Increase in total carbonate in the western North Pacific water and a hypothesis on the missing sink of anthropogenic carbon

Sea water samples were collected from various depths in the North Pacific (40–21°N) along 165°E in 1991. Their total carbonate (total dissolved carbonate species) contents were determined with random errors less than 0.2% by a coulometric method. The preformed carbonate contents defined by Chen (1982) were calculated from the obtained data and other observed data including potential temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and total alkalinity. The same calculation was done for the GEOSECS data obtained in nearly the same region in 1973. The difference between the two data sets reveals that the preformed carbonate has increased by 180±41 gC/m² during the last 18 years. This value is comparable or somewhat larger than 150 gC/m² obtained in the case that the ocean uptakes 3 GtC/yr for 18 years and distributes it equally among the world oceans. Based on the results, a hypothesis on the missing sink for the anthropogenic carbon dioxide is presented, in that the missing sink is the intermediate waters formed in the northern North Pacific and the Southern Ocean besides the deep waters formed in the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean.     

Synoptic circulation and stream discharge in the Great Lakes basin, USA

Impacts on water resources caused by human activity, natural climate variation and long-term climate change are unclear in the US Great Lakes region. Improved understanding of the impact of atmospheric circulation on stream discharge variability into the Lakes is thus important. In this analysis, monthly surface and mid-tropospheric circulation patterns suggest that surface pressure variations over Missouri and Illinois are most strongly correlated to discharge. The mid-tropospheric patterns most directly related to discharge place the Great Lakes in a trough-to-ridge flow pattern. The analysis confirms that at this scale, lee shore advection resulting in ‘lake-effect’ precipitation is not very important to regional discharge, and neither are variations in the Pacific–North American teleconnection.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of recent groundwater-level trends in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

A groundwater-monitoring network has been in operation in the Red River Delta, Vietnam, since 1995. Trends in groundwater level (1995?C2009) in 57 wells in the Holocene unconfined aquifer and 63 wells in the Pleistocene confined aquifer were determined by applying the non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen??s slope estimator. At each well, 17 time series (e.g. annual, seasonal, monthly), computed from the original data, were analyzed. Analysis of the annual groundwater-level means revealed that 35?% of the wells in the unconfined aquifer showed downward trends, while about 21?% showed upward trends. On the other hand, confined-aquifer groundwater levels experienced downward trends in almost all locations. Spatial distributions of trends indicated that the strongly declining trends (>0.3?m/year) were mainly found in urban areas around Hanoi where there is intensive abstraction of groundwater. Although the trend results for most of the 17 time series at a given well were quite similar, different trend patterns were detected in several. The findings reflect unsustainable groundwater development and the importance of maintaining groundwater monitoring and a database in the Delta, particularly in urban areas.     

Distribution of local Cs anomalies on the seafloor near the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

An estimated 3.5 ± 0.7 × 10¹⁵ Bq of ¹³⁷Cs is thought to have been discharged into the ocean following the melt down at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1NPP). While efforts have been made to monitor seafloor radiation levels, the sampling techniques used cannot capture the continuous distribution of radionuclides. In this work, we apply in situ measurement techniques using a towed gamma ray spectrometer to map the continuous distribution of ¹³⁷Cs on the seafloor within 20 km of the F1NPP. The results reveal the existence of local ¹³⁷Cs anomalies, with levels of ¹³⁷Cs an order of magnitude higher than the surrounding seafloors. The sizes of the anomalies mapped in this work range from a few meters to a few hundreds of meters in length, and it is demonstrated that the distribution of these anomalies is strongly influenced by meter scale features of the terrain.     

Continuous measurement of whole‐tree water balance for studying urban tree transpiration

Street and garden trees in urban areas are often exposed to advection of strong vapour pressure deficit (VPD) air that can raise the whole‐tree transpiration rate (E_T), known as the oasis effect. However, urban trees tend to have small soil volume compared with natural conditions, and so they are believed to strongly regulate stomata. E_T characteristics of such urban trees have not been well understood because of a lack of reliable measurement methods. Therefore, we propose a novel weighing lysimeter method and investigate the whole‐tree water balance of an isolated container‐grown Zelkova serrata to examine (a) which biotic and abiotic factors determine E_T and (b) which spatial and temporal information is needed to predict E_T under urban conditions. Whole‐tree water balance and environmental conditions were measured from 2010 to 2012. Although leaf area substantially increased in the study period, daily E_T did not vary much. E_T increased with VPD almost linearly in 2010 but showed saturation in 2011 and 2012. Root water uptake lagged E_T by 40 min in 2012. These results suggest that the small planter box interfered with root growth and that hydraulic supply capacities did not increase sufficiently to support leaf area increase. From analysis of water balance, we believe that neglecting soil drought effects on street trees without irrigation in Japan will overestimate E_T over 4–5 sunny days at the longest. This is unlike previous studies of forest.     

Comparative Study on Conservation of Agricultural Heritage Systems in China,Japan and Korea

The paper compares the agricultural heritage conservation schemes of China, Japan and Korea and, in particular, the national programs and their implementation under Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). This comparison allows an understanding of the background of developments, designation criteria, application procedures and implementation structures of GIAHS and of the respective domestic programs in terms of the differences in national circumstances of Japan, China and South Korea. The sequence of implementation of GIAHS and the national program differs in each of the three countries. China introduced a national program after GIAHS designation, Japan has GIAHS but no national program, and Korea implemented a national program before its GIAHS designation. Thus GIAHS candidate sites in China and Korea are now selected from among their respective pools of national agricultural heritage sites. On the other hand, commonalities can be seen in the perspectives of the three countries with regards to agricultural heritage conservation through the common emphasis placed on the designation criteria: historical significance, cultural value, fostering partnerships, rural revitalization and biodiversity conservation associated with the agricultural heritage systems etc. Thus, the cooperation between China, Japan and Korea and the perspectives they have will contribute to proposals for improvements to the FAO designation criteria for GIAHS. These will be comprehensively applicable to both developing and developed countries.     

A preliminary study of carbon system in the East China Sea

In the central part of the East China Sea, the activity of CO₂ in the surface water and total carbonate, pH and alkalinity in the water column were determined in winter and autumn of 1993. The activity of CO₂ in the continental shelf water was about 50 ppm lower than that of surface air. This decrease corresponds to the absorption of about 40 gC/m²/yr of atmospheric CO₂ in the coastal zone or 1 GtC/yr in the global continental shelf, if this rate is applicable to entire coastal seas. The normalized total carbonate contents were higher in the water near the coast and near the bottom. This increase toward the bottom may be due to the organic matter deposited on the bottom. This conclusion is supported by the distribution of pH. The normalized alkalinity distribution also showed higher values in the near-coast water, but in the surface water, indicating the supply of bicarbonate from river water. The residence time of the East China Sea water, including the Yellow Sea water, has been calculated to be about 0.8 yr from the excess alkalinity and the alkalinity input. Using this residence time and the excess carbonate, we can estimate that the amount of dissolved carbonate transported from the coastal zone to the oceanic basin is about 70 gC/m²/yr or 2 GtC/yr/area-of-global-continental-shelf. This also means that the rivers transport carbon to the oceans at a rate of 30 gC/m²/yr of the coastal sea or 0.8 GtC/yr/ area-of-global shelf, the carbon consisting of dissolved inorganic carbonate and terrestrial organic carbon decomposed on the continental shelf.     

Carbonate deposits on submerged seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean

Abstract   The lithology of shallow-water carbonates collected from 19 sites on 16 seamounts in six areas of the northwestern Pacific Ocean using the Deep-sea Boring Machine System are described. The areas include the Amami Plateau, Daito Ridge, Oki-Daito Ridge, Urdaneta Plateau, Kyushu-Palau Ridge and Ogasawara Plateau. Chronological constraint is provided by calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy, larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy and strontium (Sr) isotope stratigraphy. Large amounts of shallow-water carbonates accumulated on the seamounts during the Oligocene, a relatively cool period, whereas limited carbonate deposits formed during the Early Miocene, a relatively warm period. This might indicate that deposition of shallow-water carbonates on seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean was not necessarily controlled by climatic conditions, but was related to volcanism and tectonics that served as foundations for reef/carbonate-platform formation. Remarkable differences in biotic composition exist between Cretaceous and Cenozoic shallow-water carbonates. Late Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates are distinguished by the occurrence of rudists, solenoporacean algae and microencrusters. Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene shallow-water carbonates are dominated by Halimeda or nummulitid and discocyclinid larger foraminifers. Scleractinian corals became common from the Oligocene onward. Nongeniculate coralline algae and larger foraminifers were common to abundant throughout the Eocene to the Pleistocene. The replacement of major carbonate producers in the shallow-water carbonate factory during post-Cretaceous time is in accordance with previous studies and is considered to reflect a shift in seawater chemistry.     

Fine‐structures of planar deformation features in shocked olivine: A comparison between Martian meteorites and experimentally shocked basalts as an indicator for shock pressure

We performed shock recovery experiments on an olivine‐phyric basalt at shock pressures of 22.2–48.5 GPa to compare with shock features in Martian meteorites (RBT 04261 and NWA 1950). Highly shocked olivine in the recovered basalt at 39.5 and 48.5 GPa shows shock‐induced planar deformation features (PDFs) composed of abundant streaks of defects. Similar PDFs were observed in olivine in RBT 04261 and NWA 1950 while those in NWA 1950 were composed of amorphous lamellae. Based on the present results and previous studies, the width and the abundance of lamellar fine‐structures increased with raising shock pressure. Therefore, these features could be used as shock pressure indicators while the estimated pressures may be lower limits due to no information of temperature dependence. For Martian meteorites that experienced heavy shocks, the minimum peak shock pressures of RBT 04261 and NWA 1950 are estimated to be 39.5–48.5 GPa and 48.5–56 GPa, respectively, which are found consistent with those estimated by postshock temperatures expected by the presence of brown olivine. We also investigated shock‐recovered basalts preheated at 750 and 800 °C in order to check the temperature effects on shock features. The results indicate a reduction in vitrifying pressure of plagioclase and a pressure increase for PDFs formation in olivine. Further temperature‐controlled shock recovery experiments will provide us better constraints to understand and to characterize various features found in natural shock events.