Lidar-aided analysis of boreal forest backscatter at Ku band

This paper analyzes the backscatter of the microwave signal in a boreal forest environment based on a Ku -band airborne Frequency-Modulated Continuous Waveform (FMCW) profiling radar—Tomoradar. We selected a half-managed boreal forest in the southern part of Finland for a field test. By decomposing the waveform collected by the Tomoradar, the vertical canopy structure was achieved. Based on the amplitude of the waveform, the Backscattered Energy Ratio of Canopy-to-Total (BERCT) was calculated. Meanwhile, the canopy fraction was derived from the corresponding point cloud recorded by a Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR mounted on the same platform. Lidar-derived canopy fraction was obtained by counting the number of the first/ the strongest returns versus the total amount of returns. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of radar-derived BERCT on lidar-derived canopy fraction and canopy height are investigated. A fitted model is derived to describe the Ku-band microwave backscatter in the boreal forest to numerically analyze the proportion contributed by four factors: lidar-derived canopy fraction, radar-derived canopy height, the radar-derived distance between trees and radar sensor and other factors, from co-polarization Tomoradar measurements. The Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of the proposed model was 0.0958, and the coefficient of determination R2 was 0.912. The fitted model reveals that the correlation coefficient between radar-derived BERCT and lidar-derived canopy fraction is 0.84, which illustrates that lidar surface reflection explains the majority of the profiling /waveform radar response. Thus, vertical canopy structure derived from lidar can be used for the benefit of radar analysis.     

Evidence of climatic warming in the southern Urals region derived from borehole temperatures and meteorological data

Thirty borehole temperature–depth profiles in the central and southern Urals, Russia were scrutinized for evidence of ground surface temperature histories. We explored two inversion schemes: a simple ramp inversion in which solutions are parameterized in terms of an onset time and magnitude of change and a more sophisticated functional space inverse algorithm in which the functional form of the solution is left unspecified. To enhance and potentially identify latitudinal differences in the ground surface temperature signal, we subdivided the data into three groups based on geographic proximity and simultaneously inverted the borehole temperature–depth logs. The simultaneous inversions highlighted 13 temperature–depth logs that could not both fit a common ground surface temperature history and a priori models within reasonable bounds. Our results confirm that this is an effective way to reduce site-specific noise from an ensemble of boreholes. Each inversion scheme gives comparable results indicating locally variable warming on the order of 1°C starting between 1800 and 1900 AD. Similarly surface air temperature records from 12 nearby meteorological stations exhibit locally variable warming also on the order of 1°C of warming during the 20th century. To explore the degree to which borehole temperatures and surface air temperature (SAT) time series are responding to the same signal, we average the SAT data into the same three groups and used these averages as a forcing function at the Earth's surface to generate synthetic transient temperature profiles. Root mean square (RMS) misfits between these synthetic temperature profiles and averaged temperature–depth profiles are low, suggesting that first-order curvature in borehole temperatures and variations in SAT records are correlated.     

Simulation of double cold cores of the 35°N section in the Yellow Sea with a wave-tide-circulation coupled model

Based on the MASNUM wave-tide-circulation coupled numerical model, the temperature structure along 35°N in the Yellow Sea was simulated and compared with the observations. One of the notable features of the temperature structure along 35°N section is the double cold cores phenomena during spring and summer. The double cold cores refer to the two cold water centers located near 122°E and 125°E from the depth of 30m to bottom. The formation, maintenance and disappearance of the double cold cores are discussed. At least two reasons make the temperature in the center (near 123°E) of the section higher than that near the west and east shores in winter. One reason is that the water there is deeper than the west and east sides so its heat content is higher. The other is invasion of the warm water brought by the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) during winter. This temperature pattern of the lower layer (from 30m to bottom) is maintained through spring and summer when the upper layer (0 to 30m) is heated and strong thermocline is formed. Large zonal span of the 35°N section (about 600 km) makes the cold cores have more opportunity to survive. The double cold cores phenomena disappears in early autumn when the west cold core vanishes first with the dropping of the thermocline position. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. G1999043809) and the National Science Foundation of China (No. 49736190).     

The Statistical Analysis of Migration of Strong Earthquakes-Taking the North China Region as an Example

The migration of strong earthquakes is an important research topic because the migration phenomena reflect partly the seismic mechanism and involve the prediction of tendency of seismic activity. Research on migration of strong earthquakes has mostly focused on finding the phenomena. Some attempts on getting regularity were comparatively subjective. This paper suggests that there should be indices of migration in earthquake dataset and the indexes should have statistical meaning if there is regularity in the migration of strong earthquakes. In this study, three derivative attributes of migration, i.e., migration orientation, migration distance and migration time interval, were statistically analyzed. Results in the North China region show that the migration of strong earthquakes has statistical meaning. There is a dominant migration orientation (W by S to E by N), a dominant distance (≤100km and on the confines of 300～700km), and a dominant time interval (≤1a and on the confines of 3～4a). The results also show that the migration will differ slightly with different magnitude range or earthquake activity phase.     

今后几年的月球探测和月球科学

近年来月球探测已经进入了一个全新的时代。特别是 1 990年以来 ,多个月球探测计划已经被成功实现 ,而且另外还有多个探测计划也在准备当中 ,并将在未来的几年内发射升空。在这种背景之下 ,中国的航天机构和有关的科学家也开始积极酝酿和开发自己的月球探测计划。这些月球探测计划将利用卫星上搭载的各种仪器探测和测量月球的地质和地理特性、化学成分和矿物组成、月球物理学特征以及包含地球大气在内的地月空间环境和行星际空间环境 ;进一步研究月球的起源和演化 ,探明月面环境 ,研究太阳等离子体物理 ,提供月面天文台和月面长期科研基地的候选地址 ,调查月球上的可利用资源 ,为将来开发月球提供充实的背景资料。参与新一轮的月球探测同样也为中国天文学研究带来了新的机会。     

公共行政监督的"经济解释"及其启示

行政腐败和行政作弊现象使政府行政的合法性受到人们的置疑 ,深入推行的廉政建设责任制反映了政府在这一问题上理论认识的巨大进步与从严治政的重大决心。公共选择理论认为 ,官僚的经济人属性不会因其成为政府官僚而改变 ,其目标不是公共利益也不是机构效率 ,而是个人效用 ;西方国家的“三权分立”学说及其实践对于公共行政的监督具有重大的历史进步意义 ,但其精致架构的私有制基础决定了这种民主可能只具有形式主义的性质 ,它只是一种富人之间的游戏规则与表现形式。毛泽东的“双平行制约”理论与方法是中国共产党人对公共行政理论与实践的巨大贡献 ,效果奇特却存在着一系列致命的弊端。对上述理论与实践的比较研究 ,为我国当前广泛展开的廉政建设提出了一些深层次的启发性思考     

GENIE – The Darwin demonstrator

Darwin is a cornerstone mission of the Horizons 2000+ program of the European Space Agency. It has the express purpose of carrying out the first direct search for terrestrial exoplanets, and to achieve unprecedented spatial resolution in the infrared wavelength region. The detection and study of terrestrial exoplanets promises to usher in a new era in science and will affect a broad spectrum of disciplines. Further, the time line for implementation of such an instrument is now likely to be of the close order of 10 years, leading to possible answers to one of mankind's most fundamental questions in the second decade of the 21st century. It has been found that in order to realize am interferometer in space in the next 10–15 years, it is necessary to prepare the way through a number of intermediary steps – both on the ground and in space. In this context, we here describe GENIE – a ground based nulling interferometry experiment to be implemented at the VLTI in a partnership between ESA and ESO. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Distinct climate change synchronous with Heinrich event one, recorded by stable oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions in stalagmites from China

Uranium-series dating of oxygen and carbon isotope records for stalagmite SJ3 collected in Songjia Cave, central China, shows significant variation in past climate and environment during the period 20-10 ka. Stalagmite SJ3 is located more than 1000 km inland of the coastal Hulu Cave in East China and more than 700 km north of the Dongge Cave in Southwest China and, despite minor differences, displays a clear first-order similarity with the Hulu and Dongge records. The coldest climatic phase since the Last Glacial Maximum, which is associated with the Heinrich Event 1 in the North Atlantic region, was clearly recorded in SJ3 between 17.6 and 14.5 ka, in good agreement in timing, duration and extent with the records from Hulu and Dongge caves and the Greenland ice core. The results indicate that there have been synchronous and significant climatic changes across monsoonal China and strong teleconnections between the North Atlantic and East Asia regions during the period 20-10 ka. This is much different from the Holocene Optimum which shows a time shift of more than several thousands years from southeast coastal to inland China. It is likely that temperature change at northern high latitudes during glacial periods exerts stronger influence on the Asian summer monsoon relative to insolation and appears to be capable of perturbing large-scale atmospheric/oceanic circulation patterns in the Northern Hemisphere and thus monsoonal rainfall and paleovegetation in East Asia. Climatic signals in the North Atlantic region propagate rapidly to East Asia during glacial periods by influencing the winter land-sea temperature contrast in the East Asian monsoon region.     

Modeling on adsorption–desorption of trace metals to suspended particle matter in the Changjiang Estuary

The uptake and release of trace metals (Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd, and Co) in estuaries are studied using river and sea end-member waters and suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected from the Changjiang Estuary, China. The kinetics of adsorption and desorption were studied in terms of environmental factors (pH, SPM loading, and salinity) and metal concentrations. The uptake of the metals studied onto SPM occurred mostly within 10 h and reached an asymptotic value within 40 h in the Changjiang Estuary. As low pH river water flows into the high pH seawater and the water become more alkaline as it approaches to the seaside of estuary, metals adsorb more on SPM in higher pH water, thus, particulate phase transport of metal become increasingly important in the seaward side of the estuary. The percentage of adsorption recovery and the distribution coefficients for trace metals remained to be relatively invariable and a significant reduction only occurred in very high concentrations of metals (>0.1 mg L⁻¹). The general effect of salinity on metal behavior was to decrease the degree of adsorption of Cu, Zn, Cd, Co, and Ni onto SPM but to increase their adsorption equilibrium pH. The adsorption–desorption kinetics of trace metals were further investigated using Kurbatov adsorption model. The model appears to be most useful for the metals showing the conservative behavior during mixing of river and seawater in the estuary. Our work demonstrates that dissolved concentration of trace metals in estuary can be modeled based on the metal concentration in SPM, pH and salinity using a Kurbatov adsorption model assuming the natural SPM as a simple surfaced molecule.     

City senses: On the radical possibilities of pragmatism in geography

This paper explores the radical possibilities of pragmatism for geography using the illustration of arguments concerning a renewed (urban) public realm through the exchange of validity claims in communication. Pressing further the pragmatist possibilities of Habermas’s idea of communicative action it draws on John Dewey’s work, and a range of contemporary pragmatist philosophers, to consider human communicability in its widest sense. This is then explored using an example of the spatiality and performativity of body-minds in a range of communicative spaces of the city. Then the paper moves on to consider the radical implications of pragmatism for geography in general in terms of body-mind/environment relations; a transactional view of space; experience, rationality and radical democracy.