North China is the most important food basket of China, where the majority of wheat and corn are produced. Most crops grown in North China are irrigated, thus water security is food security. Since the 1980s, drying h...North China is the most important food basket of China, where the majority of wheat and corn are produced. Most crops grown in North China are irrigated, thus water security is food security. Since the 1980s, drying has been frequently observed, as shown by a reduction in precipitation, cutoff in riverflow, and shrinkage of lakes. This increase in drying cannot be explained by climate change alone. We propose that intensive land-use in this area in recent decades has had a significant impact. The objectives of the study are to develop a quantitative model of the concurrent processes of climate change and land-use in North China, and to estimate the relative contributions of each on the observed drying. We integrated relevant socioeconomic data, land-use data, and climate data in the model, and carried out a detailed multi-temporal (decade, year, day) analysis. Results showed that land-use has greatly changed since 1999. This change is mainly associated with an extremely important 1999 national policy of "returning farmland and grazing land to forest and grassland". We found an interesting interaction between climate change and land use policy on riverflow, runoff, and evapotranspiration. During 1970s and 1980s, climate change explained more than 80%, while the land-use change explained only 10% of the riverflow change. The relative contributions were 45 and 45% in the 1980s-1990s and 35 and 55% in the 1990s-2000s respectively for climate change and land-use change. Since the 1990s land-use change has also contributed more to runoff change than climate change. The opposite trend was found for changes in evapotranspiration. Water availability for agriculture in northern China is simultaneously stressed by extensive changes in land-use and rapid climate change. Adaptation of ecological principles, such as the "returning farmland/grazing land to forest and grassland" policy, and other adjustments of economic developmental strategies can be effective tools to mitigate the water shortage problem in northern China and promote sustainable agricultural and food development.展开更多
Driftwood is one of the important physical components in mountainous rivers which causes severe hazards due to the clogging of bridges,culverts,and narrow sections during floods.Therefore,the understanding of driftwoo...Driftwood is one of the important physical components in mountainous rivers which causes severe hazards due to the clogging of bridges,culverts,and narrow sections during floods.Therefore,the understanding of driftwood dynamics and mitigation measures are crucial for managing wood in rivers.Open check dams are the most commonly used engineering measure for preventing driftwood from reaching downstream areas.Nevertheless,these open check dams frequently lose their sediment transport function when they are blocked by sediment and driftwood,especially during major flood events.This paper proposes a new type of open check dam for preventing from clogging.Thus,flume experiments were conducted to examine the influence of different types of open check dams on the characteristics of driftwood deposition.For the model with wood length(LWD)=16.5 cm,wood diameter(D)=15 mm,and wood number(N)=172,the highest trapping efficiency was observed with 90.1%and 87.2%retention rates for the classical debris flow breaker and curved footed open check dams,respectively.Laboratory tests showed that through this proposed design,woody debris blockage in a very short time was prevented from the accumulation of woods beside the dam.In addition to this,most of the sediment passed through the check dam and most of the driftwood got trapped.It can be briefly stated that the geometrical design of the structure plays an important role and can be chosen carefully to optimize trapping efficiency.By designing this type of open check dams in mountain river basins,it may provide a better understanding of the driftwood accumulation and basis for the optimal design of these structures.Further development of the solution proposed in this work can pave the way for designing different types of open check dams for effective flood management.展开更多
基金the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91025008 and 30972421)
文摘North China is the most important food basket of China, where the majority of wheat and corn are produced. Most crops grown in North China are irrigated, thus water security is food security. Since the 1980s, drying has been frequently observed, as shown by a reduction in precipitation, cutoff in riverflow, and shrinkage of lakes. This increase in drying cannot be explained by climate change alone. We propose that intensive land-use in this area in recent decades has had a significant impact. The objectives of the study are to develop a quantitative model of the concurrent processes of climate change and land-use in North China, and to estimate the relative contributions of each on the observed drying. We integrated relevant socioeconomic data, land-use data, and climate data in the model, and carried out a detailed multi-temporal (decade, year, day) analysis. Results showed that land-use has greatly changed since 1999. This change is mainly associated with an extremely important 1999 national policy of "returning farmland and grazing land to forest and grassland". We found an interesting interaction between climate change and land use policy on riverflow, runoff, and evapotranspiration. During 1970s and 1980s, climate change explained more than 80%, while the land-use change explained only 10% of the riverflow change. The relative contributions were 45 and 45% in the 1980s-1990s and 35 and 55% in the 1990s-2000s respectively for climate change and land-use change. Since the 1990s land-use change has also contributed more to runoff change than climate change. The opposite trend was found for changes in evapotranspiration. Water availability for agriculture in northern China is simultaneously stressed by extensive changes in land-use and rapid climate change. Adaptation of ecological principles, such as the "returning farmland/grazing land to forest and grassland" policy, and other adjustments of economic developmental strategies can be effective tools to mitigate the water shortage problem in northern China and promote sustainable agricultural and food development.
文摘Driftwood is one of the important physical components in mountainous rivers which causes severe hazards due to the clogging of bridges,culverts,and narrow sections during floods.Therefore,the understanding of driftwood dynamics and mitigation measures are crucial for managing wood in rivers.Open check dams are the most commonly used engineering measure for preventing driftwood from reaching downstream areas.Nevertheless,these open check dams frequently lose their sediment transport function when they are blocked by sediment and driftwood,especially during major flood events.This paper proposes a new type of open check dam for preventing from clogging.Thus,flume experiments were conducted to examine the influence of different types of open check dams on the characteristics of driftwood deposition.For the model with wood length(LWD)=16.5 cm,wood diameter(D)=15 mm,and wood number(N)=172,the highest trapping efficiency was observed with 90.1%and 87.2%retention rates for the classical debris flow breaker and curved footed open check dams,respectively.Laboratory tests showed that through this proposed design,woody debris blockage in a very short time was prevented from the accumulation of woods beside the dam.In addition to this,most of the sediment passed through the check dam and most of the driftwood got trapped.It can be briefly stated that the geometrical design of the structure plays an important role and can be chosen carefully to optimize trapping efficiency.By designing this type of open check dams in mountain river basins,it may provide a better understanding of the driftwood accumulation and basis for the optimal design of these structures.Further development of the solution proposed in this work can pave the way for designing different types of open check dams for effective flood management.