Balancing trade‐off issues in land use change and the impact on streamflow and salinity management

The south‐west region of the Goulburn–Broken catchment in the south‐eastern Murray–Darling Basin in Australia faces a range of natural resource challenges. A balanced strategy is required to achieve the contrasting objectives of remediation of land salinization and reducing salt export, while maintaining water supply security to satisfy human consumption and support ecosystems. This study linked the Catchment Analysis Tool (CAT), comprising a suite of farming system models, to the catchment‐scale CATNode hydrological model to investigate the effects of land use change and climate variation on catchment streamflow and salt export. The modelling explored and contrasted the impacts of a series of different revegetation and climate scenarios. The results indicated that targeted revegetation to only satisfy biodiversity outcomes within a catchment is unlikely to have much greater impact on streamflow and salt load in comparison with simple random plantings. Additionally, the results also indicated that revegetation to achieve salt export reduction can effectively reduce salt export while having a disproportionately smaller affect on streamflows. Furthermore, streamflow declines can be minimized by targeting revegetation activities without significantly altering salt export. The study also found that climate change scenarios will have an equal if not more significant impact on these issues over the next 70 years. Uncertainty in CATNode streamflow predictions was investigated because of the effect of parameter uncertainty. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of heterogeneity on unsaturated hydraulic properties: (1) local heterogeneity and scale effect

Spatial heterogeneity is ubiquitous in nature, which may significantly affect the soil hydraulic property curves. The models of a closed‐form functional relationship of soil hydraulic property curves (e.g. VG model or exponential model) are valid at point or local scale based on a point‐scale hydrological process, but how do scale effects of heterogeneity have an influence on the parameters of these models when the models are used in a larger scale process? This paper uses a two‐dimensional variably saturated flow and solute transport finite element model (VSAFT2) to simulate variations of pressure and moisture content in the soil flume under a constant head boundary condition. By changing different numerical simulation block sizes, a quantitative evaluation of parameter variations in the VG model, resulting from the scale effects, is presented. Results show that the parameters of soil hydraulic properties are independent of scale in homogeneous media. Parameters of α and n in homogeneous media, which are estimated by using the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curve (UHC) or the soil water retention curve (WRC), are identical. Variations of local heterogeneities strongly affect the soil hydraulic properties, and the scale affects the results of the parameter estimations when numerical experiments are conducted. Furthermore, the discrepancy of each curve becomes considerable when moisture content becomes closer to a dry situation. Parameters estimated by UHC are totally different from the ones estimated by WRC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

钟姑地区典型矿床的重磁找矿模式

钟姑地区位于宁芜中生代火山岩盆地南段,已发现有白象山铁矿等多个大型铁矿,是长江中下游成矿带以玢岩型铁矿为主的矿集区。本文以钟姑地区实测岩石物性参数为桥梁,以实测重磁数据为基础,分析了该区白象山铁矿、钟九铁矿和云楼铁矿的重磁场分布特征,并根据典型矿区已知地质条件,运用成熟的2.5D重磁联合反演技术进行计算,从定量角度认识铁矿体深部发育形态、位置与重磁异常之间对应关系,建立钟姑地区白象山铁矿等典型矿床的重磁找矿模式,为该区进一步找矿突破提供地球物理场信息。     

Autonomic visiting in digital 3D scenes

Human-machine interactive visiting and fixed-route visiting are currently the main roaming modes in digital three-dimensional (3D) scenes. However, in general, when a person visits an attraction area, s/he does not follow a fixed path, but instead wander about according to his/her interests. Here, we propose a new roaming mode, called autonomic visiting. That is, in a digital 3D scene, a user selects several interest spots, then a route connecting these spots can be automatically determined and 3D scene can be seen along this route. This study presents a technical approach that enables the realization of autonomic visiting in 3D scenes. Firstly, Delaunay triangular meshes for the terrain in 3D scene are established. Secondly, a plane-growth algorithm and a line-connection algorithm are introduced to automatically mend the broken parts of these triangular meshes. Thirdly, the triangular meshes are then merged and differently weighted according to different layers. Finally, a progress-zone transmission algorithm is presented to optimal the shortest route, which is derived from A-Star (A*) algorithm. Digital 3D campus of Nanjing University, China, is taken as the experimental materials. The experimental results prove the effect of the proposed approach.     

Observed characteristics of atmospheric ducts over the South China Sea in autumn

The observed characteristics of lower atmospheric ducts over the South China Sea(SCS) were analyzed based on Global Position Systerm(GPS) radiosonde data collected four times daily during autumn open cruises from 2006 to 2012.Duct occurrence,thickness,and strength over the SCS were about 40%,150-m thick,and 8 M units,respectively,which were larger than during the summer monsoon period.Most ducts occurred at heights 1 500 m and these ducts easily trap electromagnetic wave clusters with wavelengths 2 m.Diurnal variation of the SCS ducts appeared evident.They occurred more often at midnight at higher altitudes(about 1 100 m),with a thickest layer of about 145 m and less frequently during the evening at lower altitudes(about 800 m),with a thinnest layer of about 125 m.Moreover,ducts during the daytime at a mean height of about 900 m,with the greatest strength of about 10 M units.Furthermore,all duct variables observed over the SCS in autumn decreased from north to south.These findings are useful not only in the design of radar and communication systems,but also for evaluating possible effects of anomalous propagation on meteorological radar and military applications.     

Application of incomplete similarity theory to the estimation of the mean velocity of debris flows

The mean velocity of debris flow is one of the most important parameters in the design of mitigation structures and in quantitative risk analysis. This study develops a model to predict the mean debris flow velocity observed in the field by applying the incomplete similarity argument. An equation for estimating the Darcy-Weisbach resistance coefficient for debris flows with a volumetric sediment concentration larger than 0.19 is accordingly derived using 128 sets of observation data from nine Chinese gullies, in which both the effect of the volumetric sediment concentration and channel slope on resistance are considered. The derived equation is then verified and compared against five previously published equations by using 61 sets of published observation data from six gullies located in four countries. The applications of the proposed equation are discussed, and the improvements made using the proposed equation are clearly very significant when compared with the previously published equations.     

Effects of vegetation restoration on soil physical properties of abandoned farmland on the Loess Plateau,China

To improve the ecological environment in China, the Chinese government implemented a country-wide ecological protection and reforestation project (namely the “Grain for Green Project”) in 1999 to return cultivated land with slopes of 25° or more to perennial vegetation. Vegetation restoration reduces soil erosion mainly by changing the soil physical properties. Different vegetation restoration methods might produce different impacts on soil physical properties. In this study, two vegetation restoration methods (i.e., natural restoration and artificial restoration) were compared on abandoned farmland in the typically hilly and gullied areas of the Loess Plateau of Northwest China. In the natural restoration method, the farmland was abandoned to natural vegetation succession without irrigation, fertilization or other artificial disturbances. In the artificial restoration method, the farmland was planted with black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and watered and cultivated for the first two years. Three soil physical properties (i.e., soil moisture, bulk density and aggregation) were investigated under the two vegetation restoration methods. The results showed that the soil moisture and soil bulk density were higher under artificial restoration than under natural restoration within the first three years of vegetation restoration. By the fourth year, the soil moisture and soil bulk density were higher under natural restoration than under artificial restoration. For the stability of soil aggregates?>?0.25 mm, the soil aggregates in the 0-20 cm soil layer were more stable under artificial restoration than under natural restoration, while the results were the opposite for the 40-60 cm soil layer. Overall, the soil physical properties were continuously improved during the restoration of vegetation on abandoned farmland. In choosing between vegetation restoration methods, natural restoration is preferable to artificial restoration, but artificial intervention is needed during the first three years.