Mountain glaciers under a changing climate

Mountain glaciers are found around the world in ranges such as the Himalaya, the Andes and the European Alps. The majority of mountain glaciers world‐wide are shrinking. However, the rugged alpine topography through which these glaciers flow governs their dynamics and impacts on the regional climate systems that modify glacier mass balance. As a result, the response of mountain glaciers to climate change is difficult to predict, and highly spatially variable even across one mountain range, particularly where orography controls precipitation distributions. To understand how mountain glaciers behave and change, geologists combine many different techniques based on direct observations and dating of glacial geology, measurements of present‐day glaciers, and predictive numerical (computer) models. Recent advances in these techniques and their applications to glacial environments have demonstrated that the glacial geological record is a rich archive of information about how climate has changed in the past, and gives greater confidence in predictions of glacier change in the future, which is required if populations living in glacerised catchments are able to adapt to the rapid response of glaciers to a changing climate.     

1H and 13C NMR of marine humic acids

¹³C and ¹H NMR spectra were obtained for humic acids isolated from marine sediments. NMR shows great promise in identifying structural components of humic acids as some new and interesting structural features are identified. Aliphatic structures were found to constitute a much larger fraction of humic acids than previously thought, and they appeared to be highly branched. Although the aromatic content of terrestrial humic acid was found to be lower than expected, the aromaticity appears to be a specific discriminator of terrestrial/aquatic source types. A humic acid isolated from an anoxic algal sapropel was found to be composed predominantly of polyuronic acids and different than other aquatic sedimentary humic substances.     

Morphology and evolution of supraglacial hummocks on debris-covered Himalayan glaciers

Thick supraglacial debris layers often have an undulating, hummocky topography that influences the lateral transport of debris and meltwater and provides basins for supraglacial ponds. The role of ablation and other processes associated with supraglacial debris in giving rise to this hummocky topography is poorly understood. Characterizing hummocky topography is a first step towards understanding the feedbacks driving the evolution of debris-covered glacier surfaces and their potential impacts on mass balance, hydrology and glacier dynamics. Here we undertake a geomorphological assessment of the hummocky topography on five debris-covered glaciers in the Everest region of the central Himalaya. We characterize supraglacial hummocks through statistical analyses of their vertical relief and horizontal geometry. Our results establish supraglacial hummocks as a distinct landform. We find that a typical hummock has an elongation ratio of 1.1:1 in the direction of ice flow, length of 214 ± 109 m and width of 192 ± 88 m. Hummocky topography has a greater amplitude across-glacier (15.4 ± 10.9 m) compared to along the glacier flow line (12.6 ± 8.3 m). Consequently, hummock slopes are steeper in the across-glacier direction (8.7 ± 4.3°) than in the direction of ice flow (5.6 ± 4.0°). Longer, wider and higher-amplitude hummocks are found on larger glaciers. We postulate that directional anisotropy in the hummock topography arises because, while the pattern of differential ablation driving topography evolution is moderated by processes including the gravitational redistribution of debris across the glacier surface, it also inherits an orientation preference from the distribution of englacial debris in the underlying ice. Our morphometric data inform future efforts to model these interactions, which should account for additional factors such as the genesis of supraglacial ponds and ice cliffs and their impact on differential ablation.     

Global prioritisation of renewable nitrogen for biodiversity conservation and food security

The continuing use of petrochemicals in mineral nitrogen (N) production may be affected by supply or cost issues and climate agreements. Without mineral N, a larger area of cropland is required to produce the same amount of food, impacting biodiversity. Alternative N sources include solar and wind to power the Haber-Bosch process, and the organic options such as green manures, marine algae and aquatic azolla. Solar power was the most land-efficient renewable source of N, with using a tenth as much land as wind energy, and at least 100th as much land as organic sources of N. In this paper, we developed a decision tree to locate these different sources of N at a global scale, or the first time taking into account their spatial footprint and the impact on terrestrial biodiversity while avoiding impact on albedo and cropland, based on global resource and impact datasets. This produced relatively few areas suitable for solar power in the western Americas, central southern Africa, eastern Asia and southern Australia, with areas most suited to wind at more extreme latitudes. Only about 2% of existing solar power stations are in very suitable locations. In regions such as coastal north Africa and central Asia where solar power is less accessible due to lack of farm income, green manures could be used, however, due to their very large spatial footprint only a small area of low productivity and low biodiversity was suitable for this option. Europe in particular faces challenges because it has access to a relatively small area which is suitable for solar or wind power. If we are to make informed decisions about the sourcing of alternative N supplies in the future, and our energy supply more generally, a decision-making mechanism is needed to take global considerations into account in regional land-use planning.     

Changes in tropical Atlantic interannual variability from a substantial weakening of the meridional overturning circulation

In response to a substantial weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—from a coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model experiment—significant changes in the interannual variability are found over the tropical Atlantic, characterized by an increase of variance (by ~150 %) in boreal late spring-early summer and a decrease of variance (by ~60 %) in boreal autumn. This study focuses on understanding physical mechanisms responsible for these changes in interannual variability in the tropical Atlantic. It demonstrates that the increase of variability in spring is a consequence of an increase in the variance of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which has a large impact on the tropical Atlantic via anomalous surface heat fluxes. Winter El Niño (La Niña) affects the eastern equatorial Atlantic by decreasing (increasing) cloud cover and surface wind speed which is associated with anomalous downward (upward) short wave radiation and reduced (enhanced) upward latent heat fluxes, creating anomalous positive (negative) sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the region from winter to spring. On the other hand, the decrease of SST variance in autumn is due to a deeper mean thermocline which weakens the impact of the thermocline movement on SST variation. The comparison between the model results and observations is not straightforward owing to the influence of model biases and the lack of a major MOC weakening event in the instrumental record. However, it is argued that the basic physical mechanisms found in the model simulations are likely to be robust and therefore have relevance to understanding tropical Atlantic variability in the real world, perhaps with modified seasonality.     

Climate impacts of recent multidecadal changes in Atlantic Ocean Sea Surface Temperature: a multimodel comparison

During the twentieth century sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean exhibited prominent multidecadal variations. The source of such variations has yet to be rigorously established—but the question of their impact on climate can be investigated. Here we report on a set of multimodel experiments to examine the impact of patterns of warming in the North Atlantic, and cooling in the South Atlantic, derived from observations, that is characteristic of the positive phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The experiments were carried out with six atmospheric General Circulation Models (including two versions of one model), and a major goal was to assess the extent to which key climate impacts are consistent between the different models. The major climate impacts are found over North and South America, with the strongest impacts over land found over the United States and northern parts of South America. These responses appear to be driven by a combination of an off-equatorial Gill response to diabatic heating over the Caribbean due to increased rainfall within the region and a Northward shift in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) due to the anomalous cross-equatorial SST gradient. The majority of the models show warmer US land temperatures and reduced Mean Sea Level Pressure during summer (JJA) in response to a warmer North Atlantic and a cooler South Atlantic, in line with observations. However the majority of models show no significant impact on US rainfall during summer. Over northern South America, all models show reduced rainfall in southern hemisphere winter (JJA), whilst in Summer (DJF) there is a generally an increase in rainfall. However, there is a large spread amongst the models in the magnitude of the rainfall anomalies over land. Away from the Americas, there are no consistent significant modelled responses. In particular there are no significant changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over the North Atlantic and Europe in Winter (DJF). Additionally, the observed Sahel drying signal in African rainfall is not seen in the modelled responses. Suggesting that, in contrast to some studies, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation was not the primary driver of recent reductions in Sahel rainfall.     

Reductive diagenesis,magnetite dissolution,greigite growth and paleomagnetic smoothing in marine sediments: A new view

In many anoxic sedimentary environments, the onset of sulfate reduction, and pyritization of detrital iron-bearing minerals, leads to a precipitous decline in magnetic mineral concentration during early diagenesis. The usefulness of the surviving paleomagnetic record in such environments is usually argued to depend on how much of the primary detrital magnetic assemblage survives diagenetic dissolution. Detailed rock magnetic and electron microscope analyses of rapidly deposited (~ 7 cm/kyr) latest Pleistocene–Holocene sediments from the continental margins of Oman (22°22.4′N, 60°08.0′E) and northern California (38°24.8′N, 123°58.2′W) demonstrate that pyritization during early diagenesis also leads to the progressive down-core growth of the ferrimagnetic iron sulfide greigite. Greigite growth begins with nucleation of large concentrations of superparamagnetic (SP) nanoparticles at the inferred position of the sulfate–methane transition, which can explain the apparently paradoxical suggestion that diagenetically reduced sediments contain enhanced concentrations of SP particles. Looping of hysteresis parameters on a “Day” plot records the dissolution of single domain (SD) (titano-)magnetite and the formation of SP greigite, which then slowly and progressively grows through its SD blocking volume and acquires a stable paleomagnetic signal. This looping trend is also evident in data from several published records (Oregon margin, Korea Strait, Japan Sea, Niger Fan, Argentine margin, and the Ontong–Java Plateau), indicating that these processes may be widespread in reducing environments. Our observations have profound implications for paleomagnetic records from sulfate-reducing environments. The paleomagnetic signal recorded by greigite is offset from the age of the surrounding sediments by 10's of kyr, and ongoing growth of greigite at depth results in smoothing of the recorded signal over intervals of 10's to 100's of kyr. We therefore expect the presence of greigite to compromise paleomagnetic records in a wide range of settings that have undergone reductive diagenesis.     

Interpretation of Na–Cl–Br Systematics in Sedimentary Basin Brines: Comparison of Concentration, Element Ratio, and Isometric Log-ratio Approaches

Mathematicians and geochemists have long realized that compositional data intrinsically exhibit a structure prone to spurious and induced correlations. This paper demonstrates, using the Na–Cl–Br system, that these mathematical problems are exacerbated in the study of sedimentary basin brines by such processes as the evaporation or dissolution of salts owing to their high salinities. Using two published datasets of Na–Cl–Br data for fluids from the Appalachian Basin, it is shown that log concentration and Na/Br versus Cl/Br methods for displaying solute chemistry may lead to misinterpretation of mixing trends between meteoric waters (for example shallow drinking water aquifers) and basinal brines, partially due to spurious mathematical relationships. An alternative approach, based on the isometric log-ratio transformation of molar concentration data, is developed and presented as an alternative method, free from potential numerical problems of the traditional methods. The utility, intuitiveness, and potential for mathematical problems of the three methods are compared and contrasted. Because the Na–Cl–Br system is a useful tool for sourcing solutes and investigating the evolution of basinal brines, results from this research may impact such critical topics as evaluating sources of brine contamination in the environment (possibly related to oil and gas production), evaluating the behavior of fluids in the reservoir during hydraulic fracturing, and tracking movement of fluids as a result of geologic CO₂ sequestration.