Enter the working forest: Discourse analysis in the Northern Forest

In 1988, four states in the northeastern USA commissioned a study to address land use changes in the Northern Forest, 26 million acres of temperate and boreal forest extending from Maine to eastern New York State. Against a backdrop of economic destabilization and concerns regarding social and ecological implications of a real estate boom, the sustained deliberative dialogue catalyzed by this study has come to rely heavily on the ambiguous concept of “working forest.” To clarify political and environmental dynamics in the region, we analyzed how people respond to and seek to capitalize on the interpretive flexibility of the term working forest. We combine an analysis of socio-political discourses of working forest based on a structured literature review with an assessment of local peoples’ definitions of working forest based on a survey conducted in a pair of contrasting New York State communities. The first study site represents an amenity-oriented community (i.e. a place where the forest supports a service economy including recreation and tourism) and the other study site represents a timber-dependent community. By linking data from community-level analysis to data derived from a general analysis of forest politics, we seek to develop a more robust perspective. By comparing discourses across differently structured communities, we investigate how local forest politics are mediated by local economic development processes. Our study empirically illustrates contested and geographically uneven processes of social construction of environment and rural development in a region confronting pressures of globalization. Results indicate that timber harvesting is a heavily privileged management objective, as a logic of ‘the forest that pays is the forest that stays’ dominates. Environmental politics in the region, and perhaps more generally, increasingly conforms to a form of pragmatism in which economic opportunities structure conservation planning and investment.     

北祁连俯冲-增生杂岩带中低温榴辉岩的地球化学特征

北祁连俯冲-增生杂岩带中的低温榴辉岩以透镜体形式产于蓝片岩和多硅白云母片岩中。根据稀土元素、微量元素及Sr-Nd同位素分析研究,可将本区低温榴辉岩分为两类:Ⅰ类榴辉岩以轻重稀土分异不明显和具有Eu正异常为特征;Ⅱ类榴辉岩的轻稀土富集,有轻微的Eu负异常。Sm-Nd同位素研究显示,I类榴辉岩样品的εNd(t)值为2.5~6.9,平均值为4.5;Ⅱ类榴辉岩εNd(t)=-3.3~1.4。这些研究成果表明,Ⅰ类榴辉岩的原岩来源于长期亏损的地幔源区,可能形成于大洋环境;而Ⅱ类榴辉岩的原岩在形成过程中很明显混入了陆壳物质,据此推断其原岩形成于大陆边缘或洋陆过渡环境。     

THE METAMORPHIC FEATURE,AGE AND MECHANISM OF AMUGANG GROUP IN NORTHERN TIBET

THE METAMORPHIC FEATURE,AGE AND MECHANISM OF AMUGANG GROUP IN NORTHERN TIBET     

Evaporation Process in Soil Surface Containing Calcic Nodules on the Northern Loess Plateau of China by Simulated Experiments

Soil containing calcic nodules is widely present on the northern Loess Plateau of China owing to soil genesis under local climate conditions. In most studies, little attention is payed to the effect of calcic nodules on soil evaporation and ecoenvironment, resulting in inaccurate evaporation estimation in this kind of soil and further improper field water management measures and irrigation effects. In this paper, soil column experiments were conducted in order to investigate evaporation process in soil containing calcic nodules and the effect of calcic nodules on soil evaporation was determined. The results indicated that evaporation reduction was positively related to calcic nodule content (CNC = mass of calcic nodules/total mass), and could be estimated by the experiential equation: E_soil = E₀ (1 – 0.4 CNC) (E_soil = actual evaporation, E₀ = theory evaporation in soil without calcic nodules). When CNC was below 0.2, the impact could be neglected. While, as CNC exceeded 0.2, the impact needed to be considered during soil evaporation estimation. As CNC reached 0.5, soil evaporation could be reduced by 7.5 mm, accounting for around 10% of the total soil water. Water balance calculation in soil columns showed that water absorbed by calcic nodules was partially available to evaporation. Water available to evaporation was positively related to CNC, and this water could not exceed 63% of the water absorbed by calcic nodules. Generally, evaporation behavior was dominated by calcic nodule quantity and its water absorption. These results provide new ideas for irrigation measures in arid areas of the globe.     

Preservation conditions and the use of sediment pigments as a tool for recent ecological reconstruction in four Northern European estuaries

Down-core sediment pigment concentrations from four Northern European estuaries were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to investigate phytoplankton community structure and preservation conditions over the last ca. 100 years where all sites have experienced different levels of eutrophication. Phytoplankton pigments have been shown to be useful biomarkers for phytoplankton community structure and abundance due to their taxonomic specificity. The pigment concentrations and sediment pigment inventory showed large variation between the four sites. Concentrations ranged from more than 6000 nmol/g OC to less than 100 nmol/g OC and the inventory integrated over the top 10 cm from more than 300 nmol/cm² to less than 30 nmol/cm² for total identified pigments. Good pigment preservation in Mariager Fjord (Denmark) reflected the almost permanently anoxic conditions. Pigments in Laajalahti (Finland) showed peak concentrations around the time of highest nitrogen loading events known from historical and modelled records over the past 100 years. In contrast, poor down-core preservation of pigments (especially carotenoids) was observed in the Ems-Dollard (The Netherlands) and Himmerfjärden (Sweden) estuaries. The Ems-Dollard site is an intertidal mudflat that experiences daily exposure to light and air, which enhances pigment degradation. In Himmerfjärden, resuspension is an important process affecting both the sedimentation rate and degradation properties. The different preservation conditions at the four sites were supported by the differences in two degradation indicators; the ratio of pheopigment-a to chlorophyll-a and total carotenoids to total pigments. Class-specific carotenoid pigments represented the dominant algal groups reported from each site, however, no distinct down-core changes in the pigment composition were observed at any of the four sites. This indicated that changes in plankton community structure on the group level have been limited over this time period or masked by low preservation of pigments.     

Are assemblages of the fireworm Hermodice carunculata enhanced in sediments beneath offshore fish cages?

Abundances of the fireworm Hermodice carunculata were counted through a monitoring assessment study of fish cages in Barranco Hondo（NE Tenerife）. Seven campaigns were conducted from November 2007 to June 2010 and temporal variations were found, as well as differences among sampling stations. The polychaete H. carunculata obtained its highest abundance in sediments beneath fish cages throughout the study period. Thus, the assemblages of this omnivorous species were favoured by the presence of fish cages.     

Calibration and validation of the ocean color version-3 product from ADEOS OCTS

We present calibration and validation results of the OCTS’s ocean color version-3 product, which mainly consists of the chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a) and the normalized water-leaving radiance (_nL_w). First, OCTS was calibrated for the inter-detector sensitivity difference, offset, and absolute sensitivity using external calibration source. It was also vicariously calibrated using in-situ measurements for water (Chl-a and_nL_w) and atmosphere (optical thickness), which were acquired synchronously with OCTS under cloud-free conditions. Second, the product was validated using selected 17 in-situ Chl-a and 11 in-situ_nL_w measurements. We confirmed that Chl-a was estimated with an accuracy of 68% for Chl-a less than 2 mg/m³, and_nL_w from 94% (band 2) to 128% (band 4). Geometric accuracy was improved to 1.3 km. Stripes were significantly reduced by modifying the detector normalization factor as a function of input radiance.     

东太平洋我国开辟区底层海流锚泊观测

“海洋四号”在执行ＤＹ９５－７和ＤＹ９５－９航次调查任务期间,在东太平洋我国开辟区做了２个测站的底层海流观测。观测资料分析表明,底层流的流速在１．２～１２．０ｃｍ／ｓ之间;底层流有月际和日际变化,并发现底层流存在“不活动”期。     

Sea Level Variations Associated with Upwelling/ Downwelling Along the West Coast of India

A three-dimensional numerical model is developed and used to study the coastal upwelling processes and corresponding seasonal changes in the sea level along the west coast of India. The upwelling and associated sea level variations are seen as a response of coastal ocean to pure wind stress forcing. The model is designed to represent coastal ocean physics by resolving surface and bottom Ekman layers as realistically as possible. The prognostic variables are the three components of the velocity field, temperature, salinity and turbulent energy. The governing equations together with their boundary conditions are solved by finite-difference techniques. Experiments are performed to investigate sea level fluctuations associated with the thermal response and alongshore currents of the coastal waters. The model is forced with mean monthly wind stress forcing of January, May, July and September representing northeast monsoon and different phases of the southwest monsoon. It is known from the observational study that the upwelling process reaches to the surface waters by May along the coastal waters of the extreme southwest peninsular region. The process is more intense in July compared to May and September and its strength decreases from south to north. However, during the northeast monsoon season, which is represented by January wind stress forcing in the model, downwelling is simulated along the coast. The model simulations of the coastal response are compared with the observations and are found to be in good agreement. The maximum computed vertical velocity of about 2.0 2 10 -3 cm s -1 is predicted in July in the southern region off the coast.     

The vertical structure of the atmospheric boundary layer over the central Arctic Ocean

The tropopause height and the atmospheric boundarylayer （PBL） height as well as the variation of inversion layer above the floating ice surface are presented using GPS （global position system ） radiosonde sounding data and relevant data obtained by Chinas fourth arctic scientific expedition team over the central Arctic Ocean （86°-88°N, 144°-170°W） during the summer of 2010. The tropopause height is from 9.8 to 10.5 km, with a temperature range between -52.2 and -54.10C in the central Arctic Ocean. Two zones of maximum wind （over 12 m/s） are found in the wind profile, namely, low- and upper-level jets, located in the middle troposphere and the tropopause, respectively. The wind direction has a marked variation point in the two jets from the southeast to the southwest. The average PBL height determined by two methods is 341 and 453 m respectively. These two methods can both be used when the inversion layer is very low, but the results vary significantly when the inversion layer is very high. A significant logarithmic relationship exists between the PBL height and the inversion intensity, with a correlation coefficient of 0.66, indicating that the more intense the temperature inversion is, the lower the boundary layer will be. The observation results obviously differ from those of the third arctic expedition zone （800-85° N）. The PBL height and the inversion layer thickness are much lower than those at 870-88° N, but the inversion temperature is more intense, meaning a strong ice- atmosphere interaction in the sea near the North Pole. The PBL structure is related to the weather system and the sea ice concentration, which affects the observation station.