ALBERT

Description: In every-day listening the auditory event perceived by a listener is determined not only by the sound signal that a sound emits but also by a variety of environmental parameters. These parameters are the position, orientation and directional characteristics of the sound source, the listener's position and orientation, the geometrical and acoustical properties of surfaces which affect the sound field and the sound propagation properties of the surrounding fluid. A complete set of these parameters can be called an Acoustic Environment. If the auditory event perceived by a listener is manipulated in such a way that the listener is shifted acoustically into a different acoustic environment without moving himself physically, a Virtual Acoustic Environment has been created. Here, we deal with a special technique to set up nearly arbitrary Virtual Acoustic Environments, the Binaural Room Simulation. The purpose of the Binaural Room Simulation is to compute the binaural impulse response related to a virtual acoustic environment taking into account all parameters mentioned above. One possible way to describe a Virtual Acoustic Environment is the concept of the virtual sound sources. Each of the virtual sources emits a certain signal which is correlated but not necessarily identical with the signal emitted by the direct sound source. If source and receiver are non moving, the acoustic environment becomes a linear time-invariant system. Then, the Binaural Impulse Response from the source to a listener' s eardrums contains all relevant auditory information related to the Virtual Acoustic Environment. Listening into the simulated environment can easily be achieved by convolving the Binaural Impulse Response with dry signals and representing the results via headphones.

Description: Oxygen isotope values of the extant Caribbean coralline sponge Ceratoporella nicholsoni are compared with published temperatures and δ18O of water calculated from salinities. The measured values from aragonitic sponge skeletons have a mean offset of 1.0 ± 0.1‰ from calculated calcite equilibrium values (αaragonite-calcite = 1.0010). This is in good agreement with published values from synthetic aragonite. They further agree with published near-equilibrium oxygen isotope values of temperate and cold water molluscs and foraminifera extrapolated to the temperature range of the coralline sponges. These results and the mode of skeleton formation of Ceratoporella nicholsoni suggest that these sponges precipitate aragonite close to isotopic equilibrium. The temperature dependence of oxygen isotopic fractionation between the aragonite of Ceratoporella nicholsoni and water is only roughly constrained by the available data, due to the narrow temperature range of the Caribbean reef sites. However, as the data suggest oxygen isotopic equilibrium, we can calculate a well constrained temperature equation combining temperate and cold water equilibrium values from molluscs and foraminifera with our sponge data: Full-size image (〈1 K) and Full-size image (〈1 K).

Description: Stable isotope records of demosponges from the Caribbean and Coral Sea are described for the purpose of studying the influence of fossil fuel CO2 on the carbon isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in surface water. The slow-growing sponges precipitate calcium carbonate in isotopic equilibrium with ambient sea water and are used to detect changes in δ13CDIC from pre-industrial times (early 19th century) to the present. We observed similar shapes and ranges in δ13C curves measured on Caribbean specimens collected from water depths of 25, 84 and 91 m as well as a specimen collected in shallow waters off New Caledonia. The records reveal a highly significant correlation with atmospheric δ13CCO2. δ13CDIC values for Caribbean and Coral Sea surface waters were calculated using the δ13C sponge records. While δ13C of atmospheric CO2 decreased by about 1.4‰ from the early 19th century to 1990, δ13CDIC of Caribbean and Coral Sea surface waters decreased by 0.9±0.2‰ and 0.7±0.3‰, respectively. No isotopic equilibrium between surface water DIC and atmospheric CO2 was observed, either during the pre-industrial steady state or during the last 100 years. The lower amount of depletion in the surface water δ13CDIC with respect to the atmospheric anthropogenic signal is explained by the dilution of the surface waters by biologically altered subsurface water DIC. The lower δ13C decrease in the Coral Sea points to a stronger influence of the subsurface water source compared to the Caribbean.

Description: Coralline sponge skeletons are excellent tools for reconstructing the carbon isotope history ofdissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in tropical surface waters. Carbon isotope records from corallinesponges clearly reflect the industrial12C increase in atmospheric CO2with a precision that permitsquantitative interpretations. We find from a set of d13C records of four Caribbean sponge specimensthat the isotopic response of surface water DIC to the changing isotopic composition of atmosphericCO2varied dynamically during the last century, depending on the rate of atmospheric change. Three ofour sponges provide 600 year long d13C records. For the first time, we can reconstruct surface waterd13CDICfor the full history of the industrial CO2release as well as the preceding preindustrial periodback to the beginning of the Little Ice Age. This provides a well-founded estimate of theanthropogenically uninfluenced, preindustrial background level of surface water13C/12C ratios. Ourrecords show small but systematic variations that appear to be linked to the climate fluctuations of theLittle Ice Age.