Methyl halide production and loss rates in sea water from field incubation experiments

Experiments were conducted in the field to determine the non-chemical loss rate of methyl iodide in seawater and to examine production rates of methyl halides. The loss rate of added C13 labelled methyl iodide, present at concentrations similar to those found in seawater, corrected for chemical loss due to reaction with Cl⁻ varied from < 1 to 18% day^− 1, with a mean value of 7%. This rate of loss is much lower than that which was proposed by Bell et al. [Bell, N., Hsu, L., Jacob, D. J., Schultz, M. G., Blake, D. R., Butler, J. H., King, D. B., Lobert, J. M., Maier-Reimer, E., 2002. Methyl iodide: Atmospheric budget and use as a tracer of marine convection in global models, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 107(D17), 4340-4351.] to account for the large discrepancies between observed and predicted mid-latitude concentrations of CH₃I based on their global photochemical source model. The suitability of several types of container for seawater incubations was studied and only quartz tubes appeared to be free of experimental artifact. Collapsible polyvinyl fluoride containers showed major production of methyl halides on irradiation with simulated sunlight. Polyethylene containers caused spurious production of methyl iodide at lower rates.     

Coping with disaster: Rehabilitating coastal livelihoods and communities

This paper examines lessons from past approaches to natural disasters, as well as early lessons from the post-2004 Asian tsunami rehabilitation, to draw out general principles for rehabilitating livelihoods in poor coastal communities. We contend that avoiding the mistakes of the past requires: (1) a framework for understanding the diversity of coastal people's livelihood strategies and the sources of their vulnerability, (2) a process for designing interventions that build on this understanding in order to strengthen and revitalize coastal communities, including a means of assessing and selecting the most promising livelihood options, and (3) a focus on the longer-term challenge of building future resilience and sustainability in the communities by addressing the root causes of vulnerability.     

Upwelling in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea: Atmospheric forcing and local versus non-local response

The spin up and relaxation of an autumn upwelling event on the Beaufort slope is investigated using a combination of oceanic and atmospheric data and numerical models. The event occurred in November 2002 and was driven by an Aleutian low storm. The wind field was strongly influenced by the pack-ice distribution, resulting in enhanced winds over the open water of the Chukchi Sea. Flow distortion due to the Brooks mountain range was also evident. Mooring observations east of Barrow Canyon show that the Beaufort shelfbreak jet reversed to the west under strong easterly winds, followed by upwelling of Atlantic Water onto the shelf. After the winds subsided a deep eastward jet of Atlantic Water developed, centered at 250 m depth. An idealized numerical model reproduces these results and suggests that the oceanic response to the local winds is modulated by a propagating signal from the western edge of the storm. The disparity in wave speeds between the sea surface height signal—traveling at the fast barotropic shelf wave speed—versus the interior density signal—traveling at the slow baroclinic wave speed—leads to the deep eastward jet. The broad-scale response to the storm over the Chukchi Sea is investigated using a regional numerical model. The strong gradient in windspeed at the ice edge results in convergence of the offshore Ekman transport, leading to the establishment of an anti-cyclonic gyre in the northern Chukchi Sea. Accordingly, the Chukchi shelfbreak jet accelerates to the east into the wind during the storm, and no upwelling occurs west of Barrow Canyon. Hence the storm response is fundamentally different on the Beaufort slope (upwelling) versus the Chukchi slope (no upwelling). The regional numerical model results are supported by additional mooring data in the Chukchi Sea.     

A seasonal survey of the sterol composition of the cockle cerastoderma edule: A comparison of polluted and non-polluted environments

The sterol composition of a cockle population from an unpolluted environment in South Wales was monitored by monthly sampling over a 12-month period. In spite of the likely variation in dietary sterols during this period, the component sterols of the cockles showed no significant seasonal variation, indicating that the cockle was able to exhibit a high degree of control over the composition of its functional sterols.Dramatic differences were observed in the sterol compositions of a nearby cockle population from a highly polluted environment, near a sewage outfall; only three out of the ten sterols present were common to the unpolluted cockles. Forty-five per cent of the sterols from the ‘polluted’ samples contained fully reduced systems and included three new alkylated C-29, C-30 and C-31 stanols. It is considered possible that these structural changes may affect the stereochemistry of the functional sterols and hence alter the permeability of the animal's membranes. This may reflect a biochemical response to the polluted environment.     

Coexisting alkali feldspars in felsic members of the Cauro-Bastelica ring complex,Corsica

The granodioritic and gneissic Hercynian basement in Corsica was intruded, in the Triassic, by non-orogenic ring complexes in which the association early rhyolite-hypersolvus granite-granophyre-late subsolvus granite is clearly developed. The association of low albite and maximum microcline in mesoperthites cannot be attributed to Alpine low-grade metamorphism, restricted to fault zones. On a number of lines of evidence, the development of ordered, almost pure K-feldspar in this rapidly cooled complex appears related to an episode of mild reheating attending emplacement of late subsolvus granites, rocks formed from melts enriched, perhaps even saturated in aqueous fluids.     

Reconciling discrepant chronologies for the geomagnetic excursion in the Mono Basin,California: Insights from new 40Ar/39Ar dating experiments and a revised relative paleointensity correlation

Lacustrine sediments of the Wilson Creek Formation in the Mono Basin, California, record a paleomagnetic field excursion constrained by ¹⁴C and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology to have occurred within the last 50 ka. However, ¹⁴C and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages are discordant, making it difficult to distinguish which of two possible excursions during this period, the Mono Lake or Laschamp, is recorded in the Mono Basin. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determinations from sanidine, as well as the first biotite and obsidian ages, for three of the nineteen rhyolitic ashes intercalated with these sediments are presented and compared to previous ¹⁴C and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data sets. Although the sanidine ages of the three ashes are stratigraphically consistent with each other and previously determined ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages for other ashes in the Wilson Creek Formation, each is significantly older than ¹⁴C ages obtained from stratigraphically equivalent beds, relative paleointensity field correlations, oxygen isotope records, and glacial histories. These data indicate an absence of juvenile, eruptive crystals and most likely reflect the incorporation of crystals from older volcanic centers or underlying sediment. We examine the strengths and weaknesses of all available geochronologic data for the section exposed at Wilson Creek to arrive at an internally consistent set of age constraints. Using these constraints we propose two new relative paleointensity correlations for the section, both of which indicate that the excursion recorded in the Mono Basin occurred at ～30–34 ka on the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core time scale.     

Growing up green on serpentine soils: Biogeochemistry of serpentine vegetation in the Central Coast Range of California

Serpentine soils derived from the weathering of ultramafic rocks and their metamorphic derivatives (serpentinites) are chemically prohibitive for vegetative growth. Evaluating how serpentine vegetation is able to persist under these chemical conditions is difficult to ascertain due to the numerous factors (climate, relief, time, water availability, etc.) controlling and affecting plant growth. Here, the uptake, incorporation, and distribution of a wide variety of elements into the biomass of serpentine vegetation has been investigated relative to vegetation growing on an adjacent chert-derived soil. Soil pH, electrical conductivity, organic C, total N, soil extractable elements, total soil elemental compositions and plant digestions in conjunction with spider diagrams are utilized to determine the chemical relationships of these soil and plant systems. Plant available Mg and Ca in serpentine soils exceed values assessed in chert soils. Magnesium is nearly 3 times more abundant than Ca in the serpentine soils; however, the serpentine soils are not Ca deficient with Ca concentrations as high as 2235 mg kg⁻¹. Calcium to Mg ratios (Ca:Mg) in both serpentine and chert vegetation are greater than one in both below and above ground tissues. Soil and plant chemistry analyses support that Ca is not a limiting factor for plant growth and that serpentine vegetation is actively moderating Mg uptake as well as tolerating elevated concentrations of bioavailable Mg. Additionally, results demonstrate that serpentine vegetation suppresses the uptake of Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn and Co into its biomass. The suppressed uptake of these metals mainly occurs in the plants’ roots as evident by the comparatively lower metal concentrations present in above ground tissues (twigs, leaves and shoots). This research supports earlier studies that have suggested that ion uptake discrimination and ion suppression in the roots are major mechanisms for serpentine vegetation to tolerate the chemistry of serpentine soils.     

Evidence of a Mixed-Layer Dynamics Contribution to the Entrainment Process

The internal thermal boundary layer developing over the Mediterranean during a cold-air outbreak associated with a Tramontane event has been studied by means of airborne lidar, in situ sensors, and a modelling approach that consisted of nesting the University of Washington (UW) planetary boundary-layer (PBL) model in an advective zero-order jump model. This approach bypasses some of the deficiencies associated with each model: the absence of the dynamics in the mixed layer for the zero-order jump model and the lack of an inversion at the PBL top for the UW PBL model. Particular attention is given to the parameterization of the entrainment flux at the PBL top. Values of the entrainment closure parameter derived with the model when matching PBL structure observations are much lower than those derived with standard zero-order jump models. They also are in good agreement with values measured in different meteorological situations by other studies. This improvement is a result of the introduction of turbulent kinetic energy production in the mixed layer.     

Sensitivity of crop yields and land resource potential to climatic change in Ontario,Canada

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ and other greenhouse gases are expected to contribute to a global warming. This paper examines the potential implications of a climatic change corresponding to a doubling of atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ on crop production opportunities throughout Ontario, a major food producing region in Canada. The climate is projected to become warmer and drier, but the extent of these shifts are expected to vary from region to region within Ontario. The effect of this altered climate on crop yields and the area of land capable of supporting specific crops varies according to region, soil quality and crop type. Most notable are the enhanced opportunities for grains and oilseeds in the northern regions, and the diminished production prospects for most crops in the most southerly parts of Ontario.     

Paleo- and Neoproterozoic magmatic and tectonometamorphic evolution of the Isla Cristalina de Rivera (Nico Pérez Terrane, Uruguay)

The Isla Cristalina de Rivera crystalline complex in northeastern Uruguay underwent a multistage magmatic and metamorphic evolution. Based on SHRIMP U–Pb zircon, Th–U–Pb monazite (CHIME-EPMA method) and K–Ar age data from key units several events can be recognized: (1) multistage magmatism at 2,171–2,114?Ma, recorded on zircon of the granulitic orthogneisses and their 2,093–2,077?Ma overgrowths; (2) a distinct amphibolite facies metamorphism at ~1,980?Ma, recorded by monazite; (3) greenschist facies reworking and shearing at ca. 606?Ma (monazite and K–Ar on muscovite) along the Rivera Shear Zone, and finally (4) intrusion of the post-tectonic Sobresaliente and Las Flores granites at around 585?Ma. Lithological similarities, geographic proximity and coeval magmatic and metamorphic events indicate a similar tectonometamorphic evolution for the Isla Cristalina de Rivera, the Valentines Block in Uruguay and the Santa María Chico Granulitic Complex in southern Brazil, since at least 2.1?Ga.