长江中游砂山的磁组构特征及古气候环境意义

为了建立长江中游风成砂的磁组构识别标志,讨论磁组构参数与古气候、古环境之间的关系,对新近发现的江西九江新港砂山剖面进行了野外考察和磁化率定向样品的采集和测试,结果表明：①新港风成砂剖面中砂层和古土壤化的亚黏土层的磁组构参数值具有较大的不同,亚黏土层的磁化率（〖WTBX〗κ〖WTBZ〗）在剖面中表现为峰值（均值143.27（10-6SI））,各向异性度（〖WTBX〗P〖WTBZ〗）值却表现为曲线的较低值段。砂层却与亚黏土层相反,〖WTBX〗κ〖WTBZ〗值为谷值（均值为2181（10-6SI））,〖WTBX〗P〖WTBZ〗值总体为高值段,但波动较大。②在新港风成砂剖面中大多数亚黏土层样品的磁面理度（〖WTBX〗F〖WTBZ〗）值大于磁线理度（〖WTBX〗L〖WTBZ〗）,而砂层中只有部分样品的〖WTBX〗F值大于L〖WTBZ〗,说明亚黏土层的磁面理发育程度较砂层的要好。③相对于河流和湖泊沉积物（河流沉积物长轴的倾角一般小于10°,短轴的倾角大于80°）而言,新港剖面风成砂的磁化率量值椭球体的长轴的倾角较大（22°～24°）,短轴的倾角较小（45°～51°）。④新港剖面风成砂的磁基质颗粒度（〖WTBX〗q〖WTBZ〗）的平均值（0668 8）比长江中游河流沉积物的〖WTBX〗q〖WTBZ〗值（024）偏大,反映风成砂的分选较河流沉积物的要差。上述特点可作为长江中游水成和风成沉积物的磁组构识别标志。⑤在325～262 m的地层剖面中共有9层发育程度不同的古土壤化的亚黏土层,说明在这一期间气候不仅有9次由干冷向暖湿的转变,且每次变化的强度也有所不同。〖     

三峡库区森林植被分布的地形分异特征

基于森林植被GIS数据库和群落调查,对三峡库区森林植被分布的地形分异特征进行分析。结果表明：（1）三峡库区森林植被主要分布在海拔400~1200 m,随海拔上升和坡度增大,森林覆盖率逐步提高,海拔为400 m以下区间森林覆盖率最低。（2）不同海拔级的优势森林类型分别为灌木林（400 m以下、1 200~1 600 m、1 600~2 000 m和2 000 m以上）、马尾松林（400~800 m和800~1 200 m）。各森林类型分布面积占该类型总面积百分比在不同海拔级上的分布都为单峰型,海拔由低到高出现峰值的森林类型依次为竹林、经济林和柏木林（800 m以下）、暖温性针叶林（1 600 m以下）、针叶混交林和针阔叶混交林（400~1 600 m）、阔叶林（800~2 000 m）、温性针叶林（1 200~2 000 m）。（3）柏木林、马尾松林、杉木林、温性松林、针叶混交林及针阔混交林主要分布在坡度低于35°区域,竹林和经济林主要分布在坡度小于25°区域。在坡度低于5°、6°~15°和16°~25°的区域,马尾松面积均最大,在坡度为26°以上的区域,灌木林分布面积均最大。（4）各类植被类型在各个坡向上分布面积变化不大。研究结果为三峡库区生态规划和建设提供科学依据.     

全球变暖背景下长江三角洲夏季高温时空演变研究

基于国家气候中心提供的2000站逐日地面气温资料,运用高温日数、平均高温度数以及日最高气温这3个指标刻画1961~2015年长江三角洲（简称长三角）地区的夏季高温时空演变,并在对上述指标进行突变检测的基础上,比较其转折前后的夏季高温空间分布特征。结果表明：（1）长三角夏季高温指标在2000年左右存在气候突变,2000年以后夏季高温日数和强度出现显著上升;（2）较之2000年前,2000年后的高温度日数的分布型更为集中,前三个EOF模态解释方差均有所上升,EOF1分布较为相似,EOF2不再呈现带状分布,EOF3局地性特征减弱;（3）2000年后的长三角夏季高温日数增长明显,年平均高温日数达到20 d以上的区域向北扩展至32°N附近,向东扩展至往浙江东部沿海;年平均高温日数达到30 d以上的区域更扩展至31°N以南、121°E以西所有地区,高温日数最多可达近50 d;（4）2000年后高温度日数呈明显增加,从2000年前的10~20℃·d增加到20~50℃·d,以30~31°N一带增长最为显著。浙江中部和南部地区在2000年后高温日数增长明显,但高温强度增长较弱;安徽东部、浙江北部和上海地区高温日数和强度均增长明显。     

2005年秋季长江口及其邻近水域浮游植物群集

采用Utermhl分析方法,对长江口及其邻近水域（30.5° ~ 32.5° N,121.0° ~ 123.5° E）2005年秋季浮游植物进行了分析,并对其与环境之间的关系做了进一步的探讨。结果表明：调查区初步鉴定浮游植物95种（含变种和变型）,硅藻是主要的浮游植物类群,其丰度比例达到93.1%;生态类型多为温带近岸种,少数为暖水种和大洋种;优势种主要为中肋骨条藻〖WTBX〗（Skeletonema costatum）、具槽帕拉藻（Paralia sulcata）、菱形海线藻（Thalassionema nitzschioides）和圆海链藻（Thalassiosira rotula）〖WTBZ〗;浮游植物平均丰度为2.04 cells/mL,高值出现在长江口门偏南水域;Margalef指数、Shannon Wiener指数以及Pielou指数的分布显示：秋季调查区离岸海域浮游植物多样性程度高,物种均一性好。Pearson相关分析结果显示：海水温度和硝酸盐含量是控制调查区浮游植物分布格局的主要环境因子;优势种中肋骨条藻与温度呈极显著负相关,与硝酸盐呈极显著正相关。     

基于MODIS EVI的2000~2015年重庆植被覆盖季节变化

基于2000~2015年的MODIS EVI数据，采用MVC、趋势分析和分布指数法，分析了重庆近16 a来植被的季节变化趋势和空间分布特征。结果表明：（1）植被减少类型冬季比例最高（6.33%），主要分布于受库区蓄水和建设用地扩张影响的河谷、城镇及其周边地区；植被不变类型秋季比例最高（88.23%）；植被增加类型春季比例最高（31.50%），主要分布于农业种植的西部丘陵区和中部平行岭谷地区。（2）植被变化类型优势分布区域各异，植被减少主要分布于小于400 m、小于 6°区域，植被增加主要分布于400~1 000 m、6°~15°区域，在大于1 000 m、大于15°区域植被相对稳定。（3）从春季到夏季，植被减少类型向低地形区（< 800 m，< 6°）移动，而植被增加类型则向高地形区（> 800 m，> 6°）移动；从夏季到秋季，植被减少类型向高地形区（> 500 m，> 6°）移动，而植被增加类型则向低地形区（< 500 m，< 6°）移动；从秋季到冬季，植被减少和增加类型均在向高地形区移动，在高地形区，植被减少（> 1 300 m，> 15°）分布强于植被增加（> 500 m，> 6°），在低地形区则是植被减少（< 1 300 m，< 15°）分布弱于植被增加（< 500 m，< 6°）。（4）在坡向的分布上，除了平地区域外，植被变化幅度在北、东、南、西坡向上随季节变化不明显。 关键词： 植被覆盖度；MODIS EVI；趋势分析；地形分布指数；季节变化     

基于MODIS NDVI的攀枝花市植被覆盖变化及其驱动力#br#

攀枝花市位于金沙江与雅砻江的交汇处是长江上游生态脆弱区,也是天然林保护工程和退耕还林工程等的重点实施区。基于2001~2010年MODIS NDVI数据,以及同时期的气象数据和其他辅助数据,利用最大值合成法（MVC）、趋势分析法以及线性相关分析等方法研究了攀枝花市植被覆盖时空变化及其与气候因素和人类活动的关系。研究结果表明：攀枝花市植被覆盖整体较高,属于高植被覆盖区域,年际尺度上,植被覆盖呈上升的趋势,增长速率为0.02/10 a;从年内来看,9月NDVI达到最大值,NDVI最小值出现在3月;植被覆盖在水平空间上呈“南低北高”的分布特征,并在垂直空间上呈现出显著的差异性,研究区植被覆盖分别在海拔2 000~3 000 m、坡度30°~40°达到最大值;受水热条件的影响,阴坡（0°~45°, 315°~360°）植被覆盖高于阳坡（135°~225°）,而平地（-1°）植被覆盖度最低;就整个研究区而言,植被退化的面积与增加的面积分别占0.7%和44.4%,增加的面积远大于退化的面积;年际尺度上植被受气温的影响高于受降水的影响;大规模生态工程建设是研究区植被覆盖增加的主要驱动因素。 关键词： 植被覆盖变化;归一化植被指数;气候变化;人类活动;攀枝花市     

中国工业废水排放格局及其驱动因素

基于2005~2015年中国31个省（市、自治区）的环境统计数据,运用GIS空间分析方法和SARAR计量模型系统刻画了工业废水排放的时空格局演变与空间集聚特征,并进一步揭示其驱动因素及区域差异性。结果表明：（1）研究时段内,工业废水排放逐年减少,但废水排放总量不断上升,表明中国废水排放主导源已经发生替变;（2）中国工业废水排放量总体呈现“东南高、西北低”的省际格局特征,胡焕庸线可看作工业废水排放“热区”与“冷区”的分界线;（3）中国工业废水排放表现出明显的空间集聚特征,集聚趋势逐年加强;（4）SARAR模型估计结果显示,城镇化推进、第二产业发展、人口增长依次是中国工业废水排放的主要驱动因素。与全国相比,热区的SARAR模型估计结果与上述结论基本一致,但各驱动因素的影响效应略有不同     

雅砻江流域湿地景观格局变化分析

应用ArcGIS软件,对雅砻江流域湿地1986和2000年遥感数据进行解译、矢量化处理,用Apack软件进行湿地景观格局指数计算,研究了近15 a雅砻江流域景观空间格局特征及其变化。结果表明：（1）近15 a雅砻江流域湿地景观面积减少,减少量为49404 hm2,占2000年湿地总面积的0506%;（2）两个时期内湿地斑块密度保持不变,湿地景观的聚集度都很高,均在099以上,湿地景观集中分布,破碎化水平低;（3）雅砻江流域湿地景观的多样性指数水平和均匀度水平较低,而且两指数在两个个时期内没有发生太大的变化,且各类湿地景观比例差异相对较大,沼泽湿地景观控制的程度较高;（4）雅砻江流域的5类湿地景观分布质心基本上未发生变化,但总体格局分布质心向南偏移001°,再向西偏移023°,整体上向西南方向偏移了2532 km     

基于面向对象的石漠化山区植被信息提取及分布特征研究

重庆东北部地区是重庆岩溶石漠化重点治理区,该区地形复杂,山高坡陡,植被退化现象严重。了解该地区的植被分布特征,对该区环境的改善和石漠化治理具有十分重要的现实意义。基于Landsat OLI等数据,运用面向对象分类方法对研究区植被信息进行提取,然后对分类后的数据进行统计、制图和分析,并在空间布局上进行总结和探讨,旨在了解该区域植被的空间分布特征和规律。结果表明：（1）在eCognition 9.0软件中进行多尺度分割,再结合地物类型特征使用隶属度函数法进行分类,该方法符合山地地物类型的分布规律和特点,分类精度达到81.35%;（2）研究区属典型的中山地区,海拔在500~1 500 m之间的地区约占64.49%,林地和耕地是该区域主要的地物类型,所占总面积为8 872.22 km2,占研究区总面积的96.50%,各地物类型分布受地形地势的影响较大;（3）综合研究区地形因子(高程和坡度)与植被分布的相关性可知,耕地和草灌主要分布在高程为200~1 500 m且坡度等级在2~4级（5°~35°）之间,该区域人类活动频繁,故受人类活动影响较大,植被覆盖度低,群落生长不稳定,容易受到干扰。针阔混交林主要分布在高程>500 m且坡度等级在2~4级（5°~35°）之间。马尾松林、阔叶林和柏木林主要分布在高程大于500 m且坡度等级在2~5级（5°~45°）之间。 关键词： 多尺度分割;面向对象分类;地形因子;植被空间分布     

未来50年鄱阳湖流域气候变化预估

据 ECHAM5/ MPI OM模式在3种排放情景（SRES高排放A2,中排放A1B,低排放B1）下所做的21世纪前50年气候变化预估试验得到的数据,研究鄱阳湖流域2001~2050年气温和降水相对于目前气候（1961~1990年）的可能变化。结果表明：①未来50年气温在3种排放情景下都将迅速增加,远远高于1990s的增加幅度和速度。A1B情景温度增加最明显,平均气温变化达到162°C。②降水量变化相对复杂,前30年主要为减少趋势,A2情景下减少幅度最大,2020s年均降水量减少了67%;后20年降水量增加,B1情景增加最显著,2030s年增加幅度达到108%。③根据预估的各季节变化结果,1~3月和 4~6月降水量增加;而降水减少主要在7~9月和10~12月,则赣江流域类似于2003~2005年的伏旱、秋旱连冬旱的情况将可能阶段性出现,并在2011~2030年加强。④降水量的空间分异非常明显,东部变化大于西部,南部变化大于北部。⑤如果2001~2050年在A2或A1B情景下,降水序列存在20a的周期振荡;在B1情景下,存在30a的周期振荡。人类排放增加可能弱化振荡强度,并使周期发生变化。     

Estimating the dynamics of groundwater input into the coastal zone via continuous radon-222 measurements

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into the coastal zone has received increased attention in the last few years as it is now recognized that this process represents an important pathway for material transport. Assessing these material fluxes is difficult, as there is no simple means to gauge the water flux. To meet this challenge, we have explored the use of a continuous radon monitor to measure radon concentrations in coastal zone waters over time periods from hours to days. Changes in the radon inventories over time can be converted to fluxes after one makes allowances for tidal effects, losses to the atmosphere, and mixing with offshore waters. If one assumes that advective flow of radon-enriched groundwater (pore waters) represent the main input of 222Rn in the coastal zone, the calculated radon fluxes may be converted to water fluxes by dividing by the estimated or measured 222Rn pore water activity. We have also used short-lived radium isotopes (223Ra and 224Ra) to assess mixing between near-shore and offshore waters in the manner pioneered by. During an experiment in the coastal Gulf of Mexico, we showed that the mixing loss derived from the 223Ra gradient agreed very favorably to the estimated range based on the calculated radon fluxes. This allowed an independent constraint on the mixing loss of radon-an important parameter in the mass balance approach. Groundwater discharge was also estimated independently by the radium isotopic approach and was within a factor of two of that determined by the continuous radon measurements and an automated seepage meter deployed at the same site.     

What are the implications of sea-level rise for a 1.5, 2 and 3 °C rise in global mean temperatures in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and other vulnerable deltas?

Even if climate change mitigation is successful, sea levels will keep rising. With subsidence, relative sea-level rise represents a long-term threat to low-lying deltas. A large part of coastal Bangladesh was analysed using the Delta Dynamic Integrated Emulator Model to determine changes in flood depth, area and population affected given sea-level rise equivalent to global mean temperature rises of 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 °C with respect to pre-industrial for three ensemble members of a modified A1B scenario. Annual climate variability today (with approximately 1.0 °C of warming) is potentially more important, in terms of coastal impacts, than an additional 0.5 °C warming. In coastal Bangladesh, the average depth of flooding in protected areas is projected to double to between 0.07 and 0.09 m when temperatures are projected at 3.0 °C compared with 1.5 °C. In unprotected areas, the depth of flooding is projected to increase by approximately 50% to 0.21–0.27 m, whilst the average area inundated increases 2.5 times (from 5 to 13% of the region) in the same temperature frame. The greatest area of land flooded is projected in the central and north-east regions. In contrast, lower flood depths, less land area flooded and fewer people are projected in the poldered west of the region. Over multi-centennial timescales, climate change mitigation and controlled sedimentation to maintain relative delta height are key to a delta’s survival. With slow rates of sea-level rise, adaptation remains possible, but further support is required. Monitoring of sea-level rise and subsidence in deltas is recommended, together with improved datasets of elevation.

     

Physical model study of thermal and chemical pollution in the Shuaiba offshore area of Kuwait

The cooling and process waters of the industrial plants located in the Shuaiba Industrial Area in Kuwait are supplied by a complex system of seawater outlets and intakes. Discharge of heated water from the industrial plants is considered a major problem since it may recirculate directly through the intake towers, and the cooling water withdrawn may be at a higher temperature than is desirable. Higher cooling water temperature reduces the efficiency of industrial plants and causes thermal pollution, which adversely affects the water of the Arabian Gulf. In addition, the discharged process water may cause chemical pollution in the offshore area.An undistorted physical model with a scale of 1:50 was constructed and tested with the basic objectives of determining the temperature field in the Shuaiba offshore area identifying possible recirculation patterns and temperature increase at the intake, examining the flow and mixing characteristics of chemical effluents discharged, and investigated alternative remedial measures.The model test results showed that, in line with the field tests, the temperature of the sea water at the intakes was about 1.7–2.5°C higher than the ambient temperature. When heated water from the larger outlets was allowed to discharge into a channel running parallel to the shoreline and curved to stay parallel to the outside of the southern breakwater of the Shuaiba harbor, the temperature increase at the intakes was limited to 0.8–1.0°C and tests showed that the concentration of conservative chemical pollutants at the intakes was reduced by about 50%.     

Fuel efficiency enhancement of modified diesel engine operated in dual fuel mode using renewable and sustainable fuels

ABSTRACT

Renewable and sustainable fuels for diesel engine applications provide energy protection, overseas exchange saving and address atmospheric and socio-economic concerns. This study presents the investigational work carried out on a single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection diesel engine operated in dual fuel (DF) mode using renewable and sustainable fuels. In the first phase, a Y-shaped mixing chamber or venture was developed with varied angle facility for gas entry at 30°, 45° and 60°, respectively, to enable homogeneous air and gas mixing. Further effect of different gas and air mixture entry on the DF engine performance was studied. In the next phase of the work, hydrogen flow rate influence on the combustion and emission characteristics of a compression ignition (CI) engine operated in DF mode using diesel, neem oil methyl ester (NeOME) and producer gas has been investigated. During experimentation, hydrogen was mixed in different proportions varied from 3 to 12 l/min (lpm) in step of 3 lpm along with air-producer gas and the mixtures were directly inducted into engine cylinder during suction stroke. Experimental investigation showed that 45° Y-shaped mixing chamber resulted in improved performance with acceptable emission levels. Further, it is observed that investigation showed that at maximum operating conditions and hydrogen flow rate of 9 lpm, Diesel–producer gas and NeOME–producer gas combination showed increased thermal efficiency by 13.2% and 3.8%, respectively, compared to the DF operation without hydrogen addition. Further, it is noticed that hydrogen-enriched producer gas lowers the power derating by 5–10% and increases nitric oxide (NO_x) emissions. However, increased hydrogen addition beyond the 12 lpm leads to sever knocking.

Abbreviations: NeOME: Neem oil methyl ester; BTE: brake thermal efficiency; CI: compression ignition; ITE: indicated thermal efficiency; PG: producer gas; CA: crank angle; K: Kelvin; BP: brake power; IP: indicated power; H₂: hydrogen; HC: unburnt hydrocarbon; CO: carbon dioxide; CO₂: carbon dioxide; NO_x: nitric oxide; HRR: heat release rate; %: percentage; PPM: parts per million; CMFIS: conventional mechanical fuel injection system.     

Heading for the hills: climate-driven community relocations in the Solomon Islands and Alaska provide insight for a 1.5 °C future

Whilst future air temperature thresholds have become the centrepiece of international climate negotiations, even the most ambitious target of 1.5 °C will result in significant sea-level rise and associated impacts on human populations globally. Of additional concern in Arctic regions is declining sea ice and warming permafrost which can increasingly expose coastal areas to erosion particularly through exposure to wave action due to storm activity. Regional variability over the past two decades provides insight into the coastal and human responses to anticipated future rates of sea-level rise under 1.5 °C scenarios. Exceeding 1.5 °C will generate sea-level rise scenarios beyond that currently experienced and substantially increase the proportion of the global population impacted. Despite these dire challenges, there has been limited analysis of how, where and why communities will relocate inland in response. Here, we present case studies of local responses to coastal erosion driven by sea-level rise and warming in remote indigenous communities of the Solomon Islands and Alaska, USA, respectively. In both the Solomon Islands and the USA, there is no national government agency that has the organisational and technical capacity and resources to facilitate a community-wide relocation. In the Solomon Islands, communities have been able to draw on flexible land tenure regimes to rapidly adapt to coastal erosion through relocations. These relocations have led to ad hoc fragmentation of communities into smaller hamlets. Government-supported relocation initiatives in both countries have been less successful in the short term due to limitations of land tenure, lacking relocation governance framework, financial support and complex planning processes. These experiences from the Solomon Islands and USA demonstrate the urgent need to create a relocation governance framework that protects people’s human rights.     

Co-evolution of wetland landscapes,flooding, and human settlement in the Mississippi River Delta Plain

River deltas all over the world are sinking beneath sea-level rise, causing significant threats to natural and social systems. This is due to the combined effects of anthropogenic changes to sediment supply and river flow, subsidence, and sea-level rise, posing an immediate threat to the 500–1,000 million residents, many in megacities that live on deltaic coasts. The Mississippi River Deltaic Plain (MRDP) provides examples for many of the functions and feedbacks, regarding how human river management has impacted source-sink processes in coastal deltaic basins, resulting in human settlements more at risk to coastal storms. The survival of human settlement on the MRDP is arguably coupled to a shifting mass balance between a deltaic landscape occupied by either land built by the Mississippi River or water occupied by the Gulf of Mexico. We developed an approach to compare 50 % L:W isopleths (L:W is ratio of land to water) across the Atchafalaya and Terrebonne Basins to test landscape behavior over the last six decades to measure delta instability in coastal deltaic basins as a function of reduced sediment supply from river flooding. The Atchafalaya Basin, with continued sediment delivery, compared to Terrebonne Basin, with reduced river inputs, allow us to test assumptions of how coastal deltaic basins respond to river management over the last 75 years by analyzing landward migration rate of 50 % L:W isopleths between 1932 and 2010. The average landward migration for Terrebonne Basin was nearly 17,000 m (17 km) compared to only 22 m in Atchafalaya Basin over the last 78 years (p < 0.001), resulting in migration rates of 218 m/year (0.22 km/year) and <0.5 m/year, respectively. In addition, freshwater vegetation expanded in Atchafalaya Basin since 1949 compared to migration of intermediate and brackish marshes landward in the Terrebonne Basin. Changes in salt marsh vegetation patterns were very distinct in these two basins with gain of 25 % in the Terrebonne Basin compared to 90 % decrease in the Atchafalaya Basin since 1949. These shifts in vegetation types as L:W ratio decreases with reduced sediment input and increase in salinity also coincide with an increase in wind fetch in Terrebonne Bay. In the upper Terrebonne Bay, where the largest landward migration of the 50 % L:W ratio isopleth occurred, we estimate that the wave power has increased by 50–100 % from 1932 to 2010, as the bathymetric and topographic conditions changed, and increase in maximum storm-surge height also increased owing to the landward migration of the L:W ratio isopleth. We argue that this balance of land relative to water in this delta provides a much clearer understanding of increased flood risk from tropical cyclones rather than just estimates of areal land loss. We describe how coastal deltaic basins of the MRDP can be used as experimental landscapes to provide insights into how varying degrees of sediment delivery to coastal deltaic floodplains change flooding risks of a sinking delta using landward migrations of 50 % L:W isopleths. The nonlinear response of migrating L:W isopleths as wind fetch increases is a critical feedback effect that should influence human river-management decisions in deltaic coast. Changes in land area alone do not capture how corresponding landscape degradation and increased water area can lead to exponential increase in flood risk to human populations in low-lying coastal regions. Reduced land formation in coastal deltaic basins (measured by changes in the land:water ratio) can contribute significantly to increasing flood risks by removing the negative feedback of wetlands on wave and storm-surge that occur during extreme weather events. Increased flood risks will promote population migration as human risks associated with living in a deltaic landscape increase, as land is submerged and coastal inundation threats rise. These system linkages in dynamic deltaic coasts define a balance of river management and human settlement dependent on a certain level of land area within coastal deltaic basins (L).     

Vulnerability of Catalan (NW Mediterranean) ports to wave overtopping due to different scenarios of sea level rise

The overtopping of port breakwaters may affect the assets located at the breakwater lee side. If adaptation measures are not taken, the sea level rise will increase the overtopping discharges putting those assets at significant risk. This study compares, at a regional scale, overtopping discharges over port breakwaters for three storm conditions (return periods of 1, 5 and 50 years) under present climate as well as for three scenarios of sea level rise based on recent projections. The results indicate that, for the worst storm and sea level rise conditions, the overtopping discharge would not be negligible (larger than 1 l/s/m) in 35 ports (84 %), in contrast to only 18 ports (42 %) being affected under present conditions. In addition, in 28 ports (65 %) the overtopping would be at least one order of magnitude larger than for present conditions. In the case of large storms, in 2 ports the overtopping discharge exceeds 200 l/s/m (the discharge that can initiate breakwater damage) under present conditions, while in the worst scenario of sea level rise the number of ports exceeding this value would be 7. On the other hand, the vulnerability of each port for which overtopping flow is greater than an acceptable discharge flux is assessed, and regional maps of vulnerability are plotted. For the worst storm conditions, 23 % of the Catalan ports have risks associated with overtopping under present climate conditions. This percentage would increase to 47 % in the worst sea level rise scenario.     

Surface water mixing estimated from 228Ra and 226Ra in the northwestern North Pacific

We investigated the horizontal distributions of (228)Ra and (226)Ra in surface waters of the northwestern North Pacific Ocean and Okhotsk Sea. Ratios of (228)Ra/(226)Ra were relatively large in the Tsugaru Current (0.6-0.8) and Okhotsk Sea (0.4-0.5), and small in the Western Subarctic Gyre (<0.2) and the Oyashio (0.25-0.3). (228)Ra/(226)Ra ratios in western Subarctic Water (SAW) rose slightly upon mixing with Okhotsk Water (OKW), before becoming the Oyashio Water (OYW). Also, ratios in the OYW increased during mixing with Tsugaru Current Water (TCW). Estimating from (228)Ra/(226)Ra ratios and (226)Ra activities with a simple two-end members-mixing model, we assumed that approximately 23% of the OYW originated from the OKW and the coastal region off northern Honshu (Japan) was strongly influenced by the TCW. From a diagram of (228)Ra activities against salinity, we could roughly divide surface seawater in the study area into the five water masses, which were SAW, OYW, OKW, TCW, and Subtropical Water (STW).     

Dose assessment for marine biota and humans from discharge of (131)I to the marine environment and uptake by algae in Sydney, Australia

Iodine-131 reaches the marine environment through its excretion to the sewer by nuclear medicine patients followed by discharge through coastal and deepwater outfalls. ¹³¹I has been detected in macroalgae, which bio-accumulate iodine, growing near the coastal outfall of Cronulla sewage treatment plant (STP) since 1995. During this study, ¹³¹I levels in liquid effluent and sludge from three Sydney STPs as well as in macroalgae (Ulva sp. and Ecklonia radiata) growing near their shoreline outfalls were measured. Concentration factors of 176 for Ulva sp. and 526 for E. radiata were derived. Radiation dose rates to marine biota from ¹³¹I discharged to coastal waters calculated using the ERICA dose assessment tool were below the ERICA screening level of 10 μGy/hr. Radiation dose rates to humans from immersion in seawater or consumption of Ulva sp. containing ¹³¹I were three and two orders of magnitude below the IAEA screening level of 10 μSv/year, respectively.     

Sea-level rise vulnerability in the countries of the Coral Triangle

Sea-level rise is a major threat facing the Coral Triangle countries in the twenty-first century. Assessments of vulnerability and adaptation that consider the interactions among natural and social systems are critical to identifying habitats and communities vulnerable to sea-level rise and for supporting the development of adaptation strategies. This paper presents such an assessment using the DIVA model and identifies vulnerable coastal regions and habitats in Coral Triangle countries at national and sub-national levels (administrative provinces). The following four main sea-level rise impacts are assessed in ecological, social and economic terms over the twenty-first century: (1) coastal wetland change, (2) increased coastal flooding, (3) increased coastal erosion, and (4) saltwater intrusion into estuaries and deltas. The results suggest that sea-level rise will significantly affect coastal regions and habitats in the Coral Triangle countries, but the impacts will differ across the region in terms of people flooded annually, coastal wetland change and loss, and damage and adaptation costs. Indonesia is projected to be most affected by coastal flooding, with nearly 5.9 million people expected to experience flooding annually in 2100 assuming no adaptation. However, if adaptation is considered, this number is significantly reduced. By the end of the century, coastal wetland loss is most significant for Indonesia in terms of total area lost, but the Solomon Islands are projected to experience the greatest relative loss of coastal wetlands. Damage costs associated with sea-level rise are highest in the Philippines (US $6.5 billion/year) and lowest in the Solomon Islands (US $70,000/year). Adaptation is estimated to reduce damage costs significantly, in particular for the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia (between 68 and 99%). These results suggest that the impacts of sea-level rise are likely to be widespread in the region and adaptation measures must be broadly applied.