Dynamical and temporal characterization of the total ozone column over Spain

As the ozone is one of the most relevant variables in the climate system, to get further in its long-term characterization is a critical issue. In this study, measurements of total ozone column (TOC) from five well-calibrated Brewer spectrophotometers placed in the Iberian Peninsula are analyzed. The temporal trend rate for TOC is +9.3 DU per decade for the period 1993–2012 in Central Iberian Peninsula. However, the low TOC levels during 2011 and 2012 over the study region notably reduce this rate. Empirical linear relationships are established between TOC and pressure, height, and temperature of the tropopause. The linear fits showed seasonal and latitudinal dependence, with stronger relationships during winter and spring. Events with the presence of a double tropopause (DT) are proved to be characteristic of the study region. The decrease in TOC levels when these anomalous events occur is quantified around 10 % in winter and spring with respect to the usual cases with a single tropopause. The total weight of the DT events with respect to the annual values is about 20 %, with a negligible occurrence in summer and autumn and being latitudinal-dependent. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index explains 30 % of the total ozone variability in winter. The DT events are found to be more frequent during phases with positive NAO.This work was partially supported the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through project CGL2011-29921-C02-01

Multi-technique approach to rockfall monitoring in the Montserrat massif (Catalonia, NE Spain)

Montserrat Mountain is located near Barcelona in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, and its massif is formed by conglomerate interleaved by siltstone/sandstone with steep slopes very prone to rockfalls. The increasing number of visitors in the monastery area, reaching 2.4 million per year, has highlighted the risk derived from rockfalls for this building area and also for the terrestrial accesses, both roads and the rack railway. A risk mitigation plan has been launched, and its first phase during 2014-2016 has been focused largely on testing several monitoring techniques for their later implementation. The results of the pilot tests, performed as a development from previous sparse experiences and data, are presented together with the first insights obtained. These tests combine four monitoring techniques under different conditions of continuity in space and time domains, which are: displacement monitoring with Ground-based Synthetic Aperture Radar and characterization at slope scale, with an extremely non-uniform atmospheric phase screen due to the stepped topography and atmosphere stratification; Terrestrial Laser Scanner surveys quantifying the frequency of small or even previously unnoticed rockfalls, and monitoring rock block centimetre scale displacements; the monitoring of rock joints implemented through a wireless sensor network with an ad hoc design of ZigBee loggers developed by ICGC; and, finally, monitoring singular rock needles with Total Station.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Comparison of GOME-2/MetOp total ozone data with Brewer spectroradiometer data over the Iberian Peninsula

The main objective of this article is to compare the total ozone data from the new Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment instrument (GOME-2/MetOp) with reliable ground-based measurement recorded by five Brewer spectroradiometers in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, a similar comparison for the predecessor instrument GOME/ERS-2 is described. The period of study is a whole year from May 2007 to April 2008. The results show that GOME-2/MetOp ozone data already has a very good quality, total ozone columns are on average 3.05% lower than Brewer measurements. This underestimation is higher than that obtained for GOME/ERS-2 (1.46%). However, the relative differences between GOME-2/MetOp and Brewer measurements show significantly lower variability than the differences between GOME/ERS-2 and Brewer data. Dependencies of these relative differences with respect to the satellite solar zenith angle (SZA), the satellite scan angle, the satellite cloud cover fraction (CF), and the ground-based total ozone measurements are analyzed. For both GOME instruments, differences show no significant dependence on SZA. However, GOME-2/MetOp data show a significant dependence on the satellite scan angle (+1.5%). In addition, GOME/ERS-2 differences present a clear dependence with respect to the CF and ground-based total ozone; such differences are minimized for GOME-2/MetOp. The comparison between the daily total ozone values provided by both GOME instruments shows that GOME-2/MetOp ozone data are on average 1.46% lower than GOME/ERS-2 data without any seasonal dependence. Finally, deviations of a priori climatological ozone profile used by the satellite retrieval algorithm from the true ozone profile are analyzed. Although excellent agreement between a priori climatological and measured partial ozone values is found for the middle and high stratosphere, relative differences greater than 15% are common for the troposphere and lower stratosphere.This work was partially supported by Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia under project CGL2005-05693-C03-03/CLI and by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion under project CGL2008-05939-C03-02/CLI

Les enquestes a pescadors com a instrument per a detectar processos erosius al litoral rocallós de Menorca (Illes Balears)

En aquest article s'ha realitzat una enquesta de percepció sobre processos de caigudes de blocs i esllavissades a la població de pescadors professionals i recreatius de l'illa de Menorca. Els resultats indiquen els indrets de la costa on els pescadors aprecien fenòmens geomorfològics de caigudes de blocs. A l'hora, ens permet tenir un punt de partida per a l'estudi dels processos inestables a la costa rocosa de Menorca. S'ha pres una mostra representativa de 48 enquestes a pescadors professionals i 88 enquestes a pescadors recreatius delimitant 39 zones amb processos actius. En el cas dels pescadors professionals s'han pres com a zones de mostreig els ports base de: Maó, sa Nitja, Macaret, Fornells, Ciutadella, Biniancolla, es Grau, Alcalfar, Canutells i cales Fonts. Amb el resultat de les enquestes es troben algunes respostes associades a la manca de blocs de tempesta o tsunami a les costes rocoses que ens han animat a explorar tot el perímetre de la costa de Menorca

Les enquestes a pescadors com a instrument per a detectar processos erosius al litoral rocallós de Menorca (Illes Balears)

En aquest article s’ha realitzat una enquesta de percepció sobre processos de caigudes de blocs i esllavissades a la població de pescadors professionals i recreatius de l’illa de Menorca. Els resultats indiquen els indrets de la costa on els pescadors aprecien fenòmens geomorfològics de caigudes de blocs. A l’hora, ens permet tenir un punt de partida per a l’estudi dels processos inestables a la costa rocosa de Menorca. S’ha pres una mostra representativa de 48 enquestes a pescadors professionals i 88 enquestes a pescadors recreatius delimitant 39 zones amb processos actius. En el cas dels pescadors professionals s’han pres com a zones de mostreig els ports base de: Maó, sa Nitja, Macaret, Fornells, Ciutadella, Biniancolla, es Grau, Alcalfar, Canutells i cales Fonts. Amb el resultat de les enquestes es troben algunes respostes associades a la manca de blocs de tempesta o tsunami a les costes rocoses que ens han animat a explorar tot el perímetre de la costa de Menorca.This paper has conducted a survey on fisherman perception about cliff falling blocks processes and their location. It is an starting point for the study of unstable processes on the rocky coast of Menorca. It has taken a representative sample of the fishermen of the island, with 48 s professional and 88 recreational, analyzing 39 localities. Information provided by commercial fishermen have been taken in homeports: Maó, sa Nitja, Macaret, Fornells, Ciutadella, Biniancolla, es Grau, Alcalfar, Canutells i cales Fonts. Results show the lack of storm or tsunami blocks, of the rocky shores in some areas that we have been encouraged to explore the entire perimeter of the coast of Menorca

Tsunami boulders on the rocky coasts of Ibiza and Formentera (Balearic Islands)

Large boulders have been found in marine cliffs from 7 study sites on Ibiza and Formentera Islands (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean). These large boulders of up to 43 t are located on platforms that form the rocky coastline of Ibiza and Formentera, several tens of meters from the edge of the cliff, up to 11 m above sea level and several kilometers away from any inland escarpment. Despite than storm wave height and energy are higher from the northern direction, the largest boulders are located in the southern part of the islands. The boulders are located in the places where numerical models of tsunami simulation from submarine earthquakes on the North African coast predict tsunami impact on these two islands. According to radiocarbon data and rate of growth of dissolution pans, the ages of the boulders range between 1750 AD and 1870 AD. Documentary sources also confirm a huge tsunami affecting the SE coast of Majorca (the largest Balearic Island) in 1756. The distribution of the boulders sites along the islands, the direction of imbrication and the run-up necessary for their placement suggest that they were transported from northern African tsunami waves that hit the coastline of Ibiza and Formentera Islands

Morfometría y dinámica de bloques asociados a tsunami en una rampa litoral del norte de Menorca (Illes Balears)

Se presenta el estudio morfométrico de 128 bloques de grandes dimensiones ubicados en la costa rocosa del Norte de Menorca y el monitoreo y análisis de 28 bloques relacionados con tres temporales marítimos de gran intensidad que acontecieron entre los meses de diciembre de 2014 y noviembre de 2016. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran que el oleaje en este sector de la isla no es suficientemente potente para crear los campos de bloques y los cordones imbricados situados a cotas altas y que deben atribuirse a flujos de tsunamis

Identification of the most vulnerable populations in the psychosocial sphere: a cross-sectional study conducted in Catalonia during the strict lockdown imposed against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design and objectives A cross-sectional study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the psychosocial sphere in both the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods The study was conducted in Catalonia (Spain) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic when strict lockdown was in force. The study population included all people aged over 16 years who consented to participate in the study and completed the survey, in this case a 74-question questionnaire shared via social media using snowball sampling. A total of 56 656 completed survey questionnaires were obtained between 3 and 19 April 2020. The primary and secondary outcome measures included descriptive statistics for the non-psychological questions and the psychological impact of the pandemic, such as depression, anxiety, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder question scores. Results A n early and markedly negative impact on family finances, fear of working with COVID-19 patients and ethical issues related to COVID-19 care among HCWs was observed. A total of seven target groups at higher risk of impaired mental health and which may therefore benefit from an intervention were identified, namely women, subjects aged less than 42 years, people with a care burden, socioeconomically deprived groups, people with unskilled or unqualified jobs, patients with COVID-19 and HCWs working with patients with COVID-19. Conclusions Active implementation of specific strategies to increase resilience and to prepare an adequate organisational response should be encouraged for the seven groups identified as high risk and susceptible to benefit from an intervention

Total ozone column derived from GOME and SCIAMACHY using KNMI retrieval algorithms: Validation against Brewer measurements at the Iberian Peninsula

This article focuses on the validation of the total ozone column (TOC) data set acquired by the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) satellite remote sensing instruments using the Total Ozone Retrieval Scheme for the GOME Instrument Based on the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (TOGOMI) and Total Ozone Retrieval Scheme for the SCIAMACHY Instrument Based on the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (TOSOMI) retrieval algorithms developed by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. In this analysis, spatially colocated, daily averaged ground-based observations performed by five well-calibrated Brewer spectrophotometers at the Iberian Peninsula are used. The period of study runs from January 2004 to December 2009. The agreement between satellite and ground-based TOC data is excellent (R2 higher than 0.94). Nevertheless, the TOC data derived from both satellite instruments underestimate the ground-based data. On average, this underestimation is 1.1% for GOME and 1.3% for SCIAMACHY. The SCIAMACHY-Brewer TOC differences show a significant solar zenith angle (SZA) dependence which causes a systematic seasonal dependence. By contrast, GOME-Brewer TOC differences show no significant SZA dependence and hence no seasonality although processed with exactly the same algorithm. The satellite-Brewer TOC differences for the two satellite instruments show a clear and similar dependence on the viewing zenith angle under cloudy conditions. In addition, both the GOME-Brewer and SCIAMACHY-Brewer TOC differences reveal a very similar behavior with respect to the satellite cloud properties, being cloud fraction and cloud top pressure, which originate from the same cloud algorithm (Fast Retrieval Scheme for Clouds from the Oxygen A-Band (FRESCO+)) in both the TOSOMI and TOGOMI retrieval algorithms.This work was partially supported by the Andalusian Regional Government through projects P08‐RNM ‐3568 andP10‐RNM‐6299, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology throughprojects CGL2010–18782 and CSD2007–00067, and the European Unionthrough ACTRIS project (EU INFRA‐2010‐1.1.16‐262254)

Tsunamis boulders on the rocky shores of Minorca (Balearic Islands)

Large boulders have been found on marine cliffs of 24 study areas on Minorca, in the Balearic archipelago. These large imbricated boulders of up to 229 t are located on platforms that comprise the rocky coastline of Minorca, several tens of meters from the edge of the cliff, up to 15 m above the sea level and kilometers away from any inland escarpment. They are mostly located on the south-eastern coast of the island, and numerical models have identified this coastline as a zone with a high probability of tsunami impact. The age of the boulders of the studied localities range between 1574 AD and recent times, although most of them are concentrated around the year 1790 AD. Although some storm waves might play a role in their dislodging, the distribution of the boulder sites along the Balearic Islands, the degree and direction of imbrication and the run-up necessary for their placement suggest transport from northern African tsunami waves that hit the coastline of Minorca