Parameters of Land-Surface Processes for Gobi in North-West China

Using data from the intensive observation period (May–June 2000) of the NWC-ALIEX (The Field Experiment on Interaction between Land and Atmosphere in Arid Region of North-west China), the characteristics and mechanisms of some key land-surface process over Gobi in a typical arid region of north-west China are analyzed and several parameters of land-surface processes are calculated. The weighted mean of the surface albedo over a typical arid region of the Dunhuang Gobi is calculated using the relative reflection as a weighting factor, and its value is 0.255 ± 0.021. After removing the influence of precipitation, the mean soil heat capacity over a typical arid region of the Dunhuang Gobi is 1.12 × 10⁶ J m^-3 K^-1,which is smaller than that observed in the Heihe (China) River basin Field Experiment (HEIFE). The mean soil heat diffusivity and conductivity are about half of those observed in HEIFE.     

Simulation Experiments of Land Surface Physical Processes and Ecological Effect over Different Underlying Surface

Based on the existing Land Surface Physical Process Models(Deardorff, Dickinson, LIU, Noilhan, Seller, ZHAO), a Comprehensive Land Surface Physical Process Model (CLSPPM) is developed by considering the different physical processes of the earth‘s surface-vegetation-atmosphere system more completely. Compared with SiB and BATS, which are famous for their detailed parameterizations of physical variables, this simplified model is more convenient and saves much more computation time. Though simple, the feas...     

Assessing land use/cover changes: a nationwide multidate spatial database for Mexico

A nationwide multidate GIS database was generated in order to carry out the quantification and spatial characterization of land use/cover changes (LUCC) in Mexico. Existing cartography on land use/cover at a 1:250,000 scale was revised to select compatible inputs regarding the scale, the classification scheme and the mapping method. Digital maps from three different dates (the late 1970s, 1993 and 2000) were revised, evaluated, corrected and integrated into a GIS database. In order to improve the reliability of the database, an attempt was made to assess the accuracy of the digitalisation procedure and to detect and correct unlikely changes due to thematic errors in the maps. Digital maps were overlaid in order to generate LUCC maps, transition matrices and to calculate rates of conversion. Based upon this database, rates of deforestation between 1976 and 2000 were evaluated as 0.25 and 0.76% per year for temperate and tropical forests, respectively.     

鄂尔多斯盆地中生代晚期以来大地热流的变化及其对生态环境格局和演变的影响

鄂尔多斯盆地的西北部、东北部和南部三个区域现今大地热流平均值分别为56．3、67．3和65．3mW／m^2，对应的生态环境格局也有明显的差异。研究表明，大地热流每增加4～5mW／m^2可使年均地表温度升高约l℃，使最低月均地表温度升高2。C以上。鄂尔多斯盆地东北部的平均大地热流比西北部高出11mW／m^2，东北部年均地表温度可能比西北部高出2～3℃，其最低月均地表温度可能比西北部高出4～6℃。西北部的大地热流平均值已经低于维持地表生态系统延续所需大地热流的临界值(57mW／m^2)，其自然生态系统整体上已经处于脆弱境地；东北部和南部的大地热流均大于57mW／m^2，自然生态系统均尚较稳健。东北部的沙漠化可能是风沙侵入的结果，其生态应该是可以恢复的。整个西北部作为一个整体看，72万年以前大地热流就已衰减到临界值以下，区域生态系统渐趋脆弱，开始整体上向荒漠化演变。     

Estimating coefficients of volume compressibility from compression of strata and piezometric changes in a multiaquifer system in west Taiwan

This paper estimates the coefficients of volume compressibility from variation in compressible layer thickness and changes in piezometric heads by using detail ground surface surveys and a multilayer monitoring well at a selected site (Shigang) within the Choshui River alluvial fan in west Taiwan. The paper integrates various types of in situ monitoring tools, including leveling surveys, continuous global position system (GPS) stations, multilevel layer compression and groundwater pressure head-monitoring wells, to investigate the situation and progress of the subsidence problem in the region. The results from the cross-analyses of the measured data show that surface settlement caused by the compression of strata is between the depths of 60 and 210 m where the clayey stratum within 120-180 m was most pronounced and contributes up to 53% of the total compression. The results indicate that the clayey stratum is under normal consolidation. The results also reflect the fact that 20% of settlement contribution comes from the sandy stratum within 90-120 m; the elasto-plastic behavior of this sandy stratum is clear. The coefficients of volume compressibility of the clayey and sandy stratum analysed from the stratum's compression records; they were 6.38×10⁻⁸ and 5.71×10⁻⁹ m²/N, respectively. Ultimately, this parameter estimation would permit to control and predict land subsidence based on change in pressure head which are related to groundwater extraction.     

Wildlife management and land reform in southeastern Zimbabwe: a compatible pairing or a contradiction in terms?

This paper examines the melding of two discourses in southeastern Zimbabwe: land reform and wildlife management. The former seeks to redistribute large, ‘under-utilized’ landholdings to smallholders whilst the latter needs extensive land holdings to be viable. These two discourses are rooted in very different models of development. The land reform exercise emphasizes direct redistribution, equity and land for crops; whilst the wildlife management discourse tends to stress maximizing foreign exchange earnings, encouraging public-private partnerships and trickle down. Yet there has been a recent flurry of interest in the development of ‘wildlife models’ for land reform which would combine the two. This paper investigates whether the competing discourses about land for smallholders and wildlife-based land reform are compatible or can be successfully reconciled. It traces the ways they have come together in Zimbabwe’s southeast lowveld and examines the ‘science’ and politics underlying their melding. Finally it explores the potential implications for rural people’s livelihoods of this development. It concludes that land reform and wildlife management can be reconciled, but probably not in a particularly equitable way: it is more likely to provide an opening for an equitable land reform agenda to be usurped by local and non-local elites with wildlife interests.     

Urban land transformation for pro-poor economies

The transformation of land into a setting for clustering local economies can become an important cornerstone of poverty policy. This transformation has several functional aspects, which in turn have important institutional and political aspects. Underlying both the functional and institutional factors is the role of local government and local democracy. Such a conceptualization puts to center stage several paradoxes: A terrain that seems “slum-like” turns out to be highly productive and employment generating. Complex tenure forms and mixed land use seen as “unplanned” turn out to be pre-requisites for economic development. There are institutional paradoxes that contrast efforts at “transparency” and managerial “best practices”. Here, the messiness of local bureaucracies in municipal government turns out to be critical for poor groups to influence interventions in their favor. Influencing the public process may be more effective in stealth-like ways rather taking a more visible approach. Most fundamentally these issues remind us that the potential of cities to reinforce or reduce poverty moved far beyond projects and programs and the normative frameworks used by planners and administrators. Instead, it is the transformative process of turning land into economic settings that might be at the center stage. This is a stage where poor groups are the central actors who stealth-like draw on complex alliances across ethnic and class lines to shapes cities in their interests.     

Progress in sandy desertification research of China

Desertification is one of the most serious environmental and socio-economic problems facing the world today. Because the rapid expansion of desertification has resulted in serious environmental deterioration, economic loss, locally unsteadiness political situation and social upheaval, it has become a hot-spot issue of worldwide concern. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the catastrophic drought in the west Africa greatly accelerated the development of desertification, the desertificati…     

科尔沁沙地土地沙漠化的历史与现状

科尔沁沙地是我国自然条件相对较好的一个沙地，有着广阔的治理前景。回顾科尔沁沙地的历史变化，认为科尔沁沙地是一个全球气候变化大趋势下由人类生产活动过度而形成的沙漠化区域，在金代至清代之间由于人为活动强度减弱，曾经发生明显的沙漠化逆转。根据全国沙漠化普查所获得的资料，研究分析了科尔沁沙地土地沙漠化现状及其特点，结合土地沙漠化发生的历史过程，讨论了这一地区沙漠化的治理策略。     

基于DOM的宁波市城市用地调查

介绍以DOM，进行城市用地调查方式，极大的提高了调查的效率。