Integrating climate change impacts to improve understanding of coastal climate change: heavy rains, strong winds, and high seas in coastal Hawaii, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest

Coastal storms, and the strong winds, heavy rains, and high seas that accompany them pose a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of the peoples of the Pacific basin, from the tropics to the high latitudes. To reduce their vulnerability to the economic, social, and environmental risks associated with these phenomena (and correspondingly enhance their resiliency), decision-makers in coastal communities require timely access to accurate information that affords them an opportunity to plan and respond accordingly. This includes information about the potential for coastal flooding, inundation and erosion at time scales ranging from hours to years, as well as the longterm climatological context of this information. The Pacific Storms Climatology Project (PSCP) was formed in 2006 with the intent of improving scientific understanding of patterns and trends of storm frequency and intensity - “storminess”- and related impacts of these extreme events. The project is currently developing a suite of integrated information products that can be used by emergency managers, mitigation planners, government agencies and decision-makers in key sectors, including: water and natural resource management, agriculture and fisheries, transportation and communication, and recreation and tourism. The PSCP is exploring how the climate-related processes that govern extreme storm events are expressed within and between three primary thematic areas: heavy rains, strong winds, and high seas. To address these thematic areas, PSCP has focused on developing analyses of historical climate records collected throughout the Pacific region, and the integration of these climatological analyses with near-real time observations to put recent weather and climate events into a longer-term perspective.(PDF contains 4 pages

Analysis of diel variability in chlorophyll fluorescence

Examples of the diel variability in chlorophyll and beam attenuation are presented using data from moored in situ fluorometers and transmissometers, and from profiles of the beam attenuation coefficient and fluorescence. The data are discussed in terms of the three primary processes thought to influence the diel variability in chlorophyll: (1) fluorescence yield per unit chlorophyll a, (2) chlorophyll a changes per cell (or, carbon), and (3) changes in phytoplankton carbon (growth). A simple, provisional, model is presented which incorporates these three biological processes, under the assumption that the corresponding diel variability in particle attenuation represents the change in phytoplankton carbon. The analysis produces qualitative agreement with the in situ data. The model suggests that while under high-light conditions fluorescence declines, chlorophyll can still increase during the day. Under low-light conditions, the diel variability of chlorophyll and fluorescence are in phase. The model is limited by (1) physiological understanding of the processes involved in producing fluorescence and chlorophyll changes over diel time scales; (2) biomass-independent variations in particle attenuation; and (3) not including, for the present, physical forcing

Seal accommodating thermal expansion between adjacent casings in gas turbine engine

A casing around a turbine and a casing around discharge nozzles have a concentrically arranged shell portion. The seal contains internal pressure while accommodating eccentric, expansion and axial travel. Arcuate seal segments have one leg sealing against a radial surface extending from the inner shell and the other leg against the outer shell. A linkage guides travel of the segments

Participation in the 1996 Arlindo Cruise to the Indonesian Seas

The objective of Arlindo-Productivity is to understand the factors responsible for regional differences in the response of phytoplankton and zooplankton to the SE and NW Monsoons in Indonesia. The hypothesis is that an interplay between circulation and shoaling of the nutricline, as a response to the monsoons, regulates productivity in the Indonesian Seas. My o@jective for the cruise in 1996 was to continue our collaboration with Indonesian scientists by conducting a set of hydrographic, primary production and spectral irradiance observations in the Indonesian Seas. This grant paid for shipping, travel and incidental costs associated with participation in the cruise in December, 1996. Ship costs were borne by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences as part of the collaborative effort. A plan for Arlindo in 1996 was agreed upon in March, 1996, by Indonesian scientists together with Arnold Gordon. The plan called for a 20-day physical oceanography and mooring cruise in November, 1996, followed by a 5-day bio-optical cruise. The bio-optical cruise departed from, and returned to, Ambon, and sampled in the Banda Sea. We completed a series of chlorophyll analyses, both a sampling of surface variability and depth profiles in the Banda Sea. We also completed three MER profiles for depth profiles of spectral irradiance. These data have a useful by-product in that they can be used for vicarious calibration of the OCTS sensor aboard the ADEOS satellite. As such, the data has been transmitted to NASDA in Japan for their use

Tuned mass damper for integrally bladed turbine rotor

The invention is directed to a damper ring for damping the natural vibration of the rotor blades of an integrally bladed rocket turbine rotor. The invention consists of an integral damper ring which is fixed to the underside of the rotor blade platform of a turbine rotor. The damper ring includes integral supports which extend radially outwardly therefrom. The supports are located adjacent to the base portion and directly under each blade of the rotor. Vibration damping is accomplished by action of tuned mass damper beams attached at each end to the supports. These beams vibrate at a predetermined frequency during operation. The vibration of the beams enforce a local node of zero vibratory amplitude at the interface between the supports and the beam. The vibration of the beams create forces upon the supports which forces are transmitted through the rotor blade mounting platform to the base of each rotor blade. When these forces attain a predetermined design frequency and magnitude and are directed to the base of the rotor blades, vibration of the rotor blades is effectively counteracted

Managing knowledge transfer across supply chain:a social network approach

This paper analyzes the theme of knowledge transfer in supply chain management. The aim of this study is to present the social network analysis (SNA) as an useful tool to study knowledge networks within supply chain, to monitor knowledge flows and to identify the accumulating knowledge nodes of the networks

B817: A Profile of the Farm Financial Sector in Maine

The purpose of this report is to provide an integrated view of the current market for agricultural credit in Maine so that those responsible for policy in this area as well as producers and their associations will be able to make well informed decisions for the future.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1050/thumbnail.jp

Variations in primary production and particulate carbon flux through the base of the euphotic zone at the site of the Sediment Trap Intercomparison Experiment (Panama Basin)

C primary production data collected during the deployment and recovery cruises of STIE in 1979 showed a simple relationship with light and nutrient concentrations in the euophotic zone. A simple empirical relationship, calibrated using these data, was derived so that weekly averaged observations of fractional cloudiness, sea-surface temperature and mixed layer depth could be used to estimate primary production on a weekly basis for the years 1976–1979. 15N-uptake measurements, which estimate new production, were combined with the 14C data to estimate particulate carbon fluxes from the euphotic zone. Results of calculations showed that production may vary by a factor of three and particulate carbon flux by a factor of ten on a week to week basis with peak values corresponding to times when the mixed layer became enriched in nutrients. Mean euphotic zone production and particulate carbon flux estimated for the STIE deployment cruise were 286 and 138 mg C m–2 d–1, respectively; they were 174 and 59 mg C m–2 d–1 for the recovery cruise. Mean production and flux values were 261 and 122 mg C m–2 d–1, respectively for the duration of STIE. Three high production and particle sedimentation events may have occurred during STIE in September and October 1979. 1979 appeared to be a year of lower than average primary production compared with 1976 and 1977

Phytoplankton growth at the shelf-break front in the Middle Atlantic Bight

The summertime front near the shelf break in the Middle Atlantic Bight is both thermohaline and baroclinic. Near the surface, large gradients of temperature (T) and salinity (S) exist with little cross-frontal variation in density. At depths \u3e50 m, an isopycnal boundary separates Slope Water from colder, fresher shelf water. Higher concentrations of chlorophyll are found in the upper part of the front, between water types of shelf and Slope Water origin. Calculations show also that the front is a region of enhanced phytoplankton growth. It is proposed that the relative fertility of the front is the result of large-scale deformations of the T/S boundary between shelf and Slope Water. The entrainment of deep shelf water along the shallowing, seaward-sloping, isopycnals in the deeper part of the front by these large-scale perturbations bring turbid, nutrient-rich water into clearer water that is also nutrient poor. The combination of this nutrient enrichment and a well-lighted water column makes the front more productive than elsewhere

Observations on the degradation of biogenic material in the deep ocean with implications on accuracy of sediment trap fluxes

The results of several observations and experiments indicate that the decay of organic material inside and outside of sediment traps in the deep ocean is on the order of 0.1-1.0% day−. These results must be considered when using sediment traps to determine the flux of organic material through the water column. The effectiveness of poisons in traps has not been adequately determined since the concentration of poisons in traps has not been monitored. Even traps containing poison may lose organic matter through leaching or from rapid grazing. A model is presented to quantify the loss of organic carbon at different decay rates and to determine optimum length of trap deployments