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Effective data management plays a key role in oceanographic research as cruise-based data, collected from different laboratories and expeditions, are commonly compiled to investigate regional to global oceanographic processes. Here we describe new and updated best practice data standards for discrete chemical oceanographic observations, specifically those dealing with column header abbreviations, quality control flags, missing value indicators, and standardized calculation of certain properties. These data standards have been developed with the goals of improving the current practices of the scientific community and promoting their international usage. These guidelines are intended to standardize data files for data sharing and submission into permanent archives. They will facilitate future quality control and synthesis efforts and lead to better data interpretation. In turn, this will promote research in ocean biogeochemistry, such as studies of carbon cycling and ocean acidification, on regional to global scales. These best practice standards are not mandatory. Agencies, institutes, universities, or research vessels can continue using different data standards if it is important for them to maintain historical consistency. However, it is hoped that they will be adopted as widely as possible to facilitate consistency and to achieve the goals stated above.

Una visita al Museo dei Trasporti a Lucerna è parte integrante del mini-corso Mitenand, due giornate e mezza di insegnamento intensivo per preparare le classi delle scuole medie del Canton Ticino all’insegnamento curricolare del tedesco che attualmente inizia nel secondo anno. Il museo fornisce il contesto ideale in cui intraprendere i primi passi alla scoperta della realtà germanofona in modo disteso e piacevole. Il potenziale motivazionale è incrementato dall’esperienza di autoefficacia che consegue dalla presa di coscienza di disporre già di competenze ricettive: allieve e allievi le scoprono nella veste di “detective delle lingue”, mettendo in evidenza e applicando strategie di comprensione linguistiche ed extra-linguistiche.

The domain of the surface ocean and lower atmosphere is a complex, highly dynamic component of the Earth system. Better understanding of the physics and biogeochemistry of the air-sea interface and the processes that control the exchange of mass and energy across that boundary define the scope of the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project. The scientific questions driving SOLAS research, as laid out in the SOLAS Science Plan and Implementation Strategy for the period 2004-2014, are highly challenging, inherently multidisciplinary and broad. During that decade, SOLAS has significantly advanced our knowledge. Discoveries related to the physics of exchange, global trace gas budgets and atmospheric chemistry, the CLAW hypothesis (named after its authors, Charlson, Lovelock, Andreae and Warren), and the influence of nutrients and ocean productivity on important biogeochemical cycles, have substantially changed our views of how the Earth system works and revealed knowledge gaps in our understanding. As such SOLAS has been instrumental in contributing to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) mission of identification and assessment of risks posed to society and ecosystems by major changes in the Earth's biological, chemical and physical cycles and processes during the Anthropocene epoch. SOLAS is a bottom-up organization, whose scientific priorities evolve in response to scientific developments and community needs, which has led to the launch of a new 10-year phase. SOLAS (2015-2025) will focus on five core science themes that will provide a scientific basis for understanding and projecting future environmental change and for developing tools to inform societal decision-making.

Event-scale phenomena, of limited temporal duration or restricted spatial extent, often play a disproportionately large role in ecological processes occurring in the ocean water column. Nutrient and gas fluxes, upwelling and downwelling, transport of biogeochemically important elements, predator-prey interactions, and other processes may be markedly influenced by such events, which are inadequately resolved from infrequent ship surveys. The advent of autonomous instrumentation, including underwater gliders, profiling floats, surface drifters, enhanced moorings, coastal high-frequency radars, and satellite remote sensing, now provides the capability to resolve such phenomena and assess their role in structuring pelagic ecosystems. These methods are especially valuable when integrated together, and with shipboard calibration measurements and experimental programs. © 2013 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved.

This study examines carbonate chemistry variability from 2008 to 2021 in subtropical coastal waters adjacent to Honolulu, Hawai'i. We use surface seawater carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2sw) measurements obtained every three hours from two buoys located along the south shore of O'ahu near anthropogenically impacted fringing reefs. The Ala Wai buoy was located 200 m offshore of a canal draining most of Honolulu, while the Kilo Nalu buoy was 1.3 miles (2 km) to the northwest, at a similar distance from shore with fewer terrestrial inputs. We compare pCO2sw variability from diurnal to interannual time scales. A trend analysis reveals a statistically significant increase in pCO2sw of +1.84 ± 0.27 µatm per year over the 11-year period. This rate is slightly lower than the average atmospheric growth rate observed during the same timeframe. In contrast to a nearby open-ocean site, the coastal sites experience amplified shorter-term variability, while seasonal to inter-annual variability is comparable to the open ocean. Ala Wai exhibits greater ranges than Kilo Nalu in all carbonate system variables due to its proximity to the Ala Wai Canal outflow. We examine the drivers that may explain both the similarities and contrasts in carbon dynamics observed between the two locations. Drivers of aragonite saturation state (WAr), an important variable for quantifying ocean acidification, are isolated from the in-situ time-series. Interannual salinity variations both due to freshwater pulses and large-scale regional salinity changes have a larger impact on WAr than temperature changes, which mostly have an effect seasonally. A large biological contribution to WAr is suspected, and further investigated using TA/DIC ratios normalized to median salinity and their slopes. Observed ratios at the south shore sites are evaluated relative to expected ratios derived from an open-ocean reference. Results suggest that dissolution and respiration are the primary biogeochemical processes occurring at these coastal sites. This highlights the significance of carbonate dissolution in anthropogenically impacted coastal waters, which is likely buffering acidification due to anthropogenic CO2 and freshwater inputs at these sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se la vitalità dell’insegnamento dell’italiano nella Svizzera italiana non desta particolari preoccupazioni, per quanto riguarda invece l’insegnamento al di fuori del territorio italofono occorrerebbe allentare il principio della territorialità per offrire un insegnamento completo in italiano (sia come L1 che come L2), offrendo così la possibilità di imparare l’italiano e in italiano anche fuori dal territorio. In assenza di questa situazione ideale, si concentrano gli sforzi in direzione di un potenziamento dell’insegnamento dell’italiano come L2 riferendosi agli assunti della didattica plurilingue, che promuove un insegnamento delle lingue integrato, mirato alla costruzione di competenze di base attraverso la trasposizione di strategie e competenze acquisite nell’apprendimento di lingue diverse.

L’Osservatorio linguistico della Svizzera italiana développe actuellement un indice de vitalité de l’italien en Suisse, articulé autour de 23 indicateurs. Cet article en présente les modalités, s’arrêtant en particulier sur un des indicateurs les plus importants: le nombre de locuteurs , qui est à mettre en relation avec les niveaux de compétence et la distribution sur le territoire.