Responses of marsh fishes and breeding wading birds to low temperatures: A possible behavioral link between predator and prey

In the Everglades of southern Florida, several species of spring- and winter-nesting wading birds (Ciconiiformes) often abandon their nests in response to periods of cold or wet and windy weather. Using stepwise logistic regression of a variety of hydrologic and meteorologic variables on the probability of great egret nest failure, we found that cold temperatures and high wind speeds were most closely associated with nest failure in the Everglades. Water level fluctuation was not a significant correlate of failure. Quantitative visual surveys in the field showed that even moderate cooling events (15°C minimum daily temperature) dramatically altered the observed densities of marsh fishes. In controlled conditions in the laboratory, we observed centrarchid, poeciliid, and cyprinodontid fishes during normal high (19–23°C) and simulated cold snap (8–11°C) temperatures. At low temperatures, the fishes exhibited reduced activity, sought refuge by hiding in vegetation and/or substrate, and fled our approach to the tank at much greater distances. Threshold temperatures for these behaviors varied considerably between the laboratory (9–11°C) and field (15–20°C), and may be explained by differences in the previous thermal experience of the two groups of fishes. We hypothesize that the temperature-induced scarcity of fishes during spring cold snaps is an important cause of disruption of nesting for several species of wading birds in the Everglades.     

Structural Setting of Strong Earthquakes in the Huabei Area of China

— Using P and S arrival times, which occurred within the Huabei seismic network, we carried out a tomographic inversion and compared results with the earthquake catalogue of the last 1000?years in the area. The results are as follows:¶1) The hypocenters of most of the strong shocks are distributed in the transitional zones between high- and low-velocity areas in the crust, especially at edges of high-velocity blocks.¶2) Strong shocks predominantly lie above low-velocity blocks, or in transitional zones between low- and high-velocity areas, in the lower crust.¶3) The tectonic settings for the Tangshan and the Sanhe-Pingu earthquakes are similar. Both are not known near large fault belts, and in zones with a sharp lateral velocity gradient.¶4) The Ninghe, Tangshan and Luanxia earthquakes are located in high-velocity blocks that differ in size and depth. This difference can explain the focal depth distribution of the Tangshan earthquake sequence, i.e., earthquakes are shallower in the northeastern Luanxian area but deeper in the southwestern Ninghe area.     

Acoustic stratigraphy and hydrothermal activity within Epi Submarine Caldera,Vanuatu, New Hebrides Arc

Geological and geophysical surveys of active submarine volcanoes offshore and southeast of Epi Island, Vanuatu, New Hebrides Arc, have delineated details of the structure and acoustic stratigraphy of three volcanic cones. These submarine cones, named Epia, Epib, and Epic, are aligned east-west and spaced 3.5 km apart on the rim of a submerged caldera. At least three acoustic sequences, of presumed Quaternary age, can be identified on single-channel seismic-reflection profiles. Rocks dredged from these cones include basalt, dacite, and cognate gabbroic inclusions with magmatic affinities similar to those of the Karua (an active submarine volcano off the southeastern tip of Epi) lavas.     

Seasonal variations in the speciation of dissolved iodine in the Chesapeake Bay

The speciation of dissolved iodine and the distributions of the iodine species in the deep Chesapeake Bay underwent seasonal variations in response to changes in the prevailing redox condition. In the deep water, the ratios of iodate to iodide and iodate to inorganic iodine decreased progressively from the Winter through the Summer as the deep water became more poorly oxygenated before they rebounded in the Fall when the deep water became re-oxygenated again. The composition of the surface water followed the same trend. However, in this case, the higher biological activities in the Spring and the Summer could also have enhanced the biologically mediated reduction of iodate to iodide by phytoplankton and contributed to the lower ratios found during those seasons. Superimposed on this redox cycle was a cycle of input and removal of dissolved iodine probably as a result of the interactions between the water column and the underlying sediments. Iodine was added to the Bay during the Summer when the deep water was more reducing and removed from the Bay in the Fall when the deep water became re-oxygenated. A third cycle was the inter-conversion between inorganic iodine and ‘dissolved organic iodine’, or ‘‘DOI’’. The conversion of inorganic iodine to ‘DOI’ was more prevalent in the Spring. As a result of these biogeochemical reactions in the Bay, during exchanges between the Bay and the North Atlantic, iodate-rich and ‘DOI’-poor water was imported into the Bay while iodide- and ‘DOI’-rich water was exported to the Atlantic. The export of iodide from these geochemically reactive systems along the land margins contributes to the enrichment of iodide in the surface open oceans.     

New insights into the size and timing of the Lawn Hill impact structure: relationship to the Century Zn – Pb deposit

The Lawn Hill circular structure in northwest Queensland contains unambiguous evidence of an extraterrestrial impact, including planar deformation features in quartz, impact diamonds, widespread shatter cone formation and impact melt breccia in the Mesoproterozoic basement. The question of its relevance to ore genesis is investigated because the world-class Century Zn – Pb deposit is situated at the conjunction of the 100+ km Termite Range Fault and the previously defined margin of the impact structure. The impact structure is considered to be a 19.5 km wide feature, this constrained in part by the outer margin of an annulus of brecciated and highly contorted limestone. New evidence is presented indicating impact into this Cambrian limestone, including: (i) ‘dykes’ of brecciated Cambrian limestone extending hundreds of metres into the Mesoproterozoic basement; (ii) highly contorted bedding in the limestone annulus compared with essentially undeformed limestone away from the impact site; as well as (iii) a 1 Mt megaclast of Mesoproterozoic Century-like ore suspended in the limestone. Through aerial photograph analysis, large-scale convoluted flow structures within the limestone are identified, and these are interpreted to indicate that parts of the Cambrian sequence may have been soft or only semi-consolidated at the time of impact. This highly contorted limestone bedding is suggested to represent slump-filling of an annular trough in response to impact-induced partial liquefaction of a sediment veneer. The age of impact is therefore considered to be concurrent with limestone formation during the Ordian to early Templetonian, at 520 – 510 Ma. Formation of the Century deposit is found to be unrelated to impact-generated hydrothermal activity, although some minor hydrothermal remobilisation of metals occurred. However, there was macro-scale remobilisation of gigantic ore fragments driven by impact-induced lateral and vertical injection of limestone into the Proterozoic sediments. The limestone-filled annular trough surrounds a 7.8 km diameter central uplift, consistent with formation of a complex crater morphology.     

On the dependence of ENSO simulation on the coupled model mean state

Systematic model error remains a difficult problem for seasonal forecasting and climate predictions. An error in the mean state could affect the variability of the system. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the mean state on the properties of ENSO. A set of coupled decadal integrations have been conducted, where the mean state and its seasonal cycle have been modified by applying flux correction to the momentum-flux and a combination of heat and momentum fluxes. It is shown that correcting the mean state and the seasonal cycle improves the amplitude of SST inter-annual variability and also the penetration of the ENSO signal into the troposphere and the spatial distribution of the ENSO teleconnections are improved. An analysis of a multivariate PDF of ENSO shows clearly that the flux correction affects the mean, variance, skewness and tails of the distribution. The changes in the tails of the distribution are particularly noticeable in the case of precipitation, showing that without the flux correction the model is unable to reproduce the frequency of large events. For the inter-annual variability the momentum-flux correction alone has a large impact, while the additional heat-flux correction is important for the teleconnections. These results suggest that the current forecasts practices of removing the forecast bias a-posteriori or anomaly initialisation are by no means optimal, since they can not deal with the strong nonlinear interactions. A consequence of the results presented here is that the predictability on annual time-ranges could be higher than currently achieved. Whether or not the correction of the model mean state by some sort of flux correction leads to better forecasts needs to be addressed. In any case, flux correction may be a powerful tool for diagnosing coupled model errors and predictability studies.     

Determination of evaporation from integrated profiles of humidity and temperature over an inhomogeneous surface

In this study a moderate-sized alfalfa field was downwind of a large dry region. Measured vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and wind at upwind and downwind sides of the field were used to calculate the short-term evaporation rate, as well as the contribution of horizontally transported or advected heat energy to the evaporation. The vertical profiles must be measured at least to the height at which air is modified by the new surface. In this case that height was as large as 18 m over a several hundred meter long traverse.Evaporation rates calculated by such an approach were in very close agreement to surface fluxes measured by an eddy correlation system near the surface. The difference between calculated and measured values averaged 9.5%. The reduction in sensible heat content of the air of the control volume was substantial during passage over the field. If all this energy was assumed to have been used in evaporation, then the advection of heat contributed from 35 to 86% of the total evaporation rate.It appears that for an inhomogeneous surface, knowledge of the distortion of some properties of local boundary layers can yield reliable estimates of local evaporation. The approach has little empiricism as it is based on simple conservation laws.