Earth is always changing. Knowledge about where changes happened is the first step for us to understand how these changes affect our lives. In this paper, we use a long-term leaf area index data (LAI) to identify where changes happened and where has experienced the strongest change around the globe during 1981–2006. Results show that, over the past 26 years, LAI has generally increased at a rate of 0.0013 per year around the globe. The strongest increasing trend is around 0.0032 per year in the middle and northern high latitudes (north of 30°N). LAI has prominently increased in Europe, Siberia, Indian Peninsula, America and south Canada, South region of Sahara, southwest corner of Australia and Kgalagadi Basin; while noticeably decreased in Southeast Asia, southeastern China, central Africa, central and southern South America and arctic areas in North America.

Desertification process as a great problem affects most of the countries in the world. This process has a high rate in arid and semiarid areas. Today, human societies are encountering the desertification phenomenon as a serious problem which causes various irreparable damages to economic and social sectors. In order to assess desertification results in production of different regional models for their application in another region the indices should be re-investigated and adjusted to local conditions. Several models have been developed for desertification evaluation. The present study, attempts to assess quantitatively the desertification process has in an area located at Sistan plain of Iran (Niatak region as a case study) by using Modified MEDALUS method. The obtained results indicated that of the whole studied region (comprising 4819.6 acres), 2651.56 acres (55%) are located in medium desertification intensity class, 1269.48 acres (26.34%) are positioned in severe desertification intensity class, and 898.54 acres (18.64%) are placed in vary severe desertification intensity class.

Danxia geomorphology originates from China. This paper studies the spatial distribution and differences in characteristics of Danxia landforms. Based on relevant research and investigations, three congregated areas of Danxia landform in China are discussed in this paper. They are the southeast area (including Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan and Guangxi provinces), the southwest area (the transitional zone of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Sichuan Basin) and the northwest area (including Longshan mountain and along the banks of the Huanghe River and its anabranches). Not only the conditions of geology and geography of the three areas but also the differences of Danxia landforms of the three areas are analyzed. The Danxia landscape, characterized by upright-shaped peaks, Danxia mesa, stone wall, cave and vertical cave, "Danxia natural bridge", "a narrow strip of sky" and so on, often presents in the southeast area. The landscape of southwest area is characterized by Danxia escarpment faces and waterfalls. In the northwest area, the Danxia landscape has the traits of arid areas simultaneously, for example, mud-coating type, columniation type, board type, moreover, it is greatly different between these environmental factors such as the microclimate, water, wind, and the loess cover. Finally it explores the causes which lead differences in landform and also explains the landform formation process and its mechanism with reference to the rates of crustal uplift, the tectonic red-basin, and the external processes including working of running water, weathering, biogenic, gravity in each area of Danxia Landforms in China.

Based on dynastic period division and AMS¹⁴C dating performed on the sedimen-tary layers at Zhongba and Yuxi sites, and also the analysis of Na, Ca and Mg of 201 sedi-mentary samples from Zhongba site and that of Ca and Na in 47 sedimentary samples from Yuxi by using an inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP), we found that there were 35 time periods when the contents of Ca and Na were reversely correlated, i.e. when-ever the content of Ca was the highest, the content of Na was the lowest, and vice versa. Among them, there were 21 time periods when the content of Ca was the highest, and Na was the lowest, indicating that there were about 21 prosperous periods of ancient salt pro-duction at Zhongba site since 3000BC. Other 14 time periods with the peak values of Na while the low values of Ca indicate 14 declined periods of salt production at Zhongba site since 3000BC. The conclusion obtained from the reverse relationship between Ca and Na contents in this paper is consistent with that “the salt production at Zhongba site started in the new stone age, developed in the Xia and Shang dynasties, reached at the heyday in periods from the Western Zhou to the Han Dynasties, maintained stable to develop in the Tang and the Song dynasties, and gradually declined after the Song Dynasty because the sea salt were conveyed into Sichuan region, however, still had production in the 1970s–1980s”, educed from archeological exploration. All the above mentioned results indicate that there is a re-verse relationship obviously between the contents of Na and Ca in sediments at Zhongba site for ancient salt production, which can

This study has investigated the influence of Arctic Oscillation (AO) on dust storm frequency in North China in spring seasons during 1961?2007. There is a significant linkage between dust storm frequency and AO; a negative (positive) AO phase is related to an increased (decreased) dust storm frequency in North China. This relationship is closely related to changes in the cold air activity in Mongolia. The cold air activity exerts large impacts on the dust storm frequency; the frequency of cold air activity over Mongolia not only positively correlates with the dust storm frequency in North China, but also shows a long-term decreasing trend that is an important reason for the long-term decreasing of dust storm frequency in North China. The AO has large influence on the frequency of cold air activity over Mongolia; a negative (positive) AO phase is highly related to an increased (decreased) frequency of cold air activity over Mongolia, which results in an increased (decreased) dust storm frequency in North China.

Neolithic culture series in the Yishu River Basin developed in the order of Beixin culture–Dawenkou culture–Longshan culture–Yueshi culture. During the early and middle stage of Longshan culture (4600–4300 cal. yr BP), the climate in the Yishu River Basin was warm and wet. Paddy-oriented agriculture planted paddy was very developed. The society was flourishing with great amount of archaeological sites. The cooling starting in 4200 cal. yr BP made the paddies shortfall in output or even no seeds were gathered. This situation in-tensified the discrepancy between population and resource. The scarcity in natural resource led to substantial decrease in population and subsequent drop in archaeological sites. About 4000 cal. yr BP Longshan culture was displaced by Yueshi culture which was relatively un-derdeveloped, simple and unsophisticated.

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China’s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 110^oE.

From 1981 to 2010,the effects of climate change on evapotranspiration of the alpine ecosystem and the regional difference of effects in the Tibetan Plateau(TP)were studied based on the Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic vegetation model and data from 80 meteorological stations.Changes in actual evapotranspiration(AET)and water balance in TP were analyzed.Over the last 30 years,climate change in TP was characterized by sig- nificantly increased temperature,slightly increased precipitation,and decreased potential evapotranspiration(PET),which was significant before 2000.AET exhibited increasing trends in most parts of TP.The difference between precipitation and AET decreased in the south- eastern plateau and increased in the northwestern plateau.A decrease in atmospheric water demand will lead to a decreased trend in AET.However,AET in most regions increased be- cause of increased precipitation.Increased precipitation was observed in 86%of the areas with increased AET,whereas decreased precipitation was observed in 73%of the areas with decreased AET.

Different government departments and researchers have paid considerable attention at various levels to improving the eco-environment in ecologically fragile areas. Over the past decade, large numbers of people have emigrated from rural areas as a result of the rapid urbanization in Chinese society. The question then remains: to what extent does this migration affect the regional vegetation greenness in the areas that people have moved from? Based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data with a resolution of 1 km, as well as meteorological data and socio-economic data from 2000 to 2010 in Inner Mongolia, the spatio-temporal variation of vegetation greenness in the study area was analyzed via trend analysis and significance test methods. The contributions of human activities and natural factors to the variation of vegetation conditions during this period were also quantitatively tested and verified, using a multi-regression analysis method. We found that: (1) the vegetation greenness of the study area increased by 10.1% during 2000-2010. More than 28% of the vegetation greenness increased significantly, and only about 2% decreased evidently during the study period. (2) The area with significant degradation showed a banded distribution at the northern edge of the agro-pastoral ecotone in central Inner Mongolia. This indicates that the eco-environment is still fragile in this area, which should be paid close attention. The area where vegetation greenness significantly improved showed a concentrated distribution in the southeast and west of Inner Mongolia. (3) The effect of agricultural labor on vegetation greenness exceeded those due to natural factors (i.e. precipitation and temperature). The emigration of agricultural labor improved the regional vegetation greenness significantly.

In Southwest China, five Nature Reserves (NRs) (Mangkang, Baimaxueshan, Yunling, Habaxueshan, and Yunlongtianchi) play a key role in protecting the endemic and endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (YSM) (Rhinopithecus bieti). However, increasing human activities threaten its habitats and corridors. We used a GIS-based Niche Model to delineate potential core habitats (PCHs) of the YSMs and a Linkage Mapper corridor simulation tool to restore potential connectivity corridors (PCCs), and defined five scenarios. A normalized importance value index (NIVI) was established to identify the protection priority areas (PPAs) for the YSMs for five scenarios. The results indicated that locations of the habitats and corridors were different in the five scenarios, thereby influencing the distribution of the PPAs and protection network of the YSMs. The NIVI value of Baimaxueshan nature reserve was 1 in the five scenarios, which implied the maximum importance. There were only 7 PCHs and 16 PCCs (with the longest average length of 223.13 km) which were mainly located around 5 NRs in scenario III. The protection network of the YSMs was composed of 16 PCHs, 18 PCCs, and 5 NRs. Under each scenario, most of the PCHs and the PCCs were located in the south of the study area. The five NRs only covered 2 PPAs of the YSMs. We suggest that the southern part of the study area needs to be strictly protected and human activities should be limited. The area of the five NRs should be expanded to maximize protection of the YSMs in the future.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is a region in China with a serious contradiction between economic growth and environmental pollution. Exploring the spatiotemporal effects and influencing factors of air pollution in the region is highly important for formulating policies to promote the high-quality development of urban industries. This study uses the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to analyze the local direct and spatial spillover effects of industrial transformation on air pollution and quantifies the contribution of each factor. From 2008 to 2018, there was a significant spatial agglomeration of industrial sulfur dioxide emissions (ISDE) in the YRD, and every 1% increase in ISDE led to a synchronous increase of 0.603% in the ISDE in adjacent cities. The industrial scale index (ISCI) and industrial structure index (ISTI), as the core factors of industrial transformation, significantly affect the emissions of sulfur dioxide in the YRD, and the elastic coefficients are 0.677 and -0.368, respectively. The order of the direct effect of the explanatory variables on local ISDE is ISCI>ISTI>foreign direct investment (FDI)>enterprise technological innovation (ETI)>environmental regulation (ER)> per capita GDP (PGDP). Similarly, the order of the spatial spillover effect of all variables on ISDE in adjacent cities is ISCI>PGDP>FDI>ETI>ISTI>ER, and the coefficients of the ISCI and ISTI are 1.531 and 0.113, respectively. This study contributes to the existing research that verifies the environmental Kuznets curve in the YRD, denies the pollution heaven hypothesis, indicates the Porter hypothesis, and provides empirical evidence for the formation mechanism of regional environmental pollution from a spatial spillover perspective.

This paper reviews the process of transportation construction in China and investigates the developmental and spatial characteristics of transportation patterns. The principles of transportation evolution including stages, structures and orders are systematically analyzed. The investigation shows that China’s transportation construction mode has upgraded from investment-driven scale expansion to quality improvement driven by efficiency and promotion. The rapid growth and development of transportation networks has significantly influenced economic and social activities in time and space. The resulting spatial convergence and dominance have improved distribution, promoting development of the socioeconomic structure. Regional development that has traditionally been based on corridors has changed into a networked mode centered on cities and metropolitan areas. The transportation pattern follows evolutionary principles. China has been moving from a hierarchical structure to a cascade structure. Simultaneously, the socioeconomic pattern has changed from an axis to a hub-and-spoke structure with a preliminary ordered network. As transportation networks grow, China’s functional spatial structure and ordered network will gradually become stabilized and balanced.

Due to unique advantages in clearly understanding the interrelationship between city and its hinterland, as well as city and city, the study of urban spheres of influence is becoming highlight in regional research. This paper improves traditional field model from two aspects: the composite indicator and regional accessibility, in order to delineate urban spheres of influence more reasonably. Taking three years of central China as a case study, this paper investigates dynamic evolution of urban spheres of influence. Focusing on the evolution of spatial pattern, we abstract five types and its corresponding three stages theoretically. Finally, recommendation of development has been made for each stage. This study undertakes certain exploration in the study of urban spheres of influence from the perspective of theory and practice, hoping to provide some references for the study in this field and other regional research.

Forest vegetation carbon patterns are significant for evaluating carbon emission and accumulation. Many methods were used to simulate patterns of forest vegetation carbon stock in previous studies, however, uncertainty apparently existed between results of different methods, even estimates of same method in different studies. Three previous methods, including Atmosphere-vegetation interaction model 2 (AVIM2), Kriging, Satellite-data Based Approach (SBA), and a new method, High Accuracy Surface Modeling (HASM), were used to simulate forest vegetation carbon stock patterns in Jiangxi Province in China. Cross-validation was used to evaluate methods. The uncertainty and applicability of the four methods on provincial scale were analyzed and discussed. The results showed that HASM had the highest accuracy, which improved by 50.66%, 33.37% and 28.58%, compared with AVIM2, Kriging and SBA, respectively. Uncertainty of simulation of forest biomass carbon stock was mainly derived from modeling error, sampling error and statistical error of forest area. Total forest carbon stock, carbon density and forest area of Jiangxi were 288.62 Tg, 3.06 kg/m² and 94.32×10⁹ m² simulated by HASM, respectively.

Based on the radiosonde data observed at 14 stations in Southwest China from 1960 to 2010, as well as the corresponding surface air temperature, the long-term change of free-air 0℃ isotherm height in Southwest China and the relationships between surface air temperature and 0℃ isotherm height are discussed. The results indicated that the spatial distribution of 0℃ isotherm height is generally related with latitude, but the huge massif or plateau may complicate the latitude pattern. The two main regimes influencing the spatial patterns of 0℃ isotherm height in Southwest China are latitude and huge massif. The annual 0℃ isotherm height has increased by 35 m per decade in the recent decades, which is statistically significant at the 0.001 level. Generally, the increasing trend can be examined for each seasonal series, especially in winter (53 m per decade). The diversity of trend magnitudes for annual and seasonal series can also be detected at a spatial view, but generally 0℃ isotherm height correlated well with surface air temperature.

In order to estimate the present-day pollution levels in the ecosystem of the Se-lenga River Delta and to monitor the changes caused by the discharge of household refuse and industrial wastes, as well as the functioning of the agricultural and stock farming, a comprehensive study of the water and bottom sediments in the main branches of the Selenga River Delta was carried out. This study has determined the concentrations of heavy metals in river water and bottom sediments in its delta.

Rivers in deserts present unique geographical features owing to aeolian-fluvial interactions. In this study, 510 surface sediment samples were gathered from eight watersheds to systematically examine the major element characteristics of riparian sand dunes in northern China deserts. The findings revealed that these dunes could be categorized into three primary zones: Type I, comprising Keriya, Tora, Heihe, and Langqu rivers in the west; Type II, featuring the Maquan River in the Tibetan Plateau; and Type III, including Mu Bulag, Kuye, and Xar Moron rivers in the east. Specifically, the Type III region is characterized by a limited fresh material supply, a relatively high Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA), and the influence of nearby rivers on the provenance of riparian dunes, leading to a higher degree of chemical weathering than that of Type I in the west. Notably, Type II is marked by weak-moderate chemical weathering degree and a comparatively higher CIA value. These classifications and their difference of degree of chemical weathering are possibly governed by the type of parent rock and the availability of material. This research offers new insights into the classification of riparian dunes impacted by aeolian-fluvial interactions in arid regions of the northern China deserts. Furthermore, it provides valuable implications for studies focusing on the provenance of sediments.

The Global Rainforest Mapping (GRFM) project was initiated in 1995 and, through a dedicated data acquisition policy by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), data acquisitions could be completed within a 1.5-year period, resulting in a spatially and temporally homogeneous coverage to contain the entire Amazon Basin from the Atlantic to the Pacific; Central America up to the Yucatan Peninsular in Mexico; equatorial Africa from Madagascar and Kenya in the east to Sierra Leone in the west; and Southeast Asia, including Papua New Guinea. To some extent, GRFM project is an international endeavor led by NASDA, with the goal of producing spatially and temporally contiguous Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data sets over the tropical belt on the Earth by use of the JERS-1 L-band SAR, through the generation of semi-continental, 100m resolution, image mosaics. The GRFM project relies on extensive collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC) and the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for data acquisition, processing, validation and product generation. A science program is underway in parallel with product generation. This involves the agencies mentioned above, as well as a large number of international organizations, universities and individuals to perform field activities and data analysis at different levels.

As two rising great powers, China and India have undergone similar development processes, but they also exhibit significant differences in development paths and patterns. The significant differences in political systems, economic systems, and developmental environment between the two countries have attracted great attention from scholars. This research focuses on the regional differences and spatial evolution processes in urbanization and urban systems between the two countries from a geographical perspective. Based on the demographic censuses of both countries and the urban population data from the United Nations, this paper systematically compared and analyzed the spatial characteristics of urbanization and urban systems in China and India using various methods including spatial analysis, parameter estimation, and nonparametric estimation. The results indicate that: (1) Since the 1990s, the regional differences in urbanization in China have transformed from south-north differences to coastal-inland differences, whereas the north-south differences in India have been stable. (2) In recent years, the correlation between population density and urbanization rate kept increasing in China, while such correlation has been decreasing in India. (3) The economic reform posed significantly different effects on the spatial evolution of the urban systems in the two countries. The economic reform changed the major driving force for urban development in China from geographical and historical factors to the spatial structure of the economic system. However, in India, the driving forces for urban development have always been geographical and historical factors, and the economic reform even decreased the effect of the spatial structure of the economic system on urban development.

Based on four phases of TM images acquired in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005, this paper took Kitakyushu in Japan as a case study to analyze spatial change of land use landscape and corresponding effects on environmental issues guided by landscape ecology theory in virtue of combining technology of Remote Sensing with GIS. Firstly, land use types were divided into 6 classes (farmland, mountain, forestland, water body, urban land and unused land) according to national classification standard of land use, comprehensible ability of TM image and purpose of this study. Secondly, following the theory of landscape ecology analysis, 11 typical landscape indices were abstracted to evaluate the environmental effects and spatial feature changes of land use. Research results indicated that land use has grown more and more diversified and unbalanced, human activities have disturbed the landscape more seriously. Finally, transfer matrix of Markov was applied to forecast change process of land use in the future different periods, and then potential land use changes were also simulated from 2010 to 2050. Results showed that conversion tendency for all types of land use in Kitakyushu into urban construction land were enhanced. The study was anticipated to help local authorities better understand and address a complex land use system, and develop improved land use management strategies that could better balance urban expansion and ecological conservation.

The ice shelves in the northern Antarctic Peninsula are highly sensitive to variations of temperature and have therefore served as indicators of global warming. In this study, we estimate the velocities of the ice shelves in the northern Antarctic Peninsula using co-registration of optically sensed images and correlation module (COSI-Corr) in the Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI) based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images during 2000-2012, from which we conclude that the ice ?ow directions generally match the peninsulas pattern and the crevasse, ice flows mainly eastward into the Weddell Sea. The spatial pattern of velocity field exhibits an increasing trend from the western grounding line to the maximum at the middle part of the ice shelf front on Larsen C with a velocity of approximately 700 ma^-1, and the velocity field shows relatively higher values in its southerly neighboring ice shelf (e.g. Smith Inlet). Additionally, ice ?ows are relatively quicker in the outer part of the ice shelf than in the inner parts. Temporal changes in surface velocities show a continuous increase from 2000 to 2012. It is worth noting that, the acceleration rate during 2000-2009 is relatively higher than that during 2009-2012, while the ice movement on the southern Larsen C and Smith Inlet shows a deceleration from 2009 to 2012.

The rapid development of high-speed rail (HSR) is influencing regional development, regional structure, commuting, and regional integration. East Asia is the region with the world’s first and largest current operating and planned HSR network. In this paper, we examine the evolutionary mechanism and impacts on the transport circle and accessibility of HSR in East Asia. The results indicate that the HSR network first follows a “core-core” model and then forms a corridor in Japan, South Korea, and China Taiwan, but then forms a complete network in China Mainland. The current operating HSR lines are mostly distributed in regions with developed economies and dense populations, and more than half of the population and GDP in China can be served by HSR within 1 hour’s travel time. The planned HSR network will expand to the western region of China and Japan and the southern region of South Korea. The development of the current operating and planned HSR network considerably enlarges the transport circle of core cities, especially cities along trunk HSR lines. This 1 h transport circle of core cities has formed continuous regions in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Tokyo, Seoul, and along trunk HSR lines. The HSR network will bring about substantial improvement in accessiblity, but also increase the inequality of nodal accessibility in China Mainland. Spatially, the spatial patterns of the weighted shortest travel time of cities in China Mainland, Japan, and South Korea all present the “core-peripheral structure”, taking Zhengzhou, Tokyo, and Seoul, respectively, as core cities, and cities located along the trunk HSR lines gain large improvement in accessibility.

Assessment of coastal vulnerability to future environmental change has been emphasized in coastal nations or regions. The Jiangsu coastal plain, located to the north of the Yangtze River Delta in China, is most vulnerable to sea level rise and exacerbating coastal hazards. This paper develops the method of delimiting vulnerable scope and assessing coastal vulnerability through field observations and sampling and by applying remote sensing and GIS, which are suitable for great river delta and coastal plains with large area, relative complex micro-geomorphology and the protection of seawall. Applying this method, the coastal vulnerability of the Jiangsu coastal plain to relative sea level rise (approximately 50 cm up to the year 2050) and exacerbating storm surges have been assessed. The results show that, up to the year 2050, the Jiangsu coastal plain will probably lose 12.8 % of tidal flats (about 5.8×10⁴ hm²) and 7.9 % of cultivated land (about 7.2×10⁴ hm²). Meanwhile, 2.0 % of population, 3.8 % of original value of fixed assets, 3.2% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 40.3 % of salt industry and 5.8 % of aquiculture respectively will be affected due to coastal environmental change.

Exploring the spatio-temporal dynamics of poverty is important for research on sustainable poverty reduction in China. Based on the perspective of development geography, this paper proposes a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model that combines the human development approach with the global indicator framework for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to identify the poverty-causing and the poverty-reducing factors in China. The aim is to measure the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) of China’s provinces from 2007 to 2017, and use the exploratory spatio-temporal data analysis (ESTDA) method to reveal the characteristics of the spatio-temporal dynamics of multidimensional poverty. The results show the following: (1) The poverty-causing factors in China include the high social gross dependency ratio and crop-to-disaster ratio, and the poverty-reducing factors include the high per capita GDP, per capita social security expenditure, per capita public health expenditure, number of hospitals per 10,000 people, rate of participation in the new rural cooperative medical scheme, vegetation coverage, per capita education expenditure, number of universities, per capita research and development (R&D) expenditure, and funding per capita for cultural undertakings. (2) From 2007 to 2017, provincial income poverty (IP), health poverty (HP), cultural poverty (CP), and multidimensional poverty have been significantly reduced in China, and the overall national poverty has dropped by 5.67% annually. there is a differentiation in poverty along different dimensions in certain provinces. (3) During the study period, the local spatial pattern of multidimensional poverty between provinces showed strong spatial dynamics, and a trend of increase from the eastern to the central and western regions was noted. The MPI among provinces exhibited a strong spatial dependence over time to form a pattern of decrease from northwestern and northeastern China to the surrounding areas. (4) The spatio-temporal networks of multidimensional poverty in adjacent provinces were mainly negatively correlated, with only Shaanxi and Henan, Shaanxi and Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu, Hubei and Anhui, Sichuan and Guizhou, and Hainan and Guangdong forming spatially strong cooperative poverty reduction relationships. These results have important reference value for the implementation of China’s poverty alleviation strategy.

Given the importance of waterway depths in river development, the effects of the evolution of bars and troughs on waterway expansion play an important role in river management and water depth conservation. This study aims to expand the waterway dimensions of the Jingjiang Reach of the Yangtze River. To achieve this objective, determining the relationship between river evolution processes and the potential for waterway depth improvement and navigation hindrances is vital. Therefore, the sedimentation, hydrological, and terrain data of the Jingjiang Reach from 1955 to 2020 are analysed to elucidate the above-mentioned relationship. Since the commissioning of the Three Gorges Dam, the scouring of the low-flow channel has accounted for 90%-95% of all scouring in the Jingjiang Reach. Furthermore, the central bars and beaches have shrunk by 9.4% and 24.9%, respectively, and 18.3% overall. Considering the bed scouring and waterway regulation projects in the Jingjiang Reach, we investigated the continuity of a 4.5 m × 200 m × 1050 m (depth × width × bend radius) waterway along the Jingjiang Reach, and find that navigation-hindering channels account for over 5.3% of the waterway length. Furthermore, part of the Jingjiang Reach is an important nature reserve and shelters numerous water-related facilities, which inhibits the implementation of waterway deepening projects. The findings of this study demonstrate that numerous challenges are associated with increasing the waterway depths of the Jingjiang Reach.

The Bohai Rim region is one the most important bases for commodity grain production in China. With the rapid pace of agricultural industrialization, nitrogenous fertilizer has been used at an ever increasing rate, which resulted in the trace of accumulative nitrogen in the soil and caused serious environmental problems. In this study we made use of the farmland nitrogen balance model to assess the spatial difference of farmland nitrogen nutrient budget in the Bohai Rim region in 2008 with the assistance of GIS. Our results indicated that: 1) Farmland in this region has a nitrogen surplus totaling 5.0822 million tons, or an average of 288.54 kg/ha. 2) In the Bohai Rim region, farmland nitrogen input and farmland nitrogen budget both show a spatial differentiation. Major grain-producing areas have a higher nitrogen input than that of the grazing-farming areas. The main sources of nitrogen input include chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer, deposition from atmospheric drying and wetting, and biological fixation, which account for 79.47%, 9.53%, 4.62%, and 3.58% of the total input, respectively. Therefore, chemical fertilizer is the predominant source of nitrogen input to farmland. 3) A total of 3.3398 million tons of nitrogen were output from the farmland via harvested crops and it accounts for 52.36% of the total nitrogen output from farmland in this region. On average, the amount of nitrogen output from unit farmland is equal to 176.65kg/ha. This study has shed light on farmland nitrogen budget and its spatial variation in the study area, may provide scientific evidences for rationalizing the use of chemical fertilizer and managing agricultural operation on the regional scale and is also valuable for improving the economic and ecological efficiency of fertilizer use at the regional scale.

Land surface emissivity is one of the important parameters in temperature inversion from thermal infrared remote sensing. Using MOD11C3 of Terra-MODIS L3 level products, spatio-temporal data sets of land surface emissivity in China for 10 years from 2001 to 2010 are obtained. The results show that the land surface emissivity in the northwest desert region is the lowest in China, with little seasonal variations. In contrast, there are significant seasonal variations in land surface emissivity in northeast China and northern Xinjiang, the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau, the Yangtze River Valley and the eastern and southern China. In winter, the land surface emissivity in the northeast China and northern Xinjiang is relatively high. The land surface emissivity of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region is maintained at low value from November to March, while it becomes higher in other months. The land surface emissivity of the Yangtze River Valley, eastern and southern China, and Sichuan Basin varies from July to October, and peaks in August. Land surface emissivity values could be divided into five levels: low emissivity (0.6163-0.9638), moderate-low emissivity (0.9639-0.9709), moderate emissivity (0.9710-0.9724), moderate-high emissivity (0.9725-0.9738), and high emissivity (0.9739-0.9999). The percentages of areas with low emissivity, moderate-low emissivity and moderate emissivity are, respectively, about 20%, 10% and 20%. The moderate-high emissivity region makes up 40%-50% of China's land surface area. The inter-annual variation of moderate-high emissivity region is also very clear, with two peaks (in spring and autumn) and two troughs (in summer and winter). The inter-annual variation of the high emissivity region is very significant, with a peak in winter (10%), while only 1% or 2% in other seasons. There is a clear association between the spatio-temporal distribution of China's land surface emissivity and temperature: the higher the emissivity, the lower the temperature, and vice versa. Emissivity is an inherent property of any object, but the precise value of its emissivity depends very much on its surrounding environmental factors.

A model integrating geo-information and self-organizing map (SOM) for exploring the database of soil environmental surveys was established. The dataset of 5 heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb) was built by the regular grid sampling in Hechi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Auxiliary datasets were collected throughout the study area to help interpret the potential causes of pollution. The main findings are as follows: (1) Soil samples of 5 elements exhibited strong variation and high skewness. High pollution risk existed in the case study area, especially Hg and Cd. (2) As and Pb had a similar topological distribution pattern, meaning they behaved similarly in the soil environment. Cr had behaviours in soil different from those of the other 4 elements. (3) From the U-matrix of SOM networks, 3 levels of SEQ were identified, and 11 high risk areas of soil heavy metal-contaminated were found throughout the study area, which were basically near rivers, factories, and ore zones. (4) The variations of contamination index (CI) followed the trend of construction land (1.353) > forestland (1.267) > cropland (1.175) > grassland (1.056), which suggest that decision makers should focus more on the problem of soil pollution surrounding industrial and mining enterprises and farmland.

Based on archaeological excavations, 217 samples were collected from the Luotuodun Site. Of them 63 samples from the section plane of the site layer were used for identification analysis of foraminifera, plant debris and seed fossils, and four samples were used for 14C dating and relevant analysis. Through many kinds of experiments, we have drawn some conclusions. Firstly, benthic foraminifera, such as Ammonia compressiuscula and Ammonia cff. sobrina, are found in the 10th layer, indicating that between 7500 and 5400 BC, i.e. before the emergence of the Majiabang Culture, Luotuodun Site and its nearby regions had ever experienced a marine transgression event. Secondly, we have found 450 plant fossils in this site, such as Polygonum sp., Scripus sp., Najas sp., Physalis sp., which indicated lacustrine or swamp environment.

The robustness of cargo ship transportation networks is essential to the stability of the world trade system. The current research mainly focuses on the coarse-grained, holistic cargo ship transportation network while ignoring the structural diversity of different sub-networks. In this paper, we evaluate the robustness of the global cargo ship transportation network based on the most recent Automatic Identification System (AIS) data available. First, we subdivide three typical cargo ship transportation networks (i.e., oil tanker, container ship and bulk carrier) from the original cargo ship transportation network. Then, we design statistical indices based on complex network theory and employ four attack strategies, including random attack and three intentional attacks (i.e., degree-based attack, betweenness-based attack and flux-based attack) to evaluate the robustness of the three typical cargo ship transportation networks. Finally, we compare the integrity of the remaining ports of the network when a small proportion of ports lose their function. The results show that 1) compared with the holistic cargo ship transportation network, the fine-grain-based cargo ship transportation networks can fully reflect the pattern and process of global cargo transportation; 2) different cargo ship networks behave heterogeneously in terms of their robustness, with the container network being the weakest and the bulk carrier network being the strongest; and 3) small-scale intentional attacks may have significant influence on the integrity of the container network but a minor impact on the bulk carrier and oil tanker transportation networks. These conclusions can help improve the decision support capabilities in maritime transportation planning and emergency response and facilitate the establishment of a more reliable maritime transportation system.