The role of soybean production as an underlying driver of deforestation in the South American Chaco

South America’s tropical dry forests and savannas are under increasing pressure from agricultural expansion. Cattle ranching and soybean production both drive these forest losses, but their relative importance remains unclear. Also unclear is how soybean expansion elsewhere affects deforestation via pushing cattle ranching to deforestation frontiers. To assess these questions, we focused on the Chaco, a 110 million ha ecoregion extending into Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay, with about 8 million ha of deforestation in 2000–2012. We used panel regressions at the district level to quantify the role of soybean expansion in driving these forest losses using a wide range of environmental and socio-economic control variables. Our models suggest that soybean production was a direct driver of deforestation in the Argentine Chaco only (0.08 ha new soybean area per ha forest lost), whereas cattle ranching was significantly associated with deforestation in all three countries (0.02 additional cattle per hectare forest loss). However, our models also suggested Argentine soybean cultivation may indirectly be linked to deforestation in the Bolivian and Paraguayan Chaco. We furthermore found substantial time-delayed effects in the relationship of soybean expansion in Argentina and Paraguay (i.e., soybean expansion in one year resulted in deforestation several years later) and deforestation in the Chaco, further suggesting that possible displacement effects within and between Chaco countries may at least partly drive forest loss. Altogether, our study showed that deforestation in the Chaco appears to be mainly driven by the globally surging demand for soybean, although regionally other proximate drivers are sometimes important. Steering agricultural production in the Chaco and other tropical dry forests onto sustainable pathways will thus require policies that consider these scale effects and that account for the regional variation in deforestation drivers within and across countries.     

湿球温度冷度日反映制冷能耗的适用性评估

基于湿球温度提出一种新的表征制冷能耗的冷度日,利用TRNSYS软件模拟得到1961—2012年逐月制冷能耗,分析了基于湿球温度的冷度日反映我国不同建筑气候区制冷能耗的适用性。结果表明,除上海外,基于干球温度的冷度日并不能很好地反映制冷能耗,仅能解释逐月制冷能耗的17%~60%;基于湿球温度的冷度日能够很好地反映各建筑气候区的制冷能耗,可以解释逐月制冷能耗的67%~98%。此外,各建筑气候区随着设定的基础湿球温度不同,计算得到的冷度日对制冷能耗的解释量不同。基础湿球温度为16.85℃的冷度日对哈尔滨和天津制冷能耗解释量最大,而不同基础湿球温度的冷度日对上海和广州制冷能耗解释量均无明显差异。以上研究结果证实,基于湿球温度的冷度日能较好地反映各建筑气候区制冷能耗,但各气候区用湿球冷度日反映制冷能耗时应设定不同的基础湿球温度。     

干旱区盐碱尘暴的形成、输送及其环境效应

盐碱尘暴是富含细粒硫酸盐和氯化物的化学尘暴,是大气颗粒物PM10的重要来源之一。盐碱尘暴的产生、输送和沉降对区域甚至全球生态环境和气候变化具有重大影响。本文分析了盐碱尘暴的化学组成及其危害,对盐碱尘暴的形成、输送及其环境效应作了研究综述。结果表明：干旱区干涸湖床是盐碱尘暴的发源地,风蚀作用下干涸湖床盐粒和粉尘的扩散过程主要受风场、区域气候特征和地下水埋深的影响。构建综合风动力和下垫面因子的盐粒风蚀物扩散模型,加强盐分风—水两相运移耦合作用及其与流域景观变化的关系研究是盐碱尘暴的突破方向。     

一个干侵入参数及其应用

鉴于干侵入在气旋的爆发性发展、冷锋的演变等方面起着重要的促进作用,因此,文章详细分析了一次北方暴雨中的干侵入特征.分析发现,干侵入在此次降水事件中一直维持,而且降水随干侵入的增强而加强,干侵入推动了降水区的东南向移动.在McNulty早期工作的基础上,借鉴Doswell以及Schultz等发展的IM(ingredients-based methodology)方法,将其应用于干侵入的研究.文章将过去对干侵入(无论在等压面还足等熵面上)的研究中,用低相对湿度、冷平流、高位涡来表征干侵入气流的这些单个物理量综合起来,用一个简单、使用方便的物理参数来表征干侵入.这是以往暴雨研究巾的IM理论方法在干侵入研究领域的新尝试.文章朋新的干侵人参数,在等熵面上分析了实际降水过程中干侵入的演变.分析表明,干侵入参数能够较好地量化干侵入强度,指示卫星云图和水汽图像上干区的演变.通过等熵面与相应气压层的对比分析,发现等熵和等压面上的分析比较一致,等熵面上的干侵入在高层比低层强度大.由垂直剖面图的分析可见,干侵入气流位于低层暖湿气流上方,这就使得垂直方向上出现位势不稳定,有利于降水发生.这样,我们就可以通过干侵入参数来找干侵入区,关注干侵入区附近的不稳定区.来对降水做出预测,从而提高降水预报的准确率.     

西北西部夏季干湿年的水汽输送特征

利用1961—2007年NCEP/NCAR逐月再分析资料和中国地面气候资料国际交换站数据集台站降水距平百分率资料,分析了西北西部干、湿年夏季的水汽输送差异。结果表明,北疆偏湿润年,在对流层中、低层有一支源于阿拉伯海的异常水汽输送通道,它向西北方向流经波斯湾后折向东北方向流入北疆,这是热带海洋水汽输送进入北疆的最短路径。南疆—河西走廊西部偏湿润年,异常水汽通道主要是位于对流层中、低层的一支源于北方的水汽输送带,它作反气旋式运动后以偏东气流的形式流入河西走廊西部及南疆,由于该水汽输送源自北方,水汽含量小,这可能是造成该地域极度干旱的直接原因之一;另一支更弱的异常水汽通道位于对流层高层,它源自阿拉伯海,流经印度半岛后折向北,越过青藏高原后进入南疆。     

GPS定位与水汽反演中对流层干延迟的订正研究

根据美国Shreveport地区及中国徐州地区2006年的气象探空资料计算了GPS测量中的大气干延迟,将其作为真值与目前常用的普适模型计算的延迟值进行对比,结果表明,目前常用的几种普适模型在美国Shreveport地区的改正效果要明显好于中国徐州地区,直接反映出普适模型更适合北美地区.利用徐州地区2000-2006年的探空数据计算了大气干延迟值,在此基础上,根据地面气象要素建立了徐州地区大气干延迟的局地订正模型.分析表明,局地订正模型的改正效果好于普适模型.     

贵州关岭大寨崩滑碎屑流灾害初步研究

2010年6月28日,贵州省关岭县岗乌镇大寨村发生特大型崩滑碎屑(石)流灾害,造成99人死亡或失踪。通过现场考察崩滑区的地质环境与斜坡岩体结构,认为斜坡体由似"干砌块石结构"的裂隙化岩体组成是发生崩溃式破坏的主要内在原因。超常暴雨(过程雨量237mm)条件下斜坡岩体后缘裂缝充水形成持续的"水楔作用"是斜坡岩体松动、倾倒垮塌的主要外部引发因素。碎屑(石)流块度的空间分布具有从源头向沟口逐次减小,碎屑(石)流运动冲击高度逐步降低,冲击速度逐步减小,并显示4个能级4个冲程的特点。根据动势能守恒定律,计算了每个冲程的最大速度,得出第1冲程为高速崩滑,其它冲程属于碎屑(石)流动冲击。未发现区域天然地震、光照水库诱发地震与外围历史采矿活动与本次事件相关的直接证据。由于滑坡后缘仍存在不稳定岩体,碎屑(石)流堆积体上多处分布直径3～5m的堰塞塘,说明碎屑(石)空隙的排泄能力不足,在未来暴雨条件下引发新的崩滑或形成沟谷型泥石流的可能性是存在的。     

Duricrust development and valley evolution: Process–landform links in the kalahari

Duricrusts are an important landscape component of the Kalahari region of central southern Africa. Their exposures within the dry valleys (mekgacha) of the Kalahari provide some of the most widespread surface outcrops of the terrestrial Jurassic to Holocene Kalahari Group sediments. Exposures have been extensively used in the construction of lithostrati-graphic sequences, on the assumption that valley systems have incised their courses through a pre-existing duricrust sequence. Recent work, however, has identified the role of groundwater erosion processes in valley development, which may have influenced duricrust formation. Studies of duricrusts from boreholes drilled within two mekgacha show that duricrust type is intrinsically related to the presence of a valley. Analyses of calcretes and silcretes in a series of profiles and thin sections from the Letlhakeng area of Botswana also indicate extensive alteration and diagenesis in association with former higher water tables. Sedimentary sequences within duricrust host materials can be identified but there is no evidence for correlation of duricrust cements between exposures. Profile studies from the Auob Valley in Namibia, however, suggest that this valley has incised through a sequence of duricrusts. Caution is advised in future attempts to correlate duricrust types on the basis of valley exposures, with the recommendation that where such exposures are used in a lithostratigraphic context, only duricrust host material characteristics and not cementing materials should be considered.     

Geomicrobiology of Blood Falls: An Iron-Rich Saline Discharge at the Terminus of the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica

Blood Falls, a saline subglacial discharge from the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica provides an example of the diverse physical and chemical niches available for life in the polar desert of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Geochemical analysis of Blood Falls outflow resembles concentrated seawater remnant from the Pliocene intrusion of marine waters combined with products of weathering. The result is an iron-rich, salty seep at the terminus of Taylor Glacier, which is subject to episodic releases into permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney. Blood Falls influences thegeochemistry of Lake Bonney, and provides organic carbon and viable microbes to the lakesystem. Here we present the first data on the geobiology of Blood Falls and relate it totheevolutionary history of this unique environment. The novel geological evolution of thissubglacial environment makes Blood Falls an important site for the study of metabolic strategiesin subglacial environments and the impact of subglacial efflux on associated lake ecosystems.     

Antarctica, Scott Base and its environs

Abstract: The landscape in the vicinity of Scott Base is one of the most singular of landscapes in the already unique environment of the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica. A rich history of human endeavour together with a broad range of physical features such as volcanoes, various glacial landforms, polar beaches and the Dry Valleys with their own glaciers, sand dunes and patterned ground must make it one of the most fascinating areas on earth. This paper highlights some of the more notable of these landscape features.