The influence of physical and biological processes on the ichthyoplankton communities in the Gulf of Sirte (Southern Mediterranean Sea)

This paper reports on the first study on the ichthyoplankton community structure in the Gulf of Sirte and its spatial distribution in relation to environmental conditions and zooplankton abundance. The results make an important contribution to the future management of fisheries in this unexplored, but much exploited, area. Biological samples were collected in July 2008 using a Bongo40 net. In total, 1914 larvae were found and 1652 of these were identified. In particular, bathypelagic taxa were the most abundant, followed by demersal, mesopelagic, pelagic and epipelagic taxa. The ichthyoplankton community had a patchwork distribution influenced by oligotrophic conditions, the bottom depth and oceanographical features. The results suggest that environmental forcings were able to transport the ichthyoplankton to productive areas. Indeed, maximum fish egg densities were found in coastal stations in correspondence with the Atlantic Tunisian Current inflow, whereas larvae were mainly concentrated in the east side of the Gulf, probably as a result of advection by the anticyclonic circulation. Additionally, the distribution patterns of the total larvae density and the different assemblages were well matched with the abundance of the zooplankton, probably determining final larval survival, growth and recruitment.     

Discovery of Arundian and Holkerian faunas from a Dinantian platform succession in North Wales

For the first time Arundian and Holkerian faunas have been recognized from the lower part of the Dinantian succession in North Wales. These limestones and sandstones, hitherto regarded as Asbian, have a macrofauna and microfauna confirming their older age, and this discovery' has necessitated a revision of the palaeogeography in the North Wales region. Biostratigraphical correlations have been made with contemporaneous platform successions in the Central, Northern, and Southwest Provinces of Britain. A new genus and species of foraminifer, Groessensella moldensis, is described.     

Fate and transport of metals in H2S-rich waters at a treatment wetland

The aqueous geochemistry of Zn, Cu, Cd, Fe, Mn and As is discussed within the context of an anaerobic treatment wetland in Butte, Montana. The water being treated had a circum-neutral pH with high concentrations of trace metals and sulfate. Reducing conditions in the wetland substrate promoted bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) and precipitation of dissolved metal as sulfide minerals. ZnS was the most common sulfide phase found, and consisted of framboidal clusters of individual spheres with diameters in the submicron range. Some of the ZnS particles passed through the subsurface flow, anaerobic cells in suspended form. The concentration of "dissolved" trace metals (passing through a 0.45 μm filter) was monitored as a function of H₂S concentration, and compared to predicted solubilities based on experimental studies of aqueous metal complexation with dissolved sulfide. Whereas the theoretical predictions produce "U-shaped" solubility curves as a function of H₂S, the field data show a flat dependence of metal concentration on H₂S. Observed metal concentrations for Zn, Cu and Cd were greater than the predicted values, particularly at low H₂S concentration, whereas Mn and As were undersaturated with their respective metal sulfides. Results from this study show that water treatment facilities employing BSR have the potential to mobilize arsenic out of mineral substrates at levels that may exceed regulatory criteria. Dissolved iron was close to equilibrium saturation with amorphous FeS at the higher range of sulfide concentrations observed (>0.1 mmol H₂S), but was more likely constrained by goethite at lower H₂S levels. Inconsistencies between our field results and theoretical predictions may be due to several problems, including: (i) a lack of understanding of the form, valence, and thermodynamic stability of poorly crystalline metal sulfide precipitates; (ii) the possible influence of metal sulfide colloids imparting an erroneously high "dissolved" metal concentration; (iii) inaccurate or incomplete thermodynamic data for aqueous metal complexes at the conditions of the treatment facility; and (iv) difficulties in accurately measuring low concentrations of dissolved sulfide in the field.     

Physicochemical properties of fine aerosols at Plan d'Aups during ESCOMPTE

The physical and chemical properties of aerosol particles were investigated at Plan d'Aups, one of the ESCOMPTE sites located in the St. Baume mountain area (700 m a.s.l.), 50 km east of Marseilles (France). The site is ideally located for assessing the vertical and horizontal extent of the pollution plume from the Marseilles–Berre area.Our study showed that polluted air masses from the Marseilles–Berre area are advected to Plan d'Aups in the early afternoon. Average daily concentration of particles reaches up to 40 μg m⁻³ while 1-h average particle number concentration is greater than 30,000 cm⁻³. Most of the particle mass is composed of SO₄²⁻ and organic carbon (OC). The chemical properties of the particles revealed that an additional source, possibly from the industrial area of Gardanne, contributes to the aerosol mass. This last source is characterised by significant emissions of elements, such as Zn, V, Al and Si.In addition to transport, we found that gas-to-particle conversion takes place at the interface between the free troposphere and the boundary layer. We estimated that on average, 30% of the particle number is accounted for by direct nucleation. This is potentially a major aerosol source to the free troposphere.     

Assessing the Validity of Seismo-Acoustic Predictor Equations for Obtaining Seabed and Sub-Surface Sediment Physical Properties

The interdependence between the seismo-acoustic properties of a marine sediment and its geotechnical/physical parameters has been known for many years, and it has been postulated that this should allow the extraction of geotechnical information from seismic data. Though in the literature many correlations have been published for the surficial layer, there is a lack of information for greater sediment depths. In this article, a desktop study on a synthetic seafloor model illustrates how the application of published near-surface prediction equations to subsurface sediments (up to several tens of meters burial depth) can lead to spurious predictions. To test this further, acoustic and geotechnical properties were measured on a number of sediment core samples, some of which were subjected to loading in acoustically-equipped consolidation cells (oedometers) to simulate greater burial depth conditions. For low effective pressures (representing small burial depths extending to around 10 meters subsurface), the general applicability of established relationships was confirmed: the prediction of porosity, bulk density, and mean grain size from acoustic velocity and impedance appears generally possible for the investigated sedimentary environments. As effective pressure increases through, the observed relationships deviate more and more from the established ones for the near-surface area. For the samples tested in this study, in some instances increasing pressure even resulted in decreasing velocities. There are several possible explanations for this abnormal behavior, including the presence of gas, overconsolidation, or bimodal grain size distribution. The results indicate that an appropriate depth correction must be introduced into the published prediction equations in order to obtain reliable estimates of physical sediment properties for greater subsurface depths.     

Survival under chronic stress from sediment load: spatial patterns of hard coral communities in the southern islands of Singapore

Six reef sites were chosen along the west coasts of Singapore's southern islands, to: (1) quantitatively assess and compare coral community composition and structure, and recruitment rates, (2) assess the relationship between the aforementioned patterns and the environmental conditions, and (3) provide insights on potential processes that incorporate history at these study sites. Chronic exposure to high sediment load was the most obvious form of anthropogenic stress. Recruitment rates on ceramic tiles were low (1.4+/-1.0-20+/-14.7 recruits m(-2)year(-1)) but decreased towards the main island of Singapore as did hard coral cover and coral density. Coral fauna consisted of genera generally found in deeper waters (e.g., fungiids, foliose Oxypora, Leptoseris, and Echinopora) or those well adapted to turbid waters (e.g., Porites, Pectinia, Leptastrea, Montipora). Light extinction coefficient (K) and % live coral cover (%LCC) showed a strong and inverse curvilinear relationship (%LCC=13.60 *K(-3.40)). Similarly, the rate of sediment deposition (DFSPM) (Recruitment rate, RR=1.51-0.17 *DFSPM) and water clarity (RR=3.56-2.92 *K) exhibited strong and inverse relationships with recruitment rates. Although measured levels of the down-ward flux of suspended particulate matter and suspended solids were well within "normal" levels recorded in the literature, it was the proportion of benthic space, generic coral composition, and site history that offered compelling evidence of chronic exposure to increased sediment load. Clearly a reduction in both water clarity and live-coral cover has taken place since monitoring efforts began in the early 1970s, in fact coral cover has more than halved at all sites examined since the 1980s and benthic space was predominantly occupied by dead corals covered with sediment and filamentous algae.     

Chemical structural units of macromolecular coal components

Chemical degradations of coal resins, coal asphaltenes and coal residues have been performed with selective, non-oxidative reagents. The coal comprise samples a rank interval 0.30–1.21 %R_m. Degraded low-molecular-weight compounds were analyzed by GC-MS. The distributions of pentacyclic terpanes, isoprenoids, n-alkanes, acids and alcohols obtained as degradation products illustrate a considerable variability between the macromolecular coal fractions. A structural study on the molecular level of the degraded compounds from coal resins and coal asphaltenes show their potential to generate hydrocarbons during coalification process.     

The Cost(s) of Geospatial Open Data

The provision of open data by governments at all levels has rapidly increased over recent years. Given that one of the dominant motivations for the provision of open data is to generate ‘value’, both economic and civic, there are valid concerns over the costs incurred in this pursuit. Typically, costs of open data are framed as internal to the data providing government. Building on the strong history of GIScience research on data provision via spatial data infrastructures, this article considers both the direct and indirect costs of open data provision, framing four main areas of indirect costs: citizen participation challenges, uneven provision across geography and user types, subsidy of private sector activities, and the creation of inroads for corporate influence on government. These areas of indirect cost lead to the development of critical questions, including constituency, purpose, enablement, protection, and priorities. These questions are posed as a guide to governments that provide open data in addressing the indirect costs of open data.     

A land use/land cover change geospatial cyberinfrastructure to integrate big data and temporal topology

ABSTRACT

Big data have shifted spatial optimization from a purely computational-intensive problem to a data-intensive challenge. This is especially the case for spatiotemporal (ST) land use/land cover change (LUCC) research. In addition to greater variety, for example, from sensing platforms, big data offer datasets at higher spatial and temporal resolutions; these new offerings require new methods to optimize data handling and analysis. We propose a LUCC-based geospatial cyberinfrastructure (GCI) that optimizes big data handling and analysis, in this case with raster data. The GCI provides three levels of optimization. First, we employ spatial optimization with graph-based image segmentation. Second, we propose ST Atom Model to temporally optimize the image segments for LUCC. At last, the first two domain ST optimizations are supported by the computational optimization for big data analysis. The evaluation is conducted using DMTI (DMTI Spatial Inc.) Satellite StreetView imagery datasets acquired for the Greater Montreal area, Canada in 2006, 2009, and 2012 (534 GB, 60 cm spatial resolution, RGB image). Our LUCC-based GCI builds an optimization bridge among LUCC, ST modelling, and big data.     

Pivotal principles for digital earth development in the twenty-first century

ABSTRACT

Reductionist thinking will no longer suffice to address contemporary, complex challenges that defy sectoral, national, or disciplinary boundaries. Furthermore, lessons learned from the past cannot be confidently used to predict outcomes or guide future actions. The authors propose that the confluence of a number of technology and social disruptors presents a pivotal moment in history to enable real time, accelerated, and integrated action that can adequately support a ‘future earth’ through transformational solutions. Building on more than a decade of dialogues hosted by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), and evolving a briefing note presented to delegates of Pivotal 2015, the paper presents an emergent context for collectively addressing spatial information, sustainable development, and good governance through three guiding principles for enabling prosperous living in the twenty-first century. These are: (1) open data, (2) real-world context, and (3) informed visualization for decision support. The paper synthesizes an interdisciplinary dialogue to create a credible and positive future vision of collaborative and transparent action for the betterment of humanity and planet. It is intended that these Pivotal Principles can be used as an elegant framework for action toward the Digital Earth vision, across local, regional, and international communities and organizations.