The first World Atlas of the artificial night sky brightness

We present the first World Atlas of the zenith artificial night sky brightness at sea level. Based on radiance-calibrated high-resolution DMSP satellite data and on accurate modelling of light propagation in the atmosphere, it provides a nearly global picture of how mankind is proceeding to envelop itself in a luminous fog. Comparing the Atlas with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) population density data base, we determined the fraction of population who are living under a sky of given brightness. About two-thirds of the World population and 99 per cent of the population in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and European Union live in areas where the night sky is above the threshold set for polluted status. Assuming average eye functionality, about one-fifth of the World population, more than two-thirds of the United States population and more than one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way. Finally, about one-tenth of the World population, more than 40 per cent of the United States population and one sixth of the European Union population no longer view the heavens with the eye adapted to night vision, because of the sky brightness.     

DCMT光电扫描主测微器的设计与研究

DCMT主测微器不同于其它类型的子午环测微器,它具有自校准测定仪器参数的功能。该测微器采用了活动光栅的方案,其优点是能观测近极星和各类准直像;活动光栅另一个显著优点是不同赤纬星几乎可用相同的观测时间.对“V”形光栅的工作原理和误差进行了详细讨论,并给出了一组严格的公式。其系统误差来源有:光栅形状改正、光栅驱动方向相对于光栅的倾斜、光栅驱动方向相对于赤径方向的倾斜、星径曲率改正。     

Diurnal changes in the bio-optical properties of the phytoplankton in the Alborán Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

The changes in the phytoplankton absorption properties during a diurnal cycle were investigated at one station located in the north-western area of the Alborán Sea. The experiment was performed in spring when the water column was strongly stratified. This hydrological situation permitted the establishment of a deep chlorophyll a (chl a) fluorescence maximum (DFM) which was located on average close to the lower limit of the mixed layer and the nutricline. The relative abundance of pico-phytoplankton (estimated as its contribution to the total chl a) was higher in the surface, however, micro-phytoplankton dominated the community at the DFM level. Chl a specific absorption coefficient (a*(λ)) also varied with optical depth, with a* (the spectrally average specific absorption coefficient) decreasing by 30% at the DFM depth with respect to the surface. A significant negative correlation between the contribution of the micro-phytoplankton to the total chl a and a* was obtained indicating that a* reduction was due to changes in the packaging effect. Below the euphotic layer, a* increased three-fold with respect to the DFM, which agrees with the expected accumulation of accessory pigments relative to chl a as an acclimation response to the low available irradiance. The most conspicuous change during the diurnal cycle was produced in the euphotic layer where the chl a concentration decreased significantly in the afternoon (from a mean concentration of 1.1 μg L⁻¹ to 0.7 μg L⁻¹) and increased at dusk when it averaged 1.4 μg L⁻¹. In addition, a* and the blue-to-red absorption band ratio increased in the afternoon. These results suggest that a*(λ) diurnal variability was due to increase in photo-protective and accessory pigments relative to chl a. The variation ranges of a*(λ) at 675 and 440 nm (the absorption peaks in the red and blue spectral bands, respectively) in the euphotic layer were 0.01–0.04 and 0.02–0.10 m² mg⁻¹ chl a, respectively. Approximately 30% out of this variability can be attributed to the diurnal cycle. This factor should therefore be taken into account in refining primary production models based on phytoplankton light absorption.     

Long-range underwater photography in the deep ocean

Although the optical properties of seawater at extreme depths are more suitable for underwater photography than those at the surface or on continental shelves, they still impose severe limitations on long-range wide area bottom photography. Additionally, deep ocean operations impose technical limitations on control, power and bandwidth. This chapter reviews the approaches contemplated or made towards improving the camerato-target range in underwater photography in the deep ocean. Further significant improvements await advances in control, power/light sources and bandwidth reduction. With the developments now contemplated, TV and video systems will eventually present a strong challenge to emulsion film techniques.     

Benthic photosynthesis in submerged Wadden Sea intertidal flats

In this study we compare benthic photosynthesis during inundation in coarse sand, fine sand, and mixed sediment (sand/mud) intertidal flats in the German Wadden Sea. In situ determinations of oxygen-, DIC- and nutrient fluxes in stirred benthic chamber incubations were combined with measurements of sedimentary chlorophyll, incident light intensity at the sediment surface and scalar irradiance within the sediment. During submergence, microphytobenthos was light limited at all study sites as indicated by rapid response of gross photosynthesis to increasing incident light at the sea floor. However, depth integrated scalar irradiance was 2 to 3 times higher in the sands than in the mud. Consequently, gross photosynthesis in the net autotrophic fine sand and coarse sand flats during inundation was on average 4 and 11 times higher than in the net heterotrophic mud flat, despite higher total chlorophyll concentration in mud. Benthic photosynthesis may be enhanced in intertidal sands during inundation due to: (1) higher light availability to the microphytobenthos in the sands compared to muds, (2) more efficient transport of photosynthesis-limiting solutes to the microalgae with pore water flows in the permeable sands, and (3) more active metabolic state and different life strategies of microphytobenthos inhabiting sands.     

光照强度对海洋微藻脂肪含量及脂肪酸组成影响的研究

近年来，海洋微藻脂肪酸组成的研究及其应用越来越受到国内外科学家的重视。高度不饱和脂肪酸(PUFA)，特别是长链的n-3 PUFA，如二十碳五烯酸(EPA)和二十二碳六烯酸(DHA)对海洋动物和人类都具有营养学和医学上的价值。在海洋微藻的培养过程中，光照强度是海洋微藻生长的条件之一，光线的明与暗，光度的强与弱，不仅对微藻的生长速率、产量有影响，而且对其脂肪含量和脂肪酸的组成也有影响(Teshima et al.，1983；Thompson et al.，1990； Renaud et al., 1991)。 作者在以往研究的基础上，选择了3种有代表性的海洋微藻：(1)小球藻Chlorella sp-2(李荷芳等，1999)，此藻脂肪酸中EPA含量高、且不含DHA；(2)球等鞭金藻(Isochrysis galbana)，该藻DHA含量较高，但几乎不含EPA；(3)前沟藻(Amphidinium sp.)的EPA、DHA含量均高。将以上3种微藻作为原料，在不同的光照强度下进行培养，测定并分析藻体中的脂肪含量和脂肪酸组成的变化，从而了解光强对海洋微藻脂肪含量及其脂肪酸组成的影响。     

Automated Kerogen Classification in Microscope Images of Dispersed Kerogen Preparation

We develop the classification part of a system that analyses transmitted light microscope images of dispersed kerogen preparation. The system automatically extracts kerogen pieces from the image and labels each piece as either inertinite or vitrinite. The image pre-processing analysis consists of background removal, identification of kerogen material, object segmentation, object extraction (individual images of pieces of kerogen) and feature calculation for each object. An expert palynologist was asked to label the objects into categories inertinite and vitrinite, which provided the ground truth for the classification experiment. Ten state-of-the-art classifiers and classifier ensembles were compared: Naïve Bayes, decision tree, nearest neighbour, the logistic classifier, multilayered perceptron (MLP), support vector machines (SVM), AdaBoost, Bagging, LogitBoost and Random Forest. The logistic classifier was singled out as the most accurate classifier, with an accuracy greater than 90. Using a 10 times 10-fold cross-validation provided within the Weka software, we found that the logistic classifier was significantly better than five classifiers (p<0.05) and indistinguishable from the other four classifiers. The initial set of 32 features was subsequently reduced to 6 features without compromising the classification accuracy. A further evaluation of the system alerted us to the possible sensitivity of the classification to the ground truth that might vary from one human expert to another. The analysis also revealed that the logistic classifier made most of the correct classifications with a high certainty.     

重要找矿指示元素的野外快速分析法——金的野外快速分析

近年来,作者发展了七种以上重要找矿指示元素的野外快速分析法,此乃其一。文中提出一种新的金样冷浸技术,引进了新的光导光度检测方法,样品经溴化钠—硫酸—过氧化氢冷浸,用经丙酮—MIBK处理的泡沫塑料富集金,经混合解脱剂解脱并直接取解脱液用改进的微珠析出法或用光导光度法测定。取10g样品,可测定0.0005-50g/t范围内的金。方法简便、快速,可在普查分队驻地进行,每一工作日可测定80多个样品,由于废弃了王水分解样品和泡沫塑料的灰化,具有广阔的应用前景。