Mercury concentrations in the fur of steller sea lions and northern fur seals from Alaska

We compared total mercury (THg) concentrations in the fur of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) from the depleted Pribilof Islands population with those of both declining and thriving populations of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) from Prince William Sound (PWS) and Southeast Alaska (SEA), respectively. Relatively low wet weight concentrations (ranges) of THg were detected in the fur of Steller sea lion (SSL) pups (0.90-3.14 microg/g) and juveniles (0.56-6.75 microg/g) from both areas in 1998 and 2000 compared to northern fur seal (NFS) pups (3.15-8.14 microg/g) in 2000. The mean concentration +/- SD for SSLs sampled were 1.46 +/- 0.64 microg/g for pups (n = 22) and 2.74 +/- 2.89 microg/g for juveniles (n = 6). Analyses indicated higher THg concentrations from SSL pups from PWS compared to the SEA. Mean +/- SD. THg in the NFS pups was 4.90 +/- 1.42 microg/g (n = 34) and for post-partum dams was 7.84 +/- 1.78 microg/g (n = 12).     

A mineral magnetic and scaled-chrysophyte paleolimnological study of two northeastern Pennsylvania lakes: records of fly ash deposition, land-use change, and paleorainfall variation

A combined mineral magnetic and scaled chrysophyte study of lake sediments from Lake Lacawac and Lake Giles in northeastern Pennsylvania was conducted to determine the effects of land-use and sediment source changes on the variation of pH, conductivity, and alkalinity inferred from biotic changes. Ten 30–40 cm long gravity cores were collected from Lake Lacawac and three from Lake Giles. Isothermal remanent magnetizations (IRMs) were given to the lake sediments in a 1.3 T magnetic field to measure magnetic mineral concentration variations. IRM acquisition experiments were conducted to identify magnetic mineralogy. The bedrock, soils and a peat bog on the shores of Lake Lacawac were also sampled for magnetic analysis to determine possible lake sediment sources. The top 10 cm of sediment collected from Lakes Lacawac and Giles was two to four times more magnetic than deeper sediment. ²¹⁰Pb dating suggests that this intensity increase commenced circa 1900. SEM images of magnetic extracts from the highly magnetic sediments indicates the presence of magnetic fly ash microspheres from fossil fuel burning electric power generation plants. The similarity in magnetic coercivity in the top 8 cm lake sediments and in the peat bog supports an atmospheric source for some of the magnetic minerals in the youngest lake sediments. The highly magnetic sediments also contain an antiferromagnetic mineral in two cores closest to Lake Lacawacs southeastern shore. This magnetic mineral is only present deep in the soil profile and would suggest erosion and significant land-use changes in the Lacawac watershed as another cause for the high magnetic intensities (concentrations) in the top 10 cm of the lake sediments. The most significant changes in the scaled chrysophyte flora occurred immediately above the 10 cm level and were used to infer a doubling of the specific conductivity between circa 1910 and 1929. These variations also support land-use changes in the Lacawac catchment at this time. A similar shift in the scaled chrysophte flora was not observed in the top of Lake Giles, however, distinct changes were found in the deeper sections of the core coupled with a smaller peak in magnetic concentration. Fourier analysis of the ²¹⁰Pb-dated lake sediment magnetics indicates the presence of a 50 year period, low amplitude variation in the Lake Lacawac, Lake Giles, and Lake Waynewood (Lott et al., 1994) magnetic concentration records. After removal of the land-use/fly ash magnetic concentration peak by Gaussian filtering, the 50 year variation correlates strongly from lake to lake even though the lakes are in different watersheds separated by up to 30 km. When this magnetic variation is compared with Gaussian-filtered rainfall variations observed in New York City and Philadelphia over the past 120–250 years there is a strong correlation suggesting that magnetic concentration variations can record regional rainfall variations with an approximately 50 year period. This result indicates that magnetics could be used to document regional variations in climatic change.     

Daily variation of the geomagnetic field in equatorial region and sector boundary passage

The mean daily range in horizontal intensity at low latitudes shows a significant departure on the day of a sector boundary passage in relation to its magnitude on adjacent days with a measure of dependence on phase of the solar activity. It is shown that this arises because of a substantial difference, in the nature of the response to sector boundary passage, between the instantaneous maximum field and minimum field. From the fact that the responses at three stations spanning the latitudes near dip equator to that near the focus of Sq currents are almost identical, it is suggested that the cause of the observed feature is primarily disturbance and is essentially non-ionospheric. Differences in the nature of responses between pre-1957 and post-1957 periods reported earlier in the planetary indices or low latitude disturbance indices are shown to be true for the daily range, maximum and minimum fields at low latitudes.     

Chemical Mechanism Development: Laboratory Studies and Model Applications

Within the German Tropospheric Research Programme (TFS) numerous kinetic and mechanistic studies on the tropospheric reaction/degradation of the following reactants were carried out: oxygenated VOC, aromatic VOC, biogenic VOC, short-lived intermediates, such as alkoxy and alkylperoxy radicals.At the conception of the projects these selected groups were classes of VOC or intermediates for which the atmospheric oxidation mechanisms were either poorly characterised or totally unknown. The motivation for these studies was the attainment of significant improvements in our understanding of the atmospheric chemical oxidation processes of these compounds, particularly with respect to their involvement in photooxidant formation in the troposphere. In the present paper the types of experimental investigations performed and the results obtained within the various projects are briefly summarised. The major achievements are highlighted and discussed in terms of their contribution to improving our understanding of the chemical processes controlling photosmog formation in the troposphere.     

SH-wave propagation in anisotropic inhomogeneous crustal layer

Summary In this short contribution,SH-wave propagation in an anisotropic inhomogeneous crustal layer lying on an yielding and rigid isotropic half space is considered. The inhomogeneity is assumed to be present in the directional rigidities and the density. The type of variation in elastic parameters considered herein, is such that the velocities ofSH-waves in horizontal and vertical directions are constant. The frequency equations, governing propagation ofSH-waves are derived for both the cases, i.e. (I) when the lower medium is yielding half space and (II) when it is rigid. Dispersion curves for these cases are also presented.     

Investigation of CO2 behavior and study on design of optimal injection into Gorae-V aquifer

This study presents the Bottom-hole pressure (BHP) behavior with different wettabilities and the optimal design scheme to effectively inject CO₂ into the Gorae-V aquifer. As a result, the injection rate and injectivity were increased as the wettability condition became more water-wet. However, the more wettability condition becomes water-wet, the more the ultimate CO₂ injection volume decreases. When the injectivity was 346 ton/day/Mpa at the Gorae-V aquifer, the aquifer can sustain CO₂ injection at a rate of 2,425 tons per day over this time period. A design for a complete CCS system was developed based on the existing off-shore pipeline in combination with new on-shore CO₂ transport infrastructure, and a pressure of 12.8 MPa is required at the CO₂ source to maintain this injection rate.     

Discrete element modelling of fragmentable geomaterials with size dependent strength

This paper presents the application of a discrete element technique to the analysis of the dynamic indentation of either a purely brittle or a brittle viscoplastic geomaterial which can experience fragmentation resulting in fragments with size dependent strength characteristics.     

Zur Luftverunreinigung durch turbulente Diffusion

Zusammenfassung Nach einer kurzen Diskussion der theoretischen Grundlagen für die Berechnung der Ausbreitung von schädlichen Beimengungen der Luft auf Grund der Gesetzmäßigkeiten der turbulenten Diffusion wird mit Hilfe der vonPasquill angegebenen empirischen Beziehungen zwischen Streuungsmaßen und Quelldistanz die Formel für die Immissionskonzentration am Boden abgeleitet. An Hand einer Reihe von Beispielen wird das Bodenkonzentrationsfeld relativ zu dem Punkt maximaler Immissionskonzentration berechnet, wobei eine feste Schornsteinhöhe von 40 m und eine für mittlere Emittenten zutreffende Auswurfmenge an schädlichen Gasen vorausgesetzt wird. Die Abbildungen zeigen die starke Modifikation des Konzentrationsfeldes durch die meteorologischen Verhältnisse, je nachdem, ob ein stabiler, indifferenter oder labiler Ausbreitungstyp vorliegt.

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Summary After a short discussion of the theoretical background for the calculation of the spreading of the noxious pollutants of the air based on the laws of turbulent diffusion a formula is derived for the concentration of the immisison on the ground with help of the empirical relations between the dispersion measures and the distance from the source given byPasquill. In some examples the concentration field at the ground relative to the point of maximum immission is calculated, considering a fixed height of the funnel of 40 m and a quantity of noxious gases as usually found with average emittents. The figures show a strong modification of the concentration field by the meteorological situation according to whether the spreading type is stable, indifferent or unstable.

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Résumé On discute tout d'abord brièvement les fondements théoriques permettant de calculer la propagation des pollutions atmosphériques; pour ce faire, on se base sur les lois de la diffusion turbulente. On en tire ensuite une formule de calcul de la concentration des immissions à l'aide des relations empiriques dePasquill, relations existant entre les quantités répandues et la distance de la source. On calcule au moyen d'une série d'exemples le champ des concentrations au sol par rapport au point de concentration maximum; pour ce faire, on admet und chemineé fixe de 40 mètres de hauteur et une quantité de gaz nocifs correspondant à une moyenne de polluants. Les figures montrent la forte modification que subit la répartition des concentrations selon les conditions météorologiques, en d'autres termes si l'on a affaire à un type de propagation stable, indifférent ou instable.

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