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Within the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), measurements of ocean pH are limited across space and time. This has hindered our ability to robustly monitor and study regional carbon dynamics, inclusive of ocean acidification, over this biogeochemically variable sea. The 2021 launch of Biogeochemical-Argo (BGC-Argo) ocean profiling floats that carry five sensors represented the entry of this particular ocean observing technology into this region. The GOM BGC-Argo floats have vastly increased the number of oxygen, nitrate, pH, chlorophyll-a fluorescence, and particulate backscattering profile observations within the “open GOM” region (>1,000 m water column depth). To circumvent a set of uncertainties associated with the collected sensor pH data, regionally trained neural network algorithms were developed to skillfully predict GOM pH (total scale, in situ temperature and pressure), which served as a secondary QC and sensor performance assessment tool. The GOM neural network pH (GOM-NNpH) algorithms were trained using a selection of climate quality CTD and bottle data (temperature, salinity, oxygen, nitrate, pressure, and location) collected as a part of NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Carbon Cruises (GOMECC). Neural network pH estimates were generated using the newly developed GOMNNpH algorithm and two widely used, globally trained neural network algorithms (Empirical Seawater Property Estimation Routines (ESPER) and CArbonate system and Nutrients concentration from hYdrological properties and Oxygen using a Neural-network (CANYON-B)) to compare algorithm performance against validation data. The results demonstrate the advanced skill of the GOM-NNpH in capturing water column variability and robustly reconstructing GOM pH profiles. Using a combination of concurrent float-measured seawater values of pressure, temperature, salinity, and oxygen, a GOM-NNpH algorithm was applied to two years of BGC-Argo float data. Resulting data were used to diagnose the performance of float pH sensors and to generate a time series of neural network estimated pH based on the collected float profiles. These algorithms emphasize the value of regionally-trained neural networks and their utility by the BGC-Argo community. Further, the GOM-NNpH algorithms can also be applied by a variety of users to estimate pH values in the open GOM in the absence of direct pH observations.

Self-assembly is an important process in biological systems and also a promising avenue toward dynamic and responsive micro- and nano-technologies. This study discusses the non-equilibrium self-assembly of inherently magnetic bacteria oriented perpendicular to a solid surface. An interplay between hydrodynamic and magnetic interactions leads to stable three-dimensional clusters in the long-time regime, which may be programmatically assembled, disassembled, and translated across a surface. The implications of the findings for the rational design of non-equilibrium self-assembly in general are discussed.

ABSTRACT: Skaldic diction has long been noted for the many analogies it creates between the human body and the natural environment. One manifestation of this interchange occurs where women are referenced by kennings with base words denoting “land” or “earth,” as in the kenning grund gulls [ground of gold]. The idiosyncrasies of this type of woman-kenning have not before been studied, although a related metaphorical construction in which land is likened to a woman has been discussed. This article examines the linguistic taxonomies, metaphorical correlatives, and creative adaptations of this kenning-type “woman-as-land” within skaldic verse of the tenth to fourteenth centuries. The article also looks beyond kennings as lexical units, considering how imagery of women as “land” occurs in various forms of wordplay in skaldic verse and how these images are subsequently incorporated into the prosimetrical contexts of sagas.