Impact of forest fires on regional air quality in Southeast Asia

Biomass burning, the burning of living and dead vegetation for land-clearing and land-use change, has been in practice in many tropical countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico. Intense forest fires can also ignite subsurface organic soil components （e.g. peat）, which can continue to smolder long after the original surface fires are put out. Combustion of vegetation and peat has only recently been recognized as a major source of atmospheric pollution. The immediate effect of burning is the production and release of gases and particles into the atmosphere, in quantities that in some cases can be significant not only locally and regionally but also on a global scale. Vegetation fire emissions account for roughly half of the atmospheric constituents of hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and precursors of tropospheric ozone and may be the second largest source of anthropogenic aerosols after the production of sulfates from SO2. As a result, there has been considerable interest in studying the contribution of forest fires to the production of air pollutants. In recent years, Southeast Asian countries have been affected repeatedly by episodes of smoke haze from forest fires in Indonesia. During 1997-1998, the region was again shrouded in a haze worsened by prolonged drought linked to the E1 Nino weather phenomenon. Satellite pictures confirmed that air pollutants, originating from fires covering an estimated 800000 hectares of southern Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Java, have been transported by southwesterly monsoon winds across neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore to as far as Thailand and the Philippines. The impact of these extensive fires on the health of the residents and ecology in the affected areas was substantial, costly, and possibly long lasting. Most of the research on the environmental aspects of biomass burning has been directed towards the tropics in Africa and America, specifically to the tropical rain forests of Brazil and to the savannas of Africa and South America.     

Analogue Plotting Still Competitive

Mapping of 13 drainage catchment areas in Oman at 1;5000 scale caused a minor revival of analogue plotting after competition with other photogrammetric techniques.     

Concentrations of atmospheric constituents observed at Alert,Canada, in relation to air trajectories and synoptic systems

A meteorological analysis is presented for environmental data set obtained from the Canadian Arctic haze study, which is part of AGASP-II. Results of the study indicated that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), sulphate (SO₄ ⁼), ozone (O₃) and other air pollutants observed at Alert, N.W.T. underwent periodical fluctuations. It was found that high concentrations of these atmospheric constituents were associated with a deep (1430–2074 m) inversion and with a major anticyclone. In contrast, relatively low values of these constituents were associated with a cyclonic disturbance near Alert. High concentrations of these constituents occurred with air trajectories coming from the N-W direction, while low values occurred with S trajectories. In addition, examinations of satellite imagery with other meteorological data suggested that volcanic inputs of ash and gases from Augustine Island, Alaska were negligible for the observed high values of these constituents at the ground level at Alert.     

Analytical electron microscope studies of size-segregated particles collected during AGASP-II,flights 201–203

Cascade impactor samples were collected over the Alaskan Arctic during the first three research flights of AGASP-II. These samples were analyzed using analytical electron microscopy to determine the morphology, mineralogy and elemental composition of individual particles. For analytical considerations, a typical impactor sample was run for approximately 20 min, thus giving excellent time resolution of discrete events.Samples collected during flights 201 and 202 consisted of stratospheric aerosol and lower-altitude haze samples. Stratospheric samples were characterized by moderate loadings of H₂SO₄ droplets with relatively few particles of other types. Samples collected in tropospheric haze layers generally exhibited light-to-moderate particle loadings. H₂SO₄ was again the most prevalent species, with crustal and anthropogenic particles also observed. One sample taken over south-central Alaska near the end of flight 203 showed high concentrations of solid crustal particles, with relatively little associated H₂SO₄. Giant particles larger than 5 m were occasionally observed in this aerosol. The composition of this material closely matches that of bulk ash from the Mt. Augustine volcano, which erupted 9–13 days before collection of this sample. This brings forth the possibility that pockets of ash-rich aerosol existed over parts of south and central Alska during the AGASP-II field mission. There is no evidence that these volcanic aerosols were present in the AGASP study area north of the Brooks Range.     

Digital photogrammetry as a tool in analogue modelling: applications to volcano instability

Three techniques of digital photogrammetry have been applied successfully to laboratory analogue models to study surface displacements caused by various volcano deformation types. Firstly, side-perspective videos are used to differentiate profile displacements between cryptodome intrusion models and models deforming by ductile inner-core viscous flow. Both models show similar morphologic features including a bulged flank and an asymmetric upper graben. However, differences in displacement trajectories of the bulge crest reflect upward intrusion push contrasting with essentially downward displacement vectors of weak core models. The other two techniques use vertical views correlated automatically either as time-sequence monoscopic views or as coeval stereoscopic pairs. This exploits to a maximum the method’s potential by imaging surface displacements over the whole model. Successive monoscopic photograms, because they suffer only moderate numerical processing for topographic effect removal, can detect very small displacements occurring early in deformation processes. As illustrated by analysis of intrusion models, the monoscopic method allows prediction of fault locations and main displacement locations. It can also anticipate the principal strain directions, and separate different deformation stages. On the other hand, the stereo-photogrammetry technique, although more complicated, provides topography and volume changes, as well as pictures of surface displacements in three dimensions. Results are presented for the spreading of volcano models on a ductile substratum and viscous cored cones. We have found digital photogrammetry to be a useful tool for analogue modelling, because it provides quantitative data on surface displacements, including movement invisible to the eye, as well as topographic changes. It is a good method for investigating and comparing different deformation mechanisms. It is especially useful for interpretation of displacement patterns obtained from monitoring of natural active volcanoes. In fact, results of the methods used in the laboratory can be directly compared with field data from geodetic or photogrammetric surveys, as at Mount St. Helens in 1980.     

会昌地震台数字与模拟地震波形和震级的对比初探

通过会昌台数字与模拟地震记录到的多个地震事件进行对比分析，认为前者在记录带宽、获取更多的地震动物理量、记录波形能力及可操作性等方面具有显著的优势，数字观测完全可以取代模拟观测；对两种记录计算的地震震级进行了对比与统计分析，发现数字记录近震的震级比远震的偏差要大，远震震级可直接与全国地震目录接轨。     

我国近年雾研究方法及研究热点综述

在过去的几十年里,我国关于雾的各项研究已取得了丰硕的成果。对近年来该领域研究的最新进展和研究成果进行总结和概括,包括气候统计方法对雾特征的研究、数值模拟方法对雾的机制研究、雾微物理结构研究、雾的监测识别与预报技术研究。在此基础上,针对目前雾研究领域的热点和未来可能的研究方向进行了分析,包括高速公路大雾天气的研究、霾研究、雾与城市化相互作用以及沿海和复杂地形地区雾的研究。     

模拟水位自记装置的制作

介绍了模拟水位装置的设计思路、主体结构和工作原理,介绍了设计的具体数据、选材和制作工艺。该装置以科普展览为目的,具有直观、明了的特点,其设计旨在促进青少年学生对地震科普知识的兴趣,增加防震减灾知识。     

中国华北雾霾天气与超强El Ni?o事件的相关性研究

2015年11—12月,全国接连发生七次大范围、持续性雾霾天气过程,其中,11月27日—12月1日的雾霾天气过程持续时间长达五天,成为2015年最强的一次重污染天气过程;12月19-25日重度雾霾再次发展,影响面积一度达到35.2万km~2.本文利用多种数据资料通过个例对比和历史统计详细分析了超强El Ni?o背景下雾霾天气频发的天气气候条件.其结果清楚表明:2015年11—12月欧亚中高纬度以纬向环流为主,东亚冬季风偏弱,使得影响我国的冷空气活动偏少,我国中东部大部地区对流层低层盛行异常偏南风,大气相对湿度明显偏大,并且大气层结稳定,对流层底层存在明显逆温.上述大气环流条件使得污染物的水平和垂直扩散条件差,因此在有一定污染排放的情况下,造成了重度雾霾天气过程的频发.由此,超强El Ni?o事件所导致的大尺度大气环流异常是我国中东部,尤其华北地区冬季雾霾天气频发的重要原因之一.