The 2024 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: unprecedented warming demands unprecedented action

Record-breaking temperatures were recorded across the globe in 2023. Without climate action, adverse climate-related health impacts are expected to worsen worldwide, affecting billions of people. Temperatures in Europe are warming at twice the rate of the global average, threatening the health of populations across the continent and leading to unnecessary loss of life. The Lancet Countdown in Europe was established in 2021, to assess the health profile of climate change aiming to stimulate European social and political will to implement rapid health-responsive climate mitigation and adaptation actions. In 2022, the collaboration published its indicator report, tracking progress on health and climate change via 33 indicators and across five domains

Global Oceans

Global Oceans is one chapter from the State of the Climate in 2019 annual report and is avail-able from https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0105.1. Compiled by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate in 2019 is based on contr1ibutions from scien-tists from around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instru-ments located on land, water, ice, and in space. The full report is available from https://doi.org /10.1175/2020BAMSStateoftheClimate.1

The 2020 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: responding to converging crises

The Lancet Countdown is an international collaboration, established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the emerging health profile of the changing climate. The 2020 report presents 43 indicators across five sections: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. This report represents the findings and consensus of the 35 leading academic institutions and UN agencies that make up the Lancet Countdown, and draws on the expertise of climate scientists, geographers, and engineers; of energy, food, and transport experts; and of economists, social and political scientists, data scientists, public health professionals, and doctors

The effect of wind speed products and wind speed-gas exchange relationships on interannual variability of the air-sea CO2 gas transfer velocity

The lack of a firm relationship between wind speed (U10) and gas transfer velocity (k) is considered to be one of the factors that hinders accurate quantification of interannual variations of ocean–atmosphere CO2 fluxes. In this paper the interannual variations of k of using four different k–U10 parametrizations are examined using wind speed data from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis project. The extent to which interannual variations are faithfully reproduced in the NCEP/NCAR data is also investigated. This is carried out through comparison with QuikSCAT data. Compared with 4 yr of QuikSCAT data, NCEP/NCAR data reproduce interannual k variations, although the absolute magnitude of k is underestimated. Interannual k variation shows great sensitivity to selection of k–U10 parametrization, and in the Westerlies it changes by a factor of three depending on k–U10 parametrization. Use of monthly mean winds speeds leads to overestimation of interannual k variations compared with k variations computed using 6-hourly wind speeds and the appropriate k–U10 parametrization. Even though the effect of changing k–U10 parametrization is large enough to be an issue that needs to be considered when computing interannual air–sea CO2 flux variations through combining estimates of k with data for the air–sea CO2 gradient, it is not sufficient to bridge the gap between such estimates and estimates based on analyses of atmospheric oxygen, CO2 and δ13C data. Finally it is shown that the ambiguity in the relationship between wind speed and k introduces an uncertainty in interannual flux variations comparable to a bias of interannual ΔpCO2 variations of at most ±5 µatm

Large decadal changes in air-sea CO2 fluxes in the Caribbean Sea

Sixteen years of surface water CO2 data from autonomous systems on cruise ships sailing in the Caribbean Sea and Western North Atlantic show marked changes on interannual timescales. The measured changes in fugacity (≈partial pressure) of CO2 in surface water, fCO2w, are based on over a million observations. Seasonally the patterns are similar to other oligotrophic subtropical regions with an amplitude of fCO2w of ≈40 μatm with low wintertime values, causing the area to be a sink, and high summertime values making it a source of CO2 to the atmosphere. On annual scales there was negligible increase of fCO2w from 2002 to 2010 and a rapid increase from 2010 to 2018. Correspondingly, the trend of air‐sea CO2 flux from 2002 to 2010 was strongly negative (increasing uptake or sink) at −0.05 ± 0.01 (mol m−2 year−1) year−1 and positive (decreasing uptake) at 0.02 ± 0.02 (mol m−2 year−1) year−1 from 2010‐2018. For the whole period from 2002 to 2018, the fCO2w lagged the atmospheric CO2 increase by 24 %, causing an increase in CO2 uptake. The average flux into the ocean for the 16 years is −0.20 ± 0.16 mol m−2 year−1 with the uncertainty reflecting the standard deviation in annual means. The change in multiannual trend in fCO2w is modulated by several factors, notably changes in sea surface temperature and ocean mixed layer depth that, in turn, affected the physical and biological processes controlling fCO2w

Determining the heat of desorption for cassava products based on data measured by an automated gravimetric moisture sorption system

The isosteric heat of desorption is vital in evaluating the energy performance of food dryers. The isosteric heat of desorption was investigated for different cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) products prepared as flour or starch, with and without fermentation. An automated moisture sorption gravimetric analyser was used to measure the desorption isotherms over 10 – 90 % relative humidity of the drying air at temperatures ranging from 25 to 65 °C. Analysis of variance showed an imperceptible contribution of the preparation method in the measured desorption data. This finding also agreed with the microscopic images that revealed the lack of compelling structural differences among different products. A set of empirical sorption equations suggested by the ASAE standard was examined over the measured desorption isotherms. The standard error of estimation was found to be in the acceptable range of 2.36 - 3.71%. Furthermore, the fulfilment of the enthalpy-entropy compensation theory was considered as an additional criterion in the thermodynamic results of different sorption equations, besides their fitting adequacy. The modified Chung-Pfost equation has proved to be the most suitable equation for cassava products as it is capable of reflecting the temperature dependency of the isosteric heat of desorption. The net isosteric heat of desorption obtained was in the range of 540-1110 kJ/kg for 0.10 kg/kg dried based moisture content and 52-108 kJ/kg for 0.25 kg/kg dried based moisture content. These findings are technologically relevant for optimising common drying technologies such as flash and flatbed dryers

Sea temperature influences accumulation of tetrodotoxin in British bivalve shellfish

Tetrodotoxin (TTX), a potent neurotoxin mostly associated with pufferfish poisoning, is also found in bivalve shellfish. Recent studies into this emerging food safety threat reported TTX in a few, mainly estuarine, shellfish production areas in some European countries, including the United Kingdom. A pattern in occurrences has started to emerge, however the role of temperature on TTX has not been investigated in detail. Therefore, we conducted a large systematic TTX screening study, encompassing over 3500 bivalve samples collected throughout 2016 from 155 shellfish monitoring sites along the coast of Great Britain. Overall, we found that only 1.1 % of tested samples contained TTX above the reporting limit of 2 μg/kg whole shellfish flesh and these samples all originated from ten shellfish production sites in southern England. Subsequent continuous monitoring of selected areas over a five-year period showed a potential seasonal TTX accumulation in bivalves, starting in June when water temperatures reached around 15 °C. For the first time, satellite-derived data were also applied to investigate temperature differences between sites with and without confirmed presence of TTX in 2016. Although average annual temperatures were similar in both groups, daily mean values were higher in summer and lower in winter at sites where TTX was found. Here, temperature also increased significantly faster during late spring and early summer, the critical period for TTX. Our study supports the hypothesis that temperature is one of the key triggers of events leading to TTX accumulation in European bivalves. However, other factors are also likely to play an important role, including the presence or absence of a de novo biological source, which remains elusive

Improving satellite monitoring of coastal inundations of pelagic Sargassum algae with wind and citizen science data

Massive blooms of pelagic Sargassum algae have caused serious problems to coastal communities and ecosystems throughout the tropical Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico since 2011. Efforts to monitor and predict these occurrences are challenging owing to the vast area impacted and the complexities associated with the proliferation and movement of Sargassum. Sargassum Inundation Reports (SIRs) were first produced in 2019 to estimate the potential risk to coastlines throughout the Intra-American Sea at weekly intervals at 10 km resolution. SIRs use satellite-based data products to estimate beaching risk from the amount of offshore Sargassum (quantified by a Floating Algal density index). Here we examine whether including wind metrics improves the correspondence between the offshore Floating Algal density index and observations of Sargassum along the coastline. For coastal observations, we quantified the percent coverage of Sargassum in photos obtained from the citizen science project "Sargassum Watch" that collects time-stamped, georeferenced photos at beaches throughout the region. Region-wide analyses indicate that including shoreward wind velocity with SIR risk indices greatly improves the correspondence with coastal observations of Sargassum beaching compared to SIR risk indices alone. Site-specific analyses of photos from southeast Florida, USA, and data from a continuous video monitoring study at Puerto Morelos, Mexico, suggest potential uncertainties in the suite of factors controlling Sargassum beaching. Nonetheless, the inclusion of wind velocity in the SIR algorithm appears to be a promising avenue for improving regional risk indices

Improving satellite monitoring of coastal inundations of pelagic Sargassum algae with wind and citizen science data

Massive blooms of pelagic Sargassum algae have caused serious problems to coastal communities and ecosystems throughout the tropical Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico since 2011. Efforts to monitor and predict these occurrences are challenging owing to the vast area impacted and the complexities associated with the proliferation and movement of Sargassum. Sargassum Inundation Reports (SIRs) were first produced in 2019 to estimate the potential risk to coastlines throughout the Intra-American Sea at weekly intervals at 10 km resolution. SIRs use satellite-based data products to estimate beaching risk from the amount of offshore Sargassum (quantified by a Floating Algal density index). Here we examine whether including wind metrics improves the correspondence between the offshore Floating Algal density index and observations of Sargassum along the coastline. For coastal observations, we quantified the percent coverage of Sargassum in photos obtained from the citizen science project “Sargassum Watch” that collects time-stamped, georeferenced photos at beaches throughout the region. Region-wide analyses indicate that including shoreward wind velocity with SIR risk indices greatly improves the correspondence with coastal observations of Sargassum beaching compared to SIR risk indices alone. Site-specific analyses of photos from southeast Florida, USA, and data from a continuous video monitoring study at Puerto Morelos, Mexico, suggest potential uncertainties in the suite of factors controlling Sargassum beaching. Nonetheless, the inclusion of wind velocity in the SIR algorithm appears to be a promising avenue for improving regional risk indices.Environmental Fluid Mechanic