Changing Properties of Snowpack in the Great Salt Lake Basin,Western United States,from a 26-Year SNOTEL Record

Daily observations from automated snowpack telemetry (SNOTEL) stations from within the drainage basin of the Great Salt Lake over the period from 1982 to 2007 are analyzed. The major finding is a shift toward an earlier date of peak snow water equivalent (SWE) by around fifteen days. Less robust findings are reductions in the amounts of peak SWE and 1 April SWE. This suggests increased chances of late-summer water shortages, especially when combined with rapid recent population growth. Less freshwater is likely to be available to flow into the Great Salt Lake, increasing its salinity and potentially affecting its ecology.     

MAJOR SNOWFALL EVENTS IN THE GREAT PLAINS: TEMPORAL ASPECTS AND RELATIVE IMPORTANCE

The purpose of this research is to develop a better understanding of the spatial and temporal aspects of central Great Plains snowstorms by: (1) identifying trends in the frequency of snow events, (2) determining the relative importance of significant snowfalls (those producing snowfall amounts of 10 cm or more), and (3) identifying temporal and/or latitudinal variations in the frequency of significant snowstorms. Using NCDC data from cooperative program weather stations along a north-south transect, summary statistics, correlation coefficients, and frequency histograms were generated. The results provided evidence of a highly variable spatial and temporal record. Significant snowstorms are more critical to total snowfall amounts in Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas. Although strong, regionally coherent temporal trends were not detected, a predominance of January through March snow events was observed. The greater frequency of January snowstorms coincides with the mean position of the polar front, while February and March snowfall frequency reflects the increased incidence of Colorado cyclones. Decadally, snowfall variability corresponds with a change in mean temperatures and predominant upper atmospheric flow that occurred around 1950. This change brought less snow to the Southern and Central Plains states, but more snow to the north. [Key words: snowfall, Great Plains, temporal/spatial variability.]     

Constrained age of Glacial Lake Narragansett and the deglacial chronology of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in southeastern New England

The lack of radiocarbon ages and correlated varve sequences in southeastern New England has left the deglacial chronology of the region poorly constrained. A 265-year varve series from Glacial Lake Narragansett was constructed from eight continuous sediment cores collected from the Providence River, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. This varve series could not be correlated with either the North American Varve Chronology or other varve sequences from southern New England or southeastern New York. The uncorrelated varve sequences presented here represent the minimum time of deposition within the northern segment of Glacial Lake Narragansett. These sequences, used in conjunction with the calibrated North American Varve Chronology and cosmogenic exposure ages from recessional end moraines, provide minimum (>19,400 cal BP) and maximum (<20,500 cal BP) ages for Glacial Lake Narragansett. Correlations with the updated Greenland (NGRIP and GRIP) ice core records suggest that cold periods associated with moraine formation are 200–250 years older than the cosmogenic exposure ages. Whereas many studies refer to the last glacial maximum occurring from 20,000 to 18,000 cal BP, the constrained age of Glacial Lake Narragansett suggests that at least for the southeastern portion of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, deglaciation was well underway by this time.     

Was there ice along the shore of the Sea of Galilee during the last 12,000?—Reply to a comment by Prange et al. (2007) and a comment by Friedman (2007)

Prange et al. (2007) question our reconstruction of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) paleoclimate and argue that a “careful” analysis of the paleoclimatic analysis leads to much smaller cooling events than we have considered. By and large, their “careful” analysis is based on correlating the paleotemperatures of the Lake with those of the northern Red-Sea that (geographically) is much closer to the Lake than the two Mediterranean cores that we used. Ironically, their argument contradicts Friedman’s (2007) statements (the second comment on our original paper), which are based on still-closer cores and support our larger cooling choices. This issue alone would be enough to dismiss the uniqueness of PAL argument but there is another issue with their work that we wish to comment on. In support of their own small cooling argument, PAL present winter correlation maps that indeed show a stronger correlation of the northern Red-Sea SST to the lake SST than the correlation of Mediterranean SST with the lake SST. This seemingly correct correlation argument of PAL is totally false (for both daily and millennial time scales) because it has no climatological basis. On the daily time scale, all the storms that reach the Lake originate in the Mediterranean Sea (to the west of the lake), not the Red-Sea (which lies 700 km south of the lake). Also, although the lake and the Red-Sea are only 700 kilometers apart, their climates are very different because they are subject to two totally different air masses. While the climate of the Red-Sea region is desert-like, the climate of the region surrounding the lake is a typical wet Mediterranean climate. Seasonal correlation maps (and even monthly maps) such as those presented by the authors filter out the storms that control the winter climate in the lake region because these storms occur on a daily scale. With this filtering, all that one is left with is the low frequency first baroclinic mode, which merely reflects the Rossby radius scale (measured from the lake). On the millennial time scale, cold events in the lake regions (from an earlier period) have been attributed to Bond cycles and Heinrich events both of which are global and not local processes. As such, they are probably forced by variability in the solar radiation rather than a local process implied by PAL. Overall, all that the PAL correlation shows for both daily and millennial time scales is that changes in the temperature in the Red-Sea occur at the same time as they do in the Lake. But this does not say anything about the dynamics in question and does not imply that it is better to use records from the Red-Sea (which does not lie within the path of the zonal winds reaching the Lake). Neglecting this issue (as proposed by PAL) distorts the physics and reminds us of the classical statistical example for the limitations involved in the interpretation of correlation—the incidence of lung cancer is strongly correlated with the incidence of carrying matches in ones pocket even though the matches do not cause the cancer and the cancer does not force one to carry matches.     

Evidence for high water levels in the Erie basin during the Younger Dryas chronozone

A high water phase in the Lake Erie basin is identified from a variety of evidence for the period 11.0 ka to 10.5 ka. It is believed to correspond to the first Agassiz inflow to the upper Great Lakes (Main Lake Algonquin phase) when Agassiz waters discharged in both catastrophic and equilibrium modes to Lake Superior. After allowing for differential isostatic rebound, a computational model is used to estimate the lake levels in the Erie basin needed to generate Agassiz-equivalent discharges out of the basin into Lake Ontario. Computations suggest that Lake Tonawanda spillways would be re-activated by the high lake levels needed to sustain Agassiz-equivalent discharges. Existing published evidence from the Erie basin, Niagara River, and western New York (including ¹⁴C dates), is consistent with this interpretation. Additional evidence from the Niagara Peninsula (pollen spectra and geomorphology) supports the inference that extensive flooding of the southern Niagara Peninsula (Lake Wainfleet) occurred due to high water levels in the Erie basin. In the Niagara Peninsula, very shallow washover spillways would only operate when standard hydrologic variations of lake level in the Erie basin coincided with short term high levels driven by catastrophic inflows to the Great Lakes from Lake Agassiz. We support the view of Lewis & Anderson (1992) that a meltwater flux from Agassiz inflows reached Lake Erie.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviews are in this Article. The Palm – Tree of Life: Biology, Utilization and Conservation . MICHAEL J. BALICK, ED. New York: New York Botanical Garden (Advances in Economic Botany, Vol. 6), 1988. 282pp., maps, figs., tables, photos, and refs. $57.40 paper ISBN 0-89327-326-0). The Culture We Deserve: A Critique of Disenlightenment . JACQUES BARZUN. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1989. 208 pp. $19.95 cloth (ISBN 0-8195-5200-3). The National Question: Decolonising the Theory of Nationalism . JAMES M. BLAUT. London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987. vii and 232 pp., index and biblio. $15.00 paper (ISBN 0-86232-440-8). The Administrative Partitioning of Costa Rica: Politics and Planners in the 1970s . MARILYN APRIL DORN. Chicago: University of Chicago, Geography Research Paper No. 222, 1989. xi and 126 pp., maps, tables, figs., appendix, biblio., and index. $12.00 paper (ISBN 0-89065-1 26-4). The Economics of Part-Time Farming RUTH GASSON. New York: Longman, 1988. x and 188 pp., maps, tables, index, and biblio. NP (ISBN 0-470-21007-9). The West African Sahel: Human Agency and Environmental Change . JEFFREY ALLMAN GRITZNER. Chicago: University of Chicago Geography Research Paper no. 226,1988. xii and 170 pp., maps, diags., photos, apps., index, and biblio. $12.00 paper (ISBN 089065-135-2). Land Use Planning and the Mediation of Urban Change: The British Planning System in Practice . PATSY HEALY, PAUL MCNAMARA, MARTIN ELSON, AND ANDREW DOAK. Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press, 1988. vi and 295 pp., maps, diags., tables, refs., app., and index. $54.50 cloth (ISBN 0521 301440). The Geography of the World Economy . PAUL KNOX AND JOHN AGNEW. London: Edward Arnold, 1989. iv and 410 pp., maps, diags., index, and biblio. $21.95 paper (ISBN 0-7131-6517-0). Land Use and Urban Form . THRALL. New York: Metheun, Inc. 1987. xvi and 239 pp., figs., tables, glossary, biblio., and index. $29.95 cloth (ISBN 0-416-35540-4). Urban Living: The Individual in the City . D. J. WALMSLEY. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1988. xiv and 204 pp., diags., index, and biblio. $23.95 paper (ISBN 0-470-20865-5).     

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CLIMATOLOGY OF SNOWSTORMS IN THE DEEP SOUTH

Significant snowstorm events occurring during the winters from 1948/49 through 1989/90 are studied using a network of 100 weather stations across the southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. To qualify for entry into the snowstorm inventory, at least 10 out of the 100 sites need a minimum of 25 mm (1 inch) of snowfall. A total of 69 events are identified and further categorized into four magnitudes based upon areal coverage or total snowfall amount. The storms are also classified into regional categories based upon the dominant part of the study area affected. The spatial characteristics of the snowstorms are discussed and illustrated with maps showing snowfall distributions for representative storms. Most events impact the northern portions of the study area although some very major storms fit into a Miscellaneous category with unique snowfall distributions in the southern or central parts of the Deep South. The temporal character of snowstorm frequency reveals that a very low number of events occurred during the 1950s with peak occurrence during the 1960s. Snowstorms generally remained more frequent during the 1970s and 1980s compared to the 1950s.     

STARTER: a statistical GIS-based model for the prediction of snow avalanche susceptibility using terrain features—application to Alta Val Badia, Italian Dolomites

This article describes a methodology to localise areas with high potential towards natural snowpack instability under particular meteorological conditions, at the scale of an Alpine valley. Localisation is based on statistically relating known release areas of past avalanche events to maps of: (1) slope inclination, (2) slope orientation (aspect), (3) elevation, (4) distance from crest lines, (5) terrain roughness and (6) concavities/convexities. The maps have been built using two different GIS softwares while the statistical analyses have been performed with a specific software handling also Fuzzy Set theory algorithms. The results of the statistical analyses have been verified on test release—areas which have not been used as input data for the statistical analyses. Verification allowed to quantify how reliably the susceptibility values were calculated, to compare the values obtained using different combinations of terrain features and to finally decide on the most efficient combination. The susceptibility maps were calculated and verified for three different meteorological scenarios (given by three classes of snow depth). Verification has shown that the accuracy of the susceptibility maps was between 67% and 82%. The three susceptibility maps show a remarkable difference in the spatial pattern of the highest susceptibility pixels suggesting that for different meteorological scenarios different classes of terrain features need to be considered.The possibility to make combinations of terrain features and to assess and verify their statistical relationship with release areas of past avalanche events is the major original step made by STARTER. Linking those release areas to meteorological scenarios is an attempt to include in the analysis the combined influence of terrain features and meteorological conditions towards snowpack instability.     

A ~4500 yr record of river floods obtained from a sediment core in Lake Atnsjøen, eastern Norway

To extend the historical record of river floods in southern Norway, a 572-cm long sediment core was retrieved from 42 m water depth in Atnsjøen, eastern Norway. The sediment core contains 30 light gray clastic sediment layers interpreted to have been deposited during river floods in the snow/ice free season. In the upper 123 cm of the core, four prominent flood layers occur. The youngest of these overlap with the historical record. The thickest (flood layer 5) possibly reflects a general increase in river-flood activity as a result of the post-Medieval climate deterioration (lower air temperatures, thicker and more long-lasting snow cover, and more frequent rain/snow storms) associated with the Little Ice Age. The most pronounced pre-historic flood layers in the core were, according to an age model based on linear regression between eleven bulk AMS radiocarbon dates, deposited around 4135, 3770, 3635, 3470, 3345, 2690, 2595, 2455, 2415, 2255, 2230, 2150, 2120, 1870, 1815, 1665, 1640, 1480, 1400, 1380, 1290, 935, 885, 670, 655 and 435 cal. BP (BP = AD 1950). The mean return period of the river flood layers is, according to the linear regression age model, ~ 150 ± 30 cal. yr (mean ± 1 S.E.).     

SNOW-AVALANCHE HAZARDS IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK,MONTANA: METEOROLOGIC AND CLIMATOLOGIC ASPECTS

Hazardous snow avalanches in Glacier National Park, Montana, are associated with a variety of meteorologic conditions: heavy snow; heavy snows followed by a rise in air temperature to above freezing; a rise in air temperature to above freezing, without precipitation; and rain in association with above-freezing air temperatures. Years of major, widespread avalanching may be recognized by examination of historical information and tree-ring data. Avalanche types include slab avalanches, wet snow avalanches, and dry loose snow avalanches. February is the peak avalanche month. Intraannual seasonalities of avalanche trigger mechanisms and type of avalanche are related. The presence of sun crusts in some cases provides unstable stratigraphic planes in the snowpack over which freshly deposited snow may glide. Destructive windblasts also occur in association with some avalanches. Insufficient data from east of the Continental Divide precluded a comparison of avalanche type and trigger mechanisms from the western and eastern portions of Glacier National Park. The general avalanche climate is more similar to that reported from the southern Canadian cordillera than to continental locations such as the mountains of Colorado. [Key words: Snow avalanches; avalanche trigger mechanisms; avalanche types; avalanche seasonality; Glacier National Park, Montana; northern Rocky Mountains; hazard planning.]     

Spatiotemporal index for analyzing controls on snow climatology: application in the Colorado Front Range

Mountain snowpacks are important water supplies that are susceptible to climate change, yet snow measurements are sparse relative to snowpack heterogeneity. We used remote sensing to derive a spatiotemporal index of snow climatology that reveals patterns in snow accumulation, persistence, and ablation. Then we examined how this index relates to climate, terrain, and vegetation. Analyses were based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer eight-day snow cover from 2000 to 2010 for a mountain watershed in the Colorado Front Range, USA. The Snow Cover Index (SCI) was calculated as the fraction of years that were snow covered for each pixel. The proportion of SCI variability explained by independent variables was evaluated using regression analysis. Independent variables included elevation, northing, easting, slope, aspect, northness, solar radiation, precipitation, temperature, and vegetation cover. Elevation was the dominant control on SCI patterns, due to its influence on both temperature and precipitation. Grouping SCI values by elevation, we identified three distinct snow zones in the basin: persistent, transitional, and intermittent. The transitional snow zone represents an area that is sensitive to losing winter snowpack. The SCI can be applied to other basins or regions to identify dominant controls on snow cover patterns and areas sensitive to snow loss.     

Oil,the European Dilemma,a Study in Economic and Political Geography

Abstract

Marion Clawson. Land for Americans. Resources for the Future Policy Background Series. Rand McNally and Co., P.O. Box 7600, Chicago 80, Ill., 1963. 141 pages with table of contents and black and white illustrations. $2.00.

Devereux Butcher. Exploring Our National Wildlife Refuges, 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2 Park St., Boston 7, Mass., 1963. 340 pages with bibliography, 342 photographs and a map. $6.50.

Jane Lyon. Clipper Ships and Clipper Captains. American Heritage Co., Inc., 551 Fifth Ave., New York 17, N.Y., 1963. 153 pages with color and black and white illustrations. $3.95.

UNESCO. A Review of the National Resources of the African Continent. International Documents Service, Columbia University Press, 2960 Broadway, New York 27, N.Y., 1963. $15.00.

Floyd Miller. Ahdoolo! The Biography of Matthew A. Henson. E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 201 Park Ave., S., New York 3, N.Y., 1963. 221 pages. $4.50.

Edna Mason Kaula. The Land and People of Tanganyika. J. B. Lippincott Co., E. Washington Sq., Philadelphia 5, Pa., 1963. 155 pages with table of contents, two maps, index and photographs. $2.93.

Henry M. Kendall, Robert M. Glendinning and Clifford H. MacFadden. Introduction to Geography, third edition. Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 750 Third Ave., New York 17, N.Y., 1962. 582 pages with table of contents, index and black and white photographs, maps and illustrations. $8.50.

C. William Harrison. The First Book of Wildlife Sanctuaries. Franklin Watts, Inc., 575 Lexington Ave., New York 22, N.Y., 1963. 61 pages with maps, black and white pictures and an appendix regarding some of the United States' national wildlife refuges. $2.50.

Denis Baly. Geographical Companion to the Bible. McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc., 330 West 42nd St., New York 36, N.Y., 1963. 196 pages with maps, photographs, place-names and subject index. $5.95.

David J. Bowen. The Land and People of Peru. J. B. Lippincott Co., E. Washington Sq., Philadelphia 5, Pa., 1963. 160 pages with table of contents, index, black and white photographs and one map. $2.93.

Victor E. Shelford. The Ecology of North America. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill., 1963. 610 pages. $10.00.

Richard F. Burton, edited by Fawn M. Brodie. The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California. Alfred A. Knopf, 501 Madison Ave., New York 22, N.Y., 1963. 654 pages with table of contents, editor's introduction, appendices and index. $8.50.

Devereux Butcher. Exploring Our National Parks and Monuments (prepared under the auspices of the National Park Association), fifth edition, third revised printing. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2 Park St., Boston 7, Mass., 1963. 288 pages with table of contents, more than 300 colored and black and white pictures and three maps. $6.50.

Jacques M. May, M.D. “The Ecology of Malnutrition in Five Countries of East-Central Europe,” Studies in Medical Geography, Vol. 4. Hafner Publishing Co., 31 East Tenth St., New York 3, N.Y., 1963. 292 pages with table of contents, index and black and white maps. $10.50.

William G. Tyrrell. We New Yorkers. Oxford Book Co., 71 Fifth Ave., New York 3, N.Y., 1963. vi and 294 pages with table of contents, maps, photographs, drawings and index. $2.75 (net school price).     

Numerical simulation of the climate effect of high-altitude lakes on the Tibetan Plateau

Lakes regulate the water and heat exchange between the ground and the atmosphere on different temporal and spatial scales. However, studies of the lake effect in the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau(TP) rarely have been performed until recently, and little attention has been paid to modelling of frozen lakes. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model(WRF v. 3.6.1) is employed to conduct three numerical experiments in the Ngoring Lake Basin(the original experiment, an experiment with a tuned model, and a no-lake experiment) to investigate the influences of parameter optimization on the lake simulation and of the high-altitude lake on the regional climate. After the lake depth, the roughness lengths, and initial surface temperature are corrected in the model, the simulation of the air temperature is distinctly improved. In the experiment using a tuned model, the simulated sensible-heat flux(H) is clearly improved, especially during periods of ice melting(from late spring to early summer) and freezing(late fall). The improvement of latent-heat flux(LE) is mainly manifested by the sharp increase in the correlation coefficient between simulation and observation, whereas the improvement in the average value is small. The optimization of initial surface temperature shows the most prominent effect in the first year and distinctly weakens after a freezing period. After the lakes become grassland in the model, the daytime temperature clearly increases during the freezing and melting periods; but the nocturnal cooling appears in other stages, especially from September to October. The annual mean H increases by 6.4 times in the regions of the Ngoring Lake and the Gyaring Lake, and the LE declines by 56.2%. The sum of H and LE increases from 71.2 W/m2(with lake) to 84.6 W/m2(no lake). For the entire simulation region, the sum of H and LE also increases slightly. After the lakes are removed, the air temperature increases significantly from June to September over the area corresponding to the two lakes, and an abnormal convergence field appears; at the same time, the precipitation clearly increases over the two lakes and surrounding areas.     

2022冬奥会背景下北京区域居民参与冰雪运动消费调查

运用文献资料、问卷调查和数理统计、应用因子分析方法,结合北京区域滑雪场空间分布情况,对比居民冰雪运动参与倾向和频率,发现北京区域居民参与冰雪运动及消费的主要影响因素为性别、年龄、距离、收入水平和政策红利;分析得出雪场密度和区域经济水平、性别等对参与冰雪运动消费特征的影响。归纳4个主要影响北京区域居民参与冰雪运动的公共因子,分别是冰雪运动基础因子、冰雪运动信息因子、冰雪运动距离因子以及冰雪运动友谊因子。提出不断提升冰雪运动产品服务质量,出台鼓励性冰雪运动消费政策,完善冰雪运动消费环境,创新冰雪运动消费内容,逐步扩大冰雪消费规模等建议。     

祁连山西段冰川积雪中大气粉尘沉积特征

基于2012 年夏季野外考察、微粒粒度测试和扫描电镜(SEM-EDX) 微观形貌观测研究, 对位于我国青藏高原东北缘的祁连山西段典型极大陆型冰川区老虎沟12 号冰川、野牛沟十一冰川积雪中大气粉尘沉积进行了分析研究。两冰川区积雪中微粒的平均质量浓度分别是3461 μg/kg、2876 μg/kg, 年均沉积通量分别是207.6 μg/cm²、143.8 μg/cm²。将本研究区与其他区域冰川积雪中粉尘浓度对比研究表明, 冰川受周边粉尘源区影响较大。雪坑微粒浓度剖面和离子相关性分析表明, 祁连山西段冰川积雪中污化层富含亚洲粉尘的富Ca²⁺、Na⁺矿物;微粒体积-粒径分布众数介于3~22 μm, 两冰川区的粒径众数分别为12.6 μm和12 μm, 粒径分布均显示了单结构模式, 同时反映了祁连山冰川区与毗邻的天山地区雪冰中粉尘粒径分布模式的相似性和粒径众数的差异性。通过SEM-EDX对粉尘颗粒的微观结构研究发现, 颗粒绝大多数为形貌不规则的矿物粉尘颗粒, 和很少数量的飞灰颗粒等。同时, 对粉尘来源结合Sr-Nd同位素测定和气团后向轨迹分析进行验证, 认为位于研究区北边的巴丹吉林沙漠是祁连山12号冰川区粉尘最可能的源区。     

早全新世石羊河流域沙尘暴活动记录

位于西北干旱区河西走廓东段石羊河流域尾闾地区湖泊沉积中记录到了多层快速风成沉积，通过剖面样品粒度、石英砂表面特征和磁化率、有机碳等多指标的分析表明为沙尘暴的堆积，推断在早全新世10000-6700aB.P.石头号河流域气候最湿润阶段仍存在周期性的沙尘暴活动。     

近千年来内蒙古岱海气候环境演变的湖泊沉积记录

内陆封闭湖泊是气候环境变化的敏感指示计。通过对内蒙古岱海湖泊岩芯的有机碳同位素、总有机碳、碳酸盐含量和磁化率等多环境指标的综合分析,结合Ｐｂ－２１０测定的沉积速率,讨论了岱海地区近千年来的气候环境演化过程。揭示了本区现代小冰期的前期冷湿,后期冷干的气候特征。记录的最后两次冷期与根据冰芯、树轮、历史文献重建的１０年平均温度推得的１４５０’ｓ～１５１０’ｓ、１７９０’ｓ～１８９０’ｓ两次冷期极相吻合。     

Analysis of satellite and model datasets for variability and trends in Arctic snow extent and depth, 1948–2006

This study aims to investigate the spatiotemporal trends in snow depth (SD) and snow cover extent (SCE) for Arctic lands, excluding Greenland, for the period 1948–2006. The investigation not only delineates how the Arctic regions are manifesting significant annual trends in both SD and SCE, but also provides a comprehensive understanding of their historical context. To achieve these objectives, the combined resources of the hydrological and biogeochemical model (CHANGE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weekly SCE data, and in situ observations of SD were used. Most regions in the Arctic exhibited a significant negative trend in SD over the 59 years of study. The magnitude of the negative trend was stronger in North America than in Eurasia, where the decrease became more significant, starting from the late 1980s, coinciding well with the temperature rise during that time. During the same period, the warming temperature caused a prominent decrease in deeper SDs (i.e., >35 cm), so that the corresponding SCEs exhibited negative anomalies, with the greatest declines being observed at SDs > 55 cm. In contrast, the SCEs for SD ≤ 35 cm showed increased anomalies during the most recent two decades. The increased anomalies signify a sequential result induced by the decrease in the SCEs with deeper SDs, rather than the expansion of snow to snow-free regions. These changes resulted in a northward shift of the shallow SD line, which took place to a highly significant degree in North America. These results suggest that the Arctic SCE and SD will undergo more intense changes in response to the future climate warming.     

巢湖西湖岸新石器-商周遗址空间分布规律及其成因

将地理信息系统空间分析方法引入巢湖西湖岸新石器-商周遗址考古工作,通过点密度分析、空间距离分析、三维分析、缓冲区分析等方法研究遗址空间分布规律及其影响因素。研究表明自新石器至商周时期研究区内遗址时空分布呈现:随时间推移由湖岸边逐渐向西北部扩展,后迁移至南部,再均匀扩散的遗址迁移轨迹;先民多选择靠近水源、地势平坦、土壤肥沃的自然岗地、河谷阶地、山麓面居住,导致古遗址空间上大致呈线状、团聚状、分散状等分布特征,具有明显的河谷谷地指向性、阶地岗地指向性、土壤指向性等规律。提出遗址分布在早期可能主要受到气候水文、地貌、植被土壤等自然因素影响,后期生产力发展水平、经济生活方式等人文因素影响加重。本研究为GIS支持下区域考古研究提供了合适的研究实例,同时GIS方法得到一些推论假设仍需要田野考古调查与发掘等进一步佐证。     

Constraints on paleolake levels,spillways and glacial lake history,north-central Ontario,Canada

The recognition of ice-marginal deltas constructed during the formation of the Nakina II moraine and a previously unrecognized spillway, in the vicinity of Longlac, northern Ontario, indicates that existing concepts of ancestral lake level history and drainage systems in the Lake Superior–Lake Nipigon region is inadequate. Based on isostatically corrected digital elevation maps, ice-marginal deltas of the Nakina II moraine probably formed at the level of glacial Lake Minong, most likely Minong III, and not glacial Lake Nakina as has been commonly suggested. In addition, the presence of a spillway near Longlac indicates that lake water drained southward through the Mullet Outlet–Pic River system immediately following ice-marginal retreat from the Nakina II moraine and not eastward as previously proposed. Architectural-element analysis of exposures within the spillway indicates hyperconcentrated outbursts of meltwater produced thick channel-fill elements during flood conditions with peak-velocities exceeding 3 m/s. Subsequent retreat of ice from the Pic River valley to the east, may have allowed waters of Lake Agassiz, Lake Barlow–Ojibway, or both, to drain into post-Minong lake levels in the Lake Superior basin. These findings place major constraints on previously proposed concepts of northeastern or eastern outlets of Lake Agassiz.