Anthropogenic carbon distribution in the eastern South Pacific Ocean

We present results of the CO(2)/carbonate system from the BIOSOPE cruise in the Eastern South Pacific Ocean, in an area not sampled previously. In particular, we present estimates of the anthropogenic carbon (C(ant)(TrOCA)) distribution in the upper 1000m of this region using the TrOCA method. The highest concentrations of C(ant)(TrOCA) found around 13 degrees S, 132 degrees W and 32 degrees S, 91 degrees W, are higher than 80 mu mol.kg(-)1 and 70 mu mol.kg(-1), respectively. The lowest concentrations are observed below 800m depth (<= 2 mu mol.kg(-1)) and within the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ), mainly around 140 degrees W (< 11 mu mol.kg(-1)). As a result of the anthropogenic carbon penetration there has been decrease in pH by over 0.1 on an average in the upper 200 m. This work further improves our understanding on the penetration of anthropogenic carbon in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

Thermodynamic Forecasts of the Mediterranean Sea Acidification

Anthropogenic CO2 is a major driver of the present ocean acidification. This latter is threatening the marine ecosystems and has been identified as a major environmental and economic menace. This study aims to forecast from the thermodynamic equations, the acidification variation (ΔpH) of the Mediterranean waters over the next few decades and beyond this century. In order to do so, we calculated and fitted the theoretical values based upon the initial conditions from data of the 2013 MedSeA cruise. These estimates have been performed both for the Western and for the Eastern basins based upon their respective physical (temperature and salinity) and chemical (total alkalinity and total inorganic carbon) properties. The results allow us to point out four tipping points, including one when the Mediterranean Sea waters would become acid (pH<7). In order to provide an associated time scale to the theoretical results, we used two of the IPCC (2007) atmospheric CO2 scenarios. Under the most optimistic scenario of the “Special Report: Emissions Scenarios” (SRES) of the IPCC (2007), the results indicate that in 2100, pH may decrease down to 0.245 in the Western basin and down to 0.242 in the Eastern basin (compared to the pre-industrial pH). Whereas for the most pessimistic SRES scenario of the IPCC (2007), the results for the year 2100, forecast a pH decrease down to 0.462 and 0.457, for the Western and for the Eastern basins, respectively. Acidification, which increased unprecedentedly in recent years, will rise almost similarly in both Mediterranean basins only well after the end of this century. These results further confirm that both basins may become undersaturated (< 1) with respect to calcite and aragonite (at the base of the mixed layer depth), only in the far future (in a few centuries)

Aggressive prevention and preemptive management of vascular complications after pediatric liver transplantation: A major impact on graft survival and long-term outcome

Vascular complications are a major cause of patient and graft loss after LTs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a multimodal perioperative strategy aimed at reducing the incidence of vascular complications. A total of 126 first isolated LTs-performed between November 2008 and December 2015-were retrospectively analyzed. A minimum follow-up period of 24 months was analyzable for 124/126 patients (98.4%). The aggressive preemptive strategy consisted of identifying and immediately managing any problem and any abnormality in the vascular flow, in any of the hepatic vessels, and at any time after the liver graft revascularization. As a result, with a median follow-up of 57 months (3-112 months), not a single graft has been lost from vascular or biliary problems. The actuarial 8-year graft survival is 96.5%. These results have shown that a combination of technical attention, medical prevention, an early diagnosis, and rapid interventions reduced the negative impact of vascular problems on the outcome of both grafts and patients

Climatological variations of total alkalinity and total dissolved inorganic carbon in the Mediterranean Sea surface waters

Abstract. A compilation of data from several cruises between 1998 and 2013 was used to derive polynomial fits that estimate total alkalinity (AT) and total dissolved inorganic carbon (CT) from measurements of salinity and temperature in the Mediterranean Sea surface waters. The optimal equations were chosen based on the 10-fold cross-validation results and revealed that second- and third-order polynomials fit the AT and CT data respectively. The AT surface fit yielded a root mean square error (RMSE) of ± 10.6 μmol kg−1, and salinity and temperature contribute to 96 % of the variability. Furthermore, we present the first annual mean CT parameterization for the Mediterranean Sea surface waters with a RMSE of ± 14.3 μmol kg−1. Excluding the marginal seas of the Adriatic and the Aegean, these equations can be used to estimate AT and CT in case of the lack of measurements. The identified empirical equations were applied on the 0.25° climatologies of temperature and salinity, available from the World Ocean Atlas 2013. The 7-year averages (2005–2012) showed that AT and CT have similar patterns with an increasing eastward gradient. The variability is influenced by the inflow of cold Atlantic waters through the Strait of Gibraltar and by the oligotrophic and thermohaline gradient that characterize the Mediterranean Sea. The summer–winter seasonality was also mapped and showed different patterns for AT and CT. During the winter, the AT and CT concentrations were higher in the western than in the eastern basin. The opposite was observed in the summer where the eastern basin was marked by higher AT and CT concentrations than in winter. The strong evaporation that takes place in this season along with the ultra-oligotrophy of the eastern basin determines the increase of both AT and CT concentrations

A case of Incontinentia Pigmenti associated with congenital absence of portal vein system and nodular regenerative hyperplasia

Congenital absence of portal vein system (CAPVS) is a rare condition in which portal perfusion is bypassed by portosystemic shunt leading to the development of portal hypertension (PH) or porto‐systemic encephalopathy (PSE). Visceral anomalies and liver cancer can be associated with CAPVS1.Thanks to the advances in imaging, the number of CAPVS cases detected has increased. Incontinentia Pigmenti (IP) (OMIM #308300) also represents a rare condition, characterized by skin, teeth, hair, nails, eyes and central nervous system alterations, due to mutations of NEMO/IKBKG gene. We report on the first case of IP associated with CAPVS and nodular regenerative hyperplasia (NRH) of the liver, in a patient with facial dysmorphisms and speech delay. Although rare, this finding may support the role of NEMO in liver homeostasis

Impacts of temporal CO2 and climate trends on the detection of ocean anthropogenic CO2 accumulation

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 25 (2011): GB3023, doi:10.1029/2010GB004009.A common approach for estimating the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (Canthro) depends on the linear approximation of oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from a suite of physical and biological ocean parameters. The extended multiple linear regression (eMLR) method assumes that baseline correlations and the resulting residual fields will remain constant with time even under the influence of secular climate changes. The validity of these assumptions over the 21st century is tested using a coupled carbon-climate model. Findings demonstrate that the influence of both changing climate and changing chemistry beyond 2–4 decades invalidates the assumption that the residual fields will remain constant resulting in significant errors in the eMLR estimate of Canthro. This study determines that the eMLR method is unable to describe Canthro uptake for a sampling interval of greater than 30 years if the error is to remain below 20% for many regions in the Southern Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and western Pacific Ocean. These results suggest that, for many regions of the ocean basins, hydrographic field investigations have to be repeated at approximately decadal timescales in order to accurately predict the uptake of Canthro by the ocean if the eMLR method is used.This work was supported by NOAA grant NA07OAR4310098 (SCD and RW) and funding from the University of Hong Kong (NFG)

A multi-decade record of high quality fCO2 data in version 3 of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT)

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is a synthesis of quality-controlled fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) values for the global surface oceans and coastal seas with regular updates. Version 3 of SOCAT has 14.7 million fCO2 values from 3646 data sets covering the years 1957 to 2014. This latest version has an additional 4.6 million fCO2 values relative to version 2 and extends the record from 2011 to 2014. Version 3 also significantly increases the data availability for 2005 to 2013. SOCAT has an average of approximately 1.2 million surface water fCO2 values per year for the years 2006 to 2012. Quality and documentation of the data has improved. A new feature is the data set quality control (QC) flag of E for data from alternative sensors and platforms. The accuracy of surface water fCO2 has been defined for all data set QC flags. Automated range checking has been carried out for all data sets during their upload into SOCAT. The upgrade of the interactive Data Set Viewer (previously known as the Cruise Data Viewer) allows better interrogation of the SOCAT data collection and rapid creation of high-quality figures for scientific presentations. Automated data upload has been launched for version 4 and will enable more frequent SOCAT releases in the future. High-profile scientific applications of SOCAT include quantification of the ocean sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and its long-term variation, detection of ocean acidification, as well as evaluation of coupled-climate and ocean-only biogeochemical models. Users of SOCAT data products are urged to acknowledge the contribution of data providers, as stated in the SOCAT Fair Data Use Statement. This ESSD (Earth System Science Data) “living data” publication documents the methods and data sets used for the assembly of this new version of the SOCAT data collection and compares these with those used for earlier versions of the data collection (Pfeil et al., 2013; Sabine et al., 2013; Bakker et al., 2014). Individual data set files, included in the synthesis product, can be downloaded here: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.849770. The gridded products are available here: doi:10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.SOCAT_V3_GRID

Old and new cluster designs in emergency field surveys: in search of a one-fits-all solution

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Cluster surveys are frequently used to measure key nutrition and health indicators in humanitarian emergencies. The survey design of 30 clusters of 7 children (30 × 7) was initially proposed by the World Health Organization for measuring vaccination coverage, and later a design of 30 clusters of 30 children (30 × 30) was introduced to measure acute malnutrition in emergency settings. Recently, designs of 33 clusters of 6 children (33 × 6) and 67 clusters of 3 children (67 × 3) have been proposed as alternatives that enable measurement of several key indicators with sufficient precision, while offering substantial savings in time. This paper explores expected effects of using 67 × 3, 33 × 6, or 30 × 7 designs instead of a "standard" 30 × 30 design on precision and accuracy of estimates, and on time required to complete the survey.</p> <p>Analysis</p> <p>The 67 × 3, 33 × 6, and 30 × 7 designs are expected to be more statistically efficient for measuring outcomes having high design effects (e.g., vaccination coverage, vitamin A distribution coverage, or access to safe water sources), and less efficient for measuring outcomes with more within-cluster variability, such as global acute malnutrition or anemia. Because of small sample sizes, these designs may not provide sufficient levels of precision to measure crude mortality rates. Given the small number (3 to 7) of survey subjects per cluster, it may be hard to select representative samples of subjects within clusters.</p> <p>The smaller sample size in these designs will likely result in substantial time savings. The magnitude of the savings will depend on several factors, including the average travel time between clusters. The 67 × 3 design will provide the least time savings. The 33 × 6 and 30 × 7 designs perform similarly to each other, both in terms of statistical efficiency and in terms of time required to complete the survey.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Cluster designs discussed in this paper may offer substantial time and cost savings compared to the traditional 30 × 30 design, and may provide acceptable levels of precision when measuring outcomes that have high intracluster homogeneity. Further investigation is required to determine whether these designs can consistently provide accurate point estimates for key outcomes of interest. Organizations conducting cluster surveys in emergency settings need to build their technical capacity in survey design to be able to calculate context-specific sample sizes individually for each planned survey.</p