A learned simulation environment to model plant growth in indoor farming

We developed a simulator to quantify the effect of changes in environmental parameters on plant growth in precision farming. Our approach combines the processing of plant images with deep convolutional neural networks (CNN), growth curve modeling, and machine learning. As a result, our system is able to predict growth rates based on environmental variables, which opens the door for the development of versatile reinforcement learning agents

Routing of western Canadian Plains runoff during the 8.2 ka cold event

The collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet over Hudson Bay ∼8.47 ka allowed the rapid drainage of glacial Lake Agassiz into the Labrador Sea, an event identified as causing a reduction in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and the 8.2 ka cold event. Atmosphere-ocean models simulations based on this forcing, however, fail to reproduce several characteristics of this event, particularly its duration. Here we use planktonic foraminifera U/Ca records to document the routing of western Canadian Plains runoff that accompanied ice-sheet collapse. Geochemical modeling of the ∼7 nmol/mol increase in U/Ca at the opening of Hudson Bay indicates an increase in freshwater discharge of 0.13 ± 0.03 Sverdrups (106 m3 s−1) from routing, a sufficient magnitude to cause an AMOC reduction. We suggest that this routing event suppressed AMOC strength for several centuries after the drainage of Lake Agassiz, explaining multi-centennial climate anomalies associated with the 8.2 ka cold event

Lobster reserves as a management tool in coastal waters: Two decades of experience in Norway

9 pages, 4 figures.-- Under a Creative Commons licenseThe positive effects of reduced fishing pressure in marine protected areas (MPAs) are now well documented globally. Yet, evidence of MPA benefits from long-term replicated before-after control-impact (BACI) studies and their usefulness in protecting target species are still rare, especially in northern temperate areas. Scientific rigor in the monitoring of MPAs is considered important for obtaining trust and compliance and can increase interest and enthusiasm for the benefits of marine conservation. Off the coast of southern Norway, a MPA implementation process started up in 2002. Based on comprehensive consultations with local fishers and managers, four experimental lobster reserves were appointed in 2004. Two years later (2006), the reserves came into effect as the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries implemented regulations as a by-law of the Saltwater Fisheries Act that effectively banned all fixed gear. Long-term monitoring of the MPAs and adjacent control areas has enabled a rigorous scientific evaluation of the effects of these MPAs on lobster populations, including effects on density, growth, demography, behavior, and phenotypic diversity. As protection effects started to manifest, the lobster reserves attracted high public attention and were soon considered a credible supplement to traditional fisheries management. In the period from 2002 to 2021, more than 50 lobster reserves have been implemented in Norway. Here, we review the experiences since the lobster reserves were designated, implemented, and embraced by local communities in Norway, and over two decades have become an important tool for fishery management. Thoughts on the future of MPAs along the coast of Norway are discussedLong term monitoring of the MPAs in Skagerrak and preparation of this manuscript was funded by the Institute of Marine Research Coastal Ecosystems Research Program. Preparation of the manuscript was also supported by University of Agder (UiA) through a priority research center grant to the UiA Centre for Coastal Research (CCR)Peer reviewe

The 8.2 ka cooling event caused by Laurentide ice saddle collapse

The 8.2 ka event was a period of abrupt cooling of 1–3 °C across large parts of the Northern Hemisphere, which lasted for about 160 yr. The original hypothesis for the cause of this event has been the outburst of the proglacial Lakes Agassiz and Ojibway. These drained into the Labrador Sea in ∼0.5–5 yr and slowed the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, thus cooling the North Atlantic region. However, climate models have not been able to reproduce the duration and magnitude of the cooling with this forcing without including additional centennial-length freshwater forcings, such as rerouting of continental runoff and ice sheet melt in combination with the lake release. Here, we show that instead of being caused by the lake outburst, the event could have been caused by accelerated melt from the collapsing ice saddle that linked domes over Hudson Bay in North America. We forced a General Circulation Model with time varying meltwater pulses (100–300 yr) that match observed sea level change, designed to represent the Hudson Bay ice saddle collapse. A 100 yr long pulse with a peak of 0.6 Sv produces a cooling in central Greenland that matches the 160 yr duration and 3 °C amplitude of the event recorded in ice cores. The simulation also reproduces the cooling pattern, amplitude and duration recorded in European Lake and North Atlantic sediment records. Such abrupt acceleration in ice melt would have been caused by surface melt feedbacks and marine ice sheet instability. These new realistic forcing scenarios provide a means to reconcile longstanding mismatches between proxy data and models, allowing for a better understanding of both the sensitivity of the climate models and processes and feedbacks in motion during the disintegration of continental ice sheets

The 8.2-ka BP event in north-eastern North America: first combined oxygen and hydrogen isotopic data from peat in Newfoundland

Finding direct evidence for atmospheric circulation change in terrestrial records of Holocene climate variability remains a fundamental challenge. Here we present the first combined stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopic palaeorecord from a peatland core in Newfoundland, Canada. Sphagnum cellulose samples were isolated from a core from Nordan's Pond Bog, Newfoundland, and analysed for ?D values. Combined with existing ?18O data, the resulting ?D/?18O bi-plot correlates directly with existing measurements of the modern (late 20th century) isotopic composition of precipitation from GNIP stations in Nova Scotia and Labrador, implying a close relationship between the estimated isotopic composition of source water used by the mosses and that of the source precipitation. We use the relative variations between the two isotope records to test the hypothesis that atmospheric circulation changed in the millennium following the 8.2-ka BP climate event. The data reveal a secondary complex isotopic response ?200 years (8250–8050 a BP) after a primary oxygen isotopic event that is widespread in the north Atlantic region. This secondary event is characterized by a divergence in oxygen and hydrogen isotope records that can most plausibly be explained by the augmentation of precipitation moisture from a more distant and more continental vapour source

D3.8 Final version of the personalization and positioning software tool with documentation. PIPER EU Project

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the final version of the PIPER framework and application. The software, along with its documentation, and not the report, constitutes the main part of the deliverable. The software and documentation were already distributed at the Final Workshop and online (under the Open Source license GPLv2 or later for the software, and the GNU FDL 1.3 license for the documentation). The documentation includes detailed descriptions of the framework principles, user interface, metadata, along with the modules and their parameters. It also includes application scenarios (called workflows). Information about the use of the modules is complemented by Tutorials that were developed as part of WP1 (online on the wiki) and explanatory videos were developed as part of WP4 (videos of the final workshop, now available on YouTube). The headers in the source code files (also available online) list the main contributors to the software. The report will therefore not provide details about information that is already available elsewhere but will only provide a very brief summary of the functionalities available. Some of the descriptions are excerpts of the manual

High-resolution sea surface reconstructions off Cape Hatteras over the last 10 ka

International audienceThis study presents high-resolution foraminiferal-based sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and upper water column stratification reconstructions off Cape Hatteras, a region sensitive to atmospheric and thermohaline circulation changes associated with the Gulf Stream. We focus on the last 10,000 years (10 ka) to study the surface hydrology changes under our current climate conditions and discuss the centennial to millennial time scale variability. We observed opposite evolutions between the conditions off Cape Hatteras and those south of Iceland, known today for the North Atlantic Oscillation pattern. We interpret the temperature and salinity changes in both regions as co-variation of activities of the subtropical and subpolar gyres. Around 8.3 ka and 5.2-3.5 ka, positive salinity anomalies are reconstructed off Cape Hatteras. We demonstrate, for the 5.2-3.5 ka period, that the salinity increase was caused by the cessation of the low salinity surface flow coming from the north. A northward displacement of the Gulf Stream, blocking the southbound low-salinity flow, concomitant to a reduced Meridional Overturning Circulation is the most likely scenario. Finally, wavelet transform analysis revealed a 1000-year period pacing the δ18O signal over the early Holocene. This 1000-year frequency band is significantly coherent with the 1000-year frequency band of Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) between 9.5 ka and 7 ka and both signals are in phase over the rest of the studied period

Recreational sea fishing in Europe in a global contextParticipation rates, fishing effort, expenditure, and implications for monitoring and assessment

Marine recreational fishing (MRF) is a high-participation activity with large economic value and social benefits globally, and it impacts on some fish stocks. Although reporting MRF catches is a European Union legislative requirement, estimates are only available for some countries. Here, data on numbers of fishers, participation rates, days fished, expenditures, and catches of two widely targeted species were synthesized to provide European estimates of MRF and placed in the global context. Uncertainty assessment was not possible due to incomplete knowledge of error distributions; instead, a semi-quantitative bias assessment was made. There were an estimated 8.7 million European recreational sea fishers corresponding to a participation rate of 1.6%. An estimated 77.6 million days were fished, and expenditure was Euro5.9 billion annually. There were higher participation, numbers of fishers, days fished and expenditure in the Atlantic than the Mediterranean, but the Mediterranean estimates were generally less robust. Comparisons with other regions showed that European MRF participation rates and expenditure were in the mid-range, with higher participation in Oceania and the United States, higher expenditure in the United States, and lower participation and expenditure in South America and Africa. For both northern European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, Moronidae) and western Baltic cod (Gadus morhua, Gadidae) stocks, MRF represented 27% of the total removals. This study highlights the importance of MRF and the need for bespoke, regular and statistically sound data collection to underpin European fisheries management. Solutions are proposed for future MRF data collection in Europe and other regions to support sustainable fisheries management.Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer; French Ministry of Fisheries Management; Greek National Data Collection Programme; European Commission, Data Collection Framework; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [MF1221, MF1230, MI001]; Norges Forskningsrad [267808]; State Department of Agriculture, Food Security and Fisheries Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; Interreg IVa 2 Seas; Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs; European Fishery Fund; Government of Galicia [ED481B2014/034-0