Temperature, precipitation and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 1982 to 2009 in the Koshi River Basin of the Middle Himalayas

The aim of this paper is to find out if there is a significant difference in using NDVI dataset processed by harmonic analysis method to evaluate its dynamic and response to climate change, compared with the original data.

Phytomass and soil carbon storage of different land cover classes in the Usa river basin

This study describes detailed partitioning of phytomass carbon (C) and soil organic carbon (SOC) for four study areas in discontinuous permafrost terrain, Northeast European Russia. The mean aboveground phytomass C storage is 0.7 kg C/m**2. Estimated landscape SOC storage in the four areas varies between 34.5 and 47.0 kg C/m**2 with LCC (land cover classification) upscaling and 32.5-49.0 kg C/m**2 with soil map upscaling. A nested upscaling approach using a Landsat thematic mapper land cover classification for the surrounding region provides estimates within 5 ± 5% of the local high-resolution estimates. Permafrost peat plateaus hold the majority of total and frozen SOC, especially in the more southern study areas. Burying of SOC through cryoturbation of O- or A-horizons contributes between 1% and 16% (mean 5%) of total landscape SOC. The effect of active layer deepening and thermokarst expansion on SOC remobilization is modeled for one of the four areas. The active layer thickness dynamics from 1980 to 2099 is modeled using a transient spatially distributed permafrost model and lateral expansion of peat plateau thermokarst lakes is simulated using geographic information system analyses. Active layer deepening is expected to increase the proportion of SOC affected by seasonal thawing from 29% to 58%. A lateral expansion of 30 m would increase the amount of SOC stored in thermokarst lakes/fens from 2% to 22% of all SOC. By the end of this century, active layer deepening will likely affect more SOC than thermokarst expansion, but the SOC stores vulnerable to thermokarst are less decomposed.

NOR5/OM60 clade of the Yangtze River estuary

The phylogeny, abundance, and biogeography of the NOR5/OM60 clade was investigated. This clade includes "Congregibacter litoralis" strain KT71, the first cultured representative of marine aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic Gammaproteobacteria. Most of the NOR5/OM60 sequences were retrieved from marine coastal settings, whereas there were fewer from open-ocean surface waters, deep-sea sediment, freshwater, saline lakes and soil. The abundance of members of the NOR5/OM60 clade in various marine sites was determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization using a newly designed and optimized probe set. Relative abundances in coastal marine waters off the Yangtze estuary were up to 3% of the total 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) counts. A small cruise was undertaken from 2006-09-06 to 2006-09-08 in the Yangtze River estuary. Samples were taken from surface water, and immediately fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde (PFA) for 1 h, filtered onto polycarbonate filters (Millipore, 47 mm in diameter, 0.2 µm pore size) and stored frozen at -20 °C.