Investigating the main reasons for the tragedy of large saline lakes: Drought, climate change, or anthropogenic activities? A call to action

2022 ◽  
Vol 196 ◽  
pp. 104652
Author(s):  
Ehsan Foroumandi ◽  
Vahid Nourani ◽  
Sameh Ahmed Kantoush
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Saline Lakes ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Call To Action

Emergence of New Potential Insect Pests of Date Palm: Could Climate Change Be the Reason?

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 242-245
Author(s):  
Hamadttu A. F. El-Shafie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Date Palm ◽  
Insect Pests ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
South American ◽  
Palm Fruit ◽  
The Family ◽  
American Palm ◽  
Sorghum Chafer

Four insect species were reported as new potential pests of date palm in recent years. They are sorghum chafer (Pachnoda interrupta), the rose chafer (Potosia opaca), the sericine chafer beetle (Maladera insanablis), and the South American palm borer (Pysandisia archon). The first three species belong to the order Coleoptera and the family Scarabaeidae, while the fourth species is a lepidopteran of the family Castniidae. The injury as well as the economic damage caused by the four species on date palm need to be quantified. Due to climate change and anthropogenic activities, the date palm pest complex is expected to change in the future. To the author's knowledge, this article provides the first report of sorghum chafer as a pest damaging date palm fruit.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Communicating the Uncertainty of Climate Change to Policymakers: A Study of IPCC Synthesis Reports

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2466
Author(s):  
Tomas Molina ◽  
Ernest Abadal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
Level Of Confidence ◽  
Ipcc Report ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tackle Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports on climate change have served to alert both the public and policymakers about the scope of the predicted changes and the effects they would have on natural and economic systems. The first IPCC report was published in 1990, since which time a further four have been produced. The aim of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the IPCC Summaries for Policymakers in order to determine the degree of certainty associated with the statements they contain. For each of the reports we analyzed all statements containing expressions indicating the corresponding level of confidence. The aggregated results show a shift over time towards higher certainty levels, implying a “Call to action” (from 32.8% of statements in IPCC2 to 70.2% in IPCC5). With regard to the international agreements drawn up to tackle climate change, the growing level of confidence expressed in the IPCC Summaries for Policymakers reports might have been a relevant factor in the history of decision making.

scholarly journals Predicting current and future background ion concentrations in German surface water under climate change

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1764) ◽  
pp. 20180004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trong Dieu Hien Le ◽  
Mira Kattwinkel ◽  
Klaus Schützenmeister ◽  
John R. Olson ◽  
Charles P. Hawkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Ion Concentrations ◽  
Freshwater Organisms ◽  
Global Environmental Issue ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Major Factors

Salinization of surface waters is a global environmental issue that can pose a regional risk to freshwater organisms, potentially leading to high environmental and economic costs. Global environmental change including climate and land use change can increase the transport of ions into surface waters. We fit both multiple linear regression (LR) and random forest (RF) models on a large spatial dataset to predict Ca 2+ (266 sites), Mg 2+ (266 sites), and (357 sites) ion concentrations as well as electrical conductivity (EC—a proxy for total dissolved solids with 410 sites) in German running water bodies. Predictions in both types of models were driven by the major factors controlling salinity including geologic and soil properties, climate, vegetation and topography. The predictive power of the two types of models was very similar, with RF explaining 71–76% of the spatial variation in ion concentrations and LR explaining 70–75% of the variance. Mean squared errors for predictions were all smaller than 0.06. The factors most strongly associated with stream ion concentrations varied among models but rock chemistry and climate were the most dominant. The RF model was subsequently used to forecast the changes in EC that were likely to occur for the period of 2070 to 2100 in response to just climate change—i.e. no additional effects of other anthropogenic activities. The future forecasting shows approximately 10% and 15% increases in mean EC for representative concentration pathways 2.6 and 8.5 (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5) scenarios, respectively. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects’.

DATA ANALYTICS FOR CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150005
Author(s):  
STAVROS DEMERTZIS ◽  
VASILIKI DEMERTZI ◽  
KONSTANTINOS DEMERTZIS
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Atmospheric Science ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Rivers And Lakes ◽  
Atmospheric Concentrations

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Under these conditions, air pollution is likely to reach levels that create undesirable living conditions. Anthropogenic activities, such as industry, release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, increasing the atmospheric concentrations of these gases, thus significantly enhancing the greenhouse effect, which has the effect of increasing air heat and thus the speedup of climate change. The use of sophisticated data analysis methods to identify the causes of extreme pollutant values, the correlation of these values with the general climatic conditions and the general malfunctions that can be caused by prolonged air pollution can give a clear picture of current and future climate change. This paper presents a thorough study of preprocessing steps of data analytics and the appropriate big data architectures that are appropriate for the research study of Climate Change and Atmospheric Science.

Impact of Climate Change on the Retreat of Himalayan Glaciers and Its Impact on Major River Hydrology

2018 ◽  
pp. 681-694
Author(s):  
Ram Karan Singh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Himalayan Glaciers ◽  
Freshwater Resource ◽  
River Hydrology ◽  
Major River ◽  
Cyclic Phenomenon

Himalayan Glaciers are the largest freshwater resource on earth and the rivers originating from them are an important source of water. They significantly modify stream flow both in quantity and timing as annual basin run-off is enhanced or decreased in years of negative or positive glacier mass balance respectively. Although glacial advances and retreats are a part of its natural cyclic phenomenon, the rate of de-glaciations has accelerated in recent times due to climatic changes and global warming caused by anthropogenic activities. Some of the important glaciers of Himalayas are receding at an alarming rate, which could have dire consequences on river hydrology of the main rivers of this region namely, Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra, initially causing floods and the paradoxically, scarcity of water later. This chapter is an attempt to summarize some of the studies on Himalayan glacier retreats and also to assess its impact on the availability of freshwater in the sub-continent.

scholarly journals Coastal Flooding and Erosion under a Changing Climate: Implications at a Low-Lying Coast (Ebro Delta)

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Grases ◽  
Vicente Gracia ◽  
Manuel García-León ◽  
Jue Lin-Ye ◽  
Joan Pau Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Wave Model ◽  
Ebro Delta ◽  
Coastal Hazards ◽  
Sand Transport ◽  
Storm Waves

Episodic coastal hazards associated to sea storms are responsible for sudden and intense changes in coastal morphology. Climate change and local anthropogenic activities such as river regulation and urban growth are raising risk levels in coastal hotspots, like low-lying areas of river deltas. This urges to revise present management strategies to guarantee their future sustainability, demanding a detailed diagnostic of the hazard evolution. In this paper, flooding and erosion under current and future conditions have been assessed at local scale at the urban area of Riumar, a touristic enclave placed at the Ebro Delta (Spain). Process-based models have been used to address the interaction between beach morphology and storm waves, as well as the influence of coastal environment complexity. Storm waves have been propagated with SWAN wave model and have provided the forcings for XBeach, a 2DH hydro-morphodynamic model. Results show that future trends in sea level rise and wave forcing produce non-linear variations of the flooded area and the volume of mobilized sediment resulting from marine storms. In particular, the balance between flooding and sediment transport will shift depending on the relative sea level. Wave induced flooding and long-shore sand transport seem to be diminished in the future, whereas static sea level flooding and cross-shore sediment transport are exacerbated. Therefore, the characterization of tipping points in the coastal response can help to develop robust and adaptive plans to manage climate change impact in sandy wave dominated coasts with a low-lying hinterland and a complex shoreline morphology.

scholarly journals Future of Coastal Lagoons in Arid Zones under Climate Change and Anthropogenic Pressure. A Case Study from San Jose Lagoon, Mexico

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Imaz-Lamadrid ◽  
Jobst Wurl ◽  
Ernesto Ramos-Velázquez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Baja California ◽  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Geospatial Analysis ◽  
Baja California Peninsula ◽  
Arid Zones ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
San Jose ◽  
The Future

In arid and semiarid zones, groundwater plays a key role in the ecology and availability of freshwater. Coastal lagoons in arid zones have great importance as a refuge for species of flora and fauna, as a source of freshwater, and for recreational purposes for local communities and tourism. In addition, as environments under natural stress, they are suffering pressure from anthropogenic activities and climate change, especially in zones with intense touristic development as in the case of the Baja California Peninsula in northwest Mexico. In this paper, we analyze the future of a coastal lagoon impacted by climate change and anthropogenic pressures. We constructed a groundwater MODFLOW-SWI2 model to predict changes in freshwater–saltwater inputs and correlated them with the geospatial analysis of the distribution and evolution of the water body and surrounding vegetation. The methodology was applied to the San Jose lagoon, one of the most important wetlands in the Baja California peninsula, which had been affected by anthropogenic activities and endangered by climate change. According to our water balance, the deficit of the San Jose aquifer will increase by 2040 as a result of climate change. The water table north of the lagoon will drop, affecting the amount of freshwater inflow. This reduction, together with an increase of evapotranspiration and the sea-level rise, will favor an increase of mineralization, reducing the surface water and groundwater quality and in consequence affecting the vegetation cover. Without proper management and adequate measures to mitigate these impacts, the lagoon may disappear as a freshwater ecosystem. Results of this research indicate that the use of a groundwater flow model, together with a geospatial analysis provide effective tools to predict scenarios for the future of coastal lagoons, and serve as a basis for land planning, nature conservation, and sustainable management of these ecosystems.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities and Climate Variations on Vegetation Productivity Changes in China from 1985 to 2015

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1113
Author(s):  
Shahid Naeem ◽  
Yongqiang Zhang ◽  
Jing Tian ◽  
Faisal Mueen Qamer ◽  
Aamir Latif ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Climate Factors ◽  
Climate Variations ◽  
Base Period ◽  
Increasing Trends

Accurate assessment of vegetation dynamics provides important information for ecosystem management. Anthropogenic activities and climate variations are the major factors that primarily influence vegetation ecosystems. This study investigates the spatiotemporal impacts of climate factors and human activities on vegetation productivity changes in China from 1985 to 2015. Actual net primary productivity (ANPP) is used to reflect vegetation dynamics quantitatively. Climate-induced potential net primary productivity (PNPP) is used as an indicator of climate change, whereas the difference between PNPP and ANPP is considered as an indicator of human activities (HNPP). Overall, 91% of the total vegetation cover area shows declining trends for net primary productivity (NPP), while only 9% shows increasing trends before 2000 (base period). However, after 2000 (restoration period), 78.7% of the total vegetation cover area shows increasing trends, whereas 21.3% of the area shows decreasing trends. Moreover, during the base period, the quantitative contribution of climate change to NPP restoration is 0.21 grams carbon per meter square per year (gC m−2 yr−1) and to degradation is 2.41 gC m−2 yr−1, while during the restoration period, climate change contributes 0.56 and 0.29 gC m−2 yr−1 to NPP restoration and degradation, respectively. Human activities contribute 0.36 and 0.72 gC m−2 yr−1 during the base period, and 0.63 and 0.31 gC m−2 yr−1 during the restoration period to NPP restoration and degradation, respectively. The combined effects of climate and human activities restore 0.65 and 1.11 gC m−2 yr−1, and degrade 2.01 and 0.67 gC m−2 yr−1 during the base and restoration periods, respectively. Climate factors affect vegetation cover more than human activities, while precipitation is found to be more sensitive to NPP change than temperature. Unlike the base period, NPP per unit area increases with an increase in the human footprint pressure during the restoration period. Grassland has more variability than other vegetation classes, and the grassland changes are mainly observed in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia regions. The results may help policy-makers by providing necessary guidelines for the management of forest, grassland, and agricultural activities.

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