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Volume 2 Issue 5, May 2009

Particulate aerosols are thought to be the primary source of iron to the oceans, but the factors determining their solubility, and thus bioavailability, are unclear. X-ray absorption analysis reveals that speciation controls the solubility of iron in three large sources of aerosol iron. The image shows a dust storm off Alaska, taken by the Aqua satellite on 1 November 2006, at 22:15 UTC. Image credit: NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response.

Letter p337; News & Views p317

Editorial

  • The necessity of establishing boundaries between nationally and internationally administered areas of the sea floor has long been recognized. The UN-approved demarcation line must be scientifically inevitable to gain practical importance.

    Editorial

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Commentary

  • In the 2008 Ilulissat Declaration, the five central Arctic states committed themselves to an orderly settlement of any overlapping claims in the Arctic. Nevertheless, the situation in the high north remains a crucial test for the functionality of the law of the sea.

    • Alexander Proelss
    Commentary
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Research Highlights

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News & Views

  • Climate model simulations do not perfectly match observations of Arctic sea-ice decline. Nevertheless, by combining models, observations and physical reasoning, it can be predicted that September sea ice is likely to vanish before the end of the twenty-first century.

    • Mat Collins
    News & Views
  • Iron can stimulate productivity in many regions of the world ocean, but only if it exists in a readily dissolvable form. Chemical analyses of typical aerosol particles show that the mineralogy of iron-containing particles largely determines their solubility.

    • Emilie Journet
    News & Views
  • Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen can, but does not always, speed up the sequestration of carbon in trees and forest soil. This complexity may arise from the spatial variations in each of the three mechanisms by which nitrogen affects carbon storage.

    • Ivan A. Janssens
    • Sebastiaan Luyssaert
    News & Views
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Erratum

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Progress Article

  • The Earth's mantle constitutes over 80% of the planet's volume and is a key reservoir in global geochemical cycling. An overview of the progress in understanding the generation of mid-ocean-ridge basalt from mantle melt shows that a variety of processes chemically alter mantle signals in the melt generated at depth before its eruption at the sea floor.

    • Ken H. Rubin
    • John M. Sinton
    • Eric Hellebrand
    Progress Article
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Letter

  • Hurricane forecasters are quite successful in predicting the pathways of tropical cyclones days in advance, but their intensification is less accurately predicted. An analysis of the evolution of maximum winds and total lightning frequency in 56 hurricanes around the globe reveals that hurricane intensification is often preceded by an increase in lightning frequency about one day before.

    • Colin Price
    • Mustafa Asfur
    • Yoav Yair
    Letter
  • Atmospheric particles are thought to initiate the majority of terrestrial precipitation. Field-based measurements of ice-crystal residues, together with controlled environment experiments on artificial clouds, suggest that anthropogenic lead-containing particles are among the most efficient ice-forming substances in the atmosphere.

    • Daniel J. Cziczo
    • Olaf Stetzer
    • Ulrike Lohmann
    Letter
  • Particulate aerosols are thought to be the primary source of iron to the oceans, but the factors determining their solubility, and thus bioavailability, are unclear. X-ray absorption analysis reveals that speciation controls the solubility of iron in three large sources of aerosol iron.

    • Andrew W. Schroth
    • John Crusius
    • Benjamin C. Bostick
    Letter
  • Arctic sea-ice cover is changing rapidly. An analysis of 18 state-of-the-art climate models and observed trends in Arctic sea-ice cover over the past three decades indicates that under a scenario of medium future greenhouse-gas emissions, the Arctic Ocean will probably be ice-free in September before the end of the twenty-first century.

    • Julien Boé
    • Alex Hall
    • Xin Qu
    Letter
  • Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are causing ocean acidification, compromising the ability of some marine organisms to build and maintain support structures. An analysis of mussels from a submarine volcano setting with natural low-pH conditions shows low shell thicknesses and growth rates, but survival over up to four decades.

    • Verena Tunnicliffe
    • Kimberley T. A. Davies
    • William W. Chadwick Jr
    Letter
  • Brine fluids supply the sea floor with energy-rich substrates. Geochemical and genetic analyses indicate that the associated microbial communities—and their dominant metabolisms—vary between seep sites with different supplies of sulphate and organic matter.

    • Samantha B. Joye
    • Vladimir A. Samarkin
    • Christof D. Meile
    Letter
  • The penultimate interglacial period was punctuated by three sea-level highstands. Uranium–thorium ages obtained from speleothems in Italian caves show that the relationship between the timing of the peaks in sea level and Northern Hemisphere insolation is dependent on the previous extent of continental ice sheets.

    • Andrea Dutton
    • Edouard Bard
    • Malcolm T. McCulloch
    Letter
  • The St Elias orogen in Alaska is one of the world’s highest coastal mountain ranges. An age analysis of detrital material in active sediment systems in the inaccessible ice-covered valley bottoms reveals localized exhumation that is driven by coupling between erosion and active tectonic rock uplift.

    • E. Enkelmann
    • P. K. Zeitler
    • K. D. Ridgway
    Letter
  • In the northwest Himalaya deeply incised mountain ranges contrast with high-elevation, low-relief areas such as the Deosai plateau in northern Pakistan. Thermochronology data from the Deosai plateau, together with thermal history modelling, suggest that this plateau, along with other morphologically similar surfaces, is a remnant of an Eocene southwestern Tibetan plateau.

    • Peter van der Beek
    • Jérémie Van Melle
    • Mohammad Latif
    Letter
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Backstory

  • Verena Tunnicliffe, Robert W. Embley and their colleagues sank their remotely operated vehicle into a boiling pool of molten sulphur in their vigour to sample the deep ocean floor.

    Backstory
  • Daniel Cziczo and colleagues experimented with electronics at over 3,000-m altitude to reduce the uncertainty in aerosol–cloud interactions.

    Backstory
  • Fabrizio Antonioli, Andrea Dutton and their colleagues prised a stalagmite out of an underwater cave to learn about sea levels during the penultimate interglacial period.

    Backstory
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