Predictability of the wintertime 500 hPa geopotential height over Ural-Siberia in the NCEP climate forecast system

Climate Dynamics - Using hindcast and forecast data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) climate forecast system version 2 (CFSv2) for the period 1982–2017, we...     

Using the spectral scaling exponent for validation of quantitative precipitation forecasts

This study evaluates the spectral scaling of a heavy rainfall event and assesses the performance of the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) model in terms of the multiscale variability of rainfall in the temporal spectral domain. The event occurred over southern Malay Peninsula on 18 December 2006 and was simulated at high resolutions. 10, 5 and 1?min aggregate rainfall data from rain gauge stations in Singapore and simulated rainfall sampled at different evaluation points on 0.9, 0.3 and 0.1?km grids were utilized. The simulated and observed rain rates were compared via Fourier and wavelet analyses. A scaling regime was noted in the observed rainfall spectra in the timescales between 60?min and 2?min. The scaling exponent obtained from the observed spectra has a value of about 2, which may be indicative of the physics of turbulence and raindrop coalescence and might suggest the predominance of a characteristic raindrop size. At 0.9?km resolution, the model rainfall spectra showed similar scaling to the observed down to about 10?min, below which a fall-off in variance was noted as compared to observations. Higher spatial resolution of up to 0.1?km was crucial to improve the ability of the model to resolve the shorter timescale variability. We suggest that the evaluation of dynamical models in the spectral domain is a crucial step in the validation of quantitative precipitation forecasts and assessing the minimal grid resolution necessary to capture rainfall variability for certain short timescales may be important for hydrological predictions.     

Impact of hypoxia on the structure and function of benthic epifauna in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong

In Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong, where hypoxia occurs periodically, a large amount of benthic epifauna was found to be absent in the summer but become abundant again in the winter. This observation may indicate that some species are sensitive in detecting low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels and are able to escape from the harbour to more oxygenated, open waters when conditions deteriorate and return when DO levels are improved. Analysis of biological traits of these animals showed that 58% of the categories showed significant differences between the community structure in summer and winter. The significant biological traits of the few species, which remained in the harbour under the summer's hypoxic conditions suggested adaptation rather than opportunism to the low DO levels. Our data also showed that trawling can increase DO at the bottom and may benefit the less sensitive species that remained in the habitat during the summer.     

Respiration rate and swimming activity of larvae of two sub-tidal nassariid gastropods under reduced oxygen levels: implications for their distributions in Hong Kong waters

The effects of hypoxia on the larvae of two sub-tidal nassariid gastropods, Nassarius siquijorensis and N. conoidalis were compared so as to understand how the species-specific tolerance to hypoxia might have resulted in changes in the abundance and distribution of these two species in the hypoxic Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong, since the 1980s. Respiration rates of N. siquijorensis and N. conoidalis larvae were reduced at 4.5 mg O2 l(-1), or below, as compared with the normoxic control. Significant reduction in swimming velocity was also observed for 10-day old larvae which were exposed to <2.0 mg O2 l(-1) for N. siquijorensis and <1.0 mg O2 l(-1) for N. conoidalis. The 48 h LC50 values of N. siquijorensis and N. conoidalis larvae were 0.7 and 1.7 mg O2 l(-1), respectively. The results suggested that N. siquijorensis are more tolerant to hypoxia than N. conoidalis.     

Differences in leaf construction cost between alien and native mangrove species in Futian, Shenzhen, China: implications for invasiveness of alien species

Construction cost (CC) is a quantifiable measure of energy demand for biomass production, and low CC is hypothesized to give an alien plant growth advantages and increase its potential to be an invader. Comparison of leaf CC and growth traits between alien and native mangroves in Shenzhen Futian Nature Reserve showed CC per unit mass (CC_mass), carbon concentration and gross and ash-free caloric values of alien mangroves were significantly lower than those of native species, while the height and chest circumference were just the opposite. Alien species Sonneratia apetala had the lowest CC_mass while Sonneratia caseolaris had the lowest CC_area, and were 8.99% and 32.17% lower than those of native species, respectively. Conversely, specific leaf area (SLA) of these two Sonneratia species was significantly higher than native species. Lower CC and higher SLA make the two Sonneratia species grow and spread faster than other mangroves and enhance their invasive potential.     

AFLP analysis of genetic variation among three natural populations of horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus along Chinese coast

The AFLP(amplified fragment length polymorphism) technique was used to analyze and compare the genetic diversity of Tachypleus tridentatus from three south-eastern coastal sites of China(Pingtan,Hong Kong and Beihai).Eight pairs of primers generated 361 loci,including 285 polymorphic loci.The ratio of polymorphic loci was 96.97%.Nei's genetic diversity index was 0.420 8 and the Shannon information index was 0.607 5,both of which were higher than that reported for many other arthropods.These results show tha...     

Response of meiofaunal and nematode communities to sewage pollution abatement: a field transplantation experiment

To assess the recovery rate of meiofaunal and nematode communities upon abatement of sewage pollution, a field transplantation experiment was conducted in Tai Tam, which is a non-polluted, shallow subtidal habitat on the southern portion of Hong Kong Island. The sediments used were from one site located in Victoria Harbour that was heavily influenced by sewage pollution, and one site in the outside-harbor area, which was relatively clean. In addition, sediments from Tai Tam were used as a control. Fresh sediments with meiofauna were collected from the aforementioned sites, placed in plastic trays and transplanted to Tai Tam. Sediments were retrieved at the beginning of the experiment and at 1-, 3-, and 8-weeks after transplantation for analysis of the meiofaunal and nematode communities as well as the sediment characteristics. The results showed that the meiofaunal and nematode communities in the control sediments were consistent at the four sampling periods, while it took three and eight weeks, respectively, for the nematode communities from the outside-harbor and inside-harbor sites to become similar to the control. These findings indicated that the relatively poor habitat quality and the nematode community composition in the sewage polluted inside-harbor sediments required a longer time for recovery than samples from the better habitat quality and the nematode community composition in the outside-harbor sediments.     

Vertical response of single piles: transient analysis by time-domain BEM

The transient dynamic response of single piles in a layered half-space under a time-dependent vertical force is analyzed by an FEM-BEM coupling approach. The pile is modeled by FEM and the layered half-space is modeled by a general cylindrical coordinates time-domain BEM. Only one-dimensional discretization is necessary on the boundaries of the three-dimensional layered half-space by virtue of the Fourier theory, while the pile shaft can be discretized as a one-dimensional elastic beam. The compatibility and equilibrium conditions between pile shaft and soil layers are employed to assemble respective equations into one. Fairly good agreement between two unknown solutions and the current approach is found. Parametric studies reveal the influences of several dimensionless factors, such as E_p/E_s, l/r₀, _p/_s and ν_s. The effect of soil layering and the support condition of the pile tip is also reported by numerical examples.     

Development of Voronoi-based cellular automata -an integrated dynamic model for Geographical Information Systems

This paper presents a development of the extended Cellular Automata (CA), a Voronoi-based CA, to model dynamic interactions among spatial objects. Cellular automata are efficient models for representing dynamic spatial interactions. A complex global spatial pattern is generated by a set of simple local transition rules. However, its original definition for a two-dimensional array limits its application to raster spatial data only. This paper presents a newly developed Voronoi-based CA in which the CA is extended by using the Voronoi spatial model as its spatial framework. The Voronoi spatial model offers a ready solution to handling neighbourhood relations among spatial objects dynamically. By implementing this model, we have demonstrated that the Voronoi-based CA can model local interactions among spatial objects to generate complex global patterns. The Voronoi-based CA can further model interactions among point, line and polygon objects with irregular shapes and sizes in a dynamic system. Each of these objects possesses its own set of attributes, transition rules and neighbourhood relationships. The Voronoi-based CA models spatial interactions among real entities, such as shops, residential areas, industries and cities. Compared to the original CA, the Voronoi-based CA is a more natural and efficient representation of human knowledge over space.