SOME NEW UNDERSTANDINGS OF LAND-SURFACE PROCESSES IN ARID AREA FROM THE HEIFE*

The survey for the HEIFE(Atmosphere-Land Surface Processes Experiment at Heihe River Basin,Western China) is given in the paper.The following basic subjects for land-surface processes in arid areas are studied:(1) the general characteristics of the energy budget on ground surface in arid areas;(2) the parameterization of the land surface processes;(3) the interaction between oasis and its desert circumstances,a special phenomenon in arid areas.The analysis shows that the sensible heat flux in the surface energy budget is in the majority,and the latent heat flux may be neglected.The influence of atmospheric stratification stability on the turbulent transfer of energy and substance must be considered in parameterization of land surface processes in arid areas.The "cold island effect" phenomenon in oasis and the "humidity inversion" phenomenon in desert near oasis are the result of the interaction between them.The results would improve the understanding of land surface processes in arid areas.     

暖切变型江淮梅雨锋结构及其形成和维持机制

对在1991年7月上旬特别稳定的梅雨形势下持续10天的特大暴雨期作了合成和典型过程研究,并进一步探讨了暖切变型江淮梅雨锋天气系统模型。它在自由大气层表现为结构竖立的相当正压切变线和一种不同于经典地转动量近似的带状准二维运动场。边界层的浅层锋生倾斜环流以及偏于切变线轴以南的Ekman抽吸与自由大气层中基本上由积云对流加热驱动的竖直环流相互依存和耦合,造成持续的大暴雨。这种系统的初生和中断后复苏的机制可能是由斜压性极弱的副热带高空东移的短波扰动在低层“湿度锋”带紧南侧触发导致的一种带状CISK。     

About the specification of erosion flux for soft stratified cohesive sediments

The present paper deals with the specification of bed erosion flux that accounts for the effects of sediment-induced stratification in the water column. Owing to difficulties in measuring the bed shear stress _b and the erosive shear strength _s, we suggest a series of methods that combine laboratory and numerical experiments. A simplified turbulent transport model that includes these effects helps to quantify _b and _s. Focusing on soft stratified beds, the present study considers erosion rate formulas of the form =_f exp {[T_b-T_s]} where is a model constant (=1 for Gularte's (1978) formula and =1/2 for Parchure's (1984) formula). First, the bed erosive strength profile _s(Z) is adjusted by forcing the turbulent transport model with measured erosion rates. Second, three procedures are suggested to determine the erosion rate formula coefficients _f and : a global procedure and two different layer-by-layer procedures. Each procedure is applied to an erosion experiment conducted in a rotating annular flume by Villaret and Paulic (1986). The use of the layer-by-layer procedure based on a least squares fitting technique provides a closer fit than the global procedure. The present study points out the complementarity of experimental and numerical approaches and also suggests possible improvements in laboratory test procedures.     

OZONE VALLEY OVER TIBETAN PLATEAU*

We analysed the atmospheric total column ozone temporal and spatial distributions,by using the USA Nimbus Satellite TOMS data provided by the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA,USA.We ploted the monthly mean total column ozone distributions over China by the averaged data from 1979 to 1991,and found that the atmospheric total column ozone contours were parallel to latitudes in winter and spring. However, from June, the lower center of atmospheric column ozone, called "ozone valley",was formed gradually over the Tibetan Plateau, as shown in Fig.     

ANALYSIS OF A CASE OF EAST ASIA COASTAL CYCLOGENESIS*

The evolution of an explosive cyclone off the East Asia coast in March 1979 is described.A shortwave trough in the southern branch of upper-level westerlies initiated the incipient cyclone.Later,a polar trough in the north amplified and became in phase with the southern shortwave to form a major trough.This major trough was responsible for the rapid intensification of the surface cyclone.In the early development stage,warm and moist air was transported northward to the developing area by a strong low-level jet.The ageostrophic wind associated with the low-level jet contributed to the frontogenesis,creating a favorable low-level environment for the rapid deepening.A low-level positive potential vorticity anomaly was created prior to the onset of rapid deepening.It was a result of frontal cloud condensation.The cyclone intensified rapidly when stratospheric air with high potential vorticity penetrated to the mid-troposphere.The rapid deepening took place at a location under the left-exit region of an amplifying jet streak behind the major trough and the right-entrance region of another anticyclonically-curved subtropical jet streak in a quasi-stationary ridge overJapan.Due to the blocking effect of the Tibetan Plateau,two shortwave disturbances were observed in the upper-level westerlies on the north and south sides of the Plateau.The southern disturbance initiated the incipient surface cyclone,while the amplifying northern disturbance was responsible for the rapid deepening.Thus,the evolution of the explosive cyclone in this case can be regarded as consecutive Petterssen's "type-B" cyclogenesis in two separate stages.     

Sediment budget-based estimates of trace metal inputs to a Chesapeake estuary

This article evaluates whether a sediment budget for the South River, Maryland, can be coupled with metals data from sediment cores to identify and quantify sources of historic metal inputs to marsh and subtidal sediments along the estuary. Metal inputs to estuarine marsh sediments come from fluvial runoff and atmospheric deposition. Metal inputs to subtidal sediments come from atmospheric deposition, fluvial runoff, coastal erosion, and estuarine waters. The metals budget for the estuary indicates that metal inputs from coastal erosion have remained relatively constant since 1840. Historical variations in metal contents of marsh sediments have probably resulted primarily from increasing atmospheric deposition in this century, but prior to 1900 may reflect changing fluvial sources, atmospheric inputs, or factors not quantified by the budget. Residual Pb, Cu, and Zn in the marsh sediments not accounted for by fluvial inputs was low to moderate in 1840, decreased to near zero circa 1910, and by 1987 had increased to levels that were one to ten times greater than those of 1840. Sources of variability in subtidal cores could not be clearly discerned because of geochemical fluxes, turbulent mixing, and bioturbation within the cores. The sediment-metal budgeting approach appears to be a viable method for delineating metal sources in small, relatively simple estuarine systems like the South River and in systems where recent deposition (for example, prograding marshes) prevents use of deep core analysis to identify background levels of metal. In larger systems or systems with more variable sources of sediment and metal input, however, assumptions and measurement errors in the metal budgeting approach suggest that deep core analysis and normalization techniques are probably preferable for identifying anthropogenic impacts.Field and laboratory research conducted at the Department of Geography, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USAField and laboratory research conducted at the Marine and Estuarine Environmental Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA     

Adsorption of fluoride on goethite surfaces-implications on dental epidemiology

Fluoride ion interaction with synthetically prepared goethite has been investigated over a range of pH values (4–9) and F^– concentrations (10^–3–10^–5 M). The amount of F^– retained by goethite suspensions was found to be a function of pH, media ionic strength, F^– concentration, and goethite concentration. The lowest ionic strength (0.001 M KNO₃) gave the highest adsorption medium. Uptake was minimal at pH >7 and increased with decreasing pH. Thermodynamic properties for fluoride adsorption at 298 K and 323 K were investigated. The isosteric heat of adsorption (H _r) was calculated and the heterogeneity and homogeneity of the surface examined for goethite. In view of the importance of fluoride in dental health, the interaction of fluoride on goethite in the physical environment has important implications on dental epidemiology.     

Interpolation by regularized spline with tension: I. Theory and implementation

Bivariate and trivariate functions for interpolation from scattered data are derived. They are constructed by explicit minimization of a general smoothness functional, and they include a tension parameter that controls the character of the interpolation function (e.g., for bivariate case the surface can be tuned from a membrane to a thin steel plate), Tension can be applied also in a chosen direction, for modeling of phenomena with a simple type of anisotropy. The functions have regular derivatives of all orders everywhere. This makes them suitable for analysis of surface geometry and for direct application in models where derivatives are necessary. For processing of large datasets (thousands of data points), which are now common in geosciences, a segmentation algorithm with a flexible size of overlapping neighborhood is presented. Simple examples demonstrating flexibility and accuracy of the functions are presented.On leave from the Department of Physical Geography and Cartography, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.On leave from the Institute of Physics, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.