Research progress on international rivers in Asia

With the regional population growth, socioeconomic development, more and more attention has been paid to issues on the shared water allocation and the transboundary eco-security conservation during the development of water resources in the international rivers. In this paper, the existing major problems on transboundary waters in different sub-regions of Asia, such as water shortage, transboundary waters pollution, fragile eco-environment are discussed. Then, the key scientific issues to be concerned in the next study progress on the basis of the analyses of the new research directions and focus fields are raised: (1) unpredicted changes of the hydrologic and water system, and their impacts on the allocation of the sharing waters by global changes; (2) models of the international cooperation on the international rivers on the studies of international and national water laws or regulations, policies, the relative experiences and the case studies; (3) quantificational assessment on environmental flow, available water, and the comprehensive functions and values of the international watercourse system; (4) studies on transboundary aquatic bio-diversity maintenance, transboundary pollution supervision and treatment under the rules and principles accepted by the riparian states; (5) issues on transboundary compensation at the rules of “payments for using”, “payments for harm” and “compensation for benefit”; (6) using advanced 3S techniques to promote the integrated watershed development and management; and so on.     

Early Holocene water budget of the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin, Central Kenya Rift

The Nakuru-Elmenteita basin in the Central Kenya Rift, contains two shallow, alkaline lakes, Lake Nakuru (1770 m above sea level) and Lake Elmenteita (1786 m). Ancient shorelines and lake sediments at 1940 m suggest that these two lakes formed a single large and deep lake as a result of a wetter climate during the early Holocene. Here, we used a hydrological model to compare the precipitation–evaporation balance during the early Holocene to today. Assuming that the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin was hydrologically closed, as it is today, the most likely climate scenario includes a 45% increase in mean-annual precipitation, a 0.5°C decrease in air temperature, and an increase of 9% in cloud coverage from the modern values. Compared to the modeling results from other East African lake basins, this dramatic increase in precipitation seems to be unrealistic. Therefore, we propose a significant flow of water from the early Holocene Lake Naivasha in the south towards the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin to compensate the extremely negative hydrological budget of this basin. Since we did not find any field evidence for a surface connection, as often proposed during the last 70 years, the hydrological deficit of the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin could have also been compensated by a subsurface water exchange.     

Transparency: aid or obstacle to effective defence of vulnerable environments from reservoir construction? Dam decisions and democracy in North East England

Public participation in transparent decisionmaking has been proposed as a panacea for environmental protection. Bargaining theory suggests drawbacks to transparency such as hardening of attitudes and intransigence. Yet achievement of consensus on environmental values for integrated water resource management demands public involvement. Historical study of attempts to prevent reservoir construction in upland valleys designated for protection of nature suggests that 'closed-door' bargaining proved more effective for environmentalists than open, public debate. Records now open for analysis of disputes over Teesdale and Farndale, 1950–1970, allow comparisons to be made between behind-the-scenes deliberations and 'open-door' public discussion. The ambition of progressing from public participation to devolution of environmental decisionmaking and responsibility to the local scale demands more conceptualization of the process of decisionmaking on water resource development.     

Verification of the motion fields over Southeast Asia by the Florida State University (FSU) superensemble forecast

The Florida State University (FSU) multimodel superensemble forecast is evaluated against several other operational weather models for the Southeast Asia region. The superensemble technique has demonstrated its exceptional skills in forecasting precipitation, motion and mass fields compared to either individual global operational or ensemble mean forecasts. The motion field investigation for the season of 2001 reveals that the superensemble forecasts are closer to the observed data compared to the other global member operational models through its low systematic errors at the 850 hPa level. The FSU multimodel superensemble forecasts exhibit the lowest root mean square errors (RSMEs), the highest correlation against the best observed data and the lowest systematic errors compared to the other operational model members. These forecasts have the potential to provide better daily weather predictions over the Southeast Asia region, particularly during the early northeast monsoon that often causes heavy rainfall in the equatorial part of the Southeast Asia region.     

Observations And Modelling Of The On-Ice And Off-Ice Air Flow Over The Northern Baltic Sea

Two cases of on-ice and off-ice air flow characterizing the opposite weather situations over the ice-edge zone in the northern Baltic Sea are analysed on the basis of aircraft observations, and modelled using atwo-dimensional mesoscale model. The stable boundary layer (SBL) during theon-ice flow exhibited little thermal modification, but a low-level jet (LLJ) was generated at the 250-m high top of the SBL. In the model, the LLJ was associated with inertial oscillations in space, while the baroclinicity explained the shape of the wind profile well above the SBL. Although the observed LLJ was most pronounced over the ice, the modelling suggests that it was not generated by the ice edge but by the coastline some 400 km upwind of the ice edge, where a much more drastic change in the thermal stratification and surface roughness took place. The generation, maintenance, and strength of the LLJ were very sensitive to the parameterization of turbulent mixing in the SBL. In the case of the off-ice flow, the modification of the air mass and the development of a convective boundary layer (CBL) both over the ice and open sea were reasonably well modelled. Sensitivity runs suggested that it was essential to take into account the effects of subgrid-scale leads, a forest in the archipelago (which was crossed by the air flow), and water vapour condensationinto ice crystals. The heat flux from leads was particularly important for the heatbudget of the CBL, and the observed growth of the CBL was partly due to theeffective mixing over the rough and relatively warm forest.     

CLIMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE ONSET OF ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON AS REVEALED BY HIRS-Tb12 AND DROUGHT AND FLOODS IN EASTERN CHINA

As shown in comparison and study of the HIRS-Tb12 data and conventional data, temperature, humidity and vertical motion are structured differently in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, which are well depicted with the HIRS-Tb12 data. When high pressures rapidly decrease over the regions of South China Sea and Arabian Sea with the HIRS-Tb12 less than 200 W/m2, monsoons will set off in the South China Sea, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, respectively. From a year of significant drought to one of significant floods, the trend of evolution is significantly different in the downdraft areas of the subtropical highs between the two hemispheres.     

东海陆缘(闽北段)晚第四纪沉积的硅藻学研究

对东海陆缘 (闽北段 )晚第四纪沉积 4口钻井岩心进行系统的硅藻分析研究,获得丰富的硅藻化石,共发现硅藻 117种和变种,分属于 33个属。根据剖面硅藻组合特征变化,结合最优分割法和对应序分法的计算机运算结果,可以详细划分为 12个硅藻带,自下而上为 :1.Cascinodiscusargus-Cos.wittiomus-Cyclotellastriata硅藻带,2.Cos.blandus-Cyclotellastriata硅藻带,3.Cos.excentricus-Trbliepteychuscocconiformis硅藻带,4.Gomphonema-Cos.blandus-Actnolychusralfsii硅藻带,5.Cos.-Cyclotellastriata-Actinocyclusralfsii硅藻带,6.Cos.-Actinolychusralfsii硅藻带,7.贫乏硅藻带,8.Cos.lineatus-Cos.rothii-Actinolyclusralfsii硅藻带,9.Gomphonema-Cyclotellastriata-Cocconeisplacentulavareuglypta硅藻带,10.Cos.rothii-Cyclotellastriata-Actinolychusralfsi,11.Cymbel laaffinis-Cyclotellastriata-Gomphonema硅藻带,12.Coscinodiscuswittinus-Cyclotellastriata-Epithemiahynd manii硅藻带,建立了该区晚第四纪硅藻组合序列,并探讨其相应的古环境演变。     

沉积物物源定量识别的非线性规划模型——以东海陆架北部表层沉积物物源识别为例

依据“质量守衡”原理和沉积物物源难以穷尽的认识 ,提出了沉积物物源定量识别的非线性规划数学模型。利用该模型实现了东海陆架北部表层沉积物物源的定量计算 ,阐明了长江、黄河入海物质的大致分布特征。长江沉积物主要分布于 32°N以南、台湾暖流以西的海域 ,黄河沉积物主要分布于 32°N以北、台湾暖流以东的海域。长江、黄河两类沉积物的这种分布格局与本海域的流系分布相吻合。     

Labour markets in transition. The experiences of women in two border regions of East Germany

The political turning point in the former GDR and the transformation processes that have been observed since then have significantly affected economic and social structures in the new Federal States. Gender roles, however, were subjected to even more dramatic changes. Whilst many women experienced the employment policies of the GDR era as beneficial, social researchers often designate them as the losers of unification nowadays. This is largely because the abundance of State support measures for employed women and mothers has been drastically reduced and women as a group have been hit hardest by the crisis on the East German labour market. Using two cases (Mecklenburg-Westpommerania and Thuringia), this paper aims to illustrate the impact of the transformation process on the everyday (working) lives of women. We are particularly concerned with a comparative analysis of how women experience and deal with regional disparities in East Germany. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reconstruction of the climate in the Tianmu Mountain area, Zhejiang Province, in the last 160 years by ? 13C sequence of tree ring α-cellulose

Based on cross-dating tree rings from the Tianmu Mountain, Zhejiang Province, the tree rings α-cellulose δ 13C time series was measured. By spectrum analysis, the variation of tree-ring δ13C sequence shows a quasi periodicity of 4.4 years, which is coincident with the standard cycle of El Nino. After removing the long-term decrease trend of the δ13C variation related to atmospheric CO2 concentration, the response of the δ13C to climate elements was analyzed using meteorology data from a nearby weather station. The results suggest that there is a distinct relativity between high-frequency variation of tree ring δ 13C series and seasonal climate parameters, e.g. Temperature and precipitation, with a significant time-lag effect. In addition, the high frequency also reflects the strength change of the East Asian Monsoon. The multiple regression method was employed to reconstruct the historical climate, and to analyze the climate change and trend in the last 160 years in the northern Zhejiang Province.