Warming in the land of the midnight sun: breeding birds may suffer greater heat stress at high- versus low-Arctic sites.

Rising global temperatures are expected to increase reproductive costs for wildlife as greater thermoregulatory demands interfere with reproductive activities. However, predicting the temperatures at which reproductive performance is negatively impacted remains a significant hurdle. Using a thermoregulatory polygon approach, we derived a reproductive threshold temperature for an Arctic songbird-the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis). We defined this threshold as the temperature at which individuals must reduce activity to suboptimal levels (i.e. less than four-time basal metabolic rate) to sustain nestling provisioning and avoid overheating. We then compared this threshold to operative temperatures recorded at high (82° N) and low (64° N) Arctic sites to estimate how heat constraints translate into site-specific impacts on sustained activity level. We predict buntings would become behaviourally constrained at operative temperatures above 11.7°C, whereupon they must reduce provisioning rates to avoid overheating. Low-Arctic sites had larger fluctuations in solar radiation, consistently producing daily periods when operative temperatures exceeded 11.7°C. However, high-latitude birds faced entire, consecutive days when parents would be unable to sustain required provisioning rates. These data indicate that Arctic warming is probably already disrupting the breeding performance of cold-specialist birds and suggests counterintuitive and severe negative impacts of warming at higher latitude breeding locations.

Reversible Structure Formation of Aluminum Trihydroxide (ATH) Dispersions in Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

Aluminum trihydroxide/polydimethylsiloxane (ATH/PDMS) systems are often used as potting compounds in electronic assemblies to guard the electronics from shock, vibration, corrosive agents, and moisture. In this study, we use dynamic rheology and confocal/optical microscopy to understand the dramatic effects miniscule levels of water have on the microstructure and corresponding rheological behavior of PDMS filled with ATH. In the absence of water, PDMS containing 20 wt % ATH readily flows, exhibiting viscoelastic behavior with some weak particle flocculation. However, the addition of only 0.045 wt % water to the system results in the formation of a sample-spanning, self-supporting physical gel that exhibits an elastic modulus ( G') five orders of magnitude higher than the water-free system. A structure formation mechanism consisting of hydration layer formation followed by interparticle water bridging has been proposed to explain the observed behavior. Recovery of the original viscoelastic fluid is demonstrated by adding molecular sieves (e.g., zeolites) to the fully flocculated system. The recovery can likely be attributed to the adsorption of water by the sieves and the corresponding breakup of water bridges between the ATH particles. On the basis of the proposed mechanism, a variety of other polar and nonpolar solvents have been found to induce physical gelation in ATH/PDMS dispersions with gel modulus being related to the Hildebrand solubility parameter mismatch between the solvent and PDMS fluid.

Continuous observations of the surface energy budget and meteorology over the Arctic sea ice during MOSAiC.

The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) was a yearlong expedition supported by the icebreaker R/V Polarstern, following the Transpolar Drift from October 2019 to October 2020. The campaign documented an annual cycle of physical, biological, and chemical processes impacting the atmosphere-ice-ocean system. Of central importance were measurements of the thermodynamic and dynamic evolution of the sea ice. A multi-agency international team led by the University of Colorado/CIRES and NOAA-PSL observed meteorology and surface-atmosphere energy exchanges, including radiation; turbulent momentum flux; turbulent latent and sensible heat flux; and snow conductive flux. There were four stations on the ice, a 10 m micrometeorological tower paired with a 23/30 m mast and radiation station and three autonomous Atmospheric Surface Flux Stations. Collectively, the four stations acquired ~928 days of data. This manuscript documents the acquisition and post-processing of those measurements and provides a guide for researchers to access and use the data products.

A responsivity-based criterion for accurate calibration of FTIR emission spectra: identification of in-band low-responsivity wavenumbers.

Spectra measured by remote-sensing Fourier transform infrared spectrometers are often calibrated using two calibration sources. At wavenumbers where the absorption coefficient is large, air within the optical path of the instrument can absorb most calibration-source signal, resulting in extreme errors. In this paper, a criterion in terms of the instrument responsivity is used to identify such wavenumbers within the instrument bandwidth of two remote-sensing Fourier transform infrared spectrometers. Wavenumbers identified by the criterion are found to be correlated with strong absorption line-centers of water vapor. Advantages of using a responsivity-based criterion are demonstrated.

Surface-atmosphere decoupling limits accumulation at Summit, Greenland.

Despite rapid melting in the coastal regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet, a significant area (~40%) of the ice sheet rarely experiences surface melting. In these regions, the controls on annual accumulation are poorly constrained owing to surface conditions (for example, surface clouds, blowing snow, and surface inversions), which render moisture flux estimates from myriad approaches (that is, eddy covariance, remote sensing, and direct observations) highly uncertain. Accumulation is partially determined by the temperature dependence of saturation vapor pressure, which influences the maximum humidity of air parcels reaching the ice sheet interior. However, independent proxies for surface temperature and accumulation from ice cores show that the response of accumulation to temperature is variable and not generally consistent with a purely thermodynamic control. Using three years of stable water vapor isotope profiles from a high altitude site on the Greenland Ice Sheet, we show that as the boundary layer becomes increasingly stable, a decoupling between the ice sheet and atmosphere occurs. The limited interaction between the ice sheet surface and free tropospheric air reduces the capacity for surface condensation to achieve the rate set by the humidity of the air parcels reaching interior Greenland. The isolation of the surface also acts to recycle sublimated moisture by recondensing it onto fog particles, which returns the moisture back to the surface through gravitational settling. The observations highlight a unique mechanism by which ice sheet mass is conserved, which has implications for understanding both past and future changes in accumulation rate and the isotopic signal in ice cores from Greenland.

Humidity trends imply increased sensitivity to clouds in a warming Arctic.

Infrared radiative processes are implicated in Arctic warming and sea-ice decline. The infrared cloud radiative effect (CRE) at the surface is modulated by cloud properties; however, CRE also depends on humidity because clouds emit at wavelengths that are semi-transparent to greenhouse gases, most notably water vapour. Here we show how temperature and humidity control CRE through competing influences between the mid- and far-infrared. At constant relative humidity, CRE does not decrease with increasing temperature/absolute humidity as expected, but rather is found to be approximately constant for temperatures characteristic of the Arctic. This stability is disrupted if relative humidity varies. Our findings explain observed seasonal and regional variability in Arctic CRE of order 10 W m(-2). With the physical properties of Arctic clouds held constant, we calculate recent increases in CRE of 1-5 W m(-2) in autumn and winter, which are projected to reach 5-15 W m(-2) by 2050, implying increased sensitivity of the surface to clouds.

The use of virtual environments for percentage view analysis.

It is recognised that Visual Impact Assessment (VIA), unlike many other aspects of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), relies less upon measurement than upon experience and judgement. Hence, it is necessary for a more structured and consistent approach towards VIA, reducing the amount of bias and subjectivity. For proposed developments, there are very few quantitative techniques for the evaluation of visibility, and these existing methods can be highly inaccurate and time consuming. Percentage view changes are one of the few quantitative techniques, and the use of computer technology can reduce the inaccuracy and the time spent evaluating the visibility of either existing or proposed developments. For over 10 years, research work undertaken by the authors at the University of Nottingham has employed Computer Graphics (CG) and Virtual Reality (VR) in civilian and industrial contexts for environmental planning, design visualisation, accident reconstruction, risk analysis, data visualisation and training simulators. This paper describes a method to quantitatively assess the visual impact of proposed developments on the landscape using CG techniques. This method allows the determination of accurate percentage view changes with the use of a computer-generated model of the environment and the application of specialist software that has been developed at the University of Nottingham. The principles are easy to understand and therefore planners, authorisation agencies and members of the public can use and understand the results. A case study is shown to demonstrate the application and the capabilities of the technology.