Extremely low long‐term erosion rates around the Gamburtsev Mountains in interior East Antarctica

The high elevation and rugged relief (>3 km) of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains (GSM) have long been considered enigmatic. Orogenesis normally occurs near plate boundaries, not cratonic interiors, and large‐scale tectonic activity last occurred in East Antarctica during the Pan‐African (480–600 Ma). We sampled detrital apatite from Eocene sands in Prydz Bay at the terminus of the Lambert Graben, which drained a large pre‐glacial basin including the northern Gamburtsev Mountains. Apatite fission‐track and (U‐Th)/He cooling ages constrain bedrock erosion rates throughout the catchment. We double‐dated apatites to resolve individual cooling histories. Erosion was very slow, averaging 0.01–0.02 km/Myr for >250 Myr, supporting the preservation of high elevation in interior East Antarctica since at least the cessation of Permian rifting. Long‐term topographic preservation lends credence to postulated high‐elevation mountain ice caps in East Antarctica since at least the Cretaceous and to the idea that cold‐based glaciation can preserve tectonically inactive topography

Root Zone Sensors for Irrigation Management in Intensive Agriculture

Crop irrigation uses more than 70% of the world’s water, and thus, improving irrigation efficiency is decisive to sustain the food demand from a fast-growing world population. This objective may be accomplished by cultivating more water-efficient crop species and/or through the application of efficient irrigation systems, which includes the implementation of a suitable method for precise scheduling. At the farm level, irrigation is generally scheduled based on the grower’s experience or on the determination of soil water balance (weather-based method). An alternative approach entails the measurement of soil water status. Expensive and sophisticated root zone sensors (RZS), such as neutron probes, are available for the use of soil and plant scientists, while cheap and practical devices are needed for irrigation management in commercial crops. The paper illustrates the main features of RZS’ (for both soil moisture and salinity) marketed for the irrigation industry and discusses how such sensors may be integrated in a wireless network for computer-controlled irrigation and used for innovative irrigation strategies, such as deficit or dual-water irrigation. The paper also consider the main results of recent or current research works conducted by the authors in Tuscany (Italy) on the irrigation management of container-grown ornamental plants, which is an important agricultural sector in Italy

Independent therapeutic advice: How achievable is it?

This supplement is likely to be of interest to anyone involved in the development of clinical guidelines and clinical research, including: • health professionals, trainees and students who use guidelines as a basis for their decision making • policy makers and others working to improve the quality of health care • people involved in university, college and hospital education. The supplement outlines the issues discussed at an Independence Forum hosted by Therapeutic Guidelines Limited in Melbourne, Australia, on 29 October 2012. It puts forward recommendations to overcome limitations of the evidence base and improve the trustworthiness of guidelines. Therapeutic Guidelines is an independent, not-forprofit organisation that was established to promote the quality use of medicines through the publication of clear, concise and ready to use guidelines. Therapeutic Guidelines convened the Independence Forum to discuss issues of independence and conflicts of interest in the context of the development of therapeutic guidelines for health professionals. Two eminent overseas speakers, Professor Silvio Garattini from the Mario Negri Institute, Italy, and Assistant Professor Barbara Mintzes from the University of British Columbia, Canada, gave keynote presentations on the complexity of the therapeutic environment and clinical evidence base. Key Australian commentators and health ethicists – Professor Paul Komesaroff from the Centre for the Study of Ethics in Medicine and Society at Monash University, and Associate Professor Ian Kerridge from the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney – focused on the influence of vested interests in clinical research trials and guideline development, citing high profile examples such as the case of hormone therapy after menopause. Panel discussions provided insights on these issues from a range of perspectives, including government, evidence-based medicine, clinical research, health professionals and community. During the last session, speakers and participants worked in small groups to formulate recommendations and strategies to improve the suitability of the evidence base and trustworthiness of therapeutic recommendations and guidelines.NP

Independent therapeutic advice: How achievable is it?

This supplement is likely to be of interest to anyone involved in the development of clinical guidelines and clinical research, including: • health professionals, trainees and students who use guidelines as a basis for their decision making • policy makers and others working to improve the quality of health care • people involved in university, college and hospital education. The supplement outlines the issues discussed at an Independence Forum hosted by Therapeutic Guidelines Limited in Melbourne, Australia, on 29 October 2012. It puts forward recommendations to overcome limitations of the evidence base and improve the trustworthiness of guidelines. Therapeutic Guidelines is an independent, not-forprofit organisation that was established to promote the quality use of medicines through the publication of clear, concise and ready to use guidelines. Therapeutic Guidelines convened the Independence Forum to discuss issues of independence and conflicts of interest in the context of the development of therapeutic guidelines for health professionals. Two eminent overseas speakers, Professor Silvio Garattini from the Mario Negri Institute, Italy, and Assistant Professor Barbara Mintzes from the University of British Columbia, Canada, gave keynote presentations on the complexity of the therapeutic environment and clinical evidence base. Key Australian commentators and health ethicists – Professor Paul Komesaroff from the Centre for the Study of Ethics in Medicine and Society at Monash University, and Associate Professor Ian Kerridge from the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney – focused on the influence of vested interests in clinical research trials and guideline development, citing high profile examples such as the case of hormone therapy after menopause. Panel discussions provided insights on these issues from a range of perspectives, including government, evidence-based medicine, clinical research, health professionals and community. During the last session, speakers and participants worked in small groups to formulate recommendations and strategies to improve the suitability of the evidence base and trustworthiness of therapeutic recommendations and guidelines.NP

Hydrography and circulation west of Sardinia in June 2014

In the frame of the REP14-MED sea trial in June 2014, the hydrography and circulation west of Sardinia, observed by means of gliders, shipborne CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) instruments, towed devices, and vessel-mounted ADCPs (acoustic doppler current profilers), are presented and compared with previous knowledge. So far, the circulation is not well-known in this area, and the hydrography is subject to long-term changes. Potential temperature, salinity, and potential density ranges as well as core values of the observed water masses were determined. Modified Atlantic Water (MAW), with potential density anomalies below 28.72 kg m−3, showed a salinity minimum of 37.93 at 50 dbar. Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW), with a salinity maximum of about 38.70 at 400 dbar, was observed within a range of 28.72<σΘ/(kg m−3) < 29.10. MAW and LIW showed slightly higher salinities than previous investigations. During the trial, LIW covered the whole area from the Sardinian shelf to 7°15′ E. Only north of 40° N was it tied to the continental slope. Within the MAW, a cold and saline anticyclonic eddy was observed in the southern trial area. The strongest variability in temperature and salinity appeared around this eddy, and in the southwestern part of the domain, where unusually low saline surface water entered the area towards the end of the experiment. An anticyclonic eddy of Winter Intermediate Water was recorded moving northward at 0.014 m s−1. Geostrophic currents and water mass transports calculated across zonal and meridional transects showed a good agreement with vessel-mounted ADCP measurements. Within the MAW, northward currents were observed over the shelf and offshore, while a southward transport of about 1.5 Sv occurred over the slope. A net northward transport of 0.38 Sv across the southern transect decreased to zero in the north. Within the LIW, northward transports of 0.6 Sv across the southern transects were mainly observed offshore, and decreased to 0.3 Sv in the north where they were primarily located over the slope. This presentation of the REP14-MED observations helps to further understand the long-term evolution of hydrography and circulation in the Western Mediterranean, where considerable changes occurred after the Eastern Mediterranean Transient and the Western Mediterranean Transition

Measuring pH variability using an experimental sensor on an underwater glider

Autonomous underwater gliders offer the capability of measuring oceanic parameters continuously at high resolution in both vertical and horizontal planes, with timescales that can extend to many months. An experimental ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) sensor measuring pH on the total scale was attached to a glider during the REP14 – MED experiment in June 2014 in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. During the deployment, pH was sampled at depths of up to 1000 m, along an 80 km transect over a period of 12 days. Water samples were collected from a nearby ship and analysed for dissolved inorganic carbon concentration and total alkalinity to derive pH for validating the ISFET measurements. The vertical resolution of the pH sensor was good (1 to 2 m), but stability was poor, and the sensor drifted in a non-monotonous fashion. In order to remove the sensor drift, a time-dependent, depth-invariant offset was applied throughout the water column for each dive, reducing the spread of the data by approximately two thirds. Furthermore, the ISFET sensor required temperature and pressure-based corrections, which were achieved using linear regression. Correcting for this decreased the apparent sensor pH variability by a further 13 to 31 %. Sunlight caused an apparent sensor pH decrease of up to 0.1 in surface waters around local noon, highlighting the importance of shielding the sensor away from light in future deployments. The corrected pH from the ISFET sensor is presented along with potential temperature, salinity, potential density anomalies (σθ), and dissolved oxygen concentrations (c(O2)) measured by the glider, providing insights into physical and biogeochemical variability in this region. pH maxima were identified at the depth of the summer chlorophyll maximum, where high c(O2) values were also found. Longitudinal pH variations at depth (σθ > 28.8 kg m−3) highlighted variability of water masses in this region. Higher pH was observed where salinity was > 38.65, and lower pH was found where salinity ranged between 38.3 and 38.65. It seemed that the higher pH was associated with saltier Levantine Intermediate Water. Furthermore, shoaling isopycnals closer to shore coinciding with low pH, high salinity, low c(O2) waters may be indicative of upwelling

Geographers out of place: institutions, (inter)disciplinarity and identity

Ten years ago, the decision was taken to close Brunel University’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and its undergraduate programmes. Since this time, most of the human geographers have remained at Brunel, but now work from beyond the boundaries of conventional academic Geography. In this paper we argue that this situation, which is not uncommon for geographers in the UK and elsewhere, has significant implications for both individuals and the discipline more broadly. Through our everyday experiences of interdisciplinary working, this paper reflects on what it means to be a geographer working outside of ‘Geography’. The paper examines the implications of this at three different yet related scales: the immediately personal scale in terms of identity and individual academic performance, the institutional scale and its organisation that can lead to the presence/ absence of academic subject areas, and then finally the disciplinary scale with its attendant spaces of knowledge generation, dissemination and protectionism. Our arguments are framed by neoliberal-led higher education changes and conceptualisations of institutions, (inter)disciplinarity and identity, and point to broader significances for the shape of the discipline

A Transformer-Based Classification System for Volcanic Seismic Signals

Monitoring volcanic events as they occur is a task that, to this day, requires significant human capital. The current process requires geologists to monitor seismographs around the clock, making it extremely labour-intensive and inefficient. The ability to automatically classify volcanic events as they happen in real-time would allow for quicker responses to these events by the surrounding communities. Timely knowledge of the type of event that is occurring can allow these surrounding communities to prepare or evacuate sooner depending on the magnitude of the event. Up until recently, not much research has been conducted regarding the potential for machine learning (ML) models to supplement or substitute human monitoring of volcanoes. Recent initiatives in this field have demonstrated that it is possible to classify volcanic events using ML techniques. Additionally, recent research in general signal processing has shown that the novel technique of multi-head self-attention (MHSA), used in natural language processing (NLP), is also useful in signal analysis. In this report, we seek to apply MHSA to create a deep neural network (DNN) that can automatically classify volcanic events. Our proposed model architecture provides minor improvements over existing approaches on pre-processed data. When considering raw signals coming directly from monitoring stations, our model outperforms existing approaches by a great margin