Earthquakes in Switzerland and surrounding regions during 2012

This report of the Swiss Seismological Service summarizes the seismic activity in Switzerland and surrounding regions during 2012. During this period, 497 earthquakes and 88 quarry blasts were detected and located in the region under consideration. With a total of only 13 events with M_L ≥ 2.5, the seismic activity in the year 2012 was far below the average over the previous 37 years. Most noteworthy were the earthquake sequence of Filisur (GR) in January with two events of M_L 3.3 and 3.5, the M_L 4.2 and M_L 3.5 earthquakes at a depth of 32 km below Zug in February and the M_L 3.6 event near Vallorcine in October. The epicentral intensity of the M_L 4.2 event close to Zug was IV, with a maximum intensity of V reached in a few areas, probably due to site amplification effects.     

Depth-stratified community zonation patterns on Gulf of Alaska rocky shores

Vertical zonation patterns have been considered ubiquitous in intertidal ecosystems but questions remain about their generality for individual taxonomic groups and over broad spatial scales, and whether they continue into adjacent shallow subtidal habitats. Taxon richness, invertebrate abundance, and macroalgal biomass were examined in the summer of 2003 along a vertical gradient in the rocky intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats around Kodiak Island, Kachemak Bay, and Prince William Sound, all within the Gulf of Alaska. Replicate samples of benthic organisms were taken in the high (～ 7 m), mid (～ 4 m) and low (～ 0 m) intertidal (relative to MLLW), and at 1, 5, 10 and 15 m water depths at three sites in each region, and identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Our primary goals were to assess (1) how estimates of taxon richness, invertebrate abundance, and macroalgal biomass vary among intertidal heights and subtidal depths and (2) how general these patterns are when considered across the Gulf of Alaska. Our results show that when all invertebrates were considered together, most of the variation in taxon richness was accounted for by differences among depths (i.e. intertidal heights and subtidal depths) (～ 51%), and among replicate samples within each depth (～ 26%). Little to none of the variation was accounted for by differences among sites within each region (～ 1%) or among regions themselves (～ 0%). When considered across the Gulf of Alaska, total taxon richness and organism abundance were greatest in the low intertidal/shallow subtidal and decreased with increasing height/depth. When separated by phylum and examined together with macroalgae, variation in abundance and/or biomass among depths was significant and accounted for most of the variability. Differences among regions and sites within each region were not significant and accounted for little to none of the variance. Because the pattern of zonation varied among sites within each region, it reduced the generality of a single zonation pattern for the Gulf of Alaska. Likewise, when community composition was compared among depths, geographic regions and sites within each region using multivariate analyses, vertical zonation patterns were evident at a regional scale, but high variability in these patterns among sites within each region reduced the generality of these patterns.     

Ocean iron fertilization: Why further research is needed

Despite large uncertainties in the fertilization efficiency, natural iron fertilization studies and some of the purposeful iron enrichment studies have demonstrated that Southern Ocean iron fertilization can lead to a significant export of carbon from the sea surface to the ocean interior. From an economic perspective the potential of ocean iron fertilization (OIF) is far from negligible in relation to other abatement options. Comparing the range of cost estimates to the range of estimates for forestation projects they are in the same order of magnitude, but OIF could provide more carbon credits even if high discount rates are used to account for potential leakage and non-permanence. However, the uncertainty about undesired adverse effects of purposeful iron fertilization on marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry has led to attempts to ban commercial and, to some extent, scientific experiments aimed at a better understanding of the processes involved, effectively precluding further consideration of this mitigation option. As regards the perspective of public international law, the pertinent agreements dealing with the protection of the marine environment indicate that OIF is to be considered as lawful if and to the extent to which it represents legitimate scientific research. In this respect, the precautionary principle can be used to balance the risks arising out of scientific OIF activities for the marine environment with the potential advantages relevant to the objectives of the climate change regime. As scientific OIF experiments involve only comparatively small negative impacts within a limited marine area, further scientific research must be permitted to explore the carbon sequestration potential of OIF in order to either reject this concept or integrate it into the flexible mechanisms contained in the Kyoto Protocol.