Geophysics of sea ice in the Baltic Sea: A review

With improved observation methods, increased winter navigation, and increased awareness of the climate and environmental changes, research on the Baltic Sea ice conditions has become increasingly active. Sea ice has been recognized as a sensitive indicator for changes in climate. Although the inter-annual variability in the ice conditions is large, a change towards milder ice winters has been detected from the time series of the maximum annual extent of sea ice and the length of the ice season. On the basis of the ice extent, the shift towards a warmer climate took place in the latter half of the 19th century. On the other hand, data on the ice thickness, which are mostly limited to the land-fast ice zone, basically do not show clear trends during the 20th century, except that during the last 20 years the thickness of land-fast ice has decreased. Due to difficulties in measuring the pack-ice thickness, the total mass of sea ice in the Baltic Sea is, however, still poorly known. The ice extent and length of the ice season depend on the indices of the Arctic Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation. Sea ice dynamics, thermodynamics, structure, and properties strongly interact with each other, as well as with the atmosphere and the sea. The surface conditions over the ice-covered Baltic Sea show high spatial variability, which cannot be described by two surface types (such as ice and open water) only. The variability is strongly reflected to the radiative and turbulent surface fluxes. The Baltic Sea has served as a testbed for several developments in the theory of sea ice dynamics. Experiences with advanced models have increased our understanding on sea ice dynamics, which depends on the ice thickness distribution, and in turn redistributes the ice thickness. During the latest decade, advance has been made in studies on sea ice structure, surface albedo, penetration of solar radiation, sub-surface melting, and formation of superimposed ice and snow ice. A high vertical resolution has been found as a prerequisite to successfully model thermodynamic processes during the spring melt period. A few observations have demonstrated how the river discharge and ice melt affect the stratification of the oceanic boundary layer below the ice and the oceanic heat flux to the ice bottom. In general, process studies on ice–ocean interaction have been rare. In the future, increasingly multidisciplinary studies are needed with close links between sea ice physics, geochemistry and biology.     

Environmental Geology

The mining environment, medical geology and urban geochemistry form a group of related scientific disciplines that have developed strongly during recent years in the Nordic countries. Modern legislation controls the environmental issues. Close co-operation of researchers and legislators has improved the quality and safety of life in the societies of the Nordic countries. In mining environmental studies, methods that are suitable in Arctic conditions have been developed; in medical geology, the input from the Nordic countries has made it an appreciated scientific discipline throughout the world, and in the case of the urban environment, methods developed by our geochemists have especially improved the health conditions, particularly of children.     

Eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide,latent and sensible energy fluxes above a meadow on a mountain slope

Carbon dioxide, latent and sensible heat fluxes were measured by means of the eddy covariance method above a mountain meadow situated on a steep slope in the Stubai Valley in Austria, based on the hypothesis that, due to the low canopy height, measurements can be made in the shallow equilibrium layer where the wind field exhibits characteristics akin to level terrain. In order to test the validity of this hypothesis and to identify effects of complex terrain in the turbulence measurements, data were subjected to a rigorous testing procedure using a series of quality control measures established for surface-layer flows. The resulting high quality dataset comprised 36% of the original observations, the substantial reduction being mainly due to a change in surface roughness and associated fetch limitations in the wind sector dominating during nighttime and transition periods. The validity of the high quality dataset was further assessed by two independent tests: (i) a comparison with the net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange measured by means of ecosystem chambers, and (ii) the ability of the eddy covariance measurements to close the energy balance. The net ecosystem CO₂ exchange measured by the eddy covariance method agreed reasonably well with ecosystem chamber measurements. The assessment of the energy balance closure showed that there was no significant difference in the correspondence between the meadow on the slope and another one situated on flat ground at the bottom of the Stubai Valley, available energy being underestimated by 28% and 29%, respectively. We thus conclude that, appropriate quality control provided, the eddy covariance measurements made above a mountain meadow on a steep slope are of similar quality as compared to flat terrain.     

A survey of the selenochemistry of major,minor and trace elements

Average data for igneous and/or metaigneous rocks and soils from seven lunar sites are presented. There are compositional similarities between Apollo 11 and Luna 16 eastern maria, Ap 12 and 15 western maria and between Ap 16 and L 20 highlands. Subtle differences do exist between the paired mare sites and the two highland sites and striking differences between the eastern and western maria. Chondritic normalized REE (rare earth element) patterns for igneous rocks and soils from all sites range from 7-350 generally with negative Eu anomalies. Anorthositic gabbroes to anorthosites, presumably highland material, exhibit a positive Eu anomaly. The REE patterns or Sr isotopic ratios suggest two lava flows each for the L 16 and Ap 14 sites, at least four lava flows for the Ap 11 and 12 site and about six for the Ap 15 site. Paucity of lunar andesites suggests rather limited lunar chemical differentiation. Norite-KREEP is a prominent component at Ap 12, 14 and 15, less at Ap 11 and 16 and L 16 and apparently very low at the L 20 highland site. Derivation of lunar soils can be best explained using multi-component mixing systems. Characterization of meteoritic impacting bodies is also observed in addition to a steady state veil of 1.9% carbonaceous Cl like material in soils. Interelement correlations impose constraints on the primitive composition of the Moon and on magmatic processes like selective volatilization.Paper dedicated to Prof. Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April 1973.     

On the Measurement of PANs by Gas Chromatography and Electron Capture Detection

A fast, automated, gas chromatographic system for the airborne measurement of PAN and a series of its homologues is described and its performance is evaluated. Response factors for PAN, PPN, APAN, PiBN, and MPAN have been determined and are discussed with regard to ECD response and to potential losses in the analytical system. Calibration methods used for these tasks are described and compared. The results from this work should help investigators who are employing the widely used GC/ECD method for the measurement of peroxyacyl nitrates to evaluate peaks of PAN homologues that cannot be calibrated for by using the reported response factors.     

A Modelling Approach For Optimizing Flight Patterns In Airborne Meteorological Measurements

A method is presented for selecting the optimal flight patterns for airbornemeteorological measurements in various flow situations. The method is basedon systematic utilisation of mesoscale model fields. Flow overan Arctic sea-ice boundary zone is modelled, and it is assumed that the mesoscale model fields represent the true state of the atmosphere, and that each possible flight pattern yields a different sample of the true fields. A plan for the basic structure of the flight pattern is assumed, and then the unexplained variance, i.e., the difference between the true variance and the sample variance, of a quantity of interest is calculated for a variety of possible flight patterns. Different target quantities are considered, such as wind speed, air temperature, and the turbulent fluxesof momentum and sensible heat. The optimal flight pattern is defined byminimisation of the unexplained variance, and often depends on the quantitywe are interested in. For sawtooth patterns, the optimal flight pattern was sensitive to the maximum ascent angle of the aircraft. In flight patterns designed for turbulence measurements, the optimal pattern was different for the unexplained variance of the turbulent fluxes and for the unexplained total heat content of the convective layer.     

Population synthesis of H ii galaxies

We study the stellar population of galaxies with active star formation, determining ages of the stellar components by means of spectral population synthesis of their absorption spectra. The data consist of optical spectra of 185 nearby ( z 0.075) emission-line galaxies . They are mostly H  ii galaxies, but we also include some starbursts and Seyfert 2s, for comparison purposes. They were grouped into 19 high signal-to-noise ratio template spectra, according to their continuum distribution, absorption- and emission-line characteristics. The templates were then synthesized with a star cluster spectral base.
The synthesis results indicate that H  ii galaxies are typically age-composite stellar systems, presenting important contributions from generations up to as old as 500 Myr. We detect a significant contribution of populations with ages older than 1 Gyr in two groups of H  ii galaxies. The age distributions of stellar populations among starbursts can vary considerably despite similarities in the emission-line spectra. In the case of Seyfert 2 groups we obtain important contributions from the old population, consistent with a bulge.
From the diversity of star formation histories, we conclude that typical H  ii galaxies in the local Universe are not systems presently forming their first stellar generation.     

Damage‐viscoplastic consistency model for rock fracture in heterogeneous rocks under dynamic loading

This paper presents a damage‐viscoplastic consistency model for numerical simulation of brittle fracture in heterogeneous rocks. The model is based on a combination of the recent viscoplastic consistency model by Wang and the isotropic damage concept with separate damage variables in tension and compression. This approach does not suffer from ill‐posedness, caused by strain softening, of the underlying boundary/initial value problem since viscoplasticity provides the regularization by introducing a length scale effect under dynamic loading conditions. The model uses the Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion with the Rankine criterion as a tensile cut‐off. The damage law in compression is calibrated via the degradation index concept of Fang and Harrison. Thereby, the model is able to capture the brittle‐to‐ductile transition occurring in confined compression at a certain level of confinement. The heterogeneity of rock is accounted for by the statistical approach based on the Weibull distribution. Numerical simulations of confined compression test in plane strain conditions demonstrate a good agreement with the experiments at both the material point and structural levels as the fracture modes are realistically predicted. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.