Decameter mid-latitude sporadic-E irregularities in relation with gravity waves

HF radar observations of mid-latitude sporadic-E irregularities carried out with the Valensole radar in South France are compared with simultaneous ionosonde measurements underneath the irregularity zones. In a previous study of Valensole radar data, it has been shown that HF backscatter from the night-time mid-latitude E region is usually associated with largescale wave-like modulations. To obtain more information on the geophysical conditions prevailing during backscatter events, a new experiment was performed which also included a vertical ionosonde beneath the scattering region. The data to be presented here are from two periods when radar scattering appeared simultaneously with large variations in the virtual height and the Doppler velocity of F-layer reflected echoes measured with the vertical ionosonde, indicating very clearly the passage of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs). The effect of the atmospheric waves on the sporadic-E layer is not always as marked as it is in the F region. In the first event, the passage of the AGWs is accompanied by an upward followed by a downward movement of the Es-layer. The apparent descending movement of the Es-layer from 135 to 110km in less than 10 min corresponded to a positive (downward) Doppler velocity of 35 m/s measured by the vertical ionosonde, and was accompanied by a range variation in the radar scattering region with a negative rate of about 90–110 m/s. In the second event, the Es-layer is not as strongly disturbed as in the previous one, but, nevertheless, the range variations of the scattering region can still be associated with height fluctuations of the Es-layer.     

Impact of reservoir operation and climate change on the hydrological regime of the Sesan and Srepok Rivers in the Lower Mekong Basin

The transboundary Sesan and Srepok sub-basins (2S) are the “hot-spot” areas for reservoir development in the Lower Mekong region, with 12 reservoirs built in the Vietnam territory. This study examines the impacts of reservoir operations in Vietnam and projected climate change on the downstream hydrologic regime of the 2S Rivers by jointly applying the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) models. Different scenarios of reservoir operation are considered and simulated to assess their impact on annual, seasonal, and monthly flow regimes under maximum hydropower capacity generation with and without taking into account the minimum flow requirement downstream near the Vietnam border with Cambodia. The precipitation and temperature projections from the high-resolution regional climate model HadGEM3-RA under two Representative Concentration Pathways, 4.5 and 8.5, of HadGEM2-AO are used as future climate change scenarios for the impact assessment. The study results show that reservoir operation leads to an increase in the dry season stream flows and a decrease in the wet season stream flows. The monthly flow regime exhibits considerable changes for both the Sesan and Srepok Rivers but with different magnitudes and patterns of increase and decrease. Climate change is likely to induce considerable changes in stream flows, though these changes are comparatively lower than those caused by reservoir operation. Climate change is likely to have both counterbalancing and reinforcing effects over the impact of reservoir operation, reducing changes during dry season but increasing changes in most of the other months.     

Changes in heat wave characteristics over Extremadura (SW Spain)

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Heat wave (HW) events are becoming more frequent, and they have important consequences because of the negative effects they can have not only on the human...     

Integration of ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change policies in Viet Nam

There is growing recognition of the importance of ecosystem-based approaches for adaptation to climate change—it is a cost-effective measure that has multiple benefits and can overcome many of the drawbacks of more common engineering adaptation options. Viet Nam has a rich biodiversity and is also one of the most vulnerable countries impacted by climate change. Climate change policies have been adopted at national and local levels as well as by sector, making Viet Nam one of the nations to most systematically fulfill their obligation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Consequently, we have used Viet Nam as a case study, to assess the integration of ecosystem-based approach to adaptation to climate change. We found that ecosystem-based adaptation is being implemented in some projects but, overall, is inadequately considered by Viet Nam’s climate change policies. Instead, policies predominantly rename infrastructure projects as climate change adaptation and focus on hard solutions for disaster reduction, rather than responding to long-term climate change through ecosystem-based adaptation. Moreover, ecosystem-based adaptation projects have focused on only a few relevant types of ecosystems. Viet Nam should revise its existing climate change policies and sectoral strategies to integrate ecosystem-based adaptation across different scales of governance. As other nations develop adaptation policies at different scales, the lesson from Viet Nam is that engineering measures need to be balanced with ecosystem-based adaptation for more affordable and effective responses to climate change.     

Separation of rifting and lithospheric folding signatures in the NW-Alpine foreland

The development of the Alpine mountain belt has been governed by the convergence of the African and European plates since the Late Cretaceous. During the Cenozoic, this orogeny was accompanied with two major kinds of intraplate deformation in the NW-European foreland: (1) the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS), a left-lateral transtensional wrench zone striking NNE-SSW between the western Mediterranean Sea and the Bohemian Massif; (2) long-wavelength lithospheric folds striking NE and located between the Alpine front and the North Sea. The present-day geometry of the European crust comprises the signatures of these two events superimposed on all preceding ones. In order to better define the processes and causes of each event, we identify and separate their respective geometrical signatures on depth maps of the pre-Mesozoic basement and of the Moho. We derive the respective timing of rifting and folding from sedimentary accumulation curves computed for selected locations of the Upper Rhine Graben. From this geometrical and chronological separation, we infer that the ECRIS developed mostly from 37 to 17 Ma, in response to north-directed impingement of Adria into the European plate. Lithospheric folds developed between 17 and 0 Ma, after the azimuth of relative displacement between Adria and Europe turned counter-clockwise to NW–SE. The geometry of these folds (wavelength = 270 km; amplitude = 1,500 m) is consistent with the geometry, as predicted by analogue and numerical models, of buckle folds produced by horizontal shortening of the whole lithosphere. The development of the folds resulted in ca. 1,000 m of rock uplift along the hinge lines of the anticlines (Burgundy–Swabian Jura and Normandy–Vogelsberg) and ca. 500 m of rock subsidence along the hinge line of the intervening syncline (Sologne–Franconian Basin). The grabens of the ECRIS were tilted by the development of the folds, and their rift-related sedimentary infill was reduced on anticlines, while sedimentary accumulation was enhanced in synclines. We interpret the occurrence of Miocene volcanic activity and of topographic highs, and the basement and Moho configurations in the Vosges–Black Forest area and in the Rhenish Massif as interference patterns between linear lithospheric anticlines and linear grabens, rather than as signatures of asthenospheric plumes.

Predicted present-day evolution patterns of ice thickness and bedrock elevation over Greenland and Antarctica

This paper discusses predicted evolution patterns of present-day changes of ice thickness, surface elevation, and bedrock elevation over the Greenland and Antarctic continents. These were obtained from calculations with dynamic 3-D ice sheet models which were coupled to a visco-elastic solid Earth model. The experiments were initialized over the last two glacial cycles and subsequently averaged over the last 200 years to obtain the current evolution. The calculations indicate that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is still adjusting to the last glacial-interglacial transition yielding a decreasing ice volume and a rising bedrock elevation of the order of several centimetres per year. The Greenland Ice Sheet was found to be close to a stationary state with a mean thickness change of only a few millimetres per year, but the calculations revealed large spatial differences. Predicted patterns over Greenland are characterized by a small thickening over the ice sheet interior and a general thinning of the ablation area. In Antarctica, almost all of the predicted changes are concentrated in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is still retreating at both the Weddell and Ross Sea margins. Over most of both ice sheets, the model indicates that the surface elevation trend is dominated by ice thickness changes rather than by bedrock elevation changes.     

南极海冰面积变化特性及其与赤道太平洋海表面温度的联系

南极海冰面积变化特性及其与赤道太平洋海表面温度的联系陈锦年,乐肯堂,于康玲,张彦臣（中国科学院海洋研究所,青岛２６６０７１）（青岛海洋大学,青岛２６６００３）关键词南极海冰面积,赤道太平洋海表面温度,厄尔尼诺１引言８０年代以前,人们对南极实地考察、资...     

用定量遥感方法监测UNDP试区小流域水土流失研究

简要介绍了水土流失定量遥感方法的组成和基本原理,重点叙述了它在小流域治理试区的应用作业和应用结果,并讨论了它的适应性、准确性、实用性和应用前景等。该法的监测模型可与美国近年刊出的RUSLE相媲美,且其因子算式算法系由我国实测资料所建,故更适合我国水土流失实际的应用效果,尤其适用于遥感和GIS数据的微机处理。其应用结果,不仅有比常规调查法和定性遥感法更准确实用的流失总量、各级面积的统计数据和流失现状图,而且还有流失治理规划的防治强度预报图。在UNDP试区应用表明,该法所建立的系统,也可对小流域(大于7km2)每年实施监测,以获水土流失变化动态的准确信息。     

论中国湖泊渔业发展趋势

由封闭到开放、从无序到有序演进, 是中国湖泊渔业发展的客观规律。目前中国湖泊渔业已迈过广封闭式的原始渔业, 半封闭式的传统渔业, 向开放式的耗散结构渔业前进.中国湖泊渔业巧妙利用多维空间进行立体开发的多种开放经笄模式, 如根据水层深浅开展立体利用, 根据地形特点进行不同形式的围栏养殖, 根据而积大小分别采取保护、增殖、养殆措施, 这些都取得r初步成功。现代开放式湖泊渔业继续向纵深发展, 呈现向耗散结构渔业逼近的趋势。     

Weathering,erosion and sediment composition in a high‐gradient river,Calabria, Italy

Source rock lithology and immediate modifying processes, such as chemical weathering and mechanical erosion, are primary controls on fluvial sediment supply. Sand composition and Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) of parent rocks, soil and fluvial sand of the Savuto River watershed, Calabria (Italy), were used to evaluate the modifications of source rocks through different sections of the basin, characterized by different geomorphic processes, in a sub‐humid Mediterranean climate. The headwaters, with gentle topography, produce a coarse‐grained sediment load derived from deeply weathered gneiss, having sand of quartzofeldspathic composition, compositionally very different from in situ degraded bedrock. Maximum estimated CIA values suggest that source rock has been affected significantly by weathering, and it testifies to a climatic threshold on the destruction of the bedrock. The mid‐course has steeper slopes and a deeply incised valley; bedrock consists of mica‐schist and phyllite with a very thin regolith, which provides large cobble to very coarse sand sediments to the main channel. Slope instability, with an areal incidence of over 40 per cent, largely supplies detritus to the main channel. Sand‐sized detritus of soil and fluvial sand is lithic. Estimated CIA value testifies to a significant weathering of the bedrock too, even if in this part of the drainage basin steeper slopes allow erosion to exceed chemical weathering. The lower course has a braided pattern and sediment load is coarse to medium–fine grained. The river cuts across Palaeozoic crystalline rocks and Miocene siliciclastic deposits. Sand‐sized detritus, contributed from these rocks and homogenized by transport processes, has been found in the quartzolithic distal samples. Field and laboratory evidence indicates that landscape development was the result of extensive weathering during the last postglacial temperature maximum in the headwaters, and of mass‐failure and fluvial erosional processes in the mid‐ and low course. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.