bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Urban hot spots of Global Temperature of Emergence of several CIDs for the biggest cities in the CORDEX domains
Authors: Zazulie Natalia , Raffaele Francesca , Coppola Erika
Published: March 2024

One important type of information for stakeholders is the time of emergence (TOE) of a particular climatic impact-driver (CID) in a specific region as reported also in the latest IPCC AR6. The TOE is the time when a certain signal emerges from the natural variability, thus it is an indicator of the magnitude of the climate change signal and it can be very important in a risk framework for mitigation purposes. Moreover, a focus on big cities and urbanized areas is becoming more and more crucial to plan adaptation strategies.The Euro-CORDEX regional climate projections, together with the CORDEX-CORE ones, are a good starting point to look at the impact of urbanization on climate change since most of the models in those ensembles are able to detect urban areas and use an urban model parametrization. In this study, we use the available CORDEX ensembles to compute tailored CIDs for some big urban areas all over the world, in order to understand which is the role of the urban effect in enhancing or dumping the specific signal compared to the more rural regions.The analysis will be done at several resolutions according to the data availability to assess the need for higher-resolution information. As expected urban areas show an exacerbation of the extreme climate signal for several CIDs highlighting the importance of the development of tailored local adaptation strategies.

 

 

 

 

 

 
A Tenfold Increase in Extreme Fires  expected in Europe under a warming climate  
Authors: Wetterhall Fredrik , El Garroussi Siham , Di Giuseppe Francesca
Published: March 2024

Extreme wildfires have a disastrous impact on society and the natural environment. Wildfires are prone in areas with fuel built up and desiccated over time. A warmer and drier climate will lead to an increase in the risk of extreme fires.     This study quantifies how the risk of extreme fires is conditioned on potential temperature and precipitation changes. Our results indicate that large areas of southern Europe could experience a tenfold increase in the probability of catastrophic fires occurring any given year under a moderate CMIP6 scenario. If global temperatures reach the +2 C threshold, central and northern Europe will also become more susceptible to wildfires during droughts. The increasing probability of fire extremes in a warming climate, in combination with an average one-week extension of the fire season across most countries, is expected to strain Europe's ability to cope in the forthcoming decades.
Subsoil amelioration in agriculture: Deep loosening and compost incorporation in a Retisol
Authors: Guigue Julien , Schweizer Kathlin , Schmittmann Oliver , Baumecker Michael , Kögel-Knabner Ingrid
Published: March 2024

Subsoils can store significant amounts of water, soil organic carbon and nutrients. In consequence, agricultural subsoil management is being increasingly tested as an option to sustain crop productivity under unfavourable conditions.The Soil3 project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany aims at investigating the potential of subsoil management for agriculture. In the frame of this project, we collected samples from a field experiment taking place in Thyrow (Brandenburg, Germany), at a location with low precipitations and the soil was classified as a Retisol. The experiment was designed to investigate the potential benefits of deep ploughing together with deep placement of organic fertilizers on agricultural productivity and soil organic matter stocks. We focus on three treatments, namely the control plots, the plots after deep loosening, and the plots after deep loosening and compost incorporation.We quantified the changes in C and N stocks and in two size fractions obtained by wet sieving (20µm). We also recorded hyperspectral images of 1-metre soil cores in the Vis-NIR range (400-990 nm) and modelled the C distribution at a high spatial resolution (pixel size = 53×53 μm²).The spatial distribution of soil organic matter resulting from the incorporation of organic fertilizer in the subsoil is modelled at the sub-millimetric scale. The organic matter stocks and C:N stoichiometry are both impacted by the agricultural management and the imaging technique allows us to distinguish between increased amount of organic matter in hotspots or in soil mineral matrix, and to discuss the mechanisms controlling the observed changes.
Multi-level continuous monitoring of residential radon in the urban contest of Rome
Authors: soldati gaia , ciaccio maria grazia , piersanti antonio , cannelli Valentina , galli gianfranco
Published: March 2024

The urbanized area of Rome is largely built over volcanic deposits, characterized by  a significant radionuclides content and radon emanation potential.  A first step towards the mitigation of the indoor radon exposure is the accurate monitoring of workplaces and residential dwellings. Due to the complex interactions among many environmental parameters on different time scales, a proper assessment of radon diffusion dynamics and concentration variations can be better achieved by means of active monitoring approaches. We present here the results of one year of continuous measurements conducted in 6 premises (5 apartments and a basement) at different floors of the same building in the Esquilino district, in the historical center of Rome. The simultaneous tracking of different floors should cancel the influence of geogenic radon and of building characteristics like age, typology, and construction materials, and reveal the characteristics of the gas emanation and transport inside the buildings, and of its temporal fluctuations, with the final goal to select the most suitable preventive measures to reduce radon exposure. Conducting the experiment in the Roman urban contest, we cannot ignore the specificity of the retrieved data, affected not only by endogenous factors like heating and ventilation of the apartments, but also by exogenous factors like the urban heat islands effect.
Paris Mid-cost CO2 sensor network.
Authors: Laurent Olivier , Chariot Mali , Lian Jinghui , Utard Hervé , Ramonet Michel
Published: March 2024

In the framework of the ICOS-Cities project, a network of more than 25 Midcost CO2 sensors has been deployed at the roof level in the Paris urban and suburban area. The purpose of such dense CO2 monitoring network is to feed an atmospheric inversion system for the quantification of CO2 emissions at the sub-city scale and/or discern specific sectors.The presentation will mainly deal with the sensor characterization and the calibration strategy. It will focus on corresponding sensor performance in the field. It will then attempt to discuss the pertinence of such monitoring approach and its suitability for the city CO2 emission quantification.
Hydrogen isotope fractionation is controlled by CO2 in coccolithophore lipids
Authors: Zhang Hongrui , Torres-Romero Ismael , Wijker Reto , Clakr Alexander , Jaggi Madalina , Stoll Heather
Published: March 2024

Hydrogen isotope ratios (d2H) represent an important natural tracer of metabolic processes, but quantitative models of processes controlling H-fractionation in aquatic photosynthetic organisms are lacking. Here we elucidate the underlying physiological controls of 2H/1H fractionation in algal lipids by systematically manipulating temperature, light and, for the first time, CO2(aq) in continuous cultures of the haptophyte Gephyrocapsa oceanica. We analyze the hydrogen isotope fractionation in alkenones (aalkenone), a class of acyl lipids specific to this species and other haptophyte algae. We find a strong decrease in the aalkenone with increasingCO2(aq), and confirm aalkenone correlates with temperature and light. Based on the known biosynthesis pathways, we develop a new cellular model of the d2H of algal acyl lipids to evaluate processes contributing to these controls on fractionation. Simulations show that longer residence times of NADPH in the chloroplast favor greater exchange of NADPH with 2H-richer intracellular water, increasing aalkenone. Higher chloroplast CO2(aq) and temperature shorten NADPH residence time by enhancing the carbon fixation and lipid synthesis rates. The inverse correlation of aalkenone toCO2(aq) in our cultures suggests that carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCM) do not achieve a constant saturation of CO2 at the Rubisco site, but rather that chloroplast CO2 varies with external CO2(aq). The pervasive inverse correlation of aalkenone with CO2(aq) in the modern and preindustrial ocean also suggests that natural populations may not attain a constant saturation of Rubisco with the CCM. Rather than reconstructing growth water, aalkenone may be a powerful tool to elucidate carbon limitation of photosynthesis.
A compact MEMS gravimeter with sub ng performance
Authors: Pike William T. , Charalambous Constantinos , Calcutt Simon , Standley Ian
Published: March 2024

We present the performance of a MEMS accelerometer capable of sub-migroGal Allan variance out to a period of 1000 s. The gravimeter incorporates a monocrystalline silicon suspension and capacitive sensing with electromagnetic feedback. The gravimeter is capable of operation over 10 degree tilt range under Earth gravity, allowing unsupervised operation after remote deployment with a three-axis gapleran geometry. The suspension incorporates temperature compensation to minimse the need for thermal isolation.  The overall mass of the instrument is about 0.6 kg mass,  including the packaged sensor heads, the electronics board and associated connectors and cabling with a power requirement of less than 400 mW.  The performance and resource profile make this a promising instrument for both terrestrial deployment in extreme environments as well as planetary deployment.
Coupled water-carbon modelling at data-limited sites: a new approach to explore current and future agroforestry scenarios in Scotland
Authors: Goudarzi Salim , Soulsby Chris , Smith Jo , Stevenson Jamie , Gimona Alessandro , Aalto Iris , Hancock Steven , Geris Josie
Published: March 2024

Agroforestry has been suggested as a promising Nature-Based Solution (NBS) due to its potential benefits including soil water regulation and carbon storage, both of which are expected to become increasingly more important under current climate projection scenarios. But it is unclear to what degree these benefits: (i) are likely to be realised individually; and (ii) may interact/counteract with one another. While common in the tropics, agroforestry in the UK and other temperate areas is still limited. Especially given the lack of data, predicting adaptability and optimising environmental benefits of agroforestry systems in temperate regions requires a parsimonious and robust coupled water-carbon modelling approach. Soil carbon models typically tend to use simplistic soil moisture accounting (e.g., rainfall minus PET) and could yield considerably different predictions under more realistic soil moisture representations. However, while large-scale surface and above surface satellite datasets are now readily available, below-ground soil moisture datasets are either not available, not as accurate, or not on the same scale. This is particularly an issue in systems involving trees because they impact soils in general, but soil moisture in particular, at depths much greater than those covered by global satellites. Here, we present a new 1D ecohydrological model that encompasses the main soil-tree-atmospheric interactions while only requiring rainfall, potential evapotranspiration and surface soil moisture information for its calibration, making the model well-suited to be applied in conjunction with limited available datasets (e.g., those from satellites). We first demonstrate the ecohydrological model’s performance in profile soil moisture estimation using only surface information in a data-rich site in Scotland. We then couple this new model with the widely used RothC carbon model for an agroforestry site nearby. Our results show that CO2 emission estimates by RothC change considerably when a more realistic soil moisture accounting is incorporated. Finally, we explore these effects under different agroforestry and future (50-year) climate projection scenarios to inform appropriate agroforestry designs.
Modelling the urban heat island in Birmingham, UK at the neighbourhood scale 
Authors: Zhong Jian , Lu Yanzhi , Stocker Jenny , Hamilton Victoria , Johnson Kate
Published: March 2024

Cities have higher peak temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas. The urban-rural surface air temperature difference is known as the urban heat island (UHI). As extreme heat exposure can lead to adverse health effects, information on UHI characteristics of cities is important for future urban climate planning strategies. This study applied the ADMS-Urban Temperature and Humidity model to investigate the key processes driving the UHI in Birmingham, UK, at the neighbourhood scale. This model was configured with a range of input datasets (such as meteorological data, landuse data, building data, anthropogenic heat sources etc) and run on the University of Birmingham’s BlueBEAR HPC. This urban climate modelling was evaluated against the temperature measurement datasets from UK Met Office and Weather Underground. The spatiotemporal variations of surface air temperature in Birmingham, UK were captured by this model. This modelling study can be further applied to explore the impacts of local urban head island mitigation strategies.
Neutrons at the dry end: sensing water content with cosmic rays in the Negev desert
Authors: Schrön Martin , Agam Nurit , Arazi Adit , Zacharias Steffen
Published: March 2024

The precise measurement of soil water content is a technological challenge. Traditional electromagnetic or remote-sensing approaches exhibit a range of problems, such as not covering the soil spatial heterogeneity, sensing only shallow soil horizons, exhibiting strong sensitivity to temperature, or losing accuracy under extremely dry conditions. A new approach based on cosmic-ray neutron sensing technology (CRNS) has promised to address most of these issues. For the first time, the method has been tested in the Negev desert in Israel to determine its potential and limitations under extremely dry conditions.The soil moisture product of a stationary CRNS system agreed reasonably well with nearby TDR measurements during the rain and dry seasons between 2021 and 2023. However, it turned out that the sensor showed significant sensitivity to changes of air humidity and incoming radiation that were not covered by existing correction approaches. We found new correction parameters to remove these effects and thereby achieved a measurement precision of less than 0.25 vol. % at soil moisture values below 5 vol. %. In a mobile mode, the method also allowed to identify wet spots in soils in otherwise dry environments. Once the processing of CRNS data has been adapted to the special regional conditions of Israel, it has the potential for hydrological and agricultural applications. 
Evaluation of the mid-latitude ionospheric trough using high-resolution IGS ionospheric maps
Authors: Lubyk Kateryna , Hoque Mohammed Mainul , Stolle Claudia , Wehrenpfennig Andreas
Published: March 2024

The ionospheric mid-latitude trough is a phenomenon which is characterized through an electron density depletion in the F-layer of the ionosphere at the sub-auroral zone. In this study, we identify and derive the mid-latitude ionospheric trough properties using high-resolution Global Ionospheric Maps (GIMs) from International GNSS Service (IGS), namely UQRG maps, which have a high temporal resolution of 15 minutes. Our study is based on an extensive database, which we obtained by detecting troughs between 1998 and 2022, including two complete solar cycles (23 and 24). We have analyzed essential factors that define the MIT, like the trough minimum position, width, depth, and occurrence probability. All these MIT parameters represent morphological characteristics of the midlatitude trough in dependence on the magnetic local time, geographic distribution, seasons, and solar and geomagnetic activity conditions, including solar wind plasma speed, interplanetary magnetic field components, and geomagnetic activity indices SYM-H and Hp30.Since the MIT climatology and occurrence probability have not yet been included in widely used 3D electron density models like IRI, NeQuick, NEDM2020, etc., the discovered dependencies can be used to validate current MIT models and to develop new MIT models. The performance of the 3D electron density models might be enhanced by including an MIT model.
SpaceEDUnity: Introducing natural hazards to younger generations utilizing advanced technologies
Authors: Theodoropoulos Eleftherios , Sigourou Stavroula , Salta Foteini , Loulli Eleni , Hadjichristodoulou Marianna , Papoutsa Christiana , Kontoes Charalampos (Haris)
Published: March 2024

Natural hazards constitute significant risks for both the society and the environment. Thus, it is essential to emphasize in educating younger generations against the consequences of climate change. Addressing this crucial need, the SpaceEDUnity/Erasmus+ project*, was launched in May 2023. This innovative educational initiative strategically utilizes remote sensing and geoinformatics to provide a learning experience regarding natural hazards. SpaceEDUnity targets secondary education school students and teachers, having already reached over 700 students in Greece and Cyprus. The project's core lies in its approach to tailor content specifically to the geographical areas of the participating schools. This strategy focuses on natural disasters relevant to each region, significantly enhancing student engagement and understanding. The project's methodology integrates interactive presentations, quizzes and hands-on workshops. These workshops are particularly focused on applications, such as the monitoring of wildfires and mapping of flooded areas utilizing tools like the EO Browser, GIS, and SNAP software. This approach not only introduces students to the technological aspects of studying natural hazards, but also equips them with practical skills in satellite data processing. A key component of SpaceEDUnity is the development of extensive, user-friendly tutorials for teachers. The purpose of this educational material is to give teachers the opportunity to replicate each activity easily in classroom and therefore ensure sustainability and long-term impact of the project. By empowering teachers with these tools, SpaceEDUnity fosters a continuous learning environment, enhancing the resilience of local communities against natural disasters. SpaceEDUnity stands as a model for integrating science into school curriculums by focusing on localized natural hazards and providing hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies. In addition, the project not only increases awareness of climate change, but also actively involves young citizens in the protection of their communities.*SpaceEDUnity is co-funded by the European Union
Ocean eddy parameterizations: Stochastic and deterministic approaches for kinetic energy injection
Authors: Juricke Stephan , Bagaeva Ekaterina , Danilov Sergey , Franzke Christian , Oliver Marcel
Published: March 2024

In this study, we introduce a variety of ocean eddy parameterizations and discuss how they affect the representation of mesoscale turbulence in ocean models. They ultimately all aim at reducing overdissipation at eddy-permitting resolutions by utilizing the inverse energy cascade and energy conversions between potential and kinetic energy.Mesoscale eddies play a crucial role in the global oceans. They transport tracers and heat, cascade energy across scales and interact with the mean currents and the atmosphere. However, their representation at resolutions close to the Rossby radius of deformation is insufficient. Such eddy-permitting, i.e. barely eddy resolving grids are still commonly applied for decadal climate simulations and will remain state-of-the-art at high latitudes for years to come. These simulations generally suffer from an excessive dissipation of kinetic energy, leading to reduced eddy variability, eddy formation and eddy-mean flow interactions.Reducing overdissipation via optimized viscous closures is one way forward. Another option is to reinject some of the overdissipated energy back into the resolved flow via so called kinetic energy backscatter parameterizations. We will investigate different methods how to complement our own viscous and backscatter schemes with stochastic components, to account for unresolved chaotic variations of dissipative processes and for scale interactions across the resolution limit. For this purpose, we use data informed approaches such as linear inverse models to generate stochastic patterns based on high resolution reference simulations of idealized channel and double gyre configurations. Our results show that incorporation of such schemes can help to substantially improve the kinetic energy and mean flow characteristics. Furthermore, the varied application of the noise can reveal pathways of energy conversion between potential and kinetic energy, shedding light on the simulated energy cascades at such model resolutions. Aside from the learned construction of the stochastic patterns based on high resolution data, these new schemes come at a small additional computational cost, especially compared to higher resolution simulations. When tuned with caution, they provide a means to incorporate model uncertainty and to reduce systematic biases in ocean models.
Eurasian plate-scale stress model considering driving and resistive forces
Authors: Gutierrez Escobar Renato , Govers Rob
Published: March 2024

Our goal is to constrain magnitudes and directions of forces that may explain present-day natural stresses within the Eurasian plate. Driving forces such as horizontal gravitational stresses (HGSs), mantle convective tractions including dynamic topography, and plate interaction tractions with bounding plates are considered. HGS resulting from lateral variations in gravitational potential energy are particularly relevant in the context of the Eurasian plate because there are no major slabs attached to it (i.e., no slab pull force). We illustrate that recently published models of lithospheric density including lateral variations in the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary result in significantly different HGSs. Furthermore, we include observed major faults into a 2D spherical cap elastic model of the Eurasian plate. We present results of forward FEM calculations and compare them with observed stress directions from the world stress map. We propose different objective functions that determine the misfit of the modelled and observed stresses, fault slip directions, and magnitudes, the deviation of the net torque on the plate from zero, and the model representation error. Our analysis represents a first step towards a Bayesian inference workflow to constrain the dynamics of the Eurasian plate.
Towards continuous ice core measurements of N2O and CO2
Authors: Rowell Isobel , Bauska Thomas , Fisher Emma , Strawson Ivo , Rhodes Rachael
Published: March 2024

Measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in ice cores have provided invaluable data, offering insights into the role of GHGs in the climate system over millennia. While previous research has successfully employed continuous analysis techniques to achieve high resolution records of methane (CH4) variations, analyses of nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have historically been limited to discrete, dry-extraction, measurements due to the gases’ high solubility. Obtaining records of centennial-scale (or finer) variability in N2O and CO2, akin to that of CH4, necessitates a new approach. In this work, we employ a new laser spectrometer designed for low flow rates, accompanied by a novel, custom-built gas extraction unit, to re-extract dissolved N2O and CO2 from a synthetic melt-stream. We modify physical parameters at the gas extraction site, controlling temperature, downstream pressure and flow rate. Through optimisation of these parameters, we aim to achieve a high and consistent rate of extraction. Our findings demonstrate the potential of these developments in improving re-extraction of N2O and CO2 to obtain more accurate concentrations from analysis of a mock continuous ice core melt stream. This work marks a step towards refining and applying the method to an Antarctic ice core, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the finer scale palaeoclimatic variations of all major GHGs.
Assessing the Influence of the Shillong Plateau Topography on Thunderstorm Activities in North-east India
Authors: Sahu Rajesh Kumar , Beck Hylke E , Tyagi Bhishma
Published: March 2024

Northeast India (NEI) experiences frequent thunderstorms during the pre-monsoon season, which can be catastrophic, resulting in loss of life and damage to infrastructure and property. The Shillong Plateau (SP) has been identified as a key factor in triggering these thunderstorms over NEI. Our study focuses on monitoring changes in thermodynamic indicators over NEI to assess the impact of the SP on the initiation and propagation of thunderstorms. The results demonstrate a significant increase in thermodynamic index values across NEI when the SP topography is elevated, indicating an increase in thunderstorm activity. Conversely, when the SP topography is reduced, there is a decrease in these indicators, corresponding with lower thunderstorm intensity. Notably, a lower SP topography is associated with increased precipitation, whereas a higher SP topography is linked to decreased precipitation. These findings underscore the crucial role of SP topography in influencing pre-monsoon thunderstorms over NEI, which has implications for understanding and predicting regional weather patterns.Keywords: Thunderstorms; Thermodynamic Indices; Topography; Shillong Plateau; WRF
Quantifying the photosynthetic capacity of dominant tree species in a humid lowland tropical forest of the Congo Basin
Authors: Sibret Thomas , Peaucelle Marc , Meunier Felicien , Bauters Marijn , Ellsworth David , Crous Kristine , Boeckx Pascal , Verbeeck Hans
Published: March 2024

The Congo basin is home to the second largest tropical forest in the world Therefore, it plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. Yet very few field based data on related processes exist. Gaining knowledge on a species level is also crucial for understanding these ecosystems. Leaf chamber measurements allow to measure photosynthetic capacity on a leaf level and by so, quantify the photosynthetic capacity of individual species. Moreover, they allow to quantify a plant´s reaction to environmental parameters such as light, atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature. Such data is crucial to improve the calibration and robustness of global vegetation models. These models are key tools to estimate the global carbon budget and ecosystem responses to climate change as a part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change exercises.To date, no such data exists for the forests of the Congo Basin which prevents us to properly understand forest dynamics and resilience to global changes.In this research, we quantify leaf level carbon uptake and its response to light, CO2 and Temperature for dominant tree species within the footprint of the CongoFlux tower in Yangambi (DR Congo).As such, we deliver the first in-field leaf-level photosynthetic parameters dataset for a lowland tropical forest of the Congo Basin. Doing this, we explore the controls of interspecific variation in photosynthetic capacity including plant guild, species and vertical canopy position. Our study takes place at the research site of CongoFlux, Yangambi (DR Congo).
Study of Dynamics and Evolution of Solar Wind during BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter Radial Alignment
Authors: Di Bartolomeo Pier Paolo , Alberti Tommaso , Milillo Anna , Giovannelli Luca , Varsani Ali , Laky Gunter , Aronica Alessandro , Benella Simone , D'Amicis Raffaella , Heyner Daniel , Kazakov Adrian , Mangano Valeria , Massetti Stefano , Moroni Martina , Noschese Raffaella , Orsini Stefano , Plainaki Christina , Sordini Roberto , Stumpo Mirko
Published: March 2024

The spacecraft radial alignment geometry is useful and intriguing for examining the solar wind’s radial evolution by observing a plasma parcel at varying helio- centric distances. This study focuses on the radial alignment between the Bepi- Colombo and Solar Orbiter (SolO) spacecraft. Utilizing particle and magnetic field data from both spacecraft, we initially characterize particle distribution and interplanetary magnetic field topology at 0.31 AU for BepiColombo and 0.67 AU for SolO. We identified the same magnetic field configuration measured at both locations by considering the propagation time shift.
The magnetic field observations from onboard magnetometers on both space- craft have been used to delve into the nonlinear energy cascade mechanism and the intricate organization of magnetic field fluctuations, which govern the energy transfer rate and dissipation behavior. Additionally, we conduct a comparative analysis of flux data recorded by the Planetary Ion CAMERA (PICAM) of the SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) suite for BepiColombo and the Proton Alpha Sensor (PAS) of the SWA (Solar Wind Analyser) suite.
This comprehensive study aims to create a valuable tool for in-depth analysis with aligned configurations. Moreover, it seeks to integrate fluid and magnetic investigations. For the first time, we utilize BepiColombo data to advance our comprehension of the radial evolution of solar wind plasma.
Earthquake-Induced reactivation of large landslides: Vera-Cruz Landslide, El Salvador
Authors: Garzón-Roca Julio , Tsige Meaza , Rodríguez-Peces Martín Jesús , Martinez-Diaz José Jesús
Published: March 2024

El Salvador has suffered several destructive earthquakes during the past 100 year, causing severe damage and a great social alarm fundamentally associated with induced-landslides. The losses by the landslides exceed that directly caused by the earthquake itself. For example, in January 13 and February 13, 2001, two earthquakes (Mw 7.6 and Mw 6.6 respectively) triggered at least 10000 landslides, killing more than 800 people, damaging many roads and burying villages. The triggered landslides were of different types, ranging from rockfalls and relatively shallow slides, to large deep-seated landslides, being the latter the most damaging. Most of the landslides in El Salvador are concentrated in the central part of the country where recent volcanic, unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits exist, those being prone to large seismic amplification due to their special geotechnical characteristics. Landslides generally occur during earthquakes or in a short time after the seismic event. Besides, the reactivation of large landslides which has been triggered by previous earthquakes is common. In this work, a very large paleo-landslide (Vera-Cruz landslide) located also in the highest landslide concentration area of El Salvador is identified and mapped. The objective is the study of the relationship between this paleo-landslide (triggering or reactivation) and four large earthquakes, occurred between 1982 and 2001, through Newmark coseismic displacement analyses. Geotechnical properties and static factor of safety were established by performing a limit equilibrium back-analysis for a non-circular failure surface. Then the critical acceleration is obtained, using the geometry of the slope prior to the landslide. The peak ground acceleration of the site was estimated using four ground motion prediction equations established for Central America, for both volcanic arc and subduction zone. Finally, the Newmark displacement considering the influence of local amplification effects is estimated using four different empirical relationships proposed for volcanic areas. The results of the study ​​indicate that the Vera-Cruz landslide could have been triggered first by the 1982 (Mw 7.3) earthquake and subsequently reactivated by the January 13, 2001 (Mw 7.7) and/or February 13, 2001 (Mw 6.6) earthquakes. The result of this work can help in refining the study and prediction of earthquakes triggering paleo-landslides in the area, being that useful for evaluation and mitigation of coseismic landslide hazard in the region.
Planning virtual and hybrid events: steps to improve inclusion and accessibility
Authors: Doran Aileen , Dutch Victoria , Warren Bridget , Watson Robert A. , Murphy Kevin , Aldis Angus , Cooper Isabelle , Cockram Charlotte , Harp Dyess , Desmau Morgane , Keppler Lydia
Published: March 2024

Over the last decade, the way we communicate and engage with one another has changed on a global scale. It is now easier than ever to network and collaborate with colleagues worldwide. But, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid and unplanned move to virtual platforms, resulting in several accessibility challenges and the inadvertent exclusion of several people during online events. While virtual/hybrid events have strong potential to facilitate new opportunities and networks for everyone, they are also greatly positioned to increase the inclusion of groups traditionally excluded from purely in-person conferences. However, early and careful planning is needed to achieve this, with inclusion and accessibility considered from the start. Including a virtual element in a conference does not automatically equal inclusion or accessibility. Without effective planning, virtual and hybrid events will replicate many biases and exclusions inherent to in-person events.This presentation will share lessons learned from previous events’ successes and failures, based on the combined experiences of several groups and individuals who have planned and run such events. This presentation is based on an EGU Sphere article, of the same title, that aims to provide guidance on planning online/hybrid events from an accessibility viewpoint based on the authors experiences. The goal of this presentation is to initiate discussion on event accessibility and inclusion and to help generate new ideas and knowledge from people outside of the authors network. Every event is unique and will require its own accessibility design, but early consideration is crucial to ensure everyone feels welcome and included. Our suggested accessibility considerations have been broken down into three stages of event planning: 1) Pre-event planning, 2) on the day/during the event, and 3) after the event.Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in designing and running virtual/hybrid events can help everyone engage more meaningfully, resulting in more impactful discussions including groups with limited access to in-person events. However, while this article is intended to act as a starting place for inclusion and accessibility in online and hybrid event planning, it is not a fully comprehensive guide. As more events are run, it is expected that new insights and experiences will be gained, helping to continually update standards.
Bias in chamber-based methane flux estimates in the presence of ebullition and methods for mitigation
Authors: Nickerson Nicholas , Jentzsch Katharina , Treat Claire
Published: March 2024

Natural ecosystems, particularly wetlands, are among the largest sources of methane emissions. Accurately quantifying these emissions is crucial for developing effective climate change mitigation strategies. In this context, flux chambers have emerged as a vital tool, allowing researchers to accurately quantify methane emissions over space and time. The increasing availability of high-precision, real time, field deployable methane analyzers has helped improve the accuracy and reliability of these measurements; however this high-resolution data has also introduced new methodological considerations around how to best fit time series data to determine flux rates. With these new analyzers, ebullition events are easily detected but traditional methods of fitting data to determine fluxes assume diffusion-dominated fluxes and do not appropriately account for ebullitive events. Researchers often adapt existing flux calculation methods to suit the behaviour of the time series data where ebullition is present, however no study of the impacts of these adjustments has been conducted. Here we use a one-dimensional soil model to simulate diffusive and ebullitive methane fluxes into a chamber and explore the impact of back-diffusion and chamber leakage on the fluxes calculated using traditional and modified approaches. We find that generally diffusive fluxes calculated using these approaches are underestimated when ebullition is present, and the size of the underestimation can be significant in the context of upscaling these chamber based measurements particularly in low flux environments. Approaches to improve accuracy including chamber design, data filtering and new fitting methods are considered as a means to provide more accurate chamber-based methane emissions estimates.
Impact of soil moisture data assimilation on short-term numerical weather prediction
Authors: Heyvaert Zdenko , Bechtold Michel , Mortelmans Jonas , Dorigo Wouter , De Lannoy Gabriëlle
Published: March 2024

Land-atmosphere (LA) coupling describes the dynamic interaction between the Earth’s land surface and (the bottom of) the atmosphere. This coupling involves the exchange of energy, water, and momentum between the two systems and its strength varies depending on several factors (e.g., season, land cover, topography, and climate zone). Several metrics that quantify the strength of the LA coupling, both physical and statistical, have been developed and explored extensively in the literature.Coupled systems that model the atmosphere, the land surface, and their interaction require an initialization of both the atmospheric and the land components. For the latter, a land surface model (LSM) is typically spun up in a so-called ‘offline’ manner, i.e., not coupled to the atmospheric model but forced by an atmospheric reanalysis product. So far, little research has focused on the potential impact of satellite-based soil moisture data assimilation (DA) during this spin-up period on the subsequent forecast by the coupled system. However, several studies in the land surface modeling community have demonstrated the potential benefit of soil moisture DA to improve estimates of hydrological variables and land surface fluxes in offline simulations.In this study, soil moisture retrievals from the 36 km Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) Level 2 product are assimilated into the Noah-MP LSM with dynamic vegetation, forced by the MERRA-2 atmospheric reanalysis. This is done using a one-dimensional Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) within the NASA Land Information System (LIS). The DA updates the moisture in each of the four soil layers of the LSM. The resulting land reanalysis provides consistent estimates of land surface variables and fluxes from 1 January 2016 through 31 December 2020 on an 18 km grid over the contiguous United States.This land reanalysis is subsequently used to initialize the land component of an experiment where the Noah-MP LSM and the Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model are coupled within the NASA Unified WRF (NU-WRF) framework. The atmospheric component is initialized with MERRA-2, which also serves as the boundary condition for the atmospheric model. We compare the results in terms of short-term atmospheric estimates (e.g., of evaporative fraction, growth of the planetary boundary layer, screen-level temperature and humidity) with an initialization that uses a purely model-based land spin-up. Our study allows the quantification of land DA impact during spin-up and the assessment of its relationship with the LA coupling strength. The results will provide important insights into where and when short-term atmospheric forecasts may benefit from assimilating satellite-based soil moisture retrievals.
Aeolus Satellite: A Breath of Fresh Air for Climate Change Education
Authors: Asimakopoulou Panagiota , Tsikoudi Ioanna , Tsichla Maria , Nastos Panagiotis , Cruz Niggebrugge Clara , Gisiger Maurane , Fehr Thorsten , Parrinello Tommaso
Published: March 2024

The field of Earth Observation (EO) is perpetually evolving attaining remarkable advancements that improve our understanding of the underlying physical phenomena behind climate change. One of the latest EO advancements is the Aeolus mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Aeolus is the first satellite to deploy a Doppler wind lidar instrument, utilising laser technology to accurately measure wind profiles. This innovation significantly improved weather forecasting, atmospheric modeling, and climate research, enabling better predictions of extreme weather events and advancing our knowledge of atmospheric circulation patterns.By following the rapid advancements in Earth Observation (EO), climate change and sustainability education has a promising opportunity to capitalize on these developments for the mutual benefit of EO and climate literacy. In this context, we designed an innovative educational programme, the "AeolusEdu[1]", with the support of the ESA Education office and the Greek ESERO office. We implemented AeolusEdu during the Aeolus Science Conference in Rhodes (May 2023), which attracted 150 6th grade students from the 1st, 12th, and 13th Primary Schools of Rhodes.Throughout the program, students were engaged in an interactive learning experience, delving into the factors influencing winds, understanding the underlying physical principles of atmospheric circulation, and exploring the "Doppler Wind Lidar" technology employed for space-based wind monitoring through thoughtfully designed hands-on experiments. Additionally, students were able to interact with both historic and  modern ground-based instruments used in wind monitoring. At the program's conclusion, students had the unique opportunity to meet some of the world’s leading space and  weather experts involved in the Aeolus mission and discuss, in a notably extended Q&A session, their work and the motivations driving their careers as scientists.According to the feedback received from participating teachers and students and the overwhelming applause and farewell scientists received, AeolusEdu admittedly captivated students and ignited their curiosity for EO and Earth System Science (see relevant ESA article[2]). The implementation of AeolusEdu illustrated that young school students can not only comprehend the fundamental concepts and principles behind atmospheric circulation, extreme weather events, and groundbreaking satellite technology but also find them genuinely exciting. The success of the first AeolusEdu pilot programme inspires us for future development of freely available EO-based information material for all teachers.
[1] https://www.aeolus2023.org/education

[2] https://www.esa.int/Education/Students_blown_away_by_Aeolus 
 
 
Assessment of a bespoken remote-sensing Evapotranspiration model for Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests
Authors: Melo Davi , Cunha John , Bezerra Ulisses , Nóbrega Rodolfo , Perez-Marin Aldrin
Published: March 2024

Evapotranspiration (ET) plays an essential role in the water cycle, particularly in biodiverse environments with pronounced seasonal variability, such as the Caatinga. Accurately representing ET spatially and temporally in these ecosystems is indispensable, not only for understanding hydrological dynamics but also for natural resource management. However, the intricate nature of these environments poses significant challenges in modelling ET, which demands adaptive, site-specific approaches to capture their complex spatial and temporal variations. In this context, the STEEP (Seasonal Tropical Surface Energy Balance) model has been developed with the objective of capturing intrinsicalities of the dynamics and energy balance of the Caatinga forest. Despite its relatively good performance when compared to ground-based and global ET products, STEEP has not been extensively compared to other RS-based ET models. In this study, we used daily data from 2014 to revisit STEEP modelling outputs by comparing them to eddy covariance data and against five ET remote sensing models: PT-JPL, GLEAM, PM-MOD, SEBAL, and S-SEBI. We used the following statistics for performance evaluation: root mean squared error (RMSE), percent bias (PBIAS), and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). Evaluation metrics for all models varied as follows: 0.69–1.31 mm day-1 (RMSE), -13.54–41.13% (PBIAS), and 0.53–0.85 (CCC). STEEP overperformed four out of five models (i.e. SEBAL, S-SEBI, PT-JPL, and GLEAM), with RMSE = 0.80 mm/day, PBIAS = 11%, and CCC = 0.80. PM-MOD model exhibited the best performance metrics when driven with ground-truth data. We ascribe the best results of this model to its complex algorithm, which makes use of a wide range of spectral responses and environmental variables. Overall, all models exhibit some degree of ET overestimation during the dry season. This study highlights the ongoing need for precise model evaluation and adaptation to environmental nuances for improved ET estimation in biodiverse ecosystems like the CaatingaResearch Funding: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq): grants nº 409341/2021–5 and 442799/2023-3
Mitigation strategies against seawater intrusion in the context of climate change
Authors: Salandin Paolo , Belluco Enrica , Camporese Matteo , Crestani Elena , Darvini Giovanna , Giaretta Pietro , Mazzarotto Giulia
Published: March 2024

In coastal regions, where about 40% of world population is settled, freshwater aquifers are affected by a saltwater intrusion. The presence of elevate salt concentrations, among the most common pollutants in groundwater aquifers, represents a world-wide spread problem for coastal areas, such as Mediterranean coasts, both East and West coasts in the U. S., Gulf of Mexico and Middle East coasts. The seriousness of the situation is enhanced by the high demand of water supply, especially in the drier periods, and by the mean sea-level rise due to climate change. So that seawater will encroach farther inland and will threaten the available fresh groundwater supply, affecting not only human livelihood, but also coastal ecosystems. The form and transformation of the seaward hydraulic gradient of the aquifer and a constant freshwater discharge into the sea are fundamental in order to control the rate of intrusion.To maintain the seaward gradient in the system the aquifer may be artificially recharged by freshwater by increasing the inland piezometric heads. The purpose of this solution is to create a hydraulic barrier against the inland flow of saline water by injecting freshwater in the vicinity of the shoreline. For phreatic aquifers both injection wells and surface spreading of water, such as irrigation, may be applied. Surface reservoirs, lakes and canals can be used as recharge systems for unconfined aquifers through freshwater infiltration (Hussain et al., 2019).To assess the effectiveness of this mitigation approach and the amount of volumes of freshwater required, physical experiments are developed in a laboratory canal developed to reproduce a controlled heterogeneous porous media.The sandbox measures 500 cm long by 30 cm wide by 60 cm high, with 3 cm thick plexiglass walls. Two tanks are located upstream and downstream from the sandbox, with volumes of about 0.5 m3 and 2.0 m3, respectively. The upstream tank is filled with fresh-water and is continuously supplied by a small pump, providing fresh-water recharge. The downstream tank is filled with salt-water, previously prepared by adding salt to fresh-water till a proper density is reached, and it represents the sea. This canal has been used in previous works (Bouzaglou et al., 2018, Crestani et al., 2022), but in the present the homogeneous porous media has been substituted by three different nominal size ranges of glass beads, equal to 0.3-0.4, 0.4-0.8 and 1.0-1.3 mm respectively, organized in 250 cells, each of size 20x30x5 cm3 to reproduce a prescribed statistical anisotropic structure.The evidences deduced from the physical experiments developed simulating the seawater intrusion-retreat phenomenon due to drought periods are discussed in comparison with the results of a numerical model.