The 2007 crisis and Greek wildfires: a multivariate analysis of suppression times

Shifts in government priorities in response to the 2007 global recession have affected wildfire management and natural disaster funding arrangements, leading to a reduced effectiveness of fire suppression actions and increasing fire vulnerability. Our study investigates the role of local socioeconomic contexts on fire suppression effectiveness under economic expansion and recession in a Mediterranean region (Attica, Greece) strongly affected by 2007 crisis and displaying a persistently high density of peri-urban wildfires. Basic characteristics of wildfires (spatial distribution, intensity, and land use preferences) were investigated in the study area over two consecutive 8-year time intervals characterized by economic expansion (2000–2007) and recession (2008–2015). An integrated approach based on multivariate statistics and artificial neural networks was implemented to evaluate latent relationships between fire suppression time, wildfire characteristics, and socioeconomic dynamics. Controlling for wildfires’ characteristics over the two time intervals, fire time length increased under crisis—mainly for small and medium-sized fires—possibly as an indirect response to reduced effectiveness of forest land management. Local contexts and political decisions influenced by economic downturns are relevant factors shaping wildfires’ severity in the Mediterranean region. With recession, local contexts vulnerable to wildfires require more effective fire prevention measures, sustainable forest management, and regional planning.     

CO2 transportation for carbon capture and storage: Sublimation of carbon dioxide from a dry ice bank

Climate change is being caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂). Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is of interest to the scientific community as one way of achieving significant global reductions of atmospheric CO₂ emissions in the medium term. CO₂ would be captured from large stationary sources such as power plants and transported via pipelines under high pressure conditions to underground storage. If a downward leakage from a surface transportation system module occurs, the CO₂ would undergo a large temperature reduction and form a bank of “dry ice” on the ground surface; the sublimation of the gas from this bank represents an area source term for subsequent atmospheric dispersion, with an emission rate dependent on the energy balance at the bank surface. Gaseous CO₂ is denser than air and tends to remain close to the surface; it is an asphyxiant, a cerebral vasodilator and at high concentrations causes rapid circulatory insufficiency leading to coma and death. Hence a subliming bank of dry ice represents safety hazard. A model is presented for evaluating the energy balance and sublimation rate at the surface of a solid frozen CO₂ bank under different environmental conditions. The results suggest that subliming gas behaves as a proper dense gas (i.e. it remains close to the ground surface) only for low ambient wind speeds.     

Contribution of a municipal solid waste incinerator to the trace metals in the surrounding soil

This study analyses the pedological environment of the area near a municipal waste incinerator that has been operating in the south-east district of Pisa for approximately 20?years. There are many other industrial activities in the area besides the incinerator, which represent possible sources of pollution, as well as heavy road traffic. The study area was defined by a 0-4-km zone around the site with a population of approximately 12,000 residents. The study included the physical and chemical characterisation of 100 samples of soil and an analysis of trace metals such as Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn, Hg, As and Cd. The samples were grouped into soil use categories. The results showed Zn, Pb and Hg correlated with their potentially mobile fractions, and suggested an anthropic contribution to their presence in the soil. Ni, Cr and As showed values attributable to a lithological origin. This was consistent with the PCA results. The aim was to define the environmental state of the soil of the area in order to create a reference for future research and to verify the possible presence of pollution from other sources (local industrial activities and traffic).