XVI.—The Macrofauna of the Intertidal Sand of Kames Bay, Millport, Buteshire

1942 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-561
Author(s):  
E. Emrys Watkin

During the last few years the distribution of the macrofauna, and to a less extent the microfauna, of the intertidal soils of the shores of Britain has received considerable attention and the principle that the species show a zonation with maximum densities at certain levels is now well established. The extensive studies of Elmhirst (1931) and of Stephen (1928, 1929, and 1930) on the fauna of the sandy and muddy areas of numerous Scottish bays has laid the foundation for much further work in this area. Pirrie, Bruce, and Moore (1932) have described the zonation of the fauna in the intertidal sand of Port Erin bay. Alexander, Southgate, and Bassindale (1935) refer to the fauna of the sand at the mouth of the River Tees, but mainly from the point of view of comparison with the fauna of the estuary. Crawford (1937 a and b)gives notes on the distribution and habits of certain intertidal species in sandy bays and estuaries in west England and south Wales. Rees (1939) has surveyed in outline, as part of a study of the interstitial sand copepods, the macrofauna of some sandy bays in north Donegal. Spooner and Moore (1940) have given a detailed description of the zonation of the species in the estuarine muds of the Tamar. A part from the above, reference must be made to two intensive studies on the soil fauna of the eastern shores of the North Sea, namely, that of Thamdrup (1935) on Danish shores and of Wohlenberg (1937) on certain bays on the island of Sylt. A general discussion of the ecological problems of sand, mud, and algal environments is given by Eemane (1933), based on the macrofauna and microfauna of Kiel bay. He reaches the conclusion, based on the number of species which occur in each environment, that the macrofauna of sand is comparatively poor compared with mud.

1942 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Emrys Watkin

During the last few years the distribution of the macrofauna, and to a less extent the microfauna, of the intertidal soils of the shores of Britain has received considerable attention and the principle that the species show a zonation with maximum densities at certain levels is now well established. The extensive studies of Elmhirst (1931) and of Stephen (1928, 1929, and 1930) on the fauna of the sandy and muddy areas of numerous Scottish bays has laid the foundation for much further work in this area. Pirrie, Bruce, and Moore (1932) have described the zonation of the fauna in the intertidal sand of Port Erin bay. Alexander, Southgate, and Bassindale (1935) refer to the fauna of the sand at the mouth of the River Tees, but mainly from the point of view of comparison with the fauna of the estuary. Crawford (1937 a and b) gives notes on the distribution and habits of certain intertidal species in sandy bays and estuaries in west England and south Wales. Rees (1939) has surveyed in outline, as part of a study of the interstitial sand copepods, the macrofauna of some sandy bays in north Donegal. Spooner and Moore (1940) have given a detailed description of the zonation of the species in the estuarine muds of the Tamar. Apart from the above, reference must be made to two intensive studies on the soil fauna of the eastern shores of the North Sea, namely, that of Thamdrup (1935) on Danish shores and of Wohlenberg (1937) on certain bays on the island of Sylt. A general discussion of the ecological problems of sand, mud, and algal environments is given by Remane (1933), based on the macrofauna and microfauna of Kiel bay. He reaches the conclusion, based on the number of species which occur in each environment, that the macrofauna of sand is comparatively poor compared with mud.


Author(s):  
Haibo Chen ◽  
Torgeir Moan ◽  
Sverre Haver ◽  
Kjell Larsen

Tandem offloading safety between FPSO and shuttle tanker is under concern. A few collisions between the two vessels have happened in the North Sea in recent years. In these incidents, excessive relative motions (termed as surging and yawing in this paper) between FPSO and tanker are identified as “failure prone situations” which have contributed to the initiation of most collision incidents. To quantitatively assess the probability of surging and yawing events, and more importantly, to effectively reduce their occurrence in tandem offloading operation, we present a simulation-based approach in this paper, which is carried out by a state-of-the-art time-domain simulation code SIMO. The SIMO simulation models are setup and calibrated for a typical North Sea purpose-built FPSO and a DP shuttle tanker. This 2-vessel system motion in tandem offloading is simulated. The simulated relative distance and relative heading between FPSO and tanker are analyzed by fitting their extreme values into statistical models. This gives out probabilities of surging and yawing events. Sensitivity studies are performed to analyze contributions from various technical and operational factors. Measures to minimize the occurrence of surging and yawing from design and operational point of view are proposed.


Author(s):  
A. Eleftheriou ◽  
D.J. Basford

Between 1980 and 1985 ninety-seven stations were sampled by Smith-Mclntyre grab from the offshore northern section of the North Sea. Four hundred and nine infaunal species were identified from the 76 selected macrofaunal stations. The number of species per station varied from 25 to 80 with a maximum abundance of 9,600 individuals m−2. The biomass ranged from 0.13 to 18.86 g dry weight m−2. At most stations, however, biomass varied between 1 and 4 g dry weight m−2. Diversity and abundance were highest in the 120–140 m zone, characterised by fine sand containing variable amounts of silt. The highest biomasses were recorded in two areas; firstly where stronger currents predominate and the sediments are coarser (east of Shetland and west of the Norwegian Trough), and secondly in the fine sandy deposits of the centrally located area. In the silty sediments (Fladen Ground and smaller depressions) there was a predominantly subsurface deposit-feeding community, whereas in the coarser area east of the Shetlands carnivores predominated. Over the remaining area surface deposit feeders were dominant.


Author(s):  
Jacobus Hofstede

The Wadden Sea environment is a coastal tidal environment situated between the North Sea and the northwestern European Lowlands. It stretches over a distance of about 450 km from Den Helder in The Netherlands to the peninsula of Skallingen in Denmark. The approximately 10,000 km2 large Wadden Sea is a coastal sediment sink that developed in the course of the Holocene transgression. It resulted from a specific combination of sediment availability (mainly from the North Sea) and a hydrodynamic regime of tides and waves. In its present state, the Wadden Sea environment consists of extensive tidal flats (the wadden), tidal gullies and inlets, salt marshes, and about twenty-four sandy barrier islands. Further, four estuaries exist that discharge into the Wadden Sea. The Wadden Sea may best be characterized by the words ‘dynamic’ and ‘extreme’; dynamic from a geo-morphological point of view, extreme in its biology. According to Spiegel (1997), with each flood phase a tidal energy input in the order of 2.2 thousand MW occurs in the Wadden Sea of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). This energy input, combined with the energy impact of wind, waves, and storm surges, results in strong morphological processes. Flora and fauna in the Wadden Sea have to adapt to these intense morphodynamics. Further, they have to endure the permanent change of flood and ebb and fluctuations in salinity, as well as high water temperatures during summer and occasional ice cover during winter. As a result of these extreme environmental conditions, a highly specialized biosystem with about 4,800 species has developed (Heydemann 1998). In its present state the Wadden Sea is one of the last remaining near-natural large-scale ecosystems in central Europe. Its ecological significance is underlined by the fact that 250 animal species live exclusively here (Heydemann 1998). Furthermore, nowhere else in Europe is an ecosystem of this size visited by more birds per surface area for the purpose of feeding. However, the Wadden Sea is subjected to considerable human influences, e.g. the input of nutrients and pollutants, fisheries, dredging, boat traffic, and tourism (de Jong et al. 1999).


1974 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-212
Author(s):  
T. F. Gaskell

There have been many new developments in the North Sea during the last seven years since gas was first discovered in the B.P. West Sole field. First, half a dozen other gas-fields have been found and a large quantity of methane has already been piped to Britain. Secondly, oil has been discovered in the northern part of the North Sea between Scotland and Scandinavia. One may well ask why this large source of energy was not discovered many years ago. The reasons are much the same as applied to the gas discovery; the North Sea 10 years ago was not a very good prospect from a geological point of view, and in any case the techniques of exploration and production in offshore areas were not adequate until recently, especially in a place such as the North Sea wher severe storms and tidal streams make operations difficult and hazardous.


Author(s):  
Sonia Ponce de León ◽  
J. Bettencourt ◽  
G. Ph. Van Vledder ◽  
P. Doohan ◽  
C. Higgins ◽  
...  

This paper presents the hindcast of the winter of 2013 in the North Sea using two wave models: WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) and SWAN. The performance of the WW3 and SWAN models was assessed for this winter, when successive storms hit the hindcast area in a short time period, and examined in terms of the averaged wave parameters (Hs, peak period and wave direction) and the power wave spectrum. The assessment was made from an operational point of view. Possible effects of the accuracy of the wind fields, the physics chosen in each model and numerical settings are discussed. We elaborate on efficiency, accuracy and grid issues for both models, aiming to provide guidelines for ocean engineering wave forecasts.


Author(s):  
Neclā Demir ◽  
A. J. Southward ◽  
P. R. Dando

Five species of rockling: Gaidropsaurus vulgaris (Cloquet), G. mediterraneus (L.), Rhinonemus (Enchelyopus) cimbrius (L.), Ciliata mustela (L.) and C. septentrionalis (Collett), are commonly recorded from British waters. With the exception of G. mediterraneus, which has not been recorded from the North Sea, the other four species occur all round the British coasts. Two additional species have recently been added to the list of British fishes, Antonogadus macrophthalmus (Günther), a southern boreal species and Onogadus argentatus (Reinhardt), a northern boreal species (Wheeler, 1969; Russell, 1976). The identity of adult A. macrophthalmus is, however, still in confusion. It is not clearly known if it is a different species from A. megalokynodon Kolombotovic (a species which occurs in the Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic waters), since both of them are considered as synonyms of G. biscayensis (Collett) (Bini, 1970; Tortonese, 1970; Svetovidov, 1973). Cohen & Russo (1979) have since relegated Onogadus and Antonogadus to synonyms of Gaidropsaurus, though the exact number of species is uncertain.


Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Per Thomas Andersen

The article is a literary analysis of the poem “Solaris Corrected” by the Norwegian poet Øyvind Rimbereid. The work is a poetical science fiction where the oil industry in the North Sea is seen from a retrospective point of view, conveyed in a future language. As a part of the modernist tradition in Scandinavian literature, Rimbereid’s work can be read as a significant renewal of the poetic heritage from among others Rolf Jacobsen and Harry Martinson.


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