The USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program: Needs,Establishment, and Goals of a Water Census

Many reports have recognized the need for a national water census for the United States and have called upon the U.S. Geological Survey to undertake this challenge. For example, the National Science and Technology Council stated: “The United States has a strong need for an ongoing census of water that describes the status of our Nation's water resource at any point in time and identifies trends over time.” Responding to the need for this information, the U.S. Congress established the SECURE Water Act. The directives are to provide a more accurate assessment of the status of the water resources of the United States; determine the quantity of water available for beneficial uses; identify long‐term trends in water availability; assist in determination of the quality of the water resources; and develop the basis for an improved ability to forecast the availability of water for future economic, energy production, and environmental uses. This article provides summary and new information on the process and progress on work to estimate water budget components nationwide, involvement of stakeholder interests, efforts to examine water‐use characteristics throughout the Nation, studies of water availability in geographically focused areas and the initiation of methods to provide open access to existing and new water resources information contributing to Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) efforts and objectives.     

A Multi‐Scale Analysis of Low‐Rise Apartment Water Demand through Integration of Water Consumption,Land Use,and Demographic Data

Over the past decades, multi‐unit housing developments have been vastly expanded across urban areas due to the population growth. To properly supply water to this growing sector, it is essential to understand the determinants of its water use. However, this task has largely remained unexplored through the empirical study of water demand mainly due to the scarcity of data in this sector. This study integrated apartment water consumption, property characteristics, weather, water pricing, and census microdata to overcome this issue. Using a rich source of GIS‐based urban databases in Auckland, New Zealand, the study developed a large dataset containing the information of 18,000 low‐rise apartments to evaluate the determinants of water use both in the household scale and aggregated scale. The household‐scale demand analysis helped to assess the heterogeneity in responses to the demand drivers specifically water price across different consumer groups, whereas the aggregated analysis revealed the determinants behind the spatial variation in water demand at the census area unit level. Through applying panel data models, the study revealed the household size as the most important determinant of apartment water use in Auckland, where other socioeconomic factors, building features, and water pricing were not significant determinants. This knowledge of determinants of water demand can help water planners to better manage water demand in the compact urban environments.     

Using OpenMI and a Model MAP to Integrate WaterML2 and NetCDF Data Sources into Flood Modeling of Genoa,Italy

Extreme hydrometeorological events such as flash floods have caused considerable loss of life and damage to infrastructure over recent years. Flood events in the Mediterranean region between 1990 and 2006 caused over 4,500 fatalities and cost over €29 billion in damage, with Italy one of the worst affected countries. The Distributed Computing Infrastructure for Hydro‐Meteorology (DRIHM) project is a European initiative aiming at providing an open, fully integrated eScience environment for predicting, managing, and mitigating the risks related to such extreme weather phenomena. Incorporating both modeled and observational data sources, it enables seamless access to a set of computing resources with the objective of providing a collection of services for performing experiments with numerical models in meteorology, hydrology, and hydraulics. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how this flexible modeling architecture has been constructed using a set of standards including the NetCDF and WaterML2 file formats, in‐memory coupling with OpenMI, controlled vocabularies such as CF Standard Names, ISO19139 metadata, and a Model MAP (Metadata, Adaptors, Portability) gateway concept for preparing numerical models for standardized use. Hydraulic results, including the impact to buildings and hazards to people, are given for the use cases of the severe and fatal flash floods, which occurred in Genoa, Italy in November 2011 and October 2014.     

“互联网+”时代的环境风险评估探讨

环境风险评估是环境管理的前提和依据。目前比较成熟的方法分为项目"事先"环评和健康"事后"风险评估。以上两种风险评估方法由于多种原因制约,无法提供给环境管理部门实时在线的环境风险结果。实际上,环境风险评估方法在不断完善中,随着互联网、物联网、云计算、三网融合等IT与通信技术的迅猛发展,环境保护领域也迎来了大数据时代,风险评估也将逐渐步入"互联网+"时代。新型环境风险评估更具系统性,将以数字化的形式体现环境(E)—污染物(M)—人为因素(H)的风险耦合度。虽然数字化环境风险评估在相关风险因子和风险评估方法上仍处于起步阶段,但它是新形势下环境风险管理的一个全新方向,其应用将对环境管理领域产生巨大影响。本文将分析传统环境风险评估与"互联网+"时代的环境风险评估差异,探讨新型数字化环境风险评估需要的支撑硬件与平台,并对数字化环境风险评估的发展趋势与挑战做出展望。     

大数据时代的环境信息治理变革——从信息公开到公共服务

环境信息治理发展历经三个阶段:自给自足、信息公开与公共服务。随着大数据时代的来临,当前环境信息治理处于环境信息公开向环境信息公共服务的转型与变革。这次变革的核心是以公众为本位,表现为环境信息需求的公众主导,以及环境信息供给的公众参与,包括参与环境信息的供给决策、生产过程、以及公共服务质量监督与评价等全过程。当前环境信息治理变革的目标路径重点包括5个方面,即提高公众满意度、优化环境信息公开、严格环境信息质量控制、整合环境信息资源、实现多元供给。     

民族八省区城镇化发展质量研究

本文以2007-2014年民族八省区的相关社会经济统计数据为样本,基于柯布—道格拉斯的生产函数理论,将民族八省区的城镇化发展过程概括为各类资源要素投入进而得到相应产出的过程,运用数据包络分析方法,计算民族八省区城镇化发展质量的评价指数,进一步分析民族八省区城镇化发展质量水平。研究结果显示:民族八省区的城镇化发展质量评价指数区域间差异性显著,在时间序列上大部分省区呈现不同程度的下降趋势,云南、广西和贵州主要受资本和资源要素过度投入影响,近年来城镇化发展质量评价指数逐年下降;新疆和宁夏两省区主要受第二三产业从业人口外流影响,导致第二三产业地区生产总值增长缓慢,城镇化发展质量指数呈一定的下降趋势;通过优化路径分析,民族八省区城镇化发展的投入要素优化存在巨大空间。     

气候变暖等因素对山东省种植业产出的影响

通过建立引入气候因素的种植业生产函数模型,利用1990-2009年山东省40个县市种植业生产及气象面板数据,运用产出增长分解法,实证分析气候因素和非气候因素对山东省种植业产出的影响并对产出增长的各要素贡献进行分解。结果表明:气候变暖对山东省种植业带来明显的负面影响。1990-2009年间气候因素对山东省40个县市的总体产出增长的影响为-11.03%,在其他条件不变的情况下,平均温度每升高1℃,总体种植业总产值减少2.2%,总体产值增长下降1.48%;温度升高对鲁西北地区、鲁南地区种植业产出的影响最为明显;同时,降水对种植业产出影响显著,降水因素使得山东省种植业产出增长减少16.86%;物质投入中化肥和农药对种植业产出增长贡献最大,但农业劳动力减少,特别是种植业劳动力的减少,开始显著地影响种植业产出,使得种植业产出增长减少5.90%;技术进步的影响作用在下降。     

基于TFP的中部地区经济增长中自然资源贡献分析

运用Romer的内生经济增长模型和全要素贡献模型,对1988~2009年中部地区经济和自然资源进行面板数据分析,计算出各省自然资源要素和其他要素对经济增长的贡献值。结论显示：中部地区经济增长中自然资源生产率呈现出“能源主打,水土作衬;北煤南水,地异明显”的结构、空间特性;其他生产性要素中,资本、劳动力资源生产率对经济增长的贡献不相上下;而全要素生产率除湖北外都不及全国平均水平,中部6省的科技创新能力亟待提高。针对中部经济资源现状提出相应政策建议,认为中部地区应该在资源利用效率的提高、自主研发能力的推崇、各项人才的培养和产业优化的推动方面多做工作,推进低碳经济发展     

我国环境治理投资效率评价及其关键影响因素

在系统地归纳了环境治理投资效率的相关研究的基础上,依据构建评价指标体系的原则,以环境治理投资总额作为投入指标,以及环境治理投资在水、气、固体等方面控制绩效作为产出,建立我国环境治理投资效率的评价指标体系,构建基于DEA方法的我国环境治理投资效率评价模型,再以环境治理投资效率为母因素,以各评价指标为环境治理投资效率的影响因素,利用灰色关联度分析方法,构建我国环境治理投资效率的关键影响因素分析模型,通过《中国环境统计年鉴2010》和《中国统计年鉴2010》收集2009年我国各省市（自治区）投入产出数据,得到我国各省市的环境治理投资效率及其关键影响因素,证实控制关键因素--环境治理投资总额,能够有效地提高环境治理投资效率     

基于多速率卡尔曼滤波方法的位移和加速度数据融合

为了尽可能地利用加速度传感器和位移传感器中的冗余信息、提高振动实测数据的精度,将结构同一位置的加速度和位移观测值进行数据融合处理,提出了一种基于维纳过程加速度模型的多速率卡尔曼滤波数据融合方法。首先给出了基于维纳过程的多速率卡尔曼滤波数融合模型;然后在加速度和位移观测值的基础上,通过多速率卡尔曼滤波数据融合得到位移、速度以及加速度的的最优估计,并对融合结果进行卡尔曼平滑处理,进一步提高了状态估计准确性;最后数值分析了不同噪声水平和采样频率比对融合算法的影响,而且与相关文献的结果作了对比分析。结果表明,本文方法合理有效且具有一定的噪声鲁棒性。