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Designing a network of critical zone observatories to explore the living skin of the terrestrial Earth

The layer known as the critical zone extends from the tree tops to the groundwater. This zone varies globally as a function of land use, climate, and geology. Energy and materials input from the land surface downward impact the subsurface landscape of water, gas, weathered material, and biota – at the same time that differences at depth also impact the superficial landscape. Scientists are designing observatories to understand the critical zone and how it will evolve in the future.

First tomographic observations of gravity waves by the infrared limb imager GLORIA

Using the infrared limb imager GLORIA, the 3-D structure of mesoscale gravity waves in the lower stratosphere was measured for the first time, allowing for a complete 3-D characterization of the waves. This enables the precise determination of the sources of the waves in the mountain regions of Iceland with backward ray tracing. Forward ray tracing shows oblique propagation, an effect generally neglected in global atmospheric models.

In situ nuclear magnetic resonance response of permafrost and active layer soil in boreal and tundra ecosystems

Geophysical methods have wide applications to permafrost studies. We show that borehole nuclear magnetic resonance is a valuable geophysical tool to rapidly characterize the liquid water content and unfrozen pore space in warm permafrost through simulation and field study. This technique is also sensitive to the ice nucleation process in situ. This method, which is applicable in a variety of soil types, can be used for single observations or for time-lapse monitoring of permafrost changes.

Continuous measurement of air–water gas exchange by underwater eddy covariance

We use the aquatic eddy covariance technique – developed first for benthic O₂flux measurements – right below the air–water interface (~ 4 cm) to determine gas exchange rates and coefficients. This use of the technique is particularly useful in studies of gas exchange and its dynamics and controls. The approach can thus help reduce the recognized problem of large uncertainties linked to gas exchange estimates in traditional aquatic ecosystem studies.

Structure and functioning of the acid–base system in the Baltic Sea

This review describes the general knowledge of the marine acid–base system as well as the peculiarities identified and reported for the Baltic Sea specifically. We discuss issues such as dissociation constants in the brackish water, the structure of the total alkalinity in the Baltic Sea, long-term changes in total alkalinity, and the acid–base effects of biomass production and mineralization. We identify research gaps and specify bottlenecks concerning the Baltic Sea acid–base system.

The potamochemical symphony: new progress in the high-frequency acquisition of stream chemical data

We present a new prototypelab in the fieldnamed River Lab (RL) designed for water quality monitoring to perform a complete analysis at sub-hourly frequency of major dissolved species in river water. The article is an analytical paper to present the proof of concept, its performances and improvements. Our tests reveal a significant improvement of reproducibility compared to conventional analysis in the laboratory. First results are promising for understanding the critical zone.

DCMIP2016: a review of non-hydrostatic dynamical core design and intercomparison of participating models

Atmospheric dynamical cores are a fundamental component of global atmospheric modeling systems and are responsible for capturing the dynamical behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere. To better understand modern dynamical cores, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of 11 dynamical cores, drawn from modeling centers and groups that participated in the 2016 Dynamical Core Model Intercomparison Project (DCMIP) workshop and summer school.

Impact of asymmetric uncertainties in ice sheet dynamics on regional sea level projections

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
DOI 10.5194/nhess-17-2125-2017
4 December 2017

This paper provides a full range of possible future sea levels on a regional scale, since it includes extreme, but possible, contributions to sea level change from dynamical mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets. In contrast to the symmetric distribution used in the IPCC report, it is found that an asymmetric distribution toward high sea level change values locally can increase the mean sea level by 1.8 m this century.

Simulation of climate, ice sheets and CO2 evolution during the last four glacial cycles with an Earth system model of intermediate complexity

Ice cores reveal that atmospheric CO₂ concentration varied synchronously with the global ice volume. Explaining the mechanism of glacial–interglacial variations of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and the link between CO₂ and ice sheets evolution still remains a challenge. Here using the Earth system model of intermediate complexity we performed for the first time simulations of co-evolution of climate, ice sheets and carbon cycle using the astronomical forcing as the only external forcing.

The role of meteorological conditions and pollution control strategies in reducing air pollution in Beijing during APEC 2014 and Victory Parade 2015

The generalized linear regression model (GLM), even based only on meteorological parameters, could be satisfactory to estimate the contribution of meteorological conditions in reducing air pollution and hence the contribution of control strategies in reducing air pollution. Using the GLM, we found that the meteorological conditions and pollution control strategies contributed 30% and 28% to the reduction of the PM_2.5 concentration during APEC 2014 and 38% and 25% during Parade 2015.

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