A modern analogue of the Pleistocene steppe‐tundra ecosystem in southern Siberia     

Milan Chytrý  Michal Horsk  Ji&#x;í Danihelka  Nikolai Ermakov  Dmitry A. German  Michal Hjek  Petra Hjkov  Martin Ko í  Svatava Kube&#x;ov  Pavel Lustyk  Jeffrey C. Nekola  Vra Pavelkov &#x;i nkov  Zdenka Preislerov  Philipp Resl  Milan Valachovi 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2019,48(1):36-56

Steppe‐tundra is considered to have been a dominant ecosystem across northern Eurasia during the Last Glacial Maximum. As the fossil record is insufficient for understanding the ecology of this vanished ecosystem, modern analogues have been sought, especially in Beringia. However, Beringian ecosystems are probably not the best analogues for more southern variants of the full‐glacial steppe‐tundra because they lack many plant and animal species of temperate steppes found in the full‐glacial fossil record from various areas of Europe and Siberia. We present new data on flora, land snails and mammals and characterize the ecology of a close modern analogue of the full‐glacial steppe‐tundra ecosystem in the southeastern Russian Altai Mountains, southern Siberia. The Altaian steppe‐tundra is a landscape mosaic of different habitat types including steppe, mesic and wet grasslands, shrubby tundra, riparian scrub, and patches of open woodland at moister sites. Habitat distribution, species diversity, primary productivity and nutrient content in plant biomass reflect precipitation patterns across a broader area and the topography‐dependent distribution of soil moisture across smaller landscape sections. Plant and snail species considered as glacial relicts occur in most habitats of the Altaian steppe‐tundra, but snails avoid the driest types of steppe. A diverse community of mammals, including many species typical of the full‐glacial ecosystems, also occurs there. Insights from the Altaian steppe‐tundra suggest that the full‐glacial steppe‐tundra was a heterogeneous mosaic of different habitats depending on landscape‐scale moisture gradients. Primary productivity of this habitat mosaic combined with shallow snow cover that facilitated winter grazing was sufficient to sustain rich communities of large herbivores.  相似文献   

Removal of topographic effects from lunar images using Kaguya (LALT) and Earth-based observations     

Viktor V. Korokhin  Yuriy I. Velikodsky  Yuriy G. Shkuratov  Vadym G. Kaydash  Sergey Y. Gerasimenko  Nikolai V. Opanasenko  Gorden Videen  Carle Pieters 《Planetary and Space Science》2010,58(10):1298-1306

Lunar images acquired at non-zero phase angles show brightness variations caused by both albedo heterogeneities and local topographic slopes of the surface. To distinguish between these two factors, altimetry measurements or photoclinometry data can be used. The distinction is especially important for imagery of phase-function parameters of the Moon. The imagery is a new tool that can be used to study structural anomalies of the lunar surface. To illustrate the removal of the topographic effects from photometric images, we used Earth-based telescopic observations, altimetry measurements carried out with the Kaguya (JAXA) LALT instrument, and a new photoclinometry technique that includes analysis of several images of the same scenes acquired at different phase angles. Using this technique we have mapped the longitudinal component of lunar topography slopes (the component measured along the lines of constant latitude). We have found good correlations when comparing our map with the corresponding data from Kaguya altimetry. The removal of the topographic surface properties allows for the study of the phase-function parameters of the lunar surface, not only for flat mare regions, but for highlands as well.  相似文献   

Grid computing for atmospheric composition studies in Bulgaria     

Angelina Todorova  Dimiter Syrakov  Georgi Gadjhev  Georgi Georgiev  Kostadin G. Ganev  Maria Prodanova  Nikolai Miloshev  Valery Spiridonov  Andrej Bogatchev  Kiril Slavov 《Earth Science Informatics》2010,3(4):259-282

Three Grid applications from the SEE-GRID-SCI Environmental VO are developed by the Bulgarian project team: Climate Change Impact on Air Quality (CCIAQ); Multi-scale atmospheric composition modeling (MSACM); Modeling System for Emergency Response to the Release of Harmful Substances in the Atmosphere (MSERRHSA). The three applications concern problems of significant socio-economic significance. They are all dedicated to air pollution studies, but address different goals and so face different problems and requirements. The applications are briefly presented in the paper. Examples of the different applications validations are given. Some application results are shown and commented.  相似文献   

Short-term temporal variability of atmospheric surface pressure and wind speed in the Canadian Arctic     

Nikolai Nawri  Ronald E. Stewart 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2009,98(1-2):151-170

In this study, the spatial differences and interannual fluctuations in temporal variability of surface pressure and wind speed on different timescales at 12 locations in the Canadian Arctic are documented. Temporal variability is defined as the mean-squared value of time tendencies smoothed by running means over different intervals. It is shown that variability on timescales of up to 1 month is itself highly variable, both in space and time. Due to the significant impacts from the immediate geographical environment, for surface wind speed, these variations show no spatial pattern on a continental scale, and only a few persistent trends over periods of more than 10 years. Also, spatial and temporal anomalies do not significantly depend on timescale. Contrary to this, spatial and temporal variations in the variability of surface pressure and its changes with time show well-defined regional similarities, as well as a strong spatial and temporal dependence on timescale. As a result, variability of surface pressure on timescales between 1 and 3 days increases from the northeast region of the domain towards the southwest. On longer timescales, this spatial gradient is reversed. The consistent spatial pattern across the study domain suggests that variability of surface pressure is primarily governed by large-scale atmospheric processes, and is to a large extent independent of the exact geographical setting.  相似文献   

Monitoring volcanoes using seismic noise correlations     

Florent Brenguier  Daniel Clarke  Yosuke Aoki  Nikolai M. Shapiro  Michel Campillo  Valérie Ferrazzini 《Comptes Rendus Geoscience》2011,343(8-9):633-638

In this article, we summarize some recent results of measurements of temporal changes of active volcanoes using seismic noise cross-correlations. We first present a novel approach to estimate volcano interior temporal seismic velocity changes. The proposed method allows to measure very small velocity changes (≈ 0.1%) with a time resolution as small as one day. The application of that method to Piton de la Fournaise Volcano (La Réunion Island) shows velocity decreases preceding eruptions. Moreover, velocity changes from noise cross-correlations over 10 years allow to detect transient velocity changes that could be due to long-lasting intrusions of magma without eruptive activity or to pressure buildup associated to the replenishing of the magma reservoir. We also present preliminary results of noise cross-correlation waveform perturbation associated with the occurrence of dike injection and volcanic eruption. We show that such an analysis leads us to locate the areas of dike injection and eruptive fissures at Piton de la Fournaise Volcano. These recent results suggest that monitoring volcanoes using seismic noise correlations should improve our ability to forecast eruptions, their intensity and thus potential environmental impact.  相似文献   

Spatial patterns of biodiversity in the Black Sea: An assessment using benthic polychaetes     

Victor Surugiu  Nikolai Revkov  Valentina Todorova  Nafsika Papageorgiou  Vasilis Valavanis  Christos Arvanitidis 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2010

The current study broadens the biodiversity information available for the Black Sea and neighbouring regions and improves our knowledge about the polychaete biogeographic patterns to be discerned in them. There appears to be a well-defined zoogeocline from the Marmara Sea and Bosphorus Strait to the inner parts of the region (Azov Sea), depicted both as a multivariate pattern and in terms of species (or taxa) numbers. The emergent multivariate pattern complies, to a certain extent, with Jakubova’s (1935) views: three main sectors can be defined in the basin: (a) Prebosphoric, (b) the Black Sea and, (c) the Azov Sea, whereas the Bosphorus Strait and Marmara Sea show less faunal affinities with the afore-mentioned sectors. Patterns derived both from the cosmopolitan and Atlanto-Mediterranean species closely follow the one coming from the polychaete species and genera inventories. As a general trend, species numbers decrease along with the decrease in salinity towards the inner parts of the region. The trend is homologous to that seen in the benthic invertebrate inventories of all the major European semi-enclosed regional seas. Salinity and food availability appear to be the dominant abiotic factors correlated, though weakly, with the various patterns deriving from the taxonomic/zoogeographic categories. With the exception of the Anatolia, polychaete inventories from all sectors appear to be random samples of the total inventory of the region, in terms of taxonomic distinctness values. Therefore, these sectoral inventories can be used for future biodiversity/environmental impact assessment studies. A massive invasion of Mediterranean species after the opening of the Black Sea, in the lower Quaternary period, appears to be the likely biogeographic mechanism through which the old Sarmatic fauna was almost completely replaced by species of marine origin.  相似文献   

CLAIRE: First light for a gamma-ray lens     

Peter von Ballmoos  Hubert Halloin  Jean Evrard  Gerry Skinner  Nikolai Abrosimov  Jose Alvarez  Pierre Bastie  Bernard Hamelin  Margarida Hernanz  Pierre Jean  Jürgen Knödlseder  Bob Smither 《Experimental Astronomy》2005,20(1-3):253-267

The objective of the R&D project CLAIRE was to prove the principle of a gamma-ray lens for nuclear astrophysics. CLAIRE's Laue diffraction lens has a diameter of 45 cm and a focal length of 277 cm; 556 germanium-silicon crystals are tuned to focus 170 keV photons onto a 1.5 cm diameter focal spot. Laboratory measurements of the individual crystals and the entire lens have been used to validate a numerical model that we use to estimate the lens performance for a source at infinity. During a stratospheric balloon flight on 2001 June 14, CLAIRE was directed at the Crab nebula by a pointing system able to stabilize the lens to within a few arcseconds of the target. In 72 min of valid pointing time, 33 photons from the Crab were detected in the 3 keV bandpass of the lens: CLAIRE's first light! The performance of CLAIRE's gamma-ray lens, namely the peak reflectivity for a polychromatic source (9±1%), has been confirmed by ground data obtained on a 205 meter long test range. CLAIRE's measured performance validates the principle of a Laue lens for nuclear astrophysics, opening the way for a space-borne gamma-ray lens telescope that will achieve one to two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over present technologies.  相似文献   

Measurements of coastal suspended sediment concentrations     

Sergiei M. Antsyferov  Tadeusz Basinski  Nikolai V. Pykhov 《Coastal Engineering》1983,7(2):145-166

Three of the methods available for measurement of suspended sediment concentration were chosen and tested in natural conditions. The equipment included sand traps, a radioisotopic probe and a long-action sampler (bathometer).The working conditions of the equipment were studied and the reliability of data obtained was analyzed. Sources of possible errors have been defined together with requirements for the techniques, and optimum technical parameters have been found. Averaging times, necessary with regard to the reliability of data, have also been determined for the measurements. Calibration and cross-calibration of the measuring devices was carried out. Technological requirements, advantages and areas of applicability are discussed for the techniques. Although they require some modifications, the techniques can already be used in measurements of concentration profiles. The data obtained, and partly shown in this paper, shed light on complex phenomena of sediment suspension.  相似文献   

Database of Comet Polarimetry: Analysis and Some Results     

Nikolai Kiselev  Vera Rosenbush  Klaus Jockers  Sergey Velichko  Sen Kikuchi 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2005,97(3-4):365-378

We present the electronic database (EAR-C-COMPIL-5-DB-COMET-POLARIMETRY-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System) involving published and some unpublished results of cometary polarimetry. The database contains more than 2600 measurements of linear and circular polarization for 64 comets since 1940s. The narrow-band and wide-band measurements within the spectral region 0.3–2.2 micron are presented. The ranges of phase angles, helio- and geocentric distances of comets are 0.4–122°, 0.6–4.8 AU, 0.03–4.9 AU, respectively. We have comprised more than 60 references to the published papers and unpublished sources. The data we included are presented in a tabular format in the ASCII codes. The database can be used as the observational basis for detailed theoretical modeling, interpretation of the phase-angle and spectral dependence of polarization, classification of comets, laboratory simulating, and for selecting future space-mission targets. Analysis of the available data allowed us to summarize some observed characteristics of linearly and circularly polarized light and their phase-angle, heliocentric, spectral, and spatial dependencies.  相似文献   

Comparing state-of the art near-surface models of a seismic test line from Saudi Arabia     

Ralph Bridle  Nikolai Barsoukov  Mohammad Al-Homaili  Robert Ley  Ameerah Al-Mustafa 《Geophysical Prospecting》2006,54(6):667-680

We present a seismic Test Line, provided by Saudi Aramco for various research teams, to highlight a few major challenges in land data processing due to near‐surface anomalies. We discuss state‐of‐the‐art methods used to compensate for shallow distortions, including single‐layer, multilayer, plus/minus, refraction and tomostatics methods. They are a starting point for the new technologies presented in other papers, all dealing with the same challenging data described here. The difficulties on the Test Line are mostly due to the assumption of vertical raypaths, inherent in classical applications of near‐surface correction statics. Even the most detailed velocity/depth model presents difficulties, due to the compleX‐raypath. There is a need for methods which are based on more complex models andtheories.  相似文献