Decoupling of arsenic and iron release from ferrihydrite suspension under reducing conditions: a biogeochemical model

High levels of arsenic in groundwater and drinking water are a major health problem. Although the processes controlling the release of As are still not well known, the reductive dissolution of As-rich Fe oxyhydroxides has so far been a favorite hypothesis. Decoupling between arsenic and iron redox transformations has been experimentally demonstrated, but not quantitatively interpreted. Here, we report on incubation batch experiments run with As(V) sorbed on, or co-precipitated with, 2-line ferrihydrite. The biotic and abiotic processes of As release were investigated by using wet chemistry, X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption and genomic techniques. The incubation experiments were carried out with a phosphate-rich growth medium and a community of Fe(III)-reducing bacteria under strict anoxic conditions for two months. During the first month, the release of Fe(II) in the aqueous phase amounted to only 3% to 10% of the total initial solid Fe concentration, whilst the total aqueous As remained almost constant after an initial exchange with phosphate ions. During the second month, the aqueous Fe(II) concentration remained constant, or even decreased, whereas the total quantity of As released to the solution accounted for 14% to 45% of the total initial solid As concentration. At the end of the incubation, the aqueous-phase arsenic was present predominately as As(III) whilst X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicated that more than 70% of the solid-phase arsenic was present as As(V). X-ray diffraction revealed vivianite Fe(II)₃(PO₄)₂.8H₂O in some of the experiments. A biogeochemical model was then developed to simulate these aqueous- and solid-phase results. The two main conclusions drawn from the model are that (1) As(V) is not reduced during the first incubation month with high Eh values, but rather re-adsorbed onto the ferrihydrite surface, and this state remains until arsenic reduction is energetically more favorable than iron reduction, and (2) the release of As during the second month is due to its reduction to the more weakly adsorbed As(III) which cannot compete against carbonate ions for sorption onto ferrihydrite. The model was also successfully applied to recent experimental results on the release of arsenic from Bengal delta sediments.     

Is Pre-Eruptive Null Point Reconnection Required for Triggering Eruptions?

We study the magnetic field evolution and topology of the active region NOAA 10486 before the 3B/X1.2 flare of October 26, 2003, using observational data from the French–Italian THEMIS telescope, the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) onboard Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Solar Magnetic Field Telescope (SMFT) at Huairou Solar Observation Station (HSOS), and the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE). Three dimensional (3D) extrapolation of photospheric magnetic field, assuming a potential field configuration, reveals the existence of two magnetic null points in the corona above the active region. We look at their role in the triggering of the main flare, by using the bright patches observed in TRACE 1600 Å images as tracers at the solar surface of energy release associated with magnetic reconnection at the null points. All the bright patches observed before the flare correspond to the low-altitude null point. They have no direct relationship with the X1.2 flare because the related separatrix is located far from the eruptive site. No bright patch corresponds to the high-altitude null point before the flare. We conclude that eruptions can be triggered without pre-eruptive coronal null point reconnection, and the presence of null points is not a sufficient condition for the occurrence of flares. We propose that this eruptive flare results from the loss of equilibrium due to persistent flux emergence, continuous photospheric motion and strong shear along the magnetic neutral line. The opening of the coronal field lines above the active region should be a byproduct of the large 3B/X1.2 flare rather than its trigger.     

Analysis of collaboration networks in OpenStreetMap through weighted social multigraph mining

This paper aims to qualify the behaviour of contributors to OpenStreetMap (OSM), a volunteered geographic information (VGI) project, through a multigraph approach. The main purpose is to reproduce contributor’s interactions in a more comprehensive way. First, we define a multigraph that combines existing spatial collaboration networks from the literature with new graphs that illustrate collaboration based on specific aspects of the VGI modes of contribution through semantics, geometry and topology. Indeed, the ways that contributors interact with one another through editing, completion, or even consumption may provide additional information on each user’s operation mode and therefore, on the quality of the contributed data. Social collaborations drawn from indirect criteria – for example, comparisons between contributors’ activity areas – can also be contemplated under another network. Second, the resulting multigraph is analysed using data mining approaches to characterise individuals and identify behavioural groups. The implementation of a multiplex network based on an OSM data sample and an initial analysis make it possible to identify useful behaviours for data qualification. The initial results characterise some contributors as pioneers, moderators and truthful contributors, according to their special roles in the graphs. Mapping elements that include these contributors’ participation are likely to be reliable data     

Hydraulic,physical and rheological characteristics of rain‐triggered lahars at Semeru volcano,Indonesia

Lahars (volcanic debris flows) have been responsible for 40% of all volcanic fatalities over the past century. Mount Semeru (East Java, Indonesia) is a persistently active composite volcano that threatens approximately one million people with its lahars and pyroclastic flows. Despite their regularity, the behaviour and the propagation of these rain‐triggered lahars are poorly understood. In situ samples were taken from lahars in motion at two sites in the Curah Lengkong River, on the southeast flank of Semeru, providing estimates of the particle concentration, grain size spectrum, grain density and composition. This enables us to identify flow sediment from three categories of lahars: (a) hyperconcentrated flow, (b) non‐cohesive, clast‐ and matrix‐supported debris flow, and (c) muddy flood. To understand hyperconcentrated flow sediment transport processes, it is more appropriate to sample the active flows than the post‐event lahar deposits because in situ sampling retains the full spectrum of the grain‐size distribution. Rheometrical tests on materials sampled from moving hyperconcentrated flows were carried out using a laboratory vane rheometer. Despite technical difficulties, results obtained on the <63, <180, and <400 µm fractions of the sampled sediment, suggest a purely frictional behaviour. Importantly, and contrary to previous experiments conducted with monodisperse suspensions, our results do not show any transition towards a viscous behaviour for high shear rates. These data provide important constraints for future physical and numerical modelling of lahar flows. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of GRACE to the estimation of groundwater storage change in a data-poor region: A case study of Ngadda catchment in the Lake Chad Basin

The present study is to explore the feasibility of GRACE-based estimation of a groundwater storage change in a data-poor region using a case study of the Ngadda catchment in the Lake Chad Basin. Although the Ngadda catchment has only one set of in situ time series data of groundwater from 2006 to 2009 and a limited number of groundwater measurements in 2005 and 2009, GRACE-based groundwater storage change can be evaluated against the in situ groundwater measurements combined with specific yield data. The cross-correlation analysis in the Ngadda catchment shows that maximum rainfall reached in July and August, whereas both the maximum total water storage anomaly and the maximum groundwater storage anomaly occurred 2months later. Whereas the mean annual amplitude of total water storage anomaly is about 17cm from both the average total water storage anomaly from three mascon products and the one from three spherical harmonic products, the mean annual amplitude of soil moisture storage anomaly is substantially varied from 5.58cm for CLM to about 14cm for NOAH and Mosaic. The goodness-of-fit tests show that CLM soil moisture produces the closest estimation of groundwater storage anomaly to the in situ groundwater measurements. The present study shows that GRACE-based estimation for groundwater storage anomaly can be a cost-effective and alternative tool to observe how groundwater changes in a basin scale under the limitation of modelling and in situ data availability.     

Co-use of existing scenario sets to extend and quantify the shared socioeconomic pathways

More often than not, assessments of future climate risks are based on future climatic conditions superimposed on current socioeconomic conditions only. The new IPCC-guided alternative global development trends, the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), have the potential to enhance the integration of future socioeconomic conditions—in the form of socioeconomic scenarios—within assessments of future climate risks. Being global development pathways, the SSPs lack regional and sectoral details. To increase their suitability in sectoral and/or regional studies and their relevance for local stakeholders, the SSPs have to be extended. We propose here a new method to extend the SSPs that makes use of existing scenario studies, the (re)use of which has been underestimated so far. Our approach lies in a systematic matching of multiple scenario sets that facilitates enrichment of the global SSPs with regional and sectoral information, in terms of both storylines and quantitative projections. We apply this method to develop extended SSPs of human vulnerability in Europe and to quantify them for a number of key indicators at the sub-national level up to 2050, based on the co-use of the matched scenarios’ quantitative outputs. Results show that such a method leads to internally consistent extended SSPs with detailed and highly quantified narratives that are tightly linked to global contexts. This method also provides multiple entry points where the relevance of scenarios to local stakeholders can be tested and strengthened. The extended SSPs can be readily employed to explore future populations’ vulnerability to climate hazards under varying levels of socioeconomic development.     

Significance,mechanisms and environmental implications of microbial biomineralization

Microorganisms can mediate the formation of minerals by a process called biomineralization. This process offers an efficient way to sequester inorganic pollutants within relatively stable solid phases. Here we review some of the main mechanisms involved in the mediation of mineral precipitation by microorganisms. This includes supersaturation caused by metabolic activity, the triggering of nucleation by production of more or less specific organic molecules, and the impact of mineral growth. While these processes have been widely studied in the laboratory, assessment of their importance in the environment is more difficult. We illustrate this difficulty using a case study on an As-contaminated acid mine drainage located in the South of France (Carnoulès, Gard). In particular, we explore the potential relationships that might exist between microbial diversity and mineral precipitation. The present review, far from being exhaustive, highlights some recent advances in the field of biomineralogy and provides non-specialists an introduction to some of the main approaches and some questions that remain unanswered.     

Further developments of a transient Poisson-cluster model for rainfall

Stochastic point processes for rainfall are known to be able to preserve the temporal variability of rainfall on several levels of aggregation (e.g. hourly, daily), especially when the cluster approach is used. One major assumption in most of the applications todate is the stationarity of the rainfall properties in time, which must be reconsidered under a climate change hypothesis. Here, we propose new theoretical developments of a Poisson-based model with cluster, namely the Neyman–Scott Rectangular Pulses Model, which treats storm frequency as a nonstationary function. In this paper, storm frequency is modelled as a linear function of time in order to reproduce an increase (or decrease) of the mean annual precipitation. The basic theory is reconsidered and the moments are derived up to the third order. Then, a calibration method based on the generalized method of moments is proposed and discussed. An application to a rainfall time series from Uccle illustrates how this model can reproduce a trend for the average rainfall. This work opens new avenues for future developments on transient stochastic rainfall models and highlights the major challenges linked to this approach.     

Stochastic tracking of mesoscale convective systems: evaluation in the West African Sahel

In this work we apply a recently proposed Bayesian multiple target tracking model to mesoscale convective systems tracking. This stochastic model follows the multiple hypothesis tracking paradigm and can handle a varying number of targets while detecting the target birth, death, split, and merge events. The model is tested experimentally with real MCS targets detected from meteosat IR data over the Sahelian region. The performance of the stochastic tracking is evaluated by comparing it qualitatively and quantitatively with well established deterministic methods.