Automated Image Registration for Hydrologic Change Detection in the Lake-Rich Arctic

Multitemporal remote sensing provides a unique tool to track lake dynamics at the pan-Arctic scale but requires precise registration of thousands of satellite images. This is a challenging task owing to a dearth of stable features to be used as tie points [(TPs), i.e., control points] in the dynamic landscapes. This letter develops an automated method to precisely register images in the lake-rich Arctic. The core premise of the method is that the centers of lakes are generally stable even if their shorelines are not. The proposed procedures first extract lakes in multitemporal satellite images, derive lake centroids and match them between images, and then use the centroids of stable lakes as TPs for image registration. The results show that this approach can achieve subpixel registration accuracy, outcompeting the conventional manual methods in both efficiency and accuracy. The proposed method is fully automated and represents a feasible way to register images for lake change detection at the pan-Arctic scale.      

Biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur, and free oxygen in a microbial mat

Complete budgets for carbon and oxygen have been constructed for cyanobacterial mats dominated by Microcoleus chthonoplastes from the evaporating ponds of a salt works located in Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Included in the budget are measured rates of O2 production, sulfate reduction, and elemental exchange across the mat/brine interface, day and night, at various temperatures and times of the year. We infer from this data the various sinks for O2, as well as the sources of carbon for primary production. To summarize, although seasonal variability exists, a major percentage of the O2 produced during the day did not diffuse out of the mat but was used within the mat to oxidize both organic carbon and the sulfide produced by sulfate reduction. At night, most of the O2 that diffused into the mat was used to oxidize sulfide, with O2 respiration of minor importance. During the day, the internal mat processes of sulfate reduction and O2 respiration generated as much or more inorganic carbon (DIC) for primary production as diffusion into the mat. Also, oxygenic photosynthesis was the most important process of carbon fixation, although anoxygenic photosynthesis may have been important at low light levels during some times of the year. At night, the DIC lost from the mat was mostly from sulfate reduction. Elemental fluxes across the mat/brine interface indicated that carbon with an oxidation state of greater than zero was taken up by the mat during the day and liberated from the mat at night. Overall, carbon with an average oxidation state of near zero accumulated in the mat. Both carbon fixation and carbon oxidation rates varied with temperature by a similar amount. These mats are thus closely coupled systems where rapid rates of photosynthesis both require and fuel rapid rates of heterotrophic carbon oxidation.     

On the use of IPCC-class models to assess the impact of climate on Living Marine Resources

The study of climate impacts on Living Marine Resources (LMRs) has increased rapidly in recent years with the availability of climate model simulations contributed to the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Collaboration between climate and LMR scientists and shared understanding of critical challenges for such applications are essential for developing robust projections of climate impacts on LMRs. This paper assesses present approaches for generating projections of climate impacts on LMRs using IPCC-class climate models, recommends practices that should be followed for these applications, and identifies priority developments that could improve current projections. Understanding of the climate system and its representation within climate models has progressed to a point where many climate model outputs can now be used effectively to make LMR projections. However, uncertainty in climate model projections (particularly biases and inter-model spread at regional to local scales), coarse climate model resolution, and the uncertainty and potential complexity of the mechanisms underlying the response of LMRs to climate limit the robustness and precision of LMR projections. A variety of techniques including the analysis of multi-model ensembles, bias corrections, and statistical and dynamical downscaling can ameliorate some limitations, though the assumptions underlying these approaches and the sensitivity of results to their application must be assessed for each application. Developments in LMR science that could improve current projections of climate impacts on LMRs include improved understanding of the multi-scale mechanisms that link climate and LMRs and better representations of these mechanisms within more holistic LMR models. These developments require a strong baseline of field and laboratory observations including long time series and measurements over the broad range of spatial and temporal scales over which LMRs and climate interact. Priority developments for IPCC-class climate models include improved model accuracy (particularly at regional and local scales), inter-annual to decadal-scale predictions, and the continued development of earth system models capable of simulating the evolution of both the physical climate system and biosphere. Efforts to address these issues should occur in parallel and be informed by the continued application of existing climate and LMR models.     

Jinshanjiangite and bafertisite from the Gremyakha-Vyrmes Alkaline Complex,Kola Peninsula

Jinshanjiangite (acicular crystals up to 2 mm in length) and bafertisite (lamellar crystals up to 3 × 4 mm in size) have been found in alkali granite pegmatite of the Gremyakha-Vyrmes Complex, Kola Peninsula. Albite, microcline, quartz, arfvedsonite, zircon, and apatite are associated minerals. The dimensions of a monoclinic unit cell of jinshanjiangite and bafertisite are: a = 10.72(2), b=13.80(2), c = 20.94(6) Å, β = 97.0(5)° and a = 10.654(6), b = 13.724(6), c = 10.863(8) Å, β = 94.47(8)°, respectively. The typical compositions (electron microprobe data) of jinshanjiangite and bafertisite are: (Na_0.57Ca_0.44)_Σ1.01(Ba_0.57K_0.44)_Σ1.01 (Fe_3.53Mn_0.30Mg_0.04Zn_0.01)_Σ3.88(Ti_1.97Nb_0.06Zr_0.01)_Σ2.04(Si_3.97Al_0.03O₁₄)O_2.00(OH_2.25F_0.73O_0.02)_Σ3.00 and (Ba_1.98Na_0.04K_0.03)_Σ2.05(Fe_3.43Mn_0.37Mg_0.03)_Σ3.83(Ti_2.02Nb_0.03)_Σ2.05 (Si_3.92Al_0.08O₁₄)(O_1.84OH_0.16)_Σ2.00(OH_2.39F_1.61)_Σ3.00, respectively. The minerals studied are the Fe-richest members of the bafertisite structural family.     

New data on paleontological characteristic of the Oligocene in the Il’pinskii Peninsula, northeastern Kamchatka

Fossil diatom algae first found in the Paleogene marine succession (Alugivayam Formation) of the Il’pinskii Peninsula, northeastern Kamchatka are studied, and new data on molluscan assemblages from the same sequences are presented. Some of the diatom forms identified suggest the Oligocene age of their host deposits. This is consistent with earlier inference from benthic groups of marine organisms.     

Prospection minière dans la région Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Alpes Orientales)

Mineralogical alluvial prospecting search for base metals have been carried out from 1968 to 1970 in the Friuli — Venezia Giulia region. The Carnia, a part of this region, was well known from ancient times as an important mining district. Numerous anomalies of the content of some elements and minerals in river sands have been recognized by means of the above mentioned searches. This indicates that important and till now unknown ore concentrations are possible in this region. In fact three new sphalerite and/or galena concentrations and one fluorite concentration in association with As-sulphides have already been discovered during a partial development of these surveys. In the present work the advantages of alluvial prospecting in mining searches are remarked. Moreover method and application of mineralogical alluvial prospecting are described. In the last paragraph the steps which allowed the discovering of the new metal concentrations are reported in detail. The discovered concentrations are shortly analyzed. Strict aim of this note is to indicate the value and scientific importance of the described method.For reasons not within author's control, the results of these researches can be published only to day. But, owing the importance of some recent discoveries, the authors remind that these results have already been discussed at 2^nd Int. Symp. on the Mineral Deposits on the Alps Bled, 1971, and at the meeting of Società di Mineralogia e Petrografia Pisa, 1974.