The Ebro River in the 20th century or the ecomorphological transformation of a large and dynamic Mediterranean channel

In the first decades of the 20th century, the Ebro River was the Iberian channel with the most active fluvial dynamics and the most remarkable spatial‐temporal evolution. Its meandering typology, the dimensions of its floodplain, and the singularities of its flow regime produced an especially interesting set of river functions. The largest dynamics of the Ebro River are concentrated along the meandering profile of the central sector. During the 20th century, this sector experienced a large alteration of its geomorphological structure. We present here an analysis of this evolution through the cartographic study of a long segment of the river (~250 km) in 1927, 1956 and 2003. The results show a large reduction in bank sinuosity, a progressive loss of fluvial territory, and a large decrease in channel width. These changes are especially clear in the areas previously most ecologically connected with the active channel. The fluvial territory of the river in 2003 was approximately half that found during the first decades of the 20th century. Forest plantations, which were non‐existent in 1927, occupied more than 1500 ha of the study area in the last decade. This intense geomorphological transformation becomes ecologically visible in (i) a 35% reduction of the area occupied by riparian vegetation; (ii) a loss of the heterogeneity of riparian forest spots, which were formerly structured in an irregular mosaic far from the river thalweg; and (iii) a modification of the riparian forest structure, which is currently linear, uniform, thin and very close to the river axis. The ecomorphological alteration was intensified by the remarkable reduction in bank length (13%) and the reduced dynamism of the present river system, indicated by an increase in the percentage of fluvial territory occupied by riparian forests and a reduction in the area occupied by the active channel. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial average aquifer recharge through atmospheric chloride mass balance and its uncertainty in continental Spain

The atmospheric chloride mass balance (CMB) method allows spatial evaluations of the average diffuse aquifer recharge by rainfall () in large and varied territories when long‐term steady conditions can be assumed. Often, the distributed average CMB variables necessary to calculate have to be estimated from the available variable‐length data series, which may be of suboptimal quality and spatial coverage. This paper explains the use of these data and the reliability of the results in continental Spain, chosen as a large and varied territory. The CMB variables have been regionalized by ordinary kriging at the same 4976 nodes of a 10 km × 10 km grid. Nodal values vary from 14 to 810 mm year^–1, 90% ranging from 30 to 300 mm year^–1. The recharge‐to‐precipitation ratios vary from 0.03 in low‐permeability formations and semiarid areas to 0.65 in some carbonate massifs. Integrated average results for the whole of continental Spain yield a potential aquifer recharge of 64 km³ year^?1, the net recharge over permeable formations (40% of the territory) being 32 km³ year^?1. Two main sources of uncertainty affecting (given by the coefficient of variation, CV), induced by the inherent natural variability of the variables (CV_R) and from mapping (), have been segregated. The average CV_R is 0.13 and could be improved with longer data series. The average is 0.07 and may be decreased with better data coverage. The estimates were compared with other regional and local recharge estimates, being 4% and 1% higher, respectively. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Issue indivisibility and territorial claims*

Early research on contentious issues in world politics suggested that there is an important distinction between largely tangible and largely intangible issues. Tangible issues are thought to be easier to resolve, while intangible issues can fester for long periods of time through fruitless negotiations and repeated armed conflict. Research on territorial issues has suggested that many territorial claims are driven by both tangible and intangible concerns, though, which complicates the analysis of issue tangibility. The authors argue that territorial issues with greater intangible salience (e.g. historical possessions, important homelands, sacred sites, identity ties) should be harder to resolve peacefully and should produce more frequent and severe militarized conflict. Empirical analyses of 191 territorial claims in the Americas and Western Europe (1816–2001) provide mixed support for these expectations. Territorial claims with high intangible salience are significantly more likely to experience militarized disputes and wars. Surprisingly, though, states are much more likely to strike peaceful agreements with their adversaries over territories that are valued for intangible reasons. *This research was supported by National Science Foundation grants SES-0079421 and SES-0214447.     

准行政区划的理论框架与研究展望

行政区划有狭义与广义之分。狭义的行政区划指国家划定的正式的行政管理区域,广义的则指一切具有行政管理职能的区域,包括一些未被列入正式行政区划体系而有行政管理职能的准行政区划。准行政区划为中国统一的行政管理提供了因地制宜和灵活多变的政策工具,很多还逐步发展为正式的行政区划。然而,目前对准行政区划的研究较少、重视不够。为此,结合古今典型的准行政区划案例,对准行政区划概念和类型进行了科学界定和系统归纳,划分次行政区划、虚行政区划和半行政区划3种类型;基于政治地理学中的尺度和领域等理论,构建了理解准行政区划形成演变的理论框架;在此基础上,提出未来准行政区划研究的若干议题。     

环保组织的社区领域建构策略及其环境治理影响

现有的环境政治文献多关注环境治理中多元主体之间的互动和策略,尤其是国家与环保组织之间的权力关系,但对权力在空间上的领域特征及其实践影响探讨不足。通过对一个国际环保组织乡村水资源保育项目的田野观察,分析了该组织在近十年的社区领域建构策略演化,并探讨动态的领域化过程如何影响环境治理的形式、范围和效果。研究发现：（1）环保组织通过与不同层级政府建立差异化联系,能够在农村社区中建构相对独立的社会领域,自主开展环保活动,但与农村社区之间的隔离也限制了环保项目进一步发展的空间;（2）环保组织通过融入本土社会关系网络的策略调整,重新建构了更具流动性、融合性的社会领域,为项目发展提供了新的动力;（3）面对长期的资源挑战,环保组织通过培育本土组织来保持自身在社区“飞地”的长期影响,但“代理人”在融合后的新领域空间内却难以再维持独立性和专业性,从而制约了公众参与环保的范围和效果。通过动态的领域化过程及其影响,解释了环境治理和环保组织发展的规律,为认识国家-环保组织-社区之间的关系提供了新视角。     

基于风云三号卫星微波资料反演我国地表土壤湿度及其对比

土壤湿度是联系陆地水循环和能量循环的纽带,是地表最重要的水资源,也是一个重要的气象预报因子。基于风云三号卫星微波资料,采用能量辐射传输模型反演了我国逐日地表土壤湿度(FY-3B),并估算了其系统误差;然后,与中国气象局农业气象站观测资料和ERA-Interim、NCEP再分析资料进行了对比分析。研究结果表明,FY-3B土壤湿度呈由西北地区向东北和东南地区逐渐增加的空间分布特征,与农气站观测资料和两套再分析资料基本一致;其系统误差与植被覆盖度密切相关,我国西南部植被茂密的地区系统误差较大。FY-3B土壤湿度的季节性变化与农气站观测资料在全国范围有较好的一致性,总体表现为冬季土壤湿度较高,随着春季气温升高蒸散发增加,土壤湿度逐渐降低;夏天雨季来临,土壤湿度回升。然而,FY-3B土壤湿度与ERA-Interim和NCEP再分析资料在东北部分地区和长江流域以南呈很强的负相关,这主要是由于季节性干湿变化的不一致性所致;这表明,ERA-Interim和NCEP土壤湿度再分析资料在这些地区存在较大的不确定性。     

中国城乡用地集约利用定量测度与影响机理(英文)

Land use issue is an important constraining force to limit economic sustainable development of China. Urban and rural rapid expansion depletes valued land resources under the background of rapid urbanization. An extensive use pattern might cause a serious waste of land resources. The study on influencing mechanism of land intensive use(LIU) in China at the county level is a key tool for effective LIU practice and policy-making. This paper uses OLS model, Spatial Panel Lagged model and Spatial Panel Error model to quantitatively analyze the influencing mechanisms of five class factors and 17 variables supported by GIS(Geographic Information System) and MATLAB. And a comprehensive data set was developed including physical geography and socio-economic information of 2286 counties. Meanwhile, the spatiotemporal pattern of LIU has discussed by means of GIS. The results show that Spatial Panel Data models are slightly superior to OLS model in terms of significance and confidence level. Regression results of these models indicate that industrialization, urbanization, economic development level, location, transportation and policy have significant impact on LIU of counties. The variables of physical geography are less significant than socio-economic variables. An ignored variable of historical factor, however, became the best significant factor. In the future, the LIU at the county level should take advantage of the new situation by enhancing favorable factors and reducing disadvantageous ones, which can be acquired by improving the entire level and quality of industrialization and urbanization. We argued that an efficient and complete land market and operating system should be built to reflect market-oriented activities at the first place, then, differential LIU regulation policies and measurements should be optimized according to regional differences. In the meantime, we should pay close attention to the carrying capacity of local resources and environments when conducting LIU practices.     

Chemical composition and sulfur forms in saline lakes of Kulunda Plain(Russia)

正1 Introduction On the territory Kulunda Plain,located to the south-west of the Ob’plateau,there are more than 3,000 fresh and salt lakes with water TDS range from 1 to 430 g/L.The interest in these lakes was associated mainly with the study of