Boreal temperature variability inferred from maximum latewood density and tree-ring width data, Wrangell Mountain region, Alaska

Variations in both width and density of annual rings from a network of tree chronologies were used to develop high-resolution proxies to extend the climate record in the Wrangell Mountain region of Alaska. We developed a warm-season (July–September) temperature reconstruction that spans A.D. 1593–1992 based on the first eigenvector from principal component analysis of six maximum latewood density (MXD) chronologies. The climate/tree-growth model accounts for 51% of the temperature variance from 1958 to 1992 and shows cold in the late 1600s–early 1700s followed by a warmer period, cooling in the late 1700s–early 1800s, and warming in the 20th century. The 20th century is the warmest of the past four centuries. Several severely cold warm-seasons coincide with major volcanic eruptions. The first eigenvector from a ring-width (RW) network, based on nine chronologies from the Wrangell Mountain region (A.D. 1550–1970), is correlated positively with both reconstructed and recorded Northern Hemisphere temperatures. RW shows a temporal history similar to that of MXD by increased growth (warmer) and decreased growth (cooler) intervals and trends. After around 1970 the RW series show a decrease in growth, while station data show continued warming, which may be related to increasing moisture stress or other factors. Both the temperature history based on MXD and the growth trends from the RW series are consistent with well-dated glacier fluctuations in the Wrangell Mountains and some of the temperature variations also correspond to variations in solar activity.     

The influence of floodplain geohydrology on the distribution of Sarcocornia pillansii in the Olifants Estuary on the West Coast, South Africa

The distribution of Sarcocornia pillansii (Moss) A.J. Scott was determined by water-table depth and electrical conductivity (EC) of the groundwater. Where the groundwater was accessible (<1.5 m) and had a low EC (<80 mS cm⁻¹), S. pillansii extended its roots down to the water-table where a suitable water potential gradient was shown to exist between the soil and roots. In areas where the groundwater was too deep and/or hypersaline, the plants grew on hummocks. The unconfined aquifer below the floodplain is linked to the estuary and although diurnal tidal waves were dampened, water-table level fluctuations were recorded between tidal events. The complex geomorphology of the floodplain influences groundwater flow, in turn affecting the distribution of the salt marsh vegetation.     

Reynolds stress and TKE production in an estuary with a tidal bore

We report new measurements of the turbulent properties of the flow in a tidally energetic estuarine channel of almost uniform cross-section. A high-frequency (1.2 MHz), bottom-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) has been used to observe the velocity field at a sampling rate of 10 Hz in parallel with measurements of the surface elevation by tide gauges. Our data have been analysed using the Variance Method to determine turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), shear stress and TKE production over the tidal cycle with a time resolution of 60 s. During the highly energetic but brief flood period, when the surface axial velocity reaches 2 m s⁻¹, we observed large values of stress (>2 Pa) and shear production (5 W m⁻³). TKE is also input through the release of energy in the bore itself which results in a brief but intense injection of energy at the bore front with large transient TKE levels (100 J m⁻³). Subsequent input by shear production maintains TKE levels which are generally lower (20 J m⁻³) than the strong peak associated with the bore for the rest of the flood. On the ebb, the flow is relatively tranquil with maximum speeds 0.5 m s⁻¹ and peak TKE production rates of 0.1 W m⁻³.The flow and elevation data have also been used to estimate the energy fluxes into and out of the estuary. Short (1 h), intense energy inputs (8 MW at springs) on the flood flow are largely balanced by longer, less intense seaward energy flow on the ebb. The net energy input is found to be 0.1 MW at springs which is consistent with estimates of upstream dissipation. Peak dissipation in the bore itself may exceed the mean energy input but it is active only for a small fraction of the tidal cycle and its average contribution does not exceed 12% of total dissipation.     

The Use of Invertebrates in Ground Water Monitoring: A Rising Research Field

The use of invertebrates as biomonitors of ground water quality is a relatively new approach that has come of age with the development of ground water ecology. The benefits of such an approach are illustrated by four examples of field biomonitoring from several sites in various hydrogeological settings. Contamination of the interstitial zone by heavy metals in some sectors of the Rhóne River (France) was shown by the scarcity of insect species; sewage pollution in the saturated zone of a karstic aquifer was indicated by the low relative abundances of stygobites as compared with those of stygophiles and stygoxenes; and enrichment with organic matter of an underflow was clearly demonstrated by the extremely high density of ground water invertebrates such as oligochaetes, ostracods, and isopods. Examination of the spatial changes in the composition and abundance of invertebrate assemblages was also useful in determining the direction and intensity of water fluxes between a river and its underflow, as well as in delineating the reduced or oxidized zones in a manganese-polluted aquifer. Finally, the selected case studies emphasized the variety of methodological approaches that could be developed in ground water contamination biomonitoring, as well as the complementary and sometimes new information provided by this innovative method in comparison with that obtained by conventional pollution monitoring techniques.     

Gulf of Alaska Atmosphere-Ocean Variability Over Recent Centuries Inferred from Coastal Tree-Ring Records

Eight tree-ring chronologies from coastal sites along the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) are used to develop a 227-year (1762–1988) reconstruction of spring/summer (March–September) coastal land temperatures for the region. This reconstruction explains 35% of the variance in the instrumental temperature data. The tree-ring records and reconstruction reflect the documented 1976 transition from cold to warm conditions in the North Pacific and are consistent with regional temperature compilations. Three of the eight ring-width series, from elevational timberline sites where trees are particularly stressed by temperature, extend back to A.D. 1600 and are used to identify additional occurrences of such transitions. The first principal component (PC) scores of these three longer records are positively correlated with spring (March–May) land and sea surface temperatures for the GOA region and are used to reconstruct land surface temperatures. Decadal-scale fluctuations in the reconstructions show agreement with decade-long changes in the intensity of the Aleutian Low pressure cell over the past century, suggesting that the tree-ring data may provide an index of past circulation changes for the northeast Pacific. Blackman-Tukey spectral analyses of both reconstructions indicate significant power at 7–11 years, with additional peaks at 3 years for the spring/summer reconstruction and 19 years for the longer spring temperature series. The modes of variation at about 3 and 7 years may correspond to those associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation bandwidth, whereas the 19-year term may relate to a proposed 20-year cycle of North Pacific circulation. The spring temperature series shows generally increased growth over the past century, coinciding with warmer spring temperatures in south coastal Alaska over this interval. Comparison with the entire spring series suggests that the recent warming exceeds temperature levels of prior centuries, extending back to A.D. 1600.     

Thermal influence of urban groundwater recharge from stormwater infiltration basins

Groundwater warming below cities has become a major environmental issue; but the effect of distinct local anthropogenic sources of heat on urban groundwater temperature distributions is still poorly documented. Our study addressed the local effect of stormwater infiltration on the thermal regime of urban groundwater by examining differences in water temperature beneath stormwater infiltration basins (SIB) and reference sites fed exclusively by direct infiltration of rainwater at the land surface. Stormwater infiltration dramatically increased the thermal amplitude of groundwater at event and season scales. Temperature variation at the scale of rainfall events reached 3 °C and was controlled by the interaction between runoff amount and difference in temperature between stormwater and groundwater. The annual amplitude of groundwater temperature was on average nine times higher below SIB (range: 0·9–8·6 °C) than at reference sites (range: 0–1·2 °C) and increased with catchment area of SIB. Elevated summer temperature of infiltrating stormwater (up to 21 °C) decreased oxygen solubility and stimulated microbial respiration in the soil and vadose zone, thereby lowering dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in groundwater. The net effect of infiltration on average groundwater temperature depended upon the seasonal distribution of rainfall: groundwater below large SIB warmed up (+0·4 °C) when rainfall occurred predominantly during warm seasons. The thermal effect of stormwater infiltration strongly attenuated with increasing depth below the groundwater table indicating advective heat transport was restricted to the uppermost layers of groundwater. Moreover, excessive groundwater temperature variation at event and season scales can be attenuated by reducing the size of catchment areas drained by SIB and by promoting source control drainage systems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Methane and sulfide fluxes in permanent anoxia: In situ studies at the Dvurechenskii mud volcano (Sorokin Trough, Black Sea)

The Dvurechenskii mud volcano (DMV) is located in permanently anoxic waters at 2060 m depth (Sorokin Trough, Black Sea). The DMV was studied during the RV Meteor expedition M72/2 as an example of an active mud volcano system, to investigate the significance of submarine mud volcanism for the methane and sulfide budget of the anoxic Black Sea hydrosphere. Our studies included benthic fluxes of methane and sulfide, as well as the factors controlling transport, consumption and production of both compounds within the sediment. The pie-shaped mud volcano showed temperature anomalies as well as solute and gas fluxes indicating high fluid flow at its summit north of the geographical center. The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled to sulfate reduction (SR) was repressed in this zone due to the upward flow of sulfate-depleted fluids through recently deposited subsurface muds, apparently limiting microbial methanotrophic activity. Consequently, the emission of dissolved methane into the water column was high, with an estimated rate of 0.46 mol m⁻² d⁻¹. On the wide plateau and edge of the mud volcano surrounding the summit, fluid flow and total methane flux were lower, allowing higher SR and AOM rates correlated with an increase in sulfate penetration into the sediment. Here, between 50% and 70% of the methane flux (0.07-0.1 mol m⁻² d⁻¹) was consumed within the upper 10 cm of the sediment. The overall amount of dissolved methane released from the entire mud volcano structure into the water column was significant with a discharge of 1.3 × 10⁷ mol yr⁻¹. The DMV maintains also high areal rates of methane-fueled sulfide production and emission of on average 0.05 mol m⁻² d⁻¹. This is a difference to mud volcanoes in oxic waters, which emit similar amounts of methane, but not sulfide. However, based on a comparison of this and other mud volcanoes of the Black Sea, we conclude that sulfide and methane emission into the hydrosphere from deep-water mud volcanoes does not significantly contribute to the sulfide and methane inventory of the Black Sea.