北极Barrow地区几种冻原植物的花粉形态

本文研究了北极巴罗 (Barrow)地区 1 2种冻原植物的花粉形态 ,它们的形状有球形、近球形、扁球形茧形和四合体型 ,其萌发孔有三孔沟、三沟、二合沟以及散孔等类型。花粉具辐射对称和两侧对称两种类型。这些花粉的植物体是北极冻原地区常见的植物 ,分属于 1 2个科 ,除 3种为小灌木外 ,大多数为多年生或一年生草本植物。这些冻原植物花粉形态的研究为恢复北极地区古植被和古气候的研究 ,提供了有价值的对比资料和依据。     

影响北极地区迅速变化的一些关键过程研究

最近研究证明 ,近半个世纪来 ,北极地区正在发生迅速变化。部分地区温度上升了 2- 3°C ,北冰洋海冰退缩 5 %,中心地区海冰厚度变薄 ,海面压力降低 ,中上层水淡化和变暖 ,吸收CO2 能力增加 ,臭氧耗损和紫外线辐射增强。中国于 1 999年开展了“中国首次北极科学考察” ,在楚科奇海、加拿大海盆、白令海以及临近海域开展了海冰气相互作用的多学科综合考察 ,对北极的区域特征及其在全球变化中的作用研究获得一些新的认识。观测到加拿大海盆中层水持续增暖的现象 ,揭示了西北冰洋与白令海水体交换的途径和次表层暖水结构 ,发现了加拿大海盆是北冰洋河水的主要储存区。利用联合冰站观测数据 ,模拟了北冰洋夏季大气边界层结构和下垫面能量平衡的变化特征 ,定量给出了北冰洋夏季海 /气和冰 /气之间湍流通量和边界层参数的差异。海 /气CO2 的通量观测表明 ,考察区的大部分海域均为大气CO2 汇区 ;西北冰洋海冰区具有较高的生物泵运转效率 ,楚科奇海陆架是一个高效的有机碳“汇”区 ,寒冷水体中微生物活动并未受到明显抑制。沉积物的地球化学过程研究表明 ,海底表层沉积物中碘含量存在着由低纬度到高纬度增加趋势 ,北极地区可能是碘的汇区 ,碘可作为极区古海洋中的地球化学元素变化的重要指标。楚科奇海、白令海     

北极楚科奇海海冰特征研究——以1999年夏季为例

对北冰洋楚科奇海海冰分布、厚度、气/冰/海界面温度场观测,钻取海冰冰芯,观测冰结构的变化,发现3种海冰组合结构: 1)表面融化型; 2)表面和底部融化型; 3)整体融化型. 海冰结构形成的热力学过程为:在气/冰界面上,海冰上表面吸收辐射能使冰体升温,出现表面融化; 在冰/海水界面上,海冰盘与开阔水域的相间分布、相对运动,将周围温度较高的水体输送到海冰的底部,加热、融化海冰底部; 冰体升温,冰晶间盐水膜首先融化,分离冰晶,破坏海冰整体结构. 冰的相变吸热,使其温度维持在融点, 这些过程均衡了夏季北冰洋的温度变化.     

SIMULATION ON CLIMATIC VARIATION OF ARCTIC SEA ICE THROUGH AN ICE-OCEAN COUPLED MODEL*

An ocean model developed by the Institute of Marine Research and the University of Bergen in Norway (BOM) and a state-of-the-art sea ice model developed by NCAR (CSIM4) are coupled, Considering influences of 9 major rivers,forced by the NCEP reanalysis atmospheric fields and the Levitus surface salinity,the Arctic sea ice climatic variation from January 1949 to December.1999 was simulated through the coupled model.The comparison of simulated results and observations shows that:(1)the long-term ice concentration variation tendencies are in consistent with the observations in the divisional ocean regions;(2)simulated ice thickness horizontal distribution is reasonable.Simulated ice thickness has a decreasing tendency in the central Arctic,which agrees with the submarine observations.Simulated annually maximum ice thickness is highly related to observed fast-ice thickness off the Russian coast;and (3)sea ice area/volume fluxes through the Fram Strait are in accord with the satellite-derived data.Generally,the coupled model successfully simulated the Arctic Ocean sea ice climatic variation.     

Characteristics of pCO_2 in surface water of the Bering Abyssal Plain and their effects on carbon cycle in the western Arctic Ocean

The global warming has obviously been causingthe Arctic sea ice shrinking and thinning during thelast 30 years, which would increase free ice waters andenhance biological productivity. These changes willimpact the source and sink of carbon in the ArcticOcean and subarctic waters as well as a feedback tothe global change[1—3]. The Chukchi Sea is located in the southwest ofthe western Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea in thenorthwest of the North Pacific Ocean. Both seas are 1997—2001) and…     

Chemistry of Aerosols over Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea

The contents of elements in aerosols sampled during the First Chinese Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE-1) show great differences from one element to another. Na, K,Ca, Mg, A1, F, and Cl are the major components in the aerosols, whose contents are larger than 30 ng/m^3. The chemical elements whose contents vary between 0.1 - 30 ng/m^3 are Br,Sr, Cr, Ni, and Zn. The chemical elements whose contents are close to or slightly higher than 0.1 ng/m^3 are Rb, Ba, Zr, Th, and Pb. The contents of As, Sb, W, Mo, Au, La, Ce, Nd,Sin, Eu, Tb, Yb, Lu, Sc, Co, Hf, Ta, and Cd are less than 0.1 ng/m^3. The mass concentration data for the same element, as observed during CHINARE-1, are almost accordant, but much lower than what is observed in the China‘ s seas or the coasts of China. The enrichment factor and electron microscopic analyses and lead isotope tracing were used to distinguish their sources.Four groups of sources can be classified as follows: anthropogenic: As, Sb, W, F, Mo, Au,Cu, Pb, Cd, V; crustal: La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Yb, Lu, Fe, Sc, Cr, Co, Ba, Zr, Hf,Ta, Cs, Mn, Th, U; oceanic:Na, K, Ca, and Mg; and mixing: Rb, Sr, Ca, and Mg.     

A 300 year record of environmental change from Lake Tuborg, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Lamination thickness measurements in sediments from Lake Tuborg, northern Ellesmere Island, Canada document an increase in high-energy hydrologic discharge events from ∼1865 to 1962. The timing of these events corresponds with evidence for an increase in the amount of melt on the adjacent Agassiz Ice Cap, as recorded in ice cores. There appears to have been a non-linear change in depositional energy resulting from a dramatic increase in Agassiz meltwater discharge, particularly after ∼1908. A strong correlation between the Lake Tuborg varve thickness record, the amount of melting on the Agassiz Ice Cap and Eureka 900 mb air temperature records suggests that changes in the height of the freezing level in the atmosphere have affected the extent of summer melting on the Agassiz Ice Cap, leading to high volume discharge events and associated sediment flux to Lake Tuborg.     

Distribution and Autecology of Chrysophyte Cysts from High Arctic Svalbard Lakes: Preliminary Evidence of Recent Environmental Change

Chrysophycean stomatocyst assemblages were analysed from the sediments of 17 lakes and ponds from Svalbard as one component of a multi-proxy investigation of recent environmental change in the high Arctic. Sediment cores and water chemistry were collected from each of the study lakes, and chrysophyte stomatocysts were investigated from the top 0.25 cm of sediment (present-day) and bottom (i.e., bottom of short sediment core, pre-industrial) sediment samples. This study represents the first undertaking of chrysophyte cyst morphology and distribution on Svalbard. A total of 153 cyst morphotypes were described with light microscopy and/or scanning electron microscopy, of which 21 are new forms. Canonical correspondence analysis indicates that the present-day distribution of cysts is significantly related to pH (p= 0.02), altitude (p= 0.02), and Na⁺ (p= 0.04). Marked shifts in chrysophyte cyst assemblages were recorded between the top and bottom sediment samples of most lakes. A recent study has demonstrated that Svalbard lakes receive atmospheric contaminants from both local and remote sources. The observed assemblage shifts may be the result of the combined effects of these point sources and long-range pollutants, or the effects of recent climate change, or both.     

Drought 2002 in Colorado: An Unprecedented Drought or a Routine Drought?

The 2002 drought in Colorado was reported by the media and by public figures, and even by a national drought-monitoring agency, as an exceptionally severe drought. In this paper we examine evidence for this claim. Our study shows that, while the impacts of water shortages were exceptional everywhere, the observed precipitation deficit was less than extreme over a good fraction of the state. A likely explanation of this discrepancy is the imbalance between water supply and water demand over time. For a given level of water supply, water shortages become intensified as water demands increase over time. The sobering conclusion is that Colorado is more vulnerable to drought today than under similar precipitation deficits in the past.     

Benthic communities as influenced by nuclear testing and radioactive waste disposal off Novaya Zemlya in the Russian Arctic

On the material of sampling, accomplished in: (i) Chernaya Inlet of the Barents Sea (one of the flats of Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site), (ii) in the Open Kara Sea and (iii) on the shoal off Novaya Zemlya from Stepovogo Fjord to Abrosimov Fjord (sites of radioactive waste disposal with activity 90% from total for the Kara Sea), characteristics of macro-, meio- and microbenthic bottom communities on the areas of potential radioactive danger are presented. Significant changes in macro- and meiobenthic communities are not revealed. In Chernaya Inlet, where three nuclear explosions were held in 1955–1961, disturbances in microbenthic protozoa communities are found. These disturbances expressed in the infusoria elimination from the fauna of the inlet deep-water sites and in morphological abnormality of this group individuals in population, inhabiting low depth of the inlet top. The assumed origin of revealed disturbances is high concentration (by 3–4 orders of magnitude above the background) of plutonium in bottom sediments of the inlet. Similar responses of the microbenthic flagellates are not detected.