Modelling the effect of changing precipitation inputs on deep soil water utilization

Forests in the Southeastern United States are predicted to experience future changes in seasonal patterns of precipitation inputs as well as more variable precipitation events. These climate change‐induced alterations could increase drought and lower soil water availability. Drought could alter rooting patterns and increase the importance of deep roots that access subsurface water resources. To address plant response to drought in both deep rooting and soil water utilization as well as soil drainage, we utilize a throughfall reduction experiment in a loblolly pine plantation of the Southeastern United States to calibrate and validate a hydrological model. The model was accurately calibrated against field measured soil moisture data under ambient rainfall and validated using 30% throughfall reduction data. Using this model, we then tested these scenarios: (a) evenly reduced precipitation; (b) less precipitation in summer, more in winter; (c) same total amount of precipitation with less frequent but heavier storms; and (d) shallower rooting depth under the above 3 scenarios. When less precipitation was received, drainage decreased proportionally much faster than evapotranspiration implying plants will acquire water first to the detriment of drainage. When precipitation was reduced by more than 30%, plants relied on stored soil water to satisfy evapotranspiration suggesting 30% may be a threshold that if sustained over the long term would deplete plant available soil water. Under the third scenario, evapotranspiration and drainage decreased, whereas surface run‐off increased. Changes in root biomass measured before and 4 years after the throughfall reduction experiment were not detected among treatments. Model simulations, however, indicated gains in evapotranspiration with deeper roots under evenly reduced precipitation and seasonal precipitation redistribution scenarios but not when precipitation frequency was adjusted. Deep soil and deep rooting can provide an important buffer capacity when precipitation alone cannot satisfy the evapotranspirational demand of forests. How this buffering capacity will persist in the face of changing precipitation inputs, however, will depend less on seasonal redistribution than on the magnitude of reductions and changes in rainfall frequency.     

Revisiting Sustainable Development of Dry Valleys in Hengduan Mountains Region

Dry valleys are a striking geographic landscape in Hengduan Mountains Region and are characterized by low rainfall, desert type of vegetation and fragile environment. Past efforts and resources have been concentrated mainly on rehabilitation of degraded ecosystem and fragile environment, particularly reforestation, while socio-economic development has been largely overlooked. Despite successes in pocket areas, the overall trend of unsustainability and environmental deterioration are continuing. It is important to understand that uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is the root cause of development of dry valleys, and development and formation of dry valleys is a natural process. Human intervention has played a secondary role in development of dry valleys and degradation of dry valleys though human intervention in many cases has speeded up environmental degradation of the dry valleys. It is important to understand that dry valleys are climatic enclaves and an integrated approach that combines rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and socio-economic development should be adopted if the overall goal of sustainable development of dry valleys is to be achieved. Promotion of niche-based cash crops, rural energy including hydropower, solar energy, biogas and fuelwood plantation is recommended as the priority activities.     

The second order characteristic condition for plastic flow

In this paper the second order characteristic (discontinuous bifurcation) condition is derived for the granular flow (fully plastic) equations. This second order bifurcation equation is shown to be formally identical to the first order localization requirement during steady elastoplastic deformation provided the elastic compliance tensor is substituted for the product of the plastic multiplier with the flow Hessian. For isotropic yield and flow functions the invariant form of the characteristic condition is given in detail, as well as an alternative expression in adapted co‐ordinates. The characteristic condition can be regarded as defining a hardening function which is maximized to identify the critical angles. When the method is applied to 3D Coulomb flow, Mohr's 3D fracture plane conditions are obtained uniquely. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling the effect of low soil temperatures on transpiration by Scots pine

For ecosystem modelling of the Boreal forest it is important to include processes associated with low soil temperature during spring‐early summer, as these affect the tree water uptake. The COUP model, a physically based SVAT model, was tested with 2 years of soil and snow physical measurements and sap flow measurements in a 70‐year‐old Scots pine stand in the boreal zone of northern Sweden. During the first year the extent and duration of soil frost was manipulated in the field. The model was successful in reproducing the timing of the soil warming after the snowmelt and frost thaw. A delayed soil warming, into the growing season, severely reduced the transpiration. We demonstrated the potential for considerable overestimation of transpiration by the model if the reduction of the trees' capacity to transpire due to low soil temperatures is not taken into account. We also demonstrated that the accumulated effect of aboveground conditions could be included when simulating the relationship between soil temperature and tree water uptake. This improved the estimated transpiration for the control plot and when soil warming was delayed into the growing season. The study illustrates the need of including antecedent conditions on root growth in the model in order to catch these effects on transpiration. The COUP model is a promising tool for predicting transpiration in high‐latitude stands. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

海浪的条件特征周期

在海浪波面高度为正态分布的假定下,导出一种以给定波高为条件的条件周期概率密度函数.与风浪槽中测量数据比较,结果表明,在窄谱情况下此概率密度函数与实验室风浪的实际符合良好.根据此密度函数定义了3种条件特征周期,并导出它们与平均周期的关系式.根据这些关系对有关海洋工程上的一些问题作了解释和讨论.     

赤潮生物种类特征光谱获取技术

较为系统地研究了赤潮生物水体反射率曲线获取方法。通过对 2类反射率反演方法得出的反射率曲线与实际反射率曲线进行比较 ,得出在不具备大气环境参数的情况下 ,经验线性法的反演结果与实际反射率曲线最接近的结论 ,并进一步对正常海水和赤潮生物水体的光谱特性进行分析 ,提取出赤潮生物水体的特征光谱。这是进行赤潮监测和识别的重要前提     

自适应馈线保护在胜利海上平台供电系统中的应用研究

介绍了自适应电流保护原理在胜利海上平台供电系统中的应用。应用该原理的电流保护克服了传统电流保护一成不变的定值、受系统运行方式和短路类型的影响较大等缺点，它充分发挥了微机的记忆、逻辑判断、数学运算等强大的功能，提供实时计算保护装设处到系统等效电源间的阻抗，通过不断监视负荷电流来自动整定过流保护，并引入了反时限特性，解决了实际存在的技术问题，使得保护装置灵敏可靠。     

Gradation affects basic mechanical characteristics of Chinese calcareous sand as airport subgrade of reefs

Abstract

Construction of the reefs in the South China Sea is a significant foundation to the secure stability and economic development of China. The construction of an airport runway is necessary for this realization. The calcareous sand is the main primary material in the runway construction. A certain type of calcareous sand near a certain reef of the South China Sea was studied in this paper. To investigate this specific calcareous sand, quartz sand was used as a reference for comparison. Microscopic 3-D imaging, compression and triaxial tests were conducted to test the micro, squeezing and shear properties. The effect mechanism of gradation on the calcareous sand’s compressibility and shear characteristics are discussed from a mesoscopic viewpoint using 3-D morphology. Calcareous sand particles are multiangular and flatter in comparison with quartz sand. The larger the particle sizes are, the more different the two sands’ morphologies are. The compressibility of calcareous sand is greater, and the effect of the coarse fraction (5–1?mm) content in the gradation plays the most significant role in this feature. When the coarse particles’ content is less than 25% and the mass ratio of the middle and fine particles (M) is constant, there is the worst coarse fraction content causing the calcareous sand to be most likely compressed. The worst coarse fraction content decreases with the increase in M, and an empirical formula is proposed. When the gradation, relative density and confining pressure are the same, the peak shear stress and strain of calcareous sand are all at a high level. The effect of confining pressure is manifested in calcareous sand. The shear strength and dilation of calcareous sand are also most affected by the medium coarse fraction (5–0.25?mm) content.     

江苏岸外辐射沙脊群东沙稳定性研究

东沙是江苏岸外辐射沙脊群中的第二大沙洲,具有独特的地形地貌和水动力条件,对它进行稳定性研究为揭示整个辐射沙洲及其邻近岸滩的动态演变都非常有益。通过利用多年遥感卫片资料、1998年取得的现场水文泥沙观测资料和东沙滩面表层沉积物资料等,对东沙的地形地貌特征、沉积特征和东沙两侧潮汐通道的水流泥沙特征等进行了详细分析。研究结果表明,东沙的沙脊偏于西侧,西侧滩面较窄、高程较高且岸线较为顺直,东侧滩面较宽、高程较低且岸线较为破碎;西洋和陈家坞槽均处于冲刷状态,净输沙的主要方向为输向槽外或输向条子泥;东沙近三十年来面积有所缩小且有外围向中央收缩的趋势,尤其以向东、向南方向的迁移最为明显。     

Investigation of the hydrate reservoir production under different depressurization modes

Abstract

Large reserves of natural gas hydrates exist, and the depressurization method has the greatest potential for gas hydrate reservoir recovery. Currently, the most commonly adopted depressurization simulation method is a constant bottom-hole pressure production scheme. This study proposes a new depressurization mode with decreasing bottom-hole pressure. The production characteristic was numerically investigated using this method. The results show the following: (1) As the depressurization exponent (n) decreases, the development effect improves, and production indexes including cumulative gas production/dissociation and gas-water ratio increase. However, the reservoir energy consumption is higher and the hydrate reformation is more severe. (2) Compared to the proposed depressurization mode, the hydrate production index of the constant bottom-hole pressure production (n?=?0) is better. However, the hydrate reservoir energy consumption is higher and the hydrate reformation is more severe using constant bottom-hole pressure production. (3) To achieve a balance between production and reservoir energy consumption during depressurization production, the bottom-hole pressure should be controlled by selecting a suitable depressurization exponent between n_min and n_max, which can be determined through numerical simulations.