NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Rain triggers seasonal stratification in a temperate shelf sea
No full textThe North Atlantic Storm Track acts as a conveyor belt for extratropical
cyclones that frequently deliver high winds and rainfall to northwest European
shelf seas. Storms are primarily considered detrimental to shelf sea stratification due to wind-driven mixing countering thermal buoyancy, but their
impact on shelf scale stratification cycles remains poorly understood. Here, we
show that storms trigger stratification through enhanced surface buoyancy
from rainfall. A multidecadal model confirms that rainfall contributed to
triggering seasonal stratification 88% of the time from 1982 to 2015. Stratification could be further modulated by large-scale climate oscillations, such as
the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV), with stratification onset dates
being twice as variable during a positive AMV phase than a negative one.
Further insights into how changing storm activity will impact shelf seas are
discussed beyond the current view of increasing wind-driven mixing, with
significant implications for marine productivity and ecosystem function
The extremely hot and dry 2018 summer in central and northern Europe from a multi-faceted weather and climate perspective
No full textThe summer of 2018 was an extraordinary season in climatological terms for northern and central Europe, bringing simultaneous, widespread, and concurrent heat and drought extremes in large parts of the continent with extensive impacts on agriculture, forests, water supply, and the socio-economic sector. Here, we present a comprehensive, multi-faceted analysis of the 2018 extreme summer in terms of heat and drought in central and northern Europe, with a particular focus on Germany. The heatwave first affected Scandinavia in mid-July and shifted towards central Europe in late July, while Iberia was primarily affected in early August. The atmospheric circulation was characterized by strongly positive blocking anomalies over Europe, in combination with a positive summer North Atlantic Oscillation and a double jet stream configuration before the initiation of the heatwave. In terms of possible precursors common to previous European heatwaves, the Eurasian double-jet structure and a tripolar sea surface temperature anomaly over the North Atlantic were already identified in spring. While in the early stages over Scandinavia the air masses at mid and upper levels were often of a remote, maritime origin, at later stages over Iberia the air masses primarily had a local-to-regional origin. The drought affected Germany the most, starting with warmer than average conditions in spring, associated with enhanced latent heat release that initiated a severe depletion of soil moisture. During summer, a continued precipitation deficit exacerbated the problem, leading to hydrological and agricultural drought. A probabilistic attribution assessment of the heatwave in Germany showed that such events of prolonged heat have become more likely due to anthropogenic global warming. Regarding future projections, an extreme summer such as that of 2018 is expected to occur every 2 out of 3 years in Europe in a +1.5 ∘C warmer world and virtually every single year in a +2 ∘C warmer world. With such large-scale and impactful extreme events becoming more frequent and intense under anthropogenic climate change, comprehensive and multi-faceted studies like the one presented here quantify the multitude of their effects and provide valuable information as a basis for adaptation and mitigation strategies
Soil organic carbon stocks by soil group for afforested soils in Ireland
No full textForest ecosystems are recognised as Natural Climate Solutions because forest soils are such important carbon stores, containing almost half of the total soil organic carbon of terrestrial ecosystems. Here we present the results of a synthesis of soil carbon stocks by World Reference Base soil group, and forest litter carbon stocks for afforested soils in the Republic of Ireland. We report soil carbon stocks of mineral soils separately from organo-mineral soils. We estimated mean soil carbon stocks in a 100 cm deep mineral soil to be between 162 ± 87 t C/ha (Gleysols) and 416 ± 0 t C/ha (Umbrisols, n = 1), and between 173 ± 65 t C/ha (Phaeozems) and 602 ± 226 t C/ha (Regosols) in a 100 cm deep organo-mineral soil; both less than the estimated soil carbon stocks in organic soils (Histosols): 645 ± 222 t C/ha. The entire soil carbon stocks in mineral Leptosols (100 ± 0 t C/ha, n = 1), Stagnosols (144 ± 39 t C/ha), Luvisols (159 ± 52 t C/ha) and Fluvisols (231 ± 0 t C/ha, n = 1) was contained in the upper 50 cm of soil. Based on a 100 cm deep soil, Histosols hold 1.6–4 times the amount of soil C than mineral soils and 1.1–3.7 times the amount in organo-mineral soils for the same profile depth. Certain mineral (e.g. Umbrisols) and organo-mineral soils (e.g Gleysols, Regosols) contain substantial soil carbon stocks relative to Histosols. We found considerable soil carbon stocks below 30 cm depth, which highlights the importance of depth extent for cumulative soil carbon stocks estimates. The upper third of the 100 cm profile contained 33% (Histosols) to 70% (Luvisols) of the soil carbon stocks and the upper half of a 100 cm profile contained the entire soil carbon stocks for Leptosols, Stagnosols, Luvisols and Fluvisols and organo-mineral Leptosols. Unfortunately, there were few samples available for mineral Leptosols, Umbrisols, Luvisols and Fluvisols, and the organo-mineral Stagnosols and Regosols, which precludes the drawing of conclusions for these groups. Relative to the soil carbon stocks, we found low mean forest litter stocks: 4.1 ± 5.5 t C/ha, 4.8 ± 3.3 t C/ha and 2.7 ± 2.9 t C/ha for broadleaf, coniferous and mixed forests respectively. Few exceptions existed for individual sites: 22.7 and 131.3 t C/ha for broadleaf forests. Our results are evidence that soil carbon stocks in mineral, organo-mineral and organic soils need to be protected, appropriately managed, and enhanced to be beneficial for greenhouse gas mitigation. Assessments are needed to identify which soil-site-management practice combinations risk soil carbon stock depletion. The large range observed in soil and litter carbon stocks stresses the importance of adequately accounting for soil group differences when GHG inventories are compiled. The synthesised dataset will contribute to improved SCS estimation for afforested lands in Ireland
A model framework to investigate the role of anomalous land surface processes in the amplification of summer drought across Ireland during 2018
No full textDue to its latitude and ample year-round rainfall, Ireland is typically an
energy-limited regime in the context of soil moisture availability and evapotranspiration. However, during the summer of 2018, regions within the country displayed significant soil moisture deficits, associated with anomalous
atmospheric forcing conditions, with consequent impacts on the surface
energy balance. Here, we explore the utility of a physically based land surface
scheme coupled with observational, global gridded reanalysis and satellite derived data products to analyse the spatial and temporal evolution of the 2018
summer drought event in Ireland over grassland, which represents the dominant agricultural land-cover. While the surface–air energy exchanges were initially dominated by atmospheric anomalies, soil moisture constraints became
increasingly important in regulating these exchanges, as the accumulated rainfall deficit increased throughout the summer months. This was particularly
evident over the freer draining soils in the east and southeast of the country.
From late June 2018, we identify a strong linear coupling between soil moisture and both evapotranspiration and vegetation response, suggesting a shift
from an energy-limited evapotranspiration regime into a dry or soil water limited regime. Applying segmented regression models, the study quantifies a
critical soil moisture threshold as a key determinant of the transition from wet
to dry evaporative regimes. These findings are important to understand the soil
moisture context under which land–atmosphere couplings are strongest in
water-limited regimes across the country and should help improve the treatment of soil parameters in weather prediction models, required for subseasonal and seasonal forecasts, consequently enhancing early warning systems of
summer climate extremes in the future
The emergence of a climate change signal in long-term Irish meteorological observations
No full textDetecting the emergence of a forced anthropogenic climate change signal from observations is critical for informing adaptation responses. By regressing local variations in climate onto annual Global Mean Surface Temperature (GMST), we track the emergence of an anthropogenic signal in long-term quality assured observations of temperature and precipitation for the island of Ireland, a sentinel location on the western European Atlantic seaboard. Analysis of station based observations, together with island scale composite series is undertaken for annual and seasonal means, together with 16 indices of extremes, with the derived signal-to-noise ratio classified as normal, unusual or unfamiliar relative to early industrial climate. More than half of indices show the emergence of at least unusual conditions relative to early industrial climate. The increase in annual mean temperature has led to the emergence of unfamiliar climate at six of eleven stations. Warming at the island scale is estimated at 0.88 °C per degree warming in GMST. While many stations show the emergence of unusual climate for spring, summer and autumn mean temperature, no forced signal of change is found for winter mean temperature. Changes in cool/warm days and nights are unfamiliar relative to early industrial climate. However, no anthropogenic signal is found for the hottest day annually or in summer – an extreme often associated with climate change in public consciousness. Increases in annual precipitation totals have emerged as unusual for western stations with large increases in winter totals per degree warming in GMST (e.g., 25.2% and 19.7% at Malin Head and Markree, respectively), indicating heightened flood risk with continued warming. By contrast, summer precipitation shows no significant relationship with GMST. Increases in rainfall intensity have emerged as unusual for 30% of stations, with increases consistent with the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship. Our analysis shows that an emerging climate change signal is discernible for Ireland, a location strongly influenced by climate variability
Review of Breda Gray, Luigina Ciolfi, and Aparecido de Carvalho, Made to Work: Mobilising Contemporary Worklives,. 2020, Routledge: London.
No full textBook revie
Business failure and entrepreneur experiences of passion
No full textThis article examines how passion affects an entrepreneur’s business failure experiences. Our study explores the link between the type of passion an entrepreneur exhibits and the effect this has on the entrepreneurs’ attitudes and reactions to business failure. We analyse the way in which passion type informs entrepreneurs identification with their business, and the entrepreneurial process. Entrepreneurs who experienced harmonious passion maintained an emotional distance from their business failure. Harmoniously passionate entrepreneurs had a rational perspective and were reflective, self-aware, adaptive and future oriented. Entrepreneurs who experienced obsessive passion, were defensive and reactionary about their business failure. Obsessively passionate entrepreneurs attached contingencies and experienced increased stress and conflict. Our findings suggest promising opportunities for future research on the interplay between heterogeneous passions, adaptive/maladaptive entrepreneurial action and regulated goal pursuit
The marine heatwave west of Ireland in June 2023
No full textThe summer of 2023 had been notable for a number of climate extremes: sea ice in the Antarctic dropped to its lowest for the time of year since satellite records began in the 1970s (NASA Earth Observatory, 2023),
terrestrial heatwaves engulfed southern Europe and southern United States/Mexico that would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without climate change (WorldWeatherAttribution, 2023), and sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) in the North Atlantic reached their highest since satellite records began in 1982 (NOAA, 2023). In concert with these terrestrial heatwaves and high Atlantic SSTs, a severe marine heatwave(MHW) developed in the eastern North Atlantic, west of Ireland (Figure 1a). Except for a narrow band close to the coast from Greenland to Canada, SSTs everywhere in the North Atlantic were above the 41-yearaverage (1982–2023), with many regions experiencing temperatures 2 degC higher than average. In the study region westof Ireland (highlighted in Figure 1b), the
SST reached an impressive 4 degC above average
Seasonal Prediction of Arabian Sea Marine Heatwaves
No full textMarine heatwaves are known to have a detrimental impact on marine ecosystems, yet predicting when and where they will occur remains a challenge. Here, using a large ensemble of initialized predictions from an Earth System Model, we demonstrate skill in predictions of summer marine heatwaves over large marine ecosystems in the Arabian Sea seven months ahead. Retrospective forecasts of summer (June to August) marine heatwaves initialized in the preceding winter (November) outperform predictions based on observed frequencies. These predictions benefit from initialization during winters of medium to strong El Niño conditions, which have an impact on marine heatwave characteristics in the Arabian Sea. Our probabilistic predictions target spatial characteristics of marine heatwaves that are specifically useful for fisheries management, as we demonstrate using an example of Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps)
A Registered Report Survey of Open Research Practices in Psychology Departments in the UK and Ireland
No full textOpen research practices seek to enhance the transparency and reproducibility of research. Whilst there is evidence of increased uptake in these practices, such as study preregistration and open data, facilitated by new infrastructure and policies, little research has assessed general uptake of such practices across university researchers. The current study estimates psychologists’ level of engagement in open research practices across universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland, while also assessing possible explanatory factors that may impact their engagement. Data were collected from [insert final number of participants] psychology researchers in the UK and Ireland on the extent to which individual researchers have implemented various practices (e.g., use of preprints, preregistration, open data, open materials). Here we present the summarised descriptive results, as well as considering differences between various categories of researcher (e.g., career stage, subdiscipline, methodology), and examining the link between researcher’s practices and their self-reported capability, opportunity, and motivation (COM-B) to engage in open research practices. Results show [e.g., that there is wide/little variability across the discipline as well as differences between established researchers and postgraduate research students/postdoctoral researchers, who are more/less likely to be engaging in responsible research practices]. Estimating the prevalence of responsible research practices is important to assess sustained behaviour change in research reform, tailor educational training initiatives, and to understand potential factors that might impact engagement