Supporting Diverse Data Providers in the Open Water Data Initiative: Communicating Water Data Quality and Fitness of Use

Shared, trusted, timely data are essential elements for the cooperation needed to optimize economic, ecologic, and public safety concerns related to water. The Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) will provide a fully scalable platform that can support a wide variety of data from many diverse providers. Many of these will be larger, well‐established, and trusted agencies with a history of providing well‐documented, standardized, and archive‐ready products. However, some potential partners may be smaller, distributed, and relatively unknown or untested as data providers. The data these partners will provide are valuable and can be used to fill in many data gaps, but can also be variable in quality or supplied in nonstandardized formats. They may also reflect the smaller partners' variable budgets and missions, be intermittent, or of unknown provenance. A challenge for the OWDI will be to convey the quality and the contextual “fitness” of data from providers other than the most trusted brands. This article reviews past and current methods for documenting data quality. Three case studies are provided that describe processes and pathways for effective data‐sharing and publication initiatives. They also illustrate how partners may work together to find a metadata reporting threshold that encourages participation while maintaining high data integrity. And lastly, potential governance is proposed that may assist smaller partners with short‐ and long‐term participation in the OWDI.     

Recent Changes in Stream Flashiness and Flooding,and Effects of Flood Management in North Carolina and Virginia

The southeastern United States has undergone anthropogenic changes in landscape structure, with the potential to increase (e.g., urbanization) and decrease (e.g., reservoir construction) stream flashiness and flooding. Assessment of the outcome of such change can provide insight into the efficacy of current strategies and policies to manage water resources. We (1) examined trends in precipitation, floods, and stream flashiness and (2) assessed the relative influence of land cover and flow‐regulating features (e.g., best management practices and artificial water bodies) on stream flashiness from 1991 to 2013. We found mean annual precipitation decreased, which coincided with decreasing trends in floods. In contrast, stream flashiness, overall, showed an increasing trend during the period of study. However, upon closer examination, 20 watersheds showed stable stream flashiness, whereas 5 increased and 6 decreased in flashiness. Urban watersheds were among those that increased or decreased in flashiness. Watersheds that increased in stream flashiness gained more urban cover, lost more forested cover and had fewer best management practices installed than urban watersheds that decreased in stream flashiness. We found best management practices are more effective than artificial water bodies in regulating flashy floods. Flashiness index is a valuable and straightforward metric to characterize changes in streamflow and help to assess the efficacy of management interventions.     

The determination and matching analysis of pinch point temperature difference in evaporator and condenser of organic rankine cycle for mixed working fluid

Exergo-economic analysis of the pinch point temperature difference (PPTD) in both evaporator and condenser of sub-critical organic Rankine cycle system (ORCs) are performed based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Taking mixture R13I1/R601a as a working fluid and the annual total cost per net output power Z as exergo-economic performance evaluation criterion, the effects of PPTD in evaporator ΔT_e, and the PPTD ratio of condenser to evaporator y, on the exergo-economic performance of ORCs are analyzed. Moreover, how some other parameters influence the optimal PPTD in evaporator ΔT_e,opt and the optimal PPTD ratio of condenser to evaporator y_opt are also discussed. It has been found that the exergo-economic performance of ORCs is remarkably influenced by ΔT_e and y, and there exists ΔT_e,opt and y_opt. In addition, ΔT_e,opt and y_opt are affected by heat transfer coefficient ratio of condenser to evaporator ß, the temperature of working fluid at dew point in condenser T_1a, and composition of R13I1/R601a: larger ß and T_1a lead to lower ΔT_e,opt and y_opt; by contraries, larger mass fraction of R13I1 makes ΔT_e,opt and y_opt increase, and y_opt increases linearly. The effects of the temperature of working fluid at bubble point in evaporator T_3a, mass flow rate of exhaust flue gas m_g, and inlet temperature of exhaust flue gas T_gi on ΔT_e,opt and y_opt are very slight. For comparison, three additional working fluids, namely R601a, R245fa, and 0.32R245fa/0.68R601a, are also taken into account.     

欧美经验对我国“十三五”大气污染防治战略的启示

当前,我国大气污染形势严峻,复合型污染特征突出。新修订的《中华人民共和国环境保护法》、《中华人民共和国大气污染防治法》、《环境空气质量标准》以及《大气污染防治行动计划》的发布和实施,对我国大气污染防治工作提出了更高要求。"十三五"时期是我国环境保护负重前行困难期和大有作为关键期,也是我国改善大气环境质量的攻坚期,需要系统谋划大气污染防治战略。欧盟和美国在制定大气污染防治战略时,以改善空气质量为核心,构建了涵盖一次污染物和二次污染物的多污染物目标体系,规定了环境浓度、排放量、直观感受(能见度)、健康以及管理等约束性指标,并且针对大气污染防治政策分析实施的成本与收益,开发相应的模型工具,基于收益成本比进行科学决策。本文对欧美环境规划和战略中的多污染物协同控制目标体系以及大气污染防治政策成本效益评估经验进行梳理,分析我国大气污染防治战略的现状和问题,并提出相关政策建议,以期为解决"心肺之患"、实现环保"十三五"总体目标提供参考。     

“一带一路”战略背景下的中国省域绿色发展:现状、问题与对策

以绿色发展推动生态文明建设将会是我国长期面临的重大课题。"一带一路"是我国新时期的对外开放国家战略,涵盖范围广泛,涉及国内18个省域和沿线65个国家,研究"一带一路"战略背景下的中国省域绿色发展,意义重大。本文通过对"一带一路"战略的基本回顾认为,建设绿色"一带一路"是促进我国经济绿色转型、消除国际社会担忧、推进战略顺利实施的必然选择。"一带一路"战略涉及国内18个省份之间的环境污染状况和绿色发展水平差异较大,东部沿海省份的经济发展水平远高于中西部省份,绿色发展水平相对领先,但同时污染物排放量也明显较大。本文进一步探讨了我国省域绿色发展过程中存在的四个问题,即中国绿色经济发展整体水平不高、地区间同质化竞争严重、污染性产业向中西部省份梯度转移、生态环境脆弱,并分别给出了相应的对策建议。     

Ecological citizenship and democracy: Communitarian versus agonistic perspectives

Grassroots environmental movements have recently started to question the focus on sustainable consumption as a main strategy to tackle climate change. They prefer to address individuals as citizens rather than as consumers, and focus on collective rather than individual change. Two prominent movements in this regard are Transition Towns and Climate Justice Action. While both movements criticise conventional approaches, they put forward entirely different strategies for what has to happen instead. Based on extensive qualitative research, this article analyses how these movements manifest themselves in Flanders (Belgium). The focus is on their different accounts of how and why collective practices have to be built, and the place they attribute to ‘the political’ in this. The analysis reveals the existence of two different forms of ecological citizenship: one communitarian, the other agonistic.     

北京与津冀之间隐性土地资源流动研究

京津冀区域面临着严重的资源紧缺、生态环境恶化和发展失衡的问题,亟需制定科学合理的区域合作新机制。京津冀之间紧密的产品贸易背后隐藏的土地资源流动情况可以为新机制的建立提供科学支撑。这种隐性土地资源的流通情况可以用生态足迹来表征。因此,本研究主要运用京津冀三省市之间的投入产出矩阵来计算北京与津冀之间的生态足迹转入和转出量,并进行分析。研究结果表明,北京的社会经济发展需要周边津冀生态生产性土地资源的支撑,尤其是河北的农用地资源,包括耕地、林地和水产养殖用地。从生态贸易类型来看,2002年和2007年,就北京和河北之间生态足迹流通情况而言,北京是净生态输入型,属于"贸易逆差";河北是净生态输出型,属于"贸易顺差"。2007年北京对津冀生态资源的使用量比2002年有所下降。总体而言,北京对河北生态生产性土地资源的消耗对河北的生态压力不大,其中,水产养殖用地的生态压力最大,2007年水产养殖净流量占河北水产养殖土地的54.27%。2002年北京对天津生态生产性土地资源的依赖加大了天津的生态压力,林业用地和水产养殖用地的净流出量分别是天津相应承载土地面积的4.96倍和3.57倍;2007年,北京对天津生态土地资源利用程度降低,随之,北京对天津生态生产性土地资源的压力变小。尽管2007年与2002年相比,北京对河北生态生产性土地的消耗量降低了,但是,由于河北土地利用结构的变化影响着北京和区域的可利用的土地资源质量和生态环境质量,国家和北京应该帮助河北保护其土地资源,尤其是河北东南部的农田资源在区域中承担着重要的绿色隔离作用,应该受到严格的保护。此外,京津冀区域应该制定整体空间开发战略,加强土地资源保护力度,合理布局产业结构,构建生态安全格局。     

金沙江上游赠曲的鱼类与裸腹叶须鱼的食性

2013年5月和9月对金沙江上游支流赠曲的鱼类资源和裸腹叶须鱼的食性特征进行了调查研究。结果表明,赠曲现有鱼类10种,隶属2目3科5属,其中鲤科鱼类7种,占70%;鮡科2种,占20%;鳅科1种,占10%。赠曲裸腹叶须鱼的食物组成包括53种(属)的浮游藻类、原生动物和节肢动物等。硅藻门是出现率百分比、相对重要性指数和数量百分比最高的饵料生物;水生昆虫是质量百分比最大的饵料生物。裸腹叶须鱼的摄食强度存在较明显的季节差异,雨季末期的摄食强度较低。食物中植物性饵料相对重要性随着裸腹叶须鱼体长的增长而增加。综合而言,赠曲的鱼类组成较为简单,鲤科鱼类是优势类群;裸腹叶须鱼属杂食性鱼类,且摄食强度存在季节性差异。为保护赠曲鱼类,建议在赠曲梯级水力开发过程中做好鱼类栖息地保护或再造等生态补偿措施。     

基于地面监测数据的2013~2015年长三角地区PM2.5时空特征

近年来,长三角地区灰霾天气持续增多,空气细颗粒物污染问题日益突出。基于2013年1月至2015年5月长三角地区及周边缓冲区内共214个空气质量监测站点PM_2.5逐时监测数据,运用普通克里金插值方法,从年、季、月尺度上分析了PM_2.5的空间分布格局和时间动态变化。结果表明:(1)2 a来,长三角地区PM_2.5浓度空间分布明显呈现整体北部高南部低,局部地区略有突出的分布特征;长三角地区PM_2.5浓度年均值为57.08μg/m³;其中,江苏省PM_2.5的年均值为三省市最高,为65.84μg/m³;其次为上海市,年均值为53.87μg/m³;浙江省PM_2.5的年均值较小,为51.53μg/m³。(2)从季节尺度分析,长三角地区PM_2.5浓度变化表现出冬春季高,夏秋季低的变化趋势;这与区域内冬季风向来源、降水稀少、气象扩散条件差有着密切的关系; (3)长三角地区月浓度变化大致呈U形分布; 12月份PM_2.5浓度最高; 3月份以后, PM_2.5浓度开始呈逐步下降趋势;在5~9月份,区域PM_2.5处于"U"字的谷底,其中6月份夏收时期秸秆焚烧、气象等因素导致PM_2.5浓度有略微升高;进入10月份后迅速攀升,且11、12月份呈现持续升高态势。     

三峡库区消落带水淹初期主要优势草本植物生态位变化特征

根据三峡库区初期水位涨落情况,以空间代替时间法,连续两年对典型消落带区域地上植被进行调查,通过计算生态位宽度和生态位重叠来分析不同水淹时间下优势草本植物生态位的变化特征。结果表明,一年水淹区段在未水淹时,植物生态位宽度普遍较窄,此时生态位明显特化,而第二年水淹极大的增加了适应干湿变化的物种的优势度。水淹前生态位重叠值大于0.5的只有12对,小于0.2种对为189对,其中生态位重叠值为零的为103对;水淹后生态位重叠值大于0.5的有24对,小于0.2种对为53对,其中生态位重叠值为零的为6对,说明生境由干燥到湿润的变化,对湿润环境相对适应的物种存活,优势植物生态位重叠明显增加。经两年水淹区段中,第一年以毛马唐的生态位宽度最高,其余17种物种生态位宽度小于0.2的物种占优势物种的61%,第二年以雾水葛和鳢肠的生态位宽度较大,其余15种物种生态位宽度小于0.2的物种占优势物种的50%,共同出现的物种仅有8种。生态位重叠值大于0.5的种对由5对上升到17对,生态位重叠值为零的种对由10对减低到2对,说明连续水淹产生更加均一的生境类型,对资源要求相似的物种是增加的。