Stations In Israel Research Articles

Imputation of Missing PM2.5 Observations in a Network of Air Quality Monitoring Stations by a New kNN Method

Statistical analyses often require unbiased and reliable data completion. In this work, we imputed missing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) observations from eight years (2012–2019) of records in 59 air quality monitoring (AQM) stations in Israel, using no auxiliary data but the available PM2.5 observations. This was achieved by a new k-Nearest Neighbors multivariate imputation method (wkNNr) that uses the correlations between the AQM stations’ data to weigh the distance between the observations. The model was evaluated against an iterative imputation with an Ensemble of Extremely randomized decision Trees (iiET) on artificially and randomly removed data intervals of various lengths: very short (0.5–3 h, corresponding to 1–6 missing values), short (6–24 h), medium-length (36–72 h), long (10–30 d), and very long (30 d–2 y). The new wkNNr model outperformed the iiET in imputing very short missing-data intervals when the adjacent lagging and leading observations were added as model inputs. For longer missing-data intervals, despite its simplicity and the smaller number of hyperparameters required for tuning, the new model showed an almost comparable performance to the iiET. A parallel Python implementation of the new kNN-based multivariate imputation method is available on github.

Using Daylight Saving Time Clock Changes to Study the Impact of Meteorology on Air Pollution

Implementation of Daylight Savings Time (DST) started in various jurisdictions during the first half of the 20th century. Much debate on the merits of the twice-yearly change in the official local time has ensued since then regarding energy usage, sleep patterns, health outcomes, traffic safety, etc. The DST switch in the official time abruptly shifts anthropogenic emissions that are related to human activities relative to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) but does not affect meteorological processes that disperse them, which day-to-day variability is affected by longer time scales. Here, we utilized the DST clock changes as a repeating biannual experiment to study the impact of meteorology on air pollution. We analyzed traffic volume data and up to 20 years of nitrogen oxides (NOx), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations, observed at different air quality monitoring (AQM) stations in Israel, demonstrating a clear and significant impact of the daily meteorological cycle on traffic related air pollution (TRAP). In particular, traffic emissions are prerequisite for TRAP, but meteorology was found to dominate the daily patterns of the NOx, O3 and CO concentration fields in the study area. On the other hand, the impact of vehicle emissions on PM2.5 concentrations seems to be very small. Our results highlight the multiscale interplay between pollutant emissions and dispersion processes, especially for pollutants that are emitted near the surface. We demonstrate that while DST clock changes do not affect the emissions intensity, nor the meteorological processes vigor, they do shift human activity-related emissions with respect to the DST-blind dispersion processes. This results in short-term effects on primary traffic-related pollutant concentrations that cancel out over the day, and a consistent yet small effect on secondary traffic-related pollutant concentrations (O3).

Re-examining the assumption of dominant regional wind and fire spread directions

The goal of decreasing wildfire hazard as much as possible, using minimal fuel treatments, has led to increasing scholarly interest in fuel reduction spatial optimisation. Most models in the field rest on the assumption of a known wind direction and a corresponding dominant direction of fire spread, and plan firebreaks in perpendicular directions. This strategy is effective when the wind blows in the hypothesised direction, but is quite ineffective when the wind direction is parallel to the firebreaks. In this article, we re-examine this assumption using a global fire dataset covering more than a decade. We perform a variety of circular statistical analyses including circular variance and principal component analysis (PCA). We find that the direction of fire spread in most regions is not limited to a single direction. We also find that the wind direction during fire weather is characterised by a high variance in a substantial fraction of regions around the globe. We validate this finding with a dataset comprised of over a hundred meteorological stations in Israel. We conclude that forest management should consider regional historical data of wind directions and fire spread directions, but also should plan firebreaks so that they are effective in various fire scenarios.

Atmospheric wave energy of the 2020 August 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, from ionospheric disturbances

Atmospheric waves excited by strong surface explosions, both natural and anthropogenic, often disturb upper atmosphere. In this letter, we report an N-shaped pulse with period ~ 1.3 min propagating southward at ~ 0.8 km/s, observed as changes in ionospheric total electron content using continuous GNSS stations in Israel and Palestine, ~ 10 min after the August 4, 2020 chemical explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the disturbance reached ~ 2% of the background electrons, comparable to recently recorded volcanic explosions in the Japanese Islands. We also succeeded in reproducing the observed disturbances assuming acoustic waves propagating upward and their interaction with geomagnetic fields.

The participation of Palestinian-Israeli politicians in public and commercial television and radio in Israel as capability

This study examines how media representations of Palestinian-Israeli politicians, can help community members realize their capabilities. The study’s database is comprised of 1,207 interviews conducted with Palestinian-Israeli politicians on news and current affairs programs on the three national television channels and the two national radio stations in Israel, for 24 months (2016-2017). We identified and analyzed the differences in the modes of representation between national and local Palestinian-Israeli politicians and between Palestinian-Israeli parliament members in the Joint List and Palestinian-Israeli parliament members in Zionist parties, all through the capabilities prism. In this study, we demonstrated how different types of Palestinian-Israeli politicians may potentially affect the realization of different political functions and capabilities. Analyzing political representations in the media through the theoretical framework of the ‘capabilities approach’ contributes to a more comprehensive insight into the roles the media can play promoting people’s wellbeing and human rights, relative to traditional media theories.

An Unknown Maximum Lag‐Correlation Between Rainfall and Aerosols at 140–160 Minutes

Rainfall and aerosols play major roles in the Earth climate system and substantially influence our life. Here, the focus is on the local near-surface aerosol/rainfall correlations with time scales of minutes to days. We investigated 29 experiments including 14 specific rain events, with time resolutions of daily and 60, 30, and 10 min at 10 stations in Israel and California. The highest negative correlations were consistently at a positive lag of about 140–160 min where a positive lag means that the aerosol time series follows that of the rain. The highest negative value is suggested to be the probable outcome of immediate scavenging along with the rise in aerosol concentration after rain depending on aerosol sources, hygroscopic growth, and transport. The scavenging dominance is expressed by the mostly negative lag-correlation values in all experiments. In addition, the consistent lack of significant correlation found at negative lags suggests a weak aerosol effect on precipitation.

Alternative Broadcasting? Maybe!Music Programming in College Radio in Israel

ABSTRACT College radio stations have been operating in academic institutions for over five decades. The current study examines college radio playlists, which represent a uniform genre of music adhering to a fixed formula that relates to text, melody, rendering, and other features, through an analysis and comparison of the broadcast schedules of campus stations and leading national radio stations in Israel. Interviews were conducted with educators of college radio programs and current and former student editors of college radio programs. Findings indicate that playlists and programming content of college radio stations in Israel differ little from those of professional (commercial/public) radio stations. Moreover, college radio stations have no clear format, content or music policy: their music and contents reflect the topics of interest and musical preferences of the students. The interviews indicate that the students who operate the stations aim to join mainstream media after graduation, and are therefore motivated to adopt collectivist and conformist broadcasting patterns endorsed by the current cultural climate in Israel. In the process of learning, broadcasting, and producing on college radio, students become part of the “cultural producers” in Israeli society who align with the mainstream and produce products that conform to a centralized market.

‘Journalist 2.0?’ educational radio in Israel

ABSTRACTEducational radio stations in Israel, which have operated for at least 25 years, are inspired by the American college radio. This article investigated the functions and contributions of radio to students and to the media industry in general and radio broadcasts in particular. A research survey was distributed on aspects of the media industry and interviews with educational radio activists were conducted. The findings indicate that schools of communication believe and invest in integrating practical experience. As a result, students acquire abilities and practical skills as well as knowledge of the communications world. Students operate educational radio stations with high levels of motivation and self-fulfillment. These student efforts and support from academic institutions bear fruit as the media industry acknowledges the value of educational radio studies graduates and appreciates their preparedness to integrate into the industry.

Coordinate transformation with variable number of parameters

Similarity transformation model does not provide a satisfactory solution for non-uniformly deformed systems because it allows only for a uniform scale and right angles. Instead, an affine model can be used, since it characterizes non-uniform dilatations and obliquity of the three axes. The general affine transformation contains 12 parameters. Nonetheless, it is not always necessary to use them all. The question of how many parameters should take part in the transformation and in what combinations is examined in the paper. In order to choose the proper transformation, a refined AIC is proposed. The paper also presents how to conduct the conversion of parameters between different coordinate systems with reference to the invariance property of coordinate transformation. To demonstrate the impact of using variable number of parameters and to observe the influence of coordinate systems on the transformation outcome, we use a network of 18 permanent GNSS stations in Israel as a case study.

Social pluralism on the air: Internet radio in Israel

ABSTRACTInternet radio stations that broadcast exclusively on the Internet are a growing phenomenon in Israel, providing a stage for new and diverse voices in Israeli society. This article charts the activity of Internet radio stations in Israel and evaluates their social contributions by focusing primarily on music selection, broadcast content, and target audiences. It shows that the establishment of Internet radio stations is connected to progressive trends in Israeli society. New and varied voices, not necessarily heard before in traditional media and especially traditional radio, have been given a platform for the first time. This makes Internet radio an important expression of social pluralism in communications media, which is essential and necessary for the healthy maintenance of a democratic society with so many internal divisions.

Measurement and Interpretation Uncertainty in Site Response of Nine Seismic Network Stations in Israel

Measurement and Interpretation Uncertainty in Site Response of Nine Seismic Network Stations in Israel

Religious Practices and Conversations in American and Israeli Prime-Time Television Programming

This comparative content analysis examines the extent to which religion finds expression in mainstream TV programming. The appearance of religious practices, the level of fulfillment they bring, and the extent to which they accord with religious law along with the tone of conversation about religion were coded in 154 hours of prime-time network programming from the USA and 112 hours of prime-time programming aired by the major TV stations in Israel. The results indicate a very infrequent presence of religion in the programming in the two countries: once in two hours in Israel and once in three hours in the USA, but while in US programming more than three quarters of the religious practices brought fulfillment to their participants and more than 90% of the practices adhered fully or partly to religious rules, in Israeli shows only one quarter of the practices brought fulfillment and just half of them adhered fully or partly to religious rules. Conversation about religion appeared just as infrequently as practices did, but its tone was mainly positive in both countries.

Foraminiferal single chamber analyses of heavy metals as a tool for monitoring permanent and short term anthropogenic footprints

In order to establish environmentally sustainable industries there is a need for high-resolution temporal and spatial monitoring of heavy metal pollutants even at low concentrations before they become hazardous for local ecosystems.Here we present single chamber records of Cu, Zn and Pb in shells of two benthic foraminifera species with different shell types from two shallow coastal stations in Israel: An area adjacent to an electrical power plant and desalination factory (Hadera) and an industrially free nature reserve (Nachsholim). Records of both foraminifera species show elevated metal concentrations in Hadera clearly identifying the footprint of the local industrial facilities. Moreover, short-term events of elevated Cu and Pb concentrations were detected by single chamber analyses. This study demonstrates the potential of using heavy metals anomalies in foraminiferal single chambers as a tool for detecting the industrial footprint of coastal facilities as well as short term events of elevated heavy metals.

Ground-based measurements of the vertical E-field in mountainous regions and the “Austausch” effect

Past measurements of the atmospheric vertical electric field (Ez or potential gradient) at numerous land stations showed a strong response of the daily electric field to a morning local effect known as “Austausch” — the transport of electrical charges due to increased turbulence. In mountainous regions, nocturnal charge accumulation, followed by an attachment process to aerosols near the surface in valleys, known as the electrode effect, is lifted as a charged aerosol layer by anabatic (upslope) winds during the morning hours due to solar heating.Ground-based measurements during fair weather days were conducted at three mountain stations in Israel and Armenia. We present results of the mean diurnal variation of Ez and make comparisons with the well-known Carnegie curve and with past measurements of Ez on mountains. We report a good agreement between the mean diurnal curves of Ez at various mountain stations and the time of local sunrise when the Ez is found to increase. We attribute this morning maximum to the Austausch (or exchange) layer effect. We support our findings with conduction and turbulent current measurements showing high values of ions and charged aerosols being transported by winds from morning to noon local time, and by model simulations showing the convergence of winds in the early morning hours toward the mountain peak.

Spatiotemporal estimation of air temperature patterns at the street level using high resolution satellite imagery.

Although meteorological monitoring stations provide accurate measurements of Air Temperature (AT), their spatial coverage within a given region is limited and thus is often insufficient for exposure and epidemiological studies. In many applications, satellite imagery measures energy flux, which is spatially continuous, and calculates Brightness Temperature (BT) that used as an input parameter. Although both quantities (AT-BT) are physically related, the correlation between them is not straightforward, and varies daily due to parameters such as meteorological conditions, surface moisture, land use, satellite-surface geometry and others. In this paper we first investigate the relationship between AT and BT as measured by 39 meteorological stations in Israel during 1984-2015. Thereafter, we apply mixed regression models with daily random slopes to calibrate Landsat BT data with monitored AT measurements for the period 1984-2015. Results show that AT can be predicted with high accuracy by using BT with high spatial resolution. The model shows relatively high accuracy estimation of AT (R2=0.92, RMSE=1.58°C, slope=0.90). Incorporating meteorological parameters into the model generates better accuracy (R2=0.935) than the AT-BT model (R2=0.92). Furthermore, based on the relatively high model accuracy, we investigated the spatial patterns of AT within the study domain. In the latter we focused on July-August, as these two months are characterized by relativity stable synoptic conditions in the study area. In addition, a temporal change in AT during the last 30years was estimated and verified using available meteorological stations and two additional remote sensing platforms. Finally, the impact of different land coverage on AT were estimated, as an example of future application of the presented approach.

Validation of the McClear clear-sky model in desert conditions with three stations in Israel

Abstract. The new McClear clear-sky model, a fast model based on a radiative transfer solver, exploits the atmospheric properties provided by the EU-funded Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) to estimate the solar direct and global irradiances received at ground level in cloud-free conditions at any place any time. The work presented here focuses on desert conditions and compares the McClear irradiances to coincident 1 min measurements made in clear-sky conditions at three stations in Israel which are distant from less than 100 km. The bias for global irradiance is comprised between 2 and 32 W m−2, i.e. between 0 and 4 % of the mean observed irradiance (approximately 830 W m−2). The RMSE ranges from 30 to 41 W m−2 (4 %) and the squared correlation coefficient is greater than 0.976. The bias for the direct irradiance at normal incidence (DNI) is comprised between −68 and +13 W m−2, i.e. between −8 and 2 % of the mean observed DNI (approximately 840 W m−2). The RMSE ranges from 53 (7 %) to 83 W m−2 (10 %). The squared correlation coefficient is close to 0.6. The performances are similar for the three sites for the global irradiance and for the DNI to a lesser extent, demonstrating the robustness of the McClear model combined with CAMS products. These results are discussed in the light of those obtained by McClear for other desert areas in Egypt and United Arab Emirates.

Type of army service and decision to engage in risky behavior among young people in Israel

AbstractPrevious studies have examined the impact of military service on the decision to engage in risky behavior. Yet most of these studies focused on voluntary recruits, did not distinguish between legal and illegal risky activities and did not compare combat and non-combat soldiers during and after service according to gender. The current study is unique because of the nature of Israeli compulsory army service. It examines the relationship between type of army service and five legal and illegal risky behaviors for three groups: non-combat, combat without fighting experience, and combat with fighting experience. We also examine differences in the propensity for risky behavior between men, most of whom are assigned to combat units due to the army’s needs, and women, who serve in combat units on a voluntary basis only. A questionnaire survey was randomly distributed at train stations and central bus stations in Israel among 413 soldiers and ex-soldiers between the ages of 18-30. The predictor variables include type of service or battle experience, the Evaluation of Risks scale and socio-demographic characteristics. In general, we found that high percentages of young people engage in risky behavior, especially illegal behavior. The results indicate that fighting experience is significantly and positively correlated with the consumption of illegal substances for currently serving men soldiers (but not for women) and this effect is mitigated after discharge from the army. Importantly, the use of illegal substances is not a result of the individual’s preferences for engaging in various risky behaviors. Thus, our results suggest that the effect of the increased propensity toward risky behavior following the experience of fighting overrides the combat unit’s discipline for men when it comes to the consumption of illegal substances. In addition, our findings indicate that serving in a combat unit as opposed to a non-combat unit affects the tendency of women ex-combat soldiers to travel to risky destinations, though this is probably related to their original higher risk attitude, since women must volunteer for combat units.

Seismo-Acoustic Energy Partitioning at Near-Source and Local Distances from the 2011 Sayarim Explosions in the Negev Desert, Israel

The January 2011 calibration explosions at the Sayarim Military Range in the Negev Desert, Israel, provide a unique dataset to study seismic and acoustic partitioning for surface sources at near‐source and local distances. We present an analysis of the seismic and overpressure/acoustic signals generated from two explosions, which included 10,240 and 102,080 kg of mainly ANFO with some Composition B, detonated on the surface, on 24 and 26 January, respectively, at different times of the day. A temporary seismo‐acoustic‐overpressure network was deployed at distances between 0.1 and 39 km to supplement data from permanent stations in Israel. The near‐source data confirm the explosions produced overpressure signals consistent with complete and simultaneous surface detonation of 7.4 and 76.8 metric tons of TNT‐equivalent explosives. We observe acoustic amplification at local distances (>5 km) south of the larger explosion that can be explained by a low‐altitude southward flowing wind at the detonation time. For the smaller shot, the southward flow was not present and amplification was not observed in the pressure data. We present results of modeling these overpressure data with blast pressure scaling models with and without meteorological data. Seismic phases generated by the surface shots include P waves, fundamental and higher mode Rayleigh waves, and Love waves that appear to have been generated at or very near the explosion source. The seismic ground motion is less than would be expected for fully coupled explosions of 7.6 and 76.8 tons, and at near‐source distances (<10 km) can be modeled well by reducing ground‐motion predictions from the Fuis et al. (2001) model by a factor of 4. The results from the Sayarim explosions, combined with past and future experimental datasets, will lead to an improved understanding of the seismo‐acoustic source function for explosions and energy partitioning between seismic and acoustic waves.

Imaging heterogeneity of the crust adjacent to the Dead Sea fault using ambient seismic noise tomography

For the purpose of studying the Earth’s crust by means of tomography, we investigated cross-correlation functions emerging from long-term observations of propagating ambient seismic noise at pairs of broadband stations in Israel and Jordan. The data was provided by the eight permanent broadband stations of the Israel Seismic Network evenly distributed over Israel and the 30 stations of the DESERT2000 experiment distributed across the Arava Fault (South of the Dead Sea basin). To eliminate the influence of earthquakes and explosions, we have applied the methodology of Bensen et al. (Geophys J Int 169:1239–1260, 2007), including bandpass filtering and amplitude normalization in time and frequency domain. The cross-correlation functions estimated from continuous recordings of a few months were used to extract Rayleigh waves group velocity dispersion curves using automatic version of the frequency–time analysis procedure. Subsequently, these curves have been converted into the Rayleigh wave group velocity maps in the period range 5–20 s and S waves velocity maps in the depth range 5–15 km. In these maps, four velocity anomalies are prominent. Two of them are outlined by the previous reflection-refraction profiles and body wave tomography studies, i.e. a low velocity anomaly corresponds to the area of the extremely deep (down to 14 km) sedimentary infill in the Southern Dead Sea Basin and a high velocity anomaly in the Southern Jordan corresponds to the area of the Precambrian crystalline rocks of the Nubian Shield on the flanks of the Red Sea. The two other anomalies have not been reported before - the high velocity zone close to the Beersheba city and the low velocity anomaly in the region of Samaria-Carmel mountains - Southern Galilee. They have relatively low resolution and hence need further investigations for approving and contouring. The highest contrast between the average Rayleigh wave group velocity (2.7 km/s) and the anomalies is 10–13 %, comparable, however, to the level of noise in the data. The results have been verified by modeling the revealed anomalies which showed that all the four zones mentioned above could be detected by the tomography study.

DEGRADATION OF SPRINGS IN THE ARAVA VALLEY: ANTHROPOGENIC AND CLIMATIC FACTORS

ABSTRACTGroundwater pumping in the hyper‐arid Arava Valley began in 1936 for industrial use, south of the Dead Sea, and since 1949 for domestic and agricultural use with the establishment of Eilat. Pumping gradually increased with the founding of 19 rural villages throughout the Arava Valley. Groundwater levels dropped as a result, and springs in the Arava Valley began to deteriorate. Their status had not been studied for decades, and we conducted comprehensive fieldwork of virtually all the known springs on the Israeli side of the Arava Valley, 31 springs, within the period 2008–2010. Our objectives were (i) to determine the current condition of each spring, (ii) to study spring deterioration through time in relation to historical data and (iii) to evaluate anthropogenic and climatic factors through time. Our results reveal that only 13 springs discharged water on the landscape surface and 18 springs were found dry. Detailed evaluations and time‐series analyses are presented for the springs: 'Ein Tamar, 'Ein Mashak, 'Ein Evrona and 'Ein Netafim, selected on the basis of geodiversity. Climatic trends in the region were studied using the novel P/PET aridity index (P = annual precipitation, PET = annual potential evapotranspiration). We calculated yearly P/PET values since 1970 for five meteorological stations in Israel and six stations in Jordan. All stations, without exception, show a negative downward trend toward increasing aridity, often with significant p values (below 0·10). The change to a drier climate in the region should be considered as an important factor regarding sustainable groundwater management in the Arava Valley. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.