Search results for " mediterranean climate"

Applications of a remote sensing-based two-source energy balance algorithm for mapping surface fluxes without in situ air temperature observations

2012

Abstract The two-source energy balance (TSEB) model uses remotely sensed maps of land–surface temperature (LST) along with local air temperature estimates at a nominal blending height to model heat and water fluxes across a landscape, partitioned between dual sources of canopy and soil. For operational implementation of TSEB, however, it is often difficult to obtain representative air temperature data that are compatible with the LST retrievals, which may themselves have residual errors due to atmospheric and emissivity corrections. To address this issue, two different strategies in applying the TSEB model without requiring local air temperature data were tested over a typical Mediterranean…

Shading Net and Partial Covering Plastic Film Do Not Affect Phenology, Photosynthetic Activity or Fruit Quality Traits of Kensington Pride Mango

2022

Mango cultivation in a protected environment is becoming widespread in the Mediterranean basin where the species has to face unfavorable weather conditions which do not occur in its native cultivation areas. Besides open-air cultivation, greenhouses—and other protection systems such as shading nets and partial covering of plastic films—have been tested recently. In this study, we focused on assessing the effect of a shading net, and a partially covering plastic film, on the development of “Kensington Pride” mango fruit skin-color, its final quality, and the plants’ photosynthetic activity. A new method of measuring mango skin-color on different sides of the fru…

Water-level fluctuations in Mediterranean reservoirs: Setting a dewatering threshold as a management tool to improve water quality

2005

Water-level fluctuations, often linked to seasonal climatic trends, are a natural phenomenon which occur in almost all aquatic ecosystems. In some climatic regions, as the Mediterranean one, they are particularly wide due to the occurrence of two well separated periods: the rainy winter and the almost completely dry summer. Precipitation is concentrated in the first period, whereas in the second strong evaporation losses take place. According to these climatic features, and to ensure a continuous supply of water throughout the year, man-made lakes store water during winter and are subjected to dewatering during summer to compensate the lack of precipitation. These ecosystems are thus charac…

Near Zero Energy House in Palestine: Identification of the Future Challenges

2015

Most of researches and experiences of the concept of near zero energy buildings (NZEBs) are highly concentrated on the developed countries more than the developing countries due to many reasons related to the different contexts conditions. This paper is a part of a PhD thesis, which is being supervised by the Department of Architecture at the University of Palermo. The paper aims at highlighting the challenges facing the house design in Palestine as a developing country in terms of NZEBs by making a study which is related to discussing different experiences in the field of energy saving strategies in Palestine and some surrounded countries, such as Jordan which shares certain climatic and a…

Phytoplankton in the Physical Environment

2010

Bioindicators and nutrient availability through whole soil profile under orange groves after long-term different organic fertilizations

2019

We investigated long-term (18 years) effects of three organic (cow manure (CM), poultry manure (PM), compost from agro-industry orange wastes (OW)) and one inorganic fertilization (IF) on various soil biological indicators (microbial biomass C, soil respiration, total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), total bacteria, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi) and nutrient contents (total and extractable organic C, total and mineral N, available P and K) along the profile of a Typic Haplustept under orange Mediterranean orchards. All fertilizers were added on the same N content basis (190 kg N ha−1 per year). Variables related to carbon cycling gradually worsened with depth, regardl…

Evaluating the performance of reference evapotranspiration equations with scintillometer measurements under Mediterranean climate and effects on oliv…

2014

The concept of reference potranspiration is widely used to support water resource management in agriculture and for irrigation scheduling, especially under arid and semi-arid conditions. The Penman-Monteith standardized formulations, as suggested by ASCE and FAO-56 papers, are generally applied for accurate estimations of ETo, at hourly and daily scale. When detailed meteorological information are not available, several alternative and simplified equations, using a limited number of variables, have been proposed (Blaney-Criddle, HargreavesSamani, Turc, Makkinen and Pristley-Taylor). In this paper, scintillometer measurements collected for six month in 2005, on an experimental plot under “re…

Soil carbon accumulation after agricultural abandonment. A Mediterranean case study.

2011

In the last decades, in Europe large agricultural areas have been abandoned. In absence of disturbance factors, renaturation of these areas is rapid due to secondary succession of vegetation communities. In the Mediterranean region, in the last years have been conducted studies on soil carbon accumulation after agricultural abandonment. Soil has to be regarded as the most considerable carbon (C) sink on a global level. CO2 emission compensation is guaranteed also by C uptake by plants and by organic matter accumulation in soils. The present study analyzes organic carbon stock in some soils of Southern Italy, in the Madonie Mountains in Sicily, where large areas are subject to secondary succ…

Experimentally approaching the analysis of the thermal performances of green roofing in Mediterranean climates

2010

Biodiverse green roofs in Mediterranean climate. Input and lessons learned from Germany and Switzerland

In the realm of the doctoral program in technologies for sustainability and land restoration, this thesis deepens sustainable and ecological solutions for Mediterranean environment after the German tradition and the Swiss school of green roofs for biodiversity. Specific aims were to: (1) assess the effectiveness of the existing green roofs norms in supporting biodiversity; (2) review methodologies and approaches for the implementation of biodiverse green roofs but also their application for ecological design; (3) identify habitat templates in the Mediterranean ecoregion replicable on green roofs; and (4) investigate the long term vegetation development of unmanaged green roofs in order to g…