Influence of Continental Atmospheric Forcing on the Decadal Variability of the West African Monsoon

The West African Monsoon (WAM) is characterized by strong decadal and multi-decadal variability and the impacts can be catastrophic for the local populations. One of the factors put forward to explain this variability involves the role of atmospheric dynamics, linked in particular to the Saharan Heat Low (SHL). This article addresses this question by comparing the sets of preindustrial control and historical simulation data from climate models carried out in the framework of the CMIP5 project and observations data over the 20th century. Through multivariate statistical analyses, it was established that decadal modes of ocean variability and decadal variability of Saharan atmospheric dynamics significantly influence decadal variability of monsoon precipitation. These results also suggest the existence of external anthropogenic forcing, which is superimposed on the decadal natural variability inducing an intensification of the signal in the historical simulations compared to preindustrial control simulations. We have also shown that decadal rainfall variability in the Sahel, once the influence of oceanic modes has been eliminated, appears to be driven mainly by the activity of the Arabian Heat Low (AHL) in the central Sahel, and by the structure of the meridional temperature gradient over the inter-tropical Atlantic in the western Sahel.

Coupling between the Cenozoic west Pacific subduction initiation and decreases of atmospheric carbon dioxides

At the beginning of the Cenozoic,the atmospheric CO_(2)concentration increased rapidly from~2000 ppmv at 60 Ma to~4600 ppmv at 51 Ma,which is 5–10 times higher than the present value,and then continuous declined from~51 to 34 Ma.The cause of this phenomenon is still not well understood.In this study,we demonstrate that the initiation of Cenozoic west Pacific plate subduction,triggered by the hard collision in the Tibetan Plateau,occurred at approximately 51 Ma,coinciding with the tipping point.The water depths of the Pacific subduction zones are mostly below the carbonate compensation depths,while those of the Neo-Tethys were much shallower before the collision and caused far more carbonate subducting.Additionally,more volcanic ashes erupted from the west Pacific subduction zones,which consume CO_(2).The average annual west Pacific volvano eruption is 1.11 km~3,which is higher than previous estimations.The amount of annual CO_(2)absorbed by chemical weathering of additional west Pacific volcanic ashes could be comparable to the silicate weathering by the global river.We propose that the initiation of the western Pacific subduction controlled the long-term reduction of atmospheric CO_(2)concentration.

The West, The East, and The Rest

Realists like e.g.Mearsheimer from University of Chicago see war between states as a game over regional hegemony.The US leading the West blocks the East in the Ukraine and in Israel as well as Taiwan.The major risk for mankind is a third new conflict,namely Taiwan.The suffering from the wars in Ukraine and Palestine is so heavy that we need to unpack the Huntington idea of civilization war.

Primary Study on Reasons for the Growth Re-cession of Fragrant Camphor Trees at the West Lake Scenic Area and Diagnosis Procedure

Fragrant camphor tree is the city tree of Hangzhou which takes a large proportion of the ancient trees in Hangzhou City. Recently, with the free open of the attractions around the West Lake and the implementation of the comprehensive pro- ject for protecting the West Lake, a part of ancient fragrant camphor trees are fac- ing problems such as altered living conditons. Some of them are showing a decline in growth vigor or even close to death, which will produce extremely negative influ- ences on the maintaining and sustainable development of the West Lake Scenic Area if without any timely measures for the rescue and rejuvenation of the trees. Therefore, strengthening the protection and management of ancient fragrant camphor trees at the West Lake Scenic Area and carrying out researches on the procedure for diagnosing the reasons for the growth recession of the ancient fragrant camphor trees at the West Lake Scenic Area are of great significance for the future protec- tion and rejuvenation of the ancient trees around the West Lake. The factors influ- encing the growth of ancient trees and indexes for judging the growth condition were listed and the reasons for the growth recession were systematically summa- rized in this paper. In addition, measures for the rejuvenation of the ancient fragrant camphor trees were also simply discussed.

Oceanic Island Basalts within the West Junggar Ophiolitic Mélanges: Petrogenetic and Tectonic Implications

Recently, we focused on the Darbut and Karamay ophiolitic m41anges in West Junggar of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt （CAOB, SengOr et al., 1993; Windley et al., 2007; Xiao and Santosh, 2014）, and made much progress. This study was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China （No. 41303027） and Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Central Colleges Project （No. 2014G1271058）. The achievements are illustrated as follows.

Report of a chiton in the genus Leptochiton (Lepidopleurida:Lepidopleurina:Leptochitonidae) from the Yap Trench in the West Pacific Ocean

Two chiton specimens were collected from sedimentary habitat by China＇s manned Jiaolong submersible diving to a depth of 6 754 m in the north of the Yap Trench. This is a new locality record for chiton. Both morphological and molecular data support that the two specimens are the same species belonging to the genus Leptochiton. Morphologically, this species strongly resembles L. vanbellei and L. deforgesi. Phylogenetically, it has a close evolutionary relationship with L. vanbellei, L. deforgesi and L. boucheti. This is the third deepest record for deepsea chitons so far.

Analysis of Long-Range Transmission Loss in the West Pacific Ocean

A long-range sound propagation experiment was conducted in the West Pacific Ocean in July 2013. Linear frequency-modulated signals with a frequency band of 260-360Hz were transmitted by a transducer hung on a floating ship during the experiment and were received by a horizontal line array towed by another ship sailing away from the transducer. The maximum distance between the two ships was 1029km. Signals were received at the distances 34-220 kin, 612-635 km and 926-1029 kin. Transmission loss versus distance between source and receiver was obtained and compared with the theoretical results predicted by the parabolic equation method program RAM. It is shown that RAM is adequate for estimating the transmission loss for distances up to 1029km. When the water depth is larger than the surface conjugate depth, the ocean bottom rarely influences the transmission loss in the convergence zones. However, in the opposite situation, the ocean bottom contributes significantly to the transmission loss.

Systematics, species diversity and new taxa of mesozooplankton in the West Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas: a brief compilation of monographs in China

Research and protection of biodiversity is generally started with species recognizing guided by achievement of cataloguing and illustration obtained through in situ investigation data accumulation and literature learning. Facing the shortage of taxonomist, it is getting harder to maintain important specimen collections and handle loans. The West Pacific Ocean has been operating as a center of the origin of global marine biodiversity result of the richest species diversity of marine taxa found in these waters. The present work is a compilation and summary of systematics, species diversity and new taxa of mesozooplankton major group known in West Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas （0°-45°N, 105°-152°E） according to 6 203 mesozooplankton samples acquired from 701 stations during 1965 and 2008. A total of 2 657 species belonging to 686 genera and 206 families of 10 mesozooplankton groups have been found through taxonomic identification and document consulting. In details, 697 species from 251 genera of 99 families belong to the Medusozoa, 59 species from 22 genera of 12 families to the Ctenophora, 85 species from 36 genera of 14 families to the pelagic Mollusca （Pteropoda and Heteropoda）, 416 species from 91 genera of 8 families to the Ostracoda, 908 species from 156 genera of 51 families to the Copepoda, 202 species from 60 genera of 4 families to the Mysidacea, 56 species from 8 genera of 2 families to the Euphausiacea, 105 species from 23 genera of 8 families to the Decapoda, 48 species from 13 genera of 5 families to the Chaetognatha and 81 species from 26 genera of 5 families to the Tunicata. The dominant species of each group are enumerated. Moreover, 2 new species of Medusozoa, Tubulariidae, Ectopleura, 1 new species of Medusozoa, Protiaridae, Halitiarella, 1 new genus and 1 new species of Medusozoa, Corymorphidae are established. An amount of 806 species are expanded with an increase of 43.5% on the basis of 1 852 species recorded before 2008, including 1.4% increase from tropical sea around equator, 4.0% from the frigid water in high latitude region, and 3.0% of bathypelagic-associated waters. The authors also summarized future prospects into five major areas in marine mesozooplankton research in China. Such information of qualitative phyletic classification could be of high relevance to studies on biodiversity and biogeography of marine mesozooplankton, especially for monographs contributed to make an overall and systematic conclusion on the species of marine life in China after 2008.

Observation Research of the Turbulent Fluxes of Momentum, Sensible Heat and Latent Heat over the West Pacific Tropical Ocean Area

This paper describes results of the fluxes of momentum , sensible heat and latent heat for the West Pacific Tropical Ocean Area ( 127 ° E - 150 ° E , 5 ° N -3 ° S ). The data were collected by the small tethered balloon sounding system over this ocean area including 6 continuous stations (140 ° E. 0 ° ; 145 ° E, 0 ° ; 150 ° E, 0 ° ; 140° E, 5 ° N; 145 ° E, 5° N and 150 ° E, 5 ° N) from 11 October to 15 December, 1986 . These fluxes were calculated by the semiempirical flux-profile relationships of Monin-Obukhov similarity theory using these observed data. The results show that for this tropical ocean area the drag coefficient CD is equal to (1.53 ± 0.25) × 10 3 and the daily mean latent flux Hl is greater than its daily mean sensible flux HV by a factor of about 9.

A Report of the Newly Discovered Cu–Ni Ore Deposit in the West of East Tianshan, North Xinjiang, China

Objective The Early Permian mafic-ultramafic intrusions （298- 270 Ma, Mao et al., 2008）, which are widely distributed in different tectonic domains in North Xinjiang, host magmatic sulfide ore deposits, making North Xinjiang the second most important region for Ni resources in China. The bulk of Cu-Ni ore deposits in East Tianshan, making up a large portion of Ni resources in North Xinjiang, were concentrated in the east of East Tianshan （the Huangshan- Jing＇erquan region） （Feng Yanqing, et al., 2017）, while no any analogue was discovered in the west of East Tianshan until the Lubei Cu-Ni （Co） ore deposit （90°21＇E, 42°10rN） was identified by Xinjiang Geological Survey in 2014. The Lubei Cu-Ni （Co） ore deposit is a medium- to large- sized deposit with Ni and Cu grades in the range 0.2%- 7.76% and 0.2%-2.30%, respectively. This work has initiated the prospection for a large-sized Cu-Ni ore deposit in the west of East Tianshan.

Geochemical Characteristics and Uranium Mineralization Potential of The Yanshanian Granite in The West of Yunnan Province

1 Introduction The Sanjiang metallogenic belt is one of the important nonferrous metal metallogenic belts in China,the potential resources of copper,lead,zinc,silver,gold and tin are huge(Zhengqian et al.,1993).In the west of Yunnan province has a lot of Yanshanian granite,according to 1:20 million test data,development of granite belt rich in radioactive minerals in the west of Yunnan

The December 26, 2004, off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, M_W=9.0, earthquake and the critical-point-like model of earthquake preparation

Long-term seismic activity prior to the December 26, 2004, off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, MW=9.0 earthquake was investigated using the Harvard CMT catalogue. It is observed that before this great earth-quake, there exists an accelerating moment release (AMR) process with the temporal scale of a quarter century and the spatial scale of 1 500 km. Within this spatial range, the MW=9.0 event falls into the piece-wise power-law-like frequency-magnitude distribution. Therefore, in the perspective of the critical-point-like model of earthquake preparation, the failure to forecast/predict the approaching and/or the size of this earthquake is not due to the physically intrinsic unpredictability of earthquakes.

Qualitative Comparison of Cultural Resources in Famous Scenic Areas: A Case Study of the West Lake and the Yunhu Lake

Theories and basic methods of evaluating cultural resources in famous scenic areas were explored, on the basis of which quantitative evaluation model and evaluation indexes were established, such as abundance, density, historical value, cultural value and social value of cultural resources, influence, peculiarity, integrity, development and utilization capacity. The West Lake in Hangzhou City and the Yunlong Lake Scenic Area were taken for example.

Description Générale de la Chine and the Spread of Traditional Chinese Medicine to the West in the 18^(th) Century

Description Générale de la Chine is an important sinology masterpiece published in France in the late 18^(th) century.Its author Jean-Baptiste Grosier summarized and rearranged a large number of first-hand materials to systematically introduce China’s national traditions and culture.A great part of this book introduced ancient Chinese medicine,which facilitated the unbiased understanding of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in Europe and fostered a knowledge dialogue between the Chinese and Western medicine systems.Such content also provided a historical reference for how to promote the further going out of TCM to the world.

Potash Mineral Characteristics and Geochemical Studies in the West of Bieletan Section

Qarhan Salt Lake is located in the eastern part of the Qaidam Basin,which is first discovered the large potash deposit in the late 1950s.The Bieletan section is located in the west of Qarhan Salt Lake,where saline sediment