Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Fire activity has varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesized sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In North America, Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity during the deglacial period, from 21,000 to ∼11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greater-than-present fire activity from ∼19,000 to ∼17,000 cal yr BP and most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to ∼13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8,000 to ∼3,000 cal yr BP, Indonesia and Australia from 11,000 to 4,000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6,000 to 3,000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the post-glacial period. These complex patterns can largely be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load. The readers are requested to refer to the section “List of contributors” for the complete list of author affiliation details.     

COMPARISONS OF THE WEST PACIFIC SUBTROPICAL HIGH AND THE SOUTH ASIA HIGH BETWEEN NCEP/NCAR AND ECMWF REANALYSIS DATASETS

Comparisons of the west Pacific subtropical high with the South Asia High are made using the NCEP/NCAR and ECMWF 500 hPa and 100 hPa monthly boreal geopotential height fields for the period 1961 - 2000. Discrepancies are found for the time prior to 1980. The west Pacific subtropical high in the NCEP/NCAR data is less intense than in ECMWF data before 1980. The range and strength of the west Pacific subtropical high variation described by the NCEP/NCAR data are larger than those depicted by ECMWF data. The same situation appears in the 100-hPa geopotential field. These discoveries suggest that the interdecadal variation of the two systems as shown by the NCEP/NCAR data may not be true. Besides, the South Asia High center in the NCEP/NCAR data is obviously stronger than in the ECMWF data during the periods 1969, 1979 - 1991 and 1992 - 1995. Furthermore, the range is larger from 1992 to 1995.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Homo erectus pekinensis’s</Emphasis> age and environment— with discussion on the relationship among<Emphasis Type="Italic">Homo erectos</Emphasis> from Beijing,Nanjing and Chenjiawo

This paper inspects the relationship betweenHomo erectus from Beijing, Nanjing and Chenjiawo on the viewpoint of environmental variations. Pieces of evidence show that Nanjing and ChenjiawoHomo erectus lived in glacial age at the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 16, whileHomo erectus pekinensis in major interglacial age at MISs 15-13. It is also recovered that the cave deposits in Tangshan, Nanjing, and Zhoukoudian, Beijing, as well as the deposits at theHomo erectus site in Chenjiawo, have undergone some similar development process. All of them originated from early-middle Middle Pleistocene, and have gone through the test of the major glacial age at MIS 16 and the major interglacial period at the paleosol stage S₅. At the same time, they were also closely connected with some environment events, such as the uplift of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the formation of glaciations and the loess accumulations.     

中国大陆及邻近海域航磁─大地构造解释及分区

地表地质研究及中国航磁异常表明中国航磁大地构造具以下３种类型：沉积盖层区（深浅层结果反映正常构造层序）、构造盖层区（地表及浅层为外来推覆山系，与深部构成异常构造层序）和航磁异常地质历史时期各期沉积－构造事件叠加的记录。按郯庐断裂两侧华北、扬子地台区航磁－构造异常带的可比性，郯庐断裂总位移可达５００ｋｍ。中国大陆及邻近海域航磁－大地构造分区为：Ⅰ光蒙区、Ⅱ华北区、Ⅲ哈萨克斯坦区、Ⅳ塔里木区、Ⅴ青藏高原区、Ⅵ扬子区、Ⅶ华夏－台湾区。     

Reproducibility of river water quality measurements: inter-agency comparisons for quality assurance

We assessed the reproducibility of river state-of-environment (SoE) water quality measurements in the Wellington Region, New Zealand (NZ). Field staff from GWRC and NIWA conducted 29 side-by-side water sampling and in-situ measurements at six river sites of diverse water quality for 12 variables measured routinely in river SoE monitoring across NZ. Field measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and visual clarity agreed closely with strong numerical similarity (within 10%). Numerical similarity ranged widely for laboratory measurements, from strong for nitrate-nitrite-nitrogen to weak for turbidity, dissolved reactive phosphorus, and ammoniacal-nitrogen. Numerical agreement was very weak for laboratory pH (which is problematic) and E. coli–which is ‘tolerable’ for many applications given good correlation (R?=?0.94) over a 2000-fold concentration range. The findings of our inter-agency comparison have contributed to quality assurance recommendations in the NZ National Environmental Monitoring Standard (NEMS) for water quality.     

A high-resolution14C dated sediment sequence from southwest Sweden: age comparisons between different components of the sediment

A macrofossil-rich glaciomarine–marine–lacustrine sediment from a soft-water lake in southwestern Sweden has provided an opportunity to ¹⁴C date different components of its sediments. Bulk sediment dates are 100 to 500 yr older than fragile terrestrial macrofossils of corresponding levels, with a mean age difference of ca. 300 yr. This is explained by the presence of old and reworked organic material in the sediment. Five age comparisons between terrestrial macrofossils and periostraca of marine bivalves (probably Arctica islandica) of Allerød age give a mean age difference of 380 yr, i.e. slightly greater than the present reservoir age of 340 ± 30 yr for the Swedish west coast. This difference is roughly the same as for the marine macroalga Desmarestia aculeata. A date from shell carbonate fragments of Mytilus edulis yields an age that is more than 1000 yr older than corresponding periostraca and terrestrial macrofossils and 500–1000 yr older than the age of the supposed deglaciation of the site. Altogether this indicates a larger marine reservoir effect during the Allerød than at present. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stream-scanning laser system, electric sensing counter and settling grain size analysis: a comparison using reference materials and marine sediments

Surface and deep-sea core sediments and two sets of standards were measured by three different techniques — Galai Cis-1 laser system, Coulter Counter TA II, and Micromeritics SediGraph 5000D — in order to compare the Galai results with the other two. The differences between the three types of measuring device turned out to be greater in sediments than in standards, and were attributed to the physical properties, shape, density and composition of the particles (complexity of the matrix). Comparison of moment statistics showed that the Galai determines coarser grain sizes than the Coulter and finer than the SediGraph, particularly as regards analysis of surface sediments. The relationships between Galai and SediGraph were estimated using analysis of variation/residuals within individual intervals. The analysis showed a higher variability of residuals for the coarser fractions (8–16 μm and 16–32 μm) with respect to the finer (2–4 μm and 4–8 μm) fractions. The <2 μm SediGraph fraction, with a cut-off at 0.49 μm, showed good correspondence with the <2.5 μm Galai analysis.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Hillslope Processes. Binghamton Symposia in Geomorphology International Series: 16. Athol D. Abrahams , ed. The Atlas of Central America and the Caribbean. The Diagram Group . The Cultural Atlas of Islam. Isma'il R. al Faruqi and Lois Lamaya'al Faruqi . Atlas of Israel Contemporary Africa: Development, Culture and the State. Morag Bell . Fundamentals of Physical Geography. David Briggs and Peter Smithson . The Bicentennial Census: New Directions for Methodology in 1990. Constance F. Citro and Michael L. Cohen , eds . World Patterns of Modern Urban Change: Essays in Honor of Chauncy D. Harris. Michael P. Conzen , ed . New Directions for Agriculture and Agricultural Research: Neglected Dimensions and Emerging Alternatives. Kenneth A. Dahlberg , ed . Water Resources Atlas of Florida. E.A. Fernald and D.J. Patton , eds . Landscape Ecology. R.T.T. Forman and M. Godron . The Myth of the North American City: Continentalism Challenged. Michael Goldberg and John Mercer . The Permafrost Environment. Stuart A. Harris . Climate and Circulation of the Tropics. Stefan Hastenrath . The Island of South Georgia. Robert Headland . The Making of Urban Europe, 1000-1950. Paul M. Hohenberg and Lynn Hollen Lees . Bombay in Transition: The Growth and Social Ecology of a Colonial City, 1889–1980. Meera Kosambi . Plant Closings; Public or Private Choices? Richard B. McKenzie , ed . Malaysia: Tradition, Modernity and Islam. R.S. Milne and Diane K. Mauzy . Technology on the Frontier: Mining in Old Ontario. Dianne Newell . The Maritime Political Boundaries of the World. J.R.V. Prescott . Tall Office Buildings in the United States. James W. Pygman and Richard Kateley (Real Estate Research Corporation). Technology, Regions, and Policy. John Rees , ed . The United States and the Regional Organization of Asia and the Pacific: 1965-1985. W.W. Rostow . Renewable Energy: Progress, Prospects. Stephen W. Sawyer Wisconsin Foundations. Gwen Schultz . Dwelling, Place and Environment: Towards a Phenomenology of Person and World. David Seamon and Robert Mugerauer , eds . Power and Place: Canadian Urban Development in the North American Context. Gilbert A. Stelter and Alan F.J. Artibise , eds . Small Firms in Regional Economic Development: Britain, Ireland and the United States. D. J. Storey , ed . Mathematical Methods in Human Geography and Planning. A. G. Wilson and R. J. Bennett . El Niño North: Niño Effects on the Eastern Subarctic Pacific Ocean. W. S. Wooster and D. L. Fluharty , eds . The Soviet Iron and Steel Industry. Craig ZumBrunnen and Jeffrey Osleeb .     

Reconstruction of the surface-layer vertical structure from measurements of wind,temperature and humidity at two levels

We present a comparison between several methods used to reconstruct fluxes and vertical profiles of wind, temperature and humidity from measurements at two levels in the atmospheric surface layer for different practical applications. An analytical method and an iterative method are tested by evaluating the quality of estimations of surface fluxes from detailed field measurements obtained during a campaign on the site of Lannemezan in the south-west of France. The iterative method yields better results, but the analytical one can give results of the same level of accuracy provided that specific constants in its formulation are modified. Then these techniques are applied to wind and temperature reconstruction for an experiment dedicated to wind power estimates over flat terrain. If turbulent fluxes are not needed, a simple power law appears to be sufficient, as the method based on Monin–Obukhov theory does not improve the accuracy of the vertical profile reconstruction.     

RANK-ORDER ANALYSIS FOR ROBUST MULTIRESPONSE,MULTIBLOCK COMPARISONS:EVALUATION OF HERBICIDE INTERACTIONS

Studies of interactions among bioactive compounds are often difficult to interpret unambiguously.A priori assumptions about the nature of such interactions can seriously distort analysis of the data.Byapplying a rank order analysis appropriate to the naturally ordinal scale of response to xenobiotic insult,several co-herbicides were successfully identified from among numerous candidates in an experimentinvolving multiple blocks,rates and species.Moreover,underlying herbicide interactions weresubstantiated and identified which were not apparent by more traditional parametric analysis.