Comprehensive flood risk assessment based on set pair analysis-variable fuzzy sets model and fuzzy AHP

On the basis of the disaster system theory and comprehensive analysis of flood risk factors, including the hazard of the disaster-inducing factors and disaster-breeding environment, as well as the vulnerability of the hazards-bearing bodies, the primary risk assessment index system of flood diversion district as well as its assessment standards were established. Then, a new model for comprehensive flood risk assessment was put forward in this paper based on set pair analysis (SPA) and variable fuzzy sets (VFS) theory, named set pair analysis-variable fuzzy sets model (SPA-VFS), which determines the relative membership degree function of VFS by using SPA method and has the advantages of intuitionist course, simple calculation and good generality application. Moreover, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was combined with trapezoidal fuzzy numbers to calculate the weights of assessment indices, thus the weights for flood hazard and flood vulnerability were determined by the fuzzy AHP procedure, respectively. Then SPA-VFS were applied to calculate the flood hazard grades and flood vulnerability grades with rank feature value equation and the confidence criterion, respectively. Under the natural disasters risk expression recommended by the Humanitarian Affairs Department of United Nations, flood risk grades were achieved from the flood hazard grades and flood vulnerability grades with risk grade classification matrix, where flood hazard, flood vulnerability and flood risk were all classified into five grades as very low, low, medium, high and very high. Consequently, integrated flood risk maps could be carried out for flood risk management and decision-making. Finally, SPA-VFS and fuzzy AHP were employed for comprehensive flood risk assessment of Jingjiang flood diversion district in China, and the computational results demonstrate that SPA-VFS is reasonable, reliable and applicable, thus has bright prospects of application for comprehensive flood risk assessment, and moreover has potential to be applicable to comprehensive risk assessment of other natural disasters with no much modification.     

Seasonal variation of carbon exchange of typical forest ecosystems along the eastern forest transect in China

The long-term and continuous carbon fluxes of Changbaishan temperate mixed forest (CBS), Qianyanzhou subtropical evergreen coniferous forest (QYZ), Dinghushan subtropical evergreen mixed forest (DHS) and Xishuangbana tropical rainforest (XSBN) have been measured with eddy covariance techniques. In 2003, different responses of carbon exchange to the environment appeared across the four ecosystems. At CBS, the carbon exchange was mainly determined by radiation and temperature. 0°C and 10°C were two important temperature thresholds; the former determined the length of the growing season and the latter affected the magnitude of carbon exchange. The maximum net ecosystem exchange (N _EE) of CBS occurred in early summer because maximum ecosystem photosynthesis (G _PP) occurred earlier than maximum ecosystem respiration (R _e). During summer, QYZ experienced severe drought and N _EE decreased significantly mainly as a result of the depression of G _PP. At DHS and XSBN, N _EE was higher in the drought season than the wet season, especially the conversion between carbon sink and source occurring during the transition season at XSBN. During the wet season, increased fog and humid weather resulted from the plentiful rainfall, the ecosystem G _PP was dispressed. The Q ₁₀ and annual respiration of XSBN were the highest among the four ecosystems, while the average daily respiration of CBS during the growing season was the highest. Annual N _EE of CBS, QYZ, DHS and XSBN were 181.5, 360.9, 536.2 and ?320.0 g·C·m^?2·a^?1, respectively. From CBS to DHS, the temperature and precipitation increased with the decrease in latitude. The ratio of N _EE/R _e increased with latitude, while R _e/G _PP, ecosystem light use efficiency (L _UE), precipitation use efficiency and average daily G _PP decreased gradually. However, XSBN usually escaped such latitude trend probably because of the influence of the south-west monsoon climate which does not affect the other ecosystems. Long-term measurement and more research were necessary to understand the adaptation of forest ecosystems to climate change and to evaluate the ecosystem carbon balance due to the complexity of structure and function of forest ecosystems.     

Carbon pools and fluxes in the China Seas and adjacent oceans

The China Seas include the South China Sea, East China Sea, Yellow Sea, and Bohai Sea. Located off the Northwestern Pacific margin, covering 4700000 km~2 from tropical to northern temperate zones, and including a variety of continental margins/basins and depths, the China Seas provide typical cases for carbon budget studies. The South China Sea being a deep basin and part of the Western Pacific Warm Pool is characterized by oceanic features; the East China Sea with a wide continental shelf, enormous terrestrial discharges and open margins to the West Pacific, is featured by strong cross-shelf materials transport; the Yellow Sea is featured by the confluence of cold and warm waters; and the Bohai Sea is a shallow semiclosed gulf with strong impacts of human activities. Three large rivers, the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Pearl River, flow into the East China Sea, the Bohai Sea, and the South China Sea, respectively. The Kuroshio Current at the outer margin of the Chinese continental shelf is one of the two major western boundary currents of the world oceans and its strength and position directly affect the regional climate of China. These characteristics make the China Seas a typical case of marginal seas to study carbon storage and fluxes. This paper systematically analyzes the literature data on the carbon pools and fluxes of the Bohai Sea,Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea, including different interfaces(land-sea, sea-air, sediment-water, and marginal sea-open ocean) and different ecosystems(mangroves, wetland, seagrass beds, macroalgae mariculture, coral reefs, euphotic zones, and water column). Among the four seas, the Bohai Sea and South China Sea are acting as CO_2 sources, releasing about0.22 and 13.86–33.60 Tg C yr~(-1) into the atmosphere, respectively, whereas the Yellow Sea and East China Sea are acting as carbon sinks, absorbing about 1.15 and 6.92–23.30 Tg C yr~(-1) of atmospheric CO_2, respectively. Overall, if only the CO_2 exchange at the sea-air interface is considered, the Chinese marginal seas appear to be a source of atmospheric CO_2, with a net release of 6.01–9.33 Tg C yr~(-1), mainly from the inputs of rivers and adjacent oceans. The riverine dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) input into the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea are 5.04, 14.60, and 40.14 Tg C yr~(-1),respectively. The DIC input from adjacent oceans is as high as 144.81 Tg C yr~(-1), significantly exceeding the carbon released from the seas to the atmosphere. In terms of output, the depositional fluxes of organic carbon in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea are 2.00, 3.60, 7.40, and 5.92 Tg C yr~(-1), respectively. The fluxes of organic carbon from the East China Sea and South China Sea to the adjacent oceans are 15.25–36.70 and 43.93 Tg C yr~(-1), respectively. The annual carbon storage of mangroves, wetlands, and seagrass in Chinese coastal waters is 0.36–1.75 Tg C yr~(-1), with a dissolved organic carbon(DOC) output from seagrass beds of up to 0.59 Tg C yr~(-1). Removable organic carbon flux by Chinese macroalgae mariculture account for 0.68 Tg C yr~(-1) and the associated POC depositional and DOC releasing fluxes are 0.14 and 0.82 Tg C yr~(-1), respectively. Thus, in total, the annual output of organic carbon, which is mainly DOC, in the China Seas is 81.72–104.56 Tg C yr~(-1). The DOC efflux from the East China Sea to the adjacent oceans is 15.00–35.00 Tg C yr~(-1). The DOC efflux from the South China Sea is 31.39 Tg C yr~(-1). Although the marginal China Seas seem to be a source of atmospheric CO_2 based on the CO_2 flux at the sea-air interface, the combined effects of the riverine input in the area, oceanic input, depositional export,and microbial carbon pump(DOC conversion and output) indicate that the China Seas represent an important carbon storage area.     

The inner inner core of the Earth: Texturing of iron crystals from three-dimensional seismic anisotropy

We present a three-dimensional model of the seismic anisotropy and texturing of iron crystals in the inner core. The form of the anisotropy changes suddenly at slightly less than half of the inner core radius. The outer part is composed of iron crystals of a single phase with different degrees of preferred alignment along the spin axis of the Earth. The inner part may be composed of a different phase of crystalline iron or have a different pattern of alignment.     

Tree-ring-based reconstruction of the April to September mean temperature since 1826 AD for north-central Shaanxi Province, China

Long-time series of high-resolution temperature record from Chinese Loess Plateau is rare. An April-September mean temperature reconstruction (1826-2004) has been developed for the north-central Shaanxi Province, China, based on tree-ring width analysis. The reconstruction captures 39.3% (p<0.001) of the variance in the instrumental data over the calibration period from 1951 to 2002. The reconstruction shows a high temperature period of 1928-1933, which coincides with the timing of the extreme drought event in 1920s in the entire northern China. The two low temperature periods in reconstruction are 1883-1888 and 1938-1942. With the global warming, the April-September mean temperature in study area has also increased since the 1970s, but has not exceeded the temperature in 1928-1933. Besides the statistical analysis, the reconstruction is also verified by the local dryness/wetness index and other dendroclimatological results.     

Preface to the special memorial issue for Professor Donald V. Helmberger

Donald Vincent Helmberger,Ph.D.and Smits Family Professor of Geophysics Emeritus at Caltech(Figure 1),one of the primary founders of seismic waveform modeling,w...     

2009年海洋和大气环流异常及对中国气候的影响

2009年总体来看,全国天气气候的特征为气温偏高,平均降水偏少,夏季为近10多年来降水最少的年份,区域性和持续性干旱非常显著:黄淮、华北发生了严重的秋冬季连旱,东北西南部夏秋旱严重,江南西部、华南西部和西南南部夏秋旱明显等。2009年在南海和西太平洋生成的热带气旋个数明显偏少,但是登陆的偏多,初次登陆时间偏早。分析发现,2009年赤道中东太平洋春季前处于冷水位相,4月以后进入暖水位相,6月开始了一次厄尔尼诺事件。受海洋异常强迫和海气相互作用的影响,北半球大气环流表现出的主要特征是:500 hPa西太平洋副高强度和位置变化较大;东亚冬季风偏弱,夏季风偏强;西太平洋暖池区冬春季热带对流活动偏强,夏秋季正常;亚洲中高纬度经纬向环流交替转换,其中5月纬向环流盛行,6月、10月和11月经向环流盛行。这些环流异常是影响2009年中国气候异常的主要原因。     

长江中下游遇大范围雨雪西北出现今年首次沙尘天气

1月,全国平均气温为-4.5℃,比常年同期偏高1.4℃.上旬,西藏旬平均气温为1951年以来历史同期最高值、黑龙江为次高值;下旬,黑龙江旬平均气温为1951年以来最高,宁夏、吉林、山西为次高值;黑龙江、吉林月平均气温为1951年以来历史同期最高值,西藏月平均气温为1954年以来历史同期次高值.     

黄河中游一次致洪暴雨过程的形成机理

利用常规观测资料、NCEP再分析资料等,对黄河中游2013年7月21-22日的致洪暴雨过程的形成机理进行分析。结果发现:1)地面辐合线的形成和维持是本次过程降水强度大和降水集中的主要原因。中尺度雨团和地面中尺度辐合线相对应,地面中尺度辐合线的形成和冷空气扩散补充相对应。第一次冷空气扩散,促使长武站附近地面中尺度辐合线的形成和维持;第二次冷空气补充,促使北洛河流域、无定河流域的地面中尺度辐合线形成并维持。2)暴雨过程发生前,其上空存在干暖盖的结构特征,是能量积累及位势不稳定层结结构建立的关键;暴雨发生过程中干空气侵入对中尺度对流云团起激发作用。3)暴雨、大暴雨发生过程中水汽的垂直输送明显,暴雨区上空1000-100 h Pa相对湿度均在90%以上。     

1999年夏季江淮地区热源和水汽汇时空变化特征

利用1999年的NCAR再分析网格点风场、温度场、湿度场及含HUBEX试验加密观测的降水资料等,诊断分析了夏季长江流域梅雨暴雨集中期及其前后江淮地区的大气热源、水汽汇的时空分布及多时间尺度特征.