Trace element and major ion concentrations and dynamics in glacier snow and melt: Eliot Glacier,Oregon Cascades

We present concentrations of environmentally available (unfiltered acidified 2% v/v HNO₃) As, Cu, Cd, Pb, V, Sr, and major ions including Ca²⁺, Cl^?, and SO₄^2? in a July 2005 and a March 2006 shallow snow profile from the lower Eliot Glacier, Mount Hood, Oregon, and its proglacial stream, Eliot Creek. Low enrichment factors (EF) with respect to crustal averages suggests that in fresh March 2006 snow environmentally available elements are derived primarily from lithogenic sources. Soluble salts occurred in lower and less variable concentrations in July 2005 snow than March 2006. Conversely, environmentally available trace elements occurred in greater and more variable concentrations in July 2005 than March 2006 snow. Unlike major solutes, particulate‐associated trace elements are not readily eluted during the melt season. Additionally, elevated surface concentrations suggest that they are likely added throughout the year via dry deposition. In a 1‐h stream sampling, ratios of dissolved (<0·45 µm) V:Cl^?, Sr:Cl^?, and Cu:Cl^? are enriched in the Eliot Stream with respect to their environmentally available trace element to Cl^? ratios in Eliot Glacier snow, suggesting chemical weathering additions in the stream waters. Dissolved Pb:Cl^? is depleted in the Eliot Stream with respect to the ratio of environmentally available Pb to Cl^? in snow, corresponding to greater adsorption onto particles at greater pH values. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A 40-year accumulation dataset for Adelie Land, Antarctica and its application for model validation

The GLACIOCLIM-SAMBA (GS) Antarctic accumulation monitoring network, which extends from the coast of Adelie Land to the Antarctic plateau, has been surveyed annually since 2004. The network includes a 156-km stake-line from the coast inland, along which accumulation shows high spatial and interannual variability with a mean value of 362?mm water equivalent a^?1. In this paper, this accumulation is compared with older accumulation reports from between 1971 and 1991. The mean and annual standard deviation and the km-scale spatial pattern of accumulation were seen to be very similar in the older and more recent data. The data did not reveal any significant accumulation trend over the last 40?years. The ECMWF analysis-based forecasts (ERA-40 and ERA-Interim), a stretched-grid global general circulation model (LMDZ4) and three regional circulation models (PMM5, MAR and RACMO2), all with high resolution over Antarctica (27–125?km), were tested against the GS reports. They qualitatively reproduced the meso-scale spatial pattern of the annual-mean accumulation except MAR. MAR significantly underestimated mean accumulation, while LMDZ4 and RACMO2 overestimated it. ERA-40 and the regional models that use ERA-40 as lateral boundary condition qualitatively reproduced the chronology of interannual variability but underestimated the magnitude of interannual variations. Two widely used climatologies for Antarctic accumulation agreed well with the mean GS data. The model-based climatology was also able to reproduce the observed spatial pattern. These data thus provide new stringent constraints on models and other large-scale evaluations of the Antarctic accumulation.     

Pacific Salmon Fisheries: Climate, Information and Adaptation in a Conflict-Ridden Context

Pacific Salmon are anadromous fish that cross state and international boundaries in their oceanic migrations. Fish spawned in the rivers of one jurisdiction are vulnerable to harvest in other jurisdictions. The rocky history of attempts by the United States and Canada to cooperatively manage their respective salmon harvests suggests that such shared resources may present difficult challenges for effective adaptation to climate change. On June 30, 1999, the two nations signed an agreement which, if successfully implemented, may end several years of rancorous conflict. For the previous six years, they had been unable to agree on a full set of salmon "fishing regimes" under the terms of the Pacific Salmon Treaty. This conflict was sparked by strongly divergent trends in the abundance of northern and southern salmon stocks, and a consequent change in the balance of each nation's interceptions of salmon spawned in the other nation's rivers. The trends are attributable, in part, to the effects of large-scale climatic fluctuations. This case demonstrates that it may not be a simple matter to respond effectively to a climate change. Adaptation is difficult when a resource is exploited by multiple competing users who possess incomplete information. If, in addition, their incentives to cooperate are disrupted by the impacts of the climatic variation, dysfunctional breakdowns in management rather than efficient adaptation may ensue. Institutional factors will determine the extent to which the management of such resources can adapt effectively to climate variability or long-term climate change.     

Benthic changes during 10 years of organic enrichment by McMurdo Station, Antarctica

A benthic habitat along the coast of McMurdo Station in the Ross Sea, Antarctica is enriched by sewage from the station and altered by hydrocarbons and heavy metals in an adjacent historic dumpsite. We report on 10 years of change in the benthic communities from 1988 to 1998 and compare enrichment effects at Australia's Casey Station, East Antarctica. Despite being 14 km apart, reference communities upcurrent and downcurrent of McMurdo Station remained closely similar over time, dominated in all years by a tube building polychaete, Spiophanes tcherniae. The community bordering McMurdo Station was generally a third as abundant as communities at the reference sites over the decade of sampling, although diversity was as high or higher, except in the most contaminated areas. In 1992, organic enrichment of the outfall community intensified and within the year, the opportunistic polychaetes Aphelochaeta sp., Ophryotrocha notialis, Capitella perarmata, and Leitoscoloplos kerguelensis became dominant. Since 1996, two of the three enriched communities have increased in resemblance to the reference communities. Given the observed responsiveness of the benthos to the outfall so far, further changes are anticipated within the year following implementation of sewage treatment in 2003. Organic enrichment by McMurdo Station has had a greater impact on benthic community structure than at Australia's Casey Station.     

A cladoceran-based paleolimnological assessment of the impact of forest harvesting on four lakes from the central interior of British Columbia, Canada

To investigate the impact of forest harvesting on lake ecosystems, six lakes (four impact, two reference) from central British Columbia, Canada were assessed using cladoceran remains preserved in the lake sediment cores. Two temporal resolutions were analyzed: a decadal scale for the past 70 years, and a high-resolution scale (2 year intervals for ten years before and after harvesting). Three lakes which experienced forestry activity in their watersheds in the early 1960s, and one lake which experienced forestry activityin the mid 1970s, showed subtle but statistically significant changes in cladoceran species composition following forest harvesting (analysis of similarity tests) at the decadal scale, whereas only two of these lakes showed significant changes at the higher resolution. These changes may be due to increased nutrient levels that might be associated with forest harvesting. The two reference lakes, which had not experienced any known large-scale anthropogenic watershed disturbances in the past century, showed no significant shifts in the cladoceran species assemblages at either temporal scale.     

An unusual modern silica–carbonate sinter from Pavlova spring, Ngatamariki, New Zealand

ABSTRACT A silica–carbonate deposit is forming from the dilute alkali chloride waters of Pavlova spring, a small thermal pool and outflow channel (85 to <40 °C), situated at the northern extent of the South Orakonui area of the Ngatamariki geothermal field, Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand. It is one of a small but growing number of thermal spring features known to yield deposits of mixed mineralogy. At Pavlova, a distinctive, crustose, chalk‐white, meringue‐like sinter, comprising non‐crystalline opal‐A silica with subordinate calcite, is actively precipitating both around the margins of and as small islets within the spring, with an average accumulation rate of ≈ 2 mm year^?1. Both emergent and partly submerged substrates host the sinter, including fallen pine branches, twigs, needles and cones, gum leaves, grass blades, bracken fronds, pumice, sediment and microbial mats. The sinter is thin (25–35 mm thickness), finely laminated and contains three distinct types of stacked horizons. Submerged basal layers constitute stratiform to undulatory microstromatolites with pseudocolumns, which grew outwards and upwards on narrow twig nuclei. Emergent middle layers comprise discontinuous, spicular microstromatolites (to 10 mm height), with prostrate and erect microbial filaments, silica spheres and silicified mucus, overlain by silicified structures of probable fungal origin. In places, lower and middle sinter layers are capped by white, smooth, convex surfaces that coalesce into subdued, curved ridges, resembling laterally continuous peaks of egg‐white meringue. The meringue is internally laminated, with fossilized microbes preserved in thin horizons. Small lensoid masses of calcite crystals nestle between silica laminae throughout the sinter. The near‐neutral (pH ≈ 7·2) spring water is a dilute chloride‐carbonate type (HCO≈ 470 µg g^?1, Cl^–≈ 600 µg g^?1) with low (≈ 50 µg g^?1), typical of TVZ thermal fields where deep chloride fluid mixes with CO₂‐rich, steam‐heated shallow waters before discharge. The hot water changed little in composition from 1993 to 1999 and, despite dilution by meteoric waters, contains sufficient SiO₂ (≈ 220 µg g^?1) for opal‐A to deposit at the surface upon cooling. However, the concentration of Ca²⁺ (≈ 6 µg g^?1) is such that the precipitation of calcite is not expected without modification of spring waters. Precipitation occurs by evaporation of thin water films at exposed substrate surfaces, via meniscoid as well as capillary creep (wicking), through porous sinter horizons and across emergent vegetative surfaces in contact with spring water or steam. The height of the deposit above the water surface is restricted by the upper limit of moisture bathing these substrates. Splash and spray are not involved in the formation of Pavlova spicular microstromatolites, as is the case for other texturally similar deposits from hotsprings elsewhere. This young (< 15 years), mineralogically and morphologically complex hot‐spring deposit exhibits > 10 times lower accumulation rates than typical siliceous sinters in the TVZ, and deposition of both silica and calcite is controlled by microchemical conditions and local temperature gradients, rather than by bulk spring water chemistry.     

Getting a Handle on Social-ecological Systems in Catchments: the nature and importance of environmental perception

Several bodies of literature inform understanding of environmental perception but incorporation of the key aspects of perception has been limited in environmental management to date. Using a social-ecological systems approach, a case study of communities in the Collie catchment in Western Australia reveals strong place relatedness in both perception of environment condition and the interrelationship of social systems and the environment. Furthermore, it identifies the variation in perceptions by subgroups within communities. Finally, the implications of this research for environmental management are considered and learning and organisation development are identified as key management tools.     

Circulation in Carr Inlet,Puget Sound,during Spring 2003

The relatively slow flow and exchange of Carr Inlet water with the main basin of Puget Sound, Washington, favor eutrophication. To study Carr Inlet’s circulation, the Model-measurement Integration Experiment in Estuary Dynamics (MIXED) was conducted in March–May 2003, spanning the spring bloom. From observations and numerical simulations the circulation was decomposed into tidal and subtidal components; the former was dominated by the M2 tide, the latter by atmospheric forcing. Near the surface, the subtidal velocity was correlated with wind. At mid depths, the subtidal velocity was organized into vertical bands arising from internal waves excited by wind forcing of the water surface. The tidal flow was more strongly steered by local bathymetry and weaker in peak magnitudes than the subtidal flow, yet it contributed more mechanical energy to the inlet. Tidal eddies reduce exchange of water through the inlet’s entrances. Numerical simulations with the Princeton Ocean Model recreated many observed features, including the three-layer vertical structure of outflow at the surface and bottom and inflow at mid depth, the mid-depth subtidal response to the wind, and characteristics of the tide. While the model produced greater subtidal flow magnitudes at depth and differences in the phase of the M2 tide compared to observations, overall the case study provided support for more comprehensive simulations of Puget Sound in the future.