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Large rivers play an important role in transferring water and all of its constituents including carbon in its various forms from the land to the ocean, but the seasonal and inter-annual variations in these riverine flows remain unclear. Satellite Earth observation datasets and reanalysis products can now be used to observe synoptic-scale spatial and temporal variations in the carbonate system within large river outflows. Here we present the OceanSODA-UNEXE time series, a dataset of the full carbonate system in the surface water outflows of the Amazon (2010-2020) and Congo Rivers (2002-2016). Optimal empirical approaches were used to generate gridded Total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fields in the outflow regions. These combinations were determined by equitably evaluating all combinations of algorithms and inputs against a matchup database of in situ observations. Gridded TA and DIC along with gridded temperature and salinity data enable the calculation of the full carbonate system in the surface ocean. The algorithm evaluation constitutes a Type A uncertainty evaluation for TA and DIC where model, input and sampling uncertainties are considered. Total combined uncertainties for TA and DIC were propagated through the carbonate system calculation allowing all variables to be provided with an associated uncertainty estimate. In the Amazon outflow, the total combined uncertainty for TA was identified as 36 µmol kg-1 (weighted RMSD 35 µmol kg-1 and weighted bias 8 µmol kg-1 for n=82) and for DIC was 44 µmol kg-1 (weighted RMSD 44 µmol kg-1 and weighted bias -6 µmol kg-1 for n=70). The spatially averaged propagated uncertainties for the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and pH are 85 µatm and 0.08 respectively, where the pH uncertainty is relative to an average pH of 8.19. In the Congo outflow, the combined uncertainty for TA was identified as 29 µmol kg-1 (weighted RMSD 28 µmol kg-1 and weighted bias 6 µmol kg-1 for n=102) and for DIC was 40 µmol kg-1 (weighted RMSD 37 µmol kg-1and weighted bias -16 µmol kg-1 for n=77). The spatially averaged propagated uncertainties for pCO2 and pH are 74 µatm and 0.08 respectively, where the pH uncertainty is relative to an average pH of 8.21. The combined uncertainties in TA and DIC in the Amazon and Congo outflows are lower than the natural variability their respective regions allowing the time varying regional variability to be evaluated. Potential uses of these data would be for assessing the spatial and temporal flow of carbon from the Amazon and Congo rivers into the Atlantic and for assessing the riverine driven carbonate system variations experienced by tropical reefs within the outflow regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warming of the Arctic due to climate change means the Arctic Ocean is now ice-free for longer as sea ice melts earlier and refreezes later. It remains unclear how the extended ice-free period will impact carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes due to scarcity of surface ocean CO2 measurements. Baseline measurements are urgently needed to understand how air-sea CO2 fluxes will spatially and temporally vary in a changing Arctic Ocean. It is uncertain whether the previous basin-wide surveys are representative of the many smaller bays and inlets that make up the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. By using a research vessel that is based in the remote Inuit community of Cambridge Bay (Ikaluqtuutiak, Nunavut), we have been able to reliably survey pCO2 shortly after ice melt and access previously unsampled bays and inlets in the nearby region. We present four years of consecutive summertime pCO2 measurements collected in the Kitikmeot Sea in the southern Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Overall, we found that this region is a sink for atmospheric CO2 in August (average of all calculated fluxes over the four cruises was -8.3 mmol m-2 d-1) but the magnitude of this sink varies substantially between years and locations (average calculated fluxes of 0.41, -7.70, -21.26 and -2.08 mmol m-2 d-1 during the 2016.2017,2018 and 2019 cruises respectively). Surface ocean pCO2 varied by up to 142 μatm between years; this highlights the importance of repeat observations in the Arctic as this high interannual variability would not have been captured by sparse and infrequent measurements. We find that the pCO2 value of the surface ocean at the time of ice melt is extremely important in constraining the magnitude of the air-sea flux throughout the ice-free season. Further constraining the flux in the Kitikmeot Sea will require a better understanding of how pCO2 changes outside of the summer season. Surface ocean pCO2 measurements made in the bays and inlets in the Kitikmeot Sea were ~20-40 μatm lower than in the main channels, and pCO2 measurements made close to ice breakup (i.e. within 2 weeks) were 50-100 μatm lower than measurements made >4 weeks after breakup. As basin-wide surveys of the CAA have focused on the deeper shipping channels and rarely measure close to the ice break-up date, we hypothesize that there may be an observational bias in previous studies, leading to an underestimate of the CO2 sink in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. These high-resolution measurements constitute an important new baseline for gaining a better understanding of the role this region plays in the uptake of atmospheric CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a Near Surface Ocean Profiler, which has been designed to precisely measure vertical gradients in the top 10 m of the ocean. Variations in the depth of seawater collection are minimised when using the profiler compared to conventional CTD/rosette deployments. The profiler consists of a remotely operated winch mounted on a tethered yet free floating buoy, which is used to raise and lower a small frame housing sensors and inlet tubing. Seawater at the inlet depth is pumped back to the ship for analysis. The profiler can be used to make continuous vertical profiles or to target a series of discrete depths. The profiler has been successfully deployed during wind speeds up to 10 m s-1 and significant wave heights up to 2 m. We demonstrate the potential of the profiler by presenting measured vertical profiles of the trace gases carbon dioxide and dimethylsulfide. Trace gas measurements use an efficient microporous membrane equilibrator to minimise the system response time. The example profiles show vertical gradients in the upper 5 m for temperature, carbon dioxide and dimethylsulfide of 0.15 °C, 4 μatm and 0.4 nM respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data on atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation and outcomes are limited in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). We aimed to investigate the characteristics of patients with CHD presenting for AF ablation and their outcomes.Methods: A multicenter, retrospective analysis was performed of patients with CHD undergoing AF ablation between 2004 and 2020 at 13 participating centers. The severity of CHD was classified using 2014 Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society/Heart Rhythm Society guidelines. Clinical data were collected. One-year complete procedural success was defined as freedom from atrial tachycardia or AF in the absence of antiarrhythmic drugs or including previously failed antiarrhythmic drugs (partial success).Results: Of 240 patients, 127 (53.4%) had persistent AF, 62.5% were male, and mean age was 55.2±13.3 years. CHD complexity categories included 147 (61.3%) simple, 68 (28.3%) intermediate, and 25 (10.4%) severe. The most common CHD type was atrial septal defect (n=78). More complex CHD conditions included transposition of the great arteries (n=14), anomalous pulmonary veins (n=13), tetralogy of Fallot (n=8), cor triatriatum (n=7), single ventricle physiology (n=2), among others. The majority (71.3%) of patients had trialed at least one antiarrhythmic drug. Forty-six patients (22.1%) had reduced systemic ventricular ejection fraction <50%, and mean left atrial diameter was 44.1±8.2 mm. Pulmonary vein isolation was performed in 227 patients (94.6%); additional ablation included left atrial linear ablations (40%), complex fractionated atrial electrogram (19.2%), and cavotricuspid isthmus ablation (40.8%). One-year complete and partial success rates were 45.0% and 20.5%, respectively, with no significant difference in the rate of complete success between complexity groups. Overall, 38 patients (15.8%) required more than one ablation procedure. There were 3 (1.3%) major and 13 (5.4%) minor procedural complications.Conclusions: AF ablation in CHD was safe and resulted in AF control in a majority of patients, regardless of complexity. Future work should address the most appropriate ablation targets in this challenging population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Heart failure (HF) patients often depend on driving for access to specialty care. We analyzed a public-use copy of the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) data to determine if HF is a risk factor for driving cessation and to identify other risk factors for driving cessation among those with HF. Methods and Results: Of the 5,383 community-dwelling drivers aged ≥65 years (mean age 73 years, 55% women, 13% African American), 839 had HF: 246 had baseline prevalent HF and 593 developed incident HF before driving cessation during 9 years of follow-up. Incident driving cessation occurred at rates of 3,980 and 3,709 per 10,000 person-years of follow-up for those with and without HF, respectively (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] associated with HF as a time-varying variable: 2.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.83–2.47; P < .001). This association remained unchanged after multivariable risk adjustment (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.21–1.68; P < .001). Among the 839 older drivers with HF, independent predictors for incident driving cessation were age ≥75 years (HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.44–2.73; P < .001), female gender (HR 1.93, 95% CI 1.37–2.74; P < .001), difficulty walking half a mile (HR 1.47 (1.04–2.08); P = .028), vision problems (HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.07–2.02; P = .018), and stroke as a time-varying covariate (HR 1.96, 95% CI 1.38–2.79; P < .001). Conclusions: HF is an independent risk factor for incident driving cessation among community-dwelling older drivers. Several patient characteristics predicted driving cessation in older HF patients, which may be targets for interventions to prevent driving cessation among these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]