The impact of salt water inflows on the distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the deep water of the Baltic Sea     

Gesine Witt  Wolfgang Matthus 《Marine Chemistry》2001,74(4):246

Salt-water inflows into the Baltic Sea are important events for renewing the deep and bottom waters of the deep basins of the Baltic Sea. These events occur only at irregular intervals. The last strong event was in January 1993 followed by minor inflows in winter 1993/1994. As a result of these inflows, the deep water of the central Baltic basins was completely renewed.Based on extensive observations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water, fluffy layer material and surface sediments between 1992 and 1998, the transformation of PAHs and the modification of their distribution in the Baltic deep water is discussed in connection with the spreading of the inflowing highly saline and oxygen-rich water along its pathway from the sills into the central basins. In the course of the inflows in 1993/1994, the PAH concentration in the deep water of the different basins increased significantly. The concentrations were elevated, at least by a factor of 2 and as much as seven to eight times (for the four-ring PAHs) compared to the previous and the following years. Two hypotheses for the causes were discussed: the inflowing salt water may have entrained more highly polluted surface water in the western Baltic Sea, or it may have entrained contaminated fluffy layer material or sediment particles along the route of transport.  相似文献   

Trends in the solubility of iron,aluminium, manganese and phosphorus in aerosol collected over the Atlantic Ocean     

A.R. Baker  T.D. Jickells  M. Witt  K.L. Linge 《Marine Chemistry》2006

The solubility of iron, aluminium, manganese and phosphorus has been determined in aerosol samples collected between 49°N and 52°S during three cruises conducted in the Atlantic Ocean as part of the European Union funded IRONAGES programme. Solubilities (defined at pH 4.7) determined for Fe and Al in samples of Saharan dust were significantly lower (medians 1.7% and 3.0%, respectively) than the solubilities of these metals in aerosols from other source regions (whole dataset medians 5.2% and 9.0%, respectively). Mn solubility also varied with aerosol source, but the median solubility of Mn in Saharan dust was very similar to the median for the dataset as a whole (55% and 56%, respectively). The observed solubility of aerosol P was ∼ 32%, with P solubility in Saharan aerosol perhaps as low as 10%. Laboratory studies have indicated that aerosol Fe solubility is enhanced by acid processing. No relationship could be found between Fe solubility and the concentrations of acid species (non-seasalt SO₄²⁻, NO₃⁻) nor the net acidity of the aerosol, so we are unable to confirm that this process is significant in the atmosphere. In terms of the supply of soluble Fe to oceanic ecosystems on a global scale, the observed higher solubility for Fe in non-Saharan aerosols is probably not significant because the Sahara is easily the dominant source of Fe to the Atlantic. On a smaller scale however, higher solubility for aerosol Fe may alter our understanding of Fe cycling in regions such as the remote Southern Ocean.  相似文献   

Molecular formulae of marine and terrigenous dissolved organic matter detected by electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry     

Boris P. Koch  Matthias Witt  Thorsten Dittmar 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2005,69(13):3299-3308

The chemical structure of refractory marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is still largely unknown. Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI FT-ICR-MS) was used to resolve the complex mixtures of DOM and provide valuable information on elemental compositions on a molecular scale. We characterized and compared DOM from two sharply contrasting aquatic environments, algal-derived DOM from the Weddell Sea (Antarctica) and terrigenous DOM from pore water of a tropical mangrove area in northern Brazil. Several thousand molecular formulas in the mass range of 300-600 Da were identified and reproduced in element ratio plots. On the basis of molecular elemental composition and double-bond equivalents (DBE) we calculated an average composition for marine DOM. O/C ratios in the marine samples were lower (0.36 ± 0.01) than in the mangrove pore-water sample (0.42). A small proportion of chemical formulas with higher molecular mass in the marine samples were characterized by very low O/C and H/C ratios probably reflecting amphiphilic properties. The average number of unsaturations in the marine samples was surprisingly high (DBE = 9.9; mangrove pore water: DBE = 9.4) most likely due to a significant contribution of carbonyl carbon. There was no significant difference in elemental composition between surface and deep-water DOM in the Weddell Sea. Although there were some molecules with unique marine elemental composition, there was a conspicuous degree of similarity between the terrigenous and algal-derived end members. Approximately one third of the molecular formulas were present in all marine as well as in the mangrove samples. We infer that different forms of microbial degradation ultimately lead to similar structural features that are intrinsically refractory, independent of the source of the organic matter and the environmental conditions where degradation took place.  相似文献   

A measurement of the O₂ ultra-violet nightglow emission     

E.J. Llewellyn  B.H. Solheim  J. Stegman  G. Witt 《Planetary and Space Science》1979,27(12):1507-1511

New measurements of the Herzberg I emission height profile in the night airglow are reported and indicate a peak emission height near 96 km in agreement with previous measurements. Using an atomic oxygen concentration profile determined from the oxygen green line profile measured on the same rocket it is concluded that the O₂(A³Σ_u⁺) state is not excited in the direct three body recombination of atomic oxygen. It is suggested that the excitation mechanism is a two step process, similar to the Barth mechanism for the atomic oxygen green lineand that the excited intermediate state is C³Δ_u.  相似文献   

The influence of central black holes on gravitational lenses     

Shude Mao  Hans J. Witt  Leon V. E. Koopmans 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,323(2):301-307

Recent observations indicate that many if not all galaxies host massive central black holes. In this paper we explore the influence of black holes on the lensing properties. We model the lens as an isothermal ellipsoid with a finite core radius plus a central black hole. We show that the presence of the black hole substantially changes the critical curves and caustics. If the black hole mass is above a critical value, then it will completely suppress the central images for all source positions. Realistic central black holes are likely to have masses below this critical value. Even in such subcritical cases, the black hole can suppress the central image when the source is inside a zone of influence, which depends on the core radius and black hole mass. In the subcritical cases, an additional image may be created by the black hole in some regions, which for some radio lenses may be detectable with high-resolution and large dynamic range VLBI maps. The presence of central black holes should also be taken into account when one constrains the core radius from the lack of central images in gravitational lenses.  相似文献   

Extremely red galaxies: dust attenuation and classification     

D. Pierini  C. Maraston  R. Bender  A. N. Witt 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2004,347(1):1-16

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Quantification of Long-Range Persistence in Geophysical Time Series: Conventional and Benchmark-Based Improvement Techniques     

Annette Witt  Bruce D. Malamud 《Surveys in Geophysics》2013,34(5):541-651

Time series in the Earth Sciences are often characterized as self-affine long-range persistent, where the power spectral density, S, exhibits a power-law dependence on frequency, f, S(f) ~ f ^?β , with β the persistence strength. For modelling purposes, it is important to determine the strength of self-affine long-range persistence β as precisely as possible and to quantify the uncertainty of this estimate. After an extensive review and discussion of asymptotic and the more specific case of self-affine long-range persistence, we compare four common analysis techniques for quantifying self-affine long-range persistence: (a) rescaled range (R/S) analysis, (b) semivariogram analysis, (c) detrended fluctuation analysis, and (d) power spectral analysis. To evaluate these methods, we construct ensembles of synthetic self-affine noises and motions with different (1) time series lengths N = 64, 128, 256, …, 131,072, (2) modelled persistence strengths β _model = ?1.0, ?0.8, ?0.6, …, 4.0, and (3) one-point probability distributions (Gaussian, log-normal: coefficient of variation c _v = 0.0 to 2.0, Levy: tail parameter a = 1.0 to 2.0) and evaluate the four techniques by statistically comparing their performance. Over 17,000 sets of parameters are produced, each characterizing a given process; for each process type, 100 realizations are created. The four techniques give the following results in terms of systematic error (bias = average performance test results for β over 100 realizations minus modelled β) and random error (standard deviation of measured β over 100 realizations): (1) Hurst rescaled range (R/S) analysis is not recommended to use due to large systematic errors. (2) Semivariogram analysis shows no systematic errors but large random errors for self-affine noises with 1.2 ≤ β ≤ 2.8. (3) Detrended fluctuation analysis is well suited for time series with thin-tailed probability distributions and for persistence strengths of β ≥ 0.0. (4) Spectral techniques perform the best of all four techniques: for self-affine noises with positive persistence (β ≥ 0.0) and symmetric one-point distributions, they have no systematic errors and, compared to the other three techniques, small random errors; for anti-persistent self-affine noises (β < 0.0) and asymmetric one-point probability distributions, spectral techniques have small systematic and random errors. For quantifying the strength of long-range persistence of a time series, benchmark-based improvements to the estimator predicated on the performance for self-affine noises with the same time series length and one-point probability distribution are proposed. This scheme adjusts for the systematic errors of the considered technique and results in realistic 95 % confidence intervals for the estimated strength of persistence. We finish this paper by quantifying long-range persistence (and corresponding uncertainties) of three geophysical time series—palaeotemperature, river discharge, and Auroral electrojet index—with the three representing three different types of probability distribution—Gaussian, log-normal, and Levy, respectively.  相似文献   

Origins of archaeal tetraether lipids in sediments: Insights from radiocarbon analysis     

Sunita R. Shah  Gesine Mollenhauer  Timothy I. Eglinton 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2008,72(18):4577-4594

Understanding the supply and preservation of glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) in marine sediments helps inform their use in paleoceanography. Compound-specific radiocarbon measurements of sedimentary alkenones from multiple environments have been used to gain insight into processes that affect paleotemperature reconstructions. Similar analyses are warranted to investigate how analogous processes affecting GDGTs impact TEX₈₆ paleotemperatures. Here we present radiocarbon measurements on individual GDGTs from Bermuda Rise and Santa Monica Basin sediments and discuss the results in the context of previous studies of co-depositional alkenones and foraminifera. The ¹⁴C contents of GDGTs and planktonic foraminifera in Bermuda Rise are very similar, suggesting a local source; and TEX₈₆-derived temperatures agree more closely with foraminiferal temperatures than do temperatures. In contrast, GDGTs in Santa Monica Basin are depleted in ¹⁴C relative to both alkenones and foraminifera, and TEX₈₆ temperatures agree poorly with known surface water values. We propose three possible factors that could explain these results: (i) GDGTs may be labile relative to alkenones during advective transport through oxic waters; (ii) archaeal production deep in the water column may contribute ¹⁴C-depleted GDGTs to sediments; and (iii) some GDGTs also may derive from sedimentary archaeal communities. Each of these three processes is likely to occur with varying relative importance depending on geographic location. The latter two may help to explain why TEX₈₆ temperature reconstructions from Santa Monica Basin do not appear to reflect actual sea surface temperatures. Terrigenous GDGTs are unlikely to be major contributors to Bermuda Rise or Santa Monica Basin sediments, based on values of the BIT index. The results also indicate that the crenarchaeol regioisomer is governed by processes different from other GDGTs. Individual measurements of the crenarchaeol regioisomer are significantly depleted in ¹⁴C relative to co-occurring GDGTs, indicating an alternative origin for this compound that presently remains unknown. Re-examination of the contribution of crenarchaeol regioisomer to the TEX₈₆ index shows that it is a significant influence on the sensitivity of temperature reconstructions.  相似文献   

The 8.2 ka event: Evidence for seasonal differences and the rate of climate change in western Europe     

Sushma Prasad  Annette Witt  Ulrike Kienel  Peter Dulski  Eva Bauer  Gergana Yancheva 《Global and Planetary Change》2009,67(3-4):218-226

Recent studies have drawn attention to differences in the seasonal impact of the 8.2 ka event, with longer cooler summers and shorter cooler/drier winters. However, there are no data available on the simultaneity or the rate of onset of the seasonal changes in Europe. Based on the microfacies and geochemical analyses of seasonally laminated varved sediments from Holzmaar, we present evidence of differences in duration and onset time of changes in summer temperature and winter rainfall during the 8.2 ka event. Since both summer and winter climate signals are co-registered within a single varve, there can be no ambiguity about the phasing and duration of the signals. Our data show that the onset and withdrawal of the 8.2 ka summer cooling occurred within a year, and that summer rains were reduced or absent during the investigated period. The onset of cooler summers preceded the onset of winter dryness by ca. 28 years. In view of the differences in nature and duration of the impact of the 8.2 ka event we suggest that a clearer definition of the 8.2 ka event (summer cooling or winter cooling/dryness) needs to be developed. Based on regional comparison and available modelling studies we also discuss the roles of solar variability, changes in North Atlantic Thermohaline circulation, and North Atlantic Circulation (NAO) during the period under consideration. Wavelet analyses of seasonal laminae indicates that the longer NAO cycles, linked to changes in the N. Atlantic temperatures, were more frequent during the drier periods.  相似文献   

The Consequences of the Oder Flood in 1997 on the Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Oder River     

Gesine Witt  Peter Gründler 《洁净——土壤、空气、水》2005,33(4):301-314

Changes in the levels and spatial distribution of PAHs as a consequence of the Oder flood in the summer of 1997 were investigated in post‐flood sediments from the Oder River and the Oder Lagoon. The aim of this study was to identify sources of the PAH pollution and in particular investigate polluted sites (“hot spots”) in the most highly suspected locations of the drainage area. Molecular indices based on isomeric PAH ratios and the ratio of the parent PAHs to methylated PAHs were used to distinguish between the pollution sources. Elevated levels of PAHs were discovered in the post‐flood sediments of the Oder River in comparison to the average regional values. Elevated concentrations of PAHs were also found in fluffy layer samples taken from the Oder Lagoon and the Pomeranian Bight in late August. The highest concentrations of PAHs were observed near power plants or roads with heavy traffic. Most of the contamination originates from high temperature pyrogenic sources with some slight overlays of petrogenic sources. These increased concentrations of pyrogenic origin may be attributable to flooding of municipal and industrial waste disposal areas in the Oder River drainage.  相似文献