(Table) Density and biomass of phytoplankton in Vostok Bay in August and September 2010

The natural phytoplankton was monitored by means of fluorimetric equipment in Vostok Bay of the Sea of Japan. A gradual increase in the microalgae abundance was revealed in the course of the main water current, which enters the bay and leaves it. The continuous registration of chlorophyll fluorescence at a fixed point in the bay indicates the significant microscale variation of the abundance and functional state of the phytoplankton.

Lithostatigraphy of the CESAR cores

Sixteen piston cores and twelve gravity cores were successfully recovered from northern and southern crests of the eastern Alpha Ridge andfrom the Alpha Ridge graben. All but one core contain late Cenozoic muds with variable amounts of sand- to pebble-sized clastic material that probably reflects transport by ice during the past 4-5 Ma. Sixteen Cenozoic-Holocene lithostratigraphic units have been delimited on the basis of sediment texture, structure, colour, detrital carbonate and authigenicferromanganese content. The composition of the upper 13 units in the CESAR cores is similar to the Fletcher's Ice Island cores; hence most units can be broadly correlated over most of the Central Arctic Ocean. Three new lithostratigraphic units (A1-A3) occur at the base of CESAR cores from the northern Alpha Ridge crest. Paleomagnetic and palynological data indicate a Late Miocene-Early Pliocene age for unit A3, which confirms previous reports of a slow sedimentation rate during the Cenozoic. CESAR core 6 was obtained from an erosional surface on top of a fault block at the north edge of the Alpha Ridge graben. This core contains ca. 2m of laminated diatom ooze of Campanian-Maastrichtian age and two ?Paleogene volcanic ash units below a brown mud unit which probably corresponds to units A2 and A3. The biosiliceous ooze contains no foraminifera or silicoflagellates and only few dinoflagellates. There is little difference in biogenic or clastic sediment content between light and dark laminae and the rhythmites do not appear to be annual varves produced in an upwelling environment. The microstructure and fluctuating mineral composition of the laminae most closely resemble those of lami- nated chert beds in the Triassic forearc basins of Japan.

Oceanographic Data of the 37th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition from November 1995 to March 1996

The results of oceanographic observations on board the icebreaker "Shirase" and tidal observations at Syowa Station, Antarctica, are presented in this report. The oceanographic observations were carried out by the summer party of the 37th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE-37) during the austral summer of 1995/1996. The tidal observations were carried out by the winter party of JARE-36 from February 1995 to January 1996.