Hydrological responses to climatic variability in a cold agricultural region

Extended severe dry and wet periods are frequently observed in the northern continental climate of the Canadian Prairies. Prairie streamflow is mainly driven by spring snowmelt of the winter snowpack, whilst summer rainfall is an important control on evapotranspiration and thus seasonality affects the hydrological response to drought and wet periods in complex ways. A field‐tested physically based model was used to investigate the influences of climatic variability on hydrological processes in this region. The model was set up to resolve agricultural fields and to include key cold regions processes. It was parameterized from local and regional measurements without calibration and run for the South Tobacco Creek basin in southern Manitoba, Canada. The model was tested against snow depth and streamflow observations at multiple scales and performed well enough to explore the impacts of wet and dry periods on hydrological processes governing the basin scale hydrological response. Four hydro‐climatic patterns with distinctive climatic seasonality and runoff responses were identified from differing combinations of wet/dry winter and summer seasons. Water balance analyses of these patterns identified substantive multiyear subsurface soil moisture storage depletion during drought (2001–2005) and recharge during a subsequent wet period (2009–2011). The fractional percentage of heavy rainfall days was a useful metric to explain the contrasting runoff volumes between dry and wet summers. Finally, a comparison of modeling approaches highlights the importance of antecedent fall soil moisture, ice lens formation during the snowmelt period, and peak snow water equivalent in simulating snowmelt runoff.     

Spatial pattern of variation in populations of Acacia nilotica in semi-arid environment

Variability among populations was analyzed in five provenances of Acacia nilotica from spatially variable habitats. Populations of A. nilotica developed in response to their habitat conditions. The level of variability was significantly high among the populations. Phenotypic variability was extremely high for leaf and stipular spine characteristics. The nature of morphological variability for vegetative traits appeared environmentally controlled. The differentiation of leaf and stipular spine expression seems to have an adaptive significance for the species in terms of water economy. Although, seed and pod characteristics are genetically controlled showing a lower proportion of variability but these traits supported r and k-selection that may allow the species to survive under a wide array of contrasting habitats. The study suggested that populations of A. nilotica are differentiated in relation to the heterogeneity of environment. These populations became adapted to their habitat through the variability of morphological expressions. The morphologically differentiated populations of the species had allowed them to maintain themselves in a wide array of environmental situations enabling A. nilotica to occupy ample ecological ranges.     

The CERES‐Rice Model‐Based Estimates of Potential Monsoon Season Rainfed Rice Productivity in Bangladesh*

Agricultural practices in Bangladesh are largely dependent on the monsoonal rainfall. Historically, Bangladesh often experiences severe droughts and floods during the monsoon months, with significant crop losses during both extreme conditions. This article provides a quantitative assessment of potential monsoon‐season aman rice for four transplanting dates: 1 June, 1 July, 15 July, and 15 August. A crop‐growth simulation model, the CERES‐Rice, is applied to sixteen locations representing major rice‐growing regions of Bangladesh to determine baseline yield estimates for four transplanting dates. The applications were conducted for 1975 through 1987. Average potential yield in Bangladesh is 6,907, 5,039, 3,637, and 1,762 kg ha^?1 for the above transplanting dates, respectively. In other words, Bangladesh would obtain 27 percent, 48 percent, and 75 percent less yield for 1 July, 15 July, and 15 August transplanting, respectively, than for 1 June transplanting. Potential yield vulnerability is the least for 1 June transplanting (up to 5 percent) and the highest (up to 66 percent) for 15 July transplanting date. The model applications show that regional variations exist for potential yield and yield vulnerability for a particular transplanting date. In addition, response of yield and vulnerability for a region changes with transplanting dates.     

Evaluating Weather Research and Forecasting Model Sensitivity to Land and Soil Conditions Representative of Karst Landscapes

Due to their particular physiographic, geomorphic, soil cover, and complex surface-subsurface hydrologic conditions, karst regions produce distinct land–atmosphere interactions. It has been found that floods and droughts over karst regions can be more pronounced than those in non-karst regions following a given rainfall event. Five convective weather events are simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting model to explore the potential impacts of land-surface conditions on weather simulations over karst regions. Since no existing weather or climate model has the ability to represent karst landscapes, simulation experiments in this exploratory study consist of a control (default land-cover/soil types) and three land-surface conditions, including barren ground, forest, and sandy soils over the karst areas, which mimic certain karst characteristics. Results from sensitivity experiments are compared with the control simulation, as well as with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction multi-sensor precipitation analysis Stage-IV data, and near-surface atmospheric observations. Mesoscale features of surface energy partition, surface water and energy exchange, the resulting surface-air temperature and humidity, and low-level instability and convective energy are analyzed to investigate the potential land-surface impact on weather over karst regions. We conclude that: (1) barren ground used over karst regions has a pronounced effect on the overall simulation of precipitation. Barren ground provides the overall lowest root-mean-square errors and bias scores in precipitation over the peak-rain periods. Contingency table-based equitable threat and frequency bias scores suggest that the barren and forest experiments are more successful in simulating light to moderate rainfall. Variables dependent on local surface conditions show stronger contrasts between karst and non-karst regions than variables dominated by large-scale synoptic systems; (2) significant sensitivity responses are found over the karst regions, including pronounced warming and cooling effects on the near-surface atmosphere from barren and forested land cover, respectively; (3) the barren ground in the karst regions provides conditions favourable for convective development under certain conditions. Therefore, it is suggested that karst and non-karst landscapes should be distinguished, and their physical processes should be considered for future model development.     

Composition and structure of species along altitude gradient in Moghan-Sabalan rangelands,Iran

This study provides a checklist of species distributed at the altitude gradient of Moghan-Sabalan rangelands in Ardabili province, Northwest Iran. We evaluated the changes in species composition, growth types of species, Raunkiaer’s life forms, geographical distribution, threat and endemicity status, and palatability of species along two altitudinal gradients in the sampling plots, which were conducted in eleven sites/habitats with 300 meters above sea level (masl) altitude intervals (from 100 to 3300 masl). We assessed the plant species composition with special reference to the gradient analysis, and identified overall 396 species, which was comprising 44 families and 194 genera. Results showed that Asteraceae family is by far the most species-rich family, followed by Poaceae, Fabaceae, Caryophyllaceae and Brassicaceae. Among the genera, Astragalus is the most diverse genus, followed by Allium, Veronica and Bromus, Galium, Silene and Ranunculus. Results indicated that the number of species increased as the altitude increased to 1200–1500 masl, but then starts to decline to 3300 masl. Family-to-genera ratio was 1:4.4, the family-tospecies ratio was 1:9, and the genera-to-species ratio was 1:2.04. Growth type of species analysis shows that the frequency of perennial plants was higher in the study area followed by annual species while the lower group was biennial species. The number of annuals showed a decreasing trend towards higher altitude. Hemicryptophytes and therophytes were the most frequent life forms constituted each with (41.9%). Hemicryptophytes showed an increasing trend with altitude, while therophytes showed a decreasing trend with altitude increase, followed by geophytes, chamaephytes, and phanerophytes. Results showed more than half of the species of the study area belonged to Iran-Turanian region and these species showed an increasing trend with altitude. In contrast, Sahara-Sindian species comprise a minor component of the spectrum, with decreasing trend with altitude. The rare and endangered species out of the surveyed taxonomic groups comprised 53 species in total which 29 of them are considered lower risk (LR), 13 data deficient (DD), 5 vulnerable (Vu) and with 3 rare (R) and identified endemic plants comprised 24 species. Some 56.6% species were identified as class III, 22.6% were class I and 20.8% were class II as the palatability variation. Moghan-Sabalan rangelands require strong conservation management policies in case of species loss and changing natural communities due to the occurrence of conversion into cropland, over-grazing and other anthropogenic effects.     

Efficiency of carrier-phase integer ambiguity resolution for precise GPS positioning in noisy environments

Precise GPS positioning relies on tracking the carrier-phase. The fractional part of carrier-phase can be measured directly using a standard phase-locked loop, but the integer part is ambiguous and the ambiguity must be resolved based on sequential carrier-phase measurements to ensure the required positioning precision. In the presence of large phase-measurement noise, as can be expected in a jamming environment for example, the amount of data required to resolve the integer ambiguity can be large, which requires a long time for any generic integer parameter estimation algorithm to converge. A key question of interest in significant applications of GPS where fast and accurate positioning is desired is then how the convergence time depends on the noise amplitude. Here we address this question by investigating integer least-sqaures estimation algorithms. Our theoretical derivation and numerical experiments indicate that the convergence time increases linearly with the noise variance, suggesting a less stringent requirement for the convergence time than intuitively expected, even in a jamming environment where the phase noise amplitude is large. This finding can be useful for practical design of GPS-based systems in a jamming environment, for which the ambiguity resolution time for precise positioning may be critical.     

岩芯尺度的宽频介电常数频谱实验室测量设备的误差分析及其在物质测量中的应用(英文)

宽频介电常数频谱测井技术最近被引进石油工业.这种新技术区别于传统介电常数测井技术在于多频率频谱的测定和利用.高频谱端包含介质油水饱和度信息,而低频谱端对介质中孔隙结构和水的分布形态很敏感.这种新技术可以有效地被应用于比如超淡水介质或者超黏度重油等对于常规测井来说是很困难的测量环境,而且受介质水中的含盐度影响很小.随着井下测井仪器的投入使用,相应的实验室岩芯测定设备和方法就变得重要起来.因为实验室环境相对较为稳定和可控,实验室岩芯测量结果是对井下测量的很好地验证和校订.文献中记载了许多非破坏性的实验室介电常数的测量设备,然而这些设备的共同局限性是它们对岩芯尺寸和岩芯样本的要求和限制,一般要求粉末状岩芯或者一厘米左右的小柱状岩芯.在碳酸盐介质中,非均匀性和各项异性非常普遍,小的岩芯样本能否涵盖井下设备测量尺度(1.5英寸)的特性很值得商榷.本文中介绍了一种最新设计的实验室大直径宽频介电常数测量设备.这个设备可以直接测量石油工业传统的1.5英寸岩芯样本,测量是非毁坏性的,也就是测量后的岩芯样本可以直接用于其它实验室测量设备,比如电阻率测量或核磁共振测量等.大量重复性试验测得的介电常数色散频谱的精确度对于低损耗介质在2%以内而对于高损耗介质在对孔隙度和含盐度校正以后精确度在3%.文中详细介绍了测量设备所使用的反演程序的算法模型,以及反演误差的算法.反演最后的误差可以用来做数据质量的评定.该测量装置被用于许多物质的测定.测定物质的数据库中合成石英(fused quartz),Teflon,合成陶瓷以及单晶硅的介电常数值可以在文献中找到.该设备的测量结果与文献参考值相符合,说明了该设备测量结果的可靠性.该设备还测量了矿物晶体碳酸钙,晶体白云石以及晶体硬石膏的介电常数,这是常见的碳酸盐介质的主要成分.这些测量给出了碳酸盐介质的边界成分区域值作为参考.该设备测量的两个单晶硅柱状样本的介电常数频谱特性发现退火会改变晶体的结构提高强度,同时会改变介质介电常数的特性.同时矿物晶体碳酸钙测量值高于粉末状测量结果也说明晶体结构可能会导致介电常数测量的不同.该设备具有1.5英寸的大尺度,因此具有和井下设备相仿的测量范围,因而不受介质水平各项异性的影响.但另一方面,该设备仍可以研究垂直各项异性.垂直各项异性的主要原因可能是化学成分不同,孔隙结构不对称或者温度对水分布的影响等等.在对岩石地面露头采样的研究中,宽频介电常数频谱实验室设备检测出了岩芯垂直各项异性,通过对比核磁共振一维孔隙度剖面结构发现总孔隙度不均衡以及分布不对称为该各项异性的主要来源,并且被CT图像所证实.