ALBERT

Description: This dataset presents daily / hourly raw data on atmospheric pollen count and identification in Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain) during the period June-September of the years 2016-2022 (with the exception of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic). The sampling was carried out using a Hirst-type suction volumetric collector (model Lanzoni 2000, Lanzoni srl, Bologna, Italy), located in the University Hostel, Hoya de la Mora (37º, 05'N, 3º 23'W, 2500 m a.s.l.), in Sierra Nevada Natural and National Park, southeastern of the Iberian Peninsula. The sampler works permanently, 24h / day, sucking in a constant volume of air of 10 l / min., and depositing all the particular material they contain on a filter impregnating with diluted silicone. The subsequent optical microscopy analysis of the samples, following the standardized protocol of the Spanish Aerobiology Network (Galán et al., 2007), enables the quali-quantitative identification of the different pollen types at the taxonomic level of family, genus and in some cases, even species. The resulting dataset contains records of the pollen types from the most representative wind-pollinated plants of the natural vegetation of the surroundings: juniper groves, pine groves, oak groves and psychroxerophilic pasture. Data on pollen transported from other nearby or remote locations of a radius of up to 30 km around the sampler are also included, the latter in the frequent episodes of Saharan dust intrusion in the southeast of the peninsula. In order to offer greater practicality to potential users, the data set is provided in both a wide and long format. In both formats 0 values indicate not pollen count for a taxon that was being sampled that year (identified at least once time). Regarding null values, in the long format indicate technical errors, while in the wide format indicate also that no information is available for a taxon over a whole sampling year. Date/time data correspond to CET and CEST time zone. This data set provides valuable information on atmospheric pollen in a recognized plant biodiversity hotspot within the Mediterranean context, which is essential for assessing the status of endemic species highly dependent on stable environmental conditions, and their response to the impact of climate change. In this context, data can help to establish conservation and recovery plans for the species whose survival is most threatened.

Description: The Campbell–Stokes sunshine recorder (CSSR) has been one of the most commonly used instruments for measuring sunshine duration (SD) through the burn length of a given CSSR card. Many authors have used SD to obtain information about cloudiness and solar radiation (by using Ångström–Prescott type formulas). Contrarily, the burn width has not been used systematically. In principle, the burn width increases for increasing direct beam irradiance. The aim of this research is to show the relationship between burn width and direct solar irradiance (DSI), and to prove whether this relationship depends on the type of CSSR and burning card. A semi-automatic method based on image processing of digital scanned images of burnt cards is presented. With this method, the temporal evolution of the burn width with 1 min resolution can be obtained. From this, SD is easily calculated and compared with the traditional (i.e. visual) determination. The method tends to slightly overestimate SD but the thresholds that are used in the image processing could be adjusted to obtain an unbiased estimation. Regarding the burn width, results show that there is a high correlation between two different models of CSSRs, as well as a strong relationship between burn widths and DSI at a high-temporal resolution. Thus, for example, hourly DSI may be estimated from the burn width with higher accuracy than based on burn length (for one of the CSSR, relative root mean squared error 24 and 30% respectively; mean bias error −0.6 and −30.0 W m−2 respectively). The method offers a practical way to exploit long-term sets of CSSR cards to create long time series of DSI. Since DSI is affected by atmospheric aerosol content, CSSR records may also become a proxy measurement for turbidity and atmospheric aerosol loading.

Description: The long-term monitoring of basic hydrological parameters (temperature and salinity), collected as time series with adequate temporal resolution (i.e. with a sampling interval allowing the resolution of all important timescales) in key places of the Mediterranean Sea (straits and channels, zones of dense water formation, deep parts of the basins), constitute a priority in the context of global changes. This led CIESM (The Mediterranean Science Commission) to support, since 2002, the HYDROCHANGES programme (http//www.ciesm.org/marine/programs/hydrochanges.htm), a network of autonomous conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) sensors, deployed on mainly short and easily manageable subsurface moorings, within the core of a certain water mass. The HYDROCHANGES strategy is twofold and develops on different scales. To get information about long-term changes of hydrological characteristics, long time series are needed. But before these series are long enough they allow the detection of links between them at shorter timescales that may provide extremely valuable information about the functioning of the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of this paper is to present the history of the programme and the current set-up of the network (monitored sites, involved groups) as well as to provide for the first time an overview of all the time series collected under the HYDROCHANGES umbrella, discussing the results obtained thanks to the programme.

Description: The long-term monitoring of basic hydrological parameters (temperature and salinity), collected as time series with adequate temporal resolution (i.e. with a sampling interval allowing the resolution of all important time scales) in key-places of the Mediterranean Sea (straits and channels, zones of dense water formation, deep parts of the basins), constitute a priority in the context of global changes. This led CIESM (The Mediterranean Science Commission) to support, since 2002, the HYDROCHANGES programme (http://www.ciesm.org/marine/programs/hydrochanges.htm), a network of autonomous conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors, deployed on mainly short and easily manageable sub-surface moorings. The HYDROCHANGES strategy is twofold and develops on different scales. To get information about long-term changes of hydrological characteristics, long time series are needed. But before these series are long enough they allow detecting links between them at shorter time scales that may provide extremely valuable information about the functioning of the Mediterranean Sea. Here we present the history of the programme and the current setup of the network (monitored sites, involved groups) and provide an overview of all the available time series, discussing some of the results obtained thanks to the programme.

Description: CO2 exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere is key to understanding the feedbacks between climate change and the land surface. In regions with carbonaceous parent material, CO2 exchange patterns occur that cannot be explained by biological processes, such as disproportionate outgassing during daytime or nighttime CO2 uptake during periods when all vegetation is senescent. Neither of these phenomena can be attributed to carbonate weathering reactions, since their CO2 exchange rates are too small. Soil ventilation induced by high atmospheric turbulence is found to explain atypical CO2 exchange between carbonaceous systems and the atmosphere. However, by strongly altering subsurface CO2 concentrations, ventilation can be expected to influence carbonate weathering rates. By imposing ventilation-driven CO2 outgassing in a carbonate weathering model, we show here that carbonate geochemistry is accelerated and does play a surprisingly large role in the observed CO2 exchange patterns. We found that by rapidly depleting soil CO2 during daytime, ventilation disturbs soil carbonate equilibria and therefore strongly magnifies daytime carbonate precipitation and associated CO2 production. At night, ventilation ceases and the depleted CO2 concentrations increase steadily. Dissolution of carbonate is now enhanced, which consumes CO2 and largely compensates for the enhanced daytime carbonate precipitation. This is why only a relatively small effect on global carbonate weathering rates is to be expected. On the short term, however, ventilation has a drastic effect on synoptic carbonate weathering rates, resulting in a pronounced diel pattern that exacerbates the non-biological behavior of soil-atmosphere CO2 exchanges in dry regions with carbonate soils.

Description: CO2 exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere is key to understanding the feedbacks between climate change and the land surface. In regions with carbonaceous parent material, CO2 exchange patterns occur that cannot be explained by biological processes, such as disproportionate outgassing during the daytime or nighttime CO2 uptake during periods when all vegetation is senescent. Neither of these phenomena can be attributed to carbonate weathering reactions, since their CO2 exchange rates are too small. Soil ventilation induced by high atmospheric turbulence is found to explain atypical CO2 exchange between carbonaceous systems and the atmosphere. However, by strongly altering subsurface CO2 concentrations, ventilation can be expected to influence carbonate weathering rates. By imposing ventilation-driven CO2 outgassing in a carbonate weathering model, we show here that carbonate geochemistry is accelerated and does play a surprisingly large role in the observed CO2 exchange pattern of a semi-arid ecosystem. We found that by rapidly depleting soil CO2 during the daytime, ventilation disturbs soil carbonate equilibria and therefore strongly magnifies daytime carbonate precipitation and associated CO2 production. At night, ventilation ceases and the depleted CO2 concentrations increase steadily. Dissolution of carbonate is now enhanced, which consumes CO2 and largely compensates for the enhanced daytime carbonate precipitation. This is why only a relatively small effect on global carbonate weathering rates is to be expected. On the short term, however, ventilation has a drastic effect on synoptic carbonate weathering rates, resulting in a pronounced diel pattern that exacerbates the non-biological behavior of soil–atmosphere CO2 exchanges in dry regions mbox{with carbonate soils}.

Description: The Campbell–Stokes sunshine recorder (CSSR) has been one of the most commonly used instruments for measuring sunshine duration (SD) through the burn length of a given CSSR card. Many authors have used SD to obtain information about cloudiness and solar radiation (by using Ångström–Prescott type formulas), but the burn width has not been used systematically. In principle, the burn width increases for increasing direct beam irradiance. The aim of this research is to show the relationship between burn width and direct solar irradiance (DSI) and to prove whether this relationship depends on the type of CSSR and burning card. A method of analysis based on image processing of digital scanned images of burned cards is used. With this method, the temporal evolution of the burn width with 1 min resolution can be obtained. From this, SD is easily calculated and compared with the traditional (i.e., visual) determination. The method tends to slightly overestimate SD, but the thresholds that are used in the image processing could be adjusted to obtain an improved estimation. Regarding the burn width, experimental results show that there is a high correlation between two different models of CSSRs, as well as a strong relationship between burn widths and DSI at a high-temporal resolution. Thus, for example, hourly DSI may be estimated from the burn width with higher accuracy than based on burn length (for one of the CSSR, relative root mean squared error is 24 and 30%, respectively; mean bias error is −0.6 and −30.0 W m−2, respectively). The method offers a practical way to exploit long-term sets of CSSR cards to create long time series of DSI. Since DSI is affected by atmospheric aerosol content, CSSR records may also become a proxy measurement for turbidity and atmospheric aerosol loading.

Description: Today there is continuous development of wearable devices in various fields such as sportswear, orthotics and personal gadgets, among others. The design of these devices involves the human body as a support environment. Based on this premise, the development of wearable devices requires an improved understanding of the skin strain field of the body segment during human motion. This paper presents a methodology based on a three dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) system to measure the skin strain field and to estimate anatomical lines with minimum deformation as design criteria for the aforementioned wearable devices. The errors of displacement and strain measurement related to 3-D reconstruction and out-of-plane motion are investigated and the results are acceptable in the case of large deformation. This approach can be an effective tool to improve the design of wearable devices in the clinical orthopaedics and ergonomics fields, where comfort plays a key role in supporting the rehabilitation process.