Using a linear quasi-geostrophic model of large scale spiraling flow and vertical density gradient in the eastern North Pacific, we evaluate the complex dispersion relationships for quasi-geostrophic waves. Our calculations indicate that the geostrophic circulation of the eastern North Pacific can locally convert potential energy to mesoscale kinetic energy on...
Temperature, salinity, sigma-t and dissipation profiles from the Rapid Sampling Vertical Profiler for six transects as part of the Coastal Transition zone pilot experiment, June 1987.
The fall-winter surface current field off Oregon was determined by analysis of ten years of drift bottle data. Computer programs were developed for generating bottle tracks on a numerical grid, for interpolating bottle velocity components to fill void grid points and for smoothing irregularities in the velocity fields. Charts are...
The geopotential anomalies and the average meridional geostrophic
flow off Newport, Oregon, were computed from the data taken
during twenty-one hydrographic cruises.
The annual average of geopotential anomaly was 1.31 dynamic
meters with a seasonal variation of the order of 14 dynamic centimeters.
Highest values of geopotential anomaly occurred in...
A long and gradual transition between the summer and winter
oceanic regimes was observed off Oregon during the autumn of 1980.
Hydrographic sections and a single current meter mooring between
August and December show the ocean possessed characteristics during
fall that have not been observed during other seasons: a slow...
The physical characteristics of continental shelf waters off
Oregon during late winter and spring of 1975 are described and compared
with observations taken previously during summer. The currents
in winter are barotropic in the monthly means while in summer
the currents are baroclinic. Alongshore current fluctuations on the
time scale...
We sharpen our view of an eastern boundary current region during
the upwelling season through the analysis of several data sets.
We focus on the mesoscale flow field off of northern California,
observed during the Coastal Transition Zone (CTZ) experiment of 1988.
First, we estimate tidal currents in the region...
This report summarizes the Seasoar and CTD observations from Wecoma
cruises W9306A (5 June to 12 July, 1993) and W9308B (14 August to 22 September
1993) conducted as part of the Eastern Boundary Currents Accelerated Research
Initiative, under funding by the Office of Naval Research. The cruises were
designed to...
The distribution of herring (Clupea harengus pallasi) in
the Northeast Pacific extends from southern California to
northern Alaska. Studies on variation in herring life-history
are limited to local
characteristics and recruitment
populations or relatively restricted regions of the Northeast
Pacific. In this study I assessed herring life-history
patterns and recruitment...
Hydrographic and CTD measurements were taken from ninety-eight stations between Honolulu, Hawaii and Kodiak, Alaska from 4 May to 4 June 1984 on the second leg of the Marathon Expedition. This report consists of the cruise track, vertical sections, listings of all discrete hydrographic data, a subsample of the CTD...
Hydroacoustic tertiary (T-) waves are seismically generated acoustic waves that propagate
over great distances in the ocean sound channel with little loss in signal strength.
Hydrophone recorded T-waves can provide a lower earthquake detection threshold and an
improved epicenter location accuracy for oceanic earthquakes than land-based seismic
networks. Thus detection...
Published January 1979. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the Sea Grant Catalog: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/publications
Revised January 1984. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the Sea Grant Catalog: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/publications
Revised March 1989. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the Sea Grant Catalog: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/publications
Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) are the largest of the baleen
whales. Blue whale calls were recorded off the coast of California in fall,
1993 and measured for frequency and time characteristics. On average, blue
whale calls lasted 16 s, swept down from 18.9 to 17.3 Hz and were
repeated every...
This report presents hydrographic and chemical data from the eastern
tropical North Pacific Ocean collected in January 1977 aboard Oregon State
University's (OSU) R/V WECOMA during Leg I of Cruise WELOC 77. The purpose of
the cruise, WELOC-77-I, was to investigate the distributions of dissolved nitrous
oxide and molecular hydrogen'...
This data report contains observations made from R/P FLIP as part of the first process-oriented NORPAX (North Pacific Experiment) experiment. The experiment was named POLE to indicate that the horizontal extent of sampling was small compared to the largest scale investigated in NORPAX.
The part of the experiment reported here...
This document is a summary of the March 1968 meeting to determine the cause of an oyster mortality incident. It answers several questions about criteria for establishing the causative organism and discusses programs for studying oyster mortalities.
Management strategies to prevent overfishing while achieving optimum yield vary according to the available data and life history of the fished stock. I evaluated two sets of management strategies for Pacific coast rockfish: strategies to set harvest limits for data-poor stocks, and strategies intended to protect the age structure of...
Under conditions of fixed N-limitation, as with most oligotrophic systems, the process of biological N₂ fixation (diazotrophy) is favored, provided the necessary trace elements and vitamins are sufficient. Despite the well understood contributions of N₂
fixation in oligotrophic regions, the nutritional and ecological controls of marine diazotrophs have not been...
The investigation described in this project will test the hypothesis that fluxes of carbon, barium, manganese, iron and uranium associated with fluid seepage at the San Clemente fracture zone significantly affect the geochemical budgets for these elements, and ultimately result in anomalously high benthic fluxes throughout the San Clemente basin.
In the past several years, international interest in gas hydrates in marine sediments has
increased considerably because of increasing recognition that the large volume of gas stored
in hydrates or trapped beneath them is a significant fraction of the global methane budget,
and may therefore be a source of energy...
Plate boundaries are commonly regions of complex, diffuse deformation with
the motion across the boundary accommodated by numerous structural systems, rather
than being narrow, discrete zones of deformation. One such boundary occurs where
the North American plate makes contact with Juan de Fuca, Gorda, and Pacific plates
along the west...
Deep-sea bamboo coral (Isidella sp.) SE000901A from the southern Oregon coast (water depth 1048m) provides a high-resolution record of variability of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) and carbon rain to the sea floor, related to coastal upwelling, from 1808 to 2000AD. Counting of annual layers in magnesium to calcium (Mg/Ca)...
This report presents observations from a single mooring of velocity, temperature, conductivity, and pressure, made as part of the Ocean Storms experiment, conducted in the N.E. Pacific Ocean (47° 25.4' N, 139° 17.8' W) from August 1987 to June 1988. The mooring contained a total of 14 current meters, 4...
The time-averaged velocity field in the North Pacific was estimated in two
sets of inverse calculations. The planetary geostrophic equations were the basis for
dynamical models of the flow in each case. The inverse estimates of the circulation
were obtained by minimizing a positive-definite cost function, which measured the
inconsistency...
By implementing a series of mass-conserving nested high-resolution models down to approximately 1 km resolution that have realistic bathymetry, coastline, wind forcing and river run-off, the winter 1996-1997 shelf flow near Cape Mendocino, California, is simulated and compared with available observations from the Strata Formation on Margins (STRATAFORM) marine geology...
The FRONTS-80 experiment is a joint investigation supported by the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as the lead agency with additional contributions
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
the National Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Navy and the Canadian
Forces. Support from these agencies is gratefully acknowledged. We...
Understanding and modeling microbial responses and feedbacks to climate change is hampered by a lack of a framework in the pelagic environment by which to link local mechanism to large scale patterns. Where terrestrial ecology draws from landscape theory and practice to address issues of scale, the pelagic seascape concept...
The primary objectives of R/V Wecoma cruise W9907C were to: 1) collect threedimensional fields of temperature, salinity, and light absorption and attenuation using the towed, undulating vehicle SeaSoar; 2) collect 3-D fields of velocity using shipboard ADCP; 3) to make turbulence profiles along a single cross-shelf transect; and 4) locate,...
1-km MODIS observations of ship tracks off the west coast of the U.S. are used to characterize changes in cloud visible optical depths, cloud droplet radii, cloud cover fraction, and column cloud liquid water amount as low-level marine clouds respond to particle pollution from underlying ships. This study re-examines the...
Predators must consume enough prey to support costly events, such as reproduction. Meeting high energetic requirements is particularly challenging for migrating baleen whales as their feeding seasons are typically restricted to a limited temporal window and marine prey are notoriously patchy. We assessed the energetic value of the six most...
In this thesis anomalous downcore shallowing of paleomagnetic
inclinations is interpreted to be caused by sediment compaction. Thus,
compaction-induced inclination shallowing may influence tectonic
reconstructions that are based on inclinations from deep-sea sediment
cores.
Progressive downcore shallowing of the remanent inclination was
observed in a 120-m section of Plio- Pleistocene...
This study investigated long-term (1961-2008) changes in albacore (Thunnus alalunga) abundance and distribution in relation to local environmental and large-scale climate indices in the Northeastern Pacific using time series and spatial analyses. Prior to the time series analysis, a wavelet analysis was conducted to examine nonrandom patterns of cyclical variability...
Published July 1976. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
North Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) is a highly migratory and
commercially valuable species of tuna. All stock assessments and management
decisions for North Pacific albacore are presently based on the assumption of a single,
uniform stock. However, a growing body of evidence from diverse sources suggests
that there are two...
The Tertiary geologic evolution of the Oregon and Washington continental margin was molded by episodic periods of convergence between the Pacific oceanic plates and the North American plate. This margin is the site of a deep basin that is floored by Paleocene to lower Eocene oceanic crust and contains more...
The North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG), once considered to be a biological desert due to low primary production (PP) and its associated variability, has been found more productive and variable than previously thought. The environmental conditions controlling this relatively high PP variability are yet to be elucidated, despite important implications...
Northeast Pacific Ocean sediments were analyzed to determine the past
relationship between northeast Pacific sea surface conditions and the climate on the
adjacent continent, the Pacific Northwest of North America. Studies of modern
ocean-atmosphere interactions demonstrate the significant effect sea surface conditions
and atmospheric circulation in the Northeast Pacific Ocean...
Published June 1983. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the Sea Grant Catalog: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/publications
Volcanic rocks from hotspots and island arcs/backarcs typically have enriched trace
element and isotopic compositions that contain a contribution from subducted oceanic crust.
Isotopic and trace element data suggest that the enriched components in hotspot volcanism
are ancient subducted sediment and crust, and the enriched components in arc/backarc
volcanism are...
The rapid decline of marine ecosystems worldwide and the failure of traditional single species management pushed for the development of ecosystem-based conservation measures such as marine protected areas (MPA) to slow the loss of marine biodiversity. One approach to MPA creation advocates targeting marine megafauna (e.g., marine mammals, seabirds, sharks,...
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Figure 3.1. The eastern NorthPacificOcean showing the California Current System, the main
One kilometer Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations for Terra (morning) and Aqua (afternoon) satellites were used to follow the morning to afternoon evolution of marine stratocumulus clouds that were affected by ship stack exhaust. The observations covered the summer months of 2002-2003 and August 2007 for marine layers off...
This report summarizes the SeaSoar and CTD observations from R/V Wecoma cruise
W9408A (23 August to 2 September 1994) conducted as part of the Coastal Jet Separation
(CJS) experiment, under funding from the National Science Foundation. The goal of this
study is to establish how and why a strong alongshore...
Data from the Surveyor 1968 Spring cruise were used to study
the vertical distribution of salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen,
apparent oxygen utilization, pH, alkalinity, specific alkalinity and
percent saturation of calcite in two sections, one along 162°W from
35°N to 45°N and the other along 180°W from 35°N to 50°N....
Nonindigenous species are a major threat to the ecological integrity and biodiversity of marine and estuarine ecosystems. To become a successful invader, species must pass through four phases: (1) survive transport, (2) survive release, (3) establish a population, and (4) expand their range. To better understand these processes, an integrated...
Using the hydrographic data collected by the ACONA from June
1961 to May 1963, the Oregon coastal front has been examined. Representative
sigma-t surfaces were chosen to delineate the front, and
changes in position of these surfaces with time were used to obtain
zonal flow rates for the frontal and...
We present velocity observations from a shipboard acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) on RN Wecoma during cruise W9508b, 17-27 August 1995. Results from the short half-day cruise W9508c on 31 August 1995 are also shown. The ADCP processing procedures for W9508b are described in detail. This cruise was part of...
The temperate water fisheries for albacore in the North Pacific seem to exploit somewhat similar segments of the respective populations present in the various localities. It is clear that in most of the exploited populations two or at most three year classes are highly dominant. In the California fishery from...
Discrete layers of phytoplankton and zooplankton were observed over the Oregon continental shelf in summer and fall of 2001 and summer 2002 using optical and acoustical technologies and a pump sampling system. Layers of phytoplankton had steep vertical gradients which were associated with gradients in density and local peaks in...
This report presents data collected on six cruises made during the months May-October 1972 along the Oregon coast. Both complete data listings and sequential surface data contour charts are presented. The latter graphically display rapid changes in surface water characteristics on time scales as short as a few hours.
The...
As part of the GLOBEC Northeast Pacific Program, a Long Term Observation Program (LTOP) of repeated hydrographic observations along lines off Oregon began in September 1997 (Fleischbein et al, 1999). Of these lines, NH, off Newport, had been sampled frequently during the decade from 1961 to 1970, and another, FM,...
The eastern margin of the Eastern North Pacific Ocean
was classified into physiographic regions based on a suite
of physical characteristics. Information on cultural and
biological characteristics of this area was meshed with this
classification. The result was a classification of the
Eastern North Pacific into natural-cultural systems whose
boundaries...
Oregon's commercial fishery for albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga)
is large, valuable, and variable. Little is known, however, about the
oceanographic factors which determine abundance and distribution of
albacore.
Primarily using logbook data contributed by fishermen, this study
compares albacore catches with selected ocean conditions. The study
is limited to troll-caught...
English sole (Parophrys vetulus) is a flatfish found in abundance in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Pacific Northwest's and California's commercial trawl fishery. Stock levels of this fish are at all time highs but there are decreased landings due to low demand and acceptability. With new regulations...
Various methods of presenting and mathematically describing particle
size distribution are explained and evaluated. The hyperbolic
distribution is found to be the most practical but the more complex
characteristic vector analysis is the most sensitive to changes in
the shape of the particle size distributions.
Particle size distribution, nutrient concentrations,...
Summer mortality of farmed Pacific oysters causes financial losses for shellfish growers, and selective breeding to improve survival of offspring is a promising way to reduce losses. This dissertation has two objectives to assist the development of tools for use in selective breeding programs.
Objective 1: Identify candidate genes for...
The quantification and description of sea surface temperature (SST) is critically important because it can influence the distribution, migration, and invasion of marine species; furthermore, SSTs are expected to be affected by climate change. Recent research indicates that there has been a warming trend in ocean temperatures over the last...
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A-2‒Example of a monthly mean SST map (April 2009) of the NorthPacificOcean nearshore
region
Modern upwelling conditions and corresponding oceanographic properties are investigated and reconstructed for the Late Quaternary. The oceanographic conditions considered influence diatom ecology and the record of fossil diatom frustules in the sediments.
Diatoms from modern sediments are evaluated as paleoceanographic proxies and transfer functions (TFs) are calibrated using the Imbrie...
The data set presented here includes the discrete depth profile data and time series data
from the vertical profiling cruises carried out as a portion of the “Coastal Ocean Advances in Shelf Transport” (COAST) project. The primary purpose for collection of this data set was to calibrate the optical parameters...
The 100 North Pacific rockfish species in the genus Sebastes are highly diverse. Rockfishes fertilize their eggs internally and release swimming larvae. Complex courting behaviors may allow female rockfish to be selective about their mates and may promote and maintain speciation. In this study, I applied genetic techniques to survey...
We present velocity observations from a shipborne acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on RIV Wecoma during cruise W9408A, August 23 to September 2, 1994. The ADCP processing procedures are described in detail. This cruise was part of the Coastal Jet Separation project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to study...
Questions relating to economic performance, biological conservation and variation in resource abundance and harvest of ocean shrimp have led to increasing pressure for management action. Developing effective management policies for this highly variable resource requires a comprehensive understanding of the fishery and marine processes. Important factors in understanding the fishery...
Sea level and current observations made over the Oregon
continental shelf exhibit wavelike characteristics in a frequency band
from approximately 0.15 to 0.45 cpd. In a narrow band around
0.22 cpd the current-sea level relationship is consistent with the
predicted values for the first mode of Robinson's continental shelf
waves....
Meteorological, sea surface temperature, and coastal sea level data were collected along the west coast of North America from northern Baja California to the Alaska/British Columbia border from 1980 to mid-1984 for the large-scale component of the Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (CODE). This report presents statistical summaries and plots of...
A three-part study was conducted into the impact of physiological and ecological variables on the net isotopic fractionation of hydrogen, α[subscript K₃₇], expressed in C₃₇ alkenones. First, alkenone-producer production, abundance, and export were characterized in the summertime Gulf of California and Eastern Tropical North Pacific using compound-specific, labeled in situ...
Previous observations of light levels and phytoplankton abundances along the Oregon coast demonstrated that phytoplankton attenuated light sufficiently to potentially limit the growth of intertidal macrophytes and therefore structure local intertidal communities. Inspired by this observation, in spring 2004, I initiated a study to quantify the direct and indirect benthic...
The disposal of radioactive waste products is a serious problem facing scientists and the public. One solution proposed is to dump these waste products at sea, with the area of northern Oregon and southern Washington in 100 to 1,000 fathoms as one area of consideration. However, one of the problems...
The disposal of radioactive waste products is a serious problem facing scientists and the public. One solution proposed is to dump these waste products at sea, with the area of northern Oregon and southern Washington in 100 to 1,000 fathoms as one area of consideration. However, one of the problems...
Within systems characterized by substantial spatial and temporal variability, abundances of organisms tend to be higher in localized areas. Within the northern California Current system, the identification of such marine, biological hotspots would be of great importance to resource managers, conservationists, and research planners, and is consequently a growing area...
Effective and sustainable fisheries management not only depends on identifying and defining stocks (fundamental unit of management), but also on having knowledge of factors influencing the abundance, distribution and connectivity of stocks. Population structure of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) in the southeastern Bering Sea (EBS) remains unresolved although genetic data...
Salmon management philosophies of the five salmon jurisdictions of the North Pacific (Japan, Russia, Canada, Alaska and the American Northwest) are examined in a historical and geographic context. The first objective is to provide a synthesis of salmon management experience across the North Pacific, to serve as a context for...
This study examines the seasonal variability in temperature and
salinity of the nearshore waters off Oregon and Northern California.
Specifically, temperature and salinity variations during summer and
winter were ana1yzed from data gathered at shore stations along the
coast and from hydrographic data collected within 25 nautical miles
of shore....
This report is an intermediate step in analyzing part of the hydrographic data from the 1972 Coastal Upwelling Experiment (CUE) off the coast of Oregon. It presents the author's interpretation of the vertical distribution of temperature, salinity and sigma-t along lines occupied on hydrographic cruises by R/V Yaquina during CUE....
Moored temperature observations were obtained at an array of buoys in the North Atlantic (59° 00.2'-59°10.7'N, 12°27.4'-12°33.6'W) during the Joint Air-Sea Interaction Experiment (JASIN) of 1978. Observations were taken at 10-minute intervals by use of thermistors at 21 depths ranging from 4.5 m to 81.5 m. Plots of temperature as...