ALBERT

Description: The storage concession "Minerbio Stoccaggio" (Bologna, Northern Italy) covers a 69 km 2 area, 65% of hich is located in the Minerbio municipality. Since 1979, a microseismic network for the monitoring of seismicity, eventually induced by gas storage activities, has been installed in this area. The network was operated by Stogit S.p.A, a subsidiary company of Snam, which is the largest storage operator in Italy. In 2016, the microseismic network, consisting of three surface stations and one 100-m-deep borehole sensor with minimum interstation distances of about 3.0 km, was integrated with 12 regional stations installed in an 80 × 80 km 2 area centered on the surface projection of the reservoir. In 2018, the microseismic network was enhanced by adding one surface and three 150-m-deep borehole stations. In this work, we evaluate the detection improvement of the microseismic network, integrated with the regional stations. We define two crustal volumes for earthquake detection: the inner domain of detection, IDD (10 × 10 × 5) km 3 , within which we should ensure the highest network performance, and the extended domain of detection, EDD (22 × 22 × 11) km 3 . By comparing the simulated power spectral density of hypothetical seismic sources located in EDD with the average power spectra of ambient seismic noise observed at each station site, we calculate detection and localization thresholds for the two above-mentioned networks. Under unfavourable noise conditions, we find that the present operative seismic network allows locating earthquakes with M L ≥ 0.8 occurring at the depth of the reservoir and with M L ≥ 1.0 if located within IDD.

Description: Funding information This study received financial support from BComune di Minerbio^ under the grant BSperimentazione ILG Minerbio^ (grant number 0913.010)

Description: Published

Description: 967–977

Description: 3SR TERREMOTI - Attività dei Centri

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This paper presents an original multidisciplinary (geological-structural-geomorphological and seismological) study aimed at investigating the origin of diffused seismic damages affecting several ancient buildings in the Roman port city of Ostia. We also evaluate the possibility to relate these damages to a previously hypothesized ENE-WSW trending fault, bordering the morphological height upon which the Ostia town was founded. Aimed at this scope, we performed seismic noise measures (by using 14 seismic stations) that show no significantly different response and lack of significant ground motion differential amplifications. The coexistence of (i) no local geological heterogeneities and (ii) low amplification of spectral ratios in the recorded seismic signals seems to exclude that the observed seismic damage may be the consequence of significant site effects. When also the large distance from the strongest Apennine’s seismogenic source areas is considered, the possibility that the observed damage may be the consequence of local events should be considered. We discuss the potentiality of the ENE-WSW trending fault as the source of the observed seismic damages, highlighting the supporting evidence as well as the uncertainties of such interpretation.

Description: Published

Description: 833–851

Description: 5T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This work describes the analysis of the strong-motion data from the Engineering Strong Motion database (ESM, http://esm.mi.ingv.it), aimed at: (1) extract a dataset of accelero- metric waveforms recorded during the 2016–2017 Central Italy seismic sequence; (2) iden- tify the recording stations to be used as reference sites for further seismological analysis; (3) select the records to be used as input for seismic microzonation of higher level at 137 municipalities. Firstly, a residual analysis is carried out on the extracted dataset to perform: (1) the quality check of the waveforms recorded by temporary networks installed soon after the occurrence of the rst main shock (M 6.0, 24 August 2016); (2) the estimation of the site-to-site residual term for each recording station with the aim of recognising potential reference rock sites. Finally, the software REXELite, integrated within the ESM website, is adopted to select suites of spectrum-compatible accelerograms, that will be used as input for calculating site ampli cations through 1D and 2D simulations at sites which suf- fered the greatest damage. The results of this work demonstrate the success of the synergy among Italian institutions. The setup of key infrastructures, such as emergency networks and data repositories, together with the knowledge developed during national projects, turned out to be successful in terms of timely intervention during the emergency phase and the planning of the post-emergency.

Description: Published

Description: 5533–5551

Description: 5T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: We present the analysis of rotational and translational ground motions from earthquakes recorded during October–November 2016, in association with the Central Italy seismic sequence. We use co-located measurements of the vertical ground rotation rate from a large ring laser gyroscope and the three components of ground velocity from a broad-band seismometer. Both instruments are positioned in a deep underground environment, within the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. We collected dozens of events spanning the 3.5–5.9 magnitude range and epicentral distances between 30 and 70 km. This data set constitutes an unprecedented observation of the vertical rotational motions associated with an intense seismic sequence at local distance. Under the plane-wave approximation we process the data set in order to get an experimental estimation of the events backazimuth. Peak values of rotation rate (PRR) and horizontal acceleration (PGA) are markedly correlated, according to a scaling constant which is consistent with previous measurements from different earthquake sequences. We used a prediction model in use for Italy to calculate the expected PGA at the recording site, obtaining consequently predictions for PRR. Within the modelling uncertainties, predicted rotations are consistent with the observed ones, suggesting the possibility of establishing specific attenuation models for ground rotations, like the scaling of peak velocity and peak acceleration in empirical ground-motion prediction relationships. In a second step, after identifying the direction of the incoming wavefield, we extract phase-velocity data using the spectral ratio of the translational and rotational components. This analysis is performed over time windows associated with the P-coda, S-coda and Lg phase. Results are consistent with independent estimates of shear wave velocities in the shallow crust of the Central Apennines

Description: Published

Description: 705-715

Description: 4T. Sismicità dell'Italia

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Our knowledge on distribution, habitats and behavior of Southern Ocean fishes living at water depths beyond scuba-diving limits is still sparse, as it is difficult to obtain quantitative data on these aspects of their biology. Here, we report the results of an analysis of seabed images to investigate species composition, behavior, spatial distribution and preferred habitats of demersal fish assemblages in the southern Weddell Sea. Our study was based on a total of 2736 high-resolution images, covering a total seabed area of 11,317 m2, which were taken at 13 stations at water depths between 200 and 750 m. Fish were found in 380 images. A total of 379 notothenioid specimens were recorded, representing four families (Nototheniidae, Artedidraconidae, Bathydraconidae, Channichthyidae), 17 genera and 25 species. Nototheniidae was the most speciose fam- ily, including benthic species (Trematomus spp.) and the pelagic species Pleuragramma antarctica, which was occasionally recorded in dense shoals. Bathydraconids ranked second with six species, followed by artedidraconids and channichthyids, both with five species. Most abundant species were Trematomus scotti and T. lepidorhinus among nototheniids, and Dol- loidraco longedorsalis and Pagetopsis maculatus among artedidraconids and channichthyids, respectively. Both T. lepi- dorhinus and P. maculatus preferred seabed habitats characterized by biogenous debris and rich epibenthic fauna, whereas T. scotti and D. longedorsalis were frequently seen resting on fine sediments and scattered gravel. Several fish species were recorded to make use of the three-dimensional structure formed by epibenthic foundation species, like sponges, for perching or hiding inside. Nesting behavior was observed, frequently in association with dropstones, in species from various families, including Channichthyidae (Chaenodraco wilsoni and Pagetopsis macropterus) and Bathydraconidae (Cygnodraco mawsoni).

Description: A new 21.3m firn core was drilled in 2015 at a coastal Antarctic high-accumulation site in Adélie Land (66.78◦ S; 139.56◦ E, 602 m a.s.l.), named Terre Adélie 192A (TA192A). The mean isotopic values (−19.3 ‰ ± 3.1 ‰ for δ18O and 5.4 ‰±2.2 ‰ for deuterium excess) are consistent with other coastal Antarctic values. No significant isotope–temperature relationship can be evidenced at any timescale. This rules out a simple interpretation in terms of local temperature. An observed asymmetry in the δ18O seasonal cycle may be explained by the precipitation of air masses coming from the eastern and western sectors in autumn and winter, recorded in the d-excess signal showing outstanding values in austral spring versus autumn. Significant positive trends are observed in the annual d-excess record and local sea ice extent (135–145◦ E) over the period 1998–2014. However, process studies focusing on resulting isotopic compositions and particularly the deuterium excess–δ18O relationship, evidenced as a potential fingerprint of moisture origins, as well as the collection of more isotopic measurements in Adélie Land are needed for an accurate interpretation of our signals.

Description: Due to its year-round accessibility and excellent on-site infrastructure, Kongsfjorden and the Ny-Ålesund Research and Monitoring Facility have become established as a primary location to study the impact of environmental change on Arctic coastal ecosystems. Due to its location right at the interface of Arctic and Atlantic oceanic regimes, Kongsfjorden already experiences large amplitudes of variability in physico/chemical conditions and might, thus, be considered as an early warning indicator of future changes, which can then be extrapolated in a pan-Arctic perspective. Already now, Kongsfjorden represents one of the best-studied Arctic fjord systems. However, research conducted to date has concentrated largely on small disciplinary projects, prompting the need for a higher level of integration of future research activities. This contribution, thus, aims at identifying gaps in knowledge and research priorities with respect to ecological and adaptive responses to Arctic ecosystem changes. By doing so we aim to provide a stimulus for the initiation of new international and interdisciplinary research initiatives.

Description: The timing and intensity of snowmelt processes on sea ice are key drivers determining the seasonal sea-ice energy and mass budgets. In the Arctic, satellite passive microwave and radar observations have revealed a trend towards an earlier snowmelt onset during the last decades, which is an important aspect of Arctic amplification and sea ice decline. Around Antarctica, snowmelt on perennial ice is weak and very different than in the Arctic, with most snow surviving the summer. Here we compile time series of snowmelt-onset dates on seasonal and perennial Antarctic sea ice from 1992 to 2014/15 using active microwave observations from European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1/2), Quick Scatterometer (QSCAT) and Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) radar scatterometers. We define two snowmelt transition stages: A weak backscatter rise indicating the initial warming and destructive metamorphism of the snowpack (pre-melt), followed by a rapid backscatter rise indicating the onset of thaw-freeze cycles (snowmelt). Results show large interannual variability with an average pre-melt onset date of 29 November and melt onset of 10 December, respectively, on perennial ice, without any significant trends over the study period, consistent with the small trends of Antarctic sea ice extent. There was a latitudinal gradient from early snowmelt onsets in mid-November in the northern Weddell Sea to late (end-December) or even absent snowmelt conditions in the southern Weddell Sea. We show that QSCAT Ku-band (13.4 GHz signal frequency) derived pre-melt and snowmelt onset dates are earlier by 20 and 18 days, respectively, than ERS and ASCAT C-band (5.6 GHz) derived dates. This offset has been considered when constructing the time series. Snowmelt onset dates from passive microwave observations (37 GHz) are later by 14 and 6 days than those from the scatterometers, respectively. Based on these characteristic differences between melt onset dates observed by different microwave wavelengths, we developed a conceptual model which illustrates how the seasonal evolution of snow temperature profiles may affect different microwave bands with different penetration depths. These suggest that future multi-frequency active/passive microwave satellite missions could be used to resolve melt processes throughout the vertical snow column of thick snow on perennial Antarctic sea ice.

Description: Although quantitative isotope data from speleothems has been used to evaluate isotope-enabled model simulations, currently no consensus exists regarding the most appropriate methodology through which to achieve this. A number of modelling groups will be running isotope-enabled palaeoclimate simulations in the framework of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6, so it is timely to evaluate different approaches to using the speleothem data for data–model comparisons. Here, we illustrate this using 456 globally distributed speleothem δ18O records from an updated version of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) database and palaeoclimate simulations generated using the ECHAM5-wiso isotope-enabled atmospheric circulation model. We show that the SISAL records reproduce the first-order spatial patterns of isotopic variability in the modern day, strongly supporting the application of this dataset for evaluating model-derived isotope variability into the past. However, the discontinuous nature of many speleothem records complicates the process of procuring large numbers of records if data–model comparisons are made using the traditional approach of comparing anomalies between a control period and a given palaeoclimate experiment. To circumvent this issue, we illustrate techniques through which the absolute isotope values during any time period could be used for model evaluation. Specifically, we show that speleothem isotope records allow an assessment of a model’s ability to simulate spatial isotopic trends. Our analyses provide a protocol for using speleothem isotope data for model evaluation, including screening the observations to take into account the impact of speleothem mineralogy on δ18O values, the optimum period for the modern observational baseline and the selection of an appropriate time window for creating means of the isotope data for palaeo-time-slices.

Description: We present here the first results, for the preindustrial and mid-Holocene climatological periods, of the newly developed isotope-enhanced version of the fully coupled Earth system model MPI-ESM, called hereafter MPI-ESM-wiso. The water stable isotopes H16O, H18O and HDO have been implemented into all components of the coupled model setup. The mid-Holocene provides the opportunity to evaluate the model response to changes in the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of insolation induced by different orbital forcing conditions. The results of our equilibrium simulations allow us to evaluate the performance of the isotopic model in simulating the spatial and temporal variations of water isotopes in the different compartments of the hydrological system for warm climates. For the preindustrial climate, MPI-ESM-wiso reproduces very well the observed spatial distribution of the isotopic content in precipitation linked to the spatial variations in temperature and precipitation rate. We also find a good model–data agreement with the observed distribution of isotopic composition in surface seawater but a bias with the presence of surface seawater that is too 18O-depleted in the Arctic Ocean. All these results are improved compared to the previous model version ECHAM5/MPIOM. The spatial relationships of water isotopic composition with temperature, precipitation rate and salinity are consistent with observational data. For the preindustrial climate, the interannual relationships of water isotopes with temperature and salinity are globally lower than the spatial ones, consistent with previous studies. Simulated results under mid-Holocene conditions are in fair agreement with the isotopic measurements from ice cores and continental speleothems. MPI-ESM-wiso simulates a decrease in the isotopic composition of precipitation from North Africa to the Tibetan Plateau via India due to the enhanced monsoons during the mid-Holocene. Over Greenland, our simulation indicates a higher isotopic composition of precipitation linked to higher summer temperature and a reduction in sea ice, shown by positive isotope–temperature gradient. For the Antarctic continent, the model simulates lower isotopic values over the East Antarctic plateau, linked to the lower temperatures during the mid-Holocene period, while similar or higher isotopic values are modeled over the rest of the continent. While variations of isotopic contents in precipitation over West Antarctica between mid-Holocene and preindustrial periods are partly controlled by changes in temperature, the transport of relatively 18O-rich water vapor near the coast to the western ice core sites could play a role in the final isotopic composition. So, more caution has to be taken about the reconstruction of past temperature variations during warm periods over this area. The coupling of such a model with an ice sheet model or the use of a zoomed grid centered on this region could help to better describe the role of the water vapor transport and sea ice around West Antarctica. The reconstruction of past salinity through isotopic content in sea surface waters can be complicated for regions with strong ocean dynamics, variations in sea ice regimes or significant changes in freshwater budget, giving an extremely variable relationship between the isotopic content and salinity of ocean surface waters over small spatial scales. These complicating factors demonstrate the complexity of interpreting water isotopes as past climate signals of warm periods like the mid-Holocene. A systematic isotope model intercomparison study for further insights on the model dependency of these results would be beneficial.

Description: Recent studies pointed to a high ice nucleating activity (INA) in the Arctic sea surface microlayer (SML). However, related chemical information is still sparse. In the present study, INA and free glucose concentrations were quantified in Arctic SML and bulk water samples from the marginal ice zone, the ice-free ocean, melt ponds, and open waters within the ice pack. T50 (defining INA) ranged from −17.4 to −26.8 °C. Glucose concentrations varied from 0.6 to 51 μg/L with highest values in the SML from the marginal ice zone and melt ponds (median 16.3 and 13.5 μg/L) and lower values in the SML from the ice pack and the ice-free ocean (median 3.9 and 4.0 μg/L). Enrichment factors between the SML and the bulk ranged from 0.4 to 17. A positive correlation was observed between free glucose concentration and INA in Arctic water samples (T50(°C) = (−25.6 ± 0.6) + (0.15 ± 0.04)·Glucose(μg/L), RP = 0.66, n = 74). Clustering water samples based on phytoplankton pigment composition resulted in robust but different correlations within the four clusters (RP between 0.67 and 0.96), indicating a strong link to phytoplankton-related processes. Since glucose did not show significant INA itself, free glucose may serve as a potential tracer for INA in Arctic water samples.

Description: Modern Society needs interactive public discussion to provide an effective way of focusing on hydrological hazards and their consequences. Embracing a holistic Earth system Science approach, we experiment since 2004 different stimulating educational/communicative model which emotionally involves the participants to raise awareness on the social dimension of the disaster hydrogeological risk reduction, pointing out that human behavior is the crucial factor in the degree of vulnerability and the likelihood of disasters taking place. The implementation of strategies for risk mitigation must include educational aspects, as well as economical and societal ones. Education is the bridge between knowledge and understanding and the key to raise risk perception. Children’s involvement might trigger a chain reaction that reinforce and spread the culture of risk. No matter how heavy was the rain that hit our land in the past and recent seasons, we still are not prepared. If on one hand we need to fight against worsening Global Warming that trigger extreme meteorological events, we should also work on sustainable land use and promote landscape preservation. Since science can work on improving knowledge of phenomena, technology can provide modern tool to reduce the impact of disasters, children and adults education is the flywheel to provide the change. We present here two cases selected among the wide range of educational activities that we have tested and to which more than 2,000 students and adults have participated within a period of 12 years. They include learn-by-playing, hands-on, emotional-learning activities, open questions seminars, learning paths, curiosity-driven approaches, special venues and science outreach.

Description: Sendai Partnerships 2015-2025

Description: Published

Description: Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Description: 2TM. Divulgazione Scientifica

Description: The systematic study of biological basis of behavior and of the process involved in economical choices has outlined a new paradigm of research: neuroeconomics. Now the intersection between neuroscience, psychology and economics, neuroeconomics presents itself as an alternative to the neoclassical vision on economics, according to which the homo oeconomicus acts within the bonds of a formalizing rationality tending to the maximization of the anticipated utility. Brain imagining methods have shown that the decision-making processes activate the frontal lobe and the limbic system above all, a big circonvolution running through the callous body on the medial surface of the hemispheres, extending itself down, responsible for the regulation of emotional phenomena. Reinforcing such a tendency, we find the injury paradigm. It was observed that frontal lobe injuries harm the capacity of making advantageous decisions either in one’s own behalf or in others, as well as decisions according to the social conventions. In this paper, we will try to show that if, by the one hand, the neuro visual methods have given us a great amount of data, on the other hand, using them uncritically, with the recurrent confusion between “correlation” and “causal relation”—contemporary microevents indicate only simple correlations, and no cause-effect relation—risks to stress the relevant explanatory gap regarding the abstract ideal of understanding the nature of the brain.

Description: Published

Description: 135-141

Description: 2TM. Divulgazione Scientifica

Description: This paper investigates whether and how depressive disorders affect speech and in particular timing strategies for speech pauses (empty and filled pauses, as well as, phoneme lengthening). The investigation is made exploiting read and spontaneous narratives . The collected data are from 24 subjects, divided into two groups (depressed and control) asked to read a tale, as well as, spontaneously report on their daily activities. Ten different frequency and duration measures for pauses and clauses are proposed and have been collected using the PRAAT software on the speech recordings produced by the participants. A T-Student test for independent samples was applied on the collected frequency and duration measures in order to ascertain whether significant differences between healthy and depressed speech measures are observed. In the “spontaneous narrative” condition, depressed patients exhibited significant differences in: the average duration of their empty pauses, the average frequency, and the average duration of their clauses. In the read narratives, only the average pause’s frequency of the clauses was significantly lower in the depressed subjects with respect to the healthy ones. The results suggest that depressive disorders affect speech quality and speech production through pause and clause durations, as well as, clause quantities. In particular, the significant differences in clause quantities (observed both in the read and spontaneous narratives), suggest a strong general effect of depressive symptoms on cognitive and psychomotor functions. Depressive symptoms produce changes in the planned timing of pauses, even when reading, modifying the timing of pausing strategies.

Description: Published

Description: 73-82

Description: 5TM. Informazione ed editoria

Description: t The role of riverine freshwater inflow on the Central Mediterranean Overturning Circulation (CMOC) was studied using a high-resolution ocean model with a complete distribution of rivers in the Adriatic and Ionian catchment areas. The impact of river runoff on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea basins was assessed by a twin experiment, with and without runoff, from 1999 to 2012. This study tries to show the connection between the Adriatic as a marginal sea containing the downwelling branch of the anti-estuarine CMOC and the large runoff occurring there. It is found that the multiannual CMOC is a persistent anti-estuarine structure with secondary estuarine cells that strengthen in years of large realistic river runoff. The CMOC is demonstrated to be controlled by wind forcing at least as much as by buoyancy fluxes. It is found that river runoff affects the CMOC strength, enhancing the amplitude of the secondary estuarine cells and reducing the intensity of the dominant anti-estuarine cell. A large river runoff can produce a positive buoyancy flux without switching off the antiestuarine CMOC cell, but a particularly low heat flux and wind work with normal river runoff can reverse it. Overall by comparing experiments with, without and with unrealistically augmented runoff we demonstrate that rivers affect the CMOC strength but they can never represent its dominant forcing mechanism and the potential role of river runoff has to be considered jointly with wind work and heat flux, as they largely contribute to the energy budget of the basin. Looking at the downwelling branch of the CMOC in the Adriatic basin, rivers are demonstrated to locally reduce the volume of Adriatic dense water formed in the Southern Adriatic Sea as a result of increased water stratification. The spreading of the Adriatic dense water into the Ionian abyss is affected as well: dense waters overflowing the Otranto Strait are less dense in a realistic runoff regime, with respect to no runoff experiment, and confined to a narrower band against the Italian shelf with less lateral spreading toward the Ionian Sea center. 1

Description: Published

Description: 1675-1703

Description: 4A. Oceanografia e clima

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Humans have very high requirements and expectations when communicating through speech, other than simplicity, flexibility and easiness of interaction. This is because voice interactions do not require cognitive efforts, attention, and memory resources. Voice technologies are however still constrained to use cases and scenarios giving the existing limitations of speech synthesis and recognition systems. Which is the status of nonlinear speech processing techniques and the steps made for cross-fertilization among disciplines? This chapter will provide a short overview trying to answer the above question.

Description: Published

Description: 5-11

Description: 5TM. Informazione ed editoria

Description: This article has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Journal International ©: The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.

Description: Mud volcanoes are geological systems often characterized by elevated fluid pressures at depth deviating from hydrostatic conditions. This near-critical state makes mud volcanoes particularly sensitive to external forcing induced by natural or man-made perturbations. We used the Nirano mud volcanic field as a natural laboratory to test pre- and post-seismic effects generated by distant earthquakes.We first characterized the subsurface structure of the Nirano mud volcanic field with a geoelectrical study. Next, we deployed a broad-band seismic station in the area to understand the typical seismic signal generated by the mud volcano. Seismic records show a background noise below 2 s, sometimes interrupted by pulses of drumbeatlike high-frequency signals lasting from several minutes to hours. To date this is the first observation of drumbeat signal observed in mud volcanoes. In 2013 June we recorded a M4.7 earthquake, that occurred approximately 60 km far from our seismic station. According to empirical estimations the Nirano mud volcanic field should not have been affected by the M4.7 earthquake. Yet, before the seismic event we recorded an increasing amplitude of the signal in the 10–20 Hz frequency band. The signal emerged approximately two hours before the earthquake and lasted for about three hours. Our statistical analysis suggests the presence of a possible precursory signal about 10 min before the earthquake.

Description: Published

Description: 907–917

Description: 7A. Geofisica per il monitoraggio ambientale

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Since the past decade, geodetic techniques are widely used to gain important information for the monitoring and modeling of the deformation of the Earth at different length and time scales. Although the GNSS derived estimates of the Earth crust velocity are becoming more and more reliable, advanced data analysis techniques are needed to recognize geophysical features in the GNSS time-series, e.g., non linear behaviors, discontinuities in the signal and in its derivative, i.e., in the velocity. Unfortunately these phenomena are often hidden in the time-series noise and external information, as seismic events, are not always known. The main focus of this work is the detection of signal discontinuities in GNSS time-series through the use of advanced analysis techniques: the wavelets, the Bayesian and the variational methods. The Mumford and Shah (Commun Pure Appl Math 42:577–685, 1989) and the Blake and Zisserman (Visual reconstruction, 1987) variational models for signal segmentation can detect signal discontinuities in an explicitly way. The Blake and Zisserman (Visual reconstruction, 1987) model can also detect discontinuities of the signal first derivative, i.e., velocity abrupt changes can be detected. At first, to prove and assess the capability to detect discontinuities correctly, the methods have been applied to some Cascadia (North America) time-series, characterized by well known aseismic deformations. A second test area has been taken into account: the Calabrian Arc subduction zone, in southern Italy. The analyzed Italian GNSS time-series are characterized by very weak and noisy signals and the geodynamic of the area is mostly unknown. When present, discontinuities are expected to be very small and compatible with the signal noise. This motivates the use of advanced data analysis techniques to investigate the presence of discontinuities. At the moment, the analysis of the Italian time-series has revealed several discontinuities which nature cannot be labeled easily as geophysical or geodetic.

Description: Published

Description: 627-634

Description: 2T. Deformazione crostale attiva

Description: Algorithms based on artificial intelligence (AI) have had a strong development in recent years in different research fields of earth science such as seismology and volcanology. In particular, they have been applied to the study of the volcanic eruptive products of the recent activity of Mount Etna volcano. This work presents an application of the self-organizing map (SOM) neural networks to perform a clustering analysis on petrographic patterns of rocks of Somma–Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei volcanoes, in the Neapolitan area. The goal is to highlight possible affinity between the magmatic reservoirs of these two volcanic complexes. The SOM is known for its ability to cluster data by using intrinsic similarity measures without any previous information about their distribution. Moreover, it allows an easy understandable data visualization by using a two-dimensional map. The SOM has been tested on a geochemical dataset of 271 samples, consisting of 134 samples of Campi Flegrei eruptions (named CF), 24 samples of Somma–Vesuvius effusive eruptions (VF), 73 samples of Somma–Vesuvius explosive eruptions (VX), and finally 40 samples of “foreign” eruptions (ET), included to verify the neural net classification capability. After a pre-processing phase, applied to have a more appropriate data representation as input for the SOM, each sample has been encoded through a vector of 23 features, containing information about major bulk components, trace elements, and Sr isotopic ratio. The resulting SOM identifies three main clusters, and in particular, the foreign patterns (ET) are well separated from the other ones being mainly grouped in a single node. In conclusion, the obtained results suggest the ability of SOM neural network to associate volcanic rock suites on the basis of their geochemical imprint and can be consistent with the hypothesis that there might be a common magma source beneath the whole Neapolitan area.

Description: Published

Description: 55-60

Description: 3V. Proprietà chimico-fisiche dei magmi e dei prodotti vulcanici

Description: This paper investigates the ability of adolescents (aged 13–15 years) and young adults (aged 20–26 years) to decode affective bursts culturally situated in a different context (Francophone vs. South Italian). The effects of context show that Italian subjects perform poorly with respect to the Francophone ones revealing a significant native speaker advantage in decoding the selected affective bursts. In addition, adolescents perform better than young adults, particularly in the decoding and intensity ratings of affective bursts of happiness, pain, and pleasure suggesting an effect of age related to language expertise.

Description: Published

Description: 1TM. Formazione

Description: Many marine gastropods show species-specific behavioral responses to different predators, but less is known about the mechanisms influencing differences or similarities in specific responses. Herein, we examined whether two limpet species, Scurria viridula (Lamarck, 1819) and Fissurella latimarginata (Sowerby, 1835), show species- and size-specific similarities or differences in their reaction to predatory seastars and crabs. Both S. viridula and F. latimarginata reacted to their main seastar predators with escape responses. In contrast, both limpets did not flee from common crab predators, but, instead, fastened to the rock. All tested size classes of both limpet species reacted in a similar way, escaping from seastars, but clamping onto the rock in response to crabs. Limpets could reach velocities sufficient to outrun their specific seastar predators, but they were not fast enough to escape crabs. Experiments with limpets of different shell conditions (with and without shell damage) indicated that F. latimarginata with a damaged shell showed “accommodation movements” (slow movements away from stimulus) in response to predatory crabs. In contrast, intact F. latimarginata and all S. viridula (intact and damaged) clamped the shell down to the substratum. The response details suggest that the keyhole limpet F. latimarginata is more sensitive to predators (faster reaction time, longer escape distances, and higher proportion of reacting individuals) than S. viridula, possibly because the morphology of F. latimarginata (the relationship of its shell size and structure to its total body size) makes this species more vulnerable to predation. Our study suggests that chemically mediated effects of seastar and crab predators result in contrasting behavioral responses of both limpet species, independent of their habitat and morphology. Despite the different characteristics of the limpet species and the identity of predators, the limpets react in comparable ways to similar predator types.

Description: In this study, we present results obtained from modelling the mid-Pliocene warm period using the Community Earth System Models (COSMOS, version: COSMOS-landveg r2413, 2009) with the two different sets of boundary conditions prescribed for the two phases of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP). Boundary conditions, model forcing, and modelling methodology of the two phases of PlioMIP, tagged PlioMIP1 and PlioMIP2,differ considerably in palaeogeography, in particular with regards to the state of ocean gateways, ice-masks, vegetation and topography. Further differences between model setups as suggested for PlioMIP1 and PlioMIP2 consider updates to the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), that is specified as 405 and 400 parts per million by volume (ppmv) for PlioMIP1 and PlioMIP2, respectively, as well as minor differences in the concentrations of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) due to changes in the protocol of the Paleoclimate Model Intercomparison Project (PMIP) from phase 3 to phase 4. With this manuscript, we bridge the gap between our contributions to PlioMIP1 (Stepanek and Lohmann, 2012) and PlioMIP2 (Stepanek et al., 2019). We highlight some of the effects that differences in the chosen Mid-Pliocene model setup (PlioMIP2 vs. PlioMIP1) have on the climate state as derived with the COSMOS, as this information will be valuable in the framework of the model-model and model-data-comparison within PlioMIP2. We evaluate the model sensitivity to improved mid-Pliocene boundary conditions using PlioMIP’s core mid-Pliocene experiments for PlioMIP1 and PlioMIP2, and present further simulations where we test model sensitivity to variations in palaeogeography, orbit and concentration of CO2. Firstly,we highlight major changes in boundary conditions from PlioMIP1 to PlioMIP2 and also the limitations recorded from the initial effort. The results derived from of our simulations show that COSMOS simulates a mid-Pliocene climate state that is 0.08 K colder in PlioMIP2, if compared to PlioMIP1. On one hand, high-latitude warming,which is supported by proxy evidence of the mid-Pliocene, is underestimated in simulations of both PlioMIP1 andPlioMIP2. On the other hand, spatial variations in surface air temperature (SAT), sea surface temperature (SST) as well as the distribution of sea ice suggest improvement of simulated SAT and SST in PlioMIP2 if employing the updated palaeogeography. The PlioMIP2 Mid-Pliocene simulation produces warmer SSTs in the Arctic and North Atlantic Ocean than derived from the respective PlioMIP1 climate state. The difference in prescribed CO2accountsfor 1.1 K of warming in the Arctic, leading to an ice-free summer in the PlioMIP1 simulation, and a quasi-ice-free summer in PlioMIP2. Furthermore, employing different orbital forcings in simulating the Mid-Pliocene lead to pronounced annual and seasonal variations, which is not accounted for by marine and terrestrial reconstruction of the time-slice.

Description: The Antarctic temperature changes over the past millennia remain more uncertain than in many other continental regions. This has several origins: (1) the number of high-resolution ice cores is small, in particular on the East Antarctic plateau and in some coastal areas in East Antarctica; (2) the short and spatially sparse instrumental records limit the calibration period for reconstructions and the assessment of the methodologies; (3) the link between isotope records from ice cores and local climate is usually complex and dependent on the spatial scales and timescales investigated. Here, we use climate model results, pseudo-proxy experiments and data assimilation experiments to assess the potential for reconstructing the Antarctic temperature over the last 2 millennia based on a new database of stable oxygen isotopes in ice cores compiled in the frame- work of Antarctica2k (Stenni et al., 2017). The well-known covariance between δ18O and temperature is reproduced in the two isotope-enabled models used (ECHAM5/MPI-OM and ECHAM5-wiso), but is generally weak over the different Antarctic regions, limiting the skill of the reconstructions. Furthermore, the strength of the link displays large variations over the past millennium, further affecting the potential skill of temperature reconstructions based on statistical methods which rely on the assumption that the last decades are a good estimate for longer temperature reconstructions. Using a data assimilation technique allows, in theory, for changes in the δ18O–temperature link through time and space to be taken into account. Pseudoproxy experiments confirm the benefits of using data assimilation methods instead of statistical methods that provide reconstructions with unrealistic variances in some Antarctic subregions. They also confirm that the relatively weak link between both variables leads to a limited potential for reconstructing temperature based on δ18O. However, the reconstruction skill is higher and more uniform among reconstruction methods when the reconstruction target is the Antarctic as a whole rather than smaller Antarctic subregions. This consistency between the methods at the large scale is also observed when reconstructing temperature based on the real δ18O regional composites of Stenni et al. (2017). In this case, temperature reconstructions based on data assimilation confirm the long-term cooling over Antarctica during the last millennium, and the later onset of anthropogenic warming compared with the simulations without data assimilation, which is especially visible in West Antarctica. Data assimilation also allows for models and direct observations to be reconciled by reproducing the east–west contrast in the recent temperature trends. This recent warming pattern is likely mostly driven by internal variability given the large spread of individual Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP)/Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) model realizations in simulating it. As in the pseudoproxy framework, the reconstruction methods perform differently at the subregional scale, especially in terms of the variance of the time series produced. While the potential benefits of using a data assimilation method instead of a statistical method have been highlighted in a pseudoproxy framework, the instrumental series are too short to confirm this in a realistic setup.

Description: Ice-wedge polygons are common features of lowland tundra in the continuous permafrost zone and prone to rapid degradation through melting of ground ice. There are many interrelated processes involved in ice-wedge thermokarst and it is a major challenge to quantify their influence on the stability of the permafrost underlying the landscape. In this study we used a numerical modelling approach to investigate the degradation of ice wedges with a focus on the influence of hydrological conditions. Our study area was Samoylov Island in the Lena River delta of northern Siberia, for which we had in situ measurements to evaluate the model. The tailored version of the CryoGrid 3 land surface model was capable of simulating the changing microtopography of polygonal tundra and also regarded lateral fluxes of heat, water, and snow. We demonstrated that the approach is capable of simulating ice-wedge degradation and the associated transition from a low-centred to a high-centred polygonal microtopography. The model simulations showed ice-wedge degradation under recent climatic conditions of the study area, irrespective of hydrological conditions. However, we found that wetter conditions lead to an earlier onset of degradation and cause more rapid ground subsidence. We set our findings in correspondence to observed types of ice-wedge polygons in the study area and hypothesized on remaining discrepancies between modelled and observed ice-wedge thermokarst activity. Our quantitative approach provides a valuable complement to previous, more qualitative and conceptual, descriptions of the possible pathways of ice-wedge polygon evolution. We concluded that our study is a blueprint for investigating thermokarst landforms and marks a step forward in understanding the complex interrelationships between various processes shaping ice-rich permafrost landscapes.

Description: Warming of the Arctic led to an increase in permafrost temperatures by about 0.3 �C during the last decade. Permafrost warming is associated with increasing sediment water content, permeability, and diffusivity and could in the long term alter microbial community composition and abundance even before permafrost thaws. We studied the long-term effect (up to 2500 years) of submarine permafrost warming on microbial communities along an onshore–offshore transect on the Siberian Arctic Shelf displaying a natural temperature gradient of more than 10 �C. We analysed the in situ development of bacterial abundance and community composition through total cell counts (TCCs), quantitative PCR of bacterial gene abundance, and amplicon sequencing and correlated the microbial community data with temperature, pore water chemistry, and sediment physicochemical parameters. On timescales of centuries, permafrost warming coincided with an overall decreasing microbial abundance, whereas millennia after warming microbial abundance was similar to cold onshore permafrost. In addition, the dissolved organic carbon content of all cores was lowest in submarine permafrost after millennial-scale warming. Based on correlation analysis, TCC, unlike bacterial gene abundance, showed a significant rank-based negative correlation with increasing temperature, while bacterial gene copy numbers showed a strong negative correlation with salinity. Bacterial community composition correlated only weakly with temperature but strongly with the pore water stable isotopes �18O and �D, as well as with depth. The bacterial community showed substantial spatial variation and an overall dominance of Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, and Proteobacteria, which are amongst the microbial taxa that were also found to be active in other frozen permafrost environments. We suggest that, millennia after permafrost warming by over 10 �C, microbial community composition and abundance show some indications for proliferation but mainly reflect the sedimentation history and paleoenvironment and not a direct effect through warming.

Description: The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a synthesis effort providing regular compilations of surface to bottom ocean biogeochemical data, with an emphasis on seawater inorganic carbon chemistry and related variables determined through chemical analysis of water samples. This update of GLODAPv2, v2.2019, adds data from 116 cruises to the previous version, extending its coverage in time from 2013 to 2017, while also adding some data from prior years. GLODAPv2.2019 includes measurements from more than 1.1 million water samples from the global oceans collected on 840 cruises. The data for the 12 GLODAP core variables (salinity, oxygen, nitrate, silicate, phosphate, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, pH, CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, and CCl4) have undergone extensive quality control, especially systematic evaluation of bias. The data are available in two formats: (i) as submitted by the data originator but updated to WOCE exchange format and (ii) as a merged data product with adjustments applied to minimize bias. These adjustments were derived by comparing the data from the 116 new cruises with the data from the 724 quality-controlled cruises of the GLODAPv2 data product. They correct for errors related to measurement, calibration, and data handling practices, taking into account any known or likely time trends or variations. The compiled and adjusted data product is believed to be consistent to better than 0.005 in salinity, 1 % in oxygen, 2 % in nitrate, 2 % in silicate, 2 % in phosphate, 4 µmol kg−1 in dissolved inorganic carbon, 4 µmol kg−1 in total alkalinity, 0.01–0.02 in pH, and 5 % in the halogenated transient tracers. The compilation also includes data for several other variables, such as isotopic tracers. These were not subjected to bias comparison or adjustments. The original data, their documentation and DOI codes are available in the Ocean Carbon Data System of NOAA NCEI (https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/ocads/oceans/GLODAPv2_2019/, last access: 17 September 2019). This site also provides access to the merged data product, which is provided as a single global file and as four regional ones – the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans – under https://doi.org/10.25921/xnme-wr20 (Olsen et al., 2019). The product files also include significant ancillary and approximated data. These were obtained by interpolation of, or calculation from, measured data. This paper documents the GLODAPv2.2019 methods and provides a broad overview of the secondary quality control procedures and results.

Description: We present a Lagrangian convective transport scheme developed for global chemistry and transport models, which considers the variable residence time that an air parcel spends in convection. This is particularly important for accurately simulating the tropospheric chemistry of short-lived species, e.g., for determining the time available for heterogeneous chemical processes on the surface of cloud droplets. In current Lagrangian convective transport schemes air parcels are stochastically redistributed within a fixed time step according to estimated probabilities for convective entrainment as well as the altitude of detrainment. We introduce a new scheme that extends this approach by modeling the variable time that an air parcel spends in convection by estimating vertical updraft velocities. Vertical updraft velocities are obtained by combining convective mass fluxes from meteorological analysis data with a parameterization of convective area fraction profiles. We implement two different parameterizations: a parameterization using an observed constant convective area fraction profile and a parameterization that uses randomly drawn profiles to allow for variability. Our scheme is driven by convective mass fluxes and detrainment rates that originate from an external convective parameterization, which can be obtained from meteorological analysis data or from general circulation models. We study the effect of allowing for a variable time that an air parcel spends in convection by performing simulations in which our scheme is implemented into the trajectory module of the ATLAS chemistry and transport model and is driven by the ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis data. In particular, we show that the redistribution of air parcels in our scheme conserves the vertical mass distribution and that the scheme is able to reproduce the convective mass fluxes and detrainment rates of ERA-Interim. We further show that the estimated vertical updraft velocities of our scheme are able to reproduce wind profiler measurements performed in Darwin, Australia, for velocities larger than 0.6 m s−1. SO2 is used as an example to show that there is a significant effect on species mixing ratios when modeling the time spent in convective updrafts compared to a redistribution of air parcels in a fixed time step. Furthermore, we perform long-time global trajectory simulations of radon-222 and compare with aircraft measurements of radon activity.

Description: Knowledge on basic biological functions of organisms is essential to understand not only the role they play in the ecosystems but also to manage and protect their populations. The study of biological processes, such as growth, reproduction and physiology, which can be approached in situ or by collecting specimens and rearing them in aquaria, is particularly challenging for deep-sea organisms like cold-water corals. Field experimental work and monitoring of deep-sea populations is still a chimera. Only a handful of research institutes or companies has been able to install in situ marine observatories in the Mediterranean Sea or elsewhere, which facilitate a continuous monitoring of deep-sea ecosystems. Hence, today’s best way to obtain basic biological information on these organisms is (1) working with collected samples and analysing them post-mortem and / or (2) cultivating corals in aquaria in order to monitor biological processes and investigate coral behaviour and physiological responses under different experimental treatments. The first challenging aspect is the collection process, which implies the use of oceanographic research vessels in most occasions since these organisms inhabit areas between ca. 150 m to more than 1000 m depth, and specific sampling gears. The next challenge is the maintenance of the animals on board (in situations where cruises may take weeks) and their transport to home laboratories. Maintenance in the home laboratories is also extremely challenging since special conditions and set-ups are needed to conduct experimental studies to obtain information on the biological processes of these animals. The complexity of the natural environment from which the corals were collected cannot be exactly replicated within the laboratory setting; a fact which has led some researchers to question the validity of work and conclusions drawn from such undertakings. It is evident that aquaria experiments cannot perfectly reflect the real environmental and trophic conditions where these organisms occur, but: (1) in most cases we do not have the possibility to obtain equivalent in situ information and (2) even with limitations, they produce relevant information about the biological limits of the species, which is especially valuable when considering potential future climate change scenarios. This chapter includes many contributions from different authors and is envisioned as both to be a practical “handbook” for conducting cold-water coral aquaria work, whilst at the same time offering an overview on the cold-water coral research conducted in Mediterranean laboratories equipped with aquaria infrastructure. Experiences from Atlantic and Pacific laboratories with extensive experience with cold-water coral work have also contributed to this chapter, as their procedures are valuable to any researcher interested in conducting experimental work with cold-water corals in aquaria. It was impossible to include contributions from all laboratories in the world currently working experimentally with cold-water corals in the laboratory, but at the conclusion of the chapter we attempt, to our best of our knowledge, to supply a list of several laboratories with operational cold-water coral aquaria facilities.

Description: This article has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Journal International ©: The Authors 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.

Description: The Amatrice–Norcia–Visso sequence is characterized by complex behaviour that is somewhat atypical of main-shock–aftershock sequences, as there were multiple large main shocks that continued for months. In this study we focus on the Amatrice sequence (main shock 2016 August 24, Mw = 5.97) to evaluate the apparent stress values and magnitude-dependent scaling in order to improve our knowledge of processes that control small and large earthquakes within this active region of Italy. Apparent stress is proportional to the ratio of radiated seismic energy and seismic moment, and as such, these stress parameters play an important role in hazard prediction as they have a strong effect on the observed and predicted ground shaking. We analyse 83 events of the sequence from 2016 August 24 to October 16, within a radius of 20 km from the main shock and with an Mw ranging between 5.97 and 2.72. Taking advantage of the averaging nature of coda waves, we analyse coda-envelope-based spectral ratios between neighbouring event pairs.We use equations proposed byWalter et al. to consider stable, low-frequency and high-frequency spectral ratio levelswhich provide measures of the corner frequency and apparent stress ratios of the events within the sequence. The results demonstrate non-self-similar behaviour within the sequence, suggesting a change in dynamics between the largest events and the smaller aftershocks. The apparent stress and corner frequency estimates are compared to those obtained by Malagnini and Munaf`o who utilized hundreds of direct S-wave spectral ratio measurements to obtain their results. Although our analysis is based only on 83 events, our results are in very good agreement, demonstrating once more that the use of coda waves is very stable and provides lower variance measures than those using direct waves. A comparison with recent Central Apennines source scaling models derived from various seismic sequences (1997–1998 Colfiorito, 2002 San Giuliano di Puglia, 2009 L’Aquila) shows that the Amatrice sequence source scaling in this study is well represented by the models proposed by Pacor et al. and Malagnini and Mayeda.

Description: Published

Description: 446-455

Description: 3T. Sorgente sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Author Posting. © The Authors, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 218(3), (2019): 1822-1837, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz253.

Description: Joint inversion of multiple electromagnetic data sets, such as controlled source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric data, has the potential to significantly reduce uncertainty in the inverted electrical resistivity when the two data sets contain complementary information about the subsurface. However, evaluating quantitatively the model uncertainty reduction is made difficult by the fact that conventional inversion methods—using gradients and model regularization—typically produce just one model, with no associated estimate of model parameter uncertainty. Bayesian inverse methods can provide quantitative estimates of inverted model parameter uncertainty by generating an ensemble of models, sampled proportional to data fit. The resulting posterior distribution represents a combination of a priori assumptions about the model parameters and information contained in field data. Bayesian inversion is therefore able to quantify the impact of jointly inverting multiple data sets by using the statistical information contained in the posterior distribution. We illustrate, for synthetic data generated from a simple 1-D model, the shape of parameter space compatible with controlled source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric data, separately and jointly. We also demonstrate that when data sets contain complementary information about the model, the region of parameter space compatible with the joint data set is less than or equal to the intersection of the regions compatible with the individual data sets. We adapt a trans-dimensional Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for jointly inverting multiple electromagnetic data sets for 1-D earth models and apply it to surface-towed controlled source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric data collected offshore New Jersey, USA, to evaluate the extent of a low salinity aquifer within the continental shelf. Our inversion results identify a region of high resistivity of varying depth and thickness in the upper 500 m of the continental shelf, corroborating results from a previous study that used regularized, gradient-based inversion methods. We evaluate the joint model parameter uncertainty in comparison to the uncertainty obtained from the individual data sets and demonstrate quantitatively that joint inversion offers reduced uncertainty. In addition, we show how the Bayesian model ensemble can subsequently be used to derive uncertainty estimates of pore water salinity within the low salinity aquifer.

Description: We gratefully acknowledge funding support from National Science Foundation grants 1458392 and 1459035. We thank the captain and crew of the R.V. Marcus G. Langseth for a successful cruise and the Marine EM Lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography for providing the instrumentation. We also thank Chris Armerding, Marah Dahn, John Desanto, Jimmy Elsenbeck, Matt Folsom, Keiichi Ishizu, Jeff Pepin, Charlotte Wiman and Georgie Zelenak for participating in the cruise. We gratefully acknowledge Alberto Malinverno for the idea to use a Monte Carlo scheme to estimate the distribution of pore fluid salinity, and William Menke for many constructive conversations and suggestions.

Description: Author Posting. © The Authors, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 218(3), (2019): 2122-2135, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz272.

Description: We have conducted the first passive Ocean Bottom Seismograph (OBS) experiment near the Challenger Deep at the southernmost Mariana subduction zone by deploying and recovering an array of 6 broad-band OBSs during December 2016–June 2017. The obtained passive-source seismic records provide the first-ever near-field seismic observations in the southernmost Mariana subduction zone. We first correct clock errors of the OBS recordings based on both teleseismic waveforms and ambient noise cross-correlation. We then perform matched filter earthquake detection using 53 template events in the catalogue of the US Geological Survey and find 〉7000 local earthquakes during the 6-month OBS deployment period. Results of the two independent approaches show that the maximum clock drifting was ∼2 s on one instrument (OBS PA01), while the rest of OBS waveforms had negligible time drifting. After timing correction, we locate the detected earthquakes using a newly refined local velocity model that was derived from a companion active source experiment in the same region. In total, 2004 earthquakes are located with relatively high resolution. Furthermore, we calibrate the magnitudes of the detected earthquakes by measuring the relative amplitudes to their nearest relocated templates on all OBSs and acquire a high-resolution local earthquake catalogue. The magnitudes of earthquakes in our new catalogue range from 1.1 to 5.6. The earthquakes span over the Southwest Mariana rift, the megathrust interface, forearc and outer-rise regions. While most earthquakes are shallow, depths of the slab earthquakes increase from ∼100 to ∼240 km from west to east towards Guam. We also delineate the subducting interface from seismicity distribution and find an increasing trend in dip angles from west to east. The observed along-strike variation in slab dip angles and its downdip extents provide new constraints on geodynamic processes of the southernmost Mariana subduction zone.

Description: We express our appreciation to the science parties and crew members of the R/V Shiyan 3 for deployment and collection of the OBS instruments during the Mariana expeditions. This study is supported by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council Grants (No. 14313816), Faculty of Science at CUHK, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y4SL021001, QYZDY-SSW-DQC005, 133244KYSB20180029), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41890813, 91628301, 41676042, U1701641, 41576041, 91858207 and U1606401), the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC0309800 and 2018YFC0310100). Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel & Smith 1991) and PSSAC (developed by Prof Lupei Zhu) are used for data analysis and figure preparation in this study. Constructive comments from Dr Lidong Bie and two anonymous reviewers are helpful in improving the manuscript.

Description: Author Posting. © American Chemical Society, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Chemical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Kivenson, V., Lemkau, K. L., Pizarro, O., Yoerger, D. R., Kaiser, C., Nelson, R. K., Carmichael, C., Paul, B. G., Reddy, C. M., & Valentine, D. L. (2019). Ocean Dumping of Containerized DDT Waste Was a Sloppy Process. Environmental Science and Technology (2019), doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b05859.

Description: Industrial-scale dumping of organic waste to the deep ocean was once common practice, leaving a legacy of chemical pollution for which a paucity of information exists. Using a nested approach with autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles, a dumpsite offshore California was surveyed and sampled. Discarded waste containers littered the site and structured the suboxic benthic environment. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was reportedly dumped in the area, and sediment analysis revealed substantial variability in concentrations of p,p-DDT and its analogs, with a peak concentration of 257 μg g–1, ∼40 times greater than the highest level of surface sediment contamination at the nearby DDT Superfund site. The occurrence of a conspicuous hydrocarbon mixture suggests that multiple petroleum distillates, potentially used in DDT manufacture, contributed to the waste stream. Application of a two end-member mixing model with DDTs and polychlorinated biphenyls enabled source differentiation between shelf discharge versus containerized waste. Ocean dumping was found to be the major source of DDT to more than 3000 km2 of the region’s deep seafloor. These results reveal that ocean dumping of containerized DDT waste was inherently sloppy, with the contents readily breaching containment and leading to regional scale contamination of the deep benthos.

Description: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for V.K. under Grant No. 1650114. Expeditions AT-18-11 and AT-26-06 were funded by the NSF (OCE-0961725 and OCE-1046144). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We thank the captain and crew of the RV Atlantis, the pilots and crew of the ROV Jason, the crew of the AUV Sentry, the scientific party of the AT-18-11 and AT-26-06 expeditions, Justin Tran for assistance with the preparation of multibeam data, M. Indira Venkatesan for a helpful discussion of the NOAA datasets, and Nathan Dodder for advice on the procedure for compound identification.

Description: In this paper we describe the macroseismic effects produced by the long and destructive seismic sequence that hit Central Italy from 24 August 2016 to January 2017. Starting from the procedure adopted in the complex field survey, we discuss the characteristics of the building stock and its classification in terms of EMS-98 as well as the issues associated with the intensity assessment due to the evolution of damage caused by multiple shocks. As a result, macroseismic intensity for about 300 localities has been determined; however, most of the intensities assessed for the earthquakes following the first strong shock on 24 August 2016, represent the cumulative effect of damage during the sequence. The earthquake parameters computed from the macroseismic datasets are compared with the instrumental determinations in order to highlight critical issues related to the assessment of macroseismic parameters of strong earthquakes during a seismic sequence. The results also provide indications on how location and magnitude computation can be strongly biased when dealing with historical seismic sequences.

Description: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri - Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC)

Description: Published

Description: 2407–2431

Description: 4T. Sismicità dell'Italia

Description: 1SR TERREMOTI - Sorveglianza Sismica e Allerta Tsunami

Description: 2SR TERREMOTI - Gestione delle emergenze sismiche e da maremoto

Description: 5SR TERREMOTI - Convenzioni derivanti dall'Accordo Quadro decennale INGV-DPC

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ICES Journal of Marine Science 76(4), (2010): 781-786, doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsy194.

Description: Whales are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act; endangered species, such as the North Atlantic right whale, receive additional protection under the Endangered Species Act. However, their regulations have failed to satisfy conservation and animal welfare concerns. From 1990 to 2011 the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis, NARW) population grew at a mean of 2.8% annually. However, population trends reversed since 2011; the species is in decline, with only ∼100 reproductively active females remaining. This failure is driven by vessel collisions and increasingly fatal and serious entanglement in fixed fishing gear, whose rope strength has increased substantially. Chronic entanglement, drag, and associated morbidity have been linked to poor fecundity. Genuine solutions involve designating areas to be avoided and speed restrictions for ships and removing fishing trap ropes from the water column. A trap fishing closure for NARW habitat in the Cape Cod Bay (U.S.) area has been in place seasonally since 2015. 2017 mortalities in Eastern Canada elicited substantive management changes whereby the 2018 presence of NARW in active trap fishing areas resulted in an effective closure. To avoid these costly closures, the traditional trap fishery model of rope end lines attached to surface marker buoys has to be modified so that traps are marked virtually, and retrieved with gear that does not remain in the water column except during trap retrieval. Consumer demand for genuinely whale-safe products will augment and encourage the necessary regulatory changes so that trap fisheries conserve target and nontarget species.

Description: I thank Mark Baumgartner, Scott Kraus, Tim Werner, Amy Knowlton, Heather Pettis, Scott Landry, Stormy Mayo, Fred Penney, and Beth Casoni for discussions on this topic and Natalie Renier for drawing Figures 5 and 6. Funding was provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Independent Research and Development Program.

Description: 2020-01-10

Description: Author Posting. © American Chemical Society, 2019. This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License. The definitive version was published in Environmental Science and Technology 53(16), (2019): 9398-9406, doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b02395.

Description: Geochemical data from 40 water wells were used to examine the occurrence and sources of radium (Ra) in groundwater associated with three oil fields in California (Fruitvale, Lost Hills, South Belridge). 226Ra+228Ra activities (range = 0.010–0.51 Bq/L) exceeded the 0.185 Bq/L drinking-water standard in 18% of the wells (not drinking-water wells). Radium activities were correlated with TDS concentrations (p 〈 0.001, ρ = 0.90, range = 145–15,900 mg/L), Mn + Fe concentrations (p 〈 0.001, ρ = 0.82, range = 〈0.005–18.5 mg/L), and pH (p 〈 0.001, ρ = −0.67, range = 6.2–9.2), indicating Ra in groundwater was influenced by salinity, redox, and pH. Ra-rich groundwater was mixed with up to 45% oil-field water at some locations, primarily infiltrating through unlined disposal ponds, based on Cl, Li, noble-gas, and other data. Yet 228Ra/226Ra ratios in pond-impacted groundwater (median = 3.1) differed from those in oil-field water (median = 0.51). PHREEQC mixing calculations and spatial geochemical variations suggest that the Ra in the oil-field water was removed by coprecipitation with secondary barite and adsorption on Mn–Fe precipitates in the near-pond environment. The saline, organic-rich oil-field water subsequently mobilized Ra from downgradient aquifer sediments via Ra-desorption and Mn/Fe-reduction processes. This study demonstrates that infiltration of oil-field water may leach Ra into groundwater by changing salinity and redox conditions in the subsurface rather than by mixing with a high-Ra source.

Description: This article was improved by the reviews of John Izbicki and anonymous reviewers for the journal. This work was funded by the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Regional Groundwater Monitoring in Areas of Oil and Gas Production Program and the USGS Cooperative Water Program. A.V., A.J.K., and Z.W were supported by USDA-NIFA grant (#2017-68007-26308). Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for description purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Schwaha, T., Bernhard, J. M., Edgcomb, V. P., & Todaro, M. A. Aethozooides uraniae, a new deep-sea genus and species of solitary bryozoan from the Mediterranean Sea, with a revision of the Aethozoidae. Marine Biodiversity, 49(4), (2019): 1843-1856, doi: 10.1007/s12526-019-00948-w.

Description: Bryozoa is a phylum of about 6000 extant species that are almost exclusively colonial. Few species of the uncalcified Gymnolaemata, the ctenostomes, however, show solitary forms that essentially consist of single zooids. Recently, several specimens of a solitary ctenostome bryozoan were encountered for the first time in the deep Mediterranean Sea, at the edge of an anoxic brine lake. Differences in size, tentacle number, and in the variability of cystid appendages set these specimens apart from all other known solitary species. Moreover, additional morphological autapomorphic traits suggest the erection of a novel genus to allocate the new species. Consequently, the new taxon Aethozooides gen. nov. is proposed in virtue of the general resemblance of the Mediterranean specimens with those of the genus Aethozoon Hayward, 1978. Aethozooides uraniae gen. et sp. nov. shows significant variability in the number and location of cystid appendages that range from two on the basal side to one or two on the zooid mid-peristomial position and/or, rarely, on the terminal frontal side. The polypide possesses a distinct, long tentacle crown always carrying 10 tentacles. The prominent retractor muscle consists of numerous bundles that, in contrast to other known gymnolaemates, attach not only to the lophophoral base but also to various parts of the gut. Distally, the aperture shows a set of four apertural muscles including four parieto-vaginal bands. Reviewing the state and diversity of solitary ctenostomes, we propose a revision of the family Aethozoidae to include the genera Franzenella d’Hondt, 1983, Aethozoon, Aethozooides, and two species currently affiliated to the genus Franzenella (F. monniotae and F. radicans) for which we erected the new taxon Solella gen. nov. Keywords

Description: Open access funding provided by University of Vienna. This study was supported by NSF grants OCE-0849578 to VPE and JMB, OCE-1061391 to JMB and VPE, and The Investment in Science Fund at WHOI.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Mitchell, S. J., Houghton, B. F., Carey, R. J., Manga, M., Fauria, K. E., Jones, M. R., Soule, S. A., Conway, C. E., Wei, Z., & Giachetti, T. Submarine giant pumice: A window into the shallow conduit dynamics of a recent silicic eruption. Bulletin of Volcanology, 81(7), (2019): 42, doi:10.1007/s00445-019-1298-5.

Description: Meter-scale vesicular blocks, termed “giant pumice,” are characteristic primary products of many subaqueous silicic eruptions. The size of giant pumices allows us to describe meter-scale variations in textures and geochemistry with implications for shearing processes, ascent dynamics, and thermal histories within submarine conduits prior to eruption. The submarine eruption of Havre volcano, Kermadec Arc, in 2012, produced at least 0.1 km3 of rhyolitic giant pumice from a single 900-m-deep vent, with blocks up to 10 m in size transported to at least 6 km from source. We sampled and analyzed 29 giant pumices from the 2012 Havre eruption. Geochemical analyses of whole rock and matrix glass show no evidence for geochemical heterogeneities in parental magma; any textural variations can be attributed to crystallization of phenocrysts and microlites, and degassing. Extensive growth of microlites occurred near conduit walls where magma was then mingled with ascending microlite-poor, low viscosity rhyolite. Meter- to micron-scale textural analyses of giant pumices identify diversity throughout an individual block and between the exteriors of individual blocks. We identify evidence for post-disruption vesicle growth during pumice ascent in the water column above the submarine vent. A 2D cumulative strain model with a flared, shallow conduit may explain observed vesicularity contrasts (elongate tube vesicles vs spherical vesicles). Low vesicle number densities in these pumices from this high-intensity silicic eruption demonstrate the effect of hydrostatic pressure above a deep submarine vent in suppressing rapid late-stage bubble nucleation and inhibiting explosive fragmentation in the shallow conduit.

Description: This study was funded primarily through an NSF Ocean grant: OCE-1357443 (SJM, BFH and RJC). MM is supported by NSF EAR 1447559. The μXRT analysis was performed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Advanced Light Source beamline 8.3.2 and the large CT scan by SAS at the University of Texas Austin micro-CT facility. Capillary flow porometry and He-pycnometry were assisted by TG and MRJ at the University of Oregon. Microprobe analysis was conducted at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. CEC was supported by post-doctoral research fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS16788). We would like to thank Kenichiro Tani, Takashi Sano, and Eric Hellebrand for their assistance with geochemical data acquisition, JoAnn Sinton and Wagner Petrographic for thin section preparation, Zachary Langdalen for binary processing of BSE images, Warren M. McKenzie for measuring clast densities, and Dula Parkinson for guidance with the μXRT imaging. We further acknowledge the full scientific team, crew and Jason ROV team (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) aboard the R/V Roger Revelle (Scripps Institute of Oceanography) during the MESH expedition in 2015, without whom, this study would not have been possible. Finally, we thank Andrew Harris, Katharine Cashman, Lucia Gurioli and an anonymous reviewer for their insightful and helpful reviews of the manuscript.

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International, 219(1), (2019): 464-478, doi:10.1093/gji/ggz315.

Description: The electromagnetic (EM) field generated by ocean tidal flow is readily detectable in both satellite magnetic field data, and in ocean-bottom measurements of electric and magnetic fields. The availability of accurate charts of tidal currents, constrained by assimilation of modern satellite altimetry data, opens the possibility of using tidal EM fields as a source to image mantle electrical resistivity beneath the ocean basins, as highlighted by the recent success in defining the globally averaged lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) with satellite data. In fact, seafloor EM data would be expected to provide better constraints on the structure of resistive oceanic lithosphere, since the toroidal magnetic mode, which can constrain resistive features, is a significant component of the tidal EM field within the ocean, but is absent above the surface (in particular in satellite data). Here we consider this issue in more detail, using a combination of simplified theoretical analysis and 1-D and 3-D numerical modelling to provide a thorough discussion of the sensitivity of satellite and seafloor data to subsurface electrical structure. As part of this effort, and as a step toward 3-D inversion of seafloor tidal data, we have developed a new flexible 3-D spherical-coordinate finite difference scheme for both global and regional scale modelling, with higher resolution models nested in larger scale solutions. We use the new 3-D model, together with Monte Carlo simulations of errors in tidal current estimates, to provide a quantitative assessment of errors in the computed tidal EM signal caused by uncertainty in the tidal source. Over the open ocean this component of error is below 0.01 nT in Bz at satellite height and 0.05 nT in Bx on the seafloor, well below typical signal levels. However, as coastlines are approached error levels can increase substantially. Both analytical and 3-D modelling demonstrate that the seafloor magnetic field is most sensitive to the lithospheric resistance (the product of resistivity and thickness), and is more weakly influenced (primarily in the phase) by resistivity of the underlying asthenosphere. Satellite data, which contain only the poloidal magnetic mode, are more sensitive to the conductive asthenosphere, but have little sensitivity to lithospheric resistance. For both seafloor and satellite data’s changes due to plausible variations in Earth parameters are well above error levels associated with source uncertainty, at least in the ocean interior. Although the 3-D modelling results are qualitatively consistent with theoretical analysis, the presence of coastlines and bathymetric variations generates a complex response, confirming that quantitative interpretation of ocean tidal EM fields will require a 3-D treatment. As an illustration of the nested 3-D scheme, seafloor data at five magnetic and seven electric stations in the northeastern Pacific (41○N, 165○W) are fit with trial-and-error forward modelling of a local domain. The simulation results indicate that the lithospheric resistance is roughly 7 × 108 Ωm2. The phase of the seafloor data in this region are inconsistent with a sharp transition between the resistive lithosphere and conductive asthenosphere.

Description: This work has been supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 41804072 and 41574104, and NSF grant EAR-1447109. Special thanks to Dr Benjamin Murphy who provided the conductivity-depth profile for 1-D earth model, Dr Min Ding who provided valuable discussion about the oceanic lithosphere and Dr Jeffery Love who provided comments on the stylistics of the manuscript.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Kelly, M. R., Jr., Neubert, M. G., & Lenhart, S. Marine reserves and optimal dynamic harvesting when fishing damages habitat. Theoretical Ecology, 12(2), (2019): 131-144, doi:10.1007/s12080-018-0399-7.

Description: Marine fisheries are a significant source of protein for many human populations. In some locations, however, destructive fishing practices have negatively impacted the quality of fish habitat and reduced the habitat’s ability to sustain fish stocks. Improving the management of stocks that can be potentially damaged by harvesting requires improved understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the stocks, their habitats, and the behavior of the harvesters. We develop a mathematical model for both a fish stock as well as its habitat quality. Both are modeled using nonlinear, parabolic partial differential equations, and density dependence in the growth rate of the fish stock depends upon habitat quality. The objective is to find the dynamic distribution of harvest effort that maximizes the discounted net present value of the coupled fishery-habitat system. The value derives both from extraction (and sale) of the stock and the provisioning of ecosystem services by the habitat. Optimal harvesting strategies are found numerically. The results suggest that no-take marine reserves can be an important part of the optimal strategy and that their spatiotemporal configuration depends both on the vulnerability of habitat to fishing damage and on the timescale of habitat recovery when fishing ceases.

Description: This manuscript is based upon the work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB-1558904 (to MGN) and also supported by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, an Institute supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Aslan, C., Beckman, N. G., Rogers, H. S., Bronstein, J., Zurell, D., Hartig, F., Shea, K., Pejchar, L., Neubert, M., Poulsen, J., HilleRisLambers, J., Miriti, M., Loiselle, B., Effiom, E., Zambrano, J., Schupp, G., Pufal, G., Johnson, J., Bullock, J. M., Brodie, J., Bruna, E., Cantrell, R. S., Decker, R., Fricke, E., Gurski, K., Hastings, A., Kogan, O., Razafindratsima, O., Sandor, M., Schreiber, S., Snell, R., Strickland, C., & Zhou, Y. Employing plant functional groups to advance seed dispersal ecology and conservation. AoB Plants, 11(2), (2019):plz006, doi:10.1093/aobpla/plz006.

Description: Seed dispersal enables plants to reach hospitable germination sites and escape natural enemies. Understanding when and how much seed dispersal matters to plant fitness is critical for understanding plant population and community dynamics. At the same time, the complexity of factors that determine if a seed will be successfully dispersed and subsequently develop into a reproductive plant is daunting. Quantifying all factors that may influence seed dispersal effectiveness for any potential seed-vector relationship would require an unrealistically large amount of time, materials and financial resources. On the other hand, being able to make dispersal predictions is critical for predicting whether single species and entire ecosystems will be resilient to global change. Building on current frameworks, we here posit that seed dispersal ecology should adopt plant functional groups as analytical units to reduce this complexity to manageable levels. Functional groups can be used to distinguish, for their constituent species, whether it matters (i) if seeds are dispersed, (ii) into what context they are dispersed and (iii) what vectors disperse them. To avoid overgeneralization, we propose that the utility of these functional groups may be assessed by generating predictions based on the groups and then testing those predictions against species-specific data. We suggest that data collection and analysis can then be guided by robust functional group definitions. Generalizing across similar species in this way could help us to better understand the population and community dynamics of plants and tackle the complexity of seed dispersal as well as its disruption.

Description: Ideas for this manuscript initiated during the Seed Dispersal Workshop held in May 2016 at the Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in Annapolis, MD and supported by the US National Science Foundation Grant DEB-1548194 to N.G.B. and the National Socio‐Environmental Synthesis Center under the US National Science Foundation Grant DBI‐1052875. D.Z. received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF, grant: PZ00P3_168136/1) and from the German Science Foundation (DFG, grant: ZU 361/1- 1). Contributions by the authors C.A. led the development of the concepts, writing, and revising of the manuscript with input from N.G.B. and H.S.R. All authors contributed to the development of concepts and are listed in order of contribution and alphabetical order within each level of contribution.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Alexander, H., Johnson, L. K., & Brown, C. T.. Keeping it light: (re)analyzing community-wide datasets without major infrastructure. Gigascience, 8(2),(2019): giy159, doi:10.1093/gigascience/giy159.

Description: DNA sequencing technology has revolutionized the field of biology, shifting biology from a data-limited to data-rich state. Central to the interpretation of sequencing data are the computational tools and approaches that convert raw data into biologically meaningful information. Both the tools and the generation of data are actively evolving, yet the practice of re-analysis of previously generated data with new tools is not commonplace. Re-analysis of existing data provides an affordable means of generating new information and will likely become more routine within biology, yet necessitates a new set of considerations for best practices and resource development. Here, we discuss several practices that we believe to be broadly applicable when re-analyzing data, especially when done by small research groups.

Description: Funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (award GBMF4551 to C.T.B.).

Description: Author Posting. © American Chemical Society, 2019. This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License. The definitive version was published in Environmental Science and Technology 53(14), (2019):8244-8251, doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b02344.

Description: Perylene is a frequently abundant, and sometimes the only polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in aquatic sediments, but its origin has been subject of a longstanding debate in geochemical research and pollutant forensics because its historical record differs markedly from typical anthropogenic PAHs. Here we investigate whether perylene serves as a source-specific molecular marker of fungal activity in forest soils. We use a well-characterized sedimentary record (1735 to 1999) from the anoxic-bottom waters of the Pettaquamscutt River basin, RI, USA to examine mass accumulation rates and isotope records of perylene, and compare them with total organic carbon and the anthropogenic PAH fluoranthene. We support our arguments with radiocarbon (14C) data of higher plant leaf-wax n-alkanoic acids. Isotope-mass balance calculations of perylene and n-alkanoic acids indicate that ~40 % of sedimentary organic matter is of terrestrial origin. Further, both terrestrial markers are pre-aged on millennial time-scales prior to burial in sediments and insensitive to elevated 14C concentrations following nuclear weapons testing in the mid-20th Century. Instead, changes coincide with enhanced erosional flux during urban sprawl. These findings suggest that perylene is definitely a product of soil derived fungi, and a powerful chemical tracer to study spatial and temporal connectivity between terrestrial and aquatic environments.

Description: We thank John King, Sean Sylva, Brad Hubeny, Peter Sauer, and Jim Broda for their help in sampling; Carl Johnson and Daniel Montluçon for their incessant help with analyses; as well as Mark Yunker for critical discussion on the perils of perylene. Professor Phil Meyers and two anonymous reviewers provided comments that improved the quality of the manuscript. U.M.H. acknowledges the Swiss National Science Foundation for his postdoctoral fellowship and T.I.E. and K.A.H. acknowledges the NSF for research grants CHE-0089172 and OCE-9708478.

Description: 2020-06-19

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in , Zakroff, C., Mooney, T.A. & Berumen, M.L. Dose-dependence and small-scale variability in responses to ocean acidification during squid, Doryteuthis pealeii, development. Marine Biology, (2019), 166: 62. doi:10.1007/s00227-019-3510-8.

Description: Coastal squids lay their eggs on the benthos, leaving them to develop in a dynamic system that is undergoing rapid acidification due to human influence. Prior studies have broadly investigated the impacts of ocean acidification on embryonic squid, but have not addressed the thresholds at which these responses occur or their potential variability. We raised squid, Doryteuthis pealeii (captured in Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, USA: 41° 23.370N 70° 46.418´W), eggs in three trials across the breeding season (May - September, 2013) in a total of six chronic pCO2 exposures (400, 550, 850, 1300, 1900, and 2200 ppm). Hatchlings were counted and subsampled for mantle length, yolk volume, hatching time, hatching success, and statolith morphology. New methods for analysis of statolith shape, rugosity, and surface degradation were developed and are presented (with code). Responses to acidification (e.g., reduced mantle lengths, delayed hatching, and smaller, more degraded statoliths) were evident at ~ 1300 ppm CO2. However, patterns of physiological response and energy management, based on comparisons of yolk consumption and growth, varied among trials. Interactions between pCO2 and hatching day indicated a potential influence of exposure time on responses, while interactions with culture vessel highlighted the substantive natural variability within a clutch of eggs. While this study is consistent with, and expands upon, previous findings of sensitivity of the early life stages to acidification, it also highlights the plasticity and potential for resilience in this population of squid.

Description: This material was based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 1122374 to CZ. This project was funded by National Science Foundation Grant No. 1220034 to TAM.

Description: 2020-04-19

Description: Author Posting. © The Authors, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 218(3), (2019): 2165-2178, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz280.

Description: A multitaper estimator is proposed that accommodates time-series containing gaps without using any form of interpolation. In contrast with prior missing-data multitaper estimators that force standard Slepian sequences to be zero at gaps, the proposed missing-data Slepian sequences are defined only where data are present. The missing-data Slepian sequences are frequency independent, as are the eigenvalues that define the energy concentration within the resolution bandwidth, when the process bandwidth is [−1/2,1/2) for unit sampling and the sampling scheme comprises integer multiples of unity. As a consequence, one need only compute the ensuing missing-data Slepian sequences for a given sampling scheme once, and then the spectrum at an arbitrary set of frequencies can be computed using them. It is also shown that the resulting missing-data multitaper estimator can incorporate all of the optimality features (i.e. adaptive-weighting, F-test and reshaping) of the standard multitaper estimator, and can be applied to bivariate or multivariate situations in similar ways. Performance of the missing-data multitaper estimator is illustrated using length of day, seafloor pressure and Nile River low stand time-series.

Description: The length of day utilized in Section 3 are available from http://hpiers.obspm.fr. The pressure data used in Section 4 are available from https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014586. A Matlab function MDmwps.m to compute missing-data power spectra is available from the Mathworks file exchange website. The author thanks Jeff Park and editor F.J. Simons for thorough reviews. This work was supported by an Internal Research and Development award at WHOI, and by the Walter A. and Hope Noyes Smith Chair for Excellence in Oceanography.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Johnson, L. K., Alexander, H., & Brown, C. T. Re-assembly, quality evaluation, and annotation of 678 microbial eukaryotic reference transcriptomes. Gigascience, 8(4), (2019): giy158, doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giy158.

Description: Background: De novo transcriptome assemblies are required prior to analyzing RNA sequencing data from a species without an existing reference genome or transcriptome. Despite the prevalence of transcriptomic studies, the effects of using different workflows, or “pipelines,” on the resulting assemblies are poorly understood. Here, a pipeline was programmatically automated and used to assemble and annotate raw transcriptomic short-read data collected as part of the Marine Microbial Eukaryotic Transcriptome Sequencing Project. The resulting transcriptome assemblies were evaluated and compared against assemblies that were previously generated with a different pipeline developed by the National Center for Genome Research. Results: New transcriptome assemblies contained the majority of previous contigs as well as new content. On average, 7.8% of the annotated contigs in the new assemblies were novel gene names not found in the previous assemblies. Taxonomic trends were observed in the assembly metrics. Assemblies from the Dinoflagellata showed a higher number of contigs and unique k-mers than transcriptomes from other phyla, while assemblies from Ciliophora had a lower percentage of open reading frames compared to other phyla. Conclusions: Given current bioinformatics approaches, there is no single “best” reference transcriptome for a particular set of raw data. As the optimum transcriptome is a moving target, improving (or not) with new tools and approaches, automated and programmable pipelines are invaluable for managing the computationally intensive tasks required for re-processing large sets of samples with revised pipelines and ensuring a common evaluation workflow is applied to all samples. Thus, re-assembling existing data with new tools using automated and programmable pipelines may yield more accurate identification of taxon-specific trends across samples in addition to novel and useful products for the community.

Description: Funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation under award number GBMF4551 to C.T.B. Jetstream cloud platform was used with XSEDE allocation TG-BIO160028 [66, 67].

Description: The Arctic region is considered to be most sensitive to climate change, with warming in the Arctic occurring considerably faster than the global average due to several positive feedback mechanisms contributing to the “Arctic amplification”. Also the maritime and mountainous climate of Svalbard has undergone changes during the last decades. Here, the focus is set on the current atmospheric boundary conditions for the marine ecosystem in the Kongsfjorden area, discussed in the frame of long-term climatic observations in the larger regional and hemispheric context. During the last century, a general warming is found with temperature increases and precipitation changes varying in strength. During the last decades, a strong seasonality of the warming is observed in the Kongsfjorden area, with the strongest temperature increase occurring during the winter season. The winter warming is related to observed changes in the net longwave radiation. Moreover, changes in the net shortwave are observed during the summer period, attributed to the decrease in reflected radiation caused by the retreating snow cover. Another related aspect of radiation is the intensity of solar ultra-violet radiation that is closely coupled to the abundance of ozone in the column of air overhead. The long term evolution of ozone losses in the Arctic and their connection to climate change are discussed.

Description: Holocene permafrost from ice wedge polygons in the vicinity of large seabird breeding colonies in the Thule District, NW Greenland, was drilled to explore the relation between permafrost aggradation and seabird presence. The latter is reliant on the presence of the North Water Polynya (NOW) in the northern Baffin Bay. The onset of peat accumulation associated with the arrival of little auks (Alle alle) in a breeding colony at Annikitisoq, north of Cape York, is radiocarbon-dated to 4400 cal BP. A thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) colony on Appat (Saunders Island) in the mouth of the Wolstenholme Fjord started 5650 cal BP. Both species provide marine-derived nutrients (MDNs) that fertilize vegetation and promote peat growth. The geochemical signature of organic matter left by the birds is traceable in the frozen Holocene peat. The peat accumulation rates at both sites are highest after the onset, decrease over time, and were about 2-times faster at the little auk site than at the thick-billed murre site. High accumulation rates induce shorter periods of organic matter (OM) decomposition before it enters the perennially frozen state. This is seen in comparably high C=N ratios and less depleted 13C, pointing to a lower degree of OM decomposition at the little auk site, while the opposite pattern can be discerned at the thick-billed murre site. Peat accumulation rates correspond to 15N trends, where decreasing accumulation led to increasing depletion in 15N as seen in the little-auk-related data. In contrast, the more decomposed OM of the thick-billed murre site shows almost stable 15N. Late Holocene wedge ice fed by cold season precipitation was studied at the little auk site and provides the first stable-water isotopic record from Greenland with mean 18O of 8:00:8, mean D of 36:25:7, mean d excess of 7:70:7, and a 18O-D slope of 7.27, which is close to those of the modern Thule meteoric water line. The syngenetic ice wedge polygon development is mirrored in testacean records of the little auk site and delineates polygon low-center, dry-out, and polygon-high-center stages. The syngenetic permafrost formation directly depending on peat growth (controlled by bird activity) falls within the period of neoglacial cooling and the establishment of the NOW, thus indirectly following the Holocene climate trends.

Description: The paper presents the results of 5 case studies on complex site e ects selected within the project for the level 3 seismic microzonation of several municipalities of Central Italy dam- aged by the 2016 seismic sequence. The case studies are characterized by di erent geo- logical and morphological con gurations: Monte San Martino is located along a hill slope, Montedinove and Arquata del Tronto villages are located at ridge top whereas Capitignano and Norcia lie in correspondence of sediment- lled valleys. Peculiarities of the sites are constituted by the presence of weathered/jointed rock mass, fault zone, shear wave veloc- ity inversion, complex surface and buried morphologies. These factors make the de ni- tion of the subsoil model and the evaluation of the local response particularly complex and di cult to ascertain. For each site, after the discussion of the subsoil model, the results of site response numerical analyses are presented in terms of ampli cation factors and acceleration response spectra in selected points. The physical phenomena governing the site response have also been investigated at each site by comparing 1D and 2D numerical analyses. Implications are deduced for seismic microzonation studies in similar geological and morphological conditions.

Description: Published

Description: 5741–5777

Description: 5T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This paper describes the seismological analyses performed within the framework of the seismic microzonation study for the reconstruction of 138 municipalities damaged by the 2016–2017 sequence in Central Italy. Many waveforms were recorded over approximately 15 years at approximately 180 instrumented sites equipped with permanent or temporary stations in an area that includes all the damaged localities. Site response was assessed using earthquake and noise recordings at the selected stations through different parameters, such as spectral amplification curves, fundamental resonance frequencies, site-specific response spectra, and average amplification factors. The present study was a collaboration of many different institutions under the coordination of the Italian Center for Seismic Microzonation and its applications. The results were homogenized and gathered into site-specific forms, which represent the main deliverable for the benefit of Italian Civil Protection. It is remarkable that the bulk of this study was performed in a very short period (approximately 2 months) to provide quantitative information for detailed microzonation and future reconstruction of the damaged municipalities.

Description: Published

Description: 5553–5593

Description: 5T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: "With so much media and political criticism of their shortcomings and failures, it is easy to overlook the fact that many governments work pretty well much of the time. Great Policy Successes turns the spotlight on instances of public policy that are remarkably successful. It develops a framework for identifying and assessing policy successes, paying attention not just to their programmatic outcomes but also to the quality of the processes by which policies are designed and delivered, the level of support and legitimacy they attain, and the extent to which successful performance endures over time. The bulk of the book is then devoted to 15 detailed case studies of striking policy successes from around the world, including Singapore's public health system, Copenhagen and Melbourne's rise from stilted backwaters to the highly liveable and dynamic urban centres they are today, Brazil's Bolsa Familia poverty relief scheme, the US's GI Bill, and Germany's breakthrough labour market reforms of the 2000s. Each case is set in context, its main actors are introduced, key events and decisions are described, the assessment framework is applied to gauge the nature and level of its success, key contributing factors to success are identified, and potential lessons and future challenges are identified. Purposefully avoiding the kind of heavy theorizing that characterizes many accounts of public policy processes, each case is written in an accessible and narrative style ideally suited for classroom use in conjunction with mainstream textbooks on public policy design, implementation, and evaluation.