Molecular characterization of dissolved organic matter in pore water of continental shelf sediments

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in sediment pore water is a complex molecular mixture reflecting various sources and biogeochemical processes. In order to constrain those sources and processes, molecular variations of pore water DOM in surface sediments from the NW Iberian shelf were analyzed by ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and compared to river and marine water column DOM. Weighted average molecular element ratios of oxygen to carbon ((O/C)_wa) and hydrogen to carbon ((H/C)_wa) provided general information about DOM sources. DOM in local rivers was more oxygenated ((O/C)_wa 0.52) and contained less hydrogen ((H/C)_wa 1.15) than marine pore water DOM (mean (O/C)_wa 0.50, mean (H/C)_wa 1.26). The relative abundance of specific compound groups, such as highly oxygenated aromatic compounds or nitrogen-bearing compounds with low H/C ratios, correspond to a high concentration of lignin phenols (160 μg/g sediment dry weight) and a high TOC/TN ratio (13.3) in the sedimentary organic matter and were therefore assigned to terrestrial sources. The lower degree of unsaturation and a higher relative abundance of nitrogen-bearing compounds in the pore water DOM reflected microbial activity within the sediment. One sampling site on the shelf with a high sediment accumulation, and a humic-rich river sample showed a wide range of sulfur compounds in the DOM, accompanied by a higher abundance of lipid biomarkers for sulfate-reducing bacteria, probably indicating early diagenetic sulfurization of organic matter.     

Aggradation and carbonate accumulation of Holocene Norwegian cold‐water coral reefs

Cold‐water coral ecosystems present common carbonate factories along the Atlantic continental margins, where they can form large reef structures. There is increasing knowledge on their ecology, molecular genetics, environmental controls and threats available. However, information on their carbo‐nate production and accumulation is still very limited, even though this information is essential for their evaluation as carbonate sinks. The aim of this study is to provide high‐resolution reef aggradation and carbonate accumulation rates for Norwegian cold‐water coral reefs from various settings (sunds, inner shelf and shelf margin). Furthermore, it introduces a new approach for the evaluation of the cold‐water coral preservation within cold‐water coral deposits by computed tomography analysis. This approach allows the differentiation of various kinds of cold‐water coral deposits by their macrofossil clast size and orientation signature. The obtained results suggest that preservation of cold‐water coral frameworks in living position is favoured by high reef aggradation rates, while preservation of coral rubble prevails by moderate aggradation rates. A high degree of macrofossil fragmentation indicates condensed intervals or unconformities. The observed aggradation rates with up to 1500 cm kyr^?1 exhibit the highest rates from cold‐water coral reefs so far. Reef aggradation within the studied cores was restricted to the Early and Late Holocene. Available datings of Norwegian cold‐water corals support this age pattern for other fjords while, on the shelf, cold‐water coral ages are reported additionally from the early Middle Holocene. The obtained mean carbonate accumulation rates of up to 103 g cm^?2 kyr^?1 exceed previous estimates of cold‐water coral reefs by a factor of two to three and by almost one order of magnitude to adjacent sedimentary environments (shelf, slope and deep sea). Only fjord basins locally exhibit carbonate accumulation rates in the range of the cold‐water coral reefs. Furthermore, cold‐water coral reef carbonate accumulation rates are in the range of tropical reef carbonate accumulation rates. These results clearly suggest the importance of cold‐water coral reefs as local, maybe regional to global, carbonate sinks.     

Regional- and district-level drivers of timber harvesting in European Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the forestry sector in Russia underwent substantial changes: the state forestry sector was decentralized, the timber industry was privatized, and timber use rights were allocated through short- and long-term leases. To date, there has been no quantitative assessment of the drivers of timber harvesting in European Russia following these changes. In this paper we estimate an econometric model of timber harvesting using remote sensing estimations of forest disturbance from 1990–2000 to 2000–2005 as our dependent variable. We aggregate forest disturbance to administrative districts – equivalent to counties in the United States – and test the impact of several biophysical and economic factors on timber harvesting. Additionally, we examine the impact that regions – equivalent to states in the United States and the main level of decentralized governance in Russia – have on timber harvesting by estimating the influence of regional-level effects on forest disturbance in our econometric model. Russian regions diverged considerably in political and economic conditions after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the question is if these variations impacted timber harvesting after controlling for district-level biophysical and economic drivers. We find that the most important drivers of timber harvesting at the district level are road density, the percent of evergreen forest, and the total area of forest. The influence of these variables on timber harvesting changed over time and there was more harvesting closer to urban areas in 2000–2005. Even though district-level variables explain more than 70 percent of the variation in forest disturbance in our econometric model, we find that regional-level effects remain statistically significant. While we cannot identify the exact mechanism through which regional-level effects impact timber harvesting, our results suggest that sub-national differences can have a large and statistically significant impact on land-use outcomes and should be considered in policy design and evaluation.     

An Attempt to Close the Daytime Surface Energy Balance Using Spatially-Averaged Flux Measurements

Single-tower eddy-covariance measurements represent the complete surface flux of a scalar only under idealized conditions. Therefore, we often find an underestimation of energy fluxes expressed as a lack of energy balance closure at many sites. In this study, a multi-tower approach to measure atmospheric energy fluxes based on spatial averaging is evaluated and possible mechanisms causing a lack of energy balance closure are analysed, focussing on daytime data only. It is shown that the multi-tower technique is also unable to measure the entire flux for our site, likely because the assumption of horizontal homogeneity is violated. Heterogeneity-induced and buoyancy-driven quasi-stationary circulations are probably the dominant processes causing the underestimation of energy fluxes. A dependence of the energy balance residual on stability is found, with residuals close to zero for stable stratification, a maximum under unstable to near-neutral conditions and still relatively large residuals for stronger instability. Assuming the processes transporting energy and CO₂ are similar, the implications on long-term CO₂ flux measurements are analysed. Accordingly, the resulting selective systematic error of cumulative net ecosystem exchange estimates for agricultural regions such as ours can be of the order of more than 100%, since mainly the fluxes during periods of net CO₂ uptake are underestimated while periods of net CO₂ release are much less affected by this bias. Further investigations about this issue are highly warranted.     

Extension of the Averaging Time in Eddy-Covariance Measurements and Its Effect on the Energy Balance Closure

The modified ogive analysis and the block ensemble average were employed to investigate the impact of the averaging time extension on the energy balance closure over six land-use types. The modified ogive analysis, which requires a steady-state condition, can extend the averaging time up to a few hours and suggests that an averaging time of 30 min is still overall sufficient for eddy-covariance measurements over low vegetation. The block ensemble average, which does not require a steady-state condition, can extend the averaging time to several days. However, it can improve the energy balance closure for some sites during specific periods, when secondary circulations exist in the vicinity of the sensor. These near-surface secondary circulations mainly transport sensible heat, and when near-ground warm air is transported upward, the sensible heat flux observed by the block ensemble average will increase at longer averaging times. These findings suggest an alternative energy balance correction for a ground-based eddy-covariance measurement, in which the attribution of the residual depends on the ratio of sensible heat flux to the buoyancy flux. The fraction of the residual attributed to the sensible heat flux by this energy balance correction is larger than in the energy balance correction that preserves the Bowen ratio.     

Consistency of observed near surface temperature trends with climate change projections over the Mediterranean region

We examine the possibility that anthropogenic forcing (Greenhouse gases and Sulfate aerosols, GS) is a plausible explanation for the observed near-surface temperature trends over the Mediterranean area. For this purpose, we compare annual and seasonal observed trends in near-surface temperature over the period from 1980 to 2009 with the response to GS forcing estimated from 23 models derived from CMIP3 database. We find that there is less than a 5% chance that natural (internal) variability is responsible for the observed annual and seasonal area-mean warming except in winter. Using additionally two pattern similarity statistics, pattern correlation and regression, we find that the large-scale component (spatial-mean) of the GS signal is detectable (at 2.5% level) in all seasons except in winter. In contrast, we fail to detect the small-scale component (spatial anomalies about the mean) of GS signal in observed trend patterns. Further, we find that the recent trends are significantly (at 2.5% level) consistent with all the 23 GS patterns, except in summer and spring, when 9 and 5 models respectively underestimate the observed warming. Thus, we conclude that GS forcing is a plausible explanation for the observed warming in the Mediterranean region. Consistency of observed trends with climate change projections indicates that present trends may be understood of what will come more so in the future, allowing for a better communication of the societal challenges to meet in the future.     

Combined geological and gravimetric mapping and modelling for an improved understanding of observed high-resolution gravity variations: a case study for the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) station Moxa, Germany

Geodynamic observatories around the globe continuously monitor signals like gravity, tilt and strain as a function of time. However, global signals are often masked by local effects, caused by the direct surroundings of the station, including the local geological setting. This link is well established for superconducting gravimeters (SG) that observe the gravity field variations at very high resolution. An enhancement of the SG time series by the application of local correction is exemplarily shown here in a very practicable procedure for the Geodynamic Observatory Moxa, Germany. We show how the combination of geological and gravimetrical mapping and modelling around Moxa results in a significant correction of the original gravity data, as can be proven by comparison with the satellite-derived gravity field. Detailed geological mapping of the observatory surroundings, including measurements of fold axes, foliations and joints, was the basis of the present study. The fold structure in the area of interest was interpreted by geometrical 3D modelling. The complete representation of different rock types in space also provides a better understanding of the local hydro-geological situation. Using a combination of the 3D geological model with the high-resolution Bouguer map of the observatory surroundings, we developed a 3D density model. This model enables the correction of small gravity effects caused by mass variations close to the SG, in particular local hydro-geological mass changes. Thus, the procedure presented here, based on a close connection of geology and gravimetry, is a powerful tool for the reduction of local gravity effects on SG recordings. It should be applicable to SG stations worldwide, where similar hydrologically driven mass changes can be assumed.