An examination of the precipitation delivery mechanisms for Dolleman Island, eastern Antarctic Peninsula

Copyright @ 2004 Wiley-BlackwellThe variability of size and source of significant precipitation events were studied at an Antarctic ice core drilling site: Dolleman Island (DI), located on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Significant precipitation events that occur at DI were temporally located in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) reanalysis data set, ERA-40. The annual and summer precipitation totals from ERA-40 at DI both show significant increases over the reanalysis period. Three-dimensional backwards air parcel trajectories were then run for 5 d using the ECMWF ERA-15 wind fields. Cluster analyses were performed on two sets of these backwards trajectories: all days in the range 1979–1992 (the climatological time-scale) and a subset of days when a significant precipitation event occurred. The principal air mass sources and delivery mechanisms were found to be the Weddell Sea via lee cyclogenesis, the South Atlantic when there was a weak circumpolar trough (CPT) and the South Pacific when the CPT was deep. The occurrence of precipitation bearing air masses arriving via a strong CPT was found to have a significant correlation with the southern annular mode (SAM); however, the arrival of air masses from the same region over the climatological time-scale showed no such correlation. Despite the dominance in both groups of back trajectories of the westerly circulation around Antarctica, some other key patterns were identified. Most notably there was a higher frequency of lee cyclogenesis events in the significant precipitation trajectories compared to the climatological time-scale. There was also a tendency for precipitation trajectories to come from more northerly latitudes, mostly from 50–70°S. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was found to have a strong influence on the mechanism by which the precipitation was delivered; the frequency of occurrence of precipitation from the east (west) of DI increased during El Niño (La Niña) events

11th Applied isotope geochemistery conference AIG-11

36Cl measurements in groundwaters of the deep confined aquifer of the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) were performed in order to constrain groundwater geochemical ages and residence times. Twenty-seven wells were sampled in Nigeria, Niger and Chad in the southern parts of the large (700 000 km2) multilayered aquifer of the LCB. 36Cl/Cl values range between 11±1.10-15 to 148±8.10-15 at/at. The highest ratios are observed near the recharge zone of the Nigerian part of the Continental Terminal aquifer, while the lowest ones are found in wells located near the southern fringe of the present-day lake Chad. Chloride concentrations are low (below 100 mg/l) and not correlated to the 36Cl/Cl values, indicating negligible dissolution of evaporites in most samples. Reliable 36Cl ages can be calculated along the different flow paths investigated, suggesting residence times of the deep groundwaters larger than 300 000 years. These results are consistent with new AMS-14C data below the detection limit but are in contradiction with previous 14C data obtained in the area

Understanding the regulation of aspartate metabolism using a model based on measured kinetic parameters

The aspartate-derived amino-acid pathway from plants is well suited for analysing the function of the allosteric network of interactions in branched pathways. For this purpose, a detailed kinetic model of the system in the plant model Arabidopsis was constructed on the basis of in vitro kinetic measurements. The data, assembled into a mathematical model, reproduce in vivo measurements and also provide non-intuitive predictions. A crucial result is the identification of allosteric interactions whose function is not to couple demand and supply but to maintain a high independence between fluxes in competing pathways. In addition, the model shows that enzyme isoforms are not functionally redundant, because they contribute unequally to the flux and its regulation. Another result is the identification of the threonine concentration as the most sensitive variable in the system, suggesting a regulatory role for threonine at a higher level of integration

Using the past to constrain the future: how the palaeorecord can improve estimates of global warming

Climate sensitivity is defined as the change in global mean equilibrium temperature after a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration and provides a simple measure of global warming. An early estimate of climate sensitivity, 1.5-4.5{\deg}C, has changed little subsequently, including the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The persistence of such large uncertainties in this simple measure casts doubt on our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change and our ability to predict the response of the climate system to future perturbations. This has motivated continued attempts to constrain the range with climate data, alone or in conjunction with models. The majority of studies use data from the instrumental period (post-1850) but recent work has made use of information about the large climate changes experienced in the geological past. In this review, we first outline approaches that estimate climate sensitivity using instrumental climate observations and then summarise attempts to use the record of climate change on geological timescales. We examine the limitations of these studies and suggest ways in which the power of the palaeoclimate record could be better used to reduce uncertainties in our predictions of climate sensitivity.Comment: The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Progress in Physical Geography, 31(5), 2007 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. \c{opyright} 2007 Edwards, Crucifix and Harriso

Improving ice core interpretation using in situ and reanalysis data

Back trajectory analysis, provided by the British Atmospheric Data Centre using meteorological parameters from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis ERA-40 (1980-2001) and operational analysis (2002-2006), is used to investigate transport pathways and source regions of climate proxies preserved in a new ice core (Gomez) from the southwestern Antarctic Peninsula. The ECMWF data are compared with automatic weather station data and ice core annual accumulation records to demonstrate that the ECMWF data capture a large proportion of the annual and subseasonal precipitation variability at the site. The back trajectories reveal that precipitation preserved in the ice core accumulation record, and hence climate proxies contained therein, originate from the low-pressure systems from the Bellingshausen Sea transported via circumpolar westerly winds. Hence, precipitation-dependent ice core proxies, such as isotopic composition, will be influenced by both localized sea ice extent and large-scale circulation changes, such as the Southern Annular Mode. Sea ice proxies from the ice core are expected to be dominated by sea ice extent in the Bellingshausen Sea but also influenced by sea ice in the Weddell Sea, with a small proportion of air mass trajectories originating from this region during the summer. Comparison with other ice core sites reveals a stronger influence of easterly transport at more northerly locations, thus explaining the observed differences in snow accumulation records between ice cores and the poor correlation with instrumental records at these sites

Snow Chemistry Across Antarctica

An updated compilation of published and new data of major-ion (Ca, Cl, K, Mg, Na, NO3, SO4) and methylsulfonate (MS) concentrations in snow from 520 Antarctic sites is provided by the national ITASE (International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition) programmes of Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the national Antarctic programme of Finland. The comparison shows that snow chemistry concentrations vary by up to four orders of magnitude across Antarctica and exhibit distinct geographical patterns. The Antarctic-wide comparison of glaciochemical records provides a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of the fundamental factors that ultimately control the chemistry of snow or ice samples. This paper aims to initiate data compilation and administration in order to provide a framework for facilitation of Antarctic-wide snow chemistry discussions across all ITASE nations and other contributing groups. The data are made available through the ITASE web page (http:// www2.umaine.edu/itase/content/syngroups/snowchem.html) and will be updated with new data as they are provided. In addition, recommendations for future research efforts are summarized

A comparison of scavenging and deposition processes in global models: results from the WCRP Cambridge Workshop of 1995

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75543/1/j.1600-0889.2000.00980.x.pd

High-latitude dust in the Earth system

Natural dust is often associated with hot, subtropical deserts, but significant dust events have been reported from cold, high latitudes. This review synthesizes current understanding of high-latitude (≥50°N and ≥40°S) dust source geography and dynamics and provides a prospectus for future research on the topic. Although the fundamental processes controlling aeolian dust emissions in high latitudes are essentially the same as in temperate regions, there are additional processes specific to or enhanced in cold regions. These include low temperatures, humidity, strong winds, permafrost and niveo-aeolian processes all of which can affect the efficiency of dust emission and distribution of sediments. Dust deposition at high latitudes can provide nutrients to the marine system, specifically by contributing iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll oceans; it also affects ice albedo and melt rates. There have been no attempts to quantify systematically the expanse, characteristics, or dynamics of high-latitude dust sources. To address this, we identify and compare the main sources and drivers of dust emissions in the Northern (Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland) and Southern (Antarctica, New Zealand, and Patagonia) Hemispheres. The scarcity of year-round observations and limitations of satellite remote sensing data at high latitudes are discussed. It is estimated that under contemporary conditions high-latitude sources cover >500,000 km2 and contribute at least 80–100 Tg yr−1 of dust to the Earth system (~5% of the global dust budget); both are projected to increase under future climate change scenarios