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.     

Southern elephant seal trajectories, fronts and eddies in the Brazil/Malvinas Confluence

This study describes the association between transient, mesoscale hydrographic features along the axis of the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence, in the SW Atlantic, and the foraging behavior of 2–3-year-old (focal) juvenile southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, from Península Valdés, Argentina. Departing from the dominant pattern of foraging on predictable bathymetric fronts on the Patagonian shelf and slope, three females out of 12 satellite-tracked juveniles remained at the edge of young warm-core eddies and near the outer core of cold-core eddies, coinciding with the most productive areas of these temperature fronts. Seal trajectories along high-temperature gradients were always consistent with the speed and direction of surface currents inferred from the temperature distribution and confirmed by surface drifters. Movements of foraging seals were compared with those of surface drifters, coinciding in time and space and yielding independent and consistent data on regional water circulation parameters. The diving pattern recorded for one focal seal yielded shallower dives and a loose diel pattern in the eddy, and a marked diurnal cycle compatible with foraging on vertically migrating prey in the cold waters of the Malvinas Current. Pre-reproductive females that use the mesoscale fronts of the Argentine Basin as an alternative foraging area would benefit from lower competition with more experienced seals and with other top predators that reproduce along the coast of Patagonia.     

海面对风应力的非定常响应

针对常垂直湍流系数和变垂直湍流系数两种情况，给出了开阔静止海面对风应力的非定常响应的解析表达式，并讨论了水深，风应力强弱对响应过程的影响，尽管没有考虑风场的非定常性，但本文的结果对理解海洋对风应力的非定常响应过程具有一定的帮助，对分析海面停风后的消衰过程也具有实际意义。通过与实测资料比较，认为垂直湍流系数模式要比常垂直湍流系数模式更为合理。     

Space-Time Intelligence Systems: Technology, applications and methods

Geographic Information System (GIS) software is constrained, to a greater or lesser extent, by a static world view that is not well-suited to the representation of time (Goodchild 2000). Space Time Intelligence System (STIS) software holds the promise of relaxing some of the technological constraints of spatial only GIS, making possible visualization approaches and analysis methods that are appropriate for temporally dynamic geospatial data. This special issue of the Journal of Geographical Systems describes some recent advances in STIS technology and methods, with an emphasis on applications in public health and spatial epidemiology.The STIS expert workshops were funded in part by grants R01CA092669 and R01CA096002 from the National Cancer Institute, and by grants R43-ES010220 and R44-ES010220 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Gillian AvRuskin provided cheerful editorial assistance. We thank the participants at the workshops for providing invaluable expertise and critical insights.     

长江三角洲地区水和热通量的时空变化特征及影响因子

文中利用改进的K B模式和牛顿扩散方法及 196 1年以来的长江三角洲 (2 8～ 33°N ,118～ 12 3°E)地区的 4 8个测站的常规气象资料 ,估计了该地区近 4 0a来的蒸散量和感热通量。结合该地区的气温、太阳辐射等气候资料和 196 0年以来该区域土地资源利用变化等有关信息对该地区的潜热通量和感热通量的时 空间变化特征及其可能成因进行了综合分析。结果认为该地区自 2 0世纪 70年代开始平均蒸散量有逐渐减小的趋势 ,与 1980年相比 ,1998年区域年平均蒸散量减小了 2 4mm。区域平均感热通量与蒸散量相比在此期间变化并不明显。通过对该地区的云量、太阳辐射及土地利用变化资料分析认为 ,造成该地区平均蒸散量减少趋势的的原因之一是用于蒸发的能量即太阳辐射的减少 ,而造成太阳辐射减少的可能原因为云量及大气透明度的变化所至 ;原因之二是该地区地表覆盖条件的改变。近 2 0a来 ,该地区的水田、旱地及水域面积占总面积的比率分别减少 1.35 3% ,4 .4 4 2 %和2 .5 97% ,而城镇建设、工矿及其它建设用地面积则增加 3.345 %。耕地及水面的减小和城镇及建设用地面积的增加从整体上使区域平均蒸发量减少。     

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。     

Evolution of the fogwater composition in Strasbourg (France) from 1990 to 1999

The chemical composition of fogwater has been studied in the city of Strasbourg (France) from 1990 to 1999. During these years, fogwater samples have been collected and analysed for major ions and trace metals. This paper reports on the analysis of the collected dataset. The analysis revealed a significant decrease in acidity of approximately one pH unit over the course of the study. This decrease in acidity appears to be linked to a decrease in SO_2(g) and the resulting SO₄²⁻. Trace metal concentrations have also strongly decreased over the 10-year period. Pb concentrations, following the elimination of leaded gasoline, decreased by more than one order of magnitude.     

Crustal structure of the Ruby Mountains and southern Carlin Trend region, Nevada, from magnetotelluric data

We have collected about 150 magnetotelluric (MT) soundings in northeastern Nevada in the region of the Ruby Mountains metamorphic core complex uplift and southern Carlin mineral trend, in an effort to illuminate controls on core complex evolution and deposition of world-class gold deposits. The region has experienced a broad range of tectonic events including several periods of compressional and extensional deformation, which have contributed to the total expression of electrical resistivity. Most of the soundings reside in three east–west profiles across increasing degrees of core uplift to the north (Bald Mountain, Harrison Pass, and Secret Pass latitudes). One short cross-line was also taken to assess an east–west structure to the north of the northern profile. Model resistivity cross-sections were derived from the MT data using a 2-D inversion algorithm, which damps departures of model parameters from an a priori structure. Geological interpretation of the resistivity combines previous seismic, potential field and isotope models, structural and petrological models for regional compression and extension, and detailed structural/stratigraphic interpretations incorporating drilling for petroleum and mineral exploration. To first order, the resistivity structure is one of a moderately conductive, Phanerozoic sedimentary section fundamentally disrupted by intrusion and uplift of resistive crystalline rocks. Late Devonian and early Mississippian shales of the Pilot and Chainman Formations together form an important conductive marker sequence in the stratigraphy and show pronounced increases in conductance (conductivity–thickness product) from east to west. These increases are attributed to graphitization caused by Elko–Sevier era compressional shear deformation and possibly by intrusive heating. The resistive crystalline central massifs adjoin the host stratigraphy across crustal-scale, steeply dipping fault zones. The zones provide pathways to the lower crust for heterogeneous, upper crustal induced, electric current flow. Resistive core complex crust appears steeply bounded under the middle of the neighboring grabens and not to deepen at a shallow angle to arbitrary distances to the west. The numerous crustal breaks imaged with MT may contribute to the low effective elastic thickness (T_e) estimated regionally for the Great Basin and exemplify the mid-crustal, steeply dipping slip zones in which major earthquakes nucleate. An east–west oriented conductor in the crystalline upper crust spans the East Humboldt Range and northern Ruby Mountains. The conductor may be related to nearby graphitic metasediments, with possible alteration by middle Tertiary magmatism. Lower crustal resistivity everywhere under the profiles is low and appears quasi one-dimensional. It is consistent with a low rock porosity (<1 vol.%) containing hypersaline brines and possible water-undersaturated crustal melts, residual to the mostly Miocene regional extension. The resistivity expression of the southern Carlin Trend (CT) in the Pinon Range is not a simple lineament but rather a family of structures attributed to Eocene intrusion, stratal deformation, and alteration/graphitization. Substantial reactivation or overprinting by core complex uplift or Basin–Range extensional events seems likely. We concur with others that the Carlin Trend may result in part from overlap of the large Eocene Northeast Nevada Volcanic Field with Precambrian–Paleozoic deep-water clastic source rocks thickening abruptly to the west of the Pinon Range, and projecting to the north–northwest.     

天山西部中山带积雪变化趋势与气温和降水的关系——以巩乃斯河谷为例

根据位于巩乃斯河谷的天山积雪雪崩研究站近30年来的年最大雪深、月平均气温、月降水量观测记录，用平均差值法、最小二乘法、自回归滑动平均法检验了天山西部中山带积雪、冷季降水、冷季平均气温的变化趋势，结果表明，天山西部中山带积雪呈增加趋势，近30年来年平均增加1.43%，与青藏高原、南极大陆及格陵兰冰盖表面积雪积累增加相一致。天山西部中山带冷季气温和降水的变化趋势也是增加的，其中冷季降水平年平均增加0．12％，而冷季气温升高了0．8℃，积雪与冷季气温之间存在着弱的负相关关系，而与冷季降水呈显著的正相关关系。积雪的增加主要是因为气候变暖引起的冷季降水的增加对积雪增加的贡献大于由于冷季气温升高而造成积雪减少的贡献的结果。