Raped, beaten and bruised: military institutional abuse, identity wounds and veteran suicide

The Australian government has recently established a Royal Commission on Defence and Veteran Suicide (DVSRC). Veteran suicide rates for those who have left the Australian Defence Force (ADF) are higher than the national average and there has been little success in reducing this over an extended period of time. Veteran suicide is poorly understood, and the collected data is imprecise and incomplete. Deployment trauma and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD i.e. a mental health lens) are taken for granted as the principal causes. This article presents a case study on institutional abuse in the ADF which led to the veteran attempting suicide on numerous occasions. The article draws upon the mental health and moral injury knowledge but questions their centrality and dominance. Military Institutional Abuse (MIA) and its consequent identity wounds are explained as institutional causes of military trauma. We argue that these institutional abuse processes and their consequences, occurring within military moral geographies, lead to suicidal ideation and attempt. These are situated within wider relations of civil society, the state, and the military

Continuous summer export of nitrogen-rich organic matter from the Greenland Ice Sheet inferred by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry

Runoff from glaciers and ice sheets has been acknowledged as a potential source of bioavailable dissolved organic matter (DOM) to downstream ecosystems. This source may become increasingly significant as glacial melt rates increase in response to future climate change. Recent work has identified significant concentrations of bioavailable carbon and iron in Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) runoff. The flux characteristics and export of N-rich DOM are poorly understood. Here, we employed electrospray ionization (ESI) coupled to Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) to determine the elemental compositions of DOM molecules in supraglacial water and subglacial runoff from a large GrIS outlet glacier. We provide the first detailed temporal analysis of the molecular composition of DOM exported over a full melt season. We find that DOM pools in supraglacial and subglacial runoff are compositionally diverse and that N-rich material is continuously exported throughout the melt season as the snowline retreats further inland. Identification of protein-like compounds and a high proportion of N-rich DOM, accounting for 27-41% of the DOM molecules identified by ESI FT-ICR MS, may suggest a microbial provenance and high bioavailability of glacially-exported DOM to downstream microbial communities

Assessing the utility of acoustic communication for wireless sensors deployed beneath ice sheets

The environments underneath ice sheets are of high scientific interest. Wireless sensors offer the prospect of sustained, distributed remote sensing in the subglacial environment. Typically, wireless sensor networks use radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic communications, but these are highly attenuated in wet environments. In such environments, acoustic communications may be more power-efficient. Here we review the literature on acoustic and RF attenuation through ice and other relevant media, and present the results of new experiments on acoustic attenuation in glacial ice. Link budgets for communications from a range of subglacial environments show that acoustic communications are a viable strategy for transmission through water and ice where RF is too highly attenuated to be detected. Acoustic communication at 30 kHz is predicted to be possible through 1 km of glacial ice, using a 1 W transmitter. Such a strategy may be appropriate for shallow ice-stream environments around the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheet margins

Novel wireless sensors for in situ measurement of sub-ice hydrologic systems

Wireless sensors have the potential to provide significant insight into in situ physical and biogeochemical processes in sub-ice hydrologic systems. However, the nature of the glacial environment means that sensor deployment and data return is challenging. We describe two bespoke sensor platforms, electronic tracers or ‘ETracers’, and ‘cryoegg’, for untethered, wireless data collection from glacial hydrologic systems, including subglacial channels. Both employ radio frequencies for data transmission, are designed to endure harsh environmental conditions and can withstand low temperatures, high pressure, turbulence and abrasion. We discuss the design, optimization and field testing of the ETracers and cryoegg, culminating in test deployments beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The small, low-cost ETracers were able to travel through subglacial drainage channels, from where they returned water pressure measurements through 100m of ice, and could measure water depth in crevasses. The larger cryoegg was able to return multi-parameter data from moulins through 500m of wet ice to receivers up to 2km away, and from 12m depth in a proglacial lake to a receiver on the shore. The tests demonstrate that the cryoegg and ETracers are low-power, versatile, robust wireless sensor platforms suitable for glacial environments, which may be used with portable, low-cost receiving equipment

Spring Thaw Ionic Pulses Boost Nutrient Availability and Microbial Growth in Entombed Antarctic Dry Valley Cryoconite Holes

The seasonal melting of ice entombed cryoconite holes on McMurdo Dry Valley glaciers provides oases for life in the harsh environmental conditions of the polar desert where surface air temperatures only occasionally exceed 0°C during the Austral summer. Here we follow temporal changes in cryoconite hole biogeochemistry on Canada Glacier from fully frozen conditions through the initial stages of spring thaw toward fully melted holes. The cryoconite holes had a mean isolation age from the glacial drainage system of 3.4 years, with an increasing mass of aqueous nutrients (dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus) with longer isolation age. During the initial melt there was a mean nine times enrichment in dissolved chloride relative to mean concentrations of the initial frozen holes indicative of an ionic pulse, with similar mean nine times enrichments in nitrite, ammonium, and dissolved organic matter. Nitrate was enriched twelve times and dissolved organic nitrogen six times, suggesting net nitrification, while lower enrichments for dissolved organic phosphorus and phosphate were consistent with net microbial phosphorus uptake. Rates of bacterial production were significantly elevated during the ionic pulse, likely due to the increased nutrient availability. There was no concomitant increase in photosynthesis rates, with a net depletion of dissolved inorganic carbon suggesting inorganic carbon limitation. Potential nitrogen fixation was detected in fully melted holes where it could be an important source of nitrogen to support microbial growth, but not during the ionic pulse where nitrogen availability was higher. This study demonstrates that ionic pulses significantly alter the timing and magnitude of microbial activity within entombed cryoconite holes, and adds credence to hypotheses that ionic enrichments during freeze-thaw can elevate rates of microbial growth and activity in other icy habitats, such as ice veins and subglacial regelation zones

Cryoegg: development and field trials of a wireless subglacial probe for deep, fast-moving ice

nnovative technological solutions are required to access and observe subglacial hydrological systems beneath glaciers and ice sheets. Wireless sensing systems can be used to collect and return data without the risk of losing data from cable breakage, which is a major obstacle when studying fast flowing glaciers and other high-strain environments. However, the performance of wireless sensors in deep and fast-moving ice has yet to be evaluated formally. We report experimental results from Cryoegg: a spherical probe that can be deployed along an ice borehole and either remain fixed in place or potentially travel through the subglacial hydrological system. The probe makes measurements in-situ and sends them back to the surface via a wireless link. Cryoegg uses very high frequency (VHF) radio to transmit data through up to 1.3 km of cold ice to a surface receiving array. It measures temperature, pressure and electrical conductivity, returning all data in real time. This transmission uses Wireless M-Bus on 169 MHz; we present a simple “radio link budget” model for its performance in cold ice and confirm its validity experimentally. Power is supplied by an internal battery with sufficient capacity for two measurements per day for up to a year, although higher reporting rates are available at the expense of battery life. Field trials were conducted in 2019 at two locations in Greenland (the EastGRIP borehole and the RESPONDER project site on Sermeq Kujalleq/Store Glacier) and on the Rhone Glacier in Switzerland. Our results from the field demonstrate Cryoegg’s utility in studying englacial channels and moulins, including estimating moulin discharge through salt dilution gauging with the instrument deployed deep within the moulin. Future iterations of the radio system will allow Cryoegg to transmit through up to 2.5 km of ice

Prototype wireless sensors for monitoring subsurface processes in snow and firn

The detection and monitoring of meltwater within firn presents a significant monitoring challenge. We explore the potential of small wireless sensors (ETracer+, ET+) to measure temperature, pressure, electrical conductivity and thus the presence or absence of meltwater within firn, through tests in the dry snow zone at the East Greenland Ice Core Project site. The tested sensor platforms are small, robust and low cost, and communicate data via a VHF radio link to surface receivers. The sensors were deployed in low-temperature firn at the centre and shear margins of an ice stream for 4 weeks, and a bucket experiment’ was used to test the detection of water within otherwise dry firn. The tests showed the ET+ could log subsurface temperatures and transmit the recorded data through up to 150 m dry firn. Two VHF receivers were tested: an autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounder (ApRES) and a WinRadio. The ApRES can combine high-resolution imaging of the firn layers (by radio-echo sounding) with in situ measurements from the sensors, to build up a high spatial and temporal resolution picture of the subsurface. These results indicate that wireless sensors have great potential for long-term monitoring of firn processes

Telling organizational tales: the extended case method in practice

The extended case method brings existing theory to bear on a particular ethnographic case, enabling complex macro-level questions to be examined through their everyday manifestations in micro-level social settings. Yet it remains comparatively underutilized among organizational researchers, many of whom may be deterred by an apparent lack of practical guidance. The article addresses this by outlining three main steps, illustrated by the authors' own experience of implementing the extended case method in a recently published organizational study. In so doing, the article makes clear the distinctiveness of the method, particularly compared to the better-known grounded theory approach to ethnography. It concludes that by offering a bridge between interpretive and critical approaches, the extended case method represents a valuable addition to the toolkit of organizational researchers. © The Author(s) 2013

Climatically sensitive transfer of iron to maritime Antarctic ecosystems by surface runoff

Iron supplied by glacial weathering results in pronounced hotspots of biological production in an otherwise iron-limited Southern Ocean Ecosystem. However, glacial iron inputs are thought to be dominated by icebergs. Here we show that surface runoff from three island groups of the maritime Antarctic exports more filterable (<0.45 μm) iron (6–81 kg km−2 a−1) than icebergs (0.0–1.2 kg km−2 a−1). Glacier-fed streams also export more acid-soluble iron (27.0–18,500 kg km−2 a−1) associated with suspended sediment than icebergs (0–241 kg km−2 a−1). Significant fluxes of filterable and sediment-derived iron (1–10 Gg a−1 and 100–1,000 Gg a−1, respectively) are therefore likely to be delivered by runoff from the Antarctic continent. Although estuarine removal processes will greatly reduce their availability to coastal ecosystems, our results clearly indicate that riverine iron fluxes need to be accounted for as the volume of Antarctic melt increases in response to 21st century climate change