Comparison of the spatio-temporal dynamics of vegetation between the Changbai Mountains of eastern Eurasia and the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America

The Changbai Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains have similar spatial contexts. The elevation, latitude, and moisture gradients of both mountain ranges offer regional insight for investigating the vegetation dynamics in eastern Eurasia and eastern North America. We determined and compared the spatial patterns and temporal trends in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the Changbai Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains using time series data from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies 3rd generation dataset from 1982 to 2013. The spatial pattern of NDVI in the Changbai Mountains exhibited fragmentation, whereas NDVI in the Appalachian Mountains decreased from south to north. The vegetation dynamics in the Changbai Mountains had an insignificant trend at the regional scale, whereas the dynamics in the Appalachian Mountains had a significant increasing trend. NDVI increased in 55% of the area of the Changbai Mountains and in 95% of the area of the Appalachian Mountains. The peak NDVI occurred one month later in the Changbai Mountains than in the Appalachian Mountains. The results revealed a significant increase in NDVI in autumn in both mountain ranges. The climatic trend in the Changbai Mountains included warming and decreased precipitation, and whereas that in the Appalachian Mountains included significant warming and increased precipitation. Positive and negative correlations existed between NDVI and temperature and precipitation, respectively, in both mountain ranges. Particularly, the spring temperature and NDVI exhibited a significant positive correlation in both mountain ranges. The results of this study suggest that human actives caused the differences in the spatial patterns of NDVI and that various characteristics of climate change and intensity of human actives dominated the differences in the NDVI trends between the Changbai Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. Additionally, the vegetation dynamics of both mountain ranges were not identical to those in previous broader-scale studies.     

Distribution of the indigenous microorganisms and mechanisms of their orientational activation in Daqing Oilfield

The distribution of indigenous microorganisms was surveyed in Block 1 of Daqing Oilfield. Based on this survey, the indigenous microorganisms in the formation water were activated with different activator systems at the simulated stratum ecological environment. The changes of the number of bacteria of various physiological groups were determined during the process of activation. Also changes of pH value and composition of gas productions were analyzed at the end of culturing. The results showed that the selected block formation water contained a great number of saprophytic bacteria, hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria, fermentative bacteria, methane-producing bacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria. Under the conditions that the growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria was controlled the block had the potential to enhance oil recovery by activating beneficial bacteria. The growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria can be inhibited through the activation of nitrate-reducing bacteria. The number of nitrate-reducing bacteria reached 10⁶–10⁷ cells/mL, but sulfate-reducing bacteria reached only 0–45 cells/mL in A system. Methane-producing bacteria can be activated by C, D activators. The relative content of biological methane in the light hydrocarbon gas reached 80% in C, D systems. B activator was conducive to the propagation of acid-producing bacteria, so that the pH value of the culture medium decreased from 7.5 to around 5.0. Hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria can be activated by various activator systems. There was low molecular light hydrocarbon in gas production according to the analysis of gas chromatograph. According to the content of methane and the number of methane-producing bacteria, methane only can be generated through activating methane-producing bacteria. By choosing different activator systems, various populations of indigenous microorganisms can be activated accordingly.     

Climatic and geographic factors affect ecosystem multifunctionality through biodiversity in the Tibetan alpine grasslands

Ecosystem multifunctionality(EMF), the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem functions, is often affected by biodiversity and environmental factors. We know little about how the interactions between biodiversity and environmental factors affect EMF. In this case study, a structural equation model was used to clarify climatic and geographic pathways that affect EMF by varying biodiversity in the Tibetan alpine grasslands. In addition to services related to carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling, forage supply, which is related to plantproductivity and palatability, was included in the EMF index. The results showed that 72% of the variation in EMF could be explained by biodiversity and other environmental factors. The ratio of palatable richness to all species richness explained 8.3% of the EMF variation. We found that air temperature, elevation, and latitude all affected EMF, but in different ways. Air temperature and elevation impacted the aboveground parts of the ecosystem, which included plant height, aboveground biomass, richness of palatable species, and ratio of palatable richness to all species richness. Latitude affected EMF by varying both aboveground and belowground parts of the ecosystem, which included palatable speciesrichness and belowground biomass. Our results indicated that there are still uncertainties in the biodiversity–EMF relationships related to the variable components of EMF, and climatic and geographic factors. Clarification of pathways that affect EMF using structural equation modeling techniques could elucidate the mechanisms by which environmental changes affect EMF.     

Resolving the landfill siting impasse: modelling technocratic and indigenous perspectives using GIS multicriteria approach

Increase in waste generation calls for an effective waste management as this has become a necessity for environmental sustainability. Several methods are adopted in managing waste, which include waste reduction, reuse, thermal treatment, recycling and landfilling. The landfill method is recognised as the most used of all the waste management methods in developing countries such as Ghana. However, the selection of a suitable landfill site is very difficult and tedious. This is because it involves a consideration of many factors such as environmental, topographic, economic, socio-cultural and civil engineering. This research sought to identify a suitable landfill site by applying GIS multicriteria and weighted overlay approach in the Bongo District of Northern Ghana. The analysis relied on criteria and weights provided by the technocrats and the indigenes in the district as a way of demonstrating how landfill siting impasse can be resolved by incorporating the various stakeholders. The results obtained provided clear areas for landfill sites in the study area from the technocratic and the indigenous perspectives. However, the technocratic perspective failed to include an important cultural criterion, sacred groves, as a factor. The indigenous perspective also compromised on the factor related to nearness to residential areas, and is equally not sufficient on its own. The optimal landfill sites, which meets the expectations of both the technocrats and indigenes, was identified. This perspective has produced technically favourable and socio-culturally acceptable landfill site. However, it is recommended an environmental impact assessment (EIA) be conducted to identify the full environmental and social cost of the site. It is concluded that in landfill site selection much attention be given to cultural factors in the same way as the technical factors.     

末次间冰期127 ka时期植被反馈增强东亚夏季风降水的数值模拟研究

黄土和石笋等古气候代用资料表明在末次间冰期间,东亚夏季风增强、降水增多。本研究利用地球系统模式EC-Earth模拟了末次间冰期127 ka时期的气候,通过和工业革命前的气候模拟控制试验做比对,分析了127 ka时期由于地球轨道参数变化导致的东亚夏季风的空间变化特征。我们利用了两种EC-Earth的模式配置,即"大气-陆面-海洋-海冰"耦合模式和"大气-陆面-海洋-海冰-动态植被"耦合模式,分别估算轨道强迫和植被反馈对东亚夏季风降水变化的贡献。数值模拟结果表明,地球轨道强迫导致的海陆热力差异使得东亚夏季风系统显著增强并北移西伸,中国中部及华北地区降水增多而东部沿海地区降水减少。耦合了动态植被模式的试验结果表明,127 ka时期温暖湿润的气候致使东亚地区植被增多,植被的蒸腾作用使得地表的感热和潜热通量显著增大,从而增强了局地水循环,使降水进一步增多。植被的反馈作用在原本温暖湿润的华南地区对降水的影响并不显著,但是对相对干旱的我国中部和华北地区降水有显著影响。数值试验结果表明轨道强迫和植被反馈的共同作用能使内陆的四川盆地到华北一带夏季降水增加约40%,其中30%的增加是由于轨道强迫作用,约10%是由于植被反馈。这个研究也提醒我们,要得到更加合理的对过去或未来气候变化的模拟结果,有必要使用耦合动态植被的气候系统模式。

     

中国地震预报论坛2023年度学术交流大会在四川康定召开

中国地震学会地震预报专业委员会和四川省地震局于2023年8月15—19日在四川省康定市联合举办了中国地震预报论坛2023年度学术交流大会,来自全国地震行业内、外8所大学、4个中科院直属科研院所与23个地震行业直属科研院所及省市级分支机构共35个单位的100余名代表参加了此次会议。学术交流设置了12个专题;会前征集到论文96篇,会期交流报告78个,其中口头报告23个,张贴展板55个;23个口头报告中,大会特邀报告6个;从55个张贴报告中,评选出优秀报告6个,最佳设计创意报告1个。为了配合活断层野外识别的科普培训,本次大会将原计划以 “制约地震三要素的因素与地震三要素预报的瓶颈问题” 为主题的大会圆桌讨论改成了 “鲜水河断裂带高震级危险性分析” 的专题培训讲座,讲座之后再适时举行了 “如何强化高危险区的临震监测与临震跟踪预报能力” 的专题讨论。对2022年泸定6.8级地震的交流讨论提出了新的科学问题。大会不仅重视学术交流,还兼顾了科学传播的普及,利用当地的科普资源,因地制宜地组织了为期一天的鲜水河断裂带活动特征的野外识别科普培训。地震预报论坛学术交流大会全体与会代表参加了此次野外实训活动,活动中邀请了著名的鲜水河断裂带活动特征研究专家现场授课,增强了地震预报与地震地质领域的跨学科交流,强化了学术交流的效果。

     

Understanding the implications of the EU-LULUCF regulation for the wood supply from EU forests to the EU

Background

In June 2018, the European Parliament and Council of the European Union adopted a legislative regulation for incorporating greenhouse gas emissions and removals from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (EU-LULUCF) under its 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. The LULUCF regulation aim to incentivise EU Member States to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and increase removals in the LULUCF sector. The regulation, however, does not set a target for increasing the LULUCF carbon sink, but rather includes a ‘no net debit’ target for LULUCF (Forests and Agricultural soils). For Managed Forest Land (MFL) an accounting framework with capped credits for additional mitigation against a set forest reference level (FRL) was agreed for 2021–2030. The FRL gives the projected future carbon sink in the two compliance periods 2021–2025 and 2026–2030 under “continuation of forest management practices as they were in the reference period 2000–2009”. This FRL was disputed by some Member States as it was perceived to put a limit on their future wood harvesting from MFL. Here we simulated with the EFISCEN European forest model the “continuation of forest management practices” and determined the corresponding wood harvest for 26 EU countries under progressing age classes.

Results

The simulations showed that under “continuation of forest management practices” the harvest (wood removals) in the 26 EU countries as a whole can increase from 420 million m³/year in 2000–2009 to 560 million m³/year in 2050 due to progressing age classes. This implies there is a possibility to increase absolute wood harvests without creating debits compared to the forest reference level. However, the manner in which ‘continuation of forest management’ developed with a progressing age class development over time, meant that in some countries the future harvesting exceeded 90% of the increment. Since this generally is considered to be unsustainable we additionally set a harvesting cut-off as max 90% of increment to be harvested for each individual country as a possible interpretation of sustainability criteria that are included in the regulation. Using this additional limit the projected harvest will only increase to 493 million m³/year.

Conclusions

The worry from Member States (MS) that the FRL will prevent any additional harvesting seems unwarranted. Due to differences between Member States concerning the state of their forest resources, the FRL as a baseline for harvesting works out very differently for the different Member States. The FRL may have other unforeseen consequences which we discuss. Under all scenarios the living forest biomass sink shows a decline. This can be counteracted through incentivising measures under Climate Smart Forestry.

     

岩石破坏过程磁场效应实验研究及其对地震预报的意义

地震前岩石圈存在可观测的磁场前兆异常, 岩石破坏过程的磁场效应规律却鲜有研究.本文设计建立了岩石破坏磁场效应监测实验系统, 测试分析了岩石破坏过程磁场与载荷、声发射、电磁辐射之间的关系, 探讨了岩石破坏磁场产生机制与岩石破坏磁场效应对地震预报的意义.结果表明: 岩石在受载破坏过程能够产生磁场, 磁感应强度与载荷变化存在良好的对应关系.在受载前期, 磁感应强度波动增加, 受载中后期, 磁场强度显著增加; 主破坏发生时, 磁场强度快速增加并达到最大值.磁感应强度与累积声发射计数平均相关系数达到0.825, 呈高度相关, 表明磁场变化能够反映岩石的变形破坏阶段和状态.岩石破坏磁场的产生主要与电性变化有关, 运动电荷或电流的变化产生了磁场.岩石破坏磁场与电磁辐射同属于电磁信号, 磁场是一种极低频、连续、脉冲式的信号, 信号频率一般为0~20 Hz; 电磁辐射是一种瞬态、阵发性的电磁波, 信号频率一般为kHz~MHz.相对于电磁辐射, 磁场前兆异常先出现, 岩石破坏的磁场监测结果对于评估地震的临震预报具有显著的意义.