20 research outputs found
Monitoring and moderating extreme indoor temperatures in low-income urban communities
Climate change presents significant threats to human health, especially for low-income urban
communities in the Global South. Despite numerous studies of heat stress, surprisingly little is
known about the temperatures actually encountered by people in their homes, or the benefits of
affordable adaptations. This paper examines indoor air temperature measurements gathered from
47 living rooms within eight low-income communities of Accra and Tamale, Ghana. Using
multiple temperature indices and a tiered analysis, we evaluate indoor temperature variations
linked to roof type, ceiling insulation, presence of fans, and tree shade, for different housing types
and locations. Our data reveal indoor temperatures in the range 22.4 ◦C to 45.9 ◦C for Accra, and
22.2 ◦C to 43.0 ◦C in Tamale. Using dummy regression analysis, we find that tree shade reduces the
number of very hot days (>40 ◦C) and nights (>30 ◦C) by about 12 and 15 d per year, respectively.
Building materials also strongly moderate indoor temperatures but in opposing ways: rooms with
traditional mud walls and thatch roofs are on average 4.5 ◦C cooler than rooms in concrete block
houses with uninsulated metal roofs during the day but are 1.5 ◦C warmer at night; rooms with
ceiling insulation are on average 6.9 ◦C cooler in the day but 1.4 ◦C warmer at night. We conclude
that sub-daily data are necessary for reporting extreme indoor temperatures, and that trade-offs
between minimum and maximum temperatures require interventions to be assessed carefully
before attempting to counter extreme heat inside homes
Modeling the Subsurface Structure of Sunspots
While sunspots are easily observed at the solar surface, determining their
subsurface structure is not trivial. There are two main hypotheses for the
subsurface structure of sunspots: the monolithic model and the cluster model.
Local helioseismology is the only means by which we can investigate
subphotospheric structure. However, as current linear inversion techniques do
not yet allow helioseismology to probe the internal structure with sufficient
confidence to distinguish between the monolith and cluster models, the
development of physically realistic sunspot models are a priority for
helioseismologists. This is because they are not only important indicators of
the variety of physical effects that may influence helioseismic inferences in
active regions, but they also enable detailed assessments of the validity of
helioseismic interpretations through numerical forward modeling. In this paper,
we provide a critical review of the existing sunspot models and an overview of
numerical methods employed to model wave propagation through model sunspots. We
then carry out an helioseismic analysis of the sunspot in Active Region 9787
and address the serious inconsistencies uncovered by
\citeauthor{gizonetal2009}~(\citeyear{gizonetal2009,gizonetal2009a}). We find
that this sunspot is most probably associated with a shallow, positive
wave-speed perturbation (unlike the traditional two-layer model) and that
travel-time measurements are consistent with a horizontal outflow in the
surrounding moat.Comment: 73 pages, 19 figures, accepted by Solar Physic
Advances in Global and Local Helioseismology: an Introductory Review
Helioseismology studies the structure and dynamics of the Sun's interior by
observing oscillations on the surface. These studies provide information about
the physical processes that control the evolution and magnetic activity of the
Sun. In recent years, helioseismology has made substantial progress towards the
understanding of the physics of solar oscillations and the physical processes
inside the Sun, thanks to observational, theoretical and modeling efforts. In
addition to the global seismology of the Sun based on measurements of global
oscillation modes, a new field of local helioseismology, which studies
oscillation travel times and local frequency shifts, has been developed. It is
capable of providing 3D images of the subsurface structures and flows. The
basic principles, recent advances and perspectives of global and local
helioseismology are reviewed in this article.Comment: 86 pages, 46 figures; "Pulsation of the Sun and Stars", Lecture Notes
in Physics, Vol. 832, Rozelot, Jean-Pierre; Neiner, Coralie (Eds.), 201
Local Helioseismology of Sunspots: Current Status and Perspectives (Invited Review)
Mechanisms of the formation and stability of sunspots are among the
longest-standing and intriguing puzzles of solar physics and astrophysics.
Sunspots are controlled by subsurface dynamics hidden from direct observations.
Recently, substantial progress in our understanding of the physics of the
turbulent magnetized plasma in strong-field regions has been made by using
numerical simulations and local helioseismology. Both the simulations and
helioseismic measurements are extremely challenging, but it becomes clear that
the key to understanding the enigma of sunspots is a synergy between models and
observations. Recent observations and radiative MHD numerical models have
provided a convincing explanation to the Evershed flows in sunspot penumbrae.
Also, they lead to the understanding of sunspots as self-organized magnetic
structures in the turbulent plasma of the upper convection zone, which are
maintained by a large-scale dynamics. Local helioseismic diagnostics of
sunspots still have many uncertainties, some of which are discussed in this
review. However, there have been significant achievements in resolving these
uncertainties, verifying the basic results by new high-resolution observations,
testing the helioseismic techniques by numerical simulations, and comparing
results obtained by different methods. For instance, a recent analysis of
helioseismology data from the Hinode space mission has successfully resolved
several uncertainties and concerns (such as the inclined-field and phase-speed
filtering effects) that might affect the inferences of the subsurface
wave-speed structure of sunspots and the flow pattern. It becomes clear that
for the understanding of the phenomenon of sunspots it is important to further
improve the helioseismology methods and investigate the whole life cycle of
active regions, from magnetic-flux emergence to dissipation.Comment: 34 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Solar Physic
Reterritorialising rural handicrafts in Thailand and Vietnam: a view from the margins of the miracle.
This paper explores the changing role and place of handicrafts in contemporary rural development processes. Building on fieldwork conducted in four settlements in northern Thailand and Vietnam, we discuss how a traditional sector is being reshaped under the forces of globalisation and what this means for the character of rural livelihoods. This empirical analysis permits us to reflect on wider areas of debate within development and economic geography. By examining the spatialities of production, we explore how the ‘place’ of handicrafts in the settlements is being reshaped. We show how, although handicraft production retains an image of being part of a traditional sector built around local skills and inputs, in reality the activities have become deterritorialised and are increasingly spatially dispersed. Nonetheless, handicraft production remains economically and socially embedded and is helping to sustain village economies both in situ and in distant locations. </jats:p
Faecal contamination of informal agri-food systems in low- and middle-income countries
A conference contribution for the 1st Water-WISER Early Career Researcher Conference, Transdisciplinary Global Perspectives on Water and Waste Services, held at Loughborough University 21 - 23 June 2022. </p
The World Development Report 2009 'reshapes economic geography': geographical reflections
No abstract available
Monitoring and moderating extreme indoor temperatures in low-income urban communities
Climate change presents significant threats to human health, especially for low-income urban
communities in the Global South. Despite numerous studies of heat stress, surprisingly little is
known about the temperatures actually encountered by people in their homes, or the benefits of
affordable adaptations. This paper examines indoor air temperature measurements gathered from
47 living rooms within eight low-income communities of Accra and Tamale, Ghana. Using
multiple temperature indices and a tiered analysis, we evaluate indoor temperature variations
linked to roof type, ceiling insulation, presence of fans, and tree shade, for different housing types
and locations. Our data reveal indoor temperatures in the range 22.4 ◦C to 45.9 ◦C for Accra, and
22.2 ◦C to 43.0 ◦C in Tamale. Using dummy regression analysis, we find that tree shade reduces the
number of very hot days (>40 ◦C) and nights (>30 ◦C) by about 12 and 15 d per year, respectively.
Building materials also strongly moderate indoor temperatures but in opposing ways: rooms with
traditional mud walls and thatch roofs are on average 4.5 ◦C cooler than rooms in concrete block
houses with uninsulated metal roofs during the day but are 1.5 ◦C warmer at night; rooms with
ceiling insulation are on average 6.9 ◦C cooler in the day but 1.4 ◦C warmer at night. We conclude
that sub-daily data are necessary for reporting extreme indoor temperatures, and that trade-offs
between minimum and maximum temperatures require interventions to be assessed carefully
before attempting to counter extreme heat inside homes