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Cities are major drivers of environmental change at all scales and are especially at risk from the ensuing effects, which include poor air quality, flooding and heat waves. Typically, these issues are studied on a city-by-city basis owing to the spatial complexity of built landscapes, local topography and emission patterns. However, to ensure knowledge sharing and to integrate local-scale processes with regional and global scale modelling initiatives, there is a pressing need for a world-wide database on cities that is suited for environmental studies. In this paper we present a European database that has a particular focus on characterising urbanised landscapes. It has been derived using tools and techniques developed as part of the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) project, which has the goal of acquiring and disseminating climate-relevant information on cities worldwide. The European map is the first major step toward creating a global database on cities that can be integrated with existing topographic and natural land-cover databases to support modelling initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of Neanderthal groups across Western and Central Europe during Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 3 has held the attention of archaeologists for decades. The role that climatic change, genetic interbreeding, and interspecies competition played in the extinction of Neanderthal groups is still debated. Hohle Fels is one of several important Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites from the Ach Valley in southwestern Germany which documents the presence of Neanderthals and modern humans in the region. Chronological and stratigraphic records indicate that these two groups occupied the site with little to no overlap or interaction. This provides the opportunity to examine the behavioural variability of Swabian Neanderthal populations without the complication of cross-cultural influence. In this study we contribute a terrestrial paleoenvironmental record derived from the small mammal material from Hohle Fels Cave to the ever-growing archaeological record of this period. By reconstructing the climate and landscape of the Ach Valley during this time we can identify the effect that the OIS 3 environment had on the presence of Neanderthals in the region. Based on indicator taxa and the habitat weighing method, the small mammal record, which includes rodents, insectivores, and bats, from Hohle Fels shows that the earliest Neanderthal occupation took place on a landscape characterized by substantial woodland and forest, rivers and ponds, as well as moist meadows and grasslands. A gradual increase in cold tundra and arctic environments is clear towards the end of the Middle Paleolithic, extending to the end of the early Aurignacian which may correlate with the onset of the Heinrich 4 event (~42,000 kya). Our taphonomic analysis indicates the material was accumulated primarily by opportunistic predators such as the great grey owl, snowy owl, and European eagle owl, and therefore reflects the diversity of landscapes present around the site in the past. Importantly, at the time Neanderthals abandoned the Ach Valley we find no indication for dramatic climatic deterioration. Rather, we find evidence of a gradual cooling of the Swabian landscape which may have pushed Neanderthal groups out of the Ach Valley prior to the arrival of modern human Aurignacian groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avoiding dangerous climate change necessitates the decarbonization of electricity systems within the next few decades. In Germany, this decarbonization is based on an increased exploitation of variable renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar power. While system security has remained constantly high, the integration of renewables causes additional costs. In 2015, the costs of grid management saw an all time high of about € 1 billion. Despite the addition of renewable capacity, these costs dropped substantially in 2016. We thus investigate the effect of natural climate variability on grid management costs in this study. We show that the decline is triggered by natural wind variability focusing on redispatch as a main cost driver. In particular, we find that 2016 was a weak year in terms of wind generation averages and the occurrence of westerly circulation weather types. Moreover, we show that a simple model based on the wind generation time series is skillful in detecting redispatch events on timescales of weeks and beyond. As a consequence, alterations in annual redispatch costs in the order of hundreds of millions of euros need to be understood and communicated as a normal feature of the current system due to natural wind variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing evidence that air pollutants are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Subclinical inflammation may be a mechanism linking air pollution with diabetes. Information is lacking whether air pollution also contributes to worse metabolic control in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. We examined the hypothesis that residential particulate matter (PM10) is associated with HbA1c concentration in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Methods: Nationwide regional levels of particulate matter with a diameter of ≤10 µm (PM10) were obtained in 2009 from background monitoring stations in Germany (Federal Environmental Agency) and assigned to place of residency of 9,102 newly diagnosed diabetes patients registered in the DPV database throughout Germany (age 65.5±13.5 yrs; males: 52.1%). Mean HbA1c (%) levels stratified for air pollution quartiles (PM10 in µg/m3) were estimated using linear regression models adjusting for age, sex, BMI, diabetes duration, geographic region, year of ascertainment, and social indicators. Findings: In both men and women, adjusted HbA1c was significantly lower in the lowest quartile of PM10 exposure in comparison to quartiles Q2–Q4. Largest differences in adjusted HbA1c (95% CI) were seen comparing lowest quartiles of exposure with highest quartiles (men %: −0.42 (−0.62; −0.23)/mmol/mol: −28.11 (−30.30; −26.04), women, %: −0.28 (−0.47; −0.09)/mmol/mol: −0.28 (−0.47; −0.09)). Interpretation: Air pollution may be associated with higher HbA1c levels in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients. Further studies are warranted to examine this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]