The impact of atmospheric sodium on erodibility of clay in a coastal Mediterranean region

1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.-E. Schmittner ◽  
Pierre Giresse
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1631-1637 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Fontana ◽  
A. Toreti ◽  
A. Ceglar ◽  
G. De Sanctis

Abstract. In the last decades the Euro-Mediterranean region has experienced an increase in extreme temperature events such as heat waves. These extreme weather conditions can strongly affect arable crop growth and final yields. Here, early heat waves over Italy from 1995 to 2013 are identified and characterised and their impact on durum wheat yields is investigated. As expected, results confirm the impact of the 2003 heat wave and highlight a high percentage of concurrence of early heat waves and significant negative yield anomalies in 13 out of 39 durum wheat production areas. In south-eastern Italy (the most important area for durum wheat production), the percentage of concurrent events exceeds 80 %.


New Medit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Migliore ◽  
Cinzia Zinnanti ◽  
Emanuele Schimmenti ◽  
Valeria Borsellino ◽  
Giorgio Schifani ◽  
...  

This is the first study which explores the impact of climate change in Sicily, a small Mediterranean region of Southern Europe. According to research, Mediterranean area has shown large climate shifts in the last century and it has been identified as one of the most prominent “Hot-Spots” in future climate change projections. Since agriculture is an economic activity which strongly depends on climate setting and is particularly responsive to climate changes, it is important to understand how such changes may affect agricultural profitability in the Mediterranean region. The aim of the present study is to assess the expected impact of climate change on permanent crops cultivated in Sicilian region (Southern Italy). By using data from Farm Accountancy Data Network and Ensembles climatic projections for 2021-2050 period, we showed that the impact of climate change is prominent in this region. However, crops respond to climatic variations in a different manner, highlighting that unlike the strong reduction in profitability of grapevine and citrus tree, the predicted average Net Revenue of olive tree is almost the same as in the reference period (1961-1990).


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Winter 2021) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Soliman Al-Zawawy

This paper aims to forecast the route that Joe Biden, will take in his foreign policy toward the Eastern Mediterranean, by trying to analyze the content of his speeches and rhetoric before and shortly after taking office. In this context, America’s relation to Turkey will be pivotal in order to gauge the impact of any change in U.S. course. After four years of Trump’s doctrine of ‘America First’ and his bilateral approach, there are many expectations that the newly elected president will follow a more multilateral approach and will put more importance on international organizations and alliances across the Atlantic. Those expectations are more like wishes, however, when it comes to the Eastern Mediterranean, which is on the verge of a critical standoff between Turkey and its neighbors. There are some speculations that Biden will take a more affirmative stance against Turkey. Indeed, Biden has stressed the value of cooperating with allies to achieve foreign policy objectives. But despite the harsh language, Biden used during his election campaign to describe Turkey’s leadership, it is still unclear whether Biden will place the U.S. on a collision course with Turkey.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Pool ◽  
Félix Francés ◽  
Alberto Garcia-Prats ◽  
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez ◽  
Carles Sanichs-Ibor ◽  
...  

<p>Irrigated agriculture is the major water consumer in the Mediterranean region. Improved irrigation techniques have been widely promoted to reduce water withdrawals and increase resilience to climate change impacts. In this study, we assess the impact of the ongoing transition from flood to drip irrigation on future hydroclimatic regimes in the agricultural areas of Valencia (Spain). The impact assessment is conducted for a control period (1971-2000), a near-term future (2020-2049) and a mid-term future (2045-2074) using a chain of models that includes five GCM-RCM combinations, two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5), two irrigation scenarios (flood and drip irrigation), and twelve parameterizations of the hydrological model Tetis. Results of this modelling chain suggest considerable uncertainties regarding the magnitude and sign of future hydroclimatic changes. Yet, climate change could lead to a statistically significant decrease in future groundwater recharge of up -6.6% in flood irrigation and -9.3% in drip irrigation. Projected changes in actual evapotranspiration are as well statistically significant, but in the order of +1% in flood irrigation and -2.1% in drip irrigation under the assumption of business as usual irrigation schedules. The projected changes and the related uncertainties will pose a challenging context for future water management. However, our findings further indicate that the effect of the choice of irrigation technique may have a greater impact on hydroclimate than climate change alone. Explicitly considering irrigation techniques in climate change impact assessment might therefore be a way towards better informed decision-making.</p><p>This study has been supported by the IRRIWAM research project funded by the Coop Research Program of the ETH Zurich World Food System Center and the ETH Zurich Foundation, and by the ADAPTAMED (RTI2018-101483-B-I00) and TETISCHANGE (RTI2018-093717-B-I00) research projects funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain including EU FEDER funds.</p>


Author(s):  
Matteo Riccò ◽  
Sergio Garbarino ◽  
Nicola Bragazzi

The month of Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, and, according to the Islamic tradition, it coincides with the month when the Noble Koran/Qur’an began to be revealed. In recent years, concerns about the potentially negative health effects of Ramadan fasting and the risks of work-related injuries have increased in Western European (EURO) countries. In the present study, we performed a retrospective database-based analysis assessing the impact of Ramadan fasting on occupational injuries (OIs) in North-Eastern Italy among migrant workers from the Eastern-Mediterranean Region (EMRO). Our results suggest that EMRO workers exhibit a significantly increased risk for OIs during Ramadan in periods characterized by heat-waves, while their frequency was somehow reduced for days associated with Ramadan characterized by increased but not extreme temperatures. However, these results may be attributable to an explanatory causation in the specific differences between EMRO and EURO workers in the job tasks performed at the workplace. Not coincidentally, no significant differences were found regarding industrial settings, mechanisms of OIs and final prognosis. Despite the obvious practical implications for health decision- and policy-makers, due to the limitations of the present investigation, further studies are warranted.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2469-2481 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gaetani ◽  
M. Baldi ◽  
G. A. Dalu ◽  
G. Maracchi

Abstract. This is a study on the impact of the jetstream in the Euro-Atlantic region on the rainfall distribution in the Mediterranean region; the study, based on data analysis, is restricted to the Mediterranean rainy season, which lasts from September to May. During this season, most of the weather systems originate over the Atlantic, and are carried towards the Mediterranean region by the westerly flow. In the upper troposphere of the Euro-Atlantic region this flow is characterized by two jets: the Atlantic jet, which crosses the ocean with a northeasterly tilt, and the African jet, which flows above the coast of North Africa. This study shows that the cross-jet circulation of the Atlantic jet favors storm activity in its exit region, while the cross-jet circulation of the African jet suppresses this kind of activity in its entrance region, with the 1st jet-stormtrack covariance mode explaining nearly 50% of the variability. It follows that the rainfall distribution downstream to these cross-jet circulations is strongly influenced by their relative positions. Specifically, in fall, rainfall is abundant in the western Mediterranean basin (WM), when the Atlantic jet is relatively strong but its northeasterly tilt is small, and the African jet is in its easternmost position. In winter, rainfall is abundant in the eastern Mediterranean basin (EM); this is when the Atlantic jet reaches the Scandinavian peninsula and the African jet is in its westernmost position. In spring, when the two jets weaken, the Atlantic jet retreats over the ocean, but the African jet stays in its winter position, rainfall is abundant in the Alpine region and in the Balkans. In addition, the covariance between precipitation and the jetstream has been evaluated. In fall, the latitudinal displacement of the Atlantic jet and the longitudinal displacement of the African jet modulate rainfall anomalies in the WM, with 38% explained covariance. In winter, the latitudinal displacement of the Atlantic jet produces rainfall anomalies in the western and central Mediterranean, with 45% explained covariance. In spring, the latitudinal displacement of the African jet produces rainfall anomalies, with 38% explained covariance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elcin Tan

<p>A debate on the probable Istanbul Isthmus Project that may have catastrophic impacts on our ecosystem has been recently accelerated in public, due to the fact that the approved environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the hypothetical Istanbul Isthmus (HII) Project has recently been announced. The EIA report indicates that the assessment covers only the current conditions and the conditions that may arise during the construction of the HII. Unfortunately, The EIA report did not evaluate the climate change impact on either the Istanbul Area or Mediterranean Region after the inclusion of the HII, only the current conditions were evaluated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of HII on the climate of the Mediterranean Region. The climate version of the WRF Model is utilized with 9 km resolution for the Region 12: Mediterranean (CORDEX) for the historical conditions and RCP8.5 scenarios of available climate model results from CMIP5 and CMIP6 projects. Land surface and land use maps are prepared by following the EIA report if the necessary information is included, otherwise, the current conditions are applied. The atmospheric conditions were not coupled to an Ocean Model, only the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) values of the Ocean Models are coupled to the WRF model during both historical and future simulations. The model results are evaluated in terms of temperature, precipitation, and sea-level changes. Consequently, the results indicate that the HII may decrease the resilience of the Mediterranean Region to Climate Change.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
S. O. Kuznetsov

Globalization, imbalance in development of states, economic and political crises, search for a better life and military action often force people to leave their usual places of residence. A significant component of migration processes is illegal migration, which is especially dangerous when carried out by sea. The fragmentary nature of modern legal research in this area has led to the choice of the article to describe modern organizational and legal mechanisms to counteraction illegal migration by sea in the ongoing pandemic and develop proposals for their improvement. Based on the application of research methodology, which combines a number of general scientific (dialectical, historical) and special legal (formal legal, scientific forecasting) methods of scientific research, the article clarifies the dynamics of migration processes in the modern world. With the Mediterranean region serving as the example, their illegal component is characterized. Political, legal and organizational directions of cooperation of states in the counteraction against illegal migration are singled out, with the description of their relationship provided. It is noted that the availability of modern legal instruments has not helped to cope with the increasing number of migration flows and the consequences of illegal migration in the mid‑2010s in the EU. The impact of border restrictions due to the spread of the COVID‑19 pandemic was not significant. The decline in illegal migration in the Mediterranean region is due to other organizational measures. It is concluded that it is currently necessary to ensure high-quality implementation of international law, IMO and other international institutions’ recommendations. There is the need to develop and improve bylaws directly related to counteraction illegal migration at sea. The responsibility of states, their vessels and rescue services and migrants on board vessels that do not meet maritime safety requirements should also be addressed.


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