High‐precision U–Pb age and duration of the latest Devonian (Famennian) Hangenberg event,and its implications

Precise U–Pb zircon dates from three volcanic ash beds that bracket the Hangenberg Shale in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, constrain the age and duration of one of the most significant palaeobiological events of the Palaeozoic Era, the Hangenberg Event. It is linked to a terminal Devonian global shift from greenhouse to icehouse climate conditions, a global transgression, and widespread black shale deposition. Our results constrain the Hangenberg Event to between 358.97 ± 0.11 Ma and 358.89 ± 0.20 Ma, with a calculated duration of 0.05 +0.14/?0.05 Ma. A third, underlying ash bed yielded a distinctly older age of 359.97 ± 0.46 Ma. The duration of ~50–100 ka. for the event is comparable to those of Quaternary glaciations, and is consistent with both a glacio‐eustatic origin for the eustatic fluctuations and changes in ocean chemistry that led to this major reorganization of the biosphere.     

Major shoreline retreat and sediment starvation following Snowball Earth

While cap dolostones are integral to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, the current depositional model does not account for multiple geological observations. Here we propose a model that rationalises palaeomagnetic, sequence‐stratigraphic and sedimentological data and supports rapid deglaciation with protracted cap dolostone precipitation. The Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that a runaway ice‐albedo can explain the climate paradox of Neoproterozoic glacial deposits occurring at low palaeolatitudes. This scenario invokes volcanic degassing to increase atmospheric greenhouse gases to a critical threshold that overcomes the albedo effect and brings the planet back from the ice‐covered state. Once this occurs, Earth should shift rapidly from a snowball to an extreme greenhouse. However, cap dolostone units overlying glacial sediments, typically interpreted as transgressive deposits, exhibit multiple magnetic reversals indicating they accumulated in >10⁵ years. By reviewing modern post‐glacial systems, sequence stratigraphic concepts and principles of sedimentology, we suggest that cap dolostones are not restricted to the transgression but rather represent sediment starvation following a major landward shoreline migration associated with the demise of Snowball Earth. Thus, the duration in which cap dolostone accumulated is not directly coupled to the timescale of the Snowball Earth deglaciation.     

Streamflow permanence in headwater streams across four geomorphic provinces in Northern California

Mountainous headwater streams represent a substantial proportion of the global stream network. These small streams may flow episodically, seasonally, or perennially, providing diverse values and services. Given their broad importance and growing pressures on terrestrial and aquatic resources, we must improve our understanding of the drivers of flow permanence to facilitate informed land and water management decisions. We used field observations from >10 cross-sections in each of 101 non-fish bearing, headwater streams across four geomorphic provinces in Northern California to quantify flow permanence and network connectivity during the summer low flow period in 2018. At each stream cross-section, we noted the presence or absence of streamflow and used this information to classify streams as perennial (continuous streamflow in all cross-sections) or non-perennial and connected (surface water in the most downstream cross-section) or disconnected. At each cross-section, we also quantified channel size (width and depth) and grain size. We coupled field observations with geospatial data of catchment physiography, hydrology, and climate in random forest models to investigate controls of flow permanence and network connectivity. Potential drivers of flow permanence or network connectivity included in our models were channel geometry, grain size, slope, aspect, elevation, annual and seasonal precipitation, air temperature, and topographic wetness index. We found more perennial streams in the Klamath Mountains and Sierra Nevada than in the Cascades and N. Coast regions. Streams in the Klamath were the most connected followed by streams in the N. Coast, Sierra Nevada, and Cascades. The most important variables for predicting flow permanence were channel grain size, winter 2018 precipitation, and drainage area. Comparatively, the most important variables for predicting network connectivity were winter and spring 2018 precipitation, grain size, and bankfull depth. Our study illustrated the complexity of the processes that drive flow permanence and highlighted the uncertainty in projecting the precense of water in streams across diverse regions.     

Magneto-atmospheric waves from a localized source

A technique developed by Lighthill for finding the asymptotic solution of an inhomogeneous wave equation with constant coefficients is applied to the study of wave propagation in magneto-atmospheres. The geometry of the wave number surface plays an important role in determining the generation and propagation of various types of magneto-atmospheric waves from a localized forcing region. Examples of these wavenumber surfaces are exhibited for various magnetic field strengths and wave frequencies. The asymptotic far field is tabulated for a time-harmonic, spatially gaussian, localized forcing term.     

The interpretation of sunspot magnetic field observations

Magnetic field strengths and directions of the lines of force have been measured over two large sunspots in 1975 and 1976 using Treanor's method. Further refinements in observational technique reduce the effects of instrumental polarization to a small phase change, and the reduction procedure has been made more objective. The new observations confirm the existence of differences between the polarization states of the red and violet Zeeman -components in some regions of the spots. These differences, which are especially associated with light bridges and streamers, are attributed to magneto-optical effects, coupled with Doppler shifts, in extraneous material lying over the spots.     

Storylines: an alternative approach to representing uncertainty in physical aspects of climate change

Investigating the relationships between climate extremes and crop yield can help us understand how unfavourable climatic conditions affect crop production. In this study, two statistical models, multiple linear regression and random forest, were used to identify rainfall extremes indices affecting wheat yield in three different regions of the New South Wales wheat belt. The results show that the random forest model explained 41–67% of the year-to-year yield variation, whereas the multiple linear regression model explained 34–58%. In the two models, 3-month timescale standardized precipitation index of Jun.–Aug. (SPI_JJA), Sep.–Nov. (SPI_SON), and consecutive dry days (CDDs) were identified as the three most important indices which can explain yield variability for most of the wheat belt. Our results indicated that the inter-annual variability of rainfall in winter and spring was largely responsible for wheat yield variation, and pre-growing season rainfall played a secondary role. Frequent shortages of rainfall posed a greater threat to crop growth than excessive rainfall in eastern Australia. We concluded that the comparison between multiple linear regression and machine learning algorithm proposed in the present study would be useful to provide robust prediction of yields and new insights of the effects of various rainfall extremes, when suitable climate and yield datasets are available.     

Predictable and Unpredictable Components of the Summer East Asia–Pacific Teleconnection Pattern

The East Asia–Pacific(EAP) teleconnection pattern is the dominant mode of circulation variability during boreal summer over the western North Pacific and East Asia, extending from the tropics to high latitudes. However, much of this pattern is absent in multi-model ensemble mean forecasts, characterized by very weak circulation anomalies in the mid and high latitudes. This study focuses on the absence of the EAP pattern in the extratropics, using state-of-the-art coupled seasonal forecast systems. The results indicate that the extratropical circulation is much less predictable, and lies in the large spread among different ensemble members, implying a large contribution from atmospheric internal variability. However,the tropical–mid-latitude teleconnections are also relatively weaker in models than observations, which also contributes to the failure of prediction of the extratropical circulation. Further results indicate that the extratropical EAP pattern varies closely with the anomalous surface temperatures in eastern Russia, which also show low predictability. This unpredictable circulation–surface temperature connection associated with the EAP pattern can also modulate the East Asian rainband.     

Coupled Reactive Transport Modeling of Redox Processes in a Nitrate-Polluted Sandy Aquifer

The reactive transport modeling of a complicated suite of reactions apparent in the aquifer during the application of N-containing fertilizers is reported. The unconfined sandy aquifer can be subdivided into an oxic zone which contains groundwater with oxygen and nitrate and an anoxic zone characterized by elevated iron and sulfate concentrations in groundwater. Oxygen and nitrate are being reduced by pyrite and organic matter that commonly apparent in the aquifer. The oxidation of pyrite is modeled using the local equilibrium approach, whereas decomposition of organic matter, with the adoption of kinetic approach. The system is buffered by dissolution of aluminum and iron oxides. The modeling process is a two-step procedure. First, the processes are modeled in the one-dimensional (1D) column using PHREEQC code. Subsequently, the calibrated and verified data were copied and used in two-dimensional (2D) PHAST model. Prior to the performance of reactive transport modeling operations with PHAST, a reliable flow model was executed. Finally, predictions are made for the distribution of water chemistry for the year 2008. Model predicts that sulfate derived from the ongoing pyrite oxidation is reduced by the dissolved organic carbon at the higher depth and forms pyrite by the reaction with iron. The results of this study highlight the importance of understanding the interplay between the transport and chemical reactions that occur during the input of nitrate to the aquifer. Reactive transport modeling incorporating the use of a newly developed code PHAST have proved to be a powerful tool for analyzing and quantifying such interactions.     

Deriving incline values for street networks from voluntarily collected GPS traces

ABSTRACT

When producing optimal routes through an environment, considering the incline of surfaces can be of great benefit in a number of use cases. For instance, steep segments need to be avoided for energy-efficient routes and for routes that are suitable for mobility-restricted people. Such incline information may be derived from digital elevation models (DEMs). However, the corresponding data capturing methods (e.g. airborne LiDAR, photogrammetry, and terrestrial surveying) are expensive. Current low-cost and open-licensed DEM (e.g. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission [SRTM] and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer [ASTER]) generally do not have sufficient horizontal resolution or vertical accuracy, and lack a global coverage. Therefore, we have investigated an alternative low-cost approach which derives street incline values from GPS traces that have been voluntarily collected by the OpenStreetMap contributors. Despite the poor absolute accuracy of this data, the relative accuracy of traces seems to be sufficient enough to compute incline values with reasonable accuracy. A validation shows that the accuracy of incline values calculated from GPS traces slightly outperforms incline values derived from SRTM-1 DEM, though results depend on how many traces per street segment are used for computation.