Search results for " Urban environment"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Impact on Air Quality of the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Urban Area of Palermo (Italy).
2020
At the end of 2019, the first cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, China. Thereafter, the number of infected people increased rapidly, and the outbreak turned into a national crisis, with infected individuals all over the country. The COVID-19 global pandemic produced extreme changes in human behavior that affected air quality. Human mobility and production activities decreased significantly, and many regions recorded significant reductions in air pollution. The goal of our investigation was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the concentrations of the main air pollutants in the urban area of Palermo (Italy). In this study, the trends in the average…
Aviation Contrail Cirrus and Radiative Forcing Over Europe During 6 Months of COVID‐19
2021
Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic led to a 72% reduction of air traffic over Europe in March–August 2020 compared to 2019. Modeled contrail cover declined similarly, and computed mean instantaneous radiative contrail forcing dropped regionally by up to 0.7 W m−2. Here, model predictions of cirrus optical thickness and the top‐of‐atmosphere outgoing longwave and reflected shortwave irradiances are tested by comparison to Meteosat‐SEVIRI‐derived data. The agreement between observations and modeled data is slightly better when modeled contrail cirrus contributions are included. The spatial distributions and diurnal cycles of the differences in these data between 2019 and 2020 are partially caused…
Study of the alien flora of the urban area of Palermo (Sicily)
2016
Alien plants are an integral part of the Mediterranean agricultural and urban landscape. Taking into account that man is an active voluntary or involuntary carrier of plant diasporas, cities and areas where human activity is predominant represent preferential targets for the study of new plant introductions. In addition, some species as Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov. and Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., initially exclusive to high disturbed habitats, succeeded in penetrating in cliffs, degraded maquis and garrigues characterizing them. Thus the importance of studying these areas to predict future colonization of more natural habitats. Starting from literature and integrating it with f…
Palermo habitat multi-specie. Per un'integrazione fra uomo, natura e animali nella città neocosmopolita
2021
Le città sono per molti versi habitat cosmopoliti perché ospitano una grande varietà umana, animale e vegetale. Così come in natura la biodiversità è più ricca laddove maggiore è l’eterogeneità ambientale, anche nei contesti antropizzati si verifica lo stesso fenomeno (Mainardi, 2016). Parchi, edifici, campanili, insenature offrono una pluralità di habitat e spazi per altre specie che coesistono con l’uomo da sempre e si sovrappongono agli spazi di vita degli esseri umani, dando vita a dinamiche di convivenza (non sempre pacifica) multi-specifiche. L’attuale situazione pandemica ha generato le condizioni per cui la nostra specie ha potuto osservare nuovamente le altre che la circondano, ani…