Heat balances and thermally driven lagoon-ocean exchangeson a tropical coral reef system (Moorea, French Polynesia)

© 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.The role of surface and advective heat fluxes on buoyancy-driven circulation was examined within a tropical coral reef system. Measurements of local meteorological conditions as well as water temperature and velocity were made at six lagoon locations for 2 months during the austral summer. We found that temperature rather than salinity dominated buoyancy in this system. The data were used to calculate diurnally phase-averaged thermal balances. A one-dimensional momentum balance developed for a portion of the lagoon indicates that the diurnal heating pattern and consistent spatial gradients in surface heat fluxes create a baroclinic pressure gradient that is dynamically important in driving the observed circulation. The baroclinic and barotropic pressure gradients make up 90% of the momentum budget in part of the system; thus, when the baroclinic pressure gradient decreases 20% during the day due to changes in temperature gradient, this substantially changes the circulation, with different flow patterns occurring during night and day. Thermal balances computed across the entire lagoon show that the spatial heating patterns and resulting buoyancy-driven circulation are important in maintaining a persistent advective export of heat from the lagoon and for enhancing ocean-lagoon exchange.

Biological and physical interactions on a tropical island coral reef: Transport and retention processes on moorea, French Polynesia

The Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research project funded by the US National Science Foundation includes multidisciplinary studies of physical processes driving ecological dynamics across the fringing reef, back reef, and fore reef habitats of Moorea, French Polynesia. A network of oceanographic moorings and a variety of other approaches have been used to investigate the biological and biogeochemical aspects of water transport and retention processes in this system. There is evidence to support the hypothesis that a low-frequency counterclockwise flow around the island is superimposed on the relatively strong alongshore currents on each side of the island. Despite the rapid flow and flushing of the back reef, waters over the reef display chemical and biological characteristics distinct from those offshore. The patterns include higher nutrient and lower dissolved organic carbon concentrations, distinct microbial community compositions among habitats, and reef assemblages of zooplankton that exhibit migration behavior, suggesting multigenerational residence on the reef. Zooplankton consumption by planktivorous fish on the reef reflects both retention of reef-associated taxa and capture by the reef community of resources originating offshore. Coral recruitment and population genetics of reef fishes point to retention of larvae within the system and high recruitment levels from local adult populations. The combined results suggest that a broad suite of physical and biological processes contribute to high retention of externally derived and locally produced organic materials within this island coral reef system. © 2013 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved.

The island-scale internal wave climate of Moorea, French Polynesia

Analysis of five-year records of temperatures and currents collected at Moorea reveal strong internal wave activity at predominantly semi-diurnal frequencies impacting reef slopes at depths 30m around the entire island. Temperature changes of 1.5C to 3C are accompanied by surges of upward and onshore flow and vertical shear in onshore currents. Superimposed on annual temperature changes of approximately 3C, internal wave activity is high from Oct-May and markedly lower from Jun-Sep. The offshore pycnocline is broadly distributed with continuous stratification to at least 500m depth, and a subsurface fluorescence maximum above the strong nutricline at approximately 200m. Minimum buoyancy periods range from 4.8 to 6min, with the maximum density gradient occurring at 50 to 60m depth in summer and deepening to approximately 150 to 200m in winter. The bottom slope angle around all of Moorea is super-critical relative to the vertical stratification angle suggesting that energy propagating into shallow water is only a portion of total incident internal wave energy. Vertical gradient Richardson numbers indicate dominance by density stability relative to current shear with relatively limited diapycnal mixing. Coherence and lagged cross-correlation of semi-diurnal temperature variation indicate complex patterns of inter-site arrival of internal waves and no clear coherence or lagged correlation relationships among island sides. Semi-diurnal and high frequency internal wave packets likely arrive on Moorea from a combination of local and distant sources and may have important impacts for nutrient and particle fluxes in deep reef environments. © 2012 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

A SURVEY OF FRENCH KEYBOARD MUSIC FROM 1880 TO 1950

French music flourished from the last quarter of the nineteenth century into the early twentieth century, especially in the genres of opera and orchestral music. Although French keyboard music enjoyed less popularity, being overshadowed by these predominant genres, prominent impressionist figures Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) . . brought its revival to the French music. Scholars consider Debussy to be a frontrunner of Impressionism, and his influence had a major impact on subsequent composers. As a result of his popularity, other significant works by French composers seem to be overlooked by pianists and audiences and are not as often performed. Because keyboard works by Debussy and Ravel are a popular performance choice among pianists, I was eager to examine music by other French composers. Through my resea,rch, I found many great works that warranted further study and deserve a place in the keyboard repertoire. This recording project contains works by lesser-known French composers written between the years of 1880 and 1950, namely Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894), Gabriel-Urbain Faure (1845-1924), Charles Koechlin (1867-1950), Albert Roussel (1869-1937), Erik Satie (1866-1925), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), Robert Casadesus (1899-1972) and Henri Dutilleux (b.1916). Since piano repertoire is abundant, it is sometimes difficult to create a performance program. Therefore, it frequently becomes the default to choosing familiar repertoire rather than using the opportunity to expand the repertoire. As a pianist, I feel responsible to search for hidden musical treasures with which pianists and audiences alike are not so well acquainted. This recording project explores nine lesser-known French compositions written between 1880 and 1950. I expect this to be an opportunity to introduce both pianists and audiences to outstanding but unfamiliar works by French composers. This dissertation was recorded on two compact discs in Dekelboum Concert Hall at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center of the University of Maryland. The recordings are archived in the University of Maryland Library.

Delivering processing instruction in classroom and virtual contexts

Processing Instruction (PI) is an approach to grammar instruction for second language learning. It derives its name from the fact that the instruction (both the explicit explanation as well as the practices) attempt to influence, alter, and/or improve the way learners process input. PI contrasts with traditional grammar instruction in many ways, most principally in its focus on input whereas traditional grammar instruction focuses on learners' output. The greatest contribution of PI to both theory and practice is the concept of "structured input", a form of comprehensible input that has been manipulated to maximize learners' benefit of exposure to input. This volume focuses on a new issue for PI, the role of technology in language learning. It examines empirically the differential effects of delivering PI in classrooms with an instructor and students interacting (with each other and with the instructor) versus on computers to students working individually. It also contributes to the growing body of research on the effects of PI on different languages as well as different linguistic items: preterite/imperfect aspectual contrast and negative informal commands in Spanish, the subjunctive of doubt and opinion in Italian, and the subjunctive of doubt in French. Further research contributions are made by comparing PI with other types of instruction, specifically, with meaning-oriented output instruction.

Why do we struggle when we try to learn a language as adults?

Whereas the acquisition of a first language is successful for normally developing individuals, native-like attainment in a language learnt as adults is not guaranteed. As far as grammar is concerned, the area that typically shows up as more problematic is that of Morphology, and more specifically, that part of Morphology related to the specific ways languages have to indicate notions like temporal location (e.g. English –-ed for past tense She walked) or person agreement (e.g. English –s for the third person singular She sings). Language students and teachers are familiar with exclamations like “Oh, after so many years I still have problems with the past tenses in Spanish!” or “I cannot cope with the masculine/feminine thing in French!” In this talk I will present two different accounts that are currently debated in the field of Second Language Acquisition about why it is not enough to memorize those “blessed endings” for us to master their use in our speech production. I will also introduce the latest study I have conducted in collaboration with colleagues, with the aim of evaluating the explanatory power of the hypotheses debated in current literature. [From the Author]

Loris Gréaud — french and fanciful

Review of ICA exhibition by Loris Gréaud