Impact of ice-snow damage on nutrient distribution of a Cunninghamia lanceolata woodland

During January to February in 2008,severe ice-snows occurred on 2.09×10^6 km^2 of south China and caused tremendous damage to the forests.Stem damage and crown debris input from the ice-snow in a Cunninghamia lanceolata stand in northern Guangdong Province,China,were investigated to determine the extent of ice-snow damage to trees and the nutrient distribution characteristics on woodland.Icicles were produced on branches and leaves of the C.lanceolata trees by sleets,resulting in all live trees were damaged by stem breakage.A strong positive correlation was found between the broken position of trees and diameter at breast height（DBH）.Nutrient concentrations varied according to components of crown debris.Total nutrient concentration graded in the following order：leaves 〉stembark 〉branches 〉stemwood.Crown debris input from ice-snows was 19.11 t·ha^-2,and branches,stemwood,leaves and stembark accounted for 37%,28%,27% and 8%,respectively.Nutrient distributions between components of crown debris differed drastically in 2008.The contribution of leaves to total nutrient accumulation of crown debris was 70%,whereas branches,stemwood and stembark contributed 13%,7% and 10%,respectively.Accumulations of N,P and K by the woodland were 105 067.9 t·ha^-2 in 2008,and the nutrients of crown debris,litter and the stand soil accounted for 0.18%,0.03% and 99.79%,respectively.The order of nutrient accumulation in leaves,branches,stembark,stemwood of crown debris and litter was N〉K〉P,but the nutrients stored in the soil were in the order of K 〉N 〉P.The N and P concentrations of litter in 2009 were greater than those in 2008,whereas its K concentration was smaller than that of the latter.N and P concentrations of stemwood and stembark in 2009 were slightly greater than those in 2009,whereas their K concentration was smaller than the latter.The N and P accumulations of stemwood and stembark of crown debris in 2009 were close to those in 2008,whereas their K accumulation was slightly smaller than the latter.The N,P and K accumulations of litter in 2009 was greater than those in 2008.

Support Vector Machines for Cloud Detection over Ice-Snow Areas

In polar regions, cloud and underlying ice-snow areas are difficult to distinguish in satellite images because of their high albedo in the visible band and low surface temperature of ice-snow areas in the infrared band. A cloud detection method over ice-snow covered areas in Antarctica is presented. On account of different texture features of cloud and ice-snow areas, five texture features are extracted based on GLCM. Nonlinear SVM is then used to obtain the optimal classification hyperplane from training data. The experiment results indicate that this algorithm performs well in cloud detection in Antarctica, especially for thin cirrus detection. Furthermore, when images are resampled to a quarter or 1/16 of the full size, cloud percentages are still at the same level, while the processing time decreases exponentially.

Evaluation of Forest Damaged Area and Severity Caused by Ice-snow Frozen Disasters over Southern China with Remote Sensing

The accurate assessment of forest damage is important basis for the forest post-disaster recovery process and ecosystem management. This study evaluates the spatial distribution of damaged forest and its damaged severity caused by ice-snow disaster that occurred in southern China during January 10 to February 2 in 2008. The moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer(MODIS)13 Q1 products are used, which include two vegetation indices data of NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and EVI(Enhanced Vegetation Index). Furtherly, after Quality Screening(QS) and Savizky-Golay(S-G) filtering of MODIS 13 Q1 data, four evaluation indices are obtained, which are NDVI with QS(QSNDVI), EVI with QS(QSEVI), NDVI with S-G filtering(SGNDVI) and EVI with S-G filtering(SGEVI). The study provides a new way of firstly determining the threshold for each image pixel for damaged forest evaluation, by computing the pre-disaster reference value and change threshold with vegetation index from remote sensing data. Results show obvious improvement with the new way for forest damage evaluation, evaluation result of forest damage is much close to the field survey data with standard error of only 0.95 and 1/3 less than the result that evaluated from other threshold method. Comparatively, the QSNDVI shows better performance than other three indices on evaluating forest damages. The evaluated result with QSNDVI shows that the severe, moderate, mild damaged rates of Southern China forests are 47.33%, 34.15%, 18.52%, respectively. By analyzing the influence of topographic and meteorological factors on forest-vegetation damage, we found that the precipitation on freezing days has greater impact on forest-vegetation damage, which is regarded as the most important factor. This study could be a scientific and reliable reference for evaluating the forest damages from ice-snow frozen disasters.

Monitoring rock desert formation caused by two different origins(ice-snow melting and drying)in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China by considering topographic and meteorological elements

Monitoring rock desert formation caused by two different origins(ice-snow melting and drying)through remote sensing is crucial to our understanding of the interaction between the underlying surface of different rock desert and land-atmosphere types,as well as the relationship between bare land and soil erosion.A number of achievements have been made in remote sensing monitoring of desert areas,but there is a lack of accurate classification and remote sensing identification of rock desert types based on formation mechanism.In this study,the north and south sides of the eastern Kunlun Mountains in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China were taken as the study areas.Landsat operational landscape imager,digital elevation model,and precipitation and temperature grid data were used as data sources.By identifying the bare areas based on the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),we used the multi-element fusion method of contours,isotherms,and isohyets to identify the rock desert types in the ice-snow melting and dry areas.The results showed that:(1)the rock desert areas identified by remote sensing based on topographic and meteorological elements were highly accurate,with an overall accuracy of 88.45%and kappa coefficient of 0.77.The multi-element fusion method of contours,isotherms,and isohyets could effectively identify the rock desert types in the ice-snow melting and dry areas;(2)the optimal segmentation range of the ice-snow melting and dry areas was 3600 m contour,-2°C-2°C isotherms,and 100-130 mm isohyets.The areas with elevation less than 3600 m,annual average temperature higher than 2°C,and average annual precipitation less than 100 mm were rock desert in the dry areas.The range of-2°C-2°C isotherms and 100-130 mm isohyets was the transition area between the ice-snow melting and dry areas.The areas with elevation higher than 3600 m,annual average temperature less than-2°C,and average annual precipitation higher than 130 mm were rock desert in the ice-snow melting areas;and(3)the identification accuracy of the bare areas based on the NDVI method was better,specifically,the identification accuracy of plain bare areas was generally better than that of mountain bare areas.The remote sensing identification method considers not only the topographic factors that have great influence on the spatial distribution of the two types of rock desert areas,but also the meteorological factors,which can provide a scientific reference for the effective identification of the two types of rock desert areas.

掀起冬天的盖头来 ICE-SNOW Car冰雪自驾游

看着漫天飞舞的雪花,看着圣洁的白色,曾几何时,那是我们童年时代最熟悉的色彩,而今天再次看到时,却有恍如隔世的感觉,是什么阻碍我们与自然接触的脚步,是什么阻挡住我们触摸风景的双手,看着身边红男绿女们美丽但却虚无的面孔,蓦然回首时才想起年轻的我们早就在岁月流失中迷失了方向,心情也一点点地消沉了许多。

High-quality Development Paths of Ice-snow Tourism in China from the Perspective of the Winter Olympics

Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have promoted the rapid development of ice-snow tourism in China,which contributes to achieving the goal of having“300 million people participate in ice-snow sports”.This paper analyzes the status quo and problems associated with the growth of ice-snow tourism in China based on the methods of documentation and field investigation.The results indicate that China’s efforts have born abundant fruits.Notwithstanding,there are still some problems due to the limited time and hastened process of ice-snow tourism development,including unreasonable exploitation,low-quality products and services,imperfect investment and financing system,inadequate management,a single marketing mode,and insufficient talent teams.Compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States,ice-snow tourism in China is in the stage of rapid development.To achieve the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China,this paper proposes actions from eight aspects which involve policy,products and services,marketing,safety management and control,talent teams,standardization construction,science and technology,and community participation.This study can provide references for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China,as well as perfecting Chinese theoretical research on ice-snow tourism.

Relationships between Tourist Experiential Value and Ice-Snow Tourism Loyalty in Zhangjiakou City,and the Moderating Effects of Travel Companions

The successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics has provided a new opportunity for the popularization of ice-snow sports and making improvements in the efficiency of ice-snow tourism in China.Taking Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province as the research object and using questionnaire analysis and the structural equation model(SEM),this paper examined several hypotheses of the relationship between tourist experiential value and tourist loyalty in the context of ice-snow tourism,and a mediation analysis was conducted to explore the moderating role of travel companions.The results show that:(1)The functional value,emotional value and social value have significant positive effects on tourist loyalty;(2)Tourist satisfaction is a partial mediator between functional value,emotional value,social value and tourist loyalty,and a full mediator between cognitive value and tourist loyalty;and(3)Travel companions play a significant moderating role in the influence of emotional value on tourist loyalty.Based on these findings,several suggestions are put forward for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China,including developing ice-snow family tourism products,building an ice-snow brand with winter Olympics characteristics,constructing the ice-snow industrial system,and cultivating ice-snow culture.

The South China Quasi-Stationary Front During the Ice-Snow Disaster of January 2008

South China suffered an extremely severe disaster caused by low-temperature and ice-snow during the last 20 days of January 2008. The freezing rain and snow are climatologically related to the South China quasistationary front （SCQSF） in mid winter. The three-dimensional structure of the SCQSF was examined based on the weather charts, the sounding profiles, and the vertical cross-sections using the method of classical synoptic analysis.

Experimental Application of Intelligent Robot Technology in Antarctic Scientific Expedition

Intelligent robot technology has great potential for application in polar scientific expedition.During the 24th Chinese Antarctic Expedition in the summer of 2007/08,our ice-snow surface mobile and low-flying robots were successfully employed for the first time in the Antarctic.This paper firstly gives a brief introduction to the intelligent robot technology developed abroad and used in the Antarctic,then focuses on the ice-snow surface mobile and low-flying robots developed by China as well as their field trials in the Antarctic.Moreover,the authors have considered the potential demand for the intelligent robot technology in China＇s Antarctic scientific expedition,in the hope of providing some reference for the future development of robot technologies.

Associative cultural landscape approach to interpreting traditional ecological wisdom:A case of Inuit habitat

Global climate change and the accelerated melting of glaciers have raised concerns about the ability to manage ice-snow environments.Historically,human ancestors have mastered the ecological wisdom of working with ice-snow environments,but the phenomenon has not yet been articulated in cultural landscape methodologies that emphasize“nature-culture relevance”.The challenging living environment often compels indigenous people to form a strong bond with their surroundings,leading to the creation of long-term ecological wisdom through synergistic relationships with the environment.This ecological environment is conceptualized as a cognitive space in the form of the landscape,with which the aboriginal community norms and individual spirits continually interact.Such interactions generate numerous non-material cultural evidences,such as culture,art,religion,and other ideological aspects of the nation.These evidences symbolize the intellectual outcome of the relationship between humans and the landscape,and they create the“spiritual relevance”through personification and contextualization.The aim of the study is to explore the traditional ecological wisdom of the Inuit people who live in the harsh Arctic,and analyze the Inuit’s interaction with the landscape through the lens of“associative cultural landscape”,and decode the survival experience that the Inuit have accumulated through their long-term synergy with the Arctic environment.The findings focus on the synergy between the Inuit and the ice-snow landscape,examining the knowledge and ecological wisdom that the Inuit acquire from the ice-snow landscape.Our goal is to develop a perspective of the ecological environment from the viewpoint of aboriginal people and establish a methodology,model,and framework for“associative cultural landscape”that incorporates ethnic non-material cultural evidences.From the results,a total of nine models for interpreting traditional Inuit ecological wisdom are generated based on the“diamond model”of“associative cultural landscape”,covering the transition from the physical landscape to a spiritual one and demonstrating the associative role of the landscape in stimulating potential spiritual cognitive abilities in humans.

Analysis of forest damage caused by the snow and ice chaos along a transect across southern China in spring 2008

An abrupt ice and snow storm disaster which occurred in the spring of 2008 severely destroyed forests over a surprisingly large portion of southern China. A transect crossing Jinggang Mountain-Jitai Basin-Yushan Mountain-Wuyi Mountain was selected as the study area. The authors integrated field data collected in two field surveys to analyze the impacts of the disturbance on forests. The following results were obtained. （1） The extent of damage to plantations along the transect decreased in the order of slash pine 〉 masson pine 〉 mixed plantation 〉 Chinese fir. Slash pine is an introduced species from southern America which is characterized by fast growth, low wood quality and rich oleoresin, and showed a damage rate of 61.3% of samples, of which 70.4% cannot recover naturally. Masson pine is the native pioneer species of forests with harder wood, and 52.5% were damaged due to turpentine, of which 60.9% cannot recovery naturally. Chinese fir is a local tree species and samples showed a rate of 46% and a relative rate of 32.5%, lower than the mixed plantation. （2） From west to east along the transect, we can see that evergreen broad-leaved forest of the western transect on Jinggang Mountain showed the lightest damage extent, and a Cryptomeria plantation at an altitude of 700 m was severely destroyed while Chinese fir showed light damage below 700 m and relatively severe damage above 900 m. Masson pine and slash pine in the central transect in Jitai Basin were damaged severely due to turpentine activities, and closed natural secondary deciduous broad-leaved forest was damaged severely due to high ice and snow accumulation on intertwined shrubs. Masson pine aerial-seeding plantations below 400 m along the eastern transect in Xingguo and Ningdu counties were nearly undamaged for small tree sizes, and Chinese fir at 500-900 m altitude showed a lighter damage extent. However, masson pine which was distributed above 400 m and planted in the 1960s, was severely damaged due to turpentine.

Ski Tourism Experience and Market Segmentation from the Perspective of Perceived Value:A Case Study on Chongli District of Zhangjiakou

As an emerging mountain vacation tourism product,ski tourism is becoming increasingly important in the domestic tourism market.As an important theory for studying the quality of consumer experience,perceived value has been widely employed in tourism research in recent years,and improving the ski tourism experience value has become the focus of competition among ski tourism destinations.Taking the ski tourists in Chongli District of Zhangjiakou as an example,305 valid questionnaires were collected by using online and offline methods.Based on the theory of perceived value,this paper adopted principal component analysis and cluster analysis to conduct a preliminary study of ski tourism experience and market segmentation.In addition,this paper examined the differences in demographic and behavioral characteristics of different types of ski tourists.This study finds that:(1)The perceived value of ski tourism experience includes four dimensions:facility value,perceived price,safety value and service value.(2)Using the perceived value to segment ski tourists,three different customer segments are identified:comfort-pursuant,price-sensitive and safety-oriented.(3)There are significant differences in key metrics,such as number of visits and stay time,among different types of ski tourists according to their demographic characteristics such as gender,age,monthly income,and behavioral characteristics.These results reveal the different dimensions of the perceived value of ski tourism experience and determine the market segments and characteristics of ski tourists.Developing a corresponding marketing strategy based on the different market segments can better promote the perceived value of ski tourists,and ultimately strengthen the competitiveness of the enterprises.