125 research outputs found
Deglacial Variability in Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water Ventilation and Biogeochemistry: Implications for North Pacific Nutrient Supply and Productivity
Highlights
• Multi-proxy, multi-site reconstruction of Okhotsk Sea palaeo-productivity and mid-depth ventilation changes from 8 to 18 ka.
• Link between hinterland river discharge and downstream Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW) ventilation/nutrient signatures.
• Surplus Fe, Si(OH)4 export in OSIW during Bølling-Allerød to pelagic Pacific supported transient nutrient-replete conditions.
• Subarctic and subtropical Pacific gyres disconnected during Bølling-Allerød, with restricted OSIW flow to lower latitudes.
• Deglacial OSIW export and mid-depth Pacific biogeochemistry modulate millennial-scale regional CO2 source/sink conditions.
The modern North Pacific plays a critical role in marine biogeochemical cycles, as an oceanic sink of CO2 and by bearing some of the most productive and least oxygenated waters of the World Ocean. The capacity to sequester CO2 is limited by efficient nutrient supply to the mixed layer, particularly from deeper water masses in the Pacific's subarctic and marginal seas. The region is in addition only weakly ventilated by North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW), which receives its characteristics from Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW). Here, we present reconstructions of intermediate water ventilation and productivity variations in the Okhotsk Sea that cover the last glacial termination between eight and 18 ka, based on a set of high-resolution sediment cores from sites directly downstream of OSIW formation. In a multi-proxy approach, we use total organic carbon (TOC), chlorin, biogenic opal, and CaCO3 concentrations as indicators for biological productivity. C/N ratios and XRF scanning-derived elemental ratios (Si/K and Fe/K), as well as chlorophycean algae counts document changes in Amur freshwater and sediment discharge that condition the OSIW. Stable carbon isotopes of epi- and shallow endobenthic foraminifera, in combination with 14C analyses of benthic and planktic foraminifera imply decreases in OSIW oxygenation during deglacial warm phases from c. 14.7 to 13 ka (Bølling-Allerød) and c. 11.4 to 9 ka (Preboreal). No concomitant decreases in Okhotsk Sea benthic-planktic ventilation ages are observed, in contrast to nearby, but southerly locations on the Japan continental margin. We attribute Okhotsk Sea mid-depth oxygenation decreases in times of enhanced organic matter supply to maxima in remineralization within OSIW, in line with multi-proxy evidence for maxima in primary productivity and supply of organic matter. Sedimentary C/N and Fe/K ratios indicate more effective entrainment of nutrients into OSIW and thus an increased nutrient load of OSIW during deglacial warm periods. Correlation of palynological and sedimentological evidence from our sites with hinterland reference records suggests that millennial-scale changes in OSIW oxygen and nutrient concentrations were largely influenced by fluvial freshwater runoff maxima from the Amur, caused by a deglacial northeastward propagation of the East Asian Summer Monsoon that increased precipitation and temperatures, in conjunction with melting of permafrost in the Amur catchment area. We suggest that OSIW ventilation minima and the high lateral supply of nutrients and organic matter during the Allerød and Preboreal are mechanistically linked to concurrent maxima in nutrient utilization and biological productivity in the subpolar Northwest Pacific. In this scenario, increased export of nutrients from the Okhotsk Sea during deglacial warm phases supported subarctic Pacific shifts from generally Fe-limiting conditions to transient nutrient-replete regimes through enhanced advection of mid-depth nutrient- and Fe-rich OSIW into the upper ocean. This mechanism may have moderated the role of the subarctic Pacific in the deglacial CO2 rise on millennial timescales by combining the upwelling of old carbon-rich waters with a transient delivery of mid-depth-derived bio-available Fe and silicate
Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Size Parameters and Higher Moments of the Particle-Size Distribution Function in the Asymptotic Stage of Ostwald Ripening
Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a powerful tool to study the kinetics of phase separation in materials. A simple procedure is presented that allows one to prove if the particle-size distribution established in a system in the late stages of phase separation corresponds to the predictions of the classical Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner (LSW) theory for the asymptotic stage of Ostwald ripening. The method is based on the correlations between certain SAXS size parameters and the higher moments of the LSW size distribution functions for diffusion-limited or reaction-limited ripening. It is suggested that the use of these size parameters, which can be obtained with high accuracy from the scattering curve, is frequently more advantageous than a direct comparison of the experimentally obtained size distributions with the asymptotic size-distribution functions predicted by the LSW theory. The method is applicable if the suppositions made in the LSW theory that the precipitated particles should be homogeneous spheres with volume fraction tending to zero are fulfilled. The method is applied to a photochromic glass; although the silver-halide precipitates contained in the glass develop according to the power law of diffusion-limited Ostwald ripening, their size distribution is shown not to correspond to the features of the LSW size distribution. Consequently, in this case the LSW theory cannot describe quantitatively the kinetics of ripening
Planning of results of training on mathematics and methods of their estimation during the work in the electronic information and educational environment of institute of remote education
The description of educational process of the students who are training with use of remote educational technologies is submitted
Children’s rights online: challenges, dilemmas and emerging directions
In debates over internet governance, the interests of children figure unevenly, and only partial progress has been made in supporting children’s rights online globally. This chapter examines how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is helpful in mapping children’s rights to provision, protection and participation as they apply online as well as offline. However, challenges remain. First, opportunities and risks are positively linked, policy approaches are needed to resolve the potential conflict between protection on the one hand, and provision and participation on the other. Second, while parents may be relied on to some degree to balance their child’s rights and needs, the evidence suggests that a minority of parents are ill-equipped to manage this. Third, resolution is needed regarding the responsibility for implementing digital rights, since many governments prefer self-regulation in relation to internet governance. The chapter concludes by calling for a global governance body charged with ensuring the delivery of children’s rights
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