Wet Months Research Articles

Modeling habitat suitability of Hippophae rhamnoides L. using MaxEnt under climate change in China: A case study of H. r. sinensis and H. r. turkestanica

Hippophae rhamnoides is widely known for its important ecological, economic, and social benefits. It is known as the pioneer plant of soil and water conservation, with homology in food and medicine. With the climate warming in recent years, the numbers of this species and countries with this plant have decreased steadily. H. r. sinensis and H. r. turkestanica have the widest distribution area in China, which account for more than 90% of the total national Hippophae rhamnoides resources. We firstly screened the presence data and downscale the environment variables (climate and soil) by correlation analysis. Secondly, based on the 232 occurrence data of H. r. sinensis and 10 environmental variables, the 73 occurrence data of H. r. turkestanica and 11 environmental variables, we simulated and predicted their suitable habitats in China, both at the current time and in the 2050S (2041–2060), and analyzed the dominant factors effecting its distribution by using MaxEnt. Finally, we studied the habitat variations and centroid migrations of these subspecies under future climate scenarios using the spatial analysis function of ArcGIS. The results indicated that the area of suitable habitat for H. r. sinensis is much larger than that of H. r. trkestanica in China. The suitable habitat of H. r. sinensis is concentrated in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, mainly distributed in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, and that of H. r. trkestanica is mainly distributed in Xinjiang and Tibet. The former is mainly affected by bio13 (precipitation of the wettest month), bio11 (mean temperature of the coldest quarte) and bio3 (Isothermality), and the latter is mainly affected by bio13 (precipitation of the wettest month), bio2 (mean diurnal range) and bio15 (precipitation seasonality), and the former is also more stable in the face of future climate change. They are more susceptible to climate than soil in their survival. Although, the two subspecies tend to expand and migrate toward lower latitude under future climate scenarios, there are some differences. H. r. sinensis will migrate westward, while H. r. trkestanica will migrate eastward as a whole. They have a high stability of suitable habitat and are not at risk of extinction in the future. The study’s findings help to clarify the resource reserve of Hippophae rhamnoides L. in China, which will help to guide the protection of wild resources and to popularize artificial planting in suitable areas, and provides scientific basis for the protection of ecological environment.

Potencial da capacidade de retenção de um reservatório Neotropical (Estado de São Paulo, Brasil)

Abstract: Aim Man-made reservoirs lead to several changes in their downstream rivers that depend on the hydraulic characteristics of the reservoirs. However, their multiple uses can also provide facilities that influence the ecosystem services that they provide. This study addressed the potential ability of a Neotropical reservoir to trap chemical species aiming to assess the role of these ecosystems to mitigate pollution. Methods Retention capability modeling was examined for a small subtropical reservoir with high hydraulic retention time (> 100 days). The temporal ranges of 9 physical and chemical water variables over a five-year period were used to calculate the mass balance and to determine the retentive capability (alpha parameter) of the Itupararanga Reservoir (São Paulo State, Brazil). To explain the long-term mass balance of these variables, it was assumed that the reservoir is a completely mixed system with a step input. Results The highest values of parametrized alpha (high retention capability) occurred in wet months (up to 500 mm) for all variables. High reaction rate constants (k) and low hydraulic flushing suggested that sink processes prevail over the export ones, mainly for total phosphorus. The rainfall pattern showed minor importance for trapping elements. Conclusions In the Neotropics, hydraulic characteristics of the ecosystem (e.g., low area:volume ratio) are a tool for pollution management in man-made reservoirs.

Environmental Variation in Seed Mass in Sanguisorba Minor

ABSTRACT: Seed mass is an important characteristic of seed quality because larger seeds contain more resources and are likely to exhibit greater vigor than smaller seeds, characteristics that are commonly targeted in plant breeding programmes. Seed mass variation in 359 populations (accessions) of Sanguisorba minor were evaluated across its geographical range in Iran. In addition, the seed and germination parameters of 13 populations that had been stored for 12 years at 4°C in the Natural Resources Gene Bank of Iran were analysed. Seed mass among the 359 populations varied from 1.4g to 14.5g with an average of 5.65g. In this study, the seed mass variation was compared with eco-geographical variables across the original habitats of S. minor . An increase in the maximum temperature of the warmest month, annual precipitation, precipitation of the wettest month, precipitation of the wettest quarter and precipitation of the coldest quarter led to increases in seed mass. Smaller seeds were produced in the hotter and drier environments located in the center of Iran, and in wetter sites. Significant differences in seed traits were found among the 13 stored populations of S. minor and seed germination was positively corrrelated with seed mass (R2 = 0.9). The highest germination percentage after 12 years of storage was obtained in the Hamedan (75%) and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (74%) populations, which had heavier and larger seeds. The positive correlation between longevity in ex-situ facilities and seed mass, suggests heavier seeds may have an advantage during storage and for use in breeding programmes.

Correcting Hargreaves‐Samani formula using geographical coordinates and rainfall over different timescales

AbstractThe United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) approved the Hargreaves‐Samani formula (HAR‐85) as an alternative to the standard Penman‐Monteith method (FAO‐PM) for estimating grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo). With much less data demand, HAR‐85 is unequivocally useful where meteorological variables are often scarce, incomplete or unavailable. Herein, we evaluate HAR‐85 against FAO‐PM across 2.505 million km2, representing Sudan and South Sudan and encompassing wide hydroclimate domains including the Nile River. We further propose simple year‐round and seasonal adjustment models to correcting HAR‐85 across the entire study area. The models express HAR‐85's error in multiple linear regressions in terms of latitude, longitude, altitude and/or monthly rainfall. Varying data periods, including odd, even and all years, are used in the evaluation and the adjustment models development and validation processes to investigate the influence of changing data period. A suit of eight performance indicators shows dependency of the original bias of HAR‐85 on the geographical location, monthly rainfall amount, season of the year and data period. All error indicators amplify southward from the hyper‐arid region to the dry sub‐humid zone. For example, the mean bias error (MBE) ranges from −0.51 to 1.29 mm/day, respectively. Study area‐wide, HAR‐85 least represents FAO‐PM during the hottest month and the transitional month (between the wet and dry‐cool seasons) with MBE of 0.65 and 0.70 mm/day, respectively. Conversely, it represents FAO‐PM the most in the wettest month, with smallest MBE of 0.32 mm/day. Beholding this spatiotemporal trait, the final yearly and seasonal adjustment models developed herein enormously moderate the predominant overestimation of the original HAR‐85. The former model explains 46.7% of the error variance whereas 36.9% to 62.3% of the variation in the error is explainable by the latter models. These adjustment models narrow the monthly MBE among the stations from −0.71‐2.17 to −0.80‐1.20 and −0.65‐0.99 mm/day, respectively. Without undermining the accuracy, the year‐round adjustment model can still be feasibly recommended for general use across the study area.

Richness of ferns and lycophytes from Tijuca National Park, an urban forest

Abstract Tijuca National Park (TNP) covers an area corresponding to 3.5% of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It is an Atlantic Rainforest fragment with peaks and watersheds that make this protected area a mosaic of habitats. It is composed of four subunits: Serra da Carioca, Pedra Bonita and Pedra da Gávea Inselbergs, Tijuca Forest, and the Pretos Forros/ Covanca Considering the importance of conserving biodiversity in rainforest fragments, such as those found in Tijuca National Park and its subunits, we analyzed the spatial distribution of species in relation to climatic factors that could impact species richness. In addition to floristic analysis, we provide details of endemism, conservation status, substrate and habitat preferences, as well as data on geographic distribution patterns for each species. Precipitation during the wettest month was shown to be one of the most important climatic features in the study area and may be related to floristic richness and composition. The TNP holds about 38.5% of known species in the state of Rio de Janeiro with 254 taxa distributed in 26 families and 83 genera. Floristic richness can be impacted by environmental variables, including climatic factors. Our results show that relating floristic richness to environmental variables can be a way to understand biodiversity.

Comparison and Impact Factor Analysis of Ground PM2.5 Retrieved by Aqua and Himawari-8 Satellite Products in Guangdong, China

Fine particulate matter (particles sizes < 2.5 µm; PM2.5) concentrations can be obtained at high spatial resolutions using satellite remote sensing. Previous studies on PM2.5 concentrations in Guangdong have used the aerosol optical depth (AOD) determined by MODIS sensors on the Terra and Aqua satellites, which both have a transit time of once per day. In this study, based on AOD data obtained from the Aqua and Himawari-8 (H8) satellites and ground-based measurements, ground PM2.5 concentrations were compared using radiation theory and a semi-empirical model. The temporal resolution of PM2.5 concentrations retrieved by the H8 satellite improved from once per day to once per hour when compared with the temporal resolution of those retrieved by the Aqua satellite. The data from both satellites were consistent with ground-based measurements (R ≥ 0.65 and reaching 0.96 for the annual mean), indicating that the retrieved data could characterize the spatial and temporal variations in ground PM2.5 concentrations in Guangdong Province. The two satellites had similar performances for the annual mean, dry season mean, and hourly data; however, H8 performed better than Aqua for the wet season and monthly averages. The performances of both satellites decreased when relative humidity increased and visibility decreased. H8 performed better at high relative humidity, low visibility, and during the PM2.5 pollution process, thus reflecting the advantage of geostationary satellite in capturing PM2.5 pollution distributions. In addition, the data retrieved by both satellites exhibited higher PM2.5 concentrations near the junctions of some cities and regions, indicating a new pollution distribution pattern after the industrial shift that cannot be observed by ground-based measurements. Aerosol scale height is the most important parameter for retrieving PM2.5 concentrations. Thus, improving the computational accuracy of aerosol scale height may improve the effectiveness of satellite-based PM2.5 concentration retrievals.

Analysis of the climate change impact on the spatiotemporal drought in the Gaza region of the southeastern Mediterranean

Abstract The southeast Mediterranean region of the Gaza Strip is showing traces of evolving drought patterns driven by the impacts of climate change. The analysis of rainfall data at eight meteorological stations for a period extending over 48 years from 1974 to 2021 shows obvious variations in the spatiotemporal distribution of the rainfall over the Gaza Strip. The total monthly rainfall trend analysis for the wet months indicates a decreasing trend during February, March, April, and November with a ratio ranging between −16 and −62% and an increasing trend of about 35 and 141% through October at each of the meteorological stations. However, January shows an increasing trend of about 1–27% at all meteorological stations except Nussirat where a decline of about −7% is recorded while December refers to an increasing trend of about 5–27% in the north area of Gaza and declining trend of −2 to −17% over the southern region of the Gaza Strip. The drought analysis using the SPI indicator refers to a significant development of drought during the years 1990, 1999, 2010, and 2014 in the Gaza Strip with a major incident of occurrence where specifically, the monthly drought in terms of SPI-1 is identified as moderate and mild by about 15–21 and 27–56%, respectively. The agricultural drought of SPI-3 is nominated by severe, moderate, and mild severity with an incident reaching 11%, 8–11%, and 21–52%, respectively. However, the hydrological droughts demonstrated by the 9-month SPI-9 and 12-month SPI-12 potentially occur in extreme, severe, moderate, and mild with a probability of incident defined by up to 4, 13, 15, and 28–40%, respectively, for SPI-9 and by up to 4, 6, 11 and 38% extreme, severe, moderate, and mild, respectively, in case of SPI-12.

The Effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on Rainfall and Its Correlation with Consecutive Dry Days (CDD) of South Sumatra Province from 1981-2020

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)` are events where the phenomenon of rising and falling sea surface temperatures becomes unnatural. Stronger events where the sea surface temperature anomaly becomes large, then this disrupts local fish and bird populations. The ENSO and IOD phenomena also affect rainfall in several parts of Indonesia. This study analyzed the effect of ENSO and IOD phenomena on rainfall in South Sumatra Province from 1981 to 2020 and the correlation between Consecutive Dry Days (CDD) and Rainfall in South Sumatra Province for the last 40 years. ENSO data and IOD data were analyzed against rainfall data analyzed using a simple linear regression method and associated with CDD in South Sumatra Province with the correlation method. In addition, a correlation analysis was also carried out between the Niño 3.4 index and the Dipole Mode Index (DMI) with rainfall at two stations, namely the Palembang Climatology Station and the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Meteorological Station to determine how much influence the ENSO and IOD phenomena had on rainfall in the Sumatra Province. South. The results of the analysis show that the effect of ENSO and IOD on rainfall at each station is generally not significant. The state of rainfall in the Province of South Sumatra for the last 40 years is almost not influenced by El Nio and La Nia. This is presumably due to the location of the South Sumatra Region which is in the Munsonal area. Monsoon areas are characterized by a unimodial type of rainfall (one peak of the rainy season) where in June, July and August the dry season occurs, while December, January and February are the wet months. The remaining six months is a transitional or transitional period (three months of transition from dry season to rainy season and three months of transition from rainy season to dry season).

HISTORIA NATURAL DE LOS ANUROS DE SERRA DONA FRANCISCA, UN REMANENTE DE LA MATA ATLÁNTICA EN EL SUR DE BRASIL

The Serra Dona Francisca is located in the subtropical region of the Atlantic Forest and part of its area is protected by a sustainable use conservation unit. In the present study, we performed an anuran inventory at different elevation, providing information on natural history of each species. Field work was carried out from October 2012 to January 2014. We sampled the anuran by active search and used three 50-meter pitfall lines composed of four 60L buckets with drift-fences at each elevation area. We registered 63 species belonging to 13 families: Brachycephalidae (4), Bufonidae (4), Centrolenidae (1), Craugastoridae (1), Cycloramphidae (2), Hemiphractidae (2), Hylidae (30), Hylodidae (2), Leptodactylidae (10), Microhylidae (2), Odontophrynidae (3), Phyllomedusidae (1), and Ranidae (1). We observed four new records for the northeastern region of Santa Catarina state: Bokermannohyla luctuosa, Scinax aromothyella, Odontophrynus americanus, and Leptodactylus plaumanni. We registered a higher number of species during the hot and wet months, with subsequent drop during the cold months. We found an increase of species richness at higher elevations. Considering our results that represent 50% of anuran richness of the Santa Catarina state, this is an important region for conservation of biodiversity of southern Atlantic Forest.

Phosphorus and iron-oxide transport from a hydrologically isolated grassland hillslope

Dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) loss from agricultural soils can negatively affect water quality. Shallow subsurface pathways can dominate P losses in grassland soils, especially in wetter months when waterlogging is common. This study investigated the processes controlling intra- and inter-event and seasonal DRP losses from poorly drained permanent grassland hillslope plots. Temporal flow related water samples were taken from surface runoff and subsurface (in-field pipe) discharge, analysed, and related to the likelihood of anaerobic conditions and redoximorphic species including nitrate (NO3−) over time. Subsurface drainage accounted for 89% of total losses. Simple linear regression and correlation matrices showed positive relationships between DRP and iron and soil moisture deficit; and negative relationships between these three factors and NO3− concentrations in drainage. These data indicate that waterlogging and low NO3− concentrations control the release of P in drainage, potentially via reductive dissolution. The relationship between DRP and metal release was less obvious in surface runoff, as nutrients gathered from P-rich topsoil camoflaged redox reactions. The data suggest a threshold in NO3− concentrations that could exacerbate P losses, even in low P soils. Knowledge of how nutrients interact with soil drainage throughout the year can be used to better time soil N and P inputs via, for example, fertiliser or grazing to avoid to excessive P loss that could harm water quality.

Epidemiology of Aeromonas Species Bloodstream Infection in Queensland, Australia: Association with Regional and Climate Zones.

Aeromonas species can cause severe bloodstream infection (BSI) however, few studies have examined their epidemiology in non-selected populations. The objective of this study was to describe the incidence and determinants of Aeromonas species BSI in Queensland, Australia. A retrospective population-based cohort study was conducted during 2000-2019. Aeromonas species BSI were identified by laboratory surveillance and clinical and outcome information through data linkages to statewide databases. A total of 407 incident Aeromonas species BSI were identified with an age- and sex-standardized incidence of 5.2 per million residents annually. No trend in annual incidence rate during two decades of surveillance was demonstrated. Significant variable monthly occurrences were observed with highest rates during warmer, wetter months, and lowest rates during winter and dry periods. There was significant variability in incidence accordingly to region and climate zones, with higher rates observed in tropical north regions and lowest in southeastern corner. The highest incidence was observed in very remote and hot areas in Queensland. Cases were infrequent in children and risk was highest in elderly and males. Seventy-eight patients died within 30 days with a case-fatality rate of 19%. Older age, non-focal infection, higher Charlson score, and monomicrobial bacteremia were independent risk factors for death. Demographic and climatic changes may increase the burden of these infections in future years.

Potential distribution of the citrus Mal Secco disease in the Mediterranean basin under current and future climate conditions

AbstractSpecies distribution models are widely used to estimate the potential geographic distribution of species habitat. They are also used to predict the impact of climate change on species distributions. In this study, we examined the distribution of Mal Secco disease, an infective disease of citrus caused by the fungus Plenodomus tracheiphilus. To model the Mal Secco distribution under current and two future (2050 and 2070) climatic scenarios in the Mediterranean basin, eight climate variables were incorporated into the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. All three model distributions had high AUC values (0.97), indicating excellent performance. The precipitation during the wettest month and the minimum temperature during the coldest month contributed the most to the model. The suitable areas for the Mal Secco disease were predicted to decrease by up to 23% by the year 2070. For each of the three scenarios, the change in the proportion of suitable areas along the longitudinal (west–east) and latitudinal (south–north) geographical axes of the Mediterranean basin showed a similar trend. Our study highlights the supposition that while climate change is likely to reduce the extent of suitable areas, no range shift is expected to occur in the Mediterranean basin.

Examining the impacts of climate variabilities and land use change on hydrological responses of Awash River basin, Ethiopia

Environment and climate changes have been posing pressure on the quality and quantity of water resources. The research examined the hydrological response of upper Awash River basin under the influences of environmental and climate changes. The climate change results up to 77.5% and 100.5% increament in annual and wet season monthly river flow, respectively when using projected climate data of RCP4.5. Whereas, the land use change alterss river flow in a one digit percentile increment/ decrement. It was observed that effects of both climate and land use changes will likely to increase the river flow and possibly cause flooding in the upper Awash River basin. The land use change impact can be alleviated by implementing appropriate land use management practices. The climate change mitigation needs long term process; as a result climate change adaptation mechanisms are recommended for the short term while employing climate mitigation options in the long run.

Identification of suitable land for supplemental surface irrigation in semi-arid areas of North-western Ethiopia

In arid and semi-arid areas, a shortage of soil moisture limits rainfed crop growth and consequently reduces crop yield. By adding a small amount of water, supplemental irrigation can boost crop yields dramatically. The objective of this study was to identify suitable land for supplemental irrigation in a moisture deficit area in the semi-arid Ethiopian highlands using GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation. Land suitability and water availability factors were used for the analysis. Land suitability was represented by slope, soil capability index (SCI), and land use while river proximity and effective rainfall were used to reflect water availability. Previous studies and expert opinions were used to assign weights to each factor. In the GIS environment, pairwise overlay analysis was applied to identify suitable areas for supplemental irrigation. The results showed that more than 41% of the study area can use supplemental irrigation used to increase rainfed crop production. More than 40% of the total cultivated land of the districts was suitable to apply supplemental irrigation. The effective rainfall of the wet months (June, July and August) is sufficient to supplement the rainfed crop in the late growing season. Earthen dams are recommended as water harvesting structures to practice supplemental irrigation in large suitable areas. These water harvesting structures are also important for domestic use and livestock drinking.

Estimation of some Radio Propagation Parameters using Measurements of Surface Meteorological Variables in Ede, Southwest Nigeria

A data acquisition system that utilised the open-source Arduino platform was developed to take real-time ground measurements of primary radio climatological variables of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity at Ede, a tropical station in southwest Nigeria (7.7349^{o} N, 4.4439^{o} E). Surface radio refractivity was deduced from these variables and used to estimate refractivity gradients at 100 m and 1000 m heights from the exponential reference atmosphere model for terrestrial propagation. Secondary radio propagation parameters such as refractivity gradients, the effective-earth-radius-factor, k, and geoclimatic factor, K, essential parameters for quick application in the planning and design of line-of-sight radio link systems, were also deduced. Data acquired from the device were compared to those obtained from the Re-Analyses (ERA-5) satellite database of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) 2020/2021. Aside from logging data on a micro secure digital (SD) card, measurements were displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD). The peripheral Arduino-compatible meteorological sensors were connected to the analog inputs of the ATMega328 in the Arduino independent development environment (IDE), and the unit was powered by a 12 V battery charged by a 50-watt solar module. Results showed that slightly higher values of the ERA-5 data characterise the dry months from November to March, while the wet months displayed higher values of the Arduino-derived measured data. The accuracies of the data collected were compared using Mean Percentage Error (MPE) performance indicator. The interpretation is that the mean difference between the Arduino inferred measurements and the ERA-5 data is less than 10%, which is an indication of the measurement accuracy.

Hydropower flexibility valuation tool for flow requirement evaluation

Timing of generation is becoming more and more valuable. This creates greater potential tension between environmental and power system objectives since both systems require their own flow patterns. Identifying win–win outcomes in this context requires being able to discuss the value of flexibility across stakeholder groups. This research proposes a two-stage optimization method to understand hydropower flexibility to meet both environmental and power system requirements. The tool simulates the two-settlement market process in the U.S. by maximizing revenues from both the day-ahead and real-time markets, subject to plant operational limits, regulatory flow and ramping requirements, and uncertainties associated with water availability and market prices. The model is formulated as linear programming problems and solved using IBM ILOG CPLEX optimizer. By examining a range of flow requirements, ramping constraints, and storage capacities, the proposed tool shows how to make more informed decisions to weigh the cost of specific flow requirements in the context of the overall license requirements. Results from the case study show that revenue is more sensitive to the ramping constraints than the minimum flow constraints. We also demonstrate that removing flow constraints in a dry month increases monthly revenue by up to 118%, as opposed to only 1% in a wet month. In addition, our results suggest that using a learning-based water flow forecast results in an increase of monthly revenue up to 6.4% compared with persistence forecast.

Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends

The lack of a complete and reliable data series often represents the main difficulty in carrying out climate studies. Diverse causes, such as human and instrumental errors, false and incomplete records, and the use of obsolete equipment in some meteorological stations, give rise to inhomogeneities that do not represent climatic reality. This work in the northern part of the Moroccan Middle Atlas used 22 meteorological stations with sometimes-incomplete monthly precipitation data from 1970 to 2019. The homogenization and estimation of the missing data were carried out with the R software package Climatol version 3.1.1. The trends in the series were quantified by the Mann–Kendall nonparametric test. The results obtained show a low root mean square error (RMSE), between the original and homogenized data, of between 0.5 and 38.7 mm per month, with an average of 8.5 mm. Rainfall trends for the months of December through June are generally downward. These negative trends are significantly stronger in the southern and eastern parts of the study area, especially during the month of April (the wettest month). On the other hand, July shows positive trends, with 71% of stations having an increasing precipitation tendency, although only five (or 1/3) of these are statistically significant. From August to November, generally positive trends were also observed. For these months, the percentage of series with a positive and significant trend varied between 55 and 77%.

Evaluating coefficient of performance and rate of moisture loss of some biomass humidifiers materials with a developed simple direct stand-alone evaporative cooling system for farmers

• A low cost stand alone low energy evaporative cooler (EVC) was developed for preservation /cooling of fruits • Palm fruit mesocarp fibre and Jute fibre biomass showed good humidifying ability for the EVC • Moisture loss rate was lowest in Jute fiber and palm fruit mesocarp fibre biomass humidifier • Maximum COP of up to 78 and humidifying efficiency of 78.62 % was achieved The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of deploying a direct evaporative cooler with Jute fibre, palm fruit mesocarp fibre and wooden charcoal as a humidifier in Nigeria. The high cost of imported evaporative coolers and humidifiers can discourage farmers and limit the adoption of evaporative cooling technology. For this purpose, an experimental direct evaporative cooling test rig was developed and assembled in southwestern Nigeria with a biomass humidifier. The evaluation parameters were the humidifying efficiency, the rate of moisture loss, coefficient of performance and sensible heat ratio. The humidifier presented average cooling efficiency of 55.9 to 78.62 %, an average rate of moisture loss of 1.37 × 10 −3 to 2.61 × 10 −3 kg/s, an average COP of 8.48 to 23.42 (EER of 11 to 78) and an average sensible heat ratio of 1.28 × 10 −4 to 4.06 × 10 −4 for the air velocity of 3.0 to 4.5 m/s. The obtained performance can be better in a dryer month or nearly impossible in a very wet month as the humidifying efficiency of direct evaporative coolers is found to diminish at high humidity. To avoid casting doubt on the effectiveness of direct evaporative coolers by farmers, they should only serve as stop-gap preservation equipment and be deployed during favourable weather conditions especially during the winter when the air is dry. These can be identified from the metrological charts of the chosen location.

Spatial Climate Forecasting for Climatology Disaster Mitigation

Climate is the average weather conditions over a relatively long time. Climate change is a problem for living things, such as the agricultural sector. It affects the availability of community food reserves, public health, and socio-economics. The impact of climate change causes dramatic changes in agricultural patterns and shifts in planting time. Water availability for agricultural needs is complicated to predict, so the failure rate of agricultural production is getting bigger. Failure is due to a mismatch between the availability of water and the applied cropping pattern. This study aims to analyze and predict the spatial distribution of the Schmidt-Ferguson climate classification on Lombok Island from 2018-2035. This study generated rainfall data using the Thomas Fiering method from 18 rain stations on Lombok Island for 24 years (1994-2017). Determine the dry, moist, and wet months based on the Schmidt-Ferguson classification. From the analysis results, the most significant Q value is at the Geres Daya, Sapit, and Sopak rain stations with the classification

Seasonal land use/land cover change and the drivers in Kafta Sheraro national park, Tigray, Ethiopia

Kafta Sheraro National Park (KSNP) has experienced rapid and consecutive destruction of dry woodland vegetation due to the influence of anthropogenic activities in the past three decades. However, to date, the change in woodland cover and its driving factors have not been addressed. This study aims to assess the spatial and temporal trends of land use/land cover change, seasonal vegetation cover change via the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and human-induced drivers of change that occurred in the KSNP between 1988 and 2018 by using satellite imagery sensors (TM, ETM+, OLI), field observations, and local community interview data. The 2018 image results showed kappa coefficients of the dry season and wet season of 0.90 and 0.845, respectively. There was a continuous decline in woodland (29.38%) and riparian vegetation (47.11%) and an increasing trend in shrub bush land (35.28%), grassland (43.47%), bare land (27.52%), and cultivated land (118.36 km2) over the thirty-year period. Moreover, the results showed that bare land expanded from wet to drier months, while cultivated land and grazing land increased from dry to wet months. Based on the NDVI results, high to moderate vegetation was decreased by 21.47%, while sparse and non-vegetation expanded by 19.8% and 1.7%, respectively. Settlement and agricultural expansion, human-induced fire, firewood collection, gold mining, and charcoal production were the major proximate drivers that negatively affected park resources. Around KSNP, the local communities’ livelihood depends on farming (crop and livestock production). This expansion of farming is the main driver of woodland depletion, which leads to increased resource competition and a challenge for the survival of wildlife. Therefore, urgent sustainable conservation of park biodiversity by encouraging community participation in conservation practices and preparing awareness creation programs should be mandatory.