Fractionation of grain size in terrestrial sediment routing systems

Sediment is fractionated by size during its cascade from source to sink in sediment routing systems. It is anticipated, therefore, that the grain size distribution of sediment will undergo down‐system changes as a result of fluvial sorting processes and selective deposition. We assess this hypothesis by comparing grain size statistical properties of samples from within the erosional source region with those that have undergone different amounts of transport. A truncated Pareto distribution describes well the coarser half of the clast size distribution of regolith, coarse channel bed sediment and proximal debris flows (particularly their levees), as well as the coarser half of the clast size distribution of gravels that have undergone considerable amounts of transport in rivers. The Pareto shape parameter a evolves in response to mobilization, sediment transport and, importantly, the selective extraction of particles from the surface flow to build underlying stratigraphy. A goodness of fit statistic, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov vertical difference, illustrates the closeness of the observed clast size distributions to the Pareto, Weibull and log‐normal models as a function of distance from the depositional apex. The goodness of fit of the particle size distribution of regolith varies with bedrock geology. Bedload sediment at catchment outlets is fitted well by the log‐normal and truncated Pareto models, whereas the exponential Weibull model provides a less good fit. In the Eocene Escanilla palaeo‐sediment routing system of the south‐central Pyrenees, the log‐normal and truncated Pareto models provide excellent fits for distances of up to 80 km from the depositional apex, whereas the Weibull fit progressively worsens with increasing transport distance. A similar trend is found in the Miocene–Pliocene gravels of the Nebraskan Great Plains over a distance of >300 km. Despite the large fractionation in mean grain size and gravel percentage from source region to depositional sink, particle size distributions therefore appear to maintain log‐normality over a wide range of transport distance. Use of statistical models enables down‐system fractionation of sediment released from source regions to be better understood and predicted and is a potentially valuable tool in source‐to‐sink approaches to basin analysis.     

Summertime winds and direct cyclonic circulation: observations from Lake Geneva

Records of wind, air temperature and air pressure from nine stations, situated along the shoreline of Lake Geneva, Switzerland, were analyzed for the summer period May to September. At all stations the consistent appearance of significant spectral peaks and changes in wind direction at the diurnal frequency indicates the importance of lake-land breezes. It is shown that the surrounding topography has a strong modifying effect (temporal and spatial) on the lake-land breeze. Superimposed on this cyclic wind pattern, short episodes of strong winds with long fetch over parts of Lake Geneva are regularly observed. Both of these winds exert a spatially variable wind stress over the lake surface on the same time scale. Typical examples of the expected lakes response are presented, among them the seasonally persistent gyre in the central part of the lake. Evidence is provided that this dominant circulation is part of a direct cyclonic circulation, generated by the curl of the diurnal wind field. It is concluded that the mean circulation is caused by these winds and affected by the topography of the surrounding land.Present address: Environmental Protection Agency, Perth 6009, Australia     

1960―2015年长江流域风速的时空变化特征

基于1960―2015年长江流域128个站点的月风速观测数据,结合地形特点将长江流域分成5个子区域,并运用一元线性回归、相关分析和修正的Mann-Kendall（MMK）检验对长江流域风速变化趋势的时空特征进行研究,结果表明：1）1960―2015年长江流域年平均风速以-0.006 5 m/s·a的速率显著下降,5个子区域中,区域中下游丘陵与平原区（R1）下降最显著,上游青藏高原区（R5）次之,上游盆地区（R3）变化最小。2）季节上,全区风速春季下降最快,夏季最慢。而子区域除R1冬季降幅最大外,其余区域季节风速变化速率也为春季降幅最大,夏季最小。逐月变化上,流域整体风速3月下降最快,8月最慢,各子区域风速最大降幅也集中在3月。3）空间分布上,长江流域年平均风速降幅呈现东部大、中部小、西部较大的特点,全区50%的站点下降趋势显著,且这些站点集中分布于R1地区。此外,4个季节风速与年风速的变化趋势呈现相似的空间分布特征。4）长江流域风速下降与北极涛动（AO）指数上升、区域气候变暖和城市化加速等有关。     

城市能源消费碳排放特征及其机理分析 ——以广州市为例

采用表观能源消费数据进行分能源品种和分行业类型的碳排放总量核算,利用基于IDA理论和Kaya恒等式的LMDI模型对碳排放总量变化进行多要素的分解分析,在解析人口规模效应、经济产出效应、能源强度效应对碳排放影响机理的同时,进一步纳入人口结构性因素、产业结构性因素和能源结构性因素对碳排放的影响。以广州市为例,对其2003—2013年产业活动和居民消费2个部门碳排放的主要驱动因素进行时间序列分析,并定量研究各个影响因子在2003—2005、2005—2010和2010—2013年3个不同发展阶段的作用机理,主要研究结论如下：1）广州市能源消费及其碳排放前期以煤炭为主,近年来以石油为主,同时外购电力对广州市的能源消费结构优化影响显著。2）各影响因子对广州市碳排放总量变化的作用机理与影响机制在3个发展阶段各不相同,不同发展阶段的发展措施和政策背景对于各个影响因子的碳排放效应影响显著。3）总体分析,经济产出效应和人口规模效应是产业部门碳排放增长的最主要贡献因子;工业能源消费强度效应、工业能源消费结构效应和经济结构效应是遏制产业部门碳排放增长的最主要贡献因子。城镇居民收入效应是居民消费碳排放增长的最主要贡献因子,城镇居民能源消费强度效应是遏制居民消费碳排放增长的最主要贡献因子。     

Navigating the Complex Trade-Offs of Pesticide Use on Santa Cruz Island,Galapagos

Pesticide use by farmers on Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos—a perceived adaptation to changing ecological and economic dynamics—has the potential to lead to environmental degradation in an area that is known and valued worldwide for its biodiversity. We survey Santa Cruz farmers to understand motivations for and concerns about pesticide use on the island. Results from farmer surveys are supplemented with interview data to develop the case study of pesticide use on Santa Cruz Island. We then apply a “complex trade-off” framework to explore and navigate the tensions between conservation and livelihoods. We conclude by elaborating the implementation of a participatory certification system, the Participatory Guarantee System, as a possible path for reconciling trade-offs in Santa Cruz, Galapagos.     

Ecological-Geologic Risks Related to the Development of Resource Regions

The ecological functions and features of the geologic environment are investigated in terms of environmental geology. The current status of the geologic medium is characterized as a crisis, and the issues of its protection and rehabilitation are not appropriately addressed in environmental protection activity of the state and businesses. The most critical ecological-geologic risks include destruction and deformation of geologic strata, huge amounts of industrial waste, oil spills, landscape and soil degradation, air and surface water pollution, seismic and mudflow phenomena, etc. Mining operations have the greatest negative influence on the environmental parameters of the geologic medium. Inadequate attention to issues related to the present state and protection of the geologic medium leads to accidents and crises in industrial installations. Ecological-geologic hazard hotspots have emerged in areas of intense extraction and processing of mineral raw materials. On the other hand, the environmental component of active mineral resource use is neglected when formulating the prospects for a further development of resource regions. The country’s major mining companies, active participants of the world market of mineral resources, are the most proficient in sustainable mineral resource use. In recent years, Russia saw a large-scale improvement of environmental legislation. Many legal innovations focusing on the preservation of the geologic medium are scattered among different laws. The legal and financial preconditions for the ecologization of mineral resource use are examined. The state plays a key role to stimulate the sustainable mining, processing and transportation of useful minerals. It has to change significantly the system to support the geologic medium protection.     

Georadar Investigations of the Peretolchin Glacier (Southern Siberia)

Presented are the results obtained from radar profiling of the Peretolchin glacier in the Munku-Sardyk mountain range in the south of Siberia (June 2014 and May 2016) using georadar OKO-2 with the ABDL Triton antenna unit operating at the radiation frequency of 50 and 100 MHz. The ice thickness was determined from the profiles and the ice volumes from the cross-sectional areas and distances between profiles. The ice volume was calculated for the body of the Peretolchin glacier to be 0.007 ± 0.0019 km³. An analytical method was also used to determine the ice volume according to the type and area of glacier. It is established that the correlation between the glacier volume and area is expressed by a power function V = kS ^p . The mean ice volume, calculated with due regard for different coefficients, was 0.0061 km³. The GlabTop model that assumes the cross-sectional form of the glacier was used to infer the ice volume: the mean volume for two cross-sections (parabolic and elliptic) was 0.0073 km³. It is found that over 110 years since the start of the investigation into the morphology of the Peretolchin glacier, it has increased twice in its length and in area, its volume has decreased by a factor of 3.7, and the lower boundary of the open part of the glacier has risen 184 meters during that period.     

Geoinformational Mapping of Landscapes in the Northwestern Part of Western Siberia Using the Hansen Mosaic Dataset

Presented are the technique and results of studying the landscape structure of the north-west of Western Siberia on the basis of the Hansen mosaic dataset consisting of elements covering the entire territory of the Earth. To study this area used a synthesis of classical methods of thematic system mapping as described in the doctrine of geosystems of V. B. Sochava, and automated interpretation of remote sensing data and mapping using GIS technologies. The method of geoinformational mapping of the landscape structure with the use of MultiSpec and Quantum GIS software programs for the purpose of drawing up real-time raster landscape maps is shown. In drawing up the map and the legend, the principle of geomic system-hierarchical representation of the territory as a complex multi-level “bottom-up” structure from topological-level geosystems (groups and classes of landscape facies) to regional-level geosystems (geoms, groups and classes of geoms) was used. Compilation of operational raster landscape maps of the north-west of Western Siberia involved multilevel automated interpretation of the Hansen mosaic dataset and mapping of areas (clusters) on images with different brightness characteristics, with the landscape structure of key areas and stationary physical and geographical profiles. A characteristic of this approach also implies using a dynamic classification of geosystems based on the study of their variable states. Such an approach permits a monitoring of changes in landscape structure and its areas and the intensity of anthropogenic impacts on forest and marsh landscapes, and determination of permissible pressure on geosystems in areas with high technogenic pressure of the oil and gas complex represented by the north-west of Siberia. An automated processing of data based on a supervised classification of territorial objects allows for the elimination of inaccuracies arising in visual image interpretation. Raster landscape maps can be used both for a further generation of vector maps and as a real-time information base for purposes of environmental management and protection.     

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Sea Ice Thickness Distribution in the Kerch and Kamysh-Burun Bays

The one-dimensional thermodynamic model adapted to the physiographic conditions of the Kerch Strait was used to study the seasonal evolution of sea ice thickness in the Kerch and Kamysh-Burun bays in the winter of 2007/2008. The dependence of the regional variability of ice thickness on hydrometeorological conditions is analyzed.     

Roshydromet supercomputer technologies for numerical weather prediction

The main stages are considered of the process of Roshydromet forecast technologies modernization that started in the 1990s, especially those related to the use of supercomputers for operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) and to the development of supercomputer technologies for NWP with different lead times. Some outcomes of the modernization are presented.