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Pluvial or surface flooding can cause significant damage and disruption as it often affects highly urbanised areas. Therefore it is essential to accurately identify consequences and assess the risks associated with such phenomena. The aim of this study is to present the results and investigate the applicability of a qualitative flood risk assessment methodology in urban areas. This methodology benefits from recent developments in urban flood modelling, such as the dual-drainage modelling concept, namely one-dimensional automatic overland flow network delineation tools (e.g. AOFD) and 1D/1D models incorporating both surface and sewer drainage systems. To assess flood risk, the consequences can be estimated using hydraulic model results, such as water velocities and water depth results; the likelihood was estimated based on the return period of historical rainfall events. To test the methodology two rainfall events with return periods of 350 and 2 years observed in Alcântara (Lisbon, Portugal) were used and three consequence dimensions were considered: affected public transportation services, affected properties and pedestrian safety. The most affected areas in terms of flooding were easily identified; the presented methodology was shown to be easy to implement and effective to assess flooding risk in urban areas, despite the common difficulties in obtaining data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green roofs are increasingly being used to improve the energy balance and stormwater management of buildings. This work examines the thermal behaviour, water drainage and vegetation growth of two green roof systems: a conventional system containing extruded polystyrene and polyethylene, and an alternative cork-based system. In the new system, an eco-friendly expanded cork layer is used to provide thermal resistance and water storage capacity in a more sustainable way, as cork is a natural material. This material can also be used as an uncoated finishing layer for architectural purposes. The main goal of this work was to see if the new system is reliable in real environmental conditions and to compare its behaviour to that of the conventional system for a full year. This work presents the results of a fully functioning prototype built in Portugal with a technical substrate 10 cm thick and planted with a variety of vegetation. The reference and proposed systems were installed side by side and monitored under spring, summer, autumn and winter conditions. The thermal insulation and the water drainage and storage capacity provided by the cork-based green roof were found to be similar to those of the reference solution, with the expanded cork layer showing a more marked temperature delay and a more effective management of rainfall events under dry conditions. Additionally, it was found that the growth and health of plants in the cork-based green roof were comparable to those of the reference solution, indicating the good performance of the cork system. • An innovative cork-based green roof system was compared with a conventional solution. • Thermal, drainage and vegetation behaviour were assessed under real conditions. • More pronounced temperature delays were exhibited by the cork-based system. • The cork-based system was more effective at managing the drainage of the first rainfall event. • Vegetation development was similar for the two green roofs compared here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Standardizing the signature of tsunami deposits has been identified as a major limitation for the identification of paleo-tsunami deposits. This limitation mostly arises from the strongly source-dependent nature of these deposits, which in turn determines their composition and depositional architecture, and from the effect of the local morphology of the corresponding depositional environment. Here, we provide new high-resolution mineralogical, geochemical and micro/macrofauna data of the 1755 tsunami layer of Boca do Rio estuary (Algarve, Portugal) with the aim of unraveling the signatures of estuarine tsunami deposits and linking them to possible sediment sources. We also apply for the first time diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (DRS) analysis. Our results show that the 1755 tsunami deposit of the Boca do Rio estuary is featured by an enhancement in Sr and Ca, which are linked to the input of biogenic and detrital carbonates (shell fragments and limestone clasts) from the beach foreshore and a strong depletion in most terrestrial- and marine-sensitive indicators. The latter is interpreted as resulting from the reworking of the estuarine clays and subsequent dilution within a huge volume of sand eroded from the coastal barrier. It confirms that in the case of the Boca do Rio estuary, the sediment source is essentially proximal and coastal. Textural and mineralogical features between the base and the top of the tsunami layer suggest the imprint of run-up and backwash currents derived from a unique wave. Micro and macrofauna analysis and DRS data of the siliciclastic fraction show slight but significant environmental changes occurring just after the tsunami, which could be provoked by an eventual closure of the estuary mouth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study assesses the accuracy of estimating daily grass reference evapotranspiration (PM-ET o) using daily shortwave radiation (R s) and reference evapotranspiration (ET REF) products provided by the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary satellite delivered by the Satellite Applications Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) framework. The accuracy of using reanalysis ERA5 shortwave radiation data (R s ERA5) provided by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is also evaluated. The assessments were performed using observed weather variables at 37 weather stations distributed across continental Portugal, where climate conditions range from semi-arid to humid, and 12 weather stations located in Azores islands, characterized by humid, windy and often cloudy conditions. This study's use of data from a variety of climate conditions contributed to a unique and innovative assessment of the usability of LSA-SAF and ERA5 products for ET o estimation. The first assessment focused on comparing LSA-SAF estimates of R s (R s LSA-SAF) against ground stations (R s ground). The results showed a good matching between the two R s data sets for continental Portugal but a tendency for R s LSA-SAF to under-estimate R s ground in the cloudy islands of Azores. ET o values computed using R s LSA-SAF data and observed temperature, humidity and wind speed (ET o LSA-SAF) were then compared with PM-ET o estimates with ground-based data, which were used as benchmark; input data of temperature and humidity needed for PM-ET o were quality checked for surface aridity effects. It was observed that ET o LSA-SAF is strongly correlated with PM-ET o (R2 > 0.97) for most locations in continental Portugal, with regression coefficient of a linear regression forced to the origin ranging between 0.95 and 1.05, mean root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.13 mm d−1, and Nash and Sutcliff efficiency of modeling (EF) above 0.95. For most Azores locations, ET o LSA-SAF over-estimated PM-ET o. This is likely a consequence of the high spatio-temporal heterogeneity of weather conditions that occur in these oceanic islands together with the different footprints of satellite (averaged over the pixel) and station observations. Reanalysis ERA5 shortwave radiation data presented similar behavior to the LSA-SAF products, however with slightly lower accuracy. The daily LSA-SAF ET REF product (ET REF LSA-SAF) was assessed and results have shown a good accuracy of this product, with acceptable RMSE and high EF values, for continental Portugal but a low accuracy for the Azores islands. A simplified bias correction approach was shown to improve both ET o derived from the LSA-SAF products, namely for Azores stations, which seem to be representative of smaller areas. The use of the FAO-PM temperature approach (PMT) was also assessed using the R s LSA-SAF and R s ERA5 data, which showed a superiority of the LSA-SAF product for ET o estimations (ET o PMT LSA-SAF). No significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in terms of the median value of the RMSE when adopting ET o PMT and ET REF LSA-SAF. Differently, results showed that using the R s LSA-SAF in the PMT approach (ET o PMT LSA-SAF) produces significantly better RMSE results than ET o PMT and ET REF LSA-SAF. Overall, the performed assessment allows concluding that the use of R s LSA-SAF, and to a lesser extent the use of the R s ERA5 , highly improves the accuracy of computation of ET o when R s observations are not available, including when only temperature data are accessible. The use of the ET REF LSA-SAF product is a good alternative when observed weather data are not available. • Satellite LSA-SAF solar radiation (R s) closely fits ground R s in continental sites leading to highly accurate PM-ET o estimates. • Humid, windy and cloudy climate of oceanic islands lead to pixel heterogeneities and over-estimation trends for R s and ET o • ERA5 reanalysis R s show a behavior similar to LSA-SAF product but with slightly lower accuracy. • Reference ET product of LSA-SAF over continental sites are accurate but highly uncertain for the oceanic islands. • LSA-SAF and ERA5 R s data led to improved accuracy when used to compute PM-ET o relative to computing with temperature only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]