Results from visual sightings of large floating debris are presented, taken in the Ligurian Sea, a sub-basin of the north-western Mediterranean Sea which belongs to the recently stated "Cetacean Sanctuary". Data have been collected during three oceanographic cruises, during the summer of 1997 and 2000. Results for the 1997 data suggest a debris density of the order of 15-25 objects km(-2), whil...

Significant progress has been made in the area of upper ocean responses and air-sea interactions during the passage of tropical cyclones (TC) since the first edition published in 1992. In terms of the upper ocean impacts on intensity, considerable attention has focused on the three-dimensional cold wake structure and the negative feedback due to ocean mixed layer cooling by shear-induced vertic...

Quantitative real-time observations of a tsunami have been limited to deep-water, pressure-sensor observations of changes in the sea surface elevation and observations of sea level fluctuations at the coast, which are essentially point measurements. Constrained by these data, models have been used for predictions and warning of the arrival of a tsunami, but to date no detailed verification of f...

1. Two sodium channel toxins, BgII and BgIII, have been isolated and purified from the sea anemone Bunodosoma granulifera. Combining different techniques, we have investigated the electrophysiological properties of these toxins. 2. We examined the effect of BgII and BgIII on rat ventricular strips. These toxins prolong action potentials with EC50 values of 60 and 660 nM and modify the resting p...

The recent development of satellite sea surface salinity (SSS) observations has enabled us to analyse SSS variations with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this regards, The Level3-version4 data observed by Aquarius are used to examine the variability of SSS in Gulf of Mexico for the 2012-2014 time periods. The highest SSS value occurred in April 2013 with the value of 36.72 psu while the lowe...

The long term objective of our research is to advance the understanding of air-sea interaction and the coupling between the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers (the ABL and OBL) medi­ ated by the surface gravity wave field, in order ultimately to develop better parameterizations of the boundary layers and surface fluxes for coupled, large-scale numerical models. Turbulenceresolving, large-e...

In October-November 1983, Doppler sonars mounted on the research platform Flip were used to scatter 75-kHz sound from the underside of the sea surface at low angle, as well as from the interior of the mixed layer. Surface gravity waves were seen in velocity estimates from the surface scattering sonar, even though the wave conditions were unusually calm. Valid measurements of sea surface motion ...