Environmental Radioxenon Levels in Europe: a Comprehensive Overview

Activity concentration data from ambient radioxenon measurements in ground level air, which were carried out in Europe in the framework of the International Noble Gas Experiment (INGE) in support of the development and build-up of a radioxenon monitoring network for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty verification regime are presented and discussed. Six measurement stations provided data from 5 years of measurements performed between 2003 and 2008: Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen, Norway), Stockholm (Sweden), Dubna (Russian Federation), Schauinsland Mountain (Germany), Bruyères-le-Châtel and Marseille (both France). The noble gas systems used within the INGE are designed to continuously measure low concentrations of the four radioxenon isotopes which are most relevant for detection of nuclear explosions: ^131mXe, ^133mXe, ¹³³Xe and ¹³⁵Xe with a time resolution less than or equal to 24 h and a minimum detectable concentration of ¹³³Xe less than 1 mBq/m³. This European cluster of six stations is particularly interesting because it is highly influenced by a high density of nuclear power reactors and some radiopharmaceutical production facilities. The activity concentrations at the European INGE stations are studied to characterise the influence of civilian releases, to be able to distinguish them from possible nuclear explosions. It was found that the mean activity concentration of the most frequently detected isotope, ¹³³Xe, was 5–20 mBq/m³ within Central Europe where most nuclear installations are situated (Bruyères-le-Châtel and Schauinsland), 1.4–2.4 mBq/m³ just outside that region (Stockholm, Dubna and Marseille) and 0.2 mBq/m³ in the remote polar station of Spitsbergen. No seasonal trends could be observed from the data. Two interesting events have been examined and their source regions have been identified using atmospheric backtracking methods that deploy Lagrangian particle dispersion modelling and inversion techniques. The results are consistent with known releases of a radiopharmaceutical facility.     

Pressure-specific and multiple pressure response of fish assemblages in European running waters

We classified homogenous river types across Europe and searched for fish metrics qualified to show responses to specific pressures (hydromorphological pressures or water quality pressures) vs. multiple pressures in these river types. We analysed fish taxa lists from 3105 sites in 16 ecoregions and 14 countries. Sites were pre-classified for 15 selected pressures to separate unimpacted from impacted sites. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to split unimpacted sites into four homogenous river types based on species composition and geographical location. Classification trees were employed to predict associated river types for impacted sites with four environmental variables. We defined a set of 129 candidate fish metrics to select the best reacting metrics for each river type. The candidate metrics represented tolerances/intolerances of species associated with six metric types: habitat, migration, water quality sensitivity, reproduction, trophic level and biodiversity. The results showed that 17 uncorrelated metrics reacted to pressures in the four river types. Metrics responded specifically to water quality pressures and hydromorphological pressures in three river types and to multiple pressures in all river types. Four metrics associated with water quality sensitivity showed a significant reaction in up to three river types, whereas 13 metrics were specific to individual river types. Our results contribute to the better understanding of fish assemblage response to human pressures at a pan-European scale. The results are especially important for European river management and restoration, as it is necessary to uncover underlying processes and effects of human pressures on aquatic communities.     

Nuclear and incommensurate magnetic structure of NaFeGe2O6 between 5?K and 298?K and new data on multiferroic NaFeSi2O6

The compound NaFeGe₂O₆ was grown synthetically as polycrystalline powder and as large single crystals suitable for X-ray and neutron-diffraction experiments to clarify the low temperature evolution of secondary structural parameters and to determine the low temperature magnetic spins structure. NaFeGe₂O₆ is isotypic to the clinopyroxene-type compound aegirine and adopts the typical HT-C2/c clinopyroxene structure down to 2.5?K. The Na-bearing M2 polyhedra were identified to show the largest volume expansion between 2.5?K and room temperature, while the GeO₄ tetrahedra behave as stiff units. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show a broad maximum around 33?K, which marks the onset of low-dimensional magnetic ordering. Below 12?K NaFeGe₂O₆ transforms to an incommensurately modulated magnetic spin state, with k?=?[0.323, 1.0, 0.080] and a helical order of spins within the M1-chains of FeO₆ octahedra. This is determined by neutron-diffraction experiments on a single crystal. Comparison of NaFeGe₂O₆ with NaFeSi₂O₆ is given and it is shown that the magnetic ordering in the latter compound, aegirine, also is complex and is best described by two different spin states, a commensurate one with C2??/c?? symmetry and an incommensurate one, best being described by a spin density wave, oriented within the (1 0 1) plane.     

Surface motion in the pulsating DA white dwarf G29‐38

We present time-resolved spectrophotometry of the pulsating DA white dwarf G29-38. As in previous broad-band photometry, the light curve shows the presence of a large number of periodicities. Many of these are combination frequencies, i.e. periodicities occurring at frequencies that are sums or differences of frequencies of stronger, real modes. We identify at least six real modes, and at least five combination frequencies. We measure line-of-sight velocities for our spectra and detect periodic variations at the frequencies of five of the six real modes, with amplitudes of up to 5 km s⁻¹. We argue that these variations reflect the horizontal surface motion associated with the g-mode pulsations. No velocity signals are detected at any of the combination frequencies, confirming that the flux variations at these frequencies do not reflect physical pulsation, but rather reflect mixing of frequencies owing to a non-linear transformation in the outer layers of the star. We discuss the amplitude ratios and phase differences found for the velocity and light variations, as well as those found for the real modes and their combination frequencies, both in a model-independent way and in the context of models based on the convective-driving mechanism. In a companion paper, we use the wavelength dependence of the amplitudes of the modes to infer their spherical degree.     

Late Quaternary record of Indian summer monsoon-induced stratification and productivity collapse in the Andaman Sea

During each summer monsoon, the northeastern Indian Ocean receives a huge amount of rain and river discharge, resulting in strong stratification and prevalence of oligotrophic conditions. These water column changes impact upper ocean productivity which is reflected in the planktonic foraminifera distribution, providing an opportunity to study the effect of monsoon forcing and stratification history. Analogous to modern-day stratification, very intense water column stratification and productivity collapse were observed associated with Indian summer monsoon (ISM) evolution. This paper reports significant stratification events during MIS 3 (37.0 to 33 and 27 to 24 cal ka), Bølling/Allerød (B/A), early Holocene (10.0 to 8.0 cal ka) and mid-Holocene (7.0 to 5.0 cal ka) which slowly muted upwelling and productivity. The deglacial intensification of the ISM started in the early stages of the Bølling/Allerød (B/A) followed by slight weakening during the Younger Dryas and regained strength during the early Holocene, coinciding with the highest summer insolation at 30°N. A progressive decline in the abundances of productivity and salinity proxies from 4.2 to 2.0 cal ka suggests a gradual weakening of the ISM. The late Quaternary productivity variations in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea are primarily controlled by salinity-related stratification.     

The biosphere: A homogeniser of Pb-isotope signals

Rock, soil, and plant (terrestrial moss, European mountain ash leaves, mountain birch leaves, bark and wood, and spruce needles and wood) samples, collected at 3 km intervals along a 120 km long transect (40 sites) cutting the city of Oslo, Norway, were analysed for their Pb concentration and Pb-isotope ratios. A general decrease in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁸Pb ratios, with a characteristic low variability in all plant materials and the plant-derived O-horizon of soil profiles, compared to rocks and mineral soils, is observed along the transect. It is demonstrated that minerogenic and biogenic sample materials belong to two different spheres, the lithosphere and biosphere, and that geochemical processes determining their chemical and isotopic compositions differ widely. Background variation for both sample materials needs to be established and documented at the continental and global scale before the anthropogenic influence on the geochemistry of the earth’s surface can be reliably estimated.     

Completeness of citizen science biodiversity data from a volunteered geographic information perspective

Observations of living organisms by citizen scientists that are reported to online portals are a valuable source of information. They are also a special kind of volunteered geographic information (VGI). VGI data have issues of completeness, which arise from biases caused by the opportunistic nature of the data collection process. We examined the completeness of bird species represented in citizen science observation data from eBird and iNaturalist in US National Parks (NPs). We used approaches for completeness estimation which were developed for data from OpenStreetMap, a crowdsourced map of the world. First, we used an extrinsic approach, comparing species lists from citizen science data with National Park Service lists. Second, we examined two intrinsic approaches using total observation numbers in NPs and the development of the number of new species being added to the data-set over time. Results from the extrinsic approach provided appropriate completeness estimations to evaluate the intrinsic approaches. We found that total observation numbers are a good estimator of species completeness of citizen science data from US NPs. There is also a close relationship between species completeness and the ratio of new species added to observation data vs. observation numbers in a given year.     

Melt production during granulite-facies anatexis: experimental data from “primitive” metasedimentary protoliths

We conducted fluid-absent partial melting experiments, at 0.5 and 1.0?GPa in the temperature range 750 to 1000?°C, to investigate the influence of bulk rock Mg ? [100Mg/(Mg+Fe)] and the effects of additional TiO₂ on the granulite-grade anatectic evolution of relatively magnesian metapelites and metagreywackes. In these experiments, melting began between 780 and 830?°C by the incongruent breakdown of biotite to produce quartz-saturated, granulite-facies residual mineral assemblages in equilibrium with H₂O-undersaturated granitic melt. The glass (quenched melt) compositions produced in this study vary little. Generally, the glasses have compositions similar to those of many natural strongly peraluminous leucogranites. The solidus temperatures in both rock types increase with increasing Mg ?, but are unaffected by the presence or absence of a TiO₂ component. At 0.5?GPa the metapelites melted at temperatures up to 50?°C lower than the equivalent metagreywackes, but at 1?GPa there was no discernible difference. This study suggests that the fluid-absent solidus has a steep positive dP/dT slope in metapelites and steep negative dP/dT slope in metagreywackes. The pattern of melt production with increasing temperature is strongly controlled by the upper limit of biotite stability. In TiO₂-free compositions this was found to increase by 15 to 20?°C in the metapelites and by 30 to 40?°C in the metagreywackes, as a function of increasing Mg ? from 49 to 81. The presence of a TiO₂ component increases the upper limit of biotite stability by ～50?°C in the metapelites and by ～80?°C in the metagreywackes, over that observed in the equivalent TiO₂-free compositions. In consequence, in the TiO₂-free samples large pulses of melt (up to 35 wt%) are produced over narrow temperature ranges (as little as 15?°C in these experiments) between 830 and 875?°C. In the TiO₂-bearing samples the major pulse of melt production occurs more gradually between 830 and >900?°C.