Droides submarinos, las nuevas fronteras de la exploración del océano. Premio RU Cool (Rutgers University) a la innovación tecnológica en oceanografía 2013

[ES] La Universidad de Rutgers y la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a través de su Estación de Oceanografía Espacial SEAS Canarias que dirige el Dr. Antonio González Ramos, han colaborado en cinco proyectos de recogida de datos oceánicos desarrollados en el 2008 y el 2013. Estos proyectos son considerados hitos científicos al usar minisubmarinos no tripulados que han batido récords de distancia y tiempo en el agua nunca antes conseguidos. El Dr. González Ramos (Facultad de Ciencias del Mar) recibió el premio en una gala en esta universidad norteamericana, celebrada con motivo del 20 aniversario de su Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Costeras (RU COOL). González Ramos desarrolló la herramienta Pinzon4D, un sistema de predicción que permite mostrar predicciones de las corrientes oceánicas de 0 a 1000 metros para el mismo día, así como una predicción de tres días, a través de la aplicación Google Earth. La novedad y utilidad de esta herramienta han hecho que se convierta en el protocolo del pilotaje para las dos misiones globales actuales. La herramienta Pinzon-4D se presentará como parte de la Challenger Mission en la próxima sesión plenaria de la Comisión Oceanográfica Internacional (UNESCO). El equipo de trabajo considera que el éxito de este tipo de proyectos radica en tres pilares: la innovación tecnológica, la cooperación internacional y la visibilidad de la información

Generation of the Cape Ghir upwelling filament: a numerical study

[EN] Filaments are narrow, shallow structures of cool water originating from the coast. They are typical features of the four main eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS). In spite of their significant biological and chemical roles, through the offshore exportation of nutrient-rich waters, the physical processes that generate them are still not completely understood. This paper is a process-oriented study of filament generation mechanisms. Our goal is twofold: firstly, to obtain a numerical solution able to well represent the characteristics of the filament off Cape Ghir (30°38'N, northwestern Africa) in the Canary EBUS and secondly, to explain its formation by a simple mechanism based on the balance of potential vorticity. The first goal is achieved by the use of the ROMS model (Regional Ocean Modeling System) in embedded domains around Cape Ghir, with a horizontal resolution going up to 1.5 km for the finest domain. The latter gets its initial and boundary conditions from a parent solution and is forced by climatological, high-resolution atmospheric fields. The modeled filaments display spatial, temporal and physical characteristics in agreement with the available in situ and satellite observations. This model solution is used as a reference to compare the results with a set of process-oriented experiments. These experiments allow us to reach the second objective. Their respective solution serves to highlight the contribution of various processes in the filament generation. Since the study is focused on general processes present under climatological forcing conditions, inter-annual forcing is not necessary. The underlying idea for the filament generation is the balance of potential vorticity in the Canary EBUS: the upwelling jet is characterized by negative relative vorticity and flows southward along a narrow band of uniform potential vorticity. In the vicinity of the cape, an injection of relative vorticity induced by the wind breaks the existing vorticity balance. The upwelling jet is prevented from continuing its way southward and has to turn offshore to follow lines of equal potential vorticity. The model results highlight the essential role of wind, associated with the particular topography (coastline and bottom) around the cape. The mechanism presented here is general and thus can be applied to other EBUS.

Optimización del cultivo de diatomeas bentónicas para el cultivo de post-larvas de abalón ("Haliotis tuberculata coccinea" Reeve, 1846)

[EN] Diatom cell quantity and their biochemical composition vary among species and are greatly affected by harvest stage or culture conditions. Biometric parameters, growth, attachment capacity and variations in biochemical composition of four species of benthic diatoms (Amphora sp., Navicula incerta, Nitzschia sp. and Proschkinia sp.) were studied. For biochemical analysis the diatoms were harvested at different stages, in log and stationary phase of growth. The culture conditions were identical for all the experiments, benthic diatoms were cultured during 7 days in F/2 medium at 28.5 ± 1.4 ºC, at different original inoculating densities (50000, 100000, and 250000 cell mL-1), under continuous light of 5403 ± 649 Lux provided by cool white fluorescent lighting. The cultures were neither aerated nor agitated. These results show that the specific density of 10000 cell mL-1 was the best for weekly production: Proschkinia sp. reached the highest cell density of 5.81 x 106 cells mL-1 and Amphora sp. had the highest cell attachment capacity with 12000 cell mm-2, in stationary phase of growth. Protein and lipid content were higher in log phase than in stationary phase for the four diatoms. Amphora sp. in log phase of growth had the highest lipid content of 9.74% dry weight (DW). Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content ranged from 23.25% to 38.62% of the total fatty acids (TFA), and the four diatoms tested were richer in n-3 PUFA than in n-6 PUFA. All the diatoms had significant quantities of 20:5n-3 (EPA) ranging between 12.69% and 17.68% of TFA. Benthic diatoms play an important and critical role in abalone culture as they are the principal food source of abalone post-larvae. Therefore, it is necessary to improve diatom quantity and quality to optimize post-larval nutrition and the consistency of production, resulting in an increase in growth and survival of abalones.

Historia de la morfogénesis granítica

[EN] From the moment a granitic magma begins to cool until it is solidified it is subjected to stress and strain, producing the various discontinuities that can be seen in the finally exposed rock. When as a result of the erosion of superincumbent rocks the granite is at or near the land surface these discontinuities are exploited by weathering. Such features, and particularly those related to fractures or diaclases, outline forms that are considered here as primary endogenous forms. Once the rock is in the earth surface, various external agencies first soil weathering and later others as gravity, rivers, waves, glaciers, frost, wind, attack the rock to produce new suites of forms that are considered here as primary exogenous either etched or subaerial features. Such primary forms, both endogenous and exogenous, can evolve morphologically further as a result of subaerial weathering and erosion, becoming secondary endogenous or secondary exogenous forms. Exceptionally, some primary, either exogenous or endogenous, features can survive to successive morphogenetic episodes either below sedimentary burial or just subaerially without appreciable modification by external agencies being considered as inherited forms. Only the discernment of all these types of landforms allows the complete understanding of the geomorphological history of the area in which they occur.

Biogenic habitat structure provided by temperate macroalgae change along a latitudinal gradient in ocean climate

[EN] Global warming is affecting all major ecosystems, including temperate reefs where canopy-forming seaweeds provide biogenic habitat. In contrast to the rapidly growing recognition of how climate affects the performance and distribution of individuals and populations, relatively little is known about possible links between climate and biogenic habitat structure. We examined the relationship between several ocean temperature characteristics, expressed on time-scales of days, months and years, on habitat patch characteristics on 24 subtidal temperate reefs along a latitudinal gradient (Western Australia; ca 34 to 27º S). Significant climate related variation in habitat structure was observed, even though the landscape cover of kelp and fucalean canopies did not change across the climate gradient: monospecific patches of kelp became increasingly dominant in warmer climates, at the expense of mixed kelp-fucalean canopies. The decline in mixed canopies was associated with an increase in the abundance of Sargassum spp., replacing a more diverse canopy assemblage of Scytothalia doryocarpa and several other large fucoids. There were no observed differences in the proportion of open gaps or gap characteristics. These habitat changes were closely related to patterns in minimum temperatures and temperature thresholds (days > 20 °C), presumably because temperate algae require cool periods for successful reproduction and recruitment (even if the adults can survive warmer temperatures). Although the observed habitat variation may appear subtle, similar structural differences have been linked to a range of effects on canopy-associated organisms through the provision of habitat and ecosystem engineering. Consequently, our study suggests that the magnitude of projected temperature increase is likely to cause changes in habitat structure and thereby indirectly affect numerous habitat-dependent plants and animals