Temporal variations of C,N, δC,and δN in organic matter collected by a sediment trap at Cuenca Alfonso,Bahía de La Paz,SW Gulf of California

To monitor the composition and the vertical flux of particulate matter from the sea surface, a sediment trap was moored in Cuenca Alfonso, Bahía de La Paz, a zone of high productivity in the southwestern Gulf of California. Carbonate-free samples from 2002 to 2005 were analyzed for C_org, N, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁵N. The results show seasonal and interannual variability, with the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values larger in spring and summer than in fall and winter. The C:N ratio and δ¹³C increased by 1.5 units from 2002 to 2003–2005, suggesting a change in the supply of organic matter and-or the use or preferential degradation of N_org. There was no interannual variation in δ¹⁵N. The occasional high δ¹⁵N values suggest that physical mechanisms, such as the shoaling and advection into the bay of ¹⁵N-rich subsurface equatorial water, occur over short time periods. The latter is presumed to be related to the periodic development of a significant cyclonic gyre in the southern Gulf.     

Changes in sub-fossil chironomid assemblages in two Northern Patagonian lake systems associated with the occurrence of historical fires

Patagonia is commonly seen as an exceptionally pristine area because of its wildlife and practically unpolluted waters. However, during the twentieth century the burning of natural forests was one of the most important human activities in Northern Chilean Patagonia. Some estimations indicate that three million hectares were burned during the first three decades of the century. Hence the objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of the historical fires in Lake Burgos (45º42′S) and Lake Thompson (45º38′S) in Chilean Patagonia. The impact was measured by evaluating chironomid assemblage since they are sensitive enough to be used as an indicator of aquatic ecosystem health. Fires have a direct and drastic effect on a lake watershed but also indirectly affect a lake ecosystem, changing sedimentation patterns or increasing nutrient inputs. In the studied lakes the periods with higher prevalence of fires were identified by charcoal analysis, while organic matter and magnetic susceptibility allowed the confirmation of pre-fire and post-fire periods. The chironomid composition was evaluated through a PCA and an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) to test the significance among periods while a Detrended Correspondence Analysis was applied to the chironomid assemblage downcore to assess compositional structure and taxa turnover. In Lake Burgos the ANOSIM test indicated significant differences between the pre-fire and fire periods (p < 0.05), while in Lake Thompson differences were not significant. However, in Lake Thompson the PCA clearly separated the pre-fire from the fire period but not the fire from the post-fire periods. In both lakes chironomid composition changed in relation to the period of higher prevalence of fires, which in turn implies catchment changes, pollution, and other anthropogenic impacts. Particularly a marked change in mesotrophic/eutrophic taxa was detected, reflecting an increase in nutrient input due to deforestation. Our findings point out that the lacustrine ecosystems are still affected by the impact of fires and the subsequent increase in nutrient supply that occurred almost 50 years ago. No sign of reverting to pre-disturbance conditions was observed, which makes these lakes highly sensitive to current human-induced impacts.     

Testing linear models of sea-floor topography

Stochastic models can generate profiles that resemble topography by taking uncorrelated, zero-average noise as input, introducing some correlation in the time series of noise, and integrating the resulting correlated noise. The output profile will depict a nonstationary, randomly rough surface. Two models have been chosen for comparison: a fractal model, in which the noise is correlated even at large distances, and an autoregressive model of order 1, in which the correlation of the noise decays rapidly. Both models have as an end-member a random walk, which is the integration of uncorrelated noise. The models have been fitted to profiles of submarine topography, and the sample autocorrelation, power spectrum and variogram have been compared to the theoretical predictions. The results suggest that a linear system approach is a viable method to model and classify sea-floor topography. The comparison does not show substantial disagreement of the data with either the autoregressive or the fractal model, although a fractal model seems to give a better fit. However, the amplitudes predicted by a nonstationary fractal model for long wavelengths (of the order of 1000 km) are unreasonably large. When viewed through a large window, ocean floor topography is likely to have an expected value determined by isostasy, and to be stationary. Nonstationary models are best applied to wavelengths of the order of 100 km or less.     

UKIRT IR Spectra of the Microquasar GRS 1915+105

The UKIRT JHK-band spectrum of GRS 1915+105 shows strong He I (2.059μm) and Brγ (2.166 μm) emission lines. Eikenberry etal. (1998) found flux variations of a factor of 5 in these lines on a5 min timescale. Based on the detection or not of the He II emission line,it was suggested that the companion could be a LMXB or a HMXB,respectively. Since the spectral type of the companion star of GRS1915+105 is still an open question we attempt to clarify the issue byrevisiting the object and comparing the JHK spectrum with that of the Bestar DM +49 3718 and the prototype X-ray binary Sco X-1.     

Dynamics of greenhouse gases in the river–groundwater interface in a gaining river stretch (Triffoy catchment,Belgium)

This study investigates the occurrence of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the role of groundwater as an indirect pathway of GHG emissions into surface waters in a gaining stretch of the Triffoy River agricultural catchment (Belgium). To this end, nitrous oxide (N₂O), methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations, the stable isotopes of nitrate, and major ions were monitored in river and groundwater over 8 months. Results indicated that groundwater was strongly oversaturated in N₂O and CO₂ with respect to atmospheric equilibrium (50.1 vs. 0.55 μg L^?1 for N₂O and 14,569 vs. 400 ppm for CO₂), but only marginally for CH₄ (0.45 vs. 0.056 μg L^?1), suggesting that groundwater can be a source of these GHGs to the atmosphere. Nitrification seemed to be the main process for the accumulation of N₂O in groundwater. Oxic conditions prevailing in the aquifer were not prone for the accumulation of CH₄. In fact, the emissions of CH₄ from the river were one to two orders of magnitude higher than the inputs from groundwater, meaning that CH₄ emissions from the river were due to CH₄ in-situ production in riverbed or riparian zone sediments. For CO₂ and N₂O, average emissions from groundwater were 1.5?×?10⁵ kg CO₂ ha^?1 year^?1 and 207 kg N₂O ha^?1 year^?1, respectively. Groundwater is probably an important source of N₂O and CO₂ in gaining streams but when the measures are scaled at catchment scale, these fluxes are probably relatively modest. Nevertheless, their quantification would better constrain nitrogen and carbon budgets in natural systems.     

Characterization of active fault scarps from LiDAR data: a case study from Central Apennines (Italy)

A high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM, 1 ms spacing) derived from an airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) campaign was used in an attempt to characterize the structural and erosive elements of the geometry of the Pettino fault, a seismogenic normal fault in Central Apennines (Italy). Four 90- to 280 m-long fault scarp segments were selected and the surface between the base and the top of the scarps was analyzed through the statistical analysis of the following DEM-derived parameters: altitude, height of the fault scarp, and distance along strike, slope, and aspect. The results identify slopes of up to 40° in faults lower reaches interpreted as fresh faces, 34° up the faces. The Pettino fault maximum long-term slip rate (0.6–1.1 mm/yr) was estimated from the scarp heights, which are up to 12–19 m in the selected four segments, and the age (ca. 18 ka) of the last glacial erosional phase in the area. The combined analysis of the DEM-derived parameters allows us to (a) define aspects of three-dimensional scarp geometry, (b) decipher its geomorphological significance, and (c) estimate the long-term slip rate.     

Annual variation of the effects of diffuse radiation on the photodissociation of ozone

Previous work has shown the importance of the diffuse solar field in the photochemistry of atmospheric active species, the solar zenith angle being an effective parameter. In view of the diurnal and seasonal variability of this single quantity, in this paper estimates are presented of the daily-integrated values of the photodissociation coefficient of ozone throughout the year, for a purely molecular atmosphere in the absence of scattering and when the effects of molecular scattering are included, and for an absorbing-scattering turbid atmosphere characterized by two different aerosol loads. Also, different values of the ground albedo have been taken into account.Results are shown for a latitude of 45^oN. The seasonal dependence is strong at altitudes below 20 km and less marked above 20 km. For an albedoA=0.3, the inclusion of molecular scattering increases the daily-integrated photodissociation coefficients approximately by 20% and 40% at 15 km and by 15% and 22% at 30 km, at the winter and summer solstice respectively. The presence of a heavy aerosol load modifies these results by a further factor which is approximately –5% and 10% at 15 km at the winter and summer solstice respectively, and is approximately constant at 8% throughout the year at 30 km.     

Well-balanced high-order centred schemes for non-conservative hyperbolic systems. Applications to shallow water equations with fixed and mobile bed

This paper concerns the development of high-order accurate centred schemes for the numerical solution of one-dimensional hyperbolic systems containing non-conservative products and source terms. Combining the PRICE-T method developed in [Toro E, Siviglia A. PRICE: primitive centred schemes for hyperbolic system of equations. Int J Numer Methods Fluids 2003;42:1263–91] with the theoretical insights gained by the recently developed path-conservative schemes [Castro M, Gallardo J, Parés C. High-order finite volume schemes based on reconstruction of states for solving hyperbolic systems with nonconservative products applications to shallow-water systems. Math Comput 2006;75:1103–34; Parés C. Numerical methods for nonconservative hyperbolic systems: a theoretical framework. SIAM J Numer Anal 2006;44:300–21], we propose the new PRICE-C scheme that automatically reduces to a modified conservative FORCE scheme if the underlying PDE system is a conservation law. The resulting first-order accurate centred method is then extended to high order of accuracy in space and time via the ADER approach together with a WENO reconstruction technique. The well-balanced properties of the PRICE-C method are investigated for the shallow water equations. Finally, we apply the new scheme to the shallow water equations with fix bottom topography and with variable bottom solving an additional sediment transport equation.     

Combined effect of pulse density and grid cell size on predicting and mapping aboveground carbon in fast-growing Eucalyptus forest plantation using airborne LiDAR data

Background

LiDAR remote sensing is a rapidly evolving technology for quantifying a variety of forest attributes, including aboveground carbon (AGC). Pulse density influences the acquisition cost of LiDAR, and grid cell size influences AGC prediction using plot-based methods; however, little work has evaluated the effects of LiDAR pulse density and cell size for predicting and mapping AGC in fast-growing Eucalyptus forest plantations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of LiDAR pulse density and grid cell size on AGC prediction accuracy at plot and stand-levels using airborne LiDAR and field data. We used the Random Forest (RF) machine learning algorithm to model AGC using LiDAR-derived metrics from LiDAR collections of 5 and 10 pulses m^?2 (RF5 and RF10) and grid cell sizes of 5, 10, 15 and 20 m.

Results

The results show that LiDAR pulse density of 5 pulses m^?2 provides metrics with similar prediction accuracy for AGC as when using a dataset with 10 pulses m^?2 in these fast-growing plantations. Relative root mean square errors (RMSEs) for the RF5 and RF10 were 6.14 and 6.01%, respectively. Equivalence tests showed that the predicted AGC from the training and validation models were equivalent to the observed AGC measurements. The grid cell sizes for mapping ranging from 5 to 20 also did not significantly affect the prediction accuracy of AGC at stand level in this system.

Conclusion

LiDAR measurements can be used to predict and map AGC across variable-age Eucalyptus plantations with adequate levels of precision and accuracy using 5 pulses m^?2 and a grid cell size of 5 m. The promising results for AGC modeling in this study will allow for greater confidence in comparing AGC estimates with varying LiDAR sampling densities for Eucalyptus plantations and assist in decision making towards more cost effective and efficient forest inventory.