Oceanography

360 Pages·2012·30.605 MB·English

by  M. Marcelli

OCEANOGRAPHY

Edited by Marco Marcelli
Oceanography
Edited by Marco Marcelli

Published by InTech
Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2012 InTech
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First published March, 2012
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from [email protected]

Oceanography, Edited by Marco Marcelli
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-51-0301-1

Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 Methods in Oceanography 1
Chapter 1 Open-Sea Observatories:
A New Technology to Bring
the Pulse of the Sea to Human Awareness 3
I. Puillat, N. Lanteri, J.F. Drogou, J. Blandin, L. Géli,
J. Sarrazin, P.M. Sarradin, Y. Auffret, J.F. Rolin and P. Léon
Chapter 2 New Technological Developments
for Oceanographic Observations 41
Marco Marcelli, Andrea Pannocchi,
Viviana Piermattei and Umberto Mainardi
Chapter 3 Application of the Long-Term Delayed Luminescence
for Study of Natural Water Environments 79
Zdzisław Prokowski and Lilla Mielnik
Chapter 4 An Introduction to FY-3/MERSI,
Ocean Colour Algorithm, Product and Application 95
Sun Ling, Hu Xiuqing, Guo Maohua,
Zhu Jianhua, Li Sanmei and Ding Lei
Chapter 5 Seismic Oceanography:
A New Geophysical Tool to Investigate
the Thermohaline Structure of the Oceans 113
Haibin Song, Luis M. Pinheiro, Barry Ruddick and Xinghui Huang
Part 2 Physical Oceanography 129
Chapter 6 Variability of Internal Solitary Waves
in the Northwest South China Sea 131
Zhenhua Xu and Baoshu Yin
VI Contents

Chapter 7 Bodies of Water Along the Coast
of a Tideless Sea in Areas with Young Pleistocene
Accumulation from Scandinavian Glaciers (Baltic Sea) 147
Roman Cieśliński and Jan Drwal
Chapter 8 Prediction of Wave Height
Based on the Monitoring of Surface Wind 169
Tsukasa Hokimoto
Part 3 Chemical Oceanography 189
Chapter 9 Oxygenated Hydrocarbons in Coastal Waters 191
Warren J. de Bruyn, Catherine D. Clark and Lauren Pagel
Chapter 10 Organic-Aggregate-Attached Bacteria
in Aquatic Ecosystems: Abundance,
Diversity, Community Dynamics and Function 205
Xiangming Tang, Jianying Chao, Dan Chen,
Keqiang Shao and Guang Gao
Part 4 Applied Ecology 233
Chapter 11 Connectivity as a Management Tool
for Coastal Ecosystems in Changing Oceans 235
Nicolas Le Corre, Frédéric Guichard and Ladd E. Johnson
Chapter 12 Geochemical Changes in Aquatic
Environment Caused by Deep Dredging –
A Case Study: The Puck Bay (Baltic Sea) 259
Bożena Graca, Katarzyna Łukawska-Matuszewska,
Dorota Burska, Leszek Łęczyński and Jerzy Bolałek
Chapter 13 Fisheries and Biodiversity
in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico 281
Gerardo Rodríguez-Quiroz, Eugenio Alberto Aragón-Noriega,
Miguel A. Cisneros-Mata and Alfredo Ortega Rubio
Chapter 14 On the Chemical Profile of Marine Organisms
from Coastal Subtropical Environments: Gross Composition
and Nitrogen-to-Protein Conversion Factors 297
Graciela S. Diniz, Elisabete Barbarino and Sergio O. Lourenço
Chapter 15 Ecology and Zoogeography of Parasites 321
Ewa Sobecka

Preface

Oceanography is a very complex science.
Its field study, the knowledge of the oceans and the seas and their physical and
biological characteristics, is fundamental to comprehend many oceanographic and
ecological aspects that directly influence the human life and the planet health.
From micro-scale, like coastal processes, to macro-scale, like Global Change, the
oceans, the seas and the marine life, play the main role to maintain the earth
equilibrium, both from a physical and a chemical point of view (e.g. carbon cycle and
water masses dynamic).
Traditionally, the description of many oceanographic phenomena, is based on the
study of physical, chemical and biological parameters by means of different
methodologies utilized for the data collection (e.g. direct in situ measurements, stand
alone observatories and remote sensing).
Although the continuous improvements of observation platforms and measurement
devices give us the possibility to have an even more detailed description of
oceanographic characteristics, for a complete comprehension of processes, it is crucial
also to take into account the interaction between human activities and the sea.
This is particularly true for shallow waters of the coastal zones which are directly
exposed to many different impacts. Fishing, coastal energy plants development and
coastal urbanization, if unmanaged, could affect respectively, biological stocks, overall
water quality and coastal circulation, leading to heavy changes in marine ecosystems.
This book keeps together some examples coming from different fields of studies. Firsts
chapters of the book underline the international technological efforts in order to realize
more and more efficient devices and platforms for the study of oceanographic
processes.
Particular relevance is also given to co-operative initiatives, such as VOS and SOOP
JCOMM programs, set up through international organizations agreements, with the
aim to provide as much data as possible saving time and costs. Furthermore,
observatory networks such as ARGO floats, drifters, deep sea observatories and
X Preface

moorings represent the ultimate strategy for real time or near real time data
collections.
National and international web portals (e.g. the Pan-European infrastructure for ocean
and marine data management SeaDataNet www.seadatanet.org) make world wide
oceanographic in situ measurements available to the whole scientific community.
Human activities (Ports, coastal plants, resorting structures etc.) responsible for
shoreline modifications, can modify the local coastal dynamic. Changes in sediment
transport can lead to a habitat alteration (e.g. coastal erosion) dangerous for marine
ecosystem but, at the same time changes in water currents could produce undesirable
and dangerous effects exactly on the same coastal structures responsible for such
changes.
The section two collects some studies showing the importance of oceanographic
physical processes understandings and how numerical models can represent a very
useful tool for the comprehension of oceanographic dynamic and energy transport.
The studies of section three regard some chemical processes that happens in sea
waters due to the interaction between energy (turbulence and light) and
organic/biological compounds. These processes, such as for example the sun light
absorption by CDOM, can lead to the production into sea waters of extremely reactive
species that play a significant role in the global carbon cycle.
All these thematics have to be taken into account each time human activities “facing”
the Sea. Fishing and aquaculture, deep sea drilling, coastal and off shore installation
sitings, ship routing, protected areas designs, monitoring and sampling surveys and so
much more, nowadays represent fundamental resources of our economy. For this
reason oceanography observations and studies require a multidisciplinary approach in
order to develop some management tools able to ensure a sustainable development in
which human and environment needs meet each other. In section four there are some
examples showing how applied ecology studies are trying to face this issue.

Prof. Marco Marcelli
Ecology and Sustainable Economic Development (DECOS),
Laboratory of Experimental Oceanography and Marine,
Civitavecchia, Molo Vespucci, Porto di Civitavecchia,
Italy