Permafrost distribution modelling in the mountains of the Mediterranean: Corral del Veleta,Sierra Nevada,Spain

A statistical model for automated mapping of the spatial distribution of permafrost in the area of Corral del Veleta in south-east Spain (3703' N, 322' W; 3398 m a.s.l.) was developed and applied. The model uses a relationship between permafrost occurrence as indicated by BTS measurements, and variables such as altitude, solar radiation and summer snow cover. The model was implemented within a geographical information system (GIS) and determines the spatial distribution of probable permafrost in Corral del Veleta. Validation was achieved by comparing the predicted permafrost distribution with the results of recent fieldwork, such as geomorphic mapping, geophysical soundings and ground temperature logging.     

拉萨春季一次雷暴天气过程分析

利用拉萨多普勒天气雷达、闪电定位仪、欧洲中心500hPa分析场及常规观测等资料,对2008年4月27-28日发生在拉萨的雷暴天气的环境条件和雷达回波特征进行了综合分析.结果表明:这次雷暴过程是在乌拉尔山冷空气南下,加剧了高原低涡切变辐合上升运动的发展,大气层结极不稳定的条件下产生的;雷达径向速度图和VAD风廓线均显示出非常明显的低层暖平流结构、低空急流及垂直风切变特征;γ中尺度气旋式涡旋扰动与环境垂直风切变的相互作用,导致雷暴云发展,回波顶增高,40dBz回波顶高伸展到7.0km左右;CAPE值、垂直风切变、γ中尺度气旋性扰动以及低层暖平流对拉萨雷暴天气预警、预报具有指示意义,给出了拉萨雷暴天气预报思路与着眼点.     

Morphology and geotechnique of active-layer detachment failures in discontinuous and continuous permafrost, northern Canada

Fifty active-layer detachment failures triggered after forest fire in the discontinuous permafrost zone (central Mackenzie Valley, 65° N.) are compared to several hundred others caused by summer meteorological triggers in continuous permafrost (Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, 80°N). Most failures fall into compact or elongated morphological categories. The compact type occur next to stream channels and have little internal disturbance of the displaced block, whereas the elongated types can develop on any part of the slope and exhibit greater internal deformation. Frequency distributions of length-to-width and length-to-depth ratios are similar at all sites. Positive pore pressures, expected theoretically, were measured in the field at the base of the thawing layer. Effective stress analysis could predict the instability of slopes in both areas, providing cohesion across the thaw plane was set to zero and/or residual strength parameters were employed. The location of the shear planes or zones in relation to the permafrost table and the degree of post-failure secondary movements (including headwall recession and thermokarst development within the failure track) differed between the localities, reflecting dissimilarity in the environmental triggers and in the degree of ground thermal disturbance.     

Late Glacial and Holocene Palaeoenvironmental Changes in the Rostov-Yaroslavl’ Area, West Central Russia

Three lake sediment sequences (lakes Nero, Chashnitsy, Zaozer’e) from the Rostov-Jaroslavl’ region north of Moscow were studied to provide information on palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes during the past 15,000 cal yr. The multi-proxy study (i.e., pollen, macrofossils, mineral magnetic measurements, total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur) is chronologically constrained by AMS ¹⁴C measurements. Lake Nero provided the longest sedimentary record back to ca. 15,000 cal yr BP, while sediment accumulation began around ca. 11,000 cal yr BP in the two other lakes, possibly due to melting of permafrost. Limnic plant macrofossil remains suggest increased lake productivity and higher mean summer temperatures after 14,500 cal yr BP. While the late glacial vegetation was dominated by Betula and Salix shrubs and various herbs, it appears that Betula sect. Albae became established as early as 14,000 cal yr BP. Major hydrological changes in the region led to distinctly lower lake levels, starting 13,000 cal yr BP in Lake Nero and ca. 9000 cal yr BP in lakes Chashnitsy and Zaozer’e, which are situated at higher elevations. These changes resulted in sedimentary hiatuses in all three lakes that lasted 3500–4500 cal yr. Mixed broad-leaved – coniferous forests were widespread in the area between 8200 and 6100 cal yr BP and developed into dense, species-rich forests between 6100 and 2500 cal yr BP, during what was likely the warmest interval of the studied sequences. Agricultural activity is documented since 500 cal yr BP, but probably began earlier, since Rostov was a major capital by 862 A.D. This apparent gap may be caused by additional sedimentary hiatuses around 2500 and 500 cal yr BP.     

Climatic and geographic patterns of river runoff formation in Northern Eurasia

Siberian rivers are of global importance as they impact on the freshwater budget of the Arctic Ocean, which affects the Thermo-Haline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean. Siberian rivers, in particular the tributaries to the larger rivers, are under-represented in the international river-regime databases. The runoff of three Russian rivers in the Central Siberian taiga (Kureyka, Karabula and Erba) is modelled to analyse the relative influence of climate. In addition three rivers (Rhine, Maas and Odra) in Western Europe are similarly assessed as a control. The results show that the role of precipitation and autocorrelation as factors in the formation of river runoff is stronger under oceanic climate conditions, increasing from the central regions of Northern Eurasia towards the Arctic Ocean in the North and the Atlantic in the West. At the same time the influence of summer temperatures is weakened. The formation of Northern Eurasian river runoff appears to be influenced by periodically thawing top horizons of permafrost soil. Time served as an indicator for land use change after inclusion of meteorological data in the models. Maas and Erba showed a significant influence of the time factor. For the Erba the onset of agricultural land use in the catchment coincides with a drop in runoff. A similar causal relationship is suggested for the Maas. Land use can change the formation of runoff, which in turn can be used as an environmental indicator for sustainable land use.     

A source extent analysis of the Lancang earthquake ( M s=7.6) of 1988

Source extent parameters of the 1988 Lancang earthquake (M _s=7.6) were estimated by computing the second-central moment of displacement pulses of far field long period SH waves. We inverted the source duration T, the fault length L and the directivity parameter D by the least squares, and obtained that T=11.77 s, D=15.05 km·s, and L=70.94 km. We also find that this event is a symmetrically bilateral rupture and fault segments in two opposite rupture directions have the same value of 35 km in length. Combining analysis of aftershock distribution, the results would imply that there is an area in the joint part of the rupture area of two main shocks, which is not broken yet during the main shocks. Due to the dislocation accompanied during the main shocks, the strain would be rearranged. The joint part has enough strength to accumulate enough strain energy to excite a larger aftershock.     

近百年来冷圈波动

本世纪CO_2的增温导致了冷圈波动。中纬度山地冰川的普遍退缩与加速消融引起了海面持续上升。格陵兰冰盖目前尚未处于显著的负平衡状态,边缘区在变薄,中心区在增厚。南极大陆冰盖还在增长,但基底可能发生退缩。北极海冰在1935—1960年期间退缩了10％,南极海冰面积在1973—1980年间减少了2.5×10~6km~2。大陆积雪的变化主要表现在中纬度地区,并呈现出区域性差异。而高纬度地区,大陆冰盖的降雪量有增加趋势。     

中国的煤炭资源及其对优化能源结构的基础性作用

简述了中国煤炭资源概况,较全面的分析了煤炭对优化我国能源结构的基础性作用,旨在为推进我国煤炭工业的可持续发展提供参考。     

Role of permafrost in resilience of social-ecological system and its spatio-temporal dynamics in the source regions of Yangtze and Yellow Rivers

Permafrost is one of the key components of terrestrial ecosystem in cold regions. In the context of climate change, few studies have investigated resilience of social ecological system(SER) from the perspective of permafrost that restricts the hydrothermal condition of alpine grassland ecosystem. In this paper, based on the structural dynamics, we developed the numerical model for the SER in the permafrost regions of the source of Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, analyzed the spatial-temporal characteristics and sensitivity of the SER, and estimated the effect of permafrost change on the SER. The results indicate that: 1) the SER has an increasing trend, especially after 1997, which is the joint effect of precipitation, temperature, NPP and ecological conservation projects; 2) the SER shows the spatial feature of high in southeast and low in northwest,which is consistent with the variation trends of high southeast and low northwest for the precipitation, temperature and NPP, and low southeast and high northwest for the altitude; 3) the high sensitive regions of SER to the permafrost change have gradually transited from the island distribution to zonal and planar distribution since 1980, moreover, the sensitive degree has gradually reduced; relatively, the sensitivity has high value in the north and south, and low value in the south and east; 4) the thickness of permafrost active layer shows a highly negative correlation with the SER. The contribution rate of permafrost change to the SER is-4.3%, that is, once the thickness of permafrost active layer increases 1 unit, the SER would decrease 0.04 units.     

Integrating stream gage data and Landsat imagery to complete time-series of surface water extents in Central Valley,California

Accurate monitoring of surface water location and extent is critical for the management of diverse water resource phenomena. The multi-decadal archive of Landsat satellite imagery is punctuated by missing data due to cloud cover during acquisition times, hindering the assembly of a continuous time series of inundation dynamics. This study investigated whether streamflow volume measurements could be integrated with satellite data to fill gaps in monthly surface water chronologies for the Central Valley region of California, USA, from 1984 to 2015. We aggregated measurements of maximum monthly water extent within each of the study area’s 50 8-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) watersheds from two Landsat-derived datasets: the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) Monthly Water History and the U.S. Geological Survey Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE). We calculated Spearman rank correlation coefficients between water extent values in each HUC and streamflow discharge data. Linear regression fits of the water extent/streamflow data pairs with the highest correlations served as the basis for interpolation of missing imagery surface water values on a HUC-wise basis. Results show strong (ρ > 0.7) maximum correlations in 11 (22.4%) and 25 (51.0%) HUCs for the DSWE and JRC time series, respectively, when comparisons were restricted to imagery and gages co-located in each HUC. Strong maximum correlations occurred in 39 (79.6%; DSWE) and 42 (85.7%; JRC) HUCs when imagery was paired with discharge data from any study area gage, providing a solid basis for reconstruction of water extent values. We generated continuous time series of 30+ years in 35 HUCs, demonstrating that this technique can provide quantitative estimates of historical surface water extents and elucidate flooding or drought events over the period of data collection. Results of a non-parametric trend analysis of the long-term time series on an annual, seasonal, and monthly basis varied among HUCs, though most trends indicate an increase in surface water over the past 30 years.