Artificial light at night: implications for early life stages development in four temperate freshwater fish species

Flora and fauna have both evolved under a natural cycle of light and dark. But especially in urban areas, the night is now increasingly disturbed by artificial light. Many traits and behaviours in fish are triggered by a circadian clock, for example hatching and swim bladder inflation, which predominantly take place at dusk or night. As lighting becomes brighter and extends farther into rural areas, the distinction between day and night becomes increasingly blurred. Therefore, the loss of diurnal trigger by artificial light at night was hypothesized having deleterious effects on these traits and impact fish reproduction. To assess these effects, eggs of four native freshwater fishes, Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, roach Rutilus rutilus, bleak Alburnus alburnus and chub Leuciscus cephalus, were incubated under two different light conditions: a photoperiod of 14 h light:10 h darkness (LD) and continuous illumination (LL). The time to hatch and swim bladder inflation was recorded. The species showed inconsistent reactions to the light treatments. In roach and bleak, the time to 50% hatch was longer in LL, whereas continuous lighting had an accelerating effect in chub. Incubation in LL elongated the hatching period in perch and roach and, in perch, the onset of darkness seemed to trigger hatching. The swim bladder inflation was significantly promoted by continuous light in chub and bleak but was not affected in roach. In conclusion, nocturnal artificial illumination could have an effect on hatching and initial swim bladder filling by masking the day–night-change and thereby diminish the trigger effect. However, the reactions were species specific and the increase in variation indicated a lack of diurnal triggering, whilst a general deleterious effect of artificial light at night has not been identified on early life stages.     

亚暴事件中磁尾多重等离子体团的数值研究（Ⅰ）

GEOTAIL卫星于1994年1月15日亚暴期间,在深磁尾（x＝96RE）观测到多重等离子体团及与之相对应的高能离子爆,作者以宁静磁尾平衡位形为初态,考虑介质的可压缩性,数值研究亚暴期间磁尾动力学过程．计算结果展现了等离子体团间歇性形成及其运动发展过程．体现了强亚暴事件中储存于碰尾的能量,通过多重等离子体团的排放而逐渐释放的进程．数值结果还表明：持续施加于边界上的晨昏电场及由此引发的驱动重联是导致等离子体团准周期形成的主要因素．此外,作者还考察尾瓣内任一点磁场强度及其分量随时间的演化,它与行进压缩区（TCRs）的观测特征基本相符．     

陕西省洛南地区二叠系石盒子组砂岩特征及物源区探讨

为了认识陕西省洛南地区二叠系石盒子组砂岩特征及其物源,给探索渭河盆地前新生代基底组成提供依据,本文综合分析了洛南二叠系石盒子组砂岩组分和重矿物特征。结果表明,砂岩物源区主要为再旋回造山带和克拉通地块,物源区与北秦岭造山带的演化关系密切,南秦岭构造带北部下古生界也为石盒子组提供部分物源,中二叠世晚期华北、秦岭板块面接触碰撞,北秦岭构造带快速隆升,南秦岭物源区提供物源减少,砂岩物源主要为中酸性岩浆岩+低级变质岩+沉积岩。二叠纪鄂尔多斯盆地南缘向南延至洛南—栾川断裂附近,洛南地区二叠系石盒子组河流沼泽相含煤岩系沉积应该属于鄂尔多斯盆地南缘沉积,结合渭北—渭河—洛南地区晚古生代地层对比成果,认为渭河地区二叠纪至少曾沉积过二叠系石盒子组地层,渭河新生代盆地基底具有残存二叠系的可能。     

Impacts of Climatic Factors on Runoff Coefficients in Source Regions of the Huanghe River

Runoff coefficients of the source regions of the Huanghe River in 1956–2000 were analyzed in this paper. In the 1990s runoff of Tangnaihai Hydrologic Station of the Huanghe River experienced a serious decrease, which had at- tracted considerable attention. Climate changes have important impact on the water resources availability. From the view of water cycling, runoff coefficients are important indexes of water resources in a particular catchment. Kalinin baseflow separation technique was improved based on the characteristics of precipitation and streamflow. After the separation of runoff coefficient (R/P), baseflow coefficient (Br/P) and direct runoff coefficient (Dr/P) were estimated. Statistic analyses were applied to assessing the impact of precipitation and temperature on runoff coefficients (including Dr/P, Br/P and R/P). The results show that in the source regions of the Huanghe River, mean annual baseflow coefficient was higher than mean annual direct runoff coefficient. Annual runoff coefficients were in direct proportion to annual pre- cipitation and in inverse proportion to annual mean temperature. The decrease of runoff coefficients in the 1990s was closely related to the decrease in precipitation and increase in temperature in the same period. Over different sub-basins of the source regions of the Huanghe River, runoff coefficients responded differently to precipitation and temperature. In the area above Jimai Hydrologic Station where annual mean temperature is –3.9oC, temperature is the main factor in- fluencing the runoff coefficients. Runoff coefficients were in inverse relation to temperature, and precipitation had nearly no impact on runoff coefficients. In subbasin between Jimai and Maqu Hydrologic Station Dr/P was mainly affected by precipitation while R/P and Br/P were both significantly influenced by precipitation and temperature. In the area be-tween Maqu and Tangnaihai hydrologic stations all the three runoff coefficients increased with the rising of annual precipitation, while direct runoff coefficient was inversely proportional to temperature. In the source regions of the Huanghe River with the increase of average annual temperature, the impacts of temperature on runoff coefficients be-come insignificant.     

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley as a risk area

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, granted the status of a World Heritage site, is well known for its unique inner narrow valley of Quaternary age with its historical legacy of numerous medieval castles and old towns. Less known is that this has always been a risk area of floods and gravitative mass movements. Up to the recent past, mainly ice floods caused enormous damage. The inhabitants of the valley were well aware that they lived in a risk area, but they had learned to handle the flood hazard. With the demise of ice floods over the last 40 years, due to climate change and because of the additional heating of the river water by power plants, the awareness of flood hazards has been much diminished, in contrast to that of potential damage by rockfalls and landslides which were also much feared in the past, though at the local level only. Still in the people’s memory is the Kaub catastrophe of March 10, 1876, when 28 persons were killed by a landslide. Nowadays, even minor rockfalls are a major threat, as they will affect the much-used traffic lines on both banks of the river, in particular the railroads. Therefore, since 2002, on behalf of German Rail (Deutsche Bahn, DB), all problematic slopes have been protected by costly steel-ring nets, although they are an aesthetic problem by UNESCO standards. The feeling of absolute safety created among the public is only subjective, though, as planners are well aware of. Moreover, the impact of modern climate change on slope stability is nearly unknown. Therefore, it is still necessary to develop a risk map for the narrow valley, with emphasis on gravitational hazards.     

Automated Segmentation of Resistivity Image Logs Using Wavelet Transform

We describe a wavelet-transform-based method for automated segmentation of resistivity image logs that takes into account the apparent dip in the data and addresses the problem of discriminating lithofacies boundaries from noise and intrafacies variations. Our method can be applied to borehole measurements in general, but might have an advantage when applied to resistivity image logs as it addresses explicitly the large variability in facies segments recorded with a high-resolution multiple-sensor tool. We have developed an algorithm based on this method that might outperform other existing segmentation methods in the cases of low to moderate dip. We made a detailed comparison of the segmentation from our method with the one done by a geologist to delineate different lithofacies blocks in a well drilled in a deepwater depositional environment. Our results show considerable success rates in reproducing the geologically defined lithofacies boundaries, and the generality of our procedure suggests it could also be applied to other depositional environments.     

Relationship Between Land Cover Ratio and Urban Heat Island from Remote Sensing and Automatic Weather Stations Data

Urban heat island (UHI) effect has a close relation to land covers type. This paper investigates the relationship between land cover ratio and UHI in Guangzhou, south of China using remote sensing and automatic weather stations data. The temperature data were obtained by Automatic weather stations (AWS) of Guangzhou in October, 2004, at the same time with the CBERS remote sensing image acquired. Firstly, the hourly mean temperature was computed from hourly AWS data. Secondly, the CBERS remote sensing image was classified using support vector machine (SVM) and land covers classification were output. Thirdly, the classification result was overlapped with a round buffer with 1.5 KM radius centered on the AWS, and then the land cover ratio, Edge Density (ED) and Mean Fractal Dimension (MFRACT) of buffers were computed out. Finally, the correlation coefficient between hourly mean temperature and land cover ratio, ED and MFRACT was calculated. It concluded that UHI intensity was heavier during nighttime than daytime. Stations with higher vegetation ratio and higher ED had lower heat island effect. On the contrary, stations with higher impervious ratio and lower ED had more serious heat island effect. The positive–negative of correlation coefficient between hourly mean temperature and vegetation ratio during 11:00–17:00 h (local time) was opposite to that during other time. ED was negatively correlated with hourly mean temperature except during 11:00–17:00 h. On the contrary, MFRACT was positively correlated with hourly mean temperature. It implied that fragmentations of patches were favorable to UHI alleviation, and complexities of patch were unfavorable factors.     

Temporal and spatial dynamical simulation of groundwater characteristics in Minqin Oasis

Application scope of geostatistics has been gradually extended from original geologic field to soil science and ecological field, etc. and its successful application results have been widely demonstrated. But little information is reported as to the direct use of geostatistical method to work out the distribu- tion map of groundwater characteristics. In this paper the semivariogram of geostatistics, in combina- tion with GIS, was used to quantitatively study the spatial variation characteristics of groundwater table depth and mineralization degree and their relation to the landuse changes. F test of the used spherical model reached a very significant level, and the theoretical model can well reflect the spatial structural characteristics of groundwater table depth and mineralization degree and achieve an ideal result. This shows that the application of the method in the dynamical simulation of groundwater is feasible. And this paper also provides useful reference for the application of geostatistics in the study of the dy- namical variations of groundwater resources in the oasis.     

边界层参数化方案对暴雨数值模拟的影响

大气边界层(Atmospheric Boundary Layer,ABL)是自由大气和地球表面(陆地和海洋)的连接层,它对于降水的发生发展有重要影响。ABL高度是ABL的一个重要参数,主要应用于大气数值天气(或气候)模式中的ABL过程的参数化,获取准确的ABL高度数据对于提高数值天气预报模式、空气污染物预报模式等的预报精度具有重要作用。概述了利用常规探空资料、卫星遥感资料、气溶胶后向散射资料、全球导航卫星系统GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)掩星探测资料等数据估计ABL高度的主要方法及进展情况,提出在同时具有多种观测资料时如何处理ABL高度的三个基本原则,并以目前广泛应用的数值天气预报模式WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting)为例重点介绍ABL高度数据在数值天气(或气候)预报模式中的应用,对相关的发展情况进行了总结展望。