Planning procedures towards high climatic quality cities. Example referring to Lisbon

The different stages of research on high climatic quality city are presented in this paper: acquisition of appropriate urban climate information, analysis of different urban climate features and selection of planning strategies (accordingly with the climate zone). Then, with the aid of a GIS, systematic guidelines for planning can be given. As a result, different types of benefits for city dwellers are to be expected (comfort, health, economic). Lisbon is presented as a case study. It is shown how the “translation” of the knowledge of Lisbon’s urban climate into simple guidelines for urban planning in order to mitigate the urban heat island, promote ventilation and increase air quality, was carried out. To this end, maps of the physical features of the city of Lisbon were drawn, synthesised into “urban homogeneous units” map. Climate guidelines are specified for each of the six groups of units (brought together according to urban morphology, topography and position in town

Homage to Anne Buttimer, Winner of the Vautrin-Lud International Prize for Geography, 2014

Anne Buttimer has received the Vautrin-Lud International Prize for Geography in 2014. This prize, often known as the ‘Nobel Prize of Geography’, was awarded during the 25th International Festival of Geography that was held, as every year, at Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in Eastern France. The prizewinner was selected unanimously by the Vautrin-Lud jury, whose members acted on the advice of geographers from around the world who served as electors. This prize honours the career of an illustrious geogra..

Climatologia urbana para o Ensino

No âmbito das minhas provas de Agregação, elaborei o programa de uma disciplina de opção de Climatologia Urbana. Ao longo destes anos, o desenvolvimento do programa, então entregue e discutido, tem vindo a ser distribuído aos alunos em formato digital. Devido a solicitações várias, decidi editar essa parte sob a forma de relatório, actualizando a bibliografia e introduzindo algumas figuras, deliberadamente ausentes no programa original. É gratificante verificar que, nos seis anos que separam esta edição da do programa original, ocorreram muitos progressos em Climatologia Urbana, não só a nível global, mas também no seio do nosso grupo do Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade de Lisboa. O programa está preparado para uma disciplina da licenciatura (2º ou 3º ano de um curso de Geografia), mas poderá ser utilizado com proveito por alunos mais adiantados e outros interessados por este tema. Num momento de particular interesse pelo clima das cidades, não só por parte de numerosos estudiosos, mas também, por parte de entidades não universitárias, a investigação neste tema está particularmente viva. O programa apresentado não pretende ser um esquema rígido, mas um ponto de partida para o estudo da Climatologia Urbana, que reflecte – como não podia deixar de ser – a minha experiência pessoal e o resultado da pesquisa levada a cabo em colaboração com os dois colegas mais próximos em termos de área temática, Henrique Andrade e António Lopes, assim como com outros colegas e alguns estudantes. As trocas de opiniões e pontos de vista, as discussões, as interrogações dos estudantes vão influenciando as aulas que damos e os trabalhos de investigação. As observações dos revisores científicos dos artigos submetidos a determinadas revistas têm sido também um instrumento precioso para aprofundar a auto-crítica, assim como os diálogos mais informais com colegas, em congressos ou através da internet. O presente relatório está organizado em três partes: A introdução à Climatologia urbana e ao seu ensino (parte A), o desenvolvimento dos temas (Parte B) e algumas considerações sobre o trabalho prático (parte C). Na parte central (B), a mais extensa, apresentam-se dez temas, cujo desenvolvimento poderá servir de fio condutor ao trabalho de docentes e discentes no decorrer da disciplina e na investigação posterior que dela venha, eventualmente, a resultar.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Marino Miguel Franzini: observações instrumentais, notas, comentários e impactes sociais. Entre o publicado e o manuscrito...

As observações meteorológicas de M. M. Franzini entraram no domínio do público entendimento da investigação histórica da meteorologia, em contexto europeu. A produção científica associada ao projeto KlimHist utiliza os dados instrumentais para a realização de reconstruções climáticas e estudos correlativos, para o século XIX, a partir da «série Franzini». Pretende-se neste estudo recentrar a análise na produção científica de Franzini em textos editados e em manuscrito

Temperature and precipitation reconstruction in southern Portugal during the late Maunder Minimum (AD 1675–1715)

This paper discusses the research carried out to check the climatic characteristics of the late Maunder Minimum (LMM) (AD 1675–1715) in the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula and as an aid towards pressure patterns reconstruction in the NE Atlantic and Europe. Documentary evidence reveals that interannual precipitation variability was similar to the present one, although some very severe dry periods occurred (particularly one in 1694). On the other hand, during the LMM there was a higher percentage of cold winter months, some of them with snowfall. A brief comparison is made with other areas from the Mediterranean. The relationships between weather similarities and differences for particular months is analysed in the light of the reconstructed synoptical patterns, and further research into historical climatic change of southern Europe is suggested.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Temperature and precipitation reconstruction in southern Portugal during the late Maunder Minimum (AD 1675–1715)

This paper discusses the research carried out to check the climatic characteristics of the late Maunder Minimum (LMM) (AD 1675–1715) in the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula and as an aid towards pressure patterns reconstruction in the NE Atlantic and Europe. Documentary evidence reveals that interannual precipitation variability was similar to the present one, although some very severe dry periods occurred (particularly one in 1694). On the other hand, during the LMM there was a higher percentage of cold winter months, some of them with snowfall. A brief comparison is made with other areas from the Mediterranean. The relationships between weather similarities and differences for particular months is analysed in the light of the reconstructed synoptical patterns, and further research into historical climatic change of southern Europe is suggested.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The meteorological framework and the cultural memory of three severe winter-storms in early eighteenth-century Europe

Three violent eighteenth-century storms that ravaged the North Sea area (1703), western central Europe (1739) and Portugal (1739) are investigated from the point of view of their meteorological setting, their socio-economic impact, and whether and by what means they secured an enduring place in the cultural memory. The evidence draws on individual narrative sources such as chronicles and poems, and institutional sources such as ship's logbooks and state-organised ‘windthrow' inventories of tree loss. Each of the three storms had socio-economic impacts that could be described as ‘war-like' in the damage caused to buildings and the destruction of forests. The "Great Storm” of December 1703 jeopardized English naval supremacy in the War of the Spanish Succession by sinking a number of Royal Navy ships and taking the life of more than 8000 seamen. In January 1739 two similarly destructive storms swept over mainland Europe. The cultural memory of the three events here considered was however strikingly different. The sequence of storms in January 1739 though being the most protracted of the last centuries, and well-chroniceled, did not persist in the collective memories of those in France, Switzerland and elsewhere who experienced them. Likewise, the "Great Storm” was quickly forgotten on the continent, whereas its memory remained deeply rooted in England through the writings of Defoe (1704). In Portugal the 1739 storm won a lasting place in the country's cultural memory owing to two poems that it inspired. Furthermore, it was recorded in the Kingdom's official newspaper, in the astronomical prognoses and in written records of the Old Regime's cultural elit

Historical floods of the Douro River in Porto, Portugal (1727–1799)

Extreme meteorological events have had devastating consequences all over the world throughout the ages. In this study, we look into the floods at the mouth of the Douro River (Porto, Portugal) in the eighteenth century to expand the data series of floods in Northern Portugal. Information was gathered mostly from documentary narrative sources, either individual or institutional (administrative and ecclesiastic), some of which include reports of Pro Serenitate ceremonies. A study by the priest Rebelo Costa (1789) and the memories of the merchant Ignacio Henckell from 1717 to 1800 stand out among the individual sources. We concluded that there was great interannual variability in the occurrence of the 54 recorded floods, the highest number of which occurred in the 1780s. The “catastrophic” floods were recorded in 1727, 1739, 1769, 1774, 1777, 1788 and 1798, four of which are studied in detail in this paper. The greatest number of flood events took place in winter and autumn, and most of them lasted between 1 and 3 days. An analysis of the description of the floods, their impacts and the associated meteorological causes was carried out. In most cases, the frontal activity associated with Atlantic cyclonic systems was the cause of positive precipitation anomalies in NW Iberia. The great variability in heavy precipitation was confirmed by the new data. However, hardly any temporal simultaneity was found with other case studies in Southern Europe, except for Spain, especially several localities of Galicia and the mid Douro Valley (Zamora).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Climatic extremes in Portugal in the 1780s based on documentary and instrumental records

The final stage of the Little Ice Age in Europe was characterized by strong climatic variability. New documentary sources containing information referring to weather and climate are used in this study to reconstruct and to describe climate conditions in Portugal during the 18th century, mainly in the 1780s. Indexation of documentary data concerning hydric and thermal conditions was based on C. Pfister’s methodology and early instrumental data (1780s and 1790s) were used to verify the reconstruction. Precipitation and temperature were highly variable throughout the 18th century: an alternation of extremely hot to extremely cold months was found. Very cold years occurred mostly in the first 2 decades of the 18th century, but several other cold winters were also detected. Precipitation information is far more frequent than for temperature, and allowed yearly and seasonal indexations. The highest variability was detected in the 1730s and the 1780s. The early 1780s were very dry: during the winter and spring of 1781 and the spring of 1782 several drought episodes occurred, as confirmed by ‘pro-pluvia’ rogations. In contrast, heavy precipitation prevailed from 1784 onwards. The year 1786 was the rainiest in Portugal, triggering floods in northwestern and central Portugal. The year of 1788 was extremely wet and rainfall caused floods along the largest rivers: Douro, Mondego and Tagus. A storm that struck north - western Iberia between 23 and 24 February 1788 is analyzed in detailKLIMHIST: Reconstruction and model simulations of past climate in Portugal using documentary and early instrumental sources (17th-19th century) (PTDC/AAC-CLI/119078/2010

Metodologias de análise e de classificação das paisagens. O exemplo do projecto Estrela

LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION METHODOLOGIES. THE EXAMPLE OF THE ESTRELA PROJECT. Landscape ecology studies experience at the moment an increase of interest by researchers, developers and end-users. However, the subject matter is still too dispersed, not only in methods used but also in objects of analysis as well as space and time-scales. Progress on quantitative methods and the use of Geographical Information Systems frequently lead to excessive emphasis on physiognomic patterns to the detriment of landscape dynamics. Furthermore, the study of landscape as a geosystem suffers from problems related to calculation of mass and energy fluxes, which are barely possible, even with the powerful and costly equipment available only in few laboratories. The integrated environmental research, albeit at a more modest level, requires a multidisciplinary approach (defended by many, but seldom applied). The objective of the ESTRELA Project is to study the relations between the physiognomy and dynamics of the landscape in a mountain environment. Geomorphology, climate and vegetation are analysed at three spatial scales. The research carried out on each domain is presented and an example is given of their integration in a sample-site. The conclusion refers to the temporal transformations of the landscape of the Serra da Estrela. The problem of landscape units definition is still under investigation