Search results for "Weather"
showing 10 items of 360 documents
Comparing different profiles to characterize the atmosphere for three MODIS TIR bands
2015
Abstract Accurate land surface temperature (LST) retrievals from sensors aboard orbiting satellites are dependent on the corresponding atmospheric correction, especially in the thermal infrared (TIR) spectral domain (8–14 μm). To remove the atmospheric effects from at-sensor measured radiance in the TIR range it is needed to characterize the atmosphere by means of three specific variables: the upwelling path and the hemispherical downwelling radiances plus the atmospheric transmissivity. Those variables can be derived from the previous knowledge of vertical atmospheric profiles of air temperature and relative humidity at different geo-potential heights and pressures. In this work, the above…
Effect of environmental conditions on the durability of polycarbonate for the protection of cultural heritage sites.
2019
Polycarbonate is a good material for covering and protecting cultural heritage sites because of its durability, mechanical properties, and transparency. However, polycarbonate degrades under environmental weathering with a significant decrease of physical and mechanical properties and loss of transparency. In this work, the contemporary presence of ultraviolet irradiation and different temperature and moisture conditions have been taken into account to study the environmental degradation of this polymer with regard to its mechanical and optical properties. The photo-oxidation reactions cause a decrease in the molecular weight and the formation of many oxygenated species. The hydrolytic sci…
Continental weathering and climatic changes inferred from clay mineralogy and paired carbon isotopes across the early to middle Toarcian in the Paris…
2014
Abstract Lower Toarcian strata (Lower Jurassic) have been extensively studied with a view to understanding the oceanographic, climatic and biological processes that drove the Earth's system into an Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE). For this time period, the evolution of the European marine seaways is now relatively well constrained owing to multiple geochemical studies, but investigations regarding climatic trends in the continental realm remain sparse. In the present study, we test the clay mineralogy as a continental climate-sensitive proxy in the well-documented Sancerre core (southern Paris Basin). We compare variations in the kaolinite content with p CO 2 fluctuations (derived from paired ca…
Pedogenesis and carbon sequestration in transformed agricultural soils of Sicily
2021
The increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is a consequence of human activities leading to severe environmental deteriorations. Techniques are thus needed to sequester and reduce atmospheric carbon. One of the proposed techniques is the transformation or construction of new soils into which more organic carbon can be sequestered and CO2 be consumed by increased weathering. By using a chronosequence of new and transformed soils on crushed limestone (0–48 years) in a Mediterranean area (Sicily), we tried to quantify the amount of organic carbon that could be additionally sequestered and to derive the corresponding rates. A further aim was to trace chemical weathering and related CO2 consump…
Identifying Rossby wave trains and quantifying their properties
2013
A novel method is introduced to automatically identify upper-level Rossby wave trains and to objectively diagnose their properties. Based on the envelope of the upper tropospheric meridional wind represented in a Hovmoller diagram, the algorithm identifies individual Rossby wave trains as objects. These depend to some extent on user defined parameters. The utility of the method is demonstrated in two areas of application. First, the skill of a particular numerical weather prediction model is analysed for a specific case of a long-lived Rossby wave train. For this purpose, a novel diagnostic is designed based on a Hovmoller diagram of the Rossby wave train objects that contains forecast data…
Design and experimental test of a low costweather buoy
2013
The importance of prevention plans based on realistic inundation scenarios was dramatically highlighted by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December 2004. But also in the Mediterranean, sea storms basin are a quite common event especially during winter months. These scenarios are generally based on numerical models of tsunami wave propagation that can become more realistic and effective when calibrated with the distribution of true data acquired by special weather buoy. In this paper we present the result of an experimental weather buoy built by DEIM of University of Palermo, that is characterized by small cost and big versatility.
How relevant are local climate zones and urban climate zones for urban climate research? Dijon (France) as a case study.
2018
17 pages; International audience; Several typologies of urban surface properties have been proposed, in recent years, for urban heat island studies and climate modeling. Some were specifically developed for cities and urban climate issues, like the Urban Climate Zones, and the more recent Local Climate Zones. The initial objective of this paper is to evaluate the capacity of these two typologies to identify thermal environments in and around cities, and to determine which typology best captures the daily spatio-temporal patterns of surface and urban canopy heat islands. To simulate urban climate with a model, LULC data based on a given typology are required. To avoid circularity, we combine…
Methodology for the estimation of the increase in time loss due to future increase in tropical cyclone intensity in Japan
2009
Published version of an article from the journal: Climatic Change. The original publication is available at Spingerlink. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9725-9 The present paper develops a methodology for estimating the risks and consequences of possible future increases in tropical cyclone intensities that would allow policy makers to relatively quickly evaluate the cost of different mitigation strategies. The methodology simulates future tropical cyclones by modifying the intensity of historical tropical cyclones between the years 1978 and 2007. It then uses a Monte Carlo Simulation to obtain the expected number of hours that a certain area can expect to be affected by winds of a giv…
The role of pedogenic overprinting in the obliteration of parent material in some polygenetic landscapes of Sicily (Italy)
2016
Abstract Many soils older than the Holocene have experienced several changes, and possess properties that may be due to the complex effect of several stages of soil development; these soils are called polygenetic. It is still rather unclear, however, if, as time elapses, pedogenic processes tend to diverge generating different soils, or converge towards increasingly similar soils. We studied five pedons (37°60′N, 13°90′E) exposed to present weathering simultaneously since the Holocene but located on Upper Miocene or Holocene parent material. Their XRD and FTIR clay mineralogy reveal an overall homogeneity; smectites, calcite and gypsum reach the thermodynamic equilibrium, a slight undersatu…
Modern small wind turbine design solutions comparison in terms of estimated cost to energy output ratio
2015
This paper presents a series of estimations performed in order to establish the actual cost-effectiveness of three different small wind turbines (SWTs) design solutions. Each of them was evaluated and based on their power curves and installation costs, using wind data from a numerical weather prediction (WNP) model, a return on investment (ROI) period was calculated. The chosen turbines are: a standard three bladed horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), an advanced diffuser augmented HAWT and a Darrieus type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). The conclusions drawn from this study entertain the idea that from the economical point of view, a price reduction of SWT systems is more important than…