Global Temperature Gradient Research Articles

Global convergence in leaf respiration from estimates of thermal acclimation across time and space.

Recent compilations of experimental and observational data have documented global temperature-dependent patterns of variation in leaf dark respiration (R), but it remains unclear whether local adjustments in respiration over time (through thermal acclimation) are consistent with the patterns in R found across geographical temperature gradients. We integrated results from two global empirical syntheses into a simple temperature-dependent respiration framework to compare the measured effects of respiration acclimation-over-time and variation-across-space to one another, and to a null model in which acclimation is ignored. Using these models, we projected the influence of thermal acclimation on: seasonal variation in R; spatial variation in mean annual R across a global temperature gradient; and future increases in R under climate change. The measured strength of acclimation-over-time produces differences in annual R across spatial temperature gradients that agree well with global variation-across-space. Our models further project that acclimation effects could potentially halve increases in R (compared with the null model) as the climate warms over the 21st Century. Convergence in global temperature-dependent patterns of R indicates that physiological adjustments arising from thermal acclimation are capable of explaining observed variation in leaf respiration at ambient growth temperatures across the globe.

Summer Precipitation Variability in the Han River Basin within the Context of Global Temperature Gradients

본 연구에서는 대표적인 전지구 온도지표인 LOC/MTG 온도인자를 이용하여 기후변동성(Climate Variability)을 파악하고 관측수문량의 상대적 변화분석을 위한 특성자료로 활용하였다. 여기서, LOC (Land-Ocean Contrast)는 중위도 지역에서 대륙과 해양의 온도의 차이를 나타내는 지수이며, 고위도 및 아열대 지역의 남북간 기온의 차이는 MTG (Meridional Temperature Gradient)로 정의된다. LOC/MTG 두 패턴의 남북 또는 동서 지점의 변화는 동아시아 지역에서의 대기순환패턴의 변화와 그와 관련된 대기수분이송에 직간접적인 영향인자로서 작용될 수 있다. 또한, 여름철 동아시아의 수문기상의 변화는 식수, 관개용수, 수력발전 및 수산산업과 연관성이 매우 크며, 인간과 자연의 상호관계를 유지하기 위한 지속가능한 수자원의 공급에 중요한 결정요소이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 한강유역을 대상으로 6월에서 9월 사이에 발생한 여름철 강우 중에서 태풍에 의해 유발된 강우를 제외하고 몬순기후에 의한 한반도 유역의 지역적 강우 특성을 분석하였다. 한강 몬순강우와의 통계적 상관성 분석을 실시한 결과, 여름철 몬순강우의 변화에 민감하게 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. In this study, two global simple indices are used to investigate climate variability and change in observations. Land-Ocean Contrast (LOC) is an index of area-averaged surface temperature contrast between land and ocean. Meridional Temperature Gradient (MTG) is defined as the mean meridional temperature gradient in the Northern Hemisphere from mid to high latitude and sub-tropical zonal bands. These indices have direct or indirect effects on changing in atmospheric circulations and atmospheric moisture transport from north-south or east-west into East Asia (EA). In addition, warm season hydrometeorology in EA is highly associated with water supplies for coupled human and natural systems including drinking water, irrigation, hydropower generation as well as fisheries. Therefore, in this study, we developed an empirical separation approach for summer rainfall from typhoon and monsoon. An exploratory analysis was also conducted to identify the regional patterns of summer monsoon precipitation over the Korean peninsula within the context of changes in different types of temperature gradients. The results show significant and consistent changes in summer monsoon rainfall during the summer season (June-September) in South Korea.

Conceptual models of the processes and patterns of the ecological, evolutionary and bio-geographical consequences of global climate changes

A unifying conceptual model is constructed for the major effects of alternating periods of global warming and cooling and sea-level changes on the geographical distributions and the ecological and genetic characteristics of species and ecological communities. The main results found are: The species in the interior of continuous global latitude and altitude temperature gradients are expected to follow the moving temperature zones without any major extinctions or any major changes in their physiological and ecological characteristics and adaptive roles during both global warming and global cooling periods, with competitive replacement of resident species by zonally dispersing pre-adapted species. Many or all of the existing species at all the global cold boundary zones of both latitude and altitude temperature gradients are expected to become extinct during periods of global warming, which would be caused by competitive displacement by immigrating pre-adapted species from adjacent warmer zones. Most existing species in the warm boundary zones of all the global temperature gradients are predicted to persist and adapt without competition to the increased temperature during periods of global warming, and to diversify by adaptations to newly created ecological opportunities. Periods of global cooling are predicted to cause analogous opposite effects to the effects of global warming in the cold and warm boundaries of temperature gradients: that is, extinctions at the warm boundaries and persistence and adaptations at the cold boundaries: Existing species in all islands and island-like isolated areas are predicted to persist in the absence of competitive displacement by immigrating pre-adapted species, and gradually adapt to the changing temperatures during periods of both global warming and global cooling. During periods of global cooling, many more diverse opportunities for new adaptations and for invasions by pre-adapted species are expected and predicted in the large diversity of the newly open heterogeneous coldest and highest altitude zones of all the global altitude temperature gradients. Long-term sequences of alternating periods of global warming and global cooling are expected to cancel and eliminate most of the ecological and adaptive changes which have occurred during the previous periods at all the latitude and altitude boundary zones. The species at the interior of continuous temperature gradients are expected to persist unchanged over long evolutionary time during repeated sequences of alternating periods of global warming and global cooling. The effects of higher and lower global sea levels on the sea shore and intertidal species and communities during periods of global warming or cooling are expected to be analogous to the bio-geographical, ecological and genetic changes caused or predicted by global warming or cooling in the species and communities in terrestrial or marine temperature gradients. Global sea-level changes which cause higher or lower shifting of the levels of the ecological zones in continuous sea shore gradients are expected therefore to cause continuous tracking and moving of the populations of the unchanged zonally adapted species. On the other hand, zonally adapted sea shore species are expected to be displaced or become extinct during periods of sea-level changes at the higher or lower boundary zones of the sea-level gradients in semi-isolated marine basins, and in locally discontinuous, fragmented or truncated sea shore ecological gradients.

Kinetic water-bag model of global collisional drift waves and ion temperature gradient instabilities in cylindrical geometry

Collisional drift waves and ion temperature gradient (ITG) instabilities are studied using a linear water-bag kinetic model [P. Morel et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 112109 (2007)]. An efficient spectral method, already validated in the case of drift waves instabilities [E. Gravier et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 67, 7 (2013)], allows a fast solving of the global linear problem in cylindrical geometry. The comparison between the linear ITG instability properties thus computed and the ones given by the COLUMBIA experiment [R. G. Greaves et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 34, 1253 (1992)] shows a qualitative agreement. Moreover, the transition between collisional drift waves and ITG instabilities is studied theoretically as a function of the ion temperature profile.

The world and its shades of green: a meta‐analysis on trophic cascades across temperature and precipitation gradients

AbstractAimTo assess effects of current global temperature and precipitation gradients on the trophic function of plant–herbivore–predator interactions. Specifically, I study effects of climatic gradients on factors that control herbivore abundances: top‐down, bottom‐up trophic cascades and plant defences. I include predictions of climate change on shifts in trophic function, under the assumption that temperature and precipitation affect the physiology and performance of plants, herbivores and predators.LocationGlobal.MethodsA search of the relevant experiments on trophic interactions was conducted using the Web of Science and Scielo databases. Strength of trophic interactions from each experiment was studied by the calculation of the log ratio effect size (Ln R) of the control and experimental means. Each study was georeferenced and mean annual temperature (MAT) and total annual precipitation (TAP) were determined for each study location. Effect size of trophic interaction studies across the world were correlated with these environmental variables.ResultsIn total, 387 effect sizes were extracted from the literature. With the exception of bottom‐up trophic cascades, trophic interactions and factors controlling herbivore abundance exhibited significant linear or quadratic relationships with either temperature or precipitation gradients: plant growth, predation and the effect of plant defence on herbivores increased with temperature. In contrast, plant growth and herbivory increased with precipitation across ecosystems. Finally, top‐down trophic cascades increased towards the extremes of MAT and TAP gradients.Main conclusionsThis study shows climatic gradients not only affect species geographic distributions and physiological tolerance but also the strength of their trophic functionality. This is especially true for the main biotic controls of herbivore populations (i.e. predation, top‐down trophic cascades and plant defences). These results suggest future climate change will cause shifts in the strength of trophic interactions, resulting in increased or reduced population control of herbivores across global ecosystems.

Plasma size scaling of avalanche-like heat transport in tokamaks

The influence of plasma size on global ion temperature gradient turbulence is studied with the full-f Eulerian code GT5D (Idomura et al 2009 Nucl. Fusion 49 065029). The gyrokinetic model includes a consistent neoclassical electric field as well as a fixed-power source operator, enabling long-time simulations with self-consistent turbulent transport and equilibrium profiles. The effects of plasma size (from ρ* = 1/100 to ρ* = 1/225) are studied by scaling the minor radius a and the input power. For the first time, worse-than-Bohm scaling is observed under experimentally realistic conditions. For all plasma sizes, avalanches propagate over significant radii but their propagation depends on the radial electric shear. It is found that this quantity does not scale with ρ* due to the building up of intrinsic momentum. Such a dependence can be inferred from a force balance relation, which remains approximately valid in nonlinear simulations. An adaptive parallel momentum source has been implemented in GT5D to damp the parallel momentum profile. The new scan then reveals that the radial electric shear scales with ρ* while the transport is globally higher. These simulations therefore suggest that intrinsic momentum reduces heat transport. This work also addresses another important issue in gyrokinetics: it is shown that for fixed initial physical parameters the turbulent quasi-steady-state is statistically independent of the initial conditions.

Metabolic cold adaptation in fishes occurs at the level of whole animal, mitochondria and enzyme.

Metabolic cold adaptation (MCA), the hypothesis that species from cold climates have relatively higher metabolic rates than those from warm climates, was first proposed nearly 100 years ago and remains one of the most controversial hypotheses in physiological ecology. In the present study, we test the MCA hypothesis in fishes at the level of whole animal, mitochondria and enzyme. In support of the MCA hypothesis, we find that when normalized to a common temperature, species with ranges that extend to high latitude (cooler climates) have high aerobic enzyme (citrate synthase) activity, high rates of mitochondrial respiration and high standard metabolic rates. Metabolic compensation for the global temperature gradient is not complete however, so when measured at their habitat temperature species from high latitude have lower absolute rates of metabolism than species from low latitudes. Evolutionary adaptation and thermal plasticity are therefore insufficient to completely overcome the acute thermodynamic effects of temperature, at least in fishes.

Coupled quantum Otto cycle

We study the one-dimensional isotropic Heisenberg model of two spin-1/2 systems as a quantum heat engine. The engine undergoes a four-step Otto cycle where the two adiabatic branches involve changing the external magnetic field at a fixed value of the coupling constant. We find conditions for the engine efficiency to be higher than in the uncoupled model; in particular, we find an upper bound which is tighter than the Carnot bound. A domain of parameter values is pointed out which was not feasible in the interaction-free model. Locally, each spin seems to cause a flow of heat in a direction opposite to the global temperature gradient. This feature is explained by an analysis of the local effective temperature of the spins.

Weakening of lower tropospheric temperature gradient between Indian landmass and neighbouring oceans and its impact on Indian monsoon

The study shows that in the scenario of global warming temperature gradient (TG) between Indian landmass and Arabian Sea/Bay of Bengal is significantly decreasing in the lower troposphere with maxima around 850 hPa. TG during pre-monsoon (March to May) is reducing at a significant rate of 0.036°/year (Arabian Sea) and 0.030°/year (Bay of Bengal). The above alarming results are based on sixty years (1948–2007) of daily temperature and wind data extracted from CDAS-NCEP/NCAR reanalysis datasets. TG based on ERA-40 data also indicates a decreasing trend of 0.0229°/year and 0.0397°/year for Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal respectively. As TG is not governed by any type of significant oscillation, there is a possibility of TG tending to zero. It is further observed that the rate of warming over the oceans is more than that over the land which has resulted into the weakening of TG. Pre-monsoon TG has significant correlations with • All India Seasonal Monsoon Rainfall (AISMR) • kinetic energy of waves 1 and 2 at 850 hPa • kinetic energy, and • stream function at 850 hPa over Indian landmass during monsoon season. Except AISMR, the decreasing trends observed in all the above parameters are significant. All India rainfall for July and August together shows a significant decreasing trend of 0.995mm/year. Reducing number of depressions and cyclonic storms and increasing number of break days during monsoon over India are the reflections of the weakening of TG.

Multi-scale transport simulation of toroidal momentum source profile effect on internal transport barrier collapse

The mechanism of internal transport barrier (ITB) collapse in the reversed magnetic shear configuration is investigated using a global ion temperature gradient (ITG) driven drift wave turbulence code. A heating source and a toroidal momentum source are introduced to follow the self-consistent evolution of the ion temperature and flow profiles. A scenario of transport barrier collapse driven by a meso-scale mode excited in the barrier region is suggested. The importance of the quasi-linear effect due to profile modification as well as three-wave coupling is clearly shown by means of energy transfer analysis. The effect of the toroidal flow shear (TFS) profile on the dynamics of ITB evolution is investigated. It is found that the decorrelation between meso-scale modes and ITG driven modes due to the TFS can prevent global relaxation.

Non-local turbulent effect on internal transport barrier collapse in reversed shear configuration

The mechanism of transport barrier collapse in reversed shear configuration is investigated using a global ion temperature gradient driven drift wave (ITG) turbulence simulation code. The transport barrier collapse event is explained in the context of non-local meso-scale interaction. It is found that the turbulence evolution and the sustainment of the transport barrier is sensitive to the safety factor profile. However, some common meso-scale modes are excited via various non-linear interaction channels whether or not a meso-scale mode in the vicinity of the q profile minimum has resonant surfaces. The non-linear interaction among these non-local modes makes long range correlation possible and carries energy from the core region to the q minimum region. It was shown that such linkage can lead to the collapse of the transport barrier and the change of the global temperature profile.

Role of nonadiabatic untrapped electrons in global electrostatic ion temperature gradient driven modes in a tokamak

In this work, role of nonadiabatic untrapped electrons in the context of a global ion temperature gradient driven mode has been investigated. In past studies, untrapped electrons have been assumed to be able to respond “instantaneously” to a disturbance. It is proposed that such adiabatic electron models should be reexamined for two important reasons: (i) It is known that global modes with n in the range of 3⩽n⩽15 (n is the toroidal mode number) have eigenmode widths spanning several mode-rational surfaces. It is being argued that close to these mode-rational surfaces, adiabatic electron models fail and a consistent treatment of nonadiabatic electrons is crucial for global modes. (ii) Electromagnetic effects depend on passing nonadiabatic electron dynamics. A minimal nontrivial model for the benchmarking of global linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic codes in the future becomes necessary, which can treat both passing ions and electrons on the same physics footing. As a first step, a study of the effect of nonadiabatic passing electrons in global electrostatic ion temperature gradients is presented. Interesting results include a demonstration of multiscale structure, downshift in critical ηi with increasing ηe, and a reduction in mixing-length based transport.

Foraminifer test preservation and diagenesis: comparison of high latitude Eocene sites

Abstract Foraminifer tests are prone to diagenetic recrystallization on a micron scale that can affect their geochemical composition, hence it is important to identify fossil material that is well-preserved. Here we illustrate the textures of tests from several high-latitude Eocene sites using a combination of Reflected Light Microscopy and high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy. The sites are Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 647 in the Labrador Sea (53°N), ODP Site 689 at Maud Rise in the Weddell Sea (64°S), ODP Site 1135 (Kerguelen Plateau c . 59°S) and outcrop samples from Hampden Beach, New Zealand (palaeolatitude c . 55°S). The foraminifera studied from Site 647 and Hampden Beach have glassy, transparent tests that show only minor signs of diagenetic alteration, whereas the foraminifera from Sites 690 and 1135 are opaque and recrystallized. We associate the better state of foraminifer preservation at the former sites with the high clay content of the sediments. Our observations suggest that Site 647 and Hampden Beach may be useful for the establishment of high-latitude sea-surface temperatures and hence global temperature gradients in the Eocene.

Carbonate factories: A conundrum in sedimentary geology

Describing, characterizing and interpreting the nearly infinite variety of carbonate rocks are conundrums – intricate and difficult problems having only conjectural answers – that have occupied geologists for more than two centuries. Depositional features including components, rock textures, lithofacies, platform types and architecture, all vary in space and time, as do the results of diagenetic processes on those primary features. Approaches to the study of carbonate rocks have become progressively more analytical. One focus has evolved from efforts to build reference models for specific Phanerozoic windows to scrutinize the effect of climate and long-term oscillations of the ocean–atmosphere system in influencing the mineralogy of carbonate components. This paper adds to the ongoing lively debates by attempting to understand changes in the predominant types of carbonate-producing organisms during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic, while striving to minimize the uniformitarian bias. Our approach integrates estimates of changes in Ca 2+ concentration in seawater and atmospheric CO 2, with biological evolution and ecological requirements of characteristic carbonate-producing marine communities. The underlying rationale for our approach is the fact that CO 2 is basic to both carbonates and organic matter, and that photosynthesis is a fundamental biological process responsible for both primary production of organic matter and providing chemical environments that promote calcification. Gross photosynthesis and hypercalcification are dependent largely upon sunlight, while net primary production and, e.g., subsequent burial of organic matter typically requires sources of new nutrients (N, P and trace elements). Our approach plausibly explains the changing character of carbonate production as an evolving response to changing environmental conditions driven by the geotectonic cycle, while identifying uncertainties that deserve further research. With metazoan consumer diversity reduced by the end-Permian extinctions, excess photosynthesis by phytoplankton and microbial assemblages in surface waters, induced by moderately high CO 2 and temperature during the Early Mesozoic, supported proliferation of non-tissular metazoans (e.g., sponges) and heterotrophic bacteria at the sea floor. Metabolic activity by those microbes, especially sulfate reduction, resulted in abundant biologically-induced geochemical carbonate precipitation on and within the sea floor. For example, with the opening of Tethyan seaways during the Triassic, massive sponge/microbe boundstones (the benthic automicrite factory) formed steep, massive and thick progradational slopes and, locally, mud-mounds. As tectonic processes created shallow epicontinental seas, photosynthesis drove lime-mud precipitation in the illuminated zone of the water column. The resulting neritic lime-mud component of the shallow-water carbonate factory became predominant during the Jurassic, paralleling the increase in atmospheric pCO 2, while the decreasing importance of the benthic automicrite factory parallels the diversification of calcifying metazoans, phytoplankton and zooplankton. With atmospheric pCO 2 declining through the Cretaceous, the potential habitats for neritic lime-mud precipitation declined. At the same time, peak oceanic Ca 2+ concentrations promoted biotically-controlled calcification by the skeletal factory. With changes produced by extinctions and turnovers at the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary, adaptations to decreasing Ca 2+ and pCO 2, coupled with increasing global temperature gradients (i.e., high-latitude and deep-water cooling), and strategies that efficiently linked photosynthesis and calcification, promoted successive changes of the dominant skeletal factory through the Cenozoic: larger benthic foraminifers (protist–protist symbiosis) during the Paleogene, red algae during the Miocene and modern coral reefs (metazoan–protist symbiosis) since Late Miocene.

Nonlocal behaviour of zonal flows in tokamak plasmas

Oscillatory zonal flows called geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs) appearing in a high safety factor region of tokamak plasmas show nonlocal behaviour in their frequency. The frequency of the GAMs is unchanged over a certain radial region and the radial variation of the frequency is step-like. The effects of ρ* = ρi/a on the nonlocal behaviour of the GAMs are investigated by global ion temperature gradient driven turbulence simulations, where ρi is an ion Larmor radius and a is a minor radius of a torus. It is found that the radial width in which the GAMs have the same frequency is almost proportional to , while the radial wavelength of the GAMs is proportional to ρi. As for turbulent transport, the boundary between a high transport region where the GAMs are dominant and a low transport region becomes clearer for smaller ρ*.

Plant allometry, stoichiometry and the temperature‐dependence of primary productivity

ABSTRACTAim While physical constraints influence terrestrial primary productivity, the extent to which geographical variation in productivity is influenced by physiological adaptations and changes in vegetation structure is unclear. Further, quantifying the effect of variability in species traits on ecosystems remains a critical research challenge. Here, we take a macroecological approach and ask if variation in the stoichiometric traits (C: N: P ratios) of plants and primary productivity across global‐scale temperature gradients is consistent with a scaling model that integrates recent insights from the theories of metabolic scaling and ecological stoichiometry.Location This study is global in scope, encompassing a wide variety of terrestrial plant communities.Methods We first develop a scaling model that incorporates potentially adaptive variation in leaf and whole‐plant nutrient content, kinetic aspects of photosynthesis and plant respiration, and the allometry of biomass partitioning and allocation. We then examine extensive data sets concerning the stoichiometry and productivity of diverse plant communities in light of the model.Results Across diverse ecosystems, both foliar stoichiometry (N : P) and ‘nitrogen productivity’ (which depends on both community size structure and plant nutrient content) vary systematically across global scale temperature gradients. Primary productivity shows no relationship to temperature.Main conclusions The model predicts that the observed patterns of variation in plant stoichiometry and nutrient productivity may offset the temperature dependence of primary production expected from the kinetics of photosynthesis alone. Our approach provides a quantitative framework for treating potentially adaptive functional variation across communities as a continuum and may thus inform studies of global change. More generally, our approach represents one of the first explicit combinations of ecological stoichiometry and metabolic scaling theories in the analysis of macroecological patterns.

Voltage–temperature characteristics in model coils using a Nb3Sn cable-in-conduit conductor for ITER

Abstract Two types of model coils (MC) were recently tested in order to assess possible designs of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) conductor and Joints for the Toroidal field (TF) coils. One of these MC is wound using a stainless-steel-jacketed conductor, the Toroidal field model coil (TFMC), and the other a Ti-jacketed conductor, the Toroidal field coil insert (TFCI). This paper is dedicated to the electrical behaviour of these conductors through the V–T characteristics. In a first part we present the analysis of experimental results with a global thermo-electromagnetic model in which the current distribution is supposed uniform among the strands. Emphasis is put on all elements making the operating conditions of strands in a coil different from those of a single strand test (global strain, magnetic field and temperature gradients). The second part is dedicated to current distribution non-uniformity effects, either considered at the strand scale (TFMC) or at the subcable scale (TFCI). For this purpose, CEA developed a code (ENSIC) based on an electrical model network simulating conductor lengths and the associated joints. This model is applied to both coil tests. The last part includes a discussion on the validity and precision of the results provided by both models, compared to the experimental measurements.

Spontaneous reduction of the heat conductivity by a temperature gradient-driven instability in electron-ion plasmas

We have shown that there exist low-frequency growing modes driven by a global temperature gradient in electron and ion plasmas, by linear perturbation analysis within the frame work of plasma kinetic theory. The driving force of the instability is the local deviation of the distribution function from the Maxwell-Boltzmann due to a global temperature gradient. Our results suggest that the realization of the global thermal equilibrium is postponed by the local instability which is induced for quicker realization of local thermal equilibrium state in plasmas. The instability provides a new possibility to create and amplify cosmic magnetic fields without the seed for a magnetic field.

A Possible Route to Spontaneous Reduction of the Heat Conductivity by a Temperature Gradient–driven Instability in Electron‐Ion Plasmas

We have shown that there exist low-frequency growing modes driven by a global temperature gradient in electron and ion plasmas by linear perturbation analysis within the framework of plasma kinetic theory. The driving force of the instability is the local deviation of the distribution function from the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution due to a global temperature gradient. Application of the results to the intracluster medium is being reduced to 5-7 orders of magnitude less than the mean free paths due to Coulomb collisions. This may provide a hint in explaining why hot and cool gas can coexist in the intracluster medium in spite of the very short evaporation timescale due to thermal conduction if the conductivity is the classical Spitzer value. Our results suggest that the realization of the global thermal equilibrium is postponed by the local instability, which is induced for a quicker realization of the local thermal equilibrium state in plasmas. The instability provides a new possibility to create and grow cosmic magnetic fields without any seed magnetic field.

Distinguishing climatic and tectonic forcing of turbidite sedimentation, and the bearing on turbidite bed scaling: Palaeocene-Eocene of northern Spain

Mineral composition and carbon isotope signals of pelagic limestones and hemipelagic marlstones reveal the driving processes of interbedded turbidites. The Palaeocene to lower Eocene lower bathyal Zumaia series in northern Spain between Zumaia and Getaria (W of San Sebastian) offers this opportunity. This deep-marine series records the transition from a carbonate system (Palaeocene) to a siliciclastic system (early Eocene), mainly controlled by the initiation of Pyrenean uplift in the latest Palaeocene. During the tectonically quiet Palaeocene, varying carbonate turbidite deposition was controlled by climate-dependent production of (foramol association) carbonate debris on the carbonate shelves bordering the basin. The late Palaeocene period was characterized by a cycle of increasing and then decreasing turbidite sedimentation. Increased carbonate production was driven by comparably cool/dry climates in the late Palaeocene Atlantic region, and global marked temperature gradients which enhanced wind-driven Ekman-upwelling of nutrients. In contrast, during warm/perennially humid periods (early Palaeocene and the Palaeocene-Eocene transition) the dynamics of the carbonate turbidite deposition was sluggish, due to decreased carbonate production. In the carbonate system, frequency-size statistics of bed thicknesses show that turbidite generation occurred non-scale invariant. From the earliest Eocene, increasing siliciclastic input from the rising and west advancing Pyrenean chain is observed. After a transitional period, the highly dynamic lower Eocene siliciclastic system evolved on a prograding deep-sea fan under a perennially humid and seasonally wet climate. Several periods of increased tectonic activity and sediment input are recognized by clay mineral assemblages in interturbidite beds. Turbidite bed frequency-size statistics show a power-law distribution, implying that during such periods (particularly NP 12), the depositional system temporarily reached a self-organized critical state. The evolution of the system to critical state appears to be mainly driven by siliciclastic sediment input.