ALBERT

Description: This dataset reports measurements from a laboratory incubation of soils sourced from a boreal peatland and surrounding habitats (Siikaneva Bog, Finland). In August 2021, soil cores were collected from three habitat zones: a well-drained upland forest, an intermediate margin ecotone, and a Sphagnum moss bog. The cores from each habitat were taken from surface to approximately 50cm below surface using an Eijelkamp peat corer and subdivided by soil horizon. The samples were then incubated anaerobically for 140 days in three temperature treatment groups (0, 4, 20°C). Subsamples of the incubations headspace (250 µL) were measured on a gas chromatograph (7890A, Agilent Technologies, USA) with flame ionization detection (FID) for CO2 and CH4 concentrations. The rate of respiration from the samples were calculated per gram carbon and per gram soil as described in the method of Robertson., et al. (1999) and reported here, along with other relevant parameters.

Description: This dataset contain stable isotope values for water samples collected ~weekly from the Rio Bermejo at the Lavalle bridge (-25.6513, -60.1277) from March 2016 to February 2018. Water samples were filtered to 0.2 micron using a custom filtration device. We measured d2H and d18O on a Picarro L-2140i Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer at the GFZ Potsdam. Measurements were made in duplicate, normalized to the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW), and analytical uncertainty is reported as one standard deviation from the mean. River discharge was measured at the El Colorado gauging station, which is ~100 km down slope from the sampling location.

Description: This dataset provides the geochemistry data for the Holocene sediment sequence retrieved from Lake Uddelermeer (The Netherlands) in 2012. Additionally, alkane concentrations for a set of modern leaf samples are provided. Concentrations of fossil alkanes, GDGTs as well as elemental (C, N, S, H) and compound-specific delta Deuterium measurements are presented against both depth (cm) and age (cal yr. BP). A total of 59 samples were analysed. Modern leaf alkane concentrations are presented as concentrations, 10 samples were analysed. The geochemical data provides information about regional vegetation change as well as changes in effective precipitation. It was produced to inform on the age and duration of major environmental transitions during the middle and late Holocene. Cores were retrieved from the lake using a 3-m long handheld piston corer deployed from a floating coring platform during field work in April and May 2012. Samples were obtained from splits of the core and processed in the laboratory of the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) using standard protocols (CNHS, alkane concentrations), the laboratory of Utrecht University (the Netherlands; GDGT concentrations) and at GFZ Potsdam (Germany; delta Deuterium). Name of the Campaign: UDD Event Label: UDD-E Method: Uwitec piston corer Latitude: 52.24652778 Longitude: 5.76097222 Elevation: 24m asl Date/Time of event: 2012-05-01T14:00:00 Further information about event: Lake sediment sequence retrieved using a 60 mm piston corer deployed from a floating platform.

Description: Water samples were filtered to 0.2 micron prior to measurement. Samples for cation analysis were acidified in the field to pH 〈 2 using 6N HNO3. Cation concentrations were measured with a Varian 720 inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) at the GFZ Helmholtz Laboratory for the Geochemistry of the Earth Surface (HELGES), using SLRS-5 (Saint-Laurent River Surface, National Research Council - Conseil National de Recherches Canada) and USGS M212 and USGS T187 as external standards. We corrected for instrument drift by measuring an internal standard (GFZ-RW1) every 10 samples and we determined measurement uncertainty using calibration curve uncertainty. Anion concentrations were measured with a Dionex ICS1100 Ion Chromatograph, using USGS standards M206 and M212 as external standards for quality control, with uncertainty determined from triplicate analysis. We corrected cation concentrations for cyclic salt inputs following Bickle et al. (2005, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2004.11.019).

Description: Presented are analytical data from lacustrine sediment cores, retrieved from Lake Nam Co (Tibetan Plateau). The sediment core is a composite of one gravity core, taken with a Rumohr-Meischner gravity corer (63 mm diameter) and a piston core, retrieved using an uwitec piston coring system (http://www.uwitec.at; 90 mm diameter). The composite core labelled 〈NC 08/01〉 comprises a total length of 10.378 m. The cores were obtained at N 30.737417, E 090.790333 at a water depth of 93 m on 2008-09-15. The purpose of obtaining this sediment core was to establish a high-resolution record of climate (monsoonal) and environmental change using multiple proxy data. The dataset comprises analytical data based on sedimentological, inorganic geochemical, mineralogical and isotope-geochemical methods. Specifically: sediment water content & density; magnetic susceptibility; particel size data; quantitative inorganic geochemical data (ICP-OES aqua regia and HCL digestions); semi-quantitative XRF elemental data; carbon, nitrogen, sulfur contents; qualitative mineralogical data; bulk sediment stable carbon and oxygen isotope data.

Description: This data set is part of a larger data harmonization effort to make lake sediment core data machine readable and comparable. Here we standardized X-ray fluorescence line scanning (XRF)-based element data of sediment core EN18208, retrieved in 2018 from Lake Ilirney (Chukotka, Russia) at 10.76 m water depth. The glacial lake Ilirney is situated in the forest tundra mountain area and has one outflow, one main inflow and several smaller inflows. It lies at an elevation of ca. 428 m a.s.l. with a surface area of ca. 30 km2 and a maximum lake water depth of estimated 44 m. The 10.76 m sediment core was retrieved by a UWITEC piston corer during the RU-Land_2018_Chukotka expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany, Potsdam) in cooperation with the North Eastern Federal State University (NEFU, Russia, Yakutsk). The downcore elemental composition was measured using an AVAATECH x-ray fluorescence core scanner at Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) in Berlin, Spandau.

Description: This data set is part of a larger data harmonization effort to make lake sediment core data machine readable and comparable. Here we standardized radiocarbon and OSL age data of sediment core EN18208, retrieved in 2018 from Lake Ilirney (Chukotka, Russia) at 10.76 m water depth. The glacial lake Ilirney is situated in the forest tundra mountain area and has one outflow, one main inflow and several smaller inflows. It lies at an elevation of ca. 428 m a.s.l. with a surface area of ca. 30 km2 and a maximum lake water depth of estimated 44 m. The 10.76 m sediment core was retrieved by a UWITEC piston corer during the RU-Land_2018_Chukotka expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany, Potsdam) in cooperation with the North Eastern Federal State University (NEFU, Russia, Yakutsk). Radiocarbon data have been analysed from bulk sediment samples in Bremerhaven at the MICADAS laboratory. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was performed at the Royal Holloway Luminescence Laboratory using a Risø TL/OSL-DA-15 automated dating system.

Description: A 25-cm long predominantly aragonite stalagmite was collected November 2, 2005 from Dharamjali Cave (29.5°N, 80.2°E) in the central Himalayas. This dataset contains stable isotope, trace element, XRF, U/Th dating, and dripwater data. The age model spans 4.2 to 2.3 ka BP, and the dataset records seasonal shifts in hydroclimate from 4.2 to 3.1 ka BP. Using the DHAR-1A half of the speleothem, 750 samples were milled at 100–300 µm resolution for stable isotope analysis (δ18O and δ13C) and analyzed at GFZ Potsdam. Further high-resolution stable isotope analysis at the University of Cambridge included 876 samples from the bottom 4 cm of the mirroring slab DHAR-1B, covering c. 4.2–3.6 ka BP. The δ44/40Ca measurements were made on 60 aragonite samples of aragonite and 1 calcite sample milled between 4.2 and 2.8 ka BP. The elemental composition of DHAR-1B was determined first with an Avaatech XRF scanner at the University of Cambridge, and later using laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) at the University of Waikato. U-series dating was performed at Caltech on 22 samples. Twelve U-series ages (between 2.55 and 4.14 ka BP) were used to construct the age models, using ensembles of 2000 Monte Carlo simulations for each proxy using the MATLAB-based COPRA script (Breitenbach et al., 2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1765-2012).

Description: This data set is part of a larger data harmonization effort to make lake sediment core data machine readable and comparable. Here we standardized grain size element data of sediment core EN18208, retrieved in 2018 from Lake Ilirney (Chukotka, Russia) at 10.76 m water depth. The glacial lake Ilirney is situated in the forest tundra mountain area and has one outflow, one main inflow and several smaller inflows. It lies at an elevation of ca. 428 m a.s.l. with a surface area of ca. 30 km2 and a maximum lake water depth of estimated 44 m. The 10.76 m sediment core was retrieved by a UWITEC piston corer during the RU-Land_2018_Chukotka expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany, Potsdam) in cooperation with the North Eastern Federal State University (NEFU, Russia, Yakutsk). Grain-size was measured using a Malvern Mastersizer 3000 laser diffraction particle analyser.

Description: This data set is part of a larger data harmonization effort to make lake sediment core data machine readable and comparable. Here we standardized mineral data of sediment core EN18208, retrieved in 2018 from Lake Ilirney (Chukotka, Russia) at 10.76 m water depth. The glacial lake Ilirney is situated in the forest tundra mountain area and has one outflow, one main inflow and several smaller inflows. It lies at an elevation of ca. 428 m a.s.l. with a surface area of ca. 30 km2 and a maximum lake water depth of estimated 44 m. The 10.76 m sediment core was retrieved by a UWITEC piston corer during the RU-Land_2018_Chukotka expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany, Potsdam) in cooperation with the North Eastern Federal State University (NEFU, Russia, Yakutsk). Bulk mineralogy was analysed by (x-ray diffractometry (XRD) using a (PHILIPS, Netherlands) PW1820 goniometer.

Description: This data set is part of a larger data harmonization effort to make lake sediment core data machine readable and comparable. Here we standardized radiocarbon and OSL age data of sediment core EN18208, retrieved in 2018 from Lake Ilirney (Chukotka, Russia) at 10.76 m water depth. The glacial lake Ilirney is situated in the forest tundra mountain area and has one outflow, one main inflow and several smaller inflows. It lies at an elevation of ca. 428 m a.s.l. with a surface area of ca. 30 km2 and a maximum lake water depth of estimated 44 m. The 10.76 m sediment core was retrieved by a UWITEC piston corer during the RU-Land_2018_Chukotka expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI, Germany, Potsdam) in cooperation with the North Eastern Federal State University (NEFU, Russia, Yakutsk). Water content and organic matter was analysed at AWI Potsdam. Dried and milled samples were analysed using a Vario EL III carbon-nitrogen-sulphur analyser. Organic carbon content was determined using a Vario MAX C analyser.

Description: Despite the importance of surface energy budgets (SEBs) for land-climate interactions in the Arctic, uncertainties in their prediction persist. In situ observational data of SEB components - useful for research and model validation - are collected at relatively few sites across the terrestrial Arctic, and not all available datasets are readily interoperable. Furthermore, the terrestrial Arctic consists of a diversity of vegetation types, which are generally not well represented in land surface schemes of current Earth system models. This dataset describes the data generated in a literature synthesis, covering 358 study sites on vegetation or glacier (〉=60°N latitude), which contained surface energy budget observations. The literature synthesis comprised 148 publications searched on the ISI Web of Science Core Collection.

Description: The rewetting of peatlands is a promising measure to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by preventing the further mineralization of the peat soil through aeration. In coastal peatland, the rewetting with brackish water can increase the GHG mitigation potential by the introduction of sulfate, a terminal electron acceptor (TEA). Sulfate is known to lower the CH4 production and thus, its emission by favoring the growth of sulfate-reducers, which outcompete methanogens for substrate. The data contain porewater variables such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and sulfate, chloride, dissolved CO2 and CH4 concentrations, as well as absolute abundances of methane- and sulfate-cycling microbial communities. The data were collected in spring and autumn 2019 after a storm surge with brackish water inflow in January 2019. Field sampling was conducted in the nature reserve Heiligensee and Hütelmoor in North-East Germany, close to the Southern Baltic Sea coast. We took peat cores using a Russian peat corer in addition to pore water diffusion samplers and plastic liners (length: 60cm; inner diameter 10 cm) at four locations along a transect from further inland towards the Baltic Sea. We wanted to compare the soil and pore water geochemistry as well as the microbial communities after the brackish water inflow to the common freshwater rewetting state. Pore water was extracted using pore water suction samplers in the lab and environmental variables were quantified with an ICP. Microbial samples were sampled from the peat core using sterile equipment. We used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to characterize pools of DNA and cDNA targeting total and putatively active bacteria and archaea. qPCR was performed on key functional genes of methane production (mcrA), aerobic methane oxidation (pmoA) and sulfate reduction (dsrB) in addition to the 16S rRNA gene for the absolute abundance of total prokaryotes. Furthermore, we retrieved soil plugs to determine the concentrations and isotopic signatures of dissolved trace gases (CO2/DIC and CH4) in the pore water.

Description: This dataset provides annually resolved microfacies data from ICDP core 5017-1-A, retrieved from the deep northern Dead Sea basin in 2010/11, for the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 14-13 ka BP). Sediments of the Lisan Formation were investigated between ~94.7 and 91.8 m sediment depth below lake floor (lithozone C2) by continuous thin section microscopy. Thin sections were prepared following the standard procedure by Brauer and Casanova (2001) that was adjusted for salty sediments. Thin section analyses were performed on overlapping large-scale thin sections using a Zeiss Axiolab pol microscope at magnifications of 50-400x. Microfacies analyses included varve counting and measurements of varve and sublayer thickness. The amount of varves in erosional gaps was interpolated and the position of mass flow deposits (MFD) is marked.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: Organic carbon (OC) stored in Arctic permafrost represents one of Earth’s largest and most vulnerable terrestrial carbon pools. Amplified climate warming across the Arctic results in widespread permafrost thaw. Permafrost deposits exposed at river cliffs and coasts are particularly susceptible to thawing processes. Accelerating erosion of terrestrial permafrost along shorelines leads to increased transfer of organic matter (OM) to nearshore waters. However, the amount of terrestrial permafrost carbon and nitrogen as well as the OM quality in these deposits are still poorly quantified. Here, we characterise the sources and the quality of OM supplied to the Lena River at a rapidly eroding permafrost river shoreline cliff in the eastern part of the delta (Sobo-Sise Island). Our multi-proxy approach captures bulk elemental, molecular geochemical and carbon isotopic analyses of late Pleistocene Yedoma permafrost and Holocene cover deposits, discontinuously spanning the last ~52 ka. We show that the ancient permafrost exposed in the Sobo-Sise cliff has a high organic carbon content (mean of about 5 wt%).We found that the OM quality, which we define as the intrinsic potential to further transformation, decomposition, and mineralization, is also high as inferred by the lipid biomarker inventory. The oldest sediments stem from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 interstadial deposits (dated to 52 to 28 cal kyr BP) and is overlaid by Last Glacial MIS 2 (dated to 28 to 15 cal ka BP) and Holocene MIS 1 (dated to 7–0 cal ka BP) deposits. The relatively high average chain length (ACL) index of n-alkanes along the cliff profile indicates a predominant contribution of vascular plants to the OM composition. The elevated ratio of iso and anteiso-branched FAs relative to long chain (C ≥ 20) n-FAs in the interstadial MIS 3 and the interglacial MIS 1 deposits, suggests stronger microbial activity and consequently higher input of bacterial biomass during these climatically warmer periods. The overall high carbon preference index (CPI) and higher plant fatty acid (HPFA) values as well as high C / N ratios point to a good quality of the preserved OM and thus to a high potential of the OM for decomposition upon thaw. A decrease of HPFA values downwards along the profile probably indicates a relatively stronger OM decomposition in the oldest (MIS 3) deposits of the cliff.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: These datasets describe sediment samples taken from the Batagay megaslump, located in Yana Uplands in northeastern Siberia. Most sediment samples were taken from the slump headwall (B19-P1) by rapelling down on a rope from the slump surface and taking samples with a hole saw (diameter 55 mm, 40 mm deep) mounted on a handheld power drill. A second profile (B19-02) of the lowest part of the slump headwall was sampled (~100 m south) using a hammer and axe from the slump floor. Two permafrost sediment blocks (B19-03 and B19-04) at the slump bottom that had fallen from the headwall were sampled using a chainsaw. Finally, a baidzherakh (thermokarst mound; B19-05) in the north of the slump was sampled using a hammer and axe. The samples cover 5 stratigraphical units: 1. lower ice complex, 2. lower sand unit, 3. woody layer, 4. upper ice complex, 5. Holocene cover.

Description: Organic carbon (OC) stored in Arctic permafrost represents one of Earth’s largest and most vulnerable terrestrial carbon pools. Amplified climate warming across the Arctic results in widespread permafrost thaw. Permafrost deposits exposed at river cliffs and coasts are particularly susceptible to thawing processes. Accelerating erosion of terrestrial permafrost along shorelines leads to increased transfer of organic matter (OM) to nearshore waters. However, the amount of terrestrial permafrost carbon and nitrogen as well as the OM quality in these deposits are still poorly quantified. Here, we characterise the sources and the quality of OM supplied to the Lena River at a rapidly eroding permafrost river shoreline cliff in the eastern part of the delta (Sobo-Sise Island). Our multi-proxy approach captures bulk elemental, molecular geochemical and carbon isotopic analyses of late Pleistocene Yedoma permafrost and Holocene cover deposits, discontinuously spanning the last ~52 ka. We show that the ancient permafrost exposed in the Sobo-Sise cliff has a high organic carbon content (mean of about 5 wt%).We found that the OM quality, which we define as the intrinsic potential to further transformation, decomposition, and mineralization, is also high as inferred by the lipid biomarker inventory. The oldest sediments stem from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 interstadial deposits (dated to 52 to 28 cal kyr BP) and is overlaid by Last Glacial MIS 2 (dated to 28 to 15 cal ka BP) and Holocene MIS 1 (dated to 7–0 cal ka BP) deposits. The relatively high average chain length (ACL) index of n-alkanes along the cliff profile indicates a predominant contribution of vascular plants to the OM composition. The elevated ratio of iso and anteiso-branched FAs relative to long chain (C ≥ 20) n-FAs in the interstadial MIS 3 and the interglacial MIS 1 deposits, suggests stronger microbial activity and consequently higher input of bacterial biomass during these climatically warmer periods. The overall high carbon preference index (CPI) and higher plant fatty acid (HPFA) values as well as high C / N ratios point to a good quality of the preserved OM and thus to a high potential of the OM for decomposition upon thaw. A decrease of HPFA values downwards along the profile probably indicates a relatively stronger OM decomposition in the oldest (MIS 3) deposits of the cliff.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: Rock magnetic and paleomagnetic results covering the past 30 ka were constructed from two sediment cores MSM33_856-1 (MSM33-55-1) and MSM33_855-1 (54-3) from the Black Sea. After the Mediterranean Sea water ingression, finely laminated organic-rich sapropelic sediments and coccolith oozes were deposited in the Black Sea since about 8.3 ka. Relict magnetic minerals in the Black Sea sarpoples are ferrous hemoilmenite, Fe-Mn and Fe-Cr spinels, and magnetite inclusions. In sediments deposited between about 14 and 8 ka, greigite and pyrite were formed in sediments because of the seawater penetration from overlying sediments after the seawater ingression. Before ~14 ka, the Black Sea sediments are dominated by detrital (titano-)magnetite minerals and the sporadically formed greigite which has SIRM/kLF ratios 〉 10 kAm-2. By comparison with detrital (titano-)magnetite samples between 20-30 ka, we found that relict magnetic mineral samples between 0-8.3 ka have similar behavior in recording the geomagnetic field. Moreover, the geomagnetic field variations reconstructed from the Black Sea sapropels are comparable with other validated regional datasets for the past 8.3 ka. The natural remanent magnetization (NRM) and the anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) were measured with a 2G Enterprises 755 SRM (cryogenic) long-core magnetometer equipped with a sample holder for eight discrete samples at a separation of 20 cm. The magnetometer's in-line tri-axial alternating field (AF) demagnetizer was used to demagnetize the NRM and ARM of the samples. The NRM was measured after application of AF peak amplitudes of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 65, 80, and 100 mT. Directions of the characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) were determined by principle component analysis (PCA) according to Kirschvink (1980). The error range of the ChRM is given as the maximum angular deviation (MAD). The ARM was imparted along the samples' z-axis with a static field of 0.05 mT and an AF field of 100 mT. Demagnetization then was performed in steps of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 65, and 80 mT. The median destructive field of the ARM (MDFARM) was determined to estimate the coercivity of the sediments. The slope of NRM versus ARM of common demagnetization steps was used to determine the relative paleointensity (RPI). In most cases, demagnetization steps from 20 to 65 mT were used to determine the RPI.

Description: This dataset provides data for four third-degree tidal constituents used in the publication of Sulzbach et al (2022). The tidal constituents provided are the 3M1, 3M3, 3N2 and 3L2 for 134 globally distributed stations. The tide information, such as the nodal modulations of these tides, are taken from Table 1 and Table S2 of Ray (2020). These tidal constants are estimated using the GESLA dataset (Woodworth et al 2014) following the approach presented in Piccioni et al (2019). This record is an add-on to the full TICON dataset (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.896587), using exactly the same data format and pre-processing. These steps include using tide gauge data that contains at least ten years of continuous data. Further, the dataset is restricted to only contain open ocean tide gauges by limiting it to a mean surrounding depth of tide gauges to be deeper than 500 meters in a 2-degree radius and excluding stations not native to the ocean domain of the employed tidal model TiME. Duplicate and closely neighbouring tide gauges, found within a 0.2-degree radius, are also removed from the dataset. This resulted in the availability of the four tidal constants for 134 tide gauges. The results are stored in one tab-separated text/ASCII file with 13 columns: 1. Latitude of the tide gauge station 2. Longitude of the tide gauge station 3. Constituent name 4. Amplitude (in cm) 5. Phase (in degrees) 6. Standard deviation of the amplitude (in cm) 7. Standard deviation of the phase (in degrees) 8. Percentage of missing observations 9. Total number of observations analyzed 10. Length of the maximum temporal gap found in the time series in days 11. Date of the first observation 12. Date of the last observation 13. Code that corresponds to the original source of the record TICON is a useful and easy-to-handle data set for tide model validation and allows the users to select the records according to the different criteria most suitable for their purposes. The options span from the choice of a geographical region to the use of single constituents or time periods.

Description: These datasets provide sedimentological data partly at annual resolution and an age model for the lateglacial part of (1) the ICDP sediment core 5017-1-A retrieved from the deep northern Dead Sea basin in 2010/11, and (2) for the Masada outcrop located at the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea sampled in 2018. The here investigated two sediment sections cover the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 17-11.5 ka BP) in the hydroclimatically sensitive Levant, when the water level of Lake Lisan – the precursor of the Dead Sea – dropped dramatically from its glacial high-stand to the Holocene low levels. Here, we analyze the interval between the last two gypsum units – the Upper Gypsum Unit (UGU) and the Additional Gypsum Unit (AGU) – which were also used to correlate the two sites. In the ICDP core this section is located between ~101 and 88.5 m sediment depth below lake floor and at Masada it encompasses the uppermost ~3.8 m sediments of the Lisan Formation, which form the terminal deposit at this site. Due to the lake level decline, the complete transition into the Holocene is only recorded in the ICDP core, while sedimentation at Masada terminates earlier. The microfacies was investigated by continuous thin section microscopy, while additional macroscopic information is provided from over- and underlying sediment sections. A revised chronology using age modelling in OxCal (Ramsey 2008; Ramsey 2009; Ramsey and Lee 2013) was developed for the ICDP core and a floating varve chronology was constructed at Masada. Using these new microfacies data from marginal (Masada) and deep-water (ICDP core) sediments, the hydroclimatic variability during the final stage of Lake Lisan can be reconstructed, which could provide important insights into the development of human sedentism in the region at this time.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: This dataset provides annually resolved microfacies data from ICDP core 5017-1-A, retrieved from the deep northern Dead Sea basin in 2010/11, for the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 17-11.5 ka BP). Sediments of the Lisan Formation were investigated between ~101 and 88.5 m sediment depth below lake floor by continuous thin section microscopy, while additional macroscopic information is provided from core catchers, as well as from over- and underlying sediment sections. Thin sections were prepared following the standard procedure by Brauer and Casanova (2001) that was adjusted for salty sediments. Thin section analyses were performed on overlapping large-scale thin sections using a Zeiss Axiolab pol microscope at magnifications of 50-400x. Microfacies analyses included varve counting and measurements of varve and sublayer thickness.

Description: Despite the importance of surface energy budgets (SEBs) for land-climate interactions in the Arctic, uncertainties in their prediction persist. In situ observational data of SEB components - useful for research and model validation - are collected at relatively few sites across the terrestrial Arctic, and not all available datasets are readily interoperable. Furthermore, the terrestrial Arctic consists of a diversity of vegetation types, which are generally not well represented in land surface schemes of current Earth system models. This dataset contains metadata information about surface energy budget components measured at 64 tundra and glacier sites 〉60° N across the Arctic. This information was taken from the open-access repositories FLUXNET, Ameriflux, AON, GC-Net and PROMICE. The contained datasets are associated with the publication vegetation type as an important predictor of the Arctic Summer Land Surface Energy Budget by Oehri et al. 2022, and intended to support research of surface energy budgets and their relationship with environmental conditions, in particular vegetation characteristics across the terrestrial Arctic.

Description: This dataset provides the results from Bayesian age depth modelling in OxCal for ICDP core 5017-1-A, retrieved from the deep northern Dead Sea basin in 2010/11, for the last glacial-interglacial transition between ~101 and 88.5 m sediment depth below lake floor (ca. 17-11.5 ka BP). The model was performed in OxCal v.4.4 using a P_Sequence (1,1,C(-2,2)) (Ramsey 2008; Ramsey 2009; Ramsey and Lee 2013) and includes three tephrochronological ages from Neugebauer et al. (2021) and three radiocarbon ages from Kitagawa et al. (2017).

Description: Despite the importance of surface energy budgets (SEBs) for land-climate interactions in the Arctic, uncertainties in their prediction persist. In situ observational data of SEB components - useful for research and model validation - are collected at relatively few sites across the terrestrial Arctic, and not all available datasets are readily interoperable. Furthermore, the terrestrial Arctic consists of a diversity of vegetation types, which are generally not well represented in land surface schemes of current Earth system models. This dataset comprises harmonized, standardized and aggregated in-situ observations of surface energy budget components measured at 64 sites on vegetated and glaciated sites north of 60° latitude, in the time period from 1994 till 2021. The surface energy budget components include net radiation, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, ground heat flux, net shortwave radiation, net longwave radiation, surface temperature and albedo, which were aggregated to daily mean, minimum and maximum values from hourly and half-hourly measurements. Data were retrieved from the monitoring networks FLUXNET, AmeriFlux, AON, GC-Net and PROMICE.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: This dataset describes two 17 m long sediment cores taken from beneath two thermokarst lakes in the Yukechi Alas, Central Yakutia, Russia. The first core was taken from below an Alas thermokarst lake (YU-L7; 61.76397°N, 130.46442°E) and the second core below and Yedoma lake (YU-L15; 61.76086°N, 130.47466°E). The dataset presents biogeochemical and biomarker parameters of sediment cores YU-L7 and YU-L15. Biogeochemical analyses include total carbon (TC) content, total organic carbon (TOC) content, total nitrogen (TN) content. Biomarker parameters include the n-alkane concentration, average chain length (ACL), carbon preference index (CPI), brGDGT concentration, archaeol concentration and the isoGDGT-0 concentration. The n-alkanes were measured in the aliphatic fraction by gas chromatography-mass spectromety using a Trace GC Ultra coupled to a DSQ MS. The branched and isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers, as well as the dialkyl glycerol diether lipid (archaeol) were measured in the NSO fraction using a Shimadzu LC-10AD high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a Finnigan TSQ 7000 mass spectrometer via an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization interface. The pH soil is the sediment pH which was assessed by adding 6.12 mL of 0.01 M CaCl~2~ to ~2.5 g dried sediment and measuring with a Multilab 540 (WTW) at 20°C.

Description: We present sea ice temperature and salinity data from first-year ice (FYI) and second-year ice (SYI) relevant to the temporal development of sea ice permeability and brine drainage efficiency from the early growth phase in October 2019 to the onset of spring warming in May 2020. Our dataset was collected in the central Arctic Ocean during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition in 2019 to 2020. MOSAiC was an international transpolar drift expedition in which the German icebreaker RV Polarstern anchored into an ice floe to gain new insights into Arctic climate over a full annual cycle. In October 2019, RV Polarstern moored to an ice floe in the Siberian sector of the Arctic at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east to begin the drift towards the North Pole and the Fram Strait via the Transpolar Drift Stream. The data presented here were collected during the first three legs of the expedition, so all the coring activities took place on the same floe. The end dates of legs 1, 2, and 3 were 13 December, 24 February, and 4 June, respectively. The dataset contributed to a baseline study entitled, Deciphering the properties of different Arctic ice types during the growth phase of the MOSAiC floes: Implications for future studies. The study highlights downward directed gas pathways in FYI and SYI by inferring sea ice permeability and potential brine release from several time series of temperature and salinity measurements. The physical properties presented in this paper lay the foundation for subsequent analyses on actual gas contents measured in the ice cores, as well as air-ice and ice-ocean gas fluxes. Sea ice cores were collected with a Kovacs Mark II 9 cm diameter corer. To measure ice temperatures, about 4.5 cm deep holes were drilled into the core (intervals varied by site and leg) . The temperatures were measured by a digital thermometer within minutes after the cores were retrieved. The ice cores were placed into pre-labelled plastic sleeves sealed at the bottom end. The ice cores were transported to RV Polarstern and stored in a -20 degrees Celsius freezer. Each of the cores was sub-sampled, melted at room temperature, and processed for salinity within one or two days. The practical salinity was estimated by measuring the electrical conductivity and temperature of the melted samples using a WTW Cond 3151 salinometer equipped with a Tetra-Con 325 four-electrode conductivity cell. The practical salinity represents the the salinity estimated from the electrical conductivity of the solution. The dataset also contains derived variables, including sea ice density, brine volume fraction, and the Rayleigh number.

Description: Despite the importance of surface energy budgets (SEBs) for land-climate interactions in the Arctic, uncertainties in their prediction persist. In-situ observational data of SEB components - useful for research and model validation - are collected at relatively few sites across the terrestrial Arctic, and not all available datasets are readily interoperable. Furthermore, the terrestrial Arctic consists of a diversity of vegetation types, which are generally not well represented in land surface schemes of current Earth system models. Therefore, we here provide four datasets comprising: 1. Harmonized, standardized and aggregated in situ observations of SEB components at 64 vegetated and glaciated sites north of 60° latitude, in the time period 1994-2021 2. A description of all study sites and associated environmental conditions, including the vegetation types, which correspond to the classification of the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM, Raynolds et al. 2019). 3. Data generated in a literature synthesis from 358 study sites on vegetation or glacier (〉=60°N latitude) covered by 148 publications. 4. Metadata, including data contributor information and measurement heights of variables associated with Oehri et al. 2022.

Description: This dataset provides lithological data from ICDP core 5017-1-A, retrieved from the deep northern Dead Sea basin in 2010/11, for the last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 17-11.5 ka BP). The microfacies of the Lisan Formation was investigated between ~101 and 88.5 m sediment depth below lake floor by continuous thin section microscopy, while additional macroscopic information is provided from core catchers, as well as from over- and underlying sediment sections. Thin sections were prepared following the standard procedure by Brauer and Casanova (2001) that was adjusted for salty sediments. Thin section analyses were performed on overlapping large-scale thin sections using a Zeiss Axiolab pol microscope at magnifications of 50-400x.

Description: This dataset contains observations of water discharge rates and concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from a polygonal tundra site in the Lena River Delta, Russia. This dataset also contains lateral carbon fluxes of DOC and DIC that were estimated from these observations. Additionally, this dataset contains vertical fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane from the same study site. All observations were recorded on Samoylov Island (N 72.377188, E 126.495144) in the summer of 2014. The abbreviations A1, A2 and B refer to three outflows on the island where the hydrological parameters were observed (A1: N 72.379991, E 126.480886; A2: N 72.380134, E 126.481433; B: N 72.381348, E 126.483482). All outflows were approximately 10 meters. More information can be found in https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3863-2022.

Description: Despite the importance of surface energy budgets (SEBs) for land-climate interactions in the Arctic, uncertainties in their prediction persist. In situ observational data of SEB components - useful for research and model validation - are collected at relatively few sites across the terrestrial Arctic, and not all available datasets are readily interoperable. Furthermore, the terrestrial Arctic consists of a diversity of vegetation types, which are generally not well represented in land surface schemes of current Earth system models. This dataset describes the environmental conditions for 64 tundra and glacier sites (〉=60°N latitude) across the Arctic, for which in situ measurements of surface energy budget components were harmonized (see Oehri et al. 2022). These environmental conditions are (proxies of) potential drivers of SEB-components and could therefore be called SEB-drivers. The associated environmental conditions, include the vegetation types graminoid tundra, prostrate dwarf-shrub tundra, erect-shrub tundra, wetland complexes, barren complexes (≤ 40% horizontal plant cover), boreal peat bogs and glacier. These land surface types (apart from boreal peat bogs) correspond to the main classification units of the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM, Raynolds et al. 2019). For each site, additional climatic and biophysical variables are available, including cloud cover, snow cover duration, permafrost characteristics, climatic conditions and topographic conditions.

Description: This dataset contains over 30 marine Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) profiles taken in September 2021 around Tuktoyaktuk Island (NWT / Beaufort Sea, Canada). The measurements were part of the “Mackenzie Delta Permafrost Field Campaign” (mCan2021) within the “Modular Observation solutions for Earth Systems” (MOSES) program. The collected profiles consist of numerous adjacent vertical soundings in a (quasi-symmetric) reciprocal Wenner-Schlumberger array, using a floating cable towed behind a boat. GPS records along the electrode streamer were taken, enabling the improvement of pre- processing by excluding measurements for which the cable was curved and electrode positions deviated too widely. The aim of the study was to determine the depth of the submarine permafrost. Cleaned data is provided in csv format.

Description: This collection contains permafrost related measurements in the Mackenzie Delta, NWT, Canada from the MOSES (Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systems) field campaign in September 2021. The field campaign was focused on three subaquatic sites: a small thermokarst lake along the ITH just south of Trail Valley Creek, "Lake 3", an elongated lake with known methane occurence in the outer Mackenzie Delta, "Swiss Cheese Lake", and north and south of Tuktoyaktuk Island. At "Swiss Cheese Lake", we measured methane and CO2 concentrations in surface water and in the air above the lake, lake bed temperatures and detailed bathymetry. At "Lake 3" we measured active layer thickness on the lake banks, lake bed temperatures, and detailed bathymetry, as well as an ERT survey to estimate the talik depth below the lake. North and south of Tuktoyaktuk Island, we measured active layer thickness and sea bed temperatures and did an extensive ERT survey to obtain the depth of the subsea permafrost table. An additional passive seismic survey was carried out and the data is available at https://doi.org/10.5880/GIPP.202199.1.

Description: This dataset contains seven Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) profiles taken in September 2021 at “Lake 3”, a thermokarst lake near the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk-Highway (ITH), about 50 km north of Inuvik (NWT, Canada). The measurements were part of the “Mackenzie Delta Permafrost Field Campaign” (mCan2021) within the “Modular Observation solutions for Earth Systems” (MOSES) program. The collected profiles consist of numerous adjacent vertical soundings in a (quasi-symmetric) reciprocal Wenner-Schlumberger array. In addition to surveys on the lake, using a floating cable towed behind a boat, two “amphibian” profiles were taken. Starting as purely terrestrial surveys using metal spike electrodes, the cable was then moved towards the lake with some of the electrodes floating on the water surface, and some still on land. The aim of the study was to determine permafrost properties on the land, to detect a possible talik beneath the lake and to especially be able to infer the transition between the two below the shoreline.

Description: Organic carbon (OC) stored in Arctic permafrost represents one of Earth's largest and most vulnerable terrestrial carbon pools. Amplified climate warming across the Arctic results in widespread permafrost thaw. Permafrost deposits exposed at river cliffs and coasts are particularly susceptible to thawing processes. Accelerating erosion of terrestrial permafrost along shorelines leads to increased transfer of organic matter (OM) to nearshore waters. However, the amount of terrestrial permafrost carbon and nitrogen as well as the OM quality in these deposits are still poorly quantified. Here, we characterise the sources and the quality of OM supplied to the Lena River at a rapidly eroding permafrost river shoreline cliff in the eastern part of the delta (Sobo-Sise Island). Our multi-proxy approach captures bulk elemental, molecular geochemical and carbon isotopic analyses of late Pleistocene Yedoma permafrost and Holocene cover deposits, discontinuously spanning the last ~52 ka. We show that the ancient permafrost exposed in the Sobo-Sise cliff has a high organic carbon content (mean of about 5 wt%).We found that the OM quality, which we define as the intrinsic potential to further transformation, decomposition, and mineralization, is also high as inferred by the lipid biomarker inventory. The oldest sediments stem from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 interstadial deposits (dated to 52 to 28 cal kyr BP) and is overlaid by Last Glacial MIS 2 (dated to 28 to 15 cal ka BP) and Holocene MIS 1 (dated to 7–0 cal ka BP) deposits. The relatively high average chain length (ACL) index of n-alkanes along the cliff profile indicates a predominant contribution of vascular plants to the OM composition. The elevated ratio of iso and anteiso-branched FAs relative to long chain (C ≥ 20) n-FAs in the interstadial MIS 3 and the interglacial MIS 1 deposits, suggests stronger microbial activity and consequently higher input of bacterial biomass during these climatically warmer periods. The overall high carbon preference index (CPI) and higher plant fatty acid (HPFA) values as well as high C / N ratios point to a good quality of the preserved OM and thus to a high potential of the OM for decomposition upon thaw. A decrease of HPFA values downwards along the profile probably indicates a relatively stronger OM decomposition in the oldest (MIS 3) deposits of the cliff.

Description: The sample set includes 25 newly sampled sea-level index points based on fossil microatoll measurements from 5 islands in the Spermonde Archipelago, 21 fossl microatoll samples previously published by Mann et al., 2016 from two Islands in the same study region and 20 marine and terrestrial limiting points (e.g. corals, shells and loamy clay) and one further sea-level index point from a Mangrove swamp published by De Klerk, 1982 and Tjia et al., 1972

Description: Heat integration and industrial symbiosis have been identified as key strategies to foster energy efficient and low carbon manufacturing industries (see e.g. contribution of Working Group III in IPCC's 5th assessment report). As energy efficiency potentials through horizontal and vertical integration are highly specific by site and technology they are often not explicitly reflected in national energy strategies and GHG emission scenarios. One of the reasons is that the energy models used to formulate such macro-level scenarios lack either the necessary high technical or the spatial micro-level resolution or both. Due to this lack of adequate tools the assumed huge existing potentials for energy efficiency in the energy intensive industry cannot be appropriately appreciated by national or EU level policies. Due to this background our paper describes a recent approach for a combined micro-macro energy model for selected manufacturing industries. It combines national level technical scenario modelling with a micro-modelling approach analogous to total site analysis (TSA), a methodology used by companies to analyse energy integration potentials on the level of production sites. Current spatial structures are reproduced with capacity, technical and energy efficiency data on the level of single facilities (e.g. blast furnaces) using ETS data and other sources. Based on this, both, the investments in specific technologies and in production sites are modelled and the evolvement of future structures of (interconnected) industry sites are explored in scenarios under different conditions and with different objectives (microeconomic vs. energy efficiency optimization). We further present a preliminary scenario that explores the relevance of these potentials and developments for the German steel industry.

Description: The German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is home to important clusters of energy-intensive basic materials industries. 15% of the EU's primary steel as well as 15% of high-value base chemicals are produced here. Together with refinery fuels, cement, lime and paper production (also overrepresented in NRW) these are the most carbon-intensive production processes of the industrial metabolism. To achieve the ambitious regional and national climate goals without relocating these clusters, carbon-neutral production will have to become standard by mid-century. We develop and evaluate three conceptual long-term scenarios towards carbon-neutral industry systems for NRW for 2050 and beyond: * a first scenario depending on carbon capture and storage or use for heavy industries (iCCS), * a second scenario sketching the direct electrification of industrial processes (and transport) and * a third scenario relying on the import of low carbon energies (e.g. biomass, and synthetic fuels (like methanol) for the use in industries and transport. All scenarios share the assumption that electricity generation will be CO2-neutral by 2050. For all three scenarios energy efficiency, primary energy demand for energy services and feedstock as well as the carbon balance are quantified. We apply a spatial-explicit analysis of production sites to allow for discussion of infrastructure re-use and net investment needs. Possible symbiotic relations between sectors are also included. The robustness of the three conceptualised future carbon-neutral industry systems is then analysed using a multi-criteria approach, including e.g. energy security issues and lock-ins on the way to 2050.

Description: There is an increasing pressure that enhanced and novel energy technologies are swiftly adopted by the market to ensure meeting the energy and climate targets. An important issue with such novel developments is their risk to be stuck in the "valley of death", i.e. that their transition to the market is delayed or unsuccessful. Publicly supported demonstration projects could help to bridge the valley of death by reducing barriers to the adoption caused by missing information and perceived risks. A challenge for technology demonstrations in the industrial context is their often high investments that are required to prove their real-world benefits. Given the magnitude of such investments, it becomes crucial that public funding focuses on the most promising demonstration proposals. Structured evaluation processes can help to facilitate the identification of promising proposals and to improve the quality and transparency of decisions. This paper deals with a corresponding multi-staged multi-criteria decision support system (DSS) suggested to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. It deals with the evaluation of demonstration proposals across three stages: The first stage represents a filtering stage to identify those proposals relevant for further considerations. The second stage comprises a multi-criteria scoring method drawing on an evaluation against nineteen criteria. The final third stage serves to critically review the need for public funding of well-scored proposals. This contribution outlines the development of the DSS and its design and thus provides insights on proposal evaluating in energy research.

Description: Renewable energy plays a key role in the sustainable pathway towards a low carbon future and, despite new supply capacities, the transformation of the energy system also requires the adoption of a method which allows for the integration of increasing amounts of renewable energy. This requires a transition to more flexible processes at an industrial level and demand side management (DSM) is one possible way of achieving this transition. Currently, increased shares of variable renewable energy can cause the electricity supply to become more volatile and result in changes to the electricity market. In order to develop a new dynamic equilibrium to balance supply and demand, sufficient flexibility in demand is required. As adequate storage systems are not available in the short to medium term, the potential for large electricity consumers to operate flexibly is an attractive, pragmatic and feasible option. Recent studies in Germany suggest that there is significant potential for DSM in so-called "energy-intensive industries". However, the figures (which fall in the approximate range of 1,250-2,750 MW positive and 400-1,300 MW negative shiftable load) should be interpreted with caution. The range of industrial processes considered are diverse and vary from plant to plant, with the result that it is difficult to provide accurate calculations of the accumulated potential for Germany or the EU as a whole. Based on extensive surveys and panel discussions with representatives from energy-intensive industries (aluminum, cement, chemicals, iron & steel, pulp & paper), which together account for approximately one third of the industrial electricity demand in Germany, our paper provides an overview of both the opportunities and the barriers faced by DSM. One of the key findings is the possible loss in energy efficiency due to DSM: in order to decrease or increase production depending on the stability needs of the electricity system, plants and processes may no longer operate at their optimum levels. The effects on downstream production must also be taken into account in order to gain a more complete understanding of the overall effects of industrial DSM.

Description: The Port of Rotterdam is an important industrial cluster mainly comprising of oil refining, chemical manufacturing and power and steam generation. In 2015, the area accounted for 18 % of the Netherlands' total CO2 emissions. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is aware that the port's economy is heavily exposed to future global and EU decarbonization policies, as the bulk of its activities focuses on trading, handling, converting and using fossil fuels. Based on a study for the Port Authority, our paper explores possible pathways of how the industrial cluster can keep its strong market position in Europe and still reduce its CO2 emissions by 98 % by 2050. The "Biomass and CCS" scenario assumes that large amounts of biomass can be supplied sustainably and will be used in the port for power generation as well as for feedstock for refineries and the chemical industry. Fischer-Tropsch fuel generation plays an important role in this scenario, allowing the port to become a key cluster for the production of synthetic fuels and feedstocks in Western Europe. The "Closed Carbon Cycle" scenario assumes that renewables-based electricity will be used at the port to supply heat and hydrogen for the synthetic generation of feedstock for the chemical industry. The carbon required for the chemicals will stem from recycled waste. Technologies particularly needed in this scenario are water electrolysis and gasification or pyrolysis to capture carbon from waste, as well as technologies for the production of base chemicals from syngas. The paper compares both scenarios with regard to their respective technological choices and infrastructural changes. The scenarios’ particular opportunities and challenges are also discussed. Using possible future pathways of a major European petrochemical cluster as an example, the paper illustrates options for deep decarbonisation of energy intensive industries in the EU and beyond.

Description: Converting electricity into heat offers the opportunity to make of use large scales of renewable (surplus) energy in the long run in order to reduce shut-downs of renewable power plants and to substitute fossil fuels. Electrification seems to be also very promising for industrial heat applications, as it enables high process temperatures to be achieved in a tailor-made and efficient way and enables the utilisation of other energy sources like waste heat, geothermal or ambient heat (via heat pumps). This article analyses theoretical and technical electrification potentials of Steam Generation and Other Process Heat Generation in the following energy-intensive branches: iron & steel, non-ferrous metal, iron foundries, refineries, base chemicals, glass, cement clinker and paper industry in Germany. Literature research, expert interviews as well as own modelling were conducted to determine potentials and their implementation barriers. Based on these methods, market potential to electrify industrial steam generation was estimated. On the basis of two climate protection scenarios, the effects of both a monovalent and a hybrid industrial power-to-heat strategy were quantified with regard to greenhouse gas reduction and energy efficiency (primary energy saving). The pathway towards electrification will be reflected by criteria such as path dependency, dependency of infrastructure and system compatibility. Recommendations for research and development as well as policies are derived from the overall analysis. The article shows that electrification can be an important option to achieving high CO2-savings in the industrial heating sector in a long-term perspective. However, the scenario calculations show that electrification does not in itself guarantee reduction of greenhouse gases or savings of primary energy. To reach these goals, it is essential to further develop industrial heat pumps and to map electrification and further development of renewable energy (including infrastructure such as power networks and storage facilities) in a concerted strategy.

Description: The airborne laser scanning (ALS) datasets were acquired at the Arctic tundra site of Trail Valley Creek (TVC), Northwest Territories, Canada, which is underlain by continuous permafrost. Basic processing and filtering steps were applied to the ALS point cloud. Based on a classification into ground and vegetation points, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and rasters of mean and maximum vegetation heights are derived. Detailed metadata are included.

Description: Following the decisions of the Paris climate conference at the end of 2015 as well as similar announcements e.g. from the G7 in Elmau (Germany) in the summer of 2015, long-term strategies aiming at (almost) full decarbonisation of the energy systems increasingly move into the focus of climate and energy policy. Deep decarbonisation obviously requires a complete switch of energy supply towards zero GHG emission sources, such as renewable energy. A large number of both global as well as national climate change mitigation scenarios emphasize that energy efficiency will likewise play a key role in achieving deep decarbonization. However, the interdependencies between a transformation of energy supply on the one hand and the role of and prospects for energy efficiency on the other hand are rarely explored in detail. This article explores these interdependencies based on a scenario for Germany that describes a future energy system relying entirely on renewable energy sources. Our analysis emphasizes that generally, considerable energy efficiency improvements on the demand side are required in order to have a realistic chance of transforming the German energy system towards 100 % renewables. Efficiency improvements are especially important if energy demand sectors will continue to require large amounts of liquid and gaseous fuels, as the production of these fuels are associated with considerable energy losses in a 100 % renewables future. Energy efficiency on the supply side will therefore differ considerably depending on how strongly the use of liquid and gaseous fuels in the various demand sectors can be substituted through the direct use of electricity. Apart from a general discussion of the role of energy efficiency in a 100 % renewable future, we also look at the role of and prospects for energy efficiency in each individual demand sector.

Description: The core objective of Energy Efficiency Watch 3 (EEW3) is to establish a constant feedback loop on the implementation of European and national energy efficiency policies and thus enable both compliance monitoring and mutual learning on effective policy making across the EU. The project team applied a mixed-method approach to assess energy efficiency policy developments in EU Member States. It analysed progress of national policies by screening official documents, sought experts' knowledge via an EU-wide survey and has been creating new consultation platforms with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including parliamentarians, regions, cities and business stakeholders. Analysis of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs), the expert survey with input from over 1,100 experts on policy ambition and progress in each Member State, as well as 28 Country Reports have been central elements in EEW3. This paper will present the main conclusions and policy recommendations of EEW3. In doing so, it will first summarise the findings of the document analysis based on the 28 Country Reports, showing developments of energy efficiency policies since the second NEEAP in 2011 in a cross-country overview for six sectors. These findings are then contrasted with the experts' perspective on progress in energy efficiency policies in their countries as collected in the EEW survey. Moreover, ten case studies of good practice energy efficiency policies are shown, three of them will be presented in more detail. The paper ends with key policy conclusions for improving the effectiveness of European energy efficiency policies. A key finding is that policy implementation has improved a lot since 2011 but more is needed to achieve the EED Art. 7 and other targets.

Description: One of the most pressing issues of climate policy is how to get building owners to invest in the energy efficiency of their homes. The German federal government has set the goal of decreasing the energy demand of buildings by 80 to 95 percent until 2050. One pillar of the strategy to support building owners in this task is the provision of targeted energy advice, to both motivate owners to implement an energy efficiency refurbishment and help them to choose the most efficient measures. In this paper we analysed the demand for energy advice in three German cities of the Ruhr area finding the number of energy consulting provided to be extremely low compared to the stated goals. Based on the approach of joint knowledge production we invited stakeholders from the three cities to participate in a series of workshops in order to develop ideas how to more effectively bring homeowners and energy advisors together. As a result, different energy advice experiments were co-operatively developed for each city targeting different groups by using tailored channels for outreach. The evaluation of both the process as well as the outcome of the experiments indicates that while joint knowledge production is a suitable approach to enable knowledge transfer and formation of new networks between different stakeholders in science and practice, it does not necessarily lead to superior approaches with regard to effectively addressing a policy issue at hand. Apart from the experiment in which the window of opportunity change of building ownership was taken advantage of, participation of target groups in the experiments has been soberingly low, underlining the value of so-called trigger points when designing effective outreach strategies to building owners.

Description: Energy efficiency improvements have numerous benefits/impacts additional to energy and greenhouse gas savings, as has been shown and analysed e.g. in the 2014 IEA Report on "Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency". This paper presents the Horizon 2020-project COMBI ("Calculating and Operationalising the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Europe"), aiming at calculating the energy and non-energy impacts that a realisation of the EU energy efficiency potential would have in 2030. The project covers the most relevant technical energy efficiency improvement actions and estimates impacts of reduced air pollution (and its effects on human health, eco-systems/crops, buildings), improved social welfare (incl. disposable income, comfort, health, productivity), saved biotic and abiotic resources, and energy system, energy security, and the macroeconomy (employment, economic growth and public budget). This paper explains how the COMBI energy savings potential in the EU 2030 is being modelled and how multiple impacts are assessed. We outline main challenges with the quantification (choice of baseline scenario, additionality of savings and impacts, context dependency and distributional issues) as well as with the aggregation of impacts (e.g. interactions and overlaps) and how the project deals with them. As research is still ongoing, this paper only gives a first impression of the order of magnitude for additional multiple impacts of energy efficiency improvements may have in Europe, where this is available to date. The paper is intended to stimulate discussion and receive feedback from the academic community on quantification approaches followed by the project.

Description: A case study in the rural area of South Westphalia, Germany, showed the importance of independent intermediaries to support the development and implementation of sustainable energy and efficiency projects. The idea behind the project "Dorf ist Energie(klug)" (Village is Energy(smart)) was to foster, accompany, and support energy and efficiency projects in villages from the first idea to final implementation. Therefore, the South Westphalia Agency as independent intermediary initiated an application process in which villages could apply with their innovative energy and efficiency project ideas. During the following process the chosen "coaching villages" benefitted from the consultation of teams of thematic experts. Villages with less developed projects were supported through idea workshops with experts and study visits. The accompanying scientific study evaluated the overall process focussing on the transferability, the sustainability and the quality of the process. Furthermore, a self evaluation tool for (energy) projects in villages was developed and tested in two of the participating coaching villages. The paper gives a short insight into the project "Dorf ist Energie(klug)". It presents the methodology of the accompanying study and the results with a special focus on the role of the South Westphalia Agency as independent intermediary. Finally, it discusses the transferability and sustainability of the project.

Description: Energy sufficiency has recently gained increasing attention as a way to limit and reduce total energy consumption of households and overall. This paper presents selected results of a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research that examined the potentials and barriers for energy sufficiency with a focus on electricity in households, how household members perceive sufficiency practices, and how policymakers could support and encourage these. Bottom-up calculations for an average 2-person household in Germany yielded a total electricity savings potential from energy efficiency and sufficiency combined of theoretically up to 75 %. The continuous growth of per capita living space was identified as one important driver for additional energy consumption both for heat and electricity. The paper will present findings of a representative survey of 600 persons responsible for the housework. It revealed that a part of the households is already practicing sufficiency options or are open towards these. Up to 30 % of these households can imagine, given the right conditions and policy support, to move to a smaller dwelling or to share an apartment with others when they are older. Results of a first comprehensive analysis of an energy sufficiency policy to encourage and support households to sufficiency practices form the second part of the paper, with a focus on the feasibility and potential effectiveness of instruments for limiting the growth in average living space per person. This includes a case study on fostering communal housing projects as a measure to reduce living space. Further, the feasibility of a cap scheme for the total electricity sales of a supplier to its customers was examined. Instruments supporting energy-efficient and sufficient purchase and use of equipment complete the integrated energy sufficiency and efficiency policy package. The paper will finally present the project's conclusions on an integrated energy sufficiency policy package resulting from this analysis.

Description: Energy efficiency activities are high on the current EU energy policy agenda. Key policy instruments like the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the Energy Labelling Directive are under revision. In a project for the German government, we therefore analysed the effectiveness and consistency of existing sectoral policy packages anew, to open the discussion on which policy changes to the EU's energy efficiency policy packages are crucial to reach the targets. This comprehensive review addressed the industrial, buildings, and transport sectors plus the overarching governance framework (targets and roadmaps, EED, energy taxation and EU ETS). For each of these, the first step was a gap analysis of the main deficits in the sectoral policy packages, against effective model packages. At first glance, the combination of energy efficiency policies at EU level seems already quite comprehensive. However, their design and implementation often lack a consistent and ambitious approach to leverage their full potential. To give some examples of the many shortcomings identified, the governance framework suffers from exceptions and the transport sector being only marginally considered in the EED; an outdated Energy Tax Directive has very low minimum rates and several exception clauses; there is a lack of commitment to implement energy management systems and investment projects in large companies; a clear EU-wide definition of nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) is missing; and the labelling of energy-using products is still confusing for consumers. Subsequently, we elaborated comprehensive policy recommendations to increase the effectiveness of all these policies, and to bridge some gaps with new policies. A list of priorities was established to sort them by their relevance.

Description: A major uncertainty in determining the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet from measurements of satellite gravimetry, and to a lesser extent satellite altimetry, is the poorly known correction for the ongoing deformation of the solid Earth caused by glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). In the past decade, much progress has been made in consistently modelling the ice sheet and solid Earth interactions; however, forward-modelling solutions of GIA in Antarctica remain uncertain due to the sparsity of constraints on the ice sheet evolution, as well as the Earth's rheological properties. An alternative approach towards estimating GIA is the joint inversion of multiple satellite data - namely, satellite gravimetry, satellite altimetry and GPS, which reflect, with different sensitivities, trends of recent glacial changes and GIA. Crucial to the success of this approach is the accuracy of the space-geodetic data sets. Here, we present reprocessed rates of surface-ice elevation change (Envisat/ICESat; 2003-2009), gravity field change (GRACE; 2003-2009) and bedrock uplift (GPS; 1995-2013). The data analysis is complemented by the forward-modelling of viscoelastic response functions to disc load forcing, allowing us to relate GIA-induced surface displacements with gravity changes for different rheological parameters of the solid Earth. The data and modelling results presented here form the basis for the joint inversion estimate of present-day ice-mass change and GIA in Antarctica. This paper presents the first of two contributions summarizing the work carried out within a European Space Agency funded study, REGINA.

Description: Energy intensive industries are one of the fields in which strong increases of energy efficiency and deep decarbonisation strategies are particularly challenging. Although European energy intensive industries have already achieved significant energy and greenhouse gas reductions in the past, much remains to be done to make a significant contribution to achieving European as well as national climate mitigation targets of greenhouse gas emission reductions by -80% or more (compared to the baseline of 1990). North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is a European hotspot for coping with this challenge, accommodating more than 10% of the energy intensive industries of the EU28. It is also the first German state to have adopted its own Climate Law, enacting state-wide CO2 emission reductions by 80% until 2050 compared to 1990. The state government initiated the project "Platform Climate Protection and Industry North-Rhine Westphalia" to identify and develop the necessary far-reaching low carbon innovation strategies for energy intensive industries. Heart of the project was a dialogue process, which involved a broad spectrum of stakeholders from steel, chemical, aluminium, cement, glass and paper producing industries. Besides enhancing and broadening the knowledge on high efficiency and low-carbon technologies within industries, the aim was to explore possible pathways and preconditions for the application of these technologies in energy intensive industries as well as to strengthen the motivation of companies for initiatives and investments in technologies with lower CO2 emissions. The results of the dialogue shall provide a basis for a possible low-carbon industry roadmap NRW and may also serve as an example for other industrialized regions in the EU and globally. The paper sketches the structured dialogue process with the stakeholders from companies as well as industrial associations and presents the learnings regarding the engagement of energy intensive industries into ambitious climate policies on a regional level. These include existing limitations as well as chances in the respective sectors on the state level, regarding their economic and technical structures as well as their innovation systems. The findings are based on more than a dozen stakeholder workshops with industry companies and more than 150 individual representatives of NRW's energy intensive industries as well as on background research in the initial phase of the project.

Description: Energy efficiency of a range of domestic appliances covered by the labelling and ecodesign directives has improved significantly over the last 15 years. However, the power consumption of the German residential sector has remained relatively constant over this period. Besides other factors, such as decreasing average household size, the main reasons for this development were the increases of the types, features, size, equipment stock and usage times of appliances and devices in private households. The project "Energy Sufficiency - strategies and instruments for a technical, systemic and cultural transformation towards sustainable restriction of energy demand in the field of construction and everyday life" investigates how the complementation of energy efficiency with energy sufficiency could lead to more user adequate domestic products and product-service systems and thereby result in an absolute reduction of power consumption. In this project, energy sufficiency is defined as a strategy to reduce energy consumption by three approaches: 1. Quantitative reduction of sizes, features, usage times of devices etc. 2. Substitution of technical equipment in households by e.g.urban services. 3. Adjustment of technical services delivered by appliances toutility needed and desired by users. The energy saving effects of an application of these approaches were modelled for different types of households and the energy saving potentials of energy sufficiency quantified. Innovative approaches for user adequate products and services were developed in open innovation workshops by the Design Thinking method. The paper summarizes some of the intermediate results of theoretical and transdisciplinary investigations of the project that runs until May 31, 2016. Furthermore, a first set of design criteria for user adequate appliances enabling energy sufficiency are developed based on these results. The paper concludes with suggestions for the future development of energy labelling and ecodesign derived from the design criteria and supplemented by examples of existing requirements according to the voluntary environmental label "Blauer Engel".

Description: In the last four decades, energy efficiency increased significantly in OECD countries. However, only during the most recent years, total energy consumption started to decrease a little, and much more slowly than energy efficiency potentials would suggest. Energy sufficiency has therefore gained new attention as a way to limit and reduce total energy consumption of a household or a country overall. The project "Energiesuffizienz" funded by the German ministry for research has examined what energy sufficiency actually is, and what householders, household members but also manufacturers and local authorities could do to make electricity use in the home more sufficient. The focus of this paper is the policy part of the project - the first comprehensive analysis of an energy sufficiency policy. The objective is to find out how policy can support market actors in using the energy sufficiency options identified. As for energy efficiency policy, it starts with the gathering of potential sufficiency actions and the analysis of the relevant barriers all market actors face, to derive recommendations for which policy instruments need to be combined to an effective policy package, and which other pre-conditions have to be met. Energy efficiency and energy sufficiency should not be seen as opposed to each other but work in the same direction - saving energy. Therefore, some instruments of the energy sufficiency policy package may be the same as for energy efficiency - such as energy taxation, and linear or progressive energy prices. Some may simply adapt technology-specific energy efficiency policy instruments. Examples are progressive appliance efficiency standards, standards based on absolute consumption, or providing energy advice. However, sufficiency may also require radical new approaches particularly to mitigate the drivers of non-sufficiency. They may range from promotion of completely different services for food and clothes cleaning, to instruments for limiting average dwelling floor area per person, or to a cap-and-trade system for the total electricity sales of a supplier to its customers, instead of an energy efficiency obligation. The paper presents these and other elements of an integrated energy sufficiency policy package resulting from this analysis.

Description: The overall objective of the web-based consumer information tool Euro-Topten is to promote the market transformation towards energy efficient products. Euro-Topten informs consumers about the most energy efficient products in various categories and thereby aims to directly influence the purchasing decisions of individuals or professional buyers. Providers of internet-based information tools are confronted with the problem, that there is no bidirectional interaction with the users. Hence, it is difficult to evaluate if the specific needs of users are addressed, if and how the user processes this information and to what extent the information influences the user's decision making process. To study these questions, a web-based survey was conducted in two consecutive rounds. In the first round the survey focused on the assessment of the information tool itself and the motivation for using the Euro-Topten websites. This survey was online on all active Euro-Topten partner websites from October to December 2012. In total, 1791 users completed the survey. In the second round, a subset of the survey population was queried again. 1,043 participants agreed to take part in a more comprehensive follow up survey, 383 completed the second survey between May and July 2013. The second survey concentrated on the question how Euro-Topten has influenced the purchasing behaviour of the survey participants. This gave significant insights on how the information on the Euro-Topten websites has affected purchasing decisions of the surveyed users. Based on a comparison of performance indicators of the most efficient products recommended on the Euro-Topten websites with performance indicators of a base case product available on the market, avoided energy demand could be estimated for those users, who bought products from the Euro-Topten list. Based on these results, two impacts of Euro-Topten could be estimated: The influence of Euro-Topten on purchasing decision of users and the associated reductions in energy demand and CO2-emissions.

Description: The electric utility sector in Australia, Germany and the U.S. are all going through major changes driven by declining sales, increasing use of distributed energy sources and policy responses to global climate change. This paper discusses efforts in each of these countries to reform their electric industries, address climate change and promote energy efficiency. Going forward, we see a role for government, utilities and private market energy efficiency efforts in all three countries, although the emphasis will vary by country and will evolve over time. Where all three parties can work together with a common vision, reform efforts are likely to be more successful and more sustained. In all three countries the future is uncertain. In the face of this uncertainty, energy efficiency supporters need to keep abreast of these changes, and find more flexible and nimble policy strategies for energy efficiency to prosper, as the future is likely to unfold in unexpected ways.

Description: After a wave of privatizations in the end of the 1990s, the electrical power supply of many municipalities in Germany has been returned into public hands. Many municipalities discover chances and possibilities for local action, which arise with remunicipalisation. The local policy-makers realize that remunicipalisation offers the opportunity of implementing an independent energy policy at local level which is critical in creating a transformation to a sustainable energy system based on energy efficiency and renewable energies. The municipal ownership allows a strong governance towards more political influence in the local energy market. In addition, there is a clear opinion of the population: 81 % of citizens surveyed say they trust their local municipal utility, compared to only 26 % who say they trust corporations (VKU-Survey, 2010). In summary, there are many good reasons for local politicians to establish their own municipal utilities. The payback for municipalities is tangible when the local utility focuses on reliably providing affordable energy rather than on increasing its returns. The new municipal power utilities stimulate competition and contribute to the renewal / restructuring of the traditional energy market. The founding of 72 municipal utilities since 2005 leads us to ask for the reasons. The study reviews the German trend towards municipal ownership of local utilities, assessing their performance based on 10 targets related to the energy transition, climate protection, and the local economic impact: 1. Achieving environmental objectives and organization of the local "Energiewende". 2. Higher local added value. 3. Harnessing tax regulations for improving municipal services. 4. Improving the income situation of the city. 5. Democratization of supply and stronger orientation towards the common good (public value). 6. Creating and protecting good jobs. 7. Acting in social responsibility in energy supply. 8. Expansion of eco-efficient energy services. 9. Harnessing customer relations and public image. 10. Materialising synergies with other sectors. Based on expert opinions, the study finds out that the likelihood of these targets being reached is "high to very high". The aim of this article is to provide a compact and basic understanding of the possible reasons for the phenomenon of remunicipalisation.

Description: The efficiency strategy to exploit the potential for energy savings in buildings still is applied rather slowly in most countries. In addition, there are indications that energy savings are partly compensated particularly by wealth but also rebound effects, the "empty nest" (persistence of elderly people and couples in family homes), and cohort effects (e.g. vintages of people or buildings). In Germany, as in other European countries, the existing trend in housing is a continuously growing floor space per capita. Over the last decades it expanded from about 20 m2 in 1960 to currently 45 m2 per person. Forecasts expect a further increase to more than 50 m2 per person. Obviously, more floor space needs more energy for space heating and cooling, ventilation, and lighting, but it also allows the household to operate more and or bigger appliances, all of which increase energy consumption. On the other hand, housing projects emerge offering relatively small private living spaces in combination with various shared spaces to use. Many of them are based on private initiatives. But what is the motivation behind it? And is there a higher need for new living concepts in the future? The proposed paper presents main drivers of increasing floor space per capita in Germany and discusses the question if more space is necessary for higher comfort. It presents different examples of housing concepts that strive to achieve good living with less space and suggests a "building typology of sufficiency". Finally, the paper discusses qualitatively to which extent these housing concepts can lead to less energy use and emissions. In this way sufficiency could be best friend with efficiency and tackle wealth, rebound, and other effects that counter-act efficiency progress. But therefore, as the paper concludes, politics and policies should recognise sufficiency as a field of action instead of referring to individual decisions and lifestyles.

Description: This paper draws upon an extensive transdisciplinary scenario development in the context of the stakeholder oriented preparation of the climate protection plan of the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia, which is home to the most important heavy industry cluster in Europe. In that context we developed differentiated bottom up climate change mitigation strategies and scenarios for the major energy intensive industries aluminium, iron and steel, cement, lime, paper and steam cracker for olefin production together with representatives of industry as well as society.

Description: Climate change and thus low-carbon transitions are global challenges, which require commitment and effort on all political levels. As international climate politics has approached its limits over the last two decades, the role of cities has simultaneously gained in importance. Many cities1 worldwide have committed to ambitious climate protection targets, which often exceed national targets. However, cities cannot act in isolation. Their opportunities for action are embedded in an (inter)national policy framework, which may either support or hinder local actions. This gives rise to the question: which opportunities for climate protection do cities really have in a political system of multi-level governance? This question can be illustrated using the city of Hamburg as an example for the German climate policy regime. The city aims to reduce its annual CO2 emissions by 2 million metric tons and attempts to quantify the impact of local and national policies and actions using a bottom-up monitoring approach. We therefore analyse more than 400 local actions with respect to the induced CO2 emission reductions. We also take a closer look at national and European policies and their impacts on local energy use and emissions. In total, 15 policies and instruments - broadly ranging from instruments to foster energy efficiencyin residential and non-residential buildings, in appliances and in the transport sector, to support renewable energy sources (including biofuels) and to uptake CHP - are considered. Our approach consists in measuring separately the impact of local and national policies and actions on urban CO2 emissions. While the city of Hamburg has implemented many policies and actions, our results show that, a significant proportion of its CO2 reduction is due to national policies, in the context of the German "Energiewende", which cannot or can only indirectly be influenced by the city. The results imply that local commitment and effort is essential in addressing the global challenge, yet ambitious targets can only be met in the presence of a supportive national policy framework. The analysis shows that many policies and measures implemented at national level require supportive structures and activities at local level in order to bridge information and implementation gaps of these measures.

Description: Many European city governments have voluntarily committed to ambitious CO2-emission reduction targets until 2020 and 2050. Supported by dedicated structures and networks (e.g. Covenant of Mayors), local governments have already developed, or are currently developing, ambitious climate action plans, all pursuing the aim of radical CO2-emission reduction in the long term. Though, the development of climate action plans is only a first step, as the actual crucial and more challenging part its implementation. Besides financial investments also additional capacities, improved institutional structures and innovative strategies are necessary to successfully implement ambitious policies within existing national and regional framework conditions. There is often more competition than co-operation between cities. However, exchanging on common challenges in order to find new solutions provides potential for innovative ideas and new views on own structures. In particular, methods and formats for self-assessment and mutual learning can support cities' stakeholders to overcome their implementation gap in local energy and climate policies. This paper will present results from the first phase of the three year project "CASCADE", which was initiated by 19 European cities in co-operation with EUROCITIES. Within the project, implementation challenges are being addressed in an intensive process of self-assessment and mutual learning. The methodological "backbone" of this process is a qualitative benchmarking framework in the thematic fields of "Renewable energy sources and distributed energy generation", "Energy efficient buildings and districts" and “Energy in urban transport”. Up to a certain degree, existing local climate policy benchmarks provide a common exchange platform, but mainly for the comparison between cities. The CASCADE benchmarking framework goes beyond competitive comparisons. As a qualitative criteria-based assessment procedure it identifies key challenges and factors for a successful implementation of established local climate policy plans. These factors have been developed from a qualitative survey including interviews and workshops with representatives of the participating cities. Six cities serve as examples. Self-assessment reports were provided based on the CASCADE benchmarking framework focussing on the implementation status of their local climate policies. These reports were reevaluated by four or five project partners from different cities in a desk-review process. During subsequent four-days peer learning visits, the CASCADE benchmarking framework was used again as a tool for an in-depth assessment of the local climate and energy action plans and the local activities towards implementation of these strategic documents. Finally, the visitors drafted a feedback report with recommendations and improvements for the hosts. The paper describes the methodology of the CASCADE benchmarking framework for integrated learning, its applicability for peer learning processes, as well as first experiences and results from the peer learning visits.

Description: The project "bigEE - Bridging the Information Gap on Energy Efficiency in Buildings" presents comprehensive information for energy efficiency in buildings and the related policy on the international internet-based knowledge platform bigee.net. To develop the evidence-based information required for bigee.net, we addressed in a different and more systematic way than usual the question of how policy can support improved building energy efficiency most effectively: We combined (1) a theoretical, actor-centred analysis of market-inherent barriers and incentives for all actors in the supply and use chain of (energy-efficient) buildings to derive a recommended package combining the types of policies and measures the actors need to overcome all these barriers, with (2) empirical evidence on model examples of good practice policy packages to check if advanced countries have indeed used the combination of policies we derived from the actor-centred analysis. In this way, we found that the recommendable policy package for new buildings is similar to the well-known one for appliances, but with the objective to mainstream nearly zero energy buildings. By contrast, the task for existing buildings is two-dimensional - increasing the depth of renovation first, to savings of 50 to 80%, and then the rate of energy-efficient renovation to 2% or more p.a. - and so the policy package needs more emphasis on individual advice, incentives, and financing. The paper presents the recommended packages as well as a comparison of existing national policy packages from California (USA), China, Denmark, Germany, and Tunisia and what we learned from it for effective packages and implementation.

Description: The role of cities in mitigating GHG emissions and thus tackling global warming has gained importance over the last years.Many cities have developed climate action plans, primarily to achieve long-term "low-carbon" mitigation goals set by national governments or (inter)national agreements. A mere adoption of high level targets, however, raises the question whether these targets are applicable for cities with very different framework conditions. We argue that it is crucial to understand the socio-economic, geophysical, spatial, infrastructural and political framework of a city - a broad approach, which is generally missing in climate action plans. Thus, determining drivers and barriers for future development paths is neglected by local policies, which leads to a gap between ambition (target) and reality (implementation). We exemplarily examine this hypothesis for the shrinking city of Oberhausen (Germany). Oberhausen, located in the Ruhr area,is a typical old industrial region, which has seen a decline of its industrial basis over the last decades. We analysed historical data and developed scenarios until 2030. Both show a significant decrease in CO2 emissions. A closer look, however, reveals that the reduction is primarily due to the economic transformation (less manufacturing, more service industry, accompanied by a decrease in population) and general energy efficiency developments following the implementation of national and EU policies. Although the city has implemented–and will further implement - many instruments and policies to reduce CO2 emissions, local barriers such as unemployment, low rents, low income, high per capita debts, etc. dramatically reduce the city's capacity for action. The results show that Oberhausen's emission reductions do not reflect active energy policies but are mainly driven by an economic decline. To reach ambitious reduction targets, however, the city needs to be enabled to take action in achieving appropriate and reasonable targets.

Description: Conventional new buildings in OECD countries with a history of building codes save about 50 % of energy compared to average buildings in the building stock. This improvement, however, is not enough to create a building standard with low lifetime costs nor to reach long-term climate protection targets. Much higher energy savings can already be achieved through proven high-efficiency building concepts bringing net economic benefits among other advantages. A strategic approach to integrated building design is the key to achieving these high-energy savings at low or no extra cost in residential buildings. In our paper we describe the "Easy Efficiency Approach", which can reduce primary energy consumption by 40 to 60 % compared to conventional new building standards, or by 70% to 80% when compared to the primary energy consumption of the existing building stock, and should be regarded as the minimum. This strategy focuses on low-cost options, mainly passive options. Although it can already significantly reduce energy consumption, this first step will not be sufficient to reach long-term climate protection goals. It is thus necessary to implement and support what we call an "Advanced Efficiency Approach", with savings up to 90% , as compared to new building standards, as soon as possible to avoid lock-in effects. Further improvements, especially through the active use of renewable energies, reduce the net primary energy demand to 0 % and beyond. According to the chosen strategy clearly defined energy performance ranges, with reference to possible savings, for different climate zones worldwide are given. In verifying this approach simulations with BAT (Best Available Technologies) buildings of different types (single family, multi family, high rise) were carried out in close cooperation with project partners. This data has also been verified through an empirical database of built examples both for energy consumption as well their economic soundness.

Description: Several low-carbon energy roadmaps and scenarios have recently been published by the European Commission and the International Energy Agency (IEA) as well as by various stakeholders such as Eurelectric, ECF and Greenpeace. Discussions of these studies mainly focus on technology options available on the electricity supply side and mostly omit the significant challenges that all of the scenarios impose on the energy demand side. A comparison of 5 decarbonisation scenarios from 4 of the most relevant recent scenario studies for the EU shows that all of them imply significant efficiency improvements in traditional appliances, usually well above levels historically observed over longer periods of time. At the same time they assume substantial electrification of transportation and heating. The scenarios suggest that both of these challenges need to be tackled successfully for decarbonising the energy system. With shares of renewable electricity reaching at least 60 % of supply in 2050 in almost all of the decarbonisation scenarios, the adaptation of demand to variable supply becomes increasingly important. This aspect of demand side management should therefore be part of any policy mix aiming for a low-carbon power system. Based on a quantitative analysis of 5 decarbonisation scenarios and a comparison with historical evidence we derive the (implicit) new challenges posed by the current low-carbon roadmaps and develop recommendations for energy policy on the electricity demand side.

Description: Which factors are crucial to successfully design and implement a "good practice" policy to increase the energy efficiency of buildings and appliances? This is one of the main challenges for the new web platform bigee.net that provides guidance on good practice policies. In this paper we examine the question what "good practice" is by presenting a multi-criteria assessment scheme to analyse different policies worldwide. The assessment scheme contains a set of criteria addressing key factors leading to the success of a policy as well as its outcomes: a good policy addresses all market players and barriers, avoids lost opportunities and lock-in effects, has ambitious and regularly updated energy efficiency levels, and spill-over effects. Other criteria are high energy savings and the calculated cost-effectiveness. The assessment scheme provides a standardised data collection approach, which paves the way for both qualitative and quantitative evaluation. Furthermore, it can help policy-makers to transfer a successful policy. The development of the scheme is based on a literature review of worldwide implemented policies and measures that promote energy-efficiency of buildings and appliances. Criteria were operationalized, including a ranking between 0 and 10. The ranking is a decisive factor whether the policy qualifies as good practice. To demonstrate the practicability of this scheme, the paper analyses a good practice example according to the assessment scheme: Energy-Efficient Refurbishment and Energy Efficient Construction programmes of the German public bank KfW.