Offshore experiments on styrene spillage in marine waters for risk assessment

Within the context of risk evaluation of chemical spillages into the marine environment, this paper reports on an offshore experiment to study the behaviour of styrene spilled into sea under natural conditions and discusses theoretical approaches. Floating structures were used to enclose the spillage and the gaseous cloud formation, and dissolution processes were in situ monitored. The identification of spill risks for man and marine environment through GESAMP's hazard profile is described for styrene: Styrene is rated as a chemical with a significant health hazard that will float but also evaporate. However, monitoring of the water column in the experiments showed that the concentration of styrene in water during the first hour represents 50% of the product spilled. For the potentially exposed public, the GESAMP hazard rating recommends the closure of beaches and evacuation. The risk assessment developed from experimental data confirms this safety advice.     

Setting new thermal standards for transitional and coastal (TraC) waters

The construction of a new generation of coastal power stations in the UK and other western European countries has highlighted the absence of robust standards for thermal discharges to transitional and coastal waters. The proposed discharge volumes are greater than hitherto, yet there has been little independent critical examination of their potential impact, whilst much of the existing guidance has been adapted from freshwater practice. This review considers the available knowledge on the tolerance and behaviour of fish and other marine biota to heated effluents. Appropriate ways are suggested of grouping fish species to reflect their sensitivity to thermal effects. The plethora of existing standards are considered and their validity assessed in a framework of predicted seawater temperature rise. Those species or groups of organisms most likely to be affected are identified and finally specific recommendations for thermal standards consistent with long term sustainability are proposed.     

Pathways of marine debris derived from trajectories of Lagrangian drifters

Global set of trajectories of satellite-tracked Lagrangian drifters is used to study the dynamics of marine debris. A probabilistic model is developed to eliminate the bias in spatial distribution of drifter data due to heterogeneous deployments. Model experiments, simulating long-term evolution of initially homogeneous drifter array, reveal five main sites of drifter aggregation, located in the subtropics and maintained by converging Ekman currents. The paper characterizes the geography and structure of the collection regions and discusses factors that determine their dynamics. A new scale R(c)=(4k/|D|)(?) is introduced to characterize tracer distribution under competing effects of horizontal divergence D and diffusion k. Existence and locations of all five accumulation zones have been recently confirmed by direct measurements of microplastic at the sea surface.     

可用于地震早期预警的家用地震仪

日本气象厅(JMA)已开始推出一项地震早期预警(EEW)的实际服务,预计在不久的未来,将非常密集地布设安装信号接收装置。地震早期预警的接收/预警装置配有中央处理器和内存,并通过互联网进行连接。再加上一个便宜的地震仪和模数(A/D)转换器,该装置就变成了一个实时的地震观测系统,我们称之为家用地震仪(Home Seismometer)。如果这种家用地震仪与地震早期预警的标准接收装置相连接,那么地震观测系统的数量就会极大地增多。在房间里,由人的活动所引起的背景噪声可能非常大,为此我们专门编写了软件,从而能够使用该家用地震仪进行现场预警。我们对软件做了检验,发现该软件能够准确地将噪声和地震分辨开来,并适用于几乎所有的地震事件。     

滑坡编目:地震滑坡危险性分析中必不可少的部分

详细精确的滑坡编目是地震滑坡危险性分析工作中必不可少的一部分。理想的编目要满足如下条件:覆盖整个地震影响区;应包含所有可调查到的滑坡,滑坡的最小长度应小至1～5m左右;编目中的滑坡位置也必须准确,应使用能够反应它们真实的平面形状的区要素来表征。符合上述要求的滑坡编目可以用来进行地震滑坡危险性分析和其他的定量分析研究。详细的地震滑坡编目可以追溯到1960年代初的航空摄影技术的出现与应用。近年来,随着空间技术科学的进步,高分辨率卫星影像获取成为可能,从而使得除最小的滑坡之外可以识别并绘出所有由地震事件触发的滑坡。得益于遥感技术的这种可以观测到地球任何地方的能力,我们可以获取到任何大量地震滑坡发生区域的遥感影像。然而,随着高分辨率遥感影像时代的到来,地震滑坡编目数据不完整也成为当前研究中的一个普遍存在的问题。     

Metabolic plasticity of nitrogen assimilation by Porphyra umbilicalis (Linnaeus) Kützing

The physical stresses associated with emersion have long been considered major factors determining the vertical zonation of intertidal seaweeds.We examined Porphyra umbilicalis(Linnaeus) Kützing thalli from the vertical extremes in elevation of an intertidal population(i.e.upper and lower intertidal zones) to determine whether Porphyra thalli acclimate to different vertical elevations on the shore with different patterns of nitrate uptake and nitrate reductase(NR) and glutamine synthetase(GS) activities in response to different degrees of emersion stress.We found that the nitrate uptake and NR recovery in the emersed tissues took longer in lower intertidal sub-population than in upper intertidal sub-population;and GS activity was also significantly affected by emersion and,interestingly,such an activity was enhanced by emersion of thalli from both upper and lower intertidal zones.These results suggested that intra-population variability in post-emersion recovery of physiological functions such as nutrient uptake and NR activity enables local adaptation and contributes to the wide vertical distribution of P.umbilicalis.The high GS activity during periodic emersion stress may be a protective mechanism enabling P.umbilicalis to assimilate nitrogen quickly when it again becomes available,and may also be an evidence of photorespiration during emersion.     

快速演变的三板块边界上的一次大地震破裂

2007年4月1日,一次大海啸地震(MW8.1)使得所罗门群岛俯冲带在一个三联点处破裂。在这个三联点上,澳大利亚板块、所罗门海-伍德拉克盆地板块在不同滑动方向上同时向太平洋板块俯冲。大地震过程中,相关的滑动方向突变使得太平洋板块上部收敛滞弹性变形,这就产生了Simbo俯冲断层之上弧前的局部隆起,潜在地放大了局地海啸振幅。地震周期过程中的弹性形变似乎主要通过上冲的太平洋弧前来调节。这次地震显示了极其年轻的俯冲大洋岩石圈的孕震潜力和横贯坚实地质边界的破裂能力,也显示了引起隆起和海啸的复杂同震滑动的后果。     

A neural network based methodology to predict site-specific spectral acceleration values

A general neural network based methodology that has the potential to replace the computationally-intensive site-specific seismic analysis of structures is proposed in this paper. The basic framework of the methodology consists of a feed forward back propagation neural network algorithm with one hidden layer to represent the seismic potential of a region and soil amplification effects. The methodology is implemented and verified with parameters corresponding to Delhi city in India. For this purpose, strong g...     

固体废弃物管理不当对地下水产生的影响

倾倒垃圾处形成的淋漓液中包含大量的可能造成地下水污染的物质。这些区域对地下水的影响可以通过在特定监测点监测潜在的污染物浓度来判断。本研究中,我们对Chennai地区城市固体废物垃圾场周边的地下水水质进行了调查。在3年间每间隔3个月,由垃圾填埋场开始,选择不同距离的水样进行化学分析。研究表明,这些区域地下水不能满足印度标准局的饮用水标准。垃圾倾倒对地下水的影响最早表现在溶解物浓度、电导率、总体硬度、氧化物、化学需氧量、硝化剂及硫酸盐。在这些位置的淋漓液还包含重金属。在雨季后,污染物浓度趋于下降,而在雨季前,很多样品的污染浓度会增加。早期研究表明,在人口密集城市中,应该设有依据某种规范的地下水监测系统。进而,垃圾垃圾场及周边的地下水不应作为饮用水,除非满足某种特殊的标准。在发达地区,未经严格固体废物管理许可而随意倾倒垃圾的行为应到受到禁止。