Seminars

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

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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.

ABSTRACT. 

È opinione condivisa, all’interno della comunità scientifica, che le lunghe serie storiche di dati meteorologici costituiscano un elemento chiave nella comprensione delle evoluzioni climatiche pregresse e, di conseguenza, di quelle attese nei prossimi decenni. Testimoni di questo rinnovato e crescente interesse nei confronti della meteorologia storica sono una serie di progetti ed attività di ricerca finalizzati al rescue del ricco ed in parte inesplorato patrimonio di misure atmosferiche centenarie ed ultracentenarie di cui possono fregiarsi soprattutto i paesi che affacciano sul Mediterraneo ed in particolare la penisola italiana.

Questo lavoro si propone l’obiettivo di ripercorrere le fasi salienti del recupero della serie storica acquisita presso l’Osservatorio meteorologico di Montevergine (LAT = 40.936502, LON = 14.72915), ubicato alla quota di 1280 m slm sui contrafforti occidentali dell’Appennino Campano. L’Osservatorio di Montevergine, fondato nel 1884, vanta una serie di misure meteorologiche giornaliere di temperatura (massima e minima) e quantità di precipitazione piovosa e nevosa che si estende sino ai giorni nostri, offrendo una inedita e privilegiata prospettiva sulle vicende climatiche e meteorologiche osservate in ambiente appenninico negli ultimi 137 anni. La serie di Montevergine, inoltre, è impreziosita da una raccolta di misure meteorologiche sub-giornaliere, disponibile per il periodo 1884-1961, che abbraccia un ampio spettro di parametri atmosferici (temperatura di bulbo asciutto e bagnato, pressione atmosferiche, umidità relativa, tensione del vapore, copertura nuvolosa, tipologia di nubi, quantità di precipitazione piovosa e nevosa, tipologia di precipitazione).

In virtù dell’oggettiva rilevanza del contesto ambientale in cui è ubicato, l’Osservatorio di Montevergine è al giorno d’oggi al centro di attività di ricerca di carattere non solo squisitamente climatologico. Da quasi due anni, infatti, la terrazza dell’Osservatorio ospita un sensore disdrometrico laser, che è stato impiegato per studi relativi alla stima della precipitazione nevosa tramite misure in banda X a doppia polarizzazione, nonché per confronti tra misure disdrometriche e misure acquisite tramite sensoristica tradizionale. Saranno dunque forniti ragguagli anche in merito a tali studi, tutt’ora in corso, frutto di una sinergia tra il Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope” e l’Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima (CNR-ISAC).

Biografia (vincenzo.capozzi [at] uniparthenope.it)

Vincenzo Capozzi è nato ad Avellino nel 1986. Dopo aver conseguito la laurea in Scienze e Tecnologie della Navigazione - Indirizzo Scienze del Clima (voto 110/110 e lode) presso l’Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”, ha frequentato, presso lo stesso Ateneo, il corso di Dottorato di Ricerca in “Scienze del Mare, della Terra e del Clima”. In data 08/04/2016, ha difeso la propria tesi di dottorato, dal titolo “Misure radar in banda X: calibrazione pluviometrica ed applicazioni in ambito meteorologico”. Successivamente, ha conseguito la certificazione DEKRA di “Meteorologo Professionista”, rilasciata in conformità alle direttive dell’Organizzazione meteorologica Mondiale. Attualmente, Vincenzo Capozzi è assegnista di ricerca post-doc presso il Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”: i suoi interessi di ricerca riguardano, principalmente, la meteorologia sperimentale (ed in particolare l’integrazione tra misure radar ed osservazioni in situ), il recupero e l’analisi di serie climatologiche storiche e lo studio della circolazione atmosferica delle aree polari. Inoltre, da circa due anni, Vincenzo Capozzi cura l’elaborazione e la divulgazione, tramite i canali radio-televisivi della RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana, di bollettini meteorologici per la Regione Campania.

ABSTRACT. The second generation of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS-SG) will include two conically scanning microwave radiometers: the Micro-Wave Imager (MWI) and the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI). They will be flown on the Metop-SG B satellites in a polar, sun-synchronous mid-morning orbit.

MWI will have 18 channels ranging from 18 to 183 GHz. The frequencies at 18.7, 23.8, 31.4 and 89 GHz provide continuity to key microwave imager channels for weather forecasting, with information on precipitation and on total column water vapour and cloud liquid water over ocean. MWI observation at lower channels are also relevant for observations of sea ice. MWI includes also innovative set of channels near 50–60 GHz and at 118 GHz, sensitive to weak precipitation and snowfall. Dual polarisation is implemented up to 89 GHz, at higher frequencies only vertical polarisation will be provided.

ICI is a novel mission, the first operational radiometer of this type designed for the remote sensing of cloud ice. ICI will cover the mm/sub-mm spectrum from 183 GHz to 664 GHz, with 11 channels, partly situated in the water vapour absorption lines (around 183, 325 and 448 GHz) and others in the atmospheric windows at 243 and 664 GHz. The window channels are implemented with dual polarisation, while the other channels are vertically polarised only. The ICI will provide an innovative characterisation of clouds, with information on humidity and ice hydrometeors, particularly the bulk ice mass. ICI mission will also support climate monitoring.

Combined, the MWI and ICI radiometers will provide an unprecedented set of passive microwave measurements, from 18.7 GHz up to 664 GHz.

Activities related to the preparation of the Level 1B and Level 2 operational products will be discussed. The main functionality and algorithms of the product generation will be shown, and the first version of the test datasets developed to verify the correct implementation of the MWI and ICI Operational Processors will be presented.

Short Author's Bio

Vinia Mattioli received the M.S. degree in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Perugia, Italy, in 2001 and 2005, respectively. She received a Ph.D. scholarship to conduct research at Environmental Technology Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA, from 2003 to 2004. From 2005 to 2012, Dr. Mattioli was with the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Perugia, and the Department of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate. From 2011 to 2012, she was a Visiting Scientist on several occasions at Electromagnetics and Radar Department, ONERA, Toulouse, France. Since 2013, she has been with Remote Sensing and Product (RSP) Division, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Darmstadt, Germany. She is responsible for the scientific development of the Level 1b and Level 2 operational products of the EUMETSAT Polar System— Second Generation (EPS-SG) Ice Cloud Imager (ICI). Her research interests include radiometer calibration techniques, passive ground- and satellite-based microwave atmospheric remote sensing, and microwave radiative transfer.

Francesco De Angelis received the M.S. degree in Physics and the Ph.D. degree in Physical and Chemical Sciences from the University of L’Aquila, Italy, in 2013 and 2017, respectively. From 2012 to 2017, he was with the Centre of research excellence CETEMPS, dealing with the assimilation of the passive ground-based microwave radiometer observations into the Numerical Weather Prediction Models. In particular, he contributed to the development of the ground-based version of the fast radiative transfer model RTTOV. Since 2017, he has been in the Remote Sensing and Product (RSP) Division of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Darmstadt, Germany. He is currently responsible for the scientific development of the Level 1b and Level 2 operational products of the EUMETSAT Polar System— Second Generation (EPS-SG) Micro-Wave Imager (MWI). His research interests include radiometer calibration and retrieval techniques, passive ground- and satellite-based microwave atmospheric remote sensing and microwave radiative transfer.

Analysis of atmospheric composition variability at remote and urban sites

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Abstract
In this seminar I will show some of the works I have been involved in during the last years, mainly concerning the analysis of atmospheric composition variability in different areas of the Globe. Among the atmospheric pollutants are the short-lived climate forcers/pollutants (SLCF/P), i.e., those atmospheric substances characterized by short lifetimes, with harmful effects on climate, ecosystems, and human health. The high levels of these SLCF/P derive from a variety of factors, both of anthropogenic and natural origin. The variability of two key SLCF/P (i.e., black carbon, BC, and tropospheric ozone, O3) was first investigated in the southern Himalayas, by analyzing measurements carried out at Paknajol, a site in the Kathmandu Valley, and the high altitude WMO/GAW global station Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid (NCO-P). The influence of a natural process (i.e., stratospheric intrusions) to NCO-P concentrations was also assessed by using the Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Exchange Flux tool (STEFLUX). Near-surface O3 observations were also analyzed at the WMO/GAW “Concordia” station in Antarctica, providing the opportunity to investigate O3 without a significant anthropogenic influence. In the Antarctic region, stratospheric intrusions are still understudied, with large uncertainties and differences between the Antarctic plateau and the coast. For this reason, the Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Exchange in the Antarctic Region (STEAR) PNRA project, which aims at partly filling this gap, will be introduced. In the last part of the seminar, automatic procedures for the flagging and formatting of trace gases, atmospheric aerosols and meteorological data will be shown. More specifically, an overarching processing chain was developed, to create a number of data products (data files and reports) starting from the raw data, finally contributing to increase the maturity of measurements. These procedures are currently active for several measurement sites in Italy.

Diretta Facebook gruppo Salute Pubblica  Ricerca documentazione In-Formazione

Locandina dell'evento in allegato

riferimenti Cristina Mangia c.mangia_at_isac.cnr.it

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Abstract Understanding extreme precipitation under changing climatic conditions is crucial to manage weather- and flood-related hazards. However, the climate models commonly used to guide such assessments cannot resolve key processes related to extreme precipitation, and do not provide information at the scales relevant for practical applications. This limitation is critical when quantitative information on low yearly exceedance probabilities, such as the 100-year events, is required. Here it is shown that the interaction of precipitation systems with local features provides constraints on the statistical description of precipitation events that can then be used to narrow the uncertainty in future projections of extremes. Specifically, these local constraints facilitate projections for extreme events of low yearly exceedance probability based only on synoptic-scale information from climate models. We use historical data from >450 stations in Israel and Jordan to provide a climatology of extreme daily precipitation in the region and, using our approach, we are able to provide quantitative information on future extremes starting from literature studies based on climate model projections. Under our working hypotheses, we project a general decrease in extreme precipitation in the region, and an increase of the most severe events in the coastal area and in the southern deserts. The local constraints approach offers a path for improving the predictability of extreme events in a changing climate, despite the uncertainty associated with unresolved processes in climate models and with natural variability. 

Short bio go the Author: Dr Marra got his Msc in Physics from the University of Bologna and PhD in radar hydrology from the University of Padova. He is currently Research Associate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and will soon start his new Researcher position at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council of Italy. His scientific research interests span different fields including atmospheric sciences (spatiotemporal precipitation patterns), remote sensing (weather radar and satellite based precipitation estimation), hydro-climatic extremes (extreme precipitation, frequency analyses from remote sensing data), hydrology (forecasting/monitoring of flash floods), geomorphology (landslide and debris flow triggering, flash floods geomorphic impact), and weather-related hazards in general. He loves climbing mountains.

Registrazione seminario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnMKvLv0GLk

Diretta/streaming: https://www.univaq.it/live 

ABSTRACT: A causa della sua peculiare morfologia, il bacino del Mediterraneo è una delle principali aree ciclogenetiche al mondo. Generalmente, i cicloni Mediterranei sono a scala sinottica e di origine baroclinica. Tuttavia, a volte sono stati osservati vortici intensi a scala più piccola, che mostrano un meccanismo di sviluppo e caratteristiche simili ai cicloni tropicali, sebbene siano più deboli e di dimensioni inferiori. Questi cicloni sono generalmente chiamati Medicanes, acronimo per "uragani mediterranei", o cicloni con caratteristiche tropicali (Tropical-Like Cyclones, o TLC). Negli ultimi anni è emerso un rinnovato interesse per questo argomento sia per l'importante impatto di questi vortici, che possono interessare le coste con venti intensi e forti precipitazioni, che per le implicazioni dei cambiamenti climatici sulla loro intensità e posizione. Mentre alcuni studi hanno in parte chiarito i loro meccanismi di formazione e intensificazione, diverse questioni sono ancora oggetto di dibattito nella comunità scientifica.

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ABSTRACT: The Drop Size Distribution (DSD) is defined as the number of drops per unit volume of air and per unit of drop diameter interval and is the result of different physical and microphysical processes involved in the formation and evolution of rain. It can be estimated by instruments named disdrometers and is modelled with different theoretical distributions. The estimation of DSD has an influence on a wide range of applications in the study of several geophysical processes occurring in the atmosphere and on the land surface. An improved knowledge of the DSD has an impact on the studies related to the soil erosion caused by the impact of raindrops on the ground. The choice of DSD shape plays a central role in cloud resolving models, and in model data assimilation. DSD is relevant, also, in microwave communications for dealing with rainfall attenuation that affects the propagation of waves. Finally, quantitative precipitation estimation by means of remote sensing techniques, both obtained from satellite-borne sensors or ground based weather radars, necessarily requires certain underlying assumptions, which are directly related to and affected by characteristics of the DSD of the measured precipitation. The main research carried out during my carrier had the aim of improving the characterization of the microphysics of rainfall, addressing key topics in modeling DSD and its impact on radar rainfall estimation, and of shedding some light on the impact on DSD modelling of instrumental errors as well. The main findings of my studies will be presented along with ongoing research in order to explore new collaborative fields of research.