Interannual horizontal heat advection in the surface mixed layer over the equatorial Pacific Ocean: assimilation versus TAO analysis

The interannual anomalies of horizontal heat advection in the surface mixed layer over the equatorial Pacific Ocean in an assimilation experiment are studied and compared with existing observational analyses. The assimilation builds upon a hindcast study that has produced a good simulation of the observed equatorial currents and optimizes the simulation of the Reynolds sea surface temperature (SST) data. The comparison suggests that the assimilation has improved the simulation of the interannual horizontal heat advection of the surface mixed layer significantly. During periods of interrupted current measurements, the assimilation is shown to produce more meaningful anomalies of the heat advection than the interpolation of the observational data does. The assimilation also shows that the eddy heat flux due to the correlation between high-frequency current and SST variations, which is largely overlooked by the existing observational analyses, is important for the interannual SST balance over the equatorial Pacific. The interannual horizontal heat advection anomalies are found to be sensitive to SST errors where oceanic currents are strong, which is a challenge for ENSO prediction. The study further suggests that the observational analyses of the tropical SST balance based on the TAO and the Reynolds SST data contain significant errors due to the large gradient errors in the Reynolds SST data, which are amplified into the advection anomalies by the large equatorial currents.

Statistical distribution of depth-integrated local horizontal momentum for second-order random ocean waves in finite water depth

Based on the second-order random wave solutions of water wave equations in finite water depth, statistical distributions of the depth- integrated local horizontal momentum components are derived by use of the characteristic function expansion method. The parameters involved in the distributions can be all determined by the water depth and the wave-number spectrum of ocean waves. As an illustrative example, a fully developed wind-generated sea is considered and the parameters are calculated for typical wind speeds and water depths by means of the Donelan and Pierson spectrum. The effects of nonlinearity and water depth on the distributions are also investigated.

Estuarine nutrient loading affects phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing at two contrasting sites in Hong Kong coastal waters

To investigate the effects of enhanced nutrient loading in estuarine waters on phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing, we conducted monthly dilution experiments at 2 stations in Hong Kong coastal waters with contrasting trophic conditions. The western estuarine station (WE) near the Pearl River estuary is strongly influenced by freshwater discharge, while the eastern oceanic station (EO) is mostly affected by the South China Sea. Growth rates of phytoplankton were often limited by nutrients at EO, while nutrient limitation of phytoplankton growth seldom Occurred at WE due to the high level of nutrients delivered by the Pearl River, especially in the summer rainy season. Higher chlorophyll a, microzooplankton biomass, phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing rates were found at WE than at EO. However, the increase in chlorophyll greatly exceeded the increase in phytoplankton growth rate, reflecting different response relationships to nutrient availability. Strong seasonality was observed at both stations, with temperature being an important factor affecting both phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing rates. Picophytoplankton, especially Synechococcus, also exhibited great seasonality at EO, with summer abundances being 2 or 3 orders of magnitude higher than those during winter, Our results confirm that in eutrophic coastal environments, microzooplankton grazing is a dominant loss pathway for phytoplankton, accounting for the utilization of >50%, of primary production on average.

Wintertime meso-scale horizontal distribution of large tintinnids in the southern Yellow Sea

Spatial distribution of some large tintinnid species (nominally > 76 mu m) is investigated on samples vertically towed in the southern Yellow Sea in winters of 2001 to 2004. Nine tintinnid species are recorded: Codonellopsis morchella, Stenosemella pacifica, S. steini, Tintinnopsis schotti, T. radix, T. karajacensis, Eutintinnus tenuis, Parafavella sp., Leprotintinnus neriticus, of which C. morchella and T. radix dominated in the warm tongue-shaped zone of the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC), and S. pacifica is the next in abundance. Our study shows that these tintinnids occur repeatedly in certain special distribution patterns.

典型人类活动对边坡变形及稳定性的影响研究

China is a mountainous country in which geological hazards occurred frequently, especially in the east of China. Except the geology, topography and extreme climate, the large scale human activities have become a major factor to landslides. Typical human activities which induced landslides are fill, cut and underground mining. On the topic of the deformation mechanism and slope stability, taking three different man-made slopes as examples, deformation mechanism and slope stability were studied by several methods, such as field work, numerical modeling and monitor. The details are as following: (1) The numerical modeling approach advantages over other conventional methods such as limit methods, so the numerical modeling is the major tool in this thesis. So far, there is no uniform failure criterion for numerical simulation. The failure criterion were summarized and analyzed firstly, subsequently the appropriate criterion was determinated. (2) Taking 220kV Yanjin transformation substation fill slope as example, the deformable characteristic, unstable mode and laboratory tests were studied systematically. The results show: the slope deformation was probably caused by a combination effect of unfavorable topographic, geological and hydro geological conditions, and external loading due to filling. It was concluded that the creep deformation of the slope was triggered by external loading applied at the back of the slope. In order to define the calculating parameters, a set of consolidated drained (CD) tests, consolidated undrained (CU) tests, repeated direct shear tests and UCS tests were carried out. The stability of the slope before and after reinforcement was assessed using 3D numerical modeling and shear strength reduction technique. The numerical modeling results showed: the factor of safety (FOS) of the slope was 1.10 in the natural state, and reduced to 1.03 after fill, which was close to the critical state and it caused creeping slip or deformation under rainfall. The failure surface in the slope is in active shear failure, whereas tensile failure occurs at the slope crest. After the site was reinforced with piles, the FOS was 1.27. Therefore, the slope is stable after reinforcement measures were taken. (3) The cut slope stability is a complex problem. Taking the left cut slope of Xiangjiaba as example in this thesis, the deformation and slope stability were studied systematically by numerical modeling and monitor methods. The numerical results show: the displacement is gradually increasing along with the cutting, and the largest displacement is 27.5mm which located at the bench between the elevation 340 and 380. Some failure state units distribute near the undermining part and there is no linked failure state occurred from crest to bottom during cutting. After cutting, some failure units appeared at the ground surface between elevation 340 and 360. The increasing tense stress made the disturbed rock failed. The slope is stable after cutting by the monitor method, such as surface monitor, multipoint displacement meter, inclinometer and anchor cable tensometer. (4) The interaction between underground mining and slope stability is a common situation in mountainous. The slope deformation mechanism induced by underground mining may contributed significantly to slope destabilization. The Mabukan slope in xiangjiaba was analyzed to illustrate this. Failure mechanism and the slope stability were presented by numerical modeling and residual deformation monitor. The results show: the roof deformed to the free face and the floor uplift lightly to the free face. The subsidence basin is formed, but the subsidence and the horizontal movement is small, and there is no failure zone occurred. When the underground mining is going on, the roof deformation, subsidence and the horizontal movements begin increasing. The rock deformation near the free face is larger than the ground surface, and the interaction between these coal seams appeared. There are some tensile failures and shear failures occurred on the roof and floor, and a majority of failure is tensile failure. The roof deformation, subsidence and the horizontal movements increased obviously along with the underground mining. The failure characteristic is shear failure which means the tensile stress transformed to the compressive stress. So the underground mining will induced tensile stress first which lead to structure crack, subsequently the compressive stress appeared which result in slippage. The crest was subjected to horizontal tension which made the rock crack along with the joint. The long term residual deformation monitor demonstrates that the slope is stable after the underground mining stopped.

地幔对流理论及其在解释地球物理观测的应用

With the improving of mantle convection theory, the developing of computing method and increasing of the measurement data, we can numerically simulate more clearly about the effects on some geophysical observed phenomenons such as the global heat flow and global lithospheric stress field in the Earth's surface caused by mantle convection, which is the primary mechanism for the transport of heat from the Earth's deep interior to its surface and the underlying force mechanism of dynamics in the Earth.Chapter 1 reviews the historical background and present research state of mantle convection theory.In Chapter 2, the basic conception of thermal convection and the basic theory about mantle flow.The effects on generation and distribution of global lithospheric stres s field induced by mantle flow are the subject of Chapter 3. Mantle convection causes normal stress and tangential stresses at the bottom of the lithosphere, and then the sublithospheric stress field induces the lithospheric deformation as sixrface force and results in the stress field within the lithosphere. The simulation shows that the agreement between predictions and observations is good in most regions. Most of subduction zones and continental collisions are under compressive. While ocean ridges, such as the east Pacific ridge, the Atlantic ridge and the east African rift valley, are under tensile. And most of the hotspots preferentially occur in regions where calculated stress is tensile. The calculated directions of the most compressive principal horizontal stress are largely in accord with that of the observation except for some regions such as the NW-Pacifie subduction zone and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in which the directions of the most compressive principal horizontal stress are different. It shows that the mantel flow plays an important role in causing or affecting the large-scale stress field within the lithosphere.The global heat flow simulation based on a kinematic model of mantle convection is given in Chapter 4. Mantle convection velocities are calculated based on the internal loading theory at first, the velocity field is used as the input to solve the thermal problem. Results show that calculated depth derivatives of the near surface temperature are closely correlated to the observed surface heat flow pattern. Higher heat flow values around midocean ridge systems can be reproduced very well. The predicted average temperature as a function of function of depth reveals that there are two thermal boundary layers, one is close to the surface and another is close to the core-mantle boundary, the rest of the mantle is nearly isothermal. Although, in most of the mantle, advection dominates the heat transfer, the conductive heat transfer is still locally important in the boundary layers and plays an important role for the surface heat flow pattern. The existence of surface plates is responsible for the long wavelength surface heat flow pattern.In Chapter 5, the effects on present-day crustal movement in the China Mainland resulted from the mantle convection are introduced. Using a dynamic method, we present a quantitative model for the present-day crustal movement in China. We consider not only the effect of the India-Eurasia collision, the gravitational potential energy difference of the Tibet Plateau, but also the contribution of the shear traction on the bottom of the lithosphere induced by the global mantle convection. The comparison between our results and the velocity field obtained from the GPS observation shows that our model satisfactorily reproduces the general picture of crustal deformation in China. Numerical modeling results reveal that the stress field on the base of the lithosphere induced by the mantle flow is probably a considerable factor that causes the movement and deformation of the lithosphere in continental China with its eflfcet focuing on the Eastern China A numerical research on the small-scale convection with variable viscosity in the upper mantle is introduced in Chapter 6. Based on a two-dimensional model, small-scale convection in the mantle-lithosphere system with variable viscosity is researched by using of finite element method. Variation of viscosity in exponential form with temperature is considered in this paper The results show that if viscosity is strongly temperature-dependent, the upper part of the system does not take a share in the convection and a stagnant lid, which is identified as lithosphere, is formed on the top of system because of low temperature and high viscosity. The calculated surface heat flow, topography and gravity anomaly are associated well with the convection pattern, namely, the regions with high heat flow and uplift correspond to the upwelling flow, and vice versa.In Chapter 7, we give a brief of future research subject: The inversion of lateral density heterogeneity in the mantle by minimizing the viscous dissipation.