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Future water temperature of rivers in Switzerland under climate change investigated with physics-based models

This study presents an extensive study of climate change impacts on river temperature in Switzerland. Results show that, even for low-emission scenarios, water temperature increase will lead to adverse effects for both ecosystems and socio-economic sectors throughout the 21st century. For high-emission scenarios, the effect will worsen. This study also shows that water seasonal warming will be different between the Alpine regions and the lowlands. Finally, efficiency of models is assessed.

Using neural network ensembles to separate ocean biogeochemical and physical drivers of phytoplankton biogeography in Earth system models

It can be challenging to understand why Earth system models (ESMs) produce specific results because one can arrive at the same result simply by changing the values of the parameters. In our paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to use machine learning to figure out how and why particular components of an ESM (such as biology or ocean circulations) affect the output. This work could be applied to observations to improve the accuracy of the formulations used in ESMs.

Spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaching into the European river network

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaching from soils into river networks is an important component of the land carbon © budget, but its spatiotemporal variation is not yet fully constrained. We use a land surface model to simulate the present-day land C budget at the European scale, including leaching of DOC from the soil. We found average leaching of 14.3 Tg C yr-1 (0.6% of terrestrial net primary production) with seasonal variations. We determine runoff and temperature to be the main drivers.

DOC) leaching into the European river network">Read more

A regionally resolved inventory of High Mountain Asia surge-type glaciers, derived from a multi-factor remote sensing approach

Surging glaciers show cyclical changes in flow behaviour – between slow and fast flow – and can have drastic impacts on settlements in their vicinity. One of the clusters of surging glaciers worldwide is High Mountain Asia (HMA). We present an inventory of surging glaciers in HMA, identified from satellite imagery. We show that the number of surging glaciers was underestimated and that they represent 20% of the area covered by glaciers in HMA, before discussing new physics for glacier surges.

Autonomous methane seep site monitoring offshore western Svalbard: hourly to seasonal variability and associated oceanographic parameters

Natural sources of atmospheric methane need to be better described and quantified. We present time series from ocean observatories monitoring two seabed methane seep sites in the Arctic. Methane concentration varied considerably on short timescales and seasonal scales. Seeps persisted throughout the year, with increased potential for atmospheric release in winter due to water mixing. The results highlight and constrain uncertainties in current methane estimates from seabed methane seepage.

Acidification of the Nordic Seas

Ocean acidification, a direct consequence of the CO2 release by human activities, is a serious threat to marine ecosystems. In this study, we conduct a detailed investigation of the acidification of the Nordic Seas, from 1850 to 2100, by using a large set of samples taken during research cruises together with numerical model simulations. We estimate the effects of changes in different environmental factors on the rate of acidification and its potential effects on cold-water corals.

Flash flood warnings in context: combining local knowledge and large-scale hydro-meteorological patterns

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
DOI 10.5194/nhess-22-461-2022
2 May 2022

Local communities in northern Malawi have well-developed knowledge of the conditions leading to flash floods, spatially and temporally. Scientific analysis of catchment geomorphology and global reanalysis datasets corroborates this local knowledge, underlining the potential of these large-scale scientific datasets. Combining local knowledge with contemporary scientific datasets provides a common understanding of flash flood events, contributing to a more people-centred warning to flash floods.

Abrupt climate changes and the astronomical theory: are they related?

The study of abrupt climate changes is a relatively new field of research that addresses paleoclimate variations that occur in intervals of tens to hundreds of years. Such timescales are much shorter than the tens to hundreds of thousands of years that the astronomical theory of climate addresses. We revisit several high-resolution proxy records of the past 3.2 Myr and show that the abrupt climate changes are nevertheless affected by the orbitally induced insolation changes.

Evaluating the PurpleAir monitor as an aerosol light scattering instrument

We show that the low-cost PurpleAir sensor can be characterized as a cell-reciprocal nephelometer. At two very different locations (Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii and the Table Mountain rural site in Colorado), the PurpleAir measurements are highly correlated with the submicrometer aerosol scattering coefficient measured by a research-grade integrating nephelometer. These results imply that, with care, PurpleAir data may be used to evaluate climate and air quality models.

Late Neogene evolution of modern deep-dwelling plankton

Deep-living organisms are a major yet poorly known component of ocean biomass. Here we reconstruct the evolution of deep-living zooplankton and phytoplankton. Deep-dwelling zooplankton and phytoplankton did not occur 15 Myr ago, when the ocean was several degrees warmer than today. Deep-dwelling species first evolve around 7.5 Myr ago, following global climate cooling. Their evolution was driven by colder ocean temperatures allowing more food, oxygen, and light at depth.

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