Climatic regime shift and decadal anomalous events in China

Climatic time series from historical documents and instrumental records from China showed temporal and regional patterns in the last two to three centuries, including two multidecadal oscillations at quasi-20-year and quasi-70-year timescales revealed by signal analysis from wavelet transform. Climatic anomalous events on the decadal timescale were identified based on the two oscillations when their positive (or negative) phases coincide with each other to amplify amplitude. The coldest event occurred in the decade of 1965–1975 in eastern China, while the periods of 1920–1930, 1940–1950, and 1988–2000 appeared to be warmer in most parts of China. For the precipitation series in northern China, the dry anomalous event was found in the late 1920s, while the wet anomalous event occurred in the 1950s. A severe drought in 1927–1929 in northern China coincided with the anomalous warm and dry decade, caused large-scale famine in nine provinces over northern China. Climatic anomalous events with a warm-dry or cold-wet association in the physical climate system would potentially cause severe negative impacts on natural ecosystem in the key vulnerable region over northern China. The spatial pattern of summer rainfall anomalies in the eastern China monsoon region showed an opposite variations in phase between the Yellow River Valley (North China) and the mid-low Yangtze River Valley as well as accompanied the shift of the northernmost monsoon boundary. Climatic regime shifts for different time points in the last 200 years were identified. In North China, transitions from dry to wet periods occurred around 1800, 1875, and 1940 while the transitions from wet to dry periods appeared around 1840, 1910, and the late 1970s. The reversal transition in these time points can also be found in the lower Yangtze River. Climatic regime shifts in China were linked to the interaction of mid- and low latitude atmospheric circulations (the westerly flow and the monsoon flow) when they cross the Tibetan Plateau in East Asia.     

Atmospheric chemistry of hydrogen fluoride

Although a large volume of monitoring and computer simulation data exist for global coverage of HF, study of HF in the troposphere is still limited to industry whose primary interest is the safety and risk assessment of HF release because it is a toxic gas. There is very limited information on atmospheric chemistry, emission sources, and the behavior of HF in the environment. We provide a comprehensive review on the atmospheric chemistry of HF, modeling the reactions and transport of HF in the atmosphere, the removal processes in the vertical layer immediately adjacent to the surface (up to approximately 500 m) and recommend research needed to improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry of HF in the troposphere. The atmospheric chemistry, emissions, and surface boundary layer transport of hydrogen fluoride (HF) are summarized. Although HF is known to be chemically reactive and highly soluble, both factors affect transport and removal in the atmosphere, the chemistry can be ignored when the HF concentration is at a sufficiently low level (e.g., 10 ppmv). At a low concentration, the capability for HF to react in the atmosphere is diminished and therefore the species can be mathematically treated as inert during the transport. At a sufficiently high concentration of HF (e.g., kg/s release rate and thousands of ppm), however, HF can go through a series of rigorous chemical reactions including polymerization, depolymerization, and reaction with water to form molecular complex. As such, the HF species cannot be considered as inert because the reactions could intimately influence the plume’s thermodynamic properties affecting the changes in plume temperature and density. The atmospheric residence time of HF was found to be less than four (4) days, and deposition (i.e., atmosphere to surface transport) is the dominant mechanism that controls the removal of HF and its oligomers from the atmosphere. The literature data on HF dry deposition velocity was relatively high compared to many commonly found atmospheric species such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, etc. The global average of wet deposition velocity of HF was found to be zero based on one literature source. Uptake of HF by rain drops is limited by the acidity of the rain drops, and atmospheric particulate matter contributes negligibly to HF uptake. Finally, given that the reactivity of HF at a high release rate and elevated mole concentration cannot be ignored, it is important to incorporate the reaction chemistry in the near-field dispersion close to the proximity of the release source, and to incorporate the deposition mechanism in the far-field dispersion away from the release source. In other words, a hybrid computational scheme may be needed to address transport and atmospheric chemistry of HF in a range of applications. The model uncertainty will be limited by the precision of boundary layer parameterization and ability to accurately model the atmospheric turbulence.     

Multi-Source Emission Determination Using an Inverse-Dispersion Technique

Inverse-dispersion calculations can be used to infer atmospheric emission rates through a combination of downwind gas concentrations and dispersion model predictions. With multiple concentration sensors downwind of a compound source (whose component positions are known) it is possible to calculate the component emissions. With this in mind, a field experiment was conducted to examine the feasibility of such multi-source inferences, using four synthetic area sources and eight concentration sensors arranged in different configurations. Multi-source problems tend to be mathematically ill-conditioned, as expressed by the condition number κ. In our most successful configuration (average κ = 4.2) the total emissions from all sources were deduced to within 10% on average, while component emissions were deduced to within 50%. In our least successful configuration (average κ = 91) the total emissions were calculated to within only 50%, and component calculations were highly inaccurate. Our study indicates that the most accurate multi-source inferences will occur if each sensor is influenced by only a single source. A “progressive” layout is the next best: one sensor is positioned to “see” only one source, the next sensor is placed to see the first source and another, a third sensor is placed to see the previous two plus a third, and so on. When it is not possible to isolate any sources κ is large and the accuracy of a multi-source inference is doubtful.     

How effective is the new generation of GPM satellite precipitation in characterizing the rainfall variability over Malaysia?

We investigated the potential of the new generation of satellite precipitation product from the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) to characterize the rainfall in Malaysia. Most satellite precipitation products have limited ability to precisely characterize the high dynamic rainfall variation that occurred at both time and scale in this humid tropical region due to the coarse grid size to meet the physical condition of the smaller land size, sub-continent and islands. Prior to the status quo, an improved satellite precipitation was required to accurately measure the rainfall and its distribution. Subsequently, the newly released of GPM precipitation product at half-hourly and 0.1° resolution served an opportunity to anticipate the aforementioned conflict. Nevertheless, related evidence was not found and therefore, this study made an initiative to fill the gap. A total of 843 rain gauges over east (Borneo) and west Malaysia (Peninsular) were used to evaluate the rainfall the GPM rainfall data. The assessment covered all critical rainy seasons which associated with Asian Monsoon including northeast (Nov. - Feb.), southwest (May - Aug.) and their subsequent inter-monsoon period (Mar. - Apr. & Sep. - Oct.). The ability of GPM to provide quantitative rainfall estimates and qualitative spatial rainfall patterns were analysed. Our results showed that the GPM had good capacity to depict the spatial rainfall patterns in less heterogeneous rainfall patterns (Spearman’s correlation, 0.591 to 0.891) compared to the clustered one (r = 0.368 to 0.721). Rainfall intensity and spatial heterogeneity that is largely driven by seasonal monsoon has significant influence on GPM ability to resolve local rainfall patterns. In quantitative rainfall estimation, large errors can be primarily associated with the rainfall intensity increment. 77% of the error variation can be explained through rainfall intensity particularly the high intensity (> 35 mm d^-1). A strong relationship between GPM rainfall and error was found from heavy (~35 mm d^-1) to violent rain (160 mm d^-1). The output of this study provides reference regarding the performance of GPM data for respective hydrology studies in this region.     

Seasonal change in body length of important small copepods and relationship with environmental factors in Jiaozhou Bay,China

Differences among species in prosome length and in species’ response to environmental factors do exist. Therefore, it is useful to examine prosome length for different copepod species in variable environments. Seasonal variations in prosome length of four small copepods and their copepodite stages in the Jiaozhou Bay were compared and the relative influence of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll concentration were examined. Two peaks were found in the mean prosome length of Paracalanus parvus (in early winter and May). For Acartia bifilosa, the maximum values of all copepodites occurred mainly from February to April, and decreased to the bottom in July. Prosome length of Acartia pacifica peaked when it first appeared in June, then reached to the minimum in July. Parvocalanus crassirostris only appeared from late summer to autumn and the mean prosome length showed no clear changes. Correlations of adult prosome length with environmental factors were evaluated. For the four species, temperature was negatively correlated to prosome length except for P. crassirostris. But the different species varied markedly in their responds to temperature. A. bifilosa showed a more definite trend of size variation with temperature than P. parvus and A. pacifica. Correlations of prosome length with salinity were significantly positive for almost all the small copepods. The relationship between chlorophyll concentration and prosome length was complicated for these copepods, but for P. parvus, chlorophyll concentration was also an important affecting factor. Furthermore, investigation needs to be done on food quality for some copepod. These results are essential to estimate the biomass and the production, and to understand these small copepods’ population dynamics in this human-affected bay.     

A sulfotransferase specific to N-21 of gonyautoxin 2/3 from crude enzyme extraction of toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense CI01

Sulfotransferase (ST) is the first enzyme discovered in association with paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxin biosynthesis in toxic dinoflagellates. This study investigates the ST activity in crude enzyme extraction of a toxic dinoflagellate species, Alexandrium tamarense CI01. The results show that crude enzyme can transfer a sulfate group from 3’-phosphoadenosine 5’-phosphosulfate (PAPS) to N-21 in the carbamoyl group of gonyautoxin 2/3 (GTX2/3) to produce C1/C2, but is inactive toward STX to produce GTX5. The crude enzyme is optimally active at pH 6.0 and 15°C. The activity is enhanced by Co2 , Mg2 , Mn2 and Ca2 individually, but is inhibited by Cu2 . Moreover, the activity shows no difference when various sulfur compounds are used as sulfate donors. These results demonstrate that the ST specific to GTX2/3 is present in the cells of A. tamarense CI01 and is involved in PSP toxin biosynthesis. In addition, the ST from different dinoflagellates is species-specific, which explains well the various biosynthesis pathways of the PSP toxins in toxic dinoflagellates.     

塔里木盆地顺北地区11号走滑断裂带变形及其活动特征

塔里木盆地顺北地区发育大量走滑断裂带,并对油气的运聚成藏有重要控制作用.以顺北西部地区地震资料为基础,对顺北11号走滑断裂带的几何变形特征、活动性、活动期次及其形成机制等进行了分析.顺北11号走滑断裂带整体呈NNW走向延伸,具有垂向分层性和平面分段性.断裂带北段主体为压扭和张扭交互段,中段为两条次级断层控制的拉分地堑,...     

西北太平洋九州-帕劳海脊北部KPR12岩芯40万年来有机碳来源、埋藏特征及其环境响应

西北太平洋海陆相互作用强烈,受黑潮和亚洲大陆风尘输入影响显著,是研究海洋沉积物中有机碳埋藏与陆源输入、海洋初级生产力和海洋环境演化关系的理想靶区。本研究基于采自九州-帕劳海脊北部的重力活塞647 cm长的KPR12岩芯,分析了总有机碳（TOC）、总氮（TN）、有机碳稳定碳同位素组成（δ¹³C_TOC）、蛋白石（Opal）以及粒度等指标,初步探讨了近40万年来轨道尺度沉积有机碳的来源、埋藏特征及其影响机制。岩芯的TOC含量平均值为0.214%,呈冰期较高、间冰期较低的旋回特征。岩芯沉积物粒度的不同端元反映了研究区风尘输入大致呈冰期较高的趋势。岩芯的δ¹³C_TOC（-25.24‰~-21.04‰,平均值为-22.59‰）显示有机质以海源为主（约62%）,海源有机碳含量趋势与TOC的变化一致。研究区不同时期陆源物质的输入受风尘输送和黑潮的综合控制,黑潮增强可能对该区间冰期陆源有机碳贡献的升高有一定影响。岩芯中TOC与Opal含量的相关性分析表明,海洋初级生产力可能不是控制该岩芯有机碳含量变化的主要原因。冰期-间冰期旋回中的深层水通风条件、黑潮和北太平洋中层水的发育以及陆源细颗粒物质输入可能共同影响着本区沉积有机碳的降解与埋藏保存。