@article{FortesaGarciaComendadorCalsamigliaetal.2019, author = {Fortesa, Josep and Garc{\´i}a-Comendador, Julian and Calsamiglia, A. and L{\´o}pez-Taraz{\´o}n, Jos{\´e} Andr{\´e}s and Latron, J. and Alorda, B. and Estrany, Joan}, title = {Comparison of stage/discharge rating curves derived from different recording systems}, series = {The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man}, volume = {665}, journal = {The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man}, publisher = {Elsevier Science}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0048-9697}, doi = {10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.158}, pages = {968 -- 981}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Obtaining representative hydrometric values is essential for characterizing extreme events, hydrological dynamics and detecting possible changes on the long-term hydrology. Reliability of streamflow data requires a temporal continuity and a maintenance of the gauging stations, which data are affected by epistemic and random sources of error. An assessment of discharge meterings' and stage-discharge rating curves' uncertainties were carried out by comparing the accuracy of the measuring instruments of two different hydrometric networks (i.e., one analogical and one digital) established in the same river location at the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Furthermore, the effects of such uncertainties were assessed on the hydrological dynamics, considering the significant global change impacts beset this island. Evaluation was developed at four representative gauging stations of the hydrographic network with analogic (≈40 years) and digital (≈10 years) data series. The study revealed that the largest source of uncertainty in the analogical (28 to 274\%) and in the digital (17-37\%) networks were the stage-discharge rating curves. Their impact on the water resources was also evaluated at the event and annual scales, resulting in an average difference of water yields of 183\% and 142\% respectively. Such improvement on the comprehension of hydrometric networks uncertainties will dramatically benefit the interpretation of the long-term streamflow by providing better insights into the hydrologic and flood hazard planning, management and modelling.}, language = {en} } @book{RahmstorfSchellnhuber2020, author = {Rahmstorf, Stefan and Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim}, title = {Der Klimawandel}, series = {Schriftenreihe / Bundeszentrale f{\"u}r politische Bildung ; Band 10520}, journal = {Schriftenreihe / Bundeszentrale f{\"u}r politische Bildung ; Band 10520}, publisher = {Bundeszentrale f{\"u}r politische Bildung}, address = {Bonn}, isbn = {978-3-7425-0520-0}, pages = {144}, year = {2020}, language = {de} } @article{BoessenkoolBuergerHeistermann2017, author = {B{\"o}ssenkool, Berry and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Heistermann, Maik}, title = {Effects of sample size on estimation of rainfall extremes at high temperatures}, series = {Natural hazards and earth system sciences}, volume = {17}, journal = {Natural hazards and earth system sciences}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1561-8633}, doi = {10.5194/nhess-17-1623-2017}, pages = {1623 -- 1629}, year = {2017}, abstract = {High precipitation quantiles tend to rise with temperature, following the so-called Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) scaling. It is often reported that the CC-scaling relation breaks down and even reverts for very high temperatures. In our study, we investigate this reversal using observational climate data from 142 stations across Germany. One of the suggested meteorological explanations for the breakdown is limited moisture supply. Here we argue that, instead, it could simply originate from undersampling. As rainfall frequency generally decreases with higher temperatures, rainfall intensities as dictated by CC scaling are less likely to be recorded than for moderate temperatures. Empirical quantiles are conventionally estimated from order statistics via various forms of plotting position formulas. They have in common that their largest representable return period is given by the sample size. In small samples, high quantiles are underestimated accordingly. The small-sample effect is weaker, or disappears completely, when using parametric quantile estimates from a generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) fitted with L moments. For those, we obtain quantiles of rainfall intensities that continue to rise with temperature.}, language = {en} } @misc{KnapmeyerEndrunGolombekOhrnberger2017, author = {Knapmeyer-Endrun, Brigitte and Golombek, Matthew P. and Ohrnberger, Matthias}, title = {Rayleigh Wave Ellipticity Modeling and Inversion for Shallow Structure at the Proposed InSight Landing Site in Elysium Planitia, Mars}, series = {Space science reviews}, volume = {211}, journal = {Space science reviews}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {0038-6308}, doi = {10.1007/s11214-016-0300-1}, pages = {339 -- 382}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) instrument onboard the InSight mission will be the first seismometer directly deployed on the surface of Mars. From studies on the Earth and the Moon, it is well known that site amplification in low-velocity sediments on top of more competent rocks has a strong influence on seismic signals, but can also be used to constrain the subsurface structure. Here we simulate ambient vibration wavefields in a model of the shallow sub-surface at the InSight landing site in Elysium Planitia and demonstrate how the high-frequency Rayleigh wave ellipticity can be extracted from these data and inverted for shallow structure. We find that, depending on model parameters, higher mode ellipticity information can be extracted from single-station data, which significantly reduces uncertainties in inversion. Though the data are most sensitive to properties of the upper-most layer and show a strong trade-off between layer depth and velocity, it is possible to estimate the velocity and thickness of the sub-regolith layer by using reasonable constraints on regolith properties. Model parameters are best constrained if either higher mode data can be used or additional constraints on regolith properties from seismic analysis of the hammer strokes of InSight's heat flow probe HP3 are available. In addition, the Rayleigh wave ellipticity can distinguish between models with a constant regolith velocity and models with a velocity increase in the regolith, information which is difficult to obtain otherwise.}, language = {en} } @article{BaumbachSiegmundMittermeieretal.2017, author = {Baumbach, Lukas and Siegmund, Jonatan F. and Mittermeier, Magdalena and Donner, Reik Volker}, title = {Impacts of temperature extremes on European vegetation during the growing season}, series = {Biogeosciences}, volume = {14}, journal = {Biogeosciences}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1726-4170}, doi = {10.5194/bg-14-4891-2017}, pages = {4891 -- 4903}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Temperature is a key factor controlling plant growth and vitality in the temperate climates of the mid-latitudes like in vast parts of the European continent. Beyond the effect of average conditions, the timings and magnitudes of temperature extremes play a particularly crucial role, which needs to be better understood in the context of projected future rises in the frequency and/or intensity of such events. In this work, we employ event coincidence analysis (ECA) to quantify the likelihood of simultaneous occurrences of extremes in daytime land surface temperature anomalies (LSTAD) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). We perform this analysis for entire Europe based upon remote sensing data, differentiating between three periods corresponding to different stages of plant development during the growing season. In addition, we analyze the typical elevation and land cover type of the regions showing significantly large event coincidences rates to identify the most severely affected vegetation types. Our results reveal distinct spatio-temporal impact patterns in terms of extraordinarily large co-occurrence rates between several combinations of temperature and NDVI extremes. Croplands are among the most frequently affected land cover types, while elevation is found to have only a minor effect on the spatial distribution of corresponding extreme weather impacts. These findings provide important insights into the vulnerability of European terrestrial ecosystems to extreme temperature events and demonstrate how event-based statistics like ECA can provide a valuable perspective on environmental nexuses.}, language = {en} } @article{AichnerHiltPerillonetal.2017, author = {Aichner, Bernhard and Hilt, Sabine and Perillon, Cecile and Gillefalk, Mikael and Sachse, Dirk}, title = {Biosynthetic hydrogen isotopic fractionation factors during lipid synthesis in submerged aquatic macrophytes: Effect of groundwater discharge and salinity}, series = {Organic geochemistry : the international journal for rapid publication of current research in organic geochemistry and biochemistry}, volume = {113}, journal = {Organic geochemistry : the international journal for rapid publication of current research in organic geochemistry and biochemistry}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0146-6380}, doi = {10.1016/j.orggeochem.2017.07.021}, pages = {10 -- 16}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Sedimentary lipid biomarkers have become widely used tools for reconstructing past climatic and ecological changes due to their ubiquitous occurrence in lake sediments. In particular, the hydrogen isotopic composition (expressed as delta D values) of leaf wax lipids derived from terrestrial plants has been a focus of research during the last two decades and the understanding of competing environmental and plant physiological factors influencing the delta D values has greatly improved. Comparatively less attention has been paid to lipid biomarkers derived from aquatic plants, although these compounds are abundant in many lacustrine sediments. We therefore conducted a field and laboratory experiment to study the effect of salinity and groundwater discharge on the isotopic composition of aquatic plant biomarkers. We analyzed samples of the common submerged plant species, Potamogeton pectinatus (sago pondweed), which has a wide geographic distribution and can tolerate high salinity. We tested the effect of groundwater discharge (characterized by more negative delta D values relative to lake water) and salinity on the delta D values of n-alkanes from P. pectinatus by comparing plants (i) collected from the oligotrophic freshwater Lake Stechlin (Germany) at shallow littoral depth from locations with and without groundwater discharge, and (ii) plants grown from tubers collected from the eutrophic Lake Muggelsee in nutrient solution at four salinity levels. Isotopically depleted groundwater did not have a significant influence on the delta D values of n-alkanes in Lake Stechlin P. pectinatus and calculated isotopic fractionation factors epsilon(l/w) between lake water and n-alkanes averaged -137 +/- 9\%(n-C-23), -136 +/- 7\%(n-C-25) and -131 +/- 6\%(n-C-27), respectively. Similar epsilon values were calculated for plants from Lake Muggelsee grown in freshwater nutrient solution (-134 +/- 11\% for n-C-23), while greater fractionation was observed at increased salinity values of 10 (163 +/- 12\%) and 15(-172 +/- 15\%). We therefore suggest an average e value of -136 +/- 9\% between source water and the major n-alkanes in P. pectinatus grown under freshwater conditions. Our results demonstrate that isotopic fractionation can increase by 30-40\% at salinity values 10 and 15. These results could be explained either by inhibited plant growth at higher salinity, or by metabolic adaptation to salt stress that remain to be elucidated. A potential salinity effect on dD values of aquatic lipids requires further examination, since this would impact on the interpretation of downcore isotopic data in paleohydrologic studies. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{BruneCortiRanalli2017, author = {Brune, Sascha and Corti, Giacomo and Ranalli, Giorgio}, title = {Controls of inherited lithospheric heterogeneity on rift linkage: Numerical and analog models of interaction between the Kenyan and Ethiopian rifts across the Turkana depression}, series = {Tectonics}, volume = {36}, journal = {Tectonics}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0278-7407}, doi = {10.1002/2017TC004739}, pages = {1767 -- 1786}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Inherited rheological structures in the lithosphere are expected to have large impact on the architecture of continental rifts. The Turkana depression in the East African Rift connects the Main Ethiopian Rift to the north with the Kenya rift in the south. This region is characterized by a NW-SE trending band of thinned crust inherited from a Mesozoic rifting event, which is cutting the present-day N-S rift trend at high angle. In striking contrast to the narrow rifts in Ethiopia and Kenya, extension in the Turkana region is accommodated in subparallel deformation domains that are laterally distributed over several hundred kilometers. We present both analog experiments and numerical models that reproduce the along-axis transition from narrow rifting in Ethiopia and Kenya to a distributed deformation within the Turkana depression. Similarly to natural observations, our models show that the Ethiopian and Kenyan rifts bend away from each other within the Turkana region, thus forming a right-lateral step over and avoiding a direct link to form a continuous N-S depression. The models reveal five potential types of rift linkage across the preexisting basin: three types where rifts bend away from the inherited structure connecting via a (1) wide or (2) narrow rift or by (3) forming a rotating microplate, (4) a type where rifts bend towards it, and (5) straight rift linkage. The fact that linkage type 1 is realized in the Turkana region provides new insights on the rheological configuration of the Mesozoic rift system at the onset of the recent rift episode. Plain Language Summary The Turkana depression in the Kenya/Ethiopia borderland is most famous for its several million years old human fossils, but it also holds a rich geological history of continental separation. The Turkana region is a lowland located between the East African and Ethiopian domes because its crust and mantle have been stretched in a continent-wide rift event during Cretaceous times about 140-120 Ma ago. This thin lithosphere exerted paramount control on the dynamics of East African rifting in this area, which commenced around 15 Ma ago and persists until today. Combining analog "sandbox" experiments with numerical geodynamic modeling, we find that inherited rift structures explain the dramatic change in rift style from deep, narrow rift basins north and south of the Turkana area to wide, distributed deformation within the Turkana depression. The failed Cretaceous rift is also responsible for the eastward bend of the Ethiopian rift and the westward bend of the Kenyan rift when entering the Turkana depression, which generated the characteristic hook-shaped form of present-day Lake Turkana. Combing two independent modeling techniques-analog and numerical experiments-is a very promising approach allowing to draw robust conclusions about the processes that shape the surface of our planet.}, language = {en} } @article{BoersGoswamiGhil2017, author = {Boers, Niklas and Goswami, Bedartha and Ghil, Michael}, title = {A complete representation of uncertainties in layer-counted paleoclimatic archives}, series = {Climate of the past : an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union}, volume = {13}, journal = {Climate of the past : an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1814-9324}, doi = {10.5194/cp-13-1169-2017}, pages = {12}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Accurate time series representation of paleoclimatic proxy records is challenging because such records involve dating errors in addition to proxy measurement errors. Rigorous attention is rarely given to age uncertainties in paleoclimatic research, although the latter can severely bias the results of proxy record analysis. Here, we introduce a Bayesian approach to represent layer-counted proxy records - such as ice cores, sediments, corals, or tree rings - as sequences of probability distributions on absolute, error-free time axes. The method accounts for both proxy measurement errors and uncertainties arising from layer-counting-based dating of the records. An application to oxygen isotope ratios from the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) record reveals that the counting errors, although seemingly small, lead to substantial uncertainties in the final representation of the oxygen isotope ratios. In particular, for the older parts of the NGRIP record, our results show that the total uncertainty originating from dating errors has been seriously underestimated. Our method is next applied to deriving the overall uncertainties of the Suigetsu radiocarbon comparison curve, which was recently obtained from varved sediment cores at Lake Suigetsu, Japan. This curve provides the only terrestrial radiocarbon comparison for the time interval 12.5-52.8 kyr BP. The uncertainties derived here can be readily employed to obtain complete error estimates for arbitrary radiometrically dated proxy records of this recent part of the last glacial interval.}, language = {en} } @article{RachEngelsKahmenetal.2017, author = {Rach, Oliver and Engels, S. and Kahmen, A. and Brauer, Achim and Martin-Puertas, C. and van Geel, B. and Sachse, Dirk}, title = {Hydrological and ecological changes in western Europe between 3200 and 2000 years BP derived from lipid biomarker delta D values in lake Meerfelder Maar sediments}, series = {Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal}, volume = {172}, journal = {Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0277-3791}, doi = {10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.019}, pages = {44 -- 54}, year = {2017}, abstract = {One of the most significant Late Holocene climate shifts occurred around 2800 years ago, when cooler and wetter climate conditions established in western Europe. This shift coincided with an abrupt change in regional atmospheric circulation between 2760 and 2560 cal years BP, which has been linked to a grand solar minimum with the same duration (the Homeric Minimum). We investigated the temporal sequence of hydroclimatic and vegetation changes across this interval of climatic change (Homeric climate oscillation) by using lipid biomarker stable hydrogen isotope ratios (ED values) and pollen assemblages from the annually-laminated sediment record from lake Meerfelder Maar (Germany). Over the investigated interval (3200-2000 varve years BP), terrestrial lipid biomarker ED showed a gradual trend to more negative values, consistent with the western Europe long-term climate trend of the Late Holocene. At ca. 2640 varve years BP we identified a strong increase in aquatic plants and algal remains, indicating a rapid change in the aquatic ecosystem superimposed on this long-term trend. Interestingly, this aquatic ecosystem change was accompanied by large changes in ED values of aquatic lipid biomarkers, such as nC(21) and nC(23) (by between 22 and 30\%(0)). As these variations cannot solely be explained by hydroclimate changes, we suggest that these changes in the Wag value were influenced by changes in n-alkane source organisms. Our results illustrate that if ubiquitous aquatic lipid biomarkers are derived from a limited pool of organisms, changes in lake ecology can be a driving factor for variations on sedimentary lipid MN values, which then could be easily misinterpreted in terms of hydro climatic changes. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{RubeyBruneHeineetal.2017, author = {Rubey, Michael and Brune, Sascha and Heine, Christian and Davies, D. Rhodri and Williams, Simon E. and M{\"u}ller, R. Dietmar}, title = {role of subducted slabs}, series = {Solid earth}, volume = {8}, journal = {Solid earth}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1869-9510}, doi = {10.5194/se-8-899-2017}, pages = {899 -- 919}, year = {2017}, language = {en} }