How do the environmental extremes of Siberian permafrost soils shape the composition of the bacterial soil community?

Microbial communities in permafrost soils of the Siberian Arctic are exposed to extreme environmental conditions. The soils are frozen throughout the entire year except for the short summer period, when thawing of the uppermost 20 to 50 cm of the permafrost sediment allows for the formation of a so-called active layer. Active layers show steep temperature gradients between 10 to 18 °C near the surface and 0 to 1 °C near the permafrost table. Additionally, seasonal freezing and thawing processes lead to the formation of patterns of low-centered polygons. Low-centered polygons determine a pronounced small-scale heterogeneity with regard to their physical and chemical properties between the elevated polygon rims and the depressed polygon centers.Within the active layer of a polygon rim, vertical profiles of potential methane oxidation rates in respond to different temperatures indicated a shift in the temperature optimum from 21 °C near the surface to 4 °C near the permafrost table [1]. This temperature shift could not be shown in samples of the polygon center. Based on these results we used 16S rDNA clone libraries as well as in-situ cell counting to compare the bacterial, in particular the methane oxidizing, community near the surface and near the permafrost table in samples of the polygon rim. The phylogenetic analyses show that the composition of the bacterial community near the surface is significantly different from the bacterial community near the permafrost table. The results also show that bacterial diversity and abundance in Siberian permafrost soils are comparably high as in temperate terrestrial environments.[1] Liebner. S. and Wagner, D. (in press) Abundance, distribution and potential activity of methane oxidizing bacteria in permafrost soils from the Lena Delta, Siberia. Environmental Microbiology doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01120.

Stratosphere aerosol and cloud measurements at McMurdo Station Antarctica during the spring of 1987

Measurements of stratospheric aerosols with balloonborne optical particle counters on 6 occasions at McMurdo Station (78 deg S) in the spring of 1986 indicated subsidence of the stratospheric sulfate layer during the time that the ozone hole was forming (Hofmann et al., 1988). Since dynamic models of ozone depletion involving upwelling in the spring polar vortex would suggest the opposite, we repeated the measurements with an increased frequency (about one sounding per week) in 1987. During 3 of the aerosol soundings in 1986, temperatures in the 15 to 20 km range were low enough (less than 80 C) for HNO3 to co-condense with water according to several theories of polar stratospheric cloud formation. However, particles were not observed with the characteristic size suggested by theory (approx. 0.5 microns). For this reason, it was proposed that polar stratospheric clouds may predominantly consist of large (approx. 5 to 50 microns) ice crystals at very low (approx. 10 sup 4- 10 sup 3 cm cubed) concentrations (Rosen et al., 1988). The particle counter employed would be relatively insensitive to these low concentrations. With the increased frequency of soundings in 1987, and adding additional size discrimination in the 1 to 2 micron region, this hypothesis could be verified if suitably low temperatures were encountered

NASTRAN cyclic symmetry capability

A development for NASTRAN which facilitates the analysis of structures made up of identical segments symmetrically arranged with respect to an axis is described. The key operation in the method is the transformation of the degrees of freedom for the structure into uncoupled symmetrical components, thereby greatly reducing the number of equations which are solved simultaneously. A further reduction occurs if each segment has a plane of reflective symmetry. The only required assumption is that the problem be linear. The capability, as developed, will be available in level 16 of NASTRAN for static stress analysis, steady state heat transfer analysis, and vibration analysis. The paper includes a discussion of the theory, a brief description of the data supplied by the user, and the results obtained for two example problems. The first problem concerns the acoustic modes of a long prismatic cavity imbedded in the propellant grain of a solid rocket motor. The second problem involves the deformations of a large space antenna. The latter example is the first application of the NASTRAN Cyclic Symmetry capability to a really large problem

Development of an early warning system of crop moisture conditions using passive microwave

Emissivities were calculated from the Nimbus 5 electrically scanning microwave radiometer (ESMR) over 25 km grid cells for the southern Great Plains includin the western two-thirds of Kansas and Oklahoma and northwest Texas. These emissivities, normalized for seasonal temperature changes, were in excellent agreement with theory and measurements made from aircraft and truck sensors at the 1.55 cm wavelength of ESMR. These emissivities were related to crop moisture conditions of the winter wheat in the major wheat producing counties of the three states. High correlations were noted between emissitivity and an antecedent precipitation index (API) used to infer soil moisture for periods when the soils were essentially bare. The emissivities from ESMR were related through API and actual crop condition reports to progress of fall planting, adequacy of crop moisture for stand establishment, and periods of excessive moisture that necessitated replanting. Periods of prolonged frozen soil in the winter were observable at several grid points. The average emissivities of the canopy/soil surface during the maximum canopy development times in the spring showed a good agreement with moisture stress inferred from rainfall and yield data

Noise equivalent circuit of a semiconductor laser diode

The noise equivalent circuit of a semiconductor laser diode is derived from the rate equations including Langevin noise sources. This equivalent circuit allows a straightforward calculation of the noise and modulation characteristics of a laser diode combined with electronic components. The intrinsic junction voltage noise spectrum and the light intensity fluctuation of a current driven laser diode are calculated as a function of bias current and frequency

The intrinsic electrical equivalent circuit of a laser diode

The basic electrical equivalent circuit of a laser diode is derived. The effects of spontaneous emission and self-pulsations are included. It is found that self-pulsations are represented by a negative resistance in the model. Application of this model suggests purely electronic methods of suppressing relaxation oscillations in laser diodes

Ozone profile measurements at McMurdo Station Antarctica during the spring of 1987

During the Antarctic spring of 1986, 33 ozone soundings were conducted from McMurdo Station. These data indicated that the springtime decrease in ozone occurred rapidly between the altitudes of 12 and 20 km. During 1987, these measurements were repeated with 50 soundings between 29 August and 9 November. Digital conversions of standard electrochemical cell ozonesondes were again employed. The ozonesonde pumps were individually calibrated for flow rate as the high altitude performance of these pumps have been in question. While these uncertainties are not large in the region of the ozone hole, they are significant at high altitude and apparently resulted in an underestimate of total ozone of about 7 percent (average) as compared to the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) in 1986, when the flow rate recommended by the manufacturer was used. At the upper altitudes (approx. 30 km) the flow rate may be overestimated by as much as 15 percent using recommended values (see Harder et al., The UW Digital Ozonesonde: Characteristics and Flow Rate Calibration, poster paper, this workshop). These upper level values are used in the extrapolation, at constant mixing ratio, required to complete the sounding for total ozone. The first sounding was on 29 August, prior to major ozone depletion, when 274 DU total ozone (25 DU extrapolated) was observed. By early October total ozone had decreased to the 150 DU range; it then increased during mid-October owing to motion of the vortex and returned to a value of 148 DU (29 DU extrapolated) on 27 October

The UW digital ozonesonde: Characteristics and flow rate calibration

During the austral springs of 1986 and 1987, a series of balloon soundings were conducted to characterize the temporal and vertical development of Antarctic ozone depletion using the electrochemical concentration cell method (ECC). An important part of this study was to perform correlative studies between ozone and aerosol particles. In order to facilitate these simultaneous measurements, a digital ozonesonde system was developed to interface with aerosol counters. The ozone measurements will be described herein. The ozonesonde modification was accomplished by converting the current output of the sonde to a frequency and adding this digital signal to the serial data stream of a Vaisala Corporation RS-80 radiosonde under microprocessor control. A number of advantages over the standard ozonesonde system currently in use are noted