Monthly summaries of merchant ship surface marine observations and implications for climate variability studies

We compute the interannual fluctuations of the surface heat budget of the North Atlantic using the trimmed monthly summaries of the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere DataSet (COADS) for the period 1950–1979. The presence of long-period trends in the heat budget imply large variations of the northward cross-equatorial heat transport over the years. To assess the reliability of these variations, we compare the COADS climate signal to that derived from the ocean weather stations (OWSs) of the North Atlantic. The sea surface temperature, air temperature and sea level pressure show good correlation between the anomaly time series derived from the merchant ship monthly summaries of COADS, and those derived from OWS monthly summaries, except for northernmost locations during winter. In contrast, the sensible and latent heat parameters, which require simultaneous measurements of various variables, have merchant ships and ocean weather stations anomaly time series that are poorly correlated. Only in heavily travelled latitudes and during winter, when the air-sea heat exchange anomalies are large, are the merchant ship measurements able to reproduce the interannual fluctuations of the heat fluxes. The long-period trends in the surface heat budget of North Atlantic equatorward of 40° N implied by COADS thus appear unrepresentative of true climate trends. The COADS trends result from a gradual increase in the magnitude of the reported winds over the years due probably to variations in the ratio of measured to estimated winds, as well as from long period fluctuations in the near surface vertical temperature and humidity gradients. Offprint requests to: R Michaud     

Compression and coordination changes in pyroxenoids: an EXAFS study of MgGeO3 enstatite and CaGeO3 wollastonite

The evolution of the distortion of MgGeO₃ enstatite and CaGeO₃ wollastonite with increasing pressure, has been investigated using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in a diamond anvil cell. At room temperature and low pressure (P<7 GPa), the compressibility of the GeO₄ tetrahedron is higher in MgGeO₃ enstatite (K _[GeO4]∼135 GPa) than in CaGeO₃ wollastonite (K _[GeO4]≥ 280 GPa). The compression mechanisms of the two compounds are different: the whole mineral compressibility of Ge-enstatite appears to be very homogeneous, in contrast to that of Ge-wollastonite which exhibits an inhomogeneous tretrahedral compressibility. This result is consistent with the variation of the Debye-Waller factors of the two compounds with increasing pressure. At higher pressures, the coordination of germanium atoms in the two compounds gradually changes from fourfold to sixfold. For CaGeO₃ the coordination change starts at 7 GPa and is complete a 12 GPa, whereas it starts at about 8.5 GPa for MgGeO₃ and is not complete at 31 GPa. The progressive evolution of the measured Ge-O distances as well as the modification in the X-ray absorption near-edge structure indicate two coexisting different sites rather than a progressive site modification. The transformation is found to be partially reversible in CaGeO₃ wollastonite, whereas it is totally reversible in MgGeO₃ enstatite.     

Assessment of loess as parent material for agroecological potential

Due to its physical and chemical properties, areas with a loess mantle of proper thickness favour arable farming. Loess as a parent material promotes the formation of soils of good structure, nutrient supply and water budget. The ongoing land evaluation project places particular emphasis on the consideration of parent material in its scoring system as soil and climatic parameters are assessed in conjunction with the grain size composition of subsurface material and soil texture.A test area most suitable for the presentation of the method seems to be a sandy alluvial fan with loess mantle and this circumstance allows the contrasting of the agroecological potentials of soils developed on the two parent materials of different nature.The favourable water storage properties of loess make this deposit particularly valuable under the conditions of climatic aridification. The geographical information system applied here is capable of simulating the agroecological potential changes caused by reduced precipitation, increased evaporation and dropping groundwater levels.The research for this paper was carried out as part of the MEDALUS II (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) collaborative research project. MEDALUS II was funded by the EC under its Environment Progamme, contract no. EV5V 0128/0166. A grant was also provided by the OTKA (Hungarian National Science Foundation), project no 1278. The support is gratefully acknowledged.     

The role of principles and methods in loess-paleosol investigations

In the process of loessification, the development of loess fabric, the role of zonal, regional and partly of local environmental factors is regarded decisive. In the loess sequences various genetic types of loess pockets and paleosols occur and reflect different climatic and paleogeographical conditions.As a consequence, even within a single profile the colour, grain size and mineral composition, CaCO₃ content, degree of weathering and fabric of loess may vary. Zonal, regional or even local variations in such loess properties may equally derive from syngenetic or postgenetic processes. For similar reasons, spatially and temporally different forms, types and subtypes of paleosol also developed.This way, loess and soil formation resulted in various spatial types in the same glacial, interstadial or interglacial phase in the various geographical zones and regions. Although there exist major loess regions where the interglacial soils (eg brown forest soils) are markedly distinct from interstadial steppe soils or from other types of humic soils, continental loess areas can also be observed where the paleosols developed under interglacial and interstadial conditions (eg steppe or forest steppe soils) cannot be referred into different genetic types. In such cases the changes in paleoenvironments are difficult and uncertain to reconstruct.The interregional correlation of paleosols is occasionally hindered by the various terminologies applied to denote them. In addition, there are uncertainties concerning the dating and identification of paleoenvironments of polygenetic soils and of soil complexes consisting of paleosol units: how many soil formation phases they represent and how long erosional gaps can be reckoned with between these phases.     

Geochemische Untersuchung der Eisenerzooide des Doggersandsteins im nordöstlichen Bayern

Zusammenfassung Die Mineralzusammensetzung der Nadeleisenerzooide Ostbayerns aus dem Dogger wurde optisch, röntgenographisch und die chemische Zusammensetzung spektralanalytisch ermittelt. In den Ooidkernen wurden folgende Minerale festgestellt: Nadeleisenerz, Quarz, Ilmenit und seine Verwitterungsprodukte, Zirkon, Rutil, Magnetit, Hämatit, Turmalin und Granat. In der Ooidschale wurde außer Nadeleisenerz Kaolinit (10–15%) und etwas Illit nachgewiesen.Die Art der Ooidkerne, die Festlandsnähe und die geochemischen Befunde weisen auf eine exogen sedimentäre Bildung der Eisenerzlagerstätte in dem Dogger Ostbayerns hin.     

Long-term change in precipitation in southern Italy

Summary Annual average precipitation values obtained at 765 Italian raingauge stations south of the Rome parallel and in the Italian Isles, are analyzed. The analysis is extended over 18 years and marked variations in precipitation with the Zürich annual relative sunspot numbers are found. It is found furthermore that the magnitude of change appears to depend also on the average altitude of the 5 categories of stations considered.

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Riassunto In questo articolo viene fatta un'analisi sulle variazioni delle precipitazioni medie annue in base ai dati forniti da 765 stazioni pluviometriche dell'Italia meridionale, Sicilia e Sardegna, negli anni dal 1926 al 1943 incluso. Tali variazioni sembrano essere legate al numero medio annuo di macchie solari e dipendono anche dall'altezza delle stazioni.

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Contribution of the Centro Nucleazione Aerosoli of the National Research Council of Italy; Via Vettore 4 (Monte Sacro)     

Thermomagnetic analysis of magnetite parts of serpentinite samples and results of other investigations

Summary The normal type of serpentinites consists of chrysotile. The magnetite parts are essential parts of the structure of chrysotile serpentinites (primary magnetite). Chrysotile is changed to antigorite by mechanical deformations. The magnetite parts of rock structure are lost and they sat down in the veins of serpentinite rocks (secondary magnetite). In this paper the thermomagnetic diagrams and the results of X-ray investigations of secondary and primary magnetite are described. Some results of susceptibility measurements are given. The secondary magnetite is characterized by a region of oxydation in the interval 280–400° C (secondary magnetite-Fe₂O₃-Fe₂O₃). The oxydation to -Fe₂O₃ is remarkably. On the thermomagnetic diagrams of primary magnetite no typical oxydation region is to be seen. The oxydation: primary magnetite-Fe₂O₃ is very small. The interval of measured susceptibility values amounts to (10–1500)·10^–6 cgs units. The essential variability of the main parts of serpentinite samples is characterized by the great changes of susceptibility values from point to point.The determined values of specific saturation magnetization (Gauss. cm³ g^–1), the X-ray powder data, and some results on remanent magnetization are given.

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Zusammenfassung Die Normaltypserpentinite bestehen aus Chrysotil. Der Magnetit ist Bestandteil der Struktur der Chrysotilserpentinite (primärer Magnetit). Unter dem Einfluß mechanischer Deformationen geht Chrysotil in Antigorit über. Die Magnetitanteile der Gesteinsstruktur gehen verloren und scheiden sich auf Klüften ab (sekundärer Magnetit). In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die thermomagnetischen Abhängigkeiten und die Ergebnisse von Röntgenuntersuchungen des sekundären und primären Magnetits beschrieben. Es werden einige Ergebnisse der Suszeptibilitätsmessungen angeführt. Der sekundäre Magnetit wird durch einen Oxydationsbereich im Temperaturintervall 280–400° C charakterisiert (sekundärer Magnetit-Fe₂O₃-Fe₂O₃). Die Oxydation zu -Fe₂O₃ ist beträchtlich. Die thermomagnetischen Diagramme des primären Magnetits zeigen keinen typischen Oxydationsbereich. Die Oxydation: primärer Magnetit-Fe₂O₃ ist sehr gering. Das Intervall der gemessenen Suszeptibilitätswerte beträgt (10–1500)·10^–6 CGS-Einheiten. Die starke Veränderlichkeit der Hauptbestandteile der Serpentinitproben wird durch die großen Änderungen der Suszeptibilitätswerte von Punkt zu Punkt gekennzeichnet.Die gemessenen Werte der Sättigungsmagnetisierung (Gauss.cm³ g^–1), der Röntgenuntersuchungen und einige Ergebnisse über die remanente Magnetisierung werden gegeben.

     

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