Use of biomarkers indices in a sediment core to evaluate potential pollution sources in a subtropical reservoir in Brazil

The presence of PAHs, n-alkanes, pristane, and phytanes in core sediment from the Vossoroca reservoir (Parana, southern Brazil) was investigated. The total concentration of the 16 PAHs varied from 15.5 to 1646 μg kg⁻¹. Naphthalene was present in all layers (3.34–74.0 μg kg⁻¹). The most abundant and dominant n-alkanes were n-C₁₅ and n-C₃₆, with average concentrations of 198.1 ± 46.8 and 522.9 ± 167.7 μg kg⁻¹, respectively. Lighter n-alkanes were distributed more evenly through the layers and showed less variation, specially n-C₉, n-C₁₂, and n-C₁₈, with average concentrations of 14.6 ± 3.0, 31.6 ± 1.9, and 95.0 ± 5.2 μg kg⁻¹, respectively; heavier n-alkanes were more unevenly distributed.     

Inferring the Location of Twitter Messages Based on User Relationships

User interaction in social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, is increasingly becoming a source of useful information on daily events. The online monitoring of short messages posted in such networks often provides insight on the repercussions of events of several different natures, such as (in the recent past) the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the royal wedding in Britain and the death of Osama bin Laden. Studying the origins and the propagation of messages regarding such topics helps social scientists in their quest for improving the current understanding of human relationships and interactions. However, the actual location associated to a tweet or to a Facebook message can be rather uncertain. Some tweets are posted with an automatically determined location (from an IP address), or with a user‐informed location, both in text form, usually the name of a city. We observe that most Twitter users opt not to publish their location, and many do so in a cryptic way, mentioning non‐existing places or providing less specific place names (such as “Brazil”). In this article, we focus on the problem of enriching the location of tweets using alternative data, particularly the social relationships between Twitter users. Our strategy involves recursively expanding the network of locatable users using following‐follower relationships. Verification is achieved using cross‐validation techniques, in which the location of a fraction of the users with known locations is used to determine the location of the others, thus allowing us to compare the actual location to the inferred one and verify the quality of the estimation. With an estimate of the precision of the method, it can then be applied to locationless tweets. Our intention is to infer the location of as many users as possible, in order to increase the number of tweets that can be used in spatial analyses of social phenomena. The article demonstrates the feasibility of our approach using a dataset comprising tweets that mention keywords related to dengue fever, increasing by 45% the number of locatable tweets.     

Stable (C,O) and radiogenic (Sr,Nd) isotopes of carbonates as indicators of magmatic and post-magmatic processes of phoscorite-series rocks and carbonatites from Catalão I,central Brazil

The Late-Cretaceous Catalão I contains stockworks of thin dykes of phoscorite-series rocks, which can be subdivided into P1 (olivine-bearing, phoscorites) and P2/P3 (olivine-lacking, nelsonites). Dolomite carbonatites (DC) are intimately associated with nelsonites, as pockets and dykes. The P2 apatite nelsonite, the P3 magnetite nelsonite, and, to a lesser extent DC, host the Catalão I niobium mineralization. C–O isotopes signatures in carbonates reveal several distinct magmatic and post-magmatic processes. Limpid carbonates with stable isotopic mantle-like composition show Rayleigh fractionation and are interpreted as primary, while those with brittle-turbid aspect, and higher oxygen isotope composition, probably underwent recrystallization by interaction with H₂O-rich fluids. A group of samples shows higher oxygen compositions and lower carbon values, which could be explained by degassing of carbonatite magma during cooling. A degassing pattern, parallel to magmatic degassing but at higher oxygen and lower carbon compositions, observed in carbonate veins, may indicate degassing of fracture filling fluids. Furthermore, C–O isotopes of carbonate from monazite-bearing carbonatite have a positive correlation, indicating a distinct, late-stage carbo-hydrothermal event. Though the Catalão I nelsonites and phoscorites are of igneous origin, they underwent several post-magmatic events, which sometimes overprinted partially or entirely the magmatic isotope signature.     

Spring drought prediction based on winter NAO and global SST in Portugal

The aim of this paper is to test the ability of neural network approaches to hindcast the spring standardized precipitation index on a 6‐month time scale (SPI6) in Portugal, based on winter large‐scale climatic indices. For this purpose, the linkage of the spring SPI time series with the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the sea surface temperature (SST) was investigated by means of maps of the correlation coefficient for the period from October 1910 to September 2004. The results indicate that the winter NAO is a good predictor for the SPI6 of the spring (SPI6 finishing in April, May and June, SPI6_April, SPI6_May and SPI6_June, respectively) for the northern, central and southern regions of Portugal. The winter SST1 (area of the Mediterranean Sea) must only be considered for the northern region, and the winter SST3 (area of the North Atlantic between Iberia and North America) only for the southern region. Spatial maps of predictive SPI6 for April, May and June were created and validated. The neural models explained more than 81% of the total variance for the SPI6_April and SPI6_May and more than 64% of the total variance for the SPI6_June. Probability maps were also developed considering the values predicted by the neural methods for the spring months and all drought categories (moderate, severe and extreme). These maps indicating the probability of droughts can provide valuable support for the integrated planning and management of water resources throughout Portugal. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and Temporal Scales of Coronal Magnetic Restructuring in the Development of Coronal Mass Ejections

It has been commonly accepted that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) result from the restructuring or reconfiguring of large-scale coronal magnetic fields. In this paper, we analyzed four CME events using Nançay Radioheliograph (NRH) images and the experiments onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft to understand the coronal restructuring leading to CME initiation. We investigated the onset, duration, and position of the radio emissions in relation to EUV dimming and the inferred CME onset. It has been identified that the early CME development on the solar disk is characterized by a series of distinct radio bursts. These nonthermal radio sources appeared in phase with coronal dimming shown by SOHO-EIT images and are located within the EUV dimming or ongoing dimming regions. Three time scales are identified: the duration, the separation of individual radio bursts, and the overall time scale of all of the nonthermal sources. They fall in the ranges of approximately tens of seconds to three minutes, one to three minutes, and 15 – 20 minutes, respectively. The individual radio emission seems to shift and expand at the speed of the fast magnetoacoustic waves in the corona; while the nonthermal radio emissions as a whole appear episodically to correspond to the successive coronal restructuring. If we define the triggering speed by dividing the overall spatial scale by the temporal scale of all the radio bursts, then the triggering speed falls in the range of 300 – 400 km s^?1. This implies that the general process of coronal restructuring and reconfiguring takes place at a speed slower than either the Alvfenic or acoustic speed in the corona. This is a type of speed of “topology waves,” i.e., the speed of successive topology changes from closed to open field configuration.     

Climate variability and planktonic communities: The effect of an extreme event (severe drought) in a southern European estuary

As a consequence of climate change, flood and drought events are increasing in frequency throughout the world. Nevertheless, knowledge of the effects on zooplankton estuarine communities is still scarce. The present study aimed to examine zooplankton ecology over two contrasting environmental conditions: regular years and extreme dry years, in a shallow temperate southern European estuary, the Mondego Estuary (Portugal). Monthly samples were carried out during three consecutive years: 2003 characterized as a regular temperate year concerning precipitation and river flow, and an extremely dry period during 2004–2005. The spatial and temporal structure of the biological data was evaluated by a three-mode principal component analysis (PCA), which allowed us to distinguish three distinct ecological areas based on their biological composition and their relationship with hydrologic parameters. The severe drought in 2004–2005 was responsible for spatial shifts in the estuary regarding zooplankton community and interannual variability, with an increase in abundance and diversity during the period of low freshwater flow. This freshwater flow regime influenced the composition of the zooplankton community at the most upstream section of Mondego estuary (zone 3), with a replacement of the freshwater community by one predominantly dominated by estuarine organisms. The occurrence of such estuarine community contributed to the increase in zooplankton abundance which is ascribed to the estuarine species Acartia tonsa. The comparison with previous data obtained for this estuarine ecosystem, demonstrated the occurrence of a different scenario at times of high freshwater flow, being defined the existence of two sub-estuarine systems, the north and south arm, presenting the south one the highest values of abundance.     

Regional wind fields and dunefield migration,southern Brazil

This paper examines a seemingly anomalous situation in southern Brazil where the dunefields on Santa Catarina Island (e.g. Joaquina Beach) migrate to the NNW, almost completely the opposite direction (c. 160) to the dunefields immediately to the south (e.g. Pinheira Beach), and some much further to the north (e.g. Cabo Frio) which migrate to the SSW. A variety of mechanisms are examined to explain the differences in dunefield migration including grain size variations, topographic effects on local winds, shoreline orientation, and regional wind field changes. The mean grain sizes of the two beaches, Pinheira and Joaquina, are not sufficiently different to restrict aeolian sediment transport in either place, nor to account for a lack of transport from the NNE to the SSW in the case of Joaquina. Some topographic steering of the wind is likely but could not account for the long‐term average difference in migration trends of the island dunefields compared to the mainland dunefields. While the orientation of the shoreline to prevailing winds is an important control on beach and dune sediment transport, it is not the dominant controlling mechanism. An analysis of the regional wind patterns demonstrates that there is a major shift in the regional wind field near the island such that the dominant island winds blow from the SW/SSW while those further south blow from the NE. It is concluded that this is the predominant reason for the divergence in the direction of migration of the dunefields. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model sensitivity experiments on data assimilation,downscaling and tides for the representation of the Cape São Tomé Eddies

Ocean Dynamics - The impacts of data assimilation, downscaling, and tidal forcing were investigated with focus on the representation of the Cape São Tomé Eddy (CSTE). Sea level anomaly...