Southern ocean carbon and heat impact on climate.

The Southern Ocean greatly contributes to the regulation of the global climate by controlling important heat and carbon exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean. Rates of climate change on decadal timescales are therefore impacted by oceanic processes taking place in the Southern Ocean, yet too little is known about these processes. Limitations come both from the lack of observations in this extreme environment and its inherent sensitivity to intermittent processes at scales that are not well captured in current Earth system models. The Southern Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate programme was launched to address this knowledge gap, with the overall objective to understand and quantify variability of heat and carbon budgets in the Southern Ocean through an investigation of the key physical processes controlling exchanges between the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice using a combination of observational and modelling approaches. Here, we provide a brief overview of the programme, as well as a summary of some of the scientific progress achieved during its first half. Advances range from new evidence of the importance of specific processes in Southern Ocean ventilation rate (e.g. storm-induced turbulence, sea-ice meltwater fronts, wind-induced gyre circulation, dense shelf water formation and abyssal mixing) to refined descriptions of the physical changes currently ongoing in the Southern Ocean and of their link with global climate. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Heat and carbon uptake in the Southern Ocean: the state of the art and future priorities'.

Influenza vaccination: a summary of Cochrane Reviews.

The Cochrane Library was systematically searched for meta-analyses regarding influenza vaccination of various populations, both healthy and sick. An effect in reducing the number of cases of influenza, influenza-like illness or complications to influenza was found in some studies, but, generally, the quality of the studies was low, and several studies lacked hard clinical endpoints. Data on adverse effects were scarce. More randomised controlled trials investigating the effects of influenza vaccination are warranted.

Degradation of pCBA by catalytic ozonation in natural water.

The catalytic effect of commercially available ceramic Raschig rings versus stainless steel rings (known to be oxidant resistant) at different water qualities, for the decomposition of ozone and the hydroxyl radical formation have been investigated by using an ozone bubble column. Para-chlorobenzoic acid (pCBA) has been used as a model pollutant since it has been reported to be an ideal compound for ozone AOP studies because it displays slow reaction rates with ozone, but rapid oxidation kinetics with the OH radical. While the ozone was quite stable when the stainless steel rings were used as a packing media, the ceramic media enhanced the decomposition of the ozone. Nevertheless, the water quality was found to significantly affect the ozone stability. Indeed, in addition to high pH, both NOM and TIC lowered the ozone concentration in the system. When considering the degradation of pCBA, the ceramic packing rings, as high pH and NOM, increases its rate constant which is correlated to the higher decomposition of ozone and consequently to higher formation of hydroxyl radicals. In contrast, TIC decreased the degradation rate of pCBA even if it decomposes the ozone which is due to its scavenging effect.

Membrane filtration for particles removal after ozonation-biofiltration.

With the process combination Ozonation-Biofiltration-Membranefiltration (the OBM-process) an average removal of 63% for UV-absorbance (UV(254)), 79% for color, and 28% for DOC was obtained treating NOM containing surface water. In this paper, focus has been made on the removal of particles after the ozonation and biofiltration treatment steps, using a submerged hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane reactor. For this purpose the membrane performed adequately. The ultrafiltration step did not have a significant impact on the removal of color, UV(254), and DOC. However, the SS and the heterotrophic plate count (HPC) was almost completely removed, and the turbidity was reduced by 65% by the membrane filtration, even at very high fluxes. Fouling occurred during operation, and operational factors of both the ozonation/biofiltration and the membrane reactor were important for controlling this. The experiments at pH 6.5 gave a higher permanent fouling than at pH 8.5, which was caused by the different oxidation pathways and consequently by the change in size and hydrophobicity of the by-products. On the other hand, the reversible fouling was less important at low pH. The mechanical cleaning was efficient, however, it seemed that the air scouring participated to the formation of submicron particles which favored the fouling.

Decreasing overflow from the Nordic seas into the Atlantic Ocean through the Faroe Bank channel since 1950.

The overflow of cold, dense water from the Nordic seas, across the Greenland-Scotland ridge and into the Atlantic Ocean is the main source for the deep water of the North Atlantic Ocean. This flow also helps drive the inflow of warm, saline surface water into the Nordic seas. The Faroe Bank channel is the deepest path across the ridge, and the deep flow through this channel accounts for about one-third of the total overflow. Previous work has demonstrated that the overflow has become warmer and less saline over time. Here we show, using direct measurements and historical hydrographic data, that the volume flux of the Faroe Bank channel overflow has also decreased. Estimating the volume flux conservatively, we find a decrease by at least 20 per cent relative to 1950. If this reduction in deep flow from the Nordic seas is not compensated by increased flow from other sources, it implies a weakened global thermohaline circulation and reduced inflow of Atlantic water to the Nordic seas.