K-Ar and fission track dating of Darwin Crater Glass

Darwin Glasses from the recently discovered Darwin Crater in Tasmania were dated by the K-Ar and the fission track methods. The ages by both methods agree and yield a combined age of 0.73 ± 0.04 my for the formation of Darwin Crater and Darwin Glass by an impact. Since an accidental coincidence of this age with the age of Australasian tektites is rather unlikely, we suppose that Darwin Crater is one of many — primary or secondary — impact structures caused by the collision of a meteorite or comet with the earth ～ 0.7 my ago in the region of South East Asia and Australia.     

Modelling phosphorus transport in a surface irrigation drain

Understanding phosphorus (P) transport from agricultural land is essential to the development of effective management strategies that reduce the impact of agriculture on inland water quality. This paper describes the development and application of a process based model describing P transfer down a farm scale irrigation drain.     

Turning climate change information into economic and health impacts

The PRUDENCE project has generated a set of spatially and temporally high-resolution climate data, which provides new opportunities for assessing the impacts of climate variability and change on economic and human systems in Europe. In this context, we initiated the development of new approaches for linking climate change information and economic studies. We have considered a number of case studies that illustrate how linkages can be established between geographically detailed climate data and economic information. The case studies included wheat production in agriculture, where regional climate data has been linked to farm enterprise data in an integrated model of physical conditions, production inputs and outputs, and farm management practices. Similarly, temperature data were used to assess consequences of extreme heat and excess mortality in urban areas. We give an introduction of an analytical approach for assessing economic impacts of climate change and discuss how economic concepts and valuation paradigms can be applied to climate change impact evaluation. A number of methodological difficulties encountered in economic assessments of climate change impacts are described and a number of issues related to social and private aspects of costs are highlighted. It is argued that, in particular, detailed climate information matters in relation to understanding how private agents react to observed climate data.     

The records of solar wind and solar flares in aubrites

A large number of individual enstatite crystals of the gas-rich aubrites Khor Temiki, Staroe Pesyanoe and Bustee was analyzed for implanted helium and for steep gradient ion tracks in order to investigate the relation between solar flare irradiation and solar wind implantation with extreme local resolution. Irradiated and non-irradiated crystals coexist within the gas-rich phases of the aubrites investigated. Statistically in a given meteorite the proportion of crystals with implanted solar wind is similar to the proportion of solar flare irradiated crystals. It varies from aubrite to aubrite in the sequence of their bulk contents of trapped rare gases.For nine enstatites, tracks and rare gases were subsequently measured within the same crystal. The results support the intimate association of solar flare tracks and implanted He. The⁴He-surface concentrations of irradiated crystals vary between <5 × 10^?7 and 10^?4 cm³ STP/cm².The absence of saturation effects together with the low degree of elemental gas fractionation indicates very short solar wind exposure times (< 100 yr) rather than strong diffusion losses. The evidence from tracks and rare gases can be understood in terms of an early simultaneous irradiation of aubritic crystals by solar wind and solar flare particles on top of a regolith-covered parent body.     

In Memoriam: Roger Yates Anderson (1927–2021)

Journal of Paleolimnology -     

Succession of phytoplankton in response to environmental factors in Lake Arresø, North Zealand,Denmark

Phytoplankton community and environmental factors have been investigated in the eutrophic and shallow Lake Arresø in Denmark. The lake was completely mixed, except when ice-covered. Nitrogen and phosphorus were never primarily limiting phytoplankton growth and nitrogen-fixation was of minor importance. Phytoplankton community comprised mainly of chloroccocal green algae. Various possible reasons why chlorococcal green algae are so successful in this lake are discussed.     

The effect of horizontal resolution on simulation of very extreme US precipitation events in a global atmosphere model

We investigate the ability of a global atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) to reproduce observed 20 year return values of the annual maximum daily precipitation totals over the continental United States as a function of horizontal resolution. We find that at the high resolutions enabled by contemporary supercomputers, the AGCM can produce values of comparable magnitude to high quality observations. However, at the resolutions typical of the coupled general circulation models used in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the precipitation return values are severely underestimated.     

An Integrated Assessment of changes in the thermohaline circulation

This paper discusses the risks of a shutdown of the thermohaline circulation (THC) for the climate system, for ecosystems in and around the North Atlantic as well as for fisheries and agriculture by way of an Integrated Assessment. The climate model simulations are based on greenhouse gas scenarios for the 21st century and beyond. A shutdown of the THC, complete by 2150, is triggered if increased freshwater input from inland ice melt or enhanced runoff is assumed. The shutdown retards the greenhouse gas-induced atmospheric warming trend in the Northern Hemisphere, but does not lead to a persistent net cooling. Due to the simulated THC shutdown the sea level at the North Atlantic shores rises by up to 80 cm by 2150, in addition to the global sea level rise. This could potentially be a serious impact that requires expensive coastal protection measures. A reduction of marine net primary productivity is associated with the impacts of warming rather than a THC shutdown. Regional shifts in the currents in the Nordic Seas could strongly deteriorate survival chances for cod larvae and juveniles. This could lead to cod fisheries becoming unprofitable by the end of the 21st century. While regional socioeconomic impacts might be large, damages would be probably small in relation to the respective gross national products. Terrestrial ecosystem productivity is affected much more by the fertilization from the increasing CO₂ concentration than by a THC shutdown. In addition, the level of warming in the 22nd to 24th century favours crop production in northern Europe a lot, no matter whether the THC shuts down or not. CO₂ emissions corridors aimed at limiting the risk of a THC breakdown to 10% or less are narrow, requiring departure from business-as-usual in the next few decades. The uncertainty about THC risks is still high. This is seen in model analyses as well as in the experts’ views that were elicited. The overview of results presented here is the outcome of the Integrated Assessment project INTEGRATION.     

Access to electricity for all and the role of decentralized solar power in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

Several hundred million people in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of being without access to electricity by 2030 despite the ongoing work aimed at achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7—sustainable energy for all. Based on qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys, observation, and participation in Kenya and Senegal between 2010 and 2018, the author aims to explain why the rate of progress is slower than intended. The findings highlight three strong hindrances: lack of affordability due to extreme poverty, mismatch between the village-level outreach of grid-based electricity systems and the geography of settlements, and lack of consideration given to gender inequality. The findings also provide new insights into the ways that decentralized small-scale solar power increasingly meets some of the shortcomings of centralized grids in addressing these three issues, even in rural areas where grids are already present. The author concludes that the ways in which village communities have combined the use of solar-powered energy with grid-supplied energy indicates the importance of the former and the need to intensify efforts to improve solar power delivery models and integrate them fully in energy sector strategies.