Holocene initiation and expansion of the southern margins of northern peatlands triggered by the East Asian summer monsoon recession

Northern peatlands represent one of the largest biospheric carbon reservoirs in the world. Their southern margins act as new carbon reservoirs, which can greatly influence the global carbon dynamics. However, the Holocene initiation, expansion and climate sensitivity of these peatlands remain intensely debated. Here we used a compilation of basal peat ages across six isolated peatlands at the southern margins of northern peatlands to address these issues. We found that the earliest initiation event of these peatlands occurred after the Younger Dryas (YD, 12,800–11,700 years ago) period. The second initiation event and rapid expansion occurred since 5 ka cal. BP. The recession of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during the YD period and at around 5 ka cal. BP likely played a major role in controlling the initiation and expansion of these peatlands. The rapid expansion of these peatlands possibly contributed to the significant increases in atmospheric methane concentrations during the late Holocene because of the minerotrophic fens status and rapid expansion of them. These ecological processes are different from northern peatlands, indicating the special carbon sink and source implications of these peatlands in the global carbon cycle.     

Under the surface: Pressure-induced planetary-scale waves,volcanic lightning,and gaseous clouds caused by the submarine eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano

We present a narrative of the eruptive events culminating in the cataclysmic January 15, 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano by synthesizing diverse preliminary seismic, volcanological, sound wave, and lightning data available within the first few weeks after the eruption occurred. The first hour of eruptive activity produced fast-propagating tsunami waves, long-period seismic waves, loud audible sound waves, infrasonic waves, exceptionally intense volcanic lightning and an unsteady volcanic plume that transiently reached—at 58 ?km—the Earth's mesosphere. Energetic seismic signals were recorded worldwide and the globally stacked seismogram showed episodic seismic events within the most intense periods of phreatoplinian activity, and they correlated well with the infrasound pressure waveform recorded in Fiji. Gravity wave signals were strong enough to be observed over the entire planet in just the first few hours, with some circling the Earth multiple times subsequently. These large-amplitude, long-wavelength atmospheric disturbances come from the Earth's atmosphere being forced by the magmatic mixture of tephra, melt and gasses emitted by the unsteady but quasi-continuous eruption from 0402±1–1800 UTC on January 15, 2022. Atmospheric forcing lasted much longer than rupturing from large earthquakes recorded on modern instruments, producing a type of shock wave that originated from the interaction between compressed air and ambient (wavy) sea surface. This scenario differs from conventional ideas of earthquake slip, landslides, or caldera collapse-generated tsunami waves because of the enormous (～1000x) volumetric change due to the supercritical nature of volatiles associated with the hot, volatile-rich phreatoplinian plume. The time series of plume altitude can be translated to volumetric discharge and mass flow rate. For an eruption duration of ～12 ?h, the eruptive volume and mass are estimated at 1.9 ?km³ and ～2 900 ?Tg, respectively, corresponding to a VEI of 5–6 for this event. The high frequency and intensity of lightning was enhanced by the production of fine ash due to magma—seawater interaction with concomitant high charge per unit mass and the high pre-eruptive concentration of dissolved volatiles. Analysis of lightning flash frequencies provides a rapid metric for plume activity and eruption magnitude. Many aspects of this eruption await further investigation by multidisciplinary teams. It represents a unique opportunity for fundamental research regarding the complex, non-linear behavior of high energetic volcanic eruptions and attendant phenomena, with critical implications for hazard mitigation, volcano forecasting, and first-response efforts in future disasters.     

基于GMS鄱阳湖拟建枢纽对地下水影响探讨

针对拟建鄱阳湖水利枢纽工程对地下水影响问题,选择赣江三角洲为代表区,采用资料收集、野外调查、统计分析和数值模拟等方法进行研究。依据地质钻探资料、地下水与河流动态关系、区域数字高程模型,结合鄱阳湖历史形成与演化过程确定研究区边界条件,运用GMS模拟软件建立了研究区地下水三维运动模型。依据推荐的枢纽调度方案,利用数值模型计算枢纽运行后对地下水运动影响的时空变化规律。结果表明:枯水年份影响大,距离河流、坝址近的地方影响大,反之亦然。影响幅度范围0~2m,地下水径流交替因此减弱,丰水年份土壤潜育化面积增加9.3%。     

Modelling the Gross Primary Productivity of West Africa with the Regional Biomass Model RBM+, using optimized 250 m MODIS FPAR and fractional vegetation cover information

Global warming associated with climate change is one of the greatest challenges of today’s world. Increasing emissions of the greenhouse gas CO₂ are considered as a major contributing factor to global warming. One regulating factor of CO₂ exchange between atmosphere and land surface is vegetation. Measurements of land cover changes in combination with modelling the Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) can contribute to determine important sources and sinks of CO₂.The aim of this study is to accurately model the GPP for a region in West Africa with a spatial resolution of 250 m, and the differentiation of GPP based on woody and herbaceous vegetation. For this purpose, the Regional Biomass Model (RBM) was applied, which is based on a Light Use Efficiency (LUE) approach. The focus was on the spatial enhancement of the RBM from the original 1000–250 m spatial resolution (RBM+). The adaptation to the 250 m scale included the modification of two main input parameters: (1) the fraction of absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) based on the 1000 m MODIS MOD15A2 FPAR product which was downscaled to 250 m using MODIS NDVI time series; (2) the fractional cover of woody and herbaceous vegetation, which was improved by using a multi-scale approach. For validation and regional adjustments of GPP and the input parameters, in situ data from a climate station and eddy covariance measurements were integrated.The results of this approach show that the input parameters could be improved significantly: downscaling considerably reduces data gaps of the original FPAR product and the improved dataset differed less than 5.0% from the original data for cloud free regions. The RMSE of the fractional vegetation cover varied between 5.1 and 12.7%. Modelled GPP showed a slight overestimation in comparison to eddy covariance measurements. The in situ data was exceeded by 8.8% for 2005 and by 2.0% for 2006. The model results were converted to NPP and also agreed well with previous NPP measurements reported from different studies. Altogether a high accuracy and suitability of the regionally adjusted and downscaled model RBM+ can be concluded. The differentiation between vegetation growth forms allows a separation of long-term and short-term carbon storage based on woody and herbaceous vegetation, respectively.     

从科普插图看托勒密的地心说

古希腊著名天文学家托勒密一生著作很多,他和他的学说在天文学发展中无疑占有重要地位,其中最为著名、影响甚广的,似乎是被诬蔑为"臭名昭著"的"地心说"。不过,在中国的天文学科普书籍中,作者注意到有两种不同版本的"地心说"插图,两者反映的科学含义有很大差别。试图从这两种不同版本的插图来探讨"地心说"为什么能够统治那么多年。     

Study of the climatological behaviors of Euro-Atlantic and West Asia blockings in the period of 1959–2018

In this study, comparison of blocking climatological behaviors is presented for the two periods of 1959–1988 and 1989–2018 in a part of the Northern Hemisphere including the Atlantic Ocean, Europe and West Asia regions. Blocking events were detected using a modified blocking index that is based on vertically integrated potential vorticity. By applying this index, the characteristics of detected blocking events such as frequency, duration, intensity and area were determined and compared for both the periods.According to the results, on average, 16 and 15 blocking events per year were identified in the first and second periods, respectively. The trend analysis shows that the number of blocking events in the period 1959–1988 was significantly decreased, while it was slightly increased in the period 1989–2018. Blocking activity was most prevalent from the eastern Atlantic through Europe to West Asia, but this longitude band exhibits a relatively eastward shift in the second period. In addition, the seasonal distributions are similar to those found in previous studies with the higher occurrence of blocking events during winter and autumn seasons and the lowest frequency in summer, as well as long-lasting events and greater intensity and extension in winter than the summer time, especially in the second period. These seasonal variations of blocking frequency may be due to synoptic scale eddies and planetary waves which are more active and stronger in the colder seasons than the other seasons. On the other hand, a comparison between the two periods shows that the blocking events tend to be more frequent over West Asia especially during summer in recent years. Although discrepancies between the two periods are not significant, they could be partly due to the impacts of climate change in recent decades.     

中国地球气候系统模式的发展及其模拟和预估

地球气候系统模式是开展多学科、多圈层集成研究的重要平台,其发展是国际地学领域特别是全球变化领域竞争的前沿。中国的地球气候系统模式研发工作始于20世纪80年代,最近10年得到快速发展。研发格局上已经形成中国科学院、有关部委和高校三足鼎立的局面。文中在简要回顾中国地球气候系统模式早期发展历史的基础上,总结了中国参加第6次耦合模式比较计划的9个地球气候系统模式的技术特点,初步评估了中国4个模式对全球和东亚气候模拟的基本性能,分析了其在4种共享社会经济路径情景下对全球降水与温度的预估变化及其与平衡态气候敏感度的联系。最后,结合国际态势,从发展的角度提出未来中国气候模式研发工作需要加强的8个方向。      

青藏高原5月大气热源与黑龙江省盛夏降水的关系

利用1961—2017年黑龙江省夏季降水资料和NCEP再分析资料,采用奇异值分解、相关分析、回归分析等方法,研究了青藏高原大气热源与黑龙江省盛夏降水的关系及可能的影响机制。结果表明:5月青藏高原热源与黑龙江省7月降水关系最密切,当5月高原东部热源偏强时,7月黑龙江省中部降水显著偏少。5月热源偏强年,在副热带西风急流的作用下,7月中纬度环流呈现类似“丝绸之路”型遥相关波列,同时东亚沿岸环流呈现类似“东亚—太平洋”型遥相关波列,在二者共同作用下黑龙江省受反气旋式环流影响,7月降水偏少。     

Modeling Study of the Effect of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Late Spring Drought in South China

In this study,the mechanisms underlying the decadal variability of late spring precipitation in South China are investigated by using the latest Community Earth System Model version 1 （CESM1）.We aim to unravel the effects of different climate forcing agents such as aerosols and greenhouse gases （GHGs） on the decadal variation of precipitation,based on transient experiments from pre-industry （for year 1850） to present-day （for year 2000）.Our results reveal that：（1） CESM1 can reproduce the climatological features of atmospheric circulation and precipitation for the late spring in South China; （2） only simulations including the forcing of anthropogenic aerosols can reproduce the observed decreasing trend of late spring precipitation from 1950-2000 in South China; （3） aerosols affect the decadal change of precipitation mainly by altering the large-scale atmospheric circulation,and to a less extent by increasing the lower-tropospheric stability to inhibit the convective precipitation; and （4） in comparison,other climate forcing agents such as GHGs have much smaller effects on the decadal change of spring precipitation in South China.