Fluxes of CO2 and CH4 in high latitude wetlands: measuring, modelling and predicting response to climate change

This review covers selected aspects of recent international efforts to measure and model greenhouse gas emission from northern wetlands, to identify the environmental factors that control gas emission, and to investigate wetlands'responses (particularly with respect to gas emission) to global change. Both bottom-up and top-to-bottom approaches, based respectively on local observations plus inventory of gas fluxes and inverse modelling of global circulation, agree on the size of the high latitude (>60_°N) contribution to global methane, which should be about 13% or 70 Tg/year. It has been shown that winter and spring fluxes are an essential part in the annual budget of CH₄ and especially CO₂ exchange (varying from 5 to 50%). Soil micro-organisms were shown to be able to respire during winter even at-16_°C. In comparison to aerobically respiring organisms, anaerobic methanogenic bacteria were less active in frozen soil, although they are subjected to significant stimulation by soil freeze-thaw cycles. The absence of immediate coupling of methanogenesis with plant photosynthesis implies that substrates for methane formation are derived from peat decomposition rather than from root exudation.     

Three-dimensional VP and VP /VS models of the upper crust in the Friuli area (northeastern Italy)

3-D images of P velocity and P - to S -velocity ratio have been produced for the upper crust of the Friuli area (northeastern Italy) using local earthquake tomography. The data consist of 2565 P and 930 S arrival times of high quality. The best-fitting V _P and V _P / V _S 1-D models were computed before the 3-D inversion. V _P was measured on two rock samples representative of the investigated upper layers of the Friuli crust. The tomographic V _P model was used for modelling the gravity anomalies, by converting the velocity values into densities along three vertical cross-sections. The computed gravity anomalies were optimized with respect to the observed gravity anomalies. The crust investigated is characterized by sharp lateral and deep V _P and V _P / V _S anomalies that are associated with the complex geological structure. High V _P / V _S values are associated with highly fractured zones related to the main faulting pattern. The relocated seismicity is generally associated with sharp variations in the V _P / V _S anomalies. The V _P images show a high-velocity body below 6 km depth in the central part of the Friuli area, marked also by strong V _P / V _S heterogeneities, and this is interpreted as a tectonic wedge. Comparison with the distribution of earthquakes supports the hypothesis that the tectonic wedge controls most of the seismicity and can be considered to be the main seismogenic zone in the Friuli area.     

Patterns of CO2 gas-exchange and thallus water content in Arctic lichens along a ridge profile near Ny Alesund, Svalbard

Two abundant and partly dominating lichen species, Celraria nivalis and Cetraria delisei , were compared with respect to their thallus water content and their gas-exchange response to light, temperature and moisture in the field and in the laboratory. C. nivalis had higher net photosynthetic rates than C. delisei . The differences between the species were more pronounced when photosynthesis was related to dry weight than to chlorophyll content. Light compensation and light saturation of photosynthesis increased with increasing temperature. Higher light compensation and saturation values were found in C. delisei than in C. nivalis . The chionophobous C. nivalis showed moisture compensation and optimum water content for net photosynthesis at higher thallus water contents than the chionophilous C. delisei . Depression of net photosynthesis at thallus saturation, found in both species, is thought to be due to the increased internal CO₂ diffusive resistance at high thallus water content. The maximum thallus water contents of C. nivalis were higher than those of C. delisei . The lower drying rate, found in C. delisei in comparison with that of C. nivalis , is attributed to the more sheltered position of its habitat and to morphological characteristics.     

Mg(BO2)2在MgSO4和MgCl2-MgSO4水溶液中分解的相平衡与物种化学平衡

硫酸镁亚型盐湖老卤是MgCl₂、MgSO₄的饱和溶液体系,富集了Mg、B、Li等元素。本文针对含硼水盐体系热力学难以表达的问题,开展了硼在水盐体系存在形态及其平衡关系的研究。利用易于水解的Mg(BO₂)₂作为硼源,借助拉曼光谱和X射线衍射(XRD)为检测手段,定量研究Mg(BO₂)₂在MgSO₄-H₂O、MgSO₄-MgCl₂-H₂O体系中水解硼物种转化规律。结果表明:(1)Mg(BO₂)₂在MgSO₄溶液中的水解固相为MgB₂O(OH)6、MgB₄O₇·9H₂O和Mg(OH)₂;在MgSO₄-MgCl₂-H₂O溶液中水解固相为Mg₂B₆O₁₁·15H₂O、MgB₄O₇·9H₂O、Mg₂Cl(OH)₃·4H₂O。(2)Mg(BO₂)₂在MgSO₄溶液中水解,液相硼物种主要有B₃O₃(OH)-₄、B₃O₃(OH)₅2-、B(OH)-₄、B₄O₅(OH)₄2-、H₃BO₃,其分布受MgSO₄浓度影响很大,MgSO₄浓度从0增加至饱和,B₃O₃(OH)-₄始终占总硼量的50.07%以上,B₃O₃(OH)₅2-占液相总硼从4.77%上升至37.16%为第2化学物种。(3)在MgSO₄-MgCl₂-H₂O溶液中,硼物种的主要形态有B₃O₃(OH)-₄、B₃O₃(OH)₅2-、B(OH)-₄,其分布 随[Cl₂2-]/([Cl₂2-]+[SO₄2-])变化很大,在MgCl₂和MgSO₄的共饱溶液中,分别占液相总硼量的58.91%,14.62%和12.81%。(4)液相硼物种之间平衡关系的活度商lnQ,不仅与溶液pH、水活度有关,还与MgSO₄、MgCl₂摩尔浓度呈二元线性关系,这样就可将硼在H₃BO₃-NaOH体系物种分布关系的lnQ扩展到 (MgSO₄,MgCl₂,MgSO₄-MgCl₂)水溶液的多元体系。由此获得硼物种的量化关系,可为推算硼在水盐体系的物种分布,进而计算含硼电解质溶液热力学性质提供依据。     

Determination of earthquake early warning parameters, τc and Pd, for southern California

We explore a practical approach to earthquake early warning in southern California by determining a ground-motion period parameter  τ _c   and a high-pass filtered displacement amplitude parameter Pd from the initial 3 s of the P waveforms recorded at the Southern California Seismic Network stations for earthquakes with M > 4.0. At a given site, we estimate the magnitude of an event from  τ _c   and the peak ground-motion velocity ( PGV ) from Pd . The incoming three-component signals are recursively converted to ground acceleration, velocity and displacement. The displacements are recursively filtered with a one-way Butterworth high-pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 0.075 Hz, and a P -wave trigger is constantly monitored. When a trigger occurs,  τ _c   and Pd are computed. We found the relationship between  τ _c   and magnitude ( M ) for southern California, and between Pd and PGV for both southern California and Taiwan. These two relationships can be used to detect the occurrence of a major earthquake and provide onsite warning in the area around the station where onset of strong ground motion is expected within seconds after the arrival of the P wave. When the station density is high, the methods can be applied to multistation data to increase the robustness of onsite early warning and to add the regional warning approach. In an ideal situation, such warnings would be available within 10 s of the origin time of a large earthquake whose subsequent ground motion may last for tens of seconds.