AGU Advances最新文献

Mid-ocean ridges generate basalt and harzburgite, which are introduced into the mantle through subduction as a mechanical mixture, contributing to both lateral and radial compositional heterogeneity. The possible accumulation of basalt in the mantle transition zone has been examined, but details of the mantle composition below the 660-km discontinuity (hereafter d660) remain poorly constrained. In this study, we utilize the subtle waveform details of S660S, the underside shear-wave reflection off the d660, to interpret the seismic velocity, density, and compositional structure near, and particularly below, the d660. We identify a significant difference in S660S waveform shape in subduction zones compared to other regions. The inversion results reveal globally enriched basalt at the d660, with a notably higher content in subduction zones, consistent with the smaller impedance jump and S660S peak amplitude. The basalt fraction decreases significantly to less than 10% near 800-km depth, forming a global harzburgite-enriched layer and resulting in a steep seismic velocity gradient just below the d660, in agreement with 1D global reference models. The striking compositional radial variations near the d660 verify geodynamic predictions and challenge the applicability of homogeneous radial compositional models in the mantle. These variations may also affect the viscosity profile and, consequently, the dynamics at the boundary between the upper and lower mantle.

Inland waters emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to the atmosphere; however, the global magnitude and source distribution of inland water CO₂ emissions remain uncertain. These fluxes have previously been “statistically upscaled” by independently estimating dissolved CO₂ concentrations and gas exchange velocities to calculate fluxes. This scaling, while robust and defensible, has known limitations in representing carbon source limitations and spatial variability. Here, we develop and calibrate a CO₂ transport model for the continental United States, simulating carbon transport and transformation in >22 million hydraulically connected rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. We estimate 25% lower CO₂ fluxes compared to upscaling estimates forced by the same observational calibration data. While precise CO₂ source distribution estimates are limited by the resolution of model parameterizations, our model suggests that stream corridor CO₂ production dominates over groundwater inputs at the continental scale. Our results further suggest that the lack of observational networks for groundwater CO₂ and scalable metabolic models of aquatic CO₂ production remain the most salient barriers to further coupling of our model with other Earth system components.

Convective storms with strong downdrafts create windthrows: snapped and uprooted trees that locally alter the structure, composition, and carbon balance of forests. Comparing Landsat imagery from subsequent years, we documented temporal and spatial variation in the occurrence of large (≥30 ha) windthrows across the Amazon basin from 1985 to 2020. Over 33 individual years, we detected 3179 large windthrows. Windthrow density was greatest in the central and western Amazon regions, with ∼33% of all events occurring in ∼3% of the monitored area. Return intervals for large windthrows in the same location of these “hotspot” regions are centuries to millennia, while over the rest of the Amazon they are >10,000 years. Our data demonstrate a nearly 4-fold increase in windthrow number and affected area between 1985 (78 windthrows and 6,900 ha) and 2020 (264 events and 32,170 ha), with more events of >500 ha size since 1990. Such extremely large events (>500 ha up to 2,543 ha) are responsible for interannual variation in the overall median (84 ± 5.2 ha; ±95% CI) and mean (147 ± 13 ha) windthrow area, but we did not find significant temporal trends in the size distribution of windthrows with time. Our results document increased damage from convective storms over the past 40 years in the Amazon, filling a gap in temporal records for tropical regions. Our publicly accessible large windthrow database provides a valuable tool for exploring dynamic conditions leading to damaging storms and their ecological impact on Amazon forests.

Since the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR5) an extended concept of the energetic analysis of climate change including forcings, feedbacks and adjustment processes has become widely adopted. Adjustments are defined as processes that occur in response to the introduction of a climate forcing agent, but that are independent of global-mean surface temperature changes. Most considered are the adjustments that impact the Earth energy budget and strengthen or weaken the instantaneous radiative forcing due to the forcing agent. Some adjustment mechanisms also impact other aspects of climate not related to the Earth radiation budget. Since AR5 and a following description by Sherwood et al. (2015, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-13-00167.1), much research on adjustments has been performed and is reviewed here. We classify the adjustment mechanisms into six main categories, and discuss methods of quantifying these adjustments in terms of their potentials, shortcomings and practicality. We furthermore describe aspects of adjustments that act beyond the energetic framework, and we propose new ideas to observe adjustments or to make use of observations to constrain their representation in models. Altogether, the problem of adjustments is now on a robust scientific footing, and better quantification and observational constraint is possible. This allows for improvements in understanding and quantifying climate change.

We report the finding of mantle-derived zircon grains retrieved from red soils, regoliths, and beach sands from Easter Island, that are much older than the island volcanism (0–2.5 Ma) and its underlying lithosphere (Pliocene, 3–4.8 Ma). A large population of 0–165 Ma old zircons have coherent oxygen (δ¹⁸O 3.8–5.9‰) and hafnium (εHf_(t)+3.5–+12.5) mantle isotopic signatures. These results are consistent with the crystallization of zircon from plume-related melts. In addition, a chemically diverse population with ages from the Paleozoic to the Archean was found. These older populations are enigmatic but they could represent remnants of ancient subducted sediments. Meanwhile, the ∼0–165 Ma population is interpreted as plume-derived, suggesting that the hotspot started at least ∼165 Ma ago. A spike of ∼164–160 Ma zircons could represent a Large Igneous Province (LIP) stage upon the first arrival of the plume. We use plate reconstructions to show that such a LIP would have formed on the Phoenix Plate and would have subducted below the Antarctic Peninsula around 100–105 Ma. There, LIP subduction would offer a solution for the enigmatic Palmer Land deformation event, previously proposed to result from a collision with an unknown indenter. The here-reported “ghost” of a prolonged hotspot activity suggests that fragments of the Easter plume and of the ambient sub-lithospheric mantle stored and re-sampled zircon xenocrysts due to convective (re)circulation at the scale of the plume head. Our study demonstrates how zircon geochronology and geochemistry provide novel insights into global-scale geodynamics, offering new perspectives on the dynamics of mantle plumes and hotspot activity.

Magnetosheath High-Speed Jets (HSJs) are transient disturbances characterized by increased dynamic pressure. They can cause various geoeffects, including ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves and auroras. Theoretically, when ULF waves propagate into the ionosphere as Alfvén waves, they can accelerate electrons and generate discrete auroras. However, what types of aurora can be driven by HSJs and what are the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Using coordinated magnetosheath in situ and ground observations, here, we showed that when a HSJ was identified in the magnetosheath, multiple auroral arcs parallel to the auroral oval were observed near local noon. The electron energy spectrogram of these arcs exhibited “inverted-V” structures, indicating the existence of quasi-static parallel electric fields. Concurrently, long-period ULF signals were detected on the ground, suggesting the arrival of Alfvén waves. These observations are represented by a kinetic simulation using realistic observational inputs, showing consistency with the theory regarding the generation of the “inverted-V” structure by long-period Alfvén waves. This study builds a previously unestablished connection among HSJ, ULF wave, and aurora, and provides a mechanism for generation of discrete auroral arcs near local noon, which may reveal the underlying mechanism behind a specific auroral activity commonly observed near local noon as shown in the paper.

Because of its global abundance and reactivity with hydroxyl radicals (OH•), tropospheric carbon monoxide indirectly impacts the lifetimes of other OH•-reactive gases, in particular methane and reactive hydrocarbons. The origin and chemistry of atmospheric CO have been studied using stable isotopes. Both ¹³CO and C¹⁸O undergo isotopic fractionation during its main chemical loss reaction, CO + OH•. The kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for ¹³CO is mass dependent, with a value of ∼5‰; ¹²CO reacts faster than ¹³CO with OH. Whereas C¹⁸O + OH• exhibits an inversely mass dependent KIE ∼−10‰. We hypothesize these KIEs result in a relative depletion of ¹³C¹⁸O, a CO clumped isotope. To test this, we collected CO from air samples on Long Island, NY, and discovered a −3 to −8‰ difference in the clumped isotope ratio, Δ₃₁, relative to a random distribution of ¹³C and ¹⁸O in CO. A clear negative trend between [CO] and Δ₃₁ is driven by two factors: (a) the atmospheric addition of CO from either a primary or secondary source with a Δ₃₁ of ∼0‰ and (b) the continuing reaction of CO with OH•, leaving the remaining CO pool relatively depleted in ¹³C¹⁸O. This is analogous to the mechanism that determines CO Δ¹⁷O values. This study is among the first to show clumped isotope fractionation resulting from atmospheric chemistry and not thermal equilibration, which may inform the identification of clumped isotope KIEs in other atmospheric trace gases. These first Δ₃₁ observations motivate future experimental and observational studies targeted at characterizing the clumped isotopes of CO sources, background CO, and experimentally fractionated CO.

The Moon's frequency-dependent tidal response, expressed as temporal variations in its gravity field through the Love number $��k_2�$ and as dissipation through the quality factor $��Q�$, provides information about its interior structure. Lunar laser ranging has provided measurements for $��Q�$, but so far no frequency-dependent values for $��k_2�$ have been determined. We provide the first spacecraft measurements of $��k_2�$ and $��Q�$ at two frequencies, monthly and yearly, from an analysis of Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter radio tracking data. Interior modeling indicates that these values can be matched only with a low-viscosity zone at the base of the lunar mantle, even when using complex rheological laws to model the mantle's response. The existence of this zone has profound implications for the Moon's thermal state and evolution.

Earth's terrestrial surfaces commonly exhibit topographic roughness at the scale of meters to tens of meters. In soil- and sediment-mantled settings topographic roughness may be framed as a competition between roughening and smoothing processes. In many cases, roughening processes may be specific eco-hydro-geomorphic events like shrub deaths, tree uprooting, river avulsions, or impact craters. The smoothing processes are all geomorphic processes that operate at smaller scales and tend to drive a diffusive evolution of the surface. In this article, we present a generalized theory that explains topographic roughness as an emergent property of geomorphic systems (semi-arid plains, forests, alluvial fans, heavily bombarded surfaces) that are periodically shocked by an addition of roughness which subsequently decays due to the action of all small scale, creep-like processes. We demonstrate theory for the examples listed above, but also illustrate that there is a continuum of topographic forms that the roughening process may take on so that the theory is broadly applicable. Furthermore, we demonstrate how our theory applies to any geomorphic feature that can be described as a pit or mound, pit-mound couplet, or mound-pit-mound complex.