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Two sets of 62-year (1948–2009) and 21-year (1989–2009) high-resolution hindcasts of the meteorological sea level component have been developed for Southern Europe using the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS) of Rutgers University. These new databases, named GOS 1.1 and GOS 2.1, are a valuable tool for a wide variety of studies, such as those related to a better understanding of sea level variability, flooding risk and coastal engineering studies. The model domain encloses Southern Europe, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic coast, with a horizontal resolution of 1/8° (~14 km). In order to study the effect of the atmospheric forcing resolution, ROMS is driven with two different regional atmospheric forcings: SeaWind I (30 km of horizontal resolution) and SeaWind II (15 km of horizontal resolution). Both are the result of a dynamical downscaling from global atmospheric reanalysis: NCEP global reanalysis and ERA-Interim global reanalysis, respectively. As a result, two surge data sets are obtained: GOS 1.1 (forced with SeaWind I) and GOS 2.1 (forced with SeaWind II). Surge elevations calculated by ROMS are compared with in situ measurements from tide gauges in coastal areas and with open ocean satellite observations. The validation procedure, testing outcomes from GOS 1.1 and GOS 2.1 against observations, shows the capability of the model to simulate accurately the sea level variation induced by the meteorological forcing. A description of the surge in terms of seasonality and long term trends is also made. The climate variability analysis reveals clear seasonal patterns in the Mediterranean Sea basins. A long-term negative trend for the period 1948–2009 is found, whilst positive trends are computed for the last 20 years (GOS 2.1).

A comparative study of the photocatalytic activity of two different TiO2 catalysts in solar photocatalytic oxidation, mineralization and detoxification of waters containing herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), bentazon and toxic intermediates was performed in a pilot plant scale photoreactor. Commercial TiO2 (Degussa P25) and TiO2 synthesized by citrate sol–gel method (ECT-1023t) were selected as photocatalysts. The optimal basic operational parameters to eliminate these herbicides and toxic intermediates were established for both catalysts at laboratory scale. ECT-1023t showed better photocatalytic activity than the commercial Degussa P25 at solar pilot plant scale with both herbicides in real water at natural pH (6.8–7.8) without any additive. The toxicity of the treated solutions was evaluated using the Microtox test based on the inhibition of bioluminescence of the bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The toxic effect of the main intermediate of 2,4-D, the 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), was higher than the parental herbicide. Acute toxicity of 2,4-D and intermediates (2,4-DCP) was reduced during the photocatalytic treatment by using ECT-1023t as photocatalyst. Longer times were necessary to obtain similar results when using P25 as photocatalyst. No inhibitory growth effect of the herbicide bentazon and its photoproducts on Vibrio fischeri bacteria bioluminescence was observed for either photocatalyst in any of the irradiated samples collected at predetermined times using an initial concentration of 0.1325 mM of the herbicide. 2,058 3,541 SCIE 157 150 Q1

SummaryThe changing material composition of cars represents a challenge for future recycling of end‐of‐life vehicles (ELVs). Particularly, as current recycling targets are based solely on mass, critical metals increasingly used in cars might be lost during recycling processes, due to their small mass compared to bulk metals such as Fe and Al. We investigate a complementary indicator to material value in passenger vehicles based on exergy. The indicator is called thermodynamic rarity and represents the exergy cost (GJ) needed for producing a given material from bare rock to the market. According to our results, the thermodynamic rarity of critical metals used in cars, in most cases, supersedes that of the bulk metals that are the current focus of ELV recycling. While Fe, Al, and Cu account for more than 90% of the car's metal content, they only represent 60% of the total rarity of a car. In contrast, while Mo, Co, Nb, and Ni account for less than 1% of the car's metal content, their contribution to the car's rarity is larger than 7%. Rarity increases with the electrification level due to the greater amount of critical metals used; specifically, due to an increased use of (1) Al alloys are mainly used in the car's body‐in‐white of electric cars for light‐weighting purposes, (2) Cu in car electronics, and (3) Co, Li, Ni, and rare earth metals (La, Nd, and Pr) in Li‐ion and NiMH batteries.

This paper describes the methodology and data used to determine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributable to ten cities or city-regions: Los Angeles County, Denver City and County, Greater Toronto, New York City, Greater London, Geneva Canton, Greater Prague, Barcelona, Cape Town and Bangkok. Equations for determining emissions are developed for contributions from: electricity; heating and industrial fuels; ground transportation fuels; air and marine fuels; industrial processes; and waste. Gasoline consumption is estimated using three approaches: from local fuel sales; by scaling from regional fuel sales; and from counts of vehicle kilometres travelled. A simplified version of an intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) method for estimating the GHG emissions from landfill waste is applied. Three measures of overall emissions are suggested: (i) actual emissions within the boundary of the city; (ii) single process emissions (from a life-cycle perspective) associated with the city's metabolism; and (iii) life-cycle emissions associated with the city's metabolism. The results and analysis of the study will be published in a second paper.

Cloud height information is crucial for various applications. This includes solar nowcasting systems. Multiple methods to obtain the altitudes of clouds are available. In this paper, cloud base heights derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and three low-cost and low maintenance ground based systems are presented and compared against ceilometer measurements on 59 days with variable cloud conditions in southern Spain. All three ground based systems derive cloud speeds in absolute units of [m/s] from which cloud heights are determined using angular cloud speeds derived from an all-sky imager. The cloud speed in [m/s] is obtained from (1) a cloud shadow speed sensor (CSS), (2) a shadow camera (SC) or (3) derived from two all-sky imagers. Compared to 10-min median ceilometer measurements for cloud heights below 5000 m, the CSS-based system shows root-mean squared deviations (RMSD) of 996 m (45%), mean absolute deviations (MAD) of 626 m (29%) and a bias of −142 m (−6%). The SC-based system has an RMSD of 1193 m (54%), a MAD of 593 m (27%) and a bias of 238 m (11%). The two all-sky imagers based system show deviations of RMSD 826 m (38%), MAD of 432 m (20%) and a bias of 202 m (9%). The ECMWF derived cloud heights deviate from the ceilometer measurements with an RMSD 1206 m (55%), MAD of 814 m (37%) and a bias of −533 m (−24%). Due to the multi-layer nature of clouds and systematic differences between the considered approaches, benchmarking cloud heights is an extremely difficult task. The limitations of such comparisons are discussed. This study aims at determining the best approach to derive cloud heights for camera based solar nowcasting systems. The approach based on two all-sky imagers is found to be the most promising, having the overall best accuracy and the most obtained measurements.

We describe a procedure by which filter paper is digested with a cellulolytic enzyme preparation, obtained from Trichoderma reesei cultivated under solid state fermentation conditions and then fermented by a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. The yeast strain produces a β-glucosidase encoded by the BGL1 gene from Saccharomycopsis fibuligera that quantitatively and qualitatively complements the limitations that the Trichoderma enzyme complex shows for this particular activity. The supplemental β-glucosidase activity fuels the progression of cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation by decreasing the inhibitory effects caused by the accumulation of cellobiose and glucose. Fermentation of filter paper by this procedure yields ethanol concentrations above 70 g/L.

Efficient regional forecasting is a critical task for system operators and utilities that manage the generation of various wind farms spread over a region. This paper proposes an aggregate prediction method based on the search for similarities between the current wind speed predictions in a set of locations, and historical wind speed predictions. The aggregate power prediction is constructed from the measures of aggregate power generated during moments from a historical data set in which the wind speed predictions were similar to the current ones, using smoothing techniques. The methodology is applied to the hourly wind power forecast for the Spanish peninsular system, and compared with the predictions obtained with SIPREOLICO, the wind power prediction tool used by the Spanish system operator, and also with the aggregate predictions provided by another forecasting agency. The proposed methodology shows considerably smaller prediction errors than the competitors.