Impact of salt stress on the features and activities of root system for three desert halophyte species in their seedling stage

Linkage between belowground and aboveground sections of ecological system is mainly depending on root system. But root system is the parts of plant that people less understand. The absorption function of root system is closely related to their morphology and activity. Moreover root system can interact with the environmental stress under the adverse situation, and adjust its system to take adaptation responses in morphology and physiology to strengthen its survival chance. This research is focused on three desert halophyte species of H. ammodendron (C.A.Mey.) Bge., S. physophora Pall., and S. nitraria Pall. under solution culture, to study the differences of their root system morphology and activity in the seedling stage under varying salt concentration conditions. The study results show that: A certain salt concentration can promote development of these three halophytes; but rather high salt concentration will restrain their growth, in particular inhibit the root system development. Under the same salt concentration condition, S. nitraria Pall. grows fast and accumulates the largest amount of biomass. Under relatively low salt concentration, the length of axial root and the total length of root system of these three halophyte species are all increased; and compared to the checking samples, S. physophora Pall. occupies the top place of root system growth, but the high salt concentration will restrain the increase of total root length; among them, the impact intensity on S. physophora Pall. is lighter than to H. ammodendron (C.A.Mey.) Bge. and S. nitraria Pall. is lighter; the salinity does not bring distinct influence on the average diameter of root system of these three plant species, but trends to reducing the size; under the solution culture conditions, the middle and lower parts of the axial root of H. ammodendron (C.A.Mey.) Bge. and S. physophora Pall. are rather equally distributed, but the central zone of S. nitraria Pall. root system is more significantly increased than the upper and lower zones; salt concentration does not bring significant impact on the root system spatial distribution of each species. The root activity of the three plants is increased along with the increase of the salt concentration. When the salt concentration is low, the root activity is not significantly increased; but when the salt concentration is high, the root activity is increased significantly. The experimental results show that the saline tolerance capacity of H. ammodendron (C.A.Mey.) Bge. is lower than the other two species, and the capacity of S. physophora Pall. ranks the top place.     

Diurnal and Seasonal Variations in Trends in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis>-Layer Critical Frequency

Long-term changes in the E-layer critical frequency foE at three stations in the European region (Juliusruh, Slough, and Rome) are analyzed by the method described in detail in the previous paper by the authors. It is found that two former stations demonstrate a well-pronounced change in foE (a trend) during the two previous decades. At the same time, the same features of the behavior of the aforementioned trend k(foE) are obtained for both stations. The trend is positive and negative in the morning and evening hours, respectively. It is minimal near the local noon. That explains the small value of k(foE) obtained in the previous paper for 1200 LT. A well-pronounced seasonal behavior of k(foE) is detected: the trend is minimal and maximal in the summer period and at the end of fall—beginning of winter, respectively. The trend maximal amplitude in the morning hours reaches +0.04 MHz per year, whereas the minimal amplitude in evening hours is–0.06 MHz per year. No systematic changes in foE exceeding 0.01 MHz in magnitude per year are found for Rome station.     

Estimation of Apollo Lunar Dust Transport using Optical Extinction Measurements

A technique to estimate mass erosion rate of surface soil during landing of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) and total mass ejected due to the rocket plume interaction is proposed and tested. The erosion rate is proportional to the product of the second moment of the lofted particle size distribution N(D), and third moment of the normalized soil size distribution S(D), divided by the integral of S(D)?D2/v(D), where D is particle diameter and v(D) is the vertical component of particle velocity. The second moment of N(D) is estimated by optical extinction analysis of the Apollo cockpit video. Because of the similarity between mass erosion rate of soil as measured by optical extinction and rainfall rate as measured by radar reflectivity, traditional NWS radar/rainfall correlation methodology can be applied to the lunar soil case where various S(D) models are assumed corresponding to specific lunar sites.     

Seasonal variation of soil respiration under different land use/land cover in arid region

Through combining the soil respiration with the main environmental factors under the planting shelterbelt (Populus woodland) and the natural desert vegetation (Tamarix ramosissima+Phragmites communis community and Haloxylon ammodendron community) in the western Junngar Basin, the difference in soil respiration under different land use/land cover types and the responses of soil respiration to temperature and soil moisture were analyzed. Results showed that the rate of soil respiration increased with temperature. During the daytime, the maximum soil respiration rate occurred at 18:00 for the Populus woodland, 12:00 for T. ramosissima+Ph. communis community, and 14:00 for H. ammodendron community, while the minimum rate all occurred at 8:00. The soil respiration, with the maximum rate in June and July and then declining from August, exhibited a similar trend to the near-surface temperature from May to October. During the growing season, the mean soil respiration rates and seasonal variation differed among the land use/land cover types, and followed the order of Populus woodland > T. ramosissima+Ph. communis community > H. ammodendron community. The difference in the soil respiration rate among different land use/land cover types was significant. The soil respiration of Pouplus woodland was significantly correlated with the near-surface temperature and soil temperature at 10 cm depth (P<0.01) in an exponential manner. The soil respiration of T. ramosissima+Ph. communis and H. ammodendron communities were all linearly correlated with the near-surface temperature and soil surface temperature (P<0.01). Based on the near-surface temperature, the calculated Q₁₀ of Populus woodland, T. ramosissima+Ph. communis community and H. ammodendron community were 1.48, 1.59 and 1.63, respectively. The integrated soil respiration of the three land use/land cover types showed a significant correlation with the soil moisture at 0–5 cm, 5–15 cm and 0–15 cm depths (P<0.01). The quadratic model could best describe the relationship between soil respiration and soil moisture at 0–5 cm depth (P<0.01).     

Soil failure can be used for seismic protection of structures

A new seismic design philosophy is illuminated, taking advantage of soil “failure” to protect the superstructure. Instead of over-designing the foundation to ensure that the loading stemming from the structural inertia can be “safely” transmitted onto the soil (as with conventional capacity design), and then reinforce the superstructure to avoid collapse, why not do exactly the opposite by intentionally under-designing the foundation to act as a “safety valve” ? The need for this “reversal” stems from the uncertainty in predicting the actual earthquake motion, and the necessity of developing new more rational and economically efficient earthquake protection solutions. A simple but realistic bridge structure is used as an example to illustrate the effectiveness of the new approach. Two alternatives are compared : one complying with conventional capacity design, with over-designed foundation so that plastic “hinging” develops in the superstructure; the other following the new design philosophy, with under-designed foundation, “inviting” the plastic “hinge” into the soil. Static “pushover” analyses reveal that the ductility capacity of the new design concept is an order of magnitude larger than of the conventional design: the advantage of “utilising” progressive soil failure. The seismic performance of the two alternatives is investigated through nonlinear dynamic time history analyses, using an ensemble of 29 real accelerograms. It is shown that the performance of both alternatives is totally acceptable for moderate intensity earthquakes, not exceeding the design limits. For large intensity earthquakes, exceeding the design limits, the performance of the new design scheme is proven advantageous, not only avoiding collapse but hardly suffering any inelastic structural deformation. It may however experience increased residual settlement and rotation: a price to pay that must be properly assessed in design.     

Long-Term Trends in the Critical Frequency of the E-layer

A search for trends k(foE) in the critical frequency of the ionospheric E layer at Juliusruh and Slough stations is performed by the method often used by the authors to analyze trends in the F2-layer parameters. It is found that k(foE) could differ in both magnitude and even sign within different time intervals. However, the k(foE) trends have been stably negative over the last two decades for both stations and all months of the year. The k(foE) values averaged over a year are ?0.012 and ?0.005 MHz per year for Juliusruh and Slough stations, respectively. The method used in the recent paper by La?tovi?ka et al. (2016) to determine foE trends is analyzed, and it is shown that the difference in linear approximation of the dependence of the observed foE values on F10.7 within different time intervals could be interpreted not as the presence of a different foE dependence on the F10.7 index within these intervals but as the presence within them of foE trends that change the slope of the linear approximation.     

Properties of solar activity and ionosphere for solar cycle 25

Based on the known forecast of solar cycle 25 amplitude (Rz _max ≈ 50), the first assessments of the shape and amplitude of this cycle in the index of solar activity F10.7 (the magnitude of solar radio flux at the 10.7 cm wavelength) are given. It has been found that (F10.7)_max ≈ 115, which means that it is the lowest solar cycle ever encountered in the history of regular ionospheric measurements. For this reason, many ionospheric parameters for cycle 25, including the F2-layer peak height and critical frequency (hmF2 and foF2), will be extremely low. For example, at middle latitudes, typical foF2 values will not exceed 8–10 MHz, which makes ionospheric heating ineffective in the area of upper hybrid resonance at frequencies higher than 10 MHz. The density of the atmosphere will also be extremely low, which significantly extends the lifetime of low-orbit satellites. The probability of F-spread will be increased, especially during night hours.     

Characterization of Soil Particle Size Distribution with a Fractal Model in the Desertified Regions of Northern China

We constructed an aeolian soil database across arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid regions, China. Soil particle size distribution was measured with a laser diffraction technique, and fractal dimensions were calculated. The results showed that: (i) the predominant soil particle size distributed in fine and medium sand classifications, and fractal dimensions covered a wide range from 2.0810 to 2.6351; (ii) through logarithmic transformations, fractal dimensions were significantly positive correlated with clay and silt contents (R² = 0.81 and 0.59, P < 0.01), and significantly negative correlated with sand content (R² = 0.50, P < 0.01); (3) hierarchical cluster analysis divided the plots into three types which were similar to sand dune types indicating desertification degree. In a large spatial scale, fractal dimensions are still sensitive to wind-induced desertification. Therefore, we highly recommend that fractal dimension be used as a reliable and quantitative parameter to monitor soil environment changes in desertified regions. This improved information provides a firm basis for better understanding of desertification processes.     

Regular changes in the critical frequency of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>2 layer of the quiet midlatitude ionosphere

A method for constructing the empirical model of the F2 layer critical frequency (foF2) under magnetically quiet conditions, aimed at analyzing disturbances of any nature, is proposed. This method has been analyzed, and typical features of regular changes in foF2 of the quiet ionosphere and day-to-day foF2 variability are analyzed using the data from Irkutsk and Slough stations as an example. In particular, it has been obtained that this model differs from the international IRI model, and this difference is mainly caused by the fact that the foF2 values in the IRI model do not correspond to quiet conditions. Therefore, this model gives a larger amplitude of the annual and semiannual variations in foF2 than the IRI model. In addition, this model more accurately reproduces the rate of foF2 annual variations at a fixed local time, especially in equinoxes, when foF2 variations can exceed 1 MHz within one month.     

On the criteria of model performance evaluation for real-time flood forecasting

Model performance evaluation for real-time flood forecasting has been conducted using various criteria. Although the coefficient of efficiency (CE) is most widely used, we demonstrate that a model achieving good model efficiency may actually be inferior to the naïve (or persistence) forecasting, if the flow series has a high lag-1 autocorrelation coefficient. We derived sample-dependent and AR model-dependent asymptotic relationships between the coefficient of efficiency and the coefficient of persistence (CP) which form the basis of a proposed CE–CP coupled model performance evaluation criterion. Considering the flow persistence and the model simplicity, the AR(2) model is suggested to be the benchmark model for performance evaluation of real-time flood forecasting models. We emphasize that performance evaluation of flood forecasting models using the proposed CE–CP coupled criterion should be carried out with respect to individual flood events. A single CE or CP value derived from a multi-event artifactual series by no means provides a multi-event overall evaluation and may actually disguise the real capability of the proposed model.     

Water relation characteristics of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Alhagi sparsifolia</Emphasis> and consequences for a sustainable management

Water relation characteristics of the desert legumeAlhagi sparsifolia were investigated during the vegetation period from April to September 1999 in the foreland of Qira oasis at the southern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The seasonal variation of predawn water potentials and of diurnal water potential indicated thatAlhagi plants were well water supplied over the entire vegetation period. Decreasing values in the summer months were probably attributed to increasing temperatures and irradiation and therefore a higher evapotranspirative demand. Data from pressure-volume analysis confirmed thatAlhagi plants were not drought stressed and xylem sap flow measurements indicated thatAlhagi plants used large amounts of water during the summer months. Flood irrigation had no influence on water relations inAlhagi probably becauseAlhagi plants produced only few fine roots in the upper soil layers. The data indicate thatAlhagi sparsifolia is a drought-avoiding species that utilizes ground water by a deep roots system, which is the key characteristic to adjust the hyper-arid environment. Because growth and survival ofAlhagi depends on ground water supply, it is important that variations of ground water depth are kept to a minimum. The study will provide a theoretical basis for the restoration and management of natural vegetation around oasis in arid regions.     

Effect of Moon phases in riometer absorption and in the ionospheric and geomagnetic parameters

Variations in the frequency of occurrence of riometer absorption, minimum frequency of reflection of the ionospheric F layer, minimum height, and height of maximum electron density of the ionospheric F layer near the solar minimum have been studied. Application of the superposed epoch technique has detected the Moon phase effect on these ionospheric parameters. This effect was: three events per day in the occurrence of riometer absorption, 0.056 MHz in the minimum frequency of reflection of the F layer, and 2.6 and 6.7 km, in the change of the minimum height of reflection and height of reflection from the region with maximum electron density of the ionospheric F layer, respectively. The lunar tide action changes the ionospheric conductivity and, thus, influences the current systems of the magnetosphere. Through changes of magnetospheric currents, the Moon phase effect is exhibited in the Ap and Dst indices and is 4.3 and 4.25 nT, respectively.     

Evaluation of the dynamic <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">y</Emphasis><Subscript>p</Subscript> loops of pile-supported structures on sloping ground

A key issue in the design of pile-supported structures on sloping ground is soil–pile interaction, which becomes more complicated in case of dynamic loading. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of slope on the dynamic behavior of pile-supported structures by performing a series of centrifuge tests. Three models were prepared by varying the slope and soil density of dry sand grounds. The mass supported on 3 by 3 group piles was shaken applying sinusoidal wave with various amplitudes. Test results showed that the location of maximum values and distribution shape of the bending moment below the ground surface varied noticeably with the pile position in the slope case. The relationship between the soil resistance and pile deflection (p–y_p loops) was carefully evaluated by applying the piecewise cubic spline method to fit the measured bending moment curves along piles. It was found that the shape of the p–y_p loops was irregular due to the effect of slope, and immensely influenced by the movement of the unstable zone. In addition, the effect of the pile group in the horizontal case was evaluated by comparing with the previously suggested curves that represent the relationship between the soil resistance and pile–soil relative displacement (p–y curves) to propose the multiplier coefficients.     

Behavior of Parameters of Enhancements in the Nighttime Electron Concentration in the Ionospheric <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>2 Layer

We have analyzed the behavior of the F2 layer parameters during nighttime periods of enhanced electron concentration by the results of vertical sounding of the ionosphere carried out with five-minute periodicity in Almaty (76°55′ E, 43°15′ N) in 2001–2012. The results are obtained within the frameworks of the unified concept of different types of ionospheric plasma disturbances manifested as variations in the height and half-thickness of the layer accompanied by an increase and decrease of N _m F2 at the moments of maximum compression and expansion of the layer. A good correlation is found between height h _Am , which corresponds to the maximum increase, and layer peak height h _m F, while h _Am is always less than h _m F. The difference between h _Am and h _m F linearly increases with increasing h _m F. Whereas the difference is ~38 km for h _m F = 280 km, it is ~54 km for h _m F = 380 km. Additionally, the correlation is good between the increase in the electron concentration in the layer maximum ΔN _m and the maximum enhancement at the fixed height ΔN; the electron concentration enhancement in the layer maximum is about two to three times lower than its maximum enhancement at the fixed height.     

Critical frequencies <Emphasis Type="Italic">foF</Emphasis>2 as an indicator of trends in thermospheric dynamics

The time variations in three parameters during the last decades are considered. R(foF2) is the correlation coefficient between the nighttime and daytime values of foF2 for the same day. Stable trends are found for the minimum (R(foF2)(max)) and maximum (R(foF2)(min)) values of R(foF2) during a year. The foF2(night)/foF2(day) ratio demonstrates both, negative and positive trends, and the trend sign depends on the inclination I and declination D of the magnetic field. The correlation coefficient r(h, fo) between foF2 and the 100 hP level in the stratosphere demonstrates a decrease (in the years of maximum and minimum solar activity) from the 1980s to the 1990s. The trends in all three groups of data are considered under the assumption of long-term changes in the circulation in the upper atmosphere.     

Correlation between foam-bubble size and drag coefficient in hurricane conditions

A recently proposed model of foam impact on the air–sea drag coefficient C _d has been employed for the estimation of the effective foam-bubble radius R _b variation with wind speed U₁₀ in hurricane conditions. The model relates C _d (U₁₀) with the effective roughness length Z _eff (U₁₀) represented as a sum of aerodynamic roughness lengths of the foam-free and foam-covered sea surfaces Z _w (U₁₀) and Z _f (U₁₀) weighted with the foam coverage coefficient α _f (U₁₀). This relation is treated for known phenomenological distributions C _d (U₁₀), Z _w (U₁₀), and α _f (U₁₀) at strong wind speeds as an inverse problem for the effective roughness parameter of foam-covered sea surface Z _f (U₁₀). The present study is aimed at the estimation of the effective roughness of the sea surface assuming that the measurement data for the effective drag coefficient are known. The effective foam-bubble size is found as a function of the wind speed.     

Rainfall-runoff modeling considering soil moisture accounting algorithm,case study: Karoon III River basin

In contrast to event based hydrologic models which reveal how a basin responds to an individual rainfall event, continuous ones synthesize hydrologic processes over a longer time period that includes both dry and wet conditions. With respect to the importance of infiltration method in Rainfall-Runoff (RR) modeling, the objective of this study was to assess HEC-HMS with Soil Moisture Accounting (SMA) infiltration algorithm, considering several components of hydrologic cycle such as canopy interception, surface depression, infiltration into the soil profile storage, percolation to the ground water aquifer and base flow caused by available soil storage vs. maximum saturated capacity of soil layer, to model daily flows of Karoon III basin (Iran). The model showed satisfied performance by accounting initial moisture condition by SMA model with Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) coefficient of 0.76 and 0.64 for calibration and verification. Sensitivity analysis showed that saturated hydraulic conductivity (K), Clark storage coefficient (R) and time of concentration (t _c) were the most effective parameters on the simulated Peak Over Thresholds (POT). Results from this study assist in improving model accuracy and ability to predict future conditions based upon basin characteristic change.     

Statistics for sample splitting for the calibration and validation of hydrological models

Hydrological models have been widely applied in flood forecasting, water resource management and other environmental sciences. Most hydrological models calibrate and validate parameters with available records. However, the first step of hydrological simulation is always to quantitatively and objectively split samples for use in calibration and validation. In this paper, we have proposed a framework to address this issue through a combination of a hierarchical scheme through trial and error method, for systematic testing of hydrological models, and hypothesis testing to check the statistical significance of goodness-of-fit indices. That is, the framework evaluates the performance of a hydrological model using sample splitting for calibration and validation, and assesses the statistical significance of the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency index (E_f), which is commonly used to assess the performance of hydrological models. The sample splitting scheme used is judged as acceptable if the E_f values exceed the threshold of hypothesis testing. According to the requirements of the hierarchical scheme for systematic testing of hydrological models, cross calibration and validation will help to increase the reliability of the splitting scheme, and reduce the effective range of sample sizes for both calibration and validation. It is illustrated that the threshold of E_f is dependent on the significance level, evaluation criteria (both regarded as the population), distribution type, and sample size. The performance rating of E_f is largely dependent on the evaluation criteria. Three types of distributions, which are based on an approximately standard normal distribution, a Chi square distribution, and a bootstrap method, are used to investigate their effects on the thresholds, with two commonly used significance levels. The highest threshold is from the bootstrap method, the middle one is from the approximately standard normal distribution, and the lowest is from the Chi square distribution. It was found that the smaller the sample size, the higher the threshold values are. Sample splitting was improved by providing more records. In addition, outliers with a large bias between the simulation and the observation can affect the sample values of E_f, and hence the output of the sample splitting scheme. Physical hydrology processes and the purpose of the model should be carefully considered when assessing outliers. The proposed framework in this paper cannot guarantee the best splitting scheme, but the results show the necessary conditions for splitting schemes to calibrate and validate hydrological models from a statistical point of view.     

Experimental study on the shear behavior of the interface between cushion materials and the concrete raft

Cushion is a layer of granular materials between the raft and the ground. The shear behavior of the interface between the cushion and the raft may influence the seismic performance of the superstructure. In order to quantify such influences, horizontal shear tests on the interfaces between different cushion materials and concrete raft under monotonic and cyclic loading were carried out. The vertical pressure P_v, material type and cushion thickness h_c were taken as variables. Conclusions include: 1) under monotonic loading, P_v is the most significant factor; the shear resistance P_(hmax) increases as P_v increases, but the normalized factor of resistance μ_n has an opposite tendency; 2) for the materials used in this study, μ_n varies from 0.40 to 0.70, the interface friction angle δ_s varies from 20° to 35°, while u_(max) varies from 3 mm to 15 mm; 3) under cyclic loading, the interface behavior can be abstracted as a "three-segment" back-bone curve, the main parameters include μ_n, the displacement u_1 and stiffness K_1 of the elastic stage, the displacement u_2 and stiffness K_2 of the plastic stage; 4) by observation and statistical analysis, the significance of different factors, together with values of K_1, K_2 and μ_n have been obtained.     

Investigation on regional attenuation of Vrancea (Romania) intermediate-depth earthquakes

This paper aims at investigating possible regional attenuation patterns in the case of Vrancea(Romania) intermediate-depth earthquakes.Almost 500 pairs of horizontal components recorded during 13 intermediate-depth Vrancea earthquakes are employed in order to evaluate the regional attenuation patterns.The recordings are grouped according to the azimuth with regard to the Vrancea seismic source and subsequently,Q models are computed for each azimuthal zone assuming similar geometrical spreading.Moreover,the local soil amplification which was disregarded in a previous analysis performed for Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes is now clearly evaluated.The results show minor differences between the four regions situated in front of the Carpathian Mountains and considerable differences in attenuation of seismic waves between the forearc and backarc regions(with regard to the Carpathian Mountains).Consequently,an average Q model of the type Q(f) = 115×f~(1.25) is obtained for the four forearc regions,while a separate Q model of the type Q(f) = 70×f~(0.90) is computed for the backarc region.These results highlight the need to evaluate the seismic hazard of Romania by using ground motion models which take into account the different attenuation between the forearc/backarc regions.