Aspects regarding the use of GIS for quantifying climatic factors influencing vineyards suitability

Our study presents some possibilities of quantifying climatic factors influencing vineyards suitability at fine scale. Because of the insufficient meteorological stations data, statistical models generally fail at local scale, being unable to take into account local terrain characteristics. This is especially the case of air temperature, for which we applied a correction based on global radiation, in order to take into account terrain slope and aspect. We further analysed the possibilities to derive spatial distributions for global radiation, sunshine duration, and using SAGA-GIS software, mean annual precipitations, using a regression-kriging approach and more complex temperature parameters, such as the sum of daily temperatures above 10oC

Contributions to the regionalization of air temperature in Europe

Contribuţii la regionalizarea temperaturii aerului în Europa. Din bibliotecile de specialitate nu lipsesc studii, manuale şi atlase privind repartiţia spaţială a precipitaţiilor in Europa, la nivel local, regional şi chiar european. Lucrarea noastra se justifică prin aceea că aduce unele precizări, pe care ne permitem să le apreciem ca necesare, dat fiind faptul că la ora actuală ne sunt la indemână date mai numeroase şi mai precise, inclusiv imagini satelitare. Toate acestea ne-au permis să facem o analiză mai fundamentată, in primul rând a raportului dintre originea, caracterul şi, mai ales, dinamica maselor de aer şi repartiţia spaţială a precipitaţiilor la nivelul continentului. În lucrare au fost analizate totodată şi rolul latitudinii, reliefului, mărilor şi oceanelor vecine in explicarea fenomenului care face obiectul acestei lucrări. Pentru ilustrarea grafică  a repartiţiei spaţiale a precipitaţiilor am construit un set de hărţi reprezentative, folosind mijloace informatice moderne

Preliminary Approach on the Estimation of Ponto-Sarmatic Habitats’ Preservation in NE Romania via Herpetological Indicators

The present scientific approach proposes a preliminary study on habitat suitability and factors’ influence using the herpetological indicator Vipera ursinii moldavica and is intended to depict well adapted preservation measures for the Ponto-Sarmatic ecosystems in the context of increased human pressure. The primary goal is to establish an impact hierarchy for the controlling factors. The study incorporates various natural and human related factors via correspondence analysis in order to mark out for the most influential ones. The goal is to enhance understanding of variables’ contribution to the process and find appropriate intervention measures as far as the Natura 2000 Management Plans are concerne

HUMIC FRACTIONS FROM TWO SOIL TYPES LOCATED IN HARGHITA MOUNTAINS

Abstract. The analysis of organic matter components was carried out for 3 soil subtypes, identified and diagnosed in Harghita Mountains, namely a Stagnic Luvosol, a Histic and a Histic-Skeletic Prepodzol. The purpose of our research was to identify some qualitative and quantitative differentiations within the organic matter. In this respect, the organic matter accumulation is high and it correlates with altitude and land cover. The lowest degree of humification characterises the stagnic Luvosol, while the highest is present in the histic-scheletic Prepodzol. The polymerization degree of humic acids reveals the dominant formation of fulvic acids (among which, the aggressive fraction dominates in the lower half of the soil profile). The non-extractible fraction has the highest values in the case of the stagnic Luvosol (which does not provide favourable conditions for the development of microbial flora) and the lowest ones in the case of the histic skeletic Prepodzol

Aspects importants vis-a-vis de la distribution territoriale des precipitations en Europe

Aspecte importante asupra distribuţiei teritoriale a precipitaţiilor din Europa. Repartiţia spaţială a precipitaţiilor în Europa este determinată de numeroşi factori, între care cei mai importanţi sunt caracterul şi dinamica maselor de aer, raporturile Europei cu suprafţele acvatice şi continentale înconjurătoare, latitudinea şi relieful. În ansamblu, Europa primeşte cantităţi importante de precipitaţii care sunt capabile să menţină un covor vegetal spontan generalizat şi să permită cultivarea plantelor, cu mici excepţii,pe întreaga sa suprafaţă. În repartiţia spaţială a precipitaţiilor se constată însăimportante diferenţieri, care sunt determinate de factorii amintiţi aici. Aceştia nu se impun peste tot în aceeaşi măsură, iar aportul lor cantitativ este foarte diferenţiat. Totodata, unii dintre factorii implicaţi în repartiţia teritorială a precippitaţiilor din Europa sunt foarte dinamici şi calitatea lor se modifică dela un sezon la altul, favorizând sau defavorizând anumite regiuni ale continentului. Hărţile prezentate de noi pun în evidenţă diferenţieri spaţiale ale pluviozităţii nu numai anuale dar şi sezoniere sau lunare

Aspects regarding the use of statistical methods for quantifying the influence of climatic factors on crop productivity

Our study attempts to assess the usefulness of statistical methods, namely correlation matrices and multiple regression, for explainingthe annual fluctuations of crop productivity. We analysed the evolution of productivity for5 crops (winter wheat, maize, sun-flower, potato and sugar beet), using the mean values for Iaşi and Botoşani counties, within the period 1990-2007. Using different agroclimatic predictors, according to the specific crop requirements, we found that winter wheat andmaize productivity is better related to the annual fluctuations of climatic conditions. The most important factors explaining the productivity evolution are the mean temperatures for the second development stage, in the case of winter wheat, and the precipitations accumulated during the vegetation period for maize.</p

Quantitative estimation of soil erosion in the Larga catchment - Tigheci Hills

Soil erosion is a severe form of soil degradation. Factors influencing this process, produced by water and wind on the soil surface, do not act in isolation, but in a complex and interdependent manner. For quantitative estimation of soil erosion, it was applied the universal soil loss equation, adapted by Moțoc et al. (1975) for soil and climate conditions of Romania. The input data were the digital terrain model, soils and land use maps. Rainfall erosivity was considered constant. Soil erodibility was determined based on soil type, texture and degree of surface erosion. Vegetation influence was quantified based the normalized difference vegetation index derived from Landsat images. These erosion control factors were derived in raster format, from their integration resulting the estimated potential and actualsurface erosion.</p

Aspects concerning the identification and assessment of the errors affecting statistical spatial models of climatic parameters

Any transformation of a discrete variable into a continuous one is subject to uncertainty. Consequently the identification and assessment of errors is essential for avoiding misinterpretations of models describing the spatial distribution of climatic parameters. Our study attempts to identify the main sources of errors affecting the statistical spatial models of climatic parameters and to assess their impact on the accuracy of these models: e.g. errors from data or metadata, models, or results. Imprecision and uncertainty must be evaluated in the spatial modeling process because it seems essential to propose results taking them into account (the uncertainty of the outcome has to be estimated). Managing uncertainty is essential as it plays an increasing significant role in decision-making. In particular, we discuss the georeference errors, the errors derived from the heterogeneity of the studied region, from the spatial representativeness of the station network, the outliers problem, the statistical errors and the propagation of errors from elementary to complex climatic variables