Carbonate Chemistry Dynamics of Surface Waters in the Northern Gulf of Mexico     

Nina Keul  John W. Morse  Rik Wanninkhof  Dwight K. Gledhill  Thomas S. Bianchi 《Aquatic Geochemistry》2010,16(3):337-351

This paper presents the results of two cruises in the Northern Gulf of Mexico in 2008 that investigated local and short-term factors influencing the carbonate chemistry dynamics and saturation state with respect to aragonite (Ω_aragonite) of surface seawater in this region. One cruise covered much of the northern half of the Gulf, and the other focused on the coastal zone west of the Atchafalaya Bay outlet of the Mississippi River—the region where the hypoxic “dead zone” occurs on the Louisiana shelf. Offshore waters (>100 m depth) exhibited only small variations in CO₂ fugacity (fCO₂), total alkalinity (TA) and Ω_aragonite. Values were close to those typically observed in subtropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea waters of similar salinity. However, inner shelf waters (<50 m depth) exhibited large variations in fCO₂, TA, and Ω_aragonite that were not directly related to salinity or distance from the Mississippi River plume. Changes in TA values were not the result of simple mixing of end-member freshwater and seawater TA concentrations but exhibited a minimum in values near salinity of 25. This minimum could be the result of microbial recycling across salinity gradients, biological removal of alkalinity by formation of calcium carbonate or mixing of a third end-member with a low alkalinity such as Terrebonne Bay. All waters were supersaturated with respect to aragonite. Offshore waters had an average Ω_aragonite of 3.86 with a standard deviation of only ±0.06 and inner shelf waters had a range in Ω_aragonite values from 3.9 to 9.7 with a median of 4.3. Shelf water Ω_aragonite values were elevated relative to the offshore as a consequence of both high TA input from Mississippi River and biological drawdown of CO₂. A dominant factor controlling Ω_aragonite distribution in offshore waters with relatively constant temperatures was fCO₂, with higher supersaturation occurring in areas with low fCO₂.  相似文献   

Using hyperspectral plant signatures for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> leak detection during the 2008 ZERT CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> sequestration field experiment in Bozeman,Montana   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Erin Jing Male  William L. Pickles  Eli A. Silver  Gary D. Hoffmann  Jennifer Lewicki  Martha Apple  Kevin Repasky  Elizabeth A. Burton 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2010,60(2):251-261

Hyperspectral plant signatures can be used as a short-term, as well as long-term (100-year timescale) monitoring technique to verify that CO₂ sequestration fields have not been compromised. An influx of CO₂ gas into the soil can stress vegetation, which causes changes in the visible to near-infrared reflectance spectral signature of the vegetation. For 29 days, beginning on July 9, 2008, pure carbon dioxide gas was released through a 100-m long horizontal injection well, at a flow rate of 300 kg day⁻¹. Spectral signatures were recorded almost daily from an unmown patch of plants over the injection with a “FieldSpec Pro” spectrometer by Analytical Spectral Devices, Inc. Measurements were taken both inside and outside of the CO₂ leak zone to normalize observations for other environmental factors affecting the plants. Four to five days after the injection began, stress was observed in the spectral signatures of plants within 1 m of the well. After approximately 10 days, moderate to high amounts of stress were measured out to 2.5 m from the well. This spatial distribution corresponded to areas of high CO₂ flux from the injection. Airborne hyperspectral imagery, acquired by Resonon, Inc. of Bozeman, MT using their hyperspectral camera, also showed the same pattern of plant stress. Spectral signatures of the plants were also compared to the CO₂ concentrations in the soil, which indicated that the lower limit of soil CO₂ needed to stress vegetation is between 4 and 8% by volume.  相似文献   

The disappearance of the 1667-MHz OH maser in IRAS 17436+5003 (HD 161796)     

I. Bains  J. A. Yates  T. M. Gledhill  A. M. S. Richards 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2003,346(3):L46-L50

We report the diminution of the 1667-MHz OH maser in the post-asymptotic giant branch star IRAS 17436+5003, by a factor of ≳17 over a period of ≲12 yr, from observations with MERLIN. This circumstellar maser was detected by Likkel in 1987, at the 13σ level of her observations with the Green Bank Telescope. We discuss a number of possible reasons for this phenomenon and conclude that it is most likely due to turbulence arising from interacting stellar winds.  相似文献   

Adaptive governance and the human dimensions of marine mammal management: Implications for policy in a changing North     

Chanda L. Meek  Amy Lauren Lovecraft  Riku Varjopuro  Martha Dowsley  Aaron T. Dale 《Marine Policy》2011

As climate change has driven dramatic changes in Northern sea ice regimes, marine mammals have gained iconic status around the world reflecting the perils of global warming. There is a tension between policies that have international support like a ban on seal hunting or whaling, and the adoption of adaptive, flexible rules that are likely to work in Northern places. Whereas most wildlife policy focuses on biological information to inform policy strategy, this analysis focuses on the “human dimensions” of Northern marine mammal management. This research examines ways in which human relationships and modes of governance affect conservation success. Standard analyses of risk to animal populations focused on direct sources of take are inadequate to address multi-causal, complex problems such as climate-induced habitat loss or increased industrialization of the Arctic Ocean. Early conservation policy strategies focusing on the moratorium of take have eliminated or reduced such practices as commercialized hunting and high levels of fisheries bycatch, but may be less relevant in an era in which habitats and climate changes are key drivers of population dynamics. This paper argues that effective adaptive policy requires new ways of learning about and governing human interactions with marine mammals. Through an exploration of marine mammal management in three Northern regions (Alaska, Nunavut, and the Finnish Baltic Sea coast), the paper analyzes the extent to which these marine mammal management regimes are practicing adaptive governance, that is, building cross-scale (local to international) understanding while allowing actors at the local scale the flexibility to direct the creation of rules that are ecologically robust and likely to succeed. Lessons are taken from these examples and used to propose selected policy and research recommendations for the marine mammal policy community.  相似文献   

Dissolved iron(III) speciation in the high latitude North Atlantic Ocean     

Khairul N. Mohamed  Sebastian Steigenberger  Maria C. Nielsdottir  Martha Gledhill  Eric P. Achterberg 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2011,58(11):1049-1059

On voyages in the Iceland Basin in 2007 and 2009, we observed low (ca. 0.1 nM) total dissolved iron concentrations [dFe] in surface waters (<150 m), which increased with depth to ca. 0.2–0.9 nM. The surface water [dFe] was low due to low atmospheric Fe inputs combined with biological uptake, with Fe regeneration from microbial degradation of settling biogenic particles supplying dFe at depth. The organic ligand concentrations [L_T] in the surface waters ranged between 0.4 and 0.5 nM, with conditional stability constants (log K′_FeL) between 22.6 and 22.7. Furthermore, [L_T] was in excess of [dFe] throughout the water column, and dFe was therefore largely complexed by organic ligands (>99%). The ratio of [L_T]/[dFe] was used to analyse trends in Fe speciation. Enhanced and variable [L_T]/[dFe] ratios ranging between 1.6 and 5.8 were observed in surface waters; the ratio decreased with depth to a more constant [L_T]/[dFe] ratio in deep waters. In the Iceland Basin and Rockall Trough, enhanced [L_T]/[dFe] ratios in surface waters resulted from decreases in [dFe], likely reflecting the conditions of Fe limitation of the phytoplankton community in the surface waters of the Iceland Basin and the high productivity in the Rockall Trough.Below the surface mixed layer, the observed increase in [dFe] resulted in a decrease of the [L_T]/[dFe] ratios (1.2–2.6) with depth. This indicated that the Fe binding ligand sites became occupied and even almost saturated at enhanced [dFe] in the deeper waters. Furthermore, our results showed a quasi-steady state in deep waters between dissolved organic Fe ligands and dFe, reflecting a balance between Fe removal by scavenging and Fe supply by remineralisation of biogenic particles with stabilisation through ligands.  相似文献   

Near-infrared echelle spectroscopy of protoplanetary nebulae: probing the fast wind in H₂     

C. J. Davis  M. D. Smith  T. M. Gledhill  W. P. Varricatt 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2005,360(1):104-118

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Anatomy of a closing window: Vulnerability to changing seasonality in Interior Alaska   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Shannon M. McNeeley  Martha D. Shulski 《Global Environmental Change》2011,21(2):464-473

Alaska is among the fastest warming places on Earth, and the Interior region is warming the most statewide. Significant regional-scale ecosystem services disruptions are affecting Alaska Natives’ subsistence hunting and harvest success. The well-being of rural native communities is still highly dependent on access and ability to harvest wild foods such as salmon and moose (Alces alces gigas) among many others. Over the last decade communities in the Koyukuk-Middle Yukon (KMY) region of Interior Alaska report an inability to satisfy their needs for harvesting moose before the hunting season closes, citing warmer falls, changing precipitation and water levels, and the regulatory framework as primary causes. Through the integration of ethnographic methods to record indigenous observations and understanding of climate (IC) with analysis of meteorological data, we provide a comprehensive picture of vulnerability to recent warming trends in the Koyukuk-Middle Yukon region of Interior Alaska, one that captures more than statistical analysis of “norms” can provide. We will demonstrate how low exposure resulting in a small shift in seasonality has truly socially significant effects to people “on the ground” when community sensitivity is high because of the convergence of multiple social-ecological stressors. In this case, a seemingly small climatic exposure when combined with high social-ecological system sensitivity results in vulnerability to this climate change-related seasonality shift because of: (a) the effects on moose and the social-ecological dynamics of the system, and (b) the importance of this time of the year to meeting annual subsistence needs.  相似文献   

Marine debris ingestion by Magellanic penguins, Spheniscus magellanicus (Aves: Sphenisciformes), from the Brazilian coastal zone     

Brandão ML  Braga KM  Luque JL 《Marine pollution bulletin》2011,62(10):2246-2249

Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) are non-breeding winter visitors to the Brazilian coast. In 2008 and 2010, plastic items and other marine debris were found in the stomachs and intestines of 15% of 175 dead penguins collected in the Lagos Region of the state of Rio de Janeiro. One bird had its stomach perforated by a plastic straw, which may have caused its death. There are few records of penguins ingesting plastic litter, but previous studies have found similar levels of debris ingestion among Magellanic penguins stranded on the Brazilian coast (35.8% of 397 birds). The high incidence of marine debris in this species in Brazil may result at least in part from the predominance of juveniles reaching these waters, as juvenile penguins may have a broader diet than adults. It is unclear to what extent plastic ingestion affects the mortality rate in this species and whether the incidence in stranded birds reflects that in the entire population. The present study addresses the increasing impact of plastic debris on marine life.  相似文献   

Post-glacial landscape response to climate variability in the southeastern San Juan Mountains of Colorado, USA     

Bradley G. Johnson  Martha Cary Eppes  John A. Diemer  Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno  Anthony L. Layzell 《Quaternary Research》2011,76(3):352-362

Geomorphic mapping in the upper Conejos River Valley of the San Juan Mountains has shown that three distinct periods of aggradation have occurred since the end of the last glacial maximum (LGM). The first occurred during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (~ 12.5–9.5 ka) and is interpreted as paraglacial landscape response to deglaciation after the LGM. Evidence of the second period of aggradation is limited but indicates a small pulse of sedimentation at ~ 5.5 ka. A third, more broadly identifiable period of sedimentation occurred in the late Holocene (~ 2.2–1 ka). The latest two periods of aggradation are concurrent with increases in the frequency of climate change in the region suggesting that Holocene alpine and sub-alpine landscapes respond more to rapid changes in climate than to large singular climatic swings. Soil development and radiocarbon dating indicate that hillslopes were stable during the Holocene even while aggradation was occurring in valley bottoms. Thus, we can conclude that erosion does not occur equally throughout the landscape but is focused upslope of headwater streams, along tributary channels, or on ridge tops. This is in contrast to some models which assume equal erosion in headwater basins.  相似文献   

September, 2012 landslide events in Okhimath, India—an assessment of landslide consequences using very high resolution satellite data   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Tapas R. Martha  K. Vinod Kumar 《Landslides》2013,10(4):469-479

The Okhimath area in the Uttarakhand state of India witnessed a large-scale occurrence of landslides on 14 September 2012 due to intense rainfall. As per news reports, this event resulted in the death of 51 people and a significant loss of property. In this study, the damage assessment results of the Okhimath landslides derived from the analysis of very high resolution (VHR) images received from Cartosat-2, Resourcesat-2, Kompsat-2 and GeoEye-1 satellites are presented. These datasets were acquired through a coordinated effort of the Indian Space Research Organisation and International Charter Space and Major Disasters. A total of 126 buildings, 34.5 ha of agricultural land and 7.78 km of road were identified as damaged through the VHR satellite data analysis. Using a semi-automatic landslide detection technique, 473 landslides covering a 2.25-km² area were also identified. Villages such as Mangali, Chunni, Brahman Kholi, Semla, Paldwadi, Saari and Giriyagaon are found to be most affected due to this event. The damage is mainly attributed to rock slides which originated in the escarpment zone which later converted to debris flows by scouring the material along the run-out zone.  相似文献