Expected and observed conditions during the SAGE iron addition experiment in Subantarctic waters

The SAGE iron addition experiment was conducted from R.V. Tangaroa east of South Island, New Zealand, in late March-early April 2004. A desktop survey of climatological data was completed before the experiment, providing information to inform site selection and experiment design. The desktop survey is presented here in updated and enhanced form in order to explain the site selection and describe the conditions expected at the site during the experiment in comparison with those actually encountered.The experiment site was in Subantarctic waters between the Subtropical and Subantarctic Fronts. These waters are characterised by high surface macronutrient concentration, low iron concentration and low chlorophyll. The preferred site based on the desktop survey was in the vicinity of 173.5°E, 47.5°S, in Southern Bounty Trough. The actual release location was chosen immediately before the release and was 112 km to the northwest of this at 172°32′E, 46°44′S. The surface water here has typically come from the southwest (over the northern Campbell Plateau) or the southeast (through Pukaki Gap) and the mean current is directed towards ENE at ∼0.1 m s⁻¹. The release location is well removed from regions of high eddy kinetic energy to the east (where the Subantarctic Front reaches its northern limit) and the west (where fine-scale instabilities develop on the Southland Front, which flows along the continental shelf). Typical conditions at the release site at the end of March are: surface temperature 12 °C; mixed layer depth 40 m; surface chlorophyll concentration ∼0.3 mg m⁻³; surface photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) 23 E m⁻² d⁻¹; surface nutrient concentrations 8-10 mmol m⁻³ (nitrate), 0.5-0.8 mmol m⁻³ (phosphate), 1-2 mmol m⁻³ (silicate) and 0.1-0.5 nM (iron); 99th percentile wind speed 19-21 m s⁻¹. At this time of year, surface PAR is well below its summer maximum, the mixed layer is beginning its seasonal deepening and the silicate concentration is at its seasonal minimum. These factors may have limited the phytoplankton response to iron addition and were compounded in March-April 2004 by strong winds early in the experiment (substantially exceeding the 99th percentile in speed), lower than the average SST, larger than the average mixed layer depth, silicate concentration at the bottom end of the expected range and initially low PAR.     

Seismic images of a collision zone offshore NW Sabah/Borneo

Multichannel reflection seismic data from the southern South China Sea, refraction and gravity modelling were used to investigate the compressional sedimentary structures of the collision-prone continental margin off NW Borneo. An elongated imbricate deepwater fan, the toe Thrust Zone bounds the Northwest Borneo Trough to the southeast. The faults separating the individual imbricates cut through post-Early Miocene sediments and curve down to a carbonate platform at the top of the subsiding continental Dangerous Grounds platform that forms the major detachment surface. The age of deformation migrates outward toward the front of the wedge. We propose crustal shortening mechanisms as the main reason for the formation of the imbricate fan. At the location of the in the past defined Lower Tertiary Thrust Sheet tectonostratigraphic province a high velocity body was found but with a much smaller extend than the previously defined structure. The high velocity structure may be interpreted either as carbonates that limit the transfer of seismic energy into the sedimentary layers beneath or as Paleogene Crocker sediments dissected by remnants of a proto-South China Sea oceanic crust that were overthrust onto a southward migrating attenuated continental block of the Dangerous Grounds during plate convergence.     

New insights into rare earth element (REE) particulate generated by cigarette lighters: an electron microscopy and materials science investigation of a poorly understood indoor air pollutant and constraints for urban geochemistry

Cigarette smoking is a well-recognized cause of lung cancer and other diseases and is a major contributor to indoor air pollution in numerous settings worldwide. Most cigarette lighters use rare earth element (REE) mischmetal in their flints in order to aid ignition, and these lighters thus have pyrophoric properties. REE particulate emitted from these lighters presents a complexity in the role of health of smokers that has yet to be explored fully. Furthermore, these particles are likely present in numerous urban settings and contribute to the complexities of urban geochemistry. Details of the material properties of rare earth element (REE) particulate derived from smoking lighters are determined first the first time. Particulate was investigated using back-scatter detection scanning electron microscopy techniques and transmission electron microscopy techniques. Several particle types were observed and demonstrate a diverse range of size and textures, many of which are previously not documented and are much smaller than previous basic scanning electron microscopy investigations. These include irregularly shaped fragments of mischmetal, micrometer-scale spherules, aggregates of nanospherules, and platy sponge-like nanoparticles. All of these particles have significant REE content, and most are of a particle size that can be deposited deep in the lung. The available literature regarding toxicity of REEs and the material science data presented here argues very strongly for cause for concern.     

Analysis of subsurface mound spring connectivity in shale of the western margin of the Great Artesian Basin, South Australia

Mound springs provide the primary discharge mechanism for waters of the western margin of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB), Australia. Though these springs are an important resource in an arid environment, their hydraulics as they discharge from shale are poorly defined. The springs can include extensive spring tails (groundwater-dependent wetlands) and hundreds of springs in a given spring complex. Electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) was used to evaluate spring subsurface hydraulic-connectivity characteristics at three spring complexes discharging through the Bulldog Shale. The results demonstrate that fresher GAB water appears as resistors in the subsurface at these sites, which are characterized by high-salinity conditions in the shallow subsurface. Using an empirical method developed for this work, the ERI data indicate that the spring complexes have multiple subsurface connections that are not always easily observed at the surface. The connections are focused along structural deformation in the shale allowing fluids to migrate through the confining unit. The ERI data suggest the carbonate deposits that the springs generate are deposited on top of the confining unit, not precipitated in the conduit. The data also suggest that spring-tail ecosystems are not the result of a single discharge point, but include secondary discharge points along the tail.     

Deep-water renewal in a Scottish fjord: temperature, salinity and oxygen isotopes

The sea lochs (fjords) of north-west Scotland are located in a region of Europe particularly well situated to monitor changes in westerly air streams. The moisture transported in these air streams has a profound effect on regional precipitation, freshwater run-off and, in turn, sea loch circulation. The gentle slope of the regional salinity:δ¹⁸O mixing-line, defined as 0.18 ‰ per salinity unit, suggests that the temperature: δ¹⁸O relationship may be readily resolved in these coastal waters. Deep-water renewal events, both observed and predicted from empirical models, in the bottom-waters of Loch Etive provide an opportunity to assess the temperature, salinity and δ¹⁸O relationship. Predicted changes in δ¹⁸O_calcite as a function of changing salinity (ΔS) and changing temperature (ΔT) during deep-water renewal events suggest that >80% fall above analytical detection limits. The theoretical likelihood of recording such renewal events in the "palaeoclimate" record appears to be promising, but temperature and salinity change during renewal events may have either sign. Scottish fjords, because of the relatively small impact which salinity has on δ¹⁸O_water, may provide useful study sites in palaeoclimate research, particularly where palaeotemperature is the primary record of interest.     

Community capacity amongst people living with HIV/AIDS

Mobilisation of people living with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s was tied to social identity and the public rendering of AIDS as a gay disease. This activism has continued in large cities alongside new streams of mobilization addressing the needs of groups such as women and Aboriginal peoples living with HIV. We draw on interviews conducted with six people living with HIV/AIDS in a small Ontario city where the population does not allow for services tailored to specific groups. We investigate experiences of social engagement amongst people living with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS and examine why efforts to establish a community-based participatory research project was unsuccessful. Drawing from indicators of community capacity developed by Jackson et al. (Health Promot Int 18(4): 339–350, 2003) we identify the role of stigma both amongst different groups living with HIV/AIDS and the wider public as undermining a common sense of community and, potentially, our efforts to establish a community-based participatory research process.