Hydrodynamic Modeling of Port Foster, Deception Island (Antarctica)

Vidal, Juan; Berrocoso, Manuel; Jigena, Bismarck

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-0231-2_16

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Penguins of this colony frequently fed in the inland waters of Port Forster. This inner bay is more polluted than the outdoor areas due to its poor rate of water exchange (1% volume exchange over each tidal cycle, [ 57 ]) in combination with a high ship navigation during austral summer mainly linked to tourism activities, with a six-fold increase by in the last 2 decades [ 17 , 35 , 58 ]. Comparatively, however, soils from Macaroni Point, the outer rookery of Deception Island being slightly less affected by ship transit, show lower pollutant concentrations compared to the other rookeries from this island.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil features in rookeries of Antarctic penguins reveal sea to land biotransport of chemical pollutants

et al. 2017

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The main soil physical-chemical features, the concentrations of a set of pollutants, and the soil microbiota linked to penguin rookeries have been studied in 10 selected sites located at the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula (Maritime Antarctica). This study aims to test the hypothesis that biotransport by penguins increases the concentration of pollutants, especially heavy metals, in Antarctic soils, and alters its microbiota. Our results show that penguins do transport certain chemical elements and thus cause accumulation in land areas through their excreta. Overall, a higher penguin activity is associated with higher organic carbon content and with higher concentrations of certain pollutants in soils, especially cadmium, cooper and arsenic, as well as zinc and selenium. In contrast, in soils that are less affected by penguins’ faecal depositions, the concentrations of elements of geochemical origin, such as iron and cobalt, increase their relative weighted contribution, whereas the above-mentioned pollutants maintain very low levels. The concentrations of pollutants are far higher in those penguin rookeries that are more exposed to ship traffic. In addition, the soil microbiota of penguin-influenced soils was studied by molecular methods. Heavily penguin-affected soils have a massive presence of enteric bacteria, whose relative dominance can be taken as an indicator of penguin influence. Faecal bacteria are present in addition to typical soil taxa, the former becoming dominant in the microbiota of penguin-affected soils, whereas typical soil bacteria, such as Actinomycetales, co-dominate the microbiota of less affected soils. Results indicate that the continuous supply by penguin faeces, and not the selectivity by increased pollutant concentrations is the main factor shaping the soil bacterial community. Overall, massive penguin influence results in increased concentrations of certain pollutants and in a strong change in taxa dominance in the soil bacterial community.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil features in rookeries of Antarctic penguins reveal sea to land biotransport of chemical pollutants

et al. 2017

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“…The model results for surface currents agree with the previous studies of Vidal et al . (2011) and Lenn et al . (2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The value assumed for bottom drag coefficient was 3×10 -3 and for horizontal viscosity was 3 m s -2 (values were chosen based on a previous study by Vidal et al . 2011). The vertical viscosity was obtained from the General Ocean Turbulence Model, where it was calculated using the dynamic equation for the k-epsilon model.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydrodynamic modelling of Port Foster, Deception Island, Antarctica

et al. 2017

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Over the last decade, the Antarctic continent has been the object of intensive scientific programmes. However, the emphasis of these studies rarely focuses on the Antarctic as a source of potential elements such as mercury. The release of mercury to the environment is known to occur at Deception Island, associated with volcanic activity. In this study, a 3D hydrodynamic model was used to assess the role of water circulation on the dispersion of released mercury. Sea level variation and tidal circulation data were obtained. Residence time was calculated using two different approaches. Internal tide generation in summer and winter were recognized and the barotropic tidal components obtained. Lagrangian tracers were used to depict particle circulation (simulating particulate mercury) in a three month summer simulation for barotropic and baroclinic conditions. The results show that particles accumulate in the northern and western parts of the bay. It is acknowledged that the results of the 3D model are associated with a non-negligible uncertainty, which can only be reduced with an ongoing commitment to monitoring. The findings of this study indicate that mercury accumulation is occurring in Port Foster (Deception Island), which is a potential threat to the local ecosystem.

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“…In winter, surface cooling mixes the water column until fully homogeneous, with temperatures near freezing (i.e.~-1.85°C) in late winter. Energy is concentrated at diurnal, semi-diurnal, inertial and fortnightly frequencies (López et al 1994, Lenn et al 2003, Vidal et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrography and dynamics of Port Foster, Deception Island, Antarctica

Flexas¹,

Arias

Ojeda³

2016

Antarctic Science

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Appendix IPrior to deployment, we performed an in-situ inter-calibration of all the temperature probes. We opted for in-situ instead of laboratory-controlled experiments to estimate the accuracy and precision of the probes in the same environment where we wanted to perform our measurements. The setting up of the inter-calibration experiment was as follows. Once in the Antarctic Base, and prior to start our experiment, we placed the 12 probes inside a net. We deployed them at a depth of 20 m to avoid solar radiation effects. We set them to measure at 1-second (1 Hz) intervals during 3.5 hours. The probes acquired thermal balance in ~0.5h, leading to ~10000 measurements for each probe after thermal balance. We calculate the mean temperature curve resulting from the arithmetical mean of the twelve time series. For each time step we calculate the remainder for each probe with respect to the mean temperature curve at that given time step. Then, we calculate the mean and standard deviation of the remainders, their 99.7% probability interval, and their confidence region (or interval) at 99.7% (Table A1). The probability interval indicates that, for each instrument, at least, 997 times, the remainders of 1000 observations are upper-bounded by the maximum (in absolute value) of the two end points of the corresponding interval. Therefore, the probability interval gives us the upper bound of the error, i.e., a calibration of each instrument. We observe that the remainder of each instrument has an upper bound of order 10 -2 ºC; in case of probe F10, this upper bound is 1.05 10 -1°C . This means that the accuracy of the probes is of order 10 -2°C (except for probe 10, which has an accuracy of order 10 -1°C ). The confidence region (or interval) gives an estimation of the population mean of the remainders. These regions, or intervals, show a radius of order

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Hydrodynamic Modeling of Port Foster, Deception Island (Antarctica)

Cited by 12 publications

References 10 publications

Soil features in rookeries of Antarctic penguins reveal sea to land biotransport of chemical pollutants

Soil features in rookeries of Antarctic penguins reveal sea to land biotransport of chemical pollutants

Hydrodynamic modelling of Port Foster, Deception Island, Antarctica

Hydrography and dynamics of Port Foster, Deception Island, Antarctica

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