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Extreme rainfall prediction is a critical aspect in hydrological and climate research fields to estimate the probability of extreme events, such as heavy rainfall or floods. These extreme events occur all over the world and have a tremendous impact on human health, injury and illness, and the imbalance of the ecosystem. This paper aims to compare the prediction of extreme rainfall between generalized extreme value distribution (GEV) and generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) for 10 years return period. The daily rainfall data of northern region in Peninsular Malaysia were obtained from Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID) for 29 stations for the period 1999 to 2019 is used. The findings will be beneficial for hydrologists to improve understanding of the difference between the analysis of the standard data modeling with extreme data modeling as well as to understand the difference between two main approaches in extreme data analysis. Both models show Klinik Bkt. Bendera station will encounter the highest 10 years return level compared to the other stations. The maximum corresponding 10-years return value for GPD is 147.26mm while for GEV is 142.39mm. These values are reaching the very heavy category of rainfall intensity index in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, researches used various statistical methods to analyse the daily temperature and daily wind speed data. This study uses the method of repeated measures ANOVA and the result shows that there are significant differences in the daily maximum temperature means among the meteorological stations in Malaysia. The post hoc pairwise comparisons using paired 푡- test with Holm's and Bonferroni's methods are conducted to determine which station differs so that the results become more evident. The tests indicate that the means between all possible pairs of stations differ except for Kota Bharu and Labuan, Senai and Kuantan as well as for Melaka and Kota Kinabalu. Analysis on the daily wind speed data is performed to investigate similar pattern which resulted in the existence of significant differences among the stations. However, pairwise comparison tests indicate that the means between all possible pairs of stations differ. It is noticeable that there is no similar pattern between the daily maximum temperature and the wind speed among the stations. This study successfully make use the method of repeated measures ANOVA in analysing environmental data, which in turn, allowing more future environment and climate research to apply this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate crisis requires far-reaching changes which need to be supported by citizens and policymakers alike. New methods of public engagement are necessary to transform the public's needs into actionable knowledge. Games offer potential for engagement through their central role in contemporary culture, allowing citizens to experience the policy process and voice their concerns. The EU-funded project GREAT involves citizens and policy stakeholders as players and co-researchers to explore new formats of political participation regarding climate change. In a series of workshops, local actors have been engaged in distinct phases of the research process: the exploration of current climate issues and the definition of research questions, transferring these issues into a collaborative serious game, and the analysis and interpretation of the data collected during the execution of the game. An initial review of the methodical approaches implemented with policymakers and citizens reveal potential, but also several limitations and challenges encountered in the engagement process. Our initial analysis confirms the potential of game-based approaches for citizen participation and engagement with climate change and their transferability to other social issues. These experiences demonstrate how the ever-growing cultural role of games could be leveraged for supporting the changes necessary to address societal challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ICRH antenna for the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) foreseen for heating, fast particle production, plasma start-up and wall conditioning in W7-X, is designed to handle powers up to 1.5MW in pulses lasting a maximum of 10 seconds for the frequency range 25-38 MHz. Construction and testing of the ICRH antenna took place at the Institute for Energy and Climate Research/Plasmaphysics (IEK-4) and the Central Institute for Engineering, Electronics and Analytics (ZEA-1) of the Research Centre Jülich, in an intense collaboration with the Laboratory for Plasma Physics of the Royal Military Academy in Brussels (LPP-ERM/KMS). Following the successful construction and testing phase, the ICRH antenna has been installed in W7-X and is currently in its commissioning phase. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the design, construction, and installation process of the antenna, as well as the plans for experiments with the ICRH system in the upcoming months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether it is climate fluctuations or lasting one-way changes, it is clear that the climate today is not the same as it was a few decades ago. The question is no longer whether the change of climate exists, but in what way and to what extent it affects nature, man and his activity, how to mitigate it, and how to adapt to it. For this purpose, however, it is necessary to accurately determine the magnitude and direction of change of individual climatic elements and phenomena, given their diverse manifestations at the local level. This is especially true in urban areas, where a large part of the population is concentrated. Here climate change is becoming even more tangible as a result of the highly transformed underlying surface and air pollution. This is why many research on climate change is focusing on big cities. The aim of the present study is to establish the long-term trends of change of basic climatic parameters in the largest city in Bulgaria - the capital Sofia. For this purpose, based on the historical climatic period 1967 - 2019, the algorithms of changing the following climatic elements are determined: air temperature, precipitation, wind speed, number of days with rainfall, with snowfall, with storms, with hail and with fog. Based on the determined algorithms, the values of these climatic elements are projected to future time horizons, in 10 years, until 2100. The results are of interest not only from a purely scientific point of view, but also for all economic sectors experiencing the impact of changing the climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brown Coal Research Institute j. s. c. is realising the long term research and survey in the field of restoration problems and it is realising the long term research of climate changes in the Czech Republic including impacts to mining operations during research programme of the European Union TEXMIN solving too. The input of expected temperature increasing and precipitation decreasing is favourable for mining operation from point of view of overburden and mining cuts stability, safety of mining and mining costs. The different situation is the field of reclamation works. The input of expected climatic change is very unfavourable in this case. The main reasons are primarily high level of the loss of seedlings during forest reclamation because of hot and dry periods and the necessity of very expensive, radical change of technical and biological reclamation methodology. The first results of this research are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of clouds and aerosols is important for climate research. Lidar has been widely used in atmospheric remote sensing research because of its high spatial and temporal resolution and ability to detect profiles. High spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) accurately calculates the optical properties of aerosols and clouds without relying on any assumptions. Based on the 532nm iodine HSRL system, the lidar ratio of the urban aerosol in Hangzhou is 40-50sr, and the average lidar ratio of the cirrus is 24.79sr, demonstrating that the HSRL system and retrieval algorithms accurately obtain the optical properties of clouds and aerosols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing human society, and there is an urgent need to anticipate and respond to climate change. Climate change is a major issue of globalization that is of general concern to the international community at present, and it has a close interaction with energy systems. This paper takes the impact of climate change on energy system as the theme, and makes a comprehensive review and prospect of relevant international research. According to different object of action, the influence of climate change on energy system is expounded from the demand end and the supply side respectively, and the existing key research methods and their advantages and disadvantages are summarized from two perspectives of climate scenario prediction and supply and demand impact assessment. Finally, the need for further more deterministic impact prediction studies, climate change adaptation studies in energy systems and research on the impact of climate change on energy infrastructure and Energy transport was noted. To predict the vulnerability of climate and national energy issues, our team analyzed the literature based on a given query climate data and indicators, made multiple neuron fitting diagrams using BP neural network model and principal component analysis, and found the most reasonable analysis. Ultimately, climate change affects economic downturns, population pressures, public services and the main components of refugees and internally displaced persons, thus increasing the country's vulnerability and exacerbating the country's energy instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, neuroscience has been one of the most successful disciplines in academia both in terms of funding received and the number of scientific breakthroughs reported. It has become what physics was in the first - and genetics and molecular biology in the second - half of the 20th century: the key discipline of the 21st century. Unlike other key disciplines in today's society, most notably human genetics and climate research neuroscience seems to be characterized by very limited public controversies. This is particularly remarkable because there were several crises in the past 30 years that had and have the potential for significant controversy in the field of neuroscience. Using the debate about the so-called voodoo correlations as a case in point I argue that neuroscientists actively try to avoid controversy in order to present themselves as a successful discipline. The text draws on 10 years of rich ethnography of scientific, institutional, and public arenas, as well as expertinterviews with neuroscientists and science journalists, and extensive analyses of documents and literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to examine the relation between climate change and children's health hazards in the coastal region of Bangladesh a region characterized by child malnourishment, high poverty rates and significant environmental hazards. Firstly, we examine critically the existing literature linking child health and climate changes in coastal regions. Secondly, we use the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS 2014) and the Climate Research Unit (CRU) data set to analyze the relation between child health and climate data. In conclusion, we summarize the results and link them back to the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The reliability of surface air temperature (SAT) and 500 hPa geopotential height (H500) of the recent 20CR project data has been evaluated on daily, seasonal and longer timescales for western and eastern parts of Eurasia. The mean daily difference (between 20CR and observations) is up to 1°C in autumn-winter season and 2°C in the springsummer season. For stations located in Western Eurasia the difference appears to be generically similar for selected stations in Eastern Eurasia region. The regional differences are more obvious for H500 and exceed several decameters. Nevertheless, the correlations between daily reanalysis data and observations look quite reliable and vary from about 0.65 to 0.95 over western and eastern Eurasian regions. Thus, the results confirm the validity of the modern approach used in the 20CR project and demonstrate a fairly good reliability of the reanalysis results for climate research. That’s why, long-term trends of the frequency of blockings over Eurasian region and midlatitude SAT linear trends has been analysed for the 1875-2012 period. It was found the positive long-term trend of the frequency of winter blockings over Eurasian region accompanied by warming over most part of the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere is one of the important parts of climate research, because according to the reports of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the growth of GHG content in the atmosphere is the most likely cause of modern global warming. Such studies are of great importance in the arctic territories, where the climate effects are most pronounced. The Institute of Industrial Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Yekaterinburg), together with the Non-Commercial Partnership "Russian Center for the Arctic Development" (Salekhard), have been monitoring GHG in the atmosphere on the arctic Bely Island (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia) since 2015. The measurements are carried out using a Picarro G-2401 gas analyzer (Picarro Inc., USA), which provides simultaneous recording of concentrations of CO, CO2, NH4, H2O. The article presents the results of measurements performed from July to December 2017. The analysis of the measurement results showed that in the surface atmosphere of the Arctic, the content of greenhouse gases statistically significant depends on the season. The ecosystem of Bely Island provides the absorption of carbon dioxide in the summer and at the same time it is a stable emitter of methane, regardless of the season. The results obtained are of great importance for the study of climatic processes in the Arctic, since at present time, the data of similar ground-based measurements are insufficient. According to the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most likely cause of the current global warming is the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane. Therefore, monitoring studies of greenhouse gases are one of the important directions in the study and prediction of climate, especially in the Arctic areas where climate effects are most pronounced. According to the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most likely cause of the current global warming is the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane. Therefore, monitoring studies of greenhouse gases are one of the important directions in the study and prediction of climate, especially in the Arctic areas where climate effects are most pronounced. In 2015, the Institute of Industrial Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Yekaterinburg) together with the Russian Center for Arctic Development (Salekhard) organized a greenhouse gas monitoring site on the Bely Island (YNAD, Russia). The automated measuring system is based on the Picarro G-2401 precision laser gas analyzer. In 2015 and 2016 measurements were carried out only in the summer period (July - August). Since July 2017, permanent measurements were organized. In the period from July 14, 2017 to December 31, 2017, a measurement cycle was performed with a total duration of the time series of 171 days. The resulting series were divided into summer -autumn and winter periods by the date of the establishment of a stable snow cover (10.16.2017). Analysis of the measurement results showed that in the surface atmosphere of polar latitudes, the content of greenhouse gases significantly depends on the season. Terrestrial ecosystem of the Bely Island provides carbon dioxide absorption only in the summertime and remains a stable local net emitter of methane regardless of the season. The results are of great importance for modeling and forecasting climate processes in the Arctic regions, since at the present time there are not enough data from similar ground -based measurements in the polar latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observational data cannot be used for climate research without a clear knowledge about the state of the data in terms of temporal homogeneity. The main steps and results of the homogenization procedure applied to a surface solar radiation dataset over the Italian territory for the period 1959-2013 are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects the key scientific milestones of the atmospheric radiation studies from 1980s onward in the field of aerosol and cloud microphysical properties and their climate impact mainly through the author's research experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable, accurate, and efficient modeling of the transport of electromagnetic radiation in turbid media has important applications in the study of the Earth's climate by remote sensing. For example, such modeling is needed to develop forwardinverse methods used to quantify types and concentrations of aerosol and cloud particles in the atmosphere, the dissolved organic and particulate biogeochemical matter in lakes, rivers, coastal, and open-ocean waters. It is also needed to simulate the performance of remote sensing detectors deployed on aircraft, balloons, and satellites as well as radiometric detectors deployed on buoys, gliders and other aquatic observing systems. Accurate radiative transfer modeling is also required to compute irradiances and scalar irradiances that are used to compute warming/cooling and photolysis rates in the atmosphere and primary production and warming/cooling rates in the water column. AccuRT is a radiative transfer model for the coupled atmosphere-water system that is designed to be a versatile tool for researchers in the ocean optics and remote sensing communities. It addresses the needs of researchers interested in analyzing irradiance and radiance measurements in the field and laboratory as well as those interested in making simulations of the top-of-the-atmosphere radiance in support of remote sensing algorithm development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects the key scientific milestones of the atmospheric radiation studies from 1980s onward in the field of aerosol and cloud microphysical properties and their climate impact mainly through the author's research experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Pathfinder Satellite Observations) Level 3 (CL3) data were compared against EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) monthly averages obtained by profiles during satellite overpasses. Data from EARLINET stations of Évora, Granada, Leipzig, Naples and Potenza, equipped with advanced multi-wavelength Raman lidars were used for this study. Owing to spatial and temporal differences, we reproduced the CL3 filtering rubric onto the CALIPSO Level 2 data. The CALIPSO monthly mean profiles following this approach are called CALIPSO Level 3*, CL3*. This offers the possibility to achieve direct comparable datasets. In respect to CL3 data, the agreement typically improved, in particular above the areas directly affected by the anthropogenic activities within the planetary boundary layer. However in most of the cases a subtle CALIPSO underestimation was observed with an average bias of 0.03 km-1. We investigated the backscatter coefficient applying the same screening criteria, where the mean relative difference in respect to the extinction comparison improved from 15.2% to 11.4%. Lastly, the typing capabilities of CALIPSO were assessed outlining the importance of the correct aerosol type (and associated lidar ratio value) assessment to the CALIPSO aerosol properties retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate data homogenisation is of considerable relevance for a broad range of studies and applications. Discontinuities in the time series may bias the conclusions of those studies, so they should be detected and corrected. This document presents a complete workflow for the homogenisation of climate data, using a process named gsimcli, which is based on a geostatistical simulation method. The devised workflow is illustrated with a benchmark data set. It is expected that this contribution will help technicians, researchers, and other professionals to detect and to correct irregularities in climate data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Owo River is an important surface water source in Lagos particularly to the western section. It is the source of direct water intake for water supply by Lagos State Water Corporation to Amuwo-Odofin, Ojo and parts of Badagry Local Government Areas. This paper examines the complex interactions and feedbacks between many variables and processes within that catchment and analyses the future ability of this semi-urban watershed in sustaining water supply in the face of cumulative environmental change. Stationarity analysis on rainfall, change detection analysis and morphometry analysis were combined to analyse the non-stationarity of Owo River catchment. On rainfall trend analysis, since the correlation coefficient (0.38) with test statistic of 2.17 did not satisfy the test condition we concluded that there is trend and that rainfall in the watershed is not stationary. The dominant land use impacting on the bio-geochemical fluxes is built up area (including structures and paved surfaces) which grew from about 142.92 km2 (12.20 %) in 1984 to 367.22 km2 (31.36 %) in 2013 recording gain of 224.3 km2 at average growth rate of 7.73 km2 per annum. Total length of streams within the catchment reduced from 622.24 km in 1964 to 556 km in 2010, while stream density reduced from 0.53 in 1964 to 0.47 in 2010 an indication of shrinking hydrological network. The observed trends in both natural and anthropogenic processes indicated non-stationarity of the hydrological fluxes within the Catchment and if this continues, the urban ecosystem services of water supply will be compromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meteorological elements are used for a definition of the instantaneous state of the atmosphere. The basic elements are: air temperature, atmospheric pressure and atmospheric precipitation and air flow. These elements are characterized by certain parameters, which we call climatological characteristics. Each of which shall be monitored either continuously or at regular time intervals, depending on the purpose and type of observational stations. The obtained data were processed statistically. Results of meteorological and climatological measurements and observations can be displayed graphically on meteorological maps. Choice of cartographic interpretation depends on the characteristics of displayed meteorological elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the study of the discomfort period during the warm half-year became especially relevant for construction and healthcare. The discomfort periods become more and more prolonged, resulting in an increased use of air conditioners for maintaining of comfortable and healthy microclimate. It can be expected that in the next decade the energy consumption during the summer will be progressively escalating. Since Bulgaria is deficient in own energy resources, the optimal use of all available sources of energy taking into precisely account the climatic conditions is essential for optimization of design and maintenance of buildings. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of climatic conditions and their variations on the energy efficiency of buildings by means of an integrated characteristic -- cooling degree days (CDD). The three largest and densely populated Bulgarian cities -- Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna are explored, because of the large number of inhabitants and the significant energy consumption. The impact of contemporary climate conditions on the character of the summers in Bulgaria has been assessed using air temperature data, integrated characteristic of the discomfort period -- cooling degree days (CDD) and other complex climatic parameters. Analysis of the seasonal course, interannual variability and trend in respect of air temperature, cooling degree days and some complex climatic parameters is made. The results for the last decade are compared with the normals for 30-year period (1981 - 2010). A comment for the character of the summer's discomfort period, its interconnection with climatic conditions and their variability for the cities, situated at different climate regions on the territory of the country, is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in daily extremes events is one of the most important topic in climate literature and many studies have been conducted so far at local or regional scale worldwide. For the Romanian territory, only little research on this issue was done. In this article, the Carpathian and intra-Carpathians regions of Romania were considered. This study is focused on analyzing the trends of daily extreme temperature indices at a regional scale over a period of 50 years: 1961-2010. Data sets of daily minimum and maximum temperature recorded in 10 weather stations were analyzed. The main goal was to find changes in daily extreme temperatures by using a set of 9 indices adopted from the core indices developed by ETCCDMI with appropriate modifications to suit to the analyzed territory. The main results suggest that the climate has become warmer during the last decades. Trends of extreme temperature indices at the regional scale of Carpathians and intra-Carpathians areas are increasing for most of the indices calculated. It has been identified that both extreme daily maximum and minimum temperatures indices have increased in the analyzed areas. For all the indices related to hot temperature most trends are statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicular fuel consumption and its environmental impact can be reduced significantly with advanced climate control systems that intelligently deliver conditioned air, and use more efficient diffusion. However, there is a continuing need developing thermal comfort models and evaluation methods for these systems. The objective of this study was to investigate the thermal comfort inside the vehicle, analyzing the airflow around thermal manikins and evaluating thermal comfort indices. Two thermal manikins were used to evaluate thermal comfort inside a vehicle. We simulate two passengers and their interaction with the environment. The temperature of the manikins is controlled, generating a thermal plume similar of the passengers inside the cabin. Velocity and temperature measurements help evaluating the indoor air quality and airflow, allowing to evaluate the thermal comfort index: PMV. Comparison with personal thermal comfort assessment was completed. The results permit the evaluation of indoor thermal comfort and the discrepancy in application of standard thermal comfort indices, un-adapted to transient conditions as found in the vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing the final lining of the mined tunnels is a complex task. Static behavior depends on the interaction of the tunnel lining and the rock mass load is dependent on the stiffness of the lining, the size of the excavation, geotechnical conditions, and construction progress and not least on the climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts are a reoccurring feature of the UK climate; recent drought events (2004-2006 and 2010-2012) have highlighted the UK's continued vulnerability to this hazard. There is a need for further understanding of extreme events, particularly from a water resource perspective. A number of drought indices are available, which can help to improve our understanding of drought characteristics such as frequency, severity and duration. However, at present little of this is applied to water resource management in the water supply sector. Improved understanding of drought characteristics using indices can inform water resource management plans and enhance future drought resilience. This study applies the standardised precipitation index (SPI) to a series of rainfall records (1962-2012) across the water supply region of a single utility provider. Key droughts within this period are analysed to develop an understanding of the meteorological characteristics that lead to, exist during and terminate drought events. The results of this analysis highlight how drought severity and duration can vary across a small-scale water supply region, indicating that the spatial coherence of drought events cannot be assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Natura 2000 Network of protected areas is the leading EU instrument aiming to protect and preserve areas with species and habitats of greatest European interest. In view of that, the paper is aiming to assess the fragile interactions between the key climatic conditions and the biological diversity of the main natural habitats in a Natura 2000 site: ROSCI0260 Cepelor Valley. The site is overlapping the Alpine biogeographical region in the Biharia Massif, Western Carpathians and it has been established for the protection of eight Natura 2000 habitats and four species. The authors processed relevant climatic parameters (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, wind) from Băişoara weather station in order to draw up the key climatic features in relation to the requirements of the main habitat types and endangered species hosted by this Natura 2000 site. The main outcome of the current research consists in providing a complex assessment of the most significant climatic driving forces and their impact on the biological diversity and ecological balance of ROSCI0260 Cepelor Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the deuterium and oxygen 18 content from All precipitations events, which have occured over Cluj-Napoca, Romania from 2009 until 2012. Time series for δ2H and δ18O values point out both the seasonal variation that has increased amplitude reflecting the continental character of the local climate as well as dramatic variations of isotopic content of successive precipitation events, emphasizing the anomalous values. These fluctuations are the footprint of the variations and trends in climate events. Local Meteoric Water Line (LMWL), reflecting the δ2H - δ18O correlation, has the slop and the intercept slightly deviated from the GMWL, indicating that the dominant process affecting local precipitations are close to the equilibrium condition. LMWL has a slope smaller then that of the GMWL in the warm season due to lower humidity and a slope closest to the slop of GMWL in cold season with high humidity. The δ2H and δ18O values both for the precipitation events and monthly mean values are positively correlated with the temperature values with a very good correlation factor. The values of δ2H and δ18O are not correlated with amount of precipitation, the "amount effect" of isotopic composition of precipitation is not observed for this site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present some new results of our work on sensitivity analysis of a large-scale air pollution model, more specificly the Danish Eulerian Model (DEM). The main purpose of this study is to analyse the sensitivity of ozone concentrations with respect to the rates of some chemical reactions. The current sensitivity study considers the rates of six important chemical reactions and is done for the areas of several European cities with different geographical locations, climate, industrialization and population density. One of the most widely used variance-based techniques for sensitivity analysis, such as Sobol estimates and their modifications, have been used in this study. A vast number of numerical experiments with a specially adapted for the purpose version of the Danish Eulerian Model (SA-DEM) were carried out to compute global Sobol sensitivity measures. SA-DEM was implemented and run on two powerful cluster supercomputers: IBM Blue Gene/P, the most powerful parallel supercomputer in Bulgaria and IBM MareNostrum III, the most powerful parallel supercomputer in Spain. The refined (480 × 480) mesh version of the model was used in the experiments on MareNostrum III, which is a challenging computational problem even on such a powerful machine. Some optimizations of the code with respect to the parallel efficiency and the memory use were performed. Tables with performance results of a number of numerical experiments on IBM BlueGene/P and on IBM MareNostrum III are presented and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of International Surface Temperature Initiative is to create an end-to-end process for analysis of air temperature data taken over the land surface of the Earth. The foundation of any analysis is the source data. Land surface air temperature records have traditionally been stored in local, organizational, national and international holdings, some of which have been available digitally but many of which are available solely on paper or as imaged files. Further, economic and geopolitical realities have often precluded open sharing of these data. The necessary first step therefore is to collate readily available holdings and augment these over time either through gaining access to previously unavailable digital data or through data rescue and digitization activities. Next, it must be recognized that these historical measurements were made primarily in support of real-time weather applications where timeliness and coverage are key. At almost every long-term station it is virtually certain that changes in instrumentation, siting or observing practices have occurred. Because none of the historical measures were made in a metrologically traceable manner there is no unambiguous way to retrieve the true climate evolution from the heterogeneous raw data holdings. Therefore it is desirable for multiple independent groups to produce adjusted data sets (so-called homogenized data) to adequately understand the data characteristics and estimate uncertainties. Then it is necessary to benchmark the performance of the contributed algorithms (equivalent to metrological software validation) through development of realistic benchmark datasets. In support of this, a series of successive benchmarking and assessment cycles are envisaged, allowing continual improvement while avoiding over-tuning of algorithms. Finally, a portal is proposed giving access to related data-products, utilizing the assessment results to provide guidance to end-users on which product is the most suited to their needs. Recognizing that the expertise of the metrological community has been under-utilized historically in such climate data analysis problems, the governance of the Initiative includes significant representation from the metrological community. We actively welcome contributions from interested parties to any relevant aspects of the Initiative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite-based climatologies reveal that mineral dust aerosol increases south-to-north across the intertropical convergence zone. The south-to-north aerosol gradient, combined with the propensity of mineral dust to nucleate ice at a relatively warm temperature, indicate that clouds within the subtropics could be impacted. A statistical investigation of the south-to-north aerosol contrast was conducted by analyzing coarse mode aerosol concentration measurements, a surrogate for mineral dust, sampled above a southern hemisphere and a northern hemisphere subtropical marine boundary layer. Coarse mode concentrations were obtained from an optical particle counter operated on the NCAR C-130 during two summer-season projects (VOCALS and ICET). The coarse particle concentration values were also input into the DeMott et al. (2010) parameterization and ice nuclei concentrations were derived. A temperature-dependent ice nuclei spectrum is derived for both regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radiative effect of cirrus clouds is particularly ambiguous in the climate research. We calculated the global cirrus cloud radiative forcing (CRFci) distributions at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) using the cloud microphysical parameters of effective radius (Re), optical thickness (COT) and the cloud top temperature (CTT) derived from AVHRR nighttime data. The results indicate that cirrus clouds warm the atmosphere, and in particular produce a large warming effect in the tropics. We also computed the dependence of radiative forcing on the effective radius of cloud particles, the optical thickness of the cloud, and the cloud-top temperature (CTT) and determined that cooling effects occur with clouds when their optical thickness is greater than 4.0∼4.5 with a cloud top temperature of 220K and 2.5∼3.0 with a cloud top temperature of 235K. Cloud radiative forcing in April 1987 (El Niño year) and April 1990 (neutral year) were computed, and found that a larger amount of cirrus clouds appeared in the tropics off Peru in 1987 than in 1990. But the globally averaged net cloud radiative forcing was smaller by 0.55W/m2 in 1987 than in 1990. Consequently, the temperature distribution of the oceans has a global effect on atmospheric warming and cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clouds cover about 70% of the Earth's surface and play a dominant role in the energy and water cycle of our planet. Only satellite observations provide a continuous survey of the state of the atmosphere over the entire globe and across the wide range of spatial and temporal scales that comprise weather and climate variability. Satellite cloud data records now exceed more than 25 years; however, climatologies compiled from different satellite datasets can exhibit systematic biases. Questions therefore arise as to the accuracy and limitations of the various sensors. The Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Cloud Assessment, initiated in 2005 by the GEWEX Radiation Panel, provides the first coordinated intercomparison of publicly available, global cloud products (gridded, monthly statistics) retrieved from measurements of multi-spectral imagers (some with multi-angle view and polarization capabilities), IR sounders and lidar. Cloud properties under study include cloud amount, cloud height (in terms of pressure, temperature or altitude), cloud radiative properties (optical depth or emissivity), cloud thermodynamic phase and bulk microphysical properties (effective particle size and water path). Differences in average cloud properties, especially in the amount of high-level clouds, are mostly explained by the inherent instrument measurement capability for detecting and/or identifying optically thin cirrus, especially when overlying low-level clouds. The study of long-term variations with these datasets requires consideration of many factors. The monthly, gridded database presented here facilitates further assessments, climate studies, and the evaluation of climate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) and its central archive - the World Radiation Monitoring Center (WRMC) - is a project of the Radiation Panel from the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) under the umbrella of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The BSRN is aimed at detecting important changes in the Earth's radiation field at the Earth's surface which may be related to climate change. Within this paper a brief description of the network and the services of the archive are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine likely effects of pixel-wide along-track sampling on climatological means of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) derived from observations with satellite instruments such as CALIOP and APS by sub-sampling the retrievals from a wide-swath imaging instrument (MODIS). The advantage of using daily pixel-level aerosol retrievals from MODIS to assess the results of along-track sampling is that limitations caused by the presence of clouds are implicit in the sample, so that their seasonal and regional variations are captured coherently. However, imager data can exhibit cross-track variability of monthly global mean AOTs caused by a scattering-angle dependence. This makes it difficult to separate natural variability from viewing-geometry artifacts complicating direct comparisons of an along-track subsample with the full imager data. To work around this problem, we introduce "flipped-track" sampling which, by design, has the same cross-track variability as the original imager data. We show that the flipped-track standard error of global monthly mean AOT is much smaller than the cross-track one. This allows us to attribute the difference between the two errors to the viewing-geometry artifacts and obtain an upper limit on AOT errors caused by along-track sampling. We conclude that single-track instruments provide AOT sampling sufficient for climate applications. Since AOT is believed to be the most variable characteristic of tropospheric aerosols, our results imply that pixel-wide along-track coverage also provides adequate statistical representation of the global distribution of aerosol microphysical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing electricity demand and reducing the amount of fuel in the world are two reasons that led to the rapid development of renewable energy; and one of the most important and developed is wind energy. To choose where to place a wind turbine or a wind farm and to predict the amount of energy that will be produce, you need to know the wind energy resources in this region. And this because the wind power density is proportional to the cube of wind speed. Same knowing the wind energy potential leads investors to invest or not to build a wind farm in a certain region. That's why the goal of this work is to obtain the wind climatology statistics of the weather stations of Republic of Moldova as a result of historical wind processing data for a period of 22 years. Have been analyzed data of 18 weather stations located on the entire territory of Republic of Moldova for the period 1990 to 2011 and were built variations characteristics: annual, monthly, diurnal and winds rose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourist market is highly dynamic, and the competitiveness of tourist destinations depends on many factors. Climate is a very important factor. Therefore the aim of this paper is to give estimations of the effects that climate change has on future tourism trends and the search for possible alternative ways of tourism development. That has the great importance for the economy of countries, including the Republic of Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MapReduce is promising for developing both scalable business and scientific data intensive applications. However, there are few existing scientific workflow systems which can benefit from the MapReduce programming model. We propose a workflow system for integrating structure, and orchestrating MapReduce jobs for scientific data intensive workflows. The system consists of a simple workflow design C++ API, a job scheduler, and a runtime support system for Hadoop or Sector/Sphere frameworks. A climate satellite data intensive processing and analysis application is developed as a use case and an evaluation for the workflow system. The evaluation shows that it is possible to make the steps in the climate data intensive application automatically from data gridding to complex data analysis using the workflow system. The performance of the climate analysis application is significantly improved by the enabled MapReduce workflow system compared with the sequential embarrassing parallel methods. The overhead of the workflow system is negligible. However, the graphic user interface is still under development for the workflow system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper summarizes the results of assessment of geo mechanical characteristics of rock samples collected from the Sibiu County: Valea Strambului-Rasinari and Valea Marajdia. The rock characteristics are influenced by climate factors, in particular temperature and humidity. When the phenomenon of frost occurs, rock stretches and some strains are acting that lead to a deterioration of the structure and internal stability, thereby reducing the characteristics of resistance and strength. Within this scope, several types of rock were taken into account, for which the required geo mechanical characteristics in construction use were assessed. In this respect, the paper deals with the physical, mechanical, elastic tubes and technology on the rocks dry, saturated, and subjected to 25-50 cycles of freeze-thaw. Coefficients were determined by soaking, gelivity and values obtained were compared with those required by standards. Results of laboratory experiments on rock samples were analyzed in terms of framing the rules stipulated in standards for possible used like construction materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent glacial period span in the interval 110,000 to 10,000 years ago. Recent geomorphologic studies in the Eastern Thracian plane have shown significant change in the sedimentation rates since the Younger Driass (between 10,800 and 9500 BC), which may provide a new inside on the climatic evolution of the region. It was found that all local rivers are in an aggradation phase, depositing up to 3 m thick mudstone deposits on top of a colder climate's well-washed, coarse sandstones. The aggradation resulted in sediments covering or eroding some human settlements dated 1 500 -- 1 200 BC, which originally were built above the flooded river terraces but now are found in the lowest flooded terrace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General objectives for measuring solar ultraviolet (UV) irradiance are: a) To establish a UV climatology by long-term monitoring, e.g. within a network, b) To detect trends in global UV irradiance, c) To provide datasets for specific process studies and for the validation of radiative transfer models and/or satellite derived UV irradiance at the Earth’s surface, d) To understand geographic differences in global UV irradiance, e) To gain information about actual UV levels and their diurnal and seasonal variability, f) To provide data for public information and awareness (e.g. UV index). Solar ultraviolet radiation can be measured by different classes of instrument and it is crucial to match the instrument employed to the intended objective. It should also be ensured that sufficient facilities are available to support the objective in terms of personnel and QA/QC requirements. The three classes of instrument available for solar UV measurement are spectral, broadband and multifilter. Spectral instruments are the most costly, complex and demanding of those available, but provide the most versatile data. Broadband radiometers, tend to be cheaper and have fewer operational problems than spectroradiometers. However, their maintenance and QA/QC can introduce substantial additional cost. Multifilter radiometers combine some of the properties of both broadband and spectral instruments. Not all the above mentioned instruments are suited to all of the objectives. To achieve objectives a,d,e and f, any class of instrument can be used, but it is necessary that it accomplishes a minimum requirement in quality. The second listed objective, trend detection, is the most demanding goal of UV monitoring, and spectral instruments are most suited to this task. The instrument specifications and the QA/QC requirements necessary to enable detection of small trends are very stringent and must be maintained over a prolonged period to justify trend detection. Providing datasets for process studies or satellite validation (objective c) is again best served by spectral instruments. For the validation of radiative transfer models the accuracy of spectral measurements must be comparable to the accuracy needed for trend detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work on Asymmetries of Scientific Challenge (ASC) suggests that, if findings supporting certain conclusions are subjected to significant challenges, while those supporting opposing conclusions are not, the result can be a collective scientific bias — one that, ironically, will be the opposite of the work being "challenged." The ASC hypothesis may be relevant to global climate disruption research: Organized industrial interests have consistently challenged mainstream scientific findings, but "optimistic" arguments have not been subjected to similar levels of criticism. Focusing on specific newspapers that have previously been found to exaggerate the level of contentiousness in climate research, we find preliminary but strong support for theASC hypothesis. Straight news reports about ongoing climate research are more than twenty times as likely to find global climate disruption to be "worse than previously expected" than to be "less serious than previously expected." The pattern is not greatly changed across years of coverage or by comparing "direct effects" to "implications." Unless other research reveals different patterns, these findings suggest that the present-day consensus among climatologists about the seriousness of global climate disruption — far from being overly pessimistic — may in fact be too optimistic to be true. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol-cloud interactions are one of the main uncertainties in climate research. Up to now a lot of research has been conducted on aerosol-cloud interactions in warm clouds. The impact of aerosols on ice or mixed-phase clouds is much less understood. Cirrus clouds in an unpolluted environment are assumed to form mainly via homogeneous freezing. The presence of heterogeneous ice nuclei can lead to earlier ice crystal formation and change the microphysical properties of cirrus clouds. Recent box model studies even suggest that heterogeneous freezing can suppress homogeneous freezing, if several conditions are fulfilled. Most likely this would lead to cirrus clouds containing fewer and larger ice crystals. If homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing compete either freezing mechanism may dominate depending mainly on vertical velocity and number density of ice nuclei. Thus, it is not clear yet how number and size of ice crystals are affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]