Using ocean quahog (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arctica islandica</Emphasis>) shells to reconstruct palaeoenvironment in Öresund,Kattegat and Skagerrak,Sweden

Shells of Arctica islandica collected between 1884 and 2004 from Öresund, Kattegat and Skagerrak (Swedish West Coast) were used to monitor local climate variations and the influence of human activities on the local environment. For this purpose, we analysed the growth, structure and chemical composition of these shells and compared them with shells collected from Kiel Bay, Norway and Iceland. The growth rate of the studied shells registers an NAO periodicity of ca 8 years. However, the observed signal is weak because of other environmental interferences that are either of natural or anthropogenic origin. For example, the oxygen isotope ratios show temperature fluctuation, but also the influx of low salinity water. Higher contents of S, N, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and P in shell portions formed during the last century are related to human activities such as mining and industrial development. Our study indicates that in order to use Arctica shells as archives of climate change it is necessary to study the full range of environmental data that is recorded in the shells by using a multi element and isotope approach in combination with different analytical techniques including investigation of growth rates and shell structure.     

The Geographical Distribution of Mental Disorder in Denmark 1971–1990: A Study of First Admission Rates

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 97: 132–142, 1997.

In the period 1971–90 the first admission rate to Danish psychiatric hospitals and wards decreased by approximately 45%. This might reflect the similar decrease in number of available psychiatric beds. Generally, the decrease of first admission rates was larger in the metropolitan area than in the rest of the country. Consequently, the disparity in admission rates between town and country was reduced. Number of available beds has gained increasing importance as a predictor of variations between counties and municipalities whereas the importance of distance to hospital and degree of urbanization has declined. As regards socio-demographic variables special importance should be attached to variables for social aid and the employment rate in the social and health sector. However, it is generally difficult to determine whether regional variations are due to differences in treatment facilities or morbidity differences. From a disaggregate analysis it will appear that the diagnoses schizophrenia and alcoholism are especially related to low status areas whereas a connection with social status regarding neuroses and manic-depressive psychoses is less obvious.     

Tsunami damage to coastal defences and buildings in the March 11th 2011 M w 9.0 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami

On March 11th 2011 a M _w 9.0 mega-thrust interface subduction earthquake, the Great East Japan Earthquake, occurred 130 km off the northeast coast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean at the Japan Trench, triggering tsunami which caused damage along 600 km of coastline. Observations of damage to buildings (including vertical evacuation facilities) and coastal defences in Tōhoku are presented following investigation by the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) at 10 locations in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. Observations are presented in the context of the coastal setting and tsunami characteristics experienced at each location. Damage surveys were carried out in Kamaishi City and Kesennuma City using a damage scale for reinforced concrete (RC), timber and steel frame buildings adapted from an earlier EEFIT tsunami damage scale. Observations show that many sea walls and breakwaters were overtopped, overturned, or broken up, but provided some degree of protection. We show the extreme variability of damage in a local area due to inundation depth, flow direction, velocity variations and sheltering. Survival of many RC shear wall structures shows their high potential to withstand local earthquake and significant tsunami inundation but further research is required into mitigation of scour, liquefaction, debris impact, and the prevention of overturning failure. Damage to steel and timber buildings are also discussed. These observations are intended to contribute to mitigation of future earthquake and tsunami damage by highlighting the key features which influence damage level and local variability of damage sustained by urban coastal infrastructure when subjected to extreme tsunami inundation depths.     

Paramater regimes for studying isolated eddies

Abstract

The parameter ranges relevant to propagating oceanic eddies are explored with a view to simplifying the equation sets previously used to simulate such eddies. The reduced gravity shallow-water model is used as a starting point. We consider eddies whose width is of the same order as, or somewhat larger than, the Rossby deformation radius. Two model equations emerge from these scalings, both permitting modon solutions and easy numerical integration. Both, too, give fair simulations of the shallow-water model, but disagree in details.

Using another approach, an ad hoc vortex model is used to predict the path of an eddy. This also gives a fair but not perfect simulation of the one-layer results. It appears that the only ideal way to reproduce primitive equation results accurately is to use the primitive equations themselves.     

Comment on “Complete Eulerian-mean tracer equation for coarse resolution OGCMs” by M. S. Dubovikov and V. M. Canuto

Dubovikov and Canuto (Dubovikov, M.S. and Canuto, V.M., Complete Eulerian-mean tracer equation for coarse resolution OGCMs. Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., 2006, 100, 197–214), after averaging the tracer conservation equation in density coordinates and transforming to height coordinates, concluded that present ocean models are missing important terms in their mean tracer equations. Here we point out some errors made by Dubovikov and Canuto (2006 Dubovikov, MS and Canuto, VM. 2006. Complete Eulerian-mean tracer equation for coarse resolution OGCMs. Geophys. & Astrophys. Fluid Dynam., 100: 197–214. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in their isopycnal averaging procedure. We draw on the temporal-residual-mean (TRM) theory and show that when the isopycnal averaging and coordinate transformation are performed correctly, the tracer equations of present ocean circulation models are recovered. We therefore conclude that present ocean circulation models are not neglecting the leading order terms identified by Dubovikov and Canuto (2006 Dubovikov, MS and Canuto, VM. 2006. Complete Eulerian-mean tracer equation for coarse resolution OGCMs. Geophys. & Astrophys. Fluid Dynam., 100: 197–214. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

Assessment of drought over the past two millennia using near-shore sediment cores from a Canadian boreal lake

Lack of long-term studies on drought in the boreal region of northwest Ontario limits our ability to assess the vulnerability of this region to climate change. We investigated changes in diatoms, scaled chrysophytes, and sedimentary pigments in two near-shore cores from Gall Lake to infer limnological and water-level changes over the last two millennia. The two coring locations, at modern water depths of 7.5 and 11.5 m, were selected to contrast inferences for past lake level based on distance from the modern water-depth boundary between predominantly benthic and planktonic diatom assemblages in surface sediments (6.0 m). Diatom-inferred depth inferences were more variable in the core from 7.5-m water depth, consistent with the hypothesis that the greatest changes occurred at water depths closest to the benthic:planktonic boundary. Both sites revealed a pronounced drought from ~AD 950 to 1300, synchronous with the medieval climate anomaly (MCA). This finding suggests a northeast expansion of the arid MCA into northwest Ontario, extending the known spatial extent of this megadrought. Scaled chrysophytes and sedimentary pigments suggest a recent increase in thermal stratification. Our findings indicate this region is more susceptible to changes in moisture than was previously suspected based on the instrumental record for the past century.     

Recent paleorecords document rising mercury contamination in Lake Tanganyika

Recent Lake Tanganyika Hg deposition records were derived using ¹⁴C and excess ²¹⁰Pb geochronometers in sediment cores collected from two contrasting depositional environments: the Kalya Platform, located mid-lake and more removed from watershed impacts, and the Nyasanga/Kahama River delta region, located close to the lake’s shoreline north of Kigoma. At the Kalya Platform area, pre-industrial Hg concentrations are 23 ± 0.2 ng/g, increasing to 74 ng/g in modern surface sediment, and the Hg accumulation rate has increased from 1.0 to 7.2 μg/m²/a from pre-industrial to present, which overall represents a 6-fold increase in Hg concentration and accumulation. At the Nyasanga/Kahama delta region, pre-industrial Hg concentrations are 20 ± 3 ng/g, increasing to 46 ng/g in surface sediment. Mercury accumulation rate has increased from 30 to 70 μg/m²/a at this site, representing a 2–3-fold increase in Hg concentration and accumulation. There is a lack of correlation between charcoal abundance and Hg accumulation rate in the sediment cores, demonstrating that local biomass burning has little relationship with the observed Hg concentration or Hg accumulation rates. Examined using a sediment focusing-corrected mass accumulation rate approach, the cores have similar anthropogenic atmospheric Hg deposition profiles, suggesting that after accounting for background sediment concentrations the source of accumulating Hg is predominantly atmospheric in origin. In summary, the data document an increase of Hg flux to the Lake Tanganyika ecosystem that is consistent with increasing watershed sediment delivery with background-level Hg contamination, and regional as well as global increases in atmospheric Hg deposition.     

Arsenic and antimony contamination of waters,stream sediments and soils in the vicinity of abandoned antimony mines in the Western Carpathians,Slovakia

Environmental contamination with As and Sb caused by past mining activities at Sb mines is a significant problem in Slovakia. This study is focused on the environmental effects of the 5 abandoned Sb mines on water, stream sediment and soil since the mines are situated in the close vicinity of residential areas. Samples of mine wastes, various types of waters, stream sediments, soils, and leachates of the mine wastes, stream sediments and selected soils were analyzed for As and Sb to evaluate their geochemical dispersion from the mines. Mine wastes collected at the mine sites contained up to 5166 mg/kg As and 9861 mg/kg Sb. Arsenic in mine wastes was associated mostly with Fe oxides, whereas Sb was present frequently in the form of individual Sb, Sb(Fe) and Fe(Sb) oxides. Waters of different types such as groundwater, surface waters and mine waters, all contained elevated concentrations of As and Sb, reaching up to 2150 μg/L As and 9300 μg/L Sb, and had circum-neutral pH values because of the buffering capacity of abundant Ca- and Mg-carbonates. The concentrations of Sb in several household wells are a cause for concern, exceeding the Sb drinking water limit of 5 μg/L by as much as 25 times. Some attenuation of the As and Sb concentrations in mine and impoundment waters was expected because of the deposition of metalloids onto hydrous ferric oxides built up below adit entrances and impoundment discharges. These HFOs contained >20 wt.% As and 1.5 wt.% Sb. Stream sediments and soils have also been contaminated by As and Sb with the peak concentrations generally found near open adits and mine wastes. In addition to the discharged waters from open adits, the significant source of As and Sb contamination are waste-rock dumps and tailings impoundments. Leachates from mine wastes contained as much as 8400 μg/L As and 4060 μg/L Sb, suggesting that the mine wastes would have a great potential to contaminate the downstream environment. Moreover, the results of water leaching tests showed that Sb was released from the solids more efficiently than As under oxidizing conditions. This might partly explain the predominance of Sb over As in most water samples.