Pollen-based reconstructions of Holocene vegetation and climatic change of Tibetan Plateau

A synthesis of Holocene pollen records from the Tibetan Plateau shows the history of vegetation and climatic changes during the Holocene. Palynological evidences from 24 cores/sections have been compiled and show that the vegetation shifted from subalpine/alpine conifer forest to subalpine/alpine evergreen sclerophyllous forest in the southeastern part of the plateau; from alpine steppe to alpine desert in the central, western and northern part; and from alpine meadow to alpine steppe in the eastern and southern plateau regions during the Holocene. These records show that increases in precipitation began about 9 ka from the southeast, and a wide ranging level of increased humidity developed over the entire of the plateau around 8-7 ka, followed by aridity from 6 ka and a continuous drying over the plateau after 4-3 ka. The changes in Holocene climates of the plateau can be interpreted qualitatively as a response to orbital forcing and its secondary effects on the Indian Monsoon which expanded northwards     

一种基于特征信息的车牌识别方法

根据中国车辆牌照本身的现有特征信息,提出一种车牌识别方法.采用全局动态阈值法进行二值化处理图像,牌照定位算法简单迅速,字符分割参考垂直投影间隔和字符的纵横比.实验结果表明,这种方法具有良好的环境适应性和鲁棒性.     

Evidence for a mid‐Pleistocene shift of ice‐drift pattern in the Nordic seas

Sediment proxy records from a continuous, 1.5 million year long deep‐sea sediment core from a site in the western Norwegian Sea were used to obtain new insights into the nature of palaeoceanographic change in the northern North Atlantic (Nordic seas) during the climatic shift of the Mid‐Pleistocene Revolution (MPR). Red‐green sediment colour and magnetic susceptibility records both reveal significant differences in their mean values when comparing the intervals older than 700 000 yr (700 ka) with those from the past 500 kyr. The timing and duration of these changes indicates that the MPR in the Nordic seas is characterised by a gradual transition lasting about 200 kyr. Together with further sedimentological evidence this suggests that the mid‐Pleistocene climate shift was accompanied by a general change in ice‐drift pattern. It is further proposed that prior to the onset of the major late Pleistocene glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere a significant proportion of the ice in the eastern Nordic seas originated from a southern provenance, whereas later it dominantly came from the surrounding landmasses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical analysis of surface hydrography and circulation variations in northern South China Sea

1 INTRODUCTIONThe South China Sea (SCS) is a semi-enclosedmarginal sea in western North Pacific Ocean withvery complex topography and is the important pas-sage connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Ithas great impact to the global climate and a greatinterest of many oceanography researchers. Twodominant surface hydrographic and circulation fea-tures in the northern SCS are a strong fresh waterexpansion and a warm and high-salinity seawaterintrusion such as the SCS Diluted Water…     

Late Quaternary submarine bedforms and ice‐sheet flow in Gerlache Strait and on the adjacent continental shelf,Antarctic Peninsula

Geophysical data from Gerlache Strait, Croker Passage, Bismarck Strait and the adjacent continental shelf reveal streamlined subglacial bedforms that were produced at the bed of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS) during the last glaciation. The spatial arrangement and orientation of these bedforms record the former drainage pattern and flow dynamics of an APIS outlet up‐flow, and feeding into, a palaeo‐ice stream in the Western Bransfield Basin. Evidence suggests that together, they represent a single ice‐flow system that drained the APIS during the last glaciation. The ice‐sheet outlet flowed north/northeastwards through Gerlache Strait and Croker Passage and converged with a second, more easterly ice‐flow tributary on the middle shelf to form the main palaeo‐ice stream. The dominance of drumlins with low elongation ratios suggests that ice‐sheet outlet draining through Gerlache Strait was comparatively slower than the main palaeo‐ice stream in the Western Bransfield Basin, although the low elongation ratios may also partly reflect the lack of sediment. Progressive elongation of drumlins further down‐flow indicates that the ice sheet accelerated through Croker Passage and the western tributary trough, and fed into the main zone of streaming flow in the Western Bransfield Basin. Topography would have exerted a strong control on the development of the palaeo‐ice stream system but subglacial geology may also have been significant given the transition from crystalline bedrock to sedimentary strata on the inner–mid‐shelf. In the broader context, the APIS was drained by a number of major fast‐flowing outlets through cross‐shelf troughs to the outer continental shelf during the last glaciation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memorial landscapes: analytic questions and metaphors

Over the past two decades, geographers have probed the intersection of collective memory and urban space. Their sustained interest in the subject reflects an understanding of the social condition of commemoration and the important role that space plays in the process and politics of collective memory. Along with other critical social scientists, geographers envision these public symbols as part of larger cultural landscapes that reflect and legitimate the normative social order. A review of the extant literature indicates that geographers scrutinize memorial landscapes through three conceptual lenses that may be understood via the metaphors of ‘text,’ ‘arena,’ and ‘performance.’ These metaphors are in turn mobilized through a series of analytic questions that serve to identify the interests served and denied by landscape ‘texts,’ the ‘arenas’ in which they are produced, and the ways in which they are enacted via ‘performance.’ This article’s synopsis of the subfield’s predominant metaphors and its attendant questions contributes to the ongoing cultural geographic project of articulating and implementing methods for interpreting landscapes as open-ended symbolic systems.

喜马拉雅山脉的地质地貌特征:来自SRTM数字高程模型和降水量数据的约束

利用GTOPO30和SRTM3数字高程(DEM)数据,提取了喜马拉雅山脉(造山带)的数字高程模型并对其进行了地质地貌的初步分析。从SRTM3数字高程数据提取出坡度数据,初步分析了喜马拉雅山脉坡度和高程的特征。数字高程和坡度图清楚地展现了喜马拉雅大型断裂带(构造边界)的空间分布特征。分析了中国气象局下属的西藏、青海、四川和云南4省区气象观测台站55年来的年平均降水量观测数据、喜马拉雅山脉南坡的年平均降水量数据、喜马拉雅DEM和裂变径迹数据,发现喜马拉雅山脉从东至西,年平均降水量逐渐减少,地形起伏逐渐变小,而高程渐次升高,与此同时剥蚀速率降低;从北至南,年平均降水量逐渐增加,地形起伏增大,高程快速降低,而剥蚀速率则急剧升高。这充分说明了喜马拉雅年平均降水量大的地区,地表剥蚀作用相对较强,年平均降水量小的地区,地表剥蚀作用则较弱,即:在喜马拉雅地区,长周期的地表剥蚀过程(可长达数个百万年时间尺度)和短周期(仅仅50年)的降水量观测是耦合的。     

E1 Nio phenomenon in simple ocean data assimilation data

1 IntroductionIt is well known that interaction between the trop-ical ocean and atmosphere produces the largest inter-annual climate signal, El Nino-Southern Oscillation(ENSO). In past decades many efforts have been madein understanding and predicting ENSO: such as the hy-pothesis of Bjerknes (1969) that ENSO arises as aself-sustained cycle in which SSTA in the Pacific O-cean causes the trade winds to strengthen or slackenand that this in turn drives the ocean circulation changesthat …     

黄、渤海海岸风沙地貌类型及其分布规律和发育模式

于１９９０－１９９４年，对黄，渤海海岸风沙地貌，风沙沉积，风沙灾害和土地沙漠化现象进行详细的外业调查，测量和填图，在此基础上，利用ＧＩＳ技术原理，对海岸岗沙地貌进行系统的分类研究，对海岸风沙地貌分布规律和发育模式进行较深入的探讨，结果表明，研究区风沙地貌，风沙灾害和土地沙漠化现象主要分布在冬，春季气候干旱，风力强而持久，砂源丰富的渤海海岸和山东半岛半岸的砂质海岸地区，海岸沙丘和风成砂地总面积达７０