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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Modeling methane dynamics in three wetlands in Northeastern China by using the CLM-Microbe model

Wetlands account for up to 70% of the natural source of methane (CH 4 ) in terrestrial ecosystems on a global scale. Soil microbes are the ultimate producers and biological consumers of CH 4 in wetlands. Therefore, simulating microbial mechanisms of CH 4 production and consumptionwould improve the predictability of CH 4 flux in wetland ecosystems. In this study, we applied a microbial-explicit model, the CLM-Microbe, to simulate CH 4 flux in three major natural wetlands in northeastern China. The CLM-Microbe model was able to capture the seasonal variation of gross primary productivity (GPP), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and CH 4 flux. The CLM-Microbe model explained more than 40% of the variation in GPP and CH 4 flux across sites. Marsh wetlands had higher CH 4 flux than mountain peatlands. Ebullition dominated the CH 4 transport pathway in all three wetlands. The methanogenesis dominates while methanotroph makes a minor contribution to the CH 4 flux, making all wetlands a CH 4 source. Sensitivity analysis indicated that microbial growth and death rates are the key factors governing CH 4 emission and vegetation physiological properties (flnr) and maintenance respiration predominate GPP variation. Explicitly simulating microbial processes allows genomic information to be incorporated, laying a foundation for better predicting CH 4 dynamics under the changing environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Soil nitrogen cycling and nitrous oxide flux in a Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir forest - Effects of fertilization, irrigation and carbon addition

Nitrous oxide fluxes and soil nitrogen transformations were measured in experimentally-treated high elevation Douglas-fir forests in northwestern New Mexico. On an annual basis, forests that were fertilized with 200 kg N/ha emitted an average of 0.66 kg/ha of N2O-N, with highest fluxes occurring in July and August when soils were both warm and wet. Control, irrigated, and woodchip treated plots were not different from each other, and annual average fluxes ranged from 0.03 to 0.23 kg/ha. Fertilized soil mineralized 277 kg/ha per year in contrast to 18 kg/ha per year in control plots. Relative recovery of (N-15)H4-N applied to soil in laboratory incubations was principally in the form of NO3-N in the fertilized soils, while recovery was mostly in microbial biomass-N in the other treatments. Fertilization apparently added nitrogen that exceeded the heterotrophic microbial demand, resulting in higher rates of nitrate production and higher nitrous oxide fluxes. Global inputs of nitrogen into forests are not currently contributing significantly to the increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.

Matson, Pamela A.↗

The great 8 MA event and the structure of the H-chondrite parent body

The H-chondrites have been the subject of several recent controversies, including the question of whether Antarctic and non-Antarctic meteorites are or are not the same and whether there or is not evidence for stratigraphic layering in the original parent body. We have identified two distinct groups of H5 chondrites in the Antarctic collection. One group has induced thermoluminescence (TL) peak temperatures less than 190 C and metallographic cooling rates between S to 50 K/Myr, similar to modern falls. It also has a variety of cosmic ray exposure ages, many being greater than 107 years. The other group has TL peak temperatures greater than 190 C, metallographic cooling rates of 100 K/Myr and cosmic ray exposure ages of 8 Ma. The members of this group were generals smaller than those of the greater than 190 C group (including the mode falls) during cosmic ray exposure. Detailed study of the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations of these groups indicates that they are not solely the result of pairing of a few unusual meteorites. It is likely that the greater than 190 C group was an important part of the H-chondrite flux about 1 million years ago, but has since decreased in importance relative to the less than 190 C group. In a previous work, we discussed several possible origins for the greater than 190 C group, including multiple H-chondrite parent bodies, unusual parent body structure, and creation during the 8 Ma event. In this paper, we present new data for H4 chondrites in light of these ideas.

Benoit, P. H.↗

Chemical studies of H chondrites. 5: Temporal variations of sources

We report Cl-36 (301-kyr half-life) data obtained by accelerator mass spectrometry allowing nominal terrestrial ages to be determined for 39 Antarctic H4-6 chondrites for which contents of volatile trace elements are known. The compositional difference between these Antarctic meteorites and 58 non-Antarctic falls increases with terrestrial age and, using multivariate statistical techniques, becomes highly significant for Antarctic samples with ages greater than 50 kyr. The compositional difference is inconsistent with trivial causes such as weathering and seems to reflect differences in thermal histories of parent sources. Temporal source variations for the H chondrite flux on Earth thus exist not only on a short-term, 40 years, basis (Dodd et al., 1993) but also on a long-term, greater than 50 kyr, basis.

Michlovich, Edward S.↗