Drought and institutional adaptation in the Great Plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1914–1939

Agriculture in the southern Great Plains of Canada has been particularly vulnerable to prolonged episodes of drought. Using climate data and a precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration index, the extent of the region’s exposure to drought is examined. Between 1914 and 1917, the Dry Belt was particularly vulnerable to drought, whereas after 1928, a much larger region known as the Palliser Triangle covering most of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was much more exposed to drought. These droughts provoked major institutional adaptation, in particular the establishment of the Special Areas Board by the Government of Alberta, and the creation of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration by the Government of Canada. Both organizations have proved to be relatively permanent public adaptations to the natural hazard of drought in the region. Moreover, these earlier experiences with prolonged drought as well as institution-building may be of value in helping the residents of the Palliser Triangle adapt to predicted climate changes in the future as well as anticipate some of the barriers to effective institutional adaptation.     

海带育苗水系微生物的监测与控制

现场及实验室试验表明,近岸水中细菌丰度因时因地有较大差别,近岸水在潮周期中以高潮前后细菌量较低;海水在沉淀贮存过程中细菌丰度有明显变化,且与海水中营养物含量、贮存温度等有关;海水经沙滤后能减少细菌90％左右;回水中脱落苗进入贮水池,是贮水池中细菌数量增长10余倍的主要原因。     

烟单14号夏玉米产量三因素最佳取值范围的探讨

作者根据大量试验和调查数据的分析,提出烟单14号夏玉米在高产条件下,亩穗数、穗粒数、千粒重三因素的最佳取值范围。 亩穗数:3569～4980 穗/亩; 穗粒数:423～526 粒/穗; 千粒重:259～278 克/1000粒。     

Northward transport of pacific summer water along the Northwind Ridge in the Western Arctic Ocean

The recent sea-ice reduction in the Arctic Ocean is not spatially uniform, but is disproportionally large around the Northwind Ridge and Chukchi Plateau compared to elsewhere in the Canada Basin. In the Northwind Ridge region, Pacific Summer Water (PSW) delivered from the Bering Sea occupies the subsurface layer. The spatial distribution of warm PSW shows a quite similar pattern to the recent ice retreat, suggesting the influence of PSW on the sea-ice reduction. To understand the regionality of the recent ice retreat, we examine the dynamics and timing of the delivery of the PSW into this region. Here, we adopt a two-layer linearized potential vorticity equation to investigate the behavior of Rossby waves in the presence of a topographic discontinuity in the high latitude ocean. The analytical results show a quite different structure from those of mid-latitude basins due to the small value of β. Incident barotropic waves excited by the sea-ice motion with large annual variation can be scattered into both barotropic and baroclinic modes at the discontinuity. Since the scattered baroclinic Rossby wave with annual frequency cannot propagate freely, a strong baroclinic current near the topographic discontinuity is established. The seasonal variation of current near the topographic discontinuity would cause a kind of selective switching system for shelf water transport into the basin. In our simple analytical model, the enhanced northward transport of summer water and reduced northward transport of winter water are well demonstrated. The present study indicates that these basic dynamics imply that a strengthening of the surface forcing during winter in the Canada Basin could cause sea-ice reduction in the Western Arctic through the changes of underlying Pacific Summer Water.     

A pronounced dry event recorded around 4.2 ka in brine sediments from the northern Red Sea

Partly laminated sediments were sampled from the brine-filled, anoxic Shaban Deep basin in the northern Red Sea. At about 4200 cal yr BP more than two millennia of anoxic sedimentation is replaced by a sub-oxic facies strongly suggesting the episodic absence of the brine. At the same time stable oxygen isotopes from surface dwelling foraminifera show a sharp increase (within less than 100 yr) pointing to a strong positive salinity anomaly at the sea surface. This major evaporation event significantly enhanced the renewal of deep water and the subsequent ventilation of the small Shaban Deep basin. The timing and strength of the reconstructed environmental changes around 4200 cal yr BP suggest that this event is the regional expression of a major drought event, which is widely observed in the neighboring regions, and which strongly affected Middle East agricultural civilizations.     

The changing role of hydrogeology in semi-arid southern and eastern Africa

Much of southern and eastern Africa is semi-arid and heavily groundwater dependent. Borehole drilling commenced over a hundred years ago with magnetic and electrical resistivity surveys for borehole siting being introduced from 1936. Formalised training of hydrogeologists led in the 1970s to an almost standard approach to hydrogeological investigation and a period of stability followed, during which some major investigations were carried out. A period of decentralisation and fragmentation has since taken place in many parts of southern and eastern Africa, and groundwater monitoring and management are inadequate in many countries. All but six of the 14 SADC (Southern African Development Community) member states reportedly have an adequate monitoring network in place. However, groundwater demand is increasing and hydrogeologists need to promote the use of appropriate methodologies as an essential part of tackling the severe issues now facing the water sector in the region.     

热带地区100 hPa东风气流的气候效应(Ⅱ): 与华北夏季降水的关系

利用1954-1998年NCAR／NCEP再分析资料及同期我国160个测站月降水资料，分析了热带地区100hPa东风与华北夏季降水之间的关系。结果表明：（1）从春季到夏季，东风强度与华北夏季降水具有显著而稳定的正相关关系。（2）弱东风年夏季，印度洋及印度次大陆表面温度均为正异常，然而赤道印度洋地区的正异常明显强于其南北两侧。海温异常的这一分布特征，一方面使得100hPa东风减弱；另一方面使得南亚地区海陆热力对比减弱，导致南亚夏季风偏弱，进而造成由该季风区向华北地区的水汽输送减少，华北地区干旱。     

西藏地区旱涝等级划分及时空分布特征

利用西藏22个站点1969-1998年逐日降水资料，采用d指数旱涝等级方法。按夏季（5-9月），初夏（5-6月），盛夏（7-8月）时段进行了旱涝等级划分。采用EOF分析方法对全区22个站点旱涝等级展开分解，得出西藏地区的旱涝时空分布特征，主要类型和周期，而且对西藏地区夏季（5-9月）的旱涝做了预测。     

青藏高原对其东北侧干旱形成的数值试验

应用再分析资料，指出高原边界层内存在北高南低偶极子型涡旋对的独特气候现象。根据当雄站1998年5月31日至6月4日感热通量的连续观测资料，确定了高原热力作用的时变特征，分别用不同的理想高原初始涡度场加定常热源强迫和时变热源强迫代入正压准地转涡度模式，研究了高原东北侧干旱的形成。认为有三种过程在起着重要作用，它们是：基流对上游反气旋涡旋的平流输送、南侧气旋涡旋的能量频散以及高原热力强迫引起的频散生成高值系统的增强。