Response of ocean dynamics to multiple equilibria of the Kuroshio path South of Japan

Variability of the Kuroshio path to the south of Japan plays a central role in the local climate change and exerts tremendous influences on the local atmosphere and ocean. In this study, the response of ocean dynamics, in terms of the eddy kinetic energy (EKE), potential vorticity (PV), relative vorticity, and eddy-mean flow interaction, to the Kuroshio path change is discussed. Kuroshio path south of Japan includes the near-shore non-large meander (nNLM), the off-shore non-large meander (oNLM), and the typical large meander (tLM). Analyses reveal that the distribution of EKE, PV, relative vorticity, and energy exchange between the eddy field and the mean flow respectively varies with the Kuroshio path: (1) The tLM has the maximum EKE along the path; (2) The positive and negative PV are located at the onshore and offshore side of Kuroshio axis, respevetively; (3) The distributions of anomalous relative voritcity of nNLM, oNLM, and tLM are consistent with sea surface height anomalies (SSHAs); (4) The tLM has the largest energy exchange between the eddy field and the mean flow in terms of the rate of barotropic energy conversion. On the other hand, the stability analysis of ocean currents suggests that the three Kuroshio paths south of Japan have their own intrinsic properties of the instability.     

GEOMORPHOLOGY AND KINEMATICS OF THE CONTURRANA ROCKSLIDE-DEBRIS FLOW (NW SICILY)

The Conturrana rockslide-debris flow involved a mass of almost 22 × 10⁶ m³ of well indurated breccia with a plastic basal layer. The original rock mass slid initially along a listric slip surface — which required the rupture of the mass itself by internal shearing and caused the formation of a horst-and-graben morphology — and attained a high speed. Then part of the mass fell from a morphological step, and moved about 800 m forward. In this landslide, the morphological and morphometrical examination — which is also based on a reconstruction of the pre-landslide topography — indicates that mobility was rather low when related to volume and to the control exerted by local morphology. The event might have been induced by an earthquake in the 4th century.     

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS OF HEC-6 RIVER MORPHOLOGICAL MODEL

Only comparatively few experimental studies have been carried out to investigate the performance of the HEC-6 river morphological model. The model was developed by the Hydrologic Engineering Center of the US Army Corps of Engineers. In this study, experiments were carried out in a 20 m long concrete flume 0.6 m wide with varying rectangular cross-sections. The channel bed is paved with uniform sand of D₅₀ = 0.9 mm and D₉₀ = 1.2 mm within the test reach of 12 m. Two types of experiments were carried out with sediment transport, one under steady uniform flow and another under steady non-uniform flow conditions. Nine steady uniform flow experiments were carried out to compare the measured equilibrium relationship of flow and sediment transport rate with two bedload formulae, namely, Du Boys and Meyer–Peter and Muller, and with three total load formulae, namely, Toffaleti, Laursen and Yang. It was found that even though the sediment transport consists of a certain portion of bedload, the total load formulae give satisfactory results and better agreement than the two bedload formulae. Five steady non-uniform flow experiments were carried out under various conditions of varying bed profile and channel width and also with sediment addition and withdrawal. The measured transient water surface and bed profiles are compared with the computed results from the HEC-6 model. It was found that the Toffaleti and Yang total load formulae used in the HEC-6 model give the most satisfactory prediction of actual bed profiles under various conditions of non-uniform flow and sediment transport. The effects of Manning's n, variations of sediment inflow, various sediment transport formulae, sediment grain size and the model numerical parameters, i.e. distance interval Δx and numerical weighting factor, on the computed water surface and bed profiles were determined. It was found that the selection of the sediment transport formulae has the most significant effect on the computed results. It can be concluded that the HEC-6 model can predict satisfactorily a long-term average pattern of local scour and deposition along a channel with either a small abrupt change in geometry or gradually varying cross-sections. However, the accuracy of the model prediction is reduced in the regions where highly non-uniform flow occurs.     

MEASURING AND MODELLING OF SOIL WATER DYNAMICS AND RUNOFF GENERATION IN AN AGRICULTURAL LOESSIAL HILLSLOPE

Surface runoff may be generated when the rainfall intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity, or when the soil profile is saturated with water. Indications exist that both types of overland flow may occur in hilly agricultural loess regions. Here, for a loessial hillslope under maize in the southern part of The Netherlands, it was shown, with pressure head and runoff measurements, that Hortonian overland flow occurs during typical summer rain events. Surface runoff was initiated after saturation of the top 5–10 cm of the soil. Deeper in the soil, unsaturated conditions prevailed while runoff took place. Peak runoff discharges at the outlet of the subcatchment occurred a few minutes after peak rainfall intensities were measured. It appeared that SWMS_2D, a two-dimensional water flow model, was capable in simulating observed pressure head changes and runoff. Simulated potential runoff for the transect studied was higher by a magnitude of three than the measured areal average. This indicates effects of surface ponding, and the probable location of this particular transect in a region with high runoff production.     

平缓地区地形湿度指数的计算方法

地形湿度指数( topographic wetness index) 可定量模拟流域内土壤水分的干湿状况, 在流域 的土壤及分布式水文模型等研究中具有重要的意义。但现有的地形湿度指数计算方法在应用于 地形平缓地区时会得到明显不合理的结果, 即在河谷地区内, 地形湿度指数仅在狭窄的汇水线上 数值较高, 而在汇水线以外的位置则阶跃式地变为异常低的地形湿度指数值。本文针对此问题对 地形湿度指数的计算方法提出改进: 以多流向算法MFD- fg 计算汇水面积, 相应地以最大下坡计 算地形湿度指数, 再基于一个正态分布函数对河谷平原地区内的地形湿度指数进行插值处理。应 用结果表明, 所得地形湿度指数的空间分布不但能合理地反映平缓地区坡面上的水分分布状况, 并且在河谷地区内地形湿度指数值也都比较高, 其空间分布呈平滑过渡, 因而整个研究区域的水 分分布状况得到了比较合理的反映。     

流动单元划分新方案及其在临南油田的应用

把沉积学与储层物性相结合, 从流动单元体系的角度出发, 提出了流动单元划分的新方案.在流动单元体系内部划分出流动单元、亚流动单元和渗流区3个不同层次.在储层精细小层对比的基础上, 首先根据区域内连续分布的隔层把储层分成几个独立的流体压力系统, 即流动单元; 然后再根据不连续分布的隔层, 把一个流动单元进一步分成若干个亚流动单元; 最后根据储层物性的差别把流动单元/亚流动单元划分成不同的渗流区.按照这个思路, 选取临南油田的典型高产区块———以三角洲前缘亚相沉积为主的夏52块砂三中段三砂组, 进行了流动单元、亚流动单元和渗流区的划分, 共划分出7个流动单元、7个亚流动单元和63个渗流区, 这样划分出来的流动单元体系同时包括了油藏整体与局部细节的特征, 为油藏开发提供了详细的地质依据, 也在实际应用中取得了良好的效果.      

地表剥蚀、下地壳流变与造山作用研究进展

岩石圈的流变特性研究已经成为固体地球科学研究中的重要领域,是地球科学新理论、新观点的重要渊源。最近的研究表明,下地壳普遍存在的韧性流是造山作用的重要制约因素。在下地壳物质层流变作用机制的调节下,地表剥蚀作用并不仅仅是传统意义上地表夷平的因素,它还能打破地壳动力学和热力学平衡,引起地壳内物质和结构的重置,进而促成山脉的加剧隆升;地表剥蚀作用的强度既受控于造山带的抬升,也受制于地球外圈层(大气圈、水圈、生物圈)。以天山山脉和喜马拉雅山山脉的隆起、喜马拉雅山山脉的变质作用以及相关的构造活动为例,说明在造山过程中,尽管传统意义上的造山作用与地球内部动力过程,即构造作用有密切联系,但是与构造运动的时空尺度不同,地表剥蚀作用也能够在相对较小的时空尺度内,通过影响和控制造山带下地壳的韧性流动,成为地壳抬升和造山带构造演化的重要动力因素。对地壳的流变特性和变质变形研究是当前地球系统科学研究的一个重要切入点。     

原油粘度变化对水驱油开发动态影响的数学模拟方法

为了研究注水开发油田原油粘度升高对开发效果的影响, 通过对实际油藏原油粘度统计, 回归出了原油粘度增长模型.在三维三相黑油渗流模型的基础上, 建立了一个原油粘度随含水和压力变化的油藏渗流数学模型, 并采用有限差分方法建立了相应的数值模型, 采用超松弛法对该模型进行了求解, 用Fortran90语言开发了一个新的数值模拟器.应用该模拟器模拟了不同的原油粘度变化规律对水驱效果的影响, 并与常规模拟器的结果进行了对比.结果表明: 初始水油粘度比为1∶10、含水达到98%时, 粘度增长指数由0增加到0.02, 对应的原油采出程度由44.80%降低到34.29%.目前商业软件中忽略了原油粘度随含水升高而增加的因素, 使得预测的采收率明显偏高.      

全球地幔垂直流动速度研究

用高分辨率地震体波速度成像以及相关的地球物理资料,计算地幔垂直流动形式及流动速度,得到全球地幔流垂直运动模式.从全球尺度来看,地幔流基本可划分为以下几个区域：欧亚大陆—澳大利亚、北美洲—南美洲为两个大规模下降流区域,西印度洋—非洲及大西洋、中南太平洋及东太平洋为两个大规模地幔上升流区域.地幔上升流起源于核幔边界,主要表现在地幔中部和上地幔下部.地幔垂直流动速度约每年1～4cm.地幔流动对地表板块运动、海洋中脊和中隆、俯冲带和碰撞带的分布起着控制作用.地幔上升流与地表现代热点有密切关系.从东亚尺度看,地幔流大体分为三个区域：东亚边缘裂谷系和西太平洋边缘海为上升流、西伯利亚地幔深度表现为物质下降流、青藏高原—缅甸—印度尼西亚特提斯俯冲带地幔下降流,这三个区域地幔流动与地表的西太平洋构造域、亚洲构造域和特提斯构造域相吻合.勾勒出南海地区构造特征：从上到下的大体结构是上部呈“工"字型、中间为圆柱型、底部呈盾形的地幔上升流.     

非均匀介质热蠕变流动的数值求解

针对非均匀介质中热蠕变流动问题,给出了有限单元方法与网格－粒子方法联合求解新技术,即有限单元方法求解欧拉网格节点上的未知量,分布于单元内部作为物质成分标记的粒子反映变形过程.有限元法求解动量方程和连续性方程时引入了速度场和压力场等阶插值的压力场稳定的Petrov Galerkin方法,求解能量方程时采用了流线迎风Petrov Galerkin方法,网格－粒子算法中采用双线性插值与有限单元插值函数对应.有限单元计算与网格－粒子计算相对独立,两种方法计算的数据通过有限单元节点传递.同时,实现了三角形单元的算法和程序,解决了复杂结构条件下不规则网格计算的问题.通过经典方腔热对流问题验证了程序,给出了不规则形态块体沉降算例,并分析了数值解的稳定性.