A new zenith looking narrow-band radiometer based system (ZEN) for dust Aerosol Optical Depth monitoring

This study presents a new zenith looking narrow-band radiometer based system (ZEN), conceived for dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) monitoring. Our results suggest that ZEN is a suitable system to fill the current observational gaps and to complement observations performed by sun-photometer networks in order to improve mineral dust monitoring in remote locations.AERONET sun photometers at Izaña have been calibrated within the AERONET Europe TNA, supported by the European Community-Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 15 ACTRIS grant agreement no. 262254

Desert dust remote sensing with the new zenith looking narrow‐band radiometer based system (ZEN)

Comunicación presentada en: TECO-2016 (Technical Conference on Meteorological and Environmental Instruments and Methods of Observation) celebrada en Madrid, del 27 al 30 de septiembre de 2016.This work has been developed within the framework of the activities of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observations (CIMO) Izaña Testbed for Aerosols and Water Vapor Remote Sensing Instruments. AERONET sun photometers at Izaña have been calibrated within the AERONET Europe TNA, supported by the European Community ‐ Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 ACTRIS grant agreement no. 262254

Aerosol optical depth retrievals at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory from 1941 to 2013 by using artificial neural networks

This paper presents the reconstruction of a 73-year time series of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm at the subtropical high-mountain Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO) located in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). For this purpose, we have combined AOD estimates from artificial neural networks (ANNs) from 1941 to 2001 and AOD measurements directly obtained with a Precision Filter Radiometer (PFR) between 2003 and 2013. The analysis is limited to summer months (July–August–September), when the largest aerosol load is observed at IZO (Saharan mineral dust particles). The ANN AOD time series has been comprehensively validated against coincident AOD measurements performed with a solar spectrometer Mark-I (1984–2009) and AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) CIMEL photometers (2004–2009) at IZO, obtaining a rather good agreement on a daily basis: Pearson coefficient, R, of 0.97 between AERONET and ANN AOD, and 0.93 between Mark-I and ANN AOD estimates. In addition, we have analysed the long-term consistency between ANN AOD time series and long-term meteorological records identifying Saharan mineral dust events at IZO (synoptical observations and local wind records). Both analyses provide consistent results, with correlations  >  85 %. Therefore, we can conclude that the reconstructed AOD time series captures well the AOD variations and dust-laden Saharan air mass outbreaks on short-term and long-term timescales and, thus, it is suitable to be used in climate analysis.The AERONET Cimel sun photometer at Izaña has been calibrated by AERONET-EUROPE Calibration Service, financed by the Aerosol Cloud and TRace gas InfraStructure (ACTRIS) European Research Infrastructure Action (FP7/2007-2013 no. 262254). Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and from the “Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional” (FEDER) for project CGL2012-33576 is gratefully acknowledged

Aerosol optical depth retrieval at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory from 1941 to 2013 by using artificial neural networks [Póster]

Póster elaborado para el International Symposium CLIMA-ES 2015, Tortosa, Spain, 11-13 March 2015.A 73-year time series of the daily aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm has been reconstructed from 1941 to 2013 at the subtropical high-mountain Izaña Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) Observatory (IZO) located in Tenerife Island (The Canary Islands, Spain ; 28º 18’ N, 16º 29’W, 2.367 ma.s.l) For this purpose, we have combined AOD estimates from Artificial Neuronal Networks (ANNs) from 1941 to 2001, and AOD measurements directly performed with Precision Filter Radiometer (PFR) between 2003 and 2013. Theanalysis is limited to cloud-free conditions (Oktas=0) and to the summer season (JAS), where the largest aerosol load is observed at IZO (Saharan mineral dust particles). In order to account for the observed AOD inter-annual/decadal variations, we have done a preliminary study about the relationship between AOD time series and the large-scale climatic indexes, such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), obtaining a significant anti-correlation.This work was developed under the Specific Agreement of Collaboration between the Meteorological State Agency (AEMET)of Spain and the University of Valladolid. Financial supports from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)and from the “Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional” (FEDER)forprojectsCGL2011-23413,CGL2012-33576andCGL2012-37505 are gratefully acknowledged

Aerosol optical depth retrievals at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory from 1941 to 2013 by using artificial neural networks [Discussion paper]

This paper presents the reconstruction of a 73-year time series of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm at the subtropical high-mountain Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO) located in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). For this purpose, we have combined AOD estimates from artificial neural networks (ANNs) from 1941 to 2001 and AOD measurements directly obtained with a Precision Filter Radiometer (PFR) between 2003 and 2013. The analysis is limited to summer months (July–August–September), when the largest aerosol load is observed at IZO (Saharan mineral dust particles). The ANN AOD time series has been comprehensively validated against coincident AOD measurements performed with a solar spectrometer Mark-I (1984–2009) and AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) CIMEL photometers (2004–2009) at IZO, obtaining a rather good agreement on a daily basis: Pearson coefficient, R, of 0.97 between AERONET and ANN AOD, and 0.93 between Mark-I and ANN AOD estimates. In addition, we have analysed the long-term consistency between ANN AOD time series and long-term meteorological records identifying Saharan mineral dust events at IZO (synoptical observations and local wind records). Both analyses provide consistent results, with correlations  >  85 %. Therefore, we can conclude that the reconstructed AOD time series captures well the AOD variations and dust-laden Saharan air mass outbreaks on short-term and long-term timescales and, thus, it is suitable to be used in climate analysis.The AERONET Cimel sun photometer at Izaña has been calibrated by AERONET-EUROPE Calibration Service, financed by the Aerosol Cloud and TRace gas InfraStructure (ACTRIS) European Research Infrastructure Action (FP7/2007-2013 no. 262254). Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and from the “Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional” (FEDER) for project CGL2012-33576 is gratefully acknowledged

Long-term characterisation of the vertical structure of the Saharan Air Layer over the Canary Islands using lidar and radiosonde profiles: implications for radiative and cloud processes over the subtropical Atlantic Ocean

Every year, large-scale African dust outbreaks frequently pass over the Canary Islands (Spain). Here we describe the seasonal evolution of atmospheric aerosol extinction and meteorological vertical profiles on Tenerife over the period 2007–2018 using long-term micropulse lidar (MPL-3) and radiosonde observations. These measurements are used to categorise the different patterns of dust transport over the subtropical North Atlantic and, for the first time, to robustly describe the dust vertical distribution in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) over this region. Three atmospheric scenarios dominate the aerosol climatology: dust-free (clean) conditions, the Saharan summer scenario (summer-SAL) and the Saharan winter scenario (winter-SAL).This research has received support from the Institute of Physics Belgrade, through the grant by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia

Long-term characterisation of the vertical structure of Saharan dust outbreaks over the Canary Islands using lidar and radiosondes profiles: implications for radiative and cloud processes over the subtropical Atlantic Ocean

Every year, large-scale African dust outbreaks frequently pass over the Canary Islands (Spain). Here we describe the seasonal evolution of atmospheric aerosol extinction and meteorological vertical profiles at Tenerife over the period 2007–2018 using long-term Micropulse Lidar (MPL-3) and radiosondes observations. These measurements are used to categorise the different patterns of dust transport over the subtropical North Atlantic and, for the first time, to robustly describe the dust vertical distribution in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) over this region. Three atmospheric scenarios dominate the aerosol climatology: dust-free (clean) conditions, the summer-Saharan scenario (Summer-SAL) and the winter-Saharan scenario (Winter-SAL). A relatively well-mixed marine boundary layer (MBL) was observed in the case of clean (dust-free) conditions; it was associated with lidar extinction coefficients (α) ∼ 0.030 km−1 with minimum α ( 0.066 km−1 at ∼ 2.5 km. Desert dust is present up to ∼ 6.0 km, the SAL top based on the altitude of SAL’s temperature inversion (STI). In the Winter-SAL scenario, the dust layer is confined to lower levels, below 2 km altitude. This layer is characterized by a dry anomaly at lower levels (∆r ∼ −38 % in comparison to the clean scenario) and a dust peak at ∼ 1.3 km height. CFT conditions were found above 2.3 km. Our results reveal the important role that both dust and water vapour play in the radiative balance within the Summer- and Winter-SAL. The dominant dust-induced shortwave (SW) radiative warming in summer (heating rates up to +0.7 K day−1) is found slightly below the dust maximum. However, the dominant contribution of water vapour was observed as a net SW warming observed within the SAL (from 2.1 km to 5.7 km) and as a strong cold anomaly near the SAL’s top (−0.6 K day−1). The conventional description of the Summer-SAL as a “dry layer” might lead to underestimating the importance of the atmospheric water vapour radiative effect. In the case of the Winter-SAL, we observed a dust-induced radiative effect dominated by SW heating (maximum heating of +0.7 K day−1 at 1.5 km, near the dust peak); both dust and atmospheric water vapour impact heating in the atmospheric column. This is the case of the SW heating within the SAL (maximum near the r peak), the dry anomaly at lower levels (∆r ∼ −38 % at 1 km) and the thermal cooling (∼ 0.3 K day−1) from the STI upwards. Finally, we hypothesise that the SAL can impact heterogeneous ice nucleation processes through the frequent occurrence of mid-level clouds observed near the SAL top at relatively warm temperatures. A dust event that affected Tenerife in August 2015 is simulated using the regional DREAM model to assess the role of dust and water vapour carried within SAL in the ice nucleation processes. The modelling results reproduce the arrival of the dust plume and its extension over the island and confirm the observed relationship between the Summer-SAL conditions and the formation of mid- and high-level clouds

Hmga2 is required for canonical WNT signaling during lung development

Background: The high-mobility-group (HMG) proteins are the most abundant non-histone chromatin-associated proteins. HMG proteins are present at high levels in various undifferentiated tissues during embryonic development and their levels are strongly reduced in the corresponding adult tissues, where they have been implicated in maintaining and activating stem/progenitor cells. Here we deciphered the role of the high-mobility-group AT-hook protein 2 (HMGA2) during lung development by analyzing the lung of Hmga2-deficient mice (Hmga2-/-).Results: We found that Hmga2 is expressed in the mouse embryonic lung at the distal airways. Analysis of Hmga2-/- mice showed that Hmga2 is required for proper cell proliferation and distal epithelium differentiation during embryonic lung development. Hmga2 knockout led to enhanced canonical WNT signaling due to an increased expression of secreted WNT glycoproteins Wnt2b, Wnt7b and Wnt11 as well as a reduction of the WNT signaling antagonizing proteins GATA-binding protein 6 and frizzled homolog 2. Analysis of siRNA-mediated loss-of-function experiments in embryonic lung explant culture confirmed the role of Hmga2 as a key regulator of distal lung epithelium differentiation and supported the causal involvement of enhanced canonical WNT signaling in mediating the effect of Hmga2-loss-of-fuction. Finally, we found that HMGA2 directly regulates Gata6 and thereby modulates Fzd2 expression.Conclusions: Our results support that Hmga2 regulates canonical WNT signaling at different points of the pathway. Increased expression of the secreted WNT glycoproteins might explain a paracrine effect by which Hmga2-knockout enhanced cell proliferation in the mesenchyme of the developing lung. In addition, HMGA2-mediated direct regulation of Gata6 is crucial for fine-tuning the activity of WNT signaling in the airway epithelium. Our results are the starting point for future studies investigating the relevance of Hmga2-mediated regulation of WNT signaling in the adult lung within the context of proper balance between differentiation and self-renewal of lung stem/progenitor cells during lung regeneration in both homeostatic turnover and repair after injury. © 2014 Singh et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Attenuation of spectral direct irradiance due to the presence of cirrus clouds at the Izaña Observatory

Ponencia presentada en: XVIII Congreso de la Asociación Española de Teledetección celebrado en Valladolid del 24 al 27 septiembre 2019.[ES]En este trabajo presentamos casos de estudio sobre la atenuación de la irradiancia directa espectral medida con el espectrorradiómetro EKO-MS 711 debido a la presencia de nubes altas (tipo cirros) en el Observatorio de Izaña (IZO; 2400 m s.n.m.) en la isla de Tenerife (Islas Canarias, España). Para identificar este tipo de nubes hemos utilizado como herramientas auxiliares las imágenes de la cámara de todo cielo (SONA) y la evolución temporal de la señal corregida en rango medida con el LiDAR. Además hemos utilizado el modelo de transferencia radiativa LibRadtran para simular la irradiancia sin la presencia de nubes, dando como parámetros de entrada el espesor óptico de aerosoles (AOD), el vapor de agua y la columna total de ozono medidos en IZO. Los resultados muestran que la irradiancia directa en el rango visible (400-800 nm) y en el rango espectral completo de medida del espectrorradiómetro (300-1100 nm) disminuye dependiendo del tipo de nubes altas. Así para el caso de cirros la disminución es del 10%, mientras que para cirrostratos la disminución es menor al 5%.[EN]In this work we present the attenuation of spectral direct irradiance performed with the EKO MS-711 spectroradiometer due to the presence of high-level clouds (cirrus type) at the Izaña Observatory (IZO; 2400 m a.s.l.), Tenerife Island (Canary Islands, Spain). Auxiliary images from the sky camera (SONA) and the temporal evolution of the LIDAR range-corrected signal have been used to identify this type of clouds. We have also used the LibRadtran radiative transfer model to simulate the irradiance without the presence of clouds, giving as input parameters the aerosol optical depth (AOD), water vapour and total ozone column measured at IZO. The results show that the spectral direct irradiance in the visible range (400-800 nm) and the full spectral range of the spectroradiometer (300-1100 nm) decreases depending on the type of high-level clouds, 10% for cirrus while the decreased observed for cirrostratus is less than 5%

Control biológico In Vitro de nematodos agalladores (Meloidogyne sp.) a base de quitosano y fluensulfone

El nematodo agallador (Meloidogyne sp.) tiene importancia económica potencial en diversos cultivos, en su combate casi siempre se han utilizado diferentes productos de agroquímicos, por lo que se necesita evaluar nuevos productos que sean una mejor alternativa en su manejo y en el cuidado al medio ambiente. En el presente trabajo se evaluó la eficacia biológica de diferentes extractos del quitosano un biopolímero natural con efecto nematicida y regulador de poblaciones de estos fitonematodos y Fluensulfone un nematicida de amplio espectro, el estudio se realizó In vitro, se colectaron muestras de suelo y se extrajeron los nematodos mediante el método de embudo de Baermann, se colocaron en cajas petri en diluciones con 30-35 nematodos por unidad experimental, en donde para su control se utilizó quitosano extraído de langostino de rio y quitosano comercial a diferentes concentraciones (0. 25, 0.50, 0.75), así mismo un nematicida comercial con extracto de quitosano Nematrol Plus , esto comparado con otros nematicidas comerciales Ditera (Myrothecium verrucaria  ),  Nemover  (Extracto  de  pino)  y  Nimitz  (Fluensulfone)  .Se  encontró  que  el  efecto nematicida del quitosano en dosis media (0.50) fue mejor posterior a las 24 horas después de la aplicación con una mortalidad de 95.83 a 100 % de nematodos,  y una eficacia del 100 %, esto comparado con los nematicidas comerciales