When do rock glacier fronts fail? Insights from two case studies in South Tyrol (Italian Alps)

The fronts of two rock glaciers located in South Tyrol (Italian Alps) failed on 13 August 2014, initiating debris flows in their downslope channels. A multimethod approach including climate, meteorological, and ground temperature data analysis, aerial image correlation, as well as geotechnical testing and modeling, led to the reconstruction of the two events. An integrated investigation of static predisposing factors, slowly changing preparatory factors, and potential triggering events shed light on the most likely reasons for such failures. Our results suggest that the occurrence of front destabilization at the two rock glaciers can only partly be explained by the occurrence of heavy rainfall events. Indeed, antecedent hydrological and thermal ground conditions were characterized by a saturated active layer favored by a snow-rich winter and extensive precipitation in late spring and summer. Also, the rising trend of air temperature during spring and summer months since 1950s might explain the concurrent marked displacement of the two rock glaciers. Indeed, geotechnical investigations have provided strong indications that one of the investigated rock glacier fronts was at a marginally stable state prior to 2014. As rainfall events more intense than the one that occurred in August 2014 were previously recorded in the same area without resulting failures at the studied rock glaciers, we propose that both predisposing and preparatory destabilizing factors have played a key role in the 2014 rock glacier front failures.     

BIFoR FACE: Water–soil–vegetation–atmosphere data from a temperate deciduous forest catchment,including under elevated CO2

The ecosystem services provided by forests modulate runoff generation processes, nutrient cycling and water and energy exchange between soils, vegetation and atmosphere. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ affects many linked aspects of forest and catchment function in ways we do not adequately understand. Global levels of atmospheric CO₂ will be around 40% higher in 2050 than current levels, yet estimates of how water and solute fluxes in forested catchments will respond to increased CO₂ are highly uncertain. The Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) facility of the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) is the only FACE in mature deciduous forest. The site specializes in fundamental studies of the response of whole ecosystem patches of mature, deciduous, temperate woodland to elevated CO₂ (eCO₂). Here, we describe a dataset of hydrological parameters – seven weather parameters at each of three heights and four locations, shallow soil moisture and temperature, stream hydrology and CO₂ enrichment – retrieved at high frequency from the BIFoR FACE catchment.     

Spatial and seasonal variability of sediment accumulation potential through controlled flooding of the beels located in the polders of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta of Southwest Bangladesh

The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta plain within Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable to relative sea level rise (RSLR) in the world especially under current anthropogenically modified (i.e., embanked) conditions. Tidal river management (TRM) as practiced in coastal regions of Bangladesh may provide an opportunity to combat RSLR by raising the land level through controlled sedimentation inside beels (depression within embanked polders) with re-opening of polders. To date, TRM has been applied to tide-dominated coastal regions, but the potential applicability of TRM for the beels within the polders of river-dominated and mixed flow (MF) regimes remains to be assessed. We apply a calibrated 2D numerical hydromorphodynamic model to quantify sediment deposition in a beel flooded through breaching of the polder dike under conditions of river-dominated, tide-dominated and MF regimes for different seasons and applying different regulation schemes for the flow into the beel. Simulation results show considerable seasonality in sediment deposition with largest deposition during the monsoon season. The potential of controlled flooding is highest in the tide-dominated region, where sediment accumulation can be up to 28 times higher than in the river-dominated region. Regulating flow into a beel increases trapping efficiency, but results in slightly lower total deposition than without regulation. We conclude that re-establishing flooding of the beel within the polder without regulating the flow into the beel through breaching of the polder dike is a promising strategy for the mixed and tide-dominated flow regions in the delta as the sediment accumulation can raise the land surface at a higher rate than RSLR and effective SLR (ESLR). In the more upstream river-dominated section of the delta, accumulation rates would be much lower, but the pressure of sea level rise on these areas is lower as well. Owing to the abundant availability of sediment, application of controlled flooding like TRM therefore provides an opportunity to counteract the impact of RSLR and ESLR by means of land raising, particularly along the tidal river reaches in the GBM delta.     

Effects of the peat acid digestion protocol on geochemically and morphologically diverse tephra deposits

Tephra shards for electron probe microanalysis are most efficiently extracted from peat using acid digestion, which removes organic material that hinders density separation methods. However, strong acids are known to alter glass chemical compositions, and several studies have examined how acid digestion affects rhyolitic volcanic glass. The focus on rhyolitic tephra in these studies leaves considerable uncertainty, as the dissolution rates of natural glasses (including tephra) are determined by the chemical composition and surface area/volume ratio, both of which vary in tephra deposits. Here, we use duplicate samples of basaltic, trachydacitic and rhyolitic tephra to examine physical and geochemical alteration following acid digestion. Scanning electron microscope imagery reveals no discernible degradation of glass surfaces, and electron probe microanalysis results from duplicate samples are statistically indistinguishable. These findings suggest the acid digestion protocol for organic peats does not significantly alter glass geochemistry regardless of shard morphologies or geochemical compositions.     

Carbon pricing in practice: a review of existing emissions trading systems

This article analyses the implementation of emissions trading systems (ETSs) in eight jurisdictions: the EU, Switzerland, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and California in the US, Québec in Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and pilot schemes in China. The article clarifies what is working, what isn’t and why, when it comes to the practice of implementing an ETS. The eight ETSs are evaluated against five main criteria: environmental effectiveness, economic efficiency, market management, revenue management and stakeholder engagement. Within each of these categories, ETS attributes ? including abatement cost, stringency of the cap, improved allocation practices over time and the trajectory of price stability ? are assessed for each system. Institutional learning, administrative prudence, appropriate carbon revenue management and stakeholder engagement are identified as key ingredients for successful ETS regimes. Recent implementation of ETSs in regions including California, Québec and South Korea indicates significant institutional learning from prior systems, especially the EU ETS, with these regions implementing more robust administrative and regulatory structures suitable for handling unique national and sub-national opportunities and constraints. The analysis also shows that there is potential for a ‘double dividend’ in emissions reductions even with a modest carbon price, provided the cap tightens over time and a portion of the auctioned revenues are reinvested in other emissions-reduction activities. Knowledge gaps exist in understanding the interaction of pricing instruments with other climate policy instruments and how governments manage these policies to achieve optimum emissions reductions with lower administrative costs.

Key policy insights

• Countries are learning from each other on ETS implementation.

• Administrative and regulatory structures of ETS jurisdictions appear to evolve and become more robust in every ETS analysed.

• A ‘double dividend’ for emissions reductions may also exist in cases where mitigation occurs as a result of the ETS policy and when auction revenues are reinvested in other emissions-reduction activities.

     

The Quadrennial Ozone Symposium 2016

<正>1.Overview The 2016 Quadrennial Ozone Symposium(QOS-2016)was held on 4–9 September 2016 in Edinburgh,UK.The Symposium was organized by the International Ozone Commission(IO3C),the NERC Centre for EcologyHydrology and the University of Edinburgh,and was co-sponsored by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics,the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric     

黄土孢粉分析的新途径——筛滤分析法

黄土-古土壤序列在全球古气候、古环境研究中占有不可替代的重要地位,而其中的孢粉是黄土高原生态环境演化过程中保存的直接生物学证据,它对建立黄土高原降水或湿度状况的时空变化特征,认识季风变迁的过程、规律以及未来发展趋势等具有重要的意义。随着黄土研究工作的不断深入,作为直接生物学证据的孢粉研究相对薄弱。其中最困扰的因素是从黄土中提取孢粉极其困难,分析技术上始终未能找到一个突破口,因此需要一种分析效果好、快捷、成本低的分析方法以获得大量高精度的孢粉数据。筛滤分析法正是为了适应黄土研究的需要而设计的一种新型的黄土孢粉分析方法。筛滤分析法利用真空状态下的气压差使样品在水中完全悬浮跳动,样品得到充分的冲洗并促使孢粉与其它无机质与有机质分离。相对真空的状态减少了微细颗粒对极为细小的网眼的阻塞,重力作用促使水及各类颗粒不断冲击筛网,使粒径小于10μm的物质较容易被过滤到聚水容器中,而孢粉与较少的大颗粒物质则被隔离在筛网之上,这使我们很容易用重液浮选出干净、清晰的孢粉底样。筛滤分析法与常规的黄土孢粉分析相比,具有以下特点:①大大降低了分析样品的重量及药品的消耗,一般仅需样品30 g左右,是常规分析法用量的1/6~1/8。②整个分析流程短, 12个样品一个流程仅需3~4 d。③筛滤分析法使孢粉几乎全部被隔离在筛网上而丢失极少,提高了黄土孢粉研究精度。④筛滤分析法几乎不破坏孢粉的结构,孢粉底样干净、清晰。使用筛滤分析法共分析耀县全新世黄土剖面69块孢粉样品,均发现数量不等的孢粉。孢粉底样干净、杂质少,结构清楚。共统计孢粉14978粒,分属27个科属,这些科属包括了黄土高原主要的孢粉类型。从孢粉结果可以初步确定,在全新世时期,位于黄土高原南缘的耀县地区,草本植物占全部孢粉总量的93.6%,而乔木植物仅占孢粉总量的4.7%。在整个剖面中没有出现乔木植物含量超过30%,可以认为在黄土高原的全新世时期是以草原植被为主,并无森林生长。