Satellite-derived vegetation index and cover type maps for estimating carbon dioxide flux for arctic tundra regions

The spatial variability and co-variability of two different types of remote sensing derivatives that portray vegetation and geomorphic patterns are analyzed in the context of estimating regional-scale CO₂ flux from land surfaces in the arctic tundra. For a study area encompassing the Kuparuk River watershed of the North Slope of Alaska, we compare satellite-derived maps of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) generated at two different spatial resolutions to a map of vegetation types derived by image classification of data from the Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS). Mean values of NDVI for each cover type stratum are unique (with the exception of moist acidic tundra and shrubland types). Based on analysis of semi-variograms generated for SPOT-NDVI data, most of the vegetation cover and landform features of this arctic tundra landscape have spatial dimensions of less than 1 km. Thaw lakes on the coastal plain and glacial depositional landforms, such as moraines in the foothills, seem to be the largest features, with vegetation units having dimensions no larger than 700 m. Frequency distributions of NDVI and vegetation types extracted for sampling transects flown by an aircraft sensing CO₂ flux, relative to distributions for the entire Kuparuk River watershed, suggest a slight sampling bias towards greater cover of mesic wet sedge tundra and thaw lakes and associated lower NDVI values. The regional pattern of NDVI for the North Slope of Alaska corresponds primarily to differences between the two major physiographic provinces of this region.     

Distinguishing between debris flows and hyperconcentrated flows: an example from the eastern Swiss Alps

Much research has been done on water‐rich mass flows, but the distinction between hyperconcentrated flows and debris flows, and whether the two are indeed different processes, continue to be debated. Here, we contribute to the ongoing discussion of these phenomena by describing and interpreting the deposit of a large landslide‐induced mass flow in the eastern Swiss Alps. About 9400 years ago, 10‐12 km³ of limestone detached from the wall of the Vorderrhein River valley and rapidly fragmented while sliding towards the valley bottom. The rock mass struck the valley floor with enormous force and liquefied at least 1 km³ of valley‐fill sediments. A slurry of liquefied sediment – the ‘Bonaduz gravel’ – traveled tens of kilometres down the Vorderrhein valley from the impact site, carrying huge fragments of rockslide debris that became stranded on the valley floor, forming hills termed ‘tomas’. Part of the flow was deflected by a cross‐valley barrier and traveled 14 km up a tributary of the Vorderrhein valley. The Bonaduz gravel is >65 m thick and fines upward from massive sandy cobble gravel at its base to silty sand at its top. Sedimentologic and geomorphic evidence indicates that Bonaduz gravel was transported as a hyperconcentated flow, likely above a basal carpet of coarse diamictic sediment that behaved as a debris flow. The large amount of water involved in the flow indicates that at least part of the Flims rockslide entered a lake. The Bonaduz deposit shares many properties with sediments left by hyperconcentrated flows generated in flumes, including normal grading and elutriation pipes produced by the rapid escape of fluids when the flow comes to rest. These properties are characteristic of non‐Newtonian laminar flows with high sediment concentrations. Our study reinforces laboratory and theoretical studies showing that debris flows and hyperconcentrated flows are different processes. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Academic Performance Indicators for Departments of Geography in the United States and Canada

A common problem faced by geography departments, particularly during times of fiscal compression and mounting pressure for accountability, is how to compare themselves and their faculty with others. The recent revolution in bibliometrics provides a growing volume of data that can be used in benchmarking exercises. In this article, we assess the production and citation of journal articles and books by tenure-track and tenured faculty in selected U.S. and Canadian geography departments (n = 17) according to a set of readily derived and transparent performance indicators derived from publicly available data. Scopus was used to assess article production and citation; Google Scholar was used for book citation. Results point to significant heterogeneity in department characteristics, productivity, and citation of published work. The number of publications, citations, and h-Index scores among scholars in the sample (n = 369) is related strongly to academic age and subfield of enquiry (i.e., physical or human geography) but not—despite apparently marked differences in output and citations—to gender.     

The contribution of various types of settling particles to the flux of organic carbon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

The contents of 31 samples from free-drifting sediment traps deployed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) were analyzed for the individual contribution of the different types of particles encountered to the total particulate organic carbon (POC) flux. Two trap models were used in 1993-1994: small traps at 50 m depth and large traps at 50 and 150 m. Total POC fluxes averaged 42 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹ for the more reliable large trap and 149 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹ for the small trap. The POC fluxes were attributed to different classes of particles based upon microscopically determined particle dimensions and carbon/volume algorithms available in the literature. Fecal pellets, followed by phytoplankton, were the major attributable components, with important contributions by microzooplankton, particularly during the summer of 1994. The mean fluxes for pellets (6 and 60 mg  C m⁻² d⁻¹, for the large and small traps, respectively) and phytoplankton (3.2 and 42.9 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹) were in the range of those encountered in other areas of moderate primary productivity. Mean zooplankton carbon fluxes (1.8 and 8.5 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹, respectively), however, reflect higher than average zooplankton abundances in the GSL. The C fluxes of specific algal groups confirmed the existence of three trophic regimes previously identified from water column studies and numeric cell fluxes: (1) a period when diatoms were dominant during the spring, (2) a longer interval, which was dominated by dinoflagellates at most others times of the year, and (3) a period of transition during summer. Carbon of animal origin dominated the attributable flux, including an important fraction associated with heterotrophic dinoflagellates. The contribution of marine snow to the total flux (estimated as the difference between the total POC flux and the sum of the attributed components) frequently amounted to more than 60%. The true importance of marine snow remains uncertain, however, because the errors associated with each of the measured components accumulate to produce large uncertainties. The methodological problems involved are discussed.     

Chemical classification of the water in a lowland river basin (Salado River,Buenos Aires,Argentina) affected by hydraulic modifications

The main ions were measured seasonally during two years at 13 sampling stations in the Salado River and its main tributaries. The importance of each ion was assessed by standard methods used to examine ionic composition and by multivariate methods. The K-means clustering and Principal Component Analysis were applied to the percentages of the major ions. The concentration of the major cations are in the order Na⁺ > Mg²⁺ > Ca²⁺ > K⁺ and the major anions, Cl⁻ > SO₄²⁻ > HCO₃⁻ > CO₃²⁻, and the salinity was high (mean TDS 2,691 mg l⁻¹) due to sodium chloride. Using the proportions of the ions was possible to identify seven types of water within the basin related to discharges of different river sub-catchments and from endorheic catchments (in a sand dune region) actually connected with the basin by canals. The chemical composition of the basin is consequence of surface waters receiving salts from groundwater, evaporation and weathering of Post-Pampeano materials, and of anthropogenic impact by diversion between subcatchments for flood control. These results allowed us to test the marked effects on the ionic balance of basin at the base of a diversion management from endorheic catchments characterized by high salinity waters.     

Catchment-scale observations at the Niwot Ridge long-term ecological research site

The Niwot Ridge and Green Lakes Valley (NWT) long-term ecological research (LTER) site collects environmental observations spanning both alpine and subalpine regimes. The first observations began in 1952 and have since expanded to nearly 300 available datasets over an area of 99 km² within the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains that include hydrological (n = 101), biological (n = 79), biogeochemical (n = 62), and geographical (n = 56) observations. The NWT LTER database is well suited to support hydrologic investigations that require long-term and interdisciplinary data sets. Experimentation and data collection at the NWT LTER are designed to characterize ecological responses of high-mountain environments to changes in climate, nutrients, and water availability. In addition to the continuation of the many legacy NWT datasets, expansion of the breadth and utility of the NWT LTER database is driven by new initiatives including (a) a catchment-scale sensor network of soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and snow-depth observations to understand hydrologic connectivity and (b) snow-albedo alteration experiments using black sand to evaluate the effects of snow-disappearance on ecosystems. Together, these observational and experimental datasets provide a substantial foundation for hydrologic studies seeking to understand and predict changes to catchment and local-scale process interactions.