Runoff and sediment loss responses to rainfall and land use in two agricultural catchments on the Loess Plateau of China

Soil erosion is a severe problem hindering sustainable agriculture on the Loess Plateau of China. Plot experiments were conducted under the natural rainfall condition during 1995–1997 at Wangdongguo and Aobao catchments in this region to evaluate the effects of various land use, cropping systems, land slopes and rainfall on runoff and sediment losses, as well as the differences in catchment responses. The experiments included various surface conditions ranging from bare soil to vegetated surfaces (maize, wheat residue, Robinia pseudoacacia L., Amorpha fruticosa L., Stipa capillata L., buckwheat and Astragarus adsurgens L.). The measurements were carried out on hill slopes with different gradients (i.e. 0 ° to 36 °). These plots varied from 20 to 60 m in length. Results indicated that runoff and erosion in this region occurred mainly during summer storms. Summer runoff and sediment losses under cropping and other vegetation were significantly less than those from ploughed bare soil (i.e. without crop/plant or crop residue). There were fewer runoff and sediment losses with increasing canopy cover. Land slope had a major effect on runoff and sediment losses and this effect was markedly larger in the tillage plots than that in the natural grass and forest plots, although this effect was very small when the maximum rainfall intensity was larger than 58·8 mm/h or smaller than 2·4 mm/h. Sediment losses per unit area rose with increasing slope length for the same land slope and same land use. The effect of slope length on sediment losses was stronger on a bare soil plot than on a crop/plant plot. The runoff volume and sediment losses were both closely related to rainfall volume and maximum intensity, while runoff coefficient was mainly controlled by maximum rainfall intensity. Hortonian overland flow is the dominant runoff process in the region. The differences in runoff volume, runoff coefficient and sediment losses between the catchments are mainly controlled by the maximum rainfall intensity and infiltration characteristics. The Aobao catchment yielded much larger runoff volume, runoff coefficient and sediment than the Wangdongguo catchment. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

利用地基GPS数据研究2006年12月电离层磁暴现象

利用中国大陆全球定位GPS台网数据和中国周边地区国际IGS站数据，研究了2006年12月中旬的 磁暴对中国大陆上空电离层的影响。结果显示,该磁暴对中国大陆上空电离层的影响并不显著。     

热带大气中30～60天低频振荡的CISK-Rossby波理论

本文根据低纬热带大气中的风压场平衡关系对CISK-Rossby波进行了研究,指出对于弱对流加热,CISK-Rossby波既可以向东西方向传播,又可以向南北方向传播,并且这种弱对流加热所激发的CISK-Rossby波是一种稳定的减幅波;对于强对流加热,这种CISK-Rossby波减速并向东和向北传播,其传播特征与30～60天低频振荡的特征比较一致,并且这种CISK-Rossby波又是一种不稳定的增幅波,在10°N和17°N地区,经向波长为6000km的CISK-Rossby波的e倍增幅时间分别为6天和8天。因此,CISK-Rossby波可能是30～60天低频振荡的触发机制。     

南方涛动、热带海温与西北太平洋副高的联系

本文应用统计方法,首先探讨南方涛动指数与西北太平洋副热带高压的联系,然后分析赤道和热带太平洋区域海温对南方涛动的响应情况,同时分析南方涛动响应区域的海温与当时及滞后的西北太平洋副热带高压的联系,从中探讨南方涛动、厄尔尼诺海温异常及西北太平洋副热带高压之间的一种可能的相互作用机制。     

Two Different Dust Storms in Northeast China:the Sources and Influences in East Asia

There are two different dust storms in Northeast China, normal dust and alkali dust, from Kerqin sand land and Songnen saline land. As well as visible damages of the dust storms, there are some invisible influences. The authors provide evidences that the bacteria carried by dusts from remote area should not be ignored, but the damages of the alkali dusts are still not clear.     

Resource use in the tropical karstlands of central Belize

Rural tropical ecosystems are subject to many traditional land uses that employ the indigenous karst resources: rock, water, soil, vegetation, and wildlife. Individual resource pressures often are subtle, but their combined impact can precipitate instability in the tropical karst environment, potentially resulting in disruption of food, water, and fuel supplies. The karst of central Belize was used intensively for some six centuries by Maya farmers, but between the 10th and 19th centuries AD most of it reverted to secondary forest. Commercial logging dominated the 19th and early 20th centuries, followed by the expansion of subsistence and commercial agriculture after 1945. In the 1980s resource use has accelerated as population and other pressures increase. Much karst remains forested, but there is increasing clearance for agricultural uses, particularly for citrus cultivation and small-scale mixed agriculture. Soil depletion has begun to occur, water resources are increasingly taxed, and some wildlife is threatened by habitat destruction and increased hunting. Lime production for the citrus industry has promoted quarrying, water extraction, and fuelwood use. Environmental stresses currently do not exceed the threshold of instability, but the rapidly developing rural economy warrants careful monitoring of resource pressures.     

Displacements and transformations of nitrate-rich and nitrate-poor water masses in the tropical Pacific during the 1997 El Niño

A Lagrangian analysis was applied to the outputs of a coupled physical-biogeochemical model to describe the redistribution of nitrate-rich and nitrate-poor surface water masses in the tropical Pacific throughout the major 1997 El Niño. The same tool was used to analyze the causes of nitrate changes along trajectories and to investigate the consequences of the slow nitrate uptake in the high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) region during the growth phase of the event. Three patterns were identified during the drift of water masses. The first mechanism is well known along the equator: oligotrophic waters from the western Pacific are advected eastward and retain their oligotrophic properties along their drift. The second concerns the persistent upwelling in the eastern basin. Water parcels have complex trajectories within this retention zone and remain mesotrophic. This study draws attention to the third process which is very specific to the HNLC region and to the El Niño period. During the 1997 El Niño, horizontal and vertical inputs of nitrate decreased so dramatically that nitrate uptake by phytoplankton became the only mechanism driving nitrate changes along pathways. The study shows that because of the slow nitrate uptake characteristic of the tropical Pacific HNLC system, nitrate in the pre-El Niño photic layer can support biological production for a period of several months. As a consequence, the slow nitrate uptake delays the gradual onset of oligotrophic conditions over nearly all the area usually occupied by upwelled waters. Owing to this process, mesotrophic conditions persist in the tropical Pacific during El Niño events.     

Modelling and Mapping Damage to Forests from an Ice Storm Using Remote Sensing and Environmental Data

An extreme ice storm in January 1998 deposited up to 100 mm of ice and resulted in significant forest damage across eastern North America. Average crown loss of over 75% was recorded in large areas of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec. A primary question that arose following the storm was: can forest damage be effectively assessed using remote sensing and other available environmental data? This paper presents two contrasting studies to address this question. The first involves damage modelling at a local scale in an unmanaged forest using spectral and spatial information in high-resolution airborne imagery. Results of field data analyses are also given that show relations between damage and forest structure and composition as well as changes in forest structure that occurred in the years following the storm. The second study involves regional scale damage mapping in managed and unmanaged forests of eastern Ontario using medium resolution satellite imagery and other environmental data. In comparison of several image classification and data interpolation methods, the best damage map was produced using a neural network classifier and a mix of Landsat and environmental data. The methods and results presented in this paper form the basis for ongoing long-term temporal study of damage impacts on forest condition.     

Analysis on the decadal scale variation of the dust storm in North China

Dust storm is a disastrous weather that can cause serious environmental consequences and hazards. It causes excessive soil mass and nutrient loss in source areas, and air pollution in deposition area, which result in bad influence on agriculture, industry, traffic, and peoples’ daily life[1-4]. Dust storm can also affect the thermal balance of planetary radiation and then lead to meso- to macroscale climatic modification[5-7]. North- west China and North China are two high-frequency centers …