Effects of Genetic, Pre- and Post-Harvest Factors on Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Capacity of White Asparagus Spears

The effects of genetic, pre-harvest (season of harvest, spear diameter, spear portion and spear tip color) and post-harvest factors (storage and domestic preparation practices, e.g., peeling and cooking) on total phenolic, flavonoid and ascorbic acid content of white asparagus spears and their correlation with antioxidant capacity (DPPH and FRAP) were studied. Results showed that genetic material was important for the total phenolic content but not season of harvest, spear diameter or storage. Violet spear tips and apical spear portions showed the largest amount of total phenolics. Peeling did not affect total phenolics in fresh asparagus, whereas it reduced their content in stored asparagus, while cooking resulted in an increase in both fresh and stored asparagus. However, the soluble extract of total phenolics and flavonoids were minor and the missing significance of phenolics and flavonoids in antioxidant capacity of white asparagus spears depends on these small amounts

The science-policy interfaces of the European network for observing our changing planet : From Earth Observation data to policy-oriented decisions

This paper reports on major outcomes of the ERA-PLANET (The European network for observing our changing planet) project, which was funded under Horizon 2020 ERA-net co-funding scheme. ERA-PLANET strengthened the European Research Area in the domain of Earth Observation (EO) in coherence with the European partici-pation to Group on Earth Observation and the Copernicus European Union's Earth Observation programme. ERA -PLANET was implemented through four projects focused on smart cities and resilient societies (SMURBS), resource efficiency and environmental management (GEOEssential), global changes and environmental treaties (iGOSP) and polar areas and natural resources (iCUPE). These projects developed specific science-policy workflows and interfaces to address selected environmental policy issues and design cost-effective strategies aiming to achieve targeted objectives. Key Enabling Technologies were implemented to enhancing 'data to knowledge' transition for supporting environmental policy making. Data cube technologies, the Virtual Earth Laboratory, Earth Observation ontologies and Knowledge Platforms were developed and used for such applications.SMURBS brought a substantial contribution to resilient cities and human settlements topics that were adopted by GEO as its 4th engagement priority, bringing the urban resilience topic in the GEO agenda on par with climate change, sustainable development and disaster risk reduction linked to environmental policies. GEOEssential is contributing to the development of Essential Variables (EVs) concept, which is encouraging and should allow the EO community to complete the description of the Earth System with EVs in a close future. This will clearly improve our capacity to address intertwined environmental and development policies as a Nexus.iGOSP supports the implementation of the GEO Flagship on Mercury (GOS4M) and the GEO Initiative on POPs (GOS4POPs) by developing a new integrated approach for global real-time monitoring of environmental quality with respect to air, water and human matrices contamination by toxic substances, like mercury and persistent organic pollutants. iGOSP developed end-user-oriented Knowledge Hubs that provide data repository systems integrated with data management consoles and knowledge information systems.The main outcomes from iCUPE are the novel and comprehensive data sets and a modelling activity that contributed to delivering science-based insights for the Arctic region. Applications enable defining and moni-toring of Arctic Essential Variables and sets up processes towards UN2030 SDGs that include health (SDG 3), clean water resources and sanitation (SDGs 6 and 14).Peer reviewe

Earth observation : An integral part of a smart and sustainable city

Over the course of the 21st century, a century in which the urbanization process of the previous one is ever on the rise, the novel smart city concept has rapidly evolved and now encompasses the broader aspect of sustainability. Concurrently, there has been a sea change in the domain of Earth observation (EO) where scientific and technological breakthroughs are accompanied by a paradigm shift in the provision of open and free data. While the urban and EO communities share the end goal of achieving sustainability, cities still lack an understanding of the value EO can bring in this direction, an next a consolidated framework for tapping the full potential of EO and integrating it in their operational modus operandi. The “SMart URBan Solutions for air quality, disasters and city growth” H2020 project (SMURBS/ERA-PLANET) sits at this scientific and policy crossroad, and, by creating bottom-up EO-driven solutions against an array of environmental urban pressures, and by expanding the network of engaged and exemplary smart cities that push the state-of-the-art in EO uptake, brings the international ongoing discussion of EO for sustainable cities closer to home and contributes in this discussion. This paper advocates for EO as an integral part of a smart and sustainable city and aspires to lead by example. To this end, it documents the project's impacts, ranging from the grander policy fields to an evolving portfolio of smart urban solutions and everyday city operations, as well as the cornerstones for successful EO integration. Drawing a parallel with the utilization of EO in supporting several aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it aspires to be a point of reference for upcoming endeavors of city stakeholders and the EO community alike, to tread together, beyond traditional monitoring or urban planning, and to lay the foundations for urban sustainability.Peer reviewe

Aerosol absorption profiling from the synergy of lidar and sun-photometry : The ACTRIS-2 campaigns in Germany, Greece and Cyprus

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Aerosol absorption profiling is crucial for radiative transfer calculations and climate modelling. Here, we utilize the synergy of lidar with sun-photometer measurements to derive the absorption coefficient and single scattering albedo profiles during the ACTRIS-2 campaigns held in Germany, Greece and Cyprus. The remote sensing techniques are compared with in situ measurements in order to harmonize and validate the different methodologies and reduce the absorption profiling uncertainties.Peer reviewe

Instrusion of stratospheric material into troposphere through beryllium-7 and ozone

In the present dissertation, the usefulness of the cosmogenic radionuclide 7Βe, in combination with ozone, as a tracer for the study of stratosphere to troposphere exchange was investigated. For this reason, all the factors that control the variability of its surface concentrations, under different time scales, were studied. There were three main low-frequency oscillations (> 1 month) revealed in the 7Βe time series, connected with: a) the 11-year cycle of solar activity by the correlation of 7Βe with sunspot number (-0.86) and heliocentric potential (-0.80), with the use of the second variable to explain the 5-months delay of the perturbation of the cosmic rays on 7Βe concentrations, b) the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), with 7Βe and ozone lagging 8 months after the QBO index, and c) the seasonal variability with summer maximum. At the same time, the amplitude modulation of the annual cycle of 7Βe concentrations was revealed and explained with the use of a theoretical model based on the solar activity modulation. Moreover, 7Βe concentrations were correlated with a number of meteorological parameters. A strong positive correlation was found between 7Βe with tropopause height (0.36-0.43) and back-trajectories height (0.49-0.59), while a strong negative correlation with relative humidity was revealed (-0.45 ως -0.56). Additionally, with the use of backtrajectories analysis the source regions of 7Βe were calculated, and a characteristic path of high concentrations (around 8 mBq m-3) was found indicative of the influence of stratospheric intrusions. Finally, the influence of stratospheric intrusions on the 7Βe surface concentrations at the geographical location at Thessaloniki region was investigated, and a case study of a deep stratospheric intrusion over Thessaloniki that left a clear stamp on the surface concentrations of various tracers was thoroughly described.Στην παρούσα διατριβή διερευνήθηκε η χρησιμότητα του κοσμογενετικού ραδϊονουκλιδίου 7Βe, παράλληλα με το όζον, ως ιχνηθέτη για τη μελέτη της διανταλλαγής μεταξύ στρατόσφαιρας και τροπόσφαιρας. Για τον σκοπό αυτό μελετήθηκαν όλοι εκείνοι οι παράγοντες που καθορίζουν την μεταβλητότητα των επιφανειακών του συγκεντρώσεων σε διάφορες χρονικές κλίμακες. Τρεις ήταν οι κύριες περιοδικότητες χαμηλής συχνότητας (> 1 μήνας) στην χρονοσειρά του 7Βe, οι οποίες συσχετίστηκαν με: α) τον 11-ετή κύκλο της έντασης της ηλιακής δραστηριότητας, βάσει του συσχετισμού του 7Βe με τον αριθμό των ηλιακών κηλίδων (-0.86) και το ηλιοκεντρικό δυναμικό (-0.80) με την χρήση της δεύτερης μεταβλητής να αίρει την υστέρηση των 5 μηνών της μεταφοράς της διαταραχής στις συγκεντρώσεις του 7Βe, β) την σχεδόν διετή κύμανση (Quasi-Biennial Oscillation - QBO) με τα 7Βe και όζον να έπονται κατά 8 μήνες του δείκτη της QBO και γ) την εποχιακή διακύμανση των συγκεντρώσεων με μέγιστο τους καλοκαιρινούς μήνες. Παράλληλα, μελετήθηκε το φαινόμενο της διαμόρφωσης του πλάτους του ετήσιου κύκλου του 7Βe και ανεπτύχθη θεωρητικό μοντέλο επεξήγησης του φαινομένου με βάση την μεταβολή της ηλιακής δραστηριότητας. Στη συνέχεια συσχετίστηκαν οι συγκεντρώσεις του 7Βe με μια σειρά μετεωρολογικών παραμέτρων. Ισχυρός θετικός συσχετισμός βρέθηκε μεταξύ του 7Βe με το ύψος της τροπόπαυσης (0.36-0.43) και το ύψος των οπισθοτροχιών (0.49-0.59), ενώ ισχυρός αρνητικός συσχετισμός προέκυψε με την σχετική υγρασία (-0.45 ως -0.56). Επίσης, με την βοήθεια των οπισθοτροχιών υπολογίστηκαν οι πηγές προέλευσης του 7Βe με χαρακτηριστικό τον σχηματισμό οδού διέλευσης υψηλών συγκεντρώσεων 7Βe (περίπου 8 mBq m-3) που αντανακλά την επίδραση των στρατοσφαιρικών διεισδύσεων. Τέλος, διερευνήθηκε η επίδραση των στρατοσφαιρικών διεισδύσεων στις επιφανειακές συγκεντρώσεις του 7Βe στην γεωγραφική περιοχή της Θεσσαλονίκης και δόθηκε με λεπτομέρεια ένα περιστατικό βαθιάς στρατοσφαιρικής διείσδυσης, η οποία από τυπώθηκε στις επιφανειακές συγκεντρώσεις των διαφόρων ιχνηθετών

Effect of Climate Change Projections on Forest Fire Behavior and Values-at-Risk in Southwestern Greece

Climate change has the potential to influence many aspects of wildfire behavior and risk. During the last decade, Greece has experienced large-scale wildfire phenomena with unprecedented fire behavior and impacts. In this study, thousands of wildfire events were simulated with the Minimum Travel Time (MTT) fire growth algorithm (called Randig) and resulted in spatial data that describe conditional burn probabilities, potential fire spread and intensity in Messinia, Greece. Present (1961–1990) and future (2071–2100) climate projections were derived from simulations of the KNMI regional climate model RACMO2, under the SRES A1B emission scenario. Data regarding fuel moisture content, wind speed and direction were modified for the different projection time periods to be used as inputs in Randig. Results were used to assess the vulnerability changes for certain values-at-risk of the natural and human-made environment. Differences in wildfire risk were calculated and results revealed that larger wildfires that resist initial control are to be expected in the future, with higher conditional burn probabilities and intensities for extensive parts of the study area. The degree of change in the modeled Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index for the two time periods also revealed an increasing trend in frequencies of higher values for the future

ERA-PLANET, a European Network for Observing Our Changing Planet

ERA-PLANET is a wide European network comprised of 118 researchers from 35 partner institutions located in 18 countries, aiming to strengthen the European Research Area in the domain of Earth Observation (EO) in coherence with the European participation to the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and the program for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation, COPERNICUS. It will provide more accurate, comprehensive, and authoritative information to policy and decision-makers in key societal benefit areas (SBAs), under the umbrellas of dedicated projects in the topics of: smart cities and resilient societies; resource efficiency and environmental management; global changes and environmental treaties; polar areas and natural resources. ERA-PLANET will provide advanced decision support tools and technologies aimed to better monitor our global environment and share the information and knowledge in different domains of EO by launching joint transnational calls along the above four strands. The concept of the project that tackles with strand 1, as well as an example of a specific application fitting in, are described, aspiring to promote and coordinate the “smart-city” approach into a European network of cities and non-European follower cities, serving the need for a common approach to enhance environmental and societal resilience to air pollution, urban growth, and urban heat islands, as well as other natural/manmade stresses and relevant impacts. This is achieved through the synergy among technology, government, and society, while at the same time creating bridges between local/national initiatives with GEO/GEOSS, COPERNICUS, and other smart cities and GEO relevant projects. The project addresses initiatives in European cities but also specific issues dealing with air quality management in other parts of the world. Finally, it places major emphasis on fully exploiting key-enabling technologies and firmly addressing interoperability issues, in the context of big “smart city” data, and open science

Five Years of Spatially Resolved Ground-Based MAX-DOAS Measurements of Nitrogen Dioxide in the Urban Area of Athens: Synergies with In Situ Measurements and Model Simulations

Long-term nitrogen dioxide (NO2) slant column density measurements using the MAX-DOAS (multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy) technique were analyzed in order to demonstrate the temporal and horizontal variability of the trace gas in Athens for the period October 2012–July 2017. The synergy with in situ measurements and model simulations was exploited for verifying the MAX-DOAS technique and its ability to assess the spatiotemporal characteristics of NO2 pollution in the city. Tropospheric NO2 columns derived from ground-based MAX-DOAS observations in two horizontal and five vertical viewing directions were compared with in situ chemiluminescence measurements representative of urban, urban background and suburban conditions; a satisfactory correlation was found for the urban (r ≈ 0.55) and remote areas (r ≈ 0.40). Mean tropospheric slant columns retrieved from measurements at the lowest elevation over the urban area ranged from 0.1 to 32 × 1016 molec cm−2. The interannual variability showed a rate of increase of 0.3 × 1016 molec cm−2 per year since 2012 in the urban area, leading to a total increase of 20%. The retrieved annual cycles captured the seasonal variability with lower NO2 levels in summer, highly correlated (r ≈ 0.85) with the urban background and suburban in situ observations. The NO2 diurnal variation for different seasons exhibited varied patterns, indicating the different role of photochemistry and anthropogenic activities in the different seasons. Compared to in situ observations, the MAX-DOAS NO2 morning peak occurred with a one-hour delay and decayed less steeply in winter. Measurements at different elevation angles are shown as a primary indicator of the vertical distribution of NO2 at the urban environment; the vertical convection of the polluted air masses and the enhanced NO2 near-surface concentrations are demonstrated by this analysis. The inhomogeneity of the NO2 spatial distribution was shown using a relevant inhomogeneity index; greater variability was found during the summer period. Comparisons with city-scale model simulations demonstrated that the horizontal light path length of MAX-DOAS covered a distance of 15 km. An estimation of urban sources’ contribution was also made by applying two simple methodologies on the MAX-DOAS measurements. The results were compared to NO2 predictions from the high resolution air quality model to infer the importance of vehicle emissions for the urban NO2 levels; 20–35% of the urban NO2 was found to be associated with road transport

Localizing SDG 11.6.2 via Earth Observation, Modelling Applications, and Harmonised City Definitions: Policy Implications on Addressing Air Pollution

While Earth observation (EO) increasingly provides a multitude of solutions to address environmental issues and sustainability from the city to global scale, their operational integration into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework is still falling behind. Within this framework, SDG Indicator 11.6.2 asks countries to report the “annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities (population-weighted)”. The official United Nations (UN) methodology entails aggregation into a single, national level value derived from regulatory air quality monitoring networks, which are non-existent or sparse in many countries. EO, including, but not limited to remote sensing, brings forth novel monitoring methods to estimate SDG Indicator 11.6.2 alongside more traditional ones, and allows for comparability and scalability in the face of varying city definitions and monitoring capacities which impact the validity and usefulness of such an indicator. Pursuing a more harmonised global approach, the H2020 SMURBS/ERA-PLANET project provides two EO-driven approaches to deliver the indicator on a more granular level across Europe. The first approach provides both city and national values for SDG Indicator 11.6.2 through exploiting the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service reanalysis data (0.1° resolution and incorporating in situ and remote sensing data) for PM2.5 values. The SDG Indicator 11.6.2 values are calculated using two objective city definitions—“functional urban area” and “urban centre”—that follow the UN sanctioned Degree of Urbanization concept, and then compared with official indicator values. In the second approach, a high-resolution city-scale chemical transport model ingests satellite-derived data and calculates SDG Indicator 11.6.2 at intra-urban scales. Both novel approaches to calculating SDG Indicator 11.6.2 using EO enable exploration of air pollution hotspots that drive the indicator as well as actual population exposure within cities, which can influence funding allocation and intervention implementation. The approaches are introduced, and their results frame a discussion around interesting policy implications, all with the aim to help move the dial beyond solely reporting on SDGs to designing the pathways to achieve the overarching targets