Initiation and early development of barchan dunes: A case study of the Moroccan Atlantic Sahara desert

This paper describes field measurements that document the formation of barchan dunes in the Moroccan Atlantic Sahara desert. The first mechanism described is the transformation of patches and proto-dunes at Cap Juby beach to barchan dunes of elementary size. This transformation is discussed in relation to the wind speed and saturation length. The second mechanism is the ejection of small barchans of elementary size by other small barchans in response to the perturbation of the target barchan by two other impacting small barchans. This remote initiation is discussed in relation to the bulk flux transported by the barchan dunes involved in this interaction and to their morphology. Other modes of barchan initiation observed in the field are also presented.     

城市化水平增长曲线的类型、分段和研究方法

城市化水平增长曲线可以分为S形和J形2大类别,其变化特征、动力学背景及研究方法也不尽相同。城市化曲线研究可以分为唯象分析和唯理分析2大途径,唯理研究包括城一乡人口异速生长、城一乡人口替代以及城乡人口迁移和转换3种路径,目前这些方法主要用于S形曲线研究,对J形曲线的探索不够深入。S形曲线是一种奇对称曲线,其模型导数却是一...     

热带与南极海域表层海水N2O饱和度异常差异性比较

本文比较了从北纬30?西太平洋至南纬30?东印度洋等热带海域与南大洋至东南极普里兹湾等南极海域的大气和表层海水N2O分压分布特征,表层海水pNO2饱和异常,分析引起异常差异性的主要影响因子。南极海域普里兹湾表层水中N2O分压（pN2O）平均为311.9 ± 7.6 nL/L (14.1 ± 0.4 nM),与大气中N2O混合比（318.5 nL/L）相比显略不饱和,融冰水的输入是导致不饱和的主要原因。海气N2O通量为-0.3 ± 0.8μmol m-2 d-1。而热带海域多数表层海水中N2O饱和度异常值都高于10%,在赤道海域发现最高值达54.7%,次高值为10°N的苏禄海为31%,计算出在赤道和苏禄海的海气通量分别为~12.4 μmol m-2 d-1和~4μmol m-2 d-1。表明高纬度的普里兹湾既不是大气中N2O源也不是汇,而低纬度热带海域表现为大气中N2O的源。造成热带与南极海域海洋N2O饱和度异常的影响因素,可能低纬度的热带海域由于海气间的气体交换较弱、上升流影响强,而高纬度的南极海域由于融冰分层和强偏西风影响;而海表面风速是影响N2O的海气交换N2O通量的重要因素。     

Models of Jupiter's growth incorporating thermal and hydrodynamic constraints

We model the growth of Jupiter via core nucleated accretion, applying constraints from hydrodynamical processes that result from the disk-planet interaction. We compute the planet's internal structure using a well tested planetary formation code that is based upon a Henyey-type stellar evolution code. The planet's interactions with the protoplanetary disk are calculated using 3-D hydrodynamic simulations. Previous models of Jupiter's growth have taken the radius of the planet to be approximately one Hill sphere radius, RH. However, 3-D hydrodynamic simulations show that only gas within ∼0.25RH remains bound to the planet, with the more distant gas eventually participating in the shear flow of the protoplanetary disk. Therefore in our new simulations, the planet's outer boundary is placed at the location where gas has the thermal energy to reach the portion of the flow not bound to the planet. We find that the smaller radius increases the time required for planetary growth by ∼5%. Thermal pressure limits the rate at which a planet less than a few dozen times as massive as Earth can accumulate gas from the protoplanetary disk, whereas hydrodynamics regulates the growth rate for more massive planets. Within a moderately viscous disk, the accretion rate peaks when the planet's mass is about equal to the mass of Saturn. In a less viscous disk hydrodynamical limits to accretion are smaller, and the accretion rate peaks at lower mass. Observations suggest that the typical lifetime of massive disks around young stellar objects is ∼3 Myr. To account for the dissipation of such disks, we perform some of our simulations of Jupiter's growth within a disk whose surface gas density decreases on this timescale. In all of the cases that we simulate, the planet's effective radiating temperature rises to well above 1000 K soon after hydrodynamic limits begin to control the rate of gas accretion and the planet's distended envelope begins to contract. According to our simulations, proto-Jupiter's distended and thermally-supported envelope was too small to capture the planet's current retinue of irregular satellites as advocated by Pollack et al. [Pollack, J.B., Burns, J.A., Tauber, M.E., 1979. Icarus 37, 587-611].     

年际时间尺度上全球植被与大气相互作用的诊断分析

利用NOAA AVHRR得到的19年（1982～2000）全球月平均的叶面积指数（LAI）与ERA40近地面气温和CMAP降水进行时滞相关分析,并研究了LAI的年际变化对后期温度、降水的反馈作用。结果表明,大部分地区LAI与同期气温的相关性更好,30°N以北（以南）基本上为正（负）相关。LAI滞后一个月时,北半球中低纬度和20°S以南大部地区LAI与降水的正相关更强;而在北半球中纬度大陆东部和南半球热带地区,LAI与前一个月温度的关系更密切。LAI与温度的相关性在春、秋季最明显,LAI与降水的关系在雨季最密切。LAI对气温比较显著的正反馈主要分布在北半球中高纬度地区;20°S以南大部地区为比较显著的负反馈。LAI对降水比较显著的正反馈分散在北美大陆西北部、东欧平原南部、欧亚大陆东北部和热带沿海地区。中高纬度（尤其是北半球）大部分地区LAI 对气温、降水反馈部分的解释方差达到总方差的20%以上。     

利用一个海气耦合模式对台风Krovanh的模拟

采用中尺度大气模式MM5和区域海洋模式POM构造了中尺度海气耦合模式, 模拟了Krovanh (0312) 台风过程中台风－海洋相互作用, 分析了台风引起的海面降温影响台风强度的机制和海洋对台风响应的特征。试验结果显示: 考虑台风引起的海面降温使台风强度模拟有了较大改进, 模拟的台风中心气压和近中心最大风速均与实况较符合。POM模拟的海表面温度与TRMM/TMI观测的海表面温度也较为一致, 台风Krovanh在其路径右侧95 km处引起较大的海面降温, 最大降温幅度达5.8℃。与海表面温度降低相对应的是混合层深度的增加, 较大的海面降温对应较大的混合层加深, 表明大风夹卷在海表面温度的降低中起主要作用。分析表明, 台风引起的海面降温降低海洋向大气输送的潜热通量和感热通量, 特别是在台风内核区, 平均总热通量减少了32.1%。热通量的减少使得湿静力能及湿静力能径向梯度减小, 削弱了台风强度。     

Interaction between Planetary-Scale Diffluent Flow and Synoptic-Scale Waves During the Life Cycle of Blocking

In this paper, a new transient forced quasi-resonant triad interaction theory in a beta channel is proposed to investigate the interaction between planetary-scale diffluent flow composed of zonal wavenumbers 1--3 and synoptic-scale waves produced continuously by a synoptic-scale vorticity source fixed upstream of an incipient blocking region during the life cycle of blocking. It is shown that the superposition of initial three Rossby waves for zonal wavenumbers 1 (monopole), 2 (dipole), and 3 (monopole), which permit triad quasi-resonance, can represent an incipient blocking event. The synoptic-scale eddies may act to amplify the incipient blocking and to excite a blocking circulation with a strong meander, whose flow pattern depends on the initial amplitudes of the planetary waves and both the intensity and location of preexisting synoptic-scale waves. The onset (decay) of the planetary-scale split-flow blocking is mainly represented by a strong increase (decrease) in the amplitude of the zonal wavenumber 2 component, having a dipole meridional structure related to the preexisting synoptic-scale eddies. The typical persistence time of the model blocking was of about 20 days, consistent with observations of blocking patterns. In our model, isolated asymmetric dipole blocking is formed by synoptic-scale waves. The instantaneous fields of total streamfunctions exhibit a remarkable resemblance to the synoptic maps observed during the life cycle of blocking. During the onset stage, the synoptic-scale waves are enhanced and split into two branches around the blocking region due to the feedback of the amplified blocking, in agreement with the observed changes of synoptic-scale waves in real blocking events. In addition, a diagnostic case study of blocking is presented to confirm the forced quasi-resonant triad interaction theory proposed here.     

Sensitivity of the Carbon Storage of Potential Vegetation to Historical Climate Variability and CO2 in Continental China

The interest in the national levels of the terrestrial carbon sink and its spatial and temporal variability with the climate and CO2 concentrations has been increasing. How the climate and the increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the last century affect the carbon storage in continental China was investigated in this study by using the Modified Sheffield Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (M-SDGVM). The estimates of the M-SDGVM indicated that during the past 100 years a combination of increasing CO2 with historical temperature and precipitation variability in continental China have caused the total vegetation carbon storage to increase by 2.04 Pg C, with 2.07 Pg C gained in the vegetation biomass but 0.03 Pg C lost from the organic soil carbon matter. The increasing CO2 concentration in the 20th century is primarily responsible for the increase of the total potential vegetation carbon. These factorial experiments show that temperature variability alone decreases the total carbon storage by 1.36 Pg C and precipitation variability alone causes a loss of 1.99 Pg C. The effect of the increasing CO2 concentration alone increased the total carbon storage in the potential vegetation of China by 3.22 Pg C over the past 100 years. With the changing of the climate, the CO2 fertilization on China's ecosystems is the result of the enhanced net biome production (NBP), which is caused by a greater stimulation of the gross primary production (GPP) than the total soil-vegetation respiration. Our study also shows notable interannual and decadal variations in the net carbon exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in China due to the historical climate variability.     

The influence of load inclination on the undrained bearing capacity of strip footings on slopes

The effect of inclined loading on the bearing capacity of foundations on horizontal ground surface is well established and both the exact solution and simpler empirical equations are available for the calculation of the failure loads. However, for footings on or near slopes complete solutions are available only for vertical loading. This paper investigates the influence of inclined loading on the horizontal and vertical failure loads. The finite element, upper bound plasticity and stress field methods are used to examine a wide range of geometries and soil properties. The methods are first validated against known solutions for two special cases and are subsequently employed to investigate the effect of the geometrical and material properties on the failure loads and the bearing capacity load interaction diagram. Based on this investigation an empirical equation is proposed for the load interaction diagram for undrained inclined loading of footings on or near slopes.     

Paleoproterozoic gabbronoritic and granitic magmatism in the northern margin of the North China craton: Evidence of crust–mantle interaction

Paleoproterozoic Xuwujia gabbronorites in the northern margin of the North China craton occur as dykes, sills and small plutons intruded into khondalite (aluminous paragneisses, sedimentary protoliths deposited at ca. 2.0–1.95 Ga), and as numerous entrained bodies and fragments of variable scales in the Liangcheng granitoids (ca. 1.93–1.89 Ga). These gabbronoritic dykes are present at all locations where ca. 1.93–1.92 Ga ultra-high-temperature metamorphism is recorded in the khondalite. A gabbronorite sample from the Hongmiaozi dyke gives zircon ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb mean ages of 1954 ± 6 Ma (core domains) and 1925 ± 8 Ma (rim domains). These ages, as well as previously reported ages, constrain the age of mafic magmatism to be at ca. 1.96–1.92 Ga (∼1.93 Ga). One sample from the Xigou gabbro intruded by the Liangcheng granitoids gives a zircon ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb mean age of 1857 ± 4 Ma, which is interpreted as the age of a metamorphic overprint. The Xuwujia gabbronorites comprise mainly gabbronorite compositions, as well as some norite, olivine gabbronorite, monzonorite, quartz gabbronorite, and quartz monzonorite. Chemically, they are tholeiitic and can be divided into two groups: a high-Mg group (6.2–22.9 wt.% MgO) and a relatively low-Mg group (2.2–5.7 wt.% MgO). The high-Mg group shows negative Eu-anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.53–0.72), slight light rare earth element enrichment (La/Yb_N = 0.56–1.53), and small negative anomalies in high field-strength elements. The ?Nd (t = 1.93 Ga) values vary from +0.3 to +2.4. The low-Mg group shows varied Eu-anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.48–1.05), and is enriched in light rare earth elements (La/Yb_N = 1.51–11.98). The majority shows negative anomalies in high field-strength elements (e.g., Th, Nb, Zr, and Ti). Initial ?Nd (at 1.93 Ga) values for low-Mg gabbronorites vary from −5.0 to 0. The Xuwujia gabbronorites possibly experienced assimilation of crust, and fractional crystallization of initially olivine and hypersthene (the high-Mg group), and then olivine, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase (the low-Mg group). The slightly younger Liangcheng granitoids consist of garnet-bearing granite, granodiorite and quartz-rich granitic compositions. They are intermediate to felsic calc-alkaline rocks, thought to be derived from surrounding metasedimentary crust. Xigou gabbro could represent early cumulates. The granitoids have relatively high-Mg numbers (up to 54), and show some chemical affinities with the gabbronorites, which could have resulted from incorporation of gabbronoritic melts. The occurrence and chemical variations of the Xuwujia gabbronorites and Liangcheng granitoids can be interpreted to have resulted from crust–mantle interaction, with mingling and partial mixing of mantle (gabbronoritic) and crustal (granitic) melts. The Xuwujia gabbronorites originated from a mantle region with high potential temperatures (∼1550 °C), possibly associated with a plume or more likely a ridge-subduction-related mantle upwelling event. They could have had extremely high primary intrusion temperatures (up to 1400 °C). Emplacement of these magmas was likely responsible for the extensive crustal anatexis (Liangcheng granitoids) and the local ultra-high-temperature metamorphism. These sequences may have followed ca. 1.95 Ga continent–continent (arc?) juxtaposition and were themselves followed by significant regional uplift and exhumation in the northern margin of the North China craton.