Snow distribution from SSM/I and its relationships to the hydroclimatology of the Mackenzie River Basin,Canada

The spatial and temporal distribution of snow cover extent (SCE) and snow water equivalent (SWE) play vital roles in the hydrology of northern watersheds. We apply remotely sensed Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data from 1988 to 2007 to explore the relationships between snow distribution and the hydroclimatology of the Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) of Canada and its major sub-basins. The Environment Canada (EC) algorithm is adopted to retrieve the SWE from SSM/I data. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 8-day maximum snow cover extent products (MOD10A2) are used to estimate the different thresholds of retrieved SWE from SSM/I to classify the land cover as snow or no snow for various sub-basins in the MRB. The sub-basins have varying topography and hence different thresholds that range from 10 mm to 30 mm SWE. The accuracy of snow cover mapping based on the combination of several thresholds for the different sub-basins reaches ≈ 90%. The northern basins are found to have stronger linear relationships between the date on which snow cover fraction (SCF) reaches 50% or when SWE reaches 50% and mean air temperatures, than the southern basins. Correlation coefficients between SCF, SWE, and hydroclimatological variables show the new SCF products from SSM/I perform better than SWE from SSM/I to analyze the relationships with the regional hydroclimatology. Statistical models relating SCF and SWE to runoff indicate that the SCF and SWE from EC algorithms are able to predict the discharge in the early snow ablation seasons in northern watersheds.     

Physico-chemical characteristics and environmental significance of snow deposition on Haxilegen glacier No.51 in Tian Shan, China

Snow chemistry on the glaciers of alpine regions is a good indicator of atmospheric environmental change.We examine snow chemistry in three snowpits at different altitudes on the Haxilegen Glacier No.51,in the Kuitun River source,Tian Shan,China,during July-September 2004 to 2007.We use correlation analysis,factor analysis and sea-salt tracing methods to examine the characteristics and sources of major ions and mineral dust particles in the snow.Results show that mineral dust particles and major ions in the snow pits vary seasonally.During the Asian dust period in springtime,the concentration of mineral dust particles and major ions deposited in snow is high,while the concentration is relatively low during the non-dust period of summer and autumn.This may be caused by dust storm activity in central Asia.The order of major ionic concentrations in the snow packs was determined to be Ca2+ > SO42-> NH4+ > NO3-> Cl-> Na+ > Mg2+ > K+.Ca2+ was the dominant cation;SO42- was the dominant anion.We find,with the exception of NO3-,that the variabilities of ionic concentrations are highly correlated.Results show that the glacier region was significantly affected by dust activity and anthropogenic source.The major ions,especially Na+,originate from dust sources of central Asia and from the Ocean,transported by the westerly winds.     

巴丹吉林沙漠周边地区近50 a来气候变化特征

 利用巴丹吉林沙漠周边9个气象站的1960—2009年逐月平均气温、平均最高气温、平均最低气温、降水量、平均相对湿度和日照时数及1960—2008年逐月平均风速的观测资料,运用线性回归、滑动平均和Mann-Kendall突变检验分析了该区近50 a来气候变化特征。结果表明,近50 a来,巴丹吉林沙漠周边地区年平均气温以0.40 ℃/10a的速率显著升高;四季平均气温的升高亦很显著,以冬季的升温速率最大;年、季节平均最高气温和平均最低气温均呈显著升高趋势;年、季平均日较差则显著减小,且以最低气温的升温速率大于最高气温的升温速率为特点。年降水量以0.87 mm/10a的速率呈不显著增加趋势;各季节降水量变化略有差异且均不显著,春季降水量略有减少,夏、秋和冬季略有增加。湿润指数的变化不明显,总体来看,年和冬季湿润指数略有增大,春、夏和秋季湿润指数略有减小。年日照时数以34.8 h/10a的速率显著增加,各季节日照时数亦均有增加趋势,其中春季增加最为明显。年平均风速以-0.092 m·s-1·(10a)-1的速率呈显著减小趋势;各季节平均风速均显著减小,以冬季的减小速率最大。     

Landscape Controls on Structural Variation in Eucalypt Vegetation Communities: Woronora Plateau,Australia

Quantification of landscape-based vegetation structural variation and pattern is a significant goal for a variety of ecological, monitoring and biodiversity studies. Vegetation structural metrics, derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS or aerial light detection and ranging—LiDAR) and QuickBird satellite imagery, were used to establish the degree of plot-based vegetation variation at a hillslope scale. Topographic position is an indicator of energy and water availability, and was quantified using DEM-based insolation and topographic wetness, respectively, stratifying areas into hot-warm-cold and wet-moist-dry topographic classes. A range of vegetation metrics—maximum and modal canopy height, crown cover, foliage cover, NDVI and semivariance—were compared among randomly selected plots from each topographic class. NDVI increases with increasing landscape wetness, whereas ALS-derived foliage cover decreases with increasing insolation. Foliage cover is well correlated with crown cover (R ² =0.65), and since foliage cover is readily calculable for whole-of-landscape application, it will provide valuable and complementary information to NDVI. Between-plot heterogeneity increases with increasing wetness and decreasing insolation, indicating that more sampling is required in these locations to capture the full range of landscape-based variability. Pattern analysis in landscape ecology is one of the fundamental requirements of landscape ecology, and the methods described here offer statistically significant, quantifiable and repeatable means to realise that goal at a fine spatial grain.     

地形湿度指数算法误差的定量评价

地形湿度指数(TWI)能够定量指示地形对土壤湿度空间分布的控制,是一种应用广泛的地形属性.目前基于栅格DEM的TWI计算方法结果各异,因此有必要对'TWI算法进行定量评价.对TWI算法通常是应用实际DEM数据进行评价.但实际DEM中存在的数据源误差会干扰对算法误差的评价.针对该问题,本文介绍了一种用不含数据源误差的人造...     

A land surface data assimilation framework using the land information system: Description and applications

The Land Information System (LIS) is an established land surface modeling framework that integrates various community land surface models, ground measurements, satellite-based observations, high performance computing and data management tools. The use of advanced software engineering principles in LIS allows interoperability of individual system components and thus enables assessment and prediction of hydrologic conditions at various spatial and temporal scales. In this work, we describe a sequential data assimilation extension of LIS that incorporates multiple observational sources, land surface models and assimilation algorithms. These capabilities are demonstrated here in a suite of experiments that use the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) and assimilation through direct insertion. In a soil moisture experiment, we discuss the impact of differences in modeling approaches on assimilation performance. Provided careful choice of model error parameters, we find that two entirely different hydrological modeling approaches offer comparable assimilation results. In a snow assimilation experiment, we investigate the relative merits of assimilating different types of observations (snow cover area and snow water equivalent). The experiments show that data assimilation enhancements in LIS are uniquely suited to compare the assimilation of various data types into different land surface models within a single framework. The high performance infrastructure provides adequate support for efficient data assimilation integrations of high computational granularity.     

Time–space continuity of daily maps of fractional snow cover and albedo from MODIS

Using reflectance values from the seven MODIS “land” bands with 250 or 500 m resolution, along with a corresponding cloud product, we estimate the fraction of each 500 m pixel that snow covers, along with the albedo of that snow. The daily products have data gaps and errors because of cloud cover and sensor viewing geometry. Rather than make users interpolate and filter these patchy daily maps without completely understanding the retrieval algorithm and instrument properties, we use the daily time series to improve the estimate of the measured snow properties for a particular day. We use a combination of noise filtering, snow/cloud discrimination, and interpolation and smoothing to produce our best estimate of the daily snow cover and albedo. We consider two modes: one is the “predictive” mode, whereby we estimate the snow-covered area and albedo on that day using only the data up to that day; the other is the “retrospective” mode, whereby we reconstruct the history of the snow properties for a previous period.     

小五台山亚高山景观尺度水热条件与植被关系

以河北省小五台山为研究区,通过转化糖方法获取亚高山不同景观部位效应温度,结合DEM模型模拟研究区内太阳直接辐射以及土壤湿润度系数,进而构建生境干燥度指数。以此为基础,在景观尺度上定量分析研究区内亚高山带水热条件与森林和亚高山草甸植被分布格局的关系。结果表明,① 研究区域中森林分布地段生境的太阳直接辐射,效应温度和干燥度指数都显著低于草甸分布地段,土壤水分系数则恰恰相反;② 综合太阳直接辐射或效应温度与土壤湿润度系数的干燥度指数统计分析结果,优于分别以各个因子单独进行分析的结果;③ 在植被格局的形成中,干燥度起着至关重要的作用,这与在水平地带中,森林与草原植被的分布格局受干燥度控制的规律相一致。     

黄土高原西部土壤水分时空变化模拟研究——以安家坡流域为例

土壤水作为陆地水循环和水量平衡的一个重要组成部分,在土壤-植被-大气连续体物质与能量转化中起着重要的作用,成为陆面过程研究中的重要参量.选择黄土高原西部的安家坡流域,采用多点长序列观测方法,对该区域土壤水分的时空变化规律进行研究.结果表明:坡向和土地利用类型是小流域土壤水分变异的重要影响因素,得出了不同立地条件下土壤水分的剖面变化与时间的动态规律.在此基础上,利用土壤湿度指数结合主要影响因素预测土壤水分的时空变化,旨在为黄土高原大中尺度的土壤水分模拟提供思路.     

青藏高原腹地1985年雪灾成因分析

分析了１９８５年１０月青藏高原腹地一次特大雪灾的地面气象要素场及卫星辐射场特征,并对生成重雪灾的原因进行了初步探讨。结果表明：此次雪灾的范围与过程,降水量≥８ｍｍ与积雪深度≥５ｃｍ的范围基本一致,雪盖的后延冷却效应较强,持续时间近５个月;卫星辐射资料的分析计算结果表明,地气系统净辐射收支中行星以照率起入导作用。１１月积雪中心区域各因子均达极值－行星反照率距平高达１６％,ＯＬＲ距平值减小－１４．６Ｗ