Fast-ion redistribution and loss due to edge perturbations in the ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D and KSTAR tokamaks

The impact of edge localized modes (ELMs) and externally applied resonant and non-resonant magnetic perturbations (MPs) on fast-ion confinement/transport have been investigated in the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), DIII-D and KSTAR tokamaks. Two phases with respect to the ELM cycle can be clearly distinguished in ELM-induced fast-ion losses. Inter-ELM losses are characterized by a coherent modulation of the plasma density around the separatrix while intra-ELM losses appear as well-defined bursts. In high collisionality plasmas with mitigated ELMs, externally applied MPs have little effect on kinetic profiles, including fast-ions, while a strong impact on kinetic profiles is observed in low-collisionality, low q 95 plasmas with resonant and non-resonant MPs. In low-collisionality H-mode plasmas, the large fast-ion filaments observed during ELMs are replaced by a loss of fast-ions with a broad-band frequency and an amplitude of up to an order of magnitude higher than the neutral beam injection prompt loss signal without MPs. A clear synergy in the overall fast-ion transport is observed between MPs and neoclassical tearing modes. Measured fast-ion losses are typically on banana orbits that explore the entire pedestal/scrape-off layer. The fast-ion response to externally applied MPs presented here may be of general interest for the community to better understand the MP field penetration and overall plasma response.Ministerio de Economía y Empresa ((RYC-2011-09152 y ENE2012-31087)Marie Curie (Grant PCIG11-GA-2012-321455)US Department of Energy (DE-FC02-04ER54698, SC-G903402, DE-FG02-04ER54761, DE-AC02-09CH11466 and DE-FG02- 08ER54984)NRF Korea contract 2009-0082012MEST under the KSTAR projec

High temperatures in the terrestrial mid-latitudes during the early Palaeogene

The early Paleogene (56–48 Myr) provides valuable information about the Earth’s climate system in an equilibrium high pCO2 world. High ocean temperatures have been reconstructed for this greenhouse period, but land temperature estimates have been cooler than expected. This mismatch between marine and terrestrial temperatures has been difficult to reconcile. Here we present terrestrial temperature estimates from a newly calibrated branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether-based palaeothermometer in ancient lignites (fossilized peat). Our results suggest early Palaeogene mid-latitude mean annual air temperatures of 23–29 °C (with an uncertainty of ± 4.7 °C), 5–10 °C higher than most previous estimates. The identification of archaeal biomarkers in these same lignites, previously observed only in thermophiles and hyperthermophilic settings, support these high temperature estimates. These mid-latitude terrestrial temperature estimates are consistent with reconstructed ocean temperatures and indicate that the terrestrial realm was much warmer during the early Palaeogene than previously thought

UK greenhouse gas measurements at two new tall towers for aiding emissions verification

Abstract. Under the UK focused Greenhouse gAs and Uk and Global Emissions (GAUGE) project, two new tall tower greenhouse gas (GHG) observation sites were established in the 2013/2014 Northern Hemispheric winter. These sites were located at two existing telecommunications towers, Heathfield (HFD) and Bilsdale (BSD), utilised a combination of cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and gas chromatography (GC) to measure key GHGs (CO2, CH4, CO, N2O and SF6). Measurements were made at multiple intake heights on each tower. The inclusion of the two additional tower stations within the existing UK Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (DECC) network of four stations was found to reduce the uncertainty of CH4 UK emission estimates by between 10–20 %. CO2 and CH4 dry mole fractions were calculated from either CRDS measurements of wet air which were post corrected with an instrument specific empirical correction or samples dried to between 0.05 and 0.3 % H2O using a Nafion dryer, with a smaller correction applied for the residual H2O. The impact of these two drying strategies was examined. Drying with a Nafion drier was not found to have a significant effect on the observed CH4 mole fraction; however, Nafion drying did cause a 0.02 µmol mol−1 CO2 bias. This bias was stable with sample CO2 mole fractions between 373 and 514 µmol mol−1 and for sample H2O up to 3.5 %. As the calibration and standard gases are treated in the same manner, this error is mostly calibrated out with the residual error below the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) reproducibility requirements. Of more concern was the error associated with both default factory and empirical instrument specific water correction algorithms. These corrections are relatively stable and reproducible for samples with H2O between 0.2 and 2.5 %, CO2 between 345 and 449 µmol mol−1 and CH4 between 1743 and 2145 nmol mol−1. However, the residual errors in these corrections increase to &gt; 0.05 µmol mol−1 for CO2 and &gt; 1 nmol mol−1 for CH4 (greater than the WMO internal reproducibility guidelines) at higher humidities and for samples with very low ( </jats:p

An impulse response function for the "long tail" of excess atmospheric CO₂ in an Earth system model

The ultimate fate of (fossil fuel) CO emitted to the atmosphere is governed by a range of sedimentological and geological processes operating on timescales of up to the ca. hundred thousand year response of the silicate weathering feedback. However, how the various geological CO sinks might saturate and feedbacks weaken in response to increasing total emissions is poorly known. Here we explore the relative importance and timescales of these processes using a 3-D ocean-based Earth system model. We first generate an ensemble of 1 Myr duration CO decay curves spanning cumulative emissions of up to 20,000 Pg C. To aid characterization and understanding of the model response to increasing emission size, we then generate an impulse response function description for the long-term fate of CO in the model. In terms of the process of carbonate weathering and burial, our analysis is consistent with a progressively increasing fraction of total emissions that are removed from the atmosphere as emissions increase, due to the ocean carbon sink becoming saturated, together with a lengthening of the timescale of removal from the atmosphere. However, we find that in our model the ultimate CO sink - silicate weathering feedback - is approximately invariant with respect to cumulative emissions, both in terms of its importance (it removes the remaining excess ~7% of total emissions from the atmosphere) and timescale (~270 kyr). Because a simple pulse-response description leads to initially large predictive errors for a realistic time-varying carbon release, we also develop a convolution-based description of atmospheric CO decay which can be used as a simple and efficient means of making long-term carbon cycle perturbation projections. Key Points An ensemble of CO pulse emissions are modeled using an Earth system model Our impulse response function projects the atmospheric lifetime of emitted CO We characterize how the marine CO sinks tend to saturate at very high emissions. 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Making connections: technological interventions to support students in using, and tutors in creating, assessment feedback

This paper explores the potential of technology to enhance the assessment and feedback process for both staff and students. The ‘Making Connections’ project aimed to better understand the connections that students make between the feedback that they receive and future assignments, and explored whether technology can help them in this activity. The project interviewed 10 tutors and 20 students, using a semi-structured approach. Data were analysed using a thematic approach, and the findings have identified a number of areas in which improvements could be made to the assessment and feedback process through the use of technology. The findings of the study cover each stage of the assessment process from the perspective of both staff and students. The findings are discussed in the context of current literature, and special attention is given to projects from the UK higher education sector intended to address the same issues. Keywords: feed-forward; assessment; practices; technology; technology-enhanced learnin

Impact of prevalent and incident vertebral fractures on utility: results from a patient-based and a population-based sample

Data are scarce on the impact of vertebral fractures (VFX) on utility. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of prevalent and incident VFX on utility in both a patient-based and population-based sample. Data from the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation (MORE) study (n = 550 for prevalent VFX and n = 174 for incident VFX) and the European Prospective Osteoporosis Study (EPOS) (n = 236) were used. Utility was assessed by the index score of the EQ-5D. In the MORE study, highly statistically significant associations were found between utility and the presence of prevalent VFX (p < 0.001), number of prevalent VFX (p < 0.001), severity of prevalent VFX (p < 0.001), the combination of number and severity of prevalent VFX (p = 0.001) and location of prevalent VFX (p = 0.019). The mean utility was significantly lower among women who suffered an incident VFX (utility = 0.67) than among women who did not (utility = 0.77) (p = 0.005), although utility loss was not significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.142). In EPOS, the combination of number and severity of incident VFX was significantly related to utility (p = 0.030). In conclusion, utility is lower among persons with prevalent and incident VFX, especially in a patient-based sample. Utility loss was not significantly different between women without and with incident VFX

The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 1: overview and over-arching analysis plan

This paper is the first of a series of four GMD papers on the PMIP4-CMIP6 experiments. Part 2 (Otto-Bliesner et al., 2017) gives details about the two PMIP4-CMIP6 interglacial experiments, Part 3 (Jungclaus et al., 2017) about the last millennium experiment, and Part 4 (Kageyama et al., 2017) about the Last Glacial Maximum experiment. The mid-Pliocene Warm Period experiment is part of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) – Phase 2, detailed in Haywood et al. (2016). The goal of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) is to understand the response of the climate system to different climate forcings for documented climatic states very different from the present and historical climates. Through comparison with observations of the environmental impact of these climate changes, or with climate reconstructions based on physical, chemical, or biological records, PMIP also addresses the issue of how well state-of-the-art numerical models simulate climate change. Climate models are usually developed using the present and historical climates as references, but climate projections show that future climates will lie well outside these conditions. Palaeoclimates very different from these reference states therefore provide stringent tests for state-of-the-art models and a way to assess whether their sensitivity to forcings is compatible with palaeoclimatic evidence. Simulations of five different periods have been designed to address the objectives of the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6): the millennium prior to the industrial epoch (CMIP6 name: past1000); the mid-Holocene, 6000 years ago (midHolocene); the Last Glacial Maximum, 21 000 years ago (lgm); the Last Interglacial, 127 000 years ago (lig127k); and the mid-Pliocene Warm Period, 3.2 million years ago (midPliocene-eoi400). These climatic periods are well documented by palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental records, with climate and environmental changes relevant for the study and projection of future climate changes. This paper describes the motivation for the choice of these periods and the design of the numerical experiments and database requests, with a focus on their novel features compared to the experiments performed in previous phases of PMIP and CMIP. It also outlines the analysis plan that takes advantage of the comparisons of the results across periods and across CMIP6 in collaboration with other MIPs

The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two decades of application in conservation

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this recordFocus group discussion is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of social issues. The method aims to obtain data from a purposely selected group of individuals rather than from a statistically representative sample of a broader population. Even though the application of this method in conservation research has been extensive, there are no critical assessment of the application of the technique. In addition, there are no readily available guidelines for conservation researchers. Here, we reviewed the applications of focus group discussion within biodiversity and conservation research between 1996 and April 2017. We begin with a brief explanation of the technique for first-time users. We then discuss in detail the empirical applications of this technique in conservation based on a structured literature review (using Scopus). The screening process resulted in 170 articles, the majority of which (67%, n = 114,) were published between 2011 and 2017. Rarely was the method used as a stand-alone technique. The number of participants per focus group (where reported) ranged from 3 to 21 participants with a median of 10 participants. There were seven (median) focus group meetings per study. Focus group discussion sessions lasted for 90 (median) minutes. Four main themes emerged from the review: understanding of people's perspectives regarding conservation (32%), followed by the assessment of conservation and livelihoods practices (21%), examination of challenges and impacts of resource management interventions (19%) and documenting the value of indigenous knowledge systems (16%). Most of the studies were in Africa (n = 76), followed by Asia (n = 44), and Europe (n = 30). We noted serious gaps in the reporting of the methodological details in the reviewed papers. More than half of the studies (n = 101) did not report the sample size and group size (n = 93), whereas 54 studies did not mention the number of focus group discussion sessions while reporting results. Rarely have the studies provided any information on the rationale for choosing the technique. We have provided guidelines to improve the standard of reporting and future application of the technique for conservation.N.T.O. was funded by Cambridge Overseas Trusts, The Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Conservation Network and WildiZe Foundation. NM was funded by the NERC grant (NE/R006946/1), Fondation Wiener Anspach and the Scriven post doctoral fellowships. K.W. was sup-ported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CE11001000104) and Future Fellowship (FT100100413) programs and funded by the Australian Government