The agricultural sector is a major consumer of water for irrigation purposes. Precise quantification of irrigation water requirements will help in achieving sustainable water management. Root water uptake (RWU) is driven by transpiration demand exerted by crops and is influenced by factors such as weather and leaf area index (LAI). The root water uptake at a particular depth in the root zone depends on the local moisture content, soil type, and root density. Under certain conditions, lack of availability of soil moisture at a certain depth may be compensated by more water being drawn into the roots from wetter portions of the soil. To incorporate this mechanism, this study presents a compensated root water uptake model (CRWU) with application to maize crops grown in Indian climatic conditions. Irrigation field experiments were conducted at seven field plots with the same soil by adjusting the irrigation supplied to simulate different degrees of water stress. Daily soil moisture data recorded at different depths in the root zone, crop yield and biomass data help in assessing model performance and identifying a critical water stress index that governs the extent of compensation in RWU.

The SEIS seismometer deployed at the surface of Mars in the framework of the NASA-InSight mission has been continuously recording the ground motion at Elysium Planitia for more than one martian year. In this work, we investigate the seasonal variation of the near surface properties using both background vibrations and a particular class of high-frequency seismic events. We present measurements of relative velocity changes over one martian year and show that they can be modeled by a thermoelastic response of the Martian regolith. Several families of high-frequency seismic multiplets have been observed at various periods of the martian year. These events exhibit repeatable waveforms with an emergent character and a coda that is likely composed of scattered waves. Taking advantage of these properties, we use coda waves interferometry to measure relative travel-time changes as a function of the date of occurrence of the quakes. While in some families a stretching of the coda waveform is clearly observed, in other families we observe either no variation or a clear contraction of the waveform. Measurements of velocity changes from the analysis of background vibrations above 5Hz are consistent with the results from coda wave interferometry. We identify a frequency band structure in the power spectral density, that can be tracked over hundreds of days. This band structure is the equivalent in the frequency domain of an autocorrelogram and can be efficiently used to measure relative travel-time changes as a function of frequency. The observed velocity changes can be adequately modeled by the thermoelastic response of the regolith to the time-dependent incident solar flux at the seasonal scale. In particular, the model captures the time delay between the surface temperature variations and the velocity changes in the sub-surface. Our observations could serve as a basis for a joint inversion of the seismic and thermal properties in the first meters below InSIght.

From a research data repositories’ perspective, offering data management services in-line with the FAIR principles is becoming more and more of a selling point to compete on the market. In order to do so, the services offered must be evaluated and credited following transparent and credible procedures. Several FAIRness evaluation methods are openly available for being applied to archived (meta)data. However, there exists no standardized and globally accepted FAIRness testing procedure to date. Here, we apply an ensemble of 5 FAIRness evaluation approaches to selected datasets archived in the WDCC. The selection represents the majority of WDCC-archived datasets (by volume) and reflects the entire spectrum of data curation levels. Two tests are purely automatic, two are purely manual and one test applies a hybrid method (manual and automatic combined) for evaluation. The results of our evaluation show a mean FAIR score of 0.67 of 1. Manual approaches show higher scores than automated ones. The hybrid approach shows the highest score. Computed statistics show agreement between the tests at the data collection level. None of the five evaluation approaches is fully fit-for-purpose to evaluate (discipline-specific) FAIRness, but all have their merit. Manual testing captures domain- and repository-specific aspects of FAIR. Machine-actionability of archived (meta)data is judged by the evaluator. Automatic approaches evaluate the machine-actionable features of archived (meta)data. These have to be accessible by an automated agent and comply with globally established standards. An evaluation of contextual metadata (essential for reusability) is not possible. Correspondingly, the hybrid method combines the advantages and eliminates the deficiencies of manual and automatic evaluation. We recommend that future operational FAIRness evaluation be based on a mature hybrid approach. The automatic part of the evaluation would retrieve and evaluate as much machine-actionable discipline specific (meta)data content as possible and be then complemented by a manual evaluation focusing on the contextual aspects of FAIR. Design and adoption of the discipline-specific aspects will have to be conducted in concerted community efforts. We illustrate a possible structure of this process with an example from climate research.

One of the key small-scale processes that necessarily require parameterisation is the turbulent mixing of cloudy and cloud-free air, i.e. entrainment and detrainment (in the following simplified as entrainment), which describe the in-mixing of ambient air into the cloud and the mixing of cloudy air into the environment surrounding the cloud, respectively. Entrainment changes cloud particle properties such as number concentrations and sizes, which also modifies the radiative properties of the cloud, and has important implications for cloud lifetime. No reliable formulation exists to date that allows understanding and describing entrainment in terms of cloud- and environmental physical quantities. This is despite the fact that a wide variety of entrainment parameterisations exists. However, their dependencies on meteorological parameters remain controversial. Indeed, the mixing processes (including entrainment) and their treatment in the numerical models have been found to be responsible for much of the large spread found in climate sensitivity estimates. A combination of measurements in the turbulent wind tunnel LACIS-T at TROPOS and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations is used to identify the main parameters that govern the strength of entrainment. Here, we will present first results from the observations in LACIS-T, where the two air streams of the wind tunnel are used to mimic in-cloud and out-of-cloud conditions. Conditions in one of the air streams are varied to test the impact of the corresponding parameters (i.e. temperature, relative humidity, air speed) on the entrainment. Cloud droplets are induced by a droplet generator. The measurements are accompanied by CFD simulations which are verified by the point measurements in the wind tunnel and allow to retrieve full 3D fields.

Integrated management of surface water and groundwater is the key to achieve sustainable water resources and secure water availability, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. With generally scarce surface water resources, groundwater often is the primary source of water supply in such regions, with significant groundwater-surface water (GW/SW) interactions often occurring in irrigated regions. The objective of this study is to quantify the variation in stream seepage and groundwater discharge fluxes in an agro-urban river basin as impacted by climate change. To achieve this goal, i) an integrated hydrologic modeling code that accounts for groundwater and surface water processes and exchanges in large regional-scale managed river basins is developed for the South Platte River Basin (72,000 km2), Colorado, and ii) possible future impacts imposed by climate change on surface water and groundwater exchange in a basin-scale complex semi-arid region is assessed. The developed updated version of SWAT-MODFLOW is forced with five different CMIP5 climate models downscaled by Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogs (MACA), each for two climate scenarios, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5, for 1980-2100. The projected GW/SW fluxes from 2000 through the end of the century are presented in 4 different time intervals along the South Platte River and its tributaries- current (2000-2020), near future (2021-2040), mid-century (2041-2070), and end of the century (2071-2100) in dry (February) and wet (May) months of the year. The changes in stream seepage and groundwater discharge fluxes in dry and wet months of the year follow different patterns, as groundwater discharge to streams decreases during the dry months while the water table elevation declines. Overall, under the most extreme climate condition groundwater discharge will decrease by approximately 10% by 2100.

Global soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks may decline with a warmer climate. However, model projections of changes in SOC due to climate warming depend on microbially-driven processes that are usually parameterized based on laboratory incubations. To assess how lab-scale incubation datasets inform model projections over decades, we optimized five microbially-relevant parameters in the Microbial-ENzyme Decomposition (MEND) model using 16 short-term glucose (6-day), 16 short-term cellulose (30-day) and 16 long-term cellulose (729-day) incubation datasets with soils from forests and grasslands across contrasting soil types. Our analysis identified consistently higher parameter estimates given the short-term versus long-term datasets. Implementing the short-term and long-term parameters, respectively, resulted in SOC loss (–8.2 ± 5.1% or –3.9 ± 2.8%), and minor SOC gain (1.8 ± 1.0%) in response to 5 ºC warming, while only the latter is consistent with a meta-analysis of 149 field warming observations (1.6 ± 4.0%). Comparing multiple subsets of cellulose incubations (i.e., 6, 30, 90, 180, 360, 480 and 729-day) revealed comparable projections to the observed long-term SOC changes under warming only on 480- and 729-day. Integrating multi-year datasets of soil incubations (e.g., > 1.5 years) with microbial models can thus achieve more reasonable parameterization of key microbial processes and subsequently boost the accuracy and confidence of long-term SOC projections.

Climate change is an important issue that affects all aspects of human life and the environment. Through this project, we wrote an original pop song about the local impacts and solutions to climate change in the Northeast. We used a mixed-methods evaluation to test the effectiveness of musical science communication in relation to traditional methods, to change the mindsets of college students and encourage them to take political action. Marist students responded to surveys asking about their sustainability and lifestyle choices, as well as their opinions on climate change. After watching either the traditional presentation or listening to the song, participants answered whether their stance toward climate change had changed, whether they had learned more, and whether they plan to take specific steps to make their lifestyles more sustainable. Through a Fisher Chi-Square analysis, we determined that the change in stances between the two treatments was not significant (p-value = 0.33). However, to an 84% confidence level, there were differences between the two treatments in whether students learned about climate change, and whether they were more likely to change their lifestyle. We found that the traditional science presentation was better at teaching new information (p-value = 0.08), while the song was better at convincing students to act in the future (p-value = 0.16). In summary, we found that traditional science communication is better at teaching someone about climate change, but if the goal is to convince someone to take action to do something about it, then communicating that message through music is the better option. Examples of these types of communication can be found on YouTube, https://youtu.be/gXedvKkpLGs for the song, and https://youtu.be/gbf6cTDNp18 for the traditional presentation.

In the last 20 years, there has been an international effort to develop approaches to experimentally measure the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of hydrate-bearing core samples. The measurements are extremely challenging because sub-sampling, sample preparation, and testing must be conducted at high pressure and low temperature. Despite these challenges, multiple laboratories are now measuring the geotechnical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments. However, there have been relatively few attempts to validate these measurements. We developed experimental protocols to accurately conduct zero-lateral strain tests at effective stresses up to 20 MPa using a pressure core triaxial device. We directly measure displacement during compression through periodic instantaneous undrained loading. To evaluate the accuracy of our measurement system, we conducted a benchmark study to compare properties obtained in our pressure core test chamber against classical geotechnical devices. We prepared a Boston Blue Clay specimen through re-sedimentation. Comprehensive properties databases favor the use of this material for comparison analyses. A compression test to 20 MPa accurately reproduced the compression, lateral stress, and permeability behavior demonstrated in previous testing programs. This experimental procedure provides a convenient framework for future validation studies in a broad range of pressure core laboratory devices.

InSAR measurements of ground displacement are relative, due to unknown integer ambiguities introduced during propagation of the signal through the atmosphere. However, these ambiguities mostly cancel when using spectral diversity to estimate along-track (azimuth) velocities allowing measurements to be made with respect to a terrestrial reference frame. Here, we calculate along-track velocities for a partial global dataset of Sentinel-1 acquisitions as processed by the COMET LiCSAR system, and find good agreement with model values from ITRF2014 plate motion model. We include corrections for solid-Earth tides and gradients of ionospheric total electron content based on a moderate resolution model IRI2016. Application of tidal corrections improves the average velocity precision from 23 to 11 mm/yr. Ionospheric corrections, however, have significant effect only in near-equatorial regions. The median difference between along-track velocities and values predicted by ITRF2014 is 3 mm/yr. A preliminary study using reprocessed precise orbit determination products in a limited dataset shows significant improvement in both precision and accuracy. By combining data from ascending and descending orbits we are able to estimate north-south (N-S) and east-west (E-W) velocities with an average precision of 3 and 16 mm/yr, respectively. Although we have calculated these estimates over large 250 x 250 km areas, such measurements can also be made at much higher resolution, albeit with lower precision. These “absolute” measurements can be particularly useful for global velocity and strain rate estimation, where GNSS measurements are sparse. We will also investigate large-scale averages of across-track (range) pixel offsets, which are most sensitive to E-W and vertical displacements, and perform a comparison to a GNSS network in selected areas.

There is a lot going on in introductory undergraduate science classrooms. Students bring their culture, background, and previous science experiences; instructors bring their knowledge, attitudes, and experience in science and in teaching. Students are there for a variety of reasons, and a substantial proportion will become K-12 teachers: that introductory course may be their primary science experience as an adult learner. How future teachers learn science is of critical importance to how they teach science, but few college science classes reflect the vision of the 2012 Framework for K-12 Science Education, in which “students actively engage in scientific and engineering practices in order to deepen their understanding of crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas” (p. 217). The vision of the Teaching with Investigation and Design in Science (TIDeS) project is that future teachers will learn science as undergraduates the way they are expected to teach science in the K–12 classroom: engaging all students in science investigation and engineering design in a discourse-filled, context-rich, inclusive learning process. TIDeS seeks to catalyze transformation of introductory science courses by supporting faculty in the development and implementation of high-quality, rigorously tested, inclusive curricular materials that focus investigation and design. The project has two broad research questions: (1) How do the beliefs and practices of instructors change with developing and/or implementing new curricular materials? (2) What is the impact of the use of these new materials on diverse students? To address these questions, the TIDeS team developed a suite of research probes aligned with the project’s guiding principles and with each other (see figure). The probes include a semi-structured, pre-/post- faculty interview, a quantitative and qualitative classroom observation protocol, a pre-/post- student survey, a syllabus rubric, and rubrics for the curricular materials and student readings. Our preliminary data suggest that, in combination, the probes will provide a holistic picture of what teaching with investigation and design in introductory college-level science courses looks like, how it differs from an active learning classroom, and how it can support the preparation of future teachers.

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.

Louisiana is among the most vulnerable places on Earth to coastal flooding, for many reasons. Tropical-cyclone-induced storm surge, shoreline erosion accelerated by eustatic sea level rise, tidal influences, minimization of river sediment nourishment due to the presence of levees, and land subsidence caused by compaction of marsh lands and underground resource extraction all contribute to the flood hazard. In addition, increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards under climate change scenarios are expected to exacerbate the coastal flood risk. Many studies focus on flood risk assessment and mitigation strategies both for the present and future, and other research has analyzed future flood risk considering climate change and sea level rise. Yet few studies consider all of these factors in concert. This research represents a comprehensive approach that considers coastal subsidence, eustatic sea level rise, and tropical cyclone storm surge variability under climate change scenarios, to evaluate future flood risk at the individual building level in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Results suggest that on average, the 100-year flood depth will increase by 37 cm at the individual building level in Grand Isle by 2050, with subsidence contributing over 80 percent of this increase. Subsidence is projected to increase structure and content losses by approximately 18 percent above modeled losses at present, while eustatic sea level rise may contribute approximately one percent of additional losses. A 100-year storm surge event amid a “low” scenario of environmental change would increase the structure and content losses at Grand Isle by 68–74 percent of today’s value in ten years, 141–149 percent in 25 years, and 346–359 percent in 50 years. Even more menacingly, “high” scenarios of environmental change are expected to increase the 100-year storm surge losses by approximately 85–91 percent of today’s value in ten years, 199–218 percent in 25 years, and 407–415 percent in 50 years. Outcomes from this study will fill the gap in the current literature by implementing a more realistic risk assessment model and will direct flood risk managers, property owners, and other stakeholders to build a comprehensive framework to minimize future flood risk in one of the most vulnerable sites in the USA to coastal flooding.

Coal strip mining has left degraded soils throughout the southeastern United States. These soils tend to have low pH, high bulk density, impacted hydraulic processes, and an accumulation of heavy metals that limit revegetation and reforestation efforts. Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) has the adaptability to grow on post-mined sites due to being able to tolerate soils with a low pH. It also has the largest native range of pines in the southeastern United States, making it an ideal species for such restoration efforts. Furthermore, soil restoration using a combination of biochar and mycorrhizal amendments can provide many benefits for degraded soils ranging from increasing carbon sequestration, reducing erosion, promoting plant growth, and immobilizing heavy metals. However, limited empirical field trials have been conducted on the success of these soil amendments on both soil health and tree productivity. To provide restoration recommendations to land managers and landowners, we established a field trial in Winston County, Alabama at a reclaimed mining site. In Spring 2021 we planted Shortleaf pine in a complete randomized block design with 30.5x30.5 m spacing with two treatments: biochar and microbial inoculation in four replicates. We measured soil bulk density, pH, heavy metal content, electrical conductivity, carbon content, and nitrogen content both before and after planting every three months. We will also monitor shortleaf pine survival and growth. Our preliminary results for pH, bulk density, and electrical conductivity are within the expected range for shortleaf pine to do well on this post-mined site. Prior to soil treatments and planting, soil pH was 5.55 ± 0.54 pH, dry bulk density was 1.46 ± 0.14 g/cm3, wet bulk density was 1.74 ± 0.12 g/cm3, and electrical conductivity was 273.19 ± 141.33 µS. Soil nitrogen content was 0.15 ± 0.04% and soil carbon content was 2.31 ± 0.76%. The average C:N ratio was 15.8:1. Survival of planted seedlings after three months was 98%. Changes in soil physical and chemical conditions relative to restoration treatments are pending. This study will help support our understanding of biochar’s interaction with mycorrhizal fungi inoculation, role in restoration, and use in southeastern United States soils.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, formerly the Soil Conservation Service, SCS) unit hydrograph (UH) is one of the most commonly used synthetic UH methods for hydrologic modeling and engineering design all over the world. However, previous studies have shown that the application of the NRCS UH method for some ungauged watersheds in the state of Indiana produced unrealistic flood predictions for both the peak discharge and the time to peak. The objective of this work is to customize the NRCS UH by analyzing the role of its two key parameters, namely, the peak rate factor (PRF) and the lag time, in creating the runoff hydrograph. Based on 120 rainfall-runoff events collected from 30 small watersheds in Indiana over the past two decades, the observed UHs are derived and the corresponding PRF and lag time are extracted. The observed UHs in Indiana show that the mean value of PRF is 371, which is lower than the standard PRF of 484, and the NRCS lag time equation tends to underestimate the “true” lag time. Moreover, a multiple linear regression method, especially the stepwise selection technique, is employed to relate the NRCS UH parameters to the most appropriate geomorphic attributes extracted from the study watersheds. Both the statewide and regional regression models show that the main channel slope is a major factor in determining the PRF and lag time. A customized Indiana unit hydrograph (INUH) is derived with updated parameters and the Gamma function. Validation results show that the INUH provides more reliable and accurate predictions in terms of the peak discharge and the time to peak than the original NRCS UH for the watersheds in Indiana.

The Compact Ion Mass Spectrometer (CIMS) is a highly compact ion mass spectrometer capable of high-mass resolution for low-energy space plasma. CIMS is capable of measuring flux, energy, and mass of ions providing unique measurements of the ionospheric outflow and cold plasma in the magnetosphere. Measurements of the ionospheric outflow and cold-magnetospheric ion population will provide the necessary initial conditions of the ion populations that drive some magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling processes along with magnetospheric ion composition and dynamics. Simultaneous measurements of the cold and hot magnetospheric ion composition in the reconnection region at the magnetotail would provide clues for the outflowing ions as they journey through the plasmasphere and magnetosphere. These data are critical to advancing our current understanding of MI coupling and are required to answer the long-standing questions regarding ionospheric outflow, the source of magnetospheric mass loading, and the subsequent impact on magnetic reconnection. The CIMS utilizes a laminated collimator to define the field-of-view, a laminated electrostatic analyzer to selectively filter ions based on energy-per-charge, a magnetic sector analyzer to separate ions by mass-per-charge, and a microchannel plate with a position sensitive cross-delay anode assembly to detect the location of the ions on the detector plane. This ion mass spectrometer is a simple, compact, and robust instrument ideal for obtaining low-energy (0.1 eV to 500 eV) ion composition measurements of ionospheric and cold magnetospheric ions. The instrument design has significant mass and volume savings when compared to current state-of-the-art ion mass spectrometers and has the additional advantage of being able to simultaneously measure multiple ion species at given energy-per-charge at 100% duty cycle, thus providing a full energy spectra for individual ion species. The concept and operation are intrinsically simple, and enable ultrafast (<0.1 s) measurement of plasma ion composition to provide an improved understanding of the physical processes that drive the complex ion dynamics in the magnetosphere.

Deltas are important landforms on Mars because they indicate past fluvial activity, contain a sedimentary record amenable to study, and have the potential to store past signs of life. The sedimentary records that are visible today on satellite and rover images are used to deduce the fluvial and climate history of Mars. To do this we use our understanding of deltas on Earth, as deltas are well-studied landforms. However, when making interpretations it is very important to understand the differences in delta morphodynamics and stratigraphy between Earth and Mars. Even though the processes on Mars are similar, the water discharge, sediment flux, and grain size sorting can be significantly different due to for example gravity, sediment density, presence of ice, and lack of ecology. In this research, we focus on the effect of gravity and its net effect on delta morphology and stratigraphy. From preliminary experiments, we expect a significant effect of gravity on grain size sorting, because suspended sediment (fine grains) is affected more by gravity than bedload transport (bigger grains). In addition, we expect bigger grains to travel in suspension on Mars under the same boundary conditions. We will study the net effect of these water and sediment fluxes on morphology and stratigraphy by numerical modelling in Delft3D. This software is typically used for river and coastal systems on Earth, but we adapted the software by identifying all explicit and implicit dependencies on gravity, so it can also be used for deltas on Mars. We developed a 2DH hydro-morphodynamic model of a simplified delta to test different scenarios. The model consists of a straight channel flowing into a sloping basin. In the comparison between our Earth and Mars scenarios, gravity is the only parameter varied. We are currently experimenting with different upstream boundary conditions that we keep equal between the Earth and Mars scenario. We are testing equal discharge, water level, and sediment input. Equal discharge reveals the effect of gravity on sediment flux, equal water level the effect on water and net sediment flux, and equal sediment supply focusses on the sediment sorting that is mostly overshadowed in the other scenarios by the sediment flux difference.

The radiation bias over the Southern Ocean was terribly bad in MRI-CGCM3 that was used for CMIP5 simulations. However, the bias is significantly reduced in MRI-ESM2 (Yukimoto et al. 2019) that is used for CMIP6 simulations by various modifications related to clouds (Kawai et al. 2019). On the other hand, the double-ITCZ problem is also alleviated in the MRI-ESM2 (Tian and Dong, 2020). Is the reduction in the Southern Ocean radiation bias the cause of alleviation of the double-ITCZ problem? Each modification that contributed to the reduction of the Southern Ocean radiation bias in the MRI-ESM2 was progressively reverted to the corresponding older treatment in order to examine their individual impacts on the ITCZ problem. Results show the double-ITCZ problem worsens almost monotonically when the excessive shortwave insolation over the Southern Ocean increases (Kawai et al. 2020, 2021).

In 2018 Ocean Networks Canada initiated an Artist in Residence program, despite uncertainties about what to expect and how to best manage it. To our surprise, the announcement call attracted immediate interest from artists around the world. Partnering with the University of Victoria Faculty of Fine Arts, we formed a selection committee who chose our first Artist in Residence. Since then, the program has exceeded our expectations and brought us into the compelling realm of transdisciplinary collaboration between ocean science and the arts. This collaboration is bearing fruit not only through the creation of new artistic works, but also as a venue for hosting conversations that can help bridge disciplinary boundaries across campus and across continents. This presentation will recap our Artist in Residence program and the artists who have been engaged both formally and informally through this initiative, as well as some of the fascinating and diverse work they have produced. We will describe our management processes, outreach efforts and some of the new challenges and opportunities we have encountered along the way. We will also share advice and insights from artists who have engaged in explorations along the Art-Science interface.