ACSIS Atlantic Ocean medium resolution SST dataset: Reconstructed 5‐day, ½‐degree, Atlantic Ocean SST (1950‐2014)

A new dataset, the ACSIS Atlantic Ocean medium resolution SST dataset, is presented. This new dataset spans the period 1950–2014 at a 5‐day, ½‐degree resolution and covers the Atlantic Ocean. The dataset is based on in situ sea surface temperature (SST) observations from the International Comprehensive Ocean‐Atmosphere Data Set interpolated using Kriging to infill gaps and is available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) archive. Compared to existing datasets, the resolution is increased by a factor of 4 spatially and 6 temporally

Major features and forcing of high‐latitude northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation using a 110,000‐year‐long glaciochemical series

The Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 glaciochemical series (sodium, potassium, ammonium, calcium, magnesium, sulfate, nitrate, and chloride) provides a unique view of the chemistry of the atmosphere and the history of atmospheric circulation over both the high latitudes and mid‐low latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Interpretation of this record reveals a diverse array of environmental signatures that include the documentation of anthropogenically derived pollutants, volcanic and biomass burning events, storminess over marine surfaces, continental aridity and biogenic source strength plus information related to the controls on both high‐ and low‐frequency climate events of the last 110,000 years. Climate forcings investigated include changes in insolation of the order of the major orbital cycles that control the long‐term behavior of atmospheric circulation patterns through changes in ice volume (sea level), events such as the Heinrich events (massive discharges of icebergs first identified in the marine record) that are found to operate on a 6100‐year cycle due largely to the lagged response of ice sheets to changes in insolation and consequent glacier dynamics, and rapid climate change events (massive reorganizations of atmospheric circulation) that are demonstrated to operate on 1450‐year cycles. Changes in insolation and associated positive feedbacks related to ice sheets may assist in explaining favorable time periods and controls on the amplitude of massive rapid climate change events. Explanation for the exact timing and global synchroneity of these events is, however, more complicated. Preliminary evidence points to possible solar variability‐climate associations for these events and perhaps others that are embedded in our ice‐core‐derived atmospheric circulation records

Correcting datasets leads to more homogeneous early-twentieth-century sea surface warming

Existing estimates of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) indicate that, during the early twentieth century, the North Atlantic and northeast Pacific oceans warmed by twice the global average, whereas the northwest Pacific Ocean cooled by an amount equal to the global average1,2,3,4. Such a heterogeneous pattern suggests first-order contributions from regional variations in forcing or in ocean–atmosphere heat fluxes5,6. These older SST estimates are, however, derived from measurements of water temperatures in ship-board buckets, and must be corrected for substantial biases7,8,9. Here we show that correcting for offsets among groups of bucket measurements leads to SST variations that correlate better with nearby land temperatures and are more homogeneous in their pattern of warming. Offsets are identified by systematically comparing nearby SST observations among different groups10. Correcting for offsets in German measurements decreases warming rates in the North Atlantic, whereas correcting for Japanese measurement offsets leads to increased and more uniform warming in the North Pacific. Japanese measurement offsets in the 1930s primarily result from records having been truncated to whole degrees Celsius when the records were digitized in the 1960s. These findings underscore the fact that historical SST records reflect both physical and social dimensions in data collection, and suggest that further opportunities exist for improving the accuracy of historical SST records9,11

Stability assessment of the (A)ATSR sea surface temperature climate dataset from the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative

Sea surface temperature is a key component of the climate record, with multiple independent records giving confidence in observed changes. As part of the European Space Agencies (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) the satellite archives have been reprocessed with the aim of creating a new dataset that is independent of the in situ observations, and stable with no artificial drift (<0.1 K decade−1 globally) or step changes. We present a method to assess the satellite sea surface temperature (SST) record for step changes using the Penalized Maximal t Test (PMT) applied to aggregate time series. We demonstrated the application of the method using data from version EXP1.8 of the ESA SST CCI dataset averaged on a 7 km grid and in situ observations from moored buoys, drifting buoys and Argo floats. The CCI dataset was shown to be stable after ~1994, with minimal divergence (~0.01 K decade−1) between the CCI data and in situ observations. Two steps were identified due to the failure of a gyroscope on the ERS-2 satellite, and subsequent correction mechanisms applied. These had minimal impact on the stability due to having equal magnitudes but opposite signs. The statistical power and false alarm rate of the method were assessed

A genome-wide association study for genetic susceptibility to Mycobacterium bovis infection in dairy cattle identifies a susceptibility QTL on chromosome 23

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.BACKGROUND: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) infection in cattle is a significant economic concern in many countries, with annual costs to the UK and Irish governments of approximately €190 million and €63 million, respectively, for bTB control. The existence of host additive and non-additive genetic components to bTB susceptibility has been established. METHODS: Two approaches i.e. single-SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) regression and a Bayesian method were applied to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using high-density SNP genotypes (n = 597,144 SNPs) from 841 dairy artificial insemination (AI) sires. Deregressed estimated breeding values for bTB susceptibility were used as the quantitative dependent variable. Network analysis was performed using the quantitative trait loci (QTL) that were identified as significant in the single-SNP regression and Bayesian analyses separately. In addition, an identity-by-descent analysis was performed on a subset of the most prolific sires in the dataset that showed contrasting prevalences of bTB infection in daughters. RESULTS: A significant QTL region was identified on BTA23 (P value >1 × 10(-5), Bayes factor >10) across all analyses. Sires with the minor allele (minor allele frequency = 0.136) for this QTL on BTA23 had estimated breeding values that conferred a greater susceptibility to bTB infection than those that were homozygous for the major allele. Imputation of the regions that flank this QTL on BTA23 to full sequence indicated that the most significant associations were located within introns of the FKBP5 gene. CONCLUSIONS: A genomic region on BTA23 that is strongly associated with host susceptibility to bTB infection was identified. This region contained FKBP5, a gene involved in the TNFα/NFκ-B signalling pathway, which is a major biological pathway associated with immune response. Although there is no study that validates this region in the literature, our approach represents one of the most powerful studies for the analysis of bTB susceptibility to date

Signed zeros of Gaussian vector fields-density, correlation functions and curvature

We calculate correlation functions of the (signed) density of zeros of Gaussian distributed vector fields. We are able to express correlation functions of arbitrary order through the curvature tensor of a certain abstract Riemann-Cartan or Riemannian manifold. As an application, we discuss one- and two-point functions. The zeros of a two-dimensional Gaussian vector field model the distribution of topological defects in the high-temperature phase of two-dimensional systems with orientational degrees of freedom, such as superfluid films, thin superconductors and liquid crystals.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, uses iopart.cls, improved presentation, to appear in J. Phys.

The distribution of extremal points of Gaussian scalar fields

We consider the signed density of the extremal points of (two-dimensional) scalar fields with a Gaussian distribution. We assign a positive unit charge to the maxima and minima of the function and a negative one to its saddles. At first, we compute the average density for a field in half-space with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Then we calculate the charge-charge correlation function (without boundary). We apply the general results to random waves and random surfaces. Furthermore, we find a generating functional for the two-point function. Its Legendre transform is the integral over the scalar curvature of a 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, corrected published versio

Using composite images to assess accuracy in personality attribution to faces

Several studies have demonstrated some accuracy in personality attribution using only visual appearance. Using composite images of those scoring high and low on a particular trait, the current study shows that judges perform better than chance in guessing others’ personality, particularly for the traits conscientiousness and extraversion. This study also shows that attractiveness, masculinity, and age may all provide cues to accurately assess personality and that accuracy is affected by the sex of both of those judging and being judged. Individuals do perform better than chance at guessing another’s personality from only facial information, providing some support for the popular belief that it is possible to accurately assess personality from faces. However, this accuracy is somewhat limited

Classical diamagnetism, magnetic interaction energies, and repulsive forces in magnetized plasmas

The Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem is often summarized as saying that there is no classical magnetic susceptibility, in particular no diamagnetism. This is seriously misleading. The theorem assumes position dependent interactions but this is not required by classical physics. Since the work of Darwin in 1920 it has been known that the magnetism due to classical charged point particles can only be described by allowing velocity dependent interactions in the Lagrangian. Legendre transformation to an approximate Hamiltonian can give an estimate of the Darwin diamagnetism for a system of charged point particles. Comparison with experiment, however, requires knowledge of the number of classically behaving electrons in the sample. A new repulsive effective many-body force, which should be relevant in plasmas, is predicted by the Hamiltonian.Comment: added references, revise