Ice core provides a valuable vertical timeline of past climates and anthropogenic activities.Environmental proxies have been widely used in these studies,but there are few biological indicators available.To address this gap,we investigated the bacterial community from a 74 m ice core of Muztag ata glacier on the Tibetan Plateau to link biological indicators with past climate and anthropogenic activities.By analyzing the portion of the ice core with environmental proxies available(corresponding to 1907 to 1991),we observed an increase in bacterial richness throughout the ice core,which was associated with higher NH_(4)^(+),an indicator of agricultural development.The bacterial community was jointly determined by human activity,natural input,and air temperature,with a strong human influence after the 1950s.Furthermore,the relative abundance of animal gut-associated bacteria,including Aerococcaceae,Nocardiaceae,Muribaculaceae,and Lachnospiraceae,was associated with livestock number changes in the Central Asian region.Together with other bacterial lineages,they jointly explained 59.8%of the livestock number changes.This study provides quantitative evidence of the associations between bacterial indicators and past climate and human activities,highlighting the potential of using bacterial proxies for ice core studies.
Yongqin LIUNianzhi JIAOMukan JIKeshao LIUBaiqing XUBixi GUOTandong YAO
Cloud cover plays a pivotal role in assessing observational conditions for astronomical site-testing.Except for the fraction of observing time,its fragmentation also wields a significant influence on the quality of nighttime sky clarity.In this article,we introduce the functionΓ∈[0,1],designed to comprehensively capture both the fraction of available observing time and its continuity.Leveraging in situ measurement data gathered at the Muztagh-Ata site between 2017 and 2021,we showcase the effectiveness of our approach.The statistical result illustrates that the Muztagh-Ata site affords approximately 122 nights that were absolutely clear and 205 very good nights annually,corresponding toΓ≥0.9 andΓ≥0.36 respectively.
Seeing is an important index to evaluate the quality of an astronomical site.To estimate seeing at the Muztagh-Ata site with height and time quantitatively,the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis database(ERA5)is used.Seeing calculated from ERA5 is compared consistently with the Differential Image Motion Monitor seeing at the height of 12 m.Results show that seeing decays exponentially with height at the Muztagh-Ata site.Seeing decays the fastest in fall in 2021 and most slowly with height in summer.The seeing condition is better in fall than in summer.The median value of seeing at 12 m is 0.89 arcsec,the maximum value is1.21 arcsec in August and the minimum is 0.66 arcsec in October.The median value of seeing at 12 m is 0.72arcsec in the nighttime and 1.08 arcsec in the daytime.Seeing is a combination of annual and about biannual variations with the same phase as temperature and wind speed indicating that seeing variation with time is influenced by temperature and wind speed.The Richardson number Ri is used to analyze the atmospheric stability and the variations of seeing are consistent with Ri between layers.These quantitative results can provide an important reference for a telescopic observation strategy.
