Plastic contamination in the decapod crustacean Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The aim of this study was to determine the extent Nephrops consumes plastics in the Clyde Sea and if this intake occurs through their diet. Plastic contamination was found to be high in Nephrops, 83% of the animals sampled contained plastics (predominately filaments) in their stomachs. Tightly tangled balls of plastic strands were found in 62% of the animals studied but were least prevalent in animals which had recently moulted. No significant difference in plastic load was observed between males and females. Raman spectroscopy indicated that some of the microfilaments identified from gut contents could be sourced to fishing waste. Nephrops fed fish seeded with strands of polypropylene rope were found to ingest but not to excrete the strands. The fishery for Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, is the most valuable in Scotland and the high prevalence of plastics in Nephrops may have implications for the health of the stock.     

Periodic drainage of ice-dammed lakes as a result of variations in glacier velocity

Previous discussions of the catastrophic drainage of ice-dammed lakes have centred on mechanisms where characteristics of the lake are crucial to drainage initiation, for example dam flotation or tunnel formation at a critical lake depth. This paper describes a mechanism for lake drainage where drainage initiation depends on the characteristics of the glacier and is independent of the characteristics of the lake. Prediction of this mechanism must be based on glacier dynamics, whereas the mechanisms most commonly discussed previously are best predicted primarily on the basis of lake evolution. An ice-dammed lake at the margin of the glacier Solheimajokull, in southern Iceland, was observed to drain rapidly into the sub- or englacial drainage system, supplying water and debris to the bed or interior of the glacier. Geomorphological evidence suggests that the lake drains and refills periodically, discharging up to 13300 m³ of water into the glacier-hydrological system. The depth of the maximum lake is insufficient to cause either flotation of the ice margin or tunnel opening by plastic deformation of the ice, and we suggest that sudden drainage is related to ice-bed separations associated with specific glacier flow states rather than to a critical lake depth threshold. This mechanism of lake drainage has implications for conditions at the glacier bed, for the development of basal ice and for the entrainment of debris into the glacier, as well as for the prediction of potentially hazardous catastrophic drainage events and jokulhlaups from ice-dammed lakes.     

The Aspen–Amsterdam void finder comparison project

Despite a history that dates back at least a quarter of a century, studies of voids in the large-scale structure of the Universe are bedevilled by a major problem: there exist a large number of quite different void-finding algorithms, a fact that has so far got in the way of groups comparing their results without worrying about whether such a comparison in fact makes sense. Because of the recent increased interest in voids, both in very large galaxy surveys and in detailed simulations of cosmic structure formation, this situation is very unfortunate. We here present the first systematic comparison study of 13 different void finders constructed using particles, haloes, and semi-analytical model galaxies extracted from a subvolume of the Millennium simulation. This study includes many groups that have studied voids over the past decade. We show their results and discuss their differences and agreements. As it turns out, the basic results of the various methods agree very well with each other in that they all locate a major void near the centre of our volume. Voids have very underdense centres, reaching below 10 per cent of the mean cosmic density. In addition, those void finders that allow for void galaxies show that those galaxies follow similar trends. For example, the overdensity of void galaxies brighter than   m _B =−20  is found to be smaller than about −0.8 by all our void finding algorithms.     

Climate change policy and practice in regional New Zealand: How are actors negotiating science and policy?

Regional governance to address climate change is being constituted in New Zealand through domestic policy measures and international discourses. We examine climate change responses in two regions: Marlborough and Waikato. Informants expressed a desire for more transparent government policy; that planning for climate change makes good business sense for farmers and other businesses; that technology is sought to increase productivity and decrease environmental impact; and research networks build capacity for local action, linking sectors and organisations. Often conflicting, these responses to climate change were informed by a mix of discourses shaping New Zealand, including participatory democracy, the knowledge economy and sustainable development.     

Bulk modulus of Fe-rich olivines corrected for non-hydrostaticity

In situ X-ray diffraction was used to measure the isothermal bulk modulus at room conditions (K_T0) of synthetic olivines with different iron contents. The chemical formulae of the olivine samples were ${({\mathrm{Fe}}_x,{\mathrm{Mg}}_{1?x})}_2\mathrm{Si}{\mathrm{O}}_4$ with x = 0.45; 0.64; 0.82; 1, with 1% standard deviation (referenced as Fa45, Fa64, Fa82 and Fa100, respectively). All experiments were performed in the multi-anvil apparatus installed at NSLS beamline X17B2, to pressures up to about 7 GPa. Unit-cell volumes under hydrostatic conditions and differential stresses present in the samples were calculated using the method developed by Singh et al. (1998), and pressures measured using NaCl as a standard were then corrected for these stresses. Using a second-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state, we obtained the isothermal bulk modulus of each composition: $K_{T0}^{\mathrm{Fa45}}=131.4\pm 2.6$ GPa, $K_{T0}^{\mathrm{Fa64}}=132.1\pm 3.1$ GPa, $K_{T0}^{\mathrm{Fa82}}=136.3\pm 1.7$ GPa and $K_{T0}^{\mathrm{Fa100}}=134.8\pm 1.4$ GPa. These values combined with data available in the literature show that the K_T0 of Fe-rich olivines increases very slowly with the Fe content, but possibly not in a simple linear trend.