Amazon River carbon dioxide outgassing fuelled by wetlands

Black river (Rio Negro). Amazon jungle. Original file

Gwenaël Abril, Jean-Michel Martinez, L. Felipe Artigas, Patricia Moreira-Turcq, Marc F. Benedetti, Luciana Vidal, Tarik Meziane, Jung-Hyun Kim, Marcelo C. Bernardes, Nicolas Savoye, Jonathan Deborde, Edivaldo Lima Souza, Patrick Albéric, Marcelo F. Landim de Souza & Fabio Roland

River systems connect the terrestrial biosphere, the atmosphere and the ocean in the global carbon cycle. A recent estimate suggests that up to 3 petagrams of carbon per year could be emitted as carbon dioxide (CO2) from global inland waters, offsetting the carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems. It is generally assumed that inland waters emit carbon that has been previously fixed upstream by land plant photosynthesis, then transferred to soils, and subsequently transported downstream in run-off. But at the scale of entire drainage basins, the lateral carbon fluxes carried by small rivers upstream do not account for all of the CO2 emitted from inundated areas downstream. Three-quarters of the world’s flooded land consists of temporary wetlands, but the contribution of these productive ecosystems to the inland water carbon budget has been largely overlooked. Here we show that wetlands pump large amounts of atmospheric CO2 into river waters in the floodplains of the central Amazon. Flooded forests and floating vegetation export large amounts of carbon to river waters and the dissolved CO2 can be transported dozens to hundreds of kilometres downstream before being emitted. We estimate that Amazonian wetlands export half of their gross primary production to river waters as dissolved CO2 and organic carbon, compared with only a few per cent of gross primary production exported in upland (not flooded) ecosystems. Moreover, we suggest that wetland carbon export is potentially large enough to account for at least the 0.21 petagrams of carbon emitted per year as CO2 from the central Amazon River and its floodplains. Global carbon budgets should explicitly address temporary or vegetated flooded areas, because these ecosystems combine high aerial primary production with large, fast carbon export, potentially supporting a substantial fraction of CO2 evasion from inland waters.

More information about the article: Nature 505,395–398(16 January 2014)

Authors and affiliations:

Laboratoire Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux (EPOC), CNRS, Université Bordeaux 1, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence, France

Gwenaël Abril,

Nicolas Savoye &

Jonathan Deborde

Laboratoire Géosciences et Environnement de Toulouse, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université Paul Sabatier, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France

Gwenaël Abril,

Jean-Michel Martinez &

Patricia Moreira-Turcq

Laboratoire d’Océanologie et Géosciences, CNRS, Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale, 32 avenue Foch, 62930 Wimereux, France

L. Felipe Artigas

Equipe Géochimie des Eaux, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 35 rue Hélène Brion, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France

Marc F. Benedetti

Laboratório de Ecologia Aquática, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, MG 36036-900 Juiz de Fora, Brazil

Luciana Vidal &

Fabio Roland

Laboratoire Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, IRD, UPMC, 61 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France

Tarik Meziane

NIOZ (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research), Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, Texel, 1790 AB Den Burg, The Netherlands

Jung-Hyun Kim

Programa de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Outeiro São João Batista, RJ 24020015 Niterói, Brazil

Marcelo C. Bernardes

Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, DF 70.910-900 Brasília, Brazil

Edivaldo Lima Souza

Institut des Sciences de la Terre d’Orléans, 1A rue de la Férollerie, 45071 Orléans Cedex 2, France

Patrick Albéric

Laboratório de Oceanografia Química, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna, 45662-900 Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil

Marcelo F. Landim de Souza 

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Tropical cyclone-related socio-economic losses in the western North Pacific region

This trackmap shows the tracks of all tropical cyclones which formed worldwide from 1950 to 2005. (c) Nilfanion

On the journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences C. Welker and E. Faust have recently published an article concerning the socio-economic impacts of tropical cyclones. Here below the abstract of the article.

The western North Pacific (WNP) is the area of the world most frequently affected by tropical cyclones (TCs). However, little is known about the socio-economic impacts of TCs in this region, probably because of the limited relevant loss data. Here, loss data from Munich RE's NatCatSERVICE database is used, a high-quality and widely consulted database of natural disasters. In the country-level loss normalisation technique we apply, the original loss data are normalised to present-day exposure levels by using the respective country's nominal gross domestic product at purchasing power parity as a proxy for wealth. The main focus of our study is on the question of whether the decadal-scale TC variability observed in the Northwest Pacific region in recent decades can be shown to manifest itself economically in an associated variability in losses. It is shown that since 1980 the frequency of TC-related loss events in the WNP exhibited, apart from seasonal and interannual variations, interdecadal variability with a period of about 22 yr – driven primarily by corresponding variations of Northwest Pacific TCs. Compared to the long-term mean, the number of loss events was found to be higher (lower) by 14% (9%) in the positive (negative) phase of the decadal-scale WNP TC frequency variability. This was identified for the period 1980–2008 by applying a wavelet analysis technique. It was also possible to demonstrate the same low-frequency variability in normalised direct economic losses from TCs in the WNP region. The identification of possible physical mechanisms responsible for the observed decadal-scale Northwest Pacific TC variability will be the subject of future research, even if suggestions have already been made in earlier studies.

More information about the article: Natural Hazards Earth System Sciences, 13, 115-124

Authors and affiliations:

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Münchner Straße 20, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

C. Welker* and E. Faust

Munich RE, Geo Risks Research/Corporate Climate Centre, Königinstraße 107, 80802 Munich, Germany

C. Welker*

*now at: University of Bern, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and Institute of Geography, Hallerstraße 12, 3012 Bern, Switzerland

Global warming amplified by reduced sulphur fluxes as a result of ocean acidification

View across water in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. (c) bri vos

Authors Katharina D. Six, Silvia Kloster, Tatiana Ilyina, Stephen D. Archer, Kai Zhang & Ernst Maier-Reimer in this article have investigated the effects of ocean acidification on the global warming. It follows the abstract of the article published on the journal Nature Climate Change.

Climate change and decreasing seawater pH (ocean acidification) have widely been considered as uncoupled consequences of the anthropogenic CO2 perturbation. Recently, experiments in seawater enclosures (mesocosms) showed that concentrations of dimethylsulphide (DMS), a biogenic sulphur compound, were markedly lower in a low-pH environment. Marine DMS emissions are the largest natural source of atmospheric sulphur and changes in their strength have the potential to alter the Earth’s radiation budget. Here we establish observational-based relationships between pH changes and DMS concentrations to estimate changes in future DMS emissions with Earth system model climate simulations. Global DMS emissions decrease by about 18(±3)% in 2100 compared with pre-industrial times as a result of the combined effects of ocean acidification and climate change. The reduced DMS emissions induce a significant additional radiative forcing, of which 83% is attributed to the impact of ocean acidification, tantamount to an equilibrium temperature response between 0.23 and 0.48 K. Our results indicate that ocean acidification has the potential to exacerbate anthropogenic warming through a mechanism that is not considered at present in projections of future climate change.

Follow this link for more information about this article: Nature Climate Change 3, 975–978 (2013)

Authors and affiliations:

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstrasse 53, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
Katharina D. Six, Silvia Kloster, Tatiana Ilyina & Ernst Maier-Reimer
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK
Stephen D. Archer
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Dr., PO Box 380, East Boothbay, Maine 04544, USA
Stephen D. Archer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999, MSIN K9-24, Richland, Washington 99352, USA
Kai Zhang
Deceased
Ernst Maier-Reimer

Solar Irradiance Variability and Climate

Sun in X-ray. (c) NASA Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres

The prestigious journal Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics (impact factor 23.3) published an interesting article written by Sami K. Solanki, Natalie A. Krivova and Joanna D. Haigh regarding the relationship between ht solar irradiance and the climate on the Earth. Here below the abstract of the article.
The brightness of the Sun varies on all timescales on which it has been observed, and there is increasing evidence that this has an influence on climate. The amplitudes of such variations depend on the wavelength and possibly the timescale. Although many aspects of this variability are well established, the exact magnitude of secular variations (going beyond a solar cycle) and the spectral dependence of variations are under discussion. The main drivers of solar variability are thought to be magnetic features at the solar surface. The climate response can be, on a global scale, largely accounted for by simple energetic considerations, but understanding the regional climate effects is more difficult. Promising mechanisms for such a driving have been identified, including through the influence of UV irradiance on the stratosphere and dynamical coupling to the surface. Here, we provide an overview of the current state of our knowledge, as well as of the main open questions.

The link of the article website is: Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 51: 311-351 (August 2013)

Affiliations:

Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Sami K. Solanki, Natalie A. Krivova
School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Gyeonggi 446-701, Korea
Sami K. Solanki
Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

Joanna D. Haigh

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Mapping vulnerability and conservation adaptation strategies under climate change

Observations from NASA satellites show that Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 11.5 percent per decade, relative to the 1979 to 2000 average.  Author:
NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio and adapted for NASA’s Global Climate Change website http://climate.nasa.gov/

Climate change is a topic present in many journals. Here we present an article from the last issue of Nature Climate Change that proposes a mapping work carried out by James E. M. Watson, Takuya Iwamura & Nathalie Butt. The abstract follows.

Identification of spatial gradients in ecosystem vulnerability to global climate change and local stressors is an important step in the formulation and implementation of appropriate countermeasures. Here we build on recent work to map ecoregional exposure to future climate, using an envelope-based gauge of future climate stability—defined as a measure of how similar the future climate of a region will be to the present climate. We incorporate an assessment of each ecoregion’s adaptive capacity, based on spatial analysis of its natural integrity—the proportion of intact natural vegetation—to present a measure of global ecosystem vulnerability. The relationship between intactness (adaptive capacity) and stability (exposure) varies widely across ecoregions, with some of the most vulnerable, according to this measure, located in southern and southeastern Asia, western and central Europe, eastern South America and southern Australia. To ensure the applicability of these findings to conservation, we provide a matrix that highlights the potential implications of this vulnerability assessment for adaptation planning and offers a spatially explicit management guide.

Follow the link below to go to article website: Nature Climate Change 3, 989–994 (2013)

Affiliations:

Global Conservation Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York 10460, USA
James E. M. Watson

School of Biological Sciences and School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
James E. M. Watson, Takuya Iwamura & Nathalie Butt
Department of Biology and Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94035, USA
Takuya Iwamura

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An explanation for the difference between twentieth and twenty-first century land–sea warming ratio in climate models

(c) NASA

This article has been published on Climate Dynamics on October 2013. The authors, M. M. Joshi, F. H. Lambert, M. J. Webb, are affiliated to different universities and research centers in the United Kingdom: University of Reading, University of East Anglia, University of Exeter and Met Office Hadley Centre in Exter. Here below the abstract of the article.

A land–sea surface warming ratio (or φ) that exceeds unity is a robust feature of both observed and modelled climate change. Interestingly, though climate models have differing values for φ, it remains almost time-invariant for a wide range of twenty-first century climate transient warming scenarios, while varying in simulations of the twentieth century. Here, we present an explanation for time-invariant land–sea warming ratio that applies if three conditions on radiative forcing are met: first, spatial variations in the climate forcing must be sufficiently small that the lower free troposphere warms evenly over land and ocean; second, the temperature response must not be large enough to change the global circulation to zeroth order; third, the temperature response must not be large enough to modify the boundary layer amplification mechanisms that contribute to making φ exceed unity. Projected temperature changes over this century are too small to breach the latter two conditions. Hence, the mechanism appears to show why both twenty-first century and time-invariant CO2 forcing lead to similar values of φ in climate models despite the presence of transient ocean heat uptake, whereas twentieth century forcing—which has a significant spatially confined anthropogenic tropospheric aerosol component that breaches the first condition—leads to modelled values of φ that vary widely amongst models and in time. Our results suggest an explanation for the behaviour of φ when climate is forced by other regionally confined forcing scenarios such as geo-engineered changes to oceanic clouds. Our results show how land–sea contrasts in surface and boundary layer characteristics act in tandem to produce the land–sea surface warming contrast.

Climate Dynamics October 2013, Volume 41, Issue 7-8, pp 1853-1869
 

Affiliations:
NCAS Climate, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 243, Reading, RG6 6BB, UK
M. M. Joshi
 

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
M. M. Joshi
 

College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Harrison Building, North Park Road, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK
F. H. Lambert

Met Office Hadley Centre, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK
M. J. Webb

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Tornado Debris Characteristics And Trajectories During The 27 April 2011 Super Outbreak As Determined Using Social Media Data

© Miroslav Vajdić

The authors are John A. Knox, Jared A. Rackley, Alan W. Black, Michael Butler, Corey Dunn, Taylor Gallo, Melyssa R. Hunter, Lauren Lindsey, Minh Phan and Robert Scroggs of the University of Georgia USA; Vittorio A. Gensini of the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois - USA; Synne Brustad of the University of Oslo - Norway

Using publicly available information gleaned from over 1700 found-and-returned objects on the “Pictures and Documents found after the 27 April 2011 Tornadoes” Facebook page, the authors have created a database of 934 objects lofted by at least 15 different tornadoes during the 27 April 2011 Super Outbreak in the southeast United States. Analysis of the takeoff and landing points of these objects using GIS and high-resolution numerical trajectory modeling techniques extends previous work on this subject that used less specific information for much smaller sets of tracked tornado debris. It was found that objects traveled as far as 353 km, exceeding the previous record for the longest documented tornado debris trajectory. While the majority of debris trajectories were 10° to the left of the average tornado track vector, the longest trajectories exhibited a previously undocumented tendency toward the right of the average tornado track vector. Based on results from a high-resolution trajectory model, a relationship between this tendency and the altitude of lofting of debris is hypothesized, with the debris reaching the highest altitudes taking the rightmost trajectories. The paper concludes with a discussion of the pros and cons of using social media information for meteorological research.

Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, 94, 1371–1380.

Affiliations: 
Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 

John A. Knox , Jared A. Rackley , and Alan W. Black

Meteorology Program, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois 

Vittorio A. Gensini

Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 

Michael Butler , Corey Dunn , Taylor Gallo , Melyssa R. Hunter , Lauren Lindsey , Minh Phan , and Robert Scroggs

Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Synne Brusta 

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The projected timing of climate departure from recent variability

© Adrian van Leen

The authors of the article are: Camilo Mora, Abby G. Frazier,  Ryan J. Longman, Rachel S. Dacks, Maya M. Walton, Eric J. Tong, Joseph J. Sanchez, Lauren R. Kaiser, Yuko O. Stender, James M. Anderson, Christine M. Ambrosino, Iria Fernandez-Silva, Louise M. Giuseffi & Thomas W. Giambelluca. They are affiliated to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i - USA and to the University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa - Japan.

Ecological and societal disruptions by modern climate change are critically determined by the time frame over which climates shift beyond historical analogues. Here we present a new index of the year when the projected mean climate of a given location moves to a state continuously outside the bounds of historical variability under alternative greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Using 1860 to 2005 as the historical period, this index has a global mean of 2069 (±18 years s.d.) for near-surface air temperature under an emissions stabilization scenario and 2047 (±14 years s.d.) under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario. Unprecedented climates will occur earliest in the tropics and among low-income countries, highlighting the vulnerability of global biodiversity and the limited governmental capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change. Our findings shed light on the urgency of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions if climates potentially harmful to biodiversity and society are to be prevented.

Nature 502, 183–187 (10 October 2013)

Affiliations:
Department of Geography, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822, USA
Camilo Mora,
Abby G. Frazier,
Ryan J. Longman,
Joseph J. Sanchez,
Lauren R. Kaiser,
Yuko O. Stender,
Louise M. Giuseffi &
Thomas W. Giambelluca
 
Department of Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822, USA
Rachel S. Dacks,
Maya M. Walton,
James M. Anderson &
Christine M. Ambrosino
 
Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i 96744, USA
Maya M. Walton,
Eric J. Tong,
Yuko O. Stender,
James M. Anderson,
Christine M. Ambrosino &
Iria Fernandez-Silva

Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822, USA
Eric J. Tong

Trans-disciplinary Organization for Subtropical Island Studies (TRO-SIS), University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
Iria Fernandez-Silva 

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