ALBERT

Description: Researchers wishing to conduct studies in Nunavut are asked by potential funders and licensing agencies to incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) and meaningfully engage Inuit communities, but they must usually interpret for themselves what this means and how to do it in practice. As a group of Inuit youth from four Nunavut communities, we have developed a concept we call ScIQ (pronounced sigh-cue) to describe how science and IQ can be combined for more meaningful engagement to benefit both Inuit communities and scientific researchers. ScIQ is based on the understanding that IQ is not only knowledge that Inuit have gained over many generations; it is more holistic and includes Inuit values, customs and principles for living our lives. Incorporating IQ into research then, should be as much about how research is conducted as it is about data collected from Inuit and local knowledge used to conduct the research. Over a five-day Ikaarvik Youth ScIQ Summit in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, we developed 45 recommendations for specific things researchers can do before, during, and after their research that, from our perspective, are examples of truly incorporating IQ and result in more meaningful engagement of Inuit communities. This paper presents the Ikaarvik ScIQ recommendations. Qaujisaqtiit qaujisarniqarumajut Nunavummi apirijauvut kiinaujaqaqtiutuinnarialingni amma laisansitaaqtittijiujuni ilaliujjinirmut Inuit Qaujimajatuqanginni (IQ) amma tukiqattiaqtumi ilautittinirmi Inungni nunaliujuni, kisiani tukiliurijariaqaqput immingnut qanuq tukiqarningani ammalu qanuq pilirianguvangningani atuqtauninganut. Katinnganiulutik Inungni makkuktuni tisamani Nunavummi nunaliujuni, pivalliatittisimavugut isumagijautuinnarniujumi taijavut ScIQ (taijausuuq sigh-cue) unikkaarinirmi qanuq qaujisarniq amma Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit katitirijaujunnarningani tukiqattiarniqsaujumi ilautittiniujumi pivaallirutiqarniaqtumut tamakkini inungni nunaliujuni amma qaujisarnirmut qaujisaqtiujuni. ScIQ tunngaviqaqpuq tukisiumaniujumi Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit qaujimanituinnaunnginningani Inuit pisimajanginni arraagugasaalungnut, iluittuuniuvuq amma ilaqaqpuq Inuit pinnarijanginni, atuqpaktanginni amma tunngaviujuni inuunirmi inuusittinni. Ilaliujjiniq Inuit Qaujimajatuqanginni qaujisarnirmut asuilaak, ilaqalluaqpuq qanuq qaujisaqtauninga pilirianguvangningani ammalu qaujisaqtaunikuni titiraqsimajuni katiqsuqtaujuni Inungni amma nunalingni qaujimaniujunut atuqtauvaktuni pilirinirmut qaujisarniujumi. Tallimanut−ullunut, Ikaarvik Makkuktuni ScIQ Katimaniujumi Iqaluktuuttiaq, Nunavummi, pivalliatittilauqpugut 45-ni atuliqujaujuni nalunaiqtausimajunut kisutuinnanut qaujisaqtiit pilirijariaqaqtanginni sivuniani, taikani amma kinguniagut qaujisarninginni, isumagijattinni, uuktuutiuvut ilaliujjillaringningani Inuit Qaujimajatuqanginni amma pitittilluni tukiqarniqsaujumi ilautittiniujumi Inungni nunaliujunit. Una paippaaq tunisivuq Ikaarvik ScIQ atuqunajaqtanginni.

Description: How predictable are life trajectories? We investigated this question with a scientific mass collaboration using the common task method; 160 teams built predictive models for six life outcomes using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a high-quality birth cohort study. Despite using a rich dataset and applying machine-learning methods optimized for prediction, the best predictions were not very accurate and were only slightly better than those from a simple benchmark model. Within each outcome, prediction error was strongly associated with the family being predicted and weakly associated with the technique used to generate the prediction. Overall, these results suggest practical limits to the predictability of life outcomes in some settings and illustrate the value of mass collaborations in the social sciences.

Description: Geobiology explores how Earth's system has changed over the course of geologic history and how living organisms on this planet are impacted by or are indeed causing these changes. For decades, geologists, paleontologists, and geochemists have generated data to investigate these topics. Foundational efforts in sedimentary geochemistry utilized spreadsheets for data storage and analysis, suitable for several thousand samples, but not practical or scalable for larger, more complex datasets. As results have accumulated, researchers have increasingly gravitated toward larger compilations and statistical tools. New data frameworks have become necessary to handle larger sample sets and encourage more sophisticated or even standardized statistical analyses. In this paper, we describe the Sedimentary Geochemistry and Paleoenvironments Project (SGP; Figure 1), which is an open, community-oriented, database-driven research consortium. The goals of SGP are to (1) create a relational database tailored to the needs of the deep-time (millions to billions of years) sedimentary geochemical research community, including assembling and curating published and associated unpublished data; (2) create a website where data can be retrieved in a flexible way; and (3) build a collaborative consortium where researchers are incentivized to contribute data by giving them priority access and the opportunity to work on exciting questions in group papers. Finally, and more idealistically, the goal was to establish a culture of modern data management and data analysis in sedimentary geochemistry. Relative to many other fields, the main emphasis in our field has been on instrument measurement of sedimentary geochemical data rather than data analysis (compared with fields like ecology, for instance, where the post-experiment ANOVA (analysis of variance) is customary). Thus, the longer-term goal was to build a collaborative environment where geobiologists and geologists can work and learn together to assess changes in geochemical signatures through Earth history. With respect to the data product, SGP is focused on assembling a well-vetted and comprehensive dataset that is tractable to multivariate statistical analyses accounting for multiple geological and methodological biases. Phase 1 of the project, which focused on the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic, has been completed. Future phases will capture a broader range of geologic time, data types, and geography. The database contains tens of thousands of unpublished data points provided by consortium members, as well as detailed metadata that go beyond what is contained in papers. In many cases, these represent measurements that are tangential to a given published study but still of high utility to database studies; these allow the community to address questions that would be impossible to answer solely with the published data. For instance, in order to use a proxy such as Mo/TOC (total organic carbon) ratios in mudrocks deposited under a euxinic water column, the full suite of trace metal, iron speciation, and total organic carbon data is needed. Likewise, geospatial information is required to account for sampling biases, and many statistical learning approaches cannot accept, or have difficulty with, incomplete geological predictor variables. Ultimately, it is this complete data matrix that will allow for SGP’s most insightful analyses.

Description: Late Pleistocene and Holocene ground ice are common throughout the Arctic. Some forms of relict ground ice preserve local meteoric water, and their stable oxygen‐ and hydrogen‐isotope ratios can be used to reconstruct past air temperatures. In this paper, we review the formation and sampling of two forms of relict ground ice—wedge ice and pore ice—and recent (2010–2019) advances in paleoclimatological studies of ground‐ice stable isotope records in the Arctic. Recent advances are attributed to better chronological constraints and refined understandings of the systematics and seasonality of relict wedge ice and pore ice. A rich network of ice‐wedge records has emerged, primarily from the Siberian Arctic, whereas pore‐ice records are less common. The ice‐wedge network depicts a robust pattern of late Pleistocene cooling, and remarkably similar temperature depressions during Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. Very high‐resolution wedge‐ and pore‐ice stable isotope chronologies have been established recently and used to reconstruct winter and summer climate histories and to assess seasonal dependencies in insolation‐forced climate. Reports of ancient (〉125 ka BP) ground ice demonstrate its long‐term persistence, and its potential to expand our knowledge of Quaternary climate dynamics in the terrestrial Arctic.

Description: Reconstructions of global hydroclimate during the Common Era (CE; the past ∼2000 years) are important for providing context for current and future global environmental change. Stable isotope ratios in water are quantitative indicators of hydroclimate on regional to global scales, and these signals are encoded in a wide range of natural geologic archives. Here we present the Iso2k database, a global compilation of previously published datasets from a variety of natural archives that record the stable oxygen (δ18O) or hydrogen (δ2H) isotopic compositions of environmental waters, which reflect hydroclimate changes over the CE. The Iso2k database contains 759 isotope records from the terrestrial and marine realms, including glacier and ground ice (210); speleothems (68); corals, sclerosponges, and mollusks (143); wood (81); lake sediments and other terrestrial sediments (e.g., loess) (158); and marine sediments (99). Individual datasets have temporal resolutions ranging from sub-annual to centennial and include chronological data where available. A fundamental feature of the database is its comprehensive metadata, which will assist both experts and nonexperts in the interpretation of each record and in data synthesis. Key metadata fields have standardized vocabularies to facilitate comparisons across diverse archives and with climate-model-simulated fields. This is the first global-scale collection of water isotope proxy records from multiple types of geological and biological archives. It is suitable for evaluating hydroclimate processes through time and space using large-scale synthesis, model–data intercomparison and (paleo)data assimilation. The Iso2k database is available for download at https://doi.org/10.25921/57j8-vs18 (Konecky and McKay, 2020) and is also accessible via the NOAA/WDS Paleo Data landing page: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/29593 (last access: 30 July 2020).

Description: This case study, utilizing surface and upper-air data, has attempted to shed light on the mechanisms that exerted control on two contrasting rainfall episodes in Hawaii [in the dry winter of 1981 and wet winter of 1982].

Description: Data from ichthyoplankton surveys conducted in 1972 and from1977 to 1999 (no data were collected in 1980) by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (NOAA, NMFS) in the western Gulf of Alaska were used to examine the timing of spawning,geographic distribution and abundance, and the vertical distribution of eggs and larvae of flathead sole(Hippoglossoides elassodon). In the western Gulf of Alaska, flathead sole spawning began in early April and peaked from early to mid-May on the continental shelf. It progressedin a southwesterly direction along the Alaska Peninsula where three main areas of flathead sole spawning wereindentified: near the Kenai Peninsula, in Shelikof Strait, and between the Shumagin Islands and Unimak Island. Flathead sole eggs are pelagic, and their depth distribution may be a function of their developmental stage.Data from MOCNESS tows indicated that eggs sink near time of hatching and the larvae rise to the surface to feed. The geographic distribution of larvae followed a pattern similar to the distribution of eggs, only it shifted about one month later. Larval abundance peaked from early to mid-June in the southern portion of Shelikof Strait. Biological and environmental factors may help to retain flatheadsole larvae on the continental shelf near their juvenile nursery areas.

Description: Nuclear RNA and DNA in muscle cell nuclei of laboratory-reared larvae of Walleye Pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) were simultaneously measured through the use of flow cytometry for cell-cycle analysis during 2009–11. The addition of nuclear RNA as a covariate increased by 4% the classification accuracy of a discriminant analysis model that used cell-cycle, temperature, and standard length to measure larval condition, compared with a model without it. The greatest improvement, a 7% increase in accuracy, was observed for small larvae (〈6.00 mm). Nuclear RNA content varied with rearing temperature, increasing as temperature decreased. There was a loss of DNA when larvae were frozen and thawed because the percentage of cells in the DNA synthesis cell-cycle phase decreased, but DNA content was stable during storage of frozen tissue.

Description: High salinity estuaries in the southeastern U.S. have experienced increased inputs of contaminants from nonpoint source (NPS) urban runoff and decreases in habitat due tofilling of wetlands and dock/bulkhead construction. Urbanization may pose significant risks to estuarine fauna, particularly crustaceans. The grass shrimp of the genusPalaemonetes, is one of the dominant species found in estuarine tidal creeks, accounting for greater than 50% of all macropelagic fauna on an annual basis. Spatial analytical and geographic information system techniques were used to determine which factors influenced the Palaemonetes population structures in a South Carolina bar-built estuary surrounded by urban development. Impacts from land use practices were investigated using concentric circular buffers around study sites. Factors investigated included sediment-associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentration, land use classification, percent impervious surfaces, and other selected urban factors. Geographic information system and statistical modeling showed quantitative relationships betweenland use class and impacts on Palaemonetes density. The study suggests that habitat loss is a major factor influencing grass shrimp densities. Multiple regression modeling suggests a significant relationship between habitat alterations and Palaemonetes densities.

Description: EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT):During the past hundred years, mountain glaciers throughout the world have retreated significantly from moraines built during the previous several centuries. In the 1930s, Francois Matthes of the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that the moraines represent the greatest advances of glaciers since the end of the last glacial age, some 10,000 years earlier, and informally referred to this late Holocene interval of expanded ice cover as the Little Ice Age.