Studies on Echinoderms of the Southern Pacific Ocean

<p>The collection comprises ten genera (of which one is new) and ten species. Neopsolidium n.g., type species Psolidium convergens (Herouard) has dorsal deposits in the form of small perforated plates up to 0.4 mm in diameter, and cups. The holothurian fauna of southern Chile is generalised, containing few restricted species, and sharing many elements with distant subantarctic islands and with Antaretics.</p>

Studies on Echinoderms of the Southern Pacific Ocean

<p>The collection comprises ten genera (of which one is new) and ten species. Neopsolidium n.g., type species Psolidium convergens (Herouard) has dorsal deposits in the form of small perforated plates up to 0.4 mm in diameter, and cups. The holothurian fauna of southern Chile is generalised, containing few restricted species, and sharing many elements with distant subantarctic islands and with Antaretics.</p>

Impacts of Detoured Madden-Julian Oscillations on the South Pacific Convergence Zone

Madden-Julian Oscillations (MJOs) are a major component of tropical intraseasonal variabilities. There are two paths for MJOs across the Maritime Continent; one is a detoured route into the Southern Hemisphere and the other one is around the equator across the Maritime Continent. Here, it is shown that the detoured and non-detoured MJOs have significantly different impacts on the South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ). The detoured MJOs trigger strong cross-equatorial meridional winds from the Northern Hemisphere into the Southern Hemisphere. The associated meridional moisture and energy transports due to the background states carried by the intraseasonal meridional winds are favorable for reinforcing the SPCZ. In contrast, the influences of non-detoured MJOs on either hemisphere or the meridional transports across the equator are much weaker. The detoured MJOs can extend their impacts to the surrounding regions by shedding Rossby waves. Due to different background vorticity during detoured MJOs in boreal winter, more ray paths of Rossby waves traverse the Maritime Continent connecting the southern Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean, but far fewer Rossby wave paths traverse Australia. Further studies on such processes are expected to contribute to a better understanding of extreme climate and natural disasters on the rim of the southern Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Influence of the Autumn SST in the Southern Pacific Ocean on Winter Precipitation in the North American Monsoon Region

Previous investigations have reported that the impacts of the preceding climate signal in the Southern Hemisphere can extend to Northern Hemisphere middle latitudes during the following season. This study suggests that the positive (negative) boreal autumn south Pacific Ocean dipole (SPOD) sea surface temperature anomalies are usually followed by reduced (increased) precipitation in the following winter over the North American monsoon (NAM) region. The positive autumn SPOD has the potential to regulate the southward fluctuation of the eddy-driven westerly jet in the southern Pacific Ocean, and exert the Rossby wave train stretching across the Pacific Ocean to transport the related energy into the NAM region. This finally results in anomalous high pressure in the troposphere over the NAM region. The related sinking motion and the water vapor conditions further affect the precipitation variability in these regions. This entire process can be referred to as a “coupled oceanic–atmospheric bridge”, in which the “oceanic bridge” is the SPOD and the “atmospheric bridge” is the response of atmospheric circulation in the Pacific Ocean.

Revision of the non-marine centric diatom flora (Bacillariophyta) of the sub-Antarctic Campbell Island (southern Pacific Ocean) with the descriptions of five new species

During a survey of the moss-inhabiting diatom flora of the sub-Antarctic Campbell Island, located in the southern Pacific Ocean, several unknown centric diatoms were observed that could not be identified using the currently available literature. Detailed light and scanning electron microscopical observations and comparisons with the characters of several species of Melosira, Angusticopula, Ferocia and Arcanodiscus worldwide indicated that five of them should be described as new to science: Angusticopula cosmica Goeyers & Van de Vijver sp. nov., Arcanodiscus crawfordianus Goeyers & Van de Vijver sp. nov., A. indistinctus Goeyers & Van de Vijver sp. nov., A. saundersianus Goeyers & Van de Vijver sp. nov. and Ferocia houkiana Goeyers & Van de Vijver sp. nov. A sixth species, Angusticopula chilensis, was illustrated for the first time using SEM and as a result is considered to differ sufficiently from A. dickiei to warrant epitypification as A. chilensis. The new species were first described in genera that formerly were included within the genus Melosira. All six species are morphologically characterized and compared with similar species within their respective genera. Their presence and distribution on Campbell Island are discussed based on the observations made in the available samples.

Frankophila dalevittii, a new freshwater diatom (Bacillariophyta) from Campbell Island

During a survey of the freshwater diatom flora of the sub-Antarctic Campbell Island, located in the southern Pacific Ocean, an unknown freshwater diatom was observed forming long colonies using linking spines. Detailed morphological analysis based on light and scanning electron microscopical observations and comparison with all known Frankophila taxa worldwide justified the description of this unknown taxon as a new species within the genus Frankophila: Frankophila dalevittii Van de Vijver & Goeyers sp. nov. The new taxon is characterized by the presence of well-developed linking spines, the absence of external raphe slits and the presence of internal raphe slits, biseriate striae composed of relatively large areolae and a large axial area. Despite the absence of the external raphe slits, the species is best placed within the genus Frankophila. The new species is described and illustrated and compared with all other Frankophila taxa.

Seasonal Rainfall Variability in Ethiopia and Its Long-Term Link to Global Sea Surface Temperatures

Investigating the influence of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on seasonal rainfall is a crucial factor for managing Ethiopian water resources. For this purpose, SST and rainfall data were used to study a wide range of inhomogeneous areas in Ethiopia with uneven distribution of rainfall for both summer (1951–2015) and spring (1951–2000) seasons. Firstly, a preliminary subdivision of rainfall grid points into zones was applied depending on spatial homogeneity and seasonality of rainfall. This introduced new clusters, including nine zones for summer rainfall peak (July/August) and five zones for spring rainfall peak (April/May). Afterward, the time series for each zone was derived by calculating the rainfall averaged over grid points within the zone. Secondly, the oceanic regions that significantly correlated with the Ethiopian rainfall were identified through cross-correlations between rainfalls averaged over every homogeneous zone and the monthly averaged SST. For summer rainfall as a main rainy season, the results indicated that the Gulf of Guinea and southern Pacific Ocean had a significant influence on rainfall zones at a lag time of 5–6 and 6–7 months. Besides, for summer rainfall zones 8 and 9 at lag time 5–6 months, the common SST regions of the southern Pacific Ocean showed the opposite sense of positive and negative correlations. Thus, the difference in SSTs between the two regions was more strongly correlated (r ≥ 0.46) with summer rainfall in both zones than others. For the spring season, the results indicated that SST of the northern Atlantic Ocean had a strong influence on spring rainfall zones (3 and 5) at a lag time 6–7 months, as indicated by a significant correlation (r ≥ −0.40). Therefore, this study suggests that SSTs of southern Pacific and northern Atlantic oceans can be used as effective inputs for prediction models of Ethiopian summer and spring rainfalls, respectively.