Multi-species chemical data assimilation with the Danish Eulerian hemispheric model: system description and verification

Satellite retrievals of atmospheric composition provide a wealth of data on a global scale. These complement results from atmospheric chemistry-transport models (CTMs), and can be combined using data assimilation. We present two assimilation schemes coupled to the Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM), a three-dimensional, off-line CTM with full photochemistry: a variant on the ensemble Kalman filter and the three-dimensional variational scheme. The aim of this paper is to describe the two schemes and present an initial assessment of their impacts on model skill. Retrievals of multiple atmospheric trace gases are assimilated, namely: NO₂ tropospheric column densities, CH₄ total column densities, and partial column concentrations of O₃, CO and CH₄; these data are retrieved from four satellite sensors. Data for each species are assimilated independently of one another, and other species are only adjusted indirectly via the model’s chemistry and dynamics. Assimilation results are compared with measurements from surface monitoring stations and other satellite retrievals, and preliminary validation results are presented.Reference simulations (without assimilation) grossly underestimate surface CO concentrations, and both assimilation schemes eliminate this large and systematic model bias. The assimilation improves the spatial correlation of modelled CO with surface observations, and improves the spatial correlation between forecasts and retrievals for CO, NO₂ and O₃. Results for CH₄ show a loss of skill due to a mismatch in model bias between two assimilated CH₄ data-sets. Finally, we discuss differences in methodology and results between this paper and a recent study on multi-species chemical data assimilation. Joint optimisation of initial conditions and emission rates offers a promising direction for improving modelled boundary-layer concentrations.     

Painting the floor with a hammer: Technical fixes in fisheries management

Fisheries management benefits from the contribution of several academic disciplines, each with their own perspectives, concerns and solutions. In this essay we argue that the contribution of biology, economics, sociology and other relevant disciplines to fisheries would be improved if they originated from broader, more integrated analytical perspectives that are attuned to the empirical realities of fisheries management. Today, disciplinary boundaries narrow the perspectives of fisheries management, creating tunnel vision and standardized technical fixes to complex and diverse management problems. Having worked separately and together for a number of years in fisheries research and consultancy in many parts of the world we, as a group of biologists, economists and sociologists, feel that the time to rid ourselves from disciplinary dogmatism is long overdue. We claim that improvements in fisheries management will be realized not through the promotion of technical fixes but instead by embracing and responding to the complexity of the management problem.     

Local ecological knowledge and practical fisheries management in the tropics: A policy brief

This policy brief is a summary product of seven case studies examining the integration of local ecological knowledge in fisheries management. Each case began with a series of in-depth interviews with local fishers, after which their answers were examined using both social and biological approaches to assess the possibility of using the information as the basis of simple, valid and locally acceptable indictors for fisheries management. We found that allocation and knowledge issues are closely interlinked and must be addressed in concert, and that the negotiation of shared understandings between multiple sources of knowledge must be a continuous process within an adaptive framework rather than a question of identifying a fixed set of indicators.     

Holocene sedimentary and environmental development of Aarhus Bay,Denmark – a multi-proxy study

Holocene sedimentation patterns and environmental development in Aarhus Bay, Denmark, were reconstructed based on proxy analyses of two sediment cores (M1 and M5). Together, the two cores offer an opportunity to examine the history of the area during the past c. 10 000 years. The investigation consisted of acoustic mapping and multi-proxy analyses of the sediment cores including macrofossils, sediment physical properties, sediment accumulation rates, grain size, and X-ray fluorescence elemental counts. Radiocarbon dating of the two sediment successions revealed that they cover the periods c. 10 000–3700 cal. a BP (M1) and c. 4400 cal. a BP to the present (M5). The data from the M1 site indicate the presence of a near-shore lake environment between c. 10 000 and 9000 cal. a BP. The first intrusion of marine water into the area is dated to c. 9000 cal. a BP. In the following c. 1300 years, brackish-water conditions prevailed in the area characterized by a mixture of taxa from marine, limnic and terrestrial habitats, reflecting a shallow estuarine environment. Around 7700 cal. a BP full marine conditions were established, accompanied by a marked increase in sedimentation rates. The changes to full marine conditions and higher sedimentation rates are probably due to a significant sea-level rise leading to flooding of former land areas and intensified erosion. A subsequent distinct decrease in sedimentation rates around 6350 cal. a BP is presumably linked to a previously documented sea-level drop about this time. Continuous sedimentation ceased around 3700 cal. a BP in the central part of the bay, most probably due to a major sea-level lowering involving widespread erosion. In the eastern and deeper part of the bay, sedimentation continued until today. Fully marine conditions prevailed there for at least the last 4400 years.     

Tracer Tests and Image Analysis of Biological Clogging in a Two-Dimensional Sandbox Experiment

A two-dimensional flow experiment on biological clogging was carried out by biostimulating a sandbox packed with sand inoculated with bacteria. Biostimulation consisted of continuously injecting nutrients (acetate and nitrate). Clogging was visualized by frequently carrying out colored tracer experiments using Brilliant Blue. The tracer experiments were recorded with a digital camera and converted to concentration maps using an image-analysis method that revealed in detail the complex spreading pattern surrounding clogged areas. Clogging resulted in a finger-like spreading of the tracer around the main clogged area. Fingers were asymmetric and their dominant direction changed over time. Although the flow field was complex around the main clogged area, the effect on the bulk hydraulic conductivity at the scale of the sandbox was very small.