Influence of the Azores high on sea level pressure and wind, and on precipitation, in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: Intensification of the Azores high pressure cell in mid-year, with concomitant air flow from the Caribbean into the Pacific, is shown to be responsible for a secondary minimum of precipitation observed along the tropical Pacific coast of the Americas, and to have a measurable effect on wind and precipitation several hundred kilometers offshore. SPANISH: La intensificación de la célula de alta presión de las Azores a mediados del año, y la corriente de aire concomitante que entra al Pacífico procedente del Caribe, se demuestra que es la causante de un mínimo secundario de precipitación observado a lo largo de la costa tropical de las Américas en el Pacífico y que tiene un efecto mensurable sobre el viento y la precipitación varios cientos de kilómetros mar afuera. (PDF contains 23 pages.)

Subsurface Fish Handling to Limit Decompression Effects on Deepwater Species

A method of handling hooked fish at intermediate depth was developed for species which occur deeper than conventional scuba depths. Juvenile pink snappers, Pristipomoides filamentosus, were hauled from 65-100 m to a depth of only 30 m, where the ambient pressure change was a fraction of that produced by hauling fish to the sea surface. This method afforded a unique opportunity to acoustically tag deepwater, physoclistous fish without the need to alter the fish's original swim bladder volume and without the high risk of further injury associated with surface handling. Tagged P. filamentosus survived and behaved well and were tracked successfully. This basic method could be applied to a variety of deepwater species in a number of research approaches, including tagging and dietary studies.

Dendroclimatic reconstructions of temperature, precipitation, and pressure patterns over the western and central USA, 1602-1961 [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Verified reconstructions of seasonal temperature, precipitation and sea-level pressure over North America and the North Pacific have been derived from 65 arid-site tree-ring chronologies in the North American West. Significant reconstructions were obtained for temperature for wide areas in the West and mid-continent. Precipitation reconstructions were significant only in the West, and pressure was reconstructed over wide areas of the North Pacific Ocean and the North American continent.

Modeling North Pacific temperature and pressure changes from coastal tree-ring chronologies

Climate modeling using coastal tree-ring chronologies has yielded the first summer temperature reconstructions for coastal stations along the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. These land temperature reconstructions are strongly correlated with nearby sea surface temperatures, indicating large-scale ocean-atmospheric influences. Significant progress has also been made in modeling winter land temperatures and sea surface temperatures from coastal and shipboard stations. In addition to temperature, the pressure variability center over the central North Pacific Ocean (PAC), which is related to the strength and location of the Aleutian Low pressure system, could be extended using coastal tree rings.

Anchorage of air bladder with the interspinous bone of the anal fin in Lactarius lactarius (Bloch and Schneider, 1801)

Specimens of the false trevally (Lactarius lactarius ), 127 to 221 mm in total length, were studied for the mode of anchorage of the air-bladder with the interspinous bone of the anal fin. The 1st and 2nd interspinous bones are fused together into a single piece (named here as the anchor bone) which pierces through the air-bladder, dividing it into two intercommunicating chambers at its upper end, and ultimately articulates with the 10th vertebral bone. The lower end of the bone is broad, fan like with one side affording articulation with the 1st and 2nd anal spines. This is an unique feature of great taxonomical importance to L. lactarius, the only species in the family Lactariidae. The anal fin counts (23-27) and vertebral counts (23) are also given.

The increased fishing pressure and the future of the fish stocks of Lake Victoria, Uganda

The Uganda sector of Lake Victoria occupies 29,580 km2 (43%). The lake used to boast of a multi-species fishery but presently relies on three major species Lates niloticus, Oreochromis niloticus and Rastrineobola argentea. During the past decade the total fish production on the Ugandan sector increased drastically from 17,000 tonnes in 1981 to about 13,000 tonnes 1991, indicating a healthy state of the fishery. This was contributed by a combination of factors including the explosive establishment of the introduced L. niloticus which contributed 60.8% in 1991 and the increase in the number of fishing canoes from 3470 in 1988 to 8000 in 1990. Isolated fishery resources studies carried out in different areas of the lake since 1971 seem, however, to indicate contrary trends in the available stocks and, therefore, the status of the fishery. In the experimental fishery, continued decline in catch rates have been recorded. Similarly, in the commercial fishery catch per unit of effort has been considerably poor (33 kg per canoe during January - March 1992) and the average size of individual fish laRded continued to decline, obviously pointing at possible over-fishing. This, therefore, calls for further urgent research on the available stocks for proper management strategies to be formulated.