Post-earthquake economic resilience and recovery efficiency in the border areas of the Tibetan Plateau: A case study of areas affected by the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 Earthquake in Sichuan,China in 2008

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The border areas of the Tibetan Plateau and the neighboring mountainous areas have a high incidence of earthquakes with a magnitude greater than Ms 5.0, as well...     

A note on the lake level variations of Nam Co,south-central Tibetan Plateau from 2005 to 2019

Tibetan lake levels are sensitive to global change, and their variations have a large impact on the environment, local agriculture and animal husbandry practices. While many remote sensing data of Tibetan lake level changes have been reported, few are from in-situ measurements. This note presents the first in-situ lake level time series of the central Tibetan Plateau. Since 2005, daily lake level observations have been performed at Lake Nam Co, one of the largest on the Tibetan Plateau. The interannual lake level variations show an overall increasing trend from 2006 to 2014, a rapid decrease from 2014 to 2017, and a surge from 2017 to 2018. The annual average lake level of the hydrological year (May-April) rose 66 cm from 2006 to 2014, dropped 59 cm from 2014 to 2017, and increased 20 cm from 2017 to 2018, resulting in a net rise of 27 cm or an average rate of about 2 cm per year. Compared to the annual average lake level based on the calendar year, it is better to use the annual average lake level based on the hydrological year to determine the interannual lake level changes. As the lake level was stable in May, it is appropriate to compare May lake levels when examining interannual lake level changes with fewer data. Overall, remote sensing results agree well with the in-situ lake level observations; however, some significant deviations exist. In the comparable 2006-2009 period, the calendar-year average lake level observed in-situ rose by 10-11 cm per year, which is lower than the ICESat result of 18 cm per year.     

Cryosphere evapotranspiration in the Tibetan Plateau: A review

Land surface actual evapotranspiration is an important process that influences the Earth's energy and water cycles and determines the water and heat transfer in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere system. Meanwhile, the cryosphere's hydrological process is receiving extensive attention, and its water problem needs to be understood from multiple perspectives. As the main part of the Chinese cryosphere, the Tibetan Plateau faces significant climate and environmental change. There are active interaction and pronounced feedback between the environment and ET_a in the cryosphere. This article mainly focuses on the research progress of ET_a in the Tibetan Plateau. It first reviews the ET_a process, characteristics, and impact factors of typical underlying surfaces in the Tibetan Plateau (alpine meadows, alpine steppes, alpine wetlands, alpine forests, lakes). Then it compares the temporal and spatial variations of ET_a at different scales. In addition, considering the current greening of cryosphere vegetation due to climate change, it discusses the relationship between vegetation greening and transpiration to help clarify how vegetation activities are related to the regional water cycle and surface energy budget.     

Impact of Grazing Exclusion on the Surface Heat Balance in North Tibet

The grazing exclusion program used by the Tibetan government to protect the ecological environment has changed the vegetation and impacted the surface heat balance in North Tibet. However, little information is available to describe the in?uences of the current grazing exclusion program on local surface heat balance. This study uses the records of fenced grassland patch locations to identify the impact of grazing exclusion on surface heat balance in North Tibet. The records of fenced grassland patch locations, including the longitude, latitude, and elevation of the vertices of each fenced patch (polygon shapes), were provided by the agriculture and animal husbandry bureaus of the counties where the patches were located. ArcGIS 10.2 was used to create polygon shapes based on patch location records. Based on satellite data and the surface heat balance system determined by the model, values for changes in land surface temperature (LST), albedo and evapotranspiration (ET) induced by grazing exclusion were obtained. All of these can influence surface heat balance and alter the fluctuation of LST in the northern Tibetan Plateau. The LST trends for day and night showed an asymmetric diurnal variation, with a larger magnitude of warming in the day than cooling at night. The maximum decrease in absorbed shortwave of LST (-0.5 - -0.4 ℃ per decade) occurred in the central region, while the minimum decrease (-0.2 - -0.1 ℃ per decade) occurred in the eastern region. The decreased latent heat lead to the LST increased maximum (>1 ℃ per decade) occurred in the central region, The eastern region increased at a rate of 0.2-0.5 ℃ per decade, while the minimum increase (0-0.1 ℃ per decade) occurred in the northwestern region.     

卫星测高数据监测青藏高原湖泊2010年—2018年水位变化

青藏高原湖泊水位变化是气候变化和生态环境变化研究的重要指标。随着Cryosat-2观测数据的日益丰富和处理技术的提升,可以有效监测更多湖泊的水位变化信息。本研究构建了基于噪声去除技术、改进的波形重跟踪处理算法（ImpMWaPP）和误差混合动态模型为一体的高精度湖泊水位序列提取方法,利用Cryosat-2 SARIn数据获取到133个青藏高原湖泊2010年—2018年的高精度水位序列,并分析了这些湖泊水位变化的时空变化特征。总体上,青藏高原湖泊的水位继续呈上升趋势,但上升速度较2003年—2009年趋缓,年均变化率0.159 m/a。从地域分布上,北部湖泊的水位上升最为显著,而南部湖泊的水位则趋于稳定。从时间上,2010年—2012年和2016年—2018年,大多数湖泊的水位呈现快速上涨,而其他时间水位相对稳定或略有下降。     

青藏高原和阿尔卑斯山山体效应的对比研究

山体效应不仅对气候产生重大影响,也对区域地理生态格局有深远影响,尤其是它对山地垂直带分布和结构类型等的影响已经为地理学家和地植物学家所认识。目前相关研究主要集中在山体效应定量化方面,缺少不同山地山体效应的对比研究,因此对山体效应的区域差异性了解不足。本文选择欧亚大陆上具有明显山体效应的两个山地青藏高原和阿尔卑斯山为研究对象,利用收集到的气象台站观测数据、林线和DEM数据以及基于MODIS地表温度估算的青藏高原和阿尔卑斯山气温数据等,通过对比分析青藏高原与阿尔卑斯山相同海拔高度上的气温以及林线分布高度等来探讨两个山地的山体效应差异性。分析结果表明青藏高原的山体效应比阿尔卑斯山更为强烈,表现为：① 由于山体效应影响,在相同海拔高度上（4500 m）,青藏高原内部气温远高于阿尔卑斯山的气温,尤其是在最热月高原内部气温比阿尔卑斯山内部气温高10~15℃,在最冷月高原内部气温比阿尔卑斯山内部气温高5~10℃。② 由于山体效应影响,青藏高原内部林线也远高于阿尔卑斯山内部林线,约高2000~3000 m。本研究将为山体效应的影响因素分析奠定基础,同时对于揭示欧亚大陆山地生态系统格局具有一定的科学意义。     

青藏高原农区农户的家庭能源消费研究

农村能源转型是能源消费革命的重要组成部分。基于问卷调查和入户访谈,对青海省10个县（区）的318户农区家庭用能信息进行调查,辨识了青海省农区不同收入分层家庭的能源消费模式,并通过建立典型家庭能源流模型,总结了家庭能获取-消费-废弃过程的形态变化。结果显示：青海省农区家庭能源消费以煤炭、薪柴和秸秆为主,非商品能源消费占比为49.6%,清洁能源使用率低。煤炭消费在5类家庭中均占比最高,薪柴和秸秆消费在低收入家庭占比较高。高收入家庭能源消费类型更多,消费量也大,能源流动更复杂。最后,根据青海省的经济地理特征,提出相应政策建议。     

Seep mounds on the Southern Vøring Plateau (offshore Norway)

Multidisciplinary study of seep-related structures on Southern Vøring Plateau has been performed during several UNESCO/IOC TTR cruises on R/V Professor Logachev. High-resolution sidescan sonar and subbottom profiler data suggest that most of the studied fluid discharge structures have a positive relief at their central part surrounded by depression. Our data shows that the present day fluid activity is concentrated on the top of these “seep mounds”. Number of high hydrocarbon (HC) gas saturated sediment cores and 5 cores with gas hydrate presence have been recovered from these structures. δ¹³C of methane (between −68 and −94.6‰ VPDB) and dry composition of the gas points to its biogenic origin. The sulfate depletion generally occurs within the upper 30–200 cm bsf and usually coincides with an increase of methane concentration. Pore water δ¹⁸O ranges from 0.29 to 1.14‰ showing an overall gradual increase from bottom water values (δ¹⁸O ∼ 0.35‰). Although no obvious evidence of fluid seepage was observed during the TV surveys, coring data revealed a broad distribution of living Pogonophora and bacterial colonies on sea bottom inside seep structures. These evidences point to ongoing fluid activity (continuous seepage of methane) through these structures. From other side, considerable number and variety of chemosynthetic macro fauna with complete absence of living species suggest that present day level of fluid activity is significantly lower than it was in past. Dead and subfossil fauna recovered from various seep sites consist of solemyid (Acharax sp.), thyasirid and vesicomyid (cf. Calyptogena sp.) bivalves belonging to chemosymbiotic families. Significant variations in δ¹³C (−31.6‰ to −59.2‰) and δ¹⁸O (0.42‰ and 6.4‰) of methane-derived carbonates collected from these structures most probably related to changes in gas composition and bottom water temperature between periods of their precipitation. This led us to ideas that: (1) seep activity on the Southern Vøring Plateau was started with large input of the deep thermogenic gas and gradually decries in time with increasing of biogenic constituent; (2) authigenic carbonate precipitation started at the near normal deep sea environments with bottom water temperature around +5 °C and continues with gradual cooling up to negative temperatures recording at present time.     

作物生产潜力变化的区域差异——以陕西省为例

作物生产潜力变化具有明显的区域差异性,亟需针对不同地理单元实施有效应对措施和调控策略。选择陕西省三大地理单元（陕北高原、关中盆地和秦巴山区）为研究对象,运用全球生态区模型（GAEZ）分析了陕西省不同地理单元作物生产潜力变化趋势,探讨了不同作物生产潜力变化的区域差异,辨识出影响不同作物生产潜力变化的主要因素,结果显示：（1） 1980—2015年间,陕西省玉米生产潜力总量增加了150.55×10⁴ t,小麦生产潜力总量则下降了402.69×10⁴ t。（2） 关中盆地的玉米和小麦生产潜力皆最大,陕北高原次之,秦巴山区的玉米和小麦生产潜力皆最小;陕北高原和秦巴山区的玉米生产潜力皆表现出先增加后减小再增加的变化趋势,关中盆地的玉米生产潜力则先减小后增加再减小;关中盆地和秦巴山区的小麦生产潜力都呈下降趋势,陕北高原的小麦生产潜力则有所提高。（3） 土地利用变化呈现减产效应,这一效应在关中盆地尤为显著,其次为陕北高原;气候变化导致玉米生产潜力增加,使小麦生产潜力下降;气候变化对不同地理单元的影响也不相同,在陕北高原表现为增产效应,在关中盆地和秦巴山区则为减产效应。（4） 在陕北高原,气候变化的增产效应是玉米和小麦生产潜力提高的主要原因,气候变化对玉米生产潜力的影响大于对小麦的影响,耕地向草地、林地和建设用地的转化是降低作物生产潜力最主要的土地利用变化因素;在关中盆地,作物生产潜力的变化主要是受气候变化的影响,小麦受气候变化的影响较玉米为大,以建设用地占用耕地为特征的土地利用变化对玉米生产潜力的影响大于对小麦的影响;在秦巴山区,土地利用变化是玉米生产潜力变化的主要原因,而小麦生产潜力的变化主要受气候变化影响。