Analytically tractable climate-carbon cycle feedbacks under 21st century anthropogenic forcing

Changes to climate-carbon cycle feedbacks may significantly affect the Earth System’s response to greenhouse gas emissions. These feedbacks are usually analysed from numerical output of complex and arguably opaque Earth System Models (ESMs). Here, we construct a stylized global climate-carbon cycle model, test its output against complex ESMs, and investigate the strengths of its climate-carbon cycle feedbacks analytically. The analytical expressions we obtain aid understanding of carbon-cycle feedbacks and the operation of the carbon cycle. We use our results to analytically study the relative strengths of different climate-carbon cycle feedbacks and how they may change in the future, as well as to compare different feedback formalisms. Simple models such as that developed here also provide "workbenches" for simple but mechanistically based explorations of Earth system processes, such as interactions and feedbacks between the Planetary Boundaries, that are currently too uncertain to be included in complex ESMs

Potential feedbacks between loss of biosphere integrity and climate change

Individual organisms on land and in the ocean sequester massive amounts of the carbon emitted into the atmosphere by humans. Yet the role of ecosystems as a whole in modulating this uptake of carbon is less clear. Here, we study several different mechanisms by which climate change and ecosystems could interact. We show that climate change could cause changes in ecosystems that reduce their capacity to take up carbon, further accelerating climate change. More research on – and better governance of – interactions between climate change and ecosystems is urgently required

Host Atom Diffusion in Ternary Fe-Cr-Al Alloys

In the Fe-rich corner of the Fe-Cr-Al ternary phase diagram, both interdiffusion experiments [1048 K to 1573 K (775 °C to 1300 °C)] and 58Fe tracer diffusion experiments [873 K to 1123 K (600 °C to 850 °C)] were performed along the Fe50Cr50-Fe50Al50 section. For the evaluation of the interdiffusion data, a theoretical model was used which directly yields the individual self-diffusion coefficients of the three constituents and the shift of the original interface of the diffusion couple through inverse modeling. The driving chemical potential gradients were derived using a phenomenological Gibbs energy function which was based on thoroughly assessed thermodynamic data. From the comparison of the individual self-diffusivities of Fe as obtained from interdiffusion profiles and independent 58Fe tracer diffusivities, the influence of the B2-A2 order–disorder transition becomes obvious, resulting in a slightly higher activation enthalpy for the bcc-B2 phase and a significantly lower activation entropy for this phase

Anaerobe Tolerance to Oxygen and the Potentials of Anaerobic and Aerobic Cocultures for Wastewater Treatment

The anaerobic treatment processes are considered to be well-established methods for the elimination of easily biodegradable organic matter from wastewaters. Some difficulties concerning certain wastewaters are related to the possible presence of dissolved oxygen. The common belief is that anaerobes are oxygen intolerant. Therefore, the common practice is to use sequencing anaerobic and aerobic steps in separate tanks. Enhanced treatment by polishing off the residual biodegradable oxygen demand from effluents of anaerobic reactors, or the biodegradation of recalcitrant wastewater pollutants, usually requires sequenced anaerobic and aerobic bacteria activities. However, the combined activity of both bacteria can also be obtained in a single reactor. Previous experiments with either pure or mixed cultures showed that anaerobes can tolerate oxygen to a certain extent. The oxygen toxicity to methanogens in anaerobic sludges was quantified in batch experiments, as well as in anaerobic reactors. The results showed that methanogens have a high tolerance to oxygen. In practice, it was confirmed that dissolved oxygen does not constitute any detrimental effect on reactor treatment performance. This means that the coexistence of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria in one single reactor is feasible and increases the potentials of new applications in wastewater treatmen