Western Mediterranean precipitation over the last 300 years from instrumental observations

The paper reports the results of the analysis of the 14 longest precipitation instrumental series, covering the last 300 years, that have been recovered in six subareas of the Western Mediterranean basin, i.e., Portugal, Northern and Southern Spain, Southern France, Northern and Southern Italy. This study extends back by one century our knowledge about the instrumental precipitation over theWestern Mediterranean, and by two centuries in some specific subareas. All the time series show repeated swings. No specific trends have been found over the whole period, except in a few cases, but with modest time changes and sometimes having opposite tendency. The same can be said for the most recent decades although with some more marked departures from the average. The correlation between the various Mediterranean subareas is generally not significant, or almost uncorrelated. The Wavelet Spectral Analysis applied to the precipitation identifies only a minor 56-year cycle in autumn, i.e., the same return period that has been found in literature for the Sea Surface Temperature over North Atlantic. A comparison with a gridded dataset reconstruction based on mixed multiproxy and instrumental observations, shows that the grid reconstruction is in good agreement with the observed data for the period after 1900, less for the previous period

Early Portuguese meteorological measurements (18th century)

Natural proxies, documentary evidence and instrumental data are the only sources used to reconstruct past climates. In this paper, we present the 18th century meteorologists (either Portuguese or foreigners) who made the first observations at several sites in Continental Portugal, Madeira Island and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), from 1749 until 1802. Information is given concerning observation site, variables observed, measurement period, methods of measurements and sources (both manuscript and printed). Some examples from the data usefulness are given: rainfall variability in Madeira (1749–1753) and in continental Portugal (1781–1793) was reconstructed, allowing to extend towards the late 18th century the well known negative correlation between the NAO index and seasonal rainfall. Furthermore, previously unpublished data for 1783–1784 have allowed analysing the consequences of the Lakagígar eruption in Portugal: foggy and haze days are referred to in summer 1783, but unlike the hot summer observed in northern and central Europe, temperatures in Portugal were lower than average. Additionally, observations from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil show that the Lakagígar consequences may well have spread to sectors of the Southern Hemisphere. Although the series are short, the data have been used for climate reconstruction studies and may also be useful to improve the quality of large scale reconstruction datasets.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Distribuição de Silício em bananeiras inoculadas com Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cubense

O mal-do-Panamá, reconhecida como uma das doenças mais destrutivas da bananeira no mundo tem causado enormes prejuízos aos produtores de banana. Dentre as alternativas testadas para o controle de doenças de plantas, encontra-se o uso do silício (Si), que tem apresentado efeitos benéficos em várias espécies, proporcionando efetivo controle de doenças em plantas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a resposta da planta, a absorção e translocação de silício em bananeiras inoculadas com Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense. Os tratamentos constaram de 0, 250, 500, 750 e 1000 mg dm-3 de Si, mais um tratamento adicional (testemunha absoluta - sem silício e sem a inoculação com F. oxysporum. f. sp. cubense). O solo em cada vaso foi incubado com Si por 15 dias. Decorrido este período, plantas de bananeira das variedades Grande Naine, Tropical e Maçã, oriundas de cultura de tecidos, foram transferidas para vasos contendo 3 kg de solo. A inoculação com F. oxysporum. procedeu-se 40 dias após o transplantio das plantas para os vasos. Foram determinados a produção da matéria seca da raiz (MSR) e da parte aérea (MSPA), teores de Si na parte aérea e raízes e o índice de translocação. A adição de doses crescentes de Si ao solo elevou a produção da matéria seca da raiz e da parte aérea das plantas de bananeiras. As plantas de bananeiras absorveram e translocaram silício para a parte aérea comportando-se como uma planta acumuladora intermediária de Si

Adição de Si em um latossolo amarelo distrocoeso: alterações nos atributos químicos.

As alterações decorrentes da adição de silício ao solo tem sido estudadas sob vários aspectos químicos. Os silicatos possuem efeito corretivo, isto é, têm a capacidade de neutralizar a acidez do solo e produzir o ácido monossilícico, que é a principal forma de Si absorvida pelas plantas. Com a sua aplicação no solo, o pH aumenta, os teores de Al+3 diminuem, a saturação por bases aumenta e a saturação por Al diminui. Isto acontece porque os silicatos promovem a reação dos ânions SiO3-2 com os prótons de H+ na solução do solo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as alterações químicas de um Latossolo Amarelo Distrocoeso em função da adição de silício. Como fonte de Si foi utilizado o Agrosilício® (Recmix do Brasil S.A.). Amostras de solo foram coletadas na camada de 0-50 cm de profundidade, secas ao ar e tamisadas em peneira de 4mm de abertura. Foram tomadas subamostras e passadas em peneira de 2mm de abertura de malha, constituindo a terra fina seca ao ar para caracterização química, em seguida amostras de 3 Kg de solo foram incubadas com as doses de Si (0, 250, 500, 750 e 1000 mg dm-3 ) por um período de 15 dias. Após o período de incubação, foi feita a homogeneização do solo presente em cada vaso, e foram coletadas amostras simples, que foram submetidas à análise química. A adição de doses crescentes de Si no solo promoveu alterações nos atributos químicos, aumentando o pH do solo, disponibilizado nutrientes como fósforo, cálcio, magnésio e silício

Atmospheric electric field measurements in urban environment and the pollutant aerosol weekly dependence

The weekly dependence of pollutant aerosols in the urban environment of Lisbon (Portugal) is inferred from the records of atmospheric electric field at Portela meteorological station (38°47′N,9°08′W). Measurements were made with a Bendorf electrograph. The data set exists from 1955 to 1990, but due to the contaminating effect of the radioactive fallout during 1960 and 1970s, only the period between 1980 and 1990 is considered here. Using a relative difference method a weekly dependence of the atmospheric electric field is found in these records, which shows an increasing trend between 1980 and 1990. This is consistent with a growth of population in the Lisbon metropolitan area and consequently urban activity, mainly traffic. Complementarily, using a Lomb–Scargle periodogram technique the presence of a daily and weekly cycle is also found. Moreover, to follow the evolution of theses cycles, in the period considered, a simple representation in a colour surface plot representation of the annual periodograms is presented. Further, a noise analysis of the periodograms is made, which validates the results found. Two datasets were considered: all days in the period, and fair-weather days only

Ruin and dividend measures in the renewal dual risk model

In this manuscript we consider the dual risk model with financial application, where the random gains occur under a renewal process. We particularly work the Erlang(n) case for common distribution of the inter-arrival times, from there it is easy to understand that our method or procedures can be generalised to other cases under the matrix-exponential family case. We work several and different problems involving future dividends and ruin. We also show that our results are valid even if the usual income condition is not satisfied. In most known works under the dual model, the main target under study have been the calculation of expected discounted future dividends and optimal strategies, where the dividend calculation have been done on aggregate. We can find works, at first using the classical compound Poisson model, then some examples of other renewal Erlang models. Knowing that ruin is ultimately achieved, we find important that dividends should be evaluated on an individual basis, where the early dividend contribution for the aggregate are of utmost importance. From our calculations we can really see how much important is the contribution of the first dividend. Afonso et al. (Insur Math Econ, 53(3), 906–918, 2013) had worked similar problems for the classical compound Poisson dual model. Besides that we find explicit formulae for both the probability of getting a dividend and the distribution of the amount of a single dividend. We still work the probability distribution of the number of gains to reach a given upper target (like a constant dividend barrier) as well as for the number of gains down to ruin. We complete the study working some illustrative numerical examples that show final numbers for the several problems under study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio