Qingshui Lu

A rapid identification method for severely earthquake-damaged areas based on damaged mobile phone base stations in China

Obtaining an accurate map of severely damaged areas immediately after an earthquake is a high priority in China. Previous methods of mapping these areas in the country have been too slow. The increasing number of mobile phone base stations provides a new means of identifying areas severely damaged by earthquakes in a very short time. In this study, we derive a new method based on the data of faulty mobile phone base stations. Our results show that areas of extreme earthquake damage identified according to base stations damaged by the Ludian and Lushan earthquakes were in very good agreement with large-magnitude seismic intensity zones outlined by the China Earthquake Administration. This indicates the reliability of our method, which can be used to help the government provide timely rescue after an earthquake and direct resources to high-priority areas.

Runoff simulation using a modified SWAT model with spatially continuous HRUs

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is a well-established eco-hydrologic model that employs the hydrological response unit (HRU) as the basic unit. Land surface patches within one HRU have identical hydrological properties (e.g., land use, soil, slope and management) and thus have similar hydrological responses. The non-spatial aspects of HRUs, however, are considered a key weakness of the SWAT model because it is difficult to determine the spatial locations and describe the interactions between different HRUs. Here, a new method to produce continuous HRUs with a clear spatial position for SWAT using Geographic Information System tools is proposed and then tested in a small catchment of the Taihu Basin, China. The SWAT model was then modified based on spatial continuous discretized HRUs accounting for the surface runoff lag difference of HRUs in one sub-basin. The results showed that the modified model was more sensitive to the lag in runoff processes and thus had better simulation accuracy.

Dynamic analysis on coastline and sea reclamation in the region around Bohai based on remote sensing images

With 2 periods of standard false-color images as data sources, using remote sensing and GIS technology, dynamic change information extraction of the coastline and sea reclamation was completed in the region around Bohai through visual interpretation and artificial vectorization, and then this kind of information was studied deeply. The conclusions are as follows: 1) From 2000 to 2010, coastline of the region around Bohai shows an increasing trend, advancing to the sea rapidly; coastline change of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan area is maximum; the advancing of coastlines of Liaoning and Shandong Province to the sea is obvious; human factors are key factors for the above change . 2) From 2000 to 2010, the sea reclamation area of the region around Bohai is rapidly increasing, the increase of Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region is the largest relatively and that of Shandong Province is the smallest; from the structure point of view, the area of sea reclamation for building ports is the largest and that of tideland reclamation is the smallest; different regions have different structures; social and natural factors together determine the evolution of sea reclamation. 3) To some extent, sea reclamation contributes to the increase in length of the coastline; different use types of sea reclamation have different influences on the coastline changes.

Dynamic analysis on coastline and sea reclamation in the efficient ecological economic zone of the Yellow River Delta based on 30-years of satellite data

In this paper, with four remote sensing images from the 1980 to 2010 periods and the coastal survey data as data sources, then integrated use remote sensing and GIS technology, the Efficient Ecological Economic Zone of the Yellow River Deltas coastline and sea reclamation changes were extracted by the means of visual interpretation and the artificial vector method. The conclusions are as follows: The coastline of this study area showed a rising trend during 1980 to 2010, the silty coastline showed a reduction trend while the artificial coastline showed an increasing trend, natural and social factors together determined the evolution of coastline. The reclamation area was the largest during 1980 to 1990 and the area was the smallest during 1990 to 2000, demographic factors and economic factors are the most prominent driving reasons of the reclamation. This paper can provide data support and services for the study area to implement management and sustainable development more efficiently.

Changes in Herdsmen's Pastoral Behaviour Triggered by Rangeland Degradation in the Source Region of the Yellow River, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has experienced extensive degradation in recent years since the privatization of livestock and rangeland ownership and the resulting dynamic changes in stocking rates. Herdsmen have had to adapt their behaviour in order to maximize profit. This paper outlines those changes and the consequent impacts on the ecosystem. The results show that livestock death rates have continued to increase in line with the deterioration of rangeland. Although farms have increased the proportion of yak in their herds, the total number of livestock in Maduo county has decreased significantly from one million in 1977 to 0.42 million in 2003.

Nuclear power plants in China’s coastal zone: risk and safety

Nuclear power plants are used as an option to meet the demands for electricity due to the low emission of CO2 and other contaminants. The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 has forced the Chinese government to adjust its original plans for nuclear power. The construction of inland nuclear power plants was stopped, and construction is currently only permitted in coastal zones. However, one obstacle of those plants is that the elevation of those plants is notably low, ranging from 2 to 9 meters and a number of the nuclear power plants are located in or near geological fault zones. In addition, the population density is very high in the coastal zones of China. To reduce those risks of nuclear power plants, central government should close the nuclear power plants within the fault zones, evaluate the combined effects of storm surges, inland floods and tidal waves on nuclear power plants and build closed dams around nuclear power plants to prevent damage from storm surges and tidal waves. The areas without fault zones and with low elevation should be considered to be possible sites for future nuclear power plants if the elevation can be increased using soil or civil materials.

The research on the fairness of carbon emissions for China's energy based on GIS

This article firstly calculated Chinas energy carbon emissions of 30 provinces in 2010 with the method of carbon emission inventories of 2006 IPCC based on the data of China energy statistical yearbook, and then calculated its carbon emission intensity with GDP data in China’s statistical yearbook. Next according to the formed formula the author calculated the EEI (Economic Efficiency Index) and ECI (Ecological Carrying Index) and made some corresponding figures with the help of GIS to analyze the fairness of the China’s energy CO2 emissions in 2010.The results showed that the distribution of China’s CO2 emissions for energy in 2010 become lower from the Bohai bay to the surroundings and the west circle provinces are with the lowest energy carbon emissions. The intensity distribution of China’s CO2 emissions for energy in 2010 becomes higher from southeast China to north China. The distributions of EEI, ECI and for China’s energy CO2 emissions are quite different from each other, and also with their comprehensive result. As to the fairness of China’s energy CO2 emissions in 2010, we can say that the south provinces are better than those of Bohai bay areas (except Beijing and Tianjing).

Soil erosion, policy and management in China coastal zone

The coastal zone is very important in the world. China coastal zone was granted the first priority of developing economy in the late 1980s. Since then, high population density and rapid economic development hace caused intensive changes of LUCC in this zone. Those changes have lead to land degradation. Besides, China governments launched series of projects and policy to improve such problems. Those will inevitably cause to diverse spatial dynamics of land degradtion. However, the state of land degradation in certain time is still unknown. Soil erosion is an important indicator of land degradation.Therefore, we use RS images，RUSLE model to anlyze the spatial pattern of soil erosion for 2000. By spatial analysis, we found that soil erosion in China coastal zone is not serious. Widespread soil erosion is only occurred on coastal zones in Shandong, Hainan and werstern Guangdong Province. Although rainfall eosivity factor(R) is higher in southern coastal zone, erosion tends to occur on the slopes with lower LS values in northern coastal zone than southern coastal zone. Goevernments have enforced some policy to reduce the extent of soil erosion by conversion of farmland to woodland and barren mountains to woodland. But the difference between southern and northern coastal zone is still not realized. To improve soil eorosion in those areas, we should let governments put more funds to increase vegetation cover in north. Such study will provide helpful suggestions for governments to prevent soil erosion in coastal zone.

Analysis of non-point and point source pollution in China: case study in Shima Watershed in Guangdong Province

China economy has been rapidly increased since 1978. Rapid economic growth led to fast growth of fertilizer and pesticide consumption. A significant portion of fertilizers and pesticides entered the water and caused water quality degradation. At the same time, rapid economic growth also caused more and more point source pollution discharge into the water. Eutrophication has become a major threat to the water bodies. Worsening environment problems forced governments to take measures to control water pollution. We extracted land cover from Landsat TM images; calculated point source pollution with export coefficient method; then SWAT model was run to simulate non-point source pollution. We found that the annual TP loads from industry pollution into rivers are 115.0 t in the entire watershed. Average annual TP loads from each sub-basin ranged from 0 to 189.4 ton. Higher TP loads of each basin from livestock and human living mainly occurs in the areas where they are far from large towns or cities and the TP loads from industry are relatively low. Mean annual TP loads that delivered to the streams was 246.4 tons and the highest TP loads occurred in north part of this area, and the lowest TP loads is mainly distributed in middle part. Therefore, point source pollution has much high proportion in this area and governments should take measures to control point source pollution.

The study on the changing characteristics and their countermeasures for China's carbon emissions in 2000-2010

Based on the quantitative calculation of 2000-2010 Chinas 30 provinces of carbon emissions by the method of 2006 IPCC with the data from China energy statistical yearbook and China cement Yearbook, a detailed analysis of the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of carbon emissions in both Chinese level and provinces’ level was made. The result showed that most of the provinces of Chinas carbon emissions presented an increasing trend in the past 11 years, especially in Shandong Province, Hebei Province, Shanxi Province, Liaoning Province, Jiangsu province which is located in the national top five. Then according to the current carbon emissions trend, the author put forward some countermeasures for China, such as speeding up the pace of industrial restructuring, searching for clean energy and other measures to reduce the carbon emissions of china to low the emission rate and contribute to the world.