Assessment of surface currents measured with high-frequency phased-array radars in two regions of complex circulation

Surface velocity data from two WERA high frequency (HF) ocean radar systems, deployed as part of the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), are compared with near surface currents obtained from drifters and ADCPs (acoustic Doppler current profiler). We evaluate data from two contrasting locations in the first detailed evaluation of the IMOS HF radar surface velocities. HF radar measurements are generally robust but demand quality-control procedures to eliminate obvious errors and outliers that appear temporarily or systematically in the data. A number of different quality control procedures and filters are applied and assessed including Taylor diagrams, Hampel and Savitzky-Golay filters. In addition the need for and effect of averaging are discussed. The radar measurements of surface current agreed better with the near-surface drifter currents than with the subsurface ADCP currents. Nonetheless the ADCP comparisons are consistent with those previously reported in other regions. The value of the Taylor Diagram for comparing different surface current data sets and processing approaches is demonstrated. Noise levels in the radar current spectra are used to estimate the error in the measurements and in some cases, these errors were found to approach the precision of the radar estimates. Our results give guidance on the most useful temporal sampling resolution. In particular we show that, at these sites and these operating frequencies, using 10-minute sampling without further averaging does not provide additional information because the higher frequencies are dominated by noise. Averaging the radials over 30-minutes may be sufficient for many applications

Assessment of surface currents measured with high-frequency phased-array radars in two regions of complex circulation

Surface velocity data from two WERA high frequency (HF) ocean radar systems, deployed as part of the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), are compared with near surface currents obtained from drifters and ADCPs (acoustic Doppler current profiler). We evaluate data from two contrasting locations in the first detailed evaluation of the IMOS HF radar surface velocities. HF radar measurements are generally robust but demand quality-control procedures to eliminate obvious errors and outliers that appear temporarily or systematically in the data. A number of different quality control procedures and filters are applied and assessed including Taylor diagrams, Hampel and Savitzky-Golay filters. In addition the need for and effect of averaging are discussed. The radar measurements of surface current agreed better with the near-surface drifter currents than with the subsurface ADCP currents. Nonetheless the ADCP comparisons are consistent with those previously reported in other regions. The value of the Taylor Diagram for comparing different surface current data sets and processing approaches is demonstrated. Noise levels in the radar current spectra are used to estimate the error in the measurements and in some cases, these errors were found to approach the precision of the radar estimates. Our results give guidance on the most useful temporal sampling resolution. In particular we show that, at these sites and these operating frequencies, using 10-minute sampling without further averaging does not provide additional information because the higher frequencies are dominated by noise. Averaging the radials over 30-minutes may be sufficient for many applications

Lagrangian and Eulerian characterization of two counter-rotating submesoscale eddies in a western boundary current

In recent decades, high-spatial resolution ocean radar and satellite imagery measurements have revealed a complex tangle of submesoscale filaments and eddies, in the surface velocity, temperature, and chlorophyll a fields. We use a suite of high-resolution data to characterize two counter-rotating, short-lived eddies formed at the front between the warm East Australian Current (EAC) and temperate coastal waters (30°S, Eastern Australia). In this region, submesoscale filaments and short-lived eddies are dynamically generated and decay at time scales of hours to days. Dominant cyclonic filaments of O(1) Rossby number formed along frontal jets and eddy boundaries, generating localized ageostrophic circulations at the submesoscale. Measurements of over-ocean wind direction and surface currents from high-frequency radars reveal the influence of the short-term, small-scale wind forcing on the surface circulation, enhancement of the horizontal shear, frontal jet destabilization, and the generation and decay of the cyclonic eddy. By contrast, the anticyclonic eddy formation was most likely associated with EAC mesoscale instability and anticyclonic vorticity. Lagrangian tracks show that surface particles can be temporarily trapped in the eddies and frontal convergent zones, limiting their transport. Mixing between EAC-derived and coastal waters was increased along the frontal regions, and particles starting at the divergent regions around the eddies experienced significant dispersion at submesoscales. The cyclonic cold-core eddy entrained high chlorophyll a shelf waters on its convergent side, suggesting spiral eddy cyclogenesis

Atributos físico-hídricos do solo via funções de pedotransferência em solos dos Tabuleiros Costeiros de Pernambuco.

Objetivou-se gerar funções de pedotransferência (FPT) com base em dados das frações granulométricas, distribuição do tamanho de poros, densidade do solo e de partículas para estimar a umidade do solo equivalente à capacidade de campo (CC), ponto de murcha permanente (PMP) e a capacidade de armazenamento de água disponível (CAD) em Argissolos Amarelos representativos dos tabuleiros costeiros na zona da mata norte de Pernambuco. Para isso, foram coletadas amostras deformadas e indeformadas na camada 0,00 - 0,20 m de profundidade. As FPTs foram geradas a partir do método de regressão linear múltipla aplicando a técnica de stepwise backward. Este método eliminou alguns atributos físico-hídricos do solo baseado nos valores de R2 e no Teste t. Os coeficientes de regressão do modelo proposto para predição de CAD, CC e o PMP apresentaram significância de 1% de probabilidade para as variáveis independentes selecionadas para cada modelo, indicando que esses parâmetros podem ser preditos, com ótima precisão, a partir do conteúdo de areia, argila, mesoporosidade, microporosidade e densidade do solo, as quais são fáceis de serem determinadas e obtidas, pré-requisito básico para construção das FPTs

Fortnightly changes in water transport direction across the mouth of a narrow estuary

This research investigates the dynamics of the axial tidal flow and residual circulation at the lower Guadiana Estuary, south Portugal, a narrow mesotidal estuary with low freshwater inputs. Current data were collected near the deepest part of the channel for 21 months and across the channel during two (spring and neap) tidal cycles. Results indicate that at the deep channel, depth-averaged currents are stronger and longer during the ebb at spring and during the flood at neap, resulting in opposite water transport directions at a fortnightly time scale. The net water transport across the entire channel is up-estuary at spring and down-estuary at neap, i.e., opposite to the one at the deep channel. At spring tide, when the estuary is considered to be well mixed, the observed pattern of circulation (outflow in the deep channel, inflow over the shoals) results from the combination of the Stokes transport and compensating return flow, which varies laterally with the bathymetry. At neap tide (in particular for those of lowest amplitude each month), inflows at the deep channel are consistently associated with the development of gravitational circulation. Comparisons with previous studies suggest that the baroclinic pressure gradient (rather than internal tidal asymmetries) is the main driver of the residual water transport. Our observations also indicate that the flushing out of the water accumulated up-estuary (at spring) may also produce strong unidirectional barotropic outflow across the entire channel around neap tide.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Metals impact into the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex (Brazil) during the exceptional flood of 2011

Abstract Particulate and dissolved metal concentrations were determined after the largest flood in the last 30 years on the east-west axis of the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex (PEC) and compared to the those of the dry period at two stations. Results confirmed that the flood greatly affected riverine outflows and the behavior of metals in the PEC. In particular, a sharp decrease in salinity was followed by extremely high SPM concentrations leading to a decrease in DO concentrations at both stations. For the dissolved phase, ANOSIM analysis showed a significant dissimilarity at each station between the sampled periods, whereas for the particulate phase this dissimilarity was found only for the samplings taken at the Antonina Station. KD values suggested dissolved Cu behavior was related to the presence of organic complexes and dissolved Mn had sediment resuspension of redox sediments and or/pore water injection as sources. Metal concentrations were lower than in polluted estuaries, though high enrichment factors found after the flood pointed to the influence of anthropogenic sources. In conclusion, the flood's influence was more evident at the Antonina Station, due to its location in the upper estuary, whereas in Paranaguá a high SPM content with low metal concentration was found, following the common pattern generally found in other marine systems subject to heavy rainfall events

SEDVEL: an underwater balance for measuring in situ settling velocities and suspended cohesive sediment concentrations

An automated instrument (SEDVEL—Sedimentation Velocity) was developed to directly measure the mass-concentration and the mass-distribution of settling velocities of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in situ. This instrument consists of an underwater balance, which directly measures the variation in time of the immersed weight of particulate matter (PM) as it settles on a plate located at the bottom of a settling tube, under quiescent conditions. SEDVEL operates underwater and samples in situ for deployment periods of a few days. SEDVEL produced consistent and reproducible results when tested both in the laboratory and in the field under SPM dry-concentrations of 5 to 200 mg l− 1. Errors in the estimates of maximum dry-concentrations from SEDVEL measurements were less than 30% in 69% of the cycles analysed in the laboratory. The corresponding figure for in situ measurements was 50%. These errors are likely related to uncertainties in the calculation of the dry-density of flocs and in the definition of the zero position (ZP) of the SEDVEL balance. The slow settling particles/flocs (Ws < 1 mm s− 1) represented 32–98% of the total mass of SPM at two sites of deployment in Cleveland Bay (Australia). Distinct settling behaviours were observed between the two sites and among different tidal stages associated with differences in the floc population; the aggregation of which probably varied as a function of the bottom grain size, shear stress, resuspension, advection and organic content of SPM