Resource use in the tropical karstlands of central Belize

Rural tropical ecosystems are subject to many traditional land uses that employ the indigenous karst resources: rock, water, soil, vegetation, and wildlife. Individual resource pressures often are subtle, but their combined impact can precipitate instability in the tropical karst environment, potentially resulting in disruption of food, water, and fuel supplies. The karst of central Belize was used intensively for some six centuries by Maya farmers, but between the 10th and 19th centuries AD most of it reverted to secondary forest. Commercial logging dominated the 19th and early 20th centuries, followed by the expansion of subsistence and commercial agriculture after 1945. In the 1980s resource use has accelerated as population and other pressures increase. Much karst remains forested, but there is increasing clearance for agricultural uses, particularly for citrus cultivation and small-scale mixed agriculture. Soil depletion has begun to occur, water resources are increasingly taxed, and some wildlife is threatened by habitat destruction and increased hunting. Lime production for the citrus industry has promoted quarrying, water extraction, and fuelwood use. Environmental stresses currently do not exceed the threshold of instability, but the rapidly developing rural economy warrants careful monitoring of resource pressures.     

Displacements and transformations of nitrate-rich and nitrate-poor water masses in the tropical Pacific during the 1997 El Niño

A Lagrangian analysis was applied to the outputs of a coupled physical-biogeochemical model to describe the redistribution of nitrate-rich and nitrate-poor surface water masses in the tropical Pacific throughout the major 1997 El Niño. The same tool was used to analyze the causes of nitrate changes along trajectories and to investigate the consequences of the slow nitrate uptake in the high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) region during the growth phase of the event. Three patterns were identified during the drift of water masses. The first mechanism is well known along the equator: oligotrophic waters from the western Pacific are advected eastward and retain their oligotrophic properties along their drift. The second concerns the persistent upwelling in the eastern basin. Water parcels have complex trajectories within this retention zone and remain mesotrophic. This study draws attention to the third process which is very specific to the HNLC region and to the El Niño period. During the 1997 El Niño, horizontal and vertical inputs of nitrate decreased so dramatically that nitrate uptake by phytoplankton became the only mechanism driving nitrate changes along pathways. The study shows that because of the slow nitrate uptake characteristic of the tropical Pacific HNLC system, nitrate in the pre-El Niño photic layer can support biological production for a period of several months. As a consequence, the slow nitrate uptake delays the gradual onset of oligotrophic conditions over nearly all the area usually occupied by upwelled waters. Owing to this process, mesotrophic conditions persist in the tropical Pacific during El Niño events.     

1—3月北极涛动对北半球热带太平洋和大西洋对流活动的可能影响

利用1979—2008年日分辨率的向外长波辐射资料以及NCEP再分析资料,去除ENSO影响后,分析了1—3月北极涛动对热带太平洋和热带大西洋对流活动及降水的可能影响。结果表明北极涛动偏强(弱)时,热带太平洋和大西洋对流活动显著偏强(弱)。北半球热带大洋冬季平均向外长波辐射与北极涛动指数的相关系数存在两个显著负相关区:一个位于中太平洋区,大致包括13°—20°N、160°E—170°W;另外一个位于热带大西洋,显著区覆盖的范围大体包括5°—20°N、15°—70°W。这些区域的降水量也表现出显著的正相关。向外长波辐射、强对流面积指数、强对流强度指数、平均降水量等指标与北极涛动指数的相关均以冬季同期最高,随时间滞后相关迅速减弱。与此对应的对流层低层大气环流也有显著变化,850hPa风场的变化表现为热带太平洋有异常的气旋性环流,气旋中心区与显著强对流和降水异常区一致。而热带大西洋有显著的经向环流辐合和风切变,与异常对流和降水区吻合。海洋模式的模拟结果表明,与北极涛动有关联的海温分布,很大程度上与大气强迫有关,说明热带1—3月降水和对流活动与海温的关联较弱。北极涛动与热带太平洋、大西洋对流和降水活动之间主要是通过大气环流的变动产生联系的。     

利用FY-3星载微波资料对热带气旋云系和暖核特征的分析

介绍了中国FY-3系列卫星搭载的微波遥感仪器性能特点,以“1109”超强台风“梅花”为研究个例.通过微波湿度计单通道微波图像和微波成像仪双极化通道散点图,分析了台风云系中云雨粒子对遥感通道辐射的吸收和散射效应,揭示了台风在微波图像上表现形式的内在物理原因.利用微波向量辐射传输模式的模拟表明:微波温度计各氧气吸收通道对热带气旋系统水汽和水凝物含量变化的敏感性不大.因此,可利用权重函数峰值位于对流层中上层的通道3,探测出台风暖核辐射信息.根据两者相匹配的5个较理想时次数据,选取距“梅花”中心400 km范围为研究区域,并提出用于修正扫描点分辨率不均匀所带来取样偏差的方法,分别计算出订正临边效应后的暖核强度,发现它同表征台风强度的中心海平面气压变化趋势相一致.     

Intraseasonal variability in the equatorial Atlantic-West Africa during March–June

Intraseasonal (30–80 days) variability in the equatorial Atlantic-West African sector during March–June is investigated using various recently-archived satellite measurements and the NCEP/DOE AMIP-II reanalysis daily data. The global connections of regional intraseasonal signals are first examined for the period of 1979–2006 through lag-regression analyses of convection (OLR) and other dynamic components against a regional intraseasonal convective (OLR) index. The eastward-propagating features of convection can readily be seen, accompanied by coherent circulation anomalies, similar to those for the global tropical intraseasonal mode, i.e., the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). The regressed TRMM rainfall (3B42) anomalies during the TRMM period (1998–2006) manifest similar propagating features as for the regressed OLR anomalies during 1979–2006. These coherent features hence tend to suggest that the regional intraseasonal convective signals might be mostly a regional response to, or closely associated with the MJO, and probably contribute to the MJO’s global propagation. Atmospheric and surface intraseasonal variability during March–June of 1998–2006 are further examined using the high-quality TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) sea surface temperature (SST), columnar water vapor, and cloud liquid water, and the QuikSCAT oceanic winds (2000–2006). Enhanced (suppressed) convection or positive (negative) rainfall anomalies approximately cover the entire basin (0°–10°N, 30°W–10°E) during the passage of intraseasonal convective signals, accompanied by anomalous surface westerly (easterly) flow. Furthermore, a unique propagating feature seems to exist within the tropical Atlantic basin. Rainfall anomalies always appear first in the northwestern basin right off the coast of South America, and gradually extend eastward to cover the entire basin. A dipolar structure of rainfall anomalies with cross-equatorial surface wind anomalies can thus be observed during this evolution, similar to the anomaly patterns on the interannual time scale discovered in past studies. Coherent intraseasonal variations and patterns can also be found in other physical components.

基于人工智能技术的热带气旋灾害评估方法研究:以广东省为例

基于历史观测资料,系统地研究了广东省热带气旋（tropical cyclone,TC）风雨及其带来的直接经济损失的空间分布特征。结果表明,粤西沿海地区受TC大风影响最为频繁,但TC经济灾损率和受灾频次在粤西和粤东较重。根据广东省TC风雨和直接经济损失的空间分布特征,将广东分为粤西、粤东、珠三角和粤北4个区域,进而利用演化建模方法建立了广东省各区域TC经济灾损率评估模型。该评估模型模拟的TC经济灾损率与实际值的相关系数达0.66以上,基于该模型对独立样本的预测检验结果与实际值的相关系数达到0.61以上（显著性水平a=0.05）。这表明,基于演化建模方法建立的广东省各区域评估模型在广东省TC灾害评估中有着潜在的应用价值。     

Development Processes of the Tropical Pacific Meridional Mode

Mechanisms for the spatio-temporal development of the Tropical Pacific Meridional Mode(TPMM) are investigated using a coupled ocean-atmosphere model and observations.In both observations and the model,this meridional mode displays decadal variations and is most pronounced in spring and early summer.The model simulation suggests that once SST anomalies in the subtropical northeastern Pacific are initiated,say by northeasterly trade wind variability,perturbations evolve into a merdional dipole in 2-3 months.A...     

Assessment of the management of organizations supplying ecosystem services from tropical forests

Global environmental change leads to degradation of tropical forests in many countries. In response to this pressure, programs for payments for ecosystem services (PES) are developing and organizations are emerging which manage forests in order to supply ecosystem services, rather than only harvest timber. Typically such services are carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, pollination, and watershed protection. Public or private actors interested to invest in or donate money for the provisioning of such services are faced with the problem of choosing the appropriate organization supplying ecosystem services. The goal of this paper was to develop an assessment framework based on the balanced scorecard concept including drivers, impact, performance and context variables. Results of a survey of international market actors were used to determine assessment criteria and their weights. Putting the focus of this paper on drivers and impacts, we assessed Latin American organizations that “sell” ecosystem services from tropical forests in terms of their general management, marketing, forest management, client and stakeholder satisfaction, and forest ecosystem status. We found that supplying organizations vary widely with respect to their achievements in these areas. However, the variance of assessment results is influenced even more by the variance in weights the international market actors allocate to the assessment criteria. The insights of this study can contribute to the continuous improvement of management processes in supplying organizations and can support investors and donors in their decision-making with respect to organization supplying ecosystem services.     

Three-dimensional variational data assimilation of WindSat ocean surface winds for the genesis and forecasting of tropical storm Henri

With available high-resolution ocean surface wind vectors retrieved from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratorys WindSat on Coriolis, the impact of these data on genesis and forecasting of tropical storm Henri is examined using the non-hydrostatic, fifth-generation mesoscale model (MM5) of Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research plus its newly released three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system. It is shown that the assimilation of the WindSat-retrieved ocean surface wind vectors in the 3DVAR system improves the model initialization fields by introducing a stronger vortex in the lower troposphere. As a result, the model reproduces the storm formation and track reasonably close to the observations. Compared to the experiment without the WindSat surface winds, the WindSat assimilation reduced an error between the model simulated track and observations of more than 80 km and also improved the storm intensity by nearly 2 hPa. It suggests that these data could provide early detection and prediction of tropical storms or hurricanes.