Circumpolar dataset of Soil Organic Carbon north of treeline derived from ENVISAT ASAR GM, link to GeoTIFF

A new approach for the estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools north of the tree line has been developed based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR; ENVISAT Advanced SAR Global Monitoring mode) data. SOC values are directly determined from backscatter values instead of upscaling using land cover or soil classes. The multi-mode capability of SAR allows application across scales. It can be shown that measurements in C band under frozen conditions represent vegetation and surface structure properties which relate to soil properties, specifically SOC. It is estimated that at least 29 Pg C is stored in the upper 30 cm of soils north of the tree line. This is approximately 25 % less than stocks derived from the soil-map-based Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (NCSCD). The total stored carbon is underestimated since the established empirical relationship is not valid for peatlands or strongly cryoturbated soils. The approach does, however, provide the first spatially consistent account of soil organic carbon across the Arctic. Furthermore, it could be shown that values obtained from 1 km resolution SAR correspond to accounts based on a high spatial resolution (2 m) land cover map over a study area of about 7 × 7 km in NE Siberia. The approach can be also potentially transferred to medium-resolution C-band SAR data such as ENVISAT ASAR Wide Swath with ~120 m resolution but it is in general limited to regions without woody vegetation. Global Monitoring-mode-derived SOC increases with unfrozen period length. This indicates the importance of this parameter for modelling of the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon storage.

Historical global map of NH4+ and NO3- application in synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, link to NetCDF files

This paper provides a method for constructing a new historical global nitrogen fertilizer application map (0.5° × 0.5° resolution) for the period 1961-2010 based on country-specific information from Food and Agriculture Organization statistics (FAOSTAT) and various global datasets. This new map incorporates the fraction of NH+4 (and NONO-3) in N fertilizer inputs by utilizing fertilizer species information in FAOSTAT, in which species can be categorized as NH+4 and/or NO-3-forming N fertilizers. During data processing, we applied a statistical data imputation method for the missing data (19 % of national N fertilizer consumption) in FAOSTAT. The multiple imputation method enabled us to fill gaps in the time-series data using plausible values using covariates information (year, population, GDP, and crop area). After the imputation, we downscaled the national consumption data to a gridded cropland map. Also, we applied the multiple imputation method to the available chemical fertilizer species consumption, allowing for the estimation of the NH+4/NO-3 ratio in national fertilizer consumption. In this study, the synthetic N fertilizer inputs in 2000 showed a general consistency with the existing N fertilizer map (Potter et al., 2010, doi:10.1175/2009EI288.1) in relation to the ranges of N fertilizer inputs. Globally, the estimated N fertilizer inputs based on the sum of filled data increased from 15 Tg-N to 110 Tg-N during 1961-2010. On the other hand, the global NO-3 input started to decline after the late 1980s and the fraction of NO-3 in global N fertilizer decreased consistently from 35 % to 13 % over a 50-year period. NH+4 based fertilizers are dominant in most countries; however, the NH+4/NO-3 ratio in N fertilizer inputs shows clear differences temporally and geographically. This new map can be utilized as an input data to global model studies and bring new insights for the assessment of historical terrestrial N cycling changes.

Climate forecast data (Nino3.4 SST, Arctic sea ice extent) and observational references, link to files in Rdata format

This data set contains seasonal forecasts of sea surface temperature and Arctic sea ice extent from state-of-the-art climate models, along with observational references used to evaluate those forecasts. Common skill scores like the correlation between modelled and observed time series are also reported.

Possible link between Hg and Cd accumulation in the brain of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas)

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Acknowledgements M. M. Lawan for his helpful discussions about Se and advice on ICP-MS. C. C. Brombach for his introduction to CV-AFS and to D. Bellis for valuable comments and reviewing the English language in the manuscript. ZG would also like to thank the College of Physical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen and Chevron USA for the provided studentship. FLR and AB acknowledge Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and Marine Scotland for the funding.

Within-Person Link between Depressed Affect and Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity in Adolescence : An Intensive Longitudinal Approach

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Danijela Bacic, Hannah J€ockel, Lea K€ohler, Katrin Molsen, Marie Landenberger, and Annika Plambeck for their assistance with participant recruitment and data collection, Dale Esliger and Lauren Sherar for processing the accelerometry data, and Matthew Riccio for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

Tweaking Synchronisation by Link Addition

8 pages, 7 figures ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors wish to thank the Nesin foundation for an amazing working group activity in Nesin Math Village and wish to thank Tiago Pereira for fruitful discussions. PS and JK acknowledge gratefully the support of BMBF, CoNDyNet, FK. 03SF0472A. TP acknowledges FAPESP (No. 2012/22160-7 and No. 2015/02486-3) and IRTG 1740. DE acknowledge support by the Leibniz Association (WGL) under Grant No. SAW-2013-IZW-2.

Solidarity Finance to Link Investors with Businesses

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Permanent open water surfaces in central Siberia from ENVISAT ASAR wide swath data 2003/2004, link to shapefile

Permanent water bodies not only store dissolved CO2 but are essential for the maintenance of wetlands in their proximity. From the viewpoint of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting wetland functions comprise sequestration of carbon under anaerobic conditions and methane release. The investigated area in central Siberia covers boreal and sub-arctic environments. Small inundated basins are abundant on the sub-arctic Taymir lowlands but also in parts of severe boreal climate where permafrost ice content is high and feature important freshwater ecosystems. Satellite radar imagery (ENVISAT ScanSAR), acquired in summer 2003 and 2004, has been used to derive open water surfaces with 150 m resolution, covering an area of approximately 3 Mkm**2. The open water surface maps were derived using a simple threshold-based classification method. The results were assessed with Russian forest inventory data, which includes detailed information about water bodies. The resulting classification has been further used to estimate the extent of tundra wetlands and to determine their importance for methane emissions. Tundra wetlands cover 7% (400,000 km**2) of the study region and methane emissions from hydromorphic soils are estimated to be 45,000 t/d for the Taymir peninsula.

Condensation versus air density change as a major cause of airflow: experimental evidence, link to data files and videos

The dominant model of atmospheric circulation posits that hot air rises, creating horizontal winds. A second major driver has recently been proposed by Makarieva and Gorshkov in their biotic pump theory (BPT), which suggests that evapotranspiration from natural closed-canopy forests causes intense condensation, and hence winds from ocean to land. Critics of the BPT argue that air movement to fill the partial vacuum caused by condensation is always isotropic, and therefore causes no net air movement (Bunyard, 2015, hdl:11232/397). This paper explores the physics of water condensation under mild atmospheric conditions, within a purpose-designed square-section 4.8 m-tall closed-system structure. Two enclosed vertical columns are connected at top and bottom by two horizontal tunnels, around which 19.5 m**3 of atmospheric air can circulate freely, allowing rotary airflows in either direction. This air can be cooled and/or warmed by refrigeration pipes and a heating mat, and changes in airflow, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure measured in real time. The study investigates whether the "hot-air-rises" or an implosive condensation model can better explain the results of more than 100 experiments. The data show a highly significant correlation (R2 >0.96, p value <0.001) between observed airflows and partial pressure changes from condensation. While the kinetic energy of the refrigerated air falls short of that required in bringing about observed airflows by a factor of at least 30, less than a tenth of the potential kinetic energy from condensation is shown to be sufficient. The assumption that condensation of water vapour is always isotropic is therefore incorrect. Condensation can be anisotropic, and in the laboratory does cause sustained airflow.

Directional wave measurements using the Offshore Sensing Sailbuoy, link to MATLAB file

An autonomous vessel, the Offshore Sensing Sailbuoy, was used for wave measurements near the Ekofisk oil platform complex in the North Sea (56.5 N, 3.2 E, operated by ConocoPhilllips) from 6 to 20 November 2015. Being 100% wind propelled, the Sailbuoy has two-way communication via the Iridium network and has the capability for missions of six months or more. It has previously been deployed in the Arctic, Norwegian Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, but this was the first real test for wave measurements. During the campaign it held position about 20km northeast of Ekofisk (on the lee side) during rough conditions. Mean wind speed measured at Ekofisk during the campaign was near 9.8m/s, with a maximum of 20.4m/s, with wind mostly from south and south west. A Datawell MOSE G1000 GPS based 2Hz wave sensor was mounted on the Sailbuoy. Mean significant wave height (Hs 1hr) measured was 3m, whereas maximum Hs was 6m. Mean wave period was 7.7s, while maximum wave height, Hmax, was 12.6m. These measurements have been compared with non-directional Waverider observations at the Ekofisk complex. Mean Hs at Ekofisk was 3.1m, while maximum Hs was 6.5m. Nevertheless, the correlation between the two measurements was high (97%). Spectra comparison was also good, except for low Hs (~1m), where the motion of the vessel seemed to influence the measurements. Nevertheless, the Sailbuoy performed well during this campaign, and results suggests that it is a suitable platform for wave measurements in rather rough sea conditions.

Sediment budget and geomorphic process units of the Swedish Kärkevagge, link to ArcInfo E00 files

Geomorphic process units have been derived in order to allow quantification via GIS techniques at a catchment scale. Mass movement rates based on existing field measurements are employed in the budget calculations. In the Kärkevagge catchment, Northern Sweden, 80% of the area can be identified either as a source area for sediments or as a zone where sediments are deposited. The overall budget for the slopes beneath the rockwalls in the Kärkevagge is approximately 680 t/a whilst about 150 t a-1 are transported into the fluvial system.

Impacts of seawater acidification on mantle gene expression patterns of the Baltic Sea blue mussel: implications for shell formation and energy metabolism, link to supplementary material

Marine organisms have to cope with increasing CO2 partial pressures and decreasing pH in the oceans. We elucidated the impacts of an 8-week acclimation period to four seawater pCO2 treatments (39, 113, 243 and 405 Pa/385, 1,120, 2,400 and 4,000 µatm) on mantle gene expression patterns in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis from the Baltic Sea. Based on the M. edulis mantle tissue transcriptome, the expression of several genes involved in metabolism, calcification and stress responses was assessed in the outer (marginal and pallial zone) and the inner mantle tissues (central zone) using quantitative real-time PCR. The expression of genes involved in energy and protein metabolism (F-ATPase, hexokinase and elongation factor alpha) was strongly affected by acclimation to moderately elevated CO2 partial pressures. Expression of a chitinase, potentially important for the calcification process, was strongly depressed (maximum ninefold), correlating with a linear decrease in shell growth observed in the experimental animals. Interestingly, shell matrix protein candidate genes were less affected by CO2 in both tissues. A compensatory process toward enhanced shell protection is indicated by a massive increase in the expression of tyrosinase, a gene involved in periostracum formation (maximum 220-fold). Using correlation matrices and a force-directed layout network graph, we were able to uncover possible underlying regulatory networks and the connections between different pathways, thereby providing a molecular basis of observed changes in animal physiology in response to ocean acidification.