Attribution of runoff change in the alpine basin: a case study of the Heihe Upstream Basin,China

Quantifying the relative contributions of different factors to runoff change is helpful for basin management, especially in the context of climate change and anthropogenic activities. The effect of snow change on runoff is seldom evaluated. We attribute the runoff change in the Heihe Upstream Basin (HUB), an alpine basin in China, using two approaches: a snowmelt-based water balance model and the Budyko framework. Results from these approaches show good consistency. Precipitation accounts for 58% of the increasing runoff. The contribution of land-cover change seems unremarkable for the HUB as a whole, where land-cover change has a major effect on runoff in each sub-basin, but its positive effect on increasing runoff in sub-basins 1 and 3 is offset by the negative effect in sub-basin 2. Snow change plays an essential role in each sub-basin, with a contribution rate of around 30%. The impact of potential evapotranspiration is almost negligible.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis

ASSOCIATE EDITOR S. Huang     

Traffic ‐and Industry‐Related Air Pollution Exposure Assessment in an Asian Megacity

Like other Asian countries, Pakistan is facing the issue of air pollution due to rapid urbanization, enormous transportation increases, and other related human activities. Moreover, continuously increasing emission sources have not only raised pollutant concentrations but also their types, thus damaging both human health and the environment. Faisalabad is the third largest megacity of Pakistan and its state of air quality is getting worse due to factors such as industrialization, high traffic volumes, and extensive fossil‐fuel‐burning activities. This review article aims to highlight the present status of air pollution in this city with special reference to particulate matter, elemental profiles, gaseous pollutants, organic–inorganic particulate contents as well as their sources. The concentration levels of these entities were also compared with other national and international cities, and related environmental standards. It is found that current levels of these pollutants are beyond safety limits as specified by various environment protection agencies and organizations. Several weak aspects and gaps are also identified along with suggestions for improvements of the present situation and directions for future research.     

Look-ahead vertical seismic profiling inversion approach for density and compressional wave velocity in Bayesian framework

To reduce drilling uncertainties, zero-offset vertical seismic profiles can be inverted to quantify acoustic properties ahead of the bit. In this work, we propose an approach to invert vertical seismic profile corridor stacks in Bayesian framework for look-ahead prediction. The implemented approach helps to successfully predict density and compressional wave velocity using prior knowledge from drilled interval. Hence, this information can be used to monitor reservoir depth as well as quantifying high-pressure zones, which enables taking the correct decision during drilling. The inversion algorithm uses Gauss–Newton as an optimization tool, which requires the calculation of the sensitivity matrix of trace samples with respect to model parameters. Gauss–Newton has quadratic rate of convergence, which can speed up the inversion process. Moreover, geo-statistical analysis has been used to efficiently utilize prior information supplied to the inversion process. The algorithm has been tested on synthetic and field cases. For the field case, a zero-offset vertical seismic profile data taken from an offshore well were used as input to the inversion algorithm. Well logs acquired after drilling the prediction section was used to validate the inversion results. The results from the synthetic case applications were encouraging to accurately predict compressional wave velocity and density from just a constant prior model. The field case application shows the strength of our proposed approach in inverting vertical seismic profile data to obtain density and compressional wave velocity ahead of a bit with reasonable accuracy. Unlike the commonly used vertical seismic profile inversion approach for acoustic impedance using simple error to represent the prior covariance matrix, this work shows the importance of inverting for both density and compressional wave velocity using geo-statistical knowledge of density and compressional wave velocity from the drilled section to quantify the prior covariance matrix required during Bayesian inversion.     

Addition of Phosphorus and Nitrogen Support the Invasiveness of Alternanthera Philoxeroides Under Water Stress

Coordination of plant functional traits with changes in the environment is helpful to understand the mechanisms underlying both invasiveness and adaptation of plants. Thus, to investigate the performance and functional traits in invasive Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.), an experiment of water stress is conducted with different nutrient concentrations. Alternanthera philoxeroides plants are grown under natural and nutrient soils and subjected to three levels of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) solution: ambient P and N concentration (P?N?), P addition with an ambient N concentration (P+N?), and P addition with high N concentration (P+N+) in combination with three different irrigation water levels as 1) 100% irrigation, 2) 50% irrigation, and 3) 25% deficit irrigation. Based on results, A. philoxeroides produces significantly higher biomass in both soils under 100% irrigation with P+N? treatment and exhibits higher values of leaf area and root length. However, 25% irrigation with P?N? treatment in both soils exerts a significant negative effect on relative growth rate and root/shoot ratio of A. philoxeroides plants. Under 50% irrigation in soils with both P+N? and P+N+ treatments, high values of leaf nitrogen are recorded. Moreover, nutrient soil is more supportive to A. philoxeroides than natural soil.     

Risk assessment of extreme air pollution based on partial duration series: IDF approach

The occurrences of extreme pollution events have serious effects on human health, environmental ecosystems, and the national economy. To gain a better understanding of this issue, risk assessments on the behavior of these events must be effectively designed to anticipate the likelihood of their occurrence. In this study, we propose using the intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) technique to describe the relationship of pollution intensity (i) to its duration (d) and return period (T). As a case study, we used data from the city of Klang, Malaysia. The construction of IDF curves involves a process of determining a partial duration series of an extreme pollution event. Based on PDS data, a generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) is used to represent its probabilistic behaviors. The estimated return period and IDF curves for pollution intensities corresponding to various return periods are determined based on the fitted GPD model. The results reveal that pollution intensities in Klang tend to increase with increases in the length of time between return periods. Although the IDF curves show different magnitudes for different return periods, all the curves show similar increasing trends. In fact, longer return periods are associated with higher estimates of pollution intensity. Based on the study results, we can conclude that the IDF approach provides a good basis for decision-makers to evaluate the expected risk of future extreme pollution events.     

Regolith thickness modeling using a GIS approach for landslide distribution analysis,NW Himalayas

Regolith thickness is considered as a contributing factor for the occurrence of landslides. Although, mostly it is ignored because of complex nature and as it requires more time and resources for investigation. This study aimed to appraise the role of regolith thickness on landslide distribution in the Muzaffarabad and surrounding areas, NW Himalayas. For this purpose regolith thickness samples were evenly collected from all the lithological units at representative sites within different slope and elevation classes in the field. Topographic attributes (slope, aspect, drainage, Topographic Wetness Index, elevation and curvature) were derived from the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (12.5 m resolution). ArcGIS Model Builder was used to develop the regolith thickness model. Stepwise regression technique was used to explore the spatial variation of regolith thickness using topographic attributes and lithological units. The derived model explains about 88% regolith thickness variation. The model was validated and shows good agreement (70%) between observed and predicted values. Subsequently, the derived regolith model was used to understand the relationship between regolith thickness and landslide distribution. The analysis shows that most of the landslides were located within 1–5 m regolith thickness. However, landslide concentration is highest within 5–10 m regolith thickness, which shows that regolith thickness played a significant role for the occurrence of landslide in the studied area.     

Whose sustainability? Top–down participation and emergent rules in marine protected area management in Indonesia

A review of a major community-based marine protected area programme (CB-MPA) in an Indonesian island archipelago is the point of departure for this article. Despite a well-designed institutional structure to facilitate local participation, local knowledge about the CB-MPA is found to be low and resource access and influence on decision-making in the programme is negligible for the majority of islanders. At the same time, most of those who know about the programme consider it as pertaining to the public authority only. These findings stand in contrast to evidence on non-formal ways of protecting and managing marine areas in the same geographical area but outside the formal MPA institutional framework. In particular, the article identifies a number of emergent rules-in-use in marine management, which operate parallel to legally established MPAs. It is argued that emergent forms of marine area protection such as non-formal self-organising island exclusion zones (IEZ) offer as yet mostly unused potentials for formal MPA development, particularly in those coastal and marine areas without traditional forms of marine and coastal management.     

A Study of Largest Active Region AR12192 of 24th Solar Cycle Using Fractal Dimensions and Mathematical Morphology

Solar System Research - An active region (AR) of the sun is an area of strong magnetic field. Sunspots are frequently formed in an AR. Solar activity exhibits in the form of solar flares and...     

Rockburst Risk Analysis During High-Hard Roof Breaking in Deep Mines

Natural Resources Research - Mining operations continue to advance to greater depths to address the demand and supply of coal. However, deep mining occurs in complex and dangerous environments...     

Diversity and Abundance of Scleractinian Corals in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia: A Case Study of Redang and Tioman Islands

Ocean Science Journal - The species lists of scleractinian hard corals in Peninsular Malaysia have not been updated for 15 years. The present study aimed to determine the diversity and abundance...