ALBERT

Description: The Denmark Strait Overflow (DSO) contributes roughly half to the total volume transport of the Nordic overflows. The overflow increases its volume by entraining ambient water as it descends into the subpolar North Atlantic, feeding into the deep branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. In June 2012, a multiplatform experiment was carried out in the DSO plume on the continental slope off Greenland (180 km downstream of the sill in Denmark Strait), to observe the variability associated with the entrainment of ambient waters into the DSO plume. In this study, we report on two high-dissipation events captured by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) by horizontal profiling in the interfacial layer between the DSO plume and the ambient water. Strong dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy of O( math formula) W kg−1 was associated with enhanced small-scale temperature variance at wavelengths between 0.05 and 500 m as deduced from a fast-response thermistor. Isotherm displacement slope spectra reveal a wave number-dependence characteristic of turbulence in the inertial-convective subrange ( math formula) at wavelengths between 0.14 and 100 m. The first event captured by the AUV was transient, and occurred near the edge of a bottom-intensified energetic eddy. Our observations imply that both horizontal advection of warm water and vertical mixing of it into the plume are eddy-driven and go hand in hand in entraining ambient water into the DSO plume. The second event was found to be a stationary feature on the upstream side of a topographic elevation located in the plume pathway. Flow-topography interaction is suggested to drive the intense mixing at this site.

Description: State-of-the-art climate models have long-standing intrinsic biases that limit their simulation and projection capabilities. Significantly weak ENSO asymmetry and weakly nonlinear air–sea interaction over the tropical Pacific was found in CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5) climate models compared with observation. The results suggest that a weak nonlinear air–sea interaction may play a role in the weak ENSO asymmetry. Moreover, a weak nonlinearity in air–sea interaction in the models may be associated with the biases in the mean climate—the cold biases in the equatorial central Pacific. The excessive cold tongue bias pushes the deep convection far west to the western Pacific warm pool region and suppresses its development in the central equatorial Pacific. The deep convection has difficulties in further moving to the eastern equatorial Pacific, especially during extreme El Ni˜no events, which confines the westerly wind anomaly to the western Pacific. This weakens the eastern Pacific El Ni˜no events, especially the extreme El Ni˜no events, and thus leads to the weakened ENSO asymmetry in climate models. An accurate mean state structure (especially a realistic cold tongue and deep convection) is critical to reproducing ENSO events in climate models. Our evaluation also revealed that ENSO statistics in CMIP5 climate models are slightly improved compared with those of CMIP3. The weak ENSO asymmetry in CMIP5 is closer to the observation. It is more evident in CMIP5 that strong ENSO activities are usually accompanied by strong ENSO asymmetry, and the diversity of ENSO amplitude is reduced.

Description: The existence of coral reef ecosystems critically relies on the reef carbonate framework produced by scleractinian corals and calcareous crusts (i.e., crustose coralline algae). While the Red Sea harbors one of the longest connected reef systems in the world, detailed calcification data are only available from the northernmost part. To fill this knowledge gap, we measured in situ calcification rates of primary and secondary reef builders in the central Red Sea. We collected data on the major habitat-forming coral genera Porites, Acropora, and Pocillopora and also on calcareous crusts (CC) in a spatio-seasonal framework. The scope of the study comprised sheltered and exposed sites of three reefs along a cross-shelf gradient and over four seasons of the year. Calcification of all coral genera was consistent across the shelf and highest in spring. In addition, Pocillopora showed increased calcification at exposed reef sites. In contrast, CC calcification increased from nearshore, sheltered to offshore, exposed reef sites, but also varied over seasons. Comparing our data to other reef locations, calcification in the Red Sea was in the range of data collected from reefs in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific; however, Acropora calcification estimates were at the lower end of worldwide rates. Our study shows that the increasing coral cover from nearshore to offshore environments aligned with CC calcification but not coral calcification, highlighting the potentially important role of CC in structuring reef cover and habitats. While coral calcification maxima have been typically observed during summer in many reef locations worldwide, calcification maxima during spring in the central Red Sea indicate that summer temperatures exceed the optima of reef calcifiers in this region. This study provides a foundation for comparative efforts and sets a baseline to quantify impact of future environmental change in the central Red Sea.

Description: Submarine groundwater discharge represents a major but poorly constrained component of coastal marine chemical budgets. In the current study, the geochemical behavior of 224Ra, inorganic nitrogen species, and Fe in shallow coastal groundwater was characterized to improve estimates of chemical flux via submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) at a site in the York River estuary, VA (USA). Directly measured SGD rates varied between 3.9 ± 1.2 cm day−1 offshore, and 8.9 ± 2.6 cm day−1 close to shore. A clear inverse relationship was observed between SGD and tidal height, reflecting the hydraulic gradient between groundwater and surface water. Discharge rates varied spatially in conjunction with the subterranean estuary location, and there was a strong inverse correlation between seepage rates and seepage salinity. Dissolved 224Ra activity in the mixing zone reached levels up to 6 dpm L−1 and co-varied with salinity in the groundwater but not in the surface water or seepage water. Instead, a consistent sigmoidal trend of Ra with pH was observed, which matched previous laboratory experiment results. Dissolved NH4 + reached concentrations up to 120 μM in the groundwater and appeared to mix conservatively with respect to salinity in the subterranean estuary. In contrast, NOx (NO2 − + NO3 −) was low in both fresh groundwater and surface water and showed non-conservative enrichment (up to 23 μM) within the subterranean estuary. Dissolved Fe also showed non-conservative excess in the subterranean estuary, reaching concentrations up to 50 μM. SGD-derived chemical fluxes were estimated using several different commonly used approaches: average groundwater concentrations, pore water constituent-salinity trends coupled with directly collected seepage salinity, constituent concentrations in directly collected seepage, and concentrations in shallowest groundwater samples. Different flux estimates were compared with a “variable endmember” approach based on the observed geochemical distribution and inferred behavior.

Description: Chlorophyll (Chl) is a distinctive component of autotrophic organisms, often used as an indicator of phytoplankton biomass in the ocean. However, assessment of phytoplankton biomass from Chl relies on the accurate estimation of the Chl:carbon(C) ratio. Here we present global patterns of Chl:C ratios in the surface ocean obtained from a phytoplankton growth model that accounts for the optimal acclimation of phytoplankton to ambient nutrient, light, and temperature conditions. The model agrees largely with observed/expected global patterns of Chl:C. Combining our Chl:C estimates with satellite Chl and particulate organic carbon (POC), we infer phytoplankton C concentration in the surface ocean and its contribution to the total POC pool. Our results suggest that the portion of POC corresponding to living phytoplankton is higher in subtropical latitudes and less productive regions (∼30–70%) and decreases to ∼10–30% toward high latitudes and productive regions. An important caveat of our model is the lack of iron limiting effects on phytoplankton physiology. Comparison of our predicted phytoplankton biomass with an independent estimate of total POC reveals a positive correlation between nitrate concentrations and nonphotosynthetic POC in the surface ocean. This correlation disappears when a constant Chl:C is applied. Our analysis is not constrained by assumptions of constant Chl:C or phytoplankton:POC ratio, providing a novel independent analysis of phytoplankton biomass in the surface ocean. These results highlight the importance of accounting for the variability in Chl:C and its application in distinguishing the autotrophic and heterotrophic components in the assemblage of the marine plankton ecosystem.

Description: This paper discribes characteristic features of the extrusive dome growth of the Young Shiveluch Volcano in 2001–2013 and analyzes variations in the chemical and mineralogic composition of magmas erupted during this period. It is shown that, compared with the earlier phases in the dome growth during 1980–1981 and 1993–1995, the andesites that were erupted in the 2000s are less homogeneous in bulk composition, crystal contents and contain phenocrysts, which differ in composition and the conditions of crystallization. These compositional feature of rocks are interpreted as resulting from convection in a shallow magma chamber, with the convection being caused by the arrival of a fresh portion of deep magma.

Description: Seafloor massive sulfide(SMS) deposits which consist of Au, Ag, Cu, and other metal elements, have been a target of commercial mining in recent decades. The demand for established and reliable commercial mining system for SMS deposits is increasing within the marine mining industry. The current status and progress of mining technology and equipment for SMS deposits are introduced. First, the mining technology and other recent developments of SMS deposits are comprehensively explained and analyzed. The seafloor production tools manufactured by Nautilus Minerals and similar mining tools from Japan for SMS deposits are compared and discussed in turn. Second, SMS deposit mining technology research being conducted in China is described, and a new SMS deposits mining tool is designed according to the environmental requirement. Finally, some new trends of mining technology of SMS deposits are summarized and analyzed. All of these conclusions and results have reference value and guiding significance for the research of SMS deposit mining in China.

Description: This study focuses on the climatic impacts of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) as a mode of internal variability. Given the difficulties involved in excluding the effects of external forcing from internal variation, i.e., owing to the short record length of instrumental observations and historical simulations, we assess and compare the AMO and its related climatic impacts both in observations and in the “Pre-industrial” experiments of models participating in CMIP5. First, we evaluate the skill of the 25 CMIP5 models’ “Historical” simulations in simulating the observational AMO, and find there is generally a considerable range of skill among them in this regard. Six of the models with higher skill relative to the other models are selected to investigate the AMO-related climate impacts, and it is found that their “Pre-industrial” simulations capture the essential features of the AMO. A positive AMO favors warmer surface temperature around the North Atlantic, and the Atlantic ITCZ shifts northward leading to more rainfall in the Sahel and less rainfall in Brazil. Furthermore, the results confirm the existence of a teleconnection between the AMO and East Asian surface temperature, as well as the late withdrawal of the Indian summer monsoon, during positive AMO phases. These connections could be mainly caused by internal climate variability. Opposite patterns are true for the negative phase of the AMO.

Description: We present an improved neotectonic numerical model of the complex NW Africa-SW Eurasia plate boundary segment that runs from west to east along the Gloria Fault up to the northern Algerian margin. We model the surface velocity field and the ongoing lithospheric deformation using the most recent version of the thin-shell code SHELLS and updated lithospheric model and fault map of the region. To check the presence versus the absence of an independently driven Alboran domain, we develop two alternative plate models: one does not include an Alboran plate; another includes it and determines the basal shear tractions necessary to drive it with known velocities. We also compare two alternative sets of Africa-Eurasia velocity boundary conditions, corresponding to geodetic and geological-scale averages of plate motion. Finally, we perform an extensive parametric study of fault friction coefficient, trench resistance, and velocities imposed in Alboran nodes. The final run comprises 5240 experiments, each scored to geodetic velocities (estimated for 250 stations and here provided), stress direction data, and seismic strain rates. The model with the least discrepancy to the data includes the Alboran plate driven by a basal WSW directed shear traction, slightly oblique to the westward direction of Alboran motion. We provide estimates of long-term strain rates and slip rates for the modeled faults, which can be useful for further hazard studies. Our results support that a mechanism additional to the Africa-Eurasia convergence is required to drive the Alboran domain, which can be related to subduction processes occurring within the mantle.

Description: Pre-stack depth migration data across the Hikurangi margin, East Coast of the North Island, New Zealand, are used to derive subducting slab geometry, upper crustal structure and seismic velocities resolved to ∼14 km depth. We investigate the potential relationship between the crustal architecture, fluid migration and short-term geodetically determined slow-slip events. The subduction interface is a shallow dipping thrust at 〈 7 km depth near the trench and steps down to 14 km depth along an ∼18 km long ramp, beneath Porangahau Ridge. This apparent bend in the décollement is associated with splay fault branching and coincides with a zone of maximum slip (90 mm) inferred on the subduction interface during slow slip events in June and July 2011. A low-velocity zone beneath the plate interface, up-dip of the plate interface ramp, is interpreted as fluid-rich overpressured sediments capped with a low permeability condensed layer of chalk and interbedded mudstones. Fluid rich sediments have been imbricated by splay faults in a region that coincides with the step down in the décollement from the top of subducting sediments to the oceanic crust and contribute to spatial variation in frictional properties of the plate interface that may promote slow slip behavior in the region. Further, transient fluid migration along splay faults at Porangahau Ridge may signify stress changes during slow slip.

Description: In natural environments, organisms must cope with complex combinations of abiotic stressors. Here, we use threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to examine how changes in salinity affect tolerance of high temperatures. Threespine stickleback inhabit a range of environments that vary in both salinity and thermal stability making this species an excellent system for investigating interacting stressors. We examined the effects of environmental salinity on maximum thermal tolerance (CTMax) and 70 kDa heat shock protein (hsp70) gene expression using divergent stickleback ecotypes from marine and freshwater habitats. In both ecotypes, the CTMax of fish acclimated to 20 ppt was significantly higher compared to fish acclimated to 2 ppt. The effect of salinity acclimation on the expression of hsp70-1 and hsp70-2 was similar in both the marine and freshwater stickleback ecotype. There were differences in the expression profiles of hsp70-1 and hsp70-2 during heat shock, with hsp70-2 being induced earlier and to a higher level compared to hsp70-1. These data suggest that the two hsp70 isoforms may have functionally different roles in the heat shock response. Lastly, acute salinity challenge coupled with heat shock revealed that the osmoregulatory demands experienced during the heat shock response have a larger effect on the hsp70 expression profile than does the acclimation salinity.

Description: Salt marshes provide numerous valuable ecological services. In particular, nitrogen (N) removal in salt marsh sediments alleviates N loading to the coastal ocean. N removal reduces the threat of eutrophication caused by increased N inputs from anthropogenic sources. It is unclear, however, whether chronic nutrient over-enrichment alters the capacity of salt marshes to remove anthropogenic N. To assess the effect of nutrient enrichment on N cycling in salt marsh sediments, we examined important N cycle pathways in experimental fertilization plots in a New England salt marsh. We determined rates of nitrification, denitrification, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) using sediment slurry incubations with 15 N labeled ammonium or nitrate tracers under oxic headspace (20% oxygen / 80% helium). Nitrification and denitrification rates were more than ten-fold higher in fertilized plots compared to control plots. By contrast, DNRA, which retains N in the system, was high in control plots but not detected in fertilized plots. The relative contribution of DNRA to total nitrate reduction largely depends on the carbon/nitrate ratio in the sediment. These results suggest that long-term fertilization shifts N cycling in salt marsh sediments from predominantly retention to removal. Long-term fertilization alters the relative importance of nitrate reduction pathways in salt marsh sediments: NO 3 - reduction in salt marsh sediments (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305480944_Long-term_fertilization_alters_the_relative_importance_of_nitrate_reduction_pathways_in_salt_marsh_sediments_NO_3_-_reduction_in_salt_marsh_sediments [accessed Jun 6, 2017].

Description: Gas hydrates are non-stoichiometric solid compounds in which low-molecular-weight gases are trapped (guests) within water cavities (hosts). The presence of gas hydrates is controlled by temperature, pressure, and the availability of appropriate gases and water.

Description: Bioassay incubation experiments conducted with nutrients and local atmospheric aerosol amendments indicate that phosphorus (P) availability limited phytoplankton growth in the low-nutrient low-chlorophyll (LNLC) ocean off Barbados. Atmospheric deposition provides a relatively large influx of new nutrients and trace metals to the surface ocean in this region in comparison to other nutrient sources. However, the impact on native phytoplankton is muted due to the high ratio of nitrogen (N) to P (NO3:SRP 〉 40) and the low P solubility of these aerosols. Atmospheric deposition induces P limitation in this LNLC region by adding more N and iron (Fe) relative to P. This favors the growth of Prochlorococcus, a genus characterized by low P requirements and highly efficient P acquisition mechanisms. A global three-dimensional marine ecosystem model that includes species-specific phytoplankton elemental quotas/stoichiometry and the atmospheric deposition of N, P, and Fe supports this conclusion. Future increases in aerosol N loading may therefore influence phytoplankton community structure in other LNLC areas, thereby affecting the biological pump and associated carbon sequestration.

Description: Subduction of a narrow slab of oceanic lithosphere beneath a tightly curved orogenic arc requires the presence of at least one lithospheric scale tear fault. While the Calabrian subduction beneath southern Italy is considered to be the type example of this geodynamic setting, the geometry, kinematics and surface expression of the associated lateral, slab tear fault offshore eastern Sicily remain controversial. Results from a new marine geophysical survey conducted in the Ionian Sea, using high‐resolution bathymetry and seismic profiling reveal active faulting at the seafloor within a 140 km long, two‐branched fault system near Alfeo Seamount. The previously unidentified 60 km long NW trending North Alfeo Fault system shows primarily strike‐slip kinematics as indicated by the morphology and steep‐dipping transpressional and transtensional faults. Available earthquake focal mechanisms indicate dextral strike‐slip motion along this fault segment. The 80 km long SSE trending South Alfeo fault system is expressed by one or two steeply dipping normal faults, bounding the western side of a 500+ m thick, 5 km wide, elongate, syntectonic Plio‐Quaternary sedimentary basin. Both branches of the fault system are mechanically capable of generating magnitude 6–7 earthquakes like those that struck eastern Sicily in 1169, 1542, and 1693.

Description: Food-limited growth of larval fish, defined as growth rates lower than observed in other habitats or from laboratory experiments at a given temperature, is rarely reported in field studies. This would imply that either larval fishes are living in an environment characterized by plenty of food, that nutritional condition selective mortality (i.e., eliminating the weak) is very strong, or this impression is caused by misinterpretation of data concerning e.g., poor taxonomical resolution of potential prey items, i.e., total potential prey abundance is high, but positively selected food is actually scarce. We analyzed RNA:DNA derived growth rates of herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.) and taxonomically differentiated prey field data of six consecutive spring seasons from the Kiel Canal, an artificial waterway in northern Germany, in order to test if food-limited growth in larval fish can occur recurrently in coastal habitats. In all years analyzed, larval growth rates decreased simultaneously with prey abundance at the end of each larval season. Furthermore, larval growth rates were observed to be lower than mean growth rates observed in another herring larvae nursery area at temperatures above 15 °C. Asymptotic relationships between prey abundance and larval growth rates were observed, further supporting the hypothesis of food-limitation. As larval growth was best explained by the abundance of the numerically dominant calanoid copepod Eurytemora affinis, the paramount importance of the dominant prey item is highlighted. We conclude that food limitation can be a severe and re-occurring issue for larval fish in coastal habitats, and that certain prey items play a crucial role in determining larval growth rates, and therefore potentially recruitment.

Description: Given a picture taken somewhere in the world, automatic geo-localization of such an image is an extremely useful task especially for historical and forensic sciences, documentation purposes, organization of the world’s photographs and intelligence applications. While tremendous progress has been made over the last years in visual location recognition within a single city, localization in natural environments is much more difficult, since vegetation, illumination, seasonal changes make appearance-only approaches impractical. In this chapter, we target mountainous terrain and use digital elevation models to extract representations for fast visual database lookup. We propose an automated approach for very large-scale visual localization that can efficiently exploit visual information (contours) and geometric constraints (consistent orientation) at the same time. We validate the system at the scale of Switzerland (40000km2) using over 1000 landscape query images with ground truth GPS position.

Description: Fluid pressure plays an important role in the stability of tectonic faults. However, the in situ mechanical response of faults to fluid pressure variations is still poorly known. To address this question, we performed a fluid injection experiment in a fault zone in shales while monitoring fault movements at the injection source and seismic velocity variations from a near‐distance (〈10 m) monitoring network. We measured and located the P and S wave velocity perturbations in and around the fault using repetitive active sources. We observed that seismic velocity perturbations dramatically increase above 1.5 MPa of injection pressure. This is consistent with an increase of fluid flow associated with an aseismic dilatant shearing of the fault as shown by numerical modeling. We find that seismic velocity changes are sensitive to both fault opening by fluid invasion and effective stress variations and can be an efficient measurement for monitoring fluid‐driven aseismic deformations of faults.

Description: This study constitutes a preliminary assessment of probabilistic tsunami inundation in the NE Atlantic region. We developed an event-tree approach to calculate the likelihood of tsunami flood occurrence and exceedance of a specific near-shore wave height for a given exposure time. Only tsunamis of tectonic origin are considered here, taking into account local, regional, and far-field sources. The approach used here consists of an event-tree method that gathers probability models for seismic sources, tsunami numerical modeling, and statistical methods. It also includes a treatment of aleatoric uncertainties related to source location and tidal stage. Epistemic uncertainties are not addressed in this study. The methodology is applied to the coastal test-site of Sines located in the NE Atlantic coast of Portugal. We derive probabilistic high-resolution maximum wave amplitudes and flood distributions for the study test-site considering 100- and 500-year exposure times. We find that the probability that maximum wave amplitude exceeds 1 m somewhere along the Sines coasts reaches about 60 % for an exposure time of 100 years and is up to 97 % for an exposure time of 500 years. The probability of inundation occurrence (flow depth 〉0 m) varies between 10 % and 57 %, and from 20 % up to 95 % for 100- and 500-year exposure times, respectively. No validation has been performed here with historical tsunamis. This paper illustrates a methodology through a case study, which is not an operational assessment.

Description: Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes (δ13C and δ18O) of foraminiferal tests are amongst the most important tools in paleoceanography, but the extent to which recrystallization can alter the isotopic composition of the tests is not well known. Here we compare three middle Miocene (16–13 Ma) benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records from eastern equatorial Pacific sites with different diagenetic histories to investigate the effect of recrystallization. To test an extreme case, we analyzed stable isotope compositions of benthic foraminifera from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1336, for which the geochemistry of bulk carbonates and associated pore waters indicates continued diagenetic alteration in sediments 〉 14.7 Ma. Despite this diagenetic overprinting, the amplitudes and absolute values of the analyzed U1336 stable isotopes agree well with high-resolution records from better preserved Sites U1337 and U1338 nearby. Our results suggest that although benthic foraminiferal tests of all three sites show some degree of textural changes due to recrystallization, they have retained their original stable isotope signatures. The good agreement of the benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records demonstrates that recrystallization occurred extremely rapidly (〈 100 kyr) after deposition. This is confirmed by the preservation of orbital cyclicities in U1336 stable isotope data and δ18O values being different to inorganic calcite that would precipitate from U1336 pore waters during late recrystallization. The close similarity of the benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records between the sites allows the well-resolved paleomagnetic results of Site U1336 to be transferred to Sites U1337 and U1338 improving the global geological timescale.

Description: We examine the interannual variability of the seasonal mean atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere during austral winter. The three major modes are identified by rotated EOF (REOF) analysis. As expected, REOF1 is associated with the Southern Annular Mode which is dominated by internal atmospheric dynamics. REOF2 displays a wave train, linked to the western North Pacific monsoon and the Pacific-Japan pattern in East Asia in the same season; REOF3 resembles the Pacific-South American pattern. Externally-forced variability strongly projects on both REOF2 and REOF3 so that, in the ensemble mean, an atmospheric model with prescribed observed sea surface temperature (SST) captures considerable parts of the time evolution of REOF2 (50%) and REOF3 (25%), suggesting a potential predictability for the two modes.

Description: We present a deep electrical resistivity image from the passive continental margin in Namibia. The approximately 700 km long magnetotelluric profile follows the Walvis Ridge offshore, continues onshore across the Kaoko Mobile Belt and reaches onto the Congo Craton. Two-dimensional inversion reveals moderately resistive material offshore, atypically low for oceanic lithosphere, reaching depths of 15–20 km. Such moderate resistivities are consistent with seismic P wave velocity models, which suggest up to 35 km thick crust. The Neoproterozoic rocks of the Kaoko Mobile Belt are resistive, but NNW-striking major shear-zones are imaged as subvertical, conductive structures in the upper and middle crust. Since the geophysical imprint of the shear zones is intact, opening of the South Atlantic in the Cretaceous did not alter the middle crust. The transition into the cratonic region coincides with a deepening of the high-resistive material to depths of more than 60 km.

Description: Volcanic ash deposition to the ocean forms a natural source of iron (Fe) to surface water microbial communities. Inputs of lithogenic material may also facilitate Fe removal through scavenging. Combining dissolved Fe (dFe) and thorium-234 observations alongside modelling, we investigate scavenging of Fe in the North Atlantic following the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. Under typical conditions biogenic particles dominate scavenging, whereas ash particles dominate during the eruption. The size of particles is important as smaller scavenging particles can become saturated with surface-associated ions. Model simulations indicate that ash deposition associated with Eyjafjallajökull likely led to net Fe removal. Our model suggests a three-fold greater stimulation of biological activity if ash deposition had occurred later in the growing season when the region was Fe-limited. The implications of ash particle-scavenging, eruption timing and particle saturation need to be considered when assessing the impact of ash deposition on the ocean Fe cycle and productivity.

Description: Prior to the 2000s, the North Atlantic was the basin showing the greatest warming. However, since the mid-2000s during the so-called global warming hiatus, large amounts of heat were transferred in this basin from upper to deeper levels while the dominance in terms of atmospheric heat capture moved into the Indo-Pacific. Here we show that a large transformation of modal waters in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA) played a crucial role in such contrasting behavior. First, strong winter mixing in 2005 transformed ENA modal waters into a much saltier, warmer, and denser variety, transferring upper ocean heat and salt gained slowly over time to deeper layers. The new denser waters also altered the zonal dynamic height gradient reversing the southward regional flow and enhancing the access of saltier southern waters to higher latitudes. Then, the excess salinity in northern regions favored additional heat injection through deep convection events in later years.

Description: The Arctic sea ice cover is thinning and retreating, causing changes in surface roughness that in turn modify the momentum flux from the atmosphere through the ice into the ocean. New model simulations comprising variable sea ice drag coefficients for both the air and water interface demonstrate that the heterogeneity in sea ice surface roughness significantly impacts the spatial distribution and trends of ocean surface stress during the last decades. Simulations with constant sea ice drag coefficients as used in most climate models show an increase in annual mean ocean surface stress (0.003 N/m2 per decade, 4.6%) due to the reduction of ice thickness leading to a weakening of the ice and accelerated ice drift. In contrast, with variable drag coefficients our simulations show annual mean ocean surface stress is declining at a rate of -0.002 N/m2 per decade (3.1%) over the period 1980-2013 because of a significant reduction in surface roughness associated with an increasingly thinner and younger sea ice cover. The effectiveness of sea ice in transferring momentum does not only depend on its resistive strength against the wind forcing but is also set by its top and bottom surface roughness varying with ice types and ice conditions. This reveals the need to account for sea ice surface roughness variations in climate simulations in order to correctly represent the implications of sea ice loss under global warming

Description: Heavy mineral associations from tephra layers in the Quaternary deposits of the Sea of Okhotsk and their chemical characteristics were studied by various techniques. It was shown that such investigations may have a bearing on the problems of tephrostratigraphic correlation. We assessed the possibility of application of the mineral composition of distal tephra for identification and, in particular, estimation of the relation of tephras to the explosive volcanism of back-arc and frontal zones of island arcs. The investigation of the compositions of minerals and use of mineral geothermometers and geobarometers (two-pyroxene, magnetite–ilmenite, and amphibole) provided evidence on the physicochemical parameters of melt crystallization during the explosive volcanic eruptions that produced the distal tephra layers. It was established that the pyroclastic material of some tephra layers was supplied during explosive eruptions not only from shallow magma chambers but also from deeper and higher temperature reservoirs. Together with the geochemical signatures of volcanic glasses, the obtained results on mineral associations and the geochemistry of mineral inclusions are applicable for the comparative analysis and correlation of tephras from marine and continental sequences, as well as for the identification of explosive volcanic products in adjacent land areas.

Description: Monowai is an active submarine volcanic center in the Kermadec Arc, Southwest Pacific Ocean. During May 2011, it erupted over a period of 5 days, with explosive activity directly linked to the generation of seismoacoustic T phases. We show, using cross-correlation and time-difference-of-arrival techniques, that the eruption is detected as far as Ascension Island, equatorial South Atlantic Ocean, where a bottom moored hydrophone array is operated as part of the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. Hydroacoustic phases from the volcanic center must therefore have propagated through the Sound Fixing and Ranging channel in the South Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans, a source-receiver distance of ~15,800 km. We believe this to be the furthest documented range of a naturally occurring underwater signal above 1 Hz. Our findings, which are consistent with observations at regional broadband stations and long-range, acoustic parabolic equation modeling, have implications for submarine volcano monitoring.

Description: Marine sediments deposited off the Zambezi River that drains a considerable part of the southeast African continent provide continuous records of the continental climatic and environmental conditions. Here we present time series of neodymium (Nd) isotope signatures of the detrital sediment fraction during the past ~45,000 years, to reconstruct climate-driven changes in the provenance of clays deposited along the Mozambique Margin. Coherent with the surface current regime, the Nd isotope distribution in surface sediments reveals mixing of the alongshore flowing Zambezi suspension load with sediments supplied by smaller rivers located further north. To reconstruct past changes in sediment provenances, Nd isotope signatures of clays that are not significantly fractionated during weathering processes have been obtained from core 64PE304-80, which was recovered just north of the Zambezi mouth at 1329 m water depth. Distinctly unradiogenic clay signatures (ENd values 〈214.2) are found during the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich Stadial 1, and Younger Dryas. In contrast, the Nd isotope record shows higher, more radiogenic isotope signatures during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and between ~15 and ~5 ka BP, the latter coinciding with the timing of the northern hemisphere African Humid Period. The clay-sized sediment fraction with the least radiogenic Nd isotope signatures was deposited during the Holocene, when the adjacent Mozambique Shelf became completely flooded. In general, the contribution of the distinctly unradiogenic Zambezi suspension load has followed the intensity of precession-forced monsoonal precipitation and enhanced during periods of increased southern hemisphere insolation and high-latitude northern hemispheric climate variability.

Description: Atlantis II Deep, a submarine basin of the Red Sea, is noteworthy because of its hydrothermally active brine pools. High-resolution temperature records from Poseidon Cruise during February 2011 revealed small steps thermal staircase in the lower transition zone from ≈2002 to 2008/2009 m depth at stations. Four vertically well-mixed convective layers, lower convective layer (LCL) and upper convective layers (UCL1–3), separated by high-temperature gradients at the interfaces were observed. The temperature of the layers UCL1–3 has dropped between 2008 and 2011. The top of UCL3 extends to about 2008/2009 m at stations and its average thickness has increased from 3.3 ± 0.5 m in 1992 to 7 m in 2011, whereas the thickness of layers UCL1–2 has decreased from 25.2 ± 0.3 m to 19.8 m and from 16.4 ± 0.5 m to 14.7 m, respectively, during this time. The upward buoyancy flux is 0.032 to 0.038 × 10−7 m2 s−3 which gives migration speed of UCL3 layer from 0.1 to 0.12 m year−1. With this speed, the thermal staircase ≈6 m thick will merge with UCL3 in 50 to 60 years increasing the thickness from 7 m to nearly 13 m.

Description: Correct species identifications are of tremendous importance for invasion ecology, as mistakes could lead to misdirecting limited resources against harmless species or inaction against problematic ones. DNA barcoding is becoming a promising and reliable tool for species identifications, however the efficacy of such molecular taxonomy depends on gene region(s) that provide a unique sequence to differentiate among species and on availability of reference sequences in existing genetic databases. Here, we assembled a list of aquatic and terrestrial non-indigenous species (NIS) and checked two leading genetic databases for corresponding sequences of six genome regions used for DNA barcoding. The genetic databases were checked in 2010, 2012, and 2016. All four aquatic kingdoms (Animalia, Chromista, Plantae and Protozoa) were initially equally represented in the genetic databases, with 64, 65, 69, and 61 % of NIS included, respectively. Sequences for terrestrial NIS were present at rates of 58 and 78 % for Animalia and Plantae, respectively. Six years later, the number of sequences for aquatic NIS increased to 75, 75, 74, and 63 % respectively, while those for terrestrial NIS increased to 74 and 88 % respectively. Genetic databases are marginally better populated with sequences of terrestrial NIS of plants compared to aquatic NIS and terrestrial NIS of animals. The rate at which sequences are added to databases is not equal among taxa. Though some groups of NIS are not detectable at all based on available data—mostly aquatic ones—encouragingly, current availability of sequences of taxa with environmental and/or economic impact is relatively good and continues to increase with time.

Description: The rising temperature of the world’s oceans is affecting coral reef ecosystems by increasing the frequency and severity of bleaching and mortality events. The susceptibility of corals to temperature stress varies on local and regional scales. Insights into potential controlling parameters are hampered by a lack of long term in situ data in most coral reef environments and sea surface temperature (SST) products often do not resolve reef-scale variations. Here we use 42 years (1970–2012) of coral Sr/Ca data to reconstruct seasonal- to decadal-scale SST variations in two adjacent but distinct reef environments at Little Cayman, Cayman Islands. Our results indicate that two massive Diploria strigosa corals growing in the lagoon and in the fore reef responded differently to past warming events. Coral Sr/Ca data from the shallow lagoon successfully record high summer temperatures confirmed by in situ observations (〉338C). Surprisingly, coral Sr/Ca from the deeper fore reef is strongly affected by thermal stress events, although seasonal temperature extremes and mean SSTs at this site are reduced compared to the lagoon. The shallow lagoon coral showed decadal variations in Sr/Ca, supposedly related to the modulation of lagoonal temperature through varying tidal water exchange, influenced by the 18.6 year lunar nodal cycle. Our results show that reef-scale SST variability can be much larger than suggested by satellite SST measurements. Thus, using coral SST proxy records from different reef zones combined with in situ observations will improve conservation programs that are developed to monitor and predict potential thermal stress on coral reefs.

Description: Volcanic activity in and around the year 536 CE led to severe cold and famine, and has been speculatively linked to large-scale societal crises around the globe. Using a coupled aerosol-climate model, with eruption parameters constrained by recently re-dated ice core records and historical observations of the aerosol cloud, we reconstruct the radiative forcing resulting from a sequence of two major volcanic eruptions in 536 and 540 CE. We estimate that the decadal-scale Northern Hemisphere (NH) extra-tropical radiative forcing from this volcanic “double event” was larger than that of any period in existing reconstructions of the last 1200 years. Earth system model simulations including the volcanic forcing show peak NH mean temperature anomalies reaching more than −2 °C, and show agreement with the limited number of available maximum latewood density temperature reconstructions. The simulations also produce decadal-scale anomalies of Arctic sea ice. The simulated cooling is interpreted in terms of probable impacts on agricultural production in Europe, and implies a high likelihood of multiple years of significant decreases in crop production across Scandinavia, supporting the theory of a connection between the 536 and 540 eruptions and evidence of societal crisis dated to the mid-6th century.

Description: This study aimed to constrain the source area of fluids responsible for the formation of a pockmark field in the eastern Red Sea. The newly discovered field extends over an area of at least 1,000 km2 at a water depth of ~400 m. The pockmarks have modal diameters of 140–150 m and are either randomly distributed on the seafloor or aligned within valleys approximately 25 m deep and several kilometres in length. Seismic data show that chimneys and/or regions of acoustic turbidity prevail beneath the pockmark field down to the top of Miocene evaporites, which are widespread in the Red Sea. Four gravity cores were taken from the pockmark field. For most of the cores, geochemical analyses show that porewater has a higher Cl concentration than the local seawater and increased Cl/Br ratios, which indicate an origin from evaporites. The adsorbed hydrocarbons are of thermal origin, with C1/(C2+C3) ratios between 4 and 23 and stable carbon isotope data for methane varying from δ13C of –34 to –36.4‰ with respect to Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite. On the basis of the calculated maturity of the source rock of 1.2–1.4 Ro, local thermal gradients and sedimentation rates, its deeper depth boundary is approximated at 2,000 to 2,200 m. The results indicate that the adsorbed hydrocarbons sampled at the seafloor had to pass through an evaporite sequence of potentially several hundred metres to a few km in thickness. The most likely explanation for the increased permeability of the evaporite sequence is brittle deformation triggered by extensive local tectonic movements and supported by high fluid overpressure within the evaporite sequence.

Description: We present major and trace element as well as Sr, Nd, and Hf isotope data on a suite of 87 plutonic rock samples from 27 felsic crustal intrusions in seven blocks of the Oman ophiolite. The rock compositions of the sample suite including associated more mafic rocks range from 48 to 79 wt% SiO2, i.e. from gabbros to tonalites. The samples are grouped into a Ti-rich and relatively light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched P1 group [(Ce/Yb)N 〉 0.7] resembling the early V1 lavas, and a Ti-poor and LREE-depleted P2 group [(Ce/Yb)N 〈 0.7] resembling the late-stage V2 lavas. Based on the geochemical differences and in agreement with previous structural and petrographic models, we define phase 1 (P1) and phase 2 (P2) plutonic rocks. Felsic magmas in both groups formed by extensive fractional crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, apatite, and Ti-magnetite from mafic melts. The incompatible element compositions of P1 rocks overlap with those from mid-ocean ridges but have higher Ba/Nb and Th/Nb trending towards the P2 rock compositions and indicating an influence of a subducting slab. The P2 rocks formed from a more depleted mantle source but show a more pronounced slab signature. These rocks also occur in the southern blocks (with the exception of the Tayin block) of the Oman ophiolite implying that the entire ophiolite formed above a subducting slab. Initial Nd and Hf isotope compositions suggest an Indian-MORB-type mantle source for the Oman ophiolite magmas. Isotope compositions and high Th/Nb in some P2 rocks indicate mixing of a melt from subducted sediment into this mantle.

Description: The relationship of Barents-Kara sea ice concentration in October and November with atmospheric circulation in the subsequent winter is examined using reanalysis and observational data. The analyses are performed on data with the 5-year running means removed to reduce the potential effects of slowly-varying external driving factors, such as global warming. We show that positive (negative) Barents-Kara sea ice concentration anomaly in autumn is associated with a positive (negative) North Atlantic Oscillation-like (NAO) pattern with lags of up to 3 months. The month-to-month variations in the lag relationships of the atmospheric anomalies related to November sea ice concentration are presented. Further analysis shows that the stratosphere-troposphere interaction may provide the memory in the system: positive (negative) sea ice concentration anomaly in November is associated with a strengthened (weakened) stratospheric polar vortex and these anomalies propagate downward leading to the positive (negative) NAO-like pattern in the late December to early January. This stratosphere mechanism may also play a role for Barents-Kara sea ice anomaly in December, but not for September and October. Consistently, Eliassen-Palm, eddy heat and momentum fluxes suggest that there is strong forcing of the zonal winds in November.

Description: A bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) occurs west of Svalbard in water depths exceeding 600 m, indicating that gas hydrate occurrence in marine sediments is more widespread in this region than anywhere else on the eastern North Atlantic margin. Regional BSR mapping shows the presence of hydrate and free gas in several areas, with the largest area located north of the Knipovich Ridge, a slow-spreading ridge segment of the Mid Atlantic Ridge system. Here, heat flow is high (up to 330 mW m-2), increasing towards the ridge axis. The coinciding maxima in across-margin BSR width and heat flow suggest that the Knipovich Ridge influenced methane generation in this area. This is supported by recent finds of thermogenic methane at cold seeps north of the ridge termination. To evaluate the source rock potential on the western Svalbard margin, we applied 1D petroleum system modeling at three sites. The modeling shows that temperature and burial conditions near the ridge were sufficient to produce hydrocarbons. The bulk petroleum mass produced since the Eocene is at least 5 kt and could be as high as ~0.2 Mt. Most likely, source rocks are Miocene organic-rich sediments and a potential Eocene source rock that may exist in the area if early rifting created sufficiently deep depocenters. Thermogenic methane production could thus explain the more widespread presence of gas hydrates north of the Knipovich Ridge. The presence of microbial methane on the upper continental slope and shelf indicates that the origin of methane on the Svalbard margin varies spatially.

Description: Hydrothermal convection at mid-ocean ridges links the ocean's long-term chemical evolution to solid earth processes, forms hydrothermal ore deposits, and sustains the unique chemosynthetic vent fauna. Yet the depth extent of hydrothermal cooling and the inseparably connected question of how the lower crust accretes remain poorly constrained. Here based on coupled models of crustal accretion and hydrothermal circulation, we provide new insights into which modes of lower crust formation and hydrothermal cooling are thermally viable and most consistent with observations at fast-spreading ridges. We integrate numerical models with observations of melt lens depth, thermal structure, and melt fraction. Models matching all these observations always require a deep crustal-scale hydrothermal flow component and less than 50% of the lower crust crystallizing in situ.

Description: Marine carbonate chemistry measurements have been carried out annually since 2009 during UK research cruises along the Extended Ellett Line (EEL), a hydrographic transect in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The EEL intersects several water masses that are key to the global thermohaline circulation, and therefore the cruises sample a region in which it is critical to monitor secular physical and biogeochemical changes. We have combined results from these EEL cruises with existing quality-controlled observational data syntheses to produce a hydrographic time series for the EEL from 1981 to 2013. This reveals multidecadal increases in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) throughout the water column, with a near-surface maximum rate of 1.800.45 mu molkg(-1)yr(-1). Anthropogenic CO2 accumulation was assessed, using simultaneous changes in apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and total alkalinity (TA) as proxies for the biogeochemical processes that influence DIC. The stable carbon isotope composition of DIC (C-13(DIC)) was also determined and used as an independent test of our method. We calculated a volume-integrated anthropogenic CO2 accumulation rate of 2.80.4mgCm(-3)yr(-1) along the EEL, which is about double the global mean. The anthropogenic CO2 component accounts for only 316% of the total DIC increase. The remainder is derived from increased organic matter remineralization, which we attribute to the lateral redistribution of water masses that accompanies subpolar gyre contraction. Output from a general circulation ecosystem model demonstrates that spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the observations has not significantly biased our multidecadal rate of change calculations and indicates that the EEL observations have been tracking distal changes in the surrounding North Atlantic and Nordic Seas.

Description: A temporal change in the stable isotope (SI) composition of jellyfish in the Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea, was documented by analyzing δ13C, δ15N and δ34S of bell tissue of Aurelia aurita and Cyanea capillata in the period between June and October 2011. A strong and significant temporal change in all SI values of A. aurita was found, including an increase of ~3 ‰ in δ13C, a decrease of ~4 ‰ in δ15N and sharp decline of ~7 ‰ in δ34S. While knowledge gaps in jellyfish isotope ecology, in particular the lack of reliable trophic enrichment factors, call for a conservative interpretation of our data, observed changes in particular in δ34S, as indicated by means of a MixSIR mixing model, would be consistent with a temporal dietary shift in A. aurita from mesozooplankton (〉150 µm) to microplankton and small re-suspended particles (0.8–20 µm) from the benthos. Presence of a hitherto unidentified food source not included in the model could also contribute to the shift. During the 2-month occurrence of C. capillata, its isotope composition remained stable and was consistent with a mainly mesozooplanktonic diet. Mixing model output, mainly driven by δ34S values, indicated a lower proportion of A. aurita in the diet of C. capillata than previously reported, and thus to a potentially lesser importance of intraguild predation among jellyfish in the Kiel Fjord. Overall, our results clearly highlighted the potential for substantial intraspecific isotopic seasonal variation in jellyfish, which should be taken into account in future feeding ecology studies on this group.

Description: Most macroalgae and other aquatic organisms feature life cycles without a stage of dormancy and elevated stress resistance that is comparable to plant seeds. During anthropogenic transportation, they are therefore probably more exposed to stress than plant invaders, which could result in a more rigorous selection of stress-resistant phenotypes. However, selection of stress resistance during invasion processes of aquatic organisms has rarely been studied. We therefore compared the responses of native and non-native populations of the seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla to heat shock in common garden-type experiments. Specimens from six native populations in East Asia and from eight non-native populations in Europe and on the Mexican Pacific coast were acclimated to two sets of identical conditions before their resistance to heat shock was examined. The experiments were carried out twice—one time in the native range in Qingdao, China, and one time in the invaded range in Kiel, Germany—to rule out effects of specific local conditions. In both testing sites the non-native populations survived heat shock significantly better than the native populations. After three hours of heat shock G. vermiculophylla exhibited increased levels of heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) and of a specific isoform of haloperoxidase, suggesting that both enzymes could be required for heat-shock stress management. However, the elevated resistance toward heat shock of non-native populations only correlated with an increased constitutive expression of heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70). The haloperoxidase isoform was more prominent in native populations, suggesting that not only increased HSP70 expression, but also reduced allocation into haloperoxidase expression after heat shock was selected during the invasion history. This selection probably happened early because the same combination of traits was detected in all realms within the non-native range.

Description: Tropical coral reef monitoring relies heavily on in situ diver observations. However, in many reef regions resources are not available to regularly monitor reefs. This lack of historical baseline data makes it difficult to determine how different reefs respond to environmental stressors and what the implications are for management. To test whether coral cores could be used to identify bleaching events retrospectively, three sites in Tobago with pre-existing reef data including water quality and bleaching observations were identified. Colpophyllia natans cores were examined for growth anomalies which occurred during periods of thermal stress. If present, anomalies were compared to in situ, real-time bleaching observations and water quality data. Interestingly, sites with better water quality during the 2005 thermal anomaly were less prone to bleaching. We suggest that by reducing terrestrial run-off (e.g., sediment and nutrients), and therefore improving marine water quality, reef managers could enhance near-shore coral reef resilience during high-temperature events.

Description: Global change exposes brown algal Fucus vesiculosus populations to increasing temperature and pCO2, which may threaten individuals, in particular the early life-stages. Genetic diversity of F. vesiculosus populations is low in the Baltic compared to Atlantic populations. This might jeopardise their potential for adaptation to environmental changes. Here, we report on the responses of early life-stage F. vesiculosus to warming and acidification in a near-natural scenario maintaining natural and seasonal variation (spring 2013–2014) of the Kiel Fjord in the Baltic Sea, Germany (54°27ʹN, 10°11ʹW). We assessed how stress sensitivity differed among sibling groups and how genetic diversity of germling populations affected their stress tolerance. Warming increased growth rates of Fucus germlings in spring and in early summer, but led to higher photoinhibition in spring and decreased their survival in late summer. Acidification increased germlings’ growth in summer but otherwise showed much weaker effects than warming. During the colder seasons (autumn and winter), growth was slow while survival was high compared to spring and summer, all at ambient temperatures. A pronounced variation in stress response among genetically different sibling groups (full-sib families) suggests a genotypic basis for this variation and thus a potential for adaptation for F. vesiculosus populations to future conditions. Corroborating this, survival in response to warming in populations with higher diversity was better than the mean survival of single sibling groups. We conclude that impacts on early life-stages depend on the combination of stressors and season and that genetic variation is crucial for the tolerance to global change stress.

Description: Rising seawater temperature and CO2 concentrations (ocean acidification) represent two of the most influential factors impacting marine ecosystems in the face of global climate change. In ecological climate change research, full-factorial experiments performed across seasons in multispecies, cross-trophic-level settings are essential as they permit a more realistic estimation of direct and indirect effects as well as the relative importance of the effects of both major environmental stressors on ecosystems. In benthic mesocosm experiments, we tested the responses of coastal Baltic Sea Fucus vesiculosus communities to elevated seawater temperature and CO2 concentrations across four seasons of one year. While increasing [CO2] levels had only minor effects, warming had strong and persistent effects on grazers, and the resulting effects on the Fucus community were found to be season dependent. In late summer, a temperature-driven collapse of grazers caused a cascading effect from the consumers to the foundation species, resulting in overgrowth of Fucus thalli by epiphytes. In fall/winter (outside the growing season of epiphytes), intensified grazing under warming resulted in a significant reduction in Fucus biomass. Thus, we were able to confirm the prediction that future increases in water temperatures will influence marine food-web processes by altering top-down control, but we were also able to show that specific consequences for food-web structure depend on the season. Since F. vesiculosus is the dominant habitat-forming brown algal system in the Baltic Sea, its potential decline under global warming implies a loss of key functions and services such as provision of nutrient storage, substrate, food, shelter, and nursery grounds for a diverse community of marine invertebrates and fish in Baltic Sea coastal waters.

Description: A long-standing problem in climate models is the large sea surface salinity (SSS) biases in the North Atlantic. In this study, we describe the influences of correcting these SSS biases on the circulation of the North Atlantic as well as on North Atlantic sector mean climate and decadal to multidecadal variability. We performed integrations of the Kiel Climate Model (KCM) with and without applying a freshwater flux correction over the North Atlantic. The quality of simulating the mean circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic sector mean climate and decadal variability is greatly enhanced in the freshwater flux-corrected integration which, by definition, depicts relatively small North Atlantic SSS biases. In particular, a large reduction in the North Atlantic cold sea surface temperature bias is observed and a more realistic Atlantic Multidecadal Variability simulated. Improvements relative to the non-flux corrected integration also comprise a more realistic representation of deep convection sites, sea ice, gyre circulation and Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The results suggest that simulations of North Atlantic sector mean climate and decadal variability could strongly benefit from alleviating sea surface salinity biases in the North Atlantic, which may enhance the skill of decadal predictions in that region.

Description: The polysaccharide laminarin (β-1,3-glucan) is used as a long-term carbon storage compound in brown algae. This chemical storage form of carbon enables perennial brown algae in seasonally fluctuating ecosystems to uncouple growth from photosynthesis, i.e., most of these plants grow as seasonal anticipators in winter based on remobilization of laminarin, while in summer, growth typically ceased to fill up the storage pool. Because of this high ecological relevance, a reliable and precise method for determination and quantification of laminarin is needed. Therefore, a simple, efficient, cold water extraction method coupled to a new quantitative liquid chromatography-mass spectrometrical method (LC-MS) was developed. Laminarin was determined in 9 out of 12 brown algal species, and its expected typical molar mass distribution of 2000–7000 Da was confirmed. Furthermore, laminarin consisted of a complex mixture of different chemical forms, since 15 chemical laminarin species with distinct molecular weights were measured in 9 species of brown algae. Differences in chain length and number of laminarin species seem to be species specific and hence may indicate some chemotaxonomic value. Laminarin concentrations in the algal tissues ranged from 0.03 to 0.86 % dry weight (DW). The direct chemical characterization and quantification of laminarin by LC-MS represents a powerful method to verify the biochemical and ecological importance of laminarin for brown algae.

Description: It is well recognized that microorganisms associated with marine invertebrates, in particular sponges and hard corals, are an excellent source of new natural products. Therefore, the diversity of bacteria associated with marine invertebrates and their potential to produce bioactive compounds have received much attention in recent years. We report here for the first time on the biodiversity of bacteria associated with the soft coral Alcyonium digitatum, which is abundant in the Baltic Sea. In order to increase the cultured diversity, bacteria were isolated using four different media, identified with support of 16S rRNA gene sequences and screened for antimicrobial activity using two different media. Activity of crude extracts was tested against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, and the yeast Candida albicans. A total of 251 coral-associated bacterial isolates were classified and found to belong to 41 species in 14 genera of the Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria. The genus Bacillus was most abundant and diverse with 17 recognized species. Forty-eight percent of all 251 isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity. All isolates of Bacillus methylotrophicus and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens displayed inhibition of at least three out of the four tested microorganisms. It became obvious during this study that the production of antibiotic substances not only is strain-specific, but in many cases also depends on the media composition and growth conditions. In addition, the antimicrobial potential of bacteria associated with A. digitatum may represent a promising source for antimicrobial substances.

Description: Within the accretionary prism offshore SW Taiwan, widespread gas hydrate accumulations are postulated to occur based on the presence of a bottom simulating reflection. Methane seepage, however, is also widespread at accretionary ridges offshore SW Taiwan and may indicate a significant loss of methane bypassing the gas hydrate system. Four Way Closure Ridge, located in 1,500 m water depth, is an anticlinal ridge that would constitute an ideal trap for methane and consequently represents a site with good potential for gas hydrate accumulations. The analysis of high-resolution bathymetry, deep-towed sidescan sonar imagery, high-resolution seismic profiling and towed video observations of the seafloor shows that Four Way Closure Ridge is and has been a site of intensive methane seepage. Continuous seepage is mainly evidenced by large accumulations of authigenic carbonate precipitates, which appear to be controlled by the creation of fluid pathways through faulting. Consequently, Four Way Closure Ridge is not a closed system in terms of fluid migration and seepage. A conceptual model of the evolution of gas hydrates and seepage at accretionary ridges suggests that seepage is common and may be a standard feature during the geological development of ridges in accretionary prisms. The observation of seafloor seepage alone is therefore not a reliable indicator of exploitable gas hydrate accumulations at depth.

Description: Processes occurring during early life-history stages influence the year-class abundance of marine fish. We found that the abundance of 1-year-old spring spawning herring is statistically significantly determined by the number of post-flexion herring larvae in the Gulf of Riga (Baltic Sea). The abundance of consecutive developmental stages of larvae: yolk-sac, pre-flexion, flexion and post-flexion strongly correlated with each other, indicating that factors which already influence the yolk-sac stage are important in determining the abundance of post-flexion herring larvae. Winter air temperature before spawning determined the timing of maximum abundance of pre-flexion herring larvae, but not their main prey: copepod nauplii, implying that different mechanisms governing major preconditions for the formation of year-class strength. The abundance of post-flexion larvae displayed a potential dome-shaped relationship with sea surface temperature experienced after hatching. We suggest that increased summer temperatures, which exceed the physiological optimum negatively, affect the survival of post-flexion herring larvae. Overall, future climate warming poses an additional risk to larval herring survival and this may lead to a reduction in those herring stock which rely on recruitment from shallow coastal areas.

Description: The Asian green mussel Perna viridis is tolerant to environmental stress, but its robustness varies between populations from habitats that differ in quality. So far, it is unclear whether local adaptations through stress-induced selection or phenotypic plasticity are responsible for these inter-population differences. We tested for the relevance of both mechanisms by comparing survival under hypoxia in mussels that were transplanted from an anthropogenically impacted (Jakarta Bay, Indonesia) to a natural habitat (Lada Bay, Indonesia) and vice versa. Mussels were retrieved 8 weeks after transplantation and exposed to hypoxia in the laboratory. Additional hypoxia tests were conducted with juvenile mussels collected directly from both sites. To elucidate possible relationships between habitat quality and mussel tolerance, we monitored concentrations of inorganic nutrients, temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, phytoplankton density and the mussels’ body condition index (BCI) for 20 months before, during and after the experiments. Survival under hypoxia depended mainly on the quality of the habitat where the mussels lived before the hypoxia tests and only to a small degree on their site of origin. Furthermore, stress tolerance was only higher in Jakarta than in Lada Bay mussels when the BCIs were substantially higher, which in turn correlated with the phytoplankton densities. We explain why phenotypic plasticity and high BCIs are more likely the causes of population-specific differences in hypoxia tolerance in P. viridis than stress-induced selection for robust genotypes. This is relevant to understanding the role of P. viridis as mariculture organism in eutrophic ecosystems and invasive species in the (sub)tropical world.

Description: The formation of a subsurface anticyclonic eddy in the Peru-Chile Undercurrent (PCUC) in January and February 2013 is investigated using a multi-platform four-dimensional observational approach. Research vessel, multiple glider and mooring-based measurements were conducted in the Peruvian upwelling regime near 12°30'S. The dataset consists of 〉 10000 glider profiles and repeated vessel-based hydrography and velocity transects. It allows a detailed description of the eddy formation and its impact on the near-coastal salinity, oxygen and nutrient distributions. In early January, a strong PCUC with maximum poleward velocities of ∼ 0.25 m/s at 100 to 200 m depth was observed. Starting on January 20 a subsurface anticyclonic eddy developed in the PCUC downstream of a topographic bend, suggesting flow separation as the eddy formation mechanism. The eddy core waters exhibited oxygen concentrations 〈 1μmol/kg, an elevated nitrogen-deficit of ∼ 17μmol/l and potential vorticity close to zero, which seemed to originate from the bottom boundary layer of the continental slope. The eddy-induced across-shelf velocities resulted in an elevated exchange of water masses between the upper continental slope and the open ocean. Small scale salinity and oxygen structures were formed by along-isopycnal stirring and indications of eddy-driven oxygen ventilation of the upper oxygen minimum zone were observed. It is concluded that mesoscale stirring of solutes and the offshore transport of eddy core properties could provide an important coastal open-ocean exchange mechanism with potentially large implications for nutrient budgets and biogeochemical cycling in the oxygen minimum zone off Peru.

Description: Given a picture taken somewhere in the world, automatic geo-localization of such an image is an extremely useful task especially for historical and forensic sciences, documentation purposes, organization of the world’s photographs and intelligence applications. While tremendous progress has been made over the last years in visual location recognition within a single city, localization in natural environments ismuch more difficult, since vegetation, illumination, seasonal changes make appearance-only approaches impractical. In this work, we target mountainous terrain and use digital elevationmodels to extract representations for fast visual database lookup. We propose an automated approach for very large scale visual localization that can efficiently exploit visual information (contours) and geometric constraints (consistent orientation) at the same time.We validate the system at the scale of Switzerland (40,000 km2) using over 1000 landscape query images with ground truth GPS position.

Description: San Cristóbal volcano is the highest and one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua. Its persistently high activity during the past decade is characterized by strong degassing and almost annual VEI 1–2 explosions, which present a threat to the local communities. Following an eruption on 8 September 2012, the intervals between eruptions decreased significantly, which we interpret as the start of a new eruptive phase. We present here the results of semi-continuous SO2 flux measurements covering a period of 18 months, obtained by two scanning UV-DOAS instruments installed as a part of the network for observation of volcanic and atmospheric change project, and the results of real-time seismic amplitude measurements (RSAM) data. Our data comprise a series of small to moderately explosive events in December 2012, June 2013 and February 2014, which were accompanied by increased gas emissions and seismicity. In order to approach an early warning strategy, we present a statistical method for the joint analysis of gas flux and seismic data, by using continuous wavelet transform and cross-wavelet transform (XWT) methods. This analysis shows that the XWT coefficients of SO2 flux and RSAM are in good agreement with the occurrence of eruptive events and thus may be used to indicate magma ascent into the volcano edifice. Such multi-parameter surveillance efforts can be useful for the interpretation and surveillance of possible eruptive events and could thus be used by local institutions for the prediction of upcoming volcanic unrest.

Description: This study reports an adaptation of a parametric echosounder system using 15 kHz as secondary frequency to investigate the angular response of sub-bottom backscatter strength of layered mud, providing a new method for enhanced acoustic detection of buried targets. Adaptions to achieve both vertical (0°) and non-vertical inclination (1– 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°) comprise mechanical tilting of the acoustic transducer and electronic beam steering. Data were acquired at 18 m water depth at a study site characterized by a flat, muddy seafloor where a 0.1 m diameter power cable lies 1–2 m below the seafloor. Surveying the cable with vertical incidence revealed that the buried cable can hardly be discriminated against the backscatter strength of the layered mud. However, the backscatter strength of layered mud decreases strongly at 〉3±0.5° incidence and the layered mud echo pattern vanishes beyond 5°. As a consequence, the backscatter pattern of the buried cable is very pronounced in acoustic images gathered at 15°, 30°, 45° and 60° incidence. The size of the cable echo pattern increases linearly with incidence. These effects are attributed to reflection loss from layered mud at larger incidence and to the scattering of the 0.1 m diameter buried cable. Data analyses support the visual impression of superior detection of the cable with an up to 2.6-fold increase of the signal-to-noise ratio at 40° incidence compared to the vertical incidence case.

Description: Export of brine-enriched water from Siberian shelves is thought to be a key parameter in maintaining the Arctic Halocline, which isolates the fresh and cold surface water from the warm Atlantic water and thus prevent dramatic change in the Arctic sea-ice thermodynamic. In this study, we used five years of oxygen isotope and hydrological summer surveys to better understand the factors controlling the brine inventory and distribution over the Laptev Sea shelf. The inventory was maximal in 2011 and 2007 and minimal in 2010. The brine inventory interannual variations are coherent with the winter Arctic Oscillation index that was maximal in 2011 and 2007 and minimal in 2010, which is known to modulate Arctic winds and sea-ice export pattern. While we should remain cautious since our record is limited to 5-years, our results suggest that the combined effect of the Arctic Oscillation and of the Arctic Dipole is the main factor controlling the annual variations in the inventory of brine-enriched waters from the Laptev Sea shelf between 2007 and 2011, especially during extreme negative Arctic Oscillation and Arctic Dipole conditions as in 2010.

Description: This chapter investigates the particular challenges for joint inversion in the context of hydrocarbon exploration. It reviews the current literature and introduces interesting approaches that have been developed in the context of hydrocarbon exploration and could potentially be used in other application areas as well. Joint inversion methods incorporating petro physical models of the reservoir can directly yield quantities of interest such as porosity and permeability, but have to be carefully tuned to the area under investigation. The chapter presents two detailed joint inversion case studies, one for subsalt imaging and one for sub basalt imaging. It also covers emulation of the forward calculation, a concept that can be applied generally in joint inversion, but has only been applied in hydrocarbon exploration. For a successful joint inversion, it is necessary to invert each dataset, construct different coupling approaches, and evaluate the impact on the final results.

Description: Here we present the first record of Sr/Ca variability in a massive Porites lutea coral from the Lakshadweep Archipelago, Arabian Sea. The annual mean sea surface temperature (SST) in this region and the surrounding areas has increased steadily in the recent past. During some major El Nino events, SSTs are even higher, imposing additional thermal-stress on corals, episodically leading to coral bleaching. We infer from the coral-Sr/Ca record (1981-2008) that during some of these events high and persistent SSTs lead to a dampening of the temperature signal in coral-Sr/Ca, impairing the coral's ability to record full scale warming. Thus, coral-Sr/Ca may provide a history of past El Nino Southern-Oscillation (ENSO) induced thermal-stress episodes, which are a recurrent feature also seen in cross-spectral analysis between coral-Sr/Ca and the Nino3.4 index. Despite the impact of episodical thermal-stress during major El Nino events, our coral proxy faithfully records the seasonal monsoon-induced summer cooling on the order of approximate to 2.3 degrees C. Calibration of coral-Sr/Ca with instrumental grid-SST data shows significant correlation to regional SST and monsoon variability. Hence, massive Porites corals of this region are highly valuable archives for reconstructing long-term changes in SST, strongly influenced by monsoon variability on seasonal scales. More importantly, our data show that this site with increasing SST is an ideal location for testing the future effects of the projected anthropogenic SST increase on coral reefs that are already under thermal-stress worldwide.

Description: The multiyear predictability of Northern Hemisphere surface air temperature (SAT) is examined in a multi-millennial control integration of the Kiel Climate Model, a coupled ocean–atmosphere–sea ice general circulation model. A statistical method maximizing average predictability time (APT) is used to identify the most predictable SAT patterns in the model. The two leading APT modes are much localized and the physics are discussed that give rise to the enhanced predictability of SAT in these limited regions. Multiyear SAT predictability exists near the sea ice margin in the North Atlantic and mid-latitude North Pacific sector. Enhanced predictability in the North Atlantic is linked to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and to the sea ice changes. In the North Pacific, the most predictable SAT pattern is characterized by a zonal band in the western and central mid-latitude Pacific. This pattern is linked to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which drives sea surface temperature anomalies. The temperature anomalies subduct into deeper ocean layers and re-emerge at the sea surface during the following winters, providing multiyear memory. Results obtained from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 ensemble yield similar APT modes. Overall, the results stress the importance of ocean dynamics in enhancing predictability in the atmosphere.

Description: The instrumental records indicate that the basin-wide wintertime North Atlantic warm conditions are accompanied by a pattern resembling negative North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), and cold conditions with pattern resembling the positive NAO. This relation is well reproduced in a control simulation by the stratosphere resolving atmosphere–ocean coupled Max-Planck-Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM). Further analyses of the MPI-ESM model simulation shows that the large-scale warm North Atlantic conditions are associated with a stratospheric precursory signal that propagates down into the troposphere, preceding the wintertime negative NAO. Additional experiments using only the atmospheric component of MPI-ESM (ECHAM6) indicate that these stratospheric and tropospheric changes are forced by the warm North Atlantic conditions. The basin-wide warming excites a wave-induced stratospheric vortex weakening, stratosphere/troposphere coupling and a high-latitude tropospheric warming. The induced high-latitude tropospheric warming is associated with reduction of the growth rate of low-level baroclinic waves over the North Atlantic region, contributing to the negative NAO pattern. For the cold North Atlantic conditions, the strengthening of the westerlies in the coupled model is confined to the troposphere and lower stratosphere. Comparing the coupled and uncoupled model shows that in the cold phase the tropospheric changes seen in the coupled model are not well reproduced by the standalone atmospheric configuration. Our experiments provide further evidence that North Atlantic Ocean variability (NAV) impacts the coupled stratosphere/troposphere system. As NAV has been shown to be predictable on seasonal-to-decadal timescales, these results have important implications for the predictability of the extra-tropical atmospheric circulation on these time-scales

Description: The Joggins Cliff (45°41′40″N; 64°27′02″W) exposes a unique section through Upper Carboniferous sequences (the “Coal Age Forests”), deposited in the Cumberland basin of northwestern Nova Scotia (Canada) around 315 Ma ago. It is designated a UNESCO world heritage site for the geological insights it contains, including details of the tropical Carboniferous amphibious environment and the first fossils of land-living reptiles (and therewith the first animals to give birth on land) in their environmental context. This is one of the marine basins of the Atlantic Canadian margin, which were filled from Devonian until the end of the Permian time. (...)

Description: Current scenarios of global environmental change predict rapid temperature increases, which can directly affect freshwater ecosystems. Leaf litter breakdown in aquatic environments constitutes a fundamental ecosystem process that is mediated by microbial decomposers and animal detritivores. In this study, we examined interactive effects of water temperature (two levels), nutrient concentration (two levels) and grazing pressure by Gammarus pulex (two levels) on breakdown rates of birch leaf litter, biomass and structure of the colonizing microbial community. Litter breakdown rates were stimulated by detritivores, with detritivore effects being enhanced by simultaneously increasing the temperature and adding the nutrients. The interaction between the three factors was synergistic and thus unpredictable from the effects of changes in individual factors. Bacterial community composition was affected by both detritivores and temperature, but less so by nutrient levels and fungal community composition changed upon detritivore activity but was independent of temperature and nutrients. These factors depended on each other in how they affected bacterial communities, but this did not prove true for fungal communities. Relative growth rates of G. pulex were not affected by temperature or nutrient level. We conclude that both abiotic and biotic factors that potentially affect ecosystem processes should be considered simultaneously in studies on effects of environmental change at the community and ecosystem level.

Description: A multiyear mooring record (2007–2014) and satellite imagery highlight the strong temperature variability and unique hydrographic nature of the Laptev Sea. This Arctic shelf is a key region for river discharge and sea ice formation and export and includes submarine permafrost and methane deposits, which emphasizes the need to understand the thermal variability near the seafloor. Recent years were characterized by early ice retreat and a warming near-shore environment. However, warming was not observed on the deeper shelf until year-round under-ice measurements recorded unprecedented warm near-bottom waters of +0.6°C in winter 2012/2013, just after the Arctic sea ice extent featured a record minimum. In the Laptev Sea, early ice retreat in 2012 combined with Lena River heat and solar radiation produced anomalously warm summer surface waters, which were vertically mixed, trapped in the pycnocline, and subsequently transferred toward the bottom until the water column cooled when brine rejection eroded stratification.

Description: We present geological observations and geochemical data for the youngest volcanic features on the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 8°48'S that shows seismic evidence for a thickened crust and excess magma formation. Young lava flows with high sonar reflectivity cover about 14 km2 in the axial rift and were probably erupted from two axial volcanic ridges each of about 3 km in length. Three different lava units occur along an about 11 km long portion of the ridge, and lavas from the northern axial volcanic ridge differ from those of the southern axial volcanic ridge and surrounding lava flows. Basalts from the axial rift flanks and from a pillow mound within the young flows are more incompatible element depleted than those from the young volcanic field. Lavas from this volcanic area have 226Ra-230Th disequilibria model ages of 1,000 and 4,000 years whereas the older lavas from the rift flank and the pillow mound, but also some of the lava field, are older than 8,000 years. Glasses from the northern and southern ends of the southern lava unit indicate up to 100°C cooler magma temperatures than in the center and increased assimilation of hydrothermally altered material. The compositional heterogeneity on a scale of 3 km suggests small magma batches rising vertically from the mantle to the surface without significant lateral flow and mixing. The observations on the 8°48'S lava field support the model of low frequency eruptions from single ascending magma batches that has been developed for slow-spreading ridges.

Description: A coupled ocean biogeochemistry-circulation model is used to investigate the impact of observed past and anticipated future wind changes in the southern hemisphere on the oxygen minimum zone in the tropical Pacific. We consider the industrial period until the end of the 21st century and distinguish effects due to a strengthening of the westerlies from effects of a southward shift of the westerlies that is accompanied by a poleward expansion of the tropical trade winds. Our model results show that a strengthening of the westerlies counteracts part of the warming-induced decline in the global marine oxygen inventory. A poleward shift of the trade-westerlies boundary, however, triggers a significant decrease of oxygen in the tropical oxygen minimum zone. In a business-as-usual CO2 emission scenario, the poleward shift of the trade-westerlies boundary and warming-induced increase in stratification contribute equally to the expansion of suboxic waters in the tropical Pacific.

Description: The Southern Ocean ecosystem at the Antarctic Peninsula has steep natural environmental gradients, e.g. in terms of water masses and ice cover, and experiences regional above global average climate change. An ecological macroepibenthic survey was conducted in three ecoregions in the north-western Weddell Sea, on the continental shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Bransfield Strait and on the shelf of the South Shetland Islands in the Drake Passage, defined by their environmental envelop. The aim was to improve the so far poor knowledge of the structure of this component of the Southern Ocean ecosystem and its ecological driving forces. It can also provide a baseline to assess the impact of ongoing climate change to the benthic diversity, functioning and ecosystem services. Different intermediate-scaled topographic features such as canyon systems including the corresponding topographically defined habitats ‘bank’, ‘upper slope’, ‘slope’ and ‘canyon/deep’ were sampled. In addition, the physical and biological environmental factors such as sea-ice cover, chlorophyll-a concentration, small-scale bottom topography and water masses were analysed. Catches by Agassiz trawl showed high among-station variability in biomass of 96 higher systematic groups including ecological key taxa. Large-scale patterns separating the three ecoregions from each other could be correlated with the two environmental factors, sea-ice and depth. Attribution to habitats only poorly explained benthic composition, and small-scale bottom topography did not explain such patterns at all. The large-scale factors, sea-ice and depth, might have caused large-scale differences in pelagic benthic coupling, whilst small-scale variability, also affecting larger scales, seemed to be predominantly driven by unknown physical drivers or biological interactions.

Description: We attempt to assess the Holocene surface-subsurface seawater density gradient on millennial time scale based on the reconstruction of potential density (σθ) by combining data from dinoflagellate cyst assemblages and planktic foraminiferal (Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (s)) stable oxygen isotopes (δ18Oc). Following several calibration exercises, the likeliness of favorable seasonal preconditioning to open ocean convection is evaluated. The reconstructed σθ values reveal unfavorable conditions for vertical convection in the western Nordic Seas prior to ~7–6.5 ka B.P., with a westward increase and persistence of surface water buoyancy. Active overturning became more likely after 6.5 ka B.P. as suggested by a reduced and recurrently inverted vertical σθ gradient, while intermittent eastward spreading of lower density surface waters continued to modulate the area of potential overturning. Despite some reservation regarding the accuracy of the σθ values reconstructed, the documentation of relative changes of σθ gradients through time and space is suggested as a helpful tool for the appraisal of past overturning likeliness.

Description: A Department of Energy collaboration aims to make climate model development faster and more efficient by creating a prototype of a system for testing model components.

Description: The impact of increasing anthropogenic atmospheric nitrogen deposition on marine biogeochemistry is uncertain. We performed simulations to quantify its effect on nitrogen cycling and marine productivity in a global 3-D ocean biogeochemistry model. Nitrogen fixation provides an efficient feedback by decreasing immediately to deposition, whereas water column denitrification increases more gradually in the slowly expanding oxygen deficient zones. Counterintuitively, nitrogen deposition near oxygen deficient zones causes a net loss of marine nitrogen due to the stoichiometry of denitrification. In our idealized atmospheric deposition simulations that only account for nitrogen cycle perturbations, these combined stabilizing feedbacks largely compensate deposition and suppress the increase in global marine productivity to 〈2%, in contrast to a simulation that neglects nitrogen cycle feedbacks that predicts an increase of 〉15%. Our study emphasizes including the dynamic response of nitrogen fixation and denitrification to atmospheric nitrogen deposition to predict future changes of the marine nitrogen cycle and productivity.

Description: Marine-terminating glaciers play a critical role in controlling Greenland's ice sheet mass balance. Their frontal margins interact vigorously with the ocean, but our understanding of this interaction is limited, in part, by a lack of bathymetry data. Here we present a multibeam echo sounding survey of 14 glacial fjords in the Uummannaq and Vaigat fjords, west Greenland, which extends from the continental shelf to the glacier fronts. The data reveal valleys with shallow sills, overdeepenings (〉 1300 m) from glacial erosion, and seafloor depths 100-1000 m deeper than in existing charts. Where fjords are deep enough, we detect the pervasive presence of warm, salty Atlantic Water (AW) (〉 2.5 degrees C) with high melt potential, but we also find numerous glaciers grounded on shallow (〈 200 m) sills, standing in cold (〈 1 degrees C) waters in otherwise deep fjords, i.e., with reduced melt potential. Bathymetric observations extending to the glacier fronts are critical to understand the glacier evolution.

Description: The current generation of Earth system models that participate in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) does not, on average, produce a strengthened Northern Hemisphere (NH) polar vortex after large tropical volcanic eruptions as suggested by observational records. Here we investigate the impact of volcanic eruptions on the NH winter stratosphere with an ensemble of 20 model simulations of the Max Planck Institute Earth system model. We compare the dynamical impact in simulations of the very large 1815 Tambora eruption with the averaged dynamical response to the two largest eruptions of the CMIP5 historical simulations (the 1883 Krakatau and the 1991 Pinatubo eruptions). We find that for both the Tambora and the averaged Krakatau-Pinatubo eruptions the radiative perturbation only weakly affects the polar vortex directly. The position of the maximum temperature anomaly gradient is located at approximately 30°N, where we obtain significant westerly zonal wind anomalies between 10hPa and 30hPa. Under the very strong forcing of the Tambora eruption, the NH polar vortex is significantly strengthened because the subtropical westerly wind anomalies are sufficiently strong to robustly alter the propagation of planetary waves. The average response to the eruptions of Krakatau and Pinatubo reveals a slight strengthening of the polar vortex, but individual ensemble members differ substantially, indicating that internal variability plays a dominant role. For the Tambora eruption the ensemble variability of the zonal mean temperature and zonal wind anomalies during midwinter and late winter is significantly reduced compared to the volcanically unperturbed period.

Description: Strains originally affiliated to the genera Scopulariopsis and Microascus were compared regarding the scopularide production in order to investigate their ability to produce the cyclodepsipeptides and select the best suited candidate for subsequent optimisation processes. Phylogenetic calculations using available sequences of the genera Scopulariopsis and Microascus revealed that most of the sequences clustered within two closely related groups, comprising mainly Scopulariopsis/Microascus brevicaulis and Microascus sp., respectively. Interestingly, high yields of scopularide A were exhibited by three strains belonging to S./M. brevicaulis, while lower titres were observed for two strains of Microascus sp. Close phylogenetic distances within and between the two groups supported the proposed combination of both genera into one holomorph group. Short phylogenetic distances did not allow a clear affiliation at the species level on the basis of ribosomal DNA sequences, especially for Microascus sp. strains. Additionally, several sequences originating from strains assigned to Scopulariopsis exhibited a polyphyletic nature. The production pattern is in accordance with the phylogenetic position of the strains and significant production of scopularide B could only be observed for the S./M. brevicaulis strain LF580. Thus, the phylogenetic position marks the biotechnologically interesting strains and matters in optimisation strategies. In conclusion, the ability of all five strains to produce at least one of the scopularides suggests a distribution of the responsible gene cluster within the holomorph group. Setting the focus on the production of the cyclodepsipeptides, strain LF580 represents the best candidate for further strain and process optimisation

Description: Sustainable Ocean Development — A Perspective from Former, Current and Future Kiel Marine Scientists; New York, 28–30 September 2015

Description: High-resolution 3D reflection seismology for near-surface applications is a noninvasive geophysical approach that uses sound wave reflected from subsurface discontinuities to infer and delineate the discontinuities. It results in high-resolution 3D structural images of the subsurface displaying mainly the interfaces between geological units and faults. The attributes “near surface” or “shallow” refer to sounding depths of typically some 10 m to 1 km. The 3D seismic method has been developed since the late 1960s. It is applied on- and offshore. This article gives an overview of the aims, principles, and realizations of shallow 3D reflection seismics. More details on field technique and data processing can be found, for example, in Meunier (2011) and Biondi (2006).

Description: We examine the simulated Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) in a model that includes a correction for a longstanding problem with climate models, namely the misplacement of the North Atlantic Current. The corrected model shows that in the warm AMV phase, heat is lost by the ocean in the northwestern part of the basin and gained by the ocean to the east, suggesting an advective transfer of heat by the mid-latitude westerlies. The basin wide response is consistent with a role for cloud feedback and is in broad agreement with estimates from observations, but is poorly represented in the uncorrected model. The corrected model is then used to show that the ocean/atmosphere heat transfer is influenced by low frequency variability in the overlying atmosphere. We also argue that changing ocean heat transport is an essential feature of our results.

Description: The submarine Istanbul-Silivri fault segment, within 15km of Istanbul, is the only portion of the North Anatolian Fault that has not ruptured in the last 250years. We report first results of a seafloor acoustic ranging experiment to quantify current horizontal deformation along this segment and assess whether the segment is creeping aseismically or accumulating stress to be released in a future event. Ten transponders were installed to monitor length variations along 15 baselines. A joint least squares inversion for across-fault baseline changes, accounting for sound speed drift at each transponder, precludes fault displacement rates larger than a few millimeters per year during the 6month observation period. Forward modeling shows that the data better fit a locked state or a very moderate surface creep-less than 6mm/yr compared to a far-field slip rate of over 20mm/yr-suggesting that the fault segment is currently accumulating stress.

Description: There were several anomalously cold winter weather regimes in Russia in the early 21st century. These regimes were usually associated with a blocking anticyclone south of the Barents Sea. Numerical simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) using prescribed sea-ice concentration (SIC) data for different periods during the last 50 years showed that a rapid sea-ice area decline in the Barents Sea in the last decade could bring about the formation of such a blocking anticyclone and cooling over northern Eurasia. The SIC reduction in the former period, from the second half of the 1960s to the first half of the 1990s, results in a weaker response of opposite sign. This suggests a nonlinear atmospheric circulation response to the SIC reduction in the Barents Sea, which has been previously found in the idealized AGCM simulations. An impact of the Barents Sea SIC reduction on the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), in particular, on the formation of the anomalously low NAO index, is found. The results indicate an important role that the Barents Sea, a region with the largest variability of the ocean–atmosphere heat exchange in the Arctic in wintertime, plays in generating anomalous weather regimes in Russia.

Description: The behavior of polar deep-sea nekton is very poorly known. To obtain insight into mating behavior of the abundant and ecologically important sub-Antarctic deep-sea squid Onykia ingens, our goals were to (1) quantify spermatophore production; (2) determine the preferred location for spermatangia deposition; (3) investigate whether male and female O. ingens mate with multiple mates; and (4) discuss the location of implanted spermatangia in light of mating behavior and egg fertilization. Toward this end, we examined male and female O. ingens specimens from Falkland Island and New Zealand waters. Male O. ingens store up to 198 spermatophores (mean 103 +/- A 61; n = 12) in their reproductive system, which are produced over a period of considerable somatic growth (200-400 mm ML), and which may have a considerable size range. Males insert their long extendible terminal organ in the mantle cavity of the female, potentially through the funnel, to deposit spermatophores in one or more of four regions on the female's body. Most implanted spermatangia (52.5 %) were found in the funnel region, but many were also found inside the mantle cavity closer to the oviducts. Males with longer terminal organs therefore may be able to position closer to the oviducts where fertilization chances are higher than for spermatangia located in the funnel region. The number of implanted spermatangia per individual female (4-60, mean 29 +/- A 20; n = 24), the multiregional spermatangia deposition, and the different outer appearance of spermatangia, suggested that females have multiple mating events. Since males produce more spermatophores (up to 200) than the number of spermatangia in one region (〈 60), it is likely that males too mate with more than one female. We show how quantitative assessment of reproductive characteristics can provide insight into the reproductive behavior of deep-sea species for which in situ observations are currently lacking.

Description: About 50 Gt of carbon is fixed photosynthetically by surface ocean phytoplankton communities every year. Part of this organic matter is reprocessed within the plankton community to form aggregates which eventually sink and export carbon into the deep ocean. The fraction of organic matter leaving the surface ocean is partly dependent on aggregate sinking velocity which accelerates with increasing aggregate size and density, where the latter is controlled by ballast load and aggregate porosity. In May 2011, we moored nine 25 m deep mesocosms in a Norwegian fjord to assess on a daily basis how plankton community structure affects material properties and sinking velocities of aggregates (Ø 80–400 µm) collected in the mesocosms' sediment traps. We noted that sinking velocity was not necessarily accelerated by opal ballast during diatom blooms, which could be due to relatively high porosity of these rather fresh aggregates. Furthermore, estimated aggregate porosity (Pestimated) decreased as the picoautotroph (0.2–2 µm) fraction of the phytoplankton biomass increased. Thus, picoautotroph-dominated communities may be indicative for food webs promoting a high degree of aggregate repackaging with potential for accelerated sinking. Blooms of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi revealed that cell concentrations of ~1500 cells/mL accelerate sinking by about 35–40%, which we estimate (by one-dimensional modeling) to elevate organic matter transfer efficiency through the mesopelagic from 14 to 24%. Our results indicate that sinking velocities are influenced by the complex interplay between the availability of ballast minerals and aggregate packaging; both of which are controlled by plankton community structure.

Description: In 1946, megathrust seismicity along the Unimak segment of the Alaska subduction zone generated the largest ever recorded Alaska/Aleutian tsunami. The tsunami severely damaged Pacific islands and coastal areas from Alaska to Antarctica. It is the charter member of “tsunami” earthquakes that produce outsized far-field tsunamis for the recorded magnitude. Its source mechanisms were unconstrained by observations because geophysical data for the Unimak segment were sparse and of low resolution. Reprocessing of legacy geophysical data reveals a deep water, high-angle reverse or splay thrust fault zone that leads megathrust slip upward to the mid-slope terrace seafloor rather than along the plate boundary toward the trench axis. Splay fault uplift elevates the outer mid-slope terrace and its inner area subsides. Multibeam bathymetry along the splay fault zone shows recent but undated seafloor disruption. The structural configuration of the nearby Semidi segment is similar to that of the Unimak segment, portending generation of a future large tsunami directed toward the US West coast.

Description: It is widely assumed that the ability of an introduced species to acclimate to local environmental conditions determines its invasion success. The sea anemone Diadumene lineata is a cosmopolitan invader and shows extreme physiological tolerances. It was recently discovered in Kiel Fjord (Western Baltic Sea), although the brackish conditions in this area are physiologically challenging for most marine organisms. This study investigated salinity tolerance in D. lineata specimens from Kiel Fjord in order to assess potential geographical range expansion of the species in the Baltic Sea. In laboratory growth assays, we quantified biomass change and asexual reproduction rates under various salinity regimes (34: North Sea, 24: Kattegat, 14: Kiel Fjord, 7: Baltic Proper). Furthermore, we used 1H-NMR-based metabolomics to analyse intracellular osmolyte dynamics. Within four weeks D. lineata exhibited a fivefold population growth through asexual reproduction at high salinities (34 and 24). Biomass increase under these conditions was significantly higher (69 %) than at a salinity of 14. At a salinity of 7, anemones ceased to reproduce asexually, their biomass decreased and metabolic depression was observed. Five main intracellular osmolytes were identified to be regulated in response to salinity change, with osmolyte depletion at a salinity of 7. We postulate that depletion of intracellular osmolytes defines a critical salinity (Scrit) that determines loss of fitness. Our results indicate that D. lineata has the potential to invade the Kattegat and Skagerrak regions with salinity 〉10. However, salinities of the Baltic Proper (salinity 〈8) currently seem to constitute a physiological limit for the species.

Description: The causes of natural variation in alkalinity in the North Pacific surface ocean need to be investigated to understand the carbon cycle and to improve predictive algorithms. We used GLODAPv2 to test hypotheses on the causes of three longitudinal phenomena in Alk*, a tracer of calcium carbonate cycling. These phenomena are (a) an increase from east to west between 45°N and 55°N, (b) an increase from west to east between 25°N and 40°N, and (c) a minor increase from west to east in the equatorial upwelling region. Between 45°N and 55°N, Alk* is higher on the western than on the eastern side, and this is associated with denser isopycnals with higher Alk* lying at shallower depths. Between 25°N and 40°N, upwelling along the North American continental shelf causes higher Alk* in the east. Along the equator, a strong east-west trend was not observed, even though the upwelling on the eastern side of the basin is more intense, because the water brought to the surface is not high in Alk*. We created two algorithms to predict alkalinity, one for the entire Pacific Ocean north of 30°S and one for the eastern margin. The Pacific Ocean algorithm is more accurate than the commonly used algorithm published by Lee et al. (2006), of similar accuracy to the best previously published algorithm by Sasse et al. (2013), and is less biased with longitude than other algorithms in the subpolar North Pacific. Our eastern margin algorithm is more accurate than previously published algorithms.

Description: We have analysed strain and flow kinematics in the footwall of the South Cyclades Shear Zone (SCSZ), an important tectonic boundary within the Attic-Cycladic Crystalline Complex exposed on Ios Island, Cyclades, Aegean Sea. Coarse-grained augen gneisses in the basement unit flooring the SCSZ and forming a metamorphic core complex are excellently suited to measure finite strain using the Fry method and estimate the vorticity number (Wk) of flow with the “blocked-object” method. The results show that Oligo-Miocene exhumation of the basement unit during extension brought approximately 70 % N–S crustal stretching and up to 40 % subvertical shortening in a plane strain environment (k = 0.99). Linear down-section strain decrease constrains a zone of contact deformation of the SCSZ of about 1.5 km thick. Kinematic vorticity number estimates suggest little deviation from pure shear (Wk = 0.26). Finite strain and Wk are not correlated, indicating that the Ios basement and the overlying cover units were stretched compatibly. While the SCSZ is a localized zone of high strain, net displacement, however, may be restricted to about ten kilometres. This has important repercussions on large-scale tectonic models for extension in the Aegean.

Description: We studied the tephra inventory of 18 deep sea drill sites from six DSDP/ODP legs (Legs 84, 138, 170, 202, 205, 206) and two IODP legs (Legs 334 and 344) offshore the southern Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA). Eight drill sites are located on the incoming Cocos plate and ten drill sites on the continental slope of the Caribbean plate. In total we examined ∼840 ash-bearing horizons and identified ∼650 of these as primary ash beds of which 430 originated from the CAVA. Correlations of ash beds were established between marine cores and with terrestrial tephra deposits, using major and trace element glass compositions with respect to relative stratigraphic order. As a prerequisite for marine-terrestrial correlations we present a new geochemical data set for significant Neogene and Quaternary Costa Rican tephras. Moreover, new Ar/Ar ages for marine tephras have been determined and marine ash beds are also dated using the pelagic sedimentation rates. The resulting correlations and provenance analyses build a tephrochronostratigraphic framework for Costa Rica and Nicaragua that covers the last 〉8 Myr. We define 39 correlations of marine ash beds to specific tephra formations in Costa Rica and Nicaragua; from the 4.15 Ma Lower Sandillal Ignimbrite to the 3.5 ka Rincón de la Vieja Tephra from Costa Rica, as well as another 32 widely distributed tephra layers for which their specific region of origin along Costa Rica and Nicaragua can be constrained.

Description: The ocean contributes to regulating atmospheric CO2 levels, partly via variability in the fraction of primary production (PP) which is exported out of the surface layer (i.e., the e ratio). Southern Ocean studies have found that contrary to global-scale analyses, an inverse relationship exists between e ratio and PP. This relationship remains unexplained, with potential hypotheses being (i) large export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in high PP areas, (ii) strong surface microbial recycling in high PP regions, and/or (iii) grazing-mediated export that varies inversely with PP. We find that the export of DOC has a limited influence in setting the negative e ratio/PP relationship. However, we observed that at sites with low PP and high e ratios, zooplankton-mediated export is large and surface microbial abundance low suggesting that both are important drivers of the magnitude of the e ratio in the Southern Ocean.

Description: We find that summer methane (CH4) release from seabed sediments west of Svalbard substantially increases CH4 concentrations in the ocean but has limited influence on the atmospheric CH4 levels. Our conclusion stems from complementary measurements at the seafloor, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere from land-based, ship and aircraft platforms during a summer campaign in 2014. We detected high concentrations of dissolved CH4 in the ocean above the seafloor with a sharp decrease above the pycnocline. Model approaches taking potential CH4 emissions from both dissolved and bubble-released CH4 from a larger region into account reveal a maximum flux compatible with the observed atmospheric CH4 mixing ratios of 2.4–3.8 nmol m−2 s−1. This is too low to have an impact on the atmospheric summer CH4 budget in the year 2014. Long-term ocean observatories may shed light on the complex variations of Arctic CH4 cycles throughout the year.

Description: Filament intrusions are observed in high-resolution temperature (T) measurements from a 100-m and several month-long mooring in the Fram Strait in around 400-m water depth at the continental slope West of Svalbard (Spitsbergen, Norway). In this dynamic environment, a wide variety of intrusive layers are observed with thicknesses between 5 and 80 m with warmer water between cooler waters above and below. The layers typically last from several hours up to 1 day, exceeding the local buoyancy period but not lasting as long as intrusive layers in the open ocean. The intrusions are a result of an intermingling of Arctic and North-Atlantic waters and generated in the basins interior and locally via internal wave steepening upon the sloping bottom. Freely propagating semidiurnal lunar internal tides cannot exist without background vorticity at these high latitudes. Strongly nonlinear turbulent bores are not observed at the tidal periodicity, but wave fronts occur at the sub-inertial frequency of dominant baroclinic instability. The fronts are in part associated with near-buoyancy frequency internal waves (breaking). The details of the moored T observations and their spectral content demonstrate the non-smooth, relatively turbulent development including convective overturning and shear-induced instabilities when intrusions disperse in presumably salinity-compensated isopycnal layers.

Description: We used an earth system model of intermediate complexity to study the effects of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) by sea spray geoengineering on ocean biogeochemistry. SRM slightly decreased global ocean net primary productivity (NPP) relative to the control run. The lower temperatures in the SRM run decreased NPP directly but also indirectly increased NPP in some regions due to changes in nutrient availability resulting from changes in ocean stratification and circulation. Reduced light availability had a minor effect on global total NPP but a major regional effect near the nutrient rich upwelling region off the coast of Peru, where light availability is the main limiting factor for phytoplankton growth in our model. Unused nutrients from regions with decreased NPP also fueled NPP elsewhere. In the context of RCP4.5 simulation used here, SRM decreased ocean carbon uptake due to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, seawater chemistry, NPP, temperature, and ocean circulation.

Description: Despite a clear correlation of alkenone unsaturation and sea surface temperatures (SST) throughout most parts of the ocean, scatter of the regression for various calibration equations has been shown to increase significantly at low SSTs. In this study, we combine previously published (n = 101) and new (n = 51) surface sediment data from the northern North Atlantic to constrain uncertainties of alkenone paleothermometry at low SSTs and to discuss possible sources of the increased scatter in the regression. The correlation between alkenone unsaturation and SSTs is strongest, in particular at the cold end (SSTs 〈 10°C), when the tetra-unsaturated alkenones (C37:4) are included in the unsaturation index (expressed as inline image) and regressed against spring-summer temperature. Surface ocean salinity and sea ice cover are not correlated with inline image per se. However, samples located in regions of permanent winter sea ice cover exhibit a significant warm bias. Deviation from the linear regression is posited to be related to a number of additional non-exclusive factors, such as advection of allochthonous material, local temperature stratification, and uncertainty in the absolute age of surface sediment samples assumed to be equivalent to modern conditions. We conclude that alkenone unsaturation allows accurate reconstruction of SST records from many regions of the North Atlantic if the factors confounding alkenone paleothermometry detailed here can be excluded.

Description: Global change is affecting marine ecosystems through a combination of different stressors such as warming, ocean acidification and oxygen depletion. Very little is known about the interactions among these factors, especially with respect to gelatinous zooplankton. Therefore, in this study we investigated the direct effects of pH, temperature and oxygen availability on the moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita, concentrating on the ephyral life stage. Starved one-day-old ephyrae were exposed to a range of pCO2 (400–4000 ppm) and three different dissolved oxygen levels (from saturated to hypoxic conditions), in two different temperatures (5 and 15 °C) for 7 days. Carbon content and swimming activity were analysed at the end of the incubation period, and mortality noted. General linearized models were fitted through the data, with the best fitting models including two- and three-way interactions between pCO2, temperature and oxygen concentration. The combined effect of the stressors was small but significant, with the clearest negative effect on growth caused by the combination of all three stressors present (high temperature, high CO2, low oxygen). We conclude that A. aurita ephyrae are robust and that they are not likely to suffer from these environmental stressors in a near future.

Description: The Peruvian upwelling system encompasses the most intense and shallowest oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) in the ocean. This system shows pronounced submesoscale activity like filaments and fronts. We carried out glider-based observations off Peru during austral summer 2013 to investigate whether submesoscale frontal processes ventilate the Peruvian OMZ. We present observational evidence for the subduction of highly oxygenated surface water in a submesoscale cold filament. The subduction event ventilates the oxycline but does not reach OMZ core waters. In a regional submesoscale-permitting model we study the pathways of newly upwelled water. About 50% of upwelled virtual floats are subducted below the mixed layer within 5 days emphasizing a hitherto unrecognized importance of subduction for the ventilation of the Peruvian oxycline.

Description: Definition Hydrothermalism refers to the convective circulation of seawater through oceanic lithosphere with possible contributions of volatiles and metals from underlying magma chambers.

Description: Definition Marine mineral resources are accumulations of minerals that form at or below the seabed and from which metals, minerals, elements, or aggregate might be extracted as a resource. They are distinguished from energy resources such as oil, gas, or gas hydrates and living resources such as fish, although many of the metals potentially available are essential for green-energy applications.

Description: This chapter describes the most commonly used technologies and instruments for observing and sampling in the field of marine geosciences and refers to a number of special papers within this encyclopedia and beyond. This chapter is meant as an introduction showing the variability and broad scale of intruments being used. Since technology is a vast and rapidly changing field, numerous specific instruments used throughout marine geoscience are undouptfully missing in this compilation.

Description: Definition Volcanogenic Massive Sulfides. Accumulations of dominantly sulfide minerals that form at sites of focused hydrothermal discharge on the seafloor. Also refers to a class of ore deposit mined from ancient oceanic crust that is now exposed on land.

Description: During Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 311 five boreholes were drilled across the accretionary prism of the northern Cascadia subduction zone. Logging-while-drilling borehole images are utilized to determine breakout orientations to define maximum horizontal compressive stress orientations. Additionally, wireline logging data at two of these sites and from Site 889 of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 146 are used to define breakouts from differences in the aperture of caliper arms. At most sites, the maximum horizontal compressive stress SHmax is margin-normal, consistent with plate convergence. Deviations from this trend reflect local structural perturbations. Our results do not constrain stress magnitudes. If the margin-normal compressional stress is greater than the vertical stress, the margin-normal SHmax direction we observe may reflect current locking of a velocity-weakening shallow megathrust and thus potential for trench-breaching, tsunamigenic rupture in a future megathrust earthquake.

Description: The present study proposes a novel method that merges satellite ocean color bio-optical products with Argo temperature-salinity profiles to infer the vertical distribution of the particulate backscattering coefficient (bbp). This neural network-based method (SOCA-BBP for Satellite Ocean-Color merged with Argo data to infer the vertical distribution of the Particulate Backscattering coefficient) uses three main input components: (1) satellite-based surface estimates of bbp and chlorophyll a concentration matched up in space and time with (2) depth-resolved physical properties derived from temperature-salinity profiles measured by Argo profiling floats and (3) the day of the year of the considered satellite-Argo matchup. The neural network is trained and validated using a database including 4725 simultaneous profiles of temperature-salinity and bio-optical properties collected by Bio-Argo floats, with concomitant satellite-derived products. The Bio-Argo profiles are representative of the global open-ocean in terms of oceanographic conditions, making the proposed method applicable to most open-ocean environments. SOCA-BBP is validated using 20% of the entire database (global error of 21%). We present additional validation results based on two other independent data sets acquired (1) by four Bio-Argo floats deployed in major oceanic basins, not represented in the database used to train the method; and (2) during an AMT (Atlantic Meridional Transect) field cruise in 2009. These validation tests based on two fully independent data sets indicate the robustness of the predicted vertical distribution of bbp. To illustrate the potential of the method, we merged monthly climatological Argo profiles with ocean color products to produce a depth-resolved climatology of bbp for the global ocean.

Description: New records of stable silicon isotope signatures (δ30Si) together with concentrations of biogenic opal and organic carbon from the central (9° S) and northern (5° S) Peruvian margin reveal changes in diatom productivity and nutrient utilization during the past 20,000 years. The findings are based on a new approach using the difference between the δ30Si signatures of small (11-32μm) and large (〉150μm) diatom fractions (Δ30Sicoscino-bSi) in combination with the variance in diatom assemblages for reconstruction of past upwelling intensity. Combination of our records with two previously published records from the southern upwelling area off Peru (12-15° S) shows a general decoupling of the environmental conditions at the central and southern shelf mainly caused by a northward shift of the main upwelling cell from its modern position (12-15° S) towards 9° S during Termination 1. At this time only moderate upwelling intensity and productivity levels prevailed between 9° S and 12° S interpreted by a more northerly position of Southern Westerly Winds and the South Pacific Subtropical High. Furthermore, a marked decrease in productivity at 12-15° S during Heinrich Stadial 1 coincided with enhanced biogenic opal production in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific, which was induced by a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence zone and enhanced northeasterly trade winds. Modern conditions were only established at the onset of the Holocene. Past changes in preformed δ30Si signatures of subsurface waters reaching the Peruvian Upwelling System did not significantly affect the preserved δ30Si signatures.