ALBERT

Description: The Sr/Ca ratio of coral aragonite is used to reconstruct past sea surface temperature (SST). Twentyone laboratories took part in an interlaboratory study of coral Sr/Ca measurements. Results show interlaboratory bias can be significant, and in the extreme case could result in a range in SST estimates of 7°C. However, most of the data fall within a narrower range and the Porites coral reference material JCp- 1 is now characterized well enough to have a certified Sr/Ca value of 8.838 mmol/mol with an expanded uncertainty of 0.089 mmol/mol following International Association of Geoanalysts (IAG) guidelines. This uncertainty, at the 95% confidence level, equates to 1.5°C for SST estimates using Porites, so is approaching fitness for purpose. The comparable median within laboratory error is 〈0.5°C. This difference in uncertainties illustrates the interlaboratory bias component that should be reduced through the use of reference materials like the JCp-1. There are many potential sources contributing to biases in comparative methods but traces of Sr in Ca standards and uncertainties in reference solution composition can account for half of the combined uncertainty. Consensus values that fulfil the requirements to be certified values were also obtained for Mg/Ca in JCp-1 and for Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the JCt-1 giant clam reference material. Reference values with variable fitness for purpose have also been obtained for Li/Ca, B/Ca, Ba/Ca, and U/Ca in both reference materials. In future, studies reporting coral element/Ca data should also report the average value obtained for a reference material such as the JCp-1.

Description: Earth system climate models generally underestimate dissolved oxygen concentrations in the deep eastern equatorial Pacific. This problem is associated with the "nutrient trapping" problem, described by Najjar et al. [1992], and is, at least partially, caused by a deficient representation of the Equatorial Intermediate Current System (EICS). Here we emulate the unresolved EICS in the UVic earth system climate model by locally increasing the zonal isopycnal diffusivity. An anisotropic diffusivity of ∼50,000 m 2 s-1 yields an improved global representation of temperature, salinity and oxygen. In addition, it (1) resolves most of the local "nutrient trapping" and associated oxygen deficit in the eastern equatorial Pacific and (2) reduces spurious zonal temperature gradients on isopycnals without affecting other physical metrics such as meridional overturning or air-sea heat fluxes. Finally, climate projections of low-oxygenated waters and associated denitrification change sign and apparently become more plausible

Description: Shipboard bathymetry and gravity data from 30 crossings of 6 great Pacific fracture zones (FZs), the Mendocino, Murray, Molokai, Clarion, Clipperton, and Udintsev, are compared with the predictions of a model in which FZs are locked beyond the ridge-transform intersection, such that no vertical motion occurs on the fault in response to differential thermal subsidence. At least some sections of all of these FZs, except the Molokai, are consistent with this model and sustain shear stresses as high as 20 MPa. However, none of the FZs is locked along its entire length, as inferred from observed shear stresses dropping below 75% of the value necessary to maintain a locked fault. There is some suggestion that the unlocking may be related to excess volcanism.

Description: Seismically derived depth estimates to the top of the oceanic crust beneath the Hawaiian Islands indicate that the curvature of the deflected lithosphère is much larger than commonly believed. The conservative and model-independent curvature estimates exceed 10−7 m−1 and are comparable in magnitude to curvatures at trenches and outer rise systems. The depth estimates are used to constrain both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) flexural models. The curvature constraints require a 2-D variable elastic thickness that decreases from 35 km in areas away from the volcanic load to 25 km directly beneath the load. In an attempt to understand the nature of the yielding beneath the Hawaiian Islands we introduce two new 3-D models. The first model combines a realistic yield strength based rheology with a new technique for 3-D flexure calculations in which the elastic plate thickness is curvature-dependent. The new variable rigidity model predicts an undeformed (mechanical) plate thickness of 44 km, decreasing to 33 km beneath the big island of Hawaii. The best-fitting mechanical thickness corresponds approximately to the depth to the 600 °C isotherm in 90-m.y.-old lithosphere. The second model uses a broken plate, but here the crack is oriented along the weak Molokai fracture zone rather than along the island chain trend. This unconventional flexure model can explain the observed asymmetry in the depth data across the fracture zone without requiring the excessively large elastic thickness of more conventional broken plate models. Both the proposed models imply that modeling with constant thickness plates may underestimate the true mechanical plate thickness by being unduly influenced by the weak zone beneath the seamounts.

Description: A numerical ocean sea-ice model is used to demonstrate that Arctic sea ice retreat affects momentum transfer into the ocean. A thinner and thus weaker ice cover is more easily forced by the wind, which increases the momentum flux. In contrast, increasing open water reduces momentum transfer because the ice surface provides greater drag than the open water surface. We introduce the concept of optimal ice concentration: momentum transfer increases with increasing ice concentration up to a point, beyond which frictional losses by floe interaction damp the transfer. For a common ice internal stress formulation, a concentration of 80–90% yields optimal amplification of momentum flux into the ocean. We study the seasonality and long-term evolution of Arctic Ocean surface stress over the years 1979–2012. Spring and fall feature optimal ice conditions for momentum transfer, but only in fall is the wind forcing at its maximum, yielding a peak basin-mean ocean surface stress of ∼0.08 N/m2. Since 1979, the basin-wide annual mean ocean surface stress has been increasing by 0.004 N/m2/decade, and since 2000 by 0.006 N/m2/decade. In contrast, summertime ocean surface stress has been decreasing at −0.002 N/m2/decade. These trends are linked to the weakening of the ice cover in fall, winter and spring, and to an increase in open water fraction in summer, i.e., changes in momentum transfer rather than changes in wind forcing. In most areas, the number of days per year with optimal ice concentration is decreasing. Key Points Weaker Arctic sea ice causes increased annual mean ocean surface stress (+20%) Increasing open water area in summer yields momentum flux reduction (−7%) An optimal ice concentration of 80–90% amplifies momentum transfer threefold

Description: We present data on the co-registered geochemistry (in situ mass spectrometry) and microbiology (pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes; V1, V2, V3 regions) in five fluid samples from Irina II in the Logatchev hydrothermal field. Two samples were collected over 24min from the same spot and further three samples were from spatially distinct locations (20cm, 3m and the overlaying plume). Four low-temperature hydrothermal fluids from the Irina II are composed of the same core bacterial community, namely specific Gammaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria, which, however, differs in the relative abundance. The microbial composition of the fifth sample (plume) is considerably different. Although a significant correlation between sulfide enrichment and proportions of Sulfurovum (Epsilonproteobacteria) was found, no other significant linkages between abiotic factors, i.e. temperature, hydrogen, methane, sulfide and oxygen, and bacterial lineages were evident. Intriguingly, bacterial community compositions of some time series samples from the same spot were significantly more similar to a sample collected 20cm away than to each other. Although this finding is based on three single samples only, it provides first hints that single hydrothermal fluid samples collected on a small spatial scale may also reflect unrecognized temporal variability. However, further studies are required to support this hypothesis.

Description: We analyze an extensive set of global coupled biogeochemical ocean circulation models. The focus is on the equatorial Pacific. In all simulations, which are consistent with observed standing stocks of relevant biogeochemical species at the surface, we find spuriously enhanced (reduced) macronutrient (oxygen) concentrations in the deep eastern equatorial Pacific. This modeling problem, apparently endemic to global coupled biogeochemical ocean circulation models, was coined “nutrient trapping” by Najjar et al. (1992). In contrast to Aumont et al. (1999), we argue that “nutrient trapping” is still a persistent problem, even in eddy-permitting models and, further, that the scale of the problem retards model projections of nitrogen cycling. In line with previous work, our results indicate that a deficient circulation is at the core of the problem rather than an admittedly poor quantitative understanding of biogeochemical cycles. More specifically, we present indications that “nutrient trapping” in models is a result of a spuriously damped Equatorial Intermediate (zonal) Current System and Equatorial Deep Jets—phenomenon which await a comprehensive understanding and have, to date, not been successfully simulated.

Description: Lateral diffusivity is computed from a tracer release experiment in the northeastern tropical Atlantic thermocline. The uncertainties of the estimates are inferred from a synthetic particle release using a high-resolution ocean circulation model. The main method employed to compute zonal and meridional components of lateral diffusivity is the growth of the second moment of a cloud of tracer. The application of an areal comparison method for estimating tracer-based diffusivity in the field experiments is also discussed. The best estimate of meridional eddy diffusivity in the Guinea Upwelling region at about 300 m depth is estimated to be inline image m2 s−1. The zonal component of lateral diffusivity is estimated to be inline image m2 s−1, while areal comparison method yields areal equivalent zonal diffusivity component of inline image m2 s−1. In comparison to Ky, Kx is about twice larger, resulting from the tracer patch stretching by zonal jets. Employed conceptual jet model indicates that zonal jet velocities of about inline image m s−1 are required to explain the enhancement of the zonal eddy diffusivity component. Finally, different sampling strategies are tested on synthetic tracer release experiments. They indicate that the best sampling strategy is a sparse regular sampling grid covering most of the tracer patch.

Description: Basement heat flow is one of the key unknowns in sedimentary basin analysis. Its quantification is challenging not in the least due to the various feedback mechanisms between the basin and lithosphere processes. This study explores two main feedbacks, sediment blanketing and thinning of sediments during lithospheric stretching, in a series of synthetic models and a reconstruction case study from the Norwegian Sea. Three types of basin models are used: (1) a newly developed one-dimensional (1D) forward model, (2) a decompaction/backstripping approach and (3) the commercial basin modelling software TECMOD2D for automated forward basin reconstructions. The blanketing effect of sedimentation is reviewed and systematically studied in a suite of 1D model runs. We find that even for moderate sedimentation rates (0.5 mm year−1), basement heat flow is depressed by ∼25% with respect to the case without sedimentation; for high sedimentation rates (1.5 mm year−1), basement heat flow is depressed by ∼50%. We have further compared different methods for computing sedimentation rates from the presently observed stratigraphy. Here, we find that decompaction/backstripping-based methods may systematically underestimate sedimentation rates and total subsidence. The reason for this is that sediments are thinned during lithosphere extension in forward basin models while there are not in backstripping/decompaction approaches. The importance of sediment blanketing and differences in modelling approaches is illustrated in a reconstruction case study from the Norwegian Sea. The thermal and structural evolution of a transect across the Vøring Basin has been reconstructed using the backstripping/decompaction approach and TECMOD2D. Computed total subsidence curves differ by up to ∼3 km and differences in computed basement heat flows reach up to 50%. These findings show that strong feedbacks exist between basin and lithosphere processes and that resolving them require integrated lithosphere-scale basin models.

Description: The radiogenic isotope composition of neodymium (Nd) and strontium (Sr) are useful tools to investigate present and past oceanic circulation or input of terrigenous material. We present Nd and Sr isotope compositions extracted from different sedimentary phases, including early diagenetic Fe-Mn coatings, ‘‘unclean’’ foraminiferal shells, fossil fish teeth, and detritus of marine surface sediments (core-tops) covering the entire midlatitude South Pacific. Comparison of detrital Nd isotope compositions to deep water values from the same locations suggests that "boundary exchange" has little influence on the Nd isotope composition of western South Pacific seawater. Concentrations of Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Al/Ca ratios of "unclean" planktonic foraminifera suggest that this phase is a reliable recorder of seawater Nd isotope composition. The signatures obtained from fish teeth and "nondecarbonated" leachates of bulk sediment Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide coatings also agree with "unclean" foraminifera. Direct comparison of Nd isotope compositions extracted using these methods with seawater Nd isotope compositions is complicated by the low accumulation rates yielding radiocarbon ages of up to 24 kyr, thus mixing the signal of different ocean circulation modes. This suggests that different past seawater Nd isotope compositions have been integrated in authigenic sediments from regions with low sedimentation rates. Combined detrital Nd and Sr isotope signatures indicate a dominant role of the Westerly winds transporting lithogenic material from South New Zealand and Southeastern Australia to the open South Pacific. The proportion of this material decreases toward the east, where supply from the Andes increases and contributions from Antarctica cannot be ruled out.