Uranium in Saline Lakes of Mongolia and Adjacent Areas

正1 Introduction Increasing demand for uranium raw materials for the nuclear industry has stimulated interest in non-traditional sources,including hydromineral ones[Qin,2009].Those are saline lakes located in the uranium ore districts.Accumulation of uranium in such lakes results from the leaching of uranium from the rocks by surface and ground     

Time-series analysis of subsidence associated with rapid urbanization in Shanghai,China measured with SBAS InSAR method

River delta plains (deltas) are susceptible to subsidence producing undesirable environmental impact and affecting dense population. The City of Shanghai, located in the easternmost of Yangtze Delta in China, is one of the most developed regions in China that experiences the greatest land subsidence. Excessive groundwater withdrawal is thought to be the primary cause of the land subsidence, but rapid urbanization and economic development, mass construction of skyscrapers, metro lines and highways are also contributing factors. In this paper, a spatial–temporal analysis of the land subsidence in Shanghai was performed with the help of the Small Baseline Subset Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. Twenty l-band ALOS PALSAR images acquired during 2007–2010 were used to produce a linear deformation rate map and to derive time series of ground deformation. The results show homogeneous subsidence within the research area, but exceptionally rapid subsidence around skyscrapers, along metro lines, elevated roads and highways was also observed. Because groundwater exploitation and rapid urbanization responsible for much of the subsidence in the Shanghai region are expected to continue, future subsidence monitoring is warranted.     

Toward integrated assessment of environmental change: air pollution health effects in the USA

We demonstrate a method for integrating environmental effects into a computable general equilibrium model. This is a critical step forward toward the development of improved integrated assessment models of environmental change. We apply the method to examine the economic consequences of air pollution on human health for the US for the period from 1970 to 2000. The pollutants include tropospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. We apply this method to the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, a computable general equilibrium model of the economy that has been widely used to study climate change policy. The method makes use of traditional valuation studies, incorporating this information so that estimates of welfare change are consistent with welfare valuation of the consumption of market goods and services. We estimate the benefits of air pollution regulations in USA rose steadily from 1975 to 2000 from $50 billion to $400 billion (from 2.1% to 7.6% of market consumption). Our estimated benefits of regulation are somewhat lower than the original estimates made by the US Environmental Protection Agency, and we trace that result to our development of a stock model of pollutant exposure that predicts that the benefits from reduced chronic air pollution exposure will only be gradually realized. We also estimate the economic burden of uncontrolled levels of air pollution over that period. The uncertainties in these estimates are large which we show through simulations using 95% confidence limits on the epidemiological dose-response relationships     

估算干旱区地下水依赖型植物蒸散发的White法评述

日尺度上的地下水位波动是干旱区地下水依赖型植物蒸散消耗地下水的直接证据与指示。White通过分析日尺度地下水位波动与植被蒸散之间的关系,提出了利用地下水位观测数据来计算植被蒸散速率的方法,简称White法。该方法由于计算简单,所需数据少,在干旱区河岸林蒸散定量方面得到了广泛的应用。本文通过系统回顾White法的提出、“四大假设条件”及其在实际应用中的不足,梳理了近年来对White法不断修订的总体思路,总结了各种形式White法的特点、使用条件以及存在的主要问题;在此基础上,提出了White法进一步改进的方向。当前,结合地表蒸散发的多尺度观测与模拟,White法不仅可以用来估算区域尺度地下水蒸散,而且能够为定量解析干旱区植物的水分利用来源提供验证与参考。     

Evaluation of a Finite-Element Sea-Ice Ocean Model (FESOM) set-up to study the interannual to decadal variability in the deep-water formation rates

The characteristics of a global set-up of the Finite-Element Sea-Ice Ocean Model under forcing of the period 1958–2004 are presented. The model set-up is designed to study the variability in the deep-water mass formation areas and was therefore regionally better resolved in the deep-water formation areas in the Labrador Sea, Greenland Sea, Weddell Sea and Ross Sea. The sea-ice model reproduces realistic sea-ice distributions and variabilities in the sea-ice extent of both hemispheres as well as sea-ice transport that compares well with observational data. Based on a comparison between model and ocean weather ship data in the North Atlantic, we observe that the vertical structure is well captured in areas with a high resolution. In our model set-up, we are able to simulate decadal ocean variability including several salinity anomaly events and corresponding fingerprint in the vertical hydrography. The ocean state of the model set-up features pronounced variability in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation as well as the associated mixed layer depth pattern in the North Atlantic deep-water formation areas.     

Removal of topographic effects from lunar images using Kaguya (LALT) and Earth-based observations

Lunar images acquired at non-zero phase angles show brightness variations caused by both albedo heterogeneities and local topographic slopes of the surface. To distinguish between these two factors, altimetry measurements or photoclinometry data can be used. The distinction is especially important for imagery of phase-function parameters of the Moon. The imagery is a new tool that can be used to study structural anomalies of the lunar surface. To illustrate the removal of the topographic effects from photometric images, we used Earth-based telescopic observations, altimetry measurements carried out with the Kaguya (JAXA) LALT instrument, and a new photoclinometry technique that includes analysis of several images of the same scenes acquired at different phase angles. Using this technique we have mapped the longitudinal component of lunar topography slopes (the component measured along the lines of constant latitude). We have found good correlations when comparing our map with the corresponding data from Kaguya altimetry. The removal of the topographic surface properties allows for the study of the phase-function parameters of the lunar surface, not only for flat mare regions, but for highlands as well.     

Alfvén node-free vibrations of white dwarf in the model of solid star with toroidal magnetic field

In the context of white dwarf asteroseismology, we investigate the vibrational properties of a non-convective solid star with an axisymmetric purely toroidal intrinsic magnetic field of two different shapes. Focus is laid on the regime of node-free global Lorentz-force-driven vibrations about the symmetry axis at which material displacements have one and the same form as those for nodeless spheroidal and torsional vibrations restored by Hooke’s force of elastic shear stresses. Particular attention is given to the even-parity poloidal Alfvén modes whose frequency spectra are computed in analytic form, showing how the purely toroidal magnetic fields completely buried beneath the star surface can manifest itself in seismic vibrations of non-magnetic white dwarfs. The spectral formulae obtained are discussed in juxtaposition with those for Alfvén modes in the solid star model with the poloidal, homogeneous internal and dipolar external, magnetic field whose inferences are relevant to Alfvén vibrations in magnetic white dwarfs.