Sediment-supply-dominated stratal architectures in a regressively stacked succession of shoreline sand bodies,Campanian Desert Member to Lower Castlegate Sandstone interval,Book Cliffs,Utah–Colorado,USA

Strongly progradational regressive stacks of shallow marine sandstones are ubiquitous in modern and ancient coastal depositional systems. Many ancient examples form prolific hydrocarbon and freshwater reservoirs in the subsurface. One of the best areas in the world to study progradational shallow marine successions is the Campanian Book Cliffs of Utah and Colorado, where the Desert Member to Lower Castlegate Sandstone interval served as a foundational data set for early sequence stratigraphic models. A strongly progradational stack of 17 parasequences comprises the Desert–Castlegate interval. Parasequences are 6·5 to 20·7 m thick. Normally regressive coarsening-upward successions are abundant, as are flat-topped, rooted foreshore sandstones. Conformable facies contacts mark the transition between the laterally adjoining nearshore terrestrial and shallow marine deposits which are genetically, temporally and spatially linked. The width of the shoreface to inner shelf facies belts varies from 4·8 to 19·9 km per parasequence, with a mean of 12·6 km. Solitary tongue shoreline trajectories are all very low to low angle ascending regressive, varying from +0·0004° to +0·171°. Stacked shoreline system trajectories are also dominantly low angle ascending regressive, with only two descending regressive trajectories, one of which intersects the depositional slope. The predominance of ascending regressive shoreline trajectories and normal regression, rarity of high frequency sequence boundaries, regressive surfaces of marine erosion and descending regressive shoreline trajectories, and absence of third-order sequence boundaries, incised valley fill deposits and no prolonged and regionally extensive sediment bypass, all point towards increasing sediment supply as the dominant driver of the Desert–Castlegate stratal architectures, while reduced accommodation (i.e. decreasing tectonic subsidence) played a secondary role.     

船舶轨迹数据的Geodatabase管理方法

 船舶轨迹的自动观测记录已进入了大数据时代,其呈爆炸式增长的趋势给传统的轨迹数据管理方式带来了巨大挑战。本文针对通用船舶自动识别系统(AIS)岸基网络中船舶轨迹数据上传频率高,数据量大,覆盖范围广的特点,首先,分析了当前常见船舶轨迹数据存储方法存在的缺陷,概括了船舶轨迹数据的特征并对其进行抽象建模,然后,在时空立方体模型的基础上,提出了从抽样时刻、步进时段到每日航次的三层组织框架的建模思想,设计了Geodatabase的网格化三级时空立方体模型,实现了海洋运输船舶轨迹观测记录的Geodatabase管理方法。通过我国AIS岸基网络(温州-汕头)单日观测数据的实例验证,表明该模型存储及时空查询性能良好,且具有轨迹数据存储、查询和空间分析一体化管理的独特优势。     

海上主航迹带边界统计推断与海西航路警戒区布局优化分析

台湾海峡是东北亚各国与东南亚、印度洋沿岸各国间的海上捷径,其交通主流是通行海峡的南北向航次,然而海峡两岸启动大三通后,穿越海峡的客货运船舶日益增多,导致闽台直航航次与台湾海峡南北干线主交通流交叉现象凸显,台湾海峡西侧水域冲突日益加剧。本文根据船舶轨迹观测数据,抽样出通行海峡南北及横穿海峡的航次样本,应用轨迹栅格化方法建立统计推断模型,以概率形式表达南北干线、两岸直航的海运利用分布,推断出2种交通流的主航迹带,识别南北向交通主流与两岸直航交通支流的显著冲突区,以此调整现有警戒区设置方案。研究结果表明：轨迹统计推断法能定量化分析海西现有交通流模式,易于辨识横越海峡的船舶与通行海峡在航船舶的冲突区中心,为优化警戒区布局提供有效的方法支撑;调整后的海西警戒区中心可与台湾本岛西岸港口外侧的直航船舶通过点对接,形成海峡两岸直航的固定航线,可降低台湾海峡船舶冲突隐患,规范台湾海峡的船舶交通秩序。     

顾及路网与轨迹多模特征的道路等级分类研究

道路等级不仅反映在路网结构的静态骨架信息上,也蕴含在轨迹数据呈现的动态语义信息上。为解决(OpenStreetMap)OSM路网部分路段及路网生成产品等级缺失问题,本文提出一种顾及路网与轨迹多模特征的道路等级分类方法。首先通过轨迹数据的清洗、地图匹配和基于路名的路网合并实现轨迹点与命名道路的联结;然后以命名道路为分析单元,综合考虑路网及轨迹数据,在系统分析路网结构的道路几何特征、道路分布特征、道路拓扑特征及道路单双向信息基础上,进一步挖掘与融合轨迹数据蕴含的道路宽度、道路车流量、道路速度等静动态特征,形成关于道路等级的描述特征集,作为识别道路等级的基础与依据;最后以随机森林(RF)为基本分类器进行特征选择及模型训练实现道路等级识别。为验证本文方法,选取武汉市汉正街区域及二环区域,基于OSM路网数据及众源轨迹数据开展试验。该方法取得了较好的分类结果,小范围汉正街区域的验证集准确率为91.2%,大范围二环区域的验证集准确率达到80.8%。与单类特征相比,集成路网与轨迹特征极大提高了道路等级分类准确率;与原始路段形式进行道路等级分类相比,以路名重构道路形式进行道路等级分类效果更好。     

基于神威中期集合数值预报系统的产品开发

利用我国神威中期集合数值预报系统 32 个成员的输出资料, 根据预报业务的需要, 开发出新的集合预报产品。 其产品有 500 hPa 高度场分簇和特征等高线面条图、关键点 850 hPa 温度的概率烟羽图和温度变化趋势图、全国省会城市的要素预报分布图。     

Channelization of a large Alpine river: what is left of its original morphodynamics?

The Adige River drains 12 200 km² of the Eastern Alps and flows for 213 km within this mountain range. Similar to other large rivers in Central Europe, the Adige River was subject to massive channelization works during the 19th century. Thanks to the availability of several historical maps, this river represents a very valuable case study to document the extent to which the morphology of the river changed due to channelization and to understand how much is left of its original morphodynamics. The study was based on the analysis of seven sets of historical maps dating from 1803–1805 to 1915–1927, on geomorphological analysis, on the application of mathematical morphodynamic theories and on the application of bar and channel pattern prediction models. The study concerns 115 km of the main stem and 29 km of its tributaries. In the pre‐channelization conditions, the Adige River presented a prevalence of single‐thread channel planforms. Multi‐thread patterns developed only immediately downstream of the main confluences. During the 19th century, the Adige underwent considerable channel adjustment, consisting of channel narrowing, straightening, and reduction of bars and islands. Multi‐thread and single‐thread reaches evolved through different evolutionary trajectories, considering both the channel width and the bar/vegetation interaction. Bar and channel pattern predictors showed good correspondence with the observed patterns, including the development of multi‐thread morphologies downstream of the confluences. Application of the free‐bar predictor helped to interpret the strong reduction – almost complete loss – of exposed sediment bars after the channelization works, quantifying the riverbed inclination to form alternate bars. This morphological evolution can be observed in other Alpine rivers of similar size and similar massive channelization, therefore, a simplified conceptual model for large rivers subjected to channelization is proposed, showing that a relatively small difference in the engineered channel width may have a strong impact on the river dynamics, specifically on bar formation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aggregating the conceptualization of movement data better captures real world and simulated animal–environment relationships

ABSTRACT

Habitat selection analysis is a widely applied statistical framework used in spatial ecology. Many of the methods used to generate movement and couple it with the environment are strongly integrated within GIScience. The choice of movement conceptualisation and environmental space can potentially have long-lasting implications on the spatial statistics used to infer movement–environment relationships. The aim of this study was to explore how systematically altering the conceptualisation of movement, environmental space and temporal resolution affects the results of habitat selection analyses using both real-world case studies and a virtual ecologist approach. Model performance and coefficient estimates did not differ between the finest conceptualisations of movement (e.g. vector and move), while substantial differences were found for the more aggregated representations (e.g. segment and area). Only segments modelled the expected movement–environment relationship with increasing linear feature resistance in the virtual ecologist approach and altering the temporal resolution identified inversions in the movement–environment relationship for vectors and moves. The results suggest that spatial statistics employed to investigate movement–environment relationships should advance beyond conceptualising movement as the (relatively) static conceptualisation of vectors and moves and replace these with (more) dynamic aggregations of longer-lasting movement processes such as segments and areal representations.     

Chaotic mixing of tracer and vorticity by modulated travelling Rossby waves

Abstract

We consider the mixing of passive tracers and vorticity by temporally fluctuating large scale flows in two dimensions. In analyzing this problem, we employ modern developments stemming from properties of Hamiltonian chaos in the particle trajectories; these developments generally come under the heading “chaotic advection” or “Lagrangian turbulence.” A review of the salient properties of this kind of mixing, and the mathematics used to analyze it, is presented in the context of passive tracer mixing by a vacillating barotropic Rossby wave. We then take up the characterization of subtler aspects of the mixing. It is shown the chaotic advection produces very nonlocal mixing which cannot be represented by eddy diffusivity. Also, the power spectrum of the tracer field is found to be k ^{? l} at shortwaves—precisely as for mixing by homogeneous, isotropic two dimensional turbulence,—even though the physics of the present case is very different. We have produced two independent arguments accounting for this behavior.

We then examine integrations of the unforced barotropic vorticity equation with initial conditions chosen to give a large scale streamline geometry similar to that analyzed in the passive case. It is found that vorticity mixing proceeds along lines similar to passive tracer mixing. Broad regions of homogenized vorticity ultimately surround the separatrices of the large scale streamline pattern, with vorticity gradients limited to nonchaotic regions (regions of tori) in the corresponding passive problem.

Vorticity in the chaotic zone takes the form of an arrangement of strands which become progressively finer in scale and progressively more densely packed; this process transfers enstrophy to small scales. Although the enstrophy cascade is entirely controlled by the large scale wave, the shortwave enstrophy spectrum ultimately takes on the classical k ^{? l} form. If one accepts that the enstrophy cascade is indeed mediated by chaotic advection, this is the expected behavior. The extreme form of nonlocality (in wavenumber space) manifest in this example casts some doubt on the traditional picture of enstrophy cascade in the Atmosphere, which is based on homogeneous two dimensional turbulence theory. We advance the conjecture that these transfers are in large measure attributable to large scale, low frequency, planetary waves.

Upscale energy transfers amplifying the large scale wave do indeed occur in the course of the above-described process. However, the energy transfer is complete long before vorticity mixing has gotten very far, and therefore has little to do with chaotic advection. In this sense, the vorticity involved in the enstrophy cascade is “fossil vorticity,” which has already given up its energy to the large scale.

We conclude with some speculations concerning statistical mechanics of two dimensional flow, prompted by our finding that flows with identical initial energy and enstrophy can culminate in very different final states. We also outline prospects for further applications of chaotic mixing in atmospheric problems.     

New energy and helicity bounds for knotted and braided magnetic fields

In this article we present a review of some of the author's most recent results in topological magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), with an eye to possible applications to astrophysical flows and solar coronal structures. First, we briefly review basic work on magnetic helicity and linking numbers, and fundamental relations with magnetic energy and average crossing numbers of magnetic systems in ideal conditions. In the case of magnetic knots, we focus on the relation between their groundstate energy and topology, discussing the energy spectrum of tight knots in terms of ropelength. We compare this spectrum with the one given by considering the bending energy of such idealized knots, showing that curvature information provides a rather good indicator of magnetic energy contents. For loose knots far from equilibrium we show that inflexional states determine the transition to braid form. New lower bounds for tight knots and braids are then established. We conclude with results on energy-complexity relations for systems in presence of dissipation.     

Visualizing and quantifying the movement of vegetative drought using remote-sensing data and GIS

Remote-sensing-based drought monitoring methods provide fast and useful information for a sustainable management strategy of drought impact over a region. Common pixel-based monitoring methods are limited in the analysis of the dynamics of this impact at regional scale. For instance, these hardly allow us to quantify the movement of drought in space and time and to compare drought with rainfall deficits without losing the variability of these events within a region. This study proposed an object-based approach that allowed us to visualize and quantify the spatio-temporal movement of drought impact on vegetation, called vegetative drought, in a region. The GIS software Dynomap was used to extract and track objects. Measures of distance and angle were used for determining the speed and direction of vegetative drought and rainfall deficit objects, calculated from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) normalized difference vegetation index and rainfall estimates data. The methods were applied to the two rainy seasons during the drought year 1999 in East Africa. Results showed that vegetative drought objects moved into the southwestern direction at an average angle of??138.5° during the first season and??144.5° during the second season. The speed of objects varied between 38 km dekad^?1 and 185 km dekad^?1 during the first season and between 33 km dekad^?1 and 144 km dekad^?1 during the second season, reflecting the rate of spread between dekads. Vegetative drought objects close to rainfall deficit objects showed similar trajectories and sometimes regions overlapped. This indicated that the two events are related. We conclude that a spatiotemporal relationship existed between the two types of events and that this could be quantified.