Phosphorus input by upwelling in the eastern Gotland Basin (Baltic Sea) in summer and its effects on filamentous cyanobacteria

In July 2007, phosphorus input by an upwelling event along the east coast of Gotland Island and the response of filamentous cyanobacteria were studied to determine whether introduced phosphorus can intensify cyanobacterial bloom formation in the eastern Gotland Basin. Surface temperature, nutrient concentrations, phytoplankton biomass and its stoichiometry, as well as phosphate uptake rates were determined in two transects between the coasts of Gotland and Latvia and in a short grid offshore of Gotland. In the upwelling area, surface temperatures of 11–12 °C and average dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations of 0.26 μM were measured. Outside the upwelling, surface temperatures were higher (15.5–16.6 °C) and DIP supplies in the upper 10 m layer were exhausted. Nitrite and nitrate concentrations (0.01–0.22 μM) were very low within and outside the upwelling region. Abundances of filamentous cyanobacteria were highly reduced in the upwelling area, accounting for only 1.4–6.0% of the total phytoplankton biomass, in contrast to 18–20% outside the upwelling. The C:P ratio of filamentous cyanobacteria varied between 32.8 and 310 in the upwelling region, most likely due to the introduction of phosphorus-depleted organisms into the upwelling water. These organisms accumulate DIP in upwelling water and have lower C:P ratios as long as they remain in DIP-rich water. Thus, diazotrophic cyanobacteria benefit from phosphorus input directly in the upwelling region. Outside the upwelling region, the C:P ratios of filamentous cyanobacteria varied widely, between 240 and 463, whereas those of particulate material in the water ranged only between 96 and 224. To reduce their C:P ratio from 300 to 35, cyanobacteria in the upwelling region had to take up 0.05 mmol m⁻³ DIP, which is about 20% of the available DIP. Thus, a larger biomass of filamentous cyanobacteria may be able to benefit from a given DIP input. As determined from the DIP uptake rates measured in upwelling cells, the time needed to reduce the C:P ratio from 300 to 35 was too long to explain the huge bloom formations that typically occur in summer. However, phosphorus uptake rates increased significantly with increasing C:P ratios, allowing phosphorus accumulation within 4–5 days, a span of time suitable for bloom formation in July and August.     

Diameter to depth dependence of impact craters

Laboratory impact experiments in the micron to millimeter projectile size range in silicate and metal targets have been performed in order to clarify the still ambigously interpreted velocity dependence of the crater diameter to depth ratios $\text{(}\text{D}\text{T}\text{)}$. The experimental results clearly show the independence of the $\text{D}\text{T}$ ratio of velocities above a threshold velocity of 3–4 km s^?1. The $\text{D}\text{T}$ ratio is a function of target properties and of projectile density ?. For a given target, the resulting approximate relation is $\text{D}\text{T}\text{～ ?}{}^{\mathrm{?\alpha }}$ with α varying between $\text{1}\text{2}\text{and}\text{1}\text{5}$.     

An elasto‐plastic three phase model for partially saturated soil for the finite element simulation of compressed air support in tunnelling

This paper presents a fully coupled finite element formulation for partially saturated soil as a triphasic porous material, which has been developed for the simulation of shield tunnelling with heading face support using compressed air. While for many numerical simulations in geotechnics use of a two‐phase soil model is sufficient, the simulation of compressed air support demands the use of a three‐phase model with the consideration of air as a separate phase. A multiphase model for soft soils is developed, in which the individual constituents of the soil—the soil skeleton, the fluid and the gaseous phase—and their interactions are considered. The triphasic model is formulated within the framework of the theory of porous media, based upon balance equations and constitutive relations for the soil constituents and their mixture. An elasto‐plastic, cam–clay type model is extended to partially saturated soil conditions by incorporating capillary pressure according to the Barcelona basic model. The hydraulic properties of the soil are described via DARCY 's law and the soil–water characteristic curve after VAN GENUCHTEN . Water is modelled as an incompressible and air as a compressible phase. The model is validated by means of selected benchmark problems. The applicability of the model to geotechnical problems is demonstrated by results from the simulation of a compressed air intervention in shield tunnelling. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectroscopic study of impurities and associated defects in nanodiamonds from Efremovka (CV3) and Orgueil (CI) meteorites

The results of spectroscopic and structural studies of phase composition and defects in nanodiamonds from Efremovka (CV3) and Orgueil (CI) chondrites indicate that nitrogen atomic environment in meteoritic nanodiamonds (MND) is similar to that observed in synthetic counterparts produced by detonation and by the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)-process. Most of the nitrogen in MND appears to be confined to lattice imperfections, such as crystallite/twin boundaries and other extended defects, while the concentration of nitrogen in the MND lattice is low. It is suggested that the N-rich sub-population of MND grains may have been formed with high growth rates in environments rich in accessible N (i.e., N in atomic form or as weakly bonded compounds). For the first time the silicon-vacancy complex (the “silicon” defect) is observed in MND by photoluminescence spectroscopy.     

TESSIN VISLab—laboratory for scientific visualization

Scientific visualization is an integral part of the modeling workflow, enabling researchers to understand complex or large data sets and simulation results. A high-resolution stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) environment further enhances the possibilities of visualization. Such an environment also allows collaboration in work groups including people of different backgrounds and to present results of research projects to stakeholders or the public. The requirements for the computing equipment driving the VR environment demand specialized software applications which can be run in a parallel fashion on a set of interconnected machines. Another challenge is to devise a useful data workflow from source data sets onto the display system. Therefore, we develop software applications like the OpenGeoSys Data Explorer, custom data conversion tools for established visualization packages such as ParaView and Visualization Toolkit as well as presentation and interaction techniques for 3D applications like Unity. We demonstrate our workflow by presenting visualization results for case studies from a broad range of applications. An outlook on how visualization techniques can be deeply integrated into the simulation process is given and future technical improvements such as a simplified hardware setup are outlined.     

A preliminary methods comparison for measurement of dissolved organic nitrogen in seawater

Routine determination of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) is performed in numerous laboratories around the world using one of three families of methods: UV oxidation (UV), persulfate oxidation (PO), or high temperature combustion (HTC). Essentially all routine methods measure total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) and calculate DON by subtracting the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). While there is currently no strong suggestion that any of these methods is inadequate, there are continuing suspicions of slight inaccuracy by UV methods.This is a report of a broad community methods comparison where 29 sets (7 UV, 13 PO, and 9 HTC) of TDN analyses were performed on five samples with varying TDN and DIN concentrations. Analyses were done in a “blind” procedure with results sent to the first author. With editing out one set of extreme outliers (representing 5 out of 145 ampoules analyzed), the community comparability for analyzing the TDN samples was in the 8–28% range (coefficient of variation representing one standard deviation for the five individual samples by 28 analyses). When DIN concentrations were subtracted uniformly (single DIN value for each sample), the comparability was obviously worse (19–46% cv). This comparison represents a larger and more diverse set of analyses, but the overall comparability is only marginally better than that of the Seattle workshop of a decade ago. Grouping methods, little difference was seen other than inconclusive evidence that the UV methods gave TDN values for several of the samples higher than HTC methods. Since there was much scatter for each of the groups of methods and for all analyses when grouped, it is thought that more uniformity in procedures is probably needed. An important unplanned observation is that variability in DIN analyses (used in determining the final analyte in most UV and PO methods) is essentially as large as the variability in the TDN analyses.This exercise should not be viewed as a qualification exercise for the analysts, but should instead be considered a broad preliminary test of the comparison of the families of methods being used in various laboratories around the world. Based on many independent analyses here, none of the routinely used methods appears to be grossly inaccurate, thus, most routine TDN analyses being reported in the literature are apparently accurate. However, it is not reassuring that the ability of the international community to determine DON in deep oceanic waters continues to be poor. It is suggested that as an outgrowth of this paper, analysts using UV and PO methods experiment and look more carefully at the completeness of DIN conversion to the final analyte and also at the accuracy of their analysis of the final analyte. HTC methods appear to be relatively easy and convenient and have potential for routine adoption. Several of the authors of this paper are currently working together on an interlaboratory comparison on HTC methodology.     

Southern Exceptionalism and the Perils of Region

Contemporary political trends associated with the rise of Donald Trump seem to confound traditional regional designations in the United States. Yet the concept of region remains salient in popular discourse. This is especially true with respect to “the South,” which appears in several recent nonacademic works as the source of troubling social and political currents. More surprising, given decades of critique of “Southern exceptionalism,” has been the reappearance of the South as a focus of analysis in the scholarly literature on immigration. This scholarly literature works to deessentialize the South by highlighting the vagaries and instabilities of Southern identities, institutions, and landscapes. It can, however, subtly and inadvertently reinforce Southern exceptionalism by identifying the South as a place marked by uniquely fraught histories of racial exclusion. This article critically assesses how the South as a regional concept has located the problem of race in the United States in a specific time and place. This leads to a broader discussion of the persistence of regional imaginaries in the discipline of geography and the need for more deliberate consideration of the geographical concepts that guide our analyses of societal change.