Characteristics of observed turbulent mixing across the Antarctic Slope Front at 140°E, East Antarctica

The strength of mixing due to turbulence in the Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) region was investigated using CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth profilers) observations and direct measurements of turbulence conducted off Adélie Land, East Antarctica along 140°E from the 12th–14th February, 2005. The strongest horizontal gradient of the ASF was located below 300 m depth near the 1000 m isobath. The turbulent measurements revealed that the energy dissipation rate frequently exceeded 10^?8 Wkg^?1 on the continental shelf and upper slope regions. Turbulent diffusivities near the shelf break were higher than 10^?3 m²s^?1. Near the ASF the average turbulent heat flux was 5.7 Wm^?2 and 1.1 Wm^?2 across the temperature minimum layer to 250 m and from 300 to 600 m, respectively. The distribution of the high dissipation rate was consistently explained by the characteristic curve of the M2 internal wave emanating from the shelf break and continental slope. The water mass observed in the ASF below 300 m in the continental slope comprised Modified Circumpolar Deep Water and low salinity Shelf Water originating from either the upper layer of the Adélie Depression or the Adélie Bank, and produced by boundary mixing near the shelf break.     

亚太地区环境综合监测的研究方法--APEIS项目研究综述

为了对亚太地区的环境灾害、环境破坏和环境退化及其影响进行监测和评估,由日本环境省发起的亚太地区环境革新战略项日（APEIS)环境综合监测子项（IEM)自2001年开始,建立了一个以MODIS卫星数据和地面观测资料为基础的综合环境监视网络系统。该网络系统起初是由日本国立环境研究所(NIES)和中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所(IGSNRR)共同合作建成的。之后,新加坡国立大学和澳大利亚联邦科学产业研究组织(CSIRO)地球观测中心也正式宣布加入,该系统覆盖整个亚太地区。美国宇航局(NASA)提供了一套MCDIS的高级数据产品,然而,这些产品没能在亚洲地区利用当地的实测资料进行充分地比较和验证。APEIS项目旨在提供利用该地区精确地面观测数据进行了比较验证的高质量数据集。利用该数据集可以推导出水分亏缺指数、沙尘暴指数、地表面温度、土地覆盖变化,以及净第一性生产量等一系列生态环境指标,从而埘环境破坏、环境退化和生态脆弱区进行长期有效的监测。为了评价水资源、食物生产等生态系所提供的产品与服务的现状和变化特征,本研究还开发了一个可利用M0DIS数据的流域环境综合管理模型。该模型已经被用于对流域规模的水、热、碳循环、泥沙转移以及农业生产等生态要素的模拟和评估,并利用高精度的观测资料对其进行了验证。利用该模式可以对流域生态系统所提供的产品与服务的有效利用,以及流域的可持续发展提供一系列战略性的政策选项。     

Notes on Extended-Range Atmospheric Prediction in the Northern Hemisphere Winter

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Mixing of asthenospheric and lithospheric mantle-derived basalt magmas as shown by along-arc variation in Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of Early Miocene basalts from back-arc margin of the NE Japan arc

We report trace element and Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of Early Miocene (22–18 Ma) basaltic rocks distributed along the back-arc margin of the NE Japan arc over 500 km. These rocks are divided into higher TiO₂ (> 1.5 wt.%; referred to as HT) and lower TiO₂ (< 1.5 wt.%; LT) basalts. HT basalt has higher Na₂O + K₂O, HFSE and LREE, Zr/Y, and La/Yb compared to LT basalt. Both suite rocks show a wide range in Sr and Nd isotopic compositions (initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (SrI) = 0.70389 to 0.70631, initial ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd(NdI) = 0.51248 to 0.51285). There is no any systematic variation amongst the studied Early Miocene basaltic rocks in terms of Sr–Nd isotope or Na₂O + K₂O and K₂O abundances, across three volcanic zones from the eastern through transitional to western volcanic zone, but we can identify gradual increases in SrI and decreases in NdI from north to south along the back-arc margin of the NE Japan arc. Based on high field strength element, REE, and Sr–Nd isotope data, Early Miocene basaltic rocks of the NE Japan back-arc margin represent mixing of the asthenospheric mantle-derived basalt magma with two types of basaltic magmas, HT and LT basaltic magmas, derived by different degrees of partial melting of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle composed of garnet-absent lherzolite, with a gradual decrease in the proportion of asthenospheric mantle-derived magma from north to south. These mantle events might have occurred in association with rifting of the Eurasian continental arc during the pre-opening stage of the Japan Sea.     

Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other Arctic Regions

The Arctic climate is changing. Permafrost is warming, hydrological processes are changing and biological and social systems are also evolving in response to these changing conditions. Knowing how the structure and function of arctic terrestrial ecosystems are responding to recent and persistent climate change is paramount to understanding the future state of the Earth system and how humans will need to adapt. Our holistic review presents a broad array of evidence that illustrates convincingly; the Arctic is undergoing a system-wide response to an altered climatic state. New extreme and seasonal surface climatic conditions are being experienced, a range of biophysical states and processes influenced by the threshold and phase change of freezing point are being altered, hydrological and biogeochemical cycles are shifting, and more regularly human sub-systems are being affected. Importantly, the patterns, magnitude and mechanisms of change have sometimes been unpredictable or difficult to isolate due to compounding factors. In almost every discipline represented, we show how the biocomplexity of the Arctic system has highlighted and challenged a paucity of integrated scientific knowledge, the lack of sustained observational and experimental time series, and the technical and logistic constraints of researching the Arctic environment. This study supports ongoing efforts to strengthen the interdisciplinarity of arctic system science and improve the coupling of large scale experimental manipulation with sustained time series observations by incorporating and integrating novel technologies, remote sensing and modeling.     

Effect of the variation in the lower tropospheric temperature on the wind onset of the Indian summer monsoon

There is a large thermal contrast between the Arabian Peninsula and India (Δθ _AI) at the mature stage of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The forming process of Δθ _AI is investigated analyzing various datasets. It forms earlier in the lower troposphere than in the middle and upper layers. The potential temperature in the lower troposphere over the west coast of India (θ _IW) abruptly decreases in advance of the rapid enhancement of the westerly wind over the Arabian Sea corresponding to the ISM onset. Such a process was observed for all the target years and the rapid decrease in θ _IW could trigger the ISM onset. The decrease in θ _IW had two patterns. In one case, cooler air is brought by the strong winds around a cyclone over the Arabian Sea. In another case, θ _IW decreases gradually by a synergy of a southwesterly wind over the Arabian Sea and the enlargement of Δθ _AI.     

Seismological monitoring on the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake, derived from off Kushiro permanent cabled OBSs and land-based observations

Japan Marine Science and Technology Center installed a cabled geophysical observatory system off Kushiro, Hokkaido Island in July 1999. This observatory system comprises three ocean bottom seismographs (OBSs), two tsunami gauges, and a geophysical/geochemical monitoring system. 4 years and 2 months after the installation, a megathrust earthquake (the 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake, 26th September in Japan Standard Time (JST), M_JMA 8.0) occurred along a plate boundary underneath a forearc basin where the system is located. The system recorded clear unsaturated seismograms just at 28.6 km from the epicenter. This paper demonstrates advantages brought by the cabled observatory to record the megathrust earthquake showing how earthquake detectability is improved dramatically combining permanent OBS and land-based observations around the region, and importance of the in situ monitoring on the seismogenic zone. In the present study, processing OBSs and land-based network together, and comparing magnitudes of common observed earthquakes with national authorized network, event detection level improved down to M 1.5, which is much lower than the previously designed as down to M  2. Comparing detection level before and after installing OBSs, we found dramatic improvement of the earthquake detection level in the interesting region. Real-time continuous observations of microearthquakes since 1999 have brought us tremendous findings. First, a seismic quiescence started about 10 days before the 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake. Second, aftershock distribution is not uniform over the focal area and can be divided into several sub-regions, which might indicate an existence of several asperities. We think that the geophysical observations helped to understand the initiation process of the rupture of the 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake and that observations including seismological, geodynamic, hydrogeological, and the other multidisciplinary observations would provide a clue to future understanding of seismogenic processes at subduction zones.     

Upper Silurian and Devonian pelagic deep-water radiolarian chert from the Khangai–Khentei belt of Central Mongolia: Evidence for Middle Paleozoic subduction–accretion activity in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Recent mapping projects undertaken in Central Mongolia have revealed the widespread occurrence of radiolarian chert within a Paleozoic accretionary complex. We present the results of the first detailed tectonostratigraphic and radiolarian biostratigraphic investigations of the Gorkhi Formation in the Khangai–Khentei belt of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt.The Gorkhi Formation consists of sandstone shale, alternating sandstone and shale of turbidite affinity and chert with small amounts of siliceous shale, basalt, limestone, and clast-bearing mudstone. Radiolarian chert that is completely devoid of terrigenous clastic material is commonly associated with underlying basalt (sedimentary contact) and with conformably overlying siliceous shale and turbidite deposits. The tectonic stacking of basalt–chert and chert–turbidite successions is the most remarkable structural feature of the formation.The recovery of moderately well-preserved radiolarians and conodonts from red chert led to the recognition of four radiolarian assemblages that have a combined age range from the latest Silurian (Pridolian) to the Late Devonian (Frasnian). No age control exists for the siliceous shale, shale, and sandstone, although they are considered to be latest Devonian or slightly younger on the basis of stratigraphic relationships with underlying chert.The Gorkhi Formation has previously been interpreted as a thick sedimentary basin deposit overlying an unexposed Archean–Neoproterozoic basement; however, the stratigraphy within individual tectonic slices clearly corresponds to that of an ocean plate stratigraphy of an accretionary complex generated by the trenchward movement of an oceanic plate. From the lowermost to uppermost units, the stratigraphy comprises ocean floor basalt, pelagic deep-water radiolarian chert, hemipelagic siliceous shale, and terrigenous turbidite deposits. The biostratigraphic data obtained in the present study provide corroborating evidence for the existence of an extensive deep-water ocean that enabled the continuous sedimentation of pelagic chert over a period of nearly 50 million years. These data, together with structural data characterized by tectonic repetition of the stratigraphy, indicate that these rocks formed as an accretionary wedge along an active continental margin, possibly that of the Angara Craton. The mid-oceanic chert was probably deposited in the Northern Hemisphere portion of the Paleo–Pacific Ocean that faced the Angara Craton and the North China–Tarim blocks. Thus, we propose that subduction–accretion processes along the Paleo–Pacific rim played an important role in the accretionary growth of the active continental margin of the Angara Craton, directly influencing the evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt.     

Modeling of solute transport and biological sulfate reduction using low cost electron donor

Serial data from soil–sawdust column experiments were used to develop a mathematical model to describe the biological sulfate reduction processes in porous media. The mathematical model numerically solves the equation of solute transport in one-dimensional saturated state. Solute transport is coupled to sulfate reducing bacteria sub model. Bacterial growth is assumed to follow double Monod kinetic equation. Two bacterial groups (X1 and X2) were described. Bacterial group X1 uses under aerobic conditions oxygen and under anaerobic conditions nitrate as electron acceptor. Under anaerobic conditions bacterial groups X2, use sulfate as an electron acceptor. Sulfate rich wastewater is usually deficient in electron donor and requires external addition of electron donors in order to achieve complete sulfate reduction. The organic carbon as electron donor is one of the most important factors that affect sulfate reduction bacterial activity. In this study the possible source of organic carbon is the solid organic carbon supplied to the system in the form of sawdust. The results of this study indicate that sawdust could be employed as low-cost materials to enhance the biological sulfate reduction processes in porous media. While the availability of organic carbon as electron donor is one of the most important factors that affect the sulfate reducing bacterial activity in porous media, this study demonstrates that using sawdust as a carbon source can improve the bacterial activity and increase the column permeability.     

Compressibility of synthetic glaucophane

The compressibilities of two synthetic glaucophane samples were measured over the range of 0–10 GPa at ambient temperature in a diamond-anvil cell at the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). The pressure–volume data were fitted to the Birch–Murnaghan equation of state taking care to include only data with a minimum of deviatoric stress. When using a second-order truncation, both samples yielded essentially identical values of the bulk modulus K ₀, which had an average value of 91.8 ± 1.3 GPa. Maximum compression was observed approximately along the a* axis as shown by the strain ellipsoid and supported by the a axis showing the highest compressibility. These results agree closely with the earlier study of a natural glaucophane single-crystal by Comodi et al. (Eur J Mineral 3:485–499, 1991), suggesting that the substitution of about 20–30 mol.% of Fe for Mg and Al in the structure may not significantly change its compressibility.