Phase characteristic analysis of continuous depth air-gun source wavelet

Air guns are important sources for marine seismic exploration. Far-field wavelet of air gun arrays, as a necessary parameter for pre-stack processing and source models, plays an important role during marine seismic data processing and interpretation. When an air gun fires, it generates a series of air bubbles. Similar to onshore seismic exploration, the water forms a plastic fluid near the bubble; the farther the air gun is located from the measurement, the more steady and more accurately represented the wavelet will be. In practice, hydrophones should be placed more than 100 m from the air gun; however, traditional seismic cables cannot meet this requirement. On the other hand, vertical cables provide a viable solution to this problem. This study uses a vertical cable to receive wavelets from 38 air guns and data are collected offshore Southeast Qiong, where the water depth is over 1000 m. In this study, the wavelets measured using this technique coincide very well with the simulated wavelets and can therefore represent the real shape of the wavelets. This experiment fills a technology gap in China.     

Deep-seated large-scale toppling failure in metamorphic rocks: a case study of the Erguxi slope in southwest China

Deep-seated large-scale toppling failure presents unique challenges in the study of natural slope deformation process in mountainous regions.An active deep-seated toppling process was identified in the Erguxi slope located in southwest China,which affected a large area and damaged critical transportation infrastructure with the volume of the deforming rock mass exceeding 24×10~6 m~3.It poses significant risks to the downstream Shiziping Hydropower Station by damming the Zagunao River.Field investigation and monitoring results indicate that the deformation of the Erguxi slope is in the advanced stage of deep-seated toppling process,with the formation of a disturbed belt but no identifiable master failure surface.It was postulated that the alternating tensile and shear strength associated with the hard/soft laminated rock strata of metasandstone and phyllite layers preclude the development of either a tensile or shear failure surface,which resulted in the continuous deformation and displacement without a catastrophic mass movement.The slope movement is in close association with the unfavorable geological conditions of the study area in addition to the construction of transportation infrastructure and the increase of the reservoir level.On the basis of the mechanism and intensity of the ongoing toppling deformation,a qualitative grading system was proposed to describe the toppling process and toevaluate the slope stability.This paper summarized the field observation and monitoring data on the toppling deformation for better characterizing its effect on the stability of the Erguxi slope.The qualitative grading system intends to provide a basis for quantitative study of large-scale deep-seated toppling process in metamorphic rocks.     

Dynamics and responses of vegetation to climatic variations in Ziya-Daqing basins,China

Examining the direct and indirect effects of climatic factors on vegetation growth is critical to understand the complex linkage between climate change and vegetation dynamics. Based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI) data and meteorological data(temperature and precipitation) from 2001 to 2012, the trend of vegetation dynamics were examined in the Ziya-Daqing basins, China. The path analysis was used to obtain the information on the relationships among climatic factors and their effects on vegetation growth. It was found that the trends of growing season NDVI were insignificant in most plain dry land, while the upward trends were significant in forest, grass and dry land in Taihang Mountains. According to the path analysis, in 23% of the basins the inter-annual NDVI variation was dominated by the direct effect of precipitation, in 5% by the direct effects of precipitation and temperature, and in less than 1% by the direct effect of temperature or indirect effects of these two climatic factors. It indicated that precipitation significantly affected the vegetation growth in the whole basins, and this effect was not regulated by temperature. Precipitation increase(especially in July, August and September) was favorable to greenness enhancement. Summer temperature rising showed negative effect on plant productivity enhancement, but temperature rise in April was beneficial for the vegetation growth. When April temperature increases by 1℃, the onset date of greenness for natural vegetation will be 2 days in advance. There was a lag-time effect of precipitation or temperature on monthly NDVI for all land use types except grass.     

Rebirth after death: forest succession dynamics in response to climate change on Gongga Mountain,Southwest China

Global climate change is having long-term impacts on the geographic distribution of forest species. However, the response of vertical belts of mountain forests to climate change is still little known. The vertical distribution of forest vegetation(vertical vegetation belt) on Gongga Mountain in Southwest China has been monitored for 30 years. The forest alternation of the vertical vegetation belt under different climate conditions was simulated by using a mathematical model GFSM(the Gongga Forest Succession Model). Three possible Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) climate scenarios(increase of air temperature and precipitation by 1.8℃/5%, 2.8℃/10% and 3.4℃/15% for B_1, A_1B and A_2 scenarios, respectively) were chosen to reflect lower, medium and higher changes of global climate. The vertical belts of mountainous vegetation will shift upward by approximately 300 m, 500 m and 600 m in the B_1, A_1B and A_2 scenarios, respectively, according to the simulated results. Thus, the alpine tree-line will move to a higher altitude. The simulation also demonstrated that, in a changing climate, the shift in the vegetation community will be a slow and extended process characterized by two main phases. During the initial phase, trees of the forest community degrade or die, owing to an inability to adapt to a warmer climate. This results in modest environment for the introduction of opportunistic species, consequently, the vegetation with new dominant tree species becomes predominant in the space vacated by the dead trees at the expense of previously dominated original trees as the succession succeed and climate change advance. Hence, the global climate change would dramatically change forest communities and tree species in mountainous regions because that the new forest community can grow only through the death of the original tree. Results indicated that climate change will cause the change of distribution and composition of forest communities on Gongga Mountain, and this change may enhance as the intensity of climate change increases. As a result, the alternation of death and rebirth would finally result in intensive landscape changes, and may strongly affect the eco-environment of mountainous regions.     

Application of different clustering approaches to hydroclimatological catchment regionalization in mountainous regions,a case study in Utah State

With respect to the different hydrological responses of catchments, even the adjacent ones, in mountainous regions, there are a great number of motivations for classifying them into homogeneous clusters. These motivations include prediction in ungauged basins (PUB), model parameterization, understanding the potential impact of environmental changes, transferring information from gauged catchments to the ungauged ones. The present study investigated the similarity of catchments through the hydro-climatological pure time-series of a 14-year period from 2001 to 2015. Data sets encompass more than 13,000 month-station streamflow, rainfall, and temperature data obtained from 27 catchments in Utah State as one of the eight mountainous states of the USA. The identification, analysis, and interpretation of homogeneous catchments were investigated by applying the four approaches of clustering, K-means, Ward, and SOM (Self-Organized Map) and a newly proposed Wavelet-Entropy-based (WE-SOM) clustering method. By using two clustering evaluation criteria, 3, 5, and 6 clusters were determined as the best numbers of clusters, depending on the method employed, where each cluster represents different hydro-climatological behaviors. Despite the absence of geographic characteristics in input data matrix, the results indicated a regionalization in agreement with topographic characteristics. Considering the dependency of the hydrological behavior of catchments on the physiographic field aspects and characteristics, WE-SOM method demonstrated a more acceptable performance, compared to the other three conventional clustering methods, by providing more clusters. WE-SOM appears to be a promising approach in catchment clustering. It preserves the topological structure of data which can, as a result, be proofed in a greater number of clusters by dividing data into higher numbers of distinct clusters with similar altitudes of catchments in each cluster. The results showed the aptitude of wavelets to quantify the time-based variability of temperature, rainfall and streamflow, in the way contributing to the regionalization of diverse catchments.     

Spatial distribution of snow depth based on geographically weighted regression kriging in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains,China

Snow depth is a general input variable in many models of agriculture,hydrology,climate and ecology.This study makes use of observational data of snow depth and explanatory variables to compare the accuracy and effect of geographically weighted regression kriging(GWRK)and regression kriging(RK)in a spatial interpolation of regional snow depth.The auxiliary variables are analyzed using correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factor(VIF).Three variables,Height,topographic ruggedness index(TRI),and land surface temperature(LST),are used as explanatory variables to establish a regression model for snow depth.The estimated spatial distribution of snow depth in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains in China with a spatial resolution of 1 km is obtained.The results indicate that 1)the result of GWRK's accuracy is slightly higher than that of RK(R~2=0.55 vs.R~2=0.50,RMSE(root mean square error)=0.102 m vs.RMSE=0.077 m);2)for the subareas,GWRK and RK exhibit similar estimation results of snow depth.Areas in the Bayanbulak Basin with a snow depth greater than 0.15m are mainly distributed in an elevation range of 2632.00–3269.00 m and the snow in this area comprises 45.00–46.00% of the total amount of snow in this basin.However,the GWRK resulted in more detailed information on snow depth distribution than the RK.The final conclusion is that GWRK is better suited for estimating regional snow depth distribution.     

Surface energy balance of Bayi Ice Cap in the middle of Qilian Mountains,China

Energy balance at the glacier surface is important for understanding the impacts of climate change on glaciers. Here, we analyzed the characteristics of the glacier surface energy fluxes along with their contributions to glacier melt on Bayi Ice Cap in Qilian Mountains by using a point-scale energy balance model. The half-hourly meteorological data from an automatic weather station (AWS) located on the glacier was used to drive the energy balance model. The model simulated results could accurately represent the mass-balance observations from the stake near the weather station during summer 2016. Our results showed the net radiation (86%) played an important role in the surface energy balance, and the contribution of the turbulent heat fluxes (14%) to the energy budget was relatively less important. A distinct behavior of energy balance, as compared to other continental glaciers in China (e.g., two adjacent glaciers Laohugou No. 12 Glacier and Qiyi Glacier), is the fact that a sustained period of positive turbulent latent flux exists on Bayi Ice Cap during August, causing faster melt rate in the month of August. Our study also presented the effect of frequent summer snowfall in slowing down surface melt by changing the surface albedo during the beginning of the melting season.     

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.     

Estimating aboveground biomass using Pléiades satellite image in a karst watershed of Guizhou Province,Southwestern China

Biomass in karst terrain has rarely been measured because the steep mountainous limestone terrain has limited the ability to sample woody plants.Satellite observation, especially at high spatial resolution, is an important surrogate for the quantification of the biomass of karst forests and shrublands. In this study, an artificial neural network(ANN) model was built using Pléiades satellite imagery and field biomass measurements to estimate the aboveground biomass(AGB) in the Houzhai River Watershed, which is a typical plateau karst basin in Central Guizhou Province, Southwestern China. A back-propagation ANN model was also developed.Seven vegetation indices, two spectral bands of Pléiades imagery, one geomorphological parameter,and land use/land cover were selected as model inputs. AGB was chosen as an output. The AGB estimated by the allometric functions in 78 quadrats was utilized as training data(54 quadrats, 70%),validation data(12 quadrats, 15%), and testing data(12 quadrats, 15%). Data-model comparison showed that the ANN model performed well with an absolute root mean square error of 11.85 t/ha, which was 9.88%of the average AGB. Based on the newly developed ANN model, an AGB map of the Houzhai River Watershed was produced. The average predicted AGB of the secondary evergreen and deciduous broadleaved mixed forest, which is the dominant forest type in the watershed, was 120.57 t/ha. The average AGBs of the large distributed shrubland,tussock, and farmland were 38.27, 9.76, and 11.69 t/ha, respectively. The spatial distribution pattern ofthe AGB estimated by the new ANN model in the karst basin was consistent with that of the field investigation. The model can be used to estimate the regional AGB of karst landscapes that are distributed widely over the Yun-Gui Plateau.     

Stabilization versus decomposition in alpine ecosystems of the Northwestern Caucasus: The results of a tea bag burial experiment

Mountainous areas exhibit highly variable decomposition rates as a result of strong local differences in climate and vegetation type. This paper describes the effect of these factors on two major determinants of the local carbon cycle: litter decomposition and carbon stabilization. In order to adequately reflect local heterogeneity, we have sampled 12 typical plant communities of the Russian Caucasus. In order to minimize confounding effects and encourage comparative studies, we have adapted the widely used tea bag index (TBI) that is typically used in areas with low decomposition. By incubating standardized tea litter for a year, we investigated whether (1) initial litter decomposition rate (k) is negatively correlated with litter stabilization (S) and (2) whether k or S exhibit correlations with altitude and other environmental conditions. Our results show that S and k are not correlated. Altitude, pH, and water content significantly influenced the stabilization factor S, while soil-freezing had no influence. In contrast, none of these factors predicted the decomposition rate k. Based on our data, we argue that collection of decomposition rates alone, as is now common practice, is not sufficient to understand carbon input to soils and can potentially lead to misleading results. Our data on community-specific decomposition and stabilization rates further constrain estimates of litter accumulation in subalpine communities and the potential effects of climate change.