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>

Exploring technology opportunities and evolution of IoT-related logistics services with text mining

Many IoT technologies have been applied in the logistics industry in recent years, and they have had a substantial impact on many sectors such as shipping, air freight, warehousing, inventory, etc. Exploring technology opportunities and carrying out technological trend analysis are essential for IoT’s evolution, and there are many techniques or methods for doing so. In this paper, data analysis and text mining techniques, technology opportunity analysis (TOA) and technology-service evolution analysis (TSEA) have been applied to analyze and observe IoT technologies’ and services’ evolution. Academic journals, market reports, and patents have been collected and reviewed on the topic of IoT in the logistics field in this paper. Moreover, by using TOA, technology opportunities have been analyzed to explore IoT-related logistics services. The results of TOA, for example, show that cloud technology is essential to develop smart logistics services, and communication RFID technologies are key to developing information logistics services. Finally, TSEA enables the observation of IoT technology and logistics service evolution by combining unstructured and semi-structured data from text documents. Observing the results of TSEA, the evolution of IoT in logistics is identified, and the results of TSEA also confirm those of TOA using unstructured or semi-structured text data from documents only. The results of this paper are discussed and compared with those of some previous review studies. In summary, the results of this paper provide methodological guidelines on this topic for a comprehensive understanding of IoT-related logistics services.

Evaluating a dynamically modelled river discharge as input for ocean systems through the monitoring of the ocean state from reanalysis

<p>As part of the phase 2 of the CMEMS Service Evolution, the BRONCO project (Benefits of dynamically modelled River discharge input for OceaN and COupled atmosphere-land-ocean systems) led to the creation of a new river discharge dataset that can be used as input for the NEMO ocean model. River runoffs into the ocean are taken from a global river discharge reanalysis dataset produced by the CEMS Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) driven by ERA5 forcing and called GloFAS-ERA5. This new reanalysis dataset has been evaluated using the latest ECMWF ocean analysis system - Ocean5 - over the 1979-2017 period. Comparisons to ocean observations, showed improved ocean state in the Atlantic Ocean in areas affected by large rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi and the St Lawrence, but also in the Mediterranean and the Baltic seas. Positive impact on the representation of the Atlantic Merdional Overturning Circulation is also seen. However, degradation of the ocean state can be detected over the Maritime Continent and on the west coast of Central America and Alaska. Such degradation of the ocean state can be alleviated via a retuning of the GloFAS-ERA5 river runoffs. The need for retuning suggests the existence of biases in the GloFAS-ERA5 reanalysis. Further investigation allowed to attribute those biases to spurious signals in both precipitation and snowmelt in the ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis. This result suggests that, the ocean analysis system can help evaluate the water cycle over land in atmospheric reanalysis products through river-ocean coupling further showcasing the value of an Earth system approach to reanalysis.</p>

Daily ensemble river discharge reforecasts and real-time forecasts from the operational Global Flood Awareness System

Operational global-scale hydrological forecasting systems are widely used to help manage hydrological extremes such as floods and droughts. The vast amounts of raw data that underpin forecast systems and the ability to generate information on forecast skill have, until now, not been publicly available. As part of the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS; https://www.globalfloods.eu/) service evolution, in this paper daily ensemble river discharge reforecasts and real-time forecast datasets are made free and openly available through the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS). They include real-time forecast data starting on 1 January 2020 updated operationally every day and a 20-year set of reforecasts and associated metadata, available through the dedicated GloFAS FTP service. This paper describes the model components and configuration used to generate the real-time river discharge forecasts and the reforecasts. An evaluation of ensemble forecast skill using the Continuous Ranked Probability Skill Score (CRPSS) was also undertaken for river points around the globe. Results show that GloFAS is skilful in over 93thinsp;% of catchments in the short- (1- to 3-days) and medium-range (5- to 15-days) against a persistence benchmark forecast, and skilful in over 80 % of catchments out to the extended-range (16- to 30-days) against a climatological benchmark forecast. However, the strength of skill varies considerably by location with GloFAS found to have no or negative skill at longer lead times in broad hydroclimatic regions in tropical Africa, western coast of South America, and catchments dominated by snow and ice in high northern latitudes. Forecast skill is summarised as a new headline skill score to be added as a layer on the GloFAS forecast Web Map Viewer at the next GloFAS cycle release, expected Autumn 2020, to aid user’s interpretation and understanding of forecast quality.

Effects of different stress ratios on fatigue crack growth of rice husk fibre-reinforced composite

Polymers and polymer composites are susceptible to premature failure due to formation of cracks and microcracks throughout their service. Evolution of cracks and microcracks induces catastrophic material failure. Hence, detection/diagnostics, as well as effective repair of cracks and microcracks, is essential to ascertain performance reliability, cost efficiency, and safety for polymer structures. Upon adopting the Paris relation for empirical data, this study incorporated a mathematical model after weighing in cracks initiation and propagation in rice husk (RH) polymer structures, along with the several viable techniques for life prediction and fracture observation. The specimens contained 35% RH fibres and were produced via an injection molding process. Fatigue cracks were evaluated for stresses between 80 and 90% from ultimate tensile strength (UTS) for R = 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5. The outcomes signified that the increment in R value enhanced the growth rate of the crack. Upon elaborating the fracture analysis, this study discusses in detail both fracture mechanics and formation.

Copernicus Marine Service: achievements, future challenges and long-term evolution

<p>The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) provides regular and systematic reference information on the physical state, variability and dynamics of the ocean, ice and marine ecosystems for the global ocean and the European regional seas.  The Copernicus Marine Service has run a successful initial phase over the past five years.  Operational capabilities have been demonstrated, user uptake and user base have been steadily increasing and service evolution activities have allowed regular improvements of the products and services provided to users.  CMEMS now serves a wide range of users (more than 21,000 subscribers are registered to the service) and applications (maritime safety, marine resources, coastal and marine environment, weather, seasonal forecast and climate).  An overview of CMEMS achievements will be given and the presentation will highlight the essential role of R&D activities.  CMEMS priorities and scientific challenges for Copernicus 2 (2021-2027) will then be discussed.   </p>