Progress in sandy desertification research of China

Desertification is one of the most serious environmental and socio-economic problems facing the world today. Because the rapid expansion of desertification has resulted in serious environmental deterioration, economic loss, locally unsteadiness political situation and social upheaval, it has become a hot-spot issue of worldwide concern. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the catastrophic drought in the west Africa greatly accelerated the development of desertification, the desertificati…     

Recent progress of glaciological studies in China

1IntroductionIn the early 1960s, glaciers in western China were classified into maritime- and continental-types by different glacial environment and physical characteristics (Shi and Xie, 1964). With extensive glaciological investigations in the western regions (Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology of CAS, 1988), Lai and Huang (1990) suggested a new classification of temperate, subpolar and quasipolar glaciers, corresponding to the maritime-, subcontinental- and extremely contin…     

Coastline configuration and geomorphologic development mode of arc-shaped coast in South China

1IntroductionArc-shaped bays are quite common on exposed sediment coast in South China, where the crenulate-bay beaches occur with the presence of two consecutive headlands and a predominant wave approach oblique to the alignment of the upcoast and downcoast headlands (Yasso, 1965). Oblique persistent swell striking a shoreline transports sediment alongshore and sculptures a coast into arc-shaped beaches. The shoreline of beach appearance mainly consists of straight segment and shadow segment…     

中国公路自然区划的回顾与展望

1IntroductionHighway, as a kind of man-made structure, will become a part of the geographical environment and be impacted by all sorts of natural factors after it is finished. On the other hand, highway also brings some changes to the geographical environment. A highway often passes through different natural regions, so it must be adaptable to any geographical environments. On the basis of deep understanding of the geographical environment, service life and normal level of the highway can be e…     

Local Modeling模式及其在月径流预测中的应用

Local Modeling方法是一种动力系统预测方法，将其应用于河西内陆区黑河干流出山口莺落峡水文站月平均流量的中长期预测预报，取得了较为理想的成果。预测试验的结果表明，该预测模型有较高计算精度，尤其适用于非主汛期各月的月平均流量的预测；对于主汛期6～9月的月平均流量的预测，在考虑前期来水与预见期内降水的影响后，亦可获到较为理想的预测结果。可以认为，该方法的预报精度达到了水文情报预报规范的要求，Local Modeling方法的应用，将为西北干旱地区河川径流的中长期预报提供了一个新的途径。     

中国西部干旱区生态环境演变过程

根据湖沼沉积、黄土沉积和冰积等地质记录，运用地理信息系统、遥感、生态景观学等方法．从万年、千年和百年及百年以下四个时间尺度对中国西部干旱区生态环境演变过程进行研究。结果表明，全新世以来，中国西部干旱区的气候变化经历了多次的相对暖干和相对冷湿交替变化，变化历程较为复杂。早全新世、中全新世、晚全新世气候特点因地因时而异，但总体特征以干旱化为主，280～350a来，降水量有明显的减少趋势，并表现出显著的周期性。但在近半个世纪以来，中国天山地区的气候变化特征表现为气温升高，降水量增加。总的来说，从20世纪80年代以来，新疆的气候趋于好转，植被覆盖状况改善明显，山地森林、草甸、人工绿洲的面积均呈增加趋势。研究结果还表明，在一定尺度的气候背景条件下，地表的植被覆盖对调节绿洲区域气候有着积极的作用，可增加局部地区的降水。     

宁夏中北部地区沙尘暴天气发生过程中的不稳定条件分析

从沙尘暴的形成条件入手，对宁夏中北部地区近30a来沙尘暴天气发生过程中的不稳定条件进行了较为详尽的分析。结果表明：沙尘暴发生三前，大气的不稳定性明显增强；沙尘暴天气发生时不稳定性主要发生在700hPa以下，最为突出的是850hPa以下；沙尘暴发生过程中不稳定性达到最强。     

20世纪中国气候变化研究

Studies on the 20th century climate change in China have revealed that under the background of global warming over the past century,climate in China has also experienced significant change with mean annual temperature increased by about 0.5 °C.More reliable results for the latter part of the 20th century indicate that the largest warming occurred in Northwest China,North China and Northeast China,and the warming in winter is most significant.Although no obvious increase or decrease trends were detected for mean precipitation over China in the past half century,regional differences are very distinct.In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,precipitation increased,while that in the Yellow River Basin markedly decreased.Studies suggest that climate change in China seems to be related not only with the internal factors such as ENSO,PDO,and the others,but also with the anthropogenic effects such as greenhouse gas emissions,and land use.The future climate change studies in China seem to be important in narrowing understanding the nature of China's climate change and its main causes,since it is significant for projection and for impact assessment of climate change in the future.     

中国国家公园与世界遗产地保护——挑战与战略

About 70% of its land area as mountains and plateaus,China is the largest mountain countryin the world.Thanks to its vast territory (9.6 million km2),outstanding relief and varied climates,China boasts extremely plenty of ecosystems and landscapes.From south to north,it traverses almostall the temporal zones from tropical rainforest in the southernmost to frigid-temperate needle-leavedforest in the northernmost; from east to west,it sees a gradual transition fro humid forest landscape toextremely arid desert landscape; vertical change of landscapes is most striking owing to the existenceof many high mountains (above 6000-7000 m,e.g.,the Himalayas,the Kunlun,the Tianshan,theHengduan,etc.) and plateaus,especially the immense Tibetan Plateau (averagely 4500 m above sealevel).All of this give rise to the richness and diversity of ecosystems and landscape in China.Some ofthe ecosystems are endemic to China,e.g.,alpine desert and alpine steppe in the Tibetan Plateau.As aresult,China bears a great responsibility in the protection of global ecosystems and landscape.