Estimation of snow water equivalent using microwave radiometry over Arctic first‐year sea ice

The magnitude and spatial distribution of snow on sea ice are both integral components of the ocean–sea‐ice–atmosphere system. Although there exists a number of algorithms to estimate the snow water equivalent (SWE) on terrestrial surfaces, to date there is no precise method to estimate SWE on sea ice. Physical snow properties and in situ microwave radiometry at 19, 37 and 85 GHz, V and H polarization were collected for a 10‐day period over 20 first‐year sea ice sites. We present and compare the in situ physical, electrical and microwave emission properties of snow over smooth Arctic first‐year sea ice for 19 of the 20 sites sampled. Physical processes creating the observed vertical patterns in the physical and electrical properties are discussed. An algorithm is then developed from the relationship between the SWE and the brightness temperature measured at 37 GHz (55°) H polarization and the air temperature. The multiple regression between these variables is able to account for over 90% of the variability in the measured SWE. This algorithm is validated with a small in situ data set collected during the 1999 field experiment. We then compare our data against the NASA snow thickness algorithm, designed as part of the NASA Earth Enterprise Program. The results indicated a lack of agreement between the NASA algorithm and the algorithm developed here. This lack of agreement is attributed to differences in scale between the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager and surface radiometers and to differences in the Antarctic versus Arctic snow physical and electrical properties. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The significance of Messinian occurrences of Globorotalia margaritae and Globorotalia puncticulata in Sicily

Globorotalia puncticulata and Globorotalia margaritae are critical species that define internationally recognized planktonic foraminiferal biozones in the Pliocene. These biozones are defined from stratotype sections on Sicily and their fauna are commonly considered to have been introduced to the Mediterranean after an influx of Atlantic water that terminated the late Miocene desiccation of the basin. Herein new discoveries of these species in rocks that predate the late Miocene desiccation are described. These data are supported by magneto- and lithostratigraphy that have been integrated at a single continuous section. Not only do these discoveries question the existing foraminiferal biozone stratigraphy, they also suggest new models for the dispersal of planktonic species. It is proposed that Globorotalia puncticulata and perhaps even Globorotalia margaritae evolved in the Mediterranean during earliest Messinian times (during or before chron C3Bn1n) and dispersed into the Atlantic. This suggests that a marine connection remained between the two sea areas until at least chron C3An.1n. Using the existing geomagnetic polarity time scale, these occurrences are some 2 Myr earlier than previously recorded in the Mediterranean. The distribution of G. margaritae and G. puncticulata in Mediterranean sections is likely to reflect palaeoenvironment or the preservation of deposits rather than the absolute age of the sediments.     

Nitrogen uptake,ammonium oxidation and nitrous oxide (N2O) levels in the coastal waters of western Cook Strait,New Zealand

Vertical measurements of $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$, $\text{NO}{}_3{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ and N₂O concentrations, $\text{NO}{}_3{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ and $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ uptake, and $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ oxidation rates were measured at 5 sites in western Cook Strait, New Zealand, between 31 March and 3 April 1983. Nitrate increased with depth at all stations reaching a maximum of 10.5 μg-atom $\text{NO}{}_3{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{N l}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$ at the most strongly stratified station whereas $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ was relatively constant with depth at all stations (～0.1 μg-atom $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{N l}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$). The highest rates of $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ oxidation generally occurred in the near surface waters and decreased with depth. N₂O levels were near saturation with respect to the air above the sea surface and showed no obvious changes during 24 h incubation. $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ oxidation by nitrifying bacteria may account for about 30% of the total $\text{NH}{}_4{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ utilization (i.e. bacterial+agal) and, assuming oxidation through to $\text{NO}{}_3{}^{\mathrm{?}}$, may supply about 40% of the algal requirements of $\text{NO}{}_3{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ in the study area. These results suggest that bacterial nitrification is of potential importance to the nitrogen dynamics of the western Cook Strait, particularly with respect to the nitrogen demands of the phytoplankton.     

Controls on the chemistry of runoff from an upland peat catchment

This study uses 2 years of data from a detailed weekly water sampling programme in a 11·4 km² upland peat catchment in the Northern Pennines, UK. The sampling comprised precipitation, soil‐water samples and a number of streams, including the basin outlet. Samples were analysed for: pH, conductivity, alkalinity, Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Total N, SO₄, Cl and colour. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify end‐members and compositional trends in order to identify controls on the development of water composition. The study showed that the direct use of PCA had several advantages over the use of end‐member mixing analysis (EMMA) as it combines an analysis of mixing and evolving waters without the assumption of having to know the compositional sources of the water. In its application to an upland peat catchment, the study supports the view that shallow throughflow at the catotelm/acrotelm boundary is responsible for storm runoff generation and shows that baseflow is controlled by cation exchange in the catotelm and mixing with a base‐rich groundwater. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isobaric cooling and anti-clockwise P–T paths in the Variscan Odenwald Crystalline Complex, Germany

Mineral assemblages in Al₂O₃‐rich, SiO₂‐ and K₂O‐poor metapelitic rocks from the western Odenwald Crystalline Complex (Variscan Mid‐German Crystalline Rise, southern Germany) include corundum, spinel, cordierite, sillimanite, garnet and staurolite. Quartz is absent from almost all samples. Therefore, the applicability of conventional geothermobarometry is very limited or even impossible. Detailed petrographic investigation on selected samples permits inference of the sequence of appearance and disappearance of several mineral assemblages. The recognition of such partial re‐equilibration stages and their associated mineral assemblages, together with mineral stabilities predicted from KFMASH pseudosections, enables the determination of the pressure‐temperature (P–T) trajectories experienced by these rocks during the Variscan metamorphism. The rocks were metamorphosed under low‐P/high‐T conditions and underwent an anti‐clockwise P–T evolution. A pressure increase from about 2 kbar to 4 ± 0.5 kbar was accompanied by heating. Peak metamorphic conditions were reached at pressures of 4 ± 0.5 kbar and temperatures of at least 640 °C, probably even higher. The retrograde evolution is characterised by near‐isobaric cooling from ≥ 640 °C to approximately 550 °C. The rocks underwent the anti‐clockwise evolution in a subduction‐related magmatic arc setting. The close spatial association of the low‐P/high‐T rocks with recently discovered metabasic eclogites in the eastern part of the Odenwald Crystalline Complex may indicate a fossil paired metamorphic belt in the Central European Variscides.