A review of the impacts of pumped hydro energy storage construction on subalpine and alpine biodiversity: lessons for the Snowy Mountains pumped hydro expansion project

ABSTRACT

The Australian government’s proposal to expand the Snowy Hydro Scheme to include a second pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) system, and support for feasibility studies for PHES in Tasmania, offer an opportunity to incorporate more intermittent renewable energy generation into the National Energy Market. However, the infrastructure construction required for PHES expansion may have negative effects for biodiversity in subalpine and alpine areas. To identify the potential effects of PHES on biodiversity in Kosciuszko National Park (KNP), this systematic literature review assesses: (i) the key environmental disturbances likely to arise from PHES construction; and (ii) the specific impacts of these construction processes on biodiversity in subalpine and alpine environments. We find that the effects of PHES construction-related disturbances are likely to be negative for subalpine and alpine biodiversity, with impacts including the proliferation of exotic flora, habitat loss resulting from vegetation clearing, altered landscape hydrology and reduced water quality. Management recommendations to limit these impacts are provided and further research is recommended to assess: (i) the effects of PHES on fish populations in alpine reservoirs; (ii) the utility of spoil as artificial habitat for endemic fauna; and (iii) the chemical and physical impacts of spoil dumping in alpine reservoirs.     

Ensemble modelling of ice cover for a reservoir affected by pumped‐storage operation and climate change

Ensemble modelling was used to assess the robustness of projected impacts of pumped‐storage (PS) operation and climate change on reservoir ice cover. To this end, three one‐dimensional and a two‐dimensional laterally averaged hydrodynamic model were set up. For the latter, the strength of the impacts with increasing distance from the dam was also investigated. Climate change effects were simulated by forcing the models with 150 years of synthetic meteorological time series created with a weather generator based on available air temperature scenarios for Switzerland. Future climate by the end of the 21^st century was projected to shorten the ice‐covered period by ~2 months and decrease ice thicknesses by ~13 cm. Under current climate conditions, the ice cover would already be affected by extended PS operation. For example, the average probability of ice coverage on a specific day was projected to decrease by ~13% for current climate and could further be reduced from ~45% to ~10% for future climate. Overall, the results of all models were consistent. Although the number of winters without ice cover was projected to increase for all one‐dimensional models, studying individual segments of the two‐dimensional model showed that the impact was pronounced for segments close to the PS intake/outlet. In summary, the reservoir's ice cover is expected to partially vanish with higher probability of open water conditions closer to the PS intake/outlet.     

Impacts of small cascaded hydropower plants on river discharge in a basin in Southern China

The run‐off volume altered by the construction of hydropower plants affects ecohydrological processes in catchments. Although the impacts of large hydropower plants have been well documented in the literature, few studies have been conducted on the impacts of small cascaded hydropower plants (SCHPs). To evaluate the impacts of SCHPs on river flow, we chose a representative basin affected by hydropower projects and, to a lesser degree, by other human activities, that is, the Qiuxiang River basin in Southern China. The observed river discharge and climate data during the period of 1958–2016 were investigated. The datasets were divided into a low‐impact period and a high‐impact period based on the number of SCHPs and the capacities of the reservoirs. The daily river discharge alteration was assessed by applying the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration. To separate the impact of the SCHPs on the local river discharge from that of climate‐related precipitation, the back‐propagation neural network was used to simulate the monthly average river discharge process. An abnormal result was found: Unlike large reservoirs in large watersheds, the SCHPs regulated the flows during the flood season but were not able to mitigate the droughts during the dry season due to their limited storage and the commonly occurring inappropriate interregulations of the SCHPs. The SCHPs also reduced the annual average river discharge in the research basin. The contribution of the SCHPs to the river discharge changes was 85.37%, much higher than the contributions of climate change (13.43%) and other human activities (1.20%). The results demonstrated that the impacts of the SCHPs were different from those of large dams and reservoirs that regulate floods and relieve droughts. It is necessary to raise the awareness of the impacts of these river barriers.     

Assessing reference evapotranspiration at regional scale based on remote sensing,weather forecast and GIS tools

Reference evapotranspiration (ET_o) is a key component in efficient water management, especially in arid and semi-arid environments. However, accurate ET_o assessment at the regional scale is complicated by the limited number of weather stations and the strict requirements in terms of their location and surrounding physical conditions for the collection of valid weather data. In an attempt to overcome this limitation, new approaches based on the use of remote sensing techniques and weather forecast tools have been proposed.Use of the Land Surface Analysis Satellite Application Facility (LSA SAF) tool and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have allowed the design and development of innovative approaches for ET_o assessment, which are especially useful for areas lacking available weather data from weather stations. Thus, by identifying the best-performing interpolation approaches (such as the Thin Plate Splines, TPS) and by developing new approaches (such as the use of data from the most similar weather station, TS, or spatially distributed correction factors, CITS), errors as low as 1.1% were achieved for ET_o assessment. Spatial and temporal analyses reveal that the generated errors were smaller during spring and summer as well as in homogenous topographic areas.The proposed approaches not only enabled accurate calculations of seasonal and daily ET_o values, but also contributed to the development of a useful methodology for evaluating the optimum number of weather stations to be integrated into a weather station network and the appropriateness of their locations. In addition to ET_o, other variables included in weather forecast datasets (such as temperature or rainfall) could be evaluated using the same innovative methodology proposed in this study.     

非差误差改正信息的大范围单历元网络差分方法

针对网络差分方法多采用双差模型,但双差模型在实现时不够灵活的问题,提出一种基于非差误差改正信息的大范围单历元网络差分方法。此方法能够克服双差网络差分模型的缺点,用户不需要选择一个参考站作为主参考站,更不需要主参考站的观测数据进行双差组合,从而减少了数据传输量,作业方式更加自由、灵活,且算法简单、作业范围大。大范围区域内的流动站用户利用非差误差改正数进行误差改正,然后可实现单历元网络差分定位。实验表明,该方法可完成大范围单历元网络差分定位,并能够得到分米级精度的定位结果。     

东南亚华人华侨网络与中国企业海外投资的区位选择关系研究

随着“走出去”战略的实施和“一带一路”倡议的提出,中国在全球化经济中逐渐成为国际投资的主要力量之一。海外华人华侨网络曾经积极促进外商对华的直接投资,是否在这个过程中再次扮演积极的作用,是当前经济地理领域尚未充分探究的问题。因此,本文从经典的区位选择问题切入,探究海外华人华侨网络与中国企业海外投资的区位选择的关系,利用2001-2016年中国企业投资东南亚国家的数据,通过混合逻辑模型回归分析海外华人华侨对中国企业投资区位的影响。结果表明：① 从整体上看,东南亚各国的华人华侨规模和中国企业对外直接投资的区位选择之间存在显著的正相关关系;② 从投资时间上看,海外华人华侨规模与中国企业对外直接投资区位选择之间的关系显著性呈现扩大趋势,说明华人华侨在促进中国企业对外投资方面存在较大潜力;③ 从投资的行业和环节上看,不同行业和不同职能部门的企业在东南亚投资中海外华人华侨在其投资区位选择中所起的作用不同。     

Chinese overseas industrial parks in Southeast Asia: An examination of policy mobility from the perspective of embeddedness

The development of overseas industrial parks is a key component of the Belt and Road Initiative and an expected experimental way of promoting inclusive globalization by inventing new forms of cooperation between China and local host countries. Policy mobility, a classic theory within international political geography addressing the connection between local and global policies, has implications for overseas industrial parks development. In this paper, we argue that policies are not easily moved directly from one place to another; instead, policies are embedded due to the role of local actors in policy mobility. This article first provides an overview of seven China-Southeast Asia economic and trade cooperation zones identified by the Ministry of Commerce, and analyzes their key participants. It then discusses policy mobility by looking into the roles of revenue, land, and talent in developing these industrial parks. The paper finds that these parks face challenges, such as the complicated geographical environments of host countries, huge pressure from enterprise investment capital, the lack of overseas service platforms, and underdeveloped agglomeration economies. In the light of the current situation, policy suggestions for the future sustainable development of overseas industrial parks are put forward.     

全国水文站网管理信息系统研究

全国水文站网管理信息系统是应用ＧＩＳ技术开发的信息管理系统,它为优化水文站网,提高站网管理水平,提供了迅速、全面的信息支持系统建成后,可实现水上网图、文、声、像信息的查询、漫游和图形报表的输出。介绍了系统的设计与研究成果。     

地磁绝对子夜均值年变化量空间分布特征

选用中国21个地磁基准台站2011年的绝对子夜均值数据,分析D、H、Z分量年变化量空间分布特征。结果显示,各分量年变化量等值线分布比较均匀,其中:D分量年变化量等值线大致沿南北向分布,零经线附近台站年变化量较小;H分量年变化量等值线大致呈U型分布,且中心点位于甘肃省;Z分量年变化量等值线沿纬线方向,随纬度减小而增大。     

Trend analysis of nutrient loadings in a large prairie catchment

Nutrient loadings in many river catchments continue to increase due to rapid expansion of agriculture, urban and industrial development, and population growth. Nutrient enrichment of water bodies has intensified eutrophication which degrades water quality and ecosystem health. In this study, we carried out a trend analysis of total phosphorus and total nitrogen loads in the South Saskatchewan River (SSR) catchment using a novel approach to analyse nutrient time series. Seasonal analysis of trends at each of the water quality stations was performed to determine the relationships between annual flow regimes and nutrient loads in the catchment, in particular, the influence of the high spring runoff on nutrient export. Decadal analysis was also performed to determine the long-term relationships of nutrients with anthropogenic changes in the catchment. Although it was found that seasonal and historical variability of nutrient load trends is mainly determined by streamflow regime changes, there is evidence that increases in nitrogen concentration can also be attributed to anthropogenic changes.