Dealing with drought: The challenge of using water system technologies to break dryland poverty traps

We explore strategies among farmers in semi-arid Tanzania to cope with drought, and investigate if access to a local supplemental irrigation system (the Ndiva system) can improve coping capacity. Results show high dependency on local ecosystem services when harvests fail, and indicate that farmers commonly exhaust asset holdings during droughts. Ndiva access did not have any direct effects on coping capacity, but seemed to have some indirect effects. Drawing on our findings we discuss the complexity of escaping persistent dryland poverty, and outline the circumstances under which small-scale water system technologies, such as Ndiva irrigation, may help.     

Assessment of the management of organizations supplying ecosystem services from tropical forests

Global environmental change leads to degradation of tropical forests in many countries. In response to this pressure, programs for payments for ecosystem services (PES) are developing and organizations are emerging which manage forests in order to supply ecosystem services, rather than only harvest timber. Typically such services are carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, pollination, and watershed protection. Public or private actors interested to invest in or donate money for the provisioning of such services are faced with the problem of choosing the appropriate organization supplying ecosystem services. The goal of this paper was to develop an assessment framework based on the balanced scorecard concept including drivers, impact, performance and context variables. Results of a survey of international market actors were used to determine assessment criteria and their weights. Putting the focus of this paper on drivers and impacts, we assessed Latin American organizations that “sell” ecosystem services from tropical forests in terms of their general management, marketing, forest management, client and stakeholder satisfaction, and forest ecosystem status. We found that supplying organizations vary widely with respect to their achievements in these areas. However, the variance of assessment results is influenced even more by the variance in weights the international market actors allocate to the assessment criteria. The insights of this study can contribute to the continuous improvement of management processes in supplying organizations and can support investors and donors in their decision-making with respect to organization supplying ecosystem services.     

Limiting hydrochemical factors for sustainability of water resources: The Cisjordanian experience

In Cisjordan, surface- and groundwater flow are either towards the Jordan Valley-Dead Sea-Arava Valley (the Rift) or the Mediterranean Sea. Due to upstream exploitation by riparians to the Jordan River, the historical annual flow, which fluctuated between 250 and 1100 Mm³, has declined to a mere 100-200 Mm³. The remaining flow south of Lake Kinneret is highly polluted and heavily loaded with salts. Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is one of the major water resources in the area. Annually, between 200 and 700 Mm³ reach the Lake as surface and groundwater flow. The relatively high salinity of the Lake is caused by thermomineral water discharging from springs and seepages located onshore and on the bottom of the Lake. The main factors causing deterioration of the groundwater quality in the Rift are of geogenic character. These are different types of brines, whose outflow and penetration into freshwater aquifers was triggered by overpumpage. Contemporary encroachment of seawater caused by intensive water exploitation in the Coastal Plain is manageable and reversible. However, due to lack of hydrogeological evidence, no such statement can be made about the circulation of seawater beneath the Coastal Plain and into the deep-seated Yarkon-Taninim aquifer or the upflow of brines in the Rift.The flow regimes of the different brine bodies could not be elucidated. Whether each such brine-body flows by its particular hydrological regime or whether the movement of the different bodies is intradependent or interdependent with the regional movement of fresh groundwater, remain open questions. Therefore, sustainable development of groundwater resources is clearly dependent on the elucidation of the relationship between changes in the pressure of the brine with depth and its relationship to the overlying freshwater.The average total annual recharge of all water sources in Cisjordan is 1820 Mm³, which means that the total production of water must be managed within the limits of this annual volume. During drought years, total groundwater extraction exceeds the safe yield, causing drastic lowering of water levels and upflow of saline waters from greater depths.Because of the structural complexity of aquifers and hydrochemical variability of the numerous groundwater bodies, new hydrochemical methods have been developed for the identification of groundwater bodies and for the elucidation of their origins. These methods combine macrochemical, microchemical, and isotopic evidences. By combining distribution patterns of rare earths, yttrium and stable isotopes, a complete picture of catchment lithology and the altitude and latitude of precipitation could be obtained.The area west of the Jordan River is characterized by the occurrence of transboundary surface- and groundwater basins in which fresh and saline water and brines flow across political borders between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It is very difficult to assess separately the annual safe yield of water resources for each of the two national entities. Neither country may dispose independently of its waters and is usually at the mercy of the other riparian. There is as yet no general multilateral international treaty in force allocating the water resources of international watercourses. At present there are two rules for the management of the waters of an international drainage basin—the rule of Equitable Distribution, and the obligation Not to Cause Significant Harm. The rules of equitable distribution have tended to focus on the issue of quantities of water rather than on quality of water, which is really relevant to the issue of equitable distribution. Future negotiations on the uses of the basin will need to deal with issues of characteristic salinities and geochemical features and on their impact on equitable sharing of water resources.     

FITS图像处理技术荟萃及在太阳观测中的应用

针对FITS图像文件的特点,结合其在天文学领域的广泛应用,对其各种处理技术进行了简明扼要的介绍.包括FITS文件完整性的检查、文件头和数据内容的查看、图像特性的伪彩编码、文件格式的转换、数据的压缩及相关太阳物理信息的提取等内容.     

Integration of remote sensing,county-level census,and machine learning for century-long regional cropland distribution data reconstruction

The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) was home to about ten million hectare bottomland hardwood (BLH) forests in the Southern U.S. It experienced over 80 % area loss of the BLH forests in the past centuries and large-scale afforestation in recent decades. Due to the lack of a high-resolution cropland dataset, impacts of land use change (LUC) on the LMAV ecosystem services have not been fully understood. In this study, we developed a novel framework by integrating the machine learning algorithm, county-level agricultural census, and satellite-based cropland products to reconstruct the LMAV cropland distribution during 1850–2018 at a 30-m resolution. Results showed that the LMAV cropland area increased from 0.78 × 10⁴ km² in 1850 to 6.64 × 10⁴ km² in 1980 and then decreased to 6.16 × 10⁴ km² in 2018. Cropland expansion rate was the largest in the 1960s (749 km² yr⁻¹) but decreased rapidly thereafter, whereas cropland abandonment rate increased substantially in recent decades with the largest rate of 514 km² yr⁻¹ in the 2010s. Our dataset has three notable features: (1) the depiction of fine spatial details, (2) the integration of the county-level census, and (3) the inclusion of a machine-learning algorithm trained by satellite-based land cover product. Most importantly, our dataset well captured the continuous increasing trend in cropland area from 1930–1960, which was misrepresented by other cropland datasets reconstructed from the state-level census. Our dataset would be important to accurately evaluate the impacts of historical deforestation and recent afforestation efforts on regional ecosystem services, attribute the observed hydrological changes to anthropogenic and natural driving factors, and investigate how the socioeconomic factors control regional LUC pattern. Our framework and dataset are crucial to developing managerial and policy strategies for conserving natural resources and enhancing ecosystem services in the LMAV.     

近30年长江口海域生态系统健康状况及变化趋势研究

为评估长江口海域生态系统健康状况，本文以鱼类浮游生物为指示生物，选择1986年、1999年、2007年和2016年4个年份的数据，选取鱼类浮游生物总种类数、底栖鱼种类数、水层鱼种类数、低耐污鱼种类数、高耐污鱼种类数百分比、杂食性鱼种类数百分比、虫食性鱼种类数百分比、肉食性鱼种类数百分比、鱼类取样个体数、天然杂交种种类数百分比等10个评价指标，采用1、3、5赋值法计算4个不同年份的河口生物完整性指数(Estuarine Biotic Integrity Index，EBI)，并以此评价近30年长江口海域生态系统健康状况变化趋势。结果显示，1986年、1999年、2007年和2016年4个不同年份的EBI值分别是52、40、36、34，对应的EBI等级分别为“好”、“一般”、“一般?差”、“差”。通过分析EBI年际变化的结果，发现近30年来长江口海域生态系统健康状况呈现先下降，而后稳定在较低水平的趋势，说明长江口海域生态系统亟需及时进行保护和修复工作。     

BDS轨道完备性监测设计与实现

针对北斗卫星导航系统(BDS)完备性研究较少的现状,该文提出了一种导航星历中轨道观测数据的完备性监测新方法。采用轨道积分方法分析了北斗卫星的轨道残差均方根值;通过概率统计的方法,分别计算所有北斗卫星的轨道残差极限误差值(告警限差),剔除误差超限甚至粗差卫星,实现事后轨道完备性监测。另外通过比较分析剔除监测标记出的误差卫星之前和之后对测站精密单点定位的影响,验证完备性的风险性。最后通过实测数据对该算法进行了验证和分析。实验结果表明:该算法可以实现卫星轨道的监测示警,标记误差卫星,达到轨道完备性监测效果。     

Ecosystem Services in a Transitional Forest Landscape: Shifting Trajectories in Southeast Michigan,USA

North American forests provide multiple ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, biodiversity, and recreation. These services are often coordinated through multifunctional management, whereby various users and owners contribute to collective agendas. Forests in exurban “transition” zones are crucial components in the sustainability of broader metropolitan landscapes, but represent a particularly understudied confluence of ecosystem services and multifunctional management. In this paper, we develop a place-based approach to assess ecosystem services in transitional forests (those between rural and urban). We demonstrate how trajectories of forest composition are linked with shifting ecosystem services that both shape and are shaped by management activities. Sited in Stinchfield Woods, a forest in southeast Michigan, this study draws on a household survey, interviews, ecological data, and archival information. Given variations in priorities over time and among different users, we suggest that coordinated, adaptive management may improve provisioning of ecosystem services in ways that benefit multiple users.     

利用数字测图软件实现全站仪坐标放样的内外一体化

为了减小目前常用坐标放样方法中手工输入全站仪数据对作业精度和速度的影响,利用CASS、SV300等数字测图软件相应功能提取各设计点的坐标值,把这些设计数据与控制点数据合并成一个数据文件后,将此数据文件通过数据线传输到全站仪内存文件中,现场利用全站仪自带的坐标放样软件,快速准确地进行放样,从而实现了坐标放样的内外一体化。     

基于生态系统评价的山东省国土空间生态修复重点区域识别

国土空间生态修复是落实生态文明建设的重要抓手。科学识别国土空间生态修复重点区域,合理布局生态修复空间是当前国土空间生态修复规划面临的难点之一。本研究以山东省国土空间生态系统评价为基础,通过对山东省生态系统服务功能、生态环境敏感性和生态系统恢复力综合评价,研究识别出山东省生态修复重点区域,并对各重点区域提出了生态修复的主导方向,为国土空间生态修复规划编制提供了支撑。