Seven bacterial clones with alginate-utilizing activity were isolated from rotten kelp. By activity test, the Vibrio sp. QD-5 with the potential alginate-degrading capability was chosen to carry out the draft genome sequencing, and the result showed that the Vibrio sp. QD-5 containing an alginate lyase gene cluster. One of these genes, aly-IV, was cloned and characterized for the first time. After overexpression, Aly-IV, with a molecular mass of about 62 kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point (pI) of 5.12, was purified to a specific activity of 1 256.78 U/mg and showed highest activity at 35°C in the Tris-HCl buffer at pH of 8.9. Moreover, the enzyme activity was enhanced by the metal ions of Na⁺, K⁺ and Mg²⁺ under certain concentration. Aly-IV degraded favorably polyG blocks in an endo-type, yielding monomer and dimer as the main products. Due to its high substrate specificity, Aly-IV could be used as a potential tool for production of polyG oligosaccharides with low degree of polymerization (DP) and for determining the fine structure of alginate.

This study aimed to improve the thermostability of arylsulfatase from Pseudoalteromonas carrageenovora. A library of P. carrageenovora arylsulfatase mutants was constructed by introducing random mutagenesis using error-prone PCR. After screening, two mutants of H260L and D84A/H260L showed enhanced thermal stability than the wild-type predecessor (WT). Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that only amino acid residue at Position 260 plays an important role in the thermostability of P. carrageenovora arylsulfatase. Thermal inactivation analysis showed that the half-life (t_1/2) values at 55°C for H260L, H260I, H260Q, H260F and H260R were 40.6, 48.4, 30.9, 29.1 and 34.5 min, respectively, while that of WT was 9.1 min. Structure modeling demonstrated that the additional hydrogen bonds and/or optimization of surface charge-charge interactions could be responsible for the increased thermostability imparted by H260L, H260I, H260Q, H260F and H260R.

Phytoplankton physiologies are dynamic and have sensitive responses to the ambient environment. In this paper, we examine photosynthetic physiologies of phytoplankton communities with Phyto-PAM in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean during the spring inter-monsoon. Environmental parameters were measured to investigate the coupling between phytoplankton photosynthetic physiologies and their habitats. During the cruise, the water column was highly stratified. The mixed layer extended to about 75 m and was characterized by high temperature (>28°C) and low nutrient level. The F_v/F_m values and chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations were lower at the surface, as consequences of nutrient depletion and photo-inhibition. Subsurface Chl a maximum (SCM) occurred between 75 and 100 m, and had the highest F_v/F_m values. The formation of SCM was a balance between nutrient availability and light limitation. The SCM may contribute significantly to pelagic food web and primary production in the water column. Phytoplankton in different layers encountered different light, trophic and hydrographic dynamics and evolved distinct photosynthetic characteristics. Despite of co-limitation of nutrient limitation and photo-inhibition, phytoplankton in the surface layer showed their acclimation to high irradiance, had lower light utilization efficiencies (α: 0.061±0.032) and could exploit a wide range of light irradiance. Whereas, phytoplankton in the SCM layers presented the highest light utilization efficiencies (α: 0.146±0.48), which guaranteed higher photosynthetic capacities under low light level. These results provide insights into phytoplankton photo-adaption strategies in this less explored region.

An experimental study is carried out for waves passing an isolated reef terrain in a wave tank. A three-dimensional model of a representative and isolated reef terrain in the West Pacific is built. Random wave trains with various periods and wave heights are generated by a wave maker using the improved JONSWAP spectrum. It is observed that there are different kinds of generation processes and waveforms of freak waves. The freak wave factor ${H_{\rm{m}}}/{H_{\rm{s}}}$ (where ${H_{\rm{m}}}$ is the maximum wave height of wave series, and ${H_{\rm{s}}}$ is significant wave height) is analyzed in detail, in terms of the skewness, kurtosis and water depth, as well as the relationship between freak wave height ${H_{{\rm{fr}}}}$ and skewness. The freak wave factor ${H_{\rm{m}}}/{H_{\rm{s}}}$ is found to be in positive correlation with the kurtosis, while larger ${H_{{\rm{fr}}}}$ tends to be related with bigger skewness. The rapid variation of water depth, such as slope and seamount, contributes to the occurrence probability of freak waves.

In this study, the method of lines (MOLs) with higher order central difference approximation method coupled with the classical fourth order Runge-Kutta (RK(4,4)) method is used in solving shallow water equations (SWEs) in Cartesian coordinates to foresee water levels associated with a storm accurately along the coast of Bangladesh. In doing so, the partial derivatives of the SWEs with respect to the space variables were discretized with 5-point central difference, as a test case, to obtain a system of ordinary differential equations with time as an independent variable for every spatial grid point, which with initial conditions were solved by the RK(4,4) method. The complex land-sea interface and bottom topographic details were incorporated closely using nested schemes. The coastal and island boundaries were rectangularized through proper stair step representation, and the storing positions of the scalar and momentum variables were specified according to the rules of structured C-grid. A stable tidal regime was made over the model domain considering the effect of the major tidal constituent, M₂ along the southern open boundary of the outermost parent scheme. The Meghna River fresh water discharge was taken into account for the inner most child scheme. To take into account the dynamic interaction of tide and surge, the generated tidal regime was introduced as the initial state of the sea, and the surge was then made to come over it through computer simulation. Numerical experiments were performed with the cyclone April 1991 to simulate water levels due to tide, surge, and their interaction at different stations along the coast of Bangladesh. Our computed results were found to compare reasonable well with the limited observed data obtained from Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and were found to be better in comparison with the results obtained through the regular finite difference method and the 3-point central difference MOLs coupled with the RK(4,4) method with regard to the root mean square error values.

The hydrodynamic efficiencies of caisson-type vertical porous seawalls used for protecting coastal areas were calculated in this study. Physical models were developed to compare the wave reflection from vertical plane, semi-porous, and porous seawalls caused by both regular and random waves. Tests were carried out for a wide range of wave heights, wave periods, and different water depths (d=0.165, 0.270 and 0.375 m). The performance regarding the reflected waves from porous and semi-porous seawalls showed improvement when compared with those from the plane seawall. The reflection coefficients of the porous and semi-porous seawalls were calculated as 0.6 and 0.75, respectively, while the coefficient for the fully reflecting plane vertical wall was significantly higher (0.9). It was also observed that the reflection coefficient decreases with increase in wave steepness and relative water depth. In addition, the reduction in the reflection coefficient of porous and semi-porous seawalls, as compared to that of a plane seawall, was observed for both regular and random waves. New equations were also proposed to calculate the reflection coefficient of different types of seawalls with the aid of laboratory experiments. By verifying the developed equations using some other experimental data, it was validated that the equations could be used for practical situations. The results of the present study can be applied to optimize the design of vertical seawalls and for coastal protecting schemes.

The parameter inversion of internal solitary waves (ISWs) based on optical remote sensing images is a key work. A new approach is proposed and demonstrated for simulating the optical remote sensing images of ISWs with a smooth surface in the laboratory. An optical remote sensing simulation system used to detect ISWs is constructed by a two-dimensional ISW flume, a LED (light emitting diode) light source and two CCD (charge coupled device) cameras. The optical remote sensing images of the horizontal surface and ISWs propagation images of a vertical side are detected simultaneously, which aims to explore the response of optical remote sensing corresponding to ISWs with the smooth surface. The results show that during the propagation of ISWs, dark pattern images are obtained by CCD 1 camera. The characteristics of the dark patterns vary along with the incident angle of the light source. The characteristic parameters of the optical remote sensing images correspond to the wave factors of vertical profiles. The experiment also shows a positive correlation between the dark pattern width and the half wave width under different amplitudes of ISWs. The system has the advantages of clear phenomenon and high repeatability, which provides the scientific basis for quantitative investigation on imaging mechanism of ISW by optical remote sensing.

Nonlinear internal waves (NIWs) are ubiquitous around the Kara Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean that is north of Siberia. Three hot spot sources for internal waves, one of which is the Kara Strait, have been identified based on Envisat ASAR. The generation and evolution of the NIWs through the interactions of the tide and topography across the strait is studied based on a nonhydrostatic numerical model. The model captures most wave characteristics shown by satellite data. A typical inter-packets distance on the Barents Sea side is about 25 km in summer, with a phase speed about 0.65 m/s. A northward background current may intensify the accumulation of energy during generation, but it has little influence on the other properties of the generated waves. The single internal solitary wave (ISW) structure is a special phenomenon that follows major wave trains, with a distance about 5–8 km. This wave is generated with the leading wave packets during the same tidal period. When a steady current toward the Kara Sea is included, the basic generation process is similar, but the waves toward the Kara Sea weaken and display an internal bore-like structure with smaller amplitude than in the control experiment. In winter, due to the growth of sea ice, stratification across the Kara Strait is mainly determined by the salinity, with an almost uniform temperature close to freezing. A pycnocline deepens near the middle of the water depth (Barents Sea side), and the NIWs process is not as important as the NIWs process in summer. There is no fission process during the simulation.

The present work is an analytical study of the influence of geometrical parameters, such as length, thickness and immersion of the plate, on the reflection coefficient of a regular wave for an immersed horizontal plate in the presence of a uniform current with the same direction as the propagation of the incident regular wave. This study was performed using the linearized potential theory with the evanescent modes while searching for complex roots to the dispersion equation that are neither pure real nor pure imaginary. The results show that the effects of the immersion and the relative length on the reflection coefficient of the plate are accentuated by the presence of the current, whereas the plate thickness practically does not have an effect if it is relatively small.

Theoretical-based ocean wave retrieval algorithms are applied by inverting a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) intensity spectrum into a wave spectrum, that has been developed based on a SAR wave mapping mechanism. In our previous studies, it was shown that the wave retrieval algorithm, named the parameterized first-guess spectrum method (PFSM), works for C-band and X-band SAR at low to moderate sea states. In this work, we investigate the performance of the PFSM algorithm when it is applied for dual-polarization c-band sentinel-1 (S-1) SAR acquired in extra wide-swath (EW) and interferometric wide-swath (IW) mode under cyclonic conditions. Strong winds are retrieved from six vertical-horizontal (VH) polarization S-1 SAR images using the c-band cross-polarization coupled-parameters ocean (C-3PO) model and then wave parameters are obtained from the image at the vertical-vertical (VV) polarization channel. significant wave height (SWH) and mean wave period (MWP) are compared with simulations from the WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) model. The validation shows a 0.69 m root mean square error (RMSE) of SWH with a –0.01 m bias and a 0.62 s RMSE of MWP with a –0.17 s bias. Although the PFSM algorithm relies on a good quality SAR spectrum, this study confirms the applicability for wave retrieval from an S-1 SAR image. Moreover, it is found that the retrieved results have less accuracy on the right sector of cyclone eyes where swell directly affects strong wind-sea, while the PFSM algorithm works well on the left and rear sectors of cyclone eyes where the interaction of wind-sea and swell is relatively poor.