俄罗斯勘察加半岛热泉的地球化学和微生物学

勘察加半岛位于欧洲板块、北美板块和太平洋板块交汇的过渡带上,是世界火山活动最活跃的地区之一.其众多的热液系统不断的向地表释放地热气体和流体.以N2和CO2为主的地热气体也经常含有高浓度的H2,CH4和H2S.大气水和熔岩水构成了勘察加热泉水的主要源,水体温度从20 ℃到＞90 ℃不等.水化学性质变化同样显著,pH范围从3.1到9.8.热泉水溶解盐以氯化钠为主,同时包括K+,H3BO3,H4SiO4,Ca2+和SO42-等其他多种溶解组分.此区域也有以直链烷烃为主的石油形成.从勘察加的热泉系统中已分离出至少24种嗜热微生物.尽管其中大多数是异养微生物,但根据其生存环境的特点,自养微生物在热泉系统中可能同样很多.这些微生物对碳、硫和铁在热液系统中的生物地球化学循环有着非常重要的作用.目前,非培养的方法和生物定量的手段已用来研究勘察加热泉中微生物生态及其所具有的生物地球化学功能.     

Assessment of lightning-related damage and disruption in Canada

This article assesses the extent and costs of lightning-related damage and disruption in Canada. Lightning routinely damages property and disrupts economic and social activities. Affected sectors include health; property and casualty insurance; forestry; electricity generation, transmission, and distribution; agriculture; telecommunications; transportation; and tourism and recreation—the first four sectors are the most important in terms of contributing to overall impacts and costs. Secondary data and extrapolations from U.S. studies were used to develop cost estimates for the health, property, forestry, and electricity sectors. Aggregated, annual lightning-related damage and disruption costs in Canada range from CA$600 million to CA$600 million to CA1 billion. Forestry and electricity damages accounted for over 85% of the total. The estimates are both preliminary and conservative. In terms of continued research, additional or more refined studies using Canadian empirical data are warranted for the insurance and electricity sectors. Detailed insurance claim or outage data would permit analysis at the storm level and potentially discern finer-scaled risk patterns. Further effort is also required to evaluate risk or damage prevention measures, particularly those that relate to expanded or enriched use of the Canadian Lightning Detection Network data by both public and private sector clients. Both the degree of adoption and efficacy or cost-effectiveness should be investigated.     

Microbial carbon cycling in oligotrophic regional aquifers near the Tono Uranium Mine, Japan as inferred from δC and ΔC values of in situ phospholipid fatty acids and carbon sources

Microorganisms are ubiquitous in deep subsurface environments, but their role in the global carbon cycle is not well-understood. The natural abundance δ¹³C and Δ¹⁴C values of microbial membrane phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) were measured and used to assess the carbon sources of bacteria in sedimentary and granitic groundwaters sampled from three boreholes in the vicinity of the Tono Uranium Mine, Gifu, Japan. Sample storage experiments were performed and drill waters analyzed to characterize potential sources of microbial contamination. The most abundant PLFA structures in all waters sampled were 16:0, 16:1ω7c, cy17:0, and 18:1ω7c. A PLFA biomarker for type II methanotrophs, 18:1ω8c, comprised 3% and 18% of total PLFAs in anoxic sedimentary and granitic waters, respectively, sampled from the KNA-6 borehole. The presence of this biomarker was unexpected given that type II methanotrophs are considered obligate aerobes. However, a bacterium that grows aerobically with CH₄ as the sole energy source and which also produces 56% of its total PLFAs as 18:1ω8c was isolated from both waters, providing additional evidence for the presence of type II methanotrophs. The Δ¹⁴C values determined for type II methanotroph PLFAs in the sedimentary (−861‰) and granite (−867‰) waters were very similar to the Δ¹⁴C values of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in each water (∼−850‰). This suggests that type II methanotrophs ultimately derive all their carbon from inorganic sources, whether directly from DIC and/or from CH₄ produced by the reduction of DIC. In contrast, δ¹³C values of type II PLFAs in the sedimentary (−93‰) and granite (−60‰) waters indicate that these organisms use different carbon assimilation schemes in each environment despite very similar δ¹³C_CH4 values (∼−95‰) for each water. The δ¹³C_PLFA values (−28‰ to −45‰) of non-methanotrophic bacteria in the KNA-6 LTL water do not clearly distinguish between heterotrophic and autotrophic metabolisms, but Δ¹⁴C_PLFA values indicate that >65% of total bacteria filtered from the KNA-6 LTL water are heterotrophs. Ancient Δ¹⁴C values (∼−1000‰) of some PLFAs suggest that many heterotrophs utilize ancient organic matter, perhaps from lignite seams within the sedimentary rocks. The more negative range of δ¹³C_PLFA values determined for the KNA-6 granitic water (−42‰ to −66‰) are likely the result of a microbial ecosystem dominated by chemolithoautotrophy, perhaps fuelled by abiogenic H₂. Results of sample storage experiments showed substantial shifts in microbial community composition and δ¹³C_PLFA values (as much as 5‰) during 2-4 days of dark, refrigerated, aseptic storage. However, water samples collected and immediately filtered back in the lab from freshly drilled MSB-2 borehole appeared to maintain the same relative relationships between δ¹³C_PLFA values for sedimentary and granitic host rocks as observed for samples directly filtered under artesian flow from the KNA-6 borehole of the Tono Uranium Mine.     

How robust is the long-run relationship between temperature and radiative forcing?

This paper examines the robustness of the long-run, cointegrating, relationship between global temperatures and radiative forcing. It is found that the temperature sensitivity to a doubling of radiative forcing is of the order of 2 ± 1°C. This result is robust across the sample period of 1850 to 2000, thus providing further confirmation of the quantitative impact of radiative forcing and, in particular, CO₂ forcing, on temperatures.     

Interaction between a river and its wetland: evidence from the Murray River for spatial variability in diatom and radioisotope records

Sinclair Flat is small wetland, located within the gorge section of the Murray River floodplain. situated near Blanchetown, South Australia, the wetland is closely linked to the River and, since regulation, has become permanently inundated. High summer evaporation rates deplete the volume of water within the wetland. However, this is compensated by perennial inflow via a permanent inlet from the River. This site provides an opportunity to explore the relative contribution of river and wetland diatom flora to the sediment record, and the fluvial and aerial contribution of radiometric isotopes to the system. The geochronological and biostratigraphic data provide an insight into the history of the water quality of Sinclair Flat. Evidence exists for the River being a source of sediments and isotopes and of diatom species typical of the main river channel. Prior to 1950, Sinclair Flat was an oligotrophic, oligosaline, clear-water wetland. The wetland shifted gradually to an environment that favoured clear-water benthic species, most likely as a consequence of changes following river regulation in the 1920s, although the capacity to date these sediments is limited. During the 1950s, the wetland became plankton dominated. Peaks in epiphytic diatoms during the 1960s suggest increased emergent macrophyte cover. The contemporary condition is of a connected, turbid, eutrophic and mesosaline lagoon. The ecological condition of Sinclair Flat has diverged considerably from its historical range of condition. This record supports evidence from upstream of widespread state switches in the Murray–Darling Basin floodplain wetlands. This record also lends considerable weight to modern studies attesting to the degraded state of the waterways of the Murray–Darling Basin and the impact of river regulation practices on the water quality of these ecosystems.     

Soils of Namaqualand: Compensations for aridity

The soil mantle in Namaqualand is immature in terms of weathering. Despite or even because of this, the diversity and spatial variability of soil physical and chemical properties is exceptionally high and could be fundamental in governing biodiversity and ecosystem function. In arid landscapes, the way the soil sheds, admits, stores, diverts and transmits water is crucially important. Namaqualand's soils possess special features, which modify water infiltration, hydraulic conductivity and subsurface storage and provision of water to plants. These include pedodermal crusts; a natural mulch of surface gravel or desert pavement; water-repellent soils with fingered infiltration of rain water; textural discontinuities at depth; subsurface horizons cemented with silica, calcite, fibrous clays or gypsum; soluble salts that affect plant water uptake osmotically; clay minerals having exceptional water-absorbing capacity and that are unique to arid environments; and a mechanism, in deeper sandy soils, for thermally induced upward transport of water vapour—a kind of nocturnal distillation—that seems to lessen the need for plants to root deeply.Superimposed on this already impressive pedodiversity are the almost ubiquitous heuweltjies—broad, low mounds which add further complexity to fluxes of water, salts, energy and nutrients in the landscape.     

Impact of offsite sediment transport and toxicity on remediation of a contaminated estuarine bay

Sediment of Ostrich Bay, an arm of Dyes Inlet on Puget Sound, was historically contaminated with ordnance compounds from an onshore US Navy facility. An initial recommendation for a sediment cover to mitigate benthic risks was followed by studies of sediment transport and deposition to determine whether contaminated sediment from Dyes Inlet or other offsite sources in Puget Sound may contribute to Ostrich Bay impacts. A Sediment Trend Analysis (STA) identified net sediment transport pathways throughout the bay and inlet by examining changes in grain size distributions in multiple adjacent samples. Results indicated that fine-grained sedimentary material transports into and deposits throughout the Dyes Inlet system, with no erosion or transport out of Ostrich Bay. Echinoderm larvae mortality bioassay results were elevated in fine-grained sediments of both Ostrich Bay and Dyes Inlet. Ordnance compounds were undetected, and although sediment mercury concentrations were elevated at 0.48-1.4 mg/kg in both waterbodies, the relationship with toxicity was weak. Results of the studies and sedimentation modeling indicate that impacted sedimentary material deposits throughout the Dyes Inlet/Ostrich Bay system from unknown sources and will prevent natural recovery of Ostrich Bay as well as negate long-term effectiveness of active remedial measures. Stakeholders have recognized that remediation of the bay can be achieved only after the toxicity of depositing sediment decreases.     

Companions of Post-Common Envelope sdB Binaries

Preliminary results are presented from two ongoing complementary surveys intended to investigate the nature and characteristics of the optically invisible secondaries in post-common envelope subdwarf B (sdB) binary stars. We obtain precise radial velocities to derive periods and minimum companion masses for bright field sdB stars. These data are combined with light curves to search for eclipses, reflection effects, or ellipsoidal variations. We emphasize the importance of using complete unbiased samples, without which it will not be possible to understand the details of the multiple processes that produce these stars. It remains true that all known secondary companions in short-period sdB binaries are nearly invisible, thus they must be either low mass main sequence (MS) stars or compact objects, e.g., white dwarfs. In our small, nearly-complete sample, white dwarf secondaries outnumber MS secondaries by about a factor of five. Known MS masses in short-period sdB binaries are all surprisingly low, indicating a possible bimodal mass distribution for all MS secondaries in sdB binaries.     

澳大利亚气象研究中心的轨迹计算及其应用

从天气分析和预报提供的后向轨迹信息可以加强预报指导。澳大利亚气象研究中心（ＢＭＲＣ）开发了一个计算三维后向和前向轨迹的软件，使用的资料是澳大利亚气象局有限区域３６小时３个风速分量的业务预报。它们有三种可用的输出形式；后向轨迹、前向轨迹及３６小时气块垂直位移等值线场。这个软件已用于分析诊断研究。