Soil moisture potential and water content in the unsaturated zone within the arid Ejina Oasis in Northwest China

Three soil profiles were selected in the Ejina Oasis, northwest China, to determine water content profiles and evolution of soil moisture potentials in the unsaturated zone within the arid area. The total soil moisture potentials have been monitored for about 3 months in 2001 at different depths in the soil profiles. The occurrence and movement of water in the unsaturated zone was analyzed using the zero flux plane (ZFP) method. It is shown that convergent ZFPs and divergent ZFPs may occur at depths between 0.5 and 3.0 m, and that the depth of the ZFPs was controlled by the root zone of plants growing on the land surface. Profiles of the total soil moisture potentials were observed to be coincident with those of the water contents at the three experimental sites. The total soil moisture potential showed a slight increasing trend and the ZFPs tend to vanish from summer to winter as the water extraction by roots decreased. Evapotranspiration through vegetation has an important bearing on the water content and the total potential in the unsaturated zone.     

Variability of seasonal-mean fields arising from intraseasonal variability. part 2, application to nh winter circulations

A method for studying patterns of interannual variability arising from intraseasonal variability has been applied to the extratropical Northern Hemisphere wintertime 500 hPa geopotential height, using data from the NCEP-NCAR. These patterns describe the effects predominantly of intraseasonal variability and blocking. Removing this component from the sample interannual covariance matrix, one can define a residual, or slow, component of interannual variability that is more closely related to external forcings and very slowly varying (interannual/supra-annual) internal dynamics. For the Northern Hemisphere NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data, there are considerable differences between the intraseasonal patterns and the total patterns. The intraseasonal patterns are more spatially localized and more closely related to known intraseasonal variability, especially blocking events and the Madden-Julian Oscillation. Although the slow patterns and the total patterns look similar, they have some important differences. The slow patterns are more closely related to the slowly varying external forcing and very low-frequency internal dynamics than those derived by the sample covariance matrix. This is evidenced by the fact that the principal component time series of the slow patterns have a larger proportion of variability related to these factors. Where tropical SST forcing is important, the slow patterns tended to be more highly correlated with the interannual variations in the forcing. Three slow modes, related to the Tropical Northern Hemisphere, East Atlantic and Western Pacific teleconnections, are all significantly related to tropical SST variability associated predominantly with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, in the case of the first two, and Indian Ocean variability, in the third case. The derived slow patterns and intraseasonal patterns may help to better understand the long-range predictability, uncertainty, and forcing of climate variables, for the wintertime circulation.     

青藏铁路唐古拉山-拉萨段全新世控震断裂研究

地表调查表明,沿青藏铁路唐古拉山-拉萨段存在5条重要的全新世控震断裂带,从北到南分别是温泉盆地西缘断裂带、安多盆地北缘断裂带、崩错断裂带、谷露西缘断裂带和当雄-羊八井断裂带.构造-地貌和年代学分析结果表明,北部的温泉盆地西缘断裂和安多盆地北缘断裂带的活动强度相对比较小,平均垂直活动速率约为0.2～0.5mm/a.南侧的谷露西缘断裂带和当雄-羊八井断裂带的全新世垂直活动速率为约(15±0.5)mm/a.而中部的崩错走滑断裂带的活动强度最大,晚第四纪期间的走滑速率可达(11±4.5)mm/a.全新世断裂活动和古地震研究表明,其中温泉盆地西缘断裂带、安多盆地北缘断裂带、崩错断裂带的西北分支、当雄-羊八井断裂带的当雄段等区域未来发生强震的概率相对更大.     

CCD Photometry and Long-Term Optical Variability of 3C 345

This paper presents evidence for long-term optical variability and colour behaviour of the blazar 3C 345 (1641+399, z=0.595). Our results show that the amplitude of the optical variations of 3C 345 has been only about 3 magnitudes from its photometric history; existent significant correlation between brightness and colours is found for 3C 345. Our recent CCD photometry of 3C 345 in May 1996 and May 1997 showed that they are in good agreement with our prediction of the optical variability period of about 10 years (see Zhang et al., 1998; Webb et al., 1988). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of The Wash embayment, eastern England

Water and sediment movement in The Wash embayment has been determined from an extensive set of data, consisting of tidal current readings and suspended sediment concentration measurements. Instantaneous and residual currents in the embayment show a distinct lateral inhomogeneity, whereas vertically the water column is almost homogenous. The central deep water area (30–40 m) of the embayment is dominated by a residual landward water movement, whilst on the margins, the residual movement is seaward. Sediment is supplied predominantly in suspension from the north, through the northern extremity of Boston Deep. Suspended sediment pathways are coincident with the spring tide water movements and the subtidal channels act as the main conduits. Approximately 6·8 × 10⁶ tonnes yr^?1 of suspended sediments are supplied to the embayment from offshore areas. Bedload sediment supply is of lesser importance, ～ 1·4 × 10⁴ tonnes yr^?1. Whereas suspended sediment movement appears to be the dominant mode of transport throughout the embayment, bedload transport is important in reforming the sea bed into a variety of bedforms which are particularly well developed on the margins of channels and shoals.     

Radiative association in Li+H revisited: the role of quasi-bound states

The role in radiative association of narrow resonances arising from quasi-bound levels is examined. For the rate coefficient the contribution from such levels is readily calculated in terms of the Einstein A -coefficient from bound rovibrational levels generated using a suitable alternative boundary condition. By locating systematically all the quasi-bound levels, an enhancement by more than an order of magnitude of the rate coefficient for Li(2s) + H(1s) association above about 600 K is obtained. The effect on the LiH abundance in the early Universe is no more than an increase of a factor of 3 for limited ranges of values of the redshift. For the Li(2p) state the effect of narrow resonances appears to have been taken into account in previous calculations.     

Site effect on vulnerability of high-rise shear wall buildings under near and far field earthquakes

Worldwide experience repeatedly shows that damages in structures caused by earthquakes are highly dependent on site condition and epicentral distance. In this paper, a 21-storey shear wall-structure built in the 1960s in Hong Kong is selected as an example to investigate these two effects. Under various design earthquake intensities and for various site conditions, the fragility curves or damage probability matrix of such building is quantified in terms of the ductility factor, which is estimated from the ratio of storey yield shear to the inter-storey seismic shear. For high-rise buildings, a higher probability of damage is obtained for a softer site condition, and damage is more severe for far field earthquakes than for near field earthquakes. For earthquake intensity of VIII, the probability of complete collapse (P) increases from 1 to 24% for near field earthquakes and from 1 to 41% for far field earthquakes if the building is moved form a rock site to a site consisting a 80 m thick soft clay. For intensity IX, P increases from 6 to 69% for near field earthquake and from 14 to 79% for far field earthquake if the building is again moved form rock site to soft soil site. Therefore, site effect is very important and not to be neglected. Similar site and epicentral effects should also be expected for other types of high-rise structures.     

Damage model for jointed rock mass and its application to tunnelling

This paper establishes an anisotropic nonlinear damage model in strain space to describe the behavior of jointed rock and applies it to mechanical analysis of tunnelling. This work focuses on rate-independent and small-deformation behavior during static isothermal processes. The prime results include: (1) the properties of damage-dependent elasticity tensors based on geological information of the jointed rock mass; (2) the damage evolution law presented on the basis of thermodynamics and combined with endochronic theory; and (3) the global damage tensor based on the work-equivalence principle and the local geological data of multi-joint sets. Finally the numerical results of a tunnel intersection in jointed rock is presented to illustrate the mechanical behavior of this model.     

Observational estimation of heat budgets on drifting ice and open water over the Arctic Ocean

It is of major scientific interests to determine the parameters of momentum, heat and vapor exchange in the planetary boundary layer in order to study the effects of ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions and their feedback mechanisms on global climate[1]. Lin…     

Determination of the anisotropic thermal conductivity of the Boom Clay based on a combined numerical interpretation of two in situ heater tests at different scales

Acta Geotechnica - In the HADES underground research laboratory in Belgium, a large-scale PRACLAY Heater test and a small-scale ATLAS Heater test are performed to examine the...