scholarly journals Regional-scale weather patterns and wildland fires in central Portugal

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus P. Hoinka ◽  
Anabela Carvalho ◽  
Ana Isabel Miranda
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Positive Anomaly ◽  
Wildland Fires ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Fire Event ◽  
The North ◽  
Cross Covariance ◽  
Central Portugal

The characteristic evolution of the synoptic- and meso-scale wind, temperature and humidity pattern during wildland fire events in Portugal was determined by lagged covariances for the period 1980 to 2001. The daily burnt area was chosen as the parameter to be correlated with atmospheric fields provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis (ERA40) data. The related time series consisted of wildland fires with a daily burnt area of more than 500 ha in central Portugal. Five days in advance of a fire event, a strong positive anomaly existed in the surface pressure and in the 500-hPa geopotential field, both appearing to the west of the Iberian Peninsula and moving towards Brittany until lag zero. In advance of the fire event, the flow above Portugal came from the north, turning to easterlies at lag time zero and finally coming from the south-east during the post-event phase. Surface wind statistics taken at Castelo Branco supported these results. Smoke plumes from wildland fires detected by satellites indicated a similar flow structure, which was quite different to the averaged summertime flow above Portugal. Cross-covariance regression between the Iberian thermal low and burnt area showed that the peak amount of burnt area occurred up to 3 days after the appearance of a thermal low. This suggested that in the pre-phase of a wildland fire, heated air is transported from the peninsula’s centre towards Portugal.

Differential reduction‐to‐the‐pole of regional magnetic anomalies

Geophysics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 1592-1600 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Arkani‐Hamed
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Domain ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Magnetic Anomalies ◽  
Positive Anomaly ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
The North ◽  
Differential Reduction ◽  
Reduction To The Pole ◽  
Spectral Frequency

I present a differential reduction‐to‐the‐pole technique that reduces regional scale magnetic anomalies to the geomagnetic pole, while taking into account the variations in the direction of the geomagnetic field and that of the magnetization of the crust over the region. The technique is developed in the spectral frequency domain as an inverse problem solved iteratively using a perturbation method. I regard the variations in the directions as finite perturbations about the mean values of the directions over the region and evaluate the nonlinear coupling terms due to these perturbations in the space domain at each iteration before transforming them into the spectral frequency domain. The technique is applied to the magnetic anomalies of three semiinfinite prisms, which are inductively magnetized and located at high, mid, and low latitudes in a region where the inclination of the ambient field changes from 10 to 90 degrees and its declination changes from −30 to +30 degrees. The differential reduction to the pole shifts the positive anomaly of the low‐latitude prism toward the north more than it shifts that of the mid‐latitude prism, which in turn is shifted northward more than that of the high‐latitude prism. The reduction also suppresses the negative lobes to the north of the mid and low‐latitude prisms and moves the positive anomalies to points directly over the prisms. I also apply the technique to the marine magnetic anomalies off the east coast of Canada. The positive magnetic anomalies in the southern part of the area are displaced northward by about 30 km, whereas those in the northern part are not moved significantly.

scholarly journals Multi-decadal aerosol variations from 1980 to 2009: a perspective from observations and a global model

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 3657-3690 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Chin ◽  
T. Diehl ◽  
Q. Tan ◽  
J. M. Prospero ◽  
R. A. Kahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Dust Emission ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Pollutant Emission ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The North ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Tropical North Atlantic

Abstract. Aerosol variations and trends over different land and ocean regions from 1980 to 2009 are analyzed with the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model and observations from multiple satellite sensors and available ground-based networks. Excluding time periods with large volcanic influence, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and surface concentration over polluted land regions generally vary with anthropogenic emissions, but the magnitude of this association can be dampened by the presence of natural aerosols, especially dust. Over the 30-year period in this study, the largest reduction in aerosol levels occurs over Europe, where AOD has decreased by 40–60% on average and surface sulfate concentrations have declined by a factor of up to 3–4. In contrast, East Asia and South Asia show AOD increases, but the relatively high level of dust aerosols in Asia reduces the correlation between AOD and pollutant emission trends. Over major dust source regions, model analysis indicates that the change of dust emissions over the Sahara and Sahel has been predominantly driven by the change of near-surface wind speed, but over Central Asia it has been largely influenced by the change of the surface wetness. The decreasing dust trend in the North African dust outflow region of the tropical North Atlantic and the receptor sites of Barbados and Miami is closely associated with an increase of the sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic. This temperature increase may drive the decrease of the wind velocity over North Africa, which reduces the dust emission, and the increase of precipitation over the tropical North Atlantic, which enhances dust removal during transport. Despite significant trends over some major continental source regions, the model-calculated global annual average AOD shows little change over land and ocean in the past three decades, because opposite trends in different land regions cancel each other out in the global average, and changes over large open oceans are negligible. This highlights the necessity for regional-scale assessment of aerosols and their climate impacts, as global-scale average values can obscure important regional changes.

Contributing Factors to the Recent High Level of Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) and Power Dissipation Index (PDI) in the North Atlantic*

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 3023-3034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Murakami ◽  
Tim Li ◽  
Pang-Chi Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Wind Velocity ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Power Dissipation ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Positive Anomaly ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Maximum Surface ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
High Level

Abstract In recent decades, tropical cyclone (TC) activity in the North Atlantic has shown a marked positive anomaly in genesis number, mean lifespan, number of intense hurricanes, and mean maximum intensity. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), which is defined as the sum of the square of the maximum surface wind velocity throughout the lifetime of a TC, is one of the measures that can be used to synthesize these factors. Similar to the ACE, the power dissipation index (PDI), which is defined as the integrated third power of maximum surface wind velocity, has also been used to describe TC activity. The basin-total ACE and PDI for the North Atlantic have also followed a large positive anomaly during the period 1995–2012; however, the relative importance of factors such as TC genesis number, TC track property (e.g., duration and lifespan), and TC intensity remains unclear in terms of their contribution to the positive anomalies in ACE and PDI. This study uses a new empirical statistical approach to analyze the TC data and finds that the increase in the TC genesis number is primarily responsible for the positive anomalies in ACE and PDI. Other factors, such as TC track property and TC intensity, appear to be minor influences.

scholarly journals Influence of the North Atlantic oscillation on the atmospheric levels of benzo[a]pyrene over Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero ◽  
Nuno Ratola
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

AbstractThe atmospheric concentration of persistent organic pollutants (and of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, in particular) is closely related to climate change and climatic fluctuations, which are likely to influence contaminant’s transport pathways and transfer processes. Predicting how climate variability alters PAHs concentrations in the atmosphere still poses an exceptional challenge. In this sense, the main objective of this contribution is to assess the relationship between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the mean concentration of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP, the most studied PAH congener) in a domain covering Europe, with an emphasis on the effect of regional-scale processes. A numerical simulation for a present climate period of 30 years was performed using a regional chemistry transport model with a 25 km spatial resolution (horizontal), higher than those commonly applied. The results show an important seasonal behaviour, with a remarkable spatial pattern of difference between the north and the south of the domain. In winter, higher BaP ground levels are found during the NAO+ phase for the Mediterranean basin, while the spatial pattern of this feature (higher BaP levels during NAO+ phases) moves northwards in summer. These results show deviations up to and sometimes over 100% in the BaP mean concentrations, but statistically significant signals (p<0.1) of lower changes (20–40% variations in the signal) are found for the north of the domain in winter and for the south in summer.

scholarly journals Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe: A Synthesis of National Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 117862212110281
Author(s):  
Nieves Fernandez-Anez ◽  
Andrey Krasovskiy ◽  
Mortimer Müller ◽  
Harald Vacik ◽  
Jan Baetens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Local Analysis ◽  
Wildland Fires ◽  
Fire Statistics ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fire Patterns

Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009–2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action “Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society” funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence.

scholarly journals Understanding the Impact of Different Landscape-Level Fuel Management Strategies on Wildfire Hazard in Central Portugal

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 522
Author(s):  
Akli Benali ◽  
Ana C. L. Sá ◽  
João Pinho ◽  
Paulo M. Fernandes ◽  
José M. C. Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Treatment Area ◽  
Fuel Treatment ◽  
The North ◽  
Wildfire Hazard ◽  
Central Portugal ◽  
The Impact

The extreme 2017 fire season in Portugal led to widespread recognition of the need for a paradigm shift in forest and wildfire management. We focused our study on Alvares, a parish in central Portugal located in a fire-prone area, which had 60% of its area burned in 2017. We evaluated how different fuel treatment strategies may reduce wildfire hazard in Alvares through (i) a fuel break network with different extents corresponding to different levels of priority and (ii) random fuel treatments resulting from a potential increase in stand-level management intensity. To assess this, we developed a stochastic wildfire simulation system (FUNC-SIM) that integrates uncertainties in fuel distribution over the landscape. If the landscape remains unchanged, Alvares will have large burn probabilities in the north, northeast and center-east areas of the parish that are very often associated with high fireline intensities. The different fuel treatment scenarios decreased burned area between 12.1–31.2%, resulting from 1–4.6% increases in the annual treatment area and reduced the likelihood of wildfires larger than 5000 ha by 10–40%. On average, simulated burned area decreased 0.22% per each ha treated, and cost-effectiveness decreased with increasing area treated. Overall, both fuel treatment strategies effectively reduced wildfire hazard and should be part of a larger, holistic and integrated plan to reduce the vulnerability of the Alvares parish to wildfires.

scholarly journals Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Wildland Fires: Sensing, Perception, Cooperation and Assistance

Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Moulay A. Akhloufi ◽  
Andy Couturier ◽  
Nicolás A. Castro
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Wildland Fires ◽  
Natural Risk ◽  
Aerial Vehicles

Wildfires represent a significant natural risk causing economic losses, human death and environmental damage. In recent years, the world has seen an increase in fire intensity and frequency. Research has been conducted towards the development of dedicated solutions for wildland fire assistance and fighting. Systems were proposed for the remote detection and tracking of fires. These systems have shown improvements in the area of efficient data collection and fire characterization within small-scale environments. However, wildland fires cover large areas making some of the proposed ground-based systems unsuitable for optimal coverage. To tackle this limitation, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) were proposed. UAVs have proven to be useful due to their maneuverability, allowing for the implementation of remote sensing, allocation strategies and task planning. They can provide a low-cost alternative for the prevention, detection and real-time support of firefighting. In this paper, previous works related to the use of UAV in wildland fires are reviewed. Onboard sensor instruments, fire perception algorithms and coordination strategies are considered. In addition, some of the recent frameworks proposing the use of both aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) for a more efficient wildland firefighting strategy at a larger scale are presented.

Metamorphic Gradient: A Regional-Scale Area Selection Criterion for Gold in the Northeastern Superior Province, Eastern Canadian Shield

SEG Discovery ◽  
2007 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Michel Gauthier ◽  
Sylvain Trépanier ◽  
Stephen Gardoll
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
James Bay ◽  
Area Selection ◽  
The North ◽  
First Pass ◽  
Abitibi Subprovince ◽  
Frontier Region ◽  
Metamorphic Gradient

ABSTRACT One hundred years after the first gold discoveries in the Abitibi subprovince, the Archean James Bay region to the north is experiencing a major exploration boom. Poor geologic coverage in this part of the northeastern Superior province has hindered the application of traditional Abitibi exploration criteria such as crustal-scale faults and “Timiskaming-type” sedimentary rocks. New area selection criteria are needed for successful greenfield exploration in this frontier region, and the use of steep metamorphic gradients is presented as a possible alternative. The statistical robustness of the metamorphic gradient area selection criterion was confirmed by using the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) to estimate the correlation between metamorphic fronts and the distribution of known Abitibi orogenic gold producers. The criterion was then applied to the James Bay region during a first-pass craton-scale exploration program. This was part of the strategy that led to the discovery of the Eleonore multimillion-ounce gold deposit in 2004.

scholarly journals Climate impact on the development of Pre-Classic Maya civilisation

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1253-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Nooren ◽  
Wim Z. Hoek ◽  
Brian J. Dermody ◽  
Didier Galop ◽  
Sarah Metcalfe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Beach Ridge ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact of climate change on the development and disintegration of Maya civilisation has long been debated. The lack of agreement among existing palaeoclimatic records from the region has prevented a detailed understanding of regional-scale climatic variability, its climatic forcing mechanisms and its impact on the ancient Maya. We present two new palaeo-precipitation records for the central Maya lowlands, spanning the Pre-Classic period (1800 BCE–250 CE), a key epoch in the development of Maya civilisation. A beach ridge elevation record from world's largest late Holocene beach ridge plain provides a regional picture, while Lake Tuspan's diatom record is indicative of precipitation changes at a local scale. We identify centennial-scale variability in palaeo-precipitation that significantly correlates with the North Atlantic δ14C atmospheric record, with a comparable periodicity of approximately 500 years, indicating an important role of North Atlantic atmospheric–oceanic forcing on precipitation in the central Maya lowlands. Our results show that the Early Pre-Classic period was characterised by relatively dry conditions, shifting to wetter conditions during the Middle Pre-Classic period, around the well-known 850 BCE (2.8 ka) event. We propose that this wet period may have been unfavourable for agricultural intensification in the central Maya lowlands, explaining the relatively delayed development of Maya civilisation in this area. A return to relatively drier conditions during the Late Pre-Classic period coincides with rapid agricultural intensification in the region and the establishment of major cities.

scholarly journals The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2: first 18 months of science data products

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 549-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annmarie Eldering ◽  
Chris W. O'Dell ◽  
Paul O. Wennberg ◽  
David Crisp ◽  
Michael R. Gunson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Retrieval Algorithm ◽  
Science Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Data Products ◽  
Atmospheric Carbon

Abstract. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is the first National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite designed to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) with the accuracy, resolution, and coverage needed to quantify CO2 fluxes (sources and sinks) on regional scales. OCO-2 was successfully launched on 2 July 2014 and has gathered more than 2 years of observations. The v7/v7r operational data products from September 2014 to January 2016 are discussed here. On monthly timescales, 7 to 12 % of these measurements are sufficiently cloud and aerosol free to yield estimates of the column-averaged atmospheric CO2 dry air mole fraction, XCO2, that pass all quality tests. During the first year of operations, the observing strategy, instrument calibration, and retrieval algorithm were optimized to improve both the data yield and the accuracy of the products. With these changes, global maps of XCO2 derived from the OCO-2 data are revealing some of the most robust features of the atmospheric carbon cycle. This includes XCO2 enhancements co-located with intense fossil fuel emissions in eastern US and eastern China, which are most obvious between October and December, when the north–south XCO2 gradient is small. Enhanced XCO2 coincident with biomass burning in the Amazon, central Africa, and Indonesia is also evident in this season. In May and June, when the north–south XCO2 gradient is largest, these sources are less apparent in global maps. During this part of the year, OCO-2 maps show a more than 10 ppm reduction in XCO2 across the Northern Hemisphere, as photosynthesis by the land biosphere rapidly absorbs CO2. As the carbon cycle science community continues to analyze these OCO-2 data, information on regional-scale sources (emitters) and sinks (absorbers) which impart XCO2 changes on the order of 1 ppm, as well as far more subtle features, will emerge from this high-resolution global dataset.

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