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Vegetation degeneration has become a serious ecological problem for karst regions in the Anthropocene. According to the deficiency of long serial and high-resolution analysis of karst vegetation, this paper reconstructed the variation of vegetation landscape changes from 1987 to 2020 in a typical karst region of China. Using Landsat time series data, the dynamic changes and driving factors of natural karst vegetation were identified at the landscape scale. On the premise of considering the time-lag effect, the main climatic factors that influence vegetation growth were presented at the interannual timescale. Then, the approach of residual analysis was adopted to distinguish the dominant factors affecting vegetation growth. Results of trend analysis revealed that 21.5% of the forestland showed an overall significant decline in vegetation growth, while only 1.5% showed an increase in vegetation growth during the study period. Precipitation and radiation were the dominant meteorological factors influencing vegetation at the interannual timescale, as opposed to temperature. More than 70% of the natural vegetation growth was dominated by climatic factors. The area percentage of negative human impact has increased gradually since 2009 and reached 18.5% in 2020, indicating the currently serious situation of vegetation protection; fortunately, in recent years, human disturbances on vegetation have been mitigated in karst areas with the promotion of ecological conservation and restoration projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat occupies a special role in global food security since, in addition to providing 20% of our carbohydrates and protein, almost 25% of the global production is traded internationally. The importance of wheat for food security was recognised by the Chief Agricultural Scientists of the G20 group of countries when they endorsed the establishment of the Wheat Initiative in 2011. The Wheat Initiative was tasked with supporting the wheat research community by facilitating collaboration, information and resource sharing and helping to build the capacity to address challenges facing production in an increasingly variable environment. Many countries invest in wheat research. Innovations in wheat breeding and agronomy have delivered enormous gains over the past few decades, with the average global yield increasing from just over 1 tonne per hectare in the early 1960s to around 3.5 tonnes in the past decade. These gains are threatened by climate change, the rapidly rising financial and environmental costs of fertilizer, and pesticides, combined with declines in water availability for irrigation in many regions. The international wheat research community has worked to identify major opportunities to help ensure that global wheat production can meet demand. The outcomes of these discussions are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of links between satellite-measured vegetation vigor and climate variables in Armenian mountain grassland ecosystems in the years 1984–2018. NDVI is derived from MODIS and LANDSAT data, temperature and precipitation data are from meteorological stations. Two study sites were selected, representing arid and semi-arid grassland vegetation types, respectively. Various trend estimators including Mann–Kendall (MK) and derivatives were combined for vegetation change analysis at different time scales. Results suggest that temperature and precipitation had negative and positive impacts on vegetation growth, respectively, in both areas. NDVI-to-precipitation correlation was significant but with an apparent time-lag effect that was further investigated. No significant general changes were observed in vegetation along the observed period. Further comparisons between results from corrected and uncorrected data led us to conclude that MODIS and LANDSAT data with BRDF, topographic and atmospheric corrections applied are best suited for analyzing relationships between NDVI and climatic factors for the 2000–2018 period in grassland at a very local scale; however, in the absence of correction tools and information, uncorrected data can still provide meaningful results. Future refinements will include removal of anthropogenic impact, and deeper investigation of time-lag effects of climatic factors on vegetation dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In respect to CO2 emissions, the post-Soviet states are a scientifically interesting object of research, as each of the countries has developed via different paths since reclaiming independence from the Soviet Union. Given that each country has a different approach to the use of fossil resources, it is essential to assess their input to global carbon footprint individually. Such assessment then allows to find certain actions in the development of legislation and to apply focused techniques to reduce carbon emissions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fossil CO2 emissions produced in the Baltic States from 1991 onward, describing challenges relating to sustainability and socio-economic, scientific, and integrated approaches to sustainable development, including clean and efficient use of energy, and thus addressing climate challenges. This paper reports on data on CO2 emissions in the Baltic States. The results show that the transition of the Baltic States from the specificities of the Soviet Union's economy to an economy integrated into global markets has led to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. However, the development and implementation of national policies for sustainable development are still crucial for mitigation of the climate crisis. Further actions must include the implementation and monitoring of policies for sustainable development, changing of the consumption and production patterns, education and awareness of sustainability, and adaptation to global climate change, while also addressing sustainability challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide lead to a threat of global climate change. As one of the major sources of carbon emissions in the Antarctic region, shipborne tourism in the Antarctic is expanding rapidly. Consequently, the carbon emissions of shipborne tourism in Antarctica are rapidly increasing. However, there is not enough attention being paid to this issue. In this paper, a calculation model was established to calculate the carbon emissions of cruise ships from the 2003/04 season to the 2016/17 season. The evolution of the carbon emissions from Antarctic cruise ships was described. An aggregate energy efficiency index was developed to evaluate the energy efficiency performance of Antarctic vessels. The key drivers were analyzed to find the paths of carbon reduction. The results show that: (1) The emissions per passenger-trip did not show a downward trend. The total carbon emissions increased continuously with the increasing number of tourists. The total carbon emissions in the 2016/17 season was double that in the 2003/04 season. (2) The aggregate energy efficiency index of Antarctic tour vessels has not reached an advanced level yet. It is the main reason for the high value of emissions per passenger-trip. (3) Due to the oversupply of Antarctica tour ships, there is a low rate of occupancy, which accounts for the decline in aggregate energy efficiency from the 2014/15 season to the 2016/17 season. This study suggests that the administrators of Antarctica should strengthen supervision of the tourism market, control the rapid growth in the number of cruise ships, improve the aggregate energy efficiency of cruise ships and form an efficient and green Antarctic tourism management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, the economic crisis and the current geopolitical situation are the biggest challenges of today. They participate to a fundamental extent in the creation of international policies. Renewable energy sources are thus gaining worldwide popularity. The paper deals with the assessment of the impact of four selected stages of the life cycle of a NZEB building on the environment in 13 impact categories. The analysis is performed in accordance with the LCA method using the attributional modeling approach. The results show the partial and total shift of impacts on the environment of photovoltaic energy storage in comparison with photovoltaic energy export across the building life cycle. Along the climate change impact reduction as a positive effect on the environment, a substantial impact increase is observed on the depletion of abiotic resources. Results also show the total environmental impact of the building life cycle, considering the use of stored energy in a lithium-based battery as being beneficial in most categories despite the relatively high impact increment in the stage of replacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the impact of flow changes in the Warta River and water management rules regarding the Jeziorsko dam reservoir on the energy production by the hydropower plant in the period 1995–2021. The Jeziorsko dam reservoir was built in 1986. It is the second largest dam reservoir in Poland in terms of surface area. In 1994, a hydropower plant with an installed capacity of 4.89 MW started operation. The study results show the average annual energy production from 1995 to 2021 at a level of 18,718 MWh. On the other hand, energy production largely changed from year to year, from 12,432 MWh (in 2019) to 26,916 MWh (in 2001). The droughts that have occurred in the Warta River basin over the past two decades have had a major impact on energy production. As a consequence of the drought, it was not possible to maintain the required water level in the reservoir. Moreover, a change in the rules for the reservoir's management that led to lower water levels in the reservoir by 1.5 m between April and June was important from the point of view of energy production. Improving the efficiency of energy production requires changing the rules of water management in the reservoir. More flexible reservoir operation schemes should be considered, including operational management based on meteorological and hydrological forecasts. Moreover, other criteria should also be considered, such as maintaining environmental flows, ensuring protection from flooding, and operating a nature reserve around the reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a developing country, South Africa relies on electricity as the most critical amenity needed for development. KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is one of the nine provinces in South Africa that faces an energy supply challenge. KZN is also the warmest province among them all due to its location. As one of the warmest provinces, solar power could be utilised to assist in dealing with the energy crisis. This paper focuses on the cost uncertainties attributed to the implementation of solar power which will assist in meeting the demand of energy in the region. The unsustainability of energy has led to a near collapse of the region's economy. This study also contributes to improving the scientific implementation of solar power in the region to deal with the unsustainability criteria observed. The employment of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) revealed solar power as one of the most reliable renewable energies for planned implementation bases. With the development of the Economical, Methodological and Environmental (EME) strategic framework which addresses all social cohesion of solar power, the early turn around has been seen through the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in the region of KZN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the global issues being combatted in recent times. One of the measures is a worldwide cutdown on carbon emissions. This has brought about the rapid development of technologies that can best actualise this goal. The decentralised energy system is designed to harness the strengths of small power-generating sources such as renewable energy sources in a noncentralised manner to help meet the global need for clean energy. Renewable energy sources are faced with the challenge of intermittency, which brings about instability in the grid. Another source of clean energy is nuclear energy, which is traditionally large and not flexible; however, the recent development of technology has resulted in a scaled-down version of the large nuclear plants that are more flexible yet provide clean and stable electricity. This paper explores the possibility of deploying nuclear microreactors in the decentralised energy system and describes the features and the challenges of a decentralised energy system. The features of the small modular reactor that make it a viable candidate for the generating source in the decentralised energy system are explored. A case study for a DES system with a microreactor was conducted for a rural area in Nigeria. The HOMER software was used in simulating the optimum system, while TOPSIS was used in ranking the systems. The result showed that the PV/nuclear/battery system ranked first, followed by the PV/nuclear/wind and battery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy budget imbalance at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and the energy flow in the Earth's system plays an essential role in climate change over the global and regional scales. Under the constraint of observations, the radiative fluxes at TOA have been reconstructed prior to CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) between 1985 and 2000. The total atmospheric energy divergence has been mass corrected based on ERA5 (the fifth generation ECMWF ReAnalysis) atmospheric reanalysis by a newly developed method considering the enthalpy removing of the atmospheric water vapor, which avoids inconsistencies due to the residual lateral total mass flux divergence in the atmosphere, ensuring the balances of the freshwater fluxes at the surface. The net surface energy flux (Fs) has been estimated using the residual method based on energy conservation, which is the difference between the net TOA radiative flux and the atmospheric energy tendency and divergence. The Fs is then verified directly and indirectly with observations, and results show that the estimated Fs in North Atlantic is superior to those from model simulations. This paper gives a brief review of the progress in the estimation of the observed energy flow in the Earth system, discusses some caveats of the existing method, and provides some suggestions for the improvements of the aforementioned data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing climate change is manifesting in the expansion of the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This paper evaluates the microclimate benefits of cool pavements and green infrastructures in a historical square in Rome, Italy. The ENVI-Met software enabled us to conduct a microclimatic analysis of the examined square in July 2021, through a comparison of the thermal performances of the current asphalt and sampietrini pavement (AS) with three alternatives. The proposed options are to change the existing layout to include: light concrete slabs and green furniture consisting of 5 m high trees (LC+G1), a perimeter hedge with 5 m high trees (LC+G2), and a perimeter hedge with 15 m high trees (LC+G3). The effects of the road pavements as passive countermeasures to the UHI effect are investigated in terms of air temperature (AT), mean radiant temperature (MRT), and predicted mean vote (PMV). The results show that the existing asphalt pavement is the worst option, while the cool pavement integrated with vegetation is greatly beneficial to human thermal comfort. Compared to the current layout, LC+G3 is the best scenario, because it implies an AT reduction higher than 3 °C, a MRT reduction equal to 50%, and a maximum PMV value equal to 2.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, extreme weather events caused by global climate change have occurred frequently, intensifying the frequency of flood disasters. For flood hazard analysis, high-quality data and a reasonable weight assignment of the relevant factors are critical. This study conducts four rainfall fusion methods, to fuse the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 and the observations in Dazhou City, China. Then, the random forest was applied to obtain the weights of various factors to facilitate a comprehensive flood hazard analysis under four rainfall durations. The results show that (1) the linear regression performs best out of the four fusion methods, with a correlation coefficient of 0.56; (2) the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is the most impact factor with a weight of more than 0.2; and (3) the proposed flood analysis system performs well, as 70% of historical flood points are distributed in high and sub-high hazard areas and more than 93% of historical flood points are distributed in medium hazard areas. This study identified the flood hazard grade and distribution in Dazhou City, which could provide a valuable methodology to contribute to flood hazard analysis and disaster management with satellite rainfall. Furthermore, the results of this paper are profound for future work on the high-resolution flood risk assessment and management in Dazhou City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number and area of alpine lakes in Tien Shan (TS) are rapidly growing in response to a warming climate and retreating glaciers. This paper presents a comparative analysis of lake classification and changes by dividing alpine lakes (within a 10 km buffer of the glacier margins) into four types (supraglacial lakes, proglacial lakes, extraglacial lakes and non-glacial lakes), and subsequently determining the driving forces of change across the TS region from 1990 to 2015. The analysis utilized multiple satellite images and climatic data from gridded data sets and meteorological station observations. The results indicate that the total number and area of glacial lakes continuously increased during the study period, whereas non-glacial lakes intermittently expanded. Specifically, the total number and area of all glacial lakes (supraglacial lakes, proglacial lakes and extraglacial lakes) increased by 45.45% and 27.08%, respectively. Non-glacial lakes, in contrast, increased in quantity and area by 23.92% and 19.01%, respectively. Alpine lakes are closer to glaciers at high altitudes; in fact, some (e.g., proglacial lakes) are connected to glacier termini, and these show the highest expansion speed during the study period. The area of proglacial lakes expanded by 60.32%. Extraglacial lakes expanded by 21.06%. Supraglacial lakes, in marked contrast to the other types, decreased in area by 3.74%. Widespread rises in temperature and glacier wastage were the primary cause of the steady expansion of glacial lakes, particularly those linked to small- and medium-sized glaciers distributed in the Eastern TS where glacial lakes have rapidly increased. Both proglacial and extraglacial lakes expanded by 6.47%/a and 2%/a, respectively, from 1990 to 2015. While these proglacial and extraglacial lakes are located in largely glacierized areas, lakes in the Central TS exhibited the slowest expansion, increasing in area by 1.44%/a and 0.74%/a, respectively. Alterations in non-glacial lake areas were driven by changes in precipitation and varied spatially over the region. This study has substantial implications for the state of water resources under the complex regional changes in climate in the TS and can be used to develop useful water-resource management and planning strategies throughout Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is related to global climate change. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is an important technology to reduce CO2 emissions and to deal with global climate change. The development of new materials and technologies for efficient CO2 capture has received increasing attention among global researchers. Ionic liquids (ILs), especially functionalized ILs, with such unique properties as almost no vapor pressure, thermal- and chemical-stability, non-flammability, and tunable properties, have been used in CCUS with great interest. This paper focuses on the development of functionalized ILs for CO2 capture in the past decade (2012~2022). Functionalized ILs, or task-specific ILs, are ILs with active sites on cations or/and anions. The main contents include three parts: cation-functionalized ILs, anion-functionalized ILs, and cation-anion dual-functionalized ILs for CO2 capture. In addition, classification, structures, and synthesis of functionalized ILs are also summarized. Finally, future directions, concerns, and prospects for functionalized ILs in CCUS are discussed. This review is beneficial for researchers to obtain an overall understanding of CO2-philic ILs. This work will open a door to develop novel IL-based solvents and materials for the capture and separation of other gases, such as SO2, H2S, NOx, NH3, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a literature review of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and the knowledge accumulated by Romanian foresters and researchers, covering species propagation, stand management, and vulnerability issues. As highlighted by numerous authors, black locust manifests dual features, both as an exogenous species and one that is already naturalized. The main drivers for this species' expansion in Romania is its ecological adaptability on degraded lands, fast growth, and high biomass yields, in addition to other economic benefits. Black locust plantations and coppices also offer an important range of ecosystem services such as CO2 sequestration, landscape reclamation, fuel wood, or maintaining traditional crafts in regions with little to no forest cover. Highlighted disadvantages include short lifespan, invasiveness when introduced on fertile sites, and dieback in drought/frost prone areas. The results of extensive research and studies are captured in technical norms, although aspects such as species genetics, invasive potential, and adaptation to climate change dynamics call for more research and optimizing in species management. As Romania rallies its efforts with those of the international community in order to address climate change and desertification, black locust stands out as a proven solution for reclaiming degraded lands when native species are not an alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural practices of smallholder farming systems of Latin America can play an important role in reducing their exposure to the risks associated with climate extremes. To date, however, there is no systematic analysis of scientific evidence for the extent to which these practices can provide the multiple benefits needed for smallholders to adapt to climate extremes. In this paper, we searched scientific databases to review scientific evidence of the benefit provided by twenty-six practices in crops commonly farmed by smallholders in the region and highly relevant for their food and nutrition security; namely, coffee, maize and beans. We reviewed scientific documents (n = 304) published in the period 1953–2021 to register evidence of the practices' effects on fifty-five benefits. Our analysis of these documents found measurement records (n = 924) largely based on field experiments (85%). Our results show strong evidence of the multiple benefits that some ecosystem-based practices (e.g., tree-based practices for coffee and no tillage for maize) can provide to support the adaptation to climate extremes of smallholder farming systems and enhance a farm's natural assets (e.g., biodiversity, water, soil). We also found that the majority of research on practices in the region focused more on the socioeconomic dimension (54%) rather than on the capacity of practices to improve the natural assets of a smallholder farmers or reduce the impact of climate extremes. Given these knowledge gaps, we discuss the importance of a renovated investment in research to address existing knowledge gaps. Our concluding suggestions for future research include the need for systematizing existing knowledge from different sources (e.g., peer-reviewed, gray literature, farmers, extension agencies, etc.), and to assess the extent to which these practices can provide multiple benefits for smallholder farming systems by improving their wellbeing, reducing their vulnerability to different hydroclimatic extremes while also contributing to ecosystem services provision at the landscape level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cereal grains and tubers are among the highly consumed staple foods globally; however, due to unfavorable weather conditions and the competition for natural resources, the major staple cereal crops, such as rice, are under production threat. On the other hand, the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase crop yield is deteriorating the growing environment for plants and animals, including humans. As such, sustainable management practices are the key method that can be employed to increase crop production without harming the environment. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), such as the purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB), have recently gained much attention in crop production due to their ability to accumulate higher-value compounds that are highly beneficial to crops. Some of the major benefits PNSB holds are that it can fix atmospheric nitrogen, solubilize phosphate, remediate heavy metals, suppress methane emissions from waterlogged paddy fields, and assist in carbon sequestration. These benefits allow PNSB to be an important bacterium for improving plant growth and yield much more sustainably while benefiting the environment. This review article discusses the beneficial effects of PNSB on rice crop plants through careful screening of previous work in this area. The review also identifies the research gaps and suggests future research pathways to make PNSB an important bacteria for sustainable rice crop production. The review paper aims for the United Nation's sustainable development goal number two, "Zero Hunger," target 2.4, indicator 2.4.1, "Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review explores the question: should the world rely wholly or partially on solar geoengineering (SG) to mitigate climate change (CC), or on renewable energy, together with deep energy reductions? Recent thinking is for SG to only supplement more conventional climate change mitigation methods. However, we first show that conventional mitigation methods are not working., given that global annual CO2 emissions are still rising, so it is far more likely that SG will be called upon to counter most anthropogenic CC, as early research proposed. The paper next examines the various SG proposals that have been considered and their objectives. Future choices could be between an increasingly unpredictable climate, and SG, with its own risks and unknowns, or deep energy reductions and RE. The claim is that SG has far lower costs for a given climate forcing reduction compared with more conventional methods, and equally important, could be quickly implemented, producing temperature reductions in a year or so, compared with decades needed for more conventional mitigation approaches. SG implementation would affect not only the technical potential for key RE sources but also the actual uptake of RE and energy reductions. However, a fair comparison of RE and SG must recognise that the SG option also requires a solution to rising ocean acidification (OA). Because the material quantities needed annually to counter OA are orders of magnitude larger than for SG, its costs and energetic requirements will also be far higher, as will the time for implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly people, especially those residing in urban areas with the urban heat island effect, are getting exposed to extreme heat due to ongoing global warming. A number of methods have been developed, so far, to assess urban heat vulnerability in different locations across the world concentrating on diverse aspects of these methods. While there is growing literature, thorough review studies that compare, contrast, and help understand the prospects and constraints of urban heat vulnerability assessment methods are scarce. This paper aims to bridge this gap in the literature. A systematic literature review with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) approach is utilized as the methodological approach. PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The results are analyzed in three aspects—i.e., indicators and data, modelling approaches, and validation approaches. The main findings disclose that: (a) Three types of indicators are commonly used—i.e., demographic properties and socioeconomic status, health conditions and medical resources, and natural and built environmental factors; (b) Heat vulnerability indexing models, equal weighting method, and principal component analysis are commonly used in modelling and weighting approaches; (c) Statistical regressions and correlation coefficients between heat vulnerability results and adverse health outcomes are commonly used in validation approaches, but the performance varies across studies. This study informs urban policy and generates directions for prospective research and more accurate vulnerability assessment method development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater resource assessment and forecasting in mountain areas requires the monitoring of two conditions, local meteorological conditions, and springs' groundwater parameters. The reliability of the monitoring data and conditions are linked to the technical instrumentation, multiparametric probes, and sensors. This paper presents a set of attractive tools and sensors for springs' groundwater resource monitoring and assessment in mountain basins. Data from the combination of weather station sensors with spring flow-rate instruments, installed in the alpine Mascognaz basin, can guarantee an entire understanding of how one set of parameters can affect other results, defining consequential cause-and-effect relationships. Since a large part of the Alpine groundwater bodies are exploited for drinking purposes, understanding the evolution of their rechange processes requires making the right economic and instrumental investments aimed at using them according to forecast predictions and sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Grain for Green Project (GGP) has considerably improved the vegetation cover of the Loess Plateau, as well as changed the carbon and water coupling process of local vegetation to a certain extent. Water use efficiency (WUE) is a crucial measure for evaluating ecosystem responses to global climate change and is a key indicator of the carbon–water coupling between terrestrial ecosystems and the environment. A comprehensive understanding of the impact of vegetation reconstruction on WUE on the Loess Plateau is of great significance to the vegetation growth and contribution to sustainable of the Loess Plateau. In recent years, scholars have gained a more comprehensive understanding of the distribution and drivers of WUE on the Loess Plateau. However, through the study of carbon and water coupling in the Loess Plateau, it is found that the effects of different vegetation restoration levels on WUE are still to be studied in depth in terms of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and long timeseries. In this paper, we analyzed the trends of Normalized Difference vegetation cover (NDVI) and WUE from 2001 to 2010 and 2011 to 2020, respectively, to research at the WUE of the vegetation in this area in relation to vegetation restoration. It was found that the Loess Plateau's vegetation WUE rose from 2001 to 2020 at a rate of 0.023 g C kg−1 H2O per year, and that the increase from 2011 to 2020 was more significant than the growth from 2000 to 2010. The Loess Plateau's area with a growing trend in vegetation water use rate increased from 77.12% in 2001–2010 to 88.63% in 2011–2020, with the majority of the increased area occurring in the northeastern Inner Mongolia region. After 20 years of the reforestation project, the area where NDVI and WUE increased simultaneously accounted for 71.54% of the Loess Plateau, the area where NDVI increased but WUE decreased accounted for 10.95% of the Loess Plateau, and the area where NDVI increased but WUE decreased accounted for 7.15% of the Loess Plateau. The correlation between temperature precipitation and WUE was not significant for the whole Loess Plateau, further indicating that the increase in vegetation cover was the main reason for the increase in vegetation water efficiency. Therefore, the effect of vegetation cover on WUE should be fully considered when vegetation restoration is carried out on the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of enterprises is based on three pillars: economic, social, and environmental. Sustainable development aims to limit climate change and its negative impact on the natural environment. The main aim of this paper is to assess the impact of selected energy economy factors (government expenditure, environmental taxes, outlays on renewable energy sources, prices of futures contracts for CO2 emissions, outlays on R&D, and the EU Emissions Trading System (ETSEU)) on the sustainable development of the energy sectors in Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, and Poland, from 2008 to 2022. We use the correlation coefficients, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Vector Autoregressive (VAR) Models, and the simultaneous equation. The research results indicate a variation in the direction and strength of the influence of individual economic factors in the studied countries (p < 0.05). The results can support operational and strategic decisions sustaining the sustainable development of enterprises in the analyzed countries. The results indicate the need to reform selected economic factors, with an emphasis on the increased importance of environmental taxes and the reform of the EU ETS, which is a key tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of globalisation-induced greenhouse gas emissions is an ongoing topic and a major challenge to the EU climate goals of achieving non-zero emissions by 2050. In the light of this ongoing debate on the globalisation–environment nexus, the paper examines the impact of economic globalisation on climate in EU countries over the period 2000–2019 and provide some new empirical evidence. After applying the panel cointegration analysis and the Granger causality test, the dynamic panel analysis is performed for 26 EU countries using the Arellano–Bond estimator. For the policy perspective, the analysed sample of countries is grouped into two subpanels according to their level of development—EU countries with above-average and below-average GDP per capita. After testing the effects of different dimensions of economic globalisation and environmental taxes on GHG emissions, the results revealed the following: (1) Trade globalisation is detrimental to the climate, as trade openness significantly increases emissions in both country groups. Financial globalisation has a weaker impact and increases emissions only in below-average countries, suggesting that FDI inflows could be important for the transfer of green technologies when a country reaches higher development level. (2) Passenger transport reduces GHG emissions in both groups of countries, while FDI are beneficiary for the climate in above-average countries. (3) Environmental taxes as a proxy for environmental policy show statistically significant results, but with different outcomes in the two groups; they have a negative impact on emissions in countries that are below the GDP p/c average, indicating the shortcomings of the tax system in addressing climate change. (4) The total energy consumption increases emissions in both country groups and, thus, harms the climate. Therefore, despite the current unfavourable circumstances, EU countries should continue to expand the green economy, increase energy consumption from renewables, and develop low-carbon technologies that do not depend on imported fossil fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member countries are potentially vulnerable to external disturbances, including environmental, economic, and social shocks. Regional policy emphasizes interventions to ensure long-term growth and development in the face of potential disturbance. Current emphasis is placed on mitigating the impact of climate change, including the creation of the SADC Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. However, the need for long-term adaptation and associated policy is evident to reduce regional vulnerabilities. Research is an important source of evidence to support policymaking, with specific importance to institutions in developing regions such as the SADC and during times of global change and disruption. SADC development policy related to resilience outcomes ought to be informed by research. This paper investigates the extent to which existing research supports regional resilience policymaking. Objectives include investigating available research on resilience in the SADC, identifying potential limitations, and delineating areas of future research to be considered by researchers that contribute to knowledge and evidence creation. A bibliometric review and selective content review of existing research were utilized. Relevant publications for the aforesaid analysis were delineated using the source concepts "resilience", "adaptation", "adaptability", and "Southern African Development Community" (or "SADC"). Using the SCOPUS database, bibliometric data of 65 publications were imported into the VOSviewer application (v.1.6.17). Keyword occurrences and network and overlay visualizations were applied to identify the research themes underlying current research. The findings, which were supported by the selective content review, indicate that existing research focuses primarily on environmental and social disturbances, while the applicable regional planning scale and development policy are considered to a limited extent. Areas of future research ought to create evidence that is thematically relevant to policy areas and applicable to policy interventions, which necessitates increased research on economic disturbances, a broadening of existing themes to the appropriate regional planning scale, and consideration of explicit regional development objectives and policy. Transdisciplinarity ought to be central to future research on the diverse disturbances facing the region, while researchers ought to leverage knowledge-creation opportunities catalyzed by SDG implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Nitrogen (N) fertilization practices for tropical perennial grass are still based on annual amounts, following flat N rates instalments. This strategy does not consider variations in climatic conditions along the growing season, their impacts on the plant's demand and the soil N availability. At regrowth cycles where the amount of soil N released from mineralization or through animal excreta surpass the plant's demand, most of the N may be lost (as ammonia, nitrate, and nitrous oxide), increasing production costs and environmental pollution. This paper examines current N fertilization and discusses possible gaps in knowledge for the definition of more precise fertilization guidelines in pasture-based livestock systems based on tropical perennial grasses. More precise fertilization practices, based upon site and seasonal-specific recommendations, will substantially contribute to the establishment of best fertilization guidelines. Sustainable approaches can be defined by combining the identification of regrowth cycles where high N rates are required, with enhanced efficiency fertilizers, and/or using grass species with the potential for biological nitrification inhibition. The lack of information on tropical grasses requirements, and soil and climatic factors driving the N fate into the mineralization and immobilization processes and how these factors affect plant's N demand, still prevents opportunities for tactical applications and the establishment of best management guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteorological drought (MDr) causes considerable economic losses in many countries, including in relation to agriculture. To examine the diversity of seasonal meteorological drought in Poland, the study uses monthly precipitation sums in the period from March to November, collected from 74 ground-based meteorological stations in 1951–2020. The paper defines meteorological drought on the basis of the standardized precipitation index in three seasons (SPI-3) and differentiates three degrees of drought intensity: extreme, severe and moderate. The study also calculates the size of Poland's area affected by meteorological drought (AAMDr) and determines the relationship between AAMDr and SPI-3. MDr in Poland occurred more frequently in spring and autumn (every 4–5 years) than in summer (every 7 years). In the areas affected by extreme drought, precipitation was below the average, mainly ≤50% of the climatic norm, and air temperature values were below or above the average of the climatic norm, mainly ranging from −1.0 to 1.0 °C. A significant negative correlation between AAMDr and SPI-3 indices was found. The obtained results could be useful for managing climatic risk and developing regional and local agriculture adaptation plans aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of the Earth's environmental system, sandy soils are particularly sensitive to changes in the climatic environment. As one of the four major desert regions in China, the MuUs desert has transformed from a desert to an oasis after more than half a century of ecological management. In this paper, we analyzed the spatial and temporal patterns of surface albedo, evapotranspiration, and fraction vegetation cover in the MuUs desert based on the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) product with high spatial and temporal resolution and assessed the relationships between their variability and snow cover, air temperature, and precipitation. It is of great significance to understand the effect of desertification control and climate change after the conversion of land surface types in the MuUs region. The results show that the desertification control in the MuUs area has achieved remarkable results since 1982. The fraction vegetation coverage of the MuUs desert showed a significant increasing trend, with an interannual change rate of 1.32% each decade−1. The surface albedo of MuUs desert decreased significantly. Affected by vegetation and snow cover, it was lower in summer and higher in winter. The evapotranspiration showed a significant upward trend, higher in summer and lower in winter, which is significantly correlated with the changes in surface albedo, air temperature, and vegetation. In addition, the local-scale biophysical effects caused by vegetation change have influenced the climate of the MuUs region, manifested as the increase in precipitation and air temperature. In general, with the support of relevant policies and human construction projects, the overall ecological environment in the MuUs desert is developing in a good way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass use for energy and materials is, on the one hand, one of the key mitigation options to reach the 1.5 °C GMT target set in the Paris Agreement, as highlighted by the IPCC and many other key analyses. On the other hand, particularly in parts of the EU, a strong negative connotation has emerged in public debate and EC policy, with a particular emphasis on the (presumed) displacement effect in markets and land use. This is a remarkable contrast because the reasons to use sustainable biomass, on the one hand, and the possibilities and synergies for supplying sustainable biomass, on the other, are underpinned with strong evidence, also providing insights on how displacement issues can be avoided. Sustainable biomass supplies can contribute 20–30% of the future global and European energy supply, leading to reduced overall mitigation costs, including realizing the net CO2 removal from the atmosphere using BECCS concepts. This paper highlights which options, pathways and preconditions are key to achieving such a substantial contribution of sustainable biomass in future (2050) energy and material supply (with a focus on the European setting). By pinpointing how "biomass can be done right" and how important synergies can be achieved via better agricultural methods, the restoration of marginal and degraded lands and the adaptation of climate change, a different policy agenda emerges in sharp contrast to how a biobased economy has been framed in recent years. It is recommended that future policy priorities, particularly at the EU level, take a more integral view on the synergy between the role of biomass in the energy transition, climate adaptation and mitigation, better agriculture and the better use of land in general. Strategies to achieve such positive results typically require an alignment between renewable energy, and agricultural, environmental, mitigation and adaptation policies, which is a largely missing nexus in different policy arenas. Resolving this lack of alignment offers a major opportunity, globally, to contribute to the European Green deal and improve energy security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the reliability of regional climate downscaling products from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment-Southeast Asia (CORDEX-SEA) in reproducing the present-day wind at the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPM). A total of five CORDEX-SEA products, namely CNRM-CM5(RegCM4), CSIRO-Mk3-6-0(RegCM4), EC-EARTH(RegCM4), HadGEM2-ES(RegCM4) and MPI-ESM-MR(RegCM4), with a resolution of 25 km, were compared to reference data from the European Centre Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) fifth generation atmospheric reanalysis ERA5 spanning 1980–2005. This study focused on the period of the southwest monsoon, specifically the months of June, July and August (JJA), as wind during this season is known to play an important role in generating upwelling at the ECPM. The results obtained show that only three of the CORDEX-SEA products, CSIRO-Mk3-6-0(RegCM4), HadGEM2-ES(RegCM4) and MPI-ESM-MR(RegCM4), were able to reproduce the wind in terms of wind speed, wind stress curl and wind pattern as effectively as ERA5. An ensemble was made from these three CORDEX-SEA products, and it was found that the ensemble was able to reproduce a value of the Upwelling Index (UI) that was similar to the reference data, albeit with some bias. Hence, only the three stated CORDEX-SEA products and their ensemble are suitable to be used for future climate change studies within the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, with its reaching implications, has become a popular topic in recent years. Among the many aspects of climate change, one of the most pressing concerns has been identified as the impact on the terrestrial water cycle, which has a direct impact on human settlement and ecosystems. The paper begins by reviewing previous studies, and then identifies their flaws and future research directions. The effects of climate change on surface water resources in the Dhidhessa Sub-basin, Abbay Basin, Ethiopia, were studied as practices. For future potential climate change, the results of global climate models (GCMs) and high-resolution regional climate models (RCMs) from multiple climate models were combined with data from Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from the CCAFS Data Distribution Center web page. To evaluate the impacts on water resources, various distributed hydrologic models based on local underlying surfaces were developed. The future potential climate change of the Dhidhessa Sub-basin Province was evaluated by integrating RCP outputs, whereas the climate change of the Dhidhessa River was directly derived from the results of different RCP. Dhidhessa stream flow will decrease in the future compared to the baseline era. The predictions of future discharge (stream flow) were based on climate scenarios data from 1991 to 2020 and for the future with two time windows, 2044 (2030–2059) and 2084 (2070–2099), on a monthly time-step after bias correction to both precipitation and temperature in the future climate described in the under each RCP. According to model results, the quantity of surface water resources in the Dhidhessa river region will decrease over the next 100 years, the percent decrease in mean annual stream flow by 10%, in 2044, and 6.3% in 2084, respectively, making the impact of temperature increase on runoff greater than that of precipitation. The distribution of runoff would be more even across years but more uneven across years in the long-term window, implying a higher possibility of drought and flooding. In general, this study discovered that any effect on this river that results in a decrease in flow will have a direct impact on the area's ongoing water resource development and socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aircraft-Induced Clouds (AICs), colloquially called contrails, form from the emission of soot from jet engines during cruise flight in favorable atmospheric conditions. AICs absorb, scatter, and reflect shortwave and longwave radiation. This radiative transfer has a cooling effect during the day; however, the night experiences an overwhelming warming effect, which leads to an overall warming effect on Earth, contributing to anthropogenically propelled climate change. Reducing AICs significantly mitigates aviation's contribution to climate change by reducing the disruption in Earth's radiation budget. Researchers have proposed AIC Abatement Programs (AAPs) to increase cruise flight levels without additional fuel burn. In order to effectively implement AAPs, it is crucial to be able to accurately identify AICs from publicly available aerial and satellite imagery. This study aims at the identification of AICs from hyperspectral imagery to help the effective implementation of an AAP and to mitigate climate change. This paper describes a method for the hyperspectral analysis of aerial images in order to accurately identify AICs through a case study based in West Virginia. The results show that both the Adaptive Coherence Estimator and the Matched Filter algorithms based on unique in-scene spectra were successful in the isolation of the AICs from other cloud types and the background. It is found that AICs can be identified with 84% confidence in this case study. The method, a case study, and future works are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the frequent occurrence of extreme climate disasters has seriously affected agriculture in Northeast China. Based on precipitation data derived from 83 geographical stations in the study area for 60 years (1960–2019), we chose the reliable statistical methods of the Mann–Kendall test, Sen's slope, and the Standardized Precipitation Index, and regarded drought and flood as a whole in this paper, to identify the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of precipitation and extreme climate events in Northeast China. The results show that an increasing trend of disasters was detected at the 95% confidence level (Z = 2.3). According to the timescale analysis, abrupt climate changes started in 2006. Temporal and spatial distribution of extreme climate disasters, mainly drought and flood disasters, showed a significant upward trend from 2006 to 2019. According to the spatial analysis, the precipitation in Northeast China decreased from south to north and fluctuated less from east to west. Moreover, stations with extreme climate trends (trend of climatic anomaly with confidence level > 90%) followed the same spatial pattern as those with a high frequency of extreme climate disasters (more than 17.87 times/decade). The severity and frequency of extreme climate have increasingly threatened Northeast China in the past decade. In particular, the Northeast Plain experienced the most severe and extreme climate events that seriously threatened the study area in 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2019. Our results highlight the urgent need for the development of monitoring and early warning of droughts and flood disasters to reduce economic losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global warming, snow cover changes have an extremely important impact on the hydrological cycle and the redistribution of water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, based on the daily cloud-free snow area remote sensing product data in the source region of Yangtze River (SRYR) from 2000 to 2019, the snow phenology variables such as the snow cover day (SCD), snow onset date (SOD), snow end date (SED), and snow duration day (SDD) were extracted separately for each hydrological year, and the vertical distribution of snow cover area (SCA) in the SRYR was analyzed by combining with the digital elevation model (DEM). In addition, we also combined climate factors and land cover types to further explore the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of snow phenology in response to different influencing factors, in order to reveal the spatiotemporal variation patterns of snow cover in the SRYR. The results showed that: (1) The SCA in the SRYR has a more obvious vertical distribution, with the maximum SCA reaching 61.58% at high elevation, while at low elevation, the SCA is mostly below 20%. The distribution of SCD in the study area showed a significant exponential correlation with DEM (R2 = 0.87). (2) The area of SOD in the SRYR showed an advanced trend of about 63.37%, while the area of SED showed a delayed trend of about 69.59%, and the area which showed significant trends is 4.29% and 4.36%, respectively. Therefore, the trends of both SOD and SED showed insignificant changes. (3) Temperature change is the main factor affecting the change of snow cover in the SRYR. Among them, 90.9% of the regions showed a significant positive correlation between temperature and SCD, while precipitation showed a significant negative correlation with SCD in about 75.3% of the total area of SRYR. Under the stable snow area (SCD > 60), the land cover type is glacial or permanent snow about 1.5 × 103 km2, which covers almost the entire glacial or permanent snow of the SRYR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snow plays an important role in the water cycle and global climate change, and the accurate monitoring of changes in snow depth is an important task. However, monitoring snow properties is still challenging and unclear, particularly in the Tibetan Plateau, which has rough land and uneven terrain. The traditional monitoring methods have some limitations in monitoring snow depth changes, and the Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) provides a new opportunity for snow monitoring. This paper employed data from the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) to discover the effect of snow properties. Firstly, the observations of CYGNSS were used to find the sensitive to snow properties, and the relationships between signal to noise ratio (SNR), leading edge slope (LES), surface reflectivity (SR), and snow depth were studied and analyzed, respectively. It is found that the correlation between the first two parameters and snow depth is poor, while SR can indicate the changes in snow depth, and is proposed as an indicator of SR change, namely, surface reflectivity–difference ratio factor (SR–DR factor). Furthermore, the long-time series data in the Tibetan Plateau (2018–2019) are used to analyze its effects on the time series of the SR–DR factor, while the influences of the soil freeze/thaw (F/T) process and soil moisture are excluded during the analysis. The results indicate that the SR–DR factor can be a good indicator and discriminator for snow depth. Our work shows that space-borne GNSS-R has the potential for the monitoring of snow properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High Mountain Asia (HMA), with its high altitude, widely distributed snow and frozen soil, influences the climate of the northern hemisphere and even the world through thermal balance and the water vapor cycle and is also an indicator of global climate change. The influence of HMA snow cover on its surrounding areas has always been a research hotspot. Taking the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) of China as an example, this paper analyzes the relationship between winter snow depth in HMA and drought and flood in spring and summer in the YRB in the recent 40 years by using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). The results show that the influence of snow cover on drought and flood in spring is inversely different between eastern and western parts of HMA, while the effect in summer is consistent. When the snow depth is larger (smaller) in the east and smaller (larger) in the west in winter, the YRB is drier (wetter) in spring. When the overall snow depth in HMA is larger (smaller) in winter, the northern part of the middle and lower reaches of the YRB is drier (wetter) in summer. The results provide support for understanding the impact of HMA snow cover on the surrounding climate and some important indicators for drought and flood prediction in the YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing global fire regimes including extended fire seasons due to climate change may increase the co-occurrence of high-impact fires that overwhelm national fire suppression capacities. These shifts increase the demand for international resource sharing to supplement national fire suppression efforts. In this paper, we explore the development and evaluate the effectiveness of international resource sharing arrangements of three regions: (1) The United States, Canada, and Australia ("Big Three"); (2) Europe; and (3) Southeast Asia by conducting a literature review of gray and peer- reviewed literature in combination with key informant interviews. For the "Big Three" and Europe, international resource sharing is perceived as necessary, effective, and continuously improving. Converging fire management processes and training and developing more effective administrative procedures facilitate these relationships. In Southeast Asia, political tensions and limited firefighting capacities have hampered effective cooperation. Formalized agreements of country-to-country support for fire management are nascent and evolving, and there is evidence that demand for expanding and improving these partnerships is increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitis vinifera L. adapts well to a scarce availability of water in the soil. However, in recent decades, the combination of thermal stress with prolonged water scarcity could have dramatic consequences on the vine's physiological status. In this paper, we evaluated the effects of two canopy shapes and two irrigation regimes at veraison on vine physiology, yield parameters and grape composition through biochemical and molecular approaches. The water shortage strongly influenced the physiology of Sangiovese only when the stress was moderate to severe. Neither the water stress limited to veraison nor the canopy shape were able to influence the yield parameters and sugar content, and a strong induction of the expression of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of anthocyanins was recorded only in conditions of moderate-to-severe stress. This phenomenon led to an increase in the anthocyanin content in berry skins until the end of veraison. Conversely, no significant effects occurred in terms of biochemical and molecular performance after re-watering and at harvest. Though the shape of the canopy could play a role only under elevated temperature and prolonged drought, severe water stress can affect the vine physiology and berry ripening during the veraison stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to identify the trends of changes in atmospheric precipitation percolation under the changing climate conditions of Lithuania (the East Baltic region) based on long-term lysimeter studies. Data from 1987–2022 research (n = 1296) was used to determine trends in precipitation infiltration changes. Two 10-year periods, 1989–1998 and 2011–2020, were selected from the whole observation period (1987–2022) to assess changes in precipitation infiltration due to climate change. The air temperature has increased significantly in November (+3.4 °C) and December (+3.3 °C), with a +2.2 °C increase in the standard climate normal. The distribution of yearly precipitation has changed, with the annual amount decreasing from 686 to 652 mm. Precipitation increased the most in July and August (10.9 and 22.9 mm). In autumn, the amount of precipitation decreased by 7.9–31.1 mm. The number of rainy days did not change during the year, but the frequency of heavy precipitation increased significantly in August. The annual percolation increased by 14.2% over 2011–2020 compared to 1989–1998. Percolation increased by 19.0, 22.3, and 20.1% during the spring, autumn, and winter, respectively, and decreased by 35.0% in summer. The increase in annual percolation is mostly related to the increase in temperature during the cold season: November and December. During these months, the likelihood of early freeze formation, which interrupts gravitational water percolation in soil, is significantly reduced. In the spring, the increase in average air temperatures in March leads to faster melting of the winter snow in a shorter period, which significantly increases percolation processes. In Lithuania, higher percolation in autumn and winter, when part of the agricultural land is not covered by vegetation, may lead to higher leaching of chemical elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mara River Basin of Africa has a world-famous ecosystem with vast vegetation, which is home to many wild animals. However, the basin is experiencing vegetation degradation and bad climate change, which has caused conflicts between people and wild animals, especially in dry seasons. This paper studied the vegetation greenness (VG), vegetation greenness trends (VGT), and their responses to climate change in dry seasons in the Mara River Basin, Africa. Firstly, based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Sentinel-2 images, the vegetation distribution map of the Mara River Basin was drawn. Then dry seasons MODIS NDVI data (January to February and June to September) were used to analyze the VGT. Finally, a random forest regression algorithm was used to evaluate the response of VG and VGT to temperature and precipitation derived from ERA5 from 2000 to 2019 at a resolution of 250 m. The results showed that the VGT was fluctuating in dry seasons, and the spatial differentiation was obvious. The greenness increasing trends both upstream and downstream were significantly larger than that of in the midstream. The responses of VG to precipitation were almost twice larger than temperature, and the responses of VGT to temperature were about 1.5 times larger than precipitation. The climate change trend of rising temperature and falling precipitation will lead to the degradation of vegetation and the reduction of crop production. There will be a vegetation degradation crisis in dry seasons in the Mara River Basin in the future. Identifying the spatiotemporal changes of VGT in dry seasons will be helpful to understand the response of VG and VGT to climate change and could also provide technical support to cope with climate-change-related issues for the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flash flood is one of the extremely destructive natural disasters in the world. In recent years, extreme rainfall events caused by global climate change have increased, and flash flood disasters are becoming the main types of natural disasters in the world. Due to the characteristics of strong suddenness, complex disaster-causing factors, great difficulty in prediction and forecast, and the lack of historical data, it is difficult to effectively prevent and control flash flood disaster. The early identification technology of flash floods is not only the basis of flash flood disaster prediction and early warning, but also an effective means of flash flood prevention and control. The paper makes a meta-analysis and visual analysis of 475 documents collected by the Web of Science Document Platform in the past 31 years by comprehensively using Citespace, Vosviewer, Origin, etc. We systematically summarize the research progress and development trend of early identification technology of flash flood disasters from five key research subfields: (1) precipitation, (2) sediment, (3) sensitivity analysis, (4) risk assessment, (5) uncertainty analysis. In addition, we analyze and discuss the main problems encountered in the current research of several subfields and put forward some suggestions to provide references for the prevention and control of flash flood disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate variability and change greatly affect agricultural and water resource management over West Africa. This paper presents the current characteristics and projected change in regional crop water demand (CWD), irrigation requirement (IR), and water availability (WA) over West Africa. Observed and simulated daily rainfall, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and evapotranspiration are used to derive the above agro-meteorological and hydrological variables. For future periods, high-resolution climate data from three regional climate models under two different scenarios, i.e., representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5, are considered. Evaluation of the characteristics of present-day CWD, IR, and WA indicated that the ensemble mean of the model-derived outputs reproduced the prevailing spatial patterns of CWD and IR. Moreover, the wetter part of the domain, especially along the southern coast, was correctly delineated from the drier northern regions, despite having biases. The ensemble model also simulated the annual cycle of water supply and the bimodal pattern of the water demand curves correctly. In terms of future projections, the outcomes from the study suggest an average increase in the CWD by up to 0.808 mm/day and IR by 1.244 mm/day towards the end of the twenty-first century, compared to the baseline period. The hot-spot areas, where there is higher projected increment in CWD and IR, are over Senegal, Southern Mali, and Western Burkina Faso. In most cases, WA is projected to decrease towards the end of the twenty-first century by −0.418 mm/day. The largest decline in WA is found to be over Guinea and most of the eastern parts of West Africa. Despite the current under-utilization of the existing groundwater resources, the threat of global warming in reducing future WA and increasing CWD suggested caution on the scale of irrigation schemes and management strategies. The outcomes from the study could be a crucial input for the agricultural and water managers for introducing effective measures to ensure sustainability of irrigated farm lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire activity in 288 areas (2.5° N × 10° E) in the Arctic region (50°–70° N, 0°–360° E) was analyzed using about 4.4 million satellite hotspot (HS) data from 2002 to 2021. A total of 21 high fire density areas from eastern Europe to western Canada were selected, and their fire–weather conditions during each active fire period were analyzed using about 1820 various weather maps at the upper and the lower air level. Analysis results showed that the active fires in the Arctic region occurred under the fire–weather conditions associated with the northward movement of cut-off high (COH) and warm air masses detached from the south caused by large westerly meandering (LWM). LWM is a sign of the beginning of an active fire period. Very active fires on HS peak days occurred several days after the start of the northward movement of COHs and under mainly high-pressure conditions in the upper air and strong wind conditions in the lower air. The time lag of these several days suggests that we may be prepared for very active fires. The fire–weather analysis approach described in this paper has shown that future large-scale fire outbreaks are predictable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on precipitation regularity in the past 120 years is an important link in analyzing the precipitation characteristics of watersheds. This paper systematically analyzes the characteristic changes of centennial precipitation data in the Haihe River basin with the help of CRU data, PCI, SPI, and the Pearson type III curve. The results show that the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation in the Haihe River basin has a more obvious inconsistency. The temporal distribution shows the characteristics of relatively stable in the early period and increasing fluctuation in the later period, the concentration of precipitation gradually decreases, and the overall drought level decreases. The spatial distribution shows a general pattern of gradually decreasing from southwest to northeast, the overall trend of summer precipitation changes from stable to north–south extremes, and the distribution probability of extreme precipitation events in the basin decreases from southeast to northwest, while the drought-prone area transitions from the northeast to the west and southwest of the basin. Under the influence of both climate change and human activities, the seasonal distribution of precipitation tends to be average, the area affected by extreme precipitation rises, and the arid area shifts to the inland area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation phenology and its spatiotemporal driving factors are essential to reflect global climate change, the surface carbon cycle and regional ecology, and further quantitative studies on spatiotemporal heterogeneity and its two-way driving are needed. Based on MODIS phenology, meteorology, land cover and other data from 2001 to 2019, this paper analyzes the phenology change characteristics of the Yangtze River Delta from three dimensions: time, plane space and elevation. Then, the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of phenology and its driving factors are explored with random forest and geographic detector methods. The results show that (1) the advance of start of season (SOS) is insignificant—with 0.17 days per year; the end of season (EOS) shows a significant delay—0.48 days per year. The preseason temperature has a greater contribution to SOS, while preseason precipitation is main factor in determining EOS. (2) Spatial differences of the phenological index do not strictly obey the change rules of latitude at a provincial scale. The SOS of Jiangsu and Anhui is earlier than that of Zhejiang and Shanghai, and EOS shows an obvious double-clustering phenomenon. In addition, a divergent response of EOS with elevation grades is found; the most significant changes are observed at grades below 100 m. (3) Land cover (LC) type is a major factor of the spatial heterogeneity of phenology, and its change may also be one of the insignificant factors driving the interannual change of phenology. Furthermore, nighttime land surface temperature (NLST) has a relatively larger contribution to the spatial heterogeneity in non-core urban areas, but population density (PD) contributes little. These findings could provide a new perspective on phenology and its complex interactions between natural or anthropogenic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compound droughts and heatwaves (CDHWs) are likely to cause more severe natural disasters than a single extreme event, and they have been exacerbated by rapid global warming. Based on high-resolution grid data, this study combines the daily-scale ERA5-Land dataset and the monthly-scale SPEI dataset with multiple indicators to analyze CDHWs. We calculated and analyzed the temporal and spatial modal distribution of CDHWs in Central Asia from 1981 to 2018, and in this paper, we discuss the sequence relationship between drought events, heatwave events, and CDHWs. The results show that the number of CDHWs in the study region have increased over time and expanded in terms of area, especially in eastern and southwestern Central Asia. The tsum (total frequency of CDHWs) was 0.5 times higher than the total heatwave frequency and it increased at a rate of 0.17/yr. The maximum duration of tmax (maximum duration of CDHWs in days) was 17 days. Furthermore, the occurrence rate of tmax was 96.67%, and the AH (CDHWs' accumulated heat) had a rate of 97.78%, which, upon examination of the spatial trend pattern, accounted for the largest increase in terms of area. We also found that the TAH (CDHWs' average temperature anomalies, SPEI < −0.5) shows obvious seasonality, with the increases in winter and spring being significantly greater than the increases in summer and autumn. The intensity of the CDHWs was stronger than that of a single extreme event, the temperature anomaly was higher than the average of 0.4–0.8 °C, and there was a north–south spatial pattern across the study region. In eastern and northwestern Central Asia, the AH and heatwaves (SPEI < −0.5) increased by 15–30 times per year on average. During the transition from the base period to the reference period, CDHWs increased by 25%, and the number of dry days prior to the CDHWs decreased by 7.35 days. The conclusion of our study can provide a theoretical basis for coping with climate change in arid zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Once widespread around the Mediterranean region, the Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) became one of the rarest birds in the world. In this paper, we trace the history of the species through different epochs up to the present. A particular focus is placed both on its life in and disappearance from ancient Egypt, where the bird attained significant cultural importance, and on the modern endeavour to re-wild and restore the species. The Northern Bald Ibis is an outstanding example of how an interdisciplinary cultural-historical and natural-scientific approach significantly promotes the interpretation of historical evidence as well as helps implement current rewilding and restoration efforts. We trace the history of the endangered Northern Bald Ibis through different epochs to the present. A particular focus is placed on its life in and disappearance from ancient Egypt, where the bird attained great cultural and religious significance, and on the modern endeavour to re-wild the species. Due to the characteristic appearance, behaviour and habitat of the species as well as its need for open foraging areas, a close mutualistic relationship between humans and the birds was formed in ancient Egypt, as in other cultures. A clear benefit for the Northern Bald Ibis was the availability of feeding habitats, which were cleared by humans for farming or grazing. The benefit to people was rather cultural because the bird attracted religious veneration or symbolic meanings from ancient Egypt to medieval Europe. The proximity to humans, however, carried a high risk as well. We discuss various types of impact (including human impacts as well as climate change) as triggers for the extinction of the species. The evidence for a triple disappearance of the Northern Bald Ibis (around 2000 BCE, around 1600 CE and in modern time) represents a unique basis for studying both the bird's habitat preferences and its vulnerability. This is because different, mainly anthropogenic, causes stood behind these three historical disappearances, although the disappearances in all three epochs occurred during a period of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since both the EU Erasmus+ program and UNESCO Global Geoparks aim at developing models of best practices, a shared playground for common activities can be found in high geodiversity and rich geoheritage areas to promote innovative education and professional perspectives in the ecological transition. Two consecutive Erasmus+ cooperative partnerships (GEOclimHOME and GEOclimHOME-PRO) involved schools, research institutions, and three European geoparks (Rokua, Finland; Sesia Val Grande, Italy; Chablais, France) for improved perception of climate and environmental changes and appraisal of geoheritage. The common pedagogical approach is presented in this review paper as well as the different methodological solutions for (1) understanding climate change and (2) recognising its natural and human factors, by environmental research and professional experiences. Activities were first addressed to explore the "secret" values of geoheritage for awareness on climate changes. Later, active/passive roles of humans toward the environment have been analysed, which are related to the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Results of educational activities demonstrated enhanced students' awareness of social and environmental responsibility. Moreover, the actions highlighted new job opportunities, accomplishing the local and global needs of sustainable development, future skills, and lifestyles within geopark territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in coastal and inland waters has a significant impact on societies. This complex biogeophysical phenomenon becomes further complicated due to the impact of climate change. This review summarizes the research performed in recent years in the direction of climate change on three lake parameters, viz. lake temperature, precipitation, runoff, and lake ice, which impacts the lake ecology and, in turn, impacts the HABs. The present paper also reviews the research work related to the relationship between climate change and HABs. The purpose of this study is to provide the researchers with the opportunity to understand the current research in the direction of climate change and HABs so they can contribute effectively to one of the most important phenomena that will severely impact water quality in the future warmer climate, in coastal as well as inland water bodies. Furthermore, this work aims to discuss how HABs will change in the future warmer climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black Sea freezing in winter is observed regularly in its northern parts and near the Kerch Strait. The reason for this is the relatively shallow northwestern shelf part and the river inflow of the three major European rivers Danube, Dnieper, and Dniester, as well as Don through the Azov Sea, carrying a large amount of fresh water to this part of the Black Sea. The global warming that has been observed in recent decades has made these episodes less intense; nevertheless, they exist and impact people who live n the area. The aim of this study is to analyze the extent of sea-ice variability in the last 15 years, observed by satellite observations, and to describe the weather conditions favorable for freezing to occur. It is found that, in 2006, 2012 and 2017, sea ice extended unusually southward, which is related to the unusually cold winter and weather conditions in these years. The weather patterns associated with the periods of maximal sea ice in the Black Sea are discussed. In addition, we analyze how the winter conditions change in the period 1926–2021 by combining different data sources. The winter is classified as cold, moderate or mild through the Winter Severity Index following a previously published methodology. The findings in our paper could help to monitor and predict these events and to inform the interested end-users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complexly distributed aerosol particles have significant impacts on climate and environmental changes. As one of the vital atmospheric power sources, the wind field deeply affects the distribution and transport of aerosol particles. For a more comprehensive investigation of the aerosols flux and transport mechanism, two retrieval methods of aerosol optical properties (backscatter coefficient and extinction coefficient at 1550 nm) from coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) observation are proposed in this paper. The first method utilizes the calculated aerosol backscatter coefficient (532 nm) from Mie-scattering lidar datasets and the iterative Fernald method to retrieve aerosol optical property profiles during joint measurements with CDL and Mie-scattering lidar. After verifying the correctness of the first method compared with AERONET datasets, we proposed the second retrieval method. Using the forward integral Fernald method with near-ground reference aerosol extinction coefficient calculated by atmospheric visibility, aerosol optical properties at 1550 nm could be obtained. Thirty-six-day joint measurements with two lidars were specially designed and conducted to verify the correctness of these retrieval methods. The validation results of these two methods indicate great performances, where the mean relative errors are 0.0272 and 0.1656, and the correlation coefficients are 0.9306 and 0.9197, respectively. In conclusion, the feasibility of these two retrieval methods extends the capability of CDL to detect aerosol optical properties and also provides a possibility to observe the aerosol distribution and transport process comprehensively, which is a great promotion of aerosol transport studies development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]