ALBERT

Description: The Science Platform at a glance In the new version of the German Sustainable Development Strategy, the Federal Government called on the scientific community to create a platform that is systematically involved in the steering, dialogue and implementation processes of the 2030 Agenda and its sustainability architecture. In response to this, the Science Platform Sustainability 2030 was launched on 8 May 2017 and was presented to the public one day later at the 13th BMBF Forum for Sustainability. The platform is supported by three organising institutions: the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Germany (SDSN Germany), the German Committee Future Earth (DKN Future Earth) and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), which houses the platform’s secretariat. A steering committee consisting of 26 members from science, the business community, and civil society is responsible for the platform’s activities and operative management. The committee also links the platform with other actors from science, politics, economics and civil society in an effort to build an effective, representative and internationally anchored platform. Additional support is provided by a circle of government agencies (open to all federal ministries) – currently including the BMBF, the BMUB, the BMZ, the BMEL and the Federal Chancellery.

Description: For decades oceanographers have understood the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to be primarily driven by changes in the production of deep-water formation in the subpolar and subarctic North Atlantic. Indeed, current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections of an AMOC slowdown in the twenty-first century based on climate models are attributed to the inhibition of deep convection in the North Atlantic. However, observational evidence for this linkage has been elusive: there has been no clear demonstration of AMOC variability in response to changes in deep-water formation. The motivation for understanding this linkage is compelling, since the overturning circulation has been shown to sequester heat and anthropogenic carbon in the deep ocean. Furthermore, AMOC variability is expected to impact this sequestration as well as have consequences for regional and global climates through its effect on the poleward transport of warm water. Motivated by the need for a mechanistic understanding of the AMOC, an international community has assembled an observing system, Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP), to provide a continuous record of the transbasin fluxes of heat, mass, and freshwater, and to link that record to convective activity and water mass transformation at high latitudes. OSNAP, in conjunction with the Rapid Climate Change–Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array (RAPID–MOCHA) at 26°N and other observational elements, will provide a comprehensive measure of the three-dimensional AMOC and an understanding of what drives its variability. The OSNAP observing system was fully deployed in the summer of 2014, and the first OSNAP data products are expected in the fall of 2017.

Description: The fluctuating energy production of renewable sources implies the necessity of energy storage. For the implementation of gas storage, a knowledge gap regarding gas-specific reactions to be expected in shallow aquifers following a leakage of compressed air, methane, or hydrogen existed. These reactions can change the composition of the groundwater, which potentially leads to conflicts between different ways of utilizing the subsurface. Experiments representing reactive hydrogeological environments characteristic to a shallow aquifer influenced by a gas plume were carried out. The applied experimental approach included flow-through column experiments using a sediment from a shallow aquifer percolated by the groundwater from the same aquifer. The water used to percolate the experimental sediment columns was saturated by the respective gas at partial pressures representing the conditions taking place within a dissolved gas plume in a shallow aquifer after a leakage of compressed air, methane, or hydrogen. Experiments on leakage of compressed air showed pyrite oxidation. The transfer function on reaction kinetics based on the experimental reaction rates for upscaling the results includes a new surface passivation term describing the inhibition of more than 90% of the pyrite reactivity compared to the reactivity expected based on previously published models. Fugitive methane was not oxidized and did not cause detectable changes in the groundwater within one year in the presented flow-through column experiments. This finding acknowledges earlier studies describing no methane oxidation if methane or its electron acceptors are newly introduced into an aquifer. In contrast to methane, elevated concentration of hydrogen immediately triggers a series of redox reactions, which have major effects on groundwater composition. Based on these observations, a descriptive reaction model was developed for further modeling applications.

Description: Highlights • Re-organization of the West Pacific Warm Pool at ~ 1.7 – 1.35 Ma. • West Pacific Warm Pool and South Pacific Convergence Zone located further to the NE prior to ~ 1.5 Ma. • High amplitude variations at thermocline and deep thermocline depths after ~ 1.5 Ma. • West Pacific Warm Pool thermocline dynamics linked to southern-sourced mode waters. Abstract The internal development of the tropical West Pacific Warm Pool and its interaction with high latitude ocean regions on geological timescales is only poorly constrained. Based on two newly recovered sediment cores from the southeastern margin of the West Pacific Warm Pool (northern and southern Manihiki Plateau), we provide new aspects on the dynamically interacting ocean circulation at surface, subsurface, thermocline, and deep thermocline levels during the Pleistocene (~ 2.5–0.5 Ma). Notably, the variability of thermocline and deep thermocline (~ 150–400 m water depth) foraminiferal Mg/Ca-based temperatures with up to ~ 6 °C amplitude variations exceeds those at shallower depths (down to ~ 120 m) with only ~ 2–3 °C temperature variations. A major gradual reorganization of the West Pacific Warm Pool oceanography occurred during the transitional time period of ~ 1.7–1.35 Ma. Prior to ~ 1.7 Ma, pronounced meridional and latitudinal gradients in sea-surface to subsurface ocean properties point to the eastward displacement of the West Pacific Warm Pool boundaries, with the South Pacific Convergence Zone being shifted further northeastward across Manihiki Plateau. Simultaneously, the low amplitude variations of thermocline and deep thermocline temperatures refer to an overall deep and stable thermocline. The meridional and zonal gradients in sea-surface and subsurface ocean properties within the West Pacific Warm Pool reveal a pronounced change after 1.5 Ma, leading to a more southward position of the warm South Pacific Convergence Zone between ~ 1.35–0.9 Ma and ~ 0.75–0.5 Ma. Synchronous to the changes in the upper ocean, the deeper water masses experienced high amplitude variations in temperature, most prominently since ~ 1.5 Ma. This and the dynamically changing thermocline were most likely associated to the impact of southern-sourced mode waters, which might have developed coincidently with the emergence of the East Pacific Cold Tongue and high latitude sea-surface cooling.

Description: The fifth World Ocean Review (WOR) explores the coastal habitat and the diverse expectations upon this habitat. It provides a glimpse into millions of years of history, elucidates the theory of continental drift and discusses the many ways in which coasts have changed. It also illustrates how the diverse ecosystem services rendered by the coasts are being subjected to increasing pressure, and profiles measures that will be necessary in the future to respond effectively to the threats from both climate change and natural disasters.

Description: Die fünfte Ausgabe des „World Ocean Review“ (WOR) beschäftigt sich mit dem Lebensraum Küste und den vielfältigen Erwartungen, die an diesen Lebensraum gestellt werden. Der WOR 5 gibt einen Einblik in die über Jahrmillionen zurückreichende Geschichte, erläutert die Theorie der Kontinentalveschiebung und erörtert wie sich das Gesicht der Küsten verändert hat. Er zeigt auf, wie die vielfältigen Ökosystemleistungen der Küsten immer mehr unter Druck geraten und stellt Maßnahmen vor, die in Zukunft notwendig sein werden, um den Bedrohungen durch Klimawandel und Naturkatastrophen Herr zu werden.

Description: Exceedances of the concentration limit value for ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at roadside sites are an issue in many cities throughout Europe. This is linked to the emissions of light duty diesel vehicles which have on-road emissions that are far greater than the regulatory standards. These exceedances have substantial implications for human health and economic loss. This study explores the possible gains in ambient air quality if light duty diesel vehicles were able to meet the regulatory standards (including both emissions standards from Europe and the United States). We use two independent methods: a measurement-based and a model-based method. The city of Berlin is used as a case study. The measurement-based method used data from 16 monitoring stations throughout the city of Berlin to estimate annual average reductions in roadside NO2 of 9.0 to 23 µg m-3 and in urban background NO2 concentrations of 1.2 to 2.7 µg m-3. These ranges account for differences in fleet composition assumptions, and the stringency of the regulatory standard. The model simulations showed reductions in urban background NO2 of 2.0 µg m-3, and at the scale of the greater Berlin area of 1.6 to 2.0 µg m-3 depending on the setup of the simulation and resolution of the model. Similar results were found for other European cities. The similarities in results using the measurement- and model-based methods support our ability to draw robust conclusions that are not dependent on the assumptions behind either methodology. The results show the significant potential for NO2 reductions if regulatory standards for light duty diesel vehicles were to be met under real-world operating conditions. Such reductions could help improve air quality by reducing NO2 exceedances in urban areas, but also have broader implications for improvements in human health and other benefits.

Description: Purpose: The consequential inventory modeling approach for life cycle assessment implies that an increase in the demand for a specific product is met by the marginal suppliers within the market. The identification of marginal suppliers is however complicated by difficulties in defining appropriate geographical market delimitations. In this study, an advanced system thinking approach is proposed to address this challenge in the identification of marginal supplying countries of wood products. Methods: Groups of countries which represent geographical markets are identified from trade data by using a network analysis-based clustering technique. Within these markets, marginal supplying countries are selected based on positive historical increments. The analysis covers 12 different products and all countries in the world using trade data for the period 1998–2013. Results and discussion: Global indices allow differentiating how product-specific trade networks are separated into communities and how interconnected these networks are. Large differences between products and minor differences between trade years are observed. Communities identified for each product tend to overlap with existing geographical regions and seem thus realistic. By combining this information with product-specific production increment rankings, marginal supplying countries of wood products were identified. Conclusions: The identified geographical market delimitation is a key for proper consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) inventory modeling in areas such as timber-based construction and biomass-based energy production. The method can in principle be applied to any product for which trade network data are available and ideally should be accompanied by a detailed analysis of technological constrains within the identified supplying country.