Optimal Reorganization of NASA Earth Science Data for Enhanced Accessibility and Usability for the Hydrology Community

A long‐standing “Digital Divide” in data representation exists between the preferred way of data access by the hydrology community and the common way of data archival by earth science data centers. Typically, in hydrology, earth surface features are expressed as discrete spatial objects (e.g., watersheds), and time‐varying data are contained in associated time series. Data in earth science archives, although stored as discrete values (of satellite swath pixels or geographical grids), represent continuous spatial fields, one file per time step. This Divide has been an obstacle, specifically, between the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. and NASA earth science data systems. In essence, the way data are archived is conceptually orthogonal to the desired method of access. Our recent work has shown an optimal method of bridging the Divide, by enabling operational access to long‐time series (e.g., 36 years of hourly data) of selected NASA datasets. These time series, which we have termed “data rods,” are pre‐generated or generated on‐the‐fly. This optimal solution was arrived at after extensive investigations of various approaches, including one based on “data curtains.” The on‐the‐fly generation of data rods uses “data cubes,” NASA Giovanni, and parallel processing. The optimal reorganization of NASA earth science data has significantly enhanced the access to and use of the data for the hydrology user community.     

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.     

Robustness of Meteorological Droughts in Dynamically Downscaled Climate Simulations

We examine the robustness of a suite of regional climate models (RCMs) in simulating meteorological droughts and associated metrics in present‐day climate (1971‐2003) over the conterminous United States (U.S.). The RCMs that are part of North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) simulations are compared with multiple observations over the climatologically homogeneous regions of the U.S. The seasonal precipitation, climatology, drought attributes, and trends have been assessed. The reanalysis‐based multi‐model median RCM reasonably simulates observed statistical attributes of drought and the regional detail due to topographic forcing. However, models fail to simulate significant drying trend over the Southwest and West. Further, reanalysis‐based NARCCAP runs underestimate the observed drought frequency overall, with the exception of the Southwest; whereas they underestimate persistence in the drought‐affected areas over the Southwest and West‐North Central regions. However, global climate model‐driven NARCCAP ensembles tend to overestimate regional drought frequencies. Models exhibit considerable uncertainties while reproducing meteorological drought statistics, as evidenced by a general lack of agreement in the Hurst exponent, which in turn controls drought persistence. Water resources managers need to be aware of the limitations of current climate models, while regional climate modelers may want to fine‐tune their parameters to address impact‐relevant metrics.     

Octanol–air partition coefficients of polybrominated biphenyls

The octanol–air partition coefficients (K_OA) for PBB15, PBB26, PBB31, PBB49, PBB103 and PBB153 were determined as a function of temperature using a gas chromatographic retention time technique with 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis (4-chlorophenyl) ethane (p,p′-DDT) as a reference substance. The internal energies of phase change from octanol to air (Δ_OAU) were calculated for the six compounds and were in the range from 74 to 116 kJ mol⁻¹. Simple regression equations of log K_OA versus relative retention times (RRTs) on gas chromatography (GC), and log K_OA versus molecular connectivity indexes (MCI) were obtained, for which the correlation coefficients (r²) were greater than 0.985 at 283.15 K and 298.15 K. Thus the K_OA values of the remaining PBBs can be predicted by using their RRTs and MCI according to these relationships.     

Incorporating layer- and local-scale heterogeneities in numerical simulation of unsaturated flow and tracer transport

This study characterizes layer- and local-scale heterogeneities in hydraulic parameters (i.e., matrix permeability and porosity) and investigates the relative effect of layer- and local-scale heterogeneities on the uncertainty assessment of unsaturated flow and tracer transport in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, USA. The layer-scale heterogeneity is specific to hydrogeologic layers with layerwise properties, while the local-scale heterogeneity refers to the spatial variation of hydraulic properties within a layer. A Monte Carlo method is used to estimate mean, variance, and 5th, and 95th percentiles for the quantities of interest (e.g., matrix saturation and normalized cumulative mass arrival). Model simulations of unsaturated flow are evaluated by comparing the simulated and observed matrix saturations. Local-scale heterogeneity is examined by comparing the results of this study with those of the previous study that only considers layer-scale heterogeneity. We find that local-scale heterogeneity significantly increases predictive uncertainty in the percolation fluxes and tracer plumes, whereas the mean predictions are only slightly affected by the local-scale heterogeneity. The mean travel time of the conservative and reactive tracers to the water table in the early stage increases significantly due to the local-scale heterogeneity, while the influence of local-scale heterogeneity on travel time gradually decreases over time. Layer-scale heterogeneity is more important than local-scale heterogeneity for simulating overall tracer travel time, suggesting that it would be more cost-effective to reduce the layer-scale parameter uncertainty in order to reduce predictive uncertainty in tracer transport.     

CASS处理技术的原理和应用

介绍了CASS工艺的原理、特点、核心构筑物和设计、运行中应注意的主要问题以及常见故障的排除方法。     

衡水市空气主要污染物体积质量的时间分布特征

利用衡水市环境监测站2005—2007年度大气例行检测的数据,对衡水市大气中主要污染物SO^2、NO^2、PM10体积质量值的逐日数据进行统计分析,得出了衡水市空气污染的现状和时间变化规律：（1）污染物体积质量值的月变化曲线呈槽型分布,非取暖期的空气状况明显好于取暖期,取暖期SO^2平均体积质量是非取暖期的2．45倍;（2）污染物体积质量值的日变化曲线基本为两高两低型,其中取暖期污染指数早晨出现极高值的时间比非取暖期明显偏晚;（3）污染物体积质量值的年变化表明了SO^2的体积质量在降低,而NO^2的体积质量却有了小幅增长。     

An experimental study on the effect of mobile phone conversation on drivers' reaction time in braking response

Introduction

This paper presents an experimental study in which the effect of three factors (distance between cars, mobile call duration, and time of driving (day or night)) on drivers' reaction time in braking response was investigated.

Methods

The experiment was performed in a real driving environment in which 27 male adults between the ages of 22 and 24 years participated. Three levels of the first two factors (i.e., distance between cars and call duration) and two levels of the last factor (i.e., time of driving) were selected to conduct the experimental study. A full factorial design of experiment with 18 treatment combinations and three replicates of each combination were used. Fifty-four trial runs were performed in a random manner and for each run drivers' reaction time in braking response was measured, which served the data for further analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), interaction effect analysis, and various model adequacy tests were carried out using Design Expert software.

Results

The results of the study indicated that the most important factor affecting the drivers' reaction time in car braking response was the mobile call duration followed by the time of driving, with a high level of interaction between the two factors. It was also found that the distance between cars did not seem to have a significant effect on the reaction time in braking response. It is to be noted that these response times are expected to be higher under normal driving conditions where awareness of experimental environment is not present.

Impact on Industry

The findings of this study would help mobile phone industries in improving safety of mobile phone users in driving environment.     

边坡变形时序非线性判定及混沌预测研究

以探讨边坡变形性质及混沌预测可行性为目的,基于混沌理论利用相空间重构技术对其变形时间序列进行混沌特征判定,试验显示变形系统具有混沌特性,可用混沌相关理论进行研究;基于混沌相空间重构技术,笔者构建了多种混沌预测模型进行混沌预计研究,分析各类模型的工程实际应用效果;针对单次监测时序预测精度较低的问题,提出累加时序预测方案,训练结果显示,短期预测精度变形累计值基本控制在5%以内,高程值预测相对误差均低于1%,预测精度较高,可以用于工程实际。     

灾难事件后继风险决策

对小概率/高风险的灾难事件的后继风险决策进行探讨,着重在决策的认知神经经济模型框架下,讨论灾难事件后继风险决策的影响因素。灾难事件后人们的风险觉知、信念和假定、经验等认知因素以及灾后情绪因素对于决策分别有不同的影响;人们灾后决策的特点为决策更多直觉化而较少运用理性分析;灾难后继决策有随时间变化的趋势,灾难事件后人们为寻求安全感而出现"损失偏差"(loss bias),该偏差在"获得"和"损失"两种条件下的影响是不同的。灾后风险决策的内在机制或可用思维和决策的双加工系统(dual-process)模型来解释。最后展望了灾难事件后继决策进一步的研究方向。