Studies on wind environment around high buildings in urban areas

High buildings or architectural complex in urban areas remarkably distort the urban surface wind fields. As the air flow approaches,local strong wind may appear around the buildings. The strong wind makes the pedestrians on sidewalks, entrances and terrace very uncomfortable and causes the pedestrian level wind environment problem. In this studies, hot-wire wind measurement, wind scouring in wind tunnel and numerical computation were carried out to evaluate the wind environment of tall buildings in the prevailing flow conditions in Beijing areas. The results obtained by three techniques were compared and mutually verified. The conclusions drawn from three approaches agree with each other. Also the advantages and limitations of each method were analyzed. It is suggested that the combination of different techniques may produce better assessment of wind environment around high buildings.     

The diurnal and seasonal characteristics of urban heat island variation in Beijing city and surrounding areas and impact factors based on remote sensing satellite data

Based on the land surface temperature (LST), the land cover classification map,vegetation coverage, and surface evapotranspiration derived from EOS-MODIS satellite data, and by the use of GIS spatial analytic technique and multivariate statistical analysis method, the urban heat island (UHI) spatial distribution of the diurnal and seasonal variabilities and its driving forces are studied in Beijing city and surrounding areas in 2001. The relationships among UHI distribution and landcover categories, topographic factor, vegetation greenness, and surface evapotranspiration are analyzed. The results indicate that: (i) The significant UHI occur in Beijing city areas in the four seasons due to high heat capacity and multi-reflection of compression building, as well as with special topographic features of its three sides surrounded by mountains,especially in the summer. The UHI spatial distribution is corresponding with the urban geometry structure profile. The LST difference is approximately 4-6℃ between Beijing city and suburb areas, comparatively is 8- 10℃ between Beijing city area and outer suburb area in northwestern regions. (ii) The UHI distribution and intensity in daytime are different from nighttime in Beijing city area, the nighttime UHI is obvious. However, in the daytime, the significant UHI mainly appears in the summer, the autumn takes second place, and the UHI in the winter and the spring seem not obvious. The surface evapotranspiration in suburb areas is larger than that in urban areas in the summer, and high latent heat exchange is evident, which leads to LST difference between city area and suburb area. (iii) The reflection of surface landcover categories is sensitive to the UHI, the correlation between vegetation greenness and UHI shows obviously negative.The scatterplot shows that there is the negative correlation between NDVI and LST (R2 = 0.6481).The results demonstrate that the vegetation greenness is an important factor for reducing the UHI,and large-scale construction of greenbelts can considerably reduce the UHI effect.     

Research relevance, 'knowledge transfer' and the geographies of CASE studentship collaboration

The Co-operative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) studentship programme of the UK Research Councils provide one example of wider efforts internationally to encourage so-called 'knowledge transfer' and thereby harness publicly supported university research more closely to the goals of national competitiveness, regional economic development and local regeneration. In this paper we describe the implications of how the various UK research councils have interpreted the objectives and beneficiaries of 'knowledge transfer', both for the relative opportunities available to human and physical geographers for collaboration through CASE and for the sorts of values that their research must serve. Then, we draw on unpublished data from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to explore the geographies of CASE studentship allocation and participation. The broad regional and institutional patterns of participation we describe have important implications for ongoing debates in the UK about research selectivity and the role of the university as an engine of local development, while the striking disciplinary patterns of CASE participation, and in particular the overwhelming success of geographers in this competitive programme, provide an opportunity to reassess claims about whether and for whom geographical research is relevant.     

Representing and communicating deep uncertainty in climate-change assessments

IPCC reports provide a synthesis of the state of the science in order to inform the international policy process. This task is made difficult by the presence of deep uncertainty in the climate problem that results from long time scales and complexity. This paper focuses on how deep uncertainty can be effectively communicated. We argue that existing schemes do an inadequate job of communicating deep uncertainty and propose a simple approach that distinguishes between various levels of subjective understanding in a systematic manner. We illustrate our approach with two examples. To cite this article: M. Kandlikar et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

南水北调地下水回补对潮白河冲洪积扇中上部地表形变响应及控制因素

2014年南水进京后,持续开展地下水回补对于遏制和减缓地面沉降发展起到重要作用,但地下水回升由此带来的不同区域、不同层位的地面沉降与回弹机制及其控制因素尚不明确。深入探讨和研究回补时间、回补量、回补地点与水位及地表形变之间的关系,了解地表形变发生机理和识别主控因素,为后续如何科学回补,发挥最大化水资源回补效益、对地面沉降防治和超采区治理具有极其重要意义。本文以潮白河冲洪积扇中上部区域为例,采用永久散射体差分干涉测量（PS InSAR）技术获取研究区地面沉降形变信息,并结合区域分层地下水位动态变化、分层沉降变化等多手段进行耦合,查明研究区地表形变与多因素之间的响应与控制因素。结果表明:南水持续回补导致区域地面沉降减缓,并在牛栏山地区出现地表抬升,抬升范围也随着水位上升逐渐向中下游扩展,2022年最大回弹速率达46.9 mm/a;地表形变具有明显的受断裂所控制的第四系沉积差异特性,以黄庄—高丽营断裂、顺义断裂和南口—孙河断裂所分割的后沙峪凹陷范围内变化明显大于其他地区;地下水位变幅与富水性差异决定水位上升范围与响应变化,而沉积构造作用所造成第四系沉积差异在地下水流向上具有一定控制作用。结果为地面沉降防控和机理研究提供理论和科学依据,同时也为后续开展地下水科学回补和方案优化提供指导和借鉴。     

四川盆地东缘寒武系盐下油气勘探领域探讨

地球物理资料显示四川盆地东缘齐岳山附近寒武系高台组膏盐岩层下深部存在逆冲构造,其形成过程以及油气地质意义未见深入研究。笔者等综合四川盆地东部石柱地区线束三维和建南地区二维地震反射资料,并结合钻井资料以及区域地质研究成果,从构造继承性的角度探讨四川盆地震旦系灯影组台缘带类型,并分析了川东地区寒武系盐下油气圈闭特征。研究获得如下认识：①川东齐岳山北段构造变形强烈,普遍发育基底卷入构造,构造样式受青白口纪—南华纪裂谷与转换带构造位置的控制。②依据构造继承关系将盆内灯影组台缘带划分为德阳—安岳地区原生型台缘带、万源—达州地区继承型台缘带以及石柱地区继承—改造型台缘带。③依据青白口纪—南华纪裂谷的分布和后期构造作用影响大小,认为沿齐岳山向南至南川一带存在与石柱地区相似的灯影组继承—改造型台缘带,忠县、南川以西存在灯影组继承型台缘带。④研究区新元古界—下寒武统烃源岩、灯影组—龙王庙组滩相白云岩储层与寒武系膏盐岩层系构成完整的生储盖组合。⑤寒武系盐下基底逆冲可形成成排、成带的构造,与灯影组继承—改造型台缘带、龙王庙组滩相白云岩储层配置,形成断层相关的构造—岩性圈闭带,成为川东地区油气规模聚集有利区。研究认为四川盆地东部石柱地区震旦纪—早寒武世早期继承了青白口纪—南华纪裂谷构造特征,燕山期构造反转,高台组盐下形成基底卷入逆冲构造,具备生储盖等基本石油地质条件,具有重要的油气勘探现实意义。     

晚中更新世以来武威盆地沉积特征——基于WV3 钻孔的释光年代学研究

青藏高原东北缘河西走廊形成了一系列新生代盆地,是研究盆地沉积演化的重要区域。武威盆地位于河西走廊东部,盆地内沉积了较厚的新生代冲洪积地层。为了厘清武威盆地晚中更新世以来的沉积演化历史,笔者等在武威盆地石羊河中上游处钻取了长207 m的WV3 钻孔岩心,获得了上部17 m岩心的 19 个钾长石两步法 pIR200IR290 年龄和 2 个多步法 MET-pIRIR 年龄,结合粒度资料,重建了武威盆地石羊河流域中下游晚中更新世以来的光释光年代学框架和沉积历史。结果表明：两步法 pIR200IR290 和多步法MET-pIRIR年龄在误差范围内一致。220~128 ka时期,沉积速率最小,为 0.35 mm/ka,水动力条件较强,以侵蚀为主;128~108 ka (MIS 5d、MIS 5e) 时期沉积速率为 1.94 mm/ka,沉积物粒径由粗变细,表明此时水动力条件由强变弱;末次冰盛期到全新世早期 (19~9 ka) 沉积速率为2.78 mm/ka,沉积物粒径较细,表明此时水动力条件较弱,沉积速率最大,沉积为主。该地区新构造运动比较活跃,在末次间冰期至末次冰盛期期间存在逆冲活动。该研究对于揭示晚中更新世以来祁连山东北部石羊河流域沉积演化特征具有重要意义。     

Effect of shipping activity on warming trends in the Canadian Arctic

This paper presents a detailed account of the effect of shipping activity on the increasing trends of air temperatures in the Canadian Arctic region for the period of 1980–2018. Increasing trend of temperature has gained significant attention with respect to shipping activities and sea ice area in the Canadian Arctic. Temperature, sea ice area and shipping traffic datasets were investigated, and simple linear regression analyses were conducted to predict the rate of change(per decade) of the average temperature, considering winter(January) and summer(July) seasons. The results indicate that temperature generally increased over the studied region. Significant warming trend was observed during July, with an increase of up to 1℃, for the Canadian Arctic region. Such increasing trend of temperature was observed during July from the lower to higher latitudes. The increase in temperature during July is speculated to increase the melting of ice. Results also show a decline in sea ice area has a significant positive effect on the shipping traffic, and the numbers of marine vessel continue to increase in the region. The increase in temperature causes the breaking of sea ice due to shipping activities over northern Arctic Canada.