Late Holocene dune activity in the Eastern Platte River Valley, Nebraska

Large-scale dune activity in the Nebraska Sand Hills and elsewhere on the western Great Plains has been linked to prehistoric “megadroughts” that triggered the activation of regional dune fields. The effect of megadroughts on the smaller dune fields east of the Nebraska Sand Hills has never been assessed, however. This study focuses on the Duncan dune field near the confluence of the Loup and Platte rivers in eastern Nebraska. Seventeen optically stimulated luminescence age estimates were obtained and reveal two periods of dune activation that occurred between 4.4 to 3.4 ka and 0.8 to 0.5 ka. Significantly, both periods chronologically overlap large-scale dune activity identified in the Nebraska Sand Hills. Geochemical evidence indicates that the Duncan dunes received sand not only from the terrace underlying them, but also from the Loup River. These data link dune activity in the Duncan area, at least indirectly, to increased sediment supply from streams that drain the Sand Hills during megadroughts, implying the activation of the dunes occurred as an indirect response to regional megadroughts. Calculations of dune migration rates, however, argue in favor of local, drought-driven hydrologic changes as a causative factor in dune activation, in other words, a direct effect of megadroughts. Whether the impact was direct or indirect, it is highly likely that the repeated reactivation of the Duncan dunes resulted in some way from regional, large-magnitude droughts. Other paleoclimate proxies from the Great Plains tend to support this conclusion. We conclude that the megadroughts that have been identified in the Sand Hills and other Great Plains dune fields were indeed regional events with far-reaching effects.     

The use of ocean color remote sensing in integrated coastal zone management—A case study from Himmerfjärden,Sweden

In this study the use of ocean color data as a diagnostic tool in integrated coastal zone management was investigated as part of the Science Policy Integration for Coastal Systems Assessment (SPICOSA) project. Parallel to this, an operational coastal monitoring system has been set up in close collaboration with end-users. The core work of the bio-optical part in the project was to develop Secchi depth and attenuation of light as indicators for coastal zone management, by linking remote sensing with the socio-economic and ecological model developed in SPICOSA. The article emphasizes the benefits of stakeholder involvement and end-user feedback for efficient and improved system development. Furthermore, conceptual models were developed on how to integrate remote sensing data into coastal zone management and into a physical-biological model of the Baltic Sea. One of the work packages in the SPICOSA project was academic training. In this work package, on-line teaching material in the field of remote sensing and bio-optics was developed and disseminated on the SETnet web page. The article presented here may act as supportive material for training in bio-optics and remote sensing.     

Investigating the amount of zeroing in modern sediments of River Danube, Austria

Sediments attributed to flooding events of River Danube concerning the bleaching of the optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) signal were investigated. It is demonstrated that the OSL signal in both quartz and feldspar is not completely but differentially bleached in the sediment grains. Partial bleaching of the samples is clearly indicated by the scatter of equivalent dose determined for several individual single aliquots. It is also shown that residual ages in feldspars are significantly higher than those calculated for quartz. It is furthermore demonstrated that analysing measurement-time dependent equivalent dose estimates is not a suitable method to identify partial bleaching in the investigated sediment grains. However, the transport and deposition process of the investigated samples was probably disturbed by an artificial input of sediment, and this case study may thus not be representative of undisturbed high flood events in the past.     

物理模型试验光纤传感测试方法应用进展

室内模拟试验是岩土力学与工程地质领域科学研究的重要手段之一。光纤传感测试是一种高精度、实时性、分布式和并行式的测试技术,构建物理模型试验光纤传感测试方法,推动了模拟试验技术的进步,为现场工程可以提供更可靠的指导。本文列举了常用模型试验光纤传感测试技术,综述了岩土力学与工程地质在5个方面应用模型试验光纤传感测试的进展,并对光纤传感器的结构形式、温度补偿、传感器标定、布设工艺等应用关键问题进行了总结,探讨了光纤与模型材料变形同步、协调和相容的关系。表明基于光纤传感技术的多尺度、多源信息模型试验研究将成为未来岩土力学与工程室内试验的热点。     

法国高层大气所空间综合孔径项目研究进展

概述了法国高层大气所空间综合孔径项目背景、科学目标以及有效载荷,介绍了该项目演示系统的基本工作原理,探讨了该演示系统的望远子系统、指向子系统、共相子系统和成像子系统,并分别给出了该演示系统在非共相控制和共相控制情况下对半导体激光器和白光点光源的成像结果,实验结果表明演示系统不同独立望远镜之间已经基本实现了共相成像。最后对该演示系统进行了总结,并指出该系统可以进一步优化之处。该演示系统对我国综合孔径成像实验研究具有一定的借鉴意义。     

气溶胶光学厚度的时空变化

在大气中气溶胶微粒是一种重要的大气微量成分。气溶胶光学厚度也是大气校正所需的重要大气参数，同时也是海洋水色卫星主要的数据产品。由于气溶胶光学厚度的时空变化较大，所以如何准确获取大气校正和卫星数据产品真实性检验所需的气溶胶光学厚度则是至关重要的。在简述气溶胶光学性质的基础上，并结合2002年6月HY—1南海实验数据来阐述现场气溶胶光学厚度的准确获取。     

The optical features and hydrocarbon-generating model of “barkinite” from Late Permian coals in South China

Leping coal is known for its high content of “barkinite”, which is a unique liptinite maceral apparently found only in the Late Permian coals of South China. “Barkinite” has previously identified as suberinite, but on the basis of further investigations, most coal petrologists conclude that “barkinite” is not suberinite, but a distinct maceral. The term “barkinite” was introduced by (State Bureau of Technical Supervision of the People's Republic of China, 1991, GB 12937-91 (in Chinese)), but it has not been recognized by ICCP and has not been accepted internationally.In this paper, elemental analyses (EA), pyrolysis-gas chromatography, Rock-Eval pyrolysis and optical techniques were used to study the optical features and the hydrocarbon-generating model of “barkinite”. The results show that “barkinite” with imbricate structure usually occurs in single or multiple layers or in a circular form, and no definite border exists between the cell walls and fillings, but there exist clear aperture among the cells.“Barkinite” is characterized by fluorescing in relatively high rank coals. At low maturity of 0.60–0.80%R_o, “barkinite” shows strong bright orange–yellow fluorescence, and the fluorescent colors of different cells are inhomogeneous in one sample. As vitrinite reflectance increases up to 0.90%R_o, “barkinite” also displays strong yellow or yellow–brown fluorescence; and most of “barkinite” lose fluorescence at the maturity of 1.20–1.30%R_o. However, most of suberinite types lose fluorescence at a vitrinite reflectance of 0.50% Ro, or at the stage of high volatile C bituminous coal. In particular, the cell walls of “barkinite” usually show red color, whereas the cell fillings show yellow color under transmitted light. This character is contrary to suberinite.“Barkinite” is also characterized by late generation of large amounts of liquid oil, which is different from the early generation of large amounts of liquid hydrocarbon. In addition, “barkinite” with high hydrocarbon generation potential, high elemental hydrogen, and low carbon content. The pyrolysis products of “barkinite” are dominated by aliphatic compounds, followed by low molecular-weight aromatic compounds (benzene, toluene, xylene and naphthalene), and a few isoprenoids. The pyrolysis hydrocarbons of “barkinite” are mostly composed of light oil (C₆–C₁₄) and wet gas (C₂–C₅), and that heavy oil (C₁₅⁺) and methane (C₁) are the minor hydrocarbon.In addition, suberinite is defined only as suberinized cell walls—it does not include the cell fillings, and the cell lumens were empty or filled by corpocollinites, which do not show any fluorescence. Whereas, “barkinite” not only includes the cell walls, but also includes the cell fillings, and the cell fillings show bright yellow fluorescence.Since the optical features and the hydrocarbon-generating model of “barkinite” are quite different from suberinite. We suggest that “barkinite” is a new type of maceral.     

中国西北大气沙尘光学特性的数值试验

利用 1991年 2月下旬～ 5月中旬HEIFE张掖和沙漠站的大气浑浊度观测、地面辐射观测及同期卫星资料 ,借助NCARCCM 3中的辐射模式CRM ,模拟估算了我国西北大气沙尘气溶胶的部分光学参数 ,单次散射反照率 (ω0 )和光学厚度比 [k(τλ=8～ 14 /τλ=0 .55) ]。计算结果表明 ,清洁天ω0 和k(τλ =8～ 14 /(τλ =0 .55)在沙漠和绿洲均为 0 .94和 0 .1;浑浊天ω0 在绿洲为 0 .90 ,沙漠为 0 .84 ;k(τλ=8～ 14 /τλ =0 .55)在绿洲为 0 .3 ,沙漠为 0 .4。在气候模式中 ,可将我国西部沙尘源区大气沙尘的ω0 和k(τλ =8～ 14 /τλ=0 .55)分别取为 0 .88和 0 .3。     

Konzentrationsprofile in Rotationsscheibenreaktoren und deren Modellierung am Beispiel des anaeroben Acetatabbaus mit experimenteller Überprüfung

Concentration Profiles in Rotating Disc Reactors. Their Mathematical Model for the Anaerobic Digestion of Acetic Acid Including an Experimental Verification This paper presents rotating disc reactors for aerobic and anaerobic wastewater treatment. Unlike the activated sludge or contact processes, this reactor allows higher concentrations of biomass and lesser danger of the reactor becoming blocked. The reduced backmixing within the reactor leads to axial concentration profiles when continuously operated. These are presented for various biological processes. The axial concentration profiles generated during the continuous anaerobic degradation of acetic acid are measured and described by a mathematical model. A refined dispersion model is created on the basis of tracer experiments taking into account the actual construction of the reactor as well as the physical conditions in it. To determine the biodegradation a Haldane kinetics is used, in which the undissociated acetic acid is the substrate. The model takes into consideration all the local parameters (pH value, concentration of acetic acid, biomass, and ion activity). The difficult measurement of the concentration of the active biomass which is immobilized on the disk is accomplished by carrying out batch experiments. The results of the experiments are 22 concentration profiles with influent DOC concentrations from 200 to 2000 mg L^–1 which were measured and modelled. Some examples are shown to illustrate the influence of the ion activity and the refinement of the dispersion model.