Glaciation and Permafrost Dynamics on the Antarctic Peninsula in the 21st Century

The results of mass balance observations of the ice dome and measurements of the active layer thickness on the Fildes Peninsula, King George (Waterloo) Island, Western Antarctica are presented for the period of 2007 to 2019. The dynamics of the main meteorological parameters affecting the active layer thickness is determined. The numerical experiments based on the mathematical model are performed to determine the effects of various parameters on the active layer thickness. The calculated and measured values of the active layer thickness are compared. The thermal instability of permafrost in the study area in some years with high (above the means) summer air temperature is demonstrated. The climate cooling which started in the region in the recent years has increased the number of years with the positive ice mass balance. However, the positive ice mass balance has not yet become a dominant factor against a background of the negative balance in the previous years.     

Evaluation of extreme temperature events in northern Spain based on process control charts

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Extreme climate events have recently attracted the attention of a growing number of researchers because these events impose a large cost on agriculture and...     

Changes in European precipitation seasonality and in drought frequencies revealed by a four-century-long tree-ring isotopic record from Brittany, western France

A new paleoclimatic reconstruction for western France is obtained from tree-ring cellulose stable isotopes. Living trees from Rennes Forest and beams from two ancient buildings in Rennes city have been combined to cover the past four centuries with a gap from 1730 to 1750. The cellulose ¹³C reflects the progressive changes in atmospheric CO₂ isotopic composition. The combined ¹³C and ¹⁸O measurements are used to propose a reconstruction of interannual fluctuations in local summer temperature and water stress. At the decadal time scale, the reconstructed water stress profile exhibits a significant similarity with the historical wine harvest dates, an indicator of warm and dry growth seasons, as well as with the summer central England and central Alps instrumental temperature records and climate model results. Combined with instrumental precipitation records from Paris, these reconstructions suggest a dramatic and widespread change in the seasonality of the precipitation at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with drier winters and wetter summers, which may have contributed to the Alpine glacier decline at the end of the Little Ice Age. The tree-ring isotope records also show a relationship with large-scale North Atlantic circulation changes and the interannual variability is modified between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (7–8 year periodicities) and the seventeenth century (11–14 year periodicities). By classifying 20-year-long subsets of the reconstructed climatic parameters, we estimate that a decadal mean summer warming of 0.8±0.1°C induced extreme dry years to be 2.2±0.7 times more frequent.     

The roles of surface heat flux and ocean heat transport convergence in determining Atlantic Ocean temperature variability

The temperature variability of the Atlantic Ocean is investigated using an eddy-permitting (1/4°) global ocean model (ORCA-025) forced with historical surface meteorological fields from 1958 to 2001. The simulation of volume-averaged temperature and the vertical structure of the zonally averaged temperature trends are compared with those from observations. In regions with a high number of observations, in particular above a depth of 500 m and between 22° N and 65° N, the model simulation and the dataset are in good agreement. The relative contribution of variability in ocean heat transport (OHT) convergence and net surface heat flux to changes in ocean heat content is investigated with a focus on three regions: the subpolar and subtropical gyres and the tropics. The surface heat flux plays a relatively minor role in year-to-year changes in the subpolar and subtropical regions, but in the tropical North Atlantic, its role is of similar significance to the ocean heat transport convergence. The strongest signal during the study period is a cooling of the subpolar gyre between 1970 and 1990, which subsequently reversed as the mid-latitude OHT convergence transitioned from an anomalously weak to an anomalously strong state. We also explore whether model OHT anomalies can be linked to surface flux anomalies through a Hovmöller analysis of the Atlantic sector. At low latitudes, increased ocean heat gain coincides with anomalously strong northward transport, whereas at mid-high latitudes, reduced ocean heat loss is associated with anomalously weak heat transport.     

Magnitude scale structure from filtered broadbandP-wave records

A series of Hokkaido events, recorded by the FBV Broadband Seismograph System at the KHC Seismic Station, is used to study the structure of the earthquake magnitude scale on the basis of maximum velocity amplitudesA _vmax of teleseismicPwaves in different period bands. Amplitude-periodband (APB) diagrams are constructed for each event. According to the shape of the APB diagrams the events investigated can be divided into three types: (a) events with largestA _vmax values in the intermediate period range (periods ofA _vmax from 2.2 to 23 sec), (b) events with largestA _vmax values in the short-period range (periods ofA _vmax from 1 to 2 sec), (c) events exhibiting anomalous APB diagrams. Type (a) events seem to represent the process of wave generation that prevails for shallow earthquakes. Type (b) events approach to explosive-like generation of seismic waves. The nature of the exceptionally occurring type (c) events must be clarified in further investigations. The influence of the type of earthquake on the magnitude values estimated on the basis of standard class A and B (short-period and intermediate-band) seismograms is demonstrated. It appears that for estimating correct values of earthquake magnitudes complementary information on the process of seismic wave generation in the focus is necessary. At teleseismic distances this information can be obtained from either APB diagrams or amplitude spectra ofP waves recorded, e.g., by broadband velocity sensing instruments.     

SHRIMP zircon dating and Nd isotopic systematics of Palaeoproterozoic migmatitic orthogneisses in the Epupa Metamorphic Complex of northwestern Namibia

The Epupa Metamorphic Complex constitutes the southwestern margin of the Congo Craton and is exposed in a hilly to mountainous terrain of northwestern Namibia, bordering the Kunene River and extending into southern Angola. It consists predominantly of granitoid gneisses which are migmatized over large areas. This migmatization locally led to anatexis and produced crustal-melt granites such as the Otjitanda Granite. We have undertaken reconnaissance geochemical studies and single zircon U–Pb SHRIMP and Pb–Pb evaporation dating of rocks of the Epupa Complex. The granitoid gneisses, migmatites and anatectic melts are similar in composition and constitute a suite of metaluminous to peraluminous, calc-alkaline granitoids, predominantly with volcanic arc geochemical signatures. The zircon protolith ages for the orthogneisses range from 1861 ± 3 to 1758 ± 3 Ma. Anatexis in the migmatitic Epupa gneisses was dated from a melt patch at 1762 ± 4 Ma, and the anatectic Otjitanda Granite has a zircon age of 1757 ± 4 Ma. Migmatization and anatexis therefore occurred almost immediately after granitoid emplacement and date a widespread high-temperature Palaeoproterozoic event at ∼1760 Ma which has not been recorded elswhere in northern Namibia. The Nd isotopic systematics of all dated samples are surprisingly similar and suggest formation of the protolith from a source region that probably separated from the depleted mantle about 2.4–2.0 Ga ago. A major Archaean component in the source area is unlikely.     

Plant productivity, predation, and the abundance of black-tailed jackrabbits in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico

The abundance of black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) can fluctuate dramatically. We used data from the Chihuahuan Desert to test the relative strength of top-down (predation) or bottom-up (food availability) limiting forces. Predictions for the top-down hypothesis were, 1) a positive relationship between coyote (Canis latrans) and jackrabbit abundance (numerical response) and 2) a positive relationship between percent occurrence of jackrabbits in coyote scats and jackrabbit abundance (functional response). Predictions for the bottom-up hypothesis were, 1) plant productivity is directly related to precipitation, 2) jackrabbit abundance is positively related to precipitation and plant productivity, and 3) changes in abundance of jackrabbits over the reproductive season will be directly related to precipitation and plant productivity. We found a limited numerical response but no functional response of coyotes to jackrabbit abundance. Forb productivity was significantly related to annual precipitation levels (r² = 0.69, p = 0.002). Grass productivity was related to annual precipitation (r² = 0.34, p = 0.028). Jackrabbit abundance (r² = 0.38, p = 0.002) and changes in abundance (r² = 0.73, p < 0.001) were significantly related to precipitation and forb and grass productivity. We conclude that precipitation levels and plant productivity affect jackrabbit abundance more than predation levels.     

Tropospheric methane in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere

Results of more than 800 new measurements of methane (CH₄) concentrations in the Southern Hemisphere troposphere (34–41° S, 130–150° E) are reported. These were obtained between September 1980 and March 1983 from the surface at Cape Grim, Tasmania, through the middle (3.5–5.5 km) to the upper troposphere (7–10 km). The concentration of CH₄ increased throughout the entire troposphere over the measurement period, adding further support to the view that CH₄ concentrations are currently increasing on a global scale. For data averaged vertically through the troposphere the rate of increase found was 20 ppbv/yr or 1.3%/yr at December 1981. In the surface CH₄ data a seasonal cycle with a peak to peak amplitude of approximately 28 ppbv is seen, with the minimum concentration occurring in March and the maximum in September–October. A cycle with the same phase as that seen at the surface, but with a significantly decreased amplitude, is apparent in the mid troposphere but no cycle is detected in the upper tropospheric data. The phase and amplitude of the cycle are qualitatively in agreement with the concept that the major sink for methane is oxidation by hydroxyl radicals. Also presented is evidence of a positive vertical gradient in methane, with a suggestion that the magnitude of this gradient has changed over the period of measurements.