Net carbon dioxide losses of northern ecosystems in response to autumn warming

The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems is particularly sensitive to climatic changes in autumn and spring, with spring and autumn temperatures over northern latitudes having risen by about 1.1 degrees C and 0.8 degrees C, respectively, over the past two decades. A simultaneous greening trend has also been observed, characterized by a longer growing season and greater photosynthetic activity. These observations have led to speculation that spring and autumn warming could enhance carbon sequestration and extend the period of net carbon uptake in the future. Here we analyse interannual variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration data and ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes. We find that atmospheric records from the past 20 years show a trend towards an earlier autumn-to-winter carbon dioxide build-up, suggesting a shorter net carbon uptake period. This trend cannot be explained by changes in atmospheric transport alone and, together with the ecosystem flux data, suggest increasing carbon losses in autumn. We use a process-based terrestrial biosphere model and satellite vegetation greenness index observations to investigate further the observed seasonal response of northern ecosystems to autumnal warming. We find that both photosynthesis and respiration increase during autumn warming, but the increase in respiration is greater. In contrast, warming increases photosynthesis more than respiration in spring. Our simulations and observations indicate that northern terrestrial ecosystems may currently lose carbon dioxide in response to autumn warming, with a sensitivity of about 0.2 PgC degrees C(-1), offsetting 90% of the increased carbon dioxide uptake during spring. If future autumn warming occurs at a faster rate than in spring, the ability of northern ecosystems to sequester carbon may be diminished earlier than previously suggested.     

Changes in carbon dioxide during an oceanic anoxic event linked to intrusion into Gondwana coals

The marine sedimentary record exhibits evidence for episodes of enhanced organic carbon burial known as 'oceanic anoxic events' (OAEs). They are characterized by carbon-isotope excursions in marine and terrestrial reservoirs and mass extinction of marine faunas. Causal mechanisms for the enhancement of organic carbon burial during OAEs are still debated, but it is thought that such events should draw down significant quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In the case of the Toarcian OAE (approximately 183 million years ago), a short-lived negative carbon-isotope excursion in oceanic and terrestrial reservoirs has been interpreted to indicate raised atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by oxidation of methane catastrophically released from either marine gas hydrates or magma-intruded organic-rich rocks. Here we test these two leading hypotheses for a negative carbon isotopic excursion marking the initiation of the Toarcian OAE using a high-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide record obtained from fossil leaf stomatal frequency. We find that coincident with the negative carbon-isotope excursion carbon dioxide is first drawn down by 350 +/- 100 p.p.m.v. and then abruptly elevated by 1,200 +/- 400 p.p.m.v, and infer a global cooling and greenhouse warming of 2.5 +/- 0.1 degrees C and 6.5 +/- 1 degrees C, respectively. The pattern and magnitude of carbon dioxide change are difficult to reconcile with catastrophic input of isotopically light methane from hydrates as the cause of the negative isotopic signal. Our carbon dioxide record better supports a magma-intrusion hypothesis, and suggests that injection of isotopically light carbon from the release of thermogenic methane occurred owing to the intrusion of Gondwana coals by Toarcian-aged Karoo-Ferrar dolerites.     

Slowdown of the meridional overturning circulation in the upper Pacific Ocean

Decadal temperature fluctuations in the Pacific Ocean have a significant effect on marine ecosystems and the climate of North America. The physical mechanisms responsible for these fluctuations are poorly understood. Some theories ascribe a central role to the wind-driven meridional overturning circulation between the tropical and subtropical oceans. Here we show, from observations over the past 50 years, that this overturning circulation has been slowing down since the 1970s, causing a decrease in upwelling of about 25% in an equatorial strip between 9 degrees N and 9 degrees S. This reduction in equatorial upwelling of relatively cool water, from 47 x 10(6) to 35 x 10(6) m3 s(-1), is associated with a rise in equatorial sea surface temperatures of about 0.8 degrees C. Another effect of the slowing circulation is a reduction in the outgassing of CO2 from the equatorial Pacific Ocean-at present the largest oceanic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.     

Liquid crystal 'blue phases' with a wide temperature range

Liquid crystal 'blue phases' are highly fluid self-assembled three-dimensional cubic defect structures that exist over narrow temperature ranges in highly chiral liquid crystals. The characteristic period of these defects is of the order of the wavelength of visible light, and they give rise to vivid specular reflections that are controllable with external fields. Blue phases may be considered as examples of tuneable photonic crystals with many potential applications. The disadvantage of these materials, as predicted theoretically and proved experimentally, is that they have limited thermal stability: they exist over a small temperature range (0.5-2 degrees C) between isotropic and chiral nematic (N*) thermotropic phases, which limits their practical applicability. Here we report a generic family of liquid crystals that demonstrate an unusually broad body-centred cubic phase (BP I*) from 60 degrees C down to 16 degrees C. We prove this with optical texture analysis, selective reflection spectroscopy, K?ssel diagrams and differential scanning calorimetry, and show, using a simple polarizer-free electro-optic cell, that the reflected colour is switched reversibly in applied electric fields over a wide colour range in typically 10 ms. We propose that the unusual behaviour of these blue phase materials is due to their dimeric molecular structure and their very high flexoelectric coefficients. This in turn sets out new theoretical challenges and potentially opens up new photonic applications.     

Acclimatization of soil respiration to warming in a tall grass prairie.

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a 1.4-5.8 degrees C average increase in the global surface temperature over the period 1990 to 2100 (ref. 1). These estimates of future warming are greater than earlier projections, which is partly due to incorporation of a positive feedback. This feedback results from further release of greenhouse gases from terrestrial ecosystems in response to climatic warming. The feedback mechanism is usually based on the assumption that observed sensitivity of soil respiration to temperature under current climate conditions would hold in a warmer climate. However, this assumption has not been carefully examined. We have therefore conducted an experiment in a tall grass prairie ecosystem in the US Great Plains to study the response of soil respiration (the sum of root and heterotrophic respiration) to artificial warming of about 2 degrees C. Our observations indicate that the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration decreases--or acclimatizes--under warming and that the acclimatization is greater at high temperatures. This acclimatization of soil respiration to warming may therefore weaken the positive feedback between the terrestrial carbon cycle and climate.     

Migration of a Late Cretaceous fish

Late Cretaceous sediments from the Western Interior of North America yield exceptionally well preserved fossils that serve as proxies for the rapidly changing climate preceding the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary (about 67-65 Myr ago). Here we reconstruct the ontogenetic history of a Maastrichtian-age fish, Vorhisia vulpes, by using the carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope ratios of four aragonite otoliths collected from the Fox Hills Formation of South Dakota. Individuals of V. vulpes spawned in brackish water (about 70-80% seawater) and during their first year migrated to open marine waters of the Western Interior Seaway, where they remained for 3 years before returning to the estuary, presumably to spawn and die. The mean delta(18)O from the marine growth phase of V. vulpes yields a seawater temperature of 18 degrees C, which is consistent with leaf physiognomy and general-circulation-model temperature estimates for the Western Interior during the latest Maastrichtian.     

生物质制取氢气和生物油液体燃料

催化水蒸气重整由生物质快速裂解得到的生物油制取氢气,催化剂C12A7-O^-／15％Mg显示了很高的活性,并在我们所研究的几种催化剂中具有最高的氢产率．在最佳重整条件（T=750℃,S／C=6．0,GHSV=26000h^-1）下,得到70％的氢产率和约93％的最大碳转化率．结果显示,氢产率和碳转化率对温度和S／C（水蒸气和碳的摩尔比）具有选择性．目前结果表明,由水蒸气重整生物油制取的生物油舍成气,用费托合成法直接合成洁净液体生物油燃料将是一个很有前景的选择．研究了由生物油合成气制备的费托合成液体燃料的特征,在典型的反应条件（T=300℃,P=1．5MPa,W／F=12．5gcat·h／mol）下,总碳转化率（包括CO和CO2）约36％,C5＋的选择性约44％．     

Subtropical to boreal convergence of tree-leaf temperatures

The oxygen isotope ratio (delta(18)O) of cellulose is thought to provide a record of ambient temperature and relative humidity during periods of carbon assimilation. Here we introduce a method to resolve tree-canopy leaf temperature with the use of delta(18)O of cellulose in 39 tree species. We show a remarkably constant leaf temperature of 21.4 +/- 2.2 degrees C across 50 degrees of latitude, from subtropical to boreal biomes. This means that when carbon assimilation is maximal, the physiological and morphological properties of tree branches serve to raise leaf temperature above air temperature to a much greater extent in more northern latitudes. A main assumption underlying the use of delta(18)O to reconstruct climate history is that the temperature and relative humidity of an actively photosynthesizing leaf are the same as those of the surrounding air. Our data are contrary to that assumption and show that plant physiological ecology must be considered when reconstructing climate through isotope analysis. Furthermore, our results may explain why climate has only a modest effect on leaf economic traits in general.     

Bacterial growth and primary production along a north-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean

The oceanic carbon cycle is mainly determined by the combined activities of bacteria and phytoplankton, but the interdependence of climate, the carbon cycle and the microbes is not well understood. To elucidate this interdependence, we performed high-frequency sampling of sea water along a north-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean. Here we report that the interaction of bacteria and phytoplankton is closely related to the meridional profile of water temperature, a variable directly dependent on climate. Water temperature was positively correlated with the ratio of bacterial production to primary production, and, more strongly, with the ratio of bacterial carbon demand to primary production. In warm latitudes (25 degrees N to 30 degrees S), we observed alternating patches of predominantly heterotrophic and autotrophic community metabolism. The calculated regression lines (for data north and south of the Equator) between temperature and the ratio of bacterial production to primary production give a maximum value for this ratio of 40% in the oligotrophic equatorial regions. Taking into account a bacterial growth efficiency of 30%, the resulting area of net heterotrophy (where the bacterial carbon demand for growth plus respiration exceeds phytoplankton carbon fixation) expands from 8 degrees N (27 degrees C) to 20 degrees S (23 degrees C). This suggests an output of CO2 from parts of the ocean to the atmosphere.     

Climate sensitivity constrained by CO2 concentrations over the past 420 million years

A firm understanding of the relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and temperature is critical for interpreting past climate change and for predicting future climate change. A recent synthesis suggests that the increase in global-mean surface temperature in response to a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, termed 'climate sensitivity', is between 1.5 and 6.2 degrees C (5-95 per cent likelihood range), but some evidence is inconsistent with this range. Moreover, most estimates of climate sensitivity are based on records of climate change over the past few decades to thousands of years, when carbon dioxide concentrations and global temperatures were similar to or lower than today, so such calculations tend to underestimate the magnitude of large climate-change events and may not be applicable to climate change under warmer conditions in the future. Here we estimate long-term equilibrium climate sensitivity by modelling carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 420 million years and comparing our calculations with a proxy record. Our estimates are broadly consistent with estimates based on short-term climate records, and indicate that a weak radiative forcing by carbon dioxide is highly unlikely on multi-million-year timescales. We conclude that a climate sensitivity greater than 1.5 degrees C has probably been a robust feature of the Earth's climate system over the past 420 million years, regardless of temporal scaling.     

A humid climate state during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum

An abrupt climate warming of 5 to 10 degrees C during the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary thermal maximum (PETM) 55 Myr ago is linked to the catastrophic release of approximately 1,050-2,100 Gt of carbon from sea-floor methane hydrate reservoirs. Although atmospheric methane, and the carbon dioxide derived from its oxidation, probably contributed to PETM warming, neither the magnitude nor the timing of the climate change is consistent with direct greenhouse forcing by the carbon derived from methane hydrate. Here we demonstrate significant differences between marine and terrestrial carbon isotope records spanning the PETM. We use models of key carbon cycle processes to identify the cause of these differences. Our results provide evidence for a previously unrecognized discrete shift in the state of the climate system during the PETM, characterized by large increases in mid-latitude tropospheric humidity and enhanced cycling of carbon through terrestrial ecosystems. A more humid atmosphere helps to explain PETM temperatures, but the ultimate mechanisms underlying the shift remain unknown.     

Termination of global warmth at the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary through productivity feedback

The onset of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum (about 55 Myr ago) was marked by global surface temperatures warming by 5-7 degrees C over approximately 30,000 yr (ref. 1), probably because of enhanced mantle outgassing and the pulsed release of approximately 1,500 gigatonnes of methane carbon from decomposing gas-hydrate reservoirs. The aftermath of this rapid, intense and global warming event may be the best example in the geological record of the response of the Earth to high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and high temperatures. This response has been suggested to include an intensified flux of organic carbon from the ocean surface to the deep ocean and its subsequent burial through biogeochemical feedback mechanisms. Here we present firm evidence for this view from two ocean drilling cores, which record the largest accumulation rates of biogenic barium--indicative of export palaeoproductivity--at times of maximum global temperatures and peak excursion values of delta13C. The unusually rapid return of delta13C to values similar to those before the methane release and the apparent coupling of the accumulation rates of biogenic barium to temperature, suggests that the enhanced deposition of organic matter to the deep sea may have efficiently cooled this greenhouse climate by the rapid removal of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.     

Large temperature drop across the Eocene-Oligocene transition in central North America

The Eocene-Oligocene transition towards a cool climate (approximately 33.5 million years ago) was one of the most pronounced climate events during the Cenozoic era. The marine record of this transition has been extensively studied. However, significantly less research has focused on continental climate change at the time, yielding partly inconsistent results on the magnitude and timing of the changes. Here we use a combination of in vivo stable isotope compositions of fossil tooth enamel with diagenetic stable isotope compositions of fossil bone to derive a high-resolution (about 40,000 years) continental temperature record for the Eocene-Oligocene transition. We find a large drop in mean annual temperature of 8.2 +/- 3.1 degrees C over about 400,000 years, the possibility of a small increase in temperature seasonality, and no resolvable change in aridity across the transition. The large change in mean annual temperature, exceeding changes in sea surface temperatures at comparable latitudes and possibly delayed in time with respect to marine changes by up to 400,000 years, explains the faunal turnover for gastropods, amphibians and reptiles, whereas most mammals in the region were unaffected. Our results are in agreement with modelling studies that attribute the climate cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene transition to a significant drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.     

A high-performance cathode for the next generation of solid-oxide fuel cells

Fuel cells directly and efficiently convert chemical energy to electrical energy. Of the various fuel cell types, solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) combine the benefits of environmentally benign power generation with fuel flexibility. However, the necessity for high operating temperatures (800-1,000 degrees C) has resulted in high costs and materials compatibility challenges. As a consequence, significant effort has been devoted to the development of intermediate-temperature (500-700 degrees C) SOFCs. A key obstacle to reduced-temperature operation of SOFCs is the poor activity of traditional cathode materials for electrochemical reduction of oxygen in this temperature regime. Here we present Ba(0.5)Sr(0.5)Co(0.8)Fe(0.2)O(3-delta)(BSCF) as a new cathode material for reduced-temperature SOFC operation. BSCF, incorporated into a thin-film doped ceria fuel cell, exhibits high power densities (1,010 mW cm(-2) and 402 mW cm(-2) at 600 degrees C and 500 degrees C, respectively) when operated with humidified hydrogen as the fuel and air as the cathode gas. We further demonstrate that BSCF is ideally suited to 'single-chamber' fuel-cell operation, where anode and cathode reactions take place within the same physical chamber. The high power output of BSCF cathodes results from the high rate of oxygen diffusion through the material. By enabling operation at reduced temperatures, BSCF cathodes may result in widespread practical implementation of SOFCs.     

Ga＿（0．5）In＿（0．5）P外延薄膜的近红外光致发光

在本工作中，首次用近红外光致发光法观察到在ＧａＡｓ衬底上用金属有机化学相沉积方法（ＭＯＣＶＤ）生长的Ｇａ＿（０．５）Ｉｎ＿（０．５）Ｐ外延薄膜所发射的１．１７、０．９９及０．８５ｅＶ的个新发光峰。其中只有１．１７ｅＶ发射与Ｇａ＿（０．５）Ｉｎ＿（０．５）Ｐ外延薄膜的部分有序结构有关。实验获得的１．１７ｅＶ发射的变温与变激发强度特性可用受主－施主对复合来很好地给予解释。该受主－施主对系由镓空位作为受主及与其最邻近的镓子格子上的碳作为施主所组成。在考察Ｇａ＿（０．５）Ｉｎ＿（０．５）Ｐ外延薄膜的部分有序结构与其受主－施主对复合能间关系的基础上，导出了受主－施主对跃迁的新的能量方程。     

Polycrystalline ZnSx Se1—x thin films deposited on ITO glass by MBE

MBE growth of ZnSx Se1-x thin films on ITO coated glass substrates were carried out using ZnS and Se Sources with the substrate temperature ranging from 270℃ to 330℃.The XRD θ/2θ spectra resulted from these films indicated that the as-grown polycrystalline ZnSx Se1-x thin films had a preferred orientation along the (111) planes.The evaluated crystal sizes as deduced from the FWHM of the XRD layer peaks showed strong growth temperature dependence,with the optimized temperature being about 290℃.Both AFM and TEM measurements of these thin films also indicated a similar growth temperature dependence.Hing qual-ity ZnSx Se1-x thin film growm at the optimized temperature had the smoothest surface with lowest RMS valus of 1.2 nm and TEM cross-sectional micrograph showing a well defined columnar structure.     

Uncovering the Neoproterozoic carbon cycle

Interpretations of major climatic and biological events in Earth history are, in large part, derived from the stable carbon isotope records of carbonate rocks and sedimentary organic matter. Neoproterozoic carbonate records contain unusual and large negative isotopic anomalies within long periods (10-100 million years) characterized by δ(13)C in carbonate (δ(13)C(carb)) enriched to more than +5 per mil. Classically, δ(13)C(carb) is interpreted as a metric of the relative fraction of carbon buried as organic matter in marine sediments, which can be linked to oxygen accumulation through the stoichiometry of primary production. If a change in the isotopic composition of marine dissolved inorganic carbon is responsible for these excursions, it is expected that records of δ(13)C(carb) and δ(13)C in organic carbon (δ(13)C(org)) will covary, offset by the fractionation imparted by primary production. The documentation of several Neoproterozoic δ(13)C(carb) excursions that are decoupled from δ(13)C(org), however, indicates that other mechanisms may account for these excursions. Here we present δ(13)C data from Mongolia, northwest Canada and Namibia that capture multiple large-amplitude (over 10 per mil) negative carbon isotope anomalies, and use these data in a new quantitative mixing model to examine the behaviour of the Neoproterozoic carbon cycle. We find that carbonate and organic carbon isotope data from Mongolia and Canada are tightly coupled through multiple δ(13)C(carb) excursions, quantitatively ruling out previously suggested alternative explanations, such as diagenesis or the presence and terminal oxidation of a large marine dissolved organic carbon reservoir. Our data from Namibia, which do not record isotopic covariance, can be explained by simple mixing with a detrital flux of organic matter. We thus interpret δ(13)C(carb) anomalies as recording a primary perturbation to the surface carbon cycle. This interpretation requires the revisiting of models linking drastic isotope excursions to deep ocean oxygenation and the opening of environments capable of supporting animals.     

4A沸石/离子液体修饰碳糊电极的电化学行为及其对多巴胺的测定

以4A沸石和1-正丁基-3-甲基咪唑六氟磷酸盐离子液体为修饰剂,制备了沸石/离子液体修饰碳糊电极,研究了该电极的电化学行为及其对多巴胺的选择性测定。实验表明:该修饰电极在铁氰化钾溶液中有一对明显的氧化还原峰,而且可逆性较好。在沸石/离子液体修饰电极上,抗坏血酸和多巴胺的峰电位差大约为225 mV;在抗坏血酸存在下,多巴胺的峰电流与浓度在5.0×10-8 mol·L-1到9.0×10-6 mol·L-1的范围内呈现良好的线性关系,检出限为4.9×10-9 mol·L-1(S/N=3)。该电极具有高灵敏性和稳定性,可用于多巴胺的检测。     

Nonlinear grassland responses to past and future atmospheric CO(2)

Carbon sequestration in soil organic matter may moderate increases in atmospheric CO(2) concentrations (C(a)) as C(a) increases to more than 500 micromol mol(-1) this century from interglacial levels of less than 200 micromol mol(-1) (refs 1 6). However, such carbon storage depends on feedbacks between plant responses to C(a) and nutrient availability. Here we present evidence that soil carbon storage and nitrogen cycling in a grassland ecosystem are much more responsive to increases in past C(a) than to those forecast for the coming century. Along a continuous gradient of 200 to 550 micromol mol(-1) (refs 9, 10), increased C(a) promoted higher photosynthetic rates and altered plant tissue chemistry. Soil carbon was lost at subambient C(a), but was unchanged at elevated C(a) where losses of old soil carbon offset increases in new carbon. Along the experimental gradient in C(a) there was a nonlinear, threefold decrease in nitrogen availability. The differences in sensitivity of carbon storage to historical and future C(a) and increased nutrient limitation suggest that the passive sequestration of carbon in soils may have been important historically, but the ability of soils to continue as sinks is limited.     

极高环境温度下的两级空调系统研究

针对极高环境温度下单级空调制冷系统运行中存在着的诸如压缩机的压缩比大，换热器热负荷大，性能系数小以及经济性差问题，采用一级节流中间不完全冷却和一组节流中间完全冷却的两级制冷系统对单级制冷系统进行改进，使压缩机制气温度降低了10℃（一级节流中间不完全冷 却）或20℃（一级节流中间完全冷却），符合排气温度的要求，同时性能系数提高了15％，因而使压缩机功耗降低，达到了提高单位工质的制冷量并使性能系数最优的目标。