Significant investments are made in the collection of water quality data. Yet barriers to effective data sharing and reuse hamper the ability to leverage this information to its full potential in research and water management decisions. Because water monitoring data are collected by a wide range of organizations, through programs of varying scope and focus, and often within jurisdictional or institutional silos, it can be difficult to connect this information together in standardized and accessible formats. DataStream is an online open-access platform that was developed by The Gordon Foundation and its partners to address the challenge of water data accessibility in Canada. DataStream is free to use and allows users to query, visualize, and download water quality data aligned with widely-adopted data and metadata standards (e.g., Water Quality eXchange, ISO19115 and schema.org). The path towards DataStream evolving as a collaborative and open data platform has been guided by the FAIR and CARE data principles. To date, over 140 different groups across Canada are using DataStream to publish water monitoring results including watershed groups, Indigenous organizations, researchers and governments at all levels. We will highlight our lessons learned in developing the platform to align with FAIR data principles and the elements we believe have been key to our success including DataStream’s open data schema, clear data licensing and regional partnership model.

Monsoon low pressure systems (LPS) are synoptic scale tropical disturbances that form over the Indian subcontinent along the quasi-stationary trough axis during the monsoon (June to September) period. Around 14 LPS form every year, accounting for around 44% of monsoon precipitation and 78% of extreme precipitation events over the country. Many past studies have investigated the influence of various topographical features on the Indian monsoon. This study investigates the influence of the Himalayan and Tibetan orography (HTO) on various LPS-related characteristics/features (genesis location, number, tracks, and intensity). The NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM1.2.2) is used to study the influence of HTO on monsoon and LPS activity over India. Simulations from CESM1.2.2 are obtained at 0.9°×1.25° horizontal resolution by considering the present-day height (h) of HTO, and altered heights (zero, 0.5h, and 1.5h). A 9.3% increase in the average monsoon precipitation is simulated over India when the height of HTO is increased to 1.5h, while a decrease in the same by 11.5% (44%) is simulated when the height of HTO is reduced to 0.5h (zero). These results are consistent with previous modeling studies. The changes in monsoon precipitation are attributed to a strong (weak) mean meridional temperature gradient (MTG) associated with an increase (a decrease) in the height of HTO and the prevention of cold dry mid-latitude air mixing with the warm humid air over India. Furthermore, we find that the simulated number of LPS per year increases when the height of HTO is reduced. The number of LPS is 17.2, 16.1, 13.6, and 12.4, respectively, in the simulations where the height of HTO is zero, 0.5h, h, and 1.5h. The mean meridional width of the LPS active region also increases when the height of HTO is reduced (Fig. 1). Contrary to the expectation of a southward shift in the LPS median track with a decrease in MTG (when the height of HTO is reduced), a slight northward shift is simulated in the track’s location. We attribute this to an increase (a decrease) in barotropic instability on reducing (increasing) the height of HTO, which results in a larger latitudinal spread in the location of genesis and tracks. The increased (decreased) barotropic instability also causes an increase (a decrease) in the frequency of LPS over the Indian subcontinent.

The Early Cretaceous was dominated by greenhouse conditions coupled with increased ocean crust production rate, which led to critical climate, geographic and oceanographic changes and abrupt shifts in redox conditions in the oceans. Regarding Earth’s magnetic field, the Aptian time interval recorded a high rate of polarity reversals. However, after 121.4 Ma, a long period of polarity stability, known as the Cretaceous Normal Polarity Superchron (CNPS), was established for ~38 Myr. Although, there is debate on the causes and consequences of this extreme event, the exact behavior of the geomagnetic field during the Aptian–Albian is still poorly understood, and data from volcanic and sedimentary rocks are usually conflicting. Here we integrate paleomagnetic and biostratigraphic data across the Aptian–Albian transition in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin (Brazil). Studies suggesting the correlation between magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data for this interval in the Brazilian sedimentary basins are rare, as well as for the South Atlantic marginal basins. Additionally correlations with the Tethyan realm are still unclear. Magnetic parameters, such as magnetic susceptibility, with a resolution of 25 cm, and anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM), with a resolution of 2.1 m, were collected over the ~200 m-long succession of Core SER-03 in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. ARM acquisition curves were separated into discrete coercivity components and they were interpreted as related to detrital magnetite and/or eolian dust inputs. The entire section spans 6 Myr, including the Aptian–Albian boundary. Our interpretation of environmental magnetism parameter, therefore, allow us to trace shifts between wet and dry climate conditions. Therefore, these data will aid to develop an age model framework in order to assist this uncovered region and future comparisons with Tethyan sections (e.g., Vocontian Basin - France and Poggio Le Guaine - Italy).

At least 37 studies demonstrate some degree of short-term influence of CO2 on human cognition, broadly considered, at CO2 concentrations frequently observed in buildings (>1000ppm). Ambient concentrations of CO2 in some cities can exceed global average values by several hundred ppm due to multiple large sources and idiosyncrasies of atmospheric transport, diffusion, and dispersion. In those few cities with extensive CO2 monitoring systems, local variations exceed 50ppm along transport corridors or close to point sources such as power plants. Scenarios of future CO2 concentrations project global average values up to 950ppm by 2100. Combining these various influences suggests that some locations in cities may regularly experience CO2 concentrations of 1300ppm by 2100. In occupied enclosed spaces such as schoolrooms, CO2 concentrations can rise several thousand ppm above ambient values. ASHRAE sets indoor air standards relative to ambient levels, not as absolute levels. Highly energy efficient buildings reduce air leakage and may have lower ventilation air exchange rates to reduce energy loss. LEED standards do not address effects of certification standards on CO2 concentrations. Cabs of vehicles and other enclosed spaces in the transport sector also can be several thousand ppm above ambient levels. Long-term exposure to elevated CO2 at these levels has not been studied in humans but limited studies of mouse models demonstrate respiratory impairments after three-month exposure to 890ppm CO2 for newborn mice. We are unaware of any studies of health impacts of CO2 on mice or humans that use pre-industrial concentrations of CO2 as baseline values. Thus, experimental methodologies must be reformed and standardized before we can fully appreciate how living in an elevated CO2 world is already affecting human health. Connecting the dots between these various influences suggests that exposure (particularly long-term exposure) to CO2 concentrations that affect cognition may vary significantly depending upon distance from active sources (power plants, roadways) and occupation (e.g. truck driver), such effects will grow to serious levels, may already exert a toll on human cognitive outcomes, and could implicate environmental justice concerns.

Temporally variable environmental microseismicity and narrowband signals are both demonstrated to reduce the detectability of small seismic events. We investigate the influence of winter wind events on detection thresholds for a 3-sensor seismic network at the terminus of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. As wind speeds increase, we observe higher spectral amplitudes across the frequency spectrum; however, some frequency bands are preferentially excited. Surprisingly, these spectral peaks shift frequencies through time. To determine detection thresholds, we implement a waveform injection routine wherein we add scaled waveforms to the datastream, and track changes in the size of the smallest scaled event that we can reliably detect. We thereby demonstrate a capability to quantify the size of the smallest detectable event in temporally variable signal environments. Lastly, we propose a method to forecast our ability to detect sources of a threshold size in measured noise conditions.

The contribution of volatile organic compounds (VOC) to ozone continues to receive attention and various localities have successively introduced measures to control VOC including limiting emissions from gas stations. Xi’an, as a major city of Fenwei Plain, has a large number of motor vehicles and a large demand for gasoline, and the VOC emission from gas stations can not be ignored in the city. In order to understand its impact on ozone and provide a reasonable basis for gas stations control and governance, this paper combines the SMOKE model to construct a gridded Xi’an gas stations VOC emissions, and uses WRF-CAMx model to study its effect on ozone concentration in summer. The results show that: (1) After considering the VOC emissions from gas stations, the concentrations of ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) simulated by the sensitivity test in July 2018 were slightly higher than that results without the gas stations VOC emissions. (2) Similar to the baseline scenario, the daily change of O3 in July 2018 simulated by the control test considering gas stations VOC emissions shows a unimodal distribution; the diurnal change of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is characterized by a high concentration in the morning even a peak. While the overall concentration level decreased in the afternoon, and gradually increased in the evening. (3) The results of sensitivity numerical test show that the gas stations VOC emissions in Xi’an just has a little influence on air quality, 63.5% hours its effect on ozone is within 0.01 μg/m³, and the VOC emissions from gas stations has different influence on ozone concentration in different hours. The maximum influence on hourly ozone concentration in Xi ’an is about 0.20 μg/m³.

Barrovian-grade pelites in the Greater Himalayan Crystallines and Lesser Himalayan Formations exposed in the Himalayan core are separated by the Main Central Thrust (MCT). This fault system accommodated a significant amount of India-Asia convergence and is the focus of several models that explore ideas about the development of the range and collisional belts in general. Units separated by the MCT provide critical information regarding the mechanisms of heat transfer within collisional belts. Garnets collected across the MCT record their growth history through changes in chemistry. These chemical changes can be extracted and modeled using a variety of thermodynamic approaches. Here we describe and apply particular thermobarometric techniques to decipher the metamorphic history of several garnet-bearing rocks collected across the MCT in central Nepal, the Sikkim region, and NW India. Comparisons are made between the results of previously-reported conventional rim P-T conditions and P-T paths extracted using the Gibb’s method to isopleth thermobarometry and high-resolution P-T path modeling using the same data and assemblages. Regardless of calibrations used, the P-T conditions and paths, along with previously-reported timing constraints, are consistent with an imbrication model that suggest the MCT shear zone developed as rock packages within the LHF were progressively transferred. In this model, samples within the LHF travel along the MCT at a 5 km/Ma speed rate from 25 to 18 Ma. The hanging wall speed rate is 10 km/Ma, and topography progressively accumulates until a maximum height of 3.5 km. Once the topography is achieved at 18 Ma, a period of cessation is applied to the MCT between 18 and 15 Ma, and topography is reduced at a rate of 1.5 km/Ma. The model returns to activity within the MCT shear zone with the activation of the MCT footwall slivers from 8 to 2 Ma. P‐T changes recorded by the footwall garnets result from thermal advection combined with alterations in topography. For most MCT footwall samples, the P-T paths match the model predictions remarkably well. The P-T paths for some samples in central Nepal are also consistent high exhumation rates (>12mm/year) within the MCT shear zone since the Pliocene, a scenario predicted by this imbrication model.

Many of Antarctica's ice shelves experience significant surface melting each season, yet it is generally assumed that nearly all the produced meltwater re-freezes rather than being lost as runoff. Individual events of direct surface meltwater loss to the ocean have been documented, but were thought to be rare. We here present evidence of widespread through-ice-shelf drainage of supraglacial lakes, observed across various Antarctic ice shelves. We demonstrate that meltwater can accumulate for many melt seasons, in lakes that are often covered by an ice lid. Such buried lakes can drain into the sub ice shelf ocean cavity nearly instantaneously, creating an ice doline. These doline formation events are observed year-round and likely occur via a through-cutting crevasse that propagated from the lake bed by hydrofracture. The removal of a large load from the top of the floating ice shelf results in flexural uplift in the region around the drained lake basin. These surface elevation changes can be monitored using high-resolution satellite remote sensing data, such as ICESat-2 laser altimetry and digital elevation models created from WorldView stereo satellite imagery pairs. We show that doline formation has the potential significantly change the surrounding ice shelf surface hydrology, leading to different processes with opposing effects on ice shelf stability. If the surface depression formed by the former lake bed acts to capture meltwater and channels it straight down to the ocean via the newly-created drainage pathway, this process could halt supraglacial meltwater system growth and thus prevent meltwater from reaching areas more vulnerable to hydrofracture. However, if flexural uplift diverts meltwater flow around the doline and delivers it to adjacent areas on the ice shelf surface, this can lead to repeated hydrofracture in multiple locations and thus act to destabilize the ice shelf. Which of these mechanisms dominates over time on each ice shelf may ultimately be crucial for its long-term resilience in a warming climate.

Earth’s transient climate sensitivity Str is the rapid change, plateauing at ~5 yr, in global mean surface temperature GMST per change in forcing (e.g., Held et al., JGR, 2010). Str is readily evaluated from time series of total forcing F and temperature anomaly ΔT as the slope of a regression of ΔT vs F, with ΔT from model or observations and F generally modeled based on change in atmospheric composition. Prior estimates of Str have varied quite widely, mainly because of uncertainty in aerosol forcing. F is evaluated as total non-aerosol forcing, dominated by positive GHG forcing, plus negative aerosol forcing; large magnitude aerosol forcing results in small F and in turn high Str, and vice versa. Forcing time series derived from the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report (AR5, 2013) resulted in best estimate Str 0.35 K (W m-2)-1; 5% to 95% uncertainty range 0. 27 to 0.55 (Schwartz, JGR, 2018). New time series of total forcing from the (2021) Sixth IPCC Assessment report (AR6) permit similar evaluation of Str, Figure 1, as 0.46 (0.36 to 0.50) K (W m-2)-1. The increase in best-estimate Str is due to increased magnitude of best-estimate aerosol forcing in AR6 vs. AR5. Poor long-term correlation of forcing time series and observed ΔT for the 5% forcing estimate (large negative aerosol forcing added to GHG forcing, yielding low total forcing) suggests that that the corresponding bound on aerosol forcing magnitude may be an over-estimate, with the correlation substantially improved for best estimate and even more so for lowest estimate of aerosol forcing magnitude, thus more consistent with lower values of Str. A somewhat higher range of Str, 0.42 to 0.75 K (W m-2)-1, is obtained using time series of forcings obtained with individual models (Smith et al., ACP, 2020). Figure 1. Time series of total forcing F and as convolved with 5-year decaying exponential Fc (left); correlations of observed temperature anomaly ΔT (GISS) vs Fc (center); slope denotes transient sensitivity Str; and time series of ΔT (right; left axis) and Fc (right axis, scaled to ΔT by Str). Top row, lower 5% bound on forcing time series; middle row, best estimate forcing; bottom row, 95% bound. Forcing data from draft AR6 report, expected release August 9, 2021, potentially subject to change.

Developing countries need sufficient, reliable, and affordable energy for economic development; yet, the source of this energy remains contested. In the Philippines, coal-based electricity supplies most of the country’s energy requirement; hence contravening the country’s energy transition agenda. Until the moratorium on new coal-fired power plant development in October 2020, the Philippine government aggressively pursued the development of the coal sector, labelling coal projects as nationally significant. With this policy direction, many local governments, including provinces and cities, had rallied around coal. Dissent against coal, nonetheless, was also prominent, with civil society often leading these mobilizations, and using the narrative of energy transition in their appeals. This poster describes one of these movements, focusing on civil society-business-and-ecclesial-led dissent on coal-based energy system for the province of Bohol in central Philippines. Using primary data from interviews and site observation, supplemented by social media and secondary data analysis, this poster describes the tactics of a localized, yet networked, anti-coal mobilisation while pursuing an energy transition agenda. Led by a trifecta of actors, including private citizens, businesspeople, and the clergy, the movement employed nonviolent approaches through network-building, letter-writing, and social media-campaigning. As a result, the provincial government of Bohol issued an ordinance banning future coal-based development in the province and resituating the energy transition agenda in local development.

The five divisions of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) represent a very broad spectrum of academic disciplines, ranging from Astronomy, to Planetary science, to Heliophysics, Earth science, Biology and Physical science with measurement scales ranging from components of atoms to the structure of the entire universe. In addition, the systems that support access to these data range from systems based on formal and broadly accepted OWL ontologies, to those based on current and historical disciplinary metadata standards, to ad-hoc or bespoke systems dating back to NASA’s very earliest missions; all generally developed to support the mission or, more recently, discipline focussed data users. Consequently the access mechanisms, data structures, vocabularies, terms in use, etc. vary widely across the divisions making cross-disciplinary research at best difficult if not impossible. Currently NASA SMD is working to improve support for cross-disciplinary/transdisciplinary research by developing a system that supports discovery across all of SMD’s data products, a model that can be extended to all forms of scientific output including software, tools, models, publications, etc. The core underpinnings of such a system is an information model being developed using the methodology developed by Dr. Peter Fox and Dr. Deborah McGuinness. Here we discuss the model (a knowledge graph), lessons learned along the way, and key findings for other systems attempting to bridge across broad disciplinary challenges.

Positive and negative electric streamers are column-shaped discharges which are an important stage in lightning development. The mechanism, by which the streamer acquires a certain velocity and radius of its head, had been a long-standing puzzle. In [1], we proposed a parametric streamer model (PSM), which may explain this mechanism, as well as the mechanism of the streamer threshold electric field. The PSM results for a positive isolated streamer in constant uniform external electric field are verified by comparing with hydrodynamic calculations of a ‘steady-state’ streamer, namely a streamer whose length is kept constant by synchronizing the position of the electrode to which it is attached with the moving streamer head. For this particular streamer configuration, we found that both velocity and radius of a streamer increase with its length, a results which was also observed in previously performed hydrodynamic calculations and experiments. Beside the velocity and radius of the streamer, PSM allows to quickly estimate all other streamer parameters, such as the maximum field at the streamer tip and the field inside the streamer channel. The relatively low, compared to, e.g., hydrodynamic or particle-in-cell (PIC) models, computational costs of PSM suggest that generalizion of PSM principles to more complicated streamer structures may be very valuable. In the present work, we generalize PSM to evaluate how different background conditions affect streamer propagation. In particular, we find that, unlike the uniform-field case described above, (1) for the non-uniform electric field such as that of a spherical electrode, the streamer velocity decreases with length; (2) for a streamer propagating parallel to other similar streamers (as in a streamer “bunch’‘), both velocity and radius stabilize to an approximately constant value. [1] N. G. Lehtinen, “Physics and mathematics of electric streamers,” Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics, 2021, in print [Russian version: DOI: 10.52452/00213462_2021_64_01_12].

Integrating detrital zircon U/Pb and whole-rock Nd data throughout the Himalayan arc provides the means to distinguish between the Tethyan (TH), Greater (GH), and Lesser Himalayan (LH) tectonostratigraphic zones within the thrust belt. In the Kaghan valley of northern Pakistan, debate exists over the existence and location of the Main Central thrust (MCT) and the tectonostratigraphic affinity of the rocks in the Hazara-Kashmir syntaxis. Three new detrital zircon U/Pb age spectra and two new εNd(0) values from the footwall rocks of the Batal fault yield 1.0-2.0 Ga age populations and an average εNd(0) value of -13.6. Four new detrital zircon U/Pb age spectra and two new εNd(0) values from the hanging wall rocks have primarily <1.2 Ga age populations and an average εNd(0) value of -16.7. Most detrital zircon analyses exhibit Pb-loss from younger (<600 Ma) intrusive or metamorphic events. The absence of zircon <1.0 Ga in the footwall samples indicates that they are LH rocks, while εNd(0) values indicate that they are not Paleoproterozoic LH rocks, but are comparable to other Meso- and Neoproterozoic LH rocks along the Himalayan arc. Neoproterozoic and younger detrital zircon age populations from the hanging wall samples and the presence of ~47 Ma intrusive leucogranite indicate that these are either TH or GH rocks, with εNd(0) values also consistent with TH or GH values. Combining these data show that the hanging wall rocks are either TH or GH rocks, and that the footwall rocks are Mesoproterozoic LH rocks. In most places, the MCT is defined as GH rocks thrust over LH rocks. However, in NW India, the GH/LH contact is buried in the subsurface, and the MCT at the surface is a TH/LH contact. Therefore, these data define the Batal fault in the Kaghan valley as equivalent to the MCT, with TH/GH rocks thrust over LH rocks, and link it with the Indus River valley to the west in Pakistan and NW India to the east.

Electric field measurements are necessary to understand thunderstorm evolution and lightning initiation. However, most existing measurements are made with single instruments carried by weather balloons. It is difficult to interpret such data since a change in observed electric field could be due either to motion of the instrument or charging/discharging currents. In order to decouple these behaviors, it is necessary to make simultaneous measurements at multiple locations. To avoid the complexity of multiple balloon launches, we describe a single balloon instrument with multiple, independent dropsondes to be released at desired time intervals. The dropsondes are designed to rotate and be self stabilizing, enabling them to measure electric fields as they fall. The dropsondes are lightweight, robust, and low-cost, and include a preamplifier, GPS receiver, search coil and accelerometer for orientation sensing, microcontroller, and a telemetry system to transmit data to a ground station. Prototype instruments have been drop-tested to demonstrate aerodynamic stability and rotation and have been calibrated for electric field measurement. A balloon payload set to release a set of such dropsondes via hot-wire release mechanisms can thus accomplish the goal of multi-point measurements of thunderstorm electrical structures.

Overallocation, increased demands, recognition and quantification of environmental flows, and climate change have combined to make water leasing a practical solution for addressing water shortages in many watersheds. Leasing involves the temporary transfer of the consumptive use portion of a water right to another user presumably for a higher value purpose. Therefore, understanding the effect of water leasing on river flow availability and river ecosystem protection is critical for the watershed-scale water management. Numerical and computational watershed simulation techniques coupled with water right models can allow water managers to allocate water based on the legal framework within the watershed, which in the western United States is typically based on the prior appropriation doctrine. In this study, we simulate the water trades on instream flow using an ASCE Penman-Monteith method of evapotranspiration estimation on water right model. Using the Touchet River basin in Washington State as a study location, we successfully demonstrated simulation of water leases on instream flow. We choose the Touchet River basin as a study location as this basin suffers frequent water curtailment and has existing partnerships across diverse sectors including water leasing markets to address this water resources concern. This information will be extremely valuable for river ecosystem protection and to watershed managers trying to plan future water managements, water storage, and water trading projects.

Isotopic composition of monthly precipitation samples from Warangal, a semi arid region across Southern India was studied for a period of 12 months. During the study period, the region received a average rainfall of 900 mm. The stable isotope (δ18O) values varied from -4.9 %o to 2.4 %o for the precipitation samples throughout the year. The d-excess of precipitation in Warangal revealed that the precipitation in the region undergoes significant modification through secondary evaporation during its fall. The Local meteoric water line for Warangal city is developed. The stable isotope composition of precipitation at Warangal showed significant variation from global trend. These differences are attributed to the higher mean sea elevation of the area as well as climatic conditions.

Globally available, georeferenced data from earth observing satellites and coupled earth systems models provide new opportunities to use limited field observations to infer trends in environmental processes across unsampled locations and over time. Building statistical models that are intended generalize earth surface processes across large spatial scales represents a new frontier in supervised statistical inference. For example, care must be taken to collect unbiased samples given the complexity of the earth system: surface features can appear vastly different from the perspective of multispectral and SAR imagery in different atmospheric/landscape contexts. Environmental processes occur at variable spatial/temporal scales, and sampling resolution can drastically alter the appearance of patterns, and lead to spatial and temporal autocorrelation which can bias model weights and/or parameter estimates. Multicollinearity in multivariate datasets, which is also scale dependent, can inflate variance in parameter/weight estimates. All these in tandem can undermine the robustness of models in predicting in out-of-sample contexts. To overcome this, the GRRIEn (Generalizable, Reproducible, Robust, and Interpretable Environmental) analysis framework is introduced as a standard method of training and validating supervised data-driven models at large spatial scales. The method is explained, and demonstrated with a case study detecting surface water at CONUS scale using SAR and multispectral imagery.

Total electron content (TEC) observations can provide insights into electron density variations in the ionosphere. Such variations are associated with many aspects of ionospheric dynamics, including traveling ionospheric disturbances. In the present work we assimilate observations of TEC and horizontal TEC gradients into the SAMI3 (SAMI3 is Another Model of the Ionosphere 3D) ionosphere model. Assimilation into SAMI3 is accomplished using an ensemble Kalman filter implemented within LightDA, an extensible data assimilation library. Our TEC gradient observations are obtained from the Very Large Array Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE) and the TEC measurements are derived from GNSS receiver data. VLITE provides high precision and high spatial resolution TEC gradient observations over a small area, while GNSS observations supplement these with global coverage. By leveraging TEC observations in a physics-based model through data assimilation, we aim to improve our understanding of ionospheric processes and develop tools for improved ionospheric forecasting capabilities.