Reply to: Parker A. Comment on “Low-frequency sea level variation and its correlation with climate events in the Pacific”

First, we would like to thank Parker for his discussion and comments on our work. Parker’s main concern [1] is that the sea level is oscillating with important multi-decadal periodicities but absolutely not positively accelerating. He also argued that the global mean sea level (GMSL) acceleration computed by Jin et al. [2] seemed too large. His similar     

Low-frequency sea level variation and its correlation with climate events in the Pacific

Global mean sea level(GMSL) has not only significant secular trend and seasonal variations,but also inter-annual and decadal variations.This paper reconstructs the time series of GMSL variations between 1948 and 2007 by combining satellite altimeter measurements and tide gauge observations.Based on the time series,the acceleration of GMSL rise in the second half of 20th century is estimated to be 0.010±0.009 mm/a 2,and multi-scale low frequency sea level oscillations including decadal variations are detected,and the high-rate of GMSL rise during 1993-2003 is locate in the ascending phase of low frequency oscillation.Then,using the reconstructed GMSL time series after removing the secular trend from satellite altimetry and tide gauges measurements,it shows that low frequency signal of sea level variation has strong correlations with the index of El Ni o/Southern Oscillation(ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO).But in several time periods,they have large difference due to effects of both high frequency occurrence of El Ni o and La Ni a phenomenon and short term switch of PDO events.     

Emerged fossil corals on the coast of northwestern Hainan Island, China: Implications for mid-Holocene sea level change and tectonic uplift

Fossil corals are widespread on the coast of northwestern Hainan Island, China. Most of these corals are exposed during low tide levels, indicating that a higher sea level may have existed during their life time. The radiocarbon data introduced by this paper in combination with those from other sources show that the corals were alive mainly during the midto late-Holocene. Mid-Holocene sea levels 1-3 m higher than the present level were confirmed for adjacent coasts; however, the emerged corals on the investigated coast are not necessarily indicators of a higher eustatic sea level. They do predict relative sea levels of 1.5-3.4 m when using 1 m below the tidal datum as the upper limit of coral growth. However, using the Mean Lower Low Water as the coral’s upper growth limit, the relative sea level on the non-volcanic coast was almost as high as the present level, whereas that on the volcanic coast was 0.4-2.0 m higher than present. Therefore, the exposure of these dead coral heads and their discrepancy in elevation may be the result of tectonic uplift caused by volcanic activities. From these results, the highest sea level of upward coral growth must be defined first when using fossil corals to reconstruct past sea levels. Meanwhile, vertical tectonics have to be taken into account as a significant factor when conducting high-resolution sea level reconstruction, although the South China coast is located in a "tectonically stable" region.     

Initial estimate of the contribution of cryospheric change in China to sea level rise

Recent studies have shown that cryospheric melting is becoming the dominant factor responsible for sea level rise,and that the melt-water from mountain glaciers and ice caps has comprised the majority of the cryospheric contribution since 2003.Analysis of the estimations of cryospheric melt-water and precipitation in glacier regions indicated that the potential contribution of the cryosphere in China is 0.14 to 0.16 mm a–1,of which approximately 0.12 mm a–1 is from glaciers.The contribution of glaciers in the outflow river basins is about 0.07 mm a–1,accounting for 6.4%of the total from global glaciers and ice caps.     

Improved threshold retracker for satellite altimeter waveform retracking over coastal sea

Data quality is a key factor for the application of satellite altimetry to geodesy and oceanography. Accuracy of altimetry is limited in the coastal area because the altimeter waveforms are seriously contaminated by topography and environmental pollution. So waveform retracking is needed to compute the range correction of geophysical data records (GDRs) for better accuracy. In this paper, a new waveform retracker named the improved threshold retracker (ITR) is put forward. The retracker first builds sub-waveforms based on leading edges detected in a waveform, then determines the middle point of each leading edge to compute the retracking range correction, finally calculates the referenced sea surface heights according to the geoid undulation from a local geopotential model and tide heights from an ocean tide model, and compares it with all retracking ranges to determine the best one. As a test, altimeter waveforms of Geosat/GM are retracked around the Taiwan coastal area. The result shows that accuracy of ITR method is two times better than that of the β-5-parameter function-fitting method and threshold method, and three times better than that of GDRs. ITR can efficiently improve the altimetry accuracy of the coastal sea area.     

Mineralogy of smectites in the surface sediments from the East Pacific and its significance

XRD, TEM, SEM and EDS are employed to analyze smectites in the clay fraction of the surface sediments from the East Pacific. It is shown from the XRD results that the clay fraction consists of about 20% smectites.Three types of smectites are identified, Fe-rich (Type Ⅰ), Fe,Mg-rich (Type Ⅱ) and Na,Ca smectite (Type Ⅲ), and most of them are not well-crystallized. Type Ⅰ is widely distributed in sediments, showing honeycomblike in the SEM, and aggregated or dispersive hairlike, or cloudy assemblage with a bit curl near its edge in the TEM. This type is considered to be typomorphic type of authigenic smectite in the East Pacific. Type Ⅱ is similar to Type Ⅰ in micromorphology in the TEM, showing a transition micronite, while Type Ⅲ is tabletlike in the TEM with an unclear edge. Type Ⅰ may be altered from voleanics and some of them even precipitated from the low subthermal water. Type Ⅱ could also be formed in the ocean floor, while Type Ⅲ comes from dry and distant continental area. This study suggests that the characteristic of chemical composition and morphology of smectite may give a clue to understand sediment source, origin of minerals and sedimentation in the deep sea.     

A 2500-year sea level change record in Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica

A detailed record of sea level changes during the last 2500 years is preserved in the northernwest coast of Fildes Peninsula in Antarctica. Fourteen marine alga layers were deposited in the beach with an altitude of 2.80 m, and one diatom layer deposited in the ancient lake on the terrace with an altitude of 6.84 m. A radiocarbon age of 695±70 aBP was obtained for the modern marine alga, and the age was used in correction for the carbon reservoir effect of the marine alga. Sea level fell 4.98 m from the 4th century B.C. to the early 13th century, at an average of -0.31 cm/a, then rose about 0.78 m during the early 13th to the middle 18th century, at an average of 0.14 cm/a. It has risen about 0.16 m since the middle 18th century, at an average of 0.07 cm/a.     

The BackWash Effect of CETs on Lanauage Education in a Broader Sense

CET4 and CET6 （combined as CETs in this paper） have played and are still playing undeniable roles in motivating English teaching and learning as well as providing a unified standard according to which most universities and colleges can compare with each other. However, in the recent years, a voice blaring their disadvantages has become louder and louder. This paper joins in the voice and expose their negative backwash effects on not only language education in colleges and universities but also on the activities of other institutions and organizations which are directly or indirectly involved in language training. This is what it means by ＂Language Education in a Broader Sense＂ in the tide of this paper. Some improvements have been suggested in the end.     

A new design criterion and construction method for space-time trellis codes based on classification of error events

The known design criterions of Space-Time Trellis Codes （STFC） on slow Rayleigh fading channel are rank, determinant and trace criterion. These criterions are not advantageous not onlv in operation but also in performance. With classifying the error events of STTC, a new criterion was presented on slow Rayleigh fading channels. Basod on the criterion, an effective and straighttbrward multi-step method is proposed to ennstruet codes with better performance. This method can reduce the computation of search to small enough. Simulation results show that the codes searched by computer have the same or even better performance than the repored codes.     

A thermodynamic hypothesis regarding optimality principles for flow processes in geosystems

This paper proposes a new thermodynamic hypothesis that states that a nonlinear natural system that is not isolated and involves positive feedbacks tends to minimize its resistance to the flow process through it that is imposed by its environment. We demonstrate that the hypothesis is consistent with flow behavior in saturated and unsaturated porous media, river basins, and the Earth-atmosphere system. While optimization for flow processes has been previously discussed by a number of researchers in the literature, the unique contribution of this work is to indicate that only the driving process is subject to opti-mality when multiple flow processes are simultaneously involved in a system.     

Determination of servomotor parameters of a tripod-based parallel kinematic machine

This paper presents a comprehensive methodology to determine the servomotor parameters of a paral lel kinematic machine according to the design specifications in terms of the cutting load, fast feed rate and accelerating capabilities. Due to the characteristics of the parallel format, the singular value decomposition technique is employed to determine the lower and upper bounds of the servomotor parameters such as the rated speed and torque. An approach is also developed to determine the maximum equivalent moment of inertia of the platform and struts reduced onto a servo ax is, which therefore allows the accelerating capability of the servo system to be examined in terms of the maximum torque required. The effectiveness of this methodology is exemplified by the application to a tripod-based parallel kinematic ma chine for high-speed milling.     

Comparative studies on zooplankton community between the sea surface microlayer and the subsurface microlayer in Daya Bay, China

Characteristics of the zooplankton community inhabiting the sea surface microlayer (SM) and the sub-surface microlayer (SSM) are compared at six sampling stations in Daya Bay, near Shenzhen City of China during 2 cruises in 1999. This is the first study on zooplankton community in the SM in China. Results show that protozoans and nauplii are the most dominant components, accounting for 80.71% (SM) and 89.15% (SSM) of the total zooplankton in the average abundance, respectively. The densities of copepods (adult + copepodid) are higher in the SSM than in the SM. The size-frequency distributions indicate that the frequency of micro-zooplankton (<0.2 mm) is higher in the SM (0.8235, n=290) than in the SSM (0.6768, n=306). Enrichment phenomenon of zooplankton is detected in the SM at the sampling stations excluding two stations near nuclear power plants (NPP). The enrichment factor is from 1.516 to 3.364 with the average value of 2.267. The SM zooplankton community structure revealed in the present study is quite different from previous investigations in the Bay. Typical sea water characteristics such as turbidity, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and chlorophyll a (Chl-a) indicate that the water quality is poorer in the SM than in the SSM.     

Global Existence and Extinction Behaviour for a Doubly Nonlinear Parabolic Equation with Logarithmic Nonlinearity

This paper is mainly focused on the global existence and extinction behaviour of the solutions to a doubly nonlinear parabolic equation with logarithmic nonlinearity. By making use of energy estimates method and a series of ordinary differential inequalities, the global existence of the solution is obtained. Moreover, we give the sufficient conditions on the occurrence(or absence)of the extinction behaviour.     

Evaluation methods for the autonomy of unmanned systems

Future military and civilian unmanned systems will be extensively used on land,under the sea,in air,and in space.Evaluation of their autonomy is critical to realize the autonomous operation ability of unmanned systems.This paper discussed the basic concepts of autonomy and the significance of autonomy evaluation,and then surveys and describes existing evaluating methods.Based on analyses of key technologies and these technologies’ technical readiness levels,a cobweb evaluation model as a universal evaluation model has been used to evaluate unmanned systems.If the technology warps(aspects of autonomy) and wefts(levels of those aspects) of unmanned systems can be determined for the cobweb model,the model can handle the mutual coupling,high dimensions,and diversity of warp lines.This model potentially has wide application in evaluating various unmanned systems.     

Passive-source ocean bottom seismograph （OBS） array experiment in South China Sea and data quality analyses

Long-term passive source ocean bottom seis- mograph （OBS） observatory is challenging due to various technical difficulties. In order to gain experience in this field, and to reveal the lithospheric structure beneath the extinct ridge in the central South China Sea （SCS）, we carried out a passive source OBS array experiment, which includes 18 OBSs, in the deep portion of SCS. Here we present the instrumentation, the OBS deployment and recovery of this experiment, and more importantly, the data quality evaluated by a number of approaches. Through processing and inspecting waveforms from global, regional and local earthquakes, we find that most of recovered OBSs have good data quality with discernible main phases. The ambient noise analyses of OBS recordings show that their noise is higher than the global average, and the horizontal component is noisier than the vertical, indicating current impacts on horizontal components are more severe. In the period range of 5-10 s, there is a noise notch for the SCS OBSs, and noise levels of horizontal components are comparable to the vertical. This feature, which is not seen at OBS stations in open ocean, suggests the distant sources for double frequency microseism in this marginal sea are not significant. In addition, we successfully determined the orientations for 7 OBSs by investigating their Rayleigh wave polarizations; and we demonstrated the dispersion feature of Rayleigh waves through the frequency-time analysis. Finally, we summarized lessons learned from this experiment regarding the passive source OBS investiga- tions in SCS.     

Gasflow style level posture sensor and angular velocity gyroscope assembled inertial sensor

The compensational loop consisting of a gasflow style angular velocity gyroscope and gasflow level posture sensor is pro- posed to improve the signal of gasflow style tilt.This compensational loop could remove acceleration interfere from the signal of tilt.This assembled gasflow type inertial sensor not only measures static state angular,but also restrains the acceleration which interferes the output signal of level posture sensor in dynamic situations.Therefore,the precision of outputs signal increases greatly.Moreover,the output sig- nal includes the angle velocity signal.     

Perspectives on the linkage between typhoon activity and global warming from recent research advances in paleotempestology

The recent increase in typhoon （tropical cyclone） activity has attracted great interest and induced heated debates over whether it is linked to global warming or only a return to an active phase of the well-known multi-decadal variability. Due to the short instrumental record, our knowledge is quite scarce on the complex processes and mechanism of typhoon generation, development, and evolution, especially for the rare but highly destructive super-typhoons. It is therefore very important to extend the time span of typhoon activity records. Paleotempestology, a young science that emerged in the early 1990s, studies past typhoon activity spanning several centuries to millennia before the instrumental era through the use of geological proxies and historical documentary records. This paper presents a brief review and synthesis on the major research advances and findings of paleotempestology with an emphasis on proxy technique development and applications. The methodology has been evolving from single geologic proxy to multi-proxy techniques by integrating microfossils, sedimentary organic elemental ratios, and stable isotopes, together with typical sedimentary textures and structures, for the diagnosis of storm deposits. A newly-developed proxy technique is employing oxygen isotopes preserved in growing laminae of tree rings, cave stalagmites, and reef corals to diagnose typhoon rainwater impacts. Historical documentary records have been systematically compiled and analyzed to reconstruct the history of typhoon activity in some regions. The extracted typhoon-proxy data show that there does not exist a simple linear relationship between typhoon frequency and Holocene climate （temperature） change. Typhoon activity should have a secular and constant linkage with ENSO fluctuations, in that more typhoons and hurricanes make landfalls in China, Central and North America during La Ni~↑na years than El Ni~↑no years. This finding is consistent with that derived from recent instrumental data. Shifts in positions of     

Tracing the life history of a marginal sea—On “The South China Sea Deep” Research Program

The Major Research Program "Deep Sea Processes and Evolution of the South China Sea", or "The South China Sea Deep", launched in January 2011 by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, is the first large-scale basic-research program in ocean science in the country aiming to reconstruct the life history of a marginal sea. The overall scientific objective of the program is to dissect this typical marginal sea by studying its history of evolution and its modern processes, including the following three major components:(1) Development of the deep basin:utilizing new techniques to re-measure magnetic anomaly lineations, to explore the deep tectonic features, to drill the oceanic crust, and to study volcanic seamount chains; (2) deep-water sediments: observing the modern processes to reveal the patterns of deep-water circulations and sedimentation, analyzing deep-sea sediments to recognize paleoceanographic response to basin evolution, and subsequently to bridge the modern and paleo-studies of the deep-sea processes; and (3) biogeochemical processes:using a variety of techniques including deploying submarine observation and deep-water diving device to investigate the distribution patterns and environmental impacts of deepwater seepages and sub-bottom circulation, and to reveal the role of microbes in deep-sea carbon cycling. As compared with the open ocean and other marginal seas, the South China Sea enjoys many more advantages as a marine basin for reconstructing the life history. Meanwhile, the South China Sea Deep Program provides unique opportunities in studying the evolution and variations of the sea-land interactions between the Pacific and Asia.     

Numerical investigation on the self-excited oscillation of wet steam flow in a supersonic turbine cascade

The self-excited flow oscillation due to supercritical heat addition during the condensation process in wet steam turbine is an important issue. With an Eulerian/Eulerian model, the self-excited oscillation of wet steam flow in a supersonic turbine cascade is investigated. A proper inlet supercooling results in the transition from steady flow to self-excited oscillating flow in the cascade of steam turbine. The frequency dependency on the inlet supercooling is not monotonic. The flow oscillation leads to non-synchronous periodical variation of the inlet and outlet mass flow rate. The aerodynamic force on the blade varies periodically due to the self-excited flow oscillation. With the frequency lies between 18.1?80.64 Hz, the oscillating flow is apt to act with the periodical variation of the inlet supercooling due to stator rotor interaction in a syntonic pattern, and results in larger aerodynamic force on the blade. The loss in the oscillating flow increases 20.64% compared with that in the steady flow.