Assessment of the EUMETSAT LSA-SAF evapotranspiration product for drought monitoring in Europe

tEvapotranspiration is a key parameter for water stress assessment as it is directly related to the moisturestatus of the soil-vegetation system and describes the moisture transfer from the surface to the atmo-sphere. With the launch of the Meteosat Second Generation geostationary satellites and the setup ofthe Satellite Application Facilities, it became possible to operationally produce evapotranspiration datawith high spatial and temporal evolution over the entire continents of Europe and Africa. In the frameof this study we present an evaluation of the potential of the evapotranspiration (ET) product from theEUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) for drought assessment andmonitoring in Europe.To assess the potential of this product, the LSA-SAF ET was used as input for the ratio of ET to referenceevapotranspiration (ET0), the latter estimated from the ECMWF interim reanalysis. In the analysis twocase studies were considered corresponding to the drought episodes of spring/summer 2007 and 2011.For these case studies, the ratio ET/ET0was compared with meteorological drought indices (SPI, SPEI andSc-PDSI for 2007 and SPI for 2011) as well as with the anomalies of the fraction of absorbed photosyn-thetic active radiation (fAPAR) derived from remote sensing data. The meteorological and remote sensingindicators were taken from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) and the CARPATCLIM climatologicalatlas.Results show the potential of ET/ET0to characterize soil moisture variability, and to give additionalinformation to fAPAR and to precipitation distribution for drought assessment. The main limitations ofthe proposed ratio for drought characterization are discussed, including options to overcome them. Theseoptions include the use of filters to discriminate areas with a low percentage vegetation cover or areasthat are not in their growing period and the use of evapotranspiration without water restriction (ETwwr),obtained as output of the LSA-SAF model instead of ET0. The ET/ETwwrratio was tested by comparingits accumulated values per growing period with the winter wheat yield values per country published byEurostat. The results point to the potential of using the remote sensing based LSA-SAF evapotranspirationand the ET/ETwwrratio for vegetation monitoring at large scale, especially in areas where data is generallylackin

Assessment of the EUMETSAT LSA-SAF evapotranspiration product for drought monitoring in Europe

Evapotranspiration is a key parameter for water stress assessment as it is directly related to the moisture status of the soil-vegetation system and describes the moisture transfer from the surface to the atmosphere. With the launch of the Meteosat Second Generation geostationary satellites and the setup of the Satellite Application Facilities, it became possible to operationally produce evapotranspiration data with high spatial and temporal evolution over the entire continents of Europe and Africa. In the frame of this study we present an evaluation of the potential of the evapotranspiration (ET) product from the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) for drought assessment and monitoring in Europe. To assess the potential of this product, the LSA-SAF ET was used as input for the ratio of ET to reference evapotranspiration (ET0), the latter estimated from the ECMWF interim reanalysis. In the analysis two case studies were considered corresponding to the drought episodes of spring/summer 2007 and 2011. For these case studies, the ratio ET/ET0 was compared with meteorological drought indices (SPI, SPEI and Sc-PDSI for 2007 and SPI for 2011) as well as with the anomalies of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetic active radiation (fAPAR) derived from remote sensing data. The meteorological and remote sensing indicators were taken from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) and the CARPATCLIM climatological atlas. Results show the potential of ET/ET0 to characterize soil moisture variability, and to give additional information to fAPAR and to precipitation distribution for drought assessment. The main limitations of the proposed ratio for drought characterization are discussed, including options to overcome them. These options include the use of filters to discriminate areas with a low percentage vegetation cover or areas that are not in their growing period and the use of evapotranspiration without water restriction (ETwwr), obtained as output of the LSA-SAF model instead of ET0. The ET/ ETwwr ratio was tested by comparing its accumulated values per growing period with the winter wheat yield values per country published by Eurostat. The results point to the potential of using the remote sensing based LSA-SAF evapotranspiration and the ET/ ETwwr ratio for vegetation monitoring at large scale, especially in areas where data is generally lacking.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Hydrological cycle during droughts: large-scale analyses for process understanding and modelling

Droughts strongly affect the environment and human activities with long-term and far-reaching impacts that will increase in the next decades under global changes. Thus, we need an in-depth understanding of drought processes and their robust modelling to cope with drought risk. For hydrologists, recurring challenges include predicting the impacts of precipitation (P) deficits in the form of soil moisture, streamflow (Q), or groundwater deficits. Water stored in catchments and evapotranspiration (ET) regulate drought evolution, that is the propagation of P deficits through the hydrological cycle and the subsequent recovery. Yet, analyses explicitly considering the joint contribution of storage and ET to drought evolution across different hydroclimatic regimes are rare. Furthermore, many hydrological models poorly simulate Q during droughts, but previous studies have rarely assessed model performances during droughts in multi-variable and spatially-distributed evaluations. This PhD thesis aimed to answer two main research questions: (i) do storage changes and ET affect drought evolution across climates and landscapes?; (ii) does a distributed hydrological model properly represent Q, ET, and storage during droughts? I performed a large-sample data-based analysis of Q, ET, and changes in the subsurface storage (in soil and groundwater) over the period 2010-2019 for 102 Italian catchments to answer the first question. To address the second question, I evaluated Q, ET, and storage simulations from the process-based distributed hydrological model Continuum over the Po river basin (northern Italy) during recent droughts, including the severe 2022 event. From the large-sample data-based analysis, I found that annual subsurface storage changes represented on average 11% of annual P across the study catchments, and mostly buffered Q deficits during drought years and their recovery. ET, instead, both buffered and aggravated Q deficits, and it had a decoupled response to P. These results revealed the prominent role of subsurface storage in driving the evolution of annual droughts. From model evaluation, I showed worse model performances in simulating Q for severe than for moderate droughts (mean KGE across the 38 study sub-catchments = 0.55±0.25 during moderate droughts and 0.18±0.69 in 2022) and I linked them to a degraded simulation of ET, rather than storage, especially in the human-affected croplands (mean r = -0.03 and nRMSE = 1.8 across the croplands in 2022). By calibrating the model during a moderate drought, I showed similar model performances during the severe event (mean KGE = 0.18±0.63), which further point to specific human-water processes during this event. Therefore, I delineated possible ways forward for model improvement during severe droughts, such as an enhanced consideration of human interference, especially in ET. The findings of the thesis provided a consistent picture of the different role ET and storage have in drought evolution and in our modelling capabilities, coherently with recent literature, also on multi-year droughts. Moreover, these results emphasized the need for a holistic approach across the hydrological cycle for process understanding and model evaluation during droughts, with the ultimate goal of improving drought modelling for water resources management, disaster risk reduction, and climate change impact assessments

Meteorological Droughts in Europe: Events and Impacts - Past Trends and Future Projections

Observational records from 1950 onwards and climate projections for the 21st century provide evidence that droughts are a recurrent climate feature in large parts of Europe, especially in the Mediterranean, but also in western, south-eastern and central Europe. Trends over the past 60 years show an increasing frequency, duration and intensity of droughts in these regions, while a negative trend has been observed in north-eastern Europe. With a changing climate, this tendency is likely to be reinforced during the 21st century, affecting a wide range of socioeconomic sectors. The report provides a detailed description of the characteristics of drought events (i.e. their frequency, duration, intensity, severity) across Europe, and their evolution over the period 1950 to 2012, as well as projections until the end of the 21st century. A pan-European database of meteorological drought events for the period 1950-2012 and of their related sectorial impacts was built and a framework developed that links drought severity to expected damages under present and future climate.Fil: Spinoni, Jonathan. European Commission Joint Research Centre; ItaliaFil: Naumann, Gustavo. European Commission Joint Research Centre; Italia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vogt, Jürgen. European Commission Joint Research Centre; ItaliaFil: Barbosa, Paulo. European Commission Joint Research Centre; Itali

Chapter 5: Food Security

The current food system (production, transport, processing, packaging, storage, retail, consumption, loss and waste) feeds the great majority of world population and supports the livelihoods of over 1 billion people. Since 1961, food supply per capita has increased more than 30%, accompanied by greater use of nitrogen fertilisers (increase of about 800%) and water resources for irrigation (increase of more than 100%). However, an estimated 821 million people are currently undernourished, 151 million children under five are stunted, 613 million women and girls aged 15 to 49 suffer from iron deficiency, and 2 billion adults are overweight or obese. The food system is under pressure from non-climate stressors (e.g., population and income growth, demand for animal-sourced products), and from climate change. These climate and non-climate stresses are impacting the four pillars of food security (availability, access, utilisation, and stability)

The use of inulin-collagen suspension for the replacement of pork back fat in production of cooked-emulsified sausages

У овој студији испитивана је могућност употребе суспензије инулина и колагена као замена за масно ткиво у производњи фино уситњених барених кобасица. Произведено је четири групе производа, од којих је прва била кобасица уобичајеног састава (контролна група са 25% масног ткива), друга и трећа (А и Б) група су израђене са смањеним уделом масног ткива (15% и7,5%, појединачно), док је четврта група (Ц) израђена без додатка масног ткива. Као замена за масно ткиво у производима А, Б и Ц употребљени су 4% инулина (код свих) и 0,7%, 1,2% и 1,65% колагена појединачно, уз пропорционално повећање удела воде (леда) у надеву. Резултати истраживања су показали да је могућа потпуна замена масног ткива наведеним састојцима, чиме се добија производ (Ц), који садржи у просеку 0,85% масти, има мањи удео холестерола (46,23 mg/100 g) и већи садржај сложених угељних хидрата – пребиотика (7,46%) него контрола (25,48%, 55,87 mg/100 g, 0,91%, појединачно). У односу на контролну групу, код производа из групе Ц остварена је редукција садржаја масти од 97%. Садржај протеина меса је био уједначен код свих експерименталних група производа и износио од 11,75% код контролне групе, до 12,34% код групе Б. Удео колагена у протеинима меса био је значајно већи код модифико ваних ко б а сица (од 6,24% код А групе до 10,26% код Ц групе) него код контролне групе (3,68%) 3,68%), али је код свих експерименталних производа био у оквиру дозвољених граница дефин и саних прописима Значајно већи садржај воде утврђен је код свих модификованих коб асица ( група А 64,89%, група Б 71,53% и група Ц 77,34%) него код контролне групе (60 69%), међутим то није утицало на активност воде ни на рН вредност, који су код свих група производа била уједначени У погледу садржаја масних киселина у липидном екстрак ту (релативан садржај масних киселина), кобасице из групе Ц имале су значајно нижи релативни удео n 3 масних киселина и полинезасићених масних киселина, значајно већи удео мононезасићених као и приближан удео засићених масних киселина и n 6/ n 3 однос у пор еђењу са контролним кобасицама, и кобасицама из група А и Б. Међутим, у погледу садржаја масних киселина у целом производу (апсолутни садржај масних киселина), контролне кобасице су садржале значајно већу количину засићених (8,95 %) и n 6 масних киселина (4 ,16 %) од модификованих кобасица које су садржале засићене ма сне киселине у количини од 0,31% (група Ц) до 4,29 % (група А), односно n 6 масних кисел ина од 0,07% (група Ц) до 1,39 % (група А), на основу чега су модификоване коабсице значајно повољније са нутр итивног аспекта. Код свих експерименталних група производа утврђен је низак степен хидролитичких и оксида тивних промена на мастима. Микробиолошка испитивања су показала да ни у једном испитиваном узорку није утврђено присуство салмонела и литстерија, а бро ј ентерокока и сулфиторедукујућих клостридија је био испод лимита детекције. Бактерије млечне киселин е су детектоване на крају складиштења само код контролне групе производа, а њи хов број је био у оквиру дозвољених граница. У погледу инструменталних параме тара боје, кобасице из групе Ц биле су најтамније и са најмањим уделом црвене боје. Најсветлије су биле кобасице из групе А, а најинтензивнији удео црвене боје имале су контролне кобасице. Удео жуте боје био је уједначен код свих експерименталних група. Ин струменталним испитивањем текстуре производа нису утврђене значајне разлике у чврстоћи, адхезивности, еластичности и жвакљивости производа из м еђу експериментланих група. Кохезивност контролне групе и кобасица из групе Ц била је приближна и значајно мања не го код производа из гр у пе А и Б. Укупна сензорна оцена била је значајно већа код кобасица из група Б (4,21) и Ц (4,02) у поређењу са производима из контролне групе (3,23) и групе А (3,58) на почетку, као и на крају складиштења.крају складиштења. У поређењу са модификованим кобасицама, контролне кобасице су биле значајно слабије оцењене значајно слабије оцењене у погледу у погледу мириса и укусамириса и укуса. . Резутати испитивања су показали да Резутати испитивања су показали да суспензија инулина и колагена може у потпуности да замени масно ткиво у производњи фино суспензија инулина и колагена може у потпуности да замени масно ткиво у производњи фино уситњених барених кобасица, при чему се добуситњених барених кобасица, при чему се добијају безбедни производи високог квалитета и ијају безбедни производи високог квалитета и добре одрживости.добре одрживости.This study investigates the possibilities of use of inuline-collagen suspension for the total replacementpork backfat in production of cooked-emulsified sausages. Four product types were manufactured; sausage of standard composition (control group with 25% of pork backfat), the second and third groups (А and B) were produced with lower share of pork backfat(15% and 7,5%, respectively), while fourth group (C) did not contain added pork backfat. To each experimental group (A, B and C) 4% of inuline was added together with various amounts of collagen (0,7%, 1,2% and 1,65% respectively), as a replacement for pork backfat, together with proportional increase of added water in the stuffing. The results obtained in the study demonstrated the possibility of complete substitution of pork backfat with used ingredients resulting in a product (group C) with 0.85% of average fat content, decreased cholesterol content (46,23 mg/100 g) and increased content of complex carbohydrates – prebiotics (7,46%) compared to the control group (25,48%, 55,87 mg/100 g, 0,91%, respectively). Compared to the control group, the products from group C achieved a 97% reduction in fat content. Protein content was leveled in all experimental groups amounting from 11,75% (control group) to 12,34% (group B). Share of collagen in meat proteins was significantly higher in modified sausages (from 6,24 % group A, to 10,26% group C ) compared to control group (3,68 %)%), however, collagen content did not exceed regulatory limit in neither of the investigated groups.Signif icantly higher water content was established in all modified sausages group A 64,89%, group B 71,53 % and group C 77,34%) compared to control group (60.69%), however, this had no influence on water activity or pH which were leveled in all sausage groups . R egarding the content of fatty acids in the lipid extract (r elative content of fatty acids) acids), sausages from group C showed significantly lower relative share of n 3 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids significantly higher share of monounsaturated fat ty acids and approximate share of saturated fatty acids and n 6/ n 3 ratio compared to control group and sausages from groups A and B . However, regarding the fatty acid content ин the whole product (absolute fatty acid content), the control sausages contained a significantly higher amount of saturated (8.95 %) and n 6 fatty acids (4.16 %) than the modified sausages that contained saturated fatty acids in the amount of 0.31% (group C) to 4.29% (group A), i.e. n 6 fatty acids from 0.07% (group C) to 1.39% (group A), based on of which modified sausages were significantly more favorable from a nutritional point of view. A low degree of hydrolytic and oxidative changes in fats was found in all experimental groups of products. Microbiological examination showed absen ce of Salmonella spp . and Listeriaspp. in all tested samples while Enterococcus and sulfite reducing Clostridiaecound was below limit of detection. Lactic acid bacteria were found at the end of the storage period only in control group; the count was within permitted levels . Instrumental determinartion of color showed that sausages from group C were the darkest and with lowest share of red. Sausages from group A were of the lightest color, while the most intensive red was observed in sausages from the control group. Yellow share was equal in all experimental groups. Instrumental texture investigation did not reveal significant differences in firmness, adhesiveness, elasticity and chewability between investigated groups. Cohesion recorded in control group and g roup C was approximate between these groups and significantly lower compared to sausages from groups A and B. Sensoric score was significantly higher in groups B (4,21) and C (4,02) compared with sausages from the control group (3,23) and group А (3,58), b oth at the beginning and at the end of the storage period . Control group was graded significantly lower in respect to odor and taste compared to modified sausages. The research results showed that the suspension of inulin and collagen can completely repla ce the fatty tissue in the production of fatty tissue in the production of cookedcooked--emulsifiedemulsified sausages, whereby safe products of high quality sausages, whereby safe products of high quality and good sustainability are obtained.and good sustainability are obtained

The estimation and evaluation of a satellite-based drought index using rainfall and evapotranspiration.

Master of Science in Hydrology. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Pietermaritzburg, 2017.Abstract available in PDF file

Food security

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