Modelled variability of the sea surface circulation in the North-western Mediterranean Sea and in the Gulf of Lions

A chain of three nested models, based on the MARS 3D code, is used to simulate the North-western Mediterranean Sea circulation with a finest grid of 1.2 km resolution and 30 vertical sigma levels. This modelling system allows to resolve the coastal dynamics taking into account the influence of the general basin circulation. The aim of this study is to assess the ability of the nested MARS-3D models to reproduce most of the circulation features observed in the North-western Mediterranean Basin and in the Gulf of Lions. Comparisons of modelled sea surface temperature and salinity with MEDAR/MEDATLAS climatology and NOAA/AVHRR satellite measurements show that the model accurately reproduces the large and coastal scale variability. Over the Northern Basin, the seasonal changes of the cyclonic gyre extension are correctly simulated, even though in summer, the modelled temperature of the surface layer remains in basin-average 1°C cooler than the satellite measured temperature. As soon as the stratification erodes, modelled and observed temperatures become closer. Over the Gulf of Lions, realistic coastal responses are obtained under different wind conditions. Upwellings are correctly located and their intensity and spatial extension were here improved by the use of Aladin wind fields (10 km spatial resolution) and the introduction of a drag coefficient fitted according to the stability of the planetary boundary layer. The dispersion of fresh Rhone water discharge and the mesoscale circulation simulated by MARS-3D also agree with satellite measurements.     

Fractured but not fractal: Fragmentation of the gulf of suez basement

Recent geophysical studies revealed that the Palaeozoic basement of the Gulf of Suez consists of an enormous number of fault blocks whose network qualitavely resembles the contraction-crack polygons which can be found in nature in a wide variety of materials and on all scales (mud cracks, hardening concrete, age cracking in paintings,etc.). The fault network of the Gulf of Suez basement forms a rather uniformly spaced polygonal pattern, most of the blocks are four-sided, the lengths of block sides parallel with the Gulf of Suez axis are exponentially distributed. The power-law size distribution associated with the fractal (scale-free) fragmentation can be possibly ruled out.The paper calls attention to the necessity of calssifying the physical processes leading to fragmentations with exponential-, lognormal-, and power-law size distributions, respectively.     

New biostratigraphical data for the Burdigalian Montchaibeux Member at the locality Courrendlin-Solé (Canton of Jura,Switzerland)

Geological surveys were carried out in the Miocene deposits at the place known as “En Solé” east of the village Courrendlin (Delémont Basin, Canton of Jura, Switzerland). This resulted in the discovery of new Miocene small mammal assemblages. The association of the rodents Megacricetodon aff. collongensis and Melissiodon sp. allows to biochronostratigraphically correlate for the first time the so-called “Rote Mergel des Mont Chaibeux” representing the lower part of the Montchaibeux Member of the Bois de Raube Formation to the regional M. collongensis–Keramidomys interval zone (MN 4; early Miocene).     

青藏高原积雪深度对延伸期预报技巧的影响

高原积雪是重要的陆面因子,其变化的时间尺度长于大气而短于海洋。本文利用国家气候中心第二代月动力延伸期预测模式（DERF2.0）历史回报资料与被动微波资料（SMMR）、被动微波成像专用传感器（SSM/I）数据反演的逐日雪深资料,分析了1983~2014年冬季和春季转换季节高原积雪对热带外地区延伸期尺度预测技巧的影响。结果表明,高原积雪异常年动力模式在高原积雪显著影响的青藏高原地区、贝加尔湖地区和北太平洋地区预报技巧明显高于正常年份。随着预报时效的延长,高原积雪偏多年的技巧衰减最慢、其次为积雪偏少年,积雪正常年最快,表明高原积雪异常年可预报时效更长,且高原积雪异常对预报技巧的改善在第1候的预报中就显现出来,尤其是积雪偏多年,其影响时段明显要早于海洋。结果显示高原积雪对延伸期预报技巧有重要贡献,暗示高原积雪异常为东亚延伸期预报的潜在可预报源。     

Clinoforms as paleogeographic tools: Development of the Danube catchment above the deep Paratethyan basins in Central and Southeast Europe

The Miocene marine basins of Central and Southeast Europe, once comprising the Paratethys Sea, were gradually filled with sediments during the Neogene and turned to be the catchment area of the proto-Danube and finally that of the modern Danube. Seismic data from various parts of the large Danube catchment area show that these several hundred meter deep basins were filled by lateral accretion of river-transported sediments, appearing as shelf edge scale clinoform sets in seismic profiles. The direction of shelf edge progradation is NW to SE (N to S, W to E) in each basin, except for the Dacian basin where NE to SW direction prevails. The age of the clinoform sets is generally younging downstream: 19–18 Ma in the North Alpine Foreland basin, 14–13 Ma in the Vienna basin, 10–9 Ma in the Danube (Kisalföld) basin, 8.6–4 Ma in the Central Pannonian basin (Alföld), ?9–5 Ma in the Dacian basin, and 6–0 Ma in the Euxinian (Black Sea) basin. In spite of this geographical and temporal pattern, only the Danube (Kisalföld) and the western and central part of the Central Pannonian basin were filled by the proto-Danube shelf accretion. Formation of the Danube, as a longitudinal river of the Alpine foreland that gradually elongated to the east and followed the retreating shoreline of the Paratethys, most probably took place at the beginning of the Late Miocene, ca. 11 Ma ago, thus the Early and Middle Miocene shelf advance in the North Alpine Foreland and Vienna basins, respectively, cannot be attributed to a „paleo-Danube”. The clinoform systems of the Dacian basin are coeval with those of the upstream Central Pannonian basin, indicating that by the time the Danube sedimentary system reached the Dacian basin, it was already a shallow basin. The vast clinoforms of the northwestern Euxinian shelf also significantly overlap in age with the Pannonian basin ones; only the <4 Ma part of the shelf accretion can be attributed to the Danube sensu stricto.     

水位上升与荷载耦合作用下土坡稳定极限分析方法研究

边坡失稳产生的灾害不仅会给工农业生产带来巨大损失,也会对人民的生命财产安全造成巨大威胁。目前,滑坡灾害已与地震、火山并列成为全球3大地质灾害之一,其中由水库水位变化诱发的滑坡近来得到重视。因此,建立合理的边坡稳定性分析方法对预测以及防控滑坡灾害十分重要。实际中的边坡失稳过程往往在多种荷载因素的耦合作用下发生,但现有边坡极限分析等稳定性解析方法偏重于考虑单一荷载因素,难以合理考虑多类荷载耦合作用条件,缺乏对边坡稳定性依赖加载过程这一现象的合理解释。本文在极限分析原理的基础上,将水库区边坡所受荷载凝练为水位上升与坡顶加载的耦合作用。将水位荷载简化为水位线以下土体受到浮力以及黏聚力的减小,建立了一个土坡稳定性分析方法,编写了相应的数值计算程序,通过与离心模型试验结果进行对比验证了方法的有效性。该方法计算结果表明,边坡稳定性随坡顶荷载增加单调下降,而随水位上升表现出先降低后增加的非单调变化。因此,坡顶荷载与水位上升耦合加载过程中,边坡稳定性对于加载过程具有显著的依赖性。     

边坡破坏过程离心模型试验的应力位移场研究

提出了一种确定离心模型试验过程中边坡的应力和位移场及其变化过程的方法。基于物理测量与数值模拟相结合的思路,首先采用离心场非接触位移测量技术测量出边坡的位移场;然后通过数值模拟和反演分析等途径算出边坡的应力场。该方法已成功用于多个边坡离心模型试验中的应力位移场的确定,表明了该方法可以较好地得出离心模型试验过程中边坡的应力和位移场。边坡离心模型试验结果表明,边坡的破坏过程与应变局部化和应力集中的过程有着密切联系。     

First-order analytic propagation of satellites in the exponential atmosphere of an oblate planet

The paper offers the fully analytic solution to the motion of a satellite orbiting under the influence of the two major perturbations, due to the oblateness and the atmospheric drag. The solution is presented in a time-explicit form, and takes into account an exponential distribution of the atmospheric density, an assumption that is reasonably close to reality. The approach involves two essential steps. The first one concerns a new approximate mathematical model that admits a closed-form solution with respect to a set of new variables. The second step is the determination of an infinitesimal contact transformation that allows to navigate between the new and the original variables. This contact transformation is obtained in exact form, and afterwards a Taylor series approximation is proposed in order to make all the computations explicit. The aforementioned transformation accommodates both perturbations, improving the accuracy of the orbit predictions by one order of magnitude with respect to the case when the atmospheric drag is absent from the transformation. Numerical simulations are performed for a low Earth orbit starting at an altitude of 350 km, and they show that the incorporation of drag terms into the contact transformation generates an error reduction by a factor of 7 in the position vector. The proposed method aims at improving the accuracy of analytic orbit propagation and transforming it into a viable alternative to the computationally intensive numerical methods.     

离心场中土体图像采集与位移测量系统的研制与应用

以存储前移为主要思路,开发了离心场中高质量图像高速采集与位移非接触测量系统。该系统由图像采集、数据存储、通讯控制、分析处理和辅助制样5个子系统组成,能够克服高速旋转的离心场的干扰,在离心模型试验过程中高速采集高质量图像。该系统能够对多点同时进行测量,从而得到土体表面任意时刻、任意区域的位移场,并具有对土体无干扰、测量精度高、前期准备工作量小、自动化程度高等优点。使用该系统对土坡破坏离心模型试验中的土坡变形过程进行了测量,结果表明,土坡的破坏过程可分为均匀变形、应变局部化和破坏后变形3个阶段,加载过程中首先在坡顶和坡脚产生应变局部化。     

西藏地区近期植被变化的遥感分析

利用2000—2007年的归一化植被指数,分析了近期西藏地区植被的分布状况及变化趋势,从气候条件、人类活动及其他因素等3个方面讨论了典型区域(那曲地区)植被减少的原因。结果表明,植被覆盖最好的区域是林芝及山南南部,其次是昌都、拉萨及那曲东部;不同地区的植被有显著的季节差异。近年来西藏部分地区的植被状况有所改善,植被覆盖减少最严重的区域位于那曲中东部,就全区平均而言,植被覆盖明显减少时段出现在2003—2006年之间;降水量增加(减少)、风速减少(增加)基本对应着植被覆盖的增加(减少)。近期那曲地区气温升高、降水量减少,可能导致植被覆盖减少;人口增长,城市化加剧,过度放牧,有毒植物增多,中草药的挖掘,地下矿产资源的开采以及严重的草地鼠害、虫害等都导致了那曲地区植被覆盖的减少。