Articles in 2011

With the advent of Web 2.0, not only journalists report science to the public. Researchers should be aware of the implications for the public dissemination of their findings.

Mercury's spin and its orbit around the Sun are tied to each other in a unique arrangement. According to a set of calculations, random asteroid impacts may have aided the planet's evolution into the current spin-orbit pattern.

Atmospheric CO₂ levels were much lower during the last glacial maximum than in the pre-industrial period. Ice-core data and biogeochemical modelling suggest that difference is partly due to the greater mass of inert carbon in glacial terrestrial biomes.

Formic acid exerts a significant influence on atmospheric chemistry and rainwater acidity. Satellite observations and model simulations suggest that terrestrial vegetation accounts for around 90% of the formic acid produced annually.

Ocean warming during the last deglaciation decreased the solubility of oxygen. A global compilation of marine sediment records shows that the deglacial trend of deoxygenation was overprinted by changes in ocean circulation and marine productivity.

Formic acid contributes significantly to acid rain in remote environments. Satellite measurements combined with model simulations indicate that annual formic acid production is two to three times larger than current estimates suggest.

Mercury contamination affects many aquatic ecosystems. Measurements of mercury concentrations in air of stratospheric origin suggest that mercury is oxidized in the stratosphere and subsequently lost to the troposphere, most likely following attachment to stratospheric particles.

Oceanic lithosphere contains a record of plate-spreading rates, but the oldest oceanic plates have been subducted into the mantle. Measurements of seismic wave velocities in the subducted part of the Cocos Plate beneath central Mexico reveal an anisotropy that was created when the plate formed, preserving an archive of ancient plate-spreading rates on Earth.

The planet Mercury rotates three times about its spin axis for every two orbits around the Sun. Numerical modelling suggests that this unusual pattern could result from initial retrograde rotation that was captured into a stable synchronous orbit, and subsequent disturbance by a large impact.

During the early twenty-first century, the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced the largest ice mass loss on instrumental record. An analysis of sand deposition in Sermilik Fjord, off Helheim Glacier in east Greenland, suggests that despite strong variability over the past 120 years, similarly high rates of iceberg calving have only occurred once before, in the 1930s.

Mixed-phase clouds, comprising both ice and supercooled liquid water, have a large impact on radiative fluxes in the Arctic. Interactions between numerous local feedbacks sustain these complex cloud systems, leading to the development of a resilient mixed-phase cloud system.