The Upper Pleistocene to Holocene sediments on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa (Italy)

The island of Lampedusa lies on the northern edge of the African continental shelf, but during some Quaternary marine lowstands it was joined to the African continent. The study and dating of the aeolian, alluvial, detrital sediments, calcareous crusts and speleothems have established that the climatic–environmental variations recorded on the island can be related chronologically to those known for northern Libya, Tunisia and the Italian peninsula. During the Last Glacial Maximum, phases of Saharan dust accumulation on Lampedusa occurred, and were coeval with dust accumulation in crater lakes and on high mountains in central‐southern Italy, and with phases of glacial advance in the Apennines and in the Alps. During the late Holocene, accumulation of Saharan dust on Lampedusa occurred but there was little accumulation of dust on the northern side of the Mediterranean Sea. With the new data from Lampedusa, it is possible to envisage two different scenarios of atmospheric circulation relating to the Last Glacial Maximum and to the late Holocene. During the Last Glacial Maximum, southerly atmospheric circulation brought rainfall to the southern slopes of the Alps and to the Apennines. During the late Holocene, a prevalent westerly atmospheric circulation became established in the northern Mediterranean. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GPS水汽遥感中的大气干延迟局地订正模型研究

在GPS遥感水汽过程中,大气干延迟模型的精度直接影响水汽遥感的精度。根据广东清远站1995～2001年的气象探空资料,计算了GPS水汽测量中的实际大气干延迟。在此资料基础上,利用地面气象要素建立了大气干延迟的年和分月局地订正模型。分析结果表明,年模型的精度优于目前广泛使用的普适模型;月模型与年模型相比,效果不是很明显,建立局地分月订正模型意义不大;在对高度角的敏感程度上,局地模型略大些;当高度角小于75时,大气干延迟弯曲路径与直线路径之差ΔS随天顶角增大而迅速增大。     

青藏高原气象学的研究进展和问题

分高原天气学、高原气候学、高原及邻近地区的大气环流、以及高原数值预报和模拟四方面简要回顾了新中国成立以来我国（也兼及国外）青藏高原气象学的主要进展，也提出今后研究中应注意的有关问题。     

质疑某些大气熵的计算

指出了某些大气熵变化的计算错误，并且给出了改进意见。     

高层大气密度的午夜极大值特征分析与建模

利用CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload)、GRACE-A (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-A)、SWARM-C (The Earth''s Magnetic Field and Environment Explorers-C)等3颗极轨卫星的资料, 研究360—480km高层大气密度在低纬度区域的午夜极大值(Midnight Density Maximum, MDM)现象. MDM一般出现在23:00- 02:00 LT (Local Time)之间,峰值位置在低纬度15°以内,谷值位置在中纬度35°-45°附近,整体略偏向南半球,振幅约为平均密度的26%.随着高度增大以及太阳辐射水平的增强,MDM振幅呈减小趋势;冬至和夏至日附近的季节效应会减弱MDM振幅,在春秋分日的振幅最大.用3个主流大气模型DTM2000 (Drag Temperature Model 2000), NRLMSISE00 (US Naval Research Laboratory, Mass Spectrom-eter and Incoherent Scatter radar)和JB2008 (Jacchia- Bowman 2008 model)对MDM进行模拟,JB2008没有刻画出MDM现象;另两个模型低估了MDM效应,在360km和480km两个高度DTM2000模型的振幅仅为观测的46%和53%, NRLMSISE00模型仅为观测的33%和26%;模型没有准确刻画出MDM与高度、辐射水平和季节的关系.联合3颗卫星的资料,研究了-种基于地理纬度的6阶勒让德多项式,同时融合地方时和高度因素的经验函数,在振幅和相位上可以较好地刻画MDM特征,相关系数达到0.923,可为大气密度模型的修正提供借鉴,服务于低轨道航天器高精度轨道预报.     

气候变化对陆地水循环影响研究的问题

简要地回顾了现存的由气候情景驱动水文模型研究气候变化对陆地水循环影响的方法。指出这种单向连接方法很难将气候变暖及人类活动引起的陆地水循环变化反馈给大气。这既影响对降雨的预测精度,又不能正确地描写陆地水循环的变化。近10年来气候学家对大气环流模型中陆面过程模型的改进以及水文气候学家对大尺度水文模型研究所取得的进展,展现了它们之间的互补性,以及未来用水文-气候耦合模型方法研究气候变化与人类活动对陆地水循环影响及水资源预测的可能性。     

冰川/积雪-大气相互作用研究进展

冰川和积雪是冰冻圈的重要组成部分,在全球或区域气候系统中起着极其重要的作用.开展冰川/积雪-大气相互作用研究,是研究冰冻圈物理过程及其对气候系统反馈作用的必然需求,也是研究冰川/积雪对气候变化响应的有效手段,同时还可为全球(区域)气候和水文模式提供冰川/积雪面的地表特征参数.近一个世纪以来,在冰川/积雪面辐射特征、能量通量计算方法和平衡特征等方面开展了许多观测试验和理论研究,并取得了卓有成效的研究结果.但是在准确获取辐射通量、研发普适性较强的反照率参数化方案、复杂地形条件下能量通量的计算,以及发展分布式能量平衡模式等方面尚存在许多不确定性,仍面临许多技术难点,也是未来的研究重点.     

煤层气开发利用与辽宁能源环境

对辽宁省主要煤田煤层气赋有条件及开发利用现状和开发潜力进行了研究评价。同时对辽宁省煤层气市场与煤层气开发效益进行了分析,并提出了重点目标区和开发利用建议。     

3. Solar System Formation and Early Evolution: the First 100 Million Years

The solar system, as we know it today, is about 4.5 billion years old. It is widely believed that it was essentially completed 100 million years after the formation of the Sun, which itself took less than 1 million years, although the exact chronology remains highly uncertain. For instance: which, of the giant planets or the terrestrial planets, formed first, and how? How did they acquire their mass? What was the early evolution of the “primitive solar nebula” (solar nebula for short)? What is its relation with the circumstellar disks that are ubiquitous around young low-mass stars today? Is it possible to define a “time zero” (t ₀), the epoch of the formation of the solar system? Is the solar system exceptional or common? This astronomical chapter focuses on the early stages, which determine in large part the subsequent evolution of the proto-solar system. This evolution is logarithmic, being very fast initially, then gradually slowing down. The chapter is thus divided in three parts: (1) The first million years: the stellar era. The dominant phase is the formation of the Sun in a stellar cluster, via accretion of material from a circumstellar disk, itself fed by a progressively vanishing circumstellar envelope. (2) The first 10 million years: the disk era. The dominant phase is the evolution and progressive disappearance of circumstellar disks around evolved young stars; planets will start to form at this stage. Important constraints on the solar nebula and on planet formation are drawn from the most primitive objects in the solar system, i.e., meteorites. (3) The first 100 million years: the “telluric” era. This phase is dominated by terrestrial (rocky) planet formation and differentiation, and the appearance of oceans and atmospheres.     

Observations of non-LTE emission at 4-5 microns with the planetary Fourier spectrometer abord the Mars Express mission

We report on PFS-MEX (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer on board Mars Express) limb observations of the non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium emission by CO and CO₂ isotopic molecules. The CO emission is observed peaking at altitudes lower than the CO₂ emission peak. Two orbits have been considered, which explore latitudes from 75 to 15° N, located in local time at 11:30 and 06:40, and with Ls=138° and 168°, respectively. In general in the season considered (northern summer) the emission intensity increases going to lower latitudes. The peak emission height is also decreasing with decreasing latitude. The CO₂ isotopic molecules are emitting radiance out of proportion with respect to the normal isotopic abundance, which surely indicates a strong contribution from a large number of much weaker CO₂ bands, a result that will demand careful theoretical modeling. By comparison with Hitran data base we can identify, among the emitting bands, the second hot band for the 626 and 636 molecule, while for the 628 and 627 emission from the third hot bands are very possible. Other minor bands or lines are also observed in emission for the first time in Mars. In one of the two orbits considered, the orbit 1234 of MEX, we also observe at altitudes 80-85 km scattered radiation, with indication of CO₂ ice aerosols as scattering centers. At the same altitude the Pathfinder descending measurements show a temperature that allows CO₂ condensation. Pathfinder measurements were at 03:00 local time, while our observations are for orbit 1234 showing CO₂ ice signature at 11:30 local time. These non-LTE limb emissions, with their unprecedented spectral resolution in this portion of the near infrared and their sensitivity and geographical coverage, will represent in our opinion an excellent data set for testing current theoretical models of the martian upper atmosphere.