Search results for " basin"

2021

Abstract. Lightning is the major cause of the natural ignition of wildfires worldwide and produces the largest wildfires in some regions. Lightning strokes produce about 5 % of forest fires in the Mediterranean Basin and are one of the most important precursors of the largest forest fires during the summer. Lightning-ignited wildfires produce significant emissions of aerosols, black carbon, and trace gases, such as CO, SO2, CH4, and O3, affecting air quality. Characterization of the meteorological and cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires in the Mediterranean Basin can serve to improve fire forecasting models and to upgrade the implementation of fire emissions in atmospheric model…

A pragmatic approach for downscaling precipitation in alpine-scale complex terrain

2006

A statistical method is presented to downscale precipitation from a mesoscale atmospheric model simulation. The algorithm consists of two steps. First, local subscale variability is estimated based on a high resolution observed climatology. Second, there is a bias correction, which constrains the downscaled model climatology to be equal to the observed climatology on the coarse grid. Combining both steps results in a local scaling factor for each day of the climatological year. The method is applied to the upper Danube catchment which encompasses part of the European Alps and which is characterized by highly complex orography. The subgrid-scale variability described by the first part of the…

Estimation of the time lag occurring between vegetation indices and aridity indices in a Sicilian semi-arid catchment

2009

The evolution of drought phenomena in a Sicilian semi-arid catchment has been analyzed processing both remote sensing images and climatic data for the period 1985-2000. The remote sensing dataset includes Landsat TM and ETM+ multispectral images, while the climatic dataset includes monthly rainfall and air temperature. The results have been specifically discussed for areas where it is possible to neglect agricultural activities and vegetation growth is only influenced by natural forcing. The main outcome of this study is the quantification of the time lag between the remote sensing retrieved vegetation indices and the aridity indices (AIs) calculated from climatic data. Moreover the obtaine…

Attractors/Basin of Attraction

2020

It is a controversial issue to decide who first coined the term “attractor”. According to Peter Tsatsanis, the editor of the English version of Prédire n’est pas expliquer, it was René Thom who first introduced such a term. It is necessary, however, to remember that Thom thought that it was first introduced by the American mathe- matician Steven Smale, “although Smale says it was Thom that coined the neolo- gism “attractor”“(Tsatsanis 2010: 63–64 n. 20). From this point of view, Bob Williams expressed a more cautious opinion by saying that “the word “attractor” was invented by these guys, Thom and Smale” (Cucker and Wong 2000: 183). But other mathematicians are of the opinion that the term …

The Petite Seine in the metal Ages, an obligatory route on the Tin Road

2021

The Messinian stromatolites of the Sierra del Colmenar (Western Mediterranean): facies characterization and sedimentological interpretation

2018

A representative outcrop of the Messinian stromatolites belonging to the Terminal Carbonate Complex unit, from the northern sector of the Bajo Segura basin (Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo section, Sierra del Colmenar, SE Spain) has been studied. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the architecture, external morphology, and internal morphology in order to reconstruct the environmental and palaeoecological conditions for their growth. The stromatolites macrostructure consists of a continuously doming type morphology (build up and sheets areas).These developed close to the coast and acted as a palaeogeographic barrier, reducing physical stress, channeling the erosive effect of water and …

Karyology of Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) species from the Balearic Islands and the western Iberian Peninsula

2007

Somatic chromosome numbers, conventional karyotype features and idiograms are reported for 27 Limonium species inhabiting the Western Mediterranean basin (Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands). The chromosome numbers of Limonium barceloi (2n = 36), L. ejulabilis (2n = 24), L. inexpectans (2n = 26), L. interjectum (2n = 24), and L. scopulorum (2n = 25) were determined for the first time. In addition, new aneuploid and/or polyploid cytotypes are reported in L. alcudianum (2n = 26), L. bonafei (2n = 26), L. camposanum (2n = 26), L. companyonis (2n = 26), L. dufourii (2n = 26), L. geronense (2n = 36), L. marisolii (2n = 54), L. migjornense (2n = 50), and L. pseudodictyocladon (2n = 16). A…

Ediacaran, Early Ordovician and early Silurian arcs in the South Tianshan orogen of Kyrgyzstan

2020

Abstract The oldest magmatic rocks from the South Tianshan orogen of Kyrgyzstan (STS) are important for better understanding of the Neoproterozoic and early Palaeozoic evolution of the southwestern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Bulk rock major and trace element and Sm-Nd isotopic composition and zircon U-Pb ages of granitoids from melange blocks reveal two previously unknown episodes of arc magmatism in the STS orogen of Kyrgyzstan, namely, the Ediacaran (ca. 624 Ma) and Early Ordovician (ca. 472 Ma) episodes. Moderately positive ɛNd(t) value of + 5.8 of the Ediacaran granodiorite indicates a mainly juvenile source for this rock. Negative ɛNd(t) value of −9.1 for the Early Ordovician granodi…

New stratigraphical data on the Middle-Late Jurassic biosiliceous sediments from the Sicanian basin, Western Sicily (Italy)

2008

The reported data present the stratigraphy of several sections across a Middle–Late Jurassic Radiolaritic Unit, well exposed in different thrust sheets pertaining to the Maghrebian chain of Southwestern Sicily. The aim was to define the chronostratigraphical distribution of the Jurassic biosiliceous sedi- mentation in the Sicanian palaeogeographical zone, a deep water basin belonging to the Southern Tethys continental margin. The radiolarian biostratigraphy indicates that the switching from carbonate to siliceous sedimentation in the Sicanian Basin is referable to the Bajocian, as shown by the section of Campofiorito, near Corleone. The biostratigraphical dataset allows the correlation betw…

Age and tectonic setting of granitoid gneisses in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and south-west Sinai

1994

Strongly deformed and locally migmatized gneisses occur at several places in the southern Eastern Desert of Egypt and in Sinai and have variously been interpreted as a basement to Pan-african (≈900 to 600 Ma) supracrustal and intrusive assemblages. A suite of grabbroic to granitic gneisses was investigated in the Hafafit area, which constitutes an I-type calc-alkaline intrusive assemblage whose chemistry suggests emplacement along an active continental margin and whose granitoid members can be correlated with the so-called ‘Older Granites’ of Egypt. 207Pb/206Pb single zircon evaporation from three samples of the Hafafit gneisses yielded protolith emplacement ages between 677 ± 9 and 700 ± 1…