Refine
Year of publication
- 2008 (52) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (33)
- Doctoral Thesis (9)
- Book (4)
- Working Paper (4)
- Part of Periodical (1)
- Review (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (52)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (52)
Keywords
- Klimawandel (2)
- Aerosolpartikel (1)
- Alkylphenole (1)
- Archäopedologie (1)
- Atmosphäre (1)
- BTEX (1)
- BTX-Aromaten (1)
- Belize (1)
- Bewässerung (1)
- Biodegradation (1)
Institute
- Geowissenschaften (52) (remove)
Assessment of ecologically relevant hydrological change in China due to water use and reservoirs
(2008)
As China’s economy booms, increasing water use has significantly affected hydro-geomorphic processes and thus the ecology of surface waters. A large variety of hydrological changes arising from human activities such as reservoir construction and management, water abstraction, water diversion and agricultural land expansion have been sustained throughout China. Using the global scale hydrological and water use model WaterGAP, natural and anthropogenically altered flow conditions are calculated, taking into account flow alterations due to human water consumption and 580 large reservoirs. The impacts resulting from water consumption and reservoirs have been analyzed separately. A modified “Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration” approach is used to describe the human pressures on aquatic ecosystems due to anthropogenic alterations in river flow regimes. The changes in long-term average river discharge, average monthly mean discharge and coefficients of variation of monthly river discharges under natural and impacted conditions are compared and analyzed. The indicators show very significant alterations of natural river flow regimes in a large part of northern China and only minor alterations in most of southern China. The detected large alterations in long-term average river discharge, the seasonality of flows and the inter-annual variability in the northern half of China are very likely to have caused significant ecological impacts.
Samples of freshly fallen snow were collected at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch (Switzerland) in February and March 2006 and 2007, during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiments (CLACE) 5 and 6. In this study a new technique has been developed and demonstrated for the measurement of organic acids in fresh snow. The melted snow samples were subjected to solid phase extraction and resulting solution analysed for organic acids by HPLC-MS-TOF using negative electrospray ionization. A series of linear dicarboxylic acids from C5 to C13 and phthalic acid, were identified and quantified. In several samples the biogenic acid pinonic acid was also observed. In fresh snow the median concentration of the most abundant acid, adipic acid, was 0.69 µg L−1 in 2006 and 0.70 µg L−1 in 2007. Glutaric acid was the second most abundant dicarboxylic acid found with median values of 0.46 µg L−1 in 2006 and 0.61 µg L−1 in 2007, while the aromatic acid phthalic acid showed a median concentration of 0.34 µg L−1 in 2006 and 0.45 µg L−1 in 2007. The concentrations in the samples from various snowfall events varied significantly, and were found to be dependent on the back trajectory of the air mass arriving at Jungfraujoch. Air masses of marine origin showed the lowest concentrations of acids whereas the highest concentrations were measured when the air mass was strongly influenced by boundary layer air.
The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the depositional environment, the genesis and the composition of Miocene coals in the Kutai Basin, East Kalimantan, Indonesia and to improve our understanding of the factors controlling the organic and inorganic composition, variation of biomarkers, and the peat forming vegetation of the coals. To achieve the aim methods belonging to three different disciplines were applied: 1. Coal petrology (chapter 3) 2. Inorganic geochemistry: sulfur, pyrite and mineral matter distributions (chapter 4) 3. Organic geochemistry of saturated, aromatic hydrocarbon fractions and stable carbon isotopic composition (chapter 5 and 6) Coal petrology Coal developes from peat deposited in mires, mainly in swamps and raised bogs. It is therefore necessary to consider how peat was formed in the past. Coal contains a variety of plant tissues in different degrees of preservation. Tissues of distinct origin are microscopically identifiable and can frequently be related to certain parts of the plant, such as cuticles, woody structures, spores, algal, resin, etc. Together with the particles of less certain origin they are termed macerals which are the petrographic components of coal. During and after deposition of plant remains in sedimentary basins, the organic matter will undergo a sequence of physical, biochemical and chemical changes, which finally results in the formation of coals of increasing rank depending mainly on the temperature influence. The process of coalification begins with practically unaltered plant material and peat, and continues with increasing rank through brown coal, bituminous coal, and finally to anthracite as well as graphite. Coal petrography provides valuable of data of maceral and mineral percentages with reflectance values, which can be used to reconstruct the depositional environment and the coalification processes. In lower rank coals, the material is represented by a group of macerals called huminite, and in bituminous and anthracite coals by a group of macerals called vitrinite. Coal petrography analyses have been carried out on samples from some Miocene coal seams from Kutai Basin. The study has shown that huminite reflectance values of coal samples from ...
his study aims at a detailed characterization of an ultra-fine aerosol particle counting system for operation on board the Russian high altitude research aircraft M-55 "Geophysica" (maximum ceiling of 21 km). The COndensation PArticle counting Systems (COPAS) consists of an aerosol inlet and two dual-channel continuous flow Condensation Particle Counters (CPCs).
The aerosol inlet, adapted for COPAS measurements on board the M-55 "Geophysica", is described concerning aspiration, transmission, and transport losses. The counting efficiencies of the CPCs using the chlorofluorocarbon FC-43 as the working fluid are studied experimentally at two pressure conditions, 300 hPa and 70 hPa. Three COPAS channels are operated with different temperature differences between the saturator and the condenser block yielding smallest detectable particle sizes (dp50 – as 50% detection "cut off" diameters) of 6 nm, 11 nm, and 15 nm, respectively, at ambient pressure of 70 hPa. The fourth COPAS channel is operated with an aerosol heating line (250°C) for a determination of the non-volatile number of particles. The heating line is experimentally proven to volatilize pure H2SO4-H2O particles for a particle diameter (dp) range of 11 nm<dp<200 nm.
Additionally this study includes investigation to exclude auto-nucleation of the working fluid inside the CPCs. An instrumental inter-comparison (cross-correlation) has been performed for several measurement flights and mission flights in the Arctic and the Tropics are discussed. Finally, COPAS measurements are used for an aircraft plume crossing analysis.
This thesis deals with the analysis of “presolar” silicates and oxides by high resolution mass spectrometry and electron microscopy techniques. This “stardust” was identified by its extreme oxygen isotopic anomalies, which point to nucleosynthetic reactions in stellar interiors, in the carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094. Isotopic, chemical and mineralogical studies on these stardust grains therefore allow the testing of astrophysical questions on Earth, which are otherwise only accessible by spectroscopy and theoretical models. The class of presolar silicates has been identified only six years ago in 2002, although it was known already from spectroscopic observations that silicates represent the most abundant type of dust in the galaxy. The development of the “NanoSIMS” was a crucial step in this respect, because this ion probe with its superior spatial resolution of only 50 nm allowed the detection of the typically 300 nm sized presolar silicates. A total of 142 presolar silicates and 20 presolar oxides were identified within Acfer 094, whose matrix therefore contains 163 ± 14 ppm presolar silicates and 26 ± 6 ppm presolar oxides. This is among the highest amounts reported so far for any primitive solar system material. The majority of detected stardust grains derive from asymptotic giant branch stars of 1 – 2.5 Msun and close-to-solar or slightly lower-than-solar metallicity. However, by measuring the Si isotopic compositions of some enigmatic grains, it could be shown that there is a sub-class of presolar silicates characterized by an extreme enrichment of 17O and a moderate enhancement of 30Si relative to solar, whose origins might be explained by formation in binary stellar systems. About 10% of all grains exhibit an enrichment in 18O and some of them also of 28Si relative to solar, which most likely point to an origin in type II supernova explosions. The Si isotopic measurements also allowed to quantify the effect of the s-process on the Si isotopes in low-mass asymptotic giant branch stars. The results agree well with theoretical predictions. The grains were furthermore characterized by SEM and the chemistries of about half of the grains were determined by Auger electron spectroscopy. The majority of grain morphologies are consistent with what is expected from condensation experiments. However, a lot of grains are altered by Fe-rich minerals, which are either of primary condensation or of secondary ISM or solar nebula origin. Furthermore, complex presolar grains consisting of refractory Al-rich grains attached to silicate material could be identified, which have been predicted by condensation theory and observational evidence. Nine presolar silicates were analyzed by combined NanoSIMS/TEM studies. The majority of grains are Mg-rich and amorphous, which is in contrast to astrophysical evidence, which mainly postulate crystalline Mg-rich and amorphous Fe-rich circumstellar condensates. However, the grains might have been rendered amorphous by secondary processes in the ISM or could have condensed under non-equilibrium, low-temperature conditions in the circumstellar outflow. The grains are more likely characterized by a variable, pyroxene-like chemistry, which could be a result of sputtering in the ISM, which preferentially removes Mg. The detected crystalline presolar silicates in this study and in other work are all olivines, whereas grains with a pyroxene stoichiometry are all amorphous except one. This supports astrophysical models which point to different formation pathways for these two types of grains and therefore different crystallinity. However, the relatively high Fe content of three detected presolar olivines in this study and in other work is in contrast to astrophysical evidence and theoretical considerations, which predict essentially Fe-free crystalline grains. It is therefore possible that the infrared spectra might also be compatible with less Mg-rich olivines. The only crystalline presolar silicate with a pyroxene-like stoichiometry is the unusual grain 1_07: although it is chemically enstatite, the electron diffraction pattern could only be indexed to silicate perovskite, which is stable above ~23 GPa. The discovery of a high-pressure phase of presolar origin shows that dust grains encountering interstellar shocks might not necessarily be completely destroyed. In astrophysical models it is in principle also possible that a fraction of larger grains might survive such a shock wave encounter as a high-pressure modification, which is supported by this discovery.
Chemical ozone loss in winter 1991–1992 is recalculated based on observations of the HALOE satellite instrument, Version 19, ER-2 aircraft measurements and balloon data. HALOE satellite observations are shown to be reliable in the lower stratosphere below 400 K, at altitudes where the measurements are most likely disturbed by the enhanced sulfate aerosol loading, as a result of the Mt.~Pinatubo eruption in June 1991. Significant chemical ozone loss (13–17 DU) is observed below 380 K from Kiruna balloon observations and HALOE satellite data between December 1991 and March 1992. For the two winters after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, HALOE satellite observations show a stronger extent of chemical ozone loss towards lower altitudes compared to other Arctic winters between 1991 and 2003. In spite of already occurring deactivation of chlorine in March 1992, MIPAS-B and LPMA balloon observations indicate that chlorine was still activated at lower altitudes, consistent with observed chemical ozone loss occurring between February and March and April. Large chemical ozone loss of more than 70 DU in the Arctic winter 1991–1992 as calculated in earlier studies is corroborated here.
A graph theoretical approach to the analysis, comparison, and enumeration of crystal structures
(2008)
As an alternative approach to lattices and space groups, this work explores graph theory as a means to model crystal structures. The approach uses quotient graphs and nets - the graph theoretical equivalent of cells and lattices - to represent crystal structures. After a short review of related work, new classes of cycles in nets are introduced and their ability to distinguish between non-isomorphic nets and their computational complexity are evaluated. Then, two methods to estimate a structure’s density from the corresponding net are proposed. The first uses coordination sequences to estimate the number of nodes in a sphere, whereas the second method determines the maximal volume of a unit cell. Based on the quotient graph only, methods are proposed to determine whether nets consist of islands, chains, planes, or penetrating, disconnected sub-nets. An algorithm for the enumeration of crystal structures is revised and extended to a search for structures possessing certain properties. Particular attention is given to the exclusion of redundant nets and those, which, by the nature of their connectivity, cannot correspond to a crystal structure. Nets with four four-coordinated nodes, corresponding to sp3 hybridised carbon polymorphs with four atoms per unit cell, are completely enumerated in order to demonstrate the approach. In order to render quotient graphs and nets independent from crystal structures, they are reintroduced in a purely graph-theoretical way. Based on this, the issue of iso- and automorphism of nets is reexamined. It is shown that the topology of a net (that is the bonds in a crystal) constrains severely the symmetry of the embedding (that is the crystal), and in the case of connected nets the space group except for the setting. Several examples are studied and conclusions on phases are drawn (pseudo-cubic FeS2 versus pyrite; α- versus β- quartz; marcasite- versus rutile-like phases). As the automorphisms of certain quotient graphs stipulate a translational symmetry higher than an arbitrary embedding of the corresponding net would show, they are examined in more detail and a method to reduce the size of such quotient graphs is proposed. Besides two instructional examples with 2-dimensional graphs, the halite, calcite, magnesite, barytocalcite, and a strontium feldspar structures are discussed. For some of the structures it is shown that the quotient graph which is equivalent to a centred cell is reduced to a quotient graph equivalent to the primitive cell. For the partially disordered strontium feldspar, it is shown that even if it could be annealed to an ordered structure, the unit cell would likely remain unchanged. For the calcite and barytocalcite structures it is shown that the equivalent nets are not isomorphic.
Global distributions of profiles of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) have been retrieved from limb emission spectra recorded by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on Envisat covering the period September 2002 to March 2004. Individual SF6 profiles have a precision of 0.5 pptv below 25 km altitude and a vertical resolution of 4–6 km up to 35 km altitude. These data have been validated versus in situ observations obtained during balloon flights of a cryogenic whole-air sampler. For the tropical troposphere a trend of 0.230±0.008 pptv/yr has been derived from the MIPAS data, which is in excellent agreement with the trend from ground-based flask and in situ measurements from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory, Global Monitoring Division. For the data set currently available, based on at least three days of data per month, monthly 5° latitude mean values have a 1 o standard error of 1%. From the global SF6 distributions, global daily and monthly distributions of the apparent mean age of air are inferred by application of the tropical tropospheric trend derived from MIPAS data. The inferred mean ages are provided for the full globe up to 90° N/S, and have a 1 o standard error of 0.25 yr. They range between 0 (near the tropical tropopause) and 7 years (except for situations of mesospheric intrusions) and agree well with earlier observations. The seasonal variation of the mean age of stratospheric air indicates episodes of severe intrusion of mesospheric air during each Northern and Southern polar winter observed, long-lasting remnants of old, subsided polar winter air over the spring and summer poles, and a rather short period of mixing with midlatitude air and/or upward transport during fall in October/November (NH) and April/May (SH), respectively, with small latitudinal gradients, immediately before the new polar vortex starts to form. The mean age distributions further confirm that SF6 is destroyed in the mesosphere to a considerable degree. Model calculations with the Karlsruhe simulation model of the middle atmosphere (KASIMA) chemical transport model agree well with observed global distributions of the mean age only if the SF6 sink reactions in the mesosphere are included in the model.