Estimating environmentally relevant fixed nitrogen demand in the 21st century

Human activities affect the impact of the nitrogen cycle on both the environment and climate. The rate of anthropogenic nitrogen fixation from atmospheric N₂ may serve as an indicator to the magnitude of this impact, acknowledging that relationship to be effect-dependent and non-linear. Building on the set of Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios developed for climate change research, we estimate anthropogenic industrial nitrogen fixation throughout the 21st century. Assigning characteristic key drivers to the four underlying scenarios we arrive at nitrogen fixation rates for agricultural use of 80 to 172 Tg N/yr by 2100, which is slightly less to almost twice as much compared with the fixation rate for the year 2000. We use the following key drivers of change, varying between scenarios: population growth, consumption of animal protein, agricultural efficiency improvement and additional biofuel production. Further anthropogenic nitrogen fixation for production of materials such as explosives or plastics and from combustion are projected to remain considerably smaller than that related to agriculture. While variation among the four scenarios is considerable, our interpretation of scenarios constrains the option space: several of the factors enhancing the anthropogenic impact on the nitrogen cycle may occur concurrently, but never all of them. A scenario that is specifically targeted towards limiting greenhouse gas emissions ends up as the potentially largest contributor to nitrogen fixation, as a result of large amounts of biofuels required and the fertilizer used to produce it. Other published data on nitrogen fixation towards 2100 indicate that our high estimates based on the RCP approach are rather conservative. Even the most optimistic scenario estimates that nitrogen fixation rate will remain substantially in excess of an estimate of sustainable boundaries by 2100.     

Biogeochemistry of dissolved carbon,major, and trace elements during spring flood periods on the Ob River

Detailed knowledge of the flood period of Arctic rivers remains one of the few factors impeding rigorous prediction of the effect of climate change on carbon and related element fluxes from the land to the Arctic Ocean. In order to test the temporal and spatial variability of element concentration in the Ob River (western Siberia) water during flood period and to quantify the contribution of spring flood period to the annual element export, we sampled the main channel year round in 2014–2017 for dissolved C, major, and trace element concentrations. We revealed high stability (approximately ≤10% relative variation) of dissolved C, major, and trace element concentrations in the Ob River during spring flood period over a 1‐km section of the river channel and over 3 days continuous monitoring (3‐hr frequency). We identified two groups of elements with contrasting relationship to discharge: (a) DIC and soluble elements (Cl, SO₄, Li, B, Na, Mg, Ca, P, V, Cr, Mn, As, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ba, W, and U) negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with discharge and exhibited minimal concentrations during spring flood and autumn high flow and (b) DOC and particle‐reactive elements (Al, Fe, Ti, Y, Zr, Nb, Cs, REEs, Hf, Tl, Pb, and Th), some nutrients (K), and metalloids (Ge, Sb, and Te), positively correlated (p < 0.05) with discharge and showed the highest concentrations during spring flood. We attribute the decreased concentration of soluble elements with discharge to dilution by groundwater feeding and increased concentration of DOC and particle‐reactive metals with discharge to leaching from surface soil, plant litter, and suspended particles. Overall, the present study provides first‐order assessment of fluxes of major and trace elements in the middle course of the Ob River, reveals their high temporal and spatial stability, and characterizes the mechanism of river water chemical composition acquisition.     

Sulphur-containing compounds in sulphur-rich crude oils from hypersaline lake sediments and their geochemical implications

Three sulphur-rich commercial crude oils have been studied, which contain sulphur as high as up to 4–12%. These samples were collected from Tertiary hypersaline lake sediments of the Jianghan Basin, Hubei Province at different depths, but above the oil generation threshold (2200m). FPD-GC and GC-MS data show that aromatic fractions of the crude oils are composed of different homologues of sulphur-containing compounds, including long-chain normal alkyl-thiophenes and-thiolanes, long-chain isoprenoid-thiophenes and -thiolanes, and benzothiophenes. It is worth noting that the distribution patterns of long-chain alkyl-thiophenes and -thiolanes from two shallow-seated crude oils are quite similar to those of normal alkanes showing marked even-odd predominance. It seems that the even-odd predominance of sulphur-containing compounds decreases with increasing burial depth of the crude oils. The major component of aliphatic fraction is phytane, and similarly the major peaks of aromatic fractions also represent C₂₀ isoprenoid thiophenes. Some preliminary conclusions have been drawn from the above discussion: (1) Abundant sulphur-containing compounds may be used as an indicator of low mature or immature crude oils produced from hypersaline lake sediments; (2) Sulphur-containing compounds are considered to be early diagenetic products of reactions between elemental sulphur or sulfides and alkanes or their precursors (phytols, fatty acids, alcohols, etc.), or of bacterial activities, but not direct inputs of organisms.     

Progress in Carrier Phase Time Transfer

The progress of the joint Pilot Project for time transfer, formed by the International GPS Service (IGS) and the Bureal International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), was recently reviewed. Three notable milestones were set. (1) The IGS will implement, at least in a test mode, an internally realized time scale based on an integration of combined frequency standards within the IGS network. This will eventually become the reference time scale for all IGS clock products (instead of the current GPS broadcast time). (2) A new procedure for combined receiver and satellite clock products will be implemented officially in November 2000. Receiver clocks are an entirely new product of the IGS. (3) The BIPM will coordinate an effort to calibrate all Ashtech Z12-T (and possibly other) receivers suitable for time transfer applications, either differentially or absolutely. Progress reports will be presented publicly in the spring 2001. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A Dutch multi-date land use database: Identification of real and methodological changes

Land cover and land use are important information sources for environmental issues. One of the most important changes at the Earth's surface concerns land cover and land use. Knowledge about the location and type of these changes is essential for environmental modeling and management. Remote sensing data in combination with additional spatial data are recognized as an important source of information to detect these land cover and land use changes.     

A simple method using climatic variables to estimate canopy temperature,sensible and latent heat fluxes in a winter wheat field on the North China Plain

Estimation of evapotranspiration from a crop field is of great importance for detecting crop water status and proper irrigation scheduling. The Penman–Monteith equation is widely viewed as the best method to estimate evapotranspiration but it requires canopy resistance, which is very difficult to determine in practice. This paper presents a simple method simplified from the Penman–Monteith equation for estimating canopy temperature (T_c). The proposed method is a biophysically‐sound extended version of that proposed by Todorovic. The estimated canopy temperature is used to calculate sensible heat flux, and then latent heat flux is calculated as the residual of the surface energy balance. An eddy covariance (EC) system and an infrared thermometer (IRT) were installed in an irrigated winter wheat field on the North China Plain in 2004 and 2005, to measure T_c, and sensible and latent heat fluxes were used to test the modified Todorovic model (MTD). The results indicate that the original Todorovic model (TD) severely underestimates T_c and sensible heat flux, and hence severely overestimates the latent heat flux. However, the MTD model has good capability for estimating T_c, and gives acceptable results for latent heat flux at both half‐hourly and daily scales. The MTD model results also agreed well with the evapotranspiration calculated from the measured T_c. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial data for landslide susceptibility, hazard, and vulnerability assessment: An overview

The aim of this paper is to discuss a number of issues related to the use of spatial information for landslide susceptibility, hazard, and vulnerability assessment. The paper centers around the types of spatial data needed for each of these components, and the methods for obtaining them. A number of concepts are illustrated using an extensive spatial data set for the city of Tegucigalpa in Honduras. The paper intends to supplement the information given in the “Guidelines for Landslide Susceptibility, Hazard and Risk Zoning for Land Use Planning” by the Joint ISSMGE, ISRM and IAEG Technical Committee on Landslides and Engineered Slopes (JTC-1). The last few decades have shown a very fast development in the application of digital tools such as Geographic Information Systems, Digital Image Processing, Digital Photogrammetry and Global Positioning Systems. Landslide inventory databases are becoming available to more countries and several are now also available through the internet. A comprehensive landslide inventory is a must in order to be able to quantify both landslide hazard and risk. With respect to the environmental factors used in landslide hazard assessment, there is a tendency to utilize those data layers that are easily obtainable from Digital Elevation Models and satellite imagery, whereas less emphasis is on those data layers that require detailed field investigations. A review is given of the trends in collecting spatial information on environmental factors with a focus on Digital Elevation Models, geology and soils, geomorphology, land use and elements at risk.     

Effects of the imf sector structure in the midlatitude troposphere and stratosphere

Summary The data on geopotential heights and temperatures at 7 pressure levels between 1000-10 hPa above Berlin(52.5 °N, 13.4 °E) are analysed for the winters of 1963–1973. No demonstrable effect of the interplanetary magnetic field sector boundary crossing (IMF SBC) is found in the lower and middle stratosphere, but there is a demonstrable effect in the middle troposphere at the 500 hPa level. This effect is less important than the IMF SBC effect in the tropospheric vorticity area index and seems to be of a different type.

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The rate of grain release by pore-ice sublimation in cold-aeolian environments

Pore‐ice sublimation is a prerequisite for aeolian activity in cold environments where surface sediments hold significant amounts of frozen water. Few quantitative studies have defined the rate of grain release from cemented surfaces by pore‐ice sublimation. In 1996–1997, controlled field experiments at Presqu'ile Beach, Ontario, were implemented to measure sediment release from frozen surfaces. The release rates were compared to the local wind regime, ambient temperature and humidity. In additional field experiments, the effect of sediment water content on grain release by sublimation was examined. From the experimental results, an equation which predicts grain release based on local wind speed, ground temperature, humidity, and surface water content is proposed. Predicted release rates show reasonable agreement with natural deflation measured on the beach at Presqu'ile Provincial Park.