A qualitative and quantitative evaluation of experimental model catchment evolution

Due to the geological time scales required for observation of catchment evolution, surrogates or analogues of field data are necessary to understand long‐term processes. To investigate long‐term catchment behaviour, two experimental model catchments that developed without rigid boundaries under controlled conditions are examined and a qualitative and quantitative analysis of their evolution is presented. Qualitatively, the experimental catchments have the visual appearance of field scale data. Observation demonstrates that changes in catchment shape and network form are conservative. Quantitative analysis suggests that the catchments reach an equilibrium form while a reduction in the channel network occurs. While the catchments are laboratory scale models, the results provide insights into field scale behaviour. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The importance of oxygen isotope provenance in relation to solute content of bulk meltwaters at Imersuaq Glacier,West Greenland

Stable oxygen isotope analysis and measurement of several dissolved cations and anions of bulk meltwater samples have provided information about the hydrochemical environment of the glacial hydrological system at Imersuaq Glacier, an outlet tongue from the Greenland ice‐sheet, West Greenland. The samples were collected at frequent intervals during the period 20–28 July 2000 in a small (<20 L s^?1) englacial meltwater outlet at the glacier margin. The results document the following findings: (i) a marked diurnal variation of δ¹⁸O is related to the composition of oxygen isotope provenances, mainly near‐marginal local superimposed ice and basal up‐sheared ice further up‐glacier; (ii) a relationship is seen between all base cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), SO₄^2? and δ¹⁸O, indicating that solute acquisition is provided by solid–solution contact with the up‐sheared ice—as the relationship with Cl^? is weak the influence of seasalt‐derived solutes is small in the area; (iii) when the melt rate is high, two diurnal maxima of δ¹⁸O values and solute concentrations are measured, and it is suggested that a snow meltwater component is responsible for the second maximum of δ¹⁸O—a short residence time leads to a delayed decrease in ion concentrations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

11 million years of Oligocene geomagnetic field behaviour

An 11 million year long record of the Oligocene geomagnetic field has been obtained from pelagic sediments of DSDP Hole 522 An average sample spacing of 4 cm yielded approximately one specimen per 4 to 8 kyr. The rock magnetics are remarkabh consistent across the entire interval. Previous work demonstrated a magnetic mineralogy dominated by magnetically stable magnetite. The natural remanent magnetism (NRM) carries an Oligocene polarity timescale that is in excellent agreement with the Oligocene reversal record as determined from marine magnetic anomalies (MMAs), including many of the so-called 'crypto-chrons'. Normalized NRM intensities from the undisturbed portions of the record yield a time series of variations with features consistent with a number of other palaeointensity time series derived from both sedimentary and lava sequences. These features include consistent, major decreases in palaeointensity (DIPs) at reversal boundaries, and occasional DIPs between reversal boundaries that could correspond to lineated 'tiny wiggles' in the MMA records. The data set suggests that the overall field strength was 40 per cent higher in the first half of the Oligocene when the average reversal frequency was 1.6 Myr^-1 than in the second half when the reversal frequency was 4 Myr^-1. There is also a weak dependence of average field strength on length of polarity interval. Finally, in the three cores suited to spectral analysis (of coherent polarity and relative intensity independent of lithological contamination), there is a persistent ca. 30–50ka periodicity in the variations of the relative intensity, suggesting that the geomagnetic field 'pulses' at about this frequency, not only during the Brunhes (as demonstrated by Tauxe & Shackleton 1994), but in the Oligocene as well.     

Palaeosecular variation over the past 5 Myr based on a new generalized database

A generalized database of global palaeomagnetic data from 3719 lava flows and thin dykes of age 0–5 Ma has been constructed for use with a relational database management system. The database includes all data whose virtual geomagnetic poles (VGP) lie within 45 of the spin axis and can be used for studies of palaeosecular variation and for geomagnetic field modelling. Because many of these data were collected and processed more than 15–20 years ago, each result has been characterized according to the demagnetization procedures carried out. Analysis of these data in terms of the latitude variation of the angular dispersion of VGPs (palaeosecular variation from lavas) strongly suggests that careful data selection is required and that many of the older studies may need to be redone using more modern methods. Differences between the angular dispersions for separate normal- and reverse-polarity data sets confirm that many older studies have not been adequately cleaned magnetically. Therefore, the use of the database for geomagnetic field modelling should be carried out with some caution. Using a VGP cut-off angle that varies with latitude, the best data set consists of 2636 results that show a smooth increase of VGP angular dispersion with latitude. Model G for palaeosecular variation, which is based on modelling of the antisymmetric (dipole) and symmetric (quadrupole) dynamo families, provides a good fit to these results.     

山东省气候变化及其对冬小麦生产潜力的影响

利用全省 2 7个台站 1 96 1～ 1 998年的温度、降水、日照等基本气象要素资料 ,对山东省气候变化特点进行了分析 ,并对冬小麦生产潜力进行了计算、分析。结果表明 ,山东省年、季平均气温呈波动性增暖趋势 ,降水量呈减少趋势。气候变暖有利于生产潜力的提高 ,冬小麦气候生产潜力总的变化趋势是波动性的上升 ,但较光温生产潜力倾向率小 ,反映了小麦生育期内光、温、水的综合影响。     

乌拉苔草光合速率日变化及日同化量

乌拉苔草沼泽是长白山沟谷湿地的重要类型 ,对其光合速率研究的结果表明 ,乌拉苔草光合速率日变化呈单峰曲线 ,最高峰出现在 1 0时 ,最大值是 1 8.0 7μmol(CO2 ) / (m2 ·s) ;与其该群落伴生的修氏苔草光合速率日变化出现“午休”现象。影响光合速率最大的环境因素是光量子通量密度和叶温 ,呈极显著的正相关 ,其他因素亦多呈正相关 ,环境因子综合影响了乌拉苔草的光合日进程。乌拉苔草光合作用的日总同化量为 1 896 0 1 .2 μmol(CO2 ) /m2 ,是光合能力较强的一种沼泽植物     

热带西太平洋热状况年代际和年际变化特征分析

采用谐波分析和EOF分析方法,对比研究了暖池区域表层热状况(海表温度距平SST'表征)和浅层热状况(热含量距平HS'和次表层海温距平ST'表征)在1月和7月的年代际、年际尺度时空特征.分析结果表明:⑴不同季节的年代际、年际尺度SST'和HS'都存在两个显著模态,HS'1月的年代际、年际尺度结构最简单,而SST'7月的年代际和1月年际结构最复杂;⑵ 1970年代末和1980年代初发生的年代际跃变HS'晚于SST', 且SST'(HS')呈增温(减少)趋势;⑶ HS'的年际异常与ENSO关系密切,而SST'与ENSO关系不显著.     

Global sea level change and thermal contribution

The global long-term sea level trend is obtained from the analysis of tide gauge data and TOPEX/Poseidon data. The linear trend of global mean sea level is highly non-umiform spatially, with an average rate of 2.2 mm year-1 in T/P sea-level rise from October 1992 to September 2002. Sea level change duc to temperature vanation (the thermosteric sea level) is discussed. The results are compared with TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data in the same temporal span at different spatial scales. It is indicated that the ther-mal effect accounts for 86% and 73% of the observed seasonal variability in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. The TOPEX/Poseidon observed sea level lags behind the TSI, by 2 months in the zonal band of 40°-60° in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Systematic differences of about 1-2cm between TOPEX/Poseidon observations and thermosteric sea level data are obtained. The potential causes for these differences include water exchange among the atmosphere, land, and oceans, and some pos-sible deviations in thermosteric contribution estimates and geophysical corrections to the TOPEX/Poseidon data.     

西畴县近48年来降水及气温小波分析

利用连续小波分析1962～2009年西畴县年降水量和年平均气温序列的小波变化特征,揭示了西畴县降水量与平均气温存在多时间尺度的周期变化特征。其中降水有2个明显的特征时间尺度,分别是4年和8年,平均气温存在以准2～4年为周期的周期振荡。此外,也可以看出近48年来,平均气温存在明显升高的趋势,降水也有减少的趋势,为掌握西畴县的气候变化规律及今后的气象预报服务工作提供了一定的参考价值。     

An alternative approach to transverse and profile terrain curvature

Terrain curvature is one of the most important parameters of land surface topography. Well-established methods used in its measurement compute an index of plan or profile curvature for every single cell of a digital elevation model (DEM). The interpretation of these outputs may be delicate, especially when selected locations have to be analyzed. Furthermore, they involve a high level of simplification, contrasting with the complex and multiscalar nature of the surface curvature itself. In this paper, we present a new method to assess vertical transverse and profile curvature combining real-scale visualization and the possibility to measure these two terrain derivatives over a large range of scales. To this purpose, we implemented a GIS tool that extracts longitudinal and transverse elevation profiles from a high-resolution DEM. The performance of our approach was compared with some of the most commonly used methods (ArcMap, Redlands, CA, USA; ArcSIE, Landserf) by analyzing the terrain curvature around charcoal production sites in southern Switzerland. The different methods produced comparable results. While conventional methods quickly summarize terrain curvature in the form of a matrix of values, they involve a loss of information. The advantage of the new method lies in the possibility to measure and visualize the shape and size of the curvature, and to obtain a realistic representation of the average curvature for different subsets of spatial points. Moreover, the new method makes it possible to control the conditions in which the index of curvature is calculated.