Proposal for a poverty-adaptation-mitigation window within the Green Climate Fund

The stakes for alleviating poverty and avoiding unbridled climate change are inextricably linked. Climate change impacts will slow down and may even reverse trends in poverty reduction. The pathways consistent with global warming of no more than 2?°C require strategies for poverty alleviation to make allowance for the constraint of low-carbon development. Existing climate funds have failed to target poverty alleviation as a high-priority strategy for adaptation or as a component of low-carbon development. This article proposes a funding window as part of the Green Climate Fund in order to foster synergies targeting greater satisfaction of basic needs, while making allowance for adaptation and mitigation. This financial mechanism is based on indicators of the satisfaction of basic needs and could respond to the claims of the developing countries, which see alleviating poverty as the first priority in climate negotiations. It defines a country continuum, given that there are poor people everywhere; all developing countries are therefore eligible with a mechanism of this sort.

Policy relevance

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls for substantial emissions reductions and adaptation strategies over the next decades to reduce the high risks of severe impacts of climate change over the 21st century. Industrialized countries and developing countries alike recognize the need to mitigate climate change and to adapt to it. But they face many challenges that lead to an ‘emissions gap’ between an emissions level consistent with the 2?°C increase limit and the voluntary pledges that they have made thus far in the climate negotiations (United Nations Environment Programme. (2014). The Emissions Gap Report 2014. A UNEP synthesis report). In this arena, many developing countries underline that their first domestic priority is the satisfaction of basic needs. In the run-up to the next climate negotiations at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris, the proposed poverty-adaptation-mitigation funding window could contribute to alleviate the conflict between development and climate goals in developing countries. In this sense, it could spur developing countries to integrate more ambitious emissions limitations pledges into their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. This could in turn entice industrialized countries to act similarly. In the end, it could pave the way to an ambitious climate agreement in Paris at COP 21.     

Micro- to mesoscale evolution of beaches in response to climatic shift: observation and conceptual modelling (Brittany,France)

In the framework of the European project 'Climate change and coastal evolution in Europe', the microscale (< 1 year) morphological evolution of beaches in Brittany (W France) has been monitored for some years and linked to immediate forcings, the first one being tides (with a 13-m tidal range), and the second storm intensity. For the same sites, a mesoscale (decades) evolution was reconstructed from air photographs and historical data. The evolution is forced first of all by human activities, and secondly by climatic shift: wind direction changes and average wind velocity evolution. These results were used to build and calibrate a model of coastal behaviour. The model is based on a simple sediment cell (input – transit – output) and simulates the movements of volumes of sands under successive morphodynamic processes. Each of these processes is modelled (in terms of volume exchanges) and parameterized by the relevant atmospheric element. Thus, the model is not deterministic but simulates different probabilities for atmospheric events and morphological response. The model runs for one year and produces realistic sediment accumulation values and coastal retreat rates. When run for half a century, results are also quite comparable to the field data. Storm frequency changes appear to be an important element for the evolution, but the main and first forcing is the availability of sediment.     

TRAC98: Detection of Coherent Structures in a Convective Boundary Layer using Airborne Measurements

The TRAC98 experimental campaign (Turbulence Radar Aircraft Cells) devoted to coherent structures analysis took place over the Beauce plain (France) during summer 1998. It allowed us to collect a large dataset of airborne measurements in addition to various ground measurements. This study aims at diagnosing the occurrence of coherent structures within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) through airborne measurements. The statistical analysis performed as a first step from turbulent parameters underlined the homogeneity of the ABL over the Beauce plain. However mixed-layer scaling failed at the top of the ABL, even when taking into account the entrainment rate. Coherent structures were detected through the analysis of ABL isotropy, using the opportunity of sampling with two perpendicular crossing planes, one of them being aligned with the wind. This approach allowed us to determine an organization scheme of the ABL for three of the five flights (ARAT30, MIV30 and MIV27). For the ARAT30 flight, the analysis was pursued by focusing on measurements of fluctuations in the inner flight legs. In this way, the low-level cloud cover has been investigated from the downward visible radiation (VISD). The results indicated an anisotropy of the horizontal cloud size. Secondly, the variations of some parameters were analysed through lagged correlation functions. This allowed us to infer relationships between the vertical velocity, VISD, mixing ratio and lifting condensation level. Length scales have also been extracted, and confirmed the ABL organization during the ARAT30 flight. Finally, the anisotropy observed in various flights has been investigated with respect to the underestimation of the latent heat fluxes revealed by the imbalance of the surface energy budget.     

Observing Convective Aggregation

Convective self-aggregation, the spontaneous organization of initially scattered convection into isolated convective clusters despite spatially homogeneous boundary conditions and forcing, was first recognized and studied in idealized numerical simulations. While there is a rich history of observational work on convective clustering and organization, there have been only a few studies that have analyzed observations to look specifically for processes related to self-aggregation in models. Here we review observational work in both of these categories and motivate the need for more of this work. We acknowledge that self-aggregation may appear to be far-removed from observed convective organization in terms of time scales, initial conditions, initiation processes, and mean state extremes, but we argue that these differences vary greatly across the diverse range of model simulations in the literature and that these comparisons are already offering important insights into real tropical phenomena. Some preliminary new findings are presented, including results showing that a self-aggregation simulation with square geometry has too broad distribution of humidity and is too dry in the driest regions when compared with radiosonde records from Nauru, while an elongated channel simulation has realistic representations of atmospheric humidity and its variability. We discuss recent work increasing our understanding of how organized convection and climate change may interact, and how model discrepancies related to this question are prompting interest in observational comparisons. We also propose possible future directions for observational work related to convective aggregation, including novel satellite approaches and a ground-based observational network.     

EUREC<Superscript>4</Superscript>A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds,Convection and Circulation

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of trade-cumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of trade-cumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air–sea interactions and convective organization.     

Mechanisms of lateral and linear extension of gullies (dongas) in a subhumid grassland of South Africa

The formation of deep gullies (called ‘dongas’ locally) in rangeland in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa is a natural phenomenon. These U-shaped, very wide gullies have considerable lateral expansion due to the episodic collapse of sidewalls. The dongas have developed in duplex soils such as Luvisols and Lixisols formed on Permian sedimentary rocks or unconsolidated Quaternary colluvium. This study combined morphological, mineralogical and chemical characterization with measurements of grain-size content, structural stability and the complete shrinkage curve to detect changes in soil properties of the different horizons located in the gully banks. The different soil horizons present clear and sharp differences in physical and mineralogical properties. The topsoil with complete grass cover is very resistant to soil detachment. However, the leached E horizon and the BC horizon have low structural stability. The soil profile down to and including the Bt horizon contains exclusively illite in the clay fraction, while the BC colluvial layer and the C horizon (mudstone) contain expandable interstratified illite–smectite. The Bt horizon has a high water content at saturation and high shrinkage, while the BC and C horizons have a high residual shrinkage and a very low water content at saturation. Because this type of gully expansion is not significantly linked to slope value or the stream power index (SPI) at the gully head, to land-use change, high rainfall intensities or the threshold of concentrated runoff being exceeded at the gully head, other causes were investigated. It was concluded that the heterogeneity between horizons with different mineralogical properties and structural stabilities, soil types and parent material, anisotropic water-saturation and shrink-swell properties are of major importance. This heterogeneity between different soil horizon morphologies and their physical properties can explain why the relationship between the critical slope and the drainage area for gully initiation showed a threshold for gullying much lower than that found elsewhere. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alkali-calcic and alkaline post-orogenic (PO) granite magmatism: petrologic constraints and geodynamic settings

The end of an orogenic Wilson cycle corresponds to amalgamation of terranes into a Pangaea and is marked by widespread magmatism dominated by granitoids. The post-collision event starts with magmatic processes still influenced by subducted crustal materials. The dominantly calc-alkaline suites show a shift from normal to high-K to very high-K associations. Source regions are composed of depleted and later enriched orogenic subcontinental lithospheric mantle, affected by dehydration melting and generating more and more K- and LILE-rich magmas. In the vicinity of intra-crustal magma chambers, anatexis by incongruent melting of hydrous minerals may generate peraluminous granitoids bearing mafic enclaves. The post-collision event ends with emplacement of bimodal post-orogenic (PO) suites along transcurrent fault zones. Two suites are defined, (i) the alkali-calcic monzonite–monzogranite–syenogranite–alkali feldspar granite association characterised by [biotite+plagioclase] fractionation and moderate [LILE+HFSE] enrichments and (ii) the alkaline monzonite–syenite–alkali feldspar granite association characterised by [amphibole+alkali feldspar] fractionation and displaying two evolutionary trends, one peralkaline with sodic mafic mineralogy and higher enrichments in HFSE than in LILE, and the other aluminous biotite-bearing marked by HFSE depletion relative to LILE due to accessory mineral precipitation. Alkali-calcic and alkaline suites differ essentially in the amounts of water present within intra-crustal magma chambers, promoting crystallisation of various mineral assemblages. The ultimate enriched and not depleted mantle source is identical for the two PO suites. The more primitive LILE and HFSE-rich source rapidly replaces the older orogenic mantle source during lithosphere delamination and becomes progressively the thermal boundary layer of the new lithosphere. Present rock compositions are a mixture of major mantle contribution and various crustal components carried by F-rich aqueous fluids circulating within convective cells created around magma chambers. In favourable areas, PO suites pre-date a new orogenic Wilson cycle.     

Vertical and meridional distribution of ethane, acetylene and propane in Saturn’s stratosphere from CIRS/Cassini limb observations

Measuring the spatial distribution of chemical compounds in Saturn’s stratosphere is critical to better understand the planet’s photochemistry and dynamics. Here we present an analysis of infrared spectra in the range 600-1400 cm⁻¹ acquired in limb geometry by the Cassini spacecraft between March 2005 and January 2008. We first determine the vertical temperature profiles from 3 to 0.01 hPa, at latitudes ranging from 70°N to 80°S. We infer a similar meridional temperature gradient at 1-2 hPa as in recent previous studies [Fletcher, L.N., Irwin, P.G.J., Teanby, N.A., Orton, G.S., Parrish, P.D., de Kok, R., Howett, C., Calcutt, S.B., Bowles, N., Taylor, F.W., 2007. Icarus 189, 457-478; Howett, C.J.A., Irwin, P.G.J., Teanby, N.A., Simon-Miller, A., Calcutt, S.B., Fletcher, L.N., de Kok, R., 2007. Icarus 190, 556-572]. We then retrieve the vertical profiles of C₂H₆ and C₂H₂ from 3 to 0.01 hPa and of C₃H₈ around 1 hPa. At 1 hPa, the meridional variation of C₂H₂ is found to follow the yearly averaged solar insolation, except for a strong equatorial mole fraction of 8×10^-7, nearly two times higher than expected. This enhancement in abundance can be explained by the descent of hydrocarbon-rich air, with a vertical wind speed at the equator of 0.25±0.1 mm/s at 1 hPa and 0.4±0.15 mm/s at 0.1 hPa. The ethane distribution is relatively uniform at 1 hPa, with only a moderate 25% increase from 35°S to 80°S. Propane is found to increase from north to south by a factor of 1.9, suggesting that its lifetime may be shorter than Saturn’s year at 1 hPa. At high altitudes (1 Pa), C₂H₂ and C₂H₆ abundances depart significantly from the photochemical model predictions of Moses and Greathouse [Moses, J.I., Greathouse, T.K., 2005. J. Geophys. Res. 110, 9007], except at high southern latitudes (62, 70 and 80°S) and near the equator. The observed abundances are found strongly depleted in the 20-40°S region and enhanced in the 20-30°N region, the latter coinciding with the ring’s shadow. We favor a dynamical explanation for these anomalies.     

Archaeological reconstruction of medieval lead production: Implications for ancient metal provenance studies and paleopollution tracing by Pb isotopes

The identification of metal provenance is often based on chemical and Pb isotope analyses of materials from the operating chain, mainly ores and metallic artefacts. Such analyses, however, have their limits. Some studies are unable to trace metallic artefacts or ingots to their ore sources, even in well-constrained archaeological contexts. Possible reasons for this difficulty are to be found among a variety of limiting factors: (i) problems of ore signatures, (ii) mixing of different ores (alloys), (iii) the use of additives during the metallurgical process, (iv) metal recycling and (v) possible Pb isotopic fractionation during metal production. This paper focuses on the issue of Pb isotope fractionation during smelting to address the issue of metal provenance. Through an experimental reconstruction of argentiferous Pb production in the medieval period, an attempt was made to better understand and interpret the Pb isotopic composition of ore smelting products. It is shown that the measured differences (outside the total external uncertainties of 0.005 (2*sd) for ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios) in Pb signatures measured between ores, slag and smoke are not due to Pb mass fractionation processes, but to (1) ore heterogeneity (Δ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_slag-ores = 0.066) and (2) the use of additives during the metallurgical process (Δ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_slag-ores = 0.083). Even if these differences are due to causes (1) and/or (2), smoke from the ore reduction appears to reflect the ore mining area without a significant disturbance of its Pb signature for all the isotopic ratios (Δ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_smokes-ores = 0.026). Thus, because the isotopic heterogeneity of the mining district and additives is averaged in slags, slag appears as the most relevant product to identify ancient metal provenance. Whereas aiming at identifying a given mine seems beyond the possibilities provided by the method, searching for the mining district through analysis of the smelting workshop materials should provide a more appropriate approach in cases where no archaeological evidence of ancient mining is available. Furthermore, smoke Pb isotopic composition does not seem to be significantly affected by the metallurgical process. Paleopollution recorded in peat deposits could help to detect ancient mining production and workshops. Integrated collaboration between mining archaeologists and geochemists appears crucial to achieve this goal.