Distribution of winter-spring snow over the Tibetan Plateau and its relationship with summer precipitation in Yangtze River

The distribution of winter-spring snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau(TP) and its relationship with summer precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River Valley(MLYRV) during 2003–2013 have been investigated with the moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer(MODIS) Terra data(MOD10A2) and precipitation observations. Results show that snow cover percentage(SCP) remains approximately 20% in winter and spring then tails off to below 5% with warmer temperature and snow melt in summer. The lower and highest percentages present a declining tendency while the middle SCP exhibits an opposite variation. The maximum value appears from the middle of October to March and the minimum emerges from July to August. The annual and winter-spring SCPs present a decreasing tendency. Snow cover is mainly situated in the periphery of the plateau and mountainous regions, and less snow in the interior of the plateau, basin and valley areas in view of snow cover frequency(SCF) over the TP. Whatever annual or winter-spring snow cover, they all have remarkable declining tendency during 2003–2013, and annual snow cover presents a decreasing trend in the interior of the TP and increasing trend in the periphery of the TP. The multi-year averaged eight-day SCP is negatively related to mean precipitation in the MLYRV. Spring SCP is negatively related to summer precipitation while winter SCP is positively related to summer precipitation in most parts of the MLYRV. Hence, the influence of winter snow cover on precipitation is much more significant than that in spring on the basis of correlation analysis. The oscillation of SCF from southeast to northwest over the TP corresponds well to the beginning, development and cessation of the rain belt in eastern China.     

Coastal-marine nature management in Pacific Russia and Northern Vietnam: Notions,structural features,and types

Coastal-marine nature management is treated as a spatiotemporal structure consisting of two interrelated components: the coastal territorial component occurring in the coastal territory, and the coastal aquatic component occurring within the coastal aquatic area as well as the sea shores connecting them. The study revealed the components of the main and concomitant uses of natural resources which have evolved directly across the land and sea areas of mining of separate kinds of natural resources and having technogenic impacts on them. From a combination of natural resources as well as of spatial scales of the main and concomitant uses of natural resources on the coastal territory and in coastal waters, we identified the main types of coastal-marine nature management in the southern areas of Pacific Russia and in Northern Vietnam: different kinds of nature management including the utilization of the territory for industrial-residential and transportation purposes as well as for cultivation of rice and vegetable crops, extraction of building materials, other mineral resources, forest use, extraction of marine salt from the sea water, coastal fisheries, various forms of mariculture, marine recreation, etc. A fragment of the cartographic assessment of the current types of coastal-marine nature management is presented for the southern coastal areas of Pacific Russia.     

3-D Shear Wave Velocity Structure of the Crust and Upper Mantle in South China Sea and its Surrounding Regions by Surface Wave Dispersion Analysis

In this study, we construct a 3-D shear wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle in South China Sea and its surrounding regions by surface wave dispersion analysis. We use the multiple filter technique to calculate the group velocity dispersion curves of fundamental mode Rayleigh and Love waves with periods from 14 s to 120 s for earthquakes occurred around the Southeast Asia. We divide the study region (80° E–140° E, 16° S–32° N) into 3° × 3° blocks and use the constrained block inversion method to get the regionalized dispersion curve for each block. At some chosen periods, we put together laterally the regionalized group velocities from different blocks at the same period to get group velocity image maps. These maps show that there is significant heterogeneity in the group velocity of the study region. The dispersion curve of each block was then processed by surface wave inversion method to obtain the shear wave velocity structure. Finally, we put the shear wave velocity structures of all the blocks together to obtain the three-dimensional shear wave velocity structure of crust and upper mantle. The three-dimensional shear wave velocity structure shows that the shear wave velocity distribution in the crust and upper mantle of the South China Sea and its surrounding regions displays significant heterogeneity. There are significant differences among the crustal thickness, the lithospheric thickness and the shear wave velocity of the lid in upper mantle of different structure units. This study shows that the South China Sea Basin, southeast Sulu Sea Basin and Celebes Sea Basin have thinner crust. The thickness of crust in South China Sea Basin is 5–10 km; in Indochina is 25–40 km; in Peninsular Malaysia is 30–35 km; in Borneo is 30–35 km; in Palawan is 35 km; in the Philippine Islands is 30–35 km, in Sunda Shelf is 30–35 km, in Southeast China is 30–40 km, in West Philippine Basin is 5–10 km. The South China Sea Basin has a lithosphere with thickness of about 45–50 km, and the shear wave velocity of its lid is about 4.3–4.7 km/s; Indochina has a lithosphere with thickness of about 55–70 km, and the shear wave velocity of its lid is about 4.3–4.5 km/s; Borneo has a lithosphere with thickness of about 55–60 km, and the shear wave velocity of its lid is about 4.1–4.3 km/s; the Philippine Islands has a lithosphere with thickness of about 55–60 km, and the shear wave velocity of its lid is about 4.2–4.3 km/s, West Philippine Basin has a lithosphere with thickness of about 50–55 km, and the shear wave velocity of its lid is about 4.7–4.8 km/s, Sunda Self has a lithosphere with thickness of about 55–65 km, and the shear wave velocity of its lid is about 4.3 km/s. The Red-River Fault Zone probably penetrates to a depth of at least 200 km and is plausibly the boundary between the South China Block and the Indosinia Block.     

Development of local authorities in EU-member states between 1950–2011

The aim of the submitted study was to illustrate the development of the number of local authorities in all current EU states in the long period between 1950 and 2011 comprehensively, and also by particular decades, thus demonstrating the originality and uniqueness of the topic analysed in this context. Thus, we obtain a more detailed picture of the development of the number of local authorities in EU countries, and we can monitor how local authorities within a specific country gradually developed. (The stabilisation of the number of local units and an increase or gradual or sudden drop in local units are shown, for example). A sudden drop in local units can be associated with significant administrative reforms and with the development of large units of the so-called municipalities. When it becomes necessary to merge local authorities, many countries look to other countries where extensive reforms took place in the past for inspiration. However, it must be borne in mind that in a general European context, we cannot apply a universal system of public administration reforms, and solutions in the form of these reforms inspired by other countries may not always be appropriate.     

Hydrochemical and isotopic properties of Heybeli geothermal area (Afyon,Turkey)

The thermal waters at the Heybeli (K?z?lkirse) low-temperature geothermal field located in the Afyonkarahisar Province (western Turkey) are discharged from Paleozoic recrystallized limestone. The temperature, specific electrical conductivity, and pH values of the thermal waters are within the range of 28.9 to 54.7 °C, 587 to 3580 μS/cm, and 6.32 to 7.37, respectively. The Heybeli geothermal system is fed by meteoric waters. The waters are heated at depth by high geothermal gradient caused by the neotectonic activity in the deep and ascend to the surface through fractures and faults by convection. The thermal waters are of Na-Ca-HCO₃-SO₄ type and their chemical composition of the waters is mainly controlled by water-rock interaction and mixing processes. The δ¹⁸O, δ²H and tritium compositions show that the thermal waters are of meteoric origin and the residence time at the reservoir is longer than 50 years. Isotope data (δ³⁴S and δ¹³C) indicate recrystallized limestones as origin of CO₂ and structural substitution of sulfate into marine carbonates (CAS) as origin of sulfur. Chemical, \( {\updelta}^{18}{\mathrm{O}}_{\left({\mathrm{SO}}_4-{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\right)} \) isotope geothermometers and mineral equilibrium diagrams applied to thermal waters gave reservoir temperatures between 62 and 115 °C. Saturation index calculations show that the most expected minerals causing scaling at outflow conditions during the production and utilization of Heybeli geothermal waters are calcite, aragonite, dolomite, quartz, and chalcedony.     

Determination of Electron Density and Filling Factor for Soft X-Ray Flare Kernels

In the standard method of electron density determination for soft X-ray (SXR) flare kernels, it is necessary to assume what the extent is of a kernel along the line of sight. This is a source of significant uncertainty of the obtained densities.     

Asymptotic solution for the two-body problem with constant tangential thrust acceleration

An analytical solution of the two body problem perturbed by a constant tangential acceleration is derived with the aid of perturbation theory. The solution, which is valid for circular and elliptic orbits with generic eccentricity, describes the instantaneous time variation of all orbital elements. A comparison with high-accuracy numerical results shows that the analytical method can be effectively applied to multiple-revolution low-thrust orbit transfer around planets and in interplanetary space with negligible error.     

Influence of synoptic processes on the vietnamese current (the South China Sea) Dynamics during the Winter–Summer 1999 transition period

Demonstrated is an influence of synoptic processes on the seasonal dynamics of the Vietnamese Current in the South China Sea varying its direction under the influence of the monsoon. The spring season of 1999 is used as an example of the transition from the winter to summer. In winter, under the influence of the northeastern monsoon, the current is directed from north to south and in the summer, at the southwestern monsoon, in the opposite direction. In the spring, two zones of different water modification are formed: an impact is observed of both the leaving winter monsoon and the coming summer monsoon. Considered is an atmospheric process of low-gradient field type, when the pressure field is characterized by the low pressure gradient over the whole South China Sea. It is revealed that the Vietnamese Current moves in the summer regime (from south to north) in the northern and southern parts and keeps the winter regime (from north to south) in the central part.