ALBERT

Description: Silicon is a keystone nutrient in the ocean for understanding climate change because of the importance of Southern Ocean diatoms in taking up CO 2 from the surface ocean–atmosphere system and sequestering carbon into the deep sea. Here we report on silicon isotopes and germanium-to-silicon ratios in giant glass spicules of deep-sea sponge Monorhaphis chuni over the past 17,000 years. In-situ measurements of Si isotopes and Ge concentrations show systematic variations from rim to center of the cross sections. When calibrated against seawater concentrations using data from modern spicule rims, sponge data indicate that dissolved silica concentrations in the deep Pacific were ~12 % higher during the early deglacial. These deep Pacific Ocean data help to fill an important global gap in paleo-nutrient records. Either continental sources supplied more silica to the deglacial ocean and/or biogenic silica burial was lower, both of which may have affected atmospheric CO 2 .

Description: A stochastic background of gravitational waves is expected to arise from a superposition of a large number of unresolved gravitational-wave sources of astrophysical and cosmological origin. It should carry unique signatures from the earliest epochs in the evolution of the Universe, inaccessible to standard astrophysical observations. Direct measurements of the amplitude of this background are therefore of fundamental importance for understanding the evolution of the Universe when it was younger than one minute. Here we report limits on the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational-wave background using the data from a two-year science run of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). Our result constrains the energy density of the stochastic gravitational-wave background normalized by the critical energy density of the Universe, in the frequency band around 100 Hz, to be 〈6.9 x 10(-6) at 95% confidence. The data rule out models of early Universe evolution with relatively large equation-of-state parameter, as well as cosmic (super)string models with relatively small string tension that are favoured in some string theory models. This search for the stochastic background improves on the indirect limits from Big Bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background at 100 Hz.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉LIGO Scientific Collaboration & Virgo Collaboration -- Abbott, B P -- Abbott, R -- Acernese, F -- Adhikari, R -- Ajith, P -- Allen, B -- Allen, G -- Alshourbagy, M -- Amin, R S -- Anderson, S B -- Anderson, W G -- Antonucci, F -- Aoudia, S -- Arain, M A -- Araya, M -- Armandula, H -- Armor, P -- Arun, K G -- Aso, Y -- Aston, S -- Astone, P -- Aufmuth, P -- Aulbert, C -- Babak, S -- Baker, P -- Ballardin, G -- Ballmer, S -- Barker, C -- Barker, D -- Barone, F -- Barr, B -- Barriga, P -- Barsotti, L -- Barsuglia, M -- Barton, M A -- Bartos, I -- Bassiri, R -- Bastarrika, M -- Bauer, Th S -- Behnke, B -- Beker, M -- Benacquista, M -- Betzwieser, J -- Beyersdorf, P T -- Bigotta, S -- Bilenko, I A -- Billingsley, G -- Birindelli, S -- Biswas, R -- Bizouard, M A -- Black, E -- Blackburn, J K -- Blackburn, L -- Blair, D -- Bland, B -- Boccara, C -- Bodiya, T P -- Bogue, L -- Bondu, F -- Bonelli, L -- Bork, R -- Boschi, V -- Bose, S -- Bosi, L -- Braccini, S -- Bradaschia, C -- Brady, P R -- Braginsky, V B -- Brand, J F J van den -- Brau, J E -- Bridges, D O -- Brillet, A -- Brinkmann, M -- Brisson, V -- Van Den Broeck, C -- Brooks, A F -- Brown, D A -- Brummit, A -- Brunet, G -- Bullington, A -- Bulten, H J -- Buonanno, A -- Burmeister, O -- Buskulic, D -- Byer, R L -- Cadonati, L -- Cagnoli, G -- Calloni, E -- Camp, J B -- Campagna, E -- Cannizzo, J -- Cannon, K C -- Canuel, B -- Cao, J -- Carbognani, F -- Cardenas, L -- Caride, S -- Castaldi, G -- Caudill, S -- Cavaglia, M -- Cavalier, F -- Cavalieri, R -- Cella, G -- Cepeda, C -- Cesarini, E -- Chalermsongsak, T -- Chalkley, E -- Charlton, P -- Chassande-Mottin, E -- Chatterji, S -- Chelkowski, S -- Chen, Y -- Christensen, N -- Chung, C T Y -- Clark, D -- Clark, J -- Clayton, J H -- Cleva, F -- Coccia, E -- Cokelaer, T -- Colacino, C N -- Colas, J -- Colla, A -- Colombini, M -- Conte, R -- Cook, D -- Corbitt, T R C -- Corda, C -- Cornish, N -- Corsi, A -- Coulon, J-P -- Coward, D -- Coyne, D C -- Creighton, J D E -- Creighton, T D -- Cruise, A M -- Culter, R M -- Cumming, A -- Cunningham, L -- Cuoco, E -- Danilishin, S L -- D'Antonio, S -- Danzmann, K -- Dari, A -- Dattilo, V -- Daudert, B -- Davier, M -- Davies, G -- Daw, E J -- Day, R -- De Rosa, R -- Debra, D -- Degallaix, J -- Del Prete, M -- Dergachev, V -- Desai, S -- Desalvo, R -- Dhurandhar, S -- Di Fiore, L -- Di Lieto, A -- Di Paolo Emilio, M -- Di Virgilio, A -- Diaz, M -- Dietz, A -- Donovan, F -- Dooley, K L -- Doomes, E E -- Drago, M -- Drever, R W P -- Dueck, J -- Duke, I -- Dumas, J-C -- Dwyer, J G -- Echols, C -- Edgar, M -- Effler, A -- Ehrens, P -- Ely, G -- Espinoza, E -- Etzel, T -- Evans, M -- Evans, T -- Fafone, V -- Fairhurst, S -- Faltas, Y -- Fan, Y -- Fazi, D -- Fehrmann, H -- Ferrante, I -- Fidecaro, F -- Finn, L S -- Fiori, I -- Flaminio, R -- Flasch, K -- Foley, S -- Forrest, C -- Fotopoulos, N -- Fournier, J-D -- Franc, J -- Franzen, A -- Frasca, S -- Frasconi, F -- Frede, M -- Frei, M -- Frei, Z -- Freise, A -- Frey, R -- Fricke, T -- Fritschel, P -- Frolov, V V -- Fyffe, M -- Galdi, V -- Gammaitoni, L -- Garofoli, J A -- Garufi, F -- Genin, E -- Gennai, A -- Gholami, I -- Giaime, J A -- Giampanis, S -- Giardina, K D -- Giazotto, A -- Goda, K -- Goetz, E -- Goggin, L M -- Gonzalez, G -- Gorodetsky, M L -- Gobler, S -- Gouaty, R -- Granata, M -- Granata, V -- Grant, A -- Gras, S -- Gray, C -- Gray, M -- Greenhalgh, R J S -- Gretarsson, A M -- Greverie, C -- Grimaldi, F -- Grosso, R -- Grote, H -- Grunewald, S -- Guenther, M -- Guidi, G -- Gustafson, E K -- Gustafson, R -- Hage, B -- Hallam, J M -- Hammer, D -- Hammond, G D -- Hanna, C -- Hanson, J -- Harms, J -- Harry, G M -- Harry, I W -- Harstad, E D -- Haughian, K -- Hayama, K -- Heefner, J -- Heitmann, H -- Hello, P -- Heng, I S -- Heptonstall, A -- Hewitson, M -- Hild, S -- Hirose, E -- Hoak, D -- Hodge, K A -- Holt, K -- Hosken, D J -- Hough, J -- Hoyland, D -- Huet, D -- Hughey, B -- Huttner, S H -- Ingram, D R -- Isogai, T -- Ito, M -- Ivanov, A -- Johnson, B -- Johnson, W W -- Jones, D I -- Jones, G -- Jones, R -- Sancho de la Jordana, L -- Ju, L -- Kalmus, P -- Kalogera, V -- Kandhasamy, S -- Kanner, J -- Kasprzyk, D -- Katsavounidis, E -- Kawabe, K -- Kawamura, S -- Kawazoe, F -- Kells, W -- Keppel, D G -- Khalaidovski, A -- Khalili, F Y -- Khan, R -- Khazanov, E -- King, P -- Kissel, J S -- Klimenko, S -- Kokeyama, K -- Kondrashov, V -- Kopparapu, R -- Koranda, S -- Kozak, D -- Krishnan, B -- Kumar, R -- Kwee, P -- La Penna, P -- Lam, P K -- Landry, M -- Lantz, B -- Laval, M -- Lazzarini, A -- Lei, H -- Lei, M -- Leindecker, N -- Leonor, I -- Leroy, N -- Letendre, N -- Li, C -- Lin, H -- Lindquist, P E -- Littenberg, T B -- Lockerbie, N A -- Lodhia, D -- Longo, M -- Lorenzini, M -- Loriette, V -- Lormand, M -- Losurdo, G -- Lu, P -- Lubinski, M -- Lucianetti, A -- Luck, H -- Machenschalk, B -- Macinnis, M -- Mackowski, J-M -- Mageswaran, M -- Mailand, K -- Majorana, E -- Man, N -- Mandel, I -- Mandic, V -- Mantovani, M -- Marchesoni, F -- Marion, F -- Marka, S -- Marka, Z -- Markosyan, A -- Markowitz, J -- Maros, E -- Marque, J -- Martelli, F -- Martin, I W -- Martin, R M -- Marx, J N -- Mason, K -- Masserot, A -- Matichard, F -- Matone, L -- Matzner, R A -- Mavalvala, N -- McCarthy, R -- McClelland, D E -- McGuire, S C -- McHugh, M -- McIntyre, G -- McKechan, D J A -- McKenzie, K -- Mehmet, M -- Melatos, A -- Melissinos, A C -- Mendell, G -- Menendez, D F -- Menzinger, F -- Mercer, R A -- Meshkov, S -- Messenger, C -- Meyer, M S -- Michel, C -- Milano, L -- Miller, J -- Minelli, J -- Minenkov, Y -- Mino, Y -- Mitrofanov, V P -- Mitselmakher, G -- Mittleman, R -- Miyakawa, O -- Moe, B -- Mohan, M -- Mohanty, S D -- Mohapatra, S R P -- Moreau, J -- Moreno, G -- Morgado, N -- Morgia, A -- Morioka, T -- Mors, K -- Mosca, S -- Mossavi, K -- Mours, B -- Mowlowry, C -- Mueller, G -- Muhammad, D -- Muhlen, H Zur -- Mukherjee, S -- Mukhopadhyay, H -- Mullavey, A -- Muller-Ebhardt, H -- Munch, J -- Murray, P G -- Myers, E -- Myers, J -- Nash, T -- Nelson, J -- Neri, I -- Newton, G -- Nishizawa, A -- Nocera, F -- Numata, K -- Ochsner, E -- O'Dell, J -- Ogin, G H -- O'Reilly, B -- O'Shaughnessy, R -- Ottaway, D J -- Ottens, R S -- Overmier, H -- Owen, B J -- Pagliaroli, G -- Palomba, C -- Pan, Y -- Pankow, C -- Paoletti, F -- Papa, M A -- Parameshwaraiah, V -- Pardi, S -- Pasqualetti, A -- Passaquieti, R -- Passuello, D -- Patel, P -- Pedraza, M -- Penn, S -- Perreca, A -- Persichetti, G -- Pichot, M -- Piergiovanni, F -- Pierro, V -- Pinard, L -- Pinto, I M -- Pitkin, M -- Pletsch, H J -- Plissi, M V -- Poggiani, R -- Postiglione, F -- Principe, M -- Prix, R -- Prodi, G A -- Prokhorov, L -- Punken, O -- Punturo, M -- Puppo, P -- Putten, S van der -- Quetschke, V -- Raab, F J -- Rabaste, O -- Rabeling, D S -- Radkins, H -- Raffai, P -- Raics, Z -- Rainer, N -- Rakhmanov, M -- Rapagnani, P -- Raymond, V -- Re, V -- Reed, C M -- Reed, T -- Regimbau, T -- Rehbein, H -- Reid, S -- Reitze, D H -- Ricci, F -- Riesen, R -- Riles, K -- Rivera, B -- Roberts, P -- Robertson, N A -- Robinet, F -- Robinson, C -- Robinson, E L -- Rocchi, A -- Roddy, S -- Rolland, L -- Rollins, J -- Romano, J D -- Romano, R -- Romie, J H -- Rover, C -- Rowan, S -- Rudiger, A -- Ruggi, P -- Russell, P -- Ryan, K -- Sakata, S -- Salemi, F -- Sandberg, V -- Sannibale, V -- Santamaria, L -- Saraf, S -- Sarin, P -- Sassolas, B -- Sathyaprakash, B S -- Sato, S -- Satterthwaite, M -- Saulson, P R -- Savage, R -- Savov, P -- Scanlan, M -- Schilling, R -- Schnabel, R -- Schofield, R -- Schulz, B -- Schutz, B F -- Schwinberg, P -- Scott, J -- Scott, S M -- Searle, A C -- Sears, B -- Seifert, F -- Sellers, D -- Sengupta, A S -- Sentenac, D -- Sergeev, A -- Shapiro, B -- Shawhan, P -- Shoemaker, D H -- Sibley, A -- Siemens, X -- Sigg, D -- Sinha, S -- Sintes, A M -- Slagmolen, B J J -- Slutsky, J -- van der Sluys, M V -- Smith, J R -- Smith, M R -- Smith, N D -- Somiya, K -- Sorazu, B -- Stein, A -- Stein, L C -- Steplewski, S -- Stochino, A -- Stone, R -- Strain, K A -- Strigin, S -- Stroeer, A -- Sturani, R -- Stuver, A L -- Summerscales, T Z -- Sun, K-X -- Sung, M -- Sutton, P J -- Swinkels, B L -- Szokoly, G P -- Talukder, D -- Tang, L -- Tanner, D B -- Tarabrin, S P -- Taylor, J R -- Taylor, R -- Terenzi, R -- Thacker, J -- Thorne, K A -- Thorne, K S -- Thuring, A -- Tokmakov, K V -- Toncelli, A -- Tonelli, M -- Torres, C -- Torrie, C -- Tournefier, E -- Travasso, F -- Traylor, G -- Trias, M -- Trummer, J -- Ugolini, D -- Ulmen, J -- Urbanek, K -- Vahlbruch, H -- Vajente, G -- Vallisneri, M -- Vass, S -- Vaulin, R -- Vavoulidis, M -- Vecchio, A -- Vedovato, G -- van Veggel, A A -- Veitch, J -- Veitch, P -- Veltkamp, C -- Verkindt, D -- Vetrano, F -- Vicere, A -- Villar, A -- Vinet, J-Y -- Vocca, H -- Vorvick, C -- Vyachanin, S P -- Waldman, S J -- Wallace, L -- Ward, H -- Ward, R L -- Was, M -- Weidner, A -- Weinert, M -- Weinstein, A J -- Weiss, R -- Wen, L -- Wen, S -- Wette, K -- Whelan, J T -- Whitcomb, S E -- Whiting, B F -- Wilkinson, C -- Willems, P A -- Williams, H R -- Williams, L -- Willke, B -- Wilmut, I -- Winkelmann, L -- Winkler, W -- Wipf, C C -- Wiseman, A G -- Woan, G -- Wooley, R -- Worden, J -- Wu, W -- Yakushin, I -- Yamamoto, H -- Yan, Z -- Yoshida, S -- Yvert, M -- Zanolin, M -- Zhang, J -- Zhang, L -- Zhao, C -- Zotov, N -- Zucker, M E -- Zweizig, J -- England -- Nature. 2009 Aug 20;460(7258):990-4. doi: 10.1038/nature08278.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Lists of participants and their affiliations appear at the end of the paper.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19693079" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Arising from M. A. Nowak, C. E. Tarnita & E. O. Wilson 466, 1057-1062 (2010); Nowak et al. reply. Nowak et al. argue that inclusive fitness theory has been of little value in explaining the natural world, and that it has led to negligible progress in explaining the evolution of eusociality. However, we believe that their arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory and a misrepresentation of the empirical literature. We will focus our comments on three general issues.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836173/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836173/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Abbot, Patrick -- Abe, Jun -- Alcock, John -- Alizon, Samuel -- Alpedrinha, Joao A C -- Andersson, Malte -- Andre, Jean-Baptiste -- van Baalen, Minus -- Balloux, Francois -- Balshine, Sigal -- Barton, Nick -- Beukeboom, Leo W -- Biernaskie, Jay M -- Bilde, Trine -- Borgia, Gerald -- Breed, Michael -- Brown, Sam -- Bshary, Redouan -- Buckling, Angus -- Burley, Nancy T -- Burton-Chellew, Max N -- Cant, Michael A -- Chapuisat, Michel -- Charnov, Eric L -- Clutton-Brock, Tim -- Cockburn, Andrew -- Cole, Blaine J -- Colegrave, Nick -- Cosmides, Leda -- Couzin, Iain D -- Coyne, Jerry A -- Creel, Scott -- Crespi, Bernard -- Curry, Robert L -- Dall, Sasha R X -- Day, Troy -- Dickinson, Janis L -- Dugatkin, Lee Alan -- El Mouden, Claire -- Emlen, Stephen T -- Evans, Jay -- Ferriere, Regis -- Field, Jeremy -- Foitzik, Susanne -- Foster, Kevin -- Foster, William A -- Fox, Charles W -- Gadau, Juergen -- Gandon, Sylvain -- Gardner, Andy -- Gardner, Michael G -- Getty, Thomas -- Goodisman, Michael A D -- Grafen, Alan -- Grosberg, Rick -- Grozinger, Christina M -- Gouyon, Pierre-Henri -- Gwynne, Darryl -- Harvey, Paul H -- Hatchwell, Ben J -- Heinze, Jurgen -- Helantera, Heikki -- Helms, Ken R -- Hill, Kim -- Jiricny, Natalie -- Johnstone, Rufus A -- Kacelnik, Alex -- Kiers, E Toby -- Kokko, Hanna -- Komdeur, Jan -- Korb, Judith -- Kronauer, Daniel -- Kummerli, Rolf -- Lehmann, Laurent -- Linksvayer, Timothy A -- Lion, Sebastien -- Lyon, Bruce -- Marshall, James A R -- McElreath, Richard -- Michalakis, Yannis -- Michod, Richard E -- Mock, Douglas -- Monnin, Thibaud -- Montgomerie, Robert -- Moore, Allen J -- Mueller, Ulrich G -- Noe, Ronald -- Okasha, Samir -- Pamilo, Pekka -- Parker, Geoff A -- Pedersen, Jes S -- Pen, Ido -- Pfennig, David -- Queller, David C -- Rankin, Daniel J -- Reece, Sarah E -- Reeve, Hudson K -- Reuter, Max -- Roberts, Gilbert -- Robson, Simon K A -- Roze, Denis -- Rousset, Francois -- Rueppell, Olav -- Sachs, Joel L -- Santorelli, Lorenzo -- Schmid-Hempel, Paul -- Schwarz, Michael P -- Scott-Phillips, Tom -- Shellmann-Sherman, Janet -- Sherman, Paul W -- Shuker, David M -- Smith, Jeff -- Spagna, Joseph C -- Strassmann, Beverly -- Suarez, Andrew V -- Sundstrom, Liselotte -- Taborsky, Michael -- Taylor, Peter -- Thompson, Graham -- Tooby, John -- Tsutsui, Neil D -- Tsuji, Kazuki -- Turillazzi, Stefano -- Ubeda, Francisco -- Vargo, Edward L -- Voelkl, Bernard -- Wenseleers, Tom -- West, Stuart A -- West-Eberhard, Mary Jane -- Westneat, David F -- Wiernasz, Diane C -- Wild, Geoff -- Wrangham, Richard -- Young, Andrew J -- Zeh, David W -- Zeh, Jeanne A -- Zink, Andrew -- BB/H022716/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2011 Mar 24;471(7339):E1-4; author reply E9-10. doi: 10.1038/nature09831.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21430721" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The discovery of a living coelacanth specimen in 1938 was remarkable, as this lineage of lobe-finned fish was thought to have become extinct 70 million years ago. The modern coelacanth looks remarkably similar to many of its ancient relatives, and its evolutionary proximity to our own fish ancestors provides a glimpse of the fish that first walked on land. Here we report the genome sequence of the African coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae. Through a phylogenomic analysis, we conclude that the lungfish, and not the coelacanth, is the closest living relative of tetrapods. Coelacanth protein-coding genes are significantly more slowly evolving than those of tetrapods, unlike other genomic features. Analyses of changes in genes and regulatory elements during the vertebrate adaptation to land highlight genes involved in immunity, nitrogen excretion and the development of fins, tail, ear, eye, brain and olfaction. Functional assays of enhancers involved in the fin-to-limb transition and in the emergence of extra-embryonic tissues show the importance of the coelacanth genome as a blueprint for understanding tetrapod evolution.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633110/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633110/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Amemiya, Chris T -- Alfoldi, Jessica -- Lee, Alison P -- Fan, Shaohua -- Philippe, Herve -- Maccallum, Iain -- Braasch, Ingo -- Manousaki, Tereza -- Schneider, Igor -- Rohner, Nicolas -- Organ, Chris -- Chalopin, Domitille -- Smith, Jeramiah J -- Robinson, Mark -- Dorrington, Rosemary A -- Gerdol, Marco -- Aken, Bronwen -- Biscotti, Maria Assunta -- Barucca, Marco -- Baurain, Denis -- Berlin, Aaron M -- Blatch, Gregory L -- Buonocore, Francesco -- Burmester, Thorsten -- Campbell, Michael S -- Canapa, Adriana -- Cannon, John P -- Christoffels, Alan -- De Moro, Gianluca -- Edkins, Adrienne L -- Fan, Lin -- Fausto, Anna Maria -- Feiner, Nathalie -- Forconi, Mariko -- Gamieldien, Junaid -- Gnerre, Sante -- Gnirke, Andreas -- Goldstone, Jared V -- Haerty, Wilfried -- Hahn, Mark E -- Hesse, Uljana -- Hoffmann, Steve -- Johnson, Jeremy -- Karchner, Sibel I -- Kuraku, Shigehiro -- Lara, Marcia -- Levin, Joshua Z -- Litman, Gary W -- Mauceli, Evan -- Miyake, Tsutomu -- Mueller, M Gail -- Nelson, David R -- Nitsche, Anne -- Olmo, Ettore -- Ota, Tatsuya -- Pallavicini, Alberto -- Panji, Sumir -- Picone, Barbara -- Ponting, Chris P -- Prohaska, Sonja J -- Przybylski, Dariusz -- Saha, Nil Ratan -- Ravi, Vydianathan -- Ribeiro, Filipe J -- Sauka-Spengler, Tatjana -- Scapigliati, Giuseppe -- Searle, Stephen M J -- Sharpe, Ted -- Simakov, Oleg -- Stadler, Peter F -- Stegeman, John J -- Sumiyama, Kenta -- Tabbaa, Diana -- Tafer, Hakim -- Turner-Maier, Jason -- van Heusden, Peter -- White, Simon -- Williams, Louise -- Yandell, Mark -- Brinkmann, Henner -- Volff, Jean-Nicolas -- Tabin, Clifford J -- Shubin, Neil -- Schartl, Manfred -- Jaffe, David B -- Postlethwait, John H -- Venkatesh, Byrappa -- Di Palma, Federica -- Lander, Eric S -- Meyer, Axel -- Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin -- 095908/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- MC_U137761446/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- P42 ES007381/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- R01 ES006272/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG003474/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 OD011116/OD/NIH HHS/ -- R24 OD011199/OD/NIH HHS/ -- R24 RR032670/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- R37 HD032443/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003067/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2013 Apr 18;496(7445):311-6. doi: 10.1038/nature12027.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Molecular Genetics Program, Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98101, USA. camemiya@benaroyaresearch.org〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23598338" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We analyze the variability of mean age of air (AoA) and of the local effects of the stratospheric residual circulation and eddy mixing on AoA within the framework of the isentropic zonal mean continuity equation. AoA for the period 1988–2013 has been simulated with the Lagrangian chemistry transport model CLaMS driven by ERA-Interim winds and diabatic heating rates. Model simulated AoA in the lower stratosphere shows good agreement with both in-situ observations and satellite observations from MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding), even regarding interannual variability and changes during the last decade. The interannual variability throughout the lower stratosphere is largely affected by the QBO-induced circulation and mixing anomalies, with year-to-year AoA changes of about 0.5 years. The decadal 2002–2012 change shows decreasing AoA in the lowest stratosphere, below about 450 K. Above, AoA increases in the NH and decreases in the SH. Mixing appears to be crucial for understanding AoA variability, with local AoA changes resulting from a close balance between residual circulation and mixing effects. Locally, mixing increases AoA at low latitudes (40S-40N) and decreases AoA at higher latitudes. Strongest mixing occurs below about 500 K, consistent with the separation between shallow and deep circulation branches. The effect of mixing integrated along the air parcel path, however, significantly increases AoA globally, except in the polar lower stratosphere. Changes of local effects of residual circulation and mixing during the last decade are supportive of a strengthening shallow circulation branch in the lowest stratosphere and a southward shifting circulation pattern above.

Description: [1]  Soot particles are a major absorber of shortwave radiation in the atmosphere. The mass absorption cross section is an essential quantity to describe this light absorption process. This work presents new experimental data on the mass absorption cross section of soot particles in the troposphere over Central Europe. Mass absorption cross sections were derived as the ratio between the light absorption coefficient determined by multi angle absorption photometry (MAAP), and the soot mass concentration determined by Raman spectroscopy. The Raman method is sensitive to graphitic structures present in the particle samples, and was calibrated in the laboratory using Printex ® 90 model particles. M ass absorption cross sections were determined for a number of seven observation sites, ranging between 3.9 and 7.4 m 2 g − 1 depending on measurement site and observational period. The highest values were found in a continentally aged air mass in winter, where soot particles were assumed to be mainly internally mixed . Our values are in the lower range of previously reported values, possibly due to instrumental differences to the former photometer and mass measurements. Overall, a value of 5.3 m 2 g − 1 from orthogonal regression over all samples is considered to be representative for the soot mass absorption cross section in the troposphere over Central Europe.