Zur Bestimmung des Schneeanteils am Gesamtniederschlag

Zusammenfassung Aus den Monatsberichten einiger hydrographischer Stationen der Ostalpen in verschiedenen Höhenlagen wird bestimmt, welche Niederschlagsmengen 1 cm der gemessenen Neuschneehöhen entsprechen, im Monats- und im Jahresmittel. In Abhängigkeit von der Höhenlage weist die Niederschlagsmenge pro Zentimeter Neuschneehöhe ein ausgeprägtes Minimum bei 1350 m Seehöhe auf. Durch Multiplikation des der Seehöhe entsprechenden Wertes dieser Kurve mit der an einer Station der Ostalpen gemessenen Neuschneehöhe der Periode 1896/97–1915/16 erhält man den Schneeanteil dieser Station am Gesamtniederschlag. Die auf diese Art bestimmten Anteilmengen sind in der Regel dann größer bzw. kleiner als die nachV. Conrad berechneten Werte, wenn die Anomalien der jährlichen Neuschneehöhen nachE. Ekhart positiv bzw. negativ sind.

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Summary On the base of monthly reports of several hydrographic stations in the Eastern Alps, the amounts of precipitation corresponding to 1 cm of fresh snow-depth have been calculated in the monthly and yearly average. As a function of the altitude the amount of precipitation per cm fresh snow-depth shows a marked minimum at the altitude of 1350 m. By multiplication of the fresh snow-depths, measured at a station of the Eastern Alps during the period 1896/97–1915/16, with the corresponding value of the above curve the snow fraction of the total precipitation of this station can be obtained. As a rule, the fractions determined in this way are greater or smaller than those calculated byV. Conrad according as the anomalies of the yearly fresh snow-depths given byE. Ekhart are respectively positive or negative.

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Résumé On calcule la quantité d'eau météorique correspondant à 1 cm. de neige fraîche (moyennes mensuelles et annuelles) sur la base des rapports mensuels de quelques stations hydrographiques des Alpes orientales. Cette quantité, considérée en fonction de l'altitude, présente un minimum net vers 1350 m. En multipliant la valeur correspondant à l'altitude d'une station des Alpes orientales où furent mesurées les hauteurs de neige fraîche pendant la période 1896/97 à 1915/16 par cette hauteur même, on obtient la fraction en neige des précipitations totales en ce point. Les fractions ainsi calculées sont dans la règle plus grandes ou plus petites que les valeurs établies parV. Conrad selon que les anomalies des hauteurs annuelles de neige fraîche, d'aprèsE. Ekhart, sont respectivement positives ou négatives.

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Mit 2 Textabbildungen.     

Zur Deutung der Vertikalbewegungen der Festländer und Meere

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Size scaling patterns of species richness and carbon biomass for marine phytoplankton functional groups

Phytoplankton assemblages were clustered into associations according to functional taxonomic (diatoms, dinoflagellates and coccolithophores) and “ataxonomic” unimodal (nanoplankton, microplankton and macroplankton) size‐based criteria. Scaling relations of species richness‐cell size were performed in terms of histogram and log‐transformed data analyses for both taxonomic and ataxonomic groups. Frequency distribution histograms were fitted to a negative power function, which was strongly unimodal and right skewed and invariant across taxonomic and ataxonomic units. Regression analyses of the log‐transformed data were fitted to negative linear curves, which had common patterns and they were independent of taxonomic or ataxonomic affiliation. Species carbon biomass–cell size spectra produced by log transformation of the relevant data yielded positive slopes for both taxonomic and ataxonomic groups. In contrast, comparisons of the relative cell abundance, cell volume and carbon biomass levels showed large differences among these variables across taxonomic and ataxonomic groups. This work demonstrates that phytoplankton taxonomic and ataxonomic functional group relationships should be considered when developing future models of phytoplankton community structure.     

Culture,demography and biogeography of sponge science: From past conferences to strategic research?

Perceived changes in the culture of sponge science and sponge conferences served as motivation for an evaluation of the sponge science community and research, over time and at present. Observed changes included a decrease in proceedings publications on sponge fossils and freshwater sponges, sponges from temperate environments, review papers and data syntheses, frequency of aquarium studies, and number of species investigated per publication. Publications on recent sponges, hexactinellids, calcareans, marine, Indo‐Pacific and warm‐water sponges increased, as well as the number of authors per publication and the proportion of field studies. Studies at the level of specimens and ultrastructure were gradually replaced by molecular approaches, but studies at the community level remained stable. The five sub‐disciplines morphology/taxonomy, phylogeny/evolution, physiology, ecology and faunistics also retained about equal proportions over time. Conference publications related to taxonomy, phylogeny and biodiversity prevailed, whereas those on management and conservation were rare, possibly because studies on sponge recovery, survival and mortality were also scarce. The community of sponge scientists has grown and become more diverse over time, presently representing 72 nations. The gender distribution evened out since the first sponge conference and presently favours women at early and men at late career stages. Although stated research interests are generally dominated by physiology and ecology, taxonomy and evolution are favoured after retirement. Sponge science has become more dynamic, but maybe also more competitive and less inclusive. We now face the dual challenge of safeguarding against the loss of some sub‐disciplines, and fostering the collaborative, helpful culture characteristic of sponge science.     

Multi‐method virtual electromagnetic experiments for developing suitable monitoring designs: A fictitious CO2 sequestration scenario in Northern Germany

We present a numerical study for 3D time‐lapse electromagnetic monitoring of a fictitious CO₂ sequestration using the geometry of a real geological site and a suite of suitable electromagnetic methods with different source/receiver configurations and different sensitivity patterns. All available geological information is processed and directly implemented into the computational domain, which is discretized by unstructured tetrahedral grids. We thus demonstrate the performance capability of our numerical simulation techniques. The scenario considers a CO₂ injection in approximately 1100 m depth. The expected changes in conductivity were inferred from preceding laboratory measurements. A resistive anomaly is caused within the conductive brines of the undisturbed reservoir horizon. The resistive nature of the anomaly is enhanced by the CO₂ dissolution regime, which prevails in the high‐salinity environment. Due to the physicochemical properties of CO₂, the affected portion of the subsurface is laterally widespread but very thin. We combine controlled‐source electromagnetics, borehole transient electromagnetics, and the direct‐current resistivity method to perform a virtual experiment with the aim of scrutinizing a set of source/receiver configurations with respect to coverage, resolution, and detectability of the anomalous CO₂ plume prior to the field survey. Our simulation studies are carried out using the 3D codes developed in our working group. They are all based on linear and higher order Lagrange and Nédélec finite‐element formulations on unstructured grids, providing the necessary flexibility with respect to the complex real‐world geometry. We provide different strategies for addressing the accuracy of numerical simulations in the case of arbitrary structures. The presented computations demonstrate the expected great advantage of positioning transmitters or receivers close to the target. For direct‐current geoelectrics, 50% change in electric potential may be detected even at the Earth's surface. Monitoring with inductive methods is also promising. For a well‐positioned surface transmitter, more than 10% difference in the vertical electric field is predicted for a receiver located 200 m above the target. Our borehole transient electromagnetics results demonstrate that traditional transient electromagnetics with a vertical magnetic dipole source is not well suited for monitoring a thin horizontal resistive target. This is due to the mainly horizontal current system, which is induced by a vertical magnetic dipole.     

A tool for site prioritisation of marine protected areas under data poor conditions

A challenge of managing data poor fisheries lies in overcoming uncertainties associated with a lack of information on biological and socio-economic conditions. This paper focuses on site prioritisation for marine protected areas, a process that usually imposes moderate to heavy demands on data, time, local expertise, and funds. A fuzzy logic decision support tool for zoning marine areas that is suitable for use in data poor conditions is developed. This tool, the Protected Area Suitability Index (PASI), assesses the suitability of sites for protection based on fishers’ preferences for that site and the site’s conservation value. Only eight input attributes are required to run the PASI, which operates on a series of heuristic rules to estimate a site suitability score that ranges from 0 to 10, where 10 indicates that a site is highly suitable for being protected from fishing. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the PASI is relatively robust, and produces reliable results even as the system is degraded by the loss of data. Eighteen actively fished sites and 11 sites that are closed to fishing are assessed to evaluate how well the PASI is able to distinguish differences between sites. The estimated scores are significantly different (p<0.05), whereby non-fished sites are scored as being more suitable for protection than fished sites. The PASI can be used as a decision support tool to facilitate systematic marine spatial management under data poor conditions, especially in the task of identifying suitable sites for protection.     

Modelling forest snow processes with a new version of WaSiM

ABSTRACT

We present a new model extension for the Water balance Simulation Model, WaSiM, which features (i) snow interception and (ii) modified meteorological conditions under coniferous forest canopies, complementing recently developed model extensions for particular mountain hydrological processes. Two study areas in Austria and Germany are considered in this study. To supplement and constrain the modelling experiments with on-site observations, a network of terrestrial time-lapse cameras was set up in one of these catchments. The spatiotemporal patterns of snow depth inside the forest and at the adjacent open field sites were recorded along with snow interception dynamics. Comparison of observed and modelled snow cover and canopy interception indicates that the new version of WaSiM reliably reconstructs the variability of snow accumulation for both the forest and the open field. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency computed for selected runoff events in spring increases from ?0.68 to 0.71 and 0.21 to 0.87, respectively.     

Prediction of phytoavailability of trace metals to plants: Comparison between chemical extractions and soil-grown radish

One of the major routes of human exposure to toxic metals is the consumption of vegetables grown on contaminated soils. Radishes were grown in three different soils (kitchen garden, agricultural and industrial soils), presenting various contamination levels. A sequential extraction procedure was compared with EDTA and HCl simple extractions methods in order to predict the metals phytoavailabilty to radish. The analysis of the results shows that the simple HCl and sequential chemical extractions bring complementary results, since HCl is correlated in the phytoavailability of Cd, Mn and Zn, whereas the sequential extraction is correlated in the phytoavailability of Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni. EDTA simple extraction brings here less interesting results than the two other tested extractions.     

High-resolution subtropical summer precipitation derived from dynamical downscaling of the NCEP/DOE reanalysis: how much small-scale information is added by a regional model?

This study assesses the regional-scale summer precipitation produced by the dynamical downscaling of analyzed large-scale fields. The main goal of this study is to investigate how much the regional model adds smaller scale precipitation information that the large-scale fields do not resolve. The modeling region for this study covers the southeastern United States (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and North Carolina) where the summer climate is subtropical in nature, with a heavy influence of regional-scale convection. The coarse resolution (2.5° latitude/longitude) large-scale atmospheric variables from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/DOE reanalysis (R2) are downscaled using the NCEP/Environmental Climate Prediction Center regional spectral model (RSM) to produce precipitation at 20?km resolution for 16 summer seasons (1990?C2005). The RSM produces realistic details in the regional summer precipitation at 20?km resolution. Compared to R2, the RSM-produced monthly precipitation shows better agreement with observations. There is a reduced wet bias and a more realistic spatial pattern of the precipitation climatology compared with the interpolated R2 values. The root mean square errors of the monthly R2 precipitation are reduced over 93% (1,697) of all the grid points in the five states (1,821). The temporal correlation also improves over 92% (1,675) of all grid points such that the domain-averaged correlation increases from 0.38 (R2) to 0.55 (RSM). The RSM accurately reproduces the first two observed eigenmodes, compared with the R2 product for which the second mode is not properly reproduced. The spatial patterns for wet versus dry summer years are also successfully simulated in RSM. For shorter time scales, the RSM resolves heavy rainfall events and their frequency better than R2. Correlation and categorical classification (above/near/below average) for the monthly frequency of heavy precipitation days is also significantly improved by the RSM.