Laboratory simulation of cometary erosion by space plasma

A laboratory experiment has been made where a plasma stream collides with targets made of different materials of cosmic interest. The experiment can be viewed as a process simulation of the solar wind particle interaction with solid surfaces in space — e.g., cometary dust. Special interest is given to sputtering of OH and Na.It is also shown that the erosion of solid particles in interplanetary space at large heliocentric distances is most likely dominated by sputtering and by sublimation near the Sun. The heliocentric distance of the limit between the two regions is determined mainly by the material properties of the eroded surface, e.g., heat of sublimation and sputtering yield, a typical distance being 0.5 AU.It is concluded that the observations of Na in comets at large solar distances, in some cases also near the Sun, is most likely to be explained by solar wind sputtering. OH emission in space could be of importance also from dry, water-free, matter by means of molecule sputtering. The observed OH production rates in comets are however too large to be explained in this way and are certainly the results of sublimation and dissociation of H₂O from an icy nucleus.     

Continuous Monitoring Reveals Drivers of Dissolved Oxygen Variability in a Small California Estuary

Estuarine ecosystem diversity and function can be degraded by low oxygen concentrations. Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of dissolved oxygen (DO) variation and the factors that predict decreases in DO is thus essential to inform estuarine management. We investigated DO variability and its drivers in Elkhorn Slough, a shallow, well-mixed estuary affected by high nutrient loading and with serious eutrophication problems. Long-term (2001–2012), high-resolution (15 min) time series of DO, water level, winds, and solar radiation from two fully tidal sites in the estuary showed that hypoxia events close to the bottom are common in the summer at the more upstream estuarine station. These events can occur in any lunar phase (spring to neap), at any time of the day, and both on sunny or cloudy days. They are, however, short-lived (lasting in average 40 min) and mainly driven by momentary low turbulent diffusion around slack tides (both at high and low water). Tidal advective transport explains up to 52.1% of the daily DO variability, and the water volume (or DO reservoir) contained in the estuary was not sufficient to avoid hypoxia in the estuary. Solar radiation was responsible for a positively correlated DO daily cycle but caused a decreased in the averaged DO in the summer at the inner station. Wind-driven upwelling reduced the average DO at the more oceanic station during spring. The approach we employed, using robust techniques to remove suspect data due to sensor drift combined with an array of statistical techniques, including spectral, harmonic, and coherence spectrum analysis, can serve as a model for analyses of long-term water quality datasets in other systems. Investigations such as ours can inform coastal management by identifying key drivers of hypoxia in estuaries.     

Climate changes during the last glacial termination inferred from diatom-based temperatures and pollen in a sediment core from Längsee (Austria)

A sediment core section from Längsee, a small meromictic lake in the southern Alpine lowland (Carinthia, Austria) close to the Würmian ice margin, was investigated by means of diatoms and pollen. The main aims of the study were to reconstruct water temperature as a signal of climate change during the last glacial termination, compare the aquatic and terrestrial response to the changing climate, and place our findings into a climatic frame on the northern hemispheric scale. A calibration data set (ALPS06) of 116 lakes was constructed using data from newly studied lakes and from two previously published data sets and we established a transfer function for predicting summer epilimnetic water temperatures (SEWT). A locally weighted weighted average regression and calibration model (R _jack ²  = 0.89; RSMEP = 1.82°C) was applied to the fossil diatom assemblages in order to reconstruct SEWT. Three major sections were distinguished in the time window of approximately 19–13 cal ka BP, which fitted well with the oxygen isotope curve and the isotope-event stratigraphy from the Greenland ice-core GRIP. The first section was a warming period (SEWT range from 11.6 to 18.0°C; average 15.8°C = ca. 6°C below present) called the Längsee oscillation, which probably correlates with the warmer sub-section (GS-2b) of the Greenland Stadial 2. The subsequent section represents a climate cooling, called the Längsee cold period (SEWT range between 10.6 and 15.9°C; average 12.9°C), which probably corresponds with the sub-section GS-2a of the Greenland Stadial 2, the Heinrich 1 cold event of the North Atlantic, and partially the Gschnitz Stadial in the Alps. The Längsee cold period shows a tri-partition: Two colder phases are separated by a warmer inter-phase. The passive ordination of the core sample scores along maximum water depth indicated that the Längsee cold period was drier than the Längsee oscillation. Strong short-term fluctuations during the Längsee oscillation and the Längsee cold period indicate climate instability. The third section represented climate warming during the Längsee late glacial interstadial (=Greenland Interstadial 1, GI-1) with an average SEWT of 17.5°C. From the minor climatic fluctuations during this interstadial, mainly indicated by pollen, the fluctuation most likely related to the Gerzensee oscillation showed a SEWT decline. During the early immigration and expansion period of shrubs and trees, aquatic and terrestrial records showed distinct discrepancies that might have arose because of time lags in response and differences in sensitivity.     

FAIR Geoscientific Samples and Data Need International Collaboration

正1 Introduction The primary goal of the Deep-time Digital Earth project is to develop an open collaboration and data sharing platform that enables the transition of deep-time geoscientific research to a Big Data driven paradigm.Such an open platform will require the ability to effectively and efficiently access and integrate a wide variety of digital Earth data,from remotely sensed Earth observations and geophysical data to data generated in     

Gas hydrate decomposition recorded by authigenic barite at pockmark sites of the northern Congo Fan

The geochemical cycling of barium was investigated in sediments of pockmarks of the northern Congo Fan, characterized by surface and subsurface gas hydrates, chemosynthetic fauna, and authigenic carbonates. Two gravity cores retrieved from the so-called Hydrate Hole and Worm Hole pockmarks were examined using high-resolution pore-water and solid-phase analyses. The results indicate that, although gas hydrates in the study area are stable with respect to pressure and temperature, they are and have been subject to dissolution due to methane-undersaturated pore waters. The process significantly driving dissolution is the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) above the shallowest hydrate-bearing sediment layer. It is suggested that episodic seep events temporarily increase the upward flux of methane, and induce hydrate formation close to the sediment surface. AOM establishes at a sediment depth where the upward flux of methane from the uppermost hydrate layer counterbalances the downward flux of seawater sulfate. After seepage ceases, AOM continues to consume methane at the sulfate/methane transition (SMT) above the hydrates, thereby driving the progressive dissolution of the hydrates “from above”. As a result the SMT migrates downward, leaving behind enrichments of authigenic barite and carbonates that typically precipitate at this biogeochemical reaction front. Calculation of the time needed to produce the observed solid-phase barium enrichments above the present-day depths of the SMT served to track the net downward migration of the SMT and to estimate the total time of hydrate dissolution in the recovered sediments. Methane fluxes were higher, and the SMT was located closer to the sediment surface in the past at both sites. Active seepage and hydrate formation are inferred to have occurred only a few thousands of years ago at the Hydrate Hole site. By contrast, AOM-driven hydrate dissolution as a consequence of an overall net decrease in upward methane flux seems to have persisted for a considerably longer time at the Worm Hole site, amounting to a few tens of thousands of years.     

Patterns in the linkage of water quantity and quality during low‐flows

This study investigates 72 catchments across the federal state of Baden‐Wuerttemberg, Germany, for changes in water quality during low‐flow events. Data from the state's water quality monitoring network provided seven water quality parameters (water temperature, electrical conductivity, concentrations of chloride, sodium, sulfate, nitrate, and phosphate), which were statistically related to streamflow variability. Water temperature changes during low‐flow showed seasonal dependence. Nitrate concentrations revealed high spatial heterogeneity with about one third of the stations showing decreasing values during low discharge. For most other parameters, concentrations increased during low‐flow. Despite consistent trend directions, the magnitudes of changes with streamflow differed markedly across the state. Both multiple linear regression and a multiple analysis of variances were applied to explain these differences with the help of catchment characteristics. Results indicated that for sulfate and conductivity, geology of the catchments was the most important control, whereas for chloride, sodium, and nitrate, sewage treatment plants had the largest influence. For phosphate, no clear control could be identified. Independent from the applied method, land use was a less important control on river water quality during low‐flow than geology or inflow from sewage treatment plants. These results show that the effects of diffuse and point sources, as well as those of natural and anthropogenic sources differ for different water quality parameters. Overall, a high diversity of potential water quality deterioration signals needs to be considered when the ecological status of rivers is to be protected during low‐flow events.     

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.     

SPM response to tide and river flow in the hyper-turbid Ems River

In this paper, we analyse the behaviour of fine sediments in the hyper-turbid Lower Ems River, with focus on the river’s upper reaches, a stretch of about 25 km up-estuary of Terborg. Our analysis is based on long records of suspended particulate matter (SPM) from optical backscatter (OBS) measurements close to the bed at seven stations along the river, records of salinity and water level measurements at these stations, acoustic measurements on the vertical mud structure just up-estuary of Terborg and oxygen profiles in the lower 3 m of the water column close to Leerort and Terborg. Further, we use cross-sectionally averaged velocities computed with a calibrated numerical model. Distinction is made between four timescales, i.e. the semi-diurnal tidal timescale, the spring–neap tidal timescale, a timescale around an isolated peak in river flow (i.e. about 3 weeks) and a seasonal timescale. The data suggest that a pool of fluid/soft mud is present in these upper reaches, from up-estuary of Papenburg to a bit down-estuary of Terborg. Between Terborg and Gandersum, SPM values drop rapidly but remain high at a few gram per litre. The pool of fluid/soft mud is entrained/mobilized at the onset of flood, yielding SPM values of many tens gram per litre. This suspension is transported up-estuary with the flood. Around high water slack, part of the suspension settles, being remixed during ebb, while migrating down-estuary, but likely not much further than Terborg. Around low water slack, a large fraction of the sediment settles, reforming the pool of fluid mud. The rapid entrainment from the fluid mud layer after low water slack is only possible when the peak flood velocity exceeds a critical value of around 1 m/s, i.e. when the stratified water column seems to become internally supercritical. If the peak flood velocity does not reach this critical value, f.i. during neap tide, fluid mud is not entrained up to the OBS sensors. Thus, it is not classical tidal asymmetry, but the peak flood velocity itself which governs the hyper-turbid state in the Lower Ems River. The crucial role of river flow and river floods is in reducing these peak flood velocities. During elongated periods of high river flow, in e.g. wintertime, SPM concentrations reduce, and the soft mud deposits consolidate and possibly become locally armoured as well by sand washed in from the river. We have no observations that sediments are washed out of the hyper-turbid zone. Down-estuary of Terborg, where SPM values do not reach hyper-turbid conditions, the SPM dynamics are governed by classical tidal asymmetry and estuarine circulation. Hence, nowhere in the river, sediments are flushed from the upper reaches of the river into the Ems-Dollard estuary during high river flow events. However, exchange of sediment between river and estuary should occur because of tide-induced dispersion.