Wavelet analysis of turbulence in cirrus clouds

Two flights of the UK Meteorological Offices Hercules aircraft through daytime frontal cirrus around Scotland have been analysed using wavelet analysis on the vertical velocity time-series from the horizontal runs. It is shown that wavelet analysis is a useful tool for analysing the turbulence data in cirrus clouds. It finds the largest scales involved in producing turbulence, as does Fourier analysis, such as the 2-km spectral peaks corresponding to convective activity during flight A283. Wavelet spectra have the added advantage that the position is shown, and so they identify smaller-scale, highly localised processes such as the production of turbulent kinetic energy by the breaking of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves due to the vertical shear in the horizontal wind. These may be lost in Fourier spectra obtained for long time-series, though they contribute something to the average spectral density at the appropriate scale. The main disadvantage of this technique is that only octave frequency bands are resolved.     

Theory of decametric radio emissions from Jupiter

It is suggested that the Jovian decametric emissions (DAM) originate in a cyclotron instability of weakly relativistic electrons trapped in the Jovian magnetic field. The resulting radiation has a group velocity in the magnetosphheric plasma which may be of order 10²km/sec, and thus takes much more time to escape the magnetosphere than if the group velocity were at or near the speed of light. Therefore, the asymmetry of the Io phase with respect to sources east and west of the Earth-Jupiter line does not imply an asymmetric beaming of DAM; it is caused by the delay the waves experience in traversing the magnetosphere. The frequency drifts of milli- and decasecond bursts are also explained. It is found that the rotation of the magnetosphere can play an important role, since the observer views the propagation velocity of the waves as the sum of their group velocity and the velocity of the medium itself. The rotation velocity is in opposite directions, relative to the observer, for sources east and west of the Earth-Jupiter line; the resultant vector addition gives positive frequency drifts for decasecond bursts from the early and fourth sources, and negative drifts for bursts from the main and third sources. The negative drifts of millisecond bursts may be the result of large density gradients of plasma in a temporarily compressed magnetosphere.     

The nation-state and the city: introduction to a debate

In recent years, the urban political landscape has become infused with a potent and incendiary mixture of popular-democratic, anti-globalisation, and separatist rhetoric. One central process driving this has been the problematic relations between the nation-state and the city. This Debates and Interventions forum aims to prompt a debate about where the city should be situated intellectually in respect of the nation-state. Four questions are addressed: (1) How do contemporary processes of urban development reflect changing national geopolitical priorities? (2) To what extent are struggles around immigration, citizenship and recognition conducted within cities rather than around the nation-state? (3) To what degree does the city (as e.g. a physical form, social environment or discourse) help to mobilise, propel and/or contest this new urban politics? And (4) Is the concept of a “post-national” global order appropriate for understanding the city and urban politics today?     

Trends of the EU’s territorial and consumption-based emissions from 1990 to 2016

In this paper, a model for the distribution of the Global Carbon Budget between the countries of the world is presented. The model is based on the criteria of equity while also taking into account the different historical responsibilities. The Global Carbon Budget corresponds to the quantity of carbon dioxide emissions that can still be released into the atmosphere while maintaining the increase in the average earth surface temperature below 2 °C, and it is therefore compatible with the long-term objective defined in the Paris Agreement. The results of applying the model are shown both for the 15 emitters that currently top the ranking for world emissions as well as for the other countries, which are grouped together in three main groups: Other African, Other Latin American and Caribbean, and the Rest of the World. Mitigation curves compatible with the carbon budget allocated to the different countries are presented. When comparing each emitter’s historical emissions for the period 1971–2010 with the proposed distribution for the period 2011–2050 obtained using the model, it can be seen that developed countries must face the future with a greatly reduced carbon budget, whereas developing countries can make use of a carbon budget that is higher than their cumulative historical emissions. Finally, there is a discussion about how a model with these characteristics could be useful when implementing the Paris Agreement.     

Geochemical constraints on the origin and tectonic setting of the serpentinized peridotites from the Paleoproterozoic Nyong series,Eseka area,SW Cameroon

Serpentinized rocks closely associated with Paleoproterozoic eclogitic metabasites were recently discovered at Eseka area in the northwestern edge of the Congo craton in southern Cameroon. Here, we present new field data, petrography, and first comprehensible whole-rock geochemistry data and discuss the protolith and tectonic significance of these serpentinites in the region. The studied rock samples are characterized by pseudomorphic textures, including mesh microstructure formed by serpentine intergrowths with cores of olivine, bastites after pyroxene. Antigorite constitutes almost the whole bulk of the rocks and is associated (to the less amount) with tremolite, talc, spinel, and magnetite. Whole-rock chemistry of the Eseka serpentinites led to the distinction of two types. Type 1 has high MgO (> 40 wt%) content and high Mg# values (88.80) whereas Type 2 serpentinite samples display relatively low MgO concentration and Mg# values (< 40 and 82.88 wt%, respectively). Both types have low Al/Si and high Mg/Si ratios than the primitive mantle, reflecting a refractory abyssal mantle peridotite protolith. Partial melting modeling indicates that these rocks were derived from melting of spinel peridotite before serpentinization. Bulk rock high-Ti content is similar to the values of subducted serpentinites (> 50 ppm). This similarity, associated with the high Cr contents, spinel-peridotite protolith compositions and Mg/Si and Al/Si ratios imply that the studied serpentinites were formed in a subduction-related environment. The U-shaped chondrite normalized-REE patterns of serpentinized peridotites, coupled with similar enrichments in LREE and HFSE, suggest the refertilized nature due to melt/rock interaction prior to serpentinization. Based on the results, we suggest that the Eseka serpentinized peridotites are mantle residues that suffered a high degree of partial melting in a subduction-related environment, especially in Supra Subduction Zone setting. These new findings suggest that the Nyong series in Cameroon represents an uncontested Paleoproterozoic suture zone between the Congo craton and the São Francisco craton in Brazil.

     

Estimating ventilation time scales using overturning stream functions

A simple method for estimating ventilation time scales from overturning stream functions is proposed. The stream function may be computed using either geometric coordinates or a generalized vertical coordinate, such as potential density (salinity in our study). The method is tested with a three-dimensional circulation model describing an idealized semi-enclosed ocean basin ventilated through a narrow strait over a sill, and the result is compared to age estimates obtained from a passive numerical age tracer. The best result is obtained when using the stream function in salinity coordinates. In this case, the reservoir-averaged advection time obtained from the overturning stream function in salinity coordinates agrees rather well with the mean age of the age tracer, and the corresponding maximum ages agree very well.     

Authigenic carbonate precipitates from the NE Black Sea: a mineralogical,geochemical, and lipid biomarker study

Carbonate precipitates recovered from 2,000 m water depth at the Dolgovskoy Mound (Shatsky Ridge, north eastern Black Sea) were studied using mineralogical, geochemical and lipid biomarker analyses. The carbonates differ in shape from simple pavements to cavernous structures with thick microbial mats attached to their lower side and within cavities. Low δ¹³C values measured on carbonates (−41 to −32‰ V-PDB) and extracted lipid biomarkers indicate that anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) played a crucial role in precipitating these carbonates. The internal structure of the carbonates is dominated by finely laminated coccolith ooze and homogeneous clay layers, both cemented by micritic high-magnesium calcite (HMC), and pure, botryoidal, yellowish low-magnesium calcite (LMC) grown in direct contact to microbial mats. δ¹⁸O measurements suggest that the authigenic HMC precipitated in equilibrium with the Black Sea bottom water while the yellowish LMC rims have been growing in slightly ¹⁸O-depleted interstitial water. Although precipitated under significantly different environmental conditions, especially with respect to methane availability, all analysed carbonate samples show lipid patterns that are typical for ANME-1 dominated AOM consortia, in the case of the HMC samples with significant contributions of allochthonous components of marine and terrestrial origin, reflecting the hemipelagic nature of the primary sediment.     

Neural-network predictability experiments for nearshore sandbar migration

Cross-shore migratory behavior of nearshore sandbars is commonly studied with nearshore bathymetric-evolution models that represent underlying processes of hydrodynamics and sediment transport. These models, however, struggle to reproduce natural cross-shore sandbar behavior on timescales of a few days to weeks and have uncertain skill on longer scales of months to years. One particular concern for the use of models on prediction timescales that far exceed the timescale of the modeled processes is the exponential accumulation of errors in the nonlinear model equations. The relation between cross-shore sandbar migration, sandbar location and wave height has previously been demonstrated to be weakly nonlinear on timescales of several days, but it is unknown how this nonlinearity affects the predictability of long-term (months to years) cross-shore sandbar behavior. Here we study the role of nonlinearity in the predictability of sandbar behavior on timescales of a few days to several months with data-driven neural network models. Our analyses are based on over 5600 daily-observed cross-shore sandbar locations and daily-averaged wave forcings from the Gold Coast, Australia, and Hasaki, Japan. We find that neural network models are able to hindcast many aspects of cross-shore sandbar behavior, such as rapid offshore migration during storms, slower onshore return during quiet periods, seasonal cycles and annual to interannual offshore-directed trends. Although the relation between sandbar migration, sandbar location and wave height is nonlinear, sandbar behavior can be hindcasted accurately over the entire lifespan of the sandbars at the Gold Coast. Contrastingly, it is difficult to hindcast the long-term offshore-directed trends in sandbar behavior at Hasaki because of exponential accumulation of errors over time. Our results further reveal that during periods with low-wave conditions it becomes increasingly difficult to predict sandbar locations, while during high waves predictions become increasingly accurate.     

Seasonal Diet Shifts and Overlap Between Two Sympatric Catfishes in an Estuarine Nursery

This study describes the seasonal feeding habits of different size classes of Cathorops spixii and Cathorops agassizii along an estuarine ecocline and the food overlap when different size classes occur together. These species were essentially zoobenthivorous, feeding mainly on Polychaeta Nereis sp., Copepoda Pseudodiaptomus acutus, Ostracoda Asterope sp., Gastropoda: Littorinidae, and Bivalvia Mytilus sp. and Anomalocardia brasiliana. However, during their life cycle and between different habitats and seasons, their trophic guild can change to zooplanktivore. The competition for resources was observed among C. spixii and C. agassizii, but was significantly reduced due to the seasonal diference in habitat use by different ontogenetic phases in the main channel of the estuary. The food niche separation was strongly influenced by environmental fluctuations, principally of salinity, resulting from rainfall and river inflow. High abundance of some preys, such as P. acutus (all estuary), Asterope sp. (upper and middle estuary), and Littorinidae (upper and lower estuary), could influence the significant diet overlap, principally during the rainy season, and call for more detailed studies of the benthic community structure. Moreover, dietary overlap was observed mainly between smaller sizes (intraspecific and/or interspecific) or between corresponding ontogenetic phases (interspecific), suggesting some differentiation in the diet in relation to the size class. Differences in prey type and size between the different ontogenetic phases of these ariids, principally among juveniles and adults, could be related to the size of the mouth, since adults are able to successfully capture larger preys or larger quantities of particular items.