ALBERT

Description: The high‐precision X‐ray diffraction setup for work with diamond anvil cells (DACs) in interaction chamber 2 (IC2) of the High Energy Density instrument of the European X‐ray Free‐Electron Laser is described. This includes beamline optics, sample positioning and detector systems located in the multipurpose vacuum chamber. Concepts for pump–probe X‐ray diffraction experiments in the DAC are described and their implementation demonstrated during the First User Community Assisted Commissioning experiment. X‐ray heating and diffraction of Bi under pressure, obtained using 20 fs X‐ray pulses at 17.8 keV and 2.2 MHz repetition, is illustrated through splitting of diffraction peaks, and interpreted employing finite element modeling of the sample chamber in the DAC.

Description: The high‐precision X‐ray diffraction (XRD) setup for work with diamond anvil cells (DACs) in Interaction Chamber 2 of the High Energy Density (HED) instrument of the European X‐ray Free‐Electron Laser is described. image

Description: International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 385 drilled organic-rich sediments with sill intrusions on the flanking regions and in the northern axial graben in Guaymas Basin, a young marginal rift basin in the Gulf of California. Guaymas Basin is characterized by a widely distributed, intense heat flow and widespread off-axis magmatism expressed by a dense network of sill intrusions across the flanking regions, which is in contrast to classical mid-ocean ridge spreading centers. The numerous off-axis sills provide multiple transient heat sources that mobilize buried sedimentary carbon, in part as methane and other hydrocarbons, and drive hydrothermal circulation. The resulting thermal and geochemical gradients shape abundance, composition, and activity of the deep subsurface biosphere of the basin. Drill sites extend over the flanking regions of Guaymas Basin, covering a distance of ~81 km from the from the northwest to the southeast. Adjacent Sites U1545 and U1546 recovered the oldest and thickest sediment successions (to ~540 meters below seafloor [mbsf]; equivalent to the core depth below seafloor, Method A [CSF-A] scale), one with a thin sill (a few meters in thickness) near the drilled bottom (Site U1545), and one with a massive, deeply buried sill (~356–430 mbsf) that chemically and physically affects the surrounding sediments (Site U1546). Sites U1547 and U1548, located in the central part of the northern Guaymas Basin segment, were drilled to investigate a 600 m wide circular mound (bathymetric high) and its periphery. The dome-like structure is outlined by a ring of active vent sites called Ringvent. It is underlain by a remarkably thick sill at shallow depth (Site U1547). Hydrothermal gradients steepen at the Ringvent periphery (Holes U1548A–U1548C), which in turn shifts the zones of authigenic carbonate precipitation and of highest microbial cell abundance toward shallower depths. The Ringvent sill was drilled several times and yielded remarkably diverse igneous rock textures, sediment–sill interfaces, and hydrothermal alteration, reflected by various secondary minerals in veins and vesicles. Thus, the Ringvent sill became the target of an integrated sampling and interdisciplinary research effort that included geological, geochemical, and microbiological specialties. The thermal, lithologic, geochemical, and microbiological contrasts between the two deep northwestern sites (U1545 and U1546) and the Ringvent sites (U1547 and U1548) form the scientific centerpiece of the expedition. These observations are supplemented by results from sites that represent attenuated cold seepage conditions in the central basin (Site U1549), complex and disturbed sediments overlying sills in the northern axial trough (Site U1550), terrigenous sedimentation events on the southeastern flanking regions (Site U1551), and hydrate occurrence in shallow sediments proximal to the Sonora margin (Site U1552). The scientific outcomes of Expedition 385 will (1) revise long-held assumptions about the role of sill emplacement in subsurface carbon mobilization versus carbon retention, (2) comprehensively examine the subsurface biosphere of Guaymas Basin and its responses and adaptations to hydrothermal conditions, (3) redefine hydrothermal controls of authigenic mineral formation in sediments, and (4) yield new insights into many geochemical and geophysical aspects of both architecture and sill–sediment interaction in a nascent spreading center. The generally high quality and high degree of completeness of the shipboard datasets present opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations during shore-based studies. In comparison to Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 64 to Guaymas Basin in 1979, sophisticated drilling strategies (for example, the advanced piston corer [APC] and half-length APC systems) and numerous analytical innovations have greatly improved sample recovery and scientific yield, particularly in the areas of organic geochemistry and microbiology. For example, microbial genomics did not exist 40 y ago. However, these technical refinements do not change the fact that Expedition 385 will in many respects build on the foundations laid by Leg 64 for understanding Guaymas Basin, regardless of whether adjustments are required in the near future.

Description: The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region is dominated globally by dynamics at various scales: planetary waves, tides, gravity waves, and stratified turbulence. The latter two can coexist and be significant at horizontal scales less than 500 km, scales that are difficult to measure. This study presents a recently deployed multistatic specular meteor radar system, SIMONe Peru, which can be used to observe these scales. The radars are positioned at and around the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, which is located at the magnetic equator. Besides presenting preliminary results of typically reported large‐scale features, like the dominant diurnal tide at low latitudes, we show results on selected days of spatially and temporally resolved winds obtained with two methods based on: (a) estimation of mean wind and their gradients (gradient method), and (b) an inverse theory with Tikhonov regularization (regularized wind field inversion method). The gradient method allows improved MLT vertical velocities and, for the first time, low‐latitude wind field parameters such as horizontal divergence and relative vorticity. The regularized wind field inversion method allows the estimation of spatial structure within the observed area and has the potential to outperform the gradient method, in particular when more detections are available or when fine adaptive tuning of the regularization factor is done. SIMONe Peru adds important information at low latitudes to currently scarce MLT continuous observing capabilities. Results contribute to studies of the MLT dynamics at different scales inherently connected to lower atmospheric forcing and E‐region dynamo related ionospheric variability.

Description: Plain Language Summary: The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region is dominated by neutral wind dynamics with structure scales ranging from a few thousands of kilometers down to a few kilometers. In this work, we present a new state‐of‐the‐art ground‐based radar system using multistatic meteor scattering that allows tomographic studies of MLT wind dynamics at scales not possible before. Given the location of the radar network at the magnetic equator, its focus is on wind dynamics peculiar to equatorial latitudes. Two methods for estimating the mesospheric neutral wind field are used. One takes into account wind gradients in addition to mean wind (gradient method). The other estimates a spatially resolved wind vector field and uses an additional mathematical constraint that produces smooth wind field solutions (regularized wind field inversion method). Using the gradient method, the vertical wind estimate is improved. For the first time at MLT equatorial latitudes, parameters familiar to meteorologists, such as horizontal divergence and relative vorticity are obtained. Measurements from this new system have the potential to contribute to coupling studies of the atmosphere and the ionosphere at low latitudes.

Description: Key Points: Measurements of horizontal wind gradients at low‐latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere altitudes. These gradients of the horizontal winds show strong temporal and altitude variability that are not observed at high latitudes. Improved vertical winds are obtained using a gradient wind field method inherently free from horizontal divergence contamination.

Description: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659

Description: NSF, Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000085

Description: The northeastern Lau Basin is one of the fastest opening and magmatically most active back‐arc regions on Earth. Although the current pattern of plate boundaries and motions in this complex mosaic of microplates is reasonably understood, the internal structure and evolution of the back‐arc crust are not. We present new geophysical data from a 290 km long east‐west oriented transect crossing the Niuafo'ou Microplate (back‐arc), the Fonualei Rift and Spreading Center (FRSC) and the Tofua Volcanic Arc at 17°20′S. Our P wave tomography model and density modeling suggest that past crustal accretion inside the southern FRSC was accommodated by a combination of arc crustal extension and magmatic activity. The absence of magnetic reversals inside the FRSC supports this and suggests that focused seafloor spreading has until now not contributed to crustal accretion. The back‐arc crust constituting the southern Niuafo'ou Microplate reveals a heterogeneous structure comprising several crustal blocks. Some regions of the back‐arc show a crustal structure similar to typical oceanic crust, suggesting they originate from seafloor spreading. Other crustal blocks resemble a structure that is similar to volcanic arc crust or a “hydrous” type of oceanic crust that has been created at a spreading center influenced by slab‐derived water at distances 〈50 km to the arc. Throughout the back‐arc region, we observe a high‐velocity (Vp 7.2–7.5 km s−1) lower crust, which is an indication for magmatic underplating, which is likely sustained by elevated upper mantle temperatures in this region.

Description: Key Points: First insights into the crustal structure of the northeastern Lau Basin, along a 290 km transect at 17°20′S. Crust in southern Fonualei Rift and Spreading Center was created by extension of arc crust and variable amount of magmatism. Magmatic underplating is present in some parts of the southern Niuafo'ou Microplate.

Description: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347

Description: We present new geochemical and isotopic data for rock samples from two island arc volcanoes, Erromango and Vulcan Seamount, and from a 500 m thick stratigraphic profile of lava flows exposed on the SW flank of Vate Trough back-arc rift of the New Hebrides Island Arc (NHIA). The basalts from the SW rift flank of Vate Trough have ages of ~0.5 Ma but are geochemically similar to those erupting along the active back-arc rift. The weak subduction component in the back-arc basalts implies formation by decompression melting during early rifting and rifting initiation by tectonic processes rather than by lithosphere weakening by arc magma. Melting beneath Vate Trough is probably caused by chemically heterogeneous and hot mantle that flows in from the North Fiji Basin in the east. The melting zone beneath Vate Trough back-arc is separate from that of the arc front, but a weak slab component suggests fluid transport from the slab. Immobile incompatible element ratios in South NHIA lavas overlap with those of the Vate Trough depleted back-arc basalts, suggesting that enriched mantle components are depleted by back-arc melting during mantle flow. The slab component varies from hydrous melts of subducted sediments in the Central NHIA to fluids from altered basalts in the South NHIA. The volcanism of Erromango shows constant compositions for 5 million years, that is, there is no sign for variable depletion of the mantle or for a change of slab components due to collision of the D'Entrecasteaux Ridge as in lava successions further north.

Description: We use a large data set of 3D thermal evolution models to predict the distribution of present‐day seismic velocities in the Martian interior. Our models show a difference between maximum and minimum S wave velocity of up to 10% either below the crust, where thermal variations are largest, or at the depth of the olivine to wadsleyite phase transition, located at around 1,000–1,200 km depth. Models with thick lithospheres on average have weak low‐velocity zones that extend deeper than 400 km and seismic velocity variations in the uppermost 400–600 km that closely follow the crustal thickness pattern. For these cases, the crust contains more than half of the total amount of heat‐producing elements. Models with limited crustal heat production have thinner lithospheres and shallower but prominent low‐velocity zones that are incompatible with Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) observations. Seismic events suggested to originate in Cerberus Fossae indicate the absence of S wave shadow zones in 25°–30° epicentral distance. This result is compatible with previous best fit models that require a large average lithospheric thickness and a crust containing more than half of the bulk amount of heat‐producing elements to be compatible with geological and geophysical constraints. Ongoing and future InSight measurements that will determine the existence of a weak low‐velocity zone will directly bear on the crustal heat production.

Description: Plain Language Summary: The crustal thickness variations and the crustal enrichment in heat‐producing elements directly affect the thermal state of the lithosphere and in turn the distribution of seismic velocities in the interior of Mars. Thermal evolution models in a 3D geometry with a crust that contains more than half of the total radioactive heat production show large variations of the seismic velocities in the lithosphere. These models are characterized by a weak low‐velocity zone that extends locally to depths larger than 400 km and a seismic velocity pattern similar to the crustal thickness pattern down to 600 km depth. Models, with limited crustal heat production, and hence higher mantle heat production, lead to a thinner lithosphere that results in shallower but more prominent low‐velocity zones. The latter produce S wave shadow zones that are incompatible with clear S‐phase arrivals for events located close to Cerberus Fossae. The absence of S wave shadow zones between the Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) landing site and Cerberus Fossae is in line with other geological and geophysical constraints that require a large fraction of heat‐producing elements to be located in the Martian crust. Future InSight measurements will put further constraints on the distribution of heat‐producing elements in the Martian interior.

Description: Key Points: Models show up to 10% difference between maximum and minimum S wave velocity either below the crust or at the depth of phase transitions. The seismic velocity pattern in the lithosphere correlates with the crustal thickness dichotomy and can extend to depths 〉400 km. Models with a crust containing 〈20% of the total heat production show shadow zones that are incompatible with current seismic observations.

Description: DLR Management Board Young Research Group Leader Program and the Executive Board Member for Space Research and Technology

Description: National Aeronautics and Space Administration http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000104

Description: European Space Agency http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000844

Description: Belgian Federal Science Policy Office http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002749

Description: Belgian Federal Science Policy Office http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002749

Description: Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002830

Description: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347

Description: n our daily lives, we consume foods that have been transported, stored, prepared, cooked, or otherwise processed by ourselves or others. Food storage and preparation have drastic effects on the chemical composition of foods. Untargeted mass spectrometry analysis of food samples has the potential to increase our chemical understanding of these processes by detecting a broad spectrum of chemicals. We performed a time-based analysis of the chemical changes in foods during common preparations, such as fermentation, brewing, and ripening, using untargeted mass spectrometry and molecular networking. The data analysis workflow presented implements an approach to study changes in food chemistry that can reveal global alterations in chemical profiles, identify changes in abundance, as well as identify specific chemicals and their transformation products. The data generated in this study are publicly available, enabling the replication and re-analysis of these data in isolation, and serve as a baseline dataset for future investigations.

Description: We present a new set of global and local sea‐level projections at example tide gauge locations under the RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emissions scenarios. Compared to the CMIP5‐based sea‐level projections presented in IPCC AR5, we introduce a number of methodological innovations, including: (i) more comprehensive treatment of uncertainties; (ii) direct traceability between global and local projections; (iii) exploratory extended projections to 2300 based on emulation of individual CMIP5 models. Combining the projections with observed tide gauge records, we explore the contribution to total variance that arises from sea‐level variability, different emissions scenarios and model uncertainty. For the period out to 2300 we further breakdown the model uncertainty by sea‐level component and consider the dependence on geographic location, time horizon and emissions scenario. Our analysis highlights the importance of variability for sea‐level change in the coming decades and the potential value of annual‐to‐decadal predictions of local sea‐level change. Projections to 2300 show a substantial degree of committed sea‐level rise under all emissions scenarios considered and highlights the reduced future risk associated with RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 compared to RCP8.5. Tide gauge locations can show large (〉 50%) departures from the global average, in some cases even reversing the sign of the change. While uncertainty in projections of the future Antarctic ice dynamic response tends to dominate post‐2100, we see a substantial differences in the breakdown of model variance as a function of location, timescale and emissions scenario.