World Conference on Climate Change October 24-26, 2016 Valencia, Spain

Biography:

Ionut PURICA, presently an Executive Director of the Advisory Center for Energy and Environment, worked as a project officer for energy and climate change in the World Bank, in Romania,  as an international researcher for ENEA Rome and as an associate researcher at ICTP Trieste. He has authored books at Imperial College Press, Academic Press, etc. and published articles in journals like Risk Analysis, IEEE Power Engineering Review, etc. He took his second PhD in economics, (the first in Energy Engineering) and, is also a Professor teaching a course in Risk management to masters of science in Hyperion University.

Abstract:

The EU is developing and implementing a coherent climate change risk management policy stressing the need to set up insurance policies related to hazard risks. Based on recorded data series for temperature and precipitations for the last 50 years and damage data from the UNSDR and EU Solidarity Fund the risks of combined events (i.e. floods, drought, snow and freeze) are assessed for each of Romania’s counties. The risks are mapped using a tool developed in Excel and the exposure of the population is calculated (risk per capita) for each county. The conclusions are detailing the possibility to use these results to set up a hazard risk insurance policy and a supporting mitigation and adaptation fund.

Biography:

L.J. Johnson-Bell has been an expert wine critic, judge and author for 25 years. She has a BA in Political Sciences from Scripps College, California, and diplomas from le SciencesPo, l’Université de Paris IV la Sorbonne, l’Université de Nice and post-graduate diplomas in Law from Oxford Brookes and the University of Oxford’s OXILP. She is CEO and founder of the newly-formed Wine and Climate Change Institute, an Associate / Viticulture Resilience Expert with the Global Climate Adaptation Partnership, and she is co-producing the TV documentary based on her most recent book Wine and Climate Change: Winemaking in a New World.

Abstract:

When vitisvinifera is grown outside its indigenous regions, irrigation is necessary. 99% of the water used in wine-making is for irrigation. In fact, irrigation is viticulture’s number one Adaptation ally, whilst it is Mitigation’s number one foe. Climatologists love wine. The grapeis the crop most susceptible to changes in climate, and its migration patterns serve as models for future climate scenarios. The Water Footprint Network reports that it takes 29 gallons (131 litres) of water for a glass of wine (comprising blue, green and grey waters). This calculation would have taken into account the type and frequency of irrigation, planting density, type of rootstock, trellising style, soil properties, varietal and a vineyard’s temperatures, wind and sun exposure. It is interesting then, that this thirsty $30 billion international industry and its water crisis has not come into more focus. An agricultural crop like any other, wine grapes rarely feature in discussions of water competition when in fact, there are regions where local water licenses are allocated to wineries rather than to agricultural crops and livestock. With more erratic harvest conditions existing within increasing temperatures (weather vs climate), the majority of the world’s viticulturists are under threat from drought. This presentation is concerned with investigating the comparative use of blue water (irrigation) amongst the principal wine regions: techniques employed; resulting yield ratios (on average, irrigated yields are larger than rain-fed yields which can skewer the footprint calculation); and examines the industry’s adaption methods in the context of EU appellation policy.

Biography:

Minghao Bai has completed his Bachelor of Science at the age of 23 years from Hohai University School of Science, and doctoral studies from Business School of Hohai University. During this time, he has participated in many projects, such as Jiangsu province’ soft science research project, fundamental research funds for the central universities and the national social science project.

Abstract:

With the advance of urbanization, city agglomerations have emerged on a large scale in China. However, the extension of the scale and the concentration of population and industry result into large input of resources and discharge of pollutants, inserting great pressure to the resource environment of the city agglomeration regions. And the frequent extreme climate brings great uncertainty to the tense environmental carrying capacity. Based on the background, this paper aims to figure out the space of city agglomerations to adapt to water-use risk and the factors influencing its adaptability. Considering that VAR model based on hierarchical Bayesian can not only figure out the homogeneity risk response of large-scale city urbanization, but also judge the impact of heterogeneity factors on risk adaptability, this paper adopts it to analyze, from the temporal space, the fluctuant range of years’ rainfall in city agglomeration which can survive the extreme climate and maintain the normal production and living. And the results find that: the space size of water-use risk adaptation in China city agglomeration has high correlation to spatial location. Western city agglomerations can maintain the normal production and living under greater rainfall fluctuation range, followed by middle city urbanizations, and then by eastern ones. While the situation in southern city agglomerations is better than that in northern ones. Three factors can explain the results: water resource endowment, river basin location, and city agglomeration scale. In the end, this paper has given some suggestions to city agglomerations in China about how to adapt to climate change.

Biography:

Gualtiero A.N. Valeri borned in Padua, year 1960. Live in Switzerland and in Ecuador. Studied industrial chemistry and chemical engineering in Padua. Consultant in the applied sciences, R&D.

Professor of Industrial Chemistry at St. Rita University of Rome. Member of Tiberina Pontificial Academy. Vicepresident of scientific committeè of Meditarranean Parliament. President of Montevenda Engineering International Association.

“J. Benveniste” award for the Biophysic, year 2011.

Special award for the diffusion of scientific culture from Center “Culturambiente” of Rome and the from “Centre for Peace” of Vatican City, year 2013.

“Hyppocrates” award for the Medicine year 2015.

Abstract:

Among the causes related to climate change - in part for natural, and partly by human action - an important factor, as already mentioned by the author in the past, is connected to the change of state of soils and to land use in a great part of the planet.

As noted above, an important contribution to climate modulation, canceling, at least partly, the natural or anthropogenic factors that determine it, would be in the recover of a green cover - agricultural and forestry - in the soils today have become infertile, at the same time recovering and protecting the original biodiversity.

We can estimate to 30% of the dry land the surface now occupied by deserts.

A first, successful, experiment, which extends now over large areas in Africa and China, has been done, over the last years, by prof. Venanzio Vallerani (1924†2012).

For desert areas where even the Vallerani system is inapplicable, we want here to propose a modification of it, related to a series of measures to support plants growth, prevent the silting up of the same, and to develop a land use planning that encourage its natural, climatic and socio-economic recovery.

We will, therefore, with this intervention hypothesis, pass from a passive phase of observation of climatic changes in place, to an active phase of testing of possible solutions - implemented in large scale - of the phenomenon, especially in relation to the needs of life (social, in terms of health, and economic) of the world population.

Biography:

Fabio Teodoro de Souza has completed his PhD at the age of 32 years from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ). He concluded his postdoctoral studies in 2010 at the Tsinghua University in Beijing (China). He is Professor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) at the Postgraduate Program in Urban Management since 2011 and member of the International Network Routes towards Sustainability since 2014. Souza is coordinator of a research project concerning air pollution and respiratory diseases financed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. Souza published four articles with Impact Factor > 1,4 (JCR).

Abstract:

The sustainability of large cities is controlled by consumption, disposal, and environmental capacity. The weather patterns have been affected by the quick growing of the cities. These imbalances imply climate changes and negative consequences to the public health. In addition, due to the explosive growth in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel usage, researchers emphasize the importance in improving the quantitative control of the global carbon cycle as a central element to understand the patterns and projections of climate change. It is also discussed the importance in attributing observed CO₂ variations to human or natural cause. This research focuses on better understanding the relationships between air pollution and respiratory diseases. The methodology consists in applying data mining techniques on hospitalization due to respiratory diseases organized with atmospheric and urban variables. The knowledge acquired from this study - which is still in the early phase of data collection - could be useful for urban management and public health policies. Some qualitative associations between air pollutants in Curitiba and respiratory morbidity of childhood population have been discussed. Curitiba has a metropolitan area with population around 3 million. Some scientists highlighted the necessity of spreading methodological experiences from medium-size cities with relatively stable emissions to the more complex and representative environments of megacities (metropolitan areas with populations greater than 10 million). Moreover, this research should verify if the use of data mining techniques may potentially contribute to explain air pollution associated to the augment of the anthropogenic CO₂ signal in urban environments of megacities.

Biography:

Gregg Walker is a faculty member in the communication, environmental sciences, forestry, geosciences, and public policy programs at Oregon State University.  He teaches courses in conflict management, negotiation, mediation, environmental conflict resolution, and science communication.  He conducts conflict management training programs, designs and facilitates public participation processes about environmental policy issues, and researches community-level collaboration efforts. He works with the National Collaboration Cadre of the US Forest Service and the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.  He leads climate change project teams for Mediators Beyond Borders and the International Environmental Communication Association and has attended the last seven COPs.

Abstract:

Climate policies, such as those featured in the Paris Agreement, are grounded in the arenas of scientific and technical information.  The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasize, understandably, scientific and technical aspects of climate change.  The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)includesa negotiating group, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA), that, as its name states, addresses science and technology.

Climate science serves as the primary driver for climate policy; but climate policy becomes meaningful through climate practice.  Consequently, climate science and climate practice together provide the essential foundation for efficacious climate policy.  And the practices of climate change – the enactment of policies related to all aspects of climate change (e.g., mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building) rely on human dimensions.  The IPCC and UNFCCC have focused on scientific and technical aspects of climate change, but as climate policy turns to implementation, human dimensions become increasingly important.

This paper focuses on four human dimension “Cs” of climate change – factors that are critical to enacting sound climate policy – in practice.  The four factors – communication, culture, conflict, and collaboration – should be addressed substantially for climate practice to achieve climate policy goals.  The paper discussed these four “Cs” and illustrates their importance through an analysis of one mitigation-related area – REDD+; and one adaptation-related area – loss and damage.  The essay contends that for climate policies to be effective in practice,the scientific/technical and human dimensions need attention and integration.

Biography:

Graciela I. Ramírez torocompleted her PhD at Drexel University in 1991. She is the director of CECIA, the Environmental Institute of Inter American University of Puerto Rico.  She has authored some 100 environmental studies and served on National, Commonwealth and local administrative and scientific  committees including the National Drinking Water Advisory Council, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology.

Abstract:

Oceanic slands are among the first and likeliest venues to feel the effects of climate change and in those venues the effects are most likely to be severe.  In a  coastal setting we present historical anthropogenic changes to stream flow, water quality, agriculture and vegetative cover and their effects, both actual and as perceived by residents, on human habitation and politico-social stressors.  Among the actual effects are increased risks of waterborne and waterwashed diseases.While the specific changes are not reliably due to climate change the effects are exactly what are likely to occur due to increased rainfall, higher temperatures and sea level rise.  These include reduced velocities in streams due to occlusion, changes in watersheds, reduced species diversity and loss of arable land area.  We illustrate each of these and suggest how earlier implementation of some of US EPA’s planning materials (particularlyPriorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate) could have reduced stresses in the area and would help prepare areas such as this for the effects of climate change.  For example, establishing a planning process focused on local conditions, improved sharing of local water information and strengthened vulnerability assessmentswould have mitigated physical effects and reduced psycho-social stress.  In addition, we show some of the particular sensitivities of islands to environmental dangers from solid waste disposal and landfills.

Biography:

Hyo-Sun Kim is a Senior Economist of the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) for the Arctic Energy Financing and Climate Change Policy. Her career includes working for Korea Gas Corporation from 1996 to 2015 and serving at the UN Development Program from 1998 to 1999. She is also a Director of the Korea Environmental Economics Association and a Coordinator of Korea-China Green Forum. She has been serving in advisory policy positions, such as a chair for Carbon Trading Committee for Ministry of Industry and a member of Sustainable Development Committee under International Gas Union.

Abstract:

According to the recent observation by NOAA(US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2015 is the warmest year based on global average temperature since 1880. The air temperatures in the Arctic have been rising at almost twice the global average and the extent and thickness of sea ice in the Arctic have declined. And the warming process in the Arctic is accelerating rapidly. These impacts of drastic change in sea ice caused by climate change in the Arctic threaten the eco-system service and biodiversity in the Arctic. This study intends to estimate the economic value on changes in eco-system services and biodiversity of the Arctic caused by climate change. The result of the valuation indicates that the total benefit from improvement of ecosystem in the Arctic ranges from 318.6 billion won to 715.9 billion won per annum. Replication scenarios can be explored into two broad categories in future studies: scenarios in consideration of conflicts of different stakeholders and scenarios based on wider or narrower definition of biodiversity in the Arctic.

Biography:

Bose K. Varghese is the Head of Green Initiatives at Infosys Limited, India. Prior to joining Infosys, Mr. Varghese served as a director of Vie2Sustain Consulting LLP, Bangalore, India, and head of Climate Change & Sustainability practice at Ernst & Young, Bangalore, India. He holds an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Houston, Texas, and a B. Tech. In Chemical Engineering from the University of Calicut, Kerala.

Abstract:

When the Paris Agreement comes into force, the world would have committed to limiting global warming to below 2⁰C. The 2⁰C regime calls for a drastic and ambitious reduction, up to 70% of the 2010 emissions by 2050, in global GHG emissions. That can be achieved only through a transformation of the fuel intensive sectors and the economy in general. While the 2⁰C regime inherently puts a price on carbon, how to arrive at a fair price, who will pay that price, and how to extract that price are questions yet to be answered. Setting a fair price for carbon will become the responsibility of counties when the global emission reduction target is distributed among them under the Paris Agreement. Carbon pricing will be mainly guided by the investment needs to drive a low carbon transition of the economy. The answer to ‘who will pay and how?’ will largely depend on the implementation mechanism adopted. Carbon tax, allowance auction, cap-and-trade, and international offsets are already established mechanisms. Cap-and-trade and international offsets rely on demand-supply gap in the market. Under a 2⁰C regime, the targets will be steep and all significant emitters would have a share of the target. In such a scenario, it is unlikely that there will be any significant supply of emission reduction under a cap-and-trade scheme or a significant supply of offsets internationally. Carbon tax and allowance auction may offer viable mechanisms to implement a carbon price and generate capital for investing in low carbon transition.

Biography:

Mehrdad Farrokhi has completed his PhD at the age of 33 years from Tarbiat Modares University School of Medicine. He was the Dean of Health School of Guilan university, and Now He is associate professor of Health in Disaster Department of University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences in Tehran Iran. He has published more than 40 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.

Abstract:

Any reduction in the availability of freshwater resources caused by climate change will be particularly problematic for those who live in areas already suffering water scarcity. The world urban population is expected to increase by 72 % by 2050, from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion in 2050. The main objective of this study was evaluating the urbanization rate and its effect on water and wastewater sector in Iran.In the beginning of the 1980s urban population exceeded rural population for the first time. According to the 2006 statistics, the urbanization rate in Iran further increased to 68.46% in the year 2006.The Islamic Republic of Iran today counts more than double the number of inhabitants than 30 years ago. It continues to grow, although not at the same rate as in the past: Since 1995, population growth has been limited to urban areas, whereas rural areas have been characterized by shrinking population numbers since that time. Today, the ratio of urban-rural population is opposite to what it was 50 years ago (2/3 of total population lives in urban area).

The number of cities more than doubled since 1986 (from 496 in 1986 to 1016 in 2006) while the number of villages in the same time span first grew and then diminished by about 7% from 68,215 in 1996 to 63,898 in 2006. The strong population growth in the past poses in urban area, is a big challenge for the water and wastewater sector now. More inhabitants use more water and generate more wastewater and in addition, infrastructure for collection and transport of wastewater needs to be extended as a consequence of rising household numbers. Water supply for urban population increased from 3544.287 million m³ in 1998 to 5177 million m³ in 2006. Compared to population growth of about 12% in the same period, to increase water supply was almost 4 times higher. Beside overall population growth, factors like continuous urbanization, the rising number of cities as well as a shrinking average household size, followed by skyrocketing household numbers, pose an important challenge for water supply and wastewater collection and treatment. In the cities wastewater quantities are bigger not only in total numbers but also per capita than in rural areas.

It is so important point that should be considered that many cities and their water catchments in Iran will get less precipitation in future that is dependent to climate change. It is concluded that special attention should be accorded to urbanization. Their high and continuously rising population, together with increased per-capita consumption poses a main threat to water resources. However, the immediate investments into the wastewater sector as a fresh water resource in cities is a necessity.

Biography:

Abdelkrim Ben Mohamed has completed Doctorat de 3ème Cycle degree in Nuclear Physics and Doctor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science, respectively in 1975 from University Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), and 1988 from University of Niamey (Niger). He was Director of the Institute of Radio-isotopes (Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger), Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), visiting scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (Columbia University N.Y.), and is currently Senior Advisor at the Office of the President of Niger for Water and Environment issues. He published in peer review journals such as Physical Review C, Journal of Applied Meteorology, Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, Climate Change, Regional Environemental Change, among others.

Prof  and Eric Adehossi Omar and Dr Aminath Kelani are Faculty members at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Université Abdou Moumouni.

Abstract:

According to WHO, potentially 400 million people are exposed to bacteria Neisseria meningitidis within the meningitis "belt" of West Africa, resulting in 25 000 to 250 000 victims every year. The meningitis epidemics in this area occur almost exclusively during the local dry season thus suggesting a strong link between climate, environment and meningitis.

A number of authors clearly established that under ongoing climate variability, the starting of meningitis epidemics coincide with the occurrence of large dust events within the area, and cease with the arrival of monsoon rains, synonym of the local humid season. However, it is still not clear what could be the underlying physical mechanisms in both cases, and if climatic factors can be used to predict these epidemics.

On the other hand, and according to IPCC AR4, the Sahel is one of the four regions in the World where precipitation decreased during the last century, so detection and attribution of climate change in this area might be another way to look for explanation of links between meningitis epidemics and climate and environment in the Sahel, as far as the starting mechanism is concerned.

Furthermore, geo-engineering being among the solutions to some aspects of climate change,  it might also be part of the solution to modulate future meningitis epidemics in the Sahel.

The aim of this paper is to address these issues as well as some feasibility aspects.

Biography:

Palencia is a Manufacturing Engineer. She has completed 4 Masters, 4 Specializations and multiple short courses in various engineering and management fields worldwide. She is a PhD candidate at Lund University in Sweden under the supervision of Dr Magnus Persson. She has participated as speaker in various conferences around the world for many years. She has published various papers in topics such as agriculture, remote sensing, modelling and land use optimization, among others.  She has been a consultant for various companies in Colombia and at international level. She has been also widely involved in social work and sustainable development.

Abstract:

Remote sensing has been widely used for determining climate changes characteristics, also in wetland studies. Aster images from 2002 and 2008 demonstrated that the water surface in a wetland located at Guasca Municipality in Colombia increased from 3934 m² to 126403 m² respectively at 15 m resolution. Modis images 13A3 allowed calculation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) on a monthly basis from June to November 2008 with a resolution of 1 km. The results showed how variables such as Net Radiation, Temperature and Rain explained 83 percent of the NDVI monthly changes (data obtained from the meteorological stations HOBO and Campbell placed close to the wetland). In addition, Potential Evapotranspiration was calculated with formulas and compared with the ILWIS software with similar results with averages of 7.7 mm/day. Groundwater level fluctuations on a daily basis were studied as well as data from a piezometer placed next to the wetland during the same time period. Data was fitted with Rain changes with multiple regression analysis and time series, with R² of 0.98. Groundwater temperature and conductivity changes were also analysed, no significant changes over the studied time were noticed. However, conductivity changes were influenced by NDVI, Rain and Evapotranspiration with polynomial fittings greater than 90%. November was characterized by increasing NDVI, meaning that more agriculture took place. Agricultural runoff could increase conductivity due to additional phosphate and nitrate ions. Surface water quality analysis was performed to determine the possible contaminants. The results show that coliforms were the most significant contaminant.

Biography:

Pooja Pant has complete her PhD in July 2015 from City University of Hong Kong. Her PhD thesis is focused on understanding the interrelation and inter-linkage of households’ livelihood system, food security system and climate change in rural area in Far Western Nepal. She is currently involved in local NGOs in Nepal and other research works.

Abstract:

The challenges of the climate change are multifaceted and play an important role in exacerbating the existing problems. One of such problems is food security. Achieving food security for ever increasing population growth is one of the top most priority of the states and researchers all over the world. Crop failure, drying of water bodies, reduced availability of wild food, and loss of livestock due to diseases and other climate related hazards are likely to be more severe with rising anomaly in the world climate. Thus with changing climate, the challenges for achieving world food security is also becoming bigger. It is more precarious to the people who are already poor and are struggling with existing food security problem. Hence, in order to tackle the problem of food security and cope with the adversities, in depth understanding of impacts of climate change on food security is indispensable. This is a significant way to identify best adaptation strategies for communities to achieve food security in the present climate change scenario. This paper analyses how food security of the households in a rural community in Far West Nepal is affected by climate change. It particularly focuses on the food security challenges posed by climate change in food habit of different indigenous communities in a rural society. This paper will explore how indigenous communities try to cope with the adversities posed by climate change. The data were collected using Participatory Rural Appraisal method and household surveys.

Biography:

Kien Van Nguyen is a Luc Hoffmann Research Institute (LHI) research fellow at the Australian National University. He involves in the navigating the nexus of food-water-energy. Kien Van Nguyen took his PhD in sociology at the ANU in 2012 with the support of an Australian Leadership Award from the Australian government. He has more than ten years’ experience in teaching and researching environmental issues in the Mekong River Delta and has presented his work at many international and national conferences on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, and conservation now the main focus of his research interests. Kien has received several research grants from international research and academic institutions. Kien is the Director of Research Center for Rural Development of An Giang University, Vietnam.

Abstract:

People have a long tradition of living with the floods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta by harvesting the floating rice. This floating rice-based agro-ecological system exploited seasonal floods for rural livelihoods until 1980s. In 1974, there were 0.5 million hectares of the floating rice in the VMD, but by 2013, this dropped to 50 hectares (ha), found in Vinh Phuoc and Luong An Tra communes of Tri Ton district in An Giang province. Recognition of the important ecological, economic and cultural values of this floating rice-based agro-ecological system, Research Center for Rural Development (RCRD) of An Giang University has co-designed with local farmers, private sectors and local authorities to initiate a series of research and development outreach activities which aims to help rural communities to restore this valuable geneses as well as ecosystem services for improving rural livelihoods and adaptation to climate change. After operating these research and development activities for two years, we found that behaviours of different stakeholders have changed positively towards this recovery activity. Policy makers recognized the opportunity costs of this system in comparison with intensification of rice, from two to three crops, changed their attitudes toward profitability rather than production. Significantly, the market price of the floating rice was improved by double, giving incentives for farmers to return to the floating rice. More importantly, this system allow farmers to adapt well to floods and droughts because floating rice can elongate well with the flood condition, while farmers can save water for irrigating upland crops thank to the thick layers of rice remaining straws. This paper provides the quantitative economic and ecological values of the floating rice-based agro-ecological systems, describes the co-design participatory processes of floating rice recovery in the Mekong Delta, and suggests avenue for adaptation to climate change in the future.

Biography:

Carla Idely Palencia-Aguilar is a Manufacturing Engineer. She has completed 4 Masters, 4 Specializations and multiple short courses in various engineering and management fields worldwide. She is a PhD candidate at Lund University in Sweden under the supervision of Dr Magnus Persson. She has participated as speaker in various conferences around the world for many years. She has published various papers in topics such as agriculture, remote sensing, modelling and land use optimization, among others. She has been a consultant for various companies in Colombia and at international level. She has been also widely involved in social work and sustainable development.

Abstract:

Remote sensing has been widely used for determining climate changes characteristics, also in wetland studies. Aster images from 2002 and 2008 demonstrated that the water surface in a wetland located at Guasca Municipality in Colombia increased from 3934 m2 to 126403 m2 respectively at 15 m resolution. Modis images 13A3 allowed calculation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) on a monthly basis from June to November 2008 with a resolution of 1 km. The results showed how variables such as Net Radiation, Temperature and Rain explained 83 percent of the NDVI monthly changes (data obtained from the meteorological stations HOBO and Campbell placed close to the wetland). In addition, Potential Evapotranspiration was calculated with formulas and compared with the ILWIS software with similar results with averages of 7.7 mm/day. Groundwater level fluctuations on a daily basis were studied as well as data from a piezometer placed next to the wetland during the same time period. Data was fitted with Rain changes with multiple regression analysis and time series, with R2 of 0.98. Groundwater temperature and conductivity changes were also analysed, no significant changes over the studied time were noticed. However, conductivity changes were influenced by NDVI, Rain and Evapotranspiration with polynomial fittings greater than 90%. November was characterized by increasing NDVI, meaning that more agriculture took place. Agricultural runoff could increase conductivity due to additional phosphate and nitrate ions. Surface water quality analysis was performed to determine the possible contaminants. The results show that coliforms were the most significant contaminant.

Biography:

Pooja Pant has complete her PhD in July 2015 from City University of Hong Kong. Her PhD thesis is focused on understanding the interrelation and inter-linkage of households’ livelihood system, food security system and climate change in rural area in Far Western Nepal. She is currently involved in local NGOs in Nepal and other research works.

Abstract:

The challenges of the climate change are multifaceted and play an important role in exacerbating the existing problems. One of such problems is food security. Achieving food security for ever increasing population growth is one of the top most priority of the states and researchers all over the world. Crop failure, drying of water bodies, reduced availability of wild food, and loss of livestock due to diseases and other climate related hazards are likely to be more severe with rising anomaly in the world climate. Thus with changing climate, the challenges for achieving world food security is also becoming bigger. It is more precarious to the people who are already poor and are struggling with existing food security problem. Hence, in order to tackle the problem of food security and cope with the adversities, in depth understanding of impacts of climate change on food security is indispensable. This is a significant way to identify best adaptation strategies for communities to achieve food security in the present climate change scenario. This paper analyses how food security of the households in a rural community in Far West Nepal is affected by climate change. It particularly focuses on the food security challenges posed by climate change in food habit of different indigenous communities in a rural society. This paper will explore how indigenous communities try to cope with the adversities posed by climate change. The data were collected using Participatory Rural Appraisal method and household surveys.

Biography:

Tyrone Hall currently holds the prestigious Ontario Trillium Scholarship in the joint York and Ryerson Universities PhD programme in Communication and Culture. His graduate work concerns environmental policy and politics, particularly climate change communication. Hall holds a masters in International Development from Clark University in Massachusetts, USA, where he held the Compton International Fellowship in Environment and Sustianable Development. Hall previously managed the communications portfolio for 19 climate change projects across a dozen Caribbean islands. He’s now a communications advisor to the regional climate change body, as well as creator and editor of Caribbean Climate, the premier climate change blog in the Caribbean.

Abstract:

Increasingly, climate change communication practitioners are applying social marketing techniques— more widely associated with piecemeal change in the health and lifestyle sectors— to tackle systemic challenges associated with climate change. Given the limited resources available to tackle this multidimensional phenomenon and the narrow window of opportunity for action, there is great need for effective praxis. This paper takes a key step in this direction by critically examining the utility of applying social marketing —“technologies developed in the commercial sector to solve social problems” —to realize the Caribbean’s low carbon economy goal (Andreasen, 1995, p3). The paper contemplates the orientation of change needed to achieve this goal, and the limitations and strengths of social marketing in enabling the individual, social and political changes necessary for its fruition. It critiques the assumptions embedded in the marketing mix —the core of the social marketing approach—including its fixation on the individual rather than collective, which limits the nature of change that is possible. The paper reveals that though transtheoretical, social marketing is in great need of augmentation to be suitable for the realization of climate change goals. The paper posits a more progressive approach premised on three principles to ensure sustainable change: 1) appealing to a deeper ethos rather than consumerist ethics (price, gratifications); 2) a guiding principle that connects mundane individual actions to the broader challenge to stabilize segmented outcomes (change) and; 3) strengthening the role of communication to be primarily one of empowerment (improving self-efficacy). These principles are recommended alongside reformulated education programmes. These augmentations are advanced within a socio-ecological framework crafted for climate change social marketing to yield scalable change across domains.

Biography:

Moyo Ntandoyenkosi has completed Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental science at the age of 22 years from Walter Sisulu University in South Africa and is now pursuing honors degree looking at the impacts of climate change on rural water resources. He is the tutor in the department of environmental science, tutoring atmosphere and terrain analysis. He attended a habitable planet workshop in Cape Town focusing on climate change issues.

Abstract:

Majority of rural Eastern Cape villages of South Africa households do not have access to safe water supply. Due to changes in climatic conditions for example higher temperatures, these sources become not reliable in supplying adequate and safe water to the population. These rural populations due to the drying up of water resources have to find other alternative ways to get water. Climate change has an impact on the reliability of water resources and this has an impact on rural communities. This study seeks to establish what alternative ways do people use when affected by unfavorably conditions like less rainfall and increased temperatures. The study also seeks to investigate any local and provincial intervention in the provision of water to the village. Interventions can be in the form of programmes or initiatives that involve water supply strategies. The community should participate fully in making sure that their place is serviced. The study will identify households with improved sources (JOJO tanks) and those with unimproved sources (rivers) and investigate what alternatives they resort to when their sources dry up. The study also investigate community views on whether they have any challenges of water supply (reliability and adequacy) as required by section 27(1) (b) of the constitution which states that everyone should have access to safe and clean water.

Biography:

Mohidine Kuku Bakheet, graduated from Al Azahri University, Faculty of Political Science and Strategic Studies. Researcher at Al Azahri University, Faculty of Political Science and Strategic Studies, participated in Arab Federal for Library and Information (AFLI) three times presented a scientific papers related to Information Science and also participated in International Conference related to climate change, one in Negieria, University of Yab College of Technology in April 2012, and another one in African Union in Tanzania, in September 2013.

Abstract:

The paper deals with two basic topics: the first one is about climate change, its concepts, types and causes. The paper executed a comparison in climate change between the developed and in the other hand the developing countries. The paper aims at focusing the light on the most important problems arising from climate change, which includes, among other things, permanent cloudy sky over cities, acid rain, ozone layer erosion, global warming phenomenon and its consequences on public health. The paper also tackles the analysis of the effects of the different human factors and activities on the climate change and to what extend do they influence human health particularly the diseases which commonly infect humans such as (flu, epidermal cancer, low hearing). Also the paper tackles the pollution in closed air places and in the other hand the pollution in open air places and traffic-related air pollution due to climate change. The main hypotheses of the paper are that: climate change effects the atmosphere which leads to air pollution resulting from the combustion of fossil fuel in the atmosphere has impacted human health in the developing world. In fact the developing countries have negligible contribution to air pollution although they were biggest victims of this phenomenon, which became a dreadful obsession of the whole globe. Actually the third world countries share of air pollution is less that1% from the total volume of the emitted harmful gases. Although it's the major region of the globe affected by the phenomenon of climate change. The effect of climate change in this region is far from being equivalent to its contribution in the phenomenon of air pollution and climate change. These effects and other related effects must be responded to practically, strongly vigorously, clearly and transparently by the international community especially the developed countries which have the lion's share in causing these two phenomena, otherwise our globe will be real hell to it inhabitants who are the offenders and the victims at the same time. The paper will include some recommendations and suggestions.

Biography:

Abdelkrim Ben Mohamed has completed Doctorat de 3ème Cycle degree in Nuclear Physics and Doctor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science, respectively in 1975 from University Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg, France), and 1988 from University of Niamey (Niger). He was Director of the Institute of Radio-isotopes (Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger), Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), visiting scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (Columbia University N.Y.), and is currently Senior Advisor at the Office of the President of Niger for Water and Environment issues. He published in peer review journals such as Physical Review C, Journal of Applied Meteorology, Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, Climate Change, Regional Environemental Change, among others.

Abstract:

According to WHO, potentially 400 million people are exposed to bacteria Neisseria meningitidis within the meningitis "belt" of West Africa, resulting in 25 000 to 250 000 victims every year. The meningitis epidemics in this area occur almost exclusively during the local dry season thus suggesting a strong link between climate, environment and meningitis. A number of authors clearly established that under ongoing climate variability, the starting of meningitis epidemics coincide with the occurrence of large dust events within the area, and cease with the arrival of monsoon rains, synonym of the local humid season. However, it is still not clear what could be the underlying physical mechanisms in both cases, and if climatic factors can be used to predict these epidemics. On the other hand, and according to IPCC AR4, the Sahel is one of the four regions in the World where precipitation decreased during the last century, so detection and attribution of climate change in this area might be another way to look for explanation of links between meningitis epidemics and climate and environment in the Sahel, as far as the starting mechanism is concerned. Furthermore, geo-engineering being among the solutions to some aspects of climate change, it might also be part of the solution to modulate future meningitis epidemics in the Sahel. The aim of this paper is to address these issues as well as some feasibility aspects.

Biography:

Renguang Wu obtained his PhD in 1999 from University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. He worked as a Research Scientist at Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, USA. He was a Professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He has published more than 130 papers in referred journals and had served as an Editor of Journal of Climate.

Abstract:

Present study investigated changes in the late 1990s in the Northern Hemisphere sea ice trend and impacts of several factors. While the sea ice extent for the whole Northern Hemisphere in March displays a steady downward trend during 1979-2014, pronounced regional differences are identified in the sea ice trend and its change in the late 1990s, including an enhanced downward trend in the Barents Sea, an increase in the upward trend in the Bering Sea, and a weakening of the upward trend in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The trends and their changes in sea ice in both March and September are consistent with those in concurrent and/or preceding surface air temperature. Atmospheric wind trends and their changes in March and September contribute to surface air temperature trends and their changes in many regions. In March, the northerly trend over the Bering Sea accounts for the surface air cooling trend and the southerly trend over the Okhotsk Sea and the Kara Sea explains the surface air warming trend. In September, the anticyclonic trend over the eastern Arctic region and the southerly trend over the Barents-Kara Seas after the late 1990s enhance the surface air warming trend in these regions, which is consistent with the accelerated decline of the Arctic sea ice in September after the late 1990s. A reduction in multi-year sea ice induced by warming in previous seasons and a positive ice-albedo feedback in summer contribute to the accelerated Arctic sea ice decrease in September after the late 1990s.

Biography:

M Stockhause studied Meteorology at the University of Hamburg and completed her PhD in 2000. After working as an air quality expert for an engineering consulting firm, she became a Data Manager of scientific data at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and the German Climate Computing Center (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum, DKRZ). She is Co-ordinator of the IPCC-DDC (Data Distribution Centre) at DKRZ and a member of IPCC TGICA (Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impacts and Climate Analysis).

Abstract:

Climate change research is driven by data. Remote sensing and obervation data provide evidence of the current situation, whereas model data provide information on the climate’s sensitivity against different climate factors as well as on possible future developments (future projections). Data underlying the IPCC reports provide one of the largest and most comprehensive available data collections. These data disseminated by the IPCC Data Distribution Centres (IPCC-DDC) is used within scientific research for many years. Therefore, it is essential that the data is of high quality and well-documented. But equally important is the long-term availability and curation of the data by a reliable data center such as the IPCC-DDC. The IPCC-DDC for the climate model output data is hosted at the World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). The data workflow from the decentral CMIP (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) data nodes into the central IPCC-DDC long-term archive at WDCC is presented, which includes a thorough quality assurance procedure and the registration of a DataCite DOI enabling data citation. Current and future challenges of the archiving workflow as well as of the data dissemination services for a broad and broadening user community are discussed.

Biography:

R D Schuiling has first worked 4 years as exploration geologist with the Geological Survey of Turkey, after obtaining his Master degree in 1957. He has completed his PhD from Utrecht University and a Post-doctoral year at Princeton University. He was appointed as a Professor of Geochemistry at the Utrecht University in 1972 until his retirement in 1997. He has published more than 300 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

There is much discussion about a possible climate change that is supposedly caused by the fact that we burn huge amounts of fossil fuels, producing large CO2 emissions. The Earth has always emitted much CO2, mainly by volcanoes. It is estimated that volcanoes produce on average 300 million tons of CO2 annually. That raises the question, is all that CO2 now in the atmosphere, the oceans and the biosphere? If one multiplies 300 million tons of CO2 by the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years) the result is an absurdly large number. If all that CO2 had remained in the atmosphere, the CO2 pressure would now be something like 100 Bar and the resulting greenhouse effect would cause a surface temperature of the Earth around 500o Centigrade. Any life would be impossible. As there is life on Earth, there must be a way in which nature has captured almost all that CO2 and stored it somewhere safely. In mathematics this way of reasoning is called an indirect proof. If there are two possible solutions for a problem (case 1: there is no process that has removed the CO2, and case 2: there is such a process), but one of the two leads to a wrong answer, then the other solution must be the right one. It sounds strange to say that everybody knows that process, without realizing it. It is the weathering of rocks which captures the excess CO2. Weathering is the reaction of minerals with water and CO2. First the greenhouse gas CO2 is converted to bicarbonate in solution (then it is no longer a greenhouse gas). In the next step, these bicarbonate solutions are carried by rivers to the oceans, where corals, shellfish and plankton turn them into carbonate rocks. These are the safe and sustainable storage houses of CO2. Lime stones and dolomites contain a million times more CO2 than the oceans, the atmosphere and the biosphere together. It is a logical choice to use this effective process to help us to counter the ongoing climate change. That can be done by enhancing the weathering, by mining olivine, mill it and spread it over land and shallow seas. There are thousands of times more olivine than we will ever need to stabilize the climate. Olivine is the commonest mineral in the Earth, and on every continent in many countries there are vast deposits of it close to the surface, where they can be mined by opencast mining. As the weathering of olivine has been a process that has worked well over the whole history of the Earth, it is highly unlikely that it would suddenly cause environmental problems when we use it to avert climate change.

Biography:

XiaoJing Jia has completed her PhD from McGill University and Post-doctoral studies from McGill University Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. She is currently working as Professor at ZheJing University. She has published more than 15 papers in highly reputed journals.

Abstract:

The interdecadal change of the relationship between the winter mean surface air temperature (SAT) over East Asia (EA) and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is investigated using both observational data and a simple general circulation model. A positive phase of the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) mode of the SAT (SAT-EOF1) over EA is characterized by significant warming over the mid- to high-latitude EA and is linked to the Arctic Oscillation (AO). The second EOF mode (SAT-EOF2) is represented by a significant cooling extending from 55o N to the tropics and an abnormal warming over the high-latitude EA. Focus is given to SAT-EOF2 which has a close relationship to a La Nina type sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. A clear climate shift of SAT-EOF2 is observed in the mid-1980s. The relationship between SAT-EOF2 and ENSO in two subperiods, i.e., 1957 to 1982 (P1) and 1986 to 2010 (P2), are discussed and compared. Results showed that the relationship between SAT-EOF2 and ENSO is significantly increased after mid-1980s. This is due to stronger SST and precipitation anomalies in the tropical western Pacific associated with ENSO in P2 than in P1. In the mid-latitudes, the Pacific-North American (PNA) teleconnection pattern is more closely related to ENSO in P2, while in P1 the ENSO-related atmospheric circulation anomalies are more similar to a zonally orientated teleconnection pattern. Numerical experiments suggest that the difference in the ENSO-related circulation anomaly in the mid-latitudes is likely related to the difference in climatological mean flow of these two periods.

Biography:

Marika Tatishvili is Head of Weather Forecasting, Natural and Technogenic Modeling Division of Institute of Hydrometeorology of Georgian Technical University. She is author of more than 76 scientific articles and three monographs. She is member of University scientific board.

Abstract:

The one of Earth Observing System (EOS) program component is the investigation of influence of Earth vegetation on large-scale global processes. The most applicable product from satellite observation is Normalized Difference Vegetation Index that is used in observation on vegetation. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is an index of plant “greenness” or photosynthetic activity, and is one of the most commonly used vegetation indices. Vegetation indices are based on the observation that different surfaces reflect different types of light differently. Photosynthetically active vegetation, in particular, absorbs most of the red light that hits it while reflecting much of the near infrared light. Vegetation that is dead or stressed reflects more red-light and less near infrared light. Vegetation index is important ecosystem variable widely used in variety of bio-geophysical applications. The use of NDVI, GVF and VTI in forest ecological monitoring in Georgia is reviewed in presented article.

Biography:

Yunting Qiao has completed her PhD from Sun Yat-sen University, China. She is an Associate Professor of School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University; China. She has published more than 30 papers in various journals.

Abstract:

The quasi-biweekly oscillation (QBWO) of East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) is analyzed and the relationship with East Asian winter climate is discussed in the present study. The meridional wind at 850 hPa shows significant QBWO over East Asian winter monsoon region. Both the first two empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) patterns exhibit two centers in (90°-180°E, 10°-60°N), one in the west and the other in the east. The first two principal components (PCs) have significant lag correlation with each other. The first two EOF modes work together to reveal the evolution of QBWO of EAWM. Based on the EOF analysis, we define an EAWM_QBWO index and divide each cycle of QBWO into eight phases. The evolution of winds and geopotential height at 850hPa has an obvious eastward propagation. During Phase 1, there are two pairs of cyclonic and anticyclonic circulations over Europe-Pacific region at mid- latitudes. Corresponding with the winds, there are also two pairs of negative and positive centers in the map of geopotential height, showing a Eurasian teleconnection pattern. During Phase 3, East Asia is mainly subjected to southerly wind. While during Phase-7, the distribution is almost opposite with that during Phase-3; indicating the active phase of EAWM. The QBWO of 300-hPa winds, geopotential height, and sea level pressure also have eastward propagation. The QBWO of EAWM has great impact on East Asian winter climate, including temperature and precipitation. During Phase 3 and Phase 4, there are warm anomaly over East Asia and cold anomaly over Siberia. The precipitation over East Asia shows positive anomaly with the center over central China. While during Phase 7 and Phase 8, most part of East Asia is featured by negative temperature and precipitation anomaly.

Biography:

Zhiping Wen has completed his PhD from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. He is the Director of Center for Monsoon and Environment Research, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.

Abstract:

Previous studies have revealed inter-decadal changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) that occurred around the late 1970s and early 1990s, respectively. The present study compares characteristics of these two changes and analyzes plausible influences of the South Indian Ocean (SIO) sea surface temperature (SST) change. The two changes share pronounced common features, characterized by an equivalent barotropic circulation anomaly over northern East Asia and a meridional vertical overturning circulation over the tropical region. Meanwhile, they display some distinct characteristics, especially over the tropics. The circumfluent anomalies are more robust for the first change than for the second one. Related amplitude asymmetry is partly attributed to a weakening trend in the EASM. Moreover, SST change in the SIO, featuring a decadal warming since the 1980s and a cooling after 1993, may contribute to both of these inter-decadal changes. Cold SST anomaly induces anomalous mid-tropospheric descent over the western SIO and ascent extending from the eastern SIO to Western Australia and over the equatorial Indian Ocean. The accompanying upper-tropospheric divergent flows from Western Australia and equatorial Indian Ocean to the Philippines lead to anomalous descent and an anomalous lower-tropospheric anticyclone over the South China Sea (SCS)–Philippines. Warm SST anomaly induces opposite changes in above regions. The possible influence of SST anomaly in the SIO is further confirmed by numerical experiments.

Biography:

Yehia Hafez has completed his PhD from Cairo University. He is the Staff Member in Meteorlogy Department at Cairo University and King Abdulaziz University. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.

Abstract:

Aim: The present paper investigates the relationship between the Intertropical Convergence Zone ITCZ variability over the Indian Ocean and hurricane Chapala.

Methods: The daily data of meteorological parameters and satellite images for hurricane Chapala through the period 28 October-3 November 2015 has been used and analyzed. The daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data composites for the meteorological elements over the Indian Ocean is used. The variability of the ITCZ over the Indian Ocean through the period of hurricane Chapala has analyzed.

Results: The results revealed that through the period of study (28 October-3 November 2015) the ITCZ is splitting over India. Moreover, there is abnormal northward shift of the ITCZ over the Indian Ocean, mainly on the southwestern part of India.

Conclusion: The splitting of the ITCZ over India and the northward shift of ITCZ cloud clusters over the southwest of India causing the development of hurricane Chapala.

Biography:

Bernhard G Pummer has completed his PhD at Vienna University of Technology in 2013 and is currently a Post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. He is the lead author of 3 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Abstract:

The freezing of liquid water at temperatures below 273.15 K is thermodynamically favorable, but kinetically impeded. Freezing at temperatures higher than around 235 K only occurs when catalytic impurities that support the proper arrangement of water molecules are present. These so-called ice nucleators can be of various origins, ranging from silicate crystals to soot particles to biological macromolecules. In the atmosphere, these particles massively contribute to cloud glaciation, and therefore influence albedo and precipitation. Some organisms among bacteria, fungi, animals, and plants are capable of producing biological ice-nucleating macromolecules (bioINMs), which are proteins or saccharides. Individual bioINMs are much smaller than other ice nucleators (down to a few nanometers), and can catalyze freezing at far higher temperatures (up to the thermodynamic freezing point). As most bioINMs are easily extracted from their host cell when in contact with water, they can distribute in soil, water, and air independently, respectively attached on other particles. Since it was believed for a long time that only insoluble micro-sized particles have the potential to nucleate ice, these bioINMs have been widely ignored, and have not been adequately taken into account in atmospheric model calculations. This becomes more urgent, since the anthropogenic influence on landscapes, water bodies, and the atmosphere also influence the formation and distribution of bioINMs.

Biography:

Moon-Hwan Lee has completed his Ph.D at the age of 33 years from Sejong University, Seoul, Korea. He is Post-doctoral researcher in Sejong University. He has published 2 SCI papers and various Korean journal papers related to climate change and water resources area.

Abstract:

Water availability in a region is one of the most important factors to determine the quality of human life and the availability can be changed spatially and temporally due to the impact of climate change. Therefore, the quantitative assessment of change in water availability and appropriate water resources management measures are needed for corresponding adaptation strategies. However, there are high uncertainties in climate change impact assessment on water resources. In this reason, the development of technology to evaluate and reduce the uncertainties quantitatively is required. The objectives of this study are to develop the uncertainty reduction method for climate change impact assessment and to access the uncertainties of future projection for dam inflow in Chungju dam basin in South Korea. The 5 RCMs (HadGEM3-RA, RegCM4, MM5, WRF, and RSM), 5 statistical post-processing methods (SPP) and 2 hydrological models (HYM) were used in this study. As results, the RCMs with relatively lower simulation ability in past historical observation events had the higher uncertainty in future projection results. Therefore, RCMs with lower historical simulation ability and higher uncertainty should be excluded for the evaluation of future projections. Also, the statistical post-processing methods that cause higher uncertainty should be excluded because these methods distort the original climate change information. Through this research, the guidelines for constituting the modules for GCM downscaling and hydrologic model are supplied for the reliable climate change impact assessment and the study results in the application area are provided in this study.

Biography:

Igor Sirnik completed his university engineer degree studies at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and his Master studies at the University of applied sciences, Karlsruhe in Germany. Afterwards he was working at the Ministry of Environment in Slovenia collaborating with the University of Ljubljana. He is a Doctoral student, pursuing a joint-degree PhD program at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain and Université Rennes 2, France.

Abstract:

The spatial-temporal variability of the climatic variables is critically observed on viticulture sites in the interest of quality of wine and climate change on local scale in the future. Various studies were elaborated regarding change of climatic variables on regional scales, although, there are just several researches made on local scale. The study is a part of doctoral project in the frame of LIFE-ADVICLIM, the international project of climate on worldwide climate change on viticulture sites. We conducted the research of last five decades on eight weather stations, located inside and in the surroundings of Valencia DO study site. In the analysis the following daily climate variables were used: mean, minimum and maximum daily temperature, daily precipitation and Winkler and Huglin bioclimatic indexes. By means of Spatial Analysis tools, we analyzed spatial variability, progress of climate change and the effect of the Mediterranean Sea on the research site. Observation on weather stations and analysis of derived data provided significant increase of the air temperature along with the bioclimatic indexes on all weather stations, particularly the stations in hinterland. Meanwhile the precipitation trend decreased, particularly in the winter season. The aim of this research is to combine spatial variability of climate change versus temporal variability of climate change. The progress of climate variables during the last five decades gave us the idea of the climate change and the influence of the Mediterranean Sea during the study period. The outcome of this research urges to adapt the vine according to climate changes.

Biography:

Trepekli Aikaterini is a PhD Student with scientific topic: “Energy and GHG Fluxes in Urban and Rural Environments”. She has two Masters’ of Science degrees in Hydraulic and Structural Engineering, and a five-year undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering, with a thesis related to drought indicators at regional scale based on water balance. Projects describing the current work: “Vertical Energy and Momentum Fluxes in the Centre of Athens, Greece During a Heatwave Period’’, “Energy flux parametrization as an opportunity to get Urban Heat Island insights: The case of Athens, Greece’’, “Seasonal CO2, CH4 and Evapotranspiration of a Mediterranean Coastal Grassland”.

Abstract:

Decreasing precipitation, major increases in temperature extremes and wind intensity across Mediterranean region may lead to periods of abnormally dry weather, long enough to cause hydrological imbalances. Besides precipitation deficit, droughts can be stimulated by increased evapotranspiration (ET). In this study an energy balance algorithm (SEBS; Su, 2002) is assessed to predict ET and atmospheric turbulent fluxes using annual remote sensing data and standard meteorological information over a typical Mediterranean coastal grassland, susceptible to desertification. The model based estimates are compared with the independently tower-based flux observations using the eddy covariance method, cross checked with the variance method. The temporal-scale structure of ET is analyzed and the corresponding drivers are quantified using in situ measurements. Examination of the relationships among temporal patterns of meteorological variations and ET, and identification of significant events affecting the stationarity of the signal due to sea vicinity, are accomplished through wavelet analysis method. ET signals exhibit the strongest power in the band of 16-34 days at spring thaw and during the months where available energy, vapor pressure deficit, air temperature, are all maximized, reflecting the high water requirement for potential evapotranspiration. Temperature fluctuations are frequently highly positive correlated and in coherence with water vapor content but when ET reaches annual maxima values, they develop significant local variations and anti-phase relationship, plausibly attributed to advection. Regarding the non linear drought impacts to the physical environment, precise description of land–atmosphere interactions related to ET will advance our understanding about the water budgets over vulnerable type ecosystems.