Meteorological factors associated with floods in the north-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula

The main meteorological features of catastrophic rainfall events in Catalonia are described. Data come from several sources listed in the text. Surface and upper air synoptic and some subsynoptic conditions under which these events occur are described. Two kinds of events are identified, depending on the amount of forced lift required to release potential instability: Type A events, which take place on the coastal area when the forcing due to littoral and prelittoral hills is enough, and type B events require a large forced lift and occur near the Pyrenees. Local topographical and mesoscale meteorological conditions turn out to have a relevant role in connection with such events.     

利用旱涝县次建立历史时期旱涝指数序列的试验*

本文利用27万条自然灾害史料记载,整理出我国东部及南部85个地区的受灾县次记录,分析了这些记录的可靠性,建立了这些地区1471—1950年的旱涝指数序列,并以北京地区为例,详细说明了利用旱涝县次建立旱涝指数序列的过程,分析了这种方法的可靠性。     

The 1786 earthquake-triggered landslide dam and subsequent dam-break flood on the Dadu River, southwestern China

Chinese historic documents recorded that on June 1, 1786, a strong M=7.75 earthquake occurred in the Kangding-Luding area, Sichuan, southwestern China, resulting in a large landslide that fell into the Dadu River. As a result, a landslide dam blocked the river. Ten days later, the sudden breaching of the dam resulted in catastrophic downstream flooding. Historic records document over 100,000 deaths by the flood. This may be the most disastrous event ever caused by landslide dam failures in the world. Although a lot of work has been carried out to determine the location, magnitude and intensity of the 1786 earthquake, relatively little is known about the occurrence and nature of the landslide dam. In this paper, the dam was reconstructed using historic documents and geomorphic evidence. It was found that the landslide dam was about 70 m high, and it created a lake with a water volume of about 50×10⁶ m³ and an area of about 1.7 km². The landslide dam breached suddenly due to a major aftershock on June 10, 1786. The peak discharge at the dam breach was estimated using regression equations and a physically based predictive equation. The possibility of a future failure of the landslide seems high, particularly due to inherent seismic risk, and detailed geotechnical investigations are strongly recommended for evaluating the current stability of the landslide.     

Physiogeographic features of the Oubangui catchment and environmental trends reflected in discharge and floods at Bangui 1911–1999, Central African Republic

Varying discharges of large rivers observed over long periods can reflect environmental trends like ‘climate change’ within the catchment (e.g. ongoing aridification results in a reduced discharge). The present study on the Oubangui River in Central Africa first lines out some physiogeographic features of the almost 500 000 km² large catchment situated on the vast north equator rise. Subsequently, a discharge record from 1911–1999 of Qmax. and Qmin., covering data for 73 years from the gauge station Bangui, is examined. Annual variability of Oubangui floods is generally high and shows over the past years, especially since the mid to end 1960s, a less significant trend to a slight depletion of maximum discharge. Frequency analysis (Gauss, Gumbel, Weibull) of floods resulted in return periods between 7 and 35 years. Distributions calculated after Gumbel generally gave the best results. No linear and simple evidence exist of the tendency of the river to reduce discharge because of a depletion of rain fall as the Oubangui's floods are again increasing since the mid 1990s. Finally, the consequences of Oubangui flood hazards for the growing town of Bangui are discussed. Flooding of urban areas from exceptional high Qmax. discharge is spatially reconstructed for the floods in 1916, 1962, and 1999.     

伏牛山南坡生态变化对降水的影响

利用1958～2000年有代表性的周边县树木增减资料、1984年10月～1986年9月树冠对降水的截流观测资料及1950～1999年西峡县山洪资料，分析了伏牛山南坡森林覆盖率对降水的影响，结果表明：森林覆盖率高的地区，平均年雨量值大；林区树冠和植被对降水的截流率在60％以上，植被越好，树林郁闭越大，山地的山洪和水土流失就越小，不但可减轻洪水灾害，而且蓄水于地下，以丰补欠，调节林区水分供应；西峡县因森林覆盖率的降低，山洪次数增加。因此，应治山造林，绿化荒山。     

网型结构对GPS定位精度的影响

GPS观测实践证明GPS的网型结构对GPS定位精度具有显著的影响,为了弄清网型结构与GPS定位精度间的关系,在鲁西北平原建立了高精度的专用实验网,专用实验网的三维坐标借助精密电子全站仪和精密水准仪获得.在专用试验网上,通过不同的组网形式,对GPS定位精度进行了对比试验,初步摸清了网型结构对GPS定位精度的影响规律.     

Volcanic features of the North Rockall Trough: application of visualisation techniques on 3D seismic reflection data

Understanding the volcanic processes operating during continental break-up is hampered by the subsequent burial of the majority of the volcanic pile beneath thick sedimentary sequences currently located in bathymetrically deep offshore regions. Although portions of these volcanic systems are currently exposed on land, a full understanding of the volcanic structure, the eruptive styles and their evolution is not possible as these localities have been partially eroded. Furthermore, as the onshore exposure represents a volumetrically minor part of the entire system, the documented eruptive styles may not be representative. The increasing availability of 3D seismic reflection data has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of break-up related volcanism, as it allows direct access to detailed information from the buried volcanic succession. However, conventional seismic interpretation methodologies cannot determine lava flow morphologies, and as a result, eruptive styles and their evolution are still largely based on extrapolation from the accessible onshore outcrop data. New 3D seismic volume visualisation techniques allow the buried basalt morphologies to be examined for the first time in a manner similar to outcrop, aerial photographic or satellite-based observations. Applying this new approach for 3D seismic data to the North Rockall Trough, U.K. Atlantic margin, demonstrates that a range of volcanic features indicative of eruptive style can be determined. The data reveal a complex terrain containing lava flows originating from discrete volcanic centres, contemporaneous normal faults, linear fissures a few kilometres long, radial fissures and inflation ridges. Lava flow morphologies that are indicative of tube-fed inflated sheetflows, intracanyon flows and elongate subaerial flows that enter water downslope to produce a large hyaloclastite delta are observed.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at .Editorial responsibility: J. Stix     

Adsorbable Organic Halogens (AOX) in Polish Rivers – Levels and Changes

This paper presents results of a study on the concentration of adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) in water samples of the Oder River and its tributaries collected from 1998 to 2002. The Vistula River water for AOX was analysed in the period 2001–2002. The investigated waters of the Vistula near the mouth (Kiezmark) were more contaminated with AOX than the Oder near the mouth (Widuchowa, Krajnik Dolny). In general, AOX levels in the Polish rivers are comparable to the values found in the European rivers, e.g. the Rhine and the Ton. The research has shown that AOX were correlated with pH, total suspended solids, and the riverine flow. No relation between dissolved oxygen and redox potential and AOX was found out. During the flood period AOX, inorganic halogens (TIX), and mineral substances (sulfates) were analysed.     

A methodology using GIS, aerial photos and remote sensing for loss estimation and flood vulnerability analysis in the Supersano-Ruffano-Nociglia Graben, southern Italy

The impact of calamitous meteoric events and their interaction with the geological and geomorphological environment represent a current problem of the Supersano-Ruffano-Nociglia Graben in southern Italy. Indeed, severe floods take place on a frequent basis not only in autumn and winter, but in summer also. These calamities are not only triggered by exceptional events, but are also amplified by peculiar geological and morpho-structural characteristics of the Graben. Flooding often affects vast agricultural areas and consequently, water-scooping machines cannot remove the rainwater. These events cause warnings and emergency states, involving people as well as socio–economic goods. This study represents an application of a vanguard technique for loss estimation and flood vulnerability analysis, integrating a geographic information system (GIS) with aerial photos and remote sensing methods. The analysis results clearly show that the Graben area is potentially at greatest flood vulnerability, while along the Horsts the flood vulnerability is lower.     

顾及可靠性与精度的近景摄影测量控制点优化设计

对非量测用摄影机所摄影像的解析处理 ,控制点起着不可缺少的桥梁作用 ,控制点的数量和分布形式将直接影响平差结果的可靠性和精度。文中利用手持式 1 2 0普通相机 ,从可靠性和精度上 ,就基于直接线性变换算法中 ,对控制点的优化设计问题进行了实验分析 ,得出了有意义的结论。