Dry-wet Transition Research Articles

Interannual moisture variability on the Qinghai Plateau: Trends, patterns, and implications

Investigating surface dry-wet patterns on the Qinghai Plateau (QP) is crucial for water allocation, ecological sustainability, and climate variability adaptation strategies. Existing discrepancies in the QP dry-wet trends and distribution characteristics underscored the need for a more refined analysis. This study utilized the Thornthwaite Moisture Index (IM) to quantify changes in surface dryness and wetness under prevailing climatic conditions. Linear trend regression and ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) were applied to study the dynamic and periodic characteristics of the QP from 1980 to 2018.Our findings revealed a decrease from southeast to northwest in IM, with the semi-arid and sub-humid transition line aligning closely with the 400 mm isohyet. The dry-wet transition line exhibited a northwestward trend over the past four decades. Possibly influenced by monsoon circulation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the annual IM displayed a quasi-cycle of 3 to 5 years, manifested by a dry period (1990–2004) and a wet period (2005–2012). However, spatial differences existed, challenging the universality of the “Dry gets Drier and Wet gets Wetter (DDWW)” pattern. Precipitation (PRCP) changes could predict over 90 % of IM spatiotemporal variations. Additionally, the IM response to Average Temperature (TAVG) exhibited an inverted U-shaped curve, with a boundary (−3.8 °C) below which cooler regions became wetter and above which they became drier. The observed warming and precipitation shifts suggested that continued warming could lead to warmer and wetter climates, potentially causing ecological and environmental problems. Therefore, examining the surface moisture budget is of critical scientific and practical significance, in order to provide a decision-making basis for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Sink or carbon source? how the Opuntia cactus agroecosystem interacts in the use of carbon, nutrients and radiation in the Brazilian semi-arid region

Anthropogenic disturbances directly influence environmental processes and increase the concentration of carbon (C) in the atmosphere. Here, we compare the differences in the seasonality of the balance of carbon, energy, and radiation, as well as seek to identify the interrelationships between these environmental variables and their impact on the growth of Opuntia cactus. Data were acquired from an eddy covariance flux tower over a cactus crop agroecosystem (2019–2021) in the Brazilian semi-arid region. In addition, we use plant growth rates, carbon and nutrient stocks, evapotranspiration (ET) and water use efficiency (WUE), and radiation (RUE). We show that the closure of the surface energy balance was 71%, although there are minimal fluxes of available energy lost (29%) by unquantified processes. At all seasons, the highest net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) rate was between 11:00–13:00 (−5.75 μmol m−2 s−1). During the dry and wet-dry season, there was the lowest daily gross primary productivity (GPP) (2.5 μmol m−2 s−1) and net radiation—Rn (217.97 W m−2). Ecosystem respiration was more expressive during the wet season (2.41 μmol m−2 s−1), and maximum diurnal value of 2.65 μmol m−2 s−1. Furthermore, the latent heat flux was higher during the wet season (114.68 W m−2) and lowered in the dry season (9.39 W m−2). The net assimilation rate showed higher values during the dry-wet transition. The dry season presented higher nutrient use efficiency and WUE (14.77 g m−2 mm−1). The highest ET occurred during the wet season (227 mm), and RUE was 81.48% higher than in the dry season. Overall, the cactus was a potential C sink during the three years of assessment (NEE: −377 g C m−2 year−1; GPP: 881 g C m−2 year−1). The results help us to understand that most of the Rn energy is used in the sensible heat flux (58% ratio).

Monitoring Energy Balance, Turbulent Flux Partitioning, Evapotranspiration and Biophysical Parameters of Nopalea cochenillifera (Cactaceae) in the Brazilian Semi-Arid Environment.

The in-situ quantification of turbulent flux and evapotranspiration (ET) is necessary to monitor crop performance in stressful environments. Although cacti can withstand stressful conditions, plant responses and plant-environment interactions remain unclear. Hence, the objective of our study was to investigate the interannual and seasonal behaviour of components of the surface energy balance, environmental conditions, morphophysiological parameters, biomass yield and water relations in a crop of Nopalea cochenillifera in the semi-arid region of Brazil. The data were collected from a micrometeorological tower between 2015 and 2017. The results demonstrate that net radiation was significantly higher during the wet season. Latent heat flux was not significant between the wet season and dry season. During the dry-wet transition season in particular, sensible heat flux was higher than during the other seasons. We observed a large decline in soil heat flux during the wet season. There was no difference in ET during the wet or dry seasons; however, there was a 40% reduction during the dry-wet transition. The wet seasons and wet-dry transition showed the lowest Evaporative Stress Index. The plants showed high cladode water content and biomass during the evaluation period. In conclusion, these findings indicate high rates of growth, high biomass and a high cladode water content and explain the response of the cactus regarding energy partitioning and ET.

Indigenous ecological calendars and seasonal vector-borne diseases in the Colombian Amazon: an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach

ABSTRACT Traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous groups in the southeastern Colombian Amazon coincides in identifying the two main hydrological transition periods (wet-dry: August-November; dry-wet: March-April) as those with greater susceptibility to disease in humans. Here we analyze the association between indigenous knowledge about these two periods and the incidence of two vector-borne diseases: malaria and dengue. We researched seven “ecological calendars” from three regions in the Colombian Amazon, malaria and dengue cases reported from 2007 to 2019 by the Colombian National Institute of Health, and daily temperature and precipitation data from eight meteorological stations in the region from 1990-2019 (a climatological normal). Malaria and dengue follow a seasonal pattern: malaria has a peak from August to November, corresponding with the wet-dry transition (the “season of the worms” in the indigenous calendars), and dengue has a peak in March and April, coinciding with the dry-wet transition. Previous studies have shown a positive correlation between rainfall and dengue and a negative correlation between rainfall and malaria. However, as the indigenous ecological knowledge codified in the calendars suggests, disease prediction cannot be reduced to a linear correlation with a single environmental variable. Our data show that two major aspects of the indigenous calendars (the time of friaje as a critical marker of the year and the hydrological transition periods as periods of greater susceptibility to diseases) are supported by meteorological data and by the available information about the incidence of malaria and dengue.

Mechanism analysis of the summer dry-wet interdecadal transition in the Tarim Basin, Northwest China

Using the ERA-5 monthly reanalysis data and precipitation observations, this paper analyses the interdacal dry-wet transition and its mechanism in the Tarim Basin(TB) during summer. From the long-term perspective(1961–2021), TB is in a trend of “wet in the west and dry in the east”. By taking a nine-year moving average of the precipitation(PRE), the research period is divided into three subperiods: P1(1961–1987), P2(1988–2009) and P3(2010−2021). From P1 to P3, the regional averaged Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index(SPEI) demonstrates an interdecadal turning of “wetting to drying”. During P2(1988–2009), the dynamic component of water vapor increases the zonal moisture transport, causing a slight increase in PRE. The potential evapotranspiration(PET) is weakened by the increase in PRE and relative humidity(RH), the decrease in 2-m temperature(T2m) and 10-m wind speed(10UV), resulting in the humidification of the TB. In the P3(2010–2021), the non-linear component of water vapor increases moisture convergence in the western TB, causing a significant increase in PRE. However, the decrease in RH, accompanied by increases in T2m and UV10, results in a rapid increase in PET. The TB gets dry. The South Asian high(SAH) develops southeastward, guiding more water vapor transport from the upstream westerly and the tropical Indian Ocean. The Western Pacific subtropical high(WPSH) extends northwestward, increasing water vapor convergence in the western TB. The main reason for the increased precipitation changes from increased water vapor advection to enhanced water vapor convergence. The differences in PRE formation and T2m amplitude cause the interdecadal change in RH, deriving an interdecadal transition of wet and dry in the TB. Our findings may deepen the understanding of climate change, and provide a scientific support for ecological development, and global climate governance in arid/semi-arid regions.

Cross over to collective rearrangements near the dry-wet transition in two-dimensional foams

Liquid foams respond plastically to external perturbations over some critical magnitude. This rearrangement process is directly related to the mechanical properties of the foams, playing a significant role in determining foam lifetime, deformability, elasticity, and fluidity. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the rearrangement dynamics of foams near a dry-wet transition. When a foam transforms from a dry state to a wet state, it is found that considering collective events, separated T1 events propagate in dry foams, while T1 events occur simultaneously in wet foams. This cross over to collective rearrangements is closely related to the change in local bubble arrangements and mobility. Furthermore, it is also found that a probability of collective rearrangement events occurring follows a Poisson distribution, suggesting that there is little correlation between discrete collective rearrangement events. These results constitute progress in understanding the dynamical properties of soft jammed systems, relevant for biological and material sciences as well as food science.

Effects of the Desiccation Duration on the Dynamic Responses of Biofilm Metabolic Activities to Rewetting

Global climate changes have increased the duration and frequency of river flow interruption, affecting the physical and community structure of benthic biofilms. However, the dynamic responses of biofilm metabolism during the dry-wet transition remain poorly understood. Herein, the dynamic changes in biofilm metabolic activities were investigated through mesocosm experiments under short-term (25 day) and long-term drought (90 day), followed by a 20 day rewetting. The biofilm ecosystem metabolism, as measured by gross primary production and community respiration, was significantly inhibited and turned heterotrophic during the desiccation phase and then recovered, becoming autotrophic during the rewetting period regardless of the desiccation periods due to the high resilience of the autotrophic community. However, long-term drought decreased the recovery rate of the ecosystem metabolism and also caused irreparable damage to the biofilm carbon metabolism, measured using Biolog Eco Plates. Specifically, the recovery of the total carbon metabolic activity is related to the specific carbon source utilized by biofilm microorganisms, such as polymers, carbohydrates, and carboxylic acids. However, the divergent changes of amino acids caused the failure of the total carbon metabolism in long-term drought treatments to recover to the control level even after 20 days of rewetting. This research provides direct evidence that the increased duration of non-flow periods affects biofilm-mediated carbon biogeochemical processes.

Early Warning Signals of Dry-Wet Transition Based on the Critical Slowing Down Theory: An Application in the Two-Lake Region of China

In recent years, the dry-wet transition (DWT), which often leads to regional floods and droughts, has become increasingly frequent in the Poyang Lake basin and the Dongting Lake basin (hereinafter referred to as the two-lake region). This study aims to investigate the early warning signals (EWSs) for DWT events. Firstly, based on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) at 161 meteorological stations in the two-lake region from 1961 to 2020, the two-lake region is divided into four sub-regions by the Rotational Empirical Orthogonal Function (REOF) analysis method. Then, the occurrence time of the DWT events in each sub-region is determined by the moving t-test (MTT) technique. Finally, by using two indicators (variance and the auto-correlation coefficient) to describe the critical slowing down (CSD) phenomenon, the EWSs denoting the DWT events in all sub-regions are investigated. The results reveal that there was a significant dry-to-wet (wet-to-dry) event around 1993 (2003) in the two-lake region during the last 60 years. The phenomenon of CSD, where the auto-correlation coefficient and variance increases are found in all sub-regions around 10 years before the DWT, suggests that it can be taken as an EWS for the DWT events. This study confirms the effectiveness of applying the slowing down theory in investigating the EWSs for abrupt changes in the two-lake region, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for effective prevention and mitigation against disasters in this region. Moreover, it is expected to be well-applied to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Feasibility study of fly ash as a substitute for fine aggregates in concrete and its behavior by alternate wetting and drying Process

The lack of quality material in today's rocks has led to the search for other sources. The possibility of using ash fly, a byproduct of the commercial sector, as a substitute for good mixing has been investigated in this study. This article presents the results of a research experiment conducted to evaluate the strength of concrete with fly ash instead of natural sand for 45 alternating wet-dry cycles. Consider 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% replacement of fine aggregate with fly ash and subject the concrete to 45 alternate wet-dry cycles. According to IS standards, various mechanical properties of strength tests such as compressive, tensile, bending, shear and impact strength are studied in this research work. Experimental results show that the strength of ordinary concrete with fly ash obtained from natural sand greatly increases in the dry-wet transition. For this reason, it is possible to use fly ash in wet and dry transitions by combining well and it can be used effectively in concrete.

Evidence for Intensification in Meteorological Drought since the 1950s and Recent Dryness–Wetness Forecasting in China

Drought is one of the major environmental stressors; drought is increasingly threatening the living environment of mankind. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) with a 12-month timescale was adopted to monitor dry–wet status over China from 1951 to 2021. The modified Mann–Kendall (MMK) and Pettitt tests were used to assess the temporal trend and nonlinear behavior of annual drought variability. The analysis focuses on the spatio-temporal structure of the dry–wet transition and its general connections with climate change processes. In addition, the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model was applied to forecast the dry–wet behavior in the next year (2022) at 160 stations, and the hotspot areas for extreme dryness–wetness in China were identified in the near term. The results indicate that the dry–wet climate in China overall exhibits interannual variability characterized by intensified drought. The climate in the Northeast China (NEC), North China (NC), Northwest China (NWC), and Southwest China (SWC) has experienced a significant (p < 0.05) drying trend; however, the dry–wet changes in the East China (EC) and South Central China (SCC) are highly spatially heterogeneous. The significant uptrend in precipitation is mainly concentrated to the west of 100° E; the rising magnitude of precipitation is higher in Eastern China near 30° N, with a changing rate of 20–40 mm/decade. Each of the sub-regions has experienced significant (p < 0.01) warming over the past 71 years. Geographically, the increase in temperature north of 30° N is noticeably higher than that south of 30° N, with trend magnitudes of 0.30–0.50 °C/decade and 0.15–0.30 °C/decade, respectively. The response of the northern part of Eastern China to the warming trend had already emerged as early as the 1980s; these responses were earlier and more intense than those south of 40° N latitude (1990s). The drying trends are statistically significant in the northern and southern regions, bounded by 30° N, with trend magnitudes of −0.30–−0.20/decade and −0.20–−0.10/decade, respectively. The northern and southwestern parts of China have experienced a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the drought level since the 1950s, which is closely related to significant warming in recent decades. This study reveals the consistency of the spatial distribution of variations in precipitation and the SPEI along 30° N latitude. A weak uptrend in the SPEI, i.e., an increase in wetness, is shown in Eastern China surrounding 30° N, with a changing rate of 0.003–0.10/decade; this is closely associated with increasing precipitation in the area. Drought forecasting indicates that recent drying areas are located in NWC, the western part of NC, the western part of SWC, and the southern part of SCC. The climate is expected to show wetting characteristics in NEC, the southeastern part of NC, and the eastern part of EC. The dry–wet conditions spanning the area between 30–40° N and 100–110° E exhibit a greater spatial variability. The region between 20–50° N and 80–105° E will continue to face intense challenges from drought in the near future. This study provides compelling evidence for the temporal variability of meteorological drought in different sub-regions of China. The findings may contribute to understanding the spatio-temporal effect of historical climate change on dry–wet variation in the region since the 1950s, particularly in the context of global warming.

A Semiautomatic Method for Predicting Subglacial Dry and Wet Zones Through Identifying Dry–Wet Transitions

In the past decades, radio-echo sounding (RES) data have been used to predict basal dry-wet distributions in glaciated regions through manual inspection of the records. Extending such work, we propose a semi-automatic method for predicting such distributions. The method improves previous work in two ways: (1) subglacial water bodies are taken as reference to correct the thresholds of dry and wet beds identification at a regional scale; and (2) five distinct features are defined and used to automatically identify the dry-wet transition, allowing a classification model based on a support vector machine. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the method is applied to airborne RES data collected in recent years over Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica. A comparative analysis of the new vs previous method was carried out in the Ridge B region of the East Antarctica and at the Thwaites Glacier region of West Antarctica. The results show the method can obtain more accurate subglacial dry-wet distribution results with larger coverage and has the potential to determine dry-wet transitions at a continental scale if applied to the full set of known Antarctic RES data.

Three-phase structure of the East Asia summer monsoon during Heinrich Stadial 4 recorded in Xianyun Cave, southeastern China

The Heinrich Stadial (HS) 4 event was the largest of the six HS events and occurred from 40.0 to 38.2 kyr BP (thousand years before present, where present = 1950 CE) recorded in Greenland ice cores. However, its structure, forcings, and related global hydroclimate variation remain poorly understood. Here, an 8-yr-resolved stalagmite δ18O record from Xianyun Cave, southeastern China, is used to reconstruct the multidecadal-to-millennial-scale changes of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) from 41.33 ± 0.09 to 37.04 ± 0.05 kyr BP. The Xianyun record shows a corresponding weak monsoon interval from 40.04 ± 0.07 to 37.76 ± 0.05 kyr BP during HS 4 and is the first direct evidence in the Asian monsoon realm to clearly reveal a three-phase EASM structure. The first phase began with a weakening monsoon from 40.04 ± 0.07 to 39.54 ± 0.06 kyr BP, associated with a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The second phase was a long weak monsoon, spanning 1.06 kyr from 39.54 ± 0.06 to 38.48 ± 0.05 kyr BP and corresponding to an ice-rafted debris event in the North Atlantic Ocean and an intense pluvial phase in Northeast (NE) Brazil, suggesting that the ITCZ lingered at its southernmost position during this interval. Following the end of this phase, EASM was gradually enhanced for 720 yrs through 37.76 ± 0.05 kyr BP. The feature expressed in the Xianyun record agrees with the variations in low-latitude climate signals recorded in the Northern Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) 17O-excess and anti-phase matches with dry-wet transition recorded in NE Brazilian stalagmites. These relations suggest multi-phased responses of tropical atmospheric/oceanic circulations to forcing from northern hemisphere high latitudes. Our findings offer essential evidence for understanding low- and high-latitude climate teleconnections and the relationship between the monsoon and the tropical hydrologic cycle.

Prediction of multiple dry-wet transition pathways with a mesoscale variational approach.

Water fluctuates in a hydrophobic confinement, forming multiple dry and wet hydration states through evaporation and condensation. Transitions between such states are critical to both thermodynamics and kinetics of solute molecular processes, such as protein folding and protein-ligand binding and unbinding. To efficiently predict such dry-wet transition paths, we develop a hybrid approach that combines a variational implicit solvation model, a generalized string method for minimum free-energy paths, and the level-set numerical implementation. This approach is applied to three molecular systems: two hydrophobic plates, a carbon nanotube, and a synthetic host molecule Cucurbit[7]uril. Without an explicit description of individual water molecules, our mesoscale approach effectively captures multiple dry and wet hydration states, multiple dry-wet transition paths, such as those geometrically symmetric and asymmetric paths, and transition states, providing activation energy barriers between different states. Further analysis shows that energy barriers depend on mesoscopic lengths, such as the separation distance between the two plates and the cross section diameter of the nanotube, and that the electrostatic interactions strongly influence the dry-wet transitions. With the inclusion of solute atomic motion, general collective variables as reaction coordinates, and the finite-temperature string method, together with an improved treatment of continuum electrostatics, our approach can be further developed to sample an ensemble of transition paths, providing more accurate predictions of the transition kinetics.

Hydroclimate variation during the Mystery Interval in the East Asian Summer Monsoon area

The inconsistency of paleoclimate records between the mid-low and high latitudes during the Mystery Interval (MI, 17.5–14.5 ka BP) is not well resolved. To provide a mechanism analysis, this study conducts spatial comparisons of hydroclimate changes in the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) region during the MI by reconstructing the paleohydrology of the south of East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) region using the molecular distributions and carbon isotope ratio of n-alkanes, as well as elemental and isotopic composition of bulk organic matter, in a sedimentary core retrieved from Dingnan (DN) wetland. The multiple indices of the DN core confirmed the occurrence of dry-wet and wet-dry transitions at ca. 17.5 ka BP and 16.0 ka BP, respectively. Synchronous with the dry-wet transition in the DN records, the Indochina Peninsula at a slightly lower latitude became wetter. In contrast, the middle Yangtze region at a more northern latitude became slightly drier, and North China did not show a hydrological variation. Moreover, the wet-dry transition at the mid-MI was strong in the Indochina Peninsula (10–20°N, at about 16.5 ka BP) and the southern EASM region (23–27°N, at about 16.0 ka BP) but was nearly absent in the middle Yangtze region (28–32°N) and North China (35–40°N). The first hydrological transition possibly connects with the synchronous southward movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the westerly jet caused by the cooling of the Northern Hemisphere. The absence of the second hydrological transition is interpreted as a result of the decoupling of the ITCZ and the westerly jet caused by the delayed formation of the ITCZ due to the warming of the Southern Hemisphere. This study reveals spatial differences in the hydroclimate variations during the MI and highlights the potential influence of coupling between the westerly jet and the ITCZ on rainfall in the ASM region.

Hydrological, Environmental and Taxonomical Heterogeneity during the Transition from Drying to Flowing Conditions in a Mediterranean Intermittent River.

Simple SummaryIn recent decades, the riverine ecosystems have been considered to evaluate the aquatic biological diversity, hydrological variations, and ecosystem services. However, climatic change scenarios and anthropogenic interventions are expected to shift from perennial to intermittent rivers with possible repercussion on aquatic biodiversity and human well-being. Our study identified a significant reduction in the Mediterranean intermittent river streamflow with an increase of zero flow days in the last decades. Furthermore, the aquatic invertebrates showed variations during the transition from drying to rewetting with a significantly changing species adapted to the flowing conditions (rheophilic taxa) to non-flowing water. The importance of the disconnected pools as refuges during the dry condition was recognised to protect some endemic species and contribute to the recolonisation after the rewetting events. Include these important aquatic ecosystems in management and conservancy policies is a challenge that will contribute to preserving the freshwater resources and the biological diversity for our future generations.Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are increasingly studied because of their often-unique aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, biogeochemical processes and associated ecosystem services. This study is the first to examine the hydrological, physicochemical and taxonomic variability during the dry-wet transition of an intermittent river in the Chilean Mediterranean Zone. Based on 30-years of river monitoring data and the TREHS tool, the hydrology of the river was characterised. Overall, the river shows a significant reduction in streamflow (−0.031 m3/s per year) and a substantial increase of zero flow days (+3.5 days per year). During the transition of hydrological states, variations were observed in the environmental conditions and invertebrate communities. During the drying phase, abundance, richness, and diversity were highest, while species turn-over was highest during base flow conditions. The disconnected pools and the flow resumption phases were characterised by high proportions of lentic taxa and non-insects, such as the endemic species of bivalves, gastropods, and crustaceans, highlighting the relevance of disconnected pools as refuges. Future climatic change scenarios are expected to impact further the hydrology of IRES, which could result in the loss of biodiversity. Biomonitoring and conservation programmes should acknowledge these important ecosystems.

Leaf-litter consumption slows crab growth but transforms mangrove food chains

Leaf litter consumption has implications for growth and nutrient balances of mangrove crabs and mangrove trophic pathways. This study (1) addressed the impact of leaf litter quality and quantity on crab life history and growth, and (2) proposed keystone roles of crabs in mangrove material fluxes. Estimates of crab standing stocks, growth, and carbon and nitrogen mass balances were obtained for a field population of Parasesarma messa, a primary consumer of leaf litter in Queensland mangroves. P. messa exhibited slow growth and individuals took >>4 yr to reach maximum size. Females appeared to breed once per year with high reproductive effort relative to other crabs. An apparent trade-off between growth and reproduction in the dry-wet transition season was caused by a shortage of available leaf litter. A nitrogen mass balance indicated that the population ingested twice the amount of nitrogen that could be supplied by leaf litter. Assuming mortality was mainly due to predation, the estimated loss to predators (28 kg ha-1 yr-1) supported a hypothesis that crab consumption by fish short-circuits mangrove food chains. Faecal production by crabs (0.48 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 and 0.03 Mg N ha-1 yr-1) represents a substantial contribution to deposit-feeding food chains. P. messa is a keystone species whose impact on ecosystem processes is large relative to its abundance and biomass.

Temporal instability of soil moisture at a hillslope scale under subtropical hydroclimatic conditions

Temporal instability, a condition of soil moisture with unstable spatiotemporal patterns, may occur when the relative roles of the controlling factors change. It impacts the applicability of the temporal stability in the prediction of soil moisture. However, the occurring frequency, degree and underlying hydrological conditions of the temporal instability are far from clear. This study aimed to examine the presence of temporal instability at the hillslope scale and to characterize and quantify the frequency, degree and underlying hydrological conditions contributing to the phenomenon. Sloping crop lands under subtropical hydrological conditions are known for their frequent transition between dry and wet periods and were chosen for this study. Soil moisture was monitored at 5 locations and at seven soil depths down to 2.2 m along a 160 m hillslope over a period of a year. Relative difference analysis was employed to evaluate the temporal stability of soil moisture. Representative locations (RLs) mainly appeared at locations with a mild slope and relatively high sand content. Daily RLs were not consistent among the study period, which has the highest proportion to be the same to those full dataset based. These proportions were depth dependent, the lowest (40%) at moderate soil layers (i.e. 50 and 80 cm) and the highest (95%) at deep soil layers (i.e. 180 and 220 cm). An obvious temporal instability was observed by the extensive ranges in the daily mean relative difference (MRD) values. If the whole dataset was used to calculate the mean soil moisture of the hillslope, it would be overestimated by 16.1% or underestimated by 18.2%. The frequency of temporal instability was low and varied over time and soil depths. For example, 17% of the time for this period was temporally unstable at 20 cm and 2% time of the study period was unstable at 220 cm. These low proportions confirm that the temporal stability remains a valid and robust tool in mean soil moisture prediction. The rainfall after a long drought period or a storm after successive rainfall probably caused the temporal instability. Therefore, caution should be exercised during the strong dry-wet transition period.

Seasonal variations in plankton trophic structure under highly eutrophic conditions

The plankton trophic structure of a hypereutrophic tropical estuarine system was evaluated in the dry and wet seasons, as well as during the dry–wet transition period, over 1 year. Correlations between micro- and mesozooplankton abundance and composition and both size-fractioned phytoplankton biomass and abiotic variables were investigated in order to understand seasonal variations in plankton interactions and provide a conceptual trophic model for the plankton community. Rainfall is the main environmental forcing factor for this system, and the plankton community responded accordingly, with different structures during each season sampled. The resulting trophic model shows a multivorous food web, where both longer microbial and shorter herbivore food webs occur simultaneously. Microzooplankton play a crucial role in this ecosystem, linking both small and large phytoplankton to the mesozooplankton. These results have important implications for estuarine management practices, particularly under highly eutrophic conditions.

Evaluation of Dry-Wet Transition in PEFC Under Load Changes Based on Laser Spectroscopy Using Fiber-Optic Probe

The low-humidity operations of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) unfortunately induce the membrane dehydration and deteriorate the proton conductivity through the membrane. Especially, when the output current rapidly rises in steps under load-change conditions, the remarkable decrease of the water concentration on the anode side temporarily occurs and it causes the sudden drop of cell voltage called the “undershoot”. To alleviate this issue, it’s necessary to grasp the dry-wet transition in a PEFC operated under low-humidity and load-change conditions. In the previous studies, the transient water distribution along flow fields of operating PEFCs was vigorously investigated using gas chromatography (GC) [1]. Although GC techniques provide more accurate gas concentrations in flow channels, it takes a long time (at least two minutes) to collect a gas sample and identify a species. As an alternative approach, several researchers have applied tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) to the measurement of the water transport in working PEFCs [2,3]. TDLAS is one of the high-speed and high-sensitive absorption spectroscopy techniques which detect the absorbance of a chemical species and identify its concentration using infrared diode laser. Since the laser beam is directly injected into gas channels of PEFCs, the in-situ monitoring of water vapor concentration can be performed on operational fuel cells with a high time resolution of millisecond. However, it’s difficult to sufficiently secure the laser beam path within millimeter-scale narrow channels. In addition, the injection of laser beam into narrow channels tends to generate optical fringe noise due to the multiple reflection. To further enhance the sensitivity and accuracy of gas sensing, it’s necessary to improve the optical system of TDLAS inside fuel cell channels. The authors developed a new TDLAS-based gas sensing system with a single-ended fiber-optic probe to highly accurately measure the water vapor distribution in narrow flow channels of fuel cells at high speed. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the gas sensor developed in this study. The small-size single-ended probe with pitch and catch fibers enables the in-situ laser diagnostics within millimeter-scale narrow channels. In this measurement system, wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) technique is adopted for high-sensitive gas detection. Furthermore, multiple detection signals are synthesized to cancel the fringe noise and improve the S/N ratio. The fiber-optic probe is directly inserted into the serpentine flow field (241 mm length, 1.0 mm width, 1.0 mm depth) of the experimental fuel cell, and the triangular modulated beam emitted from a DFB laser diode (Wavelength: 1392.5 nm) is injected into a channel through the single-mode pitch fiber. The back-reflection lights from the electrode surface are captured by six multi-mode catch fibers and converted electric signals by six photodiodes (PDs). After six signals are synthesized, the composite signal is transmitted to a lock-in amplifier and the second-harmonic (2f) spectra are obtained by phase-sensitive detection. The mole fraction of water vapor can be estimated from the peak height ratio of 2f and 4f spectra. This gas sensor was applied to evaluate the dry-wet transition in the anode channel of an operating PEFC under low-humidity and load change conditions. Fig. 2 presents the dynamic response of cell voltage and the transient water concentrations along the anode channel of a PEFC during the low-humidity and current-cycling operation. The repetitive current cycling was performed between 0.2 A/cm2 for 23 s, and 0.6 A/cm2 for 23 s. The inlet gas humidifications of the anode and cathode are 45 and 0% RH, respectively. When the current density is rapidly increased from 0.2 to 0.6 A/cm2, the large undershoot of cell voltage is observed because the water content at the anode side of the membrane is suddenly decreased by the strong electro-osmotic effect and the proton conductivity is deteriorated. It can also be seen that the water vapor concentration in the anode channel temporarily and largely drops in the downstream section (x/L=0.5-0.8). After the voltage undershoot, the cell voltage is gradually recovered because the back-diffusion of product water hydrates the membrane from the cathode to anode and reduces its ohmic resistance. The water concentration in the anode channel is gradually increased by the back-diffusion effect. It was found that the TDLAS-based gas sensing technique enables to detect the instantaneous fluctuation of water concentration in flow channels of PEFCs during load-change operations.

Biomass burning aerosol over the Amazon: analysis of aircraft, surface and satellite observations using a global aerosol model

Abstract. Vegetation fires emit large quantities of aerosol into the atmosphere, impacting regional air quality and climate. Previous work has used comparisons of simulated and observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) in regions heavily impacted by fires to suggest that emissions of aerosol particles from fires may be underestimated by a factor of 2–5. Here we use surface, aircraft and satellite observations made over the Amazon during September 2012, along with a global aerosol model to improve understanding of aerosol emissions from vegetation fires. We apply three different satellite-derived fire emission datasets (FINN, GFED, GFAS) in the model. Daily mean aerosol emissions in these datasets vary by up to a factor of 3.7 over the Amazon during this period, highlighting the considerable uncertainty in emissions. We find variable agreement between the model and observed aerosol mass concentrations. The model reproduces observed aerosol concentrations over deforestation fires well in the western Amazon during dry season conditions with FINN or GFED emissions and during dry–wet transition season conditions with GFAS emissions. In contrast, the model underestimates aerosol concentrations over savanna fires in the Cerrado environment east of the Amazon Basin with all three fire emission datasets. The model generally underestimates AOD compared to satellite and ground stations, even when the model reproduces the observed vertical profile of aerosol mass concentration. We suggest it is likely caused by uncertainties in the calculation of AOD, which are as large as ∼90 %, with the largest sensitivities due to uncertainties in water uptake and relative humidity. Overall, we do not find evidence that particulate emissions from fires are systematically underestimated in the Amazon region and we caution against using comparison with AOD to constrain particulate emissions from fires.