The July/August 2014

Paper: Serrano, M., Cañada, J., Moreno, J.C., and Gurrea, G. (2014) Personal UV exposure for different outdoor sports. Photo-chemical and Photobiological Sciences, accepted, doi:10.1039/C3PP50348H.

Picture of l’arc de la Foradada, courtesy Isabel Benet, Amics del Museu Geològic del

Seminari de Barcelona.

Hikers in the mountains of the eastern coast of Spain might be interested in

reaching l’arc de la Foradada, a landmark that the hiker in the picture has

achieved. On sunny days, however, it is important for hikers to protect ex-

posed skin from strong ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun, according to

researchers from the Instituto de Ingeniería Energética, Universitat Politèc-

nica de València. In this paper, they examined the UV exposure of partici-

pants in three different outdoor sports: tennis, hiking in the mountains, and

running. The exposure of the athletes was monitored with personal dosime-

ters. The research determined that the runners received the highest doses of

UV radiation while participating in a running circuit, but, because they were

not engaged in the athletic activity for as long as did the hikers or tennis

players, they had smaller median daily Standard Erythema Doses (SEDs).

Hikers and tennis players received a median dose of over five SEDs, which

indicated that they should were protective clothing and sunscreen to avoid

erythema (sunburn).

The researchers utilized the Erythemal Daily Dose (EDD) data product, de-

rived from the Ozone Measuring Instrument (OMI) onboard the Aura satel-

lite.

The seven “most interesting” Giovanni papers from the first half of 2014

Personal UV exposure for different outdoor sports

Coping with variable and oligotrophic tropical wa-

ters: foraging behavior and flexibility of the Abbott’s

booby Papasula abbotti

Mesoscale and nutrient conditions associated with the

massive 2008 Cochlodinium polykrikoides bloom in the

Sea of Oman/Arabian Gulf

Extremely high aerosol loading over Arabian Sea

during June 2008: The specific role of the atmospheric

dynamics and Sistan dust storms

Is there an abnormal enhancement of atmospheric

aerosol before the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake?

A 2 year record of atmospheric mercury species at a

background Southern Hemisphere station on Amster-

dam Island

Paleoindian pinniped exploitation in South America

was driven by oceanic productivity

Call for Presentations: The 2nd Gregory G. Leptoukh Online Giovanni Workshop & Schedule

In July, we compiled all the published re-

search papers that we found from the first

six months of 2014 that described some use

of Giovanni. Of a total of 103 publications

for that period, some of the titles caught our

attention. So, for this summer two-month edi-

tion of The Giovanni News, we’re taking a

deeper look into these interesting papers, to

see how Giovanni was used and to find out

what the authors determined with their re-

search. The Table of Contents this month thus

consists of the titles of the seven papers. We

think you’ll find the titles as intriguing as we

did.

The first thing you will see in this edition is

the official Call for Papers for the 2nd

Gregory G. Leptoukh Online Giovanni

Workshop, to take place this November. The

workshop will take place on November 10

and November 12-14, 2014.

Enjoy. And keep on using Giovanni.

Regards,

Jim Acker and Wainie Youn, Editors

Paper: Hennicke, J.C. and Weimerskirch, H. (2014) Coping

with variable and oligotrophic tropical waters: foraging be-

haviour and flexibility of the Abbott’s booby Papasula ab-

botti. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 499, 259–273,

doi:10.3354/meps10664.

Photograph of Abbott’s booby, courtesy Colin Totterdell (top). An Australian stamp

featured the Abbott’s booby (bottom).

Abbott’s booby, which is now found only on Christmas Island in the Indian

Ocean, is both the world’s largest and rarest species of booby. For that

reason, the success of Abbott’s boobies in raising chicks is extremely im-

portant to the ongoing survival of this species. In this paper, Janos Hen-

nicke and Henri Weimerskirsch described a seven-year study of the for-

aging behavior of Abbott’s boobies, including how they coped with

varying prey availability in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Abbott’s

boobies are known to travel very long distances to find food.

The researchers determined that, under less productive ocean conditions

(typified by warmer water and lower chlorophyll concentrations), the

birds changed the composition of their diet, and their trip duration, trip

range, and maximum dive depth all increased. The data were acquired

with Global Positioning System trackers and dive loggers. (Continued on

next page)

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 2

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 3

(Continued from previous page)

An interesting aspect of this study was that the birds time their trips to coincide with the activity of marine organisms (primarily

predatory fish like tuna or marlin) that drive their preferred prey (predominantly flying fish and squid) to the surface, because

Abbott’s boobies can only dive about two meters into the water. Under less productive conditions, the size of the flying fish con-

sumed by the birds decreased, and they were found to have more non-flying fish in their diet.

Giovanni was used to obtain sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentrations from MODIS-Aqua.

Paper: Al-Azri, A.R., Piontkovski, S.A., Al-Hashmi, K.A., Goes, J.I., Gomes, H.D.R., and Glibert, P.M. (2014)

Mesoscale and nutrient conditions associated with the massive 2008 Cochlodinium polykrikoides bloom in the

Sea of Oman/Arabian Gulf. Estuaries and Coasts, 37, 325-338, doi:10.1007/s12237-013-9693-1.

Cochlodinium polykikroides, microphotograph courtesy of Dr. Kim Reece, Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

From October 2008 to mid-January 2009, extensive blooms of the dinoflagellate species Cochlodinium polykikroides were ob-

served in the coastal waters of Oman. Satellite observations indicated that blooms of this species, which can form toxic “red

tides” in high concentrations, lasted for about 10 months in the Sea of Oman and the Arabian Gulf and were found in place of

the phytoplankton Noctiluca scintillans, which is normally found in the region. An abstract from another paper described the bloom

as “catastrophic,” responsible for “killing thousands of tons of fish and limiting traditional fishery operations, damaging coral

reefs, impacting coastal tourism, and forcing the closure of desalination plants in the region.” (Richlen et al. 2009).

Researchers from Sultan Qaboos University of Oman, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and the University of Maryland

Horn Point Laboratory described this unusual hazardous bloom occurrence in the journal Estuaries and Coasts. The blooms were

initially associated with stronger than normal upwelling, which brought more nutrients to the surface, along the Iranian and north-

ern Oman coast. Warm water and elevated nutrient concentrations allowed the blooms to persist over the period described in

the paper.

Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentration data were acquired from Giovanni for this study.

Reference: Richlen M.L., Morton, S.L., Jamali, E.A., Rajan, A., and Anderson, D.M. (2009). The catastrophic 2008–2009 red tide in

the Arabian Gulf region, with observations on the identification and phylogeny of the fish-killing dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polyk-

rikoides. Harmful Algae, 9, 163-172, doi:10.1016/j.hal.2009.08.013.

Seven “most interesting” Giovanni papers

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 4

Paper: Kaskaoutis, D.G., Rashki, A., Houssos, E.E., Goto, D., and Nastos, P.T. (2014) Extremely high aerosol

loading over Arabian Sea during June 2008: The specific role of the atmospheric dynamics and Sistan dust

storms. Atmospheric Environment, 94, 374-384, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.05.012.

In this research article, scientists led by Dimitris Kaskoutis described how they investigated unusually high dust aerosol loading

observed in June 2008 over the Arabian Sea and attributed the specific cause to a strong outbreak of Sistan dust storms. The

latter occur frequently in the hot summers of this region, as shallow lakes dry out and leave fine silt that can be easily moved by

the wind. In June 2008, the aerosol concentration over the Arabian Sea was 78% higher than the average value for June (2000-

2013). The drying of the lakes, followed by stronger-than-average winds, led to the high concentrations of dust in the atmos-

phere. The meteorological cause of the event was attributed to intensification and expansion of the Indian low pressure system

into the northern Arabian Sea.

Giovanni was used in this study to compare observed MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth at 550 nm (AOD550) with output from the

SPRINTARS (Spectral Radiation-Transport Model for Aerosol Species) model.

MODIS surface temperature image of a Sistan dust storm, and description of the image:

URL for this image: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=71348

Text from NASA Visible Earth: A heavy curtain of dust lies over southern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan on June 14, 2004.

The dust appears to be coming from the Sistan basin on the Afghan-Iranian border, top left. The Sistan basin is a vast complex of

lakes and marshes fed by small streams and rivers flowing primarily from the mountainous highlands of Afghanistan. With the

exception of three shallow freshwater lakes, only one of which is visible in the true-color image as a dark depression near the

border, the wetlands dry completely during the dry season, leaving deposits of alluvial silt, which is easily lifted on the wind. In

this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image, the dust is masking the arid deserts of Afghanistan and

Pakistan and is sweeping around the Chagai Hills along the border. The crescent of the Siahan Mountain Range in Pakistan is

preventing the dust from blowing further south.

Once airborne, the dust cools considerably, which makes it stand out in this surface temperature image. Here, the dust is as much

as 40 degrees Celsius cooler than the hottest regions on the ground. The land temperature in this image reaches up to 57 de-

grees C (135 degrees F) in pockets where the land is darker and, therefore, absorbs more sunlight. Patches of clouds also show

up as extremely cold blue regions in the temperature image. Though the dust is easy to see in this image, surface temperature

images can make dust storms easier to spot when the dust is the same color as the ground.

Seven “most interesting” Giovanni papers

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 5

Paper: Qin, K., Wu, L.X., Zheng, S., Bai, Y., Lv, X. (2014) Is there an abnormal enhancement of atmospheric

aerosol before the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake? Advances in Space Research, 54, 1029-1034, doi:

http:10.1016/j.asr.2014.04.025.

Map of ground-shaking intensity from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and the location of the epicenter (left). The U.S. Geological Survey photograph

shows a landslide caused by the earthquake that destroyed houses and apartments (right).

The great 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which occurred in the Sichuan province of China on May 12, resulted in nearly 70,000

deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and massive damages to buildings, homes, and other property. The earthquake was

measured at approximately 8.0 on the Richter scale.

Given the high toll in human lives and property destruction caused by such massive earthquakes, the ability to identify any kind of

precursory signal of imminent earthquakes could potentially be very valuable, possibly saving both lives and property. In this

paper, the researchers described one such possible signal, elevated aerosol concentrations observed along the line of the Long-

menshan fault, the main fault that ruptured during the earthquake. The MODIS aerosol optical depth data used in the study and

displayed with Giovanni, showed a clear pattern of elevated aerosols above the fault during the period May 1-12, 2008, com-

pared with a differing urban aerosol pattern in both 2007 and 2009. Further research indicated that the higher aerosol concen-

trations actually occurred on May 5, seven days before the quake.

Could this observation be related to the earthquake? According to the paper, ionospheric anomalies were observed six and three

days before the event. The researchers stated that this was caused by a seismogenic electric field caused by the injection of

charged aerosols and radon into the atmosphere, resulting in aerosol-size ion clusters. There was also an increase in air tempera-

ture and outgoing longwave radiation in the area observed on May 6, along with an “abnormal” decrease in relative humidity

on May 5-6.

This paper thus offers the intriguing concept that monitoring atmospheric aerosols in seismically-active regions might provide an

early-warning signal, days in advance of a major earthquake. Papers written by former GES DISC staff member Dimitar Ou-

zounov on this subject were cited in the Qin et al. paper.

Seven “most interesting” Giovanni papers

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 6

Paper: Angot, H., Barret, M., Magand, O., Ramonet, M., and Dommergue, A. (2014) A 2 year record of atmospheric mercury spe-

cies at a background Southern Hemisphere station on Amsterdam Island. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 14, 14439–

14470, doi:10.5194/acpd-14-14439-2014.

Ile Amsterdam is a small oval volcanic island dotted with cinder cones and veined with lava tubes (left). The more picturesque Ile St. Paul, which has a breached volcanic

crater open to the sea, lies 85 km to the south (right). Approximately 30 people live on a French research base on Ile Amsterdam. Images courtesy of L'Institut polaire

français Paul-Emile Victor.

One problem with determining the actual “background” atmospheric concentrations of elements and molecules associated with

human activities is that very few places on the Earth are far enough from human activities to provide wholly natural conditions.

Candidates for such places are isolated oceanic islands. This paper is about the establishment of an atmospheric monitoring sta-

tion on a very remote island in the Indian Ocean and the results of a two-year study of atmospheric mercury concentrations ac-

quired at the station.

Mercury is a hazardous element because it is toxic, destroys nerve tissue, and accumulates in the food chain, which is why large

fish like tuna can have high enough mercury concentrations in their tissues to warrant prudent restrictions on their consumption.

Mercury can be naturally released to the atmosphere from wildfires, volcanoes, and oceanic upwelling (deep ocean water com-

ing to the surface). Sources of mercury from human activities include the burning of coal, cement production, and mining. Much

of the gaseous mercury in the atmosphere results from mercury deposited on the ocean surface and re-emitted as a gas.

Atmospheric mercury concentrations were monitored at Ile Amsterdam in the Indian Ocean for two years for the Global Mercury

Observation System, which is funded by the European Union. The two-year record showed seasonal peaks in gaseous mercury

related to biomass burning in Africa. MODIS fire data were also used to estimate fire occurrence frequency. The lowest concen-

trations of particulate mercury were found in air masses that had passed over Antarctica before being transported to the vicinity

of Amsterdam Island. The highest concentrations were associated with biomass fires in Africa.

Giovanni was used to examine oceanic productivity (chlorophyll concentration) in the Indian Ocean. Concentrations of reactive

gaseous mercury (RGM) were also monitored, because one of the production paths for RGM is the reaction of bromine released

from phytoplankton activity, although the occurrence of persistent light rain/drizzle was a potential factor reducing RGM concen-

trations. The highest concentrations of RGM were found to occur at the same time as the austral summer peak of oceanic produc-

tivity in the Southern Ocean.

Editor’s Note from Jim Acker: Ile Amsterdam is very isolated and rarely visited, but I was fortunate to visit it during one stop of a

1985 oceanographic research cruise onboard the French research vessel and supply ship R/V Marion Dufresne.

Seven “most interesting” Giovanni papers

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 7

Paper: Saporiti, F., Bala, L.O., Otero, J.G., Crespo, E.A., Piana, E.L., Aguilar, A., and Cardona, L. (2014) Paleoindian pinniped ex-

ploitation in South America was driven by oceanic productivity. Quaternary International, available online 13 June 2014,

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.015.

Seals and sea lions resting on a small island off Hout Bay (South Africa), not far from the coast. Photo courtesy of Flickr, labeled for free reuse.

Seals and sea lions (pinnipeds) may seem cute and furry and playful to us, but to the Indians living on the Atlantic Ocean coast of

South America several centuries ago, they were apparently looked upon primarily as a source of food. Archaeological study has

indicated that the hunter-gatherer Indian societies switched from primarily eating pinnipeds to other sources of food several times

during the second half of the Holocene. The reason for these switches was believed to be over-exploitation of the pinnipeds for

food, which led to significant decreases in their population. However, the results of the study, based on zooarchaeological data

and nitrogen isotopes in molluscs, indicated the Indians only ate a diet rich in pinniped meat when the latter was very abundant,

which was when marine productivity was high. Thus, the observed declines in pinniped population were due to factors in the ma-

rine environment and not due to overexploitation by hungry coastal Indian tribes.

Giovanni was used in this study to relate areas of high oceanic productivity to the locations of large modern pinniped population

in the southern Atlantic Ocean near South America.

Seven “most interesting” Giovanni papers

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 8

2nd Annual Gregory G. Leptoukh Giovanni Online Workshop

The purpose of the 2014 Gregory G. Leptoukh

Online Giovanni Workshop is to share and dis-

seminate the multitude of ways that the NASA

Giovanni data system is being used for scien-

tific research. Other objectives include fostering

discussions on (1) applications of Giovanni to

environmental and disaster monitoring; (2) using

Giovanni for geoscience and climate change

education; and (3) the current development and

implementation of Giovanni-4, and desired

enhancements suggested by the user community.

The workshop will consist of online presentations in the form of either a slide

show (Powerpoint) or PDF “poster.” Live presenters will give their presenta-

tions online using Adobe Connect. Live presentations will be 20-30 minutes

long with 10 minutes for questions. This will allow for a break between con-

secutive presentations.

Submission deadline for presentation abstracts is September 20, 2014.

Presentations do not have to be of original (unpublished) research – the goal

of this workshop is to share how Giovanni has contributed to scientific re-

search in many different fields of Earth science. A description of a published

paper or meeting presentation is acceptable.

The live presentations will be recorded, so that participants unable to attend

the live sessions will be able to access the recorded presentations after the

workshop.

Registration and abstract submission information is on the next page.

An outline of the schedule for the 4-day workshop is presented on the follow-

ing pages.

We will be selecting only 10-12 abstracts for live presentations, with prefer-

ence given to respondents who have indicated they would like to give a live

online presentation. All other participants can take part in the 24-hour

Global Poster Session, which will be accomplished both by email and by

Twitter!

If you have received this Schedule and Call for Pres-

entations document from james.g.acker@nasa.gov

to a direct email address, you are already regis-

tered for the workshop! The email address to which

the document has been sent will be used to send the

Adobe Connect invitations for each session of the

workshop. Only reply to james.g.acker@nasa.gov if

you wish those messages to go to a different email

address.

Just prior to the workshop, we will ask participants

to send us their country and institutional affiliation (if

they have one). This information will help compile

our total participants list for a post-workshop

evaluation and report.

If you are reading this online or have received it by

forwarded email, please register by sending your

name and preferred email address to

james.g.acker@nasa.gov. If you do not indicate a

preferred email address, the “From:” email address

in your message will be used.

We will publish a complete workshop schedule with abstracts one week prior

to the workshop. Abstracts should briefly describe the subject of the presenta-

tion and the use of Giovanni. Previously published abstracts can be used;

however, if Giovanni was not mentioned in the abstract, please add a brief

description of how Giovanni was used. Abstracts should be in English and no

longer than 500 words. Recorded presentations will be placed online

following the workshop with author permission.

Please submit the information listed below with the abstract to

james.g.acker@nasa.gov:

First Author Name

First Author Institution (if applicable)

First Author Email Address (Email addresses will be provided with “at” substi-

tuted for “@” to facilitate communications between participants.)

Co-Author Name(s) and Affiliations

Abstract

Presentation Time Preference – Please see schedule for live presentation times.

The Giovanni News | July/August 2014 | Page 9

The Giovanni News is a monthly publication of NASA’s Goddard Earth Sciences Data

and Information Services Center. The newsletter reports on events of interest, new

Giovanni features, and other news relevant to the Earth science community and

Giovanni users.

| NASA_Giovanni

Day 1: November 10, 2014 (Times are given for U.S. Eastern Standard

Time and Universal Time, as EDT/UTC.)

09:00/14:00

Opening Remarks: Greetings, Acknowl-

edgments

09:30/14:30

Current Status – Data portals, data sets,

analytical functions, and visualizations

10:00/15:00

Status of Giovanni-4

11:00/16:00

Research Highlights and Connecting with

the Giovanni Community

11:30 – 13:00 / 16:30 – 18:00

Break

13:00-14:00 /18:00 – 19:00

Live Presentation 1

14:00-15:00/19:00-20:00

Live Presentation 2

15:00-16:00/20:00 – 21:00

Live Presentation 3

End of Day 1

Day 2: November 12, 2014

09:00 – 10:00 / 14:00 – 15:00

Live Presentation 4

10:00-11:00 /15:00 – 16:00

Live Presentation 5

11:00 – 12:00 / 16:00 – 17:00

Live Presentation 6

12:00 - 14:00 / 17:00 – 19:00

Break

14:00 – 15:00 / 19:00 – 20:00

Live Presentation 7

15:00-16:00 / 20:00-21:00

Live Presentation 8

End of Day 2

Day 3: November 13, 2014

10:00 – 11:00 / 15:00 – 16:00

Live Presentation 9

11:00 – 12:00 / 16:00-17:00

Live Presentation 10

12:00 – 14:00 / 17:00 – 19:00

Break

14:00 – 15:00 / 19:00 – 20:00

Live Presentation 11

15:00 – 16:00 / 20:00 – 21:00

Live Presentation 12

End of Day 3

Day 4: November 14, 2014

24-Hour Online Global Poster

Session

The 24-Hour Online Global Poster Session

will begin at 9:00 AM Eastern Standard

Time (U.S.) / 14:00 UTC on November

14, 2014, and continue to the following

morning. Those electing to give a presen-

tation in the Poster Session will prepare a

PDF (slides or a single-page poster) that

will be displayed on the workshop Web

site. During the 24-Hour Online Global

Poster Session, participants can email the

author to ask them questions about the

presentation, similar to a face-to-face

conversation in front of a poster. How-

ever, this mode of interaction allows par-

ticipants who speak different languages

more time to compose responses rather

than provide a verbal response.

The list of poster author email addresses

will only be sent out to workshop partici-

pants requesting to participate in the

Poster Session. Alternatively, those wish-

ing to submit questions by Twitter can

submit the question as a message to the

nasa_giovanni Twitter account, indicating

the poster number, and the question will

be forwarded by email to the author.

(Note: Questions submitted by Twitter

during nighttime hours on the U.S. East

Coast will be forwarded the next day, a

Saturday, and may not be immediately

answered by the author.)

Following the Poster Sessions, authors will

have the option to summarize their an-

swers to any interesting questions and

add them to the Web page with their

presentation.

2nd Annual Gregory G. Leptoukh Giovanni Online Workshop