LMDZ5B: the atmospheric component of the IPSL climate model with revisited parameterizations for clouds and convection

Based on a decade of research on cloud processes, a new version of the LMDZ atmospheric general circulation model has been developed that corresponds to a complete recasting of the parameterization of turbulence, convection and clouds. This LMDZ5B version includes a mass-flux representation of the thermal plumes or rolls of the convective boundary layer, coupled to a bi-Gaussian statistical cloud scheme, as well as a parameterization of the cold pools generated below cumulonimbus by re-evaporation of convective precipitation. The triggering and closure of deep convection are now controlled by lifting processes in the sub-cloud layer. An available lifting energy and lifting power are provided both by the thermal plumes and by the spread of cold pools. The individual parameterizations were carefully validated against the results of explicit high resolution simulations. Here we present the work done to go from those new concepts and developments to a full 3D atmospheric model, used in particular for climate change projections with the IPSL-CM5B coupled model. Based on a series of sensitivity experiments, we document the differences with the previous LMDZ5A version distinguishing the role of parameterization changes from that of model tuning. Improvements found previously in single-column simulations of case studies are confirmed in the 3D model: (1) the convective boundary layer and cumulus clouds are better represented and (2) the diurnal cycle of convective rainfall over continents is delayed by several hours, solving a longstanding problem in climate modeling. The variability of tropical rainfall is also larger in LMDZ5B at intraseasonal time-scales. Significant biases of the LMDZ5A model however remain, or are even sometimes amplified. The paper emphasizes the importance of parameterization improvements and model tuning in the frame of climate change studies as well as the new paradigm that represents the improvement of 3D climate models under the control of single-column case studies simulations.     

Assessment of groundwater recharge processes through karst vadose zone by cave percolation monitoring

Recharge processes of karst aquifers are difficult to assess given their strong heterogeneity and the poorly known effect of vadose zone on infiltration. However, recharge assessment is crucial for the evaluation of groundwater resources. Moreover, the vulnerability of karst aquifers depends on vadose zone behaviour because it is the place where most contamination takes place. In this work, an in situ experimental approach was performed to identify and quantify flow and storage processes occurring in karst vadose zone. Cave percolation monitoring and dye tracing were used to investigate unsaturated zone hydrological processes. Two flow components (diffuse and quick) were identified and, respectively, account for 66% and 34% of the recharge. Quickflow was found to be the result of bypass phenomenon in vadose zone related to water saturation. We identify the role of epikarst as a shunting area, most of the storage in the vadose zone occurring via the diffuse flow component in low permeability zones. Relationship between rainfall intensity and transit velocity was demonstrated, with 5 times higher velocities for the quick recharge mode than the diffuse mode. Modelling approach with KarstMod software allowed to simulate the hybrid recharge through vadose zone and shows promising chances to properly assess the recharge processes in karst aquifer based on simple physical models.     

Schooling behaviour and environmental forcing in relation to anchoveta distribution: An analysis across multiple spatial scales

The Peruvian anchovy or anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) supports the highest worldwide fishery landings and varies in space and time over many scales. Here we present the first comprehensive sub-mesocale study of anchoveta distribution in relation to the environment. During November 2004, we conducted a behavioural ecology survey off central Peru and used a series of observational and sampling tools including SST and CO₂ sensors, Niskin bottles, CTD probes, zooplankton sampling, stomach content analysis, echo-sounder, multibeam sonar, and bird observations. The sub-mesoscale survey areas were chosen from mesoscale acoustic surveys. A routine coast-wide (2000 km) acoustic survey performed just after the sub-mesoscale surveys, provided information at an even larger population scale. The availability of nearly concurrent sub-mesoscale, mesoscale and coast-wide information on anchoveta distribution allowed for a unique multi-scale synthesis. At the sub-mesoscale (100s m to km) physical processes (internal waves and frontogenesis) concentrated plankton into patches and determined anchoveta spatial distribution. At the mesoscale (10s km) location relative to the zone of active upwelling (and age of the upwelled water) and the depth of the oxycline had strong impacts on the anchoveta. Finally, over 100s km the size of the productive area, as defined by the upwelled cold coastal waters, was the determining factor. We propose a conceptual view of the relative importance of social behaviour and environmental (biotic and abiotic) processes on the spatial distribution of anchoveta. Our ecological space has two y-axis; one based on self-organization (social behaviour), and the other based on the environmental processes. At scales from the individual (10s cm), to the nucleus (m), social behaviour (e.g. the need to school) drives spatial organization. At scales larger than the school, environmental forces are the main driver of fish distribution. The conceptual ecosystem models presented in this paper may provide the final links needed to develop accurate forecasts of the spatial distribution of anchoveta over multiple scales.     

Lake‐level fluctuations at Lake Bourget (eastern France) around 4500–3500 cal. a BP and their palaeoclimatic and archaeological implications

On the basis of sedimentological analysis of two cores taken at Chatillon, Lake Le Bourget (northern French Pre‐Alps), and well dated by radiocarbon dates in addition to tree ring dates obtained from an archaeological layer, this paper presents a high‐resolution lake‐level record for the period 4500–3500 cal. a BP. The collected data provide evidence of a complex palaeohydrological (climatic) oscillation spanning the ca. 4300–3850 cal. BP time interval, with major lake‐level maxima at ca. 4200 and 4050–3850 cal. a BP separated by a lowering episode around 4100 cal. a BP. The lake‐level highstands observed at Chatillon between 4300 and 3850 cal. BP appear to be synchronous with (i) a major flooding period recorded in deep cores from the large lakes Le Bourget and Bodensee, and (ii) glacier advance and tree line decline in the Alps. Such wetter and cooler climatic conditions in west‐central Europe around 4000 cal. a BP may have been a nonlinear response to decrease and seasonal changes in insolation. They may also provide a possible explanation for the general abandonment of prehistoric lake dwellings north of the Alps between 4360 and 3750 cal. a BP. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pollution au plomb dans la Savoie antique (II–IIIe s. apr. J.-C.) en relation avec une installation métallurgique de la cité de Vienne

In Lake Anterne (NW French Alps), the Roman period is characterised by a lead contamination more important than that of the 1970s, due to the use of leaded gasoline. The maximum of this contamination period has been varve-dated 220 AD, i.e., during the optimum of Roman civilization in the Alps. Crossing palaeoenvironmental and archaeological evidences points out the economic importance of the town of Passy for the City of Vienne and yields a new example of lead contamination due to local metallurgical activity rather than distant impact of the exploitation of the Spanish Rio Tinto mine. To cite this article: F. Arnaud et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2005).     

Broken Beds,but better science; using multiple hypotheses to interpret geological data

In this study, we propose a multiple hypotheses approach to improve interpretations of limited remotely sensed datasets, such as sparsely exposed outcrops, subsurface datasets, or planetary objects using semi-quantitative scoring and ranking of observable features. This method is demonstrated using an outcrop example from the Broken Beds of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group exposed along Britain's Jurassic Coast. Four published hypotheses regarding their origin are refined, represented in matrix form, scored and ranked based on carefully selected outcrop features. Semi-quantitative scoring utilises knowledge of likely processes governing the occurrence of a range of features, some of which might be ignored or down-played to favour a single hypothesis. Furthermore, by integrating expertise from different sub-disciplines (e.g. basin analysis, sedimentology, diagenesis), we also consider the combined evidence of multiple features. This new method results in an interpretation that favours a multi-process origin for the Broken Beds due to evaporite dissolution, overpressure release and tectonic folding, with identified uncertainty, all useful to guide further data collection.     

Reassessment of the ‘Abbevillien’ in the perspective of new discoveries from the Lower Palaeolithic and Quaternary sites of Abbeville (Somme,northern France)

North-West Europe yields few traces of early human occupation, in particular for the Acheulean. In this context, the Somme Valley in northern France offers a route to Britain during various Pleistocene low sea levels, and has provided numerous evidence of Lower Palaeolithic human occupation through fieldwork initiated during the 19th century. These localities are associated with the original definition in the 1930s by the French prehistorian Abbé Henri Breuil of the ‘Abbevillien’ (Abbevillian facies), based on lithic pieces including crudely made bifaces recovered in particular in some famous key localities of Abbeville, Carpentier, Léon and Moulin Quignon quarries. The history of the term and its definition subsequently gave rise to debates concerning the chronocultural framework of Palaeolithic assemblages among the scientific community of prehistorians over time, from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, Gabriel de Mortillet, Geoffroy d'Ault du Mesnil, Victor Commont, Henri Breuil and François Bordes. New investigations at these three localities, all associated with the High Terrace of the Somme system, pushed back the age of the expansion of the Acheulean both in northern France and in Western Europe to c. 670–650 000 years. They imply that early hominins were able to settle in North-West Europe during both climatic temperate and cold phases. Our work, including new excavations and associated field observations of the three Abbeville localities involved at the onset of the controversy, allows a re-examination of the Abbevillian and contributes to the discussion of the history of Prehistoric Science and the Earliest ‘Acheuleans’ in North-West Europe.     

Tracing the temporal evolution of soil redistribution rates in an agricultural landscape using 239+240Pu and 10Be

Two principal groups of processes shape mass fluxes from and into a soil: vertical profile development and lateral soil redistribution. Periods having predominantly progressive soil forming processes (soil profile development) alternate with periods having predominantly regressive processes (erosion). As a result, short-term soil redistribution – years to decades – can differ substantially from long-term soil redistribution; i.e. centuries to millennia. However, the quantification of these processes is difficult and consequently their rates are poorly understood. To assess the competing roles of erosion and deposition we determined short- and long-term soil redistribution rates in a formerly glaciated area of the Uckermark, northeast Germany. We compared short-term erosion or accumulation rates using plutonium-239 and -240 (^239+240Pu) and long-term rates using both in situ and meteoric cosmogenic beryllium-10 (¹⁰Be). Three characteristic process domains have been analysed in detail: a flat landscape position having no erosion/deposition, an erosion-dominated mid-slope, and a deposition-dominated lower-slope site. We show that the short-term mass erosion and accumulation rates are about one order of magnitude higher than long-term redistribution rates. Both, in situ and meteoric ¹⁰Be provide comparable results. Depth functions, and therefore not only an average value of the topsoil, give the most meaningful rates. The long-term soil redistribution rates were in the range of −2.1 t ha^-1 yr^-1 (erosion) and +0.26 t ha^-1 yr^-1 (accumulation) whereas the short-term erosion rates indicated strong erosion of up to 25 t ha^-1 yr^-1 and accumulation of 7.6 t ha^-1 yr^-1. Our multi-isotope method identifies periods of erosion and deposition, confirming the ‘time-split approach’ of distinct different phases (progressive/regressive) in soil evolution. With such an approach, temporally-changing processes can be disentangled, which allows the identification of both the dimensions of and the increase in soil erosion due to human influence. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

40Ar–39Ar geochronology across Archean and Paleoproterozoic terranes from southeastern Guiana Shield (north of Amazonian Craton,Brazil): Evidence for contrasting cooling histories

A ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronological study was performed on amphibole and biotite from some representative units of distinct tectonic domains of the southeastern Guiana Shield, north of the Amazonian Craton, the Amapá Block and the Carecuru Domain. In the Amapá Block, an Archean continental block involved in the Transamazonian orogenesis (2.26–1.95 Ga), the investigated minerals, from rocks of the Archean high-grade basement assemblage, give only Paleoproterozoic ages, indicating their complete resetting during the Transamazonian orogenic event. Amphibole ages vary from 2087 ± 3 to 2047 ± 20 Ma, and biotite ages spread mainly between 2079 ± 18 and 2033 ± 13 Ma. In the Carecuru Domain, in which the geodynamic evolution is related to Paleoproterozoic magmatic arc setting during the Transamazonian event, calc-alkaline granitoids yield amphibole age of 2074 ± 17 Ma, and biotite ages of 1928 ± 19 Ma and 1833 ± 13 Ma.These data reinforce the importance of the Transamazonian orogenic cycle in the investigated area, and indicate that the rocks were not significantly affected by post-Transamazonian events. When coupled with available U–Th–Pb monazite and Pb–Pb zircon geochronological records and petro-structural observations, the new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data delineate contrasting cooling and exhumation histories for the tectonic domains. In the Amapá Block, the data suggest nearly vertical T–t paths that reflect fast cooling rates, which indicate tectonically controlled exhumation, related to collisional stages of the Transamazonian event, between 2.10 and 2.08 Ga. Conversely, in the Carecuru Domain, low cooling rates suggest that the arc-related granitoids underwent slow and monotonous cooling since their emplacement until reaching the biotite isotopic closure temperature.     

Analysis with C- and X-band satellite SAR data of the Portalet landslide area

This paper describes the use of the Stable Point Network technique, a Persistent Scatterer Interferometry SAR technique, for the analysis of the Portalet landslide area (Central Pyrenees, Spain). For this purpose, different SAR datasets acquired by ERS-1, ERS-2, ENVISAT and TerraSAR-X satellites have been analysed. The use of different SAR images acquired by satellite radar sensors operating at different microwave lengths has allowed for a comparative assessment and illustration of the advantages and disadvantages of these satellites for landslide detection and monitoring. In the introduction, differential interferometry and the study area are briefly described. Then the specifics of the SPN processing and the results of the different datasets are described and compared. In Analysis of the results: the Portalet landslide area, the Portalet landslide area is introduced and the radar displacement measurements are analysed with available geo-information data. Additionally, X-band measurements are compared with those gathered by a ground-based SAR for a previous project. Finally, the most relevant conclusions of this work are discussed.