Sediment transfer in an extremely low-gradient,low-relief and highly buffered system: Darwin Harbour catchment,northern Australia

Abstract

Sediment yields from and sediment transfer within catchments of very low relief and gradient, which make up about 50% of Earth’s surface, are poorly documented and their internal sediment dynamics are poorly known. Sediment sources, their proportionate contributions to valley floors and sediment yield, and storage are estimated using fallout radionuclides ²¹⁰Pb_(ex) and ¹³⁷Cs in the catchments that drain into Darwin Harbour, northern Australia, an example of this understudied catchment type that appears to be globally at the extreme end of this category of catchments. Unchannelled grassy valley floors (dambos, or seasonal wetlands) trap ～90% of the sediment delivered from hillslopes by sheet and rill erosion. Further down valley, small channels transport ～10% of the sediment that escapes from the dambos, and the remaining sediment comes from erosion of the channels. In this case, the fractional sediment storage is very high as a result of the existence of dambos, a landform that depends for its existence on low gradients.     

Limitations of suction‐controlled triaxial tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils

Behavior of unsaturated soils is influenced by many factors, and the influences of these factors are usually coupled together. Suction‐controlled triaxial (SCTX) tests are considered to allow researchers to investigate influences of individual variables on unsaturated soils under specified stress path with controls of stresses, pore water, and air pressures. In the past 50 years, SCTX testing method has been established as a standard approach to characterize constitutive behavior of unsaturated soils. Most important concepts for modern unsaturated soil mechanics were developed upon results from the SCTX tests. Among these, one of the most important contributions in the constitutive modeling of elasto‐plastic behavior for unsaturated soils is the Barcelona basic model (BBM) proposed by Alonso et al. in 1990. The BBM successfully explained many features of unsaturated soils and received extensive acceptance. However, the SCTX tests are designed based upon the divide‐and‐conquer approach in which an implicit assumption is used: soil behavior is stress‐path independent. However, it is well‐established that unsaturated soil behavior is elasto‐plastic and stress‐path dependent. It is found that the SCTX tests in fact cannot control the stress path of an unsaturated soil during loading. This incapability, in combination with complicated loading/collapse behavior of unsaturated soils, makes the SCTX tests for characterizing unsaturated soil questionable. This paper discusses the limitations of the SCTX tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils. A possible solution to the problem was proposed based on a newly developed modified state surface approach. The discussions are limited for isotropic conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elastoplastic model with loading memory surfaces (LMS) for monotonic and cyclic behaviour of geomaterials

A new elastoplastic model called loading memory surface based on the critical state concept and the multi‐surface framework is proposed for geomaterials. The model uses a hypoelastic formulation and two plastic mechanisms. The formulations of the model are made in three‐dimensional stress–strain space and work under both monotonic and cyclic loadings. A newly introduced formalism makes it possible to obtain the cyclic response directly from the monotonic loading one. This formalism gives a three‐dimensional generalization of the well‐known Masing rule. The model has been validated against test results of Hostun sand under several conditions: monotonic and cyclic, drained and undrained, tests in compression and in extension, and at different confining pressures and different densities. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Higher tritium concentrations measured in permafrost thaw lakes in northern Alberta

Tritium concentrations were measured in a survey of 24 lakes, 15 wetlands, and 133 groundwaters in the oil sands region of northeastern Alberta and compared with both recent precipitation and precipitation sampled during the 1960s tritium peak caused by atmospheric thermonuclear weapons testing. Water samples from lakes included a group of 14 thaw lakes that had higher runoff attributed to melting of permafrost in peat plateaus within their watersheds. While tritium in all lakes was found to be intermediate between recent and 1960s concentrations, the thaw lakes were found to be significantly enriched in tritium compared with other lakes, as were unfrozen wetlands characterized by a thick sequence of low‐hydraulic conductivity peat. The results provide further evidence of different water sources to the thaw lakes and may indicate that melting of modern permafrost in part formed since the 1950s is occurring in these systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

枣庄市台儿庄区小龚庄岩溶地下水水源地允许开采量计算评价

科学有效的地下水资源评价是可持续开发地下水资源的关键,其中地下水资源可开采量的评价是地下水资源评价的核心内容。该文在对枣庄市台儿庄区小龚庄水源地水文地质条件、岩溶塌陷发育情况等进行详细分析的基础上,采用开采试验法对小龚庄水源地岩溶地下水允许开采量进行了计算,计算结果为11354m~3/d。根据已发生岩溶塌陷情况,设定岩溶塌陷预警水位,利用非稳定流Theis公式计算了安全开采量范围在11187～13150m~3/d之间,对开采试验法计算结果进一步进行评价。根据评价结果最终确定以11354m~3/d作为小龚庄水源地的允许开采量是可靠的,可以保证水源地最大限度的开采地下水资源,同时又保证水源地运行时不易引发岩溶塌陷的环境地质问题。该方法为同类型水源地地下水允许开采量的计算评价提供了一定的借鉴。     

Frequency analysis of nonstationary annual maximum flood series using the time‐varying two‐component mixture distributions

The most popular practice for analysing nonstationarity of flood series is to use a fixed single‐type probability distribution incorporated with the time‐varying moments. However, the type of probability distribution could be both complex because of distinct flood populations and time‐varying under changing environments. To allow the investigation of this complex nature, the time‐varying two‐component mixture distributions (TTMD) method is proposed in this study by considering the time variations of not only the moments of its component distributions but also the weighting coefficients. Having identified the existence of mixed flood populations based on circular statistics, the proposed TTMD was applied to model the annual maximum flood series of two stations in the Weihe River basin, with the model parameters calibrated by the meta‐heuristic maximum likelihood method. The performance of TTMD was evaluated by different diagnostic plots and indexes and compared with stationary single‐type distributions, stationary mixture distributions and time‐varying single‐type distributions. The results highlighted the advantages of TTMD with physically‐based covariates for both stations. Besides, the optimal TTMD models were considered to be capable of settling the issue of nonstationarity and capturing the mixed flood populations satisfactorily. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EMD-Wavelet-ICA耦合模型及其在GPS坐标序列降噪中的应用

在分析比较经验模态分解(EMD)、小波变换(Wavelet)和独立分量分析(ICA)优缺点的基础上,提出一种新的EMD-Wavelet-ICA耦合模型。该模型充分利用了EMD的自适应性,对原始信号进行分解获得不同频率的模态函数(IMF),采用标准化模量的累计均值对IMF进行尺度划分;进而分别采用Wavelet和ICA对高频和低频IMF进行降噪,将降噪后的IMF进行多尺度重构,获得降噪后的信号;采用信噪比、标准差、偏差和相关系数等指标对降噪效果进行评价。仿真数据和GPS坐标序列的处理结果表明:与EMD模型和EMD-ICA模型相比,新模型的标准差、偏差均有不同程度的减小;信噪比和相关系数有一定程度的增大,可以获得更好的降噪效果。     

Logistic判别模型在强降水预报中的应用

利用Logistiv判别模型进行强降水预报,并设计3种方案进行对比分析。方案1直接使用14个影响因子进行判别预报,受因子共线性作用及噪音信号影响,虽然拟合效果较好,但预报效果明显下降。方案2对14个影响因子进行主成分分析,利用前6个主成分建模,虽然拟合效果较方案1降低,但由于消除了因子共线性作用以及噪音信号影响,预报效果较方案1提高。方案3运用Bootstrap抽样技术得到符干样本并建模计算模型参数,打乱了原有时间序列中的波动,仪保留平稳信息,拟合自由度进一步降低,导致拟合效果较方案案2下降,但预报效果却是3种方案中最好且最稳定的。在上述研究基础上,利用欧洲中心数值预报模式的预报场资料,建立基于Logistic判别模型的强降水客观预报系统,并在中央气象台业务运行。2013和2014年连续两年汛期预报检验结果表明,概模型对强降水预报的TS评分高于数值模式本身,具有一定的业务参考价值。     

CINRAD/SA(B)发射机高压打火组件级故障诊断

新一代天气雷达技术保障中,发射机高压负载打火导致的综合故障的诊断和定位是比较复杂的,具有故障点多、故障涉及组件多、故障修复时间长等特点,是新一代天气雷达故障维修的难点。依据发射机高压控制和监控信号流程,提出了发射机高压打火组件级故障诊断流程。通过发射机组件级故障诊断流程快速修复发射机高压负载打火综合故障过程,表明发射机高压打火组件级故障诊断流程在雷达维修中具有规范化和适用性维修效果,进一步显示出故障分析诊断流程在新一代天气雷达技术保障中的重要作用。     

非匀一冠层热辐射方向性3维模型构建——以玉米冠层为例

建立适用于多类型植被场景的热辐射方向性模型是进行地表热辐射方向性研究的一种手段。利用真实植株几何及生理参数的统计平均值来刻画理念植株,并给定其空间分布特征,进行不同生长期植被冠层的描述。基于冠层双向孔隙率思想构建了冠层热辐射方向性3维模型,模型继承了孔隙率模型在计算冠层热辐射方向性上的简洁优势同时以几何光学的思想考虑了冠层空间异质性对冠层热辐射方向性的影响。以玉米冠层为例,进行了不同生长期玉米冠层热辐射方向亮温的模拟,通过与实地测量数据的比对表明,本文发展的模型能够较准确地模拟不同生长期玉米植被场景的方向亮温变化规律,模拟误差主要来自理念株的刻画误差、玉米叶片形状的近似以及忽略了多次散射贡献等3个方面。模型的构建方法对稀疏植被场景、浓密植被场景、多类型植被的混合场景均可适用,不同观测几何下的植被场景4组份面积比计算结果有望应用于复杂地表条件下地表返照率的研究。