Colony-specific investigations reveal highly variable responses among individual corals to ocean acidification and warming

As anthropogenic climate change is an ongoing concern, scientific investigations on its impacts on coral reefs are increasing. Although impacts of combined ocean acidification (OA) and temperature stress (T) on reef-building scleractinian corals have been studied at the genus, species and population levels, there are little data available on how individual corals respond to combined OA and anomalous temperatures. In this study, we exposed individual colonies of Acropora digitifera, Montipora digitata and Porites cylindrica to four pCO2-temperature treatments including 400 µatm-28 °C, 400 µatm-31 °C, 1000 µatm-28 °C and 1000 µatm-31 °C for 26 days. Physiological parameters including calcification, protein content, maximum photosynthetic efficiency, Symbiodinium density, and chlorophyll content along with Symbiodinium type of each colony were examined. Along with intercolonial responses, responses of individual colonies versus pooled data to the treatments were investigated. The main results were: 1) responses to either OA or T or their combination were different between individual colonies when considering physiological functions; 2) tolerance to either OA or T was not synonymous with tolerance to the other parameter; 3) tolerance to both OA and T did not necessarily lead to tolerance of OA and T combined (OAT) at the same time; 4) OAT had negative, positive or no impacts on physiological functions of coral colonies; and 5) pooled data were not representative of responses of all individual colonies. Indeed, the pooled data obscured actual responses of individual colonies or presented a response that was not observed in any individual. From the results of this study we recommend improving experimental designs of studies investigating physiological responses of corals to climate change by complementing them with colony-specific examinations.

Two intertidal, non-calcifying macroalgae (Palmaria palmata and Saccharina latissima) show complex and variable responses to short-term CO2 acidification

Ocean acidification, the result of increased dissolution of carbon dioxide (CO2) in seawater, is a leading subject of current research. The effects of acidification on non-calcifying macroalgae are, however, still unclear. The current study reports two 1-month studies using two different macroalgae, the red alga Palmaria palmata (Rhodophyta) and the kelp Saccharina latissima (Phaeophyta), exposed to control (pHNBS = 8.04) and increased (pHNBS = 7.82) levels of CO2-induced seawater acidification. The impacts of both increased acidification and time of exposure on net primary production (NPP), respiration (R), dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) concentrations, and algal growth have been assessed. In P. palmata, although NPP significantly increased during the testing period, it significantly decreased with acidification, whereas R showed a significant decrease with acidification only. S. latissima significantly increased NPP with acidification but not with time, and significantly increased R with both acidification and time, suggesting a concomitant increase in gross primary production. The DMSP concentrations of both species remained unchanged by either acidification or through time during the experimental period. In contrast, algal growth differed markedly between the two experiments, in that P. palmata showed very little growth throughout the experiment, while S. latissima showed substantial growth during the course of the study, with the latter showing a significant difference between the acidified and control treatments. These two experiments suggest that the study species used here were resistant to a short-term exposure to ocean acidification, with some of the differences seen between species possibly linked to different nutrient concentrations between the experiments.

Chlorophyll fluorescence lifetimes and variable fluorescence parameters from phytoplankton in the global ocean

In situ data was collected between 2008-2014 in upper ocean. This data set includes the date, local time, coordinate, lifetime value, and variable fluorescence values.

Carbonate properties and oxygen concentrations at time series station DYFAMED

Monthly measurements of pH, alkalinity and oxygen over two years (February 1998-February 2000) at the Dyfamed site in the central zone of the Ligurian-Provençal Basin of the Mediterranean made it possible to assess the vertical distributions (5-2000 m) and the seasonal variations of these properties. Alkalinity varies linearly with salinity between surface water and the Levantine Intermediate Water (marked by a maximum of temperature and salinity). In deep water, total alkalinity is also correlated linearly to salinity, but the slope of the regression line is 15% less. In surface water, the pH at 25°C varies between 7.91 and 8.06 on the total proton scale depending upon the season. The lowest values are observed in winter, the highest in spring and in summer. These variations are primarily due to biological production. The pH goes through a minimum around 150-200 m and a small maximum below the intermediate water. The total dissolved inorganic carbon content (deduced from pH and alkalinity) is variable in surface water (2205-2310 ?mol/kg) and has a maximum in intermediate water, which is related to the salinity maximum. Normalized total inorganic carbon at a constant salinity is strongly negatively correlated with pH at 25°C. The fugacity of CO2, (fCO2) varies between 320 and 430 ?atm in surface water, according to the season. Below the seasonal thermocline, the maximum fCO2 (about 410 ?atm) is located around 150-200 m. The presence of a minimum of oxygen in the intermediate water of this area has been observed for several years, but our measurements made it possible to specify the relationship between oxygen and salinity in deep water. Data from the intense vertical mixing during the winters of 1999 and 2000 were used to calculate the oxygen quantity exchanged with the atmosphere during these periods. The estimated quantity of oxygen entering the Mediterranean Sea exceeds that deduced from exchange coefficients calculated with the formula of Wanninkhof and McGillis. During the vertical mixing in the 1999 winter, fCO2 in surface water was on average below equilibrium with atmospheric fCO2, thus implying that CO2 was entering the sea. However, on this time scale, even with high exchange coefficients, the estimated CO2 uptake had no significant influence on the inorganic carbon content in the water column.

Atmospheric, oceanic and hydrological polar motion excitation mechanisms based on a combination of geometric and gravimetric space observations

The goal of our study is to determine accurate time series of geophysical Earth rotation excitations to learn more about global dynamic processes in the Earth system. For this purpose, we developed an adjustment model which allows to combine precise observations from space geodetic observation systems, such as Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Doppler Orbit determination and Radiopositioning Integrated on Satellite (DORIS), satellite altimetry and satellite gravimetry in order to separate geophysical excitation mechanisms of Earth rotation. Three polar motion time series are applied to derive the polar motion excitation functions (integral effect). Furthermore we use five time variable gravity field solutions from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) to determine not only the integral mass effect but also the oceanic and hydrological mass effects by applying suitable filter techniques and a land-ocean mask. For comparison the integral mass effect is also derived from degree 2 potential coefficients that are estimated from SLR observations. The oceanic mass effect is also determined from sea level anomalies observed by satellite altimetry by reducing the steric sea level anomalies derived from temperature and salinity fields of the oceans. Due to the combination of all geodetic estimated excitations the weaknesses of the individual processing strategies can be reduced and the technique-specific strengths can be accounted for. The formal errors of the adjusted geodetic solutions are smaller than the RMS differences of the geophysical model solutions. The improved excitation time series can be used to improve the geophysical modeling.

(Table 1) Compressional- and share-wave velocieties at elevated confining pressure of ODP Holes 136-842C and 136-843A

Identification of a sediment/basement contact using seismic reflection recordings has proven to be extremely difficult in wide areas of the North Pacific Ocean owing to the presence of massive, highly reflective chert layers within the sediment column. Leg 136 of the Ocean Drilling Program recovered coherent pieces of chert of sufficient size for the first comprehensive laboratory measurements of the seismic properties of this material. Compressional-wave velocities of six samples at 40-MPa confining pressure averaged 5.33 km/s, whereas shear-wave velocities at the same pressure averaged 3.48 km/s. Velocities were independent of porosity, which ranged from 5% to 13%, suggesting that pores within the samples were mostly high aspect ratio vugs as opposed to low aspect ratio cracks. Back-scattered electron images made with a scanning electron microscope confirmed this observation. Acoustic impedances were calculated for the chert samples and from shipboard measurements of the red clay sediment overlying the chert layers. An extremely large compressional-wave reflection coefficient (0.73) characterized the interface between the two lithologies. A synthetic seismogram was calculated using chert and typical pelagic carbonate properties to illustrate the influence of chert layers on a marine seismic-reflection section. Compressional-wave to shear-wave velocity ratios of the chert samples (Vp/Vs =1.53) are close to that of single-crystal quartz in spite of variable porosity. Shear-wave reflection coefficients are estimated to be approximately 0.94. A compressional-wave reflection coefficient for a basement/sediment (carbonate) interface is estimated to be approximately 0.50, significantly less than that of sediment/chert.

(Table 1) Viscosity coefficients at various temperatures of samples from ODP Hole 176-735B

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 735B was drilled to a depth of 1.5 km in a tectonic window of gabbroic lower oceanic crust created at the Southwest Indian Ridge. The gabbros have a very stable natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of reversed polarity with most unblocking temperatures slightly below the Curie temperature of magnetite. The NRM includes a drilling-induced overprint but its intensity decays strongly towards the interior of the drill core. The demagnetization data yield no or only a very small secondary magnetization component acquired during the present Brunhes chron or an earlier normal chron, suggesting cooling through most of the blocking temperature range during chron C5r and a strong resistance against the acquisition of thermoviscous magnetization. A novel furnace has been designed to measure magnetizations and their time dependences at high temperatures (up to 580 deg C) inside a commercial SQUID magnetometer. Magnetic viscosity experiments have been conducted on the gabbros at temperatures up to 550 deg C to determine the time and temperature stability of remanent magnetization. Viscosities are generally small and increase little with temperature below the main blocking temperature, where the increase becomes almost an order of magnitude. Extrapolations to geological times infer viscous acquisitions that would be 5-25% of a thermoremanence in 100 kyr and at temperatures of 200-500 deg C. At ocean bottom temperature the predicted magnetization of one sample acquired in the present Brunhes chron should be 10% of the NRM. However, this is not recognized during NRM demagnetization and partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) acquisitions at 250 deg C are also much smaller than predicted. It thus appears that the NRMs are generally magnetically harder than magnetizations acquired after heating to 570 deg C in the laboratory. Susceptibility changes during heating are small (<5%) indicating a seemingly stable magneto-mineralogy, but conspicuous minima occur after heating to 520 deg C. Also, quasi paleointensity experiments reveal characteristic patterns in the NRM/pTRM ratios and also large increases in pTRM capacity after heating to 570 deg C. Moreover, anhysteretic remanent magnetization acquisition in the low field range (<=10 mT) is strongly enhanced after heating by factors up to three. The alteration of the magneto-mineralogy is interpreted to result from the annealing of defects in magnetite that originate from tectonically induced strain. The oceanic gabbros of Hole 735B are thus ideal source layer material for marine magnetic anomalies, and secondary thermoviscous acquisition, as a possible cause for anomalous skewness, is essentially absent.

Chemistry of altered basaltic glass shards and zeolites of volcaniclastic sediments from ODP Hole 157-953C

Trace element concentrations of altered basaltic glass shards (layer silicates) and zeolites in volcaniclastic sediments drilled in the volcanic apron northeast of Gran Canaria during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) leg 157 document variable element mobilities during low-temperature alteration processes in a marine environment. Clay minerals (saponite, montmorillonite, smectite) replacing volcanic glass particles are enriched in transition metals and rare earth elements (REE). The degree of retention of REE within the alteration products of the basaltic glass is correlated with the field strength of the cations. The high field-strength elements are preferentially retained or enriched in the alteration products by sorption through clay minerals. Most trace elements are enriched in a boundary layer close to the interface mineral-altered glass. This boundary layer has a key function for the physico-chemical conditions of the subsequent alteration process by providing a large reactive surface and by lowering the fluid permeability. The release of most elements is buffered by incorporation into secondary precipitates (sodium-rich zeolites, phillipsite, Fe- and Mn-oxides) as shown by calculated distribution coefficients between altered glasses and authigenic minerals. Chemical fluxes change from an open to a closed system behavior during prograde low-temperature alteration of volcaniclastic sediments with no significant trace metal flux from the sediment to the water column.