Climate Considerations Research Articles

Predicting Meteorological Variables on Local Level with SARIMA, LSTM and Hybrid Techniques

The choice of holiday destinations is highly depended on climate considerations. Nowadays, since the effects of the climate crisis are being increasingly felt, the need for accurate weather and climate services for hotels is crucial. Such a service could be beneficial for both the future planning of tourists’ activities and destinations and for hotel managers as it could help in decision making about the planning and expansion of the touristic season, due to a prediction of higher temperatures for a longer time span, thus causing increased revenue for companies in the local touristic sector. The aim of this work is to calculate predictions on meteorological variables using statistical techniques as well as artificial intelligence (AI) for a specific area of interest utilising data from an in situ meteorological station, and to produce valuable and reliable localised predictions with the most cost-effective method possible. This investigation will answer the question of the most suitable prediction method for time series data from a single meteorological station that is deployed in a specific location; in our case, in a hotel in the northern area of Crete, Greece. The temporal resolution of the measurements used was 3 h and the forecast horizon considered here was up to 2 days. As prediction techniques, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA), AI techniques like the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network and hybrid combinations of the two are used. Multiple meteorological variables are considered as input for the LSTM and hybrid methodologies, like temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and wind speed, unlike the SARIMA that has a single variable. Variables of interest are divided into those that present seasonality and patterns, such as temperature and humidity, and those that are more stochastic with no known seasonality and patterns, such as wind speed and direction. Two benchmark techniques are used for comparison and quantification of the added predictive ability, namely the climatological forecast and the persistence model, which shows a considerable amount of improvement over the naive prediction methods, especially in the 1-day forecasts. The results indicate that the examined hybrid methodology performs best at temperature and wind speed forecasts, closely followed by the SARIMA, whereas LSTM performs better overall at the humidity forecast, even after the correction of the hybrid to the SARIMA model. Lastly, different hybrid methodologies are discussed and introduced for further improvement of meteorological predictions.

Commentary: Vulnerable children-A global perspective.

In this commentary, we discuss the global similarities in the intersections of poverty, disability, and learning, and share lessons that are being learned internationally that can inform U.S. domestic research and implementation. These lessons cover multiple aspects of learning and development, instructional materials and approaches, integration of social emotional and school climate considerations, and engagement of families and communities.

The greening of the Economic and Monetary Union

All pillars of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) have unleashed an array of measures to transform the economy towards climate neutrality. With the Green Deal, the strategy review of the European Central Bank (ECB), and the growing body of sustainable finance legislation, climate considerations have entered the traditional mandates governing the conduct of financial, fiscal, and monetary policy. The cross-sectional nature of climate issues reinforces the interdependence and coordination of EMU policies. This article explores changes to EMU architecture and discusses the institutional and legal implications of the novel role of climate in the coordination of EMU policies. It addresses the relationship between Treaty mandate and policy leeway, specifically the way in which the ECB extends its focus on price stability to account for climate considerations and the fiscal legal framework relies on flexibility to incentivize climate investment. It also tracks the emergence of climate stability as an EMU concept, adding to existing concepts of price, fiscal and financial stability. EMU, ECB, monetary policy, financial policy, fiscal policy, climate change, sustainable finance, greenflation, policy coordination

Knowledge Map of Urban Climate Map: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace

The process of urbanization is that people pay more and more attention to the sustainable development of cities and pay attention to the consideration of climate and environment in urban planning. Urban climate maps combine urban planning with urban climate and have been proposed since the 1980s. Based on the web of science database, this paper searches for documents published with the subject heading of urban climate maps since their appearance and uses Citespace to visualize the document information. The analysis content includes authors, journals, countries, publishing institutions, and keyword clustering analysis: cited literature analysis and research frontier hotspots. Through the analysis, it is found that the research fields of urban climate maps can be divided into four categories, namely research methods, healthy cities, resilient cities, and ecological bases.

Understanding Farmworker Fluid Intake Using Intersectionality Theory.

In the United States, Latino farmworkers are disproportionately at risk for death from heat-related illnesses. To elicit Latino farmworker perceptions on their fluid intake and heat stress, a qualitative descriptive, community-informed research study was conducted in eastern North Carolina. A total of 28 Mexican farmworkers participated in one of 4 focus groups. Using content analysis and guided by Intersectionality theory, themes and subthemes were identified. The first theme was Absence of Protection, represented by 2 subthemes: (1a) Intense Climate Considerations; and (1b) Workplace Exploitation. The second theme, Freedom to Drink, included 2 subthemes: (2a) Distance and Distaste; and (2b) Culture of Farm Work. Farmworkers perceived extreme outdoor temperatures as the greatest workplace barrier to staying hydrated and reported water accessibility and quality issues. Farmworker fluid intake was influenced by interlocking social categories and power systems. Policy recommendations that prevent farmworker heat-related illness and promote hydration are discussed.

Quality management system and design of an integrated mesoscale meteorological network in Central Italy

AbstractThe current evolution of numerical weather prediction models, climate applications, warning and decision support systems needs more information at increasingly finer scales. In this context, mesoscale meteorological networks (mesonets) can provide essential observations for the international community. However, they often suffer from the absence of a national and international coordination, scarce maintenance, inadequate data quality and redundancy. An integrated network design and the implementation of a unified quality management system could reveal the full socio‐economical benefits of mesonet information. This study provides a general procedure to realize an efficient and high‐quality mesonet starting from existing fragmented networks. The process starts by defining a network quality management system (NQMS), which is responsible for the station maintenance and the data quality control (QC) procedures. Stations are first classified based on their primary purpose, their landscape and the instruments siting and exposure in the station enclosure. Then, their quality performances are evaluated by a complex QC system made by numerous QC tests, whose specifications are tailored to the main surface observations. Finally, an integrated network design procedure is provided to identify observational lack and planning site interventions. The design is based on the purpose of the network and all the information gathered by the NQMS. Spatial, meteorological, climate and financial considerations are then used to decide whether to add, remove or modify observations. This procedure is tested in the Umbria region, Central Italy, where its implementation would lead to a considerable advancement in terms of regional weather and climate services.

What role do climate considerations play in consumption of red meat in Norway?

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases is facilitated by changes in several consumption activities, such as food choices. This paper examines factors explaining red meat consumption in Norway, especially the role of climate concerns. The paper adds to our knowledge as most existing analyses of (red) meat consumption focus on health and animal welfare issues. Moreover, it expands our understanding by drawing on perspectives from both institutional and social psychological theory, including variables emphasizing the social dynamics behind consumption decisions. The study is based on data from a survey of 2000 people aged 18 years or older conducted in 2018. The data are analyzed using structural equation modelling. We find that there is a strong pro-meat culture in Norway, currently rather weakly influenced by climate concerns – specifically, personal norms and social pressures focused on reducing climate impacts. Instead, habits, beliefs about the qualities of red meat (being tasteful, nutritious, healthy) and social norms supporting red meat consumption are the three most important factors explaining the variation observed. Gender and income also influence red meat consumption, but less than found in other studies. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings, including for taxation, point-of-sale information and communicative processes to support changes in the perceptions of what could be a new “normal” diet.

The Challenge of Setting “Climate Ready” Ecological Targets for Environmental Flow Planning

Implementing environmental flows has emerged as a major river management tool for addressing the impacts of hydrologic alteration in large river systems. The “natural flow paradigm” has been a central guiding principle for determining important ecohydrological relationships. Yet, climate change and associated changes in rainfall run off relationships, seasonality of flows, disruptions to food webs and species life cycle cues mean these existing relationships will, in many circumstances, become obsolete. Revised thinking around setting ecological objectives is required to ensure environmental management targets are achievable, particularly in regions where water scarcity is predicted to increase. Through this lens “climate ready” targets are those that are robust to changing water availability or incorporate future adaptation options. Future objective setting should be based around the inclusion of changing climate and water availability, and the associated species and ecosystem vulnerabilities, and expected outcomes under different policy and adaptation options. This paper uses south eastern Australia as a case study region to review the extent to which current water management plans include climate considerations and adaptation in objective setting. Results show untested climate adaptation inclusions, and a general lack of acknowledgement of changing hydrological and ecological conditions in existing management plans. In response this paper presents a process for setting objectives so they can be considered “climate ready.”

Net-Zero Investing for Multi-Asset Portfolios Seeking to Satisfy Paris-Aligned Benchmark Requirements with Climate Alpha Signals

The authors embed Paris-aligned benchmark (PAB) requirements in an illustrative multi-asset portfolio containing developed and emerging market equities, sovereign bonds, corporate bonds, listed real estate, and commodities. By being PAB compliant, the immediate reduction and ongoing reductions in carbon emissions for each asset class are designed to limit average global temperature increases to 1.5°C, do not disinvest from any sectors, and build in forward-looking data on emissions for issuers for both corporations and governments, with certain exclusions of poor climate performers. In historical data, the authors show comparable performance of the multi-asset PAB portfolio and a balanced multi-asset portfolio without climate considerations. The outperformance is enhanced by alpha signals based on climate-related metrics and non-climate data.

Statistical investigation of wind duration using a refined hurricane track model

A complete characterization of the atmospheric boundary-layer winds essentially involves speed, direction and duration. While extensive statistical analyses have been carried out to determine wind speed and directionality for appropriate wind design of buildings, there is a lack of similar research effort for wind duration. Although wind duration may have limited effects on linear, elastic structural response, it can present significant importance in the consideration of nonlinear, inelastic response due to damage accumulation and cyclic deterioration of strength and stiffness. Recent advances of performance-based wind design methodology allow the controlled nonlinear, inelastic deformation of buildings under strong winds, and hence place a demand on statistical investigation of wind duration. In this study, the wind data used for probabilistic duration analysis result from a refined hurricane track model. Specifically, both environmental flow and Coriolis force (the beta effect) are integrated into the translation module for improved modeling of hurricane movement. Based on the numerically generated wind data, the wind duration measured with the over-threshold method (i.e., uniform duration) is obtained. Furthermore, a statistical analysis framework is developed to jointly consider wind duration, speed and direction. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed statistical analysis framework for characterization and quantification of duration in wind climate consideration. Finally, structural wind performance of a simplified single-degree-of freedom system is examined to highlight the importance of incorporating duration consideration into the performance-based wind design.

African Case Studies: Developing Pavement Temperature Maps for Performance-Graded Asphalt Bitumen Selection

The reliable performance of roads is crucial for service delivery, and it is a catalyst for domestic and cross-border spatial development. Paved national roads are expected to carry higher traffic volumes over time as a result of urbanization and to support the economic development in the continent. Increased traffic levels combined with expected increases in air temperatures as a result of global warming highlight the need to appropriately select bituminous road materials for a reliable performance of asphalt roads. The objective of the paper is to present African case studies on the development of temperature maps necessary for performance-graded bitumen selection for road design and construction. A consistent approach, that caters for the variability of geographical, environmental and climatic conditions, does not currently exist within the continent. Therefore, this paper discusses a series of critical components in the development of temperature maps for performance-graded bitumen including (i) pavement temperature models and climatic zones in Africa; (ii) the effect of urban heat islands on pavement temperature; (iii) sources of weather data and (iv) the mapping procedure to produce temperature maps. Characterizing the thermal properties of the pavement was found to be an important factor for reliably calculating expected road temperatures as well as the consideration of the ambient climate for a given location. During this study, the urban heat island effect was found to have little influence on the maximum pavement temperatures but a significant effect on the minimum pavement temperatures. Some areas of the urban district assessed in this investigation were found to increase by two performance grades according to the minimum temperature criteria. The recent observed weather data from weather stations are the most accurate means of measurement of the ambient environmental conditions necessary for performance-based specifications, but they are not always easily accessible, and therefore other sources of data, such as satellite data, may need to be used instead. With the expected temperature increases expected as a result of climate change, the use of Global Climate Models also opens new avenues for performance-based material selection in the African continent for expected climates as an alternative to traditional approaches based on historically observed weather.

Incorporating Climate Uncertainty into Conservation Planning for Wildlife Managers

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is one of the oldest conservation organizations in the United States and is the only federal agency solely charged with conserving fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. The agency leads numerous conservation initiatives, such as protecting and recovering endangered species, managing almost 600 wildlife refuges throughout all states and territories, enforcing federal wildlife laws, and regulating international wildlife trade. In the past, these activities have not accounted for climate change. The accelerating biodiversity crisis, in combination with climate uncertainty, adds to the existing complexity associated with responding to multiple anthropogenic stressors. Here we describe current practice and thinking related to climate uncertainty and management of USFWS resources. We focus on three agency domains which represent various conservation planning responsibilities: evaluating species to be listed as threatened or endangered, Habitat Conservation Plans for listed species, and land management techniques on wildlife refuges. Integrating climate considerations into agency planning documents is complex and we highlight effective current applications and suggest future improvements. Additionally, we identify outstanding research needs or management applications, and updates to existing policy that will aid in developing improved conservation strategies. Our synthesis contributes to ongoing efforts to incorporate climate uncertainty into conservation planning, natural resource management, and related policy revisions.

Building climate-sensitive nutrition programmes.

The food system and climate are closely interconnected. Although most research has focused on the need to adopt a plant-based diet to help mitigate climate change, there is also an urgent need to examine the effects of climate change on food systems to adapt to climate change. A systems approach can help identify the pathways through which climate influences food systems, thereby ensuring that programmes combating malnutrition take climate into account. Although little is known about how climate considerations are currently incorporated into nutrition programming, climate information services have the potential to help target the delivery of interventions for at-risk populations and reduce climate-related disruption during their implementation. To ensure climate services provide timely information relevant to nutrition programmes, it is important to fill gaps in our knowledge about the influence of climate variability on food supply chains. A proposed roadmap for developing climate-sensitive nutrition programmes recommends: (i) research aimed at achieving a better understanding of the pathways through which climate influences diet and nutrition, including any time lags; (ii) the identification of entry points for climate information into the decision-making process for nutrition programme delivery; and (iii) capacity-building and training programmes to better equip public health practitioners with the knowledge, confidence and motivation to incorporate climate resilience into nutrition programmes. With sustained investment in capacity-building, data collection and analysis, climate information services can be developed to provide the data, analyses and forecasts needed to ensure nutrition programmes target their interventions where and when they are most needed.

A Significance of Climate Risks for the financial Stability: What do Trends in Central Banks Communication Tell Us?

The article examines to what extent central banks transmit the significance of climate risks for the financial stability to markets. Using simple text-mining techniques the article explores Financial Stability Reports (FSR) of central banks from the sample to assess the relative importance of climate- related topics, in particular to assess an intensity and regularity of climate topics in FSRs as sub-factors of their importance. The author assumed that the great importance of climate topics in central banks communication, facilitated by their regularity, gives a strong signal to markets about the significance of climate risks for financial stability. However, the findings indicate the generally low importance of climate-related topics in central banks’ communication (by means of FSR), which remains in contrast with the great urgency of climate considerations for financial stability nowadays.

Transformative climate policy mainstreaming – engaging the political and the personal

Non-technical summary Mainstreaming climate objectives into sectoral work and policies is widely advocated as the way forward for sustainable public–private action. However, current knowledge on effective climate mainstreaming has rarely translated into policy outcomes and radical, transformational change. This ‘implementation gap’ relates to the limitations of current approaches, which do not adequately address so-called ‘internal’ or ‘personal’ spheres of transformation. Here, we address this gap and provide an integrative climate mainstreaming framework for improving and guiding future sustainability research, education, policy and practice. Technical summary Current knowledge on what makes climate mainstreaming effective has, so far, seldom translated into policy outcomes and radical, transformational change. This ‘implementation gap’ is related to the limitations of current approaches. The latter tend to focus on isolated, highly tangible, but essentially weak leverage points that do not adequately link practical and political solutions with ‘internal’ or ‘personal’ spheres of transformation. This link involves an internal (mindset/consciousness) shift leading to long-lasting changes in the way that we experience and relate to our self, others, the world and future generations. It requires unleashing people's internal potential and capacity to care, commit to, and effect change for a more sustainable life across individual, collective, organisational and system levels. To address this gap, we analyse how such internal dimensions can be integrated into climate mainstreaming, to move beyond its current, partial focus on external and technological solutions. Through a robust investigation of how to scale up climate mainstreaming in a more transformative manner, we explore how mainstreaming and conscious full-spectrum theories can be related to fundamentally advance the field and improve current approaches. The resulting integrative framework breaks new ground by linking the mainstreaming of climate considerations and internal dimensions across all spheres of transformation. We conclude with some policy recommendations and future research needs. Social media summary Linking climate policy integration/mainstreaming and personal development: an integrative framework.

Meaningful Public Engagement and the Integration Of Climate Considerations into Impact Assessment

Meaningful Public Engagement and the Integration Of Climate Considerations into Impact Assessment

Phytoremediation of Toxic Metals: A Sustainable Green Solution for Clean Environment

Contamination of aquatic ecosystems by various sources has become a major worry all over the world. Pollutants can enter the human body through the food chain from aquatic and soil habitats. These pollutants can cause various chronic diseases in humans and mortality if they collect in the body over an extended period. Although the phytoremediation technique cannot completely remove harmful materials, it is an environmentally benign, cost-effective, and natural process that has no negative effects on the environment. The main types of phytoremediation, their mechanisms, and strategies to raise the remediation rate and the use of genetically altered plants, phytoremediation plant prospects, economics, and usable plants are reviewed in this review. Several factors influence the phytoremediation process, including types of contaminants, pollutant characteristics, and plant species selection, climate considerations, flooding and aging, the effect of salt, soil parameters, and redox potential. Phytoremediation’s environmental and economic efficiency, use, and relevance are depicted in our work. Multiple recent breakthroughs in phytoremediation technologies are also mentioned in this review.

Investing for a Safe Climate?

Climate change is now widely recognised as a source of financial risk for institutional investors like superannuation funds, which may manifest as reduced asset values and investment returns. Investors are also facing increasing pressure to play a constructive role in society’s response to climate change by aligning portfolios to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This article presents an empirical study of current and emerging climate-related investment practices in Australia, underpinned by an analysis of the legal, regulatory and theoretical frameworks in which investment decision-making takes place. While the study confirms that approaches to climate risk assessment and management are rapidly evolving, it also suggests that integrating climate considerations into investment decision-making and adopting responsible investment practices to manage climate-related risks is not encouraged by existing legal frameworks and dominant, mainstream approaches to investment. There remain considerable legal and practical barriers to aligning investment decision-making with the Paris Agreement.

"No-regrets" pathways for navigating climate change: planning for connectivity with land use, topography, and climate.

As both plant and animal species shift their ranges in response to a changing climate, maintaining connectivity between present habitat and suitable habitat in the future will become increasingly important to ensure lasting protection for biodiversity. Because the temporal period commensurate with planning for mid‐century change is multi‐generational for most species, connectivity designed to facilitate climate adaptation requires pathways with ‘stepping‐stones’ between current and future habitat. These areas should have habitats suitable not only for dispersal, but for all aspects of species lifecycles. We integrated present‐day land use, topographic diversity, and projections of shifting climate regimes into a single connectivity modeling approach to identify pathways for mid‐century shifts in species ranges. Using Omniscape we identified climate linkages, or areas important for climate change‐driven movement, as the areas with more current flow than would be expected in the absence of climate considerations. This approach identified connectivity potential between natural lands in the present climate and natural lands with future analogous climate following topo‐climatically diverse routes. We then translated the model output into a strategic framework to improve interpretation and to facilitate a more direct connection with conservation action. Across modified landscapes, pathways important to climate‐driven movement were highly coincident with the last remaining present‐day linkages, reinforcing their importance. Across unfragmented lands, the presence of climate‐adapted pathways helped inform the prioritization of conservation actions in areas where multiple connectivity options still exist. Many climate linkages follow major watercourses along elevational gradients, highlighting the importance of protecting or managing for these natural linear pathways that provide movement routes for climate adaptation. By integrating enduring landscape features with climate projections and present‐day land uses, our approach reveals “no‐regrets” pathways to plan for a connected landscape in an uncertain future.

Systems Analysis of Coupled Natural and Human Processes in the Mekong River Basin

The Mekong River Basin is one of the world’s major transboundary basins. The hydrology, agriculture, ecology, and other watershed functions are constantly changing as a result of a variety of human activities carried out inside and by neighboring countries including China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in order to meet increased food and water demands for an increasing population. The Mekong River, which provides irrigation and fishing for a population of over 60 million people, also has an estimated 88,000 MW of untapped hydropower potential. The construction of dams for energy supply has a wide-ranging impact on downstream reservoir regions, resulting in unprecedented changes in hydrologic functions, the environment, and people’s livelihoods. We present a holistic view of how external stressors such as climate change and variability, land cover, and land-use change affect supply and demand. We present an integrated modeling framework for analyzing the supply–demand scenarios and tradeoffs between different sectors. Specifically, we evaluated the impacts of future climate on irrigation, hydropower, and other needs in the basin through a feedback loop. We focused on hydrologic extremes to evaluate their impacts on the reservoir operations during flood and low flow events. The inflow is projected to change by +13% to −50% in the future, while a 0.25% (15.24 billion m3) reduction is projected for the net irrigation water requirement (NIWR). A unit percentage increase in irrigation demand will reduce energy generation by 0.15%, but climate change has a beneficial impact on dam performance with a predicted increase in energy generation and supply to all sectors. Flood events will cause excessive stress on reservoir operation to handle up to six times more flow volumes; however, the low-flow events will marginally affect the system. While the flow and storage rule curves consider both supply and demand, changing human water use comes second to changing climate or other biophysical considerations. This paper emphasizes the importance of considering feedback between climate–water–human society in the systems modeling framework in order to meet societal and ecological challenges. The findings will provide information on the risks and tradeoffs that exist in the water, energy, and food sectors of the basin.