Composition of organic matter in subducted and unsubducted sediments off the Nicoya peninsula, Costa Rica (ODP Leg 170, Sites 1039 and 1040)

Investigation of sediment samples from Sites 1039 and 1040 (ODP Leg 170) drilled off the Nicoya peninsula (Costa Rica) by organic geochemical and organic petrological methods has revealed that subduction has only little influence on the composition of the sedimentary organic matter. Organic carbon contents reached 1.5% in the Pleistocene samples but Miocene and Pliocene sediments had an average organic carbon content of less than 0.5%. Organic carbon/sulfur ratios are generally below 2.8, reflecting an intense sulfate reduction in the uppermost sediments which was enhanced by sulfate supply both from sea water and deeper strata. Microscopical examinations indicate that the organic matter is mainly derived from marine sources. A small amount of terrigenous organic matter is, however, present as well according to n-alkane and fatty acid distributions. The alkenone unsaturation index U₃₇^k′ shows only a slight decrease during the Miocene and Pliocene, and stronger variations in the Pleistocene, probably indicating more stable sea surface temperatures during the Miocene and Pliocene. Variations in the Pleistocene can possibly be related to glacial/interglacial changes.     

Boundary-layer observations over water and arctic sea-ice during on-ice air flow

Observations made on 8 and 9 May 1988 by aircraft and two ships in and around the marginal ice zone of the Fram Strait during on-ice air flow under cloudy and cloud-free conditions are presented.The thermodynamic modification of the air mass moving from the open water to the ice over horizontal distances of 100–300 km is only a few tenth of a degree for temperature and a few tenth of a gram per kilogram for specific humidity. This is due to the small temperature differences between sea and ice surfaces. During the day, the ice surface is even warmer than the sea surface. The stably stratified 200–400 m deep boundary layer is often topped by a moisture inversion leading to downward fluxes of sensible as well as latent heat.The radiation and energy balance at the surface are measured as functions of ice cover, cloud cover and sun elevation angle. The net radiationR _Nis the dominating term of the energy budget. During the day, the difference ofR _Nbetween clear and overcast sky is only a few W/m² over ice, but 100–200 W/m² over water. During the night,R _Nover ice is more sensitive to cloud cover.The kinematic structure is characterized by strong shears of the longitudinal and the transversal wind component. The profile of the latter one shows an inflection point near the top of the boundary layer. Dynamically-driven roll circulations are numerically separated from the mean flow. The secondary flow patterns have wavelengths of about 1 km and contribute substantially to the total variances and covariances.     

Contribution of regional climate drivers to future winter sea-level changes in the Baltic Sea estimated by statistical methods and simulations of climate models

A statistical downscaling approach is applied to the output of five different global climate model simulations driven by twenty-first century future scenarios of greenhouse gas concentrations. The contribution of sea-level pressure (SLP) and precipitation changes to regional future winter sea-level changes is estimated for four Baltic sea-level stations by establishing statistical relationships between sea level as predictand and large-scale climate fields as predictors. Using SLP as predictor for the central and eastern Baltic Sea level stations, three climate models lead to statistically significant twenty-first century future trends in the range of the order of 1–2 mm/year. Using precipitation as predictor for the stations in the southern Baltic coast all five models lead to statistically significant trends with a range of the order of 0.4 mm/year. These numbers are smaller, but of the order of magnitude as the predicted global sea-level rise.     

Geomicrobiology of Blood Falls: An Iron-Rich Saline Discharge at the Terminus of the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica

Blood Falls, a saline subglacial discharge from the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica provides an example of the diverse physical and chemical niches available for life in the polar desert of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Geochemical analysis of Blood Falls outflow resembles concentrated seawater remnant from the Pliocene intrusion of marine waters combined with products of weathering. The result is an iron-rich, salty seep at the terminus of Taylor Glacier, which is subject to episodic releases into permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney. Blood Falls influences thegeochemistry of Lake Bonney, and provides organic carbon and viable microbes to the lakesystem. Here we present the first data on the geobiology of Blood Falls and relate it totheevolutionary history of this unique environment. The novel geological evolution of thissubglacial environment makes Blood Falls an important site for the study of metabolic strategiesin subglacial environments and the impact of subglacial efflux on associated lake ecosystems.     

Race/Ethnicity in Visual Imagery of Dutch Nature Conservation Organizations

Nature conservation organizations in various Western countries, including the Netherlands, have noted that racial/ethnic minorities compared to Whites are “underparticipating” in recreation in natural areas and in nature conservation practices. Previous research trying to explain (under-)participation by racial/ethnic minorities in outdoor recreation and nature conservation mainly focused on characteristics of racial/ethnic groups. This study argues that nature conservation organizations themselves—although in all likelihood unintentionally—may play a role in participation of racial/ethnic minorities as well, through their promotional material. A content analysis of 22,974 pictures in magazines and on websites of four large Dutch nature conservation organizations shows that only 3.8% of the depicted people were non-White. Our results indicate that visual imagery of nature conservation organizations, at least in the Netherlands, (re)produces an image of outdoor recreation and nature conservation as being activities almost exclusively performed by Whites.     

Significance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Permian/Triassic boundary sections

In this study the abundances of several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs Table 1, I–XXI) have been measured throughout three Permian/Triassic (P/Tr) sections from Meishan (South China), Kap Stosch area (East Greenland) and Peace River Basin (Western Canada). Dibenzothiophene (I) and dibenzofuran (II) were found to decrease in abundance just before or shortly after the P/Tr transition in all three sections while perylene (III) was observed to increase in abundance at the onset of the main extinction horizon (bed 25) in Meishan. Perylene has been attributed to a wood degrading fungal source and, therefore, it seems possible these phenomena are related to the demise of land plants. Further, distinct patterns of various combustion-derived PAHs occurring in each section imply that forest fire events occurred within the Late Permian and Early Triassic. In the Meishan section high amounts of combustion-derived PAHs [pyrene (IV), fluoranthene (V), benzo[a]anthracene (VI), benzofluoranthenes (sum, i.e. VII), benzo[a]pyrene (VIII), benzo[e]pyrene (IX) and coronene (X)] occur within bed 25, also containing ash attributed to the fallout from massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia and/or China.     

Urban Community Garden Agrodiversity and Cultural Identity in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S.

Considerable research has examined the social, cultural, economic, and community benefits of urban gardening. Few studies, however, have empirically assessed factors that influence urban community garden agrodiversity or its relationship to these dimensions of gardening. We conducted an interdisciplinary study of agrodiversity and cultural identity, based certain markers of identity, including how people see themselves with respect to race, ethnicity, or place of origin, in community gardens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We conducted fifty‐six semistructured interviews with gardeners with different cultural identities in eight community gardens on their motivations for urban community gardening during 2014. We conducted plant inventories of the corresponding garden plots and found 104 cultivated edible and ornamental species and 28 varieties representing 34 families. We find that although gardens with culturally diverse gardeners did not have higher species richness, the cultural identity of the gardeners influenced species selection and reason for gardening. Further, the structure, design and species composition of garden plots reflected the identities of garden members. These finding have implications for the recent institutionalization of urban agriculture into city land policies in Philadelphia and other cities in North America.     

UV-tolerance and instantaneous physiological stress responses of two Antarctic amphipod species Gondogeneia antarctica and Djerboa furcipes during exposure to UV radiation

We investigated the shielding against solar ultraviolet radiation and inducible damage, as well as the short-term response of whole animal metabolic rate in two Antarctic shallow water amphipod species. Light absorbance by the carapace of Gondogeneia antarctica and Djerboa furcipes was higher in the UVR (UVB+UVA) range (42.1% and 54.5% on average respectively) compared to the PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) range (38.1% and 50.1% respectively) of the solar spectrum. Bands of higher absorbance correlated with maximal absorbance ranges of sunscreening compounds indicating mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) and carotenoids to be innate compounds of the exoskeleton of these species. Though the antioxidant enzyme catalase was photoinhibited, protein damage products did not accumulate under experimental exposure to a daily dose of 6.84 kJ m(-2) d(-1) UVB, 66.24 kJ m(-2) d(-1) UVA and 103.14 kJ m(-2) d(-1) PAR. Animal oxygen consumption during UV-exposure was measured as an indicator of immediate behavioural and physiological stress response. UVB as well as UVA induced a response with altered and highly variable respiratory intensity. Our findings indicate that sub-lethal UVR exposure causes increased oxygen consumption in polar amphipods due to radiation avoidance, shelter seeking behaviour, and presumably also from cellular repair processes.     

Automated derivation and spatio-temporal analysis of landslide properties in southern Kyrgyzstan

The study area located in southern Kyrgyzstan is affected by high and ongoing landslide activity. To characterize this activity, a multi-temporal landslide inventory containing over 2800 landslide polygons was generated from multiple data sources. The latter include the results of automated landslide detection from multi-temporal satellite imagery. The polygonal representation of the landslides allows for characterization of the landslide geometry and determination of further landslide attributes in a way that accounts for the diversity of conditions within the landslide, e.g., at the landslide main scarp opposed to its toe. To perform such analyses, a methodology for efficient geographic information system (GIS)-based attribute derivation was developed, which includes both standard and customized GIS tools. We derived a number of landslide attributes, including area, length, compactness, slope, aspect, distance to stream and geology. The distributions of these attributes were analyzed to obtain a better understanding of landslide properties in the study area as a preliminary step for probabilistic landslide hazard assessment. The obtained spatial and temporal attribute variations were linked to differences in the environmental characteristics within the study area, in which the geological setting proved to be the most important differentiating factor. Moreover, a significant influence of the different data sources on the distribution of the landslide attribute values was found, indicating the importance of a critical evaluation of the landslide data to be used in landslide hazard assessments.