226Ra and210Pb in the Weddell Sea

²²⁶Ra and²¹⁰Pb were measured in sections and profiles collected in the Weddell Sea during the International Weddell Sea Oceanographic Expedition in 1973. The results can be correlated with the circulation and mixing schemes deduced from hydrographic observations. Along the surface cyclonic gyre the Ra activities are fairly uniform at about 17 dpm/100 kg, quite similar to those of the Circumpolar surface water south of the Antarctic Convergence. The²¹⁰Pb activities in the northern flank of the gyre, probably influenced by the high²¹⁰Pb-bearing Circumpolar Deep Water in the north, are as high as 12 dpm/100 kg. At the central gyre and its southern flank, the surface water²¹⁰Pb activities are about 7 dpm/100 kg. The warmer surface water at the central gyre has a Ra activity of about 19 dpm/100 kg, slightly higher than the colder surface water at the flanks. Thus lower²¹⁰Pb/²²⁶Ra activity ratios are observed in the central gyre, and higher ratios in its flanks. Similar relationships between Ra and Pb are noted in the Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW): lower Pb associated with higher Ra in the center; higher Pb with slightly lower Ra in the flanks.Vertical profiles along the cyclonic gyre show lower Ra and Pb activities in the southwestern Weddell Basin where lower temperature and lower silicate are observed. Similar to Ba, both Ra and Si are non-conservative in the Weddell Sea, with significant input from the bottom sediments and particulate dissolution during subsurface mixing.Each water mass or type in the Weddell Sea is well characterized by its Ra content, but not well by its Pb content. Ra and Si are crudely correlated with a slope of about 7 × 10^?4 dpm Ra per μmole of Si. The fact that the WSBW values fall on the slope suggests that the net input rate for Ra (corrected for the decay rate) is proportional to that of Si. The linear extrapolation to zero Si gives a Ra value of 13 dpm/100 kg. These relationships are quite similar to those observed in the Circumpolar waters.     

Distributional changes in rainfall and river flow in Sarawak,Malaysia

Climate change may not change the rainfall mean, but the variability and extremes. Therefore, it is required to explore the possible distributional changes of rainfall characteristics over time. The objective of present study is to assess the distributional changes in annual and northeast monsoon rainfall (November-January) and river flow in Sarawak where small changes in rainfall or river flow variability/distribution may have severe implications on ecology and agriculture. A quantile regression-based approach was used to assess the changes of scale and location of empirical probability density function over the period 1980-2014 at 31 observational stations. The results indicate that diverse variation patterns exist at all stations for annual rainfall but mainly increasing quantile trend at the lowers, and higher quantiles for the month of January and December. The significant increase in annual rainfall is found mostly in the north and central-coastal region and monsoon month rainfalls in the interior and north of Sarawak. Trends in river flow data show that changes in rainfall distribution have affected higher quantiles of river flow in monsoon months at some of the basins and therefore more flooding. The study reveals that quantile trend can provide more information of rainfall change which may be useful for climate change mitigation and adaptation planning.     

Fractionation of stable carbon isotopes by marine phytoplankton

Stable carbon isotope fractionation by seventeen species of marine phytoplankton, representing the classes of Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Prasinophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Haptophyceae and Dinophyceae have been determined in laboratory culture experiments using bicarbonate enriched artificial sea water. The values (Δ_HCO3^? = δ¹³C of algae vs HCO₃^?) range from ?22.1 to ?35.5%. Nitzschia closterium shows the smallest fractionation of ? 22.1% and Isochrysis galbana, the greatest of ?35.5%,. Since these algae were cultured under identical laboratory conditions, the wide range of Δ_HCO3^? values is seemingly due to the presence of different metabolic pathways within these organisms.A temperature dependent fractionation of 0.36% per °C with decreasing temperatures was measured for Skeletonema costatum whereas, smaller temperature dependencies of ?0.13, +0.15 and ?0.07%. per °C were observed for Dunaliella sp., Monochrysis lutheri and Glenodinium foliaceum, respectively.The consistency of values of Skeletonema costatum, Dunaliella sp. and Monochrysis lutheri grown at salinities of 22, 26, 32 and 36% indicates that natural salinity variations have negligible effects on the isotopic composition of marine phytoplankton.     

Estimation of submarine groundwater discharge in Plover Cove, Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong by Rn

Algal blooms in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong have received much attention and submarine groundwater discharge is speculated to be a significant pathway carrying nutrients into the constricted estuary. Plover Cove, a small cove in the Harbour, was selected for SGD analysis using ²²²Rn budget. The volumetric SGD rates are estimated to be about 8000 m³/day for neap tide and about 17,000 m³/day for spring tide. Result of nutrient analysis of the porewater indicates that the nutrient loading through this pathway is speculated to be crucial for eutrophication in Tolo Harbour. Current practice for the management of algal blooms in Hong Kong, in which nutrient loading through SGD was ignored, has to be reviewed and the control measures of groundwater contamination are obviously required.     

八达岭基性岩和高Ba—Sr花岗岩地球化学特征及成因探讨：华北和大别—苏鲁造山带中生代岩浆岩的对比

八达岭杂岩侵位于华北北部，由辉长闪长岩岩、石英闪长岩、石英二长岩、二长闪长岩、二长花岗岩、碱长花岗岩和石英正长岩等组成，主要属高钾钙碱性系列。除了含V-Ti磁铁矿的堆晶辉长闪长岩，整套岩石的主量元素变化范围较大，SiO2=46.5%-75.3%,MgO=5.6%-0.2%，中酸性岩石的K2O/NaO为0.59-1.09。碱长花岗岩和少数石英二长岩Ba和Sr含量较低，且具有明显（Eu）负异常。大多数中酸性岩石（高Ba-Sr花岗岩）具有如下显著的微量元素地球化学特征：Ba,Sr和轻稀土（LREE）富集，Y和重稀土（HREE）亏损，LREE/HREE强烈分离，Sr/Y和La/Yb比值较高；在原始地幔标准化的蛛网图中具有显著的Nb,Ta和Ti亏损，不具明显的Sr和Eu亏损。在Harker图解中，基性岩石和高Ba-Sr花岗岩的主量元素相关性明显，两者还具有相似的微量元素和稀土（REE）分配特征，并且，REE,Y,Sr,P和Ti含量从基性到酸性逐渐降低。辉长闪长岩和高Ba-Sr花岗岩的Sr-Nd同位素初始值呈EMI特征（Isr=0.7051-0.7068,εNdi=-8.2-20.2），大致呈负相关。地球化学特征表明基性岩浆为富集的大陆岩石圈地幔部分熔融形成，而高Ba-Sr花岗岩则为基性岩浆通过陆壳混染和结晶分离形成；富P和Ti的副矿物（如磷灰石和的榍石）的分离结晶导致了REE,P和Ti丰度的逐渐降低。另外，华北板块内部和大别-苏鲁造山带基性岩和高Ba-Sr花岗岩分别具有相似的地球化学特征，这表明，上述地区燕山期大规模岩浆活动具有相似的地球动力学机制，大别-苏鲁造山带岩浆岩的地球化学特征并不反映其地幔源区一定受到过来自深俯冲的扬子板块的流体的富集作用。岩石圈的拆沉和减簿作用可能导致了华北板块和大别-苏鲁造山带下古老岩石圈地幔的部分熔融，岩石圈地幔的富集作用可能主要性发生于元古代。     

Dynamic factor analysis and artificial neural network for estimating pan evaporation at multiple stations in northern Taiwan

Abstract

Evaporation is an important reference for managers of water resources. This study proposes a hybrid model (BD) that combines back-propagation neural networks (BPNN) and dynamic factor analysis (DFA) to simultaneously precisely estimate pan evaporation at multiple meteorological stations in northern Taiwan through incorporating a large number of meteorological data sets into the estimation process. The DFA is first used to extract key meteorological factors that are highly related to pan evaporation and to establish the common trend of pan evaporation among meteorological stations. The BPNN is then trained to estimate pan evaporation with the inputs of the key meteorological factors and evaporation estimates given by the DFA. The BD model successfully inherits the advantages from the DFA and BPNN, and effectively enhances its generalization ability and estimation accuracy. The results demonstrate that the proposed BD model has good reliability and applicability in simultaneously estimating pan evaporation for multiple meteorological stations.

Citation Chang, F.J., Sun, W., and Chung, C.H., 2013. Dynamic factor analysis and artificial neural network for estimating pan evaporation at multiple stations in northern Taiwan. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (4), 813–825.     

A case study on fuel oil contamination in a mangrove swamp in Hong Kong

Mangroves commonly found along tropical and subtropical coastlines are susceptible to oil pollution. In December 2000, around 500 1 m tall Kandelia candel saplings at the age of 3–5 years old located at the foreshore region of Sheung Pak Nai swamp, Hong Kong SAR, were found to be damaged by oil pollution. More than 80% of the saplings were either dead or washed away and leaving less than 5% healthy saplings with dense green leaves. Elevated concentrations of light n-alkanes (ranging from n-C₁₄ to n-C₂₀), pristane and phytane were recorded in surface sediments collected in December 2000. The ratio between light and total n-alkanes was 0.4. The total petroleum hydrocarbons (60–80 μg g⁻¹ TPH) and unresolved complex mixtures (60–70 μg g⁻¹ UCM) were higher than the background values of other mangrove sediments in Hong Kong, which were 40 and 20 μg g⁻¹, respectively. In certain root zone sediments, TPH concentrations were above 1000 μg g⁻¹. These results suggest that surface sediments in Sheung Pak Nai were contaminated by petroleum oil, most likely by illegal discharge of fuel oil which occurred between 1998 and 2002. One year later, in December 2001, unhealthy saplings had recovered and re-grown. The concentrations of TPH and UCM in sediments declined to around 40 μg g⁻¹, pristane and phytane dropped by 80%, and the ratio of light to total n-alkanes was 0.15, suggesting that residual oil in sediments was weathered leading to a remarkable recovery of the unhealthy saplings.