Trichodesmium erythraeum (Ehrenberg) bloom along the southwest coast of India (Arabian Sea) and its impact on trace metal concentrations in seawater

The incidence of a large scale Trichodesmium erythraeum bloom along the southwest coast of India (Arabian Sea) observed in May 2005 is reported. Around 4802 filaments of T. erythraeum ml⁻¹ seawater was observed and a colony consisted of 3.6 × 10⁵ cells. The bloom was predominant off Suratkal (12° 59′N and 74° 31′E) with a depth of about 47 m, covering an area of 7 km in length and 2 km width. The concentrations of Zinc, Cadmium, Lead, Copper, Nickel and Cobalt were determined in samples collected from the bloom and non-bloom sites using stripping voltammetry. The observed hydrographical and meteorological parameters were found to be favorable for the bloom. The concentrations of Zinc, Cadmium and Nickel were found to be higher at bloom stations, while the concentrations of Lead, Copper and Cobalt were found to be very low at bloom stations. Elevated concentrations of Cadmium and Cobalt were observed at Valappad mainly due to the decomposition of detrital material produced in the bloom. Statistically significant differences (P > 0.01) in metal concentrations between the bloom and non-bloom stations were not observed except for Copper. Metals such as Lead, Copper and Cobalt were removed from the seawater at all places where bloom was observed. Cadmium was found to be slowly released during the decaying process of the bloom.     

The Nonlinear Wave Force on a Circular Cylinder in Shallow Water

Based on the 1st order cnoidal wave theory, the nonlinear wave diffraction around a circular cylinder in shallow water is studied in this paper. The equation of the wave surface around the cylinder is formulated and by using this formula the wave surface elevation on the cylinder surface can be obtained. In this paper, the formula for calculating the cnoidal wave force on a circular cylinder is also derived. For the wave conditions which are often encountered in practical engineering designs, the ratios of the nonlinear wave forces to the linear wave forces are calculated, and the results are plotted in this paper for design purposes. In order to verify the theoretical results, model tests are conducted. After comparing the test results with the theoretical ones, it is concluded that, in shallow water, for the case of T g / d~(1/2) > 8-10 and H / d > 0.3, the cnoidal wave theory should be used to calculate the wave action on a cylindrical pier.     

Preliminary optical classification of lakes and coastal waters in Estonia and south Finland

A preliminary optical classification of lakes in Estonia and south Finland which can also be used for small bays of the Baltic Sea is elaborated. The classification is based on the optical properties of water (diffuse attenuation coefficient, diffuse reflectance) and parameters that are routinely monitored in water bodies (Secchi depth, concentration of chlorophyll-a, total suspended matter and yellow substance). The data complex used for our classification covers different types of water ecosystems (ranging from oligotrophic to hypertrophic) and the variability of water constituent concentrations in the ice-free period in Estonia and south Finland. Using cluster analysis, we found 5 optical classes of waters: clear (C), moderate (M), turbid (T), very turbid (V) and brown (B). There is satisfactory correspondence between class of water, shape of diffuse attenuation coefficient and diffuse reflectance spectra and trophic state of the lakes.     

Numerical modeling of long waves in shallow water using Incremental Differential Quadrature Method

Incremental Differential Quadrature Method (IDQM) as a rapid and accurate method for numerical simulation of Nonlinear Shallow Water (NLSW) waves is employed. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first endeavor to exploit DQM in coastal hydraulics. The one-dimensional NLSW equations and related boundary conditions are discretized in space and temporal directions by DQM rules and the resulting system of equations are used to compute the state variables in the entire computational domain. It was found that the splitting of total simulation time into a number of smaller time increments, could significantly enhance the performance of the proposed method. Furthermore, results of this study show two main advantages for IDQM compared with other conventional methods, namely; unconditional stability and minimal computational effort. Indeed, using IDQM, one can use a few grid points (in spatial or time direction) without imposing any stability condition on the time step to obtain an accurate convergent solution.     

Freshening of the Intermediate Waters in the Northern South China Sea over the PastSix Decades

The properties of salinity in the South China Sea (SCS), a significant marginal sea connecting the Pacific andIndian Oceans, are greatly influenced by the transport of fresh water flux between the two oceans. However, the long-termchanges in the intermediate water in the SCS have not been thoroughly studied due to limited data, particularly in relationto its thermodynamic variations. This study utilized reanalysis data products to identify a 60-year trend of freshening in theintermediate waters of the northern South China Sea (NSCS), accompanied by an expansion of low-salinity water. Thestudy also constructed salinity budget terms, including advection and entrainment processes, and conducted an analysis ofthe salinity budget to understand the impacts of external and internal dynamic processes on the freshening trend of theintermediate water in the NSCS. The analysis revealed that the freshening in the northwest Pacific Ocean and theintensification of intrusion through the Luzon Strait at intermediate levels are the primary drivers of the salinity changes inthe NSCS. Additionally, a weakened trend in the intensity of vertical entrainment also contributes to the freshening in theNSCS. This study offers new insights into the understanding of regional deep sea changes in response to variations in boththermodynamics and oceanic dynamic processes.     

我国灌区地下水调控研究现状及其发展态势

现代灌溉引水工程的发展,改善了灌区的农业用水条件,但同时改变了灌区上的自然生态环境、地质条件与水文地质条件等。分阶段总结了地下水的相关研究与应用;剖析了地下水调控的必要性与重要性;分析了地下水调控研究现状;最后通过总结给出了进一步研究的建议。     

Climate changing characteristics of Zhangye City in Heihe River basin during 1968–2005

At present, researches on climate change of the Heihe River basin mainly focus on the relationship between basin climate change and regional water resources, regional desertification and dynamic climatic seasons of sandstorm, but less on climate change of oasis region, where there are more intense and frequent human activities. Based on data of precipitation, temperature, strong wind and dust events frequencies obtained from the six meteorological stations of Zhangye region in Heihe River basin, the features of climate change during 1968–2005 were carefully studied. Results show that the regional temperature rise rate exceeded the average level of China. The annual precipitation changed a little, but the precipitation had a slowly increasing trend in spring and winter. Frequencies of strong wind and sandstorm days show obviously descending trends, which had a close correlation with the regional temperature rise and the precipitation increase in spring and winter. Meanwhile, further human economic activities and exploitations to the oasis in the inland valley of arid regions also affected the climate change of this region, which has a sensitive and fragile eco-environment. __________ Translated from Journal of Desert Research, 2007, 27(6): 1048–1054 [译自: 中国沙漠]     

X-ray spectroscopy of stellar coronae

Summary From the early discovery in 1948 of X-rays from the Solar corona, X-ray spectroscopy has proven to be an invaluable tool in studying hot astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Because the emission line spectra and continua from optically thin plasmas are fairly well known, high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy has its most obvious application in the measurement of optically thin sources such as the coronae of stars. In particular X-ray observations with theEINSTEIN observatory have demonstrated that soft X-ray emitting coronae are a common feature among stars on the cool side of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, with the probable exception of single very cool giant and supergiant stars and A-type dwarfs. Observations with the spectrometers aboardEINSTEIN andEXOSAT have shown that data of even modest spectral resolution (/ = 10–100) permit the identification of coronal material at different temperatures whose existence may relate to a range of possible magnetic loop structures in the hot outer atmospheres of these stars. The higher spectral resolution of the next generation of spectrometers aboard NASA'sAXAF and ESA'sXMM will allow to fully resolve the coronal temperature structure and to enable velocity diagnostics and the determination of coronal densities, from which the loop geometry (i.e. surface filling factors and loop lengths) can be derived. In this paper various diagnostic techniques are reviewed and the spectral results fromEINSTEIN andEXOSAT are discussed. A number of spectral simulations forAXAF andXMM, especially high-resolution iron K-shell, L-shell, and2s-2p spectra in the wavelength regions around 1.9 Å, 10 Å, and 100 Å, respectively, are shown to demonstrate the capabilities for temperature, density, and velocity diagnostics. Finally, iron K-shell spectra are simulated for various types of detectors such as microcalorimeter, Nb-junction, and CCD.     

Environmental impacts from mining at Taojiang Mn ore deposit, central Hunan, China

The Taojiang Mn ore deposit was exploited in the early 1960s, and waste rocks were developed since then. Because the Mn ores were hosted within the metal-enriched black shales （Peng et al., 2004）, the continuous mining has led to the exposure of an immense quality of black shales, which might cause serious impacts on environments. The present study deals with this environmental issue with samples from the waste rocks, and from the surrounding soils and surface water. The mineralogy of the waste rock was studied using EMPA, then a large number of elements in all waste rock, soil, and water samples were analyzed at a wide range of concentrations with high accuracy using an Elan6000 ICP-MS machine at Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The waste rock is composed mostly of black shales, with minor Mn carbonates. Both black shales and Mn carbonates of the waste rock contain many sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite, with minor galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and others. The waste rocks are enriched in many metals including Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Th, U, Mo, Sb, Sn, Tl, and others, and the metals are mostly hosted within the sulfides. Weathering of waste rocks might cause emission of the following metals： V, Cd, Ni, Th, U, Mo, Sb, Tl, Sc, Cr, Cu, Zn, Sn, and minor Co, and Pb. The surrounding soils are highly enriched in Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mo, Cd, Tl, and Pb, with the enrichment factors of 2.67.3.8, 7.26, 7.27, 8.2, 5.7, 13, and 5.4, respectively. The element ratios （Rb/Cs, Fe/Mn, Nb/Zr, Hf/Zr, and Ba/Sr） and REE distribution patterns of the soils are similar to those of the waste rocks and bedrocks.     

Damage Survey of Water Supply Systems and Fragility Curve of PVC Water Pipelines in the Chi–Chi Taiwan Earthquake

Substantial damage to water supply systems, including water delivery pipelines, water treatment plants, reservoirs, and water storage tanks, was reported after the 1999 Chi–Chi Taiwan Earthquake. This paper first summarizes the damage survey and then presents the results of seismic fragility analysis for underground pipelines. Construction blueprints of the water delivery pipelines and repair work orders of 11 townships and cities in the disastrous area were digitized into a Geographical Information System (GIS) for analysis and assessment. With the aid of the GIS system, we found that PVC pipes made up 86% of water delivery pipelines while steel, cast iron, ductile iron, PE and others took the rest. Therefore, this paper focuses on the fragility analysis of PVC pipes. Three different methods were applied to derive the fragility relations between the PVC water pipes having nominal diameters (approximately inner diameters) greater than or equal to 65 mm and earthquake intensity parameters such as peak ground acceleration and peak ground velocity. The results were then examined with those of other countries. The discrepancy between our results and the empirical equation used by HAZUS, an earthquake loss estimation software developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency was not significant.