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Chile has a very ambitious energy transition agenda and massive challenges ahead to accomplish it. To integrate the high solar energy potential in the north an the high wind power potential of the south of the country, considerable investments in the electrical grid and new balancing mechanism and storage capacities are necessary. This study addresses the potential of individual industries, particularly the paper industry, to provide flexibility to the electrical system on-site. To achieve this, an optimization model that minimizes energy provision costs is proposed. The model considers the demand of a company including its demand side management potential, combined heat and power generation capacities, as well as on-site renewable energy generation location potential from photovoltaics and wind power. The model is computed under multiple parametrization scenarios to estimate under which conditions it would be advantageous for the company to use renewable electricity. This allows to evaluate how much of the renewable electricity produced in high peaks can be used by the company, and in how far, demand side management and combined heat and power can compensate low generation periods of renewable electricity. The model is feeded with typical hourly electricity and heat demand profiles of a prototypic paper producing company, which were statistically derived from one and a half years of measurements. Moreover, electricity generation time series from photovoltaics and wind power are derived from physical models that rely on ERA5 reanalysis data. The latter data set allows to compute the model in locations all around Chilean territory in a 30 km x 30 km spatial grid. Results are presented in the form of maps of the shares of renewables that would be enabled at avery location by industries of the same characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBiosludge is a solid waste of the pulp and paper industry, which is usually incinerated for energy recovery or landfilled. This study evaluates the energy balance and carbon footprint of using pulp and paper mill sludge in anaerobic digestion (AD) systems with alternative uses for the biogas, in different regions of the world, using Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA). The digested residues from the AD are assumed to be used for biochar production, and subsequent incorporation into forest soils. Three scenarios based on alternative uses of biogas were investigated: (i) biogas for vehicle fuel in the transportation sector, (ii) biogas for heat and electricity in the power sector, and (iii) biogas for cooking in households. The E-LCA results demonstrate that both energy balance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement of biosludge treatment in the AD systems significantly improve relative to the baseline scenario of incineration. The displacement of fossil fuel with biogas, and carbon stabilized in biochar contribute largely to the truncation of the energy and carbon footprints. Therefore, a combination of AD and pyrolysis technologies as a novel energy-biochar production system could offer an opportunity for sustainable management of pulp and paper mill sludge. Regarding biogas, the local or national infrastructure determines possible uses, and this aspect was shown to affect E-LCA results. Keywords: Biochar, biogas, digested sludge, carbon footprint, energy balance, waste treatment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When evaluating performance of ensemble streamflow forecasts, in scientific papers mostly verification metrics are reported, such as relative mean error, relative operating characteristic, and mean continuous ranked probability skill score. The research presented here analyses how such reported performances, compare with evaluation of one of the application areas: flood forecasting and early warning. The anecdotal evaluation concerns reviewing online news media for forecasts and warnings of floods and for reports of floods occurred. While realising there is often a complex pathway between forecast and published warning online, it is discussed whether both evaluations leave us with a similar sense of 'where do we stand today' with the performance of ensemble flood forecasting, or, if different, how to come to a combined or integrated viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate change problem is an actual concern of the modern world and CO2 emissions are mainly responsible for it, CO2 being the most important greenhouse gas. The worldwide effort to reduce these emissions lead to the development of CCS technologies. The increasing need for energy and our dependence on fossil fuels lead to the viable solution of reducing carbon dioxide emissions using geological storage. CO2 Capture and Storage solution was evaluated in several European projects and several European countries, including Romania. In Romania the efforts made in reducing carbon dioxide emissions lead to a general evaluation of possible geological storage sites. This evaluation resulted in calculating storage capacities in saline aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs.The Romanian sedimentary basins potentially containing saline formations have been combined in 4 large zones (Moesian platform and S. Carpathians foredeep, Moldavian platform and E. Carpathians foredeep, Transilvanian basin and Pannonian basin).Out of their total surface areas, the surface with sedimentary cover thinner than 800 m have been eliminated from calculations as such areas are not suitable for CO2 storage. The sectors distinguished are: Energy, Refineries, Production and processing of ferrous metals, Cement, Lime, Glass, Ceramics, Pulp and paper. From 244 industrial installations with CO2 allowances, only 63 have significant emissions (>0.1 Mt CO2).The CO2 capacity in depleted or declining hydrocarbon (oil and gas) fields was calculated by a production-based equation of the form:GCO2 = URP × B × ρ,where URP is the Ultimate Recoverable Oil (or Gas) based on sum of produced volumes and expected reserves. Romania has a history of 150 years of oil industry. It is estimated that during such a long period of time, some 720 Mt of oil and 1122 Gm3 have been extracted from its underground (Gilbert, 2007). Today it may be considered a "mature" oil and gas province with 70 - 80 percent of its resources already exploited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTROPanta Rhei enhances interdisciplinarity: the authors, hydrologist, and environmental scientist cooperate interdisciplinary with colleagues in the waterboard party WaterNatuurlijk at HollandsNoorderkwartier (HHNK). Secondly, Panta Rhei promotes interaction between hydrology and society. Public participation of spatial organization is ameliorating in the Netherlands, and we hope these experiences are relevant to other countries.This paper is a 5-year follow-up of "Water and Democracy" (G. Rot, 2014). By now, democratized Waterboards are safeguarded: 21 Waterboards form the so-called 4th functional/executive government layer; other layers being Central Government, 12 Provinces, and 355 Municipalities.POSITION OF WATERBOARDS IN THE OMGEVINGS_LAW_2021 (SURROUNDINGS_LAW)By 2021 one Omgevings_law should replace dozens of existing laws on the spatial organization. The law was five years postponed, being far more complex than foreseen. Some bottlenecks:*How can inhabitants submit their spatial plans at only one government counter.*public access to all spatial databases.* Waterboards tried to include the "Watertoets (Watercheck)" in the Omgevings_law. The watertoets is currently a legal hydrological evaluation of all municipal spatial plans. Its status is however just advisory (with provincial control).*Central, provincial and municipal authorities should write juridically binding Omgevingsvisies (containing clear objectives and maps, explaining which changes are allowed and which not, regarding landscape and nature protection, etc. See for example (Province_NH, 2017).* A "waterboard Omgevingsvisie" has no juridical status in the Omgevings_law. It is nonetheless useful for communication between governments and waterboard stakeholders, who contributed to and participated in executive programs. (HollandsNoorderwartier, 2012).PROGRESSIVE POLICY MAKING IN A "FUNCTIONAL/EXECUTIVE" WATERBOARDCooperation and trust is the driving force behind the Omgevings_law. The attitude towards the public is no longer negative, "not allowed, unless," but open, "allowable if meeting constraints."2008 the waterboard political party 'WaterNatuurlijk' was founded. There are only two nátional waterboard parties. Two progressive parties represented in the other government layers, also support WaterNatuurlijk, which ranked one in the 2015 elections. 20 March 1919 the next waterboard elections are held for four years (simultaneously with provincial ones).WaterNatuurlijk underscores the goal of optimal public participation, based on goodwill! Calling itself progressive, WaterNatuurlijk HHNK developed a new government layer strategy since 2015. Our strategy is not juridical, but rather persuasive. We "politize" the 4th functional/executive waterboard status by communication: we try to get mandates from the other three government layers for our goals, for instance, to build climate-resilient landscapes (WaterNatuurlijk, 2019). We try to communicate the water aspects of citizens and farmers and nature protectors, recreants, etc. to get mandates for waterboards. The paper provides examples.REFERENCES*G. Rot (2014-06). Democracy and Water: hydrological spatial organization by recently democratized Regional Water Boards, a Dutch first? IAHS Publ. 365, 2014*HollandsNoorderKwartier (2012-06) Een deltavisie voor Hollands Noorderkwartier.*Province_NH (2017-11) Kwaliteitsbeeld NH 2050*WaterNatuurlijk_HHNK (1919). Election program (verkiezingsprograma) 1919-1923 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation process of the landslide lake is influenced by the valley shape, flow conditions and landslide characteristic parameters, which leads to greater uncertainty in the material structure, shape and size of the dam body, thus increasing the difficulty of deformation and seepage analysis of the landslide dam. The time-space variability and uncertainty of material parameters of dam body are not well taken into account in the analysis and calculation of structural deformation and seepage of dam body by conventional model. Therefore, the response of dam structure calculated and analyzed according to the parameters of zonal homogeneous material will inevitably deviate from the actual situation. In this paper, the simulation method of random field of material parameters of a dam body was constructed. Taking a landslide dam in China as an example, the sensitivity analysis of dam body parameters was carried out by using orthogonal test design and finite element numerical calculation method. The parameters of Duncan-Chang E-B model and deformation rheological model, which need to be simulated by random field, and the permeability coefficient of dam body materials were determined. Combined with the improved recursive space method and the measured data of the project, the vertical and along-river correlation distances of the dam were calculated. Finally, the random field of material parameters of dam body was established by using part average subdivision method to discretize the random field. Based on the random field of dam material parameters, three-dimensional deformation and seepage finite element models considering rheology were established respectively. And based on the chaotic phase space reconstruction technology, the deformation and seepage warning values of the landslide dam were worked out. The results showed that the time-space variability and uncertainty of landslide dam material parameters were taken into account in the finite element calculation of dam deformation and seepage, which would cause a certain degree of discretization of structural response. Without considering the spatio-temporal variability and uncertainty of dam material parameters, the calculated results would have a high probability of underestimating the structural response of the dam. Therefore, considering the spatio-temporal variability and uncertainty of dam material parameters in structural calculation can better simulate the actual deformation and seepage of the dam, and the structural response value is closer to the measured value. The models in this paper also provide more accurate data support for the engineering solution of emergency rescue of landslide dams in barrier lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser and FTIR spectroscopic techniques have become increasingly common for high accuracy atmospheric trace gas analysis. In most cases spectroscopic techniques are isotopologue-specific. If a measurement of the most abundant isotopologue of a trace gas is used as a proxy for its total concentration, errors may arise if the isotopic composition of the target gas differs between the calibration gases and the samples measured and the differences are not correctly accounted for. Recent papers (1-3) have treated this isotopic sensitivity for CO2 – in this paper the treatment is generalised and extended to other atmospheric trace gases such as CH4 and N2O. The potential errors, while generally small, are comparable to or greater than the inherent measurement precision of current spectroscopic techniques and to compatibility requirements for atmospheric greenhouse gas measurements recommended by the WMO-Global Atmosphere Watch. For the most accurate measurements in atmospheric trace gas analysis and metrology, the effects of isotopic variability should be at least assessed and preferably included in the analysis.1. Flores, E., Viallon, J., Moussay, P., Griffith, D. W. T., and Wielgosz, R. I.: Calibration Strategies for FT-IR and Other Isotope Ratio Infrared Spectrometer Instruments for Accurate δ13C and δ18O Measurements of CO2 in Air, Analytical Chemistry, 89, 3648-3655, 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b05063, 2017.2. Tans, P. P., Crotwell, A. M., and Thoning, K. W.: Abundances of isotopologues and calibration of CO2 greenhouse gas measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2669-2685, 10.5194/amt-10-2669-2017, 2017.3. Griffith, D. W. T.: Calibration of isotopologue-specific optical trace gas analysers: a practical guide, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6189-6201, 10.5194/amt-11-6189-2018, 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GRACE-FO mission was launched on May 22, 2018. The data collected by the mission so far has been analyzed by the GRACE-FO Science Data System and the assessment of the preliminary gravity fields estimated is on-going. RL06 processing for the GRACE mission was completed earlier for the spherical harmonic solutions and the estimation of the RL06 mascon solutions at the Center for Space Research (UT-CSR) is now finalized. In this paper, we present the strategies implemented for RL06 mascon solutions for GRACE processing and we discuss the similarities and difference in the strategies needed for GRACE-FO mascon processing. This paper assesses the quality of the gravity fields from GRACE and GRACE-FO mainly in the geo-spatial domain. We present the results of the assessment relative to the expectation of signals in the independent datasets and with a focus on the continuity between GRACE and GRACE-FO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curriculum of the master’s program (MSc) in Geophysics at ELTE EötvösLoránd University contains a mandatory course on Tectonic geomorphology since itsinception. This course is intended to bring the knowledge of students (often withbackgrounds from different bachelor’s programs) to the same level on a wide range oftopics. The structure of the course follows the classic bimodal teaching method: it contains a corepart, presented by the teaching staff and a seminar-like part, during which the students presentand discuss various papers (of various quality) selected from a list. One of the aims of thisapproach was to help students develop their soft skills, however some more reclusive studentswere hard to motivate. To improve on this aspect, we introduced a standalone debate session (ca. 90 min). Thisyear, the topic of the debate had been the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. In thisdebate, the students were randomly assigned to different stakeholders with differentmotivations.Three weeks before the assignment of roles, the students were given an extensive list of (a)scientific papers, (b) official communications (of state authorities, NGOs, etc.), (c) publiclyavailable official plans and (d) newspaper articles. Two weeks before the session, two-person groups have been randomly formed andtheir roles were assigned. The stakeholders included the investor (the state-ownedelectricity company), the (foreign) contractor building the power plant, the nationalgeological/mining authority (responsible for issuing permits if the site was deemedappropriate), the foreign ministry/embassy of a neighboring country opposing the proposedproject, and a fictitious society of professors (who would be largely neutral, butcriticizing anything that is scientifically unsound). The groups had to communicate (anddefend) the viewpoint of the stakeholder they played, irrespective of their personalopinions. The session was a stunning success. The groups were very well prepared. They presentedtheir initial statements at the beginning and then they debated seeking supportive opinionsfrom other stakeholders and vividly engaging others who questioned their position. Somegroups even tried to mimic the behavior (e.g. dress-code, use of language) of the stakeholderthey represented. After the session the students were interviewed about the session. The vastmajority reported that although it was difficult to represent an opinion that theypersonally not shared, they learned a lot. Another common opinion was that it wasuseful, that they were forced to read all types of contributions (as initially theydid not know what would be their task), so they learned more than otherwise theywould. It is important to note that all students took part in the discussion almost equally, withouttoo much intervention from the teaching staff who were there in a moderating capacity.We conclude that this role-play debate contributed to foster their extracurricularskills like critical thinking, working in teams and the ability to solve problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many close similarities between Uranus and Neptune, those planets' systems have some very different architectural elements, such as their positions and orientations in the solar system and the characters of their satellite and ring systems. For instance, Neptune's average heliocentric distance is more than 10 AU larger than Uranus's, and Uranus's 97° obliquity is radically different from Neptune's more Earth-like 28°. These differences have significant ramifications for the architectures of scientific flight missions to those planets, for in-situ investigations and platforms that are parts of those missions, and for technologies key to enabling those investigations.This paper will include descriptions of the architectures of the Uranus and Neptune systems, emphasizing characteristics that drive science mission architectural options and associated key technologies. The challenge of delivering a flight system of useful mass to the destination ice giant is a significant part of the architectural trade because this limits the mass available for an in situ platform. That delivered mass capability is generally a function of the project's budget (among other influences such as launch date), and the scientific value of the mission typically grows quickly as delivered mass increases. As the tremendously successful Cassini-Huygens mission demonstrated, international collaboration can be a significant avenue for maximizing a mission's scientific value, capitalizing on the combined resources of multiple nations and institutions.This paper will describe several architectural options (e.g., spacecraft architectures, orbit designs, communications options), with a focus on delivering and supporting in situ platforms and their scientific investigations. This will include brief summaries of results from the NASA-led Ice Giant Missions study of 2016, the NASA-sponsored SNAP study of 2017, and the In Situ Exploration of the Giant Planets Workshop held in Marseille, France in February of this year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates ethical considerations associated with forecasting urban climate risks, focusing on extreme heat. Following the session aim, the paper considers negative societal effects which could arise from well-intentioned attempts to measure, communicate and respond to spatial differences in heat risk within cities. Assessing urban thermal environments and socio-economic vulnerability, and providing decision-makers with information to act (e.g. through strategic built environment actions, green infrastructure etc), can reduce harm to citizens from intensifying urban heat risks. However, critical social science suggests there is a need to reflect on the deeper and longer-term implications of urban resilience initiatives, which can if managed inappropriately inadvertently make the communities they are intended to benefit even more susceptible to harm. This contribution evaluates this tension through interview- and field observation-based assessment of heat risk management practices in Glasgow, Scotland (which has emerging interest in heat risk across space, and publicly-available socio-economic data), Taipei, Taiwan (which has no heat vulnerability information available to public yet) and Fukuoka, Japan (which has specific targeted heat risk reduction strategies); as well as the authors' own experiences of assessing heat risk in Taipei.Drawing on our data and insights, we suggest areas of ethical consideration which geoscientists and decision-makers (planners, city governors, developers, community leaders) ought to be aware of when engaging in spatial assessment of heat and indeed other risks e.g. flooding. First is the potential psychological or stigmatising effects for inhabitants which can come with marking out an area as 'vulnerable'. Whilst hazard maps are produced in each of the case study cities for flooding, these are usually based on physical exposure and do not necessarily include socio-economic data. Particularly in Fukuoka, participants suggested inclusion of socio-economic vulnerability indicators on publicly-available risk maps could be a source of embarrassment for communities. Second is the danger that identifying areas as 'high-risk' through spatial assessment could lead to certain areas or communities being targeted by city-level planners or governments for interventions, which although well-meaning may come across as patronising or unwanted. Third is the challenge of ensuring that risk reduction strategies based on data and 'hard science' are respectful of local traditional knowledges of how to manage environmental risk, such as uchimizu street-watering practices in Japan. Fourth and final is the bigger danger of focusing on short-term and/or emergency 'solutions' targeted at vulnerable populations during periods of extreme heat, to the detriment of considering how to address longer-term social and political processes such as urban governance and social policy which can make some people and areas more susceptible to harm in the first place.These recommendations of course do not mean scientists and decision-makers should not strive to produce spatial assessments of cities' climate risks and communicate these to citizens and decision-makers. Rather, the point of our paper is to argue that when assessing heat and other risks across space, geoscientists may benefit from collaborating with people who have good local contextual knowledge, to ensure outputs and recommendations are developed in a format sensitive to the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exemplifies a framework for systematically evaluating social justice dimensions within evidence-based decision-making processes for nature-based solutions in cities. There is increasing awareness that social justice – that is, reaching outcomes which are fair across society - needs to be an integral component to resilient cities, and that nature-based solutions may disproportionately benefit affluent or empowered communities. Yet it is also arguably true that effective deployment of nature-based solutions requires consideration of technical and scientific processes at a city-wide scale, and hence that equitable reduction of climate risk via nature-based solutions may be more complex than simply targeting discrete interventions towards more vulnerable areas.The purpose of this paper is therefore to illustrate challenges and opportunities in supporting geoscientists and urban policy-makers, who produce and rely on spatial environmental data as an evidence base for decisions, to consider social justice dimensions in urban governance for nature-based solutions. The aim is to reach outcomes that are both socially equitable and scientifically appropriate. We assess these issues through empirical stakeholder interview- and policy-analysis data collected for the current status of nature-based solutions development in Glasgow (Scotland) and Taipei (Taiwan), giving one European and one Asian case study and one oceanic and one subtropical city. For each, we assess (a) data availability and competences for understanding spatial distribution of benefits from nature-based solutions relative to vulnerable populations; (b) processes for making decisions about nature-based solutions, and opportunities for participation and learning within these; and (c) how well different groups and knowledge systems are recognised within decision-making forums for nature-based solutions. Our results indicate that finding ways to connect nature-based solutions – particularly their role in reducing climate risk – to overarching social issues such as health and wellbeing may build political traction for deployment. Attaining this, however, requires rigorous and appropriate data – such as flood disadvantage work undertaken in Glasgow integrating physical exposure with socio-economic data – and strong city-level leadership to balance competing pressures and identify areas where nature-based solutions benefits are needed the most. Moreover, whilst governance of nature-based solutions ought to be guided by data and techno-scientific evidence from the city-wide level, community engagement initiatives can help to ensure nature-based solutions are appropriate to communities' resilience-building requirements, perceived as legitimate, and not viewed as being imposed from on high and/or unwanted. Whilst not explicitly geared towards nature-based solutions, initiatives such as disaster resistant community in Taiwan, Taipei Open Green and Taipei's wider turn towards citizen participation can provide a pathway to more inclusive governance processes. Lastly, we reflect on the challenge in both cities of recognising techno-scientific expertise and data (e.g. land use and heat exposure, flooding risk, and vulnerability within different societies) alongside citizen and practitioner knowledge.Finally, from Glasgow and Taipei we offer insights on the role geoscientists can play in the complex governance of nature-based solutions. This includes early engagement with policy-makers to understand knowledge gaps and data requirements, and collaboration with knowledge-brokers to identify where and how they can inform urban governance with appropriate evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional seismic risk assessment is paramount in earthquake-prone areas, for instance to define and implement prioritisation schemes for risk mitigation. As part of the INdonesia School Programme to Increase Resilience (INSPIRE), this paper introduces the INSPIRE index, which is an empirical proxy for the relative seismic risk of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings within a given building portfolio. The index combines a baseline score, calibrated based on fragility curves in HAZUS MH4, and a performance modifier, calibrated through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to minimise subjectivity. An ad-hoc rapid visual survey form is proposed, which allows to 1) calculate the proposed INSPIRE seismic risk prioritisation index; 2) calculate the Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment (PTVA) index; 3) define one or more archetype buildings representative of the analysed portfolio; 4) derive detailed numerical models of the archetype building, provided that simulated design is used to cross-check the model assumptions. Such framework is demonstrated for 85 RC school buildings in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, the mostly affected city by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake-tsunami sequence. A multi-hazard prioritisation scheme is defined combining the INSPIRE and PTVA indices. Moreover, an archetype building representative of the entire portfolio is defined based on the collected data. Its seismic performance is analysed by means of non-linear static analyses, using both the analytical Simple Lateral Mechanism Analysis (SLaMA) method and numerical finite element pushover analyses to investigate the predicted plastic mechanisms and derive displacement/drift thresholds to define appropriate damage states. Finally, non-linear dynamic analyses using 150 unscaled natural ground motions (cloud analysis) are adopted to derive fragility curves for the archetype building. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the INSPIRE form and proposed index in providing a rational method to derive prioritisation schemes and in allowing the definition of archetype buildings for more detailed evaluations/analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observed Influence of SST on the Tropical Atmospheric Water CycleAbstractThe objective of this paper is to improve our understanding of the relationships between the atmospheric water cycle variables, using a new synergistic data set of instantaneous spaceborne observations. This data set consists of five years (May 2012 to April 2016) of relative humidity profiles from the Megha-Tropiques satellite, collocated with cloud and precipitation from the CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites. The data is gridded on a 1° × 1° spatial resolution, collocated once daily (1.30 pm LT) and partitioned into atmospheric circulation regimes, as well as cloud phase and opacity categories and precipitating/non-precipitating scenes. The results show that all SST bins are dominated by non-precipitating cloud objects, but highlight that convective precipitation only occurs for SSTs above 299 K, whilst stratiform precipitation from liquid clouds can be present down to 291 K. In extreme ascending situations, when the atmosphere contains an ice cloud (dominant mode: 72 %), different behaviors are seen below and above the 299 K SST threshold – often referred to and discussed in several previous papers as the threshold for the onset of deep convection and/or a runaway greenhouse effect: (i) Below 299 K, the atmosphere is fully overcast with opaque clouds, whilst above 299 K, the opaque cover decreases and favors more thin clouds. (ii) As the SST passes over the 299 K threshold, the moist RH rises from the near-surface layer to the free troposphere. (iii) In the mid-troposphere, precipitating scenes are moister than its non-precipitating counterparts, but drier in the PBL and at the tropopause level. Further discussions will treat the contrasts between extreme ascending and descending regimes, under which conditions the different sub regimes dominate, as well as the signature of the El Niño period and its impact on the relationships between the atmospheric water cycle variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical model for the densification of dry snow which provides for a smooth transition between Stage 1 and Stage 2 densification and leads to an analytical expression for density as a function of depth. The model introduces two new parameters with a simple physical basis: the transition density, rhoT, and a scaling factor, M, which controls the extent of the transition zone. Two further parameters are the densification rates, k1 and k2, away from the transition zone. These can be fixed at values suggested by previous workers (eg Herron and Langway) or allowed to vary. Calibration using strain rate data from Pine Island Glacier basin (Antarctica) produces best parameter values of rhoT = 580 kg m-3 and M = 7 using Herron and Langway densification rates. This paper extends the model calibration using snow density profiles from other areas, to test the hypothesis that transition density varies with climatic conditions. The SUMup data base, compiled by the NASA Surface mass balance and snow on sea ice Working Group, provides an easily- accessible source of suitable snow density profile data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism, we interpret situations in a two-step process. During the first step we make assumptions about the attitudes of others involved and use these to predict what they are planning to do (interpretation/definition) and during the second step we decide what action to take by comparing our options to the perceived norms of our "reference communities" (decision). The process is largely implicit and occurs "in our heads". A "reference community" is "the audience of real or imaginary people whose conception or picture of communal life, especially our and other people's place in it, we always hold close to our hearts and usually take for granted." In this paper, we use the plural "reference communities" because there is a reference community for each of the identities a person assumes. Reference communities are dynamic and change with circumstances and time; members of different subsets (whichever way defined) within a larger group likely have different reference communities; the less established and the more diverse the group, the more diverse and diffuse are the reference communities related to the subsets within it.When looking for a normative framework against which to judge their options for action, people often draw on more than a "reference community" of real or imaginary people. The relevant sections of a plethora of publications, databases, reports, newspaper articles, social media communications, workshops, and television and radio programs (that also influence the value system of the real people in the reference community) also are a source of norms and the concept "reference communities" we use in this paper includes these additional sources. Therefore, a huge "field of reference" or very broad reference community, of which particular communities of reference are subsets, surrounds all of us at all times. Because reference communities shape decisions, identifying and characterizing them contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex situations that often develop around mineral exploration projects. The present paper discusses the methods used to identify and characterize the reference communities of communities and companies involved in a number of mineral exploration projects in Latin America and their limitations, and suggests further work needed in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although chemical-physical characterization of air and water columns in the proximity of fronts/tongues of tidewater glaciers is fundamental for understanding dynamics of atmospheric and water masses, only a few data are available due to the dangerousness in the access to these areas.In recent years, field experimental activity carried out by Italian CNR researchers in Arctic regions supported the evaluation and demonstration of capabilities and effectiveness of Unmanned Marine Vehicles, aerial, surface and underwater, in sampling air-sea-ice interface in these dangerous and inaccessible areas. In particular three campaigns were carried out in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Islands, in 2015, 2017 and 2018 respectively to demonstrate: i) the capability of an Unmanned Semi-Submersible Vehicle (USSV) to approach a glacier tongue collecting water samples just below it; ii) the capability of a USSV to work in cooperation with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for sea surface and air column characterization in the proximity of glaciers' fronts; iii) the capability of a USSV, equipped with suitable tools and instruments, to perform repetitive sampling of water surface as well as studying water and air column's parameters close to glaciers tongues. During the 2018 campaign in the Svalbard Islands, there was also a field training period for researchers in the framework of the H2020 project "EXCELLABUST - Excelling LABUST in marine robotics" focused on technological and operational innovations specifically introduced for the development of the data acquisition. This paper will discuss the field activity, logistically supported by the Dirigibile Italia station in Ny-Ålesund, carried out in the proximity of the Blomstrandbreen, Kronebreen, Kongsbreen and Conwaybreen glaciers, in the Kongsfjorden, using the prototype USSV Shark (2015) and the modular vehicle PROTEUS (2017, 2018) together with the OTTO Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (2017). Particular attention is paid to technological innovations introduced during the 2018 Excellabust campaign where PROTEUS, a portable, modular and reconfigurable USSV (45 kg weight, 1.5 m long, 0.35 m wide and 0.35 m high) was equipped with a new Mini Automatic Water Sampler (MAWS) for the collection of multiple water samples at different distances from the glacier front. Moreover, for carrying out a complete characterisation of the underwater-surface-air vertical column, two release systems based on automatic winches were installed on PROTEUS. One winch was used for launching and recovering an aerostat filled with helium and carrying a system for air quality monitoring (humidity, temperature, CO, CO2, O3, NO2). The other winch was used for releasing and recovering a set of instruments for the chemical-physical characterization of the water column: a CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth,pH, Eh, oxygen), a multi-probe sensor (depth, temperature, chlorophyll a1, chlorophyll a2), a fluorimeter and a turbidimeter. The paper will also highlight the advantages and issues given by single and multiple vehicle operations (surface and aerial) as well as logistic and operational lessons learned in the three campaigns carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Fourier transform can not show which of the harmonic components is present at a time in the geomagnetic data series, wavelet analysis gives us information in the form of a three-dimensional graph (time, frequency, amplitude) or a two-dimensional shape, when the amplitude is encoded by color intensity levels.A first step in the wavelet analysis is Short Time Fourier Transform, applied successively with different narrow windows, for the best accuracy of time location. Increasing the window improves the resolution in frequency but decreases the resolution in time.Although wavelet analysis provides additional information in comparative with Fourier analysis, it should be viewed under the Heisenberg principle of uncertainty, which states that the product between time and frequency of a signal is limited to a non-zero value.One of the advantages of wavelet analysis compared to Fourier analysis is the flexibility in choosing the mother function.The wavelet transform is one of the ways of representing the signals in the multi-resolution analysis where the analyzed geomagnetic signal is described by a sequence of approximations that contain more and more information.Each level of approximation contains on the one hand all the information available at the previous level plus an additional detail component.In this paper we performed both Fourier and Wavelet analyzes on several geomagnetic record series at the Geomagnetic Surlari Observatory during intense geomagnetic disturbances. Of these, we selected a series of 729600 samples in 4 days (24-28 Aug 2018), sampled at 0.5 s.In the study presented in this paper we used spectral analysis and wavelet tools from signal processing in Matlab.From these types of analyzes resulted a precise localization of the times when the high frequency components represented by the pulsations were present, as well as the value of the low frequency components represented by the periodic oscillations of 8 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours. The maximum period of magnetic disturbance was manifested by a decrease or even a lack of periodic oscillations. Another advantage of wavelet analysis refer to the intervals in which sudden variations in the amplitude of the analyzed geomagnetic signal are present are unaltered. These advantages recommend multi-resolution analysis and wavelet analysis as very effective analysis tools for studying geomagnetic storms and space weather.The experimental results, included in the expanded paper are part of work supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation, CCCDI – UEFISCDI, project Nr.16PCCDI/2018: „Institutional capacities and services for research, monitoring and forecasting of risks in extra-atmospheric space", component project 2: „Space Weather", within PNCDIII. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mulching is a technique widely used worldwide, mainly in horticultural crops. For this purpose, the use of no-degradable petrochemical plastics, mainly polyethylene (PE), is highly extended for the important advantages it provides (optimum weed control, high irrigation water use efficiency, yield precocity, excellent mechanical properties, and relatively low prices in recent years. Nevertheless, the use of these materials is causing very serious environmental problems derived from their extremely low degradation rate, and for this reason efficient eco-friendly alternatives, mainly biopolymers and papers, are continuously appearing in the markets. However, these degradable material have to be sufficiently tested in different crops, environment and crop aspects (growth, quantitative and qualitative yield, etc.) before replacing PE, especially for organic farming. Therefore, the main goal of this work was to study the effect of different biodegradable mulch materials on fruit quality in an organic sweet bell pepper crop (cv. Infantes) in Central Spain during four consecutive spring-summer seasons. The mulch materials used were: 1) black polyethylene control (15 µm); black biopolymers (15 µm): 2) maize starch-based, 3) potato starch-based, 4) polylactic acid-based (PLA); 5) black paper (85 g/m2); two unmulched controls: 6) manual weeding, 7) no weed control. A randomized complete block design with four replications was adopted. The crop was daily drip irrigated to satisfy the water requirements of each treatment. In each season, fruits were harvested four or five times, mainly in the red state. In each harvest, 10 representative fruits were randomly sampled per treatment for quality evaluation: weight, length, width, fruit shape index (ratio of maximum lenght to width), flesh thickness, firmness, dry matter content and flesh colour (Hunter Lab scale, Minolta colorimeter).In summary, the results indicate that mulching treatment had a scarce effect on the fruit shape, with the exception of the no weed control, where fruits were significantly longer and thinner than the other treatments, probably as result of the lower solar radiation incidence because of the weeds competence. In general, the highest flesh thickness and fruit weight were obtained in the manual weeding control, although this last parameter was also high in he PLA treatments. Fruit firmness behaved differently depending on the season, but in general the no weed control treatment produced the least firm fruits, with the lowest dry matter content, the highest luminosity (L) and a low a/b color index. Few differences have been found among the remaining mulching treatments.Acknowledgements: Project RTA2011-00104-C04-03 - INIA (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riverbank erosion by River Brahmaputra in the Majuli Island in Indian state of Assam has led to the displacement of thousands of people, and rendered them landless and homeless. However, those affected by riverbank erosion do not qualify for any assistance by the Central and State governments because erosion is not considered as a natural hazard under Indian laws. In this paper, an attempt has been made to show that riverbank erosion in Assam is not a case of simple lateral erosion but a complex process involving mass migration of river channel and associated bank failure. The fluvial geomorphology of Brahmaputra is analysed with the help of Sinuosity Index and Braiding Index of a segment of River Brahmaputra in the island of Majuli to understand why riverbank erosion in Brahmaputra is sudden and destructive. After explaining the complex geomorphological processes involved in riverbank erosion in Majuli, the paper questions the rationale for excluding riverbank erosion from the list of natural hazards, and provides a compelling case for re-examining, re-defining, and re-classifying hazards in India.Keywords: Brahmaputra, Riverbank Erosion, Sinuosity Index, Braiding Index, Natural Hazard [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods are one of the most frequent hazards in the world. Flood monitoring and warning are the common concerns of many countries. Fengyun-3 Microwave Radiation Imager (FY-3/MWRI) data present a capability for flood-waterlogging monitoring and soil moistures estimation because of the ability of the microwave signal to penetrate through cloud and provide a daily coverage and because they are sensitive to the water and near soil surface. Firstly, the approach of FY-3/MWRI data for flood monitoring is put forward based on the polarized ration index (PRI) using MWRI vertically and horizontally polarized brightness temperature values in this paper. PRI is less affected by atmospheric conditions and is not dependent on the soil temperature. Furthermore, this index is sensitive to the soil wetness. PRI at 36.5GHz and 89GHz are calculated separately to analyze the characters of different frequency channels. The two frequencies with higher spatial resolution than others frequency are proper to detect earth surface detailed information. Secondly, the spatial resolution of MWRI data are interpolated to 10km, at this resolution, many water surfaces will generally be imaged as mixed pixel containing substantial fractions of water and land. So, PRI is a combination of different response generated by the water surface and the land surface. The PRI characterizing each surface type is weighed by its surface fraction. Water surface fraction (WSF) method based on Linear Special Mixed Model is applied to estimate subpixel scale water area. Thirdly, to realize the one map of flood-waterlogging information, the map is requested to simultaneously show the flood water and soil moisture information. The flood-waterlogging thematic map product generated by WSF information layer overlaying on the soil moisture layer is designed in this paper. In July of 2013, the Songhuajiang river basin of China was hit by severe heavy rains. The rise of water level in rivers, lakes and reservoirs caused the severe flooding and waterlogging disaster. MWRI images on July were selected to carry out an experiment upon the method. The WSF flooding maps of Songhuajiang river basin were produced. To evaluate the WSF mapping method presented in this study, the flooding map derived from MODIS images with 250m spatial resolution were used to validate the flooding map base on MWRI data with 10km using WSF method. The results showed that there was good agreement on the aspect of flooding spatial distribution characteristics between MODIS and MWRI data. The WSF method based on MWRI PRI was able to produce satisfying flood maps over large-scale coastal areas. The flood-waterlogging thematic map product can provide more abundant information for flood control and disaster alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater flow theory started with Henry Darcy (1803-1858) and Jules Dupit (1804–1866) contributions. Later several engineers tried to mathematically describe groundwater flow toward the well and group of wells. One of them was Oskar Smreker (1854–1935) hydraulic engineer born in the vicinity of the Celje city - today Slovenia. During his long and successful life, he has designed and built many waterworks based mainly on the groundwater abstraction all over the Europe and Near East. He was also very prolific writer; he has published many papers related to groundwater flow and construction of waterworks. In the scientific literature he has been known as one of the first authors considering nonlinear theory of water flow through the porous media. After him equation that relates gradient and discharge of groundwater is often named which is today with some modification known as Dupit Forcheimer equation. Paper describes his biography and analyses his scientific contributions to groundwater hydraulics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new method to obtain the parameters of Schumann Resonances (SR) from experimental ELF horizontal magnetic field measurements has recently been proposed in the paper "On the need of a unified methodology for processing Schumann resonance measurements". The main purpose of this paper is to study the influence that different changes in the processing method may have on the resulting SR parameters (amplitude, central frequency and width) and to determine which is the best and most stable configuration.This work is intended to be a continuation towards studying the links between the observations of SR and environmental phenomena. A scheme to track the long-term variations in the parameters as well as other characteristics of the SR is proposed. After processing each 10-min raw data interval using the method proposed in the cited paper, the SR parameters for each interval are conveniently stored for further study together with the percentage of saturated windows, the total energy of the spectra within the range 6.25-23.75 Hz (fitting band) and the chi square for the fit. It is needed to deal with some problems that affect the long-term analysis. Although the initial conditions for the lorentzian fits are defined in order to minimize the number of unacceptable solutions, it is inevitable that the fit fails at providing admissible parameters for a small amount of intervals. In order to discard these anomalous fits, masks are implemented. It has been studied which range of values should be considered acceptable for each parameter. There are also many intervals for which the spectra show anormalities, like rather narrow peaks at a certain frequency, too much fluctuation or the absence of resonances. These intervals are stored and classified since they could correlate with local events or with alterations in the Earth-ionosphere cavity.The saturations of both NS and EW sensors could also be useful as they could correlate with especially strong or close lightning events. A script to detect the exact instant at which every saturation is detected and conveniently store it has also been developed.As a result of this work, versatile plots and comparisons of very different properties of SR can be immediately obtained, which allows to easily visualize every characteristic of the behaviour of SR we are interested in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning techniques are used for capturing intricate structures of large-scale data by employing computational models of multiple processing layers that can learn and represent data with multiple levels of abstraction. Such methods can include Convolutional Neural Networks, stacked auto-encoders and Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) architectures. LSTM networks are suitable for dealing with time-dependent data through mapping input to output sequences as, for instance, in language modeling and speech recognition. One application that has recently attracted considerable attention within the geodetic community is the possibility of applying these techniques to account for the adverse effects of the ionospheric delays on the GNSS satellite signals. Ionospheric delay depend on three main factors: (i) the total electron content (TEC), (ii) the frequency of the GNSS signals, and (iii) the angle at which the signal enters the ionospheric layer. The combination of multi-frequency GNSS measurements allows us to remove most of the ionospheric effects. However, ionospheric prediction models have to be applied for single-frequency ionospheric estimation in order to remove this effect. This can be done using Global Ionospheric Maps (GIMs) available from the International GNSS Service (IGS) and evaluating the TEC effect via a mapping function involving the azimuth and elevation angles of the GNSS signals. This paper deals with a modeling approach suitable for predicting the ionospheric delay at different locations of the IGS network stations using the LSTM networks. We also incorporate a Bayesian optimization method for selecting the best configuration parameters of the LSTM network, thus improving network's performance. LSTM architecture models long-range dependencies in time series, making it appropriate for ionospheric modeling in GNSS positioning. As experimental data we used actual GNSS observations from the global IGS network stations participating in the MGEX project that provides various satellite signals from the currently available multiple navigation satellite systems. Slant TEC data (STEC) were obtained using the available GPS/GLONASS/Galileo signals after processing with various techniques, such as Precise Point Positioning (PPP). The combination of multi-GNSS signals in PPP, allows us to investigate additional biases such as Differential Code Biases (DCBs) that are closely related to the ionospheric delays. Consequently, a basic LSTM network structure is created, having as minimum inputs the following: time epoch, GNSS signal azimuth and elevation angle, ionospheric delays for the previous and present observation epochs. The sequential GNSS observations are fed one by one in a chain-like structure, in a way that a single state is stored in a unique node with a single activation function in the network at one timestep and then is propagated to the next timestep. In this way, the LSTM algorithm is able to predict future ionospheric delay values. Topics to be discussed in the paper include the design of the LSTM network structure, the Bayesian optimization strategy, the training methods exploiting steepest descent algorithms, data analysis, as well as preliminary testing results of the ionospheric delay predictions as compared, for instance, with the IGS ionosphere products and the widely used Klobuchar model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About one-third of land in the world is approximately the basic conditions of wasteland. Wasteland is very wide and has a pivotal position on earth. Meanwhile, it bears very important ecological functions. In recent years, Chinese government and academia paid much attention to the wasteland. Protection and development of wasteland had become an important research topic. Although China has had a lot of provisions on wasteland, and scholars have carried out relevant research on wasteland from different aspects, the definitions and classifications of wasteland are not unified. This hinders the protection and development of wasteland to a certain extent. Firstly, this paper reviews existing definitions of wasteland and clarifies the relationship between wasteland and other related concepts, and then redefines the concept of wasteland: generally wasteland refers to unutilized, idle or abandoned land except for agricultural land and construction land. In the narrow sense wasteland refers only barren state of land, but with appropriate use it could be suitable for agriculture, forest, herd and energy corps. Secondly, this paper systematically analyzes the classification of wastelands in the United States and India, and on the basis of existing land classification system in China, it proposes to add the category of"ecological land", which plays the main ecological functions, provides ecological services and ecological products of woodland, grassland, wasteland, water and beaches directly or indirectly. At the same time it proposes to divide wasteland into three types: wilderness, unused and abandoned land. Thirdly, this article first recognizes that wasteland has various ecological functions, such as sand-fixation, soil conservation, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, water conservation, biodiversity conservation, etc., which has important implications for the development and protection of the ecological land and wasteland. Finally, this paper proposes four suggestions on the development and protection of wasteland in China in the future: pay attention to the value of wasteland, establish the property right system of wasteland, prepare the natural resources balance sheet, protect and develop wasteland by categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discussthe full methodology of photogrammetric documentation of architectural details on site. All work stages (the preparation of the test stand, taking images with principles of close range photogrammetry, the development and visualization of obtained result) are presented.The technology of close range photogrammetry is successfully applied, among others, in the preparation of architectural documentation of archaeological small-size objects as well as their three-dimensional (3D) visualization. It provides comprehensive information on the object's shape in a relatively short time. The collection of the detailed information on the geometry of the object allows for its trouble-free reconstruction in the future. However, in tough field conditions, the surveyor has to minimize the influence of external factors on the quality of research material.The necessary images and other measurement data were collected during archaeological field research. The images, used to create the 3D models of architectural details, were taken with the non-metric cameras. The high availability of this type of cameras allows to reduce the costs of documentations, but also affects the accuracy of the development. The data processing is extensive and requiresappropriateknowledge and experience from the developer. The issue of this paper concerns archaeological, surveying and architectural research environments. In the age of the optimization of the data processing, the cooperation between representatives of various scientific field should be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering destructive nature of archaeological excavation appropriate documentation of archaeological sites is very important. The paper presents results of study which aimed to compare three different modern measuring methods used to document archaeological objects directly in the field. First method of measurements was close-range photogrammetry using non-metric cameras. This method is already widely used in archaeology. The second device used was FARO Freestyle 3D scanner. The manufacturer claims that this is unique, top-quality, high-precision, handheld scanner that allows to create colored high-definition point clouds of every type of surface. Thanks to its small size and weight the scanner allows to measure and scan in tight and hard-to-reach areas. The third measurement tool was FARO Focus M70 laser scanner which can be used both indoors and outdoors to collect precise data about objects within a radius of up to 70 meters. These attributes make it ideal for measurements in limited spaces. This mobile device allows for fast, simple and accurate measurements of small construction sites, facades, complex structures, industrial installations, accidents and crimes scenes. Integrated HDR camera provides complex documentation in the best quality. The research was carried out on two archaeological sites in South Jordan: the Roman fort in Dajaniya and the ancient city of Tuwaneh. The documentation of these sites was the main objective of BARI - Buildings ARcheology Inventory project conducted in cooperation with archaeologists from the Institute of Archeology of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The tests described in this paper pertain to three objects: characteristic hole in the fort wall and one of trenches in Dajanya and thermae remains in Tuwaneh. The aim of the research was pointing out advantages and disadvantages of each method regarding to economics, accuracy, ease of use of equipment, time of data acquisition and post-processing, hardware and software costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Milano-Brera historical time series is one of the longest meteorological record in theworld. Nevertheless, a detailed description of Milano urban climatology (especially of itsUHI) is lacking and actual knowledge relies on a few outdated papers, based on limitedobservational data base. Moreover, while the urban development in the last decades implies achange in the urban climatology, the urban observational capabilities have significantlyimproved in quantity and quality. In this paper use is done of a dedicated high quality urbanmeteorological network (Climate Network®), measuring at top of the urban canopy layersince 2011 with metrological criteria, both downtown and in the urbanized environment allaround the city. First of all, the adopted methodology is described and discussed taking into considerationrecent critics to general UHI studies. Special attention has been paid to a correct and usefuldefinition of urban reference temperature as well as to selection of suitable ruralmeasurements: the adopted solution should guarantee a long-lasting reference also for futureclimatic studies and is proposed as general as possible for application to any type of urbanenvironment. The almost 7 years long database is then used to investigate the UHI phenomenon inMilano spatially as well as temporarily and in relation to the (meso-)synoptic situation: CUHIintensity maxima are observed at very high figures (not much less than 10˚ C), especiallyduring heat waves. Overall, the results represent a preliminary detailed Milano UHI short term referenceclimatology for the second decade of this century and a basis for urban climate services. Acomparison to older climatological studies is also shortly discussed. Finally, someconsiderations are presented for further developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve successful sustainable policy formation and implementation, the localization of scientific knowledge within a global framework are critical. In terms of GHG emissions policies, of particular concern are the interactions between human activity and the hydrologic cycle and its role in potential mitigation efforts. One obstacle is the place-based silos from which knowledge has traditionally been generated and applied through public policies. Working through these silos takes considerable coordination and the grounding of data and analytical approach. We argue that this can be accomplished successfully through the use of complex system model integration. This paper presents a comprehensive system modeling approach within a socio-natural context that can be used to identify GHG emissions resulting from urbanization processes and human activities within large and complex urban systems and their implications on the hydrological cycles. The model is a fine-scale (30x30m), coupled systems model of land use, urban planning policy and GHG emissions with multiple time steps and feedback for policy scenario analysis and stakeholder engagement and education. The model results are interpreted under a comparative framework towards sustainable policy formation and implementation for Chicago, USA and Stockholm, Sweden. The results substantiate the following arguments: 1) urban growth from socioeconomic activities and associated land use changes generate an increase in GHG emissions well above estimates under conventional climate planning processes for both cities; 2) physical and socioeconomic differences between two cities result in different GHG mitigation outcomes for similar policies, thus requiring localization and contextualization considerations for policies and; 3) place-based urban growth management policies based on model results are critical tools for mitigating climate impacts of urban development. The primary aim of this paper is to better identify the specific pathways and barriers to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy initiatives and actions in a socio-natural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This presentation provides an overview of an international research collaboration for advancing the understanding and modeling of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes in geological systems. The creation of the international DECOVALEX Project, now running for over 25 years, was initially motivated by the recognition that prediction of these coupled effects is an essential part of the performance and safety assessment of geologic disposal systems for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Later it was realized that these processes also play a critical role in other subsurface engineering activities, such as subsurface CO2 storage, enhanced geothermal systems, and unconventional oil and gas production through hydraulic fracturing. Research teams from radioactive waste management organizations, national research institutes, regulatory agencies, universities, as well as industry and consulting groups have participated in the DECOVALEX Project, providing a wide range of perspectives and solutions to these complex problems. Analysis and comparative modeling of state-of-the-art field and laboratory experiments have been at the core of the collaborative work, with an increasing focus on characterizing uncertainty and blind prediction of experimental results. Over these 25 years, many of the major advances in this field of research have been made through DECOVALEX, as evidenced by three books, seven journal special issues, and a good number of seminal papers that have emerged from the DECOVALEX Project. Examples of specific research advances will be presented in this paper to illustrate the significant impact of DECOVALEX on the current state-of-the-art of understanding and modeling coupled THMC processes. These examples range from the modeling of large-scale in situ heater tests representing mock-ups of nuclear waste disposal tunnels, to studies of fluid flow and chemical-mechanical coupling in heterogeneous fractures, and the numerical analysis of controlled-injection meso-scale fault slip experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dynamics of introduction of trappean intrusions is investigated within the framework of the previously constructed mathematical model of mantle-crust fluid magmatic systems in the Siberian platform. The ore-bearing differentiated intrusions of the northwestern part of the Siberian platform are the flat bodies characterized by weak inclination, extension to the tens of kilometers and thickness from tens to hundreds of meters. Intrusions contain various types of mineralization: from sulphide massive or impregnated ores to inclusions of drop-like formations and ingots of native iron. Each specific magmatic body is characterized by genetic features of ore inclusions, as well as the features of local petrographic structure. A common genetic sign of intruding dynamics is a non-isothermal unsteady flow of a heterophase fluid containing a variable amount of crystals, gas bubbles, droplets of various sizes and, in some cases, xenoliths of the cover rocks, in a slit-like cavity in a mass of rocks. The study of evolution of such a fluid-magmatic system is based on a non-stationary, non-linear model of the dynamics of heat and mass transfer in heterophase multicomponent media, taking into account the rock deformation. The interfacial interaction corresponding to the local parameters of a hydrodynamic flow is described in the framework of the model of a flow-through multi-tank reactor based on minimizing the Gibbs potential. The paper considers various regimes of unsteady, nonisothermal flow of such heterophase media along a flat, uniform in height channel with variations in its slope of up to 30 degrees. The work was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grants No. 16-29-15131, 16-01-00729. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of the mechanisms involved in the transmission of the intense rapid warming transitions characteristic of the Dansgaard-Oeschger Oscillation in Greenland ice cores into their Antarctic counterparts remains outstanding. Insight into the details of this mechanism are provided by the observed phase relationship between the northern and southern hemisphere signals. Because the Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillation has now been successfully reproduced using a fully articulated model of ocean-atmosphere-sea ice interactions under glacial conditions [1] the bipolar seesaw process has become amenable to direct investigation through the diagnostic analysis of model output. A signicant result of this paper was the demonstration that it correctly predicted the coupling between the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere ice core signals. In Vettoretti and Peltier[2] it was furthermore shown (see their Figure 3e) that the air temperature signal inferred on the basis of the EDML ice core oxygen isotopic record was perfectly correlated to sea surface temperature predictions in the southern circumpolar ocean. This means that the time delay involved in the propagation of the signal from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere is being correctly predicted by the Peltier and Vettoretti (2014) model as is the magnitude of the southern hemisphere signal relative to that in the northern hemisphere. In this paper we compare the air temperature signals over a series of Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles predicted for Greenland with their counterparts in the EPICA Dronning Maudland (EDML) and WAIS Divide (WDC) ice cores. Since there have been recent attempts to infer this phase relationship directly from the ice core records themselves ([3][4]) we compare the data inferred average phase relationship with that from the model which correctly predicts both the northern and southern hemisphere signals. Our results are shown to differ from those recently inferred on the basis of the data and we discuss what may be the reasons for this discrepancy. We also comment upon the implications of these results for the understanding of the mechanism whereby the Northern Hemisphere signal is transmitted to the south.[1] W. Richard Peltier and Guido Vettoretti. Dansgaard-oeschger oscillations predicted in a comprehensive model of glacial climate: A kicked salt oscillator in the atlantic. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(20):7306-7313, 2014.[2] Guido Vettoretti and W. Richard Peltier. Interhemispheric air temperature phase relationships in the nonlinear dansgaard-oeschger oscillation. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(4):1180-1189, 2015.[3] WAIS Divide Project Members et al. Precise interpolar phasing of abrupt climate change during the last ice age. Nature, 520:661 EP -, Apr 2015.[4] G. M. Raisbeck, A. Cauquoin, J. Jouzel, A. Landais, J.-R. Petit, V. Y. Lipenkov, J. Beer, H.-A. Synal, H. Oerter, S. J. Johnsen, J. P. Stevensen, A. Svensson, and F. Yiou. An improved north-south synchronization of ice core records around the 41 kyr 10be peak. Climate of the Past, 13(3):217-229, 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 20th century saw a number of geologic revolutions, fuelled in part by the availability of increasing amounts of data from under-explored regions, and technological advances that made it possible to glean more insights from the rock record. But it has been suggested that the era of great discoveries is over, and we are in a period of incremental advance. Major discoveries like plate tectonic theory and the evolution of fields like palaeoclimate are recorded by influential publications. Here we analyse publishing trends across the geosciences, from a data perspective, using citation and Altmetric patterns of geoscience papers published in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, to assess changes in the number of highly influential papers published in each decade. We also assess the most influential fields within the geosciences, pinpoint the emerging trends and consider the potential for breakthroughs in each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]