Mechanisms controlling the air–sea flux in the North Sea

The mechanisms driving the air–sea exchange of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the North Sea are investigated using the three-dimensional coupled physical–biogeochemical model ECOHAM (ECOlogical-model, HAMburg). We validate our simulations using field data for the years 2001–2002 and identify the controls of the air–sea CO₂ flux for two locations representative for the North Sea's biogeochemical provinces. In the seasonally stratified northern region, net CO₂ uptake is high () due to high net community production (NCP) in the surface water. Overflow production releasing semi-labile dissolved organic carbon needs to be considered for a realistic simulation of the low dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations observed during summer. This biologically driven carbon drawdown outcompetes the temperature-driven rise in CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) during the productive season. In contrast, the permanently mixed southern region is a weak net CO₂ source (). NCP is generally low except for the spring bloom because remineralization parallels primary production. Here, the pCO₂ appears to be controlled by temperature.     

Grain-growth kinetics in wadsleyite: Effects of chemical environment

Grain-growth kinetics in wadsleyite was investigated using a multianvil high-pressure apparatus. Fine-grained wadsleyite aggregates were synthesized by isostatic hot-pressing and were subsequently annealed under high pressure and temperature in a controlled chemical environment. Wadsleyite samples show normal grain-growth characterized by a log-normal grain-size distribution following the relation, where n is a constant, L the grain-size at time t, L₀ the grain-size at time t = 0 and k is a rate constant that depends on temperature T and chemical environments (fO₂: oxygen fugacity in Pa, C_OH: water content in H/10⁶Si) as:

     

Evidence for the stimulation of field-aligned electron density irregularities on a short time scale by ionospheric topside sounders

Ionospheric topside sounders can be considered to act as mobile ionospheric heating facilities. They stimulate a wide variety of plasma phenomena that suggests that significant plasma heating can be produced in the vicinity of the spacecraft following the short duration (0.1 ms) high-power (hundreds of watts) sounder pulse. Most of these phenomena are sensitive to the ambient plasma conditions, particularly to the ratio of the plasma frequency to the gyro frequency . Certain stimulated phenomena only occur, or are greatly enhanced, when where n is an integer. One example is a diffuse signal return that appears at a frequency just above the Z mode wave cutoff frequency (the L = 0 condition in the notation of Stix). This signal, which is the subject of the present paper, is present only for moderately large near-integer values for (e.g., n > 3). It is a relatively short-duration echo—usually less than about 10 ms. These characteristics are quite different from the Z mode echoes often observed between or (whichever is greater) and the upper hybrid frequency . These latter echoes occur for smaller values (not necessarily near-integer values) of and are received during the entire 30 ms listening time period following the sounder pulse. They have been attributed to the scattering of sounder Z mode signals from naturally occurring electron density fieldaligned irregularities (FAI). The short-duration echoes observed just above , on the other hand, are here attributed to the ducting of sounder-generated Z mode waves in sounder-stimulated (or sounderenhanced) FAI. These FAI are believed to be generated (or enhanced) on a very short time scale (? 1 s) by the efficient absorption of sounder energy when the plasma/gyro frequency ratio is nearly an integer value significantly greater than one. The most likely generation process is the filamentation instability driven by the ponderomotive force due to the high-power sounder pulse.     

Macroalgae blooms and δN in subtropical coastal lagoons from the Southeastern Gulf of California: Discrimination among agricultural, shrimp farm and sewage effluents

Macroalgae blooms of Gracilaria vermiculophylla, Hypnea spinella and Spyridia filamentosa have been found in coastal lagoons in the SE Gulf of California. Agriculture, livestock, shrimp and poultry farms and sewage contribute anthropogenic nitrogen to the systems. The δ¹⁵N of these sources, water column and macroalgae were studied in order to identify the N supply for macroalgae blooms. δ¹⁵N of three species of macroalgae (4.3-13.6‰) were enriched compared to the water column ( 3.7-6.8‰), probably because of fractioning from the macroalgae. δ¹⁵N of POM (1.4-10.3‰) was similar to the water column but the relationship was unclear. Depending on the site, macroalgae showed different δ¹⁵N values since some sites receive more or less influence from one given source of the associated watershed, which is reflected in the different δ¹⁵N values of the macroalgae of the same system and in the relative contributions of the sources.