Azetsu-Scott Kumiko

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Azetsu-Scott
First Name
Kumiko
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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Article
    Freshwater composition of the waters off southeast Greenland and their link to the Arctic Ocean
    (American Geophysical Union, 2009-05-27) Sutherland, David A. ; Pickart, Robert S. ; Jones, E. Peter ; Azetsu-Scott, Kumiko ; Eert, A. Jane ; Olafsson, Jon
    The freshwater composition of waters on the southeast Greenland shelf and slope are described using a set of high-resolution transects occupied in summer 2004, which included hydrographic, velocity, nutrient, and chemical tracer measurements. The nutrient and tracer data are used to quantify the fractions of Pacific Water, sea ice melt, and meteoric water present in the upper layers of the East Greenland Current (EGC) and East Greenland Coastal Current (EGCC). The EGC/EGCC system dominates the circulation of this region and strongly influences the observed distribution of the three freshwater types. Sea ice melt and meteoric water fractions are surface intensified, reflecting their sources, and generally increase southward from Denmark Strait to Cape Farewell, as well as shoreward. Significant fractions of Pacific Water are found in the subsurface layers of the EGCC, supporting the idea that this inner shelf branch is directly linked to the EGC and thus to the Arctic Ocean. A set of historical sections is examined to investigate the variability of Pacific Water content in the EGC and EGCC from 1984 to 2004 in the vicinity of Denmark Strait. The fraction of Pacific Water increased substantially in the late 1990s and subsequently declined to low levels in 2002 and 2004, mirroring the reduction in Pacific Water content reported previously at Fram Strait. This variability is found to correlate significantly with the Arctic Oscillation index, lagged by 9 years, suggesting that the Arctic Ocean circulation patterns bring varying amounts of Pacific Water to the North Atlantic via the EGC/EGCC.
  • Article
    Projecting ocean acidification impacts for the Gulf of Maine to 2050: new tools and expectations
    (University of California Press, 2021-05-13) Siedlecki, Samantha A. ; Salisbury, Joseph E. ; Gledhill, Dwight K. ; Bastidas, Carolina ; Meseck, Shannon L. ; McGarry, Kelly ; Hunt, Christopher W. ; Alexander, Michael A. ; Lavoie, Diane ; Wang, Zhaohui Aleck ; Scott, James D. ; Brady, Damian C. ; Mlsna, Ivy ; Azetsu-Scott, Kumiko ; Liberti, Catherine M. ; Melrose, D. Christopher ; White, Meredith M. ; Pershing, Andrew J. ; Vandemark, Douglas ; Townsend, David W. ; Chen, Changsheng ; Mook, Bill ; Morrison, J. Ruairidh
    Ocean acidification (OA) is increasing predictably in the global ocean as rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to higher oceanic concentrations of inorganic carbon. The Gulf of Maine (GOM) is a seasonally varying region of confluence for many processes that further affect the carbonate system including freshwater influences and high productivity, particularly near the coast where local processes impart a strong influence. Two main regions within the GOM currently experience carbonate conditions that are suboptimal for many organisms—the nearshore and subsurface deep shelf. OA trends over the past 15 years have been masked in the GOM by recent warming and changes to the regional circulation that locally supply more Gulf Stream waters. The region is home to many commercially important shellfish that are vulnerable to OA conditions, as well as to the human populations whose dependence on shellfish species in the fishery has continued to increase over the past decade. Through a review of the sensitivity of the regional marine ecosystem inhabitants, we identified a critical threshold of 1.5 for the aragonite saturation state (Ωa). A combination of regional high-resolution simulations that include coastal processes were used to project OA conditions for the GOM into 2050. By 2050, the Ωa declines everywhere in the GOM with most pronounced impacts near the coast, in subsurface waters, and associated with freshening. Under the RCP 8.5 projected climate scenario, the entire GOM will experience conditions below the critical Ωa threshold of 1.5 for most of the year by 2050. Despite these declines, the projected warming in the GOM imparts a partial compensatory effect to Ωa by elevating saturation states considerably above what would result from acidification alone and preserving some important fisheries locations, including much of Georges Bank, above the critical threshold.
  • Article
    Time series measurements of transient tracers and tracer-derived transport in the Deep Western Boundary Current between the Labrador Sea and the subtropical Atlantic Ocean at Line W
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2016-11-10) Smith, John N. ; Smethie, William M. ; Yashayaev, Igor ; Curry, Ruth G. ; Azetsu-Scott, Kumiko
    Time series measurements of the nuclear fuel reprocessing tracer 129I and the gas ventilation tracer CFC-11 were undertaken on the AR7W section in the Labrador Sea (1997–2014) and on Line W (2004–2014), located over the US continental slope off Cape Cod, to determine advection and mixing time scales for the transport of Denmark Strait Overflow Water (DSOW) within the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC). Tracer measurements were also conducted in 2010 over the continental rise southeast of Bermuda to intercept the equatorward flow of DSOW by interior pathways. The Labrador Sea tracer and hydrographic time series data were used as input functions in a boundary current model that employs transit time distributions to simulate the effects of mixing and advection on downstream tracer distributions. Model simulations of tracer levels in the boundary current core and adjacent interior (shoulder) region with which mixing occurs were compared with the Line W time series measurements to determine boundary current model parameters. These results indicate that DSOW is transported from the Labrador Sea to Line W via the DWBC on a time scale of 5–6 years corresponding to a mean flow velocity of 2.7 cm/s while mixing between the core and interior regions occurs with a time constant of 2.6 years. A tracer section over the southern flank of the Bermuda rise indicates that the flow of DSOW that separated from the DWBC had undergone transport through interior pathways on a time scale of 9 years with a mixing time constant of 4 years.
  • Article
    A decade of incorporating social sciences in the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research Project (IMBeR): much done, much to do?
    (Frontiers Media, 2021-06-21) van Putten, Ingrid ; Kelly, Rachel ; Cavanagh, Rachel D. ; Murphy, Eugene J. ; Breckwoldt, Annette ; Brodie, Stephanie ; Cvitanovic, Christopher ; Dickey-Collas, Mark ; Maddison, Lisa ; Melbourne-Thomas, Jessica ; Arrizabalaga, Haritz ; Azetsu-Scott, Kumiko ; Beckley, Lynnath E. ; Bellerby, Richard G. J. ; Constable, Andrew ; Cowie, Greg ; Evans, Karen ; Glaser, Marion ; Hall, Julie A. ; Hobday, Alistair J. ; Johnston, Nadine M. ; Llopiz, Joel K. ; Mueter, Franz ; Muller-Karger, Frank E. ; Weng, Kevin ; Wolf-Gladrow, Dieter A. ; Xavier, José C.
    Successful management and mitigation of marine challenges depends on cooperation and knowledge sharing which often occurs across culturally diverse geographic regions. Global ocean science collaboration is therefore essential for developing global solutions. Building effective global research networks that can enable collaboration also need to ensure inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches to tackle complex marine socio-ecological challenges. To understand the contribution of interdisciplinary global research networks to solving these complex challenges, we use the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) project as a case study. We investigated the diversity and characteristics of 1,827 scientists from 11 global regions who were attendees at different IMBeR global science engagement opportunities since 2009. We also determined the role of social science engagement in natural science based regional programmes (using key informants) and identified the potential for enhanced collaboration in the future. Event attendees were predominantly from western Europe, North America, and East Asia. But overall, in the global network, there was growing participation by females, students and early career researchers, and social scientists, thus assisting in moving toward interdisciplinarity in IMBeR research. The mainly natural science oriented regional programmes showed mixed success in engaging and collaborating with social scientists. This was mostly attributed to the largely natural science (i.e., biological, physical) goals and agendas of the programmes, and the lack of institutional support and push to initiate connections with social science. Recognising that social science research may not be relevant to all the aims and activities of all regional programmes, all researchers however, recognised the (potential) benefits of interdisciplinarity, which included broadening scientists’ understanding and perspectives, developing connections and interlinkages, and making science more useful. Pathways to achieve progress in regional programmes fell into four groups: specific funding, events to come together, within-programme-reflections, and social science champions. Future research programmes should have a strategic plan to be truly interdisciplinary, engaging natural and social sciences, as well as aiding early career professionals to actively engage in such programmes.