Using atmospheric observations to evaluate the spatiotemporal variability of CO₂ fluxes simulated by terrestrial biospheric models

Terrestrial biospheric models (TBMs) are used to extrapolate local observations and process-level understanding of land-atmosphere carbon exchange to larger regions, and serve as predictive tools for examining carbon-climate interactions. Understanding the performance of TBMs is thus crucial to the carbon cycle and climate science communities. In this study, we present and assess an approach to evaluating the spatiotemporal patterns, rather than aggregated magnitudes, of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) simulated by TBMs using atmospheric CO2 measurements. The approach is based on statistical model selection implemented within a high-resolution atmospheric inverse model. Using synthetic data experiments, we find that current atmospheric observations are sensitive to the underlying spatiotemporal flux variability at sub-biome scales for a large portion of North America, and that atmospheric observations can therefore be used to evaluate simulated spatiotemporal flux patterns as well as to differentiate between multiple competing TBMs. Experiments using real atmospheric observations and four prototypical TBMs further confirm the applicability of the method, and demonstrate that the performance of TBMs in simulating the spatiotemporal patterns of NEE varies substantially across seasons, with best performance during the growing season and more limited skill during transition seasons. This result is consistent with previous work showing that the ability of TBMs to model flux magnitudes is also seasonally-dependent. Overall, the proposed approach provides a new avenue for evaluating TBM performance based on sub-biome-scale flux patterns, presenting an opportunity for assessing and informing model development using atmospheric observations

Thermodynamic Study of Excitations in a 3D Spin Liquid

In order to characterize thermal excitations in a frustrated spin liquid, we have examined the magnetothermodynamics of a model geometrically frustrated magnet. Our data demonstrate a crossover in the nature of the spin excitations between the spin liquid phase and the high-temperature paramagnetic state. The temperature dependence of both the specific heat and magnetization in the spin liquid phase can be fit within a simple model which assumes that the spin excitations have a gapped quadratic dispersion relation.Comment: 5 figure

Itinerant-Electron Magnet of the Pyrochlore Lattice: Indium-Doped YMn2Zn20

We report on a ternary intermetallic compound, "YMn2Zn20", comprising a pyrochlore lattice made of Mn atoms. A series of In-doped single crystals undergo no magnetic long-range order down to 0.4 K, in spite of the fact that the Mn atom carries a local magnetic moment at high temperatures, showing Curie-Weiss magnetism. However, In-rich crystals exhibit spin-glass transitions at approximately 10 K due to a disorder arising from the substitution, while, with decreasing In content, the spin-glass transition temperature is reduced to 1 K. Then, heat capacity divided by temperature approaches a large value of 280 mJ K-2 mol-1, suggesting a significantly large mass enhancement for conduction electrons. This heavy-fermion-like behavior is not induced by the Kondo effect as in ordinary f-electron compounds, but by an alternative mechanism related to the geometrical frustration on the pyrochlore lattice, as in (Y,Sc)Mn2 and LiV2O4, which may allow spin entropy to survive down to low temperatures and to couple with conduction electrons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., in pres

Structure of 55Sc and development of the N=34 subshell closure

The low-lying structure of $^{55}$Sc has been investigated using in-beam $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy with the $^{9}$Be($^{56}$Ti,$^{55}$Sc+$\gamma$)$X$ one-proton removal and $^{9}$Be($^{55}$Sc,$^{55}$Sc+$\gamma$)$X$ inelastic-scattering reactions at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Transitions with energies of 572(4), 695(5), 1539(10), 1730(20), 1854(27), 2091(19), 2452(26), and 3241(39) keV are reported, and a level scheme has been constructed using $\gamma\gamma$ coincidence relationships and $\gamma$-ray relative intensities. The results are compared to large-scale shell-model calculations in the $sd$-$pf$ model space, which account for positive-parity states from proton-hole cross-shell excitations, and to it ab initio shell-model calculations from the in-medium similarity renormalization group that includes three-nucleon forces explicitly. The results of proton-removal reaction theory with the eikonal model approach were adopted to aid identification of positive-parity states in the level scheme; experimental counterparts of theoretical $1/2^{+}_{1}$ and $3/2^{+}_{1}$ states are suggested from measured decay patterns. The energy of the first $3/2^{-}$ state, which is sensitive to the neutron shell gap at the Fermi surface, was determined. The result indicates a rapid weakening of the $N=34$ subshell closure in $pf$-shell nuclei at $Z>20$, even when only a single proton occupies the $\pi f_{7/2}$ orbital

Lattice dynamics and structural stability of ordered Fe3Ni, Fe3Pd and Fe3Pt alloys

We investigate the binding surface along the Bain path and phonon dispersion relations for the cubic phase of the ferromagnetic binary alloys Fe3X (X = Ni, Pd, Pt) for L12 and DO22 ordered phases from first principles by means of density functional theory. The phonon dispersion relations exhibit a softening of the transverse acoustic mode at the M-point in the L12-phase in accordance with experiments for ordered Fe3Pt. This instability can be associated with a rotational movement of the Fe-atoms around the Ni-group element in the neighboring layers and is accompanied by an extensive reconstruction of the Fermi surface. In addition, we find an incomplete softening in [111] direction which is strongest for Fe3 Ni. We conclude that besides the valence electron density also the specific Fe-content and the masses of the alloying partners should be considered as parameters for the design of Fe-based functional magnetic materials.Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Spin-fluctuation theory beyond Gaussian approximation

A characteristic feature of the Gaussian approximation in the functional-integral approach to the spin-fluctuation theory is the jump phase transition to the paramagnetic state. We eliminate the jump and obtain a continuous second-order phase transition by taking into account high-order terms in the expansion of the free energy in powers of the fluctuating exchange field. The third-order term of the free energy renormalizes the mean field, and fourth-order term, responsible for the interaction of the fluctuations, renormalizes the spin susceptibility. The extended theory is applied to the calculation of magnetic properties of Fe-Ni Invar.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

An ergodic theorem of a parabolic Anderson model driven by Lévy noise

In this paper, we study an ergodic theorem of a parabolic Andersen model driven by Lévy noise. Under the assumption that A = (a(i, j))i,j∈S is symmetric with respect to a σ-finite measure gp, we obtain the long-time convergence to an invariant probability measure νh starting from a bounded nonnegative A-harmonic function h based on self-duality property. Furthermore, under some mild conditions, we obtain the one to one correspondence between the bounded nonnegative A-harmonic functions and the extremal invariant probability measures with finite second moment of the nonnegative solution of the parabolic Anderson model driven by Lévy noise, which is an extension of the result of Y. Liu and F. X. Yang

High-field magnetization of the 3d heavy-fermion system LiV2_2O4−d_{4-d} (d = 0, 0.08)

Metamagnetic behavior has been observed in LiV2O4 powder sample around 38 T at 4.2 K. On the other hand, magnetization for oxygen deficient LiV2O3.92 shows no indication of metamagnetism up to 40 T, and shows substantially reduced magnetic moment compared to that of LiV2O4. These results suggest that ferromagnetic interaction is strongly enhanced by magnetic fields in LiV2O4, whereas antiferromagnetic interaction is dominant in LiV2O3.92.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to be published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Synthesis, Characterization and Magnetic Susceptibility of the Heavy Fermion Transition Metal Oxide LiV_{2}O_{4}

The preparative method, characterization and magnetic susceptibility \chi measurements versus temperature T of the heavy fermion transition metal oxide LiV_{2}O_{4} are reported in detail. The intrinsic \chi(T) shows a nearly T-independent behavior below ~ 30 K with a shallow broad maximum at about 16 K, whereas Curie-Weiss-like behavior is observed above 50-100 K. Field-cooled and zero-field-cooled magnetization M measurements in applied magnetic fields H = 10 to 100 G from 1.8 to 50 K showed no evidence for spin-glass ordering. Crystalline electric field theory for an assumed cubic V point group symmetry is found insufficient to describe the observed temperature variation of the effective magnetic moment. The Kondo and Coqblin-Schrieffer models do not describe the magnitude and T dependence of \chi with realistic parameters. In the high T range, fits of \chi(T) by the predictions of high temperature series expansion calculations provide estimates of the V-V antiferromagnetic exchange coupling constant J/k_{B} ~ 20 K, g-factor g ~ 2 and the T-independent susceptibility. Other possible models to describe the \chi(T) are discussed. The paramagnetic impurities in the samples were characterized using isothermal M(H) measurements with 0 < H <= 5.5 Tesla at 2 to 6 K. These impurities are inferred to have spin S_{imp} ~ 3/2 to 4, g_{imp} ~ 2 and molar concentrations of 0.01 to 0.8 %, depending on the sample.Comment: 19 typeset RevTeX pages, 16 eps figures included, uses epsf; to be published in Phys. Rev.

Multiscale assessment of North American terrestrial carbon balance

Comparisons of carbon uptake estimates from bottom-up terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) to top-down atmospheric inversions help assess how well we understand carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere. Previous comparisons have shown varying levels of agreement between bottom-up and top-down approaches, but they have almost exclusively focused on large, aggregated scales (e.g., global or continental), providing limited insights into reasons for the mismatches. Here we explore how consistency, defined as the spread in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) estimates within an ensemble of TBMs or inversions, varies with at finer spatial scales ranging from 1∘×1∘ to the continent of North America. We also evaluate how well consistency informs accuracy in overall NEE estimates by filtering models based on their agreement with the variability, magnitude, and seasonality in observed atmospheric CO2 drawdowns or enhancements. We find that TBMs produce more consistent estimates of NEE for most regions and at most scales relative to inversions. Filtering models using atmospheric CO2 metrics causes ensemble spread to decrease substantially for TBMs, but not for inversions. This suggests that ensemble spread is likely not a reliable measure of the uncertainty associated with the North American carbon balance at any spatial scale. Promisingly, applying atmospheric CO2 metrics leads to a set of models with converging flux estimates across TBMs and inversions. Overall, we show that multiscale assessment of the agreement between bottom-up and top-down NEE estimates, aided by regional-scale observational constraints is a promising path towards identifying fine-scale sources of uncertainty and improving both ensemble consistency and accuracy. These findings help refine our understanding of biospheric carbon balance, particularly at scales relevant for informing regional carbon-climate feedbacks.</p