Immediate and Delayed Meteorological Effects on COVID-19 Time-Varying Infectiousness in Tropical Cities

The novel coronavirus, which was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has been spreading globally at an unprecedented rate, leading to the virus being declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 12 March 2020. The clinical disease, COVID-19, associated with the pandemic is caused by the pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Aside from the inherent transmission dynamics, environmental factors were found to be associated with COVID-19. However, most of the evidence documenting the association was from temperate locations. In this study, we examined the association between meteorological factors and the time-varying infectiousness of COVID-19 in the Philippines. We obtained the daily time series from 3 April 2020 to 2 September 2020 of COVID-19 confirmed cases from three major cities in the Philippines, namely Manila, Quezon, and Cebu. Same period city-specific daily average temperature (degrees Celsius; °C), dew point (degrees Celsius; °C), relative humidity (percent; %), air pressure (kilopascal; kPa), windspeed (meters per second; m/s) and visibility (kilometer; km) data were obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—National Climatic Data Center. City-specific COVID-19-related detection and intervention measures such as reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing and community quarantine measures were extracted from online public resources. We estimated the time-varying reproduction number (Rt) using the serial interval information sourced from the literature. The estimated Rt was used as an outcome variable for model fitting via a generalized additive model, while adjusting for relevant covariates. Results indicated that a same-day and the prior week’s air pressure was positively associated with an increase in Rt by 2.59 (95% CI: 1.25 to 3.94) and 2.26 (95% CI: 1.02 to 3.50), respectively. Same-day RT-PCR was associated with an increase in Rt, while the imposition of community quarantine measures resulted in a decrease in Rt. Our findings suggest that air pressure plays a role in the infectiousness of COVID-19. The determination of the association of air pressure on infectiousness, aside from the testing frequency and community quarantine measures, may aide the current health systems in controlling the COVID-19 infectiousness by integrating such information into an early warning platform.

Characteristics of climatic variation from the perspective of “the Silk Road Economic Belt”

The variance tendency of climatic and spatial-temporal equilibrium characteristics of major cities along the SREB were systematically described through moving mean method, Kriging interpolation method, Bernaola-Galvan algorithm and correlation analysis based on monthly scale data of global weather stations released by the National Climatic Data Center website since 1951. Some conclusions cloud be drawn: (1) The precipitation showed a downward trend in other districts with significant seasonal differences except the Europe. The annual precipitation was “N” type distribution in Central Asia, while showed an “inverted V” and a “positive V” distribution in the East Asia and West Asia respectively, and the precipitation change was relatively gentle in Europe. The dominant factors affecting climate were different in different districts. (2) The temperature continued to increase in all districts and the seasonal temperature presented unimodal distribution, the alternation of drying and wetting was obvious in each districts as well as the temperature was complex and changeable in Europe. (3) The mutation point of temperature was detected by using Bernaola-Galvan algorithm in all districts, but the timing of the mutation was not synchronous and the mutation point of precipitation was not detected except in Europe. (4) The precipitation was decreasing from west to east in space, and the temperature showed the morphological distribution characteristics of of low in the middle but high on both sides. (5) The change of temperature were more sensitive than precipitation, the precipitation in Central Asia was inversely correlated with other districts, however, there was a high positive correlation between temperature in all districts. The inversely correlation between temperature and precipitation was the most significant in Central Asia.

Surface Temperature of the Planet Earth from Satellite Data over the Period 2003–2019

This is an update of Sobrino et al.’s paper, published in January 2020, which extends the calculation of the Earth’s surface temperature to the period 2003–2019 and uses the new version 2019.0 for the sea surface temperature product MODIS, which is available from 15 January 2020 and replaces version 2014.0. The land surface temperature was estimated from the MCD11C1 product for the same period. The results corroborate the temperature anomalies retrieved from climate models and improve the comparison with global annual air temperatures estimated by the NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NOAA-NCDC), with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. In addition, a trend of 0.021 ± 0.001 °C/year increase was found for the Earth’s surface temperature in this 17-year period.

Climatological study of the Boundary-layer air Stagnation Index for China and its relationship with air pollution

<p>The Air Stagnation Index (ASI) is a vital meteorological measure of the atmosphere’s ability to dilute air pollutants. The original metric adopted by the US National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is found to be not very suitable for China, because the decoupling between the upper and lower atmospheric layers results in a weak link between the near-surface air pollution and upper-air wind speed. Therefore, a new threshold for the ASI–Boundary-layer air Stagnation Index (BSI) is proposed, consisting of daily maximal ventilation in the atmospheric boundary layer, precipitation, and real latent instability. In the present study, the climatological features of the BSI are investigated. It shows that the spatial distribution of the BSI is similar to the ASI; that is, annual mean stagnations occur most often in the northwestern and southwestern basins, i.e., the Xinjiang and Sichuan basins (more than 180 days), and least over plateaus, i.e., the Qinghai–Tibet and Yunnan plateaus (less than 40 days). However, the seasonal cycle of the BSI is changed. Stagnation days under the new metric are observed to be maximal in winter and minimal in summer, which is positively correlated with the air pollution index (API) during 2000–2012. The correlations between the BSI and the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during January 2013 and November to December in 2015–2017 of Beijing are also investigated. It shows that the BSI matches the day-by-day variation of PM2.5 concentration very well and is able to catch the haze episodes.</p>

Hydrologic Trends in the Upper Nueces River Basin of Texas—Implications for Water Resource Management and Ecological Health

Reliable water sources are central to human and environmental health. In south Texas, USA, the Nueces River Basin (NRB) directly or indirectly plays that important role for many counties. Several NRB stream segments are designated as ecologically significant because they serve crucial hydrologic, ecologic, and biologic functions. The hydrologically significant streams recharge the Edwards Aquifer, an essential water source for the region’s agricultural, industrial, and residential activities. Unfortunately, the semiarid to arid south Texas climate leads to large inter-annual precipitation variability which impacts streamflow, and as a consequence, the aquifer’s recharge. In this study, we used a suite of hydrologic metrics to evaluate the NRB’s hydroclimatic trends and assess their potential impacts on the watershed’s ecologically significant stream segments using precipitation and streamflow data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and Hydroclimatic Data Network (HCDN) respectively from 1970 to 2014. The results consistently showed statistically significant decreasing streamflow for certain low-flow indicators over various temporal scales, likely due to water rights diversions and minimal land use changes. This research could help decision-makers develop the necessary tools to manage water resources in south Texas, given the NRB’s significance as a source of water for domestic consumption and ecological health.

Climatological study of the Boundary-layer air Stagnation Index for China and its relationship with air pollution

The Air Stagnation Index (ASI) is a vital meteorological measure of the atmosphere's ability to dilute air pollutants. The original metric adopted by the US National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is found to be not very suitable for China, because the decoupling between the upper and lower atmospheric layers results in a weak link between the near-surface air pollution and upper-air wind speed. Therefore, a new threshold for the ASI–Boundary-layer air Stagnation Index (BSI) is proposed, consisting of daily maximal ventilation in the atmospheric boundary layer, precipitation, and real latent instability. In the present study, the climatological features of the BSI are investigated. It shows that the spatial distribution of the BSI is similar to the ASI; that is, annual mean stagnations occur most often in the northwestern and southwestern basins, i.e., the Xinjiang and Sichuan basins (more than 180 days), and least over plateaus, i.e., the Qinghai–Tibet and Yunnan plateaus (less than 40 days). However, the seasonal cycle of the BSI is changed. Stagnation days under the new metric are observed to be maximal in winter and minimal in summer, which is positively correlated with the air pollution index (API) during 2000–2012. The correlations between the BSI and the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during January 2013 and November to December in 2015–2017 of Beijing are also investigated. It shows that the BSI matches the day-by-day variation of PM2.5 concentration very well and is able to catch the haze episodes.

Fatalities Caused by Hydrometeorological Disasters in Texas

Texas ranks first in number of natural hazard fatalities in the United States (U.S.). Based on data culled from the National Climatic Data Center databases from 1959 to 2016, the number of hydrometeorological fatalities in Texas have increased over the 58-year study period, but the per capita fatalities have significantly decreased. Spatial review found that flooding is the predominant hydrometeorological disaster in a majority of the Texas counties located in “Flash Flood Alley” and accounts for 43% of all hydrometeorological fatalities in the state. Flooding fatalities are highest on “Transportation Routes” followed by heat fatalities in “Permanent Residences”. Seasonal and monthly stratification identifies Spring and Summer as the deadliest seasons, with the month of May registering the highest number of total fatalities dominated by flooding and tornado fatalities. Demographic trends of hydrometeorological disaster fatalities indicated that approximately twice as many male fatalities occurred during the study period than female fatalities, but with decreasing gender disparity over time. Adults are the highest fatality risk group overall, children most at risk to die in flooding, and the elderly at greatest risk of heat-related death.

Climatological study of a new air stagnation index (ASI) for China and its relationship with air pollution

Air stagnation index (ASI) is a vital meteorological measure of the atmosphere's ability to dilute air pollutants. The original metric adopted by US National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is found not well suitable to China, because the decouple between upper and lower atmospheric layer results in a weak link between the near surface air pollution and upper-air wind speed. Therefore, a new threshold for ASI is proposed, consisting of daily maximal ventilation in the atmospheric boundary layer, precipitation and real latent instability. In the present study, the climatological features of this newly defined ASI is investigated. It shows that the spatial distribution of the new ASI is similar to the original one; that is, annual mean stagnations occur most often in the northwest and southwest basins, i.e., Xinjiang and Sichuan basins (more than 180 days), and the least over plateaus, i.e., Qinghai–Tibet and Yunnan plateaus (less than 40 days). However, the seasonal cycle of the new ASI is changed. Stagnation days under new metric are observed to be maximal in winter and minimal in summer, which is positively correlated with air pollution index (API) during 2000–2012. The correlation between ASI and concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during January 2013 of Beijing is also investigated. It shows that the new ASI matches the day-by-day variation of PM2.5 concentration very well and is able to catch the haze episodes in that month.

The Seasonal Variability in Surgical Site Infections and the Association With Warmer Weather: A Population-Based Investigation

OBJECTIVETo determine whether the seasonality of surgical site infections (SSIs) can be explained by changes in temperature.DESIGNRetrospective cohort analysis.SETTINGThe National Inpatient Sample database.PATIENTSAll hospital discharges with a primary diagnosis of SSI from 1998 to 2011 were considered cases. Discharges with a primary or secondary diagnoses of specific surgeries commonly associated with SSIs from the previous and current month served as our “at risk” cohort.METHODSWe modeled the national monthly count of SSI cases both nationally and stratified by region, sex, age, and type of institution. We used data from the National Climatic Data Center to estimate the monthly average temperatures for all hospital locations. We modeled the odds of having a primary diagnosis of SSI as a function of demographics, payer, location, patient severity, admission month, year, and the average temperature in the month of admission.RESULTSSSI incidence is highly seasonal, with the highest SSI incidence in August and the lowest in January. During the study period, there were 26.5% more cases in August than in January (95% CI, 23.3–29.7). Controlling for demographic and hospital-level characteristics, the odds of a primary SSI admission increased by roughly 2.1% per 2.8°C (5°F) increase in the average monthly temperature. Specifically, the highest temperature group, >32.2°C (>90°F), was associated with an increase in the odds of an SSI admission of 28.9% (95% CI, 20.2–38.3) compared to temperatures <4.4°C (<40°F).CONCLUSIONSAt population level, SSI risk is highly seasonal and is associated with warmer weather.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol2017;38:809–816

Validation of GOME-2/Metop total column water vapour with ground-based and in situ measurements

The total column water vapour product from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 on board Metop-A and Metop-B satellites (GOME-2/Metop-A and GOME-2/Metop-B) produced by the Satellite Application Facility on Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring (O3M SAF) is compared with co-located radiosonde observations and global positioning system (GPS) retrievals. The validation is performed using recently reprocessed data by the GOME Data Processor (GDP) version 4.7. The time periods for the validation are January 2007–July 2013 (GOME-2A) and December 2012–July 2013 (GOME-2B). The radiosonde data are from the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) maintained by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The ground-based GPS observations from the COSMIC/SuomiNet network are used as the second independent data source. We find a good general agreement between the GOME-2 and the radiosonde/GPS data. The median relative difference of GOME-2 to the radiosonde observations is −2.7 % for GOME-2A and −0.3 % for GOME-2B. Against the GPS, the median relative differences are 4.9 % and 3.2 % for GOME-2A and B, respectively. For water vapour total columns below 10 kg m−2, large wet biases are observed, especially against the GPS retrievals. Conversely, at values above 50 kg m−2, GOME-2 generally underestimates both ground-based observations.