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There has been controversy regarding the air pollutants emitted from sources closely related to the activities of daily life in China, such as cooking, setting off fireworks, sacrificial incense and joss paper burning, and barbecue (which have been named the five missing sources – FMSs), and the extent to which they impact the outdoor air quality. To date, due to the lack of both an activity dataset and emission factors, there have been no estimations of the emission of air pollutants from FMSs. In this work, we have attempted to combine questionnaire data, various statistical data, and data on points of interest to obtain a relatively complete set of activity data. The emission factors (EFs) of carbonaceous aerosols were tested in our lab. Emission inventories of carbonaceous aerosols with a high spatial–temporal resolution for FMSs were then established, and the spatial variation trend and driving forces were discussed. From 2000 to 2018, organic carbon (OC) emissions were in the range of 4268–4919 t. OC emissions from FMSs were between 1.5 ‰ and 2.2 ‰ of the total emissions in China. Black carbon (BC), elemental carbon (EC), and brown carbon (BrC) absorption cross-section (ACS BrC) emissions from FMSs were in the ranges of 22.6–43.9 t, 213–324 t, and 14.7–35.6 Gm 2 , respectively. Their emissions tended to be concentrated in certain periods and areas. The OC emission intensities in central urban areas were 3.85–50.5 times those in rural areas (due to the high density of human activity), while the ACS BrC emissions in rural regions accounted for 63.0–79.5 % of the total emissions (resulting from uncontrolled fireworks). A mass of fireworks led to much higher ACS BrC and EC emissions on Chinese New Year's Eve, with respective values that were 1444 and 262 times their corresponding yearly averages. Significant (p<0.01) correlations between the population's income and pollutant emissions were also found: these correlations were positive (r=0.94) and negative (r=-0.94) for urban and rural regions, respectively, indicating the necessity to regulate residents' lifestyles and increase residents' income in respective urban and rural regions. This study provides firsthand data to identify emissions, variation trends, and impacting factors from the FMSs. This is helpful for modeling works on air quality, the climate effect, and human health risks during specific periods or in specific regions as well as for modifying emission control policies. The data compiled in this work can found at 10.6084/m9.figshare.19999991.v2 (Cheng et al., 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been controversy about the air pollutants emitted from sources closely related to people's daily life (such as cooking, fireworks burning, sacrificial incenses and joss paper burning, and barbecue, named as five missing sources, FMS) impacting the outdoor air quality to what extent. Till now, there is no emission estimation of air pollutants from FMS, as the missing of both activity dataset and emission factors. We attempted to combine the questionnaire data, various statistical data, and data of points of interest to obtain a relatively complete set of activity data. The emission factors (EFs) of carbonaceous aerosols were tested in our lab. Then, the emission inventories of carbonaceous aerosol with the high spatial-temporal resolution for FMS were established firstly, and the spatial-variation trend and driving forces were discussed. From 2000 to 2018, organic carbon (OC) increased from 4268 t to 4919 t. The OC emission from FMS was 1.48-2.18 - of its total emission in China. The emissions of black carbon, element carbon (EC), and brown carbon absorption cross-section (ACSBrC) emissions from FMS were in the ranges of 22.6-43.9 t, 213-324 t, and 14.7-35.6 Gm2, respectively. Their emissions tended to concentrate in special periods and areas. The OC emission intensities in central urban areas were 3.85-50.5 times that of rural areas due to the high density of human activities. While the ACSBrC emissions in rural regions accounted for 63.0-79.5% of the total emission result from uncontrolled fireworks burning. A mass of fireworks burning led to extremely higher ACSBrC and EC emissions on Chinese New Year's eve, as 1444 and 262 times their corresponding yearly average values. Interestingly, significant (p<0.01) correlations between human incomes and pollutant emissions were found, but they were positive (r = 0.94) and negative (r = -0.94) for urban and rural regions, indicating the necessity of regulating human lifestyle and increasing income for urban and rural peoples, respectively. This study provided the first-hand data for identifying the emissions, variation trends and impacting factors of FMS, which is helpful for modeling works on air quality, climate effect, and human health risks at specific periods or regions and for modifying their emission control policies. The data in this work could be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19999991.v1 (Cheng et al., 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking four influential Chinese surveying and mapping journals as the data source, 5863 papers published during the period of 2003-2013 were obtained. Using the method of bibliometrics and visual analysis, summarizing the surveying and mapping papers in the past ten years (2003-2013), research themes, authors, and geographical distribution were analyzed. In the study, the papers of geodesy, cartography and GIS are 59.9%, more than half of all the papers. We also determine that the core author group has 131 authors, mainly of whom are from big cities. 90% of top ten cities on the number of publishing papers are capital cities or municipalities directly under the central government. In conclusion, we found that the research focus was different every year, and the research content was richness, the content of geodesy, cartography and GIS were widely researched, and the development of surveying and mapping is imbalanced in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For regions lack of strong ground motion records, a method is developed to predict strong ground motion by small earthquake records from local broadband digital earthquake networks. Sichuan and Yunnan regions, located in southwestern China, are se- lected as the targets. Five regional source and crustal medium parameters are inversed by micro-Genetic Algorithm. These parameters are adopted to predict strong ground motion for moment magnitude (Mw) 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0. Strong ground motion data are compared with the results, most of the result pass through ideally the data point plexus, except the case of Mw 7.0 in Sichuan region, which shows an obvious slow attenuation. For further application, this result is adopted in probability seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) and near-field strong ground motion synthesis of the Wenchuan Earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total amount of sugarcane planting in China ranks third in the world, and Guangxi is the largest sugarcane planting base in China. In order to help the Guangxi government and industry better understand the annual planting distribution and scale of sugarcane in the whole region, it is convenient to optimize the planting structure and improve the efficiency of resource utilization, so as to ensure the stable development of Guangxi sugar industry. Based on the satellite-based hyperspectral image data of ' Zhuhai No.1 ', this paper carries out sugarcane recognition and area extraction, which fills the application gap of satellite-based hyperspectral image data in extracting sugarcane area in China. A globally optimized extended random walk model was used to identify and extract sugarcane by combining the spatial-spectral information of hyperspectral imagery. Firstly, the Initial probability estimation is performed using the LOR classifier, and then use the data after MNF dimensionality reduction to construct a weighted graph, and finally the probability optimization and recognition are carried out based on the extended random walk model. The results show that the spatial-spectral joint method based on extended random walk can effectively identify sugarcane, and the sugarcane recognition accuracy of 2021 year image can reach 91.4%, the misrecognition rate is 2.8%; the sugarcane recognition accuracy of 2020 year image can reach 90.5 %, the misrecognition rate is 3.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake-induced landslides destroyed larger areas of mountain vegetation and produced large volume of landslide-debris, which made the vegetation's hydrological adjusting function diminished and made the hydrological progresses in slopes changed, resulting in severe erosion and catastrophic debris flows for a rather long time. Since 2008, the landslide-damaged vegetation and its hydrological function have been recovering. In this paper, the Minjiang Upstream watersheds around Yingxiu Town were selected. First, the landslide-damaged vegetation was identified and monitored via multi-temporal (2001-2014) satellite images. Then, the slope materials stabil ity was assessed through topographic analysis of the vegetation survival environments. Then, the hydrological connectivity index (HCI) was defined to describe the upstream sediment production and downstream transport pathway. Finally, results indicated that HCI decreased annually with the vegetation recovery after the obvious increases during the earthquakes. While, analysis of 2008-2013 debris flow events indicated that the areas, the vertical drop to river<1000m and the horizontal distance to river<2500m, have high HCI increases and are more susceptible for debris flow formation. Monitoring the landslide-damaged vegetation recovery processes can contribute to assess the hydrological connectivity changes and understand the debris flow formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall-induced landslides not only cause property loss, but also kill and injure large numbers of people every year in mountainous areas in China. These losses and casualties may be avoided to some extent with rainfall threshold values used in an early warning system at a regional scale for the occurrence of landslides. However, the limited availability of data always causes difficulties. In this paper we present a method to calculate rainfall threshold values with limited data sets for the two rainfall parameters: maximum hourly rainfall intensity and accumulated precipitation. The method has been applied to the Huangshan region, in Anhui Province, China. Four early warning levels (Zero, Outlook, Attention, and Warning) have been adopted and the corresponding rainfall threshold values have been defined by probability lines. A validation procedure showed that this method can significantly enhance the effectiveness of a warning system, and finally reduce the risk from shallow landslides in mountainous regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing was introduced into China in 1970s and then began to flourish. At present, China has developed into a big remote sensing country, and remote sensing is increasingly playing an important role in various fields of national economic construction and social development. Based on China Academic Journals Full-text Database and China Citation Database published by China National Knowledge Infrastructure, this paper analyzed academic characteristics of 963 highly cited papers published by 16 professional and academic journals in the field of surveying and mapping from January 2010 to December 2014 in China, which include hot topics, literature authors, research institutions, and fundations. At the same time, it studied a total of 51,149 keywords published by these 16 journals during the same period. Firstly by keyword selection, keyword normalization, keyword consistency and keyword incorporation, and then by analysis of high frequency keywords, the progress and prospect of China's remote sensing technology in data acquisition, data processing and applications during the past five years were further explored and revealed. It can be seen that: highly cited paper analysis and word frequency analysis is complementary on subject progress analysis; in data acquisition phase, research focus is new civilian remote sensing satellite systems and UAV remote sensing system; research focus of data processing and analysis is multi-source information extraction and classification, laser point cloud data processing, object- oriented high resolution image analysis, SAR data and hyper-spectral image processing, etc.; development trend of remote sensing data processing is quantitative, intelligent, automated, and real-time, and the breadth and depth of remote sensing application is gradually increased; parallel computing, cloud computing and geographic conditions monitoring and census are the new research focuses to be paid attention to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the ownership of vehicles and frequency of utilization increase, vehicle emissions have become an important source of air pollution in Chinese cities. An accurate emission inventory for on-road vehicles is necessary for numerical air quality simulation and the assessment of implementation strategies. This paper presents a bottom-up methodology based on the local emission factors, complemented with the widely used emission factors of Computer Programme to Calculate Emissions from Road Transport (COPERT) model and near real time (NRT) traffic data on road segments to develop a high temporal-spatial resolution vehicle emission inventory (HTSVE) for the urban Beijing area. To simulate real-world vehicle emissions accurately, the road has been divided into segments according to the driving cycle (traffic speed) on this road segment. The results show that the vehicle emissions of NOx, CO, HC and PM were 10.54×104, 42.51×104 and 2.13×104 and 0.41×104 Mg, respectively. The vehicle emissions and fuel consumption estimated by the model were compared with the China Vehicle Emission Control Annual Report and fuel sales thereafter. The grid-based emissions were also compared with the vehicular emission inventory developed by the macro-scale approach. This method indicates that the bottom-up approach better estimates the levels and spatial distribution of vehicle emissions than the macro-scale method, which relies on more information. Additionally, the on-road vehicle emission inventory model and control effect assessment system in Beijing, a vehicle emission inventory model, was established based on this study in a companion paper (He et al., 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the peak ground acceleration (PGA) under four exceedance probabilities calculated via a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis method for China, the probability density function of PGA was obtained by fitting with the Cornell seismic hazard exceedance probability PGA function model. Combined with the seismic fragility function of the water supply system calculated on the basis of the empirical matrix of actual earthquake damage and the exposure of fixed assets, the expected seismic loss and expected loss rate models of the water supply system were established, and the classification standard with the expected seismic loss rate of the water supply system as the index was proposed. The seismic fragility of the water supply system was classified, and the exposure of the water supply system was analyzed. The total fixed assets in the Statistical Yearbook of Urban Water Supply, henceforth called Water Supply Yearbook, were taken as the exposure to earthquake in the region. The accuracy of the fragility model in this paper was verified through the actual earthquake damage losses in Deyang. Taking the water supply system of 720 cities in mainland China as an example, the distribution maps of expected seismic loss and expected loss rate were calculated and drawn. The expected loss rate model was verified by the key earthquake prevention areas in mainland China. The assessment model based on the expected loss and expected loss rate was taken as the seismic risk assessment model of water supply systems in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on VR/AR applications in immovable tangible cultural heritage (ITCH) tourism by considering both academic research and cases in the XR industry. The goal is to understand how VR/AR can be used to present heritage information to the public. A framework is developed, including the purpose of using the technology, hardware, software, and user experience to have an overall understanding of VR/AR applications. Cases collected based on the framework are divided into four heritage types to answer the following questions: under a certain heritage context, what is the commonly used technology, is there a correlation between the purpose of using VR/AR, the enabling technology, and the user experience, and is there a difference in the concentration point between academia and the XR industry in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical solution for the three dimensional stability analysis of the ultimate uniform patched load on top of a slope is developed by the limit analysis using kinematically admissible failure mechanisms. The failure mechanism which is assumed in the analytical solution is verified by three-dimensional strength reduction analyses and laboratory model test. Furthermore, the proposed method and the results are further compared with some published results for illustrating the applicability of the proposed failure mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers flow across aeolian dunes and develop braided stream channels. Both aeolian and fluvial sediment supplies regulate sediment transport and deposition in such a cross-dune braided river. Here we show a significant selective deposition in response to both aeolian and fluvial sediment supplies in the Ulan Buh desert braided channel. This selective deposition developed by the interaction between the flows and the Aeolian-fluvial sediment supplies, making the coarser sediments (>0.08 mm) from aeolian sand supply and bank erosion to accumulate in the channel center and the finer fluvial sediments (<0.08 mm) to be deposited on the bar and floodplain surfaces and forming a coarser-grained thalweg bed bounded by finer-grained floodplain surfaces. This lateral selective deposition reduces the downstream sediment transport and is a primary reason for the formation of "above-ground river" in the braided reach of the Upper Yellow River in response to aeolian and fluvial sediment supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth surface systems are controlled by a combination of global and local factors, which cannot be understood without accounting for both the local and global components. The system dynamics cannot be recovered from the global or local controls alone. Ground forest inventory is able to accurately estimate forest carbon stocks at sample plots, but these sample plots are too sparse to support the spatial simulation of carbon stocks with required accuracy. Satellite observation is an important source of global information for the simulation of carbon stocks. Satellite remote-sensing can supply spatially continuous information about the surface of forest carbon stocks, which is impossible from ground-based investigations, but their description has considerable uncertainty. In this paper, we validated the Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ), the Kriging method for spatial interpolation of ground sample plots and a satellite-observation-based approach as well as an approach for fusing the ground sample plots with satellite observations and an assimilation method for incorporating the ground sample plots into LPJ. The validation results indicated that both the data fusion and data assimilation approaches reduced the uncertainty of estimating carbon stocks. The data fusion had the lowest uncertainty by using an existing method for high accuracy surface modeling to fuse the ground sample plots with the satellite observations (HASM-SOA). The estimates produced with HASM-SOA were 26.1 and 28.4% more accurate than the satellite-based approach and spatial interpolation of the sample plots, respectively. Forest carbon stocks of 7.08 Pg were estimated for China during the period from 2004 to 2008, an increase of 2.24 Pg from 1984 to 2008, using the preferred HASM-SOA method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangrove forests, which are declining across the globe mainly because of human intervention, require an evaluation of their past and present status (e.g. areal extent, species-level distribution, etc.) to better implement conservation and management strategies. In this paper, mangrove cover dynamics at Gaoqiao (under the jurisdiction of Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve -- ZMNNR, P . R. China) were assessed through time using 1967 (Corona KH-4B), 2000 (Landsat ETM+), and 2009 (GeoEye-1) satellite imagery. An important decline in mangrove cover (-36%) was observed between 1967 and 2009 due to dike construction for agriculture (paddy) and aqua-culture practices. Moreover, dike construction prevented mangroves from expanding landward. Although a small increase of mangrove area was observed between 2000 and 2009 (+24%), the ratio mangrove/aquaculture kept decreasing due to increased aquaculture at the expense of rice culture. In the land-use/cover map based on ground-truth data (5m x 5m plot-based tree measurements) (August-September, 2009) and spectral reflectance values (obtained from pansharpened GeoEye-1), both Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and small Aegiceras corniculatum are distinguishable at 73-100% accuracy, whereas tall A. corniculatum is identifiable at only 53% due to its mixed vegetation stands close to B. gymnorrhiza (classification accuracy: 85%). Sand proportion in the sediment showed significant differences (Kruskal-Wallis/ANOVA, P < 0.05) between the three mangrove classes (B. gymnorrhiza and small and tall A. corniculatum). Distribution of tall A. corniculatum on the convex side of creeks and small A.corniculatum on the concave side (with sand) show intriguing patterns of watercourse changes. Overall, the advantage of very high resolution satellite images like GeoEye-1 for mangrove spatial heterogeneity assessment and/or species-level discrimination is well demonstrated, along with the complexity to provide a precise classification for non-dominant species (e.g. Kandelia obovata) at Gaoqiao. Despite the limitations such as geometric distortion and single band information, the 42-yr old Corona declassified images are invaluable for land-use/cover change detections when compared to recent satellite data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption isotherm and the mechanism of the buffering effect are important controls on phosphorus behaviors in estuaries and are important for estimating phosphate concentrations in aquatic environments. In this paper, we derive phosphate adsorption isotherms in order to investigate sediment adsorption and buffering capacity for phosphorus discharged from sewage outfalls in the Yangtze Estuary and Hangzhou Bay near Shanghai, China. Experiments were also carried out at different temperatures in order to explore the buffering effects for phosphate. The results show that P sorption in sediments with low fine particle fractions was best described using exponential equations. Some P interactions between water and sediment may be caused by the precipitation of CaHPO4 from Ca2+ and HPO42- when the phosphate concentration in the liquid phase is high. Results from the buffering experiments suggest that the Zero Equilibrium Phosphate Concentrations (EPC0) vary from 0.014 mgl-1 to 0.061 mgl-1, which are consistent with measured phosphate concentrations in water samples collected at the same time as sediment sampling. Values of EPC0 and linear sorption coefficients (K) in sediments with high fine particle and organic matter contents are relatively high, which implies that they have high buffering capacity. Both EPC0 and K increase with increasing temperature, indicating a higher P buffering capacity at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study which aims at the application of an improved cloud detection algorithm for FengYun-3A/Visible and InfRared Radiometer (FY-3A/VIRR) over China's northwest region. In the study, the Cloud and Aerosol Unbiased Decision 25 Intellectual Algorithm (CLAUDIA) is applied to FY-3A/VIRR data. It concludes increased probability of detecting clear-sky regions over snow using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

As a carrier of history, culture, religion and art, grotto temples are an important part of China's splendid cultural heritage. Among them, there are many grotto statues with similar shapes and scattered on the grotto temples, which have high artistic value. It is of great significance to classify them.The existing classification methods of grotto temple statues are mainly based on traditional manual classification and machine learning classification, which often consumes a lot of labor costs and time costs. To solve these problems, this paper improves the PointNet network and applies it to the classification of statues in grottoes, which greatly improves the automation of the classification of statues. And the point cloud data set of the grotto temple is made for experiment. The results show that the overall accuracy of the method in this paper reaches 89.73%, the average intersection and combination ratio reaches 68.9%, and the accuracy is increased by 5.47% and 4.3% respectively compared with the random forest classification method. It is of great significance to the value research, status assessment and virtual restoration of the subsequent grotto temples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huaihe River is one of the seven largest rivers in China, in which floods occurred frequently. Disasters cause huge casualties and property losses to the basin, and also make it famous for high social vulnerability to floods. Based on the latest social-economic data, the index system of social vulnerability to floods was constructed, and Catastrophe theory method was used in the assessment process. The conclusion shows that social vulnerability as a basic attribute attached to urban environment, with significant changes from city to city across the Huaihe River basin. Different distribution characteristics are present in population, economy, flood prevention vulnerability. It is important to make further development of social vulnerability, which will play a positive role in disaster prevention, improvement of comprehensive ability to respond to disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake destroyed large areas of vegetation. Presently, these areas of damaged vegetation are at various stages of recovery. In this study, we present a probabilistic approach for slope stability analysis that quantitatively relates data on earthquake-damaged vegetation with slope stability in a given river basin. The Mianyuan River basin was selected for model development, and earthquake-damaged vegetation and post-earthquake recovery conditions were identified via the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), from multi-temporal (2001-2014) remote sensing images. DSAL (digital elevation model, slope, aspect, and lithology) spatial zonation was applied to characterize the survival environments of vegetation, which were used to discern the relationships between successful vegetation regrowth and environmental conditions. Finally, the slope stability susceptibility model was trained through multivariate analysis of earthquake-damaged vegetation and its controlling factors (i.e. topographic environments and material properties). Application to the Subao River basin validated the proposed model, showing that most of the damaged vegetation areas have high susceptibility levels (88.1%>susceptibility level 3, and 61.5%>level 4). Our modelling approach may also be valuable for use in other regions prone to landslide hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural wetlands are among the most important sources of methane; thus, these areas are important for better understanding long-term temporal variations in atmospheric methane concentration. During the last 60 years, wetlands have experienced extensive conversion and global impacts from climate warming, which makes the estimation of methane emission from wetlands highly uncertain. In this paper, we present a modeling framework, integrating CH4MODWETLAND, TOPMODEL and TEM models, to analyze the temporal and spatial variations in CH4 emissions from natural wetlands (including inland wetlands, coastal wetlands, lakes and rivers) in China. Our analysis revealed an increase of 25.5 %, averaging 0.52g m-2 per decade, in national CH4 fluxes from 1950 to 2010, which was mainly induced by climate warming. Higher rates of increasing CH4 fluxes occurred in northeastern, northern and northwestern China, associated with large temperature increases. However, decreases in precipitation due to climate warming o_set the increase in CH4 fluxes in these regions. The CH4 fluxes from the wetland on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau exhibited a lower rate of increase, which was approximately 25% of that simulated in northeastern China. Although climate warming has accelerated CH4 fluxes, the total amount of national CH4 emissions decreased by approximately 2.35 Tg (1.91-2.81 Tg), i.e., from 4.50 Tg in the early 1950s to 2.15 Tg in the late 2000s, due to a large wetland loss of 17.0 million ha. Of this reduction, 0.26 Tg 0.24-0.28 Tg) was derived from lakes and rivers, 0.16 Tg (0.13-0.20 Tg) from coastal wetlands, and 1.92 Tg (1.54-2.33 Tg) from inland wetlands. Northeastern China had the largest contribution to this reduction, with a loss of 1.68 Tg. The CH4 emissions were reduced by more than half in most regions in China except for the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, where only a 23.3% decrease in CH4 was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving earthquake disaster loss estimation speed and accuracy is one of key factors in effective earthquake response and rescue. The presentation of exposure data by applying a dasymetric map approach has good potential for addressing this issue. With the support of 30" * 30" areal exposure data (population and building data in China), this paper presents a new two-phase earthquake disaster loss estimation method for emergency response situations. This method has two phases: a pre-earthquake phase and a co-earthquake phase. In the pre-earthquake phase, we pre-calculate the earthquake loss related to different seismic intensities and store them in a 30" * 30" grid for mat, which has four stages: determining the earthquake loss calculation factor, gridding possible damage matrixes, the building damage calculation and the people loss calculation. The dasymetric map approach makes this possible. Then, in the co-earthquake phase, there are two stages of estimating loss: generating a theoretical isoseismal map to depict the spatial distribution of the seismic intensity field; then, using the seismic intensity field to extract statistics of disaster loss from pre-calculated loss estimation data to obtain the final estimation results. The method is validated by four actual earthquakes that occurred in China. The method not only significant improves the speed and accuracy of loss estimation, but gives spatial distribution for the loss, which will be effective in aiding earthquake emergency response and rescue. Additionally, re lated pre-calculated earthquake loss estimation data in China could serve to provide disaster risk analysis before earthquakes happen. Currently, the pre-calculated loss estimation data and the two-phase estimation method are used by the China Earthquake Administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters have enormous impacts on human society, especially on the development of the economy. To support decision making in mitigation and adaption to natural disasters, assessment of economic impacts is fundamental and of great significance. Based on a review of the literature of economic impact evaluation, this paper proposes a new assessment model of economic impact from drought by using the sugar industry in China as a case study, which focuses on the generation and transfer of economic impacts along a simple value chain involving only sugarcane growers and a sugar producing company. A perspective of profit loss rate is applied to scale eco nomic impact with a model based on cost-and-benefit analysis. By using analysis of "with-and-without", profit loss is defined as the difference in profits between disaster-hit and disaster-free scenarios. To calculate profit, analysis on a time series of sugar price is applied. With the support of a linear regression model, an endogenous trend in sugar price is identified, and the time series of sugar price "without" disaster is obtained using an autoregressive error model to separate impact by disasters from the internal trend in sugar price. Unlike the settings in other assessment models, representative sugar prices, which represent value level in disaster-free condition and disaster-hit condition, are integrated from a long time series that covers the whole period of drought. As a result, it is found that in a rigid farming contract, sugarcane growers suffer far more than the sugar company when impacted by severe drought, which may promote the reflections on economic equality among various economic bodies at the occurrence of natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic power stations utilizing solar energy, have grown in scale, resulting in an increase in operational maintenance requirements. Efficient inspection of components within these stations is crucial. However, the large area of photovoltaic power generation, coupled with a substantial number of photovoltaic panels and complex geographical environments, renders manual inspection methods highly inefficient and inadequate for modern photovoltaic power stations. To address this issue, this paper proposes a method and system for hot spot detection on photovoltaic panels using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with multispectral cameras. The UAVs capture visible and infrared images of the photovoltaic power plant, which are then processed for photogrammetry to determine imaging position and attitude. The infrared images are stitched together using this information, forming a geographically referenced overall image. Hot spot detection is performed on the infrared images, enabling the identification of faulty photovoltaic panels and facilitating efficient inspection and maintenance. Experimental trials were conducted at a photovoltaic power station in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province China. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in accurately detecting panels with hot spot faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the heterogeneous nature of the land surface, spatial scaling is an inevitable issue in the development of land models coupled with low-resolution Earth system models (ESMs) for predicting land-atmosphere interactions and carbon-climate feedbacks. In this study, a simple spatial scaling algorithm is developed to correct errors in net primary productivity (NPP) estimates made at a coarse spatial resolution based on sub-pixel information of vegetation heterogeneity and surface topography. An ecohydrological model BEPS-TerrainLab, which considers both vegetation and topographical effects on the vertical and lateral water flows and the carbon cycle, is used to simulate NPP at 30m and 1 km resolutions for a 5700 km² watershed with an elevation range from 518m to 3767m in the Qinling Mountain, Shaanxi Province, China. Assuming that the NPP simulated at 30m resolution represents the reality and that at 1 km resolution is subject to errors due to sub-pixel heterogeneity, a spatial scaling index (SSI) is developed to correct the coarse resolution NPP values pixel by pixel. The agreement between the NPP values at these two resolutions is improved considerably from R² =0.782 to R² =0.884 after the correction. The mean bias error (MBE) in NPP modeled at the 1 km resolution is reduced from 14.8 gCm-2 yr-1 to 4.8 gCm-2 yr-1 in comparison with NPP modeled at 30m resolution, where the mean NPP is 668 gCm-2 yr-1. The range of spatial variations of NPP at 30m resolution is larger than that at 1 km resolution. Land cover fraction is the most important vegetation factor to be considered in NPP spatial scaling, and slope is the most important topographical factor for NPP spatial scaling especially in mountainous areas, because of its influence on the lateral water redistribution, affecting water table, soil moisture and plant growth. Other factors including leaf area index (LAI), elevation and aspect have small and additive effects on improving the spatial scaling between these two resolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon seven field surveys conducted between May 2011 and January 2012, we investigated pH, carbonate saturation state of aragonite (Ωarag), and ancillary parameters on the Chinese side of the North Yellow Sea, a western North Pacific continental margin of major economic importance. Subsurface waters were nearly in equilibrium with air in May and June. From July to October, the fugacity of CO2 (fCO2) of bottom water gradually increased to 697±103 µatm and pH decreased to 7.83±0.07 due to respiration/remineralization processes of primary production induced biogenic particles. In November and January, bottom water fCO2 decreased and pH gradually returned to an air-equilibrated level due to cooling enhanced vertical mixing. The corresponding bottom water Ωarag was 1.74±0.17 (May), 1.77±0.26 (June), 1.70±0.26 (July), 1.72±0.33 (August), 1.32±0.31 (October), 1.50±0.28 (November), and 1.41±0.12 (January). Critically low Ωarag values of 1.0 to 1.2 were mainly observed in subsurface waters in a salinity range of 31.5-32.5 psu in October and November, accounting for ~10% of the North Yellow Sea area. Water mass derived from the adjacent Bohai Sea had a typical water salinity of 30.5-31.5 psu, and bottom water Ωarag values ranged mostly between 1.6 and 2.4. This study showed that the carbonate system in the North Yellow Sea was substantially influenced by global atmospheric CO2 increase. The community respiration/remineralization rates in typical North Yellow Sea bottom water mass were estimated at 0.55-1.0 µmol O2 kg-1 d-1 in warm seasons, leading to seasonal drops in subsurface pH and Ωarag. Outflow of the Bohai Sea water mass counteracted the subsurface Ωarag reduction in the North Yellow Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study which aims at measuring atmospheric column carbon dioxide (CO2) from a sun photometer in Beijing, China from 2010-2012. In the study, CO2 measurements were acquired, translated into cloud free data, and converted into an index related to column CO2 amount. Seasonal variations of CO2 levels in the atmosphere were also analyzed.

The article focuses on a study which aims at comparing differences in aerosol optical depth (AOD) measured by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). In the study, AOD levels are evaluated in the dust regions of the Sahara and northwest China and biomass burning regions of South America and South Africa. It reveals higher MODIS AOD over dust regions as compared to CALIPSO AOD.

Large sandy deserts in the middle latitudes of northwestern China were investigated for soluble salt variations in modern and ancient aeolian sediments, aiming to explore the environmental significance of "aeolian salts". Results revealed that aeolian salt variations have a clear relationship with the changing meridional and zonal gradients of the desert locations and the aeolian differentiation effect, but are weakly linked to local geological conditions. It suggests that the natural system of aeolian salts is hydrologically open and the chemistry of the parent brines are different from that predicted for hydrologically closed systems. Atmospheric depositions of water-soluble chemical species are an important process/source contributing to aeolian salt. Sequential variations of soluble salts in sedimentary profiles interbedded with aeolian and non-aeolian deposits and their palaeoenvironmental implications in the hinterland areas of these deserts were further evaluated, based on the constraints of OSL dating and radiocarbon dating data. The results indicate that the inorganic salts may be a latent geoproxy in revealing regional palaeoclimatic changes in desert areas for the sediments deposited under onefold depositional environment, but the interpretation should be more careful for the sediments deposited under diverse depositional conditions. This study presents the evidence of atmospheric origin of aeolian salt in sandy deserts, with limited climatic significance in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of grazing on the formation of the spatial pattern of elm growth in a sparse woodland steppe. We used a point pattern method to analyze the elm trees within different diameter classes in both grazed and fenced plots, which were established in Horqin Sandy Land, northeastern, China. The results showed that, in the grazed plot, the distances where transformation between random and aggregated patterns occurred in class 1 (10 cm ≤ DBH ≤ 15 cm) and class 2 (15 cm ≤ DBH ≤ 20 cm) were 2.27 and 2.37 m, respectively. Meanwhile, in the fenced plot, the distances between random and aggregated patterns that occurred in class 1, class 2 and class 3 (DBH > 20 cm) were 3.13, 3.13 and 7.85 m, respectively. In the fenced plot, in distances larger than 67.72 m there were a negative association between class 1 and class 2, which was also the case between class 2 and class 3 and between class 1 and class 3 for distances greater than 104.09 and 128.54 m, respectively. Meanwhile, negative associations occurred only with distances larger than 29.38 m in the grazed plot. These findings suggest that grazing reduced the competition intensity between elm trees; and therefore, grazing management could be an effective strategy used to regulate the elm population in the degraded sandy land of Northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large areas of grassland in the agro-pastoral region of northern China were converted into cropland for grain production, and the remaining grasslands are being overgrazed and seriously degraded. The objective of this study was to evaluate how reductions in grazing intensity affect the soil and vegetation characteristics in grasslands of northern China. Soil heterogeneity and vegetation characteristics were evaluated for ungrazed (UG), moderate grazing (MG), and heavy grazing (HG) sites. Grazing increased diversity, but heavy grazing decreased aboveground biomass and increased the non-grass component. Vegetation biomass was greatest at the UG site (220 gm-2) followed by the MG (99 gm-2) and HG (27 gm-2) sites (P < 0.05). The non-grass proportion of total biomass increased with grazing intensity, which was 8, 16, and 48% for UG, MG, and HG sites, respectively. Species richness at the MG and HG sites was significantly higher than at the UG site (P < 0.05) with 3.6, 5.5, and 5.7 for UG, MG, and HG sites, respectively. Over grazing homogenized soil characteristics at a 10m scale. The ranges of spatial autocorrelation for soil organic C (SOC) and total N were both> 120m at the HG site, which was considerably larger than that at the MG and UG sites with corresponding distances of 17.3 and 20.8m for the MG site and 25.8 and 15.0m for the UG site, respectively. Therefore, MG was recommended as the preferred management alternative for grasslands in northern China because of increased plant diversity without negative consequences related to decreased forage quality and forage quantity, and soil heterogeneity in northern China's grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Storm surges are a common natural hazard in China's southern coastal area which usually cause a great loss of human life and financial damages. With the economic development and population concentration of coastal cities, storm surges may result in more impacts and damage in the future. Therefore, it is of vital importance to conduct risk assessment to identify high-risk areas and evaluate economic losses. However, quantitative study of storm surge risk assessment in undeveloped areas of China is difficult, since there is a lack of building character and damage assessment data. Aiming at the problem of data missing in undeveloped areas of China, this paper proposes a methodology for conducting storm surge risk assessment quantitatively based on deep learning and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. Five defined storm surge inundation scenarios with different typhoon return periods are simulated by the coupled FVCOM–SWAN (Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model–Simulating WAves Nearshore) model, the reliability of which is validated using official measurements. Building footprints of the study area are extracted through the TransUNet deep learning model and remote sensing images, while building heights are obtained through unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) measurements. Subsequently, economic losses are quantitatively calculated by combining the adjusted depth–damage functions and overlaying an analysis of the buildings exposed to storm surge inundation. Zoning maps of the study area are provided to illustrate the risk levels according to economic losses. The quantitative risk assessment and zoning maps can help the government to provide storm surge disaster prevention measures and to optimize land use planning and thus to reduce potential economic losses in the coastal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combined effects of drought, warming and the changes in land cover have caused severe land degradation for several decades in the extremely arid desert oases of Southern Xinjiang, Northwest China. This study examined land cover changes during 1990-2008 to characterize and quantify the transformations in the typical oasis of Hotan. Land cover classifications of these images were performed based on the supervised classification scheme integrated with conventional vegetation and soil indexes. Change-detection techniques in remote sensing (RS) and a geographic information system (GIS) were applied to quantify temporal and spatial dynamics of land cover changes. The overall accuracies, Kappa coefficients, and average annual increase rate or decrease rate of land cover classes were calculated to assess classification results and changing rate of land cover. The analysis revealed that major trends of the land cover changes were the notable growth of the oasis and the reduction of the desert-oasis ecotone, which led to accelerated soil salinization and plant deterioration within the oasis. These changes were mainly attributed to the intensified human activities. The results indicated that the newly created agricultural land along the margins of the Hotan oasis could result in more potential areas of land degradation. If no effective measures are taken against the deterioration of the oasis environment, soil erosion caused by land cover change may proceed. The trend of desert moving further inward and the shrinking of the ecotone may lead to potential risks to the eco-environment of the Hotan oasis over the next decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main processes underlying the generation and maintenance of biodiversity include both local factors such as competition and abiotic filtering and regional forces such as palaeoclimate, speciation and dispersal. While the effects of regional and local drivers on species diversity are increasingly studied, their relative importance for other aspects of diversity, notably phylogenetic and functional diversity is so far little studied. Here, we link data from large Chinese forest plots to data on current and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate as well as local disturbance regimes to study their relative roles in determining woody plant phylogenetic and functional diversity in this important hotspot for woody plant diversity. Local disturbance was the best predictor of functional diversity as represented by maximum canopy height (Hmax), probably reflecting the dominant role of competition for light in determining the forest Hmax structure. In contrast, the LGM-present anomaly in temperature was the factor with the strongest explanatory power for phylogenetic diversity, with modern climate also important. Hence, local contemporary and regional historical factors have highly contrasting importance for the geographic patterns of the functional and phylogenetic aspects of Chinese forest woody plant diversity. Importantly, contemporary factors are of overriding importance for functional diversity, while palaeoclimate has left a strong signature in the phylogenetic diversity patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial metabolism plays a key role in regulating the biogeochemical cycle of forest ecosystems, but the mechanisms driving microbial growth are not well understood. Here, we synthesized 689 measurements on soil microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and nitrogen (Nmic) and related parameters from 207 independent studies published during the past 15 years across China's forest ecosystems. Our objectives were to (1) examine patterns in Cmic, Nmic, and microbial quotient (i.e., Cmic /Csoil and Nmic =Nsoil rates) by climate zones and management regimes for these forests; and (2) identify the factors driving the variability in the Cmic, Nmic, and microbial quotient. There was a large variability in Cmic (390.2mg kg-1), Nmic (60.1mg kg-1), Cmic :Nmic ratio (8.25), Cmic =Csoil rate (1.92%), and Nmic =Nsoil rate (3.43%) across China's forests, with coeffcients of variation varying from 61.2 to 95.6%. The natural forests had significantly greater Cmic and Nmic than the planted forests, but had less Cmic :Nmic ratio and Cmic =Csoil rate. Soil resources and climate together explained 24.4-40.7% of these variations. The Cmic :Nmic ratio declined slightly with the Csoil :Nsoil ratio, and changed with latitude, mean annual temperature and precipitation, suggesting a plastic homeostasis of microbial carbon-nitrogen stoichiometry. The Cmic =Csoil and Nmic =Nsoil rates were responsive to soil resources and climate differently, suggesting that soil microbial assimilation of carbon and nitrogen be regulated by different mechanisms. We conclude that soil resources and climate jointly drive microbial growth and metabolism, and also emphasize the necessity of appropriate procedures for data compilation and standardization in cross-study syntheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea fields emit large amounts of nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere. Obtaining accurate estimations of N2O emissions from tea-planted soils is challenging due to strong spatial variability. We examined the spatial variability of N2O emissions from a red-soil tea field in Hunan province, China, on 22 April 2012 (in a wet season) using 147 static mini chambers approximately regular gridded in a 4.0 ha tea field. The N2O fluxes for a 30 min snapshot (10-10.30 a.m.) ranged from -1.73 to 1659.11 gNha-1 d-1 and were positively skewed with an average flux of 102.24 gNha-1 d-1. The N2O flux data were transformed to a normal distribution by using a logit function. The geostatistical analyses of our data indicated that the logit-transformed N2O fluxes (FLUX30t) exhibited strong spatial autocorrelation, which was characterized by an exponential semivariogram model with an effective range of 25.2 m. As observed in the wet season, the logit-transformed soil ammonium-N (NH4Nt), soil nitrate-N (NO3Nt), soil organic carbon (SOCt), total soil nitrogen (TSNt) were all found to be significantly correlated with FLUX30t (r = 0.57-0.71, p < 0.001). Three spatial interpolation methods (ordinary kriging, regression kriging and cokriging) were applied to estimate the spatial distribution of N2O emissions over the study area. Cokriging with NH4Nt and NO3Nt as covariables (r = 0.74 and RMSE= 1.18) outperformed ordinary kriging (r = 0.18 and RMSE= 1.74), regression kriging with the sample position as a predictor (r = 0.49 and RMSE= 1.55) and cokriging with SOCt as a covariable (r = 0.58 and RMSE= 1.44). The predictions of the three kriging interpolation methods for the total N2O emissions of the 4.0 ha tea field ranged from 148.2 to 208.1 gNd-1, based on the 30 min snapshots obtained during the wet season. Our findings suggested that to accurately estimate the total N2O emissions over a region, the environmental variables (e.g., soil properties) and the current land use pattern (e.g., tea row transects in the present study) must be included in spatial interpolation. Additionally, compared with other kriging approaches, the cokriging prediction approach showed great advantages in being easily deployed, and more importantly providing accurate regional estimation of N2O emissions from tea-planted soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poplar (Populus sp.) plantations have been used broadly for combating desertification, urban greening, and paper and wood production in northern China. However, given the high water use by the species and the regional dry environment, the long-term sustainability of these plantations needs to be evaluated. Currently, the understanding of energy partitioning and canopy resistance to water vapor and CO2 in poplar plantations is limited, impeding an accurate assessment of their true ecosystem functions. This study examined the variability of canopy bulk resistance parameters and energy partitioning over a four-year period encompassing both dry and wet conditions in a poplar (Populus euramericana CV. "74 / 76") plantation ecosystem located in northern China. Available energy (Net radiation Rn minus Soil Heat Flux, G) partitioning to latent (LE) and sensible (H) heat was responsive to climatological drought, with LE/(Rn-G) ranging from 62% in wet years (e.g. 2007 and 2008) to 53% in dry years (e.g. 2006 and 2009), and H/(Rn-G) from 25 to 33% between wet and dry years. Correspondingly, the Bowen ratio (β=H/LE) were 0.83 and 1.57. Surface resistance (Rs) had the greatest response to drought (+43%), but the aerodynamic and climatological resistances did not change significantly (p > 0.05). Partial correlation analysis indicated that Rs was the dominant factor in controlling the Bowen ratio. Furthermore, Rs was the major factor controlling LE during the growing season, even in wet years, as indicated by the decoupling coefficient (Ω = 0.45 and 0.39 in wet and dry years, respectively), and the LE / LEeq ratio ranged from 0.81 and 0.68 in wet and dry years, respectively. In general, the dry surface conditions dominated in this poplar plantation ecosystem regardless of soil water availability suggesting that fast-growing and water use-intensive species like poplar plantations are poorly adapted for the water limited region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many field experiments have found high nitrous acid (HONO) mixing ratios in both urban and rural areas during daytime, but these high daytime HONO mixing ratios cannot be explained well by gas-phase production, suggesting that an unknown daytime HONO source (Punknown) could exist. The formula Punknown ≈ 19.60x NO2 x J(NO2) was obtained using observed data from 13 field experiments across the globe. The additional HONO sources (i.e. the Punknown, HONO emissions, and nighttime hydrolysis conversion of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on aerosols) were coupled into the WRFChem model (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry) to assess the P unknown (hydroxyl, hydroperoxyl, and organic peroxy) radicals (ROx) (= OH + HO2 + RO2) in the coastal regions of China. Results indicated that the additional HONO sources produced a significant improvement in HONO and OH simulations, particularly in the daytime. Elevated daytime-mean Punknown values were found in the coastal regions of China, with a maximum of 2.5 ppb h-1 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The Punknown produced a 60-250% increase of OH, HO2 and RO2 near the ground in the major cities of the coastal regions of China, and a 5-48% increase of OH, HO2 and RO2 in the daytime meridional-mean mixing ratios within 1000 m above the ground. When the additional HONO sources were included, the photolysis of HONO was dominated in the OH production rate in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou before 10:00 LST with a maximum of 10.01 [7.26 due to the Punknown] ppbh-1 in Beijing, whereas the reaction of HO2 + NO (nitric oxide) was dominated after 10:00 LST with a maximum of 9.38 [7.23] ppb h in Beijing. The whole ROx cycle was accelerated by the additional HONO sources, especially the Punknown. The OH production rate was enhanced by 0.67 [0.64] to 4.32 [3.86]ppbh-1 via the reaction of HO2 + NO, and by 0.85 [0.69] to 4.11 [3.61]ppbh-1 via the photolysis of HONO, and the OH loss rate was enhanced by 0.58 [0.55] to 2.03 [1.92] ppbh-1 via the reaction of OH + NO2 and by 0.31 [0.28] to 1.78 [1.64] ppb h - 1 via the reaction of OH + CO (carbon monoxide) in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Similarly, the additional HONO sources produced an increase of 0.31 [0.28] to 1.78 [1.64] ppbh- 1 via the reaction of OH + CO and 0.10 [0.09] to 0.63 [0.59] ppbh-1 via the reaction of CH3O2 (methylperoxy radical) + NO in the HO2 production rate, and 0.67 [0.61] to 4.32 [4.27]ppbh-1 via the reaction of HO2 + NO in the HO2 loss rate in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The above results suggest that the Punknown considerably enhanced the ROx concentrations and accelerated ROx cycles in the coastal regions of China, and could produce significant increases in concentrations of inorganic aerosols and secondary organic aerosols and further aggravate haze events in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's first sub-metre stereo satellite, GaoFen-7, was launched on 7 November 2019. One of the main criteria for a stereo mapping satellite is the geometric accuracy of the images. In this paper, we present a systematic evaluation of the geometry accuracy of Gaofen-7 on two scenes over the centre of Munich, Germany. The geometry accuracy is evaluated in a three-step workflow: 1) direct georeferencing accuracy; 2) image orientation using bundle adjustment with ground control points; 3) height accuracy of the generated digital surface model (DSM). In addition to dense LiDAR point clouds, ground control points were measured in the field. These were used as references. The results show that RPC bundle adjustment with 0 order bias correction is sufficient to achieve sub-metre absolute accuracy. The height accuracy of the generated digital surface models varies with land cover type, ranging from 0.9m (NMAD) in open areas to 4.5m in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought has been a concern of global and regional water, carbon and energy cycles. From 1999 to 2011, North China experienced a multiyear precipitation reduction, which decreased significantly water availability as indicated by decreased soil moisture and Palmer Drought Severity Index. In this study, three light use efficiency models (CASA, MODIS-GPP and EC-LUE) and one dynamic vegetation model (IBIS) were used to characterize the impacts of long-term drought on terrestrial carbon fluxes over the North China. All of four models showed the reduction in averaged GPP of 0.026-0.047 Pg C yr-1 from 1999 to 2011 compared to 1982-2011. Based on IBIS model, simulated ecosystem respiration fell from 1999 to 2011 by 0.016 Pg C yr-1. Multiple precipitation reduction changed the regional carbon uptake of 0.0014 Pg C yr-1 from 1982 to 1998 to a net source of 0.018 Pg C yr-1. Moreover, a pronounced decrease of maize yield was found ranging from 1999 to 2011 versus the average of 1978-2011 at almost all provinces over the study region. The largest reduction of maize yield occurred in the Beijing (2499 kg ha-1 yr-1), Jilin (2180 kg ha-1 yr-1), Tianjing (1923 kg ha-1 yr-1) and Heilongjiang (1791 kg ha-1 yr-1), and maize yield anomaly was significantly correlated with the precipitation through May and September over the entire study area. Our results revealed that recent climate change, and especially drought-induced water stress, is the dominant cause of the reduction in the terrestrial carbon sink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem CO2 efflux was investigated with an open gas exchange system while stand microclimate and stem temperature were continuously monitored in a Schima superba plantation in South China for several days in August and December, 2010. The temperature response of respiration over the di?erent seasons, the vertical variation in stem CO2 efflux along the stem and the stand-level stem CO2 efflux were examined. Stem volume was identi?ed as the better correlate for stem CO2 efflux and was used as scaling scalar for the stand-level estimates of stem CO2 efflux in this S. superba plantation. Volume-based stem CO2 efflux was higher at 2 m than at 1.3m. Mean stem CO2 efflux was 268.9 and 104.6 µmol m-3 s-1 in August and December, respectively, indicating a dramatic seasonal variation of stem CO2 efflux. The temperature response of stem CO2 efflux was constant during our study period with Q10 values of 1.9 and 1.8. In this subtropical S. superba plantation, the averaged stem CO2 efflux per unit ground area was 3.36 and 1.26 µmol m-2 s-1 in August and December, respectively, which was underestimated due to the vertical variation of stem CO2 efflux along the stem. Our results suggest that stem CO2 efflux has a constant temperature response on the stand scale, and the seasonal variation in stem CO2 efflux is mainly controlled by stem temperature, and the vertical variation in stem CO2 efflux needs to be considered at the stand-level estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which derived data from daily aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) using synergetic retrieval of aerosol properties (SRAP) method from August 2002-2011 in China. Data results show the agreement between Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD data and derived AOD data. Results from the study revealed that the AOD exhibits no change and monthly averaged AOD decreased processes from 2006 2010.

To depict the wet (April with a soil water content, SWC, of 37 %) and dry (October with a SWC of 24.8 %) seasonal changes in the water use and physiological response of a Eucalyptus urophylla plantation in subtropical South China characterized by monsoon climate, the whole-year (June 2012 to May 2013) transpiration of E. urophylla was monitored using the TDP method. Daily transpiration (ET) in October averaged 5.7 ± 2.9 kg d-1 and was 58.0 % higher than that in April (3.6 ± 2.3 kg d-1). The difference is consistent with that of the radiation and evaporative demand of the two months, while the nocturnal transpiration (ET-NOC) in the wet season (0.18 ± 0.021 kg d-1) was almost twice that in the dry season (0.11 ± 0.01 kg d-1). Trees displayed a higher stomatal conductance (GS) (53.4-144.5 mmol m-2 s-1) in the wet season and a lower GS (45.7-89.5 mmol m-2 s-1) in the dry season. The leaf-soil water potentials (ΨL) of the two months (April and October) were -0.62 ± 0.66 and -1.22 ± 0.10 MPa, respectively. A boundary line analysis demonstrated that the slight improvement in the GS by SWC in wet season was offset by a significant decrease in D, and the slope of GS sensitivity to D (dGS/dlnD) in response to GSref (references GS at D = 1 kPa) was affected by the variance of radiation instead of SWC. Specific hydraulic conductivity (ks) of trees of different sizes decreased by 45.3-65.6 % from the wet to the dry season. Combining the decreased maximum reference GS at D = 1 kPa (GSref-max) by 22.4 % with the constant max GS (GSmax) when ΨL < -1.2 MPa, we shed some light on the mechanism underlying the high water-use efficiency (WUE) of this Eucalyptus specie. With a slight change in GSref-max and high sensitivity of ks to decreasing ΨL, large trees used water more efficiently than small ones did. In addition, the -m in the dry season (0.53 ± 0.007) was lower than that in the wet season (0.58 ± 0.01) due to the difference in the ratio of GS to the boundary layer conductance (gb) in the two months. The negative relationship between -m (except when light is limited) and Q proved to be a plastic response to environmental changes for E. urophylla but did not change with decreased ks as expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifespan of fine roots plays important roles in regulating carbon (C) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Determination of root lifespan and elucidation of its regulatory mechanism in different plant communities are essential for accurate prediction of C cycling from ecosystem to regional scales. Temperate steppes in Inner Mongolia grasslands have three major types, i.e., Stipa krylovii, Stipa grandis and Stipa breviflora grasslands. There have been no studies to compare the root dynamics among the three types of grasslands. In the present study, we determined root lifespan of the three grasslands using the rhizotron. We found that root lifespan differed substantially among the three types of grasslands within the temperate steppes of Inner Mongolia, such that root lifespan of Stipa breviflora > Stipa grandis > Stipa krylovii grasslands. Root lifespan across the three types of grasslands in the Inner Mongolian temperate steppes displayed a similar temporal pattern, i.e. lifespan of the roots produced in spring and autumn was shortest and longest, respectively, whereas lifespan of summer-produced roots was between that of roots produced in spring and autumn. The spatial and temporal differences in root lifespan across the three types of grasslands were mainly determined by contents of soluble sugars in roots of the dominant species. The differences in root lifespan across the major types of grasslands and different seasons highlight the necessity to take into account these differences in the prediction of C cycling within grassland ecosystem by the simulating model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests play a leading role in regional and global terrestrial carbon (C) cycles. Changes in C sequestration within forests can be attributed to areal expansion (increase in forest area) and forest growth (increase in biomass density). Detailed assessment of the relative contributions of areal expansion and forest growth to C sinks is crucial to reveal the mechanisms that control forest C sinks and is helpful for developing sustainable forest management policies in the face of climate change. Using the Forest Identity concept and forest inventory data, this study quantified the spatial and temporal changes in the relative contributions of forest areal expansion and increased biomass growth to China's forest C sinks from 1977 to 2008. Over the last 30 years, the areal expansion of forests was a larger contributor to C sinks than forest growth for all forests and planted forests in China (74.6 vs. 25.4% for all forests, and 62.4 vs. 37.8% for plantations). However, for natural forests, forest growth made a larger contribution than areal expansion (60.4 vs. 39.6%). The relative contribution of forest growth of planted forests showed an increasing trend from an initial 25.3 to 61.0% in the later period of 1998 to 2003, but for natural forests, the relative contributions were variable without clear trends owing to the drastic changes in forest area and biomass density over the last 30 years. Our findings suggest that afforestation can continue to increase the C sink of China's forests in the future subject to persistently-increasing forest growth after establishment of plantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrations of leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are key leaf traits in ecosystem functioning and dynamics. Foliar stoichiometry varies remarkably among life forms. However, previous studies have focused on trees and grasses, leaving the knowledge gap for the stoichiometric patterns of shrubs. In this study, we explored the intra- and interspecific variations of leaf N and P concentration in relation to climate, soil property and evolutionary history based on 1486 samples composed of 163 shrub species from 361 shrubland sites in northern China expanding 46.1° (86.7-132.8° E) in longitude and 19.8° (32.6-52.4° N) in latitude. The results showed that leaf N concentration decreased with precipitation, leaf P concentration decreased with temperature and increased with precipitation and soil P concentration. Both leaf N and P concentrations were phylogenetically conserved, but leaf P concentration was less conserved than leaf N concentration. At community level, climates explained more interspecific, while soil nutrient explained more intraspecific, variation of leaf nutrient concentrations. These results suggested that leaf N and P concentrations responded to climate, soil, and phylogeny in different ways. Climate influenced the community chemical traits through the shift in species composition, whereas soil directly influenced the community chemical traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use plays an important role in controlling spatial and temporal variations of soil moisture by influencing infiltration rates, runoff, and evapotranspiration, which is substantive meaning to crop growth and vegetation restoration in semiarid environments, such as the Horqin Sandy Land in north China. However, few studies have been conducted comparing differences of dynamics of soil water conditions and the responses of soil water to precipitation infiltration under different land use types in this semiarid region. Five different land use types were selected to analyze soil moisture variations in relation to land use patterns during the growing season of two years. Results showed that soil moisture condition was affected by different land uses in semi-arid sandy land. The order of soil moisture (from high to low) among different land uses was grassland, cropland, poplar land, inter-dunes and shrub land. The temporal variations of soil moisture in different land uses were not always consistent with the rainfall due to the dry sequence. Moreover, soil water in surface, root zone and deep soil layer indicated statistical difference for different land covers. Meanwhile, temporal variations of soil moisture profile changed with precipitation. However, in deep soil layer, there was a clear lag in response to precipitation. In addition, seasonal variations of profile soil moisture were classified into two types: increasing and waving types. And the stable soil water layer was at 80-120 cm. Furthermore, the infiltration depth exhibited a pos it five correlation with precipitation under all land uses. This study provided an insight into the implications for land and agricultural water management in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-based Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO2) have been performed at the Xianghe station (39.75° N, 116.96° E) located at ~50 km southeast of Beijing from March 2010 to February 2013. Tropospheric SO2 vertical profiles and corresponding vertical column densities (VCDs), retrieved by applying the Optimal Estimation Method to the MAX-DOAS observations, have been used to study the seasonal and diurnal cycles of SO2, in combination to correlative measurements from in situ instruments, as well as meteorological data. A marked seasonality was observed in both SO2 VCD and surface concentration, with a maximum in winter (February) and a minimum in summer (July). This can be explained by the larger emissions in winter due to the domestic heating and more favorable meteorological conditions for the accumulation of SO2 close to the ground during this period. Wind speed and direction are also found to be two key factors in controlling the level of the SO2-related pollution at Xianghe. In the case of east or southwest wind, the SO2 concentration rises with the increase of the wind speed, since heavy polluting industries are located to the east and southwest of the station. In contrast, when wind comes from other directions, the stronger the wind, the less SO2 is observed. Regarding the diurnal cycle, the SO2 amount is larger in the early morning and late evening and lower at noon, in line with the diurnal variation of pollutant emissions and atmospheric stability. The observed diurnal cycles of MAX-DOAS SO2 surface concentration are also in very good agreement (correlation coefficient close to 0.9) with those from collocated in-situ data, demonstrating the reliability and robustness of our retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Princeton Ocean Model is used to investigate the intratidal variability of currents and turbulent mixing and their impact on the characteristics and evolution of the plumes of two neighboring rivers, the Zhuoshui River and the Wu River, at the central eastern coast of Taiwan Strait. The two estuaries are located close to each other and their conditions are similar in many respects, and yet the two plumes exhibit significantly different behavior. We explain this through differences of the bottom topography in the areas adjacent to the two river mouths. The Zhuoshui River runs into a shallow area that is permanently exposed to strong tidal mixing, while the Wu River mouth is located in a deeper, stratified area outside the region of intense mixing. This destruction of the plume by tidal mixing is confirmed by the results of numerical modeling with POM. The spatial and temporal variability of turbulent kinetic energy and its production rate in the study region, as well as the horizontal diffusivity, are analyzed with the emphasis given to the dependence of the turbulence parameters on the bottom topography on the one hand and their influence on the river plumes on the other. Further, we use a Lagrangian particle tracking model in combination with POM to investigate the effect of the tidal wetting-and-drying (WAD) of land taking place near the Zhuoshui estuary, and demonstrate that WAD leads to significant reduction of the plume extent and surface salinity deficit near the river mouth. We use observational data from a short field campaign in the study area to tune and validate the model experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil pH buffering capacity (pHBC) plays a crucial role in predicting acidification rates, yet its large-scale patterns and controls are poorly understood, especially for neutral-alkaline soils. Here, we evaluated the spatial patterns and drivers of pHBC along a 3600 km long transect (1900 km sub-transect with carbonate containing soils and 1700 km sub-transect with non-carbonate containing soils) across northern China. Soil pHBC was greater in the carbonate containing soils than in the non-carbonate containing soils. Acid addition decreased soil pH in the non-carbonate containing soils more markedly than in the carbonate containing soils. Within the carbonate soil sub-transect, soil pHBC was positively correlated with cation exchange capacity (CEC), carbonate content and exchangeable sodium (Na) concentration, but negatively correlated with initial pH and clay content, and not correlated with soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Within the non-carbonate sub-transect, soil pHBC was positively related to initial pH, clay content, CEC and exchangeable Na concentration, but not related to SOC content. Carbonate content was the primary determinant of pHBC in the carbonate containing soils and CEC was the main determinant of buffering capacity in the non-carbonate containing soils. Soil pHBC was positively related to aridity index and carbonate content across the carbonate containing soil sub-transect. Our results indicated that mechanisms controlling pHBC differ among neutral-alkaline soils of northern China, especially between carbonate and non-carbonate containing soils, leading to different rates, risks, and impacts of acidification. This understanding should be incorporated into the acidification risk assessment and landscape management in a changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]