Hydrogen peroxide concentrations in the Peru upwelling area

The concentration of hydrogen peroxide was measured in waters off the coast of Peru during June and July 1983. The study period coincided with the end of the 1982/83 El Niño and the onset of coastal upwelling. Depth profiles of hydrogen peroxide concentration exhibit surface maxima and decrease with depth to the base of the mixed layer. Surface peroxide concentrations ranged from 0.8 to 5 × 10^?8 M. Below the mixed layer hydrogen peroxide was below the detection limit (5 × 10^?9 M). Diel variations were observed, with surface peroxide levels increasing during the day and decreasing at night. The nearshore station exhibited lower hydrogen peroxide concentrations than offshore stations, a reversal of the trend found in other coastal regions. This is attributed to the lack of coastal vegetation and runoff, and to active coastal upwelling of deeper water with low hydrogen peroxide concentrations.     

Spatial and temporal variation in evapotranspiration using Raman lidar

The Los Alamos Raman lidar has been used to make high resolution (25 m) estimates of the evapotranspiration rate over adjacent corn and soybean canopies. The lidar makes three-dimensional measurements of the water vapor content of the atmosphere directly above the canopy that are inverted using Monin–Obukhov similarity theory. This may be used to examine the relationship between evapotranspiration and surface moisture/soil type. Lidar estimates of evapotranspiration reveal a high degree of spatial variability over corn and soybean fields that may be associated with small elevation changes in the area. The spatial structure of the variability is characterized using a structure function and correlation function approach. The power law relationship found by other investigators for soil moisture is not clear in the data for evapotranspiration, nor is the data a straight line over the measured lags. The magnitude of the structure function and the slope changes with time of day, with a probable connection to the amount of evapotranspiration and the spatial variability of the water vapor source. The data used was taken during the soil moisture–atmosphere coupling experiment (SMACEX) conducted in the Walnut Creek Watershed near Ames, Iowa in June and July 2002.     

Resolving archaeological populations with Sr-isotope mixing models

Strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel is a useful provenancing technique to investigate the childhood origins and residential mobility of ancient people. However, where different geographical target regions have similar biosphere ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr it is often difficult to resolve the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ranges of two different groups of people and establish what constitutes the local range at each site. Here a multi-period study is presented from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland and an investigation of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age populations from the Yorkshire Wolds, NE England. The aim is to demonstrate that, despite complex human dietary strategies, simple mixing systems with only two end-members do occur in archaeological human populations in certain geological provinces and, despite overlapping ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ranges, it is possible to separate two populations based on the structure within the data set.     

NIMBY localism and national inequitable exclusion alliances: The case of syringe exchange programs in the United States

Syringe exchange programs (SEPs) aim to reduce the harm associated with injection drug use (IDU). Although they have been accepted as critical components of HIV prevention in many parts of the world, they are often unwelcome and difficult to set up and maintain, even in communities hardest hit by IDU-related HIV transmission. This research examines socio-cultural and political processes that shape community and institutional resistance toward establishing and maintaining SEPs. These processes are configured and reinforced through the socio-spatial stigmatizing of IDUs, and legal and public policy against SEPs. Overarching themes the paper considers are: (1) institutional and/or political opposition based on (a) political and law enforcement issues associated with state drug paraphernalia laws and local syringe laws; (b) harassment of drug users and resistance to services for drug users by local politicians and police; and (c) state and local government (in)action or opposition; and (2) the stigmatization of drug users and location of SEPs in local neighborhoods and business districts. Rather than be explained by “not in my back yard” localism, this pattern seems best conceptualized as an “inequitable exclusion alliance” (IEA) that institutionalizes national and local stigmatizing of drug users and other vulnerable populations.     

Telerobotic exploration and development of the Moon

There has been a debate for the last thirty years about the relative merits of human versus robotic systems and we argue here that both are essential components for successful lunar exploration and development. We examine the role of robots in the next phases of exploration and human development of the Moon. The historical use of robots and humans in exploration is discussed, including Apollo-era exploration, International Space Station, and deep-water petroleum exploration. The technological challenges of lunar operations are addressed in the context of how robotic systems can be designed for robust and flexible operations. System design recommendations are given based on the lessons learned from terrestrial and space robotics.     

Road construction over voids caused by active gypsum dissolution, with an example from Ripon, North Yorkshire, England

Sudden subsidence problems, caused by gypsum karst developed in the Permian sequence of Northern England, have caused difficult conditions for road construction. This paper presents the design strategy, mathematical modelling and parameters used to construct roads to cope with such difficult ground conditions. Because it is impossible to locate all the subsidence features along a route, the road design has to cope with potential future problems. This is achieved by using reinforcement-comprising layers of tensile membrane material within the earth embankment. This will prevent dangerous catastrophic collapse and maintain serviceability, but will allow sagging to show where major problems exist. The modelling showed that for the situation at Ripon, two layers of tensile membrane material within the earth embankment fulfilled the design brief for the road.     

The internal climate variability of HadCM3, a version of the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments

We examine the internal climate variability of a 1000?year long integration of the third version of the Hadley Centre coupled model (HadCM3). The model requires no flux adjustment, needs no spin up procedure prior to coupling and has a stable climate in the global mean. The principal aims are (1) to validate the internal climate variability against observed climate variability, (2) to examine the model for any periodic modes of variability, (3) to use the model estimate of internal climate variability to asses the probability of occurrence of observed trends in climate variables, and (4) to compare HadCM3 with the previous version of the Hadley Centre model, HadCM2. The magnitude and frequency characteristics of the variability of the global mean surface temperature of HadCM3 on annual to decadal time scales is in good agreement with the observations. Observed upward trends in temperature over the last 20?years and longer are inconsistent with the internal variability of the model. The simulated spatial pattern of surface temperature variability is qualitatively similar to that observed, although there is an overestimation of the land temperature variability and regional errors in ocean temperature variability. The model simulates an El Niño Southern Oscillation with an irregular 3–4?year cycle, and with a teleconnection pattern which is much more like the observations than was found in HadCM2. The interdecadal variability of the model ocean in the tropical Pacific, North Pacific and North Atlantic is broadly similar to that in the real world with none of the simulated patterns having any periodic behaviour. HadCM3 simulates an Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) in Northern Hemisphere winter which has a spatial pattern consistent with the observations in the Atlantic region, but has too much teleconnection with the North Pacific. The recent observed upward trend in the NAO index is inconsistent with the model internal variability. The variability of the simulated zonal mean atmospheric temperature shows some marked differences to the observed zonal mean temperature variability, although the comparison is confounded by the sparse observational network and its possible contamination by a climate change signal.     

Re–Os isotopic constraints on magma mixing in the Peridotite Zone of the Stillwater Complex, Montana, USA

Chromite separates within the Peridotite Zone of the 2,700 Ma-old Stillwater Complex are characterized by low ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os (0.009 to 1.74) and relatively high Os concentrations (8.74 to 78.2 ppb). Their calculated initial Os isotopic compositions likely reflect the compositions of the magmas from which they crystallized. The chromites show variable initial Os isotopic compositions (%_Os of +2.0 to +16.4) over the vertical extent of the Peridotite Zone, implicating at least two sources of Os. Both the range of %_Os and values of %_Os decrease upsection. These variations in %_Os were caused by mixing of variable proportions of two magmas having different Os isotopic compositions. One of the magmatic components was a more primitive magma with a nearly chondritic Os isotopic composition. The other magma had a radiogenic Os isotopic composition as a result of assimilation of crust, perhaps of sedimentary rocks beneath the Stillwater Complex. The gradual decrease in the initial %_Os values of the chromite layers with increasing stratigraphic height implies a decreasing relative contribution from the contaminated magma throughout the growth of the Peridotite Zone. Small variations in %_Os between different chromite occurrences within the H multicyclic unit reflects the petrologic requirement that chromite layers crystallize from slightly different proportions of the magmas, compared to chromite from olivine- and orthopyroxene-rich layers.     

Persistent millennial-scale climatic variability over the past 25,000 years in Southern Africa

Data from stalagmites in the Makapansgat Valley, South Africa, document regional climatic change in southern Africa in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. A new TIMS U-series dated stalagmite indicates speleothem growth from 24.4 to 12.7 ka and from 10.2 to 0 ka, interrupted by a 2.5 ka hiatus. High-resolution oxygen and carbon stable isotope data suggest that postglacial warming was first initiated 17 ka, was interrupted by cooling, probably associated with the Antarctic Cold Reversal, and was followed by strong warming after 13.5 ka. The Early Holocene experienced warm, evaporative conditions with fewer C₄ grasses. Cooling is evident from 6 to 2.5 ka, followed by warming between 1.5 and 2.5 ka and briefly at AD 1200. Maximum Holocene cooling occurred at AD 1700. The new stalagmite largely confirms results from shorter Holocene stalagmites reported earlier. The strongest variability superimposed on more general trends has a quasi-periodicity between 2.5 and 4.0 ka. Also present are weaker 1.0 ka and 100-year oscillations, the latter probably solar induced. Given similarities to the Antarctic records, the proximate driving force producing millennial- and centennial-scale changes in the Makapansgat record is postulated to be atmospheric circulation changes associated with change in the Southern Hemisphere circumpolar westerly wind vortex.