Environmental significance of snowpit chemistry in the typical monsoonal temperate glacier region,Baishui glacier no. 1, Mt Yulong,China

Samples were collected from two snowpits in Baishui glacier no. 1, Mt Yulong, China, in May 2006. Snowpit chemistry was studied, using ion tracer techniques, HYSPLIT model, factor analysis, correlation and trend analysis. It indicated that total cation concentration is higher in 4,900-m snowpit than in 4,750-m snowpit, whereas total anion concentration is higher in 4,750-m snowpit. Cations, especially Ca²⁺, dominate ionic concentrations in Baishui glacier no. 1. According to correlation analysis and factor analysis, ions can be categorized as follows: Cl⁻ and NO₃ ⁻ as Group 1, SO₄ ²⁻ as Group 2, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ as Group 3, Na⁺ as Group 4, K⁺ as Group 5. Contribution made by terrestrial dust to ionic concentration accounts for 52.27, 100, 99.36, 98.91, 96.16 and 99.97% of Cl⁻, NO₃ ⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺, respectively, in 4,900-m snowpit, and for 64.00, 100, 99.57, 98.63, 96.25 and 99.97% in 4,750-m snowpit. Local dust is the principal source of snowpit chemical components. Pollutants brought from industrial areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and South China by monsoonal circulation also makes some contribution to anion concentrations, but pollution associated with human activities makes a very slight contribution in study area. The chemical characteristics of two snowpits are different owing to the difference of deposition mechanism and local environment in different altitudes.     

A comparison of TRMM to other basin-scale estimates of rainfall during the 1999 Hurricane Floyd flood

The volumetric rainfall attributed to Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was computed for the bulk of the Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear River Basins in eastern North Carolina, USA from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) research product, and compared with volumes computed using kriged gauge data and one centrally located radar. TMPA showed similar features in the band of heaviest rainfall with kriged and radar data, but was higher in the basin-scale integrations. Furthermore, Floyd’s direct runoff volumes were computed and divided by the volumetric rainfall estimates to give runoff coefficients for the three basins. The TMPA, having the larger storm totals, would suggest greater infiltration during Floyd than the gauge and radar estimates would. Finally, we discuss a concept for adjusting the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service rainfall-runoff model when predicting discharge values from real-time TMPA in ungauged river basins.

Magmatic evolution of Li–F, rare-metal granites: a case study of melt inclusions in the Khangilay complex, Eastern Transbaikalia (Russia)

We report compositions of homogenized quartz-hosted melt inclusions from a layered sequence of Li-, F-rich granites in the Khangilay complex that document the range of melt evolution from barren biotite granites to Ta-rich, lepidolite–amazonite–albite granites. The melt inclusions are crystalline at room temperature and were homogenized in a rapid-quench hydrothermal apparatus at 200 MPa before analysis. Homogenization runs determined solidus temperatures near 550 °C and full homogenization between 650 and 750 °C. The compositions of inclusions, determined by electron microprobe and Raman spectroscopy (for H₂O), show regular overall trends of increasing differentiation from the least-evolved Khangilay units to apical units in the Orlovka intrusion. Total volatile contents in the most-evolved melts reach over 11 wt.% (H₂O: 8.6 wt.%, F: 1.6 wt.%, B₂O₃: 1.5 wt.%). Concentrations of Rb range from about 1000 to 3600 ppm but other trace elements could not be measured reliably by electron microprobe. The resulting trends of melt evolution are similar to those described by the whole-rock samples, despite petrographic evidence for albite- and mica-rich segregations previously taken as evidence for post-magmatic metasomatism.

Melt variation trends in most samples are consistent with fractional crystallization as the main process of magma evolution and residual melt compositions plot at the granite minimum in the normative Qz–Ab–Or system. However, melts trapped in the highly evolved pegmatitic samples from Orlovka deviate from the minimum melt composition and show compositional variations in Al, Na and K that requires a different explanation. We suggest that unmixing of the late-stage residual melt into an aluminosilicate melt and a salt-rich dense aqueous fluid (hydrosaline melt) occurred. Experimental data show the effectiveness of this process to separate K (aluminosilicate melt) from Na (hydrosaline melt) and high mobility of the latter due to its low viscosity and relatively low density may explain local zones of albitization in the upper parts of the granite.     

A study of melt inclusions at Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy): insights on the primitive magmas and on the volcanic feeding system

 This work presents the results of a microthermometric and EPMA-SIMS study of melt inclusions in phenocrysts of rocks of the shoshonitic eruptive complex of Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy). Different primitive magmas related to two different evolutionary series, an older one (50–25 ka) and a younger one (15 ka to 1890 A.D.), were identified as melt inclusions in olivine Fo_88–91 crystals. Both are characterized by high Ca/Al ratio and present very similar Rb/Sr, B/Be and patterns of trace elements, with Nb and Ti anomalies typical of a subduction zone. The two basalts present the same temperature of crystallization (1180±20  °C) and similar volatile abundances. The H₂O, S and Cl contents are relatively high, whereas magmatic CO₂ concentrations are very low, probably due to CO₂ loss before low-pressure crystallization and entrapment of melt inclusions. The mineral chemistry of the basaltic assemblages and the high Ca/Al ratio of melt inclusions indicate an origin from a depleted, metasomatized clinopyroxene-rich peridotitic mantle. The younger primitive melt is characterized with respect to the older one by higher K₂O and incompatible element abundances, by lower Zr/Nb and La/Nb, and by higher Ba/Rb and LREE enrichment. A different degree of partial melting of the same source can explain the chemical differences between the two magmas. However, some anomalies in Sr, Rb and K contents suggest either a slightly different source for the two magmas or differing extents of crustal contamination. Low-pressure degassing and cooling of the basaltic magmas produce shoshonitic liquids. The melt inclusions indicate evolutionary paths via fractional crystallization, leading to trachytic compositions during the older activity and to rhyolitic compositions during the recent one. The bulk-rock compositions record a more complex history than do the melt inclusions, due to the syneruptive mixing processes commonly affecting the magmas erupted at Vulcano. The composition and temperature data on melt inclusions suggest that in the older period of activity several shallow magmatic reservoirs existed; in the younger one a relatively homogeneous feeding system is active. The shallow magmatic reservoir feeding the recent eruptive activity probably has a vertical configuration, with basaltic magma in the deeper zones and differentiated magmas in shallower, low-volume, dike-like reservoirs. Received: 11 March 1998 / Accepted: 14 July 1998     

RADARSAT数字图像积雪覆盖下地物解译方法

采用加拿大RADARSAT雷达数字图像,以新疆阿勒泰地区阿勒泰市、布尔津、吉木乃、哈巴河、福海5个县(市)为典型试验区,研究了积雪覆盖下雷达遥感图像地物解译的基本原理和几何纠正方法,比较分析了标准模式的地理参考高分辨率合成孔径雷达图像与经过亮度增强、边缘增强、图像增强、斑点压缩和纹理分析处理的图像上地物目视解译的特点,建立了积雪覆盖下雷达图像上耕地、水系、交通道路、居民地等与抗灾救灾密切相关的地物的解译标志。结果表明,可弥补可见光及近红外遥感积雪监测的缺陷,为雪灾发生区的救援决策提供科学依据。     

Boundary-Layer Adjustment Over Small-Scale Changes of Surface Heat Flux

Four months of eddy correlation data collected over a grass field and a nearby sage brush community are analyzed to examine the adjustment of the boundary-layer structure as it flows from the heated brush to the snow-covered grass. The grass site includes a 34-m tower with seven levels of eddy correlation data. The midday heat flux over the snow-covered grass and bare ground surfaces is often downward particularly with melting conditions, while the corresponding heat flux over the brush is almost always upward. For most of these cases, a stable internal boundary layer over the snow is well defined in terms of vertical profiles of the buoyancy flux over the snow-covered grass. The stable internal boundary layer is generally embedded within a deeper layer of flux divergence corresponding to increasing upward heat flux with height above the internal boundary layer. With thin snow cover, the surface heat flux over the grass is weak upward due to heating of grass protruding above the snow so that the flow adjusts to a decrease of the upward surface heat flux in the downwind direction. This common case of an adjusting boundary layer contrasts with the formation of an internal boundary layer due to a change of sign of the surface heat in flux the downwind direction. The adjustment of the boundary layer to the decrease of the surface heat flux leads to vertical divergence of the upward heat flux in contrast to the usual heated boundary layer over homogeneous surfaces. The consequences of the cooling due to the vertical divergence of the heat flux are discussed in terms of the heat budget of the adjusting and internal boundary layers.     

新疆积雪对气候变暖的响应

积雪对全球变暖的响应是当前正在争论的问题.文中通过地面气象台站和SMMR微波卫星遥感两种积雪资料所建立的两个独立的积雪序列的一致性,证明前者在表现新疆积雪长期变化能力方面具有可靠性.阐明了积雪年际变化特征及其与冬季气温和降水量年际波动的关系,检验了积雪长期变化趋势.研究表明,虽然近50a来新疆冬季变暖十分显著,尤其20世纪90年代为最温暖的时期,但是积雪并未出现持续减少的现象;积雪长期变化表现为显著的年际波动过程叠加在长期缓慢的增加趋势之上.积雪年际波动是冬季降水量和气温两者年际波动共同作用的结果;冬季气温和降雪量变化受不同的欧亚环流振荡所控制;积雪增加趋势与降雪量趋势相一致,这可能是由于全球变暖导致海洋蒸发量增加,以及在寒冷干燥气候下积雪对降雪量变化更为敏感的缘故.     

A Note On Surface Humidity Measurements In The Cold Canadian Environment

In the cold Canadian environment, humidity measurements can be verydifficult to conduct. In this brief communication, humidity observationstaken by two different sensors at six remote Canadian Arctic locations arecompared. The observations collected by Vaisala HMP35CF sensors displaya strong tendency toward the ice saturation point whereas dew cell instrumentsexhibit significantly lower values of relative humidity with respect to ice (RH_i).Humidity data collected by HMP35CF hygrometers are therefore unreliable sincethey are subject to persistent icing that lead them to record values of RH_i near 100%, irrespective of the air temperature. The high humidity bias emerges atmeteorological stations mounted with the HMP35CF probes since these instrumentsare usually neither sheltered nor heated, and are not attended to at regular intervals. Thus, great care must be taken in utilizing humidity data recorded by HMP35CF sensors across the network of climate autostations in Canada.     

近24a哈尔滨机场跑道易结冰月气温统计分析

本文统计分析了哈尔滨机场1986—2009年3月份的气温,得出近24a3月份的平均气温总体趋势为先升后降,最低气温的变化先于最高气温,其对平均温度的影响较大。气温跟降水成负相关关系,暖干、冷湿相伴,且最高温度与降水日数相关显著。低气温对应的除冰日数多,高气温则少。雪深对跑道结冰有一定的作用,如果预报日气温均≤-3℃,且...     

Development of a snow wetness inversion algorithm using polarimetric scattering power decomposition model

In this paper, a new snow wetness estimation model is proposed for full-polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. Surface and volume are the dominant scattering components in wet-snow conditions. The generalized four component polarimetric decomposition with unitary transformation (G4U) based generalized surface and volume parameters are utilized to invert snow surface and volume dielectric constants using the Bragg coefficients and Fresnel transmission coefficients respectively. The snow surface and volume wetness are then estimated using an empirical relationship. The effective snow wetness is derived from the weighted averaged surface and volume snow wetness. The weights are derived from the normalized surface and volume scattering powers obtained from the generalized full-polarimetric SAR decomposition method. Six Radarsat-2 fine resolution full-polarimetric datasets acquired over Himachal Pradesh, India along with the near-real time in situ measurements were used to validate the proposed model. The snow wetness derived from the SAR data by the proposed model with in situ measurements indicated that the absolute error at 95% confidence interval is 1.3% by volume.