The burial efficiency of organic carbon in the sediments of Lake Kinneret

Even though lake sediments constitute a significant long-term carbon sink, studies on the regulation of carbon burial in lakes sediments have, to date, been surprisingly few. We investigated to what degree the organic carbon (OC) being deposited onto the bottom of Lake Kinneret (Israel) is buried in the sediment at four different sites with varying degrees of oxygenation and varying supply of allochthonous particles from the River Jordan. For estimation of the OC burial efficiency (OC BE), i.e., the ratio between buried and deposited OC, we calculated OC burial from dated sediment cores, and calculated OC deposition using three different approaches. Calculation of OC deposition from sediment trap-derived mass deposition rates multiplied with the OC content of surface sediment yielded OC BE values that were at odds with published values for sediments dominated by autochthonous OC sources. Calculation via sediment trap data on organic matter flux collected within the Lake Kinneret monitoring program, as well as calculation of OC deposition as the sum of OC burial plus OC mineralization, returned fairly congruent estimates of OC BE (range 10–41%), but only if the sediment trap data were corrected for the proportion of resuspended particles in the traps. Differences in OC BE between sites were small, indicating that OC source (common to all sites) was a more important regulator of OC BE in Lake Kinneret than oxygen exposure or mineral particles characteristics.     

A multi-hazard regional level impact assessment for Europe combining indicators of climatic and non-climatic change

To better prioritise adaptation strategies to a changing climate that are currently being developed, there is a need for quantitative regional level assessments that are systematic and comparable across multiple weather hazards. This study presents an indicator-based impact assessment framework at NUTS-2 level for the European Union that quantifies potential regional changes in weather-related hazards: heat stress in relation to human health, river flood risk, and forest fire risk. This is done by comparing the current (baseline) situation with two future time periods, 2011–2040 and 2041–2070. The indicator values for the baseline period are validated against observed impact data. For each hazard, the method integrates outcomes of a set of coherent high-resolution regional climate models from the ENSEMBLES project based on the SRES A1B emission scenario, with current and projected non-climatic drivers of risk, such as land use and socio-economic change. An index of regional adaptive capacity has been developed and compared with overall hazard impact in order to identify the potentially most vulnerable regions in Europe. The results show strongest increases in impacts for heat stress, followed by forest fire risk, while for flood risk the sign and magnitude of change vary across regions. A major difference with previous studies is that heat stress risk could increase most in central Europe, which is due to the ageing population there. An overall assessment combining the three hazards shows a clear trend towards increasing impact from climaterelated natural hazards for most parts of Europe, but hotspot regions are found in eastern and southern Europe due to their low adaptive capacities. This spatially explicit assessment can serve as a basis for discussing climate adaptation mainstreaming, and priorities for regional development in the EU.     

Warm frontal structure in association with a rapidly deepening extratropical cyclone

Abstract

The detailed characteristics of a CASPII warm frontal passage are presented in this article. This storm, Intensive Operating Period (IOP) 13 (February 26–27, 1992), was observed in detail with an array of diverse instruments. It has the advantage over earlier freezing precipitation studies of having simultaneous, in situ and remote sensing measurements by aircraft and ground‐based Doppler radar.

The associated precipitation was in the form of banded structures parallel to the front. Within these bands were embedded precipitation cores, some parallel to the band, some perpendicular. The warm front itself was characterized by major perturbations in its kinematic and thermodynamic features. The cores oriented parallel to the front were the result of embedded convection generated, at least in part, by the irregularities in the frontal surface.

The cores oriented perpendicular to the front were closely associated with the 0°C isotherm on the underside of the frontal inversion. Precipitation phase changes played a significant role in the occurrence of wide near 0°C regions, both vertically and horizontally. These regions had a profound influence on the observed precipitation types and led to complex precipitation‐thermodynamic‐dynamic interactions. Instabilities produced by these interactions are seen in wave‐like features observed by the Doppler radar in these regions, both parallel and perpendicular to the frontal zone.     

North Atlantic climate impact on early late‐glacial climate oscillations in the south‐eastern Alps inferred from a multi‐proxy lake sediment record

High‐resolution multi‐proxy analyses of a sediment core section from Lake Jeserzersee (Saissersee) in the piedmont lobe of the Würmian Drau glacier (Carinthia, Austria) reveal pronounced climatic oscillations during the early late glacial (ca. 18.5–16.0k cal a BP). Diatom‐inferred epilimnetic summer water temperatures show a close correspondence with temperature reconstructions from the adjacent Lake Längsee record and, on a hemispheric scale, with fluctuations of ice‐rafted debris in the North Atlantic. This suggests that North Atlantic climate triggered summer climate variability in the Alps during the early late glacial. The expansion of pine (mainly dwarf pine) between ca. 18.5 and 18.1k cal a BP indicates warming during the so‐called ‘Längsee oscillation’. The subsequent stepwise climate deterioration between ca. 18.1 and 17.6k cal a BP culminated in a tripartite cold period between ca. 17.6 and 16.9k cal a BP with diatom‐inferred summer water temperatures 8.5–10 °C below modern values and a shift from wet to dry conditions. This period probably coincides with a major Alpine glacier advance termed the Gschnitz stadial. A warmer interval between ca. 16.9 and 16.4k cal a BP separates this cold phase from a second, shorter and less pronounced cold phase between ca. 16.4 and 16.0k cal a BP, which is thought to correlate with the Clavadel/Senders glacier advance in the Alps. The following temperature increase, coupled with wet (probably snow‐rich) conditions, caused the expansion of birch during the transition period to the late glacial interstadial. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ESR dating of palaeolithic calcite: A comparison between powder and monocrystal spectra with thermal annealing

Evolution of ESR spectra with thermal annealing at different temperatures is studied for a monocrystal calcite taken in the Orgnac III site. Up to 20 ESR lines are recognized from the angular dependence of these lines. These lines are compared with the ESR lines observed for powder and rotating monocrystal calcites.The h1 line (g = 2.0057) and h3 line (g = 2.0007) are isotropic or nearly isotropic and are due to the electrons trapped in the amorphous region formed by fission tracks or alpha-ray recoil nuclei. The h2 line (g = 2.0021) is a composite of several different lines.     

Remote sensing of substances in water

Remote sensing of water colour and its application to the mapping of pigments, suspended matter and other substances by means of airborne and spaceborne sensors is discussed. After an introduction to the physical process involved, the methods for a quantitative interpretation especially of CZCS data are indicated. Applications towards the monitoring of coastal pollution, of algae blooms and of dynamic processes are shown by means of selected examples. Multispectral scanner and imaging spectrometer technologies are discussed with special reference to NASA's Earth Observation System and ESA's Earth Observation Programme.     

Creep in rock as a stochastic process

The heterogeneous character of rock suggests the use of statistical mechanics for the formulation of models of plasticity and creep. A stochastic creep model which allows for large variations in strength and size of the involved rock mass is outlined. The model, which is analogous to a previously developed concept for clastic materials, is shown to account rather well for typical creep behaviour of rock at moderate stresses and temperatures. Thus, it yields the often observed linear relation between the creep strain and the logarithm of time.     

Cyclotella-taxa (Bacillariophyceae) in lakes of the Alpine region and their relationship to environmental variables

Surface sediment diatom assemblages for 86 Alpine lakes were analysed focusing on the dominant genusCyclotella and corresponding environmental data. The range of morphological variability of theCyclotella bodanica/radiosa, C. distinguenda, C. ocellata, C. comensis andC. stelligera complexes was documented. Significance tests included in the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that total phosphorus, conductivity and surface water temperature were significantly correlated withCyclotella taxa assemblage distribution. Numerical species optima and tolerances were calculated in respect to these significant variables using weighted averaging (WA) regression and calibration. CCA and WA were able to provide information about the environmental preferences of the various morphotypes observed.     

Dual models of pore spaces

We present a model for pore spaces that consists of two parts related by duality: (1) a decomposition of an open polyhedral pore space into open contractible pore bodies separated by relatively open interfaces and (2) a pore network that is homotopy equivalent to the pore space. The dual model is unique and free of parameters, but it relies on regularity conditions for the pore space. We show how to approximate any pore space by the interior of a polyhedral complex such that the regularity conditions are fulfilled. Thus, we are able to calculate the dual model from synthetic porous media and images of real porous media. The pore bodies are unions of relatively open Delaunay cells with respect to the corners of the pore boundary, and the pore network consists of certain at most two-dimensional (2D) Voronoi cells with respect to the corners of the pore boundary. The pore network describes the neighborhood relations between the pore bodies. In particular, any relatively open 2D Delaunay face f separating two pore bodies has a unique (relatively open) dual network edge. In our model, f is a pore throat only if it is hit by its dual network edge. Thus, as opposed to widespread intuition, any pore throat is convex, and adjacent pore bodies are not necessarily separated by pore throats. Due to the duality between the pore network and the decomposition of the pore space into pore bodies it is straightforward to store the geometrical properties of the pore bodies [pore throats] as attributes of the dual network vertices [edges]. Such an attributed network is used to perform 2D drainage simulations. The results agree very well with those from a pore-morphology based modeling approach performed directly on the digital image of a porous medium. Contractibility of the pore bodies and homotopy equivalence of the pore space and the pore network is proven using discrete Morse theory and the nerve theorem from combinatorial topology.     

Phase relations of a serpentine composition between 5 and 14 GPa: significance of clinohumite and phase E as water carriers into the transition zone

Run products from high pressure experiments at 800-1,200 °C and 5-14 GPa (corresponding to depths of 150 to 420 km) on a serpentine bulk composition [close to Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄] were analysed by optical microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and electron microprobe. All charges exhibit strong chemical zoning. Fluid, melt and hydrous solids were mostly concentrated at the top, bottom and along the wall of the capsules. The central part of the charge was devoid of H₂O. Both fluid and hydrous magnesian phases exhibit a Mg/Si ratio higher than forsterite. In contrast, the centre of the capsule was enriched in SiO₂. The observed zoning can neither be explained by gravitational settling nor by a thermal gradient alone. Most likely the fluid was separated from the solids by surface forces and thereby established the chemical gradient by preferentially dissolving MgO. If strong chemical zoning is taken into account, the occurrence of more phases than allowed by the phase rule can be explained by separating the bulk into several domains of different bulk compositions. Results indicate that small amounts of F increase the stability field of clinohumite, Mg₉Si₄O₁₆(OH,F)₂, compared to OH-clinohumite in pure MSH previously reported. Clinohumite coexists with enstatite up to 975 °C at 5 GPa, and up to 1,100 °C at 12 GPa. At 14 GPa (close to the !/#-Mg₂SiO₄ transition) phase E becomes the most important water carrier. The new results indicate that clinohumite could be an important mantle mineral for transporting water into the Earth's transition zone due to its high thermal stability compared to other important water carriers such as serpentine and phase A.