Description: In summer 2017, the ICDP SUSTAIN project (Surtsey Underwater volcanic System for Thermophiles, Alteration processes and INnovative concretes), drilled three cored boreholes (Table 1) through Surtsey at sites ≤10 m from a cored hole obtained in 1979. Drilling through the still hot volcano was carried out with an Atlas Copco CS1000 drill rig, whose components were transported by helicopter to Surtsey and re-assembled on site. The first vertical borehole, SE-02a, was cored in HQ diameter to 152 meters below surface (m b.s.) during August 7-16. It was terminated due to borehole collapse. A second vertical (SE-02b) cored borehole was then drilled in HQ diameter to 192 m during August 19-26. Wireline borehole logging in SE-02b was performed August 26. The anodized NQ-sized aluminum tubing of the Surtsey Subsurface Observatory was installed in SE-02b to 181 m depth on August 27. A third borehole, SE-03, angled 35° from vertical and directed 264°, was drilled from August 28 to September 4 and reached a measured depth of 354 m (~290 m vertical depth) under the eastern crater. The core is HQ diameter to a measured depth of 213 m and NQ diameter from 213-354 m measured depth. The core traverses the deep conduit and intrusions of the volcano to a total vertical depth of 290 m b.s. Seawater drilling fluid for boreholes SE-02a and SE-02b was filtered and doubly UV-sterilized at the drill site. No mud products were employed while coring SE-02a, while small amounts of attapulgite mud were used in SE-02b and SE-03. Core samples for geochemical analyses of pore water and microbiological investigations were collected on site from all three boreholes. About 650 m of core was transported by helicopter to Heimaey, 18 km northeast of Surtsey, to a processing laboratory where the core was scanned, documented, and described. Additional core processing has taken place at the Náttúrufraedistofnun Íslands, the Icelandic Institute of Natural History in Gardabaer, where both the 1979 and 2017 cores are stored.

Description: The Earth is rotating around its rotation axis in an irregular manner. The Earth rotation axis and its orientation in space vary with respect to the reference system (both the terrestrial and the celestial) due to the wide range of processes that contribute to the rotation excitation. Therefore, the study of the Earth rotation can provide essential information concerning the Earth system. Spaceborne geodetic sensors can determine Earth orientation parameters (EOP), which fully describe Earth’s behaviour in space. The EOP are needed for several fields and applications such as fundamental astronomical and geodetic reference systems, precise satellite orbit determination, space navigation, and disaster prevention.\\ Over the past three decades, climate change has caused undesirable alterations in living organisms, human activities, and socio-economic aspects. Climate change is fluctuating and alters weather patterns such as precipitation patterns and sea and ocean levels. It also threatens the biodiversity of ecosystems, food security, and human health, and exacerbates natural disasters. The intensity and frequency of natural hazards are increasing with erratic distribution due to changes in the climate. Also, the level of vulnerability and zonation of risk are changed. Analysis of natural hazards, such as atmospheric and hydrological events, can help improve crisis management. Therefore, satellite observation data and simulated data derived from different atmospheric models are needed in order to model different types of hazards and risks, which can help early warning and prediction systems. Even though continuous sensor measurements and archive data (historical data/climate) are used for weather forecasting in developed countries, deadly flooding happened close to Stuttgart in southern Germany in May 2016, which might be avoided by a precise weather warning system. Therefore, real-time space geodetic technique data estimation is necessary to use as input data in weather prediction models. For the analysis of space geodetic techniques in (near) real-time, predictions of the EOP are required. EOP are made available by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) Rapid Service Prediction Centre at USNO, Washington D.C., with a delay of hours to days. Accordingly, in the past, several methods were developed and applied for the EOP prediction. However, the accuracy of EOP prediction is still unsatisfactory, even for prediction of just a few days in the future.\\ To improve the EOP prediction accuracy, this study investigates the consistency between Earth rotation’s theories and observations. Moreover, the potentials of different geophysical phenomena are examined to better understand the interaction of different processes that affect the Earth rotation excitation with the time. Most of the Earth’s rotation theories and solutions are based on the location of the Earth’s principal axes of inertia (PAI). That location is defined by the second-degree Stokes coefficients of the geopotential, which are accurately observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and satellite laser ranging (SLR). In this study, the evolution of the Earth’s axes of inertia is analyzed for the first time. The presented results are remarkable, as the inertia axes do not move around a mean position fixed to a given terrestrial reference frame in the study period, but drift away from their initial location in a non-negligible manner.\\ Moreover, this study proposes a novel hybrid approach to predict EOP. There is a well-introduced stochastic method called copula-based analysis, and I combined it with singular spectrum analysis (SSA) for EOP prediction. I analyzed the potential of copula-based methods for predicting Earth rotation parameters that are derived from the combination of different satellite geodetic sensors and from other geophysical parameters like effective angular momentums. The copula is a statistical method that exploits linear and non-linear relationships between two or more variables by fitting a theoretical copula function into an empirical bivariate or multivariate distribution function. I introduced a hybrid prediction method that can be applied to other geophysical parameters is introduced in this thesis.\\ In this study, the interconnection between the celestial pole motion (CPM) and geomagnetic field (GMF) is investigated to improve the current CPM prediction methods. During the last decade, several investigations have been conducted in order to discuss a possible interconnection of polar motion and geomagnetic jerks, which are rapid changes in GMF secular variations. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of the GMF changes on the CPM, e.g., the interrelation of the geomagnetic jerks, geomagnetic dipole moment, geomagnetic field elements, and CPM variations. In this study, I use the CPM time series obtained from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations and the latest GMF data to explore the correlation between CPM and the GMF. Our preliminary results revealed some impressive common features in the CPM and GMF variations, which show the potential to improve our understanding of the GMF’s contribution to the Earth’s rotation. All in all, the results mathematically illustrate the coherency between the GMF parameters and CPM, which helps improve EOP products.

Description: Die Erde dreht sich um ihre Rotationsachse auf unregelmäßige Art und Weise. Die Erdrotationsachse und ihre Orientierung im Raum variieren in Bezug auf das Referenzsystem (sowohl im terrestrischen wie auch im zälestischen System) aufgrund des breiten Spektrums von Prozessen, die zur Rotationsanregung beitragen. Daher kann die Untersuchung der Erdrotation wesentliche Informationen über das Erdsystem liefern. Weltraumgestützte geodätische Sensoren liefern Informationen über erdgebundene Orientierungsparameter (EOP), die das Verhalten der Erde im Weltraum vollständig beschreiben. EOP werden für verschiedene Bereiche und Anwendungen, wie beispielsweise für grundlegende astronomische und geodätische Referenzsysteme, benötigt. Des Weiteren sind sie auch für die präzise Bestimmung von Satellitenorbits und die weltraumgestützten Navigation, bis hin zu Anwendungen im Katastrophenschutz von Bedeutung.\\ In den letzten drei Jahrzehnten zeigen sich bereits die negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf Biosphäre, menschliche Aktivitäten und sozioökonomische Aspekte. Der Klimawandel unterliegt Fluktuationen und verändert die Wettermuster, wie z.B. die Niederschlagsverteilung, sowie Meeres- und Ozeanspiegel. Er bedroht aber auch die biologische Vielfalt der Ökosysteme, die Ernährungssicherheit, die menschliche Gesundheit und verschlimmert Naturkatastrophen. Die Intensität und Häufigkeit von Naturgefahren werden zunehmen, hierbei ist ihre Verteilung aufgrund von Klimaveränderungen allerdings unregelmäßig; auch der Grad von Schadensanfälligkeiten und die Einteilung von Risikozonen werden sich zukünftig ändern.\\ Die Analyse von Naturgefahren, wie atmosphärische und hydrologische Ereignisse, kann zur Verbesserung des Krisenmanagements beitragen. Daher werden Satellitenbeobachtungen und simulierte Daten, die von verschiedenen atmosphärischen Modellen abgeleitet werden, für die Gefahr- und Risikomodellierung benötigt; dies kann Frühwarn- und Vorhersagesysteme unterstützen. Obwohl kontinuierliche Sensormessungen und Archivdaten (historische Daten/Klimadaten) für die Wettervorhersage in entwickelten Ländern zur Verfügung stehen, kamen es im Mai 2016 in der Nähe von Stuttgart in Süddeutschland bei einer katastrophalen Überschwemmung zu Verlusten von Menschenleben, die möglicherweise durch ein präzises Wetterwarnsystem vermeidbar gewesen wären. \\ Eine Echtzeitschätzung der geodätischen Weltraumtechnik wäre notwendig, um sie als Eingangsdaten in Wettervorhersagemodellen zu verwenden. Für die Analyse von raumgeodätischen Techniken in (nahezu) Echtzeit sind Vorhersagen der EOP unerlässlich. EOP werden durch das Rapid Service Prediction Centre des International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) am USNO, Washington D.C., mit einer Verzögerung von Stunden bis Tagen zur Verfügung gestellt. Demzufolge wurden in der Vergangenheit mehrere Methoden für die EOP-Vorhersage entwickelt und angewendet. Die Genauigkeit dieser EOP-Vorhersagen ist jedoch nach wie vor - selbst für einen Vorhersagezeitraum von nur wenigen Tagen - unbefriedigend.\\ Um die Genauigkeit der EOP-Vorhersage zu verbessern, beschäftigt sich die vorliegende Studie mit der Untersuchung von der Vereinbarkeit von Erdrotationstheorien mit Beobachtungen. Darüber hinaus wird das Potenzial verschiedener geophysikalischer Phänomene analysiert, um die Wechselwirkungen verschiedener Prozesse, die die zeitabhängige Anregung der Erdrotation beeinflussen, besser zu verstehen.\\ Die meisten Theorien und Lösungen zur Erdrotation basieren auf der Lage der Hauptträgheitsachsen der Erde (PAI). Diese Position wird durch die Stokes-Koeffizienten zweiten Grades des Geopotentials, das mit Hilfe der Satellitenmission Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) und der Satelliten-Laser-Entfernungsmessung (SLR) genau beobachtet wird, definiert. In dieser Studie wird zum ersten Mal die Entwicklung der Trägheitsachsen der Erde analysiert. Bemerkenswert an den vorgestellten Ergebnissen ist, daß sich die Trägheitsachsen während der Untersuchungsperiode nicht um eine mittlere Position, die in einem bestimmten terrestrischen Bezugsrahmen festgelegt ist, bewegen, sondern sich in nicht zu vernachlässigender Weise von ihrem ursprünglichen Position entfernen.\\ Darüber hinaus schlägt diese Studie einen neuartigen hybriden Ansatz zur EOP-Vorhersage vor. Es gibt eine gut eingeführte stochastische Methode, die “kopula-basierte Analyse”, die wir mit der “Singulär-Spektrum-Analyse” (SSA) für die EOP-Vorhersage kombiniert haben . Wir analysierten das Potenzial kopula-basierter Methoden zur Vorhersage von Erdrotationsparametern, die aus der Kombination verschiedener geodätischer Satellitensensoren und aus anderen geophysikalischen Parametern, wie z.B effektiven Drehimpulsen, abgeleitet werden. Die Kopula ist eine statistische Methode, die lineare und nicht-lineare Beziehungen zwischen zwei oder mehreren Variablen nutzt, indem eine theoretische Kopula-Funktion an eine empirische, bivariate oder multivariate Verteilungsfunktion angepasst wird. Wir haben eine hybride Vorhersagemethode entwickelt, die auch auf andere geophysikalische Parameter angewendet werden kann.\\ In dieser Studie wird der Zusammenhang zwischen der Bewegung des Himmelspols (CPM) und dem geomagnetischen Feld (GMF) untersucht, um die derzeitigen CPM-Vorhersagemethoden zu verbessern. Während des letzten Jahrzehnts wurden mehrere Untersuchungen durchgeführt, um eine mögliche Verbindung zwischen polaren Bewegungen und geomagnetischen Ausbrüten - hierbei handelt es sich um rasche Veränderungen der säkularen Variationen des GMF - zu erörtern. Weniger Aufmerksamkeit wurde jedoch den Auswirkungen der GMF-Änderungen auf die CPM, z.B. der Wechselbeziehung der geomagnetischen Ausbrüte, des geomagnetischen Dipolmoments, der geomagnetischen Feldelemente und der CPM-Variationen, gewidmet. In dieser Studie verwenden wir CPM-Zeitreihen, die aus Beobachtungen der Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) gewonnen wurden und aktuelle GMF-Daten, um die Korrelation zwischen CPM und GMF zu untersuchen. Unsere vorläufigen Ergebnisse zeigen einige auffallente Gemeinsamkeiten in den CPM- und GMF-Variationen, die das Potenzial besitzen, unser Verständnis des GMF-Beitrags zur Erdrotation zu verbessern. Alles in allem veranschaulichen die Ergebnisse mathematisch die Kohärenz zwischen den GMF-Parametern und der CPM und weisen damit perspektivisch den Weg für eine Verbesserung der EOP-Produkte.

Description: Deliverable D2.3 reports the work performed in task 2.3 “Metal complexation and mineral precipitation” within the Reflect project. The task is divided into the subtasks 2.3.1 “Mineral solubility and precipitation kinetics”, 2.3.2 “Mineral precipitation by impedance spectroscopy” and 2.3.3 “Modelling mineral solubility”. A combination of experimental design, performed experiments and numerical modelling have increased the knowledge of mineral solubility and precipitation at high salinity condition in geothermal fluids.

Description: This publication is a result of the 14th TRACE conference (Tree Rings in Archaeology, Climatology and Ecology) organized by the Department Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems of the University Pablo de Olavide (UPO) and the Association for Tree-ring Research (ATR), in collaboration with Pyrenean Institute of Ecology-Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC), University of Barcelona (UB), Forest and Wood Technology Research Centre (CETEMAS) and University of Valladolid (UVa). The TRACE 2015 conference was held on May 20-23, 2015 for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, in Sevilla, Spain.

Description: This publication is a result of the 15th TRACE conference „Tree Rings in Archaeology, Climatologyand Ecology” organized by the University of Silesia, Silesian Botanical Garden, University ofWrocław, Forest Research Institute and Białowieża National Park. The conference was held onMay 11th – 15th, 2016 in Białowieża, Poland, in the heart of the Białowieża Forest, the last naturalforest in the European Lowlands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. University Pablo de Olavide (UPO) and the Association for Tree-ring Research (ATR), in collaboration with Pyrenean Institute of Ecology-Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC), University of Barcelona (UB), Forest and Wood Technology Research Centre (CETEMAS) and University of Valladolid (UVa). The TRACE 2015 conference was held on May 20-23, 2015 for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, in Sevilla, Spain.

Description: Recent mobilisation of soil organic matter (SOM) in permafrost of the northern high latitudes is thought to have a significant impact on the carbon balance in the atmosphere. However, the environmental processes which influence SOM accumulation and remobilisation still need to be investigated more accurately. This study investigates the quantity and quality of SOM on Herschel Island in the western Canadian Arctic in relation to various landscape characteristics. To reach this goal, soil moisture, total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, stable carbon isotopes (∂¹³C) and TOC/TN ratios (C/N) were determined on 128 samples from twelve sediment cores reaching up to 250 cm depth. Drilling locations were chosen based on morphology, vegetation and soil properties and supported by satellite imagery and air photos. Seasonal thaw depths (active layer depths) correlate with ground disturbance and vegetation cover and lie between 20 and 100 cm. Well-preserved SOM is accumulated in the active layer and subjacent ice-rich permafrost of wet polygonal tundra. Uplands, hummocky tussock tundra and alluvial fans cover more than 50 % of the island and show heterogeneous SOM storage characteristics with considerable TOC contents being limited to the active layer. Disturbed areas with slope gradients greater than 6° show strong SOM degradation with low TOC contents throughout the active layer and permafrost strata. Linear regression and principal component analysis (PCA) shows that a decreasing SOM content is driven by increasing ground disturbance and reduced vegetation cover. Improved drainage decreases the preservation of SOM in the active layer. Future deepening of the active layer because of increasing temperatures and ground disturbance will remobilise SOM stored in ice-rich permafrost. This might increase carbon dioxide and methane emissions from permafrost landscapes.

Description: Developing ow paths or expanding existing pathways in deep geological strata is generally referred to as "stimulation". To extract heat from geothermal reservoirs, stimulation treatments are carried out by injecting water at high pressure into the formation (hydraulic stimulation), by dissolution of certain mineral components, mostly carbonates, thus increasing the hydraulic pathways (chemical stimulation), or by cooling of the rock to induce tensile stresses which helps the fracture expansion (thermal stimulation). The achieved factor of productivity increase by conventional stimulation treatments is reported to be between 1.3 and 25. In petrolium industry a significant decline of the production increase occurs already during the first year after stimulation. The time to refracturing is typically 4 to 7 years. It is not clear whether these values are also appropriate for geothermal applications. The sustainability of the increase in permeability due to thermal stimulation depends on the situation: for an injection well the increase remains for few years. For production wells, the longevity of the stimulation depends on the self-propping ability of the rock. After reviewing the current situation in the field of deep geothermal energy in Europe, dierent stimulation techniques are discussed. Furthermore, case studies of stimulation treatments in deep geothermal reservoirs are presented. In the subsequent chapters the authors present the methods of stimulation treatment in deep geothermal wells to show the increase of productivity, to explain the potential benefits and risks and estimate the economic performance.