Analysis of the characteristics of the harmonics coefficient <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> of the Earth’s gravity field in different periods

The characteristics of the geopotential coefficient J2 in different periods are analyzed using satellite laser ranging data spanning the last 27 years.The satellites used in the analysis are Lageos1 and Lageos2.The variations in J2 are obtained by determining the dynamic orbit.The results show that there are strong seasonal and long-term variations.For different data spans,the seasonal variations agree well in terms of both amplitude and phase.Using all the data,the amplitude and phase of the annual term are 2.5 10-10 and 127°,respectively,while the amplitude and phase of the semiannual term are 0.94 10-10 and 213°,respectively.In the case of long-term variation,the secular variation in J2(J2) is-2.2 10-11 a-1 from 1984 to 2010.J2 differs for the different periods because of interannual variations,such as the "1998 anomaly".Another anomaly may have taken place during 2007-2010.Although the cause of the anomaly is unknown,it is an important observational constraint on the shape of the Earth.     

An analysis of the polar motion series from VLBI observations

From the reduction of 2893 globally distributed astrometric and geodetic VLBI sessions from August 1979 to the end of 1998, coordinates of 722 radio sources at J2000.0, coordinates and velocities of 128 stations at J1997.0 and about 20 years Earth Orientation Parameters were estimated. From the analysis of the resultant polar motion series, the following are demonstrated: (ⅰ) During the VLBI data span the Markowitz wobble is not exhibited. (ⅱ) The amplitudes of both annual and Chandler wobble show temporal variations, with the former being more obvious than the latter. (ⅲ) Wavelet analysis shows that all the signals in the polar motion series are characterized by temporal variation in amplitudes. If we take any signal as strictly periodic, it is impossible to remove it completely from the polar motion series by least-squares fit because the hypothesis of a constant amplitude conflicts with VLBI measurements. (ⅳ) By applying a filter, the secular polar motion was found to be (2.74±0.01) mas/a towards (83.9±0.3) °W longitude, which is smaller in rate and more westward in direction compared with those determined from optical observations or the combination of optical and space geodetic observations.     

Temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric water vapor in the Taklimakan Desert and its surrounding areas

The study of the temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric water vapor has the important significance to show the response to climate change in the Taklimakan Desert. The series of monthly atmospheric water vapor from 1961 to 1998 are reconstructed using the observation data including the precipitation, ground water vapor pressure data over the period of 1961 to 2006 from 27 observation stations in its surrounding areas and meteorological data from the Tazhong station during 1999-2006. Then the relationship between atmospheric water vapor and ground vapor pressure is calculated and validated using the observation data for the period of 1976 to 2006 from 5 sounding stations (Hotan, Kuqa, Ruoqiang, Kashgar, and Minfeng). The temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric water vapor in the Taklimakan Desert and its surrounding areas is studied and then its distribution is generated. Results show that high value zone of atmospheric water vapor is mainly distributed in the northern Taklimakan Desert and the oasis-marginal belt of western desert and the value ranges from 14 to 15 mm. The low value center of atmospheric water vapor is in the hinterland of the desert and the value is only 7―8 mm. The annual variations of atmospheric water vapor show generally the increasing trend. How- ever, the variation of atmospheric water vapor in the surrounding areas and the hinterland of the desert is insignificant during 1961―1986. The atmospheric water vapor changes abruptly after 1986 and increases clearly in the two regions. The variation trend accords with that of the precipitation’s increasing significantly in southern Xinjiang for the recent 50 years. There is great error between the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data of atmospheric water vapor and real data in theTaklimakan Desert.     

Climatological analysis and modeling of the ionospheric global electron content

In this paper, we calculate the ionospheric global electron content （GEC） from the GPS TEC data along the geographic longitude 120°E during the period of 1996-2004, and investigate the relationship between GEC and 10.7 cm solar radio flux F10.7 and its seasonal dependence with partial correlation analysis. Our results show that GEC is closely correlated with solar activity index F10.7 and is also related with annual and semiannual variations. An empirical GEC model driven by those factors is then to examine the influences of different solar activity proxies for the model input. The results suggest that GEC mainly depends on solar activity and the seasonal variations; the latter is also modulated by solar activity. Furthermore, the magnitude of semiannual variation is a little greater than that of annual variation. Our empirical GEC model is proved to be better than the model proposed by Afraimovich et al.     

Long-term trends in foF2 over Moscow ionosonde station: Its estimate and origins

We introduce a new approach,using the International Reference Ionosphere 2007(IRI-2007)model and observations from the Moscow ionosonde station,to analyze the long-term trends of ionospheric foF2.Possible origins,whether natural or manmade, are discussed.A small but significant residual foF2 trend is found,with-0.76 MHz over the past 50 years,but-0.2 MHz after eliminating the most variations caused by solar and geomagnetic activities and the variational earth’s magnetic field.We find that this slope depends on local time and seasons.There is a pronounced diurnal negative variation in k(annual mean slope of diurnal variations),with much larger absolute values in the morning than during afternoon or evening;the largest k is about-0.0018 per year in spring,and the smallest trend of about-0.0012 per year occurs in winter.Finally,the evidence of crucial influences of geomagnetic activity and the earth’s magnetic field on the observed trends,as emphasized by the IRI-2007 empirical model,is confirmed,and the effect of CO2 contributions to the trend is also discussed,by cooling the thermospheric temperature or recombining the electron density.     

The diurnal variations, semiannual and winter anomalies of the ionospheric TEC based on GPS data in China

With the spherical harmonic (SH) function model and the dual frequency GPS P code phase data from the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) during the period from year 2000 to 2002, time series of total electron content (TEC) in the area of China is calculated. The diurnal variations, semiannual, and winter anomalies of the ionosphere in the area of China are analyzed and discussed, especially according to the results of year 2001.     

Westerly moisture transport to the middle of Himalayas revealed from the high deuterium excess

Previous studies found extremely high d-excess in both ice core and glacial melt water in Dasuopu glacier, Xixiabangma, middle of Himalayas. These values are much higher than the global average and those measured in southwest monsoon precipitation. The d-excess variation in over one year at Nyalam station will clarify this phenomenon. Studies show that the high d-excess is related to the seasonal variation of moisture transport to this region. The d-excess values are low during the southwest monsoon active periods, when moisture originated from the humid ocean surface. The d-excess values are higher in non-monsoon months, when moisture is derived from westerly transport. Winter and spring precipitation accounts for a substantial portion of the annual precipitation, resulting in higher d-excess in the yearly precipitation in the middle of Himalayas than other parts of the southern Tibetan Plateau. This finding reveals that the precipitation in the middle of Himalayas is not purely from southwest monsoon, but a large portion from the westerly transport, which is very important for ice core study in this area.     

Interannual variation of annual precipitation and urban effect on precipitation in the Beijing region

The large scale character of the interannual variation of precipitation and the urban effect on local annual precipitation anomaly are investigated in this paper based on the 1960-2000 annual precipitation observations at 20 stations in the Beijing region.The results show that:the annual precipitation in the Beijing region possesses the large scale variation character with the linear trend of-1.197/10 yr,which corresponds to a total reduction of 27.82 mm in annual precipitation in the 41 years;the local annual precipitation anomalies(percent of the normal 1960-2000)show a positive center near the urban area,i.e.urban precipitation island(UPI),whose intensity increases with the linear trend of 0.6621%/10 yr,opposite to the interannual trend of large scale precipitation over the Beijing region;changes in the UPI are also associated with the intensity of synoptic processes of precipitation,and when the synoptic processes are strong(wet years),the intensity of UPI strengthens,while the synoptic processes are weak(dry years),and the UPI disappears in the Beijing region.     

An integrative estimation model of summer rainfall-band patterns in China

Three variation indices are defined to objectively and quantitatively represent fluctuations of three rainfall-band patterns in summers in China for the period from 1951 to 2005, and the variation features of these indices are analyzed on both of interdecadal and interannual scales. A new method is proposed to establish an integrative estimation model based on the analysis of rainfall-band indices, and the model is applied to air, ocean factors to estimate their roles on variations of three rainfall-band patterns on different time-scales. The tests of estimation effects show that the fluctuations of three rainfall-band patterns are composed of variations on both significant inter-decadal and interannual scales, of which the interannual variation is mainly influenced by the Elnino/Lanina events, the East Asia monsoon and the ridge locations of subtropical high pressures in western pacific, while the interdecadal variation is mainly controlled by the Pacific decadal oscillation and interdecadal oscillations of the Arctic oscillation, ENSO, Nino3 sea surface temperature and summer monsoon. The estimated results from the integrative estimation model of rainfall-band patterns suggest that the way of estimation first according to each time scale of both the interdecadal and interannual scales, then estimating with an integration, which is proposed in this paper, has an obvious improvement on that without separation of time scales.     

An integrative estimation model of summer rainfall-band patterns in China

Three variation indices are defined to objectively and quantitatively represent fluctuations of three rainfall-band patterns in summers in China for the period from 1951 to 2005, and the variation features of these indices are analyzed on both of interdecadal and interannual scales. A new method is proposed to establish an integrative estimation model based on the analysis of rainfall-band indices, and the model is applied to air, ocean factors to estimate their roles on variations of three rainfall-band patterns on different time-scales. The tests of estimation effects show that the fluctuations of three rainfall-band patterns are composed of variations on both significant inter-decadal and interannual scales, of which the interannual variation is mainly influenced by the Elnino/Lanina events, the East Asia monsoon and the ridge locations of subtropical high pressures in western pacific, while the interdecadal variation is mainly controlled by the Pacific decadal oscillation and interdecadal oscillations of the Arctic oscillation, ENSO, Nino3 sea surface temperature and summer monsoon. The estimated results from the integrative estimation model of rainfall-band patterns suggest that the way of estimation first according to each time scale of both the interdecadal and interannual scales, then estimating with an integration, which is proposed in this paper, has an obvious improvement on that without separation of time scales.     

Mineral magnetic properties of surface sediments at Bei’anhe, Beijing, and its environmental significance

A multiparameter investigation of surface sediments from the Bei＇anhe section （Beijing） has been conducted using environmental magnetic approaches. The studied sedimentary sequence consists of pluvial and lacustrine silts and clay of the Holocene age. Magnetite, hematite and pyrrhotite were identiffed as the dominant magnetic minerals. The mineral magnetic characteristics are considered to reflect the Holocene paleoenvironmental processes of the studied area, which are different from the mineral magnetic properties of typical polluted sections reported in the Beijing area. The low-field magnetic susceptibility and saturated isothermal remanence magnetization of the section decrease gradually with increasing depth. This indicates that the concentration of magnetic minerals in the strata decreases down the section. Values of interparametric ratios, such as ARM/SIRM, XARM/Xand SIRM/X, gradually increase with increasing depth, which indicates a down-section decreasing trend in the magnetic grain size of the sediments. Pyrrhotite occurs below the depth of 22 cm, suggesting the existence of redox interface. The magnetic variations of the Bei＇anhe surface sediments might be controlled by two geological processes： reductive diagenesis and pedogenesis. Our findings may have provided a reference point for magnetic investigation of polluted surface sediments in the Beijing area.     

Impacts of intraseasonal oscillation on the onset and interannual variation of the Indian summer monsoon

The role of the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) on the seasonal and interannual variations of the Indian summer monsoon is investigated based on the analysis of observational data. It is shown that the ISO significantly contributes to the establishment of low-level westerlies during the monsoon onset and developing periods. The effect of the ISO on the annual cycle of the monsoon is through nonlinear eddy momentum transport. On the interannual timescale, the Indian summer monsoon rainfall exhibits a significant out-of-phase relationship with the ISO intensity over the Indian monsoon region. In strong ISO years it appears the weak monsoon when there is an abnormal high over the India subcontinent in the lower troposphere. In weak ISO years there exists an abnormal low and the strong monsoon appears. Supported by National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB403602), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40225012 and 40775039) and Chinese COPES Program (Grant No. GYHY200706005)     

Tracing the major source area of the mountainous runoff generation of the Heihe River in northwest China using stable isotope technique

Based on the data of δ^18O in precipitation during the period of April 2006 through May 2007 in the upper catchment of the main stream of the Heihe River in the Qilian Mountains, we found that there existed an evident altitude effect on δ^18O in precipitation, and the δ^18O-altitude gradient was -0.18‰/100 m. When δ^18O in river water at the outlet of the mountainous drainage area of the main stream of the Heihe River was combined with the δ^18O-altitude relation, it was realized that the mountainous runoff was generated mostly at high altitudes. Using two component models, we revealed that 80.2% of the annual total mountainous runoff amount was generated at the alpine permafrost-snow-ice zone with an altitude of above 3600 m a.s.I.     

A novel heteroseneous reaction for generating gaseous nitrous acid

The short-lived reactive specimen nitrous acid HONO was generated in the gas phase by the heterogeneous reaction of gaseous HCl with AgNO2 which can generate higher concentration of HONO than other methods. We investigated the process from generation to dissociation in the gas phase under different controlled temperatures, and discussed the ionization and reaction on the solid surface by combination of the photoelectron spectroscopy and photoionization mass spectroscopy （PES-PIMS） and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy （DRIFTS）.     

Structural dependences of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">η</Emphasis><Superscript>6</Superscript> complexes of 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole with chromium tricarbonyl fragment on third-order optical nonlinearities

Degenerate four-wave mixing measurements, using the 35 ps pulses at 532 nm, have been employed to investigate the third-order nonlinear optical parameters of two chromium tricarbonyl complexes η6-bonded to 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole at either the NH2-substituted aryl ring （1） or the unsubstituted ring （2） and their precursor 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole （AECz）. The second-order hyperpolarizability y of the compounds 1 and 2 were found to be 42.9×10^-31 and 35.9×10^-31 esu, respectively, approximately one order of magnitude greater than AECz. The relation between the molecular structure and second-order hyperpolarizability of the compounds I and 2 was explored in detail based on the three-level model and the density functional theory （DFT） calculation. The theoretical results indicate that the spatial distribution of electron density has the profound role in the third-order nonlinear optical properties.     

IL-8-induced L-selectin shedding regulates its binding kinetics to PSGL-1

L-selectin plays a crucial role in inflammation cascade by initiating the tethering and rolling of leukocytes on endothelium wall. While many L-selectin molecules are rapidly shed from the cell surface upon activation, the remaining membrane-anchored L-selectin may still play an important role in regulating leukocyte rolling and adhesion with different binding kinetics. Here we developed an in vitro model to activate Jurkat cells via interlukin-8 （IL-8） and quantified the two-dimensional （2D） binding kinetics, using a micropipette aspiration assay, of membrane-anchored L-selectin to P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 （PSGL-1） ligand coupled onto human red blood cells （RBCs）. The data indicated that L-selectin shedding reduced the amount of membrane-anchored L-selectin and lowered both its reverse and forward rates. These results suggested that the rolling dynamics of activated leukocytes was determined by two opposite impacts： reducing the surface presentation would enhance the rolling but lowering the kinetic rates would decrease the rolling. This finding provides a new insight into understanding how L-selectin shedding regulates leukocyte rolling and adhesion.     

Decay of geometry for unimodal maps: The C2 case

We prove that a C2 unimodal interval map with critical order not greater than 2 has the decay of geometry property, by showing that all the cross-ratio estimates needed in the previous proof for the C3 case remain true.     

Spatiotemporal vegetation cover variations in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under global climate change

Empirical Orthogonal Function （EOF） analysis and the related Principal Components （PC） analysis are used to extract valuable vegetation cover derived information from the National Oceanic and Atmos-pheric Administration （NOAA-AVHRR）＇s Leaf Area Index （LAI） satellite images. Results suggest that from 1982 to 2000 global climate change has contributed to an increase in vegetation cover in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The correlation between rainfall and LAI EOF PC1 and PC2 indicates that rainfall is the major climatic factor influencing interannual variations of average vegetation cover throughout the entire Plateau. However, annual mean vegetation cover trends in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are mainly out of phase with air temperature increasing, which is primarily responsible for nonsynchro-nous changes of vegetation cover. In the southern ridge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, recent warming trends contribute to humid weather and favorable conditions for vegetation growth. By contrast, higher temperatures have led to arid conditions and insufficient rainfall in the northern part of the Plateau, leading to drought and other climatic conditions which are not conducive to increased vegetation cover.     

Detection of infrared photons with a superconductor

A superconductor single photon detector based on NbN nanowire was fabricated using electron beam lithography （EBL） and reactive ion etching （RIE） for infrared photon detection. When biased well below its critical current at 4.2 K, NbN nanowire is very sensitive to the incident photons. Typical telecommunication photons with a wavelength of 1550 nm were detected by this detector. Data analysis indicates the repeating rate of the device with 200 nm NbN nanowire may be up to 100 MHz, and the quantum efficiency is about 0,01% when biased at 0.95/c.