Wind energy and natural ventilation potential of a wind catcher in Yazd – Iran (a long-term measurement)

When designing energy efficient buildings it is useful to study existing climate—responsive building typologies. The wind towers or wind-catchers of Yazd city in Iran are typical examples of such a typology. Although many previous studies have investigated the performance of various types of wind catcher systems, studies based on a long-term real-life measurement can be rarely found. In this study a long-term whole year monitoring campaign on an existing full scale four sided wind catcher in Yazd was carried out in 2014–2015. Three prevailing wind directions were identified and the measured on-site wind speeds were used to estimate the wind induced natural ventilation potential of the tower. A shaft/tower airflow performance index was developed. The monitoring results were compared to the ASHRAE Standard 62:2001 ventilation rate requirement. Results show that the total ventilation rate of the wind tower surpasses the ASHRAE Standard requirements. Furthermore it shows that the shafts are exposed to the prevailing wind directions perform better. For more effective natural ventilation a wind tower with adaptable openings/shafts are proposed.     

大数据在环境技术进步中的应用

我国环境污染日益严重,政府加大环境保护力度势在必行,科学、有效的环境管理对保护环境、提高环境质量起着重要的作用。环境技术进步是环境管理有效且持久的驱动力,但是,环境技术进步的测度方法一直未能实现普适性。本文首先综述了技术进步对改善环境质量的重要性,在此基础上,阐述了各学者对技术进步和偏向型技术进步测量方法的探究。然后介绍了大数据在环境管理中的应用,在其应用经验的基础上,将其引入环境技术测度领域。大数据在该领域的应用为环境偏向型技术进步的测度提供了新的契机,同时,大数据的应用也增加了研究的困难性。最后,基于偏向型技术进步之间的矛盾,提出最优环境技术的理念。通过利用大数据,可以合理测度偏向型技术进步,实现生产偏向型技术进步和环境偏向型技术进步的合理配比,找出可以兼顾高产出和低污染物排放量的最优偏向型技术进步模式。并进一步结合各区域的差异性和关联性,能够测算出区域最优偏向型技术进步模式,找到有效的环境管理方式,为环境管理者与政策制定者提供合理参考。     

Protected areas and deforestation: new results from high‐resolution panel data

This paper investigates the effectiveness of protected areas in slowing tropical forest clearing in 64 countries in Asia/Pacific, Africa and Latin America during the period of 2001–2012 by comparing deforestation rates inside and within 10 km outside of the boundaries of protected areas. Annual time series of these deforestation rates were constructed from recently published high‐resolution data on forest clearing from Hansen et al. (2013). For 4,028 parks, panel estimation based on a variety of park characteristics was conducted to test if deforestation was lower in protected areas because of their protected status, or if other factors explained the difference. From a sample of 726 parks established since 2002, a test was also conducted to investigate the effect of park establishment on protection. Findings suggest park size, national park status and management by indigenous people all are significantly associated with effective protection across regions. For the Asia/Pacific region, the test offers compelling evidence that park establishment has a near‐immediate and powerful effect.     

In-between regional disparities and spatial heterogeneity: a multivariate analysis of territorial divides in Italy

Processes such as economic polarization, social disparities and the asymmetric distribution of natural capital are becoming progressively more interlinked in developed countries and may reflect the uneven decline of the ‘centre-periphery’ model. The assessment of regional disparities and spatial heterogeneity in socioeconomic phenomena is a key issue in regional studies and takes advantage of the use of multi-domain frameworks and decision support systems. We performed an exploratory analysis of 133 indicators assessing seven thematic domains (demography/settlements, labour market, economic structure, quality of life, agriculture/rural development, landscape/water, environment/soil resources) with the aim of investigating regional disparities in Italy in the light of territorial changes driven by urbanization, industrial decentralization, agricultural intensification and land abandonment. The results of our study indicate that latitude, elevation and urban gradients have determined a complex spatial pattern in both socioeconomic and environmental variables in Italy. The proposed approach provides an overall assessment of the intensity of territorial disparities on a regional scale for each thematic domain, and of intra-region spatial heterogeneity for each indicator, representing a decision-making tool for policies targeting a sustainable and spatially balanced development.     

云南干旱的气候特征及变化趋势研究

以Thornthwaite水分平衡干燥度指数为主和自定义的反映短期降水有效性和异常性特征的有效降水指数为辅构建单站干旱综合指数,并定义了定量描述云南省受旱程度的干旱面积指数和干旱强度指数。采用变率和变差系数作为长期气候特征的定量指标,用云南省1959-2005年的资料,分1-3月、4-6月上旬、6-8月、9-10月、11-12月5个时段对云南省的干旱气候特征及变化趋势进行定量分析研究。结果表明：云南1-3月干旱最严重,平均每年有约2/3的土地受旱;其次是11-12月,有约50%的土地受旱;再次是4-6月上旬,有22%的土地受旱;9-10月干旱较轻,有约5%的土地受旱;6-8月平均受旱面积不到1%,基本不受干旱的影响。云南4-6月上旬和9-10月这两个时段干旱有发展加重的气候变化趋势,且9-10月加重的趋势更明显;1-3月干旱有减轻的趋势;11-12月和6-8月干旱变化趋势不明显。     

中国雨日变化趋势的分形研究

利用1951-2002年中国752个台站的雨日资料,运用分形理论和R/S分析法,研究并预测了中国五大降水区年雨日的气候变化趋势.研究表明:中国五大降水区未来的年雨日变化趋势与过去50a的变化有着很好的自相似性.为了更深入研究雨日的未来的变化,设计了两项Hurst指数试验,用两项试验结果与年雨日年际变化趋势的对应关系来推断未来的变化趋势及其转折与突变.结果表明:中国五大降水区年雨日有着一致的减少趋势,但其变化呈现显著的地域分异特征.依照五大降水区的气候倾向率,西北区、西南区、青藏高原区、东部北方区、东部南方区未来平均每10a雨日减少分别为4.1d,11.4d,3.7d,6.8d和5.9d,其中西南区年雨日减少最多.期间,中国五大降水区虽有气候变化的转折,但不存在雨日气候变化的突变点.     

安徽地区近45年蒸发皿蒸发量变化特征及影响因素初探

利用线性倾向性估计和Mann Kendal检验方法,研究了过去的45年（1963~2007年）安徽地区32个代表站 20 cm 口径蒸发皿蒸发量的变化特征。结果表明：（1）安徽地区蒸发皿蒸发量呈现明显下降趋势（-65.3 mm/10 a,信度001）,年蒸发总量在1976年发生突变,1982年显著减少,夏季突变最为明显;（2）32个代表台站中24个台站蒸发皿蒸发量表现为显著下降趋势,仅1个表现为上升趋势（信度005）,在空间上减少趋势基本呈现“北多南少”的态势。结合其它气候要素研究发现：气温显著升高,蒸发量明显减少,即安徽地区存在“蒸发悖论”规律,但气温与蒸发量之间相关性不明显;日照,日较差和风速存在显著减少趋势,相关性〖JP+1〗分析表明它们是影响蒸发皿蒸发量减少的最重要因子;低云量,降水量和相对湿度等要素本身没有明显变化趋势但对蒸发皿蒸发量的减少作用也不可忽视。     

Survey on environmental monitoring requirements of European ports

A group of 26 European ports was interviewed to understand their requirements for environmental information and to establish how widespread the use of Earth Observation (EO) data was amongst them. Aspects covered by the research included port profile characterisation, environmental management activities, environmental needs and current monitoring practices. The study reflected the diversity amongst European ports and their environmental performances. Most of the ports were publicly owned and located in estuaries and rivers. General cargo was the most popular commodity handled. Practically all the ports had an environmental policy in place and half of them had been accredited by an external body. The main environmental parameters that ports required to be monitored were marine related issues (currents, waves and tide), water quality, meteorological parameters, turbidity and sediment processes. The principal driver for monitoring was maintaining key port operations, followed by legislation, and local responsibilities. Ports in general collected their own data in situ and only one-third had used remotely sensed data (data from Earth Observation satellites or from airplane mounted sensors) for environmental purposes. Half of them used computer modelling. This study was conducted within the framework of the European funded port environmental information collector project (PEARL).     

Assessing human-induced pressures on coastal areas with publicly available data

The assessment of human-induced pressures on the coastal area is essential to target management plans effectively, and moreover is required by the EU Water Framework Directive. A simple and cost-effective assessment of human-induced pressures on the coastal zone is applied using two methodologies: a qualitative visual assessment which uses satellite images; and a quantitative assessment based on governmental census data. These methods are applied to defined areas (23 areas) of four Italian regions: Liguria, Tuscany, Latium and Sardinia. The results show a high agreement (83%) between these two methods, in which only four of the 23 areas are classified differently. These differences may mainly be ascribed to the qualitative or quantitative properties of the methods, and to the different geographical units adopted. These characteristics however provide complementary information, which suggests that the application of both proposed methods confirms reliability and allows fine-tuning of the assessment. The pressure assessment proposed is simple, time and cost-effective, and repeatable over time and space. It therefore can be applied in different contexts to respond to legislative requirements or to target management plans and remedial actions effectively.     

Multi-Destination and Multi-Purpose Trip Effects in the Analysis of the Demand for Trips to a Remote Recreational Site

One of the basic assumptions of the travel cost method for recreational demand analysis is that the travel cost is always incurred for a single purpose recreational trip. Several studies have skirted around the issue with simplifying assumptions and dropping observations considered as nonconventional holiday-makers or as nontraditional visitors from the sample. The effect of such simplifications on the benefit estimates remains conjectural. Given the remoteness of notable recreational parks, multi-destination or multi-purpose trips are not uncommon. This article examines the consequences of allocating travel costs to a recreational site when some trips were taken for purposes other than recreation and/or included visits to other recreational sites. Using a multi-purpose weighting approach on data from Gros Morne National Park, Canada, we conclude that a proper correction for multi-destination or multi-purpose trip is more of what is needed to avoid potential biases in the estimated effects of the price (travel-cost) variable and of the income variable in the trip generation equation.