Preservation of the shell matrix protein dermatopontin in 1500 year old land snail fossils from the Bonin islands

Organic molecules such as proteins can be preserved in certain fossils. The bulk properties of fossil proteins of both vertebrates and invertebrates have been studied for over half a century. Named proteins have so far been identified, however, only in vertebrate fossils, such as collagen from mammoth bones. Using immunological assays, we examined 1500 year old fossils of the extinct land snail Mandarina luhuana from the Bonin islands for the presence of dermatopontin, a molluscan shell matrix protein. First, we examined the shell microstructure and mineralogy of the fossil shells using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) in order to estimate the extent of diagenetic alteration. The results suggest that the original microstructure and mineralogy of the shells are preserved. Antiserum raised against the Type-1 dermatopontin fragment of the living land snail Euhadra brandtii showed significant immunological reactivity with the extracts from the fossil shells of M. luhuana. Immunological binding curves drawn for the shell extracts of extant M. aureola and the extinct M. luhuana confirmed the presence of dermatopontin in the fossil shells and provided an estimate that about 75–98% of the original dermatopontin was lost from the M. luhuana fossils. This is the first report of a named protein being identified in invertebrate fossils.     

Records of environmental and ecological changes related to excavation in varve sediment from Lake Hiruga in central Japan

Journal of Paleolimnology - Sub-annual-scale environmental and ecosystem changes since the mid-18th century were reconstructed in a semi-closed lagoon, Lake Hiruga, located along the Sea of Japan...     

Variations in snowmelt energy and energy balance characteristics with larch forest density on Mt Iwate,Japan: observations and energy balance analyses

The variation in snowmelt energy and energy components were evaluated with respect to forest density. Surface snowmelt rates, surface evaporation from snow cover and meteorological elements were measured in the open and under sparse (411 trees/ha) and dense (1433 trees/ha) larch canopies. The surface snowmelt rate decreased as the forest density increased. Based on the observations and energy balance analyses, we concluded the following. (1) Albedo decreased while the bulk coefficient for latent heat increased with forest density. (2) The duration of snowmelt increased with forest density because the energy for nocturnal cooling of the snow cover decreased. (3) When comparing the open and forested sites, the changes in snowmelt energy with forest density were caused by sensible heat flux. However, the contribution of net radiation was highest in the forested sites. Therefore, the effects of forest cover on the snowmelt energy were different when comparing both the open and forested sites and the sparse and densely forested sites. (4) The ratio of net radiation to snowmelt energy increased with forest density; although both snowmelt energy and net radiation decreased with increased forest density, the snowmelt energy decreased more rapidly. Sensible heat also decreased as forest density increased. Both albedo and downward long‐wave radiation influenced net radiation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diagnostic metrics for evaluation of annual and diurnal cycles

Two sets of diagnostic metrics are proposed for evaluation of global models?? simulation of annual and diurnal cycles of precipitation. The metrics for the annual variation include the annual mean, the solstice and equinoctial asymmetric modes of the annual cycle (AC), and the global monsoon precipitation domain and intensity. The metrics for the diurnal variation include the diurnal range, the land?Csea contrast and transition modes of the diurnal cycle (DC), and the diurnal peak propagation in coastal regions. The proposed modes for the AC and DC represent faithfully the first two leading empirical orthogonal functions and explain, respectively, 82% of the total annual variance and 87% of the total diurnal variance over the globe between 45°S and 45°N. The simulated AC and DC by the 20-km-mesh MRI/JMA atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) are in a wide-ranging agreement with observations; the model considerably outperforms any individual AMIP II GCMs and has comparable performance to 12-AMIP II model ensemble simulation measured by Pearson??s pattern correlation coefficient. Comparison of four versions of the MRI/JMA AGCM with increasing resolution (180, 120, 60, and 20?km) reveals that the 20-km version reproduces the most realistic annual and diurnal cycles. However, the improved performance is not a linear function of the resolution. Marked improvement of the simulated DC (AC) occurs at the resolution of 60?km (20?km). The results suggest that better represented parameterizations that are adequately tuned to increased resolutions may improve models?? simulation on the forced responses. The common deficiency in representing the monsoon domains suggests the models having difficulty in replicating annual march of the Subtropical Highs that is largely driven by prominent east-west land?Cocean thermal contrast. Note that the 20-km model reproduces realistic diurnal cycle, but fails to capture realistic Madden-Julian Oscillation.     

Accelerated continental-scale snowmelt and ecohydrological impacts in the four largest Siberian river basins in response to spring warming

River runoff from the four largest Siberian river basins (the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Kolyma) considerably contributes to freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean from the Eurasian continent. However, the effects of variation in snow cover fraction on the ecohydrological variations in these basins are not well understood. In this study, we analysed the spatiotemporal variability of the maximum snow cover fraction (SCF_max) in the four Siberian river basins. We compared the SCF_max from 2000 to 2016 with data in terms of monthly temperature and precipitation, night-time surface temperatures, the terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA), the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and river runoff. Our results exhibit a decreasing trend in the April SCF_max values since 2000, largely in response to warming air temperatures in April. We identified snowmelt water as the dominant control on the observed increase in the runoff contribution in May across all four Siberian river basins. In addition, we detected that the interannual river runoff was predominantly controlled by interannual variations in the TWSA. The NDVI in June was strongly controlled by the timing of the snowmelt along with the surface air temperature and TWSA in June. The rate of increase in the freshwater flux from the four Siberian rivers decreased from 2000 to 2016, exhibiting large interannual variations corresponding to interannual variations in the TWSA. However, we identified a clear increase trend in the freshwater flux of ~4 km³/year when analysing the long-term 39-year historical record (1978–2016). Our results suggest that continued global warming will accelerate the transition towards the earlier timing of snowmelt and spring freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean. Our findings also highlight the effects of earlier snowmelt on ecohydrological changes in the Northern Hemisphere.     

Multi-scale climate variability of the South China Sea monsoon: A review

This review recapitulates climate variations of the South China Sea (SCS) monsoon and our current understanding of the important physical processes responsible for the SCS summer monsoon's intraseasonal to interannual variations. We demonstrate that the 850 hPa meridional shear vorticity index (SCSMI) can conveniently measure and monitor SCS monsoon variations on a timescale ranging from intraseasonal to interdecadal. Analyses with this multi-scale index reveal that the two principal modes of intraseasonal variation, the quasi-biweekly and 30–60-day modes, have different source regions and lifecycles, and both may be potentially predicted at a lead time longer than one-half of their corresponding lifecycles. The leading mode of interannual variation is seasonally dependent: the seasonal precipitation anomaly suddenly reverses the sign from summer to fall, and the reversed anomaly then persists through the next summer. Since the late 1970s, the relationship between the SCS summer monsoon and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has significantly strengthened. Before the late 1970s, the SCS summer monsoon was primarily influenced by ENSO development, while after the late 1970s, it has been affected mainly in the decaying phase of ENSO. The year of 1993 marked a sudden interdecadal change in precipitation and circulation in the SCS and its surrounding region. Over the past 60 years, the SCS summer monsoon's strength shows no significant trend, but the SCS winter monsoon displays a significant strengthening tendency (mainly in its easterly component and its total wind speed). A number of outstanding issues are raised for future studies.     

Boreal summer quasi-monthly oscillation in the global tropics

The boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) in the global tropics is documented here using a 7-year suite (1998–2004) of satellite measurements. A composite scenario was made of 28 selected events with reference to the oscillation in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean (EIO), where the oscillation is most regular and its intensity is indicative of the strength of the subsequent northward propagation. The average oscillation period is about 32 days, and this quasi-monthly oscillation (QMO) is primarily confined to the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. Topics that were investigated are the partition of convective versus stratiform clouds, the vertical structure of precipitation rates, and the evolution of cloud types during the initial organization and the development of intraseasonal convective anomalies in the central Indian Ocean. During the initiation of the convective anomalies, the stratiform and convective rains have comparable rates; the prevailing cloud type experiences a trimodal evolution from shallow to deep convection, and finally to anvil and extended stratiform clouds. A major northwest/southeast-slanted rainband forms as the equatorial rainfall anomalies reach Sumatra, and the rainband subsequently propagates northeastward into the west Pacific Ocean. The enhanced precipitation in the west Pacific then rapidly traverses the Pacific along the Intertropical Convergence Zone, meanwhile migrating northward to the Philippine Sea. A seesaw teleconnection in rainfall anomalies is found between the southern Bay of Bengal (5–15°N, 80–100°E) and the eastern Pacific (5–15°N, 85–105°W). Local sea-surface temperature (SST)-rainfall anomalies display a negative simultaneous correlation in the off-equatorial regions but a zero correlation (quadrature phase relationship) near the equator. We propose that atmosphere–ocean interaction and the vertical monsoon easterly shear are important contributors to the northeastward propagation component of the intraseasonal rainband. The observed evidence presented here provides critical information for validating the numerical models, and it supports the self-induction mechanism theory for maintenance of the boreal summer ISO.     

Stable isotopic and geochemical data for inferring sources of recharge and groundwater flow on the volcanic island of Rishiri,Japan

An isotopic and chemical study was conducted on precipitation, spring water, streams, groundwater wells and submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to constrain the recharge areas and flow paths of SGD. The isotopic values of precipitation were used to determine the local meteoric water lines (LMWLs) of Rishiri Island. The d-excess values of precipitation showed seasonal variation, with lows of 2.5‰ in the summer and highs of 24.2‰ in the winter. The d-excess values of spring water, streams, groundwater wells and SGD ranged from 12.5‰ to 23.0‰, indicating that the resulting waters were a mix of two seasons of precipitation. The isotopic composition of the groundwater wells sampled along the coast and SGD showed more negative values than that of the spring water sampled along the coast. This indicated that SGD recharged at high altitudes and flowed into the sea. The isotopic and chemical composition of SGD indicated unidirectional flow from land to sea.