Nitrogen and phosphorus budgets of the Changjiang River estuary

Eutrophication has emerged as a key environmental problem in Chinese coastal waters, especially in the Changjiang (Yangtze) River estuary. In this area, large nutrient inputs result in frequent harmful algal blooms and serious hypoxia in bottom waters. Four cruises were made in the estuary in 2006 to assess the concentration and distribution of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and phosphorus (DIP). The concentration of DIN decreased gradually in a linear relationship with salinity from the river mouth to ...     

再谈如何做好地勘项目预算编制工作

地质勘查预算标准是安排省地勘项目的主要依据,预算编制水平直接影响财政资金的分配和地勘项目的管理。从预算编制的准备工作、技术条件、表式分类、工作手段及费用指标解释、编制说明等各方面逐一进行了分析和阐述,具有一定的实用性和可操作性,对于提高和完善预算编制工作,具有促进和推动作用。     

The early Matuyama Diatom Maximum off SW Africa: a conceptual model

An important discovery during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 175, when investigating the record of upwelling off Namibia, was the finding of a distinct Late Pliocene diatom maximum spanning the lower half of the Matuyama reversed polarity chron (MDM, Matuyama Diatom Maximum) and centered around 2.6–2.0 Ma. This maximum was observed at all sites off southwestern Africa between 20°S and 30°S, and is most strongly represented in sediments of Site 1084, off Lüderitz, Namibia. The MDM is characterized by high biogenic opal content, high numbers of diatom valves, and a diatom flora rich in Southern Ocean representatives (with Thalassiothrix antarctica forming diatom mats) as well as coastal upwelling components. Before MDM time, diatoms are rare until ca. 3.6 Ma. After the MDM, in the Pleistocene, the composition of the diatom flora points to increased importance of coastal upwelling toward the present, but is accompanied by a general decrease in opal and diatom deposition. Here we present a simple conceptual model as a first step in formalizing a possible forcing mechanism responsible for the record of opal deposition in the upwelling system off Namibia. The model takes into account Southern Ocean oceanography, and a link with deepwater circulation and deepwater nutrient chemistry which, in turn, are coupled to the evolution of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The model proposes that between the MDM and the Mid-Pleistocene climate revolution, opal deposition off Namibia is not directly tied to glacial–interglacial fluctuations (as seen in the global δ¹⁸O record), but that, instead, a strong deepwater link exists with increased NADW production (as seen in the deepwater δ¹³C record) accounting for higher supply of silicate to the thermocline waters that feed the upwelling process. The opal record of Site 1084 shows affinity to eccentricity on the 400-kyr scale but not for the 100-kyr scale. This points toward long-term geologic processes for delivery of silica to the ocean.     

耦合融雪的分布式流域"降雨-径流"数值模型

针对中国对耦合融雪的"降雨-径流"过程数值计算模型方面的研究较少,本文联合应用能量平衡方程及运动波理论的基础方程式,结合GIS技术构建分布式流域耦合融雪的"降雨-径流"数值计算模型,并应用流域实测资料进行了有效性验证。研究结果表明:在不考虑融雪条件下,实测流量与计算结果之间存在着较大的误差;在考虑融雪条件下,实测流量与计算结果之间的误差在基准允许范围之内(小于3%);在积雪与融雪区,对流域"降雨-径流"过程的数值计算须考虑融雪。该研究为积雪融雪区提供了一种耦合融雪的"降雨-径流"过程数值计算的新方法。     

Measuring bluff erosion part 2: pairing aerial photographs and terrestrial laser scanning to create a watershed scale sediment budget

Effectively managing and reducing high suspended sediment loads in rivers requires an understanding of the magnitude of major sediment sources as well as erosion and transport processes that deliver excess fine sediments to the channel network. The focus of this research is to determine the magnitude of erosion from tall bluffs, a primary sediment source in the 2880 km² Le Sueur watershed, Minnesota, USA. We coupled analyses of seven decades of aerial photographs with four years of repeat terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to determine erosion rates on bluffs. Together, these datasets provide decadal‐scale retreat rates throughout the entire watershed and high‐resolution geomorphic change detection on a subset of bluffs to both constrain erosion rates and document how environmental conditions affect bluff retreat. Erosion rates from aerial photographs and TLS were extrapolated from 243 and 15 measured bluffs, respectively, to all 480 bluffs in the Le Sueur watershed using multiple techniques to obtain estimates of sediment loading from these features at the watershed‐scale. Despite different spatial and temporal measurement scales, the aerial photograph and TLS estimates yielded similar results for bluff retreat rate and total mass of sediment derived from bluffs, with bluffs in the Le Sueur watershed yielding 135 000 ± 39 000 Mg/yr of fine sediment. Comparing this value to the average annual total suspended solids (TSS) load determined from gauging from 2000 to 2010, we determined that bluffs comprise 57 ± 16% of the total TSS load, making bluffs the single most abundant fine sediment source in the basin. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment storage in the reach of the middle Yellow River located in the Fenwei Graben,China

Fenwei Graben is a famous sediment sink. The Longmen‐Sanmexia sediment sink of middle Yellow River is located in the middle part. Using the sediment budget based on annual data from the period 1920–2006 and flood‐event data from 154 flood events from the period 1950–1985, the variations in sediment storage, release and transport have been analysed. Data from different methods and sources indicate that, during an 1800‐year period, the variation of sedimentation rate in this sink has undergone a cycle from increase to decline; the cause for this can be found in the changes in the manner and intensity of human activities. Over 87 years, sediment storage in this sink can be separated into four stages which showed different trends, depending on changing human activities, such as reservoir construction, soil and water conservation and water diversion. Stepwise multiple regression shows that the runoff and sediment yield from three major source areas have differing influences on sediment storage in the sink. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An integrated water balance model for assessing water scarcity in a data-sparse interfluve in eastern India

Abstract

The objective of this study is to measure the balance of water demand versus water resource availability in an interfluve of West Bengal, India to support water resource planning, particularly of inter-basin transfers. Surface water availability was modelled using the US Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) approach, whilst groundwater availability was modelled based on water-level fluctuations and the rainfall infiltration method. Water use was modelled separately for the agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors using a predominantly normative approach and water use to availability ratios calculated for different administrative areas within the interfluve. Overall, the approach suggested that the interfluve receives 327 × 10⁶ m³ year^-1 of excess water after satisfying these sectoral demands, but that the eastern part of the study area is in deficit. However, a sensitivity analysis carried on the approach to several assumptions in the model suggested changed circumstances would produce surplus/deficit ranging from ?215 × 10⁶ to 435 × 10⁶ m³ year^-1 . The approach could have potential for localised water balance modelling in other Indian catchments.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor D. Hughes     

Variations of Summer Precipitation and Its Relation with Vapor Transfer over the Qinghai Plateau

From the study of the summer precipitation variation over the Qinghai Plateau and its dependence on vapor transfer, results are presented as follows: 1) during 1961-2003, both the summer rainfall and meridional net vapor flux (NVF) in the atmosphere display a parabola-shaped change with first rise and then drop in intensity and, in contrast, the zonal and regional NVFs exhibit increasing trends; 2) meridional NVF is positively correlated with the rainfall; 3) di erences in vapor transfer throughout atmospheric vertical extent between dry and wet years over the plateau are shown in that the transfer is stronger in a wet year with large-scale vapor convergence and vice versa in a dry year; in a wet year the meridional vapor transport can reach a belt 3.5 degrees of latitude northward and 7 degrees of longitudes eastward of the positions in a dry year; and vapor flux increases (decreases) by 54.0% (21.9%) in a wet (dry) year with respect to the mean (over 1971-2000).     

Analysis on the Potential Precipitation Resources over East Gansu

The seasonal and interannual variations of the water vapor content and its mean transfer in the atmosphere over East Gansu are calculated and analyzed by using the NCEP/NCAR global reanalysis grid data (2.5°×2.5°Lat./Lon.) for 55 yr (1948-2002). The results show that 1) the water vapor content within the whole layer atmosphere over East Gansu in the latest 55 yr exhibits decreasing trends except that in winter,which shows a notable increasing trend; 2) the annual average water vapor transport flux mainly comes from southeast and southwest, and decreased from southeast to northwest gradually; 3) on the average, the annual water vapor transport ux over East Gansu increases continuously with height in the lower and middle parts of troposphere, and reaches the maximum value at the layer of 500 hPa; 4) in East Gansu,the southeast and southwest boundaries are the main water vapor import boundaries and the northeast and northwest boundaries are the main water vapor export boundaries. The water vapor import and export quantities in summer months reach the maximum values of those in all months, that is, 886.0 and 754.5 mm, respectively; and 5) the annual water vapor import is 1579.5 mm and its export is 997.6 mm, indicating the import of water vapor is more than the export. The net water vapor import over the whole region is 581.9mm. which accounts for 36.8% of the annual total import. The net water vapor import in winter is 88.0 mm, which accounts for 15.1% of the total import. This value in spring increases obviously, which equals 240.7 mm and accounts for 41.4% of the total. The value in summer equals 131.5 mm and accounts for 22.6% of the total. The net water vapor import in autumn is 121.7 mm and accounts for 20.9% of the total import. It implies that there is a fairish potential water vapor resource that has great potential for arti cial precipitation enhancement over East Gansu Province.