Effect of isolation on fragility curves of highway bridges based on simplified approach

The trend of isolating highway bridges is on the rise after the recent large earthquakes in Japan, the United States, and other countries. Recent investigation shows that isolated systems perform well against seismic forces as the substructures of such systems experience less lateral forces due to energy dissipation of the isolation device. Hence, it is anticipated that there might be an effect on fragility curves of highway bridges due to isolation. In this study, 30 isolated bridge models were considered (and they were designed according to the seismic design code of highway bridges in Japan) to have a wider range of the variation of structural parameters, e.g. pier heights, weights, and over-strength ratio of structures. Then, fragility curves were developed by following a simplified procedure using 250 strong motion records, which were selected from 5 earthquake events that occurred in Japan, the USA, and Taiwan. It is observed that the level of damage probability for the isolated system is less than that of the non-isolated one for a lower level of pier height. However, having the same over-strength ratio of the structures, the level of damage probability for the isolated system is found to be higher for a higher level of pier height compared to the one of the non-isolated system. The proposed simple approach may conveniently be used in constructing fragility curves for a class of isolated bridge structures in Japan that have similar characteristics.     

Heavy metals contents on beach and dune sediments from Espinho to Mondego Cape (Portugal)—influence of human activities

Following previous studies on beach and dune sediments from the Espinho–Mondego Cape coastal sector, geochemical studies have been done on the same sediments aiming to unravel the lithological from the anthropogenic geochemical signal. 129 samples have been collected from 45 profiles, in beach and dune sediments. Total Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cd, Co, Ni, Cr, Ca, Mg and Al concentrations were measured in the fine fractions of the sediments. The absence of relationship between the analysed heavy elements and Al and the exhibition of contents higher than the rocks outcropping in the hinterland, point to an additional source of heavy metals related to human activities. The available data allowed us to consider that inputs from Aveiro lagoon (natural and anthropogenic), Douro River and coastal erosion (by littoral drift or advective currents) are the main sources of heavy metals in this region.     

山东鲁北平原地下水资源与可持续利用

鲁北平原目前区内供水水源以黄河客水和地下水为主。最新均衡计算结果为:浅层地下水开采资源量37 03×108m3 a,深层地下水开采资源量2 62×108m3 a。据山东省水资源可持续利用总体规划报告,现状年需水量约74×108m3 a,2010年需水量为93×108m3 a,2030年需水量为109×108m3 a,现状年供需基本平衡,远景供水不足。浅层地下水易采易补,更新能力强,应以合理调控水位为中心,优先开采浅层地下水,充分发挥浅层地下水资源的供水功能,尤其是东阿—齐河—商河—利津沿黄地区更应加强开发浅层水的力度。浅层水为可持续利用的地下水资源量。深层地下水更新能力弱,应严格限制其开发利用。在德州、滨州漏斗中心区,建议实施部分封井,调减开采量。实行地表水与地下水联合调度,优化水资源开发结构,适当增加地表水引用量,实施含水层的恢复工程,遏制地面沉降等环境问题的继续发展,走全面、协调、可持续发展的路子。     

乐业县大石围天坑群洞穴第三纪堆积的孢粉组成特征及相关问题探讨

介绍了广西乐业县大石围天坑群中蚂蜂洞、里郎洞新第三纪堆积孢粉组合特征,并由此探讨了大石围天坑四层不同高程上的洞穴的发育时代。蚂蜂洞和里郎洞新第三纪堆积是迄今广西所发现的海拔高程最高的第三纪地质剖面,其孢粉主要以被子类桤木粉属( Alnipollenites )、栎粉属( Quercoidites )、桦粉属( Betulaepollenites )、栗粉属( Cupuliteroipollenites ) , 裸子类双束松粉属( Pinuspollenites ) , 蕨类水龙骨单缝孢属( Polypodiaceaaesporites )、桫椤孢属( Cyathidites )为主,反映当时主要为亚热带温暖、阴湿的森林气候环境。根据与蚂蜂洞的相对位置,推测较之高的南东支洞、最高层洞形成时代应早于新第三纪,比之低的中洞应形成于早— 中更新世,而地下河则在全新世时期形成。      

Influence of river channel geometry in stream flow modelling and guidelines for field investigation

Fully physics‐based, process‐level, distributed fluid flow and reactive transport hydrological models are rarely used in practice until recent years. These models are useful tools to help understand the fundamental physical, chemical, and biological processes that take place in nature. In this study, sensitivity analyses based on a mountain area river basin modelling study are performed to investigate the effect of river channel geometric characteristics on downstream water flow. Numerical experiments show that reduction in the river channel geometric measurement interval may not significantly affect the downstream water stage simulation as long as measurement accuracy at special nodes is guaranteed. The special upstream nodes include but are not limited to 1) nodes located close to the observation station, 2) nodes near the borders of different land covers with considerable riverbed roughness changes, 3) nodes at entering points of tributaries causing discharge jump and 4) nodes with a narrow cross‐section width that may control the flow conditions. This information provides guidelines for field investigation to efficiently obtain necessary geometric data for physics‐based hydrological modelling. It is especially useful in alpine areas such as the Tibetan Plateau where field investigation capability is limited under severe topography and climate condition. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Processes Leading to Second-Year Cooling of the 2010–12 La Ni?a Event,Diagnosed Using GODAS

Isopycnal analyses were performed on the Global Ocean Data Assimilation System(GODAS) to determine the oceanic processes leading to so-called second-year cooling of the La Nina event. In 2010–12, a horseshoe-like pattern was seen,connecting negative temperature anomalies off and on the Equator, with a dominant influence from the South Pacific. During the 2010 La Nina event, warm waters piled up at subsurface depths in the western tropical Pacific. Beginning in early 2011,these warm subsurface anomalies propagated along the Equator toward the eastern basin, acting to reverse the sign of sea surface temperature(SST) anomalies(SSTAs) there and initiate a warm SSTA. However, throughout early 2011, pronounced negative anomalies persisted off the Equator in the subsurface depths of the South Pacific. As isopycnal surfaces outcropped in the central equatorial Pacific, negative anomalies from the subsurface spread upward along with mean circulation pathways, naturally initializing a cold SSTA. In the summer, a cold SSTA reappeared in the central basin, which subsequently strengthened due to the off-equatorial effects mostly in the South Pacific. These SSTAs acted to initiate local coupled air–sea interactions, generating atmospheric–oceanic anomalies that developed and evolved with the second-year cooling in the fall of 2011. However, the cooling tendency in mid-2012 did not develop into another La Nina event, since the cold anomalies in the South Pacific were not strong enough. An analysis of the 2007–09 La Nina event revealed similar processes to the2010–12 La Nina event.     

Using maps of continuous variation in species compositional turnover to supplement uniform polygon species range maps

Species ranges are often represented using polygons, with the attendant issues that they show uniform ranges with abrupt boundaries and can overestimate species ranges. We demonstrate that such uniform species ranges can be supplemented by mapping the gradational variation in species turnover across a landscape. Directional variation in species turnover for 15 skink species (Reptilia: Scincidae) and topographic and climatic turnover in south-eastern Australia were measured using directional moving window analyses, rotated through 360°. The resultant species turnover maps were compared with published polygon range maps for two species within the group (Liopholis whitii and L. inornata). We also assessed how the relationships between species and environmental turnover varied in areas of low or high species turnover. Continuous transitions between distinct areas of low and high species turnover were mapped. Low turnover comprised only 19% of the L. whitii polygon species range within the study area extent. These low turnover areas were more densely populated by L. whitii (67% of observations), whereas areas of medium to high turnover contained substantially fewer observations (25%). Regions with the highest species turnover contained only 6% of observations. L. inornata observations were also clustered in low species turnover areas. Averaged climatic and elevation values were higher in low-turnover areas despite their close adjacency to high-turnover zones. The environmental turnover in low species turnover regions was also lower than in high-turnover areas. Correlations between environmental turnover and low species turnover areas were positive, whereas the opposite relationship applied in high species turnover areas. We identified both abrupt and gradual distributional breaks between separate reptile assemblages; an example of the latter is located in the Hunter Valley in the south-eastern coastal region. This break has been mapped using solid, uniform lines in species ranges and thus implicitly as an abrupt break. Environmental conditions may be more favourable to skinks in low-turnover areas. Since L. whitii and other skink species have very large populations in low-turnover areas, other squamate species may also be more likely to occur in these areas. This has potential implications for conservation prioritisation. The turnover maps used here can supplement the information provided about reptile distributions by the equivalent polygon ranges. This approach can be applied to point occurrence data for any taxonomic group or any similar georeferenced diversity data set.     

新疆北部地区一次特大暴雪天气诊断分析

使用NCAR再分析资料,对新疆北部阿勒泰地区2000.11.20-24特大暴雪天气进行诊断分析,结果表明:500hPa极涡、贝加尔湖后部的东南气流、850hPa暖切变以及地面气旋的共同作用是产生新疆北部阿勒泰地区2000.11.20-24特大暴雪天气过程的环流背景条件。特大暴雪天气发生在较强的能量锋区、高湿区和水汽通量辐合区内。特大暴雪天气发生时,在阿勒泰地区上空形成一个由低层到高层强盛的动力性纬向垂直环流圈,为冷暖气流共同作用提供了持续不断的动力条件。正涡度的输送,使得阿勒泰地区上空的低值系统和锋区得以维持和加强。高空急流加强了特大暴雪天气的上升运动;低空偏南急流将巴尔喀什湖以南的高温高湿的不稳定大气源源不断地输送到阿勒泰地区上空,为特大暴雪天气提供了热力、水汽和不稳定能量的条件。     

Benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of environmental deterioration in a large microtidal estuary

This study tested the hypothesis that, during recent years, the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna of the large basin of the Swan-Canning Estuary has changed in ways consistent with deteriorating environmental conditions in that estuary. Between 1986/7 and 2003/4, the compositions of that fauna altered markedly at the species and even family levels. Thus, the densities and number of species of molluscs, and especially of crustaceans, which are particularly susceptible to environmental stress, declined, while those of the more tolerant polychaetes increased. However, taxonomic distinctness declined consistently only at one of the four widely-spaced sampling sites and the dispersion of samples did not differ markedly between periods, indicating that the benthic fauna has not undergone such extreme changes as in the nearby Peel-Harvey Estuary. It is thus proposed that benthic macroinvertebrates can act as important indicators of the severity of environmental degradation in microtidal estuaries in regions where such perturbations are increasing.     

Variability of water mass properties in the last two decades in the South Adriatic Sea with emphasis on the period 2006-2009

Spatially averaged temperature and salinity profiles from individual cruises between 1990 and 2009 were analysed to outline the temporal evolution of water mass properties in the deep convection site in the South Adriatic Pit (SAP). The long-term variability in thermohaline conditions has been explained and related to a close feedback mechanism between the Ionian and the Adriatic Sea. Prominent influences of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient are manifested in changes in the vertical temperature and salinity patterns in the South Adriatic, and the whole studied period was divided into three stages according to the main thermohaline characteristics: 1990-1995, 1995-2004 and the last period from 2005 onwards.Particular attention was given to data collected during 2006-2009, which permitted us to situate the actual thermohaline properties in the context of the decadal variability. This last period was characterised by a very low production of dense water in the northern basin during 2007, while from winter 2008 high production of North Adriatic Deep Water (NAdDW) and Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW) in the northern and southern basins, respectively, was observed. Finally, we used the Optimum Multiparameter Analysis (OMP) to identify the percentages of the different water masses contained in the SAP, and this highlighted some differences between two recent periods studied (2007 and 2008) and the production of dense waters.