COMPARACIÓN ENTRE PLUVIÓMETROS CUANTIFICA DIFERENCIAS EN EL MONITOREO DE LA PRECIPITACIÓN

Por décadas se ha trabajado para corregir las medidas de precipitación, sin embargo estos esfuerzos han sido escasos en zonas tropicales montañosas. Cuatro pluviómetros de balancín (TB), con distinta resolución y comúnmente utilizados en las montañas de los Andes, fueron comparados en este estudio: un DAVIS-RC-II, un HOBO-RG3-M, y dos TE525MM (con y sin una pantalla Alter contra el viento). El desempeño de estos pluviómetros, instalados en el Observatorio Ecohidrológico Zhurucay, sur del Ecuador, a 3780 m s.n.m., se evaluó en relación al sensor de mejor resolución (0,1 mm), el TE525MM. El efecto de la intensidad de precipitación y condiciones del viento también se analizó utilizando 2 años de datos. Los resultados revelan que (i) la precipitación medida por el TB de referencia es 5,6% y 7,2% mayor que la de pluviómetros con resolución de 0,2 mm y 0.254 mm, respectivamente; (ii) la subestimación de los sensores de menor resolución es mayor durante eventos de baja intensidad—una máxima diferencia de 11% para intensidades 1 mm h1; (iii) intensidades menores a 2 mm h1, que ocurren el 75% del tiempo, no pueden ser determinadas con exactitud para escalas menores a 30 minutos debido a la resolución de los pluviómetros, e.g. sesgo absoluto > 10%; y (iv) el viento tiene un efecto similar en todos los sensores. Este análisis contribuye a mejorar la exactitud y homogeneidad de las medidas de precipitación en los Andes mediante la cuantificación del rol clave de la resolución de los pluviómetros.//Efforts to correct precipitation measurements have been ongoing for decades, but are scarce for tropical highlands. Four tipping-bucket (TB) rain gauges with different resolution that are commonly used in the Andean mountain region were compared-one DAVIS-RC-II, one HOBO-RG3-M, and two TE525MM TB gauges (with and without an Alter-Type wind screen). The relative performance of these rain gauges, installed side-by-side in the Zhurucay Ecohydrological Observatory, south Ecuador, at 3780 m a.s.l., was assessed using the TB with the highest resolution (0.1 mm) as reference, i.e. the TE525MM. The effect of rain intensity and wind conditions on gauge performance was estimated as well. Using 2 years of data, results reveal that (i) the precipitation amount for the reference TB is on average 5.6 to 7.2% higher than the rain gauges having a resolution of 0.2 mm and 0.254 mm respectively; (ii) relative underestimation of precipitation from the gauges with coarser resolution is higher during low-intensity rainfall mounting to a maximum deviation of 11% was observed for rain intensities 1 mm h1; (iii) precipitation intensities of 2 mm h1 or less that occur 75% of the time cannot be determined accurately for timescales shorter than 30 minutes because of the gauges’ resolution, e.g. the absolute bias is >10%; and (iv) wind has a similar effect on all sensors. This analysis contributes to increase the accuracy and homogeneity of precipitation measurements throughout the Andean highlands, by quantifying the key role of rain-gauge resolution

Large-Scale Controls of the Surface Water Balance Over Land-Insights From a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The long-term surface water balance over land is described by the partitioning of precipitation (P) into runoff and evapotranspiration (ET), and is commonly characterized by the ratio ET/P. The ratio between potential evapotranspiration (PET) and P is explicitly considered to be the primary control of ET/P within the Budyko framework, whereas all other controls are often integrated into a single parameter, ω. Although the joint effect of these additional controlling factors of ET/P can be significant, a detailed understanding of them is yet to be achieved. This study therefore introduces a new global dataset for the long-term mean partitioning of P into ET and runoff in 2733 catchments, which is based on in-situ observations and assembled from a systematic examination of peer-reviewed studies. A total of 26 controls of ET/P that are proposed in the literature are assessed using the new dataset. Results reveal that: (i) factors controlling ET/P vary between regions with different climate types; (ii) controls other than PET/P explain at least 35% of the ET/P variance in all regions, and up to ∼90% in arid climates; (iii) among these, climate factors and catchment slope dominate over other landscape characteristics; and (iv) despite the high attention that vegetation-related indices receive as controls of ET/P, they are found to play a minor and often non-significant role. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive picture on factors controlling the partitioning of P, with valuable insights for model development, watershed management, and the assessment of water resources around the globe

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

Terrestrial water loss at night: global relevance from observations and climate models

Nocturnal water loss (NWL) from the surface into the atmosphere is often overlooked because of the absence of solar radiation to drive evapotranspiration and the measuring difficulties involved. However, growing evidence suggests that NWL – and particularly nocturnal transpiration – represents a considerable fraction of the daily values. Here we provide a global overview of the characteristics of NWL based on latent heat flux estimates from the FLUXNET2015 dataset, as well as from simulations of global climate models. Eddy-covariance measurements at 99 sites indicate that NWL represents 6.3 % of total evapotranspiration on average. There are six sites where NWL is higher than 15 %; these sites comprise mountain forests with considerable NWL during winter that is related to snowy and windy conditions. Higher temperature, vapor pressure deficit, wind speed, soil moisture, and downward longwave radiation are related to higher NWL, although this is not consistent across all of the sites. On the other hand, the global multi-model mean of terrestrial NWL is 7.9 % of the total evapotranspiration. The spread of the model ensemble, however, is greater than 15.8 % over half of the land grid cells. Finally, NWL is projected to increase everywhere with an average of 1.8 %, although with a substantial inter-model spread. Changes in NWL contribute substantially to projected changes in total evapotranspiration. Overall, this study highlights the relevance of water loss during the night and opens avenues to explore its influence on the water cycle and the climate system under present and future conditions.ISSN:1027-5606ISSN:1607-793

Increasingly negative tropical water-interannual CO2 growth rate coupling.

Terrestrial ecosystems have taken up about 32% of the total anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the past six decades1. Large uncertainties in terrestrial carbon-climate feedbacks, however, make it difficult to predict how the land carbon sink will respond to future climate change2. Interannual variations in the atmospheric CO2 growth rate (CGR) are dominated by land-atmosphere carbon fluxes in the tropics, providing an opportunity to explore land carbon-climate interactions3-6. It is thought that variations in CGR are largely controlled by temperature7-10 but there is also evidence for a tight coupling between water availability and CGR11. Here, we use a record of global atmospheric CO2, terrestrial water storage and precipitation data to investigate changes in the interannual relationship between tropical land climate conditions and CGR under a changing climate. We find that the interannual relationship between tropical water availability and CGR became increasingly negative during 1989-2018 compared to 1960-1989. This could be related to spatiotemporal changes in tropical water availability anomalies driven by shifts in El Niño/Southern Oscillation teleconnections, including declining spatial compensatory water effects9. We also demonstrate that most state-of-the-art coupled Earth System and Land Surface models do not reproduce the intensifying water-carbon coupling. Our results indicate that tropical water availability is increasingly controlling the interannual variability of the terrestrial carbon cycle and modulating tropical terrestrial carbon-climate feedbacks

Transforming knowledge systems for life on Earth : Visions of future systems and how to get there

Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future envisioned knowledge systems might need to look like and how we might get there. Findings suggest that envisioned future systems will need to be much more collaborative, open, diverse, egalitarian, and able to work with values and systemic issues. They will also need to go beyond producing knowledge about our world to generating wisdom about how to act within it. To get to envisioned systems we will need to rapidly scale methodological innovations, connect innovators, and creatively accelerate learning about working with intractable challenges. We will also need to create new funding schemes, a global knowledge commons, and challenge deeply held assumptions. To genuinely be a creative force in supporting longevity of human and non-human life on our planet, the shift in knowledge systems will probably need to be at the scale of the enlightenment and speed of the scientific and technological revolution accompanying the second World War. This will require bold and strategic action from governments, scientists, civic society and sustained transformational intent.Peer reviewe

Recent human-induced atmospheric drying across Europe unprecedented in the last 400 years

International audienc