Evidence for rapid ice flow and proglacial lake evolution around the central Strait of Magellan region,southernmost Patagonia

This paper presents a detailed palaeoglaciological reconstruction of ice sheet dynamics in the Seno Skyring, Seno Otway and Strait of Magellan region of the former Patagonian Ice Sheet, with a particular focus on previously hypothesised zones of rapid ice flow and the evolution of proglacial lakes. Geomorphological mapping from a combination of satellite imagery and oblique and vertical aerial photographs reveals a variety of glacial landforms that are grouped into several discrete flow‐sets and associated ice margin positions. The most distinct features are represented by flow‐sets of highly elongate streamlined glacial lineations on both sides of the Strait of Magellan. Based on the shape and dimensions of the flow‐sets and their abrupt lateral margins, a transverse and longitudinal variation in glacial lineation length and elongation ratio, and the reported presence of a potentially deformable bed and thrust moraines, the flow‐sets are interpreted as zones of rapid ice flow within the Otway and Magellan lobes. We hypothesise that this provides evidence for contemporaneous surge‐like advances within the lobes, which may explain the asymmetry in the lobate margin positions on either side of the strait. The mechanisms that initiated rapid flow are unclear, but are likely to have been influenced by internal factors such as a change in thermal/hydrological conditions at the bed. The topography of the region suggests ice‐dammed lakes would have formed as the ice lobes retreated. The westernmost of the former lakes, Lake Skyring, is delimited by a series of palaeo‐shorelines surrounding the present‐day lake Laguna Blanca and we reconstruct lake evolution based on manipulation of a digital elevation model. The size and orientation of meltwater channels and a large outwash plain indicate that Lake Skyring drained eastwards towards the Strait of Magellan, probably quite rapidly. We conclude that the potential for quasi‐independent surge‐like behaviour within adjacent lobes raises the possibility that, during climate‐driven ice expansion, some advances in this region may have been partly controlled by secondary internal feedback mechanisms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crustal structure of Antarctica

Seismic refraction profiles completed in the past twenty years reveal that the top of the basement complex generally lies near sea level in East Antarctica but typically 2 or 3 km below sea level in West Antarctica. Throughout much of East Antarctica the thickness of the layer overlying the basement complex is less than half a kilometer, although a Phanerozoic sequence more than 1 km thick probably underlies the ice at the South Pole. Throughout central West Antarctica, on the other hand, a section one to several kilometers thick generally overlies the basement complex. The observed sedimentary section is no more than one half kilometer thick on either side of the Transantarctic Mountains. Rocks with high seismic velocities typical of the lower continental crust occur within a few kilometers of the surface on both sides of the Transantarctic Mountains. This occurrence lends support to the hypothesis of an abrupt increase in crustal thickness between West and East Antarctica.

In 1969, deep seismic soundings were carried out by the 14th Soviet Antarctic Expedition near the coast of Queen Maud Land. The crustal thickness was found to be about 40 km near the mountains, decreasing to about 30 km near the coast. In the top 15 km of the crust there is a gradual downward increase in P-wave velocity from 6.0 to 6.3 km/sec. The average velocity through the crust is 6.4 km/sec and the measured velocity below the M-discontinuity is 7.9 km/sec.

At the southwestern margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf, near-vertical reflections from the M-discontinuity have been recorded. A mean P-wave velocity of 6 km/sec in the crust was measured, leading to an estimated depth to M of 24 km below sea level.

Seismic surface wave dispersion studies indicate a mean crustal thickness of about 30 km in West Antarctica and about 40 km in East Antarctica. The dispersion data also show that group velocities across East Antarctica are much closer to those along average continental paths than to those across the Canadian shield. The results thus support other indications that central East Antarctica is not a simple crystalline shield.

P′P′-reflections beneath the continent support the existence of a low-velocity channel for P-waves, but show no significant difference in deep structure between Antarctica and other continents.     

The annual cycle of peroxides and ozone in marine air at Cape Grim, Tasmania

The concentration of gas-phase peroxides has been measured almost continuously at the Cape Grim baseline station (41° S) over a period of 393 days (7702 h of on-line measurements) between February 1991 and March 1992. In unpolluted marine air a distinct seasonal cycle in concentration was evident, from a monthly mean value of>1.4 ppbv in summer (December) to <0.2 ppbv in winter (July). In the summer months a distinct diurnal cycle in peroxides was also observed in clean marine air, with a daytime build-up in concentration and decay overnight. Both the seasonal and diurnal cycles of peroxides concentration were anticorrelated with ozone concentration, and were largely explicable using a simple photochemical box model of the marine boundary layer in which the central processes were daytime photolytic destruction of ozone, transfer of reactive oxygen into the peroxides under the low-NO_x ambient conditions that favour self-reaction between peroxy radicals, and continuous heterogeneous removal of peroxides at the ocean surface. Additional factors affecting peroxides concentrations at intermediate timescales (days to a week) were a dependence on air mass origin, with air masses arriving at Cape Grim from higher latitudes having lower peroxides concentrations, a dependence on local wind speed, with higher peroxides concentrations at lower wind speeds, and a systematic decrease in peroxides concentration during periods of rainfall. Possible physical mechanisms for these synoptic scale dependencies are discussed.     

Reconstructing the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet in the Weddell Sea embayment,Antarctica, using numerical modelling constrained by field evidence

The Weddell Sea Embayment (WSE) sector of the Antarctic ice sheet has been suggested as a potential source for a period of rapid sea-level rise – Meltwater Pulse 1a, a 20 m rise in ～500 years. Previous modelling attempts have predicted an extensive grounding line advance in the WSE, to the continental shelf break, leading to a large equivalent sea-level contribution for the sector. A range of recent field evidence suggests that the ice sheet elevation change in the WSE at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is less than previously thought. This paper describes and discusses an ice flow modelling derived reconstruction of the LGM ice sheet in the WSE, constrained by the recent field evidence. The ice flow model reconstructions suggest that an ice sheet consistent with the field evidence does not support grounding line advance to the continental shelf break. A range of modelled ice sheet surfaces are instead produced, with different grounding line locations derived from a novel grounding line advance scheme. The ice sheet reconstructions which best fit the field constraints lead to a range of equivalent eustatic sea-level estimates between approximately 1.4 and 3 m for this sector. This paper describes the modelling procedure in detail, considers the assumptions and limitations associated with the modelling approach, and how the uncertainty may impact on the eustatic sea-level equivalent results for the WSE.     

The influence of a season of extreme wet weather events on exposure of the World Heritage Area Great Barrier Reef to pesticides

The 2010-2011 wet season was one of extreme weather for the State of Queensland, Australia. Major rivers adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) were discharging at rates 1.5 to >3 times higher than their long term median. Exposure to photosystem II herbicides has been routinely monitored over a period of up to 5 years at 12 inshore GBR sites. The influence of this wet season on exposure to photosystem II herbicides was examined in the context of this long-term monitoring record and during flood plume events in specific regions. Median exposures expressed as diuron equivalent concentration were an average factor of 2.3 times higher but mostly not significantly different (p<0.05) to the median for the long-term monitoring record. The herbicides metolachlor and tebuthiuron were frequently detected in flood plume waters at concentrations that reached or exceeded relevant water quality guidelines (by up to 4.5 times).     

Building a Virtual Observatory for Heliophysics

Heliophysics is a new discipline that studies of the effect of the Sun on the Solar System and spans a number of existing scientific domains—solar physics, heliospheric physics, and magnetospheric and ionospheric physics. In order to build a virtual observatory for heliophysics we have to find ways to conduct searches that span the domains and track the evolution of phenomena in 4 dimensions as they propagate through interplanetary space. To facilitate this it will be necessary to improve the quality of the metadata that are used in the search and to describe the observations. We describe some of the issues and how these can be addressed.     

Modeling India’s Coal Production with a Negatively Skewed Curve-Fitting Model

India’s coal demand is forecast to increase at a rapid pace in the future due to the country’s economic and population growth. Analyzing the scope for future production of India’s domestic coal resources, therefore, plays a vital role in the country’s development of sound energy policies. This paper presents a quantitative scenario analysis of India’s potential future coal production by using a negatively skewed curve-fitting model and a range of estimates of the country’s ultimately recoverable resources (URR) of coal. The results show that the resource base is sufficient for India’s coal production to keep increasing over the next few decades, to reach between 2400 and 3200 Mt/y at 2050, depending on the assumed value of URR. A further analysis shows that the high end of this range, which corresponds to our ‘GSI’ scenario, can be considered as the probable upper-bound to India’s domestic coal production. Comparison of production based on the ‘GSI’ scenario with India’s predicted demand shows that the domestic production of coal will be insufficient to meet the country’s rising coal demand, with the gap between demand and production increasing from its current value of about 268 Mt/y to reach 300 Mt/y in 2035, and 700 Mt/y by 2050. This increasing gap will be challenging for the energy security of India.     

An historical review of landslide research in the South Wales coalfield

Summary The areal density of landslides in the coalfield of South Wales is one of the highest in the UK. During the past 100 years landsliding has had considerable impact, causing structural damage and loss of life. Most of the landslides were initiated under periglacial conditions but many became reactivated due to the activities of humans, particularly during the late 19 th century when widespread urban and industrial development commenced in the Welsh valleys. A number of the area's larger landslides are first-time slides which occurred during the past 100 years. This paper sets out to chart the history of landslide research in the coalfield, which began through work by mining engineers.     

Alma and E-merlin Data Transmission Systems: Lessons for Ska

ALMA, EVLA and e-MERLIN use high data rate optical fibre links based on commercially available 10 Gbps opto-electronics. This paper describes the systems designed by NRAO and JBO staff to be used in ALMA and e-MERLIN. ALMA has a requirement for a 120 Gbps data rate per telescope, requiring the use of 12 lasers in the 1550 nm telecommunication band, with maximum link lengths around 20 km. e-MERLIN has a lower bandwidth and requires 30 Gbps links per telescope and therefore three lasers per telescope; however, the link lengths reach up to around 400 km, and amplification, de-dispersion and regeneration are required. Dense wavelength division multiplexing is used to avoid fibre management problems and save fibre costs. The design criteria and experience gained in these projects is very relevant to SKA as the proposed configuration of the antenna elements maps well to the link lengths used here. The chosen data rate will be a major cost driver.