scholarly journals Bifurcation of the Subtropical South Equatorial Current against New Caledonia in December 2004 from a Hydrographic Inverse Box Model*

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 2072-2084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Ganachaud ◽  
Lionel Gourdeau ◽  
William Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Box Model ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
The South ◽  
South Equatorial Current ◽  
The North ◽  
Equatorial Current

Abstract The South Equatorial Current (SEC), the westward branch of the South Pacific subtropical gyre, extends from the equator to 30°S at depth. Linear ocean dynamics predict that the SEC forms boundary currents on the eastern coasts of the South Pacific islands it encounters. Those currents would then detach at the northern and southern tips of the islands, and cross the Coral Sea in the form of jets. The Fiji Islands, the Vanuatu archipelago, and New Caledonia are the major topographic obstacles on the SEC pathway to the Australian coast. Large-scale numerical studies, as well as climatologies, suggest the formation of three jets in their lee: the north Vanuatu jet (NVJ), the north Caledonian jet (NCJ), and the south Caledonian jet (SCJ), implying a bifurcation against the east coast of each island. The flow observed during the SECALIS-2 cruise in December 2004 between Vanuatu and New Caledonia is presented herein. An inverse box model is used to provide quantitative transport estimates with uncertainties and to infer the pathways and boundary current formation. For that particular month, the 0–2000-m SEC inflow was found to be 20 ± 4 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Of that, 6 ± 2 Sv bifurcated to the south in a boundary current against the New Caledonia coast (the Vauban Current), and the remainder exited north of New Caledonia, feeding the NCJ. The flow is comparable both above and below the thermocline, while complex topography, associated with oceanic eddy generation, introduces several recirculation features. To the north, the NCJ, which extends down to 1500 m, was fed not only by the SEC inflow, but also by waters coming from the north, which have possibly been recirculated. To the south, a westward current rounds the tip of New Caledonia. A numerical simulation suggests a partial continuity with the deep extension of the Vauban Current (this current would then be the SCJ) while the hydrographic sections are too distant to confirm such continuity.

scholarly journals Molecular Characterization of Dengue Type 2 Outbreak in Pacific Islands Countries and Territories, 2017–2020

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1081
Author(s):  
Catherine Inizan ◽  
Olivia O’Connor ◽  
George Worwor ◽  
Talica Cabemaiwai ◽  
Jean-Claude Grignon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
The South ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Diffusion Pattern

Dengue virus (DENV) serotype-2 was detected in the South Pacific region in 2014 for the first time in 15 years. In 2016–2020, DENV-2 re-emerged in French Polynesia, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia, co-circulating with and later replacing DENV-1. In this context, epidemiological and molecular evolution data are paramount to decipher the diffusion route of this DENV-2 in the South Pacific region. In the current work, the E gene from 23 DENV-2 serum samples collected in Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia was sequenced. Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were performed. While all DENV-2 strains sequenced belong to the Cosmopolitan genotype, phylogenetic analysis suggests at least three different DENV-2 introductions in the South Pacific between 2017 and 2020. Strains retrieved in these Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (PICTs) in 2017–2020 are phylogenetically related, with strong phylogenetic links between strains retrieved from French PICTs. These phylogenetic data substantiate epidemiological data of the DENV-2 diffusion pattern between these countries.

South Pacific Commission

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-482
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
The South ◽  
Work Program ◽  
The Pacific

From April 28 to May 7, 1952 the ninth session of the South Pacific Commission was held in Noumea, New Caledonia.1 The session, which was primarily concerned with administrative matters, was under the chairmanship of N. A. J. de Voogd (Netherlands). As a result of agreement by member governments at the eighth session to include Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands within the scope of the Commission, at the ninth session it was agreed unanimously to extend Commission activities to embrace these territories. Assurances of cooperation in Commission activities were given on behalf of both territories by the Acting Senior Commissioner for the United States (Leebrick) and the Secretary of Guam (Herman). Special aspects of its work program were reviewed by the Commission. The printing of two project reports dealing with the area was authorized: one, on economic development of coral atolls covered a survey made for the Commission in 1951 in the Gilbert Islands and the other was concerned with the possibilities of expanding the cacao industry in the area.

scholarly journals Seasonal Variability of the South Equatorial Current Bifurcation in the Atlantic Ocean: A Numerical Study

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina R. Rodrigues ◽  
Lewis M. Rothstein ◽  
Mark Wimbush
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variability ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
South American ◽  
The South ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
South Equatorial Current ◽  
The North ◽  
Brazil Current ◽  
North Brazil ◽  
Equatorial Current

Abstract In this study, a reduced-gravity, primitive equation OGCM is used to investigate the seasonal variability of the bifurcation of the South Equatorial Current (SEC) into the Brazil Current (BC) to the south and the North Brazil Undercurrent/Current (NBUC/NBC) system to the north. Annual mean meridional velocity averaged within a 2° longitude band off the South American coast shows that the SEC bifurcation occurs at about 10°–14°S near the surface, shifting poleward with increasing depth, reaching 27°S at 1000 m, in both observations and model. The bifurcation latitude reaches its southernmost position in July (∼17°S in the top 200 m) and its northernmost position in November (∼13°S in the top 200 m). The model results show that most of the seasonal variability of the bifurcation latitude in the upper thermocline is associated with changes in the local wind stress curl due to the annual north–south excursion of the marine ITCZ complex. As the SEC bifurcation latitude moves south (north) the NBUC transport increases (decreases) and the BC transport decreases (increases). The remote forcing (i.e., westward propagation of anomalies) appears to have a smaller impact on the seasonal variability of the bifurcation in the upper thermocline.

scholarly journals Timothy J. Motley (4 June 1965–28 March 2013) and his passion for Ethnobotany and Pacific Islands flora

Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 206 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero G. Delprete
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Acorus Calamus ◽  
The South ◽  
Scientific Legacy ◽  
Brunei Darussalam ◽  
Eastern Illinois University

Timothy Jay Motley was born June 4th, 1965, to Roy and Joan (née Schaeffer) Motley, in Paxton, Illinois, USA. He grew up on a farm in east-central Illinois, and attended Armstrong-Ellis Grade School. He entered Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in 1987 and a Master of Science in Botany in 1989, having written a dissertation on Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus). In 1996 he earned a Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Hawaii, Manoa; his dissertation on evolutionary and reproductive biology of Labordia (Loganiaceae). While in Hawaii, he developed a particular interest for the Pacific islands flora and for ethnobotany, two passions that he pursued for the rest of his life. Shortly after finishing his doctorate, he worked at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) as Post-Doctoral Research Associate (1997−1998), Assistant Curator (1998−2004), Acting Chair (1999−2000; 2001−2002), and Project Head of Conservation Genetics in Island Systems (1998−2006) in the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics Studies. While working for NYBG, he travelled widely in regions where his projects would take him, mostly in the South Pacific, and visited the Kingdom of Tonga, Rapa Iti, Bora Bora, Papua New Guinea, Guam, Pohnpei, Fiji, Mauritius, Reunion, Vanuatu, Philippines, Jamaica, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii, and Tahiti. In 2006, he was hired as the J. Robert Stiffler Distinguished Professor of Botany and Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, and as the Director of Science at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, Norfolk, Virginia. During this period, he continued his expeditions to study and collect plants in the South Pacific and beyond, including Ecuador, the Galapagos Archipelago, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Mexico, the Louisiade Archipelago, and yearly field trips to underexplored regions of China. Sadly, after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, he passed away on March 28, 2013, at age 47, at the peak of his career, leaving his wife, young son, and numerous colleagues and friends. His numerous ongoing projects, which are currently being continued by his graduate students and colleagues around the world, assure that his scientific legacy, his loving character, and his integrity will never be forgotten.

A monograph of Entodon (Entodontaceae) in Australia, eastern Melanesia and southern Oceania

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 701 ◽  
Author(s):  
WR Buck
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Pacific Basin ◽  
The South ◽  
South Pacific Islands

The moss genus Entodon C. Müll. (Entodontaceae) is revised for Australia, eastern Melanesia (New Caledonia and Fiji) and the South Pacific islands. The nine validly described species and 10 nomina nuda are reduced to two species, E. mackaviensis C. Müll. and E. plicatus C. Müll. Entodon mackaviensis, with terete branches and extensive alar development is confined to the region treated. Entodon plicatus, with complanate branches and significantly fewer alar cells, ranges from India to the far reaches of the South Pacific basin, and from Tasmania to the Philippines. Both species are described and illustrated. Some extra-limital synonymy is provided.

South Pacific Commission

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-153
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Training Institution ◽  
The South ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Fiji Islands ◽  
Deputy Chairman

The eighth session of the South Pacific Commission, held at Nouméa, New Caledonia, from October 29 to November 9, 1951, was presided over by R. L. Lassalle-Séré (France). On November 7, 1951, the six participating countries (Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States) signed an agreement extending the scope of the Commission to include Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Other agenda items included consideration of the Commission's work program and budget for 1952. The program, consisting of 39 projects, included ten in the field of health. The Commission discussed the report of the conference of medical experts on filariasis and elephantiasis which was held in Tahiti from August 21 to September 1, 1951, to study current research and control programs for these diseases and to recommend measures for combatting them,2 and decided to appoint an expert to supervise the implementation of these recommendations. The Commission also reviewed the work done in the projects on tuberculosis, nutrition and leprosy. In the economic category, in which there were ten projects, the commission considered plans for a conference of fisheries experts in 1952 and grantsin-aid for the furtherance of work with economic plants. In the field of social development, where nineteen projects were considered, the Commission discussed the preparation of plans for a model vocational training institution; publication of a report on research in social anthropology and a report on a community development project being carried out in the Fiji Islands; continuation of a housing survey; and the work of the South Pacific Literature Bureau. It was decided to appoint E. M. Ojala (New Zealand) deputy chairman of the South Pacific Research Council.

scholarly journals Decolonisation Processes in the South Pacific Islands: A Comparative Analysis between Metropolitan Powers

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 355
Author(s):  
Paul De Deckker
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Free Association ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
The South ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
South Pacific Islands

The South Pacific islands came late, by comparison with Asia and Africa, to undertake the decolonising process. France was the first colonial power in the region to start off this process in accordance with the decision taken in Paris to pave the way to independence for African colonies. The Loi-cadre Defferre in 1957, voted in Parliament, was applied to French Polynesia and New Caledonia as it was to French Africa. Territorial governments were elected in both these Pacific colonies in 1957. They were abolished in 1963 after the return to power of General de Gaulle who decided to use Moruroa for French atomic testing. The status quo ante was then to prevail in New Caledonia and French Polynesia up to today amidst statutory crises. The political evolution of the French Pacific, including Wallis and Futuna, is analysed in this article. Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia were to conform to the 1960 United Nations' recommendations to either decolonise, integrate or provide to Pacific colonies self-government in free association with the metropolitan power. Great Britain granted constitutional independence to all of its colonies in the Pacific except Pitcairn. The facts underlying this drastic move are analysed in the British context of the 1970's, culminating in the difficult independence of Vanuatu in July 1980. New Zealand and Australia followed the UN recommendations and granted independence or self-government to their colonial territories. In the meantime, they reinforced their potential to dominate the South Pacific in the difficult geopolitical context of the 1980s. American Micronesia undertook statutory evolution within a strategic framework. What is at stake today within the Pacific Islands is no longer of a political nature; it is financial.

Origins of Tropical Pacific Decadal Variability: Role of Stochastic Atmospheric Forcing from the South Pacific*

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 9791-9796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko M. Okumura
Keyword(s):  
North Pacific ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Atmospheric Model ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Ocean Dynamics ◽  
Atmospheric Forcing ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract Based on the analysis of multicentury–millennium integrations of an atmospheric model coupled to the ocean with varying degrees, it is argued that ENSO-like decadal variability is primarily driven by stochastic atmospheric forcing. In particular, the leading mode of internal atmospheric variability over the South Pacific, which projects onto the Pacific–South American (PSA) pattern, plays an important role in modulating the trade winds and sea surface temperature (SST) in the southeast tropical Pacific. Subsequent ocean–atmosphere interactions organize a basinwide SST anomaly pattern in the tropics, which in turn forces atmospheric Rossby waves into the extratropics, reinforcing the PSA pattern and inducing coherent decadal changes in the North Pacific. In the absence of ocean dynamics, equatorial SST variability is reduced and the North Pacific exhibits decadal variability independent of the tropical–South Pacific. The strong tropical–South Pacific linkage may be attributed to the equatorially asymmetric nature of tropical Pacific climate.

Distribution and early life-history characteristics of anguillid leptocephali in the western South Pacific

2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Kuroki ◽  
Jun Aoyama ◽  
Michael J. Miller ◽  
Shun Watanabe ◽  
Akira Shinoda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Larval Growth ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Tropical Species ◽  
The South ◽  
South Equatorial Current ◽  
Equatorial Current ◽  
Current Region

Freshwater eels are important fisheries species in parts of the western South Pacific, but little is known about their oceanic early life history or spawning areas. The age, growth, morphology and geographic distribution of five species of genetically identified anguillid leptocephali collected in 1995, 2000 and 2005 were compared. The sizes and ages of the leptocephali collected, Anguilla australis (n = 18), Anguilla marmorata (n = 15), Anguilla reinhardtii (n = 12), Anguilla megastoma (n = 2) and Anguilla obscura (n = 1), ranged from 19.0 to 50.9 mm and from 25 to 155 days, respectively. Leptocephali were mostly collected in the South Equatorial Current region. The total myomere ranges overlapped among species, but anodorsal myomere numbers clearly divided shortfinned and longfinned eels. The myomere ranges of the leptocephali were similar to the reported ranges of the numbers of vertebrae in adults. Larval growth rates suggested that the temperate species A. australis had slightly slower growth than the tropical species A. reinhardtii. The present study suggests that both temperate and tropical anguillid eels use the South Equatorial Current region for spawning and larval development, although some species might have different early life parameters and migration routes to their recruitment areas.

Seasonal Variation of the South Equatorial Current Bifurcation off Madagascar

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 618-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaohui Chen ◽  
Lixin Wu ◽  
Bo Qiu ◽  
Shantong Sun ◽  
Fan Jia
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
North Equatorial Current ◽  
Island Rule ◽  
The South ◽  
South Equatorial Current ◽  
Dynamic Framework ◽  
The North ◽  
Equatorial Current ◽  
The Mean

Abstract In this paper, seasonal variation of the South Equatorial Current (SEC) bifurcation off the Madagascar coast in the upper south Indian Ocean (SIO) is investigated based on a new climatology derived from the World Ocean Database and 19-year satellite altimeter observations. The mean bifurcation integrated over the upper thermocline is around 18°S and reaches the southernmost position in June/July and the northernmost position in November/December, with a north–south amplitude of about 1°. It is demonstrated that the linear, reduced gravity, long Rossby model, which works well for the North Equatorial Current (NEC) bifurcation in the North Pacific, is insufficient to reproduce the seasonal cycle and the mean position of the SEC bifurcation off the Madagascar coast. This suggests the importance of Madagascar in regulating the SEC bifurcation. Application of Godfrey’s island rule reveals that compared to the zero Sverdrup transport latitude, the mean SEC bifurcation is shifted poleward by over 0.8° because of the meridional transport of about 5 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) between Madagascar and Australia. A time-dependent linear model that extends the Godfrey’s island rule is adopted to examine the seasonal variation of the SEC bifurcation. This time-dependent island rule model simulates the seasonal SEC bifurcation well both in terms of its mean position and peak seasons. It provides a dynamic framework to clarify the baroclinic adjustment processes involved in the presence of an island.

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