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Sample records for south china increased

  1. South China Sea Dispute

    OpenAIRE

    Tanderup, Kasper Buch; Grinderslev, Emil Juhler; Tønnesen-Højbjerg, Asser Laurits Svend

    2017-01-01

    China is rising rapidly in terms of economics, military spending, sphere of influence and claims to in their view former territory. This paper has aimed to discuss the latter through analysis of the present dispute concerning islands and maritime territory in the South China Sea. The Chinese have become increasingly assertive in their claims formulated through a U-shaped line entailing most of the area within the South China Sea. The claims are contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia...

  2. South China Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morton, Brian [Hong Kong Univ., Swire Inst. of Marine Science, Hong Kong (China); Hong Kong Univ., Dept. of Ecology and Biodiversity, Hong Kong (China); Blackmore, Graham [Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Dept. of Biology, Hong Kong (China)

    2001-07-01

    The South China Sea is poorly understood in terms of its marine biota, ecology and the human impacts upon it. What is known is most often contained in reports and workshops and conference documents that are not available to the wider scientific community. The South China Sea has an area of some 3.3 million km{sup 2} and depths range from the shallowest coastal fringe to 5377m in the Manila Trench. It is also studded with numerous islets, atolls and reefs many of which are just awash at low tide. It is largely confined within the Tropic of Cancer and, therefore, experiences a monsoonal climate being influenced by the Southwest Monsoon in summer and the Northeast Monsoon in winter. The South China Sea is a marginal sea and, therefore, largely surrounded by land. Countries that have a major influence on and claims to the sea include China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, although Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan have some too. The coastal fringes of the South China Sea are home to about 270 million people that have had some of the fastest developing and most vibrant economics on the globe. Consequently, anthropogenic impacts, such as over-exploitation of resources and pollution, are anticipated to be huge although, in reality, relatively little is known about them. The Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province, at the centre of which the South China Sea lies, is probably the world's most diverse shallow-water marine area. Of three major nearshore habitat types, i.e., coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, 45 mangrove species out of a global total of 51, most of the currently recognised 70 coral genera and 20 of 50 known seagrass species have been recorded from the South China Sea. The island groups of the South China Sea are all disputed and sovereignty is claimed over them by a number of countries. Conflicts have in recent decades arisen over them because of perceived national rights. It is perhaps because of this that so little research has been undertaken

  3. South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Brian; Blackmore, Graham

    2001-01-01

    The South China Sea is poorly understood in terms of its marine biota, ecology and the human impacts upon it. What is known is most often contained in reports and workshop and conference documents that are not available to the wider scientific community. The South China Sea has an area of some 3.3 million km2 and depths range from the shallowest coastal fringe to 5377 m in the Manila Trench. It is also studded with numerous islets, atolls and reefs many of which are just awash at low tide. It is largely confined within the Tropic of Cancer and, therefore, experiences a monsoonal climate being influenced by the Southwest Monsoon in summer and the Northeast Monsoon in winter. The South China Sea is a marginal sea and, therefore, largely surrounded by land. Countries that have a major influence on and claims to the sea include China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, although Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan have some too. The coastal fringes of the South China Sea are home to about 270 million people that have had some of the fastest developing and most vibrant economies on the globe. Consequently, anthropogenic impacts, such as over-exploitation of resources and pollution, are anticipated to be huge although, in reality, relatively little is known about them. The Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province, at the centre of which the South China Sea lies, is probably the world's most diverse shallow-water marine area. Of the three major nearshore habitat types, i.e., coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, 45 mangrove species out of a global of 51, most of the currently recognised 70 coral genera and 20 of 50 known seagrass species have been recorded from the South China Sea. The island groups of the South China Sea are all disputed and sovereignty is claimed over them by a number of countries. Conflicts have in recent decades arisen over them because of perceived national rights. It is perhaps because of this that so little research has been undertaken on the South

  4. Interdecadal Change in Extreme Precipitation over South China and Its Mechanism

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    NING Liang; QIAN Yongfu

    2009-01-01

    Based on the daily precipitation data taken from 17 stations over South China during the period of 1961 2003, a sudden change in summer extreme precipitation events over South China in the early 1990s along with the possible mechanism connected with the anomalies of the latent heat flux over the South China Sea and the sensible heat flux over the Indochina peninsula are examined. The results show that both the annual and summer extreme precipitation events have obvious interdecadal variations and have increased significantly since the early 1990s. Moreover, the latent heat flux over the South China Sea and the sensible heat flux over the Indochina peninsula also have obvious interdecadal variations consistent with that of the extreme precipitation, and influence different months' extreme precipitation, respectively. Their effects are achieved by the interdecadal increases of the strengthening convection over South China through the South China Sea Summer Monsoon.

  5. Is South China Sea the new 'inalienable' part of China?

    OpenAIRE

    Jash, Amrita

    2016-01-01

    China’s growing military posture and unilateral behavior in South China Sea has raised red alarms in international politics, vehemently challenging the existing status quo. What is apparent is that China’s uncompromising attitude in the South China Sea presents China’s obsession over its territorial claims, wherein, South China Sea can be called the ‘new inalienable part’ of China.

  6. China's South China Sea Conundrum - No Easier Pass

    OpenAIRE

    Jash, Amrita

    2016-01-01

    On July 12, 2016, The Hague- based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) finally hit the hammer on the verdict of the landmark case of South China Sea arbitration. This case was unilaterally initiated by the Republic of the Philippines on January 22, 2013, on its relevant disputes in the South China Sea with the People’s Republic of China. At the very outset, this case brought China at crossroads to its international repute given Philippines’ allegations against its assertive and unlawful clai...

  7. Countering Chinas Economic Statecraft in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-04-09

    Economic Statecraft in the South China Sea 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER Bradford D...created and employed a vision and strategy to control it. China continually demonstrates its economic might in the region and conducts economic ...power to counter China’s rising influence in the South China Sea. The policy and strategy should incorporate establishing strong economic ties in

  8. Petroleum in the South China Sea : a Chinese national interest

    OpenAIRE

    Snildal, Knut

    2000-01-01

    The thesis analyses the relationship between China's petroleum policies and China's involvement in the South China Sea conflict. The aim of the thesis is to determine what China's national interest are in the South China Sea, and to detect who forms, and how, China's South China Sea policy. The thesis discusses whether China's assumed interest in the South China Sea of exploiting the petroleum reserves of the territorially disputed areas of the South China Sea is a short-term national interes...

  9. China in the South China Sea Dispute: Between Status Quo and Revisionist

    OpenAIRE

    Triwibowo, Albert

    2014-01-01

    The paper is trying to look whether China is a status quo power or a revisionist power in theSouth China Sea dispute based on status quo indicator developed by Johnston and perspectives onconformity towards norms. Meanwhile, this paper argues that China is neither a status quo nor arevisionist in the South China Sea dispute to the extent of its compliance with the Declaration on theConduct of Parties (DoC) in the South China Sea. Using status quo indicators developed by Johnstonand also the p...

  10. Nigeria-China Economic Relations Under the South-South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The defining characteristic of the South-South solidarity is cooperation among the ... relations which appear to be in great disequilibrium and to China's advantage. ... penetration of the Nigerian economy, observers of Nigeria's international ...

  11. China's Crisis Bargaining in the South China Sea Dispute (2010-2013)

    OpenAIRE

    Ramadhani, Eryan

    2014-01-01

    As one of China’s most intricate territorial dispute, the South China Sea dispute has sufficiently consumed significant amount of Chinese leaders’ attention in Beijing. This paper reveals that China exerts signaling strategy in its crisis bargaining over the South China Sea dispute. This strategy contains reassurance as positive signal through offering negotiation and appearing self-restraint and of negative signal by means of escalatory acts and verbal threats. China’s crisis bargaining in t...

  12. Why is North China seismically active while South China largely aseismic?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Y.; Liu, M.

    2002-12-01

    The North China block (also known as the Sino-Korean craton) is a region of strong intraplate seismicity and active crustal deformation. Many large earthquakes, including the most devastating earthquake in modern history at Tangshan in 1976 (M=7.5), occurred in this heavily populated region. The South China block (i.e., the Yangtz craton), in contrast, is largely aseismic, although its basement rocks are younger and much of the region is closer to the present plate boundaries than the North China block. We have investigated the contrasting active tectonics between the North and South China blocks using a three-dimensional finite element model. The model approximates the geometry of the two blocks and the surrounding tectonic units. The first-order variations of lithospheric rheology, both laterally and vertically, of these blocks are considered. The kinematic boundary conditions based on the GPS data are applied to the model, and the distribution of gravitational buoyancy force within the Asian continent is calculated using digital topography. Our results suggest that the particular boundary conditions surrounding the North and South China blocks may provide the basic explanation for the contrasting seismicity between these two regions. Aligned with the axis of compression from the indenting Indian plate and supported by the stable eastern Siberia, the North China block is predicted to experience strong deviatoric stresses. A weaker crust, as indicated by the widespread Late Cenozoic volcanism and rifts and high heat flow today, further explain the abundance of seismicity in the North China block. The South China block, on the other hand, sits in the "pressure shadow" of the Indo-Asian collision with little tectonic stresses transmitted from the collision zone. The east-southeastward extrusion of the Asian continent following the Indo-Asian collision allowed the South China block to move as a coherent block as shown by the GPS data, resulting in little internal

  13. Chinese Assertiveness in the South China Sea and Southeast Asian Responses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlyle A. Thayer

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This article reviews Chinese assertive behaviour towards the Philippines and Vietnam over South China Sea issues in 2011. The article compares and contrasts Chinese diplomatic behaviour in the period before and after the adoption by ASEAN member states and China of Guidelines for the Implementation the Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in July. In the first period China aggressively asserted its claims to sovereignty by interfering with commercial fishing and oil exploration activities of vessels operating in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Vietnam and the Philippines. Both states resisted Chinese actions. The Philippines allocated increased funding for defence modernization, lobbied ASEAN states and shored up its alliance with the United States. Vietnam too protested Chinese action and undertook symbolic steps to defend national sovereignty. In the second period all states moved to contain South China Sea tensions from affecting their larger bilateral relations. It remains to be seen, however, if proposed confidence building measures will ameliorate Chinese assertiveness.

  14. Deep-sea geohazards in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Shiguo; Wang, Dawei; Völker, David

    2018-02-01

    Various geological processes and features that might inflict hazards identified in the South China Sea by using new technologies and methods. These features include submarine landslides, pockmark fields, shallow free gas, gas hydrates, mud diapirs and earthquake tsunami, which are widely distributed in the continental slope and reefal islands of the South China Sea. Although the study and assessment of geohazards in the South China Sea came into operation only recently, advances in various aspects are evolving at full speed to comply with National Marine Strategy and `the Belt and Road' Policy. The characteristics of geohazards in deep-water seafloor of the South China Sea are summarized based on new scientific advances. This progress is aimed to aid ongoing deep-water drilling activities and decrease geological risks in ocean development.

  15. Philippines – China Relations: The Case of the South China Sea (Spratly Islands Claims

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Anthony M. Velasco

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The research is focused on examining by describing historically the relationship between the Philippines and China in the disputed claims over the islands in South China Sea. To crystalize this goal, the discourse in the paper heavily employs inter-textual analysis that is logically arranged into an opening idea on the context of the conflicting issue over the islands situated in Spratlys, then followed by an extensive illustration of the relationship between the Philippines and China concerning the territorial claims over the islands of South China Sea. Subsequently, a brief reflection guided by the principle of territoriality is portrayed with the goal to authoritatively explain the idea of jurisdiction over the islands in the Spratly area. After that, the paper briefly concludes with a prospectus on the issue of South China Sea.

  16. Fractal character of structural control on uranium mineralization in south china

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Quanyu; Tan Kaixuan; Xie Yanshi

    2009-01-01

    South China is the most important uranium producer in the country. Most uranium ore deposits in south China are strictly controlled by NE-NNE trending regional fracture structure. Fractal analyses on spatial distribution of uranium ore deposits and regional fracture structure in south China have been done in this paper. It indicates that the spatial distribution of both uranium ore deposits and regional fracture structure in south China show fractal character. The fractal dimension D=1.414 2 for the spatial distribution of regional fracture structure in the whole area indicate a higher ripening degree in the fracture structure evolution and an advantages to fluid flow and uranium mineralization. The fractal dimension D=1.052 7 for the spatial distribution of uranium ore deposits in south China show a lower complexity than regional fracture structure. The fractal dimensions in three sub-areas in south China on spatial distribution of uranium ore deposits show a positive correlation to which of regional fracture structure. The fractal spatial distribution of uranium ore deposits in south China is the result of the evolution of the fractal fracture structure system. (authors)

  17. [Chemical characteristics of precipitation in South China Sea].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Hong-Wei; Long, Ai-Min; Xie, Lu-Hua; Xiao, Hua-Yun; Liu, Cong-Qiang

    2014-02-01

    Rainwater samples were collected in the summer on "Shiyan 3" during the 2012 South China Sea Sectional Scientific Survey. The concentrations of anion and cation, and pH in precipitation were determined and backward trajectories of air mass were simulated to analyze the chemical characteristics of ions and examine the source of ions. The results indicated that the mean pH value of precipitation was 6.3, with 5.6 of minimal value in summer in South China Sea. The order of anion and cation abundance was Cl(-) > S04(2-) > NO3(-) and Na(+) > Mg(2+) > Ca(2+) > K(+). Cl(-) was the major anion and Na(+) was the major cation, with concentrations of 2 637.5 microeq x L(-1) and 2095.5 microeq x L(-1), respectively, showing that they were the characteristics of marine atmospheric precipitation. There was a good linear relationship between each pair of 7 ions, with correlation coefficient above 0.9, suggesting that they may have a common source. However, the correlation coefficients were lower between NO3(-) and other ions than the others, suggesting that NO3(-) had more complex sources. The concentrations of Ca(2+) and K(+) in precipitation may be related to coral environment in South China Sea. The backward trajectories in 6 stations showed that the air mass was from south and southwest of South China Sea, without passing through above the continent. These results suggested that precipitation affected by human ion source can be ignored in summer in South China Sea.

  18. Mesozoic Compressional Folds of the Nansha Waters, Southern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, R.; Liu, H.; Yao, Y.; Wang, Y.

    2017-12-01

    As an important part of the South China Sea, the southern margin of the South China Sea is fundamental to understand the interaction of the Eurasian, Pacific and Indian-Australian plates and the evolution of the South China Sea. Some multi-channel seismic profiles of the Nansha waters together with published drillings and dredge data were correlated for interpretation. The strata of the study region can be divided into the upper, middle and lower structural layers. The upper and middle structural layers with extensional tectonics are Cenozoic; the lower structural layer suffered compression is Mesozoic. Further structural restoration was done to remove the Cenozoic tectonic influence and to calculate the Mesozoic tectonic compression ratios. The results indicate that two diametrically opposite orientations of compressive stress, S(S)E towards N(N)W orientation and N(N)W towards S(S)E orientation respectively, once existed in the lower structural layer of the study area and shared the same variation trend. The compression ratio values gradually decrease both from the north to the south and from the west to the east in each stress orientation. The phenomena may be related to the opening of the proto-South China Sea (then located in south of the Nansha block) and the rate of the Nansha block drifted northward in Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, which had pushed the Nansha block drifted northward until it collided and sutured with the Southern China Margin. Thus the opening of the present-day South China Sea may be related to this suture zone, which was tectonically weakness zone.Key words: Mesozoic compression; structural restoration; proto-South China Sea; Nansha waters; Southern South China Sea; Acknowledgements: The work was granted by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41476039, 91328205, 41576068 and 41606080).

  19. The politics of China studies in South Korea: A critical examination of South Korean historiography of modern China since 1945

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Dongyoun HWANG

    2012-01-01

    This paper argues that the South Korean scholarship on modem Chinese history since 1945 can be characterized as apolitical with its objectivism,positivism,liberalism,and anti-communist nationalism.This characteristic is a product of not only the Cold War and the military regimes of South Korea but also the political orientation and stance of the senior historians who played an initial and decisive role in determining the goal,direc tion,and research methods of South Korean studies concerning modem China.The SouthKorean perspective they promoted usually meant the study of liberal,apolitical topics in Chinese history from a nationalist perspective without any political/ideological influences.The utility of modern Chinese history has mainly lain in helping to construct an anti-socialist,modern Korean nation-state through modernization.South Korean historians of modem China,the paper argues,have not been able to induce a meaningful,broad discussion of critical historical issues in modem China as they might pertain to South Korean society,thus failing to utilize them to help challenge and transform the undemocratic South Korean society and regimes.Hence,the future success of new academic undertakings since the 1990s by South Korean historians will be determined by whether or not they are able to make a radical break from the previous scholarship,in particular,from its objectivism and nationalism.

  20. Comparison of publication trends in dermatology among Japan, South Korea and Mainland China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Man, Huibin; Xin, Shujun; Bi, Weiping; Lv, Chengzhi; Mauro, Theodora M; Elias, Peter M; Man, Mao-Qiang

    2014-01-09

    We previously showed that the number of publications in dermatology is increasing year by year, and positively correlates with improved economic conditions in mainland China, a still developing Asian country. However, the characteristics of publications in dermatology departments in more developed Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea are unknown. In the present study, publications from 2003 through 2012 in dermatology in Japan, South Korea and mainland China were characterized. All data were obtained from http://www.pubmed.com. Dermatology departments in Japan published 4,094 papers, while mainland China and South Korea published 1528 and 1,758 articles, respectively. 48% of articles from dermatology in Japan were original research and 36% were case reports; The number of publications in Japan remained stable over time, but the overall impact factors per paper increased linearly over the last 10 year period (p publications and their impact factors per paper increased markedly. In South Korea, 65% of articles from dermatology were original research and 20% were case reports. The impact factors per paper remained unchanged, despite of the fact that the number of publications increased over the last 10 year period (r2 = 0.6820, p = 0.0032). Only mainland China showed a positive correlation of the number of publications with gross domestic product per capita during this study period. These results suggest that the total number of publications in dermatology correlates with economic conditions only in developing country, but not in more developed countries in Asia. The extent of economic development could determine both the publication quantity and quality.

  1. Early Chinese Voyaging in the South China Sea: Implications on Territorial Claims

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Flecker

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to examine historically issues of territorial claims over the South China Sea. As it is known that at present there are at least six countries claiming part or all of South China Sea territory. In this case China is the most ambitious country to control all areas in the South China Sea. This has led to political and military tensions in the region. It is strange that the South China Sea waters has actually been a shipping thoroughfare for the last two millennia. Therefore, this historical study will contribute to an understanding of the issues that could provoke international conflict.

  2. Indonesia in the South China Sea Dispute: Humble-Hard Power

    OpenAIRE

    Robertua, Verdinand; Sinaga, Obsatar

    2018-01-01

    This research discussed the opportunities for Indonesia to act as humble-hard power in South China Sea dispute. Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision in July 2016 to give South China Sea based on UNCLOS’s regulation has provoked China’s objection. This research question is on how to understand the conception of humble-hard power and the possibility for Indonesia to be humble-hard power in the South China Sea dispute? This article borrowed the concept of humble-hard power from Adam Nieves ...

  3. Future Scenarios of the South China Sea Maritime Disputes

    OpenAIRE

    Shee, Poon Kim

    2014-01-01

    The focus of this paper is to analyze three future scenarios in the maritime disputes in the South China Sea. These namely are No War Scenario, Impasse Scenario and Peace Scenario. Ultimately, the way forward towards a viable solution to resolving the South China Sea maritime disputes between China and other claimant states depends on the political wisdom, will and determination of the disputing states. Lofty nationalistic aspirations have to be tempered with a degree of flexibility and pragm...

  4. Mitigating the Security Risks in the South China Sea Island Disputes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-02-13

    third of the global crude oil and more than half of global gas shipping passes through the South China Sea. 2 For the United States, $1.2 trillion...China Sea. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia , and Brunei contest the sovereignty of these islands. In recent years, China has become...Administration estimates that the South China Sea holds approximately 11 billion barrels of oil 2 and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas

  5. Nature, diversity of deposit types and metallogenic relations of South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaw, K.; Peters, S.G.; Cromie, P.; Burrett, C.; Hou, Z.

    2007-01-01

    The South China Region is rich in mineral resources and has a wide diversity of deposit types. The region has undergone multiple tectonic and magmatic events and related metallogenic processes throughout the earth history. These tectonic and metallogenic processes were responsible for the formation of the diverse styles of base and precious metal deposits in South China making it one of the resource-rich regions in the world. During the Proterozoic, the South China Craton was characterised by rifting of continental margin before eruption of submarine volcanics and development of platform carbonate rocks, and the formation of VHMS, stratabound copper and MVT deposits. The Phanerozoic metallogeny of South China was related to opening and closing of the Tethyan Ocean involving multiple orogenies by subduction, back-arc rifting, arc-continent collision and post-collisional extension during the Indosinian (Triassic), Yanshanian (Jurassic to Cretaceous) and Himalayan (Tertiary) Orogenies. The Late Palaeozoic was a productive metallogenic period for South China resulting from break-up and rifting of Gondwana. Significant stratabound base and precious metal deposits were formed during the Devonian and Carboniferous (e.g., Fankou and Dabaoshan deposits). These Late Palaeozoic SEDEX-style deposits have been often overprinted by skarn systems associated with Yanshanian magmatism (e.g., Chengmenshan, Dongguashan and Qixiashan). A number of Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic VHMS deposits also developed in the Sanjiang fold belt in the western part of South China (e.g., Laochang and Gacun). South China has significant sedimentary rock-hosted Carlin-like deposits, which occur in the Devonian- to Triassic-aged accretionary wedge or rift basins at the margin of the South China Craton. They are present in a region at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi Provinces called the 'Southern Golden Triangle', and are also present in NW Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi, in an area known as

  6. China, South Korea, Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1988-01-01

    Intended for Canadian readers, this popular account was suggested by the Sixth Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference. Economic, political, geographic, sociological and historical aspects of the nuclear programmes of China, South Korea and Japan are discussed. The importance of past, present and future Canadian nuclear trade with the area is indicated

  7. Nigeria-China Economic Relations Under the South-South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    chifaou.amzat

    2013-09-28

    Sep 28, 2013 ... using the technology, experience and capital from the South. Regrettably, ... that these disparities actually account for the sharp differences in the outcomes of the .... for substantial Chinese investment in the Nigerian oil industry. As part of the ...... ing, information technology and other areas. China should ...

  8. Comparison of publication trends in dermatology among Japan, South Korea and Mainland China

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background We previously showed that the number of publications in dermatology is increasing year by year, and positively correlates with improved economic conditions in mainland China, a still developing Asian country. However, the characteristics of publications in dermatology departments in more developed Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea are unknown. Methods In the present study, publications from 2003 through 2012 in dermatology in Japan, South Korea and mainland China were characterized. All data were obtained from http://www.pubmed.com. Results Dermatology departments in Japan published 4,094 papers, while mainland China and South Korea published 1528 and 1,758 articles, respectively. 48% of articles from dermatology in Japan were original research and 36% were case reports; The number of publications in Japan remained stable over time, but the overall impact factors per paper increased linearly over the last 10 year period (p dermatology were original research, while 19% were case reports; The number of publications and their impact factors per paper increased markedly. In South Korea, 65% of articles from dermatology were original research and 20% were case reports. The impact factors per paper remained unchanged, despite of the fact that the number of publications increased over the last 10 year period (r2 = 0.6820, p = 0.0032). Only mainland China showed a positive correlation of the number of publications with gross domestic product per capita during this study period. Conclusions These results suggest that the total number of publications in dermatology correlates with economic conditions only in developing country, but not in more developed countries in Asia. The extent of economic development could determine both the publication quantity and quality. PMID:24405832

  9. Major geological events and uranium metallogenesis in South-west China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chengjiang; Xu Zhengqi; Ni Shijun; Chen Youliang

    2012-01-01

    Uranium is widely distributed in South-west China, with all types but on a not-so-large scale. South-west China is located on the combining site of several large tectonic elements and every tectonic movement has different effects on different regions. To study and clarify the correlation between the major geological events in South-west China and the Uranium metallogenesis, comprehensive research and field investigation are made besides collecting a lot of materials. Through analysis and research on the major geological events in South-west China, the evolution of those e vents is basically clarified and the events closely related with uranium mineralization are determined. It is discovered that there are several ore-forming geologic events in the geological history of South-west China; almost every major tectonic movement cycle is accompanied with uranium metallogenesis, from Jinning Movement to Chengjiang Movement, to Hercynian Movement, to Indosinian Movement. to Yanshan Movement. to Himalayan movement. Even though every major tectonic cycle is accompanied with uranium mineralization, three major geological events are generally obviously related with uranium metallogenesis, i.e. the Rodinian supercontinent breakup even in Jinning-Chengjiang Period, Yanshan Movement and Himalayan movement, in which the first one is the process of uranium pre-enrichment and provides the source of uranium. Yanshan Movement and Himalayan movement are the important processes for mineralization, mainly the hydrothermal superimposed mineralization. (authors)

  10. China, India, South Africa, Brazil (BASIC): Crucial for the global environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    The rising importance of the BASIC countries in a changing world Over the last decade the emerging economies have become increasingly important for the development of the global economy. This trend was reinforced by the global financial crisis which hit the developed economies the hardest, and after which the emerging economies emerged as crucial growth centres in the global economy. We are entering into a new era in global politics, and a broad process is currently taking place of restructuring global institutions and political processes to increasingly take into account the interests of the emerging economies. A global environmental crisis constitutes the backdrop for this change in global politics, as the current volume of production and consumption of the planets renewable resources (including the capacity to absorb greenhouse gas emissions) is beyond the planets regenerative capacity. The breakdown of the Doha Development Round in World Trade, the creation of the BRIC group and the G20, the emergence of the BASIC group of key emerging economies and the following developments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, all testify to the fact that China, India, South Africa and Brazil (BASIC) today have a decisive and increasing influence in world politics. With regards to the environment, this means that BASIC countries increasingly will set environmental standards in global markets as their economies to a greater extent come to represent global buying power, increasingly will influence to what extent environmental concerns are mainstreamed into international agreements (such as WTO) in general, and also will decide the scope and level of ambition and scope of international environmental agreements (as we see in UNFCCC). Among the emerging economies China, India, South Africa, and Brazil stand out as particularly important. China and India alone represent more than 35 per cent of the global population and are the most rapidly growing economies in the

  11. China, India, South Africa, Brazil (BASIC): Crucial for the global environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    The rising importance of the BASIC countries in a changing world Over the last decade the emerging economies have become increasingly important for the development of the global economy. This trend was reinforced by the global financial crisis which hit the developed economies the hardest, and after which the emerging economies emerged as crucial growth centres in the global economy. We are entering into a new era in global politics, and a broad process is currently taking place of restructuring global institutions and political processes to increasingly take into account the interests of the emerging economies. A global environmental crisis constitutes the backdrop for this change in global politics, as the current volume of production and consumption of the planets renewable resources (including the capacity to absorb greenhouse gas emissions) is beyond the planets regenerative capacity. The breakdown of the Doha Development Round in World Trade, the creation of the BRIC group and the G20, the emergence of the BASIC group of key emerging economies and the following developments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, all testify to the fact that China, India, South Africa and Brazil (BASIC) today have a decisive and increasing influence in world politics. With regards to the environment, this means that BASIC countries increasingly will set environmental standards in global markets as their economies to a greater extent come to represent global buying power, increasingly will influence to what extent environmental concerns are mainstreamed into international agreements (such as WTO) in general, and also will decide the scope and level of ambition and scope of international environmental agreements (as we see in UNFCCC). Among the emerging economies China, India, South Africa, and Brazil stand out as particularly important. China and India alone represent more than 35 per cent of the global population and are the most rapidly growing economies in the

  12. The distribution and uranium content characteristics of Indosinian granite in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Wenliang; Zhang Zhuo; Chen Wenwen; Chen Lulu; Xu Wenzheng

    2014-01-01

    In recent years, more and more Indosinian granite plutons has been found in South China, so some new ideas about the granity were proposed by scholars. The Indosinian granite in South China distributed in lineshape, and is controlled by some regional faults. Its formation was mainly related to geodynamic setting which began in the late Permian (about 256 Ma) by the subduction of the ancient Pacific Plate to the Eurasia. The average uranium content of Indosinian granite is 10.34ppm, much higher than the average value of world's acid rock. There occurs some couplings between the distribution of the Indosinian granite plutons and uranium mineralization belt in South China. So the Indosinian granite in South China may act as important uranium sources for the mineralization. (authors)

  13. The Impact of China on South American Political and Economic Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Steen Fryba

    2018-01-01

    The analysis compares three typologies of South American countries in terms of the impact of China on their political and economic development.......The analysis compares three typologies of South American countries in terms of the impact of China on their political and economic development....

  14. Hotspot uranium metallogenesis in south China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Ziying

    2006-01-01

    The basic concepts of mantle plume and hotspots are expounded and the hotspots are classified into continental and oceanic types. The relationship between hotspots and metallogenesis are briefly discussed, and a new theory of uranium metallogenesis related to hotspots has been put forward. The geotectonism, magmatism, sedimentation, metamorphism and metallogenesis must be closely associated with deep geodynamics of mantle plume tectonics in Meso-Cenozoic period from 220 Ma to 50 Ma in South China. The eastern part of Guidong granite massif has been proved to be a Mesozoic hotspot from aspects of geological, geophysical and geochemical evidences and its correspondent relationship to uranium metallogenesis is discussed. Finally, the uranium metallogenetic prospect has been pointed out for hydrothermal uranium mineralization in South China from the view point of hotspot uranium metallogenesis. (authors)

  15. Diversity dynamics of silurian-early carboniferous land plants in South china.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Conghui Xiong

    Full Text Available New megafossil and microfossil data indicate four episodes in the diversification of Silurian-Early Carboniferous land plants of South China, a relatively continuous regional record. Plant diversity increased throughout, but the rising curve was punctuated by three major falls. There were peaks of origination in the Ludlow-Pragian, Givetian, late Famennian and Visean and peaks of extinction in the Pragian-Emsian, Givetian and early Tournaisian. Speciation and extinction rates were highest in the Lochkovian-Pragian and became progressively lower in subsequent stages. High correlation coefficients indicate that these events are associated with the availability of land habitat contingent on eustatic variations and increasing numbers of cosmopolitan genera. Meanwhile, proportions of endemic genera declined gradually. Due to less endemism and more migrations, both speciation and species extinction rates reduced. The changes of diversity and the timing of the three extinctions of land plants in South China are similar to those known already from Laurussia. However, the largest events in the Lochkovian-Pragian and subsequent smaller ones have not been seen in the global pattern of plant evolution. These land plant events do not correspond well temporally with those affecting land vertebrates or marine invertebrates. In South China, the diversity curve of land plants is generally opposite to that of marine faunas, showing a strong effect of eustatic variations. The increasing diversity of both land vertebrates and plants was punctuated above the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary, known as Romer's Gap, implying common underlying constraints on macroevolution of land animals and plants.

  16. Boron isotopic compositions in growing corals from the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Jun; Xiao, Yingkai; Jin, Zhangdong; Liu, Congqiang; He, Maoyong

    2013-01-01

    In order to determine incorporation of boron species, boron isotopic fractionation, and influence of trace elements on isotopic compositions of boron in corals (δ11Bcoral), concentrations of Mg, Sr, Na, B and δ11Bcoral in growing corals from the South China Sea were measured. Relative to seawater, Sr enriched while Mg depleted in corals in the South China Sea. Although the δ11Bcoral values were different from various species and were not closely correlated with the element concentrations in corals in the South China Sea, Mg(OH)2 existed in corals can result in high δ11Bcoral. Thus, it is necessary to examine the existence of Mg(OH)2 and to choose the same species when δ11Bcoral is used in the δ11B-pH proxy. Based on the measured δ11B values of corals and coexisting seawater as well as the seawater pH in the South China Sea, a new isotopic fractionation factor a4-3 between B(OH)4- and B(OH)3 was determined to be 0.979. Besides B(OH)4- into corals, our results showed that B(OH)3 may also be incorporated into corals with variable proportions. The incorporation of B(OH)3 into corals may challenge the hypothesis of δ11Bcoral = δ11B4, resulting in increasing uncertainty to the calculated seawater pH values to the δ11B-pH proxy. We suggested that a best-fit empirical equation between δ11B of bio-carbonates and seawater pH needs to be established by the precipitation experiments of inorganic carbonates or culture experiments of corals or foraminifera.

  17. Energy audit data for a resort island in the South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Reyasudin Basir Khan

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The data consists of actual generation-side auditing including the distribution of loads, seasonal load profiles, and types of loads as well as an analysis of local development planning of a resort island in the South China Sea. The data has been used to propose an optimal combination of hybrid renewable energy systems that able to mitigate the diesel fuel dependency on the island. The resort island selected is Tioman, as it represents the typical energy requirements of many resort islands in the South China Sea. The data presented are related to the research article “Optimal Combination of Solar, Wind, Micro-Hydro and Diesel Systems based on Actual Seasonal Load Profiles for a Resort Island in the South China Sea” [1]. Keywords: Tioman, South China Sea, Load profile, Renewable energy, Resort Island, Energy audit

  18. Corresponding Relation between Warm Season Precipitation Extremes and Surface Air Temperature in South China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SUN; Wei; LI; Jian; YU; Ru-Cong

    2013-01-01

    Hourly data of 42 rain gauges over South China during 1966–2005 were used to analyze the corresponding relation between precipitation extremes and surface air temperature in the warm season(May to October).The results show that below 25℃,both daily and hourly precipitation extremes in South China increase with rising temperature.More extreme events transit to the two-time Clausius-Clapeyron(CC)relationship at lower temperatures.Daily as well as hourly precipitation extremes have a decreasing tendency nearly above 25℃,among which the decrease of hourly extremes is much more significant.In order to investigate the efects of rainfall durations,hourly precipitation extremes are presented by short duration and long duration precipitation,respectively.Results show that the dramatic decrease of hourly rainfall intensities above 25℃ is mainly caused by short duration precipitation,and long duration precipitation extremes rarely occur in South China when surface air temperature surpasses 28℃.

  19. Planaxidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhiyun; Zhang, Junlong; Lian, Xiping; Tan, Yehui

    2018-03-01

    Planaxidae is a family of tropical and subtropical marine gastropods that are adapted to an intertidal, rocky environment. The present study deals with three species in the family Planaxidae from the South China Sea: Planaxis sulcatus (von Born, 1778), Angiola longispira (Smith, 1872), and Supplanaxis niger (Quoy and Gaimard, 1833), based on specimens deposited in the Marine Biodiversity Collections of the South China Sea, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The taxonomic status, main morphological characteristics of the shell and radula, distribution, and habitat of these three planaxid species are presented. We also briefly discuss their morphological differences and the biogeographic distribution.

  20. Freshwater Choices in China: Options That Will Impact South and Southeast Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-04

    economies in the world. To sustain this economic growth and transform chronic hunger into food self-sufficiency, both China and India have embarked...FRESHWATER CHOICES IN CHINA: OPTIONS THAT WILL IMPACT SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA A Monograph by Mr. Steven M. Nystrom...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Freshwater Choices in China: Options that will Impact South and Southeast Asia 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c

  1. Countermeasure Study on Deep-sea Oil Exploitation in the South China Sea——A Comparison between Deep-sea Oil Exploitation in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hui; Qiu, Weiting; Qu, Weilu

    2018-02-01

    The unpromising situation of terrestrial oil resources makes the deep-sea oil industry become an important development strategy. The South China Sea has a vast sea area with a wide distribution of oil and gas resources, but there is a phenomenon that exploration and census rates and oil exploitation are low. In order to solve the above problems, this article analyzes the geology, oil and gas exploration and exploration equipment in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Comparing the political environment of China and the United States energy industry and the economic environment of oil companies, this article points out China’s deep-sea oil exploration and mining problems that may exist. Finally, the feasibility of oil exploration and exploitation in the South China Sea is put forward, which will provide reference to improve the conditions of oil exploration in the South China Sea and promoting the stable development of China’s oil industry.

  2. Estimation of potential distribution of gas hydrate in the northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chunjuan; Du, Dewen; Zhu, Zhiwei; Liu, Yonggang; Yan, Shijuan; Yang, Gang

    2010-05-01

    Gas hydrate research has significant importance for securing world energy resources, and has the potential to produce considerable economic benefits. Previous studies have shown that the South China Sea is an area that harbors gas hydrates. However, there is a lack of systematic investigations and understanding on the distribution of gas hydrate throughout the region. In this paper, we applied mineral resource quantitative assessment techniques to forecast and estimate the potential distribution of gas hydrate resources in the northern South China Sea. However, current hydrate samples from the South China Sea are too few to produce models of occurrences. Thus, according to similarity and contrast principles of mineral outputs, we can use a similar hydrate-mining environment with sufficient gas hydrate data as a testing ground for modeling northern South China Sea gas hydrate conditions. We selected the Gulf of Mexico, which has extensively studied gas hydrates, to develop predictive models of gas hydrate distributions, and to test errors in the model. Then, we compared the existing northern South China Sea hydrate-mining data with the Gulf of Mexico characteristics, and collated the relevant data into the model. Subsequently, we applied the model to the northern South China Sea to obtain the potential gas hydrate distribution of the area, and to identify significant exploration targets. Finally, we evaluated the reliability of the predicted results. The south seabed area of Taiwan Bank is recommended as a priority exploration target. The Zhujiang Mouth, Southeast Hainan, and Southwest Taiwan Basins, including the South Bijia Basin, also are recommended as exploration target areas. In addition, the method in this paper can provide a useful predictive approach for gas hydrate resource assessment, which gives a scientific basis for construction and implementation of long-term planning for gas hydrate exploration and general exploitation of the seabed of China.

  3. Internal Waves, South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    1983-01-01

    Subsurface ocean currents, frequently referred to as internal waves, are frequently seen from space under the right lighting conditions when depth penetration can be achieved. These internal waves observed in the South China Sea off the SE coast of the island of Hainan (18.5N, 110.5E) visibly demonstrate turbidity in the ocean's depths at the confluence of conflicting currents.

  4. Dynamics of the Water Circulations in the Southern South China Sea and Its Seasonal Transports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daryabor, Farshid; Ooi, See Hai; Samah, Azizan Abu; Akbari, Abolghasem

    2016-01-01

    A three-dimensional Regional Ocean Modeling System is used to study the seasonal water circulations and transports of the Southern South China Sea. The simulated seasonal water circulations and estimated transports show consistency with observations, e.g., satellite altimeter data set and re-analysis data of the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation. It is found that the seasonal water circulations are mainly driven by the monsoonal wind stress and influenced by the water outflow/inflow and associated currents of the entire South China Sea. The intrusion of the strong current along the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and the eddies at different depths in all seasons are due to the conservation of the potential vorticity as the depth increases. Results show that the water circulation patterns in the northern part of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia are generally dominated by the geostrophic currents while those in the southern areas are due solely to the wind stress because of negligible Coriolis force there. This study clearly shows that individual surface freshwater flux (evaporation minus precipitation) controls the sea salinity balance in the Southern South China Sea thermohaline circulations. Analysis of climatological data from a high resolution Regional Ocean Modeling System reveals that the complex bathymetry is important not only for water exchange through the Southern South China Sea but also in regulating various transports across the main passages in the Southern South China Sea, namely the Sunda Shelf and the Strait of Malacca. Apart from the above, in comparision with the dynamics of the Sunda Shelf, the Strait of Malacca reflects an equally significant role in the annual transports into the Andaman Sea.

  5. Preferential mantle lithospheric extension under the South China margin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clift, P.; Jian Lin

    2001-01-01

    Continental rifting in the South China Sea culminated in seafloor spreading at ∼ 30Ma (Late Oligocene). The basin and associated margins form a classic example of break-up in a relatively juvenile arc crust environment. In this study, we documented the timing, distribution and amount of extension in the crust and mantle lithosphere on the South China Margin during this process. Applying a one-dimensional backstripping modeling technique to drilling data from the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) and Beibu Gulf Basin, we calculated subsidence rates of the wells and examined the timing and amount of extension. Our results show that extension of the crust exceeded that in the mantle lithosphere under the South China Shelf, but that the two varied in phase, suggesting depth-dependent extension rather than a lithospheric-scale detachment. Estimates of total crustal extension derived in this way are similar to those measured by seismic refraction, indicating that isostatic compensation is close to being local. Extension in the Beibu Gulf appears to be more uniform with depth, a difference that we attribute to the different style of strain accommodation during continental break-up compared to intra-continental rifting. Extension in PRMB and South China slope continues for ∼ 5m.y. after the onset of seafloor spreading due to the weakness of the continental lithosphere. The timing of major extension is broadly mid-late Eocene to late Oligocene (∼ 45-25Ma), but is impossible to correlate in detail with poorly dated strike-slip deformation in the Red River Fault Zone. (author)

  6. Does China and Africa South-South cooperation lead to economic development in Africa?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nonfodji, P.

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Since a few decades now Chinese enterprises’ investments abroad have seen a continuous and steady ascension. At first cautious and just across the Chinese national borders, these investments, slowly but surely, spread like a sheet of water that seeps into the heart of each continent on the globe. This global infiltration of Chinese companies coincides with the popularity in the use of the expression “South-South Cooperation” to characterize a type of relations between countries categorized as being “developing”. Accordingly this paper seeks to examine the role of the use of this concept as a “channel to achieve common development” in the context of Chinese enterprises’ outward direct investments in Africa adopting insights from international business production theories combined with an historical analysis of the notion of South-South Cooperation. Drawing on primary data gathered during my fieldwork in China in the period stretching from December 2011 to February 2012 and secondary data sources, it is argued that these Chinese investments supported by the Chinese government rhetoric on South-South cooperation, cannot lead to significant economic development in Africa like it has happened in China in the eighties. Rather and at most Chinese investments in Africa show some “trickle-down” effects characterised by very limited economic development in scattered localities throughout the African continent.

  7. Opening of the South China Sea and Upwelling of the Hainan Plume

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Mengming; Yan, Yi; Huang, Chi-Yue; Zhang, Xinchang; Tian, Zhixian; Chen, Wen-Huang; Santosh, M.

    2018-03-01

    Opening of the South China Sea and upwelling of the Hainan Plume are among the most challenging issues related to the tectonic evolution of East Asia. However, when and how the Hainan Plume affected the opening of the South China Sea remains unclear. Here we investigate the geochemical and isotopic features of the 25 Ma mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) in the Kenting Mélange, southern Taiwan, 16 Ma MORB drilled by the IODP Expedition 349, and 9 Ma ocean island basalt-type dredged seamount basalt. The 25 Ma MORBs reveal a less metasomatic depleted MORB mantle-like source. In contrast, the Miocene samples record progressive mantle enrichment and possibly signal the contribution of the Hainan Plume. We speculate that MORBs of the South China Sea which could have recorded plume-ridge source mixing perhaps appear since 23.8 Ma. On the contrary, the Paleocene-Eocene ocean island basalt-type intraplate volcanism of the South China continental margin is correlated to decompression melting of a passively upwelling fertile asthenosphere due to continental rifting.

  8. The South China Sea Thermohaline Structure and Circulation

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Chu, Peter C; Ma, Binbing; Chen, Yuchun

    2002-01-01

    ...), consisting of 116,019 temperature and 9,617 salinity profiles, during 1968-1984 to investigate the temporal and spatial variabilities of South China Sea thermohaline structures and circulation...

  9. Data from renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Reyasudin Basir Khan

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea were conducted that involves the collection and analysis of meteorological and topographic data. The meteorological data was used to assess the PV, wind and hydropower system potentials on the islands. Furthermore, the reconnaissance study for hydro-potentials were conducted through topographic maps in order to determine the potential sites suitable for development of run-of-river hydropower generation. The stream data was collected for 14 islands in the South China Sea with a total of 51 investigated sites. The data from this study are related to the research article “Optimal combination of solar, wind, micro-hydro and diesel systems based on actual seasonal load profiles for a resort island in the South China Sea” published in Energy (Khan et al., 2015 [1]. Keywords: South China Sea, Solar radiation,wind speed, rainfall, microhydropower, PV system, Wind energy generation system

  10. Heavy metal pollution in coastal areas of South China: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Shuai-Long; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Sun, Yu-Xin; Liu, Jin-Ling; Li, Hua-Bin

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • Heavy metal contamination in coastal areas of South China has been reviewed. • Heavy metal levels were closely related to economic development in past decades. • Heavy metal levels from Hong Kong continually decreased from the early 1990s. • Higher concentrations of heavy metals were found in mollusk. • Levels of heavy metals in part of seafood exceeded the safety limit. -- Abstract: Coastal areas of South China face great challenges due to heavy metal contamination caused by rapid urbanization and industrialization. In this paper, more than 90 articles on levels, distributions, and sources of heavy metals in sediments and organisms were collected to review the status of heavy metal pollution along coastal regions of South China. The results show that heavy metal levels were closely associated with local economic development. Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary were severely contaminated by heavy metals. However, concentrations of heavy metals in sediments from Hong Kong have continually decreased since the early 1990s. High levels of heavy metals were found in biota from Lingdingyang in Guangdong province. Mollusks had higher concentrations of heavy metals than other species. Human health risk assessments suggested that levels of heavy metals in some seafood from coastal areas of South China exceeded the safety limit

  11. Numerical assessment of factors affecting nonlinear internal waves in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qiang

    2014-02-01

    Nonlinear internal waves in the South China Sea exhibit diverse characteristics, which are associated with the complex conditions in Luzon Strait, such as the double ridge topography, the Earth’s rotation, variations in stratification and the background current induced by the Kuroshio. These effects are individually assessed using the MITgcm. The performance of the model is first validated through comparison with field observations. Because of in-phased ray interaction, the western ridge in Luzon Strait intensifies the semidiurnal internal tides generated from the eastern ridge, thus reinforcing the formation of nonlinear internal waves. However, the ray interaction for K1 forcing becomes anti-phased so that the K1 internal tide generation is reduced by the western ridge. Not only does the rotational dispersion suppress internal tide generation, it also inhibits nonlinear steepening and consequent internal solitary wave formation. As a joint effect, the double ridges and the rotational dispersion result in a paradoxical phenomenon: diurnal barotropic tidal forcing is dominant in Luzon Strait, but semidiurnal internal tides prevail in the deep basin of the South China Sea. The seasonal variation of the Kuroshio is consistent with the seasonal appearance of nonlinear internal waves in the South China Sea. The model results show that the westward inflow due to the Kuroshio intrusion reduces the amplitude of internal tides in the South China Sea, causing the weakening or absence of internal solitary waves. Winter stratification cannot account for the significant reduction of nonlinear internal waves, because the amplitude growth of internal tides due to increased thermocline tilting counteracts the reduced nonlinearity caused by thermocline deepening.

  12. Energy audit data for a resort island in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basir Khan, M Reyasudin; Jidin, Razali; Pasupuleti, Jagadeesh

    2016-03-01

    The data consists of actual generation-side auditing including the distribution of loads, seasonal load profiles, and types of loads as well as an analysis of local development planning of a resort island in the South China Sea. The data has been used to propose an optimal combination of hybrid renewable energy systems that able to mitigate the diesel fuel dependency on the island. The resort island selected is Tioman, as it represents the typical energy requirements of many resort islands in the South China Sea. The data presented are related to the research article "Optimal Combination of Solar, Wind, Micro-Hydro and Diesel Systems based on Actual Seasonal Load Profiles for a Resort Island in the South China Sea" [1].

  13. Energy audit data for a resort island in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basir Khan, M. Reyasudin; Jidin, Razali; Pasupuleti, Jagadeesh

    2015-01-01

    The data consists of actual generation-side auditing including the distribution of loads, seasonal load profiles, and types of loads as well as an analysis of local development planning of a resort island in the South China Sea. The data has been used to propose an optimal combination of hybrid renewable energy systems that able to mitigate the diesel fuel dependency on the island. The resort island selected is Tioman, as it represents the typical energy requirements of many resort islands in the South China Sea. The data presented are related to the research article “Optimal Combination of Solar, Wind, Micro-Hydro and Diesel Systems based on Actual Seasonal Load Profiles for a Resort Island in the South China Sea” [1]. PMID:26900590

  14. Seismic investigation of an ocean-continent transition zone in the northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, J.; Qiu, X.; Xu, H.; Zhan, W.; Sun, Z.

    2011-12-01

    Rifted continental margins and basins are mainly formed by the lithospheric extension. Thined lithosphere of passive continental margins results in decompression melt of magma and created oceanic crust and thined ocean-continent transition (OCT) zone. Two refraction profiles used ocean bottom seismometers deployed in the broad continental shelf and three multi-channel seismic reflection lines in the northern South China Sea, acquired by the ship "Shiyan 2" of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010, are processed and interpreted in this study. Seismic reflection lines cut through the Dongsha rise, Zhu-1 and Zhu-2 depression within a Tertiary basin, Pear River Mouth basin (called as Zhujiangkou basin). These tectonic features are clear imaged in the seismic reflection records. Numerous normal faults, cutted through the basement and related to the stretch of the northern South China Sea margin, are imaged and interpreted. Reflection characteristics of the ocean-continent transition (OCT) zone are summaried and outlined. The COT zone is mainly divided into the northern syn-rift subsidence zone, central volcano or buried volcano uplift zone and tilt faulted block near the South Chia Sea basin. Compared to the previous seismic reflection data and refraction velocity models, the segmentation range of the OCT zone is outlined, from width of about 225 km in the northeastern South China Sea , of 160 km in the central to of 110 km in the north-central South China Sea. Based on the epicenter distribution of sporadic and large than 6 magnitude earthquakes, it suggests the OCT zone in the northern South China Sea at present is still an active seismic zone.

  15. Strategic and Operational Implications of Access to the South China Sea to Maintain Regional Peace and Security

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Nelson, Robert

    2003-01-01

    .... China currently claims all of the South China Sea and is in dispute with other Southeast Asian nation claimants. China's maritime claim Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, and People's Liberation Army's Navy modernization are aimed at excluding the U.S. Navy for the South China Sea.

  16. Preventing Escalation in the South China Sea Disputed Waters: A Comparative Study of Republic of the Philippines and Socialist Republic of Vietnam

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-03-01

    Problem of Maritime Cooperation in the South China Sea,” in Security and International Politics in the South China Sea, eds. Sam Bateman and Ralf Emmers...South China Sea,” in Security and International Politics in the South China Sea: Towards a cooperative management regime, eds. Sam Bateman and Ralf...Cooperation in the South China Sea.” In Security and International Politics in the South China Sea, edited by Sam Bateman and Ralf Emmers. Oxon, UK

  17. The South China Sea Dispute: Perspective of International Law

    OpenAIRE

    Ma, Xuechan

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the South China Sea dispute from the perspective of international law. First, it introduces some basic knowledge about international law in this field. In the second part, Spratly islands dispute is used as a concrete example to show how international law analyzes this kind of dispute. Finally, it analyzes the arbitration case between the Philippines and China.

  18. Phylogenetic Analysis of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in South Korea and Migratory Bird Routes Between China, South Korea, and Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Yeojun; Heo, Sang Taek; Kim, Gwanghun; Hewson, Roger; Kim, Hyemin; Park, Dahee; Cho, Nam-Hyuk; Oh, Won Sup; Ryu, Seong Yeol; Kwon, Ki Tae; Medlock, Jolyon M; Lee, Keun Hwa

    2015-09-01

    Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne viral disease. The SFTS virus (SFTSV) has been detected in the Haemaphysalis longicornis, which acts as a transmission host between animals and humans. SFTSV was first confirmed in China in 2009 and has also been circulating in Japan and South Korea. However, it is not known if a genetic connection exists between the viruses in these regions and, if so, how SFTSV is transmitted across China, South Korea, and Japan. We therefore hypothesize that the SFTSV in South Korea share common phylogenetic origins with samples from China and Japan. Further, we postulate that migratory birds, well-known carriers of the tick H. longicornis, are a potential source of SFTSV transmission across countries. Our phylogenetic analysis results show that the SFTSV isolates in South Korea were similar to isolates from Japan and China. We connect this with previous work showing that SFTSV-infected H. longicornis were found in China, South Korea, and Japan. In addition, H. longicornis were found on migratory birds. The migratory bird routes and the distribution of H. longicornis are concurrent with the occurrence of SFTSV. Therefore, we suggest that migratory birds play an important role in dispersing H. longicornis-borne SFTSV. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

  19. Heavy metal pollution in coastal areas of South China: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shuai-Long; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Sun, Yu-Xin; Liu, Jin-Ling; Li, Hua-Bin

    2013-11-15

    Coastal areas of South China face great challenges due to heavy metal contamination caused by rapid urbanization and industrialization. In this paper, more than 90 articles on levels, distributions, and sources of heavy metals in sediments and organisms were collected to review the status of heavy metal pollution along coastal regions of South China. The results show that heavy metal levels were closely associated with local economic development. Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary were severely contaminated by heavy metals. However, concentrations of heavy metals in sediments from Hong Kong have continually decreased since the early 1990 s. High levels of heavy metals were found in biota from Lingdingyang in Guangdong province. Mollusks had higher concentrations of heavy metals than other species. Human health risk assessments suggested that levels of heavy metals in some seafood from coastal areas of South China exceeded the safety limit. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Exploring coral microbiome assemblages in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Lin; Tian, Ren-Mao; Zhou, Guowei; Tong, Haoya; Wong, Yue Him; Zhang, Weipeng; Chui, Apple Pui Yi; Xie, James Y; Qiu, Jian-Wen; Ang, Put O; Liu, Sheng; Huang, Hui; Qian, Pei-Yuan

    2018-02-05

    Coral reefs are significant ecosystems. The ecological success of coral reefs relies on not only coral-algal symbiosis but also coral-microbial partnership. However, microbiome assemblages in the South China Sea corals remain largely unexplored. Here, we compared the microbiome assemblages of reef-building corals Galaxea (G. fascicularis) and Montipora (M. venosa, M. peltiformis, M. monasteriata) collected from five different locations in the South China Sea using massively-parallel sequencing of 16S rRNA gene and multivariate analysis. The results indicated that microbiome assemblages for each coral species were unique regardless of location and were different from the corresponding seawater. Host type appeared to drive the coral microbiome assemblages rather than location and seawater. Network analysis was employed to explore coral microbiome co-occurrence patterns, which revealed 61 and 80 co-occurring microbial species assembling the Galaxea and Montipora microbiomes, respectively. Most of these co-occurring microbial species were commonly found in corals and were inferred to play potential roles in host nutrient metabolism; carbon, nitrogen, sulfur cycles; host detoxification; and climate change. These findings suggest that the co-occurring microbial species explored might be essential to maintain the critical coral-microbial partnership. The present study provides new insights into coral microbiome assemblages in the South China Sea.

  1. Pork Preference for Consumers in China, Japan and South Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S.-H. Oh

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Competition in global pork markets has increased as trade barriers have opened as a result of free trade agreements. Japanese prefer both loin and Boston butt, while Chinese prefer pork offal. Frozen pork has increased in terms of imports into China. Japanese consumers consider pork meat origin along with pork price when making purchase decisions. While the Chinese prefer a strong tasting pork product, South Korean consumers show very strong preferences to pork that is higher in fat. Therefore, South Korean consumers have a higher demand for pork belly and Boston butt. Consequently, the supply and demand of pork in Korea is hardly met, which means that importation of high fat parts is inevitable. In Korea there is lower preference toward low fat parts such as loin, picnic shoulder, and ham. During the economic depression in South Korea there have been observable changes in consumer preferences. There remains steep competition among the pork exporting countries in terms of gaining share in the international pork market. If specific consumer preferences would be considered carefully, there is the possibility to increase the amount of pork exported to these countries.

  2. Pork Preference for Consumers in China, Japan and South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, S.-H.; See, M. T.

    2012-01-01

    Competition in global pork markets has increased as trade barriers have opened as a result of free trade agreements. Japanese prefer both loin and Boston butt, while Chinese prefer pork offal. Frozen pork has increased in terms of imports into China. Japanese consumers consider pork meat origin along with pork price when making purchase decisions. While the Chinese prefer a strong tasting pork product, South Korean consumers show very strong preferences to pork that is higher in fat. Therefore, South Korean consumers have a higher demand for pork belly and Boston butt. Consequently, the supply and demand of pork in Korea is hardly met, which means that importation of high fat parts is inevitable. In Korea there is lower preference toward low fat parts such as loin, picnic shoulder, and ham. During the economic depression in South Korea there have been observable changes in consumer preferences. There remains steep competition among the pork exporting countries in terms of gaining share in the international pork market. If specific consumer preferences would be considered carefully, there is the possibility to increase the amount of pork exported to these countries. PMID:25049488

  3. Granite-related Hypothermal Uranium Mineralization in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Xiaodong; Wu Jianhua; Pan Jiangyong; Zhu Mingqian

    2014-01-01

    Moer and more evidence indicates that there are multi-stages uranium mineralization in many granite-related uranium deposits in south China. The early stage mineralization shares the characters of hypothermal U mineralization and had close relations to alkaline alterations.

  4. Post-rift magmatism in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, H.; Zhao, F.; Xia, S.; Sun, J.; Fan, C.

    2017-12-01

    Multi-beam, 2D seismic reflection and borehole data reveal that post-rift magmatism are widespread in the northern margin of South China Sea. A large-scale volcanic complex was identified at water depths of 500 to 3000 m, covering an area of ca. 8000 km2. This volcanic complex includes seamounts, igneous sills, dykes and intruded volcanic bodies. Combining data from exploration wells BY7-1 and BY2 with published seismic stratigraphic data, we can highlight multiple extrusive events from the Early Oligocene to Early Miocene, reflecting progressive continental breakup in the South China Sea. Most intruded magma through the continental crust also uplifted sediments up to the T6 unconformity. Given the evidence in this work that Early Miocene magmatic bodies were developed above or along faults, we suggest that post-rift magmatism in the northern margin of the South China Sea was largely controlled by the faults. Reactivation events in the faults are suggested to have generated preferential vertical pathways for the ascent of magma within a context of progressive continental breakup and thinned continental crust, as the South China Sea was being formed.

  5. Mummified fossil woods of Fagaceae from the upper Oligocene of Guangxi, South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Luliang; Jin, Jianhua; Quan, Cheng; Oskolski, Alexei A.

    2018-02-01

    Three new fossil species, two attributed to the genus Castanopsis (C. nanningensis and C. guangxiensis) and one to the organ genus Lithocarpoxylon (L. nanningensis) are described on the basis of well-preserved mummified wood from the upper Oligocene of Yongning Formation in the Nanning Basin, Guangxi Province, South China. The two species of Castanopsis represent the most ancient reliable wood record of this genus in China and also southeastern Asia, which is the center of diversity of extant species. The fossil leaf records of Castanopsis indicated this genus has migrated to South China in the late Eocene. This fossil wood evidence confirms the presence and persistence of Castanopsis in this region in the late Oligocene. In the Yongning Formation, the presence of numerous Fagaceae woods with faint or absent growth ring boundaries (in C. nanningensis) occasionally associated with prominent ring-porous patterns, suggests that Guangxi (South China) had a seasonal (probably monsoonal) tropical climate during the late Oligocene.

  6. Territorial disputes simmer in areas of South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that China's award of an exploration cooperation contact in the Nansha area of the South China Sea has revived territorial disputes in the area centering ton the Spratly and Paracel islands. The key dispute is between China and Viet Nam, which earlier engaged in military action over ownership of the islands, believed to have world class potential for hydrocarbon discoveries. Those two nations, as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Taiwan, lay claim to overlapping boundaries of the Spratly Islands. Separately, China and Viet Nam dispute territorial claims in the Paracels. Tensions continue to mount, and regional governments are trying to negotiate compromises to avoid a repeat of warfare

  7. Spatiotemporal Variability and Change of the South China Spring Precipitation during 1961–2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong-Lan Liu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We analyze precipitation data from 47 meteorological stations spanning between 1961 and 2012 and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis to understand spatiotemporal variability and change of spring precipitation of South China and their relations to atmospheric circulations. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF analysis and rotated EOF (REOF are used to reveal dominant spatial structures of precipitation anomaly and Mann-Kendall testing method to determine the temporal locations of abrupt changes during the analyzed time span. We find that the first spatial mode of the spring precipitation of the South China has a domain uniform structure; the second is dominated by a spatial dipole; and the third contains six variability centers. 1980s was the decade of the largest amount of precipitation while 1960s the decade of the smallest amount of precipitation. The spring precipitation also appeared to have a decreasing trend since 2000. We also find that spring precipitation of the South China has experienced a few abrupt changes: sudden increment at 1964, sudden decrement at 2002, and sudden increment at 1995. In addition to these abrupt changes, the precipitation could also be characterized by variability of multiple temporal scales, with dominant periodicities of 4 years, 8 years, and 14 years. The South China spring precipitation is also closely tied to the atmospheric circulations: when Aleutian Low strengthens, westerly weakens, and the center of the Western Pacific subtropical high shifts southeastward in the early spring; and the South China precipitation tends to be abundant (positive anomaly. In contrast, when Ural ridge strengthens, the southern branch of the East Asian trough weakens and the Western Pacific subtropical high shifts northwestward in the early spring, the South China precipitation tends to be reduced (negative anomaly.

  8. Data from renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basir Khan, M Reyasudin; Jidin, Razali; Pasupuleti, Jagadeesh

    2016-03-01

    Renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea were conducted that involves the collection and analysis of meteorological and topographic data. The meteorological data was used to assess the PV, wind and hydropower system potentials on the islands. Furthermore, the reconnaissance study for hydro-potentials were conducted through topographic maps in order to determine the potential sites suitable for development of run-of-river hydropower generation. The stream data was collected for 14 islands in the South China Sea with a total of 51 investigated sites. The data from this study are related to the research article "Optimal combination of solar, wind, micro-hydro and diesel systems based on actual seasonal load profiles for a resort island in the South China Sea" published in Energy (Khan et al., 2015) [1].

  9. A comparison of the radioactivity levels in the coastal waters between the great wall and Zhongshan stations in Antarctica and the Pohai, Huanghai, east China and south China seas of China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Jinxing

    1992-01-01

    A comparison of radioactivity levels in the coastal sediments and plants between the Great Wall and Zhongshan Stations in Antarctica and the four seas (i.e. the Pohai Sea, Huanghai Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea) in China shows that in general the radioactivity levels in the coastal sediments and plants in Antarctica are lower than those in the four seas in China. The contents of the total β in the sediments decrease from higher to lower in amount in the order of East China Sea, South China Sea, Pohai Sea, Huanghai Sea and the Great Wall Bay in Antarctica successively, but the contents of 238 U, 232 Th, 226 Ra, 40 K and the total β in marine plants decrease from higher to lower in amount in the order of Daya Bay in the South China Sea, Hanzhou Bay in the East China Sea and the Great Wall Bay in Antarctica successively. The results show that the contamination levels of radioactivity, especially the artificial radioactive contamination in the Antarctic coastal area are far lower than those in China Coastal area, with the remarkable exception of 137 Cs

  10. Distribution of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in South China sea sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Md Suhaimi Elias; Ab Khalik Wood; Zaleha Hashim; Wee Boon Siong; Nazaratul Ashifa; Mohd Suhaimi Hamzah; Shamsiah Ab Rahman; Ariffin Talib

    2006-01-01

    Petroleum hydrocarbon (Hcp) consist of three major components namely alkanes, cyclo-alkanes and aromatics. HCP are pollutant and can cause adverse effect to the marine organisms. The study was done to identify the source of pollution in the South China Sea coastal area. The South China Sea is one of the major oil production area in Malaysia. Sampling was done at 15 stations along the coastal area of South China Sea off Peninsular Malaysia, which involved two zone namely coastal (zone 1) and offshore (zone 2) areas. Samples were analyzed using GC-MS for determination of HCP. The results showed, that concentration of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon at coastal area, range from 0.51 - 1.31 mg/g and 0.18 - 0.42 mg/g dry weight, respectively whilst, concentration of aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon at offshore area, range from 0.44 - 1.09 mg/g and 0.20 - 0.49 mg/g dry weight, respectively. SHCP (Aliphatic + PAH) concentration in the sediment at the study area range from 0.64 - 1.68 mg/g dry weight. In this study, it was found that, pollution source for the South China Sea off Peninsular Malaysia was originated from pyrolytic sources (combustion fossil fuel), while some other area had been polluted by pyrolytic or petrogenic (unburned fossil) sources. (Author)

  11. Past and Present Resource Disputes in the South China Sea: The Case of Reed Bank

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Micah S. Muscolino

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available In 2012, tensions flared between China and the Philippines over plans to drill for oil in the Reed Bank, a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, rekindling fears about the possibility of military conflict over the area’s energy resources. This article shows that international controversy centering on the Reed Bank’s hydrocarbon reserves initially emerged during the oil crisis of the 1970s, when the pursuit of energy resources transformed the islets into a hotly contested area. As in recent years, oil exploration by multinational corporations in conjunction with the Philippines catalyzed international disputes. Vigorous protests from China and other nations that lay claim to territories in the South China Sea prompted the Philippines to assert its own jurisdictional claims. The territorial dispute pushed claimants to the brink of military confrontation in the 1970s, yet armed conflict failed to materialize. By examining the initial round of tensions surrounding oil exploration at Reed Bank, this article situates the current international competition for the South China Sea’s energy resources in historical perspective. Analyzing past disputes and their ultimate resolution offers insights into the dynamics of present tensions, while making it possible to critically engage with arguments predicting future “resource wars” in the South China Sea.

  12. Source and Extent of Volcanic Ashes at the Permian-Triassic Boundary in South China and Its implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, M.; Zhong, Y. T.; Hou, Y. L.; He, B.

    2017-12-01

    Highly correlated with the Permian-Triassic Boundary (PTB) Mass Extinction in stratigraphic section, volcanic ashes around the P-T Boundary in South China have been suggested to be a likely cause of the PTB Mass Extinction. So the nature, source and extent of these volcanic ashes have great significance in figuring out the cause of the PTB Mass Extinction. In this study, we attempt to constrain the source and extent of the PTB volcanic ashes in South China by studying pyroclastic sedimentary rocks and the spatial distribution of tuffs and ashes in South China. The detrital zircons of tuffaceous sandstones from Penglaitan section yield an age spectrum peaked at 252Ma, with ɛHf(t) values varying from -20 to -5 ,and have Nb/Hf, Th/Nb and Hf/Th ratios similar to those from arc/orogenic-related settings. Coarse tuffaceous sandstones imply that their source is in limited distance. Those pyroclastic sedimentary rocks in Penglaitan are well correlated with the PTB volcanic ashes in Meishan GSSP section in stratigraphy. In the spatial distribution, pyroclastic sedimentary rocks and tuffs distribute only in southwest of South China, while finer volcanic ashes are mainly in the northern part. This spatial distribution suggests the source of tuffs and ashes was to the south or southwest of South China. Former studies especially that of Permian-Triassic magmatism in Hainan Island have supported the existence of a continental arc related to the subduction and closure of Palaeo-Tethys on the southwestern margin of South China during Permian to early Triassic. It is suggested that the PTB ashes possibly derived from this Paleo-Tethys continental arc. The fact that volcanic ashes haven't been reported or found in PTB stratum in North China or Northwest China implies a limited extent of the volcanism, which thus is too small to cause the PTB mass extinction.

  13. Seismicity and stress state in the South China Sea, Indochina and their vicinity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zang, Shaoxian; Wu, Zhongliang; Li, Aibing

    1992-02-01

    The distribution of earthquakes from 1973 to 1982 in the South China Sea, Indochina and their vicinity was studied using the data from I. S. C. It was found that the earthquakes are mainly concentrated along the boundaries of plates. Beside, some of shallow eartqhuakes are distributed in west part of Burma and the boundary between Burma and China, a few of earthquakes occurred in South China Sea. The features of Benioff zone along the boundaries between India plate, Philippine Sea plate and Eurasia plate were studied. The plate do not coupled well under the Java trench and the Philippine trench. The subducted India plate under Burmese range, Andaman—Nicobar arc moves NNE. The fault plane solutions of earthquakes were studied using the first motions of P wave. The stress state on subduction zones and within the area were deduced from the fault plane solutions and the fault movement. It was found that the direction of principal compression axis of stress is in the NNE in west part of Burma, in S—N in south and middle part of Bruma and Thailand, and in NNE or S—N in the South China Sea. It was also found that the stress state has close relation with the interaction of plates.

  14. Data from renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basir Khan, M. Reyasudin; Jidin, Razali; Pasupuleti, Jagadeesh

    2015-01-01

    Renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea were conducted that involves the collection and analysis of meteorological and topographic data. The meteorological data was used to assess the PV, wind and hydropower system potentials on the islands. Furthermore, the reconnaissance study for hydro-potentials were conducted through topographic maps in order to determine the potential sites suitable for development of run-of-river hydropower generation. The stream data was collected for 14 islands in the South China Sea with a total of 51 investigated sites. The data from this study are related to the research article “Optimal combination of solar, wind, micro-hydro and diesel systems based on actual seasonal load profiles for a resort island in the South China Sea” published in Energy (Khan et al., 2015) [1]. PMID:26779562

  15. Comparing the Experiences and Needs of Postsecondary International Students from China and South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deters, Ping

    2015-01-01

    International students from China and South Korea are an increasingly important part of the international student body in many English-medium postsecondary institutions. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences and needs of these two groups of students at a Canadian postsecondary institution. Data…

  16. Diverse deep-sea fungi from the South China Sea and their antimicrobial activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiao-Yong; Zhang, Yun; Xu, Xin-Ya; Qi, Shu-Hua

    2013-11-01

    We investigated the diversity of fungal communities in nine different deep-sea sediment samples of the South China Sea by culture-dependent methods followed by analysis of fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Although 14 out of 27 identified species were reported in a previous study, 13 species were isolated from sediments of deep-sea environments for the first report. Moreover, these ITS sequences of six isolates shared 84-92 % similarity with their closest matches in GenBank, which suggested that they might be novel phylotypes of genera Ajellomyces, Podosordaria, Torula, and Xylaria. The antimicrobial activities of these fungal isolates were explored using a double-layer technique. A relatively high proportion (56 %) of fungal isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity against at least one pathogenic bacterium or fungus among four marine pathogenic microbes (Micrococcus luteus, Pseudoaltermonas piscida, Aspergerillus versicolor, and A. sydowii). Out of these antimicrobial fungi, the genera Arthrinium, Aspergillus, and Penicillium exhibited antibacterial and antifungal activities, while genus Aureobasidium displayed only antibacterial activity, and genera Acremonium, Cladosporium, Geomyces, and Phaeosphaeriopsis displayed only antifungal activity. To our knowledge, this is the first report to investigate the diversity and antimicrobial activity of culturable deep-sea-derived fungi in the South China Sea. These results suggest that diverse deep-sea fungi from the South China Sea are a potential source for antibiotics' discovery and further increase the pool of fungi available for natural bioactive product screening.

  17. Long-term spatiotemporal trends and health risk assessment of oyster arsenic levels in coastal waters of northern South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xuefeng; Wang, Lifei; Jia, Xiaoping; Jackson, Donald A

    2017-09-01

    Long-term spatiotemporal trends and health risk assessment of oyster arsenic levels in the coastal waters of northern South China Sea were investigated in order to help improve the quality and safety control and sustainable aquaculture for mollusks in China. Cultured oysters (Crassostrea rivularis) collected from the waters of 23 bays, harbors, and estuaries along the coast of northern South China Sea from 1989 to 2012 were examined for spatial patterns and long-term temporal trends of oyster arsenic levels. Single-factor index and health risk assessment were used to quantify arsenic exposure to human health through oyster consumption. Overall, arsenic was detected in 97.4% of the oyster samples, and oyster arsenic levels were non-detectable-2.51 mg/kg with an average of 0.63 ± 0.54 mg/kg. Oyster arsenic levels in the coastal waters of northern South China Sea showed an overall decline from 1989 to 2012, remained relatively low since 2005, and slightly increased after 2007. Oyster arsenic levels in Guangdong coastal waters were much higher with more variation than in Guangxi and Hainan coastal waters, and the long-term trends of oyster arsenic levels in Guangdong coastal waters dominated the overall trends of oyster arsenic levels in the coastal waters of northern South China Sea. Within Guangdong Province, oyster arsenic levels were highest in east Guangdong coastal waters, followed by the Pearl River estuary and west Guangdong coastal waters. Single-factor index ranged between 0.27 and 0.97, and average health risk coefficient was 3.85 × 10 -5 , both suggesting that oyster arsenic levels in northern South China Sea are within the safe range for human consumption. However, long-term attention should be given to seafood market monitoring in China and the risk of arsenic exposure to human health through oyster consumption.

  18. Preliminary numerical simulation for shallow strata stability of coral reef in South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Qinqin; Zhan, Wenhuan; Zhang, Jinchang

    2017-04-01

    Coral reefs are the geologic material and special rock and soil, which live in shallow water of the tropic ocean and are formed through biological and geological action. Since infrastructure construction is being increasingly developed on coral reefs during recent years, it is necessary to evaluate the shallow strata stability of coral reefs in the South China Sea. The paper is to study the borehole profiles for shallow strata of coral reefs in the South China Sea, especially in the hydrodynamic marine environment?, and to establish a geological model for numerical simulation with Geo-Studio software. Five drilling holes show a six-layer shallow structure of South China Sea, including filling layer, mid-coarse sand, coral sand gravel, fine sand, limestone debris and reef limestone. The shallow coral reef profile next to lagoon is similar to "layers cake", in which the right side close to the sea is analogous to "block cake". The simulation results show that coral reef stability depends on wave loads and earthquake strength, as well as the physical properties of coral reefs themselves. The safety factor of the outer reef is greater than 10.0 in the static condition, indicating that outer reefs are less affected by the wave and earthquake. However, the safety factor next to lagoon is ranging from 0.1 to 4.9. The main reason for the variations that the strata of coral reefs close to the sea are thick. For example, the thickness of reef limestone is more than 10 m and equivalent to the block. When the thickness of inside strata is less than 10 m, they show weak engineering geological characteristics. These findings can provide useful information for coral reef constructions in future. This work was funded by National Basic Research Program of China (contract: 2013CB956104) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (contract: 41376063).

  19. Granite-related hypothermal uranium mineralization in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, X.; Wu, J.; Pan, J.; Zhu, M.

    2014-01-01

    As one of the important geological types, granite-related uranium deposits account for about 29% of the total discovered natural uranium resources in China. Most of the granite-related uranium deposits located in Taoshan - Zhuguang uranium metallogenic belt, South China. In addition to the typical pitchblende vein-type uranium mineralization of epithermal metallogenic system, a new type of granite-related uranium mineralization with characteristics of hypothermal matallogenic system was discovered in South China by current studies. However, hypothermal is contact thermal to epithermal mineralization, and not the conventional intrusive high temperature mineralization. Hypothermal uranium mineralization is presented by disseminated uraninite or pitchblende stockwork in fissures in granites normally with extensive alkaline alteration. The high temperature mineral assemblage of uraninite associate with scheelite and tourmaline was identified in hypothermal uranium mineralization. Fluid inclusion studies on this type mineralization indicated the middle to high temperature (>250℃) mineralization with the mixing evidence of ore forming solution derived from deep level, and the boiling and mixing of ore forming solution are regarded as the dominant mineralization mechanism for the precipitating of uranium. In contrast to the mineralization ages of 67 Ma to 87 Ma for typical pitchblende vein mineralization of epithermal metallogenic system, the mineralization age is older than 100 Ma for hypothermal uranium mineralization in granite. In the Shituling deposit, Xiazhuang uranium ore field, uraninite and pitchblende micro veins with extensive potassic alteration, chloritization and sericitization are hosted in fissures of Indo-Chinese epoch granites with the uranium mineralization age of 130 Ma to 138 Ma with a mineralization temperature of 290℃ to 330℃ indicated. Other examples sharing the similar characters of hypothermal uranium mineralization have been recognized in

  20. Increasing surface ozone concentrations in the background atmosphere of Southern China, 1994–2007

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Wang

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Tropospheric ozone is of great importance with regard to air quality, atmospheric chemistry, and climate change. In this paper we report the first continuous record of surface ozone in the background atmosphere of South China. The data were obtained from 1994 to 2007 at a coastal site in Hong Kong, which is strongly influenced by the outflow of Asian continental air during the winter and the inflow of maritime air from the subtropics in the summer. Three methods are used to derive the rate of change in ozone. A linear fit to the 14-year record shows that the ozone concentration increased by 0.58 ppbv/yr, whereas comparing means in years 1994–2000 and 2001–2007 gives an increase of 0.87 ppbv/yr for a 7-year period. The ozone changes in air masses from various source regions are also examined. Using local wind and carbon monoxide (CO data to filter out local influence, we find that ozone increased by 0.94 ppbv/yr from 1994–2000 to 2001–2007 in air masses from Eastern China, with similar changes in the other two continent-influenced air-mass groups, but no statistically significant change in the marine air. An examination of the nitrogen dioxide (NO2 column obtained from GOME and SCIAMACHY reveals an increase in atmospheric NO2 in China's three fastest developing coastal regions, whereas NO2 in other parts of Asia decreased during the same period, and no obvious trend over the main shipping routes in the South China Sea was indicated. Thus the observed increase in background ozone in Hong Kong is most likely due to the increased emissions of NO2 (and possibly volatile organic compounds (VOCs as well in the upwind coastal regions of mainland China. The CO data at Hok Tsui showed less definitive changes compared to the satellite NO2 column. The increase in background ozone likely made a strong contribution (81% to the rate of increase in "total ozone" at an urban site in Hong Kong

  1. The nexus of oil consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in China, Japan and South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saboori, Behnaz; Rasoulinezhad, Ehsan; Sung, Jinsok

    2017-03-01

    This article attempts to explore the nexus between oil consumption, economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in three East Asian oil importing countries (i.e. China, South Korea and Japan) over the period 1980-2013, by using the Granger causality, Johansen cointegration test, Generalised Impulse Response functions (GIRF) and variance decompositions. The empirical findings provide evidence for the existence of a long-run relationship between oil consumption and economic growth in China and Japan. The results also point to a uni-directional causality from running from oil consumption to economic growth in China and Japan, and from oil consumption to CO 2 emissions in South Korea. The overall results of GIRF reveal that while economic growth in China and South Korea shows a positive response to oil consumption, this variable responses negatively to the same shock in Japan. In addition, oil consumption spikes cause a negative response of CO 2 emissions in Japan and China, as well as a U-shape response in South Korea.

  2. Cretaceous–Eocene provenance connections between the Palawan Continental Terrane and the northern South China Sea margin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shao, Lei; Cao, Licheng; Qiao, Peijun; Zhang, Xiangtao; Li, Qianyu; van Hinsbergen, Douwe J.J.

    2017-01-01

    The plate kinematic history of the South China Sea opening is key to reconstructing how the Mesozoic configuration of Panthalassa and Tethyan subduction systems evolved into today's complex Southeast Asian tectonic collage. The South China Sea is currently flanked by the Palawan Continental Terrane

  3. Comparison of modern pollen distribution between the northern and southern parts of the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Chuanxiu; Chen, Muhong; Xiang, Rong; Liu, Jianguo; Zhang, Lanlan; Lu, Jun

    2015-04-01

    The authors conducted a palynological analysis based on different number of air pollen samples for the northern and southern parts of the South China Sea, respectively, in order to give a reference to reconstruct the paleoclimate of the area. (1) Fifteen air pollen samples were collected from the northern part of the South China Sea from August to September 2011, and 13 air pollen samples were collected from the southern part of the South China Sea in December 2011. The pollen types were more abundant in the north than in the south. The total pollen number and concentration in the north was 10 times more than that in the south, which may be because of the sampling season. Airborne pollen types and concentrations have a close relationship with wind direction and distance from the sampling point to the continent. (2) Seventy-four samples were collected from surface sediments in the northern part of the South China Sea in the autumn. Thirty-three samples were collected from surface sediments in the southern part of the South China Sea in the winter. Pollen concentrations in the north were nearly 10 times higher than that in the south. This is because trilete spores are transported by rivers from Hainan Island to the sea and also by the summer monsoon-forced marine current. (3) Ten air pollen samples and 10 surface sediments samples were selected for comparison. The pollen and spores in the air were mainly herbaceous and woody pollen, excluding fern spores, having seasonal pollen characteristics. Pollen in the surface sediments were mainly trilete, Pinus, and herbaceous, and may also show a combination of annual pollen characteristics.

  4. Sustainable development of agriculture in karst areas, South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linhua Song

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available The exposed carbonate rocks aged from Sinian to Mid-Triassic Periods cover an area of 500,000 Km2 in south-west China. In karst areas with spectacular landscapes characterized by magnificent tower karst and conical karst, rare surface drainage systems and prevalent subsurface drainage systems, the environment is ecologically very fragile. The rapid increase of population, over deforested and cultivated lands, worsted the ecological system, causing a higher frequency of draught, flood and various disasters, backward economic development, low living standard of the people. In order to improve the sustainability of the agriculture the experience shows that the following operations should be adopted: (1 serious control of the population increase, emigration, extra labours and improvement of the environmental education of the local inhabitants; (2 terracing of the slopes (shi jala di as to improve the cultivated land quality, to preserve the water, soil and fertiliser and ameliorate the effective utilisation of the land; (3 development of new rural energies such as the solar energy and gas energy, and expansion of the saving-fuel stoves to reduce the load of bio-energy; (4 reforestation and bounding the hills and mountains; the ecological, economic and fuel forests model has been developed in fengcong-depression areas: the tree species with high ecological, economical and energetic characteristics, should be chosen, such as the bamboo, wild grapes, Sapium rotundifolium etc.; (5 better utilisation of the ram water and karst water resource to solve the water supply problems. The karst landscape is well developed in the 500,000 km2 carbonate terrain in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, west Hunan and south Sichuan provinces in south-west China, where 100 million habitants live (Song, 1997. The large population and its high density, serious deforestation, over-cultivation and fragile ecological system make the environmental problems very serious and about 30

  5. Stability of submarine slopes in the northern South China Sea: a numerical approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Liang; Luan, Xiwu

    2013-01-01

    Submarine landslides occur frequently on most continental margins. They are effective mechanisms of sediment transfer but also a geological hazard to seafloor installations. In this paper, submarine slope stability is evaluated using a 2D limit equilibrium method. Considerations of slope, sediment, and triggering force on the factor of safety (FOS) were calculated in drained and undrained ( Φ=0) cases. Results show that submarine slopes are stable when the slope is 13° with earthquake peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.5 g; whereas with a weak layer, a PGA of 0.2 g could trigger instability at slopes >10°, and >3° for PGA of 0.5 g. The northern slope of the South China Sea is geomorphologically stable under static conditions. However, because of the possibility of high PGA at the eastern margin of the South China Sea, submarine slides are likely on the Taiwan Bank slope and eastern part of the Dongsha slope. Therefore, submarine slides recognized in seismic profiles on the Taiwan Bank slope would be triggered by an earthquake, the most important factor for triggering submarine slides on the northern slope of the South China Sea. Considering the distribution of PGA, we consider the northern slope of the South China Sea to be stable, excluding the Taiwan Bank slope, which is tectonically active.

  6. Subtropical westerly jet waveguide and winter persistent heavy rainfall in south China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Feng; Li, Chun

    2017-07-01

    Using observed daily precipitation and National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data, what induced winter large spatial persistent heavy rainfall (PHR) events in south China was examined, based on composite analyses of 30 large spatial PHR events during 1951-2015. The results showed that wave trains within North Africa-Asia (NAA) westerly jet existed in upper troposphere during these PHR processes. The wave trains shared the characteristic of a Rossby wave. The Rossby wave originated from northwest Europe, entered into the NAA jet through strong cold air advection to form convergence over the Mediterranean, and then propagated eastward along subtropical NAA jet. The Rossby wave propagated toward Southeast Asia and caused strong divergence in the upper troposphere. The strong divergence in the upper troposphere induced vertical convection and favored large spatial PHR events in south China. In addition, the enhanced India-Burma trough and subtropical high in the northwestern Pacific supplied enough water vapor transportation. This mechanism would be useful to the medium-range forecast of such winter rainfall processes over south China.

  7. 137Cs inventories in the water column collected from the South and South China Seas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, M.; Wang, Z.-L.; Zheng, J.

    2006-01-01

    Seawater samples were collected in the Sulu and South China Seas and their 137 Cs activities were determined by γ spectrometry. A significant difference in intermediate water 137 Cs activities in the 750-1500 m depth was observed between the Sulu and South China Seas. The 137 Cs inventories in the Sulu Sea was 5.7 times higher than that of the integrated deposition density of atmospheric global fallout at the same latitude of 0-10degN. A possible mechanism controlling this extremely high 137 Cs inventories may be inflows of 137 Cs rich North Pacific Tropical Water and upper North Pacific Intermediate Water through the Luzon Straight from the West Philippine Sea, and lateral transport across the Mindoro Strait into the Sulu Sea, then conveyance into the deep layer in the Sulu Sea basin. (author)

  8. Dynamics of the water circulations in the southern South China Sea and its seasonal transports

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daryabor, Farshid; Ooi, See Hai Ooi; Samah, Azizan Abu

    2016-01-01

    -analysis data of the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation. It is found that the seasonal water circulations are mainly driven by the monsoonal wind stress and influenced by the water outflow/inflow and associated currents of the entire South China Sea. The intrusion of the strong current along the East Coast......A three-dimensional Regional Ocean Modeling System is used to study the seasonal water circulations and transports of the Southern South China Sea. The simulated seasonal water circulations and estimated transports show consistency with observations, e.g., satellite altimeter data set and re...... of Peninsular Malaysia and the eddies at different depths in all seasons are due to the conservation of the potential vorticity as the depth increases. Results show that the water circulation patterns in the northern part of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia are generally dominated by the geostrophic...

  9. Clinical application of traditional herbal medicine in five countries and regions: Japan; South Korea; Mainland China; Hong Kong, China; Taiwan, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liming Chen

    2015-07-01

    Conclusions: The clinical dosages of traditional herbal medicine used in the mainland China are relatively large compared with those prescribed in the other four countries and regions, and the range of dosages in mainland China is more flexible. On the other hand, clinical dosages of TOP50 are the lowest in Japan, where the dosage range is also the narrowest, supporting the idea that Doctors of Kampo medicine are highly cautious and are likely to adhere strictly to classical formulae, while Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China are in the middle. The dosage of TOP50 in South Korea is significantly lower than that used in the mainland China; Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China where the adherence to the classical formulae was the lowest, albeit slightly higher than that in Japan. The methods of clinical application of traditional herbal medicine in the five countries and regions were affected by multiple factors, including history, geography, climate, and culture.

  10. Sequence Analysis of Mitochondrial Genome of Toxascaris leonina from a South China Tiger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Kangxin; Yang, Fang; Abdullahi, A Y; Song, Meiran; Shi, Xianli; Wang, Minwei; Fu, Yeqi; Pan, Weida; Shan, Fang; Chen, Wu; Li, Guoqing

    2016-12-01

    Toxascaris leonina is a common parasitic nematode of wild mammals and has significant impacts on the protection of rare wild animals. To analyze population genetic characteristics of T. leonina from South China tiger, its mitochondrial (mt) genome was sequenced. Its complete circular mt genome was 14,277 bp in length, including 12 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 2 non-coding regions. The nucleotide composition was biased toward A and T. The most common start codon and stop codon were TTG and TAG, and 4 genes ended with an incomplete stop codon. There were 13 intergenic regions ranging 1 to 10 bp in size. Phylogenetically, T. leonina from a South China tiger was close to canine T. leonina . This study reports for the first time a complete mt genome sequence of T. leonina from the South China tiger, and provides a scientific basis for studying the genetic diversity of nematodes between different hosts.

  11. Study of southern CHAONAN sag lower continental slope basin deposition character in Northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Y.

    2009-12-01

    Northern South China Sea Margin locates in Eurasian plate,Indian-Australia plate,Pacific Plates.The South China Sea had underwent a complicated tectonic evolution in Cenozoic.During rifting,the continental shelf and slope forms a series of Cenozoic sedimentary basins,including Qiongdongnan basin,Pearl River Mouth basin,Taixinan basin.These basins fill in thick Cenozoic fluviolacustrine facies,transitional facies,marine facies,abyssal facies sediment,recording the evolution history of South China Sea Margin rifting and ocean basin extending.The studies of tectonics and deposition of depression in the Southern Chaonan Sag of lower continental slope in the Norther South China Sea were dealt with,based on the sequence stratigraphy and depositional facies interpretation of seismic profiles acquired by cruises of“China and Germany Joint Study on Marine Geosciences in the South China Sea”and“The formation,evolution and key issues of important resources in China marginal sea",and combining with ODP 1148 cole and LW33-1-1 well.The free-air gravity anomaly of the break up of the continental and ocean appears comparatively low negative anomaly traps which extended in EW,it is the reflection of passive margin gravitational effect.Bouguer gravity anomaly is comparatively low which is gradient zone extended NE-SW.Magnetic anomaly lies in Magnetic Quiet Zone at the Northern Continental Margin of the South China Sea.The Cenozoic sediments of lower continental slope in Southern Chaonan Sag can be divided into five stratum interface:SB5.5,SB10.5,SB16.5,SB23.8 and Hg,their ages are of Pliocene-Quaternary,late Miocene,middle Miocene,early Miocene,paleogene.The tectonic evolution of low continental slope depressions can be divided into rifting,rifting-depression transitional and depression stages,while their depositional environments change from river to shallow marine and abyssa1,which results in different topography in different stages.The topographic evolvement in the study

  12. Wind Profiles and Wave Spectra for Potential Wind Farms in South China Sea. Part II: Wave Spectrum Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yichao Liu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Along with the commercialization of offshore wind energy in China, the South China Sea has been identified as ideal for constructing offshore wind farms, especially for farms consisting of floating wind turbines over deep waters. Since the wind profiles and wave spectra are somewhat primitive for the design of an offshore wind turbine, engineering models describing the wind and wave characteristics in the South China Sea area are necessary for the offshore wind energy exploitation given the meteorological, hydrological, and geographical differences between the South China Sea and the North/Norwegian Sea, where the commonly used wind profile and wave spectrum models were designated. In the present study; a series of numerical simulations were conducted to reveal the wave characteristics in the South China Sea under both typhoon and non-typhoon conditions. By analyzing the simulation results; the applicability of the Joint North Sea Wave Project (JONSWAP spectrum model; in terms of characterizing the wind-induced wave fields in the South China Sea; was discussed. In detail; the key parameters of the JONSWAP spectrum model; such as the Phillips constant; spectral width parameter; peak-enhancement factor, and high frequency tail decay; were investigated in the context of finding suitable values.

  13. CAN INTERNATIONAL LAW MAKE A DIFFERENCE UNCLOS AND THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-03-20

    insignificant to a country that is hedging its bets and its control to become a regional power house. 15 Unfortunately for China, the PCA’s decision...published by China’s think tank, the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, that warns the US that its freedom of navigation patrols in the...Bloomberg, “US Naval Patrols Threaten Sovereignty, China Think Tank Warns,” Stars and Stripes 25 November 2016 https://www.stripes.com/news

  14. Acceleration of modern acidification in the South China Sea driven by anthropogenic CO2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yi; Peng, Zicheng; Zhou, Renjun; Song, Shaohua; Liu, Weiguo; You, Chen-Feng; Lin, Yen-Po; Yu, Kefu; Wu, Chung-Che; Wei, Gangjian; Xie, Luhua; Burr, George S.; Shen, Chuan-Chou

    2014-01-01

    Modern acidification by the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 can profoundly affect the physiology of marine organisms and the structure of ocean ecosystems. Centennial-scale global and regional influences of anthropogenic CO2 remain largely unknown due to limited instrumental pH records. Here we present coral boron isotope-inferred pH records for two periods from the South China Sea: AD 1048–1079 and AD 1838–2001. There are no significant pH differences between the first period at the Medieval Warm Period and AD 1830–1870. However, we find anomalous and unprecedented acidification during the 20th century, pacing the observed increase in atmospheric CO2. Moreover, pH value also varies in phase with inter-decadal changes in Asian Winter Monsoon intensity. As the level of atmospheric CO2 keeps rising, the coupling global warming via weakening the winter monsoon intensity could exacerbate acidification of the South China Sea and threaten this expansive shallow water marine ecosystem. PMID:24888785

  15. Did opening of the South China Sea impact development of the Asian Monsoon? Results from Oligocene microfossils, IODP Site U1435, northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulhanek, Denise K.; Su, Xin; Li, Qianyu; Gregory, Mitch; Warny, Sophie; Clift, Peter D.

    2016-04-01

    Development of the Asian Monsoon is linked to uplift of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau in the Cenozoic, with good evidence for a strong monsoon system by the late Oligocene to early Miocene (e.g., Guo et al., 2002; Clift et al., 2008). However, Licht et al. (2014) suggested the presence of an Asian Monsoon in the late Eocene. Recent scientific ocean drilling in the Indian Ocean and surrounding marginal seas gives us the opportunity to test this hypothesis with newly recovered Paleogene sediment cores. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 349 to the South China Sea recovered a 30 m section of primarily lower Oligocene nannofossil-rich claystone at Site U1435, located near the northern continent/ocean boundary. A thick sandstone unit devoid of typical marine microfossils underlies the marine claystone. The sandstone is interpreted as a deltaic or restricted marine deposit and is dated to the Eocene based on the presence of organic-walled palynomorphs, suggesting that a hiatus of several million years likely separates the sandstone below from the Oligocene marine claystone. This hiatus is interpreted as the breakup unconformity, with paleodepths in the South China Sea increasing during the Oligocene. Thus, this claystone should record if opening of the South China Sea during the early Oligocene influenced development of the Asian Monsoon. Combined calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminifer biostratigraphy indicates that the 30 m section is primarily early Oligocene in age (~33.5-30 Ma) and was deposited on the middle slope, with paleodepths >500 m. Stable oxygen isotopes from planktonic foraminifers become heavier up-hole, suggestive of cooling/deepening in the region, whereas carbon isotopes record variable conditions with no distinct maxima or minima. Calcareous nannoplankton primarily live in the upper 50 m of the ocean and are sensitive to sea-surface temperature and nutrient conditions, thus making them useful recorders of paleoceanographic

  16. Energy in China: Coping with increasing demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandklef, Kristina

    2004-11-01

    Sustaining the increasing energy consumption is crucial to future economic growth in China. This report focuses on the current and future situation of energy production and consumption in China and how China is coping with its increasing domestic energy demand. Today, coal is the most important energy resource, followed by oil and hydropower. Most energy resources are located in the inland, whereas the main demand for energy is in the coastal areas, which makes transportation and transmission of energy vital. The industrial sector is the main driver of the energy consumption in China, but the transport sector and the residential sector will increase their share of consumption in China, but the transport sector and the residential sector will increase their share of consumption by 2020. China's energy intensity decreased during the 1990s, but it is still high in a global comparison. China is projected to increase its energy consumption at least two times between 2000 and 2025. The government has an equal focus on energy conservation and to develop the current energy resources. Coal will continue to be the most important fuel, but the demand for oil, hydropower, natural gas and nuclear power will also increase. The main future challenges are transportation of energy resources within China and securing oil supply, both domestic and imports

  17. Contrasting Photophysiological Characteristics of Phytoplankton Assemblages in the Northern South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Peng; Gao, Guang; Liu, Xin; Li, Futian; Tong, Shanying; Ding, Jiancheng; Zhong, Zhihai; Liu, Nana; Gao, Kunshan

    2016-01-01

    The growth of phytoplankton and thus marine primary productivity depend on photophysiological performance of phytoplankton cells that respond to changing environmental conditions. The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest marginal sea of the western Pacific and plays important roles in modulating regional climate and carbon budget. However, little has been documented on photophysiological characteristics of phytoplankton in the SCS. For the first time, we investigated photophysiological characteristics of phytoplankton assemblages in the northern South China Sea (NSCS) using a real-time in-situ active chlorophyll a fluorometry, covering 4.0 × 105 km2. The functional absorption cross section of photosystem II (PSII) in darkness (σPSII) or under ambient light (σPSII') (A2 quanta-1) increased from the surface to deeper waters at all the stations during the survey period (29 July to 23 August 2012). While the maximum (Fv/Fm, measured in darkness) or effective (Fq'/Fm', measured under ambient light) photochemical efficiency of PSII appeared to increase with increasing depth at most stations, it showed inverse relationship with depth in river plume areas. The functional absorption cross section of PSII changes could be attributed to light-adapted genotypic feature due to niche-partition and the alteration of photochemical efficiency of PSII could be attributed to photo-acclimation. The chlorophyll a fluorometry can be taken as an analog to estimate primary productivity, since areas of higher photochemical efficiency of PSII coincided with those of higher primary productivity reported previously in the NSCS.

  18. Identification of multiple magnetizations of the Ediacaran strata in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing, Xianqing; Yang, Zhenyu; Tong, Yabo; Wang, Heng; Xu, Yingchao

    2018-01-01

    A suspected Silurian remagnetization of the Ediacaran strata of South China was proposed decades ago by many researchers, but, there has been no systematic study of its causes and mechanisms. In this study, we investigate the multiphase remagnetization processes that affected the Ediacaran strata and the possible mechanisms of these remagnetization events. We conducted detailed palaeomagnetic, rock magnetic and scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies of samples from the Ediacaran strata in the Jiulongwan (JLWE, JLWS), Qinglinkou (QLK) and Sanxiarenjia (SXRJ) sections in the Three Gorges Area, South China. After removal of a recent viscous remanent magnetization below 150 °C, an intermediate temperature component (ITC; Dg = 27.6°, Ig = 45.3°, N = 12 sites, kg = 184.3, α95 = 3.2° for JLWE; Dg = 22°, Ig = 45.3°, N = 11 sites, kg = 789.2, α95 = 1.6° for JLWS; and Dg = 25.5°, Ig = 52.5°, N = 6 sites, kg = 533.4, α95 = 2.9° for SXRJ) was removed below 300 °C which coincides with the Jurassic results from South China, suggesting a pervasive Jurassic remagnetization. In addition, a high temperature component (HTC; Ds = 84.8°, Is = 19.2°, N = 9 sites, ks = 35.5, α95 = 8.8° for JLWE; Ds = 74.1°, Is = 49.4°, N = 7 sites, ks = 218.9, α95 = 4.1° for JLWS; and Ds = 89.5°, Is = 30.7°, N = 8 sites, ks = 129.2, α95 = 4.9° for SXRJ) was isolated between 300 and 480-540 °C. Rock magnetic and SEM studies suggest that the ITC and HTC are carried by pyrrhotite and magnetite, respectively. SEM observations also demonstrate the occurrence of massive authigenic magnetite in cavities or cracks, mineralogical changes from pyrite to Fe oxides, and the reaction between gypsum and Fe oxides. Based on similarities to the Silurian poles of South China, together with the SEM observations, we suggest that the HTC from the JLWE and SXRJ sections is a Silurian age remagnetization. The oxidation of iron sulphides and thermochemical sulphate reduction induced by the

  19. Dietary exposure to aluminium of urban residents from cities in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Qi; Wang, Jing; Li, Min; Liang, Xuxia; Dai, Guangwei; Hu, Zhikun; Wen, Jian; Huang, Qiong; Zhang, Yonghui

    2013-01-01

    A dietary survey was conducted over three consecutive days by using 24-hour dietary recall in the Pearl River Delta of South China to investigate the dietary consumption status. A total of 1702 food samples, 22 food groups, were collected, and aluminium concentrations of foods were determined by using ICP-MS. Weekly dietary exposure to aluminium of the average urban residents of South China was estimated to be 1.5 mg kg⁻¹ body weight, which amounted to 76% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake. Wheat-made products (53.5%) contributed most to the dietary exposure, followed by vegetables (12.2%). The high-level consumers' weekly exposure to aluminium was 11.1 mg kg⁻¹ body weight, which amounted to 407% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake. The results indicated that the general urban residents in South China might be safe from aluminium exposure, but the high-level consumers might be at some risk of aluminium exposure. The foods contributing to aluminium exposure were processed food with aluminium-containing food additives. It is necessary to take effective measures to control the overuse of aluminium-containing food additives.

  20. Eocene Podocarpium (Leguminosae) from South China and its biogeographic implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Qingqing; Qiu, Jue; Zhou, Zhekun; Jin, Jianhua

    2015-01-01

    Podocarpium A. Braun ex Stizenberger is one of the most common legumes in the Neogene of Eurasia, including fossil fruits, seeds, leaves, and possible flower and pollen grains. This genus is not completely consistent with any extant genera according to gross morphological characters and poorly preserved cuticular structures reported in previous studies. The fossil pods collected from the coal-bearing series of the Changchang Basin of Hainan Island and Maoming Basin of Guangdong, South China, are examined by morphologically comparative work, with special reference to venation patterns and placental position. These distinctive features, as well as the ovule development of pods from different developmental stages and the epidermal structure of the pods, as distinguished from previous records lead to the conclusion that these fossils can be recognized as a new species of Podocarpium, P. eocenicum sp. nov. This new discovery indicates that Podocarpium had arrived in South China by the Eocene. Investigation on the fossil records of this extinct genus shows that P. eocenicum is the earliest and lowest latitude fossil data. The possible occurrence pattern of this genus is revealed as follows: Podocarpium had distributed in the South China at least in the middle Eocene, and then migrated to Europe during the Oligocene; in the Miocene this genus reached its peak in Eurasia, spreading extensively across subtropical areas to warm temperate areas; finally, Podocarpium shrank rapidly and became extinct in Eurasia during the Pliocene.

  1. The South China Sea Dispute : Perspective of International Law

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ma, Xuechan

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the South China Sea dispute from the perspective of international law. First, it introduces some basic knowledge about international law in this field. In the second part, Spratly islands dispute is used as a concrete example to show how international law analyzes this kind of

  2. Disputes About Disputes: Understanding the South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bill Hayton

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Steve Chan. China’s Troubled Waters: Maritime Disputes in Theoretical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Do Thanh Hai. Vietnam and the South China Sea: Politics, Security and Legality. New York: Routledge, 2017. The two books under review here demonstrate some of the diversity of writing within the discipline of international relations. In China’s Troubled Waters: Maritime Disputes in Theoretical Perspectives, political scientist Steve Chan, following Kant, describes his style as “nomothetic,” “which emphasizes attention to classes of events rather than specific episodes” (vii. Strategic and defense studies scholar Do Thanh Hai’s Vietnam and the South China Sea: Politics, Security and Legality is an example of what Chan calls the “idiographic approach,” focusing “on the more unique or specific aspects of the situation” (vii. Chan wants to be able to generalize and compare, and he explicitly eschews narratives of “who did what to whom.” Hai, on the other hand, is keen to make clear that it is China who did something to Vietnam. The most obvious criticism to make of his book is that it is written from an overtly Vietnamese perspective. That is a weakness, but also potentially a draw for those interested in the formulation of Vietnamese policy. Chan writes from an ostensibly neutral position, but, as we shall see, his analysis is rooted within a Chinese world view.

  3. Distribution and Diversity of Microbial Eukaryotes in Bathypelagic Waters of the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Dapeng; Jiao, Nianzhi; Ren, Rui; Warren, Alan

    2017-05-01

    Little is known about the biodiversity of microbial eukaryotes in the South China Sea, especially in waters at bathyal depths. Here, we employed SSU rDNA gene sequencing to reveal the diversity and community structure across depth and distance gradients in the South China Sea. Vertically, the highest alpha diversity was found at 75-m depth. The communities of microbial eukaryotes were clustered into shallow-, middle-, and deep-water groups according to the depth from which they were collected, indicating a depth-related diversity and distribution pattern. Rhizaria sequences dominated the microeukaryote community and occurred in all samples except those from less than 50-m deep, being most abundant near the sea floor where they contributed ca. 64-97% and 40-74% of the total sequences and OTUs recovered, respectively. A large portion of rhizarian OTUs has neither a nearest named neighbor nor a nearest neighbor in the GenBank database which indicated the presence of new phylotypes in the South China Sea. Given their overwhelming abundance and richness, further phylogenetic analysis of rhizarians were performed and three new genetic clusters were revealed containing sequences retrieved from the deep waters of the South China Sea. Our results shed light on the diversity and community structure of microbial eukaryotes in this not yet fully explored area. © 2016 The Author(s) Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology © 2016 International Society of Protistologists.

  4. Climatic anomalies in Northern South China Sea during 1986-1987 El Nino

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen Tegu (Academia Sinica, Beijing (China)); Zhou Qiang

    1990-05-01

    In this paper, the climatic anomalies in Northern South China Sea (NSCS) during 1986-1987 El Nino were analyzed according to meteorological and hydrographic observation data. The results showed that the most apparent anomalies were: (1) continuously weaker monsoon strength, (2) continuously much higher South China Sea High Pressure strength; (3) in 1987 only six typhoons occurred in NSCS (four less than normal), with the first typhoon occurring on 25 June, (about one month later than usual); (4) positive air temperature anomaly, negative annual precipitation and evaporation anomaly; (5) sea surface temperature and surface salinity anomaly was positive; (6) monthly mean sea level was 1 to 10cm lower than normal.

  5. Remagnetization mechanisms in Triassic red beds from South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Zhaoxia; Liu, Qingsong; Dekkers, Mark J.; Zhao, Xiang; Roberts, Andrew P.; Yang, Zhenyu; Jin, Chunsheng; Liu, Jianxing

    2017-12-01

    Paleogeographic reconstructions based on paleomagnetic data rely on the reliability of the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) as a primary geomagnetic signal. Remagnetizations, however, can be common in many rock types, including late Paleozoic and Mesozoic red beds, and they complicate paleogeographic interpretations. Extracting the primary NRM from partially remagnetized rocks, and understanding the remagnetization mechanism are important in these contexts. We carried out a systematic paleomagnetic study of red bed samples from the Triassic Huangmaqing Formation, Nanjing (32.0°N, 118.9°E), South China. Two NRM components carried by secondary and primary hematite are isolated in 47 of the 94 samples studied, where the latter component has a direction in stratigraphic coordinates of D = 29.2 °, I = 34.6 ° (α95 = 10.9 °, 47 samples from 6 sites) that yields a paleopole of λ = 60.8°N, ϕ = 228.1°E, dp / dm = 12.5 / 7.2, which is consistent with Triassic pole positions for the South China Block. A secondary chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) (D = 227.1 °, I = 80.8 °, α95 = 7.3 °) is documented in all 94 samples from 10 sites and is carried by pigmentary hematite that is inferred to have been generated by magnetite oxidation during orogenic activity. This secondary component has steep inclinations and is interpreted to have been influenced by a combination of the remanence carried by original parent magnetite, the orogenic stress field, and the prevailing geomagnetic field direction during deformation. This CRM direction is recorded commonly by red beds from the South China Block, and is significant for regional tectonic studies in the area.

  6. Aliphatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from South China Sea off Kuching Division, Sarawak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hafidz Yusoff; Zaini Assim; Samsur Mohamad

    2012-01-01

    Eighteen surface sediment samples collected from South China Sea off Kuching Division, Sarawak were analyzed for aliphatic hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons were recovered from sediment by Soxhlet extraction method and then analyzed using gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometer (GC/ MS). Total concentrations of aliphatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from South China Sea off Kuching division are ranged from 35.6 μg/ g to 1466.1 μg/ g dry weights. The sediments collected from Bako Bay, Kuching showed high concentrations of total aliphatic hydrocarbons. Several molecular indices were used to predict the predominant sources of hydrocarbons. Carbon preference index (CPI) value revealed widespread anthropogenic input in this study area (CPI= 0 to 4.1). The ratio of C 31 / C 19 and C 29 / C 31 indicated that major input of aliphatic hydrocarbon mostly transfer by lateral input to the marine environment than atmospheric movements. Generally, the concentrations of aliphatic hydrocarbons in sediment from South China Sea off Kuching division are generally higher compare to other area in the world. (author)

  7. Geochemical evidence for a catastrophic biotic event at the Frasnian/Famennian boundary in south China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Kun; Chatterton, B.D.E. (Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton (Canada)); Orth, C.J.; Attrep, M. Jr. (Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)); Hongfei Hou (Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing (China)); Geldsetzer, H.H.J. (Geological Survey of Canada, Alberta (United States))

    1991-08-01

    A strong {delta}{sup 13}C anomaly coincides with a weak Ir anomaly at the Frasnian/Famennian (F/F) boundary exposed at Xiangtian, Guangxi, south China. The maximum whole-rock Ir abundance is 0.23 ppb (0.35 ppb on a carbonate-free basis) compared with averages of 0.016 and 0.044 ppb above and below the boundary interval. The {delta}{sup 13}C in carbonate abruptly shifts from a late Frasnian level of about +1{per thousand} to {minus}2.49 {per thousand}in the boundary interval and then abruptly returns to pre-boundary levels, suggesting a temporary reduction of surface-water biomass. A widely distributed (over at least several hundred kilometers) limestone breccia unit of possible wave-deposit origin is present directly below the boundary in south China. Enrichments of Al, V, Cr, As, and U, and a dip in the Mn abundance in the boundary interval indicate that reducing conditions might have been associated with the element enrichment. However, an alternative hypothesis is that oceanic impact(s) at the F/F boundary near south China provided the excess Ir and caused the biotic crisis and the formation of breccia deposits observed in the Late Devonian South China Sea.

  8. Environment and security in the South China Sea region : the role of experts, non-governmental actors and governments in regime building processes

    OpenAIRE

    Næss, Tom

    1999-01-01

    Background: The Spratly islands in the South China Sea are today the focal point of a territorial dispute that represents a serious threat to the regional security in Southeast Asia. Six governments - China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei - have laid claims to all or some of the more than 230 islets, reefs and shoals in the Spratly area. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is a key player in the South China Sea conflict. However, the South China Sea is not jus...

  9. The characteristics of heat flow in the Shenhu gas hydrate drilling area, northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xing; Wan, Zhifeng; Wang, Xianqing; Sun, Yuefeng; Xia, Bin

    2016-12-01

    Marine heat flow is of great significance for the formation and occurrence of seabed oil, gas and gas hydrate resources. Geothermal gradient is an important parameter in determining the thickness of the hydrate stability zone. The northern slope of the South China Sea is rich in gas hydrate resources. Several borehole drilling attempts were successful in finding hydrates in the Shenhu area, while others were not. The failures demand further study on the distribution regularities of heat flow and its controlling effects on hydrate occurrence. In this study, forty-eight heat flow measurements are analyzed in the Shenhu gas hydrate drilling area, located in the northern South China Sea, together with their relationship to topography, sedimentary environment and tectonic setting. Canyons are well developed in the study area, caused mainly by the development of faults, faster sediment supply and slumping of the Pearl River Estuary since the late Miocene in the northern South China Sea. The heat flow values in grooves, occurring always in fault zones, are higher than those of ridges. Additionally, the heat flow values gradually increase from the inner fan, to the middle fan, to the external fan subfacies. The locations with low heat flow such as ridges, locations away from faults and the middle fan subfacies, are more conducive to gas hydrate occurrence.

  10. Physical and Mechanical Properties of Surface Sediments and methane hydrate-bearing sediments in the Shenhu area of South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, J.; Shen, Z.; Jia, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Methane hydrates are superior energy resources and potential predisposing factors of geohazard. With the success in China's persistent exploitation of methane hydrates in the Shenhu area of South China Sea for 60 days, there is an increasing demand for detailed knowledge of sediment properties and hazard assessment in this area. In this paper, the physical and mechanical properties of both the surface sediments and methane hydrate-bearing sediments (MHBS) in the exploitation area, the Shenhu area of South China Sea, were investigated using laboratory geotechnical experiments, and triaxial tests were carried out on remolded sediment samples using a modified triaxial apparatus. The results show that sediments in this area are mainly silt with high moisture content, high plasticity, low permeability and low shear strength. The moisture content and permeability decrease while the shear strength increases with the increasing depth. The elastic modulus and peak strength of MHBS increase with the increasing effective confining pressure and higher hydrate saturation. The cohesion increases with higher hydrate saturation while the internal friction angle is barely affected by hydrate saturation. The obtained results demonstrate clearly that methane hydrates have significant impacts on the physical and mechanical properties of sediments and there is still a wide gap in knowledge about MHBS.

  11. Acid ran and below-cloud scavenging in south-western China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanner, P.A.; Lei, H.C.; Huang, M.Y.; Shen, Z.L.

    1997-01-01

    Major urban areas in south-western China exhibit unique air pollution problems due to increasing use of high sulphur-content fuels in an environment of unfavourable topography and climate. Ambient levels of sulphur dioxide exceed the air quality objectives, and this gas is the major precursor of acid rain. Cloudwater chemistry studies are reported for urban, suburban and countryside locations, during the period 1985-89. Although cloudwater acidity was found to increase towards the cloud base, the acidity was much greater for rainwater samples collected simultaneously, and was more pronounced in urban rather than neighbouring suburban or countryside regions. The main contribution to the acidity arises from below-cloud scavenging of gas and aerosol and model calculations are able to simulate this behaviour

  12. Exploring Options to Address Chinas Strategy in South Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-01

    india_news-article-52022.htm (accessed December 19, 2012). 82 M. V. Ramana and Zia Mian , “The Nuclear Confrontation in South Asia,” SIPRI Yearbook 2003...english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/7839137.html (accessed December 17, 2012). 90 Bin Wang and Shen Li , “Education Tourism Market in China - an Explorative Study

  13. The variation of cloud amount and light rainy days under heavy pollution over South China during 1960-2009.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Chuanbo; Dan, Li

    2018-01-01

    The ground observation data was used to analyze the variation of cloud amount and light precipitation over South China during 1960-2009. The total cloud cover (TCC) decreases in this period, whereas the low cloud cover (LCC) shows the obvious opposite change with increasing trends. LCP defined as low cloud cover/total cloud cover has increased, and small rainy days (pollution in the form of anthropogenic aerosols. The horizontal visibility and sunshine duration are used to depict the anthropogenic aerosol loading. When horizontal visibility declines to 20 km or sunshine duration decreases to 5 h per day, LCC increases 52% or more and LCP increases significantly. The correlation coefficients between LCC and horizontal visibility or sunshine duration are - 0.533 and - 0.927, and the values between LCP and horizontal visibility or sunshine duration are - 0.849 and - 0.641, which pass 0.001 significance level. The results indicated that aerosols likely impacted the long-term trend of cloud amount and light precipitation over South China.

  14. Using Google Trends for influenza surveillance in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Min; Zhong, Haojie; He, Jianfeng; Rutherford, Shannon; Yang, Fen

    2013-01-01

    Google Flu Trends was developed to estimate influenza activity in many countries; however there is currently no Google Flu Trends or other Internet search data used for influenza surveillance in China. Influenza surveillance data from 2008 through 2011 were obtained from provincial CDC influenza-like illness and virological surveillance systems of Guangdong, a province in south China. Internet search data were downloaded from the website of Google Trends. Pearson's correlation coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated to compare surveillance data and internet search trends. The correlation between CDC ILI surveillance and CDC virus surveillance was 0.56 (95% CI: 0.43, 0.66). The strongest correlation was between the Google Trends term of Fever and ILI surveillance with a correlation coefficient of 0.73 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.79). When compared with influenza virological surveillance, the Google Trends term of Influenza A had the strongest correlation with a correlation coefficient of 0.64 (95% CI: 0.43, 0.79) in the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic period. This study shows that Google Trends in Chinese can be used as a complementary source of data for influenza surveillance in south China. More research in the future should develop new models using search trends in Chinese language to estimate local disease activity and detect early signals of outbreaks.

  15. Increase of ozone concentrations, its temperature sensitivity and the precursor factor in South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. C. Lee

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Concerns have been raised about the possible connections between the local and regional photochemical problem and global warming. The current study assesses the trend of ozone in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD in South China and investigates the interannual changes of sensitivity of ozone to air temperature, as well as the trends in regional precursors. Results reveal, at the three monitoring sites from the mid-1990s to 2010, an increase in the mean ozone concentrations from 1.0 to 1.6 µg m−3 per year. The increase occurred in all seasons, with the highest rate in autumn. This is consistent with trends and temperature anomalies in the region. The increase in the sensitivity of ozone to temperature is clearly evident from the correlation between ozone (OMI [Ozone Monitoring Instrument] column amount and surface air temperature (from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder displayed in the correlation maps for the PRD during the prominently high ozone period of July–September. It is observed to have increased from 2005 to 2010, the latter being the hottest year on record globally. To verify this temporal change in sensitivity, the ground-level trends of correlation coefficients/regression slopes are analysed. As expected, results reveal a statistically significant upward trend over a 14-year period (1997–2010. While the correlation revealed in the correlation maps is in agreement with the corresponding OMI ozone maps when juxtaposed, temperature sensitivity of surface ozone also shows an association with ozone concentration, with R=0.5. These characteristics of ozone sensitivity are believed to have adverse implications for the region. As shown by ground measurements and/or satellite analyses, the decrease in nitrogen oxides (NO2 and NOx in Hong Kong is not statistically significant while NO2 of the PRD has only very slightly changed. However, carbon dioxide has remarkably declined in the whole region. While these observations concerning

  16. First characterization of bacterial pathogen, Vibrio alginolyticus, for Porites andrewsi White syndrome in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhenyu, Xie; Shaowen, Ke; Chaoqun, Hu; Zhixiong, Zhu; Shifeng, Wang; Yongcan, Zhou

    2013-01-01

    White syndrome, a term for scleractinian coral disease with progressive tissue loss, is known to cause depressed growth and increased morality of coral reefs in the major oceans around the world, and the occurrence of this disease has been frequently reported in the past few decades. Investigations during April to September in both 2010 and 2011 identified widespread Porites andrewsi White syndrome (PAWS) in Xisha Archipelago, South China Sea. However, the causes and etiology of PAWS have been unknown. A transmission experiment was performed on P. andrewsi in the Qilianyu Subgroup (QLY). The results showed that there was a significant (P ≤ 0.05) difference between test and control groups after 28 days if the invalid replicates were excluded. Rates of tissue loss ranged from 0.90-10.76 cm(2) d(-1) with a mean of 5.40 ± 3.34 cm(2) d(-1) (mean ± SD). Bacterial strains were isolated from the PAWS corals at the disease outbreak sites in QLY of the Xisha Archipelago, South China Sea, and included in laboratory-based infection trials to satisfy Koch's postulates for establishing causality. Following exposure to bacterial concentrations of 10(5) cells mL(-1), the infected colonies exhibited similar signs to those observed in the field. Using phylogenetic 16S rRNA gene analysis, classical phenotypic trait comparison, Biolog automatic identification system, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and MALDI Biotyper method, two pathogenic strains were identified as Vibrio alginolyticus . This is the first report of V. alginolyticus as a pathogenic agent of PAWS in the South China Sea. Our results point out an urgent need to develop sensitive detection methods for V. alginolyticus virulence strains and robust diagnostics for coral disease caused by this and Vibrio pathogenic bacterium in the South China Sea.

  17. Under the Dragon’s Wing: A Strategic Approach to China’s Militarization Efforts of its Artificial Islands in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-06-09

    environments elsewhere in the world. When thinking about the SCS, it is helpful to imagine other bodies of water in the world with similar characteristics...Operation Planning. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Kazianis, Harry J. 2014. “America’s Dangerous $5 Trillion Dollar Bet in the South China...dollar- bet -the-south-china-10857. Kem, Jack D. 2012. Planning for Action: Campaign Concepts and Tools. Ft. Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army Command and

  18. Genome Sequence of Canine Parvovirus Strain SC02/2011, Isolated from a Puppy with Severe Diarrhea in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yi; Ji, Yikuan; Wang, Yu; Sun, Leilei; Huang, Jiaxin

    2012-01-01

    A widespread hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in young dogs occurred in South China. A virulent field canine parvovirus (CPV) strain, SC02/2011, was isolated from a puppy showing enteric signs in Guangdong, China. The genome of CPV strain SC02/2011 was sequenced and analyzed, which will promote a better understanding of the molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of CPV field isolates in South China. PMID:23166228

  19. An epidemiological study of sleep quality in adolescents in South China: a school-based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, H-Q; Shi, W-B; Wang, X-F; Yao, M; Cheng, G-Y; Chen, P-Y; Li, D-G

    2012-07-01

    This study explored the prevalence of disturbed sleep and investigated its distribution characteristics and associated factors in adolescents in South China. Junior middle school and senior high school students (n = 1221) were recruited from schools in Shanghai, China. Students completed a questionnaire using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and factors associated with disturbed sleep. The prevalence of a tendency towards poor sleep was 34.32% [95% confidence interval (CI): 31.66-36.98] with no significant difference between genders. This tendency increased with age, yielding a significant group effect (P school and high school, the propensity towards poor sleep was 31.34% (95% CI: 28.29-34.39) and 42.22% (95% CI: 36.92-47.52) respectively. The factors associated with poor sleep were more television viewing during weekdays [odds ratio (OR): 1.56, CI: 1.36-1.71], more frequent computer/Internet use (OR: 1.25, CI: 1.08-1.39), earlier school starting time (OR: 1.12, CI: 1.07-1.28), and more time on homework during weekdays (OR: 1.78, CI: 1.51-1.98) and weekends (OR: 1.35, CI: 1.21-1.52) A tendency towards poor sleep is common in adolescents in South China and its incidence increases with age. The factors associated with this phenomenon indicate that poor sleep in adolescents could be improved, at least partly, by reducing the use of visual technologies and by changing school timetables. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  20. Prelude of benthic community collapse during the end-Permian mass extinction in siliciclastic offshore sub-basin: Brachiopod evidence from South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Huiting; He, Weihong; Weldon, Elizabeth A.

    2018-04-01

    Analysis of the Permian-Triassic palaeocommunities from basinal facies in South China provides an insight into the environmental deterioration occurring in the prelude to the mass extinction event. Quantitative and multivariate analyses on three brachiopod palaeocommunities from the Changhsingian to the earliest Triassic in basinal facies in South China have been undertaken in this study. Although the end-Permian extinction has been proved to be a one-stepped event, ecological warning signals appeared in the palaeocommunities long before the main pulse of the event. A brachiopod palaeocommunity turnover occurred in the upper part of the Clarkina changxingensis Zone, associated with a significant decrease of palaeocommunity diversity and brachiopod body size. During this turnover the dominant genera changed from Fusichonetes and Crurithyris (or/and Paracrurithyris) to the more competitive genus Crurithyris (or/and Paracrurithyris). The brachiopod palaeocommunity turnover was supposed to be triggered by the decreased marine primary productivity and increased volcanic activity. Moreover, such early warning signals are found not only in the deep-water siliceous facies, but also in the shallow-water clastic facies and carbonate rock facies in South China.

  1. Perceived Environmental Pollution and Its Impact on Health in China, Japan, and South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamimura, Akiko; Armenta, Bianca; Nourian, Maziar; Assasnik, Nushean; Nourian, Kimiya; Chernenko, Alla

    2017-01-01

    Environmental pollution is a significant global issue. Both objective (scientifically measured) environmental pollution and perceived levels of pollution are important predictors of self-reported health. The purpose of this study was to compare the associations between perceived environmental pollution and health in China, Japan, and South Korea. Data were obtained from the East Asian Social Survey and the Cross-National Survey Data Sets: Health and Society in East Asia, 2010 (n=7938; China, n=3866; Japan, n=2496; South Korea, n=1576). South Koreans perceived environmental pollution to be the most severe, while Japanese participants perceived environmental pollution to be the least severe. Although the Japanese did not perceive environmental pollution to be very severe, their self-rated physical health was significantly related to perceived environmental pollution, while the analogous relationships were not significant for the Chinese or Korean participants. Better mental health was related to lower levels of perceived air pollution in China, as well as lower levels of perceived all types of pollution in Japan and lower levels of perceived noise pollution in South Korea. Physical and mental health and individual socio-demographic characteristics were associated with levels of perceived environmental pollution, but with different patterns among these three countries.

  2. Perceived Environmental Pollution and Its Impact on Health in China, Japan, and South Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akiko Kamimura

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Objectives Environmental pollution is a significant global issue. Both objective (scientifically measured environmental pollution and perceived levels of pollution are important predictors of self-reported health. The purpose of this study was to compare the associations between perceived environmental pollution and health in China, Japan, and South Korea. Methods Data were obtained from the East Asian Social Survey and the Cross-National Survey Data Sets: Health and Society in East Asia, 2010 (n=7938; China, n=3866; Japan, n=2496; South Korea, n=1576. Results South Koreans perceived environmental pollution to be the most severe, while Japanese participants perceived environmental pollution to be the least severe. Although the Japanese did not perceive environmental pollution to be very severe, their self-rated physical health was significantly related to perceived environmental pollution, while the analogous relationships were not significant for the Chinese or Korean participants. Better mental health was related to lower levels of perceived air pollution in China, as well as lower levels of perceived all types of pollution in Japan and lower levels of perceived noise pollution in South Korea. Conclusions Physical and mental health and individual socio-demographic characteristics were associated with levels of perceived environmental pollution, but with different patterns among these three countries.

  3. Inter-annual sea level variability in the southern South China Sea

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Soumya, M.; Vethamony, P.; Tkalich, P.

    (SCS) is one of the western marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by South China, Indo China Peninsula, Malaysian Peninsula, Philippines and Borneo Island. The SCS is a semi- enclosed basin connected to the western Pacific Ocean through Taiwan.... Sea level trend and variability in the Singapore Strait. Ocean Science, 9(2). Torrence, C. and Compo, G.P., 1998. A practical guide to wavelet analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 79(1): 61-78. Vargas‐Hernandez, J.M., Wijffels...

  4. Population genetics of Thamnaconus hypargyreus (Tetraodontiformes: Monacanthidae) in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yufang; Chen, Guobao; Yu, Jie; Wu, Shuiqing; Xiong, Dan; Li, Xia; Cui, Ke; Li, Yongzhen

    2016-01-01

    Knowledge of population structure is particularly important for long-term fisheries management and conservation. Lesser-spotted leatherjacket Thamnaconus hypargyreus is an economically important fish species in the South China Sea. Fish specimens (totally 158 individuals) used in this study were collected from five geographical locations in the north of the South China Sea and the southwestern Nansha Islands. The results were as follows: a total of 636 nucleotides of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region (CR) of T. hypargyreus were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. Both 103 mutations of nucleotide acids without inserting or deleting one and 91 haplotypes were found among the examined CR fragment. High haplotype diversity (0.9419 ± 0.0151) and nucleotide diversity (0.0095 ± 0.00506) relatively together with a recent and sudden population expansion which characterizes the genetic population structure of this species. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and the fixation indices (Fst) of five groups showed that the genetic variance mainly came from individuals within groups, and there was no genetic differentiation between groups. The phylogenetic trees including maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) proved no phylogeographic differentiation structure in five groups. The mtDNA marker suggested the five groups should be genetic homogeneity, which implied T. hypargyreus in the north and southwest continental shelf of the South China Sea belongs to one population.

  5. Sea Surface Temperature and Ocean Color Variability in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conaty, A. P.

    2001-12-01

    The South China Sea is a marginal sea in the Southeast Asian region whose surface circulation is driven by monsoons and whose surface currents have complex seasonal patterns. Its rich natural resources and strategic location have made its small islands areas of political dispute among the neighboring nations. This study aims to show the seasonal and interannual variability of sea surface temperature and ocean color in South China Sea. It makes use of NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data sets on sea surface temperature for the period 1981-2000 and NASA's Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) satellite data sets on pigment concentration (ocean color) for the period 1981-1996 and 1997-2000, respectively. Transect lines were drawn along several potential hotspot areas to show the variability in sea surface temperature and pigment concentration through time. In-situ data on sea surface temperature along South China Sea were likewise plotted to see the variability with time. Higher seasonal variability in sea surface temperature was seen at higher latitudes. Interannual variability was within 1-3 Kelvin. In most areas, pigment concentration was higher during northern hemisphere winter and autumn, after the monsoon rains, with a maximum of 30 milligrams per cubic meter.

  6. The relationship between the opening of South China Sea and the formation of the Tibetan Plateau (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, X.

    2010-12-01

    The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal seas in western Pacific and underwent a complex history. Xu et al.(2004) suggested that the evolution of the South China Sea can be divided into two first order phases: Paleogene (—Early Miocene) rifting and Neogene post- rifting. An oceanic crust was formed during 32-17 Ma. Whether or not the opening of South China Sea were related to Indo-Eurasia collision and the formation of the Tibetan Plateau is one of challenging problem in Earth sciences. With an exception of the southwestern China, the Chinese continent has become an united continent in the Triassic by the Indosinian orogeny. However, the Qinghai-Tibet area in SW China was still an oceanic region, that is, the Neo-Tethys. During the period of 145-100 Ma, the Lhasa terrane collided with the Qiangtang terrane and added to the south margin of the Eurasian continent. On the other hand, the Indian plate subducted underneath the Eurasian continent since Jurassic- Cretaceous. Subsequently, collision between the two continents, India and Eurasia, were completed during 65-40 Ma, and went into a post-collisional stage, characterized by intra-continental movements, including intra-continental subduction, overthrust, strike-slip and so on. The Tibetan Plateau, the highest plateau in the world had been formed by multi-stage uplifts. Several huge strike-slip shear zone such as the Red River Fault and the Altyn were formed during that period. The >1000-km-long Oligocene—Miocene left-lateral Red River shear zone (RRSZ) and the Pliocene—active right-lateral Red River fault (RRF), stretching from SE Tibet to the South China Sea, has been cited as a lithospheric scale strike-slip fault. The age of RRSZ was recently determined no earlier than 31.9-24.2Ma and no later than 21.7 Ma (Searle et al., 2010). Many geologists believe that there possibly be close relationship between the opening of the South China Sea and Indo-Eurasia collision and the formation of the Tibetan

  7. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) and Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article reflects on the dynamics of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) states' political economy and its implications for Africa's continuous effort to search for new developmental paradigms. The core questions addressed in the article are: What are the BRICS states specifically proposing to the ...

  8. The Growing Relationship Between South Korea and China: Consequences for North Korea

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Renner, Laura

    2006-01-01

    ... maintains friendly relations with both Koreas, currently the only country to do so. Nearly fifteen years after this normalization, South Korea and China still enjoy a strong relationship that generally continues to improve...

  9. High resolution 3-D shear wave velocity structure in South China from surface wave tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ning, S.; Guo, Z.; Chen, Y. J.

    2017-12-01

    Using continuous data from a total of 638 seismic stations, including 484 from CEArray between 2008 and 2013 and 154 from SINOPROBE between 2014 and 2015, we perform both ambient noise and earthquake Rayleigh wave tomography across South China. Combining Rayleigh wave phase velocity between 6and 40s periods from ambient noise tomography and Rayleigh wave phase velocity between 20and 140s from teleseismic two-plane-wave tomography, we obtain phase velocity maps between 6 and140 s periods. We then invert Rayleigh wave phase velocity to construct a 3-D shear wave velocity structure of South China by Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Similar to other inversion results, our results correspond topography well. Moreover, our results also reveal that velocity structure of the eastern South China in mantle depth is similar to eastern North China, the core of the western South China, Sichuan Block (SB),still exists thick lithosphere. However, owing to much more data employed and some data quality control techniques in this research, our results reveal more detailed structures. Along Qinling-Dabie Orogenic Belt (QDOB), North-South Gravity Lineament (NSGL) and the Sichuan-Yunnan Rhombic Block (SYRB), there are obvious high speed anomalies in depths of 10-20 km, which possibly imply ancient intrusions. Moreover, it seems that Tancheng-Lujiang Fault Zone (TLFZ) has already cut through QDOB, forming a deep fracture cutting through the crust of the whole China continent. Although SB still exists thick lithosphere, there are indications for thermal erosion. At the same time, the lithosphere of the central SYRB seems to be experiencing delamination process, obviously forming a barrier to prevent the hot Tibetan Plateau (TP) mantle material from flowing further southeast. Upwelling hot mantle material possibly triggered by this delamination process might be the cause of the Emeishan Large Igneous Province. There exists an intercontinental low velocity layer in the crust of the TP

  10. South China Sea Wave Characteristics During Typhoon Muifa Passage in Winter 2004

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Chu, Peter C; Cheng, Kuo-Feng

    2008-01-01

    Ocean wave characteristics in the western Atlantic Ocean (Hurricane Region) to tropical cyclones have been investigated extensively, but not the regional seas in the western Pacific such as the South China Sea (Typhoon Region...

  11. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in South China maternal and fetal blood and breast milk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bi Xinhui [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Qu Weiyue [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Sheng Guoying [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China); Zhang Wenbing [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Mai Bixian [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Chen Dunjin [Obstetrical and Gynecological Institute, Guangzhou Second People' s Hospital, Guangzhou 510150 (China); Yu Lin [Obstetrical and Gynecological Institute, Guangzhou Second People' s Hospital, Guangzhou 510150 (China); Fu Jiamo [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China) and School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China)]. E-mail: fujm@gig.ac.cn

    2006-12-15

    Twenty-one-paired human fetal and maternal serum and 27 breast milk samples at South China were analyzed for concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Seven PBDE congeners (BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, -153, -154, and -183) were quantified using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). This is the first report to present the residue levels of PBDEs in human samples of China. The concentrations of total PBDEs ranged from 1.5 to 17 ng/g in the samples and were within the range reported in European samples for a similar population, but lower than human tissue levels in North America. BDE-47 and -153 were the dominant PBDE congeners in all samples and accounted for 60% of the total PBDEs. Further research is needed to determine the exposure route of PBDEs and their health effects. - A survey of PBDE concentrations in human blood and milk helps identify background concentrations in South China population.

  12. Impact of anthropogenic emissions and open biomass burning on regional carbonaceous aerosols in South China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang Gan, E-mail: zhanggan@gig.ac.c [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Li Jun [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Li Xiangdong [Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon (Hong Kong); Xu Yue; Guo Lingli [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Tang Jianhui [Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003 (China); Lee, Celine S.L. [Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon (Hong Kong); Liu Xiang [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Chen Yingjun [Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003 (China)

    2010-11-15

    Carbonaceous aerosols were studied at three background sites in south and southwest China. Hok Tsui in Hong Kong had the highest concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols (OC = 8.7 {+-} 4.5 {mu}g/m{sup 3}, EC = 2.5 {+-} 1.9 {mu}g/m{sup 3}) among the three sites, and Jianfeng Mountains in Hainan Island (OC = 5.8 {+-} 2.6 {mu}g/m{sup 3}, EC = 0.8 {+-} 0.4 {mu}g/m{sup 3}) and Tengchong mountain over the east edge of the Tibetan Plateau (OC = 4.8 {+-} 4.0 {mu}g/m{sup 3}, EC = 0.5 {+-} 0.4 {mu}g/m{sup 3}) showed similar concentration levels. Distinct seasonal patterns with higher concentrations during the winter, and lower concentrations during the summertime were observed, which may be caused by the changes of the regional emissions, and monsoon effects. The industrial and vehicular emissions in East, Southeast and South China, and the regional open biomass burning in the Indo-Myanmar region of Asia were probably the two major potential sources for carbonaceous matters in this region. - Anthropogenic emissions in China and open biomass burning in the Indo-Myanmar region were the two major potential sources for carbonaceous matters in South China region.

  13. Impact of anthropogenic emissions and open biomass burning on regional carbonaceous aerosols in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Gan; Li Jun; Li Xiangdong; Xu Yue; Guo Lingli; Tang Jianhui; Lee, Celine S.L.; Liu Xiang; Chen Yingjun

    2010-01-01

    Carbonaceous aerosols were studied at three background sites in south and southwest China. Hok Tsui in Hong Kong had the highest concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols (OC = 8.7 ± 4.5 μg/m 3 , EC = 2.5 ± 1.9 μg/m 3 ) among the three sites, and Jianfeng Mountains in Hainan Island (OC = 5.8 ± 2.6 μg/m 3 , EC = 0.8 ± 0.4 μg/m 3 ) and Tengchong mountain over the east edge of the Tibetan Plateau (OC = 4.8 ± 4.0 μg/m 3 , EC = 0.5 ± 0.4 μg/m 3 ) showed similar concentration levels. Distinct seasonal patterns with higher concentrations during the winter, and lower concentrations during the summertime were observed, which may be caused by the changes of the regional emissions, and monsoon effects. The industrial and vehicular emissions in East, Southeast and South China, and the regional open biomass burning in the Indo-Myanmar region of Asia were probably the two major potential sources for carbonaceous matters in this region. - Anthropogenic emissions in China and open biomass burning in the Indo-Myanmar region were the two major potential sources for carbonaceous matters in South China region.

  14. The Impacts of Atmospheric Moisture Transportation on Warm Sector Torrential Rains over South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuixin Zhong

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Warm Sector Torrential Rains (WSTRs occurring during the outbreak of the monsoon in May of 2015 in South China were studied using surface automatic weather observational data, sounding, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis interim Data (ERA-interim, satellite and radar data, and a four-level nested grid simulation with the finest grid spacing of 1 km using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF. The results show that the extreme precipitation event, which had maximum rainfall amounts of 406.3 mm in 10 h and 542.2 mm in 24 h on 20 May 2015, and was characterized by its rapid development and its highly concentrated and long duration of heavy rainfall, occurred over the trumpet-shaped topography of Haifeng. The simulation results indicated that the South China Sea (SCS atmospheric moisture transportation (AMT was crucial in triggering the precipitation of the WSTR over South China. The simulation of the WSTR was conducted by using the total energy-mass flux scheme (TEMF, which provided a reasonable simulation of the circulation and the vertical profile in the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL as well as the estimation of the precipitation. The AMT, which extends from the Beibu Gulf and the South China Sea to the coastal areas and provides Shanwei with a considerable amount of moisture in the boundary layer, and the effects within the PBL, which include orographic effects, an extra low-level jet, and a high-energy tongue characterized by a high-potential pseudo-equivalent temperature tongue with a warm and moist southwesterly wind, were the important large-scale factors causing the WSTR.

  15. Nannastacidae (Crustacea: Cumacea) from the Malayan shallow waters (South China Sea)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Petrescu, Iorgu

    1997-01-01

    Four new species from the South China Sea are described: Nannastacus muelleri n.sp., Nannastacus wisseni n.sp., Scherocumella fagei n.sp. and Scherocumella malayensis n.sp. The descriptions of further 15 known species are complemented with new information ( Campylaspis amblyoda Gamo, 1960, Cumella

  16. Spatio-Temporal Changes and Their Reasons to the Geopolitical Influence of China and the US in South Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shufang Wang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The current international society has entered an era of large-scale power transfer. Government interests have gradually transferred from national strength to national influence. As such, how to quantitatively present the fuzzy geopolitical influence (i.e., geo-influence has attracted greater attention from scholars. The proposed concept of geo-influence conforms to this trend of power structure change in international relations, and provides a reference for national sustainable development on the international stage. This study sets up an index system and a mathematical model of geopolitical influence, and explores the spatio-temporal changes of the geo-influence of China and the United States (US in South Asia over the past decade. Three primary results are found as follows: (1 In general, the geo-influence of China and the US in South Asia increased between 2003 and 2012. In terms of growth rate, the geo-influence of China in South Asia grew much faster than that of the US; (2 The overall strength and geo-influence show non-linear relationships. Strong national overall strength does not necessarily mean that one country has the strongest geo-influence; (3 National geo-influence is inversely proportional to the friction of distance. The larger the friction of distance is, the smaller national geo-potential is, and vice versa.

  17. Distribution profiles of per- and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and their re-regulation by ocean currents in the East and South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Hongyuan; Wang, Feng; Zhao, Zhen; Ma, Yuxin; Yang, Haizhen; Lu, Zhibo; Cai, Minggang; Cai, Minghong

    2017-12-15

    We investigated the distribution of 17 individual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in 42 surface water samples collected from the East and South China Seas (7.0-36.0°N, 110.0°N-123.0°E). Concentrations of 7 individual PFASs, including perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPA), perfluorohexanoate (PFHxA), perfluoroheptanoate (PFHpA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA), were quantified in the East China Sea, but only concentrations of PFOA and FOSA were quantified in the South China Sea. The total concentrations of the 17 PFASs ranged from 181 to 2658pg/L in the East China Sea and from 62 to 494pg/L in the South China Sea. We also show that river fluxes and ocean currents had a strong influence on the distribution of PFASs in the East China Sea. Using ArcGIS 10.1, we show how ocean currents control the spatial distribution of PFOA in the central South China Sea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Molecular approach to the identification of fish in the South China Sea.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junbin Zhang

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: DNA barcoding is one means of establishing a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective system for the identification of species. It involves the use of short, standard gene targets to create sequence profiles of known species against sequences of unknowns that can be matched and subsequently identified. The Fish Barcode of Life (FISH-BOL campaign has the primary goal of gathering DNA barcode records for all the world's fish species. As a contribution to FISH-BOL, we examined the degree to which DNA barcoding can discriminate marine fishes from the South China Sea. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: DNA barcodes of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI were characterized using 1336 specimens that belong to 242 species fishes from the South China Sea. All specimen provenance data (including digital specimen images and geospatial coordinates of collection localities and collateral sequence information were assembled using Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD; www.barcodinglife.org. Small intraspecific and large interspecific differences create distinct genetic boundaries among most species. In addition, the efficiency of two mitochondrial genes, 16S rRNA (16S and cytochrome b (cytb, and one nuclear ribosomal gene, 18S rRNA (18S, was also evaluated for a few select groups of species. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present study provides evidence for the effectiveness of DNA barcoding as a tool for monitoring marine biodiversity. Open access data of fishes from the South China Sea can benefit relative applications in ecology and taxonomy.

  19. Foreign trade and pollution: the case of South China water quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, Hui; Ai, Danxiang; Lin, Yuling

    2017-01-01

    With rapid economic growth, South China has to face the most serious water pollution. However, whether or not such kind of water pollution is mainly caused by foreign trade is questionable. And, how the trade mode will be changed by pollution and corresponding regulation is also uncertain. In this paper, a fully endogenous model, which integrate economic growth, energy use and pollution, is designed to interpret the interrelation among these key variables in South China. Through this model, a new possibility of water environment Kuznets curve change has been investigated. Attribute to mixed two stage feasible general least square estimation method, we conclude that foreign trade has strong influence on environment change rate and the turning point. It can make the virtuous circle of between economic growth and environment improvement come early or later in different circumstances. Export and import play different role in such process and have counter effects on environment.

  20. Salinification in the South China Sea Since Late 2012: A Reversal of the Freshening Since the 1990s

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Lili; Chassignet, Eric P.; Schmitt, Raymond W.; Xu, Xiaobiao; Wang, Dongxiao

    2018-03-01

    Salinification has occurred in the South China Sea from late 2012 to the present, as shown by satellite Aquarius/Soil Moisture Active Passive data and Argo float data. This salinification follows a 20 year freshening trend that started in 1993. The salinification signal is strongest near the surface and extends downward under the seasonal thermocline to a depth of 150 m. The salinification occurs when the phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation switches from negative to positive. Diagnosis of the salinity budget suggests that an increasing net surface freshwater loss and the horizontal salt advection through the Luzon Strait driven by the South China Sea throughflow contributed to this ongoing salinification. In particular, a decrease in precipitation and enhanced Luzon Strait transport dominated the current intense salinification. Of particular interest is whether this salinification will continue until it reaches the previous maximum recorded in 1992.

  1. Development present situation analysis of nuclear power industry in China and South Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Gang

    2011-01-01

    This paper introduces the present state and primary development experiences of South Korean nuclear power industry and the present state of Chinese nuclear power industry development, and comparatively analyzes and researches the differences between China and South Korea in nuclear power industry. At last, we come up with some suggestions and ideas to refer the follow-up development of Chinese nuclear power industry. (author)

  2. Prevalence, risk factors and impact of gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms: a population-based study in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Minhu; Xiong, Lishou; Chen, Huixin; Xu, Angao; He, Longjun; Hu, Pinjin

    2005-07-01

    There are few data on the epidemiology of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in South China. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of GERD symptoms in South China and to evaluate the impact on health-related quality of life. A face-to-face interview was carried out in South China using a validated Chinese version of the Reflux Disease Questionnaire to assess the prevalence of GERD symptoms. A randomly clustered sampling of permanent inhabitants aged 18 to 90 years was carried out under stratification of urban and suburban areas. The impact of GERD symptoms on health-related quality of life was evaluated using the Chinese version of SF-36. A total of 3338 residents (1468 M, 1870 F) were investigated. Mean age of the responders was 42.6 +/- 16.4 years; response rate was 95%. The prevalence of heartburn and/or acid eructation occurring at least weekly was 6.2%. The age- and gender-adjusted point prevalence of GERD symptoms in South China is 2.3% (95% CI, 1.8%, 2.8%) according to the definition in this study. There was no difference in prevalence between male (2.6%) and female (2.4%) subjects and there was no significant association between age and prevalence of GERD symptoms. Divorced/widowed/separated subjects (OR 4.61; 95% CI, 2.15%, 9.89%) and subjects with a heavy burden of work (OR 3.43, 95% CI, 1.72%, 6.84%) were significantly more likely to report GERD symptoms. As compared with the general population, subjects with GERD symptoms experienced considerable impairment in quality of life. The prevalence of GERD symptoms in South China was much lower than that reported in Western countries. GERD had a negative impact on quality of life.

  3. Assessment of Wave Energy in the South China Sea Based on GIS Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gang Lin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available China is now the world’s largest user of coal and also has the highest greenhouse gas emissions associated with the mining and use of coal. Under today’s enormous pressures of the growing shortage of conventional energy sources and the need for emission reductions, the search for clean energy is the most effective strategy to address the energy crisis and global warming. This study utilized satellite remote sensing technology, geographic information system (GIS technology, and simulated wave data for the South China Sea. The characteristic features of the wave energy were obtained by analysis through the wave resource assessment formula and the results were stored in a GIS database. Software for the evaluation of wave energy in the South China Sea was written. The results should provide accurate, efficient references for wave energy researchers and decision-makers. Based on a 24-year WW3 model simulation wave data and GIS technology, this study presented the characteristic of the wave energy in the SCS; results demonstrated that the SCS has the feasibility and viability for wave energy farming.

  4. Dna c-values of 20 invasive alien species and 3 native species in south china

    OpenAIRE

    Gong Ni; Wang Yu-Tao; Björn Lars Olof; Li Shao-Shan

    2014-01-01

    Cultivated fields and forests in South China are experiencing serious damage due to invasive alien plants. We investigated the relation between DNA C-values and invasiveness. The DNA C-values of 23 species ranged from 0.39 pg to 3.37 pg. Herbs, perennials and native species had higher mean DNA C-values than shrubs, annuals and invasive alien species. DNA C-values decreased with increasing invasiveness. Paederia scandens, a harmful native species, has the lo...

  5. Modeled connectivity of Acropora millepora populations from reefs of the Spratly Islands and the greater South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorman, Jeffrey G.; Castruccio, Frederic S.; Curchitser, Enrique N.; Kleypas, Joan A.; Powell, Thomas M.

    2016-03-01

    The Spratly Island archipelago is a remote network of coral reefs and islands in the South China Sea that is a likely source of coral larvae to the greater region, but about which little is known. Using a particle-tracking model driven by oceanographic data from the Coral Triangle region, we simulated both spring and fall spawning events of Acropora millepora, a common coral species, over a 46-yr period (1960-2005). Simulated population biology of A. millepora included the acquisition and loss of competency, settlement over appropriate benthic habitat, and mortality based on experimental data. The simulations aimed to provide insights into the connectivity of reefs within the Spratly Islands, the settlement of larvae on reefs of the greater South China Sea, and the potential dispersal range of reef organisms from the Spratly Islands. Results suggest that (1) the Spratly Islands may be a significant source of A. millepora larvae for the Palawan reefs (Philippines) and some of the most isolated reefs of the South China Sea; and (2) the relatively isolated western Spratly Islands have limited source reefs supplying them with larvae and fewer of their larvae successfully settling on other reefs. Examination of particle dispersal without biology (settlement and mortality) suggests that larval connectivity is possible throughout the South China Sea and into the Coral Triangle region. Strong differences in the spring versus fall larval connectivity and dispersal highlight the need for a greater understanding of spawning dynamics of the region. This study confirms that the Spratly Islands are likely an important source of larvae for the South China Sea and Coral Triangle region.

  6. Confirmation and Sequence analysis of N gene of PPRV in South Xinjiang, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YongHong Liu

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT In China, Peste des petits ruminants (PPR was officially first reported in 2007. From 2010 until the outbreak of 2013, PPRV infection was not reported. In November 2013, PPRV re-emerged in Xinjiang and rapidly spread to 22 P/A/M (provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China. In the study, suspected PPRV-infected sheep in a breeding farm of South Xinjiang in 2014 were diagnosed and the characteristics of complete sequence of N protein gene of PPRV was analyzed. The sheep showed PPRV-infected signs, such as fever, orinasal secretions increase, dyspnea and diarrhea, with 60% of morbidity and 21.1% of fatality rate. The macroscopic lesions after autopsy and histopathological changes were observed under light microscope including stomatitis, broncho-interstitial pneumonia, catarrhal hemorrhagic enteritis and intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusions in multinucleated giantcell in lung. The formalin-fixed mixed tissues samples were positive by nucleic acid extraction and RT-PCR detection. The nucleotide of N protein gene of China/XJNJ/2014 strain was extremely high homology with the China/XJYL/2013 strain, and the highest with PRADESH_95 strain from India in exotic strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete sequence of N protein gene of PPRV showed that the China/XJNJ/2014 strain, other strain of 2013-2014 in this study and Tibetan strains all belonged to lineage Ⅳ, but the PPRV strains of 2013-2014 in this study and Tibetan strains were in different sub-branches.

  7. Levels and isomer profiles of Dechlorane Plus in the surface soils from e-waste recycling areas and industrial areas in South China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu Zhiqiang [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Lu Shaoyou; Gao Shutao; Wang Jingzhi [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039 (China); Li Huiru, E-mail: huiruli@gig.ac.c [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Zeng Xiangying; Sheng Guoying; Fu Jiamo [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environment and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

    2010-09-15

    Dechlorane Plus (DP) is a highly chlorinated flame retardant. Levels of DP were measured in surface soils from e-waste recycling areas and industrial areas in South China. Higher DP levels were found in e-waste recycling areas (undetectable-47.4 ng/g) than those in industrial areas (0.0336-4.65 ng/g) in South China. The highest DP concentration (3327 ng/g) was found at the e-waste recycling site in Qingyuan, while DP levels fell dramatically with increasing distance away from the recycling site, suggesting that the e-waste recycling activities are an important source of DP emissions. The mean ratios of anti-DP to total DP (f{sub anti}) for different sampling areas ranged from 0.58 to 0.76 and showed no significant difference from the ratio for the technical DP products (t-test, p > 0.05). Further intensive studies are needed to investigate the process of DP degradation and its degradation products. - High DP concentrations were found in the soils from e-waste recycling regions, and e-waste recycling was the major source of DP emissions in South China.

  8. The Elusive China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-09-01

    Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power & Interdependence, 4th edition (Boston: Pearson , 2011), 232–3. 8 Dong Wang, “China-Japan Relations - Now What?,” PacNet...trilateral FTA could provide Japan and South Korea with a sense of assurance regarding Chinese foreign policy, which is often seen as aggressive...successfully led the charge against JA-Zenchu and removed its authority to audit and guide all Japanese farming cooperatives, removing a coercive tool to

  9. Methylmercury in fish from the South China Sea: Geographical distribution and biomagnification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Aijia; Zhang, Wei; Xu, Zhanzhou; Huang, Liangmin; Wang, Wen-Xiong

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • A large-scale investigation of MeHg in 46 species of marine wild fish from South China Sea. • Log 10 MeHg concentration was significantly related to their length and wet weight. • Feeding habit and habitat were the primary factors influencing MeHg bioaccumulation. • Demersal fish were more likely to be contaminated with MeHg than the epipelagic and mesopelagic species. • Biomagnification of MeHg was site-specific. -- Abstract: We conducted a large-scale investigation of methylmercury (MeHg) in a total of 628 marine wild fish covering 46 different species collected from the South China Sea between 2008 and 2009. Biological and ecological characteristics such as size (length and wet weight), feeding habit, habitat, and stable isotope (δ 15 N) were examined to explain MeHg bioaccumulation in marine fish and their geographical distribution. MeHg levels in the muscle tissues of the 628 individuals ranged from 0.010 to 1.811 μg/g dry wt. Log 10 MeHg concentration was significantly related to their length and wet weight. Feeding habit and habitat were the primary factors influencing MeHg bioaccumulation. Demersal fish were more likely to be contaminated with MeHg than the epipelagic and mesopelagic varieties. Linear relationships were obtained between Log 10 (MeHg) and δ 15 N only for one location, indicating that biomagnification was site-specific. Results from this study suggest that dietary preference and trophic structure were the main factors affecting MeHg bioaccumulation in marine fish from the South China Sea

  10. Enlightenment of Development of Higher Education in South Korea to China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Che, Zhenghong; Che, Zhengmei

    2012-01-01

    China and South Korea are two neighboring countries and are both developing countries. Furthermore, the modern and contemporary higher education of these two countries originates from the middle and late 19th Century, so there are a lot of similarities between the two countries. However, although the origination period of modern and contemporary…

  11. Millennial mercury records derived from ornithogenic sediment on Dongdao Island, South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Hong; Wang, Yuhong; Cheng, Wenhan; Sun, Liguang

    2011-01-01

    Two ornithogenic sediment cores, which have a time span of 1000 years and are influenced by red-footed booby (Sula sula), were collected from Dongdao Islands, South China Sea. The determined mercury concentrations of the two cores show similar and substantial fluctuations during the past millennium, and the fluctuations are most likely caused by the changes in mercury level of the ocean environment and in anthropogenic Hg emission. For the past 500 years, the mercury concentration in the red-footed booby excrement has a striking association with global anthropogenic mercury emission. The mercury concentration increased rapidly after AD 1600 in corresponding to beginning of the unparalleled gold and silver mining in South Central America that left a large volume of anthropogenic mercury pollution. Since the Industrial Revolution, the mercury level has increased at a fast pace, very likely caused by modern coal combustion, chlor-alkali and oil refining industries. The comparison of mercury profiles from different places on earth suggested that anthropogenic mercury pollution after the Industrial Revolution is more severe in Northern Hemisphere than in Antarctica.

  12. Plant-based assessment of inherent soil productivity and contributions to China's cereal crop yield increase since 1980.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingsheng Fan

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: China's food production has increased 6-fold during the past half-century, thanks to increased yields resulting from the management intensification, accomplished through greater inputs of fertilizer, water, new crop strains, and other Green Revolution's technologies. Yet, changes in underlying quality of soils and their effects on yield increase remain to be determined. Here, we provide a first attempt to quantify historical changes in inherent soil productivity and their contributions to the increase in yield. METHODS: The assessment was conducted based on data-set derived from 7410 on-farm trials, 8 long-term experiments and an inventory of soil organic matter concentrations of arable land. RESULTS: Results show that even without organic and inorganic fertilizer addition crop yield from on-farm trials conducted in the 2000s was significantly higher compared with those in the 1980s - the increase ranged from 0.73 to 1.76 Mg/ha for China's major irrigated cereal-based cropping systems. The increase in on-farm yield in control plot since 1980s was due primarily to the enhancement of soil-related factors, and reflected inherent soil productivity improvement. The latter led to higher and stable yield with adoption of improved management practices, and contributed 43% to the increase in yield for wheat and 22% for maize in the north China, and, 31%, 35% and 22% for early and late rice in south China and for single rice crop in the Yangtze River Basin since 1980. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, without an improvement in inherent soil productivity, the 'Agricultural Miracle in China' would not have happened. A comprehensive strategy of inherent soil productivity improvement in China, accomplished through combining engineering-based measures with biological-approaches, may be an important lesson for the developing world. We propose that advancing food security in 21st century for both China and other parts of world will depend on continuously improving

  13. Characteristics of microseisms in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, H.; Xue, M.; Pan, M.

    2017-12-01

    Microseisms are generated by coupling ocean waves and the solid earth, and their main frequencies and sources vary in different regions of the world. We use continuous waveforms from three arrays along the southern coast of China to study the types and sources of microseisms in South China. Using cross-correlation functions and a three-component F-K analysis, we found that the main type of microseisms in this area propagates as surface waves, arriving mainly from the east and southeast. We also found that the surface waves have different characteristics: the Rayleigh waves and Love waves have diverse sources, are frequency dependent and have no obvious seasonal changes. In the 0.2-0.25 Hz frequency band, the Rayleigh and Love waves at the W01, W02 and ST arrays show the influences of common microseisms sources from Taiwan and the Luzon Strait. However, in the 0.27-0.5 Hz frequency band, the energy of the microseisms tends to be governed by the offshore sources near the stations. In addition, the Love waves have broader back azimuths than those of the Rayleigh waves, which may due to the energy transfer between Rayleigh and Love waves in the thick sediment layers.

  14. New species, hyper-diversity and potential importance of Calonectria spp. from Eucalyptus in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lombard, L; Chen, S F; Mou, X; Zhou, X D; Crous, P W; Wingfield, M J

    2015-03-01

    Plantation forestry is expanding rapidly in China to meet an increasing demand for wood and pulp products globally. Fungal pathogens including species of Calonectria represent a serious threat to the growth and sustainability of this industry. Surveys were conducted in the Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan Provinces of South China, where Eucalyptus trees in plantations or cuttings in nurseries displayed symptoms of leaf blight. Isolations from symptomatic leaves and soils collected close to infected trees resulted in a large collection of Calonectria isolates. These isolates were identified using the Consolidated Species Concept, employing morphological characters and DNA sequence comparisons for the β-tubulin, calmodulin, histone H3 and translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene regions. Twenty-one Calonectria species were identified of which 18 represented novel taxa. Of these, 12 novel taxa belonged to Sphaero-Naviculate Group and the remaining six to the Prolate Group. Southeast Asia appears to represent a centre of biodiversity for the Sphaero-Naviculate Group and this fact could be one of the important constraints to Eucalyptus forestry in China. The remarkable diversity of Calonectria species in a relatively small area of China and associated with a single tree species is surprising.

  15. Late Paleozoic SEDEX deposits in South China formed in a carbonate platform at the northern margin of Gondwana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Wenhong Johnson; Zhou, Mei-Fu; Liu, Zerui Ray

    2018-05-01

    SEDEX sulfide deposits hosted in black shale and carbonate are common in the South China Block. The Dajiangping pyrite deposit is the largest of these deposits and is made up of stratiform orebodies hosted in black shales. Sandstone interlayered with stratiform orebodies contains detrital zircon grains with the youngest ages of 429 Ma. Pyrite from the orebodies has a Re-Os isochron age of 389 ± 62 Ma, indicative of formation of the hosting strata and syngenetic pyrite ores in the mid-late Devonian. The hosting strata is a transgression sequence in a passive margin and composed of carbonaceous limestone in the lower part and black shales in the upper part. The ore-hosting black shales have high TOC (total organic carbon), Mo, As, Pb, Zn and Cd, indicating an anoxic-euxinic deep basin origin. The high redox proxies, V/(V + Ni) > 0.6 and V/Cr > 1, and the positive correlations of TOC with Mo and V in black shales are also consistent with an anoxic depositional environment. The Dajiangping deposit is located close to the NE-trending Wuchuan-Sihui fault, which was active during the Devonian. The mid-late Devonian mineralization age and the anoxic-euxinic deep basinal condition of this deposit thus imply that the formation of this deposit was causally linked to hydrothermal fluid exhalation in an anoxic fault-bounded basin that developed in a carbonate platform of the South China Block. The regional distribution of many Devonian, stratiform, carbonaceous sediment-hosted sulfide deposits along the NE-trending fault-bounded basins in South China, similar to the Dajiangping deposit, indicates that these deposits formed at a basin developed in the passive margin setting of the South China Block during the Devonian. This environment was caused by the break-up and northward migration of the South China Block from Gandwana.

  16. Not enough space for everyone: China and the competition for the Global South

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Mouron

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available A little more than a decade and a half into the “Asian century”, the epicentre of the global economy has moved from the North Atlantic towards East Asia at an unprecedented pace. As a correlate, China’s growing expansion at global level has been gradually undermining the position of leading regional powers such as Brazil and South Africa. The displacement of their investments and the consequent loss of their regional markets, added to the growth of other medium-sized regional powers through stronger links with Beijing, have damaged both countries prospects of regional leadership. From this perspective, in contrast to the abundant literature depicting China as a great opportunity for Brazil and South Africa, this paper warns that both countries’ regional importance has been diminished in favour of China, which calls the usefulness of the BRICS concept into question.

  17. Wangshangkia, a new Devonian ostracod genus from Dushan of Guizhou, South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Junjun; Gong, Yiming

    2018-02-01

    Wangshangkia, a new genus of Ostracoda, from the Late Devonian in Dushan of Guizhou, South China, is described. This genus belongs to the family Bairdiocyprididae Shaver, 1961 and includes two new species, i.e. Wangshangkia dushaniensis and W. bailouiensis. The new genus is characterized by a wide ventral carina with radial striae. It is reported from the Famennian of South China and disappeared just below the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. Wangshangkia is essentially a benthic crawler and is restricted to the shallow-marine depositional environment with a low hydrodynamic condition. Wangshangkia: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:34BF01D4-D202-492D-8E27-BC508EF7EFFB W. dushaniensis: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D267C362-7510-4D19-996B-EA1848D7D025 W. bailouiensis: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:FE988AA0-7363-4D9E-A5AB-1526C8DBCDD9

  18. Bacterial community composition of South China Sea sediments through pyrosequencing-based analysis of 16S rRNA genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Daochen; Tanabe, Shoko-Hosoi; Yang, Chong; Zhang, Weimin; Sun, Jianzhong

    2013-01-01

    Subseafloor sediments accumulate large amounts of organic and inorganic materials that contain a highly diverse microbial ecosystem. The aim of this study was to survey the bacterial community of subseafloor sediments from the South China Sea. Pyrosequencing of over 265,000 amplicons of the V3 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene was performed on 16 sediment samples collected from multiple locations in the northern region of the South China Sea from depths ranging from 35 to 4000 m. A total of 9,726 operational taxonomic units (OTUs; between 695 and 2819 unique OTUs per sample) at 97% sequence similarity level were generated. In total, 40 bacterial phyla including 22 formally described phyla and 18 candidate phyla, with Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi being most diverse, were identified. The most abundant phylotype, accounting for 42.6% of all sequences, belonged to Gammaproteobacteria, which possessed absolute predominance in the samples analyzed. Among the 18 candidate phyla, 12 were found for the first time in the South China Sea. This study provided a novel insight into the composition of bacterial communities of the South China Sea subseafloor. Furthermore, abundances and community similarity analysis showed that the compositions of the bacterial communities are very similar at phylum level at different depths from 35-4000 m.

  19. Bacterial community composition of South China Sea sediments through pyrosequencing-based analysis of 16S rRNA genes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daochen Zhu

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Subseafloor sediments accumulate large amounts of organic and inorganic materials that contain a highly diverse microbial ecosystem. The aim of this study was to survey the bacterial community of subseafloor sediments from the South China Sea. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Pyrosequencing of over 265,000 amplicons of the V3 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene was performed on 16 sediment samples collected from multiple locations in the northern region of the South China Sea from depths ranging from 35 to 4000 m. A total of 9,726 operational taxonomic units (OTUs; between 695 and 2819 unique OTUs per sample at 97% sequence similarity level were generated. In total, 40 bacterial phyla including 22 formally described phyla and 18 candidate phyla, with Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi being most diverse, were identified. The most abundant phylotype, accounting for 42.6% of all sequences, belonged to Gammaproteobacteria, which possessed absolute predominance in the samples analyzed. Among the 18 candidate phyla, 12 were found for the first time in the South China Sea. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided a novel insight into the composition of bacterial communities of the South China Sea subseafloor. Furthermore, abundances and community similarity analysis showed that the compositions of the bacterial communities are very similar at phylum level at different depths from 35-4000 m.

  20. Temporal variation and biomagnification of organohalogen compounds in finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) from the South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramu, Karri; Kajiwara, Natsuko; Lam, Paul K.S.; Jefferson, Thomas A.; Zhou Kaiya; Tanabe, Shinsuke

    2006-01-01

    Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine compounds (OCs) were determined in the blubber of male finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) collected in 1990 and 2000/01 from the South China Sea. Among the organohalogen compounds analyzed, DDTs and PCBs were the predominant contaminants in the porpoises, ranging from 26,000 to 260,000 and 1400 to 28,000 ng/g lipid wt., respectively. PBDEs ranged from a minimum of 84 ng/g lipid wt., in 1990 to a maximum of 980 ng/g lipid wt., in 2001, showing a significant increase during the time period investigated. Congener profiles in finless porpoises did not shift to higher BDE congeners during these years, implying a continuous discharge of lower BDE commercial mixtures, such as PentaBDE. For OCs, HCHs concentrations decreased significantly, while others did not exhibit any significant temporal variation. Biomagnification factors (BMFs) were found to be highest for CHLs and lowest for HCB. PBDEs and PCBs had comparable BMFs, indicating a similar potential for biomagnification through the food web. - Levels and temporal variations of organohalogen contaminants in the South China Sea

  1. Climate modulates internal wave activity in the Northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeCarlo, Thomas M.; Karnauskas, Kristopher B.; Davis, Kristen A.; Wong, George T. F.

    2015-02-01

    Internal waves (IWs) generated in the Luzon Strait propagate into the Northern South China Sea (NSCS), enhancing biological productivity and affecting coral reefs by modulating nutrient concentrations and temperature. Here we use a state-of-the-art ocean data assimilation system to reconstruct water column stratification in the Luzon Strait as a proxy for IW activity in the NSCS and diagnose mechanisms for its variability. Interannual variability of stratification is driven by intrusions of the Kuroshio Current into the Luzon Strait and freshwater fluxes associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Warming in the upper 100 m of the ocean caused a trend of increasing IW activity since 1900, consistent with global climate model experiments that show stratification in the Luzon Strait increases in response to radiative forcing. IW activity is expected to increase in the NSCS through the 21st century, with implications for mitigating climate change impacts on coastal ecosystems.

  2. Four new species of the genus Mannerheimia Mäklin, 1880 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae) from south-western China and Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shavrin, Alexey V

    2018-04-12

    Four new species of the genus Mannerheimia Mäklin, 1880 from south-western China and Taiwan are described and illustrated: M. grandilobata Shavrin, sp.n. (China: Yunnan), M. emeishanensis Shavrin, sp.n. (China: Sichuan), M. maculata Shavrin, sp.n. (China: Yunnan) and M. taiwanica Shavrin, sp.n. (Taiwan: Taichung Hsien, Nantou Hsien), the first records of the genus from China and Taiwan. A key to species known from China and Taiwan and distributional maps for each species are provided.

  3. Cryptic genetic diversity in the mottled rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens with mitochondrial introgression at a contact zone in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravago-Gotanco, Rachel; de la Cruz, Talna Lorena; Pante, Ma Josefa; Borsa, Philippe

    2018-01-01

    The taxonomy of the mottled rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens species complex has long been challenging. In this study, we analyzed microsatellite genotypes, mitochondrial lineages, and morphometric data from 373 S. fuscescens individuals sampled from the northern Philippines and Hong Kong (South China Sea, Philippine Sea and Sulu Sea basins), to examine putative species boundaries in samples comprising three co-occurring mitochondrial lineages previously reported to characterize S. fuscescens (Clade A and Clade B) or S. canaliculatus (Clade C). We report the existence of two cryptic species within S. fuscescens in the northeast region of the South China Sea and northern Philippine Sea, supported by genetic and morphological differences. Individual-based assignment methods recovered concordant groupings of individuals into two nuclear genotype clusters (Cluster 1, Cluster 2) with (1) limited gene flow, if any, between them (FST = 0.241; P South China Sea. Mitonuclear discordance due to introgression obscures phylogenetic relationships for recently-diverged lineages, and cautions against the use of mitochondrial markers alone for species identification within the mottled rabbitfish species complex in the South China Sea region.

  4. A numerical study of the South China Sea Warm Current during winter monsoon relaxation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Cong; Ding, Yang; Bao, Xianwen; Bi, Congcong; Li, Ruixiang; Zhang, Cunjie; Shen, Biao; Wan, Kai

    2018-03-01

    Using a Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model, we investigated the dynamic mechanism of the South China Sea Warm Current (SCSWC) in the northern South China Sea (NSCS) during winter monsoon relaxation. The model reproduces the mean surface circulation of the NSCS during winter, while model-simulated subtidal currents generally capture its current pattern. The model shows that the current over the continental shelf is generally southwestward, under a strong winter monsoon condition, but a northeastward counter-wind current usually develops between 50-and 100-m isobaths, when the monsoon relaxes. Model experiments, focusing on the wind relaxation process, show that sea level is elevated in the northwestern South China Sea (SCS), related to the persistent northeasterly monsoon. Following wind relaxation, a high sea level band builds up along the mid-shelf, and a northeastward current develops, having an obvious vertical barotropic structure. Momentum balance analysis indicates that an along-shelf pressure gradient provides the initial driving force for the SCSWC during the first few days following wind relaxation. The SCSWC subsequently reaches a steady quasi-geostrophic balance in the cross-shelf direction, mainly linked to sea level adjustment over the shelf. Lagrangian particle tracking experiments show that both the southwestward coastal current and slope current contribute to the northeastward movement of the SCSWC during winter monsoon relaxation.

  5. The diplomacy of scientific research in the South China Sea: the case of join to oceanographic marine scientific research expedition between Vietnam and the Philippines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satyawan, I. A.

    2018-03-01

    The South China Sea is one of the hot-spot areas in the world. This area is claimed by China, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. It also noted, the South China Sea is rich in biodiversity as well as oil and gas. On the other side, environmental degradation is still happening in the South China Sea due to the reluctance of surrounding states to conduct a preservation program and mitigating action on climate change effects. Joint Oceanographic Marine Scientific Research Expedition between Vietnam and the Philippines is a breakthrough to start collaboration actions as well as to conduct Science Diplomacy.

  6. Uranium rich granite and uranium productive granite in south China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mingyue, Feng; Debao, He [CNNC Key Laboratory of Uranium Resource Exploration and Evaluation Technology, Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (China)

    2012-07-15

    The paper briefly introduces the differences between uranium rich granite and uranium productive granite in the 5 provinces of South China, and discusses their main characteristics in 4 aspects, the uranium productive granite is highly developed in fracture, very strong in alteration, often occurred as two-mica granite and regularly developed with intermediate-basic and acid dikes. The above characteristics distinguish the uranium productive granite from the uranium rich granite. (authors)

  7. Uranium rich granite and uranium productive granite in south China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Mingyue; He Debao

    2012-01-01

    The paper briefly introduces the differences between uranium rich granite and uranium productive granite in the 5 provinces of South China, and discusses their main characteristics in 4 aspects, the uranium productive granite is highly developed in fracture, very strong in alteration, often occurred as two-mica granite and regularly developed with intermediate-basic and acid dikes. The above characteristics distinguish the uranium productive granite from the uranium rich granite. (authors)

  8. Interannual variation of the South China Sea circulation during winter: intensified in the southern basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zu, Tingting; Xue, Huijie; Wang, Dongxiao; Geng, Bingxu; Zeng, Lili; Liu, Qinyan; Chen, Ju; He, Yunkai

    2018-05-01

    Surface geostrophic current derived from altimetry remote sensing data, and current profiles observed from in-situ Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) mooring in the northern South China Sea (NSCS) and southern South China Sea (SSCS) are utilized to study the kinetic and energetic interannual variability of the circulation in the South China Sea (SCS) during winter. Results reveal a more significant interannual variation of the circulation and water mass properties in the SSCS than that in the NSCS. Composite ananlysis shows a significantly reduced western boundary current (WBC) and a closed cyclonic eddy in the SSCS at the mature phase of El Niño event, but a strong WBC and an unclosed cyclonic circulation in winter at normal or La Niña years. The SST is warmer while the subsurface water is colder and fresher in the mature phase of El Niño event than that in the normal or La Niña years in the SSCS. Numerical experiments and energy analysis suggest that both local and remote wind stress change are important for the interannual variation in the SSCS, remote wind forcing and Kuroshio intrusion affect the circulation and water mass properties in the SSCS through WBC advection.

  9. Modal recovery of sea-level variability in the South China Sea using merged altimeter data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Haoyu; Chen, Ge

    2015-09-01

    Using 20 years (1993-2012) of merged data recorded by contemporary multi-altimeter missions, a variety of sea-level variability modes are recovered in the South China Sea employing three-dimensional harmonic extraction. In terms of the long-term variation, the South China Sea is estimated to have a rising sea-level linear trend of 5.39 mm/a over these 20 years. Among the modes extracted, the seven most statistically significant periodic or quasi-periodic modes are identified as principal modes. The geographical distributions of the magnitudes and phases of the modes are displayed. In terms of intraannual and annual regimes, two principal modes with strict semiannual and annual periods are found, with the annual variability having the largest amplitudes among the seven modes. For interannual and decadal regimes, five principal modes at approximately 18, 21, 23, 28, and 112 months are found with the most mode-active region being to the east of Vietnam. For the phase distributions, a series of amphidromes are observed as twins, termed "amphidrome twins", comprising rotating dipole systems. The stability of periodic modes is investigated employing joint spatiotemporal analysis of latitude/longitude sections. Results show that all periodic modes are robust, revealing the richness and complexity of sea-level modes in the South China Sea.

  10. Bioprospecting of Novel and Bioactive Compounds from Marine Actinomycetes Isolated from South China Sea Sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Na; Song, Fuhang

    2018-02-01

    Marine actinomycetes are less investigated compared to terrestrial strains as potential sources of natural products. To date, few investigations have been performed on culturable actinomycetes associated with South China Sea sediments. In the present study, twenty-eight actinomycetes were recovered from South China Sea sediments after dereplication by traditional culture-dependent method. The 16S rRNA gene sequences analyses revealed that these strains related to five families and seven genera. Twelve representative strains possessed at least one of the biosynthetic genes coding for polyketide synthase I, II, and nonribosomal peptide synthetase. Four strains had anti-Mycobacterium phlei activities and five strains had activities against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. 10 L-scale fermentation of strains Salinispora sp. NHF45, Nocardiopsis sp. NHF48, and Streptomyces sp. NHF86 were carried out for novel and bioactive compounds discovery. Finally, we obtained a novel α-pyrone compound from marine Nocardiopsis sp. NHF48, an analogue of paulomenol from marine Streptomyces sp. NHF86 and a new source of rifamycin B, produced by Salinispora sp. NHF45. The present study concluded that marine actinomycetes, which we isolated from South China Sea sediments, will be a suitable source for the development of novel and bioactive compounds.

  11. Classifying Vessels Operating in the South China Sea by Origin with the Automatic Identification System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-03-01

    p. 5) means to track voyage and safety related information in real time. Over time, massive amounts of information related to maritime operations... safety related messages from land based stations, navigation aids, and search and rescue (SAR) crews. All AIS messages are intended to encourage open...United States is the South China Sea. Eight countries, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia , Singapore, and Vietnam

  12. Occurrence and distribution of conventional and new classes of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwok, Karen Y; Wang, Xin-Hong; Ya, Miaolei; Li, Yongyu; Zhang, Xiao-Hua; Yamashita, Nobuyoshi; Lam, James C W; Lam, Paul K S

    2015-03-21

    Concentrations of 23 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), including new classes of PFASs, in seawater samples were investigated for their occurrence and the interaction of the ocean currents with the distribution of PFASs in the South China Sea. This study revealed that socio-economic development was associated with the PFAS contamination in coastal regions of South China. Significant correlations between concentration of total PFASs with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and population density were found in the areas, suggesting that the influence of intense human activities in these areas may have resulted in higher PFAS contamination to the adjacent environment. Di-substituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphate (diPAP), one of the potential replacements for PFASs, was only detected in the heavily developed region, namely Pearl River Delta (PRD). Total PFAS concentrations, ranging from 195 to 4925 pg/L, were detected at 51 sampling stations of the South China Sea. The results also confirmed that PFAS contamination in the South China Sea is strongly affected by the ocean currents. In comparison to perfluoroactane sulfonate (PFOS) concentrations measured nine years ago at the same locations, the concentrations in this study were found to be two times higher. This indicated that the use and production of perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) has been continuing in the region. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Sea Reclamation Status of Countries around the South China Sea from 1975 to 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junjue Zhang

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available As a way of turning sea into land for living space for humans, the actions of sea reclamation bring about significant benefits. Nevertheless, it is also an under-recognized threat to the environment and the marine ecosystem. Based on images in two periods, sea reclamation information of countries around the South China Sea was extracted from 1975 to 2010. The spatial state and driven forces of sea reclamation are then discussed. Results show that the overall strength of sea reclamation in the South China Sea was great. New reclaimed land added up to 3264 km2. Sea reclamation for fish farming was the main reclamation type and widely distributed in the whole area, especially on the coast from the Pearl River Delta to the Red River Delta, and the coast of Ca Mau Peninsula. Sea reclamation in China and Vietnam was rather significant, which occupies 80.6% of the total reclamation area. Singapore had the highest level of sea reclamation. New reclaimed land for fish farming holds a key role in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, while new reclaimed land for construction and docks dominated in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Areas and use-type compositions of new reclaimed land in countries varied greatly due to the differences of economic factors, policy inclination, and landscapes in the respective countries.

  14. Characterizing distributions of surface ozone and its impact on grain production in China, Japan and South Korea: 1990 and 2020

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaoping; Mauzerall, Denise L.

    Using an integrated assessment approach, we evaluate the impact that surface O 3 in East Asia had on agricultural production in 1990 and is projected to have in 2020. We also examine the effect that emission controls and the enforcement of environmental standards could have in increasing grain production in China. We find that given projected increases in O 3 concentrations in the region, East Asian countries are presently on the cusp of substantial reductions in grain production. Our conservative estimates, based on 7- and 12-h mean (M7 or M12) exposure indices, show that due to O 3 concentrations in 1990 China, Japan and South Korea lost 1-9% of their yield of wheat, rice and corn and 23-27% of their yield of soybeans, with an associated value of 1990US 3.5, 1.2 and 0.24 billion, respectively. In 2020, assuming no change in agricultural production practices and again using M7 and M12 exposure indices, grain loss due to increased levels of O 3 pollution is projected to increase to 2-16% for wheat, rice and corn and 28-35% for soybeans; the associated economic costs are expected to increase by 82%, 33%, and 67% in 2020 over 1990 for China, Japan and South Korea, respectively. For most crops, the yield losses in 1990 based on SUM06 or W126 exposure indices are lower than yield losses estimated using M7 or M12 exposure indices in China and Japan but higher in South Korea; in 2020, the yield losses based on SUM06 or W126 exposure indices are substantially higher for all crops in all three countries. This is primarily due to the nature of the cumulative indices which weight elevated values of O 3 more heavily than lower values. Chinese compliance with its ambient O 3 standard in 1990 would have had a limited effect in reducing the grain yield loss caused by O 3 exposure, resulting in only US 0.2 billion of additional grain revenues, but in 2020 compliance could reduce the yield loss by one third and lead to an increase of US$ 2.6 (M7 or M12) -27 (SUM06) billion in

  15. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of infectious bursal disease viruses isolated from chicken in South China in 2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Di; Zhang, Xiang-Bin; Yan, Zhuan-Qiang; Chen, Feng; Ji, Jun; Qin, Jian-Ping; Li, Hai-Yan; Lu, Jun-Peng; Xue, Yu; Liu, Jia-Jia; Xie, Qing-Mei; Ma, Jing-Yun; Xue, Chun-Yi; Bee, Ying-Zuo

    2013-06-01

    Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is a double-stranded RNA virus that causes immunosuppressive disease in young chickens. Thousands of cases of IBDV infection are reported each year in South China, and these infections can result in considerable economic losses to the poultry industry. To monitor variations of the virus during the outbreaks, 30 IBDVs were identified from vaccinated chicken flocks from nine provinces in South China in 2011. VP2 fragments from different virus strains were sequenced and analyzed by comparison with the published sequences of IBDV strains from China and around the world. Phylogenetic analysis of hypervariable regions of the VP2 (vVP2) gene showed that 29 of the isolates were very virulent (vv) IBDVs, and were closely related to vvIBDV strains from Europe and Asia. Alignment analysis of the deduced amino acid (aa) sequences of vVP2 showed the 29 vv isolates had high uniformity, indicated low variability and slow evolution of the virus. The non-vvIBDV isolate JX2-11 was associated with higher than expected mortality, and had high deduced aa sequence similarity (99.2 %) with the attenuated vaccine strain B87 (BJ). The present study has demonstrated the continued circulation of IBDV strains in South China, and emphasizes the importance of reinforcing IBDV surveillance.

  16. Spatial distribution and vertical profile of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, tetrabromobisphenol A, and decabromodiphenylethane in river sediment from an industrialized region of South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Xiulan; Luo Xiaojun; Chen Shejun; Wu Jiangping; Mai Bixian

    2009-01-01

    Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), and decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) were detected in fifteen surface sediments and two sediment cores collected from a river in one heavily industrialized region of South China. TBBPA and DBDPE were detected with concentrations ranging from 3.8 to 230 ng/g dw and from 23 to 430 ng/g dw, respectively. Σtri-hepta-BDEs and Σnona-deca-BDEs ranged from 0.7 to 7.6 ng/g dw and from 30 to 5700 ng/g dw, respectively. Σtri-hepta-BDEs showed an increasing trend whereas for Σnona-deca-BDE two sediment cores revealed a decreasing trend in more recent sediment layers which may attributed to the introduction of DBDPE. The rapid increasing trend for TBBPA and DBDPE in recent sediment layers well reflected the rising demand of these two compounds in study area. - Ubiquitous and historical contamination by PBDE, TBBPA, and DBDPE in river sediments from an industrialized region of South China

  17. Spatial distribution and vertical profile of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, tetrabromobisphenol A, and decabromodiphenylethane in river sediment from an industrialized region of South China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang Xiulan [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100039 (China); Luo Xiaojun, E-mail: luoxiaoj@gig.ac.c [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Chen Shejun [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Wu Jiangping [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100039 (China); Mai Bixian [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

    2009-06-15

    Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), and decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) were detected in fifteen surface sediments and two sediment cores collected from a river in one heavily industrialized region of South China. TBBPA and DBDPE were detected with concentrations ranging from 3.8 to 230 ng/g dw and from 23 to 430 ng/g dw, respectively. SIGMAtri-hepta-BDEs and SIGMAnona-deca-BDEs ranged from 0.7 to 7.6 ng/g dw and from 30 to 5700 ng/g dw, respectively. SIGMAtri-hepta-BDEs showed an increasing trend whereas for SIGMAnona-deca-BDE two sediment cores revealed a decreasing trend in more recent sediment layers which may attributed to the introduction of DBDPE. The rapid increasing trend for TBBPA and DBDPE in recent sediment layers well reflected the rising demand of these two compounds in study area. - Ubiquitous and historical contamination by PBDE, TBBPA, and DBDPE in river sediments from an industrialized region of South China

  18. Mobile LiDAR Measurement for Aerosol Investigation in South-Central Hebei, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    qin, kai; Wu, Lixin; Zheng, Yunhui; Wong Man, Sing; Wang, Runfeng; Hu, Mingyu; Lang, Hongmei; Wang, Luyao; Bai, Yang; Rao, Lanlan

    2016-04-01

    With the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China during the last decades, the increasing anthropogenic pollutant emissions have significantly caused serious air pollution problems which are adversely influencing public health. Hebei is one of the most air polluted provinces in China. In January 2013, an extremely severe and persistent haze episode with record-breaking PM2.5 outbreak affecting hundreds of millions of people occurred over eastern and northern China. During that haze episode, 7 of the top 10 most polluted cities in China were located in the Hebei Province according to the report of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection. To investigate and the spatial difference and to characterize the vertical distribution of aerosol in different regions of south-central Hebei, mobile measurements were carried out using a mini micro pulse LiDAR system (model: MiniMPL) in March 2014. The mobile LiDAR kit consisting of a MiniMPL, a vibration reduction mount, a power inverter, a Windows surface tablet and a GPS receiver were mounted in a car watching though the sunroof opening. For comparison, a fixed measurement using a traditional micro pulse LiDAR system (model: MPL-4B) was conducted simultaneously in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province. The equipped car was driven from downtown Shijiazhuang by way of suburban and rural area to downtown Cangzhou, Handan, and Baoding respectively at almost stable speed around 100Km per hour along different routes which counted in total more than 1000Km. The results can be summarized as: 1) the spatial distribution of total aerosol optical depth along the measurement routes in south-central Hebei was controlled by local terrain and population in general, with high values in downtown and suburban in the plain areas, and low values in rural areas along Taihang mountain to the west and Yan mountain to the north; 2) obviously high AODs were obtained at roads crossing points, inside densely populated area and nearby

  19. Biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration in four different aged Casuarina equisetifolia coastal shelterbelt plantations in South China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faming Wang

    Full Text Available Thousands of kilometers of shelterbelt plantations of Casuarina equisetifolia have been planted to protect the southeast coastline of China. These plantations also play an important role in the regional carbon (C cycling. In this study, we examined plant biomass increment and C accumulation in four different aged C. equisetifolia plantations in sandy beaches in South China. The C accumulated in the C. equisetifolia plant biomass increased markedly with stand age. The annual rate of C accumulation in the C. equisetifolia plant biomass during 0-3, 3-6, 6-13 and 13-18 years stage was 2.9, 8.2, 4.2 and 1.0 Mg C ha(-1 yr(-1, respectively. Soil organic C (SOC at the top 1 m soil layer in these plantations was 17.74, 5.14, 6.93, and 11.87 Mg C ha(-1, respectively, with SOC density decreasing with increasing soil depth. Total C storage in the plantation ecosystem averaged 26.57, 38.50, 69.78, and 79.79 Mg C ha(-1 in the 3, 6, 13 and 18- yrs plantation, with most of the C accumulated in the aboveground biomass rather than in the belowground root biomass and soil organic C. Though our results suggest that C. equisetifolia plantations have the characteristics of fast growth, high biomass accumulation, and the potential of high C sequestration despite planting in poor soil conditions, the interactive effects of soil condition, natural disturbance, and human policies on the ecosystem health of the plantation need to be further studied to fully realize the ecological and social benefits of the C equisetifolia shelterbelt forests in South China.

  20. The influence of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: Comparing Mexico, China and South Africa..

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gupta, A.; Falkner, R.

    2006-01-01

    This paper analyzes how the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, a global regime governing trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is influencing agricultural biotechnology policy choices in developing countries/emerging economies. Through empirical analysis of Mexico, China and South Africa, we

  1. Potential of sea level rise impact on South China Sea: a preliminary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The effect of the sea level rise was involved the existence of sea water intrusion and coastal erosion phenomenon in the coastal of Terengganu. This study aim to determine fluctuation of high and low tides of the South China Sea in their relation to water quality value of Marang and Paka Rivers as well as from wells ...

  2. Assessment of the Joint Development Potential of Wave and Wind Energy in the South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Wan

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The South China Sea is a major shipping hub between the West Pacific and Indian Oceans. In this region, the demand for energy is enormous, both for residents’ daily lives and for economic development. Wave energy and wind energy are two major clean and low-cost ocean sources of renewable energy. The reasonable development and utilization of these energy sources can provide a stable energy supply for coastal cities and remote islands of China. Before wave energy and wind energy development, however, we must assess the potential of each of these sources. Based on high-resolution and high-accuracy wave field data and wind field data obtained by ERA-Interim reanalysis for the recent 38-year period from 1979–2016, the joint development potential of wave energy and wind energy was assessed in detail for offshore and nearshore areas in the South China Sea. Based on potential installed capacity, the results revealed three promising areas for the joint development of nearshore wave energy and wind energy, including the Taiwan Strait, Luzon Strait and the sea southeast of the Indo-China Peninsula. For these three dominant areas (key stations, the directionality of wave energy and wind energy propagation were good in various seasons; the dominant wave conditions and the dominant wind conditions were the same, which is advantageous for the joint development of wave and wind energy. Existing well-known wave energy converters (WECs are not suitable for wave energy development in the areas of interest. Therefore, we must consider the distributions of wave conditions and develop more suitable WECs for these areas. The economic and environmental benefits of the joint development of wave and wind energy are high in these promising areas. The results described in this paper can provide references for the joint development of wave and wind energy in the South China Sea.

  3. Past 140-year environmental record in the northern South China Sea: Evidence from coral skeletal trace metal variations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Yinxian; Yu, Kefu; Zhao, Jianxin; Feng, Yuexing; Shi, Qi; Zhang, Huiling; Ayoko, Godwin A.; Frost, Ray L.

    2014-01-01

    About 140-year changes in the trace metals in Porites coral samples from two locations in the northern South China Sea were investigated. Results of PCA analyses suggest that near the coast, terrestrial input impacted behavior of trace metals by 28.4%, impact of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) was 19.0%, contribution of war and infrastructure were 14.4% and 15.6% respectively. But for a location in the open sea, contribution of War and SST reached 33.2% and 16.5%, while activities of infrastructure and guano exploration reached 13.2% and 14.7%. While the spatiotemporal change model of Cu, Cd and Pb in seawater of the north area of South China Sea during 1986–1997 were reconstructed. It was found that in the sea area Cu and Cd contaminations were distributed near the coast while areas around Sanya, Hainan had high Pb levels because of the well-developed tourism related activities. -- Highlights: • Geochemical behaviors of trace elements in corals from South China Sea were investigated. • Terrestrial input, SST, war and infrastructure explain about 77.4% of elements behaviors in coral. • Changes of trace elements in coral of Xisha Islands were mainly impacted by local activities. • Spatial change of elements in seawater by was evaluated in 1986–1997 using distribution coefficient K D of coral. -- 140-year changes in the trace metals in corals from South China Sea were investigated. The spatiotemporal change model of the metals in seawater was reconstructed using coral record

  4. Venezuela and China

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agustin, Oscar Garcia

    2016-01-01

    of a political and economic model which can inspire or be followed by other countries. Although China's influence and increasing power in Venezuela is unquestionable in economic terms, the Venezuelan government uses its agreements with China strategically to legitimate its policies, in the name of a South...... draws on this context of 'interdependent hegemony' to explore the existing relationship between Venezuela, as a swing state, and China, as one of the Big Three global powers. Particularly, I focus on Venezuelan efforts to develop, at the domestic and regional level, a counterhegemonic political project...

  5. Thermoluminescence dating of abyssal deposits in the north region of the South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peng Xiaoxian

    1988-01-01

    The ages of abyssal deposits have been studied by TL dating. The ages of the deposits from the wells Weima 1, 5 and 6 at the slope in the north of the South China Sea are 36,100 and 128 thousand years respectively

  6. Bamboo resources, utilization and ex-situ conservation in Xishuangbanna, South-eastern China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    YANG Qing; DUAN Zhu-biao; WANG Zheng-liang; HE Kai-hong; SUN Qi-xiang; PENG Zhen-hua

    2008-01-01

    This paper describes the geographical distribution, utilization, cultural value and ex-situ conservation of bamboo resources in Xishuangbanna, Yunan Province, China. Sixty species of bamboo in 19 genera are recorded in Xishuangbanna. The area of natural bamboo forest is 14319 ha, accounting for 5.92% of whole area of Xishuangbanna. The abundant resource of bamboo plays an important role in the economics and culture of national minorities in Xishuangbanna. Xishuangbanna Tropic Botanic Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), started to introduce bamboo species in 1961 and established the ex-situ conservation reserve (8 ha) of bamboo in 1981. Up to now, 211 species in 27 genera collected from tropic and sub-tropic of China and South-east Asia have been planted in the bamboo reserve, of which 11 species have bloomed and seeded, and their seeds were cultivated in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Gardens, CAS, China.

  7. Magnetic Properties of the Rivers Feeding the South China Sea: a Critical Step for Understanding the Paleo-Marine Records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kissel, C.; Liu, Z.; Wandres, C.

    2014-12-01

    In order to use the magnetic properties of marine sediments as a tracer for past changes in the precipitation rate on land and in oceanic water masses transport and exchanges in the South China Sea, we identify and characterize the different sources of the detrital fraction among which the magnetic particles. This work is presently conducted in the framework of the Franco-Chinese LIA-MONOCL Thanks to the Westpac project, we had access to sediments collected in the deltas of the main rivers feeding the South China Sea from about 25°N to the equator. This is represented on the Asian continent by the Pearl river, the Red River, the Mekong river, by Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo regions with minor rivers but also contributing to the South China Sea, and finally by Luzon and Taiwan. The geological formations contributing to the river sediment discharges are different from one catchment basin to another as well as the present climatic conditions. The magnetic analyses consist in the analysis of low-field magnetic susceptibility, ARM acquisition and decay, IRM acquisition and decay, back-field acquisition, thermal demagnetization of 3-axes IRM, hysteresis parameters, and FORC diagrams. The obtained parameters all together allow us to define the nature of the magnetic grains and their grain size distribution when magnetite is dominant. Some degree of variability is observed at the river mouths, illustrating different geological sources at the local/regional scale. As an average, it appears that the Southern basin of the South China Sea is surrounded by regions richer in high coercivity magnetic minerals than the northern basin. This mineral is identified as hematite while magnetites (and sulfides) are more abundant in the north. These results are complementary to the clay mineral assemblages previously determined on the same samples. The first steps of a similar study conducted on marine core-tops well distributed in the South China Sea will also be illustrated.

  8. Sources of new nitrogen in the Vietnamese upwelling region of the South China Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bombar, Deniz; Dippner, Joachim W.; Doan, Hai Nhu

    2010-01-01

    In the South China Sea, the southwest monsoon between June and September induces upwelling off the southern central Vietnamese coast. During field campaigns in July 2003 and 2004 we evaluated the importance of nitrate and nitrogen fixation as sources of new nitrogen for phytoplankton primary...

  9. Dna c-values of 20 invasive alien species and 3 native species in south china

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gong Ni

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Cultivated fields and forests in South China are experiencing serious damage due to invasive alien plants. We investigated the relation between DNA C-values and invasiveness. The DNA C-values of 23 species ranged from 0.39 pg to 3.37 pg. Herbs, perennials and native species had higher mean DNA C-values than shrubs, annuals and invasive alien species. DNA C-values decreased with increasing invasiveness. Paederia scandens, a harmful native species, has the lowest DNA C-value among the perennials, indicating that native species with low nuclear content may also possess an invasive potential.

  10. Virtual versus real water transfers within China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Jing; Hoekstra, Arjen Y; Wang, Hao; Chapagain, Ashok K; Wang, Dangxian

    2005-01-01

    North China faces severe water scarcity—more than 40% of the annual renewable water resources are abstracted for human use. Nevertheless, nearly 10% of the water used in agriculture is employed in producing food exported to south China. To compensate for this ‘virtual water flow’ and to reduce water scarcity in the north, the huge south–north Water Transfer Project is currently being implemented. This paradox—the transfer of huge volumes of water from the water-rich south to the water-poor north versus transfer of substantial volumes of food from the food-sufficient north to the food-deficit south—is receiving increased attention, but the research in this field has not yet reached further than rough estimation and qualitative description. The aim of this paper is to review and quantify the volumes of virtual water flows between the regions in China and to put them in the context of water availability per region. The analysis shows that north China annually exports about 52 billion m3 of water in virtual form to south China, which is more than the maximum proposed water transfer volume along the three routes of the Water Transfer Project from south to north. PMID:16767828

  11. Impacts of Ocean Warming on China's Fisheries Catches: An Application of “Mean Temperature of the Catch” Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cui Liang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Ocean warming can strongly impact marine fisheries; notably, it can cause the “mean temperature of the catch” (MTC to increase, an indicator of the tropicalization of fisheries catches. In this contribution, we explore MTC changes in three large marine ecosystems (LMEs along China's coasts, i.e., the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea LMEs, and their relationships to shifts of sea surface temperature (SST. The results show that, while the MTCs began to increase in 1962 in the East China Sea and in 1968 in the Yellow Sea, there was no detectable increase in the South China Sea. There also was a strong relationship between MTC and SST in the Yellow and East China Seas from 1950 to 2010, especially when taking a 3-year time-lag into account. The lack of change of the MTC in the South China Sea is attributed to the relatively small increase in SST over the time period considered, and the fact that the MTC of tropical ecosystems such as the South China Sea is not predicted to increase in the first place, given that their fauna cannot be replaced by another, adapted to higher temperature. Overall, these results suggest that ocean warming is already having an impact on China's marine fisheries, and that policies to curtail greenhouse gas emissions are urgently needed to minimize the increase of these impacts on fisheries.

  12. South China provenance of the lower-grade Penglai Group north of the Sulu UHP orogenic belt, eastern China. Evidence from detrital zircon ages and Nd-Hf isotopic composition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Xianghui; Chen Fukun; Guo Jinghui; Xie Liewen; Siebel, Wolfgang

    2007-01-01

    The Dabie-Sulu ultrahigh-pressure orogenic belt resulted from the early Mesozoic collision of the North China block and South China block (comprising the Yangtze and the Cathaysia) and subsequent exhumation of the subducted South China continental slabs. This belt consists of tectonically juxtaposed rock units of different metamorphic grade. Provenance of the low-grade metamorphic terranes exposed along the northern part of the belt can offer useful information about the location of the boundary between these two continental blocks. This study reports detrital zircon ages and Nd-Hf isotopic composition of sedimentary rocks of the low-grade Penglai Group, situated north of the Sulu UHP terrane. Results show that detrital zircon grains mostly crystallized during Mesoproterozoic time, clustering at 1.7 Ga to 1.6 Ga and 1.2 Ga. Nd isotopic composition (T DM value) of the Penglai Group suggests that sedimentary sources are similar to average crustal material of the Yangtze block and mostly formed in Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic. Late Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons probably demonstrate the sedimentary material was derived from the boundary of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks, which was formed by the late Mesoproterozoic convergence. Absence of Neoproterozoic detrital zircons from the Penglai sediments probably suggests a late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic deposition age (about 1.1 Ga to 0.8 Ga). The age and isotopic evidence implies that the Penglai Group originated from the South China block and probably was thrust onto the basement of the North China block during the early Mesozoic continental collision. (author)

  13. A new species of Pectinaria (Annelida, Pectinariidae), with a key to pectinariids from the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jinghuai; Qiu, Jian-Wen

    2017-01-01

    Pectinariidae is a family of polychaetes building unique ice-cream cone shaped sandy tubes. Pectinaria torquata sp. n. (Pectinariidae) is described from the coastal waters of the northern South China Sea. This new species can be distinguished from all other 25 recognized species in the genus by a combination of characters: 16 chaetigers; 26-32 cirri in the cephalic veil; 11-12 pairs of cephalic spines; uncini with major teeth arranged in two rows, each with 7-8 major teeth; presence of a dorsal posterior lobe on segments 2 and 20; 4-5 pairs of curved scaphal hooks; and an anal flap with a crenulated margin. A key to all recognized pectinariids in the South China Sea is provided.

  14. Geological characteristics of granite type uranium deposits in middle of Inner Mongolia in comparison with south China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Gui

    2012-01-01

    Granites extensively distributed in middle of Inner Mongolia and South China, namely Caledonian, Hercynian and Yanshanian. Some of the intrusive are composed of granites which belong to different ages. Some of the uranium deposits were found inside the granite bodies or in sedimentary rocks and meta sedimentary rocks along the exocontact zone. Granite rock was comparing in middle Inner Mongolia and South China, including Uranium ore-forming geological conditions. ore-forming process and Ore-controlling factors. Think the Uranium ore-forming geological conditions is similar; ore-forming process is mainly for low-mid temperature hot liquid; Uranium ore bodies (uranium mineralization) was controlled by fracture. Explain granite type uranium mineralization potential is tremendous in middle of Inner Mongolia. (author)

  15. Assessment of the Effectiveness of Environmental Dredging in South Lake, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiao Yu; Feng, Jiang

    2007-08-01

    Environmental dredging is a primary remedial option for removal of the contaminated material from aquatic environment. Of primary concern in environmental dredging is the effectiveness of the intended sediment removal. A 5-year field monitoring study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the environmental dredging in South Lake, China. The concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphors, and heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Hg, and As) before and after dredging in sediment were determined and compared. Multiple ecological risk indices were employed to assess the contamination of heavy metals before and after dredging. Our results showed that the total phosphorus levels reduced 42% after dredging. Similar changes for Hg, Zn, As Pb, Cd, Cu, Cr, and Ni were observed, with reduction percentages of 97.0, 93.1, 82.6, 63.9, 52.7, 50.1, 32.0, and 23.6, respectively, and the quality of sediment improved based on the criterion of Sediment Quality Guidelines by USEPA and contamination degree values (Cd) decreased significantly (paired t-test, p heavy metals from South Lake. Nevertheless, the dredging was ineffective to remove total nitrogen from sediment. We conclude that the reason for the observed increase in TN after dredging was likely ammonia release from the sediment impairing the dredging effectiveness.

  16. Methylmercury in fish from the South China Sea: geographical distribution and biomagnification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Aijia; Zhang, Wei; Xu, Zhanzhou; Huang, Liangmin; Wang, Wen-Xiong

    2013-12-15

    We conducted a large-scale investigation of methylmercury (MeHg) in a total of 628 marine wild fish covering 46 different species collected from the South China Sea between 2008 and 2009. Biological and ecological characteristics such as size (length and wet weight), feeding habit, habitat, and stable isotope (δ(15)N) were examined to explain MeHg bioaccumulation in marine fish and their geographical distribution. MeHg levels in the muscle tissues of the 628 individuals ranged from 0.010 to 1.811 μg/g dry wt. Log10MeHg concentration was significantly related to their length and wet weight. Feeding habit and habitat were the primary factors influencing MeHg bioaccumulation. Demersal fish were more likely to be contaminated with MeHg than the epipelagic and mesopelagic varieties. Linear relationships were obtained between Log10(MeHg) and δ(15)N only for one location, indicating that biomagnification was site-specific. Results from this study suggest that dietary preference and trophic structure were the main factors affecting MeHg bioaccumulation in marine fish from the South China Sea. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Taxonomic research on deep-sea macrofauna in the South China Sea using the Chinese deep-sea submersible Jiaolong.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xinzheng

    2017-07-01

    This paper reviews the taxonomic and biodiversity studies of deep-sea invertebrates in the South China Sea based on the samples collected by the Chinese manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong. To date, 6 new species have been described, including the sponges Lophophysema eversa, Saccocalyx microhexactin and Semperella jiaolongae as well as the crustaceans Uroptychus jiaolongae, Uroptychus spinulosus and Globospongicola jiaolongi; some newly recorded species from the South China Sea have also been reported. The Bathymodiolus platifrons-Shinkaia crosnieri deep-sea cold seep community has been reported by Li (2015), as has the mitochondrial genome of the glass sponge L. eversa by Zhang et al. (2016). The population structures of two dominant species, the shrimp Shinkaia crosnieri and the mussel Bathymodiolus platifrons, from the cold seep Bathymodiolus platifrons-Shinkaia crosnieri community in the South China Sea and the hydrothermal vents in the Okinawa Trough, were compared using molecular analysis. The systematic position of the shrimp genus Globospongicola was discussed based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. © 2017 International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

  18. Airborne Bacterial Communities in Three East Asian Cities of China, South Korea, and Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae Young; Park, Eun Ha; Lee, Sunghee; Ko, GwangPyo; Honda, Yasushi; Hashizume, Masahiro; Deng, Furong; Yi, Seung-Muk; Kim, Ho

    2017-07-17

    The global diversity of airborne bacteria has not yet been studied, despite its importance in human health and climate change. Here, we focused on the diversity of airborne bacteria and their correlations with meteorological/environmental conditions in China, South Korea, and Japan. Beijing (China) had more diverse airborne bacteria, followed by Seoul (South Korea) and Nagasaki (Japan), and seasonal variations were observed. Beijing and Seoul had more diverse airborne bacteria during the winter, whereas Nagasaki showed greater diversity during the summer. According to principal component analysis and Bray-Curtis similarity, higher similarity was observed between Beijing and Seoul than between Seoul and Nagasaki during all seasons except summer. Among meteorological/environmental variables, temperature and humidity were highly correlated with the diversity of airborne bacteria on the measurement day, whereas wind speeds and the frequency of northwest winds were highly correlated for 2-3-day moving averages. Thus, proximity and resuspension could enhance bacterial diversity in East Asian cities.

  19. Antifouling potentials of eight deep-sea-derived fungi from the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiao-Yong; Xu, Xin-Ya; Peng, Jiang; Ma, Chun-Feng; Nong, Xu-Hua; Bao, Jie; Zhang, Guang-Zhao; Qi, Shu-Hua

    2014-04-01

    Marine-derived microbial secondary metabolites are promising potential sources of nontoxic antifouling agents. The search for environmentally friendly and low-toxic antifouling components guided us to investigate the antifouling potentials of eight novel fungal isolates from deep-sea sediments of the South China Sea. Sixteen crude ethyl acetate extracts of the eight fungal isolates showed distinct antibacterial activity against three marine bacteria (Loktanella hongkongensis UST950701-009, Micrococcus luteus UST950701-006 and Pseudoalteromonas piscida UST010620-005), or significant antilarval activity against larval settlement of bryozoan Bugula neritina. Furthermore, the extract of Aspergillus westerdijkiae DFFSCS013 displayed strong antifouling activity in a field trial lasting 4 months. By further bioassay-guided isolation, five antifouling alkaloids including brevianamide F, circumdatin F and L, notoamide C, and 5-chlorosclerotiamide were isolated from the extract of A. westerdijkiae DFFSCS013. This is the first report about the antifouling potentials of metabolites of the deep-sea-derived fungi from the South China Sea, and the first stage towards the development of non- or low-toxic antifouling agents from deep-sea-derived fungi.

  20. Weak depth and along-strike variations in stretching from a multi-episodic finite stretching model: Evidence for uniform pure-shear extension in the opening of the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Lin; Zhang, Zhongjie; Song, Haibin

    2013-12-01

    The South China Sea is widely believed to have been opened by seafloor spreading during the Cenozoic. The details of its lithospheric extension are still being debated, and it is unknown whether pure, simple, or conjunct shears are responsible for the opening of the South China Sea. The depth-dependent and along-strike extension derived from the single-stage finite stretching model or instantaneous stretching model is inconsistent with the observation that the South China Sea proto-margins have experienced multi-episodic extension since the Late Cretaceous. Based on the multi-episodic finite stretching model, we present the amount of lithosphere stretching at the northern continental margin of the South China Sea for different depth scales (upper crust, whole crust and lithosphere) and along several transects. The stretching factors are estimated by integrating seven deep-penetration seismic profiles, the Moho distribution derived from gravity modeling, and the tectonic subsidence data for 41 wells. The results demonstrate that the amount of stretching increases rapidly from 1.1 at the continent shelf to over 3.5 at the lower slope, but the stretching factors at the crust and lithosphere scales are consistent within error (from the uncertainty in paleobathymetry and sea-level change). Furthermore, the along-strike variation in stretching factor is within the range of 1.11-1.9 in west-east direction, accompanied by significant west-east differences in the thickness of high-velocity layers (HVLs) within the lowermost crust. This weak along-strike variation of the stretching factor is most likely produced by the preexisting contrasts in the composition and thermal structure of the lithosphere. The above observations suggest that the continental extension in the opening of the South China Sea mainly takes the form of a uniform pure shear rather than depth-dependent stretching.

  1. A new brontothere from the Eocene of South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Averianov

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The upper Eocene Youganwo Formation in Maoming Province, Guangdong Province, China, produced abundant remains of turtles and crocodiles, but mammalian remains are rare. The previously found mammals from Youganwo Formation include a nimravid carnivore and an amynodontid perissodactyl. Here we report on a new brontotheriid perissodactyl from the Youganwo Formation. Maobrontops paganus gen. et sp. nov. is described based on a maxillary fragment with P4 and M1–2 (SYSU-M-4. Maobrontops paganus gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by the combination of a simple P4 without a hypocone with derived molars having large molar fossae and large anterolingual cingular cusp. A parsimony implied weighting character analysis places Maobrontops gen. nov. in the clade Embolotheriita as a sister taxon to the terminal subclade containing Nasamplus, Protembolotherium, and Embolotherium. Maobrontops paganus gen. et sp. nov. is one of the largest Asian brontotheres. The brontotheriid fauna of South China is endemic and includes at least three valid taxa: Dianotitan from Brontotheriita and Pygmaetitan and Maobrontops gen. nov. from Embolotheriita.

  2. Molecular Paleoclimate Reconstructions over the Last 9 ka from a Peat Sequence in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xinxin; Huang, Xianyu; Sachse, Dirk; Ding, Weihua; Xue, Jiantao

    2016-01-01

    To achieve a better understanding of Holocene climate change in the monsoon regions of China, we investigated the molecular distributions and carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions (δ13C and δD values) of long-chain n-alkanes in a peat core from the Shiwangutian (SWGT) peatland, south China over the last 9 ka. By comparisons with other climate records, we found that the δ13C values of the long-chain n-alkanes can be a proxy for humidity, while the δD values of the long-chain n-alkanes primarily recorded the moisture source δD signal during 9–1.8 ka BP and responded to the dry climate during 1.8–0.3 ka BP. Together with the average chain length (ACL) and the carbon preference index (CPI) data, the climate evolution over last 9 ka in the SWGT peatland can be divided into three stages. During the first stage (9–5 ka BP), the δ13C values were depleted and CPI and Paq values were low, while ACL values were high. They reveal a period of warm and wet climate, which is regarded as the Holocene optimum. The second stage (5–1.8 ka BP) witnessed a shift to relatively cool and dry climate, as indicated by the more positive δ13C values and lower ACL values. During the third stage (1.8–0.3 ka BP), the δ13C, δD, CPI and Paq values showed marked increase and ACL values varied greatly, implying an abrupt change to cold and dry conditions. This climate pattern corresponds to the broad decline in Asian monsoon intensity through the latter part of the Holocene. Our results do not support a later Holocene optimum in south China as suggested by previous studies. PMID:27505008

  3. Molecular Paleoclimate Reconstructions over the Last 9 ka from a Peat Sequence in South China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinxin Wang

    Full Text Available To achieve a better understanding of Holocene climate change in the monsoon regions of China, we investigated the molecular distributions and carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions (δ13C and δD values of long-chain n-alkanes in a peat core from the Shiwangutian (SWGT peatland, south China over the last 9 ka. By comparisons with other climate records, we found that the δ13C values of the long-chain n-alkanes can be a proxy for humidity, while the δD values of the long-chain n-alkanes primarily recorded the moisture source δD signal during 9-1.8 ka BP and responded to the dry climate during 1.8-0.3 ka BP. Together with the average chain length (ACL and the carbon preference index (CPI data, the climate evolution over last 9 ka in the SWGT peatland can be divided into three stages. During the first stage (9-5 ka BP, the δ13C values were depleted and CPI and Paq values were low, while ACL values were high. They reveal a period of warm and wet climate, which is regarded as the Holocene optimum. The second stage (5-1.8 ka BP witnessed a shift to relatively cool and dry climate, as indicated by the more positive δ13C values and lower ACL values. During the third stage (1.8-0.3 ka BP, the δ13C, δD, CPI and Paq values showed marked increase and ACL values varied greatly, implying an abrupt change to cold and dry conditions. This climate pattern corresponds to the broad decline in Asian monsoon intensity through the latter part of the Holocene. Our results do not support a later Holocene optimum in south China as suggested by previous studies.

  4. Performance Calculation of Floating Wind Turbine Tension Leg Platform in the South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hai Feng Wang

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The harvesting of wind energy is expected to increase greatly in the future because of its stability, abundance, and renewability in large coastal states such as China. The floating support structure will likely become the major structural form for wind turbines in the future due to its cost advantages when the water depth reaches 50 m. The 5MW wind turbine model from National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL and the modified tension leg platform model proposed by Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT were applied to certain sea conditions in the South China Sea in order to consider the effects of external load coupling actions. In this study, the internal force, mooring system force, as well as the acceleration, displacement and velocity of the floating structure of the modified HIT Tension Leg Platform (HIT-TLP were calculated. During this process, the physical parameters of its tension leg structure at a specific frequency domain were obtained to find the technical reserves for its practical application in the future.

  5. Characterization and speciation of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and their implications on the atmosphere of South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Jianhui

    2007-12-01

    A large pool of ambient and source NMHC data was obtained for the first time in various environments of South China, extending from less developed Yunnan and Hainan Provinces to more developed Guangdong and Zhejiang Provinces. The source and source regions of these C2-C10 NMHC species were assessed through comparison of the profiles and characteristic ratios of NMHC species in ambient and source samples. Tools such as backward air trajectory and satellite images are utilized. Analysis of NMHC profiles in these regions unveiled that there were complex characteristics of NMHCs involving different extents of contributions from urban vehicular and industrial emissions, local biofuel combustion and biogenic emissions, and biomass burning emissions. At the developed sites, such as Guangzhou in Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Lin'an in Yangtze River Delta (YRD), vehicular and industrial emissions were the major contributors. However, in rural and remote areas such as at Jiangfeng Mountain on Hainan Island and Tengchong Mountain in southwest of China, long-range transports of biomass burning pollution from the SE Asia subcontinent in addition to contributions from in situ biogenic and other local anthropogenic emissions from South China, are important sources of NMHCs in spring. More in depth studies were conducted in the urban sites of Guangzhou and at the rural site of Dinghu Mountain during 2001 to 2005. The levels of toluene increased in Dinghu Mountain but decreased in Guangzhou urban sites, which was contrary to the increase of industrial activities in this region. This was in part due to the implementation of stringent emission standards for polluting industries especially in the urban areas and the relocation of polluting industries from urban to the less developed parts of the PRD. We had found for the first time significant increase of propane levels in the urban air of Guangzhou, due to the introduction of LPG-fueled buses and taxis. The signatures of LPG influence

  6. ANALYSIS OF LOW-FREQUENCY OSCILLATIONS FOR THE SOUTH CHINA SEA SUMMER MONSOON IN 1998

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    徐国强; 朱乾根

    2003-01-01

    With NCEP/NCAR reanalysis daily data and SST for 1998, the paper investigates the features of summer monsoon low-frequency oscillation (LFO) over the South China Sea (SCS). Results show that SCS summer monsoon onset is enhanced because of its LFO. Low-frequency (LF) low-level convergence (divergence) region of SCS is in the LF positive (negative) rainfall area. LFO of the SCS region migrates from south to north in the meridian and from west to east in zonal direction. LF divergence of SCS is vertically compensating to each other between high and low level.

  7. Holocene megathermal abrupt environmental changes derived from {sup 14}C dating of a coral reef at Leizhou Peninsula, South China Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shen Chengde; Yi Weixi E-mail: cdshen@gig.ac.cn; Yu Kefu; Sun Yanmin; Liu Tungsheng; Beer, J.; Hajdas, I.; Bonani, G

    2004-08-01

    A depth profile of a Goniopora coral reef at Leizhou Peninsula, South China Sea, was radiocarbon dated using liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The time of formation, during 6600-7400 cal BP, can be divided into nine stages, each terminated by abrupt growth cessation of Goniopora and appearance of Ostrea shells. The results show that, during the Holocene megathermal (8.2-3.3 ka BP), large climatic changes have occurred in the South China Sea area.

  8. Dynamic evolution of shear - extensional tectonics in South China and uranium resource exploration strategic analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fang Shiyi; Tao Zhijun; Han Qiming

    2012-01-01

    A variety of multi- types, multi-level, multi-era shear - extensional tectonics in south China is developed, the main form of shear-extensional tectonics, and developmental characteristics and metallogenic geodynamic evolution is discovered, and thus uranium resource exploration strategic analysis is conducted

  9. Real Conditions and Themes of Gender Diversity in Management in Japan, China, and South Korea: 605 results from the "Corporate Survey of Human Resource Utilization (China and Korea)" (Japanese)

    OpenAIRE

    ISHIZUKA Hiromi

    2014-01-01

    Japan, China, and South Korea, as neighboring countries in northeast Asia, have a Confucian-rooted orientation toward the separation of labor among women and men, and they share the perception of having gender disparities in the workplace. Hereafter, their various roles in serving the world economy will increase, as will corporate expansion and employee movements. The purpose of this paper is to use the company survey data of the three countries to compare the real conditions of gender divers...

  10. Mangrove succession enriches the sediment microbial community in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Quan; Zhao, Qian; Li, Jing; Jian, Shuguang; Ren, Hai

    2016-06-06

    Sediment microorganisms help create and maintain mangrove ecosystems. Although the changes in vegetation during mangrove forest succession have been well studied, the changes in the sediment microbial community during mangrove succession are poorly understood. To investigate the changes in the sediment microbial community during succession of mangroves at Zhanjiang, South China, we used phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis and the following chronosequence from primary to climax community: unvegetated shoal; Avicennia marina community; Aegiceras corniculatum community; and Bruguiera gymnorrhiza + Rhizophora stylosa community. The PLFA concentrations of all sediment microbial groups (total microorganisms, fungi, gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and actinomycetes) increased significantly with each stage of mangrove succession. Microbial PLFA concentrations in the sediment were significantly lower in the wet season than in the dry season. Regression and ordination analyses indicated that the changes in the microbial community with mangrove succession were mainly associated with properties of the aboveground vegetation (mainly plant height) and the sediment (mainly sediment organic matter and total nitrogen). The changes in the sediment microbial community can probably be explained by increases in nutrients and microhabitat heterogeneity during mangrove succession.

  11. Pursuing Qualitative Research From the Global South: "Investigative Research" During China's "Great Leap Forward" (1958-62

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping-Chun Hsiung

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Over the last decade, qualitative researchers have begun to challenge the domination and universalistic claims of the Global North. Nevertheless, it is still unclear what pursuing qualitative research (QR from the Global South might entail. I advance this effort by situating it in the larger context of the decentering endeavor in social science and decolonizing methodologies in aboriginal scholarship. Informed by their locally-grounded approach in the quest for constructing alternative social science accounts and articulating decolonized knowledge, I argue that writing locally-grounded histories is an essential first step to explore methodologies and epistemologies of QR from the Global South. Noting that no national history of QR has been derived from the Global South, I present an example of writing the history of QR by examining MAO Zedong's legacy of "investigative research" (IR. Specifically, I analyze the practices of IR during China's "Great Leap Forward" (1958-62. In conclusion, I discuss the implications of IR to the development of social science research in contemporary China. I lay out key issues in pursuing QR from the Global South and present how such a pursuit is relevant to social science inquiry in the Global North. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150325

  12. Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis in children of Central South China: Clinical features, treatment, influencing factors, and outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ying; Zhang, Weixi; Yin, Jinghua; Lu, Qianjin; Yin, Fei; He, Fang; Peng, Jing

    2017-11-15

    We analyzed the clinical manifestations of children with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis in Central South China and the factors influencing the effectiveness of treatment. A retrospective study of children (0-14years old) with anti-NMDAR encephalitis in Central South China was carried out from March 2014 to November 2016. Demographics, clinical features, treatment, outcome, and the factors influencing the effectiveness of treatment were reviewed. Fifty-one patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis were enrolled (age from 4months to 14years old; median age, 8years; 30 females). Forty-five patients (88%) presented with psychiatric symptoms, 40 (78%) with dyskinesia and movement disorders, 39 (77%) with sleep disturbances, 34 (67%) with seizures, 30 (59%) with a decreased level of consciousness (Glasgow scoreanti-NMDAR encephalitis in Central South China. Patients with decreased consciousness, PICU stay and autonomic instability were more likely to have no or limited response to first-line immunotherapy and to require second-line or even more aggressive immunotherapy. Children with anti-NMDAR encephalitis in China have a much lower incidence of tumors, lower mortality rates, and a lower proportion of lethal autonomic instability than adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Initiation of Extension in South China Continental Margin during the Active-Passive Margin Transition: Thermochronological and Kinematic Constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, X.; Chan, L. S.

    2015-12-01

    The South China continental margin is characterized by a widespread magmatic belt, prominent NE-striking faults and numerous rifted basins filled by Cretaceous-Eocene sediments. The geology denotes a transition from active to passive margin, which led to rapid modifications of crustal stress configuration and reactivation of older faults in this area. Our zircon fission-track data in this region show two episodes of exhumation: The first episode, occurring during 170-120Ma, affected local parts of the Nanling Range. The second episode, a more regional exhumation event, occurred during 115-70Ma, including the Yunkai Terrane and the Nanling Range. Numerical geodynamic modeling was conducted to simulate the subduction between the paleo-Pacific plate and the South China Block. The modeling results could explain the fact that exhumation of the granite-dominant Nanling Range occurred earlier than that of the gneiss-dominant Yunkai Terrane. In addition to the difference in rock types, the heat from Jurassic-Early Cretaceous magmatism in Nanling may have softened the upper crust, causing the area to exhume more readily than Yunkai. Numerical modeling results also indicate that (1) high lithospheric geothermal gradient, high slab dip angle and low convergence velocity favor the reversal of crustal stress state from compression to extension in the upper continental plate; (2) late Mesozoic magmatism in South China was probably caused by a slab roll-back; and (3) crustal extension could have occurred prior to the cessation of plate subduction. The inversion of stress regime in the continental crust from compression to crustal extension imply that the Late Cretaceous-early Paleogene red-bed basins in South China could have formed during the late stage of the subduction, accounting for the occurrence of volcanic events in some sedimentary basins. We propose that the rifting started as early as Late Cretaceous, probably before the cessation of subduction process.

  14. Poverty Eradication: Lessons from China and South Korea in the 1950s and 1960s.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wignaraja, Ponna

    1996-01-01

    Traces the search for economic development alternatives that go beyond conventional neo-classical and Marxist theory and practice. Outlines case studies of social and economic transformation in South Korea and China and delineates the differences between similar attempts in Latin America and Eastern Europe. (MJP)

  15. Chemical composition and seasonal variation of acid deposition in Guangzhou, South China: Comparison with precipitation in other major Chinese cities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Deyin; Xu Yigang; Peng Pingan; Zhang Huihuang; Lan Jiangbo

    2009-01-01

    With the aim of understanding the origin of acid rains in South China, we analyzed rainwaters collected from Guangzhou, China, between March 2005 and February 2006. The pH of rainwater collected during the monitoring period varied from 4.22 to 5.87; acid rain represented about 94% of total precipitation during this period. The rainwater was characterized by high concentrations of SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , Ca 2+ , and NH 4 + . SO 4 2- and NO 3 - , the main precursors of acid rain, were related to the combustion of coal and fertilizer use/traffic emissions, respectively. Ca 2+ and NH 4 + act as neutralizers of acid, accounting for the decoupling between high SO 4 2- concentrations and relatively high pH in the Guangzhou precipitation. The acid rain in Guangzhou is most pronounced during spring and summer. A comparison with acid precipitation in other Chinese cities reveals a decreasing neutralization capacity from north to south, probably related to the role and origin of alkaline bases in precipitation. - A north-to-south decreasing trend in the neutralization capacity of precipitation in China

  16. Thinned crustal structure and tectonic boundary of the Nansha Block, southern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Miao; Wu, Shi-Guo; Zhang, Jian

    2016-12-01

    The southern South China Sea margin consists of the thinned crustal Nansha Block and a compressional collision zone. The Nansha Block's deep structure and tectonic evolution contains critical information about the South China Sea's rifting. Multiple geophysical data sets, including regional magnetic, gravity and reflection seismic data, reveal the deep structure and rifting processes. Curie point depth (CPD), estimated from magnetic anomalies using a windowed wavenumber-domain algorithm, enables us to image thermal structures. To derive a 3D Moho topography and crustal thickness model, we apply Oldenburg algorithm to the gravity anomaly, which was extracted from the observed free air gravity anomaly data after removing the gravity effect of density variations of sediments, and temperature and pressure variations of the lithospheric mantle. We found that the Moho depth (20 km) is shallower than the CPD (24 km) in the Northwest Borneo Trough, possibly caused by thinned crust, low heat flow and a low vertical geothermal gradient. The Nansha Block's northern boundary is a narrow continent-ocean transition zone constrained by magnetic anomalies, reflection seismic data, gravity anomalies and an interpretation of Moho depth (about 13 km). The block extends southward beneath a gravity-driven deformed sediment wedge caused by uplift on land after a collision, with a contribution from deep crustal flow. Its southwestern boundary is close to the Lupar Line defined by a significant negative reduction to the pole (RTP) of magnetic anomaly and short-length-scale variation in crustal thickness, increasing from 18 to 26 km.

  17. Morphological beak differences of loliginid squid, Uroteuthis chinensis and Uroteuthis edulis, in the northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Yue; Liu, Bilin; Chen, Xinjun; Staples, Kevin

    2018-03-01

    The mitre squid ( Uroteuthis chinensis) and the swordtip squid ( U. edulis) are Indo-Pacific cephalopod species that are abundant in the western Pacific Ocean. They are currently exploited in the East and South China Seas and make up a significant portion of the Chinese neritic squid catch. Beaks, the feeding organs of squid, are important for individual size and biomass estimation because of their high resistance to degradation in predator stomachs and consistent dimensions. In this study, 104 U. chinensis and 143 U. edulis individuals were sampled from northern South China Sea with mantle length from 70 to 260 mm and 96 to 284 mm, respectively. The results indicated that morphological beak values were greater for U. edulis, compared to U. chinensis, for upper hood length (UHL), upper crest length (UCL), upper lateral wall length (ULWL), lower crest length (LCL), and lower lateral wall length (LLWL). According to principal component analysis, UHL/ML, UCL/ML, ULWL/ML, LCL/ML, LLWL/ML and LWL/ML could represent the characteristics of beaks for U. chinensis, while UHL/ML, UCL/ML, ULWL/ML, LHL/ML, LCL/ML and LLWL/ML could represent it for U. edulis. According to Akaike's information criterion (AIC) values, a power function was the most suitable model for U. chinensis, while a linear function was the most suitable model for U. edulis. The beak variable-mantle length ratio (beak variable/mantle length) declined with the increasing of mantle length and declined sharply at the early stage of growth in both beaks and species. The ratio changed quickly after achieving the mantle length of 140 mm for U. chinensis, while the ratio changed quickly after 170 mm for U. edulis. Beaks in both species experienced sharper changes through maturity stage I to II than other maturity stages. This study gives us basic beak morphology information for U. chinensis and U. edulis in the East and South China Seas. Geometric morphological methods combined with dietary analysis should be used

  18. China And The International Order

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    existing order, it stated that China will “take an active part in reforming and developing 13 Feng Zhang, “Chinese Thinking on the South China Sea and the...interests and those that do not align as closely with U.S. interests. China might be challenging 19 Zhang’s “Chinese Thinking on the South China...China Bets on Sensitive U.S. Start-Ups, Worrying the Pentagon,” New York Times, March 22, 2017a; Paul Mozur and Jane Perlez, “China Tech Investment

  19. Sediment compaction and pore pressure prediction in deepwater basin of the South China Sea: Estimation from ODP and IODP drilling well data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Yangbing; Wu, Tuoyu; Sun, Jin; Zhang, Hanyu; Wang, Jiliang; Gao, Jinwei; Chen, Chuanxu

    2018-02-01

    Overpressure in deepwater basins not only causes serious soft sediment deformation, but also significantly affects the safety of drilling operations. Therefore, prediction of overpressure in sediments has become an important task in deepwater oil exploration and development. In this study, we analyze the drilling data from ODP Leg 184 Sites 1144, 1146, and 1148, and IODP Leg 349 Sites U1431, U1432, U1433, and U1435 to study the sediment compaction and controls in the northern South China Sea. Sedimentation rate, sediment content, distribution area, and buried depth are the factors that influence sediment compaction in the deepwater basin of the South China Sea. Among these factors, the sediment content is the most important. The fitted normal compacted coefficients and mudline porosity for an interval of 50 m shows disciplinary variation versus depth. The pore pressure predicted from different fitted results shows varying overpressure situations. The normal compaction trend from Site 1144 reflects the porosity variation trend in stable deposition basins in the northern South China Sea. The predicted pore pressure shows overpressure at Site 1144, which is attributed to compaction disequilibrium. Nevertheless, the mixed lithology column may influence the predicted over-pressure at Site 1148, which is responsible for the confusing result. Above all, we find that sediment compaction should serve as a proxy for pore pressure in the deepwater basin of the South China Sea.

  20. Understanding the recent trend of haze pollution in eastern China: roles of climate change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H.-J. Wang

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the variation and trend of haze pollution in eastern China for winter of 1960–2012 were analyzed. With the overall increasing number of winter haze days in this period, the 5 decades were divided into three sub-periods based on the changes of winter haze days (WHD in central North China (30–40° N and eastern South China (south of 30° N for east of 109° E mainland China. Results show that WHD kept gradually increasing during 1960–1979, remained stable overall during 1980–1999, and increased fast during 2000–2012. The author identified the major climate forcing factors besides total energy consumption. Among all the possible climate factors, variability of the autumn Arctic sea ice extent, local precipitation and surface wind during winter is most influential to the haze pollution change. The joint effect of fast increase of total energy consumption, rapid decline of Arctic sea ice extent and reduced precipitation and surface winds intensified the haze pollution in central North China after 2000. There is a similar conclusion for haze pollution in eastern South China after 2000, with the precipitation effect being smaller and spatially inconsistent.

  1. Formation of early-middle Miocene red beds in the South China Sea: element geochemistry and mineralogy analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyu, X.; Liu, Z.

    2017-12-01

    The formation of oceanic red beds that usually present oxic and oligotrophic conditions with low sedimentation rate has been used to trace depositional paleoenvironment and paleoclimate change. Red beds overlying oceanic basalts were drilled at two adjacent Sites U1433 and U1434 of IODP Expedition 349 in the Southwest Subbasin of the South China Sea. The occurrence of early-middle Miocene red beds may indicate that at that time there was oxic and quiet marine environment in the deep South China Sea. To understand their formation of red-color, local depositional condition, and potential paleoceanographic significance, major elements (XRF), trace and rare earth elements (ICP-MS), Fe chemical speciation (modified sequential iron extraction procedure), and Fe oxic minerals (CBD and DRS) were analyzed. Geochemical and mineralogical data reveal that hematite and goethite are responsible for the reddish color and red beds were deposited under highly oxic, oligotrophic conditions with a little later hydrothermal influence in the South China Sea. Our results indicate that: (1) after treatment using the CBD procedure, the red samples presented a change in color to greenish, showing the iron oxides being responsible for the sediment color; (2) enriched Mn, depleted U, S enrichment factors, and negative Ce anomaly show that the water mass was pre-oxidized before transported to the study location; (3) low primary productivity was inferred from the lower P, Ba enrichment factors in red beds compared to non-red beds; (4) the excess Mo influx at the bottom may come from the later hydrothermal input; (5) the diverse Ca enrichment factors and correlations between Fe and Al suggest different allogenic sources for red beds at our two sites. We conclude that the red beds at Sites U1433 and U1434 despite their diverse sources both developed in externally oxidized water mass and low primary productivity conditions, and partially altered by hydrothermal fluids after their pelagic

  2. Characterization of bacterial diversity associated with deep sea ferromanganese nodules from the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, De-Chao; Liu, Yan-Xia; Li, Xin-Zheng

    2015-09-01

    Deep sea ferromanganese (FeMn) nodules contain metallic mineral resources and have great economic potential. In this study, a combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent (16S rRNA genes clone library and pyrosequencing) methods was used to investigate the bacterial diversity in FeMn nodules from Jiaolong Seamount, the South China Sea. Eleven bacterial strains including some moderate thermophiles were isolated. The majority of strains belonged to the phylum Proteobacteria; one isolate belonged to the phylum Firmicutes. A total of 259 near full-length bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences in a clone library and 67,079 valid reads obtained using pyrosequencing indicated that members of the Gammaproteobacteria dominated, with the most abundant bacterial genera being Pseudomonas and Alteromonas. Sequence analysis indicated the presence of many organisms whose closest relatives are known manganese oxidizers, iron reducers, hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria and methylotrophs. This is the first reported investigation of bacterial diversity associated with deep sea FeMn nodules from the South China Sea.

  3. Investigation of Spatial and Temporal Trends in Water Quality in Daya Bay, South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Mei-Lin; Wang, You-Shao; Dong, Jun-De; Sun, Cui-Ci; Wang, Yu-Tu; Sun, Fu-Lin; Cheng, Hao

    2011-01-01

    The objective is to identify the spatial and temporal variability of the hydrochemical quality of the water column in a subtropical coastal system, Daya Bay, China. Water samples were collected in four seasons at 12 monitoring sites. The Southeast Asian monsoons, northeasterly from October to the next April and southwesterly from May to September have also an important influence on water quality in Daya Bay. In the spatial pattern, two groups have been identified, with the help of multidimensional scaling analysis and cluster analysis. Cluster I consisted of the sites S3, S8, S10 and S11 in the west and north coastal parts of Daya Bay. Cluster I is mainly related to anthropogenic activities such as fish-farming. Cluster II consisted of the rest of the stations in the center, east and south parts of Daya Bay. Cluster II is mainly related to seawater exchange from South China Sea. PMID:21776234

  4. 232-Th and 238-U radioactive contaminations of sediments along the South China Sea of East Coast Peninsular Malaysia by INAA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khadijeh Rezaee Ebrahim Saraee; Elias Saion; Naghavi, K.

    2009-01-01

    The concentrations of 232 Th and 238 U were determined in 30 sediment samples, collected from the South China Sea bed of the east coast peninsular Malaysia. The samples were dried in an oven for 10 days at 65 C and stored in polyethylene bottles for future analysis. INAA used to analyse surficial sediments. The 232 Th and 238 U activities in surficial sediments determined. These activities increased from 14.02 to 30.17 Bq Kg -1 and from 47.49 to 113.69 Bq Kg -1 for 232 Th and 238 U , respectively. Results show diffuse distribution of 232 Th and 238 U actinides in studied area. The Th/Sc and U/Sc ratios of the suricial sediments have same distribution and the highest their values are in station EC12. The radioactive contamination of the investigated sector is compared with the results obtained of other coastal sediments of Malaysia. Results show activity contamination in coastal sediments of the South China Sea is lower than the Straits of Malacca and is the same with the Straits of Johor. (Author)

  5. Planting Flags on the Tide: Sovereignty, Containment, and Conflict Resolution in the East and South China Seas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James DeShaw Rae

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The rise of China’s economic and military power is transforming global politics while U.S. strategic interests are re-balancing toward Asia. Meanwhile, tensions over maritime boundaries and island claims within the region are punctuated by police and military stand-offs in the East and South China Seas. This paper considers the discourse surrounding the dispute over sovereignty in the South China Sea. It also examines the roles international law, multilateralism, and traditional diplomacy play in the conflict, and how it serves as a test case for China’s future diplomacy and traditional norms of non-interference and a peaceful rise. Finally, the paper suggests pathways toward conflict resolution of the immediate disputes, including de-territorialized and de-nationalized ideas of possession when it applies to contested yet uninhabited maritime frontiers.

  6. The Adaptive Change of HLA-DRB1 Allele Frequencies Caused by Natural Selection in a Mongolian Population That Migrated to the South of China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Sun

    Full Text Available Pathogen-driven balancing selection determines the richness of human leukocyte antigen (HLA alleles. Changes in the pathogen spectrum may cause corresponding changes in HLA loci. Approximately 700 years ago, a Mongolian population moved from the north of China to the Yunnan region in the south of China. The pathogen spectrum in the south of China differs from that in the north. In this study, changes in the HLA genes in the Yunnan Mongolian population, as well as the underlying mechanism, were investigated. A sequence-based typing method (SBT was used to genotype HLA-DRB1 in 470 individuals from two Mongolian populations and another five ethnic groups. Meanwhile, 10 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs were genotyped to assess the influence of genetic background on HLA-DRB1 frequencies. The frequencies of certain alleles changed significantly in the Mongolian population that migrated to Yunnan. For example, DRB1*12:02:01 increased from 6.1% to 35.4%. STR analysis excluded the possibility of a recent bottleneck and indicated that 50% of the genetic consistency between northern and southern Mongolians; Tajima's D value for HLA-DRB1 exon2 and dN/dS analysis showed that the HLA-DRB1 genes in both Mongolian populations were under balancing selection. However, the sites under natural selection changed. We proposed that the dramatically change of HLA frequencies in southern Mongolian was caused by a combination of inter-population gene flow and natural selection. Certain diseases specific to the south of China, such as malaria, may be the driving force behind the enhanced DRB1*12:02:01 frequency.

  7. Crescimento econômico em economias emergentes selecionadas: Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China (BRIC e África do Sul Economic growth in selected emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC and South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flávio Vilela Vieira

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available O artigo investiga, do ponto de vista teórico e empírico, os principais determinantes das taxas de crescimento econômico para Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China (BRIC e África do Sul. Os resultados empíricos da análise de decomposição de variância (ADV para o crescimento do PIB real revelaram uma predominância do papel da taxa de investimento e da inflação para o crescimento econômico desses países, ainda que outros fatores, como a taxa de juros real (Brasil, Índia e África do Sul, a taxa de câmbio real efetiva (China e Índia, os fluxos de IDE (China e África do Sul e o crescimento populacional (Índia e Rússia tenham sido importantes, embora com uma contribuição menor em termos relativos.The paper investigates on theoretical and empirical grounds the main determinants of economic growth for Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC and South Africa. The empirical results from the variance decomposition analysis (VDA for the real GDP growth reveal a primary role played by the investment rate and inflation to explain economic growth in these countries, but other factors, such as the real interest rate (Brazil, India and South Africa, the real effective exchange rate (China and India, FDI flows (China and South Africa and population growth (India and Russia are also important, regardless of their lower relative contribution.

  8. The Intertemporal Principle in International Judicial Practice and Its Implications for the South China Sea Dispute

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ma, Xuechan

    2016-01-01

    The intertemporal problem demonstrated in the South China Sea dispute is whether UNCLOS supersedes the previous legal order governing the disputed areas during the pre-UNCLOS period. In order to solve this problem, this article will conduct a detailed investigation into relevant international

  9. Prediction of South China sea level using seasonal ARIMA models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Flerida Regine; Po, Rodolfo; Montero, Neil; Addawe, Rizavel

    2017-11-01

    Accelerating sea level rise is an indicator of global warming and poses a threat to low-lying places and coastal countries. This study aims to fit a Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model to the time series obtained from the TOPEX and Jason series of satellite radar altimetries of the South China Sea from the year 2008 to 2015. With altimetric measurements taken in a 10-day repeat cycle, monthly averages of the satellite altimetry measurements were taken to compose the data set used in the study. SARIMA models were then tried and fitted to the time series in order to find the best-fit model. Results show that the SARIMA(1,0,0)(0,1,1)12 model best fits the time series and was used to forecast the values for January 2016 to December 2016. The 12-month forecast using SARIMA(1,0,0)(0,1,1)12 shows that the sea level gradually increases from January to September 2016, and decreases until December 2016.

  10. Clinical and mutational characteristics of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients based on a comprehensive database in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dan-Ni; Wang, Zhi-Qiang; Yan, Lei; He, Jin; Lin, Min-Ting; Chen, Wan-Jin; Wang, Ning

    2017-08-01

    The development of clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in China faces many challenges due to limited information about epidemiological data, natural history and clinical management. To provide these detailed data, we developed a comprehensive database based on registered DMD patients from South China and analysed their clinical and mutational characteristics. The database included DMD registrants confirmed by clinical presentation, family history, genetic detection, prognostic outcome, and/or muscle biopsy. Clinical data were collected by a registry form. Mutations of dystrophin were detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and Sanger sequencing. Currently, 132 DMD patients from 128 families in South China have been registered, and 91.7% of them were below 10 years old. In mutational detection, large deletions were the most frequent type (57.8%), followed by small deletion/insertion mutations (14.1%), nonsense mutations (13.3%), large duplications (10.9%), and splice site mutations (3.1%). Clinical analysis revealed that most patients reported initial symptoms between 1 and 3 years of age, but the diagnostic age was more frequently between 6 and 8 years. 81.4% of patients were ambulatory. Baseline cardiac assessments at diagnosis were conducted in 39.4% and 29.5% of patients by echocardiograms and electrocardiograms, respectively. Only 22.7% of registrants performed baseline respiratory assessments. A small numbers of patients (20.5%) were treated with glucocorticoids. 13.3% of patients were eligible for stop codon read-through therapy, and 48.4% of patients would potentially benefit from exon skipping. The top five exon skips applicable to the largest group of registrants were skipping of exons 51 (14.8% of total mutations), 53 (12.5%), 45 (7.0%), 55 (4.7%), and 44 (3.9%). In conclusion, our database provided information on the natural history, diagnosis and management status of DMD in South China, as well as potential

  11. Tropical Indian Ocean warming contributions to China winter climate trends since 1960

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Qigang; Yao, Yonghong; Liu, Shizuo; Cao, DanDan; Cheng, Luyao; Hu, Haibo; Sun, Leng; Yao, Ying; Yang, Zhiqi; Gao, Xuxu; Schroeder, Steven R.

    2018-01-01

    This study investigates observed and modeled contributions of global sea surface temperature (SST) to China winter climate trends in 1960-2014, including increased precipitation, warming through about 1997, and cooling since then. Observations and Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations with prescribed historical SST and sea ice show that tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) warming and increasing rainfall causes diabatic heating that generates a tropospheric wave train with anticyclonic 500-hPa height anomaly centers in the TIO or equatorial western Pacific (TIWP) and northeastern Eurasia (EA) and a cyclonic anomaly over China, referred to as the TIWP-EA wave train. The cyclonic anomaly causes Indochina moisture convergence and southwesterly moist flow that enhances South China precipitation, while the northern anticyclone enhances cold surges, sometimes causing severe ice storms. AMIP simulations show a 1960-1997 China cooling trend by simulating increasing instead of decreasing Arctic 500-hPa heights that move the northern anticyclone into Siberia, but enlarge the cyclonic anomaly so it still simulates realistic China precipitation trend patterns. A separate idealized TIO SST warming simulation simulates the TIWP-EA feature more realistically with correct precipitation patterns and supports the TIWP-EA teleconnection as the primary mechanism for long-term increasing precipitation in South China since 1960. Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) experiments simulate a reduced TIO SST warming trend and weak precipitation trends, so the TIWP-EA feature is absent and strong drying is simulated in South China for 1960-1997. These simulations highlight the need for accurately modeled SST to correctly attribute regional climate trends.

  12. A new species of the genus Linuparus White, from the South China Sea (Crustacea Decapoda)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruce, A.J.

    1965-01-01

    The palinurid genus Linuparus White, 1847, has been represented by a single recent species, Linuparus trigonus (Von Siebold). The trawl survey of the northern shelf region of the South China Sea at present being carried out by the R.V. "Cape St. Mary" of the Fisheries Research Station, Hong Kong,

  13. Spectral Interpretation of Wave-vortex Duality in Northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, H.; Jing, Z.; Yan, T.

    2017-12-01

    The mesoscale to submesocale oceanic dynamics are characterized by a joint effect of vortex and wave component, which primarily declares the partition between geostrophic balanced and unbalanced flows. The spectral method is a favorable approach that can afford the muti-scale analysis. This study investigates the characteristics of horizontal wavenumber spectra in Nothern South China Sea using orbital altimeter data (SARA/AltiKa), 13-yr shipboard ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) measurements (2014-2016), and a high-resolution numerical simulation (llc4320 Mitgcm). The observed SSH (sea surface height) spectrum presents a conspicuous transition at scales of 50-100 km, which clearly shows the inconsistency with geostrophic balance. The Helmholtz decomposition separating the wave and vortex energy for the spectra of ADCP and numerical model data shows that ageostrophic flows should be responsible for the spectral discrepancy with the QG (qusi-geostrophic) turbulence theory. Generally, it is found that inertia-gravity waves (including internal tides) govern the significant kinetic energy in the submesoscale range in Northern South China Sea. More specific analysis suggests that the wave kinetic energy can extend to a large scale of 500 km or more from the zonal velocity spectra at the left-center of Luzon Strait, which appears to be dominated by inertia-gravity waves likely emitted by the intrusion of the west pacific at Luzon Strait. Instead, the development of eddy kinetic energy at this place is strictly constrained by the width of the strait.

  14. Driving forces in energy-related CO2 emissions in south and east coastal China: commonality and variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, C.; Liu, Y.; Jin, J.; Wei, T.

    2015-12-01

    East and south coastal China contributes to respectively about 30% and 8% of CO2 emissions in China and the world, and therefore play a critical role in achieving the national goal of emission reduction to mitigate the global warming. It also serves as a benchmark for the less developed regions of China, in terms of achieving the developed world's human development standard under lower per capita emissions. We analyze the driving forces of emissions in this region and their provincial characteristics by applying the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method. Our findings show that emissions have been doubled during the period from 2000 to 2012, along with three and two folds increase in economy and energy consumption, respectively. This suggests a persistent lock between economic growth and emissions, even in this socioeconomically advanced region in China. Provincial difference in annual emission growth reveals three distinguished low-carbon developmental stages, owning mainly to the effectiveness of energy efficiency in reducing emission growth. This may explain why previous climate policies have aimed to reduce carbon intensity. These results indicate that targeted measures on enhancing energy efficiency in the short term and de-carbonization of both the economic and energy structure in the long term can lower the emission growth more effectively and efficiently. They also suggest that factor-driven emission reduction strategies and policies are needed in the geographically and socioeconomically similar regions.

  15. Isotopic composition and distribution of plutonium in northern South China Sea sediments revealed continuous release and transport of Pu from the Marshall Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Junwen; Zheng, Jian; Dai, Minhan; Huh, Chih-An; Chen, Weifang; Tagami, Keiko; Uchida, Shigeo

    2014-03-18

    The (239+240)Pu activities and (240)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratios in sediments of the northern South China Sea and its adjacent Pearl River Estuary were determined to examine the spatial and temporal variations of Pu inputs. We clarified that Pu in the study area is sourced from a combination of global fallout and close-in fallout from the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands where above-ground nuclear weapons testing was carried out during the period of 1952-1958. The latter source dominated the Pu input in the 1950s, as evidenced by elevated (240)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratios (>0.30) in a dated sediment core. Even after the 1950s, the Pacific Proving Grounds was still a dominant Pu source due to continuous transport of remobilized Pu from the Marshall Islands, about 4500 km away, along the North Equatorial Current followed by the transport of the Kuroshio current and its extension into the South China Sea through the Luzon Strait. Using a simple two end-member mixing model, we have quantified the contributions of Pu from the Pacific Proving Grounds to the northern South China Sea shelf and the Pearl River Estuary are 68% ± 1% and 30% ± 5%, respectively. This study also confirmed that there were no clear signals of Pu from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident impacting the South China Sea.

  16. Satellite data lift the veil on offshore platforms in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yongxue; Sun, Chao; Sun, Jiaqi; Li, Hongyi; Zhan, Wenfeng; Yang, Yuhao; Zhang, Siyu

    2016-01-01

    Oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea (SCS) has garnered global attention recently; however, uncertainty regarding the accurate number of offshore platforms in the SCS, let alone their detailed spatial distribution and dynamic change, may lead to significant misjudgment of the true status of offshore hydrocarbon production in the region. Using both fresh and archived space-borne images with multiple resolutions, we enumerated the number, distribution, and annual rate of increase of offshore platforms across the SCS. Our results show that: (1) a total of 1082 platforms are present in the SCS, mainly located in shallow-water; and (2) offshore oil/gas exploitation in the SCS is increasing in intensity and advancing from shallow to deep water, and even to ultra-deep-water. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that oil and gas exploration in the SCS may have been over-estimated by one-third in previous reports. However, this overestimation does not imply any amelioration of the potential for future maritime disputes, since the rate of increase of platforms in disputed waters is twice that in undisputed waters. PMID:27641542

  17. Satellite data lift the veil on offshore platforms in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yongxue; Sun, Chao; Sun, Jiaqi; Li, Hongyi; Zhan, Wenfeng; Yang, Yuhao; Zhang, Siyu

    2016-09-01

    Oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea (SCS) has garnered global attention recently; however, uncertainty regarding the accurate number of offshore platforms in the SCS, let alone their detailed spatial distribution and dynamic change, may lead to significant misjudgment of the true status of offshore hydrocarbon production in the region. Using both fresh and archived space-borne images with multiple resolutions, we enumerated the number, distribution, and annual rate of increase of offshore platforms across the SCS. Our results show that: (1) a total of 1082 platforms are present in the SCS, mainly located in shallow-water; and (2) offshore oil/gas exploitation in the SCS is increasing in intensity and advancing from shallow to deep water, and even to ultra-deep-water. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that oil and gas exploration in the SCS may have been over-estimated by one-third in previous reports. However, this overestimation does not imply any amelioration of the potential for future maritime disputes, since the rate of increase of platforms in disputed waters is twice that in undisputed waters.

  18. Magnetic minerals in three Asian rivers draining into the South China Sea: Pearl, Red, and Mekong Rivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kissel, Catherine; Liu, Zhifei; Li, Jinhua; Wandres, Camille

    2016-05-01

    The use of the marine sedimentary magnetic properties, as tracers for changes in precipitation rate and in oceanic water masses transport and exchanges, implies to identify and to characterize the different sources of the detrital fraction. This is of particular importance in closed and/or marginal seas such as the South China Sea. We report on the magnetic properties of sedimentary samples collected in three main Asian rivers draining into the South China Sea: the Pearl, Red, and Mekong Rivers. The geological formations as well as the present climatic conditions are different from one catchment to another. The entire set of performed magnetic analyses (low-field magnetic susceptibility, ARM acquisition and decay, IRM acquisition and decay, back-field acquisition, thermal demagnetization of three-axes IRM, hysteresis parameters, FORC diagrams, and low-temperature magnetic measurements) allow us to identify the magnetic mineralogy and the grain-size distribution when magnetite is dominant. Some degree of variability is observed in each basin, illustrating different parent rocks and degree of weathering. On average it appears that the Pearl River is rich in magnetite along the main stream while the Mekong River is rich in hematite. The Red River is a mixture of the two. Compared to clay mineral assemblages and major element contents previously determined on the same samples, these new findings indicate that the magnetic fraction brings complementary information of great interest for environmental reconstructions based on marine sediments from the South China Sea.

  19. Natural recovery of different areas of a deserted quarry in South China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    DUAN Wenjun; REN Hai; FU Shenglei; WANG Jun; YANG Long; ZHANG Jinping

    2008-01-01

    A quarry is a surface mining operated place, which produces enormous quantities of gravel, limestone, and other materials for industrial and construction applications. Restoration and revegetation of deserted quarries are becoming increasingly important. Three areas of a typical quarry in South China: terrace for crushed materials (terrace), spoiled mound, and remaining side slope, were investigated, to compare the existing plant species and to study the relationship between environmental factors and revegetation. The plant species composition of these three areas was found to differ significantly after eight years of natural recovery. The typical plant communities found over them were composed of gramineous herbs, fems, and shrubs. Soil organic matter, soil moisture, and soil bulk density were considered to be the major determining factors for vegetation succession. There existed abiotic and biotic thresholds during quarrying restoration. Suggestions had been presented that could have accelerated the process of natural recovery in quarries.

  20. Alkaloids and Sesquiterpenes from the South China Sea Gorgonian Echinogorgia pseudossapo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Cheng-Hai; Wang, Yi-Fei; Li, Shen; Qian, Pei-Yuan; Qi, Shu-Hua

    2011-01-01

    Five zoanthoxanthin alkaloids (1–5) and four sesquiterpenes (6–9) were isolated from the South China Sea gorgonian Echinogorgia pseudossapo. Their structures were determined on the bases of extensive spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR data. Among them, pseudozoanthoxanthins III and IV (1–2), 8-hydroxy-6β-methoxy-14- oxooplop-6,12-olide (6) and 3β-methoxyguaian-10(14)-en-2β-ol (7) were new, 1 and 3 showed mild anti-HSV-1 activity, and 7 showed significant antilarval activity towards Balanus amphitrite larvae. PMID:22163197

  1. Spatio-temporal variability of lightning and convective activity over South/South-East Asia with an emphasis during El Niño and La Niña

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saha, Upal; Siingh, Devendraa; Midya, S. K.; Singh, R. P.; Singh, A. K.; Kumar, S.

    2017-11-01

    The present analysis investigates the spatio-temporal variability of the convective parameters and associated lightning flash rates during the period 1997-2013 including the El Niño and La Niña episode. It reveals that north-western and north-eastern part along the foothills of Himalayas as well as Indo-China peninsular region and South China Sea are much convective prone zones over the South/South-East Asia. The terrain/orography of the Himalayan range, the influence of cross-equatorial low-level jet and large-scale circulation during pre-monsoon and active phase of monsoon, the western Pacific Warm Pool with increased sea surface temperature as well as the solar-heating-originated local instability instigate the convective anomaly to propagate over the north-western and north eastern Indian sub-continent along with the Indo-China peninsula and South China Sea respectively. The land surfaces of the Indian sub-continent and the sea surface of South China Sea possesses significant correlation with lightning flash rates and convective parameters whereas the sea surface surrounding Indian sub-continent do not show such good correlations among them. Although, the occurrence of convective activities during the El Niño (La Niña) gets reduced (increased), the occurrence of lightning flashes gets enhanced (diminished) during this period which may be the direct consequence of warming atmosphere in relation to changing patterns of regional climate. Fig. S2 Spatial trend distribution per year of (a) LFR, (b) CAPE, (c) SCP, (d) LI, (e) CINE and (f) AT anomaly over South/South-East Asia during January-December for the years 1997-2013 (Trend is significant at 95% confidence level). Fig. S3 Correlation maps of LFR with (a) CAPE, (b) SCP, (c) CINE and (d) LI over South/South-East Asia during January-December for the years 1997-2013. Fig. S4 Synoptic wind direction patterns during (a)-(b) El Niño (May 2002 - February 2003) conditions and (c)-(d) La Niña (July 1998 - March

  2. Trace Element Accumulation and Tissue Distribution in the Purpleback Flying Squid Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis from the Central and Southern South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yan Yan; Shen, Yu; Huang, Hui; Yang, Xian Qing; Zhao, Yong Qiang; Cen, Jian Wei; Qi, Bo

    2017-01-01

    Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis is a species of cephalopod that is becoming economically important in the South China Sea. As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn concentrations were determined in the mantle, arms, and digestive gland of S. oualaniensis from 31 oceanographic survey stations in the central and southern South China Sea. Intraspecific and interspecific comparisons with previous studies were made. Mean concentrations of trace elements analyzed in arms and mantle were in the following orders: Zn > Cu > Cd > Cr > As > Hg. In digestive gland, the concentrations of Cd and Cu exceed that of Zn. All the Pb concentrations were under the detected limit.

  3. Human impacts and changes in the coastal waters of south China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Linlin; Li, Qiang; Bi, Hongsheng; Mao, Xian-Zhong

    2016-08-15

    Human impact on the environment remains at the center of the debate on global environmental change. Using the Hong Kong-Shenzhen corridor in south China as an example, we present evidence that rapid urbanization and economic development in coastal areas were the dominant factors causing rapid changes in coastal waters. From 1990 to 2012, coastal seawater temperature increased ~0.060°C per year, sea level rose 4.4mm per year and pH decreased from 8.2 to 7.7, much faster than global averages. In the same period, there were exponential increases in the local population, gross domestic product and land fill area. Empirical analyses suggest that the large increase in the population affected local temperature, and economic development had a major impact on local pH. Results also show that pH and temperature were significantly correlated with local sea level rise, but pH had more predictive power, suggesting it could be considered a predictor for changes in local sea level. We conclude that human activities could significantly exacerbate local environmental changes which should be considered in predictive models and future development plans in coastal areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Assessment for water quality by artificial neural network in Daya Bay, South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Mei-Lin; Wang, You-Shao; Gu, Ji-Dong

    2015-10-01

    In this study, artificial neural network such as a self-organizing map (SOM) was used to assess for the effects caused by climate change and human activities on the water quality in Daya Bay, South China Sea. SOM has identified the anthropogenic effects and seasonal characters of water quality. SOM grouped the four seasons as four groups (winter, spring, summer and autumn). The Southeast Asian monsoons, northeasterly from October to the next April and southwesterly from May to September have also an important influence on the water quality in Daya Bay. Spatial pattern is mainly related to anthropogenic activities and hydrodynamics conditions. In spatial characteristics, the water quality in Daya Bay was divided into two groups by chemometrics. The monitoring stations (S3, S8, S10 and S11) were in these area (Dapeng Ao, Aotou Harbor) and northeast parts of Daya Bay, which are areas of human activity. The thermal pollution has been observed near water body in Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant (S5). The rest of the monitoring sites were in the south, central and eastern parts of Daya Bay, which are areas that experience water exchanges from South China Sea. The results of this study may provide information on the spatial and temporal patterns in Daya Bay. Further research will be carry out more research concerning functional changes in the bay ecology with respect to changes in climatic factor, human activities and bay morphology in Daya Bay.

  5. Temporal and Spatial Diversity of Bacterial Communities in Coastal Waters of the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Jikun; Xiao, Kai; Li, Li; Ding, Xian; Liu, Helu; Lu, Yongjun; Zhou, Shining

    2013-01-01

    Bacteria are recognized as important drivers of biogeochemical processes in all aquatic ecosystems. Temporal and geographical patterns in ocean bacterial communities have been observed in many studies, but the temporal and spatial patterns in the bacterial communities from the South China Sea remained unexplored. To determine the spatiotemporal patterns, we generated 16S rRNA datasets for 15 samples collected from the five regularly distributed sites of the South China Sea in three seasons (spring, summer, winter). A total of 491 representative sequences were analyzed by MOTHUR, yielding 282 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) grouped at 97% stringency. Significant temporal variations of bacterial diversity were observed. Richness and diversity indices indicated that summer samples were the most diverse. The main bacterial group in spring and summer samples was Alphaproteobacteria, followed by Cyanobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria, whereas Cyanobacteria dominated the winter samples. Spatial patterns in the samples were observed that samples collected from the coastal (D151, D221) waters and offshore (D157, D1512, D224) waters clustered separately, the coastal samples harbored more diverse bacterial communities. However, the temporal pattern of the coastal site D151 was contrary to that of the coastal site D221. The LIBSHUFF statistics revealed noticeable differences among the spring, summer and winter libraries collected at five sites. The UPGMA tree showed there were temporal and spatial heterogeneity of bacterial community composition in coastal waters of the South China Sea. The water salinity (P=0.001) contributed significantly to the bacteria-environment relationship. Our results revealed that bacterial community structures were influenced by environmental factors and community-level changes in 16S-based diversity were better explained by spatial patterns than by temporal patterns. PMID:23785512

  6. Spatial diversity of bacterioplankton communities in surface water of northern South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jialin; Li, Nan; Li, Fuchao; Zou, Tao; Yu, Shuxian; Wang, Yinchu; Qin, Song; Wang, Guangyi

    2014-01-01

    The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal seas, with relatively frequent passage of eddies and featuring distinct spatial variation in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. Here, we report a phylogenetic study of bacterial community structures in surface seawater of the northern South China Sea (nSCS). Samples collected from 31 sites across large environmental gradients were used to construct clone libraries and yielded 2,443 sequences grouped into 170 OTUs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 23 bacterial classes with major components α-, β- and γ-Proteobacteria, as well as Cyanobacteria. At class and genus taxon levels, community structure of coastal waters was distinctively different from that of deep-sea waters and displayed a higher diversity index. Redundancy analyses revealed that bacterial community structures displayed a significant correlation with the water depth of individual sampling sites. Members of α-Proteobacteria were the principal component contributing to the differences of the clone libraries. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited heterogeneity within zones of upwelling and anticyclonic eddies. Our results suggested that surface bacterial communities in nSCS had two-level patterns of spatial distribution structured by ecological types (coastal VS. oceanic zones) and mesoscale physical processes, and also provided evidence for bacterial phylogenetic phyla shaped by ecological preferences.

  7. Spatial diversity of bacterioplankton communities in surface water of northern South China Sea.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jialin Li

    Full Text Available The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal seas, with relatively frequent passage of eddies and featuring distinct spatial variation in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. Here, we report a phylogenetic study of bacterial community structures in surface seawater of the northern South China Sea (nSCS. Samples collected from 31 sites across large environmental gradients were used to construct clone libraries and yielded 2,443 sequences grouped into 170 OTUs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 23 bacterial classes with major components α-, β- and γ-Proteobacteria, as well as Cyanobacteria. At class and genus taxon levels, community structure of coastal waters was distinctively different from that of deep-sea waters and displayed a higher diversity index. Redundancy analyses revealed that bacterial community structures displayed a significant correlation with the water depth of individual sampling sites. Members of α-Proteobacteria were the principal component contributing to the differences of the clone libraries. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited heterogeneity within zones of upwelling and anticyclonic eddies. Our results suggested that surface bacterial communities in nSCS had two-level patterns of spatial distribution structured by ecological types (coastal VS. oceanic zones and mesoscale physical processes, and also provided evidence for bacterial phylogenetic phyla shaped by ecological preferences.

  8. Occurrence of persistent organic pollutants in marine fish from the Natuna Island, South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Qing; Sun, Yu-Xin; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Yao, Zi-Wei; Wang, You-Shao; Zhang, Zai-Wang; Luo, Xiao-Jun; Mai, Bi-Xian

    2014-08-15

    Five marine fish species were collected from the Natuna Island, South China Sea to investigate the occurrence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs). Concentrations of PBDEs, PCBs, and DDTs in marine fish ranged from 2.85 to 7.82, 14.3 to 48.1, and 7.99 to 40.3 ng/g lipid weight, respectively. Higher concentrations of PBDEs, PCBs, and DDTs were observed in Snakefish (Trachinocephalus myops), which might be attributed to their different feeding and living habits. PCBs were the predominant POPs in all marine fish, followed by DDTs and PBDEs. BDE 47 and PCB 153 were the predominant congener of PBDEs and PCBs, respectively. Compositional distribution of DDTs indicated the possible presence of fresh input sources around the Natuna Island. The ratios of o,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDT being less than 1 in fish samples suggested that DDT contributions from dicofol seemed considerably low. New input sources of DDT in South China Sea are worth further research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Prevalence of and factors associated with frailty and disability in older adults from China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biritwum, R B; Minicuci, N; Yawson, A E; Theou, O; Mensah, G P; Naidoo, N; Wu, F; Guo, Y; Zheng, Y; Jiang, Y; Maximova, T; Kalula, S; Arokiasamy, P; Salinas-Rodríguez, A; Manrique-Espinoza, B; Snodgrass, J J; Sterner, K N; Eick, G; Liebert, M A; Schrock, J; Afshar, S; Thiele, E; Vollmer, S; Harttgen, K; Strulik, H; Byles, J E; Rockwood, K; Mitnitski, A; Chatterji, S; Kowal, P

    2016-09-01

    The severe burden imposed by frailty and disability in old age is a major challenge for healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries alike. The current study aimed to provide estimates of the prevalence of frailty and disability in older adult populations and to examine their relationship with socioeconomic factors in six countries. Focusing on adults aged 50+ years, a frailty index was constructed as the proportion of deficits in 40 variables, and disability was assessed using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0), as part of the Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 1 in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. This study included a total of 34,123 respondents. China had the lowest percentages of older adults with frailty (13.1%) and with disability (69.6%), whereas India had the highest percentages (55.5% and 93.3%, respectively). Both frailty and disability increased with age for all countries, and were more frequent in women, although the sex gap varied across countries. Lower levels of both frailty and disability were observed at higher levels of education and wealth. Both education and income were protective factors for frailty and disability in China, India and Russia, whereas only income was protective in Mexico, and only education in South Africa. Age-related frailty and disability are increasing concerns for older adult populations in low- and middle-income countries. The results indicate that lower levels of frailty and disability can be achieved for older people, and the study highlights the need for targeted preventive approaches and support programs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. 40Ar/39Ar dating of oceanic plagiogranite: Constraints on the initiation of seafloor spreading in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Li-Feng; Cai, Guan-Qiang; Koppers, Anthony A. P.; Xu, Yi-Gang; Xu, He-Hua; Gao, Hong-Fang; Xia, Bin

    2018-03-01

    The Cenozoic opening of the South China Sea was one of the most significant tectonic events in SE Asia, coinciding with complex regional rifting, subduction, terrane collision, and large-scale continental strike-slip faulting. The timing of the initiation of seafloor spreading in the South China Sea remains controversial due to a scarcity of incontrovertible age data. This work provides the first report of an oceanic plagiogranite from the Penglai Seamount, located on the 17°N fossil spreading center of the East Sub-basin of the South China Sea, near the Manila Trench. Pyroxene and whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar dating yields ages of 32.3 ± 0.5 Ma and 28.9 ± 1.9 Ma, respectively. The plagiogranite show trace element and isotopic composition similar to those of mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB), with 87Sr/86Sr(t) = 0.70394; εNd(t) = 8.21; 206Pb/204Pb = 17.9930, 207Pb/204Pb = 15.4839, 208Pb/204Pb = 37.8852; εHf(t) = 20.95; and γOs(t) = 15.89. It suggested that the rock formed due to differential cooling between adjacent layers of oceanic crust and asthenospheric shearing at the oceanic spreading ridge, resulting in the development of detachment faults. This triggered the subsequent ingress of seawater along the faults, which transformed into a hydrothermal fluid under the influence of shear and geothermal heating, altering the parent gabbro, and leading to the generation of the daughter plagiogranite by anatexis during the early Oligocene. This new geochronology also demonstrates that the initial opening of the South China Sea occurred before 32 Ma, thereby constraining the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia.

  11. Continentward-dipping detachment fault system and asymmetric rift structure of the Baiyun Sag, northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhichao; Mei, Lianfu; Liu, Jun; Zheng, Jinyun; Chen, Liang; Hao, Shihao

    2018-02-01

    The rift architecture and deep crustal structure of the distal margin at the mid-northern margin of the South China Sea have been previously investigated by using deep seismic reflection profiles. However, one fundamental recurring problem in the debate is the extensional fault system and rift structure of the hyperextended rift basins (Baiyun Sag and Liwan Sag) within the distal margin because of the limited amount of seismic data. Based on new 3D seismic survey data and 2D seismic reflection profiles, we observe an array of fault blocks in the Baiyun Sag, which were tilted towards the ocean by extensional faulting. The extensional faults consistently dip towards the continent. Beneath the tilted fault blocks and extensional faults, a low-angle, high-amplitude and continuous reflection has been interpreted as the master detachment surface that controls the extension process. During rifting, the continentward-dipping normal faults evolved in a sequence from south to north, generating the asymmetric rift structure of the Baiyun Sag. The Baiyun Sag is separated from the oceanic domain by a series of structural highs that were uplifted by magmatic activity in response to the continental breakup at 33 Ma and a ridge jump to the south at 26-24 Ma. Therefore, we propose that magmatism played a significant role in the continental extension and final breakup in the South China Sea.

  12. Atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM concentrations and mercury depositions at a high-altitude mountain peak in south China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. W. Fu

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available China is regarded as the largest contributor of mercury (Hg to the global atmospheric Hg budget. However, concentration levels and depositions of atmospheric Hg in China are poorly known. Continuous measurements of atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM were carried out from May 2008 to May 2009 at the summit of Mt. Leigong in south China. Simultaneously, deposition fluxes of THg and MeHg in precipitation, throughfall and litterfall were also studied. Atmospheric GEM concentrations averaged 2.80±1.51 ng m−3, which was highly elevated compared to global background values but much lower than semi-rural and industrial/urban areas in China. Sources identification indicates that both regional industrial emissions and long range transport of Hg from central, south and southwest China were corresponded to the elevated GEM level. Seasonal and diurnal variations of GEM were observed, which reflected variations in source intensity, deposition processes and meteorological factors. Precipitation and throughfall deposition fluxes of THg and MeHg in Mt. Leigong were comparable or lower compared to those reported in Europe and North America, whereas litterfall deposition fluxes of THg and MeHg were higher compared to Europe and North America. This highlights the importance of vegetation to Hg atmospheric cycling. In th remote forest ecosystem of China, deposition of GEM via uptake of foliage followed by litterfall was very important for the depletion of atmospheric Hg. Elevated GEM level in ambient air may accelerate the foliar uptake of Hg through air which may partly explain the elevated litterfall deposition fluxes of Hg observed in Mt. Leigong.

  13. Evapotranspiration and water yield over China's landmass from 2000 to 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Y.; Zhou, Y.; Ju, W.; Chen, J.; Wang, S.; He, H.; Wang, H.; Guan, D.; Zhao, F.; Li, Y.; Hao, Y.

    2013-12-01

    Terrestrial carbon and water cycles are interactively linked at various spatial and temporal scales. Evapotranspiration (ET) plays a key role in the terrestrial water cycle, altering carbon sequestration of terrestrial ecosystems. The study of ET and its response to climate and vegetation changes is critical in China because water availability is a limiting factor for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in vast arid and semiarid regions. To constrain uncertainties in ET estimation, the process-based Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) model was employed in conjunction with a newly developed leaf area index (LAI) data set, MODIS land cover, meteorological, and soil data to simulate daily ET and water yield at a spatial resolution of 500 m over China for the period from 2000 to 2010. The spatial and temporal variations of ET and water yield were analyzed. The influences of climatic factors (temperature and precipitation) and vegetation (land cover types and LAI) on these variations were assessed. Validations against ET measured at five ChinaFLUX sites showed that the BEPS model was able to simulate daily and annual ET well at site scales. Simulated annual ET exhibited a distinguishable southeast to northwest decreasing gradient, corresponding to climate conditions and vegetation types. It increased with the increase of LAI in 74% of China's landmass and was positively correlated with temperature in most areas of southwest, south, east, and central China. The correlation between annual ET and precipitation was positive in the arid and semiarid areas of northwest and north China, but negative in the Tibetan Plateau and humid southeast China. The national annual ET varied from 345.5 mm in 2001 to 387.8 mm in 2005, with an average of 369.8 mm during the study period. The overall rate of increase, 1.7 mm yr-1 (R2 = 0.18, p = 0.19), was mainly driven by the increase of total ET in forests. During 2006-2009, precipitation and LAI decreased widely and

  14. Population genetic structure and genetic diversity of Chinese pomfret at the coast of the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Peng; Tang, Baojun; Yin, Fei

    2018-05-01

    The Chinese pomfret Pampus chinensis is one of the most economic and ecological important marine fish species in China. In the present study, the population genetic structure and genetic diversity of P. chinensis were evaluated from a total sample size of 180 individuals representing six populations from the East China Sea and the South China Sea using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. A total of 24 variable sites (including 3 singleton sites and 21 parsimony information sites) were observed, and 18 haplotypes were defined. The haplotype diversity (Hd) of the populations ranged from 0.559 to 0.775, and the nucleotide diversity (π) ranged from 0.330 to 1.090%. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) reveals that the main variation (66.02%) was among individuals within populations. The average pairwise differences and ϕ ST values indicated significant genetic differentiation between Dongxing population and the other populations. The results of the present study are helpful for the sustainable management and utilization of this species.

  15. Expansion of the South China Sea basin: Constraints from magnetic anomaly stripes, sea floor topography, satellite gravity and submarine geothermics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuezhong Yu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The widely distributed E–W-trending magnetic anomaly stripes in the central basin and the N–E-trending magnetic anomaly stripes in the southwest sub-basin provide the most important evidence for Neogene expansion of the South China Sea. The expansion mechanism remains, however, controversial because of the lack of direct drilling data, non-systematic marine magnetic survey data, and irregular magnetic anomaly stripes with two obvious directions. For example, researchers have inferred different ages and episodes of expansion for the central basin and southwest sub-basin. Major controversy centers on the order of basinal expansion and the mechanism of expansion for the entire South China Sea basin. This study attempts to constrain these problems from a comprehensive analysis of the seafloor topography, magnetic anomaly stripes, regional aeromagnetic data, satellite gravity, and submarine geothermics. The mapped seafloor terrain shows that the central basin is a north-south rectangle that is relatively shallow with many seamounts, whereas the southwest sub-basin is wide in northeast, gradually narrows to the southwest, and is relatively deeper with fewer seamounts. Many magnetic anomaly stripes are present in the central basin with variable dimensions and directions that are dominantly EW-trending, followed by the NE-, NW- and NS-trending. Conversely such stripes are few in the southwest sub-basin and mainly NE-trending. Regional magnetic data suggest that the NW-trending Ailaoshan-Red River fault extends into the South China Sea, links with the central fault zone in the South China Sea, which extends further southward to Reed Tablemount. Satellite gravity data show that both the central basin and southwest sub-basin are composed of oceanic crust. The Changlong seamount is particularly visible in the southwest sub-basin and extends eastward to the Zhenbei seamount. Also a low gravity anomaly zone coincides with the central fault zone in the sub

  16. Dechlorane Plus (DP) in air and plants at an electronic waste (e-waste) site in South China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen Shejun [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Tian Mi; Wang Jing; Shi Tian [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Luo Yong [Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou 510520 (China); Luo Xiaojun [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Mai Bixian, E-mail: nancymai@gig.ac.cn [State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

    2011-05-15

    Air and foliage samples (Eucalyptus spp. and Pinus massoniana Lamb.) were collected from e-waste and reference sites in South China and analyzed for Dechlorane Plus (DP) and two dechlorinated DPs. DP concentrations in the air were 13.1-1794 pg/m{sup 3} for the e-waste site and 0.47-35.7 pg/m{sup 3} for the reference site, suggesting the recycling of e-waste is an important source of DP to the environment. Plant DP, with concentrations of 0.45-51.9 ng/g dry weight at the e-waste site and 0.09-2.46 ng/g at the reference site, exhibited temporal patterns similar to the air DP except for pine needle at the reference site. The air-plant exchange of DP could be described with the two-compartment model. Anti-Cl{sub 11} DP was measured in most air and plant samples from the e-waste site. The ratios of anti-Cl{sub 11} DP to anti-DP in the air and plants may indicate the preferential uptake of dechlorinated DP by plant compared with DP. - Highlights: > Dechlorane Plus was widely present in the air and plants in South China. > Temporal patterns of the plant DP could be described with the two-compartment model. > Plant uptake can efficiently reduce air DP concentration at the reference site. > Anti-Cl{sub 11} DP was measured in most air and plant samples from the e-waste site. - E-waste recycling in South China results in wide occurrence of DP in the air and plant.

  17. Multitaper spectral method to estimate the elastic thickness of South China: Implications for intracontinental deformation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yangfan Deng

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The effective elastic thickness (Te represents the thickness of the elastic layer or the flexural rigidity of the lithosphere, the equivalent of which can be calculated from the spectral analysis of gravity and topographic data. Studies of Te have profound influence on intracontinental deformation, and coupling of the tectonic blocks. In this paper, we use the multitaper spectral estimation method to calculate the coherence between Bouguer gravity and topography data, and to obtain the Te map of South China. Through the process of correction, we discuss the relationships of Te versus heat flow, and Te versus seismicity. The results show that Te distribution of South China is affected by three factors: the original age, which controls the basic feature; the Mesozoic evolution, which affects the Te distribution; and the neotectonic movement, which shaped the final distribution. The crust age has a positive correlation with the first-order Te distribution; thus the Yangtze Craton has a relatively higher Te (about 50 km whereas the Te in Cathaysia block is only 10–20 km. By analysis and comparison among the tectonic models of South China, the Te distribution can be well explained using the flat-subduction model. As is typical with neotectonics, the region with a higher heat flow is related with a lower Te. The seismicity does not have a clear relationship with Te, but the strong seismicity could cause a low Te. Seismogenic layer (Ts has a similar trend as Te in the craton, whereas in other areas the relationship is complex.

  18. Increase in winter haze over eastern China in recent decades: Roles of variations in meteorological parameters and anthropogenic emissions: INCREASE IN WINTER HAZE IN EASTERN CHINA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Yang [Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Liao, Hong [School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing China; Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing China; Lou, Sijia [Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA

    2016-11-05

    The increase in winter haze over eastern China in recent decades due to variations in meteorological parameters and anthropogenic emissions was quantified using observed atmospheric visibility from the National Climatic Data Center Global Summary of Day database for 1980–2014 and simulated PM2.5 concentrations for 1985–2005 from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Observed winter haze days averaged over eastern China (105–122.5°E, 20–45°N) increased from 21 d in 1980 to 42 d in 2014, and from 22 to 30 d between 1985 and 2005. The GEOS-Chem model captured the increasing trend of winter PM2.5 concentrations for 1985–2005, with concentrations averaged over eastern China increasing from 16.1 μg m-3 in 1985 to 38.4 μg m-3 in 2005. Considering variations in both anthropogenic emissions and meteorological parameters, the model simulated an increase in winter surface-layer PM2.5 concentrations of 10.5 (±6.2) μg m-3 decade-1 over eastern China. The increasing trend was only 1.8 (±1.5) μg m-3 decade-1 when variations in meteorological parameters alone were considered. Among the meteorological parameters, the weakening of winds by -0.09 m s-1 decade-1 over 1985–2005 was found to be the dominant factor leading to the decadal increase in winter aerosol concentrations and haze days over eastern China during recent decades.

  19. Application of UTCI in China from tourism perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Quansheng; Kong, Qinqin; Xi, Jianchao; Zheng, Jingyun

    2017-05-01

    This study uses ERA-Interim reanalysis data and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) to investigate the spatial pattern of thermal bioclimatic conditions in China. Our results show that the annual UTCI increases with decreasing latitude throughout most of China. Areas that experience "no thermal stress" are located southeast of the line formed by the Yanshan Mountains, Taihang Mountains, the southern edge of the Loess Plateau, and the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an area of 312.83e4 km2. During spring and autumn, the UTCI distribution is similar to the annual distribution. During summer, areas with "no thermal stress" cover the largest area (563.55e4 km2), including northern and southwestern China; in contrast, during winter, areas with "no thermal stress" only occur south of the Nanling Mountains. The annual number of days with "no thermal stress" increases from north to south in central and eastern China, exceeding 200 days in the Sichuan Basin, the southeastern coastal regions and the Yungui Plateau. The minimum and maximum values occur on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (≤10 days) and the southern Yungui Plateau (>280 days). Seasonal analysis indicates that there are over 70 days with "no thermal stress" in the Sichuan Basin, the Yungui Plateau and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during spring and autumn, while there are more than 80 days in northern and southwestern China during summer and over 80 days in areas south of the Nanling Mountains during winter. The results of this study can be helpful for optimization of the tourism industry and tourism destinations development in China.

  20. Alkaloids and Sesquiterpenes from the South China Sea Gorgonian Echinogorgia pseudossapo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shu-Hua Qi

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Five zoanthoxanthin alkaloids (1–5 and four sesquiterpenes (6–9 were isolated from the South China Sea gorgonian Echinogorgia pseudossapo. Their structures were determined on the bases of extensive spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR data. Among them, pseudozoanthoxanthins III and IV (1–2, 8-hydroxy-6β-methoxy-14-oxooplop-6,12-olide (6 and 3β-methoxyguaian-10(14-en-2β-ol (7 were new, 1 and 3 showed mild anti-HSV-1 activity, and 7 showed significant antilarval activity towards Balanus amphitrite larvae.

  1. Understanding the Tectonic Features in the South China Sea By Analyzing Magnetic Anomalies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, L.; Meng, X.; Shi, L.; Yao, C.

    2011-12-01

    The South China Sea (SCS) is surrounded by the Eurasia, Pacific and India-Australia plates. It formed during Late Oligocene-Early Miocene, and is one of the largest marginal seas in the Western Pacific. The collision of Indian subcontinent and Eurasian plate in the northwest, back-arc spreading in the centre and subduction beneath the Philippine plate along Manila trench in the east and along Palawan trough in the south had produced the complex tectonic features in the SCS that we can see today. In the past few decades, a variety of geophysical methods were conducted to study geological tectonics and evolution of the SCS. Here, we analyzed the magnetic data of this area using new data enhancement techniques to understand the regional tectonic features. We assembled the magnetic anomalies data with a resolution of two arc-minute from the World Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map, and then gridded the data on a regular grid. Then we used the method of reduction to the pole at low latitude with varying magnetic inclinations to stably reduce the magnetic anomalies. Then we used the preferential continuation method based on Wiener filtering and Green's equivalence principle to separate the reduced-to-pole (RTP) magnetic anomalies, and subsequently analyze the regional and residual anomalies. We also calculated the directional horizontal derivatives and the tilt-angle derivative of the data to derive clearer geological structures with more details. Then we calculated the depth of the magnetic basement surface in the area by 3D interface inversion. From the results of the preliminary processing, we analyzed the main faults, geological structures, magma distribution and tectonic features in the SCS. In the future, the integrated interpretation of the RTP magnetic anomalies, Bouguer gravity anomalies and other geophysical methods will be performed for better understanding the deep structure , the tectonic features and evolution of the South China Sea. Acknowledgment: We

  2. South China, East Vietnam or West Philippine? Comparative Framing Analysis of Regional News Coverage of Southeast Asian Sea Disputes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Freeman Bradley C.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available For years, the world paid scant attention to the sporadic skirmishes and sovereignty squabbles in what is known by many as the South China Sea. However, in the past few years, there have been several noteworthy happenings that have drawn the attention of media outlets, including a Chinese oil rig placement near Vietnam, a Philippineinternational court case, a U.S.–ASEAN summit, and Chinese reclamation projects. Many of the countries involved are members of the regional grouping known as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This study examined Asean’s English-language press, looking at the amount, patterns, and tone of coverage given to regional maritime disputes. Results indicate that use of the term ‘South China Sea’ prevails in all countries except Vietnam. The Asean newspapers have devoted a consistent and substantial amount of space to covering the topic. Indonesia’s Jakarta Post tended to use neutral or positive language when mentioning Asean and the US, while China saw more negative associations in the coverage. Further research is suggested, taking into account mass communication theories and perspectives.

  3. Temperature shapes coral-algal symbiosis in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Haoya; Cai, Lin; Zhou, Guowei; Yuan, Tao; Zhang, Weipeng; Tian, Renmao; Huang, Hui; Qian, Pei-Yuan

    2017-01-01

    With the increase in sea surface temperature (SST), scleractinian corals are exposed to bleaching threats but may possess certain flexibilities in terms of their associations with symbiotic algae. Previous studies have shown a close symbiosis between coral the and Symbiodinium; however, the spatial variation of the symbiosis and the attribution underlying are not well understood. In the present study, we examined coral-algal symbiosis in Galaxea fascicularis and Montipora spp. from three biogeographic regions across ~10° of latitude in the South China Sea. Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) indicated a highly flexible coral-algal symbiosis in both G. fascicularis and Montipora spp. and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that temperature explained 83.2% and 60.1% of the explanatory subclade variations in G. fascicularis and Montipora spp., respectively, which suggested that temperature was the main environmental factor contributing to the diversity of Symbiodinium across the three regions. The geographic specificity of the Symbiodinium phylogeny was identified, revealing possible environmental selection across the three regions. These results suggest that scleractinian corals may have the ability to regulate Symbiodinium community structures under different temperatures and thus be able to adapt to gradual climate change. PMID:28084322

  4. New species of the genus Sinularia (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) from Nha Trang Bay, South China Sea, Vietnam

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dautova, T.N.; Ofwegen, van L.P.; Savinkin, O.V.

    2010-01-01

    A total of eight Sinularia species is described and depicted, all from Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam (South China Sea). Six are new to science: S. capricornis, S. multiflora, S. pumila, S. sarmentosa, S. torta, and S. uva. Two other ones represent just new records for Vietnam: S. rigida (Dana, 1846) and S.

  5. Fate of linear alkylbenzenes and benzothiazoles of anthropogenic origin and their potential as environmental molecular markers in the Pearl River Delta, South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ni Honggang; Shen Rulang; Zeng Hui; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2009-01-01

    The mass emissions of linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), benzothiazole (BT), and 2-[4-morpholinyl]benzothiazole (24MoBT) from anthropogenic activities within one year were estimated according to the population and the number of automobiles in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), South China. Based on the estimation, the distribution of these compounds among various environmental media was simulated with a mass balance box model established in the present study. The results showed that 79% of LABs generated in the PRD was stored in sediment while only 1.3% of LABs was presumably transported to the adjacent South China Sea (SCS). On the contrary, 47% of BT and 77% of 24MoBT generated in the region were carried with riverine runoff to the coastal ocean. The results from the present study suggest that hydrophobic compounds tend to stay in the watershed of the PRD, whereas hydrophilic ones mainly outflow to the coastal ocean. - A simple mass balance box model examines the fate of linear alkylbenzenes and benzothiazoles in the Pearl River Delta, South China.

  6. Distribution, regional sources and deposition fluxes of organochlorine pesticides in precipitation in Guangzhou, South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, De-Yin; Peng, Ping'an; Xu, Yi-Gang; Sun, Cui-Xiang; Deng, Hong-Mei; Deng, Yun-Yun

    2010-07-01

    We analyzed rainwater collected from multiple sites, Guangzhou, China, from March to August 2005, with the aim to characterize the distribution, regional sources and deposition fluxes of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in South China. Eight species of organochlorine pesticide were detected, including hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), and endosulfans. Volume-weighted mean monthly total concentrations varied from 3.65 ± 0.95 to 9.37 ± 2.63 ng L - 1 , and the estimated total wet deposition flux was about 11.43 ± 3.27 µg m - 2 during the monitoring period. Pesticides were mainly detected in the dissolved phase. Distribution coefficients between particulate and dissolved phases in March and April were generally higher than in other months. HCHs, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDT in precipitation were attributed to both the residues and present usage of insecticides in Pearl River Delta. The concentrations of p,p'-DDD + p,p'-DDT were relatively high from April to August, which were related to the usage of antifouling paints containing DDT for fishing ships in seaports of the South China Sea in summer. In contrast, endosulfans were relatively high in March, which was related to their seasonal atmospheric transport from cotton fields in eastern China by the Asian winter monsoon. The consistency of the variation of endosulfans, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDT concentrations with the alternation of summer and winter monsoon suggested that the Asian monsoon played an important role in the long-range transport of OCPs. In addition, the wet deposition of OCPs may influence not only Pearl River water but also the surface land distributions of pesticides in the Guangzhou area, especially for endosulfans, p,p'-DDD and p,p'-DDT.

  7. Mercury profiles in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary and the surrounding coastal area of South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shi Jianbo; Ip, Carman C.M.; Zhang Gan; Jiang Guibin; Li Xiangdong

    2010-01-01

    The spatial and temporal variations of mercury (Hg) in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and the surrounding coastal area (South China Sea) were studied. In surface sediments, the concentrations of Hg ranged from 1.5 to 201 ng/g, with an average of 54.4 ng/g, displaying a decreasing trend with the distance from the estuary to the open sea. This pattern indicates that the anthropogenic emissions from the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region are probably the main sources of Hg in this coastal region. Using the 210 Pb dating technique, the historical changes in the concentrations and influxes of Hg in the last 100 years were also investigated. The variations in Hg influxes in sediment cores obviously correlate with the economic development and urbanization that has occurred the PRD region, especially in the last three decades. - The spatial and historical changes of Hg in sediment reflect the industrial development and urbanization of the region in south China.

  8. Chemical constituents of soft coral Sarcophyton infundibuliforme from the South China Sea

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Chang Yun; Chen, An Na; Shao, Chang Lun; Li, Liang; Xu, Ying; Qian, Pei Yuan

    2011-01-01

    Chemical investigation on soft coral Sarcophyton infundibuliforme collected from the South China Sea led to the isolation and identification of 14 secondary metabolites, including ten cembrene diterpenoids (1-10), one α-tocopheryl quinone derivative (11), one prostaglandin (12), one lipid (13) and one carotinoid (14). Their structures were determined by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic data. All of these metabolites were isolated from this species for the first time. Diterpenoids 1, 2, 7 and 10 showed potent antifouling activity against the larval settlement of barnacle Balanus amphitrite. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

  9. Chemical constituents of soft coral Sarcophyton infundibuliforme from the South China Sea

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Chang Yun

    2011-08-01

    Chemical investigation on soft coral Sarcophyton infundibuliforme collected from the South China Sea led to the isolation and identification of 14 secondary metabolites, including ten cembrene diterpenoids (1-10), one α-tocopheryl quinone derivative (11), one prostaglandin (12), one lipid (13) and one carotinoid (14). Their structures were determined by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic data. All of these metabolites were isolated from this species for the first time. Diterpenoids 1, 2, 7 and 10 showed potent antifouling activity against the larval settlement of barnacle Balanus amphitrite. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

  10. Academia Sinica, TW E-science to Assistant Seismic Observations for Earthquake Research, Monitor and Hazard Reduction Surrounding the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Bor-Shouh; Liu, Chun-Chi; Yen, Eric; Liang, Wen-Tzong; Lin, Simon C.; Huang, Win-Gee; Lee, Shiann-Jong; Chen, Hsin-Yen

    Experience from the 1994 giant Sumatra earthquake, seismic and tsunami hazard have been considered as important issues in the South China Sea and its surrounding region, and attracted many seismologist's interesting. Currently, more than 25 broadband seismic instruments are currently operated by Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica in northern Vietnam to study the geodynamic evolution of the Red river fracture zone and rearranged to distribute to southern Vietnam recently to study the geodynamic evolution and its deep structures of the South China Sea. Similar stations are planned to deploy in Philippines in near future. In planning, some high quality stations may be as permanent stations and added continuous GPS observations, and instruments to be maintained and operated by several cooperation institutes, for instance, Institute of Geophysics, Vietnamese Acadamy of Sciences and Technology in Vietnam and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Philippines. Finally, those stations will be planed to upgrade as real time transmission stations for earthquake monitoring and tsunami warning. However, high speed data transfer within different agencies is always a critical issue for successful network operation. By taking advantage of both EGEE and EUAsiaGrid e-Infrastructure, Academia Sinica Grid Computing Centre coordinates researchers from various Asian countries to construct a platform to high performance data transfer for huge parallel computation. Efforts from this data service and a newly build earthquake data centre for data management may greatly improve seismic network performance. Implementation of Grid infrastructure and e-science issues in this region may assistant development of earthquake research, monitor and natural hazard reduction. In the near future, we will search for new cooperation continually from the surrounding countries of the South China Sea to install new seismic stations to construct a complete seismic network of the

  11. Simulating seasonal tropical cyclone intensities at landfall along the South China coast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lok, Charlie C. F.; Chan, Johnny C. L.

    2018-04-01

    A numerical method is developed using a regional climate model (RegCM3) and the Weather Forecast and Research (WRF) model to predict seasonal tropical cyclone (TC) intensities at landfall for the South China region. In designing the model system, three sensitivity tests have been performed to identify the optimal choice of the RegCM3 model domain, WRF horizontal resolution and WRF physics packages. Driven from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System Reanalysis dataset, the model system can produce a reasonable distribution of TC intensities at landfall on a seasonal scale. Analyses of the model output suggest that the strength and extent of the subtropical ridge in the East China Sea are crucial to simulating TC landfalls in the Guangdong and Hainan provinces. This study demonstrates the potential for predicting TC intensities at landfall on a seasonal basis as well as projecting future climate changes using numerical models.

  12. Significant breakthrough in proprietary deepwater natural gas exploration in the northern South China Sea and its inspiration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuhong Xie

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In 2014, Zhanjiang Branch of CNOOC Limited obtained high oil and gas flows (160 × 104 m3/d in Well LS 17-2-1 in northern South China Sea. The tested formation is the Neogene Upper Miocene Huangliu Fm. This is the first self-explored natural gas field in deep water area in China. Exploration in this area underwent three periods: (1 Reconnaissance exploration period (before 2002: Limited by techniques, the major exploration was in shallow water areas; (2 Foreign cooperative exploration period (2002–2012: As the discovered reserve scale was small, and there is no economic benefit, the partners successively gave up their exploration equities in the deep water area of western South China Sea; however, the high quality source rocks and reservoirs were confirmed in the deep water area of the South China Sea, revealing the mask of hydrocarbon exploration in this region; (3 Self-exploration period (since 2013: Relying on national science and technology major projects and its scientific research and production, Zhanjiang Company of CNOOC conducted several scientific researches on seismic data acquisition and processing, high-quality reservoir distribution, key factors for hydrocarbon accumulation in deep water areas, optimized and confirmed Lingshui 17-2 structure as the first drilling target, and obtained significant exploration breakthrough. Lingshui 17-2 structure is located in the Ledong-Lingshui section of the Central Canyon. Its major target layer is the Huangliu Fm. Its total thickness is over 150 m, with sandstone ratio of 75.4%, maximum single layer thickness of 52 m, porosity ranging 30.0%–33.7% (31.5% averagely, permeability ranging 293–2512 mD (633 mD averagely, belonging to reservoir with ultrahigh porosity and high-ultrahigh permeability. The exploration breakthrough in Lingshui 17-2 shows the giant potentiality of hydrocarbon exploration in this deep water area.

  13. Statistics of Acoustic Pulse Signals Through Nonlinear Internal Waves on the Continental Shelf of the Northeastern South China Sea

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Reeves, Justin M

    2008-01-01

    ...) was conducted from 13 - 15 April 2005 on the continental shelf in the northeast portion of the South China Sea to study the effects of nonlinear internal waves on the transmission of a 400-Hz signal...

  14. Antifouling phenyl ethers and other compounds from the invertebrates and their symbiotic fungi collected from the South China Sea

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Chao-Yi; Wang, Kai-Ling; Ghosheh, Yanal; Xu, Ying; Chen, Min; Zheng, Juan-Juan; Liu, Min; Shao, Chang-Lun; Wang, Chang-Yun

    2016-01-01

    for their antifouling activities and security. These compounds include 44 natural products isolated from marine invertebrates and their symbiotic microorganisms collected from the South China Sea and 11 structural modified products derived from the isolated compounds

  15. Non-aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments near the Pearl River estuary in the South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao Xuelu; Chen Shaoyong; Xie Xueliang; Long Aimin; Ma Fujun

    2007-01-01

    Surface sediment samples at 4 sites along an offshore transect from outer continental shelf off the Pearl River estuary to the shelf slope region of the northern South China Sea, have been analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), solvent extractable organic matter (EOM) and non-aromatic hydrocarbons. TOC, TN and EOM show distinct spatial variations. Their highest values are all recorded at the shelf slope region. EOM varies from 18.70-38.58 μg g -1 dry sediment and accounts for 0.20-0.72% of the TOC contents. The non-aromatic hydrocarbons are an important fraction of EOM. Their contents range from 3.43-7.06 μg g -1 dry sediment. n-Alkanes with carbon number ranging from 15-38 are identified. They derive from both biogenic and petrogenic sources in different proportions. Results of isoprenoid hydrocarbons, hopanes and steranes also suggest possible petroleum contamination. - Anthropogenic activities have influences on the composition of non-aromatic hydrocarbons in the surface sediments of the northern South China Sea outer continental shelf

  16. The origin of gas seeps and shallow gas in northern part of South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, M.; Jin, X.

    2003-04-01

    The northern part of South China Sea is of passive continental margin, which geologic units include shelf, slope and deep sea basin. There are rifting basins forming during Paleogene (or Cretaceous ?) to Quaternary developed on shelf and slope, which sediments are dominated by fluvial and lake clastic rock of Paleogene, and marine clastic rock and carbonate of Neogene - Quaternary. The main basins include the Pearl River Mouth Basin, Beibu Gulf basin, Qiongdongnan Basin and Yinggehai basin. They contain rich oil and gas resources, and have become important industrial oil and gas producing region in South China Sea. With the increasing of petroleum exploration actives and marine petroleum engineering, it has been paid more attention to the investigation and research of gas seeps and shallow gas, for they become a potential threaten to the marine engineering while they are regarded as the indicators of industrial oil and gas. By study the distribution and geochemical characteristics of gas seeps in northeast part of Yinggehai basin and shallow gas in sediments on slope, combined with their regional geologic background, this paper deals with the origin, migration pathway and emission mechanism of gas seeps and shallow gas in northern part of South China Sea, for providing a base knowledge for the evaluation of marine engineering geology. In northeast part of Yinggehai basin gas seeps have been found and recorded for near 100 years. During 1990s, as a part of petroleum exploration, the gas seeps in the basin have been investigated and research by oil companies (Baojia Huang et al., 1992; Jiaqiong He et al., 2000). Gas seeps were found in shallow water area along southwest coast of Hainan Island, water depth usually less than 50 m. The occurrence of gas seeps can be divided into two types: (1) gas continuously emission, continuous gas bubbles groups can be detected by sonar underwater and observed on water surface. (2) gas intermittently emission, the time intervals

  17. China Emerging

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-14

    historical components to the disputes in the South China Sea that have bearing on the issue. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia , the Philippines...government for needed efficiency. It becomes more and more untenable for an authoritative government to enforce censorship , political repression, state

  18. Quarter-Century Offshore Winds from SSM/I and WRF in the North Sea and South China Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Astrup, Poul; Zhu, Rong

    2016-01-01

    We study the wind climate and its long-term variability in the North Sea and South China Sea, areas relevant for offshore wind energy development, using satellite-based wind data, because very few reliable long-term in-situ sea surface wind observations are available. The Special Sensor Microwave...

  19. The Interdecadal Variability of Summer Precipitation over the South of China and its Response to Asian Monsoon at the Turning Points of Global Warming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Huan; Li, Dongliang

    2017-04-01

    Under the background of global warming, decadal variability of the summer precipitation in the South of China and the Asian monsoon experienced mutations at around the end of 1970s, the beginning of 1990s and 21st century. We examined the external and internal forcings which may cause the mutations and diagnosed the mechanism. Human emission of CO2 has always been the fatal reason for global warming, and it is also the primary reason for the precipitation increasing over Yangtze-Huai river basin at the end of the 1970s. The Yangtze-Huai river basin and South China demonstrated more summer rainfall after 1993. This can be explained by the weakening of the Asian summer monsoon caused by the positive anomaly of summer SST over northwest Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. A significant trend in the enhancement of sensible heat over the TP has exerted some considerable influence on the reinforce of the EASM, accompanied by the northward migration of the summer precipitation belt shifting northward at the beginning of 21st century.

  20. Quantitative analysis of agricultural land use change in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, Jieming; Dong, Wenjie; Wang, Shuyu; Fu, Yuqing

    This article reviews the potential impacts of climate change on land use change in China. Crop sown area is used as index to quantitatively analyze the temporal-spatial changes and the utilization of the agricultural land. A new concept is defined as potential multiple cropping index to reflect the potential sowing ability. The impacting mechanism, land use status and its surplus capacity are investigated as well. The main conclusions are as following; During 1949-2010, the agricultural land was the greatest in amount in the middle of China, followed by that in the country's eastern and western regions. The most rapid increase and decrease of agricultural land were observed in Xinjiang and North China respectively, Northwest China and South China is also changed rapid. The variation trend before 1980 differed significantly from that after 1980. Agricultural land was affected by both natural and social factors, such as regional climate and environmental changes, population growth, economic development, and implementation of policies. In this paper, the effects of temperature and urbanization on the coverage of agriculture land are evaluated, and the results show that the urbanization can greatly affects the amount of agriculture land in South China, Northeast China, Xinjiang and Southwest China. From 1980 to 2009, the extent of agricultural land use had increased as the surplus capacity had decreased. Still, large remaining potential space is available, but the future utilization of agricultural land should be carried out with scientific planning and management for the sustainable development.

  1. Variation of phytoplankton community structure from the Pearl River estuary to South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Zhao-Yu; Wang, You-Shao; Cheng, Hao; Sun, Cui-Ci; Wu, Mei-Lin

    2015-10-01

    The Pearl River is located in the northern part of South China Sea. The environment of the Pearl River estuary (PRE) is significantly impacted by nutrients from anthropogenic activities. Along the anthropogenic pollution gradient from the PRE to South China Sea, the phylogenetic diversity and biomass of phytoplankton was examined in relation to physic-chemical variables. The richness of rbcL gene was higher in the open sea than the estuary, while the concentration of chlorophyll a (Chl a) was higher in the estuary than in the open sea. The cluster analysis of the sequences data resulted in seven phytoplankton community types and the dominant species of phytoplankton changed from Cryptophytes and Diatoms to Prymnesiophytes and Diatoms along the gradient. The community structure of phytoplankton was shaped by nutrients and salinity. The phytoplankton biomass was significantly positively affected by phosphorus, nitrite and ammonium (P < 0.01) but negatively by salinity (P < 0.05); the phytoplankton diversity was highly positively affected by salinity (P < 0.05) but negatively by silicate and nitrate (P < 0.01; P < 0.05, respectively). Anthropogenic activities played a critical role in the phytoplankton distribution and biomass of the study area. Further research is necessary to reveal the influence mechanism of environmental factors on the phytoplankton.

  2. Kinematic parameters of internal waves of the second mode in the South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Kurkina

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Spatial distributions of the main properties of the mode function and kinematic and non-linear parameters of internal waves of the second mode are derived for the South China Sea for typical summer conditions in July. The calculations are based on the Generalized Digital Environmental Model (GDEM climatology of hydrological variables, from which the local stratification is evaluated. The focus is on the phase speed of long internal waves and the coefficients at the dispersive, quadratic and cubic terms of the weakly non-linear Gardner model. Spatial distributions of these parameters, except for the coefficient at the cubic term, are qualitatively similar for waves of both modes. The dispersive term of Gardner's equation and phase speed for internal waves of the second mode are about a quarter and half, respectively, of those for waves of the first mode. Similarly to the waves of the first mode, the coefficients at the quadratic and cubic terms of Gardner's equation are practically independent of water depth. In contrast to the waves of the first mode, for waves of the second mode the quadratic term is mostly negative. The results can serve as a basis for expressing estimates of the expected parameters of internal waves for the South China Sea.

  3. Fate of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the environment of the Pearl River Estuary, South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guan Yufeng; Sojinu, O.S. Samuel; Li Shaomeng; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2009-01-01

    Ninety-six riverine runoff samples collected at eight major outlets in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), South China, during 2005-2006 were analyzed for 17 brominated diphenyl ether (BDE) congeners (defined as Σ 17 PBDE). Fourteen and 15 congeners were detected, respectively, in the dissolved and particulate phases. These data were further used to elucidate the partitioning behavior of BDE congeners in riverine runoff. Several related fate processes, i.e. air-water exchange, dry and wet deposition, degradation, and sedimentation, within the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), were examined to estimate the inputs of Σ 10 PBDE (sum of the target BDE congeners, BDE-28, -47, -66, -85, -99, -100, -138, -153, -154, and -183) and BDE-209 from the PRD to the coastal ocean based on mass balance considerations. The results showed that annual outflows of Σ 10 PBDE and BDE-209 were estimated at 126 and 940 kg/year, respectively from the PRE to coastal ocean. Besides sedimentation and degradation, the majority of Σ 10 PBDE and BDE-209 discharged into the PRE via riverine runoff was transported to the coastal ocean. - Fate of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the environment the Pearl River Estuary, South China.

  4. Lagrangian Observations of Nonlinear Internal Waves and Turbulence Mixing in Luzon Strait and South China Sea and Internal Wave in the Vicinity of the Kuroshio Path

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Lien, Ren-Chieh; D'Asaro, Eric A

    2008-01-01

    ... mixing in the northern South China Sea. Results are reported. The second was to analyze observations of data taken in the vicinity of the Kuroshio path from Luzon Strait to the southern East China Sea...

  5. Feature analysis and primary causes of pre-flood season "cumulative effect" of torrential rain over South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Qu-cheng; Wang, Qi-guang; Qiao, Shao-bo; Feng, Guo-lin

    2018-01-01

    When persistent rainfall occurs frequently over South China, meso-scale and micro-scale synoptic systems persist and expand in space and time and eventually form meso-scale and long-scale weather processes. The accumulation of multiple torrential rain processes is defined as a "cumulative effect" of torrential rain (CETR) event. In this paper, daily reanalysis datasets collected by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy (NCEP-DOE) during 1979-2014 are used to study the anomalous features and causes of heavy CETR events over South China. The results show that there is a significant difference in the spatial distribution of the heavy CETR events. Based on the center position of the CETR, the middle region displayed middle-region-heavy CETR events while the western region displayed west-region-heavy CETR events. El Niño events in the previous period (December, January, February, March (DJFM)) are major extra-forcing factors of middle-region-heavy CETR events, which is beneficial for the continuous, anomalous Philippine Sea anticyclone and strengthens the West Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH), extending it more westward than normal. The primary water vapor source for precipitation in middle-region-heavy CETR events is the Tropical Western Pacific Ocean. The major extra-forcing factor of a west-region-heavy CETR is the negative anomaly in the southern Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) during the previous period (DJFM). This factor is beneficial for strengthening the cross-equatorial flow and westerly winds from the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea (SCS) and early SCS summer monsoon onset. The primary water vapor source of precipitation in the west-region-heavy CETR is the southern TIO.

  6. Increasing Need for Uniqueness in Contemporary China: Empirical Evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huajian Cai

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Past research has documented various cultural and psychological changes in contemporary China. In two studies, we examine how Chinese people’s need for uniqueness (NFU also has changed. In Study 1, we found a significant cross-generational increase in Chinese participants’ self-reported NFU. In Study 2, we sampled the names of Chinese newborn babies over the last five decades and found that parents have been increasingly likely to use unique characters to name their children. These findings suggest that the NFU has been rising in China, a historically collectivistic-oriented society. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings were discussed.

  7. Characteristics of PM10 Chemical Source Profiles for Geological Dust from the South-West Region of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yayong Liu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Ninety-six particulate matter (PM10 chemical source profiles for geological sources in typical cities of southwest China were acquired from Source Profile Shared Service in China. Twenty-six elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Sr, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Be, Tl and Pb, nine ions (F−, Cl−, SO42−, NO3−, Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+, and carbon-containing species (organic carbon and elemental carbon were determined to construct these profiles. Individual source profiles were averaged and compared to quantify similarities and differences in chemical abundances using the profile-compositing method. Overall, the major components of PM10 in geological sources were crustal minerals and undefined fraction. Different chemical species could be used as tracers for various types of geological dust in the region that resulted from different anthropogenic influence. For example, elemental carbon, V and Zn could be used as tracers for urban paved road dust; Al, Si, K+ and NH4+ for agricultural soil; Al and Si for natural soil; and SO42− for urban resuspended dust. The enrichment factor analysis showed that Cu, Se, Sr and Ba were highly enriched by human activities in geological dust samples from south-west China. Elemental ratios were taken to highlight the features of geological dust from south-west China by comparing with northern urban fugitive dust, loess and desert samples. Low Si/Al and Fe/Al ratios can be used as markers to trace geological sources from southwestern China. High Pb/Al and Zn/Al ratios observed in urban areas demonstrated that urban geological dust was influenced seriously by non-crustal sources.

  8. Changes in "hotter and wetter" events across China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, C.; Deng, H.; Lu, Y.; Qiu, X.; Wang, D.

    2017-12-01

    As global warming intensifies, efforts to understand the changes in extreme climate events have increased in recent years. A combined analysis of the changes in extreme temperature and precipitation events is presented in this paper. Using observational data from 1961 to 2015, a set of hotter and wetter (HW) events is defined, and we examine the changes in these events across China. The results show that more HW events occur in Central and Eastern China than in other subregions, especially in South China (SC). The rate of increase in HW events is 2.7 and 1.9 per decade in SC and East China (EC), respectively. In China, most HW events occurred in the last 20 years of the study period, indicating that China entered a period of high-frequency HW events. Indeed, the range in anomalies in the torrential rain days is greater than that of the high-temperature days in Northwest China (NWC), Central China (CC), and EC after the mid- to late 1990s. The opposite pattern is found in Northeast China (NEC), Southwest China-region 1 (SWC1), Southwest China-region 2 (SWC2), and SC. Finally, the increase in HW events in most regions of China is closely associated with warming.

  9. A review of the burden of hepatitis C virus infection in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Heather; Waser, Nathalie; Johnston, Karissa; Kao, Jia-Horng; Lim, Young-Suk; Duan, Zhong-Ping; Lee, Youn-Jae; Wei, Lai; Chen, Chien-Jen; Sievert, William; Yuan, Yong; Li, Hong

    2015-07-01

    Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with substantial clinical and economic burden and is an important public health issue in Asia. The objective of this review was to characterize HCV epidemiology and related complications in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. A search of electronic databases and conference abstracts identified 71 potentially relevant articles. Of those, 55 were included in the epidemiology review and 9 in the review of HCV-related complications. HCV prevalence in the general population was 1.6% in China, 0.6-0.9% in Japan, 0.6-1.1% in South Korea and 1.8-5.5% in Taiwan. Prevalence was higher for injecting drug users (48-90%) and those with human immunodeficiency virus coinfection (32-85%) and was lower for blood donors (China was 6.01 per 100,000. HCV genotype 1b was associated with the highest incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Five-year survival for patients with liver cirrhosis was 73.8%, decreasing to 39.2% following liver transplantation; the majority of deaths were attributable to HCC. Limitations were that the majority of studies included in the epidemiology review were small, regional studies conducted in specific populations, and there was an absence of large population-based studies. Thus, estimates may not be representative of the epidemiology of HCV for each country. The prevalence HCV in China and HCV incidence in the Asian region remain largely unknown, and they are likely underestimated. Further epidemiologic and clinical data are needed to provide more precise estimates for use by public health agencies.

  10. Briarane Diterpenes from the South China Sea Gorgonian Coral, Junceella gemmacea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Zhou

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Four new briarane diterpenoids, junceellolides M–P (1–4, were isolated together with seven known analogs (5–11 from the South China Sea gorgonian, Junceella gemmacea. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the reported data. The absolute configuration of compounds 1–3 were determined based on an ECD experiment, while the absolute configuration of compound 4 was genetically determined. All the compounds were isolated for the first time from J. gemmacea. These compounds showed no growth inhibitory activity against A549, MG63 and SMMC-7721 cell lines in an in vitro bioassay.

  11. Regional evolution of geological structure in south China and U mineralization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Guoda; Kang Zili; Shen Jinrui; Jin Yushu

    1992-01-01

    This paper states the development laws of regional geological structure of South China and its controlling effect on uranium deposit evolution, and the characteristics of rich uranium formation in different periods of geo-history are analysed. It also discusses the relationship between the distribution of time and space and tectonic structure and environmental vicissitudes. The rock-magma activities-the strong formation of the Diwa Era is of great significance to the formation of uranium deposits within the region, especially to the formation of a series of multi-genesis polygene uranium deposits which are a potential direction in which to look for minerals within the region

  12. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boyce, Tucker [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-01-01

    International trade and related economic activities in Central and South Asia are increasing as developing economies, particularly India and Pakistan, grow. China continues to emerge as a major regional and global power and has embarked upon numerous regional economic and political initiatives . A major development is the China - Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a host of infrastructure and trade projects worth over 40 billion American dollars . This report analyzes CPEC a nd its potential regional effects, including the trade security implications of the port and land infrastructure developments . As trade increase s in the reg ion and the major CPEC infrastructure projects are completed, there will be numerous implications on trade security and geopolitics within South Asia. CPEC projects uniquely intersect numerous regional situations, including territorial disputes in Kashmir, the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, and Chinese foreign policy a mbitions. A nuanced understanding of these effects can influence future policy adjustments in this region . The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sandia National Laboratories or the author's current and past institutions.

  13. China’s Energy Insecurity and the South China Sea Dispute

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-24

    Policy Since 1938 (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1997), 123-126. 32 Ian Bremmer, “Gathering Storm: America and China in 2020,” World Affairs, 58. 32...from-the- asean-china- fta / (accessed March 21, 2020). 35 73 Jing-dong Yuan, China-ASEAN Relations: Perspectives, Prospects, and Implications for

  14. Vertical distribution and sources of tropospheric ozone over South China in spring 2004: Ozonesonde measurements and modeling analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Y.; Liu, H.; Crawford, J. H.; Considine, D. B.; Chan, C.; Scientific Team Of Tapto

    2010-12-01

    The Transport of Air Pollutant and Tropospheric Ozone over China (TAPTO-China) science initiative is a two-year (TAPTO 2004 and 2005) field measurement campaign to help improve our understanding of the physical and chemical processes that control the tropospheric ozone budget over the Chinese subcontinent (including the Asian Pacific rim) and its surrounding SE Asia. In this paper, we use two state-of-the-art 3-D global chemical transport models (GEOS-Chem and Global Modeling Initiative or GMI) to examine the characteristics of vertical distribution and quantify the sources of tropospheric ozone by analysis of TAPTO in-situ ozonesonde data obtained at five stations in South China during spring (April and May) 2004: Lin’an (30.30N, 119.75E), Tengchong (25.01N, 98.30E), Taipei (25.0N, 121.3E), Hong Kong (22.21N, 114.30E) and Sanya (18.21N, 110.31E). The observed tropospheric ozone concentrations show strong spatial and temporal variability, which is largely captured by the models. The models simulate well the observed vertical gradients of tropospheric ozone at higher latitudes but are too low at lower latitudes. Model tagged ozone simulations suggest that stratosphere has a large impact on the upper and middle troposphere (UT/MT) at Lin’an and Tengchong. Continental SE Asian biomass burning emissions are maximum in March but still contribute significantly to the photochemical production of tropopheric ozone in South China in early April. Asian anthropogenic emissions are the major contribution to lower tropospheric ozone at all stations. On the other hand, there are episodes of influence from European/North American anthropogenic emissions. For example, model tagged ozone simulations show that over Lin’an in April 2004, stratosphere contributes 20% (13 ppbv) at 5 km, Asian boundary layer contributes 70% (46 ppbv) to ozone in the boundary layer, European boundary layer contributes 5% (3-4 ppbv) at 1.2 km, and North American boundary layer contributes 4.5% (3

  15. The rapid cooling of the Nansha Block, southern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, M.; Zhang, J.

    2017-12-01

    Since the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic, the Nansha Block has experienced a series of tectonic process and separated from South China continent to the south. As an exotic micro-continental, Nansha Block has an obvious different lithospheric rheology property from surrounding region. The lithosphere and mantle dynamic and rheology are mainly controlled by temperature. Therefore, we calculated the 3D temperature field and geothermal gradient of Nansha Block's upper mantle by using the S-wave velocity structure from surface wave tomography. The results show that the depth where temperature of 1300° as the lithospheric thickness is in close correspondence with the top of the seismic low velocity zone. The temperature of the upper mantle in Nansha Block is significantly lower than that of surrounding. It implies that Nansha Block experienced a rapid cooling event. We propose that the rapid cooling can be partly attributed to three reasons: 1) Nansha Block is a relatively stable block with no interior geothermal activity. 2) No external heat source to provide energy. 3) Abnormal mantle convection under Nansha Block accelerated the cooling.

  16. The TKE dissipation rate in the northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozovatsky, Iossif; Liu, Zhiyu; Fernando, Harindra Joseph S.; Hu, Jianyu; Wei, Hao

    2013-12-01

    The microstructure measurements taken during the summer seasons of 2009 and 2010 in the northern South China Sea (between 18°N and 22.5°N, and from the Luzon Strait to the eastern shelf of China) were used to estimate the averaged dissipation rate in the upper pycnocline of the deep basin and on the shelf. Linear correlation between and the estimates of available potential energy of internal waves, which was found for this data set, indicates an impact of energetic internal waves on spatial structure and temporal variability of . On the shelf stations, the bottom boundary layer depth-integrated dissipation reaches 17-19 mW/m2, dominating the dissipation in the water column below the surface layer. In the pycnocline, the integrated dissipation was mostly ˜10-30 % of . A weak dependence of bin-averaged dissipation on the Richardson number was noted, according to , where ɛ 0 + ɛ m is the background value of for weak stratification and Ri cr = 0.25, pointing to the combined effects of shear instability of small-scale motions and the influence of larger-scale low frequency internal waves. The latter broadly agrees with the MacKinnon-Gregg scaling for internal-wave-induced turbulence dissipation.

  17. Past 140-year environmental record in the northern South China Sea: evidence from coral skeletal trace metal variations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yinxian; Yu, Kefu; Zhao, Jianxin; Feng, Yuexing; Shi, Qi; Zhang, Huiling; Ayoko, Godwin A; Frost, Ray L

    2014-02-01

    About 140-year changes in the trace metals in Porites coral samples from two locations in the northern South China Sea were investigated. Results of PCA analyses suggest that near the coast, terrestrial input impacted behavior of trace metals by 28.4%, impact of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) was 19.0%, contribution of war and infrastructure were 14.4% and 15.6% respectively. But for a location in the open sea, contribution of War and SST reached 33.2% and 16.5%, while activities of infrastructure and guano exploration reached 13.2% and 14.7%. While the spatiotemporal change model of Cu, Cd and Pb in seawater of the north area of South China Sea during 1986-1997 were reconstructed. It was found that in the sea area Cu and Cd contaminations were distributed near the coast while areas around Sanya, Hainan had high Pb levels because of the well-developed tourism related activities. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Biological risk, source and pollution history of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the sediment in Nansha mangrove, South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Qihang; Leung, Jonathan Y S; Yuan, Xin; Huang, Xuexia; Li, Haiyan; Huang, Zhuying; Li, Yang

    2015-07-15

    In the last century, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have been extensively used, especially in South China, to promote crop yield. In view of their toxicity, persistence and bioavailability, however, the Chinese government has attempted to regulate their production and use. We aimed to examine the biological risk, source and pollution history of OCPs in the sediment in Nansha mangrove which is located in the industrial region in South China. Results showed that HCHs and DDTs, mainly originating from lindane and technical DDT respectively, were the dominant OCPs, but their concentrations were too low to cause adverse effects on biota. In the last decade, the total concentration of HCHs showed a decreasing trend, whereas DDTs remained stable, despite their limited input. This suggests that management of HCHs was effective, while more management efforts should be put on DDTs, especially the use of dicofol and technical DDT, in future. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Analysis on the Changing Spatial Patterns of China's Migration in 1985-2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zan, Q.; Bian, Y.

    2014-11-01

    Based on the data of China's fourth, fifth and sixth population census, taking the seven geographical zone as research units, the Changing Spatial Patterns of China's Migration in 1985-2010 is studied by the means of spatial analysis and mathematical statistics. The empirical results show that: (1) The migration population in China was increasing a lot in 1985-2010, and the main part of it is Provincial migration. (2) The total number of migration, immigration and emigration, the relative proportion of inter provincial and provincial migration have been positively correlated to the regional economic development level. (3) The emigrations from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas mainly moved to East and North China. (4) Central and west of China are the main area where people outflowed from, and most migration population moved to south-eastern coastal areas. The migration in Northeast and northwest of China is still relatively small. The main direction of population migration and flowing is from west to east and from north to south.

  20. Tides and their dynamics over the Sunda Shelf of the southern South China Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daryabor, Farshid; Ooi, See Hai Ooi; Samah, Azizan Abu

    2016-01-01

    A three-dimensional Regional Ocean Modelling System is used to study the tidal characteristics and their dynamics in the Sunda Shelf of the southern South China Sea. In this model, the outer domain is set with a 25 km resolution and the inner one, with a 9 km resolution. Calculations are performe...... on these model analyses, the significant tidal mixing frontal areas are located primarily off Sarawak coast as indicated by high chlorophyll-a concentrations in the area....

  1. Long-term changes of South China Sea surface temperatures in winter and summer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Young-Gyu; Choi, Ara

    2017-07-01

    Utilizing available atmospheric and oceanographic reanalysis data sets, the long-term trend in South China Sea (SCS) sea surface temperature (SST) between 1950 and 2008 and the governing processes are investigated. Both winter and summer SST increased by comparable amounts, but the warming patterns and the governing processes were different. Strong warming in winter occurred in a deep central area, and during summer in the southern region. In winter the net heat flux into the sea increased, contributing to the warming. The spatial pattern of the heat flux, however, was different from that of the warming. Heat flux increased over the coastal area where warming was weaker, but decreased over the deeper area where warming was stronger. The northeasterly monsoon wind weakened lowering the shoreward Ekman transport and the sea surface height gradient. The cyclonic gyre which transports cold northern water to the south weakened, thereby warming the ocean. The effect was manifested more strongly along the southward western boundary current inducing warming in the deep central part. In summer however, the net surface heat flux decreased and could not contribute to the warming. Over the southern part of the SCS, the weakening of the southwesterly summer monsoon reduced southeastward Ekman transport, which is parallel to the mean SST gradient. Southeastward cold advection due to Ekman transport was reduced, thereby warming the surface near the southeastern boundary of the SCS. Upwelling southeast of Vietnam was also weakened, raising the SST east of Vietnam contributing to the southern summer warming secondarily. The weakening of the winds in each season was the ultimate cause of the warming, but the responses of the ocean that lead to the warming were different in winter and summer.

  2. An assessment of progress towards universal health coverage in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marten, Robert; McIntyre, Diane; Travassos, Claudia; Shishkin, Sergey; Longde, Wang; Reddy, Srinath; Vega, Jeanette

    2014-12-13

    Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) represent almost half the world's population, and all five national governments recently committed to work nationally, regionally, and globally to ensure that universal health coverage (UHC) is achieved. This analysis reviews national efforts to achieve UHC. With a broad range of health indicators, life expectancy (ranging from 53 years to 73 years), and mortality rate in children younger than 5 years (ranging from 10·3 to 44·6 deaths per 1000 livebirths), a review of progress in each of the BRICS countries shows that each has some way to go before achieving UHC. The BRICS countries show substantial, and often similar, challenges in moving towards UHC. On the basis of a review of each country, the most pressing problems are: raising insufficient public spending; stewarding mixed private and public health systems; ensuring equity; meeting the demands for more human resources; managing changing demographics and disease burdens; and addressing the social determinants of health. Increases in public funding can be used to show how BRICS health ministries could accelerate progress to achieve UHC. Although all the BRICS countries have devoted increased resources to health, the biggest increase has been in China, which was probably facilitated by China's rapid economic growth. However, the BRICS country with the second highest economic growth, India, has had the least improvement in public funding for health. Future research to understand such different levels of prioritisation of the health sector in these countries could be useful. Similarly, the role of strategic purchasing in working with powerful private sectors, the effect of federal structures, and the implications of investment in primary health care as a foundation for UHC could be explored. These issues could serve as the basis on which BRICS countries focus their efforts to share ideas and strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. The wicked problem of China's disappearing coral reefs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Terry P; Huang, Hui; Young, Matthew A L

    2013-04-01

    We examined the development of coral reef science and the policies, institutions, and governance frameworks for management of coral reefs in China in order to highlight the wicked problem of preserving reefs while simultaneously promoting human development and nation building. China and other sovereign states in the region are experiencing unprecedented economic expansion, rapid population growth, mass migration, widespread coastal development, and loss of habitat. We analyzed a large, fragmented literature on the condition of coral reefs in China and the disputed territories of the South China Sea. We found that coral abundance has declined by at least 80% over the past 30 years on coastal fringing reefs along the Chinese mainland and adjoining Hainan Island. On offshore atolls and archipelagos claimed by 6 countries in the South China Sea, coral cover has declined from an average of >60% to around 20% within the past 10-15 years. Climate change has affected these reefs far less than coastal development, pollution, overfishing, and destructive fishing practices. Ironically, these widespread declines in the condition of reefs are unfolding as China's research and reef-management capacity are rapidly expanding. Before the loss of corals becomes irreversible, governance of China's coastal reefs could be improved by increasing public awareness of declining ecosystem services, by providing financial support for training of reef scientists and managers, by improving monitoring of coral reef dynamics and condition to better inform policy development, and by enforcing existing regulations that could protect coral reefs. In the South China Sea, changes in policy and legal frameworks, refinement of governance structures, and cooperation among neighboring countries are urgently needed to develop cooperative management of contested offshore reefs. © 2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

  4. Rural-urban differentials of premature mortality burden in south-west China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chongsuvivatwong Virasakdi

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Yunnan province is located in south western China and is one of the poorest provinces of the country. This study examines the premature mortality burden from common causes of deaths among an urban region, suburban region and rural region of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. Methods Years of life lost (YLL rate per 1,000 and mortality rate per 100,000 were calculated from medical death certificates in 2003 and broken down by cause of death, age and gender among urban, suburban and rural regions. YLL was calculated without age-weighting and discounting rate. Rates were age-adjusted to the combined population of three regions. However, 3% discounting rate and a standard age-weighting function were included in the sensitivity analysis. Results Non-communicable diseases contributed the most YLL in all three regions. The rural region had about 50% higher premature mortality burden compared to the other two regions. YLL from infectious diseases and perinatal problems was still a major problem in the rural region. Among non-communicable diseases, YLL from stroke was the highest in the urban/suburban regions; COPD followed as the second and was the highest in the rural region. Mortality burden from injuries was however higher in the rural region than the other two regions, especially for men. Self-inflicted injuries were between 2–8 times more serious among women. The use of either mortality rate or YLL gives a similar conclusion regarding the order of priority. Reanalysis with age-weighting and 3% discounting rate gave similar results. Conclusion Urban south western China has already engaged in epidemiological pattern of developed countries. The rural region is additionally burdened by diseases of poverty and injury on top of the non-communicable diseases.

  5. Rural-urban differentials of premature mortality burden in south-west China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Le; Chongsuvivatwong, Virasakdi

    2006-10-14

    Yunnan province is located in south western China and is one of the poorest provinces of the country. This study examines the premature mortality burden from common causes of deaths among an urban region, suburban region and rural region of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. Years of life lost (YLL) rate per 1,000 and mortality rate per 100,000 were calculated from medical death certificates in 2003 and broken down by cause of death, age and gender among urban, suburban and rural regions. YLL was calculated without age-weighting and discounting rate. Rates were age-adjusted to the combined population of three regions. However, 3% discounting rate and a standard age-weighting function were included in the sensitivity analysis. Non-communicable diseases contributed the most YLL in all three regions. The rural region had about 50% higher premature mortality burden compared to the other two regions. YLL from infectious diseases and perinatal problems was still a major problem in the rural region. Among non-communicable diseases, YLL from stroke was the highest in the urban/suburban regions; COPD followed as the second and was the highest in the rural region. Mortality burden from injuries was however higher in the rural region than the other two regions, especially for men. Self-inflicted injuries were between 2-8 times more serious among women. The use of either mortality rate or YLL gives a similar conclusion regarding the order of priority. Reanalysis with age-weighting and 3% discounting rate gave similar results. Urban south western China has already engaged in epidemiological pattern of developed countries. The rural region is additionally burdened by diseases of poverty and injury on top of the non-communicable diseases.

  6. Evaluation of residents in professionalism and communication skills in south China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bo Qu; Yuhong Zhao; Baozhi Sun

    2010-01-01

    To evaluate the resident doctors' competency in professionalism and communication skills in south China.We conducted this cross-sectional study in 8 hospitals, in 4 provinces of southern China from October to December 2007. The evaluation included 148 resident doctors. A 360-degree instrument from Education Outcomes Service Group (EOS group) of the Arizona Medical Education Consortium was developed and used by the attending physicians, residents, and their peers, nurses, patients, and office staff in this study. All data were entered into a computerized database and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 13.0( SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for Windows. Our results indicated that the instruments are internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha >0.90). The principal components analysis with varimax rotation for the attending-, resident self-evaluation, nurse-, patient-, office staff- and resident peer-rated questionnaires explained 70.68%, 76.13%, 77.02%, 76.37%, 75.51%, and 72.05% of the total variance. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found among different evaluators. The 360-degree instrument appears to be reliable in evaluating a residents' competency in professionalism and communication skills. Information from the assessment may provide feedback to residents (Author).

  7. Changes of evapotranspiration and water yield in China's terrestrial ecosystems during the period from 2000 to 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Y.; Zhou, Y.; Ju, W.; Chen, J.; Wang, S.; He, H.; Wang, H.; Guan, D.; Zhao, F.; Li, Y.; Hao, Y.

    2013-04-01

    Terrestrial carbon and water cycles are interactively linked at various spatial and temporal scales. Evapotranspiration (ET) plays a key role in the terrestrial water cycle and altering carbon sequestration of terrestrial ecosystems. The study of ET and its response to climate and vegetation changes is critical in China since water availability is a limiting factor for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in vast arid and semiarid regions. In this study, the process-based Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) model was employed in conjunction with a newly developed leaf area index (LAI) dataset and other spatial data to simulate daily ET and water yield at a spatial resolution of 500 m over China for the period from 2000 to 2010. The spatial and temporal variations of ET and water yield and influences of temperature, precipitation, land cover types, and LAI on ET were analyzed. The validations with ET measured at 5 typical ChinaFLUX sites and inferred using statistical hydrological data in 10 basins showed that the BEPS model was able to simulate daily and annual ET well at site and basin scales. Simulated annual ET exhibited a distinguishable southeast to northwest decreasing gradient, corresponding to climate conditions and vegetation types. It increased with the increase of LAI in 74% of China's landmass and was positively correlated with temperature in most areas of southwest, south, east, and central China and with precipitation in the arid and semiarid areas of northwest and north China. In the Tibet Plateau and humid southeast China, the increase in precipitation might cause ET to decrease. The national mean annual ET varied from 345.5 mm yr-1 in 2001 to 387.8 mm yr-1 in 2005, with an average of 369.8 mm yr-1 during the study period. The overall increase rate of 1.7 mm yr-2 (r = 0.43 p = 0.19) was mainly driven by the increase of total ET in forests. During the period from 2006 to 2009, precipitation and LAI decreased widely and consequently

  8. A new species of Eunice (Polychaeta: Eunicidae) from Hainan Island, South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xuwen; Sun, Ruiping; Liu, Ruiyu

    2013-01-01

    A taxonomic survey of benthic marine animals from coastal regions of Hainan Island, South China Sea, revealed specimens of a new species of Eunice (Polychaeta: Eunicida: Eunicidae), Eunice uschakovi n. sp., collected from the intertidal zone. The species belongs to the group of Eunice that has yellow tridentate subacicular hooks and branchiae scattered over an extensive region of the body. It resembles E. miurai and E. havaica in having both bidentate and tridentate falcigers, but can be readily distinguished by branchial features. Comparisons between E. uschakovi and the two related species are presented.

  9. Response of internal solitary waves to tropical storm Washi in the northwestern South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. H. Xu

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Based on in-situ time series data from an array of temperature sensors and an acoustic Doppler current profiler on the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea, a sequence of internal solitary waves (ISWs were observed during the passage of tropical storm Washi in the summer of 2005, which provided a unique opportunity to investigate the ISW response to the tropical cyclone. The passing tropical storm is found to play an important role in affecting the stratification structure of the water column, and consequently leading to significant variability in the propagating features of the ISWs, such as the polarity reversal and amplitude variations of the waves. The response of the ISWs to Washi can be divided into two stages, direct forcing by the strong wind (during the arrival of Washi and remote forcing via the near-inertial internal waves induced by the tropical storm (after the passage of Washi. The field observations as well as a theoretical analysis suggest that the variations of the ISWs closely coincide with the changing stratification structure and shear currents in accompanied by the typhoon wind and near-inertial waves. This study presents the first observations and analysis of the ISW response to the tropical cyclone in the South China Sea.

  10. Environmental changes during Frasnian-Famennian transition in south China: A multiproxy approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Bing; Gu, Zhaoyan; Han, Jingtai; Wang, Chengyuan

    2008-12-01

    This study presents high-resolution multiproxy analyses on two Late Devonian sequences for characterizing the environmental changes during the Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) transition in south China. Carbon isotope signatures of the carbonate and organic matter consistently show two positive excursions in the late rhenana zone and around the F-F boundary, implying two increased organic carbon burial events. These observations are consistent with the records from other continents, providing further support for the documented perturbations of the global carbon cycle. Redox indices, mainly of the Cu/Al and U/Al ratios, and hydrothermal-volcanic proxies, Al/(Al + Fe) and Zr/Al, indicate reducing conditions and increased hydrothermal-volcanic activities during these carbon isotope excursions. High-resolution investigations revealed that the reducing conditions predate the onset of the carbon isotope excursions, suggesting that the two positive carbon isotope shifts are likely caused by the expansion of anoxic conditions. The low Al/(Al + Fe) ratio around the F-F boundary leads the U/Al and Cu/Al anomalies in timing, implying that this anoxic event might have resulted from a long-term cumulative effect of intense hydrothermal-volcanic activities. In the late rhenana zone, enhanced hydrothermal activity also seems responsible for the reducing conditions.

  11. Initiation of extension in South China continental margin during the active-passive margin transition: kinematic and thermochronological constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    ZUO, Xuran; CHAN, Lung

    2015-04-01

    The southern South China Block is characterized by a widespread magmatic belt, prominent NE-striking fault zones and numerous rifted basins filled by Cretaceous-Eocene sediments. The geology denotes a transition from an active to a passive margin, which led to rapid modifications of crustal stress configuration and reactivation of older faults in this area. In this study, we used zircon fission-track dating (ZFT) and numerical modeling to examine the timing and kinematics of the active-passive margin transition. Our ZFT results on granitic plutons in the SW Cathaysia Block show two episodes of exhumation of the granitic plutons. The first episode, occurring during 170 Ma - 120 Ma, affected local parts of the Nanling Range. The second episode, a more regional exhumation event, occurred during 115 Ma - 70 Ma. Numerical geodynamic modeling was conducted to simulate the subduction between the paleo-Pacific plate and the South China Block. The modeling results could explain the observation based on ZFT data that exhumation of the granite-dominant Nanling Range occurred at an earlier time than the gneiss-dominant Yunkai Terrane. In addition to the difference in geology between Yunkai and Nanling, the heating from Jurassic-Early Cretaceous magmatism in the Nanling Range may have softened the upper crust, causing the area to exhume more readily. Numerical modeling results also indicate that (1) high slab dip angle, high geothermal gradient of lithosphere and low convergence velocity favor the subduction process and the reversal of crustal stress state from compression to extension in the upper plate; (2) the late Mesozoic magmatism in South China was probably caused by a slab roll-back; and (3) crustal extension could have occurred prior to the cessation of plate subduction. The inversion of stress regime in the continental crust from compression to crustal extension has shed light on the geological condition producing the red bed basins during Late Cretaceous

  12. Cyclostratigraphic constraints on the duration of the Datangpo Formation and the onset age of the Nantuo (Marinoan) glaciation in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Xiujuan; Zhang, Shihong; Jiang, Ganqing; Wu, Huaichun; Li, Haiyan; Wang, Xinqiang; An, Zhengze; Yang, Tianshui

    2018-02-01

    Constructing an accurate timeline is critical for reconstructing the Earth systems through critical transitions in climate, geochemistry, and life. Existing dates constrain synchronous initiation (ca. 717 Ma) and termination (ca. 660 Ma) of the Sturtian glaciation from multiple continents. The termination of the younger Marinoan glaciation is also well dated at ca. 635 Ma, but the onset of this glaciation is only roughly constrained as ≤ ca. 654 Ma (South China) and ≥ ca. 639 Ma (Namibia). To test if the Marinoan glaciation started close to ca. 654 Ma or ca. 639 Ma, we have conducted a cyclostratigraphic study on the Cryogenian non-glacial Datangpo Formation that conformably overlies and underlies Sturtian and Marinoan glacial diamictites, respectively, in a deep-water basin section in South China. A total of 28,765 magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements from a drillcore of the 292-m-thick, muddy siltstone- and shale-dominated Datangpo Formation are used for cyclostratigraphic analysis. The results reveal significant decameter- to meter-scale sedimentary cycles of 16-12 m, 3.6-3.0 m, 1.0-0.8 m, and 0.6-0.4 m. The ratios of these cycle wavelengths match well with those of the Milankovitch cycles calibrated for the Cryogenian Period. The established astrochronologic time scale suggests that the duration of the Datangpo Formation is about 9.8 million years. Together with the radiometric age of ca. 660 Ma for the termination of the Sturtian glaciation, the cyclostratigraphic data suggest that the Nantuo (Marinoan) glaciation in South China initiated at ca. 650 Ma, which is slightly younger than but consistent with the ca. 654 Ma U-Pb age from the top of the Datangpo Formation in shelf sections. This age, however, is significantly older than the ages obtained from Marinoan-age glacial diamictites in South China (ca. 636 Ma) and Namibia (ca. 639 Ma). Given that most of the shelf sections may have suffered from glacial erosion, obtaining the onset age of the

  13. Increase of Elderly Population in the Rainstorm Hazard Areas of China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Pujun; Xu, Wei; Ma, Yunjia; Zhao, Xiujuan; Qin, Lianjie

    2017-08-26

    In light of global warming, increased extreme precipitation events have enlarged the population exposed to floods to some extent. Extreme precipitation risk assessments are of great significance in China and allow for the response to climate change and mitigation of risks to the population. China is one of the countries most influenced by climate change and has unique national population conditions. The influence of extreme precipitation depends on the degree of exposure and vulnerability of the population. Accurate assessments of the population exposed to rising rainstorm trends are crucial to mapping extreme precipitation risks. Studying the population exposed to rainstorm hazard areas (RSHA) at the microscale is extremely urgent, due to the local characteristics of extreme precipitation events and regional diversity of the population. The spatial distribution of population density was mapped based on the national population census data from China in 1990, 2000 and 2010. RSHA were also identified using precipitation data from 1975-2015 in China, and the rainstorm tendency values were mapped using GIS in this paper. The spatial characteristics of the rainstorm tendencies were then analyzed. Finally, changes in the population in the RSHA are discussed. The results show that the extreme precipitation trends are increasing in southeastern China. From 1990 to 2010, the population in RSHA increased by 110 million, at a rate of 14.6%. The elderly in the region increased by 38 million at a rate of 86.4%. Studying the size of the population exposed to rainstorm hazards at the county scale can provide scientific evidence for developing disaster prevention and mitigation strategies from the bottom up.

  14. Formation of mantle "lone plumes" in the global downwelling zone - A multiscale modelling of subduction-controlled plume generation beneath the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Nan; Li, Zheng-Xiang

    2018-01-01

    It has been established that almost all known mantle plumes since the Mesozoic formed above the two lower mantle large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs). The Hainan plume is one of the rare exceptions in that instead of rising above the LLSVPs, it is located within the broad global mantle downwelling zone, therefore classified as a "lone plume". Here, we use the Hainan plume example to investigate the feasibility of such lone plumes being generated by subducting slabs in the mantle downwelling zone using 3D geodynamic modelling. Our geodynamic model has a high-resolution regional domain embedded in a relatively low resolution global domain, which is set up in an adaptive-mesh-refined, 3D mantle convection code ASPECT (Advanced Solver for Problems in Earth's ConvecTion). We use a recently published plate motion model to define the top mechanical boundary condition. Our modelling results suggest that cold slabs under the present-day Eurasia, formed from the Mesozoic subduction and closure of the Tethys oceans, have prevented deep mantle hot materials from moving to the South China Sea from regions north or west of the South China Sea. From the east side, the Western Pacific subduction systems started to promote the formation of a lower-mantle thermal-chemical pile in the vicinity of the future South China Sea region since 70 Ma ago. As the top of this lower-mantle thermal-chemical pile rises, it first moved to the west, and finally rested beneath the South China Sea. The presence of a thermochemical layer (possible the D″ layer) in the model helps stabilizing the plume root. Our modelling is the first implementation of multi-scale mesh in the regional model. It has been proved to be an effective way of modelling regional dynamics within a global plate motion and mantle dynamics background.

  15. Hierarchical biodiversity and environment impact assessment of South-to-North Water Diversion Project of China

    OpenAIRE

    Youhua Chen

    2013-01-01

    In this brief review, the potential environmental and biodiversity impact of South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project in China on regional environments was assessed. I used the hierarchical environmental impact assessment to classify the possible impacts into three orders caused by the construction of SNWD and then presented the current research advances on each order of the impacts. Further impact assessments should be reinforced during the construction period of SNDW project for the su...

  16. Prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in South-East China, 1993-2005.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Lei; Yeung, Lorraine F; Cogswell, Mary E; Ye, Rongwei; Berry, Robert J; Liu, Jianmeng; Hu, Dale J; Zhu, Li

    2010-10-01

    To report the prevalence of anaemia by demographic characteristics and its secular trend over 13 years for south-east Chinese pregnant women, and to determine the focus of anaemia prevention in Chinese pregnant women. Prospective study of the data on Hb concentration and other demographic information from a large-scale population-based perinatal health surveillance system in south-east China. Fourteen cities or counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. A total of 467 057 prenatal women who had participated in the perinatal health-care surveillance system and delivered babies from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 2005 and had a record of Hb in all three pregnancy trimesters. The overall prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women was 39.6 % from 1993 to 2005. Anaemia prevalence increased from the first (29.6 %) to the second (33.0 %) and third (56.2 %) trimesters. The prevalence of anaemia was higher in villagers, in women with less education and in women with higher gravidity or parity. The prevalence of anaemia in all of the trimesters was higher in the spring, summer and autumn and lower in the winter. The prevalence decreased from 1993 to 2005, from 53.3 % to 11.4 % for the first trimester, 45.6 % to 22.8 % for the second trimester and 64.6 % to 44.6 % for the third trimester. The prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces decreased substantially from 1993 to 2005. However, anaemia in the third trimester is still a severe public health problem among pregnant women in these areas.

  17. Variation of Vegetation Ecological Water Consumption and Its Response to Vegetation Coverage Changes in the Rocky Desertification Areas in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Long; Tong, Jing; Zhou, Jinxing; Guo, Hongyan; Cui, Ming; Liu, Yuguo; Ning, Like; Tang, Fukai

    2016-01-01

    Over the past several decades, rocky desertification has led to severe ecological problems in karst areas in South China. After a rocky desertification treatment project was completed, the vegetation coverage changed greatly and, consequently, increased the ecology water consumption (approximately equal to the actual evapotranspiration) of the regional vegetation. Thus, it intensified the regional water stresses. This study explored the changes in the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) response to the vegetation coverage changes in the rocky desertification areas in South China based on the precipitation (P), potential evapotranspiration (ETp) and NDVI (the normalized difference vegetation index) datasets. The revised Bagrov model was used to simulate the actual evapotranspiration changes with the supposed increasing NDVI. The results indicated that the average NDVI value was lower when the rocky desertification was more severe. The ETa, evapotranspiration efficiency (ETa/ETp) and potential humidity (P/ETp) generally increased with the increasing NDVI. The sensitivity of the ETa response to vegetation coverage changes varied due to different precipitation conditions and different rocky desertification severities. The ETa was more sensitive under drought conditions. When a drought occurred, the ETa exhibited an average increase of 40~60 mm with the NDVI increasing of 0.1 in the rocky desertification areas. Among the 5 different severity categories of rocky desertification, the ETa values' responses to NDVI changes were less sensitive in the severe rocky desertification areas but more sensitive in the extremely and potential rocky desertification areas. For example, with the NDVI increasing of 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1, the corresponding ETa changes increased by an average of 2.64 mm, 10.62 mm, 19.19 mm, and 27.58 mm, respectively, in severe rocky desertification areas but by 4.94 mm, 14.99 mm, 26.80, and 37.13 mm, respectively, in extremely severe rocky

  18. Slow Warming of the Northern South China Sea during the Last Deglaciation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomoya Shintani

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available We have generated a record of alkenone sea surface temperatures (SSTs during the last 28000 years from Core MD97-2146 for the northern South China Sea (SCS. The SST record showed a typical pattern for change in the northern SCS SST. The SST during the LGM was ~25 C, this decreased to ~24 C to 17 ka, increased to ~25.5 C to 14.5 ka, decreased again to ~24.5 C to 11.8 ka, increased gradually to ~27 C to 6 ka, and then increased more gradually to reach ~27.5 C at present. The SST difference ( SSTNSCS = SSTMD97-2146 - SSTMD97-2141 between Cores MD97-2146 (the northern SCS; this study and MD97-2141 (the Sulu Sea; Rosenthal et al. 2003 was used to characterize the SST changes in the northern SCS relative to changes in the adjacent WTPregion. The SSTNSCS decreased from 21 to 11.8 ka and increased after 11.8 ka, indicating slower warming of the northern SCS during the last deglaciation than that of the adjacent western tropical Pacific region.We infer that the slow warming of the northern SCS was principally a result of stronger winter monsoon during the last deglaciation and early Holocene. In addition, the cool water inflow through the Taiwan Strait after 13 ka and the warm water inflow through the Sunda Shelf after 11 ka could influence the SST in the northern SCS.

  19. Empirical prediction of the onset dates of South China Sea summer monsoon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Zhiwei; Li, Tim

    2017-03-01

    The onset of South China Sea summer monsoon (SCSSM) signifies the commencement of the wet season over East Asia. Predicting the SCSSM onset date is of significant importance. In this study, we establish two different statistical models, namely the physical-empirical model (PEM) and the spatial-temporal projection model (STPM) to predict the SCSSM onset. The PEM is constructed from the seasonal prediction perspective. Observational diagnoses reveal that the early onset of the SCSSM is preceded by (a) a warming tendency in middle and lower troposphere (850-500 hPa) over central Siberia from January to March, (b) a La Niña-like zonal dipole sea surface temperature pattern over the tropical Pacific in March, and (c) a dipole sea level pressure pattern with negative center in subtropics and positive center over high latitude of Southern Hemisphere in January. The PEM built on these predictors achieves a cross-validated reforecast temporal correlation coefficient (TCC) skill of 0.84 for the period of 1979-2004, and an independent forecast TCC skill of 0.72 for the period 2005-2014. The STPM is built on the extended-range forecast perspective. Pentad data are used to predict a zonal wind index over the South China Sea region. Similar to PEM, the STPM is constructed using 1979-2004 data. Based on the forecasted zonal wind index, the independent forecast of the SCSSM onset dates achieves a TCC skill of 0.90 for 2005-2014. The STPM provides more detailed information for the intraseasonal evolution during the period of the SCSSM onset (pentad 25-35). The two models proposed herein are expected to facilitate the real-time prediction of the SCSSM onset.

  20. Distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments of the Pearl River Delta and adjacent South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mai, Bixian; Chen, Shejun; Luo, Xiaojun; Chen, Laiguo; Yang, Qingshu; Sheng, Guoying; Peng, Pingan; Fu, Jiamo; Zeng, Eddy Y

    2005-05-15

    Spatial and temporal distributions of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediments of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and adjacent South China Sea (SCS) of southern China were examined. A total of 66 surface sediment samples were collected and analyzed to determine the concentrations of 10 PBDE congeners (BDE-28, -47, -66, -100, -99, -154, -153, -138, -183, and -209). The concentrations of BDE-209 and SigmaPBDEs (defined as the sum of all targeted PBDE congeners except for BDE-209) ranged from 0.4 to 7340 and from 0.04 to 94.7 ng/g, respectively. The SigmaPBDEs concentrations were mostly transportation. The PBDE patterns in the SCS and Pearl River Estuary sediments were similar to those in sediments of the Zhujiang and Dongjiang Rivers, reflecting the widespread influence from local inputs. Analyses of two short sediment cores collected from the Pearl River Estuary showed that concentrations of BDE-209 rapidly increased in the upper layers of both cores, coincident with the growth of the electronics manufacturing capacities in the PRD region. The major sources of PBDEs were probably waste discharges from the cities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen, the three fastest growing urban centers in the PRD.

  1. Prevalence and correlates of successful ageing: a comparative study between China and South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Qiush; Son, Joonmo; Zeng, Yi

    2015-06-01

    Successful ageing is often defined as a later life with less disease and disease-related disability, high level of cognitive and physical functions, and an active life style. Few studies have compared successful ageing across different societies in a non-Western social context. This study aims to compare prevalence and correlates of successful ageing between China and South Korea. The data come from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). A total of 19,346 community-dwelling elders over 65 years were included, 15,191 from China and 4,155 from Korea. A multidimensional construct of successful ageing was used, with the criteria of no major comorbidity, being free of disability, good mental health, engaging in social or productive activity, and satisfaction on life. Correlates of successful ageing included demographics (gender, age, and rural/urban residence), socioeconomic features (financial status, education, and spouse accompany), and health behaviours (smoking, alcohol-drinking, and exercising). The results showed that 18.6 % of the older adults in China was successful agers, which was less than 25.2 % in Korea. When gender and age were adjusted, older adults were 51 % less likely to be successful agers in China than Korea ( p  Korea. However, before the socioeconomic variables are under control, rural residence was negatively related to successful ageing in China, whereas this is not the case in Korea. And the gender gap of successful ageing was mostly explained by socioeconomic features and health behaviours in Korea, but not in China. In both countries, good financial condition was highly associated with successful ageing. The study suggests that advancement of public health system could better control progression of non-communicable diseases among old people and thus promote successful ageing.

  2. The Tectonic Boundary Between Eastern Subbaisin and South-West Subbasin of the South China Sea Revealed from the Normalized Magnetic Source Strength

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, L.; Meng, X.

    2014-12-01

    The South China Sea (SCS), surrounded by the Eurasia, Pacific and India-Australia plates, is one of the largest marginal seas in the Western Pacific. It was formed by the interaction of the three plates and the seafloor spreading during Late Oligocene time to Early Miocene time. The boundary between Eastern Subbaisin and South-west Subbasin of the SCS has long been debated in the literature. Refining the boundary is one of the crucial tasks for correctly understanding the seafloor spreading model of the SCS. Due to few drills on the deep ocean basin of the SCS, magnetic data become important information for refining the boundary. However, the interpretation of magnetic data in the SCS suffers from the remanent magnetization of ocean crust as well as igneous rock and seamounts. The conventional reduction-to-pole anomalies at low latitudes usually neglect the remanent magnetization, making the interpretation incorrect. Here, we assembled high-resolution total magnetic intensity (TMI) data around the ocean basin of the SCS, and then did a special transformation of the TMI anomalies with a varying magnetic inclinations algorithm to obtain the normalized source strength (NSS). The NSS has advantage of insensitivity to remanent magnetization, benefitting correct interpretation. The NSS presents discriminative features from east to west in the ocean basin. The boundary of the discriminative features is clear and just ranges from the northeastern edge of the Zhongsha Islands running in the southeast direction to the northeastern edge of the Reed Bank. These imply that magnetic structure and tectonic features in the crust are discriminative between both sides of this boundary. It can be deduced that this boundary is the tectonic boundary between Eastern Subbaisin and South-west Subbasin. We acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41374093) and the SinoProbe-01-05 project.

  3. Evaluation of quantitative precipitation forecasts by TIGGE ensembles for south China during the presummer rainy season

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Ling; Luo, Yali

    2017-08-01

    Based on The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment Interactive Grand Global Ensemble (TIGGE) data set, this study evaluates the ability of global ensemble prediction systems (EPSs) from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Korean Meteorological Administration, and China Meteorological Administration (CMA) to predict presummer rainy season (April-June) precipitation in south China. Evaluation of 5 day forecasts in three seasons (2013-2015) demonstrates the higher skill of probability matching forecasts compared to simple ensemble mean forecasts and shows that the deterministic forecast is a close second. The EPSs overestimate light-to-heavy rainfall (0.1 to 30 mm/12 h) and underestimate heavier rainfall (>30 mm/12 h), with JMA being the worst. By analyzing the synoptic situations predicted by the identified more skillful (ECMWF) and less skillful (JMA and CMA) EPSs and the ensemble sensitivity for four representative cases of torrential rainfall, the transport of warm-moist air into south China by the low-level southwesterly flow, upstream of the torrential rainfall regions, is found to be a key synoptic factor that controls the quantitative precipitation forecast. The results also suggest that prediction of locally produced torrential rainfall is more challenging than prediction of more extensively distributed torrential rainfall. A slight improvement in the performance is obtained by shortening the forecast lead time from 30-36 h to 18-24 h to 6-12 h for the cases with large-scale forcing, but not for the locally produced cases.

  4. Why Gas Hydrate Occurrenced Over Topographic Highs in Shenhu Area Northern South China Sea?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, J.

    2015-12-01

    Methane gas hydrate has been drilled by China Geological Survey in shenhu area northern south china sea in 2007 .Shenhu area is located in the middle-lower continental slope and 17 submarine canyons are incised into the shelf,gas hydrtae was observed in boreholes over topographic highs,but origin of the hydrate is controversial.Accumulation of gas hydrate is depending on temperature-pressure field and supply quantities of methane and some other factors,in the same depth of the shallow sediments there is the same press,so temperature field and supply quantities of methane become the most important factors.Lachenbruch(1968) calculated the topographic disturbance to geothermal gradients,in shenhu area consistent local variations were observed, notably low heat flow values over prominent topographic highs and high heat flow values over the flanks of the topographic highs. At some localities over a horizontal distance of 2.5 km, heat flow increased by as much as 50%, from typical values of 65 to 100 mW/m2 .Some vertical fractures were observed beneath topographic highs in previous studies.Based on the profile across borehole SH7,we designed four experiments:A,uniform distribution of heat flux with no vertical fractures;B,Uniform distribution of heat flux with vertical fractures beneath geographic highs;C,uneven distribution of heat flux with no vertical fractures;D,uneven distribution of heat flux with vertical fractures beneath geographic highs.According to previous studies,we restored Palaeobathymetry,abundance of organic matters, sandstone-madstone ratio ,porosity and permeability of each,and parameters of vertical fractures.The result of experiment D shows the similar distribution characteristic with the drilling result,so We believe that low heat flux and Vertical fractures are the most important factors . This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China(grant no. 41406080).

  5. Body mass index and self-rated health in East Asian countries : Comparison among South Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noh, Jin-Won; Kim, Jinseok; Yang, Youngmi; Park, Jumin; Cheon, Jooyoung; Kwon, Young Dae

    2017-01-01

    There have been conflicting findings regarding the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and self-rated health (SRH) worldwide. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between BMI and SRH by comparing its relationship in four East Asian countries: South Korea, China, Japan, and

  6. Molecular diversity and population structure of the forage grass Hemarthria compressa (Poaceae) in south China based on SRAP markers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, L-K; Zhang, X-Q; Xie, W-G; Zhang, J; Cheng, L; Yan, H D

    2012-08-16

    Hemarthria compressa is one of the most important and widely utilized forage crops in south China, owing to its high forage yield and capability of adaptation to hot and humid conditions. We examined the population structure and genetic variation within and among 12 populations of H. compressa in south China using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers. High genetic diversity was found in these samples [percentage polymorphic bands (PPB) = 82.21%, Shannon's diversity index (I) = 0.352]. However, there was relatively low level of genetic diversity at the population level (PPB = 29.17%, I = 0.155). A high degree of genetic differentiation among populations was detected based on other measures and molecular markers (Nei's genetic diversity analysis: G(ST) = 54.19%; AMOVA analysis: F(ST) = 53.35%). The SRAP markers were found to be more efficient than ISSR markers for evaluating population diversity. Based on these findings, we propose changes in sampling strategies for appraising and utilizing the genetic resources of this species.

  7. Distribution of axial length, anterior chamber depth, and corneal curvature in an aged population in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hui; Lin, Haotian; Lin, Zhuoling; Chen, Jingjing; Chen, Weirong

    2016-05-01

    Ocular biometry is important for preoperative assessment in cataract and anterior segment surgery. The purpose of this study was to investigate normative ocular biometric parameters and their associations in an older Chinese population. This was a cross-sectional observational study. From 2013 to 2014, we recruited inhabitants aged 50 years or older in Guangzhou, China. Among 1,117 participants in the study, data from 1,015 phakic right eyes were used for analyses. Ocular parameters including axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and corneal curvature (K) were measured using an IOL Master. The mean AL, ACD, and K were 23.48 mm [95 % confidence interval (CI), 23.40-23.55], 3.03 mm (CI, 3.01-3.05), and 44.20 mm (CI, 44.11-44.29), respectively. A mean reduction in ACD with age was observed (P = 0.002) in male subjects but not in female subjects (P = 0.558). Male subjects had significantly longer ALs (23.68 mm versus 23.23 mm, P population in South China. The AL in this Chinese cohort was greater than that observed in the Singaporean Chinese but smaller than that observed in Malaysia and for Caucasians. The Chinese have a shallower ACD than some other racial groups. Age and sex were the most consistent predictors of ocular biometry in the older population from South China.

  8. A reanalysis dataset of the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Xuezhi; Peng, Shiqiu; Li, Zhijin; Qi, Yiquan; Chen, Rongyu

    2014-01-01

    Ocean reanalysis provides a temporally continuous and spatially gridded four-dimensional estimate of the ocean state for a better understanding of the ocean dynamics and its spatial/temporal variability. Here we present a 19-year (1992–2010) high-resolution ocean reanalysis dataset of the upper ocean in the South China Sea (SCS) produced from an ocean data assimilation system. A wide variety of observations, including in-situ temperature/salinity profiles, ship-measured and satellite-derived sea surface temperatures, and sea surface height anomalies from satellite altimetry, are assimilated into the outputs of an ocean general circulation model using a multi-scale incremental three-dimensional variational data assimilation scheme, yielding a daily high-resolution reanalysis dataset of the SCS. Comparisons between the reanalysis and independent observations support the reliability of the dataset. The presented dataset provides the research community of the SCS an important data source for studying the thermodynamic processes of the ocean circulation and meso-scale features in the SCS, including their spatial and temporal variability. PMID:25977803

  9. Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen at five subtropical forested sites in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Xi Yun; Mulder, Jan

    2007-01-01

    Elevated concentrations of reactive nitrogen (N) in precipitation have been reported for many cities in China. Due to increased use of fossil fuels and expansion in agriculture, further increases in deposition of ammonia (NH x ) and reactive N oxides (NO y ) are predicted. Increased deposition of reactive N is likely to affect N dynamics and N runoff in forest ecosystems. Yet, in China little work has been done to quantify the levels of atmospheric N deposition in such systems. Here, we assess the deposition of inorganic N (ammonium, NH 4 + and nitrate, NO 3 - ) for five subtropical forest ecosystems in remote and urban areas of South China. Annual volume-weighted concentrations in bulk precipitation range from 0.18 to 1.55 mg NH 4 + -N L - 1 and from 0.12 to 0.74 mg NO 3 - -N L - 1 . These values are large and several times greater than those reported for remote sites of the world. The fluxes of total inorganic N (TIN) in wet-only deposition range from 0.8 to 2.3 g N m - 2 yr - 1 , with NH 4 + -N contributing 54% to 77%. Both the tree canopy and the ground vegetation layer are important in determining the net N flux reaching the forest floor, but the net effect varies from site to site. At TieShanPing (TSP), close to Chongqing city, and at CaiJiaTang (CJT), near Shaoshan (Hunan province), the canopy represents a net source of N, probably due to dry deposition. At the other three sites (LiuChongGuan (LCG), LeiGongShan (LGS), both in Guizhou province, and LiuXiHe (LXH) in Guangdong), a net loss of reactive N from precipitation water occurs in the canopy, probably due to uptake processes. The total annual atmospheric TIN load is estimated to range from at least 0.8 g N m - 2 yr - 1 to 4.0 g N m - 2 yr - 1 , with a considerable contribution from dry deposition. Concentrations and fluxes of inorganic N in tree canopy throughfall are greater than those in North America. Also the contribution of NH 4 + -N to TIN fluxes in throughfall (40% to 70%) is greater than in North

  10. Physical Forcing-Driven Productivity and Sediment Flux to the Deep Basin of Northern South China Sea: A Decadal Time Series Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hon-Kit Lui

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the driving forces of absorption of anthropogenic CO2 by the oceans is critical for a sustainable ocean carbon cycle. Decadal sinking particle flux data collected at 1000 m, 2000 m, and 3500 m at the South East Asia Time Series Study (SEATS Station (18° N, 116° E, which was located in the northern South China Sea (nSCS, show that the fluxes undergo strong seasonal and interannual variability. Changes in the flux data are correlated with the satellite-derived chlorophyll-a concentration, indicating that the mass fluxes of the sinking particles are largely controlled by the export production at or near the SEATS station. The cooling of seawater and the strengthening of wind in winter increase the nutrient inventories in the euphotic zone, thus also increasing export production in the nSCS. This study reveals that the intrusion of low-nutrient seawater from the West Philippine Sea into the nSCS significantly reduces the productivity, and hence the flux, of sinking particles.

  11. Geochronology, petrogenesis and metallogeny of Piaotang granitoids in the tungsten deposit region of South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Zhenyu; Xu Xisheng; Wang Xudong; Yu Yao; Zou Haibo

    2010-01-01

    The tungsten deposit region of South China is well known as the world's leading tungsten (W) producer. The Piaotang tungsten deposit in the region is such a representative large-scale quartz vein type tungsten polymetallic deposit that is closely associated with granitoids. In the present study we present precise LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating and LA-MC-ICPMS zircon Hf isotopic data for the samples from exposed quartz diorite body and buried granite stock in the Piaotang tungsten deposit area. Zircon U-Pb dating results indicate that the quartz diorite body was formed in Early Paleozoic time at 439±2 Ma, whereas the granite body was emplaced in EarlyYanshanian time at 158±3 Ma. Both the quartz diorite and granite have negative ε Hf (t) values, with similar two-stage zircon Hf model ages ranging from 1.8 to 2.1 Ga. Through integration of our new data with the isotope data of Precambrian basement rocks in western Cathaysia, we suggest that the Paleoproterozoic Hf model ages (1.8-2.1 Ga) might be an average age which resulted from mixing of continental materials of different ages. Both the Piaotang Early Paleozoic quartz diorite and Early Yanshanian granite are produced by reworking of the heterogeneous Neoproterozoic crust. Our zircon ages, together with the geochemical data and geological features and ore-forming ages of this tungsten deposit, indicate that the buried Early Yanshanian granite, rather than the exposed quartz diorite, is genetically associated with tungsten mineralization. The distinct metallogeny difference between the Piaotang Early Paleozoic quartz diorite and Early Yanshanian granite can be ascribed to the different degrees of magma differentiation. The Early Yanshanian granite is highly differentiated rock and similar to the other W-Sn deposits generating granitoids in South China. The extents of magma differentiation depend on the tectonic setting and the mechanism of magma generation. On the basis of the relationship between two different

  12. Long-range atmospheric transport of persistent organochlorinated compounds from south and mainland south-eastern Asia to a remote mountain site in south-western China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yue; Zhang, Gan; Li, Jun; Chakraborty, Paromita; Li, Hua; Liu, Xiang

    2011-11-01

    A range of organochlorinated compounds have been consumed in China, India and the countries of mainland southeast Asia (MSA). Considering their persistence in the environment and ability in long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT), the potential outflow of these compounds from this region is therefore of great concern in the context of the global distribution of toxic chemicals. As part of a monitoring campaign aimed at investigating the LRAT of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from southern China, MSA and northern India, atmospheric levels of OCPs and PCBs were measured once a week from October 2005 through December 2006 at Tengchong Mountain (TM), a remote site located in south-western China. The average concentrations of OCPs were found to be higher than those in other remote stations in the Arctic and the Tibetan plateau, except for α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH). A high level of β-HCH and low α-HCH/β-HCH ratio was attributed to an accidental release of β-HCH from unknown sources, besides obvious evidence of lindane (γ-HCH) and technical HCH usage. Temporal variations of chlordanes and endosulfan were related to the usage pattern of these compounds, as well as LRAT. In contrast, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) exhibited a relatively minor seasonal variation. The OCP levels at the monitoring site were found to be related to the air parcel back trajectories on the basis of four distinct clusters. Elevated levels of HCHs and DDTs were observed when air parcels originated from northern India where considerable OCP usage was reported recently, while high levels of γ-HCH and TC (trans-chlordane) were mainly associated with air masses from southern China and northern MSA. The study highlighted the high background level of OCPs as well as their temporal patterns of trans-boundary LRAT in the MSA region.

  13. SCSPOD14, a South China Sea physical oceanographic dataset derived from in situ measurements during 1919–2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Lili; Wang, Dongxiao; Chen, Ju; Wang, Weiqiang; Chen, Rongyu

    2016-01-01

    In addition to the oceanographic data available for the South China Sea (SCS) from the World Ocean Database (WOD) and Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography (Argo) floats, a suite of observations has been made by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO) starting from the 1970s. Here, we assemble a SCS Physical Oceanographic Dataset (SCSPOD14) based on 51,392 validated temperature and salinity profiles collected from these three datasets for the period 1919–2014. A gridded dataset of climatological monthly mean temperature, salinity, and mixed and isothermal layer depth derived from an objective analysis of profiles is also presented. Comparisons with the World Ocean Atlas (WOA) and IFREMER/LOS Mixed Layer Depth Climatology confirm the reliability of the new dataset. This unique dataset offers an invaluable baseline perspective on the thermodynamic processes, spatial and temporal variability of water masses, and basin-scale and mesoscale oceanic structures in the SCS. We anticipate improvements and regular updates to this product as more observations become available from existing and future in situ networks. PMID:27116565

  14. Recovery and phylogenetic diversity of culturable fungi associated with marine sponges Clathrina luteoculcitella and Holoxea sp. in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Bo; Yin, Ying; Zhang, Fengli; Li, Zhiyong

    2011-08-01

    Sponge-associated fungi represent an important source of marine natural products, but little is known about the fungal diversity and the relationship of sponge-fungal association, especially no research on the fungal diversity in the South China Sea sponge has been reported. In this study, a total of 111 cultivable fungi strains were isolated from two South China Sea sponges Clathrina luteoculcitella and Holoxea sp. using eight different media. Thirty-two independent representatives were selected for analysis of phylogenetic diversity according to ARDRA and morphological characteristics. The culturable fungal communities consisted of at least 17 genera within ten taxonomic orders of two phyla (nine orders of the phylum Ascomycota and one order of the phylum Basidiomycota) including some potential novel marine fungi. Particularly, eight genera of Apiospora, Botryosphaeria, Davidiella, Didymocrea, Lentomitella, Marasmius, Pestalotiopsis, and Rhizomucor were isolated from sponge for the first time. Sponge C. luteoculcitella has greater culturable fungal diversity than sponge Holoxea sp. Five genera of Aspergillus, Davidiella, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, and Penicillium were isolated from both sponges, while 12 genera of Apiospora, Botryosphaeria, Candida, Marasmius, Cladosporium, Didymocrea, Hypocrea, Lentomitella, Nigrospora, Pestalotiopsis, Rhizomucor, and Scopulariopsis were isolated from sponge C. luteoculcitella only. Order Eurotiales especially genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, and order Hypocreales represented the dominant culturable fungi in these two South China Sea sponges. Nigrospora oryzae strain PF18 isolated from sponge C. luteoculcitella showed a strong and broad spectrum antimicrobial activities suggesting the potential for antimicrobial compounds production.

  15. [Research on ginseng trade competitiveness between China and Korea].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, Min-Tong; Yang, Guang; Tang, Xiao-Jing

    2017-05-01

    Ginseng is one of China's valuable Chinese herbal medicines, with a long using history. Ginseng has worldwide reputation, and widely used in food, medicine, health products, cosmetics and other production. China and South Korea have a big ginseng industrial, and sharing half of the export market. The ginseng export competitiveness analysis seems important and necessary between China and South Korea. In this paper, the data of customs and trade of ginseng in COMTRADE database were studied, and ginseng export competitiveness was analyzed between China and Korea. The results showed that the ginseng export competitiveness of Korean more competitive than China. Contrast with China, South Korea using only 15% total amount of ginseng exports and produced the same total export amount. This article has the reference value to the traditional Chinese medicine resources management and the economics research. On this basis, this paper further discusses the problems that should be paid attention to in the development of ginseng industry in China. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  16. Antifouling briarane type diterpenoids from South China Sea gorgonians Dichotella gemmacea

    KAUST Repository

    Sun, Jian Fan; Han, Zhuang; Zhou, Xue Feng; Yang, Bin; Lin, Xiuping; Liu, Juan; Peng, Yan; Yang, Xian Wen; Liu, Yonghong

    2013-01-01

    Our continued investigation on the South China Sea gorgonian Dichotella gemmacea led to the isolation of 16 new briarane-type diterpenoids, dichotellides F-U (1-16), along with 18 known analogues (17-34). Their structures were determined by MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectra analyses and by comparison with those reported in literature. The absolute configuration of 15 was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The antifouling test showed that compounds 3, 4, 6-11, 16, and 23 had potent antifouling activities at nontoxic concentrations with EC50 values of 4.1, 1.82, 6.3, 7.6, 4.6, 1.2, 5.6, 0.79, 2.0, and 0.2 μg/mL, respectively. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Levels of endocrine disrupting compounds in South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Li-Peng; Wang, Xin-Hong; Ya, Miao-Lei; Wu, Yu-Ling; Li, Yong-Yu; Zhang, Zu-lin

    2014-08-30

    The occurrence of estrogens in the aquatic environment has become a major concern worldwide because of their strong endocrine disrupting potency. In this study, concentrations of four estrogenic compounds, estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), estriol (E3) were determined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analyses in surface water from South China Sea, and distributions and potential risks of their estrogenic activity were assessed. The estrogenic compounds E1, E2 and E3 were detected in most of the samples, with their concentrations up to 11.16, 3.71 and 21.63 ng L(-1). However, EE2 was only detected in 3 samples. Causality analysis, EEQ values from chemical analysis identified E2 as the main responsible compounds. Based on the EEQ values in the surface water, high estrogenic risks were in the coastal water, and low estrogenic risks in the open sea. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Geochemical nature of sub-ridge mantle and opening dynamics of the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Guo-Liang; Luo, Qing; Zhao, Jian; Jackson, Matthew G.; Guo, Li-Shuang; Zhong, Li-Feng

    2018-05-01

    The Indian-type mantle (i.e., above the north hemisphere reference line on the plot of 208Pb/204Pb vs. 206Pb/204Pb) has been considered as a "Southern Hemisphere" geochemical signature, whose origin remains enigmatic. The South China Sea is an extensional basin formed after rifting of the Euro-Asia continent in the Northern Hemisphere, however, the geochemical nature of the igneous crust remains unexplored. For the first time, IODP Expedition 349 has recovered seafloor basalts covered by the thick sediments in the Southwest sub-basin (Sites U1433 and U1434) and the East sub-basin (Site U1431). The Southwest sub-basin consists of enriched (E)-MORB type basalts, and the East sub-basin consists of both normal (N)-MORB-type and E-MORB-type basalts based on trace element compositions. The basalts of the two sub-basins are Indian-type MORBs based on Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotope compositions, and the Southwest sub-basin basalts show isotopic compositions (i.e., 206Pb/204Pb of 17.59-17.89) distinctly different from the East sub-basin (i.e., 206Pb/204Pb of 18.38-18.57), suggesting a sub-basin scale mantle compositional heterogeneity and different histories of mantle compositional evolution. Two different enriched mantle end-members (EM1 and EM2) are responsible for the genesis of the Indian-type mantle in the South China Sea. We have modeled the influences of Hainan mantle plume and lower continental crust based on Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotope compositions. The results indicate that the influence of Hainan plume can explain the elevated 206Pb/204Pb of the East sub-basin basalts, and the recycling of lower continental crust can explain the low 206Pb/204Pb of the Southwest sub-basin basalts. Based on the strong geochemical imprints of Hainan plume in the ridge magmatism, we propose that the Hainan plume might have promoted the opening of the South China Sea, during which the Hainan plume contributed enriched component to the sub-ridge mantle and caused thermal erosion and return of lower

  19. Increasing Coverage of Hepatitis B Vaccination in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shengnan; Smith, Helen; Peng, Zhuoxin; Xu, Biao; Wang, Weibing

    2016-01-01

    Abstract This study used a system evaluation method to summarize China's experience on improving the coverage of hepatitis B vaccine, especially the strategies employed to improve the uptake of timely birth dosage. Identifying successful methods and strategies will provide strong evidence for policy makers and health workers in other countries with high hepatitis B prevalence. We conducted a literature review included English or Chinese literature carried out in mainland China, using PubMed, the Cochrane databases, Web of Knowledge, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang data, and other relevant databases. Nineteen articles about the effectiveness and impact of interventions on improving the coverage of hepatitis B vaccine were included. Strong or moderate evidence showed that reinforcing health education, training and supervision, providing subsidies for facility birth, strengthening the coordination among health care providers, and using out-of-cold-chain storage for vaccines were all important to improving vaccination coverage. We found evidence that community education was the most commonly used intervention, and out-reach programs such as out-of-cold chain strategy were more effective in increasing the coverage of vaccination in remote areas where the facility birth rate was respectively low. The essential impact factors were found to be strong government commitment and the cooperation of the different government departments. Public interventions relying on basic health care systems combined with outreach care services were critical elements in improving the hepatitis B vaccination rate in China. This success could not have occurred without exceptional national commitment. PMID:27175710

  20. Nuclear development status in the world (4). Four new emerging countries (China, Russia, India, and South Korea) leading global nuclear development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Masaharu

    2017-01-01

    From the temporary stagnation immediately after the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident, many countries are restarting nuclear development. The emerging 4 countries of China, Russia, India, and South Korea account for the majority number of the world's nuclear power plants under construction. The common feature is that the project promoter is a state-owned enterprise, and these countries are promoting nuclear development under the state's solid nuclear policies. The policies of the completion of nuclear fuel cycle and development fast reactors are also common. China is committed to major nuclear power route, domestically targeting 58 million kW in 2020, also focusing on the export of nuclear energy to Pakistan, Romania, Argentina, and the UK as already scheduled. China also actively develops fast reactors, high-temperature gas reactors, and small reactors. Based on the nuclear export from Russia, plants are operating or under construction in Iran, China, India, Vietnam, Turkey, Belarus, etc. Furthermore, Russia is actively pursuing fast reactors and nuclear fuel cycle policy from the beginning. In India, in addition to imported nuclear reactors, it also develops domestic reactors to solve power shortage, targeting 63 million kW in 2032. South Korea is concentrating on nuclear development in order to depart from energy imports. In 2035, it plans 38.3 million kW of nuclear power generation. (A.O.)

  1. New record of Japanese snake blenny Xiphasia matsubarai (Perciformes: Blenniidae) from South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yi, Murong; Zhao, Chunxu; Su, Xin; Tao, Yajin; Yan, Yunrong

    2017-11-01

    Specimens belonging to the family Blenniidae were collected in a fishery resource investigation from the coastal waters of Xisha Islands and Hainan Island, South China Sea in 2016. Combining morphological results with sequence analysis, we identified one specimen as Xiphasia matsubarai Okada & Suzuki, 1952. This represents a new record in the South China Sea. In morphology, the specimen has the following traits: body elongated, eel-like or ribbon-like in shape; flanks medium flat; the head small bluntly rounded anteriorly and without a moustache; eyes is slightly smaller, on upper lateral position of head, which is about equal to 1/5 of the length of the head; body without scales, lateral line has been degraded; both sides of the upper and lower jaws with a canine; gill is opening at the top of the pectoral fin base, approximately equal to the length of eye diameter. Dorsal fin XI, 96; pectoral fin 10; anal fin II, 95. Head and body grey-brown, including 26 dark grey-brown bands; abdomen and lower operculum yellowish grey and colour lighter; and dorsal base long with dark grey. Origin of dorsal is located over the anterior margin of pupil; black blotch on dorsal fin between 8th and 10th dorsal spine; anal and caudal fins dark grey, pectoral and ventral fins pale yellow. Sequence analysis of cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI) strongly supports the identity of the specimen as X. matsubarai.

  2. New U-Pb age constraints on the upper Banxi Group and synchrony of the Sturtian glaciation in South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaoyuan Song

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The Nanhua basin in South China hosts well-preserved middle–late Neoproterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks that are critical for studying the basin evolution, the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, the nature and dynamics of the “snowball” Earth and diversification of metazoans. Establishing a stratigraphic framework is crucial for better understanding the interactions between tectonic, paleoclimatic and biotic events recorded in the Nanhua basin, but existing stratigraphic correlations remain debated, particularly for pre-Ediacaran strata. Here we report new Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS U-Pb zircon ages from the middle and topmost Wuqiangxi Formation (the upper stratigraphic unit of the Banxi Group in Siduping, Hunan Province, South China. Two samples show similar age distribution, with two major peaks at ca. 820 Ma and 780 Ma and one minor peak at ca. 910 Ma, suggesting that the Wuqiangxi sandstone was mainly sourced from Neoproterozoic rocks. Two major age peaks correspond to two phases of magmatic events associated with the rifting of the Nanhua basin, and the minor peak at ca. 910 Ma may correspond to the Shuangxiwu volcanic arc magmatism, which represents pre-collision/amalgamation subduction on the southeastern margin of the Yangtze Block. The youngest zircon group from the topmost Wuqiangxi Formation has a weighted mean age of 714.6 ± 5.2 Ma, which is likely close to the depositional age of the uppermost Banxi Group. This age, along with the ages reported from other sections, constrains that the Banxi Group was deposited between ca. 820 Ma and ca. 715 Ma. The age of 714.6 ± 5.2 Ma from the top of the Wuqiangxi Formation is indistinguishable with the SIMS U-Pb age of 715.9 ± 2.8 Ma from the upper Gongdong Formation in the Sibao village section of northern Guangxi, South China. It is also, within uncertainties, overlapped with two TIMS U-Pb ages from pre

  3. Can Asian Dust Trigger Phytoplankton Blooms in the Oligotrophic Northern South China Sea?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Sheng Hsiang; Hsu, Nai-Yung Christina; Tsay, Si-Chee; Lin, Neng-Huei; Sayer, Andrew M.; Huang, Shih-Jen; Lau, William K. M.

    2012-01-01

    Satellite data estimate a high dust deposition flux (approximately 18 g m(exp-2 a(exp-1) into the northern South China Sea (SCS). However, observational evidence concerning any biological response to dust fertilization is sparse. In this study, we combined long-term aerosol and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) measurements from satellite sensors (MODIS and SeaWiFS) with a 16-year record of dust events from surface PM10 observations to investigate dust transport, flux, and the changes in Chl-a concentration over the northern SCS. Our result revealed that readily identifiable strong dust events over this region, although relatively rare (6 cases since 1994) and accounting for only a small proportion of the total dust deposition (approximately 0.28 g m(exp-2 a(exp-1), do occur and could significantly enhance phytoplankton blooms. Following such events, the Chl-a concentration increased up to 4-fold, and generally doubled the springtime background value (0.15 mg m(exp-3). We suggest these heavy dust events contain readily bioavailable iron and enhance the phytoplankton growth in the oligotrophic northern SCS.

  4. Ingestion of microplastics by natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiaoxia; Li, Qingjie; Zhu, Mingliang; Liang, Junhua; Zheng, Shan; Zhao, Yongfang

    2017-02-15

    The ingestion of microplastics by five natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea was studied for the first time and two types of sampling nets (505μm and 160μm in mesh size) were compared. The microplastics were detected in zooplankton sampled from 16 stations, with the fibrous microplastics accounting for the largest proportion (70%). The main component of the found microplastics was polyester. The average length of the microplastics was 125μm and 167μm for Nets I and II, respectively. The encounter rates of microplastics/zooplankton increased with trophic levels. The average encounter rate of microplastics/zooplankton was 5%, 15%, 34%, 49%, and 120% for Net I, and 8%, 21%, 47%, 60%, and 143% for Net II for copepods, chaetognaths, jellyfish, shrimp, and fish larvae, respectively. The average abundance of microplastics that were ingested by zooplankton was 4.1pieces/m 3 for Net I and 131.5pieces/m 3 for Net II. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Phytoplankton responses to aluminum enrichment in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Linbin; Liu, Jiaxing; Xing, Shuai; Tan, Yehui; Huang, Liangmin

    2018-04-01

    Compared to extensive studies reporting the aluminum (Al) toxicity to terrestrial plants and freshwater organisms, very little is known about how marine phytoplankton responds to Al in the field. Here we report the marine phytoplankton responses to Al enrichment in the South China Sea (SCS) using on-deck bottle incubation experiments during eight cruises from May 2010 to November 2013. Generally, Al addition alone enhanced the growth of diatom and Trichodesmium, and nitrogen fixation, but it inhibited the growth of dinoflagellates and Synechococcus. Nevertheless, Al addition alone did not influence the chlorophyll a concentration of the entire phytoplankton assemblages. By adding nitrate and phosphate simultaneously, Al enrichment led to substantial increases in chlorophyll a concentration (especially that of the picophytoplanktonenrichment. Further, by simultaneously adding different macronutrients and/or sufficient trace metals including iron, we found that the phytoplankton responses to Al enrichment were relevant to nutrients coexisting in the environment. Al enrichment may give some phytoplankton a competitive edge over using nutrients, especially the limited ones. The possible influences of Al on the competitors and grazers (predators) of some phytoplankton might indirectly contribute to the positive responses of the phytoplankton to Al enrichment. Our results indicate that Al may influence marine carbon cycle by impacting phytoplankton growth and structure in natural seawater. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Geography of Food Consumption Patterns between South and North China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Fangfang; Cho, Mi Sook

    2017-05-05

    The geographical environment, food culture, and dietary habits are substantially different between the southern and northern regions in China. We investigated the associations with dietary patterns and metabolic syndrome between Chinese adult from the southern and northern regions (North: 1249; South: 1849) using data from the Chinese Health and Nutrition 2009 survey. Respectively, four dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis in each of the two regions. Using factor analysis, each dietary pattern of factor score was calculated for three groups by tertile (T1 fasting blood glucose (OR: 1.37; 95%: 1.05, 1.80), and hypertension (OR: 1.55; 95%: 1.45, 1.99) was increased compared T1 to T3. In the southern region, the Convenience Food pattern was positively associated with hypertriglyceridemia (OR: 1.53; 95%: 1.03, 2.26), low high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (OR: 1.96; 95%: 1.12, 3.43), and metabolic syndrome (OR: 1.79; 95%: 1.03, 3.11). The Alcohol dietary pattern was positively associated with high fasting blood glucose (OR: 1.83, 95%: 1.13, 2.97). There are some dietary pattern differences in the two regions. It is necessary to consider the factors of food culture and food intake habits in order to provide nutrition education to Chinese individuals from different regions in the future.

  7. Seasonal and interannual variability of the Mid-Holocene East Asian monsoon in coral δ18O records from the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Donghuai; Gagan, Michael K.; Cheng, Hai; Scott-Gagan, Heather; Dykoski, Carolyn A.; Edwards, R. Lawrence; Su, Ruixia

    2005-08-01

    Understanding the full range of past monsoon variability, with reference to specific monsoon seasons, is essential to test coupled climate models and improve their predictive capabilities. We present a 54-year long, high-resolution skeletal oxygen isotope (δ18O) record extracted from a well-preserved, massive Porites sp. coral at Hainan Island, South China Sea, to investigate East Asian monsoon variability during summer and winter ∼4400 calendar yr ago. Analysis of modern coral δ18O confirms that Porites from Hainan Island are well positioned to record winter monsoon forcing of sea surface temperature (SST), as well as the influence of summer monsoon rainfall on sea surface salinity (SSS). The coral record for ∼4400 yr ago shows ∼9% amplification of the annual cycle of δ18O, in good agreement with coupled ocean-atmosphere models showing higher summer rainfall (lower coral δ18O) and cooler winter SSTs (higher coral δ18O) in response to greater Northern Hemisphere insolation seasonality during the Middle Holocene. Mean SSTs in the South China Sea during the Mid-Holocene were within 0.5 °C of modern values, yet the mean δ18O for the fossil coral is ∼0.6‰ higher than that for the modern coral, suggesting that the δ18O of surface seawater was higher by at least ∼0.5‰, relative to modern values. The 18O-enrichment is likely to be driven by greater advection of moisture towards the Asian landmass, enhanced monsoon wind-induced evaporation and vertical mixing, and/or invigorated advection of saltier 18O-enriched Pacific water into the relatively fresh South China Sea. The 18O-enrichment of the northern South China Sea ∼4400 yr ago contributes to mounting evidence for recent freshening of the tropical Western Pacific. Today, winter SST and summer SSS variability in the South China Sea reflect the interannual influence of ENSO and the biennial variability inherent to monsoon precipitation. Spectral analysis of winter SSTs ∼4400 yr ago reveals a

  8. An Andean-type retro-arc foreland system beneath northwest South China revealed by SINOPROBE profiling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jianhua; Dong, Shuwen; Cawood, Peter A.; Zhao, Guochun; Johnston, Stephen T.; Zhang, Yueqiao; Xin, Yujia

    2018-05-01

    In the Mesozoic, South China was situated along the convergent margin between the Asian and Pacific plates, providing an excellent laboratory to understand the interactions between deformation, sedimentation and magmatism in a retroarc environment. The crustal architecture of northwest South China is displayed along the ∼600-km-long SINOPROBE deep seismic reflection profiles and reveals from east to west: (1) highly folded and truncated reflectors in the upper crust of the Yangtze Fold Zone, which correspond to thin- and thick-skinned thrust systems, and document large-scale intraplate structural imbrication and shortening; (2) a crustal-scale flat-ramp-flat structure, termed the Main Yangtze decollement, which forms a weak, viscous layer to accommodate strain decoupling and material transport in the thin- and thick-skinned systems; and (3) nearly flat-lying reflectors in the Sichuan Basin, which support interpretation of the basin as a weakly deformed depocentre. The Yangtze Fold Zone and the Sichuan Basin represent a retro-arc foreland basin system that is >800 km away from the continental-margin magmatic arc. We suggest that tectonic processes across the arc and retro-arc systems, including arc magma flare-up, basin sedimentation, retroarc thrust propagation, lithosphere underthrusting, root foundering, and extension-related magmatism were interrelated and governed mass transfer. Age data and geological relations link the tectonic processes to evolving geodynamics of the subducting Paleo-Pacific plate.

  9. SOUTH AMERICA: INDUSTRIAL ROUNDWOOD SUPPLY POTENTIAL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronalds W. Gonzalez

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available South America has substantial potential to expand its forest plantations and raw material supply. From 1997 to 2005, South America had a high annual growth rate in the production of industrial roundwood, with Brazil and Chile being the most important countries. In the same period, Asia had the only negative regional production growth rate in the world, and China became the largest round wood importer in the world. This paper summarizes the status of production, consumption, imports, and exports of industrial roundwood and forest products in South America. Produc-tion and exports from South America have continually increased at annual growth rates exceeding the forestry sector in general and the U.S. in particular. Based on timber growing investments to date, a strong timber production and forest products manufacturing sector has developed in the Southern Cone countries of Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, and is increasing in other countries in Latin America. There will be continued opportunities for forest plantations and new manufacturing facilities throughout South America, tempered somewhat by perceived country financial and political risks. These opportunities will allow South America to increase its share of world production and increase imports to North America and to Asia.

  10. Livestock-biogas-fruit systems in South China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Rongjun [Institute of Ecology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou (China)

    1997-03-01

    Fruit farming and animal husbandry have existed for a long time in Meixian, Guangdong, South China. However, Meixian suffers from shortages of rural energy and organic fertilizer and from environmental pollution. A new eco-agricultural system, the livestock-biogas-fruit system, has been designed successfully in this region by adding biogas production to fight these problems. A study which was conducted in seven households (family farms) in this region in 1994 showed that the three major components of this system functioned in harmony for the mutual benefit of these farmers and their environment. Pomelo (Citrus grandis) farming was the most profitable component of the system. Pomelo litterfall and pig dung were fed into the biogas digester underneath the pigsty. The digester supplied biogas as domestic fuel and sludge as fertilizer. Chickens were raised in the orchard where they fed on weeds and pests, and deposited excreta as fertilizer. Recycling of wastes improved soil texture, and thereby decreased input of chemical fertilizers. This system helped natural enemies function well in these case studies, and therefore decreased the application of pesticides. Serving as a key link between fruit farming and animal husbandry, biogas production alleviated the scarcity of rural energy in Meixian

  11. Seasonal variability of thermal fronts in the northern South China Sea from satellite data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dongxiao; Liu, Yun; Qi, Yiquan; Shi, Ping

    The 8-year (1991-1998) Pathfinder sea surface temperature data have been applied here to produce the objectively derived seasonality of the oceanic thermal fronts in the northern South China Sea from 17°N to 25°N. Several fronts have been clearly distinguished, namely, Fujian and Guangdong Coastal Water, Pear River Estuary Coastal, Taiwan Bank, Kuroshio Intrusion, Hainan Island East Coast and Tonkin Gulf Coastal fronts. The frontal patterns in winter, spring and summer are quite similar, whereas individual fronts display different modes of seasonal variability due to different mechanisms favoring those fronts.

  12. Recent Multidisciplinary Research Initiatives and IODP Drilling in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, J.; Li, C. F.; Wang, P.; Kulhanek, D. K.

    2016-12-01

    The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest low-latitude marginal sea in the world. Its formation and evolution are linked to the complex continental-oceanic tectonic interaction of the Eurasian, Pacific, and Indo-Australian plates. Despite its relatively small size and short history, the SCS has undergone nearly a complete Wilson cycle from continental break-up to seafloor spreading to subduction, serving as a natural laboratory for studying the linkages between tectonic, volcanic, and oceanic processes. The last several years have witnessed significant progress in investigation of the SCS through comprehensive research programs using multidisciplinary approaches and enhanced international collaboration. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 349 drilled and cored five sites in the SCS in 2014. The expedition successfully obtained the first basaltic rock samples of the SCS relict spreading center, discovered large and frequent deep-sea turbidity events, and sampled multiple seamount volcaniclastic layers. In addition, high-resolution near-seafloor magnetic surveys were conducted in the SCS with survey lines passing near some of the IODP drilling sites. Together the IODP drilling and deep-tow magnetic survey results confirmed, for the first time, that the entire SCS basin might have stopped seafloor spreading at similar ages in early Miocene, providing important constraints on marginal sea geodynamic models. In 2007, IODP Expeditions 367 and 368 will drill the northern margin of the SCS to investigate the mechanisms of rifting to spreading processes. Meanwhile, major progress in studying the SCS processes has also been made through comprehensive multidisciplinary programs, for example, the eight-year-long "South China Sea Deep" initiative, which also supports and encourages strong international collaboration. This presentation will highlight the recent multidisciplinary research initiatives in investigation of the SCS and the important role of

  13. A source-depleted Early Jurassic granitic pluton from South China: Implication to the Mesozoic juvenile accretion of the South China crust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zuo-Min; Ma, Chang-Qian; Wang, Lian-Xun; Chen, Shu-Guang; Xie, Cai-Fu; Li, Yong; Liu, Wei

    2018-02-01

    Source-depleted granites were rarely reported in South China. Hereby we identified such a granitic pluton, the Tiandong pluton, at Northeastern Guangdong province in Southeastern (SE) China. Whole-rock Sr-Nd and zircon Hf isotopes of the Tiandong granites both revealed obviously depleted source signatures, with initial isotopic values of initial 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7032-0.7040, εNd(t) = 1.1-1.5, and εHf(t) = 6-13, respectively. Zircon U-Pb dating implied the granite was intruded in Early Jurassic (188 Ma). The dominant minerals of the Tiandong granite consist of K-feldspar, plagioclase, quartz and biotite, with accessory mineral assemblage of apatite + zircon + magnetite. Based on the mineralogy and the depleted isotopic signature, the granites chemically show I-type affinity such as low Zr + Nb + Ce + Y (131.6 to 212.2), 104 × Ga/Al (2.12-2.27), A/CNK values ages (TDM = 0.89 to 0.84 Ga, T2DM = 0.88 to 0.85 Ga) are consistent. TDM(Hf) values of 0.31-0.63 Ga are also indistinguishable from T2DM(Hf) values of 0.35-0.75 Ga. The Nd and Hf isotopic compositions confirm that the Tiandong granites are juvenile crustal accretion but decoupled Nd-Hf isotopic systems. The juvenile crust is likely to originate from a mixed source of the primary asthenospheric mantle and the subordinate EMII. Combined with early studies of adjacent rocks, we propose that the early Jurassic ( 200-175 Ma) magmatism as evidenced by the Tiandong granites might be driven by upwelling of asthenosphere and subsequent underplating of mafic melts in an intra-plate extensional setting as a response to far-field stress during early stage subduction of the paleo-pacific plate.

  14. Wind data collected by a fixed-wing aircraft in the vicinity of a tropical cyclone over the south China coastal waters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chan, P.W.; Hon, K.K. [Hong Kong Observatory, Kowloon, HK (China); Foster, S. [Aventech Research Inc., Ontario (Canada)

    2011-06-15

    The fixed-wing aircraft of Government Flying Service of the Hong Kong Government has recently equipped with an upgraded meteorological measuring system. This system provides horizontal wind velocity components up to 90 m/s at an accuracy of 0.5 m/s for straight and level flight. Besides search and rescue (SAR) missions, this aircraft is also used for windshear and turbulence investigation flights at the Hong Kong International Airport. In a SAR operation in July 2009, the aircraft flew close to the eye of tropical cyclone Molave, when it was located at about 200 km to the east of Hong Kong over the south China coastal waters. The aircraft provided valuable information about the winds in association with Molave because aircraft reconnaissance for tropical cyclones is not carried out for South China Sea. Based on the aircraft measurements, the 1-second mean wind reached the maximum value of 88 knots at a height of 200 m above mean sea level. Assuming a power law with altitude with an exponent of 0.11 over open waters, the corresponding 1-second mean wind at a height of 10 m would be about 63 knots. The maximum 10-minute mean wind reached 69 knots with an average height of 260 m above mean sea level. The corresponding mean at 10 m would be about 48 knots. As such, based on the aircraft measurements (in which the aircraft might not fly into the areas of maximum winds associated with the tropical cyclone), Molave had at least a strength of tropical storm to severe tropical storm at the times of the measurements. Nowadays, the determination of the intensity of tropical cyclones over the South China Sea is normally based on remote sensing data only (e.g. radar and satellite observations). To the knowledge of the authors, the results presented in the paper are the first time that direct measurements of the winds near the centre of a tropical cyclone over the northern part of the South China Sea are made with an aircraft. Apart from the mean wind and gust, other properties

  15. Spatial distribution of per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds in coastal waters from the East to South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai Minghong; Zhao Zhen; Yang Haizhen; Yin Zhigao; Hong Qingquan; Sturm, Renate; Ebinghaus, Ralf; Ahrens, Lutz; Cai Minggang; He, Jianfeng; Xie Zhiyong

    2012-01-01

    The spatial distribution of per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) were investigated in coastal waters collected onboard research vessel Snow Dragon from the East to South China Sea in 2010. All samples were prepared by solid-phase extraction and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography/negative electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/(−)ESI-MS/MS). Concentrations of 9 PFCs, including C 4 and C 8 (PFBS, PFOS) perfluoroalkyl sulfonate (PFSAs), C 5 –C 9 and C 13 (PFPA, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFOA, PFNA, PFTriDA) perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs), and N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamide (EtFOSA) were quantified. The ΣPFC concentrations ranged from 133 pg/L to 3320 pg/L, with PFOA (37.5–1541 pg/L), PFBS (23.0–941 pg/L) and PFHpA (0–422 pg/L) as dominant compounds. Concentrations of PFCs were greater in coastal waters along Shanghai, Ningbo, Taizhou, Xiamen and along coastal cities of the Guangdong province compared to less populated areas along the east Chinese coast. Additionally, the comparison with other seawater PFC measurements showed lower levels in this study. - Highlights: ► Concentrations of various ionic PFCs were firstly quantified in coastal waters of China Sea for the first time. ► PFOA and PFBS, PFHxA, PFNA, PFOS, PFHpA were positively correlated which indicates that the same sources. ► The result of this study is useful for global transport models of PFCs. - Concentrations of 9 PFCs were quantified in coastal waters from the East to South China Sea for the first time.

  16. ROK-U.S. Security Relations: The China Factor and a Turning Point

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Kim, Sung

    2002-01-01

    ... to maintaining a tight alliance relationship between Seoul and Washington during the Cold War era, the recently increasing importance of China in South Korea's strategic calculations has become a major...

  17. Occurrence and dominance of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and dissolved cylindrospermopsin in urban reservoirs used for drinking water supply, South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Lamei; Peng, Liang; Huang, Xianghui; Han, Bo-Ping

    2014-05-01

    The tropical cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is of particular concern for its invasive characteristics and production of the toxin cylindrospermopsin (CYN). The present study represents the first attempt to determine the distribution of C. raciborskii and CYN in tropical China. The presence of C. raciborskii and CYN, as well as the composition of phytoplankton, was determined from a total of 86 samples from 25 urban reservoirs for drinking water supply in Dongguan City of South China. The presence of C. raciborskii was observed in 21 of the 25 reservoirs and confirmed that this species has been widely distributed in the investigated reservoirs. C. raciborskii accounted for between 0.1 and 90.3 % of the total phytoplankton biomass and contributed to the majority of the phytoplankton in some reservoirs such as Tangkengbian and Xiagongyan. Its biomass was negatively correlated with NO3 (-)-N concentration and Secchi depth. Dissolved CYN was detected in more than one-half of the reservoirs with concentrations up to 8.25 μg L(-1), and it positively correlated with C. raciborskii biomass. Dissolved microcystins (MCs) were detected in 12 of the 25 reservoirs with a maximum concentration 1.99 μg L(-1). Our data strongly suggest that C. raciborskii and CYN could be important health hazards in urban reservoirs of South China and that more data are needed for further assessment.

  18. A 700-year record of mercury in avian eggshells of Guangjin Island, South China Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xu Liqiang [Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); USTC-CityU Joint Advanced Research Center, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123 (China); Liu Xiaodong, E-mail: ycx@ustc.edu.cn [Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Sun Liguang, E-mail: slg@ustc.edu.cn [Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Chen Qianqian; Yan Hong; Liu Yi; Luo Yuhan; Huang Jing [Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

    2011-04-15

    Ancient eggshells over the past 700 years were extracted from an ornithogenic sediment profile on Guangjin Island, South China Sea. Based on SEM and nitrogen isotope analyses, we determined that neither post-depositional processes nor seabirds' dietary changes had a large influence on eggshell Hg levels. The historical change of Hg in these eggshells was reconstructed. Eggshell Hg was a marker for past Hg deposition in marine environment. The eggshell Hg showed three small peaks at around 1300AD, 1600 AD and 1700-1750AD and rapid increase since 1800 AD. Before 1970 AD the Hg deposition in the Xisha area had global distribution characteristics, with increased Hg emissions due to global anthropogenic activities in industrial times. However, after 1970 AD, a further sharp increase up to present day occurred, implying that the Hg production center had gradually shifted from Europe and America to Asia. - Research highlights: > Eggshell Hg is a marker for past mercury deposition in marine environment. > This is a Hg record from ancient sequential eggshell samples. > The 700-year record of eggshell Hg is closely related to human activities. > Eggshell Hg suggests the increase of Hg production in Asia over the past decades. - Our work provides a potential use of ancient sequential eggshells to reconstruct past mercury deposition in marine ecosystems.

  19. Beijing's nuclear strategy makes China a major player

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernstein, J.

    1988-01-01

    This article discusses China's nuclear strategy which is a subject of debate among Asia experts, even as Sino-Soviet relations warm to a point unseen since the 1950s. China lags in the number and sophistication of its weapons. But modernization, national pride and the shrinking U.S. and Soviet arsenals have made Beijing and an increasingly important player. Beijing insists that its arsenal is strictly for defensive purposes; they have signed an agreement to make the South Pacific a nuclear-free zone

  20. Diurnal Variation of Rainfall Associated with Tropical Depression in South China and its Relationship to Land-Sea Contrast and Topography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuchun Zhao

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Convective precipitation associated with tropical depression (TD is one primary type of post-flooding season rainfall in South China (SC. Observations of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM satellite have shown specific diurnal features of convective rainfall in South China, which is somewhat different from that in other seasons or regions of China. Convective precipitation is usually organized into a rainfall band along the southeastern coast of South China in the early morning hours. The rainfall band develops and intensifies quickly in the morning, then moves inland in the afternoon and, finally, diminishes at night. The daily convective rainfall along the coast is much more than that in the inland region, and heavy rainfall is often found along the coast. A long-duration heavy rainfall event associated with tropical depression “Fitow” during the period from 28 August to 6 September 2001, is selected in this study to explore the diurnal feature of convective rainfall and its formation mechanism. Modeling results of the 10-day heavy rainfall event are compared with both rain-gauge observation and satellite-retrieved rainfall. Total precipitation and its spatial distribution, as well as diurnal variations are reasonably simulated and agree well with observations. Further analysis reveals that the development and movement of convective precipitation is mainly related to the land and sea breezes. The anomalous height-latitudinal circulation in the morning-to-noon hours is completely reversed in the afternoon-to-late-evening hours, with the convective rainfall swinging back and forth, following its updraft branch. Sensitivity experiments show that the afternoon convective rainfall in the inland region of SC is caused by the diurnal variation of solar radiation forcing. The mountain range along the coast and the complex topography in the inland region of SC plays a critical role in the enhancement of diurnal convective rainfall

  1. Biomarker Evidence of Relatively Stable Community Structure in the Northern South China Sea during the Last Glacial and Holocene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan He

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available High-resolution molecular abundance records for several marine biomarkers during the last glacial and Holocene have been generated for core MD05-2904 (19 _ 116 _ 2066 mwater depth from the northern South China Sea. The UK' 37 SST record indicates a 4.4 C cooling during the Last Glacial Maximum for this site, consistent with previous reconstructions. The contents of C37 alkenones, dinosterol, brassicasterol, and C30 alkyl diols are used as productivity proxies for haptophytes, dinoflagellates, diatoms, and eustigmatophytes, respectively. These records reveal that both individual phytoplankton group and total productivity increased by several factors during the LGM compared with those for the Holocene, in response to increased nutrient supply. However, the community structure based on biomarker percentages remained relatively stable during the last glacial-Holocene transition, although there were short-term oscillations.

  2. Porphyry copper assessment of East and Southeast Asia: Philippines, Taiwan (Republic of China), Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Japan: Chapter P in Global mineral resource assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Bookstrom, Arthur A.; Demarr, Michael W.; Dicken, Connie L.; Ludington, Stephen; Robinson, Gilpin R.; Zientek, Michael L.

    2014-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey collaborated with member countries of the Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) on an assessment of the porphyry copper resources of East and Southeast Asia as part of a global mineral resource assessment. The assessment covers the Philippines in Southeast Asia, and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Taiwan (Province of China), and Japan in East Asia. The Philippines host world class porphyry copper deposits, such as the Tampakan and Atlas deposits. No porphyry copper deposits have been discovered in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Taiwan (Province of China), or Japan.

  3. Foreign and Domestic Contributions to Springtime Ozone Pollution over China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, R.; Lin, J.; Yan, Y.; Lin, W.; Chen, H.

    2017-12-01

    Ozone is a critical air pollutant that damages human health and vegetation. Previous studies for the United States and Europe have shown large influences of foreign emissions on domestic ozone levels, whereas the relative contributions of foreign versus domestic emissions are much less clear for China. Here, we use a global-regional two-way coupled model system based on GEOS-Chem to quantify the contributions to springtime ozone over China from anthropogenic emissions in major source regions across the globe. Our results indicate considerable influences of foreign anthropogenic pollution on China's ozone pollution. Together, foreign anthropogenic emissions enhance springtime surface ozone over China by 3 12 ppb. Of all ozone over China produced by global anthropogenic emissions, foreign emissions contribute 40% near the surface, and the contribution increases with altitude until a value of 80% in the upper troposphere. Impact from Japan and Korea is 1 2 ppb over east coastal regions, and negligible in inland. Anthropogenic emissions of South and South-East Asia increase ozone over Tibet and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau by up to 5 ppb, and their contribution increases with height due to strong vertical transport. Pollution from North America and Europe mainly accompanies strong westerly winds and frequent cyclonic activities that are favorable to long-range transport. European anthropogenic pollution enhances surface ozone by 1 3 ppb over West and North China. Despite a much longer transport distance, the contribution from North America is greater than European contribution due to the nearly doubled amount of anthropogenic NMVOC emissions. The high percentage contribution of foreign anthropogenic emissions to China's ozone pollution can be partly explained by excessive domestic NOx emissions that suppress ozone production efficiency and even destroy ozone. Our study is relevant to Chinese ozone pollution control and global environmental protection collaboration.

  4. Productivity losses due to premature mortality from cancer in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS): A population-based comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearce, Alison; Sharp, Linda; Hanly, Paul; Barchuk, Anton; Bray, Freddie; de Camargo Cancela, Marianna; Gupta, Prakash; Meheus, Filip; Qiao, You-Lin; Sitas, Freddy; Wang, Shao-Ming; Soerjomataram, Isabelle

    2018-04-01

    Over two-thirds of the world's cancer deaths occur in economically developing countries; however, the societal costs of cancer have rarely been assessed in these settings. Our aim was to estimate the value of productivity lost in 2012 due to cancer-related premature mortality in the major developing economies of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). We applied an incidence-based method using the human capital approach. We used annual adult cancer deaths from GLOBOCAN2012 to estimate the years of productive life lost between cancer death and pensionable age in each country, valued using national and international data for wages, and workforce statistics. Sensitivity analyses examined various methodological assumptions. The total cost of lost productivity due to premature cancer mortality in the BRICS countries in 2012 was $46·3 billion, representing 0·33% of their combined gross domestic product. The largest total productivity loss was in China ($28 billion), while South Africa had the highest cost per cancer death ($101,000). Total productivity losses were greatest for lung cancer in Brazil, the Russian Federation and South Africa; liver cancer in China; and lip and oral cavity cancers in India. Locally-tailored strategies are required to reduce the economic burden of cancer in developing economies. Focussing on tobacco control, vaccination programs and cancer screening, combined with access to adequate treatment, could yield significant gains for both public health and economic performance of the BRICS countries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Seismic investigation on the Littoral Faults Zone in the northern continental margin of South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, J.; Xu, H.; Xia, S.; Cao, J.; Wan, K.

    2017-12-01

    The continental margin of the northern South China Sea (SCS) had experienced continuous evolution from an active continental margin in the late Mesozoic to a passive continental margin in the Cenozoic. The 1200km-long Littoral Faults Zone (LFZ) off the mainland South China was suggested to represent one of the sub-plate boundaries and play a key role during the evolution. Besides, four devastating earthquakes with magnitude over 7 and another 11 destructive events with M>6 were documented to have occurred along the LFZ. However, its approximity to the shoreline, the shallow water depth, and the heavy fishing activities make it hard to conduct a marine seismic investigation. As a result, understandings about the LFZ before 2000 were relatively poor and mostly descriptive. After two experiments of joint onshore-offshore wide-angle seismic surveys in the 1st decade of this century, several cruses aiming to unveil the deep structure of the LFZ were performed in the past few years, with five joint onshore-offshore wide-angle seismic survey profiles completed. Each of these profiles is perpendicular to the shoreline, with four to five seismometers of campaign mode deployed on the landside and over ten Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs) spacing at 20km deployed on the seaside. Meanwhile, multi-channel seismic (MCS) data along these profiles were obtained simultaneously. Based on these data, velocity models from both forward modeling and inversion were obtained. According to these models, the LFZ was imaged to be a low-velocity fractured zone dipping to the SSE-SE at a high-angle and cutting through the thinned continental crust at some locations. Width of the fractured zone varies from 6km to more than 10km from site to site. With these results, it is suggested that the LFZ accommodates the stresses from both the east side, where the Eurasia/Philippine Sea plate converging and mountain building is ongoing, and the west side, where a strike-slip between the Indochina

  6. Diversity and Antibacterial Activities of Fungi Derived from the Gorgonian Echinogorgia rebekka from the South China Sea

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Ya-Nan; Shao, Chang-Lun; Zheng, Cai-Juan; Chen, Yi-Yan; Wang, Chang-Yun

    2011-01-01

    The diversity of symbiotic fungi associated with the gorgonian coral Echinogorgia rebekka from the Weizhou coral reef in the South China Sea was investigated. Combined with morphologic traits, ITS-rDNA sequences revealed 18 fungal strains from this gorgonian. All of the 18 fungi belonged to the phylum Ascomycota and were distributed among seven genera in five orders: Eurotiales (Aspergillus and Penicillium), Pleosporales (Alternaria), Capnodiales (Cladosporium), Trichosphaeriales (Nigrospora)...

  7. Heavy metals in wild marine fish from South China Sea: levels, tissue- and species-specific accumulation and potential risk to humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jin-Ling; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Ding, Zhen-Hua; Peng, Jia-Xi; Jin, Ming-Hua; Wang, You-Shao; Hong, Yi-Guo; Yue, Wei-Zhong

    2015-10-01

    Heavy metal pollution in marine fish has become an important worldwide concern, not only because of the threat to fish in general, but also due to human health risks associated with fish consumption. To investigate the occurrence of heavy metals in marine fish species from the South China Sea, 14 fish species were collected along the coastline of Hainan China during the spring of 2012 and examined for species- and tissue-specific accumulation. The median concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb and As in muscle tissue of the examined fish species were not detectable (ND), 2.02, 0.24, 2.64, 0.025, and 1.13 mg kg(-1) wet weight, respectively. Levels of Cu, Zn, Cd and Cr were found to be higher in the liver and gills than in muscle, while Pb was preferentially accumulated in the gills. Differing from other heavy metals, As did not exhibit tissue-specific accumulation. Inter-species differences of heavy metal accumulation were attributed to the different habitat and diet characteristics of marine fish. Human dietary exposure assessment suggested that the amounts of both Cr and As in marine wild fish collected from the sites around Hainan, China were not compliant with the safety standard of less than 79.2 g d(-1) for wild marine fish set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Further research to identify the explicit sources of Cr and As in marine fish from South China Sea should be established.

  8. CHANGES IN SEX RATIO AT BIRTH IN CHINA: A DECOMPOSITION BY BIRTH ORDER.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Quanbao; Yu, Qun; Yang, Shucai; Sánchez-Barricarte, Jesús J

    2017-11-01

    The long-term high sex ratio at birth (SRB) is a serious issue in China. In this study, changes in SRB were decomposed into variations in SRB by birth order and compositional changes in female births by birth order. With SRB data from China's surveys and censuses, and SRB data from South Korea's vital registration and censuses from 1980-2015, the trend and decomposition results in SRB were compared between China and South Korea, and the decomposition results for urban and rural SRBs, and for provinces, are presented. In both China and South Korea the rise in the SRB was driven by a rise in the SRB at all birth orders, which was only partly counteracted by the change in the distribution of births by order. The overall rise in the SRB ended when there was a decline in the SRB at second birth or above in South Korea. In China the total effect of variations in SRB of all birth orders increased more for the rural population than for the urban population before 2000, resulting in a higher total SRB for rural than urban population. After 2000, the total effect of variations in SRB of all birth orders lowered the total SRB for the rural population, whereas the effect of compositional change increased the total SRB, leading to a very slight rise in the total SRB for the rural population. At the province level, there was no spatial autocorrelation for the changes in total SRB by province, the total effect of variations in SRB of all birth orders or the effect of compositional change. The effect of variations in SRB by birth order accounted for the majority of changes in total SRB in most provinces.

  9. Winged fruits and associated leaves of Shorea (Dipterocarpaceae) from the Late Eocene of South China and their phytogeographic and paleoclimatic implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Xinxin; Tang, Biao; Kodrul, Tatiana M; Jin, Jianhua

    2013-03-01

    Dipterocarps are the representative component of tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia and hold important economic and ecological significance, but their origin and migration are controversial. Information on dipterocarpaceous fossils, particularly the more convincing reproductive structures, not only can improve the phylogenetic and phytogeographic studies of this family, but also provide important information for reconstructing paleoclimate. • Morphologically preserved winged fruits and associated leaves were collected from the Late Eocene Huangniuling Formation, Maoming Basin, South China. We determined their taxonomic positions based on comparative morphology with similar extant and fossil specimens and discuss their phytogeographic and paleoclimatic implications by consulting the distribution and habitat of fossil and modern populations. • The Late Eocene winged fruits are attributed to Shorea Roxburgh ex Gaertner (Dipterocarpaceae) as Shorea maomingensis sp. nov. The associated leaves are recognized as Shorea sp. based on leaf architecture, and they are likely to be conspecific with the winged fruits. • The discovery of dipterocarps indicates that they had arrived in tropical and humid South China by the Late Eocene. Dipterocarps including Shorea exhibit a wide range of physiological tolerance to climate; palynological analysis suggests an increase in aridity and seasonality in the Maoming Basin from the Late Eocene. Dipterocarps became adapted to this seasonal climate from the Late Eocene to Early Miocene, expanded northward in the climatic optimum of the Middle Miocene, and declined and gradually disappeared from the southeastern part of the continent from the Late Miocene.

  10. Soviet Advisors Group in South China and Soviet Union Financing of Gomindan War Planes in 1924

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Александр Геннадьевич Юркевич

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The article dwells on the organization and activities of the Soviet advisors group, which assisted to the South China government of Sun Yatsen, its participation in financing Kuomintang political and military projects. The author pointed out that the main aim of the advisors group efforts was to form new Kuomintang power institutions and to bring its policy and army under control, for all that the tactics of implementation of strategy aim were constantly changing.

  11. Recent Seismic Experiments of OBS in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruan, A.; Li, J.; Wu, Z.

    2012-12-01

    Since 2006 some research institutions of China have carried out some important seismic experiments by using ocean bottom seismometer(OBS) in the South China Sea (SCS) and obtained many concrete progresses in modeling the crustal structure of SCS and also in understanding of its formation and evolution as well. In 2006 three wide-angle profiles were completed in the northern margin, named OBS2006-1 across the northwestern sub-basin, OBS2006-2 parallel to the sea basin boundary and OBS2006-3 across the Dongsha Rise and Chaoshan Depression respectively. In 2010 two wide- angle profiles were completed, named OBS2010-1 and OBS 2010-2 both perpendicular to the northern off-shore faulting system. During 2009-2011 four wide-angle profiles were completed in the southern margin, named OBS973-1 from southern margin to the southwestern sub-basin, OBS973-2 from Liyue Bank to the southwestern sub-basin and OBS973-3 from Xisha to the southwestern sub-basin, OBS2011-2 from Xisha to Hainan Island respectively. In 2011 two 3D seismic array of OBS were completed in the Zhongnan-Changlong sea mount chain and Huangyan-Zhenbei sea mount chain respectively. Here we present some primary but important results as follows. (1) The velocity model of OBS2006-1 indicates that the crust under the continental slope decreases from 21km to 11km, and to 7.7km in the northwestern sub-basin with Moho depth ascends from 21km to 11km. The tectonic geometry and velocity structure of the northwestern sub-basin and its margins on both sides shows symmetrical and conjugate and indicates pure shear mode of continental margin rifting mechanism. (2) The velocity model of OBS2006-3 reveals remarkable thickness with maximum 8 km of the Mesozoic sediment in Chaoshan Depression in which velocity increases downward from 4.4 km/s at top to 5.3 km/s at the bottom. The buried depth of Moho decreases from 24-25 km under Dongsha Rise to 17 km in the lower slope and an obviously velocity abnormal is detected in the upper

  12. Characterization of aerosol over the Northern South China Sea during two cruises in 2003

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xingying; Zhuang, Guoshun; Guo, Jinghua; Yin, Kedong; Zhang, Peng

    Atmospheric transport of trace elements has been found to be an important pathway for their input to the ocean. TSP, PM10, and PM2.5 aerosol samples were collected over the Northern South China Sea in two cruises in 2003 to estimate the input of aerosol from continent to the ocean. About 23 elements and 14 soluble ions in aerosol samples were measured. The average mass concentration of TSP in Cruise I in January (78 μg m -3) was ˜twice of that in Cruise II in April (37 μg m -3). Together with the crustal component, heavy metals from pollution sources over the land (especially from the industry and automobiles in Guangzhou) were transported to and deposited into the ocean. The atmospheric MSA concentrations in PM2.5 (0.048 μg m -3 in Cruise I and 0.043 μg m -3 in Cruise II) over Northern South China Sea were comparable to those over other coastal regions. The ratio of non-sea-salt (NSS)-sulfate to MSA is 103-655 for Cruise I and 15-440 for Cruise II in PM2.5 samples, which were much higher than those over remote oceans. The estimated anthropogenic sulfate accounts for 83-98% in Cruise I and 63-95% in Cruise II of the total NSS-sulfate. Fe (II) concentration in the aerosols collected over the ocean ranged from 0.1 to 0.9 μg m -3, accounting for 16-82% of the total iron in the aerosol, which could affect the marine biogeochemical cycle greatly.

  13. Occurrence, bioaccumulation and potential sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in typical freshwater cultured fish ponds of South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Baozhong; Ni Honggang; Guan Yufeng; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2010-01-01

    To determine the potential input sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) to fish farming environments in South China, samples of seven various environmental matrices were collected from October 2006-September 2007. Tri- to deca-BDEs were detected in all samples analyzed, with mean concentrations (±standard deviations) at 5.7 ± 3.6 ng/L in pond water, 15 ± 11 ng/g dry wt. in pond sediment, 12 ± 3.8 ng/g dry wt. in bank soil, 21 ± 20 ng/g lipid wt. in fish, and 93 ± 62 ng/g lipid wt. in fish feeds. In addition, BDE-209 was the major constituent in all samples except fish and BDE-47 was predominant in fish samples. Relatively high abundances of BDE-49 were detected in all the samples compared to those in the penta-BDE technical products. Several bioaccumulation factors were evaluated. Finally, statistical analyses suggested that fish feed, as well as pond water at a lesser degree, may have been the major source of PBDEs in freshwater farmed fish. - Occurrence and sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in typical freshwater cultured fish ponds of the Pearl River Delta, South China are examined.

  14. The hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of precipitation in a forested watershed of the South Qinling Mts., China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bu, Hongmei; Song, Xianfang; Xia, Jun

    2018-03-01

    The stable isotopic compositions (δD and δ 18 O) of precipitation were firstly investigated from May 2012 to November 2013 in the Jinshui River basin of the South Qinling Mts., China. The local meteoric water lines (LMWLs) based on all daily and monthly precipitation-weighted data were defined as δD = 8.32 δ 18 O + 12.57 (r 2  = 0.957, n = 47, p precipitation-weighted values of d-excess confirmed the moisture sources and determined the temporal variations in moisture supply for the river basin. The precipitation amount and temperature effects were found to be significant, with amount gradient of - 0.06‰/mm for daily δ 18 O variability and temperature gradients of - 1.51 and - 0.44‰/°C for daily δD and d-excess variability, respectively. However, the isotopes of local precipitation during precipitation events were almost unaffected by relative humidity due to overwhelming recycled moisture at relative humidity > 85%. The results of this research provide an effective method for tracing the local water hydrologic cycle in the South Qinling Mts., China.

  15. Heavy Rainfall Associated with a Monsoon Depression in South China: Structure Analysis

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    JIANG Jianying; JIANG Jixi; BU Yalin; LIU Nianqing

    2008-01-01

    A heavy rainfall associated with the deepening of a monsoon depression happened in the summer of 2005.This process was first diagnostically analyzed and the 3D structure of the monsoon depression was discussed,then this structure was compared with those of the monsoon depression in South Asia and the low vortex in the Meiyu front. The results showed that the heavy rainfall directly resulted from a monsoon depression in South China, and the large-scale environment provided a favorable background for the deepening of the monsoon depression. The 3D structure of the monsoon depression was as follows. In the horizontal direction,there existed a convective cloud band to the south of the monsoon depression, which lay in a convectively instable area, with a relatively strong ascending motion in the mid and low levels of the troposphere, and the ascending motion matched well with a moist tongue, a convergence area, and a band of positive vorticity in the mid and low levels of the troposphere. In the vertical direction, the depression had an obviously cyclonic circulation in the mid and low levels of the troposphere, but no circulation from above 300 hPa. The monsoon depression corresponded to convergence and positive vorticity in the low levels, but to divergence and negative vortieity in the upper levels. The upward draft of the depression could reach the upper levels of the troposphere in the west of the depression, while the descending motion lay in the east. There was a low-level jet to the south of the depression, while the upper-level jet was not obvious. The depression was vertically warm in the upper levels and cold in the low levels, and the axis of the depression tilted southeastward with height, whose characteristics were different not only from the monsoon depression in South Asia but also from the low vortex in the Meiyu front.

  16. China's water crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Dijk, B.

    2008-01-01

    After the devastating natural disasters that have hit China recently, another crisis is looming, Drought, pollution and heavy usage in the fast-developing megacities have resulted in a shortage of water. A huge construction effort is underway to divert water from the south to the north. But experts warn that it will not solve China's structural water problems

  17. Oral health status of rural-urban migrant children in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Xiao-Li; McGrath, Colman; Lin, Huan-Cai

    2011-01-01

    In China, there is a massive rural-urban migration and the children of migrants are often unregistered residents (a 'floating population'). This pilot study aimed to profile the oral health of migrant children in South China's principal city of migration and identify its socio-demographic/behavioural determinants. An epidemiological survey was conducted in an area of Guangzhou among 5-year-old migrant children (n = 138) who received oral examinations according to the World Health Organization criteria. Parents' oral health knowledge/attitude, child practices, and impact of children's oral health on their quality-of-life (QoL) were assessed. The caries rate and mean (SD) dmft were 86% and 5.17 (4.16), respectively, higher than those national statistics for both rural and urban areas (P Oral hygiene was satisfactory (DI-S Oral health impacts on QoL were considerable; 60% reported one or more impacts. 58% variance in 'dmft' was explained by 'non-local-born', 'low-educated parents', 'bedtime feeding', 'parental unawareness of fluoride's effect and importance of teeth', and 'poor oral hygiene' (all P oral health-related QoL (both P Oral health is poor among rural-urban migrant children and requires effective interventions in targeted sub-groups. © 2010 The Authors. International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry © 2010 BSPD, IAPD and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  18. China's emergence as the world's leading iron-ore-consuming country

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk, W.S.

    2004-01-01

    China has become the leading iron ore consuming nation, and, based on recent steel production capacity increases and plans for more, its consumption will almost certainly to continue to grow. China's iron ore industry, however, faces a number of problems. China's iron ore is low-grade, expensive to process, and its mines are being depleted. For many Chinese steelmakers, particularly in the coastal regions, the delivered cost of domestic iron ore, is more than the delivered cost of foreign ore. Thus China's iron ore imports are expected to increase. As China's growth continues, it will almost certainly surpass Japan to become the leading iron ore importing country as well. Without China's increasing appetite for iron ore, the world iron ore market would be flat or declining. China's recent imports largely offset the slump in demand in North America and Europe. China is regarded by the iron ore industry as the growth sector for the next decade. Although Chinese imports are expected to continue their rapid increase and imports in other Asian countries are expected to continue growing, there appears to be enough greenfield and expansion projects to meet future demand for iron ore worldwide. Present suppliers of iron ore, Australia, Brazil, India, and South Africa, will probably be the chief beneficiaries of China's increasing consumption of iron ore. How long China can continue its extraordinary growth is the primary issue for the future of the iron ore industry. Based on the number and size of planned blast furnaces it appears that China's growth could continue for several more years. ?? 2004 Taylor and Francis.

  19. Annual and interannual variability of scatterometer ocean surface wind over the South China Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, GS; Xu, Q.; Gong, Z.

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the annual and interannual variability of ocean surface wind over the South China Sea (SCS), the vector empirical orthogonal function (VEOF) method and the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) method were employed to analyze a set of combined satellite scatterometer wind data during.......3% of the total variance and represents the East Asian monsoon features. The second mode of VEOF corresponds to a spring-autumn oscillation which accounts for 8.3% of the total variance. To analyze the interannual variability, the annual signal was removed from the wind data set and the VEOFs of the residuals...

  20. Climate Change, Risk and Grain Production in China

    OpenAIRE

    Holst, Rainer; Yu, Xiaohua; Grun, Carola

    2010-01-01

    This paper employs the production function-based method proposed by Just and Pope (1978, 1979) to explicitly analyze production risk in the context of Chinese grain farming and climate change, and test for potential endogeneity of climate factors in Chinese grain production. Our results indicate that grain production in south China might, at least in the short run, could be a net beneficiary of global warming. In particular, we find that a 1 °C increase in annual average temperature in South ...

  1. Multiscale analyses on a massive immigration process of Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) in south-central China: influences of synoptic-scale meteorological conditions and topography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Qiu-Lin; Westbrook, John K.; Hu, Gao; Lu, Ming-Hong; Liu, Wan-Cai; Sword, Gregory A.; Zhai, Bao-Ping

    2018-04-01

    Mass landings of migrating white-backed planthopper, Sogatella furcifera (Horváth), can lead to severe outbreaks that cause heavy losses for rice production in East Asia. South-central China is the main infestation area on the annual migration loop of S. furcifera between the northern Indo-China Peninsula and mainland China; however, rice planthopper species are not able to survive in this region over winter. In this study, a trajectory analysis of movements from population source areas and a spatiotemporal dynamic analysis of mesoscale and synoptic weather conditions from 7 to 10 May 2012 were conducted using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model to identify source areas of immigrants and determine how weather and topographic terrain influence insect landing. A sensitivity experiment was conducted with reduced topography using the WRF model to explain the associations among rainfall, topography, and light-trap catches of S. furcifera. The trajectory modeling results suggest that the source areas of S. furcifera immigrants into south-central China from 8 to 10 May were mainly southern Guangxi, northern Vietnam, and north-central Vietnam. The appearance of enormous catches of immigrant S. furcifera coincided with a period of rainstorms. The formation of transporting southerly winds was strongly associated with the topographic terrain. Additionally, the rainfall distribution and intensity over south-central China significantly decreased when topography was reduced in the model and were directly affected by wind circulation, which was associated with mountainous terrain that caused strong convection. This study indicates that migrating populations of S. furcifera were carried by the southwesterly low-level jets and that topographically induced convergent winds, precipitation, low temperatures, and wind shear acted as key factors that led to massive landings.

  2. Multiscale analyses on a massive immigration process of Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) in south-central China: influences of synoptic-scale meteorological conditions and topography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Qiu-Lin; Westbrook, John K; Hu, Gao; Lu, Ming-Hong; Liu, Wan-Cai; Sword, Gregory A; Zhai, Bao-Ping

    2018-04-30

    Mass landings of migrating white-backed planthopper, Sogatella furcifera (Horváth), can lead to severe outbreaks that cause heavy losses for rice production in East Asia. South-central China is the main infestation area on the annual migration loop of S. furcifera between the northern Indo-China Peninsula and mainland China; however, rice planthopper species are not able to survive in this region over winter. In this study, a trajectory analysis of movements from population source areas and a spatiotemporal dynamic analysis of mesoscale and synoptic weather conditions from 7 to 10 May 2012 were conducted using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model to identify source areas of immigrants and determine how weather and topographic terrain influence insect landing. A sensitivity experiment was conducted with reduced topography using the WRF model to explain the associations among rainfall, topography, and light-trap catches of S. furcifera. The trajectory modeling results suggest that the source areas of S. furcifera immigrants into south-central China from 8 to 10 May were mainly southern Guangxi, northern Vietnam, and north-central Vietnam. The appearance of enormous catches of immigrant S. furcifera coincided with a period of rainstorms. The formation of transporting southerly winds was strongly associated with the topographic terrain. Additionally, the rainfall distribution and intensity over south-central China significantly decreased when topography was reduced in the model and were directly affected by wind circulation, which was associated with mountainous terrain that caused strong convection. This study indicates that migrating populations of S. furcifera were carried by the southwesterly low-level jets and that topographically induced convergent winds, precipitation, low temperatures, and wind shear acted as key factors that led to massive landings.

  3. Seasonal fluctuations of ichthyoplankton assemblage in the northeastern South China Sea influenced by the Kuroshio intrusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Delian; Zhang, Xia; Jiang, Zhijian; Zhang, Jingping; Arbi, Iman; Jiang, Xin; Huang, Xiaoping; Zhang, Wenjing

    2017-09-01

    The distribution and assemblage of ichthyoplankton related to local hydrographic features, especially intrusion of the Kuroshio Current (KC) and Guangdong Coastal Current (GCC) in the northeastern South China Sea (NESCS) were investigated in this study. A total of 193 species of ichthyoplankton belonging to 141 genera and 66 families were recognized in summer 2015 and late-winter 2016. The ichthyoplankton assemblage was identified with distinct seasonal differences, and the differences were responded well with the oceanography conditions. In summer, the assemblages were identified into offshore and inshore groups, as controlled by the South China Sea Warm Current (SCSWC) in off-shelf, upwelling, and the diluted water from the Pearl River in inshore. In winter, three groups were divided, representing the southwestern inshore, intrusion of the KC in the eastern offshore, and the GCC in the northern inshore area, respectively. Furthermore, Sigmops gracilis and Vinciguerria sp.3 were probably brought into the NESCS by intrusion of the KC from the eastern Luzon Strait. In addition, high ichthyoplankton abundance was found in high chlorophyll a located in upwelling areas in the northern coastal area in summer and in the southwestern Taiwan Bank in winter, respectively. The nutrition outcropped by the upwelling together, and those brought from the Pearl River probably supported high food availability of the ichthyoplankton in the northern coast of the NESCS.

  4. Intrusions of Kuroshio and Shelf Waters on Northern Slope of South China Sea in Summer 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Denghui; Zhou, Meng; Zhang, Zhaoru; Zhong, Yisen; Zhu, Yiwu; Yang, Chenghao; Xu, Mingquan; Xu, Dongfeng; Hu, Ziyuan

    2018-06-01

    The northern slope region of the South China Sea (SCS) is a biological hot spot characterized by high primary productivity and biomasses transported by cross-shelf currents, which support the spawning and growth of commercially and ecologically important fish species. To understand the physical and biogeochemical processes that promote the high primary production of this region, we conducted a cruise from June 10 and July 2, 2015. In this study, we used fuzzy cluster analysis and optimum multiparameter analysis methods to analyze the hydrographic data collected during the cruise to determine the compositions of the upper 55-m water masses on the SCS northern slope and thereby elucidate the cross-slope transport of shelf water (SHW) and the intrusions of Kuroshio water (KW). We also analyzed the geostrophic currents derived from acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements and satellite data. The results reveal the surface waters on the northern slope of the SCS to be primarily composed of waters originating from South China Sea water (SCSW), KW, and SHW. The SCSW dominated a majority of the study region at percentages ranging between 60% and 100%. We found a strong cross-slope current with speeds greater than 50 cm s-1 to have carried SHW into and through the surveyed slope area, and KW to have intruded onto the slope via mesoscale eddies, thereby dominating the southwestern section of the study area.

  5. North–South debate on district heating: Evidence from a household survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo, Jin; Huang, Ying; Wei, Chu

    2015-01-01

    There has been a long debate on whether South China should supply district heating for the residential sector, a system that is widely used in North China. The major concern is that it may further accelerate China's energy demand. Using a unique urban household level dataset, the China Residential Energy Consumption Survey (CRECS), we investigate residential energy consumption for heating and examine the energy intensity and energy cost of distributed heating in South China and district heating in North China during the 2012 heating season. Our results show that the total energy consumption for distributed heating system users in southern cities is significantly lower than for users of district heating systems in northern cities. However, when accounting for the heating area and heating season, the distributed heating households in the South consumed 32% more energy and paid 189% higher cost per unit area and per hour, but had lower comfort than district heating users in the North. These findings suggest promoting the district heating market in appropriate areas in South China. This not only can improve residential welfare, but also can indirectly reduce energy consumption and financial burdens. - Highlights: • The debate on whether Southern China apply district heating is present. • The household data in 2012 is used to compare the energy efficient and cost. • South resident use more energy and higher cost but less comfort than North. • Government should not prevent the district heating market.

  6. Influence of the May Southern annular mode on the South China Sea summer monsoon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ting; Li, Jianping; Li, YanJie; Zhao, Sen; Zheng, Fei; Zheng, Jiayu; Yao, Zhixiong

    2017-07-01

    The possible impact of the May Southern Hemisphere (SH) annular mode (SAM) on the following South China Sea (SCS) summer monsoon (SCSSM) is examined. A close inverse relationship between the two is revealed in the observations. The simultaneous South Pacific dipole (SPD), a dipole-like sea surface temperature anomaly pattern in the South Pacific, acts as the "oceanic bridge" to preserve the May SAM signal and prolong it into June-September. Observational evidence and numerical simulations both demonstrate that the SPD communicates its large thermal inertia signal to the atmosphere, regulating the Southern Pacific Subtropical Jet (SPSJ) variability over eastern Australia. Corresponding to the adjustment of circulation associated with the SPSJ is a prominent tripolar cross-Pacific teleconnection pattern stretching from the SH middle-high latitudes into the NH East Asia coastal region, referred to as the South-North Pacific (SNP) teleconnection pattern. Wave ray tracing analysis manifests that the SNP acts as the "atmospheric bridge" to propagate the related wave energy across the equator and into the Maritime Continent and SCS monsoon region, modulating the vertical motion and middle-lower tropospheric flows, and favoring the out-of-phase variation of the SCSSM. Therefore, the "coupled oceanic-atmospheric bridge" process and the related Rossby wave energy transmission are possible mechanisms for the significant influence of the May SAM on the variability of the following SCSSM. Therefore, the May SAM provides a fresh insight into the prediction of the SCSSM from the perspective of the SH high latitudes.

  7. Upper Mantle Responses to India-Eurasia Collision in Indochina, Malaysia, and the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hongsresawat, S.; Russo, R. M.

    2016-12-01

    We present new shear wave splitting and splitting intensity measurements from SK(K)S phases recorded at seismic stations of the Malaysian National Seismic Network. These results, in conjunction with results from Tibet and Yunnan provide a basis for testing the degree to which Indochina and South China Sea upper mantle fabrics are responses to India-Eurasia collision. Upper mantle fabrics derived from shear wave splitting measurements in Yunnan and eastern Tibet parallel geodetic surface motions north of 26°N, requiring transmission of tractions from upper mantle depths to surface, or consistent deformation boundary conditions throughout the upper 200 km of crust and mantle. Shear wave splitting fast trends and surface velocities diverge in eastern Yunnan and south of 26°N, indicating development of an asthenospheric layer that decouples crust and upper mantle, or corner flow above the subducted Indo-Burma slab. E-W fast shear wave splitting trends southwest of 26°N/104°E indicate strong gradients in any asthenospheric infiltration. Possible upper mantle flow regimes beneath Indochina include development of olivine b-axis anisotropic symmetry due to high strain and hydrous conditions in the syntaxis/Indo-Burma mantle wedge (i.e., southward flow), development of strong upper mantle corner flow in the Indo-Burma wedge with olivine a-axis anisotropic symmetry (i.e., westward flow), and simple asthenospheric flow due to eastward motion of Sundaland shearing underlying asthenosphere. Further south, shear-wave splitting delay times at Malaysian stations vary from 0.5 seconds on the Malay Peninsula to over 2 seconds at stations on Borneo. Splitting fast trends at Borneo stations and Singapore trend NE-SW, but in northern Peninsular Malaysia, the splitting fast polarization direction is NW-SE, parallel to the trend of the Peninsula. Thus, there is a sharp transition from low delay time and NW-SE fast polarization to high delay times and fast polarization directions that

  8. Biosafety Management of Genetically Modified Crops (China) | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Biosafety Management of Genetically Modified Crops (China). Since 1990, China's ... Country(s). China, Far East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open. In partnership ...

  9. Role of atmospheric heating over the South China Sea and western Pacific regions in modulating Asian summer climate under the global warming background

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Bian; Yang, Song; Li, Zhenning

    2016-05-01

    The response of monsoon precipitation to global warming, which is one of the most significant climate change signals at the earth's surface, exhibits very distinct regional features, especially over the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent regions in boreal summer. To understand the possible atmospheric dynamics in these specific regions under the global warming background, changes in atmospheric heating and their possible influences on Asian summer climate are investigated by both observational diagnosis and numerical simulations. Results indicate that heating in the middle troposphere has intensified in the SCS and western Pacific regions in boreal summer, accompanied by increased precipitation, cloud cover, and lower-tropospheric convergence and decreased sea level pressure. Sensitivity experiments show that middle and upper tropospheric heating causes an east-west feedback pattern between SCS and western Pacific and continental South Asia, which strengthens the South Asian High in the upper troposphere and moist convergence in the lower troposphere, consequently forcing a descending motion and adiabatic warming over continental South Asia. When air-sea interaction is considered, the simulation results are overall more similar to observations, and in particular the bias of precipitation over the Indian Ocean simulated by AGCMs has been reduced. The result highlights the important role of air-sea interaction in understanding the changes in Asian climate.

  10. The politics of social policy: welfare expansion in Brazil, China, India and South Africa in comparative perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Tillin, Louise; Duckett, Jane

    2017-01-01

    This introductory essay reviews the scholarship on the politics of social policy, and shows the contribution of the special issue to explaining expanded welfare commitments in Brazil, China, India and South Africa in the twenty first century. Much literature on welfare expansion in lower- and middle income contexts views it primarily as a policy corrective to the economic dislocations produced by global economic integration. This special issue focuses on the political factors that are critica...

  11. Antibacterial α-pyrone derivatives from a mangrove-derived fungus Stemphylium sp. 33231 from the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Xue-Ming; Zheng, Cai-Juan; Song, Xiao-Ping; Han, Chang-Ri; Chen, Wen-Hao; Chen, Guang-Ying

    2014-05-01

    Two new α-pyrone derivatives, infectopyrones A (1) and B (2), were obtained from the EtOAc extract of the endophytic fungus Stemphylium sp. 33231 isolated from the mangrove Brguiera sexangula var. rhynchopetala collected in the South China Sea. Their structures were elucidated by the detailed analysis of comprehensive spectroscopic data. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for their antibacterial activities, and they had a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity against five terrestrial pathogenic bacteria.

  12. Case Study: The Myanmar and Bangladesh Maritime Boundary Dispute in the Bay of Bengal and Its Implications for South China Sea Claims

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ravi A. Balaram

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper seeks to review the pertinent Myanmar and Bangladesh history in overlapping maritime territorial claims leading up to the September 2011 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS case: Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary Between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal. It will dissect the legal proceedings as primary source documents and apply the relevant judgement findings to analyse the implications for the respective countries and for South China Sea maritime boundary disputes. While the judgements of this case set certain legal precedents that may be more easily applied to bilateral disputes, the implications, nevertheless, impinge on multilateral claims as well. To the extent that the Bangladesh-Myanmar ITLOS judgement provides a pathway to third-party, independent, and peaceful resolution to the potentially explosive and escalating tensions in the South China Sea, this paper argues that findings are relevant, but limited.

  13. Community composition of picoeukaryotes in the South China Sea during winter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yun-Chi; Chiang, Kuo-Ping; Kang, Lee-Kuo

    2017-07-01

    Picoeukaryotes, the smallest protists, are highly diverse and abundant in the ocean. However, little information is available about their community composition in the tropical northwestern Pacific Ocean. This study collected surface and deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) waters from the South China Sea (SCS) to study the picoeukaryotic composition by constructing clone libraries of the 18S rRNA gene. The libraries were dominated by the heterotrophic organisms, alveolates and Rhizaria, which accounted for 46% and 16% of total clones, respectively. MALV-I was the most abundant group in alveolates, and Rhizaria appears to be a key organism in the SCS, particularly within DCM layers. These results indicate that parasitism is significant in the oligotrophic and tropical SCS. Apart from core-dinoflagellates, chlorophytes, haptophytes, cryptophytes and pelagophytes were other important contributors to primary production in pico-sized fraction based on quantitative and qualitative data.

  14. Unusual Deep Water sponge assemblage in South China-Witness of the end-Ordovician mass extinction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Lixia; Feng, Hongzhen; Janussen, Dorte; Reitner, Joachim

    2015-11-05

    There are few sponges known from the end-Ordovician to early-Silurian strata all over the world, and no records of sponge fossils have been found yet in China during this interval. Here we report a unique sponge assemblage spanning the interval of the end-Ordovician mass extinction from the Kaochiapien Formation (Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian) in South China. This assemblage contains a variety of well-preserved siliceous sponges, including both Burgess Shale-type and modern type taxa. It is clear that this assemblage developed in deep water, low energy ecosystem with less competitors and more vacant niches. Its explosion may be related to the euxinic and anoxic condition as well as the noticeable transgression during the end-Ordovician mass extinction. The excellent preservation of this assemblage is probably due to the rapid burial by mud turbidites. This unusual sponge assemblage provides a link between the Burgess Shale-type deep water sponges and the modern forms. It gives an excellent insight into the deep sea palaeoecology and the macroevolution of Phanerozoic sponges, and opens a new window to investigate the marine ecosystem before and after the end-Ordovician mass extinction. It also offers potential to search for exceptional fossil biota across the Ordovician-Silurian boundary interval in China.

  15. Assessing South China (Guangzhou) High School Students' Views on Nature of Science: A Validation Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Feng; Chai, Ching Sing; Tsai, Chin-Chung; Lin, Tzung-Jin

    2014-04-01

    Research on students' views on nature of science (VNOS) in Asian countries such as China is notably lacking. This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to measure South China high school students' VNOS. Based on the previously acquired qualitative data, the instrument included seven VNOS dimensions which reflect the crucial aspects of NOS indicated by the literature and/or the dominating ideology in China (i.e., Marxism). A sample (N = 604) was randomly divided into two groups used for exploratory analyses and confirmatory analyses. The results indicated that the instrument expressed satisfactory reliability and validity and the seven NOS dimensions could be explained by a higher-order dimension. That is, the data of this study supported the multi-dimensional framework that treats VNOS as comprising several more-or-less correlated dimensions. Two distinct dimensions, namely "Accumulative-Empirical Source" and "Pragmatic Justification" which have not been explicitly specified in the past literature, were found. In addition, the Chinese high school students generally held a constructivist/relativist-oriented view of all seven dimensions. Differences in gender and grade level were hardly observed in any dimension of the instrument. The findings are further discussed through a socio-cultural lens to enrich the current understanding of VNOS.

  16. Levels of trace elements, methylmercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in foraging green turtles in the South China region and their conservation implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Connie Ka Yan; Lam, James Chung Wah; Zhang, Xiao Hua; Gu, He Xiang; Li, Tsung Hsien; Ye, Min Bin; Xia, Zhong Rong; Zhang, Fei Yan; Duan, Jin Xia; Wang, Wen Xiong; Lam, Isaac Kam Sum; Balazs, George H; Lam, Paul K S; Murphy, Margaret B

    2018-03-01

    Sea turtles are globally endangered and face daily anthropogenic threats, including pollution. However, there is a lack of ecotoxicological information on sea turtles, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This study aims to determine pollutant levels of foraging green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in South China, including Hong Kong, Guangdong and Taiwan, as a basis for their conservation. Scute, liver and muscle tissues of stranded green turtles were analysed for levels of 17 trace elements and methylmercury (MeHg) (n = 86 for scute and n = 14 for liver) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) (n = 11 for muscle and n = 13 for liver). Ten-fold higher levels of Pb, Ba, V and Tl and 40-fold greater Cd levels were measured in green turtle livers in South China relative to other studies conducted over 10 years ago. Measured PBDE levels were also 27-fold and 50-fold greater than those reported in Australia and Japan. These results warrant further investigation of potential toxicological risks to green turtles in South China and their source rookeries in Malaysia, Micronesia, Indonesia, Marshall Islands, Japan and Taiwan. Research should target monitoring pollutant levels in sea turtles within the West Pacific/Southeast Asia regional management unit spanning East Asia to Southeast Asia to fill in knowledge gaps, in particular in areas such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines where less or no data is available and where foraging grounds of sea turtles have been identified. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Analysis of monthly variability of thermocline in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Hanbang; Pan, Aijun; Zheng, Quan'an; Hu, Jianyu

    2018-03-01

    This study analyzes monthly variability of thermocline and its mechanism in the South China Sea (SCS). The study is based on 51-year (1960-2010) monthly seawater temperature and surface wind stress data from Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA), together with heat flux, precipitation and evaporation data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, respectively. The results reveal that the upper boundary depth ( Z up), lower boundary depth ( Z low), thickness (Δ Z) and intensity ( T z ) of thermocline in the SCS show remarkable monthly variability. Being averaged for the deep basin of SCS, Z up deepens gradually from May to the following January and then shoals from February to May, while Z low varies little throughout the whole year. Further diagnostics indicates that the monthly variability of Z up is mainly caused by the buoyancy flux and wind stress curl. Using a linear method, the impacts of the buoyancy flux and wind stress curl on Z up can be quantitatively distinguished. The results suggest that Z up tends to deepen about 4.6 m when the buoyancy flux increases by 1×10 -5 kg/(m•s 3), while it shoals about 2.5 m when the wind stress curl strengthens by 1×10 -7 N/m³.

  18. WATER TEMPERATURE and other data from REEVES in the South China Sea from 1990-10-01 to 1990-10-23 (NODC Accession 9000269)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The data in this accession was collected in South China Sea (Nan Hai) from ship Reeves between October 1-23, 1990. The real time data of water temperature at varying...

  19. Influence of the Anomalous Patterns of the Mascarene and Australian Highs on Precipitation during the Prerainy Season in South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xue Han

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The authors investigate the features of precipitation during the prerainy season in South China (PSCPRS and the atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere (SH, which is expected to influence the PSCPRS significantly. The Morlet wavelet method revealed that the PSCPRS has significant interannual variability, especially in its quasi-biennial oscillation. The PSCPRS exhibits a significant monsoonal precipitation pattern. Using singular value decomposition (SVD and composite analysis, the anomalous characteristics of SH atmospheric circulations and their impacts on the PSCPRS are studied. The results reveal that eastward movements or extensions of the Mascarene high (MH and Australian high (AH, which have quasi-baroclinic geopotential height structures in the lower and middle troposphere, are the most significant factors affecting the PSCPRS. Their impacts on the PSCPRS anomalies are further studied using the index east of the MH (IEMH and index east of the AH (IEAH. The IEMH and IEAH have notable significant positive correlations with the PSCPRS. When either the IEMH or IEAH is stronger (weaker, more (less rainfall occurs during the prerainy season in South China.

  20. Comparative study of physico-chemical parameters of drinking water from some longevity and non-longevity areas of China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Yajun; Luo, Kunli; Hussain, Rahib

    2017-06-01

    There is an obvious regional longevity phenomenon in China and many longevity counties are located in South China. This study was carried out to find the characteristics of elemental contents of drinking water in longevity areas in South China and the differences to non-longevity areas in China. A total of 128 drinking water samples were collected from longevity areas in South China (n = 40), non-longevity areas in South China (n = 74) and non-longevity areas in North China (n = 14) and 46 parameters of water were determined or calculated. The results showed that drinking water in longevity areas of South China had a high ratio of sum concentration of essential micro-elements in sum concentration of micro-elements (SCME) and a low ratio of sum concentration of hazardous micro-elements in SCME. The concentration of total hardness (TH) and strontium in drinking water was 157.82 mg/L and 82.1 μg/L, respectively, and they were 14.61 mg/L, 7.45 μg/L and 291.69 mg/L, 748.65 μg/L in the non-longevity areas of South and North China, respectively. The study concluded that drinking water containing 157.82 mg/L TH and 82.1 μg/L strontium in South China may be optimum to human health.

  1. 75 FR 27185 - Revisions to the Authorization for Validated End-User Applied Materials China, Ltd.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-14

    ... Service Center, No. 1 North Di Sheng Street, BDA, Beijing, China 100176. Applied Materials South East Asia..., Shanghai, China 201203. Applied Materials (China), Inc.--Beijing Depot, No. 1 North Di Sheng Street, BDA... Di Sheng Street, BDA Beijing, China 100176. Applied Materials South East Asia Pte. Ltd.-- Wuxi Depot...

  2. With Strings Attached: Chinas Economic Policy in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-06-01

    10 million toward the relief efforts. The Swedish corporation Ikea even pledged $2.7 million through a customer-match campaign.140 China’s initial...142 Associated Press, “Typhoon Haiyan: China Gives Less Aid to Philippines than Ikea ,” The Guardian, November 14, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com...world/2013/nov/14/typhoon-haiyan-china- aid-philippines- ikea . 143 Daniel Baltrusaitis, “China’s Revealing Typhoon Haiyan Response,” The Diplomat

  3. A 700-year record of mercury in avian eggshells of Guangjin Island, South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Liqiang; Liu Xiaodong; Sun Liguang; Chen Qianqian; Yan Hong; Liu Yi; Luo Yuhan; Huang Jing

    2011-01-01

    Ancient eggshells over the past 700 years were extracted from an ornithogenic sediment profile on Guangjin Island, South China Sea. Based on SEM and nitrogen isotope analyses, we determined that neither post-depositional processes nor seabirds' dietary changes had a large influence on eggshell Hg levels. The historical change of Hg in these eggshells was reconstructed. Eggshell Hg was a marker for past Hg deposition in marine environment. The eggshell Hg showed three small peaks at around 1300AD, 1600 AD and 1700-1750AD and rapid increase since 1800 AD. Before 1970 AD the Hg deposition in the Xisha area had global distribution characteristics, with increased Hg emissions due to global anthropogenic activities in industrial times. However, after 1970 AD, a further sharp increase up to present day occurred, implying that the Hg production center had gradually shifted from Europe and America to Asia. - Research highlights: → Eggshell Hg is a marker for past mercury deposition in marine environment. → This is a Hg record from ancient sequential eggshell samples. → The 700-year record of eggshell Hg is closely related to human activities. → Eggshell Hg suggests the increase of Hg production in Asia over the past decades. - Our work provides a potential use of ancient sequential eggshells to reconstruct past mercury deposition in marine ecosystems.

  4. An observational analysis of a derecho in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Rudi; Wang, Donghai; Sun, Jianhua; Wang, Gaili; Xia, Guancong

    2012-12-01

    Derechos occur frequently in Europe and the United States, but reports of derechos in China are scarce. In this paper, radar, satellite, and surface observation data are used to analyze a derecho event in South China on 17 April 2011. A derecho-producing mesoscale convective system formed in an environment with medium convective available energy, strong vertical wind shear, and a dry layer in the middle troposphere, and progressed southward in tandem with a front and a surface wind convergence line. The windstorm can be divided into two stages according to differences in the characteristics of the radar echo and the causes of the gale. One stage was a supercell stage, in which the sinking rear inflow of a high-precipitation supercell with a bow-shaped radar echo induced a Fujita F0 class gale. The other stage was a non-supercell stage (the echo was sequentially kidney-shaped, foot-shaped, and an ordinary single cell), in which downbursts induced a gale in Fujita F1 class. This derecho event had many similarities with derechos observed in western countries. For example, the windstorm was perpendicular to the mean flow, the gale was located in the bulging portion of the bow echo, and the derecho moved southward along with the surface front. Some differences were observed as well. The synoptic-scale forcing was weak in the absence of an advancing high-amplitude midlevel trough and an accompanying strong surface cyclone; however, the vertical wind shear was very strong, a characteristic typical of derechos associated with strong synoptic-scale forcing. Extremely high values of convective available potential energy and downdraft convective available potential energy have previously been considered necessary to the formation of weak-forcing archetype and hybrid derechos; however, these values were much less than 2000 J during this derecho event.

  5. First report of Anaplasma ovis in pupal and adult Melophagus ovinus (sheep ked) collected in South Xinjiang, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Li; He, Bo; Li, Kai-Rui; Li, Fei; Zhang, Lu-Yao; Li, Xian-Qiang; Liu, Yong-Hong

    2018-04-19

    Melophagus ovinus (sheep ked) is a blood-feeding ectoparasite that belongs to the family Hippoboscidae (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) and mainly parasitizes sheep. The life-cycle of M. ovinus consists of three stages: larva, pupa and adult. It has a worldwide distribution and has been found in four provinces of China, especially South Xinjiang. In addition to causing direct damage to animal hosts, M. ovinus serves as a vector for disease transmission. In this study, our aim was to investigate the presence of Anaplasma spp. in pupal and adult M. ovinus. A total of 93 specimens (including eight pupal specimens) of M. ovinus collected in South Xinjiang were selected for isolation of genomic DNA, followed by PCR amplification and sequencing of the msp4 gene of Anaplasma spp. The sequences were analyzed in MEGA 7.0 software and via online BLAST. PCR and sequencing results showed that all the specimens collected in 2013 were free of Anaplasma spp., whereas three and 25 specimens (including five pupal specimens) collected in 2016 and 2017, respectively, tested positive for Anaplasma spp. The analysis of 24 msp4 gene sequences (from four pupal specimens) confirmed the presence of A. ovis in M. ovinus specimens collected in South Xinjiang, China. The detected A. ovis isolates belong to Genotypes II and III. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the detection of A. ovis DNA in pupal M. ovinus, confirming the vertical transmission of A. ovis in M. ovinus and the potential of M. ovinus to serve as a vector for A. ovis.

  6. Historical development of crop-related water footprints and inter-regional virtual water flows within China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhuo, La; Mekonnen, Mesfin M.; Hoekstra, Arjen Y.

    2015-04-01

    China is facing water-related challenges, including an uneven distribution of water resources, both temporally and spatially, and an increasing competition over the limited water resources among different sectors. This issue has been widely researched and was finally included into the National Plan 2011 (the 2011 No. 1 Document by the State Council of China). However, there is still lack of information on how population growth and rapid urbanization have affected the water resources in China over the last decades. The current study aims at investigating (i) the intra-annual variation of green and blue water footprints (WFs) of crop production in China over the period 1978-2009 at a spatial resolution of 5 by 5 arc-minute; (ii) the yearly virtual water (VW) balances of 31 provinces within China, related water savings for the country, as well as the VW flows among eight economic regions resulting from inter-regional crop trade over the same period; and (iii) the development of the WF related to crop consumption by Chinese consumers. Results show that, over the period 1978-2009, the total WF related to crop production within China increased by only 4%), but regional changes were significant. From the 1980s to the 2000s, the shift of the cropping centre from the South to the North resulted in an increase of about 16% in the blue WF and 19% in the green WF in the North and a reduction of the blue and green WF in the South by 11% and 3%, respectively. China as a whole was a net virtual water importer related to crop trade, thus saving domestic water resources. China's inter-regional crop trade generated a blue water 'loss' annually by transferring crops from provinces with relatively low crop water productivity to provinces with relatively high productivity. Over the decades, the original VW flow from the South coastal region to the Northeast was reversed. Rice was the all-time dominant crop in the inter-regional VW flows (accounting for 34% in 2009), followed by wheat

  7. Tides and Their Dynamics over the Sunda Shelf of the Southern South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daryabor, Farshid; Ooi, See Hai; Abu Samah, Azizan; Akbari, Abolghasem

    2016-01-01

    A three-dimensional Regional Ocean Modelling System is used to study the tidal characteristics and their dynamics in the Sunda Shelf of the southern South China Sea. In this model, the outer domain is set with a 25 km resolution and the inner one, with a 9 km resolution. Calculations are performed on the inner domain. The model is forced at the sea surface by climatological monthly mean wind stress, freshwater (evaporation minus precipitation), and heat fluxes. Momentum and tracers (such as temperature and salinity) are prescribed in addition to the tidal heights and currents extracted from the Oregon State University TOPEX/Poseidon Global Inverse Solution (TPXO7.2) at the open boundaries. The results are validated against observed tidal amplitudes and phases at 19 locations. Results show that the mean average power energy spectrum (in unit m2/s/cph) for diurnal tides at the southern end of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia is approximately 43% greater than that in the East Malaysia region located in northern Borneo. In contrast, for the region of northern Borneo the semidiurnal power energy spectrum is approximately 25% greater than that in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. This implies that diurnal tides are dominant along the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia while both diurnal and semidiurnal tides dominate almost equally in coastal East Malaysia. Furthermore, the diurnal tidal energy flux is found to be 60% greater than that of the semidiurnal tides in the southern South China Sea. Based on these model analyses, the significant tidal mixing frontal areas are located primarily off Sarawak coast as indicated by high chlorophyll-a concentrations in the area.

  8. Whose History? An Analysis of the Korean War in History Textbooks from the United States, South Korea, Japan, and China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Lin; Zhao, Yali; Ogawa, Masato; Hoge, John; Kim, Bok Young

    2009-01-01

    This article examines how recent history textbooks from the United States, Japan, China, and South Korea present the Korean War. The comparative analysis focuses on four areas: the causes of the Korean War, American involvement in the war, Chinese involvement in the war, and the results of the war. Analysis of the central story lines reveals that…

  9. Fast emission estimates in China and South Africa constrained by satellite observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mijling, Bas; van der A, Ronald

    2013-04-01

    Emission inventories of air pollutants are crucial information for policy makers and form important input data for air quality models. Unfortunately, bottom-up emission inventories, compiled from large quantities of statistical data, are easily outdated for emerging economies such as China and South Africa, where rapid economic growth change emissions accordingly. Alternatively, top-down emission estimates from satellite observations of air constituents have important advantages of being spatial consistent, having high temporal resolution, and enabling emission updates shortly after the satellite data become available. However, constraining emissions from observations of concentrations is computationally challenging. Within the GlobEmission project (part of the Data User Element programme of ESA) a new algorithm has been developed, specifically designed for fast daily emission estimates of short-lived atmospheric species on a mesoscopic scale (0.25 × 0.25 degree) from satellite observations of column concentrations. The algorithm needs only one forward model run from a chemical transport model to calculate the sensitivity of concentration to emission, using trajectory analysis to account for transport away from the source. By using a Kalman filter in the inverse step, optimal use of the a priori knowledge and the newly observed data is made. We apply the algorithm for NOx emission estimates in East China and South Africa, using the CHIMERE chemical transport model together with tropospheric NO2 column retrievals of the OMI and GOME-2 satellite instruments. The observations are used to construct a monthly emission time series, which reveal important emission trends such as the emission reduction measures during the Beijing Olympic Games, and the impact and recovery from the global economic crisis. The algorithm is also able to detect emerging sources (e.g. new power plants) and improve emission information for areas where proxy data are not or badly known (e

  10. Malaysia’s Great Power Balance and the South China Sea Disputes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-01

    Mahathir Mohamed (1981-2003) first visited China in 1985. Much like his pragmatic economic approach to the U.S. (another powerful country with...Senior Officials Consultation in 1995, and the ASEAN Plus Three in 1997.18 Following the 22-year tenure of Prime Minister Mahathir , who evolved from...high-value agricultural products.27 11 Much as Mahathir had looked to China in the 1990s to help pull Malaysia out of recession by increasing

  11. Ambient Air Pollution and Risk for Ischemic Stroke: A Short-Term Exposure Assessment in South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pi Guo

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Data on the association between air pollution and risk of ischemic stroke in China are still limited. This study aimed to investigate the association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and risk of ischemic strokes in Guangzhou, the most densely-populated city in south China, using a large-scale multicenter database of stroke hospital admissions. Daily counts of ischemic stroke admissions over the study years 2013–2015 were obtained from the Guangzhou Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Event Surveillance System. Daily particulate matter <2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5, sulfur dioxide (SO2, nitrogen dioxide (NO2, ozone (O3, and meteorological data were collected. The associations between air pollutants and hospital admissions for stroke were examined using relative risks (RRs and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs based on time-series Poisson regression models, adjusting for temperature, public holiday, day of week, and temporal trends in stroke. Ischemic stroke admissions increased from 27,532 to 35,279 through 2013 to 2015, increasing by 28.14%. Parameter estimates for NO2 exposure were robust regardless of the model used. The association between same-day NO2 (RR = 1.0509, 95% CI: 1.0353–1.0668 exposure and stroke risk was significant when accounting for other air pollutants, day of the week, public holidays, temperature, and temporal trends in stroke events. Overall, we observed a borderline significant association between NO2 exposure modeled as an averaged lag effect and ischemic stroke risk. This study provides data on air pollution exposures and stroke risk, and contributes to better planning of clinical services and emergency contingency response for stroke.

  12. Perceived concern about the new strain of the influenza and obtaining the vaccine in China, Japan and South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamimura, Akiko; Armenta, Bianca A; Nourian, Maziar M; Wright, Lindsey; Rathi, Naveen; Chernenko, Alla

    This study compares the factors, which influence individuals from the countries of China, Japan and South Korea to obtain any type of influenza vaccines and their perceived concerns about the new strain of the influenza - pandemic (H1N1) 2009. The data analyzed was from the East Asian Social Survey (EASS), Cross-National Survey Data Sets: Health and Society in East Asia, 2010 (ICPSR 34608) (N=7938). The results of this study suggest that individuals who are concerned about the new strain of influenza are more likely to have obtained influenza vaccine. In these countries, perceived concerns may be directly related to vaccine-related behaviors. The results of this study also indicate that there are variations within each country regarding as to why individuals do or do not obtain the influenza vaccine. Over all, this project provides new insights about the acquisition of the influenza vaccine within China, Japan and South Korea, which will be useful for medical practice within these countries and future research. Copyright © 2016 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. 78 FR 8047 - Onions Grown in South Texas; Increased Assessment Rate

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-05

    ... Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform. Under the marketing order now in effect, South Texas onion... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Agricultural Marketing Service 7 CFR Part 959 [Doc. No. AMS-FV-12-0039; FV12-959-1 PR] Onions Grown in South Texas; Increased Assessment Rate AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing...

  14. Cost-effectiveness and resource implications of aggressive action on tuberculosis in China, India, and South Africa: a combined analysis of nine models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Menzies, Nicolas A.; Gomez, Gabriela B.; Bozzani, Fiammetta; Chatterjee, Susmita; Foster, Nicola; Baena, Ines Garcia; Laurence, Yoko V.; Qiang, Sun; Siroka, Andrew; Sweeney, Sedona; Verguet, Stéphane; Arinaminpathy, Nimalan; Azman, Andrew S.; Bendavid, Eran; Chang, Stewart T.; Cohen, Ted; Denholm, Justin T.; Dowdy, David W.; Eckhoff, Philip A.; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D.; Handel, Andreas; Huynh, Grace H.; Lalli, Marek; Lin, Hsien-Ho; Mandal, Sandip; McBryde, Emma S.; Pandey, Surabhi; Salomon, Joshua A.; Suen, Sze-Chuan; Sumner, Tom; Trauer, James M.; Wagner, Bradley G.; Whalen, Christopher C.; Wu, Chieh-Yin; Boccia, Delia; Chadha, Vineet K.; Charalambous, Salome; Chin, Daniel P.; Churchyard, Gavin; Daniels, Colleen; Dewan, Puneet; Ditiu, Lucica; Eaton, Jeffrey W.; Grant, Alison D.; Hippner, Piotr; Hosseini, Mehran; Mametja, David; Pretorius, Carel; Pillay, Yogan; Rade, Kiran; Sahu, Suvanand; Wang, Lixia; Houben, Rein M. G. J.; Kimerling, Michael E.; White, Richard G.; Vassall, Anna

    2016-01-01

    The post-2015 End TB Strategy sets global targets of reducing tuberculosis incidence by 50% and mortality by 75% by 2025. We aimed to assess resource requirements and cost-effectiveness of strategies to achieve these targets in China, India, and South Africa. We examined intervention scenarios

  15. Risk Assessment of Maize Drought Disaster in Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone in North China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, H.; Pan, D.

    2017-12-01

    Agricultural drought is one of the focuses of global concern and one of the natural disasters that affect the agriculture production mostly in China. Farming-pastoral zones in China are located in the monsoon fringe area, precipitation of which is extremely unstable, and drought occurs frequently. The agro-pastoral transitional zone in North China is one of the main producing areas of northern spring maize in northern China, and maize is the second largest grain crop in the region. An assessment of the risk of drought disaster in this region is therefore important in ensuring a reduction in such disasters and an increase in food security. A risk assessment model, EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate) model, for maize drought disasters based on the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator crop model is proposed for areas with the topographic characteristics of agro-pastoral transitional zone in North China. The results showed that the hazard risk level for the maize zone of agro-pastoral transitional zone in North China is generally high. Most hazard index values were between 0.4 and 0.5, accounting for 48.77% of total study area. The high-risk areas were mainly distributed in Ordos Plateau (South of Inner Mongolia Autonomous region), South of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Center of Gansu Province. These results provide a scientific basis and support for the reduction of agricultural drought disasters and an increase in food security in the agro-pastoral transitional zone in North China.

  16. Chemical Constituents of the Sponge Mycale Sp ecies from South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuefeng Zhou

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Chemical investigation of the sponge Mycale species from the South China Sea afforded eleven known compounds, henicosanoic acid methyl ester (1 , hexadecyl ethers of glycerol ( 2 , N-docosanoyl-D-erythro-(2S,3R-16-methyl-heptadecasphing-4(E-enine ( 3 , dibutyl phthalate ( 4 , cholesterol ( 5 , 5α,8α-epidioxycholest-6,22-dien-3β-ol ( 6 , 5-hexadecyl-pyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde ( 7 , benzoic acid ( 8 , 4-hydroxybenzoic acid ( 9 , thymine ( 10 ,and uracil ( 11 . Compounds 1 – 4 , 6 – 9 were obtained from the sponge of the genus Mycale for the first time, and 4 and 6 showed toxicity in the brine shrimp lethality test with the LD 50 values at 2.9 μg/mL and 4. 7 μg/mL, respectively .

  17. Research partnership between South Africa and China: Emergent literacy teaching and learning in early childhood education in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nel, Norma

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Due to concern about the literacy situation in South Africa (schools being near the bottom of the international systemic measures of performance in literacy, and the important role that literacy plays in China, the researchers of both countries embarked on a collaborative research project. The overall aim is to explore the literacy perceptions and classroom practices of teachers in primary schools in both countries. In this article, the second of a series, the researchers explored Grade R teachers’ attitudes towards reading literacy in primary schools and what the reading-literacy teaching practices are that they employ, with particular emphasis on reading comprehension. The expected outcome was to provide an overview of the literacy situation in Grade R in South Africa as a precursor for the next phase of the project. An exploratory, mixed methods design was employed of which the quantitative part is reported in this article. Grade R teachers were selected from ten schools which had Grade R classrooms in two cities in Gauteng Province and one city in Mpumalanga Province. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires. The statistical analyses were conducted using the SAS/STATS module of the Statistical Software System (SAS, version 9.4 statistical package. The findings are presented as part of the overview.

  18. An updated astronomical time scale for the Plio-Pleistocene deposits from South China Sea and new insights into Asian monsoon evolution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ao, H.; Dekkers, M.J.; Qin, L.; Xiao, G.

    2011-01-01

    Here we present an improved astronomical timescale since 5 Ma as recorded in the ODP Site 1143 in the southern South China Sea, using a recently published Asian summer monsoon record (hematite to goethite content ratio, Hm/Gt) and a parallel benthic δ18O record. Correlation of the benthic δ18O

  19. Magnetic signature of river sediments drained into the southern and eastern part of the South China Sea (Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Luzon and Taiwan)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kissel, Catherine; Liu, Zhifei; Li, Jinhua; Wandres, Camille

    2017-01-01

    Magnetic properties of 22 river samples collected in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Luzon and Taiwan have been investigated in order to magnetically characterize the sediments drained and deposited into the South China Sea. The geological formations as well as the present climatic conditions are different from one region to another. Laboratory analyses include low-field magnetic susceptibility, anhysteretic (ARM) and isothermal (IRM) remanent magnetizations acquisition and decay, back-field acquisition, thermal demagnetization of three-axes IRM, hysteresis cycles and low-temperature magnetic measurements. The magnetic properties indicate that the sediments are a mixture of hematite, magnetite and pyrrhotite in different proportions depending on the region. Combined with results previously reported for the three main Asian rivers (Pearl, Red and Mekong rivers), the new data indicate that, in general, hematite-rich sediments are delivered to the southern basin of the South China Sea while the northern basin is fed with magnetite and pyrrhotite-rich sediments. In addition to this general picture, some variability is observed at smaller geographic scales. Indeed, the magnetic assemblages are closely related to the geology of the various catchments while clay minerals, previously reported for the same samples, are more representative of the climatic conditions under which the parent rocks have evolved within each catchment. The magnetic fraction, now well characterized in the main river sediments drained into the South China Sea, can be used as a tracer for changes in precipitation on land and in oceanic water mass transport and exchange.

  20. Distributed Maritime Capability: Optimized U.S. Navy-U.S. Coast Guard Interoperability, a Case in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-12-01

    poses a threat to regional security and economic stability —major U.S. national interests. Distributed maritime capability is demonstrated by applying...regional security, economic stability , fisheries enforcement 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 95 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT...a dominant aggressor in the South China Sea that poses a threat to regional security and economic stability —major U.S. national interests

  1. Numerical study of desirable solar-collector orientations for the coastal region of South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chow, T.T.; Chan, A.L.S.

    2004-01-01

    The overall performance of any solar energy project depends very much on the availability of solar radiation and the orientations of solar collectors. Presented in this paper is a numerical analysis of the solar irradiation received at the coastal region of South China. This region, with latitudes from 20.5 deg. N to 24 deg. N, belongs to the subtropical monsoon climatic zone. The computations were based on the typical meteorological year (TMY) weather data of Macau, compiled as a result of the ASHRAE International Weather for Energy Calculations Project. The hourly data were applied to the ESP-r building simulation program with the adoption of the Perez solar model. The analyses estimated the solar irradiation received on inclined surfaces at different orientations and slopes, and for different periods of the year. It was found that a solar collector facing the south-west direction could be most desirable for a wide range of tilt angles, and for maximizing the annual yield. The trends of variations towards other directions, tilt angles, and shorter periods of the year are also explored

  2. Realized niches explain spatial gradients in seasonal abundance of phytoplankton groups in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Wupeng; Wang, Lei; Laws, Edward; Xie, Yuyuan; Chen, Jixin; Liu, Xin; Chen, Bingzhang; Huang, Bangqin

    2018-03-01

    A basic albeit elusive goal of ocean science is to predict the structure of biological communities from the multitude of environmental conditions they experience. Estimates of the realized niche-based traits (realized traits) of phytoplankton species or functional groups in temperate seas have shown that response traits can help reveal the mechanisms responsible for structuring phytoplankton communities, but such approaches have not been tested in tropical and subtropical marginal seas. Here, we used decadal-scale studies of pigment-based phytoplankton groups and environmental conditions in the South China Sea to test whether realized traits could explain the biogeographic patterns of phytoplankton variability. We estimated the mean and breadth of the phytoplankton realized niches based on responses of the group-specific phytoplankton composition to key environmental factors, and we showed that variations of major phytoplankton groups in this system can be explained by different adaptive trade-offs to constraints imposed by temperature, irradiance, and nutrient concentrations. Differences in the patterns of trade-offs clearly separated the dominant groups from one another and generated four sets of realized traits that mirrored the observed biogeographic distribution patterns. The phytoplankton realized niches and their associated traits that we characterized in the present study could help to predict responses of phytoplankton to changes in environmental conditions in the South China Sea and could be incorporated into global biogeochemical models to anticipate shifts in community structure under future climate scenarios.

  3. Mercury in the marine boundary layer and seawater of the South China Sea: Concentrations, sea/air flux, and implication for land outflow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Xuewu; Feng, Xinbin; Zhang, Gan; Xu, Weihai; Li, Xiangdong; Yao, Hen; Liang, Peng; Li, Jun; Sommar, Jonas; Yin, Runsheng; Liu, Na

    2010-03-01

    Using R/V Shiyan 3 as a sampling platform, measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), surface seawater total mercury (THg), methyl mercury (MeHg), and dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) were carried out above and in the South China Sea (SCS). Measurements were collected for 2 weeks (10 to 28 August 2007) during an oceanographic expedition, which circumnavigated the northern SCS from Guangzhou (Canton), Hainan Inland, the Philippines, and back to Guangzhou. GEM concentrations over the northern SCS ranged from 1.04 to 6.75 ng m-3 (mean: 2.62 ng m-3, median: 2.24 ng m-3). The spatial distribution of GEM was characterized by elevated concentrations near the coastal sites adjacent to mainland China and lower concentrations at stations in the open sea. Trajectory analysis revealed that high concentrations of GEM were generally related to air masses from south China and the Indochina peninsula, while lower concentrations of GEM were related to air masses from the open sea area, reflecting great Hg emissions from south China and Indochina peninsula. The mean concentrations of THg, MeHg, and DGM in surface seawater were 1.2 ± 0.3 ng L-1, 0.12 ± 0.05 ng L-1, and 36.5 ± 14.9 pg L-1, respectively. In general, THg and MeHg levels in the northern SCS were higher compared to results reported from most other oceans/seas. Elevated THg levels in the study area were likely attributed to significant Hg delivery from surrounding areas of the SCS primarily via atmospheric deposition and riverine input, whereas other sources like in situ production by various biotic and abiotic processes may be important for MeHg. Average sea/air flux of Hg in the study area was estimated using a gas exchange method (4.5 ± 3.4 ng m-2 h-1). This value was comparable to those from other coastal areas and generally higher than those from open sea environments, which may be attributed to the reemission of Hg previously transported to this area.

  4. Emission Sectoral Contributions of Foreign Emissions to Particulate Matter Concentrations over South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, E.; Kim, S.; Kim, H. C.; Kim, B. U.; Cho, J. H.; Woo, J. H.

    2017-12-01

    In this study, we investigated the contributions of major emission source categories located upwind of South Korea to Particulate Matter (PM) in South Korea. In general, air quality in South Korea is affected by anthropogenic air pollutants emitted from foreign countries including China. Some studies reported that foreign emissions contributed 50 % of annual surface PM total mass concentrations in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea in 2014. Previous studies examined PM contributions of foreign emissions from all sectors considering meteorological variations. However, little studies conducted to assess contributions of specific foreign source categories. Therefore, we attempted to estimate sectoral contributions of foreign emissions from China to South Korea PM using our air quality forecasting system. We used Model Inter-Comparison Study in Asia 2010 for foreign emissions and Clean Air Policy Support System 2010 emission inventories for domestic emissions. To quantify contributions of major emission sectors to South Korea PM, we applied the Community Multi-scale Air Quality system with brute force method by perturbing emissions from industrial, residential, fossil-fuel power plants, transportation, and agriculture sectors in China. We noted that industrial sector was pre-dominant over the region except during cold season for primary PMs when residential emissions drastically increase due to heating demand. This study will benefit ensemble air quality forecasting and refined control strategy design by providing quantitative assessment on seasonal contributions of foreign emissions from major source categories.

  5. Impacts of typhoon megi (2010) on the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ko, Dong Shan; Chao, Shenn-Yu; Wu, Chun-Chieh; Lin, I.-I.

    2014-07-01

    In October 2010, typhoon Megi induced a profound cold wake of size 800 km by 500 km with sea surface temperature cooling of 8°C in the South China Sea (SCS). More interestingly, the cold wake shifted from the often rightward bias to both sides of the typhoon track and moved to left in a few days. Using satellite data, in situ measurements and numerical modeling based on the East Asian Seas Nowcast/Forecast System (EASNFS), we performed detailed investigations. To obtain realistic typhoon-strength atmospheric forcing, the EASNFS applied typhoon-resolving Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model wind field blended with global weather forecast winds from the U.S. Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS). In addition to the already known impacts from the slow typhoon translation speed and shallow pre-exiting ocean thermocline, we found the importance of the unique geographical setting of the SCS and the NE monsoon. As the event happened in late October, NE monsoon already started and contributed to the southwestward ambient surface current. Together with the topographicβ effect, the cold wake shifted westward to the left of Megi's track. It was also found that Megi expelled waters away from the SCS and manifested as a gush of internal Kelvin wave exporting waters through the Luzon Strait. The consequential sea level depression lasted and presented a favorable condition for cold dome development. Fission of the north-south elongated cold dome resulted afterward and produced two cold eddies that dissipated slowly thereafter.

  6. South African Airborne Operations

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    South Africa carried out numerous airborne operations during the latter part .... It was a lesson the French had learned and were learning in Indo-China and ..... South African government, concerned that the conflict would spill across their northern border, ...... the Super Frelon and it was an outstanding helicopter at sea level.

  7. Offshore Wind Resources Assessment from Multiple Satellite Data and WRF Modeling over South China Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chang, Rui; Rong, Zhu; Badger, Merete

    2015-01-01

    offshore winds which can be used for offshore wind resource assessment. First, wind speeds retrieved from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Scatterometer ASCAT images were validated against in situ measurements from seven coastal meteorological stations in South China Sea (SCS). The wind roses from...... (SD) of 2.09 m/s (1.83 m/s) and correlation coefficient of R 0.75 (0.80). When the offshore winds (i.e., winds directed from land to sea) are excluded, the comparison results for wind speeds show an improvement of SD and R, indicating that the satellite data are more credible over the open ocean...

  8. Does evaporation paradox exist in China?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Z. T. Cong

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available One expected consequence of global warming is the increase in evaporation. However, lots of observations show that the rate of evaporation from open pans of water has been steadily decreasing all over the world in the past 50 years. The contrast between expectation and observation is called "evaporation paradox". Based on data from 317 weather stations in China from 1956 to 2005, the trends of pan evaporation and air temperature were obtained and evaporation paradox was analyzed. The conclusions include: (1 From 1956 to 2005, pan evaporation paradox existed in China as a whole while pan evaporation kept decreasing and air temperature became warmer and warmer, but it does not apply to Northeast and Southeast China; (2 From 1956 to 1985, pan evaporation paradox existed narrowly as a whole with unobvious climate warming trend, but it does not apply to Northeast China; (3 From 1986 to 2005, in the past 20 years, pan evaporation paradox did not exist for the whole period while pan evaporation kept increasing, although it existed in South China. Furthermore, the trend of other weather factors including sunshine duration, windspeed, humidity and vapor pressure deficit, and their relations with pan evaporation are discussed. As a result, it can be concluded that pan evaporation decreasing is caused by the decreasing in radiation and wind speed before 1985 and pan evaporation increasing is caused by the decreasing in vapor pressure deficit due to strong warming after 1986. With the Budyko curve, it can be concluded that the actual evaporation decreased in the former 30 years and increased in the latter 20 year for the whole China.

  9. Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes over canopy of two typical subtropical forests in south China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Qian; Luo, Yao; Wang, Shuxiao; Wang, Zhiqi; Hao, Jiming; Duan, Lei

    2018-01-01

    Mercury (Hg) exchange between forests and the atmosphere plays an important role in global Hg cycling. The present estimate of global emission of Hg from natural source has large uncertainty, partly due to the lack of chronical and valid field data, particularly for terrestrial surfaces in China, the most important contributor to global atmospheric Hg. In this study, the micrometeorological method (MM) was used to continuously observe gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes over forest canopy at a mildly polluted site (Qianyanzhou, QYZ) and a moderately polluted site (Huitong, HT, near a large Hg mine) in subtropical south China for a full year from January to December in 2014. The GEM flux measurements over forest canopy in QYZ and HT showed net emission with annual average values of 6.67 and 0.30 ng m-2 h-1, respectively. Daily variations of GEM fluxes showed an increasing emission with the increasing air temperature and solar radiation in the daytime to a peak at 13:00, and decreasing emission thereafter, even as a GEM sink or balance at night. High temperature and low air Hg concentration resulted in the high Hg emission in summer. Low temperature in winter and Hg absorption by plant in spring resulted in low Hg emission, or even adsorption in the two seasons. GEM fluxes were positively correlated with air temperature, soil temperature, wind speed, and solar radiation, while it is negatively correlated with air humidity and atmospheric GEM concentration. The lower emission fluxes of GEM at the moderately polluted site (HT) when compared with that in the mildly polluted site (QYZ) may result from a much higher adsorption fluxes at night in spite of a similar or higher emission fluxes during daytime. This shows that the higher atmospheric GEM concentration at HT restricted the forest GEM emission. Great attention should be paid to forests as a crucial increasing Hg emission source with the decreasing atmospheric GEM concentration in polluted areas because of Hg

  10. Granulomatous Lobular Mastitis Associated with Mycobacterium abscessus in South China: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Ye-sheng; Li, Qi-wei; Zhou, Lin; Guan, Run-feng; Zhou, Xiang-ming; Wu, Ji-hong; Rao, Nan-yan; Zhu, Shuang

    2017-01-01

    Mycobacteria, which are known as rapidly growing bacteria, are pathogens that are responsible for cutaneous or subcutaneous infections that especially occur after injection, trauma, or surgery. In this report, we describe a species of Mycobacterium abscessus that was isolated from a breast abscess in a patient who was previously diagnosed with granulomatous lobular mastitis (GLM). This current case is the first ever presented case of GLM associated with M. abscessus documented in South China....

  11. Managing potential conflicts in the South China Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wisnumurti, N.

    1994-01-01

    The strategic significance of the South China Sea (SCS) is beyond doubt. The four workshops conducted so far have discussed a wide range of issues and areas for possible cooperation, instead of focusing on the factors-sovereignty and territorial claims-for conflict. They have shown the potential for such cooperation. Various proposals offered and the principles enunciated offer sufficient evidence for this. By expanding cooperation on less contentious issues on the basis of common interest and mutual benefit, an atmosphere more conducive to productive negotiations has been created. Such informal meetings and contacts can continue to play an important part in clarifying the issues involved and in furthering the regional marine agenda. These workshops are virtually risk-free for the Governments concerned; in fact, they could benefit from the plethora of proposals and recommendations that have emanated from these endeavours, which have also created a more cooperative environment for dialogue among the SCS States. In sum, the workshop process is a novel approach to conflict prevention and avoidance. Yet some pertinent questions need to be raised. Where do we go from here? Will the numerous proposals and recommendations discussed at length simply be filed? Do the SCS States have the necessary political will to implement them in a spirit of cooperation and compromise? Hence, the issue of formal meetings, institutions and/or mechanisms should now be considered. The role of such structures, possibly modelled on the experience gained by Western Europe and the South Pacific, where agencies have been established for designated areas to act on behalf of the regional States, warrants serious attention. What is called for at this juncture is the concretization of specific cooperative projects of a non-controversial nature. Such endeavours would ultimately lead to a 'sense of community' among the littoral States. However, cooperation for resource exploitation does not appear

  12. Monsoon-driven transport of atmospheric mercury to the South China Sea from the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia-Observation of gaseous elemental mercury at a background station in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ming; Chen, Laiguo; Xie, Donghai; Sun, Jiaren; He, Qiusheng; Cai, Limei; Gao, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Yiqiang

    2016-11-01

    Concentrations of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) were continuously monitored from May 2011 to May 2012 at the Wuzhishan State Atmosphere Background Monitoring Station (109°29'30.2″ E, 18°50'11.0″ N) located in Hainan Island. This station is an ideal site for monitoring long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants from mainland China and Southeast Asia to South China Sea. Annual average GEM concentration was 1.58 ± 0.71 ng m -3 during the monitoring period, which was close to background values in the Northern Hemisphere. GEM concentrations showed a clear seasonal variation with relatively higher levels in autumn (1.86 ± 0.55 ng m -3 ) and winter (1.80 ± 0.62 ng m -3 ) and lower levels in spring (1.16 ± 0.45 ng m -3 ) and summer (1.43 ± 0.46 ng m -3 ). Long-range atmospheric transport dominated by monsoons was a dominant factor influencing the seasonal variations of GEM. The GEM diel trends were related to the wind speed and long-range atmospheric mercury transport. We observed 30 pollution episodes throughout the monitoring period. The analysis of wind direction and backward trajectory suggested that elevated GEM concentrations at the monitoring site were primarily related to the outflows of atmospheric Hg from mainland China and the Indochina peninsula. The △GEM/△CO values also suggested that GEM was significantly affected by the long-range transport from the anthropogenic sources and biomass burning in Asia and Indochina peninsula.

  13. A new find of the fossil Cyclosorus from the Eocene of South China and its paleoclimatic implication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naugolnykh, Serge V; Wang, Li; Han, Meng; Jin, Jian-Hua

    2016-01-01

    The thelypteroid ferns are widely distributed across tropical regions around the world, but information about their fossil representatives is scarce. A new species, Cyclosorus scutum Naugolnykh, Wang, Han et Jin was discovered from the Eocene Changchang Formation of Hainan Island, South China, and is described on the basis of sterile and fertile leaves, sori, sporangia and spores preserved in situ. Discovery of this new species clearly shows that climatic conditions of that time in this area were humid, i.e. warm and wet.

  14. Aspartic acid racemization in dentin of the third molar for age estimation of the Chaoshan population in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shisheng; Lv, Yanyi; Wang, Dian; Yu, Xiaojun

    2016-09-01

    Aspartic acid racemization in teeth has been increasingly used to estimate chronological age with a considerably high accuracy in forensic practice. The Chaoshan population in South China is relatively isolated in geography, and has specific lifestyle and dietary inhibits. It is still unknown whether this method is suitable for this population. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between chronological age and the d/l aspartic acid ratio in dentin in the third molar tooth of the Chaoshan population. Fifty-eight non-carious third molar teeth (31 mandibles and 27 maxillae), from 58 living individuals of known age (24 males and 34 females), were retrieved. Dentin was extracted from these teeth. The d- and l-aspartic acids in dentins were separated and detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Linear regression was performed between the d/l aspartic acid ratio of dentins and chronological age. Results showed that the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.969, and the mean absolute error (MAE) was 2.19 years, its standard deviation (SD) was ±1.53 years, indicating excellent correlation. There was no significant difference in racemization rates of dentin between sexes (P=0.113, F=2.6), or between mandibles and maxillae (P=0.964, F=0.000). Results indicate that the ratio of the d and l forms of aspartic acid of dentins, in the third molar, is closely correlated with chronological age, special lifestyle do no obviously affect the accuracy of the age estimations by aspartic acid racemization of the dentin in the third molar and that aspartic acid racemization in the third molar dentin can be used as an accurate method to estimate chronological age in the Chaoshan population in South China. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Using Detrital Zircon Geochronology to Constrain Paleogene Provenance and Its Relationship to Rifting in the Zhu 1 Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wei; Ye, Jiaren; Bidgoli, Tandis; Yang, Xianghua; Shi, Hesheng; Shu, Yu

    2017-11-01

    Paleogene syn-rift successions in the South China Sea are poorly understood and systematic provenance analysis, which could provide clues to their history, is lacking. Here we report 409 new concordant U-Pb ages from detrital zircons separated from the Paleogene Wenchang, Enping, and Zhuhai formations in the Zhu 1 depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin. The new data, combined with the published age data from the region, document changes in the provenance of syn-rift successions. Detrital zircons from the Eocene Wenchang Formation are unimodal, with Jurassic-Cretaceous (180-80 Ma) ages making up >80% of grains. The ages are consistent with the geochronology of intrabasinal highs, dominated by igneous rocks emplaced during the Yanshanian orogeny, and suggest local provenance. By contrast, detrital zircons from the upper Eocene to lower Oligocene Enping Formation form three well-recognized age-clusters, with peaks at 150, 254, and 438 Ma that match documented tectonomagmatism in South China Block (SCB). Combined with increasing numbers of Precambrian zircons, the data suggest increasing influence of regional provenance of the SCB. Similar age peaks are also recognized from the limited number of zircons analyzed from the upper Oligocene Zhuhai Formation and comparability with modern shelf and river sediment indicates the unit was mainly sourced from the SCB and likely transported by a paleo-Pearl River. We infer that the change in provenance, from local uplifts within the Zhu 1 to the SCB, is related to distinct phases of PRMB rift development; however, later changes are best explained by SCB drainage evolution.

  16. Variations of the paleo-productivity in benthic foraminifera records in MIS 3 from western South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Y.; Du, J.; Huang, B.; Chen, M.

    2010-12-01

    Understanding climate change of last glacial age as the background information of climate forecasting is particularly important in climate research. Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3, 61-24 ka B.P.) is a relative warm and unstable period in the last glacial. Millennium scale abrupt climate changes, such as Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles, are identified in this period. Research topic on the variations of monsoon during the glacial cycles, especially in MIS 3, is critical for understanding low latitude climatic change and the global paleo-environment as a whole. Fortunately, high resolution sedimentary records in western South China Sea provide us valuable materials to uncover how East Asia Summer Monsoon (EASM) system acts in a highly fluctuating climate ambient like MIS 3. Core 17954 is located in the modern summer upwelling area off the Vietnam coast in western South China Sea (SCS), its sediments record the variations of upwelling generated by EASM. In this work, we carry out paleo-ecological analyses on planktonic ( Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globigerina bulloides) and benthic foraminifera (Bulimina aculeate, Uvigerina peregrina, Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi, ect.) sampled from Core 17954 to investigate paleo-productivity and nutrition change of western SCS and its relation to EASM. The results show that benthic and planktonic foraminifera have similar responses to nutrition change. Various indicators of productivity on the basis of benthic foraminiferal analyses reflect an overall three stage change trend: productivity gradually increases from the beginning of MIS 3 (60-40 ka) to its maximum during 35-30 ka, and finally declines after 30 ka. There is also another important discovery, if we observe the climate change in MIS 3 as a whole, we can also find western SCS and Northern Hemisphere High latitude have strong correspondences in such changes: Heinrich events coincided with high productivity events in the western SCS. Further, the result of

  17. Identification of Surface Water Quality along the Coast of Sanya, South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zhen-Zhen; Che, Zhi-Wei; Wang, You-Shao; Dong, Jun-De; Wu, Mei-Lin

    2015-01-01

    Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) are utilized to identify the effects caused by human activities on water quality along the coast of Sanya, South China Sea. PCA and CA identify the seasonality of water quality (dry and wet seasons) and polluted status (polluted area). The seasonality of water quality is related to climate change and Southeast monsoons. Spatial pattern is mainly related to anthropogenic activities (especially land input of pollutions). PCA reveals the characteristics underlying the generation of coastal water quality. The temporal and spatial variation of the trophic status along the coast of Sanya is governed by hydrodynamics and human activities. The results provide a novel typological understanding of seasonal trophic status in a shallow, tropical, open marine bay. PMID:25894980

  18. Prevention of US-China Armed Conflict Over South China Sea Territorial Disputes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-01

    States, and the global community as they pertain to the disputed islands. This will include an analysis of China’s constitutional philosophy of the...Publishing. October 22, 2012, 21. 11 its regional competitors , China ratified the UNCLOS soon thereafter despite disagreements with how various...support United Nations Security 2 CNBC, “ Toyota China Sales Tank as Islands Row Hits Japan Inc.,” CNBC

  19. THE DUAL-TRACK APPROACH OF THE PRC TO THE RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Т И Понька

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The Asia-Pacific region is becoming one of the centers of global economic and political development. Countries of the region actively develop their economy, implement democratic reforms, and are also interested in peace and security in the region. A serious destabilizing factor in the Asia-Pacific region is territorial disputes between China and a number of countries in the region. China is taking the lead in the region and resolutely defends its interests, including territorial ones. The growing economic and military strength of China bothers other countries of Asia-Pacific region. Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia also claim regional leadership. They also demonstrate determination in their territorial claims. Confrontation with China encourages the countries of the region to seek political and military support from the US, that could lead to the aggravation of the situation in the region in future. Meanwhile, China is also interested in good relations with neighbors, that’s why it changes approaches of solving its territorial issues. The objective of the research is to define China’s approach to territorial disputes in Asia-Pacific region. For this purpose, the authors set some tasks: first, to point out the main territorial disputes between China and Asia-Pacific countries, second, to consider how the problem of territorial disputes in Asia-Pacific region first appeared and developed, and how the Chinese government reacted to it, and finally, to analyze the role of international organizations, such as the UN and ASEAN in settling disputes in Asia-Pacific region. Summarizing the results of their research, the authors make the important conclusion that China’s stance on disputed territories remains unchanged, and at the same time, Chinese government seeks to solve the existing territorial problems peacefully, without using military force.

  20. Temperature profile and wave data from CTD casts in the East/South China Sea from 10 January 1977 to 12 December 1986 (NODC Accession 9400045)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature profile and wave data were collected using CTD casts and other instruments in the East / South China Sea. Data were collected from 10 January 1977 to 12...

  1. Evolution of the Large Scale Circulation, Cloud Structure and Regional Water Cycle Associated with the South China Sea Monsoon During May-June, 1998

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, William K.-M.; Li, Xiao-Fan

    2001-01-01

    In this paper, changes in the large-scale circulation, cloud structures and regional water cycle associated with the evolution of the South China Sea (SCS) monsoon in May-June 1998 were investigated using data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and field data from the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX). Results showed that both tropical and extratropical processes strongly influenced the onset and evolution of the SCS monsoon. Prior to the onset of the SCS monsoon, enhanced convective activities associated with the Madden and Julian Oscillation were detected over the Indian Ocean, and the SCS was under the influence of the West Pacific Anticyclone (WPA) with prevailing low level easterlies and suppressed convection. Establishment of low-level westerlies across Indo-China, following the development of a Bay of Bengal depression played an important role in building up convective available potential energy over the SCS. The onset of SCS monsoon appeared to be triggered by the equatorward penetration of extratropical frontal system, which was established over the coastal region of southern China and Taiwan in early May. Convective activities over the SCS were found to vary inversely with those over the Yangtze River Valley (YRV). Analysis of TRMM microwave and precipitation radar data revealed that during the onset phase, convection over the northern SCS consisted of squall-type rain cell embedded in meso-scale complexes similar to extratropical systems. The radar Z-factor intensity indicated that SCS clouds possessed a bimodal distribution, with a pronounced signal (less than 30dBz) at a height of 2-3 km, and another one (less than 25 dBz) at the 8-10 km level, separated by a well-defined melting level indicated by a bright band at around 5-km level. The stratiform-to-convective cloud ratio was approximately 1:1 in the pre-onset phase, but increased to 5:1 in the active phase. Regional water budget calculations indicated that during the

  2. Nested atmospheric inversion for the terrestrial carbon sources and sinks in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Jiang

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we establish a nested atmospheric inversion system with a focus on China using the Bayesian method. The global surface is separated into 43 regions based on the 22 TransCom large regions, with 13 small regions in China. Monthly CO2 concentrations from 130 GlobalView sites and 3 additional China sites are used in this system. The core component of this system is an atmospheric transport matrix, which is created using the TM5 model with a horizontal resolution of 3° × 2°. The net carbon fluxes over the 43 global land and ocean regions are inverted for the period from 2002 to 2008. The inverted global terrestrial carbon sinks mainly occur in boreal Asia, South and Southeast Asia, eastern America and southern South America. Most China areas appear to be carbon sinks, with strongest carbon sinks located in Northeast China. From 2002 to 2008, the global terrestrial carbon sink has an increasing trend, with the lowest carbon sink in 2002. The inter-annual variation (IAV of the land sinks shows remarkable correlation with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO. The terrestrial carbon sinks in China also show an increasing trend. However, the IAV in China is not the same as that of the globe. There is relatively stronger land sink in 2002, lowest sink in 2006, and strongest sink in 2007 in China. This IAV could be reasonably explained with the IAVs of temperature and precipitation in China. The mean global and China terrestrial carbon sinks over the period 2002–2008 are −3.20 ± 0.63 and −0.28 ± 0.18 PgC yr−1, respectively. Considering the carbon emissions in the form of reactive biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs and from the import of wood and food, we further estimate that China's land sink is about −0.31 PgC yr−1.

  3. South China sea off Viet Nam to see more exploration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    British and Japanese operators are posed for exploration campaigns off southern Viet Nam. This paper reports that a 50-50 partnership of Lasmo International Ltd., London, and C. Itoh Exploration Co. of Japan signed a heads of agreement covering Block 04-2, and AEDC Vietnam Oil Development Co. and Teikoku Oil Co. acquired Block 05-3 under a production sharing contract. AEDC is a unit of AOC Energy Development Co., a subsidiary of Arabian Oil Co. (AOC) of Japan. Both tracts are in the Con Son basin in the South China Sea. Site is 15 km north of 500 million bbl Dai Hung (Big Bear) oil field for which state owned Petrovietnam is evaluating bids to place on production. A unit of the Royal Dutch/shell Group acquired a west offset, Block 10, early this year. The Lasmo-C. Itoh acreage is among five blocks offered in Vietnam's second round of offshore licensing. All are in the area that once was reserved entirely for Vietsovpetro, a partnership of Petrovietnam and the former Soviet Union

  4. Late Carboniferous and Early Permian algal microflora (Liuzhou, South China)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li Chun (Nanjing Inst. of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing (China)); Mamet, B. (Montreal Univ., PQ (Canada))

    1993-03-01

    Paleozoic algae are important contributors to the formation of carbonate sediments. A study was conducted to compare an Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian carbonate succession of South China with what is generally observed in the Tethys Sea and North America. The sequence studied was in the Maping Limestone at the Loutishan section in Liuzhou, with some additional information derived from the Maping Limestone at Shangxinping and from the Chuanshan Limestone at Yuhuangshan and in the Nanjing Hills. In the Late Carboniferous, the beresellid algae are important builders and the Tubiphytes-Archaeolithophyllum community is locally replaced by a Tubiphytes-Ungdarella association. Early Permian oncolites were formed by complex Osagia, then by Esmerella. The Asselian Sphaeroschwagerina fauna is underlined by the outburst of epimastoporid dasycladales and phylloid Anchicodiaceae. Microcodium is observed at the contact of the Sphaeroschwagerina moelleri/sphaerica Zones. The overlying and paraconformable Chihsia Limestone is characterized by a Gymnocodium-Gyroporella-Mizzia flora. In most cases, the base of the fusulinid zones, therefore, coincides with an important local floristic change. 72 refs., 4 figs.

  5. Control: China Story Yearbook 2016

    OpenAIRE

    2017-01-01

    ‘More cosmopolitan, more lively, more global’ is how the China Daily summed up the year 2016 in China. It was also a year of more control. The Chinese Communist Party laid down strict new rules of conduct for its members, continued to assert its dominance over everything from the Internet to the South China Sea and announced a new Five-Year Plan that Greenpeace called ‘quite possibly the most important document in the world in setting the pace of acting on climate change’. The China Story Y...

  6. Natural gas geological characteristics and great discovery of large gas fields in deep-water area of the western South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenfeng Wang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available To accelerate the petroleum exploration in deep sea of China, since the period of “the 11th Five-Year Plan”, the sedimentary process, source rock formation and hydrocarbon generation and expulsion process in deep-water area of the Qiongdongnan Basin in the western South China Sea have been studied systematically using the data like large-area 3D seismic survey, logging, drill core (cuttings and geochemical analysis, providing three innovative understandings, i.e. excellent hydrocarbon source conditions, good accumulation conditions, and grouping and zonal distribution of large exploration targets. From the study, the following conclusions are drawn. First, the deep-water area located in the southern and central parts of the Qiongdongnan Basin was formed under the control of such tectonic events as Indosinian–Eurasian Plate collision, Himalayan uplifting and South China Sea expansion, and experienced Paleogene lift and Neogene depression stages. Second, accompanied by lacustrine deposition, faulting activity was violent in Eocene; whereas in Early Oligocene, rift continued to develop under a sedimentary environment of marine–terrestrial transitional facies and littoral-neritic facies. Third, oil generation predominated Eocene lacustrine mudstone and gas generation predominated Lower Oligocene marine–terrestrial transitional facies coal-measure strata compose two sets of major source rocks. Fourth, analysis in respect of thermal evolution level, hydrocarbon generation volume and hydrocarbon generation intensity shows that Ledong, Lingshui, Baodao and Changchang sags belong to potential hydrocarbon-rich kitchens, among which Ledong and Lingshui sags have been proved to have great hydrocarbon generation potential by drilling. Fifth, researches of deep-water sedimentology and hydrocarbon accumulation dynamics reveal that Paleogene and Neogene plays are developed vertically, and favorable hydrocarbon accumulation zones like the Central

  7. High hepatitis E virus antibody positive rates in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south-west of China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, M Y; Gao, H; Yan, X X; Qu, W J; Sun, Y K; Fu, G W; Yan, Y L

    2017-12-01

    Hepatitis E (HE) is a zoonotic viral disease caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV). The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of HEV infection among dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south-west region of China. A total of 4,490 dog serum samples and 2,206 relative practitioner serum samples were collected from 18 pet hospitals and dog farms in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou province, and the anti-HEV IgG antibodies were detected by ELISA. The results showed that the total positive rate of anti-HEV antibodies was 36.55% with the highest rate in city stray dogs, and the differences in distinct species and growth phases were significant. The positive rate of anti-HEV antibody in veterinarian and farm staff-related practitioners was significantly higher than the general population. The finding of the present survey suggested that high HEV seroprevalence in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south-west area of China poses a significant public health concern. It is urgent to improve integrated strategies to detect, prevent and control HEV infection in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in this area. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  8. Metallogenetic regularity exploration model and prospecting potential of the mesocenozoic volcanic type uranium deposit in the east of south China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yusheng; Li Wenjun

    1995-01-01

    During the Meso-Cenozoic era, the crust in the east of South China experienced an evolutional process of compression-relaxed extension-local disintegration, correspondingly, three periods of volcanic activity were developed, forming initial volcanic cycle, principal volcanic cycle and caldera volcanic cycle. The caldera volcanic cycle was expressed as a 'bimodal type' rock suite, indicating the entering of the region into an evolutional stage of new embryonic refitting. The volcanic type uranium deposit is characterized by ore-formation during caldera volcanic cycle, ore control by the mobile belt of caldera volcanic cycle and double superposition and concentration, and it can be summarized as a new unconformity-related type uranium deposit of caldera volcanic series, which is divided into three morphological types: body type, layer type and vein type and relevant exploration models are proposed. The new unconformity-related type uranium deposits of the caldera volcanic series in the east of South China have a great prospecting potential. The tectonomagmatic complex area of the caldera volcanic cycle developed on the granite basement is the favourable target area in searching for large uranium deposits from now on

  9. [Conservation tillage systems in North America and their significance for China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xueming; Zhang, Xiaoping; Fang, Huajun; Liang, Aizhen; Qi, Xiaoning; Wang, Yang

    2004-02-01

    Soil degradation through erosion and desertification reduces soil productivity, and is a serious problem in agricultural production of China. To avert our arable land from further degradation, soil management must be shifted from degrading tillage to conservation practices. Over viewing the technology used in the 20th century for controlling soil degradation from erosion, conservation tillage developed in the United States and adopted in South America and Africa is one of the most successful measures to overcome soil degradation problems. This paper reviewed the historical development and the current situation of conservation tillage systems used in North and South America, with special reference to their effects on soil erosion control and soil quality. The increasing adoption of conservation tillage systems in North and South America and Africa followed an enhanced awareness of the increasing risk of soil erosion and the high cost of fuel associated with conventional tillage. Many crucial points for successfully adopting conservation tillage systems were emphasized, such as equipment/tool development and chemical weed control. Adopting conservation tillage could provide China with low-priced means of reducing soil degradation and improving soil and water quality.

  10. South Africa : tous les projets | Page 3 | CRDI - Centre de ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Sujet: INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKET, FINANCIAL POLICY, DEMOGRAPHY, DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE, DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION. Région: Americas, Brazil, South America, Asia, China, Far East Asia, India, South and Central Asia, Global, Africa, South Africa, South of Sahara.

  11. Application of deep hole blasting to shaft sinking in a hard rock-type uranium mine in south china

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Haisheng; Zeng Lingguo; Ding Dexin

    2009-01-01

    The shaft for backfilling in the 43 exploratory line on the 200 m level in the Mianhuakang mining area in a hard rock uranium mine in South China could not be excavated by using conventional shaft sinking methode since it was near the fault zone and the rock around it was broken and water-bearing. Therefore, the shaft was excavated by using deep hole blasting. This paper presented the design for the blasting and the construction. (authors)

  12. Physical activity and risk of prostate and bladder cancer in China: The South and East China case-control study on prostate and bladder cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raoul C Reulen

    Full Text Available Recent meta-analyses have suggested a modest protective effect of high levels of physical activity on developing both prostate and bladder cancer, but significant heterogeneity between studies included in these meta-analyses existed. To our knowledge, few Chinese studies investigated the association between physical activity and prostate cancer and none between physical activity and bladder cancer. Given the inconsistencies between previous studies and because studies on the relation between physical activity and prostate and bladder cancer in China are scarce, it remains elusive whether there is a relationship between physical activity and prostate and bladder cancer within the Chinese population.We investigated the association between physical activity and risk of developing prostate and bladder cancer within a hospital-based case-control study in the East and South of China among 260 and 438 incident prostate and bladder cancer cases, respectively, and 427 controls. A questionnaire was administered to measure physical activity as metabolic equivalents (METs. Random effects logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs of prostate and bladder cancer for different levels of physical activity and for the specific activities of walking and cycling.Increasing overall physical activity was associated with a significant reduction in prostate cancer risk (Ptrend = 0.04 with the highest activity tertile level showing a nearly 50% reduction in prostate cancer risk (OR = 0.53, 95%CI: 0.28-0.98. Overall physical activity was not significantly associated with risk of bladder cancer (Ptrend = 0.61, neither were vigorous (Ptrend = 0.60 or moderate levels of physical activity (Ptrend = 0.21. Walking and cycling were not significantly associated with either prostate (Ptrend> = 0.62 or bladder cancer risk (Ptrend> = 0.25.The findings of this largest ever case-control study in China investigating the relationship between physical activity and

  13. Quantitative Evaluation of Ecosystem Health in a Karst Area of South China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shengzi Chen

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to propose a GIS-based mechanism for diagnosing karst rocky desertification (KRD ecosystem health. Using the Huajiang Demonstration Area in Guizhou Province as a case study, this research offers a multi-factor indicator system for diagnosing KRD ecosystem health. A set of geologic, environmental, and socio-economic health indicators were developed based on remote sensing images from field-investigation, hydrological, and meteorological monitoring data. With the use of grid GIS technology, this study gives an indicator for diagnosing the spatial expression of desertification at a 5 m × 5 m grid scale. Using spatial overlaying technology based on grid data, the temporal and spatial dynamics of ecosystem health in the Huajiang Demonstration Area were tracked over a 10 year time span. The results of the analysis indicate that ecosystem health in the Huajiang Demonstration Area varies regionally, and has overall improved over time. The proportion of healthy area increased from 3.7% in 2000 to 8.2% in 2010. However, unhealthy and middle-health areas still accounted for 78.7% of the total area by 2010. The most obvious improvement of ecosystem health was in an area where comprehensive control measures for curbing KRD were implemented. These results suggest that comprehensive control of KRD can effectively mitigate ecosystem deterioration and improve ecosystem health in karst regions of South China.

  14. Serum uric acid is associated with dietary and lifestyle factors in elderly women in suburban Guangzhou in Guangdong province of south China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Z; Zhu, C; Qian, X; Zhu, J; Wu, Z; Chen, L

    2013-01-01

    To estimate the prevalence of hyperuricemia and lifestyle risk factors for hyperuricemia in elderly women. Cross-sectional study. The suburban area of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China. The study included 856 Chinese women aged 60 to 102 years who received their annual health examinations in the suburban area of Guangzhou, south China in 2002. Information on anthropometric measurements and lifestyle factors were obtained via a questionnaire processed by the attending physicians or nurses. Blood biochemistry was performed after subjects fasted for 8-14 h. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to investigate associations between hyperuricemia, meat intake quintiles, physical activity quintiles, and alcohol intake quintiles. The prevalence of hyperuricemia in the studied population was 12.01%. Alcohol, meat and seafood consumption; being overweight or obese; hypertension; and abnormal triglyceride levels were strongly associated with a higher prevalence of hyperuricemia. Physical activity was inversely related to the prevalence of hyperuricemia. The odds ratios for hyperuricemia for quintiles of physical activity were 1.00, 0.74, 0.72, 0.63, and 0.55 (P<0.01). Our data suggest that the prevalence of hyperuricemia is high in elderly women in suburban Guangzhou in Guangdong province of South China. Obesity, meat and seafood intake and alcohol consumption are associated with a higher prevalence of hyperuricemia, whereas daily physical activity is inversely related to the prevalence of hyperuricemia.

  15. Permian-Triassic boundary microbialites at Zuodeng Section, Guangxi Province, South China: Geobiology and palaeoceanographic implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Yuheng; Chen, Zhong-Qiang; Kershaw, Stephen; Yang, Hao; Luo, Mao

    2017-05-01

    spheroid without outer sheaths, (2) a large sparry calcite nucleus coated with a thin sparry calcite sheath, (3) a large nucleus of micrite framboid aggregates rimmed by a thin sparry calcite sheath (bacterial clump-like spheroids), (4) a large nucleus of micrite framboid aggregates coated with a thin micritic sheath, and (5) a small sparry nuclei rimmed by coarse-grained, radiated euhedral rays. The irregular contact beneath the Zuodeng microbialites is interpreted as a subaerial exposure surface due to regional regression in South China. The demise of the Zuodeng microbialites may have been due to rapid rise in sea-level because they grew in relatively shallow marine conditions and are overlain by muddy limestones containing pelagic conodonts. Also siliciclastic content increases above the microbialite, suggesting a possible climate-related increase in weathering as the transgression progressed.

  16. Recent evolution of China's virtual water trade: analysis of selected crops and considerations for policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, J.; Liu, J.; Pinter, L.

    2013-09-01

    China has dramatically increased its virtual water import unconsciously for recent years. Many studies have focused on the quantity of traded virtual water but very few go into analysing geographic distribution and the properties of China's virtual water trade network. This paper provides a calculation and analysis of the crop-related virtual water trade network of China based on 27 major primary crops between 1986 and 2009. The results show that China is a net importer of virtual water from water-abundant areas of North and South America, and a net virtual water exporter to water-stressed areas of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Virtual water import is far larger than virtual water export and in both import and export a small number of trade partners control the supply chain. Grain crops are the major contributors to virtual water trade, and among grain crops soybeans, mostly imported from the US, Brazil and Argentina are the most significant. As crop yield and crop water productivity in North and South America are generally higher than those in Asia and Africa, the effect of China's crop-related virtual water trade positively contributes to optimizing crop water use efficiency at the global scale. In order to mitigate water scarcity and secure the food supply, virtual water should be actively incorporated into national water management strategies. From the national perspective, China should reduce the export and increase the import of water-intensive crops. But the sources of virtual water import need to be further diversified to reduce supply chain risks and increase resilience.

  17. The Role of Atmospheric Heating over the South China Sea and Western Pacific Regions in Modulating Asian Summer Climate under the Global Warming Background

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, B.

    2015-12-01

    Global warming is one of the most significant climate change signals at the earth's surface. However, the responses of monsoon precipitation to global warming show very distinct regional features, especially over the South China Sea (SCS) and surrounding regions during boreal summer. To understand the possible dynamics in these specific regions under the global warming background, the changes in atmospheric latent heating and their possible influences on global climate are investigated by both observational diagnosis and numerical sensitivity simulations. Results indicate that summertime latent heating has intensified in the SCS and western Pacific, accompanied by increased precipitation, cloud cover, lower-tropospheric convergence, and decreased sea level pressure. Sensitivity experiments show that middle and upper tropospheric heating causes an east-west feedback pattern between SCS-western Pacific and South Asia, which strengthens the South Asian High in the upper troposphere and moist convergence in the lower troposphere, consequently forcing a descending motion and adiabatic warming over continental South Asia and leading to a warm and dry climate. When air-sea interaction is considered, the simulation results are overall more similar to observations, and in particular the bias of precipitation over the Indian Ocean simulated by AGCMs has been reduced. The results highlight the important role of latent heating in adjusting the changes in sea surface temperature through atmospheric dynamics.

  18. Report of China's innovation increase and research growth in radiation oncology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Hongcheng; Yang, Xi; Qin, Qin; Bian, Kangqi; Zhang, Chi; Liu, Jia; Cheng, Hongyan; Sun, Xinchen

    2014-06-01

    To investigate the research status of radiation oncology in China through survey of literature in international radiation oncology journals and retrospectively compare the outputs of radiation oncology articles of the three major regions of China-Mainland (ML), Taiwan (TW) and Hong Kong (HK). Radiation oncology journals were selected from "oncology" and "radiology, nuclear & medical image" category from Science Citation Index Expand (SCIE). Articles from the ML, TW and HK were retrieved from MEDLINE. The number of total articles, clinical trials, case reports, impact factors (IF), institutions and articles published in each journals were conducted for quantity and quality comparisons. A total 818 articles from 13 radiation oncology journals were searched, of which 427 are from ML, 259 from TW, and 132 from HK. Ninety-seven clinical trials and 5 case reports are reported in China. Accumulated IF of articles from ML (1,417.11) was much higher than that of TW (1,003.093) and HK (544.711), while the average IF of articles from ML is the lowest. The total number of articles from China especially ML increased significantly in the last decade. The number of articles published from the ML has exceeded those from TW and HK. However, the quality of articles from TW and HK is better than that from ML.

  19. Air-sea exchange of gaseous mercury in the tropical coast (Luhuitou fringing reef) of the South China Sea, the Hainan Island, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ci, Zhijia; Zhang, Xiaoshan; Wang, Zhangwei

    2016-06-01

    The air-sea exchange of gaseous mercury (mainly Hg(0)) in the tropical ocean is an important part of the global Hg biogeochemical cycle, but the related investigations are limited. In this study, we simultaneously measured Hg(0) concentrations in surface waters and overlaying air in the tropical coast (Luhuitou fringing reef) of the South China Sea (SCS), Hainan Island, China, for 13 days on January-February 2015. The purpose of this study was to explore the temporal variation of Hg(0) concentrations in air and surface waters, estimate the air-sea Hg(0) flux, and reveal their influencing factors in the tropical coastal environment. The mean concentrations (±SD) of Hg(0) in air and total Hg (THg) in waters were 2.34 ± 0.26 ng m(-3) and 1.40 ± 0.48 ng L(-1), respectively. Both Hg(0) concentrations in waters (53.7 ± 18.8 pg L(-1)) and Hg(0)/THg ratios (3.8 %) in this study were significantly higher than those of the open water of the SCS in winter. Hg(0) in waters usually exhibited a clear diurnal variation with increased concentrations in daytime and decreased concentrations in nighttime, especially in cloudless days with low wind speed. Linear regression analysis suggested that Hg(0) concentrations in waters were positively and significantly correlated to the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (R (2) = 0.42, p sea Hg(0) fluxes were estimated to be 1.73 ± 1.25 ng m(-2) h(-1) with a large range between 0.01 and 6.06 ng m(-2) h(-1). The high variation of Hg(0) fluxes was mainly attributed to the greatly temporal variation of wind speed.

  20. The Kuroshio exchange with the South and East China Seas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Matsuno

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available The Kuroshio flows along the edges of the marginal East Asian seas such as the South China Sea (SCS and East China Sea (ECS. Exchanges of materials and energy between the Kuroshio and the marginal seas partly control the environments of the marginal seas. In particular, saline water from the Kuroshio maintains certain salinity in the shelf water in the ECS. Nutrients from the subsurface of the Kuroshio may influence primary production on the shelf. We summarize how the Kuroshio comes into contact with the shelf water or marginal seas, describing phenomena related to the exchange between the Kuroshio and the ECS along with the SCS, using reports in the literature along with original data. The Kuroshio tends to intrude into the SCS through the Luzon Strait in various manners such as direct intrusion, associated with eddies and as a loop current. The Kuroshio intrusion into the shelf region of the ECS has distinct seasonal variation and the Taiwan Warm Current plays a significant role in the determination of water properties in the outer shelf associated with the Kuroshio intrusion. We then examine physical processes related to the interaction between the Kuroshio and shelf water. Interaction between the Kuroshio and the bottom topography is an important process in the control of the exchange around the shelf break. Vertical mixing and frontal eddies are also important factors that control the water exchange and formation of water masses in the outer shelf. Wind stress plays a significant role in the exchange with a rather event-like manner. To determine the source of the water masses, chemical tracers could be powerful tools and it is suggested that a significant part of the shelf water consists of Kuroshio intermediate water.

  1. Jaspiferin A and B: Two New Secondary Metabolites from the South China Sea Sponge Jaspis stellifera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shengan Tang

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available A chemical investigation of marine sponge Jaspis stellifera, collected from South China Sea, led to the isolation of two new compounds, Jaspiferin A and B (1-2, and six known compounds, gibepyrone F (3 , p- hydroxy benzaldehyde (4 , 3-Indole-3-aldehyde (5 , Thymine (6 , 24(28-dehydroaplysterol (7 , (25s-26- methylene-cholest-4-en-3-one (8. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis in association with physical and chemical properties, as well as comparison of their spectral data with these reported in literatures. The biogenetic transformation of compound 2 was also speculated.

  2. Research on evolutionary laws of Sr, Nd, Pb isotopes of uranium metallization and volcanic rocks in south china

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ying Junlong

    1998-01-01

    According to research on evolutionary tracer of Sr, Nd, Pb isotopes, the author proposes that isotopic evolution of Mesozoic volcanics in south China is controlled by regionally metamorphic rocks of ancient land basement, early reformed derivates and recycled continental crust. Isotopic composition of uranium metallization shows the characteristics of crust sources, and Yanshanian accretion of continental margin caused the crust movement such as magmatic activity in lower crust within continent, extension-down-faulting, etc., promoting the migration, enrichment and ore formation of uranium

  3. Impact of Asian Soft Power in Latin America - China and South Korea as Emerging Powers in the Subcontinent

    OpenAIRE

    Milanowitsch, Bianca Katharina; Derichs, Claudia (Prof. Dr.)

    2018-01-01

    Has the use of soft power as a strategic foreign policy tool enabled China and South Korea to position themselves as emerging powers in Latin America? This study operationalizes and conceptualizes the concept of soft power by measuring it through specific categories within a case study and offers an extended definition of emerging powers. The concept of soft power has been defined by IR theory as a tool only available to hegemonic or strong powers, which has perpetuated an inherent western bi...

  4. The formation of the Late Cretaceous Xishan Sn-W deposit, South China: Geochronological and geochemical perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lipeng; Zhang, Rongqing; Hu, Yongbin; Liang, Jinlong; Ouyang, Zhixia; He, Junjie; Chen, Yuxiao; Guo, Jia; Sun, Weidong

    2017-10-01

    The Xishan Sn-W deposit is spatially related to K-feldspar granites in the Yangchun basin, western Guangdong Province, South China. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating for the Xishan pluton defines an emplacement age of 79 Ma (78.1 ± 0.9 Ma; 79.0 ± 1.2 Ma; 79.3 ± 0.8 Ma), consistent with the mineralization age of the Xishan Sn-W deposit constrained by molybdenite Re-Os isochron age (79.4 ± 4.5 Ma) and LA-ICP-MS cassiterite U-Pb ages (78.1 ± 0.9 Ma and 79.0 ± 1.2 Ma) for the cassiterite-quartz vein. These indicate a close genetic relationship between the granite and Sn-W mineralization. The Xishan K-feldspar granites have geochemical characteristics of A-type granites, e.g., high total alkali (Na2O + K2O = 7.88-10.07 wt.%), high Ga/Al ratios (10000*Ga/Al > 2.6) and high Zr + Nb + Ce + Y concentrations (> 350 ppm). They are further classified as A2-type granites. The whole-rock isotopic compositions of K-feldspar granites (initial 87Sr/86Sr = 0.705256-0.706181; εNd(t) = - 5.4 to - 4.8) and zircon εHf(t) values (- 7.8 to 2.0) suggest a mixed magma source. The low zircon Ce4 +/Ce3 + ratios (12-88) of K-feldspar granites suggest low oxygen fugacities, which is key for enrichment of tin in primary magmas. The K-feldspar granites have experienced strong differentiation as indicated by their high Rb/Sr and K/Rb ratios, and low Nb/Ta and Zr/Hf ratios, which play an important role in ore-forming element transportation and concentration. A-type granite characteristics of the Xishan pluton show that it formed in an extensional environment. The high F and low Cl characteristics of the K-feldspar granite are most probably attributed to slab rollback. In the Late Cretaceous, the Xishan Sn-W deposit was located near the interaction of the circum-Pacific and the Tethys tectonic realms. Late Cretaceous Sn-W deposits, including the Xishan deposit, form an EW-trending belt from Guangdong to Yunnan Province in South China. This belt is in accordance with the direction of the Neo

  5. Biogeochemical Impact of Long-Range Transported Dust over Northern South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsay, Si-Chee; Wang, S. H.; Hsu, N. C.

    2011-01-01

    Transpacific transport and impact of Asian dust aerosols have been well documented (e.g., results from ACE-Asia and regional follow-on campaigns), but little is known about dust invasion to the South China Sea (SCS). On 19-21 March 2010, a fierce Asian dust storm affected large areas from the Gobi deserts to the West Pacific, including Taiwan and Hong Kong. As a pilot study of the 7-SEAS (Seven South East Asian Studies) in the northern SCS, detailed characteristics of long-range transported dust aerosols were first observed by a comprehensive set of ground-based instruments deployed at the Dongsha islands (20deg42'52" N, 116deg43'51" E). Aerosol measurements such as particle mass concentrations, size distribution, optical properties, hygroscopicity, and vertical profiles help illustrate the evolution of this dust outbreak. Our results indicate that these dust particles were mixed with anthropogenic and marine aerosols, and transported near the surface. Satellite assessment of biogeochemical impact of dust deposition into open oceans is hindered by our current inability in retrieving areal dust properties and ocean colors over an extensive period of time, particularly under the influence of cloudy conditions. In this paper, we analyze the changes of retrieved Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration over the northern SCS, considered as oligotophic waters in the spring, from long-term SeaWiFS measurements since 1997. Over the past decade, six long-range transported dust events are identified based on spatiotemporal evolutions of PM10 measurements from regional monitoring stations, with the aid of trajectory analysis. Multi-year composites of Chl-a imagery for dust event and non-dust background during March-April are applied to overcome insufficient retrievals of Chl-a due to cloudy environment. Due to anthropogenic modification within a shallow boundary layer off the densely populated and industrial southeast coast of China, the iron ion activation of deliquescent dust

  6. Variations of annual and seasonal runoff in Guangdong Province, south China: spatiotemporal patterns and possible causes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qiang; Xiao, Mingzhong; Singh, Vijay P.; Xu, Chong-Yu; Li, Jianfeng

    2015-06-01

    In this study, we thoroughly analyzed spatial and temporal distributions of runoff and their relation with precipitation changes based on monthly runoff dataset at 25 hydrological stations and monthly precipitation at 127 stations in Guangdong Province, south China. Trends of the runoff and precipitation are detected using Mann-Kendall trend test technique. Correlations between runoff and precipitation are tested using Spearman's and Pearson's correlation coefficients. The results indicate that: (1) annual maximum monthly runoff is mainly in decreasing tendency and significant increasing annual minimum monthly runoff is observed in the northern and eastern Guangdong Province. In addition, annual mean runoff is observed to be increasing at the stations located in the West and North Rivers and the coastal region; (2) analysis of seasonal runoff variations indicates increasing runoff in spring, autumn and winter. Wherein, significant increase of runoff is found at 8 stations and only 3 stations are dominated by decreasing runoff in winter; (3) runoff changes of the Guangdong Province are mainly the results of precipitation changes. The Guangdong Province is wetter in winter, spring and autumn. Summer is coming to be drier as reflected by decreasing runoff in the season; (4) both precipitation change and water reservoirs also play important roles in the increasing of annual minimum monthly streamflow. Seasonal shifts of runoff variations may pose new challenges for the water resources management under the influences of climate changes and intensifying human activities.

  7. Water geochemistry of the Xijiang basin rivers, South China: Chemical weathering and CO2 consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Zhifang; Liu Congqiang

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → The Xijiang River is the second largest river in China and flows through a large carbonate rock region in South China. → Sulfuric acid, which emanate from acid precipitation and the oxidation of sulfide minerals, is involved as a proton donor in weathering reactions in the Xijiang basin. → Calculated results show that the contribution of cations from rock weathering induced by sulfuric acid accounts for approximately 11.2%. → The flux of CO 2 released into the atmosphere is approximately 0.41 x 10 12 gC yr -1 produced by sulfuric acid-induced carbonate weathering in the Xijiang basin. → Sulfuric acid-induced carbonate weathering could counterbalance a significant part of the CO 2 consumed by silicate weathering. - Abstract: The Xijiang River, the mainstream of the Zhujiang (Pearl) River, which is the second largest river in China in terms of discharge, flows through a large carbonate rock region in South China. The chemical and Sr isotopic compositions of the Xijiang waters were determined during the high-flow season in order to understand the chemical weathering processes, associated CO 2 consumption and anthropogenic influences within the carbonate-dominated basin. The major ion compositions of the river waters are characterized by the dominance of Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , HCO 3 - and are significantly rich in SO 4 2- . The SO 4 2- is mainly derived from the oxidation of sulfide minerals and acid precipitation caused by coal combustion. Chemical and Sr isotopic compositions of the river waters indicate that four reservoirs (carbonates, silicates, evaporites and anthropogenic inputs) contribute to the total dissolved loads. The chemical weathering rates of carbonates and silicates for the Xijiang basin are estimated to be approximately 78.5 and 7.45 ton km -2 a -1 , respectively. The total chemical weathering rate of rocks for the Xijiang basin is approximately 86.1 ton km -2 a -1 or 42 mm ka -1 , which is much higher than global mean

  8. Urinary phthalate metabolites and environmental phenols in university students in South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xue-Mei; Lou, Xiang-Ying; Wu, Liu-Hong; Huang, Cong; Chen, Da; Guo, Ying

    2018-04-14

    In China, university students have unique lifestyles compared with the rest of the youth population, as they are almost entirely isolated in campuses. The number of university students is large, and since students represent the future of human reproduction, exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs) may have a large impact on society. In this study, levels of several EEDs, including phthalate metabolites, parabens, bisphenol A (BPA) and its analogues, triclosan (TCS), and benzophenone-3, were determined in 169 urine samples collected from university students in Guangzhou, South China. In addition, to further understand the potential sources of EEDs in their daily lives, a survey of students' lifestyles was conducted. Based on the urinary concentrations of EEDs and the survey results, daily exposure doses of target EEDs and their potential sources were investigated. Our results indicated that nine phthalate metabolites, three parabens, and BPA were ubiquitous (detection frequency > 60%) in the urine of university students. The concentrations of total phthalates (median: 99.4 µg L -1 ) were orders of magnitude higher than those of total parabens (7.30 µg L -1 ) and of other environmental phenols (0.40 µg L -1 ). Significantly higher concentrations of phthalates, parabens, and TCS were found in female versus male students, partly due to the higher usage of personal care products (PCPs) by female students (p Chinese universities. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  9. Emergence of biopharmaceutical innovators in China, India, Brazil, and South Africa as global competitors and collaborators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rezaie Rahim

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Biopharmaceutical innovation has had a profound health and economic impact globally. Developed countries have traditionally been the source of most innovations as well as the destination for the resulting economic and health benefits. As a result, most prior research on this sector has focused on developed countries. This paper seeks to fill the gap in research on emerging markets by analyzing factors that influence innovative activity in the indigenous biopharmaceutical sectors of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. Using qualitative research methodologies, this paper a shows how biopharmaceutical innovation is taking place within the entrepreneurial sectors of these emerging markets, b identifies common challenges that indigenous entrepreneurs face, c highlights the key role played by the state, and d reveals that the transition to innovation by companies in the emerging markets is characterized by increased global integration. It suggests that biopharmaceutical innovators in emerging markets are capitalizing on opportunities to participate in the drug development value chain and thus developing capabilities and relationships for competing globally both with and against established companies headquartered in developed countries.

  10. Emergence of biopharmaceutical innovators in China, India, Brazil, and South Africa as global competitors and collaborators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaie, Rahim; McGahan, Anita M; Frew, Sarah E; Daar, Abdallah S; Singer, Peter A

    2012-06-06

    Biopharmaceutical innovation has had a profound health and economic impact globally. Developed countries have traditionally been the source of most innovations as well as the destination for the resulting economic and health benefits. As a result, most prior research on this sector has focused on developed countries. This paper seeks to fill the gap in research on emerging markets by analyzing factors that influence innovative activity in the indigenous biopharmaceutical sectors of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. Using qualitative research methodologies, this paper a) shows how biopharmaceutical innovation is taking place within the entrepreneurial sectors of these emerging markets, b) identifies common challenges that indigenous entrepreneurs face, c) highlights the key role played by the state, and d) reveals that the transition to innovation by companies in the emerging markets is characterized by increased global integration. It suggests that biopharmaceutical innovators in emerging markets are capitalizing on opportunities to participate in the drug development value chain and thus developing capabilities and relationships for competing globally both with and against established companies headquartered in developed countries.

  11. Notes on some Indo-Pacific Pontoniinae III-IX descriptions of some new genera and species from the Western Indian Ocean and the South China Sea

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruce, A.J.

    1967-01-01

    CONTENTS Introduction................... 1 III. Anapontonia denticauda Bruce, 1966, from the western Indian Ocean . . 2 IV. Mesopontonia gorgoniophila gen. nov., sp. nov., from the South China Sea 13 V. Metapontonia fungiacola gen. nov., sp. nov., from the western Indian Ocean 23 VI. The genus

  12. Understanding developing country stances on post-2012 climate change negotiations. Comparative analysis of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rong, Fang [Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego, 92093 (United States); Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

    2010-08-15

    An essential issue in future climate negotiations is how to bring developing countries on board. This paper proposes and applies the two-level interest-based model to analyze the factors that affect the likely stances of the Plus Five countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa) on international climate negotiations. This study finds mitigation capability to be a crucial factor which consists of at least such sub-factors as per capita income, energy endowment, and economic structure, while ecological vulnerability does not seem to play an important role which includes reductions in agricultural outputs, sea-level rise, climate-related natural disasters, and others. The paper proposes six options in an ascending order of stringency that the Plus Five are likely to adopt. The paper suggests that the Basic Four (the Plus Five excluding Mexico), particularly China and India, are less likely to adopt a voluntary commitment to an emissions cap on the national economy in the near future than Mexico, which has the highest mitigation capability among all five. The Basic Four are likely to adopt more stringent climate polices with increasing mitigation capabilities, suggesting the importance of effective international financial and technology transfer mechanisms and further tighten emission reduction targets from developed countries. (author)

  13. Understanding developing country stances on post-2012 climate change negotiations: Comparative analysis of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rong Fang

    2010-01-01

    An essential issue in future climate negotiations is how to bring developing countries on board. This paper proposes and applies the two-level interest-based model to analyze the factors that affect the likely stances of the 'Plus Five' countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa) on international climate negotiations. This study finds mitigation capability to be a crucial factor which consists of at least such sub-factors as per capita income, energy endowment, and economic structure, while ecological vulnerability does not seem to play an important role which includes reductions in agricultural outputs, sea-level rise, climate-related natural disasters, and others. The paper proposes six options in an ascending order of stringency that the Plus Five are likely to adopt. The paper suggests that the 'Basic Four' (the Plus Five excluding Mexico), particularly China and India, are less likely to adopt a voluntary commitment to an emissions cap on the national economy in the near future than Mexico, which has the highest mitigation capability among all five. The Basic Four are likely to adopt more stringent climate polices with increasing mitigation capabilities, suggesting the importance of effective international financial and technology transfer mechanisms and further tighten emission reduction targets from developed countries.

  14. Understanding developing country stances on post-2012 climate change negotiations: Comparative analysis of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rong Fang, E-mail: rongfang98@hotmail.co [Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego, 92093 (United States); Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

    2010-08-15

    An essential issue in future climate negotiations is how to bring developing countries on board. This paper proposes and applies the two-level interest-based model to analyze the factors that affect the likely stances of the 'Plus Five' countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa) on international climate negotiations. This study finds mitigation capability to be a crucial factor which consists of at least such sub-factors as per capita income, energy endowment, and economic structure, while ecological vulnerability does not seem to play an important role which includes reductions in agricultural outputs, sea-level rise, climate-related natural disasters, and others. The paper proposes six options in an ascending order of stringency that the Plus Five are likely to adopt. The paper suggests that the 'Basic Four' (the Plus Five excluding Mexico), particularly China and India, are less likely to adopt a voluntary commitment to an emissions cap on the national economy in the near future than Mexico, which has the highest mitigation capability among all five. The Basic Four are likely to adopt more stringent climate polices with increasing mitigation capabilities, suggesting the importance of effective international financial and technology transfer mechanisms and further tighten emission reduction targets from developed countries.

  15. Methane Metabolizing Microbial Communities in the Cold Seep Areas in the Northern Continental Shelf of South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, F.; Liang, Q.

    2016-12-01

    Marine sediment contains large amount of methane, estimated approximately 500-2500 gigatonnes of dissolved and hydrated methane carbon stored therein, mainly in continental margins. In localized specific areas named cold seeps, hydrocarbon (mainly methane) containing fluids rise to the seafloor, and support oases of ecosystem composed of various microorganisms and faunal assemblages. South China Sea (SCS) is surrounded by passive continental margins in the west and north and convergent margins in the south and east. Thick organic-rich sediments have accumulated in the SCS since the late Mesozoic, which are continuing sources to form gas hydrates in the sediments of SCS. Here, Microbial ecosystems, particularly those involved in methane transformations were investigated in the cold seep areas (Qiongdongnan, Shenhu, and Dongsha) in the northern continental shelf of SCS. Multiple interdisciplinary analytic tools such as stable isotope probing, geochemical analysis, and molecular ecology, were applied for a comprehensive understanding of the microbe mediated methane transformation in this project. A variety of sediments cores have been collected, the geochemical profiles and the associated microbial distribution along the sediment cores were recorded. The major microbial groups involved in the methane transformation in these sediment cores were revealed, known methane producing and oxidizing archaea including Methanosarcinales, anaerobic methane oxidizing groups ANME-1, ANME-2 and their niche preference in the SCS sediments were found. In-depth comparative analysis revealed the presence of SCS-specific archaeal subtypes which probably reflected the evolution and adaptation of these methane metabolizing microbes to the SCS environmental conditions. Our work represents the first comprehensive analysis of the methane metabolizing microbial communities in the cold seep areas along the northern continental shelf of South China Sea, would provide new insight into the

  16. Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Datuo karst Tiankeng of South China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theodore, Oramah I; Qi, Shihua; Kong, Xiangsheng; Liu, Huafeng; Li, Jun; Li, Jie; Wang, Xiangqing; Wang, Yinhui

    2008-10-01

    Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in surface soils of Datuo karst Tiankeng (large sinkholes) in South China with the use of a gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) system. This paper provides data on the levels and distribution of PAHs from the top to the bottom of the Datuo karst Tiankeng. The results showed that the sum of the 16 EPA priority PAHs from the sampled locations from top to bottom had a relative increment in PAHs concentration. summation operatorPAHs ranged from 16.93 ng/g to 68.07 ng/g with a mean concentration of 42.15 ng/g. The correlated results showed the bottom of the large sinkhole, which accounts for the higher concentrations, probably acts like a trap for the PAHs. Thus, the low evaporation rate at the bottom may play a key role in controlling the high concentration of PAHs at the bottom.

  17. Archaeolithoporella and Tubiphytes : Affinties and Paleoecology in Permian Reefs of South China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    王生海; 范嘉松; J.Keith Rigby

    1994-01-01

    Archaeolithoporella is one of the most important Permian reef-building organisms, but itsaffinity has long been controversial. It was first reported in Japan and was considered as a coralline red alga. Since then it has been recognized in Permian reefs in other parts of the world. Many researchers have studied the materials they had found and the Japanese holotype specimen. Most have concluded that it is a problematic alga. or just a problematica because of weak criteria for definition. Some have even considered it inorganic. However, relict cellular structures and microtubular laminae found in well-preserved specimens from Permian reefs in South China strongly support a coralline red algal affinity for the genus.In situ preserved Archaeolithoporella is restricted within the typical framework facies and it occurs most abundantly in syndepositionally cemented framestones. This suggests that Archaeolithoporella required a firm substrate and clear but agitated sea water. Archaeolithoporella is often found

  18. South Africa : tous les projets | Page 7 | CRDI - Centre de ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Sujet: Science and Technology, MEDICAL RESEARCH, HUMAN GENETICS, GENETIC ENGINEERING, BIOTECHNOLOGY. Région: Brazil, South America, China, Far East Asia, India, South Africa, North of Sahara, South of Sahara, North and Central America, Central Asia, South Asia, Canada. Programme: Économies en ...

  19. Increased topsoil carbon stock across China's forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yuanhe; Li, Pin; Ding, Jinzhi; Zhao, Xia; Ma, Wenhong; Ji, Chengjun; Fang, Jingyun

    2014-08-01

    Biomass carbon accumulation in forest ecosystems is a widespread phenomenon at both regional and global scales. However, as coupled carbon-climate models predicted, a positive feedback could be triggered if accelerated soil carbon decomposition offsets enhanced vegetation growth under a warming climate. It is thus crucial to reveal whether and how soil carbon stock in forest ecosystems has changed over recent decades. However, large-scale changes in soil carbon stock across forest ecosystems have not yet been carefully examined at both regional and global scales, which have been widely perceived as a big bottleneck in untangling carbon-climate feedback. Using newly developed database and sophisticated data mining approach, here we evaluated temporal changes in topsoil carbon stock across major forest ecosystem in China and analysed potential drivers in soil carbon dynamics over broad geographical scale. Our results indicated that topsoil carbon stock increased significantly within all of five major forest types during the period of 1980s-2000s, with an overall rate of 20.0 g C m(-2) yr(-1) (95% confidence interval, 14.1-25.5). The magnitude of soil carbon accumulation across coniferous forests and coniferous/broadleaved mixed forests exhibited meaningful increases with both mean annual temperature and precipitation. Moreover, soil carbon dynamics across these forest ecosystems were positively associated with clay content, with a larger amount of SOC accumulation occurring in fine-textured soils. In contrast, changes in soil carbon stock across broadleaved forests were insensitive to either climatic or edaphic variables. Overall, these results suggest that soil carbon accumulation does not counteract vegetation carbon sequestration across China's forest ecosystems. The combination of soil carbon accumulation and vegetation carbon sequestration triggers a negative feedback to climate warming, rather than a positive feedback predicted by coupled carbon-climate models

  20. The distribution and diversity of sea cucumbers in the coral reefs of the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woo, Sau Pinn; Yasin, Zulfigar; Ismail, Siti Hasmah; Tan, Shau Hwai

    2013-11-01

    A study on the distribution and diversity of sea cucumbers in the coral reefs of the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea was carried out in July 2009. The survey was done using wandering transect underwater with SCUBA. Twelve species of sea cucumber were found from four different families and nine genera. The most dominant family was Holothuriidae (five species), followed by Stichopodidae (three species), Synaptidae (three species) and Cucumariidae with only one species. The most dominant species found around the island was Pearsonothuria graffei, which can be found abundantly on substrate of dead corals in a wide range of depth (6-15 m). The Sulawesi Sea showed a higher diversity of sea cucumber with seven different species compared to the South China Sea with only six different species and Sulu Sea with only two species. Ordination by multidimensional scaling of Bray-Curtis similarities clustered the sampling locations to three main clusters with two outgroups. Previous studies done indicated a higher diversity of sea cucumber as compared to this study. This can be indication that the population and diversity of sea cucumbers in the reef is under threat.

  1. Geothermal fields of China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kearey, P.; HongBing, Wei

    1993-08-01

    There are over 2500 known occurrences of geothermal phenomena in China. These lie mainly in four major geothermal zones: Xizang (Tibet)-Yunnan, Taiwan, East Coast and North-South. Hot water has also been found in boreholes in major Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basins. This paper presents a summary of present knowledge of these geothermal zones. The geological settings of geothermal occurrences are associated mainly with magmatic activity, fault uplift and depressional basins and these are described by examples of each type. Increased multipurpose utilisation of geothermal resources is planned and examples are given of current usages.

  2. Analysis of precipitation characteristics of South and North China based on the power-law tail exponents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Guolin; Zhang Daquan; Gong Zhiqiang; Zhi Rong

    2008-01-01

    Precipitation sequence is a typical nonlinear and chaotic observational series, and studies on precipitation forecasts are restricted to the use of traditional linear statistical methods, especially when analysing the regional characteristics of precipitation. In the context of 20 stations' daily precipitation series (from 1956 to 2000) in South China (SC) and North China (NC), we divide each precipitation series into many self-stationary segments by using the heuristic segmentation algorithm (briefly BG algorithm). For each station's precipitation series, we calculate the exponent of power-law tail (EPT) of the cumulative probability distribution of segments with a length larger than l for precipitation and temperature series. Our results show that the power-law decay of the cumulative probability distribution of stationary segments might be a common attribution for precipitation and other nonstationary time series; the EPT somewhat indicates the precipitation duration and its spatial distribution that might be different from area to area. The EPT in NC is larger than in SC; Meanwhile, EPT might be another effective way to study the abrupt changes in nonlinear and nonstationary time series. (geophysics, astronomy and astrophysics)

  3. Zoantharia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) of the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand: a species list based on past reports and new photographic records

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reimer, J.D.; Wee, H.B.; Put, A.; Hoeksema, B.W.

    2015-01-01

    This study is the first review of Zoantharia species in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand. In addition to past literature records, new field observations are added from previously unexamined countries and regions. In total 16 species are listed, 15 of which belong to suborder Brachycnemina,

  4. Overview on seagrasses and related research in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Yajun; Fan, Hangqing; Cui, Xiaojian; Pan, Lianghao; Li, Sen; Song, Xiukai

    2010-03-01

    Seagrass research in China is still in its infancy. Even though there has been progress recently, there is still a great deal of research needed to gain a better understanding of seagrass. In this article we review and discuss the advances in seagrass research in China from two aspects: (1) seagrass species and their distribution; (2) seagrass research in China, including studies on their taxonomy, ecology, photosynthesis, applications in aquaculture, salt-tolerance mechanisms and other research topics. A total of 18 seagrass species belonging to 8 genera are distributed in nine provinces and regions in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), as well as the Xisha and Nansha Archipelagos. They can be divided into two groups: a North China Group and a South China Group. Based on the seagrass distribution, the Chinese mainland coast can be divided into three sections: North China Seagrass Coast, Middle China Seagrass Coast, and South China Seagrass Coast. Ecological studies include research on seagrass communities, nutrient cycling in seagrass ecosystems, genetic diversity, pollution ecology and research in the key regions of Shandong, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan. Seagrass species and their locations, community structure, ecological evaluation, epiphytes, ecological functions and threats in the key regions are also summarized. Other studies have focused on remote sensing of seagrass, threatened seagrass species of China, and pollen morphology of Halophila ovalis.

  5. A closer looking at dimming and brightening in China during 1961-2005

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xia, X. [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). LAGEO, Inst. of Atmospheric Physics

    2010-07-01

    This study investigates dimming and brightening of surface solar radiation (SSR) during 1961-2005 in China as well as its relationships to total cloud cover (TCC). This is inferred from daily ground-based observational records at 45 pyranometer stations. A statistical method is introduced to study contributions of changes in the frequency of TCC categories and their atmospheric transparency to the secular SSR trend. The surface records suggest a renewed dimming beyond 2000 in North China after the stabilization in the 1990s; however, a slight brightening appears beyond 2000 in South China. Inter-annual variability of SSR is negatively correlated with that of TCC, but there is a positive correlation between decadal variability of SSR and TCC in most cases. The dimming during 1961-1990 is exclusively attributable to decreased atmospheric transparency, a portion of which is offset by TCC frequency changes in Northeast and Southwest China. The dimming during 1961-1990 in Northwest and Southeast China primarily results from decreased atmospheric transparency under all sky conditions and the percentage of dimming stemming from TCC frequency changes is 11% in Northwest and 2% in Southeast China. Decreased atmospheric transparencies during 1991- 2005 in North China in most cases lead to the dimming. TCC frequency changes also contribute to the dimming during this period in North China. This feature is more pronounced in summer and winter when TCC frequency changes can account for more than 80% of dimming. In South China, increased atmospheric transparencies lead to the brightening during 1991-2005. A substantial contribution by TCC frequency changes to the brightening is also evident in spring and autumn. (orig.)

  6. All projects related to China | Page 3 | IDRC - International ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Under "Healthy China 2020," universal basic healthcare coverage will be provided to all ... ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE, HEALTH SYSTEM, PUBLIC HEALTH, HEALTH POLICY ... Region: North of Sahara, South of Sahara, Brazil, China.

  7. Can sediments at hydrocarbon seep sites represent a source for marine bioavailable iron? — A case study from the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, N.; Feng, D.; Chen, D.

    2017-12-01

    Niu Li1, Dong Feng1,2, and Duofu Chen2,31CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. 2Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, China. 3Hadal Science and Technology Research Center, College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China. Iron is an essential micronutrient and commonly considered to be one of the key-limiting factors for biological productivity in many ocean regions. Seafloor Fe supply should be most efficient in suboxic conditions. Recent studies shown that widely spread anoxic environments can develop in hydrocarbon seep sediment and local bottom water, owing to the occurrence of aerobic and/or anaerobic methane oxidation. Under this condition, the iron in sediment can be reduced to dissolved Fe2+ in the ocean. However, questions remain about whether the hydrocarbon seep sediment can represent a source for bioavailable iron to the ocean, and the control factor for the transformation of iron in the sediment remains largely unexplored. For a number of hydrocarbon seeps from the northern and southern South China Sea, the iron speciation, pyrite sulfur isotope, and iron isotope, as well as the major and trace elements are used to constrain the intensity of cold seep, and its impact on transformation of iron in sediment. Samples from both areas show sediment iron lost during the high methane flux conditions, owing to the suboxic conditions cause by aerobic methane oxidation. On the other hand, high sediment iron content accompanied by high sulfur content can be seen during the conditions of high methane flux without the occurrence of aerobic methane oxidation, which is possible ascribed to the anaerobic methane oxidation and the release of iron through seep activity. This study reveals the transformation of iron in the sediment is closely related to the

  8. Arsenic accumulation and phosphorus status in two rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars surveyed from fields in South China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu Ying; Dong, Fei; Deacon, Claire; Chen Huojun; Raab, Andrea; Meharg, Andrew A.

    2010-01-01

    The consumption of paddy rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a major inorganic arsenic exposure pathway in S.E. Asia. A multi-location survey was undertaken in Guangdong Province, South China to assess arsenic accumulation and speciation in 2 rice cultivars, one an Indica and the other a hybrid Indica. The results showed that arsenic concentrations in rice tissue increased in the order grain < husk < straw < root. Rice grain arsenic content of 2 rice cultivars was significant different and correlated with phosphorus concentration and molar ratio of P/As in shoot, being higher for the Indica cultivar than for the hybrid Indica, which suggests altering shoot phosphorus status as a promising route for breeding rice cultivars with reduced grain arsenic. Speciation of grain arsenic, performed using HPLC-ICP-MS, identified inorganic arsenic as the dominant arsenic species present in the rice grain. - Altering rice shoot phosphorus status is a promising route for breeding rice cultivars with reduced grain arsenic.

  9. Cloning, expression and characterization of a novel esterase from a South China Sea sediment metagenome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hao; Li, Fuchao; Chen, Huaxin; Zhao, Jin; Yan, Jinfei; Jiang, Peng; Li, Ronggui; Zhu, Baoli

    2015-07-01

    Lipolytic enzymes, including esterases and lipases, represent a group of hydrolases that catalyze the cleavage and formation of ester bonds. A novel esterase gene, scsEst01, was cloned from a South China Sea sediment metagenome. The scsEst01 gene consisted of 921 bp encoding 307 amino acid residues. The predicted amino acid sequence shared less than 90% identity with other lipolytic enzymes in the NCBI nonredundant protein database. ScsEst01 was successfully co-expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) with chaperones (dnaK-dnaJ-grpE) to prevent the formation of inclusion bodies. The recombinant protein was purified on an immobilized metal ion affinity column containing chelating Sepharose charged with Ni2+. The enzyme was characterized using p -nitrophenol butyrate as a substrate. ScsEst01 had the highest lipolytic activity at 35°C and pH 8.0, indicative of a meso-thermophilic alkaline esterase. ScsEst01 was thermostable at 20°C. The lipolytic activity of scsEst01 was strongly increased by Fe2+, Mn2+ and 1% Tween 80 or Tween 20.

  10. Countering China’s Maritime Territorial Disputes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-03-31

    television, newspaper, and social media campaigns. Media warfare is one of the domains through which China conducts psychological and legal warfare. The...resolve regional economic, social , and cultural issues through intergovernmental cooperation among its members. All of the South China Sea claimants are...influence the Senkaku Island dispute, and in 2012, China restricted produce trade and tourism trade with the Republic of the Philippines in order to

  11. Dongsha Atoll: A potential thermal refuge for reef-building corals in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tkachenko, Konstantin S; Soong, Keryea

    2017-06-01

    Dongsha Atoll (also known as the Pratas Islands), the northernmost atoll in the South China Sea, experiences two contrasting physical phenomena: repetitive anomalies of the sea surface temperature exceeding the coral bleaching threshold and regular effects of the world's strongest internal waves resulting in the rhythmic upwelling of cold deep waters at the outer reef slopes of the atoll. This unique combination may result in significant differences in coral species composition and structure between the lagoon and forereef. Surveys conducted in August-September 2016 at 12 study sites in the 2-15 m depth range at Dongsha Atoll revealed a clear spatial separation between 'thermally-susceptible' stony coral genera, including Acropora, Pocillopora and Montipora, which mainly inhabited the forereef, and 'thermally-resistant' genera, including massive Porites, foliaceous Echinopora, Pavona and Turbinaria, which mainly resided in the lagoon. The mean coral cover and species richness on the forereef were respectively 1.8 and 1.4 times higher than those in the lagoon (61.3% and 98 species on the forereef vs. 34.2% and 69 species in the lagoon). Coral mortality rates, expressed as the ratio of dead to live stony corals, showed the same pattern (0.4 in the lagoon vs. 0.009 on the forereef). Furthermore, in a laboratory experiment, 'thermally-susceptible' taxa from the lagoon, (e.g. Pocillopora verrucosa and P. damicornis), exhibited higher resistance to bleaching than did their counterparts from the forereef. The present findings indicate that Dongsha Atoll is a potential thermal refuge for reef-building corals in the northern South China Sea and reveal the development of resilience and resistance to bleaching in coral communities of the lagoon. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Genetic structure and hierarchical population divergence history of Acer mono var. mono in South and Northeast China.

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    Chunping Liu

    Full Text Available Knowledge of the genetic structure and evolutionary history of tree species across their ranges is essential for the development of effective conservation and forest management strategies. Acer mono var. mono, an economically and ecologically important maple species, is extensively distributed in Northeast China (NE, whereas it has a scattered and patchy distribution in South China (SC. In this study, the genetic structure and demographic history of 56 natural populations of A. mono var. mono were evaluated using seven nuclear microsatellite markers. Neighbor-joining tree and STRUCTURE analysis clearly separated populations into NE and SC groups with two admixed-like populations. Allelic richness significantly decreased with increasing latitude within the NE group while both allelic richness and expected heterozygosity showed significant positive correlation with latitude within the SC group. Especially in the NE region, previous studies in Quercus mongolica and Fraxinus mandshurica have also detected reductions in genetic diversity with increases in latitude, suggesting this pattern may be common for tree species in this region, probably due to expansion from single refugium following the last glacial maximum (LGM. Approximate Bayesian Computation-based analysis revealed two major features of hierarchical population divergence in the species' evolutionary history. Recent divergence between the NE group and the admixed-like group corresponded to the LGM period and ancient divergence of SC groups took place during mid-late Pleistocene period. The level of genetic differentiation was moderate (FST  = 0.073; G'ST  = 0.278 among all populations, but significantly higher in the SC group than the NE group, mirroring the species' more scattered distribution in SC. Conservation measures for this species are proposed, taking into account the genetic structure and past demographic history identified in this study.

  13. Genetic Structure and Hierarchical Population Divergence History of Acer mono var. mono in South and Northeast China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Hailong; Hu, Lijiang; Saito, Yoko; Ide, Yuji

    2014-01-01

    Knowledge of the genetic structure and evolutionary history of tree species across their ranges is essential for the development of effective conservation and forest management strategies. Acer mono var. mono, an economically and ecologically important maple species, is extensively distributed in Northeast China (NE), whereas it has a scattered and patchy distribution in South China (SC). In this study, the genetic structure and demographic history of 56 natural populations of A. mono var. mono were evaluated using seven nuclear microsatellite markers. Neighbor-joining tree and STRUCTURE analysis clearly separated populations into NE and SC groups with two admixed-like populations. Allelic richness significantly decreased with increasing latitude within the NE group while both allelic richness and expected heterozygosity showed significant positive correlation with latitude within the SC group. Especially in the NE region, previous studies in Quercus mongolica and Fraxinus mandshurica have also detected reductions in genetic diversity with increases in latitude, suggesting this pattern may be common for tree species in this region, probably due to expansion from single refugium following the last glacial maximum (LGM). Approximate Bayesian Computation-based analysis revealed two major features of hierarchical population divergence in the species’ evolutionary history. Recent divergence between the NE group and the admixed-like group corresponded to the LGM period and ancient divergence of SC groups took place during mid-late Pleistocene period. The level of genetic differentiation was moderate (FST = 0.073; G′ST = 0.278) among all populations, but significantly higher in the SC group than the NE group, mirroring the species’ more scattered distribution in SC. Conservation measures for this species are proposed, taking into account the genetic structure and past demographic history identified in this study. PMID:24498039

  14. Genetic structure and hierarchical population divergence history of Acer mono var. mono in South and Northeast China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chunping; Tsuda, Yoshiaki; Shen, Hailong; Hu, Lijiang; Saito, Yoko; Ide, Yuji

    2014-01-01

    Knowledge of the genetic structure and evolutionary history of tree species across their ranges is essential for the development of effective conservation and forest management strategies. Acer mono var. mono, an economically and ecologically important maple species, is extensively distributed in Northeast China (NE), whereas it has a scattered and patchy distribution in South China (SC). In this study, the genetic structure and demographic history of 56 natural populations of A. mono var. mono were evaluated using seven nuclear microsatellite markers. Neighbor-joining tree and STRUCTURE analysis clearly separated populations into NE and SC groups with two admixed-like populations. Allelic richness significantly decreased with increasing latitude within the NE group while both allelic richness and expected heterozygosity showed significant positive correlation with latitude within the SC group. Especially in the NE region, previous studies in Quercus mongolica and Fraxinus mandshurica have also detected reductions in genetic diversity with increases in latitude, suggesting this pattern may be common for tree species in this region, probably due to expansion from single refugium following the last glacial maximum (LGM). Approximate Bayesian Computation-based analysis revealed two major features of hierarchical population divergence in the species' evolutionary history. Recent divergence between the NE group and the admixed-like group corresponded to the LGM period and ancient divergence of SC groups took place during mid-late Pleistocene period. The level of genetic differentiation was moderate (FST  = 0.073; G'ST  = 0.278) among all populations, but significantly higher in the SC group than the NE group, mirroring the species' more scattered distribution in SC. Conservation measures for this species are proposed, taking into account the genetic structure and past demographic history identified in this study.

  15. Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM fluxes over canopy of two typical subtropical forests in south China

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    Q. Yu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Mercury (Hg exchange between forests and the atmosphere plays an important role in global Hg cycling. The present estimate of global emission of Hg from natural source has large uncertainty, partly due to the lack of chronical and valid field data, particularly for terrestrial surfaces in China, the most important contributor to global atmospheric Hg. In this study, the micrometeorological method (MM was used to continuously observe gaseous elemental mercury (GEM fluxes over forest canopy at a mildly polluted site (Qianyanzhou, QYZ and a moderately polluted site (Huitong, HT, near a large Hg mine in subtropical south China for a full year from January to December in 2014. The GEM flux measurements over forest canopy in QYZ and HT showed net emission with annual average values of 6.67 and 0.30 ng m−2 h−1, respectively. Daily variations of GEM fluxes showed an increasing emission with the increasing air temperature and solar radiation in the daytime to a peak at 13:00, and decreasing emission thereafter, even as a GEM sink or balance at night. High temperature and low air Hg concentration resulted in the high Hg emission in summer. Low temperature in winter and Hg absorption by plant in spring resulted in low Hg emission, or even adsorption in the two seasons. GEM fluxes were positively correlated with air temperature, soil temperature, wind speed, and solar radiation, while it is negatively correlated with air humidity and atmospheric GEM concentration. The lower emission fluxes of GEM at the moderately polluted site (HT when compared with that in the mildly polluted site (QYZ may result from a much higher adsorption fluxes at night in spite of a similar or higher emission fluxes during daytime. This shows that the higher atmospheric GEM concentration at HT restricted the forest GEM emission. Great attention should be paid to forests as a crucial increasing Hg emission source with the decreasing atmospheric GEM concentration

  16. CHINA PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC:PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR REGIONAL INTEGERATION

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    Akber Ali

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available As a flagship of China’s One Belt One Road initiative, China Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC is pivotal to China’s energy security owing to the growing rowin the region of South China Sea among China and other regional and globalplayers. The ongoing contestation between China and other countries in the AsiaPacific has compelled China to look for alternative pathways to meet itsincreasing energy needs in case of any blockade of the Strait of Malacca as aconsequence of any conflict between China and other countries. The CPEC couldalso bring economic avenues to Pakistan and can foster regional and crossregional economic and trade integration between South Asia, Central Asia, EastAsia and West Asia. However, it is also surrounded by some serious challengesranging from regional security environment, internal instability to politicaldiscontent among various political actors in the Pakistani polity.

  17. Symbiodinium spp. associated with scleractinian corals from Dongsha Atoll (Pratas), Taiwan, in the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keshavmurthy, Shashank; Tang, Kuo-Hsun; Hsu, Chia-Min; Gan, Chai-Hsia; Kuo, Chao-Yang; Soong, Keryea; Chou, Hong-Nong; Chen, Chaolun Allen

    2017-01-01

    Dongsha Atoll (also known as Pratas) in Taiwan is the northernmost atoll in the South China Sea and a designated marine national park since 2007. The marine park's scope of protection covers the bio-resources of its waters in addition to uplands, so it is important to have data logging information and analyses of marine flora and fauna, including their physiology, ecology, and genetics. As part of this effort, we investigated Symbiodinium associations in scleractinian corals from Dongsha Atoll through surveys carried out at two depth ranges (shallow, 1-5 m; and deep, 10-15 m) in 2009 and during a bleaching event in 2010. Symbiodinium composition was assessed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of 28S nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (nlsrDNA). Our results showed that the 796 coral samples from seven families and 20 genera collected in 2009 and 132 coral samples from seven families and 12 genera collected in 2010 were associated with Symbiodinium C, D and C+D. Occurrence of clade D in shallow water (24.5%) was higher compared to deep (14.9%). Due to a bleaching event in 2010, up to 80% of coral species associated with Symbiodinium C underwent moderate to severe bleaching. Using the fine resolution technique of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) in 175 randomly selected coral samples, from 2009 and 2010, eight Symbiodinium C types and two Symbiodinium D types were detected. This study is the first baseline survey on Symbiodinium associations in the corals of Dongsha Atoll in the South China Sea, and it shows the dominance of Symbiodinium clade C in the population.

  18. Common risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases among older adults in China, Ghana, Mexico, India, Russia and South Africa: the study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) wave 1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Fan; Guo, Yanfei; Chatterji, Somnath; Zheng, Yang; Naidoo, Nirmala; Jiang, Yong; Biritwum, Richard; Yawson, Alfred; Minicuci, Nadia; Salinas-Rodriguez, Aaron; Manrique-Espinoza, Betty; Maximova, Tamara; Peltzer, Karl; Phaswanamafuya, Nancy; Snodgrass, James J; Thiele, Elizabeth; Ng, Nawi; Kowal, Paul

    2015-02-06

    Behavioral risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity and the harmful use of alcohol are known and modifiable contributors to a number of NCDs and health mediators. The purpose of this paper is to describe the distribution of main risk factors for NCDs by socioeconomic status (SES) among adults aged 50 years and older within a country and compare these risk factors across six lower- and upper-middle income countries. The study population in this paper draw from SAGE Wave 1 and consisted of adults aged 50-plus from China (N=13,157), Ghana (N=4,305), India (N=6,560), Mexico (N=2,318), the Russian Federation (N=3,938) and South Africa (N=3,836). Seven main common risk factors for NCDs were identified: daily tobacco use, frequent heavy drinking, low level physical activity, insufficient vegetable and fruit intake, high risk waist-hip ratio, obesity and hypertension. Multiple risk factors were also calculated by summing all these risk factors. The prevalence of daily tobacco use ranged from 7.7% (Ghana) to 46.9% (India), frequent heavy drinker was the highest in China (6.3%) and lowest in India (0.2%), and the highest prevalence of low physical activity was in South Africa (59.7%). The highest prevalence of respondents with high waist-to-hip ratio risk was 84.5% in Mexico, and the prevalence of self-reported hypertension ranging from 33% (India) to 78% (South Africa). Obesity was more common in South Africa, the Russia Federation and Mexico (45.2%, 36% and 28.6%, respectively) compared with China, India and Ghana (15.3%, 9.7% and 6.4%, respectively). China, Ghana and India had a higher prevalence of respondents with multiple risk factors than Mexico, the Russia Federation and South Africa. The occurrence of three and four risk factors was more prevalent in Mexico, the Russia Federation and South Africa. There were substantial variations across countries and settings, even between upper-middle income countries and lower-middle income

  19. Phytoplankton pigment patterns and community composition in the northern South China Sea during winter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhai, Hongchang; Ning, Xiuren; Tang, Xuexi; Hao, Qiang; Le, Fengfeng; Qiao, Jing

    2011-03-01

    Phytoplankton pigment patterns and community composition were investigated in the northern South China Sea using high-performance liquid chromatography and the CHEMTAX software from February 11 to 23, 2009. We recognized four different vertical distribution patterns of pigments: chlorophyll a (Chi a)-like type, divinyl chlorophyll a (DV Chi a) type, even distribution type, and surface type. The average value of ratios of accessory photo-protective pigments (APP) to accessory photo-synthetic pigments was 0.89±0.63 in the upper 50 m and 0.16±0.06 below 50 m depth. With increasing depth, APP decreased and photo-synthetically active radiation was attenuated. There was an obvious succession in the phytoplankton community from inshore to the open sea. Diatoms were dominant in the inshore region, while pelagophytes, Prochlorococcus, cyanobacteria and prymnesiophytes were dominant in the open sea. The vertical distribution of phytoplankton also differed greatly from inshore to the open sea. In the coastal and shelf region, diatoms were important components in the whole water column. Cyanobacteria also had a high abundance at the Subsurface Chlorophyll a Maxima (SCM) in the shelf region. In the slope and open sea, Prochlorococcus and cyanobacteria were important groups above the SCM, while pelagophytes dominated below the SCM.

  20. China's role as a global health donor in Africa: what can we learn from studying under reported resource flows?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grépin, Karen A; Fan, Victoria Y; Shen, Gordon C; Chen, Lucy

    2014-12-30

    There is a growing recognition of China's role as a global health donor, in particular in Africa, but there have been few systematic studies of the level, destination, trends, or composition of these development finance flows or a comparison of China's engagement as a donor with that of more traditional global health donors. Using newly released data from AidData on China's development finance activities in Africa, developed to track under reported resource flows, we identified 255 health, population, water, and sanitation (HPWS) projects from 2000-2012, which we descriptively analyze by activity sector, recipient country, project type, and planned activity. We compare China's activities to projects from traditional donors using data from the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Creditor Reporting System. Since 2000, China increased the number of HPWS projects it supported in Africa and health has increased as a development priority for China. China's contributions are large, ranking it among the top 10 bilateral global health donors to Africa. Over 50% of the HPWS projects target infrastructure, 40% target human resource development, and the provision of equipment and drugs is also common. Malaria is an important disease priority but HIV is not. We find little evidence that China targets health aid preferentially to natural resource rich countries. China is an important global health donor to Africa but contrasts with traditional DAC donors through China's focus on health system inputs and on malaria. Although better data are needed, particularly through more transparent aid data reporting across ministries and agencies, China's approach to South-South cooperation represents an important and distinct source of financial assistance for health in Africa.