Deposition Rates of Terrestrial and Marine Organic Carbon in the Osaka Bay, Seto Inland Sea, Japan, Determined Using Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Ratios in the Sediment

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (¹³C and ¹⁵N) of surface sediments were measured within Osaka Bay, in the Seto Inland Sea in Japan, in order to better understand the sedimentation processes operating on both terrestrial and marine organic matter in the Bay. The ¹³C and ¹⁵N of surface sediments in the estuary of the Yodo River were less than –23 and 5 respectively, but increased in the area up to about 10 km from the river mouth. At greater distances they became constant (giving ¹³C of about –20 and ¹⁵N about 6). It can be concluded that large amounts of terrestrial organic matter exist near the mouth of the Yodo River. Stable isotope ratios in the estuary of the Yodo River within 10 km of the river mouth were useful indicators allowing study of the movement of terrestrial organic matter. Deposition rates for total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) over the whole of the Bay were estimated to be 63,100 ton C/year and 7,590 ton N/year, respectively. The deposition rate of terrestrial organic carbon was estimated to be 13,200 (range 2,000–21,500) ton C/year for the whole of Osaka Bay, and terrestrial organic carbon was estimated to be about 21% (range 3–34) of the TOC deposition rate. The ratio of the deposition rate of terrestrial organic carbon to the rate inflow of riverine TOC and particulate organic carbon (POC) were estimated to be 19% (range 3–31) and 76% (range 12–100), respectively.     

Diet shifts of Caribbean grunts (Haemulidae) and snappers (Lutjanidae) and the relation with nursery-to-coral reef migrations

The spatial size distribution of grunts and snappers have previously indicated the separation of juveniles in nursery habitats from the adults on the coral reef. This implies life cycle migrations from nursery habitats (such as seagrass beds and mangroves) to the coral reef. If diet shifts are related to such migrations, then the diets of these fish must change before or around the fish size at which such migrations take place. A wide size range of juveniles of two grunt species (Haemulon sciurus and Haemulon flavolineatum) and of two snapper species (Lutjanus apodus and Ocyurus chrysurus) were caught in seagrass beds and mangroves, and their gut contents identified and quantified. Regression analysis between fish size and dietary importance of small crustaceans showed a negative relationship in all four species. Positive relations were found for H. sciurus, L. apodus and O. chrysurus between fish length and the dietary importance of decapods, and for L. apodusand O. chrysurus between fish length and prey fish importance. Critical changes in the fish diets with fish size were examined by application of a Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). The CCA yielded three clusters of size-classes of fishes with similar diets, and application of a Mantel test showed that each of these clusters had significantly different diets, and that each cluster diet was significantly specialised. The size at which a fish species ‘switched’ from one cluster to another was compared with size-at-maturity data and with the typical size at which these species migrate from the nursery habitats to the coral reef. H. sciurus and H. flavolineatum may be prompted to migrate from the nursery habitats to coral reef habitats because of dietary changes, or because of the development of the gonads. For L. apodus and O. chrysurus, a dietary changeover forms a more likely explanation for nursery-to-reef migrations than does sexual maturation because these species reach maturity at sizes much larger than the maximum size of individuals found in nursery habitats. Although other factors may theoretically initiate or promote the migration patterns, the results of this study indicate that ontogenetic dietary changes may crucially influence the nursery-to-coral reef migrations of these reef fish species.     

Shallow Water Bathymetry Derived from Green Wavelength Terrestrial Laser Scanner

Abstract

Shallow water bathymetry has proved to be a challenging task for remote sensing applications. In this work, Green-Wavelength Terrestrial Laser Scanning (GWTLS) is employed to survey nearshore bathymetry under clear atmospheric and water conditions. First, the obtained seabed points were corrected for refraction and then geo-registration, and filtering processes were exerted to obtain an accurate bathymetric surface. Terrain analysis was performed with respect to a reference surface derived from classical surveying techniques. The overall analysis has shown that the best results stem from 35° to 50° incident angles, whereas for angles higher than 65° measurements are not acceptable, although for the same angle in front and close to the instrument accuracy is considered acceptable due to the high laser power. Also, high resolution micro-topography, shallower than 1?m water depth, was managed to be captured. Systematic experimental approaches are expected to improve the GWTLS technique to detect bathymetry, which is anticipated to assist in mapping very shallow foreshore, tidal, and deltaic environments, to contribute conceptual into developing hybrid observation systems for coastal monitoring, and also to be applied in various maritime applications.     

Terrestrial and Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Mapping in Fire Island National Seashore Using High Spatial Resolution Remote Sensing Data

The vegetation communities and spatial patterns on the Fire Island National Seashore are dynamic as the result of interactions with driving forces such as sand deposition, storm-driven over wash, salt spray, surface water, as well as with human disturbances. We used high spatial resolution QuickBird-2 satellite remote sensing data to map both terrestrial and submerged aquatic vegetation communities of the National Seashore. We adopted a stratified classification and unsupervised classification approach for mapping terrestrial vegetation types. Our classification scheme included detailed terrestrial vegetation types identified by previous vegetation mapping efforts of the National Park Service and three generalized categories of high-density seagrass, low-density seagrass coverages, and unvegetated bottom to map the submerged aquatic vegetation habitats. We used underwater videography, GPS-guided field reference photography, and bathymetric data to support remote sensing image classification and information extraction. This study achieved approximately 82% and 75% overall classification accuracy for the terrestrial and submnerged aquatic vegetations, respectively, and provided an updated vegetation inventory and change analysis for the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network of the National Park Service.     

Origin of short period comets

Reasons for interest in the origin of short-period comets and the difficulties of computing their long-term dynamcal evolution are reviewed. The relative advantages of a source region in an extended inner core of the Oort cloud or a compact comet belt just beyond the planetary system are finely balanced, and it is premature to consider the problem solved. A complication is that some comets belonging to the Jupiter family may be part of a time-dependent system, possibly the remains of a giant comet such as Chiron which could have been part of the system 104 yr ago. The origin of short-period comets plays a pivotal role in many areas of solar system science: planet formation, the source of water (possibly life) on the terrestrial planets, the cratering record on the terrestrial planets and satellites of the outer planets, and the environmental impact posed by massive bodies and their decay products in the Earth's near-space environment.     

关于地球和月球首子午线的研究

首先对地球首子午线在不同时期的定义进行了分析和总结,进一步明确了当前对地球首子午线的严格定义,澄清了地球首子午线即过格林尼治天文台的子午线这一模糊认识。同时,结合我国月球探测工程的需要,分析了目前IAU推荐的月球首子午线定义和Bryce Walden等人提出的月球首子午线定义的优缺点。最后,对我国月球探测工程中坐标系的选择提出了建设性的意见。     

Spectral Filtering and Classification of Terrestrial Laser Scanner Point Clouds

A method is presented for filtering and classification of terrestrial laser scanner point clouds. The algorithm exploits the four-channel (blue, green, red and near infrared) multispectral imaging capability of some terrestrial scanners using supervised, parametric classification to assign thematic class labels to all scan cloud points. Its principal advantage is that it is a completely data-driven algorithm and is independent of spatial sampling resolution since the processing is performed in four-dimensional spectral feature space. Its application to two data-sets of different spatial extent and spatial and spectral complexity is reported, for which respective overall classification accuracies of 87·0% and 82·0% were achieved. Analysis of the input data with emphasis on the characteristics pertinent to the anticipated outcomes precedes detailed analysis of the classification results and error sources and their causes. Erroneously classified points are attributed to radiometric errors stemming from both detector hardware and physical effects.     

雄关漫道真如铁——论中国油气二次创业

半个多世纪以来，中国经历了油气资源的第一次创业，在祖国大陆和近海大陆架地区的新生代陆相碎屑岩沉积盆地中，发现了一批油气田，使原油年产量达1．67亿吨，位居世界第五，天然气疸这241亿立方米，居世界第十五位，成绩是巨大的，但是，1993年开始进口原油3000万吨，2000年进口原油7200万吨，严重影响国家经济建设，而且这种趋势还在不断发展，预测2010年将进口原油1亿吨，天然气200亿立方米，那么，中国油气资源的出路何在？作者指出，从中国大地构造演化来看，前新生代海相残留盆地还有巨大的油气潜力，尽管其勘探的难度是世界级的，但是，只要我们切实地依靠科学技术，进行油气资源的二次创业，困难上，在实践中克服困难，就可以发现更多的石油天然气，支持国家经济建设的持续发展。     

Geochemistry of the Rare Earth Elements in Natural Terrestrial Waters：A Review of What Is Currently Knows

The range of observed chemical compositions of natural terrestrial waters varies greatly especially when compared to the essentially constant global composition of the oceans.The concentrations of the REEs in natural terrestrial waters also exhibit more variation than what was reported in seawater,In terrestrial waters ,pH values span the range from acid up to alkaline,In addition,terrestrial waters can range from very dilute waters through to highly concentrated brines.The REE concentrations and their behavior in natural terrestrial waters reflect these compositional ranges,Chemical weathering of rocks represents the source of the REEs to natural terrestrial waters and ,consequently,the REE signature of rocks can impart their REE signature to associated waters,In addition,Because of the typical low solubilities of the REEs both surface and solution complexation can be important in fractionating REEs in aqueous solution.Both of these processes are important in all natural terrestrial waters,however,their relative importance varies as a function of the overall solution composition,In alkaline waters,for example,Solution complexation of the REEs with carbonate ions appears to control their aqueous distributions whereas in acid waters,the REE signature of the labile fraction of the REEs is readily leached from the rocks.In circumneutral pH waters,both processes appear to be important and their relative significance has not yet been determined.     

鄂尔多斯盆地中生代晚期以来大地热流的变化及其对生态环境格局和演变的影响

鄂尔多斯盆地的西北部、东北部和南部三个区域现今大地热流平均值分别为56．3、67．3和65．3mW／m^2，对应的生态环境格局也有明显的差异。研究表明，大地热流每增加4～5mW／m^2可使年均地表温度升高约l℃，使最低月均地表温度升高2。C以上。鄂尔多斯盆地东北部的平均大地热流比西北部高出11mW／m^2，东北部年均地表温度可能比西北部高出2～3℃，其最低月均地表温度可能比西北部高出4～6℃。西北部的大地热流平均值已经低于维持地表生态系统延续所需大地热流的临界值(57mW／m^2)，其自然生态系统整体上已经处于脆弱境地；东北部和南部的大地热流均大于57mW／m^2，自然生态系统均尚较稳健。东北部的沙漠化可能是风沙侵入的结果，其生态应该是可以恢复的。整个西北部作为一个整体看，72万年以前大地热流就已衰减到临界值以下，区域生态系统渐趋脆弱，开始整体上向荒漠化演变。