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USGS1998

Effect of interannual climate variability on carbon storage in Amazonian ecosystems

The Amazon Basin contains almost one-half of the world's undisturbed tropical evergreen forest as well as large areas of tropical savanna. The forests account for about 10 per cent of the world's terrestrial primary productivity and for a similar fraction of the carbon stored in land ecosystems, and short-term field measurements suggest that these ecosystems are globally important carbon sinks. But tropical land ecosystems have experienced substantial interannual climate variability owing to frequent El Nino episodes in recent decades. Of particular importance to climate change policy is how such climate variations, coupled with increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration, affect terrestrial carbon storage. Previous model analyses have demonstrated the importance of temperature in controlling carbon storage. Here we use a transient process-based biogeochemical model of terrestrial ecosystems to investigate interannual variations of carbon storage in undisturbed Amazonian ecosystems in response to climate variability and increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration during the period 1980 to 1994. In El Nino years, which bring hot, dry weather to much of the Amazon region, the ecosystems act as a source of carbon to the atmosphere (up to 0.2 petagrams of carbon in 1987 and 1992). In other years, these ecosystems act as a carbon sink (up to 0.7 Pg C in 1981 and 1993). These fluxes are large; they compare to a 0.3 Pg C per year source to the atmosphere associated with deforestation in the Amazon Basin in the early 1990s. Soil moisture, which is affected by both precipitation and temperature, and which affects both plant and soil processes, appears to be an important control on carbon storage.

Nature↗

USGS2005

Release of volatiles from a possible cryovolcano from near-infrared imaging of Titan

Titan is the only satellite in our Solar System with a dense atmosphere. The surface pressure is 1.5 bar (ref. 1) and, similar to the Earth, N 2 is the main component of the atmosphere. Methane is the second most important component, but it is photodissociated on a timescale of 10 years (ref. 3). This short timescale has led to the suggestion that Titan may possess a surface or subsurface reservoir of hydrocarbons to replenish the atmosphere. Here we report near-infrared images of Titan obtained on 26 October 2004 by the Cassini spacecraft. The images show that a widespread methane ocean does not exist; subtle albedo variations instead suggest topographical variations, as would be expected for a more solid (perhaps icy) surface. We also find a circular structure ???30 km in diameter that does not resemble any features seen on other icy satellites. We propose that the structure is a dome formed by upwelling icy plumes that release methane into Titan's atmosphere.

Nature↗

USGS2015

Large divergence of satellite and Earth system model estimates of global terrestrial CO 2 fertilization

Atmospheric mass balance analyses suggest that terrestrial carbon (C) storage is increasing, partially abating the atmospheric [CO 2 ] growth rate , although the continued strength of this important ecosystem service remains uncertain . Some evidence suggests that these increases will persist owing to positive responses of vegetation growth (net primary productivity; NPP) to rising atmospheric [CO 2 ] (that is, ‘CO 2 fertilization ’ ) . Here, we present a new satellite-derived global terrestrial NPP data set , which shows a significant increase in NPP from 1982 to 2011. However, comparison against Earth system model (ESM) NPP estimates reveals a significant divergence, with satellite-derived increases (2.8 ± 1.50%) less than half of ESM-derived increases (7.6   ±   1.67%) over the 30-year period. By isolating the CO 2 fertilization effect in each NPP time series and comparing it against a synthesis of available free-air CO 2 enrichment data , we provide evidence that much of the discrepancy may be due to an over-sensitivity of ESMs to atmospheric [CO 2 ], potentially reflecting an under-representation of climatic feedbacks and/or a lack of representation of nutrient constraints . Our understanding of CO 2 fertilization effects on NPP needs rapid improvement to enable more accurate projections of future C cycle–climate feedbacks; we contend that better integration of modelling, satellite and experimental approaches offers a promising way forward.

Nature Climate Change↗

USGS2009

Earth system sensitivity inferred from Pliocene modelling and data

Quantifying the equilibrium response of global temperatures to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is one of the cornerstones of climate research. Components of the Earths climate system that vary over long timescales, such as ice sheets and vegetation, could have an important effect on this temperature sensitivity, but have often been neglected. Here we use a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to simulate the climate of the mid-Pliocene warm period (about three million years ago), and analyse the forcings and feedbacks that contributed to the relatively warm temperatures. Furthermore, we compare our simulation with proxy records of mid-Pliocene sea surface temperature. Taking these lines of evidence together, we estimate that the response of the Earth system to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is 30-50% greater than the response based on those fast-adjusting components of the climate system that are used traditionally to estimate climate sensitivity. We conclude that targets for the long-term stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations aimed at preventing a dangerous human interference with the climate system should take into account this higher sensitivity of the Earth system. ?? 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Nature Geoscience↗

USGS2024

Explosive 2018 eruptions at Kīlauea driven by a collapse-induced stomp-rocket mechanism

Explosive volcanic eruptions produce hazardous atmospheric plumes composed of tephra particles, hot gas and entrained air. Such eruptions are generally driven by magmatic fragmentation or steam expansion. However, an eruption mechanism outside this phreatic–magmatic spectrum was suggested by a sequence of 12 explosive eruptions in May 2018 at Kīlauea, Hawaii, that occurred during the early stages of caldera collapse and produced atmospheric plumes reaching 8 km above the vent. Here we use seismic inversions for reservoir pressure as a source condition for three-dimensional simulations of transient multiphase eruptive plume ascent through a conduit and stratified atmosphere. We compare the simulations with conduit ascent times inferred from seismic and infrasound data, and with plume heights from radar data. We find that the plumes are consistent with eruptions caused by a stomp-rocket mechanism involving the abrupt subsidence of reservoir roof rock that increased pressure in the underlying magma reservoir. In our model, the reservoir was overlain by a pocket of accumulated high-temperature magmatic gas and lithic debris, which were driven through a conduit approximately 600 m long to erupt particles at rates of around 3,000 m 3 s −1 . Our results reveal a distinct collapse-driven type of eruption and provide a framework for integrating diverse geophysical and atmospheric data with simulations to gain a better understanding of unsteady explosive eruptions.

Hawaii↗

USGS2022

In situ recording of Mars soundscape

Prior to the Perseverance rover landing, the acoustic environment of Mars was unknown. Models predicted that: (i) atmospheric turbulence changes at centimeter scales or smaller at the point where molecular viscosity converts kinetic energy into heat 1 , (ii) the speed of sound varies at the surface with frequency 2,3 , and (iii) high frequency waves are strongly attenuated with distance in CO 2 2–4 . However, theoretical models were uncertain because of a lack of experimental data at low pressure, and the difficulty to characterize turbulence or attenuation in a closed environment. Here using Perseverance microphone recordings, we present the first characterization of Mars’ acoustic environment and pressure fluctuations in the audible range and beyond, from 20 Hz to 50 kHz. We find that atmospheric sounds extend measurements of pressure variations down to 1,000 times smaller scales than ever observed before, revealing a dissipative regime extending over 5 orders of magnitude in energy. Using point sources of sound (Ingenuity rotorcraft, laser-induced sparks), we highlight two distinct values for the speed of sound that are ~10 m/s apart below and above 240 Hz, a unique characteristic of low-pressure CO 2 -dominated atmosphere. We also provide the acoustic attenuation with distance above 2 kHz, allowing us to elucidate the large contribution of the CO 2 vibrational relaxation in the audible range. These results establish a ground truth for modelling of acoustic processes, which is critical for studies in atmospheres like Mars and Venus ones.

Nature↗

USGS2019

Marine fog inputs appear to increase methylmercury bioaccumulation in a coastal terrestrial food web

Coastal marine atmospheric fog has recently been implicated as a potential source of ocean-derived monomethylmercury (MMHg) to coastal terrestrial ecosystems through the process of sea-to-land advection of foggy air masses followed by wet deposition. This study examined whether pumas ( Puma concolor ) in coastal central California, USA, and their associated food web, have elevated concentrations of MMHg, which could be indicative of their habitat being in a region that is regularly inundated with marine fog. We found that adult puma fur and fur-normalized whiskers in our marine fog-influenced study region had a mean (±SE) total Hg (THg) (a convenient surrogate for MMHg) concentration of 1544 ± 151 ng g −1 (N = 94), which was three times higher ( P < 0.01) than mean THg in comparable samples from inland areas of California (492 ± 119 ng g −1 , N = 18). Pumas in California eat primarily black-tailed and/or mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ), and THg in deer fur from the two regions was also significantly different (coastal 28.1 ± 2.9, N = 55, vs. inland 15.5 ± 1.5 ng g −1 , N = 40). We suggest that atmospheric deposition of MMHg through fog may be contributing to this pattern, as we also observed significantly higher MMHg concentrations in lace lichen ( Ramalina menziesii ), a deer food and a bioindicator of atmospheric deposition, at sites with the highest fog frequencies. At these ocean-facing sites, deer samples had significantly higher THg concentrations compared to those from more inland bay-facing sites. Our results suggest that fog-borne MMHg, while likely a small fraction of Hg in all atmospheric deposition, may contribute, disproportionately, to the bioaccumulation of Hg to levels that approach toxicological thresholds in at least one apex predator. As global mercury levels increase, coastal food webs may be at risk to the toxicological effects of increased methylmercury burdens.

California↗

USGS2024

Oxidation is a potentially significant methane sink in land-terminating glacial runoff

Globally, aquatic ecosystems are one of the largest but most uncertain sources of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It is unclear how climate change will affect methane emissions, but recent work suggests that glacial systems, which are melting faster with climate change, may be an important source of methane to the atmosphere. Currently, studies quantifying glacial emissions are limited in number, and the role of methanotrophy, or microbial methane oxidizers, in reducing atmospheric emissions from source and receiving waters is not well known. Here we discuss three potential sites for methane oxidation that could mitigate emissions from glaciers into the atmosphere: under ice oxidation, oxidation within proglacial lakes, and oxidation within melt rivers. The research presented here increases the number of glacial sites with methane concentration data and is one of only a few studies to quantify the net microbial activity of methane production and oxidation in two types of land-terminating glacial runoff (lake and river). We find that oxidation in a glacial river may reduce atmospheric methane emissions from glacial melt by as much as 53%. Incorporating methane oxidation in estimates of glacial methane emissions may significantly reduce the estimated magnitude of this source in budgeting exercises.

Scientific Reports↗

USGS2001

Temporal coherence of two alpine lake basins of the Colorado Front Range, USA

1. Knowledge of synchrony in trends is important to determining regional responses of lakes to disturbances such as atmospheric deposition and climate change. We explored the temporal coherence of physical and chemical characteristics of two series of mostly alpine lakes in nearby basins of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Using year-to-year variation over a 10-year period, we asked whether lakes more similar in exposure to the atmosphere be-haved more similarly than those with greater influence of catchment or in-lake processes. 2. The Green Lakes Valley and Loch Vale Watershed are steeply incised basins with strong altitudinal gradients. There are glaciers at the heads of each catchment. The eight lakes studied are small, shallow and typically ice-covered for more than half the year. Snowmelt is the dominant hydrological event each year, flushing about 70% of the annual discharge from each lake between April and mid-July. The lakes do not thermally stratify during the period of open water. Data from these lakes included surface water temper-ature, sulphate, nitrate, calcium, silica, bicarbonate alkalinity and conductivity. 3. Coherence was estimated by Pearson's correlation coefficient between lake pairs for each of the different variables. Despite close geographical proximity, there was not a strong direct signal from climatic or atmospheric conditions across all lakes in the study. Individual lake characteristics overwhelmed regional responses. Temporal coherence was higher for lakes within each basin than between basins and was highest for nearest neighbours. 4. Among the Green Lakes, conductivity, alkalinity and temperature were temporally coherent, suggesting that these lakes were sensitive to climate fluctuations. Water tem-perature is indicative of air temperature, and conductivity and alkalinity concentrations are indicative of dilution from the amount of precipitation flushed through by snowmelt. 5. In Loch Vale, calcium, conductivity, nitrate, sulphate and alkalinity were temporally coherent, while silica and temperature were not. This suggests that external influences are attenuated by internal catchment and lake processes in Loch Vale lakes. Calcium and sulphate are primarily weathering products, but sulphate derives both from deposition and from mineral weathering. Different proportions of snowmelt versus groundwater in different years could influence summer lake concentrations. Nitrate is elevated in lake waters from atmospheric deposition, but the internal dynamics of nitrate and silica may be controlled by lake food webs. Temperature is attenuated by inconsistently different climates across altitude and glacial meltwaters. 6. It appears that, while the lakes in the two basins are topographically close, geologically and morphologically similar, and often connected by streams, only some attributes are temporally coherent. Catchment and in-lake processes influenced temporal patterns, especially for temperature, alkalinity and silica. Montane lakes with high altitudinal gradients may be particularly prone to local controls compared to systems where coherence is more obvious.

Colorado↗

USGS2002

Arctic and boreal ecosystems of western North America as components of the climate system

Synthesis of results from several Arctic and boreal research programmes provides evidence for the strong role of high-latitude ecosystems in the climate system. Average surface air temperature has increased 0.3??C per decade during the twentieth century in the western North American Arctic and boreal forest zones. Precipitation has also increased, but changes in soil moisture are uncertain. Disturbance rates have increased in the boreal forest; for example, there has been a doubling of the area burned in North America in the past 20 years. The disturbance regime in tundra may not have changed. Tundra has a 3-6-fold higher winter albedo than boreal forest, but summer albedo and energy partitioning differ more strongly among ecosystems within either tundra or boreal forest than between these two biomes. This indicates a need to improve our understanding of vegetation dynamics within, as well as between, biomes. If regional surface warming were to continue, changes in albedo and energy absorption would likely act as a positive feedback to regional warming due to earlier melting of snow and, over the long term, the northward movement of treeline. Surface drying and a change in dominance from mosses to vascular plants would also enhance sensible heat flux and regional warming in tundra. In the boreal forest of western North America, deciduous forests have twice the albedo of conifer forests in both winter and summer, 50-80% higher evapotranspiration, and therefore only 30-50% of the sensible heat flux of conifers in summer. Therefore, a warming-induced increase in fire frequency that increased the proportion of deciduous forests in the landscape, would act as a negative feedback to regional warming. Changes in thermokarst and the aerial extent of wetlands, lakes, and ponds would alter high-latitude methane flux. There is currently a wide discrepancy among estimates of the size and direction of CO2 flux between high-latitude ecosystems and the atmosphere. These discrepancies relate more strongly to the approach and assumptions for extrapolation than to inconsistencies in the underlying data. Inverse modelling from atmospheric CO2 concentrations suggests that high latitudes are neutral or net sinks for atmospheric CO2, whereas field measurements suggest that high latitudes are neutral or a net CO2 source. Both approaches rely on assumptions that are difficult to verify. The most parsimonious explanation of the available data is that drying in tundra and disturbance in boreal forest enhance CO2 efflux. Nevertheless, many areas of both tundra and boreal forests remain net sinks due to regional variation in climate and local variation in topographically determined soil moisture. Improved understanding of the role of high-latitude ecosystems in the climate system requires a concerted research effort that focuses on geographical variation in the processes controlling land-atmosphere exchange, species composition, and ecosystem structure. Future studies must be conducted over a long enough time-period to detect and quantify ecosystem feedbacks.

Global Change Biology↗

USGS2010

Water vapour correction of the daily 1 km AVHRR global land dataset: Part I validation and use of the Water Vapour input field

An atmospheric correction algorithm developed for the 1 km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) global land dataset was modified to include a near real-time total column water vapour data input field to account for the natural variability of atmospheric water vapour. The real-time data input field used for this study is the Television and Infrared Observational Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) Pathfinder A global total column water vapour dataset. It was validated prior to its use in the AVHRR atmospheric correction process using two North American AVHRR scenes, namely 13 June and 28 November 1996. The validation results are consistent with those reported by others and entail a comparison between TOVS, radiosonde, experimental sounding, microwave radiometer, and data from a hand-held sunphotometer. The use of this data layer as input to the AVHRR atmospheric correction process is discussed.

International Journal of Remote Sensing↗

USGS2013

Estimated global nitrogen deposition using NO 2 column density

Global nitrogen deposition has increased over the past 100 years. Monitoring and simulation studies of nitrogen deposition have evaluated nitrogen deposition at both the global and regional scale. With the development of remote-sensing instruments, tropospheric NO 2 column density retrieved from Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) sensors now provides us with a new opportunity to understand changes in reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere. The concentration of NO 2 in the atmosphere has a significant effect on atmospheric nitrogen deposition. According to the general nitrogen deposition calculation method, we use the principal component regression method to evaluate global nitrogen deposition based on global NO2 column density and meteorological data. From the accuracy of the simulation, about 70% of the land area of the Earth passed a significance test of regression. In addition, NO2 column density has a significant influence on regression results over 44% of global land. The simulated results show that global average nitrogen deposition was 0.34 g m −2 yr −1 from 1996 to 2009 and is increasing at about 1% per year. Our simulated results show that China, Europe, and the USA are the three hotspots of nitrogen deposition according to previous research findings. In this study, Southern Asia was found to be another hotspot of nitrogen deposition (about 1.58 g m −2 yr −1 and maintaining a high growth rate). As nitrogen deposition increases, the number of regions threatened by high nitrogen deposits is also increasing. With N emissions continuing to increase in the future, areas whose ecosystem is affected by high level nitrogen deposition will increase.

International Journal of Remote Sensing↗

USGS2007

A whole image approach using field measurements for transforming EO1 Hyperion hyperspectral data into canopy reflectance spectra

To maximize the spectral distinctiveness (information) of the canopy reflectance, an atmospheric correction strategy was implemented to provide accurate estimates of the intrinsic reflectance from the Earth Observing 1 (EO1) satellite Hyperion sensor signal. In rendering the canopy reflectance, an estimate of optical depth derived from a measurement of downwelling irradiance was used to drive a radiative transfer simulation of atmospheric scattering and attenuation. During the atmospheric model simulation, the input whole-terrain background reflectance estimate was changed to minimize the differences between the model predicted and the observed canopy reflectance spectra at 34 sites. Lacking appropriate spectrally invariant scene targets, inclusion of the field and predicted comparison maximized the model accuracy and, thereby, the detail and precision in the canopy reflectance necessary to detect low percentage occurrences of invasive plants. After accounting for artifacts surrounding prominent absorption features from about 400nm to 1000nm, the atmospheric adjustment strategy correctly explained 99% of the observed canopy reflectance spectra variance. Separately, model simulation explained an average of 88%??9% of the observed variance in the visible and 98% ?? 1% in the near-infrared wavelengths. In the 34 model simulations, maximum differences between the observed and predicted reflectances were typically less than ?? 1% in the visible; however, maximum reflectance differences higher than ?? 1.6% (<??2.3%) at more than a few wavelengths were observed at three sites. In the near-infrared wavelengths, maximum reflectance differences remained less than ??3% for 68% of the comparisons (??1 standard deviation) and less than ??6% for 95% of the comparisons (??2 standard deviation). Higher reflectance differences in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths were most likely associated with problems in the comparison, not in the model generation. ?? 2005 US Government.

International Journal of Remote Sensing↗

USGS2018

Consequences of gas flux model choice on the interpretation of metabolic balance across 15 lakes

Ecosystem metabolism and the contribution of carbon dioxide from lakes to the atmosphere can be estimated from free-water gas measurements through the use of mass balance models, which rely on a gas transfer coefficient ( k ) to model gas exchange with the atmosphere. Theoretical and empirically based models of k range in complexity from wind-driven power functions to complex surface renewal models; however, model choice is rarely considered in most studies of lake metabolism. This study used high-frequency data from 15 lakes provided by the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) to study how model choice of k influenced estimates of lake metabolism and gas exchange with the atmosphere. We tested 6 models of k on lakes chosen to span broad gradients in surface area and trophic states; a metabolism model was then fit to all 6 outputs of k data. We found that hourly values for k were substantially different between models and, at an annual scale, resulted in significantly different estimates of lake metabolism and gas exchange with the atmosphere.

Inland Waters↗

USGS2003

Evolution of CAM and C 4 carbon-concentrating mechanisms

Mechanisms for concentrating carbon around the Rubisco enzyme, which drives the carbon-reducing steps in photosynthesis, are widespread in plants; in vascular plants they are known as crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) and C 4 photosynthesis. CAM is common in desert succulents, tropical epiphytes, and aquatic plants and is characterized by nighttime fixation of CO2. The proximal selective factor driving the evolution of this CO2-concentrating pathway is low daytime CO2, which results from the unusual reverse stomatal behavior of terrestrial CAM species or from patterns of ambient CO2 availability for aquatic CAM species. In terrestrials the ultimate selective factor is water stress that has selected for increased water use efficiency. In aquatics the ultimate selective factor is diel fluctuations in CO2 availability for palustrine species and extreme oligotrophic conditions for lacustrine species. C4 photosynthesis is based on similar biochemistry but carboxylation steps are spatially separated in the leaf rather than temporally as in CAM. This biochemical pathway is most commonly associated with a specialized leaf anatomy known as Kranz anatomy; however, there are exceptions. The ultimate selective factor driving the evolution of this pathway is excessively high photorespiration that inhibits normal C3 photosynthesis under high light and high temperature in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. CAM is an ancient pathway that likely has been present since the Paleozoic era in aquatic species from shallow-water palustrine habitats. While atmospheric CO2 levels have undoubtedly affected the evolution of terrestrial plant carbon-concentrating mechanisms, there is reason to believe that past atmospheric changes have not played as important a selective role in the aquatic milieu since palustrine habitats today are not generally carbon sinks, and the selective factors driving aquatic CAM are autogenic. Terrestrial CAM, in contrast, is of increasing selective value under extreme water deficits, and undoubtedly, high Mesozoic CO2 levels reduced the amount of landscape perceived by plants as water limited. Late Tertiary and Quaternary reductions in atmospheric CO2, coupled with increasing seasonality, were probably times of substantial species radiation and ecological expansion for CAM plants. C4 photosynthesis occurs in only about half as many families as CAM, and three-fourths of C4 species are either grasses or sedges. Molecular phylogenies indicate C4 is a more recent innovation than CAM and that it originated in the mid-Tertiary, 20–30 Ma, although some data support an earlier origin. While the timing of the origin of C4 remains controversial, the nearly explosive increase in C4 species is clearly documented in the late Miocene, 4–7 Ma. Increasing seasonality has been widely suggested as an important climatic stimulus for this C4 expansion. Alternatively, based on models of photosynthetic quantum yield at different temperatures and CO2 concentration, it has been hypothesized that the late Miocene C4 expansion resulted from declining atmospheric CO2 levels. This model is most appropriate for explaining the transition from C3 grasslands to C4 grasslands but by itself may not be sufficient to explain the more likely scenario of a late Miocene transition from C3 woodland/ savanna to C4 grasslands. A largely unexplored hypothesis is that climatic changes in late Miocene altered disturbance regimes, in particular the incidence of fires, which today are often associated with maintenance of C4 grasslands. Oceanic charcoal sediments that appear to represent Aeolian deposits from continental wildfires follow a strikingly similar pattern of explosive increase in late Miocene. Climate, CO2, and disturbance are not mutually exclusive explanations and probably all acted in concert to promote the expansion of C4 grasslands. More recently, late Quaternary changes in CO2 may have been responsible for driving major changes in the landscape distribution of C4 species. The theory is sound; however, many of the studies cited in support of this model are open to alternative interpretations, and none has eliminated climatic factors as important selective agents. CAM and C4 evolution required coupling of biochemical pathways with structural changes in photosynthetic tissues, succulence in CAM and Kranz in C4. This was apparently accomplished by piecemeal evolution beginning with mechanisms for recapturing respiratory CO2, although this need not have been so in aquatic CAM species. It has been proposed that the extreme rarity of both pathways in the same plant results from biochemical and structural incompatibilities (Sage 2002). Equally important is the fact that the selective environments are quite different, with CAM evolution thriving on stressful sites inhospitable to C3 species whereas C4 evolution has selected for rapid growth capable of outcompeting associated C3 plants.

International Journal of Plant Sciences↗

USGS2016

Density-driven free-convection model for isotopically fractionated geogenic nitrate in sabkha brine

Subsurface brines with high nitrate (NO 3 − ) concentration are common in desert environments as atmospheric nitrogen is concentrated by the evaporation of precipitation and little nitrogen uptake. However, in addition to having an elevated mean concentration of ∼525 mg/L (as N), NO 3 − in the coastal sabkhas of Abu Dhabi is enriched in 15 N (mean δ 15 N ∼17‰), which is an enigma. A NO 3 − solute mass balance analysis of the sabkha aquifer system suggests that more than 90% of the nitrogen is from local atmospheric deposition and the remainder from ascending brine. In contrast, isotopic mass balances based on Δ 17 O, δ 15 N, and δ 18 O data suggest approximately 80 to 90% of the NO 3 − could be from ascending brine. As the sabkha has essentially no soil, no vegetation, and no anthropogenic land or water use, we propose to resolve this apparent contradiction with a density-driven free-convection transport model. In this conceptual model, the density of rain is increased by solution of surface salts, transporting near-surface oxygenated NO 3 − bearing water downward where it encounters reducing conditions and mixes with oxygen-free ascending geologic brines. In this environment, NO 3 − is partially reduced to nitrogen gas (N 2 ), thus enriching the remaining NO 3 − in heavy isotopes. The isotopically fractionated NO 3 − and nitrogen gas return to the near-surface oxidizing environment on the upward displacement leg of the free-convection cycle, where the nitrogen gas is released to the atmosphere and new NO 3 − is added to the system from atmospheric deposition. This recharge/recycling process has operated over many cycles in the 8000-year history of the shallow aquifer, progressively concentrating and isotopically fractionating the NO 3 − .

Groundwater↗

USGS2008

Elevated CO 2 enhances biological contributions to elevation change in coastal wetlands by offsetting stressors associated with sea-level rise

1. Sea-level rise, one indirect consequence of increasing atmospheric CO 2 , poses a major challenge to long-term stability of coastal wetlands. An important question is whether direct effects of elevated CO 2 on the capacity of marsh plants to accrete organic material and to maintain surface elevations outweigh indirect negative effects of stressors associated with sea-level rise (salinity and flooding). 2. In this study, we used a mesocosm approach to examine potential direct and indirect effects of atmospheric CO 2 concentration, salinity and flooding on elevation change in a brackish marsh community dominated by a C 3 species, Schoenoplectus americanus, and a C 4 grass, Spartina patens. This experimental design permitted identification of mechanisms and their role in controlling elevation change, and the development of models that can be tested in the field. 3. To test hypotheses related to CO 2 and sea-level rise, we used conventional anova procedures in conjunction with structural equation modelling (SEM). SEM explained 78% of the variability in elevation change and showed the direct, positive effect of S. americanus production on elevation. The SEM indicated that C 3 plant response was influenced by interactive effects between CO 2 and salinity on plant growth, not a direct CO 2 fertilization effect. Elevated CO 2 ameliorated negative effects of salinity on S. americanus and enhanced biomass contribution to elevation. 4. The positive relationship between S. americanus production and elevation change can be explained by shoot-base expansion under elevated CO 2 conditions, which led to vertical soil displacement. While the response of this species may differ under other environmental conditions, shoot-base expansion and the general contribution of C 3 plant production to elevation change may be an important mechanism contributing to soil expansion and elevation gain in other coastal wetlands. 5. Synthesis. Our results revealed previously unrecognized interactions and mechanisms contributing to marsh elevation change, including amelioration of salt stress by elevated CO 2 and the importance of plant production and shoot-base expansion for elevation gain. Identification of biological processes contributing to elevation change is an important first step in developing comprehensive models that permit more accurate predictions of whether coastal marshes will persist with continued sea-level rise or become submerged. ?? 2008 The Authors.

Journal of Ecology↗

USGS2005

Estimating Transmissivity from the Water Level Fluctuations of a Sinusoidally Forced Well

The water levels in wells are known to fluctuate in response to earth tides and changes in atmospheric pressure. These water level fluctuations can be analyzed to estimate transmissivity (T). A new method to estimate transmissivity, which assumes that the atmospheric pressure varies in a sinusoidal fashion, is presented. Data analysis for this simplified method involves using a set of type curves and estimating the ratio of the amplitudes of the well response over the atmospheric pressure. Type curves for this new method were generated based on a model for ground water flow between the well and aquifer developed by Cooper et al. (1965). Data analysis with this method confirmed these published results: (1) the amplitude ratio is a function of transmissivity, the well radius, and the frequency of the sinusoidal oscillation; and (2) the amplitude ratio is a weak function of storativity. Compared to other methods, the developed method involves simpler, more intuitive data analysis and allows shorter data sets to be analyzed. The effect of noise on estimating the amplitude ratio was evaluated and found to be more significant at lower T. For aquifers with low T, noise was shown to mask the water level fluctuations induced by atmospheric pressure changes. In addition, reducing the length of the data series did not affect the estimate of T, but the variance of the estimate was higher for the shorter series of noisy data.

Groundwater↗