Day 3 :
- Atmospheric Chemistry | Geology | Geosciences
Location: Busarakam Ballroom 1
Session Introduction
Arndt Schimmelmann
Indiana University, USA
Title: Vietnam’s tropical karst is a sink for atmospheric methane greenhouse gas
Biography:
Arndt Schimmelmann completed his PhD in Geochemistry in 1985 at the University of California at Los Angeles, was a Post-doctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, USA, and is now a Senior Scientist in the Department of Geological Sciences at Indiana University in Indiana, USA. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.
Abstract:
The atmospheric concentration of the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4) is globally rising mainly due to anthropogenic activities. Forecasting of global climate change by models requires knowledge of sources and sinks of greenhouse gas species. A mostly overlooked sink of CH4 is the microbial oxidation in subterranean environments following air exchange with the atmosphere. Northern Vietnam’s vast carbonate province with deeply incised tower karst valleys offers exposure of abundant air-filled voids (i.e. caves and other porosity). Air exchange is enhanced by steep topography (hence large surface area of carbonate exposure) and limited soil cover. Our international team used portable methane detectors (SARAD® RTM 2200, SARAD® GmbH, Germany, with Axetris methane module; Gasmet DX-4030 FTIR, Gasmet Technologies Oy, Finland) and mesocosm experiments in caves to confirm strong methanotrophic depletion of CH4 over 12 hours in contact with moist cave rocks. The warm and moist climate should maintain strong methanotrophic activity throughout the year. The methanotrophic capacity of a cave depends on its air exchange rate and the abundance of suitable microbial habitats. The exchange of cave air with outside air is enhanced by thermal gradients and outside wind. ‘Warm season’ measurements along transects in numerous caves in May 2012 produced distinct CH4 concentration profiles. Complementary ‘cold season’ measurements in November/December 2015 will complete the basis to estimate the year-round methanotrophic activities in surveyed caves, and by extrapolation will arrive at a regional estimate of the rate of methanotrophy in northern Vietnamese karst.
Vasco M N C S Vieira
Universidade Técnica de Lisboa Técnico, Portugal
Title: Coupling the atmospheric to the coastal ocean components of the Earth-System (I): Estimating the solubility of greenhouse gases and aerosols
Biography:
Vasco M N C S Vieira has terminated his PhD in Marine, Land and Environmental Sciences in the University of Algarve in 2011. Until 2011, he worked at the ALGAE – Marine Plant Ecology Research Group of University of Algarve, and since then in Maretec – Marine Technology Group of Instituto Superior Técnico. He has 17 published articles on the subject of marine ecology, environment and technology.
Abstract:
The Global Ocean is perceived as climate change mitigator by acting as sink for greenhouse gases and as source of aerosols that increase the albedo in the upper atmosphere. More recently, the coastal ocean was determined as fundamental for the atmosphereocean interactions and atmospheric budget of its constituents, although its precise role is yet poorly understood due to its heterogenic environmental conditions and multitude of ecosystems. Solubility is one of the two fundamental factors setting the atmosphere-ocean balance and flux of gases. It basically changes with water temperature and salinity, which are highly variable at the coastal ocean. We tested the two most used approaches to model solubility with data from the European coastal ocean. The traditional method used by Earth-System modellers corrects the ideal gas law for the effects of moisture and fugacity of non-ideal gases, while the solubility coefficients are provided by the virial equations. Its alternative estimates solubility from the molecular structures, thermodynamic properties and concentrations of pure water, its dissolved salts and of the gases. Both formulations generally agreed remarkably well and only diverged by up to 4.5% in extreme situations of temperature and salinity. However, these situations occur in critical components of the Earth-System, namely the warmer and less saline coastal oceans and the cooler polar oceans. These mismatches led to a bias of 3.86×106 ton of CO2, 880.7 ton of CH4 and 401 ton of N2O dissolved in the first meter depth of the European coastal ocean.
Vasco M N C S Vieira
Universidade Técnica de Lisboa Técnico, Portugal
Title: Coupling the atmospheric to the coastal ocean components of the Earth-System (II): Estimating transfer velocities of greenhouse gases and aerosols
Biography:
Vasco M N C S Vieira has terminated his PhD in Marine, Land and Environmental Sciences in the University of Algarve in 2011. Until 2011, he worked at the ALGAE – Marine Plant Ecology Research Group of University of Algarve, and since then in Maretec – Marine Technology Group of Instituto Superior Técnico. He has 17 published articles on the subject of marine ecology, environment and technology.
Abstract:
The Global Ocean is an expected climate change mitigator by acting as sink for greenhouse gases and as source of aerosols that increase the albedo in the upper atmosphere. Given the calculus constrains of Earth-System Models (ESM), are used simpler formulations relying on wind speed as sole driver of the turbulence at the sea-surface that mediates the transfer velocities of gases. This is sufficient for the coarse resolution of ESM with cells roughly 1000 km wide dominated by the Open Ocean. Meanwhile, the Coastal Ocean was considered fundamental for the atmosphere-ocean gas exchanges and atmospheric budget of its constituents. Although its precise role is yet poorly understood due to its heterogenic environmental conditions and multitude of ecosystems, it has been proposed as responsible for half the atmosphere-ocean greenhouse gas exchanges worldwide. At the Coastal Oceans, other factors become important mediators of turbulence and gas transfer velocities, namely sea-surface roughness, atmospheric stability, currents, surfactants and rain. We propose a numerical framework to couple the atmospheric WRF to the oceanographic WW3-NEMO models, customizable to integrate the desired factors and respective formulations. We compared the application of alternative formulations with data from the European Coastal Ocean at 11 km and 1h resolutions during 6 days in May 2014. More comprehensive formulations estimated 50% less transfers of greenhouse gases than the generalization currently in use by ESM. Therefore, increasing the accuracy of ESM requires finer resolutions for space and time, but also for the better description of the processes involved.
Adichat Surinkum
CCOP - Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia, Thailand
Title: Trans-boundary geosciences and climate change adaptation in East and Southeast Asia – Role of CCOP
Biography:
Adichat Surinkum is Director of CCOP TS. He is also Member of Chaipattana Foundation on Landslide Mitigation Committee, Member of Thailand Environment Impact Assessment Committee on Infrastructure Development and Member of Thailand Research Institute on the Andaman Tsunami Mitigation Program. Previously, he was Department spokesman/Director, Bureau of Environment Geology and Geohazard and Expert Advisor on Geological Resources Management of the Department of Mineral Resources, Thailand, (2008–2012) and Director of Geotechnique Division and Director of Environmental Geology and Geoharzard Division, DMR, Thailand, (2003–2008). He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from Chiang Mai University, Thailand in the year of 2002. He has 32 years of experience in geophysics, geothermal, geo-environment and mineral exploration and management.
Abstract:
The ongoing globalization of economic activities in Southeast Asia and climate change has led to heightened awareness of and concerns about the challenges it poses to the international environment. With increased access to information on a timely basis, effects of transboundary issues on utilization of georesource and management of geohazards have become ever more apparent. These transboundary challenges highlight the need for decision-making processes that go beyond the borders of individual nation-states. Strategy to deal with transboundary issues in georesources utilization, geohazards mitigation, environment protection and climate change adaptation is to foster collaboration by the member countries, based on regional network to influence national networks, and enhance capacity for building database, harmonized maps and monitoring system. As a unique intergovernmental organization on geosciences, the Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) promotes capacity building, technology transfer, exchange of information and institutional linkages for geosciences. Based on the long-term friendship and network of geoscientists and government officers from 14 member countries, CCOP have been conducting programme of activities that addressed the new areas of concern, with more focus on exchanging knowledge/best practices and collaboration in transboundary assessment and management of georesources, geohazard mitigation, climate change adaptation and geological information database. At present, the harmonized 1:2 M geological map of CCOP and the 1:1 M geological maps of some member countries are accessible from the 1G Portal, (http://portal.onegeology.org). So far, CCOP has published 1:2 million digital seamless geology in CCOP region and now cooperating with ASEAN Secretariat and GSJ/AIST to implement the Harmonized Geology Project. Besides, building resilience and adapting to Climate Change is also increasingly a high priority for CCOP communities, with capacity building and networking as the keys to develop long term policies and plans with a view to achieving sustainable development of each nation and the whole East and Southeast Asia region. Some CCOP projects are on-going, for example: CO2 Storage Mapping Program (CCS-M), VIETADAPT,Korean CCUS Technology for Climate Change and multiple international/regional climate change workshops. CCOP has made solid and steady growth since its establishment in 1966 and still has room for further progress in facilitating the collaboration by member countries in solving transboundary issues based on geosciences. Towards attaining its four strategic goals of 2016-2020: Outreach, Cooperation & Partnership, Knowledge Enhancement & Sharing, and Data & Information, CCOP will continue to expand its scope of activities in areas of energy, resources, environment, natural disaster mitigation, web-GIS database and other emerging topics, to become a regional data-knowledge center of geoscience and lead to a better life for all.
George Chilingar
University of Southern California, USA
Title: A model on the effect of petroleum production on Earth’s temperature
Biography:
George Chilingar is an American-Armenian Professor of Civil and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Petroleum Engineering and a PhD in Geology, all at USC. He has published 72 books and over 500 of articles on geology, petroleum engineering and environmental engineering.
Abstract:
The following adiabatic model is used to relate the atmospheric temperature to the atmospheric pressure. The temperature distribution in planet’s troposphere (including the Earth’s troposphere) at pressure more than 0.2 atmospheres under greenhouse effect theory can be determined using the following equation: Where S is the solar constant; σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant; A is the planet’s reflectivity; b is a scaling factor; α is the adiabatic exponent; and ψ is the precession angle of the revolving planet. Model allows one to analyze the temperature changes due to variation in mass and chemical composition of the atmosphere. The proposed model considers the global temperature changes due to variations in mass and chemical composition of the atmosphere. Based on our model, releasing of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere does not have any appreciable effect on the average parameters of the Earth’s heat regime. Furthermore, they have no essential effect on the Earth’s climate. By considering different factors in the model, authors believe that all petroleum production and other anthropogenic activities resulting in accumulation of additional amounts of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does not increase the Earth’s temperature but instead decreases the temperature. The authors also have shown that in many cases, peaks in the sun radiation precede peaks in the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. The authors predict slow temperature decline by 2016-2020, with stronger cooling by around 2040. The earth is about 20 years away from “little ice age”.
Duong Nguyen-Thuy
VNU University of Science, Vietnam
Title: Radon and carbon dioxide in northern Vietnamese limestone caves
Biography:
Duong Nguyen-Thuy has completed her PhD in Mineralogy-Geochemistry at Vietnam National University and she currently serves as a Lecturer in the Faculty of Geology, VNU University of Science in Ha Noi, Vietnam. She has participated in more than 10 national research projects and published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers in Vietnamese and International journals.
Abstract:
Concentrations of radon and carbon dioxide were measured inthe air of three limestone caves in the Dong Van Karst Plateau in northern Vietnam in May 2015 via α-spectroscopy (SARAD® RTM 2200, SARAD®GmbH, Germany) and FTIR (GasmetDX-4030, Gasmet Technologies Oy, Finland), respectively. Rong Cave holds a local freshwater reservoir and featured 930 Bqm-3 of α-radiation from radon near the cave’s entrance and up to 10,853 Bqm-3 deeper in the cave. Pai Lung Cave seasonally stores water for agriculture and had radon activities from 310 Bqm-3 near the entrance to 5271 Bqm-3 in the interior. The touristically developed section of Na Luong Cave reached 1240 Bqm-3. Radon abundances were roughly proportional to carbon dioxide concentrations in air in the three caves at 534-1437 ppm, 497-1060 ppm and 509-735 ppm, respectively.The small ‘warm season’ thermal gradient in May between cave air (25-31oC) and outside air (25-37oC) limited convective air exchange. Carbon dioxide is likely the carrier gas transporting radon from deeper geological strata (possibly shales) along sub-vertical faults into subterranean karst voids.The observed radon levels in the three caves are considerably higher than, for example, the United Kingdom’s recommended threshold Action Levels in the workplace (400 Bqm-3) and for domestic properties (200 Bqm-3). Workers in Rong and Pai Lung caves as well as visitors in Na Luong Cave may be exposed to harmful radiation. ‘Cold season’ complementary measurements are planned for December 2015.
Guoan Wang
China Agricultural University, China
Title: Effects of environmental and biotic factors on carbon isotopic fractionation during decomposition of soil organic matter
Biography:
Guoan Wang has completed his PhD from Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS and Post-doctoral studies from Peking University. He is currently a Professor at China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. His team research focuses on climate and environmental changes using carbon and nitrogen isotopes in plants and soils. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.
Abstract:
Decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) plays an important role in the global carbon cycle because the CO2 emitted from soil respiration is an important source of atmospheric CO2. Carbon isotopic fractionation occurs during SOM decomposition, which leads to 12C to enrich in the released CO2 while 13C to enrich in the residual SOM. Understanding the isotope fractionation has been demonstrated to be helpful for studying the global carbon cycle. Soil and litter samples were collected from soil profiles at 27 different sites located along a vertical transect from 1200 to 4500 m above sea level (a.s.l.) in the south-eastern side of the Tibetan Plateau. Their carbon isotope ratios, C and N concentrations were measured. In addition, fiber and lignin in litter samples were also analyzed. Carbon isotope fractionation factor (α) during SOM decomposition was estimated indirectly as the slope of the relationship between carbon isotope ratios of SOM and soil C concentrations. This study shows that litter quality and soil water play a significant role in isotope fractionation during SOM decomposition, and the carbon isotope fractionation factor, α, increases with litter quality and soil water content. However, we found that temperature had no significant impact on the α variance.