Color data, carbon and oxygen isotopes, and offsets from BBCP Polecat Bench cores 2A and 2B

The Earth's climate abruptly warmed by 5-8 °C during the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), about 55.5 million years ago**1,2. This warming was associated with a massive addition of carbon to the ocean-atmosphere system, but estimates of the Earth systemresponse to this perturbation are complicated by widely varying estimates of the duration of carbon release, which range from less than a year to tens of thousands of years. In addition the source of the carbon, and whether it was released as a single injection or in several pulses, remains the subject of debate**2-4. Here we present a new high-resolution carbon isotope record from terrestrial deposits in the Bighorn Basin (Wyoming, USA) spanning the PETM, and interpret the record using a carbon-cycle boxmodel of the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system.Our record shows that the beginning of the PETMis characterized by not one but two distinct carbon release events, separated by a recovery to background values. To reproduce this pattern, our model requires two discrete pulses of carbon released directly to the atmosphere, at average rates exceeding 0.9 Pg C yr**-1, with the first pulse lasting fewer than 2,000 years.

Iberian Margin 420 kyr geochemical and color variations record

Here we report 420 kyr long records of sediment geochemical and color variations from the southwestern Iberian Margin. We synchronized the Iberian Margin sediment record to Antarctic ice cores and speleothem records on millennial time scales and investigated the phase responses relative to orbital forcing of multiple proxy records available from these cores. Iberian Margin sediments contain strong precession power. Sediment "redness" (a* and 570-560 nm) and the ratio of long-chain alcohols to n-alkanes (C26OH/(C26OH + C29)) are highly coherent and in-phase with precession. Redder layers and more oxidizing conditions (low alcohol ratio) occur near precession minima (summer insolation maxima). We suggest these proxies respond rapidly to low-latitude insolation forcing by wind-driven processes (e.g., dust transport, upwelling, precipitation). Most Iberian Margin sediment parameters lag obliquity maxima by 7-8 ka, indicating a consistent linear response to insolation forcing at obliquity frequencies driven mainly by high-latitude processes. Although the lengths of the time series are short (420 ka) for detecting 100 kyr eccentricity cycles, the phase relationships support those obtained by Shackleton []. Antarctic temperature and the Iberian Margin alcohol ratios (C26OH/(C26OH + C29)) lead eccentricity maxima by 6 kyr, with lower ratios (increased oxygenation) occurring at eccentricity maxima. CO2, CH4, and Iberian SST are nearly in phase with eccentricity, and minimum ice volume (as inferred from Pacific d18Oseawater) lags eccentricity maxima by 10 kyr. The phase relationships derived in this study continue to support a potential role of the Earth's carbon cycle in contributing to the 100 kyr cycle.

Sediment color variation in laminated Holocene sediments of ODP Site 178-1098

Continuous sediment color records with a resolution of one measurement per millimeter were generated for Site 1098 (Palmer Deep, Antarctic Peninsula) from digital images of the core surfaces to test if the laminated intervals at this site will allow for analysis of high-frequency climate variability in the Circum-Antarctic. Long-term variation in color values correlates with gamma-ray attenuation bulk density. Darker colors are found in laminated intervals with lower bulk density, high biogenic silica, and high total organic carbon content. Darker color values result from the addition of dark laminae to background sediments that show little variation in color. The thicknesses of dark and light laminae were measured in the top 25 meters composite depth to determine the temporal resolution of the laminae. The alternation between dark, biogenic-rich laminae and background sediment essentially represents an annual cycle, but the sediment is not consistently varved. The modal thickness of light laminae is close to the long-term average annual accumulation rate, and results indicate that approximately half of the dark/light couplets in distinctly laminated intervals represent a single year. Missing biogenic laminae are interpreted to represent reduced primary productivity during cold years with delayed breakup of the sea-ice cover.

Integrating health and sustainability in life cycle assessment

Until now health impact assessment and environmental impact assessment are two different issues, often not addressed together. Both issues have to be dealt with for sustainable building. The aim of this paper is to link healthy and sustainable housing in life cycle assessment. Two strategies are studied: clean air as a functional unity and health as a quality indicator. The strategies are illustrated with an example on the basis of Eco-Quantum, which is a Dutch whole-building assessment tool. It turns out that both strategies do not conflict with the LCA methodology. The LCA methodology has to be refined for this purpose.