ALBERT

Description: Mass mortality events (MMEs) are defined as the death of large numbers of fish over a short period of time. These events can result in catastrophic losses to the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry and the local economy. However, they are challenging to understand because of their relative infrequency and the high number of potential factors involved. As a result, the causes and consequences of MMEs in Atlantic salmon aquaculture are not well understood. In this study, we developed a structural network of causal risk factors for MMEs for aquaculture and the communities that depend on Atlantic salmon aquaculture. Using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) technique, we analysed the causes of Atlantic salmon mass mortalities due to environmental (abiotic), biological (biotic) and nutritional risk factors. The consequences of MMEs were also assessed for the occupational health and safety of aquaculture workers and their implications for the livelihoods of local communities. This structural network deepens our understanding of MMEs and points to management actions and interventions that can help mitigate mass mortalities. MMEs are typically not the result of a single risk factor but are caused by the systematic interaction of risk factors related to the environment, fish diseases, feeding/nutrition and cage-site management. Results also indicate that considerations of health and safety risk, through pre- and post-event risk assessments, may help to minimize workplace injuries and eliminate potential risks of human fatalities. Company and government assisted socio-economic measures could help mitigate post-mass mortality impacts. Appropriate and timely management actions may help reduce MMEs at Atlantic salmon cage sites and minimize the physical and social vulnerabilities of workers and local communities.

Description: Mantle-derived noble gases in volcanic gases are powerful tracers of terrestrial volatile evolution, as they contain mixtures of both primordial (from Earth's accretion) and secondary (e.g., radiogenic) isotope signals that characterize the composition of deep Earth. However, volcanic gases emitted through subaerial hydrothermal systems also contain contributions from shallow reservoirs (groundwater, crust, atmosphere). Deconvolving deep and shallow source signals is critical for robust interpretations of mantle-derived signals. Here, we use a novel dynamic mass spectrometry technique to measure argon, krypton, and xenon isotopes in volcanic gas with ultrahigh precision. Data from Iceland, Germany, United States (Yellowstone, Salton Sea), Costa Rica, and Chile show that subsurface isotope fractionation within hydrothermal systems is a globally pervasive and previously unrecognized process causing substantial nonradiogenic Ar-Kr-Xe isotope variations. Quantitatively accounting for this process is vital for accurately interpreting mantle-derived volatile (e.g., noble gas and nitrogen) signals, with profound implications for our understanding of terrestrial volatile evolution.

Description: Published

Description: eadg2566

Description: OSV2: Complessità dei processi vulcanici: approcci multidisciplinari e multiparametrici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Für die Landesregierung Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) ist die industriell genutzte Kohlenstoffabscheidung und -speicherung (engl. industrial carbon capture and storage, kurz iCCS) ein zentraler Baustein für den Übergang zu einer klimaneutralen Industrie bis 2045. Dafür braucht es aber eine breite gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz - zumal Pläne zur CO2-Abscheidung bei Kohlekraftwerken vor über zehn Jahren schon einmal an mangelnder gesellschaftlicher Akzeptanz gescheitert sind. In diesem In Brief haben die Autor*innen die Ergebnisse von zwei durchgeführten Akzeptanzstudien zu iCCS in NRW zusammengefasst und diskutieren, welche Handlungsempfehlungen sich daraus ergeben.

Description: Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) ist Heimat energieintensiver Industrien wie der Stahl- und Chemieindustrie. Künftig wird grüner Wasserstoff notwendig sein, damit die Industrie in NRW Klimaneutralität erreichen kann. Die Herausforderungen hierbei sind jedoch vielfältig - auch wenn die Akzeptanz für grünen Wasserstoff sowohl in der Gesellschaft als auch bei unmittelbar beteiligten Akteursgruppen hoch ist. Die Autor*innen fassen in diesem In Brief die Ergebnisse von zwei durchgeführten Akzeptanzstudien zu grünem Wasserstoff in NRW zusammen und diskutieren, welche Handlungsempfehlungen sich daraus ergeben.

Description: Für Deutschland und viele Industrieländer weltweit wird der Import von grünem Wasserstoff ein zentraler Baustein auf dem Weg zur Klimaneutralität sein. Dabei muss einerseits gewährleistet sein, dass grüner Wasserstoff auch wirklich "grün" im Sinne von klimaneutral ist. Zugleich gibt es immer mehr Forderungen, dass auch andere Nachhaltigkeitskriterien - soziale, ökonomische und ökologische - bei der Produktion und dem Transport von Wasserstoff eingehalten werden. Der politisch getriebene Aufbau einer globalen Wasserstoffwirtschaft bietet von Anfang an die Möglichkeit, diesen Sektor in Einklang mit den bestehenden politischen Zielen zu bringen. Dazu zählen beispielsweise die Pariser Klimaziele oder die Agenda 2030. Die Industrienation Deutschland, die auch in Zukunft auf Energieimporte angewiesen sein wird, kann hier als führende Industrienation als Vorreiter Einfluss nehmen. Damit kann nicht nur sichergestellt werden, dass der nach Deutschland importierte Wasserstoff "grün und nachhaltig" ist, sondern auch die Nachhaltigkeit des globalen Wasserstoffmarktes insgesamt beeinflusst werden. Diese Kurzstudie untersucht, welche bereits existierenden Politikinstrumente geeignet sind, Nachhaltigkeitskriterien für Wasserstoffimporte zu verankern und im Zusammenspiel den Weg zu einem nachhaltigen globalen Wasserstoffmarkt zu unterstützen. Dabei werden ausschließlich Nachhaltigkeitsziele und -kriterien jenseits der Klimawirkung von Wasserstoff analysiert. Es ist unbestritten, dass das zentrale Ziel der Wasserstoffwirtschaft die Reduktion von Treibhausgasen bis hin zur Klimaneutralität ist, was bereits in einer Vielzahl von Studien und Stellungnahmen diskutiert wurde. Daher wird in dieser Studie von der Klimaneutralität des grünen Wasserstoffs ausgegangen, um den Fokus auf die anderen wesentlichen Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte zu lenken, die für den Import von grünem und nachhaltigen Wasserstoff aus dem Globalen Süden von entscheidender Bedeutung sind.

Description: Rayleigh wave ellipticity measurements from seismic ambient noise recorded on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) show complex and anomalous behavior at wave periods sensitive to ice (T 〈 3–4 s). To understand these complex observations, we compare them with synthetic ellipticity measurements obtained from synthetic ambient noise computed for various seismic velocity and attenuation models, including surface wave overtone effects. We find that in dry snow conditions within the interior of the GrIS, to first order the anomalous ellipticity observations can be explained by ice models associated with the accumulation and densification of snow into firn. We also show that the distribution of ellipticity measurements is strongly sensitive to seismic attenuation and the thermal structure of the ice. Our results suggest that Rayleigh wave ellipticity is well suited for monitoring changes in firn properties and thermal composition of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in a changing climate.

Description: Published

Description: e2023GL103673

Description: OST1 Alla ricerca dei Motori Geodinamici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: In light of Egypt's transition to a green economy, this report focuses on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increasing resource efficiency along three different value chains in which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role. In order to support SMEs in Egypt to take advantage of implementing greening options along value chains, more detailed analyses are needed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse three selected supply chains to identify greening opportunities for SMEs. Against this background, the project report is structured as follows: Chapter 2 introduces the background with an overview over the concept of green economy followed by Egypt's economy and its green economy. This is followed by a presentation of the value chains and an overview of the respective sectors. Chapter 3 describes the research approach, methods and data collection. The following chapters examine the three selected value chains cotton, sugar beet and refrigerators, including environmental hot spots, greening options as well as the experts' evaluation of those greening options. The report concludes with key recommendations in Chapter 7.

Description: In order to limit global warming and fulfill their contributions to the Paris agreement, both Germany and Japan have set targets for climate neutrality towards the middle of the century. Reaching these goals will imply transformation of all sectors of society to avoid all fossil greenhouse gas emissions, heavy industry not the least. The focus of this study is the transformation of the petrochemical industry. This sector can become climate neutral but cannot be "decarbonized", as carbon is integral to the chemical structures of the products like polymers and solvents. Reaching climate neutrality thus means that the whole lifecycle of the petrochemical products has to be regarded. Another specific challenge is today's synergetic relation of this industry to fossil transport fuel production, which cannot be maintained in a climate neutral world. The two countries interestingly share a similar industrial structure overall, and the chemical and petrochemical industry is one of the major industries in both countries. The countries' respective chemical industries are the third and fourth largest in the world in terms of sales, but at the same time, these industries represent just over 5% of the respective countries' greenhouse gas emissions. However, these scope 1 emissions of the chemical industry itself are far less relevant than the end-of-life emissions of their products, which belong to scope 3 and are thus not counted under the chemical industry in the country greenhouse gas balances. To mediate these emissions, there is a need to set the direction, draw out paths and investigate possible alternatives for how the petrochemical industry can be become climate neutral. In this report, the existing scenario analyses, energy strategies and roadmaps dealing with this issue in the two countries are compared, as well as the current state of their petrochemical industries. We highlight similarities, differences and identify possible areas of cooperation and exchange in order to find robust paths forward for the transformation of the petrochemical industries.

Description: Arctic warming increases the degradation of permafrost soils but little is known about floodplain soils in the permafrost region. This study quantifies soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil nitrogen stocks, and the potential CH4 and CO2 production from seven cores in the active floodplains in the Lena River Delta, Russia. The soils were sandy but highly heterogeneous, containing deep, organic rich deposits with 〉60% SOC stored below 30 cm. The mean SOC stocks in the top 1 m were 12.9 ± 6.0 kg C m−2. Grain size analysis and radiocarbon ages indicated highly dynamic environments with sediment re-working. Potential CH4 and CO2 production from active floodplains was assessed using a 1-year incubation at 20°C under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Cumulative aerobic CO2 production mineralized a mean 4.6 ± 2.8% of initial SOC. The mean cumulative aerobic:anaerobic C production ratio was 2.3 ± 0.9. Anaerobic CH4 production comprised 50 ± 9% of anaerobic C mineralization; rates were comparable or exceeded those for permafrost region organic soils. Potential C production from the incubations was correlated with total organic carbon and varied strongly over space (among cores) and depth (active layer vs. permafrost). This study provides valuable information on the carbon cycle dynamics from active floodplains in the Lena River Delta and highlights the key spatial variability, both among sites and with depth, and the need to include these dynamic permafrost environments in future estimates of the permafrost carbon-climate feedback.

Description: Die Kurzstudie ist eine Entscheidungshilfe, um die potenzielle Einführung eines Reparierbarkeits-Index (R-Score) für Klima- und Einzelraumheizgeräte im Rahmen der Ökodesign-Richtlinie besser bewerten zu können. Das Ziel der Studie ist es, die Relevanz der Reparierbarkeit von diesen Gerätegruppen einschätzen zu können. Für die Ermittlung der Problemrelevanz wurde eine Befragung durchgeführt, sodass Stimmen von herstellenden Firmen und Verbänden, Großhandel, Installateur*innen, Handwerksbetrieben und Reparatureinrichtungen aufgenommen werden konnten. Die Autor*innen sprechen sich grundsätzlich bei beiden Produktgruppen für die Einführung eines Reparierbarkeits-Index aus und weisen darauf hin, dass für diese Produktgruppen die unabhängige Bewertung der Produktlebensdauer ein wichtiger Hebel ist, um die produktbezogenen Umweltauswirkungen zu reduzieren.

Description: PI3K biology; lymphoma; cancer

Description: oncogenic drivers; signaling; pathways; hematologic malignancies; cancer

Description: As the climate crisis is accelerating and the pressure to act is steadily increasing, many companies are claiming themselves or their products carbon neutral. This is usually achieved by offsetting residual emissions with carbon certificates (carbon offsetting). However, recent revelations about the inadequate quality of carbon credits and legal uncertainties surrounding the use of such offset claims are increasingly raising doubts about this approach. This Wuppertal Report examines how the EU can promote integrity in corporate climate action. Taking into account the new framework of the Paris Agreement, the paper outlines various options for how the EU could push for more integrity and effectively combat greenwashing through the targeted use of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. In their recommendations, the authors advocate addressing the most serious consequences of ongoing offset practices through increased regulation of offset claims. If a ban on offset claims cannot be implemented, claims requirements and carbon offset regulations should be further specified, for example, by prohibiting any type of double counting of emissions reductions. In addition to tightening the rules for corporate offset claims within Europe, the EU could help partner countries make informed decisions when approving climate change mitigation measures and respective carbon credits. The report also emphasizes the EU's special role in international climate negotiations, where it should advocate for a strong legal framework for climate action under Article 6.

Description: Die verheerenden Mengen an Abfall am Ende des Lebenszyklus von Produkten zu bewältigen, gilt als eine der größten Herausforderungen auf dem Weg zu einer Circular Economy. Die negativen Folgen, die sich aus dem Missmanagement von Kunststoffabfällen aufgrund fehlender oder nicht funktionierender Abfallwirtschaftsstrukturen in weiten Teilen der Erde ergeben, werden zunehmend deutlich. Bei der Circular Economy als elementarer Lösungsansatz sollen Stoffströme geschlossen und Produktlebenszyklen verlängert werden. Ein Instrument zur Annäherung an dieses Modell ist der Handel mit sogenannten Plastic Credits - ein Mittel, um den Ausbau regionaler Infrastrukturen für die Sammlung und das Recycling von Kunststoffabfällen zu finanzieren. Die Abnehmer von Plastic Credits sind die treibende Kraft hinter dem Mechanismus. Es ist weiterführende Forschung notwendig, insbesondere in Bezug auf die Frage, wie Unternehmen das Instrument der Plastic Credits nutzen und in ihre Gesamtstrategie integrieren. Diese Masterarbeit widmet sich der dabei vorgelagerten Frage: Existieren bestimmte Profile bei Unternehmen, die in Plastic Credits investieren, und lassen sich hierbei spezifische Cluster bilden? Im Rahmen der Beantwortung dieser Frage wurden Expert*innen-Interviews mit Hilfe der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring ausgewertet. Dabei haben sich drei konkrete Unterfragen ergeben, die sich auf die Motivation, Branchenzugehörigkeit und räumliche Verortung der Abnehmer beziehen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich die Abnehmer von Plastic Credits bereits umfangreich mit der Kunststoffabfallproblematik und der damit verbundenen Auswirkung auf die Umwelt beschäftigen. Offen bleibt, inwiefern Maßnahmen zur Vermeidung von neuartigem Kunststoff, der Verbesserung der Recyclingfähigkeit der Produkte oder der Einsatz von Rezyklaten in der Herstellung dem Weg der Kompensation vorangestellt werden. In Bezug auf die Branchenzugehörigkeit legen die Ergebnisse nahe, dass vorrangig Unternehmen, die mit einem erschwerten Rezyklate-Einsatz konfrontiert sind, in Plastic Credits investieren. Welche Auswirkungen Maßnahmen wie die Entbürokratisierung der Zulassungsverfahren für neue Recyclingprozesse oder verpflichtende Anteile an recycelten Materialien in bestimmten Produkten auf die Investition in Plastic Credits haben, wird sich in Zukunft zeigen. Die Analyse der räumlichen Verortung gab Aufschluss darüber, dass zurzeit im Wesentlichen Unternehmen aus dem globalen Norden in Plastic Credits investieren - jedoch verbunden mit dem Ziel, eine Finanzierung aus den Projektländern heraus zu intensivieren.

Description: Förderbanken vergeben in Deutschland jährlich mindestens 200 Milliarden Euro an Mitteln für Investitionen, die sonst nicht oder sehr viel später umgesetzt werden könnten. Sie arbeiten im öffentlichen Auftrag und richten ihre Tätigkeit an gesellschaftlichen Zielen aus. Diese Ziele haben sich weiterentwickelt. Angesichts von Klimawandel, Energiekrise und den Herausforderungen einer Kreislaufwirtschaft wollen sowohl die Länder als auch die Bundesregierung ihre Förderbanken umbauen. Gerade die Förderbanken der Länder müssen sich darum jetzt bereit machen für die "Weiterentwicklung von Förderbanken zu Transformationsbanken". Für die erfolgreiche Gestaltung dieses gesellschaftlichen Umbruchs brauchen sie Unterstützung. Wie dies gelingt, zeigt dieser Zukunftsimpuls.

Description: Junge Menschen sehen sich durch die Klimakrise einer Einschränkung ihrer Entfaltungs- und Lebensmöglichkeiten gegenübergestellt. Diese explorative Studie verdeutlicht, wie sowohl die Wahrnehmung der Klimakrise, die Verantwortungsattribution, die wahrgenommene Handlungswirksamkeit und die einschlägigen Sozialisationserfahrungen milieuspezifisch strukturiert sind. Informiert durch das Projekt Schools4Future wurden vier Leitfadeninterviews mit Schüler*innen zur Wahrnehmung und Deutung der Klimakrise geführt. Im dreischrittigen Kodierprozess der Grounded Theory konnten Muster der Betroffenheit, der Verantwortungsattribution und der Handlungsstrategien von vier jugendlichen Klimaaktivist*innen aus akademischen und prekären Herkunftsmilieus rekonstruiert werden. Während die sozial bevorteilten Jugendlichen sich als Betroffene und unter dem Fehlverhalten vorangehender Generationen leidende Gruppe wahrnehmen, sehen die sozial benachteiligten Jugendlichen die Klimakrise als ein systemisches Versagen neben anderen. Der medial so vertraute Aktivismus geht von dem gehobenen Milieu aus und verbindet sich mit Konsum als distinktive Praxis des klimafreundlichen Handelns. Im prekären Milieu zeigen sich andere Formen des stillen, konkreten und intrinsisch motivierten Engagements sowie das (schulische) Engagement als Investition in den individuellen, sozialen Aufstieg. Konsistenter Weise sehen sich die akademischen Jugendlichen als bevorteilt in der Bearbeitung der Klimakrise, dethematisieren aber, was die jungen Menschen aus dem sozial schwachen Milieu deutlich diagnostizieren: Der ökologische Fußabdruck ihres Konsums ist ungleich höher als der der benachteiligten Jugendlichen.

Description: Seit Veröffentlichung der vom Landesverband Erneuerbare Energien NRW beauftragten und durch das Wuppertal Institut durchgeführten Studie "Bewertung der Vor- und Nachteile von Wasserstoffimporten im Vergleich zur heimischen Erzeugung" Ende 2020 haben sich die Rahmenbedingungen für den Wasserstoffhochlauf in Deutschland zum Teil deutlich geändert. Darüber hinaus ist zwischenzeitlich eine Reihe von Klimaschutz- und Transformationsstudien erschienen, mit teilweise neuen und differenzierten Einschätzungen zu Wasserstoff-Kosten und -Entwicklungspfaden. Dazu gehören insbesondere die als "Big Five" der Klimaneutralitätsszenarien bezeichneten Publikationen sowie weitere, spezifische H2-Analysen. Vor diesem Hintergrund sind die Ziele der vorliegenden Studie: 1. Eine Aktualisierung der Metaanalyse der oben genannten Wasserstoff-Studie aus dem Jahr 2020 - bezogen auf Kosten- und Mengen-Bandbreiten für die zukünftige Produktion und Bereitstellung von grünem und, soweit möglich, blauem Wasserstoff für Deutschland. 2. Eine kritische Einordnung der absehbaren Wasserstoff-Nachfrage in Deutschland, welche von der Wahl der Nutzungssektoren abhängt. 3. Eine kritische Diskussion und Einordnung der künftigen Rolle von blauem Wasserstoff, also der Frage, ob und inwiefern er eine sinnvolle Übergangslösung zu grünem Wasserstoff darstellen könnte.

Description: The production of green hydrogen in Germany is more competitive than expected compared to imports. This is the key finding of a meta-analysis conducted by the Wuppertal Institute on behalf of the North Rhine-Westphalia Association for Renewable Energies (Landesverband Erneuerbare Energien NRW). The hydrogen study focuses primarily on the year 2030 and beyond - and confirms the advantages of green hydrogen produced in Germany from domestic renewable energies, especially when the evaluation is viewed from a holistic system perspective.

Description: Das Ziel einer urbanen Verkehrswende ist klar definiert: mehr Fläche für städtisches Leben, weniger Lärm und klimaschädliche Emissionen und eine saubere Luft. Das bedeutet weniger Autoverkehr in den Städten und mehr Wege zu Fuß, mit dem Fahrrad, dem Tretroller oder mit dem öffentlichen Verkehr. Dabei reicht es nicht aus nur auf Innovationen und attraktive Alternativen zu setzen - es braucht auch Exnovation, also restriktive und reduzierende Ansätze für den Autoverkehr. Dieser Zukunftsimpuls zeigt, wie die urbane Verkehrswende durch Exnovation beschleunigt und richtungssicher umgesetzt werden kann, welche Hemmnisse es bei bisher umgesetzten deutschen und europäischen Projekten gibt und welche Strategie- und Handlungsempfehlungen sich daraus ableiten lassen.

Description: The objectives of the urban mobility transition have been clearly set out: gaining more space for urban living, reducing noise and emissions that have a negative impact on the climate and improving air quality. That means less traffic in cities and more trips made using environmentally-friendly modes of transport - i.e., walking, cycling or foot scooters or public transport. In transport policy, the focus is generally on innovative approaches to shaping the mobility transition. This paper aims to explain the concept of exnovation in the context of the urban mobility transition and to underpin it using specific practical examples. In the course of this process, it is intended to identify the obstacles that stand in the way of rolling out the concept on an area-wide basis in order to deduce strategies and courses of action for expanding the concept in the future.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 127(8), (2022): e2021JB023814, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jb023814.

Description: Early arrival traveltime tomography and full waveform inversion were conducted on downward continued streamer seismic data at Dante's Domes oceanic core complex (OCC), providing unprecedented details of shallow P wave velocity structure. Together with reverse time migration images, seafloor morphology, in situ geological samples, magnetic and gravity data, the seismic constraints are used to infer the lithological distribution along the seismic profiles. Based on the striking similarity in velocity structure beneath the corrugated domes with other OCCs and drilling results from Atlantis Massif, we confidently reconfirmed the Southern Dome as dominantly gabbroic rocks, and the Northern Dome as serpentinized peridotites. A series of isolated gabbroic bodies embedded in the diabase and basaltic layers is observed in the breakaway zone, suggesting that the initiation of Dante's Domes OCC occurred over a long period during which there were several failed attempts to form a long-lived detachment fault. This early development of the OCC probably occurred under a regime of alternating magma starvation and magma replenishment. The predominantly gabbroic section, beneath the Southern Dome and extending to termination, indicates the OCC has been created with relatively high magma flux. We also imaged distinct shallow subseafloor reflections which are also termed as D reflectors underneath the corrugated domes. The location of the D reflectors is similar to those in the Atlantis Massif, with depths well correlated with the top of exhumed gabbroic bodies and the discontinuities in the D reflectors between gabbroic bodies. Our findings contribute to the understanding of processes controlling the OCCs initiation and evolution at slow spreading ridges.

Description: This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91858207), Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (GML2019ZD0205), and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021B1515020023). M. X. acknowledges support from Special Foundation for National Science and Technology Basic Research Program of China (2018FY100505), Guangdong NSF research team project (2017A030312002), K. C. Wong Education Foundation (GJTD-2018-13), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y4SL021001, QYZDY-SSWDQC005, 133244KYSB20180029, 131551KYSB20200021, and ISEE2021PY03). J. P. C. acknowledges support from the Independent Research and Development Program at WHOI.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 127(8),(2022): e2022JC018737, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc018737.

Description: Gulf Stream Warm Core Rings (WCRs) have important influences on the New England Shelf and marine ecosystems. A 10-year (2011–2020) WCR dataset that tracks weekly WCR locations and surface areas is used here to identify the rings' path and characterize their movement between 55 and 75°W. The WCR dataset reveals a very narrow band between 66 and 71°W along which rings travel almost due west along ∼39°N across isobaths – the “Ring Corridor.” Then, west of the corridor, the mean path turns southwestward, paralleling the shelfbreak. The average ring translation speed along the mean path is 5.9 cm s−1. Long-lived rings (lifespan 〉150 days) tend to occupy the region west of the New England Seamount Chain (NESC) whereas short-lived rings (lifespan 〈150 days) tend to be more broadly distributed. WCR vertical structures, analyzed using available Argo float profiles indicate that rings that are formed to the west of the NESC have shallower thermoclines than those formed to the east. This tendency may be due to different WCR formation processes that are observed to occur along different sections of the Gulf Stream. WCRs formed to the east of the NESC tend to form from a pinch-off mechanism incorporating cores of Sargasso Sea water and a perimeter of Gulf Stream water. WCRs that form to the west of the NESC, form from a process called an aneurysm. WCRs formed through aneurysms comprise water mostly from the northern half of the Gulf Stream and are smaller than the classic pinch-off rings.

Description: AS and AG are grateful for financial support from NOAA (NA11NOS0120038), NSF (OCE-1851242 and OCE-2123283), SMAST, and UMass Dartmouth. GG was supported by NSF under grant OCE-1657853. MA was supported by NSF under grant OCE-2122726 and by ONR under grant N00014-22-1-2112.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biasi, J., Asimow, P., Horton, F., & Boyes, X. Eruption rates, tempo, and stratigraphy of Paleocene flood basalts on Baffin Island, Canada. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23(9), (2022): e2021GC010172, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gc010172.

Description: High-temperature melting in mantle plumes produces voluminous eruptions that are often temporally coincident with mass extinctions. Paleocene Baffin Island lavas—products of early Iceland mantle plume activity—are exceptionally well characterized geochemically but have poorly constrained stratigraphy, geochronology, and eruptive tempos. To provide better geologic context, we measured seven stratigraphic sections of the volcanic deposits and collected paleomagnetic data from 38 sites in the lavas and underlying Cretaceous sediments (Quqaluit Fm.). The average paleomagnetic pole from this study does not overlap with the expected pole for a stable North American locality at 60 Ma, yet the data have sufficient dispersion to average out secular variation. After ruling out other possibilities, we find that the picrites were probably erupted during a polarity transition, over less than 5 kyr. If so, the average eruption interval was ∼67 years per flow for the thickest sequence of exposed lavas. We also calculate that the flood basalts had a minimum total volume of ∼176 km3 (excluding submerged lavas in Baffin Bay). This implies a minimum eruption rate of ∼0.035 km3 yr−1, which is similar to rates found in West Greenland lavas but less than rates found in larger flood basalts. Despite this, the Baffin and West Greenland lavas temporally correlate with the “End C27n event” (a period of ∼2°C global warming) and may be its underlying cause.

Description: his work was supported by the National Science Foundation (award #1911699 to F. Horton and award #2052963 to J. Biasi), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Endowed Fund for Innovative Research, a National Geographic Society grant (#CP4-144R-18), and internal funding from the Caltech Geological and Planetary Sciences Division.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 49(15), (2022): e2022GL099185, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl099185.

Description: Several large strike slip faults in central and northern California accommodate plate motions through aseismic creep. Although there is no consensus regarding the underlying cause of aseismic creep, aqueous fluids and mechanically weak, velocity-strengthening minerals appear to play a central role. This study integrates field observations and thermodynamic modeling to examine possible relationships between the occurrence of serpentinite, silica-carbonate rock, and CO2-rich aqueous fluids in creeping faults of California. Our models predict that carbonation of serpentinite leads to the formation of talc and magnesite, followed by silica-carbonate rock. While abundant exposures of silica-carbonate rock indicate complete carbonation, serpentinite-hosted CO2-rich spring fluids are strongly supersaturated with talc at elevated temperatures. Hence, carbonation of serpentinite is likely ongoing in parts of the San Andres Fault system and operates in conjunction with other modes of talc formation that may further enhance the potential for aseismic creep, thereby limiting the potential for large earthquakes.

Description: This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants NSF-EAR-1220280 to F. K. and J. L., NSF-EAR-1219908 to D. G., and NSF-OCE-2001728 to J. L.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marsay, C. M., Landing, W. M., Umstead, D., Till, C. P., Freiberger, R., Fitzsimmons, J. N., Lanning, N. T., Shiller, A. M., Hatta, M., Chmiel, R., Saito, M., & Buck, C. S. Does sea spray aerosol contribute significantly to aerosol trace element loading? a case study from the US GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15). Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 36(8), (2022): e2022GB007416. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GB007416.

Description: Atmospheric deposition represents a major input for micronutrient trace elements (TEs) to the surface ocean and is often quantified indirectly through measurements of aerosol TE concentrations. Sea spray aerosol (SSA) dominates aerosol mass concentration over much of the global ocean, but few studies have assessed its contribution to aerosol TE loading, which could result in overestimates of “new” TE inputs. Low-mineral aerosol concentrations measured during the U.S. GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15; 152°W, 56°N to 20°S), along with concurrent towfish sampling of surface seawater, provided an opportunity to investigate this aspect of TE biogeochemical cycling. Central Pacific Ocean surface seawater Al, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb concentrations were combined with aerosol Na data to calculate a “recycled” SSA contribution to aerosol TE loading. Only vanadium was calculated to have a SSA contribution averaging 〉1% along the transect (mean of 1.5%). We derive scaling factors from previous studies on TE enrichments in the sea surface microlayer and in freshly produced SSA to assess the broader potential for SSA contributions to aerosol TE loading. Maximum applied scaling factors suggest that SSA could contribute significantly to the aerosol loading of some elements (notably V, Cu, and Pb), while for others (e.g., Fe and Al), SSA contributions largely remained 〈1%. Our study highlights that a lack of focused measurements of TEs in SSA limits our ability to quantify this component of marine aerosol loading and the associated potential for overestimating new TE inputs from atmospheric deposition.

Description: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) grants OCE-1756103 to C. S. Buck, OCE-1756104 to W. M. Landing, OCE-1737024 to A.M. Shiller, OCE-1736906 to M. Hatta, OCE-1736875 to C. P. Till, OCE-1737167 to J. N. Fitzsimmons, and OCE-1736599 to M. Saito. In addition, N. T. Lanning was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program award 1746932.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 127(8), (2022): e2022JB024497, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JB024497.

Description: During plastic deformation, strain weakening can be achieved, in part, via strain energy reduction associated with intragranular boundary development and grain boundary formation. Grain boundaries (in 2D) are segments between triple junctions, that connect to encircle grains; every boundary segment in the encircling loop has a high (〉10°) misorientation angle. Intragranular boundaries terminate within grains or dissect grains, usually containing boundary segments with a low (〈10°) misorientation angle. We analyze electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data from ice deformed at −30°C (Th≈ 0.9). Misorientation and weighted Burgers vector (WBV) statistics are calculated along planar intragranular boundaries. Misorientation angles change markedly along each intragranular boundary, linking low- (〈10°) and high-angle (10–38°) segments that exhibit distinct misorientation axes and WBV directions. We suggest that these boundaries might be produced by the growth and intersection of individual intragranular boundary segments comprising dislocations with distinct slip systems. There is a fundamental difference between misorientation axis distributions of intragranular boundaries (misorientation axes mostly confined to ice basal plane) and grain boundaries (no preferred misorientation axis). These observations suggest during progressive subgrain rotation, intragranular boundaries remain crystallographically controlled up to large misorientation angles (〉〉10°). In contrast, the apparent lack of crystallographic control for grain boundaries suggests misorientation axes become randomized, likely due to the activation of additional mechanisms (such as grain boundary sliding) after grain boundary formation, linking boundary segments to encircle a grain. Our findings on ice intragranular boundary development and grain boundary formation may apply more broadly to other rock-forming minerals (e.g., olivine, quartz).

Description: This work was supported by a NASA fund (Grant No. NNX15AM69G) to David L. Goldsby and two Marsden Funds of the Royal Society of New Zealand (Grant Nos. UOO1116, UOO052) to David J. Prior. Sheng Fan was supported by the University of Otago doctoral scholarship, the Antarctica New Zealand doctoral scholarship, a research grant from New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment through the Antarctic Science Platform (ANTA1801) (Grant No. ASP-023-03), and a New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute (NZARI) Early Career Researcher Seed Grant (Grant No. NZARI 2020-1-5). Open access publishing facilitated by University of Otago, as part of the Wiley – University of Otago agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

Description: The food system faces a multitude of challenges, including high greenhouse gas emissions, threats to biodiversity, increased diet-related diseases due to unbalanced diets, and socially problematic complex supply chains. This requires not only a transformation of the agricultural economy but also a change in the diet and lifestyles of all consumers. Developing and using digital and technological innovations can help to solve these challenges. In this context, the study provides impulses on how digitalisation can contribute to transforming production and consumption and which prerequisites have to be given to achieve this. The study describes the approaches for digitalisation along the value chain. These include optimising the use of resources in agriculture - for example with the help of smart farming - and supporting consumers with digital tools and assistance systems - such as apps designed to support grocery shopping. In addition, new business models and a better connection between production and consumption processes are also possible. This includes, for example, new digital sales channels or tracking and communicating sustainability indicators such as CO2 emissions across all steps of the value chain in order to enable all stakeholders to take reliable action.

Description: Das Ernährungssystem steht vor einer Vielzahl von Herausforderungen, wie unter anderem: hoher Treibhausgas-Emissionen, der Gefährdung der Biodiversität, der vermehrten ernährungsbedingten Krankheiten durch unausgewogener Ernährung sowie sozial-problematischen komplexen Lieferketten. Das erfordert nicht nur eine Transformation der Agrarwirtschaft sondern auch einen Wandel in den Ernährungs- und Lebensstilen aller Konsumierenden. Digitale und technologische Innovationen zu nutzen und weiterzuentwickeln kann helfen, diese Herausforderungen zu lösen. Vor diesem Hintergrund liefert die vorliegende Studie des Wuppertal Instituts Impulse, wie die Digitalisierung dazu beitragen kann Produktion und Konsum umzugestalten und welche Voraussetzungen dafür gegeben sein müssen. Die Studie beschreibt die Ansatzpunkte für die Digitalisierung entlang der Wertschöpfungskette. Dazu zählen die Optimierung des Ressourceneinsatzes in der Landwirtschaft, etwa mithilfe von Smart Farming, die Unterstützung von Verbraucher*innen durch digitale Tools und Assistenzsysteme - beispielsweise mit Apps als Einkaufshilfe. Daneben erlauben auch neue Geschäftsmodelle und Rahmenbedingungen eine bessere Vernetzung von Produktions- und Konsumprozessen. Dazu gehören zum Beispiel neue digitale Absatzkanäle oder Prozessstufen-übergreifend Nachhaltigkeitskennzahlen wie beispielsweise CO2-Emissionen mitzuführen und zu kommunizieren, um allen Akteur*innen richtungssicheres Handeln zu ermöglichen.

Description: Die Herstellung petrochemischer Grundstoffe ist sowohl energetisch als auch stofflich in Deutschland für rund 20 % der Nachfrage nach Mineralölprodukten verantwortlich. Das Gros fließt in die Produktion von Olefinen und Aromaten, welche als sogenannte Plattformchemikalien wiederum die Ausgangsbasis für die Herstellung von Polymeren und Kunststoffen darstellen. Letztgenannte sind von größter Relevanz für die Branche: Von den knapp 60 Milliarden Euro Umsatz, welche die deutsche petrochemische Industrie im Jahr 2021 generierte, entfiel gut die Hälfte auf das Marktsegment der Polymere. Daraus resultieren jedoch über die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette CO2-Emissionen von rund 50 Millionen Tonnen jährlich. Eine Transformation der heutigen auf fossilen Rohstoffen basierenden petrochemischen Industrie hin zu einem auf erneuerbaren Rohstoffen basierenden zirkulären System kann somit einen bedeutenden Beitrag zu einer primärenergetisch effizienten und klimaneutralen Wirtschaftsweise leisten. Das vom Wuppertal Institut geleitete Forschungsprojekt GreenFeed exploriert gemeinsam mit den Verbundpartnern Karlsruher Institut für Technologie und Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum mögliche Pfade hin zu einem solchen System. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird im vorliegenden Papier zunächst das heutige System der ökonomischen und stofflichen Synergiebeziehungen zwischen den Raffinerien und der chemischen Industrie analysiert. Im geografischen Fokus stehen dabei Deutschland und der ARRRA-Raum als bedeutendste Chemie-Region innerhalb Europas sowie inhaltlich der sehr relevante Teilbereich der Polymer-Produktion. Die Kerninhalte des Papiers sind: 1) Charakterisierung des petrochemischen Metabolismus in Deutschland, einschließlich Produktions-, Energie-, Feedstock- und Kohlenstoffbilanz sowie Infrastruktur- und Transport-Verflechtungen innerhalb dieses Systems und 2) regionale Vertiefungen in Form von insgesamt acht Steckbriefen über alle petrochemischen Kunststoff-Regionen in Deutschland sowie des Antwerpener und Rotterdamer Clusters.

Description: Do ngân sách các-bon còn lại trên toàn thế giới đang giảm nhanh chóng, các quốc gia trên toàn cầu đang tìm kiếm các giải pháp để hạn chế phát thải khí nhà kính. Ngành công nghiệp sản xuất và sử dụng than là một trong những ngành phát thải nhiều các-bon nhất, do vậy, các khu vực khai thác than sẽ bị ảnh hưởng đặc biệt bởi quá trình chuyển đổi sang hệ thống năng lượng và kinh tế trung hòa với khí hậu. Tại các khu vực thực hiện chuyển đổi, những thách thức không chỉ tồn tại trong lĩnh vực sản xuất năng lượng, bảo vệ môi trường, mà còn ở các lĩnh vực kinh tế và xã hội - thường được biết đến với khái niệm "Chuyển đổi Công bằng". Các cấp ra quyết định ở các khu vực khai thác than rất cần có các công cụ hỗ trợ giúp họ xác định các giải pháp chuyển đổi, vừa giúp đa dạng hóa nền kinh tế, vừa hỗ trợ người lao động và cộng đồng địa phương. Viện Wuppertal mong muốn hỗ trợ nâng cao năng lực cho các khu vực khai thác than trên toàn thế giới thông qua Bộ công cụ Chuyển dịch Công bằng – một tài liệu tổng quát, minh họa những thách thức và cơ hội của quá trình chuyển đổi bền vững. Bộ Công cụ này bao gồm kiến thức về xây dựng chiến lược, đưa ra các khuyến nghị về quản trị quá trình chuyển đổi, thúc đẩy việc làm bền vững, nêu bật các lựa chọn công nghệ và đề cập tới vấn đề phục hồi môi trường, tái sử dụng các cơ sở hạ tầng sản xuất than. Bộ Công cụ này được xây dựng dựa trên các nghiên cứu của Viện Wuppertal trong khuôn khổ “Sáng kiến của Liên Minh Châu Âu về chuyển dịch tại các khu vực khai thác than” và các kinh nghiệm thực tế của một số khu vực khai thác than trên toàn thế giới.

Description: 22 years are left until the German target for climate neutrality should be reached. For the industrial sector, this implies a fundamental change and an acceleration of emission reduction, as from 2000 to 2021 the sector has reduced its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by only 13% (ERK, 2022). For the large structures, plants and assets that are characteristic for the energy intensive industrial sectors, the timespan implies no room for delay. One sector facing particular challenges is the chemical industry. Here, fossil resources are used not only for energetic purposes but for feedstock as well, in the petrochemical industry in particular. The efforts made in the petrochemical sector thereby not only affects the sectors own emissions, but the chemicals value chain at large, including the management of end-of-life products. The dependency on energetic resources for material use also means that there is a particular connection from the chemical industry to the energy system at large, which also entails special consideration. The chemical industry also has a particular relevance to the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Rhine-Ruhr-Area (ARRRA) which hosts several large petrochemical clusters in Germany as well as the Netherlands and Belgium, with complexly interlinked production chains. In reaching the climate targets, these regions especially face significant changes and may have the opportunity to position themselves as frontrunners for industrial transformation. That is, if a successful strategy can be found. In the recent years, numerous scenario analyses and roadmaps have been released drawing out pathways for chemical industries to develop in line with national and international climate targets. This can entail mapping of technological options, important prerequisites, particular challenges as well as important opportunities and timeframes. This meta-analysis summarizes and compares the findings of some of the most recent previous works at the national, European and global level. As the goal is to investigate the various strategic options and development paths for Germany and the ARRRA, it has a particular focus on roadmaps for Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. It takes a quantitative as well as qualitative approach, looking both at resource and production volumes, different emission reduction strategies relative importance, as well as policy recommendations and other important framework conditions. A particular focus is put on the use of non-fossil feedstocks to reduce emissions.

Description: Die chemische Industrie ist auch für die Antwerpen-Rotterdam-Rhein-Ruhr-Region (engl. Antwerp-Rotterdam-Rhine-Ruhr-Area, kurz ARRRA) von besonderer Bedeutung, die mehrere große petrochemische Cluster in Deutschland, den Niederlanden und Belgien mit komplex vernetzten Produktionsketten beherbergt. Bei der Umsetzung der Klimaziele stehen diese Regionen vor bedeutenden Veränderungen und haben zugleich die Chance, sich als Vorreiter der Industrietransformation zu positionieren. Dafür müssen erfolgreiche Strategien für den Wandel identifiziert und angewendet werden. In den letzten Jahren wurden zahlreiche Szenarioanalysen und Roadmaps veröffentlicht, in denen Entwicklungspfade für die chemische Industrie im Einklang mit nationalen und internationalen Klimazielen aufgezeigt werden. Diese können eine Darstellung von technologischen Optionen, wichtigen Voraussetzungen, besonderen Herausforderungen sowie bedeutsamen Chancen und zeitlichen Entwicklungen beinhalten. Die vorliegende Metaanalyse fasst die Ergebnisse einige der aktuellsten Arbeiten auf nationaler, europäischer und globaler Ebene zusammen und vergleicht diese kritisch miteinander. Da das Kernziel der vorliegenden Analyse darin besteht, die verschiedenen strategischen Optionen und Entwicklungspfade für Deutschland und die ARRRA zu untersuchen, liegt der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit auf Publikationen mit Fokus Deutschland, den Niederlanden und Belgien. Dabei wird sowohl ein quantitativer als auch ein qualitativer Ansatz verfolgt, der die Ressourcen- und Produktionsmengen, die relative Bedeutung verschiedener Emissionsminderungsstrategien sowie auch politische Empfehlungen und andere wichtige Rahmenbedingungen berücksichtigt. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf Strategien für den Einsatz alternativer nicht-fossiler Feedstocks und die Minderung damit verbundener Emissionen.

Description: We present measurements of soil CO2 effluxes combined with soil (222Rn) and (220Rn) from two high-degassing areas on the lower flanks of Mt. Etna volcano (ZE-SV on the E flank and PAT on the SW flank). Measurements were conducted periodically from June 2006 to January 2009 in the ZE-SV area and January 2007 to January 2009 in the PAT area. The results showed significant variations in discharge activity and style. Log values of (220Rn)/(222Rn) and CO2 efflux generally follow a negative correlation, herein parameterized as the Soil Gas Disequilibrium Index (SGDI). Deviations of the SGDI from this negative correlation provide insight into variance of localized and shallow system conditions, namely rock fracturing, residual magma degassing, and near surface interactions between magmatic gases and groundwater. Statistical analysis highlighted signal anomalies, both negative and positive, that were modeled according to the physical properties and the modes of transport for each of the SGDI gas components. The revealed anomalies show correspondence with episodes of magma ascent and eruption, thereby demonstrating the potential of using the SGDI as another instrument for forecasting volcanic activity. An important strength of the SGDI, compared to other magma gas proxies like CO2 or SO2, is that the very short and very different half-lives of 222Rn (t1/2 = 3.85 days) and 220Rn (t1/2 = 55 seconds) provide unique information on the timescales of soil gas transport. Coupling the SGDI with other pre-eruptive proxies enhances the volcanological community’s response capabilities, which is critical for effective hazard mitigation.

Description: Published

Description: 167-202

Description: 4V. Processi pre-eruttivi

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Fabbrizzi, A., Parnell‐Turner, R., Gregg, P., Fornari, D., Perfit, M., Wanless, V., & Anderson, M. Relative timing of off‐axis volcanism from sediment thickness estimates on the 8°20’N seamount chain, East Pacific Rise. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23(9), (2022): e2022GC010335, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gc010335.

Description: Volcanic seamount chains on the flanks of mid-ocean ridges record variability in magmatic processes associated with mantle melting over several millions of years. However, the relative timing of magmatism on individual seamounts along a chain can be difficult to estimate without in situ sampling and is further hampered by Ar40/Ar39 dating limitations. The 8°20’N seamount chain extends ∼170 km west from the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR), north of and parallel to the western Siqueiros fracture zone. Here, we use multibeam bathymetric data to investigate relationships between abyssal hill formation and seamount volcanism, transform fault slip, and tectonic rotation. Near-bottom compressed high-intensity radiated pulse, bathymetric, and sidescan sonar data collected with the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry are used to test the hypothesis that seamount volcanism is age-progressive along the seamount chain. Although sediment on seamount flanks is likely to be reworked by gravitational mass-wasting and current activity, bathymetric relief and Sentry vehicle heading analysis suggest that sedimentary accumulations on seamount summits are likely to be relatively pristine. Sediment thickness on the seamounts' summits does not increase linearly with nominal crustal age, as would be predicted if seamounts were constructed proximal to the EPR axis and then aged as the lithosphere cooled and subsided away from the ridge. The thickest sediments are found at the center of the chain, implying the most ancient volcanism there, rather than on seamounts furthest from the EPR. The nonlinear sediment thickness along the 8°20’N seamounts suggests that volcanism can persist off-axis for several million years.

Description: This work was supported by National Science Foundation awards OCE-1356610, OCE-1356822, OCE-1357150, OCE-1754419, OCE-1834797, OCE-2001314, and OCE-2001331.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 48(19), (2021): e2021GL095088, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095088.

Description: The physical circulation of the Southern Ocean sets the surface concentration and thus air-sea exchange of CO2. However, we have a limited understanding of the three-dimensional circulation that brings deep carbon-rich waters to the surface. Here, we introduce and analyze a novel high-resolution ocean model simulation with active biogeochemistry and online Lagrangian particle tracking. We focus our attention on a subset of particles with high dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) that originate below 1,000 m and eventually upwell into the near-surface layer (upper 200 m). We find that 71% of the DIC-enriched water upwelling across 1,000 m is concentrated near topographic features, which occupy just 33% of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Once particles upwell to the near-surface layer, they exhibit relatively uniform pCO2 levels and DIC decorrelation timescales, regardless of their origin. Our results show that Southern Ocean bathymetry plays a key role in delivering carbon-rich waters to the surface.

Description: Riley X. Brady was supported by the Department of Energy's Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DE-FG02-97ER25308), and particularly benefited from the fellowship's summer practicum at Los Alamos National Lab. Nicole S. Lovenduski and Riley X. Brady were further supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Biological and Environmental Research program (DE-SC0022243) and by the National Science Foundation (NSF-PLR 1543457; NSF-OCE 1924636; NSF-OCE 1752724; NSF-OCE 1558225). Mathew E. Maltrud and Phillip J. Wolfram were supported as part of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research. This research used resources provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Institutional Computing Program, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. 89233218CNA000001.

Description: Die Kaskadennutzung von hochwertigen Materialien wie hochlegierten Metallen, also die Weiternutzung von Werkstoffen mittels Re-engineering beziehungsweise Reuse oder Re-manufacturing von Bauteilen oder Materialien, birgt in Kombination mit integrierten innovativen Produkt-Dienstleistungsmodellen ein hohes Potenzial für Ressourcenschonung und Klimaschutz. Denn über diesen Ansatz können hochwertige Materialien, die meist energieintensive Fertigungsverfahren unterlaufen, länger in der Nutzung gehalten werden. So kann der Zeitpunkt des Recyclings verzögert werden, welches insbesondere bei hochwertigen Materialien meist zu Qualitätsverlusten führt. Auf diese Weise kann der Bedarf an der Primärproduktion und entsprechend die ökologischen Wirkungen verringert werden. Gerade durch die regional hohe Dichte an produzierendem Gewerbe im metallbe- und -verarbeitenden Bereich bietet sich das Bergische Städtedreieck an für ein regional integriertes Ressourcenmanagement an. Das Projekt RegRess trägt mit dazu bei, die Hürden zur Etablierung eines entsprechenden Ressourcenmanagements mit dem Fokus auf das Bergische Städtedreieck zu senken, um so ökonomische und ökologische Potenziale für die regionale Wirtschaft und Profilbildung der Unternehmen, insbesondere KMU, zu heben. Dieser Bericht dokumentiert die Ergebnisse einer Stakeholder-/Netzwerkanalyse von der regionalen bis zur nationalen Ebene als Basis für Kooperationen. Die Analyse identifiziert mittels Desktoprecherche 110 Netzwerke, von denen ca. 25 unmittelbar im Bergischen Städtedreieck tätig sind bzw. die Region abdecken. Darüber hinaus wird eine Methodik und deren Anwendung anhand von theoretischen Beispielen vorgestellt, um den ökologisch sinnvollen Einsatz von Kaskadennutzung aufzuzeigen und zu reflektieren. Die Methodik wurde auf die Beispiele der Kaskadennutzung ausgedienter Spiralbohrer sowie Kochtöpfe angewendet, wobei beide Beispiele tendenziell ökologische Einsparpotentiale aufweisen. Unter Vorbehalt einer detaillierteren Lebenszyklusanalyse wurden bei den Spiralbohrern bei einmaliger Kaskadierung Einsparungen in der Größenordnung von maximal 75 % beim Material Footprint und 60 % beim Carbon Footprint abgeschätzt. Aufgrund der aufwändigeren Form und höheren Reinigungsaufwänden liegen die Einsparungen beim Kochtopf geringer und wurden beim Material Footprint auf eine Größenordnung von maximal 26 % und beim Carbon Footprint von 25% geschätzt.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Seltzer, A. M., & Tyne, R. L. Retrieving a “Weather Balloon” from the last Ice Age. AGU Advances, 3(4), (2022): e2022AV000747, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022AV000747.

Description: “How cold was the last ice age?” is a question that paleoclimate scientists have been trying to answer for decades. Constraining the magnitude of climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum (∼20,000 years ago) can help improve our understanding of Earth's climate sensitivity and, therefore enhance our ability to predict future change (Tierney et al., 2020). Of course, there is no single answer to this question: there is spatial structure to LGM temperature change that is linked to fundamental climate system properties and processes. Consequently, paleoclimate scientists have focused on variations of this question, like “What was the latitudinal gradient of LGM temperature change?” (Chiang et al., 2003), “What was the land-sea contrast?” (Rind & Peteet, 1985) or “What was the change in ocean heat content?” (Bereiter et al., 2018). These questions inform large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the intensity of the water cycle, and planetary energy balance; the answers to these questions come from proxies like planktic and benthic foraminifera, speleothems, ice cores, pollen records, ancient groundwater, lake sediments, and glacial moraines, to name a few. In short, the paleoclimate community has developed a proxy “tool kit” equipped to map changes across the Earth's surface and into the ocean interior; but, until now, no “tool” existed for the upper atmosphere.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 36(8), (2022): e2022GB007320, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GB007320.

Description: Biogeochemical cycles in the Arctic Ocean are sensitive to the transport of materials from continental shelves into central basins by sea ice. However, it is difficult to assess the net effect of this supply mechanism due to the spatial heterogeneity of sea ice content. Manganese (Mn) is a micronutrient and tracer which integrates source fluctuations in space and time while retaining seasonal variability. The Arctic Ocean surface Mn maximum is attributed to freshwater, but studies struggle to distinguish sea ice and river contributions. Informed by observations from 2009 IPY and 2015 Canadian GEOTRACES cruises, we developed a three-dimensional dissolved Mn model within a 1/12° coupled ocean-ice model centered on the Canada Basin and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA). Simulations from 2002 to 2019 indicate that annually, 87%–93% of Mn contributed to the Canada Basin upper ocean is released by sea ice, while rivers, although locally significant, contribute only 2.2%–8.5%. Downstream, sea ice provides 34% of Mn transported from Parry Channel into Baffin Bay. While rivers are often considered the main source of Mn, our findings suggest that in the Canada Basin they are less important than sea ice. However, within the shelf-dominated CAA, both rivers and sediment resuspension are important. Climate-induced disruption of the transpolar drift may reduce the Canada Basin Mn maximum and supply downstream. Other micronutrients found in sediments, such as Fe, may be similarly affected. These results highlight the vulnerability of the biogeochemical supply mechanisms in the Arctic Ocean and the subpolar seas to climatic changes.

Description: This work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Climate Change and Atmospheric Research Grant: GEOTRACES (RGPCC 433848-12) and VITALS (RGPCC 433898), an NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2016-03865) to SEA, and by the University of British Columbia through a four year fellowship to BR. Computing resources were provided by Compute Canada (RRG 2648 RAC 2019, RRG 2969 RAC 2020, and RRG 1541 RAC 2021).

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Shinevar, W., Jagoutz, O., & Behn, M. WISTFUL: whole‐rock interpretative seismic toolbox for ultramafic lithologies. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23(8), (2022): e2022GC010329, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gc010329.

Description: To quantitatively convert upper mantle seismic wave speeds measured into temperature, density, composition, and corresponding and uncertainty, we introduce the Whole-rock Interpretative Seismic Toolbox For Ultramafic Lithologies (WISTFUL). WISTFUL is underpinned by a database of 4,485 ultramafic whole-rock compositions, their calculated mineral modes, elastic moduli, and seismic wave speeds over a range of pressure (P) and temperature (T) (P = 0.5–6 GPa, T = 200–1,600°C) using the Gibbs free energy minimization routine Perple_X. These data are interpreted with a toolbox of MATLAB® functions, scripts, and three general user interfaces: WISTFUL_relations, which plots relationships between calculated parameters and/or composition; WISTFUL_geotherms, which calculates seismic wave speeds along geotherms; and WISTFUL_inversion, which inverts seismic wave speeds for best-fit temperature, composition, and density. To evaluate our methodology and quantify the forward calculation error, we estimate two dominant sources of uncertainty: (a) the predicted mineral modes and compositions, and (b) the elastic properties and mixing equations. To constrain the first source of uncertainty, we compiled 122 well-studied ultramafic xenoliths with known whole-rock compositions, mineral modes, and estimated P-T conditions. We compared the observed mineral modes with modes predicted using five different thermodynamic solid solution models. The Holland et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egy048) solution models best reproduce phase assemblages (∼12 vol. % phase root-mean-square error [RMSE]) and estimated wave speeds. To assess the second source of uncertainty, we compared wave speed measurements of 40 ultramafic rocks with calculated wave speeds, finding excellent agreement (Vp RMSE = 0.11 km/s). WISTFUL easily analyzes seismic datasets, integrates into modeling, and acts as an educational tool.

Description: Funding for this study was provided by NSF Grants EAR-17-22935 (OJ) and EAR-18-44340 (MB).

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 36(9), (2022): e2021GB007145, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gb007145.

Description: In this study, we compare mechanistic and empirical approaches to reconstruct the air-sea flux of biological oxygen (F[O2]bio-as) by parameterizing the physical oxygen saturation anomaly (ΔO2[phy]) in order to separate the biological contribution from total oxygen. The first approach matches ΔO2[phy] to the monthly climatology of the argon saturation anomaly from a global ocean circulation model's output. The second approach derives ΔO2[phy] from an iterative mass balance model forced by satellite-based physical drivers of ΔO2[phy] prior to the sampling day by assuming that air-sea interactions are the dominant factors driving the surface ΔO2[phy]. The final approach leverages the machine-learning technique of Genetic Programming (GP) to search for the functional relationship between ΔO2[phy] and biophysicochemical parameters. We compile simultaneous measurements of O2/Ar and O2 concentration from 14 cruises to train the GP algorithm and test the validity and applicability of our modeled ΔO2[phy] and F[O2]bio-as. Among the approaches, the GP approach, which incorporates ship-based measurements and historical records of physical parameters from the reanalysis products, provides the most robust predictions (R2 = 0.74 for ΔO2[phy] and 0.72 for F[O2]bio-as; RMSE = 1.4% for ΔO2[phy] and 7.1 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 for F[O2]bio-as). We use the empirical formulation derived from GP approach to reconstruct regional, inter-annual, and decadal variability of F[O2]bio-as based on historical oxygen records. Overall, our study represents a first attempt at deriving F[O2]bio-as from snapshot measurements of oxygen, thereby paving the way toward using historical O2 data and a rapidly growing number of O2 measurements on autonomous platforms for independent insight into the biological pump.

Description: N. Cassar was supported by the “Laboratoire d'Excellence” LabexMER (ANR-10-LABX-19) and co-funded by a grant from the French government under the program “Investissements d'Avenir.” Y. Huang was supported by grants from the China NSF (Nos. 42130401 and 42141002). Y. Huang was also partly supported by Chinese State Scholarship Fund to study at Duke University as a joint PhD student (No. 201806310052). R. Eveleth was supported by the NSF GRFP under grant (No. 1106401). D. Nicholson was supported by the NSF OCE-1129973 and OCE-1923915.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Sayani, H., Cobb, K., Monteleone, B., & Bridges, H. Accuracy and reproducibility of coral Sr/Ca SIMS timeseries in modern and fossil corals. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23(9), (2022): e2021GC010068, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gc010068.

Description: Coral strontium-to-calcium ratios (Sr/Ca) provide quantitative estimates of past sea surface temperatures (SST) that allow for the reconstruction of changes in the mean state and climate variations, such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, through time. However, coral Sr/Ca ratios are highly susceptible to diagenesis, which can impart artifacts of 1–2°C that are typically on par with the tropical climate signals of interest. Microscale sampling via Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) for the sampling of primary skeletal material in altered fossil corals, providing much-needed checks on fossil coral Sr/Ca-based paleotemperature estimates. In this study, we employ a set modern and fossil corals from Palmyra Atoll, in the central tropical Pacific, to quantify the accuracy and reproducibility of SIMS Sr/Ca analyses relative to bulk Sr/Ca analyses. In three overlapping modern coral samples, we reproduce bulk Sr/Ca estimates within ±0.3% (1σ). We demonstrate high fidelity between 3-month smoothed SIMS coral Sr/Ca timeseries and SST (R = −0.5 to −0.8; p 〈 0.5). For lightly-altered sections of a young fossil coral from the early-20th century, SIMS Sr/Ca timeseries reproduce bulk Sr/Ca timeseries, in line with our results from modern corals. Across a moderately-altered section of the same fossil coral, where diagenesis yields bulk Sr/Ca estimates that are 0.6 mmol too high (roughly equivalent to −6°C artifacts in SST), SIMS Sr/Ca timeseries track instrumental SST timeseries. We conclude that 3–4 SIMS analyses per month of coral growth can provide a much-needed quantitative check on the accuracy of fossil coral Sr/Ca-derived estimates of paleotemperature, even in moderately altered samples.

Description: We'd also like to thank Yolande Berta and Georgia Tech's Center for Nanostructure Characterization for providing access to their SEM facilities, and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Ocean Foundation and The Nature Conservancy for financial and logistical support for field excursions to Palmyra. Funding for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation (Award Numbers 1502832 and 2002458 to K.M.C) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Award Number: NA11OAR4310165 to K.M.C).

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Tarry, D., Ruiz, S., Johnston, T., Poulain, P., Özgökmen, T., Centurioni, L., Berta, M., Esposito, G., Farrar, J., Mahadevan, A., & Pascual, A. Drifter observations reveal intense vertical velocity in a surface ocean front. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(18), (2022): e2022GL098969, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl098969.

Description: Measuring vertical motions represent a challenge as they are typically 3–4 orders of magnitude smaller than the horizontal velocities. Here, we show that surface vertical velocities are intensified at submesoscales and are dominated by high frequency variability. We use drifter observations to calculate divergence and vertical velocities in the upper 15 m of the water column at two different horizontal scales. The drifters, deployed at the edge of a mesoscale eddy in the Alboran Sea, show an area of strong convergence (urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl64766:grl64766-math-0001(f)) associated with vertical velocities of −100 m day−1. This study shows that a multilayered-drifter array can be an effective tool for estimating vertical velocity near the ocean surface.

Description: This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Departmental Research Initiative CALYPSO under program officers Terri Paluszkiewicz and Scott Harper. The authors' ONR Grant No. are as follows: DT, SR, AM, and AP N000141613130, TMSJ N000146101612470, PP N000141812418, TO N000141812138, LRC N000141712517, and N00014191269, MB and GE N000141812782 and N000141812039, and JTF N000141812431.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biasi, J., Tivey, M., & Fluegel, B. Volcano monitoring with magnetic measurements: a simulation of eruptions at axial seamount, Kilauea, Baroarbunga, and Mount Saint Helens. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(17), (2022): e2022GL100006, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100006.

Description: Monitoring of active volcanic systems is a challenging task due in part to the trade-offs between collection of high-quality data from multiple techniques and the high costs of acquiring such data. Here we show that magnetic data can be used to monitor volcanoes by producing similar data to gravimetric techniques at significantly lower cost. The premise of this technique is that magma and wall rock above the Curie temperature are magnetically “transparent,” but not stationary within the crust. Subsurface movements of magma can affect the crustal magnetic field measured at the surface. We construct highly simplified magnetic models of four volcanic systems: Mount Saint Helens (1980), Axial Seamount (2015–2020), Kīlauea (2018), and Bárðarbunga (2014). In all cases, observed or inferred changes to the magmatic system would have been detectable by modern magnetometers. Magnetic monitoring could become common practice at many volcanoes, particularly in developing nations with high volcanic risk.

Description: This work was supported by the NSF Grant No 2052963 to J. Biasi and an internal Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution grant to M. Tivey.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Bullock, E., Kipp, L., Moore, W., Brown, K., Mann, P., Vonk, J., Zimov, N., & Charette, M. Radium inputs into the Arctic Ocean from rivers a basin‐wide estimate. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127(9), (2022): e2022JC018964, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc018964.

Description: Radium isotopes have been used to trace nutrient, carbon, and trace metal fluxes inputs from ocean margins. However, these approaches require a full accounting of radium sources to the coastal ocean including rivers. Here, we aim to quantify river radium inputs into the Arctic Ocean for the first time for 226Ra and to refine the estimates for 228Ra. Using new and existing data, we find that the estimated combined (dissolved plus desorbed) annual 226Ra and 228Ra fluxes to the Arctic Ocean are [7.0–9.4] × 1014 dpm y−1 and [15–18] × 1014 dpm y−1, respectively. Of these totals, 44% and 60% of the river 226Ra and 228Ra, respectively are from suspended sediment desorption, which were estimated from laboratory incubation experiments. Using Ra isotope data from 20 major rivers around the world, we derived global annual 226Ra and 228Ra fluxes of [7.4–17] × 1015 and [15–27] × 1015 dpm y−1, respectively. As climate change spurs rapid Arctic warming, hydrological cycles are intensifying and coastal ice cover and permafrost are diminishing. These river radium inputs to the Arctic Ocean will serve as a valuable baseline as we attempt to understand the changes that warming temperatures are having on fluxes of biogeochemically important elements to the Arctic coastal zone.

Description: This study was a broad, collaborative effort that would not have been possible without contributions from numerous funding sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF-0751525, NSF-1736277, NSF-1458305, NSF-1938873, NSF-2048067, NSF-2134865), the NERC-BMBF project CACOON [NE/R012806/1] (UKRI NERC) and BMBF-03F0806A, and an EU Starting Grant (THAWSOME-676982).

Description: Im September 2023 sind zwei wenig ermutigende Untersuchungen veröffentlicht worden: Das Klimasekretariat der Vereinten Nationen macht in seinem Report zur ersten Globalen Bestandsaufnahme (Global Stocktake) deutlich, dass die bisher zugesagten nationalen Klimaschutzbeiträge bei weitem nicht genügen, um die Pariser Klimaschutzziele zu erreichen. Auch das Update zur Einhaltung der planetaren Grenzen fällt ernüchternd aus: In sechs von neun Bereichen sind die Grenzen teils weit überschritten - auch in Bezug auf den Klimawandel. Allerdings reichen die ergriffenen Klimaschutzmaßnahmen nicht aus, um die gesteckten Ziele zu erreichen. Suffizienzstrategien und -politik können den Wandel bringen - bei Konsum, Gebäuden, Verkehr, Kreislaufwirtschaft und Energie, wie der Zukunftsimpuls zeigt.

Description: The adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the passing of the Climate Action Law in Germany in 2019 established the legal need for the basic material industry in Germany to decarbonise. For the industry sector, the target is sets at a 49-51% GHG reduction by 2030 compared to 1990. Even though the sector specific targets are likely to become obsolete, a Hydrogen Strategy, Industry Strategy and Climate Protection Contracts are currently being developed or elaborated on. These are to further ensure and enable the basic material industry in Germany to decarbonise. These developments are emphasising the relevance of studying the industry decarbonisation at the time of conducting this research. As the institutionalisation of the industry decarbonisation is influenced by discourse, the analysis of the discourse is an important tool for studying the power effects produced by and built into the discourse. This is the first research aiming to provide a structured analysis of the discourse on industry decarbonisation in Germany. Drawing on discourse analysis and the Multilevel-Perspectives framework, this research investigated the power and dominance of storylines to influence the discourse of the industry transformation towards decarbonisation. In this research insights were obtained into the storylines used in this discourse, the actors who are part of this discourse, the frequency of storylines used and the percentage of actors making use of these storylines. Additionally, insights were generated into the discursive network and potential coalitions. This research made use of the Discourse Network Analysis software in combination with Visone and Excel for data collection, analysis, and visualisation. Based on 117 documents of various categories from the years 2012 to 2023, the discourse on German industry decarbonisation is discovered to be dominated by storylines of mainly technological or economic nature. The general sentiment discovered by the different actors is positive with the storylines focusing on establishing the conditions for the industry to decarbonise and no resistance being communicated. The discourse is furthermore dominated by most storylines. 18 out of 27 storylines are being used by more than 56% of all actors. The high overlap in storyline indicates discursive homogeneity. The homogeneity is further indicated through the lack of emerging discourse coalitions and the therewith connected lack of struggles for discursive dominance. One coalition can be defined with some actors being deeper involved and some being less involved in the discourse. As decisions on the transition path for Germany's industry to decarbonise are still to be taken the lack of discursive struggles has come to my surprise. In the discussion I reflect on how the positive sentiment, the discursive homogeneity and the great number of dominant storylines may come about.

Description: Die Schaffung von bezahlbarem und sozial gerechtem Wohnraum stellt eine zentrale Herausforderung der nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung dar. Zur Begegnung dieser Herausforderungen spielen innovative Wohnformen wie gemeinschaftliche Wohnprojekte eine bedeutende Rolle, da sie vielfältige soziale Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte aufweisen und dadurch zu einer nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung beitragen können. In diesem Kontext bleibt die Frage offen, ob die Gemeinschaften in Wohnprojekten nach ihrer Gründung beständig bleiben. Das Ziel der Arbeit war die Beantwortung der folgenden Forschungsfrage: "Wie können gemeinschaftliche Wohnprojekte dauerhaft in Bezug auf ihre Weiterentwicklung bestehen bleiben und somit langfristig eine nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung unterstützen?" Zur Beantwortung der Forschungsfrage wurde eine qualitative Studie in Form von narrativen Interviews mit Bewohner:innen gemeinschaftlicher Wohnprojekte durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse aus Literatur und Praxis konnten acht besonders relevante Faktoren für die Beständigkeit von gemeinschaftlichen Wohnprojekten identifizieren: Soziale Durchmischung, Organisationsstruktur, Gemeinschaftspflege, Vertrauen, Soziales Netzwerk, Kommunikationskultur, gelebte Nachhaltigkeit, Flexibilität und Anpassungsfähigkeit. Diese Faktoren ermöglichen eine nachhaltige und anpassungsfähige Gemeinschaft, welche zu einer nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung beitragen kann. Dafür sollten gemeinschaftliche Wohnprojekte ihre vorhandenen Potenziale weiterhin ausbauen.

Description: The original objectives for introducing Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) were 1) to make energy performance transparent in the building market, as a measure of energy costs of using a building that a potential buyer or tenant would be interested in; and 2) to encourage energy efficiency renovation. However, the current implementation of EPC schemes in the Member States still shows significant challenges in achieving these two objectives. The recast of the EU Directive on the Overall Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) provides a chance to enhance both the usefulness and quality of EPCs and the EPC schemes overall. This document aims to inform both the debate on the recast of the EPBD and the enhancement of national EPC schemes in EU Member States. It presents the draft policy recommendations of the Horizon 2020 QualDeEPC project for making the EPBD and the national schemes more effective, particularly for deep renovation, and enhance their quality overall. The policy recommendations particularly target the link between EPCs and deep (energy) renovation1, while increasing the levels of ambition and convergence across the EU in terms of building renovation. Deep (energy) renovation is crucial for mitigating climate change and for energy security. The EPBD and all of its articles, as well as national EPC schemes, should aim to make deep (energy) renovation the default. This objective would be embedded and ensured in EPC schemes, if the policy recommendations provided in this document were adopted and implemented.

Description: This Wuppertal Paper analyses the energy transition models of Colombia and Germany. The emphasis of the exercise is on an analysis of options for the complete decarbonization of the energy system in Colombia as a Global South country. To this end, it analyses the current situation, projections, public policy and narratives, and contrasts it with Germany as one of the countries of the Global North with which Colombia has historically maintained energy trade relations and is currently collaborating in the exploration of energy alternatives for decarbonization. Detailed analysis of sectoral energy consumption in Colombia shows the sectors with the highest fossil energy consumption (in this order): transport (fuels), industry (gas, coal), electricity generation (gas, coal) and residential (gas). We show the projected increase in demand for fuels and electricity, and calculate the amount of electricity theoretically needed to substitute fossil sources in each sector. We estimate the total electricity required for decarbonization via sector coupling and derive a first estimation of the range of additional renewable energy capacities needed to supply this demand. We find that required capacities are expectedly large (56-110 GW), depending on decarbonization pathways, and that export capacity beyond national demand may be limited. Our analysis of the policy and scenario arena in both countries finds that Colombia is still lacking both sector-specific decarbonization strategies and an embedding in a systemic vision of a systemic energy transition. Germany has more advanced sector strategies and (national) systemic visions, but lacks embedding assumptions on energy imports in a global-system analysis, i.e. in the analysis of an energy transition in potential exporting countries like Colombia. We formulate requirements to close these gaps in our conclusions.

Description: Der Klimawandel wird zunehmend eine der größten Gesundheitsbedrohungen des 21. Jahrhunderts. Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) erwartet, dass durch die Folgen des Klimawandels zwischen den Jahren 2030 und 2050 rund 250.000 zusätzliche Todesfälle pro Jahr durch Mangelernährung, Malaria, Durchfallerkrankungen und Hitzestress verursacht werden. Allein für die direkten Gesundheitsschäden - also ohne beispielsweise indirekte Schäden, die in Sektoren wie der Landwirtschaft entstehen - werden bis 2030 Zusatzkosten von jährlich zwei bis vier Milliarden US-Dollar erwartet. Besonders betroffen sind Menschen in Gegenden mit einer schlechten Gesundheitsversorgung und Infrastruktur. Aber auch Deutschland ist von den Folgen des Klimawandels betroffen – heute und künftig. Aktuell liegt in der Forschung noch ein Fokus darauf, zu untersuchen, in welcher Art und Weise die Menschen dem Klimawandel ausgesetzt sind (Expositionswege) und wie sich diese Gesundheitseffekte messen lassen (etwa der Unterschied der Gesundheitsauswirkungen einer globalen Durchschnittserwärmung von 1,5 oder 2 Grad Celsius). Auch wird das klimawandelbedingte Gesundheitsrisiko verschiedener Bevölkerungsgruppen von zahlreichen nationalen und internationalen Akteuren erforscht. Einer der Forschungsschwerpunkte bildet dabei die Untersuchung unterschiedlicher Anfälligkeiten für klimabedingte Gesundheitsrisiken verschiedener Gruppen (bspw. ältere Menschen, Vorerkrankte, Einkommensschwache, Kinder). Andere Studien widmen sich dem Risiko, dem Menschen in ausgewählten geografischen Regionen (etwa Brasilien) oder Angehörige bestimmter Völker (bspw. Gesellschaften in der Arktis) ausgesetzt sind. Ein noch junges Forschungsfeld umfasst Untersuchungen zur Klimaangst (climate anxiety). Gemeinsam mit der gesetzlichen Krankenkasse BARMER hat das Wuppertal Institut sich zum Ziel gesetzt, innerhalb des Projekts "BARMER Explorationsstudie Klimawandel und Gesundheit" den aktuellen Forschungsstand zu den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die Gesundheit aufzubereiten. Die Aufarbeitung erfolgt über vier Arbeitspakete (Module) hinweg. Der vorliegende Projektbericht fasst die zentralen Projektergebnisse zusammen.

Description: The QualDeEPC project is aiming to both improve quality and cross-EU convergence of Energy Performance Certificate schemes, and the link between EPCs and deep renovation: High-quality Energy Performance Assessment and Certification in Europe Accelerating Deep Energy Renovation. The objective of the project is to improve the practical implementation of the assessment, issuance, design, and use of EPCs as well as their renovation recommendations, in the participating countries and beyond. This report serves as a compilation of the project's proposal for an enhanced and converging EPC assessment and certification scheme. It aims to provide a detailed description on the set of practical concepts, policy proposals, and tools for an enhanced EPC scheme towards deep renovation, developed by the QualDeEPC project. The project's substantial proposals both on EU and national level are presented in a comprehensive and rational way, guiding the relevant stakeholders, in particular the policy makers and competed bodies, on which steps need to be followed so as the proposals to be adapted and how the specific values can be determined in MSs. Furthermore, this report includes the project's proposal for defining "Deep Energy Renovation" based on a modified nZEB-based approach. The project's priorities A) to G) addressed are presented in the following order in this document, reflecting the importance of the enhanced EPC template form and the training of EPC assessors in such schemes: A) Improving the recommendations for renovation, which are provided on the EPCs, towards deep energy renovation; E) High user-friendliness of the EPC, by way of an enhanced EPC template form, including an introduction of the proposed "Energy Rating" indicator; D) Regular mandatory EPC assessor training or examination on assessment and renovation recommendations, required for certification/accreditation and registry; B) Online tool for comparing EPC recommendations to deep energy renovation recommendations; C) Creating Deep Renovation Network Platforms (DRNPs); F) & G) Voluntary/mandatory advertising guidelines for EPCs and Improving compliance with the mandatory use of EPCs in real estate advertisement.

Description: Aufgrund der Wechselwirkungen mit sozialen, ökonomischen und ökologischen Zielen ist die Kreislaufwirtschaft möglicherweise ein Handlungsbereich mit systemischer Schubkraft für die integrierte Nachhaltigkeitsentwicklung von NRW. Sie ist deswegen auch für die Umsetzung der NRW-Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie, die 2016 zum ersten Mal aufgelegt und 2020 aktualisiert wurde, von besonderem Interesse. Aus diesem Grund hat sich das Wuppertal Institut im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts "Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie NRW - Vertiefungsanalysen zur Umsetzung aus wissenschaftlicher Sicht" in einem Forschungsmodul mit der Umsetzung der Kreislaufwirtschaft im Kontext der Gesamtwirtschaft von NRW beschäftigt und hier insbesondere die Auswirkungen des europäischen, politischen Rahmens auf die Aktivitäten in NRW in den Blick genommen. Mit anderen Worten, das nachfolgende Arbeitspapier nimmt den European Green Deal und seine Bedeutung für NRW in den Blick und fragt: Welche Herausforderungen für NRW lassen sich aus dem Green Deal ablesen, wie und in welchen Sektoren kann/soll NRW eine Transformation zur Kreislaufwirtschaft einleiten und welche Bedingungen müssen dabei beachtet werden? Methodisch basiert diese Auswertung auf der Analyse relevanter Primärdokumente sowie der Sekundärliteratur zur Umsetzung der Kreislaufwirtschaft im politischen Mehrebenensystem. Dabei soll das Papier kein industriepolitisches Innovationsprogramm entwerfen, sondern eine Handreichung zur weiteren Diskussion von potenziellen Maßnahmen und Politikvorschlägen im Hinblick auf die zu entwickelnde Kreislaufwirtschaftsstrategie darstellen.

Description: Um die Treibhausgasneutralität bis 2045 zu erreichen, wird unter anderem erforderlich sein, dass die Industrie klimaneutrale Produktionsweisen entwickelt und umsetzt. Damit einher gehen gesellschaftliche Aushandlungsprozesse darüber, welche neuen Technologien eingesetzt werden und welche Auswirkungen vor Ort akzeptiert werden. Das Ausmaß an Akzeptanz gegenüber Technologien oder Infrastrukturen beeinflusst neben anderen Faktoren die spezifische Ausgestaltung der Transformation. Mangelnde Akzeptanz kann die Entwicklung von Transformationspfaden verlangsamen oder gar verhindern, und zu Protesten, beispielsweise von lokalen Initiativen oder von etablierten Klimaschutz- und Umweltverbänden, führen. Dieses Wuppertal Paper stellt die Frage in den Fokus, welchen Einfluss Protestbewegungen auf öffentliche Akzeptanz haben bzw. haben könnten. Grundlage dafür sind empirische Ergebnisse aus dem Projekt Protanz.NRW zu Protesten und Akzeptanz im Kontext der Industrietransformation in NRW. Darauf aufbauend wird ein Protest-Akzeptanz-Modell entwickelt und es werden Hypothesen abgeleitet, wie unterschiedliche Protestgruppen die öffentliche Akzeptanz von Technologien für die Industrietransformation in NRW beeinflussen können. Abschließend werden Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik und Industrie abgeleitet sowie Forschungsbedarfe aufgezeigt.

Description: Considering that 40% of the European Union's energy consumption can be traced back to its buildings, it is essential to improve their energy efficiency in order to achieve the EU's energy efficiency targets. Both the rate of energy renovation and its depth, i.e. the amount of energy savings during a renovation, need to be improved. Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), regulated by the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), are an important instrument to enhance the market uptake of energy-efficient new buildings and the energy-efficient renovation of existing buildings. Against this background, the Horizon2020 funded project QualDeEPC will work on EU-wide convergence of the building assessment and the issuance, design, and use of quality-enhanced EPCs as well as their recommendations for building renovation. The aim is to make these recommendations coherent with deep energy renovation towards a nearly-zero energy building stock by 2050. The first part of the QualDeEPC project (work package 2) aims to identify the priorities for elements of EPC schemes that show a need to be improved, and for which the project will investigate further and propose how the elements can be improved. The first step in identifying these priorities is taking stock of the existing EPC schemes. Based on the input from all national consortium partners and other sources, the Wuppertal Institute prepared this detailed overview of the country-specific EPC assessment and certification procedures and their links to other policies and programmes, existing initiatives, and projects. The analysis was based on a list of almost 50 potential options for enhancing the existing EPC schemes. The aim of this deliverable is to present this stock-taking by a detailed analysis on which of the potential enhanced EPC elements are already implemented in which form in which country, covering all 28 countries that were EU member states until 31 January 2020. All partners conducted bilateral interviews with the major actors in the EPC procedures, including executive bodies on EPC at regional and/or national level. For countries not represented in the Consortium, Wuppertal Institut and EAP conducted specific literature research, e.g. from the Concerted Action EPBD, and aimed to obtain contributions from other member states. The information collected allows a detailed presentation on the elements implemented as well as a cross-country comparison matrix (see Annex I) in this report, which outlines the current EPC practices across the EU regarding the elements of a good practice scheme or innovative improvement options, their comparability, compliance with EU legislation, and to which extent they differ or converge. The results show, once more, the high diversity in EPC schemes across the EU. They also provide useful information in at least two directions: 1) which improvement options are not yet implemented at all or in sufficient quality in most QualDeEPC partner countries as well as other EU member states, and could therefore be interesting candidates for the further work of the QualDeEPC project in development, testing, discussion, and possibly implementation of elements for enhanced and converging EPC schemes; and 2) which countries, within or beyond the QualDeEPC project, offer good practice examples for the implementation of these options that could serve to guide the development and implementation in other countries. This deliverable will thus serve as a basis for the upcoming tasks to develop priorities and actual proposals for improvement of EPC schemes.

Description: Die Transformation der bisher linearen Strukturen von Produktion und Konsum ("take-make-dispose") hin zu einer Circular Economy (CE) - im Sinne einer weiterentwickelten Kreislaufwirtschaft - gilt als zentrales Konzept zur Steigerung der Ressourceneffizienz und Kreislaufführung von Materialien und Produkten, zur Stärkung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der einheimischen Industrie sowie zur Schaffung neuer Arbeitsplatzpotenziale. Ziel dieses Forschungsmoduls ist es, die bisherige Umsetzung dieses Konzepts im Rahmen der Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie NRW zu analysieren und durch geeignete Impulse zu begleiten. Durch die Entwicklung eines Leitbilds für eine nachhaltige Circular Economy und zu seiner Messung geeigneter Indikatoren soll das noch an vielen Stellen unscharfe Konzept präzisiert und insbesondere an die spezifischen Ausgangsbedingungen und Herausforderungen von Nordrhein-Westfalen angepasst werden. Dazu sollen Bausteine für ein mittel- und langfristiges Leitbild (2030) entworfen werden, das einen konsistenten Entwicklungspfad für diesen komplexen Transformationsprozess beschreiben soll. Die bestehenden stark abfallwirtschaftlich geprägten Indikatoren zum Thema Kreislaufwirtschaft sollen durch Vorschläge für zusätzliche Indikatoren zur Nachhaltigkeit im Rahmen der Kreislaufwirtschaft (Circular Economy, CE) ergänzt werden.

Description: In Deutschland werden jährlich über sieben Millionen gebrauchte Matratzen entsorgt, die überwiegend verbrannt und nur zu einem Bruchteil recycelt werden. Dieser lineare Ansatz belastet die Ressourcen, erhöht die Emissionen und birgt Umweltrisiken. Um diesen Herausforderungen zu begegnen, kann die erweiterte Herstellerverantwortung (Extended Producer Responsibility, EPR) als Instrument zur Umsetzung einer Kreislaufwirtschaft dienen. In dieser Masterarbeit wird daher untersucht, wie ein EPR-System für Matratzen in Deutschland gestaltet sein sollte, um Kreisläufe effizient zu schließen. Gleichzeitig zielt diese Thesis darauf ab, die damit verbundenen Anforderungen und Herausforderungen bei der Umsetzung eines solchen Systems zu identifizieren. Zur Beantwortung der Forschungsfragen wurden mithilfe von Expert*innen-Interviews und einer umfassenden Literaturrecherche drei EPR-Modelle entwickelt und anhand von ausgewählten Kriterien bewertet. Die Ergebnisse der Bewertung ergaben, dass ein Modell präferiert werden sollte, in dem eine sogenannte Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) gebündelt die Verantwortung der Hersteller übernimmt. Ein solches System würde unter anderem eine angemessene Kontrolle ermöglichen und Anreize für Forschung und Entwicklung im Bereich der Recyclingtechnologien und des zirkulären Designs der Matratzen schaffen. Obwohl die Datenlage über Altmatratzen und deren Verwertung in Deutschland derzeit noch begrenzt sind und die hier präsentierten Ergebnisse von der gewählten Methodik abhängen, dient diese Masterarbeit als erste Grundlage für die weitere Entwicklung eines EPR-Systems für Matratzen in Deutschland.

Description: Mit verschiedenen Wohnbauoffensiven versuchen viele Kommunen dem vorherrschenden Wohnraummangel entgegenzuwirken. Der Neubau von Häusern nimmt viel Fläche in Anspruch und verbraucht viele Ressourcen. Dabei lässt sich ein Großteil des Wohnraumbedarfs durch bestehende Wohngebäude decken, wenn sich Menschen an biografischen Wendepunkten, wie etwa Auszug der Kinder, für kleinere Wohnflächen und alternative Wohnkonzepte entscheiden würden. Das Projekt OptiWohn ging darum der Frage nach, wie eine optimierte Nutzung der Wohnfläche proaktiv gefördert werden kann. Herzstück bildet die Entwicklung und Gründung von kommunalen Wohnraumagenturen. Sie identifizieren Wohnraumbedarfe im Quartier, bieten Beratung für Wohnungssuchende an, vermitteln alternative Wohnungen oder initiieren Angebote zum Wohnungstausch. Neben dem Beratungs- und Förderangebot zur Optimierung der Wohnflächennutzung in den Städten Köln, Göttingen und Tübingen wurden die Ergebnisse in kommunale Handlungsempfehlungen übertragen, die neben Städten und Kommunen auch weitere Akteure ansprechen sollen. Darüber hinaus entwarfen die Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler ein bundesweites Förderprogramm für flächeneffizientes Wohnen.

Description: Established in 2016, the German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) strives to promote bilateral cooperation between Germany and Japan on energy transition. Among other studies and topical papers, an output paper in 2020 (Rauschen et al., 2020) already compared the energy efficiency in buildings in both countries with a particular focus on heating and cooling. One important finding of this output paper was that further efforts in the building sector are needed to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in Germany and Japan. Following the more ambitious climate protection targets in both countries, this study seeks to analyze the German and Japanese policies put in place to accelerate the decarbonization of the building sector. The decarbonization of the vast number of buildings that both Japan and Germany are facing will be a major contribution to achieving the GHG reduction targets of both countries and should continue to be discussed among experts and developed into a discussion among policy makers. This report examines and compares the characteristics of the building stock in both countries, as well as existing policies and new strategies and policies that are planned or discussed to achieve energy conservation and decarbonization of buildings. The current shape of buildings, especially houses, is greatly influenced by the land area of the country corresponding to the available space for buildings, the natural environment surrounding the country, the natural resources available, and the lifestyle and cultural ideas that have been passed down and taken root over time. Therefore, it might be difficult to compare them and the corresponding strategies and policies with the same yardstick, so we also discuss common or deviant situations. Through this joint research, we aim to find each other's advantages and challenges and to develop useful and concrete policy recommendations that will contribute to decarbonization policies in both countries.

Description: The idea for the Green Recovery Tracker was born in spring 2020 when governments started making announcements on economic Corona recovery measures. From a climate and resilience perspective it is key that those recovery packages, investments and subsidies are in line with long-term climate and sustainability targets. Thus, recovery packages should not only boost the economy in the short-term, but also strike the path to a just transition towards climate neutrality. Against this background, Wuppertal Institute and E3G have launched the Green Recovery Tracker project in late summer 2020 to shed light on the following questions: What can be considered an effective green recovery? What are good examples, which can be used as an inspiration for recovery programs aiming to support sustainable development? Where do the individual Member States stand with respect to aligning their recovery activities with the climate policy agenda? In this report, you will find our Methodology as well our Policy Briefing highlighting our key takeaways of our country and sectoral analyses. It further includes a section on "What can we learn from our experience with the Green Recovery Tracker?". The briefing concludes with a "Guidance for future funding programs and achieving climate targets overall".

Description: Industrieregionen stehen vor besonderen Herausforderungen für eine nachhaltige und klimagerechte Entwicklung, sie müssen zu "grünen Industrieregionen" werden. Doch was macht eine "grüne Industrieregion" überhaupt aus? Die vorliegende Studie des Wuppertal Instituts verdeutlicht, worauf es besonders ankommt, wie Fortschritte gemessen werden können und welche Maßnahmen die erforderliche Transformation beschleunigen können. Das Autorenteam schätzt die Vorreiterpotenziale der Metropole Ruhr für sieben Indikatoren ein, die besonders deutlich bei der Umweltwirtschaft und der Entwicklung der Grün- und Erholungsflächen herausstechen.

Description: Muography represents a recent and innovative tool for investigating the interior of active volcanoes. However, when dealing with frequently erupting open-vent volcanoes such as Stromboli, any result should take into con- sideration the structural and morphology changes caused by the eruptive activity. This may cause either summit collapses by magma withdrawal, or morphology growth by the accumulations of a fallout from the explosive activity, or more often a combination of both. In this chapter, we present an integration of various techniques, comprising muography and digital elevation model reconstruction, together with GBInSAR ground deformation and volcano seismicity, to reconstruct the geometry of the shallow magma supply system of the volcano and its changes in time. We show how muography can display the interior of the volcano as well as its outer growth, being sensitive to all volume changes that occurred between the framed surface and the detector. This was discovered in Stromboli by comparing digital topography in the interval between 2010 and 2012, when the rapid growth of the volcano summit by the accumulation of ballistic products in the area between the crater zone and the muon detec- tor occurred. This deposit, together with the filling in of the graben-like depression, formed during the 2007 eruption, by fallout during the persistent explosive activity, contributed to generating a remarkable anomaly in the summit area of the volcano visualized by muography. In addition, the shallow feeding system of the volcano was surveyed by GBInSAR and seismicity, which allowed us to reconstruct its path up to a depth of a few hundred meters.

Description: Published

Description: 75-91

Description: 2V. Struttura e sistema di alimentazione dei vulcani

Description: Within the Shaping Digitalisation project, we aim to highlight and discuss the opportunities that digitalisation can bring to Germany. In particular, we are discussing three stand-out areas where action is most needed to achieve ecological transformation: mobility, the circular economy, and agriculture and food. This report addresses the second area in need of action. Up until now, discussions on the circular economy have been limited to recycling and the re-use of materials. We must expand the scope of these discussions to include new, resource-efficient business models and the comprehensive transformation of value chains and industrial structures. Our analysis has found that digitalisation is indispensable for this transformation if used properly. We hope this report will provide the impetus needed to kick-start a climate- and resource-friendly industrial transformation in Germany. Here, we have incorporated the findings of our interdisciplinary workshop on "Shaping the Digital-Ecological Industrial Transformation - Business Models and Political Framework Conditions for Climate and Resource Protection" that was attended by experts from international research institutes, civil organizations, public authorities, and private companies.

Description: Cenozoic climate changes have been linked to tectonic activity and variations in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Here we present Miocene and Pliocene sensitivity experiments performed with the climate model COSMOS. The experiments contain changes with respect to paleogeography, ocean gateway configuration, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations, as well as a range of vertical mixing coefficients in the ocean. For the Mid-Miocene, we show that the impact of ocean mixing on surface temperature is comparable to the effect of the possible range in reconstructed CO2 concentrations. In combination with stronger vertical mixing, relatively moderate CO2-concentrations of 450 ppmv enable global mean surface, deep-water and meridional temperature characteristics representative of Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) reconstructions. The Miocene climate shows a reduced meridional temperature gradient and reduced seasonality. In the case of enhanced mixing, surface and deep ocean temperatures show significant warming of up to 5-10°C and an Arctic temperature anomaly of more than 12°C. In the Pliocene simulations, the impact of vertical mixing and CO2 is less important for the deep ocean, which we interpret as a different sensitivity dependence on the background state and mixed layer dynamics. We find a significant reduction in surface albedo and effective emissivity for either a high level of atmospheric CO2 or increased vertical mixing. Our mixing sensitivity experiments provide a warm deep ocean via ocean heat uptake. We propose that the mixing hypothesis can be tested by reconstructions of the thermocline and seasonal paleoclimate data indicating a lower seasonality relative to today.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Liu, C.-Z., Dick, H. J. B., Mitchell, R. N., Wei, W., Zhang, Z.-Y., Hofmann, A. W., Yang, J.-F., & Li, Y. Archean cratonic mantle recycled at a mid-ocean ridge. Science Advances, 8(22), (2022): eabn6749, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn6749.

Description: Basalts and mantle peridotites of mid-ocean ridges are thought to sample Earth’s upper mantle. Osmium isotopes of abyssal peridotites uniquely preserve melt extraction events throughout Earth history, but existing records only indicate ages up to ~2 billion years (Ga) ago. Thus, the memory of the suspected large volumes of mantle lithosphere that existed in Archean time (〉2.5 Ga) has apparently been lost somehow. We report abyssal peridotites with melt-depletion ages up to 2.8 Ga, documented by extremely unradiogenic 187Os/188Os ratios (to as low as 0.1095) and refractory major elements that compositionally resemble the deep keels of Archean cratons. These oceanic rocks were thus derived from the once-extensive Archean continental keels that have been dislodged and recycled back into the mantle, the feasibility of which we confirm with numerical modeling. This unexpected connection between young oceanic and ancient continental lithosphere indicates an underappreciated degree of compositional recycling over time.

Description: This study was financially supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars 42025201 (to C.-Z.L.), the National Key Research and Development Project of China 2020YFA0714801 (to C.-Z.L.), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences XDA13010106 (to C.-Z.L.), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences XDB42020301 (to C.-Z.L.), and NSF grants 2114652 and 1657983 (to H.J.B.D.).

Description: This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in ten Brink, U. S., Vanacore, E. A., Fielding, E. J., Chaytor, J. D., Lopez-Venegas, A. M., Baldwin, W. E., Foster, D. S., & Andrews, B. D. Mature diffuse tectonic block boundary revealed by the 2020 southwestern Puerto Rico seismic sequence. Tectonics, 41(3), (2022): e2021TC006896, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021TC006896.

Description: Distributed faulting typically tends to coalesce into one or a few faults with repeated deformation. The progression of clustered medium-sized (≥Mw4.5) earthquakes during the 2020 seismic sequence in southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR), modeling shoreline subsidence from InSAR, and sub-seafloor mapping by high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, suggest that the 2020 SWPR seismic sequence was distributed across several short intersecting strike-slip and normal faults beneath the insular shelf and upper slope of Guayanilla submarine canyon. Multibeam bathymetry map of the seafloor shows significant erosion and retreat of the shelf edge in the area of seismic activity as well as slope-parallel lineaments and submarine canyon meanders that typically develop over geological time. The T-axis of the moderate earthquakes further matches the extension direction previously measured on post early Pliocene (∼〉3 Ma) faults. We conclude that although similar deformation has likely taken place in this area during recent geologic time, it does not appear to have coalesced during this time. The deformation may represent the southernmost part of a diffuse boundary, the Western Puerto Rico Deformation Boundary, which accommodates differential movement between the Puerto Rico and Hispaniola arc blocks. This differential movement is possibly driven by the differential seismic coupling along the Puerto Rico—Hispaniola subduction zone. We propose that the compositional heterogeneity across the island arc retards the process of focusing the deformation into a single fault. Given the evidence presented here, we should not expect a single large event in this area but similar diffuse sequences in the future.

Description: 2022-08-08

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 49(6), (2022): e2021GL095559, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095559.

Description: The valuable ecosystem services of salt marshes are spurring marsh restoration projects around the world. However, it is difficult to determine the final vegetated area based on physical drivers. Herein, we use a 3D fully coupled vegetation-hydrodynamic-morphological modeling system to simulate the final vegetation cover and the timescale to reach it under various forcing conditions. Marsh development in our simulations can be divided in three distinctive phases: A preparation phase characterized by sediment accumulation in the absence of vegetation, an encroachment phase in which the vegetated area grows, and an adjustment phase in which the vegetated area remains relatively constant while marsh accretes vertically to compensate for sea level rise. Sediment concentration, settling velocity, sea level rise, and tidal range each comparably affect equilibrium coverage and timescale in different ways. Our simulations show that the Unvegetated-Vegetated Ratio also relates to sediment budget in marsh development under most conditions.

Description: This study was supported by the Department of the Interior Hurricane Sandy Recovery program (ID G16AC00455), NSF awards 1637630 (PIE LTER) and 1832221 (VCR LTER), and China Scholarship Council.

Description: 2022-09-16

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126(10),(2021): e2021JB022050, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB022050.

Description: On-fault earthquake magnitude distributions are calculated for northern Caribbean faults using estimates of fault slip and regional seismicity parameters. Integer programming, a combinatorial optimization method, is used to determine the optimal spatial arrangement of earthquakes sampled from a truncated Gutenberg-Richter distribution that minimizes the global misfit in slip rates on a complex fault system. Slip rates and their uncertainty on major faults are derived from a previously published GPS block model for the region, with fault traces determined from offshore geophysical mapping and previously published onshore studies. The optimal spatial arrangement of the sampled earthquakes is compared with the 500-year history of earthquake observations. Rupture segmentation of the subduction interface along the Hispaniola-Puerto Rico Trench (PRT) fault and seismic coupling on the PRT fault appear to exert the primary control over this spatial arrangement. Introducing a rupture barrier for the Hispaniola-PRT fault northwest of Mona Passage, based on geophysical and seismicity observations, and assigning a low slip rate of 2 mm/yr on the PRT fault are most consistent with historical earthquakes in the region. The addition of low slip-rate secondary faults as well as segmentation of the Hispaniola and Septentrional strike-slip fault improves the consistency with historical seismicity. An important observation from the modeling is that varying the slip rate on the PRT fault and different segmentation scenarios result in significant changes to the optimal magnitude distribution on faults farther away. In general, optimal on-fault magnitude distributions are more complex and inter-dependent than is typically assumed in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis.

Description: Funding for this study is from the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program.

Description: 2022-04-11

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Loescher, H., Vargas, R., Mirtl, M., Morris, B., Pauw, J., Yu, X., Kutsch, W., Mabee, P., Tang, J., Ruddell, B., Pulsifer, P., Bäck, J., Zacharias, S., Grant, M., Feig, G., Zheng, L., Waldmann, C., & Genazzio, M. Building a global ecosystem research infrastructure to address global grand challenges for macrosystem ecology. Earth’s Future, 10(5), (2022): e2020EF001696, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020ef001696.

Description: The development of several large-, “continental”-scale ecosystem research infrastructures over recent decades has provided a unique opportunity in the history of ecological science. The Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI) is an integrated network of analogous, but independent, site-based ecosystem research infrastructures (ERI) dedicated to better understand the function and change of indicator ecosystems across global biomes. Bringing together these ERIs, harmonizing their respective data and reducing uncertainties enables broader cross-continental ecological research. It will also enhance the research community capabilities to address current and anticipate future global scale ecological challenges. Moreover, increasing the international capabilities of these ERIs goes beyond their original design intent, and is an unexpected added value of these large national investments. Here, we identify specific global grand challenge areas and research trends to advance the ecological frontiers across continents that can be addressed through the federation of these cross-continental-scale ERIs.

Description: This manuscript is in part the product of several workshops and ongoing GERI development. The first workshop was the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) sponsored and entitled: “Towards a Global Ecosystem Observatory”, 5–7 March 2017, University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia. Another workshop was sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and entitled: “Global Integrated Research Infrastructure component in Next Generation ILTER”, 17–20 April, 2018, South China Botanical Garden, Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, China. The National Science Foundation (NSF) supported two workshops. The first was entitled: ‘Building a Global Ecological Understanding’ held at the University of Delaware, Newark Delaware, 3–6 June, 2016 (NSF 1347883) and the second entitled: “Global Environmental Research Infrastructure (GERI) Planning Workshop”, held at NEON HQ, Boulder Colorado, 25–27 June 2019 (NSF 1917180). The authors wish to thank the workshop attendees for their thoughtful contributions. NEON is a project sponsored by the NSF and managed under cooperative support agreement (DBI-1029808) to Battelle.

Description: This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Hegermiller, C. A., Warner, J. C., Olabarrieta, M., Sherwood, C. R., & Kalra, T. S. Modeling of barrier breaching during hurricanes Sandy and Matthew. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 127(3), (2022): e2021JF006307, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JF006307.

Description: Physical processes driving barrier island change during storms are important to understand to mitigate coastal hazards and to evaluate conceptual models for barrier evolution. Spatial variations in barrier island topography, landcover characteristics, and nearshore and back-barrier hydrodynamics can yield complex morphological change that requires models of increasing resolution and physical complexity to predict. Using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system, we investigated two barrier island breaches that occurred on Fire Island, NY during Hurricane Sandy (2012) and at Matanzas, FL during Hurricane Matthew (2016). The model employed a recently implemented infragravity (IG) wave driver to represent the important effects of IG waves on nearshore water levels and sediment transport. The model simulated breaching and other changes with good skill at both locations, resolving differences in the processes and evolution. The breach simulated at Fire Island was 250 m west of the observed breach, whereas the breach simulated at Matanzas was within 100 m of the observed breach. Implementation of the vegetation module of COAWST to allow three-dimensional drag over dune vegetation at Fire Island improved model skill by decreasing flows across the back-barrier, as opposed to varying bottom roughness that did not positively alter model response. Analysis of breach processes at Matanzas indicated that both far-field and local hydrodynamics influenced breach creation and evolution, including remotely generated waves and surge, but also surge propagation through back-barrier waterways. This work underscores the importance of resolving the complexity of nearshore and back-barrier systems when predicting barrier island change during extreme events.

Description: C. A. Hegermiller is grateful to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program for support. This project was supported by the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program and the Office of Naval Research, Increasing the Fidelity of Morphological Storm Impact Predictions Project. M. Olabarrieta acknowledges support from the NSF project OCE-1554892.

Description: 2022-07-26

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zeigler, S. L., Gutierrez, B. T., Lentz, E. E., Plant, N. G., Sturdivant, E. J., & Doran, K. S. Predicted sea-level rise-driven biogeomorphological changes on Fire Island, New York: implications for people and plovers. Earth’s Future, 10(4), (2022): e2021EF002436, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002436.

Description: Forecasting biogeomorphological conditions for barrier islands is critical for informing sea-level rise (SLR) planning, including management of coastal development and ecosystems. We combined five probabilistic models to predict SLR-driven changes and their implications on Fire Island, New York, by 2050. We predicted barrier island biogeomorphological conditions, dynamic landcover response, piping plover (Charadrius melodus) habitat availability, and probability of storm overwash under three scenarios of shoreline change (SLC) and compared results to observed 2014/2015 conditions. Scenarios assumed increasing rates of mean SLC from 0 to 4.71 m erosion per year. We observed uncertainty in several morphological predictions (e.g., beach width, dune height), suggesting decreasing confidence that Fire Island will evolve in response to SLR as it has in the past. Where most likely conditions could be determined, models predicted that Fire Island would become flatter, narrower, and more overwash-prone with increasing rates of SLC. Beach ecosystems were predicted to respond dynamically to SLR and migrate with the shoreline, while marshes lost the most area of any landcover type compared to 2014/2015 conditions. Such morphological changes may lead to increased flooding or breaching with coastal storms. However—although modest declines in piping plover habitat were observed with SLC—the dynamic response of beaches, flatter topography, and increased likelihood of overwash suggest storms could promote suitable conditions for nesting piping plovers above what our geomorphology models predict. Therefore, Fire Island may offer a conservation opportunity for coastal species that rely on early successional beach environments if natural overwash processes are encouraged.

Description: Funding for this work was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey's Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, with supplemental funding through the Disaster Relief Act.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Chandanpurkar, H. A., Lee, T., Wang, X., Zhang, H., Fournier, S., Fenty, I., Fukumori, I., Menemenlis, D., Piecuch, C. G., Reager, J. T., Wang, O., & Worden, J. Influence of nonseasonal river discharge on sea surface salinity and height. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 14(2), (2022): e2021MS002715, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002715.

Description: River discharge influences ocean dynamics and biogeochemistry. Due to the lack of a systematic, up-to-date global measurement network for river discharge, global ocean models typically use seasonal discharge climatology as forcing. This compromises the simulated nonseasonal variation (the deviation from seasonal climatology) of the ocean near river plumes and undermines their usefulness for interdisciplinary research. Recently, a reanalysis-based daily varying global discharge data set was developed, providing the first opportunity to quantify nonseasonal discharge effects on global ocean models. Here we use this data set to force a global ocean model for the 1992–2017 period. We contrast this experiment with another experiment (with identical atmospheric forcings) forced by seasonal climatology from the same discharge data set to isolate nonseasonal discharge effects, focusing on sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface height (SSH). Near major river mouths, nonseasonal discharge causes standard deviations in SSS (SSH) of 1.3–3 practical salinity unit (1–2.7 cm). The inclusion of nonseasonal discharge results in notable improvement of model SSS against satellite SSS near most of the tropical-to-midlatitude river mouths and minor improvement of model SSH against satellite or in-situ SSH near some of the river mouths. SSH changes associated with nonseasonal discharge can be explained by salinity effects on halosteric height and estimated accurately through the associated SSS changes. A recent theory predicting river discharge impact on SSH is found to perform reasonably well overall but underestimates the impact on SSH around the global ocean and has limited skill when applied to rivers near the equator and in the Arctic Ocean.

Description: This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004) with support from the Physical Oceanography (PO) and Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP) Programs. High-end computing resources for the numerical simulation were provided by the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division at the Ames Research Center.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in German, C., Baumberger, T., Lilley, M., Lupton, J., Noble, A., Saito, M., Thurber, A., & Blackman, D. Hydrothermal exploration of the southern Chile Rise: sediment‐hosted venting at the Chile Triple Junction. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 23(3), (2022): e2021GC010317, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gc010317.

Description: We report results from a hydrothermal plume survey along the southernmost Chile Rise from the Guamblin Fracture Zone to the Chile Triple Junction (CTJ) encompassing two segments (93 km cumulative length) of intermediate spreading-rate mid-ocean ridge axis. Our approach used in situ water column sensing (CTD, optical clarity, redox disequilibrium) coupled with sampling for shipboard and shore based geochemical analyses (δ3He, CH4, total dissolvable iron (TDFe) and manganese, (TDMn)) to explore for evidence of seafloor hydrothermal venting. Across the entire survey, the only location at which evidence for submarine venting was detected was at the southernmost limit to the survey. There, the source of a dispersing hydrothermal plume was located at 46°16.5’S, 75°47.9’W, coincident with the CTJ itself. The plume exhibits anomalies in both δ3He and dissolved CH4 but no enrichments in TDFe or TDMn beyond what can be attributed to resuspension of sediments covering the seafloor where the ridge intersects the Chile margin. These results are indicative of sediment-hosted venting at the CTJ.

Description: We acknowledge University of California Ship Funds for their support of that shiptime and the NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research Grant NA08OAR4600757 which supported the research presented here. Finally, we thank two anonymous reviewers whose important contributions helped to improve the final version of this paper. This is PMEL contribution number 5341.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 127(1), (2022): e2021JC017927, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017927.

Description: Observations and high-resolution numerical modeling are used to investigate the dynamical processes related to the initiation of an advective Marine Heatwave in the Middle Atlantic Bight of the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf. Both the observations and the model identify two significant cross-shelf intrusions in November 2016 and January 2017, with the latter inducing large-magnitude water mass anomalies across the shelf. Model prognostic fields reveal the importance of the combination of cyclonic eddies or ringlets and upwelling-favorable winds in producing the large-distance cross-shelf penetration and temperature/salinity anomalies. The cyclonic eddies in close proximity to the shelfbreak set up local along-isobath pressure gradients and provide favorable conditions for the intensification of the shelfbreak front, both processes driving cross-isobath intrusions of warm, salty offshore water onto the outer continental shelf. Subsequently, strong and persistent upwelling-favorable winds drive a rapid, bottom intensified cross-shelf penetration in January 2017 composed of the anomalous water mass off the shelfbreak. The along-shelf settings including realistic representation of bathymetric features are essential in the characteristics of the cross-shelf penetration. The results highlight the importance of smaller scale cyclonic eddies and the intricacy of the interplay between multiple processes to drive significant cross-shelf events.

Description: This work was supported by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Independent Research and Development (IR&D) award and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office (CPO) Climate Variability and Predictability (CVP) program under grant NA20OAR4310398. Numerical modeling work was conducted at WHOI High-Performance Computing cluster Poseidon with startup support to Ke Chen.

Description: 2022-06-08

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 49, (2022): e2021GL096530, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl096530.

Description: Water-mass transports in the vast and seemingly quiescent abyssal ocean, basically along topographically-guided pathways, play a pivotal role in the Earth's climate. The pulse of abyssal circulations can be taken with observations at topographic choke points. The Yap-Mariana Junction (YMJ) is the exclusive choke point through which the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) enters the Philippine Sea. Here, we quantify the LCDW transport and its variability based on mooring observations at the YMJ and the Mariana Trench (MT). The LCDW flows northward toward the Philippine Sea as an intensified current on the western side of the YMJ, with maximum mean velocity reaching 7.6 cm/s. The mean LCDW transports through the MT and the YMJ are 2.2 ± 1.0 Sv and 2.1 ± 0.4 Sv, respectively. Reversal flow at autumn in both the YMJ and MT is captured, indicating seasonal variability of the abyssal flow.

Description: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 91858203, 91958205, 42076027, 41676011), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant no. 2018YFC0309800), the Global Change and Air–Sea Interaction Project (Grant no. GASI-IPOVAI-01-03, GASI-IPOVAI-01-02).

Description: 2022-07-28

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Wu, J., Parnell‐Turner, R., Fornari, D., Kurras, G., Berrios‐Rivera, N., Barreyre, T., & McDermott, J. Extent and volume of lava flows erupted at 9°50’N, East Pacific Rise in 2005–2006 from autonomous underwater vehicle surveys. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 23, (2022): e2021GC010213, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gc010213.

Description: Seafloor volcanic eruptions are difficult to directly observe due to lengthy eruption cycles and the remote location of mid-ocean ridges. Volcanic eruptions in 2005–2006 at 9°50′N on the East Pacific Rise have been well documented, but the lava volume and flow extent remain uncertain because of the limited near-bottom bathymetric data. We present near-bottom data collected during 19 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry dives at 9°50′N in 2018, 2019, and 2021. The resulting 1 m-resolution bathymetric grid and 20 cm-resolution sidescan sonar images cover 115 km2, and span the entire area of the 2005–2006 eruptions, including an 8 km2 pre-eruption survey collected with AUV ABE in 2001. Pre- and post-eruption surveys, combined with sidescan sonar images and seismo-acoustic impulsive events recorded during the eruptions, are used to quantify the lava flow extent and to estimate changes in seafloor depth caused by lava emplacement. During the 2005–2006 eruptions, lava flowed up to ∼3 km away from the axial summit trough, covering an area of ∼20.8 km2; ∼50% larger than previously thought. Where pre- and post-eruption surveys overlap, individual flow lobes can be resolved, confirming that lava thickness varies from ∼1 to 10 m, and increases with distance from eruptive fissures. The resulting lava volume estimate indicates that ∼57% of the melt extracted from the axial melt lens probably remained in the subsurface as dikes. These observations provide insights into recharge cycles in the subsurface magma system, and are a baseline for studying future eruptions at the 9°50′N area.

Description: This project is supported by National Science Foundation grants OCE-1834797, OCE-1949485, OCE-194893, OCE-1949938, and by Scripps Institution of Oceanography's David DeLaCour Endowment Fund.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126(12), (2021): e2021JB022201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB022201.

Description: Sparse wide-angle seismic profiling supported by coincident reflection imaging has been instrumental for advancing our knowledge about rifted margins. Nevertheless, features of critical importance for understanding rifting processes have been poorly resolved. We derive a high-resolution velocity model by applying full waveform inversion to the dense OETR-2009 wide-angle seismic profile crossing the northeastern Nova Scotian margin. We then create a coincident reflection image by prestack depth migrating the multichannel seismic data. This allows for the first detailed interpretation of the structures related to the final stages of continental breakup and incipient oceanic accretion at the Eastern North America Margin. Our interpretation includes a hyperextended continental domain overlying partially serpentinized mantle, followed by a 10-km-wide domain consisting of a continental block surrounded by layered and bright reflectors indicative of magmatic extrusions. A major fault, representing the continent-ocean boundary, marks a sharp seaward transition to a 16-km-wide domain characterized by smoother basement with chaotic reflectors, where no continental materials are present and a 3-km-thick embryonic oceanic crust overlying partially serpentinized mantle is created by the breakup magmatism. Further seaward, thin oceanic crust overlies the serpentinized mantle suggesting magma-poor oceanic spreading with variable magma supply as determined from variable basement topography, 2–4 km thick volcanic layer, and magnetic anomalies. Our results demonstrate that magmatism played an important role in the lithospheric breakup of the area crossed by the OETR-2009 profile. Considering that the northeastern Nova Scotian margin has been classified as amagmatic, large margin-parallel variations in magma supply likely characterize a single rift segment.

Description: H. Jian was supported by the Ocean Frontier Institute International Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dalhousie University and NSF grant OCE-2001012.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Rovira‐Navarro, M., Katz, R., Liao, Y., Wal, W., & Nimmo, F. The tides of Enceladus’ porous core. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 127, (2022): e2021JE007117, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021je007117.

Description: The inferred density of Enceladus' core, together with evidence of hydrothermal activity within the moon, suggests that the core is porous. Tidal dissipation in an unconsolidated core has been proposed as the main source of Enceladus' geological activity. However, the tidal response of its core has generally been modeled assuming it behaves viscoelastically rather than poroviscoelastically. In this work, we analyze the poroviscoelastic response to better constrain the distribution of tidal dissipation within Enceladus. A poroviscoelastic body has a different tidal response than a viscoelastic one; pressure within the pores alters the stress field and induces a Darcian porous flow. This flow represents an additional pathway for energy dissipation. Using Biot's theory of poroviscoelasticity, we develop a new framework to obtain the tidal response of a spherically symmetric, self-gravitating moon with porous layers and apply it to Enceladus. We show that the boundary conditions at the interface of the core and overlying ocean play a key role in the tidal response. The ocean hinders the development of a large-amplitude Darcian flow, making negligible the Darcian contribution to the dissipation budget. We therefore infer that Enceladus' core can be the source of its geological activity only if it has a low rigidity and a very low viscosity. A future mission to Enceladus could test this hypothesis by measuring the phase lags of tidally induced changes of gravitational potential and surface displacements.

Description: M. Rovira-Navarro has been financially supported by the Space Research User Support program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) under contract number ALW-GO/16–19. F. Nimmo and Y. Liao have been supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solar System Workings (SSW) Program, Grant No. 80NSSC21K0158. R. Katz acknowledges funding from the Leverhulme Trust through a Research Project Grant.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 127(5), (2022): e2021JC018359, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018359.

Description: Climate change is transforming the Arctic Ocean in unprecedented ways which can be most directly observed in the systematic decline in seasonal ice coverage. From the collection and analysis of particulate and dissolved activities of 210Po and 210Pb from four deepwater superstations, as a part of the US Arctic GEOTRACES cruise during 2015, and in conjunction with previously published data, the temporal and spatial variations in their activities, inventories and residence times are evaluated. The results show that the partitioning of particulate and dissolved phases has changed significantly in the 8 years between 2007 and 2015, while the total 210Po and 210Pb activities have remained relatively unchanged. Observed total 210Po/210Pb activity ratio was less than unity in all deepwater stations, implying disequilibria in the entire water column. From the distribution of total 210Po and 210Pb in the upper 500 m of all major Arctic Basins, the derived scavenging efficiencies decrease as per the following sequence: Makarov Basin 〉 Gakkel Bridge 〉 Canada Basin Nansen Basin ∼ Amundsen Basin 〉 Alpha Ridge, which is the reverse order of the calculated residence times of 210PoT. The scavenging intensities differ between the fully ice-covered, partially ice-covered, and no ice-covered stations, as observed from the differences in the average activities of 210Po and 210Pb. The average settling velocity of particulate matter based on the 210Pb activity is similar to the published values based on 230Th, indicating removal mechanism(s) of Th and Pb is (are) similar.

Description: This work was supported by National Science Foundation grants (NSF-PLR-1434578, MB; and NSF-OPP-1435376 KM). Mark Baskaran (PI) and Kanchan Maiti were independently funded by NSF.

Description: 2022-10-06

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 36(6), (2022): e2022GB007330, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gb007330.

Description: Processes controlling dissolved barium (dBa) were investigated along the GEOTRACES GA03 North Atlantic and GP16 Eastern Tropical Pacific transects, which traversed similar physical and biogeochemical provinces. Dissolved Ba concentrations are lowest in surface waters (∼35–50 nmol kg−1) and increase to 70–80 and 140–150 nmol kg−1 in deep waters of the Atlantic and Pacific transects, respectively. Using water mass mixing models, we estimate conservative mixing that accounts for most of dBa variability in both transects. To examine nonconservative processes, particulate excess Ba (pBaxs) formation and dissolution rates were tracked by normalizing particulate excess 230Th activities. Th-normalized pBaxs fluxes, with barite as the likely phase, have subsurface maxima in the top 1,000 m (∼100–200 μmol m−2 year−1 average) in both basins. Barite precipitation depletes dBa within oxygen minimum zones from concentrations predicted by water mass mixing, whereas inputs from continental margins, particle dissolution in the water column, and benthic diffusive flux raise dBa above predications. Average pBaxs burial efficiencies along GA03 and GP16 are ∼37% and 17%–100%, respectively, and do not seem to be predicated on barite saturation indices in the overlying water column. Using published values, we reevaluate the global freshwater dBa river input as 6.6 ± 3.9 Gmol year−1. Estuarine mixing processes may add another 3–13 Gmol year−1. Dissolved Ba inputs from broad shallow continental margins, previously unaccounted for in global marine summaries, are substantial (∼17 Gmol year−1), exceeding terrestrial freshwater inputs. Revising river and shelf dBa inputs may help bring the marine Ba isotope budget more into balance.

Description: The International GEOTRACES Programme is possible in part thanks to the support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant OCE-1840868) to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF OCE-0927951, NSF OCE-1137851, NSF OCE-1261214, and NSF OCE-1925503 to A. M. Shiller; NSF OCE-1829563 to R. F. Anderson; NSF OCE-0927064 and NSF OCE-1233688 to R. F. Anderson and M. Q. Fleisher; NSF OCE-0927754 to R. Lawrence Edwards; NSF OCE-1233903 to R. Lawrence Edwards and H. Cheng; NSF OCE-0926860 to L. F. Robinson; NSF OCE-0963026 and NSF OCE-1518110 to P. J. Lam; and NSF OCE-1232814 to B. S. Twining.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Reyes-Macaya, D., Hoogakker, B., Martinez-Mendez, G., Llanillo, P. J., Grasse, P., Mohtadi, M., Mix, A., Leng, M. J., Struck, U., McCorkle, D. C., Troncoso, M., Gayo, E. M., Lange, C. B., Farias, L., Carhuapoma, W., Graco, M., Cornejo-D’Ottone, M., De Pol Holz, R., Fernandez, C., Narvaez, D., Vargas, C. A., García-Araya, F., Hebbeln, D. Isotopic characterization of water masses in the Southeast Pacific Region: paleoceanographic implications. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127(1), (2022): e2021JC017525, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017525.

Description: In this study, we used stable isotopes of oxygen (δ18O), deuterium (δD), and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) in combination with temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient concentrations to characterize the coastal (71°–78°W) and an oceanic (82°–98°W) water masses (SAAW—Subantarctic Surface Water; STW—Subtropical Water; ESSW—Equatorial Subsurface water; AAIW—Antarctic Intermediate Water; PDW—Pacific Deep Water) of the Southeast Pacific (SEP). The results show that δ18O and δD can be used to differentiate between SAAW-STW, SAAW-ESSW, and ESSW-AAIW. δ13CDIC signatures can be used to differentiate between STW-ESSW (oceanic section), SAAW-ESSW, ESSW-AAIW, and AAIW-PDW. Compared with the oceanic section, our new coastal section highlights differences in both the chemistry and geometry of water masses above 1,000 m. Previous paleoceanographic studies using marine sediments from the SEP continental margin used the present-day hydrological oceanic transect to compare against, as the coastal section was not sufficiently characterized. We suggest that our new results of the coastal section should be used for past characterizations of the SEP water masses that are usually based on continental margin sediment samples.

Description: R/V Sonne cruises (SO102, SO211 ad SO245) were financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research projects #03G0102A, #03G0211A and #03G0245A. SO261 cruise was funded by the HADES-ERC Advanced Grant (“Benthic diagenesis and microbiology of hadal trenches” Grant agreement No. 669947) awarded to R. N. Glud (SDU, Denmark). SO245 cruise recived contributions from the Max Planck Society (Germany), the German State of Lower Saxony, the National Environmental Research Council of Great Britain and the Science Foundation of Ireland. R/V Meteor cruise M93 was financed by the Sonderforschungsbereich 754 “Climate-Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean” (www.sfb754.de), which is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. “Expedición TAITAO” was financed by the grant “Concurso Nacional de Asignación de Tiempo de Buque ASG-61 Cabo de Hornos” AUB180003, FONDECyT grants 11161091 (DN), 1180954 (CF), and the COPAS Sur-Austral Center (CONICYT PIA APOYO CCTE AFB170006). Sampling at Time-Series station 18 off Concepción during 2015 was funded by several FONDECYT/ANID grants from researchers at the Department of Oceanography and Research Line 5 of COPAS Sur-Austral (UdeC). ANID—Chile National Competition for ship time (AUB 150006/12806) financed the expedition LowpHOX organized by the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO). The expedition Crio1218 was financed by the PPR 137 titled “Proyecto de Estudio Integrado del Afloramiento Costero Frente a Perú" and sponsored by IMARPE-Perú. Additional funding was provided by the ANID—Millennium Science Initiative Program—NCN19_153 (Millennium Nucleus UPWELL), ANID/FONDAP (CR)2 15110009 (LF and EMG), FONDECYT Grant 1210171 (CAV), ANID/FONDAP IDEAL 15150003 (CBL), and the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO, ICN12_019). Dharma A. Reyes-Macaya was supported by Becas Chile (17342817-0), DAAD (57144001) and FARGO project (FAte of ocean oxygenation in a waRminG wOrld, UKRI).

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Liao, F., Liang, X., Li, Y., & Spall, M. Hidden upwelling systems associated with major western boundary currents. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 127, (2022): e2021JC017649, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jc017649.

Description: Western boundary currents (WBCs) play an essential role in regulating global climate. In contrast to their widely examined horizontal motions, less attention has been paid to vertical motions associated with WBCs. Here, we examine vertical motions associated with the major WBCs by analyzing vertical velocity from five ocean synthesis products and one eddy-resolving ocean simulation. These data reveal robust and intense subsurface upwelling systems, which are primarily along isopycnal surfaces, in five major subtropical WBC systems. These upwelling systems are part of basin-scale overturning circulations and are likely driven by meridional pressure gradients along the western boundary. Globally, the WBC upwelling contributes significantly to the vertical transport of water mass and ocean properties and is an essential yet overlooked branch of the global ocean circulation. In addition, the WBC upwelling intersects the oceanic euphotic and mixed layers, and thus likely plays an important role in ocean biological and chemical processes by transporting nutrients, carbon and other tracers vertically inside the ocean. This study calls for more research into the dynamics of the WBC upwelling and their role in the ocean and climate systems.

Description: X. Liang is supported by the National Science Foundation through Grants OCE-2021274, OCE-2122507, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation through Grant FG-2019-12536. M. Spall is supported through the National Science Foundation Grants OCE-1947290 and OCE-2122633.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 37(1), (2022): e020PA004137, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020PA004137.

Description: Reconstructions of aeolian dust flux to West African margin sediments can be used to explore changing atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate over North Africa on millennial to orbital timescales. Here, we extend West African margin dust flux records back to 37 ka in a transect of sites from 19° to 27°N, and back to 67 ka at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 658C, in order to explore the interplay of orbital and high-latitude forcings on North African climate and make quantitative estimates of dust flux during the core of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The ODP 658C record shows a Green Sahara interval from 60 to 50 ka during a time of high Northern Hemisphere summer insolation, with dust fluxes similar to levels during the early Holocene African Humid Period, and an abrupt peak in flux during Heinrich event 5a (H5a). Dust fluxes increase from 50 to 35 ka while the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere cools, with peaks in dust flux associated with North Atlantic cool events. From 35 ka through the LGM dust deposition decreases in all cores, and little response is observed to low-latitude insolation changes. Dust fluxes at sites from 21° to 27°N were near late Holocene levels during the LGM time slice, suggesting a more muted LGM response than observed from mid-latitude dust sources. Records along the northwest African margin suggest important differences in wind responses during different stadials, with maximum dust flux anomalies centered south of 20°N during H1 and north of 20°N during the Younger Dryas.

Description: This research was supported by NSF #OCE-1103262 to L. Bradtmiller, NSF #OCE-1030784 to D. McGee, P. deMenocal, and G. Winckler, and by internal grants from Macalester College and MIT.

Description: 2022-06-07

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zhou, P., Stockli, D. F., Ireland, T., Murray, R. W., & Clift, P. D. Zircon U-Pb age constraints on NW Himalayan exhumation from the Laxmi Basin, Arabian Sea. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 23(1), (2022): e2021GC010158, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC010158.

Description: The Indus Fan, located in the Arabian Sea, contains the bulk of the sediment eroded from the Western Himalaya and Karakoram. Scientific drilling in the Laxmi Basin by the International Ocean Discovery Program recovered a discontinuous erosional record for the Indus River drainage dating back to at least 9.8 Ma, and with a single sample from 15.6 Ma. We dated detrital zircon grains by U-Pb geochronology to reconstruct how erosion patterns changed through time. Long-term increases in detrital zircon U-Pb components of 750–1,200 and 1,500–2,300 Ma record increasing preferential erosion of the Himalaya relative to the Karakoram between 8.3–7.0 and 5.9–5.7 Ma. The average contribution of Karakoram-derived sediment to the Indus Fan fell from 70% of the total at 8.3–7.0 Ma to 35% between 5.9 and 5.7 Ma. An increase in the contribution of 1,500–2,300 Ma zircons starting between 2.5 and 1.6 Ma indicates significant unroofing of the Inner Lesser Himalaya (ILH) by that time. The trend in zircon age spectra is consistent with bulk sediment Nd isotope data. The initial change in spatial erosion patterns at 7.0–5.9 Ma occurred during a time of drying climate in the foreland. The increase in ILH erosion postdated the onset of dry-wet glacial-interglacial cycles suggesting some role for climate control. However, erosion driven by rising topography in response to formation of the ILH thrust duplex, especially during the Pliocene, also played an important role, while the influence of the Nanga Parbat Massif to the total sediment flux was modest.

Description: This work was partially funded by a grant from the USSSP, as well as additional funding from the Charles T. McCord Chair in petroleum geology at LSU, and the Chevron (Gulf) Centennial professorship and the UTChron Laboratory at the University of Texas.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Chase, A. P., Boss, E. S., Haentjens, N., Culhane, E., Roesler, C., & Karp-Boss, L. Plankton imagery data inform satellite-based estimates of diatom carbon. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(13), (2022): e2022GL098076, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098076.

Description: Estimating the biomass of phytoplankton communities via remote sensing is a key requirement for understanding global ocean ecosystems. Of particular interest is the carbon associated with diatoms given their unequivocal ecological and biogeochemical roles. Satellite-based algorithms often rely on accessory pigment proxies to define diatom biomass, despite a lack of validation against independent diatom biomass measurements. We used imaging-in-flow cytometry to quantify diatom carbon in the western North Atlantic, and compared results to those obtained from accessory pigment-based approximations. Based on this analysis, we offer a new empirical formula to estimate diatom carbon concentrations from chlorophyll a. Additionally, we developed a neural network model in which we integrated chlorophyll a and environmental information to estimate diatom carbon distributions in the western North Atlantic. The potential for improving satellite-based diatom carbon estimates by integrating environmental information into a model, compared to models that are based solely on chlorophyll a, is discussed.

Description: Funding for this work was provided by NASA grants #NNX15AE67G and #80NSSC20M0202. A. Chase is supported by a Washington Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 127(4), (2022): e2021JC018246, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jc018246.

Description: Storm surge barriers are increasingly being considered as risk mitigation measures for coastal population centers. During non-storm periods, permanent barrier infrastructure reduces the flow cross-sectional area and affects tidal exchange. Effects of barrier structures on estuarine tidal and salinity dynamics have not been extensively examined, particularly for partially mixed estuaries. A nested, high-resolution model is used to characterize impacts of a potential storm surge barrier near the mouth of the Hudson River estuary. Maximum tidal velocities through barrier openings are more than double those in the base case. Landward of the barrier, tidal amplitude decreases on average by about 6% due to increased drag. The drag coefficient with the barrier is about 5 times greater than the base case due primarily to form drag from flow separation at barrier structures rather than increased bottom friction. The form drag scales with barrier geometry similar to previous studies of flow around headlands. Tidal water levels are reduced particularly during spring tides, such that marsh inundation frequency is reduced up to 25%. Strong tidal velocities through barrier openings enhance salinity mixing locally, but overall mixing in the estuary decreases due to reduced tidal velocities. Correspondingly, stratification decreases near the barrier and increases landward in the estuary. The salinity intrusion length increases by 5%–15% depending on discharge due to the decreased mixing and increased exchange flow. Exchange flow increases near the barrier due reflux into the lower layer with the increased mixing, which has the potential to increase estuarine residence times.

Description: Funding from Hudson Research Foundation (Award #003/19A).

Description: 2022-10-11

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 126(10), (2021): e2021JC017537, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017537.

Description: Mixed-layer dynamics exert a first order control on nutrient and light availability for phytoplankton. In this study, we examine the influence of mixed-layer dynamics on net community production (NCP) in the Southern Ocean on intra-seasonal, seasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales, using biogeochemical Argo floats and satellite-derived NCP estimates during the period from 1997 to 2020. On intraseasonal timescales, the shoaling of the mixed layer is more likely to enhance NCP in austral spring and winter, suggesting an alleviation of light limitation. As expected, NCP generally increases with light availability on seasonal timescales. On interannual timescales, NCP is correlated with mixed layer depth (MLD) and mixed-layer-averaged photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in austral spring and winter, especially in regions with deeper mixed layers. Though recent studies have argued that winter MLD controls the subsequent growing season's iron and light availability, the limited number of Argo float observations contemporaneous with our satellite observations do not show a significant correlation between NCP and the previous-winter's MLD on interannual timescales. Over the 1997–2020 period, we observe regional trends in NCP (e.g., increasing around S. America), but no trend for the entire Southern Ocean. Overall, our results show that the dependence of NCP on MLD is a complex function of timescales.

Description: Work was supported by NSF OPP-1043339 to N.Cassar and NASA NNX13AC94G to M. S. Lozier. Z. Li was supported by a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (Grant No. NNX13AN85H) and the Postdoctoral Scholarship Program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Description: 2022-03-21

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 126(12), (2021): e2021JC017989, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017989.

Description: Gulf Stream warm-core rings (WCRs) impinging onto the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) shelf edge can induce substantial water exchange between the shelf and slope seas. Combining satellite imagery and idealized ocean models, this study investigates the long-neglected influence of submarine canyons on the WCR impingement process. Satellite images show onshore intrusion of the WCR water concentrated near the MAB shelf-break canyons, indicating canyon-induced enhancement of cross-shelf exchange. Model simulations of the ring-canyon interaction qualitatively reproduce the observed pattern and show greatly enhanced vertical motions and cross-shelf transport in a canyon. The ring-induced transient flow in a canyon resolved by the model is consistent with the three-dimensional canyon circulation driven by ambient along-slope steady flows as depicted in the literature. Cross-isobath flows occur over both canyon slopes with a strong upwelling onshore flow over the slope upstream to the coastal-trapped wave propagation (the upwave slope) and a weak downwelling offshore flow over the downwave slope. To conserve potential vorticity, a subsurface-intensified cyclonic eddy is formed inside the canyon, which interacts with the sloping bottom and enhances the upwelling onshore flow over the upwave slope. The upwelled deep ring water is transported either back offshore by the ring-edge current on the upwave side of the canyon or across the canyon onto the downwave shelf forming a localized bulge pattern. While the former is an ephemeral onshore transport process, the latter represents a more sustained onshore transport of the ring water, both of which have major implication for ecosystem dynamics at the shelf edge.

Description: XL was supported by the China Scholarship Council; ZR was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC1402000). This work was also support by the WHOI-OUC Collaborative Initiative Program.

Description: 2022-06-13

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zippel, S. F., Farrar, J. T., Zappa, C. J., & Plueddemann, A. J. Parsing the kinetic energy budget of the ocean surface mixed layer. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(2), (2022): 2021GL095920, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095920.

Description: The total rate of work done on the ocean by the wind is of considerable interest for understanding global energy balances, as the energy from the wind drives ocean currents, grows surface waves, and forces vertical mixing. A large but unknown fraction of this atmospheric energy is dissipated by turbulence in the upper ocean. The focus of this work is twofold. First, we describe a framework for evaluating the vertically integrated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) equation using measurable quantities from a surface mooring, showing the connection to the atmospheric, mean oceanic, and wave energy. Second, we use this framework to evaluate turbulent energetics in the mixed layer using 10 months of mooring data. This evaluation is made possible by recent advances in estimating TKE dissipation rates from long-enduring moorings. We find that surface fluxes are balanced by TKE dissipation rates in the mixed layer to within a factor of two.

Description: This work was funded by NSF Award No. 2023 020, and by NASA as part of the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS), supporting field work for SPURS-1 (NASA Grant No. NNX11AE84G), and for analysis (NASA Grant No. 80NSSC18K1494), and as part of SASSIE (NASA Grant No. 80NSSC21K0832). This work was also funded by NSF through Grant Award Nos. 1756 839, 2049546, and by ONR through Grant N000141712880 (MISO-BoB).

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Baranes, H., Woodruff, J., Geyer, W., Yellen, B., Richardson, J. & Griswold, F. Sources, mechanisms, and timescales of sediment delivery to a New England salt marsh. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 127, (2022): e2021JF006478, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jf006478.

Description: he availability and delivery of an external clastic sediment source is a key factor in determining salt marsh resilience to future sea level rise. However, information on sources, mechanisms, and timescales of sediment delivery are lacking, particularly for wave-protected mesotidal estuaries. Here we show that marine sediment mobilized and delivered during coastal storms is a primary source to the North and South Rivers, a mesotidal bar-built estuary in a small river system impacted by frequent, moderate-intensity storms that is typical to New England (United States). On the marsh platform, deposition rates, clastic content, and dilution of fluvially-sourced contaminated sediment by marine material all increase down-estuary toward the inlet, consistent with a predominantly marine-derived sediment source. Marsh clastic deposition rates are also highest in the storm season. We observe that periods of elevated turbidity in channels and over the marsh are concurrent with storm surge and high wave activity offshore, rather than with high river discharge. Flood tide turbidity also exceeds ebb tide turbidity during storm events. Timescales of storm-driven marine sediment delivery range from 2.5 days to 2 weeks, depending on location within the estuary; therefore the phasing of storm surge and waves with the spring-neap cycle determines how effectively post-event suspended sediment is delivered to the marsh platform. This study reveals that sediment supply and the associated resilience of New England mesotidal salt marshes involves the interplay of coastal and estuarine processes, underscoring the importance of looking both up- and downstream to identify key drivers of environmental change.

Description: The project described in this publication was in part supported by Grant or Cooperative Agreement No. G20AC00071 from the U.S. Geological Survey and a Department of Interior Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center graduate fellowship awarded to H.E.B (G12AC00001).

Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 127(5), (2022): e2021JC018222, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jc018222.

Description: Mixing processes in the upper ocean play a key role in transferring heat, momentum, and matter in the ocean. These mixing processes are significantly enhanced by wave-driven Langmuir turbulence (LT). Based on a paired analysis of observations and simulations, this study investigates wind fetch and direction effects on LT at a coastal site south of the island Martha’s Vineyard (MA, USA). Our results demonstrate that LT is strongly influenced by wind fetch and direction in coastal oceans, both of which contribute to controlling turbulent coastal transport processes. For northerly offshore winds, land limits the wind fetch and wave development, whereas southerly winds are associated with practically infinite fetch. Observed and simulated two-dimensional wave height spectra reveal persistent southerly swell and substantially more developed wind-driven waves from the south. For oblique offshore winds, waves develop more strongly in the alongshore direction with less limited fetch, resulting in significant wind and wave misalignments. Observations of coherent near-surface crosswind velocities indicate that LT is only present for sufficiently developed waves. The fetch-limited northerly winds inhibit wave developments and the formation of LT. In addition to limited fetch, strong wind–wave misalignments prevent LT development. Although energetic and persistent, swell waves do not substantially influence LT activity during the observation period because these relatively long swell waves are associated with small Stokes drift shear. These observational results agree well with turbulence-resolving large eddy simulations (LESs) based on the wave-averaged Navier–Stokes equation, validating the LES approach to coastal LT in the complex wind and wave conditions.

Description: We acknowledge the support of National Science Foundation grant OCE-1634578 for funding this work. The Office of Naval Research funded the CBLAST-low experiment. This research was supported in part through the use of Information Technologies (IT) resources at the University of Delaware, specifically the high-performance computing resources.

Description: 2022-10-20

Description: On the basis of a literature research, this subtask develops a conceptional framework for a common understanding of CE within the project team and for the following work packages and tasks. After a brief introduction into the objectives and the context of a circular economy, a more elaborated look into the necessity of an explicit understanding of CE, the objectives, the spatial perspective of CE and the specific challenges within the CICERONE context will be done, in order to develop a basis for a common understanding within the project context. Circular economy can and has to be understood as an (eco-)innovation agenda. Therefore, the paper investigates the role policy has to play to support innovation for a CE transition, for creating the framework conditions and why CE has also to be build from the ground up. Finally, the paper looks from two perspectives at emerging trends and business models in a CE to sketch next steps towards the transition in a selection of central sectors. Conclusions are drawn on the basis of the insights gained by the preceding chapters.

Description: The key objective of this deliverable is to gain insights on and assess how CE is being implemented and R&I is being funded at regional level, e.g., via the RIS3 strategy and Structural Funds. As such it sets the scope for the project and provides the background against which programmes and measures can be understood, assessed, developed and recommended in succinct tasks and work packages. The objective of this report is to provide a concise overview of the current R&I priorities, as expressed in running and newly introduced funding and legislative measures with respect to Circular Economy in European countries and regions.

Description: A main goal of this study - which also functions as deliverable 210078-D07 of the Circular Economy Beacons (CEB) project - is to evaluate currently available frameworks that measure and operationalise Circular Economy (CE), with a particular focus on the urban context. The regional focus lies on the Western Balkan region, which is at the centre of the project. Such "Urban Circularity Hotspot Frameworks" (UCHF) aim at providing decision support for policy makers, companies, citizens etc. regarding the transition to CE within cities. Based on the analysis of different frameworks, suggestions are derived regarding UCHF suitable for the specific characteristics of Western Balkan municipalities, i.e. a Circular Economy Beacons Urban Circularity Hotspot Framework (CEB-UCHF) ready for short-term implementation.

Description: Im Auftrag der Fraktion BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN im Bayerischen Landtag haben Forschende des Wuppertal Instituts wissenschaftlich überprüft, wie viele Treibhausgas-Emissionen im Jahr 2030 bestimmte landespolitische Klimaschutz-Maßnahmen potenziell einsparen können. Die vorliegende Studie schätzt dabei sowohl die Effekte der Maßnahmen auf die insgesamt verursachten Treibhausgas-Emissionen (Verursacherprinzip) als auch auf die in Bayern selbst statistisch erfassten Emissionen (Quellenprinzip) ab. Die Maßnahmen adressieren die folgenden fünf Bereiche: 1) Gebäude und Verkehrsmittel im Besitz der öffentlichen Hand. 2) Ausbau der Windenergie und Photovoltaik. 3) Energieeffizienz im Gebäudesektor. 4) Energieeffizienz und Verkehrsverlagerung im Transportsektor. 5) Landwirtschaft und Landnutzung. Zwei Beispiele der untersuchten Maßnahmen sind Verbesserungen der Rahmenbedingungen für den Bau neuer Windenergieanlagen und eine stärkere Nutzung des industriellen Abwärmepotenzials.