Record high solar irradiance in Western Europe during first COVID-19 lockdown largely due to unusual weather

Spring 2020 broke sunshine duration records across western Europe. The Netherlands recorded the highest surface irradiance since 1928, exceeding the previous extreme of 2011 by 13 %, and the diffuse fraction of the irradiance measured a record low percentage (38 %). The coinciding irradiance extreme and a reduction in anthropogenic pollution due to COVID-19 measures triggered the hypothesis that cleaner-than-usual air contributed to the record. Based on analyses of ground-based and satellite observations and experiments with a radiative transfer model, we estimate a 1.3 % (2.3 W m$^{-2}$) increase in surface irradiance with respect to the 2010-2019 mean due to a low median aerosol optical depth, and a 17.6 % (30.7 W m$^{-2}$) increase due to several exceptionally dry days and a very low cloud fraction overall. Our analyses show that the reduced aerosols and contrails due to the COVID-19 measures are far less important in the irradiance record than the dry and particularly cloud-free weather.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Communications Earth and Environmen

The FOAM study : Is Hysterosalpingo foam sonography (HyFoSy) a cost-effective alternative for hysterosalpingography (HSG) in assessing tubal patency in subfertile women? Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

This is an investigator initiated trial, VU medical center Amsterdam is the sponsor, contact information: prof. CJM de Groot, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Tel: + 31-204444444. This study is funded by ZonMw, a Dutch organization for Health Research and Development, project number 837001504. ZonMW gives financial support for the whole project. IQ Medical Ventures provides the ExEm FOAM® kits. The funding bodies have no role in the design of the study; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; and in writing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Can hysterosalpingo-foam sonography replace hysterosalpingography as first-choice tubal patency test? A randomized non-inferiority trial

Funding Information: The FOAM study was an investigator-initiated study funded by ZonMw, The Netherlands organization for Health Research and Development (project number 837001504). ZonMw funded the whole project. IQ Medical Ventures provided the ExEm-foamVR kits free of charge. The funders had no role in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of the data. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Hysterosalpingo-foam sonography versus hysterosalpingography during fertility work-up: an economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial

STUDY QUESTION: What are the costs and effects of tubal patency testing by hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) compared to hysterosalpingography (HSG) in infertile women during the fertility work-up? SUMMARY ANSWER: During the fertility work-up, clinical management based on the test results of HyFoSy leads to slightly lower, though not statistically significant, live birth rates, at lower costs, compared to management based on HSG results. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Traditionally, tubal patency testing during the fertility work-up is performed by HSG. The FOAM trial, formally a non-inferiority study, showed that management decisions based on the results of HyFoSy resulted in a comparable live birth rate at 12 months compared to HSG (46% versus 47%; difference −1.2%, 95% CI: −3.4% to 1.5%; P¼ 0.27). Compared to HSG, HyFoSy is associated with significantly less pain, it lacks ionizing radiation and exposure to iodinated contrast medium. Moreover, HyFoSy can be performed by a gynaecologist during a one-stop fertility work-up. To our knowledge, the costs of both strategies have never been compared. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: We performed an economic evaluation alongside the FOAM trial, a randomized multicenter study conducted in the Netherlands. Participating infertile women underwent, both HyFoSy and HSG, in a randomized order. The results of both tests were compared and women with discordant test results were randomly allocated to management based on the results of one of the tests. The follow-up period was twelve months. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: We studied 1160 infertile women (18–41 years) scheduled for tubal patency testing. The primary outcome was ongoing pregnancy leading to live birth. The economic evaluation compared costs and effects of management based on either test within 12 months. We calculated incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs): the difference in total costs and chance of live birth. Data were analyzed using the intention to treat principle. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Between May 2015 and January 2019, 1026 of the 1160 women underwent both tubal tests and had data available: 747 women with concordant results (48% live births), 136 with inconclusive results (40% live births), and 143 with discordant results (41% had a live birth after management based on HyFoSy results versus 49% with live birth after management based on HSG results). When comparing the two strategies—management based on HyfoSy results versus HSG results—the estimated chance of live birth was 46% after HyFoSy versus 47% after HSG (difference −1.2%; 95% CI: −3.4% to 1.5%). For the procedures itself, HyFoSy cost e136 and HSG e280. When costs of additional fertility treatments were incorporated, the mean total costs per couple were e3307 for the HyFoSy strategy and e3427 for the HSG strategy (mean difference e−119; 95% CI: e−125 to e−114). So, while HyFoSy led to lower costs per couple, live birth rates were also slightly lower. The ICER was e10 042, meaning that by using HyFoSy instead of HSG we would save e10 042 per each additional live birth lost. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: When interpreting the results of this study, it needs to be considered that there was a considerable uncertainty around the ICER, and that the direct fertility enhancing effect of both tubal patency tests was not incorporated as women underwent both tubal patency tests in this study. WIDER IMPLICATION OF THE FINDINGS: Compared to clinical management based on HSG results, management guided by HyFoSy leads to slightly lower live birth rates (though not statistically significant) at lower costs, less pain, without ionizing radiation and iodinated contrast exposure. Further research on the comparison of the direct fertility-enhancing effect of both tubal patency tests is needed. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): FOAM trial was an investigator-initiated study, funded by ZonMw, a Dutch organization for Health Research and Development (project number 837001504). IQ Medical Ventures provided the ExEm®-FOAM kits free of charge. The funders had no role in study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data. K.D. reports travel-and speakers fees from Guerbet and her department received research grants from Guerbet outside the submitted work. H.R.V. received consulting—and travel fee from Ferring. A.M.v.P. reports received consulting fee from DEKRA and fee for an expert meeting from Ferring, both outside the submitted work. C.H.d.K. received travel fee from Merck. F.J.M.B. received a grant from Merck and speakers fee from Besins Healthcare. F.J.M.B. is a member of the advisory board of Merck and Ferring. J.v.D. reported speakers fee from Ferring. J.S. reports a research agreement with Takeda and consultancy for Sanofi on MR of motility outside the submitted work. M.v.W. received a travel grant from Oxford Press in the role of deputy editor for Human Reproduction and participates in a DSMB as independent methodologist in obstetrics studies in which she has no other role. B.W.M. received an investigator grant from NHMRC GNT1176437. B.W.M. reports consultancy for ObsEva, Merck, Guerbet, iGenomix, and Merck KGaA and travel support from Merck KGaA. V.M. received research grants from Guerbet, Merck, and Ferring and travel and speakers fees from Guerbet. The other authors do not report conflicts of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: International Clinical Trials Registry Platform No. NTR4746

High resolution solar irradiance variability climatology dataset part 2: classifications, supplementary data, and statistics

Dataset description: High resolution surface solar irradiance series classification, cloud shadow and enhancement statistics, and satellite observations for studying intra-day surface solar irradiance variability. Part 2 of 2: This dataset is the derived from the 1 Hz observational record of direct, diffuse, and global horizontal irradiance measured by the Baseline Surface Radiation Network station at Cabauw, the Netherlands. More information about the observational site Cabauw can be found at the Ruisdael Observatory website. Methodology: An extensive dataset description is currently being written for Earth System Science Data. In the mean time, a more condensed description is available in preprint at Arxiv. Processing scripts are published at this Zenodo release. Dataset contents: This dataset contains daily time series with the following data, from 2011-02 until 2020-12-31: Cloud shadow and cloud enhancement time series classifications (see methodology) Overcast, clear-sky and variable time series classifications (see methodology) CAMS McClear for clear-sky global horizontal irradiance (version 3.5) CAMS McClear atmospheric composition input (aerosols, ozone, and total column water vapour) Solar elevation and azimuth angles (calculated using PySolar) Quality flags: non-official 1 Hz and official 1-minute (from BSRN at PANGAEA) Cabauw observatory tower wind speed and direction Additional satellite data time series from 2014-01 until 2016-12: MSGCPP satellite data for an area over central Netherlands (CLAAS2 source) Post processed timeseries of cloud types over Cabauw derived from this MSGCPP satellite data A nubiscope + satellite derived validation dataset for overcast and clear-sky classifications Statistics files: Cloud shadow and cloud enhancement event detection and event statistics based on the time series for 2011-2020 Daily radiation statistics for 2011-2020 And finally, for all days there are quicklooks available that visualize the irradiance time series, classification, and if available satellite data

Data belonging to Record high solar irradiance in Western Europe during first COVID-19 lockdown largely due to unusual weather,

This data belongs to the paper Record high solar irradiance in Western Europe during first COVID-19 lockdown largely due to unusual weather, (soon to be) published in Communications Earth & Environment

Reconciling Observations of Solar Irradiance Variability With Cloud Size Distributions

Clouds cast shadows on the surface and locally enhance solar irradiance by absorbing and scattering sunlight, resulting in fast and large solar irradiance fluctuations on the surface. Typical spatiotemporal scales and driving mechanisms of this intra-day irradiance variability are not well known, hence even 1 day ahead forecasts of variability are inaccurate. Here, we use long-term, high-frequency solar irradiance observations combined with satellite imagery, numerical simulations, and conceptual modeling to show how irradiance variability is linked to the cloud size distribution. Cloud shadow sizes are distributed according to a power law over multiple orders of magnitude, deviating only from the cloud size distribution due to cloud edge transparency at scales below ≈750 m. Locally cloud-enhanced irradiance occurs as frequently as shadows, and is similarly driven mostly by boundary layer clouds, but distributed over a smaller range of scales. We reconcile studies of solar irradiance variability with those on clouds, which brings fundamental understanding to what drives irradiance variability. Our findings have implications not only for weather and climate modeling, but also for solar energy and photosynthesis by vegetation, where detailed knowledge of surface solar irradiance is essential

Characterizing solar PV grid overvoltages by data blending advanced metering infrastructure with meteorology

If rooftop-installed solar energy systems generate more energy than locally consumed, the excess is fed into the electricity grid, increasing the voltage. Rising penetration levels of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems increase voltage levels, thereby threatening power quality. The extent to which solar PV cause grid issues in actual, nation-wide distribution grids, and how these issues correlate with cloud conditions and irradiance variability has yet to be quantified. This work provides a spatial and temporal characterization of overvoltage events linked to solar PV, using novel data sources. The analysis is based on over 200,000 events from advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) spanning 1/3rd of the Netherlands, combined with satellite observations and 1-minute irradiance measurements. As a result, we find that the typical duration of overvoltage events is in the order of 5 min, and frequently-reporting meters are geographically dispersed. While overvoltages are driven by high PV generation, we do not find evidence that local, short-term irradiance peaks result in additional events as compared to clear sky conditions. However, we do find that median overvoltage event occurrence on Sundays is more than 2.1 times that of weekdays, which can be related to low energy consumption. Our findings indicate PV hosting capacity to be reached throughout the service area simultaneously, and surprisingly show no reduction in event duration by inverter- or grid control. Notably, while a sharp increase in occurrence is observed, overvoltage events are still scarce in absolute terms, with only 0.1% of the AMI reporting more than 10 events in spring-summer 2020

Outpatient treatment of worsening heart failure with intravenous and subcutaneous diuretics: a systematic review of the literature

Aims: In the coming decade, heart failure (HF) represents a major global healthcare challenge due to an ageing population and rising prevalence combined with scarcity of medical resources and increasing healthcare costs. A transitional care strategy within the period of clinical worsening of HF before hospitalization may offer a solution to prevent hospitalization. The outpatient treatment of worsening HF with intravenous or subcutaneous diuretics as an alternative strategy for hospitalization has been described in the literature. Methods and results: In this systematic review, the available evidence for the efficacy and safety of outpatient treatment with intravenous or subcutaneous diuretics of patients with worsening HF is analysed. A search was performed in the electronic databases MEDLINE and EMBASE. Of the 11 included studies 10 were single-centre, using non-randomized, observational registries of treatment with intravenous or subcutaneous diuretics for patients with worsening HF with highly variable selection criteria, baseline characteristics, and treatment design. One study was a randomized study comparing subcutaneous furosemide with intravenous furosemide. In a total of 984 unique individual patients treated in the reviewed studies, only a few adverse events were reported. Re-hospitalization rates for HF at 30 and 180 days were 28 and 46%, respectively. All-cause re-hospitalization rates at 30 and 60 days were 18–37 and 22%, respectively. The highest HF re-hospitalization was 52% in 30 days in the subcutaneous diuretic group and 42% in 30 days in the intravenous diuretic group. Conclusions: The reviewed studies present practice-based results of treatment of patients with worsening HF with intravenous or subcutaneous diuretics in an outpatient HF care unit and report that it is effective by relieving symptoms with a low risk of adverse events. The studies do not provide satisfactory evidence for reduction in rates of re-hospitalization or improvement in mortality or quality of life. The conclusions drawn from these studies are limited by the quality of the individual studies. Prospective randomized studies are needed to determine the safety and effectiveness of outpatient intravenous or subcutaneous diuretic treatment for patient with worsening HF