Super-reflection in fluid discs: corotation amplifier, corotation resonance, Rossby waves and overstable modes

In differentially rotating discs with no self-gravity, density waves cannot propagate around the corotation, where the wave pattern rotation speed equals the fluid rotation rate. Waves incident upon the corotation barrier may be super-reflected (commonly referred to as corotation amplifier), but the reflection can be strongly affected by wave absorptions at the corotation resonance/singularity. The sign of the absorption is related to the Rossby wave zone very near the corotation radius. We derive the explicit expressions for the complex reflection and transmission coefficients, taking into account wave absorption at the corotation resonance. We show that for generic discs, this absorption plays a much more important role than wave transmission across the corotation barrier. Depending on the sign of the gradient of the vortensity of the disc,  ζ=κ²/(2ΩΣ)  (where Ω is the rotation rate, κ is the epicyclic frequency and Σ is the surface density), the corotation resonance can either enhance or diminish the super-reflectivity, and this can be understood in terms of the location of the Rossby wave zone relative to the corotation radius. Our results provide the explicit conditions (in terms of disc thickness, rotation profile and vortensity gradient) for which super-reflection can be achieved. Global overstable disc modes may be possible for discs with super-reflection at the corotation barrier.     

基于合成孔径雷达影像的海洋溢油纹理特征参数分析

溢油已是当前海洋生态环境破坏的主要因素之一,因此对海洋溢油的检测分析是当前海洋环境保护的一个重要课题。传统的溢油提取仅仅是单独依靠光学影像的光谱信息或者合成孔径雷达(SAR)影像的后向散射系数信息进行提取,这会造成很多同谱异物或者粗糙度相近似的地物错分,因此除了利用传统的影像信息以外,还需结合影像的纹理信息,从而提高溢油提取的精度,减少错分地物的数量。选用2006年渤海地区的三景同轨SAR影像作为数据基础,应用基于灰度共生矩阵的方法对其进行纹理分析。该方法可以很好地对图像区域和表面进行感知并能够从像元的灰度相关性上对纹理特征进行详细描述,因此适合于SAR影像的海洋溢油检测。在纹理分析的过程中有很多的参数需要选择,参数选择的好坏将直接影响最终提取结果的精度。通过对纹理分析过程中的参数进行讨论、实验、选择与验证,最终确定了基于灰度共生矩阵纹理分析中各参数的值,并选择了局部平稳、非相似性、对比度、变化量4个特征量作为溢油提取的纹理特征统计量。将纹理特征与SAR自身的后向散射系数相结合,通过神经网络分类法对其进行分类,并计算出分类精度为80.65%,分类效果良好。由此说明了将影像的传统信息与纹理信息相结合进行溢油提取是一种可行而有效的方法,同时也为后续的海洋溢油检测工作奠定了一定的基础。     

Reaearch on Skempton's coefficient B based on the observation of groundwater of Changping station

Based on isotropic linear poroelastic theory and under the undrained condition, we summarize three equations connecting the Skempton's coefficient B with the groundwater level. After analysis, we propose a method to calculate the Skempton's coefficient B according to the relationship between water level and tidal strain. With this method we can get the value of B without the earthquake occurrence, which can provide the high frequency waves for research. Besides, we can also get the in-suit Skempton's coefficient B without the experiment of rock physics. In addition, we analyze the observed data of Changping station recorded in groundwater monitoring network (abv., GMN) before and after the Wenchuan M_S8.0 with this method, and find out there's a slight change of the value of B after the seismic waves passed by, which implies that the propagation of seismic waves may have brought some variations to the poroelastic medium of the well.

     

In situ experiment on retrofit of school buildings by adding sandwich columns to partition brick walls

Many significantly strong earthquakes have occurred over the years in Taiwan, which have caused tremendous damage to primary and middle school buildings; the 921 Chi‐Chi earthquake was particularly devastating. According to statistics, 786 schools (1,958 classrooms) were damaged on September 21, 1999 during this earthquake event. The devastation showed that a lack of seismic performance is a common problem for existing school buildings in Taiwan. Therefore, the retrofit of existing school buildings has become an urgent issue in the prevention of possible damage in the future. The retrofit technique of adding sandwich columns to partition brick walls is proposed in this paper, and the feasibility of the proposed method was verified by in situ pushover tests of two real school buildings, one without and one with retrofit. The experimental and analytical results show that the sandwich column itself contributes significantly to the seismic capacity of the examined school building. Moreover, the analytical results yielded conservative capacity curves when compared with the experimental results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind erosion on the north‐eastern Tibetan Plateau: constraints from OSL and U‐Th dating of playa salt crust in the Qaidam Basin

The arid Qaidam Basin is the largest (~3.88 × 10⁴ km²) basin on the north‐eastern Tibetan Plateau. Wind erosion in the area has been regarded as an important trigger for intra‐basin tectonic balance upheaval, geomorphologic development and as a major supplier of dust to the Chinese Loess Plateau downwind. An initial estimate of the rate of wind erosion (Kapp et al., 2011) based on geological cross‐sections has suggested up to 3.2 × 10⁴ km³ of sediments has been deflated over the past 2.8 Ma, lowering the landscape by an average of 0.29 mm/yr. In this paper we re‐evaluate this estimate by dating surface crusts present on three playas within the basin. Understanding the development of these playas is crucial to assessing the overall role of the wind in shaping the regional landscape because they are typically capped with a thick salt crust which effectively protects them from wind erosion. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and U‐series dating from a pit section and from the top of a deep drill core, together with results from magnetostratigraphy and a climate proxy record correlated to the marine oxygen isotope record, are used here to determine the age of the playa plains and suggest that the salt crusts have an age of c. 0.1 Ma. This young age and the wide distribution of resistant thick salt crusts of the playa plains indicate a much lower degree of wind erosion than previously suggested. The crusts protect the surface from significant surface erosion (including sediment exhumation and unloading) and whilst some wind erosion does occur, it is unlikely to be sufficient to trigger tectonic uplift of the basin or to be a major dust source for the Loess Plateau as previously suggested. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Total and organic mercury concentrations in the muscles of Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus)

Muscles of 115 North Pacific albacore (ALB, Thunnus alalunga) and 75 Pacific bigeye tuna (BET, Thunnus obesus), collected from 2001 to 2006, were analyzed. No ALB, but 13 large BET had organic mercury (OHg) concentrations exceeding 1 μg g⁻¹ wet weight. For both ALB and BET, total mercury (THg) and OHg concentrations were significantly and positively correlated with fork length (FL) and body weight. The muscle Hg bioaccumulation rates of BET were higher than those of ALB, particularly in the adult fish. Moreover, the lines had crossover points among the two species that imply the young BET (FL < 110 cm) contains lower muscle Hg concentrations than ALB of the same size. The suggested weekly dietary intake of ALB and small-BET meats is 340 g, and of BET meat it is 150 g for a 60-kg person based on the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) of methylmercury set by the WHO.     

Sensitivity analysis of the hydrological response of the Gaping River basin to radar-raingauge quantitative precipitation estimates

Abstract

The generation of reliable quantitative precipitation estimations (QPEs) through use of raingauge and radar data is an important issue. This study investigates the impacts of radar QPEs with different densities of raingauge networks on rainfall–runoff processes through a semi-distributed parallel-type linear reservoir rainfall–runoff model. The spatial variation structures of the radar QPE, raingauge QPE and radar-gauge residuals are examined to review the current raingauge network, and a compact raingauge network is identified via the kriging method. An analysis of the large-scale spatial characteristics for use with a hydrological model is applied to investigate the impacts of a raingauge network coupled with radar QPEs on the modelled rainfall–runoff processes. Since the precision in locating the storm centre generally represents how well the large-scale variability is reproduced; the results show not only the contribution of kriging to identify a compact network coupled with radar QPE, but also that spatial characteristics of rainfalls do affect the hydrographs.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Guest editor R.J. Moore

Citation Pan, T.-Y., Li, M.-Y., Lin, Y.-J., Chang, T.-J., Lai, J.-S., and Tan, Y.-C., 2014. Sensitivity analysis of the hydrological response of the Gaping River basin to radar-raingauge quantitative precipitation estimates. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (7), 1335–1352. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.923969     

基于ArcGIS平台的芦山地震强震动记录分析

利用ArcGIS平台的探索性空间数据分析(ESDA)模块,将四川省强震台所记录的芦山地震强震动进行Histogram、QQplot图、半变异协方差函数云图、Voronoi地图分析,研究芦山地震强震动的特征及原因.结果表明:原始数据不服从正态分布,以宝兴地办、宝兴民治、盐源泸沽、盐源干海等台站记录离群较为明显;经过对数变换后的强震动三分量线性关系较好,宝兴地办台站的记录未出现离群现象,宝兴民治、宝兴明礼等台记录的离群现象不太明显.东西向和南北向的地震动密集度集中在西北角,收敛过渡密度区域位于龙门山山前的大邑断裂附近,与芦山地震的发震构造有较好的一致性;垂直向的地震动记录密集度集中在北部地区,而南部较为稀疏,可能与巴颜喀拉块体前缘整体随应力场变化往南移动有关系.     

国土资源综合监管平台建设构想

运用信息技术、遥感技术、地理信息系统技术(GIS)等现代科技手段,围绕构建国土资源保障和促进科学发展新机制,以国土资源"一张图"为基础,建立信息采集、综合分析、批后跟踪、预警评价、辅助决策等功能为一体的国土资源综合监管平台,建立覆盖土地"批、供、用、补、查"、以及矿产资源勘查、开发利用、年检、资质管理、矿山环境监管、矿山土地复垦利用、地质灾害监测等业务,以科学技术手段加强国土资源监管。