From desert to Mediterranean rangelands: will increasing drought and inter-annual rainfall variability affect herbaceous annual primary productivity?

Climate change is predicted to alter the rainfall regime in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin: total annual rainfall will decrease, while seasonal and inter-annual variation in rainfall will increase. Such changes in the rainfall regime could potentially lead to large-scale changes in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) in the region. We conducted a data-driven evaluation of herbaceous ANPP along an entire regional rainfall gradient, from desert (90 mm MAR [Mean Annual Rainfall]) to Mesic-Mediterranean (780 mm MAR) ecosystems, using the largest database ever collated for herbaceous ANPP in Israel, with the aim of predicting consequences of climate change for rangeland productivity. This research revealed that herbaceous ANPP increases with increasing rainfall along the gradient, but strong dependence on rainfall was only apparent within dry sites. Rain Use Efficiency peaks at mid-gradient in Mediterranean sites without woody vegetation (560 and 610 mm MAR). Inter-annual coefficients of variation in rainfall and herbaceous ANPP decrease along the rainfall gradient up to ca. 500 mm MAR. Climate change is more likely to affect herbaceous ANPP of rangelands in the arid end of the rainfall gradient, requiring adaptation of rangeland management, while ANPP of rangelands in more mesic ecosystems is less responsive to variation in rainfall. We conclude that herbaceous ANPP in most Mediterranean rangelands is less vulnerable to climate change than generally predicted.     

Interacting Ricci-like holographic dark energy

In a flat Friedmann–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker background, a scheme of dark matter–dark energy interaction is studied considering a holographic Ricci-like model for the dark energy. Without giving a priori some specific model for the interaction function, we show that this function can experience a change of sign during the cosmic evolution. The parameters involved in the holographic model are adjusted with Supernova data and we obtained results compatible with the observable universe.     

Study of bi-orthogonal modes in magnetic butterflies

We present a bi-orthogonal decomposition of the temporal and latitudinal distribution of solar magnetic fields from synoptic magnetograms. Results are compared with a similar decomposition of the distribution of sunspots since 1874. We show that the butterfly diagrams can be interpreted as the result of approximately constant amplitudes and phases of two oscillations with periods close to 22 years. A clear periodicity of 7 years can also be identified in the most energetic modes of both spatio-temporal series. These results can be used to obtain relevant information concerning the physics of the solar dynamo.     

A Relationship Between Transition Region Brightenings,Abundances, and Magnetic Topology

We present multi-instrument observations of active region (AR) 8048, made between 3 June and 5 June 1997, as part of the SOHO Joint Observing Program 33. This AR has a sigmoid-like global shape and undergoes transient brightenings in both soft X-rays and transition region (TR) lines. We compute a magneto-hydrostatic model of the AR magnetic field, using as boundary condition the photospheric observations of SOHO/MDI. The computed large-scale magnetic field lines show that the large-scale sigmoid is formed by two sets of coronal loops. Shorter loops, associated with the core of the SXT emission, coincide with the loops observed in the hotter CDS lines. These loops reveal a gradient of temperature, from 2 MK at the top to 1 MK at the ends. The field lines most closely matching these hot loops extend along the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) of the computed coronal field. The TR brightenings observed with SOHO/CDS can also be associated with the magnetic field topology, both QSL intersections with the photosphere, and places where separatrices issuing from bald patches (sites where field lines coming from the corona are tangent to the photosphere) intersect the photosphere. There are, furthermore, suggestions that the element abundances measured in the TR may depend on the type of topological structure present. Typically, the TR brightenings associated with QSLs have coronal abundances, while those associated with BP separatrices have abundances closer to photospheric values. We suggest that this difference is due to the location and manner in which magnetic reconnection occurs in two different topological structures. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1013302317042     

A statistical study of environmental factors controlling concentrations of heavy metals in the burrowing bivalve Scrobicularia plana and the polychaete Nereis diversicolor

Multiple regression analyses indicate that the most important factors controlling Ag, Cd, Co, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in the estuarine bivalve Scrobicularia plana and the polychaete Nereis diversicolor are the concentrations of these metals in surface sediments and the partitioning of sediment-bound metals between different sediment constituents. Extraction of the sediments with 1-n HCl provides more information about the bioavailability of the metals than do extractions with five other techniques. Biologically available Cd and Co in solution contribute significantly to Cd and Co concentrations in both Scrobicularia and Nereis. Concentrations of Ag in Scrobicularia are reduced where Cu concentrations in sediments are high. An unexplained increase in concentrations of Cu in Scrobicularia at specific stations in six estuaries suggests that under certain very anoxic conditions the availability of copper may be exceptionally high.     

Fast solar electrons,interplanetary plasma and km-wave type-III radio bursts observed from the IMP-6 spacecraft

IMP-6 spacecraft observations of low frequency radio emission, fast electrons, and solar wind plasma are used to examine the dynamics of the fast electron streams which generate solar type-III radio bursts. Of twenty solar electron events observed between April, 1971 and August, 1972, four were found to be amenable to detailed analysis. Observations of the direction of arrival of the radio emission at different frequencies were combined with the solar wind density and velocity measurements at 1 AU to define an Archimedean spiral trajectory for the radio burst exciter. The propagation characteristics of the exciter and of the fast electrons observed at 1 AU were then conpared. We find that: (1) the fast electrons excite the radio emission at the second harmonic; (2) the total distance travelled by the electrons was between 30 and 70% longer than the length of the smooth spiral defined by the radio observations; (3) this additional distance travelled is the result of scattering of the electrons in the interplanetary medium; (4) the observations are consistent with negligible true energy loss by the fast electrons.     

An analysis of carrier phase differential kinematic GPS positioning using DynaPos

A series of activities have been carried out at the University of New Brunswick in an effort to evaluate advances in long-range marine kinematic differential positioning. These activities involved processing and analysis of GPS carrier phase kinematic data sets. Some of the data was collected by UNB and some was provided by The XYZs of GPS Inc. Data were collected using Trimble 5700 and Ashtech Z-12 receivers. The data sets were processed using the software DynaPos provided by the The XYZs of GPS Inc. The best results obtained in our analysis indicate an agreement of 5 cm RMS for the horizontal component and 12 cm RMS for the vertical component between two ionospheric-delay free solutions, in baselines varying from 40 to 100 km.