Elevation Dependence of Winter Wheat Production in Eastern Washington State with Climate Change: A Methodological Study

Crop growth models, used in climate change impact assessments to project production on a local scale, can obtain the daily weather information to drive them from models of the Earth's climate. General Circulation Models (GCMs), often used for this purpose, provide weather information for the entire globe but often cannot depict details of regional climates especially where complex topography plays an important role in weather patterns. The U.S. Pacific Northwest is an important wheat growing region where climate patterns are difficult to resolve with a coarse scale GCM. Here, we use the PNNL Regional Climate Model (RCM) which uses a sub-grid parameterization to resolve the complex topography and simulate meteorology to drive the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) crop model. The climate scenarios were extracted from the PNNL-RCM baseline and 2 × CO₂ simulationsfor each of sixteen 90 km² grid cells of the RCM, with differentiation byelevation and without correction for climate biases. The dominant agricultural soil type and farm management practices were established for each grid cell. Using these climate and management data in EPIC, we simulated winter wheat production in eastern Washington for current climate conditions (baseline) and a 2 × CO₂ `greenhouse' scenario of climate change.Dryland wheat yields for the baseline climate averaged 4.52 Mg ha^–1 across the study region. Yields were zero at high elevations where temperatures were too low to allow the crops to mature. The highest yields (7.32 Mgha^–1) occurred at intermediate elevations with sufficientprecipitation and mild temperatures. Mean yield of dryland winter wheat increased to 5.45 Mg ha^–1 for the 2 × CO₂ climate, which wasmarkedly warmer and wetter. Simulated yields of irrigated wheat were generally higher than dryland yields and followed the same pattern but were, of course, less sensitive to increases in precipitation. Increases in dryland and irrigated wheat yields were due, principally, to decreases in the frequency of temperature and water stress. This study shows that the elevation of a farm is a more important determinant of yield than farm location in eastern Washington and that climate changes would affect wheat yields at all farms in the study.     

全球化与城市国际化:国际城市的一项实证研究

在当今全球化时代,许多城市被确认为世界城市或全球城市,但本文认为世界上只有少数一些城市真正达到“世界城市”的标准,具有控制世界经济的功能。而许多其他城市,无论是支配或被支配的城市,只显示出国际化的若干特征。本文利用全球264个城市与69家高级生产者服务公司的资料,从国际城市的角度研究世界上的重要城市。研究发现不同的城市有不同的国际化水平,除了少数高度国际化的一流城市达到世界城市的标准,许多其他城市只达到局部国际化,且他们的分布在地域上并无集中的趋势。同时研究发现世界上只有少数高级服务公司拥有全球城市服务网络,大部分公司的服务网络只集中在部分地区。     

Cluster analysis of post-landfall tracks of landfalling tropical cyclones over China

In this paper, we apply finite-mixture-model-based clustering algorithms to cluster post-landfall tracks of tropical cyclones (TCs) making landfall over China. Because existing studies find that landfall surfaces or elevations affect post-landfall TC movements, we also take account of elevations in addition to time orders in this model. Our study reveals three clusters, with cluster 1 making landfall in Hainan province and moving across the western coast of Guangdong province. Most of the TC tracks in cluster 1 move over the ocean and make secondary landfalls over Yunnan province of China and Vietnam. Cluster 1 finally dissipates inland and moves westward as a result of the westward-shift subtropical high, westward steering flow, easterly vertical wind shear and strong mountainous blocking. Cluster 2 makes landfall over Guangdong and Fujian provinces. TCs in cluster 2 subsequently move inland and disappear due largely to westward-shift subtropical high, easterly steering flow, easterly vertical wind shear and relatively strong mountainous blocking. Cluster 3 makes landfall along the Fujian and Zhejiang coast and sustains a long period of time, recurving mostly to the mid-latitude region owing to the surrounding eastward-shift subtropical high, westerly vertical wind shear, weak mountainous blocking and westerly steering flow. Because cluster 2 is significantly associated with La Niña events, TCs more likely make landfall over southeastern China coast and move westward or northwestward without recurving. Cluster 3 sustains a longer time than clusters 1 and 2 in spite of its weak horizontal and vertical water vapor supply. TCs in cluster 3 interact actively with westerlies during the post-landfall period. However, we cannot observe any analogous interactions with the mid-latitude westerlies in clusters 1 and 2. TCs of clusters 1 and 2 are influenced by summer monsoon flows. Moreover, summer monsoon exerts a greater influence on cluster 1 than cluster 2. The composite 200 hPa divergence of cluster 3 is stronger than that of clusters 1 and 2. This explains to some degree why cluster 3 sustains longer than clusters 1 and 2 after making landfall.     

Temperature variation in Guangdong Province, China

1IntroductionThereisgrowingawarenessofclhatechange,andnumerousresearchonclhatictrendsandvallabilityatglobalorregionalscalehasbenconductedMoStstudieshaveconcen~onthelong-tenntrendsintemperatUI'eandPeripiboonpiousstudiesonhendSPherictempo~bendshavebeenconducted.AngellandKorshover(1977ac1978)StUdiedthetemperatUresinthenodsmhelinSPhereandstatedthattherewasadeClineoftemperatUreSinthe1960sandaslightw~gwasObservedafter197ill;l.OtherauthorssuchasLamb(1982)andJonesetal.(1982and1986a)SUPPOrted…     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000095

<正>Bauxite deposits are studied because of their economic value and because they play an important role in the study of paleoclimate and paleogeography of continents.They provide a rare record of the weathering and evolution of continental surfaces.Geomicrobiological analysis makes it possible to verify that microorganisms have played a critical role during the formation of bauxite with the possibility already intimated in previous studies.Ambient temperature,abundance of water,organic carbon and bioavailable iron and other metal substrates provide a suitable environment for microbes to inhabit.Thio-bacillus, Leptospirilum,Thermophilic bacteria and Heterotrophs have been shown to be able to oxidize ferrous iron and to reduce sulfate-generating sulfuric acid,which can accelerate the weathering of alumi-nosilicates and precipitation of iron oxyhydroxides.Microorganisms referred to the genus Bacillus can mediate the release of alkaline metals.Although the dissimilatory iron-reducing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in bauxites have not yet been identified,some recorded authigenic carbonates and "bacteriopyrites" that appear to be unique in morphology and grain size might record microbial activity.Typical bauxite minerals such as gibbsite,kaolinite,covellite,galena,pyrite,zircon,calcium plagioclase,orthoclase, and albite have been investigated as part of an analysis of microbial mediation.The paleoecology of such bauxitic microorganisms inhabiting continental(sub) surfaces,revealed through geomicrobiolo-gical analysis,will add a further dimension to paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental studies.     

Hydrologic Implications of Dynamical and Statistical Approaches to Downscaling Climate Model Outputs

Six approaches for downscaling climate model outputs for use in hydrologic simulation were evaluated, with particular emphasis on each method's ability to produce precipitation and other variables used to drive a macroscale hydrology model applied at much higher spatial resolution than the climate model. Comparisons were made on the basis of a twenty-year retrospective (1975–1995) climate simulation produced by the NCAR-DOE Parallel ClimateModel (PCM), and the implications of the comparison for a future(2040–2060) PCM climate scenario were also explored. The six approaches were made up of three relatively simple statistical downscaling methods – linear interpolation (LI), spatial disaggregation (SD), and bias-correction and spatial disaggregation (BCSD) – each applied to both PCM output directly(at T42 spatial resolution), and after dynamical downscaling via a Regional Climate Model (RCM – at 1/2-degree spatial resolution), for downscaling the climate model outputs to the 1/8-degree spatial resolution of the hydrological model. For the retrospective climate simulation, results were compared to an observed gridded climatology of temperature and precipitation, and gridded hydrologic variables resulting from forcing the hydrologic model with observations. The most significant findings are that the BCSD method was successful in reproducing the main features of the observed hydrometeorology from the retrospective climate simulation, when applied to both PCM and RCM outputs. Linear interpolation produced better results using RCM output than PCM output, but both methods (PCM-LI and RCM-LI) lead to unacceptably biased hydrologic simulations. Spatial disaggregation of the PCM output produced results similar to those achieved with the RCM interpolated output; nonetheless, neither PCM nor RCM output was useful for hydrologic simulation purposes without a bias-correction step. For the future climate scenario, only the BCSD-method (using PCM or RCM) was able to produce hydrologically plausible results. With the BCSD method, the RCM-derived hydrology was more sensitive to climate change than the PCM-derived hydrology.     

Copper toxicity in the marine copepod Tigropus japonicus: Low variability and high reproducibility of repeated acute and life-cycle tests

The intertidal copeopod Tigriopus japonicus, which is abundant and widely distributed along the coasts of Western Pacific, has been suggested to be a good marine ecotoxicity testing organism. In this study, a series of experiments were conducted to investigate the reproducibility and variability of copper (Cu) sensitivity of T. japonicus so as to evaluate its potential to serve as an appropriate test species. To understand the seasonal variation of Cu sensitivity, individuals of T. japonicus were collected from the field in summer and winter, and subjected to standard 96 h acute (static renewal) toxicity tests. 96 h-LC50 values of T. japonicus collected from the two seasons were marginally different (p = 0.05), with an overall coefficient of variation (CV) of 33%. Most importantly, our results indicated that chronic Cu sensitivity of T. japonicus was highly reproducible. The CVs of intrinsic rates of increase in the population of the control and Cu treatment (10 μg Cu l⁻¹) groups were only 10–11% between 10 runs of a standardised complete life-cycle test. Moreover, different Cu(II) salts generally resulted in a similar 96 h-LC50 value while Cu(I) chloride was consistently slightly less toxic than Cu(II) salts. Given such a high reproducibility of toxic responses, it is advocated to use T. japonicus as a routine testing organism.     

Correction to: Surface Warping Incorporating Machine Learning Assisted Domain Likelihood Estimation: A New Paradigm in Mine Geology Modeling and Automation

Mathematical Geosciences -     

The Wild Life of Pesticides: urban agriculture,institutional responsibility,and the future of biodiversity in Sydney's Hawkesbury-Nepean River

Agricultural chemicals are a notoriously intractable source of environmental pollution. Offering enhanced agricultural productivity, they simultaneously risk degrading the ecological basis upon which agriculture depends. This paper considers chemicalisation as a cause of the erosion of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, focusing on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and the small-scale horticulturalists who supply the city's fresh vegetable markets, working under the pressure of urbanisation, retail monopolies, indifferent land-use planning, and often without access to information about pesticide use in the languages they understand. Arguing that standard practices of ‘risk management’ are unable to adequately control chemical contamination, the paper presents findings from interviews with actors within the ‘assemblage’ of institutions with responsibility for agriculture, water quality, and environmental protection, in order to assess the effectiveness of pesticide governance in the Greater Sydney Basin. It appears that pesticide pollution is far from being tamed: it is rarely measured nor monitored, neither is it a priority of any particular agency. Arguing that public health, the long-term viability of local farming and the ecological well-being of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River are mutually consistent goals, we conclude that these vital elements of the common-weal are currently subject to a system of ‘organised irresponsibility’. The paper concludes by proposing several ways forward.