A tool to select offshore renewable energy facilities. The case of study of shipyards and ports in Spain

[Abstract]: The objective of this work is to create a tool that serves to know the possibilities of manufacturing, storage, assembly, and maintenance of floating marine structures trying to take advantage of the ports and shipyards of Spain. This would help reduce costs and could make this type of energy more profitable. To this end, all the Spanish ports and shipyards have been analyzed, considering the characteristics and possibilities of each of them. In the study, those that did not meet certain essential conditions for the manufacture, storage, assembly, and maintenance of power generation equipment have been discarded.Ministerio de Ciencia e Investigación; /10.13039/50110001103

Radar Measurements of High-Latitude Ion Composition between 140 and 300 km Altitude

The Chatanika radar has been used to measure the ratio of atomic (O+) ions to molecular (O2 +, NO+) ions in the high-latitude ionosphere. The radar results agreed well with simultaneous in situ rocket data, giving confidence in the radar method of deducing ion composition. Measurements made over long periods of time show seasonal variations, diurnal variations, and variations due to auroral processes. The transition altitude, where the number densities of atomic and molecular ions are equal, is a convenient parameter for describing the composition variation with altitude or ‘composition altitude profile.’ The transition altitude occurs at ∼190 km at night and ∼170 km during the day, in agreement with midlatitude results. During the winter the daytime transition altitude is 15 km lower than in summer, a seasonal variation similar to that at midlatitudes. Energetic particle precipitation results in the lowering of the transition altitude, by 10 km in one case when energetic particles deposited ∼20 ergs/cm² s in the atmosphere. The largest variations in ion composition were found during periods of large joule heat input resulting from electric fields on the order of 50 mV/m. The transition altitude increased by 50 km in a case where the joule heat input rate was 30 ergs/cm² s. These observations were compared to calculations from a simple steady state model involving the principal consituents and reactions. The results indicate that the transition altitude during particle precipitation is most influenced by the increased ion production. There do not appear to be significant effects from possible increases of N2 vibrational temperature. A number of interrelated effects contribute to the increase in transition altitude during joule heating. The most important effect is the electric field contribution in raising the effective ion temperature. In addition, it appears that increased N2 density is also required to account for the observed change

Reconversion of the shipbuilding sector: from production by project to mass production. What is its effect on the LCOE of a wave energy farm?

[Abstract]: The objective of this work has been to analyze the variation of different economic parameters (Levelized Cost Of Energy and Internal Rate of Return) for two possible ways of manufacturing: production by project to mass production. For this, 6 possible scenarios have been considered, taking into account the number of equipment manufactured and the economic parameters have been calculated in order to know which alternative provides greater economic viability, thus making the project more profitable.Ministerio de Ciencia e Investigación; /10.13039/50110001103

The CDPP data base: a tool for the EISCAT community

International audienceThe CDPP (Centre de Données de la Physique des Plasmas – http://cdpp.cesr.fr) is a data centre serving the space plasma physics community. Its primary purpose is to preserve data relevant to the physics of naturally occurring plasmas, especially data from experiments which are either French or have strong French participation; the CDPP both renders this data accessible, and facilitates its exploitation. The datasets available at CDPP include data from space missions since 1978 and from EISCAT KST observations since 1984, and ESR observations as well. We will overview the status of the archive, including the EISCAT data archived in the Grenoble EISCAT database (http://www-eiscat.ujf-grenoble.fr), which is associated to the CDPP. Recently new tools were developed: they include a coordinate transformation library for Solar-Terrestrial studies and Custom-made plots, a new feature that allows the user to plot data that he has ordered. We will show how the EISCAT community could gain a large benefit in using the facilities provided by CDPP

The occurrence of myxomycetes from a lowland montane forest and agricultural plantations of Negros Occidental, Western Visayas, Philippines

Higher floral and faunal biodiversity is expected in multi-species-covered mountainous forests than in mono-typic agricultural plantations. To verify this supposition for cryptogamic species like the plasmodial slime molds, a rapid field survey was conducted for myxomycetes and substrates in forest floor litter and agricultural plantation were collected in Negros Occidental, Philippines. Morphological characterization identified a total of 28 species belonging to the genera Arcyria, Ceratiomyxa, Collaria, Comatricha, Craterium, Cribraria, Diderma, Didymium, Hemitrichia, Lamproderma, Physarum, Stemonitis, Trichia and Tubifera. The myxomycete species Arcyria cinerea was the only abundant species found both in the agricultural and forested areas. The majority of collected species were rarely occurring. In terms of species composition, more myxomycetes were recorded in the mountainous forest (27) compared to agricultural sites. Furthermore, aerial leaf litter collected in the forests had the highest number of records for fruiting bodies but in terms of species diversity, twigs yielded higher value based on Shannon index. Findings in this study verify that a habitat with more heterogenous plant communities yields higher species of myxomycete assemblages. This research is the first study to report myxomycetes from Negros Occidental

MITHRAS: a Brief Description

Between May 1981 and June 1982 an intensive campaign of 33 coordinated observations was carried out using the three incoherent-scatter radars capable of probing the auroral zone. During this period the groups operating the Dynamic Explorer satellites and the STARE radar made special efforts to acquire data coincident with the radar observations. The objective of these MITHRAS experiments and subsequent analysis is to further our understanding of the interactions of the magnetosphere, the ionosphere, and the thermosphere, with special emphasis on local time/universal time variations. Three experimental modes with different time resolution and spatial coverage were used to examine different aspects of these interactions. The analysis of the extensive data set involves collaboration among groups of experimenters as well as between experimenters and theoreticians