AstroGrid opens for science

When the UK's AstroGrid went on-line in May it became the first of the world's new "virtual observatories" to go live. Nic Walton explains how it works and how it is already delivering new science.     

AstroGrid: Powering the virtual universe

Nic Walton describes a programme to break down wavelength barriers and empower astronomers, as well as making full use of astronomical archives.
The full potential of the data from the major new observational facilities (e.g. VISTA) available to the community will only be realized if inclusive, rich, data access and manipulation mechanisms are provided. Astronomical endeavour will be further leveraged if these mechanisms enable "science-driven" research programmes benefiting from access to multiple data sources. I describe here the reasons and resources behind AstroGrid.     

The international decade for natural disaster reduction (IDNDR): A challenge to science

The United Nations proclaimed the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Based on the ‘Tokyo Declaration’—an action plan for the IDNDR formulated by a commission of highly recognized experts—a program was drafted in March 1991 by the International Scientific and Technical Committee for the IDNDR, whose members were appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations. Based on this international draft program a framework for national scientific programs should be developed by National Committees. The Decade and its translation into actions are briefly reviewed.     

地球物理仪器学科发展研究报告

地球物理仪器在国防、资源探测、自然灾害监测和工程质量检测等领域中具有不可忽视的作用,近年来技术进步迅速.国际上,地球物理仪器发展趋于多功能化、轻便化、智能化、可视化、网络化和虚拟化.由于历史的原因,一方面我国对地球物理仪器的需求急剧增长,另一方面又形成了对国外仪器的过分依赖,严重冲击了我们对地球物理仪器的自主研发.在这样的逆境中,我国地球物理技术工作者仍然坚持不懈,在重、磁、电、地震、放射性等领域取得了显著成绩,并在某些领域达到了具有国际领先的水平.基于这种现状,我国地球物理仪器发展应该坚持适当引进与自主创新相结合、研产用相结合,形成标准统一、多学科交叉融合的研制体系,提高工艺水平和售后服务质量;重视地球深部探测、航空物探、海洋探测、地质灾害监测和国防工程领域的地球物理仪器开发和研制;发挥学术组织的特殊作用,集中力量组织攻关,争取在关键领域中形成我国具有自主知识产权的先进地球物理技术和仪器.     

湖泊环境科学与工程技术研究进展探讨

湖泊环境与工程学科是近10～20年发展的、研究变化环境条件下湖泊水环境质量演变规律、互动机制、保护治理及和谐发展的一门交叉性的基础研究和应用研究学科.随着人类活动强度增加,我国湖泊面临富营养化、蓝藻水华暴发与引发次生灾害及持久性和新兴污染等多类型或叠加复合的严峻环境问题,迫切需要发展湖泊区域性的复合污染防控与治理技术体系,服务于国家生态文明建设.本文首先简单介绍对湖泊环境与工程学科概念及内涵的认识,然后较系统地阐述了国内外近10年来关于主要污染物在湖泊中环境行为的研究,针对性地分析了主要由蓝藻水华暴发引发的次生灾害"湖泛"的发生原因及防控策略,展示了以湖泊底泥为主的湖泊监测方法和技术研究进展,总结和归纳了从入湖污染控制到内源污染治理的湖泊污染防控技术研发成果,最后对湖泊环境与工程学科研究尺度向宏观与微观两极延伸及治理修复技术向生态/水利工程和智慧感知/大数据技术融合发展等方面进行了展望.     

Watershed science: Linking hydrological science with sustainable management of river basins

Over the past decades, a number of water sciences and management programs have been developed to better understand and manage the water cycles at multiple temporal and spatial scales for various purposes, such as ecohydrology,global hydrology, sociohydrology, supply management, demand management, and integrated water resources management(IWRM). At the same time, rapid advancements have also been taking place in tracing, mapping, remote sensing, machine learning, and modelling technologies in hydrological research. Despite those programs and advancements, a water crisis is intensifying globally. The missing link is effective interactions between the hydrological research and water resource management to support implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) at multiple spatial scales. Since the watershed is the natural unit for water resources management, watershed science offers the potential to bridge this missing link.This study first reviews the advances in hydrological research and water resources management, and then discusses issues and challenges facing the global water community. Subsequently, it describes the core components of watershed science:(1)hydrological analysis;(2) water-operation policies;(3) governance;(4) management and feedback. The framework takes into account water availability, water uses, and water quality; explicitly focuses on the storage, fluxes, and quality of the hydrological cycle; defines appropriate local water resource thresholds through incorporating the planetary boundary framework; and identifies specific actionable measures for water resources management. It provides a complementary approach to the existing water management programs in addressing the current global water crisis and achieving the UN SDGs.     

Getting your money's worth: Testing the value of data for hydrological model calibration

Despite the big data era, observational data continue to be a limiting factor in the environmental sciences. To collect the most informative field data, studies on the value of data are essential. This article describes a model-based approach to assess the value of data. While we discuss the approach for hydrological model calibration, the approach is applicable across the environmental sciences. The overall goal is to provide guidance on optimal data collection strategies, that is, what to measure, where, and when.     

Understanding earthquakes: from myth to science

This paper is an explanation of how earthquakes have been interpreted by our predecessors since written records began. Before that we can only surmise that different societies had deities associated with mythological creatures able to cause earthquakes on one pretext or another. Here I have used the Japanese catfish—or ‘namazu’—creature to a large extent, partly because it is well-documented, but also because it is still used as a metaphor for earthquakes in official Japanese disaster prevention activities. Both the Bible and the Koran explain that earthquakes are God’s punishment for committed sin, and this idea was used until the seventeenth century, particularly by the Christian Church, in explaining their occurrence. The earliest rational approach appears to have come from the founding of Scientific Societies in Europe, beginning in Naples in 1560 and followed quickly by others in many European capital cities including London, where the Royal Society, founded in 1660, had the almost unique benefit of knowledge about earthquakes brought to London by its trade with many parts of the known world. Its Fellows had an opportunity to develop a more balanced approach, producing ideas which often centred on subterranean fire in the earth. Even so, the notion that God was the immediate cause had not disappeared. The 1755 the Great Lisbon earthquake was a seismic event in the religious and philosophical explanation of its cause. European philosophers, led by Leibnitz and Voltaire held contrary views about God and the world, with the latter concluding that earthquakes were caused by natural events with an unknown cause, about which the sins of the people had no influence. Rousseau was another philosopher of influence, initiating the concept of risk, arguing that it was the actions of people which turned an event into a disaster. These philosophers had the benefit of scientific knowledge about the world, originating with Copernicus and subsequently developed by those Scientific Societies referred to above which were created as early as the sixteenth century.     

Watershed science:Bridging new advances in hydrological science with good management of river basins

<正>Watershed science traditionally refers to the themes of hydrology and water resource management.Watershed science has been experiencing a rapid evolution that thrives on a forceful superimposition of multi-discipline and innovative earth observing and information techniques.The water and its interactions with other systems in a watershed is increasingly becoming a focus in scientific communities,and several new disciplines such as ecohydrology,ecoeconomics,environmental hy-