Two years of satellite-based carbon dioxide emission quantification at the world's largest coal-fired power plants

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from combustion sources are uncertain in many places across the globe. Satellites have the ability to detect and quantify emissions from large CO2 point sources, including coal-fired power plants. In this study, we routinely made observations with the PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) satellite imaging spectrometer and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument aboard the International Space Station at over 30 coal-fired power plants between 2021 and 2022. CO2 plumes were detected in 50 % of the acquired PRISMA scenes, which is consistent with the combined influence of viewing parameters on detection (solar illumination and surface reflectance) and unknown factors (e.g., daily operational status). We compare satellite-derived emission rates to in situ stack emission observations and find average agreement to within 27 % for PRISMA and 30 % for OCO-3, although more observations are needed to robustly characterize the error. We highlight two examples of fusing PRISMA with OCO-2 and OCO-3 observations in South Africa and India. For India, we acquired PRISMA and OCO-3 observations on the same day and used the high-spatial-resolution capability of PRISMA (30 m spatial/pixel resolution) to partition relative contributions of two distinct emitting power plants to the net emission. Although an encouraging start, 2 years of observations from these satellites did not produce sufficient observations to estimate annual average emission rates within low (&lt;15 %) uncertainties. However, as the constellation of CO2-observing satellites is poised to significantly improve in the coming decade, this study offers an approach to leverage multiple observation platforms to better quantify and characterize uncertainty for large anthropogenic emission sources.</p

Two years of satellite-based carbon dioxide emission quantification at the world's largest coal-fired power plants

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from combustion sources are uncertain in many places across the globe. Satellites have the ability to detect and quantify emissions from large CO2 point sources, including coal-fired power plants. In this study, we routinely made observations with the PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) satellite imaging spectrometer and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument aboard the International Space Station at over 30 coal-fired power plants between 2021 and 2022. CO2 plumes were detected in 50 % of the acquired PRISMA scenes, which is consistent with the combined influence of viewing parameters on detection (solar illumination and surface reflectance) and unknown factors (e.g., daily operational status). We compare satellite-derived emission rates to in situ stack emission observations and find average agreement to within 27 % for PRISMA and 30 % for OCO-3, although more observations are needed to robustly characterize the error. We highlight two examples of fusing PRISMA with OCO-2 and OCO-3 observations in South Africa and India. For India, we acquired PRISMA and OCO-3 observations on the same day and used the high-spatial-resolution capability of PRISMA (30 m spatial/pixel resolution) to partition relative contributions of two distinct emitting power plants to the net emission. Although an encouraging start, 2 years of observations from these satellites did not produce sufficient observations to estimate annual average emission rates within low (&lt;15 %) uncertainties. However, as the constellation of CO2-observing satellites is poised to significantly improve in the coming decade, this study offers an approach to leverage multiple observation platforms to better quantify and characterize uncertainty for large anthropogenic emission sources.</p

Experimental and numerical modelling of wheel rail contact and wear

In the field of simulation of railroad vehicles, there are many numerical models to estimate the interaction forces between the wheel and rail. The main advantage of these models is that they can be used together with multi-body dynamics software to calculate the motion of a vehicle in real time. However, the result of these contact models is usually post-processed to estimate wear on the profiles and some hypotheses assumed by the contact models may be inadequate for wear analysis. This is the case when considering surface roughness, which is not introduced in the numerical models and makes wear prediction imprecise. In this work an experimental method based on the measurement of ultrasonic reflection is used to solve the contact problem, together with a FASTSIM (simplified theory of rolling contact) algorithm. This technique is suitable to deal with rough surfaces and gives a better approximation of the material behaviour. Wear is estimated by means of the energy dissipation approach (T·gamma). Two different contacts are investigated, using wheel and rail profiles coming from unused and worn specimens. In order to obtain realistic results, special care is taken when locating the specimens to reproduce the same contact that appears between the wheel and the rail in the track.The corresponding author gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of C. Hardwick and Portec Rail Inc. for supplying the Miniprof device. This research was supported by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain).Rovira Cardete, A.; Roda Buch, A.; Marshall, M.; Brunskill, H.; Lewis, R. (2011). Experimental and numerical modelling of wheel rail contact and wear. Wear. 271(5-6):911-924. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2011.03.024S9119242715-

Simultaneously Hermaphroditic Shrimp Use Lipophilic Cuticular Hydrocarbons as Contact Sex Pheromones

Successful mating is essentially a consequence of making the right choices at the correct time. Animals use specific strategies to gain information about a potential mate, which is then applied to decision-making processes. Amongst the many informative signals, odor cues such as sex pheromones play important ecological roles in coordinating mating behavior, enabling mate and kin recognition, qualifying mate choice, and preventing gene exchange among individuals from different populations and species. Despite overwhelming behavioral evidence, the chemical identity of most cues used in aquatic organisms remains unknown and their impact and omnipresence have not been fully recognized. In many crustaceans, including lobsters and shrimps, reproduction happens through a cascade of events ranging from initial attraction to formation of a mating pair eventually leading to mating. We examined the hypothesis that contact pheromones on the female body surface of the hermaphroditic shrimp Lysmata boggessi are of lipophilic nature, and resemble insect cuticular hydrocarbon contact cues. Via chemical analyses and behavioural assays, we show that newly molted euhermaphrodite-phase shrimp contain a bouquet of odor compounds. Of these, (Z)-9-octadecenamide is the key odor with hexadecanamide and methyl linoleate enhancing the bioactivity of the pheromone blend. Our results show that in aquatic systems lipophilic, cuticular hydrocarbon contact sex pheromones exist; this raises questions on how hydrocarbon contact signals evolved and how widespread these are in the marine environment

Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?

The European biodiversity and forest strategies rely on forest sustainable management (SFM) to conserve forest biodiversity. However, current sustainability assessments hardly account for direct biodiversity indicators. We focused on forest multi-taxon biodiversity to: i) gather and map the existing information; ii) identify knowledge and research gaps; iii) discuss its research potential. We established a research network to fit data on species, standing trees, lying deadwood and sampling unit description from 34 local datasets across 3591 sampling units. A total of 8724 species were represented, with the share of common and rare species varying across taxonomic classes: some included many species with several rare ones (e.g., Insecta); others (e.g., Bryopsida) were represented by few common species. Tree-related structural attributes were sampled in a subset of sampling units (2889; 2356; 2309 and 1388 respectively for diameter, height, deadwood and microhabitats). Overall, multi-taxon studies are biased towards mature forests and may underrepresent the species related to other developmental phases. European forest compositional categories were all represented, but beech forests were over-represented as compared to thermophilous and boreal forests. Most sampling units (94%) were referred to a habitat type of conservation concern. Existing information may support European conservation and SFM strategies in: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) definition and testing of SFM indicators and thresholds; (iii) data-driven assessment of the effects of environmental and management drivers on multi-taxon forest biological and functional diversity, (iv) multi-scale forest monitoring integrating in-situ and remotely sensed information

Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease

Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.

Measuring Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminals With Imaging Spectroscopy

The rapid growth of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports underscores the importance of CO2 monitoring for LNG export terminals. We present a method for measuring LNG terminal CO2 emissions using remote sensing imaging spectroscopy. The method is first validated using 47 power plant emission events with in situ measured data, then applied to 22 emission events in Sabine Pass and Cameron. The power plant data set shows a robust correlation between our estimates and in situ data, with R2 0.9146 and the average error −2%. At Sabine Pass, eight point sources are identified with emission rates from 219.69&nbsp;±&nbsp;54.95 to 1,083.22&nbsp;±&nbsp;308.06&nbsp;t/hr. At Cameron, three point sources are identified with emission rates from 91.64&nbsp;±&nbsp;25.81 to 265.61&nbsp;±&nbsp;67.80&nbsp;t/hr. The liquefaction carbon intensity estimates also align with past study ranges. This illustrates that remote sensing can validate environmental reporting and CO2 inventories for industrial facilities

Increased divergence in floral morphology strongly reduces gene flow in sympatric sexually deceptive orchids with the same pollinator

In sexually deceptive orchids, pollinator specificity is the main factor responsible for species isolation. The two sexually deceptive orchids Ophrys chestermanii and Ophrys normanii occur sympatrically on Sardinia and attract the same pollinator, males of Bombus vestalis, by producing the same odour bouquets. Since gene flow between these two species has been shown to be almost absent, their genetic distinctness seems to be preserved by other forms of reproductive barrier than pollinator specificity. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and strength of these isolation barriers which apparently halt gene flow between these two orchids that share the same pollinator. Morphological measurements, combined with observations of cross-pseudocopulations, revealed that, in sympatry, the longer caudicles of O.&nbsp;normanii and the smaller and differently shaped stigmatic cavity in O.&nbsp;chestermanii are the main factors preventing gene flow between these two sympatric species. In contrast, other pre- or post-mating barriers seem to be weak or absent, as the two species have overlapping flowering time and we were able to rear hybrid offspring from interspecific manual crosses. At the same time, genetic analysis of orchid plantlets collected at sympatric sites detected the presence of only two putative hybrid individuals. Thus, the probability of natural cross-pollination between O.&nbsp;normanii and O.&nbsp;chestermanii seems to be strongly limited by divergence in their floral morphology. For some traits, this divergence was found increased between sympatric populations

Speciation in sexually deceptive orchids: pollinator-driven selection maintains discrete odour phenotypes in hybridizing species

Ophrys orchids mimic the female sex pheromones of their pollinator species to attract males for pollination. Reproductive isolation in Ophrys is based on the selective attraction of only a single pollinator species. A change of floral odour can result in the attraction of a new pollinator species that acts as an isolation barrier towards other sympatrically occurring Ophrys species. Ophrys lupercalis, Ophrys bilunulata, and Ophrys fabrella grow sympatrically and bloom consecutively on Majorca and are pollinated by three species of Andrena. We investigated variation of phenotypic and genotypic flower traits, aiming to study the role of the floral odour for reproductive isolation and speciation. Using chemical and electrophysiology (gas chromatography coupled with an electroantennographic detector) methods, we show that the three Ophrys species use the same odour compounds for pollinator attraction, but in different proportions. A comparison of the floral odour bouquets in a multivariate analysis revealed a clear grouping of plants from the same species, although with an overlap between species. A comparison of the same plants using molecular markers gave a contrasting result. Although O. lupercalis and O. fabrella were genetically well separated, plants of O. bilunulata did not form a distinct group but were similar to either O. lupercalis or O. fabrella. Our data indicate gene flow and hybridization to occur between O. bilunulata and O. lupercalis as well as between O. bilunulata and O. fabrella. All plants of O. bilunulata, despite having different genotypes, showed a very similar floral odour. This reflects a strong selective pressure by the pollinating males. The overlap of genotypes of O. bilunulata and O. fabrella supports our hypothesis that O. fabrella diverged from O. bilunulata by scent variation and the attraction of a new pollinator species, Andrena fabrella