OCEAN Volume 9, No. 1, 1999

The Magazine of the Challenger Society for Marine Science

EDITOR SCOPE AND AIMS Angela Colling Ocean Challenge aims to keep its readers up to date ASSOCIATE EDITOR with what is happening in in the UK and the rest of Europe. By covering the whole range John Wright of marine-related sciences in an accessible style it Angela Colling andJohn Wright are both should be valuable both to specialist oceano- at the Department of Earth Sciences, graphers who wish to broaden their knowledge of The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, marine sciences, and to informed lay persons who Buckinghamshire MK7 6AA, UK are concerned about the oceanic environment.

EDITORIAL BOARD Ocean Challenge is sent automatically to Chair members of the Challenger Society. Rachel Mills For more information about the Society, or for Southampton Oceanography Centre queries concerning individual subscriptions to Ocean Challenge, please contact the Executive Secretary of the Society at the address given on the Martin Angel inside back cover. Southampton Oceanography Centre INDUSTRIAL CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP Mark Brandon British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge For information about this, please contact the Executive Secretary of the Society at the Keith Dyer address given on the inside back cover. Institute ofMarine Studies, University of Plymouth ADVERTISING Peter Foxton For information about advertising through Ocean formerly Natural Environment Research Council Challenge, please contact the Executive Secretary of (Marine Sciences) the Society at the address given on the inside back Keith Harrison cover. The Ray Society AVAILABILITY OF BACK ISSUES Tim Jickells For information about back issues of Ocean School of Environmental Sciences, Challenge, please contact the Executive Secretary of University of East Anglia the Society at the address given on the inside back John Jones cover. University College, London INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS Bill Prior-Jones Ocean Challenge is published three times a year. Specialist in Applied Marine Science The subscription (including postage by surface mail) John Scott is £70.00 ($133) per year for libraries and other Defence Research Agency, Winfrith institutions. New subscriptions, renewals and information about changes of address should be sent Hjalmar Thiel to Parjon Information Services, PO Box 144, Alfred-Wegener-lnstitut fur Polar-und- Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 2YX, UK. Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany Bill Turrell DATA PROTECTION ACT, 1984 (UK) Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department Under the terms of this Act, you are informed that this magazine is sent to you through the use of a computer-based mailing list. The views expressed in Ocean Challenge are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Printed in the UK by Halstan & Co. Ltd, Challenger Society or the Editor. Amersham, Bucks

0 Challenger Society for Marine Science, 1999 ISSN 0959-0161 CONTENTS

2 Foundation of the EFMS 3 News and Views 8 Progress with Aufosub: The Bermuda '98 Expedition Gwyn Griffiths 11 Not too big, not too small ... Why medium-sized research ships will be the workhorses for shelf- oceanography in the coming decades Ed Hill 14 The Island Trust: Changing Lives for the Better Dick Lloyd 16 Now, there's a funny thing ... John Wright 18 Investigating the Deep Ocean Benthic Boundary Layer - From Huxley to BENBO Kevin Black 24 Modelling the North Atlantic: How DYNAMO is pointing the way to improvements in predictive power Adrian New 29 From Astronomy to Oceanography: A Brief History of Bidston Observatory J. Eric Jones 35 Book Reviews 38 Multimedia 39 Letters to the Editor 40 Forthcoming Events

Most of the figures and maps for this issue were drawn by John Taylor of the Cartography Office of the Department of Earth Sciences at the Open University. The cover and the titles of feature articles were designed by Ann Aldred Associates. The European Federation of Science Prof. John Simpson and Technology Marine Societies (for UK societies) was formally created in Paris on and Prof. Thomas Hopner (for the 11 December 1998, when delegates Deutsche Gesell- from seven European countries schaft fur Meeres- signed the 'Act of Creation of EFMS' forschung, Germany) under statutes of French Law. signing the Act of Creation This signing ceremony was the of EFMS. culmination of a process which The other national started in 1992 with an informal represen fa tives were: contact by the Union des Oceano- Dr Amiard (UOF, graphes de France with three other France), Dr jaspers European associations: the Deutsche (IZWO, Belgium), Dr Kivimaa (SMTSR, Gesellschaft fur Meeresforschung Finland), Dr (DGM), the Challenger Society for Dassenakis (GOA, Marine Science (CSMS) and the Greece), Prof. Associazione ltaliana di Oceanografia Albertelli (AIOL, e Limnologia (AIOL), at an annual Italy), and Elisabet scientific meeting of the UOF. The Fogelqvist (SH, Sweden) participants agreed the importance of developing close working relation- ships between their societies, and of mutual exchange of information. Two years later, the Challenger Society proposed to the various associations a charter for European marine science organizations. This was ratified by the UOF during its France (Union des Oceanographes de France, UOF) General Assemblv.,, and the idea of a The Objectives federation was thus launched. In Germany (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur of the EFMS 1996 the CSMS invited European Meeresforschung, DGM) scientists to its biennial conference in Greece (Creek Oceanographers' * To contribute to the advance- Bangor at which there were discus- Association, GOA) ment of research and education sions between the CSMS and DGM in Marine Science and Tech- Italy (Associazione ltaliana di which led to an agreement on sup- nology. Oceanologia e Limnologia, AIOL) porting the development of a Federa- United Kingdom (Challenger * To disseminate information tion. But in spite of continued regular and to promote the advance- Society for Marine Science, CSMS; exchange of information, it was not ment of Marine Science and Society for Underwater Technology, until September of 1997 at the Technology in Europe. General Assembly of the DGM in SUT; Marine Biological Association Hamburg, to which the UOF and the of the UK, MBA; Scottish Associa- For these purposes the Federation Challenger Society were invited, that tion for Marine Sciences, SAMS) undertakes: further progress was made. During Sweden (Svenska Havsforsknings- A To address jointly European that meeting, it was agreed to launch foreningen, SH) issues of common interest. the new European Federation of A To make known the philoso- Marine Science and Technology The first President of EFMS, for phies and needs of its members. Societies in 1998, appropriately 1999, is Professor Lucien Laubier, designated the UN Year of the Ocean. and the General Secretary at the A To promote the development of ~urthermeetings to discuss statutes French Office is Dr Jean-Francois Marine Science and Technology. were held in Paris and at Boulogne- Pavilion. A To promote the contribution of sur-Mer, and the concept of a Federa- Marine Science and Technology tion was advertised to the participants to European Union research of MAST days in Lisbon, in 1998. programmes. The Federation's registered office is A To assist the European Union At present, eight countries are located at: in obtaining technical advice members of EFMS, either as full lnstitut Oc6anographiquet from members of the Federation. members or as observers. They are: 195, rue Saint-Jacques, A To provide a permanent Belgium (Instituut voor Zeeweten- F-75005 Paris, France. network between Marine Science schappelijk onderzoek, IZWO) Tel. +33-(0)l-44-32-10-84; and Technology societies and a Finland (Suomen Meriteen la Fax: +33-(0)l-40-51-73-16; Email: common, but not unique, Tekniikan Seura Ry, SMTSR) 100670.61 [email protected] gateway to each of these societies and their national networks.

2 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 News an

Salinity and the Origin of Life rich atmosphere: could its ocean I Those nanobe-bearing rocks are have been a (mainly) sodium car- Cretaceous, so the petroleum in Could the development of multi- bonate solution, like today's East them cannot be older than -1 50 Ma cellular life have been hindered by African soda lakes? at most; and oil is pretty rare in high salinity in the primitive ocean? rocks older than about Devonian The Earth has always had an ocean, How high would the global average (-400 Ma). The discovery of hydro- to be sure, but can we be equally salinity need have been to inhibit carbon-bearing fluid inclusions in confident that the total quantity of evolution in that way? The proposi- Archaean sand-stones (-3 000 Ma water in the global water inventory tion has been made that all of the old) is therefore both new and has remained more or less constant salt presently in evaporite deposits interesting (Nature, 1998, 395, 885- throught geological time? Perhaps it was once in the , so they 7). New, because the oldest rocks has been slowly increasing through were once much more saline than previously found to contain traces of net additions of juvenile water from they are now (Nature, 395, 1998, oil are about half that age, and the Earth's interior and/or via 564-5). interesting because this very ancient cometary impacts. Or perhaps any fossil oil may contain biomarkers Globally, there are around 1016 gains have been offset by losses that can provide information about tonnes of eva~orites.and if all of through photolytic dissociation of Archaean life-forms, which are - to that went back into the oceans, H20, the hydrogen escaping and the say the least-not plentiful as fossils. salinity would go up to 40-45 g I-', oxygen (in part as OH-) being saltier than the Red Sea but much sequestrated in oxidation reactions. Indeed, the fossil record remains less salty than the Dead Sea. Salts Meantime, the suggestion that neither plentiful nor diverse until of marine origin are also dissolved the Cambrian explosion that her- in groundwater, of which there is salinity changes could have been implicated in the Cambrian 'explo- alded the dawn of metazoan life, presently about 1.5 x 1016 t - some which may or may have been two order of magnitude less water sion' of metazoan life seems to be as good as any of the others that have triggered by a fall in than in the oceans. If the 'marine' salinity to below some critical value salts in groundwater were returned been proposed, such as changes in nutrient concentrations, growth of (see previous item). Be that as it to the oceans, average salinity could may, a 'living fossil' from that event rise by a few more g I-', to perhaps shelf sea areas, or increasing 02:C02 ratios in the atmosphere. has recently been identified The 50 g I-' (but only if the average existence of 'acoels', very primitive salinity of groundwater were several marine flatworms, has been known times that of seawater). Nanobes, Ancient Oil, and the to science for over a hundred years, Salinity was high in the early ocean, Oldest Living Flatworm and scientists have now established the story goes, because there wasn't just how primitive some of them enough continental crust to accom- A few years ago there was enor- really are. For example, acoels pass modate either evaporite deposits or mous excitement when minute directly from egg to adult without an groundwater, at least until about structures in a meteorite fragment intervening larval stage, and al- 2.5 Ga (2.5 x lo9years) ago. Only from Mars were interpreted as though (in common with other then could salinity begin to decrease possible fossilised ancient life- bilaterally symmetrical animals) to the levels necessary for develop- forms. Among the many arguments they possess a mesoderm, they have ment of metazoans (multicellular put forward by scientists sceptical no true gut. They were originally organisms), modern varieties of of this interpretation was that the classified among the Platy- which can't tolerate salinities putative Martian 'bugs' were an helminthes, along with virtually all greater than about 50g I-'. order of magnitude smaller than any other marine flatworms, but elucida- bacteria known on Earth. But only. tion of their DNA sequences sug- Can the converse be argued with the other day we read of 'sub- gests that at least a couple of equal plausibility? Weathering and microscopic fibres' on clay mineral species of acoels branched off very volcanism continually supply (illite) particles in an Australian early indeed from an ancestral dissolved constituents to seawater, oilfield drill core. They've been animal. They may be one of the so might salinity be expected to called 'nanobes' despite uncertainty closest (and would certainly be the increase gradually over geological over their status as life-forms; and oldest) living representatives of the time, were it not for removal of salts they did appear to be composed of first bilaterally symmetrical organ- into evaporites and groundwater? C, N, and 0 (presumably also H), isms on Earth (much older than the Moreover, both evaporites and were non-crystall ine and apparently 'oldest living fossil' commonly cited saline groundwaters are being showed signs of filamentous by palaeontologists, the brachiopod recycled back into the oceans all the growth. There is some question Lingula). The article reporting these time, by weathering and seepage, at about whether these things were researches (Science, 1999,283, rates that may or may not balance really inside the rocks or whether 1823-4, 191 9-23) does not mention 'new' supplies of dissolved constitu- they infected the core samples in the fossil record of acoels. but since ents. the lab. However, that doesn't they are soft-bodied animals they Incidentally, it seems to be assumed really matter, if they do turn out to could onlv be reserved under in all discussions about Earth be life-forms. Whatever their special cdnditibns, such as those history, that the ocean has always provenance, their minute size will that provided science with the been a (mainly) sodium chloride provide a boost for those who remarkable Burgess Shale assem- solution. The early Earth had a C0,- believe there was once life on Mars. blage in British Columbia.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 On Coelacanth Migrations and one another, the fact is that they two weeks earlier on average. probably separated some tens of Northward migrations of species are the Perils of being a Living thousands of years ago, perhaps also observed. Animals and plants Fossil more, for they have been assigned not previously seen in Britain are to different species: L. chalumnae now establishing footholds here, The newly discovered Sulawesi off the Comoros, L. manadoensis while large numbers of basking population of ceolacanths in the off Sulawesi (in the Celebes Sea). sharks and other relatively warm western Pacific (Ocean Challenge, The Sulawesi population is water marine animals have recently Vol. 8, No.3, p.13) is unlikely to be believed to be both larger and been observed in British waters. isolated from the much better genetically more diverse than the Meanwhile, on the other side of the known Comoros population in the Comoros population, which may world, Antarctic chinstrap penguins western Indian Ocean. Arnold number no more than 500 or so were recently reported to be breed- Gordon and others (e.g. Nature, individuals. It is thus especially ing on Signy Island, well south of 395, p.634) have established that vulnerable to overfishing, not least their normal breeding grounds in there is an oceanographic connec- because of the quaint notion that the somewhat warmer latitudes of tion between the two regions via the as the coelacanth has 'cheated Chile and Argentina. South Equatorial Current, at least for extinction' it must possess some surface and water (the Even for those philistines who ingredient that confers everlasting upper 400m of the , welcome global warming because it life (or at least a longer one). deep enough for coelacanths). The means they'll be able to have the Apparently, Comoros fishermen South Equatorial Current flows west- barbecue going on the lawn at are aid to hunt the coelacanth ward throughout the year, whereas Christmas, it isn't all good news. bechse a few grams of its spinal the eastward flowing Equatorial Britain may have had its sunniest fluid sells for thousands of dollars Countercurrent lies further north, winter for ten years and 1998 may in Japan. flows only during the North-East have been the hottest year since Monsoon, and may not always be an There is something faintly ironic 1860, but much of the rest of ocean-wide feature. about a living fossil that gets to be Europe suffered its worst winter classified as an endangered since the 1940s. Few of us can It is tempting to suppose that the species. But if the coelacanths in have forgotten the harrowing stories western Pacific population could be the Celebes Sea do prove to be of avalanche victims in the French 'parental' to the Comoros popula- more numerous than those off the and Austrian Alps for instance - and tion, but that is too simplistic, Comoros, they may not be so they were not alone: the trail of because it ignores the long history endangered after all - especially winter destruction extended from of this living fossil. The coelacanth as Japan is much closer to the Carpathians to the Pyrenees. (Latimeria) was thought to have Sulawesi than it is to the Comoros! been extinct since the Cretaceous There is now also some concern (which ended c. 65 Ma ago), until a that disease bugs are migrating live specimen was caught off the northwards as the global climate Comoros Islands in 1938. Global Warmin Sets warms, that northern Europeans Organisms on t! e March ... may soon be afflicted with tropical The distribution of land and sea, diseases like malaria. It is worth and hence of current systems, is There was a lot of media and press reminding ourselves that climate nowadays very different from what it brouhaha earlier this vear about the change is not new, nor are con- effects of global warming in Alaska was at the time of the coelacanth's comitant species migrations. supposed extinction. The Mozam- and the Arctic. North of the Arctic Organisms have always migrated bique Straits already existed at the Circle, average temperatures have back and forth across latitude risen something like 3 "C in the last end of the Cretaceous and there was zones, as the Earth's surface has probably an embryonic Comoros 30 years, and winters have become alternately warmed up and cooled two weeks shorter over the same Island group there. On the other down. The difference now is that as hand, the western Pacific is a period. Glaciers are retreating and we overpopulate the planet we Arctic sea-ice cover is 20-30% complex of micro-continental increasingly destroy the habitats of fragments and island arcs and thinner than it used to be. Less ice those organisms, with the result that means a lower albedo and greater that is mostly younger migration may lead to extinction. than about 50 Ma. Some of the absorption of solar radiation, so the microcontinental rocks are Creta- process is likely to accelerate. And and Unfreezes Cold War ceous or older, and cannot have since much of the melting ice is ... been in their present positions at the land ice, it will contribute to global Secrets sea-level rise. Early summers-are end of the Cretaceous. Also, at that Hidden in the small print of some of also adversely affecting terrestrial time there was still a 'Tethyan those press accounts of climate and marine food chains, to the Ocean', a major seaway north of change and its effects were brief, detriment of both wildlife and the India and Africa (and a long way almost passing, mentions of strange north of Madagascar), linking the (declining) populations of indig- signals picked up by NATO sub- enous peoples who depend upon Pacific to the Atlantic. marines patrolling Arctic waters. hunting for survival. In short, the question of where Tantalisingly brief though the Latimeria populations have been Shorter winters are not occurring reports were they gave the distinct hiding for the last 65 Ma - and how only in Arctic regions. Spring now impression that when the signals they got to be where they are now - also arrives sooner in northern were processed the messages turned remains wide open. However, while Europe than it did in the 1960~~ out to be in Russian and related to the two coelacanth populations may with many animal and plant species technology and operational proce- not in principle be isolated from breeding and flowering 10 days to dures current during the tense Cold

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 War years of the 1960s. Some harder to detect and track using ... What about El Nino then? readers may recall learning a few sonar. This is a strategy that will be years ago of a group of Arctic familiar to designers of submarines, The received wisdom in standard explorers who reported hearing and is not unrelated to the idea texts is that coral reefs are less brief snatches of conversation that behind the design of stealth bomb- common along the low-latitude seemed to come unbidden out of ers; though the scale of 'roughness' eastern coasts of major ocean the surrounding air, and apparently of the surface has to be orders of basins because these are regions of related to an earlier expedition. The magnitude smaller to 'foil' radar of cold water in eastern explorers could only conclude that than to outwit sonar. boundary currents. It seemed a good enough reason for most they were hearing fragments of For more about these last two items see 1. speech that had somehow been people, but at the 1999 Lyell Acoustic and Defence Studies, 477, No. 1, Meeting, Peter Glynn of Miami 'frozen' into the Arctic air, to be April 1999, pp.42-3 and 66-84. released again with the onset of University suggested that El Niiio spring. At the time, few people could be the cause of the 'depaup- gave this bizarre notion much Coral Bleachin - is Global erate coral fauna and meagre reef attention, let alone credence, and development in the eastern tropical Warming to b19 ame? Pacific'. In essence, his argument some even suggested it was a hoax. But this latest development has Global warming cannot be respon- is that corals can grow in this region despite the upwelling, that given us pause for thought. sible for killing off coral reefs all over the world, as press headlines coral reefs would become extensive Is it not inconceivable that either persistently claim. Corals do of were it not for the hammering they acoustic or radio signals (or both?) course become severely stressed get every few years when El Niiio could somehow have become and expel their zooxanthellae 'heats' the water. Subsequent frozen into the ice as it formed (hence the 'bleaching') when water recovery is hindered because of during Arctic winters of three or temperatures exceed about 30 OC; bio-erosion, as echinoids and four decades ago, a time when the and in places like the Seychelles bivalves pick over the dead and Cold War was at its most frigid? and Australia's Barrier Reef, tem- dying coral in search of food. Now that global warming is causing peratures recently reached 33 "C. One problem with this proposition the ice-edge in the Arctic Ocean to However, it seems inconceivable is an apparent consensus that retreat further north each year - and that in the 400 or so million years nutrient-rich upwelling water is bad the permanent pack-ice cover to of coral evolution surface water for corals, partly because it's a bit thin progressively - the signals are temperatures have not fluctuated by cold, but chiefly because it can being released from cold storage, so several degrees on time-scales of a stimulate the growth of benthic to speak. few years or decades. Data from algae, which may smother the What is perhaps most intriguing sediments and ice-cores suggest coral. In addition, it seems that about this story is that it got such that such fluctuations were common corals themselves can't really cope brief mention in the public prints, during the last few tens to hundreds with sustained high nutrient levels - suggesting that Govenment and the of thousands of years - so they after all, they've evolved to recycle military establishment are reluctant cannot have been all that rare in spare resources efficiently. So to release the information. Surely the preceding hundreds of millions n-ormal non-El NiAo years wouldn't that is nonsense. What possible of years. Yet there is no record of be all that good for corals anyway, harm could be done by releasing global coral wipe-outs other than and stronger La Niiia years would even military-industrial secrets during the major mass extinction be even worse. Indeed, it is sur- from what is by now a long bygone events that decimated the rest of the prising that there are any coral reefs age? Still, you can never be sure. planet's biota too. in the eastern tropical Pacific at all. And what about the eastern tropical Perhaps it is not the messages Heat stress by itself surely cannot Atlantic? Not many coral reefs there themselves but the technology be new to corals. But when pollu- either, but surely that can't be behind them that the authorities are tion and habitat disruption - not to ascribed to the influence of ENS0 reluctant to reveal. Could it be that say destruction by coastal devel- - events? government scientists are even now opment, sediment disturbance, investigating a newly discovered industrial fishing, and tourism are field of cryoacoustics, with a view added, the combination can prove Re-using Old Cables to future military advantage? fatal. A further savage twist to this As long ago as 1991 (Val. 2, Winter, sorry tale is that the pollution we pp.6-7) we reported on proposals for produce includes not only toxic using redundant under-sea communi- Stealth Fish chemicals, excess nutrients and cation cables for deep-sea research. other substances, but also viruses In the last issue of Ocean Challenge Original ideas covered a range of and bacteria. We are making corals (Vol. 8, No.3, p.13) we reported on oceanographic monitoring activities and ill, not simply poisoning or smoth- the postulate that the average size instruments attached to the cables: sea- ering them or blowing them up. In of mature cod is decreasing in bed current meters, pressure gauges, response to selective pressures light of all this, it is surely disin- acoustic and seismic sensors, tempera- caused by overfishing. We have genuous to finger global warming as ture and conductivity sensors, and so now learned that in certain herring the culprit. Humans are certainly to on. Seismometers attached to the cable populations, scales in the dorsal blame for coral extermination, but between Hawaii and California are area of many individual fishes are we aren't doing it by anthropogenic now being used to monitor submarine finely divided, giving them a fibrous global warming alone. earthquakes, and it is hoped to extend texture, and making them a 'softer the coverage by making similar use of target' acoustically, and hence other retired cables.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 Shoring u Britain's Coasts cliffs with concrete piles and humans but is unlikely to benefit - armouring the shoreline with huge ecosystems which have evolved Where wr1 I it end? blocks of rock brought over from over millions of years to adapt to a day-night cycle that varies over the Almost every month - sometimes Norway. The taxpayer will foot the course of the year. more often - we learn of yet an- bill, but the locals hope the opera- tion itself will be dramatic enough other sea-side community in peril On the other hand, we may owe to attract more summer visitors. from the sea along Britain's south America's Vice-President an apol- and east coasts. The continuing They had better also be hoping that ogy for calling his 'inspirational' saga of cliff-hanging real estate is the works don't shift wave and tidal satellite a nutty idea. Although it is occasionally enlivened by tales of current patterns so that they wash still intended to be (as we reported) expensive house moves (e.g. Bell away the village's precious beach, 'a beacon for environmental aware- Tout lighthouse near Beachy Head), the centrepiece of its tourist trade. ness and science education', it will but mostly we see pictures of Perhaps they ought to visit Mine- also carry instruments for monitor- buildings collapsing into the sea head, where raising the sea-wall ing the global radiation budget. (Holbeck Hall near Scarborough is and building to prevent Funds for the project (called Triana) perhaps the best known of recent future storm damage resulted only have been approved, despite years). in diverting the tidal currents which scepticism in some circles about its The sea has been eroding these stripped all the sand from its scientific value. coasts for centuries and the rate of 'golden' beach ('the jewel in its retreat may well have increased in tourist crown'), leaving an intertidal area consisting mostly of mud. Data-gathering for Improved the last 20-30 years (as many cliff- Management of the Solent top residents claim). Erosion rates Further west, people who take are likely to increase, as melting ice boulders from beaches to put in Southampton Institute has begun a sheets and glaciers and thermal their gardens may face prosecution long-term tidal and weather monitor- expansion of the oceans ensure that for theft. So far, it is only the ing project which will provide infor- sea-level goes on rising - and National Trust that threatens such mation vital for sound management of global warming is likely to make action, with specific reference to the Solent region. The Institute's winters stormier too, which will the SSSl at Porth Nanven (Corn- Maritime Faculty has installed a data exacerbate the problems. wall), where the boulders are said station at the end of Warsash Jetty, and What is to be done? There is a of be of glacial origin. It could be this automatically logs water and growing body of opinion that it is the thin end of the wedge, but as weather conditions every 15 minutes, pointless to continue almost liter- we noted in a recent issue (Vo1.8, around the clock. As data continue to ally pouring money into the sea to No.2, p.29), it makes sense not to flood in, it is hoped that an accurate, rescue that which is already remove boulders, shingle, sand, or long-term picture of local oceano- doomed. The more practical solu- even rubbish from beaches - graphic and meteorological conditions tion would seem to be a policy of especially not with bulldozers - will be built up. managed retreat, which allows the because it constitutes anthropo- A recent meeting of the Solent Forum sea to invade here and retreat there, genic erosion of natural coastal (Hampshire County Council's mouth- as sediment eroded from one stretch defences. It places the Scots in a bit piece for those concerned with the of coastline is re-deposited along of a dilemna, though, because their day-to-day management of the region) another. There could even be a net beaches are said to be the worst in concluded that long-term monitoring gain of land area, if sediment Britain for rubbish. Should they let of water quality in areas such as removed from steep cliffs is re- the rubbish degrade naturally Southampton Water was essential for deposited to form and/or augment (which could take years) and try to making good scientific sense of the salt marshes. educate people to Take Their Litter Home, or should they send in the environment, so that sound manage- The idea of surrendering land to the bulldozers and increase the local ment decisions could be made. This sea is understandably not favoured erosion rates? Perhaps they should was a view shared by representatives by people living on the edge, and do both, not least because Scot- of the Environment Agency. However, they clamour continuously that land's coasts are mostly carved out funding for such schemes is hard to ~overnmentmust do something. In of hard rocks that are fairly resistant obtain, often because of problems in times gone by, when villages were to pummelling by the waves. identifying definite research outcomes. self-contained (and perhaps largely By combining a research angle with a self-sufficient) fishing and agricul- valuable teaching resource, the tural communities with relatively Suckers for Satellites - Maritime Faculty has secured funding simple needs and small populations, Not so funny after all and installed this first phase of moni- people could up sticks and retreat toring. It is hoped that the range of as the sea encroached - an early It very quickly turned out to too parameters can soon be extended to form of managed retreat! Such an much to hope that the Mad Russian chemical and biological variables. option is no longer possible, now Scientists' plan to put a mirror into that income accrues more from space would come to nothing The station logs tidal height, water holiday homes and the tourist trade (Ocean Challenge, Vol. 8, No. 2, temperature and salinity, air tempera- than from fishing and farming. Only p.29). An attempt to launch the ture and pressure, and wind direction a month or two ago the Guardian 25 m solar reflector in February and speed, and weekly samples are ran a story about Runswick Bay, a failed for technical reasons, but the taken for phytoplankton abundance small coastal village near Whitby, Russians are evidently determined and population composition. This where it is proposed to spend to keep trying. The idea is to bring station represents one of the first nearly f2.5 million on a scheme light to Arctic regions of winter attempts to acquire such long-term, which will include reinforcing the darkness, which may be fine for high resolution data in this area. It

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 also links up with more recent similar to swim in. For a Blue Flag award, monitoring stations established the following must be available: further up Southampton Water, by the Cafe or restaurant, shop, toilets, SOC, and off Littlehampton, as run by public transport, supervision, first aid, Aran District Council. and public telephones within easy The information gathered will help access (an emergency phone is not research into water movement, enough). Professor Stephen Hawkins of the pollution, and the ecology of estuar- 0 Adequate life-saving equipment School of Biological Sciences at the ies. For example, it is hoped that the located at 100-200m intervals along University of Southampton has been data will help scientists further the beach. understand the links between tidal appointed as the new Director of the Marine Biological Association. He processes and algal growth in the * Daily beach supervision by person- will take up his position at the estuary. The movement of nutrients nel clearly identifiable by a distinc- tive uniform. beginning of October. throueh" the estuarine svstem is also of interest to the people involved in the Do you know of a Blue Flag beach Dr Ed Hill has been appointed as project. At the same time as providing and if so, how well does it measure Director of the Centre for Coastal a research resource it is also returning up to these criteria? and Marine Sciences Proudman data, which is of prime importance to Oceanographic Laboratory. Ed was the teaching of the Faculty's Marine A possibly more serious question is previously a Senior Lecturer at the Environmental Science degree. this: Can beaches that are nature School of Ocean Sciences, Univer- reserves (or are near a nature reserve sity of Wales, Bangor. Paul Wright and/or SSSI) be awarded Blue Flag, Project Co-ordinator, status, if although clean they are Dr Howard Roe has been Acting Southampton Institute otherwise lacking in the facilities Director of the Southampton listed above. An example of just such Oceanography Centre since the a beach is Llandwyn on Anglesey. Is beginning of April. Howard was Criteria for Blue Flag Award that appropriate? What would happen previously Deputy Director of SOC, to the nature reserve/SSSI were all and Head of the George Deacon It seems that Blue Flag status can only those facilities to become available? Divsion. The previous Director, Prof. be conferred on a beach when certain Is this something about which the John Shepherd, has completed his criteria have been fulfilled, apart of Challenger Society could or should five-year term, and has become the course from the over-arching require- have an opinion? Director of a new Earth System ment that the water be clean enough Modelling Initiative at SOC.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 7 with Autosu uda '98 Ex

/ Diary entry for 22 Aug. '98 Autosub. This can only be done when to sense its height above the sea floor. it's in the water. Ken, an accomplished Here, we were not expecting it to find St George's, Bermuda swimmer, dons his lifejacket, and the sea floor; it is just too deep. But it It is 7.30 a.m. Stepping into the air- working from a small inflatable, should indicate 'bottom not found'. conditioned laboratory aboard the RV adroitly fixes the small package to the Instead, sometimes, it was registering Weatherbird I1 feels like an instant submarine. 0.5 m. The vehicle is clever enough not to dive in such ridiculously transportation from the humid heat of Mission 136 is about to start - our first shallow waters, but not quite clever Bermuda to the dry cold of the Arctic. Bermuda mission. It is planned to last enough to know that 0.5 m just isn't I arrived at the Bermuda Biological an hour, making runs at fixed depths possible out here! Station for Research (BBSR) late last for 10 minutes, in a staircase pattern night via New York. The safety down to 255 m. All goes exactly to Problem corrected, missions 141 and briefing will be taking place in a plan. We realize, almost in passing, 142 proceed according to plan. We moment; the fresh coffee helps to that the vehicle has been deeper than achieve 400m in a succession of wake me up. I've joined the Autosub it has been before. Our previous best dives over tracks of 4 km and 12 km - team for the first leg of an expedition was 21 0 m, off Florida. almost an anticlimax. Not for us the that will take the autonomous under- exuberance of a Bob Ballard. In some water vehicle deeper and further than The next planned mission is to a depth ways, that is a pity, for our achieve- it has ever been before. of 400 m. Mission 137 starts well with a dive to 1Om, but the vehicle rises ment is real and significant, if not The waters around this British colony immediately to the surface. Much particularly televisual. Recovery of of Bermuda are particularly well scratching of heads. Data are dumped the vehicle in the dark at 9 p.m. studied. Back in 1954, an American, from the vehicle to the Weatherbird proves difficult, the sea and Henry Stommel from Woods Hole, via a radio link, hypotheses are put combine to make it a risky operation. initiated a programme of ocean forward, argued, and dismissed. Test Far safer, we decide, to tow the observations at a site 24 km offshore, missions are programmed to find vehicle to sheltered waters. We dock now known as 'Hydrostation S'. This which of the remaining possible at 1.30a.m. I try not to think that it is time-series continues to be undertaken problems could be to blame. Two 5.30 in the morning back home. The by the BBSR and has helped to focus hours later we have the answer. sense of achievement helps -the other monitoring activities at Ber- Autosub-7 uses an acoustic altimeter team spirit has been tremendous. muda: the US IGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time Series stations (since 1988), and the Bermuda Testbed (since 1994). Continuity of observations is critical for long-term research into changes within the ocean. For a number of years, autonomous underwater vehicles - AUVs - have promised to be a cost-efficient way of making routine observations. One of our objectives in taking Autosub-1 to Bermuda was to show that the prom- ise could now be realized. Working with Dr Tony Knap, Director of BBSR, the Autosub team conceived the expedition in January 1997, and with support from the US National Science Foundation, here we are. There is a swell. Hurricane 'Bonnie' is some 800 km away and just about to deluge North Carolina. There is a local wind too. We set sail at 09.00 and by noon we are in 2000 m of water and ready to deploy the vehicle. Autosub- 7 is nearly 7 m long and weighs over a tonne-and-a-half in air. The crew manage to keep the vehicle from swinging as it is lifted from its cradle and over the stern. Now comes a tricky operation: two associates from Florida Atlantic University need to attach a very sensitive turbulence Autosub off sensor right on the very nose of Bermuda

8 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 Forthcoming Autosub Science Missions

Fisheries and plankton acoustics, and oceanographic investigation of impenetrable environments (USIPS: Under Sea-ice and Pelagic Surveys) (June-July, 1999; 0ct.-Dec., 2000) Andrew Brierley and Mark Brandon (British Antarctic Survey) /John Simmonds (Scottish Office) Antarctic marginal ice zone (MIZ) study * Quantification and comparison of the abundance and distribution of Antarctic krill within the MIZ and outside it, and investigatation of krill behaviour under ice in relation to ice topography. * Measurements of thickness of Antarctic sea-ice over a scale of tens of kilometres. * Measurements of irradiance under Antarctic pack ice. Fisheries surveys * Increasing the accuracy and precision of the annual North Sea herring acoustic survey. * Investigating the magnitude of vessel avoidance by herring during the annual North Sea acoustic survey. * Observing surface schools of herring during the annual North Sea acoustic survey.

Spatial variability of bottom turbulence over a linear sandbank: effects on the vorticity field and the evolution of bottom topography (Aug.-Sept., 1999; Jan.-March, 2000) Mike Collins and George Voulgaris (SOC) * Spatial mapping of bottom stress in strong tidal flows over a linear sand bank in the southern North Sea. * Using the measurements to understand the role of bottom stress in controlling the bedform-scale flow and sediment transport patterns and the processes that maintain the shoal.

Measurement of dissolved and particulate manganese and oxygen, and the relationship to biogeo- chemical benthic activity, in hypoxic basins of Loch Etive and Loch Fyne (0ct.-Nov., 1999; April, 2000) Julian Overnall and Kevin Black (Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory) / Chris German and Peter Statham (SOC) * Three-dimensional measurements of the distribution of manganese and oxygen concentations, and of light-scattering, as an aid to understanding the Mn cycle at different times during the isolation of the bottom waters of the two sea-lochs. * Observing the spatial and temporal variability of Mn distributions in relation to physical features and possible anthropo- genic and biological activity. * Correlating the measurements with sediment ground-truth observations and measurements by means of a model.

Analysis of single cells and particles in estuarine waters and in the English Channel (SSCAPA: Subsur- face Single Cell and Particle Analysis) (Aug.-Sept., 2000) Alex Cunningham (University of Strathclyde) /Peter Burkill (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) * A submersible flow cytometer will be constructed and installed in Autosub in order to study the speciation, distribution and dynamic behaviour of organic and inorganic marine particles in the 1-1 00pm size range.

Studies of sonar and turbulence in the upper ocean (Jan.-March, 2000) Steve Thorpe (SOC) and Tom Osborn (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA) * Measurement of the horizontal structure, including isotropy, of turbulence dissipation and fine-scale temperature variability, its variation with depth in the upper 10m of the water column, and its relation to breaking waves and wind speed. * Establishing the time-history of turbulent dissipation following the generation of turbulence by breaking waves. Measurement of the structure of dissipation within bubble bands produced by . Examining the variation of turbulence in the upper ocean mixed layer in response to straining. * Measurement of turbulence in the thermocline and relating it to local features such as internal waves.

Novel measurements in the Straits of Sicily (May-June, 2000) David Smeed and John Allen (SOC) * High-resolution surveys of flows through straits and over sills, using the terrain-following and mission-programming capability of Autosub. * Measurements of the spatial variability of turbulence, both in the upper ocean and over sills. * Measurement of the overflow of the sill in the Sicilian Channel, allowing a much improved understanding of exchanges between the eastern and western Mediterranean, and contributing to our knowledge of the changing ocean climate in the eastern Mediterranean.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 9 For the Bermuda expedition Steve surface to a depth of 195 m, and box- What next for Autosub? McPhail led the Autosub team which pattern surveys at fixed depths, and Following Autosub's return to the UK comprised Peter Stevenson, James showed the feasibility of an AUV after its triumphant trials in Bermuda, Perrett, Miles Pebody and Andy leaving harbour under its own the vehicle has been completely Webb. Drs Manhar Dhanak and Ken control. The longest mission was stripped down for a thorough service Holoppa had joined us from Florida 34 km. Some 8 months later, the before a demanding and exciting set Atlantic University. Nick Millard, the longest mission was up to 11 0 km - of science missions beginning in April team leader, arrived the following not off Scotland, but off Florida, 1999 (see box on previous page). day, straight from his summer holiday. during the submarine's first venture The call for proposals in January 1998 outside the UK. for the Natural Environment Research Unfortunately, I had to return to the Council's Autosub Science Missions The Autosub programme has always UK before the final mission. Mission thematic programme was oversub- benefitted from close collaboration 145 at just over 50 hours, covered scribed, attracting over 20 applica- with a number of institutions in the 263 km and reached 504 m in a box- tions of which six have been funded. and-triangle survey pattern around UK and abroad. In this case, we were The delivery of new carbon-fibre funded by the US Office of Naval the Hydrostation S position. To our pressure vessels for the battery supply knowledge, no other self-propelled Research to run joint missions with in mid-1 999 will enable missions of our colleagues at Florida Atlantic autonomous underwater vehicle has up to 200 hours or 1000 km to be exceeded that range. University and their Ocean Explorer tackled and the depth-rating to be underwater vehicle. Ocean Explorer improved from 500m to 2500m. The A brief history of Autosub does not attempt to match the range 'new' vehicle will be known as missions or endurance targets of Autosub but Autosub-2. Between its launch in May 1996 and offers a highly flexible approach to the beginning of the Bermuda expedi- carrying different science payloads AUVs are no longer dreams or tion, Autosub-1 had completed 135 for short missions (up to 8 hours). engineering curiosities of limited missions. The first missions were in Despite some technical difficulties reliability. The quadrupling of the the safe environs of Empress Dock, arising from a circuit-board failure in range and endurance of Autosub-1 immediately adjacent to the South- Autosub, the objectives of the pro- each year over the last two years and ampton Oceanography Centre. Most gramme were nearly all met. Several the quadrupling scheduled for 19991 of the navigation and control features survey patterns in 'lawnmower' and 2000 is just one example of the rapid could be tested in what was, in effect, terrain-following modes were com- pace of change in this exciting a 400 m-long by 9 m-deep test tank. pleted in challenging conditions right technology. But, far more important, Step by step, mission complexity and at the inshore edge of the Florida marine scientists now have a new length were increased during a series Current, while gathering data from platform from which to gather much- of trials within Portland Harbour, three CTDs, an acoustic Doppler needed information. before graduating to the open sea off current profiler and a number of other Oban in April 1997. The excercises in sensors. Further reading the open sea were Autosub-1's formal Millard, N.W., Griffiths, G., Finnegan, acceDtance trials, which it ~assed G., McPhail, S.D., Meldrum, D.T., with'flying colou;~. The vehicle ran a Upper descent to 255m during Pebody, M., Perrett, J.R., Stevenson, number of different missions to Autosub mission 136 off Bermuda. P. and Webb, A.T. (1998) Versatile demonstrate profiling- from the sea- Lower Temoerature and salinity profiles autonomous submersibles - the I obtained du;ing the deploymeni. ' realising and testing of a practical vehicle, Underwater Technology, 0 r 23(1), 7-1 7. -:, 50- Griffiths, G., Millard, N.W., Pebody, M. 5 100- and McPhail, S.D. (1997) The end of research ships? Autosub an auto- $! 150- - ZJ nomous underwater vehicle for ocean g 200- science, Proc. Underwater Techno- 250 - logy International, April 1997, I I I Aberdeen, SUT, London, pp.349-62. 234.58 234.59 234.60 234.61 234.62 -. 234.63 234.64 Julian days Griffiths, G., McPhail, S.D., Rogers, R. and Meldrum, D.T. (1998) Leaving and returning to harbour with an autonomous underwater vehicle, Proceedings of Oceanology Inter- national '98, Brighton, Vol. 3, pp.75- 87, Spearhead Exhibitions Ltd. For the latest information on Autosub please visit our website at: http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/OTD/ cotdasub/asub. html

Gwyn Griffiths is Head of the Ocean Technology Division at the temperature 1°C) salinity Southampton Oceanography Centre.

10 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No, 1 ia, not too smaI

From the point of view of humanity's backs within the system, and 1. As we learn more about how impact on the sea, and the sea's coupling to the deep ocean. shelf systems work, and our model tests become more specific, there impact on humanity, continental This will require 'process studies' will be a trend towards more highly shelf are the most important within shelf systems - of, for exam- focussed process studies and parts of the marine environment. ple, interactions between zoo- measurements, directed at very In 1994, 2.1 billion people lived plankton and turbulence, boundary precise locations or times (e.g. at within 100 km of the sea, and layer dynamics, baroclinic (density- fronts, on specific sea-bed sub- coastal populations are the fastest driven) responses, suspended strates or habitats, at specific times growing. It is estimated that in the sediment dynamics and diffusion within the spring-neap cycle, and UK, El22 billion oftrade a year experiments. passes through our coastal seas. during post-storm events, algal Although they make up only 8% of To understand how the shelf-sea blooms and spawning periods).

the area of the world's oceans, system responds to change at O This means that we require a seas are responsi- seasonal, annual, decadal and flexibly operated platform to ble for up to 50% of primary longer time-scales, as well as to provide access to coastal seas for (phytoplankton) production and identify which parts of the system short durations, for highly targeted contain most of the world's fisher- are most sensitive to change, both sampling in space and/or time and ies. In 1997, Robert Constanza and natural and anthropogenic. for rapid-response and/or opportun- colleagues (Nature, 387, 253-60) O This will require measurement istic access. estimated that of the total global programmes sustained over long cash flow for 'ecosystem services' time-scales to provide baseline data 2. There is a move towards sus- more than one-third (US$12 trillion and to examine seasonal and inter- tained, long-term measurement a year) derives from coastal seas. annual variability and examine programmes in shelf seas, directed Shelves are also the locations of change at longer time-scales (e.g. at the detailed investigation of the major reserves of minerals, aggre- repeated seasonal hydrographic evolution of shelf systems over and hydrocarbons. observations; suspended sediment seasonal, annual and even decadal International treaty obligations, and plankton surveys; collection of time-scales. Such programmes such as the UN Convention on palaeo-shelf records; and long-term involve long-term monitoring of the Biodiversity, the UN Convention on measurement with regularly serv- shelf environment, and are a the Law of the Sea, Agenda 2 1 on iced moorings). reflection of the shift in the shelf- sustainable development signed at sea scientific agenda to processes the Rio Summit, and the Oslo and To test understanding and pro- acting over longer time-scales (e.g. Paris Convention, all place a duty vide predictive capability through changes in nutrient loading, on states to conduct and to docu- development of new generations of interannual variability of density ment research in, and to manage models (e.g. 3-D baroclinic coastal fields and circulation patterns, and effectively, the seas within their ocean models and ecosystem shifts in ecosystem regimes). own Exclusive Economic Zone or models) with ultimate applications Furthermore, we will continue to EEZ (large parts of which are over to water quality and fisheries need regular access to shelf seas the continental shelves). Without management, and also for use as economically, efficiently and concerted programmes of scientific research tools in answering complex flexibly in order to test and develop research in shelf seas, we will not scientific questions such as those new observational technologies and be in a position to understand, at a relating to internal couplings in the to provide training in research fundamental level, the natural and system (e.g. biophysical and methods at sea. biogeochemical interactions). anthropogenic changes that are O These activities mean that we occurring in these systems, and O This will require systematic require platforms to give us access such understanding is crucial for measurement programmes designed to shelf seas for frequently repeated underpinning their sustainable to provide critical tests of key (but perhaps short duration) experi- development. aspects of the performance of shelf ments and surveys, regular servic- models (e.g. thermocline develop- ing of moored instrumentation, New challenges for shelf-sea ment, fluxes in channels; also dense technology development and science water overflows, turbulence fields training. and coupling to the deep ocean). The three key challenges for shelf- These various requirements high- sea oceanography in the coming light distinctive elements in the decades and their consequent Implications for ship provision style of measurement required in observational requirements (given Out of these challenges and require- shelf-sea oceanography. On the below in italics) are: ments there emerge two sharply continental shelf, spatial changes To understand how the present defined trends that will determine (in, say the distribution of a plank- shelf-sea system functions - e.g. its the nature of future shelf-sea ton bloom) can happen more circulation regimes, ecosystems and measurement programmes. These quickly and over shorter distances biogeochemical cycling - including have direct implications for ship than in the open sea. Spatial the internal couplings and feed- provision (given below in italics): variability is often large, with

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 11 distinct dynamical regimes confined boats to large ocean-going vessels, the shelf and shelf edge) and the to regions with dimensions of just a so that different sampling styles small inshore vessels which are few tens of kilometres (e.g. regions may be matched to a range of confined to sheltered waters within of freshwater influence) and with regimes, from estuaries to semi- just a few miles of the coast and events occurring over short-time enclosed seas, and out to the operate as day boats, returning to scales (e.g. pulses of freshwater continental slope. Within this port each night. Only the medium- discharge, , storm events). spectrum, there is a particular sized ships offer the combination of need for medium-sized research a robust vessel, capable of working For logistical reasons, in remote ships (length 25-40m overall, with in the open sea for many days at a parts of the deep ocean, the empha- crews of less than ten). These have time, and crew numbers sufficiently sis has traditionally been on the the unique capacity to meet the small for economic running on a large 'one-off' cruise involving long above requirements flexibly and long-term basis. durations away from home with economically in inner-shelf and large scientific teams. To some semi-enclosed shelf regions. In The present UK research vessel extent, these habits have been particular, it is uneconomical for portfolio adopted in shelf seas, although it is frequently repeated, short duration becoming apparent that this style of Figure 2 (opposite) shows that there cruises to be conducted from large sampling for shelf waters is less are a large number of research/ ships, and their use in rapid- appropriate; nor is it a logistical survey vessels operating in the response mode is impractical as necessity. United Kingdom, but in practice rigid programming is required if many of these (e.g. naval vessels) It is true that for certain important they are to be operated economi- are not available to the academic aspects of shelf-sea research, large cally. On the other hand, small research community, and the ships (greater than 50m overall inshore vessels are also unsuitable fisheries vessels (which are almost length, with crews of about 20) are for the requirements set out above, completely committed to statutory essential, particularly in exposed because 24-hour working for monitoring and other research waters such as over the shelf edge, several days at a time is beyond the tasks) cannot take on large volumes or where very large multi- sea-going capabilities of such of academic research. The most disciplinary teams are needed. vessels. striking feature of Figure 2, how- However, as discussed above, Figure 1 shows clearly the contrast ever, is the size-polarization it continental shelf research generates between the large shelf-sea ships demonstrates, with most vessels a demand not just for a single class (capable of working for weeks at a being either less than 25 m long, or of ship but for an appropriate mix of time in the most exposed waters of greater than 50 m. In the crucial size classes, from small inshore day- medium size range there is very little capacity. There are various Figure 1 Only ships like Prince Madog and the new Celtic Voyager are sufficiently reasons for this size-polarization of robust to work in the open sea for many days at a time and yet can be sailed with the UK research vessel portfolio. In relatively small crews and so can be economically run over the long term. some cases, where institutions have

INSHORE VESSELS MEDIUM-SIZED VESSELS LARGE SHELF-SEA VESSELS

Prince Madog

Bernicia I elt tic Voyager

Scotia

12 Ocean Challenge, Vol.9, No. 1 I I I I I I I I

8-24.9 m (inshore) 25-49.9 m (coastal/shelf) 50-74.9 m (shelf/ocean margin) >75 m (deep ocean)

Figure 2 Histogram showing the size-distribution of UK research and survey vessels. absolutely central to our science, Bold indicates the vessel is primarily available to the academic research community we cannot afford to lose sight of the (i.e. operated by a university or research council). The numbers are the ages of the fact that what shelf-sea science vessels in years as of 1999. needs most of all is a balanced mix of ships - small inshore vessels nation with a pattern of short-cruise particular responsibility for exposed through to very large ocean-margin working to allow large multi- waters (around Scotland, for exam- vessels. The shelf is an integrated ple), the trend towards large vessels disciplinary teams. system extending from estuaries, is natural. In other cases, however, Aside from these logistical advan- lagoons and sea-lochs out across the drift towards use of larger tages, the shelf seas west of Britain the continental shelf to the shelf vessels has been less controlled, may be viewed as archetypal shelf edge/slope to the ocean margin, often occurring as a means of systems. For instance, they contain and the absence of any one size- making the smallest incremental examples of all the major shelf-sea class threatens to compromise shelf- budget cut as resources have physical domains - seasonally strat- sea oceanography. As far as shelf- tightened over time. ified water, tidally mixed, frontal sea ships are concerned, bigger does not necessarily mean better. Geographical considerations zones, cold pools, regions of fresh water influence, coastal currents, Exposure to prevailing weather in and fjords. They encompass a great Acknowledgements the open ocean means that not all variety of surficial sediments and This article is intended to convey to a areas of the world's coastal seas are have varied geological histories; wider audience the key elements of suitable for the operation of me- they also contain diverse ecosys- strategic thinking that underpin a bid dium-sized vessels. On the other tems and span the present extreme to the Joint Infrastructure Fund hand, the semi-enclosed seas of limits of distribution of important (submitted in December 1998) for a Europe, particularly those west of indicator species (e.g. Calanus), new medium-sized research ,vessel for Britain (the northern Celtic Sea, both of which are relevant in the the United Kingdom. I am grateful to English Channel, Bristol Channel, context of climate change. All many colleagues at Bangor and in the Irish Sea, Clyde Sea, Scottish sea- these aspects of the west-coast shelf rest of the UK marine science com- lochs and inner shelf), are ideally system are located within a limited munity for their comments and input. suited for the operation of such geographical area making them a ships, with short fetches, access to natural laboratory for shelf science. Ed Hill shelter, and short distances for 'weather-window' opportunities. Conclusion These waters are also served by This article was written while the the numerous low-cost ports, small This article has highlighted a problem author was at the School of Ocean harbours and anchorages not that faces shelf-sea oceanography. Science, Bangor, University of Wales. accessible to large research ships. Partly by accident and partly by Since then, he has moved to the Centre This can greatly enhance opera- design, the shelf community has for Coastal and Marine Sciences, tional flexibility, enabling rapid been lured into over-dependence on Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, change-over of personnel in combi- large ships. Whilst these are Bidston, where he is the new Director.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 13 The Island Trust Limited was formed in 1973 to enable disadvantaged children to learn from, and enjoy, sailing. In 1993, the Trust pur- chased the Provident from the Maritime Trust, who had recently carried out a major refit on her. The Provi, as she is affectionately known, is one of the last four Brixham trawlers still sailing in UK waters. From this year, three of the trawlers - the Provi, the Leader and the Vigilance - will be based at Brixham, while the other, Kenya Jacaranda (formerly Torbay Lass), is based on the Thames. It is appropri- ate that these wonderful old sailing boats should be based at the port where the sailing trawler was born in the early to middle decades of Island Trust beneficiaries sailing a 'Wayfarer' dinghy with an instructor the nineteenth century. training their beneficiaries, who trainees are kept occupied in The tall gaff rig which gave these - include the visually and aurally activities that require them to fishing boats the power to trawl the -handicapped, youngsters from cooperate and, once completed, sea-bed, and the speed to get them special needs schools, and those give a sense of achievement to back to land from far out at sea, from very deprived backgrounds. those involved. The crew are also with the fish in good condition - involved in the maintenance and stands them in good stead as sail- There is plenty of room on deck for day to day running of the boat. training vessels. When the Provi the crew to attend to the various When visually impaired chidren are came on the market, the Trustees tasks, and teamwork is needed if on board, a specially designed immediately identified her as an the sails are to be hoisted and compass is used; this shows the appropriate boat for sail-training lowered successfully. Thus the helmsman the course to steer on a purposes, especially suitable for large TV-type screen; for those who - , . are not able to see, it emits a Provident and Leader clearly audible sound to indicate at St Katherine's Dock during the lsland the error that is being made on the Trust's Open Day, chosen course. However, the Trust in May 1998 has found that if the crew is mixed, some of those with good sight set out to help those who require assistance to see the way ahead. For those who are too young to sail on the Provident, the Trust provides dinghy sailing courses at appropri- ate sailing schools, but primarily in Brixham, where the beneficiaries sleep and eat aboard the Provident. Those who come into contact with the Provident are keen to learn something of her history. The original boat was sunk in 191 6 by a German U-boat, but only after the crew were given time to leave her. She had been involved in saving the lives of about 70 men, when a torpedo struck and sank the battle- ship Formidable off Berry Head in 1915. The present boat was built in 1924 for Captain Pillar, who cap- tained the previous ship of that

14 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 name. However, in the late 1920s she was bought by Mr R. Howe Lagarde, an American, was con- verted into a yacht, and passed through a number of hands before coming into the ownership of the Trust. The Leader was built in 1982 by A.W. Gibbs (the same yard that built the Provident), in Galmpton Creek on the River Dart. She was in Sweden from 1910 to 1985, con- tinuing under sail alone until 1952. In the 1960s she was bought by the Swedish Cruising Association. In 1985 she returned to Britain and was converted for cruising, and sailed the waters of the west coast of Scotland as Lorne Leader, before being brought home to Devon in 1966 and reverting to her original name. Pupils from the Royal School for the Deaf, Exeter, with the skipper, mate and cook, The Trust sends about 250 young- on board Provident in May 1998. sters sailing each year, and has to raise the money to do so, and it is appropriate to spend the Trust's be calling at Southampton, Cadiz, hoped to add to this number over money on keeping an old wooden Bermuda, Boston, Halifax (Novia the next couple of years. As part of boat in commission. Accordingly Scotia), and, finally, Amsterdam. To this year's fund-raising programme, they have agreed to sell her to a make this possible, sponsors and Harry Sharp, an ardent supporter of new charitable trust - 'The Provi- crew will need to be identified. the Island Trust, is sailing his small dent Charitable Trust'- which will yawl, Gabrielle 11, round Britain, be dedicated to looking after her. If anyone would like to know more with crews of volunteers. He leaves The two trusts will have common about either of the trusts, the London on 2 July and will return on trustees, and will work closely Provident, Gabrielle 11's voyage, or 10 September. He is looking for together. In order to pay for the the Tall Ships Race, please contact crews of young people, especially Provident, as well as to ensure her me at 10 Manston Terrace, Exeter, experienced sailors for the Scottish future, the new Trust is aiming to Devon, EX2 4NP; Tel./Fax: 01 392- legs. A number of people have raise £200000. All being well, the 2561 42. indicated that they will be cruising Provident wi II be participating in with him, in their own boats. We the Tall Ships 2000 race, and will would love to expand the flotilla if anyone else would like to join. Children with little or no sight on Provident, which was sailed from Salcombe to We are also looking for sailing London by the the youngsters with the aid of a 'talking compass'and a little clubs or individuals at or near the puidance from the crew. leg ports, to be regional representa- tives to assist with: Logistic support Fund raising events Local knowledge Local contacts On her passage the Gabrielle 11-will be calling at Grimsby, Dunbar, Wick, Stornoway, Oban, Belfast, Aberystwyth, Plymouth, Ports- mouth, and London. For many years, the Provident was the flagship for the Island Cruising Club at Salcombe, but due to financial difficulties the Club terminated the Charter Agr,eement it had with the Trust. Whilst the trustees appreciated the valuable qualities which she brought to their work, they decided that it was not

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 15 research.' Yes indeed, especially as Hydrogen bombs could with impu- addition of biological material was nity be tested under water. Luckily a suggested refinement that would he was right. produce methane and/or carbon monoxide as well! Not many people know that ... Tell me, someone: Was at least the There's a basic chemistry of this right? Does .., the lost Ancient City of Atlantis is now located on Little Sole Bank the hydrogen in about 120 miles south-west of the gases really come from reduction of Scillies, according to a Russian YMMUI water in the plumbing system? Or academic, one Viatscheslev does it have a deeper and more Koudriatsev. He bases his claim on primordial source? Either way, it's ...OMIHT a new translation of Plato's original not an economically viable source 4th century BC texts (the Timaeus of fuel, is it? Fuel from Magma and Critias Dialogues), describing And talking of quaint ideas ... an ideally run city state that was The 'March of Knowledge' has swallowed up by the sea 9000 years Remember 'polywater'? Well no, become so fast that ideas consid- before, a catastrophe in which you probably don't, you'd be too ered plausible barely a generation earthquakes and figured young. But back in those same ago now seem merely quaint, if not prominently. Actually, Plato mists of time, to wit the early/mid- outlandish. Consider, for instance, himself seems to have had the story 1970s, the scientific world was the now well-known fact that third-hand, it having been passed greatly exercised by the discovery hydrogen gas is emitted (along with on from a philosopher who'd heard of a highly viscous polymer of lots of others) at hydro- it two centuries before from some water. A great many articles and thermal vents. In fact, hydrothermal Egyptian priests. Who did they get papers appeared (several even in vents were only discovered little it from? Nature itself) about this amazing more than 20 years ago, and the substance, though it could only be Atlantis has been located in all sorts other day I came across an old formed in very narrow-bore capil- of places over the centuries, includ- cutting from Nature (1 9781, which ing - no doubt among many others lary tubes. With hindsight this fact - reads as though the authors were Antarctica, Bolivia, Crete, Caribbean alone might have caused the still ignorant of the discovery. The (see below), Central Asia, Libya, scientific community to be a bit cutting is a short item reporting the Mexico, Nigeria Santorini (the sceptical - but hindsight comes a (!I, results of thermodynamic calcula- most likely on archaeological and whole lot easier than foresight. At tions which suggested that partial geological grounds), Spain, and Troy. all events, the most exciting thing reduction of water vapour by about polywater was the alarming reaction with hot basalt (specifi- Not so long ago we reported claims possibility that seawater might that Atlantean remains had been cally with the ferrous oxide, FeO, in spontaneously polymerize, with found on Bimini Island, part of the it) could yield small but useful interesting consequences not only Bahamas (Ocean Challenge, Vol. 6, amounts of hydrogen for use as a for shipping (think of all those No.3, p.14). Well, now you can enjoy fuel. Older readers may recall that submarines!) but also for the a holday in modern Atlantis, built on in 1978 the world was still emerg- hydrological cycle. the same site by Sun International, ing from the Oil Crisis of the mid- the people who gave you South '70s, and alternative sources of So what happened? Well it turned Africa's Sun City. Here you are energy were much in vogue. It was out that polywater was just a very exhorted to 'Live the Legendt and estimated that 'some two million concentrated solution of sodium invited to participate in the fantasy tonnes of hydrogen could in princi- silicate leached from the glass of that Atlantis has been there for 11 000 ple be recovered from water inter- the narrow capillaries in which this years It is a $800 million dollar action with 1 km3 of high tempera- viscous liquid uniquely occurred. resort, featuring the largest aquarium ture (1 300 "C) magma. The thermal The oceans were not going to in the world (the second largest is in loss arising from the need to heat acquire the consistency of glue after Lisbon, incidentally), the biggest the requisite amount of steam to the all. (Incidentally, this has nothing to casino in the Caribbean, a shark- temperature of the magma would do with so-called amorphous or infested water park and hugely only cool the magma by about 'glassy' water that can form when expensive hotel suites. The place is so 50 "C'. The search for suitable sites water is strongly supercooled, and vast you need a guide (probably an would be concentrated along mid- can also be very viscous under Indiana Jones look-alike) to find your ocean ridges (though island arcs certain conditions; see Nature way through labyrinths of under- were also mentioned), where there 1998, 396, 329-35.) ground passages, past fish tanks was 'geological evidence for large Few readers will recall that still containing ruins of the lost city and coherent bodies of magma'. further back, in the 1950s, there exhibits of mystical paraphernalia. See what I mean about quaint was a rather bigger scare when it The huge publicity machine ideas? Yet this was a serious was proposed to explode a hydro- (mis)informs you that, for instance, suggestion barely two decades ago. gen bomb under the sea. Would Atlanteans were the first environmen- You will not be surprised to learn there be a chain reaction, fusing all talists and eschewed gold and riches that the report ends with the mes- the hydrogen in ocean water to but valued knowledge (there's even a sage that: 'The practical problems helium, and in effect blowing up 'knowledge tank' allegedly guarded in tapping such bodies, assuring the world? Edward Teller ('Father of by piranhas ... well, if you believe intimate contact of the reagents and the H-Bomb') performed the neces- that ...), and that they powered their recovering the reduced gas mixture sary calculations to reassure the city by 'crystal energy' (so there's are immense ... and require further world that it wouldn't happen. also a Crystal Court). A large

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 fountain with gilt effigies of Pegasus in various leaping and prancing of heat energy. It is claimed that poses no doubt persuades the temperatures inside the bubbles can the engine? The cbncept is said to gullible punters that Atlanteans rode reach a couple of million degrees, be the brainchild of a French flying horses too. It is scary. In a possibly enough to initiate nuclear engineer, and you might ask why nation where something like a third fusion. The best explanation so far nobody has thought of it before. of the population believes in is that the bubbles are adiabatically Perhaps they did, and perhaps they Creationism (that's about 100 heated by acoustic pressure associ- saw the catch. The Second Law of million people), the majority of ated with passage of high frequency Thermodynamics states that 'There 'guests' could well fall for this sound waves. There are marine Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch'. garbage. They probably see nothing scientists who use upward-pointing In this case, you need energy to iincongruous about losing their sonar arrays to monitor bubble compress the gas. That energy is shirts in a place where the original formation by surface waves. Might then released to power the engine inhabitants, they are told, had no they be unwittingly participating in and drive the car. Most of the interest in wealth. research into new forms of energy? energy would be lost in heat and Well, the legend is safe in the or that ... friction, and we'd end up expend- Bahamas for a while yet, for V. ing much more energy to compress you can help Save the Planet by Koudriatsev is most unlikely to get ... the gas than we'd ever get back in using compressed air to run your funding for any exploration off car mileage. We are back to square car in the same way as a normal Cornwall, given the parlous state of one, as the energy used to com- internal combustion engine - well, the global (and especially the press the gas will come from after a bit of modification perhaps - Russian) ecomomy just now. nuclear or fossil fuels. Sorry, can't but without the greenhouse gas Save the Planet that way after all. or that ... emissions. The reasoning is plausi- bly simple. Your car engine is ... under the right conditions, John Wright insonfication of bubbles can pro- powered by pulses of rapidly duce a luminous glow ('sono- expanding gas, so why not put a

Performance-Related Pay: Lecturers Beware The thin end of the Performance- their field and pass them on to the there is no guarantee that compa- Related Pay (PRP) wedge has been students? They already tend to rability of standards, or even inserted into the education system, lose out in the promotion stakes, continuity of standards from year and anyone who cares about would they also lose out on pay? to year, can be maintained. teaching should take note. So far, Who will assess performance The Education Secretary (David implementation of the policy is to anyway? There must be many Blunkett) has in fact denied that be confined to schools, but it can institutions where Heads of school exam results will be a be only a matter of time before the Department have little idea of central criterion for PRP. He university system is similarly who does what or how well, and claims that teachers will be judged afflicted. where preferment can often be on how well they raise the per- In higher education establish- based on personal likes or dislikes f~wnancelevel of their students, ments, the situation is complicated rather than quality of work. There and thereby invites further Yes- by the often strained relationship is already plenty of opportunity tiOns: decides adjudi- between research and teaching. It for real or fancied injustice to be cates On whether Or perform- is sometimes said that excellent inflicted, and PRP could make ance levels have been raised, and researchers make inspiring teach- such situations a whole lot worse. what criteria are be used?It is ers, but this is not always the case. Were the criterion of examination difficult in Most of us probably know people results to become a major factor - imagine much tougher it can so wedded to their research that as it apparently is to be with get at university level. Of course it teaching comes a poor second, school teachers - we could look is important to weed Out lazy and notwithstanding the introduction forward to some interesting incompetent teachers (both in in recent years of student feedback discussions on standards in future and in universities), but on teaching effectiveness. Will the years. That is because school PRP may not be the best way to achieve it. number of papers published be an exams are marked externally, indicator of performance - as they whereas in higher education The majority of school teachers are already for promotion? If so, establishments the exam setters seem to think that PRP is a dodgy how is the quality of the output to can manipulate/alter the results - proposition. Could it - or should it be assessed? If research output is a intentionally or otherwise - by the - be extended to higher educa- performance indicator, how will type of questions that are set, by tion? This is surely an issue upon the dedicated teachers be judged, how strict the marking is, and so which many members of the the people who don't want to do on. External examiners do provide Challenger Society have views. research themselves, but nonethe- checks and balances, of course, Perhaps they would like to air less keep up with developments in but the system is not perfect and them in Ocean Challenge.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 17 NVEST

Kevin Black

The deep ocean has come to the fore of both scientific and public concern only recently. The media interest surrounding the Brent Spar controversy and the accidental sinking of the Soviet nuclear submarine Komsomolets are prime examples of instances where this distant environment has been thrust into the limelight. From a scientific view, the deep ocean has over the years been of increasing interest: for the disposal of municipal and industrial wastes, and for the exploitation of fisheries and mineral resources (e.g. ferro- manganese nodules, oil, gas). The deep water environment closest to us - the so-called 'Atlantic Frontier' to the west of Scotland and Ireland - has recently attracted the attention of many European governments. Although much of this interest revolves primarily around the potential for oil and gas exploitation, the European Committee for Ocean and Polar Sciences (ECOPS), for instance, recently identified 'Variability in the Deep Sea Environment' as the subject of one of its five Grand Challenges.

As a result, a number of European science west of Ireland, an area where the sediments programmes have been developed, such as are relatively unaffected by human activity. HiBETS (High-Resolution Benthic Exchange This programme is called BENBO - BENthic and Transformation Studies) and BENGAL Boundary study - and its principal objective (BENthic biology and Geochemistry of a is to quantify sediment and solute fluxes and north-eastern Atlantic Abyssal Locality). It is energy flows at this important interface. programmes such as these which provide a crucially important environmental baseline and sea-floor fluff (the nature and charactersitics of pristine, Specifically, the scientists participating in undisturbed sediments) against which im- BENBO aim to investigate and quantify the pacts of future exploitation of the deep sea biophysical and biogeochemical processes can be measured, and the value of such occurring at the deep ocean bed as a result of studies should not be overlooked. Deep sea the sedimentation of marine snow - the dead environments have also attracted the atten- and decaying products of algal cells and tion of conservation policy-makers. A recent other microorganisms in a matrix of gelati- report from the Australian Commonwealth nous material. Sinking snow particles are Scientific Information Research Organization micro-niches of enhanced concentrations of (CSIRO) recommended that 14 off nitrogen and carbon, and thus harbour the Tasmanian coast, with particularly high hungry bacteria and plankton. They also act biological diversity, should be free from as binding sites for metals and other anthro- pogenic pollutants introduced into the ocean. trawlingu and ex~loitation. clearly, marine snow has a key role in In the spirit of this current wide interest in transferring elements (especially carbon), deep ocean enviroments, the UK Natural microbiota and nutrients to the deep ocean, Environment Research Council (NERC) has and is therefore of fundamental ecological launched a three-year thematic programme to importance, investigate-. processes occurring at the ocean bed in and around the ~ockall-~rou~hto the

Ocean Challenge, Vo1.9, No.1 Marine snow is the major food source for life century, but failed to recognize it or under- in the deep abyss, and its deposition on the stand its significance. In the summer of 1857, sea-bed stimulates benthic biological activity HM frigate Cyclops, sounding down to 2400 and drives biogeochemical mineralization fathoms along a transect from Valencia (in reactions. particles arriving at the sea-bed are southern Ireland) to Newfoundland, brought at the mercy of the biogeophysical dynamics up some sediment samples which were later of the boundary layer. Processes such as sent to the renowned British palaeontologist resuspension, attrition, coagulation, bio- Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, then at the turbation and biological ingestion, and London School of Mines. Huxley immedi- exposure to porewater oxidants, can signifi- ately had them preserved in strong alcohol cantly modify the fragile snow aggregates. Of and then apparently forgot about them. Re- these, it is hypothesised that bacterially- examining them eleven years later he found a driven bi~~eochemicalreactions in the transparent jel ly-l i ke substance and became convinced that this was a living slime which umermostI I sediments are the main factors determining the benthic flux of dissolved carpeted the deep ocean floor. He gave it the organic and inorganic elements from sedi- now famous name of Bathybius haeckelii, in ment porewater to overlying deep water, so honour of the German biologist Ernst Haeckel mediating the character of organic material (Figure 2, overleaf). Huxley's discovery preserved in the sedimentary record. How- provided an impetus to others who dabbled ever, our current understanding of these in deep ocean research, and soon everybody processes in the inhospitable deep sea is, at seemed to be dredging the stuff up. How- best, rudimentary. BENBO forms a timely ever, when John Buchanan, the chemist contribution, since its aim is not only to attached to the Challenger Expedition, understand, but also to begin to quantify, the biogeochemical processes that contribute to remineralization, cycling and fate of carbon Figure 1 Major physical and biogeochemical at the benthic boundary layer in the deep sea pathways at the deep ocean sediment-water interface. The diagram illustrates the links (Figure 1 ). between the bioloaical response to sedimented Marine snow is a funny substance, and may phytodetritus, the>cologidal repercussions for bottom-dwelling organisms, and the biogeo- have a longer history than you might think. chemical consequences (e.g. solute fluxes, carbon Tony Rice, who recently retired from his preservation). (In the diagram, C: N is the position as Head of Benthic Biology at the carbon :nitrogen ratio in particles, and POC and Southampton Oceanography Centre, reckons DOC are, respectively, particulate and dissolved that marine scientists have known about organic carbon.) marine snow since the middle of the last This conceptual framework forms the cornerstone of modelling efforts by scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. (Courtesy of G. Ruddy)

Pathways of transfer and regeneration of organic material in deep ocean sediments are complex, and . at present are poorly understood

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 Ernst Haeckel discovered that the famous gelatinous proto- saw Bathybius plasm was no more than calcium sulphate as 'primordial precipitated while the samples had been ooze' preserved in alcohol, Huxley, like a true gentleman, promptly and with great dignity admitted his mistake. However, Tony Rice contends that Huxley may not have been quite as foolish as many of his contemporaries suggested. The cruise of HM Cyclops, through which Huxley obtained his samples, collected the sea-bed sediments during June and July, and other samples which Huxley examined for Bathybius were also obtained during the summer months. Rice supports the notion that Huxley may have inadvertently been studying the dead remains of surface-dwell- ing algal cells which had sunk to the sea-bed. Nowadays, scientists (somewhat unscientifi- cally) refer to this phytodetrital material as 'fluff'. Fluff layers - aggregated masses of cells of a variety of species, bound together Specialised by an amorphous matrix (Figure 3) - can electron Figure 2 A woodcut of Bathybius haeckelii from a carpet the ocean floor, at times to a thickness microscopy publication by Dr Ernst Haeckel of some 8-1 0 cm. They were first reported can be used from the Sargasso Sea in 1980, and since to reveal phytodetritus then, direct and indirect observations have in great revealed a widespread occurrence, including detail the deep North Atlantic. Dramatic time-lapse benthic photography, from scientists at the Southampton Oceano- graphy Centre and Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory in Scotland, has thrown into sharp focus the environment of the deep ocean floor, where phytodetritus survives for only a matter of weeks before consumption and remineralization. As Tony Rice noted, these observations are not consistent with the long- standing perception of the deep sea as a tranquil and quiescent backwater, with a sparse fauna, where nothing ever happens.

Who's involved in BENBO? Over 30 scientists, including post-graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, are involved in BENBO. Altogether, eight propos- als from a pool of 21 were funded by the project. The idea behind Thematic Pro- grammes is to produce a balanced portfolio of research projects within the objectives of the programme. Consequently, whilst each project is free-standing in that it has specific aims and objectives, together the projects address the major issues of BENBO and form a cohesive multidisciplinary, multi-institu- tional programme of research, governed by a Scientific Steering Committee.

Figure 3 Two scanning electron micrographs of 'fluff'collected from a site on the Feni Drift (cf. Figure 4). The upper image shows large numbers of coccoliths (the calcium carbonate platelets of coccolithophores) amongst amorphous organic material and some diatom/radiolarian debris; the lower image shows diatoms and (smaller) coccoliths amongst amorphous organic material. The scale bars represent 1 0pm.

20 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 BENBO comprises groups from the Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences (Plymouth Marine Laboratory and Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory), Southampton Oceanography Centre, the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre (SURRC), and Bangor, Edin- burgh, Cambridge, Lancaster and Leeds Universities. Projects range from determina- tion of the time-scales of deposition, mixing and storage within the sediments, to micron- scale in situ measurement of concentration gradients and fluxes of trace metals, major ions and nutrients (cf. Figure 1 and box below). Where's the field study area? Three areas of sea-bed, around the Rockall Trough region in the north-east Atlantic, were chosen as the field study sites (Figure 4). At sites A and B, the sea-floor sediments com- prise calcareous ooze (carbonate content -75%). Site A is a deep ocean site with a very low organic content. Site B is much shallower, so the time taken for organic debris to sink to the sea-bed is much less than at A. Site C is on the Feni Drift, an extensive deposit of fine-grained material, formed under energetic current flow during the Plio- Pleistocene. The factors affecting the supply of phytodetritus at this location are expected to be more complex than at A and B, as The 'Atlantic frontier' phytodetritus may be advected towards the Figure 4 Location of BENBO study sites on the to the west of Ireland site or be swept away from it, and sediment flanks of the Rockall Trough, eastern north and Scotland is resuspension may change the geochemistry Atlantic. For descriptions of sites A, B and C, see the BENBO text. (Courtesy of Richard Lampitt) study area and biology of surficial sediments. (The sea- bed sediment here is a fine-grained marl or calcareous mud, carbonate content -50%.) The relatively large separations of the sites, and their positions with respect to natural gradients of surface primary production, should ensure that they represent a range of phytodetrital input at the sea-bed.

Cruise planning BENBO Projects from 1997 to 2000 Altogether, three cruises on the RRS Charles Darwin have been mounted by BENBO. The Deposition, mixing and storage time-scales in the first of these (CD 107) took place during benthic boundary layer August 1997, and was used to obtain 'ground- The impact of microbially mediated processes on the truth' for each of the sites; activities included fate of organic matter in the benthic boundary layer acoustic multi-beam swath mapping of the Biogeochemical studies of the benthic nepheloid layer sea-bed topography (single 12 km x 14 km blocks), deployment of moorings comprising High-resolution concentration gradients, and fluxes of sediment traps, transmissometers and current trace metals, major ions and nutrients at the benthic meters, retrieval of bottom sediment samples, boundary and collection of CTD data. In addition, a Carbon cycling at the deep ocean boundary layer bottom-mounted ADCP current meter was deployed at site B. To study the benthic Benthic community biomass, and activity in processes of interest, two further cruises were biogeochemical processes at the deep ocean bed undertaken, during 20 April-1 5 May 1998 Organic and inorganic transformations at the benthic (CD 11 I), and during 28 June-22 July 1998 boundary layer (CD 11 3). Foraminifera1 shell chemistry and faunal characteristics The two later cruises were scheduled to be as proxies for benthic organic matter flux and ocean either side of the 1998 spring phytoplankton circulation in the palaeoceanographic record; the role of benthic boundary layer processes bloom. In practice, although CD111 managed to sample the bottom sediments when they were free of fluff, towards the end of the cruise there were distinct signs that the bloom

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 The BENBO New technology lander A fascinating component of the work under- sinks to the sea floor, then taken involves a brand new 'benthic lander', gathers data which was constructed by the Danish com- and returns to pany KC Denmark, on behalf of BENBO, and the surface recently underwent field trials in the North when the Atlantic (Figure 5). 'Benthic lander' is a term experiment is given to any autonomous, unmanned oceano- completed graphic research vehicle which free-falls to the sea-floor. Landers are capable of operat- ing to great depths (as much as 6000 m), and usually have no physical link to the surface. They operate independently on the sea-floor, undertaking pre-programmed experiments, and logging data to an electronics pod in situ. On the BENBO lander, several inter- changeable modules allow in situ measure- ment and monitoring of: the respiration of the total benthic community; the influence of phytodetrital loads on biogeochemical processes; solute fluxes across the sediment- water interface; micron-scale variability in trace metals, major ions and nutrients; and micron-scale variation in sediment oxygen content and pH (cf. Figure 1 ). The lander may also be used as aconventional box corer to retrieve mud samples from the ocean floor. Although lander technology is not brand new (and the Danes and Germans are a bit ahead of us in this game), the BENBO lander is the only instrument of its type within the UK marine science sector. The lander is owned and operated by the Dunstaffnage Marine Figure 5 The BENBO benthic lander during Laboratorv. but it is available for use bv other deployment of the oxygen micro-profiling module. ,, The rig has 75 kg net buoyancy and descends at members of the marine (and freshwater) approximately 50-6Om per minute. The research community. operational period on the sea-bed varies between several hours and 4-5 days, according to BENBO scientists from the Southampton experimental design. (Photo: Kevin Black) Oceanography Centre, in conjunction with engineers at the Fisheries Research Station at the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, also had begun in the upper ocean. Extensive used a novel instrument (Figure 6, opposite) areas of phytoplankton can be seen from to assess the size and distribution/variability space due to their influence on the colour on kilometre scales of free-swimming and albedo of the upper layers of the ocean, mesozooplankton (copepods, amphipods, and BENBO has subscribed, via the Ocean euphausiids,,etc.). This system is called Colour Group at Plymouth Marine Labora- ARIES, standing for Automated Recording tory, to NASA's recently launched SeaWiFS Instrumented Environmental Sampler. The satellite sensor, which can measure the extent ARIES instrument is towed behind the vessel of chlorophyll-rich algae over the vast spans at a pre-determined depth close to the sea- of the Earth's major oceans on a daily basis. bed and combines netting (200pm mesh Satellite data from the eastern North Atlantic size), remote underway sampling and optical will be used by BENBO scientists to examine plankton-counter technology, to count, the timing and intensity of the spring measure and capture zooplankton within and phytoplankton bloom. just above the nepheloid layer (the layer of enhanced turbidity due to resuspension of According to scientists on board the Charles bottom sediment by currents). Darwin during cruise CD 11 2, working to the north of the BENBO area in the Faeroe- The system can be towed at 3 knots, weather Shetland Channel, the 1998 spring bloom permitting, within 1-2 m of the sea-bed, and peaked sometime in June. Scientists aboard provides data on much wider spatial and the ship on CD 113 found only several temporal scales than hitherto possible using millimetres to one centimetre of fluff at site conventional techniques. A variety of sensors C, none at site B, and only trace amounts at measure water depth, temperature and site A. Nevertheless, if sites have been salinity, along with fluorescence and turbid- recently exposed to the organic detritus, the ity; and a GPS system is integrated into the biogeochemical signal will probably still be instrumentation to record the locations of in the surface sediments. water and plankton samples.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 In ARIES, hydrographic instruments and a multiple water sampler are combined with conventional netting technology Figure 6 Above Launch of the ARIES towed to characterise What now? instrument over the stern of the RRS Charles Darwin. the biology and Sometimes it seems as if we have dredged up (Photo: Kevin Black) physics of cubic miles of mud, and have filtered the Below Scale drawing of the ARIES (Mark 111) masses entire north-east Atlantic! There is little to instrument showing its main components. (1. Dunn) report at this stage, save for a few exciting snippets which point to a far more interesting optical plankton- set of results in the very near future - for and controy particle- sampler example, the distribution of benthic xeno- counter cassette phyophores (strange bottom-dwelling protozoans up to 20 cm in diameter), and substantial pulses of phytodetritus during the late autumn of 1997, recorded in sediment traps. BENBO scientists are busy processing their samples and collating data, and recently all groups came together to present their findings at a preliminary scientific meeting held at the University of Wales conference venue in Gregynog, Powys. Some very interesting data were presented on subjects as diverse as micro-spatial within-site variability in sedi- ment oxygen content, the pressure and nose plankton hydrographic cassette water- water- cone net sensors and motor sampler sampler temperature dependence of bacterial species, data-logger motor carousel the influence of sponge spicules on sea-bed strength and erosion, and recycling of zinc and cadmium in the fluff layer. Relevant Websites A follow-up meeting will take place next BENBO maintains its own website: September at the Centre for Coastal and http://www.nerc-0ban.ac.u kldmI/projects Marine Sciences, Dunstaffnage Marine projects. htm Laboratory, and you might find many BENBO KC Denmark website: participants giving presentations and posters http://www.kc-denmark.dk/ at next year's UK Oceanography 2000 at the University of East Anglia. FRS Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen website: http://www.marlab.ac.uk/MLAHpage.htm

Kevin Black is the Programme Manager for Acknowledgement The images of phytodetritus BENBO, at Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory used in the title artwork are based on original PO Box 3. Oban, Argyll. He can be contacted photographs produced for IOS Deacon Laboroatory on kevb8dml.ac.uk by Ian Jolnt of Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 23 Modelling the North Atlantic how DYNAMO is pointing the way to improvements in predictive power

Adrian New

How good are ocean models? What can we do to improve them? And what is the role of the oceans in influencing European climate? These are questions which the Southamp- ton Oceanography Centre is attempting to answer in a quest for increasingly reliable forecasts of climate change. The North Atlantic transports a huge amount The sinking, often to depths of 1000-2000 m, of heat - equivalent to more than 30 000 times occurs primarily in two 'convection centres', the power-generating capacity of the UK - these being the Greenland-Norwegian (Nordic) towards high northern latitudes. Here, the Seas, and the Labrador Sea (between Green- heat is released to the atmosphere, and gives land and Canada) (Figure 1). Recent studies Europe its mild climate. This is brought about are indicating the possibility that the thermo- by a northward flow of warm surface and haline circulation will decrease due to global near-surface waters, and a return southward warming, because the input of fresh, less dense flow of deep cold waters. These are con- water could be sufficient to prevent the surface nected by cooling of the near-surface waters layers from becoming dense enough in winter which consequently sink (via deep convec- to give rise to deep convection. If ice-melt tion) at high latitudes. The whole process acts and/or rainfall in the Arctic were high enough, as a water mass 'conveyor belt', and is called it could collapse altogether. This would result the thermohaline (or overturning) circulation. in sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic falling by 5-6"C, and the European Figure 1 Schematic diagram to illustrate the role landmass would become much colder, with of the northern Atlantic seas in the global thermo- long, harsh winters. Such rapid climate haline circulation. The wiggly arrows represent change, occurring over less than a century, deep convection, resulting in the formation of cold, dense water masses which flow southwards. would be difficult to cope with.

There may be a 'flip flop' relationship between the intensity of convection in the Nordic Seas and that in the Labrador Sea

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 There is also pronounced variability on a The horizontal positions of the grid points are decadal time-scale in the thermohaline not allowed to vary in either model (and circulation and in the activity of the two usually define a rectangular grid). In a level convection centres. In recent years, the model, the vertical positions of the grid Nordic Seas have become warmer, and the points are also fixed while the water density mixing less deep, and the Labrador Sea has is allowed to vary, but the isopycnic models become cooler and the mixing more intense. provide an alternative formulation by employ- It seems that there may be a 'flip flop' rela- ing layers of constant density whose thickness tionship between these two centres, with and vertical position can change (Figure 2(c)). deep convection switching between the two, These models being run at SOC represent two and that their activity could be related to the of the major classes of present-day ocean North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a variation models, and each has relative advantages and in the surface atmospheric pressure difference disadvantages which we are evaluating. between Iceland and the Azores, with pro- Ultimately, it may be that that one model type nounced variability on the decadal time- will be found to be superior to the other, or it scale. The NAO is also known to be corre- may be that a hybrid model will emerge. lated with the distribution and intensity of storms impacting upon Europe, with 'high Euro~eanCollaboration NAO' periods (periods with large pressure One effective way of learning about the differences) corresponding to stronger winds, capabilities of ocean models is to compare more frequent storms, higher surface waves, them both with other models and with obser- larger transport in North Atlantic current vations. DYNAMO (Dynamics of North systems, and increased precipitation in Atlantic Models) is a model intercomparison Northern Europe leading to greater risk of project, which was funded by the EU through flooding. Furthermore, there is evidence that the MAST-II programme. The project in- global warming will lead to higher states of volved a level model run by Kiel University in the NAO, and hence that extreme events will Germany, an isopycnic model from SOC, and become more common. a 'sigma model' (with terrain-following coordinates, such that the vertical positions The ocean and atmosphere clearly act as a coupled system, but our understanding of the processes involved is far from complete, and figure 2 Schematic diagrams to show the the models are far from perfect. We need to differences in the vertical coordinate systems in the be able to model these processes accurately, model types being compared in DYNAMO. and then to use the models to make reliable (a) Section showing the bathyrnetry of the region predictions of future changes in the climate being modelled; (b) a level model; (c) an isopycnic system in response to global warming. In model; and (d) a sigma model. In (b) to (d) the horizontal model grids are represented by the fine Rather than /levels, particular, we need to address the limitations vertical lines, and the vertical coordinates are inherent in present-day ocean models, build- fixed in the vertical, represented by the horizontal or sloping lines. In isopycnic and sigma ing improved versions which can be coupled (b) the latter are fixed levels, in (c) they are models have layers to models of the atmos~here(and other isopycnals, and in (d) they are at a constant whose vertical components) to make more accurate predic- proportion of the ocean depth. The dots represent position and tions of future climate change. positions at which model variables are known. thickness can vary The Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC) is involved in major programmes of observational and satellite oceanography and so provides a unique interdisciplinary envi- ronment for assessing the realism of ocean circulation models, and hence for their continued development. At SOC, we have now developed expertise in two types of state-of-the-art ocean models. These are of basin scale to global scale, are of sufficiently high resolution to resolve ocean eddies (typically 100 km in diameter), and use either 'levels' fixed in the vertical or layers of constant density. The first type of model is referred to as a 'level model' (see Figure 2(b)) and this group includes, for example, OCCAM, the Ocean Circulation and Climate Advanced Model; the second type is known as an 'isopycnic model' (as in AIM and GIM, the Atlantic and Global lsopycnic Models, which are derivatives of the Miami lsopycnic Coordinate Ocean Model, MICOM). In both types of model, the ocean is represented by a grid of points at which the important quanti- ties (such as temperature, salinity and current speed) are known and evolved through time.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 by compensating southward transports of deeper water masses) within the range of estimates derived from observations (heat transports between 0.8 and 1.2 PW (1 PW = 1 015 watts), and overturning rates between 14 and 20Sv at 30°N). Thev all also show the northward movement of surface and near- surface water in the North Atlantic Current system, with some of the water going into the Nordic Seas and some around the sub~olar gyre and Labrador Sea. In addition, thky reveal the cold deep return flows forming into a Deep Western and flowing southwards down the US , again in line with observations. However, areas where the models disagree or differ from the observations are often the most informative, and may provide direct guidance on what improvements are most crucially needed for the next generation of models. The most important results from the DYNAMO project are described below.

Insights from DYNAMO The representation in the models of physical mixing, as deep outflows travel southwards through the narrow channels across the Greenland-Scotland ridge, is of major impor- tance in setting the characteristics of the deep waters in the North Atlantic. These waters slowly make their way back to the surface elsewhere, affecting exchanges with information about Figure 3 Schematic map showing a possible the atmosphere, and are an essential part of observed current average surface current pattern in the North the global circulation. Their correct represen- patterns may be Atlantic, based on inferences derived from tation is therefore crucial if we are to make used to help observations. (For comparison with Figure 4(a)-(c).) interpret the The North Atlantic Current (or North Atlantic Drift) accurate climate forecasts. In particular, the sea-surface is the downstream continuation of the . mixing of the outflows of Iceland-Scotland temperature Overflow Water (ISOW) between Iceland and distributions Scotland, and Denmark Strait Overflow Water generated by the of the grid points are proportional to the (DSOW) between Greenland and Iceland, different models ocean depth; see Figure 2(d)), implemented which together make up the 'lower North by Grenoble University in France. The Atlantic Deep Water', was found to be over- models were all of the same high horizontal rapid in the level and sigma models, leading resolution, '13" longitude (sufficient to resolve to outflows which were too light and too high ocean eddies), covered the North Atlantic in the water column downstream from the from 20" S to 70°N, and were all forced (i.e. sills. In the isopycnic model, the mixing was 'driven') in the same way, using realistic as specified, but was found to be insufficient datasets derived from ECMWF* analyses to (through a lack of knowledge of what to represent the winds and the exchanges of prescribe), so that the outflows were too heat and freshwater at the ocean surface. The dense and too deep. This finding is now models were all started from the 1982 Levitus leading to improved representations of the observationst (representing an observed mean deep outflows which can be built into the hydrographic state for the ocean) and a state level and sigma models, and is also sending of rest, and integrated forward for 20 years, the observational oceanographers the mes- to allow a near-equilibrium state to be sage that we need to know how rapidly these reached. outflows actually mix in the real world, so that correct amounts of mixing can be built All three models were successful in simulat- into the models. ing the North Atlantic with a considerable degree of realism. For instance, all models The total northward heat transport and show northward heat transports and overturn- overturning rate in the 'level' model is low ing rates for the (i.e. between 20" S and 40" N, compared with the basin-averaged northward volume trans- deductions from observations and the other ports of upper ocean water masses, balanced two models, possibly because the model assumes that mixing will take place in the 'ECMWF = the European Centre for Medium- horizontal direction, rather than (more range Weather Forecasting. realistically) along density surfaces (although +That is, data from the ClimatologicalAtlas of the this has not yet been unequivocally deter- World Ocean by Levitus, S. (1 982) (NOAA Profes- mined). This assumption of horizontal mixing sional Paper 13, US Dept of Commerce, NOAA.) is probably particularly unrealistic near the

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 western side of the Atlantic, where strong current systems (i.e. the Gulf Stream) make surfaces of constant density slope significantly away from the horizontal, with the result that water mass properties are being incorrectly mixed across the sloping density surfaces. This results in a heat flux from the warm to the cold side of the sloping isopycnals, which must be balanced by the upwelling of cooler deeper water. In turn, this upwelling in the western boundary current system would be likely to reduce the flow rate of the deep southward flows, the overturning rate itself, and the heat transport which is intimately linked to it. New specifications for level ocean models, replacing the horizontal mixing by more realistic mixing along density sur- faces, have recently been developed, and can now be implemented in high-resolution ocean models. Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW, another deep water mass important in the global circulation) cannot be correctly represented by the present isopycnic model, which uses density refer- enced to the sea-surface. The problem is essentially that, in the real world, compared with NADW, AABW has a lower value of density referenced to the sea-surface, and yet it lies beneath the NADW. (Of course, AABW has a higher value of in situ density than NADW, and this is because it is colder, fresher, and hence more compressible. Consequently, even though AABW is less dense than the NADW at the surface, as it sinks to depth it compresses more, and becomes heavier than, NADW.) In the isopycnic model, the density coordinate must increase monotonically downwards, and so cannot represent this state of affairs. Essentially, the water masses are mixed together. However, recent work at Miami University has enabled the compressibility of seawater to be included in the model and has largely rectified this problem. All the models show that after leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, high salinity Mediterra- nean Water (MW) moves south-westwards, as well as northwards. The northward spreading around the European margins is, however, only as far as the southern Rockall Trough in the isopycnic and level models, and reaches the northern Rockall Trough in the sigma model. In none of the models does MW move northwards into the Nordic Seas. This had previously been thought to be possible, although recent observational results are confirming that it is unlikely. Since all three models agree, this is seen as a strong result, and it means that the salty MW is unlikely to affect the production in the Nordic Seas of deep water masses important for the global circulation. It also means that changes in MW characteristics are not likely to play an impor- tant role in driving changes in this component 80W 70W 60W 50W 3OVI 20V1 101'1 OE of the thermohaline circulation. Instead, the fc). . The three models models show that the salty water observed in tested show the Nordic Seas is likely to derive partly from Figure 4 Winter sea-surface temperatures (OC) broadly similar a branch of the North Atlantic Current (NAC) predicted by the three ocean models tested in the ssrpatterns, but DYNAMO project: (a) level model, (b) isopycnic which sweeps into the Rockall Trough, and some interesting model, and (c) sigma model. differences

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 27 partly from a near-surface current which Labrador Sea in the sigma model might be a flows northwards around the European reflection of the strong bottom-following margins. Again, this both supports and adds currents seen elsewhere in this model. to recent deductions from observations which suggested that the saline pathway was de- A Final Word rived principally from the NAC. Conse- The global ocean forms a key component of quently, the models are providing insights the climate system, and specific improvements into the observations. in ocean models are resulting from careful intercomparison exercises such as DYNAMO. The presence of the - a major Furthermore, the models are not only provid- feature in the central Atlantic (Figure 3) - ing guidance as to what key aspects require provides a controlling influence on the further observation and measurement, they circulation and dynamics of upper ocean are also giving important new insights into the water masses over much of the mid-latitude way in which the ocean works. In the near regions. A feature resembling the Azores future, the improved ocean models will be Current, which flows eastwards near 34"N in used to provide increasingly reliable predic- the western North Atlantic, is strongly present tions of the state of the ocean around the only in the isopycnic model (Figure 4(b)). European margins, and to assess the role of This acts as a barrier to the southward the oceans in the coupled climate system and movement of water masses - collectively the possible consequences for Europe of known as Eastern North Atlantic Water global warming. (ENAW) - which are drawn down from the ocean surface ('subducted') in the Bay of Suggested Further Reading Biscay region to 'ventilate' the ocean interior. Barnard, S., B. Barnier, A. Beckman, C.W. Boning, M. In the isopycnic model, the ENAW is there- Coulibaly, D. DeCuevas, J. Dengg, C. Dieterich, U. fore confined to the region north of the Ernst, P. Herrmann, Y. Jia, P. D. Killworth, J. Azores Current, and is forced to penetrate too Kroeger, M.-M. Lee, C. Le Provost, J.-M. Molines, A. far westwards into the subtropical gyre. In L. New, A. Oschlies, T. Reynaud, L.J. West and J. the other models, with weaker or non- Willebrand (1997) DYNAMO: Dynamics of North existent Azores Currents, the ENAW venti- Atlantic Models: Simulation and assimilation with high resolution models. Berichte aus dem lnstitut lates almost directly to the south. The situa- fur Meereskunde an der Christian-Albrechts- tion in the real world is between these two Universitat Kiel, No. 294 (September 1997). scenarios, with the Azores Current acting as a Danabasoglu, G., J.C. McWilliams, and P.R. Gent, partial barrier, and ENAW being transferred (1994) The role of rnesoscale tracer transports in the across the Azores Current by large eddies. It global ocean circulation. Science, 264, 11 23-26. is now apparent that in the isopycnic model Dickson, R., Lazier, Meincke, P. Rhines and J. these eddies are not present in sufficient 1. 1. Swift (1996) Long-term coordinated changes in the numbers to represent this process fully. convective activity of the North Atlantic. Progress There are significant differences in the path- in Oceanography, 38,241-95. way of the North Atlantic Current between Rahmstorf, S. (1995) Bifurcations of the Atlantic the three DYNAMO models. These lead to thermohaline circulation in response to changes in different patterns of sea-surface temperature the hydrological cycle. Nature, 378, 145-9. (Figure 4), and would give rise to different Reid, 1. L. (1979) On the contribution of the Mediter- heat exchanges with the atmosphere in ranean Sea outflow to the Norwegian-Greenland coupled climate models. Observations show Sea. Deep-Sea Research, 26, 11 99-223. that the NAC pathway should follow around Roberts, M.J., R. Marsh, A.L. New, and R.A. Wood the Grand Banks (off Newfoundland) to about (1996) An intercomparison of a Bryan-Cox type 50" N before moving eastwards across the ocean model and an isopycnic ocean model. Part North Atlantic (Figure 3). In particular, the 1: the subpolar gyre and high-latitude processes. Journal of , 26,1495-527. NAC is thought to pass through 40" W and 50" N and move eastwards to the Mid- Stocker, T.F. and A. Scmittner (1997) Influence of Atlantic Ridge near 30°W before breaking up CO, emission rates on the stability of the thermohaline circulation. Nature, 388, 862-65. Acknowledgements into a series of branches which sweep into The DYNAMO project the eastern North Atlantic. In the level Sy, A. (1988) Investigation of large-scale circulation patterns in the central North Atlantic: the North was supported by the model, the pathway is too far to the south EU MAST Programme Atlantic Current, the Azores Current, and the until it reaches the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (see Mediterranean Water plume in the area of the Mid- under contract No. the 9 "C contour between 30" and 45" N); that MAS2-CT93-0060. Atlantic Ridge. Deep-Sea Research, 35, 383-41 3. This was a collab- in the isopycnic model is reasonably realis- orative programme tic; but that in the sigma model is too far north to the west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge involving principally Adrian 1. New is the Deputy Leader of the 1. Willebrand, C. W. (turning too strongly into the Labrador Sea, as Large-Scale Modelling Team at the James Boning, P. Herrmann, evinced by the position of the 6°C isotherm). Rennell Division for Ocean Circulation and A. Oschlies, R. Redler, The reasons for these differences are still C. le Provost, 6. Climate Change at the Southampton Oceano- under investigation, although coarser resolu- Barrier, 1.-M. Molines, graphy Centre. T. Reynaud, ED. tion level models in other comparisons have Killworth, K Jia and placed their NAC too far to the south because Email: [email protected] S. Barnard, as well as of over-active mixing of the Nordic Sea Tel. +44(0)1703 5961 73; the author. outflows. The turning of the NAC into the Fax: +44 (011 703 596204

2 8 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 From Astronomy to Oceanography - - a brief history of Bidston Observatory

J. Eric Jones

Bidston Observatory has a remarkable history. It was built 134 years ago to replace and carry on the work of the Port of Liverpool Observatory. Since then it has been involved in the pursuit of scientific knowledge in many fields, and has changed its function a number of times in response to the national need. Several anniversaries of these changes fall in 1999, so it is timely to record briefly the events that have pro- foundly affected the Observatory's activities, and some of the people whose scientific work have contributed to its exceptional heritage.

Bidston Hill is the northernmost point of the lighthouse of 1771), with a lantern topped by sandstone ridge forming the backbone of the a green conical roof, and some associated Wirral Peninsula which lies between the Dee keeper's cottages which were built in 1873. and Mersey estuaries opposite Liverpool. Almost exactly a century later, in 1975, these From the top on a clear day there are splen- were joined by the large square white Joseph did views of Liverpool Bay, the mountains of Proudman Building which, with its many North Wales as far as Snowdonia, and even small windows like so many portholes, the Lake District. resembles a beached ocean liner straddling the hill top. Being such a prominent feature, Bidston Hill has been a focus for human activity for many The first Liverpool Observatory, 184366 centuries. It bears rock carvings of a horse, a In the early 19th century it was a necessity Sun goddess, and a cat-faced Moon goddess, for every major port to have an observatory all of which date back to Norse settlement to ascertain the longitude of the port and to 1000 years ago. There is a windmill, the keep accurate time. In 1834 a Lieut. Jones RN remains of a cock-fighting pit, and the post recommended to the Liverpool Town Council holes which used to hold the flag masts the establishment of an astronomical observa- employed in an ingenious semaphore tel- tory. They deliberated the question but egraph system that brought messages in postponed any decision. Over the next few minutes from Anglesey to shipping owners in years the Council was bombarded with a Liverpool. This existed for several decades series of similar recommendations from the before it was superseded by the electric British Association for the Advancement of telegraph. However the most prominent Science, William Lassell (a local astronomer feature is the cluster of three buildings which who, though strictly an amateur, was pre- presently house the Centre for Coastal and eminent in British astronomical circles), and Marine Sciences, Proudman Oceanographic the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Laboratory. The oldest of the three buildings, Society. In addition, Captain (later Admiral) constructed in 1866, is Bidston Observatory Denham FRS, the Port Hydrographer, pub- itself, a large square building faced with the lished 'proposals for a better port' which very sandstone quarried for its foundations. It became the basis for the Mersey Conservancy is topped by two prominent domes which can Act of 1842, and which stressed the need for be seen over a wide area. The next oldest an astronomical and meteorological observa- building is a lighthouse (replacing an earlier tory and a permanent -gauge. Although a

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 special committee was set up, no action was In 1885, after 40 years as Director, John taken until 1839 when permission was granted Hartnup retired and was succeeded by his to erect an observatory and dwelling house at son, John Hartnup Jr. The young John Waterloo Dock in Liverpool. Funding out of Hartnup continued much of the work of his dock dues was obtained by the 1841 Liver- father and wrote many papers on chrono- pool Dock Act and in 1843 Mr John Hartnup, metrical management, but tragically on 21 Assistant Secretary to the Royal Astronomical April 1892 he was killed by falling from the Society, was appointed as Director. Systematic roof of the Observatory, where he had observations then began in 1845. mounted to make meteorological observa- tions. Apart from obtaining and preserving Green- wich time and securing the longitude of He was succeeded by another astronomer, Liverpool, a further duty was to test chrono- Mr William Plummer, who recognized the meters so that, in the words of the British value of the meteorological work and over- Association, 'a captain when he sails may saw an increase in its importance. Perhaps receive his chronometer sure both of its error ironically, William Plummer was also forced and its rate'. As part of these duties, the to oversee a decline in astronomical work as Observatory took part in a series of chrono- the increasing use of photographic methods meter exchanges to determine the longitude in astronomy implied that considerable difference between Greenwich and Valentia in expenditure would be required to renovate Ireland, and subsequently between Greenwich and modernise the astronomical equipment. and the Harvard College Observatory in the However, a new activity commenced in 1897 USA. A 'time ballr* was fitted to the Observa- with the installation in the cellars of a tory, and meteorological observations were seismograph. This was the first of a series of started to provide local forecasts for shipping. seismographs of different designs that fol- In 1857 the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board lowed. In 1910, observations were made took over the running of the Observatory. using instruments designed by Sir George Darwin, Sir Horace Darwin and others to The move to Bidston in 1866 determine the yielding of the land to the load In 1864, extension of the Waterloo Dock of tidal water, now called the 'ocean loading required the removal of the Observatory. effectf. Bidston Hill, which had been in the service of the port through its telegraph system, was The Liverpool Tidal Institute, 1919 selected as the site of the new Observatory In 1919, an important step took place with and the land was purchased from the local the establishment of the University of Liver- landowner, Mr Vyner. Having acquired this pool Tidal lnstitute, located in Liverpool, site, the Docks and Harbour Board spared no with Professor Joseph Proudman as Director expense in construction of the new Observa- and Dr Arthur ~oodsonas Secretary. tory. Built from stone excavated at the site, it Although it was a separate body, separately covers an area of about 500 square yards. governed and funded, there was a very early Above ground it has two storeys over which association with Bidston Observatory. It was are the two domes as well as a meteorological intended to be a research institution with hut. Below ground there are cellars 12 feet both theoretical and practical aspects of tidal deep, and below these another cellar 24 feet dynamics as topics of study. In 1923, a major deep, which has a very steady temperature achievement was the award by Cambridge and is nowadays is used for gravity measure- University of the Adams Prize to Joseph ments. There are many notable architectural Proudman for an 'Essay on the Tidesf. The details - for example, the decorative carved effects of this were far-reaching, one result arches flanking the entrance corridor suppos- being to convince the Hydrographic Depart- edly represent the mathematical function ment that accurate cotidal charts could be known as a cycloid. drawn for the North Sea. The association between the lnstitute and Bidston gradually Observations began in 1867. As the new strengthened, with William Plummer joining building was now about three miles from the the governing board of the Institute. Signifi- river the time ball was replaced by the remote cantly a tide-predicting machine was in- electrical firing of a cannon, a veteran of the stalled at Bidston at the end of 1924. Tide- Crimean and earlier wars, situated in predicting machines are devices that can be Birkenhead Docks. The work continued as 'programmed' with the harmonic tidal con- before. Two large warm air chambers were set stants for a particular port and then proceed up for the rating of chronometers, each to provide predictions or hindcasts for any chamber capable of holding one hundred desired date. As they required very high instruments. Astronomical observations precision engineering, very few were in continued, with a transit telescope in the east existence and several foreign governments dome and a massively-mounted 9-inch asked the lnstitute to supervise the construc- refracting telescope in the west dome. tion of machines for their own use.

*A 'time ball' was a sphere which could move up and down a mast. Each day, the ball was raised and then abruptly dropped at a specific time, usually 1 p.m., so that shipping etc, within sight could obtain the correct time.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 The Liverpool Observatory and Tidal Institute, 1929 In 1928, William Plummer died and this may have been the catalyst for the amalgamation of the Observatory and the Tidal Institute, which took place on the 1 January 1929. This was a pivotal moment as the next decade brought a considerable increase in oceano- graphic research to Bidston. With Joseph Proudman as Director and Arthur Doodson as Associate Director, the Liverpool Observatory and Tidal lnstitute developed new methods for the analysis of tides and their prediction, and a second tide-predicting machine was acquired. This second machine meant that Bidston had the only two machines in the entire British Empire, apart from perhaps an old one in India. Bidston rapidly acquired a world-wide reputation for the analysis and prediction of tides and was soon providing predictions for many British territories over- seas as well as foreign countries. It has been Joseph Proudman, estimated that from 1924 up to the 1950s the first Director of lnstitute was responsible for predicting tides the amalgamated for two-thirds of the world. The provision of Observatory and tidal predictions was a valuable source of Tidal Institute funding. volunteered for war service. However, various authorities such as the Ministry of Apart from the prediction of tides at particu- Labour recognized the national importance of lar ports, interest now extended to offshore their work, so most were allowed to remain tidal elevations and currents and to the idea in post. Nevertheless, a few others such as of drawing cotidal charts showing the distri- the 'junior male assistant', Mr Jack Rossiter bution of the tide throughout areas such as (see below), were called to active service. the North Sea. Apart from theoretical studies in several pioneering papers by Joseph This was also a period of close cooperation Proudman, this also led to actual oceano- with the Admiralty Hydrographic Depart- graphic observation. In association with the ment. One of the fruits of this collaboration University of Liverpool Department of Ocean- was the Admiralty Manual of Tides written ography, and with grants from the Royal jointly by Arthur Doodson and Commander Society, instruments were purchased or H. Warburg and published in 1941. This developed. In particular, mention must be cooperation continues up to the present in made of the Fav6 offshore and a the production of the annual Admiralty Tide current meter developed by Doodson. These Tables. In 1946, Joseph Proudman retired as were deployed on four expeditions south of Director and was succeeded by Doodson. the Isle of Man. An additional interest was the effect of meteorological forcing on the tides. This had become particularly important Arthur Doodson, following disastrous flooding in the Thames Proudman's estuary in 1928. Associate Director and Naturally the expertise built up at Bidston successor became invaluable during the Second World War. It was vital to be able to predict tides for the many theatres of war, such as Burma and the D-Day landings. One of the tide- predicting machines was placed in a separate semi-underground room in the Observatory grounds. Indeed, the door to this room suffered blast damage from a bomb and the Observatory building itself lost a hundred panes of glass as well as suffering damage to doors, interior walls and ceilings in six different incidents. Remains of some of the necessary building reinforcements can still be seen. The scientific work itself was speeded up so that predictions were advanced by a year, and they were photographically recorded against loss - a wise precaution as some were lost at sea. The staff at this time were mostly female 'computers' and some

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 The 1949 Doodson-Leg6 tide-predicting machine

The tide-prediction service expanded and Faculty of Science of Liverpool University. was augmented by the construction of a large Various services still continued, such as 42-constituent Doodson-L6g6 tide-predicting meteorological observations and the firing of machine in 1949 (see above). the one o'clock gun (replaced by a Hotchkiss naval gun in 1946). However, this move In 1953 there was a catastrophic storm surge was important because being a university in the southern North Sea, with the loss of department underpinned the expansion in about 2000 lives in the Netherlands and oceanographic research. There was a gradual along the east coast of England, and damage transition from tide-prediction machines to running into many tens of millions of pounds. computers. That disaster provided a new impetus for research in the meteorological perturbation It was during this period in 1962 that Mr of tides and this became a dominant area of Norman S. Heaps joined the staff. It looked study at Bidston, Interest in long-term sea- as if the relatively new field of computer- level change had been a by-product of the based numerical modelling might be a key to tidal work, and led in 1933 to the establish- understanding meteorological influences on ment of the Committee on Mean water level additional to the tides. Norman and its Variations, of the lnternational Asso- Heaps' work culminated (in 1978) in what ciation of Physical Oceanography (the was perhaps the world's first operational predecessor of the International Association storm-surge prediction scheme based on a for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean), numerical model. Having access to the under Proudman's direction. After the University computers was a vital facility for lnternational Geophysical Year of 1956-57 the development of modelling techniques. the Committee was renamed the Permanent Modelling also commenced in studies for Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) of the tidal barriers and in particular a proposed lnternational Union of Geodesy and Geo- storm surge barrier for the Thames. At the physics (IUGG), with Doodson as Chairman same time, interests continued to expand in and Rossiter as Secretary. This event was other fields. In 1968 measurements marked by a large lnternational Symposium were moved to a disused mine in North held in Liverpool in 1959. Over the next Wales to provide a quieter background. decade Rossiter carried out a major reorgani- zation of the PSMSL, and today's service is The Institute of Coastal Oceanography and essentially a modern computerized version. Tides, 1969 Investigations into Earth tides also continued With the Natural Environment Research with instruments situated in the cellars. In Council taking over responsibility for a large 1960, Arthur Doodson retired and was part of oceanographic research in the UK, succeeded by Jack Rossiter, who simultane- Bidston Observatory changed its name yet ously obtained the degree of DSc. again and joined the Natural Environment Research Council on 1 April 1969. This was a The University of Liverpool Tidal Institute time of great change. The telescopes were and Observatory, 1961 removed from the domes and sent to the The increasing interest in oceanographic Liverpool Museum, and the one o'clock gun research was recognized in 1961 when was fired for the last time on 18 July 1969. Bidston became a full department of the Even the domes changed colour from white

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 to black! There followed a very rapid in- a demonstration of how a model scheme crease in staff from 26 to 66, requiring the could be used successfully to estimate the use of temporary accommodation at Moreton, distribution of radioactive' caesium emitted about three miles distant. The first computer from the nuclear reprocessing plant in at Bidston, an IBM 11 30, was installed in the Cumbria. In 1978, based on the work by basement of the Observatory. With a connec- Norman Heaps and Roger Flather, the east tion to an IBM 360 at the London Data coast storm-surge forecasting scheme went Centre, this allowed a great expansion in the into operation at the Meteorological Office. modelling of coastal and shelf seas by This model has been continually upgraded. Norman Heaps and others. Sadly, in 1972 The tides were not ignored, however, as the Rossiter died suddenly and Mr Geoffrey W. renowned tidal theoretician, Dr David Lennon took over as acting Director. Cartwright, was appointed Assistant Director in overall charge of Bidston. He expanded The Institute of Oceanographic Sciences tidal and sea-level research into the new (Bidston), 1973 fields of bottom pressure recorder measure- Once again the death of the Director seemed ments and satellite radar altimetry. to be a catalyst for change, as in 1973 the It was also during this period that Bidston lnstitute of Oceanographic Sciences (10s) was became the centre for a unified 'A Class' formed by initially combining Bidston with national tide-gauge network. Inevitably, with the National lnstitute of Oceanography time there was internal reorganization within (Wormley, Surrey), the Unit of Coastal Sedi- IOS which resulted in the closure of the mentation (Taunton, Somerset) and some of Taunton laboratory and the move of some the Research Vessel Services (Barry, South members of staff, which brought sedimentary Wales). In 1975 staff occupied the new studies to Bidston. In 1986 Norman Heaps Joseph Proudman building. With the expan- died after a long illness. He is honoured by a sion in the numbers of staff, there were great memorial prize awarded for the best paper by advances in the type of work being carried a young researcher at each UK Oceanography out at Bidston. A much larger Honeywell 661 conference. 20 computer was installed which, after several upgrades, in effect became the main The Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory NERC computer. The Marine Information and (POL) 1987 Advisory Service (MIAS) came into existence, After the retirement of David Cartwright, the the forerunner of the British Oceanographic Directorship was taken up briefly by Dr Keith Data Centre (BODC), which is the national Dyer who moved from IOS (Taunton). There data centre based at Bidston. was a brief period of reorganization, follow- ing which Bidston attained a period of Instrumentation and technical support serv- autonomy within NERC and a new Director - ices expanded greatly and existing fields of Dr Brian McCartney - was appointed. It was study such as sea-level change, Earth tides at this time that the laboratory was given its and numerical modelling, were strengthened. present name in honour of Joseph Proudman. With hindsight, this was a period which laid The following decade built on the experience the groundwork for much that was achieved of earlier years but new key activities in succeeding years. For example, there was

The Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory photographed from the air in 1986, when the domes (lower right) were still painted black

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 commenced. During 1987-92, POL was the This increasing collaboration with other host laboratory for the North Sea Project, the institutes resulted in the recognition of first large 'community research project', common interests with two other major UK involving many other UK institutes and Laboratories, which led to the incorporation university research departments. One main of POL within the Centre for Coastal and aspect of this project was that it established Marine Sciences (CCMS). strong links with researchers in fields other than the physical sciences. This continued The Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences, with increasing participation in many other Proudman Laboratory, 1994 collaborative projects in the UK and else- In 1994 the CCMS was formed from the where, especially under the auspices of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Dunstaffnage European Union. Marine Laboratory and Proudman Oceano- graphic Laboratory, under the overall Direc- There were continuing advances in many torship of, at first, Dr Brian Bayne (1 994-98), kinds of instrumentation, for example the use and then Professor Jacqueline McGlade. of radar to measure surface currents and After the retirement of Brian McCartney (now waves, the use of ADCPs in many observa- Professor), Professor John Huthnance became tional programmes, the development of the acting Director at Bidston until the appoint- sea-bed STABLE and MYRTLE platforms, the ment of Dr Ed (A.E.) Hill, with effect from latter achieving a four-year deep ocean April 1999. This also marked the start of six record from the sea-bed in the Drake Passage. new core-strategic CCMS projects extending Tidal measurements were made at stations until 2004. These science programmes are such as Tristan da Cunha and Signy Island in linked through all three CCMS laboratories. Antarctica. There were a number of observa- tional and modelling efforts examining The formation of the Centre for Coastal and processes along the UK shelf edge, which Marine Sciences now provides the setting for now included microplankton distribution as integrating the scientific effort in an inter- well as the usual physical variables. By now, disciplinary way, drawing on the strengths of shelf-sea models were addressing various each laboratory and affording the prospect of time- and space-scales, three-dimensional bright new opportunities for innovative baroclinic systems, temperature and salinity, research by the Centre as a whole. Even the and different turbulence and advection domes are back to their original white! schemes, as well as ocean-shelf coupling. Table 1 shows the various anniversaries that Sedimentary and biological processes were Bidston will be marking in 1999. Even also included. The national need was also astronomically there is an 'anniversary' to recognized when models were set up, in celebrate. A feature of total solar eclipses is collaboration with other laboratories, to look that they repeat under almost exactly similar at the major oil spill during the Gulf War as conditions - called the 'Saros' - every 18 well as those from several tanker groundings. years 11.3 days. On 29 June 1927 Bidston Models were even used as part of the Observatory was surrounded by 50000 Olympic Yachting effort. In Earth tides, the people observing the last total solar eclipse measurements became increasingly part of on the UK mainland. Four Saroses later we inter-national collaboration across Europe as reach 11 August 1999, when once again a well as in China. In addition, instruments total solar eclipse will cross the UK, passing were deployed near a pumped water storage over our sister CCMS Laboratory at Plymouth! scheme in North Wales to detect possible variation in the Universal Constant of Bidston Observatory has had a remarkable Gravitation. history in so many ways. It has even had its 'show business' connections -the Director Table 1 Important Bidston anniversaries falling in 1999 Jack Rossiter was brother to the comic actor Leonard Rossiter, particularly known for such television series as 'Rising Damp'. Also it 160th Permission granted to construct an Observatory at must be a proud distinction, particularly for a Waterloo Dock (1839) Merseyside-based institute, to have had both Lennon and McCartney as Directors 80th Establishment of the Liverpool Tidal lnstitute with (Table 2)! Proudman as Director (1 91 9) Bidston Observatory has evolved in many 70th Amalgamation of the Tidal Institute with Bidston ways over the years in response to waxing Observatory (1929) and waning interests in various scientific 50th Construction of the 42-constituent Doodson-Leg6 fields, and has achieved great distinction in tide-predicting machine (1 949) each of these. In its present form as a compo- nent of the CCMS it continues to play a major 40th Symposium marking the setting up of the role in UK Science, and on past performance Permanent Service for Mean Sea-Level(1959) will undoubtedly continue to build on its 30th The Tidal Institute enters NERC (1 969) existing expertise, and will evolve to meet new challenges as required by both national and international needs.

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 Further Reading Table 2 Changing names, changing Directors 'William Hutchinson - Local Hero' by Philip Woodworth (1 998), Ocean Chal- The Liverpool Observatory lenge, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp.47-51. J. Hartnup 1843-85 'Modelling the Tides for the 1988 Olympic J. Hartnup (Jr) 1885-92 Games' by Roger Proctor and Judith Wolf W. E. Plurnrner 1892-1 928 (1 990) Ocean Challenge, Vol.1, Spring, University of Liverpool Tidal lnstitute pp.10-14. Joseph Proudrnan 1919-1 928 For more information about work undertaken Liverpool Observatory and Tidal lnstitute at Bidston, see the Annual Reports of the Joseph Proudman 1929-46 Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (or its Arthur (A.T.) Doodson 1946-60 predecessors), or see the web site at: http://www.pol.ac.uk University of Liverpool Tidal lnstitute and Observatory Jack (J.R.) Rossiter 1961-69 J. Eric Jones is a Senior Scientific Officer lnstitute of Coastal Oceanography and Tides working as a numerical modeller at the Jack (J.R.) Rossiter 1969-72 CCMS* Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory; Geoffrey (G.W.) Lennon (Acting Director) 1972-73 he also observes total solar eclipses and tidal lnstitute of Oceanographic Sciences river bores. David (D.E.) Cartwright (Assistant Director) 1973-86 *Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences, Keith (K.R.) Dyer (Acting Assistant Director) 1986 Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston John (J.M.) Huthnance (Officer-in-Charge) 1987 Observatory, Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK. Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (CCMS-POL after 1994) L43 7RA Brian (B.S.) McCartney 1987-98 Tel. +44-(0)151-653-8633; John (J.M.) Huthnance (Acting Director) 1998-99 Fax: +44-(0)151-653-6269 Ed (A.E.) Hill 1999- Email: [email protected]

Book Reviews

The Sea Surface and Global Change Island, USA, in 1994. It consists of tance of the microlayer in ocean edited by Peter Liss and Robert A. three group reports produced as a biology and found this a fascinating Duce (1 997). Cambridge University result of the meeting, and thirteen read. I highly recommend it. Having, Press, f65 (hard cover, ISBN 0-521- individually authored chapters. The I hope, whetted appetites, I leave 56273-2). reports review the state of knowledge readers to discover for themselves the about the microlayer, highlight areas material contained within this chapter. Three things struck me rather forcibly of uncertainty in our current under- The final group report deals with the when I came to write this review. standing and speculate on the role of role of photochemistry in the micro- The first was how long it has been the sea-surface in climate change (and layer. It discusses the potential effect since the book was sent out to me. vice versa). The authors also suggest of photochemistry on air-sea fluxes of The second, the rather high propor- areas where future research should be gases, aerosols and trace metals. The tion of this time that it subsequently concentrated. The reports are grouped section on photochemical processes spent away from my desk and in the rather roughly into three areas cover- operating in the microlayer is brief offices and homes of various col- ing in turn the physics, biology and and speculative for the simple reason leagues. The latter probably gives a photochemistry of the microlayer. that few in situ measurements have better idea of how well the book has been made. been received bv fellow researchers The list of authors for the first reoort is than can be conveyed by my review. really a line-up of who's who in air- The second and third group reports The final jolt was the number of times sea gas exchange and the physics of came as real revelations. It is clear I encountered statements similar to the microlayer. As would be expected, that the microlayer is of great impor- 'almost nothing is known about the it is well written, up-to-date and an tance to both the ocean and atmos- role of X in the sea-surface micro- excellent summary of almost 40 years phere (and hence climate) but we layer', or 'few (or no) in situ measure- of research. Nevertheless, the chapter know so little about it. We have even ments of X have been made', or 'the does leave the reader with the impres- less idea of how the sea-surface might analytical techniques have yet to be sion that, in spite of a great deal of respond to climate change. developed'. This should be music to effort, relatively little progress has been made in successfully transferring The single-authored chapters deal in the ears of any scientists searching for considerable detail with different new, challenging and 'relevant' areas knowledge gleaned from theoretical and laboratory studies into the oceans. aspects of the sea-surface microlayer of research where real impacts can and are essentially peer-reviewed still be made. The second group report chapter deals research articles. Five of these This book grew out of a scientific with the possible effects of chemical chapters are based around air-sea gas workshop on 'The role of the sea- and radiative change on the biology in exchange. The first of these, Chapter surface microlayer and its potential the sea-surface layer. As a simple 4, is written by Lutz Hasse and covers role in global change' held in Rhode chemist I had no idea of the impor- transport processes in the sea-surface

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 3 5 Further Reading Table 2 Changing names, changing Directors 'William Hutchinson - Local Hero' by Philip Woodworth (1 998), Ocean Chal- The Liverpool Observatory lenge, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp.47-51. J. Hartnup 1843-85 'Modelling the Tides for the 1988 Olympic J. Hartnup (Jr) 1885-92 Games' by Roger Proctor and Judith Wolf W. E. Plurnrner 1892-1 928 (1 990) Ocean Challenge, Vol.1, Spring, University of Liverpool Tidal lnstitute pp.10-14. Joseph Proudrnan 1919-1 928 For more information about work undertaken Liverpool Observatory and Tidal lnstitute at Bidston, see the Annual Reports of the Joseph Proudman 1929-46 Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (or its Arthur (A.T.) Doodson 1946-60 predecessors), or see the web site at: http://www.pol.ac.uk University of Liverpool Tidal lnstitute and Observatory Jack (J.R.) Rossiter 1961-69 J. Eric Jones is a Senior Scientific Officer lnstitute of Coastal Oceanography and Tides working as a numerical modeller at the Jack (J.R.) Rossiter 1969-72 CCMS* Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory; Geoffrey (G.W.) Lennon (Acting Director) 1972-73 he also observes total solar eclipses and tidal lnstitute of Oceanographic Sciences river bores. David (D.E.) Cartwright (Assistant Director) 1973-86 *Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences, Keith (K.R.) Dyer (Acting Assistant Director) 1986 Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston John (J.M.) Huthnance (Officer-in-Charge) 1987 Observatory, Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK. Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (CCMS-POL after 1994) L43 7RA Brian (B.S.) McCartney 1987-98 Tel. +44-(0)151-653-8633; John (J.M.) Huthnance (Acting Director) 1998-99 Fax: +44-(0)151-653-6269 Ed (A.E.) Hill 1999- Email: [email protected]

Book Reviews

The Sea Surface and Global Change Island, USA, in 1994. It consists of tance of the microlayer in ocean edited by Peter Liss and Robert A. three group reports produced as a biology and found this a fascinating Duce (1 997). Cambridge University result of the meeting, and thirteen read. I highly recommend it. Having, Press, f65 (hard cover, ISBN 0-521- individually authored chapters. The I hope, whetted appetites, I leave 56273-2). reports review the state of knowledge readers to discover for themselves the about the microlayer, highlight areas material contained within this chapter. Three things struck me rather forcibly of uncertainty in our current under- The final group report deals with the when I came to write this review. standing and speculate on the role of role of photochemistry in the micro- The first was how long it has been the sea-surface in climate change (and layer. It discusses the potential effect since the book was sent out to me. vice versa). The authors also suggest of photochemistry on air-sea fluxes of The second, the rather high propor- areas where future research should be gases, aerosols and trace metals. The tion of this time that it subsequently concentrated. The reports are grouped section on photochemical processes spent away from my desk and in the rather roughly into three areas cover- operating in the microlayer is brief offices and homes of various col- ing in turn the physics, biology and and speculative for the simple reason leagues. The latter probably gives a photochemistry of the microlayer. that few in situ measurements have better idea of how well the book has been made. been received bv fellow researchers The list of authors for the first reoort is than can be conveyed by my review. really a line-up of who's who in air- The second and third group reports The final jolt was the number of times sea gas exchange and the physics of came as real revelations. It is clear I encountered statements similar to the microlayer. As would be expected, that the microlayer is of great impor- 'almost nothing is known about the it is well written, up-to-date and an tance to both the ocean and atmos- role of X in the sea-surface micro- excellent summary of almost 40 years phere (and hence climate) but we layer', or 'few (or no) in situ measure- of research. Nevertheless, the chapter know so little about it. We have even ments of X have been made', or 'the does leave the reader with the impres- less idea of how the sea-surface might analytical techniques have yet to be sion that, in spite of a great deal of respond to climate change. developed'. This should be music to effort, relatively little progress has been made in successfully transferring The single-authored chapters deal in the ears of any scientists searching for considerable detail with different new, challenging and 'relevant' areas knowledge gleaned from theoretical and laboratory studies into the oceans. aspects of the sea-surface microlayer of research where real impacts can and are essentially peer-reviewed still be made. The second group report chapter deals research articles. Five of these This book grew out of a scientific with the possible effects of chemical chapters are based around air-sea gas workshop on 'The role of the sea- and radiative change on the biology in exchange. The first of these, Chapter surface microlayer and its potential the sea-surface layer. As a simple 4, is written by Lutz Hasse and covers role in global change' held in Rhode chemist I had no idea of the impor- transport processes in the sea-surface

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 3 5 microlayer. As the microlayer is so A model for the effect of surfactants Chapter 15 by Gerald Korenowski difficult to access in the oceans, the on air-sea gas exchange is presented describes the application of laser author sifts through laboratory and by Bill Asher in Chapter 8. It is an technology and laser spectroscopy to theoretical studies of typical modes of interesting study in that it focusses on measurements of the sea-surface. fluid motion and assesses which the exchange of ammonia, a com- Parameters that can presently be transport mechanisms are dominant in pound whose air-sea exchange is determined include wave slope and the transfer of gases and materials in often overlooked but which is impor- near surface turbulence. In the near the ocean. It is blissfully free of Greek tant in cloud formation, and also in future lasers could be used to charac- characters and a relatively simple read. carbon dioxide exchange. Asher terize chemical species in the micro- proposes that surface films can layer. The arrival of these types of Chapter 5, by Nelson Frew is perhaps increase or decrease the net uptake of non-intrusive instruments suggest that the best (and longest) chapter in the CO, by the ocean depending on we may soon make more progress book. It discusses the role of organic whether regions covered by films are with understanding processes in the films in air-sea gas exchange and sources or sinks of CO,. Clearly, this sea-surface layer. contains a wealth of material accumu- topic warrants further investigation lated by the Woods Hole group, of and a priority must be the application Finally, remote sensing of the micro- which very little has been published in of in situ measurement techniques. layer is reviewed by Ian Robinson. regular journals. That surface films The chapter covers satellite measure- have the potential to inhibit the Chapter 9 is a well written review of ment of sea-surface temperature, exchange of gases (and momentum) in the chemistry of the microlayer by height and slope, skin temperature, the oceans has been suspected for a Keith Hunter. He describes existing wind speed and direction and chloro- long time. Laboratory studies have and new sampling techniques. Data phyll. Despite the advances made confirmed this but extrapolation of suggest that the sea-surface is signifi- over the last 20 years, there is still a results to the field has proved impossi- cantly enriched in particulate species. need for accurate and rapid in situ ble. Here Frew reports on laboratory Inevitably, in a book containing single measurements with which to calibrate measurements of gas exchange using authored papers, there is some satellite data. 'natural' seawater samples and shows overlap but it is not too significant. What are my general opinions of the that the inhibition of gas exchange is Chapter 10 by Mikhail Gladyshev, book? The cover states that it is an well correlated with the levels of detailing the biophysics of surface authoritative work, aimed at the dissolved organic carbon and chloro- films, suffers from this more than graduate and research level and likely phyll-a in the sample. Frew shows that most, in that effects of surface films to be welcomed by environmental gas exchange is related rather poorly to and air-water temperature gradients scientists, oceanographers and wind speed in these experiments but are also described in earlier chapters. atmospheric scientists interested in that it is well correlated with the mean Chapter 11 is intriguing. John Hardy global change. The first statement is square wave slope. However, these reviews information on organisms that undoubtedly true. The group reports findings cast serious doubt on whether live in the sea-surface layer (the are by top scientists drawn from a good parameter-isation of gas ex- neuston). He describes the enrich- throughout the international commu- change in the oceans can be devel- ment of anthropogenic organic nity and are excellent summaries of oped, particularly as the degree of compounds and metals in the micro- our current (lack OD understanding of inhibition was found to vary with time. layer and discusses their potential the microlayer. Most of the single- Chapter 6 by David Woolf reviews the effect on neuston. Hardy proceeds to author chapters are high quality probable role of bubbles in air-sea gas speculate on the effect of increases in research articles and well worth exchange and summarizes his previous global sea-surface contamination and dipping into. The strength of the book papers on this topic. Again, it is clear, UV radiation on this layer, not only on is that it has successfully managed to well written and relatively simple to neuston but also on fish eggs and bring together marine physicists, follow. Woolf proposes a model for larvae. It is clear that many questions chemists and biologists, and conse- gas exchange that includes bubble remain unresolved. Chapter 12 by quently it really is interdisciplinary. enhancements to air-sea fluxes and Yuvenaly Zaitsev is a short but Its regular absence from my desk has shows that it agrees rather well with detailed review of neuston species. shown that it is indeed in great other global estimates of air-sea demand by environmental scientists Photochemistry in the microlayer is exchange. He notes that further and oceanographers. It ought to the subject of Chapters 13 and 14 progress is hindered by the lack of stimulate research in this area. by Neil Blough and Manfred good field measurements of bubble Ehrhardt respectively. The first of spectra and surface-active material. However, the book is not always a these is a thorough review that simple read and unless oceanography The next chapter is on physical chem- should be of interest to atmospheric courses in the UK have suddenly istry of air-sea gas exchange and is chemists but which requires the taken a turn for the worse, my written by Leon Phillips. The author reader to have some background in experience of students suggests that has tried to make this paper accessi- chemistry to be read in detail. Al- some sections would defeat all but ble to the non-specialist, but do not be though significant progress has been the most zealous of undergraduates. fooled by the title. It is based around made through laboratory-based As for encouraging more than the irreversible thermodynamics and is, kinetic studies, assessment of the occasional enlightened atmospheric I suspect, only for the dedicated importance of photochemical reac- scientist to get their metaphorical physical chemist. It argues strongly for tions within the microlayer are toes wet, that would be great but a coup-ling between heat and matter hindered bv a lack of data on its would seem most unlikely! fluxes in air-sea exchange, but al- spectral and photochemical proper- though I tried several times to get ties. Chapter 14 discusses the sources Phil Nightingale beyond the deceptively simple intro- and sinks of hydrocarbons and Centre for Coastal and Marine duction I could not negotiate the finer concentrates on photochemical Sciences points of the argument. breakdown of these compounds. Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 in Estuaries and Coastal processes or those which describe Chapter 7 covers the principles of the Waters by Roy Lewis (1 997). John particularly useful experimental measurement of dispersion param- Wiley, 31 1pp. £60.00 (hardback, ISBN results'. The chapter finishes with a eters. Attention focusses on tech- 0-471 -961 62-0). summary of the structure of succeed- niques appropriate to introduced ing chapters. tracers (e.g, fluorescent dyes) and This book is a timely addition to the natural tracers (e.g, salinity). The Chapter 2 covers fluid dynamics literature on marine processes, and chapter contains several numerical relevant to the description of currents fills a long-empty niche by specifi- examples of how measurements are in well mixed flows in estuaries and cally addressing the physical mecha- used to evaluate the required disper- coastal regions. Features of steady nisms responsible for the dispersion of sion rates. The final section is a flows, boundary layers, unsteady solutes and fine suspended material in description of some key ancillary flows (including waves), velocity coastal waters. observational techniques such as shear and mixing by turbulence'are position-fixing, remote sensing and Its readership will be predominantly discussed at length - the main interest Eulerian and Lagrangian velocity postgraduate students, research of the chapter being on how velocity, measurement. workers and professionals working in velocity shear and turbulent mixing coastal hydraulics. It summarizes affect the movement and dilution of Chapter 8 examines dispersion with current knowledge, drawing on the material. Chapter 3 discusses the reference to experiments in well- author's thirty years of practical influence of density stratification on mixed estuaries and coastal waters, experience in solving mixing prob- the ideas introduced in the previous with an emphasis on the dispersion of lems and providing a platform for the chapter, with attention now focussed patches and plumes. The chapter future work of others. It aims to give on the dis~ersionof solutes in strati- begins with a useful reminder of the the reader a good understanding of fied estuaiies and coastal waters. key features of shear dispersion fundamental physical processes, their Particular attention is paid to vertical followed by a summary of estuary- mathematical formulation and, mixing, sources of turbulent mixing, classification techniques. It then importantly, their limitations. The and the stability of the water column. moves on to consider dispersion at style is clear and simple, each chapter three different time-scales. Short time- Chapter 4 deals with turbulent diffu- beginning with an introduction of the scale dispersion is relevant to condi- sion and its mathematical representa- material to come and finishing with a tions controlled entirely by turbulent tion. It begins with turbulent averag- summary. There are several interesting diffusion (i.e. the influence of velocity ing and mixing-length theories before anecdotes relating the experiences of shear is negligible), and hence is turning to statistical treatments of the author and those of other key concerned with experimental data for turbulent mixing. Particular reference workers in the field, such as horizontal dispersion. Intermediate is made to the diffusion of discrete Richardson. time-scale dispersion is relevant to patches, with lucid treatments of the situations controlled by intra-tidal In the Introduction, the author intro- contributions of Richardson, shear, and this section contains useful duces the idea that only a small Kolmogoroff and Batchelor. Chapter 5 reproductions of tables of horizontal, amount of knowledge is required to covers shear dispersion in steady and lateral and longitudinal dispersion estimate the concentration of a unsteady (principally oscillatory) flow. coefficients from estuarine and substance in the marine environment, The role of velocity profiles and the coastal waters. Long time-scale namely the distribution and magni- time-scale of vertical mixing are dispersion involves tidally averaged tude of the fluid velocity and informa- discussed at length. tion about the turbulence in the fluid. (or should this be steady state or even That this is a deceptively simple idea Chapter 6 covers mathematical residual?) conditions. At the end of is confirmed by the following 300 or modelling of dispersion in the marine the chapter there are a few useful so pages! This is a recurrent style of environment. It begins with the initial caveats about the difficulty of predict- the book - ideas are introduced in dilution of buoyant discharges at the ing coefficient values. sea-bed before moving on to simple simple terms and then, later, the Chapter 9 is similar to Chapter 8 but analytical techniques for the disper- complexities of dealing with the real considers dispersion in stratified sion of patches and plumes, followed world and all its variability are marine waters. Discussion focusses by a description of the random-walk gradually brought to bear on the on salt-wedge estuaries and fjords, approach. The chapter then covers original concept. the interaction of estuary outflows regional rather than local phenomena, with coastal waters and fronts. Chapter 1 introduces some of the key turning attention to one-dimensional Chapter 10 considers dispersion in concepts involved in the dispersion of estuary models using both simple partially stratified systems, calling on a dissolved substance in a fluid, for approaches (tidal flushing and the both laboratory and field experiments example molecular and turbulent concept of the tidal prism) and more to show the effects on dispersion of diffusion, mass and momentum sophisticated ones (finite difference variations in shear and turbulent transfer, shear dispersion and dilution techniques), for steady state and mixing. The use of observations in rates. These (and many more ideas) unsteady state conditions. The empha- identifying the roles of different are developed more fully in later sis is on modelling salinity distribu- transport mechanisms in maintaining chapters. This chapter declares the tions but there is also a brief mention salt budgets is also described, and principal aim of the book to be '... to of dissolved oxygen modelling. The values of mixing coefficients from the describe the present understanding of chapter finishes with an introduction literature are quoted. The Chapter dispersion processes in the marine to the fundamental aspects of two- finishes with a brief look forward to environment in relatively simple terms and three-dimensional models. There future research and an overall sum- in the hope that it will be helpful to is little here for the dedicated numeri- mary consisting of five main findings oceanographers and scientists from cal modeller and disappointingly there drawn from the previous chapters. other disciplines.' An additional aim are few references to important works is I...to gather together those studies on relevant numerical methods and which either represent significant their problems. steps in understanding dispersion continued overleaf

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No.1 Overall, I like the book and think it third of the waves. This parameter permanently will become one of the standard texts went out of general use long ago beside you on your working desk. on marine processes. The price may because it has no simple theoretical Tom (M. J.) Tucker deter all individuals except profes- relationship to any other wave para- Taunton, Somerset sional marine scientists from buying meter. Nowadays we use Hma=4.\lmo it, but institutional librarians should where m, is the variance of the be encouraged to acquire it. surface elevation about its mean. One result of using H,,, is that in Steve Wallis some cases he has to say that his Department of Civil and Offshore results are approximate, whereas Engineering using Hmatheywould be exact. Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh One of the first things your reviewer did on getting the book was to look at Ocean Waves: the Stochastic what Ochi has to say about the three Approach by Michel K. Ochi (1 998) most recent problems he has been Cambridge University Press. f65. concerned with. The first is the (hard cover, ISBN 0-521 -56378 -X ) limiting height of waves in water of Michel Ochi's name is well known intermediate depths, which is an and he has published many papers in important design input for some invitation to Oceanography* the field of wave studies. A book by North Sea offshore platforms. There is (Web- Enhanced Edition) by Paul Pinet him is therefore welcome, and your nothing helpful on this. The second In my review of this book in the last reviewer has read it with interest and problem concerns the wave kinemat- Ocean Challenge I complained that found it thought-provoking, All the ics factor, defined as the proportion when I tried to open two of the other books on waves which your by which wave-spreading reduces the Oceanlink web components (the Key reviewer has seen are based on r.m.s. amplitude of that component of Topics and the Science Boxes) I only physics/hydrodynamics, though most the wave particle velocity which is got blank pages. I am glad to report contain the stochastic - i.e, statistical in-line with the mean wave direction. that the problem has now been solved. -treatment as well, of course. Ochi's At first sight this may appear to be It turned out that I was using Netscape book is wholly about the stochastics just another of the nearly 20 different browser system that cannot cope with of waves, as one would expect from measures of wave-spreading which 'frames' versions of these web pages. the title, but this is taken to the are to be found in the literature, but it The publishers (Jones & Bartlett) have extreme, and there are several places is the one which the American now added 'no(n)-frames' versions, where a brief discussion of the Petroleum Institute's Recommended and the other day I was able to get physical basis of the aspects being Practice for the Design of Offshore into all the web components. treated would shed light on them, and Structures says should be used when indeed, prevent one or two miscon- calculating the reduction in wave John Wright ceptions which have crept into the force resulting from the directional book. One of the best parts of the spreading of waves. Ochi does not book is his treatment of the theory of mention it. extreme wave prediction, which is One might consider these two elegantly set out. problems to be in the realms of G3: A New Cyber Journal The most serious criticism of the book physics, but the third one is definitely G3- standing for 'Geochemistry, is that it is out of touch with the stochastic in nature. It is to do with Geophysics, Geosystems' - is an thinking, practices, and problems of the period and wavelength of extreme international multidisciplinary engineers and applied oceanographers waves. For some years, it has been electronic journal that publishes who have to interpret wave data. A known that for a linear wave system, contributions investigating Earth as basic illustration of this is that the first the time-history of extreme waves part of the book (to p.104, in fact) is tends to the shape of the temporal a dynamic chemical system on all entirely devoted to the study of crest- autocorrelation function, with an timk-scales. ~tis completely elec- to-trough waves, which are rarely, if equivalent result for the spatial cross- tronic (i.e, no hard copy is in- ever, used by applied oceanographers. section. Some elegant and well- volved, though high quality reprints The most fundamental reason for this publicised work by a group of can be downloaded and printed). is that for all the standard spectral workers at Shell in the Hague exploits and is presented by the Geochem- formulations, the mean crest-to-trough this result to produce methods which ical Society and the AGU, and has period is zero. In practice, it is critic- can be used by design engineers. been founded with the support of ally sensitive to the high frequency This development is called 'The Shell Scripps Institution of Oceanogra- response of the wave-measuring New-Wave Theory'. Ochi appears to phy, Harvard University, and system. Usually, other period param- be unaware of this work, and in so far Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. eters depending on lower-order as he treats the problem, he quotes It will be possible to submit arti- moments of the spectrum are used (or Longuet-Higgins (1983) who, surpris- cles, rapid publication research sometimes the period corresponding ing though it may seem, reached an letters, reviews, data briefs and to the peak of the spectrum), and incorrect conclusion. technical briefs (e.g. analytical these longer periods are more relevant methods), as well as models, To sum up, Ochi has done us a to the calculation of forces on offshore movies etc. service by collecting together the structures. statistical theory relevant to the At present, there is no subscription To give an example of the detail, Ochi interpretation of wave data, but, as charge for individuals or institu- defines the significant waveheight as one of your reviewer's colleagues put tions. For further information, see the average height of the highest one- it, it is a book which you will want on the web site: http://g-cubed.org/

Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 Storm Surge Modelling The curmudgeon replies: confess I have not followed Black I am suitably chastened. I stick to my Sea research studies in recent I was interested to read the article general point about crossing t's and decades but I remain interested in by John Wright reviewing UK dotting its, but have to admit that in the conditions that prevailed in the Oceanography '98 ('A curmudgeon choosing this example I was being region during the last glaciation. writes ...', Ocean Challenge, slightly impish. Although half- Accordingly, if you can steer me to Volume 8, No. 3) in which he expecting a riposte, I did not antici- evidence of a sub-Bosphorus water makes the point that 'much of what pate one that would be so full and so level during that time I would be was presented was a case of dotting courteously worded. grateful. i's and crossing t's', which he illustrates with reference to a storm Anderson presented the results of surge paper. Later on, he also his investigation in his MS Thesis comments about the 'relevance' of titled 'Paleo-Oceanography of the various lines of work. Although in Mediterranean Sea: Some Conse- some cases 'dotting i's and crossing quences of the Wurm Glaciation', t's' may not be particularly relevant, Noah's Waterfall May 1965, written at the Naval with regard to small improvements Postgraduate School, Monterey, 'Noah and the Black Sea Waterfall' California. We subsequently co- in surge elevation prediction, it (Volume 8, No.3, p.9) made me sit authored a paper titled 'Water should be pointed out that the up and take notice, not because of final few centimetres can be very Budget of the Mediterranean Sea the Noah connection but because of During the Last (Wurm) Glacial important indeed. If we regularly the presumption that the Black Sea Epoch', and an abstract is contained and needlessly evacuated people basin had a very low water level from their homes each time a in the Proceedings of the Second during the last glacial maximum International Oceanographic potential storm surge of whatever until rising sea level in the Mediter- Congress, Moscow, 1966. (These magnitude occurred, apart from ranean topped the Bosphorus 'ridge' anything else this would be very obscure references would not easily and poured catastrophically into the be found by an interested person.) costly and very inconvenient. At basin to produce the so-called the same time a small difference Bosphorus waterfall. Now back to Noah ... could be the trigger to start evacua- tion when a surge actually does Some years ago I interested a Warren C. Thompson occur. This is recognized by the graduate student, Richard S. Department of Oceanography various surge forecast authorities, Anderson, in taking a preliminary Naval Postgraduate School and standards for surge prediction look at the water budget and Monterey, California 93940 have been laid down. circulation of the Mediterranean during the last glacial epoch. To do (Challenger Society member since I would fully agree with John this, a water budget for the Black 1960) Wright that a law of diminishing Sea was also needed. Working returns can arise as models attempt together we deduced that precipita- to deal with the last few percent of tion (estimatd at 15 200 m3s-') plus The Editors reply: discrepancies with observations, runoff (20 800 m3s-l) exceeded The story evolved from a short item in especially as models become evaporation (8 600 m3s-l) from the limited by their inputs. However for Science (279, 22 Feb. 1998, p.1132), Black Sea at that time so that the a press cutting (Observer, 1 March currents associated with major basin was full, with one-way flow 1998) and a TV documentary. We, surges (which I thought was the out through the Bosphorus. In fact however, are solely responsible for main thrust of the storm surge our estimates suggest that the the speculations and the flights of presentation) we are certainly not outflow (27 400 m3s-l) exceeded the fancy. The water budget calculations 'dotting its and crossing t's', as sum of today's combined surface are plainly at variance with conclu- observations are rather sparse and inflow and subsurface outflow sions drawn from the Black Sea models very poor, which is the through the Bosphorus (18 700 m3s-', sediments. We would not presume to reason for the existence of a ' from Sverdrup et al.). adjudicate between the alternative research topic of 'relevance' hypotheses, noting only that it might in understanding the movements of Your article presumes the water be difficult to reconcile two such pollutants which are mobilized level in the Black Sea basin was radically different conclusions! If any during major storm events. well below the Bosphorus sill depth which would have to result from an reader can help solve this conun- J. Eric Jones evaporation excess over precipita- drum, please let us know. Centre for Coastal and Marine tion and runoff, but doesn't hint at Studies, Proudman Oceanographic geological or recent water-budget Laboratory evidence for that condition. I

39 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 Events in 1999 Using Marine Biological Information Events in 2000 in the Electronic Age 19-21 July, Education: Weather, Ocean, Climate University of Plymouth This confer- North Sea 2000 (1 3th lnternational (EWOC99) (Fifth lnternational Confer- ence is being organized by the MBA Senckenberg Conference on Burning ence on School and Popular Meteoro- to encourage the marine community issues of North Sea Ecology) 8-1 2 logical and Oceanographic Education). to realise the potential of electronic May, Wilhelmshaven, Germany. 5-9 July. The conference is intended media. Emphasis will be on identify- Topics will include biodiversity in for teachers, educationalists, meteor- ing and exploring the new tools made North Sea ecosystems, ecological ologists, oceanographers, equipment available through advances in IT for barriers and gradients and modelling; manufacturers and science communi- biological recording, education and structure and functioning; influx/ cators. Three venues will be used: the networking to support research and effects of alien organisms, pelagic- University of Ballarat (5, 6 July), the decision-making in marine environ- benthic coupling. Contact Dr I. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne (7 mental management and protection. Kroncke, Seckenberg Institute; Tel. July) and the Glen Waverley Second- For more information, see the MarLIN +49-4421-947532; Fax: +49-4421- ary College, Melbourne (8, 9 July). web page at http:/www.marlin.ac.uk 947550; Email: kroenckea Contact DWOC99, Cooperative or contact: Bob Earll (CMS) Candle sam-terranare.fh-wiIhelmshaven.de or Research Centre for Southern Hemi- Cottage, Kempley, Gloucestershire, Dr M. Turkay, Senckenberg Institute, sphere Meteorology, Monash Univer- Tel./Fax: +44(0)1531-890415; Email: Senckenberganlage 25, Germany; Tel. sity, Clayton, Victoria 31 68, Australia. [email protected] or Keith /Fax: +49-69-7542240 / 746238; National Open Forum on Education Hiscock: MarLlN Office, MBA, The Email [email protected]. and Training in Marine Sciences Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth Web: http://senckenburg.uni- 10 June, Royal Society, London. PL1 2PB; Tel. +44-(0)1752-633336; frankfurt.de/fis/sngcl3.htm Contact Sylvia Allison, Administrative Email: [email protected] Meteorology at the Millenium: Its Secretary, IACMST Secretariat, South- Progress in Chemical Oceanography Relationship to other Sciences and ampton Oceanography Centre, Em- (PICO) August/September, Plymouth. Technology, and to Society 10-1 4 press Dock, Southampton SO1 4 3ZH. Contact Eric Achterberg, University July, St John's College, Cambrdge. For Tel. +44-(0)1703-596612; Fax: +44- of Plymouth; Email: e.achterberg@ more information contact The Royal (0)1703-596395; Website: www. plymouth.ac.uk Meteorological Society, 104 Oxford marine.gov.ukOl703-596395; Email: Rd, Reading RGI 7LL, UK. Email: [email protected] Offshore Europe '99: Oil and Gas [email protected] Vessels and Structures - Technologies Exhibition and Conference 7-1 0 September, Aberdeen, Scotland. For and Trends 16 June, City Conference further information contact The Remember If you are organizing a Centre, London. Workshop organized conference or meeting on any aspect by IACMST and sponsored by Lloyd's Offshore Europe Partnership, Ocean House, 50 Kingston Rd, New of oceanography, you can publicize it Register of Shipping. Topics covered through Ocean Challenge. Details include risk, safety and the environ- Marlden. Fax: +44-(01181-949-81931 81 86; Email: [email protected] should be sent to the Editor (for ment. Contact as for previous meeting. address see inside back cover) or see the website: htto:// Impact of Climate Change on the Coastal Zone (ECSA 30). 9-1 3 August, Zentrum fur Meeres- und The Deep Subsurface Biosphere (Joint Klimaforschung (ZMK), Hamburg, Meeting of the Society for General Germany. Contact Prof. Dr Jurgen Microbiology Environmental Microbi- Sundermann, ZMK, Bundestrasse 55, ology Group, the Challenger Society 20146 Hamburg, Germany; Fax: +49- and the Geological Society Marine 40-41 23-5235; Email: suendermanna Studies Group). 9-1 0 September, ifm.uni-hamburg.de University of Leeds. For further There were over 100 activities related information contact Rachel Mills, Primary Productivity of Planet Earth: to maritime affairs and marine SOC, Southampton, SO14 3ZH; conservation in UK waters during Biological Determinants and Physical Email: ram1 @soc.soton.ac.uk. Constraints in Terrestrial and Aquatic 1998. lnternational Year of the Ocean Habitats (MBA, British Phycological 34th European 1998: Ocean Policy and Activities in Society, BES, Challenger Society, SEB). Symposium 13-17 September, Ponta the United Kingdom, compiled by 6-1 1 September, Plymouth. Topics Delgada, Azores. The main themes Martin Angel and David Pugh, include: Plant form and function; will be: ecology and evolution on summarises some of these, as well as carbon metabolism and primary island shores; the open ocean; and reproducing the texts of keynote productivity; ecological constraints; the deep ocean. For more information speeches on these issues by John regional and global assessments; see website: http://www.uac.pt/db/ Prescott and Michael Meacher. We photosynthesis/plant productivity in embs34 or contact: 34th EMBS hope to feature a longer account in transition. Nos. restricted to 100. Fee: Secretariat, Dept of Biology, Marine the next issue of Ocean Challenge. f 100. For further details contact Dr Biology Section, University of the Meantime, the 60-page document can Richard Geider, Marine Biological Azores, Rua da MZe de Deus, 58, be obtained from: IACMST, South- Association, The Laboratory, Citadel 9502 Ponta Delgada CODEX, Azores, ampton Oceanography Centre, Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK. Te1.+44- Portugal; Tel. +351-96-653044 (extn Empress Dock, Southampton, (0)1752-633100; Fax: +44-(011752- 1237); Fax: +351-96-653455; Email: SO1 4 3ZH. Web: www.marine.gov.uk 6331 02; Email: [email protected] [email protected]

4 0 Ocean Challenge, Vol. 9, No. 1 OCEAN

The Magazine of the Challenger Society for Marine Science

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHALLENGER COUNCIL FOR THE CHALLENGER SOCIETY '98199 SOCl ETY President The Society's objectives are: Harry Elderfield University of Cambridge To advance the study of Marine Science through research and education. Honorary Secretary To disseminate knowledge of Marine Science with a Carol Robinson view to encouraging a wider interest in the study of Plymouth Marine Laboratory the seas and an awareness of the need for their proper management. Honorary Treasurer Charles Quartley To contribute to public debate on the development of Valeport Marine Scientific Ltd, Dartmouth Marine Science. Immediate Past-President The Society aims to achieve these objectives through Mike Whitfield a range of activities: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom Holding regular scientific meetings covering all aspects of Marine Science. John Allen Supporting specialist groups to provide a forum for Kelvin Boot discussion. Deborah Curtis Publication of a range of documents dealing with Steve Hall aspects of Marine Science and the programme of meetings of the Society. John Howarth Nichola Lane Membership provides the following benefits: Roy Lewis An opportunity to attend, at reduced rates, the Graham Shimmield biennial four-day UK Oceanography Conference and Carol Turley a range of other scientific meetings supported by the Society. Executive Secretary Regular bulletins providing details of Society activi- Jenny Jones (For address see below left) ties, news of conferences, meetings and seminars (in addition to those in Ocean ~hall&geitself).

ADVICE TO AUTHORS Articles for Ocean Challenge can be on any aspect of oceanography. They should be written in an accessible style with a minimum of jargon and avoiding the use of references. If at all possible, they should be well illustrated (please supply clear artwork roughs or good-contrast black and white glossy prints). Copy may be sent electronically. MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS For further information, please contact the Editor: The subscription for 1999 costs £30.00 (f 12 for students, Angela Colling, Department of Earth Sciences, in the UK only). If you would like to join the Society The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, or obtain further information, contact the Executive Bucks MK7 6AA, UK. Secretary, Challenger Society for Marine Science, Room 251120, Ocean Technology Division, Tel. +44-(0)1908-653647 Southampton Oceanography Centre, European Way, Fax: +44-(0)1908-655151 Southampton SO1 4 3ZH, UK. Email: [email protected] CONTENTS Foundation of the EFMS Modelling the North Atlantic: How DYNAMO is pointing the way to News and Views improvements in predictive power Progress with Autosub: The Bermuda Adrian New '98 Expedition Gwyn Griffiths From Astronomy to Oceanography: Not too big, not too small ... Why A Brief History of Bidston Observatory medium-sized research ships will be 1. Eric Jones the workhorses for shelf-sea oceanography in the coming decades Book Reviews Ed Hill Multimedia The Island Trust: Changing Lives for Letters to the Editor the Better Dick Lloyd Forthcoming Events Now, there's a funny thing ... John Wright Investigating the Deep Ocean Benthic Boundary Layer - From Huxley to BENBO Kevin Bla