Impacts of land use and climate change on runoff were investigated by studying the runoff in the Yarlung Zangbo River basin, China. Trends in precipitation, mean air temperature, and runoff were analysed by non‐parametric Mann‐Kendall tests. Land‐use changes were examined with land‐use transition matrix and geographic information system tools. Land‐use and climate changes showed several characteristics, including increased reforestation, decreased grassland, retreat of glaciers and increased desertification. Human activity caused great impact, especially within densely populated regions and cities. Reforestation and degradation of grasslands were more frequent than deforestation and cultivation of grasslands. Annual mean air temperature, precipitation and runoff showed increasing trends between 1974 and 2000. The impacts of land use and climate change on runoff had different effects depending on region and season. In the season of freezing, climate change clearly affected runoff within regions that experienced precipitation. Altered evapotranspiration accounted for about 80 per cent of runoff changes, whereas land‐use changes appear to have had greatest impact on runoff changes within regions that have inconsistent relationships between runoff and climate change. It was demonstrated that afforestation leads to increased runoff in dry seasons. It was estimated that glacier snow melt has caused annual runoff to increase at least 6·0 mm/10yr, 2·1 mm/10yr and 1·7 mm/10yr in Regions 1, 3 and 4, respectively, whereas evapotranspiration caused annual runoff to decrease at least 7·4 mm/10yr in Region 2. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a fundamental spectroscopic technique for the study of biological systems and materials, molecular imaging and the analysis of small molecules. It detects interactions at very low energies and is thus non-invasive and applicable to a variety of targets, including animals and humans. However, one of its most severe limitations is its low sensitivity, which stems from the small interaction energies involved. Here, we report that dynamic nuclear polarization in liquid solution and at room temperature can enhance the NMR signal of C nuclei by up to three orders of magnitude at magnetic fields of ∼3 T. The experiment can be repeated within seconds for signal averaging, without interfering with the sample magnetic homogeneity. The method is therefore compatible with the conditions required for high-resolution NMR. Enhancement ofC signals on various organic compounds opens up new perspectives for dynamic nuclear polarization as a general tool to increase the sensitivity of liquid NMR.

Abstract. The zero-flow phenomenon appeared frequently in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China in the 1990s, whereas it has almost disappeared in recent years. The disappearance of the zero-flow phenomenon should be mainly attributed to the recent water management practices. However, little is known about the effects of recent climatic variations on natural runoff. In this study, we investigated the impacts of climatic variations on natural runoff above the Huayuankou station. The results indicate that there was little increase in precipitation, but substantial recovery of natural runoff in the recent period (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) compared with the low-flow period (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002). The recent precipitation was slightly greater (∼ 2 % of the baseline precipitation in than precipitation in the low-flow period. However, the recent natural runoff was much larger (∼ 14 % baseline runoff) than runoff in the low-flow period. The runoff reduction in the low-flow period was mainly caused by precipitation decrease. In the recent period, precipitation accounted for a runoff reduction (∼ 21 % baseline runoff), whereas net radiation, wind speed, air temperature, and relative humidity accounted for a runoff increase (∼ 7.5 % baseline runoff). The spatial pattern of the climatic variation is a factor influencing the response of runoff to climatic variations. The reduction in runoff induced by precipitation change was offset up to half by the impacts of changes in net radiation and wind speed at most sub-basins in the recent period.