Sulphate complexation in seawater: A relation between the stability constants of sodium sulphate and magnesium sulphate in seawater from a determination of the stability constant of hydrogen sulphate and a calculation of the single ion activity coefficient of sulphate

The conditional stability constant of HSO₄^? has been determined at 25°C, 1 atm and a formal ionic strength of 0.7 M in solutions containing sodium, magnesium, chloride and sulphate. This was done spectrophotometrically (UV), using diphenylamine as indicator. The value obtained was 17.0 ± 0.1 (molar scale). Single ion activity coefficients for Na₂SO₄, K₂SO₄ and MgSO₄ have been calculated according to the Bates et al. (1970) model, assuming that the sulphate ion is not hydrated. It was found that the single ion activity coefficient of sulphate changes very little between Na₂SO₄, K₂SO₄ and MgSO₄ when the formal ionic strength is kept constant.These results have been used to obtain relations between the stability constants of NaSO₄^? and MgSO₄ valid for seawater.     

Stability constants of NaSO4−, MgSO4, MgF+, MgCl+ ion pairs at the ionic strength of seawater by potentiometry

The stability of the ion pair NaSO₄ was determined by measuring the change in sodium activity with medium composition at constant ionic strength, using a sodium-sensitive glass electrode. The stability constants of MgSO₄ and MgCl⁺ were determined indirectly from measurements of the stability of MgF⁺ in different media. All measurements were performed at 1 atm pressure, 25 ± 0.1 °C and 0.7 M formal ionic strength. The stability constants for NaSO₄^?, MgSO₄, MgF⁺ and MgCl⁺ are 1.8 ± 0.1, 6.3 ± 0.1, 22.9 ± 0.1 and 0.34 ± 0.02 M^?1, respectively.     

Surface Tension Effects of Humic-Like Substances in the Aqueous Extract of Tropospheric Fine Aerosol

Organic aerosol constituents can influence the surface tension of nucleating cloud droplets and thereby modify the critical supersaturation necessary to activate aerosol particles. Model calculations, based on experiments carried out with different surrogates, led to contradictory conclusions on the effect of organic components on activation, indicating that the results depend very much on the surrogate selected. In order to reduce this uncertainty surface tension measurements were performed on real atmospheric aerosol components. Humic-like substances (HULIS) that accounted for 60% of the water-soluble organic carbon present in rural aerosol were isolated from 32 samples covering different seasons. The isolated organic matter present in a concentration of about 1 g L^–1, decreased the surface tension of the aqueous solutions by 25–42% as compared to pure water. This effect was further enhanced when humic-like substances were mixed with ammonium sulphate. In order to support model calculations Szyskowski functions were fitted to the data to formulate the surface tension effect as a function of concentration.Finally, natural humic substances (fulvic and humic acids) were investigated under the same conditions. The experiments revealed that the surface tension decreasing effect of atmospheric humic-like substances differed from that of the studied terrestrial and aquatic humic substances: the latter substances decreased the surface tension of the aqueous solution to a lesser extent (7–23%) than atmospheric HULIS. This deviation can be explained with the different composition (e.g. the ratio of aromatic to aliphatic moieties) of the substances investigated.     

Stomach contents in Baltic fourhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis L.) with normal and deformed spinal vertebrae

In the northern part of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, fourhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) is one of the dominant fish species. A considerable proportion of the population (up to 54% of fish in gill net catches) have been reported to have spinal deformations, with a higher frequency in polluted than in clean areas. The stomach content of sculpins with normal and with severely deformed backbone were compared, but no statistically significant differences were revealed. The diet was generally dominated by the isopod Mesidotea entomon and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).     

Spring distribution of dissolved organic matter in a system encompassing the Northeast Water Polynya: Implications for early-season sources and sinks

This study addresses sources and diagenetic state of early-season dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Northeast Water Polynya (NEWP) area northeast of Greenland from distributions of humic substance fluorescence (HSfl), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in the water column inside and outside the NEWP area. The water masses of the polynya area had acquired their spring/summer temperature–salinity characteristics at the time of sampling, and also had individual, different DOM signatures. DOC concentrations were variable within and among water masses in the polynya area, indicating patchy local sources and sinks of DOC. PySW and polynya intermediate water (PyIW) had higher average DON concentrations and average lower C:N ratios than polynya bottom water (PyBW), indicating a larger fraction of fresh DOM in PySW and PyIW than in PyBW. Ice-covered, polynya area surface waters (PySW) had higher DOC concentrations (113±14 μM, n=68) than surface water (SW) outside the polynya area (96±18 μM, n=6). The DOM C:N ratios in a low-salinity, ice-melt subgroup of PySW samples indicate labile material, and these low-salinity surface waters appeared to have a local DOC and DON source. In contrast, HSfl was significantly lower inside than outside the NEWP area. Despite the lower HSfl values within the NEWP area, the PySW values were high when compared to open-ocean water. There were no local terrestrial sources for HSfl to the NEWP area and the East Greenland Current is therefore proposed as a likely source of allochtonous HSfl. When HSfl was used as a conservative tracer, up to 70% of the water in PySW and PyIW was found to be derived from SW, which contains a high fraction of water from the East Greenland Current. Similarly, a mixing model based on HSfl indicated that 80% of early-season DOC and 90–100% of early-season DON in PySW and PyIW were derived from SW, indicating a potentially high fraction of terrestrially-derived, relatively refractory DOM in the early-season NEWP area.     

Increased photosynthesis compensates for shorter growing season in subarctic tundra—8 years of snow accumulation manipulations

This study was initiated to analyze the effect of increased snow cover on plant photosynthesis in subarctic mires underlain by permafrost. Snow fences were used to increase the accumulation of snow on a subarctic permafrost mire in northern Sweden. By measuring reflected photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) the effect of snow thickness and associated delay of the start of the growing season was assessed in terms of absorbed PAR and estimated gross primary production (GPP). Six plots experienced increased snow accumulation and six plots were untreated. Incoming and reflected PAR was logged hourly from August 2010 to October 2013. In 2010 PAR measurements were coupled with flux chamber measurements to assess GPP and light use efficiency of the plots. The increased snow thickness prolonged the duration of the snow cover in spring. The delay of the growing season start in the treated plots was 18 days in 2011, 3 days in 2012 and 22 days in 2013. Results show higher PAR absorption, together with almost 35 % higher light use efficiency, in treated plots compared to untreated plots. Estimations of GPP suggest that the loss in early season photosynthesis, due to the shortening of the growing season in the treatment plots, is well compensated for by the increased absorption of PAR and higher light use efficiency throughout the whole growing seasons. This compensation is likely to be explained by increased soil moisture and nutrients together with a shift in vegetation composition associated with the accelerated permafrost thaw in the treatment plots.