Assessing the feasibility of integrating remote sensing and in-situ measurements in monitoring water quality status of Lake Chivero,Zimbabwe

This work investigates the likelihood of integrating the cheap and readily-available broadband multispectral MODIS data and in-situ measurements in quantifying and monitoring water quality status of an inland lake within Upper Manyame Catchment in Zimbabwe. Specifically we used MODIS images to quantify inland lake chlorophyll_a concentrations, as a proxy for predicting lake pollution levels. The findings of this study show a high chlorophyll_a concentration of 0.101 ± 0.128 μg/L within the Lake. The results further demonstrated that the chlorophyll_a concentration levels did not significantly vary (p = 0.788) between sites, except among depths (p = 0.05). Further, prediction results based on the relationship between observed and predicted chlorophyll_a produced a high R² value of 0.89 and a root mean square error (RMSE) value of 0.003 μg/L. Moreover, the derived landuse maps of Upper Manyame Catchment indicated a significant variation in the percentage settlement in 1985, 1994 and 2010 change from 1985 to 2010. For instance, 8% increase in settlement in the period between 1994 and 2010 and over 12% increase from 1985 to 2010 and a decline in percent forest coverage (i.e. 9.8% in 1985 to 2.0% in the year 2010) in the catchment was observed. Overall, the findings of this study highlights the importance of free and readily-available satellite datasets (such as the multispectral MODIS and Landsat) in quantifying and monitoring water quality across inland lakes especially in data-scarce areas like Sub-Saharan Africa.     

Water ecological function zoning in Heihe River Basin,Northwest China

Rapid urbanization coupled with increase in population growth rate in recent years has accelerated economic pressure on the ecological environment leading to a gradual deterioration of global and regional environment. This has particularly resulted into water contamination and shortage of water resources thus posing a great threat to human survival. How to guaranteeing sustainable use of basin water resources has attracted more and more attentions. The Heihe River Basin is the secondary longest river inland China and the significantly water source of Hexi Corridor, the problem of water pollution, ecological environment deterioration and the shortage of water has seriously threatened the ecological system of the Heihe River Basin. In this study, through depicting the characteristics of natural environment, human activities, water ecosystem services and other factors in Heihe River Basin we delineated the water ecological function in Heihe River using the principal components analysis and the K-means clustering method. In the study, Heihe River Basin is divided into 3 primary level areas and 8 secondary level sub-areas. Water ecological characteristics analysis showed that the spatial distribution of the water ecological function of Heihe River Basin was not uniform, which are mainly showed in three aspects, function of windproof and sand fixation, function of soil erosion prevention and function of water sources conservation. The results of this study can provide effective and scientific theoretical references for the integrated water sources management and the ecological function optimization of the Heihe River Basin.     

过去30年气候变化对黄河源区水源涵养量的影响

黄河源区高寒生态系统具有重要的水源涵养功能。基于改进的LPJ动态植被模型,模拟研究1981-2010年中国黄河源区水源涵养量的时空变化特征,进一步探讨气候要素变化的影响。结果表明：近30年来黄河源区水源涵养量整体略呈减少趋势,减少速率为-1.15 mm/a,区域差异特征体现为大部分地区以减少趋势为主,特别是黄河源区东南部。过去30年黄河源区降水量以及大气水分需求能力的变化是影响生态系统水源涵养量增减的主要气候因素。随着干湿条件不同,两者影响程度各异,降水减少和潜在蒸散增加共同导致黄河源区东南部半湿润地区水源涵养量减少,而降水增加则是北部半干旱地区水源涵养量增加的主要原因。     

塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地地表辐射与能量平衡

利用2013年塔克拉玛干沙漠塔中流动沙面地表辐射、土壤热通量、土壤温湿度和湍流通量观测资料,分析了沙漠腹地地表辐射和能量收支特征及闭合状况。结果表明：除潜热通量外,其余地表辐射各分量和能量平衡分量的月平均日变化结果整体均表现为标准的单峰型日循环形态,其中R_s↓与R_s↑变化同步,R_l↑、R_l↓滞后R_s↓0.5 ~ 1 h。各分量均表现出夏季高、春秋季次之、冬季低的季节波动性。干旱和极低的植被覆盖造成沙漠腹地全年潜热通量始终较为微弱,约占净辐射的2.8%,感热通量成为能量的主要消耗形式,约占净辐射的49%。偶尔的降水会刺激潜热通量突然增加。地表反照率相对较高且稳定,日变化呈早晚大、正午小的“U”型趋势,并具有明显的冬季高、夏季低的季节波动性,年均值0.28,月均值0.25~0.32。能量残差各月的日变化也均呈单峰曲线,日出后和日落前能量闭合程度最佳,并出现过闭合现象,全年夏季小,春秋季次之,冬季较大,月平均日峰值5.1~99.9 W·m^-2。土壤表层热储存是影响该地区能量平衡的重要因子之一,考虑表层土壤热存储后,地表能量闭合率达75.3%,能量闭合率夏季 > 春季 > 秋季 > 冬季,白天相比夜间有大幅提升。     

勐兴铅锌矿区水文地质条件及水质有害性分析

矿区有独立的水文地质单元,地下水水质属较差一极差类,指出影响水质的有害因素,提出治理建议。     

Identifying low-temperature hydrothermal karst and palaeowaters using stable isotopes: a case study from an alpine cave,Entrische Kirche,Austria

The area south of the prominent east–west trending Salzach Valley at the northern rim of the Central Alps of Austria has long been known to host anomalously warm springs emerging from a highly deformed calcite marble (Klammkalk). This unit also hosts cavities whose shapes suggest a hydrothermal karst origin and which are lined by calcite spar. We report here petrographic and isotopic evidence suggesting that dissolution by ascending low-temperature thermal waters also played an important role in the origin of a large cave in this region, Entrische Kirche. A paleo cave wall, preserved behind a thick flowstone in the interior of this cave, revealed a brownish bleaching zone which contrasts to the medium grey colour of the unaltered marble beneath. Across this zone the C and O isotope values gradually decrease by 3 and 11‰, respectively. These compositions are very different from those of the speleothem above but are similar to phreatic calcite spar from hydrothermal karst cavities in other outcrops in the area, where the absence of two-phase fluid inclusions suggests a low-temperature (less than ca. 50°C) hydrothermal origin. U/Th dating of the flowstone capping the alteration zone yielded a minimum age of the thermal water invasion in Entrische Kirche of ca. 240 kyr. There is no evidence in Entrische Kirche that these palaeowaters reached the point of calcite precipitation, but it is physically conceivable that higher and as yet unexplored parts of this deep (ca. 900 m) cave contain cavities lined by phreatic cave spar.     

不同经济水平牧户草场植被特征比较

以内蒙古荒漠草原家庭牧场为研究尺度,比较分析了不同经济水平牧户草场的植物群落特征,结果表明:主要植物种群的高度、盖度、密度、地上生物量、重要值及群落多样性指数均呈现出不同程度的趋同性.从社会学角度分析表明,牧区牧户的经济收入与饲养牲畜头数呈高度正相关.不同经济水平牧户草畜平衡的调整和适应能力不同,低经济水平牧户一般牲畜头数少,草场相对可使用面积大,经营意识薄弱,草场经常被有意或无意占用;中等经济水平牧户扩大饲养规模的愿望最为强烈,并积极通过围封、租借草场等方式来保护自家草场和扩大牲畜数量;高经济水平牧户则普遍采取常年租借草场、走场、购买饲草料等措施,减缓对自己草场放牧压力,同时保持畜饲养规模的维持和扩大.牧户存在调整适应行为,并会基于自己的“草畜平衡标准”,根据经济条件、草场面积、牲畜数量和对草场状况、放牧超载及效益的认知,适时通过草场流转和输入外部资源等方式,转移放牧压力,致使不同牧户草场生态状况趋于一致.     

A land-use-based modelling chain to assess the impacts of Natural Water Retention Measures on Europe’s Green Infrastructure

This article details the process of integrating models to answer a specific policy-driven question: ‘What could be the impact of proposed Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRMs) on Europe’s Green Infrastructure (GI)?’ It describes the new Land Use Modelling Platform (LUMP), now enabling a high spatial scale (100-m) and large coverage (pan-European), whereby several sector-specific models contribute to assessing the impact of regional-level policy on a given spatial topic of concern. The configuration (land claims and land allocations modules) and calibration (accessibility and biophysical suitability) of the LUMP are explained. Four NWRM scenarios (riparian areas, afforestation, grassland and baseline scenario) are configured to run the simulations. For the reference: year 2006, the spatial representation of GI is based on land-use features of a refined version of the CORINE Land Cover (CLC), and resumed as connected components made of nodes and links.

Mathematical morphological image processing and network graph theory model, available from the free software package GUIDOS (the Joint Research Center of the European Commission), enabled the measurement of the GI connectivity and identified most critical links. Results show that the competition for land claimed by different economic sectors, combined with policy-driven rule-sets for the implementation of different NWRMs, yields very different results for the 2030 land-use projections, and subsequently for the morphology of GI. Three indicators associated with the morphology of GI are computed in order to assess the model outputs for 2030. The indicators are computed to answer the following questions: (1) How is the quantity of GI affected by each of the NWRM, and what proportion of that GI is most valuable? (2) What is the location of the most critical nodes and connectors of GI, and what land-use conversions occur under these? (3) Are the average components getting larger or smaller?

Whereas the grassland measure results in the largest net increase of GI, the afforestation measure results in the overall largest number of hectares of key nodes and links within the network. Land conversions occur under the critical GI nodes and links, with a large increase in agricultural areas, especially for the riparian measure under critical nodes and the grassland measure under critical links. Also predominant is the swapping of land from pasture to forest under critical links with the afforestation measure. The riparian measure most increases the average size of GI components, and all three measures contribute to bridging two large components which were divided in the 2006 land-use map, thus increasing the size of the largest component by more than 50%.