OCEANOGRAPHY Edited by Marco Marcelli Oceanography Edited by Marco Marcelli Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. 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Publishing Process Manager Molly Kaliman Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published March, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechopen.com Oceanography, Edited by Marco Marcelli p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0301-1 Contents Preface IX Part 1 Methods in Oceanography 1 Chapter 1 Open-Sea Observatories: A New Technology to Bring the Pulse of the Sea to Human Awareness 3 I. Puillat, N. Lanteri, J.F. Drogou, J. Blandin, L. Géli, J. Sarrazin, P.M. Sarradin, Y. Auffret, J.F. Rolin and P. Léon Chapter 2 New Technological Developments for Oceanographic Observations 41 Marco Marcelli, Andrea Pannocchi, Viviana Piermattei and Umberto Mainardi Chapter 3 Application of the Long-Term Delayed Luminescence for Study of Natural Water Environments 79 Zdzisław Prokowski and Lilla Mielnik Chapter 4 An Introduction to FY-3/MERSI, Ocean Colour Algorithm, Product and Application 95 Sun Ling, Hu Xiuqing, Guo Maohua, Zhu Jianhua, Li Sanmei and Ding Lei Chapter 5 Seismic Oceanography: A New Geophysical Tool to Investigate the Thermohaline Structure of the Oceans 113 Haibin Song, Luis M. Pinheiro, Barry Ruddick and Xinghui Huang Part 2 Physical Oceanography 129 Chapter 6 Variability of Internal Solitary Waves in the Northwest South China Sea 131 Zhenhua Xu and Baoshu Yin VI Contents Chapter 7 Bodies of Water Along the Coast of a Tideless Sea in Areas with Young Pleistocene Accumulation from Scandinavian Glaciers (Baltic Sea) 147 Roman Cieśliński and Jan Drwal Chapter 8 Prediction of Wave Height Based on the Monitoring of Surface Wind 169 Tsukasa Hokimoto Part 3 Chemical Oceanography 189 Chapter 9 Oxygenated Hydrocarbons in Coastal Waters 191 Warren J. de Bruyn, Catherine D. Clark and Lauren Pagel Chapter 10 Organic-Aggregate-Attached Bacteria in Aquatic Ecosystems: Abundance, Diversity, Community Dynamics and Function 205 Xiangming Tang, Jianying Chao, Dan Chen, Keqiang Shao and Guang Gao Part 4 Applied Ecology 233 Chapter 11 Connectivity as a Management Tool for Coastal Ecosystems in Changing Oceans 235 Nicolas Le Corre, Frédéric Guichard and Ladd E. Johnson Chapter 12 Geochemical Changes in Aquatic Environment Caused by Deep Dredging – A Case Study: The Puck Bay (Baltic Sea) 259 Bożena Graca, Katarzyna Łukawska-Matuszewska, Dorota Burska, Leszek Łęczyński and Jerzy Bolałek Chapter 13 Fisheries and Biodiversity in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico 281 Gerardo Rodríguez-Quiroz, Eugenio Alberto Aragón-Noriega, Miguel A. Cisneros-Mata and Alfredo Ortega Rubio Chapter 14 On the Chemical Profile of Marine Organisms from Coastal Subtropical Environments: Gross Composition and Nitrogen-to-Protein Conversion Factors 297 Graciela S. Diniz, Elisabete Barbarino and Sergio O. Lourenço Chapter 15 Ecology and Zoogeography of Parasites 321 Ewa Sobecka Preface Oceanography is a very complex science. Its field study, the knowledge of the oceans and the seas and their physical and biological characteristics, is fundamental to comprehend many oceanographic and ecological aspects that directly influence the human life and the planet health. From micro-scale, like coastal processes, to macro-scale, like Global Change, the oceans, the seas and the marine life, play the main role to maintain the earth equilibrium, both from a physical and a chemical point of view (e.g. carbon cycle and water masses dynamic). Traditionally, the description of many oceanographic phenomena, is based on the study of physical, chemical and biological parameters by means of different methodologies utilized for the data collection (e.g. direct in situ measurements, stand alone observatories and remote sensing). Although the continuous improvements of observation platforms and measurement devices give us the possibility to have an even more detailed description of oceanographic characteristics, for a complete comprehension of processes, it is crucial also to take into account the interaction between human activities and the sea. This is particularly true for shallow waters of the coastal zones which are directly exposed to many different impacts. Fishing, coastal energy plants development and coastal urbanization, if unmanaged, could affect respectively, biological stocks, overall water quality and coastal circulation, leading to heavy changes in marine ecosystems. This book keeps together some examples coming from different fields of studies. Firsts chapters of the book underline the international technological efforts in order to realize more and more efficient devices and platforms for the study of oceanographic processes. Particular relevance is also given to co-operative initiatives, such as VOS and SOOP JCOMM programs, set up through international organizations agreements, with the aim to provide as much data as possible saving time and costs. Furthermore, observatory networks such as ARGO floats, drifters, deep sea observatories and X Preface moorings represent the ultimate strategy for real time or near real time data collections. National and international web portals (e.g. the Pan-European infrastructure for ocean and marine data management SeaDataNet www.seadatanet.org) make world wide oceanographic in situ measurements available to the whole scientific community. Human activities (Ports, coastal plants, resorting structures etc.) responsible for shoreline modifications, can modify the local coastal dynamic. Changes in sediment transport can lead to a habitat alteration (e.g. coastal erosion) dangerous for marine ecosystem but, at the same time changes in water currents could produce undesirable and dangerous effects exactly on the same coastal structures responsible for such changes. The section two collects some studies showing the importance of oceanographic physical processes understandings and how numerical models can represent a very useful tool for the comprehension of oceanographic dynamic and energy transport. The studies of section three regard some chemical processes that happens in sea waters due to the interaction between energy (turbulence and light) and organic/biological compounds. These processes, such as for example the sun light absorption by CDOM, can lead to the production into sea waters of extremely reactive species that play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. All these thematics have to be taken into account each time human activities “facing” the Sea. Fishing and aquaculture, deep sea drilling, coastal and off shore installation sitings, ship routing, protected areas designs, monitoring and sampling surveys and so much more, nowadays represent fundamental resources of our economy. For this reason oceanography observations and studies require a multidisciplinary approach in order to develop some management tools able to ensure a sustainable development in which human and environment needs meet each other. In section four there are some examples showing how applied ecology studies are trying to face this issue. Prof. Marco Marcelli Ecology and Sustainable Economic Development (DECOS), Laboratory of Experimental Oceanography and Marine, Civitavecchia, Molo Vespucci, Porto di Civitavecchia, Italy . OCEANOGRAPHY Edited by Marco Marcelli Oceanography Edited by Marco Marcelli Published by InTech. from orders@intechopen.com Oceanography, Edited by Marco Marcelli p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0301-1 Contents Preface IX Part 1 Methods in Oceanography 1 Chapter 1 Open-Sea. Seismic Oceanography: A New Geophysical Tool to Investigate the Thermohaline Structure of the Oceans 113 Haibin Song, Luis M. Pinheiro, Barry Ruddick and Xinghui Huang Part 2 Physical Oceanography