Natural hazard triggered technological risks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

AbstractWith the continuous occurrence of natural disasters, natural hazard triggered technological accident (Natech) risks also follow. At present, many countries have performed much research on Natech risks. However, there is still a lack of Natech research at the regional or watershed level in China. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is not only an industrially intensive development area but also an area with frequent natural disasters. In this study, we selected the YREB as a typical case to study the Natech risk triggered by floods, geological disasters, and typhoons at the regional or watershed level. Four types of risk indicators representing risk sources, natural hazard factors, control levels, and vulnerabilities were developed to assess the spatial patterns of the Natech risks of the YREB. The results show that the Natech risk triggered by floods and typhoons is more serious in eastern area and central area than in western zone and that the Natech risk triggered by geological disasters is more serious in the west part. Approximately 7.85% of the areas are at relatively high-risk and above the Natech risk level based on the comprehensive assessment of three types of Natech risks. The combined population of these areas accounts for approximately 15.67% of the whole YREB, and the combined GDP accounts for approximately 25.41%. It can be predicted that the occurrence of Natech risks in these areas will cause serious harm to both the people and the economy. This work will provide the basis and key management direction for Natech risk management in the YREB.

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Energy-Consumption-Based Comprehensive Evaluation of Urban Green Development—Cases of 27 Cities in the Integrated Central Area of the Yangtze River Delta, China

IEEE Access ◽

10.1109/access.2021.3083706 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

Yanfei Zhang ◽

Xiangyu Liu ◽

Muhua Ding

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Yangtze River ◽

Comprehensive Evaluation ◽

Central Area ◽

Yangtze River Delta ◽

River Delta ◽

The Yangtze River ◽

Urban Green ◽

Green Development ◽

The Yangtze River Delta

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PM2.5 Concentration Forecasting over the Central Area of the Yangtze River Delta Based on Deep Learning Considering the Spatial Diffusion Process

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13234834 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (23) ◽

pp. 4834

Author(s):

Mingyue Lu ◽

Tengfei Lao ◽

Manzhu Yu ◽

Yadong Zhang ◽

Jianqin Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Deep Learning ◽

Diffusion Process ◽

Yangtze River ◽

Central Area ◽

Yangtze River Delta ◽

The Yangtze River ◽

Learning Models ◽

Forecasting Method ◽

The Yangtze River Delta ◽

Pm2.5 Concentration

Precise PM2.5 concentration forecasting is significant to environmental management and human health. Researchers currently add various parameters to deep learning models for PM2.5 concentration forecasting, but most of them ignore the problem of PM2.5 concentration diffusion. To address this issue, a deep learning model-based PM2.5 concentration forecasting method considering the diffusion process is proposed in this paper. We designed a spatial diffuser to express the diffusion process of gaseous pollutants; that is, the concentration of PM2.5 in four surrounding directions was taken as the explanatory variable. The information from the target and associated stations was then employed as inputs and fed into the model, together with meteorological features and other pollutant parameters. The hourly data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019, and the central area of the Yangtze River Delta, were used to conduct the experiment. The results showed that the forecasting performance of the method we proposed is superior to that of ignoring diffusion, with an average RMSE = 8.247 μg/m3 and average R2 = 0.922 in three different deep learning models, RNN, LSTM, and GRU, in which RMSE decreased by 10.52% and R2 increased by 2.22%. Our PM2.5 concentration forecasting method, which was based on an understanding of basic physical laws and conformed to the characteristics of data-driven models, achieved excellent performance.

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An Integrated Assessment and Factor Analysis of Water Related Environmental Risk to Cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Water ◽

10.3390/w13162140 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 2140

Author(s):

Xiaolin Cui ◽

Jia Wu ◽

Zhihui Li ◽

Lu Peng ◽

Zhan Shen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Risk ◽

Yangtze River ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Yangtze River Delta ◽

Environmental Risks ◽

Risk Level ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

The Yangtze River ◽

Risk Sources ◽

The Yangtze River Delta

With rapid development of the economy and urbanization, water-related environmental risk in urban areas has increased and hindered social-economic development and ecological protection. The assessment of water-related environmental risk is of vital importance to the sustainable development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). This study constructed a comprehensive assessment index system for water-related environmental risks from three perspectives: the hazards posed by risk sources, the effectiveness of the control mechanisms, and the vulnerability of the risk receptors. Employing the entropy method, the water-related environmental risks of cities in the YREB from 2000 to 2015 were comprehensively evaluated, and the obstacle degree model was used to analyze the associated influencing factors of the water-related environmental risk. The results showed that the overall level of water-related environmental risk of the YREB presented a significant spatial gradient characterized by “downstream risk > midstream risk > upstream risk”. The areas with higher risks were mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Delta in the downstream area, and Wuhan and Changsha in the midstream area, where their risk receptors were highly vulnerable, and efforts should be made to improve the resilience of these areas. In terms of temporal change, the average value of the comprehensive water-related environmental risk of the YREB dropped from 0.493 in 2005 to 0.392 in 2015, with a reduction rate ranging from about 16.55 to 25.76%. The number of cities with medium-high to high risk had gradually decreased, and the number of cities with medium, medium-low, and low risk continued to increase. The water-related environmental risk of the YREB as a whole is in the transition stage from high risk level to medium and low risk level. Specifically, the hazards posed by risk sources had increased continually, and especially increased significantly in the midstream of the YREB; the effectiveness of risk control mechanisms had increased throughout the region, with downstream cities mainly having a high level of effectiveness; the areas with high vulnerability of the risk receptors were mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta and showed an upward trend. Overall, the main source of water-related environmental risks and differences among the upstream, midstream and downstream cities had shifted from the hazards posed by risk sources to the effectiveness of risk control mechanisms and the vulnerability of the risk receptor. The main factors affecting the water-related environmental risk in the order of average obstacle degree were per capita GDP (34.43%), the number of beds per thousand people (18.70%) and the industrial structure height (15.55%). Therefore, promoting the adjustment of industrial structure, improving economic efficiency, developing the regional social economy, and improving and perfecting the construction of environmental protection infrastructure are effective ways to realize the mitigation and resolution of water-related environmental risks.

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