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ASMET: Flooding in West Africa
The rainy season in Sahelian West Africa extends from June to September and is tied to the position of the intertropical front. During this period, mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) often produce significant rainfall that can lead to flooding. This module examines an extreme flooding event that occurred in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 31 August to 1 September 2009. Learners assume the role of forecaster, assessing meteorological conditions to see if an MCS will develop that can lead to heavy rain and flooding. They follow a forecast process that emphasizes the use of satellite data, standa ...
Climate ExChange
Climate ExChange is a fully illustrated 250-page book with over 100 authors relating their work in weather, climate and water services at international, regional, national and local levels. The commentaries draw upon experiences around the world reflecting how people are using climate information to improve their lives. Climate ExChange reflects the progress and challenges in these fields, highlighting good practices in a wide variety of societies and disciplines.
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CGIAR Working paper, 23. Impacts of climate change on the agricultural and aquatic systems and natural resources within the CGIAR’s mandate
CCAFS, 2012The document attempts to distil what is currently known about the likely impacts of climate change on the commodities and natural resources that comprise the mandate of CGIAR and its 15 Centres. It was designed as one background document for a review carried out by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) at the behest of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on what is known about the likely effects of climate change on food security and nutrition, with a focus on the most affected and vulnerable regions and populations. A total of 25 summaries covering 22 ...
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Mediterranean ecological footprint trends
Global Footprint Network, 2012The Mediterranean’s ever-widening ecological deficit and its economic implications is the main theme of the new Mediterranean Ecological Footprint Trends report, the result of a two-year study by Global Footprint Network and the focus of the conference.
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Measuring Glacier Change in the Himalayas: In UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS), September 2012
UNEP, 2012A serious lack of reliable and consistent data severely hampers scientific knowledge about the state of Himalayan glaciers. As a result, the contribution of glacial melt to the Himalayan river basins remains uncertain. This is of grave importance because declining water availability could threaten the food security of more than 70 million people. There is thus an urgent need to improve cross-boundary scientific collaboration and monitoring of glaciers to bridge the knowledge gap and allow policy options to be based on appropriate scientific evidence.
Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security
National Academies Press, 2012Scientific evidence shows that most glaciers in South Asia's Hindu Kush Himalayan region are retreating, but the consequences for the region's water supply are unclear, this report finds. The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is the location of several of Asia's great river systems, which provide water for drinking, irrigation, and other uses for about 1.5 billion people. Recent studies show that at lower elevations, glacial retreat is unlikely to cause significant changes in water availability over the next several decades, but other factors, including groundwater depletion and increasing human wat ...
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Adapting to climate-change induced water stress in the Nile basin
This summary report addresses the need for national and intergovernmental projects to reduce the impact of climate change on the Nile River basin. It indicates that any future changes in water quantity and quality caused by climate change will have a negative impact on economies, environment, and livelihoods in the Nile region. Provided in this summary report is information to help governments decide a better course of action for dealing with high population growth and rising levels of water scarcity, such as creating measures that will have both a local effect and positively impact countries. ...
Ending the everyday emergency: resilience and children in the Sahel
This report demonstrates that shortage of food is only part of the severe and life-threatening crisis facing children in the Sahel region of west Africa in 2012. It focuses in particular on the experience of children, and makes detailed recommendations around disaster risk reduction, nutrition, and social protection to build resilience. The report also addresses the urgent need for political ambition to change the international system and end the everyday emergencies.
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Le Karakorum, glacier de l'Himalaya qui ne fond pas: In lemonde.fr
2012Les glaciers de l'Himalaya fondent lentement, mais une partie d'entre eux sont dans un état stable, voire regagnent légèrement du volume : c'est ce qui ressort de deux articles scientifiques parus dans les revues Science du 20 avril et Nature Geoscience du 15 avril.
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L'accumulation inquiétante des polluants dans l'Arctique: In lemonde.fr
2012S'il est vrai, comme le pense l'ex-première ministre norvégienne Gro Harlem Brundtland, que "les régions polaires demeurent celles du monde sur lesquelles on a le moins de connaissances", les travaux présentés du 22 au 27 avril à Montréal, lors de la conférence de l'Année polaire internationale 2012, ont permis de mesurer les avancées scientifiques réalisées.
C'est particulièrement le cas pour les études concernant la présence en Arctique de métaux - comme le mercure - et de polluants organiques persistants (POP), dont les impacts sur la santé et l'environnement sont très nocif ...
El cambio climático en los Andes y la Amazonía : preguntas frecuentes
Este documento ofrece respuestas claras y concisas a las más frecuentes preguntas sobre: cambio climático; conocimiento tradicional; y, ecosistemas andinos y amazonia.
Seasonal variability in the optical properties of Baltic aerosols
A five-year dataset of spectral aerosol optical thickness was used to analyse the seasonal variability of aerosol optical properties (the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at wavelength λ=500 nm, AOT(500) and the Ångström exponent for the 440-870 nm spectral range, α(440, 870)) over the Baltic Sea and dependence of these optical properties on meteorological factors (wind direction, wind speed and relative humidity). The data from the Gotland station of the global radiometric network AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network, http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov) were taken to be representative of the Baltic Sea ...
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Synergetic monitoring of Saharan dust plumes and potential impact on surface: a case study of dust transport from Canary Islands to Iberian Peninsula
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 7. Córdoba-Jabonero C.; Sorribas M.; Guerrero-Rascado J.L.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011The synergetic use of meteorological information, remote sensing both ground-based active (lidar) and passive (sun-photometry) techniques together with backtrajectory analysis and in-situ measurements is devoted to the characterization of dust intrusions. A case study of air masses advected from the Saharan region to the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula, located relatively close and far away from the dust sources, respectively, was considered for this purpose. The observations were performed over three Spanish geographically strategic stations within the dust-influenced area along a co ...
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African biomass burning plumes over the Atlantic: aircraft based measurements and implications for H2SO4 and HNO3 mediated smoke particle activation
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 7. Fiedler V.; Arnold F.; Ludmann S.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011Airborne measurements of trace gases and aerosol particles have been made in two aged biomass burning (BB) plumes over the East Atlantic (Gulf of Guinea). The plumes originated from BB in the Southern-Hemisphere African savanna belt. On the day of our measurements (13 August 2006), the plumes had ages of about 10 days and were respectively located in the middle troposphere (MT) at 3900–5500 m altitude and in the upper troposphere (UT) at 10 800–11 200 m. Probably, the MT plume was lifted by dry convection and the UT plume was lifted by wet convection. In the more polluted MT-plume, numerous me ...
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Latitudinal distributions of organic nitrogen and organic carbon in marine aerosols over the western North Pacific
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 7. Miyazaki Y.; Kawamura K.; Jung J.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011Marine aerosol samples were collected over the western North Pacific along the latitudinal transect from 44° N to 10° N in late summer 2008 for measurements of organic nitrogen (ON) and organic carbon (OC) as well as isotopic ratios of total nitrogen (TN) and total carbon (TC). Increased concentrations of methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and diethylammonium (DEA+) at 40–44° N and subtropical regions (10–20° N) together with averaged satellite chlorophyll-a data and 5-day back trajectories suggest a significant influence of marine biological activities on aerosols in these regions. ON exhibited incre ...
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Saharan and Asian dust: similarities and differences determined by CALIPSO, AERONET, and a coupled climate-aerosol microphysical model
This study compares the properties of atmospheric dust from the Saharan deserts and the Asian deserts using data from CALIPSO and AERONET during 2006 and 2007 along with simulations using a coupled climate-microphysical sectional model. Saharan deserts are largely south of 30° N, while Asian ones are primarily north of 30° N, hence they experience different meteorological regimes. Saharan dust lifting occurs all year long, primarily due to subtropical weather systems. However, Asian dust is lifted mostly in spring when mid-latitude frontal systems lead to high winds. Rainfall is more abundant ...
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New particle formation events in semi-clean South African savannah
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 7. Vakkari V.; Laakso H.; Kulmala M.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011This study is based on 18 months (20 July 2006–5 February 2008) of continuous measurements of aerosol particle size distributions, air ion size distributions, trace gas concentrations and basic meteorology in a semi-clean savannah environment in Republic of South Africa. New particle formation and growth was observed on 69% of the days and bursts of non-growing ions/sub-10 nm particles on additional 14% of the days. This new particle formation frequency is the highest reported from boundary layer so far. Also the new particle formation and growth rates were among the highest reported in the li ...
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Understanding the transport of Patagonian dust and its influence on marine biological activity in the South Atlantic Ocean
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 3. Johnson M.S.; Meskhidze N.; Kiliyanpilakkil V.P.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011The supply of bioavailable iron to the high-nitrate low-chlorophyll (HNLC) waters of the Southern Ocean through atmospheric pathways could stimulate phytoplankton blooms and have major implications for the global carbon cycle. In this study, model results and remotely-sensed data are analyzed to examine the horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust and quantify the effect of iron-laden mineral dust deposition on marine biological productivity in the surface waters of the South Atlantic Ocean (SAO). Model simulations for the atmospheric transport and deposition of mineral du ...
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Measurement and simulation of the 16/17 April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash layer dispersion in the northern Alpine region
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 3. Emeis S.; Forkel R.; Junkermann W.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011The spatial structure and the progression speed of the first ash layer from the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano which reached Germany on 16/17 April is investigated from remote sensing data and numerical simulations. The ceilometer network of the German Meteorological Service was able to follow the progression of the ash layer over the whole of Germany. This first ash layer turned out to be a rather shallow layer of only several hundreds of metres thickness which was oriented slantwise in the middle troposphere and which was brought downward by large-scale sinking motion over Southern Germa ...
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Distribution and air-sea exchange of mercury (Hg) in the Yellow Sea
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 3. Ci Z.J.; Zhang X.S.; Wang Z.W.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011The Yellow Sea, surrounded by East China and the Korea Peninsula, is a potentially important receptor for anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions from East Asia. However, there is little documentation about the distribution and cycle of Hg in this marine system. During the cruise covering the Yellow Sea in July 2010, gaseous elemental mercury (GEM or Hg(0)) in the atmosphere, total Hg (THg), reactive Hg (RHg) and dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM, largely Hg(0)) in the waters were measured aboard the R/V Kexue III. The mean (±SD) concentration of GEM over the entire cruise was 2.61 ± 0.50 ng m−3 (ra ...
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Chemical composition and mixing-state of ice residuals sampled within mixed phase clouds
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 3. Ebert M.; Worringen A.; Benker N.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011During an intensive campaign at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, in February/March 2006 ice particle residuals within mixed-phase clouds were sampled using the Ice-counterflow virtual impactor (Ice-CVI). Size, morphology, chemical composition, mineralogy and mixing state of the ice residual and the interstitial (i.e., non-activated) aerosol particles were analyzed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Ice nuclei (IN) were identified from the significant enrichment of particle groups in the ice residual (IR) samples relative to the interstitial aerosol. In ...
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Origin and radiative forcing of black carbon transported to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 3. Kopacz M.; Mauzerall D.L.; Wang J.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011The remote and high elevation regions of central Asia are influenced by black carbon (BC) emissions from a variety of locations. BC deposition contributes to melting of glaciers and questions exist, of both scientific and policy interest, as to the origin of the BC reaching the glaciers. We use the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model to identify the location from which BC arriving at a variety of locations in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau originates. We then calculate its direct and snow-albedo radiative forcing. We analyze the seasonal variation in the origin of BC using an adjoint sensitivity ...
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Origin and radiative forcing of black carbon transported to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), Vol. 11. N° 3. Kopacz M.; Mauzerall D.L.; Wang J.; et al. - Copernicus GmbH, 2011The remote and high elevation regions of central Asia are influenced by black carbon (BC) emissions from a variety of locations. BC deposition contributes to melting of glaciers and questions exist, of both scientific and policy interest, as to the origin of the BC reaching the glaciers. We use the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem model to identify the location from which BC arriving at a variety of locations in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau originates. We then calculate its direct and snow-albedo radiative forcing. We analyze the seasonal variation in the origin of BC using an adjoint sensitivity ...
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