The vertical motion of air is closely related to the amount of precipitation that falls in a particular region. The Tibetan Plateau and the North Pacific are important determinants of the East Asian climate. We use climate diagnosis and statistical analysis to study the vertical motion of the air over the North Pacific and Tibetan Plateau and the relationship between the vertical motion of air over

This paper provides scientific results from a European LIFE project carried out in the Valencian region of Spain during the 2017 to 2018 time frame. In 2018, more than 60,000 tons of pesticides were commercialized in Spain, with approximately 15% destined for Valencian crops. In order to improve the air quality in the agricultural areas of this region, an innovative cropping system based on irrigation

In this study; the spatial distribution of the Daily Precipitation Concentration Index (DPCI) has been analyzed inside the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area (GSMA). Accordingly, the rainfall database from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology archive was utilized after comprehensive quality control. The compiled data contains a set of 41 rainfall stations indicating consistent daily precipitation series

The characteristics of low-level wind shear (LLWS) over the Chinese mainland were investigated using reports from pilots, air traffic controllers and the number of arriving/departing flights from 2016 to 2020. A preliminary analysis of the impact of the flights on the LLWS reports was carried out, and the cause of LLWS was also investigated. LLWS reports from most airports indicate that LLWS is most

Maintaining a pleasant indoor environment with low energy consumption is important for healthy and comfortable living in buildings. In previous studies, we proposed the integrated comfort control (ICC) algorithm, which integrates several indoor environmental control devices, including an air conditioner, a ventilation system, and a humidifier. The ICC algorithm is operated by simple on/off control

Attention should always be given to which reanalysis dataset to use when preparing analysis for a project. The accuracies of three reanalysis datasets, two global (ERA5 and MERRA-2) and one high-resolution regional reanalysis (MÉRA), are assessed by comparison with observations at seven weather observing stations around Ireland. Skill scores are calculated for the weather variables at these stations

In this study, we compare the diurnal variation in stratospheric ozone of the MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate) reanalysis, ECMWF Reanalysis Interim (ERA-Interim), and the free-running WACCM (Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model). The diurnal variation of stratospheric ozone results from photochemical and dynamical processes depending on altitude, latitude, and season. MACC

Despite the yearly decline in PM2.5 in China, surface ozone has been rapidly increasing recently, which makes it imperative to coordinate and control both PM2.5 and ozone in the atmosphere. This study utilized the data of pollutant concentrations and meteorological elements during 2015 to 2018 in Nanjing, China to analyze the daily correlation between black carbon and ozone (CBO), and the distribution

The air quality of Handan, a typical industrial city in China, has been significantly improved through atmospheric pollution control, except for ozone (O3) pollution. We found that, in summer, emissions of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NOx decreased yearly in Handan, but the O3 concentration significantly declined yearly during 2013–2015, whereas it experienced worsening O3 pollution

Based on daily precipitation data from 115 climate stations, seasonal and annual precipitation and their extremes over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings (TPS) in 1963–2015 are investigated. There exists a clear southeast-northwest gradient in precipitation and extreme daily precipitation but an opposite pattern for the consecutive dry days (CDDs). The wet southeast is trending dry while the

One of the most critical variables in the field of thermal comfort measurements is the mean radiant temperature which is typically measured with a standard 150 mm black globe thermometer. This is also the reference instrument required for the assessment of heat stress conditions by means of the well-known Wet Bulb Globe Temperature index (WBGT). However, one of the limitations of this method is represented

Flood risk assessment and mapping is required for management and mitigation of flood in mountain cities. However, the specific characteristics of population, society, economy, environment, transportation and other disaster-bearing bodies in various regions of mountain cities are significantly different, which increases the uncertainty of risk assessment index weight and risk assessment accuracy. To

In this study, projected changes in climate extreme indices defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices were investigated over Middle East and North Africa. Changes in the daily maximum and minimum temperature- and precipitation- based extreme indices were analyzed for the end of the 21st century compared to the reference period 1971–2000 using regional climate model simulations

By employing the finite-difference time-domain method, the processes of electric field variation and morphological development of the optical radiation field of ELVEs and sprite halos were simulated in this article. Simulations of ELVEs show two optical radiation field centers, with a concentrated luminous zone from 85 to 100 km and an inner weaker optical radiation center. The electric field exhibits

Numerical weather predictions (NWP) play a fundamental role in air quality management. The transport and deposition of all the pollutants (natural and/or anthropogenic) present in the atmosphere are strongly influenced by meteorological conditions such as, for example, precipitation and winds. Furthermore, the presence of particulate matter in the atmosphere favors the physical processes of nucleation

Transportation sources are a major contributor to air pollution in urban areas, and the role of air quality modeling is vital in the formulation of air pollution control and management strategies. Many models have appeared in the literature to estimate near-field ground level concentrations from mobile sources moving on a highway. However, current models do not account explicitly for the effect of

Heavy metals in road dust pose a significant threat to human health. This study investigated the concentrations, patterns, and sources of eight hazardous heavy metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, and Hg) in the street dust of Zhengzhou city of PR China. Fifty-eight samples of road dust were analyzed based on three methods of risk assessment, i.e., Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo), Potential Ecological

Air pollution is one of the main factors affecting human health. Air quality is especially important in the tourist areas developed with facilities for outdoor activities. During the winter season of 2017/2018, the concentrations of particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1), CO, O3, and NO2 were studied in 12 attractive tourist villages in the surroundings of the Czorsztyn Reservoir in southern Poland

In this study, the static and dynamic spatial Durbin model between industrial structure and haze pollution in Yangtze River Delta is constructed. Later, the spatial spillover effect and time lag effect of haze pollution in Yangtze River Delta are analyzed. The impact of rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure on haze pollution and its spatial spillover effect are discussed. The results

In order to investigate the seasonal variations in the chemical characteristics of PM2.5 at the plateau slope of a mountain city in southwest China, 178 PM2.5 filters (89 quartz and 89 Teflon samples for PM2.5) were collected to sample the urban air of Wenshan in spring and autumn 2016 at three sites. The mass concentrations, water-soluble inorganic ions, organic and inorganic carbon concentrations

Extremely hot or warm weather over the course of the year may have significant impacts on many aspects of human life, the economy, and the natural environment. Until now a thorough assessment of changes of extreme heat or warm events in Europe was hindered by the number of metrics employed, time periods examined, and most studies being conducted in the summer season only. Here, we employ the Extremity

Clouds and aerosols play a significant role in determining the overall atmospheric radiation budget, yet remain a key uncertainty in understanding and predicting the future climate system. In addition to their impact on the Earth’s climate system, aerosols from volcanic eruptions, wildfires, man-made pollution events and dust storms are hazardous to aviation safety and human health. Space-based lidar

The PM2.5 concentration model is the key to predict PM2.5 concentration. During the prediction of atmospheric PM2.5 concentration based on prediction model, the prediction model of PM2.5 concentration cannot be usually accurately described. For the PM2.5 concentration model in the same period, the dynamic characteristics of the model will change under the influence of many factors. Similarly, for different

Rocks ejected from a volcanic eruption often cause loss of lives and structures. Aerodynamic characteristics are needed for evaluating motions of volcanic rocks for the reduction of damage. Falling motions of volcanic rock were measured by using models imitated the configuration of cinders collected at the site of the experiment, Sakurajima volcano. Two types, one with sharp edges and one without sharp

Lima is considered one of the cities with the highest air pollution in Latin America. Institutions such as DIGESA, PROTRANSPORTE and SENAMHI are in charge of permanently monitoring air quality; therefore, the air quality visualization system must manage large amounts of data of different concentrations. In this study, a spatio-temporal visualization approach was developed for the exploration of data

To investigate the evolution of the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) and its impacts on the vertical distributions of pollutant particulates, a combination of in situ observations from a large tethered balloon, remote sensing instruments (aerosol lidar and Doppler wind lidar) and an atmospheric environment-monitoring vehicle were utilized. The observation site was approximately 100 km southwest of Beijing

In the present study, we analyzed the particle size distribution (PSD) of falling volcanic ash particles measured using optical disdrometers during six explosive eruptions of the Sakurajima volcano in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Assuming the gamma PSD model, which is commonly used in radar meteorology, we examined the relationships between each of the gamma PSD parameters (the intercept parameter

The ionospheric weather is affected not only from above by the Sun but also from below by processes in the lower-lying atmospheric layers. One of the most pronounced atmospheric phenomena is the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW). Three major SSW events from the periods of very low solar activity during January 2009, February 2018, and December 2018/January 2019 were studied to evaluate this effect

At present, high-resolution drought indices are scarce, and this problem has restricted the development of refined drought analysis to some extent. This study explored the possibility of calculating the standardized precipitation index (SPI) with short-term precipitation sequences in China, based on data from 2416 precipitation observation stations covering the time period from 1961 to 2019. The result

A common approach used for multi-source observation data blending is the fusion method. This study assesses the applicability of the first-generation fusion sea surface temperature (SST) product of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) in the Yellow–Bohai Sea region for numerical weather predictions. First, daily and 6 h fusion SST measurements are compared with data derived from 21 buoy sites

Note: In lieu of an abstract, this is an excerpt from the first page. This special issue, entitled Tourism Climatology: Past, Present, and Future, contains seven original articles and two review reports which tackle some of the main lines of research in the field of Tourism Climatology [...]

Winter persistent extreme cold events (WPECEs) often cause great damage to the development of economies and people’s lives. The sub-seasonal variation of the atmospheric circulation is regarded as one of important causes of extreme weather, and is key to propel the extended period prediction. In this paper, we mainly analyze the WPECEs in Xinjiang region and their relationship with the sub-seasonal

Non-road equipment has been an important source of pollutants that negatively affect air quality in China. An accurate emission inventory for non-road equipment is therefore required to improve air quality. The objective of this paper was to characterize emissions from typical diesel-fueled material handling equipment (loaders and cranes) using a portable emission measurement system. Instantaneous

Vegetation plays a key role in partitioning energy at the surface. Meteorological and Climate Models, both global and regional, implement vegetation using two parameters, the vegetation fraction and the leaf area index, obtained from satellite data. In most cases, models use average values for a given period. However, the vegetation is subject to strong inter-annual variability. In this work, the sensitivity

This paper showed different plume behaviors of exhausts from different number of stacks of the container ship, using CFD code PHOENICS version 6.0. The plume behavior was quantitatively analyzed by mass fraction of the pollutant in the exhaust and plume heights. Three simplified typical configurations were constructed by CFD according to the investigation of container ships. The configurations included

Vinyl chloride (VC) is classified as a group 1 carcinogen to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and inhalation is considered to be an important route of occupational exposure. In addition, increasing numbers of studies have observed adverse health effects in people living in the vicinity of petrochemical complexes. The objective of this study was to investigate the adverse in

A relationship between the friction velocity u☆ and mean wind speed U in a stable atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over Arctic sea ice was considered. To that aim, the observations collected during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment were used. The observations showed the so-called “hockey-stick” shape of the u☆−U relationship, which consists of a slow increase of u☆ with

The spatial distribution of precipitation is one of the most important climatic variables used in geographic and environmental studies. However, when there is a lack of full coverage of meteorological stations, precipitation estimations are necessary to interpolate precipitation for larger areas. The purpose of this research was to find the best interpolation method for precipitation mapping in the

The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and rainfall data were used to model the spatial relationship between vegetation and rainfall. Their correlation in previous studies was typically based on a global regression model, which assumed that the correlation was constant across space. The NDVI–rainfall association, on the other hand, is spatially non-stationary, non-linear, scale-dependent

The increasing availability of low-cost air quality sensors has led to novel sensing approaches. Distributed networks of low-cost sensors, together with data fusion and analytics, have enabled unprecedented, spatiotemporal resolution when observing the urban atmosphere. Several projects have demonstrated the potential of different approaches for high-resolution measurement networks ranging from static

Rural communities in West Africa have long adopted a variety of coping and adaptation strategies to periods of climate variability and risks. These strategies have mostly been shaped by prevailing indigenous knowledge systems and shared understandings of the underlying causes of climate events. Despite the increasing scientific and policy attention to climate perceptions and integration of indigenous

With the current COVID-19 pandemic being spread all over the world, lockdown measures are being implemented, making air pollution levels go down in several countries. In this context, the air quality changes in the highly populated and trafficked Brazilian states of São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) were addressed using a combination of satellite and ground-based daily data analysis. We explored

UV-A (ca. 365 nm wavelength, a.k.a. ‘black light’) photocatalysis has been investigated to comprehensively mitigate odor and selected air pollutants in the livestock environment. This study was conducted to confirm the performance of UV-A photocatalysis on the swine farm. The objectives of this research were to (1) scale-up of the UV-A photocatalysis treatment, (2) evaluate the mitigation of odorous

We attempted to employ convolutional neural networks to extract visual features and developed recurrent neural networks for weather property estimation using only image data. Four common weather properties are estimated, i.e., temperature, humidity, visibility, and wind speed. Based on the success of previous works on temperature prediction, we extended them in terms of two aspects. First, by considering

Aerosols, including mineral dust, are transported from China and Mongolia to Japan, particularly in spring. It has been recognized that calcium (Ca) carbonate is the main Ca species in aerosols, which reacts with acidic species such as sulfuric and nitric acids at the surface of mineral dust during its long-range transport, related to mitigation of acid depositions. The similar assumption that magnesium

Despite having contributed the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, the African region is the most vulnerable continent to climate change impacts. To reduce the levels of risk arising from climate change, it is mandatory to combine both mitigation and adaptation. While mitigation can reduce global warming, not all impacts can be avoided. Therefore, adaptation is essential to advance

2016 and 2017 were marked by strong El Niño and weak La Niña events, respectively, in the tropical East Pacific Ocean. The strong El Niño and weak La Niña events in the Pacific significantly impacted the sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) and were followed by extreme negative and weak positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) phases in 2016 and 2017, which triggered floods in

A single particle Lagrangian Stochastic model has been developed and applied with the purpose of simulating the concentration fluctuations dispersion. This model treats concentration variance as a quantity whose motion is driven by an advection-diffusion process so that it can be studied by a single particle model. A parameterization for both velocity standard deviations and Lagrangian time-scales

In Japan, various countermeasures have been undertaken to reduce the atmospheric concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We evaluated the extent to which these countermeasures were effective in reducing PM2.5 concentrations by analyzing the long-term concentration trends of the major components of PM2.5 and their emissions in Nagoya City. PM2.5 concentrations decreased by 53% over the 16-year

Secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA) is the key driving factor of fine-particle explosive growth (FPEG) events, which are frequently observed in North China Plain. However, the SIA simulations remain highly uncertain over East Asia. To further investigate this issue, SIA modeling over North China Plain with the 15 km resolution Nested Air Quality Prediction Model System (NAQPMS) was performed from October

To understand the characteristics of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) and estimate their impact on water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) in urban areas in Japan, we measured 17 organic tracers using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry from particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 μm collected at five urban sites in Japan during spring and summer. Most anthropogenic, monoterpene-derived

The accumulated particulate matter concentration at a given vertical column due to traffic sources in urban area has many important consequences. This task, however, imposes a major challenge, since the problem of realistic pollutant dispersion in an urban environment is a very demanding task, both theoretically and computationally. This is mainly due to the highly inhomogeneous three dimensional turbulent

Many nontornadic supercell storms have times when they appear to be moving toward tornadogenesis, including the development of a strong low-level vortex, but never end up producing a tornado. These tornadogenesis failure (TGF) episodes can be a substantial challenge to operational meteorologists. In this study, a sample of 32 pre-tornadic and 36 pre-TGF supercells is examined in the 30 min pre-tornadogenesis

Arctic ozone amount in winter to spring shows large year-to-year variation. This study investigates Arctic spring ozone in relation to the phase of quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO)/the 11-year solar cycle, using satellite observations, reanalysis data, and outputs of a chemistry climate model (CCM) during the period of 1979–2017. For this duration, we found that the composite mean of the Northern Hemisphere

Tropical cyclone (TC) monitoring and forecast in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) basin remain challenging, notably because of the lack of direct observations. During the 2018–2019 cyclone season, S-1 Sentinel SAR images were acquired, as part of the ReNovRisk-Cyclone research program, giving access to unprecedented detailed TC wind structure description without wind speed limitation. This paper

In this paper, we present a novel defogging technique, named CurL-Defog, with the aim of minimizing the insertion of artifacts while maintaining good contrast restoration and visibility enhancement. Many learning-based defogging approaches rely on paired data, where fog is artificially added to clear images; this usually provides good results on mildly fogged images but is not effective for difficult

Gaseous emissions from poultry litter causes production problems for producers as well as the environment, by contributing to climate change and reducing air quality. Novel methods of reducing ammonia (NH3) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in poultry facilities are needed. As such, our research evaluated GHG emissions over a 42 d period. Three separate flocks of 1000 broilers were used for this study

The turbulence moment of order m (μm) is defined as the refractive index structure constant Cn2 integrated over the whole path z with path-weighting function zm. Optical effects of atmospheric turbulence are directly related to turbulence moments. To evaluate the optical effects of atmospheric turbulence, it is necessary to measure the turbulence moment. It is well known that zero-order moments of

Solubility of transition metal compounds plays a significant role in adverse health effects because that is one of the most important factors of particulate matter bioavailability in the body. In this study, we focus on the chemical analysis of particulate matter (PM) collected at different locations in the area of Kraków, one of the most polluted cities in Poland, and compare them with Standard Reference

A summer field study was conducted in two university dormitories in the Tokai region of Central Japan. The study aimed at understanding the correlation between subjective thermal responses as well as whether nationality was affecting the responses. It was observed that nationality significantly affected thermal sensitivity and preference. The occupants’ acceptance for thermal stress was invariably