Publications

Keywords: Computational electromagnetics, fast solvers, impedance matrix compression, method of moments, numerical simulation..

Abstract—This paper presents a modification of the adaptive cross approximation (ACA) algorithm for accelerated solution of the Method of Moments linear system for electrically large radiation and scattering problems. As with ACA, subblocks of the impedance matrix that represent the interaction between well separated subdomains are substituted by “compressed” approximations allowing for reduced storage and accelerated iterative solution. The modified algorithm approximates the original subblocks with products of sparse matrices, constructed with the aid of the ACA algorithm and of a sub-sampling of the original basis functions belonging to either subdomain. Because of the sampling, an additional error is introduced with respect to ACA, but this error is controllable. Just like ordinary ACA, sparsified ACA is kernel-independent and needs no problem-specific information, except for the topology of the basis functions. As a numerical example, RCS computations of the NASA almond are presented, showing an important gain in efficiency. Furthermore, the numerical experiment reveals a computational complexity close to N log N for sparsified ACA for a target electrical size of up to 50 wavelengths.

Keywords: Bayesian state estimation Missing data filling Data clustering Gaussian Mixture Models SMOS Amazon plume ENSO.

A method is introduced for improved estimation of missing data that preserves the multi-regime characteristics of a dataset. The approach analyzes regime change in spatial time series by applying an Expectation–Maximization algorithm(an iterative procedure that finds theMaximumLikelihood Estimate of statisticalmodel parameters) for the determination of a Gaussian MixtureModel (GMM).We estimate the GMMwhen only a linear noisymeasurement of the underlying process is available. We demonstrate the validity of themethod using an idealized dataset and also by applying themethod to equatorial sea surface salinity observed by the TAO/TRITONarray. A percentage of the total observations is systematically extracted and predicted using themethod to allowfor validation. Finally, the approach is applied to recently available remote sea surface salinity from the SMOS satellite in the Amazon River plume region. Areas of large noise levels (reduced signal-to-noise ratios) are considered as missing data and predicted with the proposed approach. The method interprets regime changes and provides reconstructionsof missing information based on the mean and covariability within each regime.

Keywords: Engraulis encrasicolus; Sardinella aurita; Larvae; Circulation; Eddies; Mediterranean.

In recent years a northward expansion of Sardinella aurita has been reported in the Western Mediterranean. Spawning of this species takes place in summer coinciding with Engraulis encrasicolus, the dominant species in the region. Since both species inhabit the continental shelf, their larvae coexist during this period of the year. The circulation in the region is characterized by the Northern current, flowing along the continental slope. This current displays strong mesoscale activity presenting a meandering path and series of anticyclonic eddies over the shelf. These eddies are fed from offshore by the Northern current and by coastal waters from inshore thus merging and concentrating water from their both sides. The study analyses the role of mesoscale eddies shaping the distribution of S. aurita and E. encrasicolus larvae along the Catalan coast. Data covering the whole shelf and slope were obtained in 3 oceanographic cruises conducted in the summers of 2003 and 2004. E. encrasicolus larvae were found scattered on the whole continental shelf being particularly abundant over the shelf break and in the northern third of the region, associated with the intrusion of the Northern current. S. aurita larvae showed a more coastal distribution, being almost absent at the shelf break and under the influence of the Northern current. The observed spatial distribution of larval sizes evidenced the spawning preferences of each species and the transport and concentration of larvae of both species inside the eddies, as they entrain water from its two sides. This behaviour helps to ensure better survival conditions due to higher food availability brought from the offshore side but in an environment without dispersion.

Here we present results of the first comprehensive study of sulphur compounds and methane in the oligotrophic tropical western Pacific Ocean. The concentrations of dimethylsuphide (DMS), dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP), dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), and methane (CH4), as well as various phytoplankton marker pigments in the surface ocean were measured along a north–south transit from Japan to Australia in October 2009. DMS (0.9 nmol L−1), dissolved DMSP (DMSPd, 1.6 nmol L−1) and particulate DMSP (DMSPp, 2 nmol L−1) concentrations were generally low, while dissolved DMSO (DMSOd, 4.4 nmol L−1) and particulate DMSO (DMSOp, 11.5 nmol L−1) concentrations were comparably enhanced. Positive correlations were found between DMSO and DMSP as well as DMSP and DMSO with chlorophyll a, which suggests a similar source for both compounds. Similar phytoplankton groups were identified as being important for the DMSO and DMSP pool, thus, the same algae taxa might produce both DMSP and DMSO. In contrast, phytoplankton seemed to play only a minor role for the DMS distribution in the western Pacific Ocean. The observed DMSPp :DMSOp ratios were very low and seem to be characteristic of oligotrophic tropical waters representing the extreme endpoint of the global DMSPp :DMSOp ratio vs SST relationship. It is most likely that nutrient limitation and oxidative stress in the tropical western Pacific Ocean triggered enhanced DMSO production leading to an accumulation of DMSO in the sea surface. Positive correlations between DMSPd and CH4, as well as between DMSO (particulate and total) and CH4, were found along the transit. We conclude that DMSP and DMSO and/or their degradation products might serve as potential substrates for CH4 production in the oxic surface layer of the western Pacific Ocean.

A new small wave rider called Surpact was developed for air-sea investigations. It was designed to attach to a drifter or a mooring and to float upon the surface waves in order to measure sea state and atmospheric sea level pressure as well as temperature and salinity at a small fixed depth from the surface. Wind speed is derived from Surpact sea state measurements, and the data are calibrated with co-located Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) wind retrievals during a four-month deployment in the North Atlantic subtropics. Individual 15-minute wind estimates present a root mean square difference on the order of 15% with the SSMIS wind retrievals for wind speeds less than 12 m s–1. The wind retrievals might lag the actual wind changes for moderate to strong winds by an hour. This article discusses the accuracy of these wind retrievals based on in situ data collected during the Strasse cruise in August and September 2012. Temperature and salinity data are also examined. The authors find, under some sunny conditions, radiative warming of the temperature probe reduces the accuracy of some of the daytime temperature data and also affects corresponding salinity estimates. Nonetheless, small realistic daily cycles of near-surface salinity (0.01 psu amplitude) were observed. Also, examples of wind time series collected during salinity drops caused by rainfall during late 2012 in the North Atlantic subtropics indicate no intensification of wind during these rain events. - See more at: http://www.tos.org/oceanography/archive/26-1_reverdin.html#sthash.xFTtPM1D.dpuf

We explore the underlying mechanisms of the early life history dynamics of the European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus, in the SW Mediterranean. By using a 3D ROMS hydrodynamic model coupled to an individual-based model (IBM) of the larval stages of the European anchovy, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) the plausible effective spawning zones (those generating late larvae to the known nursery grounds) are mainly found in the vicinity of Malaga Bay, as suggested by published empirical data; (2) the observed, back-calculated growth of larvae sampled in the nursery grounds can be reasonably simulated by a simple temperature-dependent growth model; and (3) the inclusion of biological behavior in the IBM significantly improves the match between the observed and modeled late-larval recruitment and/or growth patterns. We performed simulations for the peak spawning season in 2008, for which survey data were available, and an average climatological run. Hypothesis 1 was accepted, whereas hypothesis 2 resulted in a good imitation of anchovy growth only after 10 days post-hatch. The inclusion of an empirically derived equation for egg buoyancy in the model (hypothesis 3) resulted in a slight improvement of the model of late-larval recruitment patterns. Finally, our model was used to explore possible retention-based nursery areas in the whole Alboran Sea. Our simulations showed to agree well with the existing data both in the European and in the African coast and confer the physics a dominant role in shaping the spatial dynamics of early life stages of anchovy in the area.

Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), launched on 2 November 2009, is the first satellite mission addressing sea surface salinity (SSS) measurement from space. Its unique payload is the Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS), a new two-dimensional interferometer designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operating at the L-band frequency. This article presents a summary of SSS retrieval from SMOS observations and shows initial results obtained one year after launch. These results are encouraging, but also indicate that further improvements at various data processing levels are needed and hence are currently under investigation.

Keywords: gear competition, asymmetric index, Mediterranean fisheries.

An asymmetric index was developed to measure the competition relationships among fishing fleets (or gears or métiers) in a multispecies fishery. This index can be used to measure the degree of dominance of each fleet and its level of independence from competition. To illustrate the concepts, the index is applied to two case studies using two datasets, both from Catalonia, NW Mediterranean. The results show that in both case studies the dominance of bottom trawl over most other gears (especially small-scale ones) is evidenced and quantitatively measured. Bottom trawl is also highly independent of the others. Purse seine appears to be quite independent, but not dominant over the other gears. A practical use of these asymmetric indices is to assist fisheries managers in the decision-making process to optimize the allocation of fishing effort, including energy efficiency, and to reduce environmental impact.

The long-term monitoring of basic hydrological parameters (temperature and salinity), collected as time series with adequate temporal resolution (i.e. with a sampling interval allowing the resolution of all important timescales) in key places of the Mediterranean Sea (straits and channels, zones of dense water formation, deep parts of the basins), constitute a priority in the context of global changes. This led CIESM (The Mediterranean Science Commission) to support, since 2002, the HYDROCHANGES programme (www.ciesm.org/marine/programs/hydrochanges.htm), a network of autonomous conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) sensors, deployed on mainly short and easily manageable subsurface moorings, within the core of a certain water mass. The HYDROCHANGES strategy is twofold and develops on different scales. To get information about long-term changes of hydrological characteristics, long time series are needed. But before these series are long enough they allow the detection of links between them at shorter timescales that may provide extremely valuable information about the functioning of the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of this paper is to present the history of the programme and the current set-up of the network (monitored sites, involved groups) as well as to provide for the first time an overview of all the time series collected under the HYDROCHANGES umbrella, discussing the results obtained thanks to the programme.

Keywords: Marine circulation; Sediment dynamics; Nepheloid layers; Gulf of Valencia; NW Mediterranean.

According to previous studies, the surface circulation of the Gulf of Valencia (GoV) is characterized by a convergence between the southwestward Northern Current carrying old Atlantic Waters (oAW) and the northward intrusions of recent Atlantic Waters (rAW) imported through the Ibiza Channel. This paper focuses on the distribution of the suspended sediment concentration in the GoV obtained from a dense grid of CTD observations in June 1995 during the oceanographic cruise MESO\'95 (MESOscale processes). We evaluate the relation between currents, water masses and the nepheloid structure at the time of the survey. Results showed higher suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in the oAW than in the rAW. At the shelf-break depth, an important detachment of particulate matter was observed off Cap La Nao, extending seawards all across the Ibiza Channel. The presence of this intermediate nepheloid layer detachment indicates a preferential off-shelf sediment export at the southern end of the GoV, where the orientation of the continental margin changes, and oAW and rAW merge. On the continental slope, several nepheloid layers detachments were observed between 400 and 600 m, where the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) interacts with the seafloor, suggesting the possible presence of internal waves causing sediment resuspension and/or maintaining particles in suspension in the mid-slope region. A bottom nepheloid layer was also observed at deeper locations along the central and southern part of the GoV continental slope, but not at the Ibiza Sill.

We analyze the short-term transition, on time scales of the order of days and weeks, of the surface fields in the coastal transition zone off Northwest Africa, between 15ºN and 25ºN, during winter and spring 2005 and 2006. This is a complex region characterized by the baroclinic coastal jet north of Cape Blanc, along-shore convergence and water exportat the Cape Blanc giant filament, and substantial mesoscale variability between Capes Verde and Blanc.We use the anomalies of the wind impulse and two different coastal upwelling indexes, evaluated off 17ºN, 20ºN and 23ºN, in order to assess the importance of wind forcing in this short-term variability. We also employ daily and weekly surface maps of wind, temperature, surface height and currents to investigate which are the mechanisms that lead to the relatively fast changes in the flow patterns. The coastal baroclinic jet and the Cape Blanc giant filament are ubiquitous features, the two being intrinsically related through the intensity of upwelling off Cape Blanc. Therefore, the strength of both features responds, to a large extent, to the fluctuations of the northeasterly winds; their intensity is greater in spring than winter but during both seasons they experience relatively fast oscillations related to the intermittency of the wind field. Themesoscalar features are visible in the entire domain, with time scales typically of the order of two weeks, but be come prominent in the southern region during spring, apparently related to an intense northward coastal jet south of Cape Blanc.

The ocean surface velocity field in the Cape Blanc region, off Northwest Africa, is investigated with the maximum cross-correlation (MCC) method applied to channel- 4 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer satellite images. An initial sensitivity analysis allows us to select the four parameters that provide maximum area coverage and the best velocity resolution, while limiting the standard deviation for each velocity component within reasonable values. These are (m, n, MV, CT)=(22, 32, 50, 0.6), where m and n are the number of pixels of the search window (SW) and reference window (RW), respectively, MV is the maximum possible velocity (in cm s−1), and CT is a correlation threshold for a feature to be tracked. A total of 489 images, for years 2005 and 2006, are analysed, and 106 velocity maps are generated with good coverage of the coastal transition zone (CTZ), most of them for the winter (34) and spring (59) seasons. We remove spurious data using the method’s own filters (MV, CT, and a neighbour-vector comparison), requesting the velocity components to have Gaussian distributions and smoothing the resulting velocity fields with a median-vector filter. The instantaneous velocity maps illustrate the response of the alongshore coastal jet north of Cape Blanc (and its extension along the Cape Verde frontal region) to wind forcing, as well as the presence of numerous mesoscalar features (100–300 km wide) superposed on a westward offshore transport south of Cape Blanc. We also produce mean and standard deviation winter and spring velocity maps, which are compared with the corresponding mean sea surface temperature fields. The along-shore and offshore flow is better defined and is more intense in spring than in winter, in concordance with cross-slope sharper temperature gradients during this season, and brings about a cooling of the whole region.We identify five different ubiquitous currents: a southwestward jet north of Cape Blanc, a northwestward jet off Banc d’Argin, an offshore convergent jet, a spring jet-like feature at 18◦ N, and a southward flow in the southwestern CTZ.

The analysis of a compilation of deep CTD casts conducted in the western Mediterranean from 1998 to 2011 has documented the role that dense water formation, and particularly deep dense shelf water cascading off the Gulf of Lions, plays in transporting suspended particulate matter from the coastal regions down to the basin. Deep CTD casts reveal that after the 1999 and 2005–2006 deep cascading events the Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW) was characterized by the presence of a thick bottom nepheloid layer (BNL) that corresponded in thickness with a thermohaline anomaly generated by the mixture of dense waters formed by deep convection in the open sea and by deep cascading. This BNL can be hundreds of meters thick and in the central part of the basin usually exhibits suspended sediment concentrations of <0.1 mg/l above background levels, reaching higher concentrations close to the continental rise, with near-bottom peaks >1 mg/l. After winter 1999 the BNL spread from the Gulf of Lions and the Catalan margin over the northwestern Mediterranean basin, reaching west of the Balearic Islands and the Ligurian Sea, while after winters 2005–2006 the BNL covered the entire western Mediterranean basin. Thickness and concentration of the BNL tend to diminish with time but this trend is highly dependent on the volume of dense water generated, both by convection and cascading. After winter 1999 the BNL signal vanished in one year, but after winters 2005–2006 it lasted for longer and the turbidity signal can still be distinguished at present (2011). Particle size distribution in the BNL reveals the presence of large aggregates up to 1 mm in size formed by a mixture of single particles with the same bimodal grain size distribution as the surface sediments found in the northwestern Mediterranean slope and basin. Results presented in this paper highlight the fact that the WMDW can be periodically affected by the arrival of new dense waters loaded with suspended particles mainly introduced by resuspension processes during major cascading events, being a key process that could ultimately affect deep-sea biogeochemical cycles in the western Mediterranean.

Keywords: Azores triple junction; São Jorge Island; GPS; Tectonics; Volcanism.

A network of geodetic markers for high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) surveying was established in 2001 in the island of São Jorge, at the Azores triple junction, where the North America–Eurasia–Nubia plates meet. The aim was to monitor tectonic, volcanic, and landslide-induced surface deformation in an active tectono-volcanic region. The network consisted of 17 stations, and was occupied in 2001, 2004, and 2010. GPS observations from the three episodic campaigns were analyzed using the latest geophysical models and geodetic procedures to generate a velocity field for São Jorge Island. Surface velocities estimated at 15 inland locations reveal that São Jorge is moving neither with Eurasia nor with Nubia and presents two sectors with different behavior. The NW sector of the island is moving at a rate of 2.2 ± 0.3 mm/yr to N82° ± 6° while the SE sector is moving at a rate of 1.4 ± 0.3 mm/yr to N109° ± 11°, when compared to the velocity of Nubia predicted by ITRF2008-PMM. This velocity field cannot be explained by slip along the active faults that cross the island, nor is compatible with volcanic deformation on the active volcanic rift zones. It is suggested that the velocity differences that are measured represent deformation related to local sub-surficial magmatic/volcanic processes occurring near the island. This intra-island deformation may also be related to the stress field and seafloor spreading occurring in an area situated on the western sector of the Azores Plateau, reflecting the presence of WNW–ESE volcanic structures, along which magma intrusion produces NE–SW dilatation, bounded to the East by a NE–SW trending structure, probably of tectonic nature, working as a dextral transfer zone.

The inversion of the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) backscatter measurement triplets generally leads to two wind ambiguities with similar wind speed values and opposite wind directions. However, for up-, down- and crosswind (with respect to the mid-beam azimuth direction) cases, the inversion often leads to three or four wind solutions. In most of such cases, the inversion residuals or maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs) of the third and fourth solutions (i.e. high-rank solutions) are substantially higher than those of the first two (low-rank) ambiguities. This indicates a low probability for the high-rank solutions and thus essentially dual ambiguity. This paper investigates the characteristics of ASCAT high-rank wind solutions under different conditions with the objective of developing a method for rejecting the spurious high-rank solutions. The implementation of this rejection procedure improves the effectiveness of the ASCAT wind quality control (QC) and ambiguity removal procedures.

The winter of 2012 experienced peculiar atmospheric conditions that triggered a massive formation of dense water on the continental shelf and in the deep basin of the Gulf of Lions. Multiplatforms observations enabled a synoptic view of dense water formation and spreading at basin scale. Five months after its formation, the dense water of coastal origin created a distinct bottom layer up to a few hundreds of meters thick over the central part of the NW Mediterranean basin, which was overlaid by a layer of newly formed deep water produced by open-sea convection. These new observations highlight the role of intense episodes of both dense shelf water cascading and open-sea convection to the progressive modification of the NW Mediterranean deep waters.

Final report of the project initiated in response to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Announcement of Opportunity (AO) call for the calibration and validation of the OceanSat-2 mission instruments by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) within the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Satellite Application Facility (SAF) Network under responsibility of the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) SAF and the Ocean and Sea Ice (OSI) SAF. NWP SAF report number: NWPSAF-KN-TR-022 OSI SAF report number: SAF/OSI/CDOP2/KNMI/TEC/RP/196

Alguns autors, i fins i tot poders públics, reconeixen el paper de la crisi energètica que s'està desenvolupant com una de les claus de la present crisi econòmica i financera, i particularment de la seva durada. Tot i això, les polítiques que s'intenten promoure des de les institucions públiques posen l'accent en els aspectes merament energètics del problema, promovent mesures com ara l’estalvi o l'eficàcia, sense tenir en compte la forta interacció d'aquestes mesures amb el sector productiu i els seus efectes indesitjables. En realitat, la crisi energètica no és res més que un altre símptoma d'una crisi global i holística. En aquest sentit, les entitats locals estan cridades a exercir un paper clau, tota vegada que un dels efectes secundaris de la crisi energètica és la desglobalització o relocalització.