Simulation of coupled pelagic-benthic ecosystem of the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass

A one-dimensional coupled pelagic-benthic box model for the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass （YSCWM） is developed. The model is divided into three boxes vertically according to the depths of thermocline and euphotic layer. It simulates well the oligotrophic shelf ecosystem of the YSCWM considering effects of nutrients deposition and microbial loop. Main features of vertical structure of various variables in ecosystem of the YSCWM were captured and seasonal variability of the ecosystem was well reconstructed. Calculation shows that the contribution of microbial loop to the zooplankton can reach up to 60%. Besides, input of inorganic nutrients from atmospheric deposition is an important mechanism of production in upper layer of the YSCWM when stratified.     

Soil erosion assessment and its verification using the Universal Soil Loss Equation and Geographic Information System: a case study at Boun,Korea

This study is aimed at the evaluation of the hazard of soil erosion and its verification at Boun, Korea, using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing. Precipitation, topographic, soil, and land use data were collected, processed, and constructed into a spatial database using GIS and remote sensing data. Areas that had suffered soil erosion were analysed and mapped using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The factors that influence soil erosion are rainfall erosivitiy (R) from the precipitation database, soil erodibility (K) from the soil database, slope length and steepness (LS) from the topographic database, and crop and management (C) and conservation supporting practices (P) from the land use database. Land use was classified from Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images. The soil erosion map verified use of the landslide location data. Landslide locations were identified in the Boun area from interpretation of aerial photographs and field surveys.     

Anthropogenic iodine-129 in seawater along a transect from the Norwegian coastal current to the North Pole

Variation in the concentrations of iodine-129 (129I, T1/2=15.7 Myr), a low-level radioactive component of nuclear fuel waste, is documented in surface waters and depth profiles collected during 2001 along a transect from the Norwegian Coastal Current to the North Pole. The surface waters near the Norwegian coast are found to have 20 times higher 129I concentration than the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean. The depth profiles of 129I taken in the Arctic Ocean reveal a sharp decline in the concentration to a depth of about 300-500 m followed by a weaker gradient extending down to the bottom. A twofold increase in the 129I concentration is observed in the upper 1000 m since 1996. Based on known estimates of marine transient time from the release sources (the nuclear reprocessing facilities at La Hague, France, and Sellafield, UK), a doubling in the 129I inventory of the top 1000 m of the Arctic Ocean is expected to occur between the years 2001 and 2006. As 129I of polar mixed layer and Atlantic layer of the Arctic Ocean is ventilated by the East Greenland Current into the Nordic Seas and North Atlantic Ocean, further dispersal and increase of the isotope concentration in these regions will be encountered in the near future.     

Climate during the last glacial maximum in the Wasatch and southern Uinta Mountains inferred from glacier modeling

Recent improvements in understanding glacial extents and chronologies in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains and other mountain ranges in the western U.S. call for a more detailed approach to using glacier reconstructions to infer paleoclimates than commonly applied AAR-ELA-ÄT methods. A coupled 2-D mass balance and ice-flow numerical modeling approach developed by [Plummer, M.A., Phillips, F.M., 2003. A 2-D numerical model of snow/ice energy balance and ice flow for paleoclimatic interpretation of glacial geomorphic features. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1389–1406] allows exploration of the combined effects of temperature, precipitation, shortwave radiation and many secondary parameters on past ice extents in alpine settings. We apply this approach to the Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains and the Lake Fork and Yellowstone Canyons in the south-central Uinta Mountains. Results of modeling experiments indicate that the Little Cottonwood glacier required more precipitation during the local Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) than glaciers in the Uinta Mountains, assuming lapse rates were similar to modern. Model results suggest that if temperatures in the Wasatch Mountains and Uinta Mountains were  6 °C to 7 °C colder than modern, corresponding precipitation changes were  3 to 2× modern in Little Cottonwood Canyon and  2 to 1× modern in Lake Fork and Yellowstone Canyons. Greater amounts of precipitation in the Little Cottonwood Canyon likely reflect moisture derived from the surface of Lake Bonneville, and the lake may have also affected the mass balance of glaciers in the Uinta Mountains.     

AMIP模式对大气经向质量输送的模拟评估

从描述南、北半球间大气经向质量传输的角度人手,考察IPCC第4次评估报告提供的8个AMIP大气环流模式对越赤道质量通量输送的模拟性能。结果表明:NCAR、MPI和UKMO模式模拟出的越赤道整层大气质量通量与观测大体相一致;MIROC3模拟的整层大气质量通量年循环与观测结果相去甚远,尤其在夏季模拟出较强的虚假向北大气质量输送;IAP模拟的整层大气质量通量年循环方向与观测结果在7个月份中相反;把垂直大气分为4层.各模式对700 hPa以下(I_1)和300-70 hPa(I_3)两层质量通量的模拟能力普遍较好;对700-300 hPa层(I_2)质量通量模拟结果偏差较大;除MIROC3外,其余模式基本能够模拟出70-10 hPa(I_4)大气质量通量的季节变化.显然,不仅南、北半球间大气存在质量交换,越过其他纬度同样存在着经向大气质量输送,无论冬季、夏季还是年平均,各模式对越过其他纬度(60°S-60°N)经向大气质量输送的模拟结果与观测差异明显。整体权衡,UKMO_HADGEMl在模拟越赤道大气质量通量方面表现突出,MPI_ECHAM5模式优势较明显;NCAR、GISS和GFDL 3个模式在某些压力层内具有较好的模拟水平;MIROC模式对整层、700-300 hPa层的模拟能力较低,而对700 hPa以下层和300-70 hPa层的模拟水平较高;IAP_FGOALS和CNRM模式在模拟越赤道大气质量通量方面存在一定的不足.     

Atlantic Water flow through the Barents and Kara Seas

The pathway and transformation of water from the Norwegian Sea across the Barents Sea and through the St. Anna Trough are documented from hydrographic and current measurements of the 1990s. The transport through an array of moorings in the north-eastern Barents Sea was between 0.6 Sv in summer and 2.6 Sv in winter towards the Kara Sea and between zero and 0.3 Sv towards the Barents Sea with a record mean net flow of 1.5 Sv. The westward flow originates in the Fram Strait branch of Atlantic Water at the Eurasian continental slope, while the eastward flow constitutes the Barents Sea branch, continuing from the western Barents Sea opening.About 75% of the eastward flow was colder than 0°C. The flow was strongly sheared, with the highest velocities close to the bottom. A deep layer with almost constant temperature of about −0.5°C throughout the year formed about 50% of the flow to the Kara Sea. This water was a mixture between warm saline Atlantic Water and cold, brine-enriched water generated through freezing and convection in polynyas west of Novaya Zemlya, and possibly also at the Central Bank. Its salinity is lower than that of the Atlantic Water at its entrance to the Barents Sea, because the ice formation occurs in a low salinity surface layer. The released brine increases the salinity and density of the surface layer sufficiently for it to convect, but not necessarily above the salinity of the Atlantic Water. The freshwater west of Novaya Zemlya primarily stems from continental runoff and at the Central Bank probably from ice melt. The amount of fresh water compares to about 22% of the terrestrial freshwater supply to the western Barents Sea. The deep layer continues to the Kara Sea without further change and enters the Nansen Basin at or below the core depth of the warm, saline Fram Strait branch. Because it is colder than 0°C it will not be addressed as Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean.In earlier decades, the Atlantic Water advected from Fram Strait was colder by almost 2 K as compared to the 1990s, while the dense Barents Sea water was colder by up to 1 K only in a thin layer at the bottom and the salinity varied significantly. However, also with the resulting higher densities, deep Eurasian Basin water properties were met only in the 1970s. The very low salinities of the Great Salinity Anomaly in 1980 were not discovered in the outflow data. We conclude that the thermal variability of inflowing Atlantic water is damped in the Barents Sea, while the salinity variation is strongly modified through the freshwater conditions and ice growth in the convective area off Novaya Zemlya.     

Further confirmations of mass transfer in Algol type binary U Sagittae

This paper describes how a new photometric V light curve solution of Algol type binary U Sge was obtained using Wilson–Devinney code. I also discuss how the physical and orbital parameters, along with absolute dimensions of the system, were determined. The Roche lobe configurations of the system indicate that the secondary component has filled its Roche lobe and therefore is losing mass at the rate of 6.15×10⁻⁷ M _sun yr⁻¹. The conservative mass flow is the most likely process in this system.     

雷暴大风过程中对流层中低层动量通量和动能通量输送特征研究

2014年5月31日北京发生一次雷暴大风过程。以雷达资料同化结果为初始场,对此次过程进行高分辨率数值模拟。采用非静力平衡和非地转平衡的经向动量方程和质量权重动能方程,利用模拟资料,对雷暴大风过程中经向动量和质量权重动能进行收支分析,以此来研究雷暴过程中对流层中低层动量通量和动能通量输送特征,讨论地面大风的可能成因。分析结果表明,在对流层中低层,经向动量通量散度是影响经向动量局地变化的主要强迫项。雷暴系统后部的入流把中低层的经向动量倾斜向下输送,系统前部对流云区中低层的下沉气流也向下输送经向动量。这两支下传动量通量先后与近地面经向动量的水平通量汇合,向系统前沿输送经向动量。在北京西北部地形阻挡作用下,经向动量通量在系统前端近地面辐合,促进那里的经向动量局地增长,有利于增强那里的南风。质量动能收支的特征与经向动量收支类似,在近地面层质量动能的局地变化主要是由质量动能通量散度引起的。系统后部入流把中层质量动能向下传输到近地面层,然后与近地面质量动能的水平通量汇合,向系统前沿输送质量动能。相对来说,近地面层经向动量和质量动能的水平通量比下传通量更重要,这主要与低层较强的东南急流有关。     

Inferring Glacier Mass Balance Using Radarsat: Results From Peyto Glacier, Canada

The capability of RADARSAT synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for the purpose of snow-line/accumulation area mapping for a temperate alpine glacier is examined. In agreement with other orbital C-band SAR studies, RADARSAT can discriminate between firn and bare ice facies. Limited observations are reported with respect to the electromagnetic variability of the ice facies in the ablation area, but they are inconclusive. Operational considerations are discussed with respect to reconciling the uncertainties of late-summer weather and their possible impact on the dielectric and scattering properties of the glacier surface. Vagaries associated with other glacier settings, mass balance states and their associated facies configurations are discussed including the difficulty of using the transient snow-line to define the equilibrium line and the lower extent of the accumulation area for glaciers where superimposed ice may form.
The radar remote-sensing reconnaissance of equilibrium line altitude (ELA) and accumulation area ratio (AAR) for estimating glacier mass balance requires serious consideration in those instances where traditional ground measurements used in the direct glaciological method are absent. However, with respect to the ELA, such estimates can vary depending on the accuracy of the reference digital elevation information. Moreover, for many glacier configurations, where mass balance variations due to altitude are influenced or in some cases completely masked by local balance variations, defining the ELA may be an irreconcilable problem. Using the AAR may be more robust in this regard. It is further determined that the total error inherent in the reconnaissance method would have serious implications for the confident estimation of mass balance normals and climate-related trends if the method were to be utilized over the longer term.