Wintertime Stratospheric Anomalies-Part I: Warm Pools

The stratospheric worm pools, called the 4-day wave also, are mainly the temperature anomalies in the polar regions of winter hemisphere. It will be shown that their occurrence, propagation speed and specific structure can be explained by the lower frequency coherent heating resulting from the wave interaction in the breaking layers of the stratosphere. Although their vertical phase slope is negligibly small, the warm pools cannot be considered as a barotropic anomaly.     

Life's origin: the cosmic, planetary and biological processes

From elements formed in interstellar furnaces to humans peering back at the stars, the evolution of life has been a long, intricate and perhaps inevitable process. Life as we know it requires a planet orbiting a star at just the right distance so that water can exist in liquid form. It needs a rich supply of chemicals and energy sources. On Earth, the combination of chemistry and energy generated molecules that evolved ways of replicating themselves and of passing information from one generation to the next. Thus, the thread of life began. This chart traces the thread, maintained by DNA molecules for much of its history, as it weaves its way through the primitive oceans, gaining strength and diversity along the way. Organisms eventually moved onto the land, where advanced forms, including humans, ultimately arose. Finally, assisted by a technology of its own making, life has reached back out into space to understand its own origins, to expand into new realms, and to seek other living threads in the cosmos.     

浅论双重管理体制下无锡市水文站网规划设计

无锡市机构编制委员会在江苏省率先正式批复江苏省水文水资源勘测局无锡分局增挂“无锡市水文局”牌子,实行省市双重领导,以省为主管理体制,并明确了无锡市水文局为地方服务的七项职责。无锡水文在新的历史发展时期下,水文站网规划设计应该紧紧围绕无锡水利、服务无锡水利、融入无锡水利,才能发挥水文体制省市双重领导、以省为主管理的最大效益。     

1.0GPa和常温至1100 ℃条件下角闪石斜长片麻岩的V_p变化:实验测量与理论计算

在1．0GPa、常温至1100℃条件下测量了角闪石斜长片麻岩的纵波速度（Vp）,并统计了不同温度实验产物中各种矿物的体积百分含量。结果显示,1．0GPa下,角闪石斜长片麻岩的Vp首先随温度升高（室温至700℃）缓慢降低约6％,然后（700—850℃）快速降低约6％,再（850～950℃）转而急剧升高15％～25％,最后（T〉950℃）又快速下降。实验产物分析表明在高温高压下α-石英-β石英相变和岩石部分熔融是岩石Vp异常变化的主要因素。由取样产物的矿物含量和弹性参数,计算了各温度条件下岩石的Vp得出与实验测量相同的波速-温度变化趋势,即Vp随温度升高先缓慢降低,接着快速降低后又急剧升高,最后又快速减小。实验测量和理论计算对比研究表明,通过高温高压下岩石中的物相变化观测结果进行岩石波速的计算,是检验岩石弹性波速测量结果和研究地球内部地震波结构的一种有效方法。     

南美洲7ka来古气候资料中的南方涛动信号

在南半球赤道地区，太平洋东部沿岸的海面温度相对较冷，这些冷水强烈地影响着赤道大陆气候，在由塔西提／达尔文间不规则的高／低气压所定义的南方诗动的减弱价段，这种气候背景型式强烈地受到改变，在南方涛动减弱阶段，厄尔尼诺事件可能会出现，赤道太平洋水团要比通常温暖。     

Release into the environment of metals by two vascular salt marsh plants

Metals in contaminated salt marshes are mainly locked in the anaerobic layer of sediments, where they are tightly bound as sulfides and organic complexes. Vascular plants survive in saturated soils in part by pumping O2 into their root zones, changing their microenvironment to an oxic one. This, along with chelating exudates, mobilizes metals, allowing uptake by the roots. We compared the common reed Phragmites australis and cordgrass Spartina alterniflora in lab and field studies for ways in which they handle trace metals. Both plants store most of their metal burden in their roots, but some is transported to aboveground tissues. Spartina leaves contain approximately 2-3 x more Cr, Pb, and Hg than Phragmites leaves, but equivalent Cu and Zn. Furthermore, Spartina leaves have salt glands, so leaf excretion of all metals is twice that of Phragmites. In-depth studies with Hg indicate that Hg excretion correlates with Na release but not with transpiration, which is 2.2 x higher in Phragmites; and that more Hg accumulates in early-appearing leaves than in upper (i.e. later) leaves in both species. Spartina thus makes more metals available to salt marsh ecosystems than Phragmites by direct excretion and via dead leaves which will enter the food web as detritus.     

Evaluation of acetylcholinesterase activity in several zooplanktonic crustaceans

Zooplankton are an essential component of the marine and estuarine food chains. The ecotoxicological risk to zooplanktonic communities, estimated through the use of the biomarkers, can be used as an early warning signal of a potential alteration of the ecosystem health. The aim of this project was to evaluate the potential use of several biomarkers (esterases, mixed function oxidases, porphyrins) in zooplanktonic organisms. The acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE) was determined in homogenates of whole organisms of 10 different zooplanktonic crustaceans. Mean activity of AChE was 10.05 micromol/min/g for Acartia margalefi; 3.30 for Acartia latisetosa; 79.70 for Siriella clausi; 49.97 for Diamysis bahirensis; 7.48 for Siriella armata; 14.20 for Mysidopsis gibbosa; 4.49 for Euphausia crystallorophias; 1.66 for Euphausia superba; 2.74 for Streetsia challengeri; 13.26 for Meganycthiphanes norvegica. The species moreover showed a linear increase in enzyme activity in relation to the increase in sample concentration. The key result of this study concerns the different AChE activity basal values of the crustaceans' different species.     

Esterases as biomarkers in Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor exposed to temephos and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis used for mosquito control in coastal wetlands of Morbihan (Brittany,France)

Since 1998, a biomonitoring programme has been implemented to assess the potential impact of chemical mosquito control on macroinvertebrates of the coastal wetlands of Morbihan (Brittany, France). Acetylcholinesterase and carboxylesterases were used as biomarkers to assess the effects of Abate 500e (a.i. temephos) and Vectobac 12 AS (a.i. endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis, Bti) in Nereis (Hediste) diversicolor. Esterase inhibition revealed a marked impact of temephos, suggesting preferential contamination of the worms through the food. In Bti-exposed N. diversicolor, random variations of esterase activities were observed, that could not be attributed to the larvicide. However, esterases only reflected indirect physiological effects of Bti, and further investigations are needed to identify biomarkers more specific of Bti endotoxins.