At the heart of the cultural approach in geography: Thinking space

The way that space is thought of is at the heart of the cultural approach in geography. The passing down of all the components of a culture depends upon the way data is aquired and processed, the results memorized or broadcast. Communication shapes the experience and the knowledge of space and time. It gives to everyone the idea that the real world is doubled by a beyond which plays a central role in social life, since it is upon such a beyond that normative thinking relies and that a significance is given to individual and social life. The spheres of lived-in and known space and time, as well as that of the beyond, vary according to available technologies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Spatial and temporal variability and drivers of net ecosystem metabolism in western Gulf of Mexico estuaries

Net ecosystem metabolism (NEM) is becoming a commonly used ecological indicator of estuarine ecosystem metabolic rates. Estuarine ecosystem processes are spatially and temporally variable, but the corresponding variability in NEM has not been properly assessed. Spatial and temporal variability in NEM was assessed in four western Gulf of Mexico shallow water estuaries. NEM was calculated from high-frequency dissolved oxygen measurements. Interbay, intrabay, and water column spatial scales were assessed for NEM, gross primary production (GPP), and respiration (R) rate variability. Seasonal, monthly, and daily temporal scales in NEM, GPP, and R were also assessed. Environmental conditions were then compared to NEM to determine which factors were correlated with each temporal and spatial scale. There was significant NEM spatial variability on interbay, intrabay, and water column spatial scales. Significant spatial variability was ephemeral, so it was difficult to ascertain which environmental conditions were most influential at each spatial scale. Significant temporal variability in NEM on seasonal, monthly, and daily scales was found and it was correlated to temperature, salinity, and freshwater inflow, respectively. NEM correlated strongly with dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity, but the relationships where different in each bay. The dynamics of NEM on daily scales indicate that freshwater inflow events may be the main driver of NEM in the semiarid estuaries studied. The variable nature of NEM found here is further evidence that it is not valid to use single station monitoring deployments for assessment of whole estuarine ecosystem metabolic rates in large ecosystems. The relationship between NEM and temperature, salinity, and freshwater inflow events could drive predictive models assessing the potential influence of projected climate change and watershed development scenarios on estuarine metabolic rates.     

Polytypie und intraspezifische Evolution bei Süsswassertieren

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Solar Flare Prediction Using Advanced Feature Extraction, Machine Learning, and Feature Selection

Novel machine-learning and feature-selection algorithms have been developed to study: i) the flare-prediction-capability of magnetic feature (MF) properties generated by the recently developed Solar Monitor Active Region Tracker (SMART); ii) SMART’s MF properties that are most significantly related to flare occurrence. Spatiotemporal association algorithms are developed to associate MFs with flares from April 1996 to December 2010 in order to differentiate flaring and non-flaring MFs and enable the application of machine-learning and feature-selection algorithms. A machine-learning algorithm is applied to the associated datasets to determine the flare-prediction-capability of all 21 SMART MF properties. The prediction performance is assessed using standard forecast-verification measures and compared with the prediction measures of one of the standard technologies for flare-prediction that is also based on machine-learning: Automated Solar Activity Prediction (ASAP). The comparison shows that the combination of SMART MFs with machine-learning has the potential to achieve more accurate flare-prediction than ASAP. Feature-selection algorithms are then applied to determine the MF properties that are most related to flare occurrence. It is found that a reduced set of six MF properties can achieve a similar degree of prediction accuracy as the full set of 21 SMART MF properties.     

Observations of longitudinal roll vortices during arctic cold air outbreaks over open water

An evolving convective Arctic planetary boundary layer (PBL) containing longitudinal roll vortices (rolls) was observed with aircraft data during the 1983 Marginal Ice Zone Experiment and the 1984 Arctic Cyclone Experiment.The PBL is observed to grow rapidly as the very cold and dry air flows off the ice over the relatively warm water. There is very large sensible heat flux, a result of the large surface-air temperature differences. Coherent structures were identified in these PBL's by use of power, coherence squared and phase spectra of the data. A systematic method of separating the rolls from organized thermal plumes was devised, based on theoretical characteristics for roll circulations and the resulting modified mean wind profile. The rapid mixing by the rolls aids in the establishment of equilibrium and an observed adiabatic modified mean Ekman layer. Rolls that form in a thermally neutral atmosphere over ice have different characteristics than those that appear in the unstable stratification over water. The rolls become increasingly more convective in character with distance from the ice edge. They have aspect ratios (wavelength/PBL height) that decrease with distance from the ice edge in agreement with linear theory. This is in contrast to the cloud street wavelength to inversion height ratio which is observed to increase downwind from the ice edge.     

Petroleum geochemistry of the Kimmeridge Clay of onshore Southern and Eastern England

The Kimmeridge Clay is considered a major oil source rock for the North Sea hydrocarbon province. The formation is also developed onshore in an organic-rich mudstone facies. This paper examines the possibility of onshore oil generation from the Kimmeridge Clay. Geochemically, onshore basin margin sediments contain rich, potential source horizons with mainly Type l/Type ll oil-prone kerogen, but are immature. Some deeper Cleveland Basin sediments have reached marginal maturity. Burial history reconstruction suggests significant formation palaeoburial depths in central areas of the Cleveland and Wessex Basins. Computed vitrinite isoreflectance contours show the Wealden and Isle of Wight Kimmeridge Clay to be thermally mature. Basin modelling suggests an early Palaeogene onset of oil generation in parts of the Cleveland Basin, while maximum oil generation could have been reached by the formation base in the Isle of Wight area during the late Cretaceous. Although basin subsidence ceased in the Neogene, in the Weald and Isle of Wight, where the formation is still deeply buried, oil generation probably continued for some time during uplift. Thus significant quantities of oil could have been generated. Whether or not this oil is present today however, would depend on the correct timing of suitable migration and trap structures.     

Calibration of an oscillating nozzle‐type rainfall simulator

Nozzle‐type rainfall simulators are commonly used in hydrologic and soil erosion research. Simulated rainfall intensity, originating from the nozzle, increases as the distance between the point of measurement and the source is decreased. Hence, rainfall measured using rain gauges would systematically overestimate the rainfall received at the ground level. A simple model was developed to adjust rainfall measured anywhere under the simulator to plot‐wide average rainfall at the ground level. Nozzle height, plot width, gauge diameter and height, and gauge location are required to compute this adjustment factor. Results from 15 runs at different rain intensities and durations, and with different rain gauge layouts, showed that a simple average of measured rain would overestimate the plot‐wide rain by about 20 per cent. Using the adjustment factor to convert measured rainfall for individual gauges before averaging improved the estimate of plot‐wide rainfall considerably. For the 15 runs considered, overall discrepancy between actual and measured rain is reduced to less than 1 per cent with a standard error of 0·97 mm. This model can be easily tested in the ?eld by comparing rainfall depths of different sized gauges. With the adjustment factor they should all give very similar values. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biological and Geochemical Record of Anthropogenic Impacts in Recent Sediments from Lake Pupuke, Auckland City, New Zealand

Frozen sediment cores from Lake Pupuke in Auckland City, New Zealand, contain a high resolution decadal to annual scale record of changing lake paleoenvironments and geochemistry that reflects changing landuse and hydrology in the catchment over the past c. 190 years. A reliable chronology is available from AMS ¹⁴C and ²¹⁰Pb dating of the sediments, with the timing of the older part of the record supported by the first appearance of pollen of introduced Pinus and Plantago lanceolata associated with European settlement of Auckland in the early 1840s. Diatom stratigraphy, sediment elemental and carbon isotope geochemistry reflect changes in sediment sources and lake conditions commensurate with European development of the Lake Pupuke catchment, in particular enhanced algal productivity controlled by the influx of nutrients after c. 1920 AD. Attempts to prevent nuisance algal blooms in 1933, 1934 and 1939 using CuSO₄ addition produced Cu spikes in the sediment that allowed confirmation of the accuracy of the ²¹⁰Pb chronology. Hence, the elemental and isotopic composition of the Lake Pupuke sediments reflect the timing of significant anthropogenic activities, rather than climatic variations, that have occurred within the watershed over the past c. 190 years. The comparison of records of land use change in the catchment with the multi-proxy record of changes in the sediments usually allowed unambiguous identification of the signatures of change and their causes.     

Understanding the fate of iron in a modern temperate estuary: Leirárvogur,Iceland

Fluvial dissolved Fe concentrations decrease upon mixing with seawater, resulting in the formation of Fe-floccules. However, a clear understanding of the fate of these floccules has yet to be established. Assessing how tidal processes affect the formation of Fe-colloids in the Leirárvogur estuary, SW Iceland, is an important step in understanding the formation and potential deposition of estuarine Fe-rich minerals within this estuarine system. The Leirárvogur estuary drains predominately Fe-rich basalt, increasing the likelihood of detecting changes in Fe-phases. Fluvial waters and local lake waters that drain into the estuary were compared and the effects of seasonal changes were considered, in an attempt to understand how varying end-members and external factors play a role in Fe-rich mineral formation. Aqueous and colloidal Fe concentrations were found to be greater towards the head of the Leirárvogur estuary, suggesting that potential Fe-rich minerals and complexes are forming at sites of fluvial input. Increasing suspended colloidal Fe towards the estuary mouth suggests that Fe-colloids are readily transported seaward.     

Experimental test of a radiative transfer model of the optical effects of space weathering

We compare laboratory measurements of the optical effects of nanophase iron on near-IR reflectance spectra of transparent silica gel infused with small iron particles [Noble, S.K., Pieters, C.M., Keller, L.P., 2007. Icarus 192, 629-642] with a radiative transfer model of the process [Hapke, B., 2001. J. Geophys. Res. 106 (E5), 10039-10074]. We find that the measurements exhibit reddening and darkening effects of nanophase (<50 nm) iron particles, a darkening effect of somewhat larger particles (>50 nm) and mixing effects of silica gel particles of varying total iron abundance. The radiative transfer model reproduces the effects of nanophase iron within the experimental uncertainties.