The Black Sea Physics Analysis and Forecasting System within the Framework of the Copernicus Marine Service

This work describes the design, implementation and validation of the Black Sea physics analysis and forecasting system, developed by the Black Sea Physics production unit within the Black Sea Monitoring and Forecasting Center as part of the Copernicus Marine Environment and Monitoring Service. The system provides analyses and forecasts of the temperature, salinity, sea surface height, mixed layer depth and currents for the whole Black Sea basin, excluding the Azov Sea, and has been operational since 2016. The system is composed of the NEMO (v 3.4) numerical model and an OceanVar scheme, which brings together real time observations (in-situ temperature and salinity profiles, sea level anomaly and sea surface temperature satellite data). An operational quality assessment framework is used to evaluate the accuracy of the products which set the basic standards for the future upgrades, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the model and the observing system in the Black Sea.

Investigation of Facilities Management Implementation Process for Malaysian State Mosque

The mosque has been a focal point of Islam since its inception, serving as a place of worship, a centre of education, economic pursuits, communal services, and spirituality. However, due to a variety of causes, the scope of mosque functions has been constrained as the world has developed rapidly. In summary, congregational capacity and facilities relating to hygiene, safety, and space utilisation are among the problems being closely examined in Malaysia. Based on the problems, the subject of mosque management's competencies that need to be improved in order to become more professional arises. Reviews of literature suggested that facilities management (FM) approach has the potential to be incorporated in the management of mosque. The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of FM process in mosque in supporting the achievement of mosque’s functions. A quantitative approach was adopted in this study. The implementation of FM process from 12 state mosques in Peninsular Malaysia were investigated using questionnaire survey which distributed among the mosque management that manage mosque facilities. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the questionnaire survey data with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results from the questionnaire survey revealed that, 50 per cent of the mosque has implemented most of the FM process model elements whereas other mosque still need further improvement to ensure the standards of FM process model is achieved. The results indicated that there is potential for improvement in mosque that possesses low position in implementing elements of FM process model that includes FM formulation strategy, requirement analysis of services, FM solutions development, FM solutions implementation and monitoring service provision. The finding could assist the top management level of the mosque in strategising the implementation action plan of mosque facilities management.

CITATION DATABASES: THE ROLE OF THE ACADEMIC LIBRARIAN

Objective. Indicators of citation databases are widely used as a tool for evaluating academic productivity and decision-making in science and technology. Academic libraries organize services to work with such resources. Methods. Based on the analysis and description of the work of the Information Monitoring Service, the role and type of support that academic libraries can provide in the process of their use are considered. Results. The portfolio of services for the use of citation databases provided by the employees of the Service consists of administration and organization of access, consulting, and information work, monitoring and analysis of publishing activity, organizing information, information support of journal’s editorial boards. Conclusions. Such services of academic libraries are diverse and require the development of theoretical and methodological basis for their quality implementation, continuous training of staff, their more active involvement in research processes.

High Resolution Land Cover Integrating Copernicus Products: A 2012–2020 Map of Italy

The study involved an in-depth analysis of the main land cover and land use data available nationwide for the Italian territory, in order to produce a reliable cartography for the evaluation of ecosystem services. In detail, data from the land monitoring service of the Copernicus Programme were taken into consideration, while at national level the National Land Consumption Map and some regional land cover and land use maps were analysed. The classification systems were standardized with respect to the European specifications of the EAGLE Group and the data were integrated to produce a land cover map in raster format with a spatial resolution of 10 m. The map was validated and compared with the CORINE Land Cover, showing a significant geometric and thematic improvement, useful for a more detailed and reliable evaluation of ecosystem services. In detail, the map was used to estimate the variation in carbon storage capacity in Italy for the period 2012–2020, linked to the increase in land consumption

A process-oriented evaluation of CAMS reanalysis ozone during tropopause folds over Europe for the period 2003–2018

Tropopause folds are the key process underlying stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT) of ozone, thus, affecting tropospheric ozone levels and variability. In the present study we perform a process-oriented evaluation of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reanalysis (CAMSRA) O3 during folding events, over Europe and for the time period from 2003 to 2018. A 3-D labeling algorithm is applied to detect tropopause folds in CAMSRA, while ozonesonde data from WOUDC (World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre) and aircraft measurements from IAGOS (In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System) are used for CAMSRA O3 evaluation. The profiles of observed and CAMSRA O3 concentrations indicate that CAMSRA reproduces the observed O3 increases in the troposphere during the examined folding events. Nevertheless, at some of the examined sites, CAMSRA overestimates the observed O3 concentrations, mostly at the upper portion of the observed increases, with a median fractional gross error (FGE) among the examined sites > 0.2 above 400 hPa. The use of a control run without data assimilation, reveals that the aforementioned overestimation of CAMSRA O3 arises from the data assimilation implementation. Overall, although data assimilation assists CAMSRA O3 to follow the observed O3 enhancements in the troposphere during the STT events, it introduces biases in the upper troposphere resulting in no clear quantitative improvement compared to the control run without data assimilation. Less biased assimilated O3 products, with finer vertical resolution in the troposphere, in addition to higher IFS (Integrated Forecasting System) vertical resolution, are expected to provide a better representation of O3 variability during tropopause folds.

Variability class dependent evaluation of the CAMS Solar Radiation Service

<p>The Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) offers Solar radiation services (CRS) providing information on surface solar irradiance (SSI). The service is currently derived from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) and the service evolution includes its extension to other parts of the globe. CRS provides clear and all sky time series combining satellite data products with numerical model output from CAMS on aerosols, water vapour and ozone. These products are available from 2004 until yesterday. A regular quality control of input parameters, quarterly benchmarking against ground measurements and automatic consistency checks ensure the service quality.</p> <p>Variability of solar surface irradiances in the 1-minute range is of interest especially for solar energy applications. The variability classes can be defined based on ground as well as satellite-based measurements. This study will present the evaluation of the CAMS CRS based on the eight variability classes derived from ground observations of direct normal irradiation (DNI) (Schroedter-Homscheidt et al., 2018). Such an analysis will help assess the impact of recent improvements in the derivation of all sky irradiance under different cloudy conditions.</p> <p>References:</p> <p>Schroedter-Homscheidt, M., S. Jung, M. Kosmale, 2018: Classifying ground-measured 1 minute temporal variability within hourly intervals for direct normal irradiances. – Meteorol. Z. 27, 2, 160–179. DOI:10.1127/metz/2018/0875.</p>

LQ-Warn – Entwicklung optimierter Vorhersagen verschiedener Luftqualitätsparameter

<p>Schlechte Luftqualität gefährdet die Gesundheit der Bevölkerung. Zur Information und zur Ergreifung kurzfristiger Maßnahmen zur Luftqualitätsverbesserung (z.B. Verkehrslenkung) ist eine möglichst genaue und – insbesondere in städtischen Gebieten – möglichst räumlich hochaufgelöste Luftqualitätsvorhersage notwendig. Numerische Luftqualitätsmodelle haben für diese Aufgabe in der Regel eine zu geringe räumliche Auflösung.</p> <p>Daher ist es Ziel des Projektes „LQ-Warn“ die Luftqualitätsvorhersage insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Überschreitung von Grenzwerten zu verbessern. Basierend auf den Modellergebnissen für Luftqualitätsparameter des Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) werden zwei Ansätze verfolgt: Einerseits werden Vorhersagen mit dem regionalen chemischen Transportmodell „REM-CALGRID“ (RCG) unter Einbeziehung von CAMS-Ergebnissen und regionalen Emissionsdaten berechnet. Dabei kann eine hohe horizontale Auflösung von 2 km erzielt werden und Prognosen können für verschiedene Luftschadstoffe in stündlicher Auflösung mit bis zu 72 Stunden Vorlaufzeit erstellt werden, unter anderem für NO<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>3</sub>, PM<sub>10</sub> und PM<sub>2.5</sub>. Andererseits wird die statistische Post-Processing-Methode „Model Output Statistics“ (MOS) angewandt, um Punktvorhersagen für die Massenkonzentration der Spezies NO<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>3</sub>, PM<sub>10</sub> und PM<sub>2.5</sub> mit einer Vorlaufzeit von bis zu 96 Stunden zu berechnen. Dafür werden luftqualitätsbezogene Messungen, CAMS-Modellergebnisse und meteorologische Parameter aus dem numerischen Wettervorhersagemodell des ECMWF als Prädiktoren verwendet.</p> <p>Es werden erste Ergebnisse der mit den o.g. Ansätzen errechneten Vorhersagen präsentiert und die Vor- und Nachteile der jeweiligen Verfahren hervorgehoben. Durch die statistische Post-Processing-Methode MOS wird an den Vorhersagepunkten vor allem für die Massenkonzentration von O<sub>3 </sub>und NO<sub>2</sub> eine signifikante Verringerung des RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) im Vergleich zu den Vorhersagen des numerischen CAMS-Modells erreicht. Diese deutliche Verbesserung der Luftqualitätsvorhersage sinnvoll auf die Fläche auszudehnen ist jedoch noch eine Herausforderung. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigt die Vorhersage mit dem RCG-Modell eine geringere Verbesserung der Vorhersagegüte an einzelnen Vorhersagepunkten als der MOS-Ansatz. Stattdessen bietet das RCG-Modell zeitlich und räumlich konsistente Vorhersagen an allen Modellgitterpunkten. Kleinskalige Konzentrationsunterschiede können aufgrund der höheren Modellauflösung deutlich realistischer vorhergesagt werden als mit den CAMS-Vorhersagen. Ein weiterführendes Ziel des LQ-Warn-Projektes ist es die beiden Ansätze zu kombinieren, um die Vorteile beider nutzen zu können und eine präzise Luftqualitätsvorhersage flächendeckend für Deutschland bereitstellen zu können.</p>

Impact of Weather Change Technologies on Global Security

The article is devoted to assessing the potential impact of the use of technologies for influencing the weather on global security. It is shown that technologies for influencing the weather, which began to be developed at the end of the 19th century, are now actively studied and applied in developed countries of the world in most cases for precipitation management. Examples of the use of such systems by the USA, China, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates are given. According to the authors, the existing methods of influencing the weather for both peaceful and potentially military purposes, and their consequences, are not well studied in the long term. Long-term use of technologies for influencing the weather can have serious negative consequences for security at the local and global level, not only for the country that uses them, but also for neighboring countries and their population. One of the ways to regulate the situation is the creation of a special international monitoring service, which will be responsible for coordinating the use of weather management technologies by states. To achieve the goals set in the article, the authors applied an interdisciplinary method of discourse analysis, since it is the most productive for studying the consequences of using technologies for influencing the weather in the modern geopolitical situation. To determine the potential consequences of the use of technologies for influencing the weather, a systematic approach was used, which made it possible to present a holistic vision of the climatic challenges of influencing the weather in the modern geopolitical situation. The use of the comparative method and the forecasting method allowed to compare the potential of different countries that own and develop technologies for influencing the weather, as well as assess the possible consequences of using technologies for influencing the weather for peaceful and military purposes.

Analysis of Best Practice Caregiving: A New Online Database of Evidence-Based Dementia Caregiving Programs

Best Practice Caregiving (BPC) is a free online database providing comprehensive information on research and implementation characteristics for 44 evidence-based dementia caregiving programs. Programs eligible for BPC have research-tested positive outcomes for family/friend caregivers and demonstrated feasibility in community implementations. This symposium presents results from analyses of the BPC database that includes surveys of 44 program developers and 324 healthcare or community delivery-organizations, and content analysis of 231 published studies. Findings show the most common of 19 types of assistance provided by programs were: Supporting Caregiver/Individual-with-Dementia (IWD) Communication, Encouraging Positive Caregiver-IWD Activities, and Strengthening Coping (93.2%). Least common were: Getting a Dementia Diagnosis (29.5%) and Monitoring Service Benefits (20.5%). Methods of delivering the types of assistance were: information/referral (M=11.1), skills training (M=7.5), and direct provision of care (M=3.8). The most common types of organizations that delivered programs were healthcare organizations (23.8%) and Area Agencies on Aging (23.8%). The greatest delivery-challenges were program marketing (69.8%) and caregiver engagement (66.3%). Most organizations ‘strongly agreed’ that programs had positive impacts on caregivers (59.5%) but were less certain about IWD benefits (25.1% ‘strongly agreed’). Published research studies found the most improved caregiver outcomes were: 1) Strain and/or burden (84.1%), 2) Depressive symptomology (79.5%), and 3) Caregiving efficacy (63.6%). Least common improved outcomes were 1) Access to support information/Community service use (9.1%); 2) Unmet needs (6.8%); and 3) Respite/break from care (2.3%). Overall, results highlight strengths of evidence-based dementia caregiving programs, along with gaps and challenges to be addressed by existing and new developing programs.