The information system of the French Peatland Observation Service: Service National d'Observation Tourbières – A valuable tool to assess the impact of global changes on the hydrology and biogeochemistry of temperate peatlands through long term monitoring

Mitigating and adapting to global changes requires a better understanding of the response of the Biosphere to these environmental variations. Human disturbances and their effects act in the long term (decades to centuries) and consequently, a similar time frame is needed to fully understand the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of a natural system. To this end, the ‘Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique’ (CNRS) promotes and certifies long-term monitoring tools called national observation services or ‘Service National d'Observation’ (SNO) in a large range of hydrological and biogeochemical systems (e.g., cryosphere, catchments, aquifers). The SNO investigating peatlands, the SNO ‘Tourbières’, was certified in 2011 ( https://www.sno-tourbieres.cnrs.fr/ ). Peatlands are mostly found in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere and French peatlands are located in the southern part of this area. Thus, they are located in environmental conditions that will occur in northern peatlands in coming decades or centuries and can be considered as sentinels. The SNO Tourbières is composed of four peatlands: La Guette (lowland central France), Landemarais (lowland oceanic western France), Frasne (upland continental eastern France) and Bernadouze (upland southern France). Thirty target variables are monitored to study the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of the sites. They are grouped into four datasets: hydrology, fluvial export of organic matter, greenhouse gas fluxes and meteorology/soil physics. The data from all sites follow a common processing chain from the sensors to the public repository. The raw data are stored on an FTP server. After operator or automatic processing, data are stored in a database, from which a web application extracts the data to make them available ( https://data-snot.cnrs.fr/data-access/ ). Each year at least, an archive of each dataset is stored in Zenodo, with a digital object identifier (DOI) attribution ( https://zenodo.org/communities/sno_tourbieres_data/ ).     

Intensity measures for probabilistic assessment of non‐structural components acceleration demand

A fundamental issue in the framework of seismic probabilistic risk analysis is the choice of ground motion intensity measures (IMs). Based on the floor response spectrum method, the present contribution focuses on the ability of IMs to predict non‐structural components (NSCs) horizontal acceleration demand. A large panel of IMs is examined and a new IM, namely equipment relative average spectral acceleration (E‐ASA_R), is proposed for the purpose of NSCs acceleration demand prediction. The IMs efficiency and sufficiency comparisons are based on (i) the use of a large dataset of recorded earthquake ground motions; (ii) numerical analyses performed on three‐dimensional numerical models, representing actual structural wall and frame buildings; and (iii) systematic statistical analysis of the results. From the comparative study, the herein introduced E‐ASA_R shows high efficiency with respect to the estimation of maximum floor response spectra ordinates. Such efficiency is particularly remarkable in the case of structural wall buildings. Besides, the sufficiency and the simple formulation allowing the use of existing ground motion prediction models make the E‐ASA_R a promising IMs for seismic probabilistic risk assessment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Processes of India’s offshore summer intraseasonal sea surface temperature variability

Active and break phases of the Indian summer monsoon are associated with sea surface temperature (SST) fluctuations at 30–90 days timescale in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Mechanisms responsible for basin-scale intraseasonal SST variations have previously been discussed, but the maxima of SST variability are actually located in three specific offshore regions: the South-Eastern Arabian Sea (SEAS), the Southern Tip of India (STI) and the North-Western Bay of Bengal (NWBoB). In the present study, we use an eddy-permitting 0.25° regional ocean model to investigate mechanisms of this offshore intraseasonal SST variability. Modelled climatological mixed layer and upper thermocline depth are in very good agreement with estimates from three repeated expendable bathythermograph transects perpendicular to the Indian Coast. The model intraseasonal forcing and SST variability agree well with observed estimates, although modelled intraseasonal offshore SST amplitude is undere-stimated by 20–30 %. Our analysis reveals that surface heat flux variations drive a large part of the intraseasonal SST variations along the Indian coastline while oceanic processes have contrasted contributions depending of the region considered. In the SEAS, this contribution is very small because intraseasonal wind variations are essentially cross-shore, and thus not associated with significant upwelling intraseasonal fluctuations. In the STI, vertical advection associated with Ekman pumping contributes to ～30 % of the SST fluctuations. In the NWBoB, vertical mixing diminishes the SST variations driven by the atmospheric heat flux perturbations by 40 %. Simple slab ocean model integrations show that the amplitude of these intraseasonal SST signals is not very sensitive to the heat flux dataset used, but more sensitive to mixed layer depth.     

Onboard GRB trigger algorithms of SVOM-GRM

The Gamma-Ray Monitor （GRM） is a high energy detector onboard the future Chinese-French satellite named the Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Object Monitor which is dedicated to studies of gamma-ray bursts （GRBs）. This paper presents an investigation of the algorithms that look for GRBs by searching for a significant increase in the photon count rate for the computer onboard GRM. The trigger threshold and trigger efficiency, which are based on a given sample of GRBs, are calculated with the algorithms. The trigger characteristics of onboard instruments GRM and ECLAIRs are also analyzed. In addition, the impact of solar flares on GRM is estimated, and a method to distinguish solar flares from GRBs is investigated.     

Molecular evidence for life in the 3.5 billion year old Warrawoona chert

The biological origin of organic matter in the oldest siliceous sediments (cherts) is still debated. To address this issue, the insoluble organic matter (kerogen) was isolated from a chert of the Warrawoona group. The chemical structure of the kerogen was investigated through a combination of analytical techniques including solid-state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance and pyrolysis. Although dominated by aromatic hydrocarbons, the pyrolysate comprises a homologous series of long chain aliphatic hydrocarbons characterized by odd-over-even carbon number predominance. This distribution is only consistent with a biological origin. As kerogen must be contemporaneous of the solidification of the chert, this observation should be regarded as an evidence for the presence of life on Earth, 3.5 By ago.     

Occurence of abundant diradicaloid moieties in the insoluble organic matter from the Orgueil and Murchison meteorites: a fingerprint of its extraterrestrial origin?

The highly aromatic structure of the macromolecular organic matter (OM) of the Murchison and Orgueil meteorites was recently shown to contain free organic radicals which are concentrated in micro-regions in contrast with terrestrial samples which always show an homogeneous distribution of radicals. An additional signature is revealed, in the present study, by the evolution of the radical concentration with temperature. Whereas in terrestrial samples, this concentration is independent of temperature (Curie magnetism), a significant increase is observed above 150 K in the two meteorites. Based on the electronic structure of organic radicals, calculated by Extended Hückel and Density Functional methods, this behavior was assigned to the occurrence of diradicaloid moieties hosted by aromatic structures of 10 to 15 rings and having a quinoidal structure. They represent 40 and 25% of the total radicals in Orgueil and Murchison, respectively. The search for the cosmochemical interpretation of this unique observation should open a new field of experimental investigations.     

A simple model accounting for the uptake,transport, and deposition of wind‐eroded mineral particles in the hyperarid coastal Atacama Desert of northern Chile

As previously observed in marine sediments collected downwind of African or South American continental sources, recent studies of sediment cores collected at the bottom of Mejillones Bay in north Chile (23°S) show a laminated structure in which the amount of particles of aeolian origin and their size create significant differences between the layers. This suggests inter‐annual to inter‐decadal variations in the strength of the local southerly winds responsible for (1) the erosion of the adjacent hyperarid surface of the Mejillones Pampa, and (2) the subsequent transport of the eroded particles towards the bay. A simple model accounting for the vertical uptake, transport, and deposition of the particles initially set into motion by wind at the surface of the pampa is proposed. This model, which could be adapted to other locations, assumes that the initial rate of (vertical) uptake is proportional to the (horizontal) saltation flux quantified by means of White's equation, that particles are lifted to a height (H), increasing with the magnitude of turbulence, and that sedimentation progressively removes the coarsest particles from the air column as it moves towards the bay. In this model, the proportionality constant (A) linking the vertical flux of particles with the horizontal flux, and the injection height (H) control the magnitude and size distribution of the deposition flux in the bay. Their values are determined using the wind speed measured over the pampa and the size distribution of particles collected in sediment traps deployed in the bay as constraints. After calibration, the model is used to assess the sensitivity of the deposition flux to the wind intensity variations. The possibility of performing such quantitative studies is necessary for interpreting precisely the variability of the aeolian material in the sediment cores collected at the bottom of Mejillones Bay. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The New Canadian Urban Modelling System: Evaluation for Two Cases from the Joint Urban 2003 Oklahoma City Experiment

A new Canadian numerical urban modelling system has been developed at the Meteorological Service of Canada to represent surface and boundary-layer processes in the urban environment. In this system, urban covers are taken into account by including the Town Energy Balance urban-canopy parameterization scheme in the Global Environmental Multiscale meteorological model. The new modelling system is run at 250-m grid size for two intensive observational periods of the Joint Urban 2003 experiment that was held in Oklahoma City, U.S.A. An extensive evaluation against near-surface and upper-air observations has been performed. The Town Energy Balance scheme correctly simulates the urban micro-climate, more particularly the positive nighttime urban heat island, and also reproduces the “cool” island during the morning but does not succeed in maintaining it during all of the daytime period. The vertical structure of the boundary layer above the city is reasonably well simulated, but the simulation of the nocturnal boundary layer is difficult, due to the complex interaction with the nighttime southerly low-level jet that crosses the domain. Sensitivity tests reveal that the daytime convective boundary layer is mainly driven by dry soil conditions in and around Oklahoma City and that the nighttime low-level jet reinforces the urban heat island in the first 300m through large-scale advection, leading to the development of a less stable layer above the city.     

A fractured roman glass block altered for 1800 years in seawater: Analogy with nuclear waste glass in a deep geological repository

Fractured archaeological glass blocks altered 1800 years in seawater are investigated because of their morphological analogy with vitrified nuclear waste. They provide an opportunity for understanding glass alteration in variable confined media (cracks), by studying an actual ancient system in a known stable natural environment. Characterization of the crack network from two-dimensional trace maps (length, alteration thickness, orientation) allows us to determine the three-dimensional geometric parameters (crack density, fracture ratio) and the percentage of alteration, using stereological relations. This methodology could be applied to nuclear glass. From a representative archaeological glass block, we showed that the surface developed by the cracks is 86 ± 27 times greater than the geometric surface but the volumetric alteration is 12.2 ± 4.1%, which is only 12 times greater than the volumetric alteration of the block periphery (about 1 vol%). This unexpected low value is explained by the large variation of the alteration thicknesses in the different types of cracks in relation with their location in the block. The alteration thickness is usually smaller in the internal zone than in the border zone. The alteration layers resulted from three main mechanisms (interdiffusion, glass dissolution, and secondary phase precipitation) leading to two different alteration products (a sodium-depleted layer and mainly a Mg-smectite). Geometric parameters such as the glass surface area/solution volume ratio and transport parameters (renewal of the alteration solution) strongly affected the glass dissolution kinetics. The confined conditions and the diffusive transport of reactive species favor low alteration kinetics. The precipitation of secondary phases also results in sealing of the cracks. Consequently, although it is not known if subcritical crack growth occurred, internal cracks account for only a minor contribution to the overall alteration. These results improve our understanding of alteration in cracks for assessing the predominant physical and chemical parameters that must be considered in long-term nuclear glass modeling.