Analyzing CO2 emissions mitigation by technology improvement in Central and Eastern Europe

As a legacy of the centrally planned economy, the economies in transition of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have a unique potential to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through the improvement in their high energy intensities. Since much of this `low-hanging fruit' in energy-efficiency improvements can be highly cost-effective, many developed countries facing difficulties in meeting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets domestically are eager to find such opportunities in the CEE region. Therefore, studies analysing the potentials and costs of carbon dioxide reduction through technology improvement in the region have come into the limelight. While there are a few excellent studies in the region aimed at analysing climate change abatement potentials, they all embark on different assumptions, methodologies and boundary conditions. It is hence difficult, if not impossible, to compare and analyse the results of these studies across different authors, countries or time horizons. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to place four leading studies on GHG mitigation through technology improvement from the CEE region into an internationally comparable framework. Four studies were selected from three countries, Poland, Hungary and Estonia, which are all the results of major national and international efforts to assess costs and potentials of GHG reduction. The paper places their assumptions, methods and final results into a framework which enables policy-makers and project designers to compare these across geographical and technological boundaries. Since other studies from around the globe have been analysed in this framework in the literature, this paper provides a vehicle for the findings of these four studies to be compared to others worldwide. In addition, the paper highlights a few areas where similar studies to be completed in the future in the region may be enhanced by incorporating features used in GHG mitigation research in other parts of the world. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Spectrum and Dips of RE 0751+14: A Joint Evaluation of ROSAT and ASCA Archival Data

Using archival ASCA and ROSAT observations of RE 0751+14, X- ray energy spectra, pulse profiles and the results of pulse timing analysis are presented. The energy spectra are well-fitted by a blackbody model at low energy and a Raymond-Smith model at high energy, together with a partial covering absorber. A fluorescence emission line at 6.4 keV with an equivalent width ∼ 220 eV was resolved for the first time. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Time‐transgressive tunnel‐valley infill revealed by a three‐dimensional sedimentary model,Hamburg, north‐west Germany

Deep, elongated incisions, often referred to as tunnel valleys, are among the most characteristic landforms of formerly glaciated terrains. It is commonly thought that tunnel valleys were formed by meltwater flowing underneath large ice sheets. The sedimentary infill of these features is often highly intricate and therefore difficult to predict. This study intends to improve the comprehension of the sedimentology and to establish a conceptual model of tunnel‐valley infill, which can be used as a predictive tool. To this end, the densely sampled, Pleistocene tunnel valleys in Hamburg (north‐west Germany) were investigated using a dataset of 1057 deep wells containing lithological and geophysical data. The stratigraphic correlations and the resulting three‐dimensional lithological model were used to assess the spatial lithological distributions and sedimentary architecture. The sedimentary succession filling the Hamburg area tunnel valleys can be subdivided into three distinct units, which are distinguished by their inferred depositional proximity to the ice margin. The overall trend of the succession shows a progressive decrease in transport energy and glacial influence through time. The rate of glacial recession appears to have been an important control on the sedimentary architecture of the tunnel‐valley fill. During periods of stagnation, thick ice‐proximal deposits accumulated at the ice margin, while during rapid recession, only a thin veneer of such coarse‐grained sediments was deposited. Ice‐distal and non‐glaciogenic deposits (i.e. lacustrine, marine and terrestrial) fill the remaining part of the incision. The infill architecture suggests formation and subsequent infill of the tunnel valleys at the outer margin of the Elsterian ice sheet during its punctuated northwards recession. The proposed model shows how the history of ice‐sheet recession determines the position of coarse‐grained depocentres, while the post‐glacial history controls the deposition of fines through a progressive infill of remnant depressions.     

Zur Geschichte der Granitlehren

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Data Analysis of Chang’E-1 Gamma-Ray Spectrometer and Global Distribution of U, K, and Th Elemental Abundances

Gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) is one of the main payloads on the Chang’E-1 (CE-1) lunar probe, mainly aimed to detect the elemental abundances and distributions on the lunar surface. At 03:58 on 28 November 2007, it performed the first observation of the lunar gamma rays. As of 24 October 2008, 2105?h of effective gamma rays spectra had been acquired by CE-1 GRS, which covers the whole surface of the moon. This paper mainly describes the data processing procedures and methods of deriving the elemental abundances by using the CE-1 GRS time series corrected spectra: first, to bin data into pixels for mapping; then, to perform a background deduction of the cumulative spectra and obtain a peak area of the elements; and finally, to use the elemental abundances inversion model to produce the elemental abundances. Based on these processing methods, the global abundance maps of U, K, and Th at a 5°×5° equal-area pixel are acquired by CE-1 GRS data. The paper gives a preliminary analysis of the uncertainties of the elemental abundances     

天山北麓黄土记录的30万年以来古气候演变

对天山北麓黄土分布特点与形成年代的研究,以及以此为载体应用各代用指标的古气候重建已经取得了不少进展。在前人工作的基础上,选取黄土—古土壤序列分明,底部S3古土壤发育的鹿角湾剖面为主要研究对象,结合天山北麓的其他多个典型黄土剖面,运用色度、粒度、常量地球化学元素含量和环境磁学参数等指标,探讨大约30万年以来的古气候演变。鹿角湾黄土实验结果显示,各古气候代用指标随剖面深度变化与黄土—古土壤更替大概一致,剖面上部（L2及其以上）与下部区别明显。粒度分布揭示黄土物源输入主要受控于两股不同风系,随黄土古土壤的更替两者的主次地位发生变化。环境磁学实验结果显示,剖面下部磁性弱,频率磁化率低,但古土壤层稳定单畴含量较高,反映湿润成壤环境下超顺磁亚铁磁性矿物溶解或转化为弱磁性矿物;剖面上部比剖面下部的磁性要强,磁性矿物粒度更粗;S0为磁性成壤增强模式,与其他黄土古土壤层不同。再结合其他典型剖面的记录,可以推断研究区30万年以来有干旱化的趋势,但S2发育阶段总体上可能比S3发育阶段略为湿润,这一阶段之后气候明显变干,S1发育阶段明显比S2与S3发育阶段干旱,干旱化趋势一直保持至全新世开始之前。     

Methane‐related microbial gypsum calcitization in stromatolites of a marine evaporative setting (Münder Formation,Upper Jurassic,Hils Syncline,north Germany)

Fossil stromatolites may reveal information about their hydrochemical palaeoenvironment, provided that assignment to a specific microbial community and a corresponding biogeochemical mechanism of formation can be made. Tithonian stromatolites of the Münder Formation at Thüste, north Germany, have traditionally been considered as formed by intertidal cyanobacterial communities. However, thin sections of the stromatolites show elongated angular traces of former gypsum crystals in a dense arrangement, but no algal or cyanobacterial filament traces. Moreover, high Fe²⁺ and Mn²⁺ contents, oxygen‐isotope and sulphur‐isotope ratios of carbonate‐bound sulphates, and sulphurized hydrocarbon biomarkers of the stromatolitic carbonate indicate that CaCO₃ precipitation occurred near the oxic–anoxic interface as a result of intensive bacterial sulphur cycling rather than photosynthetic activity. Furthermore, anaerobic oxidation of methane by Archaea may have driven CaCO₃ precipitation in deeper parts of the biofilm community, as reflected by high concentrations of squalane with a strongly negative δ¹³C in conjunction with evaporite pseudomorphs showing extremely low δ¹³C_Carb ratios. Consequently, the Thüste stromatolites are now interpreted as having initially formed by gypsum impregnation of biofilms. Subsequently, early Mg‐calcitic calcitization within the biofilms occurred because of combined bacterial iron, manganese and sulphate reduction, with an increasing contribution of anaerobic oxidation of methane with depth. This model plausibly explains the prominent preservation of signals derived from oxygen‐independent metabolic pathways, whereas virtually no geochemical record exists for an aerobic community that may, nevertheless, have prevailed at the stromatolite surface. Photic‐zone stromatolites with a prominent signal of anaerobic oxidation of methane may be common in, and indicative of, oxygen‐depleted sulphate‐bearing environments with high rates of methane production, conditions that possibly were fulfilled at the Archaean to Proterozoic transition.     

Monitoring of fault healing after the 1999 Kocaeli, Turkey, earthquake

The North Anatolian fault zone that ruptured during the mainshock of theM 7.4 Kocaeli (Izmit) earthquake of 17 August 1999 has beenmonitored using S wave splitting, in order to test a hypothesisproposed by Tadokoro et al. (1999). This idea is based on the observationof the M 7.2 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake, Japan.After the Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake, a temporal change was detectedin the direction of faster shear wave polarization in 2–3 years after the mainshock (Tadokoro, 1999). Four seismic stations were installed within andnear the fault zone at Kizanlik where the fault offset was 1.5 m, about80 km to the east of the epicenter of the Kocaeli earthquake. Theobservation period was from August 30 to October 27, 1999. Preliminaryresult shows that the average directions of faster shear wave polarization attwo stations were roughly parallel to the fault strike. We expect that thedirection of faster shear wave polarization will change to the same directionas the regional tectonic stress reflecting fault healing process. We havealready carried out a repeated aftershock observation at the same site in2000 for monitoring the fault healing process.     

絮凝−真空−电渗联合加固滩涂软土的模型试验研究

针对真空预压作用下排水板淤堵与排水条件受限等问题,提出絮凝−真空−电渗联合加固法。首先通过沉降柱试验确定合适的有机絮凝剂,然后采用该絮凝剂,分别在 48 h（开始介入真空预压,固结度为0 ）、60 h（排水速率明显下降,固结度为60%）及 84 h（排水速率近乎 0,固结度为 80%）时介入电渗,开展不同电渗介入时间的絮凝−真空−电渗联合加固试验。试验从排水量、十字板剪切强度、含水率与孔压等对比分析联合加固的有效性,确定其最佳电渗介入时间。试验结果表明：当固结度为 80% 时介入电渗,絮凝−真空−电渗联合加固法能够有效地抑制排水速率减小的趋势,增长有效排水时间。同时,土体的抗剪强度和承载力亦得到大幅提升,孔压消散更加均匀。此外,在阳离子聚丙烯酰胺絮凝剂的作用下,初始排水速率快,在一定程度上使土体的渗透性得到提升,有效地解决了排水板淤堵问题,说明絮凝−真空−电渗联合加固法具有较强的优越性。