The influence of geomorphological position and vegetation cover on the erosional and hydrological processes on a Mediterranean hillslope

Soil erosion and runoff rates are assumed to be highly dependent on slope position. However, little knowledge exists about the hydrogeomorphological processes at the pedon scale that support this idea. In order to assess the hydrological and erosional behaviour of soils at different slope positions, simulated rainfall experiments (55 mm was applied during one hour) were carried out on a south-facing slope with underlying limestone in south-east Spain. In the mean terms, the erosion rates (9 g m² hr⁻¹) and the runoff coefficients (12%) were very low at the scale of measurement (0·25 m²). The slope position does not affect erosion rates when the measurements are carried out under extreme dry conditions during summer. The low runoff rates found in summer under thunderstorms of high intensity (5 year return period) and the runon into surfaces with higher infiltration rates resulted in no detectable direct surface runoff (Hortonian) at the slope scale. This implies that erosion as a consequence of surface overland flow will only take place during events of high magnitude (55 mm hr⁻¹) and low frequency (>5 years). Vegetation is the most important factor determining the soil erosion and runoff rates within the slope. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow prediction in high altitude ungauged catchments: A case study in the Italian Alps (Pantano Basin,Adamello Group)

We develop a simple model to evaluate the daily flow discharges in the ablation season for the 11 km² Pantano basin in the Retiche Italian Alps, based upon the data gathered during a three years field campaign. The Pantano basin embeds the Venerocolo debris covered and the Avio debris free glaciers, covering 2.14 km² in the Adamello Group, where the widest Italian glacier Adamello is located. First, degree-day models based upon air temperature are tuned to calculate snow and ice melt at daily scale. Glaciers’ meteorological data are collected from an automatic weather station (AWS), operating on the glacier during summer 2007. The melt factors in the debris covered areas of the glacier are estimated against debris thickness, using a data driven parameterization. The flow discharge from the catchment is estimated using semi distributed flow routing for the ablation seasons of four years, from 2006 to 2009. The predicted discharges are compared to those derived from inverse reservoir's routing at the Benedetto lake, catching the basin outflow. The proposed approach is valuable as a tool to investigate the hydrology of poorly gauged glacierized areas, including those with debris covered ice, widely diffused and yet poorly understood. Pending accurate parameterization the approach is usable for water resources evaluation and for long term assessment of the climate change impact on the glacierized areas within the Alps.     

Quantitative relationship between pollen and vegetation in northern China

205 surface pollen samples from different communities in Northern China were analyzed to understand the quantitative relationship between pollen and its original vegetation. Pollen analysis and vegetation investigation show that the pollen assemblages differ a lot in different vegetation regions. Arboreal pollen account for more than 30% in temperate broad-deciduous forests region. In temperate steppe regions, herb pollen percentages are more than 90%, where Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae are domi- nant pollen types with Artemisia percentages more than 30%. In temperate desert, Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages are more than Artemisia, where ferns are rare. Cyperaceae pollen percentages are more than 20% in sub-alpine or cold meadows. The relations between pollen percentages and vegeta- tion cover indicate that most arboreal pollen shows a close relationship with parent plant covers, most shrubby pollen types have more or less correlations, but most herbs do not show clear correlations. For arboreal pollen types, Picea pollen shows the closest correlation with spruce trees coverage, then is Quercus and Carpinus. Betula, Larix and Juglans have also high correlation coefficients with their plants coverage, but Betula pollen is of overrepresented pollen type and more than 40% in birch forest, while Larix and Juglans pollen is underrepresented and pollen percentages are more than 10% in Larix or Juglans pure forests. Pinus is of overrepresented pollen type, and pollen percentages have some relations with plants cover. Pine forest might present when Pinus pollen percentages are more than 30%. The relations between Ulmus and Populus pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not close, where they are mixed with other arbors, they cannot be recorded easily, but if their pollen percentages are more than 1%, Ulmus or Populus trees should exist. For shrubby pollen types, the correlation be- tween Vitex pollen percentages and vegetation cover is the highest, then is Corylus, Tamariaceae and Nitraria, and their pollen percentages are less than 1% where original plant are absent. Caragana and Spiraea pollen percentages have some relations with vegetation cover. The relations between pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not clear for Rosaceae and Saxifragaceae. For herb pollen types, Cyperaceae pollen has the closest correlation with vegetation cover, where pollen percentages are more than 20% when Cyperaceae are constructive or dominant species in vegetation, and pollen per- centages are less than 5% where Cyperaceae are not constructive or dominant species (cover less than 30%). Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages mainly have close relations with ecological regions. The relations between pollen percentages and cover are not clear for Gramineae, Legumi- nosae and Compositae.     

North Pacific sea ice cover, a predictor for the Western North Pacific typhoon frequency?

The relationship between the sea ice cover in the North Pacific and the typhoon frequency has been studied in this paper. It follows that the index for the sea ice cover in the North Pacific (ISA) both in December-January-February (DJF) and in March-April-May (MAM) is negatively correlated with annual typhoon number over the western North Pacific (TNWNP) during 1965―2004, with correlation coeffi-cients of -0.42 and -0.49 respectively (above 99% significant level). Large sea ice cover in the North Pacific tends to decrease TNWNP. Positive ISA (MAM) is associated with the tropical circulation and SST anomalies in the North Pacific, which may lead to unfavorable dynamic and thermal conditions for typhoon genesis over WNP from June to October (JJASO). The variability of the atmospheric circula-tion over the North Pacific, associated with the ISA anomaly in MAM is connected to the tropical at-mospheric circulation variability in MAM via the teleconnection wave train. Besides, as the tropical circulation has strong seasonal persistency from the MAM to JJASO, thus, the ISA in MAM-related variability of the tropical atmospheric circulation as well as the SST can affect the typhoon activity over the western North Pacific.     

近10 年陕甘宁黄土高原区植被覆盖时空变化特征

基于2000-2009 年MODIS-NDVI 植被覆盖指数, 采用线性趋势分析、Hurst 指数和偏相关系数等数理分析方法, 对陕甘宁地区“退耕还林还草”实施10a 来植被覆盖时空变化特征、影响因素及其未来变化趋势进行分析。结果表明:① 2000-2009 年陕甘宁地区植被覆盖呈现明显增加趋势0.032/10a, 远快于三北防护林工程区1982-2006 年植被覆盖平均增速0.007/10a;② 陕甘宁地区植被恢复具有阶段性, 整体呈“S”型增长, 具有两次明显的植被高恢复期;③ 陕甘宁地区植被恢复以轻微改善为主, 中度改善次之, 呈退化趋势区域比重较小(2.38%), 零星分布于宁南八县、定边东部、甘肃陇东的环县和镇原;④ 陕甘宁地区植被覆盖度逐年提高、生态环境持续改善是人类活动和气候变化共同驱动, 其中人类经济活动作用明显;⑤ 陕甘宁地区植被恢复具有一定的持续性, 未来大部分区域将持续改善, 退化区集中分布于陕北中东部、“彭阳-镇原”南部以及盐池北部。     

雅鲁藏布江中部流域沙地植被的分类和排序

选用模糊聚类分析方法,利用群落组种的相对盖度作为优势度指标,将该区沙地植被划分为22个群系,群系下又划分出了不同的群丛。同时,采用主分量分析(PCA)模型,对10个常见的群落类型进行了二维排序,比较直观和真实地反映了不同群落类型在土壤砾石化程度和土壤潜在肥力2个环境梯度上的分布情况。     

柴达木河都兰区植被覆盖率变化特征

柴达木河都兰区位于青海柴达木盆地东南部,干旱少雨,生态环境脆弱。基于MODIS NDVI数据,应用遥感方法,对都兰区2000—2011年的植被覆盖率进行了计算,并分析了其影响因素。结果表明：研究区内裸土和低覆盖率植被的面积逐年减小,而较低覆盖率、中等覆盖率、较高覆盖率及高覆盖率植被的面积均逐年增加;研究区植被覆盖率与降水及相对湿度呈正相关关系,区域植被生长与地下水埋深的关系较为密切;宗加-诺木洪植被区的地下水埋深范围为0.7～3.5 m,在水埋深为1.7 m的地方,植被长势最好;当研究区的地下水水质矿化度小于3 g·L^-1时,植被发育较好。     

A new MODIS daffy cloud free snow cover mapping algorithm on the Tibetan Plateau

Because of similar reflective characteristics of snow and cloud, the weather status seriously affects snow monitoring using optical remote sensing data. Cloud amount analysis during 2010 to 2011 snow seasons shows that cloud cover is the major limitation for snow cover monitoring using MOD10A1 and MYD10A1. By use of MODIS daily snow cover products and AMSR-E snow wa- ter equivalent products （SWE）, several cloud elimination methods were integrated to produce a new daily cloud flee snow cover product, and information of snow depth from 85 climate stations in Tibetan Plateau area （TP） were used to validate the accuracy of the new composite snow cover product. The results indicate that snow classification accuracy of the new daily snow cover product reaches 91.7% when snow depth is over 3 cm. This suggests that the new daily snow cover mapping algorithm is suitable for monitoring snow cover dynamic changes in TP.     

米槠次生林内4种植物叶片DOM的数量和质量特征

选取福建省三明市米槠次生林内的4种植物,即米槠(CAC),木荷(SCS),山杜英(ELS),芒萁(DID)为研究对象,对其叶片进行了室内淋溶处理,并分析了淋溶液中的可溶性有机碳(DOC)和可溶性有机氮(DON)含量及pH值,芳香性指标(AI)和荧光效率指数(Feff)等,以揭示其淋溶液中可溶性有机质(DOM)的数量和质量特征。结果表明:4种植物叶片DOM含量总体随淋溶次数的增加逐渐减小,其中首次淋溶后淋溶液中的DOC和DON含量最大,分别占总淋溶量的平均值为67.90%和44.51%;淋溶液中前3次DOC和DON淋溶量总和分别占10次淋溶总量的87.40%~94.77%和68.46%~72.49%;且前3次淋溶次数间呈极显著差异(P0.01),其后差异性不显著。DOM的pH值和光谱指标随着淋溶次数的增加逐渐上升.总体上乔木树种DOM的数量和质量比林下植被要高,这是由于乔木树种的DOM含有更多的养分和芳香类和腐殖化的高分子量化合物,而林下植被的DOM含有较多低分子量化合物和易分解组分。