Application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) for flood risk assessment: a case study in Malda district of West Bengal,India

A field experiment was conducted from 2 May 2010 to 1 May 2012 in the Gurbantunggut Desert, the second largest desert in China, to investigate saltation activity and its threshold velocity, and their relations with atmospheric and soil conditions. The results showed that saltation activity occurred more frequently during 08:00–20:00 Local Standard Time in spring and summer, with air temperatures between 20.0 and 29.0 °C, water vapor pressures between 0.6 and 0.9 kPa, soil temperatures between 25.0 and 30.0 °C, and a soil moisture lower than 0.04 m³/m³. At 2 m height, the saltation threshold velocity varied between 11.1 and 13.9 m/s, with a mean of 12.5 m/s. Threshold velocity showed clear seasonal variations in the following sequence: spring (11.7 m/s) < autumn (12.7 m/s) < summer (13.6 m/s). Affected by soil conditions, aeolian sand transport was weak, with an average annual aeolian sand that transported across a section (1.0 m × 2.0 m) of less than 6.0 kg.     

非水相液体污染场地源区自然消除研究进展

污染场地的健康风险和环境地质危害备受关注, 自然衰减被公认是优选修复技术。对存在非水相液体的场地, 源区非水相液体残余导致的“拖尾和反弹”问题对污染场地自然衰减技术提出了挑战。近年来源区自然消除技术的出现丰富深化了自然衰减修复的内涵, 展现了解决“拖尾和反弹”问题的巨大潜力。本文综述了轻非水相液体(LNAPL)污染场地源区自然消除的研究历程和最新成果, 研究显示: ①2000年至今, 自然衰减修复的相关研究逐渐从地下水污染羽衰减转向包气带源区自然消除; ②包气带自然消除过程被证实是源区自然消除的关键生物过程, 占LNAPL总质量损失的90%~99%;③LNAPL挥发过程中的生物降解是源区自然消除的主要研究对象。在以上研究过程中,建立的源区自然消除研究方法：①可分为LNAPL源区-羽识别、定性判断和定量估算三个部分; ②包气带定量评估常用浓度梯度、二氧化碳通量(动态密闭室和静态捕集)和热力学梯度是量化评估的三类方法。综合已有的研究进展和难点, 可以预见, 在未来研究中, 识别源区LNAPL的成分变化、明确源区自然消除的限速因子,以及开发恰当的气体脱气和气泡逃逸观测方法,是源区自然消除修复方法应用推广需解决的关键科学问题。     

2008年春季中国南方冰雪冻害林木折损分析

An abrupt ice and snow storm disaster which occurred in the spring of 2008 severely destroyed forests over a surprisingly large portion of southern China. A transect crossing Jinggang Mountain-Jitai Basin-Yushan Mountain-Wuyi Mountain was selected as the study area. The authors integrated field data collected in two field surveys to analyze the impacts of the disturbance on forests. The following results were obtained. (1) The extent of damage to plantations along the transect decreased in the order of slash pine > masson pine > mixed plantation > Chinese fir. Slash pine is an introduced species from southern America which is characterized by fast growth, low wood quality and rich oleoresin, and showed a damage rate of 61.3% of samples, of which 70.4% cannot recover naturally. Masson pine is the native pioneer species of forests with harder wood, and 52.5% were damaged due to turpentine, of which 60.9% cannot recovery naturally. Chinese fir is a local tree species and samples showed a rate of 46% and a relative rate of 32.5%, lower than the mixed plantation. (2) From west to east along the transect, we can see that evergreen broad-leaved forest of the western transect on Jinggang Mountain showed the lightest damage extent, and a Cryptomeria plantation at an altitude of 700 m was severely destroyed while Chinese fir showed light damage below 700 m and relatively severe damage above 900 m. Masson pine and slash pine in the central transect in Jitai Basin were damaged severely due to turpentine activities, and closed natural secondary deciduous broad-leaved forest was damaged severely due to high ice and snow accumulation on intertwined shrubs. Masson pine aerial-seeding plantations below 400 m along the eastern transect in Xingguo and Ningdu counties were nearly undamaged for small tree sizes, and Chinese fir at 500-900 m altitude showed a lighter damage extent. However, masson pine which was distributed above 400 m and planted in the 1960s, was severely damaged due to turpentine.     

Causes and effects of spatial and temporal variations of cold period in Chinese oases between 1960 and 2014

Based on daily average temperatures and observation data from 74 meteorological stations in Chinese oases, we calculate five-day (pentad) average temperature ≤0°C for the start and end pentad as well as pentads of cold period using linear regression analysis, nonparametric Mann-Kendall tests, the Morlet wavelet power spectrum, and correlation analysis. We also analyze spatial and temporal variations and their effects on the start and end pentad as well as pentads of cold period in Chinese oases. Results show that over the last 55 years, the start pentad of cold period has been postponed while the end pentad has been advanced. Overall, the pentads have gradually shortened over time at trend rates that are 0.3 p/10a,–0.27 p/10a, and–0.58 p/10a, respectively. Spatial differences are significant, especially for the Qaidam Basin oasis where the start pentad is the earliest, the end pentad is the latest, and the trend of change is most obvious. Mutation points for the start and end pentad as well as pentads of cold period were observed in 1990, 1998, and 1994, respectively. Of these, the start pentad and pentads of cold period show a periodic cycle, related to atmospheric circulation and El Nino events, while the end pentad exhibits a periodic cycle, related to solar activity. The Tibetan Plateau index (TPI), the Asian polar vortex area index (APVAI), and carbon dioxide emissions (CDE) are the main factors affecting cold period in the study area, whereas the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) index exerts the greatest effect on the Qaidam Basin oasis. The start and end pentad as well as pentads of cold period increase in concert with latitude, longitude, and altitude; in response to these changes, the start pentad is advanced, the end pentad is postponed, and pentads of cold period are gradually extended. Results show that change in latitude is most significant. Overall, the start and end pentad as well as pentads of cold period show clear responses to regional warming, but there are different effects on each.     

中国草畜平衡状态时空演变指示的草地生态保护格局

中国草原牧区作为重要生态安全屏障和草地畜牧业生产基地,其草畜平衡状态直接影响草地退化与恢复,进而影响草地生态系统服务能力的强弱。本文分析了2000—2015年主要草原牧区草地植被覆盖、牧草供给、草畜平衡状态的时空变化特征,深入探讨草地退化与恢复及载畜压力下草地生态系统保护与恢复空间格局。结果表明：过去16年主要草原牧区草地面积净减少约163万hm²,6.7%的草地出现植被覆盖退化,而5.4%的草地呈现植被覆盖明显恢复。天然草地牧草供给量以增加为主,年增率约0.3 kg/hm²,然而其载畜压力亦持续增加,不考虑补饲的载畜压力指数高达3.8,除内蒙古东北部、青藏高原中部仍有载畜潜力,其余多处于超载状态;考虑实际冷季补饲的载畜压力指数约3.1,内蒙古中东部有所缓解;假设冷季全额补饲则载畜压力指数减至1.9,内蒙古、青藏高原等区域明显缓解。叠加上述数据,本文针对自然保护地、牧区、半农半牧区和农区等不同区域的草地生态保护格局,提出了平衡草地生态保护与畜牧生产利用的不同发展策略。     

Impacts of Climatic Factors on Runoff Coefficients in Source Regions of the Huanghe River

Runoff coefficients of the source regions of the Huanghe River in 1956–2000 were analyzed in this paper. In the 1990s runoff of Tangnaihai Hydrologic Station of the Huanghe River experienced a serious decrease, which had at- tracted considerable attention. Climate changes have important impact on the water resources availability. From the view of water cycling, runoff coefficients are important indexes of water resources in a particular catchment. Kalinin baseflow separation technique was improved based on the characteristics of precipitation and streamflow. After the separation of runoff coefficient (R/P), baseflow coefficient (Br/P) and direct runoff coefficient (Dr/P) were estimated. Statistic analyses were applied to assessing the impact of precipitation and temperature on runoff coefficients (including Dr/P, Br/P and R/P). The results show that in the source regions of the Huanghe River, mean annual baseflow coefficient was higher than mean annual direct runoff coefficient. Annual runoff coefficients were in direct proportion to annual pre- cipitation and in inverse proportion to annual mean temperature. The decrease of runoff coefficients in the 1990s was closely related to the decrease in precipitation and increase in temperature in the same period. Over different sub-basins of the source regions of the Huanghe River, runoff coefficients responded differently to precipitation and temperature. In the area above Jimai Hydrologic Station where annual mean temperature is –3.9oC, temperature is the main factor in- fluencing the runoff coefficients. Runoff coefficients were in inverse relation to temperature, and precipitation had nearly no impact on runoff coefficients. In subbasin between Jimai and Maqu Hydrologic Station Dr/P was mainly affected by precipitation while R/P and Br/P were both significantly influenced by precipitation and temperature. In the area be-tween Maqu and Tangnaihai hydrologic stations all the three runoff coefficients increased with the rising of annual precipitation, while direct runoff coefficient was inversely proportional to temperature. In the source regions of the Huanghe River with the increase of average annual temperature, the impacts of temperature on runoff coefficients be-come insignificant.     

Near-source noise suppression of AMT by compressive sensing and mathematical morphology filtering

In deep mineral exploration, the acquisition of audio magnetotelluric (AMT) data is severely affected by ambient noise near the observation sites; This near-field noise restricts investigation depths. Mathematical morphological filtering (MMF) proved effective in suppressing large-scale strong and variably shaped noise, typically low-frequency noise, but can not deal with pulse noise of AMT data. We combine compressive sensing and MMF. First, we use MMF to suppress the large-scale strong ambient noise; second, we use the improved orthogonal match pursuit (IOMP) algorithm to remove the residual pulse noise. To remove the noise and protect the useful AMT signal, a redundant dictionary that matches with spikes and is insensitive to the useful signal is designed. Synthetic and field data from the Luzong field suggest that the proposed method suppresses the near-source noise and preserves the signal well; thus, better results are obtained that improve the output of either MMF or IOMP.     

Relationships between southern Chilean varved lake sediments,precipitation and ENSO for the last 600 years

In this paper, the relationships between paleo-precipitation and the regional influence of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in South America are assessed from a high-resolution calendar varve-thickness record. Two short laminated sediment cores (53 and 61 cm length) from Lago Puyehue (40° S) are analysed by continuous varve measurements through the last 600 years. The calendar varve years are determined by the occurrence of graded planktonic-rich layers. The annual sediment accumulation rates are reconstructed by using the standard varve-counting methods on thin sections. The 1980–2000 varve-thickness record is interpreted in terms of climate through correlation with limnological and local monthly instrumental climate databases. The comparison between the standardized varve thickness with the instrumental records reveals a strong correlation (r = 0.75, р = 0.07) between the total varve thickness and the austral autumn/winter precipitation. We argue that strong austral winter winds and precipitation are the forcing factors for the seasonal turn-over and phytoplankton increase in the lake sediments. During strong El Nino events the precipitation and the winds decrease abnormally, hence reducing the thickness of the biogenic sediments deposited after the winter turn-over. Our results show one significant regional maximum peak of winter precipitation (>900 mm) in the mid 20th century and a significant period with lower winter precipitation (<400 mm) before the 15th century, i.e., the late Medieval Warm Period. The first peak in the mid 20th century is confirmed by the regional precipitation database. The influence of ENSO cycles over the last 600 years is assessed by spectral analysis in Fagel et al. (2007). The possible influence of the regional volcanism and/or the seismic activity on the local climate record is also discussed. This is the sixth in a series of eight papers published in this special issue dedicated to the 17,900 year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue, Chilean Lake District. The papers in this special issue were collected by M. De Batist, N. Fagel, M. -F. Loutre and E. Chapron.     

Seasonal temperatures for the past ∼400 years reconstructed from diatom and chironomid assemblages in a high-altitude lake (Lej da la Tscheppa,Switzerland)

We analysed a 42 cm long sediment record from Lej da la Tscheppa, a high-altitude lake (2,616 m a.s.l.) in the Upper Engadine valley (Switzerland) for subfossil diatoms, chironomids and pollen. The chronology of the top 21 cm of the record was established using ²¹⁰Pb analysis using a constant-rate-of-supply model, and validated with ¹³⁷Cs measurements and the content of spheroidal carbonaceous particles. A tentative chronology for the lower part of the core was obtained through extrapolation of the sedimentation rates in the uppermost part of the record. Pollen assemblages in the record reflect regional changes in forestation and land-use patterns in the Upper Engadine valley and show no evidence of significant local human activity in the lake’s catchment. Diatom assemblages record a distinct increase in planktonic taxa since the early 19th century, suggesting a decrease in the duration of ice-cover. In contrast, chironomid assemblages remained stable during a large part of the record. We applied an established chironomid-based July air temperature transfer function and a newly developed diatom-based spring air temperature transfer function to reconstruct past seasonal air temperature changes at Lej da la Tscheppa. The reconstructions indicate a diatom-inferred warming trend in spring temperatures during the past ca. 400 years, whereas chironomid-inferred summer temperatures suggest a slight cooling trend. These biota-based reconstructions are in good agreement with the centennial-scale temperature trend in an independent reconstruction of regional temperatures in the Upper Engadine region based on instrumental records and documentary proxy evidence from the Alps. Our results suggest that, in high-altitude lakes, independent chironomid- and diatom-based seasonal temperature reconstruction is possible and can be successfully used to track seasonal temperature trends.