scholarly journals Isotopically “heavy” pyrite in marine sediments due to high sedimentation rates and non-steady-state deposition

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiarui Liu ◽  
Gilad Antler ◽  
André Pellerin ◽  
Gareth Izon ◽  
Ingrid Dohrmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Reactive Iron ◽  
Depositional Processes ◽  
Pyrite Formation ◽  
Ocean Chemistry ◽  
Sedimentary Pyrite

Sedimentary pyrite formation links the global biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur, and iron, which, in turn, modulate the redox state of the planet’s surficial environment over geological time scales. Accordingly, the sulfur isotopic composition (δ34S) of pyrite has been widely employed as a geochemical tool to probe the evolution of ocean chemistry. Characteristics of the depositional environment and post-depositional processes, however, can modify the δ34S signal that is captured in sedimentary pyrite and ultimately preserved in the geological record. Exploring sulfur and iron diagenesis within the Bornholm Basin, Baltic Sea, we find that higher sedimentation rates limit the near-surface sulfidization of reactive iron, facilitating its burial and hence the subsurface availability of reactive iron for continued and progressively more 34S-enriched sediment-hosted pyrite formation (δ34S ≈ –5‰). Using a diagenetic model, we show that the amount of pyrite formed at the sediment-water interface has increased over the past few centuries in response to expansion of water-column hypoxia, which also impacts the sulfur isotopic signature of pyrite at depth. This contribution highlights the critical role of reactive iron in pyrite formation and questions to what degree pyrite δ34S values truly reflect past global ocean chemistry and biogeochemical processes. This work strengthens our ability to extract local paleoenvironmental information from pyrite δ34S signatures.

scholarly journals Analysis of Urban Effects in Oklahoma City using a Dense Surface Observing Network

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 723-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ming Hu ◽  
Ming Xue ◽  
Petra M. Klein ◽  
Bradley G. Illston ◽  
Sheng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Central Business District ◽  
Temperature Inversion ◽  
Oklahoma City ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Business District

AbstractMany studies have investigated urban heat island (UHI) intensity for cities around the world, which is normally quantified as the temperature difference between urban location(s) and rural location(s). A few open questions still remain regarding the UHI, such as the spatial distribution of UHI intensity, temporal (including diurnal and seasonal) variation of UHI intensity, and the UHI formation mechanism. A dense network of atmospheric monitoring sites, known as the Oklahoma City (OKC) Micronet (OKCNET), was deployed in 2008 across the OKC metropolitan area. This study analyzes data from OKCNET in 2009 and 2010 to investigate OKC UHI at a subcity spatial scale for the first time. The UHI intensity exhibited large spatial variations over OKC. During both daytime and nighttime, the strongest UHI intensity is mostly confined around the central business district where land surface roughness is the highest in the OKC metropolitan area. These results do not support the roughness warming theory to explain the air temperature UHI in OKC. The UHI intensity of OKC increased prominently around the early evening transition (EET) and stayed at a fairly constant level throughout the night. The physical processes during the EET play a critical role in determining the nocturnal UHI intensity. The near-surface rural temperature inversion strength was a good indicator for nocturnal UHI intensity. As a consequence of the relatively weak near-surface rural inversion, the strongest nocturnal UHI in OKC was less likely to occur in summer. Other meteorological factors (e.g., wind speed and cloud) can affect the stability/depth of the nighttime boundary layer and can thus modulate nocturnal UHI intensity.

scholarly journals Sediment transport processes across the Tibetan Plateau inferred from robust grain-size end members in lake sediments

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Dietze ◽  
F. Maussion ◽  
M. Ahlborn ◽  
B. Diekmann ◽  
K. Hartmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Northerly Wind ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Depositional Processes ◽  
End Members

Abstract. Grain-size distributions offer powerful proxies of past environmental conditions that are related to sediment sorting processes. However, they are often of multimodal character because sediments can get mixed during deposition. To facilitate the use of grain size as palaeoenvironmental proxy, this study aims to distinguish the main detrital processes that contribute to lacustrine sedimentation across the Tibetan Plateau using grain-size end-member modelling analysis. Between three and five robust grain-size end-member subpopulations were distinguished at different sites from similarly–likely end-member model runs. Their main modes were grouped and linked to common sediment transport and depositional processes that can be associated with contemporary Tibetan climate (precipitation patterns and lake ice phenology, gridded wind and shear stress data from the High Asia Reanalysis) and local catchment configurations. The coarse sands and clays with grain-size modes >250 μm and <2 μm were probably transported by fluvial processes. Aeolian sands (~200 μm) and coarse local dust (~60 μm), transported by saltation and in near-surface suspension clouds, are probably related to occasional westerly storms in winter and spring. Coarse regional dust with modes ~25 μm may derive from near-by sources that keep in longer term suspension. The continuous background dust is differentiated into two robust end members (modes: 5–10 and 2–5 μm) that may represent different sources, wind directions and/or sediment trapping dynamics from long-range, upper-level westerly and episodic northerly wind transport. According to this study grain-size end members of only fluvial origin contribute small amounts to mean Tibetan lake sedimentation (19± 5%), whereas local to regional aeolian transport and background dust deposition dominate the clastic sedimentation in Tibetan lakes (contributions: 42 ± 14% and 51 ± 11%). However, fluvial and alluvial reworking of aeolian material from nearby slopes during summer seems to limit end-member interpretation and should be crosschecked with other proxy information. If not considered as a stand-alone proxy, a high transferability to other regions and sediment archives allows helpful reconstructions of past sedimentation history.

scholarly journals Hydrothermal Flux and Global Ocean Chemistry.

1995 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naotatsu SHIKAZONO
Keyword(s):  
Global Ocean ◽  
Ocean Chemistry

Machine learning analyses of remote sensing measurements establish strong relationships between vegetation and snow depth in the boreal forest of Interior Alaska

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Douglas ◽  
Caiyun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Lidar Measurements ◽  
Remote Sensing Methods

The seasonal snowpack plays a critical role in Arctic and boreal hydrologic and ecologic processes. Though snow depth can be different from one season to another there are repeated relationships between ecotype and snowpack depth. Alterations to the seasonal snowpack, which plays a critical role in regulating wintertime soil thermal conditions, have major ramifications for near-surface permafrost. Therefore, relationships between vegetation and snowpack depth are critical for identifying how present and projected future changes in winter season processes or land cover will affect permafrost. Vegetation and snow cover areal extent can be assessed rapidly over large spatial scales with remote sensing methods, however, measuring snow depth remotely has proven difficult. This makes snow depth–vegetation relationships a potential means of assessing snowpack characteristics. In this study, we combined airborne hyperspectral and LiDAR data with machine learning methods to characterize relationships between ecotype and the end of winter snowpack depth. Our results show hyperspectral measurements account for two thirds or more of the variance in the relationship between ecotype and snow depth. An ensemble analysis of model outputs using hyperspectral and LiDAR measurements yields the strongest relationships between ecotype and snow depth. Our results can be applied across the boreal biome to model the coupling effects between vegetation and snowpack depth.

scholarly journals Dome effect of black carbon and its key influencing factors: A one-dimensional modelling study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilin Wang ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Aijun Ding
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Haze Pollution ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) has been identified to play a critical role in aerosol-planet boundary layer (PBL) interaction and further deterioration of near-surface air pollution in megacities, which has been named as its dome effect. However, the impacts of key factors that influence this effect, such as the vertical distribution and aging processes of BC, and also the underlying land surface, have not been quantitatively explored yet. Here, based on available in-situ measurements of meteorology and atmospheric aerosols together with the meteorology-chemistry online coupled model, WRF-Chem, we conduct a set of parallel simulations to quantify the roles of these factors in influencing the BC's dome effect and surface haze pollution, and discuss the main implications of the results to air pollution mitigation in China. We found that the impact of BC on PBL is very sensitive to the altitude of aerosol layer. The upper level BC, especially those near the capping inversion, is more essential in suppressing the PBL height and weakening the turbulence mixing. The dome effect of BC tends to be significantly intensified as BC aerosol mixed with scattering aerosols during winter haze events, resulting in a decrease of PBL height by more than 25 %. In addition, the dome effect is more substantial (up to 15 %) in rural areas than that in the urban areas with the same BC loading, indicating an unexpected regional impact of such kind of effect to air quality in countryside. This study suggests that China's regional air pollution would greatly benefit from BC emission reductions, especially those from the elevated sources from the chimneys and also the domestic combustions in rural areas, through weakening the aerosol-boundary layer interactions that triggered by BC.

scholarly journals Near–surface air temperature and snow skin temperature comparison from CREST-SAFE station data with MODIS land surface temperature data

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 7665-7687 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Pérez Díaz ◽  
T. Lakhankar ◽  
P. Romanov ◽  
J. Muñoz ◽  
R. Khanbilvardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Land Surface Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Near Surface

Abstract. Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a key variable (commonly studied to understand the hydrological cycle) that helps drive the energy balance and water exchange between the Earth's surface and its atmosphere. One observable constituent of much importance in the land surface water balance model is snow. Snow cover plays a critical role in the regional to global scale hydrological cycle because rain-on-snow with warm air temperatures accelerates rapid snow-melt, which is responsible for the majority of the spring floods. Accurate information on near-surface air temperature (T-air) and snow skin temperature (T-skin) helps us comprehend the energy and water balances in the Earth's hydrological cycle. T-skin is critical in estimating latent and sensible heat fluxes over snow covered areas because incoming and outgoing radiation fluxes from the snow mass and the air temperature above make it different from the average snowpack temperature. This study investigates the correlation between MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST data and observed T-air and T-skin data from NOAA-CREST-Snow Analysis and Field Experiment (CREST-SAFE) for the winters of 2013 and 2014. LST satellite validation is imperative because high-latitude regions are significantly affected by climate warming and there is a need to aid existing meteorological station networks with the spatially continuous measurements provided by satellites. Results indicate that near-surface air temperature correlates better than snow skin temperature with MODIS LST data. Additional findings show that there is a negative trend demonstrating that the air minus snow skin temperature difference is inversely proportional to cloud cover. To a lesser extent, it will be examined whether the surface properties at the site are representative for the LST properties within the instrument field of view.

scholarly journals Interannual response of global ocean hindcasts to a satellite-based correction of precipitation fluxes

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 611-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Storto ◽  
I. Russo ◽  
S. Masina
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Surface Current ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Convergence Zones ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Spatially Varying ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. We present a methodology to correct precipitation fluxes from the ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis (ERA-Interim) for oceanographic applications. The correction is performed by means of a spatially varying monthly climatological coefficient, computed within the period 1989–2008 by comparison between ERA-Interim and a satellite-based passive microwave precipitation product. ERA-Interim exhibits a systematic over-estimation of precipitation within the inter-tropical convergence zones (up to 3 mm d−1) and under-estimation at mid- and high- latitudes (up to −4 mm d−1). The correction has been validated within eddy-permitting resolution global ocean hindcasts (1989–2009), demonstrating the ability of our strategy in attenuating the 20-yr mean global EMP negative imbalance by 16%, reducing the near-surface salinity fresh bias in the Tropics up to 1 psu and improving the representation of the sea level interannual variability, with an SSH error decrease of 8%. The ocean circulation is also proved to benefit from the correction, especially in correspondence of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, where the error in the near-surface current speed decreases by a 9%. Finally, we show that the correction leads to volume and freshwater transports that better agree with independent estimates.

Evaluating Met Office uncoupled and coupled forecasts during the Iceland Greenland Seas Project field campaign in 2018

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Barrell ◽  
Ian Renfrew ◽  
Steven Abel ◽  
Andrew Elvidge ◽  
John King
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Field Campaign ◽  
Important Region

&lt;div&gt; &lt;p&gt;During a cold-air outbreak (CAO) a cold polar airmass flows from the frozen land or ice surface, over the marginal ice zone (MIZ), then out over the comparatively warm open ocean. This constitutes a dramatic change in surface temperature, roughness and moisture availability, typically causing rapid change in the atmospheric boundary layer.&amp;#160;Consequently, CAOs are associated with a range of severe mesoscale weather phenomena and accurate forecasting is crucial.&amp;#160;Over the Nordic Seas CAOs also play a vital role in global ocean circulation, causing densification and sinking of ocean waters that form the headwaters of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;p&gt;To tackle the lack of observations during wintertime CAOs and improve scientific understanding in this important region, the Iceland Greenland Seas Project (IGP) undertook an extensive field campaign during February and March 2018. Aiming to&amp;#160;characterise&amp;#160;the atmospheric forcing and the ocean response, particularly in and around the MIZ, the IGP made coordinated ocean-atmosphere measurements, involving a research vessel, a research aircraft, a meteorological buoy, moorings, sea gliders and floats.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;p&gt;The work presented here employs these novel observational data to evaluate&amp;#160;output&amp;#160;from&amp;#160;the&amp;#160;UK&amp;#160;Met Office global operational&amp;#160;forecasting&amp;#160;system&amp;#160;and&amp;#160;from a pre-operational&amp;#160;coupled&amp;#160;ocean-ice-atmosphere&amp;#160;system.&amp;#160;The Met Office aim to transition to a coupled operational forecast in the coming years,&amp;#160;thus&amp;#160;verification of model versions in development is&amp;#160;essential. Results show&amp;#160;that&amp;#160;this&amp;#160;coupled model&amp;#8217;s&amp;#160;sea ice is&amp;#160;generally&amp;#160;more accurate&amp;#160;than&amp;#160;a persistent field.&amp;#160;However,&amp;#160;it&amp;#160;can also suffer from cold-biased sea surface temperatures around the MIZ,&amp;#160;which influences&amp;#160;the modelled near-surface meteorology.&amp;#160;Both these effects demonstrate the crucial importance of accurate sea ice simulation in coupled&amp;#160;model forecasting&amp;#160;in the&amp;#160;high latitudes. Hence,&amp;#160;an ice edge metric is then used to quantify the accuracy of&amp;#160;the coupled model MIZ edge at two ocean grid resolutions.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt;

Ocean Salinity changes in the global ocean under global warming conditions Part 1: Mechanisms in a strong warming scenario

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-56
Author(s):  
Anju Sathyanarayanan ◽  
Armin Köhl ◽  
Detlef Stammer
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Dynamical Response ◽  
Freshwater Flux ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Salinity Changes ◽  
Circulation Changes

AbstractWe investigate mechanisms underlying salinity changes projected to occur under strong representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 forcing conditions. The study is based on output of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model Mixed Resolution (MPI-ESM-MR) run with an ocean resolution of 0.4°. In comparison to the present-day oceanic conditions, sea surface salinity (SSS) increases towards the end of the 21st century in the tropical and the subtropical Atlantic. In contrast, a basin-wide surface freshening can be observed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The RCP8.5 scenario of the MPI-ESM-MR with a global surface warming of ~2.3°C marks a water cycle amplification of 19 %, which is equivalent to ~8%°C−1 and thus close to the water cycle amplification predicted according to the Clausius–Clapeyron (CC) relationship (~7%°C−1). Large scale global SSS changes are driven by adjustments of surface freshwater fluxes. On smaller spatial scales, it is predominantly advection related to circulation changes that affects near-surface SSS. With respect to subsurface salinity, it is changes in surface freshwater flux that drive their changes over the upper 500 m of the subtropical Pacific and Indian oceans by forcing changes in water mass formation (spice signal). In the subtropical Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the dynamical response associated with wind stress, circulation changes and associated heaving of isopycnals is equally important in driving subsurface salinity changes over the upper 1000 m.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Upper Indus Near-Surface Climate Representation by WRF in the High Asia Refined Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. W. Pritchard ◽  
Nathan Forsythe ◽  
Hayley J. Fowler ◽  
Greg M. O’Donnell ◽  
Xiao-Feng Li
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Cold Bias ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
High Asia ◽  
High Bias

Abstract Data paucity is a severe barrier to the characterization of Himalayan near-surface climates. Regional climate modeling can help to fill this gap, but the resulting data products need critical evaluation before use. This study aims to extend the appraisal of one such dataset, the High Asia Refined Analysis (HAR). Focusing on the upper Indus basin (UIB), the climatologies of variables needed for process-based hydrological and cryospheric modeling are evaluated, leading to three main conclusions. First, precipitation in the 10-km HAR product shows reasonable correspondence with most in situ measurements. It is also generally consistent with observed runoff, while additionally reproducing the UIB’s strong vertical precipitation gradients. Second, the HAR shows seasonally varying bias patterns. A cold bias in temperature peaks in spring but reduces in summer, at which time the high bias in relative humidity diminishes. These patterns are concurrent with summer overestimation (underestimation) of incoming shortwave (longwave) radiation. Finally, these seasonally varying biases are partly related to deficiencies in cloud, snow, and albedo representations. In particular, insufficient cloud cover in summer leads to the overestimation of incoming shortwave radiation. This contributes to the reduced cold bias in summer by enhancing surface warming. A persistent high bias in albedo also plays a critical role, particularly by suppressing surface heating in spring. Improving representations of cloud, snow cover, and albedo, and thus their coupling with seasonal climate transitions, would therefore help build upon the considerable potential shown by the HAR to fill a vital data gap in this immensely important basin.

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