Spatial analysis of high-resolution urban thermal patterns in Vojvodina,Serbia

Main objective of this study was to establish a relationship between land cover and land surface temperature (LST) in urban and rural areas. The research was conducted using Landsat, WorldView-2 (WV-2) and Digital Mapping Camera. Normalised difference vegetation index and normalised difference built-up index were used for establishing the relation between built-up area, vegetation cover and LST for spatial resolution of 30 m. Impervious surface and vegetation area generated from Digital Mapping Camera from Intergraph and WV-2 were used to establish the relation between built-up area, vegetation cover and LST for spatial resolutions of 0.1, 0.5 and 30 m. Linear regression models were used to determine the relationship between LST and indicators. Main contribution of this research is to establish the use of combining remote sensing sensors with different spectral and spatial resolution for two typical settlements in Vojvodina. Correlation coefficients between LST and LST indicators ranged from 0.602 to 0.768.     

Torrential flood prevention in the Kolubara river basin

One of the most vulnerable parts to natural hazards in Serbia is Kolubara river basin. In the past, during the period from 1929 to 2013, 121 torrential flood events in the Kolubara river basin were recorded which show that this territory is extremely vulnerable to the torrential floods. The extreme event which occurred in May 2014 causing the catastrophic material damages and casualties was the latest and historical flood. The analysis of natural conditions in the Kolubara basin uniformly showed that this area is predisposed to a greater number of torrential floods due to its geomorphological, hydrological and land use properties. Torrential floods are closely related to the intensity and spatial distribution of erosive processes in the upper part of the Kolubara basin. The estimation of soil erosion potential is generally achieved by Erosion Potential Model (EPM). For the purposes of determining the degree of torrential properties in various water streams in the Kolubara basin, the calculation of susceptibility to torrential floods was assessed by Flash Flood Potential Index (FFPI). More than half of the basin area (57.2%) is located within the category of very weak and weak erosion (Z_sr = 0.35), but the category of medium erosion is geospatially very common. Such a distribution of medium erosion category provides conditions for generating, i.e. production of sediment which would boost torrential properties of water streams. After the classification of the obtained FFPI values it was determined that 25% of the Kolubara basin is very susceptible to torrents and this data should be seriously taken into consideration. Based on the analyses, the best and most successful manner of defence is prevention which consists of the integrated river basin management system (integrated torrent control system) so that technical works in hydrographic networks of torrents and biological and biotechnical works on the slope of the basin would be the best solution. Permanent control of erosive and torrential processes in the river basin will be not only important for flood control but it can also protect the existing and future water reservoirs and retentions from siltation with erosion sediment which is of great significance to the water management, agriculture, energy sector, and the entire society.     

Uncertainty analysis along the ecological quality status of water bodies: the response of the Posidonia oceanica multivariate index (POMI) in three Mediterranean regions

Uncertainty analyses allow the identification and quantification of the factors that contribute to the potential misclassification of the ecological status of water bodies, helping to improve the sampling design used in monitoring. Here we used a Posidonia oceanica multivariate index (POMI) bio-monitoring dataset covering a total of 81 sites distributed throughout 28 water bodies from the coast of Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Croatia to determine the levels of uncertainty associated with each region and how they change according to the quality status of water bodies. Overall, variability among sites (meadows) within water bodies was the factor that generated the greatest risk of misclassification among the three regions, within which the Balearic Islands had the lowest uncertainty, followed by Croatia and Catalonia. When water bodies classified in good/high quality were separated from those in moderate/poor status classes, we found that the latter displayed higher levels of uncertainty than the former.     

Empirical estimates of dynamic parameters on a large set of European buildings

During a three year-period, the participants of a NATO Science for Peace project performed ambient noise measurements inside buildings in four European countries. This paper reports the results relevant to reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with height in the range 1–20 floors. The total number of such buildings surveyed is 244. The most striking feature is the similarity of the height-period relationships in the four countries, which allowed the treatment of the all measurements as a single database. We found no significant correlation with other variables, and calculated a regression that is very similar to other empirical height-period relationships and quite different from code provisions and theoretical models.     

Fortnightly oscillations observed in the Adriatic Sea

This paper documents the occurrence of strong fortnightly oscillations in the Adriatic Sea frequently observed in the current measurements. For that purpose, we analyzed half-decadal sea level series and long-term currents collected within different parts and layers of the Adriatic Sea. Harmonic analysis and band-pass filter with cutoff periods at 10 and 20 days have been applied to the series. The sea level Mf tide is found to be the only significant tidal constituent over periods between the diurnal and semi-annual ones, having no significant phase variations in the Adriatic Sea. Moreover, the currents on periods between 10 and 20 days could only partially be explained by atmospheric forcing. The fact that they are in-phase with the Mf tide gives a hint on a possible mechanism responsible for the generation of these oscillations. Additionally, these currents are usually strongly amplified during a weakly stratified season, indicating a baroclinic mechanism responsible for the multiplication of the fortnightly currents.     

A Roughness Sublayer Wind Profile Above A Non-Uniform Surface

In atmospheric models for different scales the underlying surface consists of patches of bare soil and plant communities with different morphological parameters. Experimental evidence indicates that there is a significant departure of the wind profile above a vegetative surface from that predicted by the logarithmic relationship, which gives values that are greater than those observed. This situation can seriously disturb the physical picture concerning the transfers of momentum, heat and water vapour from the surface into the atmosphere.The intention of this paper is to generalise the calculation of exchange of momentum between the atmosphere and a non-homogenous vegetative surface, and to derive a general equation for the wind speed profile in a roughness sublayer under neutral conditions. Furthermore, these results are extended to non-neutral cases. The suggested expression for the wind profile is compared with some earlier approaches and the observations obtained above a broad range of plant communities.     

Impact of fish farming on the distribution of phosphorus in sediments in the middle Adriatic area

During the last decade, intensive fish farming developed along the central Croatian coast, creating a need to study and evaluate its potential influence on unaffected sites. We considered phosphorus as an indicator of the influence of fish farming and investigated the distribution of phosphorus forms in sediment from several fish farms and marine areas of different trophic status in the middle Adriatic. Analyses of samples were performed with modified SEDEX techniques. Our results indicated that authigenic apatite phosphorus showed no significant differences among the investigated stations, while organic phosphorus concentrations reflected the trophic status of the station area. Below-cage sediment was characterized by enhanced fish debris phosphorus and low detrital apatite phosphorus concentrations, while sediment from an anthropogenically influenced bay showed the highest values of iron bound phosphorus species. Among the different P fractions, fish debris phosphorus proved to be the most sensitive indicator of the influence of fish farming on marine sediment.     

Estimation of effect of unequal secular variation on geomagnetic data reduction

The geomagnetic field components are periodically measured at repeat stations. The main objective of the repeat stations is to provide data for tracing the secular variation of the geomagnetic field components. Secular variation at the repeat station is generally different from that at geomagnetic observatory used in the data reduction. The effect of the secular variation differences on geomagnetic data reduction was estimated for the regions of Europe, North America (below 60°N) and Australia, respectively, during the period of 2000-2010. These estimations were obtained by using the monthly mean values of north, east and vertical components of geomagnetic field, recorded at geomagnetic observatories. The effects were calculated by using observatories pairs, with distances from 350 km (in Europe) to 3100 km (in North America and Australia). The maximal effects were found to be the smallest in east component in Europe and North America, and vertical component in Australia; the effects increase with time from a central reduction epoch and they are not constant during mentioned eleven years; they were less than 1 nT only in Europe, for distances between the observatories up to 1000 km in all three components and for periods spanning ±1 month from a central epoch. It was found that their year to year variability is mostly due to the non-eliminated external field residuals in the observatories monthly means; their effect is up to 3 nT for ±3 months from a central epoch. Further, the real effects were compared to those modeled by IGRF-12 model. The maximal differences between the real and the modeled values are below 4.5 nT in all three components, for ±3 months from a central epoch.