Spatial gradients in plant leaf wax D/H across a coastal salt marsh in southern California

Coastal salt marsh ecosystems contain strong environmental gradients that are anticipated to influence the D/H ratios recorded in the leaf waxes of salt-tolerant plants. We characterized the molecular and hydrogen isotopic composition of alkanes in plant and sediment samples as well as the D/H ratios of environmental and plant waters across an elevation and inundation gradient in a southern Californian, coastal salt marsh. We sampled the dominant salt marsh plant species: Salicornia virginica, Arthrocnemum subterminale and Jamuea carnosa (all succulents), as well as Monanthochloe littoralis and Limonium californicum (nonsucculents). Plant xylem water hydrogen isotopic compositions indicate a shift in source waters from meteoric influences at upland sites (δD value −20‰) to seawater dominated values (0‰) at lowland areas. We found leaf water D enrichment relative to xylem water ranging from mean δD values of +54‰ (upland) to +28‰ (lowland), interpreted as a reduction of transpiration with increasing inundation time. This has the effect of increasing the net fractionation between source water and leaf wax product across the environmental gradient from mean values of −101‰ (upland) to −134‰ (lowland), with an attenuated signal recorded in the δD values of plant leaf wax n-alkanes (−122‰ to −136‰). These results constrain the hydrogen isotopic composition of salt marsh organic matter that may contribute to marine carbon budgets of the Santa Barbara Basin, and further indicate the potential for plant leaf waxes to resolve paleoenvironmental change, including sea level change, in sediment cores from salt marsh ecosystems.     

Reactive transport modeling of the role of fluorine-rich groundwater in the formation of fluorite ore deposits in the Illinois-Kentucky district,USA

Hydrogeology Journal - The Illinois-Kentucky ore district hosts the largest deposits of fluorite in the USA. A long-standing hypothesis for the formation of the Illinois-Kentucky deposits is that...     

Redshift surveys

Recent results and current plans for redshift surveys were the subject of an RAS discussion meeting on 10 October 2003, organized by Ofer Lahav and Jon Loveday. Sarah Bridle and Alan Heavens report.     

Chlorinated cooling waters in the marine environment: Development of effluent guidelines

The effects of free chlorine and chloramine on stage I lobster larvae and juvenile killifish were investigated in continuous flow bioassay units. In comparing mortality and changes in standard respiration rates during and after exposure to either chlorine form, significant respiratory stress was observed with exposure to sublethal levels. Sublethal responses to free and combined chlorine should be considered when establishing regulations for chlorine residuals in cooling waters.     

BVOC emissions from mechanical wounding of leaves and branches of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eucalyptus sideroxylon</Emphasis> (red ironbark)

Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) from mechanical wounding of leaves and branches of plants can contribute to the atmospheric burden of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in both (a) urban airsheds (from urban garden maintenance) and (b) the global atmosphere (from large scale forest harvesting). These emissions of BVOCs are poorly understood and quantified, and their role in urban and global emissions inventories neglected. This paper presents measurements of the magnitude, duration and composition of emissions of BVOCs, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) from freshly cut leaf mulch and wood chips derived from a common eucalypt tree, Eucalyptus sideroxylon (red ironbark), found in southeastern Australian forests and gardens. The emissions of BVOCs from freshly cut and shredded leaves and wood of E. sideroxylon were found to be 2.3 ± 0.6 and 0.05 ± 0.04 mg g^-1 DM (Dry Mass) from leaf mulch and wood chips respectively and to last typically for 1 day following cutting. Three sampling techniques were used for VOC speciation and the 12 most abundant BVOCs released from the mulch materials were identified. The specific BVOCs emitted in order of decreasing abundance from leaf mulch are: (a) stored plant oils, 1,8-cineole, α–pinene and o-cymene which make up the major part of the emissions, (b) a minor contribution from chemicals associated with environmental stress and wound defence, (Z)–3–hexenyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenal and (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, and (c) a second minor contribution from metabolic products, acetaldehyde and acetone. The observed integrated emissions of BVOCs from leaves following mulching are equivalent to more than half and perhaps all of the likely stored plant oils in the leaves. For the two comparable studies available, one of a plant with stored oils (this study) and one of a plant without stored plant oils, the emissions of leaf wound defence BVOCs are in the same range for both plants. In the plant with stored plant oils, the plant oil emissions are about a factor of 11 larger in emission rate than the plant wound defence BVOCs. A compilation of available leaf wounding BVOC emission studies indicates that for plants with stored plant oils, plant oil emissions dominate, whereas with other plants, leaf wound defence BVOCs dominate the emissions.     

Long-Term Variability of Volume and Heat Transport in the Nordic Seas: A Model Study

This article presents results from a model study of interannual and decadal variability in the Nordic Seas. Fifty years of simulations were conducted in an initial condition ensemble mode forced with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis. We studied two major events in the interannual and interdecadal variability of the Nordic Seas during the past fifty years: the Great Salinity Anomaly in the 1960s and early 1970s and the warming of the Arctic and subarctic oceans in the late 1990s.

Previous studies demonstrated that the Great Salinity Anomaly observed in the subarctic ocean in 1960 was originally generated by intensified sea-ice and freshwater inflow from the Arctic Ocean. Our model results demonstrate that the increase in the transport of fresh and cold waters through Fram Strait in the 1960s was concurrent with a reduction in the meridional water exchange over the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. The resulting imbalance in salinity and heat fluxes through the strait and over the ridge also contributed to the freshening of the water masses of the Nordic Seas and intensified the Great Salinity Anomaly in the Nordic Seas.

The warming of the Atlantic Waters in the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean during the past two decades had an important impact on the variability of these two ocean basins. Some previous observational and model studies demonstrated that the warming of the subpolar Atlantic Ocean in the late 1990s and the meridional transport of the Atlantic Water mass (AW) into the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean contributed to this process. At the same time, observations show that the warming of the AW in the Nordic Seas started in the 1980s (i.e., earlier than the warming of the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean). Our model results suggest that this process was triggered by an imbalance in the lateral heat fluxes through Fram Strait and over the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. In the late 1980s the AW transport over the Greenland–Scotland Ridge was stronger than normal while the exchange through Fram Strait was close to normal. The related imbalance in the lateral heat fluxes through the strait and over the ridge warmed the Nordic Seas and caused an increase in the temperature of the AW inflow to the Arctic Ocean in the late 1980s (i.e., about a decade earlier than the warming of the source of the AW in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean). Thus the model results suggest that the imbalance in lateral heat and salinity fluxes through the strait and over the ridge connecting the Nordic Seas to the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans could amplify the interannual variability in the subarctic ocean.

[Traduit par la rédaction] Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude par modèle de la variabilité interannuelle et décennale dans les mers nordiques. Nous avons effectué des simulations sur une période de cinquante ans en mode d'ensemble de conditions initiales forcé avec les réanalyses des NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction). Nous avons étudié deux événements majeurs survenus dans la variabilité interannuelle et décennale des mers nordiques au cours des cinquante dernières années : la grande anomalie de salinité des années 1960 et du début des années 1970 et le réchauffement des océans Arctique et subarctique vers la fin des années 1990.

Des études précédentes ont démontrées que la grande anomalie de salinité observée dans l'océan subarctique en 1960 a été causée par une intensification de l'apport de glace de mer et d'eau douce depuis l'océan Arctique. Les résultats que nous avons obtenus du modèle montrent que l'accroissement du transport d'eau douce et froide à travers le détroit de Fram dans les années 1960 s'est produit en même temps qu'une réduction dans l’échange méridien d'eau au-dessus de la crête Groenland–Écosse. Le déséquilibre résultant dans les flux de salinité et de chaleur à travers le détroit et au-dessus de la crête a aussi contribué à l'adoucissement des masses d'eau des mers nordiques et a intensifié la grande anomalie de salinité dans les mers nordiques.

Le réchauffement des eaux atlantiques dans les mers nordiques et dans l'océan Arctique au cours des deux dernières décennies a eu un impact important sur la variabilité de ces deux bassins océaniques. Des études observationnelles et par modèle précédentes ont établi que le réchauffement de l'océan Atlantique subpolaire dans les années 1990 et le transport méridien de la masse d'eau atlantique dans les mers nordiques et dans l'océan Arctique ont contribué à ce processus. En même temps, les observations montrent que le réchauffement des eaux atlantiques dans les mers nordiques a commencé dans les années 1980 (c.–à–d. plus tôt que le réchauffement de l'océan Nord-Atlantique subpolaire). Les résultats du modèle suggèrent que ce processus a été déclenché par un déséquilibre dans les flux de chaleur latéraux à travers le détroit de Fram et au-dessus de la crête Groenland–Écosse. À la fin des années 1980, le transport des eaux atlantiques au-dessus de la crête Groenland–Écosse était plus fort que la normale alors que l’échange à travers le détroit de Fram était près de la normale. Le déséquilibre résultant dans les flux de chaleur latéraux à travers le détroit et au-dessus de la crête a réchauffé les mers nordiques et causé une augmentation de la température des eaux atlantiques parvenant à l'océan Arctique à la fin des années 1980 (c.-à-d. environ une décennie avant le réchauffement de la source d'eaux atlantiques dans l'océan Nord-Atlantique subpolaire). Donc, les résultats du modèle suggèrent que le déséquilibre dans les flux de chaleur et de salinité latéraux à travers le détroit et au-dessus de la crête reliant les mers nordiques à l'Atlantique Nord et à l'Arctique pourrait amplifier la variabilité interannuelle dans l'océan subarctique.     

Climate change, adaptation and economic growth

This paper explores the links between economic growth and the impacts of climate change. Inclusive, pro-poor growth is central to the development of low-income countries. There is also a broad consensus that growth and development are important to reduce vulnerability to climate change. Growth does not automatically reduce vulnerability, only the right kind of growth does. The paper aims to develop a better understanding of what the ??right kind of growth?? may be. We find that many growth policies, such as investment in skills and access to finance, indeed reduce vulnerability to climate change. However, climate change calls for some adjustments in growth policy. In particular, investment in infrastructure and efforts to stimulate entrepreneurship and competitive markets must take more of a risk management perspective and recognise climate risks.     

Estimating impacts of warming temperatures on California's electricity system

Despite a clear need, little research has been carried out at the regional-level to quantify potential climate-related impacts to electricity production and delivery systems. This paper introduces a bottom-up study of climate change impacts on California's energy infrastructure, including high temperature effects on power plant capacity, transmission lines, substation capacity, and peak electricity demand. End-of-century impacts were projected using the A2 and B1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emission scenarios. The study quantifies the effect of high ambient temperatures on electricity generation, the capacity of substations and transmission lines, and the demand for peak power for a set of climate scenarios. Based on these scenarios, atmospheric warming and associated peak demand increases would necessitate up to 38% of additional peak generation capacity and up to 31% additional transmission capacity, assuming current infrastructure. These findings, although based on a limited number of scenarios, suggest that additional funding could be put to good use by supporting R&D into next generation cooling equipment technologies, diversifying the power generation mix without compromising the system's operational flexibility, and designing effective demand side management programs.     

DISOLV: A Python Package for the Interpretation of Borehole Dilution Tests

Single borehole dilution tests (SBDTs) are an inexpensive but effective technique for hydrogeological characterization of hard-rock aquifers. We present a freely available, easy-to-use, open-source Python package, DISOLV, for plotting, analyzing, and modeling SBDT data. DISOLV can significantly reduce the time spent interpreting field data by helping to identify flowing fractures intersecting the borehole and estimate the corresponding flow rates. DISOLV is successfully benchmarked against two analytical solutions. We also present an example application to real data collected in a borehole in a crystalline basement aquifer in southern India.     

Tropical precipitation, SSTs and the surface energy budget: a zonally symmetric perspective

The relative importance of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the surface energy budget to tropical precipitation is examined by comparing models with zonally symmetric climates, both fixed SST and coupled to a slab mixed layer ocean. Two models are considered with differing surface flux formulations and in each case solutions that are symmetric about the equator are perturbed to create interhemispheric asymmetry. When SSTs are prescribed in the two models with different flux formulations, the magnitude of tropical precipitation response to identical SST anomalies is significantly different, but the differences can be understood in terms of the altered surface fluxes. In contrast, when the net surface energy fluxes are constrained to be identical in mixed layer simulations of the two different models, the response of tropical precipitation to perturbations in the surface energy balance is very similar. Both perspectives predict qualitatively the same precipitation response, but the energy budget better predicts the magnitude of the precipitation response. Thus, we argue that the atmospheric energy budget, controlled in these experiments primarily by the surface energy budget, is more fundamental to the control of tropical precipitation than the SSTs, in these simulations with axisymmetric climates. We touch briefly on a complication in the interpretation of the model results due to the fact that fixed SST and slab-ocean versions of the model can produce different Hadley cell strengths for the same SSTs.