177 research outputs found
Processing Indices of Change and Extremes from Regional Climate Change Data
Advances in computer hardware have made it possible to calculate indicators of climate change and extremes derived from the daily output of high-resolution regional CC models for Europe could be processed using a desktop server using standard components. Using a combination of conventional hard disks, solid state and RAM disk improved the system performance but configuring the server for the processing task proved to be quite complex.
Indicators of climate change and extremes from regional models coming from the PRUDENCE project of the Danish Meteorological Institute, the consortial simulation of the Climate Limited-area Modelling Community and 12 runs of bias-corrected data from the ENSEMBLES project were processed. The resulting indicators were standardized to a common map projection, grid size and spatial extent to be directly available for further analysis or integration with other spatial data. The indicators were used in the data available from the European Climate Adaptation Platform (CLIMATE-ADAPT), the European Database of Vulnerabilities to Natural Hazards (EVDAB), the JRC activities within the FP7 RESPONSES project and support the evaluation of changes in soil organic carbon under climate scenarios.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen
Global Soil Organic Carbon Estimates and the Harmonized World Soil Database
Global estimates of soil organic carbon stocks have been produced in the past to support the calculation of potential emissions of CO2 from the soil under scenarios of change land use/cover and climatic conditions (IPCC, 2006), but very few global estimates are presented as spatial data. For global spatial layers on soil parameters, the most recent and complete dataset is available as the Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD) (Fisher et al., 2008).The HWSD represents a step forward towards a spatially more detailed and thematically more refined set of global soil data.
During the evaluation of the data for generating estimates of global SOC stocks Version 1.1 of the HWSD revealed also some rough edges. Consequential are the values of bulk density attributed to soils high in organic carbon. In the evaluation the database was completed and suitable substitutions for bulk density for soil high in organic carbon were investigated. For the amended data the global SOC stock to 100cm soil depth is estimated at 1, 417 Pg C, although this estimate very much dependent on the ancillary data used.
The amended HWSD was compared to data from 4 other global data sets on SOC stocks. The comparative evaluation has demonstrated that bulk density is the most important factor for estimating SOC stocks and mainly responsible for the differences between estimates. Moist affected from the variability in bulk density are SOC stocks in areas with soils which are high in organic carbon.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen
Extreme Temperatures and Precipitation in Europe: Analysis of a High-Resolution Climate Change Scenario
Future climate change is generally believed to lead to an increase in climate variability and in the frequency and intensity of extreme events. In this report we analyse the changes in variability and extremes in temperature and precipitation in Europe by the end of this century, based on high-resolution (12 km) simulations of the regional climate model HIRHAM. The results suggest a general trend towards higher temperatures at the end of the 21st century. The magnitude of the changes is, however, not uniform across Europe and varies between seasons. Higher winter temperatures are prevalent in Eastern Europe and in the Alps, while higher summer temperatures mostly affect southern Europe.
Also the changes in temperature variability differ between northern and southern Europe and between seasons. In winter the variability in the mean daily temperature decreases considerably in north-eastern Europe, while in summer there is an increase predominantly in southern Europe. Hot summer days and tropical nights become common in areas where such events were previously rare, e.g. in London and Stockholm. While July remains the hottest month in general, the changes in temperature are larger in August. This is also the month with the largest increase in extreme summer temperatures and the occurrence of heat waves.
The changes in precipitation are very different between southern and northern Europe. In the south, the annual rainfall is generally decreasing, there is a higher risk of longer dry spells, the differences between the years are getting larger, and arid and semi-arid areas are expanding. In northern Europe, on the other hand, the precipitation amounts are generally increasing, particularly in winter. In between is a broad region where, on an annual basis, the changes are fairly small, but where the differences between the seasons are more pronounced: winter and spring are getting wetter, while summer and, to a lesser extent, autumn are getting drier.
On rain days the intensity and variability of the precipitation shows a general increase, even in areas that are getting much drier on average. What is more, the rise in the precipitation extremes tends to be stronger than in the average intensity. Considerably increases in extreme multiday precipitation amounts may be very local, but occur almost everywhere across Europe and in every season, except for summer in southern and western Europe.
These findings support the conclusions of earlier studies that a warmer climate will result in a higher incidence of heat waves, less summer precipitation and at the same time higher rainfall intensities throughout much of Europe.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
Development of a Spatial European Soil Property Data Set
For many applications of modelling environmental conditions or developing scenarios for environmental change analysis soil property data in form of spatial layers are needed. Raster data formats are widely used for the modelling of movements through space and the storage of parameters, which change constantly and without a pattern that could be described by a plain mathematical function. This study into providing spatial soil property layers uses a soil database where the soil properties are stored in tables of generalized combinations of attributes and linked to a spatial layer of delineated mapping units with the aim to investigate the potential of providing a measure of spatial positioning of attributes within spatial mapping units and options of mapping all attributes associated with the mapping unit to a raster layer.
The method developed in the course of the study resulted in a set of spatial data of major soil properties. It also indicates that linking soil morphological data with ancillary spatial information by a multi-criteria analysis could largely improve the mapping of typological soil properties.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
Evaluation of BioSoil Demonstration Project - Preliminary Data Analysis
The BioSoil demonstration Project was initiated under the Forest Focus-Scheme
(Regulation (EC) Nr. 2152/2003) concerning the monitoring of forests and
environmental interactions in the Community, and aimed to broaden the scope of
previous forest monitoring activities (on atmospheric pollution and forest fires) to the
fields of soil characteristics and biodiversity indicators.
The preliminary data analysis concentrated on the evaluation of a selected number of
parameters of the data submitted by NFCs and sampling procedures. For soil the
parameters needed to establish soil organic carbon densities were analysed. The spatial
consistency of data reported between NFCs was found to vary significantly between
sources also for assumed constant parameters (volume of coarse fragments). The
temporal stability and changes in variable parameters were assessed using data from the
previous soil condition survey on Level I sites. A particular problem in sampling and
reporting data was the separation of the organic layer from the soil material, which was
approached differently by the NFCs. No clear trend in the development of soil organic
carbon over the previous survey was found.
The analysis of data on biodiversity concentrated on the consistency and completeness
of the parameters reported. Plot characteristics were mapped and species diversity was
established based on commonly used indices expressing the richness and distribution of
species present on a site. Relationships between forest type and species diversity were
explored. Regional differences in identifying and reporting species between sites
became evident during the analysis.
The evaluation of both modules concluded that the manuals detailing sampling and
analysis of the data collected need to be up-dated with a clear and unambiguous
description of procedures to follow and inconsistencies removed.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
Evaluation of BioSoil Demonstration Project - Soil Data Analysis
The BioSoil demonstration Project was initiated under the Forest Focus-Scheme (Regulation (EC) Nr. 2152/2003) concerning the monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community, and aimed to broaden the scope of previous forest monitoring activities (on atmospheric pollution and forest fires) to the fields of soil characteristics and biodiversity indicators.
The evaluation of the project concentrated on analysing a selected number of parameters submitted by NFCs for estimating the distribution and changes in soil organic carbon and the performance of the WRB classification. The spatial consistency of data reported between NFCs was found to vary significantly between sources, such as the presence of an organic layer on the over soil. The temporal stability and changes in variable parameters were assessed using data from the previous soil condition survey on Forest Focus / ICP Forests Level I sites. No clear general trend in the development of soil organic carbon over the previous survey was found, but some local changes. The results provided by the Central Laboratory suggest that some methodological differences in assessing the organic carbon content of the organic layers exist between the FSCC / ICP Forests and the BioSoil survey. Those differences limit the scope of a change analysis.
A particular problem in sampling and reporting data was the separation of the organic layer from the soil material, which was approached differently by the NFCs. The evaluation also concluded that the specifications provided in the Manual detailing sampling and analysis of the data collected need to be up-dated with a clear and unambiguous description of procedures to follow and making the reporting on key soil parameters a mandatory task.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
Data Update and Model Revision for Soil Profile Analytical Database of Europe of Measured Parameters (SPADE/M2)
The Soil Profile Analytical Database of Europe of Measured parameters (SPADE/M) is part of the distribution package of the Soil Geographic Database of Eurasia (SGDBE). Typical combinations of profile parameters and morphological characteristics of the sample site were intended to support the definition of generalized rules for estimating pedological and hydrological properties of the pedo-transfer rule (PTR) database of the SGDBE. In 2005 the data of the SGDBE were transferred to a common data storage structure. In 2008 original hard-copies on profile measurements were re-discovered at the National Soil Resources Institute, Cranfield University (NSRI). To make the original data more generally available the profiles were added to the existing database. This step required changes to the structure of the database and a validation of the all entries for accurate and reliable data storage and retrieval.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
Current Estimates of Soil Organic Carbon Stocks Are Not Four to Six Times Underestimated. Comment on "Non-Flat Earth Recalibrated for Terrain and Topsoil. Soil Syst. 2018, 2, 64"
In the interesting paper "Non-Flat Earth Recalibrated for Terrain and Topsoil" published in Soil Systems [...
EFSA Spatial Data Version 1.1: Data Properties and Processing
In the context of the submissions of exposure estimates of pesticides in the soil and according to regulation (EC) 1107/2009 a set of spatial data pertinent to evaluating the environmental fate and behaviour of pesticides in the soil was published in 2011 as support to the FATE and the ECOREGION EFSA PPR Working Groups.
After the first EFSA Spatial Data set was made available in 2011 users commented on inconsistencies in the data, mainly with respect to the spatial characteristics of various layers. The JRC found that the problem was more complex than just a geographic misalignment of layers and concluded that to fully address the problem all data layers needed to be reprocessed from their respective sources and recompiled to comply with the specifications. This task was performed by the JRC, which resulted in an update to the previous data referred to as EFSA Spatial Data Version 1.1.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen
Extending Geographic and Thematic Range of SPADE/M with HYPRES Soil Profile Data
The measured soil profile data of the Hydraulic Properties of European Soils (HYPRES) were evaluated for their potential use in extending the geographic coverage and thematic range of the profiles of the Soil Profile Analytical Database of Europe of measured profiles (SPADE/M) database. The aim of increasing the number of measured profiles is to improve the definition of pedo-transfer rules (PTRs) to extend the range of parameters characterizing soils and the validation of model runs.
The HYPRES and SPADE/M databases follow different concepts in the compilation of soil profiles. These differences were reflected in the organization of storing profile data in the databases. A specific conceptual problem to extending the SPADE/M data set is posed by recording repeated measurements in the HYPRES database for horizons of a profile and multiple profiles for a plot. The two data sets also differ with respect to the properties recorded, the measurement units and the database model.
To increase the number of measured soil profile data of the SPADE/M data set with HYPRES profiles the data from the latter has to be standardized to be adjusted to comply with the specifications of the SPADE/M data set. The standardization process involves conversions of units or reference systems, such as the plot co-ordinate transformation or the extraction of properties from comment fields, but also conceptual adaptations of the method used to characterize a soil horizon in the database. The outcome of the standardization process is a series of soil profiles which can be seamlessly added to the SPADE/M data set.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
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