Quantification of ecosystem carbon exchange characteristics in a dominant subtropical evergreen forest ecosystem

CO₂ fluxes were measured continuously for three years (2003?C2005) using the eddy covariance technique for the canopy layer with a height of 27 m above the ground in a dominant subtropical evergreen forest in Dinghushan, South China. By applying gapfilling methods, we quantified the different components of the carbon fluxes (net ecosystem exchange (NEE)), gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (R_eco) in order to assess the effects of meteorological variables on these fluxes and the atmospherecanopy interactions on the forest carbon cycle. Our results showed that monthly average daily maximum net CO₂ exchange of the whole ecosystem varied from ?3.79 to ?14.24 ??mol m^?2 s^?1 and was linearly related to photosynthetic active radiation. The Dinghushan forest acted as a net carbon sink of ?488 g C m^?2 y^?1, with a GPP of 1448 g Cm^?2 y^?1, and a R_eco of 961 g C m^?2 y^?1. Using a carboxylase-based model, we compared the predicted fluxes of CO₂ with measurements. GPP was modelled as 1443 g C m^?2 y^?1, and the model inversion results helped to explain ca. 90% of temporal variability of the measured ecosystem fluxes. Contribution of CO₂ fluxes in the subtropical forest in the dry season (October-March) was 62.2% of the annual total from the whole forest ecosystem. On average, 43.3% of the net annual carbon sink occurred between October and December, indicating that this time period is an important stage for uptake of CO₂ by the forest ecosystem from the atmosphere. Carbon uptake in the evergreen forest ecosystem is an indicator of the interaction of between the atmosphere and the canopy, especially in terms of driving climate factors such as temperature and rainfall events. We found that the Dinghushan evergreen forest is acting as a carbon sink almost year-round. The study can improve the evaluation of the net carbon uptake of tropical monsoon evergreen forest ecosystem in south China region under climate change conditions.     

The impact of natural versus anthropogenic aerosols on atmospheric circulation in the Community Atmosphere Model

The equilibrium response of atmospheric circulation to the direct radiative effects of natural or anthropogenic aerosols is investigated using the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM3) coupled to two different ocean boundary conditions: prescribed climatological sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and a slab ocean model. Anthropogenic and natural aerosols significantly affect the circulation but in nearly opposite ways, because anthropogenic aerosols tend to have a net local warming effect and natural aerosols a net cooling. Aerosol forcings shift the Intertropical Convergence Zone and alter the strength of the Hadley circulation as found in previous studies, but also affect the Hadley cell width. These effects are due to meridional gradients in warming caused by heterogeneous net heating, and are stronger with interactive SST. Aerosols also drive model responses at high latitudes, including polar near-surface warming by anthropogenic aerosols in summer and an Arctic Oscillation (AO)-type responses in winter: anthropogenic aerosols strengthen wintertime zonal wind near 60°N, weaken it near 30°N, warm the troposphere, cool the stratosphere, and reduce Arctic surface pressure, while natural aerosols produce nearly opposite changes. These responses are shown to be due to modulation of stratospheric wave-driving consistent with meridional forcing gradients in midlatitudes. They are more pronounced when SST is fixed, apparently because the contrast in land-ocean heating drives a predominantly wavenumber-2 response in the northern hemisphere which is more efficient in reaching the stratosphere, showing that zonal heating variations also affect this particular response. The results suggest that recent shifts from reflecting to absorbing aerosol types probably contributed to the observed decadal variations in tropical width and AO, although studies with more realistic temporal variations in forcing would be needed to quantify this contribution.     

Catchment-scale observations at the Niwot Ridge long-term ecological research site

The Niwot Ridge and Green Lakes Valley (NWT) long-term ecological research (LTER) site collects environmental observations spanning both alpine and subalpine regimes. The first observations began in 1952 and have since expanded to nearly 300 available datasets over an area of 99 km² within the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains that include hydrological (n = 101), biological (n = 79), biogeochemical (n = 62), and geographical (n = 56) observations. The NWT LTER database is well suited to support hydrologic investigations that require long-term and interdisciplinary data sets. Experimentation and data collection at the NWT LTER are designed to characterize ecological responses of high-mountain environments to changes in climate, nutrients, and water availability. In addition to the continuation of the many legacy NWT datasets, expansion of the breadth and utility of the NWT LTER database is driven by new initiatives including (a) a catchment-scale sensor network of soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and snow-depth observations to understand hydrologic connectivity and (b) snow-albedo alteration experiments using black sand to evaluate the effects of snow-disappearance on ecosystems. Together, these observational and experimental datasets provide a substantial foundation for hydrologic studies seeking to understand and predict changes to catchment and local-scale process interactions.     

Seasonal dynamics and exports of elements from a first‐order stream to a large inland lake in Michigan

Headwater streams are critical components of drainage systems, directly connecting terrestrial and downstream aquatic ecosystems. The amount of water in a stream can alter hydrologic connectivity between the stream and surrounding landscape and is ultimately an important driver of what constituents headwater streams transport. There is a shortage of studies that explore concentration–discharge (C‐Q) relationships in headwater systems, especially forested watersheds, where the hydrological and ecological processes that control the processing and export of solutes can be directly investigated. We sought to identify the temporal dynamics and spatial patterns of stream chemistry at three points along a forested headwater stream in Northern Michigan and utilize C‐Q relationships to explore transport dynamics and potential sources of solutes in the stream. Along the stream, surface flow was seasonal in the main stem, and perennial flow was spatially discontinuous for all but the lowest reaches. Spring snowmelt was the dominant hydrological event in the year with peak flows an order of magnitude larger at the mouth and upper reaches than annual mean discharge. All three C‐Q shapes (positive, negative, and flat) were observed at all locations along the stream, with a higher proportion of the analytes showing significant relationships at the mouth than at the mid or upper flumes. At the mouth, positive (flushing) C‐Q shapes were observed for dissolved organic carbon and total suspended solids, whereas negative (dilution) C‐Q shapes were observed for most cations (Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺) and biologically cycled anions (NO₃^?, PO₄^3?, SO₄^2?). Most analytes displayed significant C‐Q relationships at the mouth, indicating that discharge is a significant driving factor controlling stream chemistry. However, the importance of discharge appeared to decrease moving upstream to the headwaters where more localized or temporally dynamic factors may become more important controls on stream solute patterns.     

The role of land surface versus drainage network characteristics in controlling water quality and quantity in a small urban watershed

The processes that control run‐off quantity and quality in urban watersheds are complex and not well understood. Although impervious surface coverage has traditionally been used to examine altered hydrologic response in urban watersheds, several studies suggest that other elements of the urban landscape, particularly those associated with urban infrastructure and the drainage system, play an equally important role. The relative importance of impervious surfaces, stormwater ponds, expansion of the drainage network, and drainage network structures in controlling hydrologic response was examined in the subwatersheds of the Kromma Kill, an urban watershed located in Albany County, NY. In this study, geographic information systems was used to compute geospatial land surface and drainage network properties of 5 Kromma Kill subwatersheds. In these same subwatersheds, water quantity (rainfall and run‐off) and quality (macroinvertebrates, nitrate, total nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, and nonpurgable organic carbon) parameters were measured. Strong and significant correlations were identified between land surface and drainage network properties and field observations. Causal relationships were then tested using the Environmental Protection Agency's Stormwater Management Model. Field and model analyses suggest that whereas percent imperviousness is a dominant control on water quality, drainage density and slope are equally important. However, for water quantity, whereas imperviousness is positively correlated with increased run‐off volumes, drainage network properties and slope are the dominant controls on run‐off volumes. Results have important implications for stormwater management plans, especially those aimed at reducing the effective impervious surface coverage of urban watersheds. Reducing the percentage of effective imperviousness in a watershed is not a “one size fits all” solution and can help to meet some management objectives, such as reducing nitrogen concentrations and improving water quality, but may not serve as the most effective, and therefore economical, solution for every management objective including reducing run‐off volumes.     

Future heat vulnerability in California, Part I: projecting future weather types and heat events

Excessive heat significantly impacts the health of Californians during irregular but intense heat events. Through the 21st century, a significant increase in impact is likely, as the state experiences a changing climate as well as an aging population. To assess this impact, future heat-related mortality estimates were derived for nine metropolitan areas in the state for the remainder of the century. Here in Part I, changes in oppressive weather days and consecutive-day events are projected for future years by a synoptic climatological method. First, historical surface weather types are related to circulation patterns at 500mb and 700mb, and temperature patterns at 850mb. GCM output is then utilized to classify future circulation patterns via discriminant function analysis, and multinomial logistic regression is used to derive future surface weather type at each of six stations in California. Five different climate model-scenarios are examined. Results show a significant increase in heat events over the 21st century, with oppressive weather types potentially more than doubling in frequency, and with heat events of 2?weeks or longer becoming up to ten times more common at coastal locations.     

Constraints on turbulent pressure in the X-ray haloes of giant elliptical galaxies from resonant scattering

The dense cores of X-ray emitting gaseous haloes of large elliptical galaxies with temperatures   kT ≲ 0.8  keV  show two prominent Fe  xvii emission features, which provide a sensitive diagnostic tool to measure the effects of resonant scattering. We present here high-resolution spectra of five bright nearby elliptical galaxies, obtained with the reflection grating spectrometers (RGS) on the XMM-Newton satellite. The spectra for the cores of four of the galaxies show the Fe  xvii line at 15.01 Å being suppressed by resonant scattering. The data for NGC 4636 in particular allow the effects of resonant scattering to be studied in detail and to prove that the 15.01 Å line is suppressed only in the dense core and not in the surrounding regions. Using deprojected density and temperature profiles for this galaxy obtained with the Chandra satellite, we model the radial intensity profiles of the strongest resonance lines, accounting for the effects of resonant scattering, for different values of the characteristic turbulent velocity. Comparing the model to the data, we find that the isotropic turbulent velocities on spatial scales smaller than ≈1 kpc are less than 100 km s⁻¹ and the turbulent pressure support in the galaxy core is smaller than 5 per cent of the thermal pressure at the 90 per cent confidence level, and less than 20 per cent at 95 per cent confidence. Neglecting the effects of resonant scattering in spectral fitting of the inner 2 kpc core of NGC 4636 will lead to underestimates of the chemical abundances of Fe and O by ∼10–20 per cent.     

Implications of primordial black holes on the first stars and the origin of the super-massive black holes

If the cosmological dark matter has a component made of small primordial black holes (BHs), they may have a significant impact on the physics of the first stars and on the subsequent formation of massive BHs. Primordial BHs would be adiabatically contracted into these stars and then would sink to the stellar centre by dynamical friction, creating a larger BH which may quickly swallow the whole star. If these primordial BHs are heavier than  ∼10²² g  , the first stars would likely live only for a very short time and would not contribute much to the reionization of the Universe. They would instead become  10–10³ M_⊙  BHs which (depending on subsequent accretion) could serve as seeds for the super-massive BHs seen at high redshifts as well as those inside galaxies today.     

The radio remnant of SN 1993J: an instrumental explanation for the evolving complex structure

We present simulated images of Supernova 1993J at 8.4 GHz using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) techniques. A spherically symmetric source model is convolved with realistic u v -plane distributions, together with standard imaging procedures, to assess the extent of instrumental effects on the recovered brightness distribution. In order to facilitate direct comparisons between the simulations and published VLBI images of SN 1993J, the observed u v -coverage is determined from actual VLBI observations made in the years following its discovery.
The underlying source model only exhibits radial variation in its density profile, with no azimuthal dependence and, even though this model is morphologically simple, the simulated VLBI observations qualitatively reproduce many of the azimuthal features of the reported VLBI observations, such as appearance and evolution of complex azimuthal structure and apparent rotation of the shell. We demonstrate that such features are inexorably coupled to the u v -plane sampling.
The brightness contrast between the peaks and the surrounding shell material are not as prominent in the simulations (which of course assume no antenna- or baseline-based amplitude or phase errors, meaning no self-calibration procedures will have incorporated any such features in models). It is conclusive that incomplete u v -plane sampling has a drastic effect on the final images for observations of this nature. Difference imaging reveals residual emission up to the 8σ level. Extreme care should be taken when using interferometric observations to directly infer the structure of objects such as supernovae.