Holocene flood frequency across the Central Alps

The frequency of large-scale heavy precipitation events in the European Alps is expected to undergo substantial changes with current climate change. Hence, knowledge about the past natural variability of floods caused by heavy precipitation constitutes important input for climate projections. We present a comprehensive Holocene (10,000 years) reconstruction of the flood frequency in the Central European Alps combining 15 lacustrine sediment records. These records provide an extensive catalog of flood deposits, which were generated by flood-induced underflows delivering terrestrial material to the lake floors. The multi-archive approach allows suppressing local weather patterns, such as thunderstorms, from the obtained climate signal. We reconstructed mainly late spring to fall events since ice cover and precipitation in form of snow in winter at high-altitude study sites do inhibit the generation of flood layers. We found that flood frequency was higher during cool periods, coinciding with lows in solar activity. In addition, flood occurrence shows periodicities that are also observed in reconstructions of solar activity from 14C and 10Be records (2500-3000, 900-1200, as well as of about 710, 500, 350, 208 (Suess cycle), 150, 104 and 87 (Gleissberg cycle) years). As atmospheric mechanism, we propose an expansion/shrinking of the Hadley cell with increasing/decreasing air temperature, causing dry/wet conditions in Central Europe during phases of high/low solar activity. Furthermore, differences between the flood patterns from the Northern Alps and the Southern Alps indicate changes in North Atlantic circulation. Enhanced flood occurrence in the South compared to the North suggests a pronounced southward position of the Westerlies and/or blocking over the northern North Atlantic, hence resembling a negative NAO state (most distinct from 4.2 to 2.4 kyr BP and during the Little Ice Age). South-Alpine flood activity therefore provides a qualitative record of variations in a paleo-NAO pattern during the Holocene. Additionally, increased South Alpine flood activity contrasts to low precipitation in tropical Central America (Cariaco Basin) on the Holocene and centennial time scale. This observation is consistent with a Holocene southward migration of the Atlantic circulation system, and hence of the ITCZ, driven by decreasing summer insolation in the Northern hemisphere, as well as with shorter-term fluctuations probably driven by solar activity.

Milankovitch frequency peaks of ODP Site 113-693 (Table 3)

The first well logs collected below the Antarctic circle were obtained during Leg 113 at Site 693 on the Dronning Maud Land Margin (Antarctica) in the Weddell Sea. Gamma-ray, resistivity, and sonic logs were collected between 108.0 and 439.0 mbsf. The downhole logs show good agreement with the data collected from cores and provide a continuous measurement of the sedimentary record. These continuous log records show that the rather uniform Tertiary lithology seen in cores is characterized by high-frequency variability in the log data. Several thin hard streaks are identified, the largest of which coincides with a major Miocene hiatus. Associated with this hiatus is a change to lower illite content (and correspondingly lower gamma-ray counts) and to a significant increase in diatom content. Spectral analysis of the logs was performed on the lower Pliocene through upper Oligocene interval (108.0-343.0 mbsf). Between 108.0 and 245.0 mbsf, average sedimentation rates (50 and 26 m/m.y.) are high enough to show that variance is present in the orbital eccentricity (~95 k.y.) and obliquity (~41 k.y.) bands. Between 253.0 and 343.0 mbsf, the sedimentation rate (8 m/m.y.) is too low to resolve high frequency variations. The Milankovitch frequencies are best developed in the resistivity logs. Resistivity is responding to changes in porosity, which in these sediments is controlled by the abundance of biosiliceous sediments, particularly diatoms. The orbital forcing suggested by the Milankovitch frequencies may be influencing diatom productivity by inducing oscillations in upwelling, ice coverage, pack ice, and/or polynya. Although variations in diatom abundance were observed in the cores, they were not attributed to a Milankovitch signal, and therefore in this environment, downhole logs are an important contribution to the detection and understanding of orbitally influenced changes in sedimentation.

Standardized geo-referenced catch, fishing effort and length-frequency data for the Indian Ocean Bigeye Tuna, Thunnus obesus (1952-2014)

Geo-referenced catch and fishing effort data of the bigeye tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean over 1952-2014 were analysed and standardized to facilitate population dynamics modelling studies. During this sixty-two years historical period of exploitation, many changes occurred both in the fishing techniques and the monitoring of activity. This study includes a series of processing steps used for standardization of spatial resolution, conversion and standardization of catch and effort units, raising of geo-referenced catch into nominal catch level, screening and correction of outliers, and detection of major catchability changes over long time series of fishing data, i.e., the Japanese longline fleet operating in the tropical Indian Ocean. A total of thirty fisheries were finally determined from longline, purse seine and other-gears data sets, from which 10 longline and four purse seine fisheries represented 96% of the whole historical catch. The geo-referenced records consists of catch, fishing effort and associated length frequency samples of all fisheries.