nasa-gesdisc/es-publications-researchareas huggingface dataset:
Effect of Meteorological Conditions and Long-Range Air Mass Transport on Surface Aerosol Composition in Winter Moscow (2022)

We discuss the results from the complex experiment aimed at studying the composition and time variations in urban aerosol in the surface air at the center of Moscow based on daily data on PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations. In addition to these continuous observations every season (for 3540 days), the total aerosol mass concentration (by gravimetric method) and 65 chemical elements in aerosol composition were measured daily. Winters 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 are considered. The aerosol composition is juxtaposed to the meteorological parameters in the surface atmosphere in Moscow, the direction of long-range air mass transport toward the Moscow region, and the distribution of dust in air over the European Russia (using the MERRA-2 reanalysis data). The detailed analysis of the aerosol elemental composition in Moscow made it possible to identify the elements of global/local spread, as well as of natural/anthropogenic genesis. Concentrations of all aerosol constituents in Moscow during winter did not exceed the corresponding daily average MPC values for the air of residential territories. It is shown that the accumulation of PM10 and PM2.5 in urban air was favored by calm weather conditions. The maximal levels of aerosol pollution were observed in December 2020 during southeasterly winds, when long-range atmospheric transport of admixtures to Moscow occurred from sources located in the southern regions of European Russia, the Caspian Depression, and western Kazakhstan.

Research areas: Air Quality, Environmental Impacts
Assessing the benefits of the marine protected area of Punta Coles, southern Peru (south-east Pacific) on productivity of conspicuous benthic species using pre-image population analysis (2023)

The coastal marine protected ecosystem at Punta Coles (as a part of the Reserva Nacional de Islas, Islotes y Puntas Guaneras) is located in a highly exploited area in southern Peru and contains several commercial, bioengineering and other benthic species. Pre-image population analysis was used to estimate the transient values of intrinsic growth rate (r) based on biomass and density time series as a proxy of productivity to assess the effectiveness of protection. The outcomes obtained showed that the gastropods Concholepas concholepas, Fissurella latimartiginata and the tunicate Purya chilensis showed a reduction of productivity during recent years, whilst the sea urchin Loxechinus albus, the barnacle Balanus laevis and the bivalve Semimytilus algosus showed an opposite pattern. Several species exhibited a chaotic dynamic, coinciding with the highest productivity values. In 2016 and 2017, several species exhibited a reduction of their abundance which could be delayed responses explained by changes in oceanographic conditions (reduction of coastal upwelling), La Nina event and illegal harvest. The above notwithstanding, the results suggest that effective protection of benthic species in the protected ecosystem of Punta Coles have been partially accomplished. Therefore, this work could be considered a baseline study, permitting the subsequent monitoring of productivity of the main species inhabiting the coastal area of Punta Coles. Pre-image population analysis could be used as a complimentary analytical tool since it enables the evaluation of transient population parameters (e.g. productivity) thus aiding population management, conservation and monitoring decisions.

Research areas: Ecosystems
Spatiotemporal distribution of fungi of clinical importance in the environment of two states of northern Mexico (2022)

Introduction. Some fungi species present in the environment can have serious implications in human health, particularly in persons with a compromised immune system. It has been reported that invasive and endemic mycosis present temporal and geographic variations and are influenced by global climate changes. Objective. To determine the spatiotemporal variability of fungi of importance in public health present in the environment of a region in northern Mexico. Material and methods. Air sampling was conducted at 18 urban and rural sites located in Durango and Coahuila at three seasons.Asingle-stage impactor was used and Petri dishes with dextrose Sabouraud agar supplemented with antibiotics were used. Climate data was obtained from the NASAs Giovanni database. Results. Predominant fungi in Durango were Bipolaris, Cladosporium and Aspergillus fumigatus which had a cumulative importance index of 50% while in Coahuila were Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, Alternaria and Bipolaris. Sites located in Coahuila recorded a larger precipitation amount in dates closer to sampling but compared to Durangos, the cumulative amount was less. Ambient temperature also influenced the type of fungi found. Conclusion. Identifying fungi genera can be useful to health professionals for diagnosis and decision-making regarding mycotic diseases and respiratory allergies by having specific knowledge about those predominant in a specific area.

Research areas: Public Health, Ecosystems
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Traffic Volume and Air Quality in Urban Areas (2022)

The large transmission of COVID-19 has resulted in a deep impact on the surrounding urban environments, especially on air quality and traffic flows. The objective of this study was to analyze air pollutant concentrations (PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, and O3) and traffic volumes at five congested districts (Bundaran HI, Kelapa Gading, Jagakarsa, Lubang Buaya, and Kebon Jeruk) within Jakarta city impacted by the large-scale social restriction (LSSR) policy. Air quality data during three periods; before, during, and after the LSSR at five observed districts was obtained from the Department of Environment of Jakarta using the Air Quality Monitoring (AQMS) tool. While vehicle speed data were obtained from the waze data during the study period. In this study, air pollutant data during three periods; before, during, and after the LSSR were compared with vehicle speed and meteorological data using a statistical analysis. Results revealed the mean traffic volume at all five districts has greatly reduced by 19% from before to during the LSSR period. It was consistent with the mean PM10, NO2, CO, and SO2 concentrations which also dropped about 46%, 45%, 30%, and 23% respectively. In contrast, the concentrations of air pollutants significantly increased after the LSSR period. During the LSSR period, the traffic volume was negatively associated with the O3 concentration (r?=??.86, p?

Research areas: Air Quality, Environmental Impacts
Effects of anthropogenic aerosols and sea salt aerosols during a summer precipitation event in the Yangtze River Delta (2023)

Currently, we know little about the effects of anthropogenic aerosols (AAs) and sea salt aerosols (SSAs) on heavy precipitation over the densely populated coastal areas. In this view, we developed a local aerosol activation parametrization scheme which conforms to the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) characteristics using cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) with supersaturation at 0.4 (CCN0.4) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) data at 550 nm (AOD550) to improve the model performance. Meanwhile, we simulated a heavy precipitation over the YRD during early summer using the WRF-Chem model (version 4.1) with the Morrison microphysics scheme. Increased AAs and SSAs presented opposite responses in droplets concentrations and precipitation intensity. The increased AAs increased the aerosol concentrations, leading to more but smaller droplets; and the cloud droplets mixing ratio Qc was slightly increased by 17.7% due to the weakened auto-conversion from droplets to raindrops, while the rain mixing ratio Qr was decreased by about 5.7%. On the contrary, presence of SSAs increased the effective (EFC) radius of cloud droplets because of the larger particles. Along with increased AAs, due to the influences of decreased Qr and smaller droplets, probability density function (PDF) of the hourly surface rain rates shifted to the smaller values (< 0.5 mm/h), which was caused by lowered latent heat release resulting from the enhanced rain evaporative cooling and weakened condensation rate, weakening the convective intensity and updrafts. Meanwhile, decreased updrafts resulted in fewer cloud droplets being transformed to the upper air, less accretion of droplets by ice crystal and snow, and reduced ice mixing ratio Qi and snow mixing ratio Qs. The averaged surface precipitation accumulated for 24 h decreased by about 7.2%, and the intensity of radar reflectivity was decreased by about 7.0%. In contrast, presence of SSAs enhanced the auto-conversion droplets and weakened the evaporation of raindrops, thus increasing the Qr. In this case, the 24-h accumulated averaged surface rainfall was increased by about 30.1% with the larger radar reflectivity and increased area of large reflectivity values (> 20 dbz). The latent heat release and related microphysical processes were enhanced due to the changes of conversion rate, which, together with the increased Qr and larger droplets, strengthened the precipitation, increased the incidence of heavier precipitation (> 2 mm/h), and enhanced the ice-phase microphysical processes.

Research areas: Atmospheric/Ocean Indicators
Analysis of temperature inversion in Ahwaz city (2022)

This research is aimed to investigate the types of inversions and their intensity using atmospheric thermodynamic indices such as SI, LI, KI, and TT indices in Ahwaz station from 2010 to 2020. In this research, atmospheric upper-air sounding data from Ahwaz Synoptic Station for 00:00 GMT (local 3:30 am) during the last 11 years (2010 to 2020) and 11 km above sea level were obtained from the University of Wyoming. The results showed that the average number of events of temperature inversion in Ahwaz is 467 cases per year, of which about 28.8% is radiation temperature inversion, 9% to frontals, and the other 62.2% is temperature inversion of subsidence type. Due to air subsidence under subtropical high pressure, the share of subsidence inversions is higher than other types of inversions. But in terms of intensity, the most severe temperature inversion in Ahwaz was radiation type. The results of the intensity coefficient showed that whenever the thickness layer is less, the air temperature is higher, the incidence height is lower, the layer pressure is higher, inversion occurs near the earths surface, and the severity of inversion is also increasing, which will have devastating consequences for human health and the environment. The relationship between inversion intensity and temperature, pressure, and height parameters showed that there was an inverse and significant relationship between inversion intensity values with thickness and height. The lower the height and thickness of the layer, the more intense the inversion becomes, but the relationship between the intensity coefficient and the temperature of the layer is direct and significant so that the higher the temperature of the layer, the more severe the inversion occurred will be and vice versa. Also, the relationship between inversion intensity and atmospheric gases showed that with the increase in the amounts of these gases, the inversion severity in the city of Ahwaz has also increased significantly.

Research areas: Atmospheric/Ocean Indicators
Linkage between the vegetation indices and climate factors over Haryana (2022)

Present study was an attempt to study the relationship of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) with climatic parameters (maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed and aerosol optical depth) over the Indian state of Haryana using MODIS derived vegetation indices on monthly and yearly values for the time period from 2010 to 2020. The values of correlations coefficients of NDVI and LAI with climatic variables varied with the months, the nature of their variation was similar for two indices. During summer season the correlation values were maximum while these were minimum during rainy season. The overall correlation analysis revealed that the rainfall and relative humidity were positively correlated with NDVI and LAI, while the remaining climate variables had negative impact on the NDVI and LAI.

Research areas: Land Surface/Agriculture Indicators
Investigation of Two Severe Shamal Dust Storms and the Highest Dust Frequencies in the South and Southwest of Iran (2022)

Dust storms create some of the most critical air quality problems in the world; the Middle East, located in the dust belt, suffers substantially from dust storms. Iran, as a country in the Middle East, is affected by dust storms from multiple internal and external sources that mostly originate from deserts in Iraq and Syria (especially the Mesopotamia region). To determine the highest dust loadings in the south and west of Iran, dust frequencies were investigated in the eight most polluted stations in the west, southwest, and southern Iran for a period of 21 years from 2000 to 2021. During the studys duration, the dust frequency was much higher from 2008 to 2012, which coincided with severe droughts reported in Iraq and Syria; from which, we investigated two severe dust storms (as well as the dust sources and weather condition effects) that took place on 1517 September 2008 and 13 June 2012; we used secondary data from ground measurement stations, and satellite and modeling products. In both cases, horizontal visibility was reduced to less than 1 km at most weather stations in Iran. The measured PM10 in the first case reached 834 g m3 at Ilam station in west Iran and the IranIraq borders while the measured PM10 in the second case reached 4947 g m3 at Bushehr station in the northern shore of the Persian Gulf. The MODIS true color images and MODIS AOD detected the dust mass over Iraq, southern Iran, and Saudi Arabia in both cases; the AOD value reached 4 in the first case and 1.8 in the second case over the Persian Gulf. During these two severe dust storms, low-level jets were observed at 930 hPa atmospheric levels in north Iraq (2008 case) and south Iraq (2012 case). The output of the NAPPS model and CALIPSO satellite images show that the dust rose to higher than 5 km in these dust storm cases, confirming the influence of Shamal wind on the dust storm occurrences.

Research areas: Air Quality
Coccolithophore paleoproductivity since the Last Glacial Maximum in the Atlantic Ocean: Relationship with calcification and preservation variability (2023)

Paleoproductivity, calcification and preservation patterns are presented from calcareous nannoplankton paleo-assemblages records covering the last 25 kyr retrieved from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Sites U1385 (3734.285N; 107.562W) and U1313 (410.0N; 3257.4W), located respectively along the Western Iberian Margin and in the North Atlantic Ocean. The main aim of the study is to provide paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic analyses together with an investigation of changes in coccolithophore calcification processes occurring in response to climate variability from the Last Glacial Maximum up to the Holocene. Coccolithophore calcification was investigated by comparing variations in coccolith thickness and total coccolith calcite; at the same time dissolution/preservation indices were used to better understand the response of coccolithophores to changes in environmental parameters. In general, the increasing CO2 recorded during the last 25 kyr has a negative effect on calcification, resulting in a reduction of the different species size-normalized thicknesses at both sites. However, differences between the responses at the two latitudes studied are identified, in particular during the Heinrich Stadials; in contrast, during both Younger Dryas and Holocene intervals, the different size-normalized species thicknesses show consistent patterns at the two sites. During the Last Glacial Maximum the influence of subtropical waters due to Azores Current recirculation leads to a moderate productivity, initially at Site U1385 and later at Site U1313. At the same time, temperature influences the calcification at both sites. At Site U1385, the temperature is the main parameter affecting the paleoproductivity during Heinrich Stadial events; in addition, during Heinrich Stadial 1 alone, it also affects the calcification. At Site U1313 the calcification processes during Heinrich Stadial events are apparently hampered by an increasing water turbidity, caused by icebergs acting as ice rafted debris transporters, which affects light filtration in the water column. Light availability is an important calcification-influencing factor. At Site U1313 during Heinrich Stadial 1 and at the Last Glacial Maximum inception, dissolution, a consequence of increased CO2 solubility in the colder ice-age ocean, has a negative influence on calcification. Furthermore, at Site U1313, in contrast to Site U1385, the continually increasing CO2 concentration recorded during the Blling-Allerd hampers both calcification and preservation.

Research areas: Ecosystems, Atmospheric/Ocean Indicators
Summertime variability of aerosols and covariates over Saudi Arabia using remote sensing (2022)

The summer season is the longest in Saudi Arabia and thus significantly modifies the aerosol concentration in the country. Hydrometeorological parameters when exposed to and interacting with multiple source aerosols produce a radiative climatic response. This study was made to analyze the space-time dynamics of aerosol optical depth (AOD) with prevailing meteorological and surface parameters from the summer of 2003 to 2016. Level 3 daily products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) were used. Covariates such as surface temperature, ozone, and relative humidity (RH) from AIRS, and SO2, dust column mass density (CMD), and dust surface mass concentration (SMC) were also used on a daily time scale. The spatial distribution of AOD showed high concentration (0.50.9) over southern and southeastern regions, whereas relatively low concentrations were present in the northern and northwestern regions. For trend observation of AOD, the Mann-Kendall trend test was used, which manifested an increasing trend in the southern and southwestern regions, whereas a decreasing trend in the northern and central regions of Saudi Arabia was observed. Correlation analysis was performed between AOD and meteorological parameters, in which slightly similar patterns were observed for the same variables. Wavelet analysis displays significant periodicity in the 1664 band. The wavelet coherency analysis provides the abundance of in-phase, anti-phase, leading, and lagging situations in the 1664 periodic band, along with a few interjections of the 64128 periodic band. Through this, an obvious difference was concluded in space-time patterns between MODIS and MISR datasets. These findings may prove useful for short-term and long-term studies including oscillating features of AOD and covariates.

Research areas: Validation
Co-occurrence patterns and environmental factors associated with rapid onset of Microcystis aeruginosa bloom in a tropical coastal lagoon (2023)

The environmental factors contributing to the Microcystis aeruginosa bloom (hereafter referred to as Microcystis bloom) are still debatable as they vary with season and geographic settings. We examined the environmental factors that triggered Microcystis bloom outbreak in India's largest brackish water coastal lagoon, Chilika. The warmer water temperature (25.3132.48 C), higher dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) loading (10.1513.53 mol L1), strong Plimitation (N:P ratio 138.47246.86), higher water transparency (46.6273.38 cm), and low-salinity (5.459.15) exerted a strong positive influence on blooming process. During the bloom outbreak, M. aeruginosa proliferated, replaced diatoms, and constituted 7088% of the total phytoplankton population. The abundances of M. aeruginosa increased from 0.89  104 cells L1 in September to 1.85  104 cells L1 in November and reduced drastically during bloom collapse (6.22  103 cells L1) by the late November of year 2017. The decrease in M. aeruginosa during bloom collapse was associated with a decline in DIN loading (2.97 mol L1) and N:P ratio (73.95). Sentinel-3 OLCI-based satellite monitoring corroborated the field observations showing Cyanophyta Index (CI) > 0.01 in September, indicative of intense bloom and CI 

Research areas: Water Quality, Ecosystems
Vertical Chlorophyll and Dimethylsulfide Profile Simulations in Southern Greenland Sea (2022)

Biogenetic sulfide dimethylsulfide (DMS) plays a major role on the global climate, especially in Arctic Ocean. Accurate simulate DMS concentration is an important task. Here we introduced both biogeochemical depth-averaged model G93 and its extension model-one dimensional DMS model. Both surface concentrations, vertical profiles of chlorophyll (CHL) and DMS are simulated using the two models within southern Greenland Sea (0E10E, 70N75N) during year 2012. As the input data for the models simulations, the spatial monthly mean of methodology forcings including sea surface temperature (SST), wind speed (WIND), cloud cover (CLD), sea ice concentration (ICE) and mixed layer depth (MLD) are calculated. Satellite 8-day time series of chlorophyll-a (CHL) are used as observation data for CHL related parameter calibrations. Simos imperial formula is used as the monthly DMS observation data. The Genetic Algorithm technique is used for the parameter calibrations. The simulation results show that the most DMS related surface concentrations exhibit the normal distributions with peak during May. CHL, DMS and DMSP (dimethylsulphoniopropionate) vertical profiles are obtained for July, August and September in year 2012. CHL had the higher variation of subsurface concentration maximum (SCM) in July with the lower surface concentration value. DMS had surface higher and subsurface lower profile for the all three months. DMSP also had subsurface high in July. The SCM CHL diurnal variation in the subsurface also can be resulted from diurnal changes in MLD and vertical mixing variations, plus photolysis and wind-driven ventilations.

Research areas: Validation
Impact of extreme weather events on cropland inundation over Indian subcontinent (2022)

Cyclonic storms and extreme precipitation lead to loss of lives and significant damage to land and property, crop productivity, etc. The Gulab cyclonic storm formed on the 24th of September 2021 in the Bay of Bengal (BoB), hit the eastern Indian coasts on the 26th of September and caused massive damage and water inundation. This study used Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) satellite precipitation data for daily to monthly scale assessments focusing on the Gulab cyclonic event. The Otsus thresholding approach was applied to Sentinel-1 data to map water inundation. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was employed to analyze the precipitation deviation compared to the 20 years mean climatology across India from June to November 2021 on a monthly scale. The water-inundated areas were overlaid on a recent publicly available high-resolution land use land cover (LULC) map to demarcate crop area damage in four eastern Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Telangana. The maximum water inundation and crop area damages were observed in Andhra Pradesh (~2700 km2), followed by Telangana (~2040 km2) and Odisha (~1132 km2), and the least in Chhattisgarh (~93.75 km2). This study has potential implications for an emergency response to extreme weather events, such as cyclones, extreme precipitation, and flood. The spatio-temporal data layers and rapid assessment methodology can be helpful to various users such as disaster management authorities, mitigation and response teams, and crop insurance scheme development. The relevant satellite data, products, and cloud-computing facility could operationalize systematic disaster monitoring under the rising threats of extreme weather events in the coming years.

Research areas: Severe Storms, Atmospheric/Ocean Indicators, Floods, Agriculture