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Understanding the North Sea system
Book Reviews/Marine Geology 119 (1994) 173-178
mental agencies, I find it fairly questionable, however; may be even misleading. At any rate, the book includes useful data and discussions which should be used with considerable care, however. NILS-AXEL MORNER (Stockholm, Sweden) SSDI 0025-3227 (94)00024-F
Understanding the North Sea System. H. Charnock, K.R. Dyer, J.M. Huthnance, P.S. Liss, J.H. Simpson and P.B. Tett. Chapman and Hall, London, UK, 1994, Hardcover, xiv+222pp., Price: £40.00, ISBN 0-412-55480-1. This book is based on the results obtained during the North Sea Project that was promoted by the British National Environment Research Council and carried out in 1987-1992. Its goal was to develop environmental water quality models which would serve to determine the fate of pollutants. It involved both repeated surveys and process studies, including the basic physical structure and water circulation of the North Sea as well as the distribution and seasonal variations of salinity and temperature, nutrients, trace metals, dissolved oxygen, phytoplankton biomass, primary production, suspended particulate matter and bottom sediment, the distribution in the atmosphere of trace gases, trace organics and nitrogen species, and the processes at the sediment-water interface. This research covered the southern half of the North Sea south of 55°30'N and not the entire North Sea, as the title seems to suggest. A chapter on the water circulation and tidal fronts on Georges Bank (off Cape Cod at 42°N along the North American East Coast) and essentially done in 1988-1989, was added for comparison. This indicates that this book was meant to be more than a report of a large research programme and its wider scope has warranted its publication as a book. It covers the part of the North Sea that is most influenced by man, through the activities at sea as well as through the supply of pollutants from rivers (Rhine, Thames, Elbe, Weser and Schelde), from the Channel through the Straits of Dover, and by deposition from the atmosphere. It contains the most polluted parts of the North Sea
177
which acts as a possible source of pollutants for nearby sea areas such as the Skagerrak. While most chapters are interdisciplinary to various degrees, a full interdisciplinary approach is followed in the chapter on modeling water quality. This involves modeling both the physical processes and the sources, sinks and interactive processes of the relevant elements and compounds. Threedimensional models are developed with a framework linking submodels of different constituents as well as simpler models for wider use. The results form an interesting volume for all those interested in the North Sea in general, in the behaviour and fate of the separate constituents that play a role in the North Sea water quality, and in the processes that are involved. The book is well-produced and very accessible, apart from some printing errors (e.g. 56°N instead of 57°N in fig. 1 on p. 7) and confusing references to plates at the head of some chapters which presumably refer to colour plates that are not indicated as such but carry only figure numbers. To those concerned with the sedimentology of the southern North Sea, the chapters on suspended matter modeling (by St~ndermann), the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of sand waves and sand banks (by Huntley et al.) and resuspension of bed material (by Jago et al.) are of particular interest. Sandermann gives a summary of earlier results on the suspended matter distribution obtained from remote sensing and modeling, covering the entire North Sea. Also the chapter by Jago et al. is primarily concerned with material in suspension. In the deeper parts of the southern North Sea (Oyster Ground) material, stirred up by tidal currents an@waves, is limited to a thin veneer of organic-rich fluff produced during plankton blooms. Benthic infauna gives changes in the bed properties but no change in the degree of resuspension. In the shallower parts, tidal currents and storm waves have a strong resuspension effect - - as can be expected --with the resuspended material having a lower POC content than the material already in suspension. Resuspension can be self-limiting when a stable stratification is formed in the benthic boundary layer. The paper of Huntley et al. (of little relation with the fate of pollutants but relevant for understanding the
178
Book Reviews~Marine Geology 119 (1994) 173-178
North Sea system) shows that ripple migration over the sand banks gives a useful estimate for sand transport by currents and waves where suspended matter is negligible. The drag coefficient increases with wind conditions, but on sand waves was reduced because of sand resuspension from the bed. For reversing tidal flow over asymmetric sand waves the drag coefficient was larger for flow towards the steeper side. Almost simultaneously with this book another book was published on the North Sea, covering mostly the same subjects (Circulation and Contaminant Fluxes in the North Sea, by J. Sandermann (Editor), Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994, 654pp.). It is based on the results of the German ZISCH Project, which was carried out in 1984-1989 and supported by the German Ministry of Research and Technology. The German programme covered the entire North Sea with a special section on the German Bight, but excluding sand transport and sediment resuspension. It is generally less process-oriented but there is about equal emphasis on modeling and on
the interdisciplinary character of both field work and modeling. Both programmes were national programmes with no participation from abroad. This was compensated, in part, by liberally citing the work of others in the North Sea, by having foreign participation in the meetings where the results were presented and discussed, and by foreigners participating in the writing of the books. The British, who are still often blamed for their "island mentality" went somewhat further in this than the Germans. Both books indicate in a review a future MAST North Sea Project involving also Belgian and Dutch scientists besides British and German, which would give the research in the North Sea a more European character. EC funding, however, is determined also by other motives than those involving North Sea research (and up to now excluded Norwegian participation) so that national programmes will remain necessary. The results presented in both books fully justify a future continuation of such programmes. D. EISMA ( Den Burg, Texel )
SSDI 0 0 2 5 - 3 2 2 7 ( 9 4 ) 0 0 0 2 7 - I
mental agencies, I find it fairly questionable, however; may be even misleading. At any rate, the book includes useful data and discussions which should be used with considerable care, however. NILS-AXEL MORNER (Stockholm, Sweden) SSDI 0025-3227 (94)00024-F
Understanding the North Sea System. H. Charnock, K.R. Dyer, J.M. Huthnance, P.S. Liss, J.H. Simpson and P.B. Tett. Chapman and Hall, London, UK, 1994, Hardcover, xiv+222pp., Price: £40.00, ISBN 0-412-55480-1. This book is based on the results obtained during the North Sea Project that was promoted by the British National Environment Research Council and carried out in 1987-1992. Its goal was to develop environmental water quality models which would serve to determine the fate of pollutants. It involved both repeated surveys and process studies, including the basic physical structure and water circulation of the North Sea as well as the distribution and seasonal variations of salinity and temperature, nutrients, trace metals, dissolved oxygen, phytoplankton biomass, primary production, suspended particulate matter and bottom sediment, the distribution in the atmosphere of trace gases, trace organics and nitrogen species, and the processes at the sediment-water interface. This research covered the southern half of the North Sea south of 55°30'N and not the entire North Sea, as the title seems to suggest. A chapter on the water circulation and tidal fronts on Georges Bank (off Cape Cod at 42°N along the North American East Coast) and essentially done in 1988-1989, was added for comparison. This indicates that this book was meant to be more than a report of a large research programme and its wider scope has warranted its publication as a book. It covers the part of the North Sea that is most influenced by man, through the activities at sea as well as through the supply of pollutants from rivers (Rhine, Thames, Elbe, Weser and Schelde), from the Channel through the Straits of Dover, and by deposition from the atmosphere. It contains the most polluted parts of the North Sea
177
which acts as a possible source of pollutants for nearby sea areas such as the Skagerrak. While most chapters are interdisciplinary to various degrees, a full interdisciplinary approach is followed in the chapter on modeling water quality. This involves modeling both the physical processes and the sources, sinks and interactive processes of the relevant elements and compounds. Threedimensional models are developed with a framework linking submodels of different constituents as well as simpler models for wider use. The results form an interesting volume for all those interested in the North Sea in general, in the behaviour and fate of the separate constituents that play a role in the North Sea water quality, and in the processes that are involved. The book is well-produced and very accessible, apart from some printing errors (e.g. 56°N instead of 57°N in fig. 1 on p. 7) and confusing references to plates at the head of some chapters which presumably refer to colour plates that are not indicated as such but carry only figure numbers. To those concerned with the sedimentology of the southern North Sea, the chapters on suspended matter modeling (by St~ndermann), the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of sand waves and sand banks (by Huntley et al.) and resuspension of bed material (by Jago et al.) are of particular interest. Sandermann gives a summary of earlier results on the suspended matter distribution obtained from remote sensing and modeling, covering the entire North Sea. Also the chapter by Jago et al. is primarily concerned with material in suspension. In the deeper parts of the southern North Sea (Oyster Ground) material, stirred up by tidal currents an@waves, is limited to a thin veneer of organic-rich fluff produced during plankton blooms. Benthic infauna gives changes in the bed properties but no change in the degree of resuspension. In the shallower parts, tidal currents and storm waves have a strong resuspension effect - - as can be expected --with the resuspended material having a lower POC content than the material already in suspension. Resuspension can be self-limiting when a stable stratification is formed in the benthic boundary layer. The paper of Huntley et al. (of little relation with the fate of pollutants but relevant for understanding the
178
Book Reviews~Marine Geology 119 (1994) 173-178
North Sea system) shows that ripple migration over the sand banks gives a useful estimate for sand transport by currents and waves where suspended matter is negligible. The drag coefficient increases with wind conditions, but on sand waves was reduced because of sand resuspension from the bed. For reversing tidal flow over asymmetric sand waves the drag coefficient was larger for flow towards the steeper side. Almost simultaneously with this book another book was published on the North Sea, covering mostly the same subjects (Circulation and Contaminant Fluxes in the North Sea, by J. Sandermann (Editor), Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994, 654pp.). It is based on the results of the German ZISCH Project, which was carried out in 1984-1989 and supported by the German Ministry of Research and Technology. The German programme covered the entire North Sea with a special section on the German Bight, but excluding sand transport and sediment resuspension. It is generally less process-oriented but there is about equal emphasis on modeling and on
the interdisciplinary character of both field work and modeling. Both programmes were national programmes with no participation from abroad. This was compensated, in part, by liberally citing the work of others in the North Sea, by having foreign participation in the meetings where the results were presented and discussed, and by foreigners participating in the writing of the books. The British, who are still often blamed for their "island mentality" went somewhat further in this than the Germans. Both books indicate in a review a future MAST North Sea Project involving also Belgian and Dutch scientists besides British and German, which would give the research in the North Sea a more European character. EC funding, however, is determined also by other motives than those involving North Sea research (and up to now excluded Norwegian participation) so that national programmes will remain necessary. The results presented in both books fully justify a future continuation of such programmes. D. EISMA ( Den Burg, Texel )
SSDI 0 0 2 5 - 3 2 2 7 ( 9 4 ) 0 0 0 2 7 - I