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Towards Understanding the Interconnection between Celestial Pole Motion and Earth’s Magnetic Field Using Space Geodetic Techniques
2021
The understanding of forced temporal variations in celestial pole motion (CPM) could bring us significantly closer to meeting the accuracy goals pursued by the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), i.e., 1 mm accuracy and 0.1 mm/year stability on global scales in terms of the Earth orientation parameters. Besides astronomical forcing, CPM excitation depends on the processes in the fluid core and the core–mantle boundary. The same processes are responsible for the variations in the geomagnetic field (GMF). Several investigations were conducted during the last decade to find a possible interconnection of GMF changes with the length of day (…
Effects of climate change and land use intensification on regional biological soil crust cover and composition in southern Africa
2022
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) form a regular and relevant feature in drylands, as they stabilize the soil, fix nutrients, and influence water cycling. However, biocrust forming organisms have been shown to be dramatically vulnerable to climate and land use change occurring in these regions. In this study, we used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data of biocrust-dominated pixels (NDVIbiocrust) obtained from hyperspectral and LANDSAT-7 data to analyse biocrust development over time and to forecast future NDVIbiocrust development under different climate change and livestock density scenarios in southern Africa. We validated these results by analysing the occurrence and compo…
Steroid Biomarkers Revisited - Improved Source Identification of Faecal Remains in Archaeological Soil Material.
2017
Steroids are used as faecal markers in environmental and in archaeological studies, because they provide insights into ancient agricultural practices and the former presence of animals. Up to now, steroid analyses could only identify and distinguish between herbivore, pig, and human faecal matter and their residues in soils and sediments. We hypothesized that a finer differentiation between faeces of different livestock animals could be achieved when the analyses of several steroids is combined (Δ5-sterols, 5α-stanols, 5β-stanols, epi-5β-stanols, stanones, and bile acids). We therefore reviewed the existing literature on various faecal steroids from livestock and humans and analysed faeces …
A process-based anatomy of Mediterranean cyclones: from baroclinic lows to tropical-like systems
2021
Abstract. In this study, we address the question of the atmospheric processes that turn Mediterranean cyclones into severe storms. Our approach applies on-line potential vorticity (PV) budget diagnostics and piecewise PV inversion to WRF model simulations of the mature stage of 100 intense Mediterranean cyclones. We quantify the relative contributions of different processes to cyclone development and therefore deliver, for the first time, a comprehensive insight into the variety of cyclonic systems that develop in the Mediterranean from the perspective of cyclone dynamics. In particular, we show that all 100 cyclones are systematically influenced by two main PV anomalies: a major anomaly in…
Assessing optimal water quality monitoring network in road construction using integrated information-theoretic techniques
2020
Author´s accepted manuscript. The environmental impacts of road construction on the aquatic environment necessitate the monitoring of receiving water quality. The main contribution of the paper is developing a feasible methodology for spatial optimization of the water quality monitoring network (WQMN) in surface water during road construction using the field data. First, using the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) method, the water quality index (WQI) was computed in each potential monitoring station during construction. Then, the integrated form of the information-theoretic techniques consists of the transinformation entropy (TE), and the value of information (VOI) we…
A space weather tool for identifying eruptive active regions
2019
Funding: UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK) through the consolidated grant ST/N000609/1 and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 647214); UK STFC via the Consolidated Grant SMC1/YST025 and SMC1/YST037 (S.L.Y.); UK STFC and the ERC (SynergyGrant: WHOLE SUN, Grant Agreement No. 810218) for financial support (DHM). One of the main goals of solar physics is the timely identification of eruptive active regions. Space missions such as Solar Orbiter or future Space Weather forecasting missions would largely benefit from this achievement.Our aim is to produce a relatively simple technique that c…
Climate change: A driver of future conflicts in the Persian Gulf Region?
2021
Ongoing global change and its direct environmental impacts, in addition to securing economic transition to the post-oil era, could trigger complex socio-economic and political crises in oil-dependent economies of the Persian Gulf Region (PGR). To evaluate the role of climate change and related policies in degrading the environment and its socio-economic impacts in the PGR, we have used a variety of available global datasets and published data. The results show that the countries of the PGR pursue some types of socio-economic reforms to alleviate the impacts of climate change. However, it seems that these attempts are not compatible with the environment's capacity. The main problem stems fro…
Personal Exposure to Ultrafine Particles According to Different Environments and Modes of Transport in Schoolchildren: Results from a Spanish Cohort …
2017
Background Combustion, especially in diesel engines, emits a complex mixture of gases and particles that could be harmful for the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Daily personal exposure to the smallest particulate matter (less than 0.1 µm and usually called nanoparticles or ultrafine particles – UFP) has been studied to a lesser extent compared to coarser particles. In this study we aim to assess personal exposure to UFP in different environments and transport modes among schoolchildren from a Spanish birth-cohort in the province of Valencia. Methods The study population consisted of 114 children aged 10-11 years. For each of them, personal exposure to UFP was measured continuously …
Soil features in rookeries of Antarctic penguins reveal sea to land biotransport of chemical pollutants
2017
© The Author(s).
A New Network for the Advancement of Marine Biotechnology in Europe and Beyond
2020
Marine organisms produce a vast diversity of metabolites with biological activities useful for humans, e.g., cytotoxic, antioxidant, anti-microbial, insecticidal, herbicidal, anticancer, pro-osteogenic and pro-regenerative, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, cholesterol-lowering, nutritional, photoprotective, horticultural or other beneficial properties. These metabolites could help satisfy the increasing demand for alternative sources of nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food, feed, and novel bio-based products. in addition, marine biomass itself can serve as the source material for the production of various bulk commodities (e.g., biofuels, bioplastics, biomateria…