Recent climatic trends and linkages to river discharge in Central Vietnam

In this study, change in rainfall, temperature and river discharge are analysed over the last three decades in Central Vietnam. Trends and rainfall indices are evaluated using non‐parametric tests at different temporal levels. To overcome the sparse locally available network, the high resolution APHRODITE gridded dataset is used in addition to the existing rain gauges. Finally, existing linkages between discharge changes and trends in rainfall and temperature are explored. Results are indicative of an intensification of rainfall (+15%/decade), with more extreme and longer events. A significant increase in winter rainfall and a decrease in consecutive dry days provides strong evidence for a lengthening wet season in Central Vietnam. In addition, trends based on APHRODITE suggest a strong orographic signal in winter and annual trends. These results underline the local variability in the impacts of climatic change at the global scale. Consequently, it is important that change detection investigations are conducted at the local scale. A very weak signal is detected in the trend of minimum temperature (+0.2°C/decade). River discharge trends show an increase in mean discharge (31 to 35%/decade) over the last decades. Between 54 and 74% of this increase is explained by the increase in precipitation. The maximum discharge also responds significantly to precipitation changes leading to a lengthened wet season and an increase in extreme rainfall events. Such trends can be linked with a likely increase in floods in Central Vietnam, which is important for future adaptation planning and management and flood preparedness in the region. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IV. Stratigraphie Die fazielle Einstufung fossilführender Sedimente

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

On the mechanisms of cation diffusion processes in ternary feldspars

Cation diffusion processes have been studied in single crystals of intermediate plagioclase and albite composition by tracer-diffusion experiments and optical absorption spectroscopy. Tracer-diffusivities were determined by the residual activity method, using the radioactive isotopes ²²Na, ⁴⁵Ca and ⁵⁹Fe. In most cases, diffusion experiments were performed at 1 bar, at controlled oxygen activity and at temperatures between 750 and 1300°C. The obtained Na-diffusivities for plagioclases were much smaller then previously determined for albite. This indicates a strong composition dependence of Na-diffusion. In contrast, Ca-diffusivity in albite does not differ very much from that in intermediate plagioclases. The relative diffusivities determined for plagioclase of composition An62 at 1200° C (CO/CO₂ =50∶50) were D _infNa ^sup* ∶D _infFe ^sup* ∶D _infCa ^sup* =5000∶10∶1. Despite the an isotropic structure of feldspars, no difference was found for Na-and Ca-diffusion normal to (001) and normal to (010). Water pressure of 2 kbar has no influence on the Na-diffusivity. In contrast to the Ca-diffusion, a dependence on oxyggen activity was found for Na-and Fe-diffusion. Fe-diffusivity increases with decreasing oxygen activity. This can be correlated to changes in oxidation state of iron dissolved in the plagioclases. Optical absorption spectroscopy shows that iron is oxidized in the plagioclases by annealing in air. This effect can be reversed by annealing at reducing conditions. A model is proposed to explain the oxidation of iron by a chemical diffusion process in which A-vacancies are formed by out-diffusion of Na⁺. Preannealing of samples in air gives a temperature independent decrease of Na-diffusivity by a factor of about 2.5. This effect is explained with help of a simple disorder model for A-cations in ternary feldspars. It is concluded that Na⁺ diffuses via interstitials and that the A-vacancy concentration in the plagioclases is controlled extrinsically, probably by dissolved SiO₂.     

Climate-model induced differences in the 21st century global and regional glacier contributions to sea-level rise

The large uncertainty in future global glacier volume projections partly results from a substantial range in future climate conditions projected by global climate models. This study addresses the effect of global and regional differences in climate input data on the projected twenty-first century glacier contribution to sea-level rise. Glacier volume changes are calculated with a surface mass balance model combined with volume-area scaling, applied to 89 glaciers in different climatic regions. The mass balance model is based on a simplified energy balance approach, with separated contributions by net solar radiation and the combined other fluxes. Future mass balance is calculated from anomalies in air temperature, precipitation and atmospheric transmissivity, taken from eight global climate models forced with the A1B emission scenario. Regional and global sea-level contributions are obtained by scaling the volume changes at the modelled glaciers to all glaciers larger than 0.1 km² outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. This results in a global value of 0.102 ± 0.028 m (multi-model mean and standard deviation) relative sea-level equivalent for the period 2012–2099, corresponding to 18 ± 5 % of the estimated total volume of glaciers. Glaciers in the Antarctic, Alaska, Central Asia and Greenland together account for 65 ± 4 % of the total multi-model mean projected sea-level rise. The projected sea-level contribution is 35 ± 17 % larger when only anomalies in air temperature are taken into account, demonstrating an important compensating effect by increased precipitation and possibly reduced atmospheric transmissivity. The variability in projected precipitation and atmospheric transmissivity changes is especially large in the Arctic regions, making the sea-level contribution for these regions particularly sensitive to the climate model used. Including additional uncertainties in the modelling procedure and the input data, the total uncertainty estimate for the future projections becomes ±0.063 m.     

Who uses the Clean Development Mechanism? An empirical analysis of projects in Chinese provinces

China is by far the largest host of projects implemented under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, earlier studies shed little light on the determinants of the distribution of CDM projects across Chinese provinces. Given China's large size and political-economic diversity, this dearth of research is troubling. We provide an empirical analysis of 2097 CDM projects in 30 Chinese provinces, 2004–2009. We find that high electricity consumption, low per capita income, and a lack of foreign direct investment are all associated with CDM project implementation. The findings are particularly strong for electricity and foreign direct investment. These findings are consistent with the economic theory of CDM project implementation. Project developers focus on minimizing the cost of carbon abatement. Moreover, they suggest that the CDM can, despite its limitations, contribute to reducing economic inequality and uneven development in China.     

High-resolution atmospheric angular momentum functions related to Earth rotation parameters during CONT08

Due to the temporal resolution of available numerical weather analyses, the effect of the atmosphere on Earth rotation at daily and sub-daily periods is usually investigated using 6-hourly atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) functions. During the period of CONT08, however, atmospheric analysis data were provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) also on an hourly basis. In this paper, we, therefore, determine two sets of AAM functions from ECMWF data—one for CONT08 with hourly resolution and one for the year 2008 with 6-hourly resolution. The comparisons of the AAM functions to high-resolution Earth rotation parameters (ERP) from VLBI and GPS observations are carried out in the frequency domain. Special attention is paid to the preparation of the high-resolution data sets for the geodetic purposes, as there are jump discontinuities at 12 h intervals. Hence, the hourly AAM functions need to be concatenated. The revised functions yield much smaller amplitudes than their 6-hourly counterparts, as can be seen from the equatorial and the axial frequency spectra of atmospheric excitation in Earth rotation. This decrease of spectral power in the hourly AAM functions is found to be associated with a strong counteraction of pressure and wind terms, which originates from atmospheric circulation on short time scales. The results are compared to previous findings published by Brzeziński and Petrov (IERS Tech Note 28:53–60, 2000) based on the data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).     

New VLBI2010 scheduling strategies and implications on the terrestrial reference frames

In connection with the work for the next generation VLBI2010 Global Observing System (VGOS) of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry, a new scheduling package (Vie_Sched) has been developed at the Vienna University of Technology as a part of the Vienna VLBI Software. In addition to the classical station-based approach it is equipped with a new scheduling strategy based on the radio sources to be observed. We introduce different configurations of source-based scheduling options and investigate the implications on present and future VLBI2010 geodetic schedules. By comparison to existing VLBI schedules of the continuous campaign CONT11, we find that the source-based approach with two sources has a performance similar to the station-based approach in terms of number of observations, sky coverage, and geodetic parameters. For an artificial 16 station VLBI2010 network, the source-based approach with four sources provides an improved distribution of source observations on the celestial sphere. Monte Carlo simulations yield slightly better repeatabilities of station coordinates with the source-based approach with two sources or four sources than the classical strategy. The new VLBI scheduling software with its alternative scheduling strategy offers a promising option with respect to applications of the VGOS.     

Kohlendioxid-Messungen in einem Durchfluß-Meßsystem mit einem neu entwickelten CO2-Sensor am Beispiel eines Hartwassersees (Willersinnweiher, Ludwigshafen am Rhein)

The concentrations of free dissolved carbon dioxide in lake water were measured with a newly developed CO₂ sensor, which was installed in a through-flow measurement system. The results of measurements demonstrate the CO₂ dynamics in lake Willersinnweiher. The CO₂ concentrations showed a correlation with the oxidation of CH₄ in the metalimnion and caused shifts in the carbonate system, thus affecting the autochthonous precipitation and dissolution of calcite.

From the results of measurement appears that the CO₂ sensor is capable of very exact measurements of dissolved free CO₂ in lake water. At the same time, the parameter is easily determined in the field without large expenditures.