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Due to its high efficiency and zero direct greenhouse gas emissions, the direct utilization of geothermal energy could play a crucial role in addressing climate change. Low-enthalpy geothermal projects, such as geothermal heat pumps (GHPs), have the potential to contribute to greenhouse gases reduction and replace polluting systems like wood burning, which are extensively used in countries such as Chile. The implementation of this technology presents various challenges, encompassing not only economic and technical aspects but also cultural and social factors. This paper addresses the latter two, providing empirical findings from a social and qualitative perspective by examining three GHP projects in educational spaces in Chilean Patagonia. An inductive approach was employed to describe the social perception of GHP projects in three public buildings, specifically educational facilities, located in the Aysén region of Chile. The questions that guided the research were how users interact with technology in these environments and what factors influence their acceptance. Data were collected through various methods, including in-depth interviews and participant observation, with a focus on social perceptions and everyday practices. The paper argues that there is a general lack of information regarding GHP technology. This type of system is often perceived as an 'elegant' and almost 'untouchable' technology. Nevertheless, motivational factors such as preventing deforestation and reducing air pollution were identified as the primary drivers supporting this type of initiative. One of the cases studied, which demonstrated sustainability over time, revealed that the participants' main motivation was to see themselves as agents of change. This allowed them to build a coherent narrative around the project. Consequently, the cultural meaning attached to the new practice became central for change and sustained adoption of social practices. • There is a social distance between GHP technology and local communities. • There is a low level of information about geothermal energy. • Sustainable adoption of GHP requires cultural and social changes. • GHP projects require the development of new skills and monitoring activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the general atmospheric circulation over Patagonia on the basis of the principal palaeoclimate forcings: continental drift, orography, variations in the greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere, evolution of the atmosphere and the oceans, changes in the orbit of the Earth, albedo feedbacks, and the land surface. These processes affect climate on time scales of millions to hundreds of thousands of years. Additionally, orbital forcing has had a major influence on climate during the Quaternary. The palaeo-atmospheric circulation of Patagonia is analyzed for the Early to Late Jurassic, the Cretaceous, the Late Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Tortonian-Oligocene cooling, the Pliocene, the Quaternary including the Last Glacial Maximum, the Holocene Optimum, and the last millennium changes. Alternative palaeo-atmospheric circulations from climatic modelling scenarios through the ages are reviewed and compared with proxy data. Detailed and updated reference information on the topics analyzed is also provided. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, , 229-249. Este trabajo discute la circulación general de la atmósfera en la Patagonia. Se han explicado los principales forzantes del palaeoclima: deriva continental, orografía, variaciones en los gases de invernadero de la atmósfera terrestre, evolución de la atmósfera y los océanos, cambios orbitales, retroalimentación debida al albedo y las condiciones generales de la superficie terrestre. Estos parámetros afectan el clima en escalas temporales de millones a cientos de miles de años, así como los forzantes orbitales dominaron los cambios climáticos durante el Cuaternario. Las palaeo-circulaciones de la atmósfera sobre Patagonia son analizadas para el Jurásico Temprano y Tardío, el Cretácico, el Máximo Termal del Palaeoceno Tardío- Eoceno, el enfriamiento del Tortoniano- Oligoceno, el Plioceno, y el Cuaternario incluyendo el Último Máximo Glacial (UMG), el Óptimo del Holoceno y los cambios del último milenio. Las palaeo-circulaciones atmosféricas alternativas a través del tiempo a partir de escenarios de modelos climáticos son revisadas y comparadas con proxy datos. Una extensiva lista de referencias provee información detallada y actualizada (Noviembre del 2010) sobre los tópicos analizados en esta publicación. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are disturbances that affect forest structure and dynamics. Forests and the atmosphere interact in different ways; one is by emitting carbon (C) through wildfires and recapturing it by photosynthesis of regrowing vegetation. Estimation of C emissions and uptake allows monitoring and inventorying C at stand, landscape, or regional levels. We indirectly estimated C and other greenhouse gas emissions and uptake following Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines, and also using growth curves derived from real data, in three burned pure Andean cypress (Austrocedrus chilensis) stands in Patagonia, Argentina. The sites, termed INTA (humid), LACO (mesic) and CECE (xeric), were burned on different dates (1987, INTA; 1999, CECE; 2008, LACO). Nearby unburned stands with similar structural and floristic characteristics were used as analogues to make our estimations. Carbon losses represented 245, 225, and 215 t CO2 ha−1 for CECE, INTA and LACO respectively. Amount of carbon sequestered by post-fire vegetation depended on the time-lag from fire occurrence to date of sampling, whereas C uptake rates varied in time according to differences in site environmental conditions. Andean cypress seedlings present in burned stands suggest that outside the time needed, each site may recover not only lost C but also former structure and functions. We estimated carbon (C) emission and uptake in three severely burned Andean cypress stands of Patagonia, Argentina, that had similar pre-fire biomass but grew under different environments. Carbon emissions were similar in the three sites, but differences in environmental site conditions caused significant variation in their C recovery rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]