Estimation of the Amount of Suspended Sediment in the Tigris River using Artificial Neural Networks

The amount of sediment should be taken into consideration in the planning of water structures for efficient use of limited water resources. It is important to estimate the amount of sediment for the successful operation of these structures in their future performances. Such estimations can be achieved by Artificial Neural Network (ANNs) with low error percentages as seen in many other disciplines. These networks also enable the modeling of nonlinear relationships between the parameters affecting the event. The purpose of this research is to establish models for sediment amounts in the Tigris River at the Diyarbakir measurement station in Turkey. Rainfall, temperature and discharge are taken as independent variables in the models, whereas sediment is taken as the dependent variable. Fourteen different models are generated using ANNs and Regression Analysis (RA). The results are compared with each other and with the observed data. The relative error and determination coefficient are used as comparison criteria. It is concluded that due to their nonlinear modeling capability, ANNs give better results than RA.     

双交通模式的阿朗索模型对中国城市的模拟研究

随着中国逐步进入机动化社会,交通拥挤开始困扰中国城市。汽车改变了人们的空间感受尺度,推动了城市郊区化和城市空间重构。交通与城市系统的研究涉及空间分析,国内相关理论研究还较少涉及。本文引入了阿朗索模型族的双交通模型来分析交通模式与城市密度之间的关系,对模型的假设做了进一步的阐述,并提取了中国城市的关键参数来模拟分析中国机动化与城市发展的关系,得到的结果较好地模拟了中国公交城市的规模和密度分布。最后,本文通过敏感性研究定量分析了收入、农业地租、交通价格和交通用地等因素对交通拥挤、城市规模和密度的影响,并得出了相关的政策启示。     

沙尘天气影响因子的对比分析

对比分析了2002年和2003年春季沙尘天气发生的大气环流及地表条件特征, 并利用具有风沙物理过程的沙尘数值模拟结果和动力诊断技术, 探讨了2002年和2003年典型沙尘天气过程和冷空气过程中大气动力条件的作用。结果表明, 沙尘天气的强度、发生范围主要是由大气的动力条件所决定的, 而沙源区地表特征的变化对沙尘天气的发生起着重要的作用, 沙尘天气的强度和影响范围主要决定于沙尘的垂直输送过程。此外, 还总结出了沙尘天气中垂直输送-水平传输-沉降过程的概念模型。     

土地利用变化对鄂尔多斯高原周边地区沙尘暴的影响

以鄂尔多斯高原周边地区为例 ,研究土地利用变化对沙尘暴的影响 ,建立了多年平均沙尘暴日数与沙漠化土地面积百分比之间的关系。该关系表明 ,当沙漠化土地面积百分比Rd大于 30 %以后 ,沙尘暴日数随Rd的增大而急剧增加。年均沙尘暴日数与耕地面积和大风日数之间的回归方程 ,结果表明 ,耕地面积减少和大风日数减少对沙尘暴减少的贡献率分别为5 9 7%和 4 0 3%。通过在干旱、半干旱脆弱生态条件下的地区进行土地利用结构调整和退耕还草 ,恢复草原生态系统 ,可以在一定程度上减低沙尘暴发生的频率。     

含尘大气近地层流底层流动特性及其摩阻系数

采用双向耦合的双流体模型,研究了大气悬浮沙尘的存在对大气边界层中层流底层流动特性及摩阻系数的影响,计算并讨论了不同沙尘含量下含尘大气相对于无尘大气摩阻系数的变化。结果表明:摩阻系数的变化取决于悬浮沙尘的初始运动状态和质量载荷率     

激光雷达在沙尘观测中的应用——2004年春季北京和呼和浩特沙尘天气的解析

2004年春季（2003年12月至2004年5月）利用激光雷达在北京和呼和浩特对沙尘天气进行了连续观测。利用激光雷达的数据导出了沙尘和大气污染物气溶胶消光系数的关系,对两个地点的沙尘天气特征和大气污染特征进行了探讨。该期间在呼和浩特观测到较大型的沙尘事件（消光系数大于0.3·km-1）有9次,这些起源于蒙古国/内蒙古的沙尘事件晚于呼和浩特6~10 h在北京被观测到。在呼和浩特观测到的沙尘云块的高度普遍较低（由地表至高空1~2 km）,而在北京较高一般可达到2~4 km,同一沙尘事件的最高浓度（消光系数）是呼和浩特高于北京。在北京观测到的沙尘天气共有17次,其中包括数次小规模的沙尘事件在呼和浩特未观测到。从北京及呼和浩特的观测结果可以看出,北京地区3~5月沙尘的背景浓度高于呼和浩特,北京地区具有明显的区域规模大气污染特征,而呼和浩特只具有局部规模的大气污染特征。     

Aeolian dust in the Talos Dome ice core (East Antarctica,Pacific/Ross Sea sector): Victoria Land versus remote sources over the last two climate cycles

A new ice core (TALDICE) drilled at Talos Dome (East Antarctica, Ross Sea sector) preserves a ca. 250 ka long record of palaeoclimate and atmospheric history. We investigate dust variability and provenance at the site during glacial periods and the Holocene through the Sr–Nd isotopic composition of ice core dust and potential source areas (PSA). We provide new isotopic data on dust sources from Victoria Land such as regoliths, glacial drifts, aeolian sands and beach deposits. Some of these sources are located at high altitude and are known to have been ice free throughout the Pleistocene. The major features of the TALDICE dust record are very similar to those from central East Antarctica. During glacial times, South America was the dominant dust supplier for Talos Dome as well as for the entire East Antarctic plateau. Conversely, during the Holocene the principal input of mineral dust at Talos Dome probably derives from proximal sources which are the ice‐free areas of northern Victoria Land, located at similar altitude with respect to the drilling site. Atmospheric mobilisation of dust from these neighbouring areas and transport inland to Talos Dome can be ultimately associated with advection of maritime air masses from the Pacific/Ross Sea region. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Origin,lithology and weathering characteristics of Upper Tertiary ‐ Quaternary clay aquitard units on the Lower Murrumbidgee alluvial fan

The Lower Murrumbidgee alluvial fan at the eastern edge of the Murray Basin is comprised of high‐yielding coarse‐grained aquifers and interlayered fine‐grained deposits that exert an important control on recharge and vertical leakage of contaminants such as salt. Concerns over increasingly saline shallow groundwater, particularly in irrigation areas, has focused investigations on the depositional origin and spatial distribution of these fine‐grained deposits (aquitard units), which may constitute both a source of leachable salt and a barrier to leakage. Detailed laboratory analysis of a minimally disturbed core to 83m depth, obtained from a drillhole adjacent to an irrigation bore, was augmented with geophysical investigations from this and other boreholes near the apex of the alluvial fan. Previously mapped clay units (aquitards) are redefined as clayey silts based on clay content variation between 10% and 30%. Mineralogical and lithostratigraphic evidence for three clayey silt units is presented: a lower unit (75–83m), a middle unit (45–64m) and an upper unit (0–16m). Electrical image surveys indicate that the upper unit is discontinuous, interrupted by large palaeodrainage features probably containing sands and gravels. These palaeodrainage channels are buried beneath a veneer of clay and significantly increase recharge and leakage. Some evidence suggests an aeolian component near the surface and within the middle clayey silt unit. However, mixing with fluvial deposits and subsequent weathering has also occurred. The clayey silt units are extensively weathered and oxidised, with the degree of oxidation increasing towards the surface and adjacent to aquifers saturated with oxygenated groundwater. Post‐depositional weathering of the middle and lower units may also have been associated with leaching of salts. No salt remains in the middle and lower units, but 10.2kg/m² is stored within 15m of the surface at the Tubbo site. The upper clayey silt unit is a significant source of leachable salt, which is associated with increasing shallow groundwater salinity at some sites.     

Climate variability during the Last Glacial Maximum in eastern Australia: evidence of two stadials?

A high‐resolution, multiproxy record encompassing the last glacial–interglacial transition is presented for Native Companion Lagoon, a coastal site in subtropical eastern Australia. Rates of aeolian sedimentation in the lake were established by trace element analyses of lacustrine sediments and used as a proxy for aridity. In conjunction with sediment moisture content, charcoal and pollen these provide a multi‐decadal record of palaeoenvironmental variability for the period 33–18 k cal. yr BP. Results indicate that the Last Glacial Maximum in eastern Australia spanned almost 10 k cal. yr, and was characterised by two distinct cold dry events at approximately 30.8 k cal. yr BP and 21.7 k cal. yr BP. Provenance of selected sediment samples by trace element geochemical fingerprinting shows that continental sourced aeolian sediments originated primarily from South Australia during these cold events and from sites in central Australia during the intervening time. Used in combination with a pollen record, the provenance of long‐travelled dust to mainland sites shows that the two cold events were characterised by frequent meridional dry southwesterly winds rather than zonal westerly airflow as previously believed. The intervening period was cool and humid, which we infer as being associated with more frequent southeasterly winds of maritime origin. These results lend support to previous research that indicates the Southern Hemisphere experienced a period of widespread climatic amelioration at the height of the last glacial known as the Antarctic Isotopic Maximum. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of dispersed ash in orbital-scale time-series studies of explosive arc volcanism: insights from IODP Hole U1437B,Northwest Pacific Ocean

ABSTRACT

Tephra fallout beds in marine sediments provide chronologically precise and highly resolved records of volcanism at time scales relevant to Quaternary climate cycles. While the record of discrete (visible) thin tephra beds is readily accessible, the significance of the dispersed (invisible) tephra record remains unclear. Here we evaluate the role of dispersed tephra for orbital-scale volcanic time variations in the Quaternary (<1.2 Ma) carbonate mud of IODP Hole U1437B (Northwest Pacific). The carbonate mud contains cyclic series of discrete fallout tephra beds from the oceanic Izu Bonin (~85% of tephra beds) and the continental Japan (~15%) volcanic arcs, respectively. Our results show the inorganic aluminosilicate (lithogenic) fraction is a mixture of dispersed Izu Bonin and Japan ash, and Asian dust. The time distribution of the Izu Bonin ash with its distinct composition appears to confirm and enhance the cyclic time variation of the discrete ash beds at Hole U1437B. Dispersed Japan ash resembles Asian dust in trace elements and is only distinguishable in Sr-Nd isotope space. Collectively, our results confirm the existence of periodic, orbital-scale fluctuations of arc volcanic frequency. Orbital-scale time variations of marine ash may be best established by series of discrete marine ash beds, yet the concomitant dispersed ash flux must also be recorded in order to understand the total flux of arc volcanic ash into the ocean basins and thus the role of the volcanism-climate link.