In order to better understand the flow dynamics in the Taiwan Strait (TS) and the adjacent seas, a series of field experiments were conducted to monitor the currents by deploying 30 SVP drifters, using shipboard ADCP measurements and analyzing historical drifter data in the TS. Examinations of historical drifter data reveal that the surface waters in the TS originate from the shelf of the South China Sea (SCS) in the summer. In wintertime, the mean surface current flows toward the south in the northern TS with a mean speed of approximately 0.3~0.4 m/s. The surface current in the eastern TS mainly flows northward, and it flows southward in the western TS in the fall. The surface waters of the Kuroshio do not intrude into the SCS in summer. Instead, a northeastward current of 0.5~0.7 m/s west of Luzon Island impinges on the Kuroshio across the Luzon Strait. Drifter tracks in the TS are classified according to the wind condition. The first type of drifter tracks is that the drifters move northward in the TS with an intensified flows in the Peng-hu Channel when the southwest monsoon prevails. The second and third types of drifter tracks are under the influence of strong northeast monsoon. The drifters are carried onto the shelf of East China Sea from the Kuroshio or the East China Sea, and then move southward along the TS. Some drifters are grounded at the west coast of Taiwan, and the others drift through the TS. The third type of drifter tracks show that drifters start from the Luzon Strait and move northward into the TS. However, they can only reach the neighboring area of Peng-Hu archipelagoes, then they change the direction of drifting to the south or southwest and toward the SCS. The fourth type is that drifters are carried northward from the SCS into the northern TS under the weak northeast wind, and then veer to the south when the northeast monsoon intensifies. The fifth type of drifter tracks demonstrates the flow pattern of the northern TS when the northeast monsoon diminishes. This flow pattern belongs to the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) in wintertime. The surface speed of TWC is about 0.2~0.4 m/s northward. The second, fourth and fifth flow patterns in the TS have not been quite discovered in previous studies. In-situ marine observations right beneath typhoons are very scanty and valuable. In this study we have found several events with some drifters happened to get caught by typhoons. The maximum speed of drifters near the typhoon center is found to be about 2 m/s. The SST, which is observed by the drifter, reduces 2~4¢J after the typhoon passes. Our results indicate that for the case of the Typhoon Haitang the Matsu weather station measured a sudden increase of wind speed of about 3 m/s every hour, and the corresponding drifter speed increases 0.52 m/s. There were two events in summer of 2006 when the Typhoon Billis and Saomai passed the northern region of Taiwan, and some drifters located at the Kuroshio to the north of typhoon were carried rapidly onto the ECS shelf with a maximum speed of about 1.1 m/s. This result indicates that the Kuroshio waters can penetrate into the ECS shelf by means of the passage of typhoon in this region during summertime. Three cruises with the shipboard ADCP were performed by three research vessels concurrently along two transects during 2002-2004. Various phase averaging methods were employed to eliminate tidal effects. The calculated volume transport of the TS for the period of August 2002, September 2003 and March 2004 is 3.4, 3.6 and 2.8 Sv, respectively. These transport values are compatible with the output of EASCNFS model. The estimated uncertainty of the residual flow through the Peng-hu Channel derived from the 5-phase-averaging, 4-phase-averaging, 3-phase-averaging and 2-phase-averaging methods is 0.3, 0.3, 1.3 and 4.6 cm/s, respectively. Procedures for choosing a best phase average method to remove tidal currents in any particular region are also suggested.

The marine currents around the Pacific Northwest are researched by lots of scholars. The methods of the on-site observation, such as the shipping measurements and data buoys, were applied by researcher in the past. However, it is difficult to get comprehensive information on space by early methods, and it is often limited by the manpower and funding. With computer technology advances, numerical models get improving the accuracy and resolution. Therefore, development of the numerical models also becomes one of the methods to understand the ocean. There are many current models and large databases which are developed. However, few studies combine the two. Therefore, this study adopts the simulated results of POLCOMS (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal-Ocean Modeling System) in 2002 near the northwest Pacific (9.9¢X N ~ 41.9¢X N, 104.9¢X E ~ 139.9¢X E) to analyze some situations. The result can be compared with the measured data, and test the model. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the results of the model, the simulated tracks can be calculated by the result of the model and the initial location of the measured data. However, the resolutions of time and space are only one day and 7.5 degree. Hence, the methods of linear interpolation and bilinear interpolation are applied to interpolate the model result in the time dimension and space dimension. By using the latitude and longitude of the initial points, the azimuth, and the geographic distance, the simulated tracks can be calculated. Therefore, the results of POLCOMS can be confirmed by global drifter data from NOAA/AOML. According to the results of evaluating, the simulation trends of the seasons are similar to measured data. It can prove that this model has a certain degree of accuracy. However, simulation and the measured data can not be completely similar when abnormal weather phenomenon occurs. It is because the model was driven by the average wind field. There are suggestions to make the model complete by adding the weather information during the periods of the typhoons. Besides, the model can simulate the temperature and salinity of the ocean. Increasing the comparison of them will make the model integrated in the future, and obtain more correct information of the flow fields around the Pacific Northwest.

The surface circulation of the northern South China Sea (NSCS) for the period of 1986-2006 is studied using the data of more than 505 satellite-tracked drifters from NOAA/AOML database and the data from ten drifters which were released by our lab in the Penghu channel and in the Luzon Strait in 2006. In this study, the spatial structure and the temporal variability of the surface currents, at mesoscale to seasonal cycle, are described in terms of Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics from the drifter velocities that have been processed. Maps of mean currents, velocity variance ellipses and mean kinetic energies were produced in domain of 0.5¢X¡Ñ0.5¢X. The mean flow map confirms that during the winter monsoon, there is a global cyclonic circulation in the NSCS and the southwestward current which passes Dongsha Island and is called the ¡§Dongsha Current¡¨. Its continuation is the southward coastal jet off Vietnam which is called the ¡§Vietnam Current¡¨. Maximum velocities in the Vietnam Current can exceed 100 cm/s. During the summer monsoon, the Dongsha Current became very weak and the drifters looped near Dongsha Island. The drifter data shows that part of Kuroshio water intrudes into South China Sea through Luzon Strait, Dongsha Current and Vietnam Current were coherent flows. Values of 5.12¡Ñ107 cm2/s, 2.56 days and 64.43 km were obtained for the diffusivity, Lagrangian time scale and spatial scale in the meridional direction in the NSCS, respectively. In the zonal direction, the statistics are half of the above values which show that the characteristic time and space scale are anisotropic. The mean velocity in the Dongsha Current is 0.33 m/s. The domain of Dongsha Current is subdivided into ten boxes of size 2¢X¡Ñ 2¢X in order to analyze the spatial structure of Lagrangian statistics. The result shows that the eddy kinetic energy is considerably higher than the mean kinetic energy in the region 113-121¢XE, indicating that the mesoscale motions are particularly frequent. The eddy kinetic energy gradually decreases toward the west and has a maximum value near the Luzon Strait. The drifters that flow southward along the east coast of Vietnam shows that the width of the Vietnam Current varies between 80 and 100 km and has a mean core speed of 60-150 cm/s. In winter, Maximum southward velocities could reach 130 cm/s at 38 km off the coast. In spring, a weaker maximum speed (around 100 cm/s) exists at about 18 km off the Vietnam coast. There were not enough drifter data in summer and fall.

The physical oceanography in the northwest Indian Ocean is largely controlled by the seasonal monsoon. The seasonal variability in circulation is complex. Many studies have investigated processes in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf and Arabian Sea, but little is understood about the Sea of Oman. This thesis incorporated observations from Argo floats, surface drifters and satellite imagery to study the deep and surface circulation in the northwest Indian Ocean. An assessment of four independent moorings located in the Sea of Oman and Arabian Sea, as well as a model skill comparison of the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) model, contributed to understanding the dynamics in this region. Spatial patterns of surface current velocity produced from surface drifter data from 1995-2009 agreed with previously known surface currents. The Somali Current, East Arabian Current, Equatorial Current, Northeast/Southwest Monsoon Current, Great Whirl and Ras al Hadd Jet were all identified. During the Southwest Monsoon, flow direction was to the east and southeast in the Arabian Sea. The Somali Current flowed northeast along the Somali Coast extending to the East Arabian Current along the Oman coast. During the Northeast Monsoon, evaporation increased over the Arabian Sea, which resulted in a salinity gradient. This imbalance caused low-salinity surface water from the northeast Indian Ocean to flow into the northwest Indian Ocean as the Northeast Monsoon Current. Current direction reversed with the change of wind direction from the Southwest Monsoon to the Northwest Monsoon. Many characteristics seen at the surface were also identified in the subsurface as deep as 1500m. The comparison of moored observations to the Argo observations co-located in space and time showed reasonable agreement with the largest salinity difference of 0.23 and largest temperature difference of 0.78?C. The Murray Ridge mooring had a temperature correlation of 0.97 when compared to Argo observations. Argo observations were compared with SODA model numerical output from 1992-2001, and, after Argo, were assimilated from 2002-2009. With assimilation of Argo data into the SODA model, the temperature and salinity from the model numerical output improved, with most differences between model numerical output and Argo observations falling within one standard deviation.

Satellite-tracked surface drifter data from 1986 to 2008 acquired from NOAA/AOML and the sea-level anomaly (SLA) data of AVISO from 1992-2008 were used in this study to investigate the mesoscale anticyclonic eddies in the northern South China Sea (SCS) and Luzon Strait. A comparison of the concurrent drifter trajectories and SLA for two eddy events (2003/12~2004/02 and 2004/11~2005/01) indicates good agreement between the two datasets. From historical SLA data (1992-2008) it is found that 78 anticyclonic eddies can be identified in the studied region. The number of occurrence is highest in 1994, 1996, 2001 and 2004, and is lowest in 1998. This result is likely due to the ENSO event and the associated wind lessening in the SCS. Most eddies were generated off southwestern Taiwan coast, northern SCS and west of Luzon Strait. During northeastern monsoon the average life time of eddies is 66.88 days, and the average sea level height difference is 10-20 cm, occasionally reached a maximum value of over 30 cm. During southwestern monsoon eddies have an average lifetime of 51.43 days, and the average sea level height difference is mostly less than 15 cm. In particular, eddies off the southwestern Taiwan coast have the characteristics of lower sea level height difference and translational speed. Location of eddy generation has a marked seasonal variation. During northeastern monsoon, most eddies were concentrated in northern Luzon Strait, propagating longer distance toward the west along the continental shelf, even reaching 112¢XE. On the other hand, eddies generated during the southwestern monsoon can only reach 118¢XE. Statistical results indicate a linear relationship exists between the sea level height difference and the life time for eddies, implying that stronger eddies are more long-lived. Finally, from drifter tracks it can be found that as Kuroshio penetrates through the Luzon Strait and forms a loop current off the southwestern Taiwan coast. Subsequently, eddies could often be identified from the SLA data. Therefore, it can be conjectured that in the northern SCS anticyclone are often shed from the Luzon Strait by Kuroshio penetration.

abstract: Drosophila CORL (dCORL) is a central nervous system (CNS)-specific gene that is hypothesized to function in Transforming Growth Factor β signaling. It is part of the Corl multigene family that includes mouse and human homologs. dCORL is necessary for Ecdysone Receptor isoform B1 (EcR-B1) protein expression in the mushroom body, a brain region responsible for learning and memory. Beyond this, dCORL function is unknown. As dCORL expression is restricted to the CNS, co-expression experiments were performed to identify dCORL-specific neurons. In these experiments, EcR-B1 protein expression was compared to dCORL mRNA expression revealing that they are not expressed in the same cells. Therefore, EcR-B1 is regulated non-autonomously by dCORL. Co-expression analyses were also conducted utilizing dCORL reporters. For example, the reporter AH-lacZ was co-stained with two pars intercerebralis (PI) markers: Drifter (Dfr; a transcription factor found in the nucleus) and Drosophila insulin-like peptide 2 (dILP2; a peptide present in the neurosecretory cells of the pars intercerebralis [PI].) The results showed that there was complete AH-lacZ co-expression with dILP2 in third instar larval and adult brains. Previous work in our lab on dCORL mutant (Df(4)dCORL) adult longevity showed a connection between mating and increased lifespan; mated mutant females had doubled lifespans compared to virgins. Given the published relationship between insulin and longevity, I hypothesized an association between insulin, dCORL, and mating. Df(4)dCORL mutants were used to analyze the effects of dCORL loss-of-function on dILP2. There was a reduction in the number of dILP2-expressing cells in mutants compared to wild type. In wild type larval and adult PI’s, most dILP2-positive neurons also expressed Dfr. Whereas in adult virgin mutants, all dILP2 neurons were Dfr-positive. Both 3-day and 15-day old mated females showed increased dILP2 cell numbers compared to virgin mutants. In these sets of dILP2 cells only a subset expressed Dfr as in wild type. The mutant phenotypes of mated flies showed partial rescue compared to virgins. This led to the conclusion there were associations between mating, longevity, and insulin signaling through dCORL. Homology between Drosophila and mammalian Corl proteins imply these connections may be seen in mammals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biology 2018

The Coast Guard conducts over 20,000 search and rescue cases a year with approximately 5% of them occurring within the coastal waters of the West Florida Shelf (WFS). Each search effort is planned using the Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System (SAROPS) which uses model inputs to create composite probability distributions based on the results of Monte Carlo projections of thousands of particle trajectories. However, SAROPS is limited by the quality of model inputs and their associated errors. This study utilizes observations from three surface drifter deployments on the WFS to evaluate the effectiveness of available surface current models, including one model not currently in use by the Coast Guard. Additionally, the performance of high-frequency (HF) Radar observations is evaluated against the models. The HF Radar root-mean-square errors (RMSE) were found to be on the order of 10 cm/s, and a model created with objectively mapped HF Radar data was found to out-perform all available models. Additionally, a comparison of model skills (using a normalized Lagrangian separation method) showed the West Florida Coastal Ocean Model (WFCOM) to have better skill on both the inner and outer shelf regions of the WFS when compared to other models.

This thesis presents several ways to understand transports of air and water masses in the atmosphere and ocean, and the transports of energy that they imply. It presents work using various kinds of observations as well as computer simulations of the atmosphere and oceans. One of the main focuses is to identify similarities and differences between models and observations, as well as between different models. The first half of the thesis applies Lagrangian methods to study flows in the atmosphere and oceans. Part of the work focuses on understanding how particles follow the currents in the Baltic Sea and how they disperse. It is suggested that the commonly used regional ocean model for the Baltic Sea, RCO, underestimates the transport and the dispersion of the particles, which can have consequences for studies of e.g. biogeochemistry as well as for operational use. A similar methodology is used to study how particles are transported between the tropics and mid-latitudes by the large-scale atmospheric circulation. It is found that the mass transport associated with northbound and southbound particles can cancel in the zonally averaged circulation, and we propose that the degree of cancellation depends on the method of averaging. The latter half of the thesis focuses on Eulerian stream functions and specifically a thermodynamic stream function that combines the zonal and meridional circulations of the atmosphere into a single circulation. The results are used to study the inter-annual variability of the intensity and thermodynamic properties of the global atmospheric circulation. A significant correlation to ENSO variability is found both in reanalysis and the EC-Earth coupled climate model. It is also shown that a set of models from the CMIP5 project show a slowdown of the atmospheric circulation as a result of global warming and associated changes in near-surface moisture content and upper-level radiative cooling. / Denna avhandling presenterar olika metoder för att studera datormodeller av atmosfä- ren, haven, och klimatsystemet. Metoderna använder såväl Lagrangeska synsätt dvs att betrakta atmosfären eller haven som individuella partiklar i rörelse, som Eulerska synsätt där atmosfären och haven ses som gas eller vätska i rörelse. I artikel 1 sjö- sätts ett antal “surface drifters” i Östersjön som driver fritt med havsströmmarna och vars hastighet mäts av satelliter. Genom att modellera Lagrangeska partiklars rörelser i Östersjön och jämföra med dessa “surface drifters” kan det visas att datormodeller kan underskatta både medelhastigheten av partiklarna samt deras utbredning. I ar- tikel 2 simuleras luftmassornas rörelser mellan tropikerna och mellanbreddgraderna (∼ 45◦N/S). Ett medelvärde över all longituder tenderar att ignorera betydande mass- och energitransporter mellan tropikerna och mellanbredderna, och dessa kvantifieras i detalj i artikel 2. Artiklarna 3 och 4 presenterar en metod för att studera atmosfärens storskaliga rörelser utifrån ett termodynamiskt perspektiv där luftmassornas värme och fukt studeras. Det visas att variationer ytvattentemperatur vid ekvatorn i Stilla havet kan få atmosfären att, i ett globalt medelvärde, bli fuktigare och varmare samtidigt som masstransporter- na saktar ner. På samma sätt visas att en global uppvärmning till följd av ökade utsläpp av växthusgaser kan få atmosfären att bli varmare, fuktigare och att masstransporterna kan sakta ner. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: In press; Paper 4: Manuscript.</p> / BalticWay

Backpacking is becoming an increasingly commonplace rite of passage for today’s independent travellers. So much so that it is not only a small niche segment anymore but is turning into  a sizeable market for some destinations. Backpackers seem to lead the way into unexploited regions,subsequently opening the door for other forms of tourism. In effect, the normalization ofbackpacking brings with it questions of sustainability. This thesis sets out to explore the transition of tourism segments in destinations, particularly that of backpackers into the mainstream. It does so through a participant-observer data collection in the Philippines. The material is then analysed by grounded theory and presented in an ethnography format through a thematic review. A typological framework is the product, which brings an experience perspective to existing classification systems. Findings suggest that there are indeed nuances within the seemingly homogenous backpacker segment and that a continuous change of visitor profiles within destinations seems likely. Institutionalized backpacking turns out to be the missing link that accounts for the change from purism to mass tourism. Future explorative research is then advised, to find relationships between visitor types and to construe concrete suggestions for likely causes to the observed categorical transitions.