Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation maxima during 1960–2005 in the Yangtze River basin and possible association with large-scale circulation

This study investigated spatial and temporal patterns of trends of the precipitation maxima (defined as the annual/seasonal maximum precipitation) in the Yangtze River basin for 1960–2005 using Mann–Kendall trend test, and explored association of changing patterns of the precipitation maxima with large-scale circulation using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The research results indicate changes of precipitation maxima from relative stable patterns to the significant increasing/decreasing trend in the middle 1970s. With respect to annual variability, the rainy days are decreasing and precipitation intensity is increasing, and significant increasing trend of precipitation intensity was detected in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin. Number of rain days with daily precipitation exceeding 95th and 99th percentiles and related precipitation intensities are in increasing tendency in summer. Large-scale atmospheric circulation analysis indicates decreasing strength of East Asian summer monsoon during 1975–2005 as compared to that during 1961–1974 and increasing geopotential height in the north China, South China Sea and west Pacific regions, all of which combine to negatively impact the northward propagation of the vapor flux. This circulation pattern will be beneficial for the longer stay of the Meiyu front in the Yangtze River basin, leading to more precipitation in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin in summer months. The significant increasing summer precipitation intensity and changing frequency in the rain/no-rain days in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin have potential to result in higher occurrence probability of flood and drought hazards in the region.     

Tectonic geomorphology and hydrocarbon induced topography of the Mid-Channel Anticline, Santa Barbara Basin, California

The geomorphology of the western sector of the Mid-Channel Anticline (MCA), Santa Barbara, southern California suggests the actively growing fold is laterally propagating to the west. The presence of fold scarps and cross faults that segment the structure suggests that buried faults that are producing the folding are present at shallow depths. The summit area of the anticline at the Last Glacial Maximum (22 to 19 ka) was probably a small late Pleistocene island. Evidence for presence of the island includes what appears to be terrestrial erosion and is supported by assumption of sea level change and rates of uplift and subsidence.Pockmarks and domes ranging in diameter from  10 to 100 m, and several meters deep are present along the crest and flanks of the MCA. These features appear to be the result of hydrocarbon emission. Their formation has significantly modified the surface features, producing simple to complex erosional and/or constructional topography. A large pockmark near the anticline crest dated by two calibrated AMS radiocarbon dates of 25.3 and 36.9 ka continues to emit hydrocarbon gases. We term the topography produced by hydrocarbon emission as Hydrocarbon Induced Topography (HIT).     

蓬莱附近 海区水下地形的星载合成孔径雷达遥感

本文依据山东蓬莱附近海区１９９２年４月１９日的ＥＲＳ－１ＳＡＲ图像，分析了该海区的水下地形并探讨了水下地形雷达成像机理。分析结果显示，ＳＡＲ图像较好地揭示了该海区四人洲、潮待洲、新井洲等水下地形。研究指出，流经水下地形的潮流对海洋表面波的水动力调制是水下地形ＳＡＲ成像的主要机理。     

Spatial variability of bottom types in the lower Chesapeake Bay and adjoining estuaries and inner shelf

The spatial distributions of the bed textural and morphologic properties that influence boundary-layer roughness characteristics in the lower Chesapeake Bay, the lower portions of the York, James and Elizabeth Rivers, and the adjacent inner continental shelf were systematically mapped. A high resolution, fully-corrected side-scan sonar mapping system (100 kHz) was used for remote acoustic detection of bottom roughness, supported by ‘ground-truthing’ by direct in situ observations by divers. These complementary methods proved to be especially effective in detecting a wide range of roughness-controlling bed surface properties at various scales. Fine-scale variations in sediment size and associated bottom texture are considered to be the main source of heterogeneity in Nikuradse (skin friction) roughness. A wide variety of small- and intermediate-scale morphologic elements provide meso-scale and small-scale distributed (form drag) roughness. Depending upon location, the distributed roughness may be either biogenic or hydrodynamically induced (by currents and waves), although anthropogenic roughness prevails in certain instances (e.g. port areas). In terms of particular combinations of roughness scales and types, combined sonar and diver observation data allow the beds to be systematically but qualitatively classified into 10 bottom types, each of which is associated with a particular type of subenvironment.     

Prospects for crowdsourced information on the geomorphic ‘engineering’ by the invasive Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

Among the most invasive species, the Coypu (Myocastor coypus) best exemplifies the widespread effect of alien species on ecosystems. Among the impacts, the induced erosion in riverbanks has an increasing economic and social importance. Despite its significance, this type of erosion is rarely quantified, and the available information is limited to local knowledge, grey literature, and maintenance reports. This research shows the potential of freely and instantly available Structure‐from‐Motion (SfM) photogrammetry to obtain crowdsourced information based on smartphone images. The results highlight how it is possible to provide a rough estimate of the damages with relatively low or null cost of application, and limited expert knowledge and expenditure of time, depending on the scale of analysis. The proposed technique provides a fresh approach to a known long‐standing issue, offering a new source of information for farmers, researchers, wildlife managers, as well as for land managers and planners. The potential applications of such a technique and its unprecedented ease of use and very low cost offer effective tools for management plans and scientific research, providing a basis to relate eroded volumes to the functioning of the drainage system and the connected agroecosystem. The method would also enable the opportunity of participatory and opportunistic crowdsourced sensing. Further scientific research on the crowd‐based data on erosion should encourage standardisation of data gathering and accessibility, together with a public involvement in information exchange, to generate a better understanding and awareness of erosion problems also for other fields of research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The fractal properties of topography as controlled by the interactions of tectonic,lithological, and geomorphological processes

Landscape topography widely exhibits fractal structure. Because of the complexity of relief geometry this structure is not homogeneous in space, and the study of its spatial characteristics represents a powerful method for investigating the interrelationships between landforms and underlying processes. We explore these interrelationships using the digital elevation model (DEM) of an area located in central Italy, where landscape topography is strongly linked to its geological evolution, being characterized by alternating intermountain basins and mountain ranges trending NW–SE. A modified version of the method based on the standard deviation of relief elevations is used to evaluate the fractal parameters of relief after tiling the DEM in spatial units characterized by homogeneous fractal geometry, and statistical methods in conjunction with spatial analysis techniques are applied to the resulting terrain datasets. Both the lowest and (to a lesser extent) the highest values of fractal dimension are found to follow the ridge‐and‐valley trend. Low fractal dimension is observed in the mountain ranges characterized by massive strata of limestone, and along the fault scarps defining the contact between the intermountain basins and the surrounding slopes, where sediment deposition prevails. High fractal dimension is observed in regions characterized by highly erodible terrigenous lithology, and in areas where tectonic activity favors erosional processes mainly by rivers. The analysis of the (fractal) power law parameters also suggests that each major lithological complex has its own characteristic fractal signature. These results provide new insights into the link between the fractal properties of topography and the tectonic, lithological, and geomorphological features of the area, and show that the analysis approach proposed is useful to depict key aspects about the geomorphological and geological setting of an area, using only a DEM. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi‐scale relief model (MSRM): a new algorithm for the visualization of subtle topographic change of variable size in digital elevation models

Morphological analysis of landforms has traditionally relied on the interpretation of imagery. Although imagery provides a natural view of an area of interest (AOI) images are largely hindered by the environmental conditions at the time of image acquisition, the quality of the image and, mainly, the lack of topographical information, which is an essential factor for a correct understanding of the AOI's geomorphology. More recently digital surface models (DSMs) have been incorporated into the analytical toolbox of geomorphologists. These are usually high‐resolution models derived from digital photogrammetric processes or LiDAR data. However, these are restricted to relatively small areas and are expensive or complex to acquire, which limits widespread implementation. In this paper, we present the multi‐scale relief model (MSRM), which is a new algorithm for the visual interpretation of landforms using DSMs. The significance of this new method lies in its capacity to extract landform morphology from both high‐ and low‐resolution DSMs independently of the shape or scale of the landform under study. This method thus provides important advantages compared to previous approaches as it: (1) allows the use of worldwide medium resolution models, such as SRTM, ASTER GDEM, ALOS, and TanDEM‐X; (2) offers an alternative to traditional photograph interpretation that does not rely on the quality of the imagery employed nor on the environmental conditions and time of its acquisition; and (3) can be easily implemented for large areas using traditional GIS/RS software. The algorithm is tested in the Sutlej‐Yamuna interfluve, which is a very large low‐relief alluvial plain in northwest India where 10 000 km of palaeoriver channels have been mapped using MSRM. The code, written in Google Earth Engine's implementation of JavaScript, is provided as Supporting Information for its use in any other AOI without particular technical knowledge or access to topographical data. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Uncertainty in quantitative analyses of topographic change: error propagation and the role of thresholding

Topographic surveys inevitably contain error, introducing uncertainty into estimates of volumetric or mean change based on the differencing of repeated surveys. In the geomorphic community, uncertainty has often been framed as a problem of separating out real change from apparent change due purely to error, and addressed by removing measured change considered indistinguishable from random noise from analyses (thresholding). Thresholding is important when quantifying gross changes (i.e. total erosion or total deposition), which are systematically biased by random errors in stable parts of a landscape. However, net change estimates are not substantially influenced by those same random errors, and the use of thresholds results in inherently biased, and potentially misleading, estimates of net change and uncertainty. More generally, thresholding is unrelated to the important process of propagating uncertainty in order to place uncertainty bounds around final estimates. Error propagation methods for uncorrelated, correlated, and systematic errors are presented. Those equations demonstrate that uncertainties in modern net change analyses, as well as in gross change analyses using reasonable thresholds, are likely to be dominated by low-magnitude but highly correlated or systematic errors, even after careful attempts to reduce those errors. In contrast, random errors with little to no correlation largely cancel to negligible levels when averaged or summed. Propagated uncertainty is then typically insensitive to the precision of individual measurements, and is instead defined by the relative mean error (accuracy) over the area of interest. Given that real-world mean elevation changes in many landscape settings are often similar in magnitude to potential mean errors in repeat topographic analyses, reducing highly correlated or systematic errors will be central to obtaining accurate change estimates, while placing uncertainty bounds around those results provides essential context for their interpretation. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

长江南京段近20年来河槽演变及其对人类活动的响应

利用 1998年和2013年历史水下地形数据,结合2015年和2016年多波束测深、流速与河床沉积物数据,探讨了南京段河槽演变对人类活动的响应规律。结果表明：① 1998~2013年南京河段整体呈现冲刷状态,净冲刷量为0.56亿 m³。② 南京段主河槽发育有平床和沙波等微地貌,两侧发育有水下陡坡。其中,平床和小尺度沙波区域平均流速为0.79 m/s,而巨型沙波区域平均流速为1.41 m/s。③ 人类活动对该河段的水下微地貌演变与河势演变起到至关重要的作用。由于三峡大坝等人类活动的影响,上游来沙量仍将持续低于多年平均值,南京段河槽会进一步冲刷并极可能给涉水工程安全带来威胁。     

老挝VIIRS活跃火的主要自然地理要素特征

利用美国国家航空航天局火灾信息资源管理系统（FIRMS）VIIRS V1活跃火、先进星载热发射和反射辐射仪全球数字高程模型（ASTER GDEM）、MODIS NDVI/LSWI与土地覆被数据产品（FROM-GLC）,基于GIS定量分析老挝2012—2017年从分省到国家不同空间尺度活跃火频次的动态变化,并重点分析2015厄尔尼诺年活跃火频次及其与海拔、坡度、植被-水分（NDVI ^*、LSWI）指数、土地覆被等主要自然地理要素的相关特征。结果表明：① 老挝活跃火频次呈先增后减的趋势,峰值在2015厄尔尼诺年,主要集中在上、中寮,其中琅勃拉邦、沙耶武里与沙湾拿吉三省居前三位,而万象市、塞公和赛宋本则居后三位。② 老挝2012—2017年活跃火发生频次与地形因素（海拔、坡度）的关系基本相同,活跃火集中在海拔1000 m以下、坡度小于30°的低山-丘陵区。其中,上寮活跃火集中分布在500~1000 m、10~30°的斜陡坡山地,中、下寮集中在500 m以下、2~20°的缓斜坡丘陵。③ 活跃火高度集中在旱季,以3月、4月最多,并集中分布在NDVI为0.4~0.8和LSWI为0.2~0.6的中高覆盖度植被区。④ 老挝活跃火主要发生在森林这一土地覆被类型中,且以上寮最为集中,而中寮多以农田、草地和灌丛活跃火为主。综上,基于自然地理要素的活跃火特征分析可以有效识别其发生类型,即老挝活跃火主要由刀耕火种农业所引起。