Climatic response of Quaternary alluvial deposits in the upper Kali Gandaki valley (West Nepal)

The terraces at the confluence of Kali Gandaki and Miristi Khola (West Nepal) consist of coarse-grained deposits which are considered to be Late Pleistocene to Holocene in age. The stacking pattern of lithofacies is characterised by an alternation of fluvial and debris flow deposits. These periodic changes in sedimentation processes are attributed to climatic variations.Deposits of extended, highly mobile, braided rivers most probably developed under glacial conditions and reflect high sediment supply and high water discharge rates. Deposits of small, only moderately braided river systems evolved during a warmer climate with comparatively low sediment supply and water discharge rates. The mobilisation and redeposition of morainic material by enormous debris flows predominately occurred at the beginning of a warm period and was triggered by earthquakes, glacier lake outburst floods or strong monsoonal rain.     

Organic and inorganic correlations for Northwest Africa 852 by synchrotron‐based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy

Relationships between organic molecules and inorganic minerals are investigated in a single 34 μm diameter grain of the CR2 chondrite Northwest Africa 852 (NWA) 852 with submicron spatial resolution using synchrotron‐based imaging micro‐FTIR spectroscopy. Correlations based on absorption strength for the various constituents are determined using statistical correlation analysis. The silicate band is found to be correlated with the hydration band, and the latter is highly correlated with stretching modes of aliphatic hydrocarbons. Spatial distribution maps show that water+organic combination, silicate, OH, and C‐H distributions overlap, suggesting a possible catalytic role of phyllosilicates in the formation of organics. In contrast, the carbonate band is anticorrelated with water+organic combination, however uncorrelated with any other spectral feature. The average ratio of asymmetric CH₂ and CH₃ band strengths (CH₂/CH₃ = 2.53) for NWA 852 is similar to the average ratio of interplanetary dust particles (~2.40) and Wild 2 cometary dust particles (2.50), but it significantly exceeds that of interstellar medium objects (~1.00) and several aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites (~1.40). This suggests organics of similar length/branching, and perhaps similar formation regions, for NWA 852, Wild 2 dust particles, and interplanetary dust particles. The heterogeneous spatial distribution of ratio values indicates the presence of a mixture of aliphatic organic material with different length/branching, and thus a wide range of parent body processes, which occurred before the considered grain was formed.     

8.4 GHz VLA observations of the CfA seyfert sample

We present the results of an 8.4 GHz VLA survey of the CfA Seyferts. We find that the luminosity functions for Seyfert 1s and 2s are essentially identical, but that the type 2 objects are more likely to contain extended radio structures. This seems to be consistent with unified models for Seyferts, in which the differences between the two classes are largely due to orientation effects.     

Exploring biological constraints on the glacial history of Antarctica

The evolutionary and biogeographic history of the contemporary Antarctic terrestrial and marine biotas reveals many components of ancient origin. For large elements of the terrestrial biota, long-term isolation over timescales from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of years, and thus persistence through multiple glacial cycles, now appears to be the norm rather than the exception. For the marine biota there are some parallels with benthic communities also including ancient components, together with an incidence of species-level endemism indicating long-term isolation on the Antarctic continental shelf. Although it has long been known that a few ice-free terrestrial locations have existed in Antarctica for up to 10–12 million years, particularly in the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land along with certain nunataks and higher regions of large mountain ranges, these do not provide potential refugia for the majority of terrestrial biota, which occur mainly in coastal and/or low-lying locations and exhibit considerable biogeographic regionalisation within the continent. Current glacial models and reconstructions do not have the spatial resolution to detect unequivocally either the number or geographical distribution of these glacial refugia, or areas of the continental shelf that have remained periodically free from ice scouring, but do provide limits for their maximum spatial extent. Recent work on the evolution of the terrestrial biota indicates that refugia were much more widespread than has been recognised and it is now clear that terrestrial biology provides novel constraints for reconstructing the past glacial history of Antarctica, and new marine biological investigations of the Antarctic shelf are starting to do likewise.     

Chronology of Late Weichselian glaciation in the western part of the East European Plain

A database consisting of radiocarbon (¹⁴C), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and beryllium (¹⁰Be) dates was used for timing the advance of the Late Weichselian Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS), determining the age of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the rate of deglaciation. The study area encompasses the southeastern sector of the last SIS between the Baltic Sea and the LGM position in the western part of the East European Plain, covering the Karelian Ice‐Stream Complex (ISC) area in the east and the Baltic ISC area in the west. The linear advance and recession rates of the last SIS were estimated to be between 110 and 330 m a^?1 and between 50 and 170 m a^?1, respectively. The onset of the last SIS in the Karelian ISC area reached the western shores of Latvia not before 26 OSL ka, and in the Baltic ISC area, on the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, not before 21 OSL ka. The last SIS reached close to the LGM position earliest in NW Belarus, not earlier than 22.6 cal. ¹⁴C ka BP, and latest in the NE of Belarus, not earlier than 19.1 cal. ¹⁴C ka BP. The Baltic ISC area between the LGM position and the western shores of Latvia was deglaciated in about 8 ka, and in the Karelian ISC area, between the LGM position and the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, in about 2.6 ka. The whole area between the LGM position and the Baltic Sea was deglaciated between 14.2 ¹⁰Be ka and 13.3 cal. ¹⁴C ka BP.     

Hedonic Pricing of Climate Change Impacts to Households in Great Britain

This study investigates the amenity value of climate to British households. By using the hedonic price approach, the marginal willingness to pay for small changes in climate variables is derived. Various indices of temperature and precipitation are used including means, ranges, extremes and January and July averages. We specify one hedonic regression including information on house prices and wage data for 755 Posttowns and found the model containing January and July averages of temperature and precipitation most appropriate. The estimates suggest that British people would typically prefer higher temperatures in January. Increased precipitation in January is likely to reduce welfare. Changes in temperature and precipitation in July are not significant. Limited global warming, with a more pronounced effect of temperature increases compared to higher precipitation levels during winter months, might thus benefit British households.     

Particulate matter fluxes in the southern and central Kara Sea compared to sediments: Bulk fluxes, amino acids, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, sterols and fatty acids

The Kara Sea is one of the arctic marginal seas strongly influenced by fresh water and river suspension. The highly seasonal discharge by the two major rivers Yenisei and Ob induces seasonal changes in hydrography, sea surface temperature, ice cover, primary production and sedimentation. In order to obtain a seasonal pattern of sedimentation in the Kara Sea, sediment traps were deployed near the river mouth of the Yenisei (Yen) as well as in the central Kara Sea (Kara) within the framework of the German–Russian project “Siberian River run-off; SIRRO”. Two and a half years of time-series flux data were obtained between September 2000 and April 2003 and were analyzed for bulk components, amino acids, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes as well as sterols and fatty acids.Sediment trap data show that much of the annual deposition occurred under ice cover, possibly enhanced by zooplanktonic activity and sediment resuspension. An early bloom of ice-associated algae in April/May occurred in the polynya area and may have been very important to sustain the life cycles of higher organisms after the light limitation of the winter months due to no/low insolation and ice cover. The strong river input dominated the months June–August in the southern part of the Kara Sea. The central Kara Sea had a much shorter productive period starting in August and was less affected by the river plumes. Despite different time-scales of sampling and trapping biases, total annual fluxes from traps were in the same order of magnitude as accumulation rates in surface sediments. Terrestrial organic carbon accumulation decreased from 10.7 to 0.3 g C m⁻² a⁻¹ from the riverine source to the central Kara Sea. Parallel to this, preservation of marine organic matter decreased from 10% to 2% of primary productivity which was probably related to decreasing rates of sedimentation.     

Heat island intensity with different meteorological conditions in a medium-sized town: Szeged,Hungary

Summary An analysis of the effects of the townSzeged, Hungary, on minimum temperatures between 1978 and 1980 is presented. The characteristics of the urban heat island effect were examined by revelation of the relationships between heat island intensity and macrosynoptic types, cloudiness, wind speed as well as the combination of cloud amount and wind speed. Anticyclonic weather situations, little or no cloud coverage, and calm or slight wind were favourable for a strong development of the heat island effect. In the case of extreme heat islands the domination of anticyclonic weather types was almost absolute.With 4 Figures     

Compound summer temperature and precipitation extremes over central Europe

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Reliable knowledge of the near-future climate change signal of extremes is important for adaptation and mitigation strategies. Especially compound extremes,...