Broadband Submillimeter Spectroscopy of HCN, NH3, and PH3in the Troposphere of Jupiter

We report measurements of the Jupiter brightness spectrum in the 850-μm and 1100-μm atmospheric windows with a spectral resolution of 125 MHz, obtained with a Fourier transform spectrometer on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Three results were obtained. First, the predicted absorption features due to the rotational lines of HCN at 266 and 354 GHz were not detected within our error limits of less than 1%. We establish new upper limits for the HCN abundance in the jovian troposphere for five assumed abundance distributions and for two assumed NH₃abundances. The upper limits are 1.7 to 13 times smaller than the abundance value obtained in the only reported detection of HCN in Jupiter prior to the impact of Shoemaker–Levy 9. Second, the continuum brightness temperature spectrum at 850 μm was determined and is in agreement with previous measurements, but has large error bars due to uncertainties in the photometric calibration. We estimate the ammonia abundance in the 1–2 bar region to be 1.7 times solar, but this result is tentative since scattering by NH₃cloud particles and absorption by gaseous H₂S were neglected in our atmospheric model. Finally, the first rotational line of PH₃at 267 GHz was not detected, a result which we demonstrate is consistent with the statistical noise level in these measurements, with current values of the spectroscopic parameters, and with phosphine measurements at other wavelengths.     

A model for the propagation of nonlinear surface waves over viscous muds

The effect of a thin viscous fluid–mud layer on nearshore nonlinear wave–wave interactions is studied using a parabolic frequency-domain nonlinear wave model, modified to incorporate a bottom dissipation mechanism based on a viscous boundary layer approach. The boundary-layer formulation allows for explicit calculation of the mud-induced wave damping rate. The model performed well in tests based on laboratory data. Numerical tests show that damping of high frequency waves occurs, mediated by “difference” nonlinear interactions. Simulations of 2-dimensional wave propagation over a mud “patch” of finite extent show that the wave dissipation causes significant downwave diffraction effects.     

Secondary school student perspectives on community resilience in Grey District

For a national competition supported by the New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers, secondary school students in years 10–13 were asked to identify and investigate factors that were building community resilience in their home areas, and the entries provided young people's perspectives on how well individuals, families and communities ‘bounce back’, adapt, change and become stronger following an adverse event. This article concerns the findings of students at Greymouth High School. Their entries showed that community resilience in Grey District depended on individual and collective capacity for action. The greater their involvement in community affairs and projects, the more likely individuals and families were to form networks and participate in communal activities. In Greymouth, as elsewhere in New Zealand, membership of voluntary organisations and participation in planning for, and responding to, catastrophic events has helped residents respond effectively in times of adversity and has enhanced community resilience.     

Non-biological fractionation of stable Ca isotopes in soils of the Atacama Desert, Chile

We measured Ca stable isotope ratios (δ^44/40Ca) in an ancient (2 My), hyperarid soil where the primary source of mobile Ca is atmospheric deposition. Most of the Ca in the upper meter of this soil (3.5 kmol m⁻²) is present as sulfates (2.5 kmol m⁻²), and to a lesser extent carbonates (0.4 kmol m⁻²). In aqueous extracts of variably hydrated calcium sulfate minerals, δ^44/40Ca_E values (vs. bulk Earth) increase with depth (1.4 m) from a minimum of −1.91‰ to a maximum of +0.59‰. The trend in carbonate-δ^44/40Ca in the top six horizons resembles that of sulfate-δ^44/40Ca, but with values 0.1-0.6‰ higher. The range of observed Ca isotope values in this soil is about half that of δ^44/40Ca values observed on Earth. Linear correlation among δ^44/40Ca, δ³⁴S and δ¹⁸O values indicates either (a) a simultaneous change in atmospheric input values for all three elements over time, or (b) isotopic fractionation of all three elements during downward transport. We present evidence that the latter is the primary cause of the isotopic variation that we observe. Sulfate-δ³⁴S values are positively correlated with sulfate-δ¹⁸O values (R² = 0.78) and negatively correlated with sulfate δ^44/40Ca_E values (R² = 0.70). If constant fractionation and conservation of mass with downward transport are assumed, these relationships indicate a δ^44/40Ca fractionation factor of −0.4‰ in CaSO₄. The overall depth trend in Ca isotopes is reproduced by a model of isotopic fractionation during downward Ca transport that considers small and infrequent but regularly recurring rainfall events. Near surface low Ca isotope values are reproduced by a Rayleigh model derived from measured Ca concentrations and the Ca fractionation factor predicted by the relationship with S isotopes. This indicates that the primary mechanism of stable isotope fractionation in CaSO₄ is incremental and effectively irreversible removal of an isotopically enriched dissolved phase by downward transport during small rainfall events.     

The photochemistry of manganese and the origin of Banded Iron Formations

The photochemical oxidation of Fe(2+) -hydroxide complexes dissolved in anoxic Precambrian oceans has been suggested as a mechanism to explain the deposition of Banded Iron Formations (BIFs). Photochemical studies have not yet addressed the low levels of manganese in many of these deposits, which probably precipitated from solutions bearing similar concentrations of Fe2+ and Mn2+. Depositional models must also explain the stratigraphic separation of iron and manganese ores in manganiferous BIFs. In this study, solutions containing 0.56 M NaCl and approximately 180 micromoles MnCl2 with or without 3 to 200 micromoles FeCl2 were irradiated with filtered and unfiltered UV light from a medium-pressure mercury-vapor lamp for up to 8 hours. The solutions were deaerated and buffered to pH approximately 7, and all experiments were conducted under O2-free (< 1 ppm) atmospheres. In experiments with NaCl + MnCl2, approximately 20% of the Mn2+ was oxidized and precipitated as birnessite in 8 hours. Manganese precipitation was only observed when light with lambda < 240 nm was used. In experiments with NaCl + MnCl2 + FeCl2, little manganese was lost from solution, while Fe2+ was rapidly oxidized to Fe3+ and precipitated as gamma-FeOOH or as amorphous ferric hydroxide. The Mn:Fe ratio of these precipitates was approximately 1:50, similar to the ratios observed in BIFs. A strong upper limit on the rate of manganese photo-oxidation during the Precambrian is estimated to be 0.1 mg cm-2 yr-1, a factor of 10(3) slower than the rate of iron photo-oxidation considered reasonable in BIF depositional basins. Thus, a photochemical model for the origin of oxide facies BIFs is consistent with field observations, although models that invoke molecular O2 as the oxidant of Fe2+ and Mn2+ are not precluded. Apparently, oxide facies BIFs could have formed under anoxic, as well as under mildly oxygenated atmospheres.     

Health and environmental co-benefits and conflicts of actions to meet UK carbon targets

Many actions to reduce GHG emissions have wider impacts on health, the economy, and the environment, beyond their role in mitigating climate change. These ancillary impacts can be positive (co-benefits) or negative (conflicts). This article presents the first quantitative review of the wider impacts on health and the environment likely to arise from action to meet the UK's legally-binding carbon budgets. Impacts were assessed for climate measures directed at power generation, energy use in buildings, and industry, transport, and agriculture. The study considered a wide range of health and environmental impacts including air pollution, noise, the upstream impacts of fuel extraction, and the lifestyle benefits of active travel. It was not possible to quantify all impacts, but for those that were monetized the co-benefits of climate action (i.e. excluding climate benefits) significantly outweigh the negative impacts, with a net present value of more than £85 billion from 2008 to 2030. Substantial benefits arise from reduced congestion, pollution, noise, and road accidents as a result of avoided journeys. There is also a large health benefit as a result of increased exercise from walking and cycling instead of driving. Awareness of these benefits could strengthen the case for more ambitious climate mitigation action.

Policy relevance

This article demonstrates that actions to mitigate GHG emissions have significant wider benefits for health and the environment. Including these impacts in cost–benefit analysis would strengthen the case for the UK (and similar countries) to set ambitious emissions reduction targets. Understanding co-benefits and trade-offs will also improve coordination across policy areas and cut costs. In addition, co-benefits such as air quality improvements are often immediate and local, whereas climate benefits may occur on a longer timescale and mainly in a distant region, as well as being harder to demonstrate. Dissemination of the benefits, along with better anticipation of trade-offs, could therefore boost public support for climate action.     

Sequence stratigraphy of the Mancos Shale,lower Tres Hermanos Formation,and coeval middle Cenomanian to middle Turonian strata,southern New Mexico,USA

Sequence stratigraphic analysis of four widely spaced outcrops of middle Cenomanian to middle Turonian strata deposited in the Western Interior foreland basin in southern New Mexico, USA, defines ten sequence boundaries in a marine shale‐rich interval ca 200 m thick. The majority of sequence boundaries are based on basinward shifts in lithofacies characterized by either a non‐Waltherian contact between distal‐bar or lower shoreface sandstone and underlying lower offshore shale, or an erosional contact between distal‐bar or lower shoreface sandstone and underlying upper offshore shale. The sequence boundaries commonly correlate basinward to packages of storm‐deposited sandstone and to beds of sandy grainstone composed of winnowed inoceramid shell fragments. In several cases, however, the sequence boundaries pass basinward into presumably conformable successions of lower offshore shale. Maximum flooding surfaces within the sequences are represented by one or more beds of locally phosphatized globiginerid wackestone and packstone or exist within a conformable succession of lower offshore shale. Following initial south/south‐westward transgression into the study area, the regional trend of palaeoeshorelines was north‐west to south‐east, although isopach data indicate that lobes of sandstone periodically spread south‐eastward across the study area. The ten sequences in the study area are arranged into a third‐order composite megasequence that is characterized by overall upward‐deepening followed by upward‐shallowing of sequences. The composite megasequence is similar but not identical to the previously established T‐1 transgression and R‐1 regression in New Mexico. Based on radioisotopic dates of bentonites, the average frequency of the sequences within the study area was ca 327 kyr, which is consistent with fourth‐order cycles of ca 400 kyr interpreted in coeval marine strata elsewhere in the world.