地理尺度转换若干问题的初步探讨

Some scaling issues of geography

大量研究证实, 地理学研究对象格局与过程及其时空特征均是尺度依存的, 随着研究工作的不断深入, 尺度问题越来越展示出其重要性。针对地理学各个分支学科都不同程度存在诸如概念模糊、转换模式不统一、转换效果评价缺乏客观标准等与尺度相关问题, 本文对一些有关尺度转换的议题进行了探讨。在评述了尺度及其转换研究的地理学意义后, 着重阐述了地理学尺度研究理论框架的内容和对象, 提出了地理科学中需要解决的 10个关键尺度问题, 并给出了初步的解决方案。

The pattern, process and their relationships are fundamental issues in geography. Patterns and processes in nature, such as ecosystem distribution, regional climatic changes, land use and land cover, and rainfall or runoff series, display complex behavior and often intertwine with scale problems. Many scale-dependent phenomena have been exemplified in scientific researches, and scale issues are found at the center of methodological discussions in both physical and human geography. However, some existed research works failed to make a distinction among the concepts of scale and scaling, to employ consistent scaling paradigm, and to adopt an objective criterion for assessing the scaling effects in geography. This paper attempts to calibrate those deviations and to present new branch subject of geography-Scaling Methodology of Geography. After introducing scaling approaches, upscaling and downscaling, in geography, we place a focus on the research objects, categories and contents of proposed subjects, and three basic principles, scientific principle, economic principle and operational principle, are proposed in scaling works. Finally, ten key issues are presented for establishing the scaling methodology of geography. The key questions are as follows: (1) how does spatial heterogeneity scale in scaling ? (2) how do ratio variables change with scale in scaling? (3) how do dominating processes change with scale in scaling? (4) how does property of processes change with scale in scaling? (5) how does sensitivity change with scale in scaling? (6) how does predictability change with scale in scaling? (7) what is sufficiency for simple aggregation and disaggregation in scaling? (8) how do disturbance factors change with scale in scaling? (9) can scaling transcend several scales and scale fields? (10) is noise factor changeable with scale in scaling?