The phosphoric acid leak from the wreck of the MV Ece in the English Channel in 2006: Assessment with a ship of opportunity, an operational ecosystem model and historical data

This study evaluates the ship of opportunity (Ferrybox) concept for both sustained monitoring of UK shelf sea waters and numerical model validation. Release of phosphate from the wreck of a chemical tanker (MV Ece) in the western English Channel (49.73 degrees N, 3.25 degrees W) in March 2006 is used to demonstrate the importance of sustained observations in decision support systems and policy development. The Ferrybox system continuously collects sea surface (5m) data from a suite of autonomous electronic sensors installed on a passenger ferry operating year-round between Portsmouth (UK) and Bilbao (Spain). The detection of anomalously high concentrations of phosphate (1.54mmolm(-3), four times the usual level) and onset of phytoplankton growth close to the wreck site in March 2006 was placed in the context of multiple years of measurements (phosphate, nitrate, silicate and chlorophyll) collected from the Ferrybox system (2003-2006) and the long-term time series station E1 (50.03 degrees N, 4.65 degrees W, 1930-1987) in the English Channel. With regard to decision support, release of phosphate from the tanker is unlikely to pose a threat as phytoplankton growth at the end of winter is not unusual in this region and dissolved inorganic nitrogen rather than phosphate (DIN:DIP=10-18) is likely to ultimately limit algal growth in spring 2006. With regard to policy development, the Oslo and Paris (OSPAR) commissions recommendation of sampling every three years in "non-problem areas" is likely to provide statistically inadequate data, given the interannual and decadal variability identified in the Ferrybox and E1 data: the Ferrybox data show that oceanic winter nutrient concentrations varied by 35-50% between 2003/2004 and 2005/2006 due to deeper mixing of water off-shelf in early 2005/2006 and comparisons between the Ferrybox and E1 years show that the western English Channel is currently experiencing a low in phosphate concentrations similar to those in the 1960s. The importance of Ferrybox data in evaluating the reliability of predictive operational models needed in decision support is also demonstrated, by highlighting both strengths and weaknesses in a state-of-the-art ecosystem model designed for UK shelf waters.     

Impacts of land use on the hydrological response of tropical Andean catchments

Changes in land use and land cover are major drivers of hydrological alteration in the tropical Andes. However, quantifying their impacts is fraught with difficulties because of the extreme diversity in meteorological boundary conditions, which contrasts strongly with the lack of knowledge about local hydrological processes. Although local studies have reduced data scarcity in certain regions, the complexity of the tropical Andes poses a big challenge to regional hydrological prediction. This study analyses data generated from a participatory monitoring network of 25 headwater catchments covering three of the major Andean biomes (páramo, jalca and puna) and links their hydrological responses to main types of human interventions (cultivation, afforestation and grazing). A paired catchment setup was implemented to evaluate the impacts of change using a ‘trading space‐for‐time’ approach. Catchments were selected based on regional representativeness and contrasting land use types. Precipitation and discharge have been monitored and analysed at high temporal resolution for a time period between 1 and 5 years. The observed catchment responses clearly reflect the extraordinarily wide spectrum of hydrological processes of the tropical Andes. They range from perennially humid páramos in Ecuador and northern Peru with extremely large specific discharge and baseflows, to highly seasonal, flashy catchments in the drier punas of southern Peru and Bolivia. The impacts of land use are similarly diverse and their magnitudes are a function of catchment properties, original and replacement vegetation and management type. Cultivation and afforestation consistently affect the entire range of discharges, particularly low flows. The impacts of grazing are more variable but have the largest effect on the catchment hydrological regulation. Overall, anthropogenic interventions result in increased streamflow variability and significant reductions in catchment regulation capacity and water yield, irrespective of the hydrological properties of the original biome. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Hydrological Processes. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Self‐consistent subduction initiation induced by mantle flow

Mantle circulation in planets with strongly temperature‐dependent viscosity results in stagnant‐lid convection. It is fundamental to understand how this stagnant‐lid regime can change into a plate‐like convection regime as on the present‐day Earth. Here, we use 2D numerical models to study subduction initiation from an initial stagnant lid with laboratory‐consistent parameters and without pre‐existing weak zones or kinematic boundary conditions. Our results show that subduction can be initiated dynamically as a result of a thermal localization instability. The lithosphere may deform in a stagnant‐lid mode, an un‐necking mode, a symmetric‐subduction mode or an asymmetric‐subduction mode. The asymmetric‐subduction mode occurs only for relatively large friction angles and moderate thermal ages, and the presence of heterogeneities increases the parameter space of this mode. The limited parameter space might explain why only the present‐day Earth has plate tectonics, and suggests that the initiation of plate tectonics is more difficult than previously anticipated.     

Water retention effects on elastic properties of Opalinus shale

Shales play an important role in many engineering applications such as nuclear waste, CO₂ storage and oil or gas production. Shales are often utilized as an impermeable seal or an unconventional reservoir. For both situations, shales are often studied using seismic waves. Elastic properties of shales strongly depend on their hydration, which can lead to substantial structural changes. Thus, in order to explore shaly formations with seismic methods, it is necessary to understand the dependency of shale elastic properties on variations in hydration. In this work, we investigate structural changes in Opalinus shale at different hydration states using laboratory measurements and X-ray micro-computed tomography. We show that the shale swells with hydration and shrinks with drying with no visible damage. The pore space of the shale deforms, exhibiting a reduction in the total porosity with drying and an increase in the total porosity with hydration. We study the elastic properties of the shale at different hydration states using ultrasonic velocities measurements. The elastic moduli of the shale show substantial changes with variations in hydration, which cannot be explained with a single driving mechanism. We suggest that changes of the elastic moduli with variations in hydration are driven by multiple competing factors: (1) variations in total porosity, (2) substitution of pore-filling fluid, (3) change in stiffness of contacts between clay particles and (4) chemical hardening/softening of clay particles. We qualitatively and quantitatively analyse and discuss the influence of each of these factors on the elastic moduli. We conclude that depending on the microstructure and composition of a particular shale, some of the factors dominate over the others, resulting in different dependencies of the elastic moduli on hydration.     

Uptake of Zn,Cu, Pb,and Cd by water hyacinth in the initial stage of water system remediation

The removal efficiency of water hyacinth for Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd after their entry into an undisturbed fresh water body was studied using minicosms placed within a reservoir. Variable parameters were water pH (6 or 8), single or multi-metal additions, and the plant biomass. The initial concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd in water (500, 250, 250 and 50 μg/L, respectively) quickly decreased in the order Pb ≈ Cu ? Cd ≈ Zn in the first days. Metal removal was more efficient at pH 8 than at pH 6, and it was only slightly higher for single metals compared to multi-metal additions. After 8 days the remaining amounts of metals relative to their initial concentrations for multi-metal pollution treatments were 8% and 24% (Cu), 11% and 26% (Pb), 24% and 50% (Cd), and 18% and 57% (Zn) at pH 8 and pH 6, respectively. Increasing plant biomass promoted faster metal removal. The bioconcentration factor (the ratio of the metal concentration in whole plants to the initial metal concentration in water) exceeds 2000 for all metals (with the exception of Zn and Cd at pH 6). It was concluded that the water hyacinth can be successfully used for fast removal of metals in the initial stage of water body remediation.     

Thermogenic organic matter dissolved in the abyssal ocean

Formation and decay of thermogenic organic matter are important processes in the geological carbon cycle, but little is known about the fate of combustion-derived and petrogenic compounds in the ocean. We explored the molecular structure of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) for thermogenic signatures in different water masses of the Southern Ocean. Ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry via the Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance technique (FT-ICR-MS) revealed the presence of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) dissolved in the abyssal ocean. More than 200 different PAHs were discerned, most of them consisting of seven condensed rings with varying numbers of carboxyl, hydroxyl, and aliphatic functional groups. These unambiguously thermogenic compounds were homogenously distributed in the deep sea, but depleted at the sea surface. Based on the structural information alone, petrogenic and pyrogenic compounds cannot be distinguished. Surface depletion of the PAHs and first estimates for their turnover rate (> 1.2 · 10¹² mol C per year) point toward a primarily petrogenic source, possibly deep-sea hydrothermal vents, which is thus far speculative because the fluxes of combustion-derived and petrogenic matter to the ocean are not well constrained. We estimate that > 2.4% of DOM are thermogenic compounds, and their global inventory in the oceans is > 1.4 · 10¹⁵ mol C, significantly impacting global biogeochemical cycles.     

Effect of micro‐inhomogeneity on the effective stress coefficients and undrained bulk modulus of a poroelastic medium: a double spherical shell model

Although most rocks are complex multi‐mineralic aggregates, quantitative interpretation workflows usually ignore this complexity and employ Gassmann equation and effective stress laws that assume a micro‐homogeneous (mono‐mineralic) rock. Even though the Gassmann theory and effective stress concepts have been generalized to micro‐inhomogeneous rocks, they are seldom if at all used in practice because they require a greater number of parameters, which are difficult to measure or infer from data. Furthermore, the magnitude of the effect of micro‐heterogeneity on fluid substitution and on effective stress coefficients is poorly understood. In particular, it is an open question whether deviations of the experimentally measurements of the effective stress coefficients for drained and undrained elastic moduli from theoretical predictions can be explained by the effect of micro‐heterogeneity. In an attempt to bridge this gap, we consider an idealized model of a micro‐inhomogeneous medium: a Hashin assemblage of double spherical shells. Each shell consists of a spherical pore surrounded by two concentric spherical layers of two different isotropic minerals. By analyzing the exact solution of this problem, we show that the results are exactly consistent with the equations of Brown and Korringa (which represent an extension of Gassmann's equation to micro‐inhomogeneous media). We also show that the effective stress coefficients for bulk volume α, for porosity n_? and for drained and undrained moduli are quite sensitive to the degree of heterogeneity (contrast between the moduli of the two mineral components). For instance, while for micro‐homogeneous rocks the theory gives n_? = 1, for strongly micro‐inhomogenous rocks, n_? may span a range of values from –∞ to ∞ (depending on the contrast between moduli of inner and outer shells). Furthermore, the effective stress coefficient for pore volume (Biot–Willis coefficient) α can be smaller than the porosity ?. Further studies are required to understand the applicability of the results to realistic rock geometries.     

Properties of low‐frequency trapped mode in viscous‐fluid waveguides

We derived the velocity and attenuation of a generalized Stoneley wave being a symmetric trapped mode of a layer filled with a Newtonian fluid and embedded into either a poroelastic or a purely elastic rock. The dispersion relation corresponding to a linearized Navier–Stokes equation in a fracture coupling to either Biot or elasticity equations in the rock via proper boundary conditions was rigorously derived. A cubic equation for wavenumber was found that provides a rather precise analytical approximation of the full dispersion relation, in the frequency range of 10^?3 Hz to 10³ Hz and for layer width of less than 10 cm and fluid viscosity below 0.1 Pa· s [100 cP]. We compared our results to earlier results addressing viscous fluid in either porous rocks with a rigid matrix or in a purely elastic rock, and our formulae are found to better match the numerical solution, especially regarding attenuation. The computed attenuation was used to demonstrate detectability of fracture tip reflections at wellbore, for a range of fracture lengths and apertures, pulse frequencies, and fluid viscosity.     

Low‐frequency modulation and trend of the relationship between ENSO and precipitation along the northern to centre Peruvian Pacific coast

The relationship between El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and precipitation along the Peruvian Pacific coast is investigated over 1964–2011 on the basis of a variety of indices accounting for the different types of El Niño events and atmospheric and oceanographic manifestations of the interannual variability in the tropical Pacific. We show the existence of fluctuations in the ENSO/precipitation relationship at decadal timescales that are associated with the ENSO property changes over the recent decades. Several indices are considered in order to discriminate the influence of the two types of El Niño, namely, the eastern Pacific El Niño and the central Pacific El Niño, as well as the influence of large‐scale atmospheric variability associated to the Madden and Julian Oscillation, and of regional oceanic conditions. Three main periods are identified that correspond to the interleave periods between the main climatic transitions over 1964–2011, i.e. the shifts of the 1970s and the 2000s, over which ENSO experiences significant changes in its characteristics. We show that the relationship between ENSO and precipitation along the western coast of Peru has experienced significant decadal change. Whereas El Niño events before 2000 lead to increased precipitation, in the 2000s, ENSO is associated to drier conditions. This is due to the change in the main ENSO pattern after 2000 that is associated to cooler oceanic conditions off Peru during warm events (i.e. central Pacific El Niño). Our analysis also indicates that the two extreme El Niño events of 1982/1983 and 1997/1998 have overshadowed actual trends in the relationship between interannual variability in the tropical Pacific and precipitation along the coast of Peru. Overall, our study stresses on the complexity of the hydrological cycle on the western side of the Andes with regard to its relationship with the interannual to decadal variability in the tropical Pacific. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The flares of April 1980

We discuss the spatial and temporal characteristics of X-ray flares occurring in the active region NOAA2372 from April 6 to 13, 1980. The flares are seen to extend in most cases across the whole active complex, involving several magnetic features. They originate in an intermediate bipole, between the two main sunspots of the active region, where high magnetic shear was detected. A rapid expansion is seen in some cases, in conjunction with the start of the impulsive hard X-ray bursts. We also detect, in the late phases of some of the events, a large soft X-ray structure overlying the whole active region, which also shows up as a noise storm region at metric wavelengths. These large loops cool by heat conduction but, in some cases, Hα condensations seem to appear, probably as a result of magnetic compression and a condensation mode of the thermal instability. The topological aspects of the field configuration are discussed, in the context of flare models invoking magnetic reconnection at the site of the primary energy release. In such a model, the intermediate bipole is the natural site of initial magnetic reconnection, particle acceleration and heating. In one particular case of a flare observed at the limb, we find possible evidence of particle acceleration in a neutral sheet at the boundary between two clearly defined magnetic structures.