Quantifying barystatic sea-level change from satellite altimetry,GRACE and Argo observations over 2005–2016

Time-varying spherical harmonic coefficients determined from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data provide a valuable source of information about the water mass exchange that is the main contributor to the Earth’s gravity field changes within a period of less than several hundred years. Moreover, by measuring seawater temperature and salinity at different layers of ocean depth, Argo floats help to measure the steric component of global mean sea level (GMSL). In this study, we quantify the rate of barystatic sea-level change using both GRACE RL05 and RL06 monthly gravity field models and compare the results with estimates achieved from a GMSL budget closure approach. Our satellite altimetry-based results show a trend of 3.90 ± 0.14 mm yr⁻¹ for the GMSL rise. About 35% or 1.29 ± 0.07 mm yr⁻¹ of this rate is caused by the thermosteric contribution, while the remainder is mainly due to the barystatic contribution. Our results confirm that the choice of decorrelation filters does not play a significant role in quantifying the global barystatic sea-level change, and spatial filtering may not be needed. GRACE RL05 and RL06 solutions result in the barystatic sea-level change trends of 2.19 ± 0.13 mm yr⁻¹ and 2.25 ± 0.16 mm yr⁻¹, respectively. Accordingly, the residual trend, defined as the difference between the altimetry-derived GMSL and sum of the steric and barystatic components, amounts to 0.51 ± 0.51 and 0.45 ± 0.44 mm yr⁻¹ for RL05 and RL06-based barystatic sea-level changes, respectively, over January 2005 to December 2016. The exclusion of the halosteric component results in a lower residual trend of about 0.36 ± 0.46 mm yr⁻¹ over the same period, which suggests a sea-level budget closed within the uncertainty. This could be a confirmation on a high level of salinity bias particularly after about 2015. Moreover, considering the assumption that the GRACE-based barystatic component includes all mass change signals, the rather large residual trend could be attributed to an additional contribution from the deep ocean, where salinity and temperature cannot be monitored by the current observing systems. The errors from various sources, including the model-based Glacial Isostatic Adjustment signal, independent estimation of geocenter motion that are not quantified in the GRACE solutions, as well as the uncertainty of the second degree of zonal spherical harmonic coefficients, are other possible contributors to the residual trend.     

Quantitative contribution of climate change and anthropological activities to vegetation carbon storage in the Dongting Lake basin in the last two decades

The Dongting Lake Basin is an important hydrological regulation and flood storage area in the Yangtze River Basin, which plays an important role in maintaining regional ecological security. The watershed vegetation and its carbon sequestration capacity have changed dramatically due to climate change and human activities in the last two decades. In this paper, the monthly and annual vegetation net primary productivity (NPP) of the Dongting Lake basin during 2000 to 2020 was firstly estimated using the improved Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model. Then the multi-year NPP change trend and its significance were analyzed based on Theil-Sen median and Mann-Kendall method. Subsequently, the Hurst index was used to simulate the vegetation NPP persistence in the study area. Finally, the driving mechanisms of vegetation NPP changes in the study area were explored using partial correlation coefficients and residual analysis. The results demonstrated that: 1) The annual average NPP in the basin showed a fluctuating and increasing trend from 273.54 to 718.30 g C/m²·yr¹ during 2000 to 2020, and except for autumn, all seasons (spring, summer, winter) and annual NPP series showed an upward trend. The spatial distribution of vegetation NPP is characterized by an asymmetrical horseshoe shape in general, with high values in the west, south and east parts, and low values in the Lake area; 2) During the study years, about 84.38 % of the basin area showed a significant and extremely significant increase of NPP; 3) The future trend of vegetation NPP in the basin shows that the area of decrease (22.79 %) is more than the area of increase (11.35 %). The Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration will generally show a continuous and extremely significant reduction trend, while parts of Dongting Lake will show a continuous and extremely significant increase trend; 4) The correlation between solar radiation and NPP is stronger than the other two meteorological factors (precipitation and temperature). Temperature has a significant inhibitory effect on NPP, solar radiation has a significant promoting effect on NPP, and the effect of precipitation on NPP was relatively complicated. The relative importance of meteorological factors on vegetation NPP was ranked as follows: solar radiation > precipitation > temperature. The impacts of both climate change and human activities on NPP changes showed great spatial variability, and the positive contributions (89.81 % for climate change and 82.87 % for human activities) were both greater than the negative contributions.     

Application of satellite observations to study the changes of hypoxic conditions in near-bottom water in the western part of Peter the Great Bay (the Sea of Japan)

In this paper we explore the possibilities of applying satellite ocean colour (OC) observations and SST to study the changes in the conditions of hypoxia in the near-bottom water in the western part of Peter the Great Bay. Near-bottom water hypoxia occurs in water bodies with increased organic matter influx when the dissolved oxygen (DO) consumed at its oxidation is not restored. Consumption of most DO is usually attributed to the oxidation of organic matter formed as a result of increased algae growth during water eutrophication. Satellite data on indicators of phytoplankton (chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl) and fluorescence (FLH)) allow to analyze the spatial-temporal changes of this substation. Coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM), non-algal particles (NAP) influence on satellite Chl estimates and also on near-bottom water hypoxia formation. This study analyzes daily, seasonal, and inter-annual changes in the distributions of indicators (Chl, FLH, the coefficients of light absorption by coloured detrital matter (a_CDM) and light backscattering by suspended particles (b_bp)), based on the instant satellite OC data from MODIS-Aqua. Data on the Chl, the sea surface temperature (SST) from the MODIS-Aqua, the precipitation from the TRMM satellite and the hydrometeorological stations (HMSs), the wind speed and direction from HMS “Vladivostok” are used to study the influence of hydrometeorological conditions on the Chl values. These distributions were compared with the literary information based on field observations of the hypoxia cases in the same area and with the changes in the vertical DO, Chl, temperature, salinity distribution obtained by coastal expeditions in October-November 2010 and February-March 2011. Significant interrelations within 95% confidence level between the satellite Chl, FLH values calculated at the MUMM atmospheric correction and in situ Chl values obtained in the autumn of 2010 were reached separately for the cases with winds of northern and southern directions with the correlation coefficients of 0.71, 0.48 and 0.49, 0.71, respectively. Significant dependences of Chl on SST and Chl on wind speed explained by the influence of continental runoff and water ventilation were obtained. Therefore, the changes of Chl reflect the changes of hypoxic conditions in the near-bottom water. In Amursky Bay the onset of hypoxia was at the Chl and SST values equal to 4 mg m^?3 and 13 °C (↑ – at increasing SST); near Furugelm Island it was at 1.6 mg m^?3 and 25 °C (↑), 1 mg m^?3 and 21 °C (↓). The difference in the Chl values was reflected in the hypoxia onset timings that were the beginning of June (2011), August (2013), and September (2014), respectively. The water flow from the eastern coast of Amursky Bay in early August of 2013 recorded from the OC and SST satellite imagers appeared in an additional hypoxic zone. Decreased OC characteristics in the runoff of the Razdolnaya River in August-September of 2014 were a sign of hypoxia at its mouth. Near Furugelm Island the hypoxia destruction (increase in the DO level from 1 to 4.5 ml L^?1) was observed at the Chl of 0.9 mg m^?3 and SST = 18 °C (↓). At the autumn maximum of Chl equal to 1.7 mg m^?3 and SST = 4 °C (↓) in mid-November the DO level here increased to 8 ml L^?1. In Amursky Bay, short-term destructions/weakening of hypoxia manifested themselves in sharp increases of Chl. At that, the ratio between the Chl value and the approximation level was equal to 2 and higher for SST equal to 22–25 °C (↑), to 0.9 and higher for SST equal to 5–13 °C (↓). With the water stratification destruction in temperature and the noticeable weakening of the stratification in salinity (mid-November), the hypoxia destructed (the DO level increased from 2 to 6 ml L^?1). In this case, Chl and SST were about 3 mg m^?3 and 5 °C (↓).     

Microwave specular scattering response of soil texture at X-band

Soil texture is an important soil parameter that is useful for meteorology, climatology, hydrology, ecology, etc. Therefore, it is important to classify soil based on soil texture (i.e., sand, silt and clay). A lot of studies with radar remote sensing have been carried out to estimate soil moisture and surface roughness, but less attention has been given to study the effect of individual soil texture on radar scattering, especially in specular direction. The main aim of this paper is to check the behavior of specular scattering with change in soil texture. This effect has also been analyzed in presence of soil moisture and surface roughness. Scattering coefficient has been retrieved for various soil texture fields with indigenously designed X-band bistatic scatterometer for a range of incidence angles (from 30° to 70° in steps of 10°) in both like polarizations, i.e., HH-polarization and VV-polarization. Observations were made at 10 GHz frequency. Four different fields were considered on the basis of soil texture variations; especially changes in sand percentage were made. Roughness (smooth soil to 1.4 cm rms surface height) and moisture (dry soil to 0.21 cm³ cm⁻³ volumetric soil moisture) conditions of these fields were varied for observations. Strong change in specular scattering coefficient is observed by changing the sand percentage in soil for HH-polarization, while in case of VV-polarization a lesser change is observed. Also a high change in specular scattering coefficient is noticed once moisture is added to the soil. It is difficult to observe the change in specular scattering coefficient with change in soil texture when surface is considered as rough. Therefore, it is important to minimize the roughness effect while observing the texture with specular scattering. For this purpose, polarization study was carried out to see how polarization can be helpful to minimize the roughness effect. The effect of soil texture on copolarization ratio is critically analyzed, and it is observed that for higher incidence angle (50°), the distinction in soil texture fields are clearly observable on the basis of copolarization ratio. This type of study will be helpful in near future to design the bistatic radar system for soil parameter monitoring, especially for cartwheel satellite system.     

Coastal sea level changes in Europe from GPS,tide gauge,satellite altimetry and GRACE, 1993–2011

Sea level changes are threatening the human living environments, particularly along the European Coasts with highly dense population. In this paper, coastal sea level changes in western and southern Europe are investigated for the period 1993–2011 using Global Positioning System (GPS), Tide Gauge (TG), Satellite Altimetry (SA), Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and geophysical models. The mean secular trend is 2.26 ± 0.52 mm/y from satellite altimetry, 2.43 ± 0.61 mm/y from TG+GPS and 1.99 ± 0.67 mm/y from GRACE mass plus steric components, which have a remarkably good agreement. For the seasonal variations, annual amplitudes of satellite altimetry and TG+GPS results are almost similar, while GRACE Mass+Steric results are a little smaller. The annual phases agree remarkably well for three independent techniques. The annual cycle is mainly driven by the steric contributions, while the annual phases of non-steric (mass component) sea level changes are almost a half year later than the steric sea level changes.     

Evaluation of MODIS GPP over a complex ecosystem in East Asia: A case study at Gwangneung flux tower in Korea

Moderate Resolution Imaging Radiometer (MODIS) gross primary productivity (GPP) has been used widely to study the global carbon cycle associated with terrestrial ecosystems. The retrieval of the current MODIS productivity with a 1 × 1 km² resolution has limitations when presenting subgrid scale processes in terrestrial ecosystems, specifically when forests are located in mountainous areas, and shows heterogeneity in vegetation type due to intensive land use. Here, we evaluate MODIS GPP (MOD17) at Gwangneung deciduous forest KoFlux tower (deciduous forest; GDK) for 2006–2010 in Korea, where the forests comprise heterogeneous vegetation cover over complex terrain. The monthly MODIS GPP data overestimated the GDK measurements in a range of +15% to +34% and was fairly well correlated (R = 0.88) with the monthly variability at GDK during the growing season. In addition, the MODIS data partly represented the sharp GPP reduction during the Asian summer monsoon (June–September) when intensive precipitation considerably reduces solar radiation and disturbs the forest ecosystem. To examine the influence of subgrid scale heterogeneity on GPP estimates over the MODIS scale, the individual vegetation type and its area within a corresponding MODIS pixel were identified using a national forest type map (∼71-m spatial resolution), and the annual GPP in the same area as the MODIS pixel was estimated. This resulted in a slight reduction in the positive MODIS bias by ∼10%, with a high degree of uncertainty in the estimation. The MODIS discrepancy for GDK suggests further investigation is necessary to determine the MODIS errors associated with the site-specific aerodynamic and hydrological characteristics that are closely related to the mountainous topography. The accuracy of meteorological variables and the impact of the very cloudy conditions in East Asia also need to be assessed.     

CHAMP and GRACE accelerometer calibration by GPS-based orbit determination

Current and planned Earth observation missions are equipped with highly sensitive accelerometers. Before using the data, the instrument has to be calibrated by determining scale and bias parameters for each axis. Here, the accelerometer measurements are used in a GPS-based reduced-dynamic orbit determination approach, replacing the non-gravitational force models, and nominally daily calibration parameters are estimated. Additional empirical accelerations are estimated to account for deficiencies in the applied force models. This method is applied to 5 years of CHAMP and GRACE data, resulting in an orbit precision at the level of a few centimeters. In along-track direction the calibration parameters can be estimated freely, scale factors of 0.96 ± 0.014 and 0.95 ± 0.015 are obtained for GRACE A and B, and 0.85 ± 0.024 for CHAMP. A constant scale factor results in the smoothest bias series, with clear trends and occasional jumps. In radial and cross-track direction tight constraints to a priori biases have to be applied. Furthermore, the determined orbits are analyzed with respect to reference trajectories, and SLR, phase and KBR residuals are presented.     

Advanced architectures for real-time Delay-Doppler Map GNSS-reflectometers: The GPS reflectometer instrument for PAU (griPAU)

In recent years Global Navigation Satellite System’s signals Reflectometry (GNSS-R) has stood as a potential powerful remote sensing technique to derive scientifically relevant geophysical parameters such as ocean altimetry, sea state or soil moisture. This has brought out the need of designing and implementing appropriate receivers in order to track and process this kind of signals in real-time to avoid the storage of huge volumes of raw data. This paper presents the architecture and performance of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Reflectometer Instrument for PAU (griPAU), a real-time high resolution Delay-Doppler Map reflectometer, operating at the GPS L1 frequency with the C/A codes. The griPAU instrument computes 24 × 32 complex points DDMs with configurable resolution (Δf_Dmin = 20 Hz, Δτ_min = 0.05 chips) and selectable coherent (minimum = 1 ms, maximum = 100 ms for correlation loss Δρ < 90%) and incoherent integration times (minimum of one coherent integration period and maximum not limited but typically <1 s). A high sensitivity (DDM peak relative error = 0.9% and DDM volume relative error = 0.03% @ T_i = 1 s) and stability (Δρ/Δt = −1 s⁻¹) have been achieved by means of advanced digital design techniques.     

Exploration of groundwater potential zones mapping for hard rock region in the Jakham river basin using geospatial techniques and aquifer parameters

Geospatial techniques are useful to understand the groundwater resources assessment, development, and management. Groundwater mapping is essential to counter the excessive withdrawal of groundwater and fulfil the need of drinking, irrigation water in hard rock areas. Currently, the main problem is facing the groundwater level is decreasing due to less rainfall, climate changes and increasing demand, which is under in the hot zones. This results can be more useful for future challenges, sustainable development and demand to Jakham river basin. The main objective of this paper to demarcated the groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) using geospatial techniques for the hard rock region with the reference of aquifer parameters. In this paper, we have used to total eight thematic layers such as geomorphology, land use, soil, topographic elevation, slope, post-monsoon groundwater level (GWL), net recharge, and transmissivity, which are prepared from satellite data and field verification. All thematic layers were integrated for assigning the weights to demarcation of the groundwater potential zones in the RS and GIS environment. The selected thematic layers and features were assigned weightage and normalized by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique. Finally, the thematic layers were systematically integrated using weighted overlay analysis within a GIS environment. We have classified into five GWPZ classes i.e. very high, high, moderate, low, and very low for basin area using GIS, and AHP methods. The study area result indicated that high and moderate zone, which is confined in the central part of the basin, covers 2.43 % and 43.88 % area, respectively. The low (49.21 %) and very low (4.25%) GW potential zone is under the confined aquifer in the high slope and rock outcrops formations near the basin boundary. The final GWPZ map was validated with groundwater level fluctuation data, which illustrates the accuracy of the adopted approach. This unique approach and conclusions of this work may also help to develop the framework and policies for swiftly analyzing groundwater recharge planning, development and locating the artificial recharge structures in the other semi-arid, arid and hard rock regions.     

The water cycle in closed ecological systems: Perspectives from the Biosphere 2 and Laboratory Biosphere systems

To achieve sustainable, healthy closed ecological systems requires solutions to challenges of closing the water cycle – recycling wastewater/irrigation water/soil medium leachate and evaporated water and supplying water of required quality as needed for different needs within the facility. Engineering Biosphere 2, the first multi-biome closed ecological system within a total airtight footprint of 12,700 m² with a combined volume of 200,000 m³ with a total water capacity of some 6 × 10⁶ L of water was especially challenging because it included human inhabitants, their agricultural and technical systems, as well as five analogue ecosystems ranging from rainforest to desert, freshwater ecologies to saltwater systems like mangrove and mini-ocean coral reef ecosystems. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere – a small (40 m³ volume) soil-based plant growth facility with a footprint of 15 m² – is a very simplified system, but with similar challenges re salinity management and provision of water quality suitable for plant growth. In Biosphere 2, water needs included supplying potable water for people and domestic animals, irrigation water for a wide variety of food crops, and recycling and recovering soil nutrients from wastewater. In the wilderness biomes, providing adequately low salinity freshwater terrestrial ecosystems and maintaining appropriate salinity and pH in aquatic/marine ecosystems were challenges. The largest reservoirs in Biosphere 2 were the ocean/marsh with some 4 × 10⁶ L, soil with 1 to 2 × 10⁶ l, primary storage tank with 0 to 8 × 10⁵ L and storage tanks for condensate and soil leachate collection and mixing tanks with a capacity of 1.6 × 10⁵ L to supply irrigation for farm and wilderness ecosystems. Other reservoirs were far smaller – humidity in the atmosphere (2 × 10³ L), streams in the rainforest and savannah, and seasonal pools in the desert were orders of magnitude smaller (8 × 10⁴ L). Key technologies included condensation from humidity in the air handlers and from the glass space frame to produce high quality freshwater, wastewater treatment with constructed wetlands and desalination through reverse osmosis and flash evaporation were key to recycling water with appropriate quality throughout the Biosphere 2 facility. Wastewater from all human uses and the domestic animals in Biosphere 2 was treated and recycled through a series of constructed wetlands, which had hydraulic loading of 0.9–1.1 m³ day⁻¹ (240–290 gal d⁻¹). Plant production in the wetland treatment system produced 1210 kg dry weight of emergent and floating aquatic plant wetland which was used as fodder for the domestic animals while remaining nutrients/water was reused as part of the agricultural irrigation supply. There were pools of water with recycling times of days to weeks and others with far longer cycling times within Biosphere 2. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere with a total water reservoir of less than 500 L has far quicker cycling rapidity: for example, atmospheric residence time for water vapor was 5–20 min in the Laboratory Biosphere vs. 1–4 h in Biosphere 2, as compared with 9 days in the Earth’s biosphere. Just as in Biosphere 2, humidity in the Laboratory Biosphere amounts to a very small reservoir of water. The amount of water passing through the air in the course of a 12-h operational day is two orders of magnitude greater than the amount stored in the air. Thus, evaporation and condensation collection are vital parts of the recycle system just as in Biosphere 2. The water cycle and sustainable water recycling in closed ecological systems presents problems requiring further research – such as how to control buildup of salinity in materially closed ecosystems and effective ways to retain nutrients in optimal quantity and useable form for plant growth. These issues are common to all closed ecological systems of whatever size, including planet Earth’s biosphere and are relevant to a global environment facing increasing water shortages while maintaining water quality for human and ecosystem health. Modular biospheres offer a test bed where technical methods of resolving these problems can be tested for feasibility.     

DORIS-based point mascons for the long term stability of precise orbit solutions

In recent years non-tidal Time Varying Gravity (TVG) has emerged as the most important contributor in the error budget of Precision Orbit Determination (POD) solutions for altimeter satellites’ orbits. The Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has provided POD analysts with static and time-varying gravity models that are very accurate over the 2002–2012 time interval, but whose linear rates cannot be safely extrapolated before and after the GRACE lifespan. One such model based on a combination of data from GRACE and Lageos from 2002–2010, is used in the dynamic POD solutions developed for the Geophysical Data Records (GDRs) of the Jason series of altimeter missions and the equivalent products from lower altitude missions such as Envisat, Cryosat-2, and HY-2A. In order to accommodate long-term time-variable gravity variations not included in the background geopotential model, we assess the feasibility of using DORIS data to observe local mass variations using point mascons. In particular, we show that the point-mascon approach can stabilize the geographically correlated orbit errors which are of fundamental interest for the analysis of regional Mean Sea Level trends based on altimeter data, and can therefore provide an interim solution in the event of GRACE data loss. The time series of point-mass solutions for Greenland and Antarctica show good agreement with independent series derived from GRACE data, indicating a mass loss at rate of 210 Gt/year and 110 Gt/year respectively.     

The auroral activity during the main phase of magnetic storms

The relationship of auroral activity indices (AE, Kp, SME) with interplanetary medium parameters during the main phase of magnetic storms is studied. For the period 1990–2020, 142 magnetic storms driven by (41) Sheath, (61) CIR, and (40) ICME events are selected. It is found that the correlation coefficient between average values of the SME index and the SW electric field for Sheath (r = 0.75) is close to correlation coefficients for CIR and ICME events. The correlation coefficient between Kp_aver&Esw_aver (r = 0.72) is higher than the correlation coefficient between AE_aver&Esw_aver (r = 0.63) at the main phase of magnetic storms induced by the Sheath events. It is shown that average values of SW dynamic pressure and IMF σB fluctuations correlate each other for all types of SW.     

Atomic structure of the doubly ionized titanium Ti III ion

In this work, the atomic structure of Ti III is calculated using two methods, the Thomas-Fermi–Dirac-Amaldi (TFDA) method using the AUTOSTRUCTURE (AS) atomic structure code and the pseudo-relativistic Hartree–Fock (HFR) method using the Cowan (CW) atomic structure code. We used the terms and levels generated by the 19 configurations: 3p⁶ 3d², 3dns (n = 4–7), 3dnp (n = 4–7), 3dnd (n = 4–7), 3d nf (n = 4–7), 3p⁶ 4s²,3p⁶ 4s4p. Our calculated values are compared with available experimental and theoretical results and new theoretical data of our own are obtained.     

Variability of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere observed with GPS radio occultation bending angles and temperatures

Recently, Lewis (2009) introduced a new method for the identification of tropopause heights (TPHs) from GPS radio occultation (RO) bending angles (α)$(\alpha )$. The method uses a covariance transform to identify transitions in a ln(α)$\mathit{ln}(\alpha )$ profile. Lewis validates the results with lapse rate tropopause (LRT) heights from one year of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC data and radiosondes. In this study we apply the new method to the RO data sets from CHAMP/GRACE (2001–2009) and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (2006–2009). These results are the basis for TPH trend estimations for the time period between May 2001 and August 2009 (100 months) based on zonal monthly mean GPS RO data from CHAMP (2001–2008), GRACE (since 2006) and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (since 2006). Further, we compare the α$\alpha$ based TPH trends with LRT height trends and discuss the differences, which are largest in the subtropical regions (20°–40°) on both the northern and southern hemisphere. A global increase of the TPH between 5 and 9 m/yr is found for both methods and different data sets (CHAMP/GRACE alone and CHAMP/GRACE plus FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC). The results for the TPH trends are linked with bending angle and temperature trends in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region. Generally, an upper tropospheric warming (bending angle decrease) and a lower stratospheric cooling (bending angle increase) is noted.     

Soil carbon distribution and site characteristics in hyper-arid soils of the Atacama Desert: A site with Mars-like soils

The soil carbon content and its relation to site characteristics are important in evaluating current local, regional, and global soil C storage and projecting future variations in response to climate change. In this study we analyzed the concentration of organic and inorganic carbon and their relationship with in situ climatic and geological characteristics in 485 samples of surface soil and 17 pits from the hyper-arid area and 51 samples with 2 pits from the arid–semiarid region from the Atacama Desert located in Peru and Chile. The soil organic carbon (SOC) in hyperarid soils ranged from 1.8 to 50.9 μg C per g of soil for the 0–0.1 m profile and from 1.8 to 125.2 μg C per g of soil for the 0–1 m profile. The analysis of climatic (temperature and precipitation), elevation, and some geologic characteristics (landforms) associated with hyper-arid soils explained partially the SOC variability. On the other hand, soil inorganic carbon (SIC) contents, in the form of carbonates, ranged from 200 to 1500 μg C per g of soil for the 0–0.1 m profile and from 200 to 3000 μg C per g of soil for the 0–1.0 m profile in the driest area. The largest accumulations of organic and inorganic carbon were found near to arid–semiarid areas. In addition, the elemental carbon concentrations show that the presence of other forms of inorganic carbon (e.g. graphite, etc.) was negligible in these hyperarid soils. Overall, the top 1 m soil layer of hyperarid lands contains ∼11.6 Tg of organic carbon and 344.6 Tg of carbonate carbon. The total stored carbon was 30.8-fold the organic carbon alone. To our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the total budget carbon on the surface and shallow subsurface on ∼160,000 km² of hyperarid soils.     

The spatial distribution of galactic and anomalous cosmic rays in the heliosphere at solar minimum

The spatial distributions of galactic and anomalous cosmic rays in the heliosphere at the solar minima of Cycles 20/22 (qA > 0) and of Cycle 21 (qA < 0) are studied, using data from IMP 8, Voyagers 1/2 and Pioneer 10. It is found that the radial dependences of intensities J can be approximated by a power of radial distance r as J ∝ r^α with a different value of a constant in the inner and outer heliosphere with a transition at a radial distance of 10–15 AU. To study the physical meaning of these radial intensity profiles we examined the rigidity dependences of the intensity gradients by determining the particle mean free paths, using a simple one-dimensional modulation model. The particle mean free path λ was assumed to be a separable function of distance of the form r^γ and rigidity R of R^δ over the range of 0.5–3.0 GV in the inner and outer heliosphere. It was shown that λ of rigidity dependence of R^1.6 determined for Cycle 20/22 (qA > 0) with anomalous He is about 4–5 times larger than that of Cycle 21 (qA < 0) with R^0.9 at around 1 GV in the outer heliosphere, and that the radial dependences are r^1.4 and r^1.1, respectively, for Cycles 20/22 and for Cycle 21.     

Soil moisture mapping over the Chinese Loess Plateau using ENVISAT/ASAR data

In this paper, we used the available algorithm for soil moisture estimation over LOPEX05 (the Loess Plateau land surface process Experiment (2005)) area. The available algorithm used ENVISAT/ASAR AP mode VV polarization observational data at a low incidence angle and ground measured soil moistures. The ground measurements were performed in the summer of the 2005 during the LOPEX05 field campaign. The validated results indicate that an average difference between the soil moistures estimated from the microwave remote sensing and ground measurements is less than 0.02 cm³/cm³, with a RMS error of 2.0%, and a maximum less than 0.04 cm³/cm³. The algorithm was applied to the surface soil moisture mapping later. The results show that this algorithm is suitable for monitoring soil moisture information of the agricultural fields over the Chinese Loess Plateau, when ground land cover situation and the resolution of imagery data are taken into account. However, we also find that there are large differences over the steep slope region, the edge of mesa. The results are not acceptable for surface soil moisture estimation in these regions. Thus, the surface soil moisture retrieval in the steep slope region of the Loess Plateau need to be further investigated in the future.     

Features of the 11-year variation of galactic cosmic rays in different periods of solar magnetic cycles

Variations of galactic cosmic ray intensity have been studied based on the neutron monitors and interplanetary magnetic field experimental data for different ascending and descending epochs of solar activity. The dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the cosmic ray particles rigidity R is stronger in the maxima epoch than in the minima epoch of solar activity. For the period of 1977–1981 (qA > 0) the diffusion coefficient for the minimum epoch is, χ_min ∝ R^{0.7 ± 0.04} and for the maximum χ_max ∝ R^{1.3 ± 0.05}; for the period of 1987–1990 (qA < 0), χ_min ∝ R^{0.8 ± 0.05} and χ_max ∝ R^{1.1 ± 0.04}. The exponents ν_y and ν_z of the power spectral density of the B_y and B_z components of the IMF in the region of the frequencies (10⁻⁶– 4 × 10⁻⁶) Hz are larger for the minimum epoch of 1987 (ν_y ≈ 2.0 and ν_z ≈ 1.93) than for the maximum epoch of 1990 (ν_y ≈ 1.43 and ν_z ≈ 1.27).     

CNES/GRGS 10-day gravity field models (release 2) and their evaluation

GRACE, designed to monitor temporal variations in the fluid mass at the surface of the Earth, is still operating and providing invaluable data 7 years after launch. One hundred and ninety-nine satellite-only geopotential solutions to degree and order 50 were recomputed per 10-day interval for the period 29 July 2002–27 May 2008 using an improved data editing and solution regularization procedure. These release 2 solutions are significantly improved compared to release 1 solutions, the noise over deserts and oceans in the form of North–South striping being reduced by 20–40%. This is thanks to the tailored regularization of each individual Stokes coefficient applied in the solution procedure, and to a time-variable reference model containing mean annual, semiannual and secular variations for degrees 2–50 towards which the variations per 10-day solution are constrained. It may attenuate signals of the order of a few percent, whereas this always occurs when applying a Gaussian smoother even with a half-width smoothing radius as small as 300 km. The uncertainty of an individual point in the time series of a basin expressed in equivalent water height inferred from the 10-day solutions is approximately 20 mm. Comparison of these 10-day solutions to monthly GRACE project solutions (CSR, GFZ and JPL) shows substantial differences. Even for the largest basin, the Amazon, a 15% difference in annual amplitude is found between CNES release 2 and CSR versus GFZ and JPL. The mass-loss estimates for East and West Greenland vary by 100%. Sometimes clear outliers are detected in the GFZ and JPL solutions when a particular basin is studied, which have to be eliminated. In view of the large differences detected between the time series for specific basins, it is hazardous to draw conclusions based on a single solution.     

Scaling and universality of the thermal conductivity of liquid 4He near the superfluid transition and in restricted geometries

We present measurements of the thermal conductivity λ(t, P, L) = l/ρ(t, P, L) near the superfluid transition of ⁴He at saturated vapor pressure and confined in cylindrical geometries with radii L = 0.5 and 1.0 μm (t ≡ T/T_λ(P) − 1). For L = 1.0 μm measurements at six pressures P are presented. At and above T_λ the data are consistent with a universal scaling function F(X) = (L/ξ_o)^x/ν(ρ/ρ₀), X = (L/ξ_o)^1/νt valid for all P (ρ₀ and x are the pressure-dependent amplitude and effective exponent of the bulk resistivity ρ(t, P, ∞) = ρ₀t^x and ξ = ξ₀t^−ν is the correlation length). Indications of breakdown of scaling and universality are observed below T_λ.