Search results for "0207 environmental engineering"
showing 10 items of 150 documents
The impact of a mesoscale convective system cold pool on the northward propagation of the intertropical discontinuity over West Africa
2009
The interaction between a mesoscale convection system cold pool and the intertropical discontinuity (ITD) is investigated on two consecutive days (5 and 6 June 2006), in the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis Special Observing Period (SOP 1a). Satellite imagery and surface meteorological observations are used to track the movement of the ITD prior to and after its interaction with the cold pool. The impact of the northward propagating cold pool on the Sahelo-Saharan planetary boundary layer (PBL) thermodynamics and aerosol vertical distribution is analyzed by means of airborne and ground-based measurements over the two-day period. Complementary European Centre for M…
The role of ENSO flavours and TNA on recent droughts over Amazon forests and the Northeast Brazil region
2019
Amazon tropical forests and the semiarid Northeast Brazil (NEB) region have registered very severe droughts during the last two decades, with a frequency that may have exceeded natural climate variability. Severe droughts impact the physiological response of Amazon forests, decreasing the availability to absorb atmospheric CO2, as well as biodiversity and increasing risk of fires. Droughts on this region also affect population by isolating them due to anomalous low river levels. Impacts of droughts over NEB region are related to water and energy security and subsistence agriculture. Most drought episodes over Amazonia and NEB are associated with El Nino (EN) events, anomalous warming over t…
Temperature changes in the mid- and high- latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere
2012
A Hierarchical Ascending Classification is used to regionalize monthly temperature anomalies measured at 24 weather stations in Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic and mid-latitude southern islands from 1973 to 2002. Three principal regions are identified that are geographically coherent: Eastern Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and the Sub-Antarctic and mid-latitude islands. Within each region, consistent trends are observed: namely, stationary temperatures in ‘East-Antarctica’; a robust warming in the ‘Sub-Antarctic and mid-latitude islands’, most pronounced in austral summer (nearly 0.5 °C per decade); and a strong but more recent warming in the ‘Antarctic Peninsula’. Austral summer temp…
Northward bursts of the West African monsoon leading to rainfall over the Hoggar Massif, Algeria
2009
The Hoggar Massif is a comparatively populated region in the Sahara, where water supply is a critical problem due to the lack of nearby sources and unaffordable water pumping. In the present paper, we analyse the influence of the West African monsoon (WAM) on precipitation over the Hoggar during summer. We investigate (1) two rainfall events during 23-27 July 2006, accounting for almost half of the precipitation of this year, and (2) the representativity of this period with regard to ERA-40 ECMWF re-analyses (1979 to 2001). By the end of July 2006, two consecutive northward bursts of the WAM flow reached the Hoggar and caused an increase in low-level humidity. In the afternoon of these days…
Trends in column integrated water vapour over Europe from 1973 to 2003
2010
The spatial and temporal variations of atmospheric precipitable water (PW) content anomalies were analysed over Europe from 1973 to 2003 using daily data (0000 and 1200 UTC) from National Center of Environmental Prediction and National Center of Atmospheric Research Reanalysis project (NCEP-1) and in situ radiosonde data. Mann–Kendall trend tests were applied to long-term PW time series. Technology changes influence PW radiosonde trends, although these are in agreement with NCEP-1 trends. Over the south of the Iberian Peninsula, trends are negative and statistically significant ( 0.04 mm year−1; p < 0.05). Seasonal trends revealed negative and significant trends over the Iberian Peninsula f…
Variability of the African convection centre as viewed by outgoing longwave radiation records and relationships with sea-surface temperature patterns
1995
International audience; The main African convection centre (ACC) is delimited by the 5"-square areas with outgoing longwave radiation less than 235 W m-' in the domain 17.5°N-17.5"S and 18"W-46"E. Four parameters (latitude and longitude of the centre of gravity, mean intensity, and extension) were analysed during the period June 1974 to December 1991. The relationships between the variability of the ACC and the main sea-surface temperature (SST) patterns were then studied. Correlation and composite analyses demonstrate that the first principal component of SST, representing mainly the variability of the eastern and the central tropical Pacific, is associated strongly with the extension and …
Hydrogeological Behaviour and Geochemical Features of Waters in Evaporite-Bearing Low-Permeability Successions: A Case Study in Southern Sicily, Italy
2020
Knowledge about the hydrogeological behaviour of heterogeneous low-permeability media is an important tool when designing anthropogenic works (e.g., landfills) that could potentially have negative impacts on the environment and on people&rsquo
Assessing Hydrus-2D model to investigate the effects of different on-farm irrigation strategies on potato crop under subsurface drip irrigation
2019
The objective of this paper was to assess the performance of Hydrus-2D model to simulate the effects of different on-farm irrigation strategies applied on potato crop. The ability of the model to simulate the stress coefficient (Ks), obtained as the ratio between actual and maximum transpiration, and to define the productive function of potato crop under the semi-arid conditions of central Tunisia were also evaluated. Experiments were carried out on potato crop under full (FI) and deficit irrigation (DI) and two different water qualities supplied by means of a subsurface drip irrigation system. Results evidenced that the model, despite some discrepancies locally observed, can fairly accurat…
Experimental Study of Central Baffle Flume
2019
In this paper, the hydraulics of a central baffle flume (CBF) were experimentally studied. Extensive experimental runs were carried out to highlight the effects of different geometrical parameters such as baffle length, contraction ratio, and the length of upstream and downstream guide walls. Two different approaches, i.e., the Π theorem of dimensional analysis coupled with the incomplete self-similarity theory and the energy balance equation, were applied to deduce the stage–discharge formula of a CBF characterized by different geometrical parameters. The stage–discharge relationship deduced by the dimensional analysis approach was more accurate than that obtained by the energy approach. F…
The Development of Resilience Management Guidelines to Protect Critical Infrastructures in Europe
2018
The capability to be resilient in the face of crises and disasters is a topic of highest political concern in Europe especially as far as critical infrastructures and urban environments are concerned. Critical infrastructures are systems or part of systems essential for the maintenance of vital societal functions, the disruption or destruction of which would have a significant impact on the well-being of people. Examples of them are transportation services, energy infrastructures, water and wastewater systems, health and emergency services, financial services, communication infrastructures, etc. The symposium focuses on the experience of four different projects funded under the Horizon 2020…