Dynamic modelling of retrogressive landslides with emphasis on the role of clay sensitivity

This paper presents a detailed numerical study of the retrogressive failure of landslides in sensitive clays. The dynamic modelling of the landslides is carried out using a novel continuum approach, the particle finite element method, complemented with an elastoviscoplastic constitutive model. The multiwedge failure mode in the collapse is captured successfully, and the multiple retrogressive failures that have been widely observed in landslides in sensitive clays are reproduced with the failure mechanism, the kinematics, and the deposition being discussed in detail. Special attention has been paid to the role of the clay sensitivity on each retrogressive failure as well as on the final retrogression distance and the final run‐out distance via parametric studies. Moreover, the effects of the viscosity of sensitive clays on the failure are also investigated for different clay sensitivities.     

Ekman Convective Layer Flow of a Viscous Incompressible Fluid

Analytical solutions for generalizing the Ekman stationary flow of a viscous incompressible fluid in an infinite layer are obtained. The solution of an overdetermined system of the Oberbeck–Boussinesq equations is considered. It is suggested to use a class of exact solutions for this problem. It is shown that the structure of the solutions allows one to preserve the advective derivative in the heat-conductivity equation; this makes it possible to model the stratification of the temperature and pressure fields and describe the oceanic countercurrents.     

全球气候变化下南海诸岛保护优先区识别分析

全球变化下,珊瑚礁保护区是保护生物多样性、增强珊瑚礁对气候变暖抵抗力的有效方式,而维持珊瑚礁弹性是其核心内容。针对珊瑚礁最具有威胁性的热压力因子,基于南海1982—2009年卫星观测海表面温度（SST）数据和CMIP5加拿大地球系统模式CanESM2模型预估的2006—2100年南海SST数据构建热压力强度模型,从维持珊瑚礁弹性的角度识别IPCC RCP 4.5和RCP 8.5情景下南海诸岛保护优先区。结果表明：RCP 4.5和RCP 8.5情景下13%左右的南海诸岛珊瑚礁识别为保护优先区。根据热压力强度与珊瑚抵抗力及避难所关系,西沙群岛七连屿和晋卿岛近年观测与未来预估的热压力强度均比较低,在保障其服务功能的基础上建议实施完全保护;东沙群岛东沙环礁和中沙环礁排洪滩近年观测急性热压力强度较高但未来预估热压力强度较低,建议实施50%禁止利用保护;中沙群岛黄岩岛近年观测和未来预估的急性热压力强度均比较低,建议实施50%多用途保护。南沙群岛有14%左右的珊瑚礁识别为保护优先区,根据其热压力强度可实施30%~100%禁止利用保护或30%~50%多用途保护。RCP 4.5和RCP 8.5情景下的南海诸岛保护优先区及保护对策,可为维持珊瑚礁生态弹性及应对全球气候变化提供重要的参考价值。     

Geophysical Signature of the Shallow Water Flow in the Deepwater Basin of the Northern South China Sea

Shallow water flow (SWF), a disastrous geohazard in the continental margin, has threatened deepwater drilling operations. Under overpressure conditions, continual flow delivering unconsolidated sands upward in the shallow layer below the seafloor may cause large and long-lasting uncontrolled flows; these flows may lead to control problems and cause well damage and foundation failure. Eruptions from over-pressured sands may result in seafloor craters, mounds, and cracks. Detailed studies of 2D/3D seismic data from a slope basin of the South China Sea (SCS) indicated the potential presence of SWF. It is commonly characterized by lower elastic impedance, a higher Vp/Vs ratio, and a higher Poisson’s ratio than that for the surrounding sediments. Analysis of geological data indicated the SWF zone originated from a deepwater channel system with gas bearing over-pressured fluid flow and a high sedimentation rate. We proposed a fluid flow model for SWF that clearly identifies its stress and pressure changes. The rupture of previous SWF zones caused the fluid flow that occurred in the Baiyun Sag of the northern SCS.     

Parallelization of the flow-path network model using a particle-set strategy

High-performance simulation of flow dynamics remains a major challenge in the use of physical-based, fully distributed hydrologic models. Parallel computing has been widely used to overcome efficiency limitation by partitioning a basin into sub-basins and executing calculations among multiple processors. However, existing partition-based parallelization strategies are still hampered by the dependency between inter-connected sub-basins. This study proposed a particle-set strategy to parallelize the flow-path network (FPN) model for achieving higher performance in the simulation of flow dynamics. The FPN model replaced the hydrological calculations on sub-basins with the movements of water packages along the upstream and downstream flow paths. Unlike previous partition-based task decomposition approaches, the proposed particle-set strategy decomposes the computational workload by randomly allocating runoff particles to concurrent computing processors. Simulation experiments of the flow routing process were undertaken to validate the developed particle-set FPN model. The outcomes of hourly outlet discharges were compared with field gauged records, and up to 128 computing processors were tested to explore its speedup capability in parallel computing. The experimental results showed that the proposed framework can achieve similar prediction accuracy and parallel efficiency to that of the Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)-based Real-Time Integrated Basin Simulator (tRIBS).     

基于SODA资料的南海表层风能输入的空间分布与长期趋势研究

海面风不仅是驱动上层海洋运动的主要动力, 其能量也是维持海洋表层流动的主要机械能来源。为了分析南海表层流风能输入的变化, 用SODA(Simple Ocean Data Assimilation)(1901—2010)资料估算了风向南海表层流(表层地转流+表层非地转流)的能量输入。结果表明, 风向南海表层流、表层地转流和表层非地转流输入的能量总体均呈减少趋势, 110年间分别减小了约56%、65%和49%。导致风能输入减小的最主要因素是风应力的减弱(减小了35%)。由于南海受季风系统的控制, 风向表层流及其各成分输入的能量呈现出显著的季节性变化。冬季风能输入最强, 高值区位于南海西部及北部区域, 呈一个显著的“回力镖”状结构。这些结果对深入认识南海环流具有理论意义。     

Preprocessing photospheric vector magnetograms for nonlinear force-free field extrapolation of the global corona

Nonlinear force-free magnetic field(NLFFF) extrapolation based on the observed photospheric magnetic field is the most important method to obtain the coronal magnetic field nowadays.However, raw photospheric magnetograms contain magnetic forces and small-scale noises, and fail to be consistent with the force-free assumption of NLFFF models. The procedure for removing the forces and noises in observed data is called preprocessing. In this paper, we extend the preprocessing code of Jiang Feng to spherical coordinates for a full sphere. We first smooth the observed data with Gaussian smoothing, and then split the smoothed magnetic field into a potential field and a non-potential field.The potential part is computed by a numerical potential field model, and the non-potential part is preprocessed using an optimization method to minimize the magnetic forces and magnetic torques. Applying the code to synoptic charts of the vector magnetic field from SDO/HMI, we find it can effectively reduce the noises and forces, and improve the quality of data for a better input which will be used for NLFFF extrapolations applied to the global corona.     

Walking Access Distance of Metro Passengers and Relationship with Demographic Characteristics: A Case Study of Nanjing Metro

In the metropolises of China, the metro plays an increasingly important role in commuting because of its efficiency, affordability, and cleanliness. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between walking access distance to metro stations and the demographic characteristics of passengers, such as age, monthly income, travel frequency, gender, and travel purpose, as well as the influence of the urban context. Nanjing Metro Line 2 is selected as the case study. By using different methods such as a questionnaire survey, spatial decay function, analysis of covariance (ANOVA), network analysis of routes, and K-means cluster analysis, it is suggested that demographic characteristics have a significant impact on the pedestrian walking distance, with the exception of gender. Furthermore, the paper finds a spatial decay effect in walking access distance, the decay rate of which, however, varies across stations. Terminal stations have a larger pedestrian catchment area than in regular and exchange stations. Moreover, the passengers of Nanjing Metro Line 2 can be classified into six groups according to their demographic characteristics, among which education and occupation are vital indicators in determining their willingness to walk to the stations. Middle-class passengers have a higher dependence on the metro and tend to walk longer than other groups do. This study provides an important reference for planners and transport sectors to optimize land-use and transport infrastructures.     

Regional Characteristics and Causes of Haze Events in Northeast China

Northeast China experiences severe atmospheric pollution, with an increasing occurrence of heavy haze episodes. However, the underlying forces driving haze formation during different seasons are poorly understood. In this study, we explored the spatio-temporal characteristics and causes of haze events in Northeast China by combining a range of data sources(i.e., ground monitoring, satellite-based products, and meteorological products). It was found that the ‘Shenyang-Changchun-Harbin(SCH)'city belt was the most polluted area in the region on an annual scale. The spatial distribution of air quality index(AQI) values had a clear seasonality, with the worst pollution occurring in winter, an approximately oval-shaped polluted area around western Jilin Province in spring, and the best air quality occurring in summer and most of the autumn. The three periods that typically experienced intense haze events were Period I from mid-October to mid-November(i.e., late autumn and early winter), Period II from late-December to February(i.e., the coldest time in winter), and Period III from April to mid-May(i.e., spring). During Period I, strong PM_(2.5) emissions from seasonal crop residue burning and coal burning for winter heating were the dominant reasons for the occurrence of extreme haze events(AQI 300). Period II had frequent heavy haze events(200 AQI 300) in the coldest months of January and February, which were due to high PM_(2.5) emissions from coal burning and vehicle fuel consumption, a lower atmospheric boundary layer, and stagnant atmospheric conditions. Haze events in Period III, with high PM_(10) concentrations, were primarily caused by the regional transportation of windblown dust from degraded grassland in central Inner Mongolia and bare soil in western Jilin Province. Local agricultural tilling could also release PM_(10) and enhance the levels of windblown dust from tilled soil. Better control of coal burning, fuel consumption, and crop residue burning in winter and autumn is urgently needed to address the haze problem in Northeast China.     

Responses of soil moisture to vegetation restoration type and slope length on the loess hillslope

Soil moisture, a critical variable in the hydrologic cycle, is highly influenced by vegetation restoration type. However, the relationship between spatial variation of soil moisture, vegetation restoration type and slope length is controversial. Therefore, soil moisture across soil layers (0-400 cm depth) was measured before and after the rainy season in severe drought (2015) and normal hydrological year (2016) in three vegetation restoration areas (artificial forestland, natural forestland and grassland), on the hillslopes of the Caijiachuan Catchment in the Loess area, China. The results showed that artificial forestland had the lowest soil moisture and most severe water deficit in 100-200 cm soil layers. Water depletion was higher in artificial and natural forestlands than in natural grassland. Moreover, soil moisture in the shallow soil layers (0-100 cm) under the three vegetation restoration types did not significantly vary with slope length, but a significant increase with slope length was observed in deep soil layers (below 100 cm). In 2015, a severe drought hydrological year, higher water depletion was observed at lower slope positions under three vegetation restoration types due to higher transpiration and evapotranspiration and unlikely recharge from upslope runoff. However, in 2016, a normal hydrological year, there was lower water depletion, even infiltration recharge at lower slope positions, indicating receiving a large amount of water from upslope. Vegetation restoration type, precipitation, slope length and soil depth during a rainy season, in descending order of influence, had significant effects on soil moisture. Generally, natural grassland is more beneficial for vegetation restoration than natural and artificial forestlands, and the results can provide useful information for understanding hydrological processes and improving vegetation restoration practices on the Loess Plateau