bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Observation of the Earth’s ionosphere variability by IONO/INSPIRE-SAT 7 experiment
Authors: Galopeau Patrick , Meftah Mustapha , Keckhut Philippe , Grossel Kévin , Boust Fabrice , Boudjada Mohammed , Eichelberger Hans
Published: February 2023

INSPIRE-SAT 7 is a French 2U CubeSat very similar to the satellite UVSQ-SAT which was launched on 24 January 2021. The main purpose of INSPIRE-SAT 7 is the measurement of the Earth’s radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere. Its total mass is ~3.0 kg and its averaged power consumption 3 W. It will orbit at a maximum altitude of 600 km on a Sun-synchronous orbit with a descending node at ~0930 LT. The IONO experiment embarked on INSPIRE-SAT 7 is dedicated to the sounding of the Earth’s ionosphere which results from the ionization of the upper atmosphere due to UV radiations and X-rays coming from the Sun. The electron density in the ionosphere depends on the local time, the season, and the solar activity. The propagation of the radio waves is affected by the electron density and also by refraction and reflection phenomena. We consider the following goals for the IONO instrument: improving ionosphere models, in particular the IRI (International Reference Ionosphere); study of the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere and the factors which can disturb it (e.g., thunderstorms); analysis of temporal and spatial variability at different scales; study of the coupling between ionosphere and magnetosphere, and the electrical circuit between ionosphere and lithosphere. The observations collected by IONO will be compared to those produced by a VLF-LF antenna network designed for investigating the perturbations of the ionosphere, and the wave propagation, by seismic phenomena.
Transmission of turbulent structures and energetic particles dynamics in the interaction between collisionless shocks and plasma turbulence.
Authors: Trotta Domenico , Pecora Francesco , Settino Adriana , Perrone Denise , Burgess David , Lario David , Hietala Heli , Horbury Timothy , Vainio Rami , Preisser Luis , Matthaeus William , Pezzi Oreste , Servidio Sergio , Valentini Francesco
Published: February 2023

The interaction between shock and turbulence is an important pathway to energy conversion and particle acceleration in a large variety of astrophysical systems. Novel insights of such an interaction will be presented.Using a combination of in-situ observations (using the Wind spacecraft and Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, MMS) and self-consistent kinetic simulations, the transmission of turbulent structures across the Earth’s bow shock will be discussed first. Then, the role of turbulence strength for efficient particle diffusion in phase space will be discussed using novel kinetic simulations and will be put in the context of observations of very-long lasting field aligned beams in interplanetary space. Finally, novel three-dimensional simulations of the shock turbulence interplay will be presented, with a focus on the shock front behaviour and irregular proton heating in presence of pre-existing fluctuations. In this scenario, the importance of novel multi-spacecraft missions will be discussed.
Midday Boundary-Layer collapse in the Altiplano Desert: the combined effect of Advection and Subsidence
Authors: Aguirre Correa Francisca , Vilà-Guerau de Arellano Jordi , Ronda Reinder , Lobos Roco Felipe , Suárez Francisco , Hartogensis Oscar
Published: February 2023

Observations in the Altiplano region of the Atacama Desert show that the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) suddenly collapses at noon. This behavior departs from the typical convective ABL normally reproduced by weather and climate models. The collapse occurs simultaneously to the entrance of a thermally driven and topographically enhanced regional flow, characterized by strong winds that produce mechanical turbulence and advect cold air. To identify the main drivers that cause such ABL collapse and the impact on the potential temperature diurnal variability, we use a land-atmosphere coupled model, observations from a comprehensive field campaign, and the Weather and Research Forecasting regional model. We also address the question of how local (surface-atmosphere interactions) and non-local processes (entrainment/ advection/ subsidence) contribute to the surface and ABL dynamics in the region.A suite of numerical experiments were performed to disentangle the boundary-layer collapse by increasing the level of complexity: from only considering local land-atmosphere interactions to systematically including the non-local contributions of mass advection, cold air advection, and subsidence. Our results show that during the morning the local surface-atmosphere interactions are the dominant contributions and lead to increase the heat exchange that, together with the entrainment processes, warm the atmosphere and allow the ABL to grow. However, this regime abruptly changes at noon and turns into a boundary-layer regime mainly controlled by non-local phenomena. Two interconnected processes lead to a strong decrease of the ABL height (h ): the advection of a shallower boundary layer (~ -250 m h−1 at noon) that causes an immediate decrease of h at midday, and the arrival of a cold air mass which reaches a strength of ~ -3 K h−1 at 1400 LT, strong enough to stop the ABL growth by counteracting the large turbulence levels driven by the high surface fluxes. These two external forcings become dominant over entrainment and surface processes that warm the atmosphere and increase h. As a consequence, the ABL growth is capped during the afternoon. Finally, a wind divergence of ~ 8 x 10−5 s−1 contributes to the collapse by causing subsidence motions that provide additional downward push over the ABL from 1200 LT onward. Without these non-local processes, the ABL would be continuously growing to 3.5 km by the end of the afternoon. Our findings show the relevance of treating large and small processes as a continuum to be able to understand the ABL dynamics and reproduce them adequately in weather and climate models.
Eddy diffusivity and viscosity due to offshore wind turbine monopile foundations in tidal currents
Authors: Suzuki Nobuhiro , Carpenter Jeffrey
Published: February 2023

This study analyzes the nonhydrostatic wake turbulence induced by offshore wind turbine foundations and provides its parameterization needed by regional ocean models. Currently, offshore wind farms are rapidly expanding worldwide. They change critical marine properties such as density stratification and substance dispersion. Therefore, we urgently need to predict their environmental impacts to avoid catastrophic side-effects and to optimize their benefits. Such prediction can be made by regional ocean simulation if the parameterization of the wake turbulence is provided, typically in the form of eddy diffusivity and eddy viscosity. However, accurate values of these parameters are currently unknown. Therefore, we aim to determine state-of-the-art values of these parameters using large-eddy simulation of nonhydrostatic turbulence induced by turbine foundations. In particular, here, we parameterize the turbulence induced by monopiles in tidal currents.
Biometeorological risk assessment due to thermal extremes in Suceava - NE Romania
Authors: Mihăilă Dumitru , Bistricean Petruț-Ionel , Prisacariu Alin , Mihăilă Emilian-Viorel , Țiculeanu (Cirlică) Mihaela , Silișteanu Sînziana Călina
Published: February 2023

Introduction. The human body experiences stress as a result of large fluctuations and extreme values in air temperature over short periods of time. The severity, frequency, and duration of these thermal changes can lead to various negative health outcomes, as the effects of heat stress are well-documented. The relationships between air temperature and the human body are complex and multifaceted. The focus in this study falls on i) the temporal positioning of high/low temperature weather episodes, ii) determining their magnitude and frequency, and iii) identifying areas where the population may be more vulnerable to the effects of these events.Data and methods. For the study we used hourly air temperature data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021 from a network of 31 stations located in Suceava municipality in NE Romania. We used 16 temperature indices (absolute temperature lows, number of hours ≤-20°C, ≤15°C, ≤10°C, multiannual temperature average, number of hours with temperature ≥20°C at night, number of hours with temperature ≥30°C, ≥35°C, absolute maximum temperatures, diurnal amplitudes with lowest values, mean diurnal amplitudes, diurnal amplitudes with highest values, number of frosty nights, number of tropical days, number with significant cooling and warming periods) calculated at annual and seasonal levels.Results. The thermal context of the three years analysed indicates an average temperature of 10.3°C for Suceava, with an average temperature of 0.4°C in winter, 20.7°C in summer, 9.3°C in spring and 10.7°C in autumn. The absolute low fell to -22.8°C and the high rose to 41.9°C. The three years analysed were warmer (2.5°C warmer than the multi-year average at the Suceava Meteorological Station). Of the 26304 hourly temperature values, for each point analysed, the duration of freezing time (T≤-10°C) was only 0.56%. In three years we have recorded only one significant cooling interval lasting 3 days (6-8 January 2020). The duration of cumulative tropical weather at night and during the day (T≥30°C) rose to 3.2%. There were 16 periods of significant warming (with an average duration of 6.4 days, a minimum of 3 days and a maximum of 12 days). The diurnal temperature amplitudes at most stations have increased to a range of 20-30°C, which can cause significant stress on the human body.Conclusions. The synthetic thermal indexes shown in the current context of regional warming indicate an increase in the biometeorological risk due to episodes of tropical weather, with which the inhabitants of Suceava are not accustomed. Episodes of freezing weather were unexpectedly rare, short and not very intense. The known thermal pattern of extremes in Suceava is reconfiguring.
Geometry and stress interaction of a complex lithospheric-scale thrust system as unveiled by background seismicity and moderate seismic sequences - the Marche-Adriatic case (eastern Central Italy)
Authors: De Nardis Rita , Pietrolungo Federico , Pandolfi Claudia , Bello Simone , Talone Donato , Lavecchia Giusy
Published: February 2023

A recent paper showed the evidence of two well-distinct low-angle and SW-dipping individual reverse shear zones of the Italian Outer Thrust System in Central Italy (de Nardis et al., 2022). One, referred to as Thrust 1 (T1),  corresponds to the down-dip prosecution of the Adriatic Basal Thrust with its major splay; the other, referred to as Thrust 2 (T2), corresponds to a hidden independent structure, illuminated at a depth between 25 and 60 km, for an along-strike extent of ~150 km. Combining geological information with high-quality hypocentral locations and focal mechanisms, a detailed 3D geometric and kinematic fault model of the compressional system, active at upper crust to upper mantle depths, is built. In addition, evidence of coexisting deformation volumes undergoing a co-axial stress field at different lithospheric depths is reported.November 9, 2022, seismic sequence principally activated T1  at upper crustal depth with pure compressional kinematics. Two significant events (Mw 5.5 and 5.2) enucleated within 1 minute, at depths of about 5 km and 7.5 km, respectively, and ~8 km away in map view. The sequence also released a cluster of microseismic events at mid-crust depths along the up-dip prolongation of the T2, thus opening the questions on the possible stress interaction during an ongoing seismic sequence.In this paper, we further constrain and detail the T1 upper-crust geometry and investigate the likelihood of static stress interactions between T1 and T2. Considering that in historical and instrumental times, T1 has been responsible for earthquakes with Mw 6-6.5  at upper- and lower-crust depths, we create possible Coulomb stress transfer scenarios using the Coulomb code 3.4 (Lin and Stein, 2004; Toda et al., 2005).We build three seismic sources (C1, C2, C3) assuming an Mw 6.2 thrust event enucleated on T1 at variable depths (8 km, 15 km, 22 km). The section-view and map-view distribution of the positive lobes of the modeled Coulomb stress scenarios show that a hypothetical T1 earthquake of the above magnitude may well determine, although marginally, stress increase along the underlying T2 segment.   
PASSION: a workflow for the estimation of rooftop photovoltaic potential from satellite imagery.
Authors: Pueblas Rodrigo , Weinand Jann , Kuckertz Patrick , Stolten Detlef
Published: February 2023

Photovoltaic (PV) and wind are currently the highest growing renewable energies according to the annual World Energy Outlook 2022. However, in the case of solar PV in Europe, this growth is mainly driven by utility-scale installations. Distributed residential generation has many benefits, such as relieving the electrical grid and an increase of self-sufficiency. One challenge of this topic is to accurately estimate the rooftop PV potential of different regions, in order to best allocate economic resources and regulate accordingly. Multiple approaches have been proposed in the past, such as infering from proxy variables like population density, automatically analyzing residential 3D point clouds or automatically analyzing satellite images. The latter has gained popularity in the recent years given the increased availability of satellite imagery and the improvement of Computer Vision methods. However, in research, the analysis of satellite imagery is impeded by the lack of transparency, reproducibility, and standardization of methods. Studies are heterogeneous, target different types of potential with redundant efforts, and are mostly not open source or using private datasets for training. This makes it challenging for users of various backgrounds to find and use the existing approaches.For these reasons, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that describes and categorizes the tasks that need to be considered when estimating PV potential, thus creating a clear framework along which the contents of this research report can be classified. Addidionally the open source workflow PASSION is introduced, which integrates the assessment of geographical, technical and economic potentials of regions under consideration along with the calculation of surface areas, orientations and slopes of individual rooftop sections. It also includes the detection of obstacles and existing PV installations. It is based on a novel two-look approach, in which three independent models are deployed in parallel for the identification of rooftops, sections and superstructures. The three models show a mean Intersection Over Union (IoU) between classes of 0.847, 0.753 and 0.462 respectively, and more importantly show consistent results in non-selected real life samples.
Global climatology of cyclone clustering in present and future climates
Authors: Weijenborg Chris , Spengler Thomas , Priestley Matthew
Published: February 2023

Cyclone clustering, the swift succession of multiple extratropical cyclones in a geographically confined region during a short period of time, constitutes a large fraction of European weather extremes. The idea that several cyclones follow a similar track dates back to the centennial concept of cyclone families of Bjerknes and Solberg. To investigate the dynamical causes of cyclone clustering, it is necessary to diagnose the occurrence of cyclone clustering and to determine their characteristics. So far, most diagnostics focused either on local impact or on a statistical analysis of storm recurrence. While the first cannot be applied globally, the latter is difficult to relate to individual events. We therefore use a novel method to globally detect cyclone clustering that is closer to the original concept of Bjerknes and Solberg, where extratropical cyclones follow similar tracks within a given time period.Using this novel cyclone clustering diagnostic based on spatio-temporal distance between cyclone tracks, we analyse cyclone clustering globally in Era-Interim for the period 1979 until 2016 as well as for 10 CMIP6 models. We separate the cyclone clusters into two types: one representing the ‘classical’ bjerknes-type clusters, and one representing more stationary clusters. We find that cyclone clustering mainly occurs along the climatological storm tracks, with the bjerknes-type more common at the western side of the storm tracks, while the stationary-type of cyclone clusters occurs more downstream. In general, clustered cyclones are stronger than non-clustered cyclones. While CMIP6 models feature a slight bias towards an equatorward shift of the storm tracks, cyclone clustering in a future climate occurs more poleward. Furthermore, the average number of storms per cluster decreases in a future climate, though the mean intensity of the cyclones that are clustered increases slightly.
Are high sensitivity models compatible with the Last Glacial Maximum?
Authors: Sagoo Navjit , Mauritsen Thorsten
Published: February 2023

The wide range of Effective Climate Sensitivity (ECS) values in climate models are driven by inter-model spread in cloud feedbacks. The most recent generation of models (CMIP6) show an increase in both average ECS values as well as the appearance of very high ECS values (> 4.5 K) compared to the previous generation which has been attributed to an increase in the strength of total cloud feedbacks in CMIP6. Constraining ECS and in particular the high range of ECS values is paramount for reliable predictions of future climate change. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is an out-of-sample climate for modern models and thus provides a valuable evaluation test for these models. This work explores whether models with high ECS values are compatible with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate and whether we can use the LGM to constrain a plausible upper boundary of ECS. We create a single model ensemble with a wide range of ECS values by modifying cloud feedbacks in the MPI-ESM1.2 model. We simulate the LGM with this ensemble and compare it with four different paleo-reconstructions. Our results indicate models with an ECS > 4 K are incompatible with the existing LGM climate reconstructions: global surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies are too cold compared to reconstructions and ultimately become unstable due to sea ice dynamics in the model. Our study indicates that models with large total cloud feedbacks and high ECS values are not plausible during the LGM. This study highlights the value of using paleoclimates to benchmark models particularly in areas where existing validation techniques are not yet sufficient i.e. constraining cloud feedbacks.
Methodological improvements for deriving long-term time series of coastal sea level by GNSS-R
Authors: Seoane Lucia , Gravalon Théo , Ramillien Guillaume , Darrozes José
Published: February 2023

While sea level variations at coastal sites can be derived from Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) measurements in GNSS-R, the presence of noise, signal interruptions and unmodelled geophysical contributions still corrupt the quality of the estimates. We propose improvements in the treatment of raw SNR records for obtaining much precise sea level. We implement correction of the atmospheric delays, as well as filtering of loading displacements for producing sea level time series over several years. We also propose empirical corrections on a priori fitting parameters to absorb systematic effects from satellite elevation that spoil the sea level time series. Water height adjustment from periodogram of the windowed SNR signal requires parameters that have been fixed so far, e.g. the width of the analyzing window - or equivalently the number of SNR periods used in the adjustment. In particular, tuning of this latter critical parameter is made versus the receiving antenna height.

 
Disentangling the Characteristics and Drivers of Compound Drought and Hot Extremes
Authors: Agarwal Ankit
Published: February 2023

Compound drought and hot extremes (CDHE) are periods of prolonged dry and hot weather exhibiting adverse impacts on nature and humankind than their counterparts. Understanding compound extremes is in its infancy due to complex dynamical climate systems involving interactions and feedback with the different processes at different scales. Our detailed investigation of the last seven decades of CDHE during the Indian Summer Monsoon has shown alarming observations. Our results confirmed a threefold increase in CDHE frequency for the recent period (1977–2019) relative to the base period (1951–1976), exhibiting a strong spatial pattern. Further investigation revealed CDHE likelihood, and spatial diversity in the CDHE occurrence is a function of the strong negative association between precipitation and temperature and soil moisture-temperature coupling, respectively. Investigation into the temporal evolution of CDHE confirms the strengthening of the negative association between precipitation and temperature, indicating a higher number of CDHE in future.
Sea surface temperature evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition
Authors: Sliwinska Kasia K. , Hutchinson David K. , Varma Devika , Weitkamp Tirza , Sheldon Emma , Liebrand Diederik , Coxall Helen K. , de Boer Agatha M. , Schouten Stefan
Published: February 2023

When a permanent ice cap developed on Antarctica during the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT; ~34.44 to 33.65 million years ago (Ma)), Earth witnessed a transition from a greenhouse towards a glacially driven climate. Evidence of high-latitude cooling and increased latitudinal temperature gradients across the EOT has been found in both marine and terrestrial environments. However, the timing and magnitude of temperature change in the North Atlantic remains poorly constrained.Here, we used two independent organic geochemical palaeothermometers derived from (i) alkenones and (ii) Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraether (GDGT) lipids, to reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) evolution across the EOT from the southern Labrador Sea (Sites: ODP 647 and DSDP 112). In the Labrador Sea alkenones do not appear until the earliest Oligocene (both sites) while GDGT lipids (analysed in Site 647 only) provides a well-constrained temperature record across the EOT.  Our SST records provide the most detailed record for the northern North Atlantic through the 1 Myr leading up to the EOT onset, and reveals a distinctive cooling step of ~3 ºC (from 27 to 24 ºC), between 34.9 and 34.3 Ma, ~500 kyr prior to Antarctic glaciation. This cooling step, when compared visually to other SST records, is asynchronous across North and South Atlantic sites. This illustrates a considerable spatiotemporal variability in SST evolution in the northern sector of the North Atlantic and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. Overall, the cooling step fits within a phase of general SST cooling recorded across sites in the North Atlantic in the 5 Myr interval bracketing the EOT.We used a modelling study (GFDL CM2.1) to try and reconcile the observation of pre-EOT cooling with the hypothesis that Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) switched on or intensified on the lead up to the EOT, which would be expected to have warmed the North Atlantic region. Results suggest that a reduction in atmospheric CO2 from 800 to 400 ppm may be sufficient to counter warming from an AMOC start-up. In the model, the AMOC start-up is initiated during closure of the Arctic–Atlantic gateway.While the model simulations applied here are not yet in full equilibrium, and the experiments are idealized, the results, together with the proxy data, highlight the heterogeneity of basin-scale surface ocean responses to the EOT thermohaline changes, with sharp temperature contrasts expected across the northern North Atlantic as positions of the subtropical and subpolar gyre systems shift in response to climatic and oceanic adjustments.
Description Of A Framework And Associated Sensitivity Analysis For Recovery Of Rheological Models And Their Key Parameters Using Multi-Cycle Fault Slip Models
Authors: Köhne Tobias , Mallick Rishav , Simons Mark
Published: February 2023

Constraining the effective rheology of major faults is crucial to improve our understanding of the physics of plate boundary deformation. Laboratory studies have used analog experiments to propose rheological models based on viscoelasticity or friction that match laboratory-observed behavior under stress-controlled conditions. Such models have since been used to fit real-world observations of deformation near plate interfaces (both for co- and postseismic displacement timeseries), yielding a variety of estimates of key rheological parameters.However, confidently differentiating between models using purely observations of a single earthquake (coseismic and postseismic deformation) is difficult — especially in the presence of coarse spatiotemporal sampling, inherent observational noise, and the simplifications of our forward models. In this study, we present a framework built on numerical probabilistic simulations aimed at using displacement timeseries across multiple earthquake cycles in a subduction zone, which successfully distinguishes between endmember constitutive models and recovers key rheological properties. Using synthetic Global Navigation Satellite System network datasets, we furthermore investigate the sensitivity of (hyper-)parameters to the recovery of the true underlying rheological models, and present progress made towards using real 3D observations of a megathrust.
Polytope: Feature Extraction for Improved Access to Petabyte-Scale Datacubes
Authors: Leuridan Mathilde , Hawkes James , Quintino Tiago
Published: February 2023

ECMWF currently produces about 120 TiB of raw weather data from its real-time forecasts every day. With model improvements and higher resolution forecasting however, this raw data is expected to grow to over a petabyte per day over the next few years. Whilst these improvements will in theory help scientists better forecast weather events, distributing such vast amounts of data efficiently will prove to be increasingly difficult with the current data access mechanisms. 

To tackle this challenge, ECMWF is developing a novel feature extraction concept, named “Polytope”. By leveraging tools in the field of higher dimensional computational geometry, Polytope will be able to efficiently cut a wide range of intricate n-dimensional shapes (polytopes) from ECMWF’s high-dimension (6D/7D) weather datacubes. Polytope can be used to perform server-side feature extraction, providing significant data reductions before delivering the data to the user. This not only improves the efficiency of access to petabyte-scale datacubes, but also removes significant post-processing complexity from the user leading to an overall data usability improvement. Practical examples include a user requesting weather data over a 4-dimensional flight path, which crosses three spatial axes as well as a temporal axis. In this example, instead of providing data over the entire bounding box of the path, Polytope will only return the few precise bytes of interest to the user. 

This work is an important contribution to, and is funded by, the EU’s Destination Earth initiative. Within Destination Earth, Polytope will enable efficient access to petabyte-scale datacubes generated by very high-resolution digital twins. This presentation will introduce the Polytope concept and demonstrate its usage for different types of feature extraction. 
Evaluation of mass flux closures using EUREC4A observations
Authors: Vogel Raphaela , Mellado Juan Pedro
Published: February 2023

Determining the shallow-convective mass flux at cloud base is the principle closure needed in convective parameterizations. Closure methods are usually developed and tested based on large-eddy simulations of a limited number of idealized cases. Here we evaluate how well common closures reproduce the magnitude and variability of the cloud-base mass flux observed during the recent EUREC4A field campaign upstream Barbados. The true observed mass flux is estimated as a residual of the sub-cloud layer mass budget from the circular dropsonde arrays at the 200km scale. To assess the closures, we diagnose all parameters of the chosen closures from the same dropsonde data or from coincident turbulence and cloud measurements of a second aircraft. Preliminary results suggest that (i) both variability in the area fraction and vertical velocity scales should be accounted for to reproduce the observed mass flux variability, (ii) methods using the turbulence kinetic energy to approximate the vertical velocity scale outperform methods based on the subcloud convective velocity scale, and (iii) the closure formulations should be general enough to remain useful when applied to other data and regimes.
Characterisation of sandy beach through morphological indicators and long-term modelling
Authors: Paris Alexandre , Chauchat Julien , Barthélemy Éric , Bonamy Cyrille
Published: February 2023

Coasts are hosting most of the human population worldwide and hosts a large part of the economic activities. Among the various types of coastal environments, sandy beaches represent one third of the global shoreline of which a large proportion is eroding (Luijendijk et al., 2018). This phenomenon is accelerating under the effect of climate change and the understanding and mitigation of the shoreline erosion is a fundamental issue in coastal engineering.In this contribution we analyse survey data from two well-documented Atlantic beaches: Duck (North Carolina, USA), a microtidal East-exposed beach and Truc Vert (Aquitaine, France) a meso/macrotidal West-exposed beach. A statistical analysis of the waves data over 2 to 3 decades provides useful information to evaluate the various possible morphodynamic beach states following Masselink & Short (1993) classification. This classification is based on the Dean number and the relative tidal range. Using the measured bathymetries, it is possible to verify the Masselink and Short classification. For example, using Duck data, a morphological analysis is performed on the 18 available bathymetries from the year 2019. These data illustrate the up-state and down-state sequences between reflective (summer) and dissipative (winter) states. In particular, the variability of the beach morphology increases significantly during intermediate beach states.Applied to the two datasets, a modeling approach combining a one-line model, ShoreFor (Splinter et al., 2014), and 2D depth-averaged process-based model, XBeach (Roelvink et al., 2009), is envisaged. ShoreFor is run to predict shoreline and bar location (Splinter et al., 2018) and XBeach simulations are used on specific subsets of the entire computational window for intermediate 2D morphological state predictions.    Luijendijk, A., Hagenaars, G., Ranasinghe, R., Baart, F., Donchyts, G. and Aarninkhof, S. (2018), The State of the World’s Beaches, Scientific Reports, 8(6641).Masselink, G. and Short, A. (1993), The Effect of Tide Range on Beach Morphodynamics and Morphology: A Conceptual Beach Model, Journal of Coastal Research, 9(3), 785–800.Splinter, K.D., Turner, I.L., Davidson, M.A., Barnard, P., Castelle, B. and Oltman-Shay, J. (2014), A generalized equilibrium model for predicting daily to interannual shoreline response, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 119, 1936–1958.Splinter, K.D., Gonzalez, M.V.G., Oltman-Shay, J., Rutten, J., Holman, R. (2018), Observations and modelling of shoreline and multiple sandbar behaviour on a high-energy meso-tidal beach, Continental Shelf Research, 159, 33—45.Roelvink, D., Reniers, A., van Dongeren, A., van Thiel de Vries, J., McCall, R., and Lescinski, J. (2009), Modelling storm impacts on beaches, dunes and barrier islands, Coastal Engineering, 56(11–12), 1133–1152.
Complex geographical causes of different levels of air pollution changes caused by COVID-19 sanctions in Europe
Authors: Varga György , Csávics Adrienn , Gresina Fruzsina
Published: February 2023

Our globalised world, with its many acute natural and social problems, has now created all the conditions for pandemics. The COVID-19 pandemic is the first real manifestation of this in our modern history, affecting every geographical region, every social class and almost every single economic sector. The spread of the epidemic, which was accompanied by extremely severe social and economic devastation and damage, was sanctioned by reducing people's social activity and high mobility. The measures have also been accompanied, obviously, by a reduction in some of the environmental stresses resulting from anthropogenic activity.Our research investigates the relationship between satellite remote sensing air pollution data and sanctions related to the coronavirus epidemic, taking into account complex physical- and socio-geographical factors. Spatially and temporally differentiated COVID-19 sanctions and lockdowns (home office orders, curfews, service closures, shutdowns) have different atmospheric environmental impacts in different physical geographic regions (topography and circulation, vegetation cover, natural aerosol loads, etc.) and in areas with different socio-economic characteristics. Our aim was to identify the individual effects of the complex processes underlying the changes in atmospheric environment indicators that have not been observed before.In this paper, NO2 and atmospheric aerosol are presented in detail, with a clear distinction between atmospheric substances of purely anthropogenic origin and those typically interpreted as natural pollutants (e.g. Saharan dust). A comparative analysis of these, using data from 2019, 2020 and 2021, highlights the spatiotemporal characteristics of the period before, during and after COVID-19 sanctions. For this purpose, Sentinel-5p and MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth data were used. The different changes in the air environment in Western and Eastern European countries, and in particular in some industrial regions, are clearly visible in the series of maps presented.The research was supported by the project POST-COVID2021-29 of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Preliminary design of the repository for high-level radioactive waste in Germany
Authors: Gottron Dominik , Lohser Thomas , Bertrams Niklas , Gawletta Dennis , Fahrendorf Frederik , Klimke Stephen , Schlüter Florian , Werres Michael , Rühaak Wolfram
Published: February 2023

The Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE mbH) is responsible for the execution of the German site selection procedure for high-level radioactive waste. The aim is to identify a repository site that ensures the best possible safety for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste for at least one million years. Three potential host rocks are considered for disposal in Germany: rock salt, claystone and crystalline rock. The German site selection procedure consists of three consecutive phases with a continuously increasing level of detail. The first step of phase I served to determine sub-areas based on different geoscientific criteria. In this process 90 suitable areas were identified. The second step of phase I comprises representative preliminary safety assessments to further narrow down the sub-areas (see Figure 1).Figure 1: German Site Selection ProcedureFor these assessments, a preliminary concept and dimensioning of the deep geological repository is required, among other aspects. The primary input data for the preliminary design of the repository are the respective host rock properties, the inventory data of the high-level radioactive waste as well as a preliminary safety concept for the disposal system. Since there are only limited area-specific data available as no exploration is part of this early stage of the selection procedure, a two-stage method has been developed for the determination of the required area of the potential repository, consisting of a host rock specific and a site specific part. The objective of the first, host rock specific stage is to perform an analysis irrespective of the prevailing geological conditions at the considered locations. The aim is to obtain the areal extend of a potential repository as a function of the depth, the initial temperature in the host rock and mechanical properties of the host rock. Another important topic is the assessment of favorable depth ranges of the repository. Within the second stage, the function is used with available site-specific data to obtain the possible size of the repository at this specific site.This contribution will provide an overview of the first stage within the aforementioned methodology for the development of the preliminary design of the repository as part of the representative preliminary safety assessments. 
Studying the process of climate change using the continuous form of the Feddema climate classification
Authors: Szabó Amanda Imola , Breuer Hajnalka , Belda Michal , Ács Ferenc
Published: February 2023

An important field of application of climate classifications is the study of climate change. Feddema’s climate classification scheme, which is a simplified water-budget based Thornthwaite-type method set out to better define climate parameters to interpret climate change processes for both research and educational purposes. However, pre-defined classes can limit the analysis. For example, grid points with values of the variables required for climate classification close to the climate boundaries can switch to a value belonging to another climate type interval without significant change in the climate variables, and similarly, a significant change is not necessarily will change the category. Feddema's method is suitable not only for determining the direction and extent of expected shifts in the climate and seasonality type changes, but also through the shift of indices expressing annual and seasonal characteristics: annual heat and water availability, seasonal variability, and the seasonally changing variable.In this study, projected annual and seasonal changes of the Larger Carpathian Region (LCR)'s climate during the 21st century are analysed based on the Feddema-continuous approach. Observational data are taken from the CarpatClim which is the best open access dataset for the region. Projected changes are estimated using an RCA4-EC-EARTH simulation with EUR-11 resolution, following the RCP8.5 scenario from EURO-CORDEX.  According to the results, the Feddema-continuous method allows to show the magnitude and direction of changes of an area classified in a specific climate or seasonality type based on the Feddema-indices determined per grid point. Moreover, it is also presented how the newly occurred warm thermal-category developed according to the changes in the water-budget. The method also allows to determine the trajectory of changes in different climate characteristics during the 21st century.
LDPE and biodegradable plastics differentially affect plant-soil nitrogen partitioning and microbial uptake
Authors: Reay Michaela , Greenfield Lucy , Graf Martine , Lloyd Charlotte , Evershed Richard , Chadwick Dave , Jones Davey
Published: February 2023

Micro and macroplastics, produced from plastic mulch film and polytunnels, are contaminants of growing concern in agricultural settings. However, their impact on nitrogen (N) cycling and partitioning in plant-soil-microbial systems, critical to soil health and food security, is poorly understood. The differing impact of conventional plastics (e.g. low density polyethylene; LDPE) and emerging biodegradable plastics on microbially-mediated N transformations is also unclear, especially with accumulation over long timescales. In this mesocosm-scale study, spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was exposed to macro (1 x 1 cm) or microplastic (< 500 μm) produced from LDPE or biodegradable (polylactic acid/polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PLA/PBAT); 15%/85% w/w) plastic mulch at concentrations equivalent to 1 (0.02%), 10 (0.2%) and 20 (0.4%; LDPE only) years of plastic mulch film use. Mesocosms were fertilised with ammonium nitrate (40 kg N ha−1, 20 atom%15N), and partitioning of 15N-labelled fertiliser into plant biomass, soil and leachate yielded a partial mass balance. Soil-N partitioning was probed via diffusion of extractable ammonium and nitrate, and compound-specific 15N-stable isotope analyses of soil microbial protein. Barley chlorophyll content and growth were used to determined effects on plant health. Plant health parameters were not effected by increasing concentrations of micro or macroplastic, however, there were concentration-dependent decreases in plant 15N uptake. This was linked to increased leached nitrogen for biodegradable and LDPE micro- and macroplastic, due to changes in physical pore flow pathways. This was also observed for total soil 15N, while varying patterns in soil 15N partitioning between plastic type, size and concentrations revealed potential complexities of impacts of N cycling for macro and microplastics. Assimilation into soil microbial protein was higher for biodegradable plastics, which we associate with early-stage degradation. Microbial assimilation in the presence of LDPE was a function of abiotic impacts on leaching, with suppression of inorganic N transformations. While micro- and macroplastics altered soil N cycling, the limited impacts on plant health indicated the threshold for negative effects was not reached at agriculturally relevant concentrations during early-stage barley growth. However, changes in soil N cycling and available N will impact nitrogen use efficiency and soil organic matter dynamics. Thus, the differing impacts of conventional and biodegradable macro and microplastics, and effects of accumulation, must be considered in risk assessments for agricultural plastics. 
Prediction of even and odd sunspot cycles: implications for cycles 25 and 2
Authors: Asikainen Timo , Mantere Jani
Published: February 2023

Prediction of sunspots has been an everlasting interest in the space science community since the discovery of the sunspot cycle. The sunspot number is an indirect indicator of many different solar phenomena, e.g., total and spectral solar radiation, coronal mass ejections, solar flares and magnetic active regions. Its cyclic variation can even be used as a pacemaker to time different aspects of solar activity, solar wind and resulting geomagnetic variations. Therefore, there is considerable practical interest in predicting the evolution of future sunspot cycle(s). This is especially true in today’s technological society where space hazards pose a significant threat, e.g., to satellites, communications and electric grids on ground have been recognized. Another interest to predicting sunspots arises from the relatively recently recognized influences of variable solar radiation and solar wind activity on Earth’s climate system.There are a variety of methods developed for predicting sunspots ranging from statistical methods to intensive physical simulations. Some of the most successful, yet relatively simple, methods are based on finding precursors that serve as indicators for the strength of the coming solar cycle. These methods are often based on statistics of all past solar cycles. However, most of these methods do not typically take into account the 22-year Hale cycle of solar magnetism, which is well known in different solar and geomagnetic phenomena.Here we study the prediction of even and odd numbered sunspot cycles separately, thereby taking into account the Hale cyclicity of solar magnetism. We first show that the temporal evolution and shape of all sunspot cycles are extremely well described by a simple parameterized mathematical expression. We find that the parameters describing even sunspot cycles can be predicted quite accurately using the sunspot number 41 months prior to sunspot minimum as a precursor. The parameters of the odd cycles can be best predicted with geomagnetic maximum geomagnetic aa index close to fall equinox within a 3-year window preceding the sunspot minimum. Cross-validated hindcasts indicate that our method has a very good prediction accuracy. For the coming sunspot cycle 25 we predict an amplitude of 171 +/- 23 and the end of the cycle in September 2029 +/- 1.9 years. We are also able to make a rough prediction for cycle 26 based on the predicted cycle 25. While the uncertainty for the cycle amplitude is large we estimate that the cycle 26 will likely be stronger than cycle 25. These results suggest an increasing trend in solar activity for the next two decades.
Global ionospheric response to a periodic sequence of HSS/CIR events during the 2007-2008 solar minimum
Authors: Negrea Catalin , Munteanu Costel , Echim Marius
Published: February 2023

We describe the global ionospheric impact of high-speed solar wind streams/corotating interaction regions (HSS/CIR), using a series of ten such events identified between December 1st 2007 and April 29th 2008. In the frequency domain they are characterized by the main spectral peaks corresponding to 27, 13.5, 9 and 6.75 days. The spectra of solar wind magnetic field, speed and proton density, as well as those of the geomagnetic indices AE and SYM-H are solely dominated by these features. By contrast, the ionospheric NmF2 and to a lesser extent the hmF2 spectra have a much more complex structure, with secondary peaks adding to or replacing the main ones. We argue that this is evidence of the nonlinear nature of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, highlighted particularly in the NmF2 ionospheric response. Additionally, we show that hmF2 is more closely correlated than NmF2 to all parameters describing the solar wind and geomagnetic activity. Finally, the ionospheric response shows higher correlation with Bz than any other solar wind parameter, and higher with SYM-H than AE, indicating that for the low-frequency part of the spectrum, high-latitude Joule heating and particle precipitation play a secondary role to that of prompt penetration electric fields in dictating the ionospheric response to geomagnetic activity, in the case of this sequence of HSS/CIR events.Results are also included in the paper:Negrea et al. 2021 -  Global Ionospheric Response to a Periodic Sequence of HSS/CIR Events During the 2007–2008 Solar Minimum (https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA029071).
Identification and remediation-related monitoring of potential toxic elements (PTE) in the hyperaccumulator plant Brassica juncea with hyperspectral imaging.
Authors: Kästner Friederike , Küster Theres , Feilhauer Hannes , Sut-Lohmann Magdalena
Published: February 2023

Across Europe there are 2.5 million potentially contaminated sites due to natural and anthropogenic activities. In this regard, phytoremediation approaches are need as a cost-effective and ecosystem-friendly technique to rehabilitate soil compared to conventional methods. Hyperspectral imaging provides an ideal method to improve and monitor existing bioremediation methods, using hyperaccumulator plants. In our study, the hyperaccumulator plant Brassica juncea showed a high tolerance to the accumulation of Cu, Zn and Ni. Hyperspectral measurements were conducted with a HySpex VNIR-SWIR hyperspectral sensor (408-2500 nm) in-situ and in the laboratory. To monitor and optimize the process of accumulation with hyperspectral imaging, we calculated different vegetation indices, related to metal-induced plant stress, such as TCARI/OSAVI, Chlorophyll Vegetation Index (CVI), Red-Edge Stress Vegetation Index (RSVI), Normalized Pigments Chlorophyll Index (NPCI), Red-Edge Inflection Point (REIP) and Disease Water Stress Index (DWSI), using various pre-processing steps (raw, smoothed and brightness corrected data). In addition, the relation between the different indices and the measured heavy metal content in the samples were tested with a multivariate technique using Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR). Our results revealed, even with no pre-processed image data, changes in chlorophyll- and red-egde-related indices with increasing PTE concentration. With hyperspectral imaging we are already able to monitor differences of the PTE accumulation within the hyperaccumulator plant Brassica juncea.