bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Towards a complete picture of organics in the atmosphere with a filter-based CIMS approach
Authors: Franck Anna , Finkenzeller Henning , Mikkilä Jyri , Jokinen Tuija
Published: March 2024

Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry (CIMS) is an effective technique for accurate and sensitive detection of atmospheric organic compounds relevant to atmospheric chemistry and aerosol particle formation. Several types of mass spectrometers have been developed and used widely by the atmospheric community for online measurements. One of the limitations of the online technique is its size and weight and therefore, challenges in measuring in remote locations.To facilitate measurements of organic vapours, a filter desorption unit was developed that can be easily mounted to APi-ToF (Tofwerk AG) or Orbitrap (ThermoFisher) mass spectrometers. Tenax-coated filters, which maximize the retention of organic vapours, are used for the collection of ambient air. Then, the collected filter deposit is thermally desorbed while the temperature rises to 200 C in three minutes. In the next step Multi-scheme chemical ionization inlet, MION2 (Karsa Ltd.), is used for chemical ionization with X-ray and preparation of the analyte to the detection in the mass spectrometer without further chromatographic separation. The whole process takes less than five minutes.This new method has already been tested on various groups of compounds, including organics, and will be extended to more species in the near future.In conclusion, the new filter-based approach in combination with the excellent detection limits of MION2, expands the use of CIMS instruments and opens possibilities for sampling in remote locations as well as on new platforms, such as drones.
Citizen Science Programs as Scientific Data Collection Approach of Soil Medium
Authors: Takáts Tünde , László Péter , Takács Katalin , Mészáros János , Kovács Zsófia Adrienn , Koós Sándor , Balog Kitti , Pásztor László , Árvai Mátyás
Published: March 2024

Community-engaged data collection and research, known as citizen science, is becoming increasingly popular in modern research. Citizen science programs, using social media platforms, provide an efficient means of rapidly gathering substantial and relevant data for scientific inquiries in a cost-effective manner.
In Hungary, the first citizen science program, titled "Life in Undies”, was launched in 2021 by the Institute for Soil Sciences. This initiative, inspired by the Canadian "Soil your Undies" challenge and other similar initiatives around the world, focused on collecting soil data by surveying the decomposition of cotton underpants. The percentage decomposition of the cotton underwear serves as an indirect indicator of soil health and contributes to the creation of a map illustrating seasonal microbiological activity in the soil.
The second, ongoing citizen science program is called "InvestiGATE for Your Soil". This initiative continuously collects primary soil data, including pH, CaCO3 content, soil texture, thickness of surface humic layer by easy measurement methods carried out with household tools following a strict tutorial. The aim is to build a comprehensive and diverse dataset of proxy variables, facilitating the creation of thematic soil.
In addition to the short introduction of the two initiatives, our poster will highlight innovations implemented in data collection to improve the efficiency of the data cleaning process.    Validation mechanisms have been incorporated to ensure the reliability of the collected data, contributing to the success not only of these citizen science programs but also of others.
Our poster will showcase the outcomes of these citizen science programs, featuring: 

A thematic map illustrating soil microbiological activity in the spring of 2021, derived from over a thousand data points collected nationwide.
A preliminary thematic map depicting key soil properties from our continually expanding database generated by the ongoing citizen science program.

Acknowledgement: This work has been carried out with the support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office K-131820 together with MEC N-140646.
Increase of a precipitation “brake” to stronger storms in kilometer-scale global warming simulations
Authors: Bolot Maximilien , Pauluis Olivier , Harris Lucas , Cheng Kai , Merlis Timothy , Clark Spencer , Kaltenbaugh Alex , Zhou Linjiong , Fueglistaler Stephan
Published: March 2024

As the atmosphere gets warmer, it is expected to hold more water vapor, thereby fueling stronger storms. At the same time, the condensation of this vapor increases the combined load of liquid water and ice aloft, forcing convection to do more work to lift water to the level where it precipitates. This takes away from the generation of kinetic energy, thereby creating a “brake” on atmospheric motions. The evolution of this precipitation “brake” with warming determines the magnitude of future storm intensification, with important societal implications. The new generation of kilometer-scale climate models is capable of projecting this evolution. In this presentation, we show how the NOAA/GFDL X-SHiELD experimental global storm-resolving model can be used to estimate the total mechanical work done by convection and the work done to lift water which is then subsequently dissipated by friction during precipitation. The statistics are computed in year-long simulations of the present climate and of a 4K warmer climate.We find that the ratio of kinetic energy generation vs work spent to lift water is respectively 30% vs 70% of the total mechanical work done by convection on global average, with a relative stability across regions and in the present vs future climate.Moving beyond regional averages, when we organize the space by decreasing values of dissipation, we find that the ratio of work spent to lift water to total mechanical work strongly increases in the most convective percentiles, that is, most of the work done by convection is used to lift water in the extremes, showing that water loading strongly opposes kinetic energy generation. We also find that the total work done by convection, the work spent to lift water and the precipitation-induced dissipation all increase similarly with warming in the most convective percentiles. This suggests that, as the Earth warms, the updrafts tend to “kill” themselves in situ from increased water loading instead of generating a response at larger scale.
Regional Flood Inundation Nowcast Using Double-Encoder Transformer
Authors: Shiu Shao-Kun , Chang Li-Chiu
Published: March 2024

In the context of rapid global population growth and extensive economic development, urbanization is expanding rapidly. The expansion of urbanization brings about increasingly complex challenges for cities, and flooding is one of the disasters faced. Climate change has led to a significant increase in extreme hydrological events, particularly a sharp rise in rainfall intensity, further elevating the risk of flooding in low-lying urban areas. The study area is located in Taipei City, characterized by low-lying terrain surrounded by mountains, and is influenced by subtropical climate. The frequent occurrence of heavy rainfall during the monsoon season and typhoons contributes to frequent flooding events, with the additional impact of climate change increasing the risk of intense rainfall. Therefore, the real-time prediction of regional flooding and its application in urban management becomes an imperative task, aiding in early warning, effective flood risk response, and ensuring sustainable urban development.This study utilizes the Double-Encoder Transformer model for real-time flood forecasting leveraging dual-encoder architecture to process and analyze diverse data types relevant predicting floods. One encoder could be dedicated to interpreting meteorological data, such as rainfall spatial distribution. This encoder focuses on extracting and understanding the complex patterns in weather-related data, which are crucial for predicting the likelihood of flooding. The second encoder, on the other hand, could handle geographical and environmental data, including terrain topology, and land use patterns. This encoder is adept at understanding how environmental factors contribute to flood risk in specific areas. By concurrently processing these two streams of information, the Double-Encoder Transformer can create a more comprehensive prediction model. It can identify correlations between meteorological conditions and environmental responses, leading to more accurate and timely flood forecasts. This approach enhances the model's ability to predict not only when and where floods might occur but also their potential severity, aiding in disaster preparedness and resource allocation.Overall, the application of the Double-Encoder Transformer in flood forecasting represents a significant advancement in disaster management, leveraging AI's power to integrate and analyze complex, multi-faceted data for better, more informed decision-making in critical situations.
Combining ground-penetrating RaDAR, unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry and borehole thermal data to investigate the evolution of hanging glaciers in the western European Alps
Authors: Robson Ben , Lambiel Christophe , Ravanel Ludovic , Irving James , Baron Ludovic , Gentizon Jérémie
Published: March 2024

The evolution of hanging glaciers in a context of changing climate has significant implications because their stability is particularly sensitive to changes in their basal thermal regimes. Projections indicate that by the end of this century, all glaciers below 4000 m altitude in the European Alps will likely transition from a cold-based to a temperate-based state due to climate forcing. Unstable hanging glaciers already threaten villages, transport routes and ski infrastructure in the Alps. Given the high density of settlements, infrastructure and access for recreation, the evolution of hanging glaciers must be well understood. However, modelling the thermal regimes of hanging glaciers is often difficult because of their complex geometries, and the difficulties associated with data acquisition. Our study utilised ground-based ground-penetrating radar (GPR) techniques in a novel application to investigate the bedrock geometries of four hanging glaciers at two sites at the Pointes du Mourti (3563 m a.s.l.), Pennine Alps, Switzerland, and the Aiguille du Midi (3842 m a.s.l.), Mont-Blanc Massif, France.By combining a GPR survey with two years of thermal data recorded in two boreholes, and two annually spaced UAV photogrammetric surveys, we investigated the geometry and the current evolution of the Pointes du Mourti hanging glacier. We were able to extract subglacial bedrock geometry and ice depths covering an area of 9791 m2, representing 16.2% of the glacier area in 2022. We demonstrated that this hanging glacier, with a mean inclination angle of 43°, resides in a concave feature on the mountain slope with a rugged subglacial surface. Basal temperatures in the upper part of the hanging glacier are below -2.5 °C, indicating cold-based conditions, whereas the central part may be in a more temperate-based condition. Furthermore, the surface topography of all the investigated glaciers underwent substantial changes during the unusually hot summer of 2022, which followed the very dry winter of 2021/2022, exceeding historical norms. The Pointes du Mourti hanging glacier lost 0.86 m of thickness on average and more than 7% of its surface area between October 2021 and September 2022. Similarly, the Jumeau Ouest hanging glacier, at the Aiguille du Midi, lost 0.92 m between June and September 2022.Our study shows that ground-based GPR can be successfully employed in challenging topographical environments to determine sub-glacial geometries of hanging glaciers. This method can be a valuable tool in a multi-faceted approach to hanging glacier investigations, effectively providing necessary ice depths and bedrock configurations. This research contributes valuable insights for both scientific and administrative communities invested in comprehending the consequences associated with the evolution of hanging glaciers.
Observational data synthesis (TPChange Central Project Z01)
Authors: Lachnitt Hans-Christoph , Plöger Felix , Kunkel Daniel , Hoor Peter ,   Campaign PI’s
Published: March 2024

The UTLS (upper troposphere and lower stratosphere) is a region relevant for weather and climate forecasts as well as for chemical aspects in the troposphere and stratosphere. For these reasons many observations have been conducted in recent years. Comparing data of different measurement campaigns is sometimes a bit difficult, especially for the supporting model data. Often, different model types or grid widths are used or one variable is missing or calculated with different methods.The main goal of this work is to create a dataset of multiple measurement campaigns with consistent meteorological parameters and supporting analysis.In a first step, we use ERA5 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis v5) data with a horizontal grid width of 1° and a time resolution of 6 hours as well as CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere) data. In a second step, we also use ERA5 data with a time resolution of 1 hour and a horizontal grid width of 0.3°.The dataset contains several native and derived meteorological (e.g., potential vorticity, equivalent latitude) variables and tropopause diagnostics (e.g., height of laps rate and several dynamical tropopauses) from ERA5. To include information on transport and time scales artificial regional tracers (e.g., O3, CO) and age spectrum variables (e.g., E90 tracer, mean age) from CLaMS are used. The interpolation is carried out for multiple campaigns i.e., for several airborne and balloon campaigns on different platforms.To introduce the dataset, we also present a few possible application examples in relation to the distribution of trace gases and other species. Furthermore, we present comparisons of different model data and measurement data.
Investigating the dynamics of particle-laden gravity currents using two-fluid simulations
Authors: Sharma Manohar Kumar , Bonamy Cyrille , Rastello Marie , Gadal Cyril , Lacaze Laurent , Chauchat Julien
Published: March 2024

Particle-laden gravity currents are extremely important in geophysical flow applications. They are the major pathway of sediments in subaqueous environments such as deep lakes and oceans and, to some extent, in the shallower seas of the continental shelves [1]. Various approaches have been developed to model these currents with different complexities ranging from box models, shallow water models, single-phase and two-phase flow models. The starting point of the present analysis is based on Gadal et al. [2] who investigated the role of non-dimensional parameters such as the bed slope (α), the Reynolds number (Re), the Stokes number (St), and the volume fraction (φ) on the dynamics of the front velocity at the early stage of the current propagation using both experimental and numerical approaches. The front velocity at short time scales as the square root of the reduced gravity times the initial lock-height. Overall, it is an increasing function of the bed slope and a decreasing function of the initial volume fraction (for φ>0.45). It is also shown that the duration of the initial constant velocity regime decreases with the particle settling velocity or Stokes number at small bed slope angles. The 2D two-fluid simulations performed with sedFOAM [3] have been shown to reproduce almost quantitatively these trends however a comprehensive description of the detailed underlying physical mechanisms is still missing. In this contribution, we propose to use the two-fluid model to address this question. To achieve this goal, 3D two-fluid simulations have been performed and the numerical results have been depth-averaged over the current shape. The mass balance is used to quantify the entrainment at the current interface and the various terms entering in the momentum balance are extracted from the simulation results. These analysis are used to understand the origin of the current dynamics attenuation such as fluid viscous and turbulent stresses, particle-particle interactions, and fluid-particle interactions.References:[1] Meiburg, E. and Kneller, B. (2010). Turbidity currents and their deposits. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 42(1):135–156.[2] Gadal C., Mercier M. J., Rastello M., and Lacaze L. (2023). “Slumping regime in lock-release turbidity currents”,. J. Fluid Mech., 974:A4, [3] Chauchat, J., Cheng, Z., Nagel, T., Bonamy, C., and Hsu, T.-J. (2017). Sedfoam- 2.0: a 3-d two-phase flow numerical model for sediment transport.    Geoscientific Model Development, 10(12):4367–4392.
Evidence for the Partial Melt Beneath the Central Anatolia Elucidated from Frequency Dependent Shear Wave Attenuation
Authors: Eken Tuna , Izgi Gizem , Gaebler Peter , Kaya-Eken Tülay , Taymaz Tuncay
Published: March 2024

The Central Anatolian Plateau, featuring volcanic provinces, serves as a significant transition zone between compressional deformation in the east and an extensional regime in the west. The Central Anatolian Fault Zone acts as the demarcation between the Kırşehir Block to the north and the Anatolide-Tauride block to the south within the plateau. A comprehensive understanding of physical properties, particularly seismic attenuation in the crustal volume of this region, offers insights into the potential sources of past and present geodynamic events, contributing to the observed deformation. In our study, we adopt a non-empirical coda wave modeling approach to separately analyze intrinsic and scattering attenuation. This involves a fitting process between observed and synthetic coda wave envelopes for each earthquake across multiple frequency bands. Utilizing acoustic radiative transfer theory with assumptions of multiple isotropic scattering, we forward model synthetic coda-wave envelopes for local earthquakes. Our findings highlight the dominancy of intrinsic attenuation over scattering attenuation, suggesting the presence of thick volcanic rocks with relatively high attenuation values beneath Central Anatolia. The spatial distribution of attenuation at various frequencies distinctly identifies the Kırşehir Massif with its considerable high attenuating character. Our results, coupled with earlier seismological and geo-electrical models suggests the possibility of partial melt beneath much of the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province. Zones with elevated fluid content exhibit dominant intrinsic attenuation. Toward the southeast, a gradual decrease in observed attenuation aligns with the Central Tauride Mountains, where high altitude is believed to have evolved following slab break-off and subsequent mantle upwelling.
Advanced processing strategies for a future GFZ GRACE/GRACE-FO Level-2 data release
Authors: Murböck Michael , Dahle Christoph , Panafidina Natalia , Hauk Markus , Wilms Josefine , Neumayer Karl-Hans , Flechtner Frank
Published: March 2024

Being part of the GRACE/GRACE-FO Science Data System, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences is one of the official Level-2 processing centers routinely providing monthly gravity field models. These models are used by a wide variety of geoscientists to infer mass changes mainly at the Earth’s surface. Currently, the operationally processed monthly gravity fields are still based on release 6 (RL06) standards, but developments in view of a reprocessed and improved GFZ RL07 time series are already ongoing. Most of these improvements have been developed within the Research Unit “New Refined Observations of Climate Change from Spaceborne Gravity Missions” (NEROGRAV) funded by the German Research Foundation DFG. After a successful first phase, the second three years phase of NEROGRAV has started last year.At present, we primarily work towards the completion of an optimized stochastic modeling for GRACE and GRACE-FO gravity field determination. This includes the extension of the stochastic instrument error models, the optimization of the combination of the different observations, and the inclusion of tidal and temporally changing non-tidal background model error variance-covariance matrices in the adjustment process.This presentation provides an overview of the main outcomes of these advanced processing strategies. We discuss details on stochastic modeling of non-tidal atmospheric-oceanic background models including the assessment of temporal correlations and will present preliminary RL07 Level-2 results in the spectral and spatial domain in comparison with the standard GFZ GRACE/GRACE-FO RL06 time series.
Lessons learned from Hydrological Modelling of Northern Temperate Peatlands
Authors: O'Loughlin Fiachra , Mozafari Behzad , Bruen Michael , Donohue Shane , Renou-Wilson Florence
Published: March 2024

Hydrological modelling of peatlands requires capturing the complex interactions between overland and subsurface processes along with any anthropogenic impacts, such as artificial drainage for peat extraction and agriculture. To date there has been limited intercomparison studies evaluating the hydrological performance of multiple rainfall-runoff models. Here, we present the results of two different modelling comparison studies for three raised peatlands located in Ireland. These peatlands have all being heavily impacted by artificial drainage for peat extraction; however, peat extraction activities have halted, and one has been rewetted. The first study compares 47 conceptual rainfall-runoff models included in the MARRMoT toolbox at all three sites, while the second study uses a more process-based framework, SUMMA, to represent the different processes at a drained site with various model configurations.Results from the first study show that there is a significant drop in the ability to simulate the rewetted peatland compared to the drained peatland sites. This study also indicate that the while no single model can outperform others, multi-model ensemble approaches offer better performances. The results from the SUMMA framework highlight the importance of representing the artificial drainage component in simulating the hydrology of drained peatlands. Performance increased significantly once we coded this component into the SUMMA framework.
Aerosol layers, clouds, spots and the colours of Uranus and Neptune
Authors: Irwin Patrick , Dobinson Jack , Teanby Nicholas , Fletcher Leigh , Roman Michael , Simon Amy , Wong Michael , Orton Glenn , Toledo Daniel , Perez-Hoyos Santiago
Published: March 2024

In the last twenty years, spectroscopic imaging observations of Uranus and Neptune, the solar system’s ‘Ice Giants’, have revolutionised our understanding of the atmospheres of these cold, distant worlds. In spectroscopic imaging observations, each pixel in the resolved image of the planet contains a continuous spectrum, which can be used to probe gaseous abundances as well as the precise vertical distribution of scattering particles, which is something that filter imaging alone cannot achieve. For example, observations made near 800 nm with the STIS instrument on Hubble Space Telescope have determined that the abundance of methane varies strongly with latitude in these atmospheres, with roughly a factor of two depletion at polar latitudes compared to the equator. At longer wavelengths (~1.5 μm), observations made with the NIFS instrument at Gemini-North have revealed not only the presence of hydrogen sulphide, but also hints of its latitudinal variation.In this presentation we will highlight recent advances made with spectral imaging observations, using HST/STIS and also the MUSE instrument at the ESO Very large Telescope. On both planets the weight of evidence supports an atmospheric aerosol structure comprised of: 1) a deep layer of aerosol/H2S ice near the H2S condensation level at p > 5 bar;  2) a middle layer of aerosol/CH4-ice near the CH4 condensation level at p = 1 – 2 bar; and 3) an upper layer of photochemical haze. Variation in opacity and scattering properties of the middle aerosol layer near 1 – 2 bar are found to be responsible for the bulk difference in colour between Uranus and Neptune, and also for the seasonal cycle of Uranus’s colour. Meanwhile, variations in the reflectivity of the particles in the deep layer are found to be responsible for the dark spots seen in Neptune’s (and occasionally Uranus’s) atmosphere and in Neptune’s dark South Polar Wave near 60°S. In addition, a new class of deep bright cloud has been identified in Neptune’s atmosphere using VLT/MUSE, which hints at deep, vigorous convection.While it is important that HST/STIS and VLT/MUSE monitoring observations will continue, the James Webb Space Telescope has recently observed both Uranus and Neptune using the NIRSpec instrument in Integral Field Unit (IFU) mode (i.e., spectroscopic imaging) at even longer wavelengths from 1.6 to 5.2 μm. These observations will advance even further our understanding of these distant worlds, although we note that extending such observations to NIRSpec’s shorter wavelengths would allow JWST to also recover the latitudinal variation of hydrogen sulphide, a key tracer of deep convection.
Dermal bioaccessibility and health risk of potential toxic elements (PTE) in mining environments (San Quintín Pb-Zn-Ag Mining Group and San Antonio Sb-W Mine, Spain).
Authors: Ferri-Moreno Inmaculada , Martínez-del-Pozo Iker , Huertas Pablo , Esbrí José María , García-Lorenzo Luz , Higueras Pablo
Published: March 2024

Metallic mining was very relevant in Spain last century. Because of this, currently there are numerous abandoned mines that suppose an environmental and human health risk. San Quintín Mining District (Ciudad Real) and San Antonio (Badajoz) are two examples of ancient metallic mining in Spain. In both mines there are a large volume of wastes like tailings, dumps or contaminated soils enriched with Zn, Pb, As, Cd, and Sb. San Quintín is currently being part of a project restoration that involves movement of tons of contaminated material. Twelve soil samples were collected from San Quintín Mining District and twenty-one were collected from San Antonio mine.In these samples, the total trace element content was determined by X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), in addition to other physicochemical parameters, such as pH and EC. To assess the human health risk, dermal bioaccessibility tests were carried out mixing wastes samples and two different synthetic sweats (EN1811 and NIHS96-10) during 2 and 8 hours.The obtained results suggested that extraction interval percentages were: 0.01-57.29% for Cd, 0.001-55.768% for Pb, 0.001-93.180% for Zn, for San Quintín samples, 0.002-2.825% for Sb, for San Antonio samples and 0.001-0.707% for As, for all samples considered. The highest values correspond to extraction carried out with the lowest pH synthetic sweat (NIHS96-10) and specially for Zn, Cd and Pb. Metalloids appear to be less available or bioaccessible than heavy metals. Direct dermal contact between mine wastes and human skin, could mean the absorption of elements extremely harmful to health, thus restoration workers and anyone who can have contact with wastes, can be in danger if there are no security measures.Contact with these mining residues poses a risk to human health, highlighting the necessity to assess not only dermal exposure but also inhalation and oral pathways for a comprehensive human risk assessment.
Long-term timeseries in the GEMStat Water Quality Database - temporal trends and potential for model forcing with a focus on the UN SDG 6.3.2 indicator.
Authors: Heinle Moritz , Saile Philipp , Lisniak Dmytro
Published: March 2024

The GEMStat database, under the auspices of the UN Environment Programme and hosted by the GEMS/Water Data Centre at the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change, currently holds over 29 million measurements for over 600 water quality parameters, from more than 18,000 stations in 91 countries and covering the time period from 1906 to 2023. The data is available via an online platform. Furthermore, the measurements under the GEMStat „open“ data policy are currently being compiled to be made available in an online repository.The corresponding publication focusses on long-term timeseries, with continuous data records of at least 10 years, for the five parameter groups that can be included in submissions for the UN SDG 6.3.2 Level 1 indicator (acidification, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and salinity). The incentive behind this course of action is to support the use of modelling approaches for future data submission on the SDG 6.3.2 indicator.Overall, 1,082 timeseries stations were identified providing data for at least one parameter group, with 2,904,185 data points in total. At most stations (405), data for four of the selected parameter groups are available, followed by stations where data on five parameter groups are available (285 stations). River stations make up the largest part of the stations (978 or 90%). In addition, lake stations (84 or 7.8%), groundwater stations (17 or 1.6%) and reservoir stations (3 or 0.3%) contribute to the total number of stations.Timeseries length ranges from 10 to 114 years with a mean duration between 23.7 (Oxygen) and 30.5 years (Salinity).The number of measurements per year ranges from 3 to 233, with a mean frequency between 9.4 (oxygen) and 14.1 (pH), indicating an overall tendency of monthly measurements for many timeseries.Timeseries were also analyzed for significant trends in the data using prewhitened nonlinear trend analysis.In total, 4,050 of 7,019 timeseries (57.70%) showed significant trends (p
The Galileo for Science project: Non-Conservative Forces modeling for the Galileo FOC satellites
Authors: Lefevre Carlo , Visco Massimo , Lucchesi David , Sapio Feliciana , Peron Roberto , Cinelli Marco , Di Marco Alessandro , Fiorenza Emiliano , Loffredo Pasqualino , Lucente Marco , Magnafico Carmelo , Santoli Francesco , Vespe Francesco
Published: March 2024

The Galileo for Science Project (G4S_2.0) is funded by the Italian Space Agency and has several goals in the field of Fundamental Physics to be achieved by exploiting the satellites of the Galileo-FOC Constellation. In this regard, a key point is to obtain a suitable satellite orbit solution by performing an accurate Precise Orbit Determination (POD). To this purpose modeling in a reliable way the complex effects of the Non-Conservative Forces, i.e. of Non-Gravitational Perturbations (NGPs), is essential. The activities undertaken in the construction of a Box-Wing model and of a Finite Element Model of the satellite will be presented with the preliminary results obtained by including these models into the POD of the Galileo satellites. In particular, using the orbital element residuals obtained from a POD we can test our new models and the improvements in POD quality.
Anthropogenic Climate Change Attribution to a Giant Hail Event in August 2022 in Northeastern Spain 
Authors: Morata Ana , Montoro-Mendoza Ana , Calvo-Sancho Carlos , Gónzalez-Alemán Juan Jesús , Díaz-Fernández Javier , Bolgiani Pedro , Farrán José Ignacio , Santos Daniel , Martín María Luisa
Published: March 2024

On August 30th, 2022, a giant hailstorm occurred in northeastern Spain with hailstones reaching up to 12 cm, a record for Spain. In addition to the damage to roofs, cars, and croplands, the giant hailstorm caused 67 injuries and even one fatality. During the event, the weather pattern over Europe was a quasi-omega block in the Western Mediterranean with a narrow cut-off low over the center-eastern of France, inducing the development of the very short-wave trough in extreme northeastern Spain. Such setup, the typical summer thermal-low and very high Mediterranean SSTs, promoted vorticity advection and a high amount of moisture in low-levels. In this study, that constitutes the first climate change attribution to giant hailstorms, we study the climate change effect in the hail-favorable environment, in which hailstone growth was promoted, by applying the pseudo-global warming approach. Three climatic models from CMIP6 (EC-EARTH3, CESM-WACCM and MRI-ESM2-0) are used to obtain the climate change increment (Present-Preindustrial), needed in the pseudo-global warming approach. The increment is computed for all the prognostic variables and added to ERA5 to be used as initial/boundary conditions. The WRF-ARW model is used to simulate the event. A control simulation is performed using the ERA5 initial conditions without perturbation to compare it with the preindustrial-like climate. The results indicate that the environment in a preindustrial-like climate would have been less conducive to convective hazards with a significant reduction in the studied thermodynamic parameters. The hailstorm event considering the preindustrial-like climate would have been less severe than the real event in the present climate. The applied methodology opens up the possibility of a new way to attribute such events to the anthropogenic climate change.
A case study on the use of AI methods towards bridging the gap between design and operation of ground-source heat pump systems.
Authors: Makasis Nikolas , Kreitmair Monika , Zhuang Chaoqun , Menberg Kathrin , Choi Wonjun , Choudhary Ruchi
Published: March 2024

Shallow geothermal energy technologies have seen significant development over past decades and the number of ground-source heat pump (GSHP) installations has seen an increasing trend worldwide. Importantly, a plethora of scientific research has explored performance, mechanical stability, optimisation, and innovative approaches to utilise the ground as a source or sink of thermal energy. Despite this, however, there is often a gap between the designed performance of a system and the realised in-situ operation. Such a gap can result from a lack of information, such as imprecise ground profile/thermal properties, changes in the environment and conditions, such as in building usage due to changes in behavioural patterns, as well as the fact that GSHP design is typically undertaken in isolation of other system elements, e.g., by using only estimates of the heating and cooling demands.Real-time monitoring and appropriate smart control methods can help bridge this discrepancy, alleviating potential issues. Heat pumps and building management systems typically record useful data, such as the temperature of the fluid in the ground loop, constituting valuable sources of information on the current system performance at a given moment. However, using these data to predict how the system will perform in the future, and thus inform system operation, is not trivial. A field that can help tackle this problem is data science, which uses data-driven artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to provide useful insights from data and has had tremendous advancements in recent years. It is therefore expected that statistical AI approaches can be used with data from GSHP systems meaningfully, to inform the efficient operation of the system.This research focuses on a case study in Cambridge, UK, where a GSHP system, with capacity of 320 kW and a ground loop with 24 160-m deep boreholes, provides heating and cooling for a recently constructed university building. The data recorded from this system is utilised together with a combination of AI methods, such as gradient boosting and deep neural network predictive models, and finite element modelling to assess how well the ground loop performance can be predicted in real time and the implications this can have on the performance of the system. Thus, this work demonstrates how GSHP data can be leveraged to make useful decisions based on updated information and thereby ensure that a GSHP system performs efficiently throughout its lifetime.
Assessment of Jason-3 and Sentinel-6 MF radiation pressure model
Authors: Saquet Eléonore , Cherrier Marie , Couhert Alexandre , Mercier Flavien
Published: March 2024

Since the launch of Seasat (1978), the first satellite to study ocean topography, our knowledge of the rise of mean sea level has evolved. Since then, 18 additional satellites were launched, with more and more satellite missions (up to 10 satellites are now simultaneously flying) dedicated to the measurement of the global and regional sea-surface height, carrying on board state of the art precision orbit determination tracking techniques and instruments. Jason-3 (2016) and Sentinel-6 MF (2020) are part and parcel of these ocean topography missions. The two reference satellites were operated in tandem (with Sentinel-6 MF flying 30 seconds behind its predecessor) between mid-December 2020 to April 2022 for calibration purposes. The main difference between these two satellites has to do with their respective platform design. Indeed, Sentinel-6 MF solar panels are fixed on the satellite and has an almost fixed attitude, unlike Jason-3 which has some yaw steering periods. In this study, we focus on the solar radiation pressure modeling errors of both Sentinel-6 MF and Jason-3 during their tandem phase (4.5 beta cycles). The idea is to analyze the estimated empirical accelerations of these two satellites as a function of their beta angle. The Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) depends only on two parameters: the orbital angle with respect to the sub-solar point and the beta angle. We will then propose updates of the SRP models. The effect of the terrestrial radiative perturbations will also be assessed.
Reconciling bilateral connections of atmospheric moisture within the hydrological cycle
Authors: Fahrländer Simon Felix , De Petrillo Elena , Tuninetti Marta , Andersen Lauren Seaby , Monaco Luca , Ridolfi Luca , Laio Francesco
Published: March 2024

To improve our understanding of how we are connected globally through water flows, at scales relevant to policy and management, is imperative for global water stewardship. It is therefore crucial to describe the fate of moisture in the atmosphere by evaluating the global moisture inter-dependencies at the country level.  However, few studies have addressed global moisture inter-dependencies at the country level.In this study, we present a novel dataset of country-to-country atmospheric moisture flows, including both terrestrial and oceanic sources, and propose an approach to assure the closure of the global and country-scale atmospheric water balance. By adopting an analogy with international trade analysis, we employ an iterative proportional fitting method to adjust the bilateral exchanges of water vapor from sources to sinks, ensuring that the total imported (exported) atmospheric moisture equals the total precipitation (evaporation) derived from ERA5 on an annual basis. Relevant analysis to understand water inter-dependencies between countries and regions can be performed from the bilateral matrix we present. We assess the terrestrial moisture recycling ratio (TMR) as the portion of countries’ or regions’ precipitation originating from terrestrial evaporation. Furthermore, we estimate a global TMR of 36%, while we find the highest TMRs are those of Eastern Asia (64%), Eastern Europe (68%), and Central Africa (79%). The bilateral structure of the dataset allows also to shed light on key links (and relative weights) dominating the exchange of atmospheric moisture between two countries or regions, thus supporting inter-countries water governance. For example, Central Africa receives 80% of its terrestrially sourced precipitation from Eastern Africa, while Eastern Europe evenly gets moisture from four distinct links, Eastern Asia, Central Asia, Southern Europe and Northern Europe, covering 70% of its import from terrestrial sources. Future studies can leverage the dataset to explore nations’ links in the global atmospheric moisture flow network and assess their role in the global hydrological cycle.
Soil carbon inputs from grain legumes based cropping systems with cover crops
Authors: Liang Zhi , Martins Juliana , Enggrob Kirsten , Rasmussen Jim
Published: March 2024

A greener agricultural sector calls for a diet shift from meat to plant protein sources. The inclusion of grain legumes (GLs) such as faba bean (Vicia faba) and pea (Pisum sativum), and further cover crops in crop rotations likely helps the transition towards more sustainable food systems, for example in Denmark where only 3.6% of the organic agricultural land cultivated with GLs. Thus, most GLs in Denmark for human consumption are imported dry grains with only a small local production of green peas. Yet, early harvested GLs may offer environmental and economic benefits by facilitating the establishment and growth of cover crops, which can improve carbon (C) inputs to soils and also opening new possibilities for biorefining of green residues. However, there is no empirical data of C inputs, including phyllo- and rhizodeposition (ClvPR), in GLs-based cropping systems under Danish conditions. Here we performed a field experiment with multiple pulse labelling of 13CO2, to quantify C yields of GLs based cropping systems (faba bean, pea, and the mixture of pea and spring barley) to 1-m soil depth, in comparison to a cereal (spring barley, Hordeum vulgare) based system. The multiple pulse labellingwas conducted with both main crops (faba bean, pea, spring barley, and the mixture) as well as the subsequent cover crops, to obtain an estimation of total C yields over a full growing season. The results showed that the total C yields of the main crops was similar among different GLs (4.4, 4.6, and 4.9 Mg C ha-1 for faba bean, pea, and the mixture, respectively), which was slightly lower than that of spring barley (6.5 Mg C ha-1). The same pattern was seen for ClvPR of main crops. Further, the preceding main crops had little effect on the total C yield of subsequent cover crops (2.9, 2.4, 2.3, 2.5 Mg C ha-1 for cover crops following fababean, pea, the mixture, and spring barley, respectively). Thus, no complementary effect of mixed pea and spring barley was found to increase the C yield. However, GLs based cropping systems received no nitrogen (N) fertilizer as opposed to spring barley, which was fertilized with 100 N ha-1 (in slurry). This reduces the reliance on external inputs, and might minimize negative environmental impacts including greenhouse gases emissions, which needs future studies.
ITRF2020 usage and maintenance in a global dense network for commercial applications
Authors: Matonti Francesco , Miller Adam , Wnuk Joanna
Published: March 2024

Absolute positioning is a requirement for public and private GNSS networks with a global coverage due to integrations of positioning solutions into mid-tier and mass-market solutions, such as autonomous driving systems, together with an ever-increasing demand for global positioning applications. Global correction service providers need to support and deliver the service in a global reference frame whilst still maintaining the local (regional) reference frames. 

A quality check of the RINEX data from the HxGN SmartNet GNSS Network is performed before a computation of a daily solution, which is calculated using precise orbits and following the guidelines of the EPN Analysis Centres and Bernese GNSS Software (Dach, 2015). 

The non-linear station movements are checked to assess the stability of each station of the network. In case of a position change, a coordinate update is evaluated and applied. A periodic computation in ITRF2020 is also performed to update the coordinates in the GNSS network. A regular update and maintenance of the coordinates of the stations in the network is crucial to maintain the high precision of the correction service. The HxGN SmartNet GNSS network consists of more than 5300 GNSS reference stations and is used to provide RTK corrections at global and regional scale. Additionally, it provides support for PPP and SSR based solutions. The ITRF2020 coordinates of some sites are presented and discussed to evaluate examples of non-linear motion and what solution has been adopted to keep a homogeneous set of coordinates, whilst also considering the increasing impact of ionospheric activity. 

KEYWORDS: GNSS reference station network, Bernese GNSS 5.2, Leica CrossCheck, Leica GNSS Spider, HxGN SmartNet 

References: Dach, R., S. Lutz, P. Walser, P. Fridez (Eds); 2015: Bernese GNSS Software Version 5.4. User manual, Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Bern Open Publishing. DOI: 10.7892/boris.72297; ISBN: 978-3-906813-05-9. 

 
Laboratory studies and modelling of ferric chloride as the cause of the anomalous UV absorption in the Venusian atmosphere
Authors: Egan Joanna , Feng Wuhu , James Alexander , Manners James , Marsh Daniel R. , Plane John M. C.
Published: March 2024

The cause of the inhomogeneous near-ultraviolet absorption observed in the upper clouds of Venus remains a key question in Venusian research. One possible candidate in the literature is ferric chloride. The absorption spectrum of ferric chloride currently in use by models uses ethyl acetate as a solvent and does not reproduce the absorption features observed on Venus. The study of the optical properties and chemistry of ferric chloride in the sulphuric acid cloud droplets is required to draw valid conclusions regarding its suitability as a candidate for the near-UV absorption.In this study, we measure the absorption spectrum of ferric chloride in sulphuric acid from 200 – 600 nm at a range of temperatures and measure the rate of conversion of the ferric chloride ions into ferric sulphate ions. We then use the resulting ferric chloride absorption coefficients in a 1D radiative transfer model and estimate the required concentration of ferric chloride in the clouds to be 0.6 – 0.9 wt% in the mode 1 (~0.3 µm radius) cloud droplets to match observations. We also predict the atmospheric concentrations of ferric chloride formed from the reaction of iron ablating from cosmic dust entering Venus’ atmosphere around 120 km with hydrogen chloride emitted by volcanic activity, and estimate the accumulation timescale of ferric chloride to produce the required concentrations in the clouds.
Unravelling Deep Aquifer Communication in the Coastal Sahel Region: Insights from Geophysical Methods in the Tunisian Oriental Atlas
Authors: Charrek Khaoula , Walraevens Kristine , Hermans Thomas , Gabtni Hakim
Published: March 2024

Understanding the communication pathways of deep aquifers in the Tunisian Oriental Atlas along the southern Mediterranean margin, particularly within the coastal Sahel region, is of utmost importance for designing effective well drilling strategies and reducing risks for groundwater drilling.In this study, we employed Gravity, Time Domain Electromagnetic (TDEM) methods and the variation of the piezometric level to investigate the structural setting and aquifer characteristic. Gravity and TDEM are two geophysical methods that provide insights into the density variation of underground bodies and reveal resistivity distribution at different depths, respectively. By integrating these methods, we aim to unravel the intricate hydrogeological system in the study area.Our findings highlight a major fault line with a significant water level discrepancy, which is crucial information for groundwater exploration and exploitation. This study provides insights into the hydrogeological dynamics of the coastal Sahel region, facilitating the design of new drilling strategies. The gained knowledge supports informed decision-making in selecting optimal target production zones, ultimately minimizing drilling risks and promoting sustainable groundwater management in the Tunisian Oriental Atlas.