Evaluation of snow models in terrestrial biosphere models using ground observation and satellite data: impact on terrestrial ecosystem processes

Snow is important for water management, and an important component of the terrestrial biosphere and climate system. In this study, the snow models included in the Biome‐BGC and Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS) terrestrial biosphere models are compared against ground and satellite observations over the Columbia River Basin in the US and Canada and the impacts of differences in snow models on simulated terrestrial ecosystem processes are analysed. First, a point‐based comparison of ground observations against model and satellite estimates of snow dynamics are conducted. Next, model and satellite snow estimates for the entire Columbia River Basin are compared. Then, using two different TOPS simulations, the default TOPS model (TOPS with TOPS snow model) and the TOPS model with the Biome‐BGC snow model, the impacts of snow model selection on runoff and gross primary production (GPP) are investigated. TOPS snow model predictions were consistent with ground and satellite estimates of seasonal and interannual variations in snow cover, snow water equivalent, and snow season length; however, in the Biome‐BGC snow model, the snow pack melted too early, leading to extensive underpredictions of snow season length and snow covered area. These biases led to earlier simulated peak runoff and reductions in summer GPP, underscoring the need for accurate snow models within terrestrial ecosystem models. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetic record associated with tree ring density: Possible climate proxy

A magnetic signature of tree rings was tested as a potential paleo-climatic indicator. We examined wood from sequoia tree, located in Mountain Home State Forest, California, whose tree ring record spans over the period 600 – 1700 A.D. We measured low and high-field magnetic susceptibility, the natural remanent magnetization (NRM), saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM), and stability against thermal and alternating field (AF) demagnetization. Magnetic investigation of the 200 mm long sequoia material suggests that magnetic efficiency of natural remanence may be a sensitive paleoclimate indicator because it is substantially higher (in average >1%) during the Medieval Warm Epoch (700–1300 A.D.) than during the Little Ice Age (1300–1850 A.D.) where it is <1%. Diamagnetic behavior has been noted to be prevalent in regions with higher tree ring density. The mineralogical nature of the remanence carrier was not directly detected but maghemite is suggested due to low coercivity and absence of Verwey transition. Tree ring density, along with the wood's magnetic remanence efficiency, records the Little Ice Age (LIA) well documented in Europe. Such a record suggests that the European LIA was a global phenomenon. Magnetic analysis of the thermal stability reveals the blocking temperatures near 200 degree C. This phenomenon suggests that the remanent component in this tree may be thermal in origin and was controlled by local thermal condition.     

The Western Bohemia uppermost crust shear wave velocities from Love wave dispersion

We present a detailed study of Western Bohemia Love waves generated by blasts with an intention to estimate the uppermost crust structure for a more detailed layer distribution than previous studies have used. The use of short-period (4 s and shorter) Love waves represents a new approach in the studied region. Properties of multiple filtering as a tool of frequency–time analysis are discussed. A new method of selecting the dispersion ridges is introduced. Tests of filtering are provided by analyzing signals with analytically known dispersion. The isometric algorithm for the inversion problem is applied, the problem of non-uniqueness is discussed, and tests of reliability of the inversion are presented. During the inversion, the forward problem is solved by use of the matrix method. Six records of blasts from the Western Bohemia region are analyzed to separate the fundamental modes of Love wavegroups, and shear wave velocity distributions down to a depth of 3.0 km are inferred. Modal summation is used to compute synthetic velocigrams, which are compared to measured ones. The lateral heterogeneity of the region is discussed and the presented models are compared to those of previous studies and to the geological setting of the region.     

An estimation of the probable maximum precipitation for river basins in the Czech Republic

The hydro-meteorological evaluation of a flood event in July 1997 (the Odra flood in Central Europe) demonstrated that new procedures to estimate design floods for the reservoir outflow structures in the Czech Republic (CR) were needed. Therefore, the techniques of the estimation of Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) were developed in a national research project (1998–2000), and the activity focused on the improvement of the area related PMP estimates was going on within a present national project. In the frame of the evaluation of the next extreme precipitation event in August 2002 (the Labe flood in the CR and Germany), we compared the catchments related precipitation with the PMP estimates. In this paper, an outline of the PMP estimation techniques is given and the use of data from the Czech gauges is described, the aim being the statistical derivation of the point and area PMP estimates for precipitation duration of 1 to 5 days. The use of radar data in assessing the maximized area reduction factor is discussed and the relationship resulting from the radar measurements over the CR territory is presented. An evaluation of the radar-based area rainfall enabled us to transform the point PMP to the area PMP estimate designed for the river basins in CR. In the last part of the paper, the results obtained by comparing the rainfalls in 1997 and 2002 flood events with the PMP estimates are presented. The comparison showed that the maximum area rainfalls over small Czech catchments (the 3rd order river basins) did not exceed 63% of the corresponding PMP values.     

A comparison of the flood precipitation episode in August 2002 with historic extreme precipitation events on the Czech territory

The hydro-meteorological characteristics of the flood from August 2002, which affected a great part of the Czech territory, particularly the Vltava and Labe river basin, were compared with corresponding conditions during similar flood events in the summer seasons of 1997, 1890, 1897 and 1903. The comparison shows analogies in synoptic conditions and causal precipitation heights. The heaviest precipitation fell in the area of a considerable horizontal pressure gradient on the rearward side of the cyclone which advanced very slowly to the north-east across Central Europe and created conditions for the transport of moist air as well as for an organized long-term updraft enhanced in orographically exposed regions. The varying features of the individual events were based on the spatial–temporal distribution of causal precipitation and also on the very different saturation of the catchments. It was chiefly the extraordinary time concentration of precipitation together with the highest catchment saturation that made the flood in 2002 the most extreme.The extremeness of meteorological fields during two episodes in July 1997 was compared with two episodes in August 2002 with the aid of the reanalysis data from ECMWF. The first episode in 1997 and the second episode in 2002 were the most similar and more extreme in terms of the large-scale fields of basic meteorological quantities. The similar features of these episodes are specifically an intensive influx of moisture into Central Europe and intensive upward motions in the precipitation area. The extremeness of upper- and low-level potential vorticity fields was evaluated to diagnose the behavior of the cyclone and frontal precipitation bands accompanying it. The suitable spatial configuration of positive upper- and low-level potential vorticity anomalies induced an additional amplification of upward motions in the precipitation area that apparently contributed to triggering the heavy precipitation over Central Europe. On the whole, quantities reached more extreme values during the second episode in 2002.     

Dynamics of the Subsurface Temperature Field Caused by Mining-Related Groundwater Management

The subsurface temperature field was studied on a set of 46 borehole logs measured in the vicinity of uranium deposits in the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin. Vertical variations of the steady state temperature and the temperature gradient are governed by thermal conductivity which strongly varies in dependence on lithology. Large departures from undisturbed temperature detected in many holes are associated with uranium mining. A positive anomaly is observed in leaching fields where large amounts of acid are injected into the uranium-bearing Cenomanian. A negative anomaly is linked to the operation of hydraulic barriers which enclose the mining area and helps to contain pollution by pumping clean water into the Cenomanian aquifer. The spatial distribution of the observed temperature anomalies helps to map the migration of the fluids used in both processes. The temperature disturbance is propagated from the Cenomanian aquifer up through overlying impermeable sediments. The good fit of transient conductive models to the measured temperatures rules out heat advection and hence upward water flow towards and contamination of the upper Middle Turonian aquifer in the vicinity of the holes studied.     

Facies development,depositional settings and sequence stratigraphy across the Ordovician–Silurian boundary: a new perspective from the Barrandian area of the Czech Republic

The Hirnantian and Llandovery sedimentary succession of the Barrandian area has been assigned to middle and outer clastic‐shelf depositional settings, respectively. Deposition was influenced by the remote Gondwanan glaciation and subsequent, long‐persisting, post‐glacial anoxia triggered by a current‐driven upwelling system. High‐resolution graptolite stratigraphy, based upon 19 formally defined biozones—largely interval zones—and five subzones, enabled a detailed correlation between 42 surface sections and boreholes, and enabled linking of the sedimentary record, graptoloid fauna dynamics, organic‐content fluctuations and spectral gamma‐ray curves. The Hirnantian and Llandovery succession has been subdivided into four biostratigraphically dated third‐order sequences (units 1–4). Time–spatial facies distribution recorded early and late Hirnantian glacio‐eustatic sea‐level lowstands separated by a remarkable mid‐Hirnantian rise in sea‐level. A major part of the post‐glacial sea‐level rise took place within the late Hirnantian. The highstand of Unit 2 is apparently at the base of the Silurian succession. Short‐term relative sea‐level drawdown and a third‐order sequence boundary followed in the early Rhuddanian upper acuminatus Zone. Early Aeronian and late Telychian sea‐level highstands and late Aeronian drawdown of likely eustatic origin belong to units 3 and 4. Sea‐level rise culminated in the late Telychian, which may also be considered as a highstand episode of a second‐order Hirnantian–early Silurian cycle. Facies and sequence‐stratigraphic analysis supports recent interpretations on nappe structures in the core part of the Ordovician–Middle Devonian Prague Synform of the Barrandian. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Triassic to Early Jurassic (c. 200 Ma) UHP metamorphism in the Central Rhodopes: evidence from U–Pb–Th dating of monazite in diamond‐bearing gneiss from Chepelare (Bulgaria)

Evidence for ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphism (UHPM) in the Rhodope metamorphic complex comes from occurrence of diamond in pelitic gneisses, variably overprinted by granulite facies metamorphism, known from several areas of the Rhodopes. However, tectonic setting and timing of UHPM are not interpreted unanimously. Linking age to a metamorphic stage is a prerequisite for reconstruction of these processes. Here, we use monazite in diamond‐bearing gneiss from Chepelare (Bulgaria) to date the diamond‐forming UHPM event in the Central Rhodopes. The diamond‐bearing gneiss comes from a strongly deformed, lithologically heterogeneous zone (Chepelare Mélange) sandwiched between two migmatized orthogneiss units, known as Arda‐I and Arda‐II. Diamond, identified by Raman micro‐spectroscopy, shows the characteristic band mostly centred between 1332 and 1330 cm^?1. The microdiamond occurs as single grains or polyphase diamond + carbonate inclusions, rarely with CO₂. Thermodynamic modelling shows that garnet was stable at UHP conditions of 3.5–4.6 GPa and 700–800 °C, in the stability field of diamond, and was re‐equilibrated at granulite facies/partial melting conditions of 0.8–1.2 GPa and 750–800 °C. The texture of monazite shows older central parts and extensive younger domains which formed due to metasomatic replacement in solid residue and/or overgrowth in melt domains. The monazite core compositions, with distinctly lower Y, Th and U contents, suggest its formation in equilibrium with garnet. The U–Th–Pb dating of monazite using electron microprobe analysis yielded a c. 200 Ma age for the older cores with low Th, Y, U and high La/Nd ratio, and a c. 160 Ma age for the dominant younger monazite enriched in Th, Y, U and HREE. The older age of c. 200 Ma is interpreted as the timing of UHPM, whereas the younger age of c. 160 Ma as granulite facies/partial melting overprint. Our results suggest that UHPM occurred in Late Triassic to Early Jurassic time, in the framework of collision and subduction of continental crust after the closure of Paleotethys.