The pillars of cosmology: a short history and assessment

Is the big bang model of the universe ascendant and unshakable, or declining and outdated? This paper cursorily explores the state of cosmology today.     

Background concentrations of elements in surface soils and their changes as affected by agriculture use in the desert-oasis ecotone in the middle of Heihe River Basin,North-west China

The concentrations of twenty four chemical elements in the surface layer of natural desert soils and the cultivated farmland soils were measured at a desert-oasis ecotone in the middle of Heihe river basin, north-west China. Background values were estimated for (a) major elements (Si 335.3 g kg^− 1, Al 49.4 g kg^− 1, Fe 19.1 g kg^− 1, Ca 29.4 g kg^− 1, Mg 8.9 g kg^− 1, K 20.1 g kg^− 1, Na 17.5 g kg^− 1 and P 0.338 g kg^− 1), (b) heavy metals and non-metals (Cr 55.8 mg kg^− 1, Mn 404.8 mg kg^− 1, Ni 17.7 mg kg^− 1, Cu 5.1 mg kg^− 1, Zn 33.7 mg kg^− 1, Pb 15.5 mg kg^− 1 and As 5.2 mg kg^− 1) and (c) other trace elements (Ti 2.0 mg kg^− 1, V 55.3 mg kg^− 1, Co 5.7 mg kg^− 1, Rb 82.4 mg kg^− 1, Sr 232.9 mg kg^− 1, Y 14.7 mg kg^− 1, Zr 194.9 mg kg^− 1, Nb 7.8 mg kg^− 1 and Ba 720.6 mg kg^− 1). After natural desert soil was cultivated for agricultural use, significant changes in element concentrations occurred under tillage, irrigation and fertilisation management. Compared to natural soil, the for the levels of Si, K, Na, Sr, Zr and Ba decreased, and no changes were observed for Rb, while the values of the other 17 elements increase in agricultural soil from 1.2 to 3.5 times. However, their absolute concentrations are still low, suggesting that the arable soil in this region remains comparatively a clean soil. The increased silt, clay and organic carbon content, under long-term irrigation, enriched the fine-grained materials, and application of fertilisers and manure contributed to the accumulation of most elements in arable soil. The accumulation of elements in agricultural soil increased with increasing cultivation years and extent of soil development.     

On the problem of big bang nucleosynthesis

Supporters of the standard Big Bang theory point to the abundances of light elements, predicted by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) as one of the main observational supports of the theory. However, current data no longer confirm BBN. Instead, measurements of the abundances of He³, He⁴, and D clearly contradict BBN at more than a 3 level, eliminating a key support of the Big Bang.     

Temporal behavior of the background seismicity rate in central Japan, 1998 to mid-2003

We studied the temporal behavior of the background shallow seismicity rate in 700 circular areas across inland Japan. To search for and test the significance of the possible rate changes in background seismicity, we developed an efficient computational method that applies the space–time ETAS model proposed by Ogata in 1998 to the areas. Also, we conducted Monte Carlo tests using a simulated catalog to validate the model we applied. Our first finding was that the activation anomalies were found so frequently that the constant background seismicity hypothesis may not be appropriate and/or the triggered event model with constraints on the parameters may not adequately describe the observed seismicity. However, quiescence occasionally occurs merely by chance. Another outcome of our study was that we could automatically find several anomalous background seismicity rate changes associated with the occurrence of large earthquakes. Very significant seismic activation was found before the M6.1 Mt. Iwate earthquake of 1998. Also, possible seismic quiescence was found in an area 150 km southwest of the focal region of the M7.3 Western Tottori earthquake of 2000. The seismicity rate in the area recovered after the mainshock.     

乌鲁木齐区域数字遥测台网各子台背景噪声分析

选取乌鲁木齐区域数字遥测台网中 1 1个子台的背景噪声数字记录 ,计算并分析其背景噪声地动速度均方根值 RMS、有效测量动态范围以及噪声功率谱 ,最后确定出各台址背景噪声相对集中的频段     

中国南水北调工程进展综述

论述南水北调工程的调水背景、工程规划、工程特征、环境影响与生态环境保护及其工程综合效益。     

地面风对瓦里关山大气CH4本底浓度的影响分析

使用1994年7月至1996年12月大气CH₄和地面风现场连续观测资料，分析了瓦里关全球大气本底基准站（36°17′N, 100°54′E，海拔3816 m）地面风变化对大气CH₄本底浓度的影响。结果表明，水平风向、风速和垂直风向、风速的变化对大气CH₄观测值的影响在春、夏、秋、冬季有明显不同，水平风向NE—ENE—E为CH₄测量最主要的局地影响非本底扇区，静风及水平风速大于10 m/s、垂直风速大于±1 m/s对观测结果都有较大影响；由的统计平均还给出了此段期间瓦里关大气CH₄在不同季节的浓度分布范围和日变化类型，并分析了可能成因；将地面风数据作为大气CH₄本底资料的过滤因子之一，提出了适用于不同使用目的和要求的我国内陆高原大气CH₄本底数据筛选方法，本底数据留存率约为原始资料量的50%。     

多普勒雷达观测在北京7.21暴雨数值模拟中的三维变分同化研究

基于背景误差的特征长度理论,研究调整背景误差水平分辨率对多普勒雷达资料三维变分同化的影响。首先利用NMC方法针对暴雨落区统计不同水平分辨率的背景误差协方差,分析两种不同分辨率的背景误差的结构特征,研究水平分辨率对背景误差特征长度的影响。将其应用于雷达资料同化中,研究背景误差水平分辨率变化对雷达资料同化的影响。结果表明:背景误差水平分辨率由27 km提高到3 km时,在大气低层体现出更细致的动力场信息,其动力场水平特征长度按水平分辨率的二次根递减,而温度场与水汽场水平特征长度变化不明显。在将不同分辨率的背景误差用于三维变分同化时,更高分辨率的背景误差可以在分析场增量中体现更细致的中小尺度信息,能够明显改善雷达径向速度资料同化效果,并在随后的暴雨数值模拟中雨量及其分布形态更接近实况。     

用非色散红外气体分析仪进行大气CO2本底浓度的测量

按WMO关于开展全球CO2监测的要求，在对引进设备进行改进的情况下，建立了我国开展大气CO2本底浓度连续测量的红外气体分析测量系统及有关方法。系统的测量精度优于0.1ppm，完全满足全球本底测量的要求，并具有较好的国际可比性。在此基础上，首次取得了我国大陆上空大气CO2的本底浓度资料。     

夏季乌拉尔地区环流持续异常及其背景流特征

在 Dole持续异常界定方法的基础上提出了一种适用于全球分析的界定方法 ,并利用NCEP/NCAR 1 980～ 1 998年 6月 1日～ 8月 31日逐日再分析资料 ,分析了全球大气环流持续异常的分布 ,重点研究了乌拉尔地区反复出现的、维持较长时间的强环流异常的背景流及其演变特征 ,得到以下结论 :1 )文中提出的界定方法能较好地识别全球地区持续异常分布 ;2 )乌拉尔地区环流正、负持续异常形成时 ,背景环流的发展不具有对称性 ,负异常并不是正异常的简单相反过程。正异常的发展与位于西南方的正距平扰动向东北移动、及与位于中西伯里亚的正距平扰动西移有关 ,这些扰动具有相当正压结构的 ,而负异常则主要是局地发展而形成的 ;3)正压过程对乌拉尔持续异常的形成起着主要作用 ,明显不同于北太平洋环流持续异常的发展 ;4)乌拉尔正、负持续异常期间的背景流不仅在北半球中高纬有明显差异 ,而且在南、北半球其它地区也有明显差异 ,热带的差异在低频环流上表现得更为清楚 ;5)在异常发生前 ,中纬度急流已发生了有利于异常建立的改变。