CLIMATIC RECORDS FROM ANNUAL LAYERS AND STABLE ISOTOPES OF A STALAGMITE IN BEIJING OVER THE LAST 2300 YEARS

Ｉ.ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＳｔａｌａｇｍｉｔｅｓｈａｖｅｂｅｅｎａｐｐｌｉｅｄｔｏｕｓｅａｓｈｉｇｈｒｅｓｏｌｕｔｉｏｎｐａｌｅｏｃｌｉｍａｔｉｃｉｎｄｉｃａｔｏｒｓｓｉｎｃｅｔｈｅａｎｎｕａｌｇｒｏｗｔｈｂａｎｄｉｎｇｗａｓｒｅｃｏｇｎｉｚｅｄｉｎｓｔａｌａｇｍｉｔｅｓ[1,2].Ａｎｎｕａｌｇｒｏｗｔｈｂａｎｄｉｎｇｃａｎｂｅｍａｎｉｆｅｓｔｅｄｉｎｓｅｖｅｒａｌｍａｎｎｅｒｓｄｅｆｉｎｅｄｂｙ1)ａｌｔｅｒｎａｔｉｎｇｆｌｕｏｒｅｓｃｅｎｔａｎｄｎｏｎ-ｆｌｕｏｒｅｓｃｅｎｔｃａｌｃｉｔｅ[3,4];2)…     

Ibex diggings in the Negev Desert highlands of Israel as microhabitats for annual plants. Soil salinity, location and digging depth affecting variety and density of plant species

About 400 Nubian ibex (Capra ibex nubiana) dig many hundreds of temporary night beds, approximately 80 cm × 110 cm and 15 cm deep, on slopes near the edges of the cliffs bordering the Zin valley. The beds are used according to the wind direction and the size of the ibex group, which depends on the ibex social behaviour during the year.The diggings are gradually abandoned and become important microhabitats for seed accumulation and germination, seedling development and annual plant establishment. These are influenced by soil salinity, slope direction and angle, digging depth, and the time since the diggings were abandoned. A greater variety of plant species and plant density were found in these diggings than upslope from the diggings.     

祁连山地区1310年以来湿润指数及其年际变幅的变化与突变分析

本文通过用树木年轮资料重建的祁连山地区5～7月份1310年以来的湿润指数序列，建立了一个反映该地区湿润指数年际变幅序列，对这两个序列分别进行了等级分类和干湿、强弱的时段分析，并用最大熵谱分析法对这两个序列的不同时段分别进行了周期分析。采用HK突变检验方法对这两个序列分别进行了突变分析，发现祁连山地区的湿润指数及其年际变幅存在明显的突变年份。     

黄河上游径流预报的灰色拓扑方法

以龙羊峡水库年平均入库流量预报为例，根据灰色系统理论的建模方法，利用龙羊峡水库入库水量代表站唐乃亥水文站的实测径流资料，建立了一个ＧＭ（１，１）拓扑预测模型，用于黄河上游径流的长期预报，并取得了较为满意的结果。     

多年冻土地区砂砾路面路堤临界高度数值分析

In permafrost regions of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the critical embankment height must be considered in the process of the construction of highway, especially for the global climatic warming. In this paper, the two-dimensional numerical analysis for the critical embankment height (for gravel road surface and coarse-grained soil) has been performed by using thefinite element method. In the calculation, we think that the service life of the construction is at least 50 years. The mean annual air temperatures applied to the calculation model are -6.5 ℃, -6.0 ℃, -5.5 ℃, -5.0 ℃, -4.5 ℃ and -4.0 ℃, respectively, and the value of temperature rise are taken as 1.10℃ in the coming 50 years. The minimum embankment heights derived from the analysis are 0.85 m, 0.92 m, 1.01 m, 1.18 m, 1.60 m and 2.66 m for the different mean annual air temperatures and the maximum embankment heights are 7.68 m,7.55 m, 7.34 m, 7.00 m, 6.45 m and 5.85m, accordingly. On condition that the service life of embankment is 50 years, the critical value of the mean annual air temperature is -3.5 ℃. Namely, in the areas where the mean annual air temperature is higher than -3.5 ℃, the critical embankment height does not exist.     

Global scale annual and semi-annual variations of daytime NmF2 in the high solar activity years

The annual and semi-annual variations of the ionosphere are investigated in the present paper by using the daytime F2 layer peak electron concentration (NmF2) observed at a global ionosonde network with 104 stations. The main features are outlined as follows. (1) The annual variations are most pronounced at magnetic latitudes of 40–60° in both hemispheres, and usually manifest as winter anomalies; Below magnetic latitude of 40° as well as in the tropical region they are much weaker and winter anomalies that are not obvious. (2) The semi-annual variations, which are usually peak in March or April in most regions, are generally weak in the near-pole regions and strong in the far-pole regions of both hemispheres. (3) Compared with their annual components, the semi-annual variations in the tropical region are more significant.In order to explain the above results, we particularly analyze the global atomic/molecular ratio of [O/N2] at the F2 layer peak height by the MSIS90 model. The results show that the annual variation of [O/N2] is closely related with that of NmF2 prevailing in mid-latitudes and [O/N2] annual variation usually may lead to the winter anomalies of NmF2 occurring in the near-pole region. Moreover, NmF2 semi-annual variations appearing in the tropical region also have a close relationship with the variation of [O/N2]. On the other hand, the semi-annual variations of NmF2 in the far-pole region cannot be simply explained by that of [O/N2], but the variation of the solar zenith angle may also have a significant contribution.     

天山山区近40a年降水变化特征与南、北疆的比较

本文分析了天山山区近40 a来年降水变化的基本特征，并与南疆、北疆进行了比较，所得的主要结果如下：(1)天山山区在年降水量干湿变化阶段上与北疆的相似性强于南疆。(2)年降水量的空间分布的同步变化性以北疆为最好，南疆最差，天山山区居中，而年降水量的空间分布的反向变化性，以天山山区为最大，北疆最小，南疆居中。(3)天山山区与南疆从60年代到90年代，年降水均表现出了持续的增加的趋势，北疆年降水从60年代到90年代，除70年代外，不断增多。     

Comparisons on seasonal and annual variations of δ~(18)O in precipitation

interpretationofpaleoclimaticrecordsinicecore(Dansgaardetal.,1969;Rozanskietal.,1997;Yao,1999;Thompsonetal.,2000).SincethefirstdeepicecorewasdrilledinGreenlandin1966(Dansgaardetal.,1969),hundredsoficecoreswereobtainedsuccessivelyfromicesheetsinAntarcticaandArctic,andmountainglaciersatmid-highlatitudes,fundedbynumerousresearchprogramsonglobalclimateandenvironmentalchange.Theseicecoresprovideuniqueandvaluablefirst-handinformationinrecoveringglobalpaleoenvironmentalrecordsandforecastingfuturecl…     

Reduction of ground vibration by means of barriers or soil improvement along a railway track

Trains running in built-up areas are a source to ground-borne noise. A careful design of the track may be one way of minimizing the vibrations in the surroundings. For example, open or infilled trenches may be constructed along the track, or the soil underneath the track may be improved. In this work, the influence of the track design and properties on the level of ground vibration due to a vehicle moving with subsonic speed is examined. A coupled finite element-boundary element model of the track and subsoil is employed, adopting a formulation in the moving frame of reference following the vehicle. The computations are carried out in the frequency domain for various combinations of the vehicle speed and the excitation frequency. The analyses indicate that open trenches are more efficient than infilled trenches or soil stiffening–even at low frequencies. However, the direction of the load is of paramount importance. For example, the response outside a shallow open trench may change dramatically when horizontal load is applied instead of vertical load.     

Seasonal records of climatic change in annually laminated tufas: short review and future prospects

Many Recent and fossil freshwater tufa stromatolites contain millimetre‐scale, alternating laminae of dense micrite and more porous or sparry crystalline calcites. These alternating laminae have been interpreted to represent seasonally controlled differences in the biotic activity of microbes, and/or seasonally controlled changes in the rate of calcification. Either way, couplets of these microbially mediated alternating calcified laminae are generally agreed to represent annual seasonality. Combined stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) and trace element (Mg, Sr, Ba) geochemistry from Recent tufa stromatolites show that seasonal climatic information is available from these calcites. Variability in δ¹⁸O (and in one case Mg concentration) has been shown to be controlled primarily by stream temperature change, usually driven by solar insolation. In arid climates, seasonal evaporation can also cause δ¹⁸O enrichment by at least 1‰. Variability in δ¹³C results potentially from: (1) seasonal change in plant uptake of ¹²C‐enriched CO₂; (2) seasonal change in degassing of ¹²C‐enriched CO₂ in the aquifer system; and (3) precipitation of calcite along the aquifer or river flow path, a process that increases δ¹³C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the remaining water. Mechanisms 2 and 3 are linked because calcite precipitates in aquifers where degassing occurs, e.g. air pockets. The latter mechanism for δ¹³C enrichment has also been shown to cause sympathetic variation between trace element/Ca ratios and δ¹³C because trace elements with partition coefficients much greater than 1 (e.g. Sr, Ba) remain preferentially in solution. Since degassing in air pockets will be enhanced during decreased recharge when water saturation of the aquifer is lowest, sympathetic variation in trace element/Ca ratios and δ¹³C is a possible index of recharge and therefore precipitation intensity. High‐resolution geochemical data from well‐dated tufa stromatolites have great potential for Quaternary palaeoclimate reconstructions, possibly allowing recovery of annual seasonal climatic information including water temperature variation and change in rainfall intensity. However, careful consideration of diagenetic effects, particularly aggrading neomorphism, needs to be the next step. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.