Fire activity in Borneo driven by industrial land conversion and drought during El Niño periods, 1982–2010

Tropical rainforests, naturally resistant to fire when intact, are increasingly vulnerable to burning due to ongoing forest perturbation and, possibly, climatic changes. Industrial-scale forest degradation and conversion are increasing fire occurrence, and interactions with climate anomalies such as El Niño induced droughts can magnify the extent and severity of fire activity. The influences of these factors on fire frequency in tropical forests has not been widely studied at large spatio-temporal scales at which feedbacks between fire reoccurrence and forest degradation may develop. Linkages between fire activity, industrial land use, and El Niño rainfall deficits are acute in Borneo, where the greatest tropical fire events in recorded history have apparently occurred in recent decades. Here we investigate how fire frequency in Borneo has been influenced by industrial-scale agricultural development and logging during El Niño periods by integrating long-term satellite observations between 1982 and 2010 – a period encompassing the onset, development, and consolidation of its Borneo’s industrial forestry and agricultural operations as well as the full diversity of El Niño events. We record changes in fire frequency over this period by deriving the longest and most comprehensive spatio-temporal record of fire activity across Borneo using AVHRR Global Area Coverage (GAC) satellite data. Monthly fire frequency was derived from these data and modelled at 0.04° resolution via a random-forest model, which explained 56% of the monthly variation as a function of oil palm and timber plantation extent and proximity, logging intensity and proximity, human settlement, climate, forest and peatland condition, and time, observed using Landsat and similar satellite data. Oil-palm extent increased fire frequency until covering 20% of a grid cell, signalling the significant influence of early stages of plantation establishment. Heighted fire frequency was particularly acute within 10 km of oil palm, where both expanding plantation and smallholder agriculture are believed to be contributing factors. Fire frequency increased abruptly and dramatically when rainfall fell below 200 mm month⁻¹, especially as landscape perturbation increased (indicated by vegetation index data). Logging intensity had a negligible influence on fire frequency, including on peatlands, suggesting a more complex response of logged forest to burning than appreciated. Over time, the epicentres of high-frequency fires expanded from East Kalimantan (1980’s) to Central and West Kalimantan (1990’s), coincidentally but apparently slightly preceding oil-palm expansion, and high-frequency fires then waned in East Kalimantan and occurred only in Central and West Kalimantan (2000’s). After accounting for land-cover changes and climate, our model under-estimates observed fire frequency during ca. 1990–2002 and over-estimates it thereafter, suggesting that a multi-decadal shift to industrial forest conversion and forest landscapes may have diminished the propensity for high-frequency fires in much of this globally significant tropical region since ca. 2000.     

Oil and gas development exposure and conservation scenarios for Greater sage-grouse: Combining spatially explicit modeling with GIS visualization provides critical information for management decisions

During the last quarter-century, global demand for energy has increased by more than 60%, and a similar increase is anticipated to occur by 2030 (Raymond, Deming, & Nichols, 2007). In the U.S., oil and gas development is projected to continue across western states within sage-grouse habitat. Greater sage-grouse, recently a candidate species for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), have well documented negative responses to oil and gas disturbance. In this study, we create spatially-explicit oil and gas future development scenarios, baseline and high, and link them to sage-grouse population and habitat maps to quantify future exposure risk within Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) sage-grouse management zones (MZ) I and II. We then analyze recent land use decisions from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along with enacted policy from the State of Wyoming to estimate how these management actions might minimize the exposure risk of sage-grouse to oil and gas development into the future. Our results show that BLM and Wyoming conservation plans could reduce the exposure of sage-grouse to oil and gas development from 15-27% to 11–17% (31–37% reduction) in MZ I and from 15-27% to 5–9% (64–68% reduction) in MZ II. Our estimates of exposure to future oil and gas development, and conservation measures designed to ameliorate those threats, represent the upper and lower extents of potential impacts within scenarios. Our work demonstrates how spatial modeling and GIS visualization can be used by managers to assess likely outcomes of conservation decisions.     

油气无机成因学说的新进展

介绍了油气无机成因学说的新发展,主要是目前在西方、俄罗斯等影响较大的关于无机生油气的几个学派以及在中国的一些学派。其中之一是Ｇｏｌｄ氏的地幔脱气理论,之二是费－托地质合成理论。     

石油企业抗震防灾规划信息管理系统的设计

基于石油企业抗震防灾工作对网络与数据库的信息管理系统的需求,对数据库产品进行了简要分析,并根据石油企业抗震防迷规划的需求和信息管理的一般模式,提出了石油企业抗震防灾规划信息计算机管理系统的设想。认为,以Ｍｉｃｒｏｓｏｆｔ Ａｃｃｅｓｓ数据库软件为基础,利用ＶＢ或ＶＣ等可视化前端应用开发工具,是目前比较好的方案,它将使石油企业抗震防灾规划工作在办公自动化方面迈向新的台阶。     

胶东乳山金矿区原生晕地球化学特征及深部成矿预测

英格庄金矿以相对富As、Co、Ni而三甲和铜锡山金矿则以相对富Cu、Pb、Zn、Ag为特征.聚类分析显示,英格庄金矿具Bi+Hg、As+Sb+Co与Pb+Zn组合,三甲金矿具Bi+Hg+As+Sb+Co、Pb+Zn与Ag+Cu+Au组合,而铜锡山金矿则显示Bi+Hg+Sb+Pb+Ag、Cu+Au+Zn+As及Mo+Ni组合.结合Ni、Co、Mo与Ag、Hg、As、Sb等的相关特征,认为上述三个金矿均有成矿头尾晕叠加现象.Au、Ag、Cu、Pb、Zn、As、Sb、Bi、Hg、Mo等元素垂向变化规律显示,英格庄金矿在-200m标高以下、三甲金矿在-500m标高以下尚有成矿富集段存在.其中,所确定的英格庄金矿的靶位在16勘探线附近,三甲金矿的靶位则在16～20勘探线间.     

Rapid cooling and geospeedometry of granitic rocks exhumation within a volcanic arc: A case study from the Central Slovakian Neovolcanic Field (Western Carpathians)

U–Pb Sensitive High‐Resolution Ion MicroProbe (SHRIMP) dating of zircon in combination with (U–Th)/He dating of zircon and apatite is applied to constrain the emplacement and exhumation history of the youngest granitic rocks in the Western Carpathians collected in the Central Slovakian Neovolcanic Field. Two samples of diorite from the locality Banky, and granodiorite from Banská Hodru?a yield the U–Pb zircon concordia ages of 15.21 ±0.19 Ma and 12.92 ±0.27 Ma, respectively, recording the time of zircon crystallization and the intrusions’ emplacement. Zircon (U–Th)/He ages of 14.70 ±0.94 (Banky) and 12.65 ±0.61 Ma (Banská Hodru?a), and apatite (U–Th)/He ages of 14.45 ±0.70 Ma (diorite) and 12.26 ±0.77 Ma (granodiorite) are less than 1 Myr younger than the corresponding zircon U–Pb ages. For both diorite and granodiorite rocks their chronological data thus document a simple cooling process from magmatic crystallization/solidification temperatures to near‐surface temperatures in the Middle Miocene, without subsequent reheating. Geospeedometry data suggest for rapid cooling at an average rate of 678 ±158 °C/Myr, and the exhumation rate of 5 mm/year corresponding to active tectonic‐forced exhumation. The quick cooling is interpreted to record the exhumation of the studied granitic rocks complex that closely followed its emplacement, and was likely accompanied by a drop in the paleo‐geothermal gradient due to cessation of volcanic activity in the area.     

Effects of rainfall on oil droplet size and the dispersion of spilled oil with application to Douglas Channel,British Columbia,Canada

Raindrops falling on the sea surface produce turbulence. The present study examined the influence of rain-induced turbulence on oil droplet size and dispersion of oil spills in Douglas Channel in British Columbia, Canada using hourly atmospheric data in 2011–2013. We examined three types of oils: a light oil (Cold Lake Diluent - CLD), and two heavy oils (Cold Lake Blend - CLB and Access Western Blend - AWB). We found that the turbulent energy dissipation rate produced by rainfalls is comparable to what is produced by wind-induced wave breaking in our study area. With the use of chemical dispersants, our results indicate that a heavy rainfall (rain rate > 20 mm h^? 1) can produce the maximum droplet size of 300 μm for light oil and 1000 μm for heavy oils, and it can disperse the light oil with fraction of 22–45% and the heavy oils of 8–13%, respectively. Heavy rainfalls could be a factor for the fate of oil spills in Douglas Channel, especially for a spill of light oil and the use of chemical dispersants.     

Further results for astrophysics from the cosmology within the framework of the Projective Unified Field Theory

Recently the 5‐dimensional Projective Unified Field Theory (PUFT) of the author (Schmutzer 1995a, Schmutzer 1995b) has been applied to a closed homogeneous isotropic cosmological model with the result of a cosmology without big bang (Schmutzer 1999a, Schmutzer 1999b). Continuing this approach, in this paper following subjects are treated: recalculation of numerical values of cosmological quantities, exact solution of the field equations to a point‐like body, motion of a test body in such a field, definition of the empirical effective gravitational factor (“constant”), Einstein effects compared to the empirical situation, adiabatic approximation of the motion of an orbiting testbody under the influence of the expanding cosmos (transition of the ellipses to circles, decrease of the radius of the orbiting bodies, decrease of the excentricity, increase of the frequency of orbiting objects etc.), heat production in a moving body induced by the cosmological expansion with application to various cosmic objects.     

野外车辆定位监控系统设计研究

面向野外作业的需求,设计了一种野外车辆定位监控系统,该定位与监控系统采用分布式体系结构,设置监控总中心、监控分中心、车载终端;采用树状结构构成车辆信息交互系统,通过车载无线通信模块自动上报位置信息,达到实时定位与监控的目的。