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Objectives: There are obvious seasonal variations in the GPS height time series, which affect the improvement of precision and can be corrected by both mathematical modelling and geophysical mechanisms. Compared to least square fitting, singular spectrum analysis (SSA) can extract random seasonal signals effectively through signal reconstruction, which is unaffected by the assumed sinusoidal waves. According to the elastic loading theory, the gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) can be used to calculate the vertical surface displacement caused by changes in terrestrial water storage. Methods: This paper mainly studies the feasibility of correcting the seasonal variations in GPS heights using SSA and GRACE inversion results. The height time series of 27 GPS stations in Australia with a time span of from 5 to 10 years were chosen and combined with GRACE simultaneous inversions. Results: Because the spatial resolutions of GRACE are coarse and the loading displacement is much more sensitive to near‑field mass changes than far‑field ones, the amplitudes of GRACE ‑inferred hydrological loading deformations are significantly smaller than GPS. The weighted root mean square (WRMS) are reduced at 22 stations after GRACE ‑inferred displacement corrections, and the correlation coefficients between deformations estimated by GPS and GRACE range from 0.12 to 0.78 with a mean value of 0.43, indicating that GPS and GRACE results have good consistency and correlation. SSA is used to extract the annual signals of vertical displacements derived from GPS and GRACE, and contribution rates of singular spectral variance of annual signals are 21.60% and 34.48%, respectively, expressing that annual signals are the main components of GRACE inferred results. Geographical climatic conditions have a significant impact on the consistency of annual signals derived from GPS and GRACE. Compared with the arid areas in central and western Australia, the amplitude and phase of annual signals derived from GPS and GRACE are more consistent in the northern region with seasonal rainfall. Furthermore, cross wavelet transform (XWT) finds that the vertical displacement series derived from GPS and GRACE of each station have a significant resonance period of one year. The circular average phase angles of GPS/GRACE at the period closet to 1 cycle per year (cpy) outside the cone of influence range from − 74.03° to 67.23° . The mean XWT ‑ based semblances range from 0.28 to 0.99 with an average value of 0.79, showing that there is a significant positive correlation between the annual variations derived from GPS and GRACE. Conclusions: Overall, GRACE‑inferred deformations can explain the annual variations of GPS‑derived displacements, particularly in areas with high hydrological loading. It is possible to correct the annual signals of GPS heights by GRACE inversions, but the effect is not as good as the SSA‑filtered annual signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE), altimetry, ARGO, TRMM (tropical rainfall measurement mission) data and multivariate ENSO index (MEI) from January 2005 to December 2016 are adopted to analyze the effects of ENSO on the Western Pacific and its coastal areas, from the aspects of sea level, oceanic mass, steric and the terrestrial water storage change. During the GRACE data processing, we remove the effect of tectonic signals, and use an iterative forward model- ing method to recover time-varying signal. The result shows, the changes in the Western Pacific mean sea level (WPMSL) in response to ENSO are as follows: The sea level is lower during El Niño and higher dur- ing La Niña; in particular, during 2014—2016 El Nino, the WPMSL dropped by nearly 26.2 mm. The ste- ric change is the dominant factor affecting the nonseasonal anomalies of the WPMSL. The nonseasonal anomalies of water storage in Australia and Indochina Peninsula also respond well to the ENSO, and the correlation coefficients with the MEI are －0.61 (lag three months) and －0.65 (lag eight months). The re- sponse of the Yangtze River basin to ENSO is mainly in the middle and lower basin, 2014—2016 El Niño caused the water storage in the Yangtze River basin to reach the maximum value in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe and North America, a few developed countries have gradually implemented an "open disclosure" mechanism characterized by openness, analysis, and learning in dealing with adverse medical events, so that the cost of medical litigation and the reoccurrence rate of adverse medical events can be decreased. The United States was the earliest country to implement an open disclosure mechanism, while Australia has developed the most comprehensive policy. This paper reviewed the histories and current status of the open disclosure mechanism in the United States and Australia to derive implications for constructing a disclosure mechanism for adverse medical events in Taiwan. Two suggestions were made after a review of the two countries' experiences. First, the dominant Department of Health should plan and conduct large-scale epidemiologic research on adverse medical events to force the medical system to face the issue of medical injury seriously. Second, social action supporters in various areas should be mobilized to propose comprehensive social legislation, promote education, and advocate for Taiwan to move toward the goal of dealing with adverse medical events with open disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]