Age determinaton and age model of sediments from the Bay of Biscay

Continuous high-resolution mass accumulation rates (MAR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurements from marine sediment records in the Bay of Biscay (NE Atlantic) have allowed the determination of the timing and the amplitude of the 'Fleuve Manche' (Channel River) discharges during glacial stages MIS 10, MIS 8, MIS 6 and MIS 4-2. These results have yielded detailed insight into the Middle and Late Pleistocene glaciations in Europe and the drainage network of the western and central European rivers over the last 350 kyr. This study provides clear evidence that the 'Fleuve Manche' connected the southern North Sea basin with the Bay of Biscay during each glacial period and reveals that 'Fleuve Manche' activity during the glaciations MIS 10 and MIS 8 was significantly less than during MIS 6 and MIS 2. We correlate the significant 'Fleuve Manche' activity, detected during MIS 6 and MIS 2, with the extensive Saalian (Drenthe Substage) and the Weichselian glaciations, respectively, confirming that the major Elsterian glaciation precedes the glacial MIS 10. In detail, massive 'Fleuve Manche' discharges occurred at ca 155 ka (mid-MIS 6) and during Termination I, while no significant discharges are found during Termination II. It is assumed that a substantial retreat of the European ice sheet at ca 155 kyr, followed by the formation of ice-free conditions between the British Isles and Scandinavia until Termination II, allowed meltwater to flow northwards through the North Sea basin during the second part of the MIS 6. We assume that this glacial pattern corresponds to the Warthe Substage glacial maximum, therefore indicating that the data presented here equates to the Drenthe and the Warthe glacial advances at ca 175-160 ka and ca 150-140 ka, respectively. Finally, the correlation of our records with ODP site 980 reveals that massive 'Fleuve Manche' discharges, related to partial or complete melting of the European ice masses, were synchronous with strong decreases in both the rate of deep-water formation and the strength of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. 'Fleuve Manche' discharges over the last 350 kyr probably participated, with other meltwater sources, in the collapse of the thermohaline circulation by freshening the northern Atlantic surface water.

Near real time surface ocean velocity in the Bay of Biscay - Basque Country from Mai to September 2016

The data set consists of maps of total velocity of the surface current in the Southeastern Bay of Biscay averaged over a time interval of 1 hour around the cardinal hour. Surface ocean velocities estimated by this HF Radar(4.65 MHz) are representative of the upper 2-3 meters of the ocean. The main objective of near real time processing is to produce the best product from available data at the time of processing. Total velocities are derived using least square fit that maps radial velocities measured from individual sites onto a cartesian grid. The final product is a map of the horizontal components of the ocean currents on a regular grid in the area of overlap of two or more radar stations.

(Table 1, page 204), Minor element concentrations in nodules of lake Ontario at Glenola, Bay of Quinte

Spark source mass spectroscopy was used to analyze 61 elements in ten ferromanganese nodules found near Glenora in the Bay of Quinte at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Most minor elements, including As, Pb, and Hg, have concentrations between 1-100 µg/g. F, S, Co, Zn, and La have concentrations in 100 µg/g range. Ba and Sr are present at levels of 1% and 0.1% respectively. Compared to similar measurements on nodules found in the Great Lakes and in other parts of the globe, values reported here are generally lower. Compared to their marine equivalents, lake nodules appear to be inferior scavengers of minor elements. Examination of all available data corroborates the postulate that marine biological material is an important source of minor elements found in oceanic nodules.

Bulk and amino acid parameters of core SO188-342KL from the Northern Bay of Bengal for the last 18 ka

The Northern Bay of Bengal (NBoB) is a globally important region for deep-sea organic matter (OM) deposition due to massive fluvial discharge from the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (G-B-M) rivers and moderate to high surface productivity. Previous studies have focused on carbon burial in turbiditic sediments of the Bengal Fan. However, little is known about the storage of carbon in pelagic and hemipelagic sediments of the Bay of Bengal over millennial time scales. This study presents a comprehensive history of OM origin and fate as well as a quantification of carbon sediment storage in the Eastern Bengal Slope (EBS) during the last 18 ka. Bulk organic proxies (TOC, TIC, TN, d13CTOC, d15NTN) and content and composition of total hydrolysable amino acids (THAA) in a sediment core (SO188-342KL) from the EBS were analyzed. Three periods of high OM accumulation were identified: the Late Glacial (LG), the Bölling/Alleröd (B/A), and the Early Holocene Climatic Optimum (EHCO). Lower eustatic sea level before 15 ka BP allowed a closer connection between the EBS and the fluvial debouch, favoring high terrestrial OM input to the core site. This connection was progressively lost between 15 and 7 ka BP as sea level rose to its present height and terrestrial OM input decreased considerably. Export and preservation of marine OM was stimulated during periods of summer monsoon intensification (B/A and EHCO) as a consequence of higher surface productivity enhanced by cyclonic-eddy nutrient pumping and fluvial nutrient delivery into the photic zone. Changes in the THAA composition indicate that the marine plankton community structure shifted from calcareous-dominated before 13 ka BP to siliceous-dominated afterwards. They also indicate that the relative proportion of marine versus terrestrial OM deposited at site 342KL was primarily driven by relative sea level and enlarged during the Holocene. The ballasting effect of lithogenic particles during periods of high coastal proximity and/or enhanced fluvial discharge promoted the export and preservation of OM. The high organic carbon accumulation rates in the EBS during the LG (18-17 ka BP) were 5-fold higher than at present and comparable to those of glacial upwelling areas. Despite the differences in sediment and OM transport and storage among the Western and Eastern sectors of the NBoB, this region remains important for global carbon sequestration during sea level low-stands. In addition, the summer monsoon was a key promotor of terrestrial and marine OM export to the deep-ocean, highlighting its relevance as regulator of the global carbon budget.

Emerging From the Shadows : the Life of Captain John (Deserontyou), Circa 1742-1811, Founder of the Bay of Quinte Mohawk Village

This thesis is a biographical examination of the life of Mohawk leader Deserontyou (Captain John) and covers the years from the 1730's up to, and briefly following, 1811. The social, economic and political position of the Mohawk people and Deserontyou's position within the Fort Hunter community prior to the Revolution are addressed first. The Revolutionary War years are then covered with emphasis placed on Deserontyou's military role, the unpleasant conditions at Lachine and the painful reality for the Mohawk people in the aftermath of Britain's defeat. The post-war settlement on the Bay of Quinte is then explored, including the difficulties that Deserontyou experienced with the land, with the British Government, and with his own people. The documents upon which this examination are based come from many primary collections including: The Draper Manuscripts, the Haldimand Papers, the Stuart Papers, Ontario Lands & Forest Survey Records, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Episcopal Records, the Bell Papers, the File Collection, the Claus Papers and Indian Affairs Papers.

A coupled movement and bioenergetics model to explore the spawning migration of anchovy in the Bay of Biscay

Adult anchovies in the Bay of Biscay perform north to south migration from late winter to early summer for spawning. However, what triggers and drives the geographic shift of the population remains unclear and poorly understood. An individual-based fish model has been implemented to explore the potential mechanisms that control anchovy's movement routes toward its spawning habitats. To achieve this goal, two fish movement behaviors – gradient detection through restricted area search and kinesis – simulated fish response to its dynamic environment. A bioenergetics model was used to represent individual growth and reproduction along the fish trajectory. The environmental forcing (food, temperature) of the model was provided by a coupled physical–biogeochemical model. We followed a hypothesis-testing strategy to actualize a series of simulations using different cues and computational assumptions. The gradient detection behavior was found as the most suitable mechanism to recreate the observed shift of anchovy distribution under the combined effect of sea-surface temperature and zooplankton. In addition, our results suggested that southward movement occurred more actively from early April to middle May following favorably the spatio-temporal evolution of zooplankton and temperature. In terms of fish bioenergetics, individuals who ended up in the southern part of the bay presented better condition based on energy content, proposing the resulting energy gain as an ecological explanation for this migration. The kinesis approach resulted in a moderate performance, producing distribution pattern with the highest spread. Finally, model performance was not significantly affected by changes on the starting date, initial fish distribution and number of particles used in the simulations, whereas it was drastically influenced by the adopted cues.

Preliminary plankton research in the Bay of Nhatrang, Vietnam

An account is given of the work done on plankton of the Bay of Nhatrang, beginning with a study made by Rose in 1926. At the present time identification studies are being conducted at the Faculty of Sciences in Saigon, bearing on diatoms and protozoa

Stable isotope ratios in bentho-demersal biota along a depth gradient in the bay of biscay: A multitrophic study

Although stable isotope ratios are increasingly used to investigate the trophic ecology of marine organisms, their spatial variations are still poorly understood in the coastal environment. In this study, we measured the stable isotope composition (δ13C, δ15N) of suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) (primary producer), a suspension feeder, the great scallop Pecten maximus (primary consumer), megabenthic decapods and benthic fishes (secondary consumers) along a depth gradient (from 5m to 155m depth) across the continental shelf of the Bay of Biscay. Although the three trophic levels exhibited similar δ13C patterns along the gradient, the δ15N patterns varied between SPOM, scallops and carnivores. The δ15N difference between SPOM and scallops decreased with increasing depth, suggesting that non trophic factors may affect the stable isotope composition of scallops at deepest sampling stations. An opposed trend was found between scallops and carnivores, suggesting that the trophic level of these carnivores increased at higher depth, possibly as an adaptation to lower prey abundances. Although our results suggest that primary consumers are suitable to establish isotopic baselines in coastal environments, we stress the need for further studies aiming at characterizing the variability of stable isotopes in coastal biota, and the respective effects of baseline, trophic and metabolic factors in their isotopic composition.

Site n°5. The Pertuis Breton (Bay of Biscay) France

1.This report presents the results of a field study conducted in the ECASA test site nOS in the Pertuis Breton, France. The site is located on the Atlantic West coasts. It is open to the bay of Biscay, but is slightly protected against westerly winds. The bay has been exploited by intertidal mussels culture for centuries. 2. Within the bay, mussels (Mytilus edulis) are cultivated either by the traditional pole technique, around the bay or on longlines in the centre of the bay. The area occupied by these longline s represents 250 ha, and the resulting annual production is 1 000 tonnes of mussels. The average depth at mid tide is of 13.8 m. The sediment is sandy, with a small fraction of mud. 3. The site is subject to several regular monitoring through the local implementation of national networks aiming at protecting the environment and marine resources, on pollutants (RNO), microbiological quality of the waters (REMI), phytoplanktonic toxic species (REPHY) and growth and mortality of molluscs (REMORA). Benthic macrofauna was studied in 1976. 4. Five sampling sations were chosen along a line, starting under the longlines, and at distances of 50, 100, 200, and 400 metres from the area cultivated. A reference station was chosen in a different direction at 2300 metres of the cultivated area. Sampling methods are described in the text. _Sediments were sampled for different analyses: grain size, content in organic matter, total organic carbon and nitrogen, and phytic pigments (chlorophyll a and phaeopigments). Redox were measured in cores. The macrofauna living into the sediment was also sampled. The water column was sampled for physical (temperature, transparency) and chemical parametres, including oxygen content, salinity, organic matter, dissolved nitrogen forms, phosphates and silicates. Results from benthic macrofauna surveys indicate that there were no significant differences between the different stations and the reference station, all being classified as slightly disturbed. The bay is submitted to freshwater runoffs from two adjacent rivers. 7. The sediment is slightly modified by the culture of bivalves. Total organic carbon, total nitrogen, Eh values and pheopigments were significantly higher under the trestles than in any other stations. Other stations often did not differ from the reference station. 8. The effects of shellfish culture on the water column were. However, it was observed a small decrease of the food available to the molluscs near the rearing 9. The DEB model was able to describe and predict adequately the growth of oysters, both in the Baie des Veys and in the Loch Creran. The parametres for its use in other environment are given, but a tuning of one parametre should be performed with the help of authors. 10. Among the indicators and models for use in are as of intertidal bivalve culture, it is recommended to use the sediment quality index, TOC (Total Organic Carbon), redox and pheopigments, in surficial sediment, AMBI for the macrofauna, chlorophyll a contents and nitrogen forms in the water column, and models describing the carrying capacity, filtration rate of molluscs, and a DEB model to predict the growth of molluscs.

Modulation of sea surface temperature warming in the Bay of Biscay by Loire and Gironde Rivers

The influence of Loire and Gironde River discharges over the sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern Bay of Biscay (0.6º–36.6ºW, 44.2º–47.8ºW) was analyzed by means of two complementary databases (MODIS and OISST1/4). The area influenced by river plume showed a different SST when compared with the adjacent oceanic area for the months when the plume attains its highest extension (December, January, and February). Ocean was observed to warm at a rate of approximately 0.3ºC dec−1 while temperature at the area influenced by the rivers cooled at a rate of −0.15ºC dec−1 over the period 1982–2014. The mere presence of a freshwater layer is able to modulate the warming observed at adjacent ocean locations since the coastal area is isolated from the rest of the Bay. This nearshore strip is the only part of the Bay where changes in SST depend on North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) but not on North Atlantic SST represented by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). These different cooling-warming trends are even more patent over the last years (2002–2014) under atmospheric favorable conditions for plume enhancement. River runoff increased at a rate on the order of 120 m3s−1dec−1 over that period and southwesterly winds, which favor the confinement of the plume, showed a positive and significant trend both in duration and intensity. Thus, the coastal strip has been observed to cool at a rate of −0.5°C dec−1.

First record of Pagellus bellottii (Teleostei: Sparidae) in the Bay of Biscay, France

The red pandora, Pagellus bellottii Steindachner, 1882, is a tropical and subtropical demersal Sparidae (Porgies) that lives over hard or sandy bottoms in coastal marine waters. It mostly occurs at depths ranging from 10 to 50 metres. It is distributed in the eastern Atlantic, from the Strait of Gibraltar to Angola and the Canary Islands where it is occasionally recorded (Bauchot and Hureau, 1986; Franqueville, 1983). The species is also recorded in the southwestern Mediterranean, in the Alboran Sea, off the Algerian coasts and in the Gulf of Gabes (Oral, 2010). The records of the species in the eastern Mediterranean, Syrian and Israeli waters (Fricke, et al. 2014, Fig. 1) is questioned. We consider these records are misidentification of Pagrus pagrus (Linnaeus, 1758). Pagellus bellottii was also included in the checklist of the fishes from Portugal as a consequence of records coming from the Algarve region, about 36°59′ N, 8° W, the northernmost records in Atlantic waters (de Castro, 1967; Erzini et al., 1996; Carneiro et al., 2014; Carneiro com. pers.). Some specimens were also recorded in Spanish Mediterranean waters, in the Bay of Almería about 36°47′ N, 2°25′ W (Lucena, et al. 1982), the northernmost records for the Mediterranean waters. Herein, the first record of P. bellottii in the Bay of Biscay is reported.

Assessing natural mortality of Bay of Biscay anchovy from survey population and biomass estimates

La fermeture de la pêche de l’anchois (Engraulis encrasicolus) du Golfe de Gascogne entre 2005 et 2010, en raison de la faible biomasse du stock, a été une opportunité pour estimer la mortalité naturelle à partir de données de campagnes halieutiques issues de l’observation de la présence d’oeufs (DEPM) et de mesures acoustiques, utilisées pour l’évaluation de cette population depuis 1987. En considérant que la mortalité naturelle est constante au cours du temps et que la capturabilité des deux campagnes est identique pour tous les âges, la mortalité naturelle peut être estimée par des modèles log-linéaires appliquées aux séries temporelles de nombres aux âges issues des campagnes, et par des modèles d’évaluations de stock prenant en compte la saison. L’analyse suggère des valeurs de M autour de 0.9 comme mortalité naturelle courante à tous les âges. Cependant, nous avons des éléments forts indicateurs que la mortalité aux âges 2 et plus (M2+) est remarquablement plus forte qu’à l’âge 1 (M1) ce qui suppose un signe de mortalité sénescente, une possibilité qui a déjà été évoquée il y a longtemps pour ce type d’espèce à vie courte.

Impacts of high-nitrate freshwater inputs on macrotidal ecosystems. I. Seasonal evolution of nutrient limitation for the diatom-dominated phytoplankton of the Bay of Brest (France)

The chemical factors (inorganic nitrogen, phosphate, silicic acid) that potentially or actually control primary production were determined for the Bay of Brest, France, a macrotidal ecosystem submitted to high-nitrate-loaded freshwater inputs (winter nitrate freshwater concentrations >700 mu M, Si:N molar ratio as low as 0.2, i.e. among the lowest ever published). Intensive data collection and observations were carried out from February 1993 to March 1994 to determine the variations of physical [salinity, temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), freshwater discharges] and chemical (oxygen and nutrients) parameters and their impacts on the phytoplankton cycle (fluorescence, pigments, primary production). With insufficient PAR the winter stocks of nutrients were almost nonutilized and the nitrate excess was exported to the adjacent ocean, due to rapid tidal exchange. By early April, a diatom-dominated spring bloom developed (chlorophyll a maximum = 7.7 mu g l(-1); primary production maximum = 2.34 g C m(-2) d(-1)) under high initial nutrient concentrations. Silicic acid was rapidly exhausted over the whole water column; it is inferred to be the primary limiting factor responsible for the collapse of the spring bloom by mid-May. Successive phytoplankton developments characterized the period of secondary blooms during summer and fall (successive surface chlorophyll a maxima = 3.5, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.0 mu g l(-1); primary production = 1.24, 1.18 and 0.35 g C m(-2) d(-1)). Those secondary blooms developed under lower nutrient concentrations, mostly originating from nutrient recycling. Until August, Si and P most likely limited primary production, whereas the last stage of the productive period in September seemed to be N limited instead, this being a period of total nitrate depletion in almost the whole water column. Si limitation of spring blooms has become a common feature in coastal ecosystems that receive freshwater inputs with Si:N molar ratios <1. The peculiarity of Si Limitation in the Bay of Brest is its extension through the summer period.

Validation of age determination using otoliths of the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus L.) in the Bay of Biscay

Validation of the age determination procedure using otoliths of European anchovy in the Bay of Biscay was achieved by monitoring very strong year-classes in successive spring catches and surveys, as well as the seasonal occurrence of edge types. Historical corroboration of the ageing method was obtained by cross-correlation between successive age groups by year-classes in catches and surveys (1987–2013). Summary annual growth in length is also presented. Yearly annuli consist of a hyaline zone (either single or composite) and a wide opaque zone, disrupted occasionally by some typical checks (mainly at age-0 and age-1 at peak spawning time). Age determination, given a date of capture, requires knowledge of the typical annual growth pattern of otoliths, their seasonal edge formation by ages and the most typical checks. Most opaque growth occurs in summer and is minimal (translucent) in winter. Opaque zone formation begins earlier in younger fish (in spring), and this helps distinguish age-1 from age-2+.