Assessing the performance of a large-scale irrigation system by estimations of actual evapotranspiration obtained by Landsat satellite images resampled with cubic convolution

Remote sensing techniques allow monitoring the Earth surface and acquiring worthwhile information that can be used efficiently in agro-hydrological systems. Satellite images associated to computational models represent reliable resources to estimate actual evapotranspiration fluxes, ET_a, based on surface energy balance. The knowledge of ET_a and its spatial distribution is crucial for a broad range of applications at different scales, from fields to large irrigation districts. In single plots and/or in irrigation districts, linking water volumes delivered to the plots with the estimations of remote sensed ET_a can have a great potential to develop new cost-effective indicators of irrigation performance, as well as to increase water use efficiency. With the aim to assess the irrigation system performance and the opportunities to save irrigation water resources at the “SAT Llano Verde” district in Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) was applied on cloud-free Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) images, processed by cubic convolution resampling method, for three irrigation seasons (May to September 2006, 2007 and 2008). The model allowed quantifying instantaneous, daily, monthly and seasonal ET_a over the irrigation district. The comparison between monthly irrigation volumes distributed by each hydrant and the corresponding spatially averaged ET_a, obtained by assuming an overall efficiency of irrigation network equal to 85%, allowed the assessment of the irrigation system performance for the area served by each hydrant, as well as for the whole irrigation district. It was observed that in all the investigated years, irrigation volumes applied monthly by farmers resulted generally higher than the corresponding evapotranspiration fluxes retrieved by SEBAL, with the exception of May, in which abundant rainfall occurred. When considering the entire irrigation seasons, it was demonstrated that a considerable amount of water could have been saved in the district, respectively equal to 26.2, 28.0 and 16.4% of the total water consumption evaluated in the three years.     

基于散射计风场数据的台风强度诊断方法——以海洋二号卫星数据为例

本文提出了一种基于散射计风场数据的台风定强方法。该方法定义了台风所在海区的一个圆形区域上的风速平均值来对台风进行定强,并使用海洋二号卫星散射计历史数据对该方法进行了验证。验证结果表明,该台风定强方法可以克服散射计反演台风风速过低的问题。与台风强度监测的历史记录比较的结果显示,在台风强度低于"强台风"这一强度等级时,该方法能够有效估算台风强度。     

一维综合孔径微波辐射计遥感海面温度的敏感性分析

一维综合孔径微波辐射计能够有效提高观测的空间分辨率,其观测入射角通常在0°~55°范围内变化。为了开发适用于一维综合孔径微波辐射计的海面温度反演算法,需要评估其观测亮温对海洋大气环境要素的敏感性。利用海面发射率模型和大气辐射传输模型,构建了适用于一维综合孔径微波辐射计的微波海洋大气辐射传输模式,研究了C波段垂直和水平极化微波辐射亮温在不同入射角下对海洋大气环境要素的敏感性变化情况,并定量计算了相应的敏感系数。结果表明:垂直和水平极化亮温对海洋大气环境要素的敏感性表现出不同的特性。随着入射角的增大,垂直极化亮温对海面温度的敏感性增强,对海面风场的敏感性相对减弱;水平极化亮温则相反。由大气水汽含量和云液态水含量误差引入的垂直和水平极化亮温误差随入射角增大而增大,但是,即使在55°的大入射角下垂直和水平极化亮温误差仍小于0.12 K。对于海面温度反演精度优于1 K的要求,一维综合孔径微波辐射计的测温精度需优于0.6 K。研究结果对于一维综合孔径微波辐射计海面温度反演算法的研究和载荷设计具有一定的理论指导意义。     

海洋微藻多糖微波提取法研究

选取自养小球藻(Chlorella autotrophica)为实验材料,采用微波法提取多糖,以温度、时间、pH以及微波功率4个因子建立正交实验,考察单因素影响情况。实验结果表明,在温度70℃、时间30min、pH为7、功率为600W条件下粗多糖的产率最高,为291.13mg/g(粗多糖/干重),远高于传统热水浸提法所得粗多糖产率(78.52mg/g,粗多糖/干重),且所得粗多糖与热水浸提法获得的粗多糖具有相似的红外光谱。说明,在一定的实验条件下,与热水浸提法相比,微波提取法不仅不会破坏多糖的结构,还有耗时短、有较高的多糖产率的优势。     

Daily variability of dissolved inorganic radiocarbon at three sites in the surface ocean

We report radiocarbon measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in surface water samples collected daily during cruises to the central North Pacific, the Sargasso Sea and the Southern Ocean. The ranges of Δ¹⁴C measurements for each cruise (11–30‰) were larger than the total uncertainty (7.8‰, 2-sigma) of the measurements. The variability is attributed to changes in the upper water mass that took place at each site over a two to four week period. These results indicate that variability of surface Δ¹⁴C values is larger than the analytical precision, because of patchiness that exists in the DIC Δ¹⁴C signature of the surface ocean. This additional variability can affect estimates of geochemical parameters such as the air–sea CO₂ exchange rate using radiocarbon.     

Organic matter in deepwater sediments of the Northern Gulf of Mexico and its relationship to the distribution of benthic organisms

Sediment samples were selected from 28 sites across the deep (212–3527 m) northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) as part of the Deep Gulf of Mexico Benthos (DGoMB) program, and analyzed for geochemical parameters related to organic carbon (OC) distribution and characteristics. The results of this study indicate that the OC content of sediments in the deep northern GOM is controlled by several factors; including water depth, overlying water productivity, sediment carbonate content, sediment oxygen exposure time, OC sources, and regional influences. The best correlation between sediment OC content, on a CaCO₃-free basis, and other parameters examined was an inverse correlation of OC with water depth. The OC/SA ratio had a wide range of values and, along with variable sources of sedimentary OC, indicated that the organism-available concentration of metabolizable organic matter may not be simply related to sedimentary OC content. This was perhaps reflected in the observation that benthic macrofaunal and meiofaunal biomass abundances were well correlated with sedimentary OC, but the abundance of bacteria in sediments was not.     

A global wave parameter database for geophysical applications. Part 1: Wave-current–turbulence interaction parameters for the open ocean based on traditional parameterizations

Ocean surface mixing and drift are influenced by the mixed layer depth, buoyancy fluxes and currents below the mixed layer. Drift and mixing are also functions of the surface Stokes drift U_ss, volume Stokes transport T_S, a wave breaking height scale H_swg, and the flux of energy from waves to ocean turbulence Φ_oc. Here we describe a global database of these parameters, estimated from a well-validated numerical wave model, that uses traditional forms of the wave generation and dissipation parameterizations, and covers the years 2003–2007. Compared to previous studies, the present work has the advantage of being consistent with the known physical processes that regulate the wave field and the air–sea fluxes, and also consistent with a very large number of in situ and satellite observations of wave parameters. Consequently, some of our estimates differ significantly from previous estimates. In particular, we find that the mean global integral of Φ_oc is 68 TW, and the yearly mean value of T_S is typically 10–30% of the Ekman transport, except in well-defined regions where it can reach 60%. We also have refined our previous estimates of U_ss by using a better treatment of the high frequency part of the wave spectrum. In the open ocean, U_ss  0.013U₁₀, where U₁₀ is the wind speed at 10 m height.     

A real-time, event-triggered storm surge forecasting system for the state of North Carolina

A new real-time, event-triggered storm surge prediction system has been developed for the State of North Carolina to assist emergency managers, policy-makers and other government officials with evacuation planning, decision-making and resource deployment during tropical storm landfall and flood inundation events. The North Carolina Forecast System (NCFS) was designed and built to provide a rapid response assessment of hurricane threat, accomplished by driving a high-resolution, two-dimensional, depth-integrated version of the ADCIRC (Advanced Circulation) coastal ocean model with winds from a synthetic asymmetric gradient wind vortex. These parametric winds, calculated at exact finite-element mesh node locations and directly coupled to the ocean model at every time step, are generated from National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast advisories the moment they are inserted into the real-time weather data stream, maximizing the number of hours of forecast utility. Tidal harmonic constituents are prescribed at the open water boundaries and applied as tidal potentials in the interior of the ocean model domain. A directional surface roughness parameterization that modulates the wind speed at a given location based on the types of land cover encountered upwind, a forest canopy sheltering effect, and a spatially varying distribution of Manning’s–n friction coefficient used for computing the bottom/channel bed friction are also included in the storm surge model. Comparisons of the simulated wind speeds and phases against their real meteorological counterparts, of model elevations against actual sea surface elevations measured by NOAA tide gauges along the NC coast, and of simulated depth-averaged current velocities against Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data, indicate that this new system produces remarkably realistic predictions of winds and storm surge.     

First six months quality assessment of HY-2A SCAT wind products using in situ measurements

The first Chinese microwave ocean environment satellite HY-2A, carrying a Ku-band scatteromenter （SCAT）, was successfully launched in August 2011. The first quality assessment of HY-2A SCAT wind products is presented through the comparison of the first 6 months operationally released SCAT products with in situ data. The in situ winds from the National Data Buoy Center （NDBC） buoys, R/V Polarstern, Aurora Australis, Roger Revelle and PY30-1 oil platform, were converted to the 10 m equivalent neutral winds. The temporal and spatial differences between the HY-2A SCAT and the in situ observations were limited to less than 5 min and 12.5 km. For HY-2A SCAT wind speed products, the comparison and analysis using the NDBC buoys yield a bias of-0.49 m/s, a root mean square error （RMSE） of 1.3 m/s and an increase negative bias with increasing wind speed observation above 3 m/s. Although less accurate of HY-2A SCAT wind direction at low winds, the RMSE of 19.19° with a bias of 0.92° is found for wind speeds higher than 3 m/s. These results are found consistent with those from R/Vs and oil platform comparisons. Moreover, the NDBC buoy comparison results also suggest that the accuracy of HY-2A SCAT winds is consistent over the first half year of 2012. The encouraging assessment results over the first 6 months show that wind products from HY-2A SCAT will be useful for scientific community.     

利用AMSR-E对台风"泰利"的初步分析

基于洋面上的微波辐射传输模型,采用多元线性回归算法,建立了海洋-大气参数的反演算式,并对其进行了验证。在此基础上,根据AMSR-E的反演结果,对台风“泰利”的发生发展过程进行了初步分析。结果表明,反演算式的精度接近于网上公布的业务产品,反演结果比较符合实际情况;但是由于受到所采用物理模型的限制,反演结果对于强降水区不敏感。