Soil property variation mapping through data mining of soil category maps

Spatial information on soil properties is an important input to hydrological models. In current hydrological modelling practices, soil property information is often derived from soil category maps by the linking method in which a representative soil property value is linked to each soil polygon. Limited by the area‐class nature of soil category maps, the derived soil property variation is discontinuous and less detailed than high resolution digital terrain or remote sensing data. This research proposed dmSoil, a data‐mining‐based approach to derive continuous and spatially detailed soil property information from soil category maps. First, the soil–environment relationships are extracted through data mining of a soil map. The similarity of the soil at each location to different soil types in the soil map is then estimated using the mined relationships. Prediction of soil property values at each location is made by combining the similarities of the soil at that location to different soil types and the representative soil property values of these soil types. The new approach was applied in the Raffelson Watershed and Pleasant Valley in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, United States to map soil A horizon texture (in both areas) and depth to soil C horizon (in Pleasant Valley). The property maps from the dmSoil approach capture the spatial gradation and details of soil properties better than those from the linking method. The new approach also shows consistent accuracy improvement at validation points. In addition to the improved performances, the inputs for the dmSoil approach are easy to prepare, and the approach itself is simple to deploy. It provides an effective way to derive better soil property information from soil category maps for hydrological modelling. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling spatial variations in dissolved oxygen in fine‐grained streams under uncertainty

This paper presents a novel triple‐layer model, called VART DO‐3L, for simulation of spatial variations in dissolved oxygen (DO) in fine‐grained streams, characterized by a fluid mud (fluff or flocculent) layer (an advection‐dominated storage zone) as the interface between overlying stream water and relatively consolidated streambed sediment (a diffusion‐dominated storage zone). A global sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the sensitivity of VART DO‐3L model input parameters. Results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that the most sensitive parameter is the relative size of the advection‐dominated storage zones (A_s/A), followed by a lumped reaction term (R) for the flocculent layer, biological reaction rate (μ_o) in diffusive layer and biochemical oxygen demand concentration (L) in water column. In order to address uncertainty in model input parameters, Monte Carlo simulations are performed to sample parameter values and to produce various parameter combinations or cases. The VART DO‐3L model is applied to the Lower Amite River in Louisiana, USA, to simulate vertical and longitudinal variations in DO under the cases. In terms of longitudinal variation, the DO level decreases from 7.9 mg l at the Denham Springs station to about 2.89 mg l^?1 at the Port Vincent station. In terms of vertical variation, the DO level drops rapidly from the overlying water column to the advection‐dominated storage zone and further to the diffusive layer. The DO level (C_F) in the advective layer (flocculent layer) can reach as high as 40% of DO concentration (C) in the water column. The VART DO‐3L model may be applied to similar rivers for simulation of spatial variations in DO level. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Composition and flux of suspended organic matter in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang (Yangtze River) — impact of the Three Gorges Dam and the role of tributaries and channel erosion

To investigate the sources of particulate organic matter (POM) and the impact of Three Gorges Dam (TGD), two large lakes and erosion processes on determining the composition and flux of POM in low water discharge periods along the middle and lower Changjiang, suspended particulate samples were collected along the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang (Yangtze River) in January 2008. Organic geochemistry of bulk sediment (particulate organic carbon, organic carbon to nitrogen molar ratio (C/N), stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C) and grain size) and biomarker of bulk sediment (lignin phenols) were measured to trace the sources of POM. The range of C/N ratios (6.4–8.9), δ¹³C (?24.3‰ – ?26.2‰) and lignin phenols concentration Λ8 (0.45 mg/100 mg OC‐2.00 mg/100 mg OC) of POM suggested that POM originated from the mixture of soil, plant tissue and autochthonous organic matter (OM) during the dry season. POM from lakes contained a higher portion of terrestrial OM than the mainstream, which was related to sand mining and hydropower erosion processes. A three end‐member model based on δ¹³C and Λ8 was performed. The results indicated that soil contributed approximately 50% of OM to the POM, which is the dominant OM source in most stations. POM composition was affected by total suspended matter (TSM) and grain size composition, and the direct OM input from two lakes and channel erosion induced OM. The lower TSM concentration in January 2008 was mainly caused by seasonal variations; the impact from the TGD in the dry season was relatively small. A box model indicated that more than 90% of the terrestrial OM transported by the Changjiang in January 2008 was from the middle and lower drainage basins. Channel erosion induced OM, and contributions from Poyang Lake were the major terrestrial OM sources in the dry season. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variations of albedo on nine glaciers in western China from 2000 to 2011

This research demonstrates the spatiotemporal variations of albedo on nine glaciers in western China during 2000–2011, by the albedo derived from two types of datasets: Landsat TM/ETM + images and MOD10A1 product. Then, the influence factors of glacier albedo and its relationship with glacier mass balance are also analyzed by the correlation approach, which is frequently used in geostatistics. The paper finds that there are different spatiotemporal variations over the glaciers in western China: (1) For a single glacier, the albedo varies gently with altitude on its tongue and increases fast in the middle part, while in the accumulation zones, the albedo value appears in the form of fluctuation. This could provide a quantitative method to retrieve the snowline by determining the threshold albedo value of snowpack and bare ice. (2) For the glaciers in western China, the albedo decreases with distance to the center of Tibetan Plateau (TP). This may relate to the elevation of glacier, for the speed of glacier retreat highly depends on air temperature. (3) In the summer period, albedo on most glaciers declines over the last 12 years, and it decreases much faster in southeastern TP than other regions, for which air temperature overwhelms the black carbon concentration. In addition, the trend of glacier albedo in summer is greatly correlated with that of measured glacier mass balance, which implies that the long‐term albedo datasets by remote sensing technology could be used to monitor and predict the change of glacier mass balance in the future. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ensemble simulation of land evapotranspiration in China based on a multi-forcing and multi-model approach

In order to reduce the uncertainty of offline land surface model(LSM) simulations of land evapotranspiration(ET), we used ensemble simulations based on three meteorological forcing datasets [Princeton, ITPCAS(Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Qian] and four LSMs(BATS, VIC, CLM3.0 and CLM3.5), to explore the trends and spatiotemporal characteristics of ET, as well as the spatiotemporal pattern of ET in response to climate factors over mainland China during 1982–2007. The results showed that various simulations of each member and their arithmetic mean(Ens Mean) could capture the spatial distribution and seasonal pattern of ET sufficiently well, where they exhibited more significant spatial and seasonal variation in the ET compared with observation-based ET estimates(Obs MTE). For the mean annual ET, we found that the BATS forced by Princeton forcing overestimated the annual mean ET compared with Obs MTE for most of the basins in China, whereas the VIC forced by Princeton forcing showed underestimations. By contrast, the Ens Mean was closer to Obs MTE, although the results were underestimated over Southeast China. Furthermore, both the Obs MTE and Ens Mean exhibited a significant increasing trend during 1982–98; whereas after 1998, when the last big EI Ni ?no event occurred, the Ens Mean tended to decrease significantly between 1999 and 2007, although the change was not significant for Obs MTE. Changes in air temperature and shortwave radiation played key roles in the long-term variation in ET over the humid area of China, but precipitation mainly controlled the long-term variation in ET in arid and semi-arid areas of China.     

西藏夏季降水的季节内变化特征及其影响系统

利用西藏地区1980-2013年夏季降水量资料、NCEP再分析资料等,分析了西藏地区夏季降水主模态季节内变化特征,尤其是盛夏7和8月降水异常对应的大尺度环流特征和影响系统。结果表明:西藏夏季降水存在明显的季节内变化,6和7月降水主模态的时间系数变化具有较好的持续性,而7和8月降水主模态的时间系数的相关关系明显减弱。西藏地区7和8月降水偏多年,西藏地区上游低层纬向风场均呈西风异常,但是水汽来源有差异;同时欧亚中高纬地区对流层中高层环流存在显著差异。西藏7月降水与南亚高压强度存在显著负相关关系,南亚高压偏强/弱时,降水偏少/多。西藏8月降水与南亚高压的位置关系更密切,南亚高压偏南/北,降水偏多/少。     

贵州辐射雾的时空变化特征及其气象要素分析

选取2008—2012年贵州省3646站次的辐射雾天气过程,根据08时能见度大小将其划分为4级雾、3级雾、2级雾和1级雾四个等级,利用常规地面观测资料分析其时空变化特征,并根据辐射雾多发生区选取出修文、三穗和凤冈3个分布在贵州省高速干道上的站点,利用相应地面气象观测台站的逐日逐时实测气象要素资料,分析其不同等级的气象要素特征。结果表明:各等级辐射雾在10月—次年1月发生较多;空间分布呈"东多西少"格局,4级雾主要分布中心为修文和岑巩,其余等级辐射雾主要分布中心为三穗、凤冈、平塘、正安、松桃和锦屏;修文站的4级雾偏多与其平均相对湿度明显偏高、风速小于3 m/s和风向主要为偏东风相关性较高;三穗站和凤冈站的平均相对湿度与当日08时和前一日20时的气温差相对利于雾的生成,但其风速较小,垂直混合较弱,故其主要为较低等级雾。     

冬季东亚高空副热带急流和温带急流协同变化与中国南方地区降水的关系

利用NCEP/NCAR再分析数据和中国台站降水资料研究冬季东亚高空副热带急流和温带急流协同变化特征及其与中国南方地区降水的关系,发现冬季东亚高原急流与温带急流同期反向协同变化特征最为显著。即高原急流增强,同时温带急流减弱(SW型)和高原急流减弱,同时温带急流增强(WS型)。当高原急流增强(减弱)而温带急流减弱(增强)时,中国南方地区降水显著增加(减少)。合成分析表明,不同急流协同变化型态下冷暖空气活动特征存在较大差异,高原急流与温带急流的反向协同变化可以真实反映与冬季中国南方地区降水相关联的冷暖空气活动特征,进而导致不同降水形态的产生。     

气候变化情景下黄淮海区域热量资源及夏玉米温度适宜度

利用黄淮海区域90个站点1971—2000年逐日气象资料以及国家气候中心发布的未来气候变化情景(A1B)下区域气候模式(Reg CM3)模拟的黄淮海区域1951—2070年0.25°×0.25°格点气象资料,结合夏玉米主要生育期对温度的需求,构建了黄淮海区域的温度适宜度和变异系数模型,并对1951—2070年黄淮海区域热量资源、夏玉米主要生育期的温度适宜度及其变异系数的时空变化特征进行分析。结果表明:1)黄淮海区域≥10℃积温和80%保证率下日平均温度≥10℃的初日均呈现由北向南依次增加的趋势,且随时间推移,分别呈增加和提前趋势。2)黄淮海区域夏玉米播种—出苗期的温度适宜度随时间整体呈逐渐上升的变化趋势、其变异系数随时间呈降—升—降的变化趋势;出苗—抽雄期的温度适宜度随时间呈先降后升的变化趋势、其变异系数呈降—升—降—升的变化趋势;抽雄—成熟期的温度适宜度空间上呈现2010年前北低南高、未来情景下中部低四周高的分布趋势,时间上呈2010年前稳定、未来情景下先降后升的变化趋势,其变异系数呈相反变化趋势;3)黄淮海区域夏玉米温度适宜度及其变异系数从播种—出苗期—出苗—抽雄期—抽雄—成熟期均呈反相位的变化关系。