Persistence and long-term memories of daily maximum and minimum temperatures in southern South America

The persistence and long-term memories in daily maximum and minimum temperature series during the instrumental period in southern South America were analysed. Here, we found a markedly seasonal pattern both for short- and long-term memories that can lead to enhanced predictability on intraseasonal timescales. In addition, well-defined spatial patterns of these properties were found in the region. Throughout the entire region, the strongest dependence was observed in autumn and early winter. In the Patagonia region only, the temperatures exhibited more memory during the spring. In general, these elements indicate that nonlinear interactions exist between the annual cycles of temperature and its anomalies. Knowledge of the spatiotemporal behaviour of these long-term memories can be used in the building of stochastic models that only use persistence. It is possible to propose two objective forecast models based on linear interactions associated with persistence and one that allows for the use of information from nonlinear interactions that are manifested in the form of forerunners.     

Regional Seas integrative studies,as a basis for an ecosystem-based approach to management: The case of the Bay of Biscay

Marine legislation world-wide has, as a recent final objective, the maintenance of a good environmental or ecological status for marine waters, habitats and resources. The concept of environmental status takes into account the structure, function and processes of marine ecosystems, bringing together physical, chemical, physiographic, geographic and climatic factors: subsequently, integrating such conditions, with anthropogenic impacts and activities undertaken in the area concerned. Such an approach is intended to permit an assessment of the environmental status at the ecosystem level, i.e. ‘ecosystem-based approach’, or ‘ecosystem-based management’.Such legislation emphasises the need for the development of methodologies, to assess environmental status. As such the knowledge acquired within Regional Seas, discussed at International Symposia and, finally, published as Special Issues, can serve as the basis for a regional ecosystem-based approach to management and the integrative assessment of marine systems. Hence, the Bay of Biscay is used in this contribution, as an example, to show past and present research, together with perspectives for the future. It is concluded that collaboration between institutions (marine research institutes, universities) and countries (France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Ireland) could result in an interesting ‘case-study’, for the further implementation of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, at the level of this particular Regional Sea. In this way, the experience gained in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive within the ecoregion, together with the information collated in the eleven International Symposia of Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay, celebrated until now, can be very useful, for an ecosystem-based management approach for this Regional Sea.     

INTEGRAL/XMM views on the MeV source GRO J1411-64

The COMPTEL unidentified source GRO J 1411-64 was observed by INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton in 2005. The Circinus Galaxy is the only source detected within the 4σ location error of GRO J1411-64, but in here excluded as the possible counterpart. At soft X-rays, 22 reliable and statistically significant sources (likelihood >10) were extracted and analyzed from XMM-Newton data. Only one of these sources, XMMU J141255.6-635932, is spectrally compatible with GRO J1411-64 although the fact the soft X-ray observations do not cover the full extent of the COMPTEL source position uncertainty make an association hard to quantify and thus risky. At the best location of the source, detections at hard X-rays show only upper limits, which, together with MeV results obtained by COMPTEL suggest the existence of a peak in power output located somewhere between 300–700 keV for the so-called low state. Such a spectrum resembles those in blazars or microquasars, and might suggest at work by the models accordingly. However, an analysis using a microquasar model consisting on a magnetized conical jet filled with relativistic electrons, shows that it is hard to comply with all observational constrains. This fact and the non-detection at hard X-rays introduce an a-posteriori question mark upon the physical reality of this source, what is discussed here.     

Uncovering spatiotemporal micromobility patterns through the lens of space–time cubes and GIS tools

Journal of Geographical Systems - In the past ten years, cities have experienced a burst of micromobility services as they offer a flexible transport option that allows users to cover short trips...