Ground Based FTIR Measurements of Stratospheric Species from Harestua, Norway During Sesame and Comparison with Models

Vertical columns of HF, HCl, HNO3, ClONO2, N2O, ClO and COF2 were measured at Harestua, Norway (60.22° N, 10.75° E, Elevation 600 a.s.l.) beginning on 24 November 1994 and concluding on 1 May 1995 during Phase-III of the SESAME (Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Mid-latitude Experiment) measurement campaign. The vertical columns of HCl, HNO3 and ClONO2 measured on 81 days were compared with columns calculated by the 3-D Cambridge model SLIMCAT. In addition the results were also interpreted by comparison with a photochemical trajectory model. Good agreement was seen for HCl while the nitrogen compounds showed larger discrepancies, especially for ClONO2. Evidence for chlorine activation was seen with 65% reduction of the chlorine reservoirs (HCl + ClONO2) while the levels of ClO were greatly enhanced. Interpretation of the loss with the trajectory model indicated condensation of chlorine on PSCs. The vertical column ratio of COF2 and HF was measured to 0.21 outside the vortex and a factor of two lower inside. The recovery of ClONO2 was seen to be much faster than that of HCl in the early spring.     

Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Phytoplanktons des Brienzersees

Ohne Zusammenfassung Interlaken.     

Die Verteilung des Strontiums in oberjurassischen Karbonatgesteinen der Nördlichen Kalkalpen

Several publications on the environmental control of strontium in carbonate rocks have stimulated this investigation. Samples from three lithologically different units of the marine Upper Jurassic in the Northeastern Alps are analysed for strontium (x-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption, microprobe). Reported data on Sr in Recent carbonate secreting organisms, Recent and fossil carbonate sediments, on partition between calcite, aragonite and seawater have been used for comparison with those of the Upper Jurassic carbonate rocks. Reef sediments predominantly consisting of aragonite and high magnesium calcite lost extreme portions of their original Sr during diagenesis. Some layers (Oberalmer Schichten, St. Koloman) of probable bathypelagic origin are still comparable in strontium with primary marine calcite (about 0,1 % Sr).The pattern of the Sr distribution in the investigated Upper Jurassic limestones is mainly due to different courses of diagenetic change from different primary carbonates into low magnesium calcite. The change in Sr concentrations of diagenetic solutions is a function of the type of the supporting carbonate in an closed or open system of carbonates with porous solutions and is a function of seawater- or freshwater influence on the latter. A small strontium portion of these rocks occurs in apatite crystals with abnormal sulfur contents which could be identified as fragments of fish teeth.

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Wir danken Herrn Dr. A. Schkbidbb, (Göttingen) für zahlreiche Mikrosondenuntersuchungen und Herrn A. FENMNGER (Graz) für die quantitative Bestimmung der Tonrückstände in den Kalken. Für einen Teil der analytischen Arbeiten wurde ein Röntgenspektrometer der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft benutzt.     

Le condizioni del gelo al margine meridionale delle Alpi

Summary On the strength of observations covering 50 years, carried out by four meteorological stations on the South side of the Alps, the following points were investigated: Number of days of frost, beginning and end of the frost, duration of the danger of frost or of the time free of frost, number of the days of ice, absolute minimums of temperatures in the month of frost, monthly and yearly sums of the degrees of cold. Two stations also ascertained the duration of the periods of frost and the frequency of determined minimum temperatures. A comparison with two stations on the North base of the Alps clearly shows up the special condition prevailing South of the Alps.

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Zusammenfassung An Hand fünfzigjähriger Beobachtungen von vier meteorologischen Stationen südlich der Alpen wurde folgendes untersucht: Anzahl der Frosttage, Beginn und Ende des Frostes, Dauer der Frostgefahr, bezw. der frostfreien Zeit, Anzahl der Eistage, absolute Minima der Temperaturen in den Frostmonaten, Monats-und Jahressummen der Kältegrade. An zwei Stationen wurden auch die Länge der Frostperioden und die Häufigkeit bestimmter Minimaltemperaturen ermittelt. Ein Vergleich mit zwei Stationen am Alpennordfuss lässt die besonderen Verhältnisse südlich der Alpen klar hervortreten.

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Résumé En utilisant les observations de 50 ans, faites par 4 stations météorologiques au sud des Alpes, on a étudié: le nombre de jours avec gel; le début et la fin du gel, la durée de la période avec danger de gel et la durée de la période sans danger de gel, le nombre des jours de gelée, le minimum absolu de la température pour les mois avec gel, les sommes mensuelles et annuelles des degrés de froid. Pour deux stations on a aussi déterminé la longueur des périodes avec gel et la fréquence des valeurs de la température minimale. La comparaison avec deux stations au nord des Alpes met en évidence les conditions particulières du sud des Alpes.

     

Fossil Fuel Saving through a Direct Solar Energy Water Heating System

The global warming and energy crisis is motivating the search for sustainable power sources. The objective of this work is to analyze the economic return and quantify the reduction in the emission of pollutants, when low‐cost solar collectors are used as a partial substitute for a boiler that uses fuel oil as the energy source, in order to heat water for the swimming pools of the Physical Education Center, Federal University of Santa Maria. The collectors are made from PVC and other easily acquired materials. The estimations for energy saving are based on a collecting area of 182 m². From knowledge of the collectors' efficiency, the mathematical demonstration shows a fuel oil saving of 13,174 kg, representing 24% of the total amount consumed per annum. The investment required for the construction and installation of the collectors is US$ 6,445 and the estimated useful live is five years. The internal rate of return is 30%. The emission of pollutants is reduced by a considerable amount of 41,213 kg CO₂ equivalent/year. The use of direct sun energy as an alternative power source represents a significant economic interest as well as contributing to the mitigation of greenhouse gases.     

Treatment of an ECF bleaching effluent with white-rot fungi in an air-lift bioreactor

Pulp and paper mills utilise huge amount of natural resources, inorganic and organic materials along with large volume of water in different stages of paper manufacturing, resulting in a significant volume of effluents. The aim of this work was to investigate the treatment of a bleaching effluent [effluent chlorine free (ECF)] from the cellulose industry with white-rot fungi in an air-lift bioreactor. This effluent was submitted to the biological treatment with three white-rot fungi, and, every 24 h for 120 h, analytical tests were performed to analyse the quality parameters of treatment (COD, phenols, colour, pH). Before and after treatment, the effluent was analysed as its molecular mass distribution and absorptivity in the UV/VIS. Lentinus edodes, Trametes versicolor and Trametes villosa promoted similarly significant reductions in the following characteristics: (a) effluent colour (40–44 %), (b) total phenol (30–51 %) and (c) COD (37–43 %). The UV/visible spectrometry reading of the effluent after the fungi treatment showed a reduction in the absorbance of all wavelengths between 260 and 500 nm. The size exclusion HPLC profile of the effluent was modified, and the treatment promoted changes in the intensity of the peaks associated with compounds of high and low molecular weight. Phenoloxidases were produced during the treatment. T. versicolor produced the highest levels of laccase, and L. edodes was the only fungus that produced peroxidases.     

Searching for a gas cloud surrounding the WASP-18 planetary system

Near-UV (NUV) Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the extreme hot-Jupiter WASP-12b revealed the presence of diffuse exospheric gas extending beyond the planet’s Roche lobe. Furthermore the NUV observations showed a complete lack of the normally bright core emission of the Mg?ii?h&k resonance lines, in agreement with the measured anomalously low stellar activity index (logR′ _HK ). Comparisons with other distant and inactive stars, and the analysis of radio and optical measurements of the intervening interstellar medium (ISM), led us to the conclusion that the system is surrounded by a circumstellar gas cloud, likely formed of material lost by the planet. Similar anomalous logR′ _HK index deficiencies might therefore signal the presence of translucent circumstellar gas around other stars hosting evaporating planets; we identified five such systems and WASP-18 is one of them. Both radio and optical observations of the region surrounding WASP-18 point towards a negligible ISM absorption along the WASP-18 line of sight. Excluding the unlikely possibility of an intrinsic anomalously low stellar activity, we conclude that the system is probably surrounded by a circumstellar gas cloud, presumably formed of material lost by the planet. Nevertheless only a far-UV spectrum of the star would provide a definite answer. Theoretical modelling suggests WASP-18b undergoes negligible mass loss, in contrast to the probable presence of a circumstellar gas cloud formed of material lost by the planet. The solution might be the presence either of an extra energy source driving mass loss (e.g., the reconnection of the stellar and planetary magnetic fields inside the planet atmosphere) or of an evaporating third body (e.g., moon).     

Simulating zonal scale shifts in the partitioning of surface and subsurface freshwater flow in response to increasing pCO2

Freshwater discharge is one main element of the hydrological cycle that physically and biogeochemically connects the atmosphere, land surface, and ocean and directly responds to changes in pCO₂. Nevertheless, while the effect of near-future global warming on total river runoff has been intensively studied, little attention has been given to longer-term impacts and thresholds of increasing pCO₂ on changes in the partitioning of surface and subsurface flow paths across broad climate zones. These flow paths and their regional responses have a significant role for vegetation, soils, and nutrient leaching and transport. We present climate simulations for modern, near-future (850?ppm), far-future (1880?ppm), and past Late Cretaceous (1880?ppm) pCO₂ levels. The results show large zonal mean differences and the displacement of flows from the surface to the subsurface depending on the respective pCO₂ level. At modern levels the ratio of deeper subsurface to near-surface flows for tropical and high northern latitudes is 1:4.0 and 1:0.5, respectively, reflecting the contrast between permeable tropical soils and the areas of frozen ground in high latitudes. There is a trend toward increased total flow in both climate zones at 850?ppm, modeled to be increases in the total flow of 34 and 51%, respectively, with both zones also showing modest increases in the proportion of subsurface flow. Beyond 850?ppm the simulations show a distinct divergence of hydrological trends between mid- to high northern latitudes and tropical zones. While total wetting reverses in the tropics beyond 850?ppm due to reduced precipitation, with average zonal total runoff decreasing by 46% compared to the 850?ppm simulation, the high northern latitude zone becomes slightly wetter with the average zonal total runoff increasing by a further 3%. The ratio of subsurface to surface flows in the tropics remains at a level similar to the present day, but in the high northern latitude zone the ratio increases significantly to 1:1.6 due to the loss of frozen ground. The results for the high pCO₂ simulations with the same uniform soil and vegetation cover as the Cretaceous are comparable to the results for the Cretaceous simulation, with higher fractions of subsurface flow of 1:5.4 and 1:5.6, respectively for the tropics, and 1:2.2 and 1:1.6, respectively for the high northern latitudes. We suggest that these fundamental similarities between our far future and Late Cretaceous models provide a framework of possible analogous consequences for (far-) future climate change, within which the integrated human impact over the next centuries could be assessed. The results from this modeling study are consistent with climate information from the sedimentary record which highlights the crucial role of terrestrial-marine interactions during past climate change. This study points to profound consequences for soil biogeochemical cycling, with different latitudinal expressions, passing of climate thresholds at elevated pCO₂ levels, and enhanced export of nutrients to the ocean at higher pCO₂.