Variability of the Arctic front during the last climatic cycle: application of a novel molecular proxy

In the Nordic Seas, the Arctic front (AF) marks the boundary between the waters of the North Atlantic Drift/Norwegian Current and those of the Arctic domain. Long- or short-term shifts in the position of the AF may affect climate conditions in the northern hemisphere. Arctic water masses are also the loci of modern open ocean convection; hence, defining these areas in the past is important for reconstructing and modelling ocean circulation and its variability. C₃₇ alkenones are biomarkers for some algae of the Class Prymnesiophyceae (e.g. coccolitho-phorids such as Emiliania huxleyi). These alga occur in most parts of the oceans, in ice-free conditions, and are found nowadays throughout the Nordic Seas. We have related the sedimentary abundance of the tetraunsaturated C₃₇ alkenone (C_37:4) to two types of water masses in the Nordic seas. In locations affected by Atlantic water masses percentages of C_37:4 are less than 5%, whereas in Arctic type water masses these increase to more than 5%. We propose that this observation can be used as a modern analogue to reconstruct the position of the AF in North Atlantic Quaternary sediments. Using this novel molecular proxy we can infer that the southward migration of the AF in the NE Atlantic reached ≈ 50 °N during the last glacial maximum (LGM), but perhaps only 60 °N during the Younger Dryas, and that ocean conditions free of sea ice prevailed throughout the Northern North Atlantic in summer.     

Polarimetric analysis and modeling of multifrequency SAR signaturesfrom Gulf Stream fronts

Using airborne synthetic aperture radar data from the 1990 Gulf Stream Experiment, this paper investigates the polarization and wavelength dependence of radar signatures for narrow fronts with converging flows occurring within the Gulf Stream. The signal-to-background ratios of the cross-polarization backscatter return from a convergent front were found much higher than those of copolarization returns, when the flight path is crossing the front. However, a second convergent front, imaged at 45°, showed that the signal-to-background ratios are nearly equal for co- and cross-polarizations. A polarimetric procedure, which has been successfully used to measure terrain slopes and to generate elevation maps, is applied to the convergent front to explain the polarization and imaging geometry dependence of these radar responses. A theoretical modeling of radar modulation using an ocean wave model and a composite-Bragg scattering model, which incorporates the effect of breaking waves, was developed. Calculations with the model agree reasonably well with the radar measurements at various polarizations for three radar frequencies: P-band (68 cm in wavelength), L-band (24 cm), and C-band (5.7 cm)     

Gut content analyses of three dominant Antarctic copepod species during an induced phytoplankton bloom EIFEX (European iron fertilization experiment)

The diet of three Antarctic copepods, Calanus simillimus , Rhincalanus gigas and Pleuromamma robusta , was studied from samples collected during the European iron fertilization experiment (EIFEX) in austral fall 2004. The diet was investigated using microscopical gut content analysis. The food spectra of the three copepod species showed a clear overlap. The pennate diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis was commonly found in all guts. Large numbers of cells were fractured, but some were found complete when arranged as chains. The same was true for the genus Chaetoceros , a centric diatom, of which even their long and complete setae could be observed. In general the ingested food particles extended over a wide size range up to a few 100 μm. The copepod C. simillimus , for example, fed on large foraminifera and swallowed them whole. Compared to C. simillimus and R. gigas , P. robusta guts contained a higher percentage and larger diversity of hard-shelled protozoa including tintinnids, Radiolaria and Acantharia.     

Integrated marine and terrestrial evidence for abrupt Congo River palaeodischarge fluctuations during the last deglaciation

We present a high‐resolution reconstruction of tropical palaeoenvironmental changes for the last deglacial transition (18 to 9 cal. kyr BP) based on integrated oceanic and terrestrial proxies from a Congo fan core. Pollen, grass cuticle, Pediastrum and dinoflagellate cyst fluxes, sedimentation rates and planktonic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O ratios, u₃₇^K′ sea‐surface temperature and alkane/alkenone ratio data highlight a series of abrupt changes in Congo River palaeodischarge. A major discharge pulse is registered at around 13.0 cal. kyr BP which we attribute to latitudinal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) during deglaciation. The data indicate abrupt and short‐lived changes in the equatorial precipitation regime within a system of monsoonal dynamics forced by precessional cycles. The phases of enhanced Congo discharge stimulated river‐induced upwelling and enhanced productivity in the adjacent ocean. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A variable stars analysis computer program archive

A library site for the storage of computer programs used in the analysis of variable stars has recently been set up. It is directly accessible across the computer networks, using standard procedures. Currently only a few programs for the analysis of the light curves of eclipsing binaries are stored at the site, although it is hoped that as the library becomes more well known, more investigators will deposit copies of their programs in it. This would result in a library where interested researchers could obtain the latest versions of analysis techniques from a comprehensive listing. Instructions for access to the site are also discussed.     

Multichannel rivers: their definition and classification

The etymology and historic usage of such terms as ‘anabranch’, ‘anastamose’ and ‘braided’ within river science are reviewed. Despite several decades of modern research to define river channel typologies inclusive of single channels and multiple channel networks, typologies remain ill‐conditioned and consequently ill‐defined. Conventionally employed quantitative planform characteristics of river networks possibly cannot be used alone to define channel types, yet the planform remains a central part of all modern classification schemes, supplemented by sedimentological and other qualitative channel characteristics. Planform characteristics largely have been defined using non‐standardized metrics describing individual network components, such as link lengths, braiding intensity and bifurcation angles, which often fail to separate visually‐different networks of channels. We find that existing typologies remain pragmatically utilitarian rather than fundamentally physics‐based and too often fail to discriminate between two distinctive and important processes integral to new channel initiation and flow‐splitting: (i) in‐channel bar accretion, and (ii) channel avulsion and floodplain excision. It is suggested that, first, if channel planform is to remain central to river typologies, then more rigorous quantitative approaches to the analysis of extended integral channel networks at extended reach scales (rather than network components) are required to correctly determine whether ‘visually‐different’ channel patterns can be discriminated consistently; and, second, if such visually‐different styles do in fact differ in their governing processes of formation and maintenance. A significant question is why do so many seemingly equilibrium network geometries possess a large number of anabranches in excess of predictions from theoretical considerations? The key research frontier with respect to initiating and maintaining multichannel networks remains the understanding and discrimination of accretionary‐bar flow splitting versus avulsive processes. Existing and new knowledge on flow splitting processes needs to be better integrated into channel typologies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holocene climate variability in the Southern Ocean recorded in a deep-sea sediment core off South Australia

To understand Holocene climatic development and to determine drivers of climatic changes and climate variability, high-resolution marine proxy records are required from key oceanic locations. However, information on the Holocene climate development from the Southern Hemisphere is still rare and mainly based on terrestrial archives. Here, we present data with a high-resolution of circa 35 years from sediment cores taken east of the Great Australian Bight, where it is possible to determine Southern Ocean Holocene climate and the longer-term trends of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions. For this purpose, we used the oxygen-isotope records of two planktonic foraminifer species Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides which inhabit different water masses as well as faunal counts of planktonic foraminifers. After the ocean frontal systems off southern Australia were pushed northward by orbitally-forced insolation changes during the early Holocene, the data indicate increasing ENSO variability during the mid to late Holocene when the fronts shifted polewards again. A strong circa 1550 year cycle is found in the Globigerina bulloides record which reflects the wider Southern Ocean signal with prominent cold phases centred at circa 9.2, 7.3, 5.8, 4.3, 2.7, 1.4 ka BP and, possibly the Little Ice Age, which have global counterparts.     

Carbon isotope analyses of n-alkanes in dust from the lower atmosphere over the central eastern Atlantic

Atmospheric dust samples collected along a transect off the West African coast have been investigated for their lipid content and compound-specific stable carbon isotope compositions. The saturated hydrocarbon fractions of the organic solvent extracts consist mainly of long-chain n-alkanes derived from epicuticular wax coatings of terrestrial plants. Backward trajectories for each sampling day and location were calculated using a global atmospheric circulation model. The main atmospheric transport took place in the low-level trade-wind layer, except in the southern region, where long-range transport in the mid-troposphere occurred. Changes in the chain length distributions of the n-alkane homologous series are probably related to aridity, rather than temperature or vegetation type. The carbon preference of the leaf-wax n-alkanes shows significant variation, attributed to a variable contribution of fossil fuel- or marine-derived lipids. The effect of this nonwax contribution on the δ¹³C values of the two dominant n-alkanes in the aerosols, n-C₂₉ and n-C₃₁ alkane, is, however, insignificant. Their δ¹³C values were translated into a percentage of C₄ vs. C₃ plant type contribution, using a two-component mixing equation with isotopic end-member values from the literature. The data indicate that only regions with a predominant C₄ type vegetation, i.e. the Sahara, the Sahel, and Gabon, supply C₄ plant-derived lipids to dust organic matter. The stable carbon isotopic compositions of leaf-wax lipids in aerosols mainly reflect the modern vegetation type along their transport pathway. Wind abrasion of wax particles from leaf surfaces, enhanced by a sandblasting effect, is most probably the dominant process of terrigenous lipid contribution to aerosols.