Developments in animal electronic tagging and tracking have transformed the field of movement eco... more Developments in animal electronic tagging and tracking have transformed the field of movement ecology, but interest is also growing in the contributions of tagged animals to oceanography. Animal-borne sensors can address data gaps, improve ocean model skill and support model validation, but previous studies in this area have focused almost exclusively on satellite-telemetered seabirds and seals. Here, for the first time, we develop the use of benthic species as animal oceanographers by combining archival (depth and temperature) data from animal-borne tags, passive acoustic telemetry and citizen-science mark-recapture records from 2016–17 for the Critically Endangered flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) in Scotland. By comparing temperature observations to predictions from the West Scotland Coastal Ocean Modelling System, we quantify model skill and empirically validate an independent model update. The results from bottom-temperature and temperature-depth profile validation (5,324 o...
Various field methods have been used globally in an attempt to understand and quantify plastic po... more Various field methods have been used globally in an attempt to understand and quantify plastic pollution. However, in regions, such as the west coast of Scotland, sparse populations, combined with complex coastlines of numerous islands, sea lochs and headlands, has resulted in limited field data. The Clyde Sea is the most populated and industrialised region on the west coast of Scotland and therefore a potential source of land-based plastic litter to the less populated coast to the north. This study first presents an analysis of Marine Conservation Society (MCS) citizen-science beach-clean data, from 1994 to 2019, revealing spatial patterns between beach-clean sites. Plastic litter was categorised into land, marine and unknown sources, with the most common items in these three categories being crisp packets, fishing rope and fragments, respectively. On the west coast of Scotland there is on average 380.3 ± 419.9 plastic items per 100 m of coast, with the site average number of items...
ABSTRACT Anomalies of dynamic height derived from an analysis of Argo profiling buoys data are an... more ABSTRACT Anomalies of dynamic height derived from an analysis of Argo profiling buoys data are analysed to assess the relative roles of contributions from temperature and salinity over the North Atlantic for the period of 1999–2004. They are compared with dynamic topography anomalies based on TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason altimetry. It is shown that the halosteric contribution to the anomalies of dynamic height is comparable in magnitude to the thermosteric one over the period analyzed. Taking both salinity and temperature into account improves the agreement between zonally averaged trends in the satellite dynamic topography and dynamic height increasing the correlation between them to 0.73 from 0.63 when only temperature variability is taken into account. The implication of this result is that the salinity contribution cannot be neglected in the North Atlantic and that one cannot rely on estimating the thermosteric part by anomalies in the sea surface dynamic topography derived from the satellite altimetry.
ABSTRACT The role played by inertial motions in horizontal dispersion within the thermocline of a... more ABSTRACT The role played by inertial motions in horizontal dispersion within the thermocline of a broad, mid-latitude shelf sea is examined through the analysis of a deliberately released dye tracer. Our analysis is of the horizontal and vertical evolution over 40 h of a dye tracer injected into the seasonally stratified thermocline of the Celtic Sea on the NW European Shelf. The inferred diapycnal diffusivity was 1.3-1.5 × 10-5 m2 s-1, and the radial horizontal diffusivities of the depth integrated dye patch ranged from 1.9 to 4.0 m2 s-1. The inferred vertical diffusivity is in agreement with microstructure based estimates, and the depth integrated horizontal diffusivity is broadly in agreement with previous dye release derived estimates made over similar scales and time periods. Asymmetry in the horizontal evolution of the dye patch was evident. We argue that mean shear dispersion was responsible for lateral elongation of the dye patch, particularly between hours 23 and 35 after release, during which time horizontal diffusivity along the major axis, Ka, exceeded that along the minor axis, Kb, by more than a factor of 10. We further show that along-patch shear was predominantly a result of differential advection between a deep residual flow to the south-east and an oscillating wind-driven surface Ekman layer. In this region of strong low frequency (inertial) shear a time dependent model of shear dispersion (Young et al., 1982) was able to account for the observed rate of horizontal dispersion calculated on the target isopycnal surface.
ABSTRACT There is growing understanding that recent deterioration of the Black Sea ecosystem was ... more ABSTRACT There is growing understanding that recent deterioration of the Black Sea ecosystem was partly due to changes in the marine physical environment. This study uses high resolution 0.25° climatology to analyze sea surface temperature variability over the 20th century in two contrasting regions of the sea. Results show that the deep Black Sea was cooling during the first three quarters of the century and was warming in the last 15–20 years; on aggregate there was a statistically significant cooling trend. The SST variability over the Western shelf was more volatile and it does not show statistically significant trends. The cooling of the deep Black Sea is at variance with the general trend in the North Atlantic and may be related to the decrease of westerly winds over the Black Sea, and a greater influence of the Siberian anticyclone. The timing of the changeover from cooling to warming coincides with the regime shift in the Black Sea ecosystem.
Abstract Long-term changes in the state of the Bottom Shelf Water (BSW) on the Western shelf of t... more Abstract Long-term changes in the state of the Bottom Shelf Water (BSW) on the Western shelf of the Black Sea are assessed using analysis of intra-and inter-annual variations of temperature as well as their relations to physical parameters of both shelf and deep-sea waters. First, large data sets of in-situ observations over the 20th century 5 are compiled into high-resolution monthly climatology at different depth levels. Then, the temperature anomalies from the climatic mean are calculated and aggregated into spatial ...
Developments in animal electronic tagging and tracking have transformed the field of movement eco... more Developments in animal electronic tagging and tracking have transformed the field of movement ecology, but interest is also growing in the contributions of tagged animals to oceanography. Animal-borne sensors can address data gaps, improve ocean model skill and support model validation, but previous studies in this area have focused almost exclusively on satellite-telemetered seabirds and seals. Here, for the first time, we develop the use of benthic species as animal oceanographers by combining archival (depth and temperature) data from animal-borne tags, passive acoustic telemetry and citizen-science mark-recapture records from 2016–17 for the Critically Endangered flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) in Scotland. By comparing temperature observations to predictions from the West Scotland Coastal Ocean Modelling System, we quantify model skill and empirically validate an independent model update. The results from bottom-temperature and temperature-depth profile validation (5,324 o...
Various field methods have been used globally in an attempt to understand and quantify plastic po... more Various field methods have been used globally in an attempt to understand and quantify plastic pollution. However, in regions, such as the west coast of Scotland, sparse populations, combined with complex coastlines of numerous islands, sea lochs and headlands, has resulted in limited field data. The Clyde Sea is the most populated and industrialised region on the west coast of Scotland and therefore a potential source of land-based plastic litter to the less populated coast to the north. This study first presents an analysis of Marine Conservation Society (MCS) citizen-science beach-clean data, from 1994 to 2019, revealing spatial patterns between beach-clean sites. Plastic litter was categorised into land, marine and unknown sources, with the most common items in these three categories being crisp packets, fishing rope and fragments, respectively. On the west coast of Scotland there is on average 380.3 ± 419.9 plastic items per 100 m of coast, with the site average number of items...
ABSTRACT Anomalies of dynamic height derived from an analysis of Argo profiling buoys data are an... more ABSTRACT Anomalies of dynamic height derived from an analysis of Argo profiling buoys data are analysed to assess the relative roles of contributions from temperature and salinity over the North Atlantic for the period of 1999–2004. They are compared with dynamic topography anomalies based on TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason altimetry. It is shown that the halosteric contribution to the anomalies of dynamic height is comparable in magnitude to the thermosteric one over the period analyzed. Taking both salinity and temperature into account improves the agreement between zonally averaged trends in the satellite dynamic topography and dynamic height increasing the correlation between them to 0.73 from 0.63 when only temperature variability is taken into account. The implication of this result is that the salinity contribution cannot be neglected in the North Atlantic and that one cannot rely on estimating the thermosteric part by anomalies in the sea surface dynamic topography derived from the satellite altimetry.
ABSTRACT The role played by inertial motions in horizontal dispersion within the thermocline of a... more ABSTRACT The role played by inertial motions in horizontal dispersion within the thermocline of a broad, mid-latitude shelf sea is examined through the analysis of a deliberately released dye tracer. Our analysis is of the horizontal and vertical evolution over 40 h of a dye tracer injected into the seasonally stratified thermocline of the Celtic Sea on the NW European Shelf. The inferred diapycnal diffusivity was 1.3-1.5 × 10-5 m2 s-1, and the radial horizontal diffusivities of the depth integrated dye patch ranged from 1.9 to 4.0 m2 s-1. The inferred vertical diffusivity is in agreement with microstructure based estimates, and the depth integrated horizontal diffusivity is broadly in agreement with previous dye release derived estimates made over similar scales and time periods. Asymmetry in the horizontal evolution of the dye patch was evident. We argue that mean shear dispersion was responsible for lateral elongation of the dye patch, particularly between hours 23 and 35 after release, during which time horizontal diffusivity along the major axis, Ka, exceeded that along the minor axis, Kb, by more than a factor of 10. We further show that along-patch shear was predominantly a result of differential advection between a deep residual flow to the south-east and an oscillating wind-driven surface Ekman layer. In this region of strong low frequency (inertial) shear a time dependent model of shear dispersion (Young et al., 1982) was able to account for the observed rate of horizontal dispersion calculated on the target isopycnal surface.
ABSTRACT There is growing understanding that recent deterioration of the Black Sea ecosystem was ... more ABSTRACT There is growing understanding that recent deterioration of the Black Sea ecosystem was partly due to changes in the marine physical environment. This study uses high resolution 0.25° climatology to analyze sea surface temperature variability over the 20th century in two contrasting regions of the sea. Results show that the deep Black Sea was cooling during the first three quarters of the century and was warming in the last 15–20 years; on aggregate there was a statistically significant cooling trend. The SST variability over the Western shelf was more volatile and it does not show statistically significant trends. The cooling of the deep Black Sea is at variance with the general trend in the North Atlantic and may be related to the decrease of westerly winds over the Black Sea, and a greater influence of the Siberian anticyclone. The timing of the changeover from cooling to warming coincides with the regime shift in the Black Sea ecosystem.
Abstract Long-term changes in the state of the Bottom Shelf Water (BSW) on the Western shelf of t... more Abstract Long-term changes in the state of the Bottom Shelf Water (BSW) on the Western shelf of the Black Sea are assessed using analysis of intra-and inter-annual variations of temperature as well as their relations to physical parameters of both shelf and deep-sea waters. First, large data sets of in-situ observations over the 20th century 5 are compiled into high-resolution monthly climatology at different depth levels. Then, the temperature anomalies from the climatic mean are calculated and aggregated into spatial ...
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Papers by Dmitry Aleynik