Coupling early warning services, crowdsourcing, and modelling for improved decision support and wildfire emergency management

The threat of a forest fire disaster increases around the globe as the human footprint continues to encroach on natural areas and climate change effects increase the potential of extreme weather. It is essential that the tools to educate, prepare, monitor, react, and fight natural fire disasters are available to emergency managers and responders and reduce the overall disaster effects. In the context of the I-REACT project, such a big crisis data system is being developed and is based on the integration of information from different sources, automated data processing chains and decision support systems. This paper presents the wildfire monitoring for emergency management system for those involved and affected by wildfire disasters developed for European forest fire disasters

The impact of climate change on grapevine phenology and the influence of altitude: a regional study

Simulations of the effect of climate change on the phenology of grapevines indicate shorter growing seasons, earlier occurrences of phases and shorter phase duration in the future. The impact varies depending on the geolocalization of the studied region and its microclimate. The objective of this study is to further understand the impact of climate change on grapevine phenology by studying the role of varieties and microclimates through a regional assessment carried out in two future periods of time (2021–2050 and 2071–2099). The influence of altitude on phenological stages was studied on five different phenophases for five grapevine varieties in the province of Trento (Italian Alps). The model predicts a significant advance for all phenological stages (advanced harvest up to four weeks), which could affect the quality and suitability of the region for the selected varieties. In particular, the model indicates shorter phenophases and a shorter time between bud break and harvest, from one to three weeks. Furthermore, projected phenological changes are not homogeneous in the region under study: more pronounced effects of the temperature increase are expected at higher altitudes. Indeed, phenological advance is more pronounced for varieties grown at higher altitudes. On the contrary, phase duration and growing season length are more affected on the varieties grown at lower altitudes. A lower spread of harvest timing is expected in altitudinal transects, up to 3 days for every 100 m. We can conclude that adaptation strategies such as change of varieties, harvest management and wine making technologies will be necessary to cope with the effect of climate chang

The impact of climate change on grapevine phenology and the influence of altitude: a regional study

Simulations of the effect of climate change on the phenology of grapevines indicate shorter growing seasons, earlier occurrences of phases and shorter phase duration in the future. The impact varies depending on the geolocalization of the studied region and its microclimate. The objective of this study is to further understand the impact of climate change on grapevine phenology by studying the role of varieties and microclimates through a regional assessment carried out in two future periods of time (2021–2050 and 2071–2099). The influence of altitude on phenological stages was studied on five different phenophases for five grapevine varieties in the province of Trento (Italian Alps). The model predicts a significant advance for all phenological stages (advanced harvest up to four weeks), which could affect the quality and suitability of the region for the selected varieties. In particular, the model indicates shorter phenophases and a shorter time between bud break and harvest, from one to three weeks. Furthermore, projected phenological changes are not homogeneous in the region under study: more pronounced effects of the temperature increase are expected at higher altitudes. Indeed, phenological advance is more pronounced for varieties grown at higher altitudes. On the contrary, phase duration and growing season length are more affected on the varieties grown at lower altitudes. A lower spread of harvest timing is expected in altitudinal transects, up to 3 days for every 100 m. We can conclude that adaptation strategies such as change of varieties, harvest management and wine making technologies will be necessary to cope with the effect of climate chang

Effect of a sustained silver-releasing dressing on ulcers with delayed healing: the CONTOP study

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Early detection and information extraction for weather-induced floods using social media streams

Today we are using an unprecedented wealth of social media platforms to generate and share information regarding a wide class of events, which include extreme meteorological conditions and natural hazards such as floods. This paper proposes an automated set of services that start from the availability of weather forecasts, including both an event detection technique and a selective information retrieval from on-line social media. The envisioned services aim to provide qualitative feedback for meteorological models, detect the occurrence of an emergency event and extract informative content that can be used to complement the situational awareness. We implement such services and evaluate them during a recent weather induced flood. Our approach could be highly beneficial for monitoring agencies and meteorological offices, who act in the early warning phase, and also for authorities and first responders, who manage the emergency response phase