Pedology, geochronology, palynology and macrofossils of soil profiles in the Altdarss area, german Baltic Sea coast

A new site with Lateglacial palaeosols covered by 0.8 - 2.4 m thick aeolian sands is presented. The buried soils were subjected to multidisciplinary analyses (pedology, micromorphology, geochronology, dendrology, palynology, macrofossils). The buried soil cover comprises a catena from relatively dry ('Nano'-Podzol, Arenosol) via moist (Histic Gleysol, Gleysol) to wet conditions (Histosol). Dry soils are similar to the so-called Usselo soil, as described from sites in NW Europe and central Poland. The buried soil surface covers ca. 3.4 km**2. Pollen analyses date this surface into the late Aller0d. Due to a possible contamination by younger carbon, radiocarbon dates are too young. OSL dates indicate that the covering by aeolian sands most probably occurred during the Younger Dryas. Botanical analyses enables the reconstruction of a vegetation pattern typical for the late Allerod. Large wooden remains of pine and birch were recorded.

International Polar Year 1882-1883 the digitized meteorological data legacy

The first International Polar Year (IPY) was an international effort to perform continous meteorological and geophysical observations over a time period of two years (1882-1883). Eleven nations established twelve research stations in the Arctic along with thirteen auxilary stations. Two stations were operated on the southern hemisphere (South Georgia and Tierra del Fuego). The data were published in 26 volumes on 8700+ pages of reports, descriptions, tables and graphs in total. The list of meteorological parameters includes temperature, wind, pressure, clouds, precipitation, evaporation, humidity and radiation. In the light of Global Change and the intensification of observations and continous measurements in both polar regions, long-time series increase in importance. The observations of the first IPY from the 19th century enable us to extend the data from the 20th century even more back into the past. In the occasion of the fourth IPY (2007-2009) WDC-MARE decided to digitize the complete set of meteorological data in full hourly resolution and publish it in its reports and make it available in Open Access via the data library PANGAEA.

Shipborne ocean color remote sensing

In this paper, modernized shipborne procedures are presented to collect and process above-water radiometry for remote sensing applications. A setup of five radiometers and a bidirectional camera system, which provides panoramic sea surface and sky images, is proposed for the collection of high-resolution radiometric quantities. Images from the camera system can be used to determine sky state and potential glint, whitecaps, or foam contamination. A peak in the observed remote sensing reflectance RRS spectra between 750-780 nm was typically found in spectra with relatively high surface reflected glint (SRG), which suggests this waveband could be a useful SRG indicator. Simplified steps for computing uncertainties in SRG corrected RRS are proposed and discussed. The potential of utilizing "unweighted multimodel averaging," which is the average of four or more common SRG correction models, is examined to determine the best approximation RRS. This best approximation RRS provides an estimate of RRS based on various SRG correction models established using radiative transfer simulations and field investigations. Applying the average RRS provides a measure of the inherent uncertainties or biases that result from a user subjectively choosing any one SRG correction model. Comparisons between inherent and apparent optical property derived observations were used to assess the robustness of the SRG multimodel averaging ap- proach. Correlations among the standard SRG models were completed to determine the degree of association or similarities between the SRG models. Results suggest that the choice of glint models strongly affects derived RRS values and can also influence the blue to green band ratios used for modeling biogeochemical parameters such as for chlorophyll a. The objective here is to present a uniform and traceable methodology for determining ship- borne RRS measurements and its associated errors due to glint correction and to ensure the direct comparability of these measurements in future investigations. We encourage the ocean color community to publish radiometric field measurements with matching and complete metadata in open access repositories.

Pollen analysis of a peat profile from the Rieseberger Moor, Lower Saxony, Germany

The Rieseberger Moor is a fen, 145 hectares in size, situated about 20 km east of Brunswick (Braunschweig), Lower Saxony, Germany. Peat was dug in the fen - with changing intensity - since the mid-18th century until around AD 1955. According to Schneekloth & Schneider (1971) the remaining peat (fen and wood peat) is predominantly 1.5 to 2 m thick (maximum 2.7 m). Part of the fen - now a nature reserve (NSG BR 005) - is wooded (Betula, Salix, Alnus). For more information on the Rieseberger Moor see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rieseberger_Moor. Willi Selle was the first to publish pollen diagrams from this site (Selle 1935, profiles Rieseberger Torfmoor I and II). This report deals with a 2.2 m long profile from the wooded south-eastern part of the fen consisting of strongly decomposed fen peat taken A.D. 1965 and studied by pollen analysis in the same year. The peat below 1.45 m contained silt and clay, samples 1.48 and 1.58 m even fine sand. These samples had to be treated with HF (hydrofluoric acid) in addition to the treatment with hot caustic potash solution. The coring ended in sandy material. The new pollen data reflect the early part of the known postglacial development of the vegetation of this area: the change from a birch dominated forest to a pine forest and the later spreading of Corylus and of the thermophilous deciduous tree genera Quercus, Ulmus, Tilia and Fraxinus followed by the expansion of Alnus. The new data are in agreement with Selle's results, except for Alnus, which in Selle's pollen diagram II shows high values (up to 42% of the arboreal pollen sum) even in samples deposited before Corylus and Quercus started to spread. On contrary the new pollen diagram shows that alder pollen - although present in all samples - is frequent in the three youngest pollen spectra only. A period with dominating Alnus as seen in the uppermost part of Selle's pollen diagrams is missing. The latter is most likely the result of peat cutting at the later coring site, whereas the early, unusually high alder values of Selle's pollen study are probably caused by contamination of the pollen samples with younger peat. Selle took peat samples usually with a "Torfbohrer" (= Hiller sampler). This side-filling type of sampler with an inner chamber and an outer loose jacket offers - if not handled with appropriate care - ample opportunities to contaminate older peat with carried off younger material. Pollen grains of Fagus (2 % of the arboreal pollen sum) were found in two samples only, namely in the uppermost samples of the new profile (0.18 m) and of Selle's profile I (0.25 m). If this pollen is autochthonous, with other words: if this surface-near peat was not disturbed by human activities, the Fagus pollen indicates an Early Subboreal age of this part of the profile. The accumulation of the Rieseberg peat started during the Preboreal. Increased values of Corylus, Quercus and Ulmus indicate that sample 0.78 m of the new profile is the oldest Boreal sample. The high Alnus values prove the Atlantic age of the younger peat. Whether Early Subboreal peat exists at the site is questionable, but evidently none of the three profiles reaches to Late Subboreal time, when Fagus spread in the region. Did peat-growth end during the Subboreal? Did younger peat exist, but got lost by peat cutting or has younger peat simply not yet been found in the Rieseberg fen? These questions cannot be answered with this study. The temporary decline of the curve of Pinus for the benefit of Betula during the Preboreal, unusual for this period, is contemporaneous with the deposition of sand (Rieseberger Moor II, 1.33 - 1,41 m; samples 1.48 and 1.58 m of the new profile) and must be considered a local phenomenon. Literature: Schneekloth, Heinrich & Schneider, Siegfried (1971). Die Moore in Niedersachsen. 2. Teil. Bereich des Blattes Braunschweig der Geologischen Karte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1:200000). - Schriften der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zum Studium Niedersachsens e.V. Reihe A I., Band 96, Heft 2, 83 Seiten, Göttingen. Selle, Willi (1935) Das Torfmoor bei Rieseberg. - Jahresbericht des Vereins für Naturwissenschaft zu Braunschweig, 23, 46-58, Braunschweig.