Climate change, Earth and oceans focus of UNC-Chapel Hill at AGU

CHAPEL HILL -- Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present findings on a variety of earth science topics at the 2006 annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The meeting runs Monday (Dec. 11) through Dec. 15 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif. Highlights from UNC-Chapel Hill researchers include:

• Climate change
  • Viking trash holds climate change clues
  • Greenland ice quakes forecast faster melting
  • Solar radiation drives abrupt climate change

• Earth
  • Earthquakes speed up eastern California
  • How new faults are born
  • Super-eruptions don't need super-sized sources

• Ocean
  • Giant waves in Massachusetts Bay

• Restoring rivers and streams
  • Natural dams cool hot summer streams
  • Sourcing nitrogen contamination in the Northeast
  • Shining a light on sunlight to streams

The following is a chronological list of presentations and detailed session information.

Impacts of land use and inter-annual climate variability on nitrogen export characteristics
9 a.m. PT, Monday, Dec. 11
Abstract number: H11J-05
Catherine Shields, master's student, Department of Geography

The spread of urban areas into former farm and forest areas (sprawl) is producing a mosaic of different residential, remnant farm and forest and commercial land uses. Nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, flow from these areas into receiving freshwater and marine environments. The nutrients contribute to water quality degradation and affect resources such as drinking water, fisheries and recreation areas. Understanding nutrient transport includes generating long-term measurements of water flow and quality from a number of watersheds in the Baltimore area, and analyzing the variations in the amount and timing of nutrient loading into aquatic ecosystems. The results have important implications for stream restoration methods intended to reduce nutrient contamination from these areas.
Related study: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep05/band090205.htm