Factors Controlling Total Concentration and Aqueous Speciation of Aluminium in an Acidic Headwater Stream of the Bavarian Forest National Park: a Modelling Approach

The purpose of the present paper is to analyse factors controlling total concentration and aqueous speciation of aluminium in the Große Ohe River, using a thermodynamic equilibrium model and a mixing approach. A model compound for humic substances is derived on the basis of the relation between anion deficit and the organic carbon content in the river as well as literature data. An equilibrium speciation model for aluminium is set up, considering this model compound and relevant inorganic solutes. Although the model cannot be verified directly, its results may be viewed as qualitatively correct. Applying the model to measured stream water samples highlights that aqueous speciation of aluminium is mainly controlled by the pH value and discharge and that free aluminium concentrations reach clearly toxic levels during acidic episodes. Comparing measured concentrations of sulfate and H⁺ and calculated concentrations of Al³⁺ with solubility curves of gibbsite like minerals and jurbanite clearly shows that total aluminium concentrations are not controlled by equilibria with these mineral phases alone. The observed relationship can be better explained from a mixture of two distinct waters, representing lowflow and highflow chemistry, and the resulting equilibrium concentrations. This indicates that total aluminium concentration, in particular during high discharge events, is mainly controlled by the mixture of waters with differing chemistry and flowpaths.     

Diagnosing southeast tropical Atlantic SST and ocean circulation biases in the CMIP5 ensemble

Warm sea-surface temperature (SST) biases in the southeastern tropical Atlantic (SETA), which is defined by a region from 5°E to the west coast of southern Africa and from 10°S to 30°S, are a common problem in many current and previous generation climate models. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) ensemble provides a useful framework to tackle the complex issues concerning causes of the SST bias. In this study, we tested a number of previously proposed mechanisms responsible for the SETA SST bias and found the following results. First, the multi-model ensemble mean shows a positive shortwave radiation bias of ~20 W m^?2, consistent with models’ deficiency in simulating low-level clouds. This shortwave radiation error, however, is overwhelmed by larger errors in the simulated surface turbulent heat and longwave radiation fluxes, resulting in excessive heat loss from the ocean. The result holds for atmosphere-only model simulations from the same multi-model ensemble, where the effect of SST biases on surface heat fluxes is removed, and is not sensitive to whether the analysis region is chosen to coincide with the maximum warm SST bias along the coast or with the main SETA stratocumulus deck away from the coast. This combined with the fact that there is no statistically significant relationship between simulated SST biases and surface heat flux biases among CMIP5 models suggests that the shortwave radiation bias caused by poorly simulated low-level clouds is not the leading cause of the warm SST bias. Second, the majority of CMIP5 models underestimate upwelling strength along the Benguela coast, which is linked to the unrealistically weak alongshore wind stress simulated by the models. However, a correlation analysis between the model simulated vertical velocities and SST biases does not reveal a statistically significant relationship between the two, suggesting that the deficient coastal upwelling in the models is not simply related to the warm SST bias via vertical heat advection. Third, SETA SST biases in CMIP5 models are correlated with surface and subsurface ocean temperature biases in the equatorial region, suggesting that the equatorial temperature bias remotely contributes to the SETA SST bias. Finally, we found that all CMIP5 models simulate a southward displaced Angola–Benguela front (ABF), which in many models is more than 10° south of its observed location. Furthermore, SETA SST biases are most significantly correlated with ABF latitude, which suggests that the inability of CMIP5 models to accurately simulate the ABF is a leading cause of the SETA SST bias. This is supported by simulations with the oceanic component of one of the CMIP5 models, which is forced with observationally derived surface fluxes. The results show that even with the observationally derived surface atmospheric forcing, the ocean model generates a significant warm SST bias near the ABF, underlining the important role of ocean dynamics in SETA SST bias problem. Further model simulations were conducted to address the impact of the SETA SST biases. The results indicate a significant remote influence of the SETA SST bias on global model simulations of tropical climate, underscoring the importance and urgency to reduce the SETA SST bias in global climate models.     

Moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin and its response to North Atlantic cooling and global warming

Atmospheric moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin plays an important role in regulating North Atlantic salinity and thus the strength of the thermohaline circulation. Potential changes in the strength of this moisture transport are investigated for two different climate-change scenarios: North Atlantic cooling representative of Heinrich events, and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing. The effect of North Atlantic cooling is studied using a coupled regional model with comparatively high resolution that successfully simulates Central American gap winds and other important aspects of the region. Cooler North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) in this model leads to a regional decrease of atmospheric moisture but also to an increase in wind speed across Central America via an anomalous pressure gradient. The latter effect dominates, resulting in a 0.13 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³ s^?1) increase in overall moisture transport to the Pacific basin. In fresh water forcing simulations with four different general circulation models, the wind speed effect is also present but not strong enough to completely offset the effect of moisture decrease except in one model. The influence of GHG forcing is studied using simulations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change archive. In these simulations atmospheric moisture increases globally, resulting in an increase of moisture transport by 0.25 Sv from the Atlantic to Pacific. Thus, in both scenarios, moisture transport changes act to stabilize the thermohaline circulation. The notion that the Andes effectively block moisture transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin is not supported by the simulations and atmospheric reanalyses examined here. This indicates that such a blocking effect does not exist or else that higher resolution is needed to adequately represent the steep orography of the Andes.     

Tropical Atlantic biases and their relation to surface wind stress and terrestrial precipitation

Most coupled general circulation models (GCMs) perform poorly in the tropical Atlantic in terms of climatological seasonal cycle and interannual variability. The reasons for this poor performance are investigated in a suite of sensitivity experiments with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) coupled GCM. The experiments show that a significant portion of the equatorial SST biases in the model is due to weaker than observed equatorial easterlies during boreal spring. Due to these weak easterlies, the tilt of the equatorial thermocline is reduced, with shoaling in the west and deepening in the east. The erroneously deep thermocline in the east prevents cold tongue formation in the following season despite vigorous upwelling, thus inhibiting the Bjerknes feedback. It is further shown that the surface wind errors are due, in part, to deficient precipitation over equatorial South America and excessive precipitation over equatorial Africa, which already exist in the uncoupled atmospheric GCM. Additional tests indicate that the precipitation biases are highly sensitive to land surface conditions such as albedo and soil moisture. This suggests that improving the representation of land surface processes in GCMs offers a way of improving their performance in the tropical Atlantic. The weaker than observed equatorial easterlies also contribute remotely, via equatorial and coastal Kelvin waves, to the severe warm SST biases along the southwest African coast. However, the strength of the subtropical anticyclone and along-shore winds also play an important role.     

A new view of martian evolution

Conventional evolutionary models for Mars adopt a dry mantle solidus. Taking into account the condensation conditions in the preplanetary nebula in the accretion zone of Mars, it can be concluded that large amounts of water or hydrated silicates have condensed in those regions. Therefore, water influences significantly the melting behaviour and the viscosity of the silicatic material. A model for the calculation of the thermal history of a planet is constructed. On this basis, and use of water — saturated solidus — it is possible to derive that the core is not liquid, as given in models employing a dry mantle solidus, but solid to a large extent, which prevents the operation of a large-scale dynamo and explains in that way the lack of a magnetic field. With these assumptions one can construct a possible evolutionary scheme that covers early crust differentiation, a hot thermal past and the missing magnetic field at present.     

Acoustic backscatter and sediment textural properties of inner shelf sands,northeastern Gulf of Mexico

The relationship between spatial variations of the properties of sea-floor sediments and acoustic backscatter from the surface of the sea floor on the continental shelf off of Panama City, Florida, USA, is investigated using surficial sediment grab samples and digital side-scan sonar data. Acoustic backscatter strength has a high, direct correlation with the mean grain size of the sediments. Acoustic backscatter strength also correlates directly with the carbonate content of the sediments, particularly in medium-and coarse-sand facies, because large, irregularly shaped, carbonate particles affect both the mean grain size of the sediments and the roughness of the surface of the sea floor.     

The Aegir Rift: Crustal Structure of an Extinct Spreading Axis

Two seismic refraction and gravity lines were obtained along and normal to the axis of the Aegir Rift, an extinct spreading centre in the Norway Basin. Velocity-depth solutions and crustal structure models are derived from ocean-bottom records using two-dimensional ray tracing and synthetic seismogram modelling techniques. Gravity data are used to generate models consistent with the lateral variations in thickness of the layers in the crustal models. The resulting models require considerable degree of lateral inhomogeneity along and perpendicular to the rift axis. Crust within the extinct spreading centre is found to be thinner and of low P-wave velocity when compared with the crust sampled off-axis. To explain reduced velocities of the lower crust we suggest that, due to the relationship between fracturing and seismic velocity, the decreasing spreading rate leading up to extinction let the mechanically strong layer thicken, so that faulting and fracturing extended to greater depths . Low velocities are also observed in the uppermost mantle underlying the extinct spreading ridge. This zone is attributed to hydrothermal alteration of upper mantle peridotites. Furthermore, after spreading ceased 32-26 my ago, ongoing passive hydrothermal circulation was accompanied by the precipitation of alteration products in open void spaces, thereby decreasing the porosity and increasing the velocity. Consequently the typical low velocities of layer 2 found at active mid-ocean ridges have been replaced by values typical of mature oceanic crust.