Landscape memory: the imprint of the past on contemporary landscape forms and processes

The imprint of the past upon contemporary landscape forms and processes is differentiated in terms of geologic, climatic and anthropogenic memory. Geologic memory refers to controls exerted upon relief, erodibility, erosivity and accommodation space (areas in landscapes where sediments are stored and reworked). These factors set the imposed boundary conditions within which contemporary landscape-forming processes operate. Climatic memory refers to the influence of past climatic conditions upon contemporary landscape forms and processes. Climatic controls exert a primary influence upon the nature of geomorphic processes, while the influence of climate upon ground cover affects the effectiveness of these processes. Climate change may induce profound alterations to the flux boundary conditions under which contemporary landscapes operate. This is exemplified by the variable imprint of glacial/interglacial cycles in differing parts of the world. Anthropogenic memory refers to the imprint of past human activities on contemporary landscapes, whereby human disturbance in the past altered landscape forms, processes and associated flow/sediment fluxes in a manner that continues to affect the way the contemporary landscape works. Contrasting examples from a tectonically stable landscape (Australia) and a tectonically uplifting landscape (New Zealand) are used to highlight the variable influence of geologic, climatic and anthropogenic memory upon the persistence and erasure of landscape forms and resulting implications for sediment flux in differing settings.     

Long-term rainfall trends and change points in hot and cold arid regions of India

This study examined trends and change points in 100-year annual and seasonal rainfall over hot and cold arid regions of India. Using k-means clustering, 32 stations were classified into two clusters: the coefficient of variation for annual and seasonal rainfall was relatively high for Cluster-II compared to Cluster-I. Short-term and long-term persistence was more dominant in Cluster-II (entirely arid) and Cluster-I (partly arid), respectively. Trend tests revealed prominent increasing trends in annual and wet season rainfall of Cluster-II. Dry season rainfall increased by 1.09 mm year^?1 in the cold arid region. The significant change points in annual and wet season rainfall mostly occurred in the period 1941–1955 (hot and cold), and in the dry season in the period 1973–1975 (hot arid) and in 1949 (cold arid). The findings are useful for managing a surplus or deficiency of rainwater in the Indian arid region.

EDITOR A. Castellarin; ASSOCIATE EDITOR S. Kanae     

Possible causes for the persistence barrier of SSTA in the South China Sea and the vicinity of Indonesia

The persistence barrier refers to the lag correlation of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) showing a rapid and significant decline in a specific season, regardless of the starting month. This implies that there is a decrease in forecast skill for SSTA in this specific season. This paper investigates the possible causes for the persistence barrier of SSTA in the South China Sea (SCS) and its adjacent regions from the perspective of interannual-interdecadal time scales. The results show that the persistence barrier of SSTA exists not only in the SCS, but also in the vicinity of Indonesia south of the equator. The SCS barrier occurs around October--November, while the occurrence of the barrier in the Indonesia region is around November--December. For these two regions, the occurrence of the persistence barrier is closely associated with the interdecadal variability of SSTA, as well as the interannual variability. The persistence barriers in the SCS and the Indonesia region do not exist alone if the interdecadal variability is not considered, because SSTA have a short memory of less than 4 months, regardless of the starting month. Moreover, the influence of the interdecadal variability of SSTA on the persistence barrier of SSTA in the SCS and the Indonesia region may be associated with SSTA in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, but is not closely associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. However, compared with the spring persistence barrier (SPB) of ENSO, the close relationship between the persistence barriers in the SCS and the Indonesia region and the interdecadal variability is unique, since the ENSO SPB is not significantly affected by such variability. In addition, although the persistence barriers in both the SCS and the Indonesia region are quite obvious in strong ENSO cases, the interdecadal variability of SSTA also plays a non-negligible role in this relationship.     

广西一次持续性强降雨过程成因分析

利用常规气象资料和NCEP再分析资料,从前期天气背景、大气环流演变及产生持续性强降雨的动力、热力和水汽等条件,分析了2008年6月广西出现的一次持续性强降雨过程。结果发现：这次持续性强降雨过程期间,500hPa环流形势稳定,高空西风小槽呈阶梯状持续下滑影响广西,不断诱发暴雨出现;200hPa广西处于南亚高压东部脊区和高空西风急流出口区右方,风速辐散明显,在高低空急流耦合作用下,华南出现了正反两支垂直环流,广西上空辐合上升运动明显,为强降雨的出现提供了极好的动力条件;南海季风暴发和副热带高压在华南沿海的稳定维持,使得华南低空形成了印度洋和南海两吏水汽通道,为暴雨区上空提供了源源不断的水汽;高温、高湿、高能的热力条件,有利于扰动的形成和对流不稳定能量产生,为广西持续性暴雨提供了必要的能量条件。     

The impact of well‐field configuration on contaminant mass removal and plume persistence for homogeneous versus layered systems

A three‐dimensional numerical model was used to simulate the impact of different well‐field configurations on pump‐and‐treat mass removal efficiency for large groundwater contaminant plumes residing in homogeneous and layered domains. Four well‐field configurations were tested, Longitudinal, Distributed, Downgradient, and natural gradient (with no extraction wells). The reductions in contaminant mass discharge (CMDR) as a function of mass removal (MR) were characterized to assess remediation efficiency. Systems whose CDMR‐MR profiles are below the 1:1 relationship curve are associated with more efficient well‐field configurations. For simulations conducted with the homogeneous domain, the CMDR‐MR curves shift leftward, from convex‐downward profiles for natural gradient and Longitudinal to first‐order behaviour for Distributed, and further leftward to a sigmoidal profile for the Downgradient well‐field configuration. These results reveal the maximum potential impacts of well‐field configuration on mass‐removal behaviour, which is attributed to mass‐transfer constraints associated with regions of low flow. In contrast, for the simulations conducted with the layered domain, the CMDR‐MR relationships for the different well‐field configurations exhibit convex‐upward profiles. The nonideal mass‐removal behaviour in this case is influenced by both well‐field configuration and back diffusion associated with low‐permeability units.     

Occurrence and persistence of water level/salinity states and the ecological impacts for St Lucia estuarine lake,South Africa

The St Lucia estuarine lake in South Africa forms part of a World Heritage Site and is an important local source of biodiversity. Like many estuarine systems worldwide, St Lucia has experienced significant anthropogenic impacts over the past century. Abstractions have decreased fresh water inflows from the lake catchments by about 20%. Furthermore the Mfolozi river, which previously shared a common inlet with St Lucia and contributed additional fresh water during droughts, was diverted from the system in 1952 because of its high silt loads. The separated St Lucia mouth was subsequently kept artificially open until the onset of a dry period in 2002 when the mouth was left to close naturally. These changes and the current drought have placed the system under severe stress with unprecedented hypersaline conditions coupled with desiccation of large portions of the lake. Long-term simulations of the water and salt balance were used to estimate the occurrence and persistence of water levels and salinities for different management scenarios. The risks of desiccation and hyper-salinity were assessed for each case. The results show that the configuration of the Mfolozi/St Lucia inlets plays a key role in the physicochemical environment of the system. Without the Mfolozi link desiccation (of about 50% of the lake area) would occur for 32% of the time for an average duration of 15 months. Artificially maintaining an open mouth would decrease the chance of desiccation but salinities would exceed 65 about 17% of the time. Restoring the Mfolozi link would reduce the occurrence of both desiccation and hypersaline conditions and a mostly open mouth state would occur naturally. Integrating these modeled scenarios with observed biological responses due to changes in salinity and water depth suggests that large long-term changes in the biological structure can be expected in the different management scenarios.     

The behaviour of the mean energetic level in time and space: Persistence,autocorrelations, links to standard levels

Summary The variances, persistence, and spatial autocorrelations of the basic quantities at the mean energetic level (MEL) as well as the links between the MEL and standard isobaric levels are investigated. The statistics obtained for the MEL are compared with those for height and temperature at the 500 and 300 hPa levels. The behaviour of most quantities at the MEL does not show any peculiarity making it substantially different from isobaric levels. The only quantity at the MEL, not closely correlated with any variable at adjacent standard levels, appeared to be the pressure.     

Using geolifespans to model dynamic geographic domains

Geographic objects are characterized by having different durations of existence, or geolifespans. A typology based on the concept of a geolifespan is developed to model variations in the longevity of entities that are stored in geographic information systems. The typology consists of two upper-level classes: Persistent and Ephemeral. The Ephemeral class is composed of three subclasses: Temporary, Transient and Brief. The set of possible transitions between classes in the typology is described, capturing how objects can change from one class to another, e.g., from Temporary to Brief or from Transient to Persistent. A transition sequence models the geolifespan class(es) to which an object belongs over a period of time and captures the evolution of dynamic geographic objects with respect to their longevity. Geolifespan classes are applied to scenarios of spatial change as well as a geosensor network to illustrate their role in modelling geographic dynamics.     

两种群竞争系统的脉冲收获模型的持续生存和周期解

考虑了两种群竞争系统的脉冲收获模型。利用比较原理，讨论了含脉冲的竞争系统的持续生存性、周期解的存在性和唯一性、全局渐近稳定性，并给出保持这些性质时脉冲项应满足的先验界。     

Landscape persistence and stakeholder perspectives: The case of Romania's Carpathians

The traditional use of land for food, fuel and wood created cultural landscapes, which are threatened across Europe. The factors which contributed to their endangerment need to be identified to achieve effective preservation of such landscapes. The aim of our study was to identify landscapes with historical persistence in a GIS-based comparative analysis of historical and contemporary maps and the most prominent causes of the past landscape changes, based on stakeholders' perspective. We considered a case study in Romania's Carpathians. Three major land cover types were extracted from maps dating from 1912, 1980 and 2009: built-up, pastures and forests. The historical persistence of all land cover types was poor (<20%) and profound changes were quantitatively confirmed. Large, compact patches of unchanged forests were located in the neighbourhood of a national park. The persistent pastures were situated close to human settlements, and their preservation can be related to local traditional agro-silvo-pastoral management. Although the built-up area has increased over time, the corresponding surfaces are small and consist of scattered patches located around historical monuments. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate stakeholders' perspective. Using cluster analysis five prominent causes of past landscape changes are identified: 'increasing tourism', 'land tenure and social changes', 'land-use intensification', 'post-communist transition', and 'foreign investments'. We join the results of the GIS analysis with those from stakeholders' perspective to gain more insights into the landscape changes. This research offers important information that could be used for the further planning of these valuable cultural landscapes in order to avoid potential conflicts and degradation.