Laser spectroscopy is an emerging technology for measuring nitrous oxide (N₂O) dynamics in the environment, but most studies have focused on atmospheric applications. We have coupled a commercially available cavity ring-down spectroscope (CRDS) (Picarro G5101-i isotopic N₂O analyzer) to an air/water gas equilibration device to collect continuous in situ dissolved N₂O molar concentration and bulk nitrogen isotopic (δ¹⁵N-N₂O) data.

The most common currency for estimating N₂ fixation is acetylene reduction to ethylene. Real-time estimates of nitrogen fixation are needed to close the global nitrogen budget and these remain a critical gap in both laboratory and field experiments. We present a new method for continuous real-time measurements of ethylene production: Acetylene Reduction Assays by Cavity ring-down laser Absorption Spectroscopy (ARACAS).

Production of natural gas from shale formations is bringing drilling and production operations to regions of the United States that have seen little or no similar activity in the past, which has generated considerable interest in potential environmental impacts. This study focused on the Barnett Shale Fort Worth Basin in Texas, which saw the number of gas-producing wells grow from 726 in 2001 to 15,870 in 2011.

Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) and the anthropogenic emission of methane to the atmosphere contributes to global warming. There are several anthropogenic methane sources, and the quantification of methane from these emission sources are often based on emission factors and model calculations making reporting uncertain. Reducing the methane emission is an effective way of reducing the overall greenhouse gas emission. Methane reductions can often be difficult to quantify and document, as accurate measurements methods are lacking and not commercial available.

Methane is emitted to the atmosphere from both anthropogenic and natural sources. One of the major anthropogenic sources is methane produced by bacteria in anaerobic environments such as rice pads and landfills. Land filling has for many years been the preferred waste disposal method, resulting in a large methane production with a large contribution to the global increase in atmospheric green house gas concentration. Several steps have been taken to reduce the emission of methane from landfills.

The performance of eight fast-response methane (CH₄) gas analysers suitable for eddy covariance flux measurements were tested at a grassland site near the Cabauw tall tower (Netherlands) during June 2012. The instruments were positioned close to each other in order to minimise the effect of varying turbulent conditions.

With the recent advent of commercial laser absorption spectrometers, field studies measuring stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in water vapor have proliferated. These pioneering analyses have provided invaluable feedback about best strategies for optimizing instrumental accuracy, yet questions still remain about instrument performance and calibration approaches for multi-year field deployments.

Here we test an experimental approach that produces estimates of the location, timing and extent of water uptake by individual plant species in the field. A tracer injection experiment was used to estimate the proportion of active roots across soil depths. These proportions were multiplied by species-specific estimates of evapotranspiration. This approach was repeated in early- and late-season conditions in adjacent native- and non-native-dominated shrub-steppe plant communities. Resulting estimates of water uptake by depth were compared to soil water content.

We provide sedimentological, geochemical, mineral magnetic, stable carbon isotope, charcoal, and pollen-based evidence from a guano/clay sequence in Gaura cu Muscă Cave (SW Romania), from which we deduced that from ~ 1230 BC to ~ AD 1240 climate oscillated between wet and dry. From ~ 1230 BC to AD 1000 the climate was wetter than the present, prompting flooding of the cave, preventing bats from roosting, and resulting in a slow rate of clay accumulation.

Cavity ring-down spectrometers (CRDS) have the capacity to make isotopic measurements of CO₂ where concentrations range from atmospheric (~ 400 ppm) to 6000 ppm. Following field trials, it has come to light that the spectrographic lines used for CO₂ have an interference with elevated (higher than ambient) amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), which causes significant depletions in the δ¹³C measurement by the CRDS.

Anthropogenic modification of the water cycle involves a diversity of processes, many of which have been studied intensively using models and observations. Effective tools for measuring the contribution and fate of combustion-derived water vapor in the atmosphere are lacking, however, and this flux has received relatively little attention. We provide theoretical estimates and a first set of measurements demonstrating that water of combustion is characterized by a distinctive combination of H and O isotope ratios.

Rapid Arctic warming is associated with important water cycle changes: sea ice loss, increasing atmospheric humidity, permafrost thaw, and water-induced ecosystem changes. Understanding these complex modern processes is critical to interpreting past hydrologic changes preserved in paleoclimate records and predicting future Arctic changes. Cyclones are a prevalent Arctic feature and water vapor isotope ratios during these events provide insights into modern hydrologic processes that help explain past changes to the Arctic water cycle.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is commonly recognized as an important factor influencing nitrous oxide (N₂O) production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). However, it has been difficult to separate the true effect of DO from that of nitrite, as DO variation often affects nitrite accumulation. The effect of DO on N₂O production by an enriched nitrifying sludge, consisting of both AOB and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), was investigated in this study. Nitrite accumulation was minimized by augmenting nitrite oxidation through the addition of an enriched NOB sludge.

RATIONALE

Traditionally, stable isotope analysis of plant and soil water has been a technically challenging, labour-intensive and time-consuming process. Here we describe a rapid single-step technique which combines Microwave Extraction with Isotope Ratio Infrared Spectroscopy (ME-IRIS).

METHODS

High-precision analysis of the ¹⁷O / ¹⁶O isotope ratio in water and water vapor is of interest in hydrological, paleoclimate, and atmospheric science applications. Of specific interest is the parameter ¹⁷O excess (Δ¹⁷O), a measure of the deviation from a‾linear relationship between ¹⁷O / ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O / ¹⁶O ratios.

A reliable and precise in situ CO₂ and CO analysis system has been developed and deployed at eight sites in the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory's (ESRL) Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. The network uses very tall (> 300 m) television and radio transmitter towers that provide a convenient platform for mid-boundary-layer trace-gas sampling. Each analyzer has three sample inlets for profile sampling, and a complete vertical profile is obtained every 15 min.

There is a pressing need to verify air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic fossil energy sources to enforce current and future regulations. We demonstrate the feasibility of using simultaneous remote sensing observations of column abundances of CO₂, CO, and NO₂ to inform and verify emission inventories.

A dedicated system for airborne ship emission measurements of SO₂, NO_x and particles has been developed and used from several small aircraft. The system has been adapted for fast response measurements at 1 Hz, and the use of several of the instruments is unique. The uncertainty of the given data is about 20% for SO₂ and 24% for NO_x emission factors.

Suitable predictors of degradability are sought to support the identification of biochars with large potential to increase C sequestration in soils. We determined the biodegradation of 9 chars from hydrothermal carbonization and pyrolysis in two agricultural soils. The 200- and 115-day degradation correlated strongly with the O:C- and slightly with the H:C-atomic ratio of 9 and 14 biochars, respectively. Highest temperature treatment and ash content did not show similar correlations.

The East Scotia Ridge is an active back-arc spreading centre located to the west of the South Sandwich island arc in the Southern Ocean. Initial exploration of the ridge by deep-tow surveys provided the first evidence for hydrothermal activity in a back-arc setting outside of the western Pacific, and we returned in 2010 with a remotely operated vehicle to precisely locate and sample hydrothermal sites along ridge segments E2 and E9.

Hydrogeochemistry of 32 hot springs in the western Sichuan Province after the Wenchuan  8.0 earthquake was investigated by analyzing the concentrations of cation and anion and the isotopic compositions of hydrogen and oxygen. The water samples of the hot springs were collected four times from June 2008 to April 2010. Hydrogeochemical data indicated the water samples can be classified into 9 chemical types.

Hydrological and geochemical processes controlling the pore water chemistry in a permafrost wetland, with loam overlain by sphagnum peat, were investigated. The vertical distributions of dissolved Cl, and of pore water δ¹⁸O, appeared unrelated to ion freeze-out and isotope ice-water fractionation processes, respectively, dismissing solute freeze-out as a main control on the water chemistry. However, concentrations of major ions, others than Cl, generally increased with depth into the active layer. A conceptual model for water and solute movement in the active layer was derived.

Degradation of plant material by animals is an important transformation pathway in the nitrogen (N) cycle. During the involved processes, volatile reduced alkaline nitro-gen compounds, mainly ammonia (NH₃) and aliphatic amines such as trimethylamine (TMA), are formed. Today, animal husbandry is estimated to constitute a main source of aliphatic amines into the atmosphere with TMA being the main emitted compound. Here, we show how the interaction between faeces and urine in animal production sys-tems provides the primary source for agricultural TMA emissions.

Silage is an important dietary water source that influences the oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of domestic herbivores and their products. Silage sampled fresh from the silo had¹⁸O- and ²H-depleted tissue water when compared with fresh pasture grass sampled around midday during the silage-making seasons. During exposure in the feed bunk, silage water became increasingly enriched in ¹⁸O and ²H.

Water is the key resource limiting world agricultural production. Although an impressive number of research reports have been published on plant drought tolerance enhancement via genetic modifications during the last few years, progress has been slower than expected. We suggest a feasible alternative strategy by application of rhizospheric bacteria coevolved with plant roots in harsh environments over millions of years, and harboring adaptive traits improving plant fitness under biotic and abiotic stresses.

Emissions of methane (CH₄) from oil and natural gas (O&G) operations in the most densely drilled area of the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Weld County located in northeastern Colorado are estimated for 2 days in May 2012 using aircraft-based CH₄ observations and planetary boundary layer height and ground-based wind profile measurements. Total top-down CH₄ emission estimates are 25.8 ± 8.4 and 26.2 ± 10.7 t CH₄/h for the 29 and 31 May flights, respectively.

A Particle-into-Liquid Sampler – Total Organic Carbon and fraction collector sys-tem was flown aboard a Twin Otter aircraft sampling prescribed burning emis-sions in South Carolina in November 2011 to obtain smoke marker measure-ments. The fraction collector provided 2min time-integrated off-line samples for car-bohydrate (i.e., smoke markers levoglucosan, mannosan, galactosan) analysis by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detec-tion.

Precise methods for the detection of geologically stored CO₂ within and above soil surfaces are an important component of the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) under terrestrial environments. Although CO₂ leaks are not expected in well-chosen and operated storage sites, monitoring is required by legislation and any leakage needs to be quantified under the EU Emissions Trading Directive.

Hillslopes are the dominant landscape components where incoming precipitation is transferred to become groundwater, streamflow or atmospheric water vapor. However, directly observing flux partitioning in the soil is almost impossible. Hydrological hills-lope models are therefore being used to investigate the involved processes.

In this paper, we report the vertical profiles of CO₂ and CH₄ measured with a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) on a research aircraft from near-ground level to 8 km above mean sea level. The airborne platform employed in this paper is an Alpha Jet aircraft operated from NASA's Ames Research Center. Flights were undertaken to Railroad Valley, NV, USA, to coincide with overpasses of the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT).

In atmospheric and environmental sciences, optical spectrometers are used for the measurements of greenhouse gas mole fractions and the isotopic composition of water vapor or greenhouse gases. The large sample cell volumes (tens of milliliters to several liters) in commercially available spectrometers constrain the usefulness of such instruments for applications that are limited in sample size and/or need to track fast variations in the sample stream.

In order to better understand the constraints on the use of barium as a coastal paleo-freshwater tracer, we surveyed the dissolved Ba distribution in Louisiana Shelf waters, including the Mississippi (MR) and Atchafalaya (AR) River plumes, during May and November 2008, and June/July 2009, which represent high, low and intermediate river discharges, respectively. Dissolved Ba was found dominantly in the <0.02 μm fraction, with no significant contribution from the 0.02 - 0.45 μm colloidal size fraction.

• The oxygen isotope signature of water is a powerful tracer of water movement from plants to the global scale.

The chemical and physical properties of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed by the photochemical degradation of biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC) are as yet still poorly constrained. The evolution of the complex refractive index (RI) of SOA, formed from purely biogenic VOC and mixtures of biogenic and anthropogenic VOC, was studied over a diurnal cycle in the SAPHIR photochemical outdoor chamber in Jülich, Germany. The correlation of RI with SOA chemical and physical properties such as oxidation level and volatility was examined.

In the Ziz Basin, located in arid area in southeastern Morocco, surface waters are scarce and local populations are entirely dependent on groundwater resources for drinking and irrigation. In order to evaluate the main factors controlling the origin and salinization of groundwater resources, we have investigated the chemical and stable isotope compositions of groundwater and surface water in different areas in the Ziz basin, upstream and downstream from the Hassan Addakhil dam, which is the major man-made reservoir in the basin.

An instrumented sample holder was developed for time-lapse micro-tomography of snow samples to enable in-situ nondestructive spatial and temporal measurements under controlled advective airflows, temperature gradients, and air humidities. The design was aided by computational fluid dynamics simulations to evaluate the airflow uniformity across the snow sample. Morphological and mass transport properties were evaluated during a 4 day test run. This instrument allows the experimental characterization of metamorphism of snow undergoing structural changes with time.

Stable isotopes in water (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) are important indicators of hydrological and ecological pattern and process. δ²H and δ¹⁸O of water are incorporated into geological and biological systems in a predictable manner and have been used extensively as tracers in hydrological, ecological and forensic studies. Physical processes result in spatial variation of δ²H, δ¹⁸O in water across the landscape (so-called “isoscapes”) and provide the basis for hydrological, ecological, archaeological and forensic studies.

Biogeochemical dynamics under seasonal ice cover were investigated in the shallow (<10 m) water column of highly productive Georgetown Lake, western Montana, USA. This high altitude (1,800 m) reservoir is well-mixed in summer, but becomes strongly stratified under ice cover (mid-November–mid-May).

We report trends in springtime ozone (O₃) and carbon monoxide (CO) at the Mt. Bachelor Observatory (MBO) in central Oregon, U.S.A. from 2004 to 2013. Over the 10-year period the median and 95th percentile springtime O₃ increased by 0.76 ± 0.61 ppbv yr⁻¹ (1.7 ± 1.4% yr⁻¹) and 0.87 ± 0.73 ppbv yr⁻¹ (1.5 ± 1.2% yr⁻¹), respectively. These trends are consistent with reported positive trends in springtime O₃ in the western U.S.

Facilitation and competition between different vegetation layers may have a large impact on small-scale vegetation development. We propose that this should not only influence overall herbaceous layer yield but also species distribution and understory longevity, and hence the ecosystems carbon uptake capacity especially during spring.

Measurements of the ¹⁷O_excess of H₂O were obtained from ice cores in West and East Antarctica. Combined with previously-published results from East Antarctica, the new data provide the most complete spatial and temporal view of Antarctic ¹⁷O_excess to date. There is a steep spatial gradient of ¹⁷O_excess in present-day precipitation across Antarctica, with higher values in marine-influenced regions, and lower values in the East Antarctic interior.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) mole fractions were continuously measured from January 2009 to December 2011 at four atmospheric observatories in China using cavity ring-down spectroscopy instruments. The stations are Lin'an (LAN), Longfengshan (LFS), Shangdianzi (SDZ), and Waliguan (WLG), which are regional (LAN, LFS, SDZ) or global (WLG) measurement stations of the World Meteorological Organization's Global Atmosphere Watch program (WMO/GAW). LAN is located near the megacity of Shanghai, in China's economically most developed region.

The Siberian region is still sparsely covered by ecosystem observatories, which motivates the exploitation of existing data sets to gain spatially and temporally better-resolved carbon budgets. The Zotino Tall Tower Observatory (ZOTTO; 60°48' N, 89°21' E) observations of CO₂ and CH₄ mole fractions as well as meteorological parameters from six different heights up to 301 m allow for an additional estimate of surface–atmosphere fluxes of CO₂ and CH₄ for the middle Siberian region beginning 2009.

Assessing the impacts of methane released from hydrate-bearing environments on global carbon cycling would require detailed insights into the distributions and capacities of microbial communities at different horizons of sediment column. In this study, we conducted geochemical, gene abundance and diversity analyses for a sediment core retrieved from a potential hydrate-bearing region off southwestern Taiwan.

Radiocarbon can be used to trace fossil fuel CO₂ (CO₂ff) in the atmosphere, because radiocarbon has been depleted in fossil fuels. Here we present our study on the spatial distribution and temporal variations of CO₂ff in Xi'an City, China using Δ¹⁴C of both green foxtail (Setaria viridis, L. Beauv.) leaf samples and urban air samples collected in the recent years.