Evaluation of an automated EA-IRMS method for total carbon analysis of atmospheric aerosol at HEKAL

Comprehensive atmospheric studies have demonstrated that carbonaceous particles are one of the main components of atmospheric aerosols over Europe. The aim of our study was to establish an automated elemental analyser interfaced to a stable isotope mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS) method at the Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies (HEKAL), as a suitable method of quantification of total carbon mass in individual PM_2.5 aerosol samples. Total carbon (TC) mass and simultaneous stable isotopic ratios were determined for both test standard and genuine aerosol samples. Finally, the results were compared to the ones obtained independently by an alternative sealed tube combustion method developed previously at HEKAL. The TC recovery tests of standard material prepared by the sealed tube method confirmed at least a carbon recovery yield of 92% for a broad range of carbon mass (100–2000 μg). The stable isotopic results confirmed that sealed tube method is reproducible and suitable to be used as a reference to verify our new EA-IRMS method. The EA-IRMS TC measurements of genuine aerosols gave on average 3% higher carbon recovery yield, relative to the uncorrected results of the sealed tube method. The comparison of the stable isotopic results by the two methods for aerosols also showed minimal differences. Consequently, the possibility of simultaneous TC and stable isotopic analyses makes the EA-IRMS method a very attractive alternative for continuous measurement of aerosols, with an accuracy and reliability similar to other commercial devices.     

Life in the sublittoral zone of long-lived Lake Pannon: paleontological analysis of the Upper Miocene Szák Formation,Hungary

Life and depositional environments in the sublittoral zone of Lake Pannon, a large, brackish Paratethyan lake from the Late Miocene, were reconstructed from fossils and facies of the Szák Formation. This formation is exposed in several, roughly coeval (9.4–8.9 Ma) outcrops, located along strike of the paleo-shelf-break in northwestern Hungary. The silty argillaceous marl of the formation was deposited below storm wave base, at 20–30 to 80–90 m water depth. The abundance of benthic organisms indicates that the bottom water was usually well oxygenated. Interstitial dysoxia, however, may have occurred immediately below the sediment–water interface, as evidenced by occasional preservation of trace fossils such as Diplocraterion. The fauna comprised endemic mollusks, including brackish cockles of the subfamily Lymnocardiinae, dreissenid mussels (Congeria), and highly adapted, uniquely large-sized deep-water pulmonate snails (planorbids and lymnaeids). Ostracods were dominated by endemic species and, in some cases, endemic genera of candonids, leptocytherids, cypridids, and loxoconchids. Fish remnants include a sciaenid otolith and the oldest skeletal occurrence of Perca in Europe. The phytoplankton comprised exclusively endemic coccolithophorids, mostly endemic dinoflagellates (prevailingly Spiniferites), and cosmopolitan green algae. The Late Miocene fauna and flora of Lake Pannon were in many ways similar to the modern Caspian biota, and in particular cases can be regarded as its precursor.     

Detecting abrupt climate changes on different time scales

Two concepts are introduced for detecting abrupt climate changes. In the first case, the sampling frequency of climate data is high as compared to the frequency of climate events examined. The method is based on a separation of trend and noise in the data and is applicable to any dataset that satisfies some mild smoothness and statistical dependence conditions for the trend and the noise, respectively. We say that an abrupt change occurs when the first derivative of the trend function has a discontinuity and the task is to identify such points. The technique is applied to Northern Hemisphere temperature data from 1850 to 2009, Northern Hemisphere temperature data from proxy data, a.d. 200?C1995 and Holocene ??¹⁸O values going back to 11,700 years BP. Several abrupt changes are detected that are, among other things, beneficial for determining the Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age and Holocene Climate Optimum. In the second case, the sampling frequency is low relative to the frequency of climate events studied. A typical example includes Dansgaard?COeschger events. The methodology used here is based on a refinement of autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic models. The key element of this approach is the volatility that characterises the time-varying variance, and abrupt changes are defined by high volatilities. The technique applied to ??¹⁸O values going back to 122,950 years BP is suitable for identifying DO events. These two approaches for the two cases are closely related despite the fact that at first glance, they seem quite different.     

Biogeographical drivers of ragweed pollen concentrations in Europe

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The drivers of spatial variation in ragweed pollen concentrations, contributing to severe allergic rhinitis and asthma, are poorly quantified. We analysed the...     

Trends, time-varying and nonlinear time series models for NGRIP and VOSTOK paleoclimate data

In order to gain further insights into stochastic behaviour of paleoclimate data, including timescales at and below Milankovitch forcing, three specific questions are discussed using δ ¹⁸O NGRIP and Vostok Deuterium content data. A comparison of ordinary and time-varying coefficients autoregressive (AR) models shows that both data sets are distinguishable from data generated by suitable low-order AR processes in contrast to earlier conclusions. A harmonic regression analysis clearly distinguishing between discrete and continuous spectra detects cycles corresponding to variations of eccentricity, obliquity and precession. Contribution of eccentricity to the total variance in the last 422,766-year Vostok data is close to, while the variance reduction delivered jointly by obliquity and precession is substantially smaller than a previous recent finding. A harmonic regression analysis with time-varying frequencies and amplitudes is also performed. This approach delivers a gain over the constant frequency model at any reasonable significance level. It is demonstrated that variations of frequencies are at least partly due to real variations and not merely to timescale uncertainties. In order to consider nonlinearity in paleoclimate data, threshold autoregressive (TAR) models are applied to time series examined. A bivariate TAR model describing simultaneous NGRIP and Vostok data exhibits three fix points and one limit cycle related to a part of Dansgaard–Oeschger events. The model selected suggests that Greenland has a primary role in the Greenland–Antarctica climate variation relationship.     

Alpine metamorphic evolution and cooling history of the Veporic basement in northern Hungary: new petrological and geochronological constraints

Petrological and geochronological investigations were carried out on metamorphic rocks of the Veporic unit (Inner Western Carpathians) in northern Hungary. K/Ar and Ar/Ar data on micas and amphibole show only Alpine ages (mostly in the range of 87-95 Ma) in this basement unit. Thermobarometric calculations yield lower amphibolite facies peak conditions (ca. 550냴 °C and 9ǃ kbar) for the Eoalpine metamorphic event. Complex evolution of gneissic rocks is reflected by the presence of discontinuously zoned garnets, the cores of which may represent relics of a pre-Alpine (presumably Variscan) thermal event. Zircon fission track (FT) data in the narrow range of 75-77.5 Ma indicate that this portion of the Veporic unit was emplaced to shallow crustal levels already during the Senonian time. The relative minor difference between zircon FT and K/Ar or Ar/Ar ages suggests very rapid cooling during the Late Cretaceous, most probably related to the extensional unroofing of the Veporic core complex. The obtained cooling ages do not support previous models of Tertiary uplift and exhumation of the Veporic unit along the Hurbanovo-Diósjeni Line.