Application of the grid square technique to mapping of evapotranspiration

A grid-based technique for mapping potential evapotranspiration is described. An attempt is made to extrapolate the constituent parameters of Penman's equation (1962) over a grid, so that the equation can be evaluated for every grid square. Data for a part of Southwest England are used to demonstrate the technique. Aspect and slope, which determine evaporation to a considerable degree, have been included using a formula derived by Okanoue.     

Speciation and role of iron in cloud droplets at the puy de Dôme station

Iron is the most abundant transition metal in the atmosphere and can play a significant role in cloudwater chemistry where its reactivity is closely related to the partitioning between Fe(II) and Fe(III). The objective of this work is to determine the total iron content and the iron speciation in a free tropospheric site, and to understand which factors influence these parameters. We collected 147 samples of cloudwater during 34 cloud events over a period of four years at the puy de Dôme summit. Besides iron we measured other chemical compounds, solar radiation, physico-chemical and meteorological parameters potentially connected with iron reactivity. The total iron concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 9.1 μM with the major frequency occurring at low levels. The pH and presence of organic complexants seem to be the most significant factors connected with total dissolved iron; while the iron oxidation state seems to be an independent factor. Light intensity, presence of complexants or oxidants (H₂O₂) do not influence the Fe(II)/Fe(Total) ratio, that was quite constant at about 0.75. This could be due to the potential redox that forces the Fe(II)-Fe(III) couple to the reduced form or, more probably to the complexation by Natural Organic Matter, that can stabilize iron in its reduced form and prevent further oxidation. Our field measurements did not show the diurnal cycle observed in surface water and predicted by models of atmospheric chemistry. This result prompts a more careful review of the role of iron and, by analogy, all the transition metals in atmospheric liquid phase, often over-estimated in the literature.     

Absolute dating by uranium series disequilibrium of bones from the cave of La Chaise-de-Vouthon (Charente), France

Animal bones, associated with Palaeolithic artefacts and skeletal remains of early hominids from the cave of La Chaise-de-Vouthon, have been dated using a new approach to uranium series dating of bone. Speleothem (cave calcite) interstratified with bone-bearing sediments in the two chambers of Grotte Bourgeois-Delaunay and Grotte Suard have previously been dated by the ²³⁰Th/²³⁴ U method. This provides a chronological control for the bone ages, for which the method is still at an experimental stage. A good agreement is shown in most cases between the calcite and the bone ages, showing the cave to have been a stable environment for the deposition of bone and the acquisition of uranium.     

Origin and significance of 13-hydroxychlorophyll derivatives in sediments

The authenticity of hydroxychlorophyll derivatives in sediments has been verified by subjecting pure chlorophyll preparations to the extraction method used for sediments. Model studies of chlorophyll autoxidation reveal hydroxychlorophyll as the major product formed in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Its stability to further oxidation implies that hydroxychlorophyll derivatives are not precursors of aetioporphyrins and are more likely to produce cycloalkanoporphyrins via the processes of diagenesis. The occurrence of 13²-hydroxyphaeophytin a throughout a sediment core from Loch Ness confirms it to be a widespread chlorophyll oxidation product formed during early diagenesis. Profiles of hydroxychlorophyll derivatives in a sediment core from an Antarctic lake demonstrate their potential for use as markers of oxidation processes in palaeoenvironmental assessment.     

Biomorphodynamics of alternate bars in a channelized,regulated river: An integrated historical and modelling analysis

The development of alternate bars in channelized rivers can be explained theoretically as an instability of the riverbed when the active channel width to depth ratio exceeds a threshold. However, the development of a vegetation cover on the alternate bars of some channelized rivers and its interactions with bar morphology have not been investigated in detail. Our study focused on the co‐evolution of alternate bars and vegetation along a 33 km reach of the Isère River, France. We analysed historical information to investigate the development of alternate bars and their colonization by vegetation within a straightened, embanked river subject to flow regulation, sediment mining, and vegetation management. Over an 80 year period, bar density decreased, bar length increased, and bar mobility slowed. Vegetation encroachment across bar surfaces accompanied these temporal changes and, once established, vegetation cover persisted, shifting the overall system from an unvegetated to a vegetated dynamic equilibrium state. The unvegetated morphodynamics of the impressively regular sequence of alternate bars that developed in the Isère following channelization is consistent with previous theoretical morphodynamic work. However, the apparent triggering dynamics of vegetation colonization needs to be investigated, based on complex biophysical instability processes. If instability related to vegetation colonization is confirmed, further work needs to focus on the relevance of initial conditions for this instability, and on related feedback effects such as how the morphodynamics of bare‐sediment alternate bars may have affected vegetation development and, in turn, how vegetation has created a new dynamic equilibrium state. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bulk organic δC and C/N as indicators for sediment sources in the Pearl River delta and estuary,southern China

Preservation of organic matter in estuarine and coastal areas is an important process in the global carbon cycle. This paper presents bulk δ¹³C and C/N of organic matter from source to sink in the Pearl River catchment, delta and estuary, and discusses the applicability of δ¹³C and C/N as indicators for sources of organic matter in deltaic and estuarine sediments. In addition to the 91 surface sediment samples, other materials collected in this study cover the main sources of organic material to estuarine sediment. These are: terrestrial organic matter (TOM), including plants and soil samples from the catchment; estuarine and marine suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) from both summer and winter. Results show that the average δ¹³C of estuarine surface sediment increases from −25.0 ± 1.3‰ in the freshwater environment to −21.0 ± 0.2‰ in the marine environment, with C/N decreasing from 15.2 ± 3.3 to 6.8 ± 0.2. In the source areas, C₃ plants have lower δ¹³C than C₄ plants (−29.0 ± 1.8‰ and −13.1 ± 0.5‰ respectively). δ¹³C increases from −28.3 ± 0.8‰ in the forest soil to around −24.1‰ in both riverbank soil and mangrove soil due to increasing proportion of C₄ grasses. The δ¹³C_POC increases from −27.6 ± 0.8‰ in the freshwater areas to −22.4 ± 0.5‰ in the marine-brackish-water areas in winter, and ranges between −24.0‰ in freshwater areas and −25.4‰ in brackish-water areas in summer. Comparison of the δ¹³C and C/N between the sources and sink indicates a weakening TOM and freshwater POC input in the surface sedimentary organic matter seawards, and a strengthening contribution from the marine organic matter. Thus we suggest that bulk organic δ¹³C and C/N analysis can be used to indicate sources of sedimentary organic matter in estuarine environments. Organic carbon in surface sediments derived from anthropogenic sources such as human waste and organic pollutants from industrial and agricultural activities accounts for less than 10% of the total organic carbon (TOC). Although results also indicate elevated δ¹³C of sedimentary organic matter due to some agricultural products such as sugarcane, C₃ plants are still the dominant vegetation type in this area, and the bulk organic δ¹³C and C/N is still an effective indicator for sources of organic matter in estuarine sediments.     

The dual isotopes of deep nitrate as a constraint on the cycle and budget of oceanic fixed nitrogen

We compare the output of an 18-box geochemical model of the ocean with measurements to investigate the controls on both the mean values and variation of nitrate δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O in the ocean interior. The δ¹⁸O of nitrate is our focus because it has been explored less in previous work. Denitrification raises the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of mean ocean nitrate by equal amounts above their input values for N₂ fixation (for δ¹⁵N) and nitrification (for δ¹⁸O), generating parallel gradients in the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of deep ocean nitrate. Partial nitrate assimilation in the photic zone also causes equivalent increases in the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of the residual nitrate that can be transported into the interior. However, the regeneration and nitrification of sinking N can be said to decouple the N and O isotopes of deep ocean nitrate, especially when the sinking N is produced in a low latitude region, where nitrate consumption is effectively complete. The δ¹⁵N of the regenerated nitrate is equivalent to that originally consumed, whereas the regeneration replaces nitrate previously elevated in δ¹⁸O due to denitrification or nitrate assimilation with nitrate having the δ¹⁸O of nitrification. This lowers the δ¹⁸O of mean ocean nitrate and weakens nitrate δ¹⁸O gradients in the interior relative to those in δ¹⁵N. This decoupling is characterized and quantified in the box model, and agreement with data shows its clear importance in the real ocean. At the same time, the model appears to generate overly strong gradients in both δ¹⁸O and δ¹⁵N within the ocean interior and a mean ocean nitrate δ¹⁸O that is higher than measured. This may be due to, in the model, too strong an impact of partial nitrate assimilation in the Southern Ocean on the δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of preformed nitrate and/or too little cycling of intermediate-depth nitrate through the low latitude photic zone.     

Improving the Abel transform inversion using bending angles from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC

The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellite constellation has become an important tool toward providing global remote sensing data for sounding of the atmosphere of the earth and the ionosphere in particular. In this study, the electron density profiles are derived using the Abel transform inversion. Some drawbacks of this transform in LEO GPS sounding can be overcome by considering the separability concept: horizontal gradients of vertical total electron content (VTEC) information are incorporated by the inversion method, providing more accurate electron density determinations. The novelty presented in this paper with respect to previous works is the use of the phase change between the GPS transmitter and the LEO receiver as the main observable instead of the ionospheric combination of carrier phase observables for the implementation of separability in the inversion process. Some of the characteristics of the method when applied to the excess phase are discussed. The results obtained show the equivalence of both approaches but the method exposed in this work has the potentiality to be applied to the neutral atmosphere. Recent FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC data have been processed with both the classical Abel inversion and the separability approach and evaluated versus colocated ionosonde data.