Role of Siliceous Fossil Dissolution in Downcore Variations of Grain Size and Water Content: Western Margin of Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, NE Equatorial Pacific

Grain size and water content in box-core sediments from the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone (C-C zone) in the northeast equatorial Pacific were analyzed in detail to understand the downcore variations across a hiatus between Quaternary and Tertiary layers. Grain-size distributions in the topmost core sediments show two modes: a coarse mode (peaked at 50 μm) and a fine mode (at 2-25 μm). The coarse mode disappears gradually with depth accompanied by the dissolution of siliceous fossil tests, whereas the fine mode coarsens due to the formation of authigenic minerals. Water content increases abruptly across a color boundary between an upper pale brown layer and a lower dark brown layer that is the hiatus between Quaternary and Tertiary layers. Abundant smectites and microvoid molds, which are created by the prolonged fossil dissolution in the underlying sediment, are attributed for the abrupt downcore variation of water content. Overall variations in grain size and water content in the topmost core sediments in the western C-C zone are possibly constrained by the dissolution of biogenic siliceous fossils. Variations in geotechnical properties related to these changes must be considered in the design of nodule collectors.     

Ecotoxicological evaluation of sewage sludge using bioluminescent marine bacteria and rotifer

Bioassay using the marine bacteria,Vibrio fischeri and rotifer,Brachionus plicatilis, and chemical analyses were conducted to assess the toxicity of the various sewage sludges, one of the major ocean dumped materials in the Yellow Sea of Korea. Sludge elutriates extracted by filtered seawater were used to estimate the ecotoxicity of the sludge. Chemical characterization included the analyses of organic contents, heavy metals, and persistent organic pollutants in sludge. Bacterial bioluminescent inhibition (15 min), rotifer mortality (24 hr) and rotifer population growth inhibition (48 hr) assay were conducted to estimate the sludge toxicity. EC50 15 min (inhibition concentration of bioluminescence after 15 minutes exposed) values by Microtox® bioassay clearly revealed different toxicity levels depending on the sludge sources. Highest toxicity for the bacteria was found with the sludge extract from dyeing waste and followed by industrial waste, livestock waste, and leather processing waste. Clear toxic effects on the bacteria were not found in the sludge extract from filtration bed sludge and rural sewage sludge. Consistent with Microtox® results, rotifer neonate mortality and population growth inhibition test also showed highest toxicity in dyeing waste and low in filtration bed and rural sewage sludge. High concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals were measured in the samples from the industrial wastes, leather processing plant waste sludge, and urban sewage sludge. However, there was no significant correlation between pollutant concentration levels and the toxicity values of the sludge. This suggests that the ecotoxicity in addition to the chemical analyses of various sludge samples must be estimated before release of potential harmful waste in the natural environment as part of an ecological risk assessment.     

The impact of inhomogenous background errors on a global wave data assimilation system

One of the main limitations in current wave data assimilation systems is the lack of an accurate representation of the structure of the background errors. In this work, models for the observational error variance, background error variance and background error correlations are developed based on the results of previous studies. These are tested in a global wave data assimilation system and the resulting wave forecasts are verified against independent observations from buoys. Forecasts of significant wave height show substantial improvement over the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's current operational wave forecasting system. However, forecasts of peak period are not similarly improved. The regional impacts of the new assimilation scheme are found to vary on a seasonal basis. Overall, it is shown that the inclusion of a latitudinally dependent background error, and improved specification of the background and observational error variances can reduce the root-mean-square error of 24-hour forecast Significant Wave Height by almost 10%.     

Multisite statistical downscaling model for daily precipitation combined by multivariate multiple linear regression and stochastic weather generator

This study provides a multi-site hybrid statistical downscaling procedure combining regression-based and stochastic weather generation approaches for multisite simulation of daily precipitation. In the hybrid model, the multivariate multiple linear regression (MMLR) is employed for simultaneous downscaling of deterministic series of daily precipitation occurrence and amount using large-scale reanalysis predictors over nine different observed stations in southern Québec (Canada). The multivariate normal distribution, the first-order Markov chain model, and the probability distribution mapping technique are employed for reproducing temporal variability and spatial dependency on the multisite observations of precipitation series. The regression-based MMLR model explained 16?%?~?22?% of total variance in daily precipitation occurrence series and 13?%?~?25?% of total variance in daily precipitation amount series of the nine observation sites. Moreover, it constantly over-represented the spatial dependency of daily precipitation occurrence and amount. In generating daily precipitation, the hybrid model showed good temporal reproduction ability for number of wet days, cross-site correlation, and probabilities of consecutive wet days, and maximum 3-days precipitation total amount for all observation sites. However, the reproducing ability of the hybrid model for spatio-temporal variations can be improved, i.e. to further increase the explained variance of the observed precipitation series, as for example by using regional-scale predictors in the MMLR model. However, in all downscaling precipitation results, the hybrid model benefits from the stochastic weather generator procedure with respect to the single use of deterministic component in the MMLR model.     

An ocean observation system for monitoring the affects of climate change on the ecology and sustainability of pelagic fisheries in the Pacific Ocean

Climate change presents an emerging challenge to the sustainable management of tuna fisheries, and robust information is essential to ensure future sustainability. Climate and harvest affect tuna stocks, populations of non-target, dependent species and the ecosystem. To provide relevant advice we need an improved understanding of oceanic ecosystems and better data to parameterise the models that forecast the impacts of climate change. Currently ocean-wide data collection in the Pacific Ocean is primarily restricted to oceanographic data. However, the fisheries observer programs that operate in the region offer an opportunity to collect the additional information on the mid and upper trophic levels of the ecosystem that is necessary to complement this physical data, including time-series of distribution, abundance, size, composition and biological information on target and non-target species and mid trophic level organisms. These observer programs are in their infancy, with limited temporal and spatial distribution but recent international and national policy decisions have been made to expand their coverage. We identify a number of actions to initiate this monitoring including: consolidating collaborations to ensure the use of best quality data; developing consistency between sub-regional observer programmes to ensure that they meet the objectives of ecosystem monitoring; interrogating of existing time series to determine the most appropriate spatial template for monitoring; and exploring existing ecosystem models to identify suitable indicators of ecosystem status and change. The information obtained should improve capacity to develop fisheries management policies that are resilient and can be adapted to climate change.     

Spatially explicit surface energy budget and partitioning with remote sensing and flux measurements in a boreal region of Interior Alaska

Extrapolating energy fluxes between the ground surface and the atmospheric boundary layer from point-based measurements to spatially explicit landscape estimation is critical to understand and quantify the energy balance components and exchanges in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. This information is difficult to quantify and are often lacking. Using a Landsat image (acquired on 5 August 2004), the flux measurements from three eddy covariance flux towers (a 1987 burn, a 1999 burn, and an unburned control site) and a customized satellite-based surface energy balance model of Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC), we estimated net radiation, sensible heat flux (H), latent heat flux (LE), and soil heat flux (G) for the boreal Yukon River Basin of Interior Alaska. The model requires user selection of two extreme conditions present within the image area to calibrate and anchor the sensible flux output. One is the “hot” condition which refers to a bare soil condition with specified residual evaporation rates. Another one is the “cold” condition which refers to a fully transpiring vegetation such as full-cover agricultural crops. We selected one bare field as the “hot” condition while we explored three different scenarios for the “cold” pixel because of the absence of larger expanses of agricultural fields within the image area. For this application over boreal forest, selecting agricultural fields whose evapotranspiration was assumed to be 1.05 times the alfalfa-based reference evapotranspiration as the “cold” pixel could result in large errors. Selecting an unburned flux tower site as the “cold” pixel could achieve acceptable results, but uncertainties remain about the energy balance closure of the flux towers. We found that METRIC performs reasonably well in partitioning energy fluxes in a boreal landscape.     

Analytic study of sea-land breezes

1.IntroductionSea---landbreezesaremesoscale,secondarycirculationsforcedbythermalgradients,andtypicallyoccurunderconditionsofweakprevailingbackgroundwinds.Inthedaytime,theland,withasmallerheatcapacity,heatsupmorethanthesea.Asaresult,theairabovetheland...     

Meteorological responses to Mt. Baekdu volcanic eruption over east asia in an offline global climate-chemistry model: A pilot study

We examine the meteorological responses due to the probable eruption of Mt. Baekdu using an off-line Climate-Chemistry model that is composed of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Climate Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) and a global chemistry transport model (GEOS-Chem). Using the aerosol dataset from the GEOS-Chem driven by GEOS-5 meteorology, experiment and control simulations of the climate model are performed and their meteorological differences between the two simulations are analyzed. The magnitudes of volcanic eruption and column injection height were presumably set to 1/200 of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and 9 km, respectively. Significant temperature drop in the lower troposphere (850 hPa), which is mainly due to a direct effect of prescribed volcanic aerosols from Mt. Baekdu, has been simulated up to about ?4 K. The upper atmosphere (150 hPa) right above the volcano, however, shows significant warming due to the absorption of the infrared radiation by volcanic aerosols. As a result of the volcanic eruption in the climate model, wave-like patterns are shown in both the geopotential height and horizontal wind. The changes in the lower atmospheric temperature are well associated with the modification of the atmospheric circulation through the hydrostatic balance. In spite of limitations in our current simulations due to several underlying assumptions, our results could give a clue to understanding the meteorological impacts from Mt. Baekdu eruptions that are currently attracting considerable public attention.     

Prediction of a mesoscale convective system over catalonia (Northeastern Spain) with a nested numerical model

Summary A mesoscale convective system that affected Northeastern Spain on October 10, 1994, with rainfall amounts up to 400 mm, is simulated reasonably well by a nested 3-dimensional hydrostatic mesoscale model. Previous studies carried out in this region had already portrayed the main synoptic patterns that give rise to these devastating episodes. The present contribution takes a further step since it goes down to the mesoscale by means of a numerical model providing a more detailed representation not otherwise achieved by earlier analysis methods. Although the model was unable to forecast accurately the precipitation fields, it captured satisfactorily the framework in which the convective system originated and evolved.With 16 Figures