Changes to the groundwater system, from 1888 to present, in a highly-urbanized coastal area in Hong Kong, China

Historical groundwater levels in a coastal region of Hong Kong Island (China) were reviewed and compared with data collected recently to reveal changes to the groundwater regime over the last century. The coastal springs and seeps have disappeared and the lower boundary of the seepage zone has moved uphill. Groundwater was found to be flowing upward along the boundary of natural slopes and urbanized areas. Artesian flows were commonly noted in the deep piezometers in the lower urbanized areas. Moreover, an overall rise in water levels in a 10-year period was observed in the urbanized areas, except in areas with good drainage. Extensive urbanization since the 1950s has included large-scale land reclamation, deep foundations of high-rise buildings, an underground transport system, water mains and horizontal drains in slopes; the effect has been a slow but gradual increase in the water level of the hillslope groundwater system. Further urbanization activities such as the westward extension of the underground transport system and new major drainage systems in the slopes, should be assessed for possible further changes to the groundwater system. The results presented here may serve as reference for other highly-urbanized coastal areas in the world.     

一种新的城市景观扩张过程测度方法：多阶邻接度指数

提出多阶邻接度指数（Multi-order Adjacency Index, MAI）,应用多阶缓冲区完善对新旧斑块间空间关系的识别,从而更为详细地揭示城市扩张过程特征。MAI的延伸公式可供自下而上从宏观分析城市整体的扩张程度及空间变化过程。选取武汉市作为研究区,基于4期遥感影像（1995、2000、2005和2010年）划分3个时段应用MAI分析武汉市城市景观格局的演变特征。结果表明,MAI能够详细地反映出新增城市斑块在空间上有更加离散的分布趋势,新增斑块的扩张程度逐渐加深,建成区的边界不断向外延展。比较MAI与LEI（Landscape Expansion Index, LEI）的特征差异,指出MAI能够更加详尽地反映新旧斑块间的空间位置关系。     

浅议CE法在我国盐湖生态系统服务价值评估中的适宜性

随着西部大开发战略的实施,盐湖资源的开发利用程度越来越高,为我国西部经济的快速发展做出了很大的贡献。由于人们对盐湖生态价值缺乏认识,盐湖资源开发过程中存在先开发后治理的趋向,使盐湖生态系统服务功能逐步下降,严重阻碍了盐湖资源的可持续开发利用。盐湖生态系统服务价值评估对其资源的合理开发利用、环境保护及实现可持续利用等方面有着重要的意义。系统回顾各类生态系统服务价值评估方法,结合盐湖生态系统服务的特点,对比分析其适用性及优缺点。结果表明,采用CE法对盐湖生态系统服务价值进行评估具有很大的优势,能较好且全面地体现其生态系统服务价值,对盐湖资源的保护及可持续利用具有重要的意义。     

Spatio-temporal variations of the flood mitigation service of ecosystem under different climate scenarios in the Upper Reaches of Hanjiang River Basin,China

Extreme rainstorm and the subsequent flood increasingly threaten the security of human society and ecological environment with aggravation of global climate change and anthropogenic activity in recent years. Therefore, the research on flood mitigation service (FMS) of ecosystem should be paid more attention to mitigate the risk. In this paper, we assessed FMS in the Upper Reaches of Hanjiang River (URHR), China from 2000 to 2014 using the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) model, and further simulated the future FMS under two climate scenarios (in 2020 and 2030). The results reveal that the FMS presented a fluctuating rising trend in the URHR from 2000 to 2014. The FMS in southern URHR was higher than that of northern URHR, and the change rate of FMS in the upstream of URHR (western URHR) was higher than the downstream of URHR (eastern URHR). The future FMS under scenarios of Medium-High Emissions (A2) and Medium-Low Emissions (B2) will decrease consistently. As land use/land cover changes in the URHR are negligible, we concluded that the change in FMS was mainly driven by climate change, such as storm and runoff. Our study highlights that climate scenarios analysis should be incorporated into the assessment of hydrologic-related services to facilitate regional water resources management.     

近54年艾比湖绿洲太阳辐射变化特征

太阳辐射是最基本、最重要的能量来源,分析其变化对区域气候特色和农业发展有着重要的作用。本文利用1961—2013年艾比湖绿洲地区4个气象站点气象资料,采用最小二乘分析法、距平分析法、Mann-Kendall趋势分析法和小波分析等方法,分析了艾比湖绿州地区太阳辐射的年际变化趋势。研究结果表明:(1)该地区年辐射量总体呈现下降趋势,相对变化幅度为1.28,波动相较平稳。年内辐射量主要集中在5—8月,占全年的52%,呈正态分布状态,年内各月都呈下降趋势,其中7月的下降速率最大。(2)艾比湖绿洲的总辐射量主要集中在春夏两季,且4个季节的变化趋势基本相同,均出现了从"变亮"到"变暗"的交替过程。通过检验阈值在99%的水平下显示,辐射量在1986年出现突变。全年总辐射量的变动与四季变化趋势基本相同。(3)对于21a、10a和7a周期变化都存在着相对"亮期"和相对"暗期",但振荡周期不同。     

Evolution and geographic effects of high-speed rail in East Asia: An accessibility approach

The rapid development of high-speed rail (HSR) is influencing regional development, regional structure, commuting, and regional integration. East Asia is the region with the world’s first and largest current operating and planned HSR network. In this paper, we examine the evolutionary mechanism and impacts on the transport circle and accessibility of HSR in East Asia. The results indicate that the HSR network first follows a “core-core” model and then forms a corridor in Japan, South Korea, and China Taiwan, but then forms a complete network in China Mainland. The current operating HSR lines are mostly distributed in regions with developed economies and dense populations, and more than half of the population and GDP in China can be served by HSR within 1 hour’s travel time. The planned HSR network will expand to the western region of China and Japan and the southern region of South Korea. The development of the current operating and planned HSR network considerably enlarges the transport circle of core cities, especially cities along trunk HSR lines. This 1 h transport circle of core cities has formed continuous regions in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Tokyo, Seoul, and along trunk HSR lines. The HSR network will bring about substantial improvement in accessiblity, but also increase the inequality of nodal accessibility in China Mainland. Spatially, the spatial patterns of the weighted shortest travel time of cities in China Mainland, Japan, and South Korea all present the “core-peripheral structure”, taking Zhengzhou, Tokyo, and Seoul, respectively, as core cities, and cities located along the trunk HSR lines gain large improvement in accessibility.     

Numerical simulation of elasto-plastic electro-osmosis consolidation at large strain

In this paper, a numerical solution for the electro-osmosis consolidation of clay in multi-dimensional domains at large strains is presented, with the coupling of the soil mechanical behaviour, pore water transport and electrical fields being considered. In particular, the Modified Cam Clay model is employed to describe the elasto-plastic behaviour of clay, and some empirical expressions are used to consider the nonlinear variation of the hydraulic and electrical conductivities of the soil mass during the consolidation processes. The implementation of the theoretical model in a finite element code allows for analysis of the evolution of the transient response of the clay subjected to electro-osmosis treatment. The proposed model is verified via comparison with data from a large strain electro-osmosis laboratory test, to demonstrate its accuracy and effectiveness. Various numerical examples are also investigated to study the deformation characteristics and time-dependent evolution of the excess pore pressure. Finally, a well-documented field application of electro-osmosis is simulated to provide further verification. The results show that the numerical solution is effective in predicting the nonlinear behaviour of clay during electro-osmosis consolidation.     

Mapping the vegetation distribution of the permafrost zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

In this paper,an updated vegetation map of the permafrost zone in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP) was delineated.The vegetation map model was extracted from vegetation sampling with remote sensing(RS) datasets by decision tree method.The spatial resolution of the map is 1 km×1 km,and in it the alpine swamp meadow is firstly distinguished in the high-altitude areas.The results showed that the total vegetated area in the permafrost zone of the QTP is 1,201,751 km~2.In the vegetated region,50,260 km~2 is the areas of alpine swamp meadow,583,909 km~2 for alpine meadow,332,754 km~2 for alpine steppe,and 234,828 km~2 for alpine desert.This updated vegetation map in permafrost zone of QTP could provide more details about the distribution of alpine vegetation types for studying the vegetation mechanisms in the land surface processes of highaltitude areas.     

河南省基本公共服务质量空间格局与空间效应研究

构建基本公共服务质量评价指标体系,对河南省基本公共服务水平和空间格局特征进行了分析,最后采用空间杜宾模型研究了基本公共服务的空间溢出效应与影响因素。研究发现：① 2005~2014年河南省各市基本公共服务水平呈不同程度的上升趋势,但整体水平不高;空间格局上呈自西北向东南衰减的半环带圈层结构。② 基本公共服务在市际尺度上具有显著的全局与局部自相关特征,随时间呈现集聚-分散-集聚的演变模式;高高集聚与低低集聚的空间俱乐部趋同特征明显。③ 空间杜宾模型检验表明基本公共服务空间上存在溢出效应;城镇化水平、地方政府财政支出能力、地方经济发展活力对基本公共服务具有正向促进作用。