bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Recent trends in precipitation extremes in the Western US
Authors: Cegar Nina , Blagojevic Dragan , Sekulic Aleksandar , Lukovic Jelena
Published: March 2024

Seasonality is the strongest characteristics of the Western US hydroclimate, a region experiencing a Mediterranean type climate. With the recent shifts in the climate seasonality, Western US recently experienced severe summer and autumn droughts and wildfires, followed by flash floods. In contrast to this,  core winter months exhibit precipitation increase over the last few decades. Previous studies  that analyzed extreme precipitation along the West coast found slight increase in heavy precipitation events over southern and central coastal parts of California, and Washington state, and decrease in northern California and central Oregon coast. Considering different spatial patterns of precipitation extremes in the Western US at the annual and seasonal scale, in our research, we address spatial and temporal changes in precipitation extremes between 1960-2022 on monthly level. We particularly focus on differences in spatial pattern of precipitation extremes and their trends between the Northern (Oregon and Washington) and the Southern parts (California) of the Western US region. Finally, we ask what are the large-scale atmospheric conditions underpinning changes in precipitation extremes over the Western US. Both, extreme wet and dry precipitation events can have a significant influence on water resources and agriculture. A more detailed study of these events is critical for efficiently managing an already limited water supply in this region.
TEMPO Aerosol Detection Product
Authors: Ciren Pubu , Kondragunta Shobha
Published: March 2024

With the launch of TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution) on April 07, 2023, the hourly observation of air pollutant from space over North America becomes reality.  TEMPO, a UV-visible spectrometer instrument, makes hourly measurements with a wavelength coverage from 290-490 + 540-740 nm and a spatial resolution of about 4 x 7 km. The major objective of TEMPO is to provide trace gas measurements, such as NO2, O3, H2CO, C2H2O2, SO2 etc., however, aerosols, as a compound of all the pollutants, is an important information regarding to air quality. At NOAA, we plan to generate a suite of aerosol product, including aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo, aerosol layer height, absorbing aerosol index, and aerosol type (mainly, smoke and dust), from TEMPO observations and also synergy with ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) observations from both GOES-East and GOES-West.In the paper, we focus on the approach of developing of aerosol detection product, including UV absorbing aerosol index (354nm/388nm), visible aerosol index (410/440 nm), smoke/dust mask. Both UV and Visible absorbing aerosol are directly derived from the observations from TEMPO. For smoke/dust mask, we applied NOAA Enterprise Aerosol detection algorithm, by synergistic combining UV-Viable observations from TEMPO with shortwave IR and IR observations from GOES-R ABI. The approaches are first demonstrated by using observations from GEMS, a sister instrument of TEMPO and AHI, a sister instrument of ABI. It shows that the synergistic approach can detect plumes from Asian dust storm and smoke/smog blobs over China. The results are validated by using the ground-based AERONET observations and CALIPOS Vertical Feature MASK product. In addition, preliminary results from TEMPO observations are also shown, including both smoke and dust events, ranging from a large scale of the transported smoke plumes to a small scale smoke plumes from the local fire events. It shows that the synergistic approach performs similarly well on the combined TEMPO with ABI observations.
Disclaimer: The scientific results and conclusions, as well as any views or opinions expressed herein, are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of NOAA or the Department of Commerce. 
Joint Inversion for Radial Anisotropy With Multimodal Rayleigh and Love Wave Dispersion Curves
Authors: Chen Juqing , Chen Xiaofei
Published: March 2024

Radial anisotropy measures the difference between horizontally and vertically polarized shear waves, which can give important constraints on crustal deformation with depth. Ambient noise surface wave tomography has become a main tool to effectively study the radial anisotropy structure in which Rayleigh and love dispersion curves extracted from ambient noise data are utilized to invert radial anisotropy parameter. However, only fundamental-mode dispersion curves are used in traditional methods, for which the inversion results could be easily affected by severe non-uniqueness of inversion. Recently, frequency-Bessel transform method has been validated that it can effectively extract multimodal Rayleigh and Love wave dispersion curves from multi-component ambient noise data. Here, we develop a joint inversion method for radial anisotropy with multimodal Rayleigh and Love wave dispersion curves, and validate its effectiveness with synthetic and realistic examples. Specifically, we modified a Markov chain Monte Carlo (McMC) Bayesian inversion tool, BayHunter, to conduct the joint inversion of multimodal Rayleigh and Love wave dispersion curves. During the inversion, the initial model is introduced and the misfit value from single objective function in each iteration process is utilized to adaptively weight the joint likelihood. We proved that the incorporation of higher-modes dispersion curves can effectively reduce the non-uniqueness of inversion with synthetic tests. Currently, we are applying this joint inversion method to realistic data from eastern South China Block and validate its effectiveness in realistic applications.
Simulation of Climate effect of large-scale Irrigation in Haihe River Basin 
Authors: Gui Yunpeng , Wang Hejia
Published: March 2024

To ensure food security, the annual irrigation water volume in the Haihe River Basin is over 20 billion m³, and large-scale irrigation has a significant impact on the regional climate. In this study, a new irrigation scheme was developed in the land surface module of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate and analyze the climatic effects of large-scale irrigation in Haihe River Basin. The results showed that irrigation increased the latent heat flux and decreased the sensible heat flux in the Haihe River Basin, with the largest variation in the irrigation period from April to June. Irrigation led to a decrease in temperature in the basin from March to November, with a maximum temperature drop from April to June. The overall spatial performance was that the area with more irrigation had a greater temperature drop caused by irrigation. During the irrigation period, the average temperature drop caused by irrigation in the plain area was 0.64 ℃, with a temperature drop of over 1.0 ℃ in the Shijiazhuang plain area. Irrigation played a leading role in the impact of convective precipitation, leading to an increase of 6.07mm in annual precipitation in Haihe River Basin, mainly concentrated from May to June, and spatially mainly in the Daqing River Basin and the Ziya River Basin, with an increase of 15-30 mm in precipitation during the irrigation period in the Ziya River Mountain area. Irrigation changed near-surface meteorological factors, and reduced the reference crop evapotranspiration in the basin, resulting in a decrease in crop water demand per unit area. Therefore, the climate effect of large-scale irrigation supports and ensures water security in the basin on both supply and demand sides, and to some extent alleviates the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources in the basin.
Application of a high-resolution hourly-updated numerical weather prediction system for aviation-related cloud and icing forecasts: System refinement and associated model physics and data assimilation research
Authors: Turner Dave , Ladwig Terra , Weygandt Steve , Olson Joseph , Jensen Anders , Hu Ming
Published: March 2024

For the past two decades, NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) developed and refined a regional hourly-updated high resolution numerical prediction system known as the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR).  This system is run operationally by NOAA and has been widely used for aviation, severe weather, renewable energy, and general short-range forecast applications.  Prediction of aviation-related hazards has always been a main focus area for this model system and much of the associated model physics and data assimilation research has targeted accurate prediction of aviation hazards such as convection, low clouds and fog, icing, and turbulence.  At present, GSL and the NOAA Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) are working together toward the implementation of a major upgrade to the HRRR, a new system known as the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS).  This new system retains many of the same model physics and data assimilation aspects as the HRRR, but uses a new model dynamic core, the FV3, developed at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), and also has a much larger 3-km domain than the HRRR as well as an ensemble forecast system.
Key components of the RRFS model system for cloud and icing prediction include customized versions of the MYNN boundary layer scheme and the Thompson aerosol-aware microphysics (including a cloud faction variable), and a non-variational cloud analysis scheme to help with the initialization of clouds from METAR and satellite-based cloud observations.  Overall assessment of the RRFS vs. HRRR for cloud prediction skill, especially for aviation-related aspects (low ceilings, etc.) in the cold season, has revealed an improvement in the RRFS over the HRRR, which had a tendency to miss low stratus decks.  The RRFS has continued the good HRRR skill for icing prediction, as revealed by assessments associated with the 2019 ICICLE field project data sets.  As part of GSL’s aviation-related model work, grids from the HRRR have been provided to teams producing aviation-hazard specific guidance products for clouds and ceiling, icing, turbulence, and convection.  At the conference, we will describe the relevant model physics and data assimilation components of the RRFS system and present results for cloud and icing forecasts.
Construction of a three-dimensional numerical Green's function database in the Sichuan-Yunnan region
Authors: Yu Zhenjiang , Chen Xiaofei
Published: March 2024

Generally, the Green's function obtained through a simple horizontal layered velocity model is used to perform focal kinematic inversion. However, when facing near-field situations (within 100 km scale), the error of Green's function obtained by the horizontal layered model is relatively large. This study will conduct relevant work on this issue. Taking the Sichuan-Yunnan region (southernwest China) as the research objective, using the curved grid finite difference method, a three-dimensional complex structural model with topography is constructed to calculate the three-dimensional numerical Green's function between the sources and  stations. This numerical Green's function will provide a reference for the later inversion of focal processes.
The Atmospheric Oxidizing Capacity in China: Sensitivity to emissions of primary pollutants
Authors: Dai Jianing , Brasseur Guy , Vrekoussis Mihalis , Zhang Hongliang
Published: March 2024

The atmospheric oxidation capacity plays a crucial role in the concentration of photochemical pollutants and primary emissions. Despite dramatic reductions in anthropogenic emissions of key chemical compounds in China, a comprehensive understanding of the corresponding changes in the Atmospheric Oxidative Capacity (AOC) is still not sufficiently understood. Here, a regional chemical model is employed to quantify the sensitivity of air pollutants and photochemical parameters to specified emission reductions in China, considering conditions representative of January and July 2018. The model simulations show that, in winter, a 50% decrease in NOx emissions leads to a 6-12 ppbv increase in surface ozone concentrations across China. In summer, the ozone concentration decreases by 4-8 ppbv in NOx-limited areas, while ozone increases by 10-12 ppbv in VOC-limited areas. This ozone increase is associated with reduced NOx-titration effect and enhanced OH and HO2 radicals. With an additional 50% reduction in anthropogenic VOCs emission, the calculated ozone concentration decreases by 5-10 ppbv in the entire geographic area of China. For AOC parameters, with NOx emission reduction, an increase is also found in VOC-limited areas. This specific increase is associated with the combined effect of enhanced radical cycles associated with the photolysis of oxidized VOCs (OVOCs) and the ozonolysis of alkenes. A large reduction of AOC in summer is led by the reduction in AVOCs emission, with a dominant contribution from the reaction of OH radical with reduced OVOCs, followed by the reactions with fewer alkenes and aromatics. This study highlights the enhanced positive effect of photolysis of OVOCs and ozonolysis of alkenes on atmospheric oxidative capacity in urban areas when NOx emission is reduced. To mitigate ozone rises in urban areas, it is crucial to coordinate the control of NOx emissions with specific VOCs species, including alkenes and aromatics.
Eigen Micostate Theory of Complex Systems and its Application in Earth System
Authors: Chen Xiaosong , Liu Teng , Ma Xuan , Xia Yan , Fan Jingfang , Xie Fei
Published: March 2024

For a complex system consisting of large collection of interacting objects, the states of all individuals at a certain time are defined as a microstate of the system following the Gibbs’s theory of statistical physics. All microstates during the time period of observation constitute an ensemble of the complex system. The normalized N×M matrix A of the ensemble, whose columns represent microstates and rows characterize time evolution, can be decomposed as A=∑I=1r σI UI⊗VI, where r=min⁡(N,M),  σI2 is the probability of the eigen microstate UI with time evolution VI. The change of σI from zero to finite indicates the condensation of eigen microstate and a phase transition of complex system. This eigen microstate approach (EMA) has applied successfully to different complex systems. We anticipate that the EMA can be used to study phase transitions of subsystems of different scales in Earth System.
Moving with the Climate: An Outlook from the Indian Subcontinent
Authors: Sachan Disha , Kumar Pankaj
Published: March 2024

Anthropogenic climate change accelerates the decline of global biodiversity, which in turn disrupts ecosystem functioning, forcing terrestrial and aquatic species to change their ranges, phenology, physiology, and morphology. Land use land cover changes, habitat fragmentation, and overexploitation also influence biodiversity synergistically with climate change. For the current study, we have used the univariate and multivariate estimates of the velocity of climate change (VoCC) to present the historical (1980-2005) and projected (2020-2097) shifts in the climate space over the Indian subcontinent and its biogeographic zones. VoCC is a versatile metric presenting the speed of a climatic isoline along the earth’s surface and approximates the “required” migration speeds for the species. Subsequently, multivariate estimates of VoCC were used to derive the climatic divergence and related climatic stress and determine the residence time of nine representative protected areas (PAs). The results from observations (CRU, ERA5) and model simulations (CMIP5, Regional Earth System Model) demonstrate that regions with relatively flatter terrain displayed the highest historical velocities in the range of 2-15 km/yr, which are also projected to increase in the future period to a range of 4-20 km/yr. The estimates of multivariate velocities were generally higher than the univariate velocities, leading to a better representation of shifts in real climate space. The high-resolution regional earth system model achieved better results than the global circulations models in producing more accurate VoCCs. The climatic stress (diverging vectors closer to 180 degrees) was higher for parts of north India and the Deccan Peninsula and is projected to increase in the near and mid future. The PAs with the shortest residence times were found to be Sundarbans (63 years), Ranthambore (32 years) and Ramgarh Vishdhari (9 years), illustrating a severe challenge to conservationists under changing climate. Such climate change metrics can be modified to be more biologically relevant, incorporating species-specific biological data to deliver more precise estimates of migration rates of individual species in response to climate change.
Microbial necromass decomposition and stabilization in soilBai
Authors: wang Chao , Wang Xu , Bai Edith
Published: March 2024

Evidence is emerging that microbial production and residues (necromass) contribute greatly to stable soil organic matter (SOM), which calls for the necessity of separating the microbial necromass from other SOM pools in models. However, the understanding on how microbial necromass stabilizes in soil, especially the mineral protection mechanisms, is still lacking. We conducted a serial of incubation experiments to explore how microbial necromass C and N mineralized. We found microbial necromass N could stabilize in soil more than 20 years. The fungal necromass N could decompose slowly than bacterial and actinobacterial N. We also found temperature could greatly influence on microbial necromass decomposition and production processes. Finally, we found the mineral composition is one of most important factor in regulating necromass retention in soil. Our studies provide more knowledge on how microbial-derived residues contribute to soil organic matter formation.
FE-G: Gas dynamics over 10 years at the Full-Scale Emplacement experiment (Mont Terri, CH) 
Authors: Stopelli Emiliano , Guillemot Typhaine , Agnel Myriam , Briggs Scott , King Fraser , Kipfer Rolf , Norris Simon , Diomidis Nikitas , Gaus Irina
Published: March 2024

The long-term safety of deep geological repositories of radioactive waste can be affected by gas production, transport and consumption, i.e. via alteration of the chemical environment and/or gas pressure build up.
The Full-scale Emplacement (FE) experiment recreates a 1:1 scale spent fuel (SF) emplacement drift constructed in the Underground Rock Laboratory at Mont Terri (Switzerland). FE is inside Opalinus Clay, with heaters simulating canisters and granular bentonite as buffer material. Since 2014, FE-G combines on- and off-site measurements of gases in the FE experiment, providing data to monitor and validate the prediction of gas safety-relevant processes.
In this poster contribution we will present results from 10 years of gas monitoring, with particular focus on:

The observed rapid loss of gaseous O2 after emplacement, with current understanding of (ir)reversible processes related to O2 from 3-D reactive transport model (COMSOL) investigations;
The role of noble gases, in particular 4He, to describe the ongoing gas exchanges via diffusion (and advection) among the Opalinus Clay, the emplaced bentonite and the niche outside the emplaced tunnel.

 
Acknowledgements
Swisstopo and Mont Terri Consortium
Bill Lanyon (Fracture Systems Ltd) for modelling support
Companies supporting field and lab work (Entracers, Solexperts, Hydroisotop)
Diversity of the tropical easterly jet’s location and its influence on the Asian summer monsoon rainfall
Authors: Huang Sihua , Wen Zhiping
Published: March 2024

As the variability of the intensity of the tropical easterly jet (TEJ) has been extensively studied, how the location of the TEJ’s core changes is still less understood. We found that the TEJ can be identified as three locational patterns by using the cluster analysis, which exhibit an east mode (centering over the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula), a northwest mode (centering to the southeast of Arabian Peninsula), and a southwest mode (centering over the tropical western Indian Ocean). The frequency of each locational pattern is distinctly different in each summer month and change obviously from year to year. The change in the location of the TEJ’s core have an important impact on the monsoon rainfall in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia through modulating the large-scale divergence at the upper level and the vertical-meridional circulation. The decreased frequency of the northwest mode may be responsible for the drying along the Himalayas while the more frequent southwest mode may contribute to the aridification in the northern India. The results highlight the diversity of the TEJ location and can provide a different perspective in understanding the cause of the monsoon rainfall variation.
Exposure to ultrafine particles, black carbon and particulate matters in Yangtze River Delta: A case from suburb Nanjing
Authors: Rupakheti Dipesh , Zhang Wenjing , Li Jingyi , Li Xiaofang , Ji Yuchen , Rupakheti Maheswar , Hu Jianlin
Published: March 2024

This study assessed the exposure of commuters to ultrafine particulate matter (UFP), black carbon (BC), and particulate matter (PM) concentrations in a diverse traffic microenvironment over a 3-km, high-traffic section in suburban Nanjing, China. We evaluated the mean exposure concentration difference between distinct special cases (peak and off-peak hours, weekdays and weekends, severe dust days and holidays) in five traffic microenvironments of subway, bus, taxi, e-bike (electric motorbike) and bicycle. The bicycle commuters were exposed to the highest PM (PM1, PM2.5, PM10) concentration, the bus commuters to the highest BC concentration in the morning peak hours (3.4±3.0 μg/m3), and the bus and taxi commuters to the highest UFP number concentration. The subway (metro) commuter had the lowest mean exposure concentration of PM, BC, and UFP number during the rides. Regarding the total inhaled dose of PM2.5, it was highest to the bicycle commuters (16.25 μg/km) followed by e-bike (1.98 μg/km), bus (1.28 μg/km), taxi (0.69 μg/km), and subway commuters (0.45 μg/km). The exposure levels of PM2.5 (114.6 μg/m3) and BC (1826 ng/m3) on weekdays were higher than those on weekends (170% and 158%, respectively). PM2.5, PM10 and BC concentrations on dust days were significantly higher than those on weekdays and holidays, with the mean exposure concentration of PM10 (1299.2±1285.8 μg/m3) in the evening peak of dust days was 803% and 994% higher than the mean concentrations on weekdays and holidays, respectively.
Real-time assessment of asphalt pavement internal conditions based on automatic signal processing using ground-penetrating radar
Authors: Wang Siqi , Ma Tao , Huang Xiaoming
Published: March 2024

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been widely used in asphalt pavement internal condition assessment, such as thickness measurement and defect detection. It requires identifying reflection features from the subsurface target, which could be accomplished via manual inspection. This may be subjective and lead to inaccurate detection results due to the field data noise. The wide electromagnetic footprint of air-coupled antenna, and strong pavement layer reflections could also camouflage reflection features of small-scale defects using GPR, e.g., concealed cracks. This article proposes an automatic method for asphalt pavement layer thickness determination and concealed crack detection using GPR. The effects of in-situ noise levels on detection accuracy were discussed. For thickness estimation, the interface reflections were located automatically based on a pipeline, including the Canny edge detector, wavelet transform, and matched filter. The vibration effect in the predicted thickness profile was removed using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method. The proposed method was validated using in-situ cores from the field test. For concealed crack detection, an edge detection-based method is proposed to enhance the reflections. A simulation model was built to investigate the antenna footprint and reflection features of concealed cracks in the asphalt pavement layer. Laboratory tests were performed to validate the proposed enhancement method. Results show that the proposed methods are automatic and can be implemented using existing programming functions, which may enable real-time asphalt pavement internal condition assessment during GPR surveys.
Mapping the transport of floating macroalgae in sea surface on the basis of high-resolution UAV images
Authors: Xing Qianguo , Li Jinghu , Ding Jing , Lu Yingcheng , Zheng Xiangyang , Hou Yingzhuo
Published: March 2024

Based on centimeter-level ultra-high-resolution UAV images, the drifting velocity of floating macroalgae are quantified. In this study, a Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) method is used for analyzing the drift of floating macroalgae in high-resolution Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images and videos collected from an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of hovering mode. The method employs Maximum Cross-Correlation (MCC) and Iterative Multigrid Approach (IMA) to achieve high spatial resolution and wide range of velocity gradient. Utilizing floating macroalgae as natural tracers, we enhance tracer signals using the Red-Green band virtual baseline Floating green Algae Height (RGFAH) index. Subsequently, LSPIV and a deep learning U-Net model are employed to acquire high spatiotemporal resolution information regarding the distribution and drift velocity of floating macroalgae. We then establish comprehensive instantaneous and time-averaged flow fields of floating macroalgae. Utilizing input data derived from alterations in water surface grayscale due to natural tracers such as water surface bubbles, suspended sediment, waves, and sun glint, we analyze the periodic variations in the sea surface velocity and wave intensity correlation based on statistical and Fourier analysis in instantaneous and time-averaged flow fields. 
Biomass burning plumes from Indochina towards southern China: the predominant synoptic weather processes
Authors: Xue Lian , Ding Ke , Huang Xin , Zhu Anbao , Lou Sijia , Wang Zilin , Ding Aijun
Published: March 2024

The Indochinese Peninsula is one of the world's most active regions for biomass burning (BB). Springtime BB in this region, producing plumes rich in pollutants such as CO, ozone, black carbon, and organic aerosols, not only significantly impacts local air quality, but also plays a crucial role in weather and climate dynamics of East Asia. Previous studies have demonstrated that BB plumes from the Indochinese Peninsula can be transported towards southern China and the North Pacific Ocean during March and April in the free atmosphere. In this study, by employing objective weather classification methods using various reanalysis and satellite data, we identified three synoptic patterns conducive to the transport of BB plumes from the Indochinese Peninsula to inland China. These patterns are characterized by low pressure over the continent (46%), cold front passage (30%), and high pressure in the mid-latitudes (24%), respectively. Each pattern exhibits significant differences in synoptic evolutions, duration, and pollutant transport pathways, leading to varied horizontal and vertical distributions of pollutants. Notably, plumes formed under the continental low-pressure pattern are mainly transported in the lower and middle troposphere, while the cold front pattern can elevate pollutants to higher altitudes, above 700 hPa. Fire weathers over the source region during the synoptic processes are also discussed. Furthermore, we observed strong interannual variations in these weather types, which partly shape the distribution of pollutants such as CO and ozone on an interannual basis. This study highlights the importance of understanding the long-term variations in atmospheric composition caused by biomass burning, with a specific focus on synoptic weather processes.
Interlinking climate change, surface and subsurface flows on landslides in the Cauvery River basin, India 
Authors: Harilal Surya , Pushpalatha Raji , Raj Cibin , Singh Balmukund , Narayanan Unni , V Ramesh Maneesha
Published: March 2024

The frequency of landslides has increased recently due to uneven patterns of weather distribution and climate change. Major landslide predictions are based on rainfall models, and only a few studies consist of hydrological models, leading to low accuracy.  On the other hand, using hydrological parameters has considerably increased the accuracy of landslide predictions. This study focuses on interlinking the climate, surface, and subsurface flows on the landslide events in the Cauvery River basin, Karnataka, India, using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Relative humidity, solar irradiance, wind speed, temperature, and precipitation are needed for the model, along with slope, land use, and digital elevation model (DEM). Mann-Kendall trend analysis is carried out to detect trends in rainfall and temperature in the study area, as these parameters can directly influence the surface and subsurface flows.  Preliminary results of the study indicate a strong correlation between the surface and subsurface flows on landslides along with the changing climatic conditions. The study region witnessed a series of landslide events in 2018, which, in turn, can be associated with the heavy surface flows observed using the model output for the same period. The derived correlation can further be used to forecast the landslide events with the surface and subsurface flow information. As an outcome, the study also proposes sustainable solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change and land conservation practices to protect the community. 
Improving air quality management through forecasts: From Science to Policy to Action 
Authors: Khan Adeel , Suryanarayanan Uday , Rafiuddin Mohammad , Kollayil Jayachandran
Published: March 2024

Air quality management in urban environments is a critical challenge, especially in rapidly developing regions. Forecasting plays an important role by enabling concerned agencies to anticipate and mitigate air pollution risk. Cities like Beijing have used forecast-based alert systems to inform and enact emergency measures during high pollution episodes. Public and private sectors in India have also taken initiatives to provide air quality forecasts. Some of these initiatives also forecast source contributions of major pollutants like PM2.5. India’s flagship initiative on air quality improvement, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), has also realised the criticality of utilising forecasts to drive emergency clean air action. The NCAP aims to extend the reach of forecasting to 131 non-attainment cities. The NCAP also envisions formulating Graded Response Action Plans (GRAP) to deal with high pollution phases in these cities. All the 131 non-attainment cities have developed GRAPs, with most of them based on measured concentrations rather than forecasts. Delhi is the first Indian city to revise its GRAP and make it forecast-based, enabling pre-emptive actions against pollution. We examine the efficacy of such proactive measures in Delhi, evaluating the impact of forecast-based GRAP on the city's air quality using quasi-experimental methods. Furthermore, we explore global best practices in employing forecasts for air quality management, providing insights into how cities can effectively adopt and leverage these forecasting tools. By showcasing both Indian and global examples, the analysis underscores the transformative potential of air quality forecasts in shaping policy and driving actionable responses to improve urban air quality.
Simulation of seasonal transport of microplastics and influencing factors inthe China Seas based on the ROMS model
Authors: Wang Teng , Liu Rongze , Li Junde , Liu Xiaohui
Published: March 2024

Elucidating the mechanisms governing microplastic transport and spatial distribution in offshore waters isessential to microplastic control. However, current research on microplastic transport in the China Seas is largelyrestricted to small-scale investigations, which do not provide a comprehensive result. Therefore, in this study, weused the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) combined with the Lagrangian Transport (LTRANS v.2)model to investigate how microplastics are transported around the China Seas during different seasons and underclimatological river discharge. Our findings showed that the microplastic pathways and spatial distributionsexhibit marked seasonal variations controlled by circulation patterns in the China Seas, river discharge values,and the characteristics of the microplastic materials. Floating microplastics exhibited the longest transport distancein summer, when microplastics from the Pearl River could be transported up to 1375.8 km through theTokara and Tsushima straits. The heavy pollution areas in summer were located in the South Yellow Sea and EastChina Sea, mainly resulting from the contribution of the Yangtze River (>66%). In autumn and winter, morethan three-quarters of the microplastics beached off the south-central Chinese coast. In addition, simulating thevertical velocity of the water prolonged the time required for microplastics to reach the open ocean, therebyreducing the amount of microplastics entering the Pacific Ocean by 6% compared to the simulation without thevertical velocity of the water in summer. Microplastics with higher densities were generally transported shorterdistances. The transmission distances of PET and PS were two orders of magnitude smaller than that of PE. Thisstudy enhances knowledge of the sources and fates of offshore microplastics and provides scientific support foroffshore microplastic control.
Response of organic aerosol characteristics to emission reduction in Yangtze River Delta region
Authors: Wang Jinbo , Wang Jiaping , Nie Wei , Chi Xuguang , Ge Dafeng , Zhu Caijun , Wang Lei , Li Yuanyuan , Huang Xin , Qi Ximeng , Zhang Yuxuan , Liu Tengyu , Ding Aijun
Published: March 2024

Organic aerosol (OA) is a major component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) with complex composition and formation processes influenced by various factors. Emission reduction can alter both precursors and oxidants which further affects secondary OA formation. Here we provide an observational analysis of secondary OA (SOA) variation properties in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) of eastern China in response to large scale of emission reduction during Chinese New Year (CNY) holidays from 2015 to 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic period from January to March, 2020. We found a 17% increase of SOA proportion during the COVID lockdown. The relative enrichment of SOA is also found during multi-year CNY holidays with dramatic reduction of anthropogenic emissions. Two types of oxygenated OA (OOA) influenced by mixed emissions and SOA formation were found to be the dominant components during the lockdown in YRD region. Our results highlight that these emission-reduction-induced changes in organic aerosol need to be considered in the future to optimize air pollution control measures.
Bottom trawl fishing and dredging decrease marine CO2 sequestration by reducing natural alkalinity generation 
Authors: van de Velde Sebastiaan , Hylén Astrid , Meysman Filip
Published: March 2024

The coastal seafloor plays an important role in regulating the global carbon cycle through burial of organic carbon, but also by generating alkalinity and thereby increasing the overlying seawater’s capacity to buffer atmospheric CO2. Antropogenic activities, such as frequent trawling and dredging, alter the sedimentary geochemical cycling and directly influence this natural carbon sink. While much attention has been given to anthropogenic alterations of the organic carbon cycling in marine sediments, the human impact on alkalinity generation remains unquantified. Here, we present model simulations of the impact of bottom trawling and dredging on sedimentary alkalinity generation. In an undisturbed sandy or muddy sediment, over half of the alkalinity is generated by dissolution of carbonate minerals, while the remainder is produced by pyrite precipitation. In muddy coastal sediments, both bottom trawling and dredging reduce the alkalinity efflux through reoxidation of pyrite. In contrast, bottom trawling stimulates pyrite precipitation and increases the natural alkalinity generation in muddy shelf sediments, while the impact of sediment disturbance on sandy and slope sediments is negligible. On a global scale, bottom trawling is estimated to reduce natural alkalinity generation by ~25 Geq. yr-1 and dredging by ~2.5 Geq. yr-1. This is equivalent to a reduction of the natural coastal carbon sink by 1 Tg CO2 yr-1, which is 100 times the current carbon sequestration capacity of direct-air capture hubs. These results illustrate that the impact of trawling and dredging on sedimentary alkalinity generation is non-negligible and should be considered when performing carbon accounting in coastal systems.
Application of measurements and modeling tools for managing air quality at a hyperlocal scale in Indian cities
Authors: Alshetty Dheeraj , Dey Swagata , Dev Rishabh , Chandra Satish , Vakacherla Sreekanth
Published: March 2024

In Low- and Middle-income countries like India, alternate techniques like low-cost sensors and modeling play a pivotal role in air pollution management due to the limitations posed by expensive regulatory monitors, which often restrict comprehensive data collection. These cost-effective solutions facilitate wider deployment, enabling a denser network of sensors to gather real-time data at various locations. Additionally, modeling techniques allow simulation and prediction of pollution levels to achieve better spatio-temporal variations, thus significantly enhancing our understanding of air quality and aiding in formulating targeted mitigation strategies for more effective pollution management.
The study employed an integrated approach using stationary sensors, emissions inventory, and dispersion modeling techniques. Five low-cost sensors were positioned within a 3km x 3km area at Sion in Mumbai, with a regulatory monitor as the center of the study area. Simultaneously, a detailed emissions inventory was conducted, utilizing primary data collection to accurately estimate emissions at a fine resolution of 300m x 300m. AERMOD served as the modeling tool, enabling the identification of source-wise and month-wise dispersion patterns. Integrating sensor data and modeling outputs were used to understand the spatial distribution within the 3km x 3km zone. Subsequently, validation of the model was performed by comparison with the regulatory monitor and stationary sensor data. Further, the model was used to estimate the potential percentage reduction in pollution levels from proposed interventions. This comprehensive methodology ensured a holistic approach to air quality management, aiding in both the assessment and prediction of pollution hotspots and the efficacy of potential mitigation measures.
The findings revealed that, within the study area of 3km x 3km, the highest contributions of PM2.5 were observed from dust resuspension (53.26%), followed by vehicular exhaust emissions (32.24%), Construction (9.87%), residential (2.31%) and others. Similarly, NOx emissions were majorly from vehicular exhaust emissions (94.72%), followed by DG sets (3.09%). Thus, the mitigation options formulated were focused on the reduction of road dust emissions, tailpipe emissions and construction activities. The model predicted results have shown a percentage reduction in PM2.5 ranging between 5% to 30%. This structured framework can assist air quality managers in identifying the most fitting and suitable policy interventions for addressing air pollution hotspots.
THE ROLE OF GEOMATICS ENGINEERING IN CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES
Authors: Alkan S. , Alkan R. M. , Seker D. Z.
Published: March 2024

Abstract. Geomatics Engineers acquire, manage, analyse, model and present the geo-spatially referenced data quickly, accurately and reliably. They can classify the derived data with geographic information systems and produce many models according to needs. This study focuses on the role of the geomatics discipline in combatting climate change, the capability of measuring climate change parameters and the determination of the causes of the parameters change. Basic information about the latest developments in the Geomatics discipline for climate change studies is given. Geomatics Engineer's studies for understanding Earth’s system and its response to climate change and models created for the solution are explained. Geomatics Engineering provides a wide range of geospatial data and produces applications for understanding climate change. They take place in climate change analyses by measuring various climate parameters, and by processing the atmosphere, land, glaciers and waters in various spatiotemporal analyses. The obtained results have shown the significantly important role of the geomatics discipline in obtaining, monitoring and analysing the data used for climate change effects’ mitigation. In conclusion, Geomatics Engineering contributes to the decision-makers who have a duty in struggling with climate change and all stakeholders of the subject together with practitioners at all levels to create a road map for the studies to be carried out.
Estudo Técnico Preliminar: diretrizes para a regulamentação local e regional
Authors: Leite Pestana Anna Clara , Cademartori Luiz Henrique
Published: March 2024

The general objective of this work is to investigate how the regulation of the Preliminary Technical Study can contribute to the promotion of public contracts whose results meet the social needs that originated them. To this end, we initially studied the planning of public procurement. Next, the Preliminary Technical Study was examined from the perspective of Law no. 14.133/2021, of SEGES/ME Normative Instruction n. 58, of August 8, 2022, of the doctrine and jurisprudence of the Federal Audit Court. Finally, having identified the potentialities of the ETP and considering the regulations already published (federal and state), guidelines for local regulation were proposed and regional of this instrument. Regarding methodology, the research is essentially deductive, qualitative, prescriptive, bibliographic and documentary, as it is guided by the study of doctrine, jurisprudence and national legislation. The results achieved allow us to conclude that it is possible to carry out a Preliminary Technical Study that contributes to the effectiveness of public purchases. To achieve this purpose, public bodies and entities must issue regulations that achieve the objectives of the ETP outlined by the new law on bidding and contracts and are compatible with the local and regional reality.
A implementação do art. 26-A da LDBEN: desafios e possibilidades para a atuação do tribunal de contas
Authors: Costa Silveira Elusa Cristina
Published: March 2024

Law No. 10,693/2003 established an important public policy by adding art. 26-A in the National Education Guidelines and Bases Law (LDBEN), mandating the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture in primary and secondary education establishments. This is a reparatory and anti-racist policy, motivated by the erasure of the collective memory and culture of the black Brazilian population. However, the effective application of art. 26-A is still incipient, showing that this discussion needs to be deepened in external control institutions, especially after the inclusion of the topic in the performance measurement framework of the Courts of Accounts. This work intends to discuss the possibilities of action by the Court of Accounts to implement art. 26-A, considering the role of this institution in evaluating public policies to ensure fundamental rights, such as education.
O impacto da implantação das DEAMs na violência contra a mulher no Brasil (2004-2018)
Authors: Flores Arroyo Akauã , Signor Diogo
Published: March 2024

Violence against women, especially domestic violence, is a constantly debated issue in Brazil that generates great social and economic damage. Inspired by the article by Perova and Reynolds (2017), this article seeks to evaluate whether the implementation of the Specialized Women’s Police Stations helped to combat this type of violence. Using different databases from 2004 to 2018 and a flexible conditional differences-in-differences model, due to the heterogeneous application of these police stations over time, this study found a negative impact on the female homicide rate per hundred thousand inhabitants. The negative effect occurs between five and six years after the implementation of these units, compared to municipalities that did not receive a specialized police station. These results reinforce the importance of this type of public policy in combating violence against women.
A criação de um Conselho de Entidades de Santa Catarina como agente na depuração dos cadastros de contribuintes catarinenses e os potenciais impactos na desjudicialização do executivo fiscal
Authors: Martins Alves Flávio
Published: March 2024

The following text addresses aspects related to the challenge imposed on the Santa Catarina Public Administration regarding the accuracy, access, and update of taxpayer registries. It evaluates both the implications arising from potential limitations in the aforementioned fields and a potential scenario of assistance in the solution derived from the integration and use of available taxpayer databases in the Santa Catarina Public Administration, aiming at cross-referencing data sources with the consequent optimization of respective records. In this sense, after contextualizing the mentioned situation, the aim is to make it explicit that with data integration among governmental entities, proper access to the best data sources, and the use of sophisticated practices for refining taxpayer databases, it is possible to enhance the dejudicialization of the fiscal executive, given that the inaccessibility of postal and property-related information about taxpayers constitutes a significant obstacle to the effectiveness of administrative and judicial collection.
Inteligência Artificial no Controle de Sobrepreço em Compras Públicas
Authors: Severo Rodrigues Cássio , Eziel Cardoso Geovane , Faria Culmant Ramos Vinícius
Published: March 2024

The current technical paper discusses the crucial role played by the Court of Auditors from the State of Santa Catarina while controlling bids and contracts through the State. The challenges faced by the External Control Tax Auditors before the expressive volume of over 52 thousand notices published in 2022 are emphasized. In this conflict, we propose the exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a strategic tool to perfect the efficiency on the analysis of complex processes on public purchases. Our focus resides on the viability research of an AI system capable of analyzing automatically budgets originated in Public Entities, aiming the early detection of overpricing indicators by the Court of Auditors from the State of Santa Catarina. By adopting this innovative approach, we aim to contribute significantly to the efficiency of the external control, aligning to the growing and complex demands on the bids and public contracts.
Procedimento da contratação direta elevado a categoria de processo na lei nº. 14.133/2021
Authors: da Silveira Schmitz Luan
Published: March 2024

A resenha em questão apresenta os aspectos legais da contratação direta, os procedimentos para a regularidade. Desempenha o papel de fazer minuciosa análise e apresentação do que se chama “passo a passo” para a boa aplicação da Lei quando da Dispensa de Licitação e Inexigibilidade de Licitação.