Is Hadley Cell Expanding?

This review provides a comprehensive coverage of changes of the Hadley Cell extent and their impacts on the weather, climate, and society. The theories predicting the Hadley Cell width are introduced as a background for the understanding of the circulation changes and the metrics used for detection. A variety of metrics derived from various data sources have been used to quantify the Hadley Cell width. These metrics can be classified as dynamical, hydrological, thermal, and chemical metrics, based on the properties of the variables used. The dynamical metrics have faster trends than those based on thermal or hydrological metrics, with the values exceeding 1 degree per decade. The hydrological metric edge poleward trends were found a slightly faster expansion in the Northern Hemisphere than its southern counterpart. The chemical metrics show a poleward trend of more than 1 degree per decade in both hemispheres. We also suggest a few reasons for the discrepancy among trends in Hadley Cell expansion found in previous studies. Multiple forcings have been found responsible for the expansion, which seems to be more attributed to the natural variability than anthropogenic forcing. Validation of the scaling theories by the trends in Hadley Cell width suggests that theories considering the extratropical factor would be better models for predicting the Hadley Cell width changes. The Hadley Cell has an impact on different atmospheric processes on varying spatio-temporal scales, ranging from weather to climate, and finally on society. The remaining questions regarding Hadley Cell climate are briefly summarized at the end.

Evolution of Japan's flood control planning and policy in response to climate change risks and social changes

Building a sustainable society by strengthening disaster resilience is a common goal in the world. It is crucial to promote cooperation between the general public and the science community by sharing data, information, knowledge, experiences, and ideas. Japan has routinely been beset by catastrophic floods caused mainly by destructive typhoons and critically active seasonal fronts. With the turn of the 21st century, changes in climate and society required additional realignment into the standardized procedures that had evolved over the previous half-century. Japan's new policy, ‘River Basin Disaster Resilience and Sustainability by All,’ takes comprehensive measures, mainly consisting of flood prevention, exposure reduction, and appropriate evacuation, response and recovery, aiming to strengthen disaster resilience and achieve sustainability through concerted efforts among all stakeholders. The policy can play a key role in the achievement of the common global goal.

Tornado fatalities in context: 1995–2018

Tornadoes account for the third highest average annual weather-related fatality rate in the United States. Here tornado fatalities are examined as rates within the context of multiple physical and social factors using tornado level information including population and housing units within killer tornado damage paths. Fatality rates are further evaluated across annual, monthly, and diurnal categories, as well as between fatality locations and across age and sex categories. The geographic distribution of fatalities are then given by season, time of day, and residential structures. Results can be used by emergency managers, meteorologists, and planners to better prepare for high-impact (i.e. fatality) events and used by researchers as quantitative evidence to further investigate the relationship between tornadoes, climate, and society.

New Horizons of Predictability in Complex Dynamical Systems: From Fundamental Physics to Climate and Society

Discerning the dynamics of complex systems in a mathematically rigorous and physically consistent manner is as fascinating as intimidating of a challenge, stirring deeply and intrinsically with the most fundamental Physics, while at the same time percolating through the deepest meanders of quotidian life. The socio-natural coevolution in climate dynamics is an example of that, exhibiting a striking articulation between governing principles and free will, in a stochastic-dynamic resonance that goes way beyond a reductionist dichotomy between cosmos and chaos. Subjacent to the conceptual and operational interdisciplinarity of that challenge, lies the simple formal elegance of a lingua franca for communication with Nature. This emerges from the innermost mathematical core of the Physics of Coevolutionary Complex Systems, articulating the wealth of insights and flavours from frontier natural, social and technical sciences in a coherent, integrated manner. Communicating thus with Nature, we equip ourselves with formal tools to better appreciate and discern complexity, by deciphering a synergistic codex underlying its emergence and dynamics. Thereby opening new pathways to see the “invisible” and predict the “unpredictable” – including relative to emergent non-recurrent phenomena such as irreversible transformations and extreme geophysical events in a changing climate. Frontier advances will be shared pertaining a dynamic that translates not only the formal, aesthetical and functional beauty of the Physics of Coevolutionary Complex Systems, but also enables and capacitates the analysis, modelling and decision support in crucial matters for the environment and society. By taking our emerging Physics in an optic of operational empowerment, some of our pioneering advances will be addressed such as the intelligence system Earth System Dynamic Intelligence and the Meteoceanics QITES Constellation, at the interface between frontier non-linear dynamics and emerging quantum technologies, to take the pulse of our planet, including in the detection and early warning of extreme geophysical events from Space.

Implementation of the New European Bauhaus Principles as a Context for Teaching Sustainable Architecture

Due to the presentation of the European Green Deal (EGD) on 11 December 2019, it is important to introduce a new context for the education of architects corresponding to the objectives set by the European Union. These include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, designing buildings in accordance with the principles of the circular economy, using renewable energy, as well as promoting ecological food and protecting biodiversity. As part of the design course Environmentally Friendly Housing Architecture, inspired by, among others, the design of the New European Bauhaus and the former Bauhaus art school, both of which are compared in the first part of this article, we identify a number of new, assessed design indicators related to the achievement of the above objectives, in line with the trend of sustainable architecture. The indicators are divided into four main categories: energy, environment, indoor climate, and society, where, for example, the environmental category includes the following criteria: embodied energy (MJ/m2), embodied carbon footprint (CO2eq/m2), use of rainwater and gray water (% of demand), use of mains water (% of demand), local production of vegetables and fruit (% of demand). During the design process, changes were made to achieve better indicators, and the final designs were described using radar charts. The paper presents a statistical summary of the achieved values for individual indicators, the progress achieved, exemplary design solutions, and the assessment of the methodology used. The design course Environmentally Friendly Housing Architecture was assessed by the participants by means of a questionnaire.

Climatic Variation and Society in Medieval South Asia: Unexplored Threads of History and Archaeology of Mandu

Instabilities of the monsoon climate system, along with alternating periods of severe dryness and wetness, are known to have punctuated and disrupted the lives of peoples and institutions across Asia during medieval times. As far as India is concerned, the topic has attracted little attention from historians and archaeologists. Did climatic variations play a determining role in societal changes in medieval times? The aim of this article is not to answer, but to raise and refine this question by calling for new interdisciplinary initiatives which would enrich our reading and understanding of the past and contribute different threads to the narratives of medieval history and archaeology. While doing so, it highlights two lingering ‘lacks’ underlying the well-established historiography: the lack of attention to nature, and thus to climate; and the lack of archaeology. Attention is then focused on recent advances in palaeoclimatology and in research linking climate and society, in which India is yet to find a substantial place. Finally, the article outlines prospects and openings for the study of the medieval past as it relates to the climate-water-society nexus, by presenting an ongoing project called MANDU exploring histories and archaeologies of the land-waterscapes of Mandu in Central India.

Sustainable coastal tourism-an overview

An elementary theory of sustainable coastal tourism mainly depends on the crystal clear water, healthy ecosystem, and well preserved coastal environment. Coastal tourism has drawn worldwide attention and has become extremely competitive as everybody tries to increase their profit in terms of beach visitors, both domestic and international [Joseph, and Pakkeerappa,2015]. Usually, any coastal area growth is always looked at from a business perspective, while the environmental aspect is mostly neglected. This strategy leads towards impractical beachfront development, which has different negative ramifications, on the climate and society. It is uneconomical as it destroys the actual ecological structures, such as the beach scenery, the biodiversity, and the biological system in the ocean and on the land. Also the travel industry exercise at the seaside territory destroys the beach. This study summarizes environmental impacts of coastal Tourism and the sustainable options to make it eco-friendly. The sustainable solutions were suggested for better coastal conservation. Also the study points out the future crisis pertaining to the latest Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 by the government of India. Keywords—Coastal, Sustainable, tour, biodiversity, CRZ, EIA

Seasonality of diet costs reveals food system performance in East Africa

Seasonal fluctuations in food prices reflect interactions between climate and society, measuring the degree to which predictable patterns of crop growth and harvest are offset by storage and trade. Previous research on seasonality in food systems has focused on specific commodities. This study accounts for substitution between items to meet nutritional needs, computing seasonal variation in local food environments using monthly retail prices for 191 items across Ethiopia, Malawi, and Tanzania from 2002 through 2016. We computed over 25,000 least-cost diets meeting nutrient requirements at each market every month and then measured the magnitude and timing of seasonality in diet costs. We found significant intensity in Malawi, Tanzania, and Ethiopia (10.0, 6.3, and 4.0%, respectively), driven primarily by synchronized price rises for nutrient-dense foods. Results provide a metric to map nutritional security, pointing to opportunities for more targeted investments to improve the year-round delivery of nutrients.