ERA-CLIM Historical Upper-Air Data 1900-1972

Historical, i.e. pre-1957, upper-air data are a valuable source of information on the state of the atmosphere, in some parts of the World back to the early 20th century. However, to date reanalyses have only partially made use of these data, and only of observations made after 1948. Even for the period between 1948 (the starting year of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis) and the International Geophysical Year in 1957 (the starting year of the ERA-40 reanalysis), when the global upper-air coverage reached more or less its current status, many observations have not been digitised until now. The Comprehensive Historical Upper-Air Network (CHUAN) already compiled a large collection of pre-1957 upper-air data. In the framework of the European project ERA-CLIM, significant amounts of additional upper-air data have been catalogued (> 1.3 mio station days), imaged (> 200,000 images) and digitised (> 700,000 station days) in order to prepare a new input dataset for upcoming reanalyses. The records cover large parts of the globe, focussing on so far less well covered regions such as the Tropics, the polar regions and the Oceans, and on very early upper-air data from Europe and the US. The total number of digitised/inventoried records is 61/101 for moving upper-air data, i.e. data from ships etc., and 735/1,783 for fixed upper-air stations. Here, we give a detailed description of the resulting dataset including the metadata and the quality checking procedures applied. The data will be included in the next version of CHUAN.

A return-on-investment framework to identify conservation priorities in Africa

Environmental conservation activities must continue to become more efficient and effective, especially in Africa where development and population growth pressures continue to escalate. Recently, prioritization of conservation resources has focused on explicitly incorporating the economic costs of conservation along with better defining the outcomes of these expenditures. We demonstrate how new global and continental data that spans social, economic, and ecological sectors creates an opportunity to incorporate return-on-investment (ROI) principles into conservation priority setting for Africa. We suggest that combining conservation priorities that factor in biodiversity value, habitat quality, and conservation management investments across terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal marine environments provides a new lens for setting global conservation priorities. Using this approach we identified seven regions capturing interior and coastal resources that also have high ROI values that support further investment. We illustrate how spatially explicit, yet flexible ROI analysis can help to better address uncertainty, risk, and opportunities for conservation, while making values that guide prioritization more transparent. In one case the results of this prioritization process were used to support new conservation investments. Acknowledging a clear research need to improve cost information, we propose that adopting a flexible ROI framework to set conservation priorities in Africa has multiple potential benefits.

Contextual classification of full waveform lidar data in the Wadden Sea

The classification of airborne lidar data is a relevant task in different disciplines. The information about the geometry and the full waveform can be used in order to classify the 3D point cloud. In Wadden Sea areas the classification of lidar data is of main interest for the scientific monitoring of coastal morphology and habitats, but it becomes a challenging task due to flat areas with hardly any discriminative objects. For the classification we combine a Conditional Random Fields framework with a Random Forests approach. By classifying in this way, we benefit from the consideration of context on the one hand and from the opportunity to utilise a high number of classification features on the other hand. We investigate the relevance of different features for the lidar points in coastal areas as well as for the interaction of neighbouring points.

Coccolithophore sensitivities to changing carbonate chemistry - an ecological framework

Coccolithophores are a group of unicellular phytoplankton species whose ability to calcify has a profound influence on biogeochemical element cycling. Calcification rates are controlled by a large variety of biotic and abiotic factors. Among these factors, carbonate chemistry has gained considerable attention during the last years as coccolithophores have been identified to be particularly sensitive to ocean acidification. Despite intense research in this area, a general concept harmonizing the numerous and sometimes (seemingly) contradictory responses of coccolithophores to changing carbonate chemistry is still lacking to date. Here, we present the "substrate-inhibitor concept" which describes the dependence of calcification rates on carbonate chemistry speciation. It is based on observations that calcification rate scales positively with bicarbonate (HCO3-), the primary substrate for calcification, and carbon dioxide (CO2), which can limit cell growth, whereas it is inhibited by protons (H+). This concept was implemented in a model equation, tested against experimental data, and then applied to understand and reconcile the diverging responses of coccolithophorid calcification rates to ocean acidification obtained in culture experiments. Furthermore, we (i) discuss how other important calcification-influencing factors (e.g. temperature and light) could be implemented in our concept and (ii) embed it in Hutchinson's niche theory, thereby providing a framework for how carbonate chemistry-induced changes in calcification rates could be linked with changing coccolithophore abundance in the oceans. Our results suggest that the projected increase of H+ in the near future (next couple of thousand years), paralleled by only a minor increase of inorganic carbon substrate, could impede calcification rates if coccolithophores are unable to fully adapt. However, if calcium carbonate (CaCO3) sediment dissolution and terrestrial weathering begin to increase the oceans' HCO3- and decrease its H+ concentrations in the far future (10 -100 kyears), coccolithophores could find themselves in carbonate chemistry conditions which may be more favorable for calcification than they were before the Anthropocene.

Hidden impacts of ocean acidification to live and dead coral framework

Cold-water corals, such as Lophelia pertusa, are key habitat-forming organisms found throughout the world's oceans to 3000 m deep. The complex three-dimensional framework made by these vulnerable marine ecosystems support high biodiversity and commercially important species. Given their importance, a key question is how both the living and the dead framework will fare under projected climate change. Here, we demonstrate that over 12 months L. pertusa can physiologically acclimate to increased CO2, showing sustained net calcification. However, their new skeletal structure changes and exhibits decreased crystallographic and molecular-scale bonding organization. Although physiological acclimatization was evident, we also demonstrate that there is a negative correlation between increasing CO2 levels and breaking strength of exposed framework (approx. 20-30% weaker after 12 months), meaning the exposed bases of reefs will be less effective 'load-bearers', and will become more susceptible to bioerosion and mechanical damage by 2100.

Rock-magnetic data of ODP Site 105-645 (Appendix)

We present the rock-magnetic stratigraphy for Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 105, Site 645 (Baffin Bay). Variations in magnetic mineral concentration (X) and particle size (XAKM/X) are used to correlate advanced piston corer (APC) cores from several holes at Site 645. Downsite variations in rock-magnetic parameters and carbonate content are placed within the framework of inferred changes in sedimentation. These results suggest an initiation of Northern Hemisphere ice rafting in Baffin Bay in the early-late Pliocene (approximately 3.4 Ma).