Recently, we have seen falling oil prices combined with sticky costs at a high level in the petroleum industry. This cause cost cuts and project postponements, thus challenging reserve replacement of oil companies and security of supply for consumers. Costs are particularly high for drilling. High rig rates are obviously important. In new contracts for high-spec semi rigs on the Norwegian Conti...

A theory and experimental results for sound propagation through an anisotropic shallow water environment are presented to examine the frequency dependence of the scintillation index in the presence of internal waves. The theory of horizontal rays and vertical modes is used to establish the azimutal and frequency behavior of the sound intensity fluctuations, specifically for shallow water broadb...

[1] Physical and biogeochemical processes determining the distribution, transport, and fate of nutrients delivered by the Mississippi and Atchafalaya river basin (MARB) to the inner Louisiana continental shelf (LCS) were examined using a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model and observations of hydrography, nutrients, and organic carbon collected during 12 cruises. Two aspects of nutrient transp...

We analyzed hydrographic data from the northwestern Weddell Sea continental shelf of the three austral winters 1989, 1997, and 2006 and two summers following the last winter cruise. During summer a thermal front exists at ∼64 S separating cold southern waters from warm northern waters that have similar characteristics as the deep waters of the central basin of the Bransfield Strait. In winter, ...

Teeth of mastodons and mammoths have been recovered by fishermen from at least 40 sites on the continental shelf as deep as 120 meters. Also present are submerged shorelines, peat deposits, lagoonal shells, anz relict sands. Evidently elephants and other large mammals ranged this region during the glacial stage of low sea level of the last 25,000 years.

Continental margin systems are important contributors to global nutrient and carbon budgets. Effort is needed to quantify this contribution and how it will be modified under changing patterns of climate and land use. Coupled models will be used to provide projections of future states of continental margin systems. Thus, it is appropriate to consider the limitations that impede the development o...

A region where predictive capability is sought for tactical concerns is the flow field in the vicinity of the continental shelfbreak. Sound propagation from the continental slope to the continental shelf is a complex process that is highly dependent upon the oceanographic environment. A strong thermal shelfbreak front, and its associated current, are the key features that influence acoustic pro...

[1] We investigate the effect of self-attraction and loading (SAL) induced by the projected accumulation of sea water on shallow continental shelf areas. Using output from a climate model, we compute 21st century changes in regional steric sea surface height and find that steric changes are largest over the deep ocean and relatively small on the shallow continental shelves. The resulting redist...

[1] Significantly older C ages by 2500–7900 years are found for sedimentary total organic carbon (TOC) when compared to ages of codeposited surface-dwelling foraminifera in the southern Okinawa Trough. This age discrepancy increases with rising sea level since the Last Glacial Maximum. A progressive shift in TOC dC toward more negative values with rising sea level reflects an increasing fractio...

The timing and nature of biotic recovery from the devastating end-Permian mass extinction (252 Ma) are much debated. New studies in South China suggest that complex marine ecosystems did not become re-established until the middle-late Anisian (Middle Triassic), much later than had been proposed by some. The recently discovered exceptionally preserved Luoping biota from the Anisian Stage of the ...