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    Report on ICDP Deep Dust workshops: probing continental climate of the late Paleozoic icehouse–greenhouse transition and beyond
    (Sapporo : IODP, 2020) Soreghan, Gerilyn S.; Beccaletto, Laurent; Benison, Kathleen C.; Bourquin, Sylvie; Feulner, Georg; Hamamura, Natsuko; Hamilton, Michael; Heavens, Nicholas G.; Hinnov, Linda; Huttenlocker, Adam; Looy, Cindy; Pfeifer, Lily S.; Pochat, Stephane; Sardar Abadi, Mehrdad; Zambito, James
    Chamberlin and Salisbury's assessment of the Permian a century ago captured the essence of the period: it is an interval of extremes yet one sufficiently recent to have affected a biosphere with near-modern complexity. The events of the Permian - the orogenic episodes, massive biospheric turnovers, both icehouse and greenhouse antitheses, and Mars-analog lithofacies - boggle the imagination and present us with great opportunities to explore Earth system behavior. The ICDP-funded workshops dubbed "Deep Dust," held in Oklahoma (USA) in March 2019 (67 participants from nine countries) and Paris (France) in January 2020 (33 participants from eight countries), focused on clarifying the scientific drivers and key sites for coring continuous sections of Permian continental (loess, lacustrine, and associated) strata that preserve high-resolution records. Combined, the two workshops hosted a total of 91 participants representing 14 countries, with broad expertise. Discussions at Deep Dust 1.0 (USA) focused on the primary research questions of paleoclimate, paleoenvironments, and paleoecology of icehouse collapse and the run-up to the Great Dying and both the modern and Permian deep microbial biosphere. Auxiliary science topics included tectonics, induced seismicity, geothermal energy, and planetary science. Deep Dust 1.0 also addressed site selection as well as scientific approaches, logistical challenges, and broader impacts and included a mid-workshop field trip to view the Permian of Oklahoma. Deep Dust 2.0 focused specifically on honing the European target. The Anadarko Basin (Oklahoma) and Paris Basin (France) represent the most promising initial targets to capture complete or near-complete stratigraphic coverage through continental successions that serve as reference points for western and eastern equatorial Pangaea. © 2020 Copernicus GmbH. All rights reserved.
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    The Superconducting Gravimeter CD-034 at Moxa Observatory: More than 20 Years of Scientific Experience and a Reanimation
    (Basel : Birkhäuser, 2022) Jahr, T.; Stolz, R.
    In this work, advanced methods and processing schemes for the analysis of data from a Superconducting Gravimeter (SG) will be introduced and their relevance on acquired data proved. The SG CD-034 was installed on Easter of 1999 in the Geodynamic Observatory Moxa of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. Initially, the quality of the recorded data was examined, spectra for the detection of the parasitic modes were calculated and the calibration values for the two sensors were determined. Ever since very high-quality gravity data of this SG and most of the other worldwide SGs were made available through the storage archive of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP later changed to IGETS, International Geodynamics and Earth Tide Service) for global scientific investigations at that time. SG’s such as the one in Moxa (Germany) still deliver significant scientific value for global gravitational field studies as well as for regional/local studies which will be shortly reviewed. Examples are the detection of polar motion, the influence of continental water loading in general and in particular river basin loads, the gravimetric effect of North Sea storm surges and the study of hydro-gravimetric signals, which could be compared with satellite observations and global hydraulic models. The long-term, low-noise operation of complex SG’s requires some effort on maintenance. In order to evaluate the correct operation of the SG, new data processing steps were introduced to assist in the analysis of the data in case of issues with the instrumentation. For example, in 2012/2013 and 2020/2021 severe interference in the gravimeter electronics in Moxa led to a significant loss of data. In both cases, however, the cause could be determined, and the corresponding electronic components renewed. Since July 2021, the SG in Moxa registers again with high data quality comparable or slightly better than before the incident. Initial tests and tidal analyses confirm the validity of the old calibration factors, and the authors now look forward to the re-established long-term recording with excitement and confidence.
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    Antarctic ice sheet response to sudden and sustained ice-shelf collapse (ABUMIP)
    (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2020) Sun, Sainan; Pattyn, Frank; Simon, Erika G.; Albrecht, Torsten; Cornford, Stephen; Calov, Reinhard; Dumas, Christophe; Gillet-Chaulet, Fabien; Goelzer, Goelzer; Golledge, Nicholas R.; Greve, Ralf; Hoffman, Matthew J.; Humbert, Angelika; Kazmierczak, Elise; Kleiner, Thomas; Leguy, Gunter R.; Lipscomb, William H.; Martin, Daniel; Morlighem, Mathieu; Nowicki, Sophie; Pollard, David; Price, Stephen; Quiquet, Aurélien; Seroussi, Hélène; Schlemm, Tanja; Sutter, Johannes; van de Wal, Roderik S.W.; Winkelmann, Ricarda; Zhang, Tong
    Antarctica's ice shelves modulate the grounded ice flow, and weakening of ice shelves due to climate forcing will decrease their 'buttressing' effect, causing a response in the grounded ice. While the processes governing ice-shelf weakening are complex, uncertainties in the response of the grounded ice sheet are also difficult to assess. The Antarctic BUttressing Model Intercomparison Project (ABUMIP) compares ice-sheet model responses to decrease in buttressing by investigating the 'end-member' scenario of total and sustained loss of ice shelves. Although unrealistic, this scenario enables gauging the sensitivity of an ensemble of 15 ice-sheet models to a total loss of buttressing, hence exhibiting the full potential of marine ice-sheet instability. All models predict that this scenario leads to multi-metre (1-12 m) sea-level rise over 500 years from present day. West Antarctic ice sheet collapse alone leads to a 1.91-5.08 m sea-level rise due to the marine ice-sheet instability. Mass loss rates are a strong function of the sliding/friction law, with plastic laws cause a further destabilization of the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, East Antarctica. Improvements to marine ice-sheet models have greatly reduced variability between modelled ice-sheet responses to extreme ice-shelf loss, e.g. compared to the SeaRISE assessments. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020.
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    Multiproxy approach to the reconstruction of soil denudation events and the disappearance of Luvisols in the loess landscape of south-western Poland
    (Amsterdam : Elsevier, 2022) Loba, Aleksandra; Zhang, Junjie; Tsukamoto, Sumiko; Kasprzak, Marek; Beata Kowalska, Joanna; Frechen, Manfred; Waroszewski, Jarosław
    Loess landscapes are highly susceptible to soil redeposition processes and thus may provide detailed insights into the record of denudation processes. Using optically stimulated luminescence dating and the soil micromorphology of 12 soil profiles, we reconstructed a complete record of denudation processes in south-western Poland. The first episode of soil redeposition took place around 9.1 ka. The denudation events that followed were attributed to the Neolithic (6.4 ± 0.3 ka), early Bronze Age (3.8 ± 0.2 ka), early and late Middle Ages (1.5 ± 0.1 ka and 0.7 ± 0.03 ka, respectively) and early Modern (0.4 ± 0.02 ka). As a consequence of the denudation processes, the soil cover in the studied area had been strongly reshaped. The predominant Luvisols had experienced progressive erosion processes that led first to a significant shallowing of the eluvial and argic horizons (truncated Luvisol) and, after some time, to their complete removal. Further thinning of the loess mantles had exposed geological substrates with very weak pedogenic alternations, thus pushing their transformation towards Regosol types. Similarly, Regosols occurred in toeslopes where freshly eroded material had been deposited, and where diagnostic horizons had not yet developed. Modern soil erosion rates in the studied loess area have considerably increased, and it is estimated that the Luvisol status may be completely transformed within approximately 80–300 years, if not sooner, due to progressive climate change.
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    Coupled and decoupled stratocumulus-topped boundary layers: turbulence properties
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : European Geosciences Union, 2021) Nowak, Jakub L.; Siebert, Holger; Szodry, Kai-Erik; Malinowski, Szymon P.
    We compare turbulence properties in coupled and decoupled marine stratocumulus-topped boundary layers (STBLs) using high-resolution in situ measurements performed by the helicopter-borne Airborne Cloud Turbulence Observation System (ACTOS) platform in the region of the eastern North Atlantic. The thermodynamically well-mixed coupled STBL was characterized by a comparable latent heat flux at the surface and in the cloud-top region, and substantially smaller sensible heat flux in the entire depth. Turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) was efficiently generated by buoyancy in the cloud and at the surface, and dissipated with comparable rate across the entire depth. Structure functions and power spectra of velocity fluctuations in the inertial range were reasonably consistent with the predictions of Kolmogorov theory. The turbulence was close to isotropic. In the decoupled STBL, decoupling was most obvious in humidity profiles. Heat fluxes and buoyant TKE production at the surface were similar to the coupled case. Around the transition level, latent heat flux decreased to zero and TKE was consumed by weak stability. In the cloud-top region, heat fluxes almost vanished and buoyancy production was significantly smaller than for the coupled case. The TKE dissipation rate inside the decoupled STBL varied between its sublayers. Structure functions and power spectra in the inertial range deviated from Kolmogorov scaling. This was more pronounced in the cloud and subcloud layer in comparison to the surface mixed layer. The turbulence was more anisotropic than in the coupled STBL, with horizontal fluctuations dominating. The degree of anisotropy was largest in the cloud and subcloud layer of the decoupled STBL. Integral length scales, of the order of 100gm in both cases, indicate turbulent eddies smaller than the depth of the coupled STBL or of the sublayers of the decoupled STBL. We hypothesize that turbulence produced in the cloud or close to the surface is redistributed across the entire coupled STBL but rather only inside the sublayers where it was generated in the case of the decoupled STBL. Scattered cumulus convection, developed below the stratocumulus base, may play a role in transport between those sublayers. © 2021 Jakub L. Nowak et al.
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    Biosignatures in subsurface filamentous fabrics (SFF) from the Deccan Volcanic Province, India
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Götze, Jens; Hofmann, Beda; Machałowski, Tomasz; Tsurkan, Mikhail V.; Jesionowski, Teofil; Ehrlich, Hermann; Kleeberg, Reinhard; Ottens, Berthold
    The morphology, chemical, and mineralogical composition of subsurface filamentous fabrics (SFF) from the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) were investigated to determine the origin of these spectacular aggregates. SFF occur in a wide variety of morphologies ranging from pseudo-stalactites to irregular fabrics and are classified as SFFIr (irregular) or SFFMa (matted). The SFF samples exhibit a thread-like (or filament-like) center from which mineral precipitation starts to form the final macroscopic morphologies. Detailed investigations revealed organic material (fungal chitin) in the innermost filamentous core, which may have acted as an initial nucleus for the mineralization processes. The morphometric characteristics of certain filamentous fabrics are very similar to those of microbial filaments and the fabrics formed from them but are clearly distinct from similar types of non-biological precipitates (fibrous minerals, speleothems, and “chemical gardens”). These features indicate that the filamentous cores might be products of microbial communities that were active in the basaltic cavities. The SFF cross-sections display similar concentric layers of the mineral succession and reach thicknesses of several centimeters with spectacular lengths up to 100 cm and constant diameters. The typical mineralization sequence points to temporal variation in the chemical composition of the mineralizing fluids from Fe(Mg)-rich (Fe-oxides/-hydroxides, Fe-rich sheet silicates such as celadonite and di-/tri-smectite) to Ca-dominated (Ca-rich zeolites) and finally pure SiO2 (opal-CT, chalcedony, and macro-crystalline quartz). Assuming biological activity at least during the early mineralization processes, circumneutral pH conditions and maximum temperatures of 100–120 °C were supposed. The formation of filamentous cores including Fe-bearing phyllosilicates probably occurred near the surface after cooling of the lava, where the elements necessary for mineral formation (i.e., Si, Mg, Al, Fe) were released during alteration of the volcanic host rocks by percolating fluids. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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    Robust increase of Indian monsoon rainfall and its variability under future warming in CMIP6 models
    (Göttingen : Copernicus, 2021) Katzenberger, Anja; Schewe, Jacob; Pongratz, Julia; Levermann, Anders
    The Indian summer monsoon is an integral part of the global climate system. As its seasonal rainfall plays a crucial role in India's agriculture and shapes many other aspects of life, it affects the livelihood of a fifth of the world's population. It is therefore highly relevant to assess its change under potential future climate change. Global climate models within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) indicated a consistent increase in monsoon rainfall and its variability under global warming. Since the range of the results of CMIP5 was still large and the confidence in the models was limited due to partly poor representation of observed rainfall, the updates within the latest generation of climate models in CMIP6 are of interest. Here, we analyze 32 models of the latest CMIP6 exercise with regard to their annual mean monsoon rainfall and its variability. All of these models show a substantial increase in June-to-September (JJAS) mean rainfall under unabated climate change (SSP5-8.5) and most do also for the other three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways analyzed (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0). Moreover, the simulation ensemble indicates a linear dependence of rainfall on global mean temperature with a high agreement between the models independent of the SSP if global warming is the dominant forcing of the monsoon dynamics as it is in the 21st century; the multi-model mean for JJAS projects an increase of 0.33 mm d−1 and 5.3 % per kelvin of global warming. This is significantly higher than in the CMIP5 projections. Most models project that the increase will contribute to the precipitation especially in the Himalaya region and to the northeast of the Bay of Bengal, as well as the west coast of India. Interannual variability is found to be increasing in the higher-warming scenarios by almost all models. The CMIP6 simulations largely confirm the findings from CMIP5 models, but show an increased robustness across models with reduced uncertainties and updated magnitudes towards a stronger increase in monsoon rainfall.
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    Comparison of particle number size distribution trends in ground measurements and climate models
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2022) Leinonen, Ville; Kokkola, Harri; Yli-Juuti, Taina; Mielonen, Tero; Kühn, Thomas; Nieminen, Tuomo; Heikkinen, Simo; Miinalainen, Tuuli; Bergman, Tommi; Carslaw, Ken; Decesari, Stefano; Fiebig, Markus; Hussein, Tareq; Kivekäs, Niku; Krejci, Radovan; Kulmala, Markku; Leskinen, Ari; Massling, Andreas; Mihalopoulos, Nikos; Mulcahy, Jane P.; Noe, Steffen M.; van Noije, Twan; O'Connor, Fiona M.; O'Dowd, Colin; Olivie, Dirk; Pernov, Jakob B.; Petäjä, Tuukka; Seland, Øyvind; Schulz, Michael; Scott, Catherine E.; Skov, Henrik; Swietlicki, Erik; Tuch, Thomas; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Virtanen, Annele; Mikkonen, Santtu
    Despite a large number of studies, out of all drivers of radiative forcing, the effect of aerosols has the largest uncertainty in global climate model radiative forcing estimates. There have been studies of aerosol optical properties in climate models, but the effects of particle number size distribution need a more thorough inspection. We investigated the trends and seasonality of particle number concentrations in nucleation, Aitken, and accumulation modes at 21 measurement sites in Europe and the Arctic. For 13 of those sites, with longer measurement time series, we compared the field observations with the results from five climate models, namely EC-Earth3, ECHAM-M7, ECHAM-SALSA, NorESM1.2, and UKESM1. This is the first extensive comparison of detailed aerosol size distribution trends between in situ observations from Europe and five earth system models (ESMs). We found that the trends of particle number concentrations were mostly consistent and decreasing in both measurements and models. However, for many sites, climate models showed weaker decreasing trends than the measurements. Seasonal variability in measured number concentrations, quantified by the ratio between maximum and minimum monthly number concentration, was typically stronger at northern measurement sites compared to other locations. Models had large differences in their seasonal representation, and they can be roughly divided into two categories: for EC-Earth and NorESM, the seasonal cycle was relatively similar for all sites, and for other models the pattern of seasonality varied between northern and southern sites. In addition, the variability in concentrations across sites varied between models, some having relatively similar concentrations for all sites, whereas others showed clear differences in concentrations between remote and urban sites. To conclude, although all of the model simulations had identical input data to describe anthropogenic mass emissions, trends in differently sized particles vary among the models due to assumptions in emission sizes and differences in how models treat size-dependent aerosol processes. The inter-model variability was largest in the accumulation mode, i.e. sizes which have implications for aerosol-cloud interactions. Our analysis also indicates that between models there is a large variation in efficiency of long-range transportation of aerosols to remote locations. The differences in model results are most likely due to the more complex effect of different processes instead of one specific feature (e.g. the representation of aerosol or emission size distributions). Hence, a more detailed characterization of microphysical processes and deposition processes affecting the long-range transport is needed to understand the model variability.
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    pH- and Temperature-Dependent Kinetics of the Oxidation Reactions of OH with Succinic and Pimelic Acid in Aqueous Solution
    (Basel, Switzerland : MDPI AG, 2020) Schaefer, Thomas; Wen, Liang; Estelmann, Arne; Maak, Joely; Herrmann, Hartmut
    Rate constants for the aqueous-phase reactions of the hydroxyl radical with the dicarboxylic acids, succinic acid and pimelic acid were determined using the relative rate technique over the temperature range 287 K ≤ T ≤ 318 K and at pH = 2.0, 4.6 or 4.9 and 8.0. OH radicals were generated by H2O2 laser flash photolysis while thiocyanate was used as a competitor. The pH values were adjusted to obtain the different speciation of the dicarboxylic acids. The following Arrhenius expressions were determined (in units of L mol-1 s-1): succinic acid, k(T, AH2) (2.1 x 0.1) ± 1010 exp[(-1530 x 250 K)/T], k(T, AH-) (1.8 x 0.1) ± 1010 exp[(-1070 x 370 K)/T], k(T, A2-) (2.9 x 0.2) ± 1011 exp[(-1830 x 350 K)/T] and pimelic acid, k(T, AH2) (7.3 x 0.2) ± 1010 exp[(-1040 x 140 K)/T], k(T, AH-) (1.8 x 0.1) ± 1011 exp[(-1200 x 240 K)/T], k(T, A2-) (1.4 x 0.1) ± 1012 exp[(-1830 x 110 K)/T]. A general OH radical reactivity trend for dicarboxylic acids was found as k(AH2) < k(AH-) < k(A2-). By using the pH and temperature dependent rate constants, source and sinking processes in the tropospheric aqueous phase can be described precisely. © 2020 by the authors.
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    Seismic interpretation and structural restoration of the Heligoland glaciotectonic thrust-fault complex: Implications for multiple deformation during (pre-)Elsterian to Warthian ice advances into the southern North Sea Basin
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2020) Winsemann, Jutta; Koopmann, Hannes; Tanner, David C.; Lutz, Rüdiger; Lang, Jörg; Brandes, Christian; Gaedicke, Christoph
    Despite a long history of research, the locations of former ice-margins in the North Sea Basin are still uncertain. In this study, we present new palaeogeographic reconstructions of (pre-) Elsterian and Warthian ice-margins in the southeastern North Sea Basin, which were previously unknown. The reconstructions are based on the integration of palaeo-ice flow data derived from glaciotectonic thrusts, tunnel valleys and mega-scale glacial lineations. We focus on a huge glaciotectonic thrust complex located about 10 km north of Heligoland and 50 km west of the North Frisian coast of Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany). Multi-channel high-resolution 2D seismic reflection data show a thrust-fault complex in the upper 300 ms TWT (ca. 240 m) of seismic data. This thrust-fault complex consists of mainly Neogene delta sediments, covers an area of 350 km2, and forms part of a large belt of glaciotectonic complexes that stretches from offshore Denmark via northern Germany to Poland. The deformation front of the Heligoland glaciotectonic complex trends approximately NNE-SSW. The total length of the glaciotectonic thrust complex is approximately 15 km. The thrust faults share a common detachment surface, located at a depth of 250–300 ms (TWT) (200–240 m) below sea level. The detachment surface most probably formed at a pronounced rheological boundary between Upper Miocene fine-grained pro-delta deposits and coarser-grained delta-front deposits, although we cannot rule out that deep permafrost in the glacier foreland played a role for the location of this detachment surface. Restored cross-sections reveal the shortening of the complex along the detachment to have been on average 23% (ranging from ca. 16%–50%). The determined ice movement direction from east-southeast to southeast suggests deformation by an ice advance from the Baltic region. The chronospatial relationship of the thrust-fault complex and adjacent northwest-southeast to northeast-southwest trending Elsterian tunnel valleys implies a pre-Elsterian (MIS 16?) age of the glaciotectonic complex. However, the age of these Elsterian tunnel valleys is poorly constrained and the glaciotectonic complex of Heligoland may also have been formed during an early Elsterian ice advance into the southeastern North Sea Basin. The glaciotectonic complex underwent further shortening and the Elsterian tunnel-valley fills that were incised into the glaciotectonic complex were partly deformed during the Saalian Drenthe and Warthe (1) ice advances.