Assessing the Comparability of Ammonium,Nitrate and Sulfate Concentrations Measured by Three Air Quality Monitoring Networks

Airborne fine particulate matter across the United States is monitored by different networks, the three prevalent ones presently being the Clean Air Status and Trend Network (CASTNet), the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environment Network (IMPROVE) and the Speciation and Trend Network (STN). If combined, these three networks provide speciated fine particulate data at several hundred locations throughout the United States. Yet, differences in sampling protocols and samples handling may not allow their joint use. With these concerns in mind, the objective of this study is to assess the spatial and temporal comparability of the sulfate, nitrate and ammonium concentrations reported by each of these networks. One of the major differences between networks is the sampling frequency they adopted. While CASTNet measures pollution levels on seven-day integrated samples, STN and IMPROVE data pertain to 24-hour samples collected every three days. STN and IMPROVE data therefore exhibit considerably more short-term variability than their CASTNet counterpart. We show that, despite their apparent incongruity, averaging the data with a window size of four to six weeks is sufficient to remove the effects of differences in sampling frequency and duration and allow meaningful comparison of the signals reported by the three networks of concern. After averaging, all the sulfate and, to a lesser degree, ammonium concentrations reported are fairly similar. Nitrate concentrations, on the other hand, are still divergent. We speculate that this divergence originates from the different types of filters used to collect particulate nitrate. Finally, using a rotated principal component technique (RPCA), we determined the number and the geographical organization of the significant temporal modes of variation (clusters) detected by each network for the three pollutants of interest. For sulfate and ammonium, the clusters’ geographical boundaries established for each network and the modes of variations within each cluster seem to correspond. RPCA erformed on nitrate concentrations revealed that, for the CASTNet and IMPROVE networks, the modes of variation do not correspond to unified geographical regions but are found more sporadically. For STN, the clustered areas are unified and easily delineable. We conclude that the possibility of jointly using the data collected by CASTNet, IMPROVE and STN has to be weighed pollutant by pollutant. While sulfate and ammonium data show some potential for joint use, at this point, combining the nitrate data from these monitoring networks may not be a judicious choice.     

Observed Evolution of Linear and Nonlinear Effects at the Dahan Downhole Array,Taiwan: Analysis of the September 21, 1999 M 7.3 Chi-Chi Earthquake Sequence

— In this paper, the site characteristics of the Dahan downhole array are studied by analyzing the September 21, 1999 M 7.3 Chi-Chi earthquake sequence including the main shock and some aftershocks. The four-level array (0 m, 50 m, 100 m and 200 m) is located to the north of Hualien City in eastern Taiwan. Polarization analysis is used to check the orientation errors of the seismometers at different levels of depth. If the surface instrument is chosen as reference, the angle between the major polarization axes of the surface and any downhole records is the orientation error that must be corrected for the downhole accelerographs. The orientation errors at depths of 50 m, 100 m and 200 m are 32°, 120° and –84°. After the corrections, the coherency between the surface and downhole records is substantially improved. Spectral ratio analysis shows that the predominant frequency of the Chi-Chi main shock shifts to a lower frequency. We also simulate ground motions at different depths by using the Haskell method with a linear velocity structure model. The record at surface is chosen as the input motion. Compared with the observed data, ground acceleration can be well reproduced for the aftershocks (weak-motion events) of the September 21, 1999 M 7.3 Chi-Chi earthquake. However, for the Chi-Chi main shock, the synthetic waveform cannot match well with the observation neither in amplitude nor in phase. This indicates that large ground shaking probably induced the nonlinear site effect at that time, and the model used cannot support it.Acknowledgement. The authors would like to express their thanks to Dr. L.F. Bonilla and one anonymous reviewer for their valuable suggestions. This research was supported by the National Science Council under grant number NSC 89-2921-M-194-007. The Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica supplied the strong-motion data. The support of these organizations is gratefully acknowledged.     

Hydrogeochemistry of karst underground waters at shallow depth in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province

The aim of this study is to shed light on the hydrogeochemical characteristics of karst underground waters at shallow depth in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province with an emphasis on the geochemistry of major elements. Guiyang City bears abundant underground waters and it is also an important representative of the karst areas throughout the world. Ca^2 and Mg^2 are the dominant cations, accounting for 81% -99.7% of the total, and HCO3^- and SO4^2- are the dominant anions. Weathering of limestones and dolostones is the most important factor controlling the hydrogeochemistry of underground waters, and weathering of sulfate and evaporite rocks is less important. Moreover, the precipitation and human activities also have a definite influence on the hydrogeoehemistry of underground waters in the region studied.     

云南东北部拱王山末次冰期

1 Introduction The Gongwang mountains constitute one of the few high m ountains of irrefutable late Pleistocene glaciation in eastern China. This area is one of the m ost extensively studied Quaternary geologicallocationsin eastern China and the interpret…     

Land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River, northeast Qinghai-Xizang Plateau: classification and evaluation

Land degradation imposes a great threat to the world. It is not merely an environmental issue, but also a social and economic problem. Land desertification is among the main aspects of environment changes in the source region of the Yellow River. Previous studies focused on water resource utilization and soil erosion, but land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River even the whole Qinghai-Xizang Plateau received little attention. Based on the data obtained by field investigation and TM satellite images of 2000, this study provides the classification and evaluation information of the land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River. There are six types of land degradation in this region: water erosion in the northern mountains around the Gonghe Basin, sandy desertification in the Gonghe Basin and Upland Plain Area, aridization in the lower reaches, salinization in the Gonghe Basin, vegetation degradation in the intramontance basin and freezing and thawing erosion in the high mountains. The total degraded area is 34,429.6 km², making up 37.5% of the land in the study area. Finally, land degradation in the source region of the Yellow River was evaluated according to changes in the physical structure and chemical component of soils, land productivity, secondary soil salt and water conditions.     

三峡库区巴东县城附近主要滑坡边界轨迹分形分维特征与滑坡稳定性关系

为了探索复杂滑坡轨迹结构演化及其稳定性定量分析计算的新途径，本文利用分形分维理论，分析三峡库区巴东县城附近滑坡边界轨迹的几何分形结构，并采用盒维数法分别求得巴东县城附近11个滑坡边界轨迹的分维值，计算结果表明：每个滑坡的轨迹结构具有其特征性的分维值，轨迹结构越复杂，结构层次越清楚，分维值越高；其中，榨房坪滑坡和黄腊石滑坡的分维值最高，分别为1.50和1.483，西壤口和谭家湾滑坡的分维值最低，分别为0.925和0.732；而黄土坡和赵树岭滑坡的分维值介于二者之间，分别为1.111和1.091。结合典型滑坡边界轨迹结构演化与滑坡稳定性关系的定性分析及前期滑坡稳定性定量计算和模拟分析，初步揭示：滑坡边界轨迹结构与稳定性是密切相关的，滑坡边界轨迹宏观扩展增值越明显，轨迹结构越复杂，分维值越高，其稳定性条件也越差，因此，分数维可作为衡量滑坡轨迹结构复杂性和稳定性的重要标志；滑坡边界轨迹宏观扩展变形存在一个极限，超过这个极限滑坡的局部失稳就转化为整体滑动；而滑坡边界轨迹则记录了滑坡变形扩展现象和信息，因此，相对应地滑坡轨迹分形结构的分维值也应存在一个极值，在极值点滑坡体处于临滑状态；滑坡边界轨迹结构的极限分维值大致为1.4～1.5，此时滑坡接近于整体极限失稳状态，而分维值在1.1～1.3之间则表示滑坡处于整体稳定，局部存在潜在失稳状态，分维值小于1则表示滑坡处于相对稳定状态。     

基于MATLAB的自主水下航行器经典控制算法仿真分析

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适用于不同基线条件下北斗三频RTK算法研究

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共和盆地壳内部分熔融层存在的地球物理证据与干热岩资源区域性热源分析

新生代以来,共和盆地及其周缘造山带无火山、岩浆活动,印支期隐伏花岗岩体岩浆余热与放射性元素衰变生热等难以构成共和盆地干热岩资源的主要热源,而共和盆地又为一高温地热异常盆地.目前已基本探明了共和县恰卜恰与贵德县热水泉干热岩体2处,圈定出干热岩勘查目标靶区16处.区域重力和区域航磁调查、区域天然地震成像、盆地尺度天然地震背...     

基于TRMM 3B43产品的1998-2016年黄淮海平原降水时空特征研究

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