Observation-Based Estimates of Global Glacier Mass Change and Its Contribution to Sea-Level Change

Glaciers have strongly contributed to sea-level rise during the past century and will continue to be an important part of the sea-level budget during the twenty-first century. Here, we review the progress in estimating global glacier mass change from in situ measurements of mass and length changes, remote sensing methods, and mass balance modeling driven by climate observations. For the period before the onset of satellite observations, different strategies to overcome the uncertainty associated with monitoring only a small sample of the world’s glaciers have been developed. These methods now yield estimates generally reconcilable with each other within their respective uncertainty margins. Whereas this is also the case for the recent decades, the greatly increased number of estimates obtained from remote sensing reveals that gravimetry-based methods typically arrive at lower mass loss estimates than the other methods. We suggest that strategies for better interconnecting the different methods are needed to ensure progress and to increase the temporal and spatial detail of reliable glacier mass change estimates.     

地震预测直面社会的可行性分析

地震能否预测，以及地震预测对社会安定的影响是当前社科界非常敏感和关注的问题。文章对上述问题结合实例作了深入分析，认为只要敢于突破旧观念，善于创新技术途径，地震预测就能走出目前的“混沌”状态，在10年内将地震三要素的短期预报推进到可直面社会的新高度。文中最后对地震预测直面社会前的必要工作，提出了一些具体建议。     

Mass Distribution and Mass Transport in the Earth System: Recent Scientific Progress Due to Interdisciplinary Research

This Special Issue on “Mass Distribution and Mass Transport in the Earth System: Recent Scientific Progress due to Interdisciplinary Research” reports a number of findings resulting from a collaborative effort run from 2006 until 2013, in the framework of the DFG Priority Program 1257 “Mass Distribution and Mass Transport in the Earth System”. Contributions have been arranged along five lines, i.e. (1) improvements in geodesy: satellite mass monitoring through gravimetry and altimetry, (2) applications in large-scale hydrology, (3) applications in solid Earth research, (4) applications in cryospheric research, (5) applications in ocean sciences.     

Instructions to Authors Global Change and Human Health; Reviews on Globalisation, Environmental Change and Health

Instructions for Authors

Instructions to Authors Global Change and Human Health; Reviews on Globalisation, Environmental Change and Health     

Editors' Foreword; Climate, Global Environmental Change and Health: International Scientific Assessments Begin to Roll

Foreword

Editors' Foreword; Climate, Global Environmental Change and Health: International Scientific Assessments Begin to Roll     

Hydrodynamic Equilibrium for Sediment Transport and Bed Response to Wave Motion

An experimental and theoretical identification of hydrodynamic equilibrium for sediment transport and bed response to wave motion are considered. The comparison between calculations and the results of laboratory experiments indicates the linear relation between sediment transport rate and the thickness zm of bed layer in which sediments are in apparent rectilinear motion. This linear relationship allows to use the first order “upwind” numerical scheme of FDM ensuring an accurate solution of equation for changes in bed morphology. However, it is necessary to carry out a decomposition of the sediment transport into transport in onshore direction during wave crest and offshore direction during wave trough. Further, the shape of bed erosion in response to sediment transport coincides with the trapezoid envelope or with part of it, when some sediments still remain within it. Bed erosion area is equal to the one of a rectangle with thickness znm.     

Dust in the Wind: Long Range Transport of Dust in the Atmosphere and Its Implications for Global Public and Ecosystem Health

Movement of soil particles in atmospheres is a normal planetary process. Images of Martian dust devils (wind-spouts) and dust storms captured by NASA's Pathfinder have demonstrated the significant role that storm activity plays in creating the red atmospheric haze of Mars. On Earth, desert soils moving in the atmosphere are responsible for the orange hues in brilliant sunrises and sunsets. In severe dust storm events, millions of tons of soil may be moved across great expanses of land and ocean. An emerging scientific interest in the process of soil transport in the Earth's atmosphere is in the field of public and ecosystem health. This article will address the benefits and the potential hazards associated with exposure to particle fallout as clouds of desert dust traverse the globe. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Passive Samplers for Monitoring VOCs in Groundwater and the Prospects Related to Mass Flux Measurements

Measurement and interpretation of mass fluxes in favor of concentrations is gaining more and more interest, especially within the framework of the characterization and management of large-scale volatile organic carbon (VOC) groundwater contamination (source zones and plumes). Traditional methods of estimating contaminant fluxes and discharges involve individual measurements/calculations of the Darcy water flux and the contaminant concentrations. However, taken into account the spatially and temporally varying hydrologic conditions in complex, heterogeneous aquifers, higher uncertainty arises from such indirect estimation of contaminant fluxes. Therefore, the potential use of passive sampling devices for the direct measurement of groundwater-related VOC mass fluxes is examined. A review of current passive samplers for the measurement of organic contaminants in water yielded the selection of 18 samplers that were screened for a number of criteria. These criteria are related to the possible application of the sampler for the measurement of VOC mass fluxes in groundwater. This screening study indicates that direct measurement of VOC mass fluxes in groundwater is possible with very few passive samplers. Currently, the passive flux meter (PFM) is the only passive sampler which has proven to effectively measure mass fluxes in near source groundwater. A passive sampler for mass flux measurement in plume zones with regard to long-term monitoring (several months to a year) still needs to be developed or optimized. A passive sampler for long-term monitoring of contaminant mass fluxes in groundwater would be of considerable value in the development of risk-based assessment and management of soil and groundwater pollutions.     

Global carbonate accumulation rates from Cretaceous to Present and their implications for the carbon cycle model

Abstract Global carbonate accumulation rates on the surface of the earth, including not only platforms but also continental margin slopes and deep-sea from the Cretaceous to Present, are estimated by compiling previous geologic studies. These rates are revised, taking account of the erosional effect of the sediments on the platform and deep-sea. Long-term model carbonate fluxes from the ocean to the crust are calculated on the basis of the carbon cycle model (GEOCARB of Berner 1991 ). The rates based on the actual geologic data indicate much lower values than model fluxes, excluding the Pliocene and Quaternary. The discrepancy could be attributed to the two misunderstandings, namely an overestimate of carbonate accumulation rate for the Quaternary and an incorrect use of the higher Quaternary rate for a boundary condition of the model. The carbonate accumulation rate for the Pliocene to Quaternary is lowered from 29.8 × 10¹⁸ mol/Ma (modified from Opdyke & Wilkinson 1988 ) to 14.8 × 10¹⁸ mol/Ma in the present study, assuming that the rate from Quaternary to Pliocene is almost the same as the Miocene value. New model fluxes are recalculated with the new boundary condition in the Quaternary (14.8 × 10¹⁸ mol/Ma). Revised model fluxes show general trends of high rates in 120 Ma or 130 Ma, and a low rate in 0 Ma, and are in agreement with the accumulation rate pattern.     

Book Review : Global Change and History of Geophysics. Edited by W. Schröder and M. Colacino. Interdivisional Commission on History of IAGA and History Commission of the German Geophysical Society,Bremen - Roennebeck 1996, 293 pp.

Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica -     

哈萨克斯坦共和国科教部地震研究所所长来疆工作访问

应新疆地震局邀请 ,哈萨克斯坦共和国科教部地震研究所所长努西波夫、高级工程师阿不都拉耶夫、乌兹别克夫于 2 0 0 3年 7月 2 5日至 8月 1日对新疆维吾尔自治区地震局进行了为期 7天的工作访问。访问期间 ,哈专家在有关人员陪同下参观并考察了库尔勒地震台及地震观测山洞。地震观测山洞先进的地震观测仪器、理想的观测环境给哈专家留下了深刻印象。哈专家对考察结果非常满意并希望今后双方加强联系与交流 ,开展更广领域、更深层次的合作。考察结束后双方专家召开讨论会 ,就阿拉木图地震形势交换了意见。此外 ,哈专家还介绍了哈萨克斯坦共和…