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At least 235 records · Page 13

A Keck adaptive optics survey of a representative sample of gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxies: High spatial resolution studies of kinematics and metallicity gradients

We discuss spatially resolved emission line spectroscopy secured for a total sample of 15 gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxies at a mean redshift of z≃2 based on Keck laser-assisted adaptive optics observations undertaken with the recently improved OSIRIS integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph. By exploiting gravitationally lensed sources drawn primarily from the CASSOWARY survey, we sample these sub-L{sup ∗} galaxies with source-plane resolutions of a few hundred parsecs ensuring well-sampled 2D velocity data and resolved variations in the gas-phase metallicity. Such high spatial resolution data offer a critical check on the structural properties of larger samples derived with coarser sampling using multiple-IFU instruments. We demonstrate how kinematic complexities essential to understanding the maturity of an early star-forming galaxy can often only be revealed with better sampled data. Although we include four sources from our earlier work, the present study provides a more representative sample unbiased with respect to emission line strength. Contrary to earlier suggestions, our data indicate a more diverse range of kinematic and metal gradient behavior inconsistent with a simple picture of well-ordered rotation developing concurrently with established steep metal gradients in all but merging systems. Comparing our observations with the predictions of hydrodynamical simulations suggests that gas and metals have been mixed by outflows or other strong feedback processes, flattening the metal gradients in early star-forming galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Draft genome sequence of marine alphaproteobacterial strain HIMB11, the first cultivated representative of a unique lineage within the Roseobacter clade possessing an unusually small genome

Strain HIMB11 is a planktonic marine bacterium isolated from coastal seawater in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii belonging to the ubiquitous and versatile Roseobacter clade of the alphaproteobacterial family Rhodobacteraceae. Here we describe the preliminary characteristics of strain HIMB11, including annotation of the draft genome sequence and comparative genomic analysis with other members of the Roseobacter lineage. The 3,098,747 bp draft genome is arranged in 34 contigs and contains 3,183 protein-coding genes and 54 RNA genes. Phylogenomic and 16S rRNA gene analyses indicate that HIMB11 represents a unique sublineage within the Roseobacter clade. Comparison with other publicly available genome sequences from members of the Roseobacter lineage reveals that strain HIMB11 has the genomic potential to utilize a wide variety of energy sources (e.g. organic matter, reduced inorganic sulfur, light, carbon monoxide), while possessing a reduced number of substrate transporters.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Genome sequence of the Wenxinia marina type strain (DSM 24838 T ), a representative of the Roseobacter group isolated from oilfield sediments

Wenxinia marina Ying et al. 2007 is the type species of the genus Wenxinia, a representative of the Roseobacter group within the alphaproteobacterial family Rhodobacteraceae, isolated from oilfield sediments of the South China Sea. This family was shown to harbor the most abundant bacteria especially from coastal and polar waters, but was also found in microbial mats, sediments and attached to different kind of surfaces. Here we describe the features of W. marina strain HY34 T together with the genome sequence and annotation of strain DSM 24838 T and novel aspects of its phenotype. The 4,181,754 bp containing genome sequence encodes 4,047 protein-coding genes and 59 RNA genes. The genome of W. marina DSM 24838 T was sequenced as part of the activities of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Type Strains, Phase I: the one thousand microbial genomes (KMG) project funded by the DoE and the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 51 (TRR51) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Can general circulation models (GCMs) represent cloud liquid water path adjustments to aerosol–cloud interactions?

Abstract. General circulation models (GCMs), unlike other lines of evidence, indicate that anthropogenic aerosols cause a global-mean increase in cloud liquid water path (ℒ) and thus a negative adjustment to radiative forcing of the climate by aerosol–cloud interactions. In part 1 of this series of papers, we showed that this is true even in models that reproduce the negative correlation observed in present-day internal variability in ℒ and cloud droplet number concentration (Nd). We studied several possible confounding mechanisms that could explain the noncausal cloud–aerosol correlations in GCMs and that possibly contaminate observational estimates of radiative adjustments. Here, we perform single-column and full-atmosphere GCM experiments to investigate the causal model-physics mechanisms underlying the model radiative adjustment estimate. We find that both aerosol–cloud interaction mechanisms thought to be operating in real clouds – precipitation suppression and entrainment evaporation enhancement – are active in GCMs and behave qualitatively in agreement with physical process understanding. However, the modeled entrainment enhancement has a negligible global-mean effect. This raises the question of whether the GCM estimate is incorrect due to parametric or base-state representation errors or whether the process understanding gleaned from a limited set of canonical cloud cases is insufficiently representative of the diversity of clouds in the real climate. Regardless, even at limited resolution, the GCM physics appears able to parameterize the small-scale microphysics–turbulence interplay responsible for the entrainment enhancement mechanism. We suggest ways to resolve tension between current and future (storm-resolving) global modeling systems and other lines of evidence in synthesis climate projections.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Representing northern peatland microtopography and hydrology within the Community Land Model

Predictive understanding of northern peatland hydrology is a necessary precursor to understanding the fate of massive carbon stores in these systems under the influence of present and future climate change. Current models have begun to address microtopographic controls on peatland hydrology, but none have included a prognostic calculation of peatland water table depth for a vegetated wetland, independent of prescribed regional water tables. We introduce here a new configuration of the Community Land Model (CLM) which includes a fully prognostic water table calculation for a vegetated peatland. Our structural and process changes to CLM focus on modifications needed to represent the hydrologic cycle of bogs environment with perched water tables, as well as distinct hydrologic dynamics and vegetation communities of the raised hummock and sunken hollow microtopography characteristic of peatland bogs. The modified model was parameterized and independently evaluated against observations from an ombrotrophic raised-dome bog in northern Minnesota (S1-Bog), the site for the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change experiment (SPRUCE). Simulated water table levels compared well with site-level observations. The new model predicts hydrologic changes in response to planned warming at the SPRUCE site. At present, standing water is commonly observed in bog hollows after large rainfall events during the growing season, but simulations suggest a sharp decrease in water table levels due to increased evapotranspiration under the most extreme warming level, nearly eliminating the occurrence of standing water in the growing season. Simulated soil energy balance was strongly influenced by reduced winter snowpack under warming simulations, with the warming influence on soil temperature partly offset by the loss of insulating snowpack in early and late winter. Furthermore, the new model provides improved predictive capacity for seasonal hydrological dynamics in northern peatlands, and provides a useful foundation for investigation of northern peatland carbon exchange.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

How representative are FLUXNET measurements of surface fluxes during temperature extremes?

In response to a warming climate, temperature extremes are changing in many regions of the world. Therefore, understanding how the fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat and net ecosystem exchange respond and contribute to these changes is important. We examined 216 sites from the open access Tier 1 FLUXNET2015 and free fair-use La Thuile data sets, focussing only on observed (non-gap-filled) data periods. We examined the availability of sensible heat, latent heat and net ecosystem exchange observations coincident in time with measured temperature for all temperatures, and separately for the upper and lower tail of the temperature distribution, and expressed this availability as a measurement ratio. We showed that the measurement ratios for both sensible and latent heat fluxes are generally lower (0.79 and 0.73 respectively) than for temperature measurements, and the measurement ratio of net ecosystem exchange measurements are appreciably lower (0.42). However, sites do exist with a high proportion of measured sensible and latent heat fluxes, mostly over the United States, Europe and Australia. Few sites have a high proportion of measured fluxes at the lower tail of the temperature distribution over very cold regions (e.g. Alaska, Russia) or at the upper tail in many warm regions (e.g. Central America and the majority of the Mediterranean region), and many of the world's coldest and hottest regions are not represented in the freely available FLUXNET data at all (e.g. India, the Gulf States, Greenland and Antarctica). However, some sites do provide measured fluxes at extreme temperatures, suggesting an opportunity for the FLUXNET community to share strategies to increase measurement availability at the tails of the temperature distribution. We also highlight a wide discrepancy between the measurement ratios across FLUXNET sites that is not related to the actual temperature or rainfall regimes at the site, which we cannot explain. Our analysis provides guidance to help select eddy covariance sites for researchers interested in understanding and/or modelling responses to temperature extremes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Potential bioavailability of representative pyrogenic organic matter compounds in comparison to natural dissolved organic matter pools

Abstract. Pyrogenic organic matter (PyOM) from wildfires impacts river corridors globally and is widely regarded as resistant to biological degradation. Though recent work suggests PyOM may be more bioavailable than historically perceived, estimating bioavailability across its chemical spectrum remains elusive. To address this knowledge gap, we assessed potential bioavailability of representative PyOM compounds relative to ubiquitous dissolved organic matter (DOM) with a substrate-explicit model. The range of potential bioavailability of PyOM was greater than natural DOM; however, the predicted thermodynamics, metabolic rates, and carbon use efficiencies (CUEs) overlapped significantly between all OM pools. Compound type (e.g., natural versus PyOM) had approximately 6-fold less impact on predicted respiration rates than simulated carbon and oxygen limitations. Within PyOM, the metabolism of specific chemistries differed strongly between unlimited and oxygen-limited conditions – degradations of anhydrosugars, phenols, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were more favorable under oxygen limitation than other molecules. Notably, amino sugar-like, protein-like, and lignin-like PyOM had lower carbon use efficiencies relative to natural DOM of the same classes, indicating potential impacts in process-based model representations. Overall, our work illustrates how similar PyOM bioavailability may be to that of natural DOM in the river corridor, furthering our understanding of how PyOM may influence riverine biogeochemical cycling.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Representing northern peatland microtopography and hydrology within the Community Land Model

Predictive understanding of northern peatland hydrology is a necessary precursor to understanding the fate of massive carbon stores in these systems under the influence of present and future climate change. Current models have begun to address microtopographic controls on peatland hydrology, but none have included a prognostic calculation of peatland water table depth for a vegetated wetland, independent of prescribed regional water tables. We introduce here a new configuration of the Community Land Model (CLM) which includes a fully prognostic water table calculation for a vegetated peatland. Our structural and process changes to CLM focus on modifications needed to represent the hydrologic cycle of bogs environment with perched water tables, as well as distinct hydrologic dynamics and vegetation communities of the raised hummock and sunken hollow microtopography characteristic of peatland bogs. The modified model was parameterized and independently evaluated against observations from an ombrotrophic raised-dome bog in northern Minnesota (S1-Bog), the site for the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change experiment (SPRUCE). Simulated water table levels compared well with site-level observations. The new model predicts significant hydrologic changes in response to planned warming at the SPRUCE site. At present, standing water is commonly observed in bog hollows after large rainfall events during the growing season, but simulations suggest a sharp decrease in water table levels due to increased evapotranspiration under the most extreme warming level, nearly eliminating the occurrence of standing water in the growing season. Simulated soil energy balance was strongly influenced by reduced winter snowpack under warming simulations, with the warming influence on soil temperature partly offset by the loss of insulating snowpack in early and late winter. The new model provides improved predictive capacity for seasonal hydrological dynamics in northern peatlands, and provides a useful foundation for investigation of northern peatland carbon exchange.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Representing winter wheat in the Community Land Model (version 4.5)

Winter wheat is a staple crop for global food security, and is the dominant vegetation cover for a significant fraction of Earth's croplands. As such, it plays an important role in carbon cycling and land–atmosphere interactions in these key regions. Accurate simulation of winter wheat growth is not only crucial for future yield prediction under a changing climate, but also for accurately predicting the energy and water cycles for winter wheat dominated regions. We modified the winter wheat model in the Community Land Model (CLM) to better simulate winter wheat leaf area index, latent heat flux, net ecosystem exchange of CO 2 , and grain yield. These included schemes to represent vernalization as well as frost tolerance and damage. We calibrated three key parameters (minimum planting temperature, maximum crop growth days, and initial value of leaf carbon allocation coefficient) and modified the grain carbon allocation algorithm for simulations at the US Southern Great Plains ARM site (US-ARM), and validated the model performance at eight additional sites across North America. We found that the new winter wheat model improved the prediction of monthly variation in leaf area index, reduced latent heat flux, and net ecosystem exchange root mean square error (RMSE) by 41 and 35 % during the spring growing season. The model accurately simulated the interannual variation in yield at the US-ARM site, but underestimated yield at sites and in regions (northwestern and southeastern US) with historically greater yields by 35 %.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

GCAM v5.1: representing the linkages between energy, water, land, climate, and economic systems

This paper describes GCAM v5.1, an open source model that represents the linkages between energy, water, land, climate, and economic systems. GCAM is a market equilibrium model, is global in scope, and operates from 1990 to 2100 in 5-year time steps. It can be used to examine, for example, how changes in population, income, or technology cost might alter crop production, energy demand, or water withdrawals, or how changes in one region's demand for energy affect energy, water, and land in other regions. This paper describes the model, including its assumptions, inputs, and outputs. We then use 11 scenarios, varying the socioeconomic and climate policy assumptions, to illustrate the results from the model. The resulting scenarios demonstrate a wide range of potential future energy, water, and land uses. We compare the results from GCAM v5.1 to historical data and to future scenario simulations from earlier versions of GCAM and from other models. Finally, we provide information on how to obtain the model.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

A multirate mass transfer model to represent the interaction of multicomponent biogeochemical processes between surface water and hyporheic zones (SWAT-MRMT-R 1.0)

Abstract. Surface water quality along river corridors can be modulated by hyporheic zones (HZs) that are ubiquitous and biogeochemically active. Watershed management practices often ignore the potentially important role of HZs as a natural reactor. To investigate the effect of hydrological exchange and biogeochemical processes on the fate of nutrients in surface water and HZs, a novel model, SWAT-MRMT-R, was developed coupling the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) watershed model and the reaction module from a flow and reactive transport code (PFLOTRAN). SWAT-MRMT-R simulates concurrent nonlinear multicomponent biogeochemical reactions in both the channel water and its surrounding HZs, connecting the channel water and HZs through hyporheic exchanges using multirate mass transfer (MRMT) representation. Within the model, HZs are conceptualized as transient storage zones with distinguished exchange rates and residence times. The biogeochemical processes within HZs are different from those in the channel water. Hyporheic exchanges are modeled as multiple first-order mass transfers between the channel water and HZs. As a numerical example, SWAT-MRMT-R is applied to the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, a large river in the United States, focusing on nitrate dynamics in the channel water. Major nitrate contaminants entering the Hanford Reach include those from the legacy waste, irrigation return flows (irrigation water that is not consumed by crops and runs off as point sources to the stream), and groundwater seepage resulting from irrigated agriculture. A two-step reaction sequence for denitrification and an aerobic respiration reaction is assumed to represent the biogeochemical transformations taking place within the HZs. The spatially variable hyporheic exchange rates and residence times in this example are estimated with the basin-scale Networks with EXchange and Subsurface Storage (NEXSS) model. Our simulation results show that (1), given a residence time distribution, how the exchange fluxes to HZs are approximated when using MRMT can significantly change the amount of nitrate consumption in HZs through denitrification and (2) source locations of nitrate have a different impact on surface water quality due to the spatially variable hyporheic exchanges.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Representing surface heterogeneity in land–atmosphere coupling in E3SMv1 single-column model over ARM SGP during summertime

Abstract. The Earth's land surface features spatial and temporal heterogeneity over a wide range of scales below those resolved by current Earth system models (ESMs). State-of-the-art land and atmosphere models employ parameterizations to represent their subgrid heterogeneity, but the land–atmosphere coupling in ESMs typically operates on the grid scale. Communicating the information on the land surface heterogeneity with the overlying atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) remains a challenge in modeling land–atmosphere interactions. In order to account for the subgrid-scale heterogeneity in land–atmosphere coupling, we implement a new coupling scheme in the Energy Exascale Earth system model version 1 (E3SMv1) that uses adjusted surface variances and covariance of potential temperature and specific water content as the lower boundary condition for the atmosphere model. The new lower boundary condition accounts for both the variability of individual subgrid land surface patches and the inter-patch variability. The E3SMv1 single-column model (SCM) simulations over the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plain (SGP) site were performed to assess the impacts. We find that the new coupling parameterization increases the magnitude and diurnal cycle of the temperature variance and humidity variance in the lower ABL on non-precipitating days. The impacts are primarily attributed to subgrid inter-patch variability rather than the variability of individual patches. These effects extend vertically from the surface to several levels in the lower ABL on clear days. We also find that accounting for surface heterogeneity increases low cloud cover and liquid water path (LWP). These cloud changes are associated with the change in cloud regime indicated by the skewness of the probability density function (PDF) of the subgrid vertical velocity. In precipitating days, the inter-patch variability reduces significantly so that the impact of accounting for surface heterogeneity vanishes. These results highlight the importance of accounting for subgrid heterogeneity in land–atmosphere coupling in next-generation ESMs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Representing lateral groundwater flow from land to river in Earth system models

Lateral groundwater flow (LGF) is an important hydrologic process in controlling water table dynamics. Due to the relatively coarse spatial resolutions of land surface models, the representation of this process is often overlooked or overly simplified. In this study, we developed a hillslope-based lateral groundwater flow model. Specifically, we first developed a hillslope definition model based on an existing watershed delineation model to represent the subgrid spatial variability in topography. Building upon this hillslope definition, we then developed a physical-based lateral groundwater flow using Darcy’s equation. This model explicitly considers the relationships between the groundwater table along the hillslope and the river water table levels. We coupled this intra-grid model to the land component (E3SM Land Model: ELM) and river component (MOdel for Scale Adaptive River Transport: MOSART) of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). We tested both the hillslope definition model and the lateral groundwater flow model and performed sensitivity experiments using different configurations. Simulations for a single grid cell at 0.5°×0.5° within the Amazon basin show that the definition of hillslope is the key to modeling lateral flow processes and the runoff partition between surface and subsurface can be dramatically changed using the hillslope approach. Although our method provides a pathway to improve the lateral flow process, future improvements are needed to better capture the subgrid structure to account for the spatial variability in hillslopes within the simulated grid of land surface models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Projecting end-of-century climate extremes and their impacts on the hydrology of a representative California watershed

Abstract. In California, it is essential to understand the evolution of water resources in response to a changing climate to sustain its economy and agriculture and to build resilient communities. Although extreme conditions have characterized the historical hydroclimate of California, climate change will likely intensify hydroclimatic extremes by the end of the century (EoC). However, few studies have investigated the impacts of EoC extremes on watershed hydrology. We use cutting-edge global climate and integrated hydrologic models to simulate EoC extremes and their effects on the water-energy balance. We assess the impacts of projected driest, median, and wettest water years under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 on the hydrodynamics of the Cosumnes River basin. Substantial changes to annual average temperature (>+2.5 ∘C) and precipitation (>+38 %) will characterize the EoC extreme water years compared to their historical counterparts. A shift in the dominant form of precipitation, mostly in the form of rain, is projected to fall earlier. These changes reduce snowpack by more than 90 %, increase peak surface water and groundwater storages up to 75 % and 23 %, respectively, and drive the timing of peak storage to occur earlier in the year. Because EoC temperatures and soil moisture are high, both potential and actual evapotranspiration (ET) increase. The latter, along with the lack of snowmelt in the warm EoC, causes surface water and groundwater storages to significantly decrease in summer, with groundwater showing the highest rates of decrease. These changes result in more ephemeral EoC streams with more focused flow and increased storage in the mainstem of the river network during the summer.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Reference floating wind array designs for three representative regions

This work presents the systematic development of three open-source reference floating wind array designs. The designs are tailored to representative site conditions for three regions of the United States: Humboldt Bay off the coast of California, the Gulf of Maine, and the Gulf of America. We adopted existing reference designs for the individual 15 MW turbines, semisubmersible floating platforms, substations, mooring systems, and power cables – integrating and adapting them as needed for each location. We adapted existing dynamic cable designs to use larger conductor sizes to meet the arrays' power transmission requirements, and we set up redundant mooring systems for each substation. The layout of each array is a uniform-grid design optimized to approximately minimize the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) within a square lease area while satisfying spatial constraints. These constraints ensure adequate clearances between adjacent turbines and between underwater components during the layout optimization to prevent clashing and ensure that all components reside within the lease boundaries. Substations are included to allow accounting for intra-array cable costs. They are placed within the uniform grid to maintain the navigability of the arrays. For each feasible layout considered, annual energy production and cable routing costs are calculated and updated in the LCOE objective function. After the optimization, we refined the cable routing with a mix of algorithmic and manual methods to ensure that the cables avoid mooring system components and approach the substation with adequate clearances. We confirmed the suitability of each reference array's layout by comparing the wake losses at each wind heading angle to the wind rose, observing that the optimized layouts largely avoid wake losses in the predominant wind directions. These reference arrays provide open-source baseline designs to enable future research and innovation of floating wind technology at the array scale.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Nuclear Data Impact on Key Metrics for a Representative Molten Chloride Fast Reactor Model

Nuclear data are an essential component of the foundation on which all modeling and simulation methods and tools are relying upon, from the front end to the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. In this study, the impact of uncertainties in nuclear data is investigated for a representative molten chloride fast reactor, for several important metrics, including eigenvalue, reactivity differences, and nuclide inventories in fuel at 5-yr irradiation. Uncertainty of keff for a full core model was found to be similar between the fresh fuel and the irradiated fuel states (1.7-1.8%), with its primary driver being the uncertainty in the 235U (n,γ) cross section. The results obtained for the reactivity differences show large uncertainties, of over 100%, in elastic scattering sensitivities of several nuclides, which led to large uncertainties of temperature reactivity differences for cladding and reflector. These results provide evidence that the currently applied methods may not be sufficiently adequate for ensuring the reliable determination of such metrics.

Procop, Germina [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000342226393)↗

MSD CoP Webinar: Representing Climate Impacts in Scenaros

Context: This webinar was hosted by the MultiSector Dynamics Community of Practice (MSD CoP; https://multisectordynamics.org). Abstract: Scenarios of future emissions and land use have been most commonly produced without accounting for the effects that climate impacts linked to those emissions and land use changes may have. The questions of how important such impacts could be, at the regional or global scale, has become an increasingly cogent one. Using the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM), we implement climate impacts on water supply, agricultural productivity, and energy demand driven by climatic impact drivers whose evolution over the 21st century is representative of a climate consistent with GCAM's reference scenario and compare the output to the reference at both regional and global scales. We show that the impacts from the version of GCAM that uses GDP as an exogenous input are not sufficient to bend emission pathways at the global scale. However, we see effects emerge at the regional scale in terms of emissions, among other metrics linked to water, land and energy. We expect the impacts to become more significant at an aggregate, global scale in a forthcoming version of the model with endogenous GDP. Meanwhile, we document the mechanisms that drive the difference at regional scales which could still be significant in their impacts for individual economies and populations. Presenters: Dr. Claudia Tebaldi (Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Moderator(s): Jennifer Morris (MSD CoP SSG member), Patrick Reed (MSD CoP Facilitation Team Member, Moderator and Organizer) This webinar was held on: November 5, 2024 from 1 PM - 2:15 PM ET

Climate Scenarios↗