Land evapotranspiration (ET) and lake evaporation are important water budget components, representing the main processes of energy and water exchange between the earth and the atmosphere, and thus can influence the regional-scale hydrological cycles. Based on several long-term and comprehensive land-atmosphere interaction measurements over the Tibetan Plateau, the total amounts of land ET and lake evaporation are estimated by a combination of satellite products and meteorological data, the results show that: (1) the total ET amount has an average annual value of 1.238±0.058×103 km3. The trends of annual ET amount show high variable in spatial distributions, with an increasing trend in the east plateau and a decreasing trend in the west plateau. (2) As for the lake surface, lake ice phenology are clearly presented by MODIS 8-day snow cover products, and they show large spatial variability in the duration of ice-free season. The estimated Bowen ratio and evaporation amounts show acceptable accuracies, and display opposite spatial distributions, with the latter being higher in the southern part than in the northern part. On the TP, a lake with a higher elevation, a smaller area and a larger latitude mostly corresponds to a shorter ice-free season (a lower total net radiation), a larger Bowen ratio and finally a lower evaporation amount. The multi-year average evaporation amounts are listed, with the total water evaporated from lake surface being approximately 29.4±1.2 km3 year-1 for the studied 75 lakes and 51.7±2.1 km3 year-1 for all Plateau lakes included. (3) To further explore the land/lake-atmosphere interaction processes in detail over data-limited regions of the TP and supported by the “Third Pole Environment (TPE) program, 16 comprehensive observation and research stations have been constructed over all kinds of landscapes and in different regions of the TP in 2021. These data have provided significance for future research on plateau- and regional-scale water budget, hydrological cycle and water resources management.

Acetone is an abundant volatile organic compound with important influence on ozone and atmospheric self-cleaning processes. The budget of acetone is influenced by various sources and sinks. Direct sources include anthropogenic, terrestrial vegetation, oceanic, and biomass burning emissions, while chemistry forms acetone from other compounds. Sinks include deposition onto the land and ocean surfaces, as well as chemical loss. The GISS Earth System Model, ModelE, is capable of simulating a variety of Earth system interactions. Previously, acetone had a very simplistic representation in the ModelE chemical scheme. This study assesses a greatly improved acetone tracer scheme, in which acetone's sources, sinks and atmospheric transport are now tracked in 3 dimensions. Extensive research was conducted to assess how well past literature supported the new global acetone budget. Anthropogenic, vegetation, biomass burning, and deposition schemes fit well with previous studies. While their net fluxes were well-supported, source and sink terms for chemistry and the ocean were overestimated and underestimated, respectively. In iterations of the chemistry scheme, it was found that the production of acetone from hydrocarbon oxidation is a strong leverage to the overall chemical source. Spatial distributions reveal that ocean uptake of acetone dominates northern latitudes, while production is mainly in mid-southern latitudes. Ocean surface conditions influence ocean-acetone interactions and will be considered when modifying the ocean scheme in future work. The seasonality of acetone-related processes was also studied in conjunction with field measurements around the world. These comparisons show promising results, but have shortcomings at urban locations, since the model's resolution is too coarse to capture high-emission areas. Overall, an analysis of the acetone budget aids the development of the tracer in the GISS ModelE, a crucial step to parameterizing the role of acetone in the atmosphere.

Self-propelled motion is an agnostic biosignature that is observed widely, yet motility of microbes in their natural environments is sparsely studied. In this study we use a Digital Holographic Microscope (DHM) for in situ imaging of aquatic samples in extreme environments to investigate motility and morphology as biosignatures. Samples were collected from glaciovolcanic ice caves, glacial runoff, hot springs, and mixed glacial and hot spring samples.The transport and deposition of materials and heat from the volcanic subsurface in glaciovolcanic caves may be similar in some respects to the eruption processes of the plumes of Enceladus. Through different tracking methods, we identified concentrations of organisms, morphologies, swimming patterns, speeds, and turn angles. In every type of sample we looked we were able to identify motile organisms. Methods for distinguishing active swimming from Browian motion and drift are considered. Field work was done over two deployments in collaboration with the Thermal High-voltage Ocean-penetrating Research platform (THOR) science team and EELS robotics team. This work and these collaborations intend to inform future off-world extant life detection missions of the utility of DHM and motility as an investigation tool and biosignature, respectively.

Because climate change is both a physical and social phenomenon, personal experience has been considered the first step to entail how individuals perceive climate change risk and which actions can be promoted to reduce their vulnerability. Considering that agriculture is affected by climate change in several ways, farmers can provide first-hand observations of climate change impacts and suggest better adaptation options. However, modeling farmers’ behavior is a non-trivial task: personal experience is well recognized as a complex non-linear, multi-variate process due to the high heterogeneity and uncertainties in human cognition and decision-making processes. Furthermore, individual understandings of climate change are always contextualized within broader considerations, meaning that farmers are not ‘blank slates’ receiving information about climate change, but that information is always and inevitably filtered through values and worldviews. Despite the burgeoning of research on climate change, information about farmers’ awareness and risk perception is not geographically homogenized and varies substantially among countries and regions. For example, studies from Global North regions are scarce and emphasize how farmers characterize themselves rather than how they perceive and react to climate change. Drawing on farmers’ surveys in the Lombardy region (Italy), we provide an empirical study to pre-test the triple-loop analysis of farmers’ behavior regarding climate change: awareness, perceived impacts, and adaptation measures and barriers. Applying descriptive statistics and considering socio-economic data and farm characteristics, we address two main research questions: 1) What are farmers’ perceptions of climatic impacts and which responses do they promote? 2) How do personal experience and attitude change is conditioning farmers’ adaptation capacity? Obtained results from accurate bottom-up knowledge on farmers’ behavior may increase policy-makers’ and managers’ understanding of climate change and re-think local policies, which is essential to address agricultural risks in climate change hotspots.

The search for life in the universe can inspire students and members of the public alike. Three projects are described which provide an immersive experience with astrobiology. The first is teaching astrobiology to non-science majors in the virtual world Second Life. Second Life can support authentic learning and foster cross-cultural competencies. In the next iteration of the course, students will create simulations of exoplanet landscapes and architectures of exoplanetary systems. The second project is a virtual reality exhibit for education and outreach. It has models of major facilities in astronomy and space science in a virtual space. Users wear Oculus Quest headsets and use game controllers to navigate. Next additions to the VR space will be examples of exoplanet science and fully animated exoplanet systems. The third project is a new version of a multimedia performance piece called StellarScape, combining original electronic music, dance and simulations of star birth. A live dancer interacts with simulations via sensors. The next version is PlanetScape, where back-projected video is a series of realistically rendered exoplanet surfaces. The dancer undertakes a “hero’s journey,” experiencing the altered gravity and physical conditions of alien planets as they try to find their way home.

Understanding the distribution of organic material, mineral inclusions, and porosity are critical to properly model the flow of fluids through rock formations in applications ranging from hydraulic fracturing and gas extraction, CO2 sequestration, geothermal power, and aquifer management. Typically, this information is obtained on the pore scale using destructive techniques such as focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy. Neutrons and X-rays provide non-destructive, complementary probes to gain three-dimensional distributions of porosity, minerals, and organic content along with fluid interactions in fractures and pore networks on the core scale. By capturing both neutron and X-ray tomography simultaneously it is possible to capture slowly dynamic or stochastic processes with both imaging modes. To facilitate this, NIST offers a system for simultaneous neutron and X-ray tomography at the Center for Neutron Research. This instrument provides neutron and X-ray beams capable of penetrating through pressure vessels to image the specimen inside at relevant geological conditions at resolutions ranging from 15 micrometers to 100 micrometers. This talk will discuss current efforts at identifying mineral and organic content and fracture and wettability in shales relevant to gas extraction.

River systems represent important drivers of carbon loading, utilization and storage. However, underlying controls of hydrological transport and biological degradation on fluvial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have yet to be revealed. Here, we explored spatiotemporal variability of DOC concentrations, components and sources, as well as its biodegradability in a headwater tributary of the Yangtze. We found that temporal rainfall stimulated terrestrial inputs and increased terrigenous DOC abundance. Hydrological transport was accompanied by biological generation and utilization of DOC, resulting in reduced labile components and accumulated recalcitrant components from tributaries to the main stem. Biodegradable DOC (BDOC) notably responded to temperature gradients over a 56-day laboratory incubation. Riverine DOC component, molecular weight and source highly predicted its biodegradation. Particularly, partial refractory (ultraviolet humic-like) fractions contributed to biological degradation of DOC, which was incompletely degraded from high-molecular to low-molecular weight compounds. The findings hope to supplement a new understanding of carbon fate under global change.

Defining a baseline for the frequency of off-normal occurrences at underground natural gas storage facilities is critical to maintaining safe operation and to the development of appropriate risk management plans and regulatory approaches. Currently used frequency-estimation methods are broadened to include critical factors of cause, severity, and uncertainty that contribute to risk. A Bayesian probabilistic analysis characterizes the aleatoric historical occurrence frequencies given imperfect sampling. Occurrence frequencies for the three main storage facility types in the United States (depleted oil-and-gas field storage, aquifer storage, solution-mined salt cavern storage) are generally on the order of 3 to 9 x 10–2 occurrences, of all causes (surface, well integrity, subsurface integrity) and severities (nuisance, serious, catastrophic), per facility-year. Loss of well integrity is associated with many, but not all, occurrences either within the subsurface or from there up to the surface. The probability of one serious or catastrophic leakage occurrence to the ground surface within the next 10 years, assuming constant number of facilities, is approximately 0.1–0.3% for any facility type. Storage operators and industry regulators can use occurrence frequencies, their associated probabilities and uncertainties, and forecasts for severity magnitudes to better prioritize resources, establish a baseline against which progress toward achieving a reduction target is measured, and develop more effective mitigation/monitoring/reduction programs in a risk management plan.

To understand the relationships between eclogite-facies mineral assemblages, deformation microstructures, and the seismic properties of subducting oceanic crust, eclogites from the Yuka terrane, North Qaidam ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic belt, NW China were studied. Observations of mineral textures, deformation microstructures, and petrofabrics in the eclogites indicate that garnet, omphacite, and phengite were deformed by intra-crystalline deformation (i.e., dislocation creep) during prograde metamorphism. In contrast, amphibole, which was formed by the topotactic replacement of omphacite at fluid-present conditions, is considered to have been deformed by diffusional flow (dissolution–precipitation creep) during amphibolite-facies retrogression associated with exhumation. Based on the petrofabrics in the samples, the seismic properties of the eclogites were calculated depending on eclogite-facies mineral assemblages such as garnet + omphacite (GO), garnet + omphacite + phengite (GOP), garnet + omphacite + phengite + lawsonite (GOPL), garnet + omphacite + phengite + amphibole (GOPA), and garnet + omphacite + amphibole (GOA). We found that the seismic signatures of each of the eclogite-facies mineral assemblages were different. In particular, phengite-bearing eclogites (the GOP/GOPA assemblages), depending on phengite content, produced the strongest seismic anisotropy (AVp and AVs), with a strong polarization anisotropy, that was at least three times higher than bimineralic (phengite-absent) eclogite (GO assemblage). Our results show that phengite, as a stable phase at high pressure and temperature conditions, can play an important role in the creation of trench-parallel seismic anisotropy in the eclogite-facies mineral assemblages found in subduction zones.

The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact is a collaboration across Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties to stimulate sustainability and climate resilience across the counties. Efforts within the Regional Climate Action Plan, a product of the compact, include prevention, mitigation, and monitoring of climate change impacts to natural and cultural resources. In Palm Beach County, one such effort has been the monitoring of coastal archaeological sites vulnerable to sea level rise. The monitoring efforts include identification of coastal archaeological sites, precise mapping of site locations, excavation of the sites to determine the presence of artifacts and/or human remains, and geoarchaeological methods to assess how the site may be impacted by sea level rise. Preliminary results from sites within the region indicate that buried archaeological sites will experience sea level rise impacts earlier than expected as increased groundwater levels, in part caused by rising sea level, will expose the sites to damp and saturated conditions before the sites are over-topped by increased sea level. Increased moisture within the sediment that the sites are entrained in can lead to damage to the artifacts, especially in midden sites, which are mainly composed of faunal remains. Based on these findings, new methods determining risk level of coastal archaeological sites in South Florida are needed.

The main objective of submerged breakwaters is energy dissipation of transmitted wave in leeward. In the present study, the capability of FLOW-3D and MIKE21-BW software for modeling of these structures have been investigated. In this regard, experimental results have been considered as a criterion to analyse the results of this two software. Comparison of numerical and experimental results revealed that FLOW-3D provides better results than MIKE21. Therefore, FLOW-3D has been used to investigate the effects of submerged breakwater geometry on wave transmission. In doing so, the effect of main design parameters such as shoreward slope, leeward slope, and the ratio of the width to the height of the submerged breakwaters have been studied on transmission coefficient. The results of this study show that the effect of shoreward and seaward slopes on transmission coefficient is negligible; while they considerably contribute to the wave reflection. Finally, the correlation factor has been calculated to investigate the correlation of dimensionless parameters with wave transmission coefficient. Accordingly, the most correlated parameters to wave transmission coefficient are the depth above breakwater crest to incident wave height ratio (F/H) and relative depth of breakwater (F/d), and the least correlated parameter is the breakwater slopes. The results of this study can be used in better understanding of the influential parameters in design as well as developing computation frameworks to study the submerged structures in nearshore regions.

The advancement of seismic attributes and visualization techniques has allowed the study of seismic geomorphology from 3D reflection data. The study of deepwater deposits denes and characterizes architectural elements depending on their genesis, morphology, and position along the slope and basin floor. However, every individual basin’s geological configuration determines the dimensions, morphology, and lithological composition of its architectural elements. To understand how seismic attributes help characterize geological settings, we employ multiple datasets with variable qualities since few studies elaborate on compiling and discussing the differences between basins. We explore and compare the use of seismic attributes to highlight deepwater architectural elements in three different basins around the world: The Ceará Basin in Equatorial Brazil, The Taranaki Basin in New Zealand, and The North Carnarvon Basin in Australia, focusing on the deepwater sedimentary section in each case. Although the first two datasets are examples of siliciclastic environments and the North Carnarvon, a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic exponent, the architectural elements identified in all the datasets are similar, as well as their attribute response. The results show that the most robust attributes to characterize deepwater elements such as incised channels, channel-levee systems, and lobes are a combination of geometric, amplitude derived, frequency, and textural attributes. These seismic attributes indicate morphological, lithological, bed stacking, and help to define the stratigraphic architecture. Moreover, we found that the co-rendering of RMS (lithology-proxy), coherence (morphology indicator), and curvature attributes help to define the internal configuration for most of the deepwater architectural elements. While each basin is unique, our results and comparisons serve as a guide for seismic interpreters to use in deepwater seismic geomorphology characterization.

Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are an effective method of teaching students not only content, but also critical thinking, scientific practice, and other skills beneficial to their education and success. They lower the barrier to participation in undergraduate research, thereby increasing access to entry. Thus, CUREs are especially valuable to under-performing students as they are an effective means of bridging the achievement gap. Due to the value and effectiveness of CUREs in student development, Lynn University has implemented a means by which students are exposed to CUREs and skills necessary to complete a CURE throughout the Environmental Studies major curriculum. This presentation will give a description of the curriculum and how CUREs and CURE-required skills are taught throughout the curriculum culminating in a fully independent capstone research project.

Direct radiative forcing is a major impact of atmospheric dust aerosols. Mineral dust is an important aerosol component that interacts with both incoming and outgoing radiation, modulating radiative fluxes on Earth and its atmosphere. Dust radiative impact directly depends on the particles physico-chemical characteristics (e.g. mineralogy, shape, size) which are the main source of uncertainties. Spectral signatures of dust particles in the visible/short-wave infrared (V/SWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) are linked to mineral composition and variability. Obtaining the precise spectral signature and size distribution of dust particles can result in accurate derivation of refractive indices which are used as inputs to model radiative forcing. In this work, V/SWIR and LWIR reflectance spectra of heterogeneous dust samples from the United States, East Asia, and Middle East were analyzed for their mineral abundances. For this study we used global well-characterized soil samples with comparable mineral compositions to windblown dust. The soil samples cover a wide range of mineral compositions and represent both arid and semi-arid regions [J P Engelbrecht et al., 2016]. Our preliminary analysis used linear spectral mixing for both V/SWIR and LWIR reflectance spectra. This approach is the simplest method to determine mineral abundances from reflectance spectra. While this resulted in a very low RMSE for the fit between the sample and modeled spectra, modeled spectra did not match band centers and strengths for all features. We also converted reflectance spectra to continuum removed (CR) and mean optical path (MOPL) which have the potential to eliminate nonlinear effects (e.g. multiple scattering) in spectral mixing. These approaches, which modify the reflectance hull, significantly weakened or removed the calcite absorption features at 2375 nm. Because these samples are very fine grained (< 38 µm [J P Engelbrecht et al., 2016]) multiple scattering effects are expected to be important for both V/SWIR and LWIR spectral ranges and as our initial results show linear mixing is insufficient to produce reasonable mineral abundances. Our next efforts will include full radiative transfer models of the measured spectra which we will present at the meeting.

The sun is a plasma threaded variously by magnetic fields that stretch from the deep interior to the heliosphere. These fields can couple various layers together and transfer momentum between different parts of the solar interior. The sun is not a rigid body and there is no requirement from conservation of angular momentum that the overall solar rotation rate as measured at the photosphere need remain constant. At the 150-foot solar tower telescope on Mt. Wilson the Doppler shift, magnetic fields and line intensity of the solar photosphere have been measured as often as possible beginning in 1965 (1965 and 1966 were lost in a data handling mistake). The overall rotation rate is determined for each observation by fitting the observed photospheric velocities to the function ωsid(φ) =A+Bsin2(φ) +Csin4(φ) where φ is latitude, to determine what is known as the A coefficient. We are currently re-reducing all the data from the 150-foot tower system. Differential rotation is described by the B and C coefficients which we are holding constant with average values. The velocities come from Doppler shifts which with a Babcock magnetograph come mostly from the displacement of the moving sampling stage which balances the intensity in the wings of the spectral line. Line shape calibration uncertainties do not influence this shift. We find variations in the global rotation rate which are larger than the shifts known as the torsional oscillations. If the B and C coefficients are fitted to each Dopplergram the torsional oscillations become evident. Instrument changes of the exit slit system and spectrograph grating do not introduce jumps in the A coefficient. Restriction of observations to those when the sun is within 40 degrees of local noon leaves the result essentially unchanged. There may be a solar cycle influence but, the resulting pattern shown in the attached figure is more complex than that. Data from before 1983 has a scatter about 3 times larger than what is shown here with an average consistent with these results. However, the larger scatter prevents the variability from being evident.

String based sea ice mass balance array (SIMBA) buoy is a good data source to figure out the temporal variations of sea ice freeboard or thickness over the polar oceans. In particular, SIMBA buoys operated as a part of MOSAiC expedition provide relatively homogeneous measurements of snow depth and ice thickness nearby MOSAiC distributed regional network. Therefore, by using 10 SIMBA buoys from MOSAiC expedition, we assess the ability of CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 in estimating the temporal variations of the sea ice freeboard over the freezing season. We first calculate the ice freeboard and total freeboard at each SIMBA buoy from the temperature profiles of the buoy. Then the mean, median, and lognormal mode of the CryoSat-2 ice freeboard and ICESat-2 total freeboard are calculated within 20 km buffer from the buoy. CryoSat-2 ice freeboard shows a good correspondence with the buoy ice freeboard: increase rate of ~2 cm/month, correlation coefficient (R) greater than 0.7 (P < 0.001), and RMSE of 3-4 cm. Meanwhile, ICESat-2 also shows a significant correlation: increase rate of 2-4 cm/month, R > 0.7, and RMSE of 8-12 cm. CryoSat-2 generally overestimates the ice freeboard and the lognormal estimations show the least biases. On the contrary, ICESat-2 underestimates the total freeboard and the mean estimations show the least biases. This result should be associated with various sources of uncertainties: formation of snow ice at the buoys, variations of snow/ice density, freeboard retrieval algorithms of the satellite altimeters, and spatial/temporal variations between buoy and satellite data.

Water supply reliability in the Truckee River basin stands to substantially benefit from forecast-informed reservoir operations(FIRO), especially given expected increases in rain: snow ratios and a transition to earlier runoff under warming climate that current infrastructure and operational rules were not designed for. However, in its position on the lee side of the Sierra Nevada mountains (CA/NV, USA), several unique forecast uncertainties exist that must be considered to mitigate against increased flood risk potential. Both water supply and floods are strongly linked to wintertime atmospheric rivers (AR) but despite improvements in forecasting these events at long lead times, the timing and amount of spillover precipitation onto the lee side remains a key uncertainty. In addition, storm runoff volumes in this basin are highly sensitive to rain-snow elevation, which is also difficult to forecast. Finally, antecedent snowpack and soil conditions have the potential to modulate runoff volumes but factors controlling the strength of these modulations are incompletely understood and monitored. In this study, we assess streamflow forecast skill in the Truckee River to provide a preliminary understanding of potential forecast-related challenges and opportunities for FIRO. To accomplish this, we used an archive of readily available short-range Hydrologic Ensemble Forecast System winter (Oct-Apr) streamflow forecasts for water years 2015-2020 and compared these to observed3-day flows at lead times of 0 to 15 days. We subset the data into AR days, non-AR days and top 10% flow days examined the variance explained between the ensemble median and observed 3-day flows as a function of lead time. We also examined how the observed 3-day flows rank in relation to the ensemble members for each day. We found that forecast accuracy improves considerably starting at a 7-day lead time but tends to be lower for high-flow and AR events relative to non-ARs. We also found the ensembles to have a slight bias toward underprediction and tendency toward under-dispersion (i.e. observed flows were sometimes outside the ensemble range) with this being the case for AR and high flow days for some but not all sites.

Understanding the effect of different landscapes on local temperature is important for understanding land-atmospheric interactions, and is a critical step toward an informed urban design under a changing climate. This presentation considers Lake Memphremagog, a transboundary water body between Quebec and Vermont, along with one of its adjacent wetlands as a test bed to study the impact of different water bodies on regulating the local temperature. We use the data from two identical climate stations to study hourly temperature, absolute and relative humidity as well as incoming and outgoing radiation components along with vapour pressure deficit at the lake and wetland. We benchmark the temperature measurements in these two sites with the data gauged in an Environment and Climate Change Canada’s weather station located between the two sites. Using a systematic analysis, we account for the cooling and heating impacts of the lake and the wetland and demonstrate their underlying causes. We show that during the growing season and at the daily scale, the cooling impacts of the wetland can cancel out the heating impacts of the lake. This is not the case during day times, in which the lake acts as a sink of heat, while the wetland is the source. We show that the cooling and heating effects of the considered lake-wetland duo can be described by the daily temperature statistics (i.e. average, minimum, maximum and range) at the benchmark weather station. This provides an opportunity to create stochastic models for retrospective and prospective projections of cooling and heating impacts of this lake-wetland duo under current and future climate.