Search results for "Surface Processes"
showing 10 items of 1294 documents
Mg/Ca ratios in coralline algae record northwest Atlantic temperature variations and North Atlantic Oscillation relationships
2010
Climate variability in the North Atlantic has been linked in part to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The NAO influences marine ecosystems in the northwestern Atlantic and transport variability of the cold Labrador Current. Understanding historic patterns of NAO variability requires long‐term and high‐resolution climate records that are not available from instrumental data. Here we present the first century‐scale proxy record of sea surface temperature (SST) variability from the Newfoundland shelf, a region from which other annual‐resolution shallow marine proxies are unavailable. The 116 year record was obtained from three sites along the eastern Newfoundland shelf using laser ablatio…
The 2-μm spectroscopy of Huygens probe landing site on Titan with Very Large Telescope/Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System Near-Infrared Imager and Spectr…
2007
[1] Several ground-based telescopes followed the event of the Huygens probe descent through Titan's atmosphere (14 January 2005). We used the Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System Near-Infrared Imager and Spectrograph (NACO) adaptive optics system at the UT-4 of the Very Large Telescope in Chile to perform both spectroscopic and imaging measurements of Titan. We present here a selected sample of the spectra we acquired on 16 January 2005 in the K band between 2.03 and 2.40 μm. Our spectra include the Huygens landing site and surrounding dark and bright areas. We apply a radiative transfer code using new methane absorption coefficients calculated in the 2-μm region. The analysis of the data yields …
Freshening of the Alaska Coastal Current recorded by coralline algal Ba/Ca ratios
2011
Arctic Ocean freshening can exert a controlling influence on global climate, triggering strong feedbacks on ocean‐atmospheric processes and affecting the global cycling of the world’s oceans. Glacier‐fed ocean currents such as the Alaska Coastal Current are important sources of freshwater for the Bering Sea shelf, and may also influence the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget. Instrumental data indicate a multiyear freshening episode of the Alaska Coastal Current in the early 21st century. It is uncertain whether this freshening is part of natural multidecadal climate variability or a unique feature of anthropogenically induced warming. In order to answer this, a better understanding of past var…
Aerosol layers from the 2008 eruptions of Mount Okmok and Mount Kasatochi: In situ upper troposphere and lower stratosphere measurements of sulfate a…
2010
In 2008 Mount Okmok and Mount Kasatochi started erupting on 12 July and 7 August, respectively, in the Aleutians, depositing emissions of trace gases and aerosols as high as 15.2 km into the atmosphere. During an aircraft campaign, conducted over Europe in between 27 October and 2 November 2008, the volcanic aerosol was measured by an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer, capable of particle chemical composition measurements covering a size diameter range between 40 nm and 1 mm. In the volcanic aerosol layer enhanced submicron particulate sulfate concentrations of up to 2.0 mg mâÂÂ3 standard temperature and pressure (STP) were observed between 8 and 12 km altitude, while background values …
Electrical conductivity of magma in the course of crystallization controlled by their residual liquid composition.
2005
International audience; The electrical conductivity of a magma in the course of crystallization was experimentally investigated in the temperature range of 1350–1018°C. Large samples of basaltic composition with a homogeneous crystal content were synthesized in a gas mixing furnace at 1 atm pressure. The samples were analyzed by electron microprobe. The relative proportions of the phases as a function of temperature were determined. Depending on temperature, the phase assemblies included quenched silicate liquid, ±plagioclase, ±pyroxene, ±Fe-Ti oxides. The crystal content varied from 0 to 80 wt %. In response to partial crystallization, the residual liquid changed composition from basalt, t…
Anisotropic scaling of tectonic stylolites: A fossilized signature of the stress field?
2010
International audience; [1] Vertical stylolites are pressure solution features, which are considered to be caused by horizontal tectonic loading, with the largest principal compressive stress being (sub-) parallel to the Earth's surface. In the present study we analyze the roughness of such tectonic stylolites from two tectonic settings in southern Germany and northeastern Spain, aiming to investigate their scaling properties with respect to the stress during formation. High-resolution laser profilometry was carried out on opened stylolite surfaces of nine samples. These data sets were then analyzed using one-and two-dimensional Fourier power spectral approaches. We found that tectonic styl…
Interannual variability of Greenland winter precipitation sources: 2. Effects of North Atlantic Oscillation variability on stable isotopes in precipi…
2008
[1] A new Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic is applied to identify the atmospheric conditions relevant for the fractionation of stable water isotopes during evaporation over the ocean and subsequent transport to Greenland. Northern Hemisphere winter months with positive and negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index are studied on the basis of ERA-40 reanalysis data. Diagnosed moisture transport conditions are supplied to a Rayleigh-type isotope fractionation model to derive estimates for the isotopic composition of stable isotopes in winter precipitation on the Greenland plateau for the two NAO phases. Because of changes in atmospheric circulation, moisture source locations for pr…
Temperature-based and radiance-based validations of the V5 MODIS land surface temperature product
2009
[1] The V5 level 2 land surface temperature (LST) product of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was validated over homogeneous rice fields in Valencia, Spain, and the Hainich forest in Germany. For the Valencia site, ground LST measurements were compared with the MOD11_L2 product in the conventional temperature-based (T-based) method. We also applied the alternative radiance-based (R-based) method, with in situ LSTs calculated from brightness temperatures in band 31 through radiative transfer simulations using temperature and water vapor profiles and surface emissivity data. At the Valencia site, profiles were obtained from local radiosonde measurements and from Natio…
Adjusted Normalized Emissivity Method for surface temperature and emissivity retrieval from optical and thermal infrared remote sensing data
2003
[1] A methodology for the retrieval of surface temperatures and emissivities combining visible, near infrared and thermal infrared remote sensing data was applied to Digital Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (DAIS) data and validated with coincident ground measurements acquired in a multiyear experiment held in an agricultural site in Barrax, Spain. The Adjusted Normalized Emissivity Method (ANEM) is based on the use of visible and near infrared data to estimate the vegetation cover and model the maximum emissivity according to the Vegetation Cover Method. The pixel-dependent maximum emissivity is used as the initial guess of the Normalized Emissivity Method to obtain the surface temperature an…
Intermittent release of transients in the slow solar wind: 1. Remote sensing observations
2010
[1] The Heliospheric Imager (HI) instruments on board the STEREO spacecraft are used to analyze the solar wind during August and September 2007. We show how HI can be used to image the streamer belt and, in particular, the variability of the slow solar wind which originates inside and in the vicinity of the streamer belt. Intermittent mass flows are observed in HI difference images, streaming out along the extension of helmet streamers. These flows can appear very differently in images: plasma distributed on twisted flux ropes, V-shaped structures, or “blobs.” The variety of these transient features may highlight the richness of phenomena that could occur near helmet streamers: emergence of…