Geodetic observations of ice flow velocities over the southern part of subglacial Lake Vostok, Antarctica, and their glaciological implications

In the austral summer seasons 2001/02 and 2002/03, Global Positioning System (GPS) data were collected in the vicinity of Vostok Station to determine ice flow velocities over Lake Vostok. Ten GPS sites are located within a radius of 30 km around Vostok Station on floating ice as well as on grounded ice to the east and to the west of the lake. Additionally, a local deformation network around the ice core drilling site 5G-1 was installed.
The derived ice flow velocity for Vostok Station is  2.00 m a⁻¹± 0.01 m a⁻¹  . Along the flowline of Vostok Station an extension rate of about 10⁻⁵ a⁻¹ (equivalent to 1 cm km⁻¹ a⁻¹) was determined. This significant velocity gradient results in a new estimate of 28 700 years for the transit time of an ice particle along the Vostok flowline from the bedrock ridge in the southwest of the lake to the eastern shoreline. With these lower velocities compared to earlier studies and, hence, larger transit times the basal accretion rate is estimated to be 4 mm a⁻¹ along a portion of the Vostok flowline. An assessment of the local accretion rate at Vostok Station using the observed geodetic quantities yields an accretion rate in the same order of magnitude. Furthermore, the comparison of our geodetic observations with results inferred from ice-penetrating radar data indicates that the ice flow may not have changed significantly for several thousand years.     

Comparing palaeolimnological and instrumental evidence of climate change for remote mountain lakes over the last 200 years

This paper compares the palaeolimnological evidence for climate change over the last 200 years with instrumental climate data for the same period at seven European remote mountain lakes. The sites are Øvre Neådalsvatn (Norway), Saanajärvi (Finland), Gossenköllesee (Austria), Hagelseewli (Switzerland), Jezero v Ledvici (Slovenia), Estany Redó (Spain, Pyrenees), and Niné Terianske Pleso (Slovakia). We used multiple regression analysis to transfer homogenised lowland air temperature records to each of the sites, and these reconstructions were validated using data from on-site automatic weather stations. These data showed that mean annual temperature has varied over the last 200 years at each site by between 1 and 2 °C, typical of the high frequency variability found throughout the Holocene, and appropriate, therefore, to test the sensitivity of the various proxy methods used. Sediment cores from each site were radiometrically dated using ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs and ²⁴¹Am and analysed for loss-on-ignition, C, N, S, pigments, diatoms, chrysophytes, Cladocera and chironomids. Comparisons between the proxy data and the instrumental data were based on linear regression analysis with the proxy data treated as response variables and the instrumental data (after smoothing using LOESS regressions) as predictor variables. The results showed few clear or consistent patterns with generally low or very low r² values. Highest values were found when the data were compared after smoothing using a broad span, indicating that some of the proxy data were capturing climate variability but only at a relatively coarse time resolution. Probable reasons for the weak performance of the methods used include inaccurate dating, especially for earlier time periods, the influence of confounding forcing factors at some sites e.g., air pollution, earthquakes, and the insensitivity of some methods to low amplitude climate forcing. Nevertheless, there were trends in some proxy records at a number of sites that had a relatively unambiguous correspondence with the instrumental climate records. These included organic matter and associated variables (C and N) and planktonic diatom assemblages at the majority of sites and chrysophytes and chironomids at a few sites. Overall for longer term studies of the Holocene, these results indicate the need to be cautious in the interpretation of proxy records, the importance of proxy method validation, the continuing need to use reinforcing multi-proxy approaches, and the need for careful site and method selection.     

Development history and accessibility evolution of land transportation network in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region over the past century

From the development of modern transportation to the current era of high-speed transportation networks, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region has always played a national leading role in land transportation development of China. In order to explore the long-term evolutionary characteristics of land transportation in the BTH region, this paper utilized a temporal scale of 100 years to systematically interpret the development process of the land transportation network. Taking 13 cities within the BTH region as research anchor cities, we took into account “leaping” mode of transportation in order to investigate the evolution of accessibility. Our research shows the following results: (1) The land transportation network in the BTH region has undergone five stages of development: the initial period of modernization (1881–1937); the period of stagnation of transportation development (1937–1949); the network expansion period (1949–1980); the period of trunk construction (1980–1995), and the period of high-speed transportation network development (1995–present). The network structure centered around Beijing has existed from the outset of modern transportation development. (2) The accessibility spatial pattern of land transportation in BTH region has evolved from expansion along traffic corridors to the formation of concentric circles. The stratified circular structure of transportation in anchor cities has gradually developed into a contiguous development pattern. (3) There are clear hierarchical differences in the transportation structures of anchor cities. Beijing has always been at the top of this hierarchy, while the hierarchical position of Zhangjiakou has fallen noticeably since 1949. The Beijing-Tianjin region was the first region to form a short-duration transportation circle structure, while the transportation advantages of the central part of Hebei Province, which is located in the center of the BTH transportation region, have yet to be realized.     

卫星遥感结合气象资料计算的中国干旱区夏季地面感热特征

选用美国国家海洋和大气局(NOAA)系列卫星观测的1982-2006年历年夏季每半月合成的归一化差值植被指数(NDVI)数据资料和针对我国西北干旱区不同下垫面的Ch-INDV参数化关系式,计算了我国110°E以西/35°N以北区域内84个气象站历年夏季各月的地表热力输送系数Ch值和地面感热通量序列,并将其与ERA-40再分析感热资料进行了比较分析。随后,通过数理统计和经验正交函数(EOF)分析方法,研究其时空分布的基本特征和异常变化的演变规律及其东、西部地面感热年际变化的差异。主要结论为:(1)我国西北干旱区夏季地面感热通量实际计算值与ERA-40再分析感热资料相比,两者在值的大小、分布形势和年际变化趋势上均较一致,但感热实际计算值的空间分布更加明显地突出了各气象站所在区域的局地特征。(2)对西北干旱区夏季地面感热EOF分析表明,第一模态反映了全场一致的空间变化,第二和第三模态在干旱区东部和西部区具有不同的南北反向或东西反向的空间变化。第一和第二主分量有较明显的年代际或更长时间尺度的周期变化,第三主分量的年际变化较明显。(3)西北干旱区东部和西部夏季地面感热输送具有相反的年际变化趋势,干旱区东部呈逐年增加的趋...     

2008年春季中国南方冰雪冻害林木折损分析

An abrupt ice and snow storm disaster which occurred in the spring of 2008 severely destroyed forests over a surprisingly large portion of southern China. A transect crossing Jinggang Mountain-Jitai Basin-Yushan Mountain-Wuyi Mountain was selected as the study area. The authors integrated field data collected in two field surveys to analyze the impacts of the disturbance on forests. The following results were obtained. (1) The extent of damage to plantations along the transect decreased in the order of slash pine > masson pine > mixed plantation > Chinese fir. Slash pine is an introduced species from southern America which is characterized by fast growth, low wood quality and rich oleoresin, and showed a damage rate of 61.3% of samples, of which 70.4% cannot recover naturally. Masson pine is the native pioneer species of forests with harder wood, and 52.5% were damaged due to turpentine, of which 60.9% cannot recovery naturally. Chinese fir is a local tree species and samples showed a rate of 46% and a relative rate of 32.5%, lower than the mixed plantation. (2) From west to east along the transect, we can see that evergreen broad-leaved forest of the western transect on Jinggang Mountain showed the lightest damage extent, and a Cryptomeria plantation at an altitude of 700 m was severely destroyed while Chinese fir showed light damage below 700 m and relatively severe damage above 900 m. Masson pine and slash pine in the central transect in Jitai Basin were damaged severely due to turpentine activities, and closed natural secondary deciduous broad-leaved forest was damaged severely due to high ice and snow accumulation on intertwined shrubs. Masson pine aerial-seeding plantations below 400 m along the eastern transect in Xingguo and Ningdu counties were nearly undamaged for small tree sizes, and Chinese fir at 500-900 m altitude showed a lighter damage extent. However, masson pine which was distributed above 400 m and planted in the 1960s, was severely damaged due to turpentine.     

2008年春季中国南方冰雪冻害林木折损分析

An abrupt ice and snow storm disaster which occurred in the spring of 2008 se-verely destroyed forests over a surprisingly large portion of southern China.A transect crossing Jinggang Mountain-Jitai Basin-Yushan Mountain-Wuyi Mountain was selected as the study area.The authors integrated field data collected in two field surveys to analyze the impacts of the disturbance on forests.The following results were obtained.(1) The extent of damage to plantations along the transect decreased in the order of slash pine > masson pine > mixed plantation > Chinese fir.Slash pine is an introduced species from southern America which is characterized by fast growth,low wood quality and rich oleoresin,and showed a damage rate of 61.3% of samples,of which 70.4% cannot recover naturally.Masson pine is the native pioneer species of forests with harder wood,and 52.5% were damaged due to turpentine,of which 60.9% cannot recovery naturally.Chinese fir is a local tree species and samples showed a rate of 46% and a relative rate of 32.5%,lower than the mixed plantation.(2) From west to east along the transect,we can see that evergreen broad-leaved forest of the western transect on Jinggang Mountain showed the lightest damage extent,and a Cryp-tomeria plantation at an altitude of 700 m was severely destroyed while Chinese fir showed light damage below 700 m and relatively severe damage above 900 m.Masson pine and slash pine in the central transect in Jitai Basin were damaged severely due to turpentine ac-tivities,and closed natural secondary deciduous broad-leaved forest was damaged severely due to high ice and snow accumulation on intertwined shrubs.Masson pine aerial-seeding plantations below 400 m along the eastern transect in Xingguo and Ningdu counties were nearly undamaged for small tree sizes,and Chinese fir at 500-900 m altitude showed a lighter damage extent.However,masson pine which was distributed above 400 m and planted in the 1960s,was severely damaged due to turpentine.     

Separation of pedogenic and lithogenic components of magnetic susceptibility in the Chinese loess/palaeosol sequence as determined by the CBD procedure and a mixing analysis

Magnetic susceptibility variations in the Chinese loess/palaeosol sequences have been used extensively for palaeoclimatic interpretations. The magnetic signal of these sequences must be divided into lithogenic and pedogenic components because the palaeoclimatic record is primarily reflected in the pedogenic component. In this paper we compare two methods for separating the pedogenic and lithogenic components of the magnetic susceptibility signal: the citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite (CBD) extraction procedure, and a mixing analysis. Both methods yield good estimates of the pedogenic component, especially for the palaeosols. The CBD procedure underestimates the lithogenic component and overestimates the pedogenic component. The magnitude of this effect is moderately high in loess layers but almost negligible in palaeosols. The mixing model overestimates the lithogenic component and underestimates the pedogenic component. Both methods can be adjusted to yield better estimates of both components. The lithogenic susceptibility, as determined by either method, suggests that palaeoclimatic interpretations based only on total susceptibility will be in error and that a single estimate of the average lithogenic susceptibility is not an accurate basis for adjusting the total susceptibility. A long-term decline in lithogenic susceptibility with depth in the section suggests more intense or prolonged periods of weathering associated with the formation of the older palaeosols.
The CBD procedure provides the most comprehensive information on the magnitude of the components and magnetic mineralogy of loess and palaeosols. However, the mixing analysis provides a sensitive, rapid, and easily applied alternative to the CBD procedure. A combination of the two approaches provides the most powerful and perhaps the most accurate way of separating the magnetic susceptibility components.     

The explicit crustal transfer function for SH-waves by ray theory — the case of one and two layers

Summary. Previous theoretical studies on the transfer function of crustal plane surface layers have been primarily based on applying recursion formulae to the solutions of wave equations. In this way the detailed physical insight of the transfer function is often obscure and it is very difficult to express the transfer function in an explicit form. To show that this situation can be improved by an alternative approach, we demonstrate in this paper with models of one and two surface layers that the explicit transfer function can be derived by summing multiple-reflected rays between interfaces. Since the derived transfer function is related explicitly to some physical parameters, such as wave travel times between interfaces, reflection and transmission coefficients at the interfaces, and attenuation and dispersion of waves in each layer of the model, it is more flexible than the traditional recursion form when applied to different models. This suggests that the ray theory can play an important role in problems of layered media.     

珠江三角洲地区未来海平面上升及风暴潮增水的耕地损失预测

珠江三角洲地区是中国海岸带中风暴潮灾害最集中的区域之一。在全球气候变化和海平面上升的影响下,风暴潮灾害将对该地区农业生产造成巨大的损失。在借鉴相关经验与研究的基础上,建立风暴潮增水灾害耕地产量损失评估模型,选择广东省珠江三角洲地区为研究区域,以该地区的DEM、土地利用等数据为基础,通过实地调研获取当地的作物种植结构、轮作方式、作物单产、不同淹没高度下不同作物的损失率等数据资料,基于未来海平面上升及风暴潮增水的不同时间情景,估算并分析了2030、2050及2100年珠三角地区耕地受灾范围的空间分布特征及产量损失变化情况。结果表明：受气候变化的影响,未来珠三角地区风暴潮影响下的耕地淹没面积比重不断上升,其中阳江、佛山和东莞等地耕地淹没面积从2030年到2100年增加较为明显,广州和珠海的耕地淹没面积增加幅度则较为缓和。从耕地淹没造成的农业产量损失来看,蔬菜、稻谷和花生等主要作物的损失产量比重呈现增加趋势,且蔬菜的增幅最大,其次是稻谷。其中广州、江门、阳江等地稻谷、花生、蔬菜的损失产量比重均表现为持续上升。