Inter‐annual variability in the effects of riparian woodland on micro‐climate,energy exchanges and water temperature of an upland Scottish stream

The influence of riparian woodland on stream temperature, micro‐climate and energy exchange was investigated over seven calendar years. Continuous data were collected from two reaches of the Girnock Burn (a tributary of the Aberdeenshire Dee, Scotland) with contrasting land use characteristics: (1) semi‐natural riparian forest and (2) open moorland. In the moorland reach, wind speed and energy fluxes (especially net radiation, latent heat and sensible heat) varied considerably between years because of variable riparian micro‐climate coupled strongly to prevailing meteorological conditions. In the forested reach, riparian vegetation sheltered the stream from meteorological conditions that produced a moderated micro‐climate and thus energy exchange conditions, which were relatively stable between years. Net energy gains (losses) in spring and summer (autumn and winter) were typically greater in the moorland than the forest. However, when particularly high latent heat loss or low net radiation gain occurred in the moorland, net energy gain (loss) was less than that in the forest during the spring and summer (autumn and winter) months. Spring and summer water temperature was typically cooler in the forest and characterised by less inter‐annual variability due to reduced, more inter‐annually stable energy gain in the forested reach. The effect of riparian vegetation on autumn and winter water temperature dynamics was less clear because of the confounding effects of reach‐scale inflows of thermally stable groundwater in the moorland reach, which strongly influenced the local heat budget. These findings provide new insights as to the hydrometeorological conditions under which semi‐natural riparian forest may be effective in mitigating river thermal variability, notably peaks, under present and future climates. © 2014 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Optimal energy‐based seismic design of non‐conventional Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) implemented via inter‐story isolation

Inter‐story isolation, an effective strategy for mitigating the seismic risk of both new and existing buildings, has gained more and more interest in recent years as alternative to base isolation, whenever the latter results to be impractical, technically difficult or uneconomic. As suggested by the name, the technique consists in inserting flexible isolators at floor levels other than the base along the height of a multi‐story building, thus realizing a non‐conventional Tuned Mass Damper (TMD). Consistent with this, an optimal design methodology is developed in the present paper with the objective of achieving the global protection of both the structural portions separated by the inter‐story isolation system, that is, the lower portion (below the isolation system) and the isolated upper portion (above the isolation system). The optimization procedure is formulated on the basis of an energy performance criterion that consists in maximizing the ratio between the energy dissipated in the isolation system and the input energy globally transferred to the entire structure. Numerical simulations, performed under natural accelerograms with different frequency content and considering increasing isolation levels along the height of a reference frame structure, are used to investigate the seismic performance of the optimized inter‐story isolation systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of vertical irregularity and thickness of unreinforced masonry infill on the robustness of RC framed buildings

Presence of irregularities in reinforced concrete (RC) buildings increases seismic vulnerability. During severe seismic shaking, such buildings may suffer disproportionate damage or even collapse that can be minimized by increasing robustness. Robustness is a desirable property of structural systems that can mitigate susceptible buildings to disproportionate collapse. In this paper, the effects of vertical irregularity and thickness of unreinforced masonry infill on the robustness of a six‐story three‐bay RC frame are quantified. Nonlinear static analysis of the frame is performed, and parametric study is undertaken by considering two parameters: absence of masonry infill at different floors (i.e., vertical irregularities) and infill thickness. Robustness has been quantified in terms of stiffness, base shear, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of the frame. It was observed that the infill thickness and vertical irregularity have significant influence on the response of RC frame. The response surface method is used to develop a predictive equation for robustness as a function of the two parameters. The predictive equation is validated further using 12 randomly selected computer simulations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SAGD开发中突破夹层技术对策研究

开发实践表明,稠油油藏内部发育的夹层影响蒸汽辅助重力泄油(SAGD)开发效果。实际SAGD开发应当充分考虑夹层对SAGD生产效果的影响,寻找突破夹层的有效对策,以期提高SAGD产量。以国内某超稠油油藏地质特征为基础,结合夹层岩石力学参数测试结果,利用耦合岩石力学数值模拟技术确定了不同参数(岩石力学参数、物性参数、操作参数)对岩石变形量、SAGD产量的敏感性。研究结果表明,夹层的渗透率和SAGD注汽压力是影响SAGD产量的主要因素。进一步地,针对夹层特征,结合实际操作可行性,提出了提高注汽压力和直井辅助两种突破夹层技术对策,并给出了相应的技术界限及突破效果,该研究结果可用于指导稠油油藏双水平井SAGD经济高效开发     

Underwater video reveals decreased activity of rocky intertidal snails during high tides and cooler days

Nearly all of our understanding of rocky inter‐tidal ecology comes from studies conducted at low tide. To study inter‐tidal organisms at high tide, we anchored waterproof digital GoPro^® video cameras in wave‐exposed tidepools and recorded the daytime movements of the black turban snail, Tegula funebralis, over the tidal cycle between May and August 2012 near Bodega Bay, California. Overall, snails moved more quickly and presumably foraged more during low tides and on days with warmer air and perhaps water temperatures. This is similar to other ectotherms that exhibit increased metabolic rates, movement and foraging in warmer conditions. Snails also moved less during flood and high tides, may have moved downward in tidepools at flood tides, and showed evidence of reduced activity on days with larger waves. This inactivity and refuge seeking may have been a strategy to avoid dislodgment by waves. Analysis of snail trajectories showed foraging bouts indicated by alternating zig‐zagging and straight movement. There was no effect of temperature, wave height, or tidal phase on distribution of snail turning angles, suggesting that they may have foraged consistently but moved faster during warm conditions and low tides, thereby grazing a larger area. This is one of few direct recordings of inter‐tidal organisms on wave‐exposed rocky shores during high tide. The methods used here are easily transferable to other studies, which are needed to increase our understanding of behaviors that structure rocky shore communities during high tide.     

塔里木河下游生态输水河道两侧区域地下水运动规律研究

根据塔里木河下游断流区域含水层水文地质特征及其实际输水过程中河水对浅层地下水的补给规律,建立了塔里木河下游绿色走廊生态输水河道附近区域地下水运动的一维非稳定流模型,并通过在整个输水过程中流量与水位两种边界条件相互转换的一种方法求解模型。最后应用上述模型分析了间歇性输水条件下塔里本河下游断流河段河道两侧地下水位恢复状况,为输水生态效益的定量评价及其今后输水工作的决策提供理论基础。     

U‐Pb Detrital Zircon Analysis – Results of an Inter‐laboratory Comparison

Inter‐laboratory comparison of laser ablation ICP‐MS and SIMS U‐Pb dating of synthetic detrital zircon samples provides an insight into the state‐of‐the art of sedimentary provenance studies. Here, we report results obtained from ten laboratories that routinely perform this type of work. The achieved level of bias was mostly within ± 2% relative to the ID‐TIMS U‐Pb ages of zircons in the detrital sample, and the variation is likely to be attributed to variable Pb/U elemental fractionation due to zircon matrix differences between the samples and the reference materials used for standardisation. It has been determined that ~ 5% age difference between adjacent age peaks is currently at the limit of what can be routinely resolved by the in situ dating of detrital zircon samples. Precision of individual zircon age determination mostly reflects the data reduction and procedures of measurement uncertainty propagation, and it is largely independent of the instrumentation, analytical technique and reference samples used for standardisation. All laboratories showed a bias towards selection of larger zircon grains for analysis. The experiment confirms the previously published estimates of the minimum number of grains that have to be analysed in order to detect minor zircon age populations in detrital samples.     

冬季亚洲—太平洋涛动年际变率与东亚气候异常

利用1948—2011年NCEP/NCAR月平均再分析资料和1951—2010年我国160站降水量资料,研究了冬季亚洲—太平洋区域的大气遥相关及其与东亚冬季风和降水的关系。结果表明:冬季在亚洲—西太平洋与中、东太平洋中低纬度对流层上层扰动温度之间存在类似于夏季的亚洲—太平洋涛动 (APO) 现象,即当东亚中低纬度对流层中、上层偏暖时,中东太平洋中低纬度对流层中上层温度偏冷,反之亦然。冬季APO可以反映冬季亚洲—太平洋东西向热力差异强度变化,与夏季相比,冬季APO遥相关在亚洲的中心位置略偏南、偏东,且冬季APO与大气环流关系与夏季也有所不同;当冬季APO指数偏高时,对流层上层东亚大槽位置偏西,而东亚热带地区的高压向北伸展,导致我国南方对流层为深厚的异常反气旋系统所控制,此时南方地区对流层低层盛行异常的偏东北气流,并伴随水汽辐散和异常下沉运动,南方降水偏少;冬季APO指数与ENSO有紧密联系。     

Diurnal and tidal patterns of carbon uptake and calcification in geniculate inter‐tidal coralline algae

Research on coralline algal responses to ocean acidification and other environmental stressors has increased in recent years as coralline algae is thought to stand a higher chance of being affected by acidification stress than other macroalgae. To provide context and enhance the existing eco‐physiological framework for climate change studies, it is important to understand the effects of non‐extreme stressors experienced regularly by inter‐tidal coralline algae. In this study, we tested the potentially interacting effects of diurnal and tidal treatments on calcification in the geniculate coralline algae Corallina frondescens and Corallina vancouveriensis using ¹³C‐labeled bicarbonate. Both species deposited more calcium carbonate during the day than at night, and also when submerged (high tide) compared with when emerged (low tide) in their apical and mature segments (intergenicula). These results indicate that inter‐tidal coralline algae do in fact pay a cost for living inter‐tidally at the edge of an adaptive zone.     

福建近海海平面变化研究

利用福建沿海几个主要验潮站数据与法国空间局(CNES)AVISO多卫星融合资料分析了福建近海及其周边海域海平面的时、空变化特征及主要模态,并简要分析福建近海海平面变化趋势.得到如下结论:近54a(1960~2013年)福建沿海相对海平面上升约2 mm/a,福建沿海海平面变化存在显著的季节变化和2~3a及6~8a的年际变化特征,这与ENSO和长周期天文分潮的变化周期较为吻合;对比同期卫星高度计资料和潮位站资料(1993~2012年)发现,卫星高度计与潮位站分析结果基本一致;卫星高度计和潮位站分析结果表明,福建沿海区域海平面近20a平均线性变化趋势约为4 mm/a.