Water level variability and trends in Lake Constance in the light of the 1999 centennial flood

The extreme flood of Lake Constance in 1999 focused attention on the variability of annual lake levels. The year 1999 not only brought one of the highest floods of the last 180 years but also one of the earliest in the season. The 1999 extreme event was caused by heavy rainfall in the alpine and pre-alpine regions. The influence of precipitation in the two distinct regional catchments on lake level variations can be quantified by correlation analysis. The long-term variations in lake level and precipitation show similar patterns. This is seen through the use of spectral analysis, which gives similar bands of spectral densities for precipitation and lake level time series. It can be concluded from the comparison of these results with the analysis of climate change patterns in northern Europe, i.e. the index of the North Atlantic Oscillation, that the regional effects on lake level variations are more pronounced than those of global climate change.     

Depth to basement and geoid expression of the Kane Fracture Zone: A comparison

Geoid data from Geosat and subsatellite basement depth profiles of the Kane Fracture Zone in the central North Atlantic were used to examine the correlation between the short-wavelength geoid (=25–100 km) and the uncompensated basement topography. The processing technique we apply allows the stacking of geoid profiles, although each repeat cycle has an unknown long-wavelength bias. We first formed the derivative of individual profiles, stacked up to 22 repeat cycles, and then integrated the average-slope profile to reconstruct the geoid height. The stacked, filtered geoid profiles have a noise level of about 7 mm in geoid height. The subsatellite basement topography was obtained from a recent compilation of structure contours on basement along the entire length of the Kane Fracture Zone. The ratio of geoid height to topography over the Kane Fracture Zone valley decreases from about 20–25 cm km^-1 over young ocean crust to 5–0 cm km^-1 over ocean crust older than 140 Ma. Both geoid and basement depth of profiles were projected perpendicular to the Kane Fracture Zone, resampled at equal intervals and then cross correlated. The cross correlation shows that the short-wavelength geoid height is well correlated with the basement topography. For 33 of the 37 examined pro-files, the horizontal mismatches are 10 km or less with an average mismatch of about 5 km. This correlation is quite good considering that the average width of the Kane Fracture Zone valley at median depth is 10–15 km. The remaining four profiles either cross the transverse ridge just east of the active Kane transform zone or overlie old crust of the M-anomaly sequence. The mismatch over the transverse ridge probably is related to a crustal density anomaly. The relatively poor correlation of geoid and basement depth in profiles of ocean crust older than 130–140 Ma reflects poor basement-depth control along subsatellite tracks.     

Response of Bosmina to climate variability and reduced nutrient loading in a large lake

The long-term dynamics of the cladoceran Bosmina spp. were analysed in Lake Constance during the study period 1979-1998. During this period the lake ecosystem has been influenced strongly by changes in nutrient inflow (oligotrophication) and by climate variability associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Bosmina abundances declined strongly during the study period presumably as an indirect consequence of the reduced P loading of the lake. A detailed seasonally resolved analysis of Bosmina dynamics revealed that its abundance decline occurred throughout the year with the exception of the spring period. The lack of a population decline during spring may be attributed to the seasonal absence of the factor, e.g., food limitation and/or predation control by invertebrates causing the population decline. Additionally, climate variability had its strongest influence on Bosmina dynamics during spring and large climate-associated variability of Bosmina may have decreased the power to detect a significant reduction in spring Bosmina abundances with oligotrophication. However, when we account for the confounding influence of climate variability, the effects of oligotrophication are revealed more clearly also during the spring period. Likewise, the detectability of the influence of climate variability on spring Bosmina dynamics increases when accounting for the reduction of abundances in the course of oligotrophication.     

磷化氢及其氧化产物动态释放对铜绿微囊藻(Microcystis aeruginosa)生长的影响

提要就磷化氢释放对铜绿微囊藻的生长进行了研究,采用藻类生长潜力试验(AGP)的方法,研究了磷化氢及其氧化产物亚磷酸盐、次亚磷酸盐对水华暴发优势藻类(铜绿微囊藻)的生长的影响,结果表明：磷化氢及其氧化产物对铜绿微囊藻的生长有重要的影响。富营养水体磷化氢的释放可能在引起湖泊水华暴发中起到了重要的作用。     

Reconstructing seafloor age distributions in lost ocean basins

Reconstructions of past seafloor age make it possible to quantify how plate tectonic forces,surface heat flow,ocean basin volume and global sea level have varied through geological time.However,past ocean basins that have now been subducted cannot be uniquely reconstructed,and a significant challenge is how to explore a wide range of possible reconstructions.Here,we investigate possible distributions of seafloor ages from the late Paleozoic to present using published full-plate reconstructions and a new,efficient seafloor age reconstruction workflow,all developed using the open-source software GPlates.We test alternative reconstruction models and examine the influence of assumed spreading rates within the Panthalassa Ocean on the reconstructed history of mean seafloor age,oceanic heat flow,and the contribution of ocean basin volume to global sea level.The reconstructions suggest variations in mean seafloor age of~15 Myr during the late Paleozoic,similar to the amplitude of variations previously proposed for the Cretaceous to present.Our reconstructed oceanic age-area distributions are broadly compatible with a scenario in which the long-period fluctuations in global sea level since the late Paleozoic are largely driven by changes in mean seafloor age.Previous suggestions of a constant rate of seafloor production through time can be modelled using our workflow,but require that oceanic plates in the Paleozoic move slower than continents based on current reconstructions of continental motion,which is difficult to reconcile with geodynamic studies.     

An objective analysis of the observed spatial structure of the tropical Indian Ocean SST variability

The observed interannual Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) variability from 1950 to 2008 is analyzed in respect to the spatial structure of the variability. The analysis is based on an objective comparison of the leading empirical orthogonal function modes against the stochastic null hypothesis of spatial red noise (isotropic diffusion). Starting from this red noise assumption, the analysis searches for those structures that are most distinct from the red noise hypothesis. This objective approach will put previously well and less known modes of variability into the context of the multivariate SST variability. The Indian Ocean SST variability is marked by relatively weak SST variability, which is strongly dominated by a basin wide monopole pattern that is caused by different processes. The leading modes of variability are the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability and the warming trend, which both project onto the basin wide monopole structure. Other more characteristic spatial patterns of internal variability are much less dominant in the tropical Indian Ocean, which is quite different from all other ocean basin, where characteristic teleconnection patterns exist. The remaining, ENSO independent, detrended variability is dominated by multi-pole patterns from the southern Indian Ocean reaching into the tropical Indian Ocean, which are probably primarily caused by extra-tropical atmospheric forcings. The large scale tropical Indian Ocean internal variability itself has no dominant structure. The currently often used dipole mode index (DMI) does not appear to present a dominant teleconnection pattern of the Indian Ocean internal SST variability. In the context of the objective analysis presented here, the DMI partly reflects the ENSO variability and is also a representation of the multi-dimensional, chaotic spatial red noise (isotropic diffusion) process. As such the DMI cannot be interpreted as a coherent teleconnection between the two poles.     

Dynamic subsidence of Eastern Australia during the Cretaceous

During the Early Cretaceous Australia's eastward passage over sinking subducted slabs induced widespread dynamic subsidence and formation of a large epeiric sea in the eastern interior. Despite evidence for convergence between Australia and the paleo-Pacific, the subduction zone location has been poorly constrained. Using coupled plate tectonic–mantle convection models, we test two end-member scenarios, one with subduction directly east of Australia's reconstructed continental margin, and a second with subduction translated ~ 1000 km east, implying the existence of a back-arc basin. Our models incorporate a rheological model for the mantle and lithosphere, plate motions since 140 Ma and evolving plate boundaries. While mantle rheology affects the magnitude of surface vertical motions, timing of uplift and subsidence depends on plate boundary geometries and kinematics. Computations with a proximal subduction zone result in accelerated basin subsidence occurring 20 Myr too early compared with tectonic subsidence calculated from well data. This timing offset is reconciled when subduction is shifted eastward. Comparisons between seismic tomography and model temperature cross-sections, and an absence of subduction zone volcanism in eastern Australia in the Early Cretaceous provide support for the back-arc basin scenario.