A 200-year precipitation index for the central English Lake District / Un indice de précipitation de 200 ans pour la Région des Lacs en Angleterre

Abstract

Abstract The geographical context and hydroclimatology of the English Lake District means that the region is an important monitor of changes to nationally significant environmental assets. Using monthly rainfall series for sites in and around the central Lake District, a continuous ~200-year precipitation index was constructed for a representative station close to Grasmere. The bridged series shows a significant decline in summer rainfall since the 1960s, offset by increases in winter and spring that are strongly linked to North Atlantic forcing. Over longer time periods, the index exhibits several notable dry (1850s, 1880s, 1890s, 1930s, 1970s) and wet (1820s, 1870s, 1920s, 1940s, 1990s) decades. These patterns are strongly reflected by reservoir inflow series and by indicators of the biological status of the region’s freshwater lakes. It is argued that long-term climate indices will become increasingly important as managers seek to evaluate recent and project environmental changes within the context of long-term natural variability.     

西藏扎布耶湖ZK91-2钻孔沉积特征与气候环境演化

扎布耶盐湖位于西藏高原腹地,1991年在其南部干盐滩中钻取了20m深湖相沉积,以5～10cm/个的密度进行高分辨率取样,详细探讨了沉积标志、矿物组合（尤其Mg、Ca、Li碳酸盐）、干旱与潮湿两种气候类型的元素组合等气候环境指标,推导了晚更新世以来该湖区湖面涨缩、水质咸谈及气温高低变化。     

High-resolution climate variability of southwest China during 57-70 ka reflected in a stalagmite δ18O record from Xinya Cave

A 26-cm-long stalagmite (XY2) from Xinya Cave in northeastern Chongqing of China has been ICP-MS ²³⁰Th/U dated, showing a depositional hiatus at 2.3 cm depth from the top. The growth of the 2.3–26 cm interval determined by four dates was between 57 ka and 70 ka, with a linear growth rate of 0.023 mm/a. We have analyzed 190 samples for δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C, mostly in the 2.3–26 cm part. The δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C values between 57 ka and 70 ka reveal decadal-to-centennial climatic variability during the glacial interval of Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS4), exhibiting much higher resolution than that of the published Hulu and Dongge records during this interval. Speleothem δ ¹⁸O in eastern China, including our study area can be used as a proxy of summer monsoon strength, with lighter values pointing to stronger summer monsoon and higher precipitation, and vice versa. Two decreases in the δ ¹⁸O signature of XY2 record around 59.5 and 64.5 Ka are argued to correspond to the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events 17 and 18 respectively. The Heinrich event 6 (H6) can be identified in the record as a heavy δ ¹⁸O peak around 60 ka, indicating significant weakening of the monsoon in Chongqing during the cold period. The XY2 δ ¹⁸O record shows very rapid change toward to the interstadial condition of the D-O event, but more gradual change toward to the cold stadial condition. This phenomenon found in the Greenland ice core records is rarely observed so clearly in previously published speleothem records. According to SPECMAP δ ¹⁸O record, the glacial maximum of MIS 4 was around 64.5 ka with the boundary of MIS 3/4 around 60 ka. Unlike the marine record, the speleothem record of XY2, China, exhibits much high frequency variations without an apparent glacial maximum during MIS 4. However, the timing of MIS 3/4 boundary seems to be around 60 ka when the H6 terminated, in agreement with the marine chronology. The growth period of sample XY2 during glacial times probably reflects a local karstic routing of water, rather than having climatic significance. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40672165, 90511004, 40672202) and the Academician Special Project of Chongqing Science Committee (Grant No. 2003-7835)     

Phases Representing Source Lengths of Tsunami in Tide Gauge Records

We identified a phase representing the source length of tsunami's in the tide gauge records around Japan. This phase was observed at tide stations, located in the direction of the long axis of the sources, for four large tsunamis: 1964 Niigata, 1968 Tokachi-oki, 1983 Nihonkaichubu, and 1993 Hokkaido-nanseioki. The phase consists of two continuous crests starting as the initial arrival and has a time length of 15–47 minutes. This is the time required to propagate across the source area along the long axis. Strong evidence that the phase is generated at the source is the good correlation between waveform observed at one side and time-inversed waveform at another side. The correlation results from the instantaneous generation of the source. The source lengths of 74–254 km were obtained under an assumption of sea depths at the sources and verified to coincide with ones within a relative error of 15% that were previously obtained by other methods.     

Evolutionary properties of stochastic models of earthquake accelerograms: Their dependence on magnitude and distance

An approach to generate artificial earthquakeaccelerograms on hard soil sites is presented. Eachtime-history of accelerations is considered as arealization of a non-stationary gaussian stochasticprocess, with statistical parameters depending onmagnitude and source-to-site distance. In order tolink the values of these parameters for each groundmotion record with the corresponding magnitude andsource-to-site distance, semi-empirical functionalrelations called generalized attenuationfunctions are determined. The set of realground-motion time histories used to obtain thesefunctions correspond to shocks generated at differentsources and recorded at different sites in thevicinity of the southern coast of Mexico. The resultsshow significant dispersion in the parameters of themodel adopted, which reflect that associated with thereal earthquakes included in the sample employed.The problem of conditional simulation of artificialacceleration time histories for prescribed intensitiesis briefly presented, but its detailed study is leftfor a companion paper. The criteria and modelsproposed are applied to generate two families ofartificial acceleration records for recurrenceintervals of 100 and 200 years at a specific sitelocated in the region under study. The results shownin this article correspond to acceleration timehistories recorded on firm ground for earthquakesgenerated at the subduction zone that runs along thesouthern coast of Mexico, and cannot be generalized tocases of earthquakes generated at other sources orrecorded at other types of local conditions. Thismeans that the methods and functional forms presentedhere are applicable to these other cases, but thevalues of the parameters that characterize thosefunctions may differ from those presented here.     

Effect of earthquake ground motions on fragility curves of highway bridge piers based on numerical simulation

Fragility curves express the probability of structural damage due to earthquakes as a function of ground motion indices, e.g., PGA, PGV. Based on the actual damage data of highway bridges from the 1995 Hyogoken‐Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake, a set of empirical fragility curves was constructed. However, the type of structure, structural performance (static and dynamic) and variation of input ground motion were not considered to construct the empirical fragility curves. In this study, an analytical approach was adopted to construct fragility curves for highway bridge piers of specific bridges. A typical bridge structure was considered and its piers were designed according to the seismic design codes in Japan. Using the strong motion records from Japan and the United States, non‐linear dynamic response analyses were performed, and the damage indices for the bridge piers were obtained. Using the damage indices and ground motion indices, fragility curves for the bridge piers were constructed assuming a lognormal distribution. The analytical fragility curves were compared with the empirical ones. The proposed approach may be used in constructing the fragility curves for highway bridge structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

贵州红枫湖纹理沉积物中近代气温记录

本通过红枫湖纹理沉积物柱芯碳酸盐特征剖面与流域气温资料对比、沉积纹理年代校正以及早期成岩化学过程对碳酸盐沉积记录的改造作用等方面的研究，表明湖泊碳酸盐沉积记录基本不受早期成岩作用的影响，碳酸钙含量和ＣａＯ／ＭｇＯ·Ａｌ２Ｏ３比值可作为湖泊沉物中具高分辨率、短时间尺度的气温变化的代用指标。     

松辽盆地白垩纪湖侵沉积层序与湖海沟通事件的地球化学记录

松辽白垩纪近海陆相盆地最大湖侵期的泉头组－嫩江组时期，可能发生了三次较大规模的海水入侵事件，时间分别为泉三、四段一青一段（阿尔布期），青二、三段顶部（土仑期）和嫩一、二段（晚桑托－早坎佩尼期）。海水注入使湖盆的水文地球化学和环境地球化学条件均发生改变，并在层序中留下沉积记录。海进期主要表现为：①重同位素组份增加，直至与同期海相层序的同位素组成相同；②介质的盐度指标（Ｓｒ／Ｂａ）、碱度指标（Ｃａ＋Ｍｇ）／（Ｓｉ＋Ａｌ）、还原性指标（Ｚｎ＋Ｎｉ）／Ｇａ和硫通量指标（Ｓ归一化含量）均系统增加。相反，海退期则上述指标显著降低。根据沉积层序的同位素组成、同期海水的同位素组成和同位素分馏的质量平衡关系，可求出研究层段内同位素的海水来源与淡水来源的比例（混合度）为０－５。并由此恢复出海平面升降曲线。     

用人工地震波研究三峡地区地面地震动衰减特征

利用长江三峡工程坝区及外围深部构造的人工地震波记录资料,进行了相对速度幅值、速度反应谱和加速度反应谱衰减特征分析,同时利用历史地震资料经转换方法给出的地震动衰减规律进行对比,反映出由人工地震记录地震动参数衰减特征与由历史资料转换确定的地震动衰减特征是有差异的,在不同地质条件的局部地区,这一差异更为明显。这些结果可为缺乏强震记录的地区的地震动估计提供参考。     

Internet-based applications for interrogating 50 years of data from the South African national water quality monitoring network

ABSTRACT

National and regional water quality monitoring networks have been operated in South Africa since the early 1970s. These originally had text-based inventories that were convenient for specialists who were familiar with the national networks and knew the locations of their sites of interest. However, within two decades the networks had expanded in geographical extent and variables monitored to such an extent that users needed spatial context in order to locate sites that fitted their information requirements. Mapping applications running on the Internet, such as Google Earth and Leaflet, form the foundation of a system for providing online inventories and summaries of the data available on the water quality database. The interfaces were constructed using available software, mainly ArcInfo and R. A recent concern is a decrease in the collection of water quality data, which is reducing the value of data summaries for water resource management.