Sources of Terrestrial Organic Carbon in the Mississippi Plume Region: Evidence for the Importance of Coastal Marsh Inputs

High sedimentation rates along river-dominated margins make these systems important repositories for organic carbon derived from both allochthonous and autochthonous sources. Using elemental carbon/nitrogen ratios, molecular biomarker (lignin phenol), and stable carbon isotopic (bulk and compound-specific) analyses, this study examined the sources of organic carbon to the Louisiana shelf within one of the primary dispersive pathways of the Mississippi River. Surface sediment samples were collected from stations across the inner, mid, and outer Louisiana shelf, within the Mississippi River plume region, during two cruises in the spring and fall of 2000. Lignin biomarker data showed spatial patterns in terrestrial source plant materials within the river plume, such that sediments near the mouth of the Mississippi River were comparatively less degraded and richer in C₄ plant carbon than those found at mid-depth regions of the shelf. A molecular and stable isotope-based mixing model defining riverine, marsh, and marine organic carbon suggested that the highest organic carbon inputs to the shelf in spring were from marine sources (55?C61% marine organic carbon), while riverine organic carbon was the highest (63%) in fall, likely due to lower inputs of marine organic carbon at this time compared with the spring season. This model also indicated that marsh inputs, ranging from 19 to 34% and 3?C15% of the organic carbon in spring and fall, respectively, were significantly more important sources of organic carbon on the inner Louisiana shelf than previously suggested. Finally, we propose that the decomposition of terrestrial-derived organic carbon (from the river and local wetlands sources) in mobile muds may serve as a largely unexplored additional source of oxygen-consuming organic carbon in hypoxic bottom waters of the Louisiana shelf.     

The Alfvén wave parallel electric field in non-uniform space plasmas

We suggest a two-step mechanism for the generation of the parallel electric field at the Alfvén wave. At the first step, the coupling with the compressional mode due to the magnetic field non-uniformity and finite plasma pressure provides the parallel magnetic field of Alfvén wave. At the second step, the compressional mode acquires the parallel electric field due to coupling with the electrostatic mode as required by the quasi-neutrality condition in kinetics. The parallel electric field acquired by the Alfvén mode is considerably larger than that due to the single-step coupling between the Alfvén and electrostatic modes in kinetics.     

Solar Cycle Signal in Geomagnetic Activity and Climate

Historical geomagnetic and climate records were analyzed to study long-term trends and relationships with solar activity. Wavelet technique and recurrence plot analysis are applied to the data to find their coherence and similarities at different times and time-scales. It is shown that the solar cycle signal is more pronounced in climatic data during the last 60 years.     

Rendering technique of multi-layered domain boundaries and its application to fluid flow in porous media visualizations

Current visualization techniques for computational fluid dynamics applications are sophisticated and work well in simple geometries. For complex geometries such as pore spaces, multiple domain boundaries obstruct the view and make the studying of fluid flow fields difficult. To overcome these deficiencies, we use two-sided materials to render the domain boundaries. Using this technique, it is possible to place the camera inside the domain and have a non-obstructed view of the surrounding flow field without losing spatial reference to the domain boundaries. As a result, a larger part of fluid flow visualization is visible. Two-sided material rendering was successfully applied to display still images with Blender Cycles renderer, in a virtual reality environment, and several implementation techniques were explored for using the Visualization Toolkit.     

On the equatorward phase propagation of high-m ULF pulsations observed by radars

An often observed and still unexplained feature of the high-m Alfvén waves in the terrestrial magnetosphere is their equatorward phase motion, in contrast with low-m waves. We suggest an explanation of this fact in terms of a model of wave excitation by an azimuthally drifting particle inhomogeneity injected during substorm activity. The azimuthal direction of the phase velocity coincides with that of the cloud. If the drift velocity increases with the radial coordinate, the particle cloud is stretched into spiral in the equatorial plane which leads to a radial component of the phase velocity directed toward Earth, that is, an equatorward phase propagation.     

Biogeochemical processes involving dissolved CO2 and CH4 at Albano, Averno, and Monticchio meromictic volcanic lakes (Central–Southern Italy)

This paper focuses on the chemical and isotopic features of dissolved gases (CH₄ and CO₂) from four meromictic lakes hosted in volcanic systems of Central–Southern Italy: Lake Albano (Alban Hills), Lake Averno (Phlegrean Fields), and Monticchio Grande and Piccolo lakes (Mt. Vulture). Deep waters in these lakes are characterized by the presence of a significant reservoir of extra-atmospheric dissolved gases mainly consisting of CH₄ and CO₂. The δ¹³C-CH₄ and δD-CH₄ values of dissolved gas samples from the maximum depths of the investigated lakes (from ?66.8 to ?55.6?‰ V-PDB and from ?279 to ?195?‰ V-SMOW, respectively) suggest that CH₄ is mainly produced by microbial activity. The δ¹³C-CO₂ values of Lake Grande, Lake Piccolo, and Lake Albano (ranging from ?5.8 to ?0.4?‰ V-PDB) indicate a significant CO₂ contribution from sublacustrine vents originating from (1) mantle degassing and (2) thermometamorphic reactions involving limestone, i.e., the same CO₂ source feeding the regional thermal and cold CO₂-rich fluid emissions. In contrast, the relatively low δ¹³C-CO₂ values (from ?13.4 to ?8.2?‰ V-PDB) of Lake Averno indicate a prevalent organic CO₂. Chemical and isotopic compositions of dissolved CO₂ and CH₄ at different depths are mainly depending on (1) CO₂ inputs from external sources (hydrothermal and/or anthropogenic); (2) CO₂–CH₄ isotopic exchange; and (3) methanogenic and methanotrophic activity. In the epilimnion, vertical water mixing, free oxygen availability, and photosynthesis cause the dramatic decrease of both CO₂ and CH₄ concentrations. In the hypolimnion, where the δ¹³C-CO₂ values progressively increase with depth and the δ¹³C-CH₄ values show an opposite trend, biogenic CO₂ production from CH₄ using different electron donor species, such as sulfate, tend to counteract the methanogenesis process whose efficiency achieves its climax at the water–bottom sediment interface. Theoretical values, calculated on the basis of δ¹³C-CO₂ values, and measured δ¹³C_TDIC values are not consistent, indicating that CO₂ and the main carbon-bearing ion species (HCO₃ ^?) are not in isotopic equilibrium, likely due to the fast kinetics of biochemical processes involving both CO₂ and CH₄. This study demonstrates that the vertical patterns of the CO₂/CH₄ ratio and of δ¹³C-CO₂ and δ¹³C-CH₄ are to be regarded as promising tools to detect perturbations, related to different causes, such as changes in the CO₂ input from sublacustrine springs, that may affect aerobic and anaerobic layers of meromictic volcanic lakes.     

TESSIN VISLab—laboratory for scientific visualization

Scientific visualization is an integral part of the modeling workflow, enabling researchers to understand complex or large data sets and simulation results. A high-resolution stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) environment further enhances the possibilities of visualization. Such an environment also allows collaboration in work groups including people of different backgrounds and to present results of research projects to stakeholders or the public. The requirements for the computing equipment driving the VR environment demand specialized software applications which can be run in a parallel fashion on a set of interconnected machines. Another challenge is to devise a useful data workflow from source data sets onto the display system. Therefore, we develop software applications like the OpenGeoSys Data Explorer, custom data conversion tools for established visualization packages such as ParaView and Visualization Toolkit as well as presentation and interaction techniques for 3D applications like Unity. We demonstrate our workflow by presenting visualization results for case studies from a broad range of applications. An outlook on how visualization techniques can be deeply integrated into the simulation process is given and future technical improvements such as a simplified hardware setup are outlined.     

Impacts of frontal stability and topography on cross-shelf exchange in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

The shelfbreak wintertime thermal front in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico often exhibits meandering, eddy formation and warm-water intrusion. A high level of frontal variability plays an essential role in exchange processes across the shelf. This study examines the impacts of local frontal instability and bottom topography on turbulent heat exchange across the front using the results of two numerical models. Analysis of a series of numerical experiments reveals that the flow is baroclinically unstable. Predicted frontal instability contributes significantly to cross-frontal exchange and accounts for about 35% of the total eddy heat flux. Onshore eddy heat flux has the highest intensity at the frontal position. In addition, eddy activity and heat flux are sensitive to variation of bottom topography. For topographic features and frontal characteristics that are typical of the area, bottom steepness enhances the flux and is nearly proportional to the cross-frontal heat exchange. The study attempts to explain physical mechanisms that drive frontal circulation in the area and to quantify heat transport across the shelf. Estimated heat fluxes can provide important information for climate and ecosystem modeling of the Mississippi Bight.     

Mass, Heat and Salt Balances in the Eastern Barents Sea Obtained by Inversion of Hydrographic Section Data

Standard hydrological section data, collected in the eastern Barents Sea in September 1997, have been analyzed using a variational data assimilation technique. This method allows us to obtain temperature, salinity and velocity fields that are consistent with observations and dynamically balanced within the framework of a steady-state model describing large-scale nearly geostrophic circulation. Error bars of the optimized fields are computed by explicit inversion of the Hessian matrix. The optimized velocity field is in agreement with independent velocity observations derived from surface drifter trajectories in the southwestern part of the Barents Sea. Optimized fields provide the following estimates of integral characteristics of the circulation in the region: i) the North Cape current transport is 2.12 ± 0.25 Sv; ii) the Karskie Vorota Strait throughflow is 0.7 ± 0.06 Sv; iii) heat flux with Atlantic water is 4.7 ± 0.16⋅10¹¹ W; iv) salt import from the Atlantic Ocean is 7.41 ± 0.46⋅10³ kg/s. The imbalance of the heat budget in the eastern part of the Barents Sea indicates the presence of statistically insignificant surface heat fluxes which are less than 1 W/m². This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.