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Inland Seas and Lakes: Central Asia Case Study
Published in Brian D. Fath, Sven E. Jørgensen, Megan Cole, Managing Water Resources and Hydrological Systems, 2020
Increased freshwater consumption for agricultural, industrial, and urban uses and uncontrolled irrigation pose a serious threat to inland seas, lakes, rivers, and wetlands as well. In addition, shallowing and desiccation of inland seas often lead to nonhydrologic consequences, such as air pollution from dust/salt storms caused by wind erosion of exposed lake beds.
Progress of disaster mitigation against tropical cyclones and storm surges: a comparative study of Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Japan
Published in Coastal Engineering Journal, 2023
Hiroshi Takagi, Le Tuan Anh, Rezuanul Islam, Tajnova Tanha Hossain
Records of disasters in Japan date back to ancient times. The first recorded meteorological disaster in Japan was the flood of 567, which resulted in a nationwide famine. Since then, there have been records of droughts and earthquakes, but TC disasters did not appear in bibliographies until the eighth century (Kusakabe 1960). A total of 199 TCs appear between the eighth and 19th centuries in historical documents describing disasters mostly in western Japan (Kusakabe 1960). According to an article summarizing storm surge disasters from ancient times to the mid-19th century, storm surges frequently occurred in the Ariake Sea, Seto Inland Sea, Osaka Bay, Ise Bay, and Tokyo Bay (Arakawa and Tsutsumi 1962). This trend appears consistent with current storm surge–prone areas. The strongest TC to hit Japan before the 20th century is thought to be the one in 1828. This TC caused storm surges of 3–4.5 m and may have killed 13,000–19,000 people in Kyushu (Konishi 2010). There are many historical records for the capital of Tokyo City after the 17th century (after the Edo period). The TCs of 1791 and 1856 caused particularly large storm surges. Evidence of the 1791 storm surge is recorded on an old stone monument that remains in the garden of Susaki Shrine (Omori 1918). These TC disasters led to the establishment of the Tokyo Meteorological Observatory (predecessor of the Japan Meteorological Agency [JMA]) as early as in 1875 (Furukawa et al. 2015).
Three-dimensional numerical modelling of floods in river corridor with complex vegetation quantified using airborne LiDAR imagery
Published in Journal of Hydraulic Research, 2023
Keisuke Yoshida, Yuki Kajikawa, Satoshi Nishiyama, MD. Touhidul Islam, Shin Adachi, Koichi Sakai
The Asahi River, a first-grade river in Japan due to its economic or other significance, flows down through the Okayama prefecture into the Seto Inland Sea (Fig. 2a). Figure 2b depicts the study reach, including various hydraulic structures and stations around the fixed diversion weir, specifically examined for this study. The study reach comprises two channels; herein, the main channel is a 2.0 km long, approximately 300 m wide compound open channel (lower Asahi River, 11.0 KP to 13.0 KP; the kilo post (KP) signifies the longitudinal distance from the respective river mouth in km) with a mean bed slope of 1:670. The other distributary channel is 1.1 km long, with an average width of approximately 200 m (Hyakken River, 12.8 KP to 13.9 KP) and a bed slope of about 1:1000. Within the investigated main channel, the annual mean maximum flow rate is around 1400 m3 s−1; the representative grain diameter of the bed is 40–70 mm (Maeno & Watanabe, 2008). The river channels originally had numerous gravel bars. Watanabe et al. (2006) reported that establishment of multipurpose dams in upstream areas led to river forestation, with limited gravel bars. More recently, a wide variety of vegetation has been noticed at the targeted reach, raising significant concerns about flooding risks and ecosystem management tasks.
The spatiotemporal patterns of sea ice in the Bohai Sea during the winter seasons of 2000–2016
Published in International Journal of Digital Earth, 2019
Lunxi Ouyang, Fengming Hui, Lixian Zhu, Xiao Cheng, Bin Cheng, Mohammed Shokr, Jiechen Zhao, Minghu Ding, Tao Zeng
The Bohai Sea is a shallow inland sea within the larger China Sea with an average depth of only 18 m, and connected with the Yellow Sea through the Bohai Strait (Figure 1). It is surrounded by the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsula and contains four major water bodies: Liaodong Bay in the north, Bohai Bay in the west, Laizhou Bay in the south, and the Central Area in the center. More than 40 rivers flow into the Bohai Sea, among which four major are the Yellow River, Haihe River, Luanhe River, and Liaohe River. The Bohai Sea is seasonally covered by ice from late December to the end of March. The thickness of undeformed sea ice can reach 50 cm in a severely cold winter (Li and Wang 2001), and the ice extent appears to reach its maximum extent in early February (Bai et al. 1999). The surface salinity in the Bohai Sea, especially in the coastal regions, varies between 26‰ and 33‰ with great spatiotemporal variations due to river discharge, precipitation, evaporation, and currents (Song et al. 2013; Wu et al. 2004). Spatial variation of surface salinity induces different freezing temperatures, which results in different sea ice physical properties.