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NASA NTRS2017

Climate Limits Across Space and Time on European Forest Structure

The impact climate has on forests has been extensively studied. However, the large scale effect climate has on forest structures, such as average diameters, heights and basal area are understudied in a spatially explicit manner. The limits, tipping points and thresholds that climate places on forest structures dictate the services a forest may provide, the vulnerability of a forest to mortality and the potential value of the timber there within. The majority of current research either investigates climate impacts on forest pools and fluxes, on a tree physiological scale or on case studies that are used to extrapolate results and potential impacts. A spatially explicit study on how climate affects forest structure over a large region would give valuable information to stakeholders who are more concerned with ecosystem services that cannot be described by pools and fluxes but require spatially explicit information - such as biodiversity, habitat suitability, and market values. In this study, we quantified the limits that climate (maximum, minimum temperature and precipitation) places on 3 forest structures, diameter at breast height, height, and basal area throughout Europe. Our results show clear climatic zones of high and low upper limits for each forest structure variable studied. We also spatially analyzed how climate restricts the potential bio-physical upper limits and creates tipping points of each forest structure variable and which climate factors are most limiting. Further, we demonstrated how the climate change has affected 8 individual forests across Europe and then the continent as a whole. We find that diameter, height and basal area are limited by climate in different ways and that areas may have high upper limits in one structure and low upper limits in another limited by different climate variables. We also found that even though individual forests may have increased their potential upper limit forest structure values, European forests as a whole have lost, on average, 5.0%, 1.7% and 6.5% in potential mean forest diameter, height and basal area, respectively.

Moreno, Adam La Salle↗

NASA NTRS2013

Insights into Spatial Sensitivities of Ice Mass Response to Environmental Change from the SeaRISE Ice Sheet Modeling Project I: Antarctica

Atmospheric, oceanic, and subglacial forcing scenarios from the Sea-level Response to Ice Sheet Evolution (SeaRISE) project are applied to six three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet models to assess Antarctic ice sheet sensitivity over a 500 year timescale and to inform future modeling and field studies. Results indicate (i) growth with warming, except within low-latitude basins (where inland thickening is outpaced by marginal thinning); (ii) mass loss with enhanced sliding (with basins dominated by high driving stresses affected more than basins with low-surface-slope streaming ice); and (iii) mass loss with enhanced ice shelf melting (with changes in West Antarctica dominating the signal due to its marine setting and extensive ice shelves; cf. minimal impact in the Terre Adelie, George V, Oates, and Victoria Land region of East Antarctica). Ice loss due to dynamic changes associated with enhanced sliding and/or sub-shelf melting exceeds the gain due to increased precipitation. Furthermore, differences in results between and within basins as well as the controlling impact of sub-shelf melting on ice dynamics highlight the need for improved understanding of basal conditions, grounding-zone processes, ocean-ice interactions, and the numerical representation of all three.

SeaRISE↗

NASA NTRS1990

Effect of shock pressure on the structure and superconducting properties of Y-Ba-Cu-O in explosively fabricated bulk metal-matrix composites

While it is now well established that copper-oxide-based powder, or virtually any other ceramic superconductor powder, can be consolidated and encapsulated within a metal matrix by explosive consolidation, the erratic superconductivity following fabrication has posed a major problem for bulk applications. The nature of this behavior was found to arise from microstructural damage created in the shock wave front, and the residual degradation in superconductivity was demonstrated to be directly related to the peak shock pressure. The explosively fabricated or shock loaded YBa2Cu3Ox examples exhibit drastically altered rho (or R) - T curves. The deterioration in superconductivity is even more noticeable in the measurement of ac magnetic susceptibility and flux exclusion or shielding fraction which is also reduced in proportion to increasing peak shock pressure. The high-frequency surface resistance (in the GHz range) is also correspondingly compromised in explosively fabricated, bulk metal-matrix composites based on YBa2Cu3O7. Transmission electron microscopy (including lattice imaging techniques) is being applied in an effort to elucidate the fundamental (microstructural) nature of the shock-induced degradation of superconductivity and normal state conductivity. One focus of TEM observations has assumed that oxygen displaced from b-chains rather than oxygen-vacancy disorder in the basal plane of oxygen deficient YBa2Cu3Ox may be a prime mechanism. Shock-wave displaced oxygen may also be locked into new positions or interstitial clusters or chemically bound to displaced metal (possibly copper) atoms to form precipitates, or such displacements may cause the equivalent of local lattice cell changes as a result of stoichiometric changes. While the shock-induced suppression of T(sub c) is not desirable in the explosive fabrication of bulk metal-matrix superconductors, it may be turned into an advantage if the atomic-scale distortion can be understood and controlled as local flux pinning sites.

Murr, L. E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Effect of shock pressure on the structure and superconducting properties of Y-Ba-Cu-O in explosively fabricated bulk metal-matrix composites

While it is now well established that copper-oxide-based power, or virtually any other ceramic superconductor powder, can be consolidated and encapsulated within a metal matrix by explosive consolidation, the erratic superconductivity following fabrication has posed a major problem for bulk applications. The nature of this behavior was found to arise from microstructural damage created in the shock wave front, and the residual degradation in superconductivity was demonstrated to be directly related to the peak shock pressure. The explosively fabricated or shock loaded YBa2Cu3Ox examples exhibit drastically altered rho (or R) - T curves. The deterioration in superconductivity is even more noticeable in the measurement of ac magnetic susceptibility and flux exclusion or shielding fraction which is also reduced in proportion to increasing peak shock pressure. The high frequency surface resistance (in the GHz range) is also correspondingly compromised in explosively fabricated, bulk metal-matrix composites based on YBa2Cu3O7. Transmission electron microscopy (including lattice imaging techniques) is being applied in an effort to elucidate the fundamental (microstructural) nature of the shock-induced degradation of superconductivity and normal state conductivity. One focus of TEM observations has assumed that oxygen displaced from b-chains rather than oxygen-vacancy disorder in the basal plane of oxygen deficient YBa2Cu3Ox may be a prime mechanism. Shock-wave displaced oxygen may also be locked into new positions or interstitial clusters or chemically bound to displaced metal (possibly copper) atoms to form precipitates, or such displacements may cause the equivalent of local lattice cell changes as a result of stoichiometric changes. While the shock-induced suppression of T(sub c) is not desirable in the explosive fabrication of bulk metal-matrix superconductors, it may be turned into an advantage if the atomic-scale distortion can be understood and controlled as local flux pinning sites.

Murr, L. E.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Derivation and Testing of Consumptive Water Use Fraction for Specialty Crops

The Crop Consumptive Use Fraction (CCUF) expresses beneficial water use in the form of seasonal evapotranspiration of applied water (ETAW), relative to total irrigation volume. The metric is an indicator of the efficiency of agricultural water use and is a recommended component for preparation of agricultural water management plans in California. An FAO-56 based web application has been developed to facilitate retrospective evaluation of ETAW, and hence CCUF, at field level. The current application is optimized for prevailing climate in four of the state’s main growing regions: San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento Valley, Central Coast, and North Coast. User inputs include crop type, soil texture, irrigation method, daily irrigation volume, daily rainfall, and seasonal start/stop dates to define the analysis period. Time series of fractional green canopy cover (Fc), based on Landsat and Sentinel-2 Earth-resource satellite observations, are imported from NASA’s Satellite Irrigation Management Support (SIMS) system. Grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo) time series are accessed from Spatial CIMIS (California Irrigation Management Information System). Daily crop height (h) is estimated as a simple function of typical maximum height for the given crop type (from FAO-56) and Fc. A vegetation density coefficient (Kd) is derived from Fc and h. Stomatal control factors during mid-and late-season are applied to tree and vine crops. Typical values for minimum daily relative humidity and mean daily windspeed, derived from historical CIMIS weather data, are used to correct for regional deviations from standard climate (defined as RHmin=45%, windspeed =2m/s). The resulting daily basal crop coefficient (Kcb) represents the ET of a well-watered crop with minimal soil evaporation, relative to ETo. A soil water balance sub-model for the top 0.1 m is used to calculate daily evaporation coefficients (Ke). A second sub-model applies to the root zone to calculate crop water stress coefficients (Ks) and effective precipitation (Pe), which is the fraction of rainfall that is available for crop use. Those coefficients are combined with Kcb and ETo to calculate daily ETc. ETAW is then derived as cumulative ETc less cumulative Pe. For verification purposes, sensor installations were used to measure seasonal ETc in commercial fields for several annual and perennial specialty crops by soil water balance and energy balance methods. Model estimates of seasonal ETc show mean absolute error of <10% compared to the ground measurements.

Derivation↗

NASA NTRS1991

Sea-level response to ice sheet evolution: An ocean perspective

The ocean's influence upon and response to Antarctic ice sheet changes is considered in relation to sea level rise over recent and future decades. Assuming present day ice fronts are in approximate equilibrium, a preliminary budget for the ice sheet is estimated from accumulation vs. iceberg calving and the basal melting that occurs beneath floating ice shelves. Iceberg calving is derived from the volume of large bergs identified and tracked by the Navy/NOAA Joint Ice Center and from shipboard observations. Basal melting exceeds 600 cu km/yr and is concentrated near the ice fronts and ice shelf grounding lines. An apparent negative mass balance for the Antarctic ice sheet may result from an anomalous calving rate during the past decade, but there are large uncertainties associated with all components of the ice budget. The results from general circulation models are noted in the context of projected precipitation increases and ocean temperature changes on and near the continent. An ocean research program that could help refine budget estimates is consistent with goals of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative.

Jacobs, Stanley S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Carbonate petrography, kerogen distribution, and carbon and oxygen isotope variations in an early Proterozoic transition from limestone to iron-formation deposition, Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa

The transition zone comprises Campbellrand microbialaminated (replacing "cryptalgalaminate") limestone and shale, with minor dolomite, conformably overlain by the Kuruman Iron Formation of which the basal part is characterized by siderite-rich microbanded iron-formation with minor magnetite and some hematite-containing units. The iron-formation contains subordinate intraclastic and microbialaminated siderite mesobands and was deposited in deeper water than the limestones. The sequence is virtually unaltered with diagenetic mineral assemblages reflecting a temperature interval of about 110 degrees to 170 degrees C and pressures of 2 kbars. Carbonate minerals in the different rock types are represented by primary micritic precipitates (now recrystallized to microsparite), early precompactional sparry cements and concretions, deep burial limpid euhedral sparites, and spar cements precipitated from metamorphic fluids in close contact with diabase sills. Paragenetic pathways of the carbonate minerals are broadly similar in all lithofacies with kerogen intimately associated with them. Kerogen occurs as pigmentation in carbonate crystals, as reworked organic detritus in clastic-textured carbonate units, and as segregations of kerogen pigment around late diagenetic carbonate crystals. Locally kerogen may also be replaced by carbonate spar. Carbon isotope compositions of the carbonate minerals and kerogen are dependent on their mode of occurrence and on the composition of the dominant carbonate species in a specific lithofacies. Integration of sedimentary, petrographic, geochemical, and isotopic results makes it possible to distinguish between depositional, early diagenetic, deep burial, and metamorphic effects on the isotopic compositions of the carbonate minerals and the kerogen in the sequence. Major conclusions are that deep burial thermal decarboxylation led to 13C depletion in euhedral ferroan sparites and 13C enrichment in kerogen (organic carbon). Metamorphic sparites are most depleted in 13C. Carbonates in oxide-rich iron-formations are more depleted in 13C than those in siderite-rich iron-formation whereas the kerogens in oxide banded iron-formations (BIF) are more enriched. This implies that the siderite-rich iron-formations were not derived from oxide-rich iron-formation through reduction of ferric iron by organic matter. Organic matter oxidation by ferric iron did, however, decrease the abundance of kerogen in oxide-rich iron-formation and led to the formation of isotopically very light sparry carbonates. Siderite and calcmicrosparite both represent recrystallized primary micritic precipitates but differ in their 13C composition, with the siderites depleted in 13C by 4.6 per mil on average relative to calcmicrosparite. This means that the siderites were precipitated from water with dissolved inorganic carbon depleted in 13C by about 9 per mil relative to that from which the limestones precipitated. This implies an ocean system stratified with regard to total carbonate, with the deeper water, from which siderite-rich iron-formation formed, depleted in 13C. Iron-formations were deposited in areas of very low organic matter supply. Depletion of 13C may, therefore, derive not from degradation of organic matter but from hydrothermal activity, a conclusion which is supported by 18O composition of the carbonate minerals and trace element and rare earth element (REE) compositions of the iron-formations.

NASA Discipline Number 52-30↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evidence for Partially Chloritized Smectite in Gale Crater, Mars, and Implications for Diagenesis

Phyllosilicates are an important mineral group found in ancient (~3.5-4.1 Gyr old) martian terrains because they are a marker of water-rock interactions and can help constrain aqueous conditions (e.g., pH, salinity, temperature) and, thus, identify habitable environments. Orbital visible/short-wave infrared (VSWIR) data demonstrate that smectite is the most abundant type of phyllosilicate on Mars, followed by chlorite [e.g., 1]. The geologic settings in which phyllosilicates are found provide important clues into their formation. Smectite has been identified in abundances of up to ~30 wt.% in early Hesperian-aged fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary rocks in Gale crater using the CheMin X-ray diffractometer on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover [e.g., 2-6]. CheMin XRD patterns and evolved water measured by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite show the structure of smectite changes from trioctahedral Fe(II)-bearing smectite at the base of the section to dioctahedral nontronite and montmorillonite ~400 m up section in the Glen Torridon valley where orbital VSWIR show evidence of Fe/Mg smectite. Most of the smectite identified by CheMin is collapsed (i.e., lacking substantial interlayer H2O) based on basal spacings at 10 Å. Fe(II) saponite found in two drill targets at the base of the section in Yellowknife Bay, however, suggest the smectite is expanded. The XRD pattern of the “Cumberland” drill target has a peak at 13.5 Å, whereas the “John Klein” drill target has a peak at 10 Å and a shoulder extending to higher d-spacings (Fig. 1) [2]. A possible explanation for this expanded structure is partial chloritization of the interlayer site caused by the precipitation of small domains of brucite-like sheets [e.g., 7,8]. Here, we synthesize smectite with different degrees of chloritization and analyze the products via XRD, evolved gas analysis (EGA), and VSWIR to determine whether chloritized smectite on Mars can be recognized with these techniques.

E B Rampe↗

NASA NTRS2019

Constraints on the Metabolic Activity of Microorganisms in Atacama Surface Soils Inferred from Refractory Biomarkers: Implications for Martian Habitability and Biomarker Detection

Dryness is one of the main environmental challenges to microbial survival. Understanding the threshold of microbial tolerance to extreme dryness is relevant to better constrain the environmental limits of life on Earth and critically evaluate long-term habitability models of Mars. Biomolecular proxies for microbial adaptation and growth were measured in Mars-like hyper-arid surface soils in the Atacama Desert that experience only a few millimeters of precipitation per decade, and in biologically active soils a few hundred kilometers away that experience two- to fivefold more precipitation. Diversity and abundance of lipids and other biomolecules decreased with increasing dryness. Cyclopropane fatty acids (CFAs), which are indicative of adaptive response to environmental stress and growth in bacteria, were only detected in the wetter surface soils. The ratio of trans to cis isomers of an unsaturated fatty acid, another bacterial stress indicator, decreased with increasingly dry conditions. Aspartic acid racemization ratios increased from 0.01 in the wetter soils to 0.1 in the driest soils, which is indicative of racemization rates comparable to de novo biosynthesis over long timescales (10,000 years). The content and integrity of stress proteins profiled by immunoassays were additional indicators that biomass in the driest soils is sin situ microbial growth in the driest surface soils of the Atacama, and any metabolic activity is likely to be basal for cellular repair and maintenance only. Our data add to a growing body of evidence that the driest Atacama surface soils represent a threshold for long-term habitability (i.e., growth and reproduction). These results place constraints on the potential for extant life on the surface of Mars, which is 100–1000 times drier than the driest regions in the Atacama.

Wilhelm, Mary Beth↗

NASA NTRS1991

Coastal lithofacies and biofacies associated with syndepositional dolomitization and silicification (Draken Formation, Upper Riphean, Svalbard)

The Draken Formation (120-250 m) of northeast Spitsbergen (Svalbard) forms part of a thick Upper Proterozoic carbonate platform succession. It consists predominantly of intraformational dolomitic conglomerates, with excellent textural preservation. Six main lithofacies were recognized in the field: quartz sandstones, stromatolitic mats, conglomerates with silicified intraclasts, dolostone conglomerates with desiccated mudrocks, oolitic/pisolitic grainstones and fenestral dolostones. A series of five main gradational biofacies were recognized from silicified (and rare calcified) microfossils. Biofacies 1 represents low-energy subtidal benthos (erect filaments) and plankton (acritarchs and vase-shaped microfossils) whereas biofacies 2 to 5 are microbial mat assemblages (with filamentous mat-builders, and associated dwellers and washed-in plankton) ranging from basal intertidal to high intertidal/supratidal. Colour values (a measure of the lightness of the colour shade) of sawn rock samples were quantified using a Munsell chart, and exhibit a pronounced variation (means of major groups varying from 4.0 to 5.95) across the spectrum of subtidal to supratidal sediments as inferred from other criteria. The lightening in progressively more exposed sediments is related to lowering of organic carbon contents, probably mainly by oxidation. Six types of early cement have been recognized. Calcite microspar (type 1) is common as a subtidal cement in many Proterozoic formations, whereas types 2 (subtidal isopachous fringes), 3 (subtidal hardground dolomicrite) and 4 (intertidal meniscus dolomicrite) are very similar to Phanerozoic examples except for their dolomitic mineralogy. Types 5 and 6 are complex and variable dolomite growths associated with expansion and replacive phenomena. They characterize the fenestral lithofacies and compare with modern supratidal cements. Consideration of diagenetic fabrics and truncation textures of intraclasts indicates that leaching, dolomitization, silicification were all significant syndepositional processes altering the original metastable carbonates. The data set provides evidence for a spectrum of peritidal environments including ooid shoals, protected subtidal, tidal sandflats and protected carbonate mudflats. Different sections show a preponderance of particular facies. The coastal lithofacies continuum was completely dolomitized, unlike offshore to ooid shoal facies of adjacent formations. Dolomitization thus bears a relationship to depositional bathymetry. Although hydrodynamics clearly have a role, the potential importance of whiting precipitation in raising Mg/Ca in marginal marine environments is also stressed.

Non-NASA Center↗