Validation through HVSR measurements of a method for the quick detection of site amplification effects from intensity data: an application to a seismic area in Northern Italy

An instrumental validation is attempted of an innovative approach devoted to the quick individuation, from macroseismic data, of site amplification phenomena able to significantly modify seismic hazard levels expected on the basis of average propagation effects only. According to this methodology, two evaluations of hazard are performed at each investigated locality: the former, obtained by epicentral intensity data ‘reduced’ at the site through a probabilistic attenuation function and, the latter, computed by integrating such data with seismic effects actually observed at the site during past earthquakes. The comparison, for each locality, between these two hazard estimates allow to orientate the identification of those sites where local amplifications of earthquake ground motion could be significant. In order to check such methodology, indications obtained in this way from macroseismic data are compared with the estimates of transfer functions performed through the HVSR technique applied to microtremors. Results concerning municipalities located in a seismic area of Northern Italy indicate a good agreement between macroseismic and instrumental estimates.     

Toxic contaminants and their biological effects in coastal waters of Xiamen,China. II. Biomarkers and embryo malformation rates as indicators of pollution stress in fish

Baseline information is presented on embryo malformation rate and biomarkers in fish as indicators of sub-lethal stress caused by pollution in coastal waters of Xiamen, PR China. Fish and eggs were sampled from several areas in Xiamen coastal waters (Xiamen Harbour, Maluan and Tongan Bays and East Channel), where varying levels of pollutant input have been documented. Comparative sampling was done at a "cleaner" reference site at Dongshan Island. Embryonic malformation rates, which indicate general water quality, varied with location and species of fish, and exceeded background levels for unpolluted waters (assumed approximately 5%) by up to eightfold at some sites. Generally, sites around Xiamen Harbour show signs of poor water quality having highest mean levels of embryo deformity (20-30%) and these decreased towards open waters (Tongan Bay, Eastern Channel) where abnormalities approached background levels. An indication that toxic contaminants may be having a localised effect in the region, particularly in the harbour was reinforced by the biomarker assays. However, activities of the biomarkers ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) and glutathione S-transferase in fish livers indicate no clear pattern, and there is no evidence that fish from the four sampling areas have been more or less exposed to PAHs and other compounds that induce these biomarkers. Antioxidant biomarkers (glutathione peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and reduced glutathione) suggest that exposure to xenobiotics appears to be lowest in Dongshan and Maluan and highest in the harbour and Tongan. Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase in fish muscle indicated possible effects by organophosphate and carbamate pesticides in Xiamen waters and these effects may be greatest in the area of the harbour.     

Very high resolution Earth Observation features for testing the direct and indirect effects of landscape structure on local habitat quality

Modelling the empirical relationships between habitat quality and species distribution patterns is the first step to understanding human impacts on biodiversity. It is important to build on this understanding to develop a broader conceptual appreciation of the influence of surrounding landscape structure on local habitat quality, across multiple spatial scales. Traditional models which report that ‘habitat amount’ in the landscape is sufficient to explain patterns of biodiversity, irrespective of habitat configuration or spatial variation in habitat quality at edges, implicitly treat each unit of habitat as interchangeable and ignore the high degree of interdependence between spatial components of land-use change. Here, we test the contrasting hypothesis, that local habitat units are not interchangeable in their habitat attributes, but are instead dependent on variation in surrounding habitat structure at both patch- and landscape levels. As the statistical approaches needed to implement such hierarchical causal models are observation-intensive, we utilise very high resolution (VHR) Earth Observation (EO) images to rapidly generate fine-grained measures of habitat patch internal heterogeneities over large spatial extents. We use linear mixed-effects models to test whether these remotely-sensed proxies for habitat quality were influenced by surrounding patch or landscape structure. The results demonstrate the significant influence of surrounding patch and landscape context on local habitat quality. They further indicate that such an influence can be direct, when a landscape variable alone influences the habitat structure variable, and/or indirect when the landscape and patch attributes have a conjoined effect on the response variable. We conclude that a substantial degree of interaction among spatial configuration effects is likely to be the norm in determining the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation, thus corroborating the notion of the spatial context dependence of habitat quality.     

Use of an inside buffer method to extract the extent of urban areas from DMSP/OLS nighttime light data in North China

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) nighttime imagery provides a valuable data source for mapping urban areas. However, the spatial extents of large cities are often overestimated because of the effect of over-glow from nighttime light if a fixed thresholding technique is used. In the work reported here, an inside buffer method was developed to solve this issue. The method is based on the fact that the area overestimated is proportional to the extent of the lit area if a fixed threshold is used to extract urban areas in a region/county. Using this method, the extents of urban areas in North China were extracted and validated by interpretations from Landsat Thematic Mapper images. The results showed that the lit areas had a significant linear relationship with the urban areas for 120 representative cities in North China in 2000, with an R² value of over 0.95. This demonstrates that the inside buffer method can be used to extract urban areas. The validation results showed that the inside buffer model developed in 2000 can be directly used to extract the extent of urban areas using more recent nighttime light imagery. This is of great value for the timely updating of urban area databases in large regions or countries.     

CVVF方法用于GPS多路径效应的研究

将交叉证认法与Vondrak数字滤波器相组合,提出一种分离测量资料中信号与噪声的新方法,即CVVF方法,并将该方法用于GPS多路径效应的研究中.对数字模拟试验和实际观测资料的分析表明,该方法能最大限度地削弱测量的随机误差,使资料序列中的信号和噪声合理分离.同时,利用GPS多路径效应周期性重复的特性,可有效地削弱多路径效应对观测结果的影响,从而提高GPS定位精度.     

模拟GPS精密测量系统误差的若干问题

讨论了模拟ＧＰＳ精密测量系统误差的一些主要问题．文中用了两个实例，一个是南美洲某油田地面沉陷监测网，另一个是美国超级超导对撞机ＧＰＳ地面控制网．     

The ellipsoidal corrections to the topographic geoid effects

The topographic effects by Stokes formula are typically considered for a spherical approximation of sea level. For more precise determination of the geoid, sea level is better approximated by an ellipsoid, which justifies the consideration of the ellipsoidal corrections of topographic effects for improved geoid solutions. The aim of this study is to estimate the ellipsoidal effects of the combined topographic correction (direct plus indirect topographic effects) and the downward continuation effect. It is concluded that the ellipsoidal correction to the combined topographic effect on the geoid height is far less than 1 mm. On the contrary, the ellipsoidal correction to the effect of downward continuation of gravity anomaly to sea level may be significant at the 1-cm level in mountainous regions. Nevertheless, if Stokes formula is modified and the integration of gravity anomalies is limited to a cap of a few degrees radius around the computation point, nor this effect is likely to be significant.AcknowledgementsThe author is grateful for constructive remarks by J Ågren and the three reviewers.     

长江经济带城市土地利用效率的影响因素及其空间溢出效应研究

在人多地少的基本国情下,提高城市土地利用效率是促进区域可持续发展和建设生态文明的内在要求。本文在对2009-2016年长江经济带108个地级及以上城市土地利用效率的研究基础上,采用空间相关性研究方法分析了时空分布格局,通过构建空间杜宾模型(SDM)对其空间溢出效应进行分析。研究结果表明:1)2009-2016年长江经济带城市土地利用效率整体呈现稳定上升趋势;基本呈现以上海、南京、武汉等不同城市群中心城市向外逐步降低的“中心-外围”的分布格局。2)通过构建空间杜宾模型分析发现,经济发展水平、产业结构有显著为正的直接效应和溢出效应;土地市场化水平有显著为正的溢出效应;城市固定资产投资对城市土地利用效率具有正的直接效应和负的溢出效应;政府财政支出水平则对城市土地利用效率的直接效应和溢出效应均不明显。3)不同影响因素对经济带上中下游城市土地利用效率的空间效应存在一定差异性。     

催化对降水区域外效应的中尺度数值模拟

The Fifth-Generation NCAR/Penn State Mesoscale Model (MM5) has been used to investigate the extra-area effects of silver iodide (AgI) seeding on stratiform clouds performed at the supercooled layer.A bulk two-moment microphysical scheme and the new software package for silver iodide are incorporated in MM5.Extra conservation equations are applied to trace the seeding agent,which is transported along the flow field and interacts with the supercooled cloud fields.In this study,the model was run using three nested grids,with 3.3 km × 3.3 km horizontal resolution in the finest grid.The model results showed that seeding with AgI at the 5 to 15℃ levels had microphysical effects on the simulated clouds and that the simulation produced a longer-lasting seeding effect because of the transport of the seeding agent by upper-level winds.Most of the AgI particles acted as deposition nuclei,and the deposition nucleation process contributed mostly to additional cloud ice formation in this study.The results showed that more precipitation results from seeded than unseeded case,and the precipitation was redistributed downwind of the target.Augmented precipitation (varying from 5% to 25% downwind) was confined in space to within 250 km of the seeding target and in time to the 3-h period after initial seeding.     

溶液和温度作用下膨润土防水毯的渗透性能

以颗粒状和粉末状膨润土防水毯(GCLs)为对象,运用GDS (global digital systems)全自动渗透仪开展渗透试验,研究CaCl_2溶液作用下GCLs渗透性能的温度效应,初步探讨其机理。试验表明:当水化液为0.05mol/L的CaCl_2溶液时,两种GCLs渗透系数随温度升高呈现增大趋势;当水化液为去离子水时,颗粒状GCL渗透系数随温度升高而减小,粉末状GCL渗透系数随温度升高而增大。去离子水情况下,膨润土吸附结合水量随温度升高而减小;CaCl_2溶液作用下,吸附结合水量较去离子水情况大幅降低。当CaCl_2溶液浓度一定时,膨润土膨胀指数随温度升高而略有增大;当温度一定时,膨润土膨胀指数随CaCl_2溶液浓度升高而显著减小。以去离子水进行试验时:颗粒状和粉末状GCLs渗透系数随温度的变化主要影响因素为凝胶态蒙脱石数量,其次为流体黏滞系数和吸附结合水量;颗粒状GCLs膨润土孔隙结构越不均匀,凝胶态蒙脱石数量的影响就越显著,导致渗透系数随温度升高而减小、固有渗透率随温度升高显著降低。以CaCl_2溶液进行试验时,两种GCLs渗透系数随温度变化的主要受流体黏滞系数和吸附结合水量的影响,而受凝胶态蒙脱石数量的影响较小。孔隙溶液性质、温度和膨润土类型均对GCLs的防渗性能具有重要影响。