Reconstruction of Pacific Ocean Bottom Water Salinity During the Last Glacial Maximum

Knowledge of salinity in the deep ocean is important for understanding past ocean circulation and climate. Based on sedimentary pore fluid chloride measurements of a single Pacific site, Adkins et al. (2002) suggested that, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Pacific deep bottom water was saltier than expected based on lower sea level alone. Here we present high-resolution salinity profiles from five sites in the South, Equatorial, and North Pacific Ocean. Our study greatly constrains understanding of LGM salinity in the Pacific Ocean. Our results show that LGM chloride concentrations of deep Pacific bottom water were 4.09 ± 0.4% greater than today\u27s values. Pacific Ocean bottom water salinity was also indistinguishable from being homogeneous across the wide range of latitudes studied here. These LGM salinity reconstructions are on average slightly higher (~1.4 to 1% higher) than expected from sea level of the time, which is generally inferred to have been ~120 to ~135 m lower than today

Protocol to include ecosystem service constraints in a wind farm cost model

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has been leading an Ocean Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) aimed at zoning the state\u27s coastal waters to accommodate offshore wind farm developments. In previous SAMP related work, the authors had considered the wind farm siting issue as an optimization problem between wind resources and technological constraints. In the present analysis, the additional constraints on wind farm siting of ecosystem services cost , in particular ecological and social services, are explored in an ecosystem-based management (EBM) conceptual framework. An ecological typology of the coastal area is developed on the basis of ecological variables, using spatial multivariate principal component and cluster analyses. Then, the sensitivity of the resulting ecological subregions to wind farm impact is assessed through the construction of ecological services impact indexes. A fishery service index is used to assess the fisheries services constraints. Ecosystem services constraints are combined with the technological cost and the wind resources to provide a wind farm siting index (WiFSI), which can be used as a tool to identify optimal areas for wind farm siting. In the paper, the authors develop the conceptual approach and present its application to the SAMP area as a case study. The technological cost is based on wind turbines with lattice jacket support structures, as currently proposed in Rhode Island waters, and the WiFSI method is used to identify optimal potential wind farm sites in coastal and offshore Rhode Island waters. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers

Ecosystem services typology: A wind farm siting tool

Rhode Island\u27s Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has been leading an Ocean Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) resulting in zoning of the state\u27s coastal water to accommodate offshore wind farms. The wind farm siting issue has been previously considered as an optimization problem between wind resources and technological constrains (Spaulding et al, 2010). In this study we explore the ecological constrains in an Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) conceptual framework of ecosystem services using spatial multivariate statistical analysis (Principal Component and Cluster analysis), to provide an ecological typology of the coastal area based on ecological variables. The value of the resulting ecological sub-regions is assessed in term of biodiversity and resilience to the wind farm impact, expressed in terms of biodiversity and impact indices. Additional indices are developed to express other ecosystem services such as fisheries (food provisioning service and recreational service). Combining ecosystem services value with technological constrains and wind resources in a Wind Farm Siting Index (WiFSI) provides a tool to identify optimal areas to site wind farms. The method is applied, in this paper, to lattice jacket supported wind turbines, as currently proposed for Rhode Island waters, and identifies optimal potential wind farm sites in coastal and offshore Rhode Island waters. Copyright © 2011 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)