ALBERT

Description: Moisture budget components over a rectangular region defined by the longitudes 6.0°W–36.0°E and latitudes 30.0°N to 45.0°N, with an area of about 6.08 × 106 km2 over the Mediterranean (Med) Basin, are studied by the use of the Japan Meteorological Agency super-high-resolution (20 km) GCM monthly mean data. The research time periods are 1979–2007 for current run and 2075–2099 for future run. Six rainy months of October to March with a total of 168 months for the current run and 144 months for the future run were selected. The rain months have been categorized into five groups of months based on the mean monthly rainfall amounts where the five groups are P 〈 1.0, 1.0 ≤ P 〈 1.5, 1.5 ≤ P 〈 2.0, 2.0 ≤ P 〈 2.5, and 2.5 mm/d ≤ P. We found that generally, over the Mediterranean, the outflow-inflow is balancing the independently calculated evaporation-precipitation quite well with a correlation coefficient of about 0.89. The present seasonal (October-March) precipitation simulated from the 20 km GCM showed a quite reasonable agreement with the CRU. The seasonal area mean precipitation and evaporation are 1.85 mm/d and 2.44 mm/d, respectively. The largest two precipitation categories contribute over 50% of the total seasonal rainfall. The evaporation varies positively with the precipitation for all precipitation categories. Also, the relatively high mean recycling ratio (55%) indicates that the local Med evaporation has a central role in the local precipitation. Another important finding is that the decreasing trend of recycling ratio with the rising of the precipitation category implies that the outside moisture inflow role increases with the increase of the precipitation category. For all the precipitation categories, the total outflow is larger than the total inflow, indicating that the Med area is an important source of moisture. Individual boundary moisture flux shows that the main moisture comes from the west boundary and contributes 59% of the total inflow, while the main outflow is through east boundary and is responsible for 46% of total outflow. Analysis of monthly precipitation indicates that the October and November have the two largest amount of precipitation over the research region. The moisture budget study separated for the east and the west Med shows that the area mean precipitation for the east and the west Med are 2.14 and 2.29 mm/d, while the evaporation are 4.48 and 3.59 mm/d. The plausible reason for the differences between these two basins has been discussed. The moisture supplies to the east Med is mainly from the west boundary, while for the west Mediterranean, the north boundary inflow also plays an important role along with the west boundary. The future moisture budget components over Med suggest that the precipitation is decreasing from 1.85 to 1.62 mm/d and the evaporation is increasing from 2.44 to 2.56 mm/d between current and future. Another finding is that the largest precipitation number of months decreases from 12% to only 6% of the total number of months, while the intensity of the precipitation in this category enhances in the future.

Description: Public transit services should favor space equity, and the concern of this study is how the allocation of public transportation resources corresponds to the needs of transit users. Identifying mismatches between urban transit resources and regular transit users benefits the transportation resource allocation policy. This study introduces a location maximum likelihood estimation method and a cell space collector mechanism to explore distribution differences of regular transit riders and transit stations based on data mining. In Beijing, 5.37 million regular transit users were identified, and their first-morning transit stations were found to be within 2 km from their last transit stations used the day before. As their locations were estimated, differences in ratios of the regular transit riders to residents were found among areas. Most regular transit users were located in the suburban areas of 5–20 km from the center of Beijing, and the spatial distribution of transit stations declined from the center to the peripheral urban areas. This mismatch between public transit services and regular transit riders sheds light on urban transportation policies.

Description: As an eco-friendly transportation mode, shared bicycles provide a new option for public transit users in urban areas. China’s bicycle-sharing market began flourishing in July 2016 and reached a plateau in 2017. How shared bicycles influenced public transit systems during this period is an interesting topic. A case study of Beijing is conducted. This study aims to identify the competitive and cooperative influences of shared bicycles on public transit by exploring the changes in public transit trip distances before and after the upsurge in bicycle-sharing. A histogram shifting method is introduced to examine the influences of shared bicycles on public transit services from a travel distance perspective. A spatial correlation of bicycling usage and public transit changes is calculated using units of gridded cell spaces. The results show: (1) overall transit usage continued growing after the shared bicycles market reached a plateau; (2) short public transits within 2 km decreased while transfers within 2 km increased; and (3) the decrease of short transits and increase of transfers within 3 km were spatially highly correlated to the usage of shared bicycles. Hence, the role of bicycle-sharing systems is competitive for existing public transit systems during short trips and cooperative for connecting transits.

Description: Sustainability, Vol. 9, Pages 2185: The Functional Structure Convergence of China’s Coastal Ports Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su9122185 Authors: Wei Wang Chengjin Wang Fengjun Jin Functional structure is an important part of a port system, and can reflect the resource endowments and economic development needs of the hinterland. In this study, we investigated the transportation function of coastal ports in China from the perspective of cargo structure using a similarity coefficient. Our research considered both adjacent ports and hub ports. We found that the transportation function of some adjacent ports was very similar in terms of outbound structure (e.g., Qinhuangdao and Huanghua) and inbound structure (e.g., Huanghua and Tangshan). Ports around Bohai Bay and the port group in the Yangtze River Delta were the most competitive areas in terms of outbound and inbound structure, respectively. The major contributors to port similarity in different regions varied geographically due to the different market demands and cargo supplies. For adjacent ports, the functional convergence of inbound structure was more serious than the outbound. The convergence between hub ports was more serious than between adjacent ports in terms of both outbound and inbound structure. The average similarity coefficients displayed an increasing trend over time. This study further develops the theory of transport geography, improves our understanding of China’s port transportation system, and can provide reference for policy-makers in their port development decisions.