Development and application of high-precision multifunction astronomical plate digitizers in China

Before charge-coupled device detectors became widely employed in observational astronomy,for more than a hundred years,the main detection method was photography on astronomical glass plates.Recently,in order to preserve these historical data and maintain their usability,the International Astronomical Union has appealed to all countries for global digitization of astronomical plates by developing or adopting advanced digitization technology.Specialized digitizers with high precision and high measuring speed represent key equipment for this task.The Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and the Nishimura Co.,Ltd in Japan cooperated between 2013 and 2016 to develop the first Chinese high-precision astronomical plate digitizer,which was then used for complete digitization of all nighttime-observation astronomical plates in China.Then,in 2019–2021,the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory independently developed new models of plate digitizers that enabled countries such as Uzbekistan and Italy to digitize their astronomical plates.Additionally,a new high-precision and multifunction digitizer was also used to digitize valuable microscope slides from the Shanghai Natural History Museum,providing a successful example of cross-domain application of high-precision digitization technology.

A Catalog of Quasar Candidates Identified by Astrometric and Mid-infrared Methods in Gaia EDR3

Quasars are very important in materializing the reference frame.The excess emission of active galactic nuclei(AGNs) in the mid-infrared band can be used to identify quasar candidates.As extremely distant and point-like objects,quasars also could be further selected by an astrometry method.Increasing the number of reliable quasar candidates is necessary in characterizing the properties of Gaia astrometric solution and evaluating the reliability of Gaia’s own quasars classification.We identify quasars by using appropriate All WISE [W1-W2] color and different combinations of astrometric criteria.Together with the contamination and completeness,the magnitude,astrometric properties,density distribution,and the morphological indexes of these selected quasars are evaluated.We obtain a quasar candidate catalog of 1,503,373 sources,which contains 1,186,690 candidates(78.9%) in common with the Gaia EDR3_AGN catalog and 316,683 newly identified quasar candidates.The completeness of this catalog is around 80% compared to LQAC5,and the purity of the overall catalog is about 90%.We also found that the purity of quasar candidates selected by this method will decrease in the crowded sky area and the region with less WISE observations.

Spatiotemporal analysis of vegetation variability and its relationship with climate change in China

This paper investigated spatiotemporal dynamic pattern of vegetation,climate factor,and their complex relationships from seasonal to inter-annual scale in China during the period 1982–1998 through wavelet transform method based on GIMMS data-sets.First,most vegetation canopies demonstrated obvious seasonality,increasing with latitudinal gradient.Second,obvious dynamic trends were observed in both vegetation and climate change,especially the positive trends.Over 70%areas were observed with obvious vegetation greening up,with vegetation degradation principally in the Pearl River Delta,Yangtze River Delta,and desert.Overall warming trend was observed across the whole country(>98%area),stronger in Northern China.Although over half of area(58.2%)obtained increasing rainfall trend,around a quarter of area(24.5%),especially the Central China and most northern portion of China,exhibited significantly negative rainfall trend.Third,significantly positive normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)–climate relationship was generally observed on the de-noised time series in most vegetated regions,corresponding to their synchronous stronger seasonal pattern.Finally,at inter-annual level,the NDVI–climate relationship differed with climatic regions and their long-term trends:in humid regions,positive coefficients were observed except in regions with vegetation degradation;in arid,semiarid,and semihumid regions,positive relationships would be examined on the condition that increasing rainfall could compensate the increasing water requirement along with increasing temperature.This study provided valuable insights into the long-term vegetation–climate relationship in China with consideration of their spatiotemporal variability and overall trend in the global change process.

Evaluating Nebraska’s local comprehensive plans to achieve the national wetland conservation missions in the USA

The U.S.federal government’s requirements and guidance for wetland conservation are reflected in a series of federal laws,regulations,and policies.However,the degree to which these requirements are reflected in local planning efforts is unclear.This study using five components with 56 indicators evaluates how well wetland conservation efforts are integrated into 112 local comprehensive plans in Nebraska,USA.The results show that the majority of local comprehensive plans pay little direct attention to wetland conservation,although many conservation efforts are conducted under the umbrella of environmental protection frameworks.The indicators include water resource protection received the highest score and was the descriptor of natural or environmental resources and resulted in the highest level of local awareness on natural assets.The indicator of setting goals for no net loss of wetlands received the lowest score among all indicators,demonstrating a clear gap between the national vision and the local reality of wetland conservation.Findings suggest local governments need more direct and proactive inputs to improve wetland conservation.Further findings from this research provide a practical roadmap for planners globally,particularly for the developing countries,to integrate wetland conservation into the local planning systems.

Impact of dams on flood occurrence of selected rivers in the United States

A significant large number of dams have been constructed in the past two centuries in the United States. These dams＇ ability to regulate downstream flooding has received world-wide attention. In this study, data from 38 rivers distributed over the entire conterminous Untied States with extensive pre- and post-dam annual peak discharge records, were collected to research the impacts of various dams on the flood behaviors at a national scale. The results indicate that dams have led to significant reductions in flood magnitude for nearly all of the sites; the decrease rate in the mean of annual peak discharge varies between 7.4% and 95.14%, except for the Dead River, which increased by 1.46%. Because of dams＇ effective- ness, the probability density curve of annual peak flow changes from a flat to peaked shape because both the range and magnitude of high discharges are decreased. More- over, the potential impact of dams on flood characteristics were closely related to the dam＇s geographic location and function, the ratio of the storage capacity of the dam to the mean annual runoff of the river （C/R）, and the ratio of reservoir storage capacity to the area of its drainage （C/D）. Specifically, the effects of dams on annual peak flows were more related to latitude than longitude. Compared with dams built for other purposes, the dam exclusively used for flood management cut off more flood peaks. Increases in the ratios of C/R and C/D increased the degree of modification of annual maximum discharge.

Drought Planning Research in the United States: An Overview and Outlook

Drought is widely known as an insidious hazard due to its complex and unique characteristics. Drought disasters have brought tremendous economic losses and significant social and environmental impacts to communities across the globe. To further understand the hazard drought poses and provide insights into planning for drought preparedness, this article conducts a thorough literature review of drought hazard and drought planning frameworks within the United States. Two main approaches and three major forms of drought planning are discussed and summarized. Based on this review, a preliminary overview of drought planning status in the United States is presented. This study provides insight into major drought planning literature and establishes a link with drought mitigation and adaptation. The article concludes with discussion and implication for future drought planning and a future research outlook.