Issues and challenges in spatio-temporal application of an ecosystem services framework to UK seas

The concepts of ecosystem services and human welfare provide strong integrative frameworks that can be used to inform marine policy and management decisions that support sustainable development. A theoretical framework has been developed and applied to create a model for UK seas to measure changes in final ecosystem services, in terms of human welfare. The model that has been developed is explicitly spatial and temporal to facilitate its use in supporting marine planning decisions. The development and application of this framework to UK seas necessarily requires many assumptions to be made. The paper describes the development and population of the framework and discusses the practical limitations and challenges in seeking to develop and apply such models. Significant differences in long-term values of different services were identified under the different scenarios. All scenarios highlight the projected decline in oil and gas revenues which provide particular intense values at sites of extraction. These values are partially replaced by revenues from offshore renewables in some of the scenarios. Values associated with carbon sequestration, maritime transport, tourism and pollution assimilation are also very significant but more spatially diffuse. The study has demonstrated that it is possible to develop spatio-temporal models to evaluate changes in final ecosystem service benefits using existing data, although the approach necessarily requires many assumptions to be made.     

Diagnostic model construction and example analysis of habitat degradation in enclosed bay: II. spatiotemporal variations in habitat degradation in Sansha Bay

The process of habitat degradation varies in habitat type and driving force which shows certain spatial and temporal heterogeneity on regional scales. In the present study, a new diagnostic model for enclosed bay habitat degradation was established, with which the spatial and temporal variation patterns of habitat degradation during 1991–2012 in Sansha Bay, Fujian, China was investigated. The results show that anthropogenic disturbance is the major controlling factor for the habitat degradation in large temporal heterogeneity in the bay. On the other hand, the habitat degradation experienced signifi cant spatial variations among six sub-bays. Under the joint action of temporal and spatial heterogeneity, the degradation trend in growing scale shows a more signifi cant correlation with the distribution of local leading industries along shorelines. Therefore, we quantifi ed the main characters of habitat degradation in Sansha Bay, and have understood the relationship between the status of habitats spatio-temporal variation value and the main controlling factor leading to the changes. However, a defi ciency of this research is the lack of or inaccessible to the detailed data, which shall be better solved in the future study for accessing more data from more sources.     

Decadal Variations of Intense Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific during 1948–2010简

Using Joint Warning Typhoon Center （JTWC） best track data during the period 1948-2010, decadal and interdecadal changes of annual category 4 and 5 tropical cyclone （TC） frequency in the western North Pacific basin were examined. By allowing all of the observed TCs in the JTWC dataset to move along the observed TC tracks in a TC intensity model, the annual category 4 and 5 TC frequency was simulated. The results agreed well with observations when the TC intensity prior to 1973 was adjusted based on time-dependent biases due to changes in measurement and reporting practices. The simulated and adjusted time series showed significant decadal （12-18 years） variability, while the interdecadal （18-32 years） variability was found to be statistically insignificant. Numerical simulations indicated that changes in TC tracks are the most important factor for the decadal variability in the category 4 and 5 TC frequency in the western North Pacific basin, while a combined effect of changes in SST and vertical wind shear also contributes to the decadal variability. Further analysis suggested that the active phase of category 4 and 5 TCs is closely associated with an eastward shift in the TC formation locations, which allows more TCs to follow a longer journey, favoring the development of category 4 and 5 TCs. The active phase corresponds with the SST warming over the tropical central and eastern Pacific and the eastward extension of the monsoon trough, thus leading to the eastward shift in TC formation locations.     

要素级多时态地形数据库建库与管理技术设计

通过建立要素级多时态的国家1：50 000地形数据库,实现了对地形数据要素级的管理和多时态信息的存储。本文介绍了国家1：50 000地形数据库采用要素级多时态数据库建库与管理的相关技术设计,并给出了数据库管理服务系统的应用实例。     

Mapping the human footprint from satellite measurements in Japan

Due to increasing global urbanization and climate change, the quantification of “human footprints” has become an urgent goal in the fields of biodiversity conservation and regional environment management. A human footprint is defined as the impact of a particular human activity on the Earth’s surface, which can be represented mainly by impervious surfaces (related to industry and urbanization) and cropland (related to agriculture). Here we present a method called sorted temporal mixture analysis with post-classification (STMAP) for mapping impervious surfaces and cropland simultaneously at the subpixel level to fill the demand for precise human footprint information on a national scale. The STMAP method applies a four-endmember sorted temporal mixture analysis to provide the initial fractions of evergreen forests, deciduous forests, cropland, and impervious surfaces as a first step. Endmembers are selected from the sorted temporal profiles of the MODIS-normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), as guided by a principal component analysis. The yearly maximum land surface temperatures and averaged stable nighttime light are then statistically analyzed to provide the thresholds for post-classification to further separate cropland from deciduous forest and bare land from impervious surface. As the four outputs of STMAP, the fractions of forest, cropland, impervious surfaces and bare land are derived. We used the reference maps of impervious surfaces and cropland obtained from the Landsat/TM and ALOS precise land-use/land-cover map at the subpixel level to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, respectively. Historical satellite images with high spatial resolution were used to further evaluate the cropland results derived with the STMAP method. The results showed that the STMAP method has promising accuracy for estimating impervious surfaces and cropland in Japan. The root mean square errors obtained with the STMAP method were 6.3% for the estimation of impervious surfaces and 9.8% for the estimation of cropland. Our findings can extend the applications of remote sensing technologies in ecological research and environment management on a large scale.     

山东省近岸海域沉积物类型及变化趋势

文章依据山东省近岸海域表层沉积物调查资料,分析了沉积物粒度的时空变化特征及其影响因素。结果显示:2020年,山东省近岸海域表层沉积物粒径总体呈由近岸向远海逐渐变小的趋势,其中,粉砂含量最高,平均66.45%;砂次之,平均26.78%;黏土含量较低,平均6.77%。沉积物不同粒级组分具有明显的空间分布差异性,类型包含粉砂、砂质粉砂、粉砂质砂和砂,以粉砂为主,占调查站位的61.9%。2016—2020年,山东省近岸海域表层沉积物整体呈现粗化的趋势,其中,日照、青岛、潍坊和滨州近岸海域粗化趋势较为明显,东营次之,烟台和威海粗化程度最低。沉积物粒度时空特征的主要影响因素包含物源、区域水动力条件(如,渤海和黄海海流、山东省沿岸流等)及沿海海岸工程建设情况,具体的影响机制仍需进一步调查研究。本研究成果可以为山东省近岸海域底质类型变化分析和海岸带保护与利用提供参考。     

嫦娥一号激光高度计数据交叉点分析与平差处理

本文对嫦娥一号激光高度计进行了轨道交叉点分析和平差方法研究。根据获取的912万个激光高度测量点进行交叉点计算,产生了整个月球表面140多万个轨道交叉点,对交叉点的位置分布特点与交叉点不符值的时间分布特性进行了系统分析,并运用4种基于时间的函数模型对交叉点不符值进行平差处理和对比分析。在试验区(0°N~60°N, 50°W~0°W)内,4种交叉点平差模型均能使交叉点高程不符值中误差从平差前的62.1m降至37m以内,在此基础上产生的DEM条带现象消失或减弱,表明交叉点平差能明显改进DEM的质量。     

Seasonal variations in the isotopic composition of leaf and stem water from an arid region of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Stable isotopes are powerful research tools in environmental sciences and their use in ecosystem research is increasing. Stable isotope measurements allow the study of evapotranspiration fluxes, soil evaporation and leaf transpiration phenomena. Soil water and leaf water are the sources of the evapotranspiration that transfers large quantities of water from land to the atmosphere; as a result the isotopic composition of water left in the leaves is modified towards enrichment. Evaporation also changes the isotopic composition of water bodies creating a natural isotopic signal. The isotopic identity of soil water affects the oxygen isotopic signature of leaf and stem water. In this paper we present the isotopic data of bulk leaf water, showing the enrichment in isotopic value of oxygen due to evapotranspiration from leaves in conjunction with the isotopic signal of rainwater and other environmental factors such as humidity and temperature. Results suggest that the variation in the values of δ¹⁸O of Eucalyptus citriodora, Dalbergia sissoo, Melia azedarach and Pinus roxburghii is due to the seasonal changes in the δ¹⁸O of the source water for plants, i. e. rain. It is further observed that leaf water δ¹⁸O values are depleted during the months of July, August and September. This occurs due to the following reasons: (a) the sampling areas receive about 50% of the average annual rain during these months, and (b) rainfalls during these months are isotopically depleted compared with winter rains.

Citation Butt, S., Ali, M., Fazil, M. & Latif, Z. (2010) Seasonal variations in the isotopic composition of leaf and stem water from an arid region of Southeast Asia. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(5), 844–848.     

Trans-polar vgp shifts and earth's rotation

Abstract

At about 13,200 BP and 1000 BP, the geomagnetic field experienced trans-polar VGP shifts between main centra in Arctic Siberia and Arctic Canada, respectively. Both shifts are associated with major changes in the Earth's rate of rotation indicating a causal connection. The 1000 BP VGP shift and change in rotation is also associated with a decrease in the geomagnetic dipole field strength. The trans-polar VGP shifts seem to be of dipolar nature. They seem to be consistent with the displacement of the symmetry axis of two rotating bodies.