bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact and relevance of soil density changes on cosmic-ray neutron sensing for soil water estimation
Authors: Dimitrova Petrova Katya , Scheiffele Lena , Verrot Lucile , Schrön Martin , Geris Josie
Published: February 2023

Cosmic ray neutron sensor (CRNS) technology is becoming increasingly popular for monitoring volumetric soil water content (SWC) at the field (hectare) scale in a variety of environments. Applications include permanently installed (stationary) or the use of mobile (rover, trains, etc.) platforms. In agricultural settings, permanently installed CRNS have proven particularly useful for providing time series of footprint average SWC estimates. To derive the SWC product at a site, CRNS needs to be calibrated using gravimetric SWC, soil organic matter and bulk density (BD). Those variables may in the best case be derived from a large number of soil samples, collected ideally on multiple occasions and under a range of hydrometeorological conditions. Most CRNS applications use an average site-specific value of bulk density derived for a site from ≥1 field calibration and it is considered static over time.However, while this is a safe assumption for many environments, in agricultural settings, management activities (e.g. tillage) may introduce substantial changes in BD over time. This may affect the accuracy of the CRNS SWC estimates, which in turn could affect management decisions (e.g. on irrigation) or modelling efforts, relying on these SWC inputs.The importance of BD as a source of uncertainty in CRNS SWC estimation has been recognized with dedicated laboratory and neutron simulation experiments quantifying the effects. However, field-based studies are lacking. Therefore, the objective of this work is to quantify the impact and relevance of temporal variability in soil bulk density on the estimation of CRNS SWC in a variety of environments with different level of agricultural land use management. We used data from three sites (Scotland, Germany and China) with stationary CRNS, where BD was sampled on ≥3 or more occasions for sensor calibration. The sites display a varying intensity of land use management, cover different soil types and contrasting weather conditions. We quantify the differences in estimates of SWC by using the range of average BD values at a site and compare these differences to other sources of uncertainty (e.g. the integration time of neutron counts). We additionally consider existing theories on the interaction of neutrons and soil bulk density to evaluate the impact of BD changes. Finally, we make recommendations on when BD variability and thus its sampling over time may become important for the derivation of CRNS SWC outputs.
Large-scale loss of Mediterranean coastal marshes under rising sea levels
Authors: Schuerch Mark , Kiesel Joshua , Boutron Olivier , Guelmami Anis , Luna-Laurent Emilie , Wolff Claudia , Cramer Wolfgang , Caiola Nuno , Ibáñez Carles , Vafeidis Athanasios T.
Published: February 2023

Over the past centuries, coastal marsh areas have been declining, mostly as a consequence of human impacts, including direct wetland conversion and land reclamation. More recently, accelerated global sea-level rise poses an additional challenge for the longevity of existing coastal marshes. This risk is further compounded by densely populated coastal zones, where coastal infrastructure inhibits the capacity of coastal marshes to migrate inland in response to rising sea levels (coastal squeeze). In the Mediterranean, coastal wetlands, incl. saltmarshes, are important contributors to the region’s high biodiversity, and provide a set of invaluable ecosystem services. Here, we present a study on the modelling of the future development of Mediterranean coastal marshes, taking into account both their ability to vertically adjust to increasing sea levels through sediment accumulation and their capacity to migrate inland in response to rising sea levels where sufficient inland migration space is available. In contrast to previous global studies, our preliminary results indicate an overall loss of coastal marshes by 2100 for all climate and management scenarios, even under low sea-level rise scenarios and when abundant inland migration space is available. Total losses are projected between 17% and 94% for RCP 2.6 with maximum available space for inland space; and RCP 8.5 with minimum space, respectively. A total loss of coastal marshes is projected for some Mediterranean countries by 2100. Nevertheless, the implementation of coastal management strategies facilitating the inland migration of coastal marshes as well restoration of catchment-to-coast sediment connectivity and enhancement of sediment trapping capacities can, to some degree, mitigate future coastal marsh losses.
One year of Aerosol and Cloud measurements in Rothera on the Antarctic Peninsula
Authors: van den Heuvel Floortje , Lachlan-Cope Tom , Witherstone Jonathan , Dyson Joanna , Squires Freya , Smith Daniel , Flynn Michael
Published: February 2023

Our limited understanding of clouds is a major source of uncertainty in climate sensitivity and climate model projections. The Southern Ocean is the largest region on Earth where climate models present large biases in short and long wave radiation fluxes which in turn affect the representation of sea surface temperatures, sea ice and ultimately large scale circulation in the Southern Hemisphere. Evidence suggests that the poor representation of mixed phase clouds at the micro- and macro scales is responsible for the model biases in this region. The Southern Ocean Clouds (SOC) project is a multi-scale, multi-platform approach with the aim of improving understanding of aerosol and cloud microphysics in this region, and their representation in numerical models. In February 2022 we installed a suite of instruments at the Rothera research station on the Antarctic peninsula to measure the physical and chemical properties of aerosol, the number concentrations of Cloud Condensation Nuclei and Ice Nucleating Particles, and cloud height and thickness all year round. Here we will report the first observations and statistics of one full year of aerosol and cloud measurements from the Rothera research station.
Common mission planning and situation awareness model for UxS Command and Control systems
Authors: Hanchevici Teodor , Zaborowski Piotr , Sullivan Donald V. , Robin Alex
Published: February 2023

Multi-vendor operations of uncrewed vehicles as part of the observations, surveillance and surveying are already daily practice in many fields. The popularity of the integration platforms that manage multiple, sometimes simultaneously, systems is also already proven by the integration platforms' popularity. With new European regulations for the drone industry and the growing popularity of various (ground, water surface, underwater, aerial) systems exploitations, the need for situation awareness and planning that will be flexible and vendor lock-in free is leveraged. However, despite several recent efforts and some popular specifications that aim at becoming de-facto standards, civil operations' interoperability challenge is unsolved. To assess whether a shared data model is suitable for multi-domain, multi-heterogeneous vehicle use, and challenge it with real applications and demonstrate the exchange of command and control information, OGC members started an Interoperability Experiment in 2022. IE is based on a data model developed by Kongsberg Geospatial and partners under the Standards-based UxS Interoperability Test-bed (SUIT). The IE considers those other standards and specifications which were used in the SUIT work as well as other Command and Control practices from the aviation and marine communities. The presentation depicts selected use cases and scenarios and outlines the information model of the localized situation awareness and mission planning and operations. Being specific for autonomous vehicle operations, they extend the needs of generic geospatial representations. Authors will explain relations to other similar models like (LSTS, MavLink, UMAA, STANAG 4586, JAUS, C2INav) and modern geospatial data exchange standards like OGC SensorThings, Features, Moving Features, GeoPose.
Impact assessment of river regulations of the past century using 1D morphodynamic modeling on the Upper Hungarian Danube
Authors: Nyiri Emese , Török Gergely Tihamér , Baranya Sándor
Published: February 2023

Significant river regulation activities have been carried out on the Upper Hungarian Danube since the end of the 19th century. First, a main channel was created in the natural braided channel to improve the navigational conditions. Later, already in the 20th century, in order to facilitate the erosion of larger deposits, groin fields (wing dam system) were installed helping navigation and flood drainage. Finally, at the end of the 20th century, the Gabcikovo dam was built (10 km upstream from the Slovakian-Hungarian border section), which caused a lack of sediment in the examined section due to sediment trapping. These were the most relevant measures, however, other activities, such as dredging, have also been implemented.Due to the lack of past measurement data, it is impossible to accurately reconstruct the original morphodynamic state of the river. Even the contribution of individual measures to the morphodynamic processes is unclear. For example, what effect the modification of the braided channel system could have had on the high water levels. Or which intervention contributed to what extent to the significant drop in river bed level experienced in the last century.In our study, we built a schematic 1D morphodynamic model, which approximates the dynamic equilibrium state based on the bankfull stage. The concept was to implement the morphodynamic effect of the individual interventions in the model. The validation confirmed that the 1D model concept is a promising manner for the qualitative examination of the impact of interventions on morphodynamic processes.
Real disaster scenario of Cannes 2015 flash flood event with climate change projection for 205
Authors: Ganti Ravikumar , Nadgouda Manjusha , Ali Hani
Published: February 2023

The French Riviera in the Alpes Cote d’Azur province of France has been experiencing severe flash floods in the last decade. These recurring flash floods are usually a combination of meteorological factors such as cloudbursts and orographic shifts resulting from the proximity to the sea. In addition, studies also indicate that climate change plays an important role in the recurrence of such flash floods.  The current study focuses on the reconstruction of the October 2015 event footprint and on the reprojection of the event in the 2050 future climate scenario. The event has been driven by heavy rainfall which mostly affected the cities of Cannes, Antibes, and Nice. In most of the regions more than 100 mm of rain fell in less than 2 days, with Cannes reaching 200 mm in 24 hours.  According to Merad et al. 2021 the precipitation and discharge return period relative to this event exceeds 100 years.  The SCS Curve method was used to reproduce the hydrological response of the system during the event, with observed GPM precipitation data, CORINE 2018 Land use/Land cover, and observed discharge hydrograph implemented as input forcings, parameters and boundary conditions of the model.  The final inundation for the 2015 scenario was obtained by means of hydraulic modelling in HEC-RAS 2D and the resulting footprint has been successfully validated both in terms of extent and flood depth against JBA footprint and available satellite imageries.  For the reprojection of the event in the 2050 future climate scenario, we referred to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and implemented an upliftment of 10% to both the precipitation and discharge.  HEC-RAS 2D unsteady state flow was run under the new forcings to generate the reprojected event footprint, which revealed a significant increase in both flood depth and extent.   Given the detailed inundation map relative to the future climate scenario, this study is particularly useful for designing flood mitigation measures in the French Riviera to protect life and property from the risk arising from similar catastrophic flash flood events. In addition, climate change associated risks represent a big concern for many industries including the insurance and re-insurance and this study can be used to estimate the risk and future losses associated to this and similar events.  
Investigating the Impact of Sea Waves on Offshore Wind Simulation: A Study Using the WRF Model
Authors: Mohammadpour Penchah Mohammadreza , Bakhoday Paskyabi Mostafa , Bui Hai
Published: February 2023

Previous studies showed that interaction between the atmosphere and sea is very important for simulating offshore wind, due to the effects of sea waves on momentum, mass and energy exchanges. In numerical weather prediction models, this effect is typically represented by a parameter known as roughness length. However, many atmospheric models do not take into account the impact of waves on roughness length over the sea.In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of waves on offshore wind simulation by applying some new roughness length formula in Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) to consider wave characteristics in roughness length calculation. The simulations were compared with observations during some cases of misalignment and alignment of wind and wave directions at FINO1 station. We compared wind speed and wind power density of the simulated and observed data using met mast and lidar data.
Agricultural use of two bioproducts based on pistachio waste as source of nitrogen in a pepper crop
Authors: Ruiz-Orejón Antonio , Ribas Francisco , Cabello M. Jesús , Mena Javier , Moreno Marta M.
Published: February 2023

The interest in developing sustainable agriculture is becoming increasingly relevant in recent times, seeking alternatives to synthetic chemical fertilizers and the revaluation of wastes through more environmentally friendly alternatives. During the last decade, the cultivated area of pistachio in Spain is growing very significantly, especially in Castilla-La Mancha (FAO, 2018). During the harvesting and processing of the fruit, residues such as shell and peel of the fruit are generated, remains of vegetables and water from the cleaning process, which have a marked phytotoxic character due to their high content of polyphenols. Therefore, the generation of pistachio wastes, which can reach 40% of the harvest, could be an environmental problem. For this reason, various research groups have used this waste to obtain different products such as active carbon, mulches, biofuels, etc. In the present study, we evaluate the effect of two bioproducts generated from the pistachio harvest residue and determine which of them has a greater agricultural interest (P1: product with less polyphenols, extracted by a thermal process, and P2: product with an additional Steam Explosion process). The bioproducts were evaluated in a pepper crop field with a randomized complete-block design, considering an unfertilized treatment as a control (T0 = Control, T1 = 50% of N needed with P1, T2 = 100% of N needed with P2, T3 = 50% of N needed with P2, and T4 = 100% of N needed with P2). The parameters controlled were: ETc calculated with the FAO methodology (ETc = ETo x Kc), irrigation water (NO3), soil (NO2, NO3, P, K, pH and texture), drainage water (NH4, NO3, P, K, Ca, Mg and pH), crop growth control (LAI and LAD) and dry matter composition of leaf, stem and fruit (N Kjeldahl, P and K). As preliminary results of the first experimental trial, no significant differences in the growth parameters measured between the control and the treatments have been found, although analytical results are still in progress and further research experiments will be stablished in the next years.Keywords: By-products, organic wastes, global warming, circular economy.Acknowledgements: Project INIA-2019-0007 (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness).
New constraints on shear properties of the Earth’s inner core from the global correlation wavefield
Authors: Costa de Lima Thuany , Pham Thanh-Son , Ma Xiaolong , Tkalčić Hrvoje
Published: February 2023

Seismological observations of J-phases, the seismic waves traversing the Earth’s inner core (IC) as shear waves, are critical to understanding the inner core shear properties. That, in turn, will shed light on the solidification process and the evolution of the inner core and our planet. Most body-wave detections of the J waves have been controversial due to their small amplitudes, which involve energy conversion from P- to S- and vice versa at the inner core boundary. Recent advances in understanding the nature of the late coda correlation offer a new way to sample the deep Earth, including the shear properties of the Earth’s inner core. The correlation-based features provide the sensitivity of the periods between 15 and 50 s, placing it between the body waves and normal mode data. Therefore, the observations of late coda correlation are vital in refining the shear properties of the IC, such as velocity, anisotropy, and attenuation.This study employs several uninvestigated J-wave correlation features detected in the global coda-correlation wavefield building on the study of Tkalčić and Pham (2018) that determined the shear wave speed reduction of 2.5% relative to PREM. The correlation features observed in the coda-correlation wavefield arise from similar seismic phases in which one contains a shear-wave leg in the IC. Improved data selection process and knowledge acquired from recent theoretical and observational developments in understanding the anatomy of coda correlation wavefield enable significant improvements in the data quality. We benchmark the waveforms of observed correlation features using numerical modeling, confirm the observations of J waves and inner core solidity and update its shear properties’ values, including shear-wave speed and Poisson’s ratio.
Assessment of parameters describing the signal delay in the neutral atmosphere derived from VGOS sessions
Authors: Haas Rüdiger , Diamantidis Periklis-Konstantinos , Elgered Gunnar , Johansson Jan , Nilsson Tobias , Ning Tong
Published: February 2023

The VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS) is the next generation VLBI system for geodetic and astrometric VLBI. It has been designed by the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) to improve the accuracy and precision of the estimated geodetic parameters by one order of magnitude compared to the so-called legacy S/X VLBI system. During the VGOS design phase, small-scale and rapid variations in the signal propagation delay caused by the neutral atmosphere were identified as one of the major limiting error sources in terms of accuracy of geodetic VLBI. Performing as many observations as possible per time unit to cover the local sky at the stations as uniformly as possible, has been developed as a strategy to address this topic. The VGOS idea is to achieve this goal by employing fast-slewing radio telescopes ,of typically 12–13 m diameter, that are equipped with broad-band receiving devices of reasonably high sensitivity and digital backends with high sampling capability. Compared to standard S/X legacy VLBI sessions, at least a factor of two in the number of observations per station is currently achieved within operational VGOS sessions (VO). Dedicated VGOS Research and Development (R&D) sessions (VR) achieve an even larger number of observations through minimizing the scan lengths.VGOS is still in its build-up phase and by 2022 the VGOS operational network has reached 10 internationally distributed stations. Among those is the Onsala Space Observatory which is operationally active with its VGOS twin telescopes since 2019. We analyse VGOS sessions of both VO- and VR-series and assess the current ability of VGOS to sense small-scale, rapid variations in the signal propagation delay caused by the neutral atmosphere. We compare the VGOS-derived results to corresponding results from simultaneous observation with co-located instrumentation at VGOS sites, i.e. receiving equipment for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations. For the Onsala station we compare also to the results derived from the ground-based microwave radiometer.
Effects of intensified freezing-thawing cycles on arctic soil microbiota investigated via soil chips
Authors: Hammer Edith , Duljas Julia , Klingenhammer Fredrik , Zou Hanbang , Elberling Bo , Andresen Louise C.
Published: February 2023

Arctic ecosystems are experiencing a strong and fast warming in the realms of climate change, and understanding the involved processes are important to predict impacts and feedbacks on their C cycling. Winter warming leads to frequent and reoccurring snow melts and as a consequence exposed bare ground. This leads to accelerated freeze-thaw cycles, since the snow cover that was insulating the soil below to temperature variations around a few degrees minus now can be exposed to much harsher freezes. We experimentally exposed soil crusts from Greenland to freezing-thawing cycles of different intensities and frequencies and measured the abundance of the three soil microbial groups bacteria, fungi and protists with help of microfluidic soil chips. The soil chips are brought into tight contact with the soil sample, and the microbial community colonizes their transparent pore spaces which enable us to image-based analysis of microbial abundance and interactions. We found that increased freezing frequency (daily versus bi-weekly) strikingly reduced bacterial populations, stronger than increased freezing intensity (-5°C vs -18°C). We also exposed the soil chips to live-freezing under the microscope to analyze direct effects of the approaching ice front on the microbial community. At intermediate freezing temperatures, dead-end pockets in the pore space remained liquid-filled and could act as refugia for the organisms. Fast approaching ice fronts caught fleeing organisms and in some cases led to detrimental outcomes, especially for protists. Disturbances in the trophic network differently affecting predators and pray may thus also contribute to changes in the bacterial carbon cycling. 
Discovering future vulnerabilities of the Jucar River Basin under climate change
Authors: Galbiati Irene , Giuliani Matteo , Macian-Sorribes Hector , Pulido-Velazquez Manuel , Castelletti Andrea
Published: February 2023

Today the management of water systems requires robust policies capable of withstanding deviations from the conditions for which they were originally designed due to the large degree of uncertainty about future inflows and water demands. Under evolving and deeply uncertain hydroclimatic inputs, the performance of these systems may degrade to a point where they become unable to meet the primary objectives for which they were built, potentially causing declines in water resource system performance or even complete system failure.Here we present a Multi-Objective, Robust Decision Making analysis applied to the case study of Jucar river basin in Spain, where the balance between water demand and available resources is already precarious. As in most Mediterranean basins, climate change is expected to further reduce water availability, increasing the intensity of drought episodes, and challenging the long-term sustainability of water use. Using a hydroeconomic model of the basin, we assessed the performance of the current system’s operations in terms of agricultural and hydropower benefits, along with ecosystem services under different CMIP6 scenarios over the time horizon 1980-2100. These climate projections are then synthetically perturbed to generate a larger ensemble of future scenarios, which is used to complement the robustness analysis and identify via scenario discovery the most critical drivers under which the system is expected to fail.Preliminary results using the nominal IPCC scenarios indicate substantial system vulnerabilities emerging over the next decades, especially under the pessimistic SSP5-8.5 projection. These findings suggest the need of identifying candidate adaptation options to be triggered according to the future evolution of the system in order to ensure a timely adaptation of water management strategies to future changes.
Investigation of mid-latitude contrail formation regions in EMAC in comparison to in-situ observations from aircrafts
Authors: Peter Patrick , Matthes Sigrun , Frömming Christine , Grewe Volker
Published: February 2023

Aviation has long been associated with environmental problems such as pollution, noise and climate change. While CO2 emissions are at the forefront of public debate, non-CO2 emissions from aviation can have similar impacts on climate as carbon dioxide from aviation, such as contrails, nitrogen oxides, or cloud cover caused by aviation. Previous studies investigated the influence of different weather situations on the climate impact of aviation, identified climate-sensitive regions, and created data products such as 4-dimensional climate change functions (CCFs) that enable air traffic management (ATM) to plan for climate optimized trajectories. However, the applicability and potential implementation of climate change functions for climate-optimized flight planning is only possible if the CCFs and the corresponding mitigation potential are validated [1,2].The research presented here is part of the European Horizon 2020 project ClimOP and focuses on a further validation of the modular global chemistry climate model EMAC to analyze whether the model is able to represent real-world situations. For the comparison, we focus on contrail parameter as contrails have the largest uncertainties among all CCFs [2,3]. To investigate which vertical resolution in EMAC is suitable to study key atmospheric parameters for contrail formation, we compared different model setups. Furthermore, results from nudged simulation are compared with measurement data from the DLR ML-CIRRUS campaign.The study shows a systematic cold and dry/wet bias between EMAC and aircraft measurements that differs with a nudging approach. These variations have implications for relative humidity, ice supersaturated regions, and potential contrail coverage in the model and must also be considered when using CCFs. Thus, this study represents a first step toward the applicability and potential implementation of climate change functions for climate-optimized flight planning.The project leading to this study has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 875503 (ClimOP). High performance supercomputing resources were used from the German CARA Cluster in Dresden.References:[1] Matthes S. et al., Aerospace 7, 156 (2020).[2] Frömming C. et al. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9151–9172 (2021).[3] Peter P. et al. (2021) EASN Conference Sep 2021 (2021).
AngleCam - Tracking leaf angle distributions through time with image series and deep learning
Authors: Kattenborn Teja , Richter Ronny , Guimarães-Steinicke Claudia , Feilhauer Hannes , Wirth Christian
Published: February 2023

Vertical leaf angles and their temporal variation are directly related to multiple ecophysiological and environmental processes and properties. However, there is no efficient method for tracking leaf angles of plant canopies under field conditions.Here, we present AngleCam, a method to estimate leaf angle distributions from horizontal photographs acquired with timelapse cameras and deep learning. The AngleCam is a pattern recognition model based on convolutional neural networks and was trained with leaf angle distributions obtained from visual interpretation of more than 2500 plant photographs across different species and scene conditions.Leaf angle predictions were evaluated over a wide range of species, plant functional types and scene conditions using independent samples from visual interpretation (R2 = 0.84). Moreover, the method was evaluated using leaf angle estimates obtained from terrestrial laser scanning (R2 = 0.75). AngleCam was successfully tested under field-conditions for the long-term monitoring of leaf angles for two broadleaf tree species in a temperate forest. The plausibility of the predicted leaf angle time series was underlined by its close relationship with environmental variables related to transpiration. Moreover, showed that the variation in leaf angles resembles changes in several leaf-water related traits.The evaluations showed that AngleCam is a robust and efficient method to track leaf angles under field conditions. The output of AngleCam is compatible and relevant for with a range of applications, including functional-structural plant modelling, Earth system modelling or radiative transfer modelling of plant canopies. AngleCam may also be used to predict leaf angle distributions from existing data, such as curated in PhenoCam networks or citizen science projects.
Interannual variability in the physical and biological drivers of carbon sequestration in the southeast Pacific Subantarctic Mode Water Formation region
Authors: Brown Pete , Trucco Pignata Pablo , Oliver Sophy , García-Ibañez Maribel , Conde Pardo Paula , Bakker Dorothee , Martin Adrian
Published: February 2023

The uptake of carbon by the Southern Ocean plays a critical role in mitigating atmospheric CO2 increases, but its magnitude and temporal and spatial variability are still subject to large uncertainties due to the scarcity of observations, and model disagreements. The Southeast Pacific is one such region where deep, nutrient and carbon-rich circumpolar deep waters upwell, but also where Subantarctic Mode Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water are formed and subducted, carrying with them high loadings of anthropogenic carbon dioxide into the ocean interior. The processes driving the upper ocean carbon levels are a balance of biological activity and heat-flux driven solubility effects in response to changing physical dynamics. While the former is thought to drive the region being a net annual carbon sink, the depth at which exported organic matter is remineralised will have a large effect on whether it remains there on climatically-important timescales. Here we present a multi-year biogeochemical timeseries from the OOI mooring located in the region, combined with observations from profiling BGC-Argo floats, a 6-week process cruise in austral summer 2019-2020 (as part of the UK CUSTARD programme), and outputs from data assimilation models to investigate the effects of interannual variability in mixed layer dynamics on primary production, carbon export and long-term carbon sequestration. We find a strong relationship between winter mixed layer depths and densities, biological activity the following summer, and impacts on the magnitude and distribution of subsurface remineralisation, providing insight into the controls on carbon uptake in a region of global significance for climate regulation
Exploring the characteristics of seismo-electromagnetic signals (SES) in both passive and active experiments
Authors: Ventola Ivana , Romano Gerardo , Balasco Marianna , de Girolamo Michele , de Lorenzo Salvatore , Filippucci Marilena , Morga Roselena , Patella Domenico , Serlenga Vincenzo , Stabile Tony Alfredo , Tallarico Andrea , Tripaldi Simona , Siniscalchi Agata
Published: February 2023

Seismo-electromagnetic signals are electromagnetic signals generated by the propagation of a seismic wave in a porous media containing fluids (Gao & Hu, 2010).These signals can potentially provide useful information on the poro-elastic media and the hosted fluids (Garambois & Dietrich, 2002).Thus, there has been a growing interest in the study of SES in recent years, due to their potential.Researchers are focusing both on modelling and analysis of both passive and active experiments to investigate the characteristics of these signals (e.g. Honkura et al., 2000; Matsushima et al., 2002; Warden et al., 2013; Gao et al., 2016; Balasco et al., 2014; Dzieran et al., 2019).Passive experiments involve the observation and analysis of naturally occurring SES triggered by earthquakes, while active experiments involve the controlled generation of these signals using seismic source.The aim of our work is to present the results deriving from the analysis of SES recorded with both approaches. As for the passive one, the data set consists of the time series recorded by two magnetotelluric stations in continuous monitoring, co-located with two seismic stations, in seismically active areas of Southern Italy (the Gargano promontory and the Agri valley).As for the active one, the data set derives by an active seismic experiment carried out in the caldera of the Phlegrean Fields, the Italian super-volcano.
Assessing the soil baseline values of a geologically complex territory: the case study of Basilicata region.
Authors: Guarino Annalise , Pacifico Lucia Rita , Iannone Antonio , Gramazio Andrea , Albanese Stefano
Published: February 2023

The middle and lower reaches of the Basento river and the whole basin of the Cavone river, in Basilicata region (Italy), underwent to a geochemical prospecting involving soil and stream sediments. Specifically, 190 topsoils were collected within a depth range between 10-15 cm from the ground level and 10 bottom soils were sampled within the depth range between 80-100 cm. 

Samples were analysed at the Life Analytics laboratory (Battipaglia, Italy), by ICP-MS following an aqua regia digestion, to determine the concentrations of 16 potentially toxic inorganic substances (As, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, CrIV, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Tl, V, Zn, SO4).  

The purpose of the study has been the definition of the upper background limits (UBLs) for the investigation area. An exploratory data analysis (EDA) was conducted on the dataset to outline the main data structural characteristics. Due to the huge number of samples below detection limits (BDL) for Cd, CrIV, Hg, Se, Tl, only As, Be, Co, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, V, Zn and SO4 were considered for the UBLs definition. 

The estimate of the above-mentioned values has been conducted following a series of rigorous statistical tests in line with the "Guidelines for the determination of background values for soils and groundwater" released by the Italian National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA).  

In detail, after imputing the few BDL values found in the selected variables by means of K-nearest neighbors (k-NN) algorithm, topsoil and bottom soils data were considered as a whole. Indeed, the dataset was subdivided into 7 subsets according the geopedological units identified based on the local pedological and geological features. 

The BoxCox algorithm was applied to the single subsets to normalize data distribution before any statistical treatment. Outliers were identified by mean of the Dixon’s or Rosner’s Outlier tests depending on the sample size, the observation of boxplots and Q-Q plots and the spatial location of some samples considered as hotspots.  

For each variable and for each subset, two statical indices (i.e.:  95th upper tolerance limit with 95% coverage (95UTL95) and the 95th upper prediction limit (UPL95)) were calculated. The more conservative among them was chosen as representative for the UBLs.
Results showed that the UBLs found are much lower than the guideline values set by the Italian Environmental Law (Legislative Decree 152/2006). Our findings emphasized how the use of guideline values established at a national level is often inadequate to administrate a geologically and pedologically complex territory such as Italy, favoring the chance of running into a wrong identification of local environmental hazards.  
The role of magnetic shear on the evolution of mirror mode waves and their influence on magnetic reconnection at Saturn’s magnetopause
Authors: Cheng I Kit , Achilleos Nicholas
Published: February 2023

Mirror modes are large amplitude, non-propagating compressive structures often observed in the magnetosheath. They appear in the form of quasi-sinusoidal oscillations in the magnetic field, with clear magnetic dropouts (‘dips’) or enhancements (‘peaks’). Mirror modes are usually accompanied by a corresponding, anticorrelated signature in plasma density. Typically, the growth of mirror mode fluctuations is triggered when magnetized plasma traverses the bow shock (BS) or draping of the magnetic field around the magnetopause (MP), producing anisotropic ion distribution functions in a high plasma β environment.In this work, nine years of in-situ Cassini data and the latest published catalogue of BS and MP crossings at Saturn were used to perform a detailed statistical analysis of magnetic fluctuations associated with mirror mode structures in Saturn’s magnetosheath. 182 single traversals through the magnetosheath between the bow shock and the magnetopause were used to study the evolution of mirror mode structures across Saturn’s outer and inner magnetosheath and to assess the effects of magnetic shear at the MP on the mirror mode structures near the MP. Violante et al. (1995) analysed two MP crossings at Saturn by Voyagers 1 and 2 and found that in the high magnetic shear MP, mirror waves appear with increasing amplitude and decreasing frequency until the MP, whilst in the other low magnetic shear case, the mirror waves ceased to grow in the presence of a plasma depletion layer but are still present, albeit with smaller amplitude.The amplitude and frequency of mirror waves near the magnetopause are also examined against signs of magnetic reconnection. Tsurutani et al. (1982) suggested that the amplitude of mirror wave structures could impact magnetic reconnection at the MP boundary as alternating high and low regions and the plasma temperature anisotropies may lead to patchy and sporadic reconnection.
Impact of the use of biofuels on the formation of ultrafine particles in southeastern Brazil
Authors: Delgado Peralta Alejandro Herman , Andrade Maria de Fatima
Published: February 2023

Southeastern Brazil is the most developed and populous region with 89.5 million of inhabitants, according to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) for 2021. The main metropolitan and industrialized areas are concentrated in its four states (São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo). One of them comprises the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) with 7.3 million vehicles that releases air pollutant -gas and ultrafine particles- to the atmosphere due to the use of different fuel types; light-duty vehicles consume ethanol, gasohol (85% gasoline and 25% hydrous ethanol) or natural gas, and heavy vehicles (i.e., buses and trucks) run on diesel. So, frequently high concentrations of air pollutants (ozone and fine particles) in urban areas are above the recommended limits suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) with high health risk mainly for children and elderly. The biggest concern is the high health risk of exposing the population to ultrafine particles, also called nanoparticles. Consequently, it is important to understand the formation of ultrafine particles, whether they are emitted directly or formed in the atmosphere. We study the formation processes of ultrafine particles in the scenario of fuel change in the road transport sector, including a greater use of biofuels. The air quality modeling system will analyze the impact of different scenarios in urban areas in southeastern Brazil. We begin with the air quality simulation for the current conditions as the base case scenario using the WRF-Chem model. As the main data input, we use emission data with two temporal profile distributions (monthly and hourly time average). First, we use available monthly anthropogenic emission's data processed by the European Copernicus Atmosphere Service (CAMS). Secondly, we added hourly road transport emission calculated with the LAPAT model, which use emission factors derived from measurements in experimental campaigns in tunnels where light and heavy vehicles circulate within the MASP. This simulation test with the WRF-Chem model considers the MOZART-MOSAIC mechanism and additional emissions from other sources such as biomass burning and chemical initial and boundary conditions from the CAM-Chem model. Experimental data and measurements of meteorological and air quality parameters will support the work to evaluate the performance of the model’s results.
Impact of pH computation from EQSAM4Clim on inorganic aerosols in the CAMS system
Authors: Metzger Swen , Rémy Samuel , Huijnen Vincent , Williams Jason , Chabrillat Simon , Bingen Christine , Flemming Johannes
Published: February 2023

The Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) of ECMWF is used within the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) to provide global analyses and forecasts of atmospheric composition, including aerosols as well as reactive trace gases and greenhouse gases. Inorganic gas/aerosol equilibrium involving the major sulphate and nitrate anions, i.e., H2SO4/HSO4-/SO42- and HNO3/NO3-, largely determines the aerosol acidity, while the gas/liquid/solid phase partitioning of semi-volatile cations, NH3/NH4+, and the liquid/solid partitioning of non-volatile mineral cations, particularly Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+, overall control the gas-liquid-solid aerosol equilibrium partitioning of reactive nitrogen compounds. For the NO3- and NH4+ equilibrium, our recent developments have focused on EQSAM4Clim, which has been recently integrated into the IFS as a computationally efficient means of describing aerosol pH in a global modeling system.
EQSAM4Clim is used in the IFS to estimate gas-liquid-solid partitioning and the aerosol associated liquid water content, which is subsequently used to estimate the associated aerosol, cloud and rain acidity. The aerosol, cloud and rain pH is computed by considering the liquid water (H2O) content in the respective liquid water phase using either the aerosol associated water computed by EQSAM4clim, and if present, the cloud and/or rain water of the IFS. The pH is coupled to the aqueous phase chemistry in IFS(CB05) and in the wet deposition of SO2 and NH3, which in-turn affects the aerosol composition through changes in the SO2/SO42-, NH3/NH4+and HNO3/NO3- partitioning, the aerosol associated liquid water content and solution pH.
Here we present first results of the of the impact of improved aerosol acidity in the solution (aerosol/cloud/rain water) on PM2.5 forecasts simulated in the IFS which are subject to gas-particle partitioning. In particular, the NH4+, NO3- and SO42- concentrations have been compared against observational datasets at the surface, showing promising improvements as a direct result of the new pH computations. When coupling the EQSAMClim pH into the aqueous phase chemistry routine, the surface concentrations of SO42- and the SO2 + SO42- wet deposition fluxes are improved over most of Europe, but degraded over parts of US. The relative impact of the improved pH appears generally small as compared to other related changes such as updates in aqueous chemistry rates. In the pH coupling, the aqueous chemistry component dominates the impact on the wet deposition of SO2/NH3. All of these results are highly dependent on the emissions input (SO2/NOx/NH3). 
On the nature and attribution of the 2022 annual record temperature in the UK and Ireland
Authors: Fuckar Neven , Allen Myles , Obersteiner Michael
Published: February 2023

As climate changes to likely a warmer mean state by the end of this century than any time during the existence of humans, the world population has rapidly increased from about 1.3 billion in 1850 to 8 billion in November 2022. The latest IPCC AR6 reports attests that extreme events (e.g., heatwaves, floods, droughts, etc.) are occurring in many parts of the world at an increasing frequency and/or intensity due to global climate change, and are threatening human health, Earth’s biosphere, and the socio‐economic fabric of our rapidly expanding and resource‐hungry civilisation. On 19 July 2022 England, Wales and Scotland all experienced the hottest days on the record reaching 40.3 deg.C, 37.1 deg.C and 34.8 deg.C, respectively, and London Fire Brigade received the highest number of emergency calls since World War II. While in Dublin near-surface air temperature reached 33.0 deg.C on 18 July – the highest in the Ireland’s record. Furthermore, the annual mean temperature in 2022 was highest on the record in the UK and Ireland. This study uses a set of observations and reanalysis products combined with large ensembles of CMIP5/6 simulations to examine the structure of atmospheric circulation and the role of anthropogenic drivers leading to these extreme events on annual timescale. We also use large ensembles of specifically designed historical/factual and natural/counterfactual simulations of EC-Earth3 coupled climate model at the standard resolution and weather@home2 climate simulations performed by citizen scientists around the world to assesses to what extent anthropogenic forcing modified the probability and magnitude of this event. Moreover, we involve conditional perspective of the atmospheric circulation in our attribution estimates. The preliminary results points to a pronounced role of the global climate change in modifying likelihood and intensity of these annual extreme events.
A remote sensing approach to estimating crop water needs in Mediterranean basins with data scarcity issues
Authors: Lopez-Perez Esther , Rubio-Martin Adrià , Pulido-Velazquez Manuel , Sanchis-Ibor Carles , Garcia-Prats Alberto , Manzano-Juarez Juan , Jimenez-Bello Miguel Ángel , Garcia-Molla Marta
Published: February 2023

Irrigated agriculture is a major contributor to global groundwater use, and can sometimes lead to the overexploitation of aquifers. The Requena-Utiel, Campina de Faro and Ain Timguenay aquifers in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, respectively, are facing such a situation, with excessive pumping raising concerns about the aquifer's water levels and the long-term health of the groundwater body. Accurate estimation and remote monitoring of crop water needs are crucial for effectively managing the limited water resources in the region by providing farmers with accurate recommendations on water use.The eGROUNDWATER project aims to address this issue by applying a water balance method based on Vegetation Index data of croplands. The method uses the Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) to estimate bare soil evaporation and vegetation transpiration, agro-climatic data and optical data (CopernicusESA/EROS-USGS). Potential evapotranspiration was calculated using the FAO method. The result of this process was a model for determining the irrigation water needs of crops within the region that allows researchers to differentiate stressed and over-irrigated areas with a high degree of precision.The model was developed for the Spanish case study and was successfully applied to the Moroccan and Portuguese cases, where data scarcity at the local scale is also an issue. Remote sensing allows for more accurate detection of crop water needs, enabling the alignment of water requirements and agricultural demands. Although evapotranspiration estimates based on remote sensing may be subject to bias, these biases can be identified and corrected using reliable ground data. If daily images are not available, it is possible to upscale daily evapotranspiration estimates to seasonal or annual estimates. At the end, annual crop water needs can be modeled using a yearly map of irrigated areas, which is helpful for planning and managing water resources at the plot scale.In conclusion, this research has shown that remote sensing can be a valuable tool for accurately estimating and monitoring crop water needs and for improving water resource management in three Mediterranean regions. By using the described methods, it is possible to align water use with agricultural demands more effectively and to ensure sustainable use of the aquifer's limited resources.Acknowledgements:This study has received funding from the eGROUNDWATER project (GA n. 1921) a project from the PRIMA programme, supported by Horizon 2020, the European Union's Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.