Influence of heterogeneity on unsaturated hydraulic properties: (1) local heterogeneity and scale effect

Spatial heterogeneity is ubiquitous in nature, which may significantly affect the soil hydraulic property curves. The models of a closed‐form functional relationship of soil hydraulic property curves (e.g. VG model or exponential model) are valid at point or local scale based on a point‐scale hydrological process, but how do scale effects of heterogeneity have an influence on the parameters of these models when the models are used in a larger scale process? This paper uses a two‐dimensional variably saturated flow and solute transport finite element model (VSAFT2) to simulate variations of pressure and moisture content in the soil flume under a constant head boundary condition. By changing different numerical simulation block sizes, a quantitative evaluation of parameter variations in the VG model, resulting from the scale effects, is presented. Results show that the parameters of soil hydraulic properties are independent of scale in homogeneous media. Parameters of α and n in homogeneous media, which are estimated by using the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curve (UHC) or the soil water retention curve (WRC), are identical. Variations of local heterogeneities strongly affect the soil hydraulic properties, and the scale affects the results of the parameter estimations when numerical experiments are conducted. Furthermore, the discrepancy of each curve becomes considerable when moisture content becomes closer to a dry situation. Parameters estimated by UHC are totally different from the ones estimated by WRC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pulsatory characteristics of wind velocity in sand flow over typical underlying surfaces

Pulsatory characteristics of wind velocity in sand flow over Gobi and mobile sand surface have been investigated experimentally in the wind tunnel. The primary goal of this paper is to reveal the relation- ship between pulsatory characteristics of instantaneous wind speed in sand flow and the motion state of sand grains. For a given underlying surface, pulsation of wind velocities in sand flow on different heights has a good correlation. As the space distance among different heights increases, fluctuation of instantaneous wind speed presents a decreasing trend and its amplitude is closely related to the mo- tion state of sand grains and their transport. Pulsatory intensity increases with the indicated wind speed, but its relative value does not depend on it, only agrees with height.     

江西永新—崇义地区奥陶系岩石地层单位划分探讨

作者在野外工作和室内岩矿鉴定的基础上,首次在江西水新—崇义地区奥陶系发现火山碎屑岩。本文从地层的岩性岩相特征入手,探讨了该区奥陶系岩石地层单位的划分,据此厘定了各组的含义,讨论了其时代归属。     

Spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation based on corrected TRMM data around the Hexi Corridor, China

Accurate rainfall distribution is difficult to acquire based on limited meteorological stations, especially in remote areas like high mountains and deserts. The Hexi Corridor and its adjacent regions （including the Qilian Mountains and the Alxa Plateau） are typical districts where there are only 30 available rain gauges. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission （TRMM） data provide a possible solution. After precision analysis of monthly 0.25 degree resolution TRMM 3B43 data from 1998 to 2012, we find that the correlations between TRMM 3B43 estimates and rain gauge precipitation are significant overall and in each station around the Hexi Corridor; however, the biases of annual precipitation differ in different stations and are seriously overestimated in most of the sites. Thus, Inverse Distance Weighting （IDW） interpolation method was used to rectify TRMM data based on the difference between TRMM 3B43 estimates and rain gauge observations. The results show that rectified TRMM data present more details than rain gauges in remote areas where there are few stations, alt- hough they show high coherence of distribution. Precipitation decreases from southeast to northwest on an annual and seasonal scale. There are three rainfall centers （〉500 mm） including Menyuan, Qilian and Toson Lake, and two low rain- fall centers （〈50 mm） including Dunhuang and Ejin Banner. Meanwhile, precipitation in most of the study area presents an increasing trend; especially in northern Qilian Mountains （〉5 mm/a）, Badain Jaran Desert （〉2 mm/a）, Toson Lake （〉20 mm/a） and Qingtu Lake （〉20 ram/a） which shows a significant increasing trend, while precipitation in Hala Lake （〈-2 mm/a） and Tengger Desert （〈-3 mm/a） demonstrates a decreasing trend.     

沁水盆地南部柿庄南区块煤层气地质特征

以国家科技重大专项《山西沁水盆地南部煤层气直井开发示范工程》成果为依据,以以往的地质勘查及研究成果为参考,对沁水盆地南部柿庄南区块煤层气地质特征进行分析。分析认为南部柿庄南区块构造简单,煤变质程度高、煤层厚度大、埋深适中而且分布稳定,有利于煤层气生成,煤层吸附能力较强,储层渗透率较好,煤层气保存条件好,是沁南煤层气勘探开发最有利区块之一。开发利用该区块煤层气资源,可有效改善地区能源结构、加快区域经济发展,降低后期煤炭开发风险,具有非常可观的社会及经济效益。     

浅议油气生成理论

石油地质理论的发展,推动勘探实践的进步,重大理论的突破,必将引起石油工业的飞跃。现代石油地质学是建立在纯有机成因之上,面对油气资源有可能＂枯竭＂的今天,已显得无能为力,而勘探实践也已提出了许多有机说无法解释的问题。无机成油说很早已有学者提出。它与有机成油学说不仅思维方式不同,而且对形成油气的时、空,油气源认识不同。无机成油说将引起油气勘探方法、思维方式的改进。树立油气生成多元论观点,将促进石油工业的发展。     

现代植物炭屑形态的初步分析及其古环境意义*

通过对23种现代植物炭屑的观察、测量以及对草本、木本炭屑模拟破碎试验后的测量统计发现:现代植物炭屑形态根据其长宽比(L/W)和形态特征可以分为3个类型:1)草本型炭屑,L/W最大,平均为10.2±1.3, 呈长-薄条型、针型、簇纤维型,边缘及断口截然,棱角分明,有些具有气孔构造,很少有不规则的形态出现; 2)木本型炭屑(灌木+乔木),L/W较小,平均3.1±0.2,多呈方~长方型或立方体型,边缘多参差不齐,有些横向断口有粗大木纤维露出,相对致密; 3)阔叶类植物叶片炭屑,L/W最小,平均1.7±0.1,薄片状、网状,絮状,易碎。进一步通过对6个典型草原和森林表土样品的实验室分析,发现现代土壤中的炭屑颗粒大小相对现代植物炭屑颗粒大小总体有所减小,但草原土壤中炭屑长宽比相对森林土壤炭屑仍然较大,土壤中炭屑形态和部分结构鉴别特征仍能保留。表明L/W值与炭屑结构特征可以用来区分多数草本与木本植物炭屑。在此基础上,通过对黄土高原渭南剖面S₁以来不同层位12个地层样品的炭屑形态分析,初步研究了不同草本、木本植物炭屑形态变化的特点和环境意义。     

江西寻乌县葫芦练火山穹隆岩相特征

寻乌县葫芦火山穹隆是一保存较为完好的火山机构，河岭大型轻稀土矿床受控于该火山机构。作者根据１∶５万区调资料及前人的勘查成果，阐明了火山穹隆的空间结构、岩性、岩相特征，并对其演化趋势作了初步分析。     

Ensemble retrieval of atmospheric temperature profiles from AIRS

ABSTRACT Satellite-based observations provide great opportunities for improving weather forecasting. Physical retrieval of atmo spheric profiles from satellite observations is sensitive to the uncertainty of the first guess and other factors. In order to improve the accuracy of the physical retrieval, an ensemble methodology was developed with an emphasis on perturbing the first guess. In the methodology, a normal probability density function （PDF） is used to select the optimal profile from the ensemble retrievals. The ensemble retrieval algorithm contains four steps： （1） regression retrieval for original first guess; （2） perturbation of the original first guess to generate new first guesses （ensemble first guesses）; （3） using the ensemble first guesses and nonlinear iterative physical retrieval to generate ensemble physical results; and （4） the final optimal profile is selected from the ensemble physical results by using PDE Temperature eigenvectors （EVs） were used to generate the pertur- bation and generate the ensemble first guess. Compared with the regular temperature profile retrievals from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder （AIRS）, the ensemble retrievals RMSE of temperature profiles selected by the PDF was reduced between 150 and 320 hPa and below 400 hPa, with a maximum improvement of 0.3 K at 400 hPa. The bias was also reduced in many layers, with a maximum improvement of 0.69 K at 460 hPa. The combined optimal （CombOpt） profile and a mean optimal （MeanOpt） profile of all ensemble physical results were improved below 150 hPa. The MeanOpt profile was better than the CombOpt profile, and was regarded as the final optimal （FinOpt） profile. This study lays the foundation for improving temperature retrievals from hyper-spectral infrared radiance measurements.     

滞后平均法（LAF）在热带气旋路径集合预报中的应用

本文用-正压模式，采用滞后平均法(LAF)对2000年热带气旋进行路径集合预报试验，并与基于热带气旋初始结构扰动的集合预报方法进行了比较分析，结果表明LAF方法对热带气旋路径预报具有较好的改进作用。但LAF的集合预报效果受模式本身误差的影响，在完美模式的假设下，LAF集合预报相对于控制试验的技巧水平20～40％。