Search results for "source"
showing 10 items of 6139 documents
Temperature-related mortality impacts under and beyond Paris Agreement climate change scenarios.
2018
The Paris Agreement binds all nations to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change, with the commitment to hold warming well below 2 degrees C in global mean temperature (GMT), relative to pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C. The 1.5 degrees C limit constitutes an ambitious goal for which greater evidence on its benefits for health would help guide policy and potentially increase the motivation for action. Here we contribute to this gap with an assessment on the potential health benefits, in terms of reductions in temperature-related mortality, derived from the compliance to the agreed temperature targets, compared to more extreme warmin…
Methodological Aspects for the Implementation of the Air Pesticide Control and Surveillance Network (PESTNet) of the Valencian Region (Spain)
2021
A large amount of pesticide, applied mainly during agricultural practice, is released into the atmosphere, decreasing air quality and potentially causing public health problems. The Valencian region, after Andalusia, is the Spanish region with the highest consumption of pesticides owing to its large areas of agricultural land and the existence of crops that require intensive use of pesticides. In this work, we describe the sampling and analytical tools developed in the last decade and their transference to the Regional Department for Environment, where the main objective of the research was the creation and implementation of an Air pesticide control and surveillance network (PESTNet) in the…
The airborne mass spectrometer AIMS – Part 2: Measurements of trace gases with stratospheric or tropospheric origin in the UTLS
2016
Understanding the role of climate-sensitive trace gas variabilities in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region (UTLS) and their impact on its radiative budget requires accurate measurements. The composition of the UTLS is governed by transport and chemistry of stratospheric and tropospheric constituents, such as chlorine, nitrogen oxide and sulfur compounds. The Atmospheric chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer AIMS has been developed to accurately measure a set of these constituents on aircraft by means of chemical ionization. Here we present a setup using SF5− reagent ions for the simultaneous measurement of trace gas concentrations of HCl, HNO3 and SO2 in the pptv to ppmv (1…
Including an environmental quality index in a demographic model
2016
This paper presents a new well-being index which allows environmental quality to be measured through CO2 emissions, renewable energies and nuclear power. Its formula derives from a geometric mean used to calculate which things in the human production system warm the planet and which do not. This index has been introduced into a gender-defined stochastic population dynamic mathematical model which measures well-being in a country. The main variables in this model are rates of death, birth, emigration and immigration, as well as three UN indices: Human Development Index, Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Index. This model has been extended with variables that allow an environmen…
“Beyond Weather Regimes”: Descriptors Monitoring Atmospheric Centers of Action. A case study for Aotearoa New Zealand
2021
AbstractThis paper introduces a set of descriptors applied to weather regimes, that allow for a detailed monitoring of the location and intensity of their atmospheric centers of action (e.g. troughs and ridges) and the gradients between them, when applicable. Descriptors are designed to document the effect of climate variability and change in modulating the character of daily weather regimes, rather than merely their occurrence statistics.As a case study, the methodology is applied to Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ), using ERA5 ensemble reanalysis data for the period 1979-2019. Here, we analyze teleconnections between the regimes and their descriptors, and large-scale climate variability. Result…
Measurement of low-ppm mixing ratios of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere using chemical ionization mass spectrometry
2018
A chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) instrument has been developed for the fast, precise, and accurate measurement of water vapor (H2O) at low mixing ratios in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS). A low-pressure flow of sample air passes through an ionization volume containing an α-particle radiation source, resulting in a cascade of ion-molecule reactions that produce hydronium ions (H3O+) from ambient H2O. The production of H3O+ ions from ambient H2O depends on pressure and flow through the ion source, which were tightly controlled in order to maintain the measurement sensitivity independent of changes in the airborne sampling environment. The instrument w…
3-D imaging and quantification of graupel porosity by synchrotron-based micro-tomography
2011
The air bubble structure is an important parameter to determine the radiation properties of graupel and hailstones. For 3-D imaging of this structure at micron resolution, a cryo-stage was developed. This stage was used at the tomography beamline of the Swiss Light Source (SLS) synchrotron facility. The cryo-stage setup provides for the first time 3-D-data on the individual pore morphology of ice particles down to infrared wavelength resolution. In the present study, both sub-mm size natural and artificial ice particles rimed in a wind tunnel were investigated. In the natural rimed ice particles, Y-shaped air-filled closed pores were found. When kept for half an hour at −8 °C, this morpholo…
A new hybrid procedure for the definition of seismic vulnerability in Mediterranean cross-border urban areas
2016
Assessment of seismic vulnerability of urban areas provides fundamental information for activities of planning and management of emergencies. The main difficulty encountered when extending vulnerability evaluations to urban contexts is the definition of a framework of assessment appropriate for the specific characteristics of the site and providing reliable results with a reasonable duration of surveys and post-processing of data. The paper proposes a new procedure merging different typologies of information recognized on the territories investigated and for this reason called “hybrid.” Knowledge of historical events influencing urban evolution and analysis of recurrent building technologie…
Evaluation and comparison of satellite precipitation estimates with reference to a local area in the Mediterranean Sea
2014
Precipitation measurement is a key activity for the analysis of storm processes as well as every hydrological process. Satellite retrieval systems, rain-gauge network and radar systems are complement to each other in terms of their coverage and capability of monitoring precipitation. Satellite rainfall estimates systems produce data with global coverage that can provide information in areas for which data from other sources are unavailable. Without referring to ground measurement, satellite-based estimates can be bias. Although some gauged adjusted satellite precipitation products are developed, an effective way of integrating multi-sources of precipitation information is still a challenge.…
Analysis of the impact of intermittent distribution by modelling the network-filling process
2010
In many countries, users acquire private tanks to reduce their vulnerability to water scarcity. In such conditions, water managers often apply intermittent distribution in order to reduce the water volumes supplied to the users. This practice modifies the hydraulic behaviour of the network and determines competition among users that need to collect enough water resource for their uses. Intermittent distribution is thus responsible for the inequality that can occur among users: those located in advantaged positions of the network are able to obtain water resources soon after the service period begins, while others have to wait much longer, after the network is full. This paper analyses the i…