EARLINET evaluation of the CATS Level 2 aerosol backscatter coefficient product

We present the evaluation activity of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) for the quantitative assessment of the Level 2 aerosol backscatter coefficient product derived by the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) aboard the International Space Station (ISS; Rodier et al., 2015). The study employs correlative CATS and EARLINET backscatter measurements within a 50¿km distance between the ground station and the ISS overpass and as close in time as possible, typically with the starting time or stopping time of the EARLINET performed measurement time window within 90¿min of the ISS overpass, for the period from February 2015 to September 2016. The results demonstrate the good agreement of the CATS Level 2 backscatter coefficient and EARLINET. Three ISS overpasses close to the EARLINET stations of Leipzig, Germany; Évora, Portugal; and Dushanbe, Tajikistan, are analyzed here to demonstrate the performance of the CATS lidar system under different conditions. The results show that under cloud-free, relative homogeneous aerosol conditions, CATS is in good agreement with EARLINET, independent of daytime and nighttime conditions. CATS low negative biases are observed, partially attributed to the deficiency of lidar systems to detect tenuous aerosol layers of backscatter signal below the minimum detection thresholds; these are biases which may lead to systematic deviations and slight underestimations of the total aerosol optical depth (AOD) in climate studies. In addition, CATS misclassification of aerosol layers as clouds, and vice versa, in cases of coexistent and/or adjacent aerosol and cloud features, occasionally leads to non-representative, unrealistic, and cloud-contaminated aerosol profiles. Regarding solar illumination conditions, low negative biases in CATS backscatter coefficient profiles, of the order of 6.1¿%, indicate the good nighttime performance of CATS. During daytime, a reduced signal-to-noise ratio by solar background illumination prevents retrievals of weakly scattering atmospheric layers that would otherwise be detectable during nighttime, leading to higher negative biases, of the order of 22.3¿%.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Earlinet validation of CATS L2 product

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) onboard the International Space Station (ISS), is a lidar system providing vertically resolved aerosol and cloud profiles since February 2015. In this study, the CATS aerosol product is validated against the aerosol profiles provided by the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). This validation activity is based on collocated CATS-EARLINET measurements and the comparison of the particle backscatter coefficient at 1064nm.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Feelings or cognitions? Moral cognitions and emotions as longitudinal predictors of prosocial and aggressive behaviors

There is debate regarding the roles of sociomoral cognitions and emotions in understanding moral development. The short-term longitudinal relations among perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors and aggression in adolescents were examined. Participants were 489 students (M age = 12.28 years, SD = .48; 232 boys) in public and private schools from predominantly middle class families in Valencia, Spain. Students completed measures of perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors, and aggressive behaviors. Overall, structural equation modeling analyses showed that moral reasoning and emotions were interrelated and predicted both prosocial behaviors and aggression. Discussion focuses on the relevance of both social cognitions and emotions in moral development

The Longitudinal Relations Among Dimensions of Parenting Styles, Sympathy, Prosocial Moral Reasoning and Prosocial Behaviors

Developmental scholars assert that parents are important in fostering prosocial behaviors in adolescents, but longitudinal investigations on this topic are limited. Participants consisted of 372 boys and 358 girls with a mean age of 10.84 years (SD = 1.57) at Wave 1 from a mostly middle class community in Spain. Across three successive years, participants completed measures of fathers' and mothers' warmth and strict control, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and self- and peer-reported prosocial behaviors. Results showed that parental warmth, sympathy, and prosocial moral reasoning were predictive of prosocial behaviors. Further analyses showed bidirectional effects such that early prosocial behaviors predicted later parenting and adolescents' prosociality. Findings lend support to cognitive-developmental and moral internalization models of prosocial development. Keywords: moral reasoning, parenting, prosocial behaviors, sympath

Vella pseudocytisus subsp. orcensis (Brassicaceae), una nueva subespecie en el sureste peninsular ibérico

Vella es un ge´nero de Brasica´ceas len~osas, ende´mico ibero-magrebi´ (Espan~a, Marruecos, Argelia), con una historia taxono´mica controvertida. El nu´mero de especies de Vella ha oscilado entre seis y ocho desde su primera descripcio´n por Linneo hasta nuestros di´as. Esta variacio´n es debida a los distintos criterios morfolo´gicos y moleculares de diversos autores a la hora de incluir en el ge´nero, o de excluir de e´l, a los dos ge´neros monoti´picos de la subtribu Vellinae ma´s estrechamente emparentados con Vella: Boleum y Euzomodendron (Go´mez-Campo, 1981; Warwick & Al-Shehbaz, 1998; Crespo et al., 2000). Los estudios filogene´ticos ma´s recientes, con un muestreo taxono´mico completo de Vella, apoyan la inclusio´n tanto de Boleum asperum (V. aspera) como de Euzomodendron bourgeanum (V. bourgeana) dentro de Vella, y apuntan a un parentesco particularmente cercano entre V. aspera y V. pseudocytisus (Crespo et al., 2000)

Drone Measurements of Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Acquired with a Low-Weight DFOV Spectrometer System

Solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) emitted from plant canopies is now retrievable from space. In addition, SIF is now also routinely measured from fixed tower platforms. However there is a scale gap between temporally continuous tower measurements and spatially coarse satellite retrievals that is now being bridged by drone technology. Drone retrievals of SIF can be used to help unravel the structural and species component dependencies that occur across space on the scale of meters in heterogeneous vegetation types. Also when flown at sufficient altitude, drones can be used to simulate, and potentially validate satellite retrievals of SIF. We flew a dual field of view spectrometer system, the Piccolo doppio, above a boreal forest with the aim of retrieving SIF. Our flights were designed to assess both spatial heterogeneity of SIF driven by changes in vegetation cover type and to simulate satellite pixels by flying at a relatively high altitude.Peer reviewe

Onset of photosynthesis in spring speeds up monoterpene synthesis and leads to emission bursts

Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) by boreal evergreen trees have strong seasonality, with low emission rates during photosynthetically inactive winter and increasing rates towards summer. Yet, the regulation of this seasonality remains unclear. We measured in situ monoterpene emissions from Scots pine shoots during several spring periods and analysed their dynamics in connection with the spring recovery of photosynthesis. We found high emission peaks caused by enhanced monoterpene synthesis consistently during every spring period (monoterpene emission bursts, MEB). The timing of the MEBs varied relatively little between the spring periods. The timing of the MEBs showed good agreement with the photosynthetic spring recovery, which was studied with simultaneous measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence, CO2 exchange and a simple, temperature history-based proxy for state of photosynthetic acclimation, S. We conclude that the MEBs were related to the early stages of photosynthetic recovery, when the efficiency of photosynthetic carbon reactions is still low whereas the light harvesting machinery actively absorbs light energy. This suggests that the MEBs may serve a protective functional role for the foliage during this critical transitory state and that these high emission peaks may contribute to atmospheric chemistry in the boreal forest in springtime. Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) by boreal evergreen trees have strong seasonality. We measured high emission peaks from Scots pine shoots caused by enhanced monoterpene synthesis taking place simultaneously with the photosynthetic spring recovery. We conclude that the increased emissions were related to the photosynthetic recovery, when the efficiency of photosynthetic carbon reactions is low whereas the light harvesting machinery actively absorbs light energy. Increased emissions may serve a protective functional role for the foliage during the transitory state, and these high emission peaks may contribute to atmospheric chemistry in the boreal forest in springtime.Peer reviewe

Upscaling of solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence from leaf to canopy using the DART model and a realistic 3D forest scene

Non peer reviewe