Seminars

Title: Frontier Research in Earth System Prediction

Venue: go to meeting link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/932307501

Abstract: So far, the lack of observations to constrain the model complexity has determined the development of different modeling systems for different time scales. The models that are developed for short time-scales (i.e. ranging from weather forecast to seasonal climate predictions) include only that part of the variability for which observations are available and that can be suitably modelled/initialized in order to positively contribute to the forecasts. For instance, the land surface model developed at ECMWF (HTESSEL) and included in the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS), assumes land cover and vegetation characteristics to be constant in time, therefore evidencing considerable biases and weak prediction signal over the interested land areas. On the other hand, for long time-scales (i.e ranging from interannual to decadal and beyond), the Earth System Models (ESMs) used for climate variability and climate-change research contain comprehensive soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transfer schemes that are intended to represent as many processes as possible, including those that are still poorly constrained or understood. Since most of the applications of climate predictions would serve social and economic interests that are land-based, it is of foremost importance to  improve Earth system predictions over land  by filling the gap between the models used for short-term prediction (verification-based) and the latest developments in the ESMs (process-based). Following this approach, we show that the new and improved observational records can be effectively used to seamlessly enhance land surface, vegetation and hydrology processes in IFS/EC-Earth, leading to significant improvements of the predictions across multiple time-scales. 

Long-term enhancements in climate/Earth system prediction must come from improving the description of the physical & Earth-system processes on the basis of dedicated process studies and observational databases. This is a slow, but necessary process. In the meanwhile, given a set of imperfect models, we can improve predictions by combining individual models through the multi-model approach. Multi-Model Ensembles (MMEs) are powerful tools in dynamical climate prediction as they account for the overconfidence and the uncertainties related to single-model ensembles. Previous works suggested that the potential benefit that can be expected by using a MME amplifies with the increase of the independence of the contributing Seasonal Prediction Systems (SPSs). Here we combine the two MME SPSs independently developed by the European and by the Asian-Pacific communities. We demonstrate the potential of the combined Grand MME to significantly contribute to obtain useful predictions at the seasonal time-scale applied to the energy sector. These results motivated the application of latest available multi-model seasonal predictions from independent sources [European (Copernicus), North American (NMME) and Asian Pacific (APCC)] that is being performed within the H2020 SECLI-FIRM project (http://www.secli-firm.eu)

Most relevant recent publications:

1. Alessandri, F. Catalano, M. De Felice, B. van den Hurk, and G. Balsamo, 2021: Varying Signatures of Surface Albedo Feedback on the Northern Hemisphere Land Warming., Environ. Res. Lett.,16, 034023. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd65f
2. van Oorschot, F., van der Ent, R. J., Hrachowitz, M., and Alessandri, A, 2021.: Climate controlled root zone parameters show potential to improve water flux simulations by land surface models, Earth Syst. Dynam. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-2021-3
3. Alessandri, A., M. De Felice, F. Catalano, J-Y. Lee, B. Wang, D-Y. Lee, J-H. Yoo, A. Weisenheimer, 2018: Grand European and Asian-Pacific multi-model seasonal forecasts: maximization of skill and of potential economical value to end-users, Clim. Dyn., 50 (7-8), 2719-2738 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-3766-y
4. Alessandri, A., F. Catalano, M. De Felice, B. Van Den Hurk, F. Doblas Reyes, S. Boussetta, G. Balsamo, P. Miller, 2017: Multi-scale enhancement of climate prediction over land by increasing the model sensitivity to vegetation variability in EC-Earth, Clim. Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-016-3372-4
5. Alessandri  A., M. De Felice , N. Zeng , A. Mariotti , Y. Pan , A. Cherchi , J-Y. Lee , B. Wang , K-J. Ha , P. Ruti, and V. Artale, 2014: Robust assessment of the expansion and retreat of Mediterranean climate in the 21stcentury. Nature Sci. Rep., 4, 7211, doi:10.1038/srep07211

Titolo : Più informazione o più fiducia nella scienza? Cosa abbiamo imparato in questo anno di pandemia per migliorare il dialogo tra scienza e società

Presentazione dell’Annuario Scienza Tecnologia e Società 2021 (Barbara Saracino e Giuseppe Pellegrini) realizzato con il sostegno della Compagnia di San Paolo.

In tempi di pandemia il rapporto tra scienza e società si è fatto più vivace. Di fronte a un fenomeno sconosciuto per il quale non si hanno grandi certezze si ripropone il tema dell’affidabilità degli esperti e dei ricercatori nel fornire informazioni corrette e in tempi adeguati. Allo stesso tempo, i decisori pubblici si trovano a gestire misure di salute pubblica con informazioni non sempre facili da maneggiare.

L’Annuario Scienza Tecnologia e Società, realizzato da Observa offre numerose indicazioni per riflettere su questo importante tema valorizzando il punto di vista dei cittadini sulla comunicazione pubblica della scienza.

Barbara Saracino, è ricercatrice in Sociologia all’Università di Bologna. Insegna Metodologia delle scienze sociali e Scienza, società e public engagement. Coordina per Observa Science in Society le attività dell’Osservatorio Scienza Tecnologia e Società. È autrice, tra l’altro, del libro «I giochi, le stelle e l’uomo. Studio sociologico della curva normale» (Mimesis, 2018).

Giuseppe Pellegrini insegna Innovazione tecnologia e società all’Università di Trento. Con il Mulino ha pubblicato «Narrazioni di mondi possibili. Giovani e immaginario scientifico» (2018). È presidente di Observa Science in Society.

Recent publications:
- Pellegrini G. (2020), Coronavirus and public communication: the role of experts and decision-makers in the view of the public, in Overabounding and Society, SocONe Pub.
- Entradas M, Bauer MW, O’Muircheartaigh C, Marcinkowski F, Okamura A, Pellegrini G, et al. (2020) Public communication by research institutes compared across countries and sciences: Building capacity for engagement or competing for visibility? PLoS ONE 15(7): e0235191. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235191

Watch video: https://youtu.be/St1LyfR8Meo

Michela Maione (Università di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, CNR-ISAC) michela.maione [at] uniurb.it

Titolo: Cibo e inquinamento atmosferico: percezione dei cittadini e cambiamenti di stili di vita individuali

Abstract:

L'inquinamento atmosferico in Italia è responsabile di circa 90.000 morti premature all’anno. Per combatterlo efficacemente le misure di tipo strutturale (end of pipe o energetiche) dovrebbero essere accompagnate da cambiamenti degli stili di vita individuali. Questi ultimi non possono prescindere dalla consapevolezza da parte dei cittadini di quelli che sono i comportamenti responsabili delle emissioni di inquinanti. Uno studio condotto dall’Università di Urbino, in collaborazione con ISAC CNR e l’Università di Vienna, ha analizzato la percezione degli Europei sulle sorgenti di inquinamento. I risultati dello studio hanno rivelato i cittadini Europei sottovalutano enormemente il ruolo del settore agroalimentare che non è mai visto come inquinante, mentre in realtà agricoltura e allevamenti intensivi sono i principali responsabili di emissioni di ammoniaca che, reagendo con altre componenti atmosferiche, va a costituire la componente dominante del PM2.5. 

Uno studio parallelo, condotto in collaborazione con le Università di Brescia e Roma Tre e il JRC, ha quantificato, in termini di anni di vita recuperati, i co-benefici per la salute dei cittadini Italiani derivanti da una diminuzione del consumo di proteine animali. Al vantaggio metabolico dovuto al minore apporto di proteine ed acidi grassi si unisce infatti quello legato ad una minore esposizione al PM, conseguente la diminuzione delle emissioni di ammoniaca. Lo studio è stato corredato da un’analisi socioeconomica sulla disponibilità dei cittadini italiani a rinunciare ai prodotti di origine animale per alcuni giorni alla settimana. Una parte degli Italiani sembra essere disponibile ad astenersi dal mangiare carne e latticini3, ma non in misura sufficiente da poter fare la differenza in termini di vite guadagnate.

E quindi necessario che a politiche Europee adeguate che coinvolgano anche il settore agro-alimentare, si accompagni una maggiore consapevolezza del ruolo di questo importante settore produttivo nell’inquinamento, così che i cittadini possano valutare i vantaggi diretti ed indiretti del passaggio ad una dieta meno ricca di prodotti animali.

Questa ricerca si basa sui risultati del Progetto Europeo SEFIRA (Socio-Economic implications For Individual Responses to Air pollution policies), coordinato dall’Università di Urbino, di cui ISAC-CNR è partner.

1.       M. Maione, E. Mocca, K. Eisfeld, Y. Kazepov, S. Fuzzi,  2020. Public perception of air pollution sources across Europe. Ambio, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01450-5

2.       M. Volta, E. Turrini, C. Carnevale, E. Valeri, V. Gatta, P. Polidori, M. Maione, 2021. Co-benefits of changing diet. A modelling assessment at the regional scale integrating social acceptability, environmental and health impacts. Science of The Total Environment, 756, 143708, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143708.

3.       E. Valeri, V. Gatta, D. Teobaldelli, P. Polidori, B. Barratt, S. Fuzzi, Y. Kazepov, V. Sergi, M. Williams, M. Maione, 2016. Modelling individual preferences for environmental policy drivers: Empirical evidence of Italian lifestyle changes using a latent class approach, Environmental Science & Policy, 65, 65-74, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.05.019.

Short Bio: Michela Maione, associated with research duties to ISAC-CNR, is associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Department of Pure and Applied Sciences (DiSPeA).

M. Maione has a long research experience in the field of atmospheric composition change in relation to air quality and climate change, with a particular focus on short-lived GHGs, their emission quantifications and impacts on climate change and air quality. Much of her work has involved working within international networks and establishing important scientific collaborations with senior scientists from the most important academic and scientific institutions all over the world. This research has produced more than 90 publications, mostly in peer-reviewed journals and with an international co-authorship.

In addition, M. Maione has been the Scientific Officer of the major European network on atmospheric change, climate and air quality (ACCENT) and, breaking new scientific ground, has worked closely with scientists from the socio-economic field and has followed the policy process in the EU to provide scientific input to policy through focussed policy-relevant summaries. Such transdisciplinary approach has been followed in two EU FP7 funded projects: i) SEFIRA on the socio-economic implications of individual choices and behaviours in the implementation of air quality policies, of which M. Maione is the coordinator; and ii) ACCENT-Plus aimed at coordinating the best European research in the field of air quality and climate change in support of the design and implementation of air quality and climate policies.

in 2017 M. Maione has been appointed as Lead Author in the IPCC refinement of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
She is contributing author in Chapter 2 of Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project–Report No. 58, World Meteorological Organization, (Geneva, CH, 2018).

Since 2001, when she has started to be responsible for her research group, M. Maione has been successful in obtaining funding for several research proposals, mostly International,

In the last ten years M. Maione has been responsible for the following international and national research projects:
- SEFIRA, Socio-Economic implications For Individual Responses to Air pollution policies in EU+27 (EU-FP7) (Coordinator);

• -  RITMARE, The Italian Oceanic Research (Italian Ministry for Education and Research);
• -  VIIAS, Integrated evaluation of the environmental and health impact of atmospheric pollution (Italian Ministry for Health);

• -  InGOS, Integrated non-CO2 Greenhouse gas Observing System (EU-FP7);
• -  ACTRIS, Aerosols, Clouds and Trace gases Research Infrastructure Network (EU-FP7);
• -  ACCENT-Plus, Atmospheric Composition Change: the European NeTwork – PoLicy sUpport and Science (EU-FP7);

- ACCENT, Atmospheric Composition Change, a European NeTwork. Network of Excellence (EU-FP6);
- EUROHYDROS, A European Network for Atmospheric Hydrogen observations and studies (EU-FP6);
- SOGE-A, System for Observation of halogenated Greenhouse gases in Europe and Asia (EU-FP6);
- SOGE, System for Observation of halogenated Greenhouse gases in Europe (EU-FP5);

- SHARE Asia, Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment-Asia (EV-K2- CNR Committee)
- AEROCLOUDS, Study of direct and indirect effects of aerosol and clouds on climate (FISR Fondo Integrativo Speciale Ricerca);

• -  Arctic Strategic Project (Italian National Research Council);
• -  PNRA, Italian National Project for Research in Antarctic (Italian National Research Council).

Watch video: https://youtu.be/HCFowq0guuE

Abstract:Globally, climate change has wide ranging effects on all aspects of society, environment, and economy; however, the type and extent of these impacts are still widely debated. In this seminar I will show you some of the activities I have been involved in during the last years, regarding hazards and risks of climate change impacts in some key research hotspot areas.

The first part of the seminar will be focused on high-elevation sites. These areas are particularly suitable for impact studies because of the presence of the cryosphere, which is highly sensitive to climate. Specifically, the effects on slope stability are receiving a growing attention in the recent years, both as terrestrial indicators of climate change and implications for hazard assessment. A statistical-based approach to detect climate anomalies associated with the occurrence of slope failures, with the aim to catch an eventual climate signal in the preparation and/or triggering of the considered events, will be presented. The method has been performed on more than 350 landslides occurred in the Italian Alps along 2000-2016 and highlighted that slope failures occurred in association with one or more climate anomalies in more than 90% of considered case studies.

In the second part of the seminar, I will investigate the risks that climate change poses for other opposite, but nevertheless key environments, which are particularly sensitive to climate change impacts i.e., urban areas. They represent only a small fraction of the Earth’s surface, but they are where more than half of the global population resides and concentrations of assets and economic activities are found. Here, some insights from the EPA-funded Urb-ADAPT project in the Greater Dublin Region (Ireland) will be introduced. Current and potential future climate-related risks and vulnerabilities have been assessed by merging high-resolution climate data (current and projected) with information on land cover, population and socioeconomics. Specifically, results regarding heat risk assessment will be shown and their usefulness to support the implementation of targeted adaptation and mitigation strategies will be delineated.

Short Bio:Roberta Paranunzio received her M.S. Degree in Environmental Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino in 2013 and she obtained her Ph.D from the same institution in 2017. From 2013 to 2017, she was at CNR-IRPI and Politecnico di Torino working on the impacts of climate change on slope instability at high elevation sites and the estimation of climatic forcing on regional and global scale and with high spatial resolution, with a focus on the relation between air temperature variations in recent years and urbanization trend. Between 2018 and 2019, she was at the University College of Cork (Ireland) as Post-Doctoral Research Associate working on current and future climate-related risks to the population living in urban areas. She has been Researcher at CNR-ISAC (Torino) since 2020. Her main research stream focuses on the nexus between climate change, related-extreme events and natural hazards based on a multi-perspective approach in “hotspot” areas like high-mountain regions and urban areas. Specifically, main goals are: to develop predictive models for natural hazard occurrence, to assess exposure, vulnerabilities and risks related to identified hazards and to understand how physical and socio-economic systems respond to climate-induced natural hazards to support climate adaptation strategies.
 

Riguardalo sul nostro canale Youtube: https://youtu.be/Fdao3qTR2pk

Una visione operativa della meteorologia aeronautica targata Enav, il principale provider italiano di servizi della navigazione aerea, nella descrizione delle attività che gli Osservatori Meteo e i Meteorologi di Enav esercitano quotidianamente sugli aeroporti e negli spazi aerei di competenza, contribuendo così a una sicura ed efficiente gestione dei voli che interessano il nostro territorio

Marco Tadini, nato a Milano nel 1963, nel 1989 si è laureato in Fisica all’Università degli Studi di Milano, con tesi presso l’Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera a Merate (Lecco). Già Ufficiale del Genio Aeronautico ruolo fisici, dal 1991 è Meteorologo presso l’Azienda Autonoma di Assistenza al Volo per il Traffico Aereo Generale, ora Enav S.p.A., dove attualmente riveste il ruolo di Responsabile del Servizio Meteorologico. Ha partecipato alle attività del Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide, operando come Meteorologo nella base antartica italiana di Baia Terra Nova.

Uno dei maggiori limiti nella previsione dei cambiamenti climatici è la mancanza di modelli accurati dell’emissività superficiale terrestre e dei processi radiativi relativi al vapor d’acqua atmosferico e alle nubi. Mentre lo spettro della radiazione emessa dalla Terra (outgoing longwave radiation - OLR) è correntemente misurato dallo spazio nella regione del medio infrarosso, la nostra abilità a collegare senza equivoci questa radiazione con i processi atmosferici è compromessa dalla mancanza di misure spettralmente risolte in una larga parte dell’emissione termica, il lontano infrarosso (FIR – Far InfraRed) e cioè nella banda spettrale fra 100 e 667 cm-1 (15-100 microns). Le osservazioni satellitari nel FIR potrebbero aiutare a ridurre le incertezze esistenti sul ruolo del vapor d’acqua, delle nubi e dell’emissività superficiale nei modelli climatici vista la grande sensibilità che la regione FIR ha su questi parametri.

In settembre 2019 FORUM (Far-infrared-Outgoing-Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) è stata selezionata come la missione Earth Explorer 9 di ESA. FORUM intende colmare il vuoto lasciato dalla mancanza di osservazioni FIR dallo spazio. La missione (che verrà lanciata nel 2025) misurerà lo spettro della OLR della Terra per fornire una base accurata per la rilevazione delle impronte spettrali (prodotte da vapor d’acqua, nubi, metano, anidride carbonica e l’emissività superficiale della neve) associate con i processi rilevanti alle stime dei cambiamenti climatici. FORUM misurerà la OLR from 100 to 1600 cm-1 e volando in tandem con il Meteorological Operational Satellite - Second Generation (Metop-SG), FORUM  potrà fornire per la prima volta una caratterizzazione completa della OLR  (da 100 a 2760 cm-1 - 3.62-100 microns) usando anche le misure dell’ Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Instrument Next Generation (IASI-NG). Il satellite porterà a bordo due strumenti: uno spettrometro (interferometro a trasformata di Fourier), che funzionerà con rivelatori non raffreddati, per le misure spettrali nel FIR e una telecamera infrarossa, che osserverà, con alta risoluzione spaziale, la stessa scena dello spettrometro nella finestra atmosferica (10.5-12 microns) per identificare l’omogeneità delle scene osservate. In questo seminario si farà una presentazione delle motivazioni scientifiche che hanno portato a proporre FORUM, si descriveranno le tecniche di misura di FORUM e gli studi che si stanno facendo per assicurare il successo della missione.

Binaca Maria Dinelli graduated in Physics at the Universita’ degli Studi di Pisa in 1982. She then joined the Unita’ di Ricerca CNR/GIFCO in Firenze as scientific consultant and worked on the analysis of far-infrared stratospheric spectra. Since 1984 she is a researcher at the C.N.R. in Bologna first at the Istituto di Spettroscopia Molecolare and then at the Istituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima. She is now research director.  She spent most of her research life on high resolution infrared spectroscopy and on the analysis of infrared and far-infrared atmospheric spectra measured by limb-scanning instruments. She has been research associate in Prof. T. Oka's group at the University of Chicago, U.S.A. working on infrared spectroscopy of molecular ions and postdoctoral research assistant at UCL, London U.K working on the spectroscopic determination of potential energy surfaces of the H3+ ion and on the analysis of the infrared spectra of the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. She has been responsible for the data analysis of the SAFIRE-A instrument participating to the APE-GAIA measurement campaign in Ushuaia – Argentina. Since 1995 she has been and is involved in several ESA project on atmospheric research such as PIRAMHYD, the development and application of the level 2 processors for MIPAS/ENVISAT, MIPAS special observation modes and MARSCHALS, on the study of the effects of sprites on the NO2 stratospheric distribution, and on the development of novel techniques for the analysis of the (A)ATSR instrument series. She is involved in the exploitation of CASSINI/VIMS data on Titan’s atmosphere. She is responsible of the Remote Sensing of the Stratosphere group in ISAC, member of the Quality Working Group of MIPAS/ENVISAT and responsible for the Jupiter auroral data for the instrument JUNO-JIRAM. She is associate to INAF and INFN. She is member of the Mission Advisory Group for the ESA- Earth Explorer 9 mission FORUM.

Contatto: bm.dinelli [at] isac.cnr.it ()

ABSTRACT

Quando si ottiene un finanziamento è necessario definire ed inserire in Sigla il relativo piano economico, inteso quale riproduzione dei dati contabili del progetto, in linea con il budget approvato dall’ente finanziatore, le regole di bilancio del CNR e le direttive di rendicontazione.

Il seminario intende fornire ai ricercatori le indicazioni necessarie alla strutturazione dei piani economici dei propri progetti, ponendo l’accento sulle modalità di configurazione degli stessi, sull’iter di approvazione e modifica, sulle criticità e rigidità del sistema implementato.

Il seminario è rivolto sia a ricercatori/tecnologi titolari di progetti di ricerca o partecipanti agli stessi, sia a tecnici/amministrativi che gestiscono contabilmente e amministrativamente i finanziamenti.

ABSTRACT

L’ area di studi della comunicazione del cambiamento climatico si è occupata negli anni di molteplici aspetti della materia: il ruolo dell’informazione e dei valori, la gestione dell’incertezza tra arena scientifica e quella giornalistica, il dibattito giornalistico sul cambiamento climatico chiarendo che i mass media costituiscono a oggi il principale veicolo di informazione in quest’ambito.

L’analisi dei frame – una parte fondamentale della disciplina- ha chiarito come mentre alcune narrazioni siano controproducenti rispetto all’engagement di lungo periodo e all’adozione di comportamenti virtuosi da parte del pubblico, altre sembrano essere più efficaci.

Tra queste, vi è quella della salute pubblica. Com’è noto, il clima ha pesanti ripercussioni per la salute, ma è soprattutto in occasione della pandemia che la discussione su ecosistemi, spillover e rischi per la salute è emersa all’attenzione del pubblico.

In questo contesto emergono anche altre tematiche quali la necessità di un’informazione al cittadino da fonti a cui venga riconosciuto un certo livello di trust, il ruolo -la preparazione e la sensibilità dei medici in questo contesto, il ruolo dei ricercatori che si occupano di clima in questo percorso.

Author Biography

Sara Moraca è dottoranda all’Università di Bologna; il suo progetto si focalizza sulla comunicazione del clima con un focus sulla salute pediatrica, con un’analisi che coinvolge pediatri e genitori dei bambini. Ha una formazione in biologia (Bicocca-Milano) e comunicazione della scienza (Sissa-Trieste). Ha lavorato e lavora come consulente per progetti di editoria scientifica e progetti europei, collabora con testate come Nature, Inside Climate News, Corriere, El Pais e altre. Dallo scorso giugno è nel pool di esperti di comunicazione scientifica del Parlamento Europeo.

s.moraca [at] isac.cnr.it

https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/932307501

References

- Anderson A. (2009) Media, Politics and Climate Change: Towards a New Research Agenda Sociology Compass, 3, pp. 166-182
- Boykoff, M.T. and Timmons J.R. 2007. ‘Media Coverage of Climate Change: Current Trends, Strengths, Weaknesses.’ Human Development Report 2007/8, United Nations Development Programme Occasional paper, Human Development Report Office 
- Gustafson, A., Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E. W., Rosenthal, S. A., Kotcher, J. K., & Goldberg, M. H. (2020). Climate Change in the Minds of U.S. Media Audiences. Yale University, George Mason University, and University of Cincinnati. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
- Jasanoff, S. A New Climate for Society  Theory, Culture and Society 27 (2-3):233-253 (2010)
- Lorenzoni I. Nicholson-Cole S. Whitmarsh L. Barriers perceived to engagning with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Glob Environ Change. 2007; 17: 445-459
- Lowe, T., Brown, K., Dessai, S., de Franca Doria, M., Haynes, K., & Vincent, K. (2006). Does tomorrow ever come? Disaster narrative and public perceptions of climate change Public Understanding of Science, 15, 435-457
- Moser S.C. (2014) Communicating adaptation to climate change: the art and science of public engagement when climate change comes home. WIREs Clim Chang 5(3):337–358 
- McCright, A. M. (2009). The social bases of climate change concern, knowledge, and policy support in the U.S. general public. Hofstra Law Review, 37, 1017–1047 
- Nisbet M. C.(2009) Communicating Climate Change: Why Frames Matter for Public Engagement, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 51:2, 12-23
- O’Connor, R. E., Bord, R. J., Yarnal, B., & Wiefek, N. (2002). Who wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Social Science Quarterly, 83, 1–17
- O’Neill S.J. , Hulme M. , Turnpenny J. , et al. (2010) Disciplines, geography and gender in the framing of climate change. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: 1-18
- O’Neill S.J., Nicholson-Cole S. (2009) “Fear won’t do it”: Promoting positive engagement with climate change through visual and iconic representations. Sci Commun 30: 355–379
- Schmidt, A., Ivanova, A., & Schäfer, M. S. (2013). Media attention for climate change m. Global Environmental Change, 23(5), 1233–1248. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.07.020
- Entradas M, Bauer MW, O’Muircheartaigh C, Marcinkowski F, Okamura A, Pellegrini G, et al. (2020) Public communication by research institutes compared across countries and sciences: Building capacity for engagement or competing for visibility? PLoS ONE 15(7): e0235191. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235191

The South Asian summer monsoon, the Indian Ocean and related teleconnections* Annalisa Cherchi

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Abstract The South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) is a seasonal phenomenon characterized by wind reversal and intense precipitation during austral summer. It provides about 80% of annual rainfall for the whole south Asian region, influencing the life of more than a billion of people leaving there. Despite its seasonality, it has large variabilities at many timescales (from sub-seasonal to decadal). A weaker (or even a stronger) than normal monsoon may have dramatic socio-economic consequences for the region, thus it would be useful to have reliable predictions of its timing and intensity. However, because of the large internal climate variability at play, the inherent complexity of the phenomenon and the role of external forcing, the prediction of the monsoon is far from satisfactory to be useful. Among external forcing, the SASM is largely influenced by the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and by the near Indian Ocean, that has been experiencing a warming larger than any other tropical basins since the 1950s. The relationship with ENSO is known since the beginning of the last century, but it has been found to weaken in recent times. New research provided insights on the influence from the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and its potential trigger of the ENSO-monsoon teleconnection. The IOD is the dominant mode of variability of the tropical Indian Ocean and it is also highly variable in time, depending on how it evolves within the seasons (i.e., from boreal summer to autumn) it can have large impacts on the South Asian summer monsoon characteristics, specifically over India. The SASM also have important remote influences, like over the Mediterranean, thus creating a complex network of teleconnections among the different players. In this seminar I will show some aspects of these important and complex teleconnections linking the South Asian summer monsoon climate to ENSO, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean as steps of the research activity I have been involved in during the last years.

ABSTRACT. One of the main challenges in weather radar data quality is electromagnetic interference. Often weather radars operate in frequency bands close to, or shared with, other telecommunication systems. This is the case of C and X-band weather radars managed by Arpa Piemonte, the environmental protection agency of Piemonte region, Italy. The amount of interferences received by these radars are affecting the data quality, especially for polarimetric observations. In Italy, like in the most European countries, operational weather radars operate at C-band, in the 5.6GHz band, sharing the frequency band with Radio Local Area Network (RLAN) and Wireless Local Area Network. These telecommunication systems are continuously increasing in rural areas as broadband Internet access points. The coexistence of C-band weather radar and WLAN is nowadays a primary topic in the weather radar community (Saltikoff 2016).

Concerning the X-band weather radar, electromagnetic interferences started a couple of years ago and their amount is increasing. The analysis of the interferences received during the month of October 2017 showed a day-night pattern, with interferences received from approximately 6 a.m. to 24 p.m. This typical pattern seems to be related to a human-related activity. Since the number X-band radars deployed in Europe is constantly increasing, such as in the United States, the coexistence of the weather radars with telecommunications system requires further investigations.

A method to preliminary detect the likely interfering sources is implemented based on the regional database of electromagnetic sources managed by Arpa Piemonte. This seminar gives a survey on the electromagnetic interference in weather radars located in North-West Italy, investigating their sources and the key-features of the interfering signals. Interference removal or mitigation tools will be developed based on the interfering signals features.

Author Biography. MATTIA VACCARONO was born in Ivrea, Italy, in 1990. He received the M.Sc (magna cum laude) in Physics from Turin University in 2015. Since 2016, he has been working in the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (Arpa Piemonte) of Piedmont region, Italy. He is specialized in EMF measurements and project assessments. He is currently enrolled in Colorado State University, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, as PhD student, conducting research on weather radars and EMF interferences. Main research areas include coexistence of weather radars and telecommunication systems, radar calibration monitoring and radar data quality.