Water Quality in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area: Past Perspectives, Current Issues and New Research Directions

Elevated sediment and nutrient concentrations have long been regarded as the pre-eminent water quality threats to the Great Barrier Reef, with the potential risk posed by other pollutants such as heavy metals, persistent chlorohydrocarbons, PCBs and petroleum related compounds considered to be of lesser consequence. However, the management focus on these latter types of pollutants has recently shifted to acknowledge the potential impact posed by diuron, dioxins, dieldrin, and mercury and cadmium concentrations detected in sediments and biota along the Great Barrier Reef and southern Queensland coastline. In general, these threats originate from areas dominated by intensive cropping agriculture and are exacerbated by high rainfall and erosion rates in the wet tropics region of the Queensland coast. Maintenance of long-term monitoring programmes, which utilize innovative data acquisition techniques will enable assessment of change in environmentally relevant pollutant concentrations over time. However, improved land management practices, which include an immediate minimization of vegetation clearance and responsible use of pesticides and fertilizers in Queensland are essential if water quality in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area is to be maintained and protected.     

机载激光测深系统研制中的关键技术

根据机载激光测深系统的工作机理,分析梳理了研制过程中涉及的主要关键技术,包括:高重复频率激光器研制、大动态范围微弱光信号提取、海底回波识别、海面波浪改正、浅水与深水分离测量、高速多通道数字采集、海陆分界识别、定位测姿、水位改正和测深数据质量控制等技术。只有成功突破上述关键技术,才能实现《海道测量规范》要求的测深精度指标。     

Ice caps existed throughout the Lateglacial Interstadial in northern Scotland

We constrain, in detail, fluctuations of two former ice caps in NW Scotland with multibeam seabed surveys, geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic ¹⁰Be isotope analyses. We map a continuous sequence of 40 recessional moraines stretching from ～10 km offshore to the Wester Ross mountains. Surface‐exposure ages from boulders on moraine ridges in Assynt and the Summer Isles region show that substantial, dynamic, ice caps existed in NW Scotland between 13 and 14 ka BP. We interpret this as strong evidence that large active glaciers probably survived throughout the Lateglacial Interstadial, and that during the Older Dryas period (ca. 14 ka BP) ice caps in NW Scotland were thicker and considerably more extensive than in the subsequent Younger Dryas Stadial. By inference, we suggest that Lateglacial ice‐cap oscillations in Scotland reflect the complex interplay between changing temperature and precipitation regimes during this climatically unstable period (ca. 15–11 ka BP). © Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) copyright 2008. Reproduced with the permission of NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

多波束数据处理中的UTM直角坐标与经纬度坐标转换技术

简要介绍了地图投影的一般概念,重点描述了UTM的优点及其与大地坐标之间的相互转换,该转换方法软件化后形成的技术可以为多波束数据后处理商业软件提供坐标转换的补丁技术。最后附上部分经实际检验的Fortran程序供参考。     

珊瑚礁工程地质研究的内容和方法

珊瑚礁工程地质研究的主要内容为珊瑚礁自然地质条件、珊瑚礁岩土物理力学性质和珊瑚礁混凝土料问题。除了通常的工程地质研究方法外, 着重介绍珊瑚礁工程地质研究的钻探、触探和地球物理勘测方法。     

Capabilities of the bathymetric Hawk Eye LiDAR for coastal habitat mapping: A case study within a Basque estuary

The bathymetric LiDAR system is an airborne laser that detects sea bottom at high vertical and horizontal resolutions in shallow coastal waters. This study assesses the capabilities of the airborne bathymetric LiDAR sensor (Hawk Eye system) for coastal habitat mapping in the Oka estuary (within the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai, SE Bay of Biscay, northern Spain), where water conditions are moderately turbid. Three specific objectives were addressed: 1) to assess the data quality of the Hawk Eye LiDAR, both for terrestrial and subtidal zones, in terms of height measurement density, coverage, and vertical accuracy; 2) to compare bathymetric LiDAR with a ship-borne multibeam echosounder (MBES) for different bottom types and depth ranges; and 3) to test the discrimination potential of LiDAR height and reflectance information, together with multi-spectral imagery (three visible and near infrared bands), for the classification of 22 salt marsh and rocky shore habitats, covering supralittoral, intertidal and subtidal zones. The bathymetric LiDAR Hawk Eye data enabled the generation of a digital elevation model (DEM) of the Oka estuary, at 2 m of horizontal spatial resolution in the terrestrial zone (with a vertical accuracy of 0.15 m) and at 4 m within the subtidal, extending a water depth of 21 m. Data gaps occurred in 14.4% of the area surveyed with the LiDAR (13.69 km²). Comparison of the LiDAR system and the MBES showed no significant mean difference in depth. However, the Root Mean Square error of the former was high (0.84 m), especially concentrated upon rocky (0.55–1.77 m) rather than in sediment bottoms (0.38–0.62 m). The potential of LiDAR topographic variables and reflectance alone for discriminating 15 intertidal and submerged habitats was low (with overall classification accuracy between 52.4 and 65.4%). In particular, reflectance retrieved for this case study has been found to be not particularly useful for classification purposes. The combination of the LiDAR-based DEM and derived topographical features with the near infrared and visible bands has permitted the mapping of 22 supralittoral, intertidal and subtidal habitats of the Oka estuary, with high overall classification accuracies of between 84.5% and 92.1%, using the maximum likelihood algorithm. The airborne bathymetric Hawk Eye LiDAR, although somewhat limited by water turbidity and wave breaking, provides unique height information obscured from topographic LiDAR and acoustic systems, together with an improvement of the habitat mapping reliability in the complex and dynamic coastal fringe.     

Geomorphological,stratigraphic and geochronological evidence of fast Pleistocene coastal uplift in the westernmost part of the Corinth Gulf Rift (Greece)

Rapid extension and active normal faulting in the western extremity of the Corinth Gulf are accompanied by fast coastal uplift. We investigate Pleistocene uplift west of Aigion, by attempting to date remains of marine terraces and sedimentary sequences by calcareous nannoplankton and U‐series analyses. Net uplift initiated recently, due to abandonment of an older rift‐bounding fault zone and increase in activity on the presently active, coastal fault zone. This change apparently coincides with an abrupt slow down (or, termination) of secondary fault block tilting within the broader hangingwall block of the older zone, indicated by an angular unconformity that dates in the early part of MIS10 (∼390–350 ka BP, preferably, in the earlier part of this period). Net uplift driven by the coastal zone resulted in the formation of MIS9c (330 ka) and younger terraces. The formation of the unconformity and the initiation of net uplift coincide temporally with a ∼300–400 ka unconformity recognized by recent studies in a wide area offshore Aigion i.e. they could be part of an evolutionary event that affected the entire western part of the Corinth Rift or, a large area therein. Uplift rate estimates at four locations are discussed with reference to the morphotectonic context of differential uplift of secondary fault blocks, and the context of possible increase in uplift rate with time. The most reliable and most useful estimate for uplift rate at the longitude of the studied transect is 1.74–1.85 mm/year (time‐averaged estimate for the last ∼240 ka, based on calcareous nannoplankton and sequence‐stratigraphic interpretation). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recovery of bathymetry from altimeter data

At present, there exist two methods used to recover the bathymetry from altimeter data, i. e. the deterministic method and the stochastic method. In this paper, the principles of the two methods are introduced first. Then according to the theory of least-square collocation, a modified statistical model for recovering bathymetry from altimeter data is proposed. The new model has been used for computing the ocean depth in the South China Sea from altimeter-derived gravity anomalies. Finally the predicted depths are compared with the ship-borne depth. It shows that they agree with each other very well.     

DEM在湖泊水文变化研究中的应用进展

在全球变化背景下,湖泊水文的动态变化不仅是评估和预测气候与环境变化的重要指示剂,同时对社会可持续发展、水资源的开发与利用、生态文明建设等产生重要影响。湖泊水文的动态变化受到湖滨及湖底地形的控制,数字高程模型（DEM）成为湖泊水文研究的重要数据源。随着遥测技术的发展,高分辨率、区域/全球大尺度DEM数据的获取手段快速发展、数据源不断丰富,DEM对推动湖泊水文动态研究进展起到了关键作用。本文首先基于Web of Science平台对DEM在湖泊水文动态研究中的相关文献进行了分析,阐述了该主题现有研究在发文时间、发文数量增减态势、研究区域与热点地区、文献所涉及的DEM数据等方面的特点。接着,围绕着DEM在湖泊水文动态的研究中4个主要方向：湖泊水域变化、湖泊水位变化、湖泊水量变化、湖泊水文灾害情势,重点总结：DEM与其他遥感观测平台、实地观测及模型模拟等多源数据的融合策略,数字地形分析与水文学分析、遥感影像分析等方法的集成策略,以及DEM数据不确定性等对湖泊水文变化研究的影响。最后,本文论述了目前DEM在湖泊水文研究中存在的关键问题,并结合技术发展趋势和研究热点问题,提出了可能的解决路径和未来的研究前景。     

Importance of wave-induced bed liquefaction in the fine sediment budget of Cleveland Bay,Great Barrier Reef

Data from a three-year long field study of fine sediment dynamics in Cleveland Bay show that wave-induced liquefaction of the fine sediment bed on the seafloor in shallow water was the main process causing bed erosion under small waves during tradewinds, and that shear-induced erosion prevailed during cyclonic conditions. These data were used to verify a model of fine sediment dynamics that calculates sediment resuspension by both excess shear stress and wave-induced liquefaction of the bed. For present land-use conditions, the amount of riverine sediments settling on the bay may exceed by 50–75% the amount of sediment exported from the bay. Sediment is thus accumulating in the bay on an annual basis, which in turn may degrade the fringing coral reefs. For those years when a tropical cyclone impacted the bay there may be a net sediment outflow from the bay. During the dry, tradewind season, fine sediment was progressively winnowed out of the shallow, reefal waters.