Windfield related light-trap catches of Nephotettix spp. (N. virescens Distant and N. nigropictus stål), vectors of rice tungro virus in West Bengal

ABSTRACT. Regular peak catches of rice green leafhoppers, Nephoteltix virescens (Distant) and N. nigropictus (Stal) are usually obtained in a light-trap 60 ± 14 days after the peak monsoon rains in August in West Bengal. In 1986, in addition to this peak catch, very high catches were obtained on two different dates, 17 September and 10 November. The high catch on 17 September was probably due to the increase of the effective trap radius caused by the overcast sky and by the presence of a resident population. The high catch on 10 November was due to the transport of the insects by cyclonic winds and deposition in a zone of light and variable winds (at a convergence) real the trapping site. Trajectory analysis indicates that these insects may have been brought from the north-east, upto about 280 km away from the trapping site.

Magnetic Compass Orientation in a Palaearctic–Indian Night Migrant, the Red-Headed Bunting

Red-headed buntings (Emberiza bruniceps) perform long-distance migrations within their southerly overwintering grounds and breeding areas in the northern hemisphere. Long-distance migration demands essential orientation mechanisms. The earth’s magnetic field, celestial cues, and memorization of geographical cues en route provide birds with compass knowledge during migration. Birds were tested during spring migration for orientation under natural clear skies, simulated overcast skies at natural day length and temperature, simulated overcast at 22 °C and 38 °C temperatures, and in the deflected (−120°) magnetic field. Under clear skies, the red-headed buntings were oriented NNW (north–northwest); simulated overcast testing resulted in a northerly mean direction at local temperatures as well as at 22 °C and 38 °C. The buntings reacted strongly in favor of the rotated magnetic field under the simulated overcast sky, demonstrating the use of a magnetic compass for migrating in a specific direction.

Methodology for Effective Daylighting in Courtyard Houses of Composite Climate

Studies have shown the relevance of the courtyard houses and passive strategy that plays a significant role in energy reduction, providing thermal comfort and visual comfort. Generally, designing the courtyards was considered suitable for thermal comfort. North India lies in the composite climatic zone, and courtyard houses in this region have a distinctly vernacular style. Many studies all around the world were conducted to analyse courtyard houses and followed different methodologies. The aim of this paper is to uncover and formulate a research methodology to analyse effective daylighting in courtyard houses of composite climate; approximately forty research papers were reviewed to find out the research methodology. The year of publication, climate zone, sky models used, weather file, building type, verifying method, simulation tools, daylight matrices, and methodology adopted were studied in the reviewed literature to formulating the methodology. The study concludes that experimental models were commonly used for daylight analysis, moreover climate-based sky can be used for detailed simulation instead of the Daylight factor with overcast sky conditions.

Influence of the Adaptation of Balconies to Loggias on the Lighting Climate inside an Apartment Building under Cloudy Sky

The reconstruction of balconies and loggias is a key element of the renovation of apartment buildings. Artificial light will never replace natural light. Every day, one must make full use of the potential of daylight and enjoy an advantage—free-of-charge natural light entering the interior. When renovating balconies, people often change the character of this protruding structure from a façade to a loggia. This is also the subject of this paper. For the evaluation of the daylighting conditions prevailing in residential building, the Daylight Factor (DF) was considered as the parameter for indicating the quantity of admitted daylight. The DF values and illuminance—CIE overcast sky were calculated using DIALux 9.1 software. The aim of the paper is to compare two variants of the level of daylight in the rooms of the residential building. One option to bring in even more natural light than a window is a variant with balconies. Loggias are satisfactory in terms of static and thermal technology, but daylight conditions are deteriorating. The article provides an insight into the solution of the renovation of balconies and loggias in a specific apartment building. The result shows their influence on changes in the conditions of natural daylight in the interior of two selected rooms.

ZABOLOTSKA T.M., SHPYG V.M., TSILA A.YU. CIRCULATION INDEXES AND THE CLOUD COVER DURING OF THE GLOBAL WARMING PERIOD

The investigations of connection between the different meteorological processes, for example, the circulation indexes with the quantity of the total and lower cloudiness during 1961-2018 over Ukraine were made. The spatial distributions of the total and lower cloudiness were received for 73 years (1946-2018) at first. The quantity of cloudiness is diminished from west to east and with north to south. The declinations of the annual data of total and lower cloudiness from the historical (1961-1990) and the present (1981-2010) norms were calculated. The great variations were characterized for the lower cloudiness. The linear trends showed that the diminish of the lower cloudiness was on 90 % of the all territory, this changes were important on 70 % of the territory. The trends of the monthly variations were showed on the diminish of the lower cloudiness in during all year only on north, on other territory was the increasing in the separate months, frequently in January and September. The variations of the total cloudiness were insignificant, the increase or decrease were nearly in equal parts. North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Arctic Oscillation (AO), East-Atlantic Oscillation (EA), Scandinavian Oscillation (SCAND), Greenlandic Oscillation (GBI) and South Oscillation (El-Niño) were used for the investigation of relationship between the circulation indexes and cloud cover. It was shown that different circulation indexes have influence on climate of Northern Hemisphere and on Ukraine too. The relation with each other and their variations in period of global warming were showed. The quantity estimation of the total and lower cloudiness variations was made by the frequencies of clear, semi clear and overcast sky in the successive decades and by the relative variations of frequencies between decades (1961-1970 and 1971-1980; 1971-1980 and 1981-1990; 1981-1990 and 1991-2000; 1991-2000 and 2001-2010; 2001-2010 and 2011-2018). The parallel analyze of the variations of circulation was estimated in that time. The difference between the circulating processes during 1961-1970 and 1971-1980 contributed to a decrease in the relative frequency of the clear sky (on 5.4%) and a slight increase of the overcast sky (on 1.6%) by total cloud cover and a slight increase of the clear sky (on 0.8 %) and a decrease of the overcast sky (on 5.2%) by lower cloudiness. At the same time, the relative frequency of the semi-clear sky by lower cloudiness almost in three times increased in comparison to total cloudiness (on 10.2% and 3.8%, respectively). In the third decade of 1981-1990 the relative frequency of clear sky by lower cloudiness increased on 5.1% and did not change by total cloudiness (0%). During this decade the relative frequency of overcast sky decreased the most in the whole period under study: by total cloudiness on 6.4% and by lower cloudiness on 13.3%. At the same time, the relative frequency of semi-clear sky had largest increasing: on 22.4% for total cloudiness and 13% for lower cloudiness. Then, during 1991-2000, the frequency of clear sky decreased significantly both for total cloudiness (on 6.5%) and for lower cloudiness (on 3.1%). The frequency of overcast sky decreased also, but less significantly (on 1.3% and 2.3%, respectively), thereby the number of clouds of the middle and upper levels increased. From 2001 to 2010, the frequency of clear sky by total cloudiness and by lower cloudiness continued to decrease (on 5.3 and 3.2%, respectively), but the frequency of overcast sky increased (on 0.9 and 1.7%, respectively), thereby the number of clouds for all levels increased. During 2011-2018 the frequency of clear sky by total cloudiness increased (on 0.9%) and by lower cloudiness did not change. The frequency of overcast sky decreased on 3.6% (by total cloudiness) and on 0.7% (by lower cloudiness). The variations of the relative frequencies of the different state sky between the successive decades are agreed with the changes of the circulation indexes.

Photosynthetic Active Radiation, Solar Irradiance and the CIE Standard Sky Classification

Plant growth is directly related to levels of photosynthetic photon flux density, Qp. The improvement of plant-growth models therefore requires accurate estimations of the Qp parameter that is often indirectly calculated on the basis of its relationship with solar irradiation, RS, due to the scarcity of ground measurements of photosynthetic photon flux density. In this experimental campaign in Burgos, Spain, between April 2019 and January 2020, an average value of the Qp/Rs ratio is determined on the basis of measurements at ten-minute intervals. The most influential factor in the Qp/Rs ratio, over and above any daily or seasonal pattern, is the existence of overcast sky conditions. The CIE standard sky classification can be used to establish an unequivocal characterization of the cloudiness conditions of homogeneous skies. In this study, the relation between the CIE standard sky type and Qp/Rs is investigated. Its conclusions were that the Qp/Rs values, the average of which was 1.93±0.15 μmol·J−1, presented statistically significant differences for each CIE standard sky type. The overcast sky types presented the highest values of the ratio, while the clear sky categories presented the lowest and most dispersed values. During the experimental campaign, only two exceptions were noted for covered and partial covered sky-type categories, respectively, sky types 5 and 9. Their values were closer to those of categories classified as clear sky according to the CIE standard. Both categories presented high uniformity in terms of illumination.

A Field-validated Multi-objective Optimization of the Shape and Size of Windows Based on Daylighting Metrics in Hot-summer Mediterranean and Dry Summer Continental Climates

This study aims to determine the optimum size of windows based on the window-to-floor ratio (WFR) for the main cardinal directions in Hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa) and Dry Summer Continental (Dsa) climates (Köppen–Geiger classification system) by carrying out a multi-objective optimization that relies on three dynamic metrics of Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI-a (autonomous)), Daylight Autonomy (DA), and Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE1000,250) in Radiance version 5.1. A validation against field measurements is conducted under an overcast sky with an illuminance of 11000 lux. The Pareto front is used to pick the best solutions for evaluating the most optimized solutions. Accordingly, the minimum standards for cardinal directions in each climate are defined. The minimum suggested WFR for the Dsa and Csa climates for the south-, east-, north-, and west-facing windows are 20%, 15%, 20%, and 15% (Dsa) and 20%, 20%, 25%, and 20% (Csa), respectively. Furthermore, the results show the shape and relative proportions of windows (vertical/horizontal) have a significant effect on the metrics. As a result, this paper introduces the “Proportion Ratio” as a new indicator for designing windows.

A Comparative Study on Daylight Performance Assessment of Light Shelves Based on Inclination

Energy consumption of lighting can be reduced by using different daylight control strategies. The rise in environmental distresses requires the necessity of natural light control systems. Light shelf is considered as excellent lighting control scheme that provides great lighting production and inexpensive prospect via entering the daylight inside the space. The aims of this study shows that the daylight efficiency and visual productivity are affected by the design parameters of light shelf such as its angle, location and height. In this research, Autodesk Ecotect 2011 is used for the daylight simulation of summer solstice and winter solstice days under overcast sky conditions on a nominated theoretical study space of an institutional building. Daylight simulation is carried out to evaluate the illuminance requirement within the selected space and analysis is also executed on the model with selected categories of light shelves including different positions, heights and angles. The acquired data is then exported on Radiance software intended for complete day-light investigation. The results of this research shows that external light shelf at a height of 7' and an angle of 20˚ is the most appropriate choice in prevailing the glare and it also enhanced the illuminance level to11.5% in 21st June and 10.6% in 21st December as compared to without light shelves. Furthermore, the shaded range is decreased by the rise in the angle of Light shelf which has a tendency to increase the inside average lighting. Hence, significant consideration should be given to the height and position of light shelves, since it has a superior effect on light shelf performance.

Illuminance levels based on different sky conditions by considering daylight harvesting

Daylight Harvesting Systems (DHS) offer the most effective and significant to reduce energy consumption. In the lighting system, there are various problems which include waste of energy consumption, inappropriate lighting and increasing greenhouse effect. Therefore, the waste of energy consumption should be reduced by controlling the dimming levels of artificial lighting according to the standard thus reducing the greenhouse effect. Hence, this paper considered the daylight adaptive for the lighting system to determine the dimming level and illuminance level for the office room. The simulation has been carried out using DIALux simulation lighting software to simulate the average daylight and average illuminance level with different conditions sky, which is clear, average, and overcast sky. Based on the result, the illuminance level has complied with the European Standard EN12464-1. Furthermore, the presence of daylight and weather conditions plays an essential role in the lighting system. The illuminance and dimming levels are different depending on the time and type of sky condition at that time. Therefore, the daylight adaptive in the lighting system can reduce the use of artificial light in the room.