Meta-heuristic maximum likelihood parameter estimation of the mixture normal distribution for hydro-meteorological variables

In the water resources field, there are emerging problems such as temporal changes of data and new additions of water sources. Non-mixture models are not efficient in analyzing these data because these models are developed under the assumption that data do not change and come from one source. Mixture models could successfully analyze these data because mixture models contain more than one modal. The expectation maximization (EM) algorithm has been widely used to estimate parameters of the mixture normal distribution for describing the statistical characteristics of hydro meteorological data. Unfortunately, the EM algorithm has some disadvantages, such as divergence, derivation of information matrices, local maximization, and poor accuracy. To overcome these disadvantages, this study proposes a new parameter estimation approach for the mixture normal distribution. The developed model estimates parameters of the mixture normal distribution by maximizing the log likelihood function using a meta-heuristic algorithm—genetic algorithm (GA). To verify the performance of the developed model, simulation experiments and practical applications are implemented. From the results of experiments and practical applications, the developed model presents some advantages, such as (1) the proposed model more accurately estimates the parameters even with small sample sizes compared to the EM algorithm; (2) not diverging in all application; and (3) showing smaller root mean squared error and larger log likelihood than those of the EM algorithm. We conclude that the proposed model is a good alternative in estimating the parameters of the mixture normal distribution for kutotic and bimodal hydrometeorological data.     

Effects of salinity on anatomical features and physiology of a semi-mangrove plant Myoporum bontioides

The effect of different concentrations of NaCl, 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mM, on the anatomical features and physiology of Myoporum bontioides was investigated. The photosynthetic rates (Pn) were significantly reduced by salt stress, with the lowest values at 400 mM NaCl. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA), proline and soluble sugar, as well as the activities of peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) increased at the beginning, but became similar to the control as the experiment proceeded. The NaCl effect on superoxide dismutase (SOD) was different from the other parameters, with a significant reduction at 400 mM NaCl at Day 7. Salt glands were found in both upper and lower epidermis, and the ratios of the thickness of palisade to spongy mesophyll tissues increased with NaCl concentrations. The medullary ray was clearly damaged by NaCl at levels of 200 and 300 mM. These results demonstrated that M. bontioides could adapt to a relatively low salinity, and was not a halophilous species.     

Structure and function of soil microbial community in artificially planted Sonneratia apetala and S. caseolaris forests at different stand ages in Shenzhen Bay,China

The present study examined the relationships between soil characteristics, microbial community structure and function in the forests artificially planted with exotic Sonneratia apetala at stand ages of 1-, 2-, 7-, 10- and 14-years and Sonneratia caseolaris of 1-, 4-, 7-, 10- and 14-years in Futian National Nature Reserve, Shenzhen Bay, China. The 7-years old forests of both Sonneratia species reached peak growth and had the highest content of nitrogen and phosphorus, enzymatic activities, including dehydrogenase, cellulase, phosphatase, urease and ß-glucosidase, except arylsulphatase which increased continuously with stand ages. The microbial community structure reflected by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles also reached the maximum value in the 7-years old forests and soil bacterial PLFAs in both forests were significantly higher than fungal PLFAs. The canonical correlation analysis revealed that differences in microbial structural variables were significantly correlated to the differences in their functional variables, and the highest correlation was found between the soil enzymatic activities and the content of carbon and nitrogen.     

Interactive effects of hypoxia and PBDE on larval settlement of a marine benthic polychaete

Marine benthic polychaete Capitella sp. I is widely known to adapt to polluted habitats; however, its response to xenobiotics under hypoxic conditions has been rarely studied. This research aimed to test the hypothesis that interactive effects of hypoxia and congener BDE-47 of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), which is ubiquitous in marine sediments, may alter the settlement of Capitella sp. I. Our results revealed that under hypoxic condition, settlement success and growth in body length of Capitella larvae were significantly reduced compared to those under normoxia of similar BDE-47 concentration. While no significant changes in morphology of settled larvae were noted in both exposure conditions, the presence of BDE-47 could enhance polychaete growth. The present findings demonstrated that the interactive effects of hypoxia and environmentally realistic concentrations of BDE-47 in sediments could affect polychaete settlement, which, in turn, reduce its recruitment and subsequent population size in the marine benthic ecosystem.     

Effects of hypoxia on biofilms and subsequently larval settlement of benthic invertebrates

Biofilms on submerged surfaces are important in determining larval settlement of most marine benthic invertebrates. We investigated if exposure of biofilms to hypoxia would alter the larval settlement pattern and result in a shift in benthic invertebrate community structure in the field. Biofilms were first exposed to hypoxia or normoxia in laboratory microcosms for 7 days, and then deployed in the field for another 7 days to allow for larval settlement and recruitment to occur. Using terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism of the 16S rRNA gene, this study showed that hypoxia altered the biofilm bacterial community composition, and the difference between the hypoxic and normoxic treatments increased with the time of exposure period. This study also demonstrated significantly different benthic invertebrate community structures as a result of biofilm exposure to hypoxia and that the hypoxic and normoxic treatments were dominated by Hydroides sp. and Folliculina sp., respectively.     

Improved fog detection from satellite in the presence of clouds

This study analyzes radiative effect of the higher clouds over the fog layer and presents the improvement of fog detection over the Korean peninsula, utilizing satellite data of the Multi-functional Transport SATellite (MTSAT)-1R and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Look-Up Table (LUT) based on Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) simulations. Fog detection utilizing the satellite data from visible (0.68 µm) and infrared (3.75 µm and 10.8 µm) channels has been evaluated in comparison with ground-based observations over 52 meteorological stations in the Korean Peninsula from March 2006 to February 2007. The threshold values for fog sensing have been derived from the difference (i.e., T_3.7–11) in brightness temperature between 3.75 µm (T_3.7) and 10.8 µm (T₁₁) during day and night, and also from the reflectivity at 0.68 µm (R_0.68) in the daytime. In the twilight, however, the difference between the temperature values at 10.8 µm and their maximum within previous 15 days (i.e., T_11max-11) are used instead, because the 3.75 µm channel is inaccurate for the fog detection at dawn/dusk. The sensitivity of the T_3.7–11 values with respect to the clouds is investigated based on the cloud variables such as its height, optical thickness, and amount. The values of T_3.7–11 are the most sensitive to cloud height, followed by cloud optical thickness and effective radius, while R0.68 is insensitive to cloud height. The sensitivity is examined with various conditions of cloud phases and day/night. Sixteen cases among eighteen fog occurrences, which have been unable to be sensed by using only the conventional threshold values, are successfully detected with the additional LUT corrections, indicating a significant improvement. The method of fog detection in this study can be useful to the Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) Meteorological Data Processing System (CMDPS) by reducing the cloud effect on fog sensing.     

Aerodynamic Scaling for Estimating the Mean Height of Dense Canopies

We used an aerodynamic method to objectively determine a representative canopy height, using standard meteorological measurements. The canopy height may change if the tree height is used to represent the actual canopy, but little work to date has focused on creating a standard for determining the representative canopy height. Here we propose the ‘aerodynamic canopy height’ h _a as the most effective means of resolving the representative canopy height for all forests. We determined h _a by simple linear regression between zero-plane displacement d and roughness length z ₀, without the need for stand inventory data. The applicability of h _a was confirmed in five different forests, including a forest with a complex canopy structure. Comparison with stand inventory data showed that h _a was almost equivalent to the representative height of trees composing the crown surface if the forest had a simple structure, or to the representative height of taller trees composing the upper canopy in forests with a complex canopy structure. The linear relationship between d and z ₀ was explained by assuming that the logarithmic wind profile above the canopy and the exponential wind profile within the canopy were continuous and smooth at canopy height. This was supported by observations, which showed that h _a was essentially the same as the height defined by the inflection point of the vertical profile of wind speed. The applicability of h _a was also verified using data from several previous studies.     

Spatial distribution and comparative evaluation of phosphorus release rate in benthic sediments of an estuary dam

A series of experiments and simulations were performed to ascertain the rate at which phosphorus is released using a water quality model in Saemangeum Lake, an artificially constructed lake located in an estuary. The general inflow of seawater once a day contributed to the formation of a halocline in the lake water, which caused variation in the vertical concentration of dissolved oxygen. The halocline was mainly observed in the deep downstream regions of Saemangeum Lake that are close to the op...     

Relationship between the expansion of drylands and the intensification of Hadley circulation during the late twentieth century

The changes in coverage by arid climate and intensity of the Hadley circulation during the second half of the twentieth century were examined using observations and the multi-model ensemble (MME) mean of Twentieth-Century Coupled Climate Model (20C3M) simulations. It was found that the area of dry climate, which comprises steppe and desert climates following the K?ppen climate classification, expanded to an appreciable extent in observation and, to a lesser degree, in MME simulation. The areal extent of steppe climate (the outer boundary of arid climate) tends to encroach on the surrounding climate groups, which, in turn, feeds desert climate (the inner part of arid climate) and causes it to grow. This result indicates the importance of accurate prediction for climate regimes that border steppe climate. Concomitant with the expansion of drylands, the observed intensity of the Hadley cell is persistently enhanced, particularly during boreal winter, suggesting the validity of a self-induction of deserts through a positive bio-geophysical feedback (also known as Charney’s cycle). In comparison, the simulated Hadley circulation in the MME mean remains invariant in time. The current climate models, therefore, disagree with the observation in the long-term linkage between desertification and Hadley cell. Finally, the implication of such discrepancy is discussed as a possible guidance to improve models.