The Chinese comet observation in AD 773 January

The strong ¹⁴C increase in the year AD 774/5 detected in one German and two Japanese trees was recently suggested to have been caused by an impact of a comet onto Earth and a deposition of large amounts of ¹⁴C into the atmosphere (Liu et al. 2014). The authors supported their claim using a report of a historic Chinese observation of a comet ostensibly colliding with Earth's atmosphere in AD 773 January. We show here that the Chinese text presented by those authors is not an original historic text, but that it is comprised of several different sources. Moreover, the translation presented in Liu et al. is misleading and inaccurate. We give the exact Chinese wordings and our English translations. According to the original sources, the Chinese observed a comet in mid January 773, but they report neither a collision nor a large coma, just a long tail. Also, there is no report in any of the source texts about “dust rain in the daytime” as claimed by Liu et al. (2014), but simply a normal dust storm. Ho (1962) reports sightings of this comet in China on AD 773 Jan 15 and/or 17 and in Japan on AD 773 Jan 20 (Ho 1962). At the relevant historic time, the Chinese held that comets were produced within the Earth's atmosphere, so that it would have been impossible for them to report a “collision” of a comet with Earth's atmosphere. The translation and conclusions made by Liu et al. (2014) are not supported by the historical record. Therefore, postulating a sudden increase in ¹⁴C in corals off the Chinese coast precisely in mid January 773 (Liu et al. 2014) is not justified given just the ²³⁰Th dating for AD 783 ± 14. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Chasing the highest energy cosmic rays: From 1948 to the present

After a brief review of the discovery of extensive air showers, I summarise the remarkable advances made in the decade 1948–1958. During this period many of the techniques of instrumentation and analysis that are used today were introduced. I then discuss current data with emphasis on recent work on the measurement of the mass composition between 10¹⁵ and 10¹⁷ eV and above 10¹⁸ eV, and on the energy spectrum at the highest energies.     

天大噎记录的天文年代分析

古本《竹书纪年》记载有：“周昭王十九年，天大噎，雉兔皆震，丧六师于汉。”这与阴天发生的日全食现象十分相似。事件发生在昭王末年南征荆楚的过程中，地点应当在从周都到洞庭湖以南之间的某处。由前人的研究可知昭王十九年应在公元前1010。940年之间。在充分讨论了天文计算的不确定性后得到这一地区可见的9次大食分日食，其中公元前1009和976年的两次日食可能在洞庭湖以南造成日全食，其他地点也都有相当大的食分。在对夏商周断代工程得到的西周年表作微小调整后，昭王十九年天大睦可以认定为公元前976年5月31日日全食。这对“夏商周断代工程”所定出的昭王前后年代是一个独立的支持。     

中国古代太阳中天观测及二至点测算精度

研究了元代《授时历议))所保存的天象观测和推步资料，得出：(1)在AD1277—1280年问所作的98次太阳中天观测的时刻及地平高度的绝对值平均误差分别为2．64min和6．78′．(2)6部古历——《大衍历》、《宣明历》、《纪元历》、《统天历》、《重修大明历》和《授时历》推步BC522年前的3个冬至时刻的误差范围为0．97—3．51d；而AD435—1280年间的45个冬至时刻的绝对值平均误差则分别为9．35、10．42、5．54、2．97、5．68、3．36h．(3)古代确定的AD442—1280年间的16个二至时刻的绝对值平均误差为199．59min，其中元代的误差为27．89min．     

Vegetation changes and their climatic implication for the late Pleistocene at Lake Poukawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

A detailed vegetation history extending back to the Last Interglacial (Marine Isotope Substage 5e) is presented for Lake Poukawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. This history is based on palynological analyses of a 198-m core record, age secured by uranium/thorium (U/Th) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates as well as tephrochronology. Vegetation of the penultimate glacial (Isotope Stage 6) probably consisted of a very sparse shrubby herbland of stunted podocarps (Phyllocladus sp.), daisies, grasses and sedges. Similar floras existed in each of the succeeding cool periods. Four interglacial/interstadial floras are preserved. The peak of the Last Interglacial (Substage 5e) was dominated by extensive lowland forest of tall forest podocarps (Podocarpus/Prumnopitys), most probably matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia) with red beech (Nothofagus fusca), secondary forest trees (Coprosma spp., Myrsine spp.) and tree ferns (Cyathea spp.). In the Poukawa basin itself, a swamp forest of the podocarp (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) with the true palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) expanded. Substage 5e was significantly warmer and/or moister than the present day. Substage 5c/5a was marked by montane forest of red and silver beeches (N. fusca and N. menziesii), Phyllocladus spp. and secondary trees. A reduced representation of Podocarpus/Prumnopitys possibly consists of montane podocarp (Podocarpus hallii). We infer the temperature of Substage 5c/5a to have been 3.5–5 °C lower than the present day. Although Stage 3 flora are superficially similar to those of Substage 5c/5a, the beeches are relatively less dominant. The regional flora during Stage 1 is very similar to those of Substage 5e, but the density is lower with no swamp forest during the present interglaciation. This may represent a change in evapotranspiration balance around Poukawa, but may also be controlled by hydrological conditions within the basin.     

汕尾明代“捷胜所城”初探

捷胜是粤东一座历史文化名城,也是汕尾市的新渔港；明初它就作为军事要塞纳入了国家海防体系。捷胜等卫所城的设立,对促进地方海洋文化的发展尤其是“卫城文化”的形成具有重要作用。在对地方史料仔细分析基础上,探讨了汕尾明代“捷胜所城”的尺寸、设立的时间、历史背景及作用,查明了明朝廷定名“捷胜”的时间：农历洪武二十八年(1395年)三月二十五日,指出“捷胜”一名寓有“捷报频传,保家卫国,抗‘倭’必胜”之义。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing Aerial photography and image interpretation for Resource Management . DAVID P. PAINE . Analytical Models and Techniques Spatial Processes Models and Applications A. D. CLIFF AND J. K. ORD Quantitative and Statistical Approaches to Geography: A Practical Manual JOHN A. MATTHEWS . Cartography and Maps Map Data Processing . HERBERT FREEMAN AND GOFFREDO G. PIERONI , eds. Computer-assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects, 1982 . MARK S. MONMONIER . Cultural Navajo Architecture: Forms, History, Distributions . STEPHEN C. JETT AND VIRGINIA E . SPENCER . Rational Landscapes and Humanistic Geography . EDWARD RELPH . Economic The Structure and Control of a State Economy . W. L. L'ESPERANCE . Economic Geography . JAMES O. WHEELER AND PETER O. MULLER . The Myth of the Family Farm: Agribusiness Dominance of U.S. Agriculture . INGOLF VOCELER . Libya: The Experience of Oil . J. A. ALLEN . Geography of Public Finance, Welfare Under Fiscal Federalism and local Government Finance . ROBERT BENNETT . Environmental Management, Resources, and Systems Mountains and Man . LARRY W. PRICE . Environmental Geology . DONALD R. COATES . An Introduction to Environmental Systems . G. H. DURY . The Environment: Chinese and American Views . Edited by LAURENCE J. C. MA AND ALLEN G. NOBLE . Land Use in America . RICHARD H. JACKSON . Medical Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Medical Geography . MELINDA S. MEADE (ed.). Philosophy and Geographic Thought Birds in Egg/Eggs in Bird . GUNNAR OLSSON . PhysicaI Climatology: Selected Applications . J. E. OLIVER . Geomorphological Techniques . ANDREW GOUDIE (ed.). Political Politics, Geography and Behaviour . RICHARD MUIR AND RONAN PADDISON . The State of the World Atlas . MICHAEL KIDRON AND RONALD SECAL . Population The Population of the South . DUDLEY L. POSTON , JR . AND ROBERT H. WELLER , eds. Regional Latin America: Economic Development and Regional Differentiation . ARTHUR MORRIS . Developing the Amazon . EMILIO F. MORAN . Western Europe: A Systematic Human Geography . BRIAN W. ILBERY . Settlement Systems in Sparsely Settled Regions: The United States and Australia . RICHARD E. LONSDALEAND JOHN H. HOLMES , eds. African Perspectives: The Economic Geography of Nine African States . HARM DE BUJ AND ESMOND MARTIN , eds. Rural Nonmetropolitan America in Transition . AMOS H. HAWLEY AND SARA MILLS MAZIE , eds. Social Crime and Environment . R. NORMAN DAVIDSON . The Ghetto: Readings with Interpretations . JOE T. DARDEN , ed. Urban Urban Problems and Planning in the Developed World . MICHAEL PACIONE (ed.) Problems and Planning in Third World Cities . Edited by MICHAEL PACIONE . The City in West Europe . D. BURTENSHAW , M. BATEMAN , AND C. J. ASHWORTH .     

INTELLECTUAL COHERENCE AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF GEOGRAPHY

The discipline of geography needs a more clearly defined academic purpose if it is to retain and enhance its position as an essential university subject. The discipline lacks the intellectual coherence it once achieved on the basis of environmental determinism. Geographers could re-establish a coherent intellectual foundation for geography by adopting a historical-intellectual mode of enquiry focusing on human thought and ideas and re-emphasizing the central importance of the human-environment relationship as the foundation of the discipline. An understanding of human activity in the environment in relation to ideas could provide a clearer focus for the discipline of geography and give it a stronger intellectual identity.     

中国古历定朔推步综述

“朔”简言之表日月黄经相等，先民对其认识经历了一个从平朔到定朔的过程，通过研究古历，文中分析并归纳了不同时期中国古历日制度的基本元素之一－朔的两种推步方法：“积年法”和“《授时历》法”，其中包括平朔，日躔，月离，及定朔的推步方法等；得出了由各历的基本历数直接推出的中国古历定朔计算的一般公式，同时亦给出了《授时历》的推朔法和部分算例。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Boundary Control and Legal Priniciples . Curtis M. Brown , Walter G. Robillard and Donald A. Wilson . Lost Initiatives: Canada's Forest Industries, Forest Policy, and Forest Conservation . R. Peter Gillis and Thomas R. Roach . The Navajo Atlas: Resources, People, and History of the Dine Bikeyah . James M. Goodman . The City and the Sign . M. Gottdiener AND Alexandros Ph . Lagopoulos , EDS. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture 1890–1930 . Alan Gowans . Arabic-Islamic Cities. Building and Planning Principles . Besim Salim Hakim . Contemporary Climatology . Ann Henderson -Sellers and Peter J. Robinson . A Trace of Desert Waters . Samuel G. Houghton . Geography, Resources and Environment. Vol. 1: Selected Writings of Gilbert F. White. Vol. 2: Themes from the Work of Gilbert F. White . Robert W. Kates AND Ian Burton , ED. Spatial Dimensions of Unemployment and Underemployment (A Case Study of Rural Punjab) . Gopal Krishan . Maps of the Holy Land: Cartobibliography of Printed Maps, 1475–1900 . Compiled by Eran Laor , assisted by Shoshana Klein . The Geography of Third World Cities . Stella Lowder . A Perspective on U.S. Farm Problems and Agricultural Policy . Lance Mc Kinzie , Timothy G. Baker AND Wallace E. Tyner . Soil Erosion and Its Control. R.P.C . Morgan , ED Geopolitics . Patrick O'Sullivan . Landscape, Meanings and Values . Edmund C. Penning -Rowsell AND David Lowenthal , EDS.