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Abstract: The EUNIS (European Union Nature Information System) habitat classification system aims to provide a common European reference set of habitat types within a hierarchical classification, and to cover all terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats of Europe. The classification facilitates reporting of habitat data in a comparable manner, for use in nature conservation (e.g. inventories, monitoring and assessments), habitat mapping and environmental management. For the marine environment the importance of a univocal habitat classification system is confirmed by the fact that many European initiatives, aimed at marine mapping, assessment and reporting, are increasingly using EUNIS habitat categories and respective codes. For this reason substantial efforts have been made to include information on marine benthic habitats from different regions, aiming to provide a comprehensive geographical coverage of European seas. However, there still remain many concerns on its applicability as only a small fraction of Europe’s seas are fully mapped and increasing knowledge and application raise further issues to be resolved. This paper presents an overview of the main discussion and conclusions of a workshop, organised by the MeshAtlantic project, focusing upon the experience in using the EUNIS habitats classification across different countries and seas, together with case studies. The aims of the meeting were to: (i) bring together scientists with experience in the use of the EUNIS marine classification and representatives from the European Environment Agency (EEA); (ii) agree on enhancements to EUNIS that ensure an improved representation of the European marine habitats; and (iii) establish practices that make marine habitat maps produced by scientists more consistent with the needs of managers and decision-makers. During the workshop challenges for the future development of EUNIS were identified, which have been classified into five categories: (1) structure and hierarchy; (2) biology; (3) terminology; (4) mapping; and (5) future development. The workshop ended with a declaration from the attendees, with recommendations to the EEA and European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity, to take into account the outputs of the workshop, which identify weaknesses in the current classification and include proposals for its modification, and to devise a process to further develop the marine component of the EUNIS habitat classification. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...

Every application of soil erosion models brings the need of proper parameterisation, that is, finding physically or conceptually plausible parameter values that allow a model to reproduce measured values. No universal approach for model parameterisation, calibration and validation exists, as it depends on the model, spatial and temporal resolution and the nature of the datasets used. We explored some existing options for parameterisation, calibration and validation for erosion modelling exemplary with a specific dataset and modelling approach. A new Morgan‐Morgan‐Finney (MMF)‐type model was developed, representing a balanced position between physically‐based and empirical modelling approaches. The resulting model termed 'calculator for soil erosion' (CASE), works in a spatially distributed way on the timescale of individual rainfall events. A dataset of 142 high‐intensity rainfall experiments in Central Europe (AT, HU, IT, CZ), covering various slopes, soil types and experimental designs was used for calibration and validation with a modified Monte‐Carlo approach. Subsequently, model parameter values were compared to parameter values obtained by alternative methods (measurements, pedotransfer functions, literature data). The model reproduced runoff and soil loss of the dataset in the validation setting with R2adj of 0.89 and 0.76, respectively. Satisfactory agreement for the water phase was found, with calibrated saturated hydraulic conductivity (ksat) values falling within the interquartile range of ksat predicted with 14 different pedotransfer functions, or being within one order of magnitude. The chosen approach also well reflected specific experimental setups contained in the dataset dealing with the effects of consecutive rainfall and different soil water conditions. For the sediment phase of the tested model agreement between calibrated cohesion, literature values and field measurements were only partially in line. The methods we explored may specifically be interesting for use with other MMF‐type models, or with similar datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Streamflow drought forecasting is a key element of contemporary drought early warning systems (DEWS). The term streamflow drought forecasting (not streamflow forecasting), however, has created confusion within the scientific hydrometeorological community as well as in operational weather and water management services. Streamflow drought forecasting requires an additional step, which is the application of a drought identification method to the forecasted streamflow time series. The way streamflow drought is identified is the main reason for this misperception. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to provide a comprehensive overview of the differences between different drought identification approaches to identify droughts in European rivers, including an analysis of both historical drought and implications for forecasting. Streamflow data were obtained from the LISFLOOD hydrological model forced with gridded meteorological observations (known as LISFLOOD-Simulation Forced with Observed, SFO). The same model fed with seasonal meteorological forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts system 5 (ECMWF SEAS 5) was used to obtain the forecasted streamflow. Streamflow droughts were analyzed using the daily and monthly variable threshold methods (VTD and VTM, respectively), the daily and monthly fixed threshold methods (FTD and FTM, respectively), and the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI). Our results clearly show that streamflow droughts derived from different approaches deviate from each other in their characteristics, which also vary in different climate regions across Europe. The daily threshold methods (FTD and VTD) identify 25 %–50 % more drought events than the monthly threshold methods (FTM and VTM), and accordingly the average drought duration is longer for the monthly than for the daily threshold methods. The FTD and FTM, in general, identify drought occurrences earlier in the year than the VTD and VTM. In addition, the droughts obtained with the VTM and FTM approaches also have higher drought deficit volumes (about 25 %–30 %) than the VTD and FTD approaches. Overall, the characteristics of SSI-1 drought are close to what is being identified by the VTM. The different outcome obtained with the drought identification methods illustrated with the historical analysis is also found in drought forecasting, as documented for the 2003 drought across Europe and for the Rhine River specifically. In the end, there is no unique hydrological drought definition (identification method) that fits all purposes, and hence developers of DEWS and end-users should clearly agree in the co-design phase upon a sharp definition of which type of streamflow drought is required to be forecasted for a specific application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In this study we analyze drought features at the European level over the period 1901–2019 using three drought indices: the standardized precipitation index (SPI), the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), and the self-calibrated Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI). The results based on the SPEI and scPDSI point to the fact that Central Europe (CEU) and the Mediterranean region (MED) are becoming dryer due to an increase in the potential evapotranspiration and mean air temperature, while North Europe (NEU) is becoming wetter. By contrast, the SPI drought does not reveal these changes in the drought variability, mainly due to the fact that the precipitation does not exhibit a significant change, especially over CEU. The SPEI12 indicates a significant increase both in the drought frequency and area over the last three decades for MED and CEU, while SPI12 does not capture these features. Thus, the performance of the SPI may be insufficient for drought analysis studies over regions where there is a strong warming signal. By analyzing the frequency of compound events (e.g., high temperatures and droughts), we show that the potential evapotranspiration and the mean air temperature are becoming essential components for drought occurrence over CEU and MED. This, together with the projected increase in the potential evapotranspiration under a warming climate, has significant implications concerning the future occurrence of drought events, especially for the MED and CEU regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The role of large-scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817 and 2015, shows that all these extreme flood peaks have been preceded up to 7 d in advance by intense moisture transport from the tropical North Atlantic basin in the form of narrow bands also known as atmospheric rivers. Most of the ARs associated with these flood events are embedded in the trailing fronts of the extratropical cyclones. The typical large-scale atmospheric circulation leading to heavy rainfall and flooding in the lower Rhine is characterized by a low pressure center south of Greenland, which migrates toward Europe, and a stable high pressure center over the northern part of Africa and the southern part of Europe and projects on the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. On the days preceding the flood peaks, lower (upper) level convergence (divergence) is observed over the analyzed region, which indicates strong vertical motions and heavy rainfall. Vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT) exceeds 600 kg m -1 s -1 for the largest floods, marking these as very strong ARs. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of moisture transport as a driver of extreme flooding in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area, and we show, for the first time, that ARs are a useful tool for the identification of potentially damaging floods in inland Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Featured Application: Practical and cost-effective splash cup method for splash erosion measurements in field and laboratory conditions. The interaction between rainfall erosivity parameters and splash erosion is crucial for describing the soil erosion process; however, it is rarely investigated under natural rainfall conditions. In this study, we conducted splash erosion experiments under natural rainfall on three sites in Central Europe. The main goal was to obtain the relationship between splash erosion of the bare soil in seedbed condition and commonly used rainfall erosivity parameters (kinetic energy, intensity, and rainfall erosivity (EI30)). All sites were equipped with a rain gauge and an optical laser disdrometer where the splash erosion was measured, with modified Morgan splash cups. In order to investigate which parameter best describes the splash erosion process for all sites, a regression analysis was performed. In total, 80 splash erosion events were evaluated. Splash erosion can be described as a linear function of total kinetic energy and a non-linear function of EI30. However, the use of the total kinetic energy led to underestimation of the splash erosion rates for highly intensive rainfalls. Therefore, better results were obtained when using average rainfall intensity as the splash erosion predictor or the kinetic energy divided by the rainfall duration. Minor differences between the replicates during splash erosion measurements indicate that the modified Morgan splash cup provides a good tool for soil erosion assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Summary: A large body of literature has explored the rise of extreme right parties since the 1980s in Europe. A number of studies have assessed whether the context, particularly the level of unemployment and immigration, impacts support for the extreme right and found contradictory results. We argue in this paper that these contradictions might simply result from differences in the scale used to assess the context. We systematically test the impact of immigration and unemployment, measured at various scales, on extreme right voting and attitudes towards immigrants and immigration, using two alternative approaches with data for Belgium. In the concentric approach, we measure the unemployment and the presence of migrants within various radii around each respondent's residence. In the polarized approach, we consider the actual polarization of space, using the very local scale (statistical district), the living pool (municipality), and the employment pool. We show that the scale choice changes the results and that the most significant impacts are generally found at intermediary scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Floods are a natural hazard evolving in space and time according to meteorological and river basin dynamics, so that a single flood event can affect different regions over the event duration. This physical mechanism introduces spatio-temporal relationships between flood records and losses at different locations over a given time window that should be taken into account for an effective assessment of the collective flood risk. However, since extreme floods are rare events, the limited number of historical records usually prevents a reliable frequency analysis. To overcome this limit, we move from the analysis of extreme events to the modeling of continuous stream flow records preserving spatio-temporal correlation structures of the entire process, and making a more efficient use of the information provided by continuous flow records. The approach is based on the dynamic copula framework, which allows for splitting the modeling of spatio-temporal properties by coupling suitable time series models accounting for temporal dynamics, and multivariate distributions describing spatial dependence. The model is applied to 490 stream flow sequences recorded across 10 of the largest river basins in central and eastern Europe (Danube, Rhine, Elbe, Oder, Waser, Meuse, Rhone, Seine, Loire, and Garonne). Using available proxy data to quantify local flood exposure and vulnerability, we show that the temporal dependence exerts a key role in reproducing interannual persistence, and thus magnitude and frequency of annual proxy flood losses aggregated at a basin-wide scale, while copulas allow the preservation of the spatial dependence of losses at weekly and annual time scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper addresses the identification and evaluation of extreme flood events in the transitional area between western and central Europe in the period 1951-2013. Floods are evaluated in terms of three variants on an extremity index that combines discharge values with the spatial extent of flooding. The indices differ in the threshold of the considered maximum discharges; the flood extent is expressed by a length of affected river network. This study demonstrates that using the index with a higher flood discharge limit changes the floods' rankings significantly. It also highlights the high severity events. In general, we detected an increase in the proportion of warm half-year floods when using a higher discharge limit. Nevertheless, cold half-year floods still predominate in the lists because they generally affect large areas. This study demonstrates the increasing representation of warm half-year floods from the northwest to the southeast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS), a self-report measure aimed at assessing identity processes of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. We tested its factor structure in university students from a large array of cultural contexts, including 10 nations located in Europe (i.e., Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland), Middle East (i.e., Turkey), and Asia (i.e., China, Japan, and Taiwan). Furthermore, we tested national and gender measurement invariance. Participants were 6,118 (63.2% females) university students aged from 18 to 25 years (Mage = 20.91 years). Results indicated that the three-factor structure of the U-MICS fitted well in the total sample, in each national group, and in gender groups. Furthermore, national and gender measurement invariance were established. Thus, the U-MICS can be fruitfully applied to study identity in university students from various Western and non-Western contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Ambient particle number size distributions were measured in Paris, France, during summer (1-31 July 2009) and winter (15 January to 15 February 2010) at three fixed ground sites and using two mobile laboratories and one airplane. The campaigns were part of the Megacities: Emissions, urban, regional and Global Atmospheric POLlution and climate effects, and Integrated tools for assessment and mitigation (MEGAPOLI) project. New particle formation (NPF) was observed only during summer on approximately 50% of the campaign days, assisted by the low condensation sink (about 10.7 ± 5.9 × 10-3 s-1). NPF events inside the Paris plume were also observed at 600 m altitude onboard an aircraft simultaneously with regional events identified on the ground. Increased particle number concentrations were measured aloft also outside of the Paris plume at the same altitude, and were attributed to NPF. The Paris plume was identified, based on increased particle number and black carbon concentration, up to 200 km away from the Paris center during summer. The number concentration of particles with diameters exceeding 2.5 nm measured on the surface at the Paris center was on average 6.9 ± 8.7 × 104 and 12.1 ± 8.6 × 104 cm-3 during summer and winter, respectively, and was found to decrease exponentially with distance from Paris. However, further than 30 km from the city center, the particle number concentration at the surface was similar during both campaigns. During summer, one suburban site in the NE was not significantly affected by Paris emissions due to higher background number concentrations, while the particle number concentration at the second suburban site in the SW increased by a factor of 3 when it was downwind of Paris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In recent decades, the quantification of flood hydrological characteristics (peak discharge, hydrograph shape, and runoff volume) from documentary evidence has gained scientific recognition as a method to lengthen flood records of rare and extreme events. This paper describes the methodological evolution of quantitative historical hydrology under the influence of developments in hydraulics and statistics. In the 19th century, discharge calculations based on flood marks were the only source of hydrological data for engineering design, but were later left aside in favour of systematic gauge records and conventional hydrological procedures. In the last two decades, there has been growing scientific and public interest in understanding long-term patterns of rare floods, in maintaining the flood heritage and memory of extremes, and developing methods for deterministic and statistical application to different scientific and engineering problems. A compilation of 46 case studies across Europe with reconstructed discharges demonstrates that (1) in most cases present flood magnitudes are not unusual within the context of the last millennium, although recent floods may exceed past floods in some temperate European rivers (e.g. the Vltava and Po rivers); (2) the frequency of extreme floods has decreased since the 1950s, although some rivers (e.g. the Gardon and Ouse rivers) show a reactivation of rare events over the last two decades. There is a great potential for gaining understanding of individual extreme events based on a combined multiproxy approach (palaeoflood and documentary records) providing high-resolution time flood series and their environmental and climatic changes; and for developing non-systematic and non-stationary statistical models based on relations of past floods with external and internal covari-ates under natural low-frequency climate variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Jennings, S., Lee, J., and Hiddink, J. G. 2012. Assessing fishery footprints and the trade-offs between landings value, habitat sensitivity, and fishing impacts to inform marine spatial planning and an ecosystem approach. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69: 1053–1063.European and national policy commitments require further integration of fisheries and environmental management. We measured fishery footprints and assessed trade-offs between landings value, habitat sensitivity, and beam trawling impacts in UK territorial waters in the southern and central North Sea where marine spatial planning is underway and a network of Marine Protected Areas has been proposed. For fleets (UK and non-UK) and years (2006–2010) considered, total trawled area included extensive ‘margins’ that always accounted for a smaller proportion of total fishing effort and value (proportions investigated were ≤10, 20, or 30%) than their proportional contribution to total habitat sensitivity and trawling impact. Interannual and fleet-related differences in the distribution and intensity of trawling activity, driven by location choice and fisheries regulations, had more influence on overall trawling impacts than the exclusion of beam trawlers from a proposed network of Marine Protected Areas. If reducing habitat impacts is adopted as an objective of fisheries or environmental management, then the direct management of fishing footprints, e.g. by defining fishing grounds that exclude existing margins, can disproportionately reduce trawling impacts per unit effort or value. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...

Hydrological drought events have very different causes and effects. Classifying these events into distinct types can be useful for both science and management. We propose a hydrological drought typology that is based on governing drought propagation processes derived from catchment-scale drought analysis. In this typology six hydrological drought types are distinguished, i.e. (I) classical rainfall deficit drought, (ii) rain-to-snowseason drought, (iii) wet-to-dry-season drought, (iv) cold snow season drought, (v) warm snow season drought, and (vi) composite drought. The processes underlying these drought types are the result of the interplay of temperature and precipitation at catchment scale in different seasons. As a test case, about 125 groundwater droughts and 210 discharge droughts in five contrasting headwater catchments in Europe have been classified. The most common drought type in all catchments was the classical rainfall deficit drought (almost 50% of all events), but in the selected catchments these were mostly minor events. If only the five most severe drought events of each catchment are considered, a shift towards more rain-to-snow-season droughts, warm snow season droughts, and composite droughts was found. The occurrence of hydrological drought types is determined by climate and catchment characteristics. The drought typology is transferable to other catchments, including outside Europe, because it is generic and based upon processes that occur around the world. A general framework is proposed to identify drought type occurrence in relation to climate and catchment characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

There is a common agreement in the scientific community that communicating uncertain hydro-meteorological forecasts to water managers, civil protection authorities and other stakeholders is far from being a resolved issue. This paper focuses on the communication of uncertain hydrological forecasts to decision-makers such as operational hydrologists and water managers in charge of flood warning and scenario-based reservoir operation. Results from case studies conducted together with flood forecasting experts in Europe and operational forecasters from the hydroelectric sector in France are presented. They illustrate some key issues on dealing with probabilistic hydro-meteorological forecasts and communicating uncertainty in operational flood forecasting. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Viewing itself as the spiritual heir of Eastern European Orthodoxy, contemporary Haredi Orthodoxy in the United States is much invested in its representation of the transition of Jews and Judaism from Eastern Europe to the United States. The story of this transition is contemporary American Haredi Jewry’s “founding myth,” shaped into a narrative that aids the Haredi community to define itself with respect to the American culture in which it is perforce embedded. Contemporary English language Haredi historical writing offers a nostalgic image of Eastern European Jewry, as well as a vision of the destructive effects of immigration to America. It paints an inspirational portrait of a handful of immigrant rabbis who managed to recreate on American shores a (purportedly) ideal Judaism of Eastern Europe, despite American culture’s imputed destructive nature. At the same time, this narrative also conveys a sense that Americanization is not all bad, that it is even a necessary aspect of contemporary Haredi Judaism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Lakes in Europe have a bipolar distribution by latitude with higher lake densities in the north (58–65° N) and south (38–48° N). By area, 95% of the large lakes (>100 km2t>) are located at altitudes lower than 100 m above sea level (ASL) and only 1% lie higher than 1,000 m ASL. Physically large lakes exhibit several similarities to seas and oceans in their thermal structure and circulation dynamics. From the chemical point of view, lakes are important accumulation sites for substances transported from the watershed or built up in the lake itself but they may contribute positively to global greenhouse gas emission. Fauna and flora of ancient large lakes such as the Caspian Sea and Lake Ohrid include large numbers of endemic species, which become endangered if conditions change because of direct human impact, alien species invasions or climate change. Large lakes offer a wide range of ecosystem services to society, the multiple use of which creates multiple pressures on these water bodies such as nutrient load and toxic pollution, modification of hydrology and shore line structure, and shifting of the food web balance by stocking or harvesting various species. Although large lakes are among the best-studied ecosystems in the world, the application to them of environmental regulations such as the European Water Framework Directive is a challenging task and requires that several natural and management aspects specific to these water bodies are adequately considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In the European security calculus, terrorism has become one of the key strategic threats. Alarmingly, the continent has also become a centre of radical Islamist propaganda and activism, with a number of European countries worried over the potential of their own "home-grown" religious extremists. Latest studies indicate a disturbing trend of a section of the youth, generally belonging to the Muslim communities of West African and South Asian origin from a poor or middle class socioeconomic background, embracing extremism and terrorism in Europe. This article examines the agenda of some prominent radical Islamic organisations, namely, 'Hizb ut-Tahrir' and 'Al-Muhajiroun', active in Europe, which also have South Asia in their focus. Taking advantage of the communications revolution, these organisations have succeeded in establishing an effective propaganda network. A silent radicalisation of young Muslims in Europe is also influencing Muslim youth in the subcontinent because of the inter-linkages and continuous propaganda established through the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...