Chemical and physical characterization of suspended particles and colloids in waters from the Osamu Utsumi mine and Morro do Ferro analogue study sites, Poços de Caldas, Brazil

Data are presented on suspended particles and colloids in groundwaters from the Osamu Utsumi mine and the Morro do Ferro analogue study sites. Cross-flow ultrafiltration with membranes of different pore sizes (450 nm to 1.5 nm) was used to prepare colloid concentrates and ultrafiltrates for analyses of major and trace elements and U- and Th-isotopic compositions. Additional characterization of colloidal and particulate material was performed by ESCA, SEM and X-ray diffraction. The results indicate the presence of low concentrations of colloids in these waters (typically < 500 μg/l), composed mainly of iron/organic species. Minor portions of uranium and other trace elements, but significant fractions of the total concentrations of Th and REE in prefiltered waters (< 450 nm) were associated with these colloids.Suspended particles (> 450 nm), also composed mainly of hydrous ferric oxides and humic-like compounds, show the same trend as the colloids with respect to U, Th and REE associations, but elemental concentrations were typically higher by a factor of 1,000 or more. In waters of low pH and with high sulphate content, these associations are considerably lower. Due to the low concentrations of suspended particles in groundwaters from the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine (typically <0.5 mg/l), these particles carry only a minor fraction of U and the REE (<10% of the total concentrations in unfiltered groundwaters), but a significant, usually predominant fraction of Th (30–70%). The suspended particle load in groundwaters from the Morro do Ferro environment is typically higher than in those from the mine by a factor of 5 to 10. This suggests that U, Th and the REE could be transported predominantly by particulate matter. However, these particles and colloids seem to have a low capacity for migration.     

Nutrient dynamics in an alpine headwater stream: use of continuous water quality sensors to examine responses to wildfire and precipitation events

Stream water quality can change substantively during diurnal cycles, discrete flow events, and seasonal time scales. In this study, we assessed event responses in surface water nutrient concentrations and biogeochemical parameters through the deployment of continuous water quality sensors from March to October 2011 in the East Fork Jemez River, located in northern New Mexico, USA. Events included two pre‐fire non‐monsoonal precipitation events in April, four post‐fire precipitation events in August and September (associated with monsoonal thunderstorms), and two post‐fire non‐monsoonal precipitation events in October. The six post‐fire events occurred after the Las Conchas wildfire burned a significant portion of the contributing watershed (36%) beginning in June 2011. Surface water nitrate (NO₃? N) concentrations increased by an average of 50% after pre‐fire and post‐fire non‐monsoonal precipitation events and were associated with small increases in turbidity (up to 15 NTU). Beginning 1 month after the start of the large regional wildfire, monsoonal precipitation events resulted in large multi‐day increases in dissolved NO₃? N (6 × background levels), dissolved phosphate (100 × background levels), specific conductance (5 × background levels), and turbidity (>100 × background levels). These periods also corresponded with substantial sags in dissolved oxygen (<4 mg l^?1) and pH (<6.5). The short duration and rapid rates of change during many of these flow events, particularly following wildfire, highlight the importance of continuous water quality monitoring to quantify the timing and magnitude of event responses in streams and to examine large water quality excursions linked to catchment disturbance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nutrients and Abiotic Stress Interact to Control Ergot Plant Disease in a SW Atlantic Salt Marsh

Over the last decades, human activities have strongly affected ecosystems, with pervasive increases in nutrient loadings, abiotic stress, and altered herbivore pressure. The evaluation of how those environmental factors interact to influence plant–pathogen interactions under natural conditions becomes essential to fully understand the ecology of diseases and anticipate the possible effects of global change on natural and agricultural systems. In a SW Atlantic salt marsh, we performed a field factorial experiment to evaluate the effect of herbivory, salinity, and nutrient availability, three main limiting factors for salt marsh plant growth, on the infection of the fungus Claviceps purpurea (ergot) upon the cordgrass Spartina densiflora. Results show that herbivory has no effect but both nutrients and salinity increase fungal infection. The combined effect of salinity and nutrients is not additive but interactive. Salinity stress increases infection at ambient nutrient levels but in combination with fertilizer it buffers the higher infection produced by increased nutrient availability. Since both, nitrogen availability and salinity are factors predicted to globally increase due to human impact on ecosystems, this interaction between environmental factors and ergot infection can have strong effects on natural and productive agricultural systems.     

The potential for the use of Open Source Software and Open Specifications in creating Web‐based cross‐border health spatial information systems

Globalization is contributing to the blurring of borders making irrelevant the distinctions between domestic and international health problems. Cross‐border and global health spatial information systems (CBHSIS) are required to address the new global health challenges. There is a need to build and document alternatives for addressing the technological, economic, and sociocultural–political challenges encountered in the creation and deployment of these systems. This paper documents the building of a prototype Web‐based multimedia GIS system for use in a public health context using Open Source Software and Open Specifications and its deployment across the US–Mexico border. These technologies offer advantages in addressing several of the challenges previously mentioned. We highlight the technological and sociocultural–political issues important in successful collaboration across borders and cultures and in the creation of interoperable CBHSIS.     

Single hydrophone source localization

The method presented in this paper assumes that the received signal is a linear combination of delayed and attenuated uncorrelated replicas of the source emitted waveform. The set of delays and attenuations, together with the channel environmental conditions, provide sufficient information for determining the source location. If the transmission channel is assumed known, the source location can be estimated by matching the data with the acoustic field predicted by the model conditioned on the estimated delay set. This paper presents alternative techniques that do not directly attempt to estimate time delays from the data but, instead, estimate the subspace spanned by the delayed source signal paths. Source Localization is then done using a family of measures of the distance between that subspace and the subspace spanned by the replicas provided by the model. Results obtained on the INTIMATE'96 data set, in a shallow-water acoustic channel off the coast of Portugal, show that a sound source emitting a 300-800-Hz LFM sweep could effectively be localized in range or depth over an entire day     

Multi-model climate projections of the main cyclogenesis hot-spots and associated winds over the eastern coast of South America

Climate Dynamics - In this study, multi-model ensembles are used to understand regional features of future climate trends of cyclones and associated winds in eastern South America. For this, we...     

Improved atmospheric circulation over Europe by the new generation of CMIP6 earth system models

Global Climate Models (GCMs) generally exhibit significant biases in the representation of large-scale atmospheric circulation. Even after a sensible bias adjustment these errors remain and are inherited to some extent by the derived downscaling products, impairing the credibility of future regional projections. In this study we perform a process-based evaluation of state-of-the-art GCMs from CMIP5 and CMIP6, with a focus on the simulation of the synoptic climatological patterns having a most prominent effect on the European climate. To this aim, we use the Lamb Weather Type Classification (LWT, Lamb British isles weather types and a register of the daily sequence 736 of circulation patterns 1861-1971. METEOROL OFF, GEOPHYS MEM; 737 GB; DA 1972; NO 116; PP 1-85; BIBL 2P1/2, 1972), a subjective classification of circulation weather types constructed upon historical simulations of daily mean sea level pressure. Observational uncertainty has been taken into account by considering four different reanalysis products of varying characteristics. Our evaluation unveils an overall improvement of salient atmospheric circulation features consistent across observational references, although this is uneven across models and large frequency biases still remain for the main LWTs. Some CMIP6 models attain similar or even worse results than their CMIP5 counterparts, although in most cases consistent improvements have been found, demonstrating the ability of the new models to better capture key synoptic conditions. In light of the large differences found across models, we advocate for a careful selection of driving GCMs in downscaling experiments with a special focus on large-scale atmospheric circulation aspects.

     

Characterization of flow and transport dynamics in karst aquifers by analyzing tracer test results in conduits and recharge areas (the Egino Massif,Basque Country,Spain): environmental and management implications

Karst aquifers contribute to supplying drinking water to almost a quarter of the world´s population. Their complex dynamics requires specific approaches aimed at recognizing their singularities, analyzing its vulnerability, and ensuring water resources quality. In this paper, the results of processing and modeling five breakthrough tracer curves obtained under different hydrodynamic conditions in the main conduit of Egino karst aquifer (Basque Country, Spain) are analyzed together with those involving pressure injections of the tracer in the saturated zone of the karst massif recharge area. In the conduit, transport is immediate and highly efficient (recovery rates above 84% and dispersion coefficients from 15.04 to 84.35 m²/min); tracer retentions increase as flow rates decrease and no significant contributions to its surroundings are observed. In contrast, tracer transport from the massif recharge area is more complex: after injection at a pressure of 1 MPa, most tracer remains in the surrounding of the injection borehole, retained in a saturated medium of low effective fracture porosity (? _f ?=?1.02?×?10^?4, assuming a radial divergent flow model); subsequently, the main tracer mobilization to the spring was registered with the first rains, with 0.088 m/min mean velocity and high concentrations per unit mass being injected (C _p /M₀?=?0.03 mg/L/kg), which is evidence that the tracer reaches soon the karst conduit network. In any case, a decreasing tracer presence is registered at the injection zone during a hydrological cycle. In both cases, the observed non-linearity of transport processes should be considered in the development of vulnerability approaches, modeling efforts, and mapping. Furthermore, in the case of karst massif recharge areas, as the presence of pollutants may have a significant impact on the springs and persist over time, their management and protection needs must be revised in each specific site. Simultaneously, quality-monitoring programs at the springs must be adapted to the aquifers recognized dynamics.     

Field report: Sailing around the exhumed roots of the Mesozoic Patagonian paleo-accretionary wedge(Diego de Almagro Island,Chile)

We undertook a boat expedition to explore the geological framework of a very remote, lesser-known island, in the Chilean Patagonia: the Diego de Almagro Island(latitude S51°330'). This uninhabited, ca.400 km~2 Island is one of the very rare exposures of the Mesozoic accretionary subduction complex along the Chilean margin. Unstable weather, strong winds, steep topography, and very dense vegetation make an on-land mission difficult. Careful preparation based on high-resolution satellite images is advised to optimize shore access and minimize risks of injury. Despite a relatively important degree of regional reequilibration of metamorphic assemblages due to sluggish exhumation through the forearc crust, our results have shown that the island is composed of a nappe stack of ocean-floor derived slivers of metasedimentary units that exhibit very different pressure-temperature-time paths during burial by subduction under the Chilean margin and subsequent exhumation. These rocks are witness to a complex thermal evolution of the subduction zone between Jurassic and Cretaceous times from granulite facies to blueschist facies conditions as well as multiple episodes of accretion at ca. 35 -40 km in depth for almost100 Ma over the Mesozoic era.     

FedIDS: a federated cloud storage architecture and satellite image delivery service for building dependable geospatial platforms

Earth observation satellites produce large amounts of images/data that not only must be processed and preserved in reliable geospatial platforms but also efficiently disseminated among partners/researchers for creating derivative products through collaborative workflows. Organizations can face up this challenge in a cost-effective manner by using cloud services. However, outages and violations of integrity/confidentiality associated to this technology could arise. This article presents FedIDS, a suite of cloud-based components for building dependable geospatial platforms. The Fed component enables organizations to build shared geospatial data infrastructure through federation of independent cloud resources to withstand outages, whereas IDS avoids violations of integrity/confidentiality of images/data in sharing information and collaboration workflows. A FedIDS prototype, deployed in Spain and Mexico, was evaluated through a study case based on a satellite imagery captured by a Mexican antenna and another based on a satellite imagery of a European observation mission. The acquisition, storage and sharing of images among users of the federation, the exchange of images between Mexican and Spanish sites and outage scenarios were evaluated. The evaluation revealed the feasibility, reliability and efficiency of FedIDS, in comparison with available solutions, in terms of performance, storage consume and integrity/confidentiality when sharing images/data in collaborative scenarios.