The Hunt for Missing Tornadoes: Using Satellite Imagery to Detect and Document Historical Tornado Damage in Canadian Forests

Historical tornado events from 1982 to 2020 were documented within Canada’s forested regions using high-resolution satellite imagery. Tornado forest disturbances were identified using a three-step process: 1) detecting, 2) assessing, and 3) dating each event. A grid of 120 km 3 120 km boxes was created covering Canada (excluding the extreme north). Of the 484 boxes, 367 were manually searched. Once a long, narrow region of tree damage was detected, it was first cross-referenced with known tornado databases to ensure it was a unique event. Once events were classified as either tornadic or downburst, the coordinates of the start, worst damage, and end locations were documented, as well as the direction of motion, damage indicators, degree of damage, estimated maximum wind speed, and F/EF-scale rating. In total, 231 previously unknown tornadoes were identified. In Ontario, 103 events were discovered, followed by 98 in Quebec, 9 in Manitoba, 6 in Saskatchewan, 9 in Alberta, 5 in British Columbia, and 1 in New Brunswick. The largest number of discovered tornadoes occurred in 2015, and the largest number of strong F2 tornadoes occurred in 2005. Most of the discovered tornadoes occurred in July for both F/EF1 and F/EF2 ratings. Most tornado tracks had widths between 200 and 400 m, and more than 50% of the tornadoes had a pathlength of less than 10 km. Of all the events that were discov-ered, 125 events could be fully dated, 19 were dated only by month, 41 were dated only by year, and 46 remained undated

The Northern Tornadoes Project - Uncovering Canada’s True Tornado Climatology

Canada is a vast country with most of its population located along its southern border. Large areas are sparsely populated and/or heavily forested, and severe weather reports are rare when thunderstorms occur there. Thus, it has been difficult to accurately assess the true tornado climatology and risk. It is also important to establish a reliable baseline for tornado-related climate change studies. The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), led by Western University, is an ambitious multidisciplinary initiative aimed at detecting and documenting every tornado that occurs across Canada. A team of meteorologists and wind engineers collects research-quality data during each damage investigation, via thorough ground surveys and high-resolution satellite, aircraft and drone imaging. Crowdsourcing through social media is also key to tracking down events. In addition, NTP conducts research to improve our ability to detect and accurately assess tornadoes that affect forests, cropland and grassland. An open data website allows sharing of resulting data sets and analyses. Pilot investigations were carried out during the warm seasons of 2017 and 2018, with the scope expanding from the detection of any tornadoes in heavily forested regions of central Canada in 2017 to the detection of all EF1+ tornadoes in Ontario plus all significant events outside of Ontario in 2018. The 2019 season was the first full campaign, systemically collecting research-quality tornado data across the entire country. To date, the Project has found 89 tornadoes that otherwise would not have been identified, and increased the national tornado count in 2019 by 78%. © 2020 American Meteorological Societ

Deletion of Genes Implicated in Protecting the Integrity of Male Germ Cells Has Differential Effects on the Incidence of DNA Breaks and Germ Cell Loss

Infertility affects approximately 20% of couples in Europe and in 50% of cases the problem lies with the male partner. The impact of damaged DNA originating in the male germ line on infertility is poorly understood but may increase miscarriage. Mouse models allow us to investigate how deficiencies in DNA repair/damage response pathways impact on formation and function of male germ cells. We have investigated mice with deletions of ERCC1 (excision repair cross-complementing gene 1), MSH2 (MutS homolog 2, involved in mismatch repair pathway), and p53 (tumour suppressor gene implicated in elimination of germ cells with DNA damage).We demonstrate for the first time that depletion of ERCC1 or p53 from germ cells results in an increased incidence of unrepaired DNA breaks in pachytene spermatocytes and increased numbers of caspase-3 positive (apoptotic) germ cells. Sertoli cell-only tubules were detected in testes from mice lacking expression of ERCC1 or MSH2 but not p53. The number of sperm recovered from epididymes was significantly reduced in mice lacking testicular ERCC1 and 40% of sperm contained DNA breaks whereas the numbers of sperm were not different to controls in adult Msh2 -/- or p53 -/- mice nor did they have significantly compromised DNA.These data have demonstrated that deletion of Ercc1, Msh2 and p53 can have differential but overlapping affects on germ cell function and sperm production. These findings increase our understanding of the ways in which gene mutations can have an impact on male fertility

DNA mismatch repair gene MSH6 implicated in determining age at natural menopause

notes: PMCID: PMC3976329This is a freely-available open access publication. Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.The length of female reproductive lifespan is associated with multiple adverse outcomes, including breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and infertility. The biological processes that govern the timing of the beginning and end of reproductive life are not well understood. Genetic variants are known to contribute to ∼50% of the variation in both age at menarche and menopause, but to date the known genes explain <15% of the genetic component. We have used genome-wide association in a bivariate meta-analysis of both traits to identify genes involved in determining reproductive lifespan. We observed significant genetic correlation between the two traits using genome-wide complex trait analysis. However, we found no robust statistical evidence for individual variants with an effect on both traits. A novel association with age at menopause was detected for a variant rs1800932 in the mismatch repair gene MSH6 (P = 1.9 × 10(-9)), which was also associated with altered expression levels of MSH6 mRNA in multiple tissues. This study contributes to the growing evidence that DNA repair processes play a key role in ovarian ageing and could be an important therapeutic target for infertility.UK Medical Research CouncilWellcome Trus