Copula-based identification of the non-stationarity of the relation between runoff and sediment load

It is important to identify the non-stationarity in the relation between runoff and sediment load under the backdrop of the changing environment. This relation helps to further understand the mechanisms of runoff and sediment yield. A copula-based method was used to detect possible change points in the relation between runoff and sediment load in the Wei River Basin (WRB), China, where soil erosion is a very severe issue. The modified Mann-Kendall trend test method was applied to obtain the trends of runoff and sediment load spanning 1960–2010 at monthly and annual timescales. Finally, the causes of the identified non-stationarity of the relation between runoff and sediment load were roughly analyzed from the perspective of climate change and human activities. Results indicated that:(1) the runoff and sediment load in the Jinghe and Wei rivers were generally characterized by noticeably decreasing trends at both monthly and annual timescales;(2) both the Jinghe and Wei rivers had a common change point (2002), implying that the stationarity of the relation between runoff and sediment load in the Jinghe and Wei River was invalid; (3) human activities including increasing water consumption and growing application of soil conservation practices are dominant factors resulting in non-stationarity in the rela-tion between runoff and sediment load in the WRB. This study provides a new idea for identifying the non-stationarity of multivariate relation in the hydro-meteorological field under the background of the changing environment.     

Quantitative analysis of the impact of droughts and floods on internal wars in China over the last 500 years

Although many large-N quantitative studies have evidenced the adverse effects of climatic extremes on social stability in China during the historical period, most of them rely on temperature and precipitation as major explanatory variables, while the influence of floods and droughts on social crises is rarely measured. Furthermore, a comparison of the climate-society nexus among different geographic regions and at different temporal scales is missing in those studies. To address this knowledge gap,this study examines quantitatively the influence of floods and droughts on internal wars in three agro-ecological(rice, wheat,and pastoral) regions in China in AD1470–1911. Poisson regression and wavelet transform coherence analyses are applied to allow for the non-linear and non-stationary nature of the climate-war nexus. Results show that floods and droughts are significant in driving internal wars in historical China, but are characterized by strong regional variation. In the rice region, floods trigger internal wars at the inter-annual and multi-decadal time scales. In the wheat region, both floods and droughts cause internal wars at the inter-annual and multi-decadal time scales. In the pastoral region, internal wars are associated with floods only at the multi-decadal time scale. In addition, the multi-decadal coherence between hydro-climatic extremes and internal wars in all three of the agro-ecological regions is only significant in periods in which population density is increasing or the upper limit of regional carrying capacity is being reached. The above results imply that the climate-war nexus is mediated by regional geographic factors such as physical environmental setting and population pressure. Hence, we encourage researchers who study the historical human-climate relationship to boil down data according to geographic regions in the course of statistical analysis and to examine each region individually in follow-up studies.     

Effects of different spatial distributions of physical soil crusts on runoff and erosion on the Loess Plateau in China

The response of runoff and erosion to soil crusts has been extensively investigated in recent decades. However, there have been few attempts to look at the effects of spatial configuration of different soil crusts on erosion processes. Here we investigated the effects of different spatial distributions of physical soil crusts on runoff and erosion in the semi‐arid Loess Plateau region. Soil boxes (1.5 m long × 0.2 m wide) were set to a slope of 17.6% (10°) and simulated rainfall of 120 mm h^?1 (60 minutes). The runoff generation and erosion rates were determined for three crust area ratios (depositional crust for 20%, 33%, and 50% of the total slope) and five spatial distribution patterns (depositional crust on the lower, lower‐middle, middle, mid‐upper, and upper slope) of soil crusts. The reduction in sediment loss (‘sediment reduction’) was calculated to evaluate the effects of different spatial distributions of soil crusts on erosion. Sediment yield was influenced by the area ratio and spatial position of different soil crusts. The runoff rate reached a steady state after an initial trend of unsteadily increasing with increasing rainfall duration. Sediment yield was controlled by detachment limitation and then transport limitation under rainfall. The shifting time of erosion from a transport to detachment‐limiting regime decreased with increasing area of depositional crust. No significant differences were observed in the total runoff among treatments, while the total sediment yield varied under different spatial distributions. At the same area ratio, total sediment yield was the largest when the depositional crust was on the upper slope, and it was smallest when the crust was deposited on the lower slope. The sediment reduction of structural crust (42.5–66.5%) was greater than that of depositional crust (16.7–34.3%). These results provide a mechanistic understanding of how different spatial distributions of soil crusts affect runoff and sediment production. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generation of continuous surface soil moisture dataset using combined optical and thermal infrared images

Surface soil moisture (SSM) is a critical variable for understanding water and energy flux between the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. An easy to apply algorithm for deriving SSM time series that primarily uses temporal parameters derived from simulated and in situ datasets has recently been reported. This algorithm must be assessed for different biophysical and atmospheric conditions by using actual geostationary satellite images. In this study, two currently available coarse‐scale SSM datasets (microwave and reanalysis product) and aggregated in situ SSM measurements were implemented to calibrate the time‐invariable coefficients of the SSM retrieval algorithm for conditions in which conventional observations are rare. These coefficients were subsequently used to obtain SSM time series directly from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) images over the study area of a well‐organized soil moisture network named REMEDHUS in Spain. The results show a high degree of consistency between the estimated and actual SSM time series values when using the three SSM dataset‐calibrated time‐invariable coefficients to retrieve SSM, with coefficients of determination (R²) varying from 0.304 to 0.534 and root mean square errors ranging from 0.020 m³/m³ to 0.029 m³/m³. Further evaluation with different land use types results in acceptable debiased root mean square errors between 0.021 m³/m³ and 0.048 m³/m³ when comparing the estimated MSG pixel‐scale SSM with in situ measurements. These results indicate that the investigated method is practical for deriving time‐invariable coefficients when using publicly accessed coarse‐scale SSM datasets, which is beneficial for generating continuous SSM dataset at the MSG pixel scale.     

Characterising deep vadose zone water movement and solute transport under typical irrigated cropland in the North China Plain

Understanding the dynamics and mechanisms of soil water movement and solute transport is essential for accurately estimating recharge rates and evaluating the impacts of agricultural activities on groundwater resources. In a thick vadose zone (0–15 m) under irrigated cropland in the piedmont region of the North China Plain, soil water content, matric potential, and solute concentrations were measured. Based on these data, the dynamics of soil water and solutes were analysed to investigate the mechanisms of soil water and solute transport. The study showed that the 0–15‐m vadose zone can be divided into three layers: an infiltration and evaporation layer (0–2 m), an unsteady infiltration layer (2–6 m), and a quasi‐steady infiltration layer (6–15 m). The chloride, nitrate, and sulphate concentrations all showed greater variations in the upper soil layer (0–1 m) compared to values in the deep vadose zone (below 2 m). The average concentrations of these three anions in the deep vadose zone varied insignificantly with depth and approached values of 125, 242, and 116 mg/L. The accumulated chloride, sulphate, and nitrate were 2,179 ± 113, 1,760 ± 383, and 4,074 ± 421 kg/ha, respectively. The soil water potential and solute concentrations indicated that uniform flow and preferential flow both occurred in the deep vadose zone, and uniform flow was the dominant mechanism of soil water movement in this study. The piston‐like flow velocity of solute transport was 1.14 m per year, and the average value of calculated leached nitrate nitrogen was 107 kg/ha?year below the root zone. The results can be used to better understand recharge processes and improve groundwater resources management.     

Soil saturation index of salt marshes subjected to spring‐neap tides: a new variable for describing marsh soil aeration condition

Organized spatial distribution of plants (plant zonation) in salt marshes has been linked to the soil aeration condition in the rhizosphere through simplistic tidal inundation parameters. Here, a soil saturation index (ratio of saturation period to tidal period at a soil depth) is introduced to describe the soil aeration condition. This new index captures the effects of not only the tidal inundation period and frequency but also the flow dynamics of groundwater in the marsh soil. One‐dimensional numerical models based on saturated flow with the Boussinesq approximations and a two‐dimensional variably saturated flow model were developed to explore the behaviour of this new soil aeration variable under the influence of spring‐neap tides. Simulations revealed two characteristic zones of soil aeration across the salt marsh: a relatively well aerated near‐creek zone and a poorly aerated interior zone. In the near‐creek zone, soils undergo periodic wetting and drying as the groundwater table fluctuates throughout the spring‐neap cycle. In the interior, the soil remains largely water saturated except for neap tide periods when limited drainage occurs. Although such a change of soil aeration condition has been observed in previous numerical simulations, the soil saturation index provides a clear delineation of the zones that are separated by an ‘inflexion point’ on the averaged index curve. The results show how the saturation index represents the effects of soil properties, tidal parameters and marsh platform elevation on marsh soil aeration. Simulations of these combined effects have not been possible with traditional tidal inundation parameters. The saturation index can be easily derived using relatively simple models based on five non‐dimensional variables. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

混合二维泊松过程的分解算法及其在提取地震丛集模式中的应用.

将一定范围内的地震数据假设为背景地震和丛集地震的叠加，并同时认为背景地震和丛集地震分别满足不同参数的二维泊松过程．通过引入N阶距离概念，将叠加的二维泊松过程转化为一维的混合密度函数，在对距离阶数进行选择的基础上，最终采用遗传算法进行混合密度分解，以达到提取地震丛集模式的效果．文中将该算法应用于我国西南地区松潘及龙陵主震前丛集地震的提取，并与C值的时间扫描结合，深化了这两次大地震前地震活动图象的认识．      

青藏高原及周边现今构造变形的运动学

青藏高原现今构造变形的定量化研究是理解其动力过程的基础 ,近年来高速发展的GPS(全球定位系统 )技术为测量大尺度现今构造变形提供了最有效的手段。我们利用青藏高原及周边的5 5 3个GPS观测数据给出了其现今构造变形的速度场 ,表明印度和欧亚板块之间的相对运动主要被青藏高原周边的地壳缩短和内部的走滑剪切所调整吸收。其中 ,喜马拉雅山系吸收了青藏高原总缩短量的 4 4%～ 5 3% ,北部的阿尔金山、祁连山和柴达木盆地吸收了 1 5 %～ 1 7% ,高原内部吸收了 32 %～4 1 %。青藏高原的“向东挤出”实际上是地壳物质的向东流动而不是刚性地块的挤出。这一地壳物质流动带在高原西部以地表张性正断层和共轭剪切走滑断层为特征 ,到高原中东部转换为巨型的弧形走滑断裂带 ,再到高原东北缘转换为地壳缩短和绕东喜马拉雅构造结的顺时针旋转。青藏高原的大尺度现今构造变形以连续变形为特     

辐照绿柱石的色心与赋色机制

在不同辐照剂量的带电粒子作用下，四川无色绿柱石因赋色而呈现浅蓝色，蓝绿色，黄绿色，浅黄色及橙黄色，紫外可见吸收光谱（UV－VIS）和阴极发光光谱（CLS）研究表明，辐照绿柱石中存在两组与赋色密切相关的色心组合，其一为相对稳定的[Fe^3 ]OH和[Fe^3 4]心，其二则为不稳定的[H^0]i心和F^ 心，二者对可见光的能量分别具有不同程度的选择性吸收和发射，由此产生特征的吸收与发射光谱。低温退火处理（210℃），有助于消除辐照绿柱石中不稳定的色心，使相对稳定的[Fe^3 ]OH心黉度再度聚集，并形成新的缺陷（二次缺陷），进而提高稳定色心的主波长和饱和度。研究证实，二次缺陷形成的初始温度，可近似代表辐照绿柱石的最佳热固色温度点，经辐照与热固色作用而形成的黄色，橙黄色绿柱石的颜色相对稳定，并不因长期日照或低温受热（＜280℃）而褪色。