包兰铁路沙坡头段风沙运动规律及其与防护体系的相互作用

包兰铁路沙坡头段是穿越流动沙丘最长,受到风沙危害最为严重的路段,自建成运营45 a以来,其有效而稳定的防护体系受到世人的关注和公认。通过前期23 a的防沙实践和后期22 a的监测证实：①该地区存在着一个较为稳定的风沙流场,具有三组不同风向,主风向为W—NNW,次主风向为NE—E、WSW—S,此种风沙流场格局具有明显的季节变化,是塑造格状沙丘形态和造成对铁路危害的重要因素。②沙丘移动过程表现为格状沙丘主梁沿主风向前后摆动,以缓慢的速度向前推移,其移动量为2~5 m·a^-1,造成风沙危害的最直接的原因是格状沙丘副梁的迅速前移,22 a平均移动速度为0.527 m·a^-1。合成移动方向为318.6°(NW→SE )。③从理论上考虑,前移的沙体是一种对防护体系的潜在威胁,即可能在固沙带前缘形成高大的沙堤掩埋防护体系。可是,实际上随着防护体系的建立和逐步的完善,不但有效的保障铁路的安全,而且同时也抑制了年总输沙量的25%;并改变了风沙流场的某些性质或作用,进而控制了风沙活动的方向与活动强度。在迎风坡的风蚀和背风坡的积沙致使沙丘高度相应的降低,这种变化规律具有从流沙区向固沙区逐渐衰减的趋势。     

风沙流中风速脉动对输沙量的影响

通过对不同工程措施下风沙流中风速脉动特征与输沙量波动研究发现：不同孔隙度栅栏中各高度层瞬时风速的波动性具有很好的相关性,而且相邻高度之间的相关性非常显著。在不同风速下,典型工程措施中同一高度层输沙量具有相对应的变化特征;瞬时风速的波动性主要与其所在高度层沙粒的运动状态和工程效益有关。     

Potential Atmospheric Transport Pathways for Mercury Measured in the Canadian High Arctic

Large-scale transport pathways for atmospheric gaseous mercury emitted from surrounding source regions to reach the Alert sampling site located at the Northwest Territories of Canada between August 1992 and August 1993 were investigated. The 12-month atmospheric mercury data set comprises blank-corrected total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations collected on gold-coated sand traps during one-week long sampling intervals. For TGM concentrations above the 12-month mean TGM level, the analysis reveals regions in Eastern Europe (close to East Germany and Poland), areas on Northeastern America in Canada (Northwest Territories), and central Siberia of the former U.S.S.R. Identification of the physical locations of the emission sources was limited by the temporal resolution of weekly averaged data; however, major atmospheric pathways of mercury transport to the Arctic were successfully resolved. The objective of this note is to demonstrate that the potential source contribution function could be applied to resolve the sources and recover transport pathways of atmospheric mercury over a large scale.     

Legacies from three former manufactured-gas plants: impacts on groundwater quality

Groundwater contamination due to accidental releases of mono- and polycyclic aromatic compounds (MAHs and PAHs) from decommissioned manufactured-gas plants is an ongoing and litigious problem. The MAHs and PAHs are derived from coal tar, which was a by-product of the gas-manufacturing process. While originally designed to contain coal tar, the manufactured-gas plant structures that remain today have often degraded over time and are not completely leak-proof. Over a period of many years, subsurface water has seeped into and out of the structures, resulting in groundwater contamination. This was particularly true once the tops of the structures were removed. In this study, process-based simulations were conducted to estimate the groundwater-quality impacts of accidental releases of dissolved naphthalene (C₁₀H₈) from the sites of three former manufactured-gas plants. The results from one-dimensional, transient, unsaturated, near-surface fluid-flow and solute-transport simulations served as input to three-dimensional saturated subsurface fluid-flow and solute-transport simulations. The simulation results and sensitivity analysis reported here indicate that accidental releases of naphthalene had significant, negative impacts on groundwater quality at each of the three sites. Electronic Publication     

THE INTERBASIN TRANSPORT OF ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE EVALUATED FROM NCEP/NCAR REANALYSIS DATA*

With the objective of providing a relatively accurate and complete diagram,the global scale interbasin transport of atmospheric moisture on the basis of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for the period 1980 to 1994 is evaluated.The results show that the net zonal vapor flux for the Pacific,the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans is 0.25 Sv,-0.68 Sv and-0.29 Sv respectively.The marking differences in the zonal moisture budget among individual basins are speculated as the reason that dominates the differences in the salinity between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.Though current evaluation on the net zonal moisture flux for the Atlantic basin is generally in qualitative agreement with the previous estimate,quantitative discrepancy is found to exist.According to current statistics,the tropical easterlies carry water vapor of 0.43 Sv from the Atlantic basin across Central America into the Pacific,and the northern westerliesal low water vapor of 0.25 Sv to escape from the Pacific.Quantitative analyses also reveal that the seasonal variation of net zonal vapor flux for the Pacific and the Indian Oceans is stronger than that for the Atlantic,which may be favorable for the maintenance of high salinity feature of the Atlantic Ocean.     

积云团对大气层结影响的模拟研究

文中设计了一个二维完全弹性的积云团数值模式 .模式中考虑了水平均一和时间定常的大尺度抬升速度的影响 .大度抬升速度只对热力学方程和水汽守恒方程有影响 .积云团的启动方式采用冷池和随机扰动相结合的方法 .文中对一个给定温湿层结和大尺度抬升速度情况下 ,就不同扰动结构、水平环境切变、模式区域大小和冷池强度等进行了 1 1个模拟试验 .结果表明 ,在不同扰动结构、是否有水平环境风切变、模式区域不同以及不同云型谱时 ,给定温湿层结和大尺度抬升速度下的积云团活动使得温湿层结向着同一温湿层结调整 .这说明大气由于积云团活动达到准平衡状态 ,这个准平衡状态主要依赖于初始温湿层结和大尺度抬升速度 .这与 Betts积云参数化方案的假设相一致 .     

On the size distribution of ice-supersaturated regions in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere

In order to determine typical sizes of ice-supersaturated regions (ISSRs) in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere we set up the frequency distribution of path lengths flown by MOZAIC aircraft within ISSRs. The mean path length is about 150 km with a standard deviation of 250 km. We analyse the influence of a selection bias (viz. that large ISSRs are more often crossed by aircraft than small ones) on the obtained path length statistics and derive a mathematical equation that relates the path length distribution to the underlying size distribution of ISSRs, assuming that they have circular shape. We solve the equation (by trial and error) and test the result using numerical simulations. Surprisingly, we find that there may be many more very small ISSRs than apparent from the data such that the true mean diameter of the ISSRs may be of the order a few kilometres only. The relevance of the result is discussed and dedicated research flights to measure the true extension of ISSRs are recommended.     

Total ozone decrease in the Arctic after REP events

Eight periods of relativistic electron precipitation (REP) with electron energies of more than 300 keV are identified from VLF data (10/14 kHz) monitored along the Aldra (Norway) / Apatity (Kola peninsula) radio trace. In these cases, anomalous ionization below 55/50 km occurred without disturbing the higher layers of the ionosphere. The daily total ozone values in Murmansk for six days before and six days after the REP events are compared. In seven of eight events a decrease in the total ozone of about 20 DU is observed. In one event of 25 March, 1986, the mean total ozone value for six days before the REP is bigger han that for six days after, but this a case of an extremely high ozone increase (144 DU during the six days). However, on days 3 and 4 there was a minimum of about 47 DU with regard to REP days, so this case also confirms the concept of the ozone decrease after REP. The difference between mean ozone values for periods six days before and six days after the REPs was found also for 23 points in Arctic on TOMS data. The difference was negative only in Murmansk longitudinal sector. Along the meridian of the trace it was negative at high latitudes in both hemispheres and was near zero at low latitudes.     

Analysis of the positive ionospheric response to a moderate geomagnetic storm using a global numerical model

Current theories of F-layer storms are discussed using numerical simulations with the Upper Atmosphere Model, a global self-consistent, time dependent numerical model of the thermosphere-ionosphere-plasmasphere-magnetosphere system including electrodynamical coupling effects. A case study of a moderate geomagnetic storm at low solar activity during the northern winter solstice exemplifies the complex storm phenomena. The study focuses on positive ionospheric storm effects in relation to thermospheric disturbances in general and thermospheric composition changes in particular. It investigates the dynamical effects of both neutral meridional winds and electric fields caused by the disturbance dynamo effect. The penetration of short-time electric fields of magnetospheric origin during storm intensification phases is shown for the first time in this model study. Comparisons of the calculated thermospheric composition changes with satellite observations of AE-C and ESRO-4 during storm time show a good agreement. The empirical MSISE90 model, however, is less consistent with the simulations. It does not show the equatorward propagation of the disturbances and predicts that they have a gentler latitudinal gradient. Both theoretical and experimental data reveal that although the ratio of [O]/[N₂] at high latitudes decreases significantly during the magnetic storm compared with the quiet time level, at mid to low latitudes it does not increase (at fixed altitudes) above the quiet reference level. Meanwhile, the ionospheric storm is positive there. We conclude that the positive phase of the ionospheric storm is mainly due to uplifting of ionospheric F2-region plasma at mid latitudes and its equatorward movement at low latitudes along geomagnetic field lines caused by large-scale neutral wind circulation and the passage of travelling atmospheric disturbances (TADs). The calculated zonal electric field disturbances also help to create the positive ionospheric disturbances both at middle and low latitudes. Minor contributions arise from the general density enhancement of all constituents during geomagnetic storms, which favours ion production processes above ion losses at fixed height under day-light conditions.     

German research in transport geography: Life in the space between objective analysis and political advice1

Transportation has been a bone of public contention for decades, the discussion ranging from traffic-calming measures in individual streets to the continual growth of global transport movements. In the last 20 years transport topics have also received increased attention within the discipline of geography, be it academic, professional or in schools, but the topics addressed by today's transport geography have almost nothing in common with the roots of the field. This means that transport geography is a handed-down, hyphenated sub-branch of geography in name only. In fact, the name refers to a field of geography that is experiencing not only all the birthing pains and uncertainties of a discipline in the process of defining a new direction for itself, but also the sense of excitement and thrill of the new. This paper sets out to show both the role transport geography plays as part of human geography with its concepts and paradigms, and also the role it plays within the political debate on transport. An appeal is made to geographers to become more involved in this branch of our science.