Eocene to Early Miocene palaeoclimate of Saxony, Germany (Table 4)

In the present study, proxy data concerning changes in atmospheric CO2 and climatic conditions from the Late Eocene to the Early Miocene were acquired by applying palaeobotanical methods. Fossil floras from 10 well-documented locations in Saxony, Germany, were investigated with respect to (1) stomatal density/index of fossil leaves from three different taxa (Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis, Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps and Laurophyllum acutimontanum), (2) the coexistence approach (CA) based on nearest living relatives (NLR) and (3) leaf margin analysis (LMA). Whereas the results of approach (1) indicate changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration, approaches (2) and (3) provide climate data. The results of the analysis of stomatal parameters indicate that the atmospheric CO2 concentration was higher during the Late Eocene than during the Early Oligocene and increased towards the Late Oligocene. A lower atmospheric pCO2 level after the Late Eocene is also suggested by an increase in marine palaeoproductivity at this time. From the Late Oligocene onwards, no changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration can be detected with the present data. For the considered sites, the results of the coexistence approach and of the leaf margin analysis document a significant cooling event from the Late Eocene to the Early Oligocene. The pCO2 decrease from the Late Eocene to the Early Oligocene indicated by the stomatal data raised in this study was thus coupled to a temperature decrease which is reflected by the present datasets. From the Early Oligocene onwards, however, no further fundamental climate change can be inferred for the considered locations. The pCO2 increase from the Early Oligocene to the Late Oligocene, which is indicated by the present data, is thus not accompanied by a climate change at the considered sites. A warming event during the Late Oligocene is, however, recorded by marine climate archives. According to the present data, no change in pCO2 occurred during the cooling event at the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, which is also indicated by marine data. The quality and validity of stomatal parameters as sensors for atmospheric CO2 concentration are discussed.

Manejo de suelo mediante coberturas vegetales establecidas

El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar los efectos de las coberturas vegetales en el microclima de la planta de vid. Se compararon cinco coberturas de diferente ciclo vegetativo con respecto al manejo de suelo sin labranza mediante aplicación de herbicidas. El estudio se desarrolló en un viñedo cv. Malbec conducido en espaldera alta, situado en Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. Se determinaron parámetros microclimáticos, temperatura, humedad relativa y radiación a nivel de racimos, temperatura del suelo, cantidad y calidad de la radiación reflejada por la cobertura. También se midió la expresión vegetativa y de uvas y el potencial enológico. Se verificó una significativa disminución de la radiación fotosintéticamente activa (RFA) reflejada por las coberturas con una menor relación “Rojo/Rojo lejano" comparada con el suelo descubierto. Sin embargo, el efecto no se percibió dentro de la canopia debido a que las coberturas permanentes de trébol rojo (Trifolium pratensis) y agropiro alargado (Agropyron elongatum) restringieron el vigor de las cepas, disminuyendo el crecimiento de brotes y el tamaño de hojas, lo cual se tradujo en una mayor recepción directa de la RFA a nivel de racimos. No hubo una significativa variación en cuanto a temperatura máxima, mínima y amplitud térmica a nivel de racimos. No obstante ello, los tratamientos con mayor cobertura de suelo tendieron a reducir levemente la temperatura mínima a nivel de racimos. La humedad relativa en la canopia no fue significativamente afectada. El trébol rojo, el agropiro alargado, la mezcla centeno-cebadilla (Secale cereale-Bromus catharticus) y el sorgo del Sudán (Sorghum sudanensis) redujeron notablemente la amplitud térmica del suelo. El efecto fue determinado principalmente por la disminución de la temperatura máxima. Las coberturas vegetales con alguna dificultad para desarrollarse durante su ciclo vegetativo tuvieron un comportamiento intermedio o uno muy similar al de un suelo descubierto. La introducción de una cobertura permanente con buena invasión del sitio interfilar permitió modificar indirectamente las características microclimáticas de la canopia, a través del control del crecimiento vegetativo y de los rendimientos de la planta de vid, modificando el equilibrio vigor / producción del viñedo, y por lo tanto la composición de las uvas y del vino elaborado.

Turbulent flux and meteorological measurements during ARCTEX-2006 campaign

This dataset present result from the DFG- funded Arctic-Turbulence-Experiment (ARCTEX-2006) performed by the University of Bayreuth on the island of Svalbard, Norway, during the winter/spring transition 2006. From May 5 to May 19, 2006 turbulent flux and meteorological measurements were performed on the monitoring field near Ny-Ålesund, at 78°55'24'' N, 11°55'15'' E Kongsfjord, Svalbard (Spitsbergen), Norway. The ARCTEX-2006 campaign site was located about 200 m southeast of the settlement on flat snow covered tundra, 11 m to 14 m above sea level. The permanent sites used for this study consisted of the 10 m meteorological tower of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI), the international standardized radiation measurement site of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), the radiosonde launch site and the AWI tethered balloon launch sites. The temporary sites - set up by the University of Bayreuth - were a 6 m meteorological gradient tower, an eddy-flux measurement complex (EF), and a laser-scintillometer section (SLS). A quality assessment and data correction was applied to detect and eliminate specific measurement errors common at a high arctic landscape. In addition, the quality checked sensible heat flux measurements are compared with bulk aerodynamic formulas that are widely used in atmosphere-ocean/land-ice models for polar regions as described in Ebert and Curry (1993, doi:10.1029/93JC00656) and Launiainen and Cheng (1995). These parameterization approaches easily allow estimation of the turbulent surface fluxes from routine meteorological measurements. The data show: - the role of the intermittency of the turbulent atmospheric fluctuation of momentum and scalars, - the existence of a disturbed vertical temperature profile (sharp inversion layer) close to the surface, - the relevance of possible free convection events for the snow or ice melt in the Arctic spring at Svalbard, and - the relevance of meso-scale atmospheric circulation pattern and air-mass advection for the near-surface turbulent heat exchange in the Arctic spring at Svalbard. Recommendations and improvements regarding the interpretation of eddy-flux and laser-scintillometer data as well as the arrangement of the instrumentation under polar distinct exchange conditions and (extreme) weather situations could be derived.