Microbial mat-related structures shared by both siliciclastic and carbonate formations

AbstractMicrobiota has always been the dominant life form, records of which are preserved in delicate forms within siliciclastic rocks. More pronounced record in the form of stromatolites possibly obscured the fact that many of the same delicate structures may be recognizable within carbonate rocks too. The Neoproterozoic Bhander Limestone in central India bears many such structures that are quintessentially similar to microbial mat-related structures reported from the Paleoproterozoic Chorhat Sandstone preserved within the same, Vindhyan Basin. Extensive microscopic, ultramicroscopic, and geochemical studies address the apprehension that such bedding plane structures in carbonate rocks could be merely weathering products. Trapping, binding and stabilitization of sediment by microbial mats are all evident. Preferred pyritization along the inferred, predefined microbial mats confirmed on the basis of EPMA (Electron Probe Microanalysis) results, and the enhanced carbon content along these mats layers and within suspected mat chips associated with them, are revealing. Raman spectroscopy, indeed, evinces enhanced kerogen content within both mats and mat chips.Interestingly, these microbial mat layers are recognized selectively within the lower of the two tiers of the Bhander Limestone. The lagoonal carbonate of the lower tier of the Bhander Limestone is muddy and contains a substantial proportion of silt-sized quartz grains that possibly impeded stromatolite growth. Stromatolites abound in the wave agitated upper tier of the Bhander Limestone which is dominated by oosparite. This paper provides evidence that the delicate microbial mat-related structures reported so far only from siliciclastic rocks can also be recognized within carbonate formations, and hopes to stimulate the search for additional such features, more preferably within carbonates originated in shallow and quiet water

MLS and CALIOP Cloud Ice Measurements in the Upper Troposphere: A Constraint from Microwave on Cloud Microphysics

This study examines the consistency and microphysics assumptions among satellite ice water content (IWC) retrievals in the upper troposphere with collocated A-Train radiances from Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and lidar backscatters from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). For the cases in which IWC values are small (less than 10mg m(exp-23)), the cloud ice retrievals are constrained by both MLS 240- and 640- GHz radiances and CALIOP 532-nm backscatter beta(532). From the observed relationships between MLS cloud-induced radiance T(sub cir) and the CALIOP backscatter integrated gamma532 along the MLS line of sight, an empirical linear relation between cloud ice and the lidar backscatter is found: IWC/beta532=0.58+/-0.11. This lidar cloud ice relation is required to satisfy the cloud ice emission signals simultaneously observed at microwave frequencies, in which ice permittivity is relatively well known. This empirical relationship also produces IWC values that agree well with the CALIOP, version 3.0, retrieval at values, less than 10mg m(exp-3). Because the microphysics assumption is critical in satellite cloud ice retrievals, the agreement found in the IWC-beta532 relationships increase fidelity of the assumptions used by the lidar and microwave techniques for upper-tropospheric clouds

MLS and CALIOP Cloud Ice Measurements in the Upper Troposphere: A Constraint from Microwave on Cloud Microphysics

This study examines the consistency and microphysics assumptions among satellite ice water content (IWC) retrievals in the upper troposphere with collocated A-Train radiances from Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and lidar backscatters from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). For the cases in which IWC values are small (<10 mg m(-3)), the cloud ice retrievals are constrained by both MLS 240- and 640-GHz radiances and CALIOP 532-nm backscatter (532). From the observed relationships between MLS cloud-induced radiance T-cir and the CALIOP backscatter integrated (532) along the MLS line of sight, an empirical linear relation between cloud ice and the lidar backscatter is found: IWC/(532) = 0.58 +/- 0.11. This lidar cloud ice relation is required to satisfy the cloud ice emission signals simultaneously observed at microwave frequencies, in which ice permittivity is relatively well known. This empirical relationship also produces IWC values that agree well with the CALIOP, version 3.0, retrieval at values <10 mg m(-3). Because the microphysics assumption is critical in satellite cloud ice retrievals, the agreement found in the IWC-(532) relationships increase fidelity of the assumptions used by the lidar and microwave techniques for upper-tropospheric clouds

The representation of tropical upper tropospheric water in EC Earth V2

Tropical upper tropospheric humidity, clouds, and ice water content, as well as outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), are evaluated in the climate model EC Earth with the aid of satellite retrievals. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder and Microwave Limb Sounder together provide good coverage of relative humidity. EC Earth's relative humidity is in fair agreement with these observations. CloudSat and CALIPSO data are combined to provide cloud fractions estimates throughout the altitude region considered (500-100 hPa). EC Earth is found to overestimate the degree of cloud cover above 200 hPa and underestimate it below. Precipitating and non-precipitating EC Earth ice definitions are combined to form a complete ice water content. EC Earth's ice water content is below the uncertainty range of CloudSat above 250 hPa, but can be twice as high as CloudSat's estimate in the melting layer. CERES data show that the model underestimates the impact of clouds on OLR, on average with about 9 W m(-2). Regionally, EC Earth's outgoing longwave radiation can be similar to 20 W m(-2) higher than the observation. A comparison to ERA-Interim provides further perspectives on the model's performance. Limitations of the satellite observations are emphasised and their uncertainties are, throughout, considered in the analysis. Evaluating multiple model variables in parallel is a more ambitious approach than is customary

Nanoscale characterization of electrical transport at metal/3C-SiC interfaces

In this work, the transport properties of metal/3C-SiC interfaces were monitored employing a nanoscale characterization approach in combination with conventional electrical measurements. In particular, using conductive atomic force microscopy allowed demonstrating that the stacking fault is the most pervasive, electrically active extended defect at 3C-SiC(111) surfaces, and it can be electrically passivated by an ultraviolet irradiation treatment. For the Au/3C-SiC Schottky interface, a contact area dependence of the Schottky barrier height (ΦB) was found even after this passivation, indicating that there are still some electrically active defects at the interface. Improved electrical properties were observed in the case of the Pt/3C-SiC system. In this case, annealing at 500°C resulted in a reduction of the leakage current and an increase of the Schottky barrier height (from 0.77 to 1.12 eV). A structural analysis of the reaction zone carried out by transmission electron microscopy [TEM] and X-ray diffraction showed that the improved electrical properties can be attributed to a consumption of the surface layer of SiC due to silicide (Pt2Si) formation. The degradation of Schottky characteristics at higher temperatures (up to 900°C) could be ascribed to the out-diffusion and aggregation of carbon into clusters, observed by TEM analysis

Temporal changes of particulate concentration in the ambient air over the city of Zahedan, Iran

Air pollution in developing countries has recently become a serious environmental problem, which needs more active air quality monitoring and analyses. To assess air quality characteristics over the city of Zahedan, southern Iran, airborne particulate matter (PM) concentrations with aerodynamic diameters of 0.82) for all seasons, implying that PM10 and PM2.5 may have the same source regions or that they are influenced by the same local conditions. In contrast, neutral correlation is found between PM10 and PM1.0 in autumn and winter. Taking into account that the annual variation of PM1.0 exhibits a clear pattern of peaking in winter and dropping in summer (in contrast to PM10), it is suspected that PM1.0 is of different origin than PM10 and mainly influenced by local anthropogenic emissions. The daily PM10 variation is strongly seasonally defined. The maximum PM10 concentrations occur in the morning hours during winter, autumn (September-November), and early spring (March), while in summer, PM10 concentrations increase significantly in the afternoon, closely associated with the intense northerly winds blowing from the desert. As far as the Air Quality Index (AQI) is concerned, its highest monthly values occur in summer, while they are reduced in winter. Desert dust aerosols are found to be the major component in determining the AQI in Zahedan. The analysis shows that 15.3% of the days are unhealthy for sensitive people, while 2% are considered as hazardous.http://www.springerlink.com/content/120982/nf201

Assessment of chemical and mineralogical characteristics of airborne dust in the Sistan region, Iran

Windblown transport and deposition of dust is widely recognized as an important physical and chemical concern to climate, human health and ecosystems. Sistan is a region located in southeast Iran with extensive wind erosion, severe desertification and intense dust storms, which cause adverse effects in regional air quality and human health. To mitigate the impact of these phenomena, it is vital to ascertain the physical and chemical characteristics of airborne and soil dust. This paper examines for the first time, the mineralogical and chemical properties of dust over Sistan by collecting aerosol samples at two stations established close to a dry-bed lake dust source region, from August 2009 to August 2010. Furthermore, soil samples were collected from topsoil (0–5 cm depth) at several locations in the dry-bed Hamoun lakes and downwind areas. These data were analyzed to investigate the chemical and mineralogical characteristics of dust, relevance of inferred sources and contributions to air pollution. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis of airborne and soil dust samples shows that the dust mineralogy is dominated mainly by quartz (30–40%), calcite (18–23%), muscovite (10–17%), plagioclase (9–12%), chlorite ( 6%) and enstatite ( 3%), with minor components of dolomite, microcline, halite and gypsum. X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses of all the samples indicate that the most important oxide compositions of the airborne and soil dust are SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, Na2O, MgO and Fe2O3, exhibiting similar percentages for both stations and soil samples. Estimates of Enrichment Factors (EFs) for all studied elements show that all of them have very low EF values, suggesting natural origin from local materials. The results suggest that a common dust source region can be inferred, which is the eroded sedimentary environment in the extensive Hamoun dry lakes lying to the north of Sistan.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chemospherehb201

Dust storms and their horizontal dust loading in the Sistan region, Iran

The Sistan region in southeast Iran is considered as one of the most active dust source regions in South west Asia. The strong ‘‘Levar’’ winds in summer favor the uplift of large quantities of dust from the Hamoun basin, which is located in the northern part of Sistan. After a dry period at the end of the 1999s, and due to land-use change and desiccation of the Hamoun lakes, the frequency and severity of dust storms have been significantly increased. Within this framework, this study analyses the aerosol characteristics, dust loading and air quality over the Sistan region. The dust loading was measured using dust traps up to four and eight meters height (with a one meter distance between the traps) at two locations near the Hamoun basin during the period August 2009 to July 2010. The results show large quantities of transported dust that strongly dependent on the duration of the dust events, and secondarily, on the wind speed and distance from the source region. The grain size distribution of the dusts reveals that the coarser calibers are found at the station nearer to Hamoun, while the large differences in the grainsize distribution found between the two stations indicate significant spatio-temporal variation in dust characteristics. Furthermore, to assess the air quality, Particulate Matter (PM10) concentrations were measured over Zabol city during September 2010 to July 2011, and the Air Quality Index (AQI) was obtained. Daily PM10 levels during intense dust storms rise up to 2000 lgm 3, even reaching to 3094 lgm 3, while the monthly mean PM10 variation shows extreme values (>500 lgm 3) for the period June to October. Analysis of the AQI shows that 61% of the days are associated with a high health risk, while 30.1% are even identified as hazardous.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aeolianf201

The SPARC water vapour assessment II: comparison of annual, semi-annual and quasi-biennial variations in stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour observed from satellites

In the framework of the second SPARC (Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate) water vapour assessment (WAVAS-II), the amplitudes and phases of the annual, semi-annual and quasi-biennial variation in stratospheric and lower mesospheric water were compared using 30 data sets from 13 different satellite instruments. These comparisons aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the typical uncertainties in the observational database which can be considered in subsequent observational and modelling studies. For the amplitudes, a good agreement of their latitude and altitude distribution was found. Quantitatively there were differences in particular at high latitudes, close to the tropopause and in the lower mesosphere. In these regions, the standard deviation over all data sets typically exceeded 0.2 ppmv for the annual variation and 0.1 ppmv for the semi-annual and quasi-biennial variation. For the phase, larger differences between the data sets were found in the lower mesosphere. Generally the smallest phase uncertainties can be observed in regions where the amplitude of the variability is large. The standard deviations of the phases for all data sets were typically smaller than a month for the annual and semi-annual variation and smaller than 5 months for the quasi-biennial variation. The amplitude and phase differences among the data sets are caused by a combination of factors. In general, differences in the temporal variation of systematic errors and in the observational sampling play a dominant role. In addition, differences in the vertical resolution of the data, the considered time periods and influences of clouds, aerosols as well as non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects cause differences between the individual data sets

The SPARC Water Vapor Assessment II: assessment of satellite measurements of upper tropospheric humidity

Nineteen limb-viewing data sets (occultation, passive thermal, and UV scattering) and two nadir upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) data sets are intercompared and also compared to frost-point hygrometer balloon sondes. The upper troposphere considered here covers the pressure range from 300-100 hPa. UTH is a challenging measurement, because concentrations vary between 2-1000 ppmv (parts per million by volume), with sharp changes in vertical gradients near the tropopause. Cloudiness in this region also makes the measurement challenging. The atmospheric temperature is also highly variable ranging from 180-250 K. The assessment of satellite-measured UTH is based on coincident comparisons with balloon frost-point hygrometer sondes, multi-month mapped comparisons, zonal mean time series comparisons, and coincident satellite-to-satellite comparisons. While the satellite fields show similar features in maps and time series, quantitatively they can differ by a factor of 2 in concentration, with strong dependencies on the amount of UTH. Additionally, time-lag response-corrected Vaisala RS92 radiosondes are compared to satellites and the frost-point hygrometer measurements. In summary, most satellite data sets reviewed here show on average similar to 30 % agreement amongst themselves and frost-point data but with an additional similar to 30 % variability about the mean bias. The Vaisala RS92 sonde, even with a time-lag correction, shows poor behavior for pressures less than 200 hPa