ALBERT

Description: In the face of ongoing global warming and glacier retreat, the composition and flux of organic matter in glacier–fjord systems are key variables for updating the carbon cycle and budget, whereas the role of Arctic valley glaciers seems unimportant when compared with the huge Greenland Ice Sheet. Our field observations of the glacier-fed Bayelva River, Svalbard, and the adjacent Kongsfjorden allowed us to determine the compositions of particulate organic matter from glacier to fjord and also to estimate the flux of organic carbon, both for the river and for Svalbard in general. Particulate organic carbon (POC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the Bayelva River averaged 56 and 73 μM, respectively, in August 2012. Amino acids (AAs) and phytoplankton pigments accounted for ~ 10 % of the particulate organic matter (POM) in the Bayelva River, while AAs represented 〉 90 % of particulate nitrogen in fjord surface water, suggesting the strong in situ assimilation of organic matter. Bacteria accounts for 13 and 19 % of the POC in the Bayelva River and the Kongsfjorden, respectively, while values for particulate nitrogen (PN) are much higher (i.e., 36 % in Kongsfjorden). The total discharge from the Bayelva River in 2012 was 29 × 106 m3. Furthermore, we calculated the annual POC, DOC, and PN fluxes for the river as 20 ± 1.6, 25 ± 5.6, and 4.7 ± 0.75 t, respectively. Using the POC content and DOC concentration data, we then estimated the annual POC and DOC fluxes for Svalbard glaciers. Although the estimated POC (0.056 ± 0.02 × 106 t yr−1) and DOC (0.02 ± 0.01 × 106 t yr−1) fluxes of Svalbard glaciers are small compared with those of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the area-weighted POC flux of Svalbard glaciers is twice that of the Greenland Ice Sheet, while the flux of DOC can be 4 to 7 times higher. Therefore, we propose that valley glaciers are efficient high-latitude sources of organic carbon.

Description: When a capillary bridge of a constant volume is formed between two surfaces, the shape of the liquid bridge will change as the separation between those surfaces is varied. To investigate the variable forces and Laplace pressure of the capillary bridge, as the shape the bridge evolves, a pseudo-three-dimensional force model of the capillary bridge is developed. Based on the characteristics of the slender structured surface, an efficient method is employed to directly solve the differential equations defining the shape of the capillary bridge. The spacing between the plates satisfying the liquid confined within the hydrophobic region of the structured surface is calculated. The method described in this paper can prevent meshing liquid surfaces such that, compared with Surface Evolver simulations, the computing speed is greatly improved. Finally, by comparing the results of the finite element simulations performed with Surface Evolver with those of the method employed in this paper, the practicality of the method is demonstrated.

Description: The Tibetan Plateau and nearby surrounding area (the Third Pole area) dramatically impacts the world’s environment and especially controls climatic and environmental changes in China, Asia and even in the Northern Hemisphere. Supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and some international organizations, the Third Pole Environment (TPE) Programme is now under way. First, the background of the establishment of the TPE, the establishment and monitoring plans on long-term for the TPE and six comprehensive observation and study stations are introduced. Then the preliminary observational analysis results on atmosphere−land interaction are presented. The study on the regional distribution of land surface heat fluxes is of paramount importance over the heterogeneous landscape of the Third Pole area. A parameterization methodology based on satellite and in situ data is described and tested for deriving the regional surface heat fluxes (net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) over the heterogeneous landscape. As a case study, the methodology was applied to the whole Tibetan Plateau area. Eight images of MODIS data and four images of AVHRR data were used for the comparison among winter, spring, summer and autumn, and the annual variation analyses. The derived results were also validated by using the ‘‘ground truth’’ measured in the stations of the TPE. The results show that the derived surface heat fluxes in the four different seasons over the Tibetan Plateau area are in good agreement with the ground measurements. The results from AVHRR were also in agreement with MODIS. It is therefore concluded that the proposed methodology is successful for the retrieval of surface heat fluxes using the MODIS data, AVHRR data and in situ data over the Tibetan Plateau area.

Description: The variance of soil moisture, vegetation and evapotranspiration over land has been recognized to be strongly connected to the variance of precipitation. However, the feedbacks and couplings between these variables are still not well understood and quantified. Furthermore, soil moisture and vegetation processes are associated to a memory and therefore they may have important implications for predictability. In this study we apply a generalized linear method, specifically designed to assess the reciprocal forcing between connected fields, to the latest available observational datasets of global precipitation, evapotranspiration, vegetation and soil moisture content. For the first time a long global observational dataset is used to investigate the spatial and temporal land variability and to characterize the relationships and feedbacks between land and precipitation. The variables considered show a significant coupling among each other. The analysis of the response of precipitation to soil moisture evidences a robust coupling between these two variables. In particular, the first two modes of variability of the precipitation forced by soil moisture appear to have a strong link with volcanic eruptions and ENSO cycles, respectively, and these links are modulated by the effects of evapotranspiration and vegetation. It is suggested that vegetation state and soil moisture provide a biophysical memory of ENSO and major volcanic eruptions, revealed through delayed feedbacks on rainfall patterns. The third mode of variability reveals a trend very similar to the trend of the inter-hemispheric contrast in SST and appears to be connected to greening/browning trends of vegetation over the last three decades.

Description: The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is representative of typical clean atmospheric conditions. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved by Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) is higher over Qaidam Basin than the rest of the TP all the year. Different monthly variation patterns of AOD are observed over the southern and northern TP, whereby the aerosol load is usually higher in the northern TP than in the southern part. The aerosol load over the northern part increases from April to June, peaking in May. The maximum concentration of aerosols over the southern TP occurs in July. Aerosols appear to be more easily transported over the main body of the TP across the northeastern edge rather than the southern edge. This is may be because the altitude is much lower at the northeastern edge than that of the Himalayas located along the southern edge of the TP. Three-dimensional distributions of dust, polluted dust, polluted continental and smoke are also investigated based on Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data. Dust is found to be the most prominent aerosol type on the TP, and other types of aerosols affect the atmospheric environment slightly. A natural boundary seems to extend to an altitude of 6–8 km a.s.l., which may act as a dividing line of higher dust occurrence in the northern TP and lower dust occurrence in the southern TP, especially in spring and summer. This boundary appears around 33–35° N in the middle of the plateau, and it is possibly associated with the high altitude terrain in the same geographic location. Comparisons of CALIPSO and MISR data show that this natural boundary extending to upper troposphere is consistent with the spatial pattern of aerosol loading. The whole TP blocks the atmospheric aerosols transported from surrounding regions, and the extreme high mountains on the TP also cause an obstruction to the transport of aerosols. The aerosol distribution patterns are primarily driven by atmospheric circulation. Northerly winds prevail above the TP in spring, which also facilitates the transport of aerosols from the Tarim Basin and Qaidam Basin to the main body of the TP. Nevertheless, aerosols above the TP can originate from both the northern and southern sides of the TP during summer.

Description: The land and ocean absorb on average just over half of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. These CO2 "sinks" are modulated by climate change and variability. Here we use a suite of nine dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) and four ocean biogeochemical general circulation models (OBGCMs) to estimate trends driven by global and regional climate and atmospheric CO2 in land and oceanic CO2 exchanges with the atmosphere over the period 1990–2009, to attribute these trends to underlying processes in the models, and to quantify the uncertainty and level of inter-model agreement. The models were forced with reconstructed climate fields and observed global atmospheric CO2; land use and land cover changes are not included for the DGVMs. Over the period 1990–2009, the DGVMs simulate a mean global land carbon sink of −2.4 ± 0.7 Pg C yr−1 with a small significant trend of −0.06 ± 0.03 Pg C yr−2 (increasing sink). Over the more limited period 1990–2004, the ocean models simulate a mean ocean sink of −2.2 ± 0.2 Pg C yr−1 with a trend in the net C uptake that is indistinguishable from zero (−0.01 ± 0.02 Pg C yr−2). The two ocean models that extended the simulations until 2009 suggest a slightly stronger, but still small, trend of −0.02 ± 0.01 Pg C yr−2. Trends from land and ocean models compare favourably to the land greenness trends from remote sensing, atmospheric inversion results, and the residual land sink required to close the global carbon budget. Trends in the land sink are driven by increasing net primary production (NPP), whose statistically significant trend of 0.22 ± 0.08 Pg C yr−2 exceeds a significant trend in heterotrophic respiration of 0.16 ± 0.05 Pg C yr−2 – primarily as a consequence of widespread CO2 fertilisation of plant production. Most of the land-based trend in simulated net carbon uptake originates from natural ecosystems in the tropics (−0.04 ± 0.01 Pg C yr−2), with almost no trend over the northern land region, where recent warming and reduced rainfall offsets the positive impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 and changes in growing season length on carbon storage. The small uptake trend in the ocean models emerges because climate variability and change, and in particular increasing sea surface temperatures, tend to counter-act the trend in ocean uptake driven by the increase in atmospheric CO2. Large uncertainty remains in the magnitude and sign of modelled carbon trends in several regions, as well as regarding the influence of land use and land cover changes on regional trends.

Description: The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is representative of typical clean atmospheric conditions. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) is higher over Qaidam Basin than the rest of the TP throughout the year. Different monthly variation patterns of AOD are observed over the southern and northern TP, whereby the aerosol load is usually higher in the northern TP than in the southern part. The aerosol load over the northern part increases from April to June, peaking in May. The maximum concentration of aerosols over the southern TP occurs in July. Aerosols appear to be more easily transported to the main body of the TP across the northern edge rather than the southern edge. This is maybe partly because the altitude is lower at the northern edge than that of the Himalayas located along the southern edge of the TP. Three-dimensional distributions of dust, polluted dust, polluted continental aerosol and smoke are also investigated, based on Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data. Dust is found to be the most prominent aerosol type on the TP, and other types of aerosols affect the atmospheric environment slightly. A dividing line of higher dust occurrence in the northern TP and lower dust occurrence in the southern TP can be observed clearly at an altitude of 6–8 km above sea level, especially in spring and summer. This demarcation appears around 33–35° N in the middle of the plateau, and it is possibly associated with the high-altitude terrain in the same geographic location. Comparisons of CALIPSO and MISR data show that the vertical dust occurrences are consistent with the spatial patterns of AOD. The different seasonal variation patterns between the northern and southern TP are primarily driven by atmospheric circulation, and are also related to the emission characteristics over the surrounding regions.