Hydrological trends and the evolution of catchment research in the Alptal valley,central Switzerland

When the observation of small headwater catchments in the pre-Alpine Alptal valley (central Switzerland) started in the late 1960s, the researchers were mainly interested in questions related to floods and forest management. Investigations of geomorphological processes in the steep torrent channels followed in the 1980s, along with detailed observations of biogeochemical and ecohydrological processes in individual forest stands. More recently, research in the Alptal has addressed the impacts of climate change on water supply and runoff generation. In this article, we describe, for the first time, the evolution of catchment research at Alptal, and present new analyses of long-term trends and short-term hydrologic behaviour. Hydrometeorological time series from the past 50 years show substantial interannual variability, but only minimal long-term trends, except for the ~2°C increase in mean annual air temperature over the 50-year period, and a corresponding shift towards earlier snowmelt. Similar to previous studies in larger Alpine catchments, the decadal variations in mean annual runoff in Alptal's small research catchments reflect the long-term variability in annual precipitation. In the Alptal valley, the most evident hydrological trends were observed in late spring and are related to the substantial change in the duration of the snow cover. Streamflow and water quality are highly variable within and between hydrological events, suggesting rapid shifts in flow pathways and mixing, as well as changing connectivity of runoff-generating areas. This overview illustrates how catchment research in the Alptal has evolved in response to changing societal concerns and emerging scientific questions.     

Variations in glacier volume and snow cover and their impact on lake storage in the Paiku Co Basin,in the Central Himalayas

Glaciers and snow cover are important constituents of the surface of the Tibetan Plateau. The responses of these phenomena to global environmental changes are sensitive, rapid and intensive due to the high altitudes and arid cold climate of the Tibetan Plateau. Based on multisource remote sensing data, including Landsat images, MOD10A2 snow product, ICESat, Cryosat-2 altimetry data and long-term ground climate observations, we analysed the dynamic changes of glaciers, snow melting and lake in the Paiku Co basin using extraction methods for glaciers and lake, the degree-day model and the ice and lake volume method. The interaction among the climate, ice-snow and the hydrological elements in Paiku Co is revealed. From 2000 to 2018, the basin tended to be drier, and rainfall decreased at a rate of −3.07 mm/a. The seasonal temperature difference in the basin increased, the maximum temperature increased at a rate of 0.02°C/a and the minimum temperature decreased at a rate of −0.06°C/a, which accelerated the melting from glaciers and snow at rates of 0.55 × 10⁷ m³/a and 0.29 × 10⁷ m³/a, respectively. The rate of contribution to the lake from rainfall, snow and glacier melted water was 55.6, 27.7 and 16.7%, respectively. In the past 18 years, the warmer and drier climate has caused the lake to shrink. The water level of the lake continued to decline at a rate of −0.02 m/a, and the lake water volume decreased by 4.85 × 10⁸ m³ at a rate of −0.27 × 10⁸ m³/a from 2000 to 2018. This evaluation is important for understanding how the snow and ice melting in the central Himalayas affect the regional water cycle.     

Swedish Forests in the Bioeconomy: Stories from the National Forest Program

Abstract

The concept of a bioeconomy has been placed central in formation of a Swedish National Forest Program (NFP). Drawing on Hajer’s conceptual framework of storylines, we present a discourse analysis of the working group reports underlying the establishment of the NFP strategy. We ask what stories about Swedish forests come to dominate the NFP process, how well they reflect the commitment of balancing economic, social and environmental interests, and what role the concept of a bioeconomy, has on the formation of these stories. Storylines of Swedish forests in the bioeconomy unite wider European discourses on the bioeconomy and climate change with historical Swedish forest policy discourses, revitalizing a discourse coalition comprising the state and the industry. Particular to the Swedish discourse is the strong emphasis on creating consensus around a single story of the forest-based bioeconomy.     

Three-dimensional finite element simulation of fracture propagation in rock specimens with pre-existing fissure(s) under compression and their strength analysis

A FORTRAN program, consistent with the commercially available finite element (FE) code ABAQUS, is developed based on a three-dimensional (3D) linear elastic brittle damage constitutive model with two damage criteria. To consider the heterogeneity of rock, the developed FORTRAN program is used to set the stiffness and strength properties of each element of the FE model following a Weibull distribution function. The reliability of the program is assessed against available experimental results for granite cylindrical specimens with a throughgoing, flat and inclined fissure. The calibration procedure of the material parameters is explained in detail, and it is shown that the compressive to tensile strength ratio can have a substantial influence on the failure response of the specimens. Numerical simulations are conducted for models with different levels of heterogeneity. The results show a smaller load bearing capacity for models with less homogeneity, representing gradual coalescence of fully damaged elements forming throughout the models during loading. The maximum load bearing capacity is studied for various combinations of inclination angles of two centrally aligned, throughgoing and flat fissures of equal length embedded in cylindrical models under uniaxial and multiaxial loading conditions. The key role of the compressive to tensile strength ratio is highlighted by repeating certain simulations with a lower compressive to tensile strength ratio. It is proven that the peak loads of the rock models with sufficiently small compressive to tensile strength ratios containing two throughgoing fissures of equal length are similar, provided that the minimum inclination angles of the models are the same. The results are presented and discussed with respect to the existing experimental findings in the literature, suggesting that the numerical model applied in this study can provide useful insight into the failure behaviour of rock-like materials.     

Wetland hydroperiod classification in the western prairies using multitemporal synthetic aperture radar

Wetlands represent one of the world's most biodiverse and threatened ecosystem types and were diminished globally by about two‐thirds in the 20th century. There is continuing decline in wetland quantity and function due to infilling and other human activities. In addition, with climate change, warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration are reducing wetland surface and groundwater supplies, further altering wetland hydrology and vegetation. There is a need to automate inventory and monitoring of wetlands, and as a study system, we investigated the Shepard Slough wetlands complex, which includes numerous wetlands in urban, suburban, and agricultural zones in the prairie pothole region of southern Alberta, Canada. Here, wetlands are generally confined to depressions in the undulating terrain, challenging wetlands inventory and monitoring. This study applied threshold and frequency analysis routines for high‐resolution, single‐polarization (HH) RADARSAT‐2, synthetic aperture radar mapping. This enabled a growing season surface water extent hyroperiod‐based wetland classification, which can support water and wetland resource monitoring. This 3‐year study demonstrated synthetic aperture radar‐derived multitemporal open‐water masks provided an effective index of wetland permanence class, with overall accuracies of 89% to 95% compared with optical validation data, and RMSE between 0.2 and 0.7 m between model and field validation data. This allowed for characterizing the distribution and dynamics of 4 marsh wetlands hydroperiod classes, temporary, seasonal, semipermanent, and permanent, and mapping of the sequential vegetation bands that included emergent, obligate wetland, facultative wetland, and upland plant communities. Hydroperiod variation and surface water extent were found to be influenced by short‐term rainfall events in both wet and dry years. Seasonal hydroperiods in wetlands were particularly variable if there was a decrease in the temporary or semipermanent hydroperiod classes. In years with extreme rain events, the temporary wetlands especially increased relative to longer lasting wetlands (84% in 2015 with significant rainfall events, compared with 42% otherwise).     

The isotopic signature of monsoon conditions,cloud modes,and rainfall type

This work provides a comprehensive physically based framework for the interpretation of the north Australian rainfall stable isotope record (δ¹⁸O and δ²H). Until now, interpretations mainly relied on statistical relationships between rainfall amount and isotopic values on monthly timescales. Here, we use multiseason daily rainfall stable isotope and high resolution (10 min) ground‐based C‐band polarimetric radar data and show that the five weather types (monsoon regimes) that constitute the Australian wet season each have a characteristic isotope ratio. The data suggest that this is not only due to changes in regional rainfall amount during these regimes but, more importantly, is due to different rain and cloud types that are associated with the large scale circulation regimes. Negative (positive) isotope anomalies occurred when stratiform rainfall fractions were large (small) and the horizontal extent of raining areas were largest (smallest). Intense, yet isolated, convective conditions were associated with enriched isotope values whereas more depleted isotope values were observed when convection was widespread but less intense. This means that isotopic proxy records may record the frequency of which these typical wet season regimes occur. Positive anomalies in paleoclimatic records are most likely associated with periods where continental convection dominates and convection is sea‐breeze forced. Negative anomalies may be interpreted as periods when the monsoon trough is active, convection is of the oceanic type, less electric, and stratiform areas are wide spread. This connection between variability of rainfall isotope anomalies and the intrinsic properties of convection and its large‐scale environment has important implications for all fields of research that use rainfall stable isotopes.     

一种有发展前景的隧道及井巷超前预报技术——电磁导弹探测技术

对于隧道和煤矿井巷的安全掘进 ,超前预报显得特别重要。但由于掌子面前的特殊环境限制及多种干扰的严重影响 ,给隧道及井巷超前预报技术的研究带来许多困难。在瞬变电磁理论的基础上 ,引入新的电磁传播理论———电磁导弹技术 ,作为对该技术的初步探索 ,文章论证了该技术在隧道超前预报中应用的可能性 ,并提出了研究的主要内容和发展方向以及可能取得的新的技术突破和技术支撑     

Activity and kinematics of members of the TW Hydrae association

We present high-resolution echelle spectroscopy of 20 stars in 16 systems catalogued as members of the TW Hydrae association, and 16 stars identified as possible new members. We have calibrated the range of coronal and chromospheric activity expected for such young stars as a function of spectral type by combining our observations with literature data for field and open cluster stars. We also compute space motions for TWA members and candidate members with proper motion measurements, using two techniques to estimate distances to stars lacking direct trigonometric parallax measurements. The mean space motion of the four TWA members with known parallaxes is  ( U , V , W : −10.0, −17.8, −4.6) km s⁻¹  . 14 of the candidates have properties inconsistent with cluster membership; the remaining two are potential new members, although further observations are required to confirm this possibility.     

First evidence of IMF control of Jovian magnetospheric boundary locations: Cassini and Galileo magnetic field measurements compared

The Cassini spacecraft, en route to Saturn, passed close to Jupiter while the Galileo spacecraft was completing its 28th and 29th orbits of Jupiter, thus offering a unique opportunity for direct study of the solar wind-Jovian interaction. Here evidence is given of response of the Jovian magnetopause and bow shock positions to changes of the north-south component of the solar wind magnetic field, a phenomenon long known to occur in equivalent circumstances at Earth. The period analyzed starts with the passage over Cassini of an interplanetary shock far upstream of Jupiter. The shock's arrival at Galileo on the dusk-flank of the magnetosphere caused Galileo to exit into the solar wind. Using inter-spacecraft timing based on the time delay established from the shock arrival at each spacecraft, we point out that Galileo's position with respect to the Jovian bow shock appears to correlate with changes in the disturbed north-south reversing field seen behind the shock. We specifically rule out the alternative of changes in the shape of the bow shock with rotations of the interplanetary magnetic field as the cause.