The Wisconsin-IIASA Set of Energy/Environment (WISE) Models for Regional Planning and Management: An Overview

This report presents an overview of the analytical framework and quantitative methods used in the IIASA case studies on Regional Energy/Environment Management and Planning. Its purpose is to summarize the structure of the models, to provide a complete listing of the sources of more detailed model and data descriptions, and to indicate how the models are integrated to provide a foundation for regional energy/environment policy maker analysis. The audience for the report includes managers, planners, technical advisors, and modelers. The set of models used in the research project encompasses socioeconomic links to the energy system; energy demand in the residential, industrial, commercial/service, agricultural and transportation sectors; the energy supply sector, environmental impacts associated with the energy system; and policy makers' preferences. The report gives a brief description of the purpose and general structure of each model, data requirements, examples of input and output, and model limitations. As a whole, the models integrate information about energy flows in a region to simulate the energy system and its relationship to other regional variables, e.g., demographic and economic trends and the environment

an inclusive view of saharan dust advections to italy and the central mediterranean

Abstract We address observations of physical and chemical properties of Saharan dust advections (SDA) as observed in the Central Mediterranean basin, within the framework of the LIFE+10, DIAPASON project ( www.diapason-life.eu ). DIAPASON aimed at the definition of best practices and tools to detect and evaluate the contribution of Saharan dust to ground particulate matter (PM) loads. Polarization-sensitive, automated lidar-ceilometers (PLC) are one of the tools prototyped and used in the Rome area to reach this goal. The results presented in this study focus on: 1) the effectiveness of various observational tools at detecting and characterizing atmospheric dust plumes, and 2) processes and properties of Saharan dust advections reaching the central Mediterranean region. In this respect, the combination of numerical model forecasts and time-resolved (at least hourly) PLC or chemical observations was found to constitute an efficient way to predict and confirm the presence of Saharan dust. In the period 2011–2014, Saharan dust advections were observed to reach over Rome on about 32% of the days. In some 70% of these days the dust reached the ground in dry conditions, while 30% of advection days involved wet deposition. Dry (wet) deposition was found to maximize (minimize) in summer. The northern Sahara between Algeria and Tunisia (Grand Erg Oriental), was confirmed as the most frequent region of origin of the dust mobilized towards central Italy. Secondary source regions include northern Morocco and Libya. On a statistical basis, Saharan advections to Rome were preceded by increasing atmospheric pressure and stability. These conditions were found to favor the accumulation of aerosols related to local emission sources before the SDA reached the ground. Meteorology (precipitation and turbulence in primis) resulted to be an important modulator of PM concentrations during SDAs. Magnitude and timing of these factors should be well considered to correctly evaluate the dust share in PM loads or the related health effects. Saharan advections observed during DIAPASON affected particle concentrations down to diameters of about 0.6–1 μm, with number concentrations peaking at the 2.5 μm diameter range. These advections were associated with a significant increase in Si-rich particles containing a non-negligible fraction of water. Rainfall was observed to preferentially remove dust particles larger than 2 μm, causing a significant depletion in the Ca-rich fraction with respect to the Si-rich one. The increase in PLC depolarization ratios above 5%, as well as the hourly PIXE records of the Si/Ca ratio increasing above 1 were found to represent good markers for the actual presence of Saharan dust particulate matter, when Saharan advection conditions are occurring

Updated Nucleosynthesis Constraints on Unstable Relic Particles

We revisit the upper limits on the abundance of unstable massive relic particles provided by the success of Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis calculations. We use the cosmic microwave background data to constrain the baryon-to-photon ratio, and incorporate an extensively updated compilation of cross sections into a new calculation of the network of reactions induced by electromagnetic showers that create and destroy the light elements deuterium, he3, he4, li6 and li7. We derive analytic approximations that complement and check the full numerical calculations. Considerations of the abundances of he4 and li6 exclude exceptional regions of parameter space that would otherwise have been permitted by deuterium alone. We illustrate our results by applying them to massive gravitinos. If they weigh ~100 GeV, their primordial abundance should have been below about 10^{-13} of the total entropy. This would imply an upper limit on the reheating temperature of a few times 10^7 GeV, which could be a potential difficulty for some models of inflation. We discuss possible ways of evading this problem.Comment: 40 pages LaTeX, 18 eps figure