Detailed spatio‐temporal sediment supply reconstruction using tree roots data

Floods are an important geomorphic agent that accelerate sediment supply from bank failures. The quantitative proportions supplied by lateral inputs and the transport conditions of the channel can create local or extended accumulation zones within the channel reaches. These accumulation zones play an important role in the geomorphic regime of the stream. Knowledge of long‐term history of sediment supply is necessary to determine how these input and deposition forms developed. This study introduces a new approach for the quantification of past sediment supply via lateral erosion (incised banks and individual bank failures), using a case study of the confluence of three partial tributaries in the accumulation zone in the Outer Western Carpathians. For each tributary, as well as the channel reach downstream of the confluence zone, we calculated the mean of the largest bed particles and the unit stream power as indicators of transport capacity. We found that two of the tributaries supply significant amounts of sediment to the accumulation zone because of their higher unit stream power related to their higher transport potential, and observed coarser bed sediment. Seventy‐three bank failures with a total volume 395.5 m³ were mapped, and the sediment supply volume was dated using dendrogeomorphic analysis of 114 scarred tree roots (246 samples). The total volume of the dated sediment supply in the individual tributaries was 193.9 m³, whereas the volume of erosion in the accumulation zone was only 4.9 m³ for a period of approximately 30 years. The period represented by the dated tree roots included 12 years in which erosion events occurred and impacted the total sediment budget in the study area. Although sediment supply was greater than erosion in the accumulation zone, there are no present‐day signs of accretion. The rupture of a dam in an old pond (which is situated approximately 50 m below the accumulation zone) probably increased the transport conditions in the accumulation zone so that it balanced the high sediment supply from individual tributaries. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes to flood peaks of a mountain river: implications for analysis of the 2013 flood in the Upper Bow River,Canada

The mountain headwater Bow River at Banff, Alberta, Canada, was subject to a large flood in June 2013, over which considerable debate has ensued regarding its probability of occurrence. It is therefore instructive to consider what information long‐term streamflow discharge records provide about environmental change in the Upper Bow River basin above Banff. Though protected as part of Banff National Park, since 1885, the basin has experienced considerable climate and land cover changes, each of which has the potential to impact observations, and hence the interpretations of flood probability. The Bow River at Banff hydrometric station is one of Canada's longest‐operating reference hydrological basin network stations and so has great value for assessing changes in flow regime over time. Furthermore, the station measures a river that provides an extremely important water supply for Calgary and irrigation district downstream and so is of great interest for assessing regional water security. These records were examined for changes in several flood attributes and to determine whether flow changes may have been related to landscape change within the basin as caused by forest fires, conversion from grasslands to forest with fire suppression, and regional climate variations and/or trends. Floods in the Upper Bow River are generated by both snowmelt and rain‐on‐snow (ROS) events, the latter type which include flood events generated by spatially and temporally large storms such as occurred in 2013. The two types of floods also have different frequency characteristics. Snowmelt and ROS flood attributes were not correlated significantly with any climate index or with burned area except that snowmelt event duration correlated negatively to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. While there is a significant negative trend in all floods over the past 100 years, when separated based on generating process, neither snowmelt floods nor large ROS floods associated with mesoscale storms show any trends over time. Despite extensive changes to the landscape of the basin and in within the climate system, the flood regime remains unchanged, something identified at smaller scales in the region but never at larger scales. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

第四纪冰川遗迹的判别标准与方法问题——兼论蒙山巨砾堆积堤之成因

判断中国东部中低山地冰川作用遗迹的真伪,只能通过科学实践检验和学术争鸣加以解决。利用实地考察所测数据资料,证明山东蒙山确无第四纪冰川遗迹。包括蒙山在内的山东中低山丘陵,迄今为止没有发现符合判别标准的末次冰期冰川地貌三要素组合。蒙山兰溪峡谷的谷形指数（0.07~0.24）与世界各地真正的冰川槽谷不符,被当作冰川证据的蒙山兰溪峡谷谷壁擦痕和拦马墙巨砾堆积堤砾石擦痕,不具有作为冰川地貌证据的唯一性或专属性,而是砾石沿河谷滚动、拖拽摩擦和撞击的结果。不连续、不对称分布于兰溪下游凹岸的拦马墙巨砾堆积堤,沿流向延伸或呈流线构造,具有平行主流的平顶、陡坡砾石堆和立石等景观,砾石的圆度、分选和砾组构造均指向泥石流堆积堤或特大洪水巨石边滩。它可能是1668年7月25日郯城大地震保存下来的群发性灾害遗迹。     

Prévision des crues éclair

Flash-flood events resulting from paroxystic meteorological events concentrated in time and space are insufficiently documented as they produce destructive effects. They are hardly measurable and present single features that are not transposable to another event. In the South of France, the flash flood of November 1999 gives a perfect illustration of these characteristics. The physical complexity of the process and consequently the volume and the variety of the data to take into account are incompatible with the real time constraint allocated to the forecasters confronted to the occurrence of such phenomena. So, we have to make choices to afford acceptable simplifications to the complete mechanical model. MARINE (‘Modélisation de l'Anticipation du Ruissellement et des Inondations pour des évéNements Extrêmes’) is the operational and robust tool we developed for flash-flood forecasting. This model complies with the criterions of real-time simulation. It is a physically based distributed model composed of two parts: first the flood runoff process simulation in the upstream part of the basin modelled from a rainfall–runoff approach, then the flood propagation in the main rivers described by the Saint-Venant equations. It integrates remote sensed data – Digital Elevation Model, land-use map, hydrographic network for the observations from satellites and the rainfall evolution from meteorological radar. The main goal of MARINE is to supply real time pertinent information to the forecasters. Results obtained on the Orbieu River (Aude, France) show that this model is able to supply pertinent flood hydrograph with a sufficient precision for the forecasting service to take the appropriate safety decisions. Furthermore, MARINE has already been tested in the French National Flood Forecasting Service of Haute-Garonne in real conditions. To cite this article: V. Estupina Borrell et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Influence of glacial retreat on natural hazards of the Palcacocha Lake area, Peru

In this article we describe natural hazards associated with outburst floods of Palcacocha Lake and landslide events on the slopes of its moraine dam, in Cojup Valley, Cordillera Blanca (Peru). These events occurred in the last 70 years and some of them resulted in disasters, which strongly affected the city of Huarás. Field investigations and reference expression hydrodynamic tests as well as archive satellite images and aerial pictures were used to describe the evolution of hazards connected with Palcacocha Lake. Expression hydrodynamic tests proved a high permeability of sandy gravels glacial sediments, which form the present-day lake dam. Seepage through the natural dam forming small ponds below the overflow spillways occurs. A retreat of the glacial tongue causing an increase of the lake volume and unloading of the slope toe areas are the most important recent processes that influence the potential hazards affecting the Cojup valley. The research has proved that the climate warming and ongoing deglaciation play a very significant role in the change of natural hazards conditions in high mountains.     

黄河下游非恒定输沙数学模型——Ⅱ模型验证

利用所构建的非恒定输沙数学模型,对黄河下游铁谢至孙口河段内的1977年高含沙洪水、1982年大水少沙型洪水以及1996年典型洪水进行了数值模拟.模拟结果证明了数学模型的可靠性,表明该模型不仅能模拟黄河下游河道一般洪水和高含沙洪水的水沙传播、水位变化及河床变形等,而且对模拟现行严重萎缩河道内的洪水演进及河床冲淤特性也有较好的适应性.     

The 2020 Summer Floods and 2020/21 Winter Extreme Cold Surges in China and the 2020 Typhoon Season in the Western North Pacific

China experienced significant flooding in the summer of 2020 and multiple extreme cold surges during the winter of 2020/21. Additionally, the 2020 typhoon season had below average activity with especially quiet activity during the first half of the season in the western North Pacific(WNP). Sea surface temperature changes in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans all contributed to the heavy rainfall in China, but the Atlantic and Indian Oceans seem to have played dominant roles. Enhancement and movement of the Siberian High caused a wavier pattern in the jet stream that allowed cold polar air to reach southward, inducing cold surges in China. Large vertical wind shear and low humidity in the WNP were responsible for fewer typhoons in the first half of the typhoon season. Although it is known that global warming can increase the frequency of extreme weather and climate events, its influences on individual events still need to be quantified.Additionally, the extreme cold surge during 16–18 February 2021 in the United States shares similar mechanisms with the winter 2020/21 extreme cold surges in China.     

广州市城市内涝特征分析

基于水务部门排水管理中心的内涝灾情信息,运用统计学等研究方法,分析广州市城市内涝分布特征,结果表明:广州全市内涝点最多的是中心城区天河,最少的是郊区的从化.全年发生内涝次数最多的月份是5、6月,最少的月份是2、12月;全天最容易发生内涝的时间是08:00、13:00和19:00.内涝发生时对应的最大小时雨量主要集中在5...     

北太平洋海温的气候跃度及其对中国汛期降水的影响

应用滑动Ｔ检验方法对北太平洋海温１０年际的气候跃变进行了研究，指出在７０年代末至８０年代初确实存在着一次明显的气候跃变，而跃变前后北太产洋海温结构，厄尔尼诺事件的发展过程都明显不同，进而讨论了北太平洋海温跃变前后对我国６－８月汛期降水量的影响，指出海温跃变前我国汛期降水量在东北地区偏少，华北偏多，长江流域偏水，华南偏多，而跃变后则相反。     

A comparison of the flood precipitation episode in August 2002 with historic extreme precipitation events on the Czech territory

The hydro-meteorological characteristics of the flood from August 2002, which affected a great part of the Czech territory, particularly the Vltava and Labe river basin, were compared with corresponding conditions during similar flood events in the summer seasons of 1997, 1890, 1897 and 1903. The comparison shows analogies in synoptic conditions and causal precipitation heights. The heaviest precipitation fell in the area of a considerable horizontal pressure gradient on the rearward side of the cyclone which advanced very slowly to the north-east across Central Europe and created conditions for the transport of moist air as well as for an organized long-term updraft enhanced in orographically exposed regions. The varying features of the individual events were based on the spatial–temporal distribution of causal precipitation and also on the very different saturation of the catchments. It was chiefly the extraordinary time concentration of precipitation together with the highest catchment saturation that made the flood in 2002 the most extreme.The extremeness of meteorological fields during two episodes in July 1997 was compared with two episodes in August 2002 with the aid of the reanalysis data from ECMWF. The first episode in 1997 and the second episode in 2002 were the most similar and more extreme in terms of the large-scale fields of basic meteorological quantities. The similar features of these episodes are specifically an intensive influx of moisture into Central Europe and intensive upward motions in the precipitation area. The extremeness of upper- and low-level potential vorticity fields was evaluated to diagnose the behavior of the cyclone and frontal precipitation bands accompanying it. The suitable spatial configuration of positive upper- and low-level potential vorticity anomalies induced an additional amplification of upward motions in the precipitation area that apparently contributed to triggering the heavy precipitation over Central Europe. On the whole, quantities reached more extreme values during the second episode in 2002.