Heat stress, labor productivity, and economic impacts: analysis of climate change impacts using two-way coupled modeling

Climate change affects various fundamental human activities, and understanding the consequences of its impacts is essential. Among them, heat stress considerably affects economic conditions. Furthermore, when analyzing the socioeconomic impacts of climate change, both socioeconomic and climate systems must be considered simultaneously, though such studies are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the socioeconomic impacts of changes in labor productivity due to heat stress (measured by wet bulb globe temperature) under various climate change scenarios through a new modeling framework that coupled a computable general equilibrium model and an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to realize the interactions between the two systems through the relationship between heat stress and labor productivity. Results indicated that labor productivity declined as climate change progressed (particularly in hot and humid regions), driving a gradual decline in total global gross domestic product (GDP). Although regional GDP largely decreased where labor productivity considerably declined, it slightly increased in some areas because of a comparative advantage brought about by the difference in the impact on labor productivity by region. Consequently, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and concentrations and the resulting temperature were slightly reduced when examining the impact of climate change on labor productivity. These tendencies were similar in both business-as-usual and climate change mitigation scenarios, but the overall impacts were smaller under the latter. There was a limited impact on CO2 emissions, CO2 concentrations, and temperature via integrated socioeconomic and climate systems. However, this study focused on only a single channel of the various interactions between the two systems. For a more complete evaluation of the impacts of climate change, further development of the integrated model is required.

ThinkPiece: Embracing Love as an Educational Force in the Anthropocene

In the past decade, an increasing number of geologists and other scientific researchers have presented evidence that we have entered a new geologic epoch called the Anthropocene. The primary characteristic of the Anthropocene, researchers argue, revolves around the combination of an emerging and measurable sedimentary layer of increasing human artifacts (mostly plastics) in combination with significant and negative transformations within the Earth’s biodiversity and climate systems. In this article, the researchers were interested in exploring how anthropogenic events will likely affect educational systems and institutions through multi-decade environmental audits and educational planning that are more closely linked to addressing the world’s major anthropogenic problems such as climate change and a global loss of biodiversity related to human development and activity. This article concludes by exploring how anthropogenic forces might be redirected as human catalysts for a more positive environmental and geologic legacy. Keywords: Anthropocene, anthropogenic force, environmental education, educational catalysts, emotion

Comparison of Biogas Concentrations in Various Environmental Conditions and Determination of the Optimal Period of Its Production at Environment Temperature

Albania, as a part of Western Balkan, has a variety of climate systems. This type of climate has a closed connection with waste treatment process. The biogas volume produced by the experimental environmental was 0.6 m3. The maximum methane concentration in biogas was reached at 55.8%/volume. The enclosed area (in oval circle) is another indicator of this system. This area extends over the period from 14.08.2018 until 26.08.2018 (12 days). The biomethane maximum biogas concentration reached 53.5 %/vol. up to 55.8% vol. The concentration drop was 4.2 %/vol. The main factor was the temperature. In the period of maximum durability the temperatures were minimum 30°C and maximum 42°C. Another contributing factor was the inoculum. Since inoculum was made from the treatment of four types of waste of different nature, then the concentration of microorganisms was higher. The purpose of the comparison between the two experiments is the sustainability of biogas production as well as the biomethane concentration biogas concentration on waste treatment. Environmental temperature was studied in three different regions of Albania: Shkodra, Tirana and Vlora. The observations showed that the region of Vlora has the longest period of average daily temperature (June 14th to October 1st).

Lorenz-63 Model as a Metaphor for Transient Complexity in Climate

Dynamical systems like the one described by the three-variable Lorenz-63 model may serve as metaphors for complex natural systems such as climate systems. When these systems are perturbed by external forcing factors, they tend to relax back to their equilibrium conditions after the forcing has shut off. Here we investigate the behavior of such transients in the Lorenz-63 model by studying its trajectories initialized far away from the asymptotic attractor. Counterintuitively, these transient trajectories exhibit complex routes and, in particular, the sensitivity to initial conditions is akin to that of the asymptotic behavior on the attractor. Thus, similar extreme events may lead to widely different variations before the perturbed system returns back to its statistical equilibrium.

Spatially differentiated changes in regional climate and underlying drivers in southwestern China

The climate in Southwest China are predominantly under the influences of three contrasting climate systems, namely the East Asian monsoon, the South Asian monsoon, and the westerlies. However, it is unclear if the diversified climate systems, in combination with the complex terrain and varying vegetation types, would result in contrasting patterns of changes in climate across the region. Based on the CRU TS data for the period 1901−2017, we examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of the regional climate, and identified types of climate change patterns and drivers. Overall, the region experienced significant increases in annual mean temperature during 1901−2017, with occurrence of a significant turning point in 1954 for a more pronounced warming (0.16 °C/10 a). The annual precipitation fluctuated greatly over the study period without apparent trend, albeit the occurrence of a significant turning point in 1928 for a slight increase in the later period (1.19 mm/10 a). Spatially the multi-year averages of selective climate variables during 1901–2017 displayed a trend of decreases from southeast to northwest, but with increasing variability. We identified five major climate change types across the study region, including warmer (T+), drier (P−), warmer-drier (T+P−), warmer-wetter (T+P+), and no significant changes (NSC). The type T+P+ mainly occurred in the western parts over the plateau sub-frigid semiarid ecozone (77.0%) and the plateau sub-frigid semihumid ecozone (19.9%). The central parts of the region are characterized by the type T+, corresponding to six ecozones, including the mid-subtropical humid ecozone (33.1%), the plateau temperate humid-semihumid ecozone (28.8%), the plateau sub-rigid semihumid ecozone (9.5%), the southern subtropical humid ecozone (8.1%), the plateau sub-frigid arid ecozone (7.3%), and the plateau temperate semiarid ecozone (6.6%). No significant change in climate was detected for the eastern parts over the mid-subtropical humid ecozone (67.3%), the plateau temperate humid and semihumid ecozone (19.5%) and the plateau sub-frigid semihumid ecozone (8.8%). The types P− and T+P− together accounted for less than 5% of the entire study region, which predominantly occurred in central Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and south of the southeastern Xizang, corresponding predominantly to the mid-subtropical humid ecozone. Across the region and within the zonal climate change types, vegetation and topography both played a significant role in determining the climate variability and magnitude of changes. Our results suggest that the southwestern China experienced intensified influences of the southeasterly monsoon and the southerly monsoon in the regional climate, while the westerly alpine influences subsided; topography and vegetation affected the magnitudes of the directional changes in climate at a local scale.

ANALYSIS OF EQUIPMENT FAULTS IN INDOOR CLIMATE SYSTEMS AND THEIR DETECTION AND DIAGNOSIS MEASURES

Indoor climate systems required to provide indoor climate and ensure indoor air quality, failures affect the amount of energy consumed in a building, although insufficient attention is paid to their operation. The energy consumption can be reduced due to ensured proper operation of indoor climate systems avoiding equipment faults. The article reviews scientific articles, those represent typical heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems equipment faults of the most energy intensive office and commercial buildings. Measures of detecting and diagnosis equipment failures as well are identified. A generalized overview of the study area shows the typical faults of the indoor climate system are related to the control of the devices, sensors, deterioration of equipment performance. The most commonly used methods for detecting and diagnosing faults are automated fault detection and diagnosis (AFDD) methods. Possible solutions for troubleshooting HVAC systems are presented.

Relationship between Rainfall Pattern in North Central and Southern Nigeria and Some Tropical Climate Systems

Monthly rainfall data from meteorological stations in Nigeria are analyzed from 1951 to 1992, to establish their relationship with some Tropical climate systems. The climate systems include Tropical South Atlantic (TSA) sea surface temperature index, North Atlantic Ocean (NAO) atmospheric index, Tropical North Atlantic (TNA) sea surface temperature index, Central India Precipitation (CIP) and and Outgoing Longwave Radiation Anomaly (OLRA)). The rainfall pattern was given in terms of the August break (quantified in terms of the monsoon break intensity (MBI) and annual rainfall anomaly index (RAI). Partial correlation analysis was carried out to determine the effect of the tropical climate systems on the linear association between them and the stations in Nigeria. Our results show that the rainfall anomalies although sometimes intense do not have predictable patterns. The tele connection between CIP and total rainfall in Nigeria suggests that the rainfall patterns in Nigeria is likely to be modulated by the Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) connecting rainfall pattern in Central India to that in Nigeria. The August break is observed to be highly variable and does not show a clear discernable pattern of variability. Its variability may be connected with multiple forcings from ocean and mesoscale circulations.

The Indonesian Throughflow and its Impact on Biogeochemistry in the Indonesian Seas

It has been widely known that the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is an important inter-ocean connection with unique and complex oceanographic and geographic conditions, as well as a strong relation to both regional and global ocean currents and climate systems. Many studies on characteristics, mechanisms, and impacts of the ITF have been conducted, mainly focusing on the ITF pathways, transport, water mass mixing processes, and their variability in connection with monsoons and climate systems. In this paper, we summarize some of the critical aspects related to ocean conditions within the Indonesian Seas and the Indonesian Throughflow, with the main focus on studies of marine biogeochemistry in a region affected by the ITF. Although the biogeochemical cycle is one of the key research topics that are needed to advance our ocean understanding, studies on marine biogeochemistry within the Indonesian Seas are quite limited due to less observed data compared to the physical parameters. Further studies on biogeochemistry and efforts to conduct in situ and remotely sensed observations in this region are strongly required. Here, we propose several biogeochemical observations correlated to the ITF.

Wave Climate Patterns from Spatial Tracking of Global Long-Term Ocean Wave Spectra

Long-term wave spectral statistics can provide a better description of wave climate than integrated wave parameters because several wave climate systems (WCSs) generated by different wind climate systems can coexist at the same location. In this study, global wave climate patterns are presented by spatially tracking point-wise long-term wave spectra (probability density distributions of wave spectral partitions) from a WAVEWATCH III hindcast, providing new insights into global wave climate. Tens of well-defined WCSs, which are generated in different source regions by different wind systems, including prevailing westerlies, polar easterlies, trade winds, and monsoons, were identified. These WCSs are independent of each other because wave systems from different origins travel independently. The spatial distributions of these WCSs can illustrate the entire life cycle of ocean waves, from being generated as dominant wind-seas to becoming less dominant swells in far fields, from a climatic point of view. The mean wave directions in WCS patterns, especially those in westerlies-generated WCSs, are generally in agreement with the great circles on Earth’s surface, which display the propagation routes of ocean swells.

The calculation of the thermal mode of a room with automatic regulation of climate systems

Introduction. The ongoing research of the indoor temperature, regulated by automatically operating climate systems, remains relevant if focused on identification of dependencies which are sufficiently accurate with regard for the majority of essential factors and represented in the engineering format. The mission of the research is to identify a dependency between indoor temperature and time in case of irregular heat supply in the context of prorated heat flow regulation by indoor climate systems. The exponential nature of this dependency serves as the research hypothesis. Materials and methods. The author has employed and analyzed the principal equations connecting the most important constituents of a heat flow in a room that has automated climate systems in the context of discontinuous changes. The author has employed a computational model of a non-steady temperature environment of a ventilated room. The proposed model is based on the solution of a system of differential equations describing heat conductivity and transfer on indoor surfaces. The author has composed and analytically solved the general differential equation describing the indoor thermal balance with regard for the climate system’s feedback. Results. The author has developed an analytical expression describing the indoor space heating rate in case of prorated temperature regulation by the climate system and irregular heat supply. The analytical expression represents an exponential function of the square root of the time span starting from the moment of a heat supply spike. The author used a residential house in Moscow to analyze the nature of indoor temperature fluctuations with and without heat regulation. Conclusions. The author has proven that an indoor temperature rate is mainly driven by the relation between the transmission coefficient of a climate system and the thermal inertia of “massive” building envelopes in case of irregular thermal exposure. The author makes the point that a simplified analytical solution is proven true by the results of the analysis performed with the help of a numerical model. It’s been identified that the ultimate value of an indoor temperature increment is determined as the relation between the heat gain value and the parameter which is proportionate to the transfer coefficient.