Chapter “Flex 2018” Cruise: an opportunity to assess phytoplankton chlorophyll fluorescence retrieval at different observative scales

The “FLEX 2018” cruise, organized by the CNR-ISMAR in frame of the ESA “FLEXSense Campaign 2018” and CMEMS project, provided a ground station for several bio-optical instruments that investigated the coastal waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea in June 2018. The field measurements were performed in time synergy with Sentinel 3A and Sentinel 3B satellites and HyPlant airborne imaging spectrometer. Active and passive fluorescence were investigated at different scales in coastal waters to support preparatory activities of the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) satellite mission

Opportunità di certificazione di qualità sul pescato: il caso studio della pesca in Toscana.

Il settore della pesca in Toscana ha vissuto delle profonde trasformazioni nel corso dell’ultimo trentennio. Il calo numerico delle imbarcazioni appartenenti alle categorie della piccola e grande pesca è stato accompagnato dalla riduzione del numero degli addetti nel settore. Questi fattori in concomitanza con la crescita delle importazioni di prodotto ittico proveniente dagli stati esteri, l’incremento delle produzioni derivanti dall’acquacoltura e l’evoluzione delle norme riguardanti la filiera della pesca stanno contribuendo al declino delle realtà di pesca locali che rischieranno sempre più di occupare un ruolo marginale nel futuro delle produzioni ittiche. Le cooperative di pesca e le organizzazioni dei produttori hanno tentato di arginare questo fenomeno attraverso iniziative mirate a rilanciare i prodotti locali, tra cui il marchio di qualità “Pescato Costa Toscana” con l’obiettivo di creare una certificazione capace di promuovere i prodotti ittici e rilanciare la pesca locale. Con lo scopo di analizzare le opportunità di certificazione di qualità sul pescato toscano abbiamo descritto il quadro generale ed economico del settore ittico internazionale, italiano e locale, ripercorrendo i punti salienti nell’evoluzione normativa delle certificazioni attraverso la loro importanza nei rapporti tra gli stakeholder. In un secondo momento abbiamo analizzato la struttura del marchio di qualità “Pescato Costa Toscana” e abbiamo intrapreso un’indagine sul campo coinvolgendo gli armatori delle barche, gli operatori ed i presidenti delle cooperative, così da poter individuare le principali criticità del settore ittico toscano e l’opportunità di un marchio di qualità del prodotto. Attraverso i risultati ottenuti nel corso della nostra analisi abbiamo potuto evidenziare alcune criticità della pesca in Toscana come l’inefficienza del fermo pesca, le difficoltà nei rapporti con le amministrazioni da parte dei pescatori e la mancanza di collaborazione tra gli attori della filiera per la creazione di una certificazione di qualità. Per concludere abbiamo discusso i risultati ottenuti confrontandoli con quelli derivanti da altri studi ed iniziative di certificazione di qualità del pescato in altre zone di pesca italiane

Empirical insights on the use of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence to estimate short-term changes in crop transpiration under controlled water limitation

Knowledge of actual crop transpiration (T) is important for advanced crop management but challenging to obtain due to the large spatial and temporal variation of T. Remote sensing offers various possibilities to assess T dynamics, while particularly sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has been demonstrated as a sensitive empirical proxy for T. Despite this success, the advancement of the mechanistic understanding of how SIF relates to T dynamics is key for the future development and implementation of robust and reliable SIF-based T products. This study aims to contribute insights by experimentally assessing the sensitivity of several SIF-based T estimation strategies for evolving soil water limitation. We investigated extensive in situ and airborne data acquired during a water limitation experiment in a maize canopy in northern Italy. We evaluated five empirical strategies to integrate SIF in a T modelling framework based on the Penman-Monteith (PM) and the Ball-Berry-Leuning (BBL) concepts. Our results indicate that replacing model parameters sensitive to canopy conductance with SIF results in the best agreement between modelled and measured T under evolving water limitation. Our study contributes expanding existing knowledge with empirical insights on the sensitivity of SIF based T approaches under increasing soil water limitation at short time scales

Detection of endocrine disrupting chemicals and evidence of their effects on the HPG axis of the European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus

Natural/synthetic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) may display estrogenic activity and a lower potency than 17β-estradiol. Nonetheless, their concentrations and additive effects can affect the endocrine system and reproductive processes related to the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axis. Because of their persistence in both the environment and biological systems, they ultimately target multi-level predators, including humans. We detected presence and effects of xenobiotics on wild anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus in the Western Adriatic Sea. Twenty-one PCBs and five organochlorines were detected on the order of ng g(-1); vitellogenin, vitellogenin receptor and genes encoding for the zona radiata proteins were evaluated in gonad and/or liver and found transcribed in male specimens; in addition, intersex was histologically identified in the 13% of testis. Our results have developed the understanding of the European anchovy's reproductive toxicological risk and our approach could assist the comprehension of the complex dynamics of commercially relevant Teleost species

“Flex 2018” Cruise: an opportunity to assess phytoplankton chlorophyll fluorescence retrieval at different observative scales

In frame of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) “FLEXSense Campaign 2018” and the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) project, the Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) organized the oceanographic cruise “FLEX 2018”. The CNR research vessel “Dallaporta” provided a ground station for several bio-optical instruments to investigate the coastal waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea (central Italy) in June 2018. The field measurements were performed in time synchrony with spaceborne (i.e. Sentinel 3A and Sentinel 3B satellites) and airborne (i.e. HyPlant airborne imaging spectrometer) observations, with the intent to contribute to calibration/validation activities for existing and future space mission developments. Particularly, active and passive fluorescence were investigated at different scales in aquatic ecosystems, to support preparatory activities of the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) satellite mission to be launched in 2022. Results provide new insight on the sensitivity of Solar Induced Fluorescence (SIF) retrievals for atmospheric disturbances and other scale related aspects, and will eventually facilitate the implementation of robust retrieval schemes for the FLEX mission products. In addition, active fluorescence signals acquired from a LIDAR fluorosensor show a good agreement with SIF pattern retrieved by HyPlant and Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI). Our results demonstrate that the combination of active and passive fluorescence, together with the synergistic measurements from integrated platforms, is a promising approach to support the retrieval and interpretation of SIF in aquatic environments

A Novel Hyperspectral Method to Detect Moldy Core in Apple Fruits

An innovative low-cost device based on hyperspectral spectroscopy in the near infrared (NIR) spectral region is proposed for the non-invasive detection of moldy core (MC) in apples. The system, based on light collection by an integrating sphere, was tested on 70 apples cultivar (cv) Golden Delicious infected by Alternaria alternata, one of the main pathogens responsible for MC disease. Apples were sampled in vertical and horizontal positions during five measurement rounds in 13 days’ time, and 700 spectral signatures were collected. Spectral correlation together with transmittance temporal patterns and ANOVA showed that the spectral region from 863.38 to 877.69 nm was most linked to MC presence. Then, two binary classification models based on Artificial Neural Network Pattern Recognition (ANN-AP) and Bagging Classifier (BC) with decision trees were developed, revealing a better detection capability by ANN-AP, especially in the early stage of infection, where the predictive accuracy was 100% at round 1 and 97.15% at round 2. In subsequent rounds, the classification results were similar in ANN-AP and BC models. The system proposed surpassed previous MC detection methods, needing only one measurement per fruit, while further research is needed to extend it to different cultivars or fruits

Chapter “Flex 2018” Cruise: an opportunity to assess phytoplankton chlorophyll fluorescence retrieval at different observative scales

The “FLEX 2018” cruise, organized by the CNR-ISMAR in frame of the ESA “FLEXSense Campaign 2018” and CMEMS project, provided a ground station for several bio-optical instruments that investigated the coastal waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea in June 2018. The field measurements were performed in time synergy with Sentinel 3A and Sentinel 3B satellites and HyPlant airborne imaging spectrometer. Active and passive fluorescence were investigated at different scales in coastal waters to support preparatory activities of the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) satellite mission

Hybrid cancellation of ripple disturbances arising in AC/DC converters

In AC/DC converters, a peculiar periodic nonsmooth waveform arises, the so-called ripple. In this paper we propose a novel model that captures this nonsmoothness by means of a hybrid dynamical system performing state jumps at certain switching instants, and we illustrate its properties with reference to a three phase diode bridge rectifier. As the ripple corrupts an underlying desirable signal, we propound two observer schemes ensuring asymptotic estimation of the ripple, the first with and the second without knowledge of the switching instants. Our theoretical developments are well placed in the context of recent techniques for hybrid regulation and constitute a contribution especially for our second observer, where the switching instants are estimated. Once asymptotic estimation of the ripple is achieved, the ripple can be conveniently canceled from the desirable signal, and thanks to the inherent robustness properties of the proposed hybrid formulation, the two observer schemes require only that the desirable signal is slowly time varying compared to the ripple. Exploiting this fact, we illustrate the effectiveness of our second hybrid observation law on experimental data collected from the Joint European Torus tokamak