A snapshot into the terrestrial ecosystem of an exceptionally well-preserved dinosaur (Hadrosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of North Dakota,USA

A palynological investigation of sedimentary rocks enclosing an exceptionally well-preserved fossil dinosaur (Hadrosauridae) discovered in the upper part of the Hell Creek Formation in south western North Dakota was conducted in order to document the immediate paleoenvironment of this dinosaur. The specimen, an Edmontosaurus annectens is remarkable in having exceptional three-dimensional preservation of soft tissue around the skeleton, indicating rapid burial. A well-preserved palynological assemblage dominated by fern and bryophyte spores, with lesser gymnosperm and angiosperm pollen was recovered. Sparse fresh-water algae and marine dinoflagellate cysts were also recorded. The palynofacies is dominated by wood fragments, including charcoal, with little amorphous organic matter. The presence of some typical pollen taxa of the Wodehouseia spinata Assemblage Zone including Striatellipollis striatellus, Tricolpites microreticulatus, Leptopecopites pocockii as well as a diverse suite of Aquilapollenites, is fully consistent with a Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) age. The palynoflora indicates a local vegetation composed of a canopy of conifers dominated by Pinaceae and a minor sub-canopy of Taxodium and cycads, as well as an understory of hydrophilous ferns, mosses and herbaceous angiosperms, indicative of a warm and humid climate – an environment where this specific hadrosaur roamed over 66 million years ago.     

应用卫星云导风进行台风路径预报试验

在国家气象中心台风数值预报业务系统中引入国家卫星气象中心提供的卫星云导风资料,进行三项预报试验．首先用卫星云导风资料厂正客观分析风场;其次将云导风资料加人到输对称的人造台风模型风场上,使之产生非对称风场、在前两项试验的基础上进行相应的质量场调整,使之形成较协调的客观分析场和非对称的人造台风模型。试验结果表明：卫星云导风资料订正客观分析风场对台风路径预报有明显改进;用云导风形成人造台风模型非对称风场对台风路径预报也有所改进;对订正后的客观分析场进行质量场调整可进一步提高台风路径预报的精度,而对非对称人造台风模型进行质量场调整,对减小台风路径预报误差作用不明显。     

Three‐dimensional steady‐state response of a railway system on layered half‐space soil medium subjected to a moving train

The paper presents a three‐dimensional study on the steady‐state response of a track system and layered half‐space soil medium subjected to the load induced by the passages of a moving train with the substructure method. Practically, due to the ground water table being several meters beneath the ground surface, the soil profile can be divided into two layers: the upper layer modeled by an elastic medium and the lower layer by a fully saturated poroelastic medium governed by Biot's theory. In the meanwhile, the rails are regarded as an infinitely long Euler beam, and the sleepers are represented by a continuous mass. The effect of the ballast is accounted for by introducing the Cosserat model for granular medium, and the train is described by a series of moving axle point loads, depending on the geometry of the train. The influences of the thickness, the mass and the rigidity of the elastic layer and the mass of the ballast on rail's displacement responses are carefully investigated. Numerical results show that the influences of these parameters are significant for high train velocity, while vanishes for low velocity. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global climatic changes since the last glacial maximum: evidence from paleolimnology and paleoclimate modeling

Recognition that Earth/Sun orbital changes are the basic cause for Quaternary climatic variations provides a context for explaining global environmental changes, many of which are preserved in the stratigraphic and geomorphic record of lakes. Paleoclimatic numerical models suggest the mechanisms. In subtropical latitudes such as North Africa the enhanced summer insolation culminating about 10 000 years ago resulted in the increased monsoonal rains that explain the widespread expansion of lakes in now-desert basins. But in the American Southwest lake expansion dates to 18 000–15 000 years ago, when storm tracks were displaced to the south by the ice sheets—themselves a product of earlier orbital changes. The dynamics in the resopnse of different components of the natural system to climatic change are recorded in the stratigraphy of lake sediments, not only by their pollen content as a manifestation of the regional vegetation but also by their microfossils and chemical composition as reflections of lake development.This is the 10th in a series of papers published in this special AMQUA issue. These papers were presented at the 1994 meeting of the American Quaternary Association held 19–22 June, 1994, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dr Linda C. K. Shane served as guest for these papers.     

A quantitative study of sediment delivery and stream pollution from different forest road types

The objective of this paper is to quantify, and enable the prediction of, sediment delivery and water pollution impacts from a spectrum of forest roads. Ten 100–200 m long sections of forest road were selected to incorporate a wide range of the key physical site factors that are likely to affect the rate of sediment generation. Each road section was permanently instrumented for 1 year to measure rainfall and runoff continuously. Suspended load, bedload, and traffic were integrated measurements over 2‐ to 3‐week site‐service intervals. Total annual sediment load (normalized for slope) varied about 25‐fold, from 216 mg m^?2 per millimetre of rain for a high‐quality gravel surfaced road with minimal traffic to 5373 mg m^?2 per millimetre of rain for an unsurfaced road on an erodible subsoil with moderate light‐vehicle traffic. For the seven gravel‐surfaced roads in this study, truck traffic (axles/week) explained 97% of the variation in annual sediment delivery (per unit of rainfall) from the road. Equations are proposed that allow annual sediment delivery rates to be estimated when net rainfall, road slope, road area, and truck traffic are known. Roads produce runoff rapidly and were found to deliver sediment for about the same duration as rainfall is falling, in this study varying between 5 and 10% of the time. The patterns of sediment delivery measured from the experimental roads (frequency, duration, and intensity) in this study are similar to levels that have been shown to alter the composition of in‐stream macroinvertebrate communities in small (e.g. <10 l s^?1), clean, mountain streams. However, in larger well‐mixed streams (e.g. >500 l s^?1), dilution is sufficient to prevent concentrations reaching critical levels that are likely to result in biological impacts. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ANALYSIS OF RAINSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH SIMILAR TRACK TROPICAL CYCLONES HAITANG (0505) AND BILLS (0604)

It is generally thought that the influence of comparable track typhoons is approximately similar,but in fact their wind and especially their rainstorm distribution are often very different. Therefore,a contrastive analysis of rainstorms by tropical cyclones (TCs) Haitang (0505) and Bilis (0604),which are of a similar track,is designed to help understand the mechanism of the TC rainstorm and to improve forecasting skills. The daily rainthll of TC itaitang (0505) and Bills (0604) is diagnosed and compared.The result indicates that these two TCs have similar precipitation distribution before landtall but different precipitation characteristics after landthll. Using NCEP/GFS analysis data,the synoptic situation is analyzed; water vapor transportation is discussed regarding the calculated water vapor flux and divergence.The results show that the heavy rainfall in the Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces associated with Haitang (0505) and Bitis (0604) before landlhll results ti'om a peripheral easterly wind,a combination of the tropical cyclone and the terrain. After landthll and moving far inland of the storm,the precipitation of Haitang is caused by water vapor convergence carried by its own circulation; it is much weaker than that in the coastal area. One of the important contributing thctors to heavy rainstorms in southeast Zhejiang is a southeast jet stream,which is maintained over the southeast coast. In contrast,the South China Sea monsoon circulation transports large amounts of water vapor into Bills - when a water-vapor transport belt south of the tropical cyclone significantly strengthens - which strengthens the transport. Then,it causes water vapor flux to converge on the south side of Bilis and diverge on the north side. Precipitation is much stronger on the south side than that on the north side. After Bilis travels far inland,the cold air guided by a north trough travels into the TC and remarkably enhances precipitation. In summary,combining vertical wind shear with water vapor transportation is a good way to predict rainstorms associated with landing tropical cyclones.     

The effect of truck traffic and road water content on sediment delivery from unpaved forest roads

A study investigated the effect of truck‐traffic intensity and road water‐content on the quality of runoff water from unsealed forest roads. Three sections of a gravel‐surfaced forest road were instrumented and exposed to low and high levels of truck traffic during wet winter conditions and dry summer conditions between July 2001 and December 2002. Rainfall, runoff, road moisture, and traffic were measured continuously, and suspended and bedload sediments were integrated measurements over 2‐week site‐service intervals. The median suspended sediment concentration from the three road segments under low truck‐traffic conditions (less than nine return truck passes prior to a storm) was 269 mg l^?1, increasing 2·7‐fold to a median of 725 mg l^?1 under high truck‐traffic conditions (greater than or equal to nine return truck passes prior to a storm). These concentrations, and increases due to traffic, are substantially less than most previously reported values. When these data are expressed as modified universal soil loss equation (MUSLE) erodibility values K, accounting for differences in rainfall energy, site characteristics and runoff, high traffic resulted in a road surface that was four times more erodible than the same road under low traffic conditions. Using multiple regression, traffic explained 36% of the variation in MUSLE erodibility, whereas road water content was not significant in the model. There was little difference in the erodibility of the road when trafficked in low water‐content compared with high water‐content conditions (MUSLE K values of 0·0084 versus 0·0080 respectively). This study shows that, for a good quality well‐maintained gravel forest road, the level of truck traffic affects the sediment concentration of water discharging from the road, whereas the water content of the road at the time of that traffic does not (note that traffic is not allowed during runoff events in Victoria). These conclusions are conditional upon the road being adequately maintained so that trafficking does not compromise the lateral drainage of the road profile. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysing the positional accuracy of GNSS multi-tracks obtained from VGI sources to generate improved 3D mean axes

ABSTRACT

The sharing of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) tracks on the Internet is increasing enormously. Every day a great number of users capture routes using different devices and share these data. Individually these tracks present a poor positional accuracy because these devices obtain positions with accuracy of about 5-10 metres. In addition, they are usually captured for navigation and not for surveying. However, we can take advantage of the great quantity of tracks of the same linear element in order to obtain a more accurate solution. This study analyses this possibility using a wide set of tracks obtained in known conditions. We emulated those tracks obtained by Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) users and we compared the mean axis obtained using all tracks with others obtained from a more accurate source. Additionally, we analyse the displacement of other axes obtained by varying several parameters such as the number of tracks and their length or by dividing the route into sections in function of sinuosity, etc. The results have shown an improved 3D mean axis and the viability of the method proposed in this study in order to use axes obtained from several tracks in maps at certain scales.     

“天绘一号”卫星基于摄影任务的轨道维持策略

针对靶标场等摄影任务受轨道维持影响大的现状, 提出基于摄影任务的轨道维持策略。分析了卫星轨道特性和轨道维持对重要摄影任务的影响, 提出利用邻轨搭接特性对摄影区域完成两次摄影的方法。通过某靶标场摄影试验, 比较分析得到最优摄影方案, 验证了本文方法的可行性。同时完善卫星轨道维持策略, 作为卫星实施轨道维持的重要参考依据。     

台风路径实时数值预报的初步试验

根据国家气象中心建立的台风路径数值预报试验系统,引入了模型台风。模型台风是利用获得的场面参数构成的,然后再叠加到客观分析场上作为台风路径预报的初始场。引入模型台风后,无论是台风中心位置还是其流场、质量场与实际观测比较接近,且预报效果有一定提高。利用模型台风对1992年Eli（9205号）和Janis（9210号）台风进行了实时的预报试验。结果表明对这二个台风的移动趋势基本上能预报出来,预报的台风路径与实况进行了对比,并与气候持续预报作了比较,效果较好。