Potential future climatic conditions on tourists : a case study focusing on Malta and Venice

The main purpose of this study is to quantify important climatic shifts that took place over Malta and Venice that could be considered as a determining factor on their choice as two prime tourist destinations. Rather than making use of traditional tourist climate indices, this study identifi es long-term trends in weather variables and their derived bioclimatic indices. These climate derivatives are based on a set of high temporal observations (some of which are collected every 30 minutes) and are thus able to capture valuable information that traditional monthly distribution cannot provide. The derivatives obtained from the elementary meteorological observations showed that the level of comfort experienced by visiting tourists over the long term is deteriorating due to increased heat stress. Nonetheless, the increased occurrence of optimal wind speed conditions, as well as a reduced occurrence of gale storms and wind chill events is making these destinations more attractive. A careful study of the output of IPCC climate model projections sheds light on a critical future bioclimate condition during current peak visiting months (July and August) at both destinations. This may imply a required shift, as a form of adaptation, of the visiting periods at these two destinations. This study should allow tourist planners to determine which weather element is a likely future obstacle to the overall bioclimatic suitability of outdoor tourism activities.peer-reviewe

From climate perception to action : strategic adaptation for small island farming communities : a focus on Malta

Located in the central Mediterranean Sea, the Maltese islands are prone to a set of climate change impacts that are specific to the region. Local climatological records show a warming trend of both the annual maximum and minimum temperatures, where the incidence of warmer nights is becoming increasingly common. Coherence in the formulation and application of climate related policy that deals with climate change adaptation is fundamental in order to ensure avoidance of sectorial initiatives that may have unintended but negative adaptive consequences.peer-reviewe

An evaluation of novel remotely sensed data to improve and verify ocean- atmosphere forecasting.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of novel remote observations and spatial data analysis to improve the skill of an ocean forecasting system for the central Mediterranean Sea. A high-resolution (0.042 by 0.042ๆ ocean forecasting system was setup consisting of an atmosphere model (NCEP Eta model) that was coupled to an ocean model (Princeton Ocean Model). This coupling consisted of the provision of surface atmospheric fluxes predicted at 3-hourly intervals to drive forward the ocean model. This research study dealt with a variety of aspects to improve this forecasting system using an inter-disciplinary approach. The main aspect of this thesis is an evaluation of novel, remotely- sensed data acquired by an orbiting passive microwave sensor as a tool to assess and improve ocean forecasting. Thus, SST derived by the Tropical Microwave Imager onboard the TRMM satellite was evaluated for its potential to define one of the lower boundary conditions of the Eta model. The impact was positive, and resulted in an average improvement of the skill of the model to predict lower surface marine winds by approximately 10%. TMI-data proved extremely useful to derive instantaneous turbulent heat fluxes and other surface geophysical fields that were needed to diagnose and fine-tune the skill of the Eta model to forecast these fields. The TMI SST product also proved to be a valuable data source for data assimilation by the ocean model. An optimised data assimilation scheme was derived resulting in a bias of just -0.05 С after a 15-day model integration run. This thesis shows how spatial data analysis can provide more detailed information about the high-resolution forecasts and their quality in addition to standard verification tools. Routines that explore the spatial data of the forecasts, observations and their relationship were developed and applied. Geostatistical analysis was used to model the spatial structure of the residual fields of the predictions and observations, and to translate the degree of spatial correlation in numerical and graphical terms

High resolution agriculture land cover using aerial digital photography and GIS : a case study for small island states

Chapter 7With the advent of site-specific crop management, sustainability and profitability, land farming now requires information and technology-based management system to identify, analyse and manage spatial and temporal resource variability. Th is approach is being made increasingly possible by recent innovation in information technologies such as mobile devices, geographic information systems, positioning technologies (such as Geographical Position system), and Earth Observations. Such innovation now off ers a holistic approach to micro-manage agricultural resources. (Robert et al., 1994). Basic mapping and farm-level record keeping is one of the first precision agriculture practices that must be implemented in a typical productive agriculture operation (Stombaugh et al., 2001). Typical tasks include mapping of variations that occur in largescale field features such as vegetation stress, crop rotation, inventorying, irrigation, soil drainage and erosion, pest control, etc. Th e search for a low cost methodology that takes into account the growth of information technology in data capture and surveying, data processing, database creation and geographic information systems becomes mandatory in order to respond to such needs. Th e study constitutes, for the first time in Malta, the collection of high precision farming statistics that makes use of an inexpensive system for aerial mapping that requires minimal ground truthing. Th e effectiveness of such a method for small areas was later demonstrated by Galdies and Borg (2006) related to coastal and beach management in the Maltese islands. In the current case, digital aerial remote sensing enabled the accurate mapping of agricultural variables, and coupled with ground survey data, resulted in the production of precise, high resolution agricultural crop-cover maps. Additional information can be further derived from this data that can be used for the optimisation of micro agriculture practices.peer-reviewe

Photometric observations of main-belt asteroids 1637 Swings, 10498 Bobgent, and (25980) 2001 FK 53

Photometric observations of asteroids 1637 Swings, 10498 Bobgent and (25980) 2001 FK 53 were acquired from Flarestar Observatory (MPC171) and Znith Observatory in 2017. The observations were made during a favourable apparition for each asteroid.peer-reviewe

Emergent realities for social wellbeing : environmental, spatial and social pathways

Full range economic costing of weather disasters tends to be quite challenging. Complete and systematic data on such impacts are often lacking, and most data sets generally tend to underestimate losses. The best estimates made by Hoeppe (2016) for the average global cost of natural disasters worldwide between 1980 and 2014 have caused a total of 1.7 million fatalities and at least $4,200bn damages, including$1,100bn insured losses. Around 65% of the overall losses were due to convective and hydrological events. And what about future trends? Nineteen years ago, William Nordhaus (1997) expressed his dilemma that is still haunting both scientists and economists of today. It relates to the current significant knowledge gaps between the projected increase of temperature (now with high confidence) and its translation into future ecological, economic and social outcomes. Many important sectors still lack a proper description of their future growth dynamics in the presence of such impacts (Hallegatte et al., 2016) and economists often resort to the modeling of long-term economic growth on the basis of current time horizon and climate change scenarios. In doing so, they are neglecting the possibility of potential deviations from presumed model conditions of economic growth, irrespective of whether adverse impacts affect rich economies or those already weakened by various disequilibria or inertia in their readjustment process.peer-reviewe

On the recent occurrence of Brachytrupes megacephalus (Lefebvre, 1827) (Orthoptera – Gryllidae) on Lampedusa

Considering the species’ distribution, it is of particular interest that until four male specimens were recorded during the first half of April 2014, this species was unknown from Lampedusa, as attested by both scientific workers familiar with the Orthoptero-fauna of the islet and local farmers (PRAZZI et al.,2014). The authors note that in the days prior to these discoveries, strong winds were blowing that could have aided dispersal of the individuals from the Tunisian coast some 140 km away or from Lino-sa, some 45 km away; no indication of wind speeds is given in the said short note. The authors however acknowledge that this species is not known to take to the wing and cover such considerable distances. Another manner by which the species may have found itself on Lampedusa, according to the authors, is via passive dispersal, primarily on ferries or even immigrant boats that sailed to Lampedusa from coastal locations where the cricket maintains a population. The authors draw an analogy with the Gregarious Locust (Schistocera gregaria) migration of November 2012, when numerous locusts were observed on Lampedusa, in both rural and urban areas (PRAZZIet al., 2014).peer-reviewe

Envisioning a national climate service for Malta

The link between public policy and climate change has never been as strong as it is now. From the most recent international climate change conferences in Paris, Madrid and Glasgow to emissions regulations, resilience and adaptation, national governments forge public policies aimed at managing the impacts of climate change on primary economic sectors. This is also valid locally where manufacturing, agriculture and energy are just three important sectors that are sensitive to a changing climate. This short article describes the importance of basing our national public policies on factual information that reflects the real impact of a changing climate on our Maltese assets, and not just on an assumed, theoretical one. It aims to make public officials in the public sector aware of the limitations in the local infrastructure that deals with the documentation, archiving, provision and understanding of how physical climate parameters are changing over time and how these can be used by national authorities to redefine public policies accordingly so as to make them Malta specific. Without this knowledge there is a danger that public policies will be less effective or even counterproductive to a select number of our economic sectors, and ultimately to the quality of life of the Maltese people.peer-reviewe

Climate change

This chapter focuses on scientific evidence for local climate change as well as mitigation and adaptation measures that took place in Malta during the reporting period 2008-2015. Its format follows the one included in the former State of the Environment Report (SoER) and is written in a language that is accessible by all so that it can be of benefit to both the non-specialist and the serious researcher.peer-reviewe

A new binary star system of EA type in Perseus : UCAC4 735-019611

Discovery of a new binary star system (UCAC4 735-019611 = USNO-B1.0 1469-0068570 = 2MASS J01561032+5657563) in the Perseus constellation is presented. It was discovered during asteroid photometric work. The shape of the light curve and its characteristics (period of 2.12701 ± 0.00001d, amplitude of V=0.55 mag, initial minimum period epoch HJD 2457363.37784) indicates that the new variable star is an eclipsing binary of Algol (EA) type. We registered this variable star in the International Variable Star Index (VSX) and its AAVSO UID is 000-BLW-283.peer-reviewe