictions for the bispectrum bias and variance for point source foregrounds are derived. We compare the output of these approaches, the foreground contribution to the signal, and future prospects for measuring the bispectra with redundant and non-redundant arrays. We find that some triangle configurations yield bispectrum estimates that are consistent with the expected noise level after 10 hours, while equilateral configurations are strongly foreground-dominated. Careful choice of triangle configurations may be made to reduce foreground bias that hinders power spectrum estimators, and the 21~cm bispectrum may be accessible in less time than the 21~cm power spectrum for some wave modes, with detections in hundreds of hours.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PAS