scholarly journals An Attempt to Utilize a Regional Dew Formation Model in Kenya

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1261
Author(s):  
Nahid Atashi ◽  
Juuso Tuure ◽  
Laura Alakukku ◽  
Dariush Rahimi ◽  
Petri Pellikka ◽  
...  

Model evaluation against experimental data is an important step towards accurate model predictions and simulations. Here, we evaluated an energy-balance model to predict dew formation occurrence and estimate its amount for East-African arid-climate conditions against 13 months of experimental dew harvesting data in Maktau, Kenya. The model was capable of predicting the dew formation occurrence effectively. However, it overestimated the harvestable dew amount by about a ratio of 1.7. As such, a factor of 0.6 was applied for a long-term period (1979–2018) to investigate the spatial and temporal variation of the dew formation in Kenya. The annual average of dew occurrence in Kenya was ~130 days with dew yield > 0.1 L/m2/day. The dew formation showed a seasonal cycle with the maximum yield in winter and minimum in summer. Three major dew formation zones were identified after cluster analysis: arid and semi-arid regions; mountain regions; and coastal regions. The average daily and yearly maximum dew yield were 0.05 and 18; 0.9 and 25; and 0.15 and 40 L/m2/day; respectively. A precise prediction of dew occurrence and dew yield is very challenging due to inherent limitations in numerical models and meteorological input parameters.

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 4719-4740
Author(s):  
Nahid Atashi ◽  
Dariush Rahimi ◽  
Victoria A. Sinclair ◽  
Martha A. Zaidan ◽  
Anton Rusanen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Dew is a non-conventional source of water that has been gaining interest over the last two decades, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, we performed a long-term (1979–2018) energy balance model simulation to estimate dew formation potential in Iran aiming to identify dew formation zones and to investigate the impacts of long-term variation in meteorological parameters on dew formation. The annual average of dew occurrence in Iran was ∼102 d, with the lowest number of dewy days in summer (∼7 d) and the highest in winter (∼45 d). The average daily dew yield was in the range of 0.03–0.14 L m−2 and the maximum was in the range of 0.29–0.52 L m−2. Six dew formation zones were identified based on cluster analysis of the time series of the simulated dew yield. The distribution of dew formation zones in Iran was closely aligned with topography and sources of moisture. Therefore, the coastal zones in the north and south of Iran (i.e., Caspian Sea and Oman Sea), showed the highest dew formation potential, with 53 and 34 L m−2 yr−1, whereas the dry interior regions (i.e., central Iran and the Lut Desert), with the average of 12–18 L m−2 yr−1, had the lowest potential for dew formation. Dew yield estimation is very sensitive to the choice of the heat transfer coefficient. The uncertainty analysis of the heat transfer coefficient using eight different parameterizations revealed that the parameterization used in this study – the Richards (2004) formulation – gives estimates that are similar to the average of all methods and are neither much lower nor much higher than the majority of other parameterizations and the largest differences occur for the very low values of daily dew yield. Trend analysis results revealed a significant (p<0.05) negative trend in the yearly dew yield in most parts of Iran during the last 4 decades (1979–2018). Such a negative trend in dew formation is likely due to an increase in air temperature and a decrease in relative humidity and cloudiness over the 40 years.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahid Atashi ◽  
Dariush Rahimi ◽  
Victoria A. Sinclair ◽  
Martha A. Zaidan ◽  
Anton Rusanen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Dew is a non-conventional source of water that has been gaining interest over the last two decades, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, we performed a long-term (1979–2018) energy balance model simulation to estimate dew formation potential in Iran aiming to identify dew formation zones and to investigate the impacts of long-term variation in meteorological parameters on dew formation. The annual average of dew occurrence in Iran was ~ 102 days, with the lowest number of dewy days in summer (~ 7 days) and highest in winter (~ 45 days). The average daily dew yield was in the range of 0.03–0.14 L/m2 and the maximum was in the range of 0.29–0.52 L/m2. Six dew formation zones were identified based on cluster analysis of the timeseries of the simulated dew yield. The distribution of dew formation zones in Iran was closely aligned with topography and sources of moisture. Therefore, the coastal zones in the north and south of Iran (i.e., Caspian Sea and Oman Sea), showed the highest dew formation potential with 53 and 34 L/m2/year, whereas the dry interior regions (i.e., central Iran and the Lut Desert), with the average of 12–18 L/m2/year had the lowest potential for dew formation. Trend analysis results revealed a significance (p 


2021 ◽  
Vol 289 ◽  
pp. 110433
Author(s):  
Koichi Nomura ◽  
Daisuke Yasutake ◽  
Takahiro Kaneko ◽  
Tadashige Iwao ◽  
Takashi Okayasu ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahlam Ahmed Alfazairy ◽  
Yasien Mohamed Gamal Zedan El-Abed ◽  
Hanan Mohamed Ramadan ◽  
Hedaya Hamza Karam

AbstractAverage yields of Mattesia spores (spore productivity) had varied from a minimum yield (0.17 × 107 spores) for Laemophloeus turcicus adult to a maximum yield (7.46 × 107 spores) for Plodia interpunctella larva. Comparatively, the highest increase in Mattesia spore yield, recorded from P. interpunctella larva (7.46 × 107 spores) over the lowest one, estimated for L. turcicus adult (0.17 × 107 spores), was nearly 44-fold. The increase in Mattesia spore yields that calculated from the other hosts (P. interpunctella pupa or moth; Galleria mellonella larva; Rhyzopertha dominica adult; Sitophilus zeamais), over that estimated for L. turcicus adult, was less than 10-fold (6–9-fold). Based on the weight of 1 g of the insect host infected with Mattesia sp., small stored grain insect hosts (e.g. L. turcicus, S. zeamais, and R. dominica) seemed to achieve Mattesia spore yields more than the larger ones (e.g. P. interpunctella). The increase in spore yields over that used for the inoculum, based on an average of 25 P. interpunctella larvae per bioassay container, was ca. 2 to 31-fold. These results revealed that the Indianmeal moth, P. interpunctella, could serve as a potential host for mass propagating the isolated entomopathogenic protozoan, Mattesia sp. Besides Mattesia larval mortality, survivors of Mattesia infection suffered deformities and noticeable undersized pupae or adults than the control ones. Also, many copulated moths (ca.46%) were unable to become separated after copulation until they had died. Bioassay of siftings, obtained from L. turcicus-protozoan-infected stock cultures, was carried out in order to emphasize the suppressive potent role of such protozoan entomopathogens in long-term storage. With the highest tested concentration of the studied siftings (10%), mortality responses due to Mattesia infection ranged from 13 to 68% at 14–169 days post-treatment. The corresponding figures for Adelina infection were 7–42%.


Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Md. Rezaul Karim ◽  
B. M. Sadman Sakib ◽  
Sk. Sadman Sakib ◽  
Monzur Alam Imteaz

Despite numerous studies on residential rainwater tank, studies on commercial rainwater tank are scarce. Corporate authorities pay little heed on this sustainable feature. With the aim of encouraging corporate authorities, this study presents the feasibility and economic benefits of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in commercial buildings in the capital city of Bangladesh, where water authority struggles to maintain town water supply. The analysis was conducted using a daily water balance model under three climate scenarios (wet, dry and normal year) for five commercial buildings having catchment areas varying from 315 to 776 m2 and the storage tank capacity varying from 100 to 600 m3. It was found that for a water demand of 30 L per capita per day (lpcd), about 11% to 19% and 16% to 26.80% of the annual water demand can be supplemented by rainwater harvesting under the normal year and wet year climate conditions, respectively. The payback periods are found to be very short, only 2.25 to 3.75 years and benefit–cost (B/C) ratios are more than 1.0, even for building having the smallest catchment area (i.e., 315 m2) and no significant overflow would occur during monsoon, which leads to both economic and environmental benefits. Though the findings cannot be translated to other cities as those are dependent on factors like water price, interest rate, rainfall amount and pattern, however other cities having significant rainfall amounts should conduct similar studies to expedite implementations of widescale rainwater harvesting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Solimini ◽  
F. Filipponi ◽  
D. Alunni Fegatelli ◽  
B. Caputo ◽  
C. M. De Marco ◽  
...  

AbstractEvidences of an association between air pollution and Covid-19 infections are mixed and inconclusive. We conducted an ecological analysis at regional scale of long-term exposure to air-borne particle matter and spread of Covid-19 cases during the first wave of epidemics. Global air pollution and climate data were calculated from satellite earth observation data assimilated into numerical models at 10 km resolution. Main outcome was defined as the cumulative number of cases of Covid-19 in the 14 days following the date when > 10 cumulative cases were reported. Negative binomial mixed effect models were applied to estimate the associations between the outcome and long-term exposure to air pollution at the regional level (PM10, PM2.5), after adjusting for relevant regional and country level covariates and spatial correlation. In total we collected 237,749 Covid-19 cases from 730 regions, 63 countries and 5 continents at May 30, 2020. A 10 μg/m3 increase of pollution level was associated with 8.1% (95% CI 5.4%, 10.5%) and 11.5% (95% CI 7.8%, 14.9%) increases in the number of cases in a 14 days window, for PM2.5 and PM10 respectively. We found an association between Covid-19 cases and air pollution suggestive of a possible causal link among particulate matter levels and incidence of COVID-19.


2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1712) ◽  
pp. 1661-1669 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Alonso ◽  
Menno J. Bouma ◽  
Mercedes Pascual

Climate change impacts on malaria are typically assessed with scenarios for the long-term future. Here we focus instead on the recent past (1970–2003) to address whether warmer temperatures have already increased the incidence of malaria in a highland region of East Africa. Our analyses rely on a new coupled mosquito–human model of malaria, which we use to compare projected disease levels with and without the observed temperature trend. Predicted malaria cases exhibit a highly nonlinear response to warming, with a significant increase from the 1970s to the 1990s, although typical epidemic sizes are below those observed. These findings suggest that climate change has already played an important role in the exacerbation of malaria in this region. As the observed changes in malaria are even larger than those predicted by our model, other factors previously suggested to explain all of the increase in malaria may be enhancing the impact of climate change.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 600-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladan Kuzmanovic ◽  
Ljubodrag Savic ◽  
John Stefanakos

This paper presents two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) numerical models for unsteady phased thermal analysis of RCC dams. The time evolution of a thermal field has been modeled using the actual dam shape, RCC technology and the adequate description of material properties. Model calibration and verification has been done based on the field investigations of the Platanovryssi dam, the highest RCC dam in Europe. The results of a long-term thermal analysis, with actual initial and boundary conditions, have shown a good agreement with the observed temperatures. The influence of relevant parameters on the thermal field of RCC dams has been analyzed. It is concluded that the 2D model is appropriate for the thermal phased analysis, and that the boundary conditions and the mixture properties are the most influential on the RCC dam thermal behavior.


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