Vegetated ditches for the mitigation of pesticides runoff in the po valley

In intensive agricultural systems runoff is one of the major potential diffuse pollution path- ways for pesticides and poses a risk to surface water. Ditches are common in the Po Valley and can potentially provide runoff mitigation for the protection of watercourses. The effec- tiveness depends on ditch characteristics, so there is an urgent need for site-specific field trials. The use of a fugacity model (multimedia model) can allows recognition of the mitiga- tion main processes. A field experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the mitigation capacity of a typical vegetated ditch, and results were compared with predictions by a fugacity model. To evaluate herbicide mitigation after an extreme runoff, the ditch was flooded with water containing mesotrione, S-metolachlor and terbuthylazine. Two other sub- sequent floods with uncontaminated water were applied 27 and 82 days later to evaluate herbicides release. Results show that the ditch can immediately reduce runoff concentration of herbicides by at least 50% even in extreme flooding conditions. The half-distances were about 250 m. As a general rule, a runoff of 1 mm from 5 ha is mitigated by 99% in 100 m of vegetated ditch. Herbicides retention in the vegetated ditch was reversible, and the second flood mobilized 0.03-0.2% of the previous one, with a concentration below the drinking water limit of 0.1 \u3bcg L-1. No herbicide was detected in the third flood, because the residual amount in the ditch was too low. Fugacity model results show that specific physical-chemi- cal parameters may be used and a specific soil-sediment-plant compartment included for modelling herbicides behaviour in a vegetated ditch, and confirm that accumulation is low or negligible for herbicides with a half-life of 40 days or less. Shallow vegetated ditches can thus be included in a general agri-environment scheme for the mitigation of pesticides runoff together with wetlands and linear buffer strips. These structures are present in the land- scape, and their environmental role can be exploited by proper management

Unburnable and Unleakable Carbon in Western Amazon: Using VIIRS Nightfire Data to Map Gas Flaring and Policy Compliance in the Yasun\ued Biosphere Reserve

In the Amazon Rainforest, a unique post-carbon plan to mitigate global warming and to protect the exceptional bio-cultural diversity was experimented in 2007\u20132013 by the Ecuadorian government. To preserve the rainforest ecosystems within the Yasun\ued-ITT oil block, the release of 410 million metric tons of CO2 would have been avoided. The neologism \u201cyasunization\u201d emerged as an Amazonian narrative on \u201cunburnable carbon\u201d to be replicated worldwide. Considering the unburnable carbon, petroleum-associated gas flaring represents the unleakable part. Flaring is an irrational practice that consists of burning waste gases, representing not only a leak of energy but also a pollution source. The general aim of the paper is to monitor gas flaring as a tool, revealing, at the same time, the implementation of environmental technologies in the oil sector and the compliance of sustainable policies in the Amazon region and the Yasun\ued Biosphere Reserve. Specific objectives are: (i) identifying and estimating gas flaring over seven years (2012\u20132018); (ii) mapping new flaring sites; iii) estimating potentially affected areas among ecosystems and local communities. We processed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Nightfire annual dataset, based on the elaboration of imagery from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and developed a GIS-based novel simple method to identify new flaring sites from daily detections. We found that 23.5% of gas flaring sites and 18.4% of volumes of all oil industries operating in Ecuador are located within the Yasun\ued Biosphere Reserve (YBR). Moreover, we detected 34 additional flaring sites not included in the NOAA dataset\u201412 in the YBR and one in Tiputini field, a key area for biological and cultural diversity conservation. We also found that at least 10 indigenous communities, 18 populated centers and 10 schools are located in the potentially affected area. Gas flaring can be used as a policy indicator to monitor the implementation of sustainable development practices in complex territories

Rethinking the Urban Green Spaces by the Lens of GIScience: the Experience of the Project Living Urban Parks

In Italy, soil sealing is a major threats in terms of soil degradation and the loss of urban ecosystem services. The increase in new artificial surfaces or settlement areas at the expense of green and rural areas is intensifying the effects of climate change, in particular extreme weather events, such as the increase in intense precipitation and heatwaves. In this context, the Municipality of Padua is a paradigmatic case study. According to the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (2022), almost 50% of the municipal territory is completely sealed, making it the Italian city with the fifth highest values of soil sealing. To contrast the phenomenon, the EU soil strategy for 2030 suggested, among other strategies, the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions, strengthened with the participation and involvement of non-expert actors to be more efficient and effective. This study was developed within the Living Urban Parks (LUP) project (Key Action 3, Erasmus + Programme EU) during two years of research and participatory activities (2020–2022) within the Municipality of Padua. It aims to involve youths aged 18–30 in a public process to reconceive of the urban green spaces of the city and to develop ideas and proposals for more sustainable urban planning, promoting participatory methodologies by using geographical tools (digital and traditional cartography). More than 400 participants were directly involved in the project. All the ideas and proposals mapped during the seminars and workshops have been uploaded to the geoplatform Geocitizen. This geotool is usable on smartphones and tablets and, thanks to its interactive features and a geodatabase, allows the collection of georeferenced ideas, good practices and urban issues regarding green areas and parks. By the end of the project, 118 points had been collected on Geocitizen. Beyond the Geocitizen platform, the participants had the opportunity to test other geotools, such as Geopaparazzi and Google Earth Pro. In addition, the participants were able to present their ideas collected on the platform and directly interact with the local decision-makers who were involved to discuss and promote effective and efficient actions for the enhancement of the green areas and urban parks of the city. The use of different geographic technologies combined with participatory mapping approaches allowed an increase in the knowledge of the urban territory by making people more aware of the issue of soil sealing and urban regeneration opportunities. Finally, LUP allowed to reconception and design of green spaces to promote the restoration of degraded and abandoned areas and to propose the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions

Comparing the use of ERA5 reanalysis dataset and ground-based agrometeorological data under different climates and topography in Italy

Study region: The study region is represented by seven irrigation districts distributed under different climate and topography conditions in Italy. Study focus: This study explores the reliability and consistency of the global ERA5 single levels and ERA5-Land reanalysis datasets in predicting the main agrometeorological estimates commonly used for crop water requirements calculation. In particular, the reanalysis data was compared, variable-by-variable (e.g., solar radiation, R-s; air temperature, T-air; relative humidity, RH; wind speed, u(10); reference evapotranspiration, ET0), with in situ agrometeorological obser-vations obtained from 66 automatic weather stations (2008-2020). In addition, the presence of a climate-dependency on their accuracy was assessed at the different irrigation districts. New hydrological insights for the region: A general good agreement was obtained between observed and reanalysis agrometeorological variables at both daily and seasonal scales. The best perfor-mance was obtained for T-air, followed by RH, R-s, and u(10) for both reanalysis datasets, especially under temperate climate conditions. These performances were translated into slightly higher accuracy of ET0 estimates by ERA5-Land product, confirming the potential of using reanalysis datasets as an alternative data source for retrieving the ET0 and overcoming the unavailability of observed agrometeorological data

D3.2 - Stato dell'infrastruttura 3DLab-Sicilia alla fine del periodo di sperimentazione in ambito di laboratorio

Questo rapporto presenta lo stato dell’infrastruttura 3DLab-Sicilia con particolare attenzione sullo stato di avanzamento della realizzazione dei tre laboratori nei nodi del progetto che compongono il Centro di Realtà Virtuale geograficamente distribuito e sulle sequenze (pipeline) di esecuzione di software implementate internamente per la creazione di modelli tridimensionali e scenari immersivi e offerte dal progetto a tutti i possibili utilizzatori esterni. Il documento è organizzato come segue: la Sezione 2 introduce lo stato dell’arte relativamente alle soluzioni di Cross Reality (XR, che comprende anche la Realtà Virtuale); la Sezione 3 presenta le caratteristiche e le potenzialità del Centro di Realtà Virtuale di 3DLab-Sicilia; la Sezione 4 presenta gli ulteriori elementi chiave dell’infrastruttura che il progetto mette a disposizione dell’utenza; infine, nelle sezioni 5 e 6 vengono forniti i dettagli delle pipeline software supportate, rispettivamente, per servizi di utilità generale e per servizi specifici per gli use case del progetto

The unprecedented 2017-2018 stratospheric smoke event : Decay phase and aerosol properties observed with the EARLINET

© Author(s) 2019. This open access work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Six months of stratospheric aerosol observations with the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) from August 2017 to January 2018 are presented. The decay phase of an unprecedented, record-breaking stratospheric perturbation caused by wildfire smoke is reported and discussed in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical aerosol properties. Enormous amounts of smoke were injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over fire areas in western Canada on 12 August 2017 during strong thunderstorm-pyrocumulonimbus activity. The stratospheric fire plumes spread over the entire Northern Hemisphere in the following weeks and months. Twenty-eight European lidar stations from northern Norway to southern Portugal and the eastern Mediterranean monitored the strong stratospheric perturbation on a continental scale. The main smoke layer (over central, western, southern, and eastern Europe) was found at heights between 15 and 20 km since September 2017 (about 2 weeks after entering the stratosphere). Thin layers of smoke were detected at heights of up to 22-23 km. The stratospheric aerosol optical thickness at 532 nm decreased from values > 0.25 on 21-23 August 2017 to 0.005-0.03 until 5-10 September and was mainly 0.003-0.004 from October to December 2017 and thus was still significantly above the stratospheric background (0.001-0.002). Stratospheric particle extinction coefficients (532 nm) were as high as 50-200 Mm-1 until the beginning of September and on the order of 1 Mm-1 (0.5- 5 Mm-1) from October 2017 until the end of January 2018. The corresponding layer mean particle mass concentration was on the order of 0.05-0.5 μg m-3 over these months. Soot particles (light-absorbing carbonaceous particles) are efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs) at upper tropospheric (cirrus) temperatures and available to influence cirrus formation when entering the tropopause from above. We estimated INP concentrations of 50-500 L-1 until the first days in September and afterwards 5-50 L-1 until the end of the year 2017 in the lower stratosphere for typical cirrus formation temperatures of -55 ?C and an ice supersaturation level of 1.15. The measured profiles of the particle linear depolarization ratio indicated a predominance of nonspherical smoke particles. The 532 nm depolarization ratio decreased slowly with time in the main smoke layer from values of 0.15-0.25 (August-September) to values of 0.05-0.10 (October-November) and < 0.05 (December-January). The decrease of the depolarization ratio is consistent with aging of the smoke particles, growing of a coating around the solid black carbon core (aggregates), and thus change of the shape towards a spherical form. We found ascending aerosol layer features over the most southern European stations, especially over the eastern Mediterranean at 32-35? N, that ascended from heights of about 18-19 to 22-23 km from the beginning of October to the beginning of December 2017 (about 2 km per month). We discuss several transport and lifting mechanisms that may have had an impact on the found aerosol layering structures.Peer reviewe

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in root s(NN)=2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as nu(ch)(2) (jet). Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k(T) algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero nu(ch)(2) (jet) is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50% centrality) for 20 <p(T)(ch) (jet) <90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the nu(2) of single charged particles at high p(T). Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Forward-central two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between trigger particles in the forward pseudorapidity range (2.5 2GeV/c. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B. V.Peer reviewe

Event-shape engineering for inclusive spectra and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV

Peer reviewe