Use of Continuous Plankton Recorder information in support of marine management: applications in fisheries, environmental protection, and in the study of ecosystem response to environmental change

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey was conceived from the outset as a programme of applied research designed to assist the fishing industry. Its survival and continuing vigour after 70 years is a testament to its utility, which has been achieved in spite of great changes in our understanding of the marine environment and in our concerns over how to manage it. The CPR has been superseded in several respects by other technologies, such as acoustics and remote sensing, but it continues to provide unrivalled seasonal and geographic information about a wide range of zooplankton and phytoplankton taxa. The value of this coverage increases with time and provides the basis for placing recent observations into the context of long-term, large-scale variability and thus suggesting what the causes are likely to be. Information from the CPR is used extensively in judging environmental impacts and producing quality status reports (QSR); it has shown the distributions of fish stocks, which had not previously been exploited; it has pointed to the extent of ungrazed phytoplankton production in the North Atlantic, which was a vital element in establishing the importance of carbon sequestration by phytoplankton.The CPR continues to be the principal source of large-scale, long-term information about the plankton ecosystem of the North Atlantic. It has recently provided extensive information about the biodiversity of the plankton and about the distribution of introduced species. It serves as a valuable example for the design of future monitoring of the marine environment and it has been essential to the design and implementation of most North Atlantic plankton research.     

基于特征提取的目标变化检测方法研究

针对不同时相遥感影像中特定目标的变化,研究了基于特征提取的目标变化检测方法。该方法首先根据目标的几何特征进行检测与提取,然后对提取出的两目标影像进行比较,得到特定目标的变化。实验结果表明该方法对特定目标的变化检测有较好的效果。     

我国冰冻圈变化的影响在气候变化背景下的识别

全球气候变化对自然生态系统和人类社会系统的各个方面产生了很重要的直接影响,其中冰冻圈由于其脆弱性与灵敏性而首当其冲.同样,气候变化通过影响冰冻罔而对自然生态系统和人类社会系统产生很重要的间接影响.通过论述冰冻圈变化的影响,选取较为典型的领域,在时空尺度、作用机制以及影响过程等方面,对气候变化背景下我国冰冻圈变化的具体影响进行了识别.结果表明,气候变化的正面或者负面影响通过冰冻圈变化的作用之后可以加强或者削弱,从而为制定冰冻圈变化的适应对策提供科学依据.     

Proglacial groundwater storage dynamics under climate change and glacier retreat

Proglacial aquifers are an important water store in glacierised mountain catchments that supplement meltwater-fed river flows and support freshwater ecosystems. Climate change and glacier retreat will perturb water storage in these aquifers, yet the climate-glacier-groundwater response cascade has rarely been studied and remains poorly understood. This study implements an integrated modelling approach that combines distributed glacio-hydrological and groundwater models with climate change projections to evaluate the evolution of groundwater storage dynamics and surface-groundwater exchanges in a temperate, glacierised catchment in Iceland. Focused infiltration along the meltwater-fed Virkisá River channel is found to be an important source of groundwater recharge and is projected to provide 14%–20% of total groundwater recharge by the 2080s. The simulations highlight a mechanism by which glacier retreat could inhibit river recharge in the future due to the loss of diurnal melt cycling in the runoff hydrograph. However, the evolution of proglacial groundwater level dynamics show considerable resilience to changes in river recharge and, instead, are driven by changes in the magnitude and seasonal timing of diffuse recharge from year-round rainfall. The majority of scenarios simulate an overall reduction in groundwater levels with a maximum 30-day average groundwater level reduction of 1 m. The simulations replicate observational studies of baseflow to the river, where up to 15% of the 30-day average river flow comes from groundwater outside of the melt season. This is forecast to reduce to 3%–8% by the 2080s due to increased contributions from rainfall and meltwater runoff. During the melt season, groundwater will continue to contribute 1%–3% of river flow despite significant reductions in meltwater runoff inputs. Therefore it is concluded that, in the proglacial region, groundwater will continue to provide only limited buffering of river flows as the glacier retreats.     

The history of water salinity in the Pearl River estuary,China, during the Late Quaternary

This research reconstructed the Late Quaternary salinity history of the Pearl River estuary, China, from diatom records of four sedimentary cores. The reconstruction was produced through the application of a diatom–salinity transfer function developed based on 77 modern surface sediment samples collected across the estuary from shallow marine environment to deltaic distributaries. The statistical analysis indicates that the majority of sediment samples from the cores has good modern analogues, thus the reconstructions are reliable. The reconstructed salinity history shows the older estuarine sequence formed during the last interglacial was deposited under similar salinity conditions to the younger estuarine sequence, which was formed during the present interglacial. Further analysis into the younger estuarine sequence reveals the interplays between sea level, monsoon‐driven freshwater discharge, and deltaic shoreline movement, key factors that have influenced water salinity in the estuary. In particular, a core from the delta plain shows the effects of sea‐level change and deltaic progradation, while cores from the mouth region of the estuary reveal changes of monsoon‐driven freshwater discharge. This study demonstrates the advantages of quantitative salinity reconstructions to improve the quality of reconstruction and allow direct comparison with other quantitative records and the instrumentally observed values of salinity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于贝叶斯网络分类的遥感影像变化检测

遥感成像过程中,地面、大气等诸多要素的不确定性和波段之间的相关性等原因影响了分类精度,导致变化检测的不准确性。为了提高分类精度往往需要引入先验知识。贝叶斯网络是一种新的数据表达和推理模型,对数据没有严格的正态分布前提要求,通过动态地调整先验概率密度,能有效提高分类精度。以北京通州地区1996-05-29和2001-05-19两个时相的陆地卫星Landsat TM遥感影像为例,介绍了基于贝叶斯网络的分类算法,并在此基础上实现了两个时相遥感影像的变化检测。实验结果表明:基于贝叶斯网络分类算法的后分类比较变化检测方法是遥感影像变化检测的一种新的有效方法。     

地理国情普查时点核准作业方法探讨

通过核实从数据采集到标准时点阶段发生变化的内容,补充新增内容,消除普查前阶段由于资料时效性和外业局限性等导致的现势性不统一现象,对变化的地理国情信息进行核准,使地理国情普查数据成果在时间上达到统一,是开展地理国情监测的基础。     

Localized versus wide-ranging effects of the post-Soviet wars in the Caucasus on agricultural abandonment

Wars are frequent and can affect land use substantially, but the effects of wars can vary greatly depending on their characteristics, such as intensity or duration. Furthermore, the spatial scale of the effects can differ. The effects of wars may be localized and thus close to conflict locations if direct mechanisms matter most (e.g., abandonment because active fighting precludes farming), or wide-ranging, e.g., farther away from conflict locations, if indirect mechanisms predominate (e.g., no access to agricultural inputs). Our goal was to quantify how the very different wars in the Caucasus region during post-Soviet times most likely affected agricultural abandonment at different scales. We analyzed data on conflict locations plus Landsat-derived land-cover data from 1987 to 2015, and applied matching statistics, difference-in-differences estimators, and logistic panel regressions. We examined the localized versus wide-ranging effects of the different wars on permanent agricultural abandonment and inferred to direct and indirect mechanisms that may have resulted in agricultural abandonment. While permanent agricultural abandonment was overall surprisingly limited across the Caucasus, up to one third of abandonment was most likely related to the wars. Among the wars, the war in Chechnya was by far the most intense and longest, but its effect on abandonment was similar to the less intense and relatively short war in Abkhazia. 47 % and 45 % of agricultural abandonment was related to each war, respectively. The reason was that the effect of the war in Chechnya was more localized, and abandonment occurred near conflict locations, in contrast to Abkhazia, where the effect was wide-ranging and abandonment occurred farther away from conflict locations. In contrast, the war in South Ossetia showed no significant effect on abandonment, and the war in Nagorno-Karabakh had the surprising pattern that abandonment was higher where no war had occurred. For each of the wars, abandonment was predominately related to the nearest conflict locations, but in Abkhazia additional conflict locations within 10 km further increased the probability of abandonment. We infer that the direct mechanisms of the war such as bombing, and active fighting most likely resulted in a localized effect close to conflict locations in Chechnya and in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, in Nagorno-Karabakh subsidies for new settlers after the war, (i.e., a positive wide-ranging effect), potentially reduced the amount of abandonment there. In contrast, negative wide-ranging effects such as refugee movements and post-war restrictions on their return is related to broad-scale abandonment in Abkhazia. In summary, permanent agricultural abandonment was not necessarily higher in a war with a high overall intensity. Instead, the effect of a given war varied in scale, and was related to the relative importance of direct and localized versus indirect and wide-ranging mechanisms, including postwar events and policies, which is likely the case for other wars, too.     

What about reservoirs? Questioning anthropogenic and climatic interferences on water availability

Water resources in semi-arid regions like the Mediterranean Basin are highly vulnerable because of the high variability of weather systems. Additionally, climate change is altering the timing and pattern of water availability in a region where growing populations are placing extra demands on water supplies. Importantly, how reservoirs and dams have an influence on the amount of water resources available is poorly quantified. Therefore, we examine the impact of reservoirs on water resources together with the impact of climate change in a semi-arid Mediterranean catchment. We simulated the Susurluk basin (23.779-km²) using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. We generate results for with (RSV) and without reservoirs (WRSV) scenarios. We run simulations for current and future conditions using dynamically downscaled outputs of the MPI-ESM-MR general circulation model under two greenhouse gas relative concentration pathways (RCPs) in order to reveal the coupled effect of reservoir and climate impacts. Water resources were then converted to their usages – blue water (water in aquifers and rivers), green water storage (water in the soil) and green water flow (water losses by evaporation and transpiration). The results demonstrate that all water resources except green water flow are projected to decrease under all RCPs compared to the reference period, both long-term and at seasonal scales. However, while water scarcity is expected in the future, reservoir storage is shown to be adequate to overcome this problem. Nevertheless, reservoirs reduce the availability of water, particularly in soil moisture stores, which increases the potential for drought by reducing streamflow. Furthermore, reservoirs cause water losses through evaporation from their open surfaces. We conclude that pressures to protect society from economic damage by building reservoirs have a strong impact on the fluxes of watersheds. This is additional to the effect of climate change on water resources.     

典型场选取对多要素气候态相似季节划分的影响

多要素气候态相似季节划分法作为一种新的季节划分客观化方法,在近几年被广泛应用于气候变化研究、气候监测和短期气候预测等。该方法的关键之处在于多要素的融合和典型场的选取,其中典型场是指多要素气候态相似法中所选取的能代表冬季和夏季平均气候特征的气候态距平场。文中采用3种不同方案选取典型场：方法一,基于60年平均气候态选取典型场;方法二,基于30年平均气候态选取典型场;方法三,基于逐年气候态状况选取典型场。研究不同典型场的选取对多要素气候态相似季节划分法划分结果的可能影响,进而以1998年和2013年华中地区的季节划分为例,对第3种典型场划分方法的准确性进行论证。结果显示,典型场作为多要素气候态相似季节划分法的划分基准,对季节划分的结果至关重要,基于单年气候状况选取的典型场与基于多年平均气候态选取的典型场之间的差异存在年代际变化,且在气候变化的转折阶段差异尤为显著。基于第3种典型场选取方案的1998年和2013年季节划分结果能准确地反映当年华中地区气候态和大气环流的季节变化情况。