EGU General Assembly 2022  

With full satellite coverage of transatlantic flight routes now a reality, situational awareness is no longer a limiting factor in planning trajectories. This extra freedom allows us to consider moving from the current Organised Track System to Trajectory Based Operations, in order to limit fuel use and thus reduce emissions.

In all parts of this research, flights between New York and London, from 1^st December, 2019 to 29^thFebruary, 2020 are considered. Average daily winds and temperatures are taken from a global atmospheric re-analysis dataset.

We first use optimal control theory to find the minimum time trajectories through daily wind fields. The aircraft is assumed to fly at Flight Level 340 with airspeeds ranging from 200 to 270 m s^-1. Since fuel burn and greenhouse gas emissions are directly proportional to the product of time of flight and airspeed, this quantity, air distance, is used as a measure of route fuel efficiency. Minimum time air distances are compared with actual Air Traffic Management tracks, giving potential savings ranging from 0.7 to 16.4%. 

However, minimum time routes are not always practical. Airlines and airports require trajectories that will minimize fuel burn and thus carbon dioxide emissions, whilst adhering to a rigid timetable. To address this we again apply optimal control theory, but this time to find minimum fuel routes through the same wind fields. 

The control variable is expressed as a set of position-dependent aircraft headings, with the optimal control problem solved through a reduced gradient approach.  A second formulation is considered, wherein both heading angle and airspeed are controlled.  By comparing fuel burn for each of these scenarios, the importance of airspeed in the control formulation is established. 

Thus large reductions in fuel consumption and emissions are possible immediately, by planning time or fuel minimal trajectories, without waiting decades for incremental improvements in fuel-efficiency through technological advances.

How to cite: Wells, C., Williams, P., Nichols, N., Kalise, D., and Poll, I.: Reducing aviation emissions: investigating time minimal and fixed time trajectories for transatlantic flights., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-689, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-689, 2022.

The rapidly rising generation of municipal solid waste jeopardizes the environment and contributes to climate heating. Based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, we here develop a global systematic approach for evaluating the potentials to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases and air pollutants from the implementation of circular municipal waste management systems. We contrast two sets of global scenarios until 2050, namely baseline and mitigation scenarios, and show that mitigation strategies in the sustainability-oriented
scenario yields earlier, and major, co-benefits compared to scenarios in which inequalities are reduced but that are focused solely on technical solutions. The sustainability-oriented scenario leaves 386 Tg CO2eq/yr of GHG (CH4 and CO2) to be released while air pollutants from
open burning can be eliminated, indicating that this source of ambient air pollution can be entirely eradicated before 2050.

How to cite: Gomez Sanabria, A., Kiesewetter, G., Klimont, Z., Schoepp, W., and Haberl, H.: Potential for future reductions of global GHG and air pollutants from circular waste management systems, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-755, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-755, 2022.

Green hydrogen has been identified as a key energy carrier to decarbonize the main emission sectors. In the industry sectors hydrogen can be used as a reducing agent in the metallurgy, in the transportation sector hydrogen can be used as a fuel and in the energy sector hydrogen can be used as an energy storage option. However, the production of hydrogen is energy intensive and can only lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions if the primary energy source is renewable, carbon-free, and has a low ecological footprint. Wind, geothermal, solar and hydropower have been identified as key sources for sustainable and green hydrogen production, especially if excess energy is used for the hydrogen production. Unfortunately, large scale renewable energy production is frequently located at distant location from main consumers. We assess the challenges and opportunities of two remote production hot spots for sustainable and green hydrogen, namely Iceland and northern Africa. We will present different methods, ranging from energy modelling, life cycle assessment, to stakeholder analysis to present a holistic picture of sustainable green hydrogen production. Based on our preliminary results, we conclude that Iceland as well as northern Africa have the potential to produce sustainable and green hydrogen.

How to cite: Egbe, D. A. M., Finger, D., and Lang, R.: The opportunities and challenges of Green Hydrogen from Africa and Iceland to decarbonize the industries, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2917, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2917, 2022.

Economic prosperity is vital to human development, but heavy reliance on material extraction leads to environmental degradation. To successfully decouple growth from degradation, the main drivers of material footprint (MF) must be identified. Here, we focus on MFs in Chinese provinces as well as emerging economies in a global context. We employ a local-global input-output model that considers trade and classified investment/consumption to evaluate the relationship between MF and the Human Development Index (HDI). The results show that China's growing MFs exhibit different development trajectories. While GDP and Human Development Index (HDI) are generally correlated with MFs, some low-income provinces in China have higher MFs per capita than some affluent provinces and advanced economies. We find that capital investments related to buildings, infrastructure, and equipment in China explain the complexity. To explain this further, we distinguish between consumption-driven and investment-driven MFs. We demonstrate the different roles of consumption and investment in the physical economy. An interesting finding is that consumption-driven MFs are generally associated with HDI across Chinese provinces and countries, but investment-driven MFs are not. Such trends are also observed in some developing economies. Capital investment shapes the different trajectories of MFs in rapidly industrializing economies. Given the large infrastructure gaps in emerging economies and post-pandemic investment plans, these underline the need to consider the broader sustainability implications of future investment plans. The concept that investigating different roles of investment- and consumption-associated footprint in input-output framework suggests that modeling future MFs, especially in rapidly industrializing countries, requires a more sophisticated framework. Taking capital investment and stocks formation into the general modeling is important. We conclude by asking two open questions: (1) Does the development of consumption-driven and investment-driven MFs across countries follow a paradigm where the early process of development is high-infrastructure MFs, and then shifts to higher consumption MFs as capital stocks build up? (2) How much investment does an economy need to maintain healthy and green growth?

How to cite: Jiang, M., Behrens, P., Yang, Y., Tang, Z., Chen, D., Yu, Y., Liu, L., Gong, P., Zhu, S., Zhou, W., Hertwich, E., Zhu, B., and Tukker, A.: Distinguishing Capital Investment and Consumption of Material Footprint: A Comparative Analysis between Subnational China and Other Nations, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3119, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3119, 2022.

We recently launched a citizen science project on household water-energy efficiency as part of the cross-border, interdisciplinary Dŵr Uisce research project on improving the energy performance and long-term sustainability of the water sectors in Ireland and Wales. Citizen science is emerging as a critically important means of democratising science by engaging the public to contribute to the creation of solutions to some of the most important topical global challenges like climate change.

The main aim of the citizen science project is to engage with and collaborate with the public to improve understanding of water-related energy use in Irish homes to help assess the most effective means of improving the efficiency and sustainability of household water-related energy use through water use efficiency.

The project consists of two key parts: a cross-sectional survey that assessed the current public perception of household water and water-related energy use, followed by a longitudinal study where participants record water use at home to assess the actual current household micro-component water use and associated water-related energy use. The findings of the project will be used to quantify the potential of climate action through household water-energy use efficiency in reducing emissions and costs, and to develop up-to-date best practice guidelines for climate action from household water use efficiency.

We will be presenting the results of the cross-sectional survey on current perception of household water and water-related energy use. The survey, open to all households in the Republic of Ireland, ran for 7 weeks in September and October 2021 and a prize draw was used to incentivise participation. We received a total of 265 responses of which 23 responses were partially completed responses (8.7%); however, data available for non-completed responses does not indicate any difference compared to completed responses, and it may well be possible some non-completed responders went on to restart the survey after it timed out. The survey consisted of 60 questions grouped by general questions on household water use (e.g., water provision, and water and energy metering) and household water use types (bathroom, kitchen, cleaning and laundry, and outdoor water use). Itwas designed to be disaggregated by the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) household demographic and socio-economic census as a segmentation framework: location, household type, household age, housing status, employment status, household income and household size (disaggregated by age). The responses are found to be generally representative compared with the most recent 2016 census data in terms of location, employment status, housing status, household income, household type, and household age.

How to cite: Bello-Dambatta, A., Bellini, R., and Williams, P.: Energy efficiency through household water use efficiency: a survey on public perception of household water and water-related energy use in Ireland, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3310, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3310, 2022.

The need to balance supply and demand has become an important policy concern in a context of a projected growth in global energy consumption. Based on the demand–temperature relationship and the ongoing global warming, climate change is expected to alter the regional patterns of electricity demand. This work evaluates the influence that climate change could exert on electricity demand patterns in Spain conditioned on the level of warming, with special attention to the seasonal occurrence of extreme demand days. For this purpose, assuming the currently observed electricity demand–temperature relationship holds in the future, we have generated daily time series of pseudo-electricity demand from the recent past until the late twenty-first century by using simulated temperatures from statistical downscaling of global climate model experiments.

We have found that, despite the minor warming effects on the median values of daily electricity demand, the mean values as well as the frequency and severity of extreme electricity demand days are expected to increase significantly in Spain, even for low levels of regional warming. Moreover, the occurrence of these extremes will experience a seasonal shift from winter to summer due to the projected temperature increases in both seasons. Under a high radiative forcing scenario of greenhouse gas emissions (RCP8.5), the extended summer season (June–September) will concentrate more than 50% of extreme electricity demand days by mid-century, increasing to 90% before the end of the century. Since these events will often be related to extreme heat, there could also be side effects that jeopardize the electricity infrastructure. Thus, this result should be considered by energy planners to ensure power supply and improve the effectiveness of the energy system.

Finally, we have shown that future changes in electricity demand could have considerable spatial heterogeneity over the country, which has strong implications for the management of the electricity system. While Spain is warming up faster than the global mean, there are some regions that will be exposed to lower warming than others. In particular, northwestern Spain will experience the seasonal shift later than the rest of the country due to the relatively mild summer temperatures and lower projected warming there. 

How to cite: García-Herrera, R., Garrido-Pérez, J. M., Barriopedro, D., and Ordóñez, C.: Impact of climate change on Spanish electricity demand, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3545, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3545, 2022.

Climate change necessitates an immediate and sustained global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to the increased climate risks caused by historical emissions. This broader climate transition will involve mass global interventions including renewable energy deployment, coastal protection and retreat, and enhanced space cooling, which will result in CO₂ emissions from energy and materials use. Yet, the magnitude of these emissions remains largely unconstrained, leaving open the potential for under-accounting of emissions and conflicts or synergies between mitigation and adaptation goals. Here, we use a suite of models to estimate the CO₂ emissions embedded in the broader climate transition. For a pathway limiting warming to 2°C, we estimate that selected adaptations will emit ~1.5GtCO₂ through 2100. Emissions from energy used to deploy renewable capacity are much larger at ~95GtCO₂, equivalent to over two years of current global emissions and ~8% of the remaining carbon budget for 2°C. These embedded transition emissions are reduced by 80% to 20GtCO₂ under a rapid decarbonization scenario limiting warming to 1.5°C. However, they roughly double to 185GtCO₂ under a low-ambition transition consistent with current policies (2.7°C warming by 2100), mainly because a slower transition relies more on fossil fuels. Under this status-quo, the emissions embedded in the transition total nearly half the remaining carbon budget for 1.5°C. Our results provide the first holistic assessment of the carbon emissions embedded in the transition itself, and suggest that these emissions can be largely minimized through rapid energy decarbonization, an underappreciated benefit of enhanced climate ambition.  

How to cite: Lesk, C., Csala, D., Krekeler, R., Sgouridis, S., Levesque, A., Mach, K., Horen Greenford, D., Matthews, H. D., and Horton, R.: Mitigation and Adaptation Emissions Embedded in the Broader Climate Transition, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6603, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6603, 2022.

Arctic and Boreal regions are experiencing major natural and anthropogenic disturbances, leading to significant changes in ecosystem composition, structure and functioning in recent decades. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the main drivers of change, as well as the ecosystem impacts on natural and cultural resources, human health and the climate system. Large numbers of oil and natural gas wells are being drilled in Arctic and Boreal regions; however, the number and distribution of wells drilled in these regions over time is not well documented and understood. Moreover methane emissions and relationship with land cover and land cover change have not been analyzed. Using oil and gas well databases from provincial, territorial and state agencies in Canada and the U.S., we analyze drilled oil and gas wells throughout the study period (1984-2014) and in relation to land cover distribution and change across the Arctic-Boreal region of western North America. We find 254,998 wells, mostly located in Alberta (211,747) and British Columbia (35,012), in Arctic and Boreal regions of Canada and the U.S. We characterize the wells, based on data provided in the database, according to well production type (gas or oil and gas) and well abandonment status (active, abandoned, abandoned and plugged) and find that annual well drilling has increased from 269 to 8599 from 1984 to 2014. We estimate emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells in the study domain to be 40 – 148% of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s national estimate for methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells in 2018. Finally, using the annual land cover maps for 1984-2014, we find the number of drilled wells in each land cover class throughout the years. We identify significant increases in number of wells drilled between 1984-1999 and 2000-2014 in evergreen forest, sparsely vegetated and barren land cover classes. 

How to cite: Klotz, L. A., Sonnentag, O., and Kang, M.: Methane and Environmental Impacts of Abandoned Oil And Gas Wells in the North American Arctic-Boreal Region, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6658, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6658, 2022.

40% of global energy demand can be attributed to buildings, and 75% of this share is contributed by residential buildings. Developing countries are expected to be the hotspot for future growth in residential energy demand, as many of them expect significant growth in population and urbanization. For instance, 75% of the residential floorspace expected to exist in India in 2030 remained to be constructed in 2015. Thus, a lot of the new energy demand from residential buildings can still be controlled and mitigated. As the country expected to have the largest population in the world by 2025, India has a responsibility to grow sustainably, in a way that aids global climate change mitigation goals. Studying the residential building sector in India thus is a necessary step towards achieving these goals.

Indian residential buildings are diverse, and include informal slums,  low-quality formal buildings, mid-rise formal buildings, and high-rise skyscrapers. Global models for energy efficiency in the residential sector usually consider only one type of building from developing countries, the formal (cement-concrete) type. They create a generalized model, based on the assumption that appliances and thermal comfort standards are the same in most countries. These generalizations do not consider the diverse types of buildings, appliances and thermal comfort standards in India, or any developing country.

This project presents a life-cycle assessment representing all residential building types in India - formal, semi-formal and informal. The semi-formal typology is hitherto missing from building energy modeling literature.  We include and model embodied phase and use-phases separately. The embodied phase study helps understand the energy demand and material demand from the building materials and construction. In the use-phase study, we create detailed models of all residential building typologies, and simulate cooling energy demand results for the city of Mumbai. We study building clusters, to account for the heat transfer and shading effects from the crowded urban environment in India. We also model realistic cooling appliances commonly used in Indian households, like fans and water-based coolers, in addition to air conditioners, and more representative cooling behaviour.

For the first time in this Indian residential life-cycle assessment study, we define three representative typologies for Indian residential buildings. We study clusters and model real appliances used in these homes. We explore some simple material efficiency and energy efficiency strategies through different envelopes, appliances and usage. The goal of this study is to create a preliminary model of what buildings in India are like, and understand how their life-cycle energy demands differ, and some simple options to reduce this demand.

How to cite: Iyer, A., Aly Etman, M., Hertwich, E., and Rao, N.: Representative models and energy and material efficiency strategies for residential buildings in urban India, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6801, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6801, 2022.

Paris climate agreement has been a major step forward to limit the global mean temperature rise to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. For many countries, it has led to adopt Net-Zero GHG Emissions (NZE) targets by mid-century. Such objectives imply renewing much existing infrastructures and equipment through low-carbon investments in key sectors (buildings, transport, and power supply). However, there is a risk to overshoot the objectives due to base carbon-intensive materials (steel, cement, etc.). Indeed, material demand is already expected to double by mid-century following economic trends. Deploying intensively low-carbon infrastructure and technologies is expected to increase material demand even more. The size of this surplus is unclear as most energy prospects neglect the feedback between the low-carbon transition and material needs. In addition, most countries restrict their NZE targets to territorial emissions, whereas a carbon footprint approach is essential to account for carbon linkage and industrial relocation toward more carbon-intensive countries. Also, the potential for a fast transition to zero-carbon industrial processes and materials as required is still uncertain, all the more in developing countries producing most materials. The design of stringent climate policy needs a clearer vision of the role of materials in the low-carbon transition to prioritizing mitigation actions.

Our study aims to quantify the link between GHG emissions, low-carbon investments, and the demand for materials. We develop an Input-Output model called MatMat designed (i) to integrate various sets of expertise about low-carbon scenarios and (ii) to track the role of investment demand and material supply in the evolution of the carbon footprint. We apply our method to the french governmental NZE scenario and global mitigation scenarios until 2050. By disentangling key drivers impacting GHG emissions embodied in materials, we show that the carbon footprint of materials could offset national NZE targets due to (i) the indirect material demand embodied in imports and (ii) the potential delay in decarbonizing the material production compared to other sectors, especially abroad. To relieve the material bottleneck for the transition to NZE strategy, we recommend (i) developing material efficiency and circular economy policies, (ii) relocating low-carbon industrial productions, and (iii) supporting imports of clean industrial products at the national level.

How to cite: Teixeira, A. and Lefèvre, J.: The future carbon footprint of materials as a bottleneck for the transition to Net-Zero Emissions – case study on France, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11525, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11525, 2022.

In a climate-constrained world, understanding the energy needs to reach universal access to modern energy is critical. This requires making assumptions on future population trajectories, and developments in energy access can affect them. Yet, this feedback has never been accounted for in energy models. Access to modern energy enhances women’s ability to make reproductive choices and leads to fertility decline as it reduces child mortality, improves health, increases women’s access to information, education and employment. In this paper, we assess the household energy requirements to expand energy access while considering the relationship between energy access and fertility, using Zambia as a case study. To do so, we built a micro-simulation model of population projection in which fertility depends on access to modern energy and education level, and projected the electricity and cooking energy needs of the Zambian population to 2050, under different scenarios. Our preliminary results show that while electricity consumption is higher in the universal access scenario compared to the baseline scenario, total energy demand is 67% lower, partly due to strong decline in the use inefficient traditional cooking fuels. Reduced population growth due to expanded energy access and education accounts for 15% of this reduction in rural areas, and 8% overall. Although the challenge of achieving universal access to modern energy seems daunting, our results suggest that this goal could be co-beneficial to achieving climate goals. Our study also reveals that accounting for the energy-population nexus in energy models would scale down the currently assumed energy needs to ensure decent well-being for all.

How to cite: Belmin, C., Pichler, P.-P., Marois, G., Pachauri, S., and Weisz, H.: Reducing the energy demand to achieve universal access to modern energy while ensuring women’s well-being: How much energy and carbon can be saved by fertility decline?, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12238, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12238, 2022.

The European Green Deal (EGD) is a development strategy aimed at transforming the European Union into a the world's first climate-neutral area. The way to achieve this goal is a low-emission energy transformation, which should end in 2050, but the first milestones should be achieved already in 2030. Following the dynamically accelerating EU climate and energy trends will be a significant transformation challenge for Poland. The strategies proposed in the EGD will have a significant impact on key areas of the national economy (energy system, construction, industry, transport, households), including the level of supply and demand for many mineral raw materials. The most visible changes will be registered in the group of fossil fuels, but also regarding metallic raw materials, which will be associated with the development of advanced technologies for renewable energy sources.

A crucial breakthrough in the Polish energy transformation was the country's accession to the declaration of resignation from the coal exploitation, which Poland signed during the World Climate Summit in 2021. According to the social contract, the last hard coal mine in Poland will be closed by 2049. Thus, for the first time Poland was on the list of countries that officially confirm the withdrawal from coal. The resignation from this raw material is also included in the Polish Energy Policy 2040, according to which hard coal will be replaced by natural gas, nuclear energy and renewable energy. As a consequence, an increase in demand for both natural gas and nuclear fuels, should be expected. It should be noted that Poland does not have its own fossil nuclear fuel sources, and the domestic extraction of natural gas covers only 13% of the demand. In both cases an increasing demand for fuels should be assumed in the coming decades. Crude oil is also in the group of fuels sensitive to changes resulting from EGD. The main sector of the Polish economy in which petroleum products are consumed is transport. The development of electromobility, the use of biocomponents and alternative fuels will be the most important factors influencing changes in the level of demand for crude oil in the next 10-20 years.

The EGD strategy will play an important role in changing the structure of demand for metallic raw materials, both in terms of their quality and quantity. It should be emphasized that Poland has the largest copper ores deposits in Europe. In recent decades, the Polish production has accounted for nearly 50% of the total copper ore concentrates production and for more than 20% of the total refined copper production in the EU. Development of demand for this raw material is related to the scale of use of refined copper, among others in renewable energy (wind power and photovoltaics) and electromobility, which are the pillars of EGD. Unfortunately, practically all other metals important in development of renewable energy sources in Poland (e.g. cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium, REEs, silicon) are completely deficit for the Polish economy due to lack economically feasible domestic sources. 

How to cite: Kot-Niewiadomska, A. and Galos, K.: Polish demand and supply of mineral raw materials  in the light of the European Green Deal, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12341, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12341, 2022.

Predictions forecast changes in climate that may affect cultural heritage in the future. Not only the underwater cultural heritage will become exposed, but also our land tangible cultural heritage will be submerged: entire nations and their cultural heritage may disappear, losing their identity as nations, countries, and communities. In fact, climate change has the potential to increase the sea level enough by 2100 to inundate 136 sites considered by UNESCO as cultural and historical treasures.

This presentation will examine the specific climate changes that oceans will most likely suffer and how they will probably affect tangible underwater cultural heritage, analysing how the changes will affect every possible material that can be found in a submerged archaeological site. It will also explore cases of heritage that are already suffering the consequences examining two future scenarios: how climate change may disturb underwater cultural heritage, and how land cultural heritage may change its label and subsequently become underwater cultural heritage. Lastly, the presentation will propose a new partnership natural/cultural resources and the qualification of cultural heritage as a natural resource for its preservation, establishing the same common measures for both heritage against climate change.

How to cite: Pérez Álvaro, E.: Climate change: a threat to underwater cultural heritage, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-107, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-107, 2022.

The analysis and interpretation of past climate data and simulations of climate models for future periods will allow us to know future climate conditions and their differences with past ones. One of the many applications of these analyzes is the study of the impacts of climate change on two types of cultural heritage that differ due to their geographical location and therefore their climatic conditions, as are vernacular cultural heritage in Europe and archaeological sites in Latin America, but they share a fundamental similarity in terms of the use of materials and construction techniques.

The first objective of our study is to review and quantify the impacts of combined climate (mean and extreme) and pollution on building materials of cultural heritage under future IPCC socioeconomic scenarios with high and low mitigation measures at years 2030, 2050 and 2070, using peer-reviewed dose-response equations.

We also focus on the degradation effects due to compound extreme events (heatwave, dry spells and extreme rainfall/flood) of each of the selected regions of our case study (European project SCORE: Sustainable COnservation and REstoration of built cultural heritage 2021-2024), in order to determine how future climatic conditions may affect the cultural heritage of some sites in Europe and Latin America. The foregoing by applying these climatic conditions in different models, based on scientific literature, that allow determining the consequences of these conditions on the materials in which these structures were built.

Finally, based on the literature review, we deliver preliminary results on a “cocktail of extreme events” experiment in laboratory specifically designed to quantify the damages and degradation of building materials due to a realistic series of adverse climate and pollution events.

How to cite: Esteban Cantillo, O. J., Menendez, B., and Quesada, B.: Climate change impact on vernacular and archaeological cultural heritage building materials in Europe and Latin America, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1776, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1776, 2022.

Since the Industrial revolution, emissions of pollutant (gas, aerosols) due to human activities increased and modified the composition of the atmosphere, causing air pollution and climate change. However, pollution measurements are relatively recent. In order to know past air pollution and assess its impact on monuments, proxies need to be found and studied.

One of these potential local proxies is black crusts that are a chemical alteration pattern mainly found on limestone or marble monuments. They are forming a dark mineralogical layer composed of gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O) that results from the sulfation reaction between the calcite (CaCO₃) of the stone and the sulphur dioxide (SO₂) from the atmosphere. As gypsum is easily soluble, this pattern particularly affects sheltered area from the rain where particulate matter is trapped and accumulates. Therefore, black crusts act as passive sampler and could be used as an archive of air pollution.

To validate black crusts nomination as a new proxy and to find the best pollution marker, samples were collected at Père Lachaise cemetery on ancient tombs (dated from the 1820’s). A specific protocol was applied to separate strata from each other. Then, multiple analyses were realised using SEM-EDS, ICP-AES, and ICP-MS. The results show a different particulate content as a function of the depth, with different contributions of fly-ash typical of coal and oil combustion. This is confirmed by the chemical analyses as the trace metal concentrations are in agreement with the pollution sources. This study demonstrates that laminar black crusts have an internal stratigraphy that can be crucial to reconstruct past air pollution and provides precious data on pollution sources.

How to cite: Ropiquet, M., Verney-Carron, A., and Chabas, A.: Black crusts as past air pollution archives, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2571, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2571, 2022.

The intensity and frequency of extreme weather events in Europe are one of the most dangerous consequences of a warming climate. Some regions suffer more under heat waves and droughts, while others are experiencing extreme rainfalls. Thus, for example, a severe flood in July 2021 in several European countries caused widespread damages particularly in Belgium and Germany.

Which extreme weather events are to be expected in the future? How can the damage of irretrievable historical sites be avoided or, at least, limited or dealt with? All these questions are addressed in the three-year research project KERES, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is coordinated by the Fraunhofer ISC together with the Fraunhofer EU Office in Brussels.

As first step the regional relevance of future extreme weather events in Germany will be investigated.  This information will be further used to estimate the potential damages to buildings and outdoor facilities. The precautionary and responsive measures to manage potential or acute damage situations will be investigated as well. The designed methodologies will be tested for five case studies including World Heritage Sites (historical buildings and historical gardens)  in Germany.

The major tools of KERES include building component and indoor climate simulations and high-resolution urban climate models. The necessary input will be taken from the most recent ensemble of regional climate change projections of the EURO-CORDEX Initiative (www.euro-cordex.net).  As a result, an ontology-based information system will be designed for managing the expected damage situations.

We will present first results from the KERES project. The discussion will be focused on how to access and visualize the robustness of projected changes of extreme weather events in a way oriented to individual cultural heritage sites.

How to cite: Kotova, L., Leissner, J., Winkler, M., Antretter, F., Kilian, R., Mossgraber, J., Reuter, J., Hellmund, T., Dolgov, A., Matheja, K. M., Rhode, M. R., Pollmer, U., and Mikolajewicz, U.: Making use of climate information for protecting cultural heritage from extreme weather events in a warming world, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2850, 2022.

France's monumental heritage has been the subject of little theoretical research in the face of global climate change, although many applied studies have concerned its adaptation and resilience, especially at the local level. Furthermore, this heritage includes more than 44,000 monuments and classified sites, 48 of which being inscribed on the UNESCO List and therefore deserves to be taken into account in the context of the current climate unbalance.

The complexity lies in the diversity of materials making up the monuments (stones, glass, metals, wood...) and of phenomena that affect them (as well as other constructions). In order to assess the impact of these increasing slow or extreme events already at work, the tools and methodologies range from the description and inventory of the effects, their measurement, mapping and projection into the future using models such as dose-response functions (DRF) with input data from climate models and scenarios. Ancient data can also be used to complement the correlation between climate and heritage, such as dendroclimatology studies of the wood in monuments.

Results from research carried out in France will be presented concerning stone facades, ancient stained glass windows, metals, degradation of walls by salts and dendroclimatology. Further research should focus on the consequences on the monumental heritage of rising marine waters, river and urban flood and low waters, freeze-thaw, the stability of monuments on clay soils and the indoor climate of monuments and their carbon footprint.

In conclusion, much remains to be done in France: (1) complete the inventory and description of the phenomena, their impacts and their location at the national, regional, urban and monumental scales, (2) quantify these impacts in the future via empirical or geochemical models based on climate models outputs.

How to cite: Lefèvre, R.-A., Brimblecombe, P., and Verney-Carron, A.: The French monumental heritage in the face of global climate change: state of the art and research perspectives, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2857, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2857, 2022.

Climate change has been proved to have negative impacts on historic areas hosting cultural heritage sites and monuments, which in turn yields significant adverse impacts on local economies, societies, and even politics. The first and necessary step of the process of confrontation of this challenge is the early detection and recording of the on-site inflicted damage by a monitoring tool. In order to achieve that, we developed a dedicated mobile application that aims to assist the assessment of the resilience and the deterioration of the historic areas and the potential impacts due to various hazards. Citizens and local authorities worldwide can directly use the developed application on their mobile phones to acquire photos of on-site damages and submit short reports based on them. This software component has been designed and developed in the context of the European project entitled “HYPERION”, which aims to deliver an integrated resilience assessment platform, addressing multi-hazard risk understanding, faster and efficient response, and sustainable reconstruction of historic areas.

With this application, we aim to create a user-friendly application with the latest user interface and usability issues/trends which is focused on museum enthusiasts and active citizens’ or travelers’ needs. It’s important to put the users of this targeted group at the center of our efforts and by understanding their needs to create an intuitive application for them and at the same time a useful tool for the local authorities.

Users download the application from the Google or Apple App store and they log in or create an account in the application through the PLUGGY platform, which was developed in the context of the “PLUGGY” European project. The main function of the application is to create and post an asset using PLUGGY’s REST API. An Asset is an elementary unit of content in PLUGGY, a media file with an identified owner, a title, a description, a set of tags, and a license, which specifies how this file can be reused. Initially, the user’s location is detected via GPS and corrected in case of miscalculation. The user is then prompted to select a photo (or directly to take a snapshot) that depicts the damage of a monument. To complete the creation of the asset, the user will also need to select a title that will accompany the photo, and some tags, not only for a better description of the event but also for correlation with other assets or exhibition points that already exist in PLUGGY.

The developed mobile application gives voice to citizens and encourages them to provide direct feedback to the relevant cultural authorities, in order to assist them in assessing the deterioration of the cultural heritage sites and determining the needed reconstruction actions. As a result, the communities can have a major role in the safeguard of their cultural heritage.

How to cite: Krommyda, M., Mitro, N., Georgiou, K., Nousis, V., and Amditis, A.: A Communities Engagement Mobile Application for Assessing the Resilience and Deterioration of Cultural Heritage Monuments, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3476, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3476, 2022.

Salt weathering is a complex and active area of research, with implications for tangible cultural heritage worldwide. A preventive conservation approach is often taken to limit salt crystallisation cycles, which requires an understanding of the relative risks of scenarios and their respective heritage characteristics, salts present, and the climate, including climate change. Equilibrium relative humidity is an important property that indicates this risk: typically, it is represented by specific RH% and temperature derived from a single salt. The behaviour of single salts does not accurately represent the behaviour of salt mixtures, which are far more common in cultural heritage contexts. To address this, 11412 salt mixtures present in the built environment have been analysed using the ECOS/Runsalt model to predict their mixture-based mutual relative humidity of crystallisation and deliquescence points, the salt mixture composition, as well as the relative humidity of crystallisation and deliquescence for individual salts in the mixtures. This dataset, although sampled primarily from Belgian cultural heritage sites, is representative of the general classes of salt mixtures found in the built environment globally. This analysis represents an important step in developing a generalised statistical method for parameterising environmental time series data for salt weathering risk within climate change scenarios, as well as progressing fundamental knowledge on the behaviour of salt mixtures in built cultural heritage.

How to cite: Orr, S. A., Godts, S., and De Kock, T.: A data-driven approach to understanding the equilibria behaviour of salt mixtures in built cultural heritage, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5264, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5264, 2022.

During the 21^st Century, climate change and improving air quality will alter biological communities and their influence on building stones. While air pollution used to be a principal factor of stone deterioration, it is diminishing in many parts of the world. These environmental changes affect the aesthetics of building stones, and fewer black gypsum crusts will form, while more biological-induced discolorations could occur. Within the British Isles, it resulted in the “greening” of monuments after increased algal growth. Besides aesthetical damage, the formation of biofilms could affect water transport and retention. Changes in the water-stone relationship should be studied in detail because moisture is the most significant facilitator of stone alteration, leading to physical, chemical and further biological weathering.

This topic was intensely studied on soils. However, knowledge of the effect of biofilms on water transport and retention of stones is limited. For this reason, three porous natural building stones: Ernzen, Euville and Savonnières, were biofouled at the outer surface with the cyanobacteria Phormidium autumnale. The colonization was estimated by spectrophotometry, and their relationship with the stones was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Environmental SEM (ESEM) and optical microscopy on thin sections. Based on the European standards, the water transport properties were determined of biofouled and untreated samples.

Microscopy showed that the biofilms covered the surface while they spanned over and closed numerous pores. They had a measurable effect on water transport and retention and reduced the rate of capillary water absorption and drying in combination with higher moisture content after (vapor) sorption. Moreover, the biofilms changed the surface wettability and induced near hydrophobic conditions in a dry state while no effect was measured on the water vapor diffusion and air permeability. These changes can alter the material properties and other processes like salt weathering and freeze-thaw damage. As swelling and shrinkage were observed by ESEM, the properties and physical effects of biofilms are expected to change with fluctuating relative humidity.

How to cite: Schröer, L., De Kock, T., Godts, S., Boon, N., and Cnudde, V.: The influence of biofouling on water transport inside porous stones, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5301, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5301, 2022.

Historical buildings, which play a major role in shaping the urban fabric, are facing challenges due to climate change. Today the cultural values are considered among the main goals of sustainable development much like the social, economic and environmental values. Therefore it is important to discover the sustainable ways of conservation and maintenance practices on mitigating the impacts of climate change, so that the historical buildings can play an active role in achieving sustainable development goals without compromising their cultural and heritage values.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are considered as sustainable and effective solutions on mitigating impacts of climate stressors. Exploring their compatibility to conservation practices can bring mutual opportunities to the urban fabric and to the historical buildings. However, nature has been considered as a threat amongst the conservation practices due to potential biodegradation of materials, obscuring the heritage structure and requiring an additional cost of maintenance. Nevertheless, many uses of nature-based solutions come across in history, e.g. in the form of turf or sod roofs that provide thermal insulation on extreme climate conditions. Today, there are some attempts to integrate NbS to heritage environments within the scope of retrofitting projects. Nevertheless, a comprehensive methodology of performance assessment on mitigating climate challenges without compromising the cultural and heritage values has not been developed yet.

This project aims to develop a decision making framework for heritage actors on evaluating the compatibility of NbS to conservation and maintenance practices of historical buildings that are exposed to adverse impacts of climate stressors in the urban context. For developing a general outline of the framework, various NbS will be evaluated and categorized based on quantitative data in the literature according to their aesthetic fit to historic buildings, their structural feasibility and their performance on mitigating the effects of climate stressors. Throughout the project, process and value based research will be conducted on carefully selected case studies. The selected case studies will be evaluated within the scope of determining the severity of the prevailing climate stressors in their context, their structural sensitivity and their adaptability capacity to the new interventions. Based on the results, the compatible NbS and design measures can be identified. In the later stages of the project, the feasibility of the proposed nature-based design for the case studies will be tested by monitoring and comparing the results before and after the implementation.

How to cite: Kale, E., De Groeve, M., and De Kock, T.: Developing a Decision Making Tool for Evaluating the Compatibility of Nature-Based Solutions to the Built Heritage, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5311, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5311, 2022.

Tuff is rich in color and is used as a stone material, and it is also a rock that forms a unique landscape in Japan, a volcanic country. However, since it is generally a fragile rock, it is susceptible to weathering and deterioration. The present study conducted an experiment to confirm the effectiveness of the surface protectant using tuff with different physical characteristics. Sodium sulfate aqueous solution was used to determine the effectiveness of protective agent application for 5 types of tuff (Oya stone, Nikka stone, Ashino stone, Tatsuyama stone, Towada stone) An experiment was conducted in which the lower 3 cm of a 5 cm × 5 cm × 15 cm specimen that had been oven-dried at 110 ° C was immersed in a salt solution, and 20 ° C-40 ° C was repeated for up to 20 cycles in a 48-hour cycle. When the weight and P-wave velocity of each specimen were measured every cycle, the solution reached the surface of the uncoated stone material for comparison, salt crystals were deposited. The surface of the specimen was peeled off, and the P-wave velocity gradually decreased.  On the other hand, in the stone material coated with the protective agent, salt crystallization was not observed even when the solution reached the top surface shortly after the start of the experiment.  The P wave velocity did not decrease, despite cracks occurred as the experiment progressed. As a result, the P-wave velocity began to decrease and the surface layer fell off. In Ashino and Tatsuyama stones, the coated specimens were more severely destroyed than the uncoated specimens. In Oya stone and Towada stone, which contain clay minerals (miso) in the form of patches, crushing proceeded from the miso part. This experiment suggests that the effect of the protective agent may depend on the rock structure and the pore diameter. In other words, for rocks containing miso, the use of a protective agent is likely to increase deterioration regardless of the pore structure. For rocks with a large proportion of micropores and low durability against salt weathering, the use of a protective agent is used. Therefore, the start time of surface exfoliation can be delayed. In addition, in rocks with a large proportion of large gaps (> 10-0.5 μm), even if crystallization occurs on the surface of the specimen. The  peeling does not occur for a while, but the protective agent penetrates deep into the thick protective agent penetration area. It is considered that the crystallization of the salt occurs more internally and the deterioration is more severe than it should be. 

How to cite: Oguchi, C. and Ikeda, Y.: Influence of rock pore structure on the protective coating against weathering, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5806, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5806, 2022.

This contribution presents the work of research and technical development for designing a novel method for monitoring and predicting the weathering of cultural heritage, in particular of stones and timber used historically as building materials.
An apparatus for long-term field tests was designed in its hardware and software components with a twofold application:

• Exposure of a set of selected stone and wood specimens to natural weathering, at different orientations (North, South, and horizontal plane) and environmental settings (Italy and Norway).
• Non-stop acquisition of microclimate data series at different resolutions, down to the scale of the specimen surface, completed by datasets of regional stations of environmental monitoring.

Complementary laboratory analyses aim at setting a reference point for the state of conservation of each material before the exposure tests, and monitoring the changes of surface recession/topography (by 3D optical profilometry), thus reconstructing the relevant deterioration trends.
Within the framework of the EU-funded project HYPERION, this novel experimental approach is expected to help assessing the interaction of building materials with the environment and their weathering constrained by microclimate and climate variability; combining climate model simulations, the stresses brought about by climate change can also be assessed. The findings might represent a source of precious information for the activities and decision-making protocols of the stakeholders involved in the protection of cultural heritage.

How to cite: Germinario, L., Coletti, C., Choidis, P., Kraniotis, D., Maritan, L., Sassi, R., Tositti, L., and Mazzoli, C.: Developing a new method for long-term monitoring of the weathering of historical building materials, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5898, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5898, 2022.

Due to hard coverage and building infrastructures, cities experience higher temperatures and higher pollution levels in their city centre relative to their less dense surroundings. This urban heat island effect is receiving an increasing amount of attention and concern. In response, cities are implementing green initiatives to mitigate elevated temperature and pollution levels, improving the health and well-being of their residents. However, the urban heat island is typically the largest in the historical core of the city, where the abundance of built heritage can make the implementation of green initiatives difficult. The dense urban fabric and the rules of conservation make such an implementation inconvenient. A major concern is how green initiatives might affect the condition of the historical building materials.

Therefore we scope the compatibility of vertical greening with built heritage, in terms of microclimatic changes, and considering impacts of salt crystallization, frost events, biodeterioration and pollutant deposition. The vertical greening represents vegetation growing along exterior walls. Either plants, rooted on the ground, climb up the facade by attaching themselves on the vertical surfaces or plants hang down from the top of the facade. Monitoring case studies in Antwerp and laboratory studies will help us investigate key changes, beneficial or adverse, in the material condition of heritage buildings. This project will develop our understanding of the relationship between the green initiatives and the historical materials in an urban area.

How to cite: De Groeve, M., Kale, E., Orr, S. A., and De Kock, T.: The effect of vertical urban greening on historical building materials, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7085, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7085, 2022.

Norway, nowadays, still preserves outstanding examples of traditional Scandinavian wooden architecture called stavkirker (i.e., stave churches), these are typical Norwegian medieval churches built since 11^th-12^th Centuries with posts and staves as load bearing elements. This homogeneous group of immovable cultural heritage share similar architectural features, construction materials, as well as tangible and intangible values. They represent the highly developed tradition of wooden buildings that extended at these latitudes during Middle Ages and incorporate a large reuse of decorative and construction elements originating from other stave churches built in earlier centuries. Besides having similar use and maintenance requirements still today, the stave churches have similar vulnerability, as well as risk assessment and preservation needs.

For their protection it becomes fundamental to analyse and predict the impact of climate change in term of expected extreme temperature and rainfall events. In fact, modification of temperature (and consequently relative humidity) and/or of precipitation amount may cause rot to the Pine wood material constituting the churches or may enhance the mechanisms of biological and mechanical decay with an ultimate loss of valuable building assets.

This contribution focuses on the whole group of the still existing 28 stave churches spread over 6 regions in centre-south Norway with different climate, from temperate continental climate/humid continental climate (Dfb in the Köppen classification) to cool continental subarctic climate (Dfc) passing through the Tundra climate (ET). The work introduces an overview of the churches` architectural categorization, location, and flood vulnerability; then it focuses on climate change impacts. For the analysis of temperature and precipitation extreme events the modelled grid data from the Norwegian Climate Service Center (https://nedlasting.nve.no/klimadata/kss)  over 1x1 km spatial resolution have been used. These forecasts have been produced using the regional climate model simulation COSMO-CLM¹ (Consortium for small scale modelling in Climate Mode) considering the Representative Concentration Pathways RCP4.5 (i.e., slow increase of concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere until 2050 followed by emission reduction over time with, in addition, a human-induced radiative forcing at 4.5 W/m2). More than 100 Gb of data were elaborated to create a novel database with daily temporal resolution over two reference time periods i.e., the recent past (RP, 1991-2020) and the far future (FF, 2071-2100) for the location closest to each stave church. Further the analysis concentrates on extreme precipitation and temperature occurrences (e.g., > 99.99 percentile) investigated as cumulative distribution function (CDF) and complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF). Results highlight expected anomalies in extreme events for all the 28 locations and report the total extreme precipitation and temperature related hazards as indexes which easily allow to categorize the change in risk for each stave church.

References:¹Rockel, B., Will, A., & Hense, A. (2008). The regional climate model CLM. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 17, 347–348

How to cite: Bertolin, C. and Sesana, E.: Analysis of Climate Change Impacts on the still existing 28 Norwegian Stave Churches, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7880, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7880, 2022.

This study aims to characterise the decay due to black patinas of Santalla de Bóveda Monument (Lugo, Northwest of Galicia, Spain).

Manganese is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and the granite on which Santalla de Bóveda Monument was built (used as building material of the monument) has considerable amounts of Manganese. This monument shows black patinas on the surface of its building materials (mortars and granites).

Mortars and granite with Mn-rich black patinas were analysed in their chemical, mineralogical and petrographical properties (polarizing and scanning electron microscopes, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence). In addition, the water from springs near the monument was analysed.

According to the experimental study results, it was observed that rich Mn-oxide crusts are presumably induced by bacteria. That is, the oxidation of Mn fuels the growth of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, which need water to live. These patinas of biogenic Mn-oxide minerals presented different shapes, nano-dimensions, with low degree of crystallinity, and appear to be composed of manganese oxides such as birnessite, ramsdellite and groutellite. They were associated with large amounts of extracellular polymeric substances exuded by filamentous bacterial communities, which serve as nuclei for preferential precipitation of manganese oxides on the extracellular sheaths, as seen in scanning electron microscope analyses.

Mn required for patina formation likely derives from the reductive dissolution in water of Mn-rich minerals, as suggested by the mineralogy and chemistry of Mn-rich phases present in the building granite and mortars. Mn migrates to the exposed surface of building materials, where they are re-oxidized via biological processes. Patinas developing over time result from the alternation of wetting-reducing and drying-oxidizing cycles.

Water absorption, dampness and black patinas are among the most common and critical problems when it comes to decay of both cultural heritage and modern buildings. The climate and specifically the humidity are determinant for the development of Mn-rich black patinas. Results revealed that chemical composition and porosity played a major role in the development of biological activity that generates the black patinas of manganese oxides on mortars and granite.

How to cite: Freire-Lista, D. M., Blanco-Rotea, R., Costa, M. D. R., and Sanjurjo-Sánchez, J.: Mn-rich Black Patina Formation on Built Heritage in Humid Areas, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8670, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8670, 2022.

Weathering is a key component of the geomorphological process system and poses a major threat to cultural heritage, such as building structures and rock art sites. Since almost all rock decay is enhanced by the presence of water, research on moisture content and flow is crucial to understanding weathering processes. Nevertheless, measuring rock moisture and its fluctuations is difficult as there is no universally used sensor that meets the requirements of non-destructiveness, reliability, repeatability, and applicability at field sites. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate several moisture measurement techniques under different natural conditions and to provide recommendations for their use. We tested seven types of methods (1D resistivity, 2D resistivity, TDR, borehole humidity, microwave reflectance, IR thermography, and uranine probes) under controlled conditions in a sandstone block that was subject to a slow wetting and drying cycle and to a series of freeze-thaw cycles.

Overall, the methods measuring dielectric properties of the rock (TDR, microwave) can be generally recommended for their reliability, repeatability, and applicability at field sites. Precise observation of moisture dynamics in deeper subsurface however remains a challenge, especially when moisture contents are close to drier states. Therefore, to get reliable water content data, it is vital to drill inside the rock rather than to use surface sensors, which are particularly sensitive to surface moisture and surface roughness. Nonetheless, out of the non-destructive surface methods, dielectric sensors using the microwave spectrum with a greater penetration depth (>10 cm) should be considered as they have the advantage of interacting the transmitted signal into a larger volume of material, therefore making the influence of surface less pronounced. Furthermore, the use of electrical resistance methods is less recommended because of mainly two factors: they need to be calibrated for each sensor pair, and they are prone to erroneous measurements in the presence of salts. Concerning the other methods, probes using a reactive dye, and borehole humidity sensors can be used to determine the location of the subsurface evaporation front where salt crystallisation takes place, and the IR imaging for studying evaporation dynamics needs either highly controlled environment or continuous measurement. In conclusion, this work provides new insights into rock moisture measurements and further research should focus on subsurface moisture measurements and the improvement and calibration of available techniques.

How to cite: Weiss, T. and Sass, O.: The challenge of measuring rock moisture: A laboratory experiment using eight types of sensors, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8814, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8814, 2022.

Water plays a vital role in the deterioration and conservation of built heritage and management problems might be aggravated by climate change. However, there is as yet no overarching framework for understanding the processes and impacts of water interacting with building materials. The term 'Heritage Hydrology' is a holistic way of conceptualising the flows and stores of water involved in deterioration of built and rock-hewn heritage. We distinguish the following basic types: (a) stone-built buildings, (b) ruins and free-standing walls, and (c) rock-hewn sites which include carved rock art and large rock sculptures. We focus on a key knowledge gap: The spatial and temporal characteristics of water flows/stores and the challenges of using currently available techniques to provide information on these characteristics.

In our selective review we provide examples of spatio-temporal patterns of moisture in stonework at different scales. We raise six key points about the state of research on heritage hydrology, from which we develop a future research agenda. (1) Three characteristics of moisture regimes are important to deterioration, i.e. presence, fluctuations and saturation thresholds. (2) There is a wide range of different heritage hydrological settings ranging from masonry building walls to natural rock slopes, and as yet no clear understanding of the commonalities vs specificities of these different settings. (3) While there is now a wide array of techniques available to measure and monitor moisture regimes in lab and field settings, the understanding of how comparable different measurement approaches are is still lacking. (4) There are now many measurements of the spatial patterning of moisture, but lack of clarity about the causes of these patterns. (5) There has been less research focusing on the temporal dynamics of moisture on heritage walls than on spatial patterns. (6) Studies combining measurement and modelling have proved particularly useful.

A research agenda for the future for heritage hydrology should focus on addressing the following broad questions: What are the best combinations of methods available to measure and model spatio-temporal patterns in moisture on built and rock-hewn heritage? What are the major factors controlling spatio-temporal patterns in moisture, also considering climatic changes? Which spatio-temporal patterns in moisture are most important for driving deterioration, and how do their respective scales interact? Tackling these research questions requires a coordinated approach, linking different research teams and methodologies. It should be based on a combination of data collected through laboratory experiments, detailed studies of test walls, and instrumented sections of walls at heritage sites. It should explore the causes and consequences of moisture regimes which provide fundamental links between climate and the deterioration of built and rock-hewn heritage.

How to cite: Sass, O. and Viles, H.: Heritage hydrology: A conceptual framework for understanding water fluxes and storage in built and rock-hewn heritage, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10024, 2022.

The risk to cultural heritage as a consequence of the impact of climate change is globally recognized, even though not exhaustively tackled with sustainable solutions and tools addressed to support policy and decision makers in the preparedness phase of risk reduction and management cycle.

This contribution aims at presenting the methodological approach applied and main results of the “Risk mapping tool for cultural heritage protection” specifically dedicated to the safeguarding of cultural heritage exposed to extreme climate changes, produced in the framework of the Interreg Central Europe STRENCH (2020 - 2022). STRENCH project is strongly based on a user-driven approach and the multidisciplinary collaboration among the scientific community, public authorities, rescue bodies and the private sector (https://www.protecht2save-wgt.eu/).

The presented tool provides hazard maps for Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin where cultural and natural heritage is exposed to heavy rain, flooding and prolonged drought. The tool enables assessing risk of cultural heritage assets based on:

• the computation of extreme changes of precipitation and temperature performed using climate extreme indices defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection Indices (ETCCDI);
• the exploitation of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), together with Earth Observation-based data and products;
• the integration with outputs from Regional Climate Models from the Euro-CORDEX experiment under two different scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5);
• a developed methodology for identifying the main critical elements determining the vulnerability of cultural heritage;
• the ranking of the vulnerability taking into account 3 main aspects, namely the susceptibility, exposure and resilience of cultural heritage.

Preliminary results from the testing of the “risk mapping tool” at European case studies (Krems-Stein in Austria and Troja-Prague in Czech Republic) allow concluding on the feasibility and applicability of the tool presented in the perspective of optimizing preparedness strategies and mitigating the risk of cultural heritage subject to climate change related actions.

In conclusion, the STRENCH project, through the implementation of its outputs, is expected to proactively target the needs and requirements of stakeholders and policymakers responsible for disaster mitigation and safeguarding of cultural heritage assets and to foster the active involvement of citizens and local communities in the decision-making process.

How to cite: Sardella, A., Natali, S., Cacciotti, R., Drdácký, M., and Bonazza, A.: A risk assessment tool for the protection of cultural heritage exposed to extreme climate events., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11582, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11582, 2022.

The climate of the city of Tønsberg in Norway is cold and humid. As a result, the brick-made historic buildings in this city are threatened by frost damage. Climate change is expected to affect the action of this degradation mechanism. In the current research, climate data resulting from the REMO2015 driven by the global model MPI-ESM-LR were used for periods 1960-69, 2010-2019, and 2060-69 representing the past, present, and future climate conditions. In addition, data from the ERA5 reanalysis for the present conditions, 2010-19, were used to assess the accuracy of the climate model data. Given the climate excitations, the freeze-thaw events were calculated according to two climate indices, i) the events of temperature decrease below 0^oC and ii) by considering that freezing occurs below -3^oC and thawing occurs above 1^oC. Moreover, a material response-based index that takes into account the temperature and the moisture content of a 5mm layer in the exterior side of the wall assembly was calculated. Prior to its calculation proper hygrothermal simulations were performed. According to this index, the critical temperature and degree of saturation that characterize a freeze-thaw event are 0^oC and 25%, respectively. From the climate model data and the first climate index, the 0^oC crossings that were calculated are 400, 340, and 223 under the past, present, and future conditions, respectively. The respective number of the freeze-thaw events that were calculated by using the second climate index are 49, 31, and 27 which are significantly lower. From the data obtained from the ERA5 reanalysis, the number of freeze-thaw events that were calculated is 425 and 123 for the first and the second climate index, respectively. This difference is attributed to the underestimation of the air temperature in the climate model data, which results in a lower number of temperatures hovering around the examined thresholds during winter. The results of the material response-based index show a minor frost risk for the brick-made wall assemblies which is reduced through the years. The southeast-oriented walls were the ones with the highest exposure to driving rain and the greatest frost damage risk. For this orientation, the number of freeze-thaw events was 6, 3, and 2 under past, present, and future conditions, respectively. Moreover, according to the ERA5 reanalysis, only 1 freeze-thaw event was calculated. This is attributed to the fact that the climate model overestimates significantly the precipitation and the relative humidity compared to the ERA5 reanalysis. In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that both the climate-based and the material response-based indices define a decreasing trend of the frost damage risk of historic brick-made walls due to climate change. The use of the material response-based index is suggested for a more accurate assessment of the frost damage which can further support proper adaptation measures. Finally, the quality of the results can be improved by using climate data from more climate models and applying bias correction or morphing methodologies on the climate files to avoid systematic errors.

How to cite: Choidis, P. and Kraniotis, D.: Climate-based and material response-based approaches for the impact assessment of climate change on the frost damage of historic brick walls in Tønsberg, Norway., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12070, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12070, 2022.

Dust is one of the main pollutants that settle on historic structures and cause the blackening of stone surfaces. The stone facades of historic buildings became dark, and besides its aesthetic alteration, dust deposition and subsequent chemical reactions led to the deterioration of the construction material. The composition of dust changes in time due to climate change, clean air acts and changes in transportation, industrial activities and heat. The present study tries to detect the temporal changes in the composition of dust by using a stone buildings as dust traps in Budapest. The studied historic building is more than one hundred years old, and no façade cleaning was done in the past century. Visual inspection of the city centre building suggested that dust accumulation show a distinct pattern representing differences in the vertical profile in terms of thickness and colour. Dust samples were collected from layer to layer representing newly settled and historical dust. Scaffolds were made to reach the various elevations of the building facades. Besides the dust, host rock samples were also picked to detect textural and compositional changes of the porous oolitic limestone material. The textural-mineralogical analyses (XRD, SEM) and chemical compositional tests (XRF, LA-ICP-MS) provide evidence of changes in composition of dust with time. In all host rock samples, gypsum was detected but in various proportions. Good correlations were also found between water-soluble calcium and gypsum content and between sulphate and gypsum content both for black crusts and host rocks, forming two distinct fields in calcium vs gypsum and sulphate vs gypsum graphs. Gypsum was also found in the dust either as a primary or as a secondary mineral phase. Metals, transition metals and water-soluble ions also occur in various concentrations in different layers of dust. The detected elements primarily include  Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Pb, Ni. From soluble salts, chloride, nitrate and sulphate were also detected. The changes in elemental and ionic concentrations reflect temporal changes in dust composition and provide indirect evidence for air quality changes and air pollution levels.

How to cite: Török, Á.: Compositional changes of settling dust in time on buildings in Budapest: centennial evidence of air pollution trends, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12113, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12113, 2022.

Legacy deposits of by-product slag from iron and steel making create significant volumes of artificial ground around the world. Composed mainly of calcium-silicate mineral phases, experimental studies have shown the potential of slag for capturing atmospheric CO₂ by mineralisation (e.g. Huijgen et al. 2005). Renforth (2019) calculated that steel slag could capture ~370-400 kg CO₂ per tonne of slag, depending on the type of slag. ~0.5 Gt of steelmaking slag is produced every year (USGS 2018) and this could potentially reach ~2 Gt yr^-1 by the end of the century (Renforth 2019). In addition to new slag, there is an estimated 160 million m³ of legacy slag in the UK alone (Riley et al. 2020), stockpiled or dumped from historical steelmaking.

Artificial ground poses challenges around ground stability but slag-dominated artificial ground also offers opportunities for atmospheric CO₂ drawdown. In this contribution, we document the lithification of legacy slag deposits – conversion of loose gravelly slag material into a rock-like mass through cementation of calcite via drawdown of atmospheric CO₂.

Parts of slag heaps at our case study sites (Glengarnock and Warton, UK) have a lithified nature: gravel-to-cobble sized lumps of slag are visible but have been cemented together with a mineral cement, with an appearance not unlike a natural breccia rock. We present field, X-Ray Diffraction and δ¹³C data from these case study sites to document the lithification of slag-dominated artificial ground through mineralisation of atmospheric CO₂ as a cementing phase; we present scanning electron microscope data to show the microstructural evolution of this lithification. This understanding has implications for artificial ground stabilisation and how atmospheric CO₂ drawdown can be harnessed in this process.

References

Huijgen et al., 2005, ES&T, 39, 9676-9682

Renforth, 2019, Nat. Comms., 10, 1401

Riley et al., 2020, J. Geochem. Exp., 219, 106630

USGS, 2018, USGS Minerals Yearbook

How to cite: MacDonald, J. and Brolly, C.: Lithification of slag-dominated artificial ground through atmospheric CO2 drawdown, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-790, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-790, 2022.

Anthropogenic substrates are produced as waste materials and/or by-products of various industries. Such substrates include: blast furnace/steel slag; colliery spoil; oil shale spoil; and paper mill sludge (Ash et al. 1994; Riley et al. 2020). Historically, in the UK, these substrates were dumped in or close to the sites where they were being produced (Riley et al. 2020). Many examples of anthropogenic substrate sites still exist in the UK, despite the fact that there has been much cultural motivation to restore these sites (Ash et al. 1994; Bradshaw, 1995; Riley et al. 2020). This often results in either the total removal of anthropogenic substrate, or the covering of anthropogenic substrate with a clay cap/similar natural substrate. However, if left undisturbed, such sites could potentially provide undisturbed spaces for wildlife.

Various studies have been carried out which demonstrate that wildlife, including unusual and/or important species communities, can colonise and live on anthropogenic substrate sites (Ash et al. 1994; Riley et al. 2020). It is important to note that because anthropogenic substrate often differs greatly from the natural substrate in the surrounding area, such sites can support species and communities which might not otherwise survive in that area. For example, plants that rely on calcareous substrates might settle on slag sites or on Solvay process waste sites, but might not otherwise settle in the area if natural calcareous substrate is absent (Ash et al. 1994). Anthropogenic substrate sites can, therefore, act as refugia for many species and communities.

This study investigates three important aspects of anthropogenic substrate sites: substrate chemistry and mineralogy; plant species and communities; and certain invertebrate species. The investigation of these aspects allows for a detailed study of both anthropogenic geodiversity and biodiversity. For the substrates, various analyses will be carried out to determine the minerals, elements and pH levels present, including X-ray Diffraction, ICP and pH analysis for the six study sites. Different plant communities, as well as the species within them, were recorded in 2021 using quadrats in the six study sites. Different invertebrate species were recorded in 2021, throughout three of the study sites. Due to the current biodiversity crisis, it is more important than ever before to record and assess the biodiversity of places, especially if such places are often overlooked in terms of biodiversity potential. Additionally, very few studies have investigated the relationships between plant species and the mineralogical and elemental composition of the substrates on which they are growing – this work helps us to investigate plant establishment, survival and growth on anthropogenic substrates in a novel manner.

Ash et al., 1994, J. Appl. Ecology, 71, 74-78

Riley et al., 2020, J. Geochem. Explor., 219, 106630

Bradshaw, 1995, Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 53, 3-9

How to cite: van Mesdag, S., MacDonald, J., Neill, I., and Jump, A.: Anthropogenic biodiversity and geodiversity – can legacy industrial waste help offset falling global biodiversity?, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1352, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1352, 2022.

Bauxite residue, the by-product produced in the alumina industry, is generated at an estimated global rate of approximately 150 million tonnes per annum. Currently, the reuse of bauxite residue is low (∼2%), and consequently the bulk is stored in land-based impoundments.

If not adequately managed, exposed residue may be prone to dusting, wind and water erosion and can contaminate surrounding areas. Establishing vegetation covers (rehabilitation) is viewed as an effective strategy for mitigating against pollution risk and approaches used can be broadly divided into capping with inert soil material or establishing vegetation in the tailings surface (revegetation). Revegetation provides a strategy where topsoil material is scarce and avoids the sourcing of large volumes from other sites.

While bauxite residue is typically alkaline (pH 10-12), saline and lacking in nutrients the implementation of effective rehabilitation strategies can promote favourable soil conditions for plant growth. Results also show establishment of soil microbial communities and soil faunal activity. These positive rehabilitation effects are maintained for several years and demonstrate that residue can be transformed to a soil-like medium capable of supporting ecosystem function.

How to cite: Courtney, R.: Technosols derived from bauxite residue tailings for effective revegetation and rehabilitation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2318, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2318, 2022.

The leaching of heavy metals from post-industrial slag and other anthropogenic waste sites is detrimental for human health and the wider environment. Remediation of these sites can be costly and sustainable low carbon solutions are preferably sought. Examining natural analogues which stabilize metals could provide valuable insights into low-cost solutions to the legacy problems of aquatic environments that are impacted by leaching. Calcareous tufa, sometimes known as travertine limestone, forms naturally when calcium-rich groundwater is exchanged with atmospheric CO₂ at mid to hyperalkaline pH resulting in a calcite (CaCO₃) precipitation. Tufa has also been observed to form at a small number of old industrial sites (e.g. mining, steel works, paper mills) across northern England and Scotland. One site of interest is at Consett, N.E England, UK. Here tufa precipitates in the Howden Burn stream, a tributary of the River Derwent, as it emerges from the slag heaps from old steel work’s. Bulk analysis shows lead, arsenic, vanadium and zinc are present in the Howden Burn up to several 100 ppm.  Analysis of the water downstream of the tufa shows metal concentrations are considerably reduced compared to concentrations upstream. High spatial resolution LA-ICP-MS analysis of the solid tufa sampled reveal metals present within the tufa structure. This leads to the hypothesis that the metals are precipitated together with the tufa during its formation. However, little is known about metal capture processes during tufa formation and the form that these metals are in.  Here we present synchrotron micro X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) element maps of the tufa in cross-section that show the distributions of the metal within the laminations of the tufa structure. Understanding and exploitation of artificial tufa for metal capture could have potential as a CO₂ positive solution for sustainable in-stream remediation. 

How to cite: Cumberland, S., Tierney, K., Renshaw, J., Geraki, K., and MacDonald, J.: Analysis of metal entrapment within anthropogenic tufa using synchrotron micro-XRF, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4044, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4044, 2022.

The production of iron and steel has generated substantial volumes of slag as waste, with estimates of up to 384 million tonnes (Mt) of iron slag and 280 Mt of steel slag produced globally, to date. Whilst the majority of these by-products (approximately 70 %) have seen bulk re-use in a number of applications (e.g. as ballast in construction applications), a significant volume of slag has been disposed of in environmental settings, where the release of metal-rich alkaline leachates can cause enduring pollution. However, the mineralogical and physical properties of slags also offer opportunity for environmental benefits, namely; through sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, by acting as stockpiles of critical raw materials, and in certain situations performing as incidental coastal defences.

Findings are presented from national-scale field investigations, laboratory experiments, and spatial data analyses, which aim to explore the resource potential of iron and steel slags in the United Kingdom (UK). Within the 236 Mt of slags disposed of in the UK environment, projected carbonation rates revealed a potential for uptake of 138 Mt CO₂ under enhanced weathering conditions. Notable masses of technologically-critical elements were also estimated within UK slags, with reserves in the region of 1.55 Mt of V₂O₅, 1.58 Mt of TiO₂, and 1.26 Mt of Cr₂O₃ estimated. Further to acting as a resource, in areas of coastal deposition, slag banks were observed to offer tidal protection. At a number of sites this allowed the development of nationally-significant ecological communities, whilst laboratory leaching experiments reveal a very low risk of chemical leaching in saline conditions. The integration of spatial analyses with chemical composition and leaching data can help to inform decisions on maximising resource potential whilst minimising the potential environmental risks associated with slag reworking.

How to cite: Riley, A., Onnis, P., Gandy, C., MacDonald, J., Burke, I., Renforth, P., Jarvis, A., Hudson-Edwards, K., and Mayes, W.: Iron and steel-making slags as an environmentally-beneficial resource; a UK perspective., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4137, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4137, 2022.

Mineral sequestration using solid alkaline by-products, such as steel slag, is a feasible technology to capture carbon dioxide. This silicate weathering reaction forms solid carbonates, mineralizing the atmospheric CO₂ into calcite, which can occur passively under ambient environmental conditions over monthly to decadal timescales. The passive mineralization of carbon dioxide in steel slag is a not well-known reaction, particularly when climate factors influence the mineral carbonation. Non-destructive quantification of CO₂ mineralization is necessary to set underpinning knowledge on capturing rates.

The utilisation of X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (XCT) allows the 3D spatial visualisation and quantification of carbon dioxide precipitated as calcite in steel slag pores. We used XCT to analyse samples of legacy steel slag collected in Mexico and Scotland, to determine the effects of environmental factors on mineral carbonation. The XCT data were analysed with image processing to classify the slag volume into three phases (slag, pores, and calcite). The classification of the data into different phases allows the determination of the volume of each phase in the sample as well as its 3D spatial extent, thus enabling the quantification of mineralized CO₂ characterized as the calcite phase.

We will present a comparison between the volumes of carbon dioxide passively mineralized in the samples from the Mexican and Scottish collection sites, in the context of contrasting environmental factors. Preliminary results from one of the Scottish samples shows that calcite (mineralized CO₂) accounts for  ~ 5 vol. % of the sample, and it is localised across the whole sample.  A comparison of these results between the Mexican and Scottish samples will provide a better understanding of how climatic factors influence the volumes of atmospheric CO₂ mineralized by the samples. 

How to cite: Del Angel Lozano, J. P., Macente, A., and MacDonald, J.: The utilisation of X-ray Micro-Computed Tomography (XCT) for the quantification of carbon dioxide in passively carbonated steel slag., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4645, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4645, 2022.

Soils have high pCO₂ because of the decay of organic matter and plant root respiration. Some of this CO₂ dissolves to form carbonic acid in soil waters. Natural weathering partially neutralizes this carbonic acid, but in recent years there has been much interest in using soil mineral and rock amendments (e.g. added olivine and basalt) to accelerate weathering-driven atmospheric CO₂ drawdown to counter rising atmospheric CO₂.  To be effective, accelerated weathering should result in increased dissolved bicarbonate (the main dissolved inorganic carbon carrier at circum-neutral pH) in drainage waters, as well as enhanced land-to-ocean fluxes of divalent metal cations such as Ca and Mg, ultimately to lock up the soil-derived inorganic carbon in marine limestones. Here we present new results for field experiments that investigate a novel soil amendment to sequester CO₂ from soil-gas via weathering; crushed returned concrete (CRC). Unlike previously investigated mafic and ultramafic materials for accelerated weathering approaches that generally require energy- and carbon-intensive mining, grinding and long-distance transport operations, CRC is a waste product that requires minimal crushing after post-return solidification at concrete plants to achieve high measured specific surface areas (c. 10 m²/g).  CRC is widely available globally because a few % of the >10Gt/year of concrete produced is typically returned unused to concrete ready-mix plants.  Engineering codes preclude the reincorporation of this waste as aggregate in new concrete in many jurisdictions. This results in the widescale availability of this highly weatherable alkaline waste product that is often landfilled or sold as a low-value construction fill.  Local availability of the material facilitates short haulage distances and relatively small energy and carbon footprints to transport the material to nearby field sites.  In this pilot study, CRC was added to the upper 15 cms of a one-hectare trial tillage field in SE Ireland at a rate of 10 tonnes/hectare. Soil-water solutions were extracted for analysis using suction-cup lysimeters at monthly intervals from the amended and adjacent non-amended control sites to determine the geochemical impact of CRC on soil waters and to calculate weathering and therefore CO₂ uptake rates via carbonic acid neutralisation. Relative to adjacent control sites, concrete-amended sites exhibited significant increases in soil-water pH (by 0.2 to 0.5 pH units), a two- to three-fold increase in electrical conductivity (total ion load) and similar increases in soil-water Ca²⁺, reflecting the weathering of portlandite and calcium silicates in the concrete. Field experiments are ongoing to assess the long-term effects of the concrete amendment on soil-water chemistry, soil pH and nutrient status. No increases in detrimental heavy metals (e.g. Ni, Cr) often associated with the use of mafic and ultramafic materials as soil amendments have been detected. Weathering is attributable entirely to carbonic acid neutralization, with no evidence for weathering by strong acids. Methods for the calculation of likely rates of CO₂ capture (tonnes CO₂ per tonne of amendment) and their associated uncertainties based on alkalinity increases, divalent metal exports and enhanced soil-leachable Ca will be discussed. 

How to cite: McDermott, F., Bryson, M., and van Acken, D.: An investigation of crushed returned concrete (CRC) as a soil amendment for atmospheric CO2 removal, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4824, 2022.

Ultramafic (Mg-rich) mine wastes are produced in vast quantities, are of no economic value, and their storage impoundments can be susceptible to catastrophic failure.¹ Carbon dioxide (CO₂) mineralization of these wastes to form carbonate cement can reduce greenhouse gas emissions² and assist in de-risking storage impoundments through physical stabilization.³ CO₂ mineralization and cementation have been documented at asbestos,⁴ nickel,² and diamond mines, occurring unintentionally over long periods (e.g., decades).^2,4 This research aimed to 1) better understand carbonation and cementation processes by examining historic kimberlite mine wastes from diamond mines and 2) accelerate these processes in experiments using brucite-bearing serpentinite mine wastes. 

We collected physical, mineralogical, and geochemical data of cemented historic kimberlite wastes 70 to >110 years old. Analysis of cemented fine- and coarse-grained residues from the Voorspoed and Cullinan diamond mines (South Africa) revealed the presence of a fine-grained (<63 µm) cement matrix with greater total inorganic carbon (TIC; +0.08–0.34% relative to clasts), secondary clays (e.g., Mg-Al silicates), and some minor carbonates (e.g., calcite). Unconfined compressive strength varied considerably between fine- and coarse-grained wastes (UCS; 0.13–4.45 MPa). Furthermore, kimberlite clasts and cements were isotopically distinct, suggesting that mineral weathering by meteoric water drove cementation over decades after the deposition of these wastes. 

In experiments, coupling organic and inorganic carbon cycling accelerated carbonation of synthetic tailings that contained brucite [Mg(OH)₂], a minor yet reactive mineral. In cylindrical test experiments (2.5 × 5 cm; 40 weeks), waste organics were either mixed (0–10 wt.%) or kept separate from brucite-bearing serpentinite mine wastes to provide an additional source of CO₂. In the mixed cylinders, brucite consumption ranged from 3–30% and was limited by CO₂ generation, as evidenced by minor increases in TIC (+0.02–0.22%). Compressive strengths amongst the cylinders reached 0.51 MPa with few cylinders becoming sufficiently stabilized; however, in experiments that exposed cylinders to CO₂ generated from organics separate from cylinders, brucite carbonation (64–84% consumption) and compressive strengths were substantial (0.4–6.9 MPa).³ Our research demonstrates the role of long-term weathering for sequestering CO₂ within ultramafic mine wastes, and how coupling organic and inorganic carbon cycling can accelerate CO₂ sequestration and physically stabilize these wastes. 

References: 

1. Rourke and Luppnow (2015), Tailings Mine Waste Manag., 225–230. 
2. Wilson et al. (2014), Int. J. Greenh. Gas Control 25, 121–140. 
3. Power et al. (2021), Environ. Sci. Technol. 55, 10056–10066. 
4. Wilson et al. (2009), Econ. Geol. 104, 95–112.

How to cite: Lockhart, J., Power, I., Paulo, C., Stubbs, A., and McDonald, D.: Carbonation and cementation of ultramafic mine wastes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6308, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6308, 2022.

CO₂ mineralization is a natural process that occurs during weathering of silicate materials that are calcium/magnesium-rich and aluminum-poor (Kelemen et al., 2020). During this process, silicates convert to carbonates, making silicate-rich materials such as ultramafic rocks and alkaline wastes suitable for CO₂ removal from air.  Using slag to sequester CO₂ is particularly attractive as it is a by-product of a key industry, and it can utilize CO₂ from the emission source, therefore reducing the need for CO₂ and slag transportation, or draw down of CO₂ already in the atmosphere. It is estimated that steel slag has the potential to capture ~150-250 Mt CO₂ yr^-1 now, and ~320-870 Mt CO₂ yr^-1 by 2100 (Renforth, 2019).

Although the chemical composition of alkaline wastes shows that CO₂ capture can significantly offset emissions from corresponding industries, recent observations reveal that the CO₂ uptake in alkaline wastes in underutilized (Pullin et al., 2019). Here, we use image-based analysis to understand the microstructures of CO₂ mineralization in slag. We use X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) to visualize slag internal structures and to calculate reactive surface area and pore connectivity. We then use scanning electron microscopy (SEM), coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to study the distribution of elements within the studied sample.

In our study, we use a slag sample collected from the former Ravenscraig Steelworks in Lanarkshire, Scotland, where steelmaking took place from 1950s until 1992 (Stewart, 2008), leaving behind a slag heap that has been weathering since then. Our analysis demonstrates that calcium carbonate precipitates as pore-lining. Surface passivation and low surface-connected porosity were identified as processes that can cause reduction in CO₂ uptake.

References

Kelemen, P.B., McQueen, N., Wilcox, J., Renforth, P., Dipple, G., Vankeuren, A.P., 2020. Engineered carbon mineralization in ultramafic rocks for CO2 removal from air: Review and new insights. Chem. Geol. 550, 119628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2020.119628

Pullin, H., Bray, A.W., Burke, I.T., Muir, D.D., Sapsford, D.J., Mayes, W.M., Renforth, P., 2019. Atmospheric Carbon Capture Performance of Legacy Iron and Steel Waste. Environ. Sci. Technol. 53, 9502–9511. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b01265

Renforth, P., 2019. The negative emission potential of alkaline materials. Nat. Commun. 10, 1401. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09475-5

Stewart, D., 2008. Fighting for Survival: The 1980s Campaign to Save Ravenscraig Steelworks. J. Scottish Hist. Stud. 25, 40–57. https://doi.org/10.3366/JSHS.2005.25.1.40

How to cite: Khudhur, F. W. K., Macente, A., MacDonald, J., and Daly, L.: Passive CO2 mineralisation in slag: evidence from a slag heap in Lanarkshire, Scotland., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6525, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6525, 2022.

Uncontrolled leaching from legacy industrial waste may release toxic elements, which poses long-term risks of water and soil contamination. In some situations, secondary mineralisation from the leachates may occur downstream from waste sites, thus potentially limiting contaminant migration. An example is tufa, a surface freshwater CaCO₃ (calcite) deposit which forms as a result of atmospheric CO₂ absorption into Ca-rich hyperalkaline leachates. The tufa develops a range of morphologies and varies in hardness across the deposit. Moreover, it may also incorporate other elements into its mineral structure during precipitation. Understanding the processes of secondary mineralisation which are able to capture toxic metals would provide beneficial insights into controlling hazardous leaching.

This work characterises tufa occurring within anthropogenic contexts. Several tufas were found forming on or adjacent to anthropogenic sites (colliery spoil and steel slag heaps) in central Scotland, UK and studied for their geochemistry. A combination of direct field measurements of water physico-chemistry is complemented by alkalinity and elemental analyses of leachate source, water and tufa by ion chromatography (IC) and ICP-OES. The results from these analyses will help understand the processes involved in tufa formation and can be applied to the re-creation of tufa with the purpose of metal capture under controlled laboratory conditions. Early experiments have focused on CaCO₃ precipitation onto different media by bubbling CO₂ into CaCl₂ solutions. The aim of these experiments is to create an engineered metal-capturing tufa system which can be applied across different post-industrial settings as a low-cost technique which beneficially captures CO₂.

How to cite: Kalabová, M., Cumberland, S., Renshaw, J., and MacDonald, J.: Anthropogenic tufa at legacy industrial sites: Potential for metal capture, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8116, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8116, 2022.

The development of civilization is accompanied by a continuous increase in the production of various types of waste, especially municipal solid waste (MSW). The problem of rational MSW management has become one of the most pressing global challenges [1].

The countries which joined the EU in the middle of the last century can serve as examples of establishing effective MSW management systems. Presently, the amount of recycled MSW in these countries is rather high: recycling constitutes – 30–40%; incineration – 30–50%; composting – 18–20%; the amount of MSW disposed of at a landfill has been reduced to 1–3%. All these factors made it possible to increase the MSW revenues in Germany 4.8 times over the last 25 years; in Sweden – 3.29 times; in Denmark – 2.76 times, and in the Netherlands – 3.06 times.

Based on the above data, a conclusion can be made about the expediency of implementing MSW management in Russia.  

Thus, if we consider the creation of such a system for Saint Petersburg generating 1.82 million tons of MSW annually and recycling 40% of MSW, incinerating 35%, composting 23% and landfilling 2%, then an estimated revenue from the implementation of secondary raw materials can be determined:

C=M₁xC₁+M₂xC₂+M₃xC₃-M₄xC₄

where: M₁ – the mass of MSW realized by the allocation of secondary raw materials, M₂ – incineration, M₃ – composting, M₄ – landfill,

C₁ – specific revenue from the implementation of secondary raw materials, C₁=1254  ruble/tonne [2],

C₂ – МSW incineration, C₂=850  ruble/tonne [3],

C₃ – MSW composting, C₃=400  ruble/tonne [2],

C₄ – MSW disposal, C₄=350  ruble/tonne [2].

The amount of MSW in Saint Petersburg (million tons): secondary raw materials – 0,72,  energy – 0,65, compost – 0,418, landfill – 0,032.

Then the revenue from the implementation of secondary raw materials per annual volume of MSW in Saint Petersburg will be:

C = 902,288 + 535,5 + 165,6 – 12,6 = 1,590,788 million rubles.

The specific revenue indicator for Saint Petersburg MSW per person is as follows:

C_p=1590,788/5,392992=294,9 ruble/person.

In order to implement the considered option of a city-wide program, it is necessary to establish the following enterprises:

– processing of secondary raw materials – four plants with a capacity of 180 thousand tons each;

– МSW incineration – four plants with a capacity of 160 thousand tons each;

– MSW composting – two plants with a capacity of 207 thousand tons each;

– MSW disposal – two landfills with a capacity of 18 thousand tons each.

Conclusion

• The established systems of MSW management in European countries are highly economically efficient, processing 97–98% of the produced MSW.
• The creation of a similar MSW management system in Saint Petersburg will significantly improve the environmental conditions of the city and generate 1,590,788 million rubles in revenue annually.

References

• L.S. Ventsiulis, A.N. Chusov. Municipal Solid Waste is One of the Main Environmental Problems in Russia. Saint Petersburg: Polytechnic University Press, 2017. – page 208.
• Program to improve the system of collection, transportation and disposal of waste in the Primorsky district of Saint Petersburg. Estimation of revenue from the processing of separately collected waste, 2011.
• D.I. Kofman, M.M. Vostrikov. Thermal Destruction and Neutralization of Waste. Saint Petersburg, NPO Professional, 2013. – page 340.

How to cite: Voronov, N. and Ventsyulis, L.: Economic efficiency of sales of municipal solid waste based on the development of the regional market of certified secondary raw materials, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8727, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8727, 2022.

Clinker substitutes are frequently used in the cement and concrete industries to reduce CO₂ emissions associated with production, improve physico-chemical properties and performance, and reduce costs. Pulversized Fly Ash (PFA), a fine waste residue produced in coal-fired power stations, is the commonly used partial clinker substitute in Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) for cements for the immobilisation of low-level nuclear waste (LLW). Because of the global trend to shut-down coal-fired power stations, the production of PFA is decreasing and will eventually cease. Alternative sustainable clinker substitutes can be used must meet strict performance standards for the safe enclosure of LLW for the final disposal. These include physical, chemical, and mechanical properties; performance and suitability for use.

This study investigates the suitability of different materials (natural and anthropologic) as a substitute of PFA in OPC in LLW immobilisation, and compares the behaviour of these substituted cements to those of the current standard. The focus of the study is on the cementing and physico-chemical properties of the cement, and the interaction between groundwater, the cement, and the stored waste.

Here we present the characterisation the standard PFA+OPC (samples provided by Low-Level Waste Repository Ltd.) using X-ray computed tomography (XCT), and the latest data from the ongoing analysis elemental composition of the alternative materials and the leaching tests. Over the leaching period the samples undergo repeated XCT analysis to link structural changes to the chemical evolution. Future work will include studying the long-term leaching effects and the interaction of the LLW (usage mock waste formulation) with concrete.

These studies will allow us to identify changes to the cement microstructure and physico-chemical properties arising from the PFA substitutes, and the chemical and physical interaction of the cements, especially with groundwater Such understanding is critical for the adoption of clinker alternatives in LLW encapsulation.

How to cite: Kozlowski, A., Renshaw, J., and Dobson, K.: Replacing Pulversized Fly Ash in cement with natural and anthropogenic geomaterials identifying the corresponding physico-chemical properties used for the encapsulation of Low-Level Waste, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11448, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11448, 2022.

The building sector needs to shift toward the use of materials that have low-embodied energy, minimize operational-energy, and minimize the amount of waste upon disposal. Here, we report on a series of experiments on low-density earth-hemp blocks, which can be implemented as an insulation for buildings. Earth-hemp finds a similar usage to hempcrete/hemp-lime, yet the use of raw earth as a binder allows to dramatically decrease the embodied energy. The set presented here evidences that pure earth-hemp with high content in clay minerals reaches higher compressive strength (0,33 MPa) than equivalents with hydraulic binder, for similar thermal conductivity (0,07 W/m.K).

Earth-hemp samples were characterized in terms of compressive strength in order to test the influence of density, earth type, incorporation of mineral additives, and amount of water used for creating the blocks. Two types of natural earths were investigated, which differ in their clay content: a surficial loess with 25 wt.% clay minerals and a quarried paleosoil with high clay content (65 wt.%). For each earth type, 4 types of mineral additives were investigated in order to test whether they can have a stabilizing effect: Portland cement, aerial-lime, gypsum-plaster and a MgO-based cement. The binders (i.e. earth + additive) were created with replacement of earth by mineral additives at 0, 4, 8, and 20 wt. %. For each type of binder, 3 densities of the resulting earth-hemp samples were produced (250, 280, 340 kg/m3). Additionally, two series of this set of samples were produced using a low amount of added water (150 wt.% water/hemp) and high amount of added water (370 wt.% water/hemp).

Samples using the earth with high clay content have compressive strengths up to twice as high as those with low clay content. This result is expected since clay minerals are the main agent of binding in earth materials. Also expected was the increase in compressive strength with sample density, which is directly correlated to the amount of binder. More interestingly, the dataset also exhibits the negative effect of mineral additives: a trend of decreasing compressive strength with amount of incorporated mineral additive is visible, independently of the type of additive and earth type. In between additive types, the compressive strengths of samples mixed with MgO-based cement and gypsum-plaster are better than those mixed with Portland cement and aerial lime. Additionally, samples produced using a low amount of added water are much less resistant than those with a high amount of added water for every sample tested. Finally, samples using pure earth with high clay content and high amount of incorporated water are the most resistant, and reach compressive strengths of 0.33 MPa for a density of 340 kg/m3, which is slightly stronger than existing commercial lime-hemp blocks. 

How to cite: Douillet, G. A., Toropovs, N., Zucha, W. J., Bernard, E., Kühnis, A., and Schlunegger, F.: The compressive strength of earth-hemp blocks tested with different densities, earth types, and cementitious binders, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12781, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12781, 2022.

Our research is aligned to the expansion of energy crops with a view to future developments in greenhouse gas removal and we need to ensure that does not have a detrimental effect on the surrounding environment.

Miscanthus is a sustainable bioenergy crop which is wildlife-friendly and will grow on otherwise unproductive land. Mature crops do not require fertilizer thereby ensuring low nitrous oxide emissions. Miscanthus x giganteus (M x g) as a sterile clone, has been propagated vegetatively, with relatively high establishment costs and low multiplication rates. New seed-propagated hybrids, with the potential of upscaling the crop for greater provision, are being readied for market and in crop trials over Europe.

Projections are presented from research involving the international GRACE project and the Supergen SUMMER project. We determine the potential for miscanthus growth and environmental impact, using the hybrids under 21st century climate conditions. We show yield projections which have been modelled using crop trial data across different European countries together with simulations from the MiscanFor model for agricultural soil carbon sequestration and water deficit.

How to cite: Shepherd, A., Awty-Carroll, D., Kam, J., Ashman, C., Magenau, E., Martani, E., Kontek, M., Ferrarini, A., Amaducci, S., Davey, C., Al Hassan, M., Jurišić, V., Lamy, I., Lewandowski, I., de Maupeou, E., McCalmont, J., Trindade, L., Kiesel, A., Clifton-Brown, J., and Hastings, A. and the Anita Shepherd1: Comparing miscanthus hybrids – growth and environmental impacts, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-170, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-170, 2022.

We determined the bee species presence, abundance, and diversity at utility-scale ground-mounted solar development (USS) to assess the impact on desert pollinators and the services they provide to the plants in the communities in which they live, specifically, in the Mojave and Colorado Desert regions.  We used a matched transect control design to test whether pollinator populations have changed due to solar utility scale installations. Sixty to 90% of flowering plants require animal pollinators. The Mojave Desert represents a hotspot of bee biodiversity corresponding to its rich botanical diversity of 1512 species. Our study found 113 species in a severe drought year after five drought years (2011-2015). 42% were oligoleges, 10% were polylectic and 29% of the  lacked data on their floral diets. Included were 5 undescribed species in the families Apidae (Tetraloniella, Anthophora -Anthophoroides, Anthophorula,) and Halictidae (Lasioglossum [Dialictus]). In our transect study we found lower abundance, diversity and richness inside the solar installations. However, we did not find a significant effect of distance from solar installation at 2K for our one year study. The BVT traps represented 16% of the collected specimens and 58 species and cup traps represented 83% of traps, and captured 46.7% of the total specimens and 66 species.Of the total bees species captured and identified, 76% are ground-nesting species.

How to cite: Saul-Gershenz, L., Zavortink, T., Van Wyk, J., Ascher, J. S., and Kimsey, L.: Impact on native bees from utility-scale solar development in the Mojave and western Sonoran Deserts, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1881, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1881, 2022.

As countries transition to net zero emissions, the number of land use conflicts between energy generation, nature conservation and food production are expected to rise. Models typically restrict energy deployment from land deemed as providing high societal value (e.g. National Parks, peatland) when exploring future energy pathways to resolve these conflicts. This study applies the spatially explicit ADVENT-NEV model to Great Britain to determine the lower-bound of the implied value being placed on the land excluded. It compares the ‘optimal’ locations for new renewable energy when strict restrictions are applied against those identified when a natural capital approach is used.

When energy development is restricted from Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks and high-grade agricultural land the cost of the energy system is shown to increase by approximately 10%. Even limited bioenergy crop expansion is unfeasible if strict restrictions are applied. In particular, results indicate that such restrictions would not be compatible with net zero emissions targets. These restrictions also result in an increase in the spatial footprint of solar farms, wind farms and bioenergy power stations by up to 13.4%, 79.6% and 15.8% respectively.

Incorporating the valuation of ecosystem services into renewable energy modelling provides a more nuanced approach than a binary exclusion, highlighting how strict restrictions may not always be best for society. The natural capital approach makes trade-offs between energy, nature conservation and food production more explicit for decision-makers allowing them to take a more holistic approach.

How to cite: Delafield, G., Day, B., Smith, G., and Holland, R.: Resolving land use conflicts between renewable energy, nature protection and food production, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1993, 2022.

As solar photovoltaic make a greater contribution to the energy mix, there will be increasing land use change for solar parks. Land use change can affect biodiversity across spatial scales and opportunities to incorporate biodiversity benefits into the energy transition are increasingly being recognised. For example, solar parks could support insect pollinators through providing critical resources such as flowering plants. However, understanding of pollinator response to solar park developments is currently limited and empirical data are lacking. To address this knowledge gap, we surveyed bumble bees, butterflies and flowering plants between July and September across 15 solar parks in the UK. We also investigated the composition and connectivity of the landscapes surrounding each solar park using landcover data and a GIS, allowing us to explore the impacts of on-site floral resources and surrounding landscape characteristics on bumble bee and butterfly abundance and diversity. We found that bumble bee and butterfly biodiversity varied across solar parks, but overall butterflies were more than five times more abundant than bumble bees. Pollinator biodiversity was impacted by both on-site resources and landscape characteristics. However, characteristics of the floral resources on site appeared to be the most important factors, with increases in floral diversity, floral cover and vegetation height associated with increases in pollinator abundance and diversity. Our findings suggest that local and landscape scale factors affect pollinator biodiversity on solar parks, but solar parks that provide diverse and abundant flowering plants may be best placed to support pollinators. Incorporating this knowledge into existing and future solar park developments could promote benefits to insect pollinators alongside the energy transition.

How to cite: Blaydes, H., Potts, S., Whyatt, D., and Armstrong, A.: On-site floral resources and surrounding landscape characteristics impact pollinator biodiversity on solar parks, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2180, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2180, 2022.

There is currently a total of 750 large scale solar parks (>5MW) in the UK, with an installed capacity of approximately 7.3GW; this is likely to cover an area of land of around 14,500 ha. While the planning process for such developments is currently geared towards increasing biodiversity gain, there remains a large discrepancy between the way that solar farms are managed and the actual ecological enhancement achieved. With large scale solar parks being a critical part of meeting the targets within the Paris Agreement, it becomes increasingly important to understand how the construction of solar parks impacts local wildlife, where biodiversity net gain can be achieved and the obstacles in the way of maximising this biodiversity net gain.

This talk offers a perspective from a practitioner’s point of view; Clarkson & Woods have carried out ecological monitoring of over 100 operational solar farms since 2016, and have collated an extensive database of botanical data from operational solar arrays. We will present this botanical data based on over 2,000 recorded botanical quadrats and look at how various factors affect botanical diversity including land management approach, age of array and location of quadrat. A discussion of some of the obstacles and potential solutions to maximising biodiversity net gain will be presented based on our knowledge of solar farms in the UK.

How to cite: Montag, H. and Clarkson, T.: Long Term Ecological Monitoring of Large Scale Solar Parks in the UK, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4958, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4958, 2022.

Floating solar photovoltaics (FPV) are deployed on aquatic systems worldwide as an alternative to ground- and roof-mounted installations. FPV installations represent a considerable water surface transformation, and the consequent threats and opportunities for hosting aquatic systems are poorly understood. Moreover, we must consider any impacts within the context of a changing climate, given FPV operational lifetimes.

Impacts on aquatic systems may be significant given that FPV can perturb two key drivers of water body function - wind shear stress and solar radiation intensity. The potential impacts of changes on water body function are wide-ranging. For example, FPV may beneficially reduce the occurrence of nuisance algal blooms or could detrimentally lead to anoxic conditions, leading to the release of heavy metals from bed sediments. However, impacts are likely to be highly water body-specific, dependent on deployment configuration and be contingent on future climate conditions.

To better understand FPV effects on aquatic ecosystem processes, which underpin ecosystem services, we extended an existing lake model to simulate FPV installations under future climate scenarios on a UK reservoir. We examined plausible changes to a range of meteorological variables, water temperatures, reservoir inflow and depth. We found that FPV alters key water quality properties, including water temperature and phytoplankton community composition. Depending on the conditions, the implications are positive or negative. Our analysis shows that FPV can partially mitigate the impacts of climate change by reducing water temperature. The extended lake model will help inform policymakers and practitioners on best practices for deploying FPV, minimising detrimental impacts and maximising co-benefits.

How to cite: Exley, G., Page, T., Folkard, A. M., Thackeray, S. J., Hernandez, R. R., and Armstrong, A.: Floating solar interactions with water bodies under climate warming, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6272, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6272, 2022.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is defined in the UK as ‘development that leaves biodiversity in a better state than before’ and involves an approach where land developers work with local governments, wildlife groups, landowners and other stakeholders in order to support local priorities for nature conservation. The Environment Act 2021 will set out a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain to be mandatory for most land developments and the gain will need to be calculated using the Natural England Biodiversity Metric. The terrestrial habitats listed within the Biodiversity Metric are based on the UK Habitat Classification system (UK Hab).

Solar park developments usually achieve high gains in biodiversity as they commonly lead to intensive arable land or improved grassland being restored to permanent grassland; further enhancements may include sowing of wildflower seed and application of conservation grazing/cutting. However, debate remains regarding classification of proposed habitat within solar parks, in particular, the shaded habitat beneath the panels. We argue that rather than this area being regarded as “lost” habitat, our data show that a variety of plant species can thrive. However, this varies from site to site and is dependent on the vegetation management regime implemented within the site. Site management varies from conservation grazed to intensively grazed, to completely unmanaged, to cut throughout every month to once every three years or with occasional shade / access strips. This extends to treatment of injurious weeds with some non-chemical treatments to other sites which are blanket sprayed with a glyphosate herbicide.

A data set of 30 operational solar parks which were monitored in 2020 were selected and a total of 523 botanical quadrats analysed in order to characterise the vegetation within solar parks (including beneath the panels) in terms of species composition and other UK Habitat Classification criteria such as habitat condition.

These results will be used to provide formal guidance for calculating BNG on solar farms for the solar industry and planning authorities. The proposed approach is being developed with input from Natural England, UK Hab and Solar Energy UK.

How to cite: Remazeilles, A., Montag, H., Carvalho, F., Parker, G., and Howell, B.: Applying Biodiversity Net Gain to solar parks in the UK, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7770, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7770, 2022.

The increasing demand of emission-free energy enhances the footprint of wind power on landscapes worldwide. Wind power establishments claim considerable areas given their establishment sites and connected infrastructure. Being a major (but late arriving) land-use actor, onshore wind power expands in a landscape context already shaped by other land uses, thereby becoming directly a competitor for area. Being at forefront within the European Union, Sweden in northern Europe has ratified ambitious environmental goals to meet net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045. This asks for substantial expansion in renewable energy sources nationwide, particularly of wind power. In practice, suggested future wind power establishments claim about 3.5% of the total national land surface in Sweden but higher shares in forest-dominated regions. Within the Swedish environmental strategy, forests, however, are key players to provide also other products and services to mitigate impacts of climate change as well as to preserve biodiversity. Notably, a land demand of about 3.5% by wind power is comparable to the share of all formally protected Swedish forestlands below the mountain forest border, which currently is heavily debated due to the experienced loss of forestland for wood biomass production. This makes wind power establishment in forest landscape a serious competitor for space and for meeting different forest goals.

Using Sweden as a case, we quantify the amount of forests in relation to their productivity, landownership (state, company or private) and nature conservation value that we expect to convert into wind power land following the recent national strategy for wind power expansion based on current wind power distribution in Sweden. Our preliminary results suggest a considerable conversion of productive forestland into wind power land, particularly in the southern boreal landscape. Preliminary findings also indicate landowner differ to which degree their productive forestland without conservational value likely become wind power land.  

Our results emphasized the need for regional context-specific landscape planning in order to allow for both forests development and utilization meeting different environmental goals, including wind power and other interests.

How to cite: Neumann, W., Bjärstig, T., Thellbro, C., and Svensson, J.: Footprint of large scale expansion of wind power in productive boreal forests – forests under a zero-emission strategy, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8685, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8685, 2022.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) based on purpose-grown lignocellulosic crops can provide negative CO₂ emissions to mitigate climate change, but its land requirements present a threat to biodiversity. Here, we analyse the implications of crop-based BECCS for global terrestrial vertebrate species richness, considering both the land-use change (LUC) required for BECCS and the climate change prevented by BECCS. LUC impacts are determined using global-equivalent, species-area relationship-based loss factors. We find that sequestering 0.5–5 Gtonne of CO₂ per year with lignocellulosic crop-based BECCS would require hundreds of Mha of land, and commit tens of terrestrial vertebrate species to extinction. Species loss per unit of negative emissions decreases with: i) longer lifetimes of BECCS systems, ii) less overall deployment of crop-based BECCS, and iii) optimal land allocation, i.e., prioritising locations with lowest species loss per negative emission potential, rather than minimising overall land use or prioritising locations with lowest biodiversity. The consequences of prevented climate change for biodiversity are based on existing climate response relationships. Our tentative comparison shows that for crop-based BECCS considered over 30 years, LUC impacts on vertebrate species richness may outweigh the positive effects of prevented climate change. Conversely, for BECCS considered over 80 years, the positive effects of climate change mitigation on biodiversity may outweigh the negative effects of LUC. However, both effects and their interaction are highly uncertain and require further understanding, along with analysis of additional species groups and biodiversity metrics. We conclude that factoring in biodiversity means lignocellulosic crop-based BECCS should be used early to achieve the required mitigation over longer time periods, on optimal biomass cultivation locations, and most importantly, as little as possible where conversion of natural land is involved, looking instead to sustainably grown or residual biomass-based feedstocks and alternative strategies for carbon dioxide removal.

How to cite: Hanssen, S., Steinmann, Z., Daioglou, V., Cengic, M., van Vuuren, D., and Huijbregts, M.: Global implications of lignocellulosic crop-based BECCS for terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8855, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8855, 2022.

Brazil is the global frontrunner in the production of sugarcane ethanol. Strong national biofuels policies, a consolidated internal demand for ethanol for transportation purposes, and a global growing demand for sugar and ethanol have supported this development. The sugarcane ethanol industry has contributed to economic growth, technological progress, job creation and is among the key strategies for mitigating CO₂ emissions in Brazil. However, the industry is also responsible for a wide range of undesirable impacts on land. Biodiversity loss, structural soil degradation, pollution, and depletion of water sources can result from the associated direct and indirect land-use change. We therefore assess the potential of a carbon capture and utilization pathway to increase the fuel production of this industry in a land-neutral way. 

The pathway combines the almost clear surplus CO₂-stream from the ethanol fermentation process with H₂ produced using wind and solar power to synthesize methanol. The change of use of land from sugarcane production to renewable electricity generation is an intensification step which allows to spare significant amounts of land.

To understand the implications of this pathway in terms of land-use and cost, we develop a spatio-temporal model to determine the cost-optimal system configuration, the resulting land effciency, and consequently the land sparing potential. The core of the model consists of a techno-economic optimization model that minimizes cost for a system that includes variable renewable electricity generation (wind and solar power), storage (electricity, CO₂ and H₂), electrolyzers and methanol synthesis installations for each one of the sugarcane ethanol production plants in the country. The optimization model relies crucially on two time-series which we derived specifically for each Brazilian ethanol plant based on a consolidated spatially explicit data set of sugarcane ethanol installations: first, individual time series of the CO₂-streams from ethanol fermentation, and second multi-year time series of wind and solar power in hourly temporal resolution using ERA5 and ERA5-land reanalysis data. Furthermore, we extensively review costs of individual system components and derive footprints of Brazilian solar and wind power plants from satellite imagery.

The proposed pathway leads to a combined amount of ethanol and methanol that represents an increase of  43%-49% compared to the current output of the ethanol industry in energetic terms. This amounts to around 100 TWh of methanol that would be sufficient to cover the projected growth in Brazil biofuel demand until 2030. In contrast, if the same amount of energy would be provided by sugarcane ethanol, produced at the current average Brazilian sugarcane-to-ethanol land-use efficiency, an additional 23,000 km² - 27,000 km² of land would be required. This underlines the significant land sparing potential of the proposed pathway. 

How to cite: Ramirez Camargo, L., Castro, G., Gruber, K., Klingler, M., Turkovska, O., Wetterlund, E., and Schmidt, J.: Significant land-sparing potentials from implementing carbon capture and utilization for the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol industry, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10036, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10036, 2022.

Geotourism is a relatively new sector in tourism, in which visitors are offered earth scientific knowledge when visiting spectacular locations (geosites or geotopes) and participating in various organized activities there. Areas and sites with high geological-geomorphological relevance are usually managed by national parks, geoparks or other types of nature reserves. For this reason, research into the assessment of these sites serves not only the purposes of geoscience but also those of these organisations and, through them, tourism.

The aim of our research was to carry out a quantitative geotourism assessment in the NW part of the Gerecse Mts, Hungary, on an area of 180 km². As this type of assessment determining geotourism potential has not been made here before, the Gerecse Mountains are still undiscovered in terms of quantitative geotourism values. However, this area has great geodiversity due to its earth scientific richness (its various and spectacular geosites are mainly from the Mesozoic, but Eocene, Miocene and Quaternary sediments are also present). It has strong connections to culture and human activities: it is an important source of building stones since Roman times.

We used analogue geological and topographic maps, publications, and databases to identify potential geosites. The selected sites were ranked based on their types (e.g., cliff, quarry, break of slope) and distance from trails. They were visited on site – omitting the least important ones based on the preliminary categorization. Following the fieldwork, the potential geosites were evaluated based on quantitative assessment models that have been used in Hungary several times. We applied the Geosite Assessment Model (GAM, Vujičić et al., 2011) and the Modified Geosite Assessment Model (M-GAM, Tomič & Božić, 2014). Among objective aspects, the latter involves tourists (from other studies) into the evaluation process, thus giving a more realistic image of the geotourism potential of the given geosite. The final score of an object is built up by scientific, infrastructural and this visitor-based values. In the end of the work, each geosite got an analysis on its improvable characteristics, and a group of them were selected as suitable for later geotourism activities and development.

The results (more than 100 evaluated geotopes) contribute to the geosite cadastral of the Gerecse Mts – providing useful data for the management body – the Duna-Ipoly National Park Diretorate. Suitable protection and tourism activity measures of local earth science values can be planned using our results – these two factors are the base of a good balance between nature and society.

EH is supported by the ÚNKP-21-2 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.

Tomić, N., & Božić, S. (2014). A modified Geosite Assessment Model (M-GAM) and its Application on the Lazar Canyon area (Serbia). International Journal of Environmental Research, 8(4), 1041-1052.

Vujičić, M., Vasiljević, D., Marković, S., Hose, T., Lukić, T., Hadžić, O., & Janićević, S. (2011). Preliminary geosite assessment model (GAM) and its application on Fruška Gora Mountain, potential geotourism destination of Serbia. Acta Geographica Slovenica, 51(2), 361-377.

How to cite: Hajdú, E., Albert, G., and Pál, M.: Geotourism assessment of the northwestern part of the Gerecse Mountains, Hungary, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-343, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-343, 2022.

Accurate mapping of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is critical for carbon budget accounting, sustainable forest management as well as for understanding the role of forest ecosystem in the climate change mitigation.

In this study, spaceborne Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) LiDAR data were used in combination with Sentinel-1 synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery as well as elevation data to produce a wall-to-wall AGB map of Australia that is more accurate and with higher spatial and temporal resolution than what is possible with any one data source alone. Specifically, the AGB density map was produced that covers the whole extent of Australia at 200m spatial resolution for the Austral winter (June-August) of 2020. To produce this map Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 composites and ALOS World 3D Digital Surface Model (DSM) were trained with samples from the GEDI Level 4A product.

From GEDI Level 4A data available within Australia between June – August 2020, all measurements not meeting the requirements of L4A product quality, and those with degraded state of pointing or positioning information and an estimated relative standard error in GEDI-derived AGB exceeding 50% were rejected. Mean Sentinel-1 composite was generated using thermal noise corrected, radiometrically calibrated and terrain corrected VV- and VH-polarization backscatter imagery. Similarly, median Sentinel-2 composite was generated using cloud and cloud-shadow free Level-2A imagery, and was further used to calculate Normalized Difference Spectral Indices (NDSIs) from all spectral bands. Finally, aspect and slope were calculated from the DSM.

The boosting tree machine learning model was applied to predict wall-to-wall AGB density map. For each 200m × 200m cell the number of available GEDI measurements was calculated and models were built based on average AGB density of cells containing > 5 GEDI measurements.

Up to ≈62000 cells, each 200m × 200m, were used to train predictive machine learning models of AGB density. The predictive performance of models based on Sentinel-2 imagery only (single-data source) and a fusion of Sentinel-2 with Sentinel-1 imagery and elevation data (multi-data source) was compared. Bayesian hyperparameter optimization was used to identify the most accurate Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) model using 5-fold cross-validation. 

The single-data source analysis based on Sentinel-2 imagery resulted in AGB density predicted with the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.74-0.81, root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 40-44 Mg/ha and root-mean-square percentage error (RMSPE) of 45-55%.Model performance improved only marginally with the addition of Sentinel-1 and DSM information: AGB density prediction with R2 of 0.75-0.82, RMSE of 36-41 Mg/ha and RMSPE of 44-48%. Using a SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) approach to explain the output of LightGBM models it was found that Sentinel-2 derived NDSIs using Red Edge and Short-wave Infrared bands were the most important in predicting seasonal AGB density. 

Similar model performance is expected for annual prediction of AGB density at a finer resolution (e.g. 100m) due to higher density of GEDI measurements. This research highlights methodological opportunities for combining GEDI measurements with satellite imagery and other environmental data toward seasonal AGB mapping at the regional scale through data fusion.

How to cite: Shendryk, Y.: Fusing GEDI, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and elevation data for seasonal forest biomass mapping across Australia, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2077, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2077, 2022.

Long term flux measurements are needed to improve our understanding of the carbon balance of arable lands. The objective of our study was to determine the seasonal dynamics of carbon cycling in a Hungarian cropland and to examine the effect of crop rotation on net ecosystem exchange of CO₂ (NEE), furthermore to assess the influences of C outputs and inputs derived from lateral fluxes on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. In this study we update the results presented in our poster of last year’s conference (EGU21-10977).

The experiment began in 2017 and crop rotation of the measured field consisted of winter wheat (2017-2018 and 2019-2020), rapeseed (2018), sorghum (2019) and sunflower (2021). CO₂ fluxes and annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO₂ were measured by a field-scale eddy covariance (EC) station at a Central Hungarian cropland site. Both vertical and lateral C fluxes were taken into account when calculating the net ecosystem carbon budget (NECB).

As presented in our previous study the largest sink activity was observed in the sorghum season (-277 g C m^-2 from sowing to harvest). The cropland acted as a source of CO₂ during the rapeseed season (140 g C m^-2) due to incomplete germination caused by extreme autumnal drought.

We found that during the study period both meteorological variables and lateral carbon fluxes such as C inputs derived from seed and crop residues and outputs (harvest) had significant influence on the C dynamics. The higher temperatures and precipitation amount that characterised the fall of 2019 caused large differences in NEE dynamics for winter wheat when compared to 2017. The impact of climatic factors could be seen in the sunflower period since lack of precipitation in 2021 led to remarkably low carbon uptake.

Fallow periods in total covered a relatively long period of time (approximately 1 year out of the 4 year long study period). These fallow periods had a significant effect on NECB values due to immense C loss. During the four years of our experiment cumulative NEE was -222 g C m^-2 and NECB was 726 g C m^-2 as carbon loss during fallow periods (437 g C m^-2 in total) and carbon export through harvest (964 g C m^-2 in total) counterbalanced the crop’s CO₂ uptake.

We can conclude that while this Hungarian cropland was a sink of carbon it could not maintain the soil organic carbon content as it was not able to sequester enough carbon to do so. Cover plants and crop residue retention could be a solution to reduce the risk of soil carbon stock depletion but further studies are needed in the field of soil management practices.

How to cite: De Luca, G., Pintér, K., Fóti, S., Nagy, Z., and Balogh, J.: Update on soil carbon balance in Hungarian crop rotation systems, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2484, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2484, 2022.

Jeju island’s unique and diverse species of flora and fauna and well-preserved natural environment earned Jeju the designation as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in December 2002(World Heritage Office & Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, 2016). To achieve no net loss and preferably a net gain of this outstanding biodiversity, ‘biodiversity offsets’ can be implemented(BBOP, 2009). Until now, there have been attempts in Korea to introduce the concept of offset, such as the establishment of the ‘Total Natural Resource Conservation’(Lee et al., 2020), but studies on the specific criteria or method of biodiversity offset area are insufficient. It is desirable not to prepare offset area whenever damage occurs, but to select them in consideration of ecological connectivity, environmental functional aspects, and socio-cultural continuity in the planning process(Lee et al., 2020). Therefore, we intend to select the offset area of Jeju Island using the methodology of Pilgrim et al (2012), which derives the relative offsetability in consideration of the biodiversity conservation concern, residual impact magnitude, theoretical offset opportunity, practical offset feasibility. Potential offset area derived from previous studies has already reflected the concept of biodiversity conservation concern, including vulnerability and irreplaceability. Through the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) of Jeju Island, the type of development that had a significant impact on biodiversity is selected as an example, and the impact magnitude of the development type is identified. In addition, offset opportunity is derived by considering functional area and natural distribution, and offset feasibility is derived by factors such as developer capacity and financing. Finally, the relative offsetability is evaluated and the offsetability map is established. The characteristics of offset areas are analyzed using the established offsetability map. For instance, the size and patterns of sites with high offsetability can be studied. As a result, the offsetability map is established by evaluating the relative offsetability of potential offset areas. Therefore, it is possible to specifically find where the biodiversity offset is available in Jeju Island, and to identify the offset priority through comparison of the relative offsetability between the selected offset sites. By analyzing the characteristics of the offset area, it is possible to identify what characteristics increase the offsetability, how large it should be to have high offsetability, and what patterns exist between the selected offset areas. This study shows the specific offset area selection process, and through this, it will help to create a roadmap for selecting a site for a biodiversity offset where the biodiversity offset concept was not introduced into the policy. This work was supported by the Korea Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) through the Decision Support System Development Project for Environmental Impact Assessment, funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) (No. 2020002990009). This work was Supported by a Korea University Grant.

How to cite: Jeong, D., Lee, S., Shin, Y., and Jeon, S.: A Study on the Selection of Biodiversity Offset Area in Korea - Focusing on Jeju Island, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3398, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3398, 2022.

Jeju Island, the research area, has been registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site and has high biodiversity and ecological value, such as designation as a global geopark and biosphere reserve. It also has a beautiful landscape, so it is not only necessary for conservation but also highly demanded as a landscape resource (Kim et al., 2015; Ko, 2011). Accordingly, it is necessary to prioritize the conservation area that can reconcile the conflict between indiscriminate development and nature protection, as well as to establish potential offset sites for ‘No Net Loss’ in order to respond to development impacts. Selecting conservation areas based on biodiversity value can be an effective offset decision-making tool on where and how to prioritize conservation policies (Li et al., 2021; SANBI & UNEP-WCMC, 2016). There have been many studies on biodiversity conservation between excellent ecological value and development pressure in Jeju Island, but there are almost no studies on the implementation conditions of the offset or offset sites. We here aim to map a conservation area map in consideration of the environmental characteristics of Jeju Island and to select a potential offset area that can practically work offset. We will use ‘Zonation’ program, which is a systematic conservation planning-based model. Zonation is a useful land planning tool that can minimize development impact and realize biodiversity offset (Wintle, 2008; Lethomaki & Moilanen, 2013). The biodiversity attributes inputs required for running Zonation are potential habitat data using MaxEnt and environmental variable data. As a result, we will identify the spatial range and location of the potential biodiversity offset area through Zonation Priority Rank Map output. In addition, we can also analyze their spatial and environmental characteristics, and group out the shape of potential offset site composition (size or pattern). This study can be utilized as a basis for feasible offset policy by proposing potential offset areas through selecting conservation areas in Jeju Island. This work was conducted with the support of the Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) through its Urban Ecological Health Promotion Technology Development Project, and funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) (2020002770003).

How to cite: Shin, Y. J., Lee, S., Jeong, D., and Jeon, S.: Mapping the Biodiversity Conservation Value for Potential Offset Area, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3421, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3421, 2022.

*Corresponding author: Xiaolu Tang (lxtt2010@163.com)

Net primary productivity (NPP) is a key parameter to characterize terrestrial ecological processes. NPP reflects the carbon sequestration capacity of vegetation to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, and plays an important role in mitigating atmospheric carbon dioxide content. Currently, the majority of studies focused on the model efficiency total NPP at the global scale. However, whether the model resolution of NPP affects the NPP amount at the global is still uncertainty. To fill this knowledge gap, we first collected 3307 NPP field observations from published literatures, and then model NPP using climate, soil, and vegetation variables using Random Forest (RF) to predicted global NPP at the spatial resolutions of 0.05°, 0.25° and 0.5°. Results showed that RF could well capture the spatial and temporal variability of NPP with the model efficiencies (R²) of 0.55, 0.52 and 0.53 for at the resolution of 0.05°, 0.25° and 0.5°, respectively. Similar spatial patterns were also found for NPP at different spatial resolutions and NPP decreased with increased latitude where the highest NPP was found in the tropical regions and the lowest NPP were distributed in high latitude areas, e.g. alpine tundra. However, a great difference was found for the magnitude of NPP resulting a great difference in total global NPP of 71.5, 78.6, 87.7 Pg C year^-1 from 1981 to 2016 for the resolutions of 0.05°, 0.25° and 0.5°, respectively. These findings suggested the challenges to improve modelling accuracies of the global carbon fluxes used appropriate resolutions.

Keywords: Net primary productivity; Different resolutions; Random Forest; Spatial pattern; Appropriate resolution;

Acknowledgment: the study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (31800365).

How to cite: Zhou, T., Tang, X., Hou, Y., Luo, X., Yang, Z., Lai, Y., Yu, P., Luo, K., and Zhao, R.: Comparing the spatio-temporal differences of global NPP simulation data with different resolutions, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3656, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3656, 2022.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a powerful concept to drive action towards a more sustainable future. However, the SDGs are formulated in a qualitative and generic way whereas specific and quantitative definitions of targets are required to steer policy and practice.

The Indus river basin is a global hotspot for future climate change and socioeconomic development. The basin has the largest continuous irrigation scheme in the world, and hydropower is developing rapidly with a large hydropower potential still untapped. Therefore, water, food and energy are strongly interlinked in the basin’s water-food-energy nexus. The basin already faces insecurity of water, food and energy in the present situation, and with strong projected climate and socioeconomic change, achieving the SDGs for these three resources in the basin will be challenging.

Here we present a novel approach to translate the global SDGs for water, food and energy (SDGs 2, 6 and 7) to quantitative targets specified for the Indus river basin. Our approach is based on a resource accounting framework operating at sub-basin scale and monthly time step, combining models and geospatial data. The approach uses ensembles of downscaled projections for three climate change scenarios driving water availability and three sets of downscaled projections of socioeconomic drivers, including population and GDP, as main drivers for the demand for water, food and energy. The accounting framework considers dependencies between the three resources and represents scenario-specific exchange of resources between sub-basins in this transboundary river basin. The approach results in scenario-specific quantitative targets for water, food and energy to be realized to achieve the three related SDGs at the river basin scale.

How to cite: Lutz, A., Smolenaars, W., Dhaubanjar, S., Jamil, K., Biemans, H., Ludwig, F., and Immerzeel, W.: From SDGs to IDGs: Translating global Sustainable Development Goals for water, food and energy to river basin specific Indus Development Goals, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4378, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4378, 2022.

City-level CO2 emissions inventories are foundational for supporting the EU’s decarbonization goals. Inventories are essential for priority setting and for estimating impacts from the decarbonization transition. Here we present a new CO2 emissions inventory for all 116,572 municipal and local government units in Europe, containing 108,000 cities at the smallest scale used. The inventory spatially disaggregates the national reported emissions, using 9 spatialization methods to distribute the 167 line items detailed in the National Inventory Reports (NIRs) using the UNFCCC Common Reporting Framework (CRF). The novel contribution of this model is that results are provided per administrative jurisdiction at multiple administrative levels, following the region boundaries defined OpenStreetMap, using a new spatialization approach. Project website: openghgmap.net

How to cite: Moran, D., Pichler, P.-P., Zheng, H., Muri, H., Klenner, J., Kramel, D., Többen, J., Weisz, H., Wiedmann, T., Wykmans, A., Strømman, A. H., and Gurney, K. R.: openghgmap.net -  Estimating CO2 Emissions for 108,000 European Cities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5400, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5400, 2022.

Land cover (LC) is an important indicator to reach several of the targets under the Global Goals. Accurate global LC time-series are thus vital to monitor sustainable development. Although the number and quality of open-access, remotely sensed LC products is increasing, all products have uncertainties due to widespread classification errors. However, the relative magnitude of uncertainties among exiting LC products is largely unknown, which hampers their confident selection and robust use for sustainable development evaluation and planning. To close this gap, we quantified region-, time-period-, and coarse-LC class-specific data uncertainties for the 10 most widely used global LC time-series. To this end, we developed a novel multi-scale validation framework that accounts for differences in mapping resolutions and scale mismatches between the spatial extent of map grid cells and validation samples. We aimed for a fair validation assessment by carefully evaluating the quality of our validation samples with respect to landscape heterogeneity that LC products often fail to classify accurately. To address the issue, we supported the validation assessment with Landsat-based measures of cross-scale spectra similarity. The metric was computed by taking advantage of the full Landsat archive in Google Earth Engine. We base our assessment on more than 1.8 million globally integrated LC validation sites, where we mobilized around 2.8 million samples during the period 1980-2020 composed by hundreds of sampling effort of varied nature, from field surveys to crowdsourcing campaigns. Here, we will present the results of the assessment, providing insights on global and regional patterns of LC uncertainties. We found that no single product is more accurate over the others in mapping all LC classes, regions and time-periods. We will provide recommendations on the selection of fit-for-purpose LC time-series, and discuss future strategies for addressing their uncertainties in sustainable development evaluation and planning.

How to cite: barrasso, C., remelgado, R., and meyer, C.: A global assessment of spatiotemporal uncertainties in Land Cover – a key indicator for monitoring sustainable development, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6287, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6287, 2022.

Abstract

Sweden aims to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2045. To do this, one strategy could be increasing the biomass contribution in energy sector as approximately 75% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are related to energy consumption. Therefore, it is beneficial to explore efficient ways to upgrade biomass materials into high value-added bioenergy. This study considers the potential of Miscanthus cultivation and its application as biofuel materials in Sweden in terms of carbon sequestration and contribution in climate impact mitigation. Miscanthus, as an energy crop with relatively low maintenance requirements and a high dry matter yield and energy content, can play a major role in the sustainable development of biofuels. Using Miscanthus for energy, results in avoiding fossil fuel combustion and the corresponding GHG emissions. The results of this assessment demonstrated that the Miscanthus cultivation contributes in soil organic carbon sequestration by over one tonne carbon ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ which results in mitigating a significant amount of soil CO₂ fluxes. Therefore, the adaption of Miscanthus biomass, would directly contribute in UN Goal 7, affordable and clean energy, and Goal 13, climate action due to a significant reduction in GHG emissions. The integration of Miscanthus plant into the landscape may stimulate the economy of rural areas in the country and offer more profit than afforestation and reforestation on abandoned and marginal croplands.

Keywords: Energy crops, Climate change, Bioenergy, Soil organic carbon, Ecosystem services

How to cite: Mohammadi, A.: Carbon sequestration potential of Miscanthus application as biofuel source in Sweden, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6413, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6413, 2022.

The topography of Sichuan Province is extremely complex, with a rich variety of vegetation, and its vegetation shows a clear horizontal and vertical distribution structure. The subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest is the zonal vegetation of Sichuan. In 1980, according to the field survey data, forestry scientists roughly divided the evergreen broad-leaved forest in Sichuan Province into Erlang Mountain, Daxiangling Mountain, Xiaoliang Mountain or Huangmaogeng. It was divided into a dry evergreen broad-leaved forest in the west and a moist evergreen broad-leaved forest in the east. However, there is no quantitative classification of wet and dry evergreen broad-leaved forests in Sichuan. The traditional forest vegetation survey mainly relies on manual field survey, which has a long period, high cost, and consumes a lot of manpower and material resources. Remote sensing technology, with its wide coverage, large amount of information and short update cycle, brings the possibility of rapid and accurate quantitative classification of wet and dry evergreen broad-leaved forests. In this paper, based on the field survey data of evergreen broad-leaved forests in Sichuan Province, we combined NASADEM_HGT elevation data and Landsat8 images to perform SCS+C topographic correction on remote sensing images of the whole region of Sichuan on the Google earth engine cloud computing platform, and also based on the differences in spectral, textural and temporal characteristics between dry and wet evergreen broad-leaved forests. The experimental results were compared with the field survey data and obtained excellent accuracy, and it provides a strong technical support for vegetation mapping and forestry resources investigation and monitoring, and also lays a certain foundation for the classification of complex mountain forest vegetation.

How to cite: zhang, S.: The division of dry and wet areas of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Sichuan Province, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7143, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7143, 2022.

Climate change has been recognised for decades, and environmental risks related to it are expected to become more common over time as the world's population continues to grow. This tendency is compounded by people congregating in areas such as coastal regions, which are becoming increasingly vulnerable due to climate change. It is demonstrated that overpopulated regions need robust early warning systems representing the region's complex systems to allow all stakeholders to receive the correct information and respond appropriately and quickly under extreme climate events to avoid losing lives and property. The concept of a 'digital twin' is proposed as an accurate virtual representation of the effect of climate events on a specific region, which can be used as a tool to achieve better resilience of cities against extreme events. A digital twin can be created by combining data from various IoT sensors and artificial intelligence with a city model to represent a digital replica of the actual world. This paper presents an up-to-date picture of the GIS-based digital twin technology developed in the last decade for the early warning of extreme climate events worldwide and their integration with the smart city management systems. The findings suggest that GIS-based digital twin technology for severe climate hazard early warning is an emerging method. Yet, it has gained prominence in recent years due to developments in technology, software development, and communication technologies. However, much more research on digital twins is necessary to create a more effective early warning system approach. This paper highlights a potential framework for the development, implementation, and application of GIS-Based digital twins in climate resilience management in coastal regions.

How to cite: Riaz, K., McAfee, M., Anton, I., and Gharbia, S.: Conceptualising the management of climate extreme events through the GIS-based digital twin system, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7343, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7343, 2022.

Monitoring carbon release and sequestration is now more important than ever. Not only to confirm that carbon sinks remain intact or vulnerable ecosystems do not further degrade, but also to keep track of our journey towards carbon neutrality, where increasing efforts to offset CO2 emissions have been initiated. Amongst a number of solutions, carbon trading schemes have been introduced, such as the EU Emission Trading System that is used in programs where local smallholder farmers benefit from transitioning towards agroforestry. Critical to the success of such programs is the use of accurate, scalable and transparent remote sensing technologies that objectively monitor the carbon that trees in a given plot of land have removed from the atmosphere.

At Satelligence, we exploit radar and optical satellite data worldwide and at scale to empower clients to combat deforestation and decrease carbon losses, as well as to protect biodiversity and prevent land degradation. In this contribution, we will present our approach to model Aboveground Biomass (AGB) over tropical moist forests at (sub) national scale based on data from several Earth Observation missions (GEDI, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Landsat) and machine learning models. In-situ data, where available, are integrated to improve models at local and regional scales. We will show preliminary results of modeled AGB and carbon sequestration over large areas as well as individual agricultural plots for selected countries in Africa and South America.

How to cite: Foresta, L., Alkema, S., Anders, N., Masselink, R., Schut, V., Takacs, S., and Vrielink, A.: Modeling Aboveground Biomass and carbon sequestration at local and national scale with in-situ and remote sensing data, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9721, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9721, 2022.

The western Himalaya is one of the most climate-sensitive and ecologically vulnerable ecosystems of the world. In the recent past, the region has undergone rapid alterations owing to climate change and paced urbanization. These alterations have significantly impacted Terrestrial Net Primary Productivity (TNPP) of the region. The present study takes the emerging urbanizing centers: Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand) and Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), situated in Indian western Himalaya to estimate TNPP dynamics of various land use classes. The study demonstrates usage of Enhanced Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (ESTARFM) for predicting a high spatio-temporal Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery obtained by fusing spatial details of Landsat NDVI and temporal details of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI images. The predicted NDVI showed a good agreement with actual Landsat NDVI (R²=0.64 and 0.89; RMSE: 0.09 and 0.04; p < 0.01 for Dharamsala and Pithoragarh, respectively), therefore was reliable for TNPP estimations. This was assimilated in Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach (CASA) model for TNPP estimation for the years 2001 to 2019. The preliminary results show a net loss in TNPP in both of the urbanizing centers. During the study period 2001-2019, TNPP fluctuated annually and showed a decreasing trend of 1475.77 g C m^-2 year^-1 and 790.84 g C m^-2 year^-1 in Dharamsala and Pithoragarh, respectively. Among the forest vegetation classes, Oak the most dominant forest class experienced the highest decline in TNPP accounting for 67.55% and 34.04% of net TNPP loss in Dharamsala and Pithoragarh, respectively. The urban expansion contributed to 14.77% (Dharamsala) and 9.77% (Pithoragarh) decline of net TNPP loss. The results provide a better understanding of spatio-temporal dynamics of TNPP consequent to climatic variability and urbanization and provide a theoretical reference for future urban planning.

How to cite: Sharma, S., Joshi, P. K., and Fürst, C.: Terrestrial net primary productivity dynamics under climatic variability and urban expansion in western Himalaya, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11084, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11084, 2022.

Satellite remote sensing allows for large scale monitoring with low cost and high revisit time. However, in some applications, it does not provide all the information needed by the analyst for the full characterization of the problem due to, as an example, insufficient resolution or lack of specific measurements. This can lead to inaccuracies in classification and/or detection tasks. Nevertheless, satellite data can be used to guide subsequent discovery, recognition and characterization actions, defining potential areas of interest of limited extension that can be furtherly investigated with on-site strategies. This work presents an innovative framework showing how to use incomplete and inaccurate information extracted by satellite images in order to address on-ground discovery actions aimed to the mapping and the characterization of illegal micro-dumps in Campania Region (Italy). In particular, high-resolution images up to 50 cm resolution are exploited to detect potential micro-dumps by means of a statistical learning method based on spatial features. The detection map is then used to create a priority map based on environmental risk considerations, such as the extension of the area interested by the dump and its proximity to urban settlements, and previous risk mitigation actions. This information is ingested by a planning system in order to allocate and calculate patrolling routes based on the available manpower and vehicles for on-site surveying. The survey is implemented by means of drones equipped with payloads and software allowing for real-time three-dimensional reconstruction of the scene and volumetric estimations. This provides further data to assess the real dangerousness of the site giving to decision makers essential information to plan remediation actions. The system is demonstrated through a case study showing all the stages of the decision process.

How to cite: Amitrano, D., Angelino, C. V., Cicala, L., Gargiulo, F., Gigante, G., Nebula, F., Palumbo, R., Parrilli, S., Pascarella, D., Pigliasco, G., and Tufano, F.: A multiscale approach for discovery of illegal micro-dumps based on satellite detections, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11923, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11923, 2022.

Energy has been identified as an enabler for several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Globally, 759 million people (2019) still lack access to electricity. Energy planning is important to describe the pathway to achieve the nations goals, where energy systems models are important tools to explore scenarios and provide insight. Until recently, modelling energy access with low electrification rate was conducted either at low spatial (e.g. national) or temporal resolution (e.g. annual time slices).  The central grid is often modelled as a black box with approximate optimization methods. This is recognised as unsuitable for understanding integration of technological alternatives to a centralised grid, including distributed generation and mini-grids/renewables. However, methods to model national energy systems at very high spatial and temporal resolutions are data and computation intensive. At the same time increased transparency on the data and code behind these models and insight is important as energy infrastructure is both capital intensive and strategic for the nation.

In this paper we investigate the use of OSeMOSYS, an open-source energy systems model, and increase the spatial resolution while keeping a medium time resolution. OSeMOSYS is a linear programming model and conveniently finds the global optimum in contrast to approximate methods. The approach provides insights into the trade-offs across supply and demand. The model generation is available in an open-source repository where results can be reproduced.

For this paper we use Kenya as our case study where still 16 million people lack access to electricity (2019). We select the spatial resolution to 378 supply cells (40x40km square cells) which leads to 591 demand cells split between electrified and un-electrified. The modelled number of seasons are 12 and the day is split into 3 slices: day, evening, and night, leading to 36 time slices. Specific demand profiles for electrified and un-electrified are assessed in combination with location specific supply options (expansion from the grid, PV, wind, diesel gensets).

Our preliminary results show that the varying un-electrified demand profile, with a high evening peak and low night-time demand, hybrid solutions are preferred with more than one supply option to meet the demand. The expansion of the grid to cells located far away is not motivated due to the low expected consumption, therefore decentralized supply options are required to serve at a high service level.

The results highlight the need for further work to investigate the sensitivity of the spatial and temporal resolutions in combine in energy systems optimization models.

How to cite: Moksnes, N., Howells, M., and Usher, W.: Increasing spatial and temporal resolution in energy system optimization model for energy access – the case of Kenya, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12071, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12071, 2022.

Following the Paris Agreement (2015) that aims to limit climate warming, the Dutch government presented a National Climate Agreement in 2019. This agreement stated the overall ambition of reducing the national greenhouse gas emission by 49% in 2030 (compared to 1990) and allocates this reduction target to different sectors, such as industry, mobility, agriculture or land use. Within the latter sector, the peatland meadows are currently estimated to contribute ~4.6 to 7 Mton per year of CO₂ to the national Dutch greenhouse gas emission. In the National Climate Agreement, the aim is to reduce the net CO₂ emission from the peatland meadows with 1 Mton per year by 2030. 

To comply with the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for peatlands, a set of measures that raise groundwater levels are currently being proposed and tested in pilots. The Dutch National Research Programme on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Peat Meadows (NOBV) investigates the effects of the proposed measures on the greenhouse gas emission balance under different environmental conditions. In the National Climate Agreement, it was decided that annual progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions needs to be monitored. The NOBV consortium is developing a registration system for this monitoring and presents it current status and ideas for future development in this contribution.

The registration system SOMERS (Subsurface Organic Matter Emission Registration System) is based on a multi-model ensemble approach. Using numerical models that simulate groundwater and carbon dynamics, the CO₂ emission as a result of peat decomposition is calculated. Within SOMERS, existing models are supplemented by two newly developed models for assessing groundwater dynamics and peat decomposition, that require limited data input and have a short runtime. The new models simulate at parcel resolution and together are used to make a multi-model ensemble estimate of annual, national peatland greenhouse gas emissions since 2016 (the reference year). The new models are tested with annual carbon flux estimates. In the long run, we envisage to fully couple the modelling approach with the automated field measurements that are being collected in a new national measurement network.

In this contribution, SOMERS will be introduced, and the calibration and validation approach will be discussed. We present predictions, under idealized average weather conditions, to establish effects of proposed mitigation measures. This directly serves policy development in regional spatial plans for the Dutch peatland meadows. Lastly, a first national peatland CO₂ emission budget based on SOMERS is presented, which after some further development may support LULUCF-sector reporting in the Netherlands.

How to cite: Erkens, G., Melman, R., Jansen, S., Boonman, J., van der Velde, Y., Hefting, M., Keuskamp, J., van den Berg, M., van den Akker, J., Fritz, C., Bootsma, H., Aben, R., Hessel, R., Hutjes, R., van Asselen, S., Harpenslager, S. F., Kruijt, B., and consortium, N.: SOMERS: Monitoring greenhouse gas emission from the Dutch peatland meadows on parcel level, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12177, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12177, 2022.

Haiti faces extreme land degradation, making the country prone to natural hazards and poverty, both undeniably linked. The Haitian Red Cross partnered with the Netherlands Red Cross, 510, and Commonland to roll out a long-term landscape restoration program. Over two decades, this program aims to realize 30 ‘Green Pearls. These are areas where best practices on restoration are combined to retrieve healthy landscapes, making communities more resilient and empowering people economically. Landscape restoration happens in small areas through planting trees and bushes. To carefully identify reforestation zones with the highest possible potential success rate, GIS-based site suitability analysis is applied using several indicators: Elevation (Slope), Soil (Soil PH, Soil Texture, Soil Bulk Density), and Climate (Solar Radiation, Temperature, Rainfall). Data on these indicators was obtained from different, often satellite-based data sources. All resulting layers (maps) per indicator are by default processed as equally important. However, the analysis can be tailored to produce different outcomes depending on the reclassification and weights given by experts to specific indicators. For the La Vallée de Jacmel region in the Haiti case, weighting was applied with the help of local experts. The output is a raster map indicating the locations for planting trees divided into five classes (from most suitable to least suitable). Currently, social indicators such as land ownership are not yet included. Our site suitability method is set up as a model using only open data from global datasets and is, therefore, replicable to other areas. The default model has also been applied to a similar case in the Kayes region in Mali. However, local knowledge on the significance of specific indicators remains indispensable input for the reforestation model. Overall, the site suitability method has proven to be a very useful digital support for holistic land restoration.

How to cite: Oud, D., Savchuk, A., Quesseveur, S., Mounkaila Issaka, A. A., and van den Homberg, M.: Green pearls: digital support for reforestation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12962, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12962, 2022.

Excessive growth in the global human population and eventually urbanisation has become a serious threat to the environment. These situations arise especially in the rapidly developing nations, India being one of them. A higher population naturally poses a high pressure on the environment directly or indirectly, which is a threat for the sustainable development of the country. Most Indian cities face environmental sustainability challenges. Most cities in India are presently going through rapid urbanization and industrialization which leads to environmental degradation of the city. The objective of this study is to analyse the environmental quality of the selected developing cities and also compare the intensity to which they are affected by urbanisation. The study is performed using satellite-based remote sensing data. Initially, Landsat data is used for the years 2001 to 2021 and is utilized for studying the LULC (land use land cover) transformations. MODIS data products are used at 1 km resolution to extract the biophysical indicators (BI) such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST). MODIS data for PM2.5 is also utilised and finally, an index is calculated to represent the comprehensive environmental quality of the selected cities (CEQI). The yearly and decadal changes in the values of this index is mapped. The LULC transformations depicted a phenomenal decay in the greenness and an increase in the urban built-up area of the city. The CEQI variations and temporal trends reveal the significant deterioration of the overall environmental conditions in most of the cities. This is due to the change in gentrification patterns and also the change in urbanization and the greenness of the city. The study suggests that emission control strategies and urban greening can significantly contribute to enhancing urban environmental quality, especially in rapidly developing cities. The measures suggested to improve the environmental quality can help the policy-makers in the sustainable planning of the city.

How to cite: Singh, S. and Jain, K.: A comparative analysis of urban environmental quality of developing cities of India: A geospatial approach, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13558, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13558, 2022.

To achieve the ambitious but necessary climate targets set by the Paris Agreement, the IPCC model pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels make apparent the need for safeguarding and enhancing the natural global carbon sink – including via carbon dioxide removal (CDR). A range of ocean-based CDR approaches, also termed “negative emissions technologies” (NETs), has been proposed to make use of the ocean’s potential to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in water, biomass, and sediments. The governance framework in place to regulate CDR in the ocean, at this time, is limited to the direct and articulate regulation of ocean fertilization. Meanwhile, other NETs such as ocean alkalinity enhancement and artificial upwelling emerge, but a comprehensive and foresight-oriented regulation for the testing or even deploying at larger scale is missing. Specifically, there is large uncertainty on unintended (positive and negative) effects of these technologies on the condition of the ocean, in addition to enhanced carbon uptake and storage, and how these may impede on or support other global sustainability goals. The deployment of NETs in the ocean poses additional governance complexities relating to unknowns, uncertainties, and transboundary issues. In a study that is part of the EU H2020-project OceanNETs, we explore to what extent the current global governance framework directly or indirectly regulates emerging ocean-based NETs and reflect on the particularities and requirements for their comprehensive governance. The analysis considers the gaps, challenges, needs, and opportunities for comprehensive governance of ocean-based NETs. 

How to cite: Neumann, B. and Röschel, L.: Global governance of ocean-based negative emission technologies. Exploring gaps, challenges, and opportunities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-893, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-893, 2022.

Facing the dual threats of climate and socio-economic changes, how the social-ecological systems (SES) in the Tibet Autonomous Region can seize the opportunity of ecological restoration to enhance the quality of the environment while improving the relationship between human and nature is of great significance to promote the regional sustainable development. Thus, regarding human as the key component, we used Ostrom’s SES framework as an analytical fundation to analyze the impact of the implementation of ecological engineering on local human-policy-resource connection. We distributed questionnaires for local residents, distinguished experimental groups (EG, n=325) and control groups (CG,n =165), and used a network approach to construct indicators for assessing effectiveness of ecological engineering, including overall connectivity and evenness. Meanwhile, random forest regression was used to explore the background variables of the dominant connection and accordingly proposed subsequent directions for optimal governance. We found that interviewees in areas where ecological engineering was implemented had more positive perceptions of the importance of ecosystem services, the relationship between ecological conservation and well-being, attitudes toward ecological engineering, and the impact of measures. The overall connectivity and evenness of EG were significantly higher than that of CG. The implementation of ecological engineering enhanced the connection between local people and the environment, but caused some inconvenience to local residents’ livelihoods. Besides, elevation and annual precipitation were the background variables that dominated the overall connectivity. The overall connectivity was lower in alpine steppes with elevation of around 4000 m and semi-arid areas with annual precipitation around 400-500 mm. The implementation of ecological engineering played a positive role in alleviating human-nature relationship in tensions and promoting collective governance of common pool resources, but the governance process still involved risks. Safeguarding and improving the residents’ livelihoods and enhancing the regional weak SES coupling due to geographical constraints are the future directions for optimal governance.

How to cite: Wang, Y., Liu, Y., Wu, X., Wang, X., Yao, Y., and Fu, B.: The implementation of ecological engineering in Tibet has strengthened the local human-policy-resource connection, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1956, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1956, 2022.

Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) like Sludge Treatment Reed Beds (STRBs) can address resource recovery from sewage sludge in urban and rural areas to boost circular economy and to mitigate climate change. To ensure successful implementation of STRBs, an evaluation of stakeholders’ perceptions can be helpful to identify relevant barriers and opportunities. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders, which were categorized in 5 interest groups including academics, state and governments, NGOs, water companies and local communities across Iceland. The interviews were then transcribed and effective elements influencing STRB technology in Iceland were identified through an open-coded method on the transcriptions. The elements were categorized as independent elements (NBS actors, on-going projects, feasibility, legal, economic, sociological, and natural criteria), which were grouped into 7 classifications impacting dependent elements (relevant aspects of STRB, STRB services and system cost). Through Causal Diagrams (CDs), the impact of the independent elements was visualized on the dependent elements. The result of the study is exposed in 8 causal networks and 4 aggregated CDs for sustainability, climate change, biodiversity and circular economy together with mediators interpreting the impacts. The complexity of multi-sequenced causalities of a heterogeneous nature is depicted in CDs implying by stakeholders’ reports and expectations. The study exposes information on the compatible aspects, where further research is required to facilitate the use of STRB for the resource recovery of sewage sludge in Iceland. Therefore, our findings can enable decision makers with intracommunity information to identify elements impacting STRB application, in which the influence of the multiple groups of interests is regarded. 

Keywords: Nature-Based Solutions; Sludge Treatment Reed Beds, Resource Recovery, Causal Diagram, climate change, circular economy, sustainability

How to cite: Gholipour, A., Duarte, E., Fragoso, R., Galvao, A., and Christian Finger, D.: Mapping NBS stakeholders’ perspective over Sludge Treatment Reed Bed (STRB) in Iceland, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1978, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1978, 2022.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has become part of the portfolio of solutions to mitigate climate change. In combination with emission reductions, CDR may be critical to achieving the goal of limiting global warming to below 2°C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement. Due to its potential high productivity and environmental co-benefits, macroalgae cultivation has recently become a prominent ocean-based CDR strategy. However, estimates of the CDR potential of large-scale deployment are highly limited. Here we simulate idealized global deployment of macroalgae-based CDR using the NEMO-PISCESv2 ocean biogeochemical model at high spatial resolution (0.25° nominal horizontal resolution). Macroalgae growth is confined to the upper 100m of the water column in Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) free of sea ice and with an appropriate nitrate/phosphate regime. Although the loss of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) through macroalgal growth enhances the flux of atmospheric carbon into the ocean, this increase in carbon uptake is less than the rate of macroalgal production. In the absence of any nutrient limitation on growth, the enhancement in ocean carbon uptake is only 73-77% of the carbon lost from the water column due to macroalgal production. However, when macroalgae nutrient limitation/uptake is additionally accounted for, the increase in ocean carbon uptake accounts for only 41-42% of the potential carbon lost through macroalgae production. These inefficiencies are due to ocean transport replacing part of the DIC lost in the upper water column with DIC from depth, the influence of local nutrient concentrations on the vertical profile of macroalgal production, and feedbacks on the nutrient resources available for phytoplankton net primary production. CDR efficiency is shown to scale near-linearly between scenarios assuming 1% to 10% of the global EEZ area is cultivated for macroalgae. The efficiency of macroalgal CDR shows significant regional variability, with much of the enhancement in ocean carbon uptake (43%-46%) occurring outside EEZs, posing potential difficulties to national scale accounting.

How to cite: Berger, M., Bopp, L., Ho, D. T., and Kwiatkowski, L.: Assessing global macroalgal carbon dioxide removal potential using a high-resolution ocean biogeochemistry model, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4699, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4699, 2022.

Urban areas are major contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To address climate change, many cities have developed climate action plans (CAPs) as strategic roadmaps to reduce their emissions and strive for emission neutrality and climate resilience by 2050 or before. It has been more than a decade since the first of these plans were put in place, and it is now important to evaluate these plans and to access whether city-level climate ambitions will be realised or perhaps need adjustment to pursue for improvements in climate resilience over time

 This work aims to further our understanding of urban GHG emissions, by completing existing urban carbon emissions data with blue-green contributions to the urban carbon cycle. In a previous study, it was found that the inclusion of blue-green emissions in urban carbon accounting in Stockholm, Sweden had a significant impact on that region’s ability to reach net zero emissions in the coming decades (Page et al., 2021). In this study, we complete the urban emissions data for cities across the European Union (EU) in order to assess if, and for which types of cities, the inclusion of blue-green emissions in the GHG accounting is similarly relevant.

Furthermore, we will use data about the CAPs produced and implemented by these cities together with the completed GHG emissions in order to assess whether the actions and plans made by many European cities have actually had any impact on the emissions from these cities. The inclusion of blue-green emissions and sequestrations in this assessment is particularly important, as many of the strategies included in CAPs impact blue-green areas, such as the implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS).

Conclusions will be drawn about the role of green-blue areas in urban GHG emissions, the role which CAPs have played in reducing emissions in European cities, and how and where these could potentially be adapted to further reduce future GHG emissions in urban areas.

Keywords: Sustainable cities; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Nature-based Solutions; Climate Action Plans

References:

Page J, Kåresdotter E, Destouni G, et al. (2021) A more complete accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration in urban landscapes. Anthropocene 34: 100296. DOI: 10.1016/j.ancene.2021.100296.

How to cite: Page, J., Pan, H., and Kalantari, Z.: Completing Urban GHG Emissions Data to Assess the Effectiveness of Climate Action Plans in Europe, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5175, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5175, 2022.

Without substantial decarbonization of the global economy, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels are projected to lead to severe impacts on ecosystems and human livelihoods. Integrated assessments of economy and climate therefore favour large-scale CO₂ removal to reach ambitious temperature-stabilization targets. However, most of the proposed approaches to artificially remove CO₂ from the atmosphere are in conflict with planetary boundaries due to land-use needs and they may come with unintended climatic side-effects. Long-term draw-down of CO₂ by photoelectrochemical (PEC) reduction is a recent and promising approach that potentially entails a very low water footprint and could offer a variety of carbon sink products for safe geological storage. For renewable hydrogen fuel production, PEC devices have already been demonstrated to deliver high solar-to-fuel efficiencies. If such devices are adjusted to deliver high solar-to-carbon efficiencies for carbon dioxide removal, they would require comparably little land for achieving annual sequestration rates that are compatible with limiting global warming to 2°C or below. Yet, no production-scale prototype exists and the climatic side-effects of such an "artificial photosynthesis'' approach for negative emissions are unknown. Here, we discuss our work towards investigating potential impacts of PEC CO₂ removal on the climate and the carbon cycle in simulations with the comprehensive Earth System Model MPI-ESM. We designed a scheme to represent hypothetical PEC devices as a land surface type which is influencing land-atmosphere energy and moisture fluxes. We parameterize the irradiation-driven carbon sequestration of the devices and interactively couple their deployment area and location to a negative emission target. We plan to compare the potential side-effects between scenarios of dense, localized deployment and spread-out, decentralized application. These scenarios represent different guiding objectives for deploying hypothetical PEC systems such as maximizing the insolation per module area, or mitigating the overall impacts on climate and on carbon stocks. For the different scenarios, we intend to investigate changes in the surface balances, which could impact atmospheric circulations patterns. We further plan to quantify the amount of land-stored carbon that is relocated due to land-use change, as this affects the amount of CO₂ that can effectively be withdrawn from the atmosphere. Finally, we relate theoretical expectations for area requirements and CO₂ withdrawal with results from the coupled simulations which could inform the technological development. While ambitious emission reductions remain the only appropriate measure for stabilizing anthropogenic warming, our work could advance the understanding of possible benefits and side-effects of hypothetical PEC CO₂ removal.

M. M. May & K. Rehfeld, ESD Ideas: Photoelectrochemical carbon removal as negative emission technology. Earth Syst. Dynam. 10, 1–7 (2019).

How to cite: Adam, M., Kleinen, T., May, M. M., Lörch, D., Samanta, A., and Rehfeld, K.: Investigating potential climatic side-effects of a large-scale deployment of photoelectrochemical devices for carbon dioxide removal, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6126, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6126, 2022.

In the face of climate change, the government of Taiwan requires new mitigation policies and implementation strategies. As forest plantations are commonly accepted as great carbon sinks, developing reliable carbon systems linking forestry carbon sequestration into green carbon credits in the economic sector requires synergic integration to examine potential carbon sink capability of forest plantations under the ever-changing climate. In this regard, this study developed a process-based stand growth model based on the structure of the Physiological Principles for Predicting Growth (3-PG) for carbon sequestration estimations of Sugi plantations in the National Taiwan University (NTU) Experimental Forest. The model considered monthly solar radiation, temperature, precipitation, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to simulate dynamic biomass production, and then allocated the simulated biomass to root, stem, and foliage by allometric equations fitted to biomass data from the SugiHinoki Database. After that, the mortality of stand was determined by using a zero-inflated Poisson modelling on long-term growth data collected by the NTU Experimental Forest during 1921-2019. In addition, we performed a scenario analysis to forecast future stand growth under 4 climate scenarios of RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6, and RCP8.5. Results revealed higher annual biomass increment (around 4 t ha^-1y^-1) in the end of the century in RCP6.0 and RCP8.5, and lower increment (around 2.5 t ha^-1y^-1) in RCP2.6 and RCP4.5. A step-wise multiple linear regression analysis on the simulated growth data and climatic inputs revealed stronger positive impact of CO₂ concentration than precipitation on unit biomass primary production (NPP/Biomass). Temperature had comparable counter impact against precipitation, and solar radiation showed the least negative influence on unit biomass primary production. Based on this process-based stand growth model, we are able to dig into the relation between climatic variables and carbon sequestration rate, and help sketch prospect of plantations in the carbon market for plantation managers, investors, and policy makers.

How to cite: Li, H.-E. and Cheng, S.-T.: Forecasting impacts of climate change on plantation carbon sink capability, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7019, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7019, 2022.

Globally, urban areas will face multiple water-related challenges in the near future. The main challenges are intensified droughts leading to water scarcity, increased flood risk due to extreme rainfall intensification, increased total water demand due to an increasing urban population, amplified urban heat island intensities due to urban sprawl, and reduction in urban carbon sink due to plant water stress. Urban greening is an excellent option for mitigating flood risk and excess urban heat. Meanwhile, rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems can cope with water supply needs and urban water management. In this study, we investigated how urban greening and RWH can work together to mitigate the aforementioned risks. We evaluate the joined-up management approach under climate projections for 30 cities in the USA spanning a variety of climates, population densities and urban landscapes. By incorporating a new RWH module in the urban ecohydrological model UT&C and flexible operational rules of reusing harvested water for domestic use and urban green space irrigation, we tested 4 intervention approaches: control, RWH installation, urban greening supported by RWH, and urban greening supported by traditional irrigation (i.e., supplying via mains water). Each intervention approach was evaluated using our adapted version of UT&C and forced by the last generation convection-permitting model simulations of current (2001-2011) and end-of-century (RCP8.5) climate from Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF). The volume of RWH is assumed to be 2000L per household for all cities. Results showed that neither urban greening nor RWH could contribute significantly to reducing the expected increase in canyon temperature, because of the strong change in background climate (i.e., increases in average atmospheric temperature). However, RWH alone can sufficiently reduce the intensifying surface flood risk and effectively enhance water conservation, and urban greening can significantly increase the carbon sink of cities especially in dry regions, and if supported by traditional irrigation. Those results vary with the background climate: the benefits of urban greening, either supported by RWH or traditional irrigation, on canyon temperature reduction and carbon sink improvement increased with average air temperature and decreased with wetness index respectively; the benefits of RWH on runoff reduction and water conservation are both positively dependent on local annual precipitation.

How to cite: Zhang, Z., Paschalis, A., Mijic, A., Dobson, B., and Butler, A.: Assessing co-benefits of urban greening coupled with rainwater harvesting management under current and future climates across USA cities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7324, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7324, 2022.

Multiple disaster risks are interconnected and are commonly caused by ecosystem degradation. Ecosystem degradation also drives many of the world's major problems, including biodiversity loss, climate change, and poverty. Ecosystem-based solutions such as ecosystem-based adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and community forestry are increasingly implemented in various contexts. However, little is known about possible interlinkages, synergies, and trade-offs among those ecosystem-based responses and potential barriers to their integration. This study explores spatial and conceptual synergies and trade-offs among ecosystem-based adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and community forestry and the barriers to implementing integrated actions.

The study was located in Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar. The research first used a comprehensive socio-ecological risk assessment framework and multi-risk impact chains to understand high-risk areas and identify potential areas for ecosystem-based adaptation. Potential areas for biodiversity conservation and community forestry respectively were then identified using criteria developed based on a literature review. At this point, spatial autocorrelations were tested, and a modified t-test was used to identify spatial relationships among them. Finally, qualitative expert interviews were conducted, and content analysis was used to understand conceptual synergies, trade-offs, and potential barriers for integrated action.

Results show potential for both social and ecological synergies. Ecosystem-based adaptation and biodiversity conservation show synergies with community forestry in the areas of local governance, and the relevance of social factors such as multi-stakeholder awareness, indigenous knowledge, land tenure security, community rule-making and ownership, and biodiversity-friendly livelihoods. Synergies between ecosystem-based adaptation and biodiversity conservation are mostly related to ecological factors such as benefits for biodiversity, ecosystem health, and corridor and buffer functions. Moreover, significant spatial synergies were observed between community forestry and biodiversity conservation areas.

Despite synergies, trade-offs exist and are mainly linked to social inequalities and the use of biodiversity-damaging practices. Spatial trade-offs occur between ecosystem-based adaptation and community forestry due to a lack of land tenure security in high-risk townships. Conceptual trade-offs between ecosystem-based adaptation and community forestry are mainly linked to inequality, lack of access, local power relations, and land tenure insecurity. Trade-offs between biodiversity and the other two are observed due to the use of monocultures, exotic species, and clear-cutting practices. Legal, social, and financial barriers have been identified for the implementation of synergetic actions, while proper facilitation, community rule-making, and biodiversity-friendly livelihoods are key enabling factors in achieving sustainable ecosystem restoration.

This research argues that ecosystem-based adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and community forestry benefit each other, highlighting that fostering those synergies is key for ecosystem restoration and conservation in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty. Furthermore, the research stresses the need to consider community governance and biodiversity aspects in ecosystem-based adaptation to address societal challenges.

How to cite: Wuit Yee Kyaw, H. and Sebesvari, Z.: Assessment of synergies and trade-offs among ecosystem-based adaptation, biodiversity conservation and community forestry in Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7415, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7415, 2022.

There are many uncertainties surrounding solar radiation management (SRM), which cannot all be quantified and reduced using models, laboratory experiments or observations of natural analogs such as volcanic eruptions, ship tracks, or dust storms. While there is broad consensus both in- and outside the scientific community that better understanding of the climate system is beneficial to policy makers and society, the value of improved knowledge of SRM has been highly controversial. Yet, it is evident that SRM research can contribute to quantifying and reducing important uncertainties pertaining to fundamental knowledge on the workings of the Earth system, while also providing essential specific knowledge on positive and negative impacts of SRM to inform future decisions.

In 2016, a group of SRM experts gathered at the Institute for advanced sustainability studies in Potsdam for a workshop to formulate a set of low environmental impact SRM experiment proposals. We present these as a non-exhaustive set of possible experiments with no measurable environmental side effects that could provide valuable information that cannot be obtained from models or lab experiments. Both perturbative and non-perturbative experiments are proposed for different SRM methods including marine cloud brightening, stratospheric aerosol injection and cirrus cloud thinning.

It was found that in the time period between 2016 and now several of the research questions addressed in the experiment proposals have been answered by unrelated experimental environmental science studies, whereas no experimental studies have been carried out in the context of SRM. This finding shows that there is significant overlap in high priority research questions and outcomes of non-SRM and SRM environmental research. In addition, it shows that non-controversial environmental science experiments can provide similar SRM-relevant knowledge as dedicated SRM-experiments. Given that one of the main arguments against SRM research is the potential danger of the acquired knowledge, the finding that obtained knowledge of non-SRM and SRM experiments can be similar raises the question which effect the declared relationship to SRM on outdoors research proposal review and regulation should be.

How to cite: Futerman, G., Janssens, M., de Vries, I., Dykema, J., Parker, A., and Hunt, H.: Governance and science implications of low environmental impact outdoors solar radiation management experiments, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7797, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7797, 2022.

Urban areas are notable sources of atmospheric CO₂ and cities are currently setting up climate programs with the aim of carbon neutrality in the near future. For example, two major cities in Southern Finland, Helsinki and Turku, have set their targets for 2035 and 2029, respectively. Carbon neutrality can be achieved by reducing carbon emissions, compensating them, and / or strengthening carbon sinks in urban vegetation and soils, the last of which is often deemed the most cost-efficient option. However, the current understanding of biogenic carbon cycling in urban environments is based on dynamics observed in more well-known ecosystems such as forests and agricultural lands. Urban ecosystems differ from non-urban areas in terms of temperature, precipitation and water cycling, pollution, and the level of human-induced disturbance. Thus, there is a need for observations on urban carbon to accurately model and estimate the carbon sinks and stocks in urban green space.

We aimed to monitor urban biogenic carbon cycle with an extensive field campaign carried out around the SMEAR III ICOS station in 2020–2022, accompanied by a few satellite sites around the capital region of Finland. In this presentation, we will show soil carbon pools and the dynamics of soil respiration at five different types of urban green space: a managed park lawn with and without trees, small urban forest, apple orchard, and street tree site. Soil respiration was measured with both regularly repeated manual chamber measurements and automatic chambers throughout two growing seasons. Soil carbon stock was estimated by soil samplings conducted in 2020 and 2021. We investigate the role of different drivers in soil CO₂ emission at the various urban green space types and compare those to corresponding metrics measured in non-urban areas. In addition, we test the applicability of Yasso model to simulate the soil carbon dynamics in urban areas.

How to cite: Karvinen, E., Järvi, L., Viskari, T., Havu, M., Kuuri-Riutta, O., Rauhamäki, P., Soininen, J., and Kulmala, L.: The potential of urban soils for carbon neutral cities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7868, 2022.

There are many uncertainties surrounding solar radiation management (SRM), not in the least concerning the technological feasibility of hypothetical deployment scenarios. In sulfate stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) scenarios, the radiative effectiveness of the aerosol is governed by its size distribution. In turn, aerosol size distribution is governed by the aerosol-precursor injection rate and injection plume conditions. Hence, uncertainties in cost and environmental impact of aircraft-based sulfate stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) are primarily determined by uncertainties in injection plume conditions. In addition, the climate impacts and side effects of SAI as simulated by climate models depend on the prescribed initial conditions concerning aerosol characteristics, which also hinge on injection plume dynamics and microphysics.

Up to now, studies into aircraft-based SAI have used simplified plume models, which estimate plume dynamics with considerable uncertainty, and which do not account for effects of the local plume dynamics on the microphysical processes. Here, we work towards reducing this uncertainty by using full computational fluid dynamics representations of plume dynamics within simulations incorporating state-of-the-art microphysics models for the computation of aerosol size distributions in aircraft engine plumes.

In order to anchor our approach in the current literature, we first consider simplified problems with the objective of validating our methodology using existing results. These experiments confirm the attainability of favourable initial aerosol size distributions under roughly the same conditions as shown with other lower-fidelity models. However, our results retain disagreement with respect to previous studies concerning the exact aerosol growth behaviour, highlighting a sensitivity to model choice which may also explain apparent contradictions in those previous studies. 

We then consider a RANS computational fluid dynamic representation of an engine plume. This differs from the simplified plume representation in several ways, including realistic local variations in temperature, vorticity, and eddy viscosity resulting from the inflow determined using a state-of-the-art engine model. This representation is currently being employed in combination with the previously validated microphysical models to simulate realistic aerosol size evolutions for aircraft-based delivery scenarios.

We anticipate our results to (1) provide a higher-confidence foundation on which to base the discussion concerning technological feasibility of SAI-based SRM and (2) constrain the uncertainty range of inputs for model and impact studies, improving reliability of simulations of (desired and undesired) effects of potential SRM scenarios and thereby informing the scientific and public debate.  

How to cite: Tluk, A., de Vries, I., Janssens, M., and Hulshoff, S.: Towards higher fidelity simulations of aerosol growth in aircraft plumes for feasibility and impact assessment of sulfate stratospheric aerosol injection, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7923, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7923, 2022.

Abstract

The challenges posed by the growth of urbanization in Egypt and the development of new cities play an essential role in applying the circular economy (CE) in the construction materials sector and the priorities for promoting sustainable construction activities in the future. Therefore, the construction sector has many adverse environmental impacts on energy and natural resources consumption. Starting from materials production, operation until disposal to landfills. Consequently, the industry is considered one of the most consumers of non-renewable resources and producer of CO2 emissions. On the other hand, applying Nature-based solutions (NbS) to enhance sustainability by protecting the ecosystems and maintaining economic benefits plays a vital role, especially for new Egyptian cities. The research aims to investigate the role of applying NbS for achieving CE in construction materials and eliminate its negative impact in the scope of three factors:  green building materials, waste management systems, renewable energy use. The current research attempts to answer how NbS can improve the CE and reduce environmental impacts of the construction materials sector. Therefore, the SOWT analysis investigated the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats of using the NbS strategies for three different construction sites in Egypt. Furthermore, the survey questionnaire was applied to identify the interactions between the parameters derived from 40 participants such as consultants, architecture engineers, civil engineers, site engineers, project managers and review the previous research efforts. As a result, a conceptual framework was created for the construction materials considering reduce, reuse, recycle, recovery, and disposal, to identify the impact of the implementation of NbS on achieving sustainable development strategies in the Egyptian construction sector. The result showed that the NbS could effectively promote the construction sector and achieve environmental and economic benefits, which consequently help the transition to CE. Therefore, there is the necessity for developing new sustainable policies and cooperation between public and private sectors to support the investments of sustainable strategies in the construction materials market and increase Egyptian society's awareness of the benefits of NbS in economic, environmental, and social aspects.

 Keywords, Nature-based solution, Construction materials, Circular Economy, Egypt 

How to cite: Marey, H., Szabó, G., and Kozma, G.: Using the Nature-Based Solutions for Applying Circular Economy for the Construction Materials Sector in Egypt, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7997, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7997, 2022.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century currently seems to be an ambitious target which will potentially be accompanied by a period of temperature overshoot. Achieving this climate goal might require massive carbon dioxide removal on large scales. Regardless of the feasibility of such removals, their effects on biogeochemical cycles and climate are not well understood. Changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and climate alter the CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and the underlying carbon reservoirs of land and ocean. Carbon-concentration and carbon-climate feedback metrics are useful tools for quantifying such changes in the carbon uptake by land and ocean, currently acting as a sink of carbon. We investigate the changes in carbon feedbacks under overshoot scenarios that could influence mitigation pathways to achieve the temperature goal. An ensemble of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) Earth system models that conducted an idealized ramp-up and ramp-down experiment (1pctCO2, with increasing and later decreasing [CO2] at a rate of 1% per year) has been used and compared against a scenario simulation involving negative emissions (SSP5-3.4-OS). The analyses are based on results from biogeochemically coupled (where land and ocean respond to rising CO2 levels but the climate is kept constant) and fully coupled simulations. For the positive emission phases, the model-mean global average carbon-climate feedback looks roughly similar between the SSP5-3.4-OS and the 1pctCO2 simulations, with a gradual monotonic decreasing behavior in absolute values which translates to a reduction in land and ocean uptakes. The carbon-concentration feedback in SSP5-3.4-OS is larger than in the 1pctCO2 simulations over the ocean. Both the ocean and land simulate an increase in carbon uptake during the ramp-up, while during the ramp-down, their uptakes show a hysteresis behavior. This feature is more prominent in the idealistic 1pctCO2 experiment with a higher [CO2] growth rate and without land use change effects than in the more realistic SSP5-3.4-OS scenario. Also, the time evolution of the global annual carbon-concentration and carbon-climate feedbacks seem to be very similar over natural land areas. In addition, changes in carbon fluxes are compared over the high latitude permafrost and non-permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere. Over land, the carbon-concentration feedback metric is decomposed into different terms to investigate the contributions from changes in live vegetation carbon pools and soil carbon pools. This indicates that the feedback is dominated by the residence time of carbon in vegetation and soil. Furthermore, building on previous studies, feedback metrics are also calculated using an alternative approach of instantaneous flux-based feedback metrics to further compare differences between models. The difference between the two approaches can be seen more obviously in the geographical distribution of the two feedbacks, especially for the negative emission phases of the 1pctCO2 experiment.

How to cite: Asaadi, A., Schwinger, J., Lee, H., Tjiputra, J., Arora, V., Séférian, R., Liddicoat, S., Hajima, T., Santana-Falcòn, Y., and Jones, C.: Carbon cycle feedbacks in an idealized and a scenario simulation of carbon dioxide removal in CMIP6 Earth system models, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8269, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8269, 2022.

With the advances of the Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) concept, much attention is being given to its potential for climate change adaptation. Accordingly, Nature-Based adaptation Solutions (NBaS) have become central elements for action on climate. In the EU, the Horizon 2020 (H2020) program translates the ambition of positioning Europe as the world’s leader in NBS. In an effort to draw a comprehensive roadmap of these efforts, this study investigates 21 H2020 projects that utilize NBaS throughout different ecosystems. The main objectives of this study are to provide an inventory of current knowledge, to extract identified risks and knowledge limitations, and to propose future research orientations.

For this purpose, the CORDIS database was used to identify the relevant projects. Using the keyword nature-based solutions and through a rigorous search of research topics and programs, the following projects were retained (based on the existence of deliverables at the time of this study): CLEARING HOUSE, CLEVER Cities, Connecting Nature, DRYvER, EdiCitNet, EuPOLIS, FutureMARES, GrowGreen, NAIAD, Nature4Cities, NATURVATION, OPERADNUM, PHUSICOS, proGIreg, RECONECT, REGREEN, RENATURE, ThinkNature, UNaLab, Urban GreenUP and URBiNAT. Consequently, 137 deliverables were individually examined. Numerous findings were then obtained. These were divided into general and specific results.

In terms of general results, the definition of the NBS concept is still debated: some projects adopt the EC’s definition, others compare between the EC’s and the IUCN’s definition, while many reformulate their own. Second, the continental geographical gradient of pilot sites follows a dense South-West orientation in contrast to a less developed North-Eastern line. In terms of target ecosystems, 61% of the projects target the urban realm, while freshwater ecosystems come second. The coastal, natural and mountainous environments are the least addressed. The focus on urban systems makes most of the generated knowledge, designed solutions and monitoring methods more or less restricted to this realm, hence not necessarily applicable in other settings. Regarding climatic challenges, urban heat islands and floods came first. These are followed by sea level rise, intense precipitation, heat stress, storms, erosion and landslides.

In terms of specific findings, current knowledge and limitations were grouped in-depth per ecosystem (urban, freshwater, marine-coastal, mountainous, forest-natural, and agricultural) and per main research topics (climate change adaptation, risks of oversimplification, system complexity, uncertainty, the scale quandary, progress measuring-monitoring, and disservices). On this basis, several research perspectives were then proposed. Accordingly, interest in NBS-NBaS should extend beyond the urban ecosystem, while deeper knowledge on nature (the physical fundamentals of the N) in NBS-NBaS is needed. It is also important to understand if NBaS are intended to withstand weather change and/or climate change. For the implementation of wide-scale solutions, an extension beyond conservationism is needed, and a better accommodation of uncertainties is required. Therefore, understanding ecosystem tipping points, thresholds, and the resource efficiency of NBaS is primordial. Finally, it is crucial to acknowledge that both ecosystem development and climate change will keep progressing throughout the existence of NBaS. Therefore, the interacting co-evolution of ecosystems, NBaS and climate change should be further studied where their interaction could be forgotten.

How to cite: Al Sayah, M., Versini, P.-A., and Schertzer, D.: A systematic analysis of Horizon 2020 Nature-Based adaptation Solutions projects, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8598, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8598, 2022.

Clear implementing plan for Nature-based solutions (NBS) beyond conceptualization is critical for successful in mitigating urban carbon emissions. In this paper, we demonstrate an approach to deploy nature-based solutions on high-resolution (25x25-meter) land use grid and its carbon emission reduction benefits for 50 major European Union (EU) cities. The deployment process takes 3 parts: 1) downgrading carbon emission data with larger spatial scales (10x10km GID data) to high-resolution cells using land use and socioeconomic data; 2) identifying opportunities and suitability of deploying NBS on these land use cells from a database with meta-analysis on the emission reduction potentials of different types of NBS; 3) Estimating total carbon emission potentials from spatial deployment and coupling of of multiple NBS with parametric simulation. Our results indicate that vast areas of urbanized and un-urbanized lands in EU cities can apply NBS to further mitigate carbon emissions. The reduction potential is huge and can contribute to a critical wedge of carbon neutrality.     

How to cite: Pan, H., Page, J., Cong, C., and Kalantari, Z.: Spatial deployment of Nature-based Solutions to support carbon neutrality for 50 EU cities., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8613, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8613, 2022.

Calls are rising for ecosystems, or green infrastructure, to complement engineered infrastructure for more effective disaster risk reduction and climate governance. Key international framework agreements, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the 2021 Glasgow Pact, noted the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems in addressing climate change and disaster risk. For example, vegetation can stabilize slopes to reduce mountain hazards and sand dunes, mangroves, and/or seagrasses can reduce the impacts of coastal storms.  However, there are gaps in the scientific evidence on this topic with few comprehensive, peer-reviewed studies to support decision-making on green infrastructure for disaster risk reduction.

This study systematically reviews 529 English-language articles published between 2000 and 2019. The objective was to catalogue the extent of knowledge and confidence in the role of ecosystems in reducing disaster risk. The main question this review addresses is: What is the evidence of the role that ecosystem services and/or functions contribute to disaster risk reduction? We modified the review methodology established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to identify the robustness of evidence and level of agreement on the role of ecosystems in attenuating most common types of hazards.

The data demonstrate very robust links on the role of ecosystems in forest fire management, urban flooding and slope stabilization to reduce mountain hazards in a cost-effective manner. The study also highlights how ecosystems provide multiple services and functions in addition to regulating hazards, e.g., provisioning services for reducing vulnerability. The review highlights several research gaps, notably a geographic concentration of studies on urban areas of Europe and North America, and insufficient policy-relevant research on coastal, dryland, and watershed areas, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. To conclude, more attention should be paid to filling these research gaps and developing performance standards, which would provide policy-makers with increased confidence in investing in green infrastructure for disaster risk reduction and climate governance.

How to cite: Sudmeier-Rieux, Dr. K. and the Co-authors: Ecosystems for disaster risk reduction: what is the scientific evidence?, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9109, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9109, 2022.

There is growing awareness of the role that agricultural soils can play for climate change mitigation. Agricultural management that increases soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks constitutes a nature-based solution for carbon dioxide removal. As soils store about twice the amount of carbon found in the atmosphere, even small relative increases could significantly reduce global warming.

However, increasing SOC requires management changes that come with costs to the farmers. In this regard, soil carbon certificates could provide a much-needed financial incentive: Farmers register their fields with commercial providers who certify any SOC increase achieved during a set period of time. The certificates are then sold on the voluntary carbon-offset market. We analysed the suitability of soil carbon certificates for climate change mitigation from the perspectives of soil sciences, agricultural management, and governance. In particular, we addressed questions of quantification, additionality, permanence, changes in emissions, leakage effects, transparency, legitimacy and accountability, as well as synergies and trade-offs with other societal targets.

Soil properties and the mechanisms by which carbon is stored in soils have strong implications for the assessment. Soils have a limited storage capacity, and SOC is not sequestered but its SOC stocks are the dynamic result of plant derived inputs and losses mainly in the form of microbial respiration. The higher the SOC stock, the higher the annual carbon inputs that is needed to maintain it. If carbon friendly management is discontinued, elevated SOC levels will therefore revert to their original level.

We found that while changes in agricultural management that increase SOC are highly desirable and offer multiple-co benefits with climate change adaptation, soil carbon certificates are unsuitable as a tool. They are unlikely to deliver the climate change mitigation they promise as certificate providers cannot guarantee permanence and additionality of SOC storage over climate relevant time-frames. Where the certified carbon storage is non-permanent or fails to meet criteria of additionality, the use of such certificates to advertise products as “carbon-neutral” may be construed as false advertising.

How to cite: Paul, C., Don, A., Bartkowski, B., Wiesmeier, M., Weigl, S., Mayer, S., Steffens, M., Wolf, A., Dönmez, C., and Helming, K.: Suitability of soil carbon certificates for climate change mitigation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10433, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10433, 2022.

Globally, there is clear evidence that unsustainable urbanisation and climate change are pressing challenges for our systems. Nature-based Solutions are starting to be considered as a mechanism to help underpin and tackle societal and global challenges such as biodiversity loss, ecosystem depletion, resource use or human and ecological well-being. Nevertheless, still disciplines are working separately and enabling the co-design of Nature-based Solutions to reach sustainable urban planning in cities is far to be considered for climate adaptation and climate neutrality in cities. Therefore, the study intends to overcome those research gaps mentioned. On the way to tackle those issues, the paper frames the necessity to align science, policy and society goals to reach a sustainable future and bring sectors together to ensure and help build an inclusive, healthy and a resilient world. The methodology is based on a systematic review process where we explore the state of the art on the matter. This paper intends to open the discussion of a holistic, systemic and comprehensive approach to mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions  and  presents a novel pathway for transdisciplinary climate and environmental planning action. A novel conceptualization; socio-ecological and environmental-economic framework for Nature-based Solutions action plan with defined key principles to enable the mainstreaming of nature-based solutions into policies and governance. The study recommends and proposes specific nature-based solutions strategies to underpin the lack of coherence that sometimes shows in some approaches when designing and planning cities, implementing policies for sustainable urban planning and design, facilitating ecosystem restoration and human well-being. To reach an environmentally, socially, economically, locally, ecologically and politically sustainable, circular and resilient Europe by 2030 to help deliver the global policy agendas and the European Green Deal and its strategies.

How to cite: Garcia Mateo, M. C. and Tillie, N.: Enabling the mainstreaming of nature-based solutions into policy-making and governance: Holistic and systemic approach and coherence across policies to build a sustainable, circular and resilient planet and tackle societal challenges, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10493, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10493, 2022.

A new nature based solution for capturing the entire man-made emission of carbon dioxide per year and locking it away in the deep ocean, called ECOPIA^TM, has been devised by a marine think tank, MyOcean Resources Ltd. This is a global solution to the anthropogenic climate change problem, without environmental downsides - it provides the fix. By using the characteristics of the Ocean, ECOPIA^TM removes the excess atmospheric CO₂, de-acidifies the ocean’s waters, creates new sustainable fisheries, and most importantly allows the economies of the world to continue to grow and prosper.

ECOPIA^TM is able to address the anthropogenic climate change problem whilst having a positive global impact on economic growth. It enables continued economic growth for all nations by balancing the problem of excess atmospheric CO₂ rather than following strategies that require a reduction in economic activities. Trying to reduce the amount of excess CO₂ emitted by economies can be considered the biggest waste management issue the world has to solve; however current strategies have had trouble getting traction due to their negative impact on economic growth. 

By transillumination of the giant deserts of the Ocean, we can reduce the amount of atmospheric CO₂ at the same time as de-acidifying the oceans, by empowering natural oceanic primary productivity simply through the provision of light. This allows ECOPIA^TM to be an effective CO₂ waste management solution for the atmosphere. Rather than having to harm economic growth through difficult to achieve emissions reductions, companies can work with ECOPIA^TM to genuinely offset their atmospheric CO₂ emissions, through photosynthetic CO₂ uptake.

These enormous deserts of the sub-tropical open oceans, one seventh (~ 50 million km²) of the whole of the Earth’s ocean area, are reportedly getting bigger; with productive surface waters being replaced by an increase in the minimally productive surface waters of the oligotrophic gyres, at a rate of 0.8 million km² per year . ECOPIA^TM in total only requires 0.2 million km² of those gyres, just one quarter of the current increase in area per year.

Many of the nature based solutions have significant uncertainties that largely come about from the farming-like practise of changing the composition of the ‘soil’ or in this case the ocean waters. ECOPIA^TM takes a different approach, that of channelling light down to the depths where there are plenty of naturally determined nutrients and seed population, thus we are no longer ‘farming’ we are simply providing light. Furthermore, as there is no strict geo-engineering involved, ECOPIA^TM provides no mechanism for a preferential pressure on the naturally determined diversity of the light cultured ecosystem.

It has been noted by the UK's, HRH the Prince of Wales, amongst others, that the global anthropogenic climate change issue can only be solved by Industry. ECOPIA^TM stands out in that it is self-fundable, both in infrastructure and operational costs, via the use of Carbon Credits at today’s prices, allowing Industry to solve the issue in an affordable way.

How to cite: Allen, J., Fitzgerald, C., and Franks, L.: Earth Climate Optimisation Productivity Island Array (ECOPIATM), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10608, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10608, 2022.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) emitted from agricultural soils makes up a significant part of the collective agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These emission are to a large extent caused directly or indirectly by the application of nitrogenous fertilizer and there is a strong demand for mitigation strategies.

Nitrous oxide is produced in the soil in a range of different processes but mainly in microbial nitrification and denitrification. A number of factors exert influence on these microbial processes in the soil, most notably the oxygen concentration, availability of ammonium and nitrate, available organic matter and diffusivity, and fairly advanced process-based simulation models are often used in attempts to simulate the amount of N₂O emitted. Here we propose using more a simplistic modelling approach to provide a novel risk assessment tool for nitrogenous fertilizer applications to be implemented in Danish farmers field management programmes.

At SEGES Innovation we have unique database access to field activity data from Danish farmers - e.g. crop sequence, fertilizer applications, residue handling, soil texture - covering more than 85 % of the Danish cultivated area. Based on these data and field specific climate data, a soil water balance model (Plauborg et al. 1995) and soil organic carbon model (Taghizadeh-Toosi et al. 2014) are running in daily timesteps for all fields in the database. These models provide, respectively, the daily level of WFPS in the soil and the organic matter turnover rate in the soil simulated during the weather forecast period of 10 days. Those two outputs are combined with a simulated soil temperature in a simplified version of the NGAS-model (Parton et al. 1996) to give a rough simulated N₂O-emission for any planned fertilizer application throughout the weather forecast period.

The risk assessment tool exhibits this daily simulated N₂O-emission as a risk evaluation of fertilizer application to the farmer in field management programmes, where future field activities are entered and logged. The objective is to lower the GHG emission by reducing the number of fertilizer applications right at peak N₂O-emission conditions, once the farmers are presented with this information.    

How to cite: Vestergaard Poulsen, H., Bruun, S., Skov Nielsen, C., and Kolind Hvid, S.: N2O-emission risk assessment tool for nitrogenous fertilizer applications, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11878, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11878, 2022.

The deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes is required, as well as strong and immediate emission reductions, to limit the global temperature increase “well below to 2°C above pre-industrial levels” as required by the Article 2 of the Paris Agreement.

Among the CDR processes, ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) allows to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and simultaneously to counteract the ongoing ocean acidification caused by the increased CO₂ atmospheric concentration. In the framework of the DESARC (DEcreasing Seawater Acidification Removing Carbon) MARESANUS research project, different strategies to produce decarbonized slaked lime (SL), i.e. Ca(OH)₂, and to discharge it in the seawater have been evaluated.

The feasibility and the potential of OAE were evaluated at the global scale and at the Mediterranean Sea basin scale. Two different logistic scenarios for the discharge of SL were analyzed: new dedicated ships, and partial load on modified existing dry bulk and container ships. The data on the existing global fleet of vessels and marine routes has been elaborated to assess the potential discharge of SL.

Through the life-cycle assessment methodology, the efficiency of removing CO₂ from the atmosphere was evaluated, as well as other potential environmental impacts connected to SL production and transport. The “cradle-to-grave” approach has been applied to different configurations of the process, that consider both biomass gasification and the use of renewables as a source of energy for limestone calcination, as well as eventual CO₂/H₂ separation and CO₂ storage.

The data collected for the life cycle inventory were mainly obtained from the preliminary design of the process and the scientific literature, as well as from the ecoinvent database. According to the environmental footprint method implemented in SimaPro software, sixteen impact categories for assessing the burdens on the environment and human are evaluated, with a particular focus on Climate change, Land use,  and Mineral and metals use.

The results show that for all the analyzed configurations, the process has a potential negative impact on the Climate change category, i.e. there is a benefit for the environment in terms of CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. Since the avoided impacts are related to the source for hydrogen, the type of avoided source has a relevant role and is subjected to a sensitivity analysis.

Finally, the availability of limestone for the large-scale development of ocean alkalinisation have been evaluated, considering in particular the deposits of pure limestone near the coastlines, that  could minimize logistic and transportation activities.

Results show that pure carbonate potential resources are of several trillion tons and are not a constraint for the development of global-scale ocean liming. A large part of pure limestone resources is nearby the coastline, in areas with no or low vegetation cover, mainly in North Africa and Iran. Global limestone yearly production is similar to coal, and the required upscaling compared to the current extraction rate is far lower for limestone than for other materials considered for OAE, such as olivine, magnesite and brucite.

How to cite: Campo, F. P., Caserini, S., and Grosso, M.: Feasibility, potential and environmental impacts of ocean alkalinity enhancement for removing CO2 from the atmosphere and counteracting seawater acidification, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12467, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12467, 2022.

The Arctic is an area with unique climatic qualities on Earth. Located behind the Arctic Circle, the region is characterized by numerous phenomena such as polar day (in summer) and polar night (in winter), which affect the state of well-being of people living there. The numerous aurorae are examples of magnetic storms whose health effects are most pronounced in this region. Extreme temperatures can be recorded in these zones, especially in winter. At the same time, it is there that the environment shows great sensitivity to changing climatic conditions and human activities. A small increase in temperature can melt permafrost and methane clathrates. At this time, climate change affects the ecosystem of the plant and animal world. At the same time, it is in the Arctic that there are important deposits of energy resources, non-ferrous metals and others. In the Arctic regions there are trade routes connecting the continents (the so-called "Northern Road"). Growing interest in the Arctic contributes to its urbanization. This process is also important in a broader context. Many of the technologies that prove themselves in these harsh conditions will also be applicable in other climate zones. The Arctic is becoming a testing ground for human missions in harsh conditions, a way to survive in an unfavorable climate, and to test pro-environmental technologies. An important advantage of the Arctic is also its great similarity to the climatic conditions of the warmest zones on Mars. However, compared to Mars, planning engineering projects in the Arctic has many advantages. The presence of air at normal pressure, while not preventing the construction of airtight capsules, allows for easier evacuation of personnel in the event of a failure of life support systems.  Working people at various stations in the Arctic can be just as tested for the vulnerability of long periods of being in a small confined space. Nevertheless, there are also numerous localities in the Arctic where people lead relatively normal lives, the best example being northern Scandinavia, which is currently the most urbanized area beyond the Arctic Circle.  Their experience of living in the extreme conditions of the north, the problems of urban development and transportation, environmental protection and many other areas of life in this zone, can be an important source of information for other inhabitants of Earth and Mars.  Issues related to the problems of environmental protection and the fight against pollution in this climate zone will be just as relevant in other zones, where there are many more opportunities to use, for example, renewable energy sources. In the long run, building stable urbanized human settlements in the Arctic will become an example of human activity in the region of Mars and (perhaps) other regions of the Solar System. The authors present numerical data and possible scenarios of sustainable urbanization development in the Arctic based on selected examples of Scandinavian experience. They analyze which of them have universal character and are possible to apply also in other climatic conditions. 

How to cite: Rusek, A. and Huber, M.: "The Arctic - the first step towards the terraformation of Mars. Experiences from northern Europe.", EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12839, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12839, 2022.

Ecosystems and ecosystem services are key to helping achieve reduction in disaster risk, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation, and this is now recognized by major international framework agreements (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2014; United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-2030). However, there is limited knowledge about the cost efficiency and socio-economic equity outcomes of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) compared to traditional engineered strategies.

In this study we developed a global database of more than 130 peer-reviewed studies, published between 2000 and 2020, that perform economic evaluations of NbS for Ecosystem-based Climate Adaptation (EbA) and Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR). Using meta-analysis techniques, we assess the existing scientific knowledge on the economic viability and performance of NbS for Eco-DRR and EbA, cataloguing outcomes both in terms of degree of economic efficiency and social equity. Our analysis includes multiple dimensions: geographic distribution of the published studies, types of ecosystems and ecosystem services evaluated, hazards and climate impacts analyzed, and economic methodologies used to perform economic efficiency evaluations (e.g., cost benefit analysis, stated/revealed preferences evaluation methods).

This study builds on a recent global assessment (Sudmeier-Rieux et al, 2021) that performs the first systematic review of Eco-DRR peer-reviewed studies across all disciplines. Their results show robustness of evidence and level of agreement on the role of ecosystems in attenuating 30 types of hazards, based on the assessment methodology established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our meta-analysis expands the 2021 review by evaluating the economic benefits associated with Eco-DRR and NbA approaches; by examining cost efficiency of Eco-DRR and NbA interventions compared to traditional engineering solutions; by performing equity assessments of the outcomes; and by studying how the NbS interventions reviewed contributed to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

REFERENCE:

Sudmeier-Rieux, K., Arce-Mojica,T., Boehmer, H.J., Doswald, N., Emerton, L., Friess, D.A., Galvin, S., Hagenlocher, M., James, H., Laban, P., Lacambra, C., Lange, W., McAdoo, B.G., Moos, C., Mysiak, J., Narvaez, L., Nehren, U., Peduzzi, P1., Renaud, F.G., Sandholz, S., Schreyers, L., Sebesvari, Z., Tom, T., Triyanti, A., van Eijk, P., van Staveren, M., Vicarelli, M., Walz, Y. "Scientific evidence for ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction." Nature Sustainability (2021): 1-8. 

How to cite: Vicarelli, M., Kang, M., Leue, M., Shrestha, A., Wasielewski, D., Sudmeier-Rieux, K., Mysiak, J., Schütze, S., Marr, M., McAndrew, S., and Vance, M.: Scientific evidence of the economic benefits of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and ecosystem-based climate change adaptation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13010, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13010, 2022.

Sedimentation ponds (SPs) are nature-based solutions (NBSs) for sustainable stormwater management. SPs control the quantity and quality of runoff and promote biodiversity. Hence, the optimal design of SPs is crucial for ecosystems resilience in urban and natural environments. This study aims to optimize the design of roadside SPs in terms of location and surface area, considering the resilience to stressors such as climate changes and pollution load variations. Accordingly, the highway runoff in a new 22 km highway (E18 Arendal-Tvedestrand) in southern Norway was simulated by the storm water management model (SWMM). The quantity and quality (BOD and TSS values) of highway runoff in all probable scenarios of existing uncertainties were estimated for potential outfall points using the repeated execution model of SWMM coded in MATLAB^®. The scenarios were defined based on applying best management practices (BMPs), including grass swale and infiltration trench in different sections of the road that work before SPs, climatic (rainfall quantity estimated by the LARS-WG model), and modeling uncertainties (buildup and washoff coefficients). The generated dataset was then applied to assess the resilience of sedimentation ponds in potential outfalls to climate change and pollution load shocks. The resiliency was quantified for three metrics, including the quantity and quality of receiving runoff to sedimentation ponds and biodiversity in ponds over 25 years (2020-2045). The biodiversity index was defined based on Shannon's Entropy computed from field observation in 12 highway sedimentation ponds across Norway. Using this procedure, it was determined that the proper arrangement of BMPs along the road and the optimal design of ponds enhance the resilience of SPs by 40% over time. This study makes important contributions to stormwater management, the resilient design of NBS, and achieving UN SDG6 (Clean water and sanitation).

How to cite: Ghorbani Mooselu, M., Liltved, H., Alizadeh, M. R., and Meland, S.: Optimal design of nature-based solutions in highway runoff management based on resilience to climate and pollution load changes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1425, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1425, 2022.

In the rush to decarbonise energy supplies to meet internationally agreed greenhouse gas emissions targets, solar parks (SPs) have proliferated around the world, with uncertain implications for the provision of ecosystem services (ES). SPs necessitate significant land use change due to low energy densities that could significantly affect the local environment. In the UK, SPs are commonly built on intensive arable land and managed as grasslands. This offers both risks and opportunities for ecosystem health, yet evidence of ecosystem consequences is scarce. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand how ES assessments can be incorporated into land use decision making to promote SP development that simultaneously addresses the climate and biodiversity crises. We aim to provide some of the first scientific evidence to help answer this question by determining the effects of land use change for SPs in the UK on the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., biomass production, soil carbon storage) of hosting ecosystems. Through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project between Lancaster University and Clarkson & Woods Ecological Consultants, 35 SPs in England and Wales were surveyed in summer 2021. Soil and vegetation data were collected from 420 sample plots (900 cm²) under different types of land use: underneath solar panels, between rows of solar arrays, and control sites (e.g., pastureland, areas set-aside for conservation). Total plant cover was significantly lower underneath solar panels and between solar arrays than on land set-aside for conservation, while land around the margins of SPs showed higher aboveground biomass of monocotyledons and forbs than on land underneath solar panels. Some measures of soil fertility (e.g., nitrogen) and soil organic matter, fractioned into particulate and mineral-associated organic matter, also varied significantly between these different land uses. These results have implications for land management within SPs and will enable optimisation of SP design and management to ensure the long-term delivery of ecosystem services within this fast-growing land use.

How to cite: Carvalho, F., Montag, H., Sharp, S., White, P., Clarkson, T., and Armstrong, A.: Effects of land use change for solar park development in the UK on ecosystem services, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1677, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1677, 2022.

Sustainable river management frameworks are based on the connection between citizens and nature. So far, though, the relationship between rivers and local populations has played a marginal role in river management. We present a blueprint questionnaire to characterize the perception of cultural ecosystem services and flood risk by locals, and how preferences change across the river landscape. We investigate how locals value the river and whether their preferences are affected by characteristics such as place of residence, age, frequency of visits and relation to the river. The approach is tested on the Tagliamento river, the last major free-flowing river in the Alps, which is characterized by debates on flood protection, flood management and ecological conservation. The questionnaire was filled in by more than 4000 respondents, demonstrating huge interest and willingness to contribute with their opinion on this topic. A participatory map of favorite places shows that most of the river is valued/appreciated by locals, with a high preference for the landscape of the braided middle course. River conservation is the main priority for most respondents across different stakeholder groups, highlighting the need for nature-based solutions in flood-risk management and demonstrating the mismatch between management choices and citizens´ values and priorities. Land-use planning is identified as a factor that can increase flood risk. The results highlight the necessity to tackle conservation, risk management and land-use planning together in order to develop risk-oriented river management strategies. More generally, this work points out that any river intervention should be pondered carefully accounting for its environmental impact also in terms of loss of cultural ecosystem services.

How to cite: Scaini, C., Stritih, A., Brouillet, C., and Scaini, A.: What locals want: (mapping) citizen preferences and priorities for an alpine river landscape, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2049, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2049, 2022.

Check dam plays a crucial role in controlling soil erosion on the Loess Plateau and reducing sediment loads in the Yellow River. Moreover, sediment deposition in check dams also provides valuable information for understanding of soil erosion on the Loess Plateau. Study on the influence of rainfall patterns on sediment yield in small catchments scale is significant for the reasonable arrangement of soil and water conservation measures, particularly for complex environments such as the wind-water erosion crisscross region. This study estimated sediment yield trapped by the check dam in Laoyeman catchment based on deposited flood couplets formed in erosion rainfall events during the period 1978-2010. All erosive rainfall were divided into three rainfall patterns according to the precipitation, rainfall duration and rainfall erosivity, and the correspondence analysis between sediment yield and rainfall pattern was analyzed. Results showed that there were 1.1´10⁵ t sediment deposited in the dam filed during the trapping history of the check dam as a whole. It has three obvious change stages, which had sediment yield of 4.53´10⁴ t during 1978-1988, 4.48´10⁴ t during 1988-1997, and 1.68´10⁴ t during 1997-2010, respectively. The stage 1989-1997 had the fastest annual deposition rate of 4.98×10³ t·year^-1, 20.9% and 286% faster than stage 1978-1988 and stage 1998-2010. For similar rainfall pattern in these three stages, sediment yield and the characteristic of flood couplet change were closely related to both rainfall erosivity and land use types. This was also approved by the significant decrease of sediment yield on condition of similar rainfall pattern in a decade before and after the implementation of Grain for Green project indicated that this project made a great contribution to the control of soil erosion on the Loess Plateau. The impact of rainfall pattern on sediment yield indicated that the largest sediment yield is initiated under short duration and high intensity rainfall events, while the sediment in the reservoir area is mainly deposited under the rainfall pattern of moderate precipitation, erosivity and duration. That is the reason for the wettest year (1995) had relatively low sediment deposition, while the year (1982) had strong rainfall erosivity had the maximum annual sediment yield (1.68´10⁴ t).

How to cite: Yin, M. and Zhang, J.: Influence of rainfall patterns on sediment yield in flood couplets of a check dam on the Chinese Loess Plateau, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3322, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3322, 2022.

A sustainable society is considered as an organic system, called an ecosystem, wherein all possible connected parameters are contributing to the conservation and evolution of the ecosystem containing life and landscape against stress from outside. Any ecosystem contains species of mutually interacting organisms all contributing to a dynamic equilibrium. An ecosystem is characterized by a population carrying capacity.

Humans are the only species on earth without a specific ecosystem. They live everywhere. The evolution did not adapt the homo sapiens to some ecosystem, on the contrary humans transformed all ecosystems to their own environment. Nature transforms into environment when humans are managing an ecosystem and transform it to their environment by attributing to nature the concept of natural capital as first instrumental step to economic growth, considering pollution as collateral damage.

Inspired by Enlightenment Anthropology (Shallow Ecology and Naess´ Deep Ecology) the UN encourages humanity to transform the consumption of raw matter, energy and food into a more sustainable cleaner way and even to start transition of energy resources and human diet in order to dampen the effects of global warming. Economic policy supports technological procedures avoiding waste of raw material and stimulating sustainable production processes and sustainable recuperation of raw material inside the produced items. The energy transition and preferable industrial production method, however, is globally imposed top-down without examining the consequences for local life of humans, non-humans (e.g. wind turbines near human settlement, bird mortality, destruction of the ecosystems of the seafloor) and the landscape (e.g. solar energy systems on hillside, water dams). Moreover, the global view favors large scale in policy as well as in means of production. However, this global transition organization of the global environment establish the new order characterized by its global and universal action and is not in balance with local ecosystems characterized by diversity of life and human management (so called perverted adaptation). Nature is reduced to things and just rewarded in terms of natural capital to sustain a Global Urban Middleclass consumptive society.

Therefore, we adopt Aldo Leopold ‘Land ethics’ (1949) and apply it to the shear coast of Southwestern Finland. We summarize his ideas in three hot headlines: (i) The land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen; (ii) We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong to, we may begin to use it with love and respect; (iii) Anything is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. Participation to the ecosystem based on autonomous technology, i.e. not controlled, is focused on global energy transition to save the Universal Urban Middleclass Life. On the contrary, the concept of Land Ethics makes room for eco-development based on care for humans, culture, environment and nature in interaction with all ecosystems. In a nutshell: act local, interact global.

How to cite: Verstraeten, G. J. M. and Verstraeten, W. W.: The approach ‘think global, act local’ neglects the particular ecological value of ecosystems, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3770, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3770, 2022.

When assessing strategies for implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) it is fundamental to quantify all benefits for securing better, informed decision making. Particularly relevant is the quantification of their multiple co-benefits for communities and the environment. One of the most widespread techniques to quantify these values is to use contingent valuation (CV) methods, such as the Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) approach. Within the CV method, questionnaires are the main tool used to elicit the value attributed to a specific good by the respondents. However, many studies focus on site-specific economic valuation, whereby transferability to other locations is jeopardized. We therefore created a survey to explore how the valuation of an NBS is shaped by its relationship with the users (e.g. frequency and length of visits), and how these responses are linked to both the respondents and the sites’ characteristics (e.g. socio-economic status, size of the NBS, etc.).

We applied this method to a case study comprised of two distinct areas located in Aarhus, Denmark, asking users to explore their perception of the two NBS sites with different features. Both NBS sites have as overarching goals to (i) prevent flooding from cloudburst or water bodies, (ii) improve the biodiversity in the area, and (iii) benefit the local population, e.g. by providing more recreational areas. Despite these common goals, the two sites differ by a number of characteristics, i.e. size, location, and time passed since construction. One NBS involves a large artificial lake in a peri-urban setting, while the other is a small urban park. Respondents were allowed the option of either expressing a value for only one, or for both of the sites. 

We analyzed both responses that stated a WTP and protest votes, that is, responses that rejected the valuation scenario altogether. We found that older citizens are more likely to protest, as well as those not visiting the sites. For the respondents who accepted to state a WTP, their bids significantly increased when the improvement of nature and biodiversity was mentioned in the valuation scenario. Comparing the value given to the two different sites, the characteristics of the NBS seem to play a role in the respondents’ perception and use of the sites, which in turn enhances valuation. In our case study, people’s perception of the site and their relationship with it appear to have a stronger link with the WTP than their socio-economic characteristics. Specifically, frequency and length of visits, and interest in a good quality of nature were mostly related to a positive WTP.

The inclusion of people-NBS relational variables in benefit quantifications appears to be an essential tool to realize a more realistic economic valuation, as well as correctly design NBS in order to achieve the desired impacts. Understanding the underlying synergies between the multiple co-benefits of NBS, their features and the users’ perception is decisive for maximizing these strategies’ potential and avoiding missing opportunities.

How to cite: Viti, M., Löwe, R., Sørup, H. J. D., Mcknight, U. S., and Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K.: Assessing the interconnections between the characteristics, perception, and valuation of Nature-Based Solutions: A case study from Aarhus, Denmark, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3784, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3784, 2022.

Over the past decade, we witnessed a rapid growth in the use of social media data when assessing  cultural ecosystem services (CESs), like modelling the supply-demand relationships. Researchers increasingly use user-generated content (predominantly geotagged pictures and texts from Flickr, Twitter, VK.com) as a spatially explicit proxy of CES demand. However, for modelling CES supply most of such studies relied on simplistic geospatial data, such as land cover and digital elevation models. As a result, our understanding of the favourable environmental conditions underlying good landscape experience remains weak and overly generic.

Our study aims to detect the spatial disparities between population density and CES supply in Estonia in order to prioritise them for further in-depth CES assessment and green and blue infrastructure improvements. We relied on Flickr and VK.com photographs to detect the usage of three CESs: passive landscape watching, active outdoor recreation, and wildlife watching (biota observations at organism and community levels) with automated image content recognition via Clarifai API and subsequent topic modelling. Then, we used Landsat-8 cloudless mosaic, digital elevation and digital surface models, as well as land cover model to derive 526 environmental variables (textural, spectral indices and other indicators of landscape physiognomy) via the Google Earth Engine platform. We conducted an ensemble environmental niche modelling to analyse the relative strength and directions of relationships between these predictors and the observed occurrence of CES demand. Based on multicollinearity and relative importance analysis, we selected 21 relevant and non-collinear indicators of CES supply. With these indicators as inputs, we then trained five models, popular in environmental niche modelling: Boosted Regression Trees, Generalized Linear Model, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline, Maxent, and Random Forest. Random Forest performed better than the other models for all three CES types, with the average 10-fold cross-validation area under curve > 0.9 for landscape watching, >0.87 for outdoor recreation, and >0.85 for wildlife watching. Our modelling allowed us to estimate the share of the Estonian population residing in the spatial clusters of systematically high and low environmental suitability for three considered CESs. The share of the population residing in the clusters of low environmental suitability for landscape watching, outdoor recreation, and wildlife watching is 5.5%, 3.1%, and 7.3%, respectively. These results indicate that dozens of thousands of people in Estonia (population is >1.3 million) likely have fewer opportunities for everyday usage of considered CESs. However, these results are biased as there was not enough evidence in social media for CES use in some of these areas.

Although our results should be treated with caution, because social media data are likely to contain a considerable sampling bias, we have demonstrated the added value of remote sensing data for CES supply estimation. Given nearly global and continuously updated satellite imagery archives, remote sensing opens new perspectives for monitoring the loss and gains in landscape suitability for CES across temporal and spatial scales. As such, we can better account for the intangible underlying geospatial features that can influence  economic and environmental decision-making.

How to cite: Karasov, O., Heremans, S., Külvik, M., Domnich, A., Burdun, I., Kull, A., Helm, A., and Uuemaa, E.: Integrating remote sensing and social media data advances assessment of cultural ecosystem services, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4971, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4971, 2022.

An increasing world population and change in consumer preferences necessitate the need to increase food production to meet the demand of a changing world. Intensified agriculture and an accelerated climate crisis with increasing weather extremes threaten the resource base needed to improve crop production. Maize yield obtained by farmers in the guinea savannah zone of Ghana is generally low due to low soil fertility status resulting from continuous cropping coupled with low use of external inputs. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices have proven to sustainably increase maize yield. However, majority of the farmers practicing ISFM till their land conventionally, potentially resulting in substantial greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions that contribute to global climate change. However, there is dearth of information on GHG emissions regarding crop production systems in sub-Saharan Africa in general and Ghana in particular. Hence, within a field trial we seek to investigate the impact of different tillage practices and ISFM applied to sustain maize yield, on net CO₂ or ecosystem exchange (NEE) and net carbon (C) balance (NECB). The field trial was established at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute in Northern region of Ghana. A split plot design was used with the main plot treatments being conventional tillage and reduced tillage and the subplot treatments being factorial combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers at three levels each. To determine NEE and thereon based estimates of NECB, an innovative, customized, low-cost manual, dynamic closed chamber system was used. The system consists of transparent (V: 0.37 m³, A: 0.196 m²; for NEE measurements) and opaque chambers (for ecosystem respiration (R_eco) measurements) of the same size. Diurnal regimes of R_eco and NEE fluxes were measured twice a month by repeatedly deploying chambers for 5 to 10min on the 3 repetitive measurement plots (PVC frames inserted 5 cm deep into the soil as collars) per treatment. CO₂ concentration increase and decrease over chamber deployment time was detected by portable, inexpensive Arduino based CO₂ logging systems, consisting of a battery powered microcontroller (Arduino Uno) and data logging unit (3 sec frequency) connected to an NDIR-CO₂ sensor (SCD30; ± 30 ppm accuracy), air temperature and humidity (DHT-22) as well as air pressure sensor (BMP280). Measured CO₂ fluxes were subsequently gap-filled to obtain seasonal NEE. C import and export were further on added to NEE to determine the NECB for each treatment. In parallel to CO₂ exchange measurement campaigns, agronomic and crop growth indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were performed biweekly at all plots. Here we present NEE and NECB balances for the first crop growth period.

Keywords: Tillage, Integrated soil fertility management, CO₂ emission, Zea mays, net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB)

How to cite: Asante, M., Naab, J., Agyei Frimpong, K., Traore, K., Augustin, J., and Hoffmann, M.: Effect of soil management practices on soil carbon dynamics under maize cultivation, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6317, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6317, 2022.

In 2021, the International Guidelines on Natural and Nature Based Features for Flood Risk Management  were published, as a result of a joint project between the Rijkswaterstaat (Netherlands), the Environment Agency (England) and the Army Corps of Engineers (USA). These Guidelines give direction in the application of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) for coastal and fluvial systems. In this contribution we will focus on the fluvial part of the guidelines. We will briefly discuss the process that lead to the origin of the Guidelines and discuss the intended use. It is important to realize that the location within a catchment, and the scale of a catchment determine the specifications of the most optimal NBS. Considering the classical ‘source-pathway-receptor’ approach, in the source of a catchment, NBS aim to hold back the water in the headwaters of larger catchments, enhancing management of water and sediment. In the pathways-receptor (floodplains),  NBS are more focussed on increasing the discharge capacity of the main stem. In smaller catchments, also temporarily storage of water in the floodplains occurs, if flooding of such a temporary nature can be accommodated. Rather than a detailed instruction guide, the Guidelines are intended to give best practices and list important points of attention when applying NBS. Furthermore, they act as inspiration through the many case studies that are listed.

We will also connect the Guidelines to other initiatives on the application of NBS, for example the impact that NBS might have on reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This requires a proper assessment framework which has been developed in adjacent projects and which values the added co-benefits that NBS have, compared to grey or grey-green alternatives. These benefits are also addressed in the Guidelines. Finally, we will share some thoughts on upscaling and mainstreaming NBS and the actions that are needed to accomplish that.

How to cite: Schielen, R., Spray, C., Haring, C., Guy, J., and Burgess-Gamble, L.: Application of the International Guidelines on Natural and Nature Based Features for Flood Risk Management and the way forward, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7121, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7121, 2022.

PHUSICOS platform aims at gathering nature-based solutions (NBS) relevant to reduce hydro-geological risks in mountain landscapes. The platform can be accessed directly through a web portal. It is based on an Open Source CMS website, including a filter to store documents and a map server to bring ergonomic and powerful access.

To design the platform, an in-depth review of 11 existing platforms has been performed.  Furthermore, a list of metadata has been proposed to structure the information. These metadata have provided the baseline for database. The PHUSICOS platform currently references 176 NBS cases and 83 documents of interest (review articles, assessment papers…). It is continuously enriched through the contribution of NBS community.

For that, a questionnaire based on relevant data, necessary for the definition and identification of the NBS (metadata, to be used for searching the NBSs within the platform) has been defined to enter new entries. A preliminary analysis of the cases has been realized. To characterize and analyse the current 152 solutions, we have worked on the following four categories: The nature of impacted ecosystems, The hazard(s) concerned, The other challenges treated by the NBS, The type of exposed assets.

The platform also proposes a qualitative assessment of the NBSs collected according to 15 criteria related with five ambits: disaster risk reduction, technical and economical feasibility, environment, society, and local economy. The criteria level is sufficiently general to be analysed for the entire PHUSICOS platform NBSs whatever the type of work, the realized approaches, the problematic or the spatial or temporal scale.

The structure of the platform and a first analysis of the qualitative NBS assessment are presented in this work.

How to cite: Bernardie, S., Baills, A., and Garçin, M.: PHUSICOS platform, dedicated to Nature-Based Solutions for Risk Reduction and Environmental Issues in Hilly and Mountainous Lands : presentation and qualitative NBS assessment, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7664, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7664, 2022.

An adequate strategy for water quality improvement in developing countries must consider the economic scarcity of water, the external factors that affect its quality, and the participation of multisectoral stakeholders in water management decisions. In addition, stronger links to nature can be established through methods inspired from nature to clean the water, such as artificial floating islands (AFI). Restoration of aquatic ecosystems with AFIs occurs as water passes beneath the floating mat and the roots of macrophytes take up metals and nutrients. In this context, we utilized Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to identify the principal concepts that affect water quality from different perspectives: political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL). We also theoretically explore the use of AFIs combined with different policies, to find the strategy that best adapts the local water situation.

By applying the principles of FCMs, different sources of knowledge can predict the effects of policy, and problems can be identified using the centrality index of the underlying graph theory. Thus, a two-step approach was implemented for our analysis: First, from 40 literature-based PESTEL concepts related to water quality deterioration, local experts in water management were invited to identify the most influential concepts and to include additional ones regarding the local water situation and policies to support the improvement of water quality. Second, workshops were organized, inviting members of communities to discuss the degree of cause-effect influence of the identified concepts, and also to include a water management policy, considering AFIs as one solution.

Three Ecuadorian communities distributed to cover representative ecosystems from the Pacific coast, Andean mountains, and Amazon floodplain were selected for this research, i.e. the community of Mogollón dominated by mangroves land cover, Chilla chico by páramos, and Awayaku by rainforest. According to the FCMs, 21 PESTEL concepts affect water quality in the páramos community and most of them are related to politics (23%) and the environment (23%). Community workshop at the same community identify that the major problem is related to natural water pollutants. For the mangrove community, 23 concepts were identified mainly driven (47%) by environmental concepts, whereas the communities see the major water quality issue in view of human exposure to environmental pollutants. In the case of the rainforest community, 19 concepts were recognized with 40% related to economics, whereas the communities identify the principal concern being the violation of environmental legislation. Regarding the potential implementation of AFIs, the páramos community concludes that AFIs should be implemented and coupled with environmental education programs. Additionally, water-related governmental institutions should be involved during realization. The mangrove community shows interest in AFIs, when combined with payment for ecosystem services. Finally, the rainforest community do not consider AFIs as a primary solution. Instead they propose the creation of a committee to denounce violations of water quality laws and to improve the educational level of community members. In conclusion, the FCM is a powerful tool to bring together the knowledge of multisectoral stakeholders and to analyse suitable strategies for the local improvement of water quality.

How to cite: Fonseca, K., Correa, A., and Breuer, L.: Using the fuzzy cognitive map approach to promote nature-based solutions as a strategy to improve water quality in Ecuadorian communities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8395, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8395, 2022.

Sustainable river management should consider potential impacts on ecosystem services in decision-making with respect to mitigating future climate impacts. In this respect, there is a clear need to better understand how nature-based solutions (NBS) can benefit specific ecosystem services, in particular within the complex spatial and temporal dynamics that characterize most river catchments. To capture these changes, ecosystem models require spatially explicit data that are often difficult to obtain for model development and validation. Citizen science allows for the participation of trained citizen volunteers in research or regulatory activities, resulting in increased data collection and increased participation of the general public in resource management.

In the present study, we examined the temporal and spatial drivers in nutrient and sediment delivery, carbon storage and sequestration and water yield in a major Italian river catchment and under different NBS scenarios. Information on climate, land use, soil and river conditions, as well as future climate scenarios, were used to explore future (2050) benefits of NBS on local and catchment scales, followed the national and European directives related to water quality (Directive 2000/60/EC) and habitat (Directive 92/43/EEC). We estimate the benefits of individual and combined NBS approaches related to river restoration and catchment reforestation.

How to cite: Di Grazia, F., Galgani, L., Gumiero, B., Troiani, E., and Loiselle, S. A.: Effects of the Nature-Based Solutions on the ecosystem services; an evaluation of the Piave River catchment (Italy) in a 2050 scenario, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8884, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8884, 2022.

The ecological concept of the meta population helps evaluate the effectiveness of conservation areas (Soule et al., 1988), and is used as a useful tool for evaluating responses between individuals to artificial stressors such as urbanization, habitat destruction, and fragmentation (Kawecki. 2004). In particular meta population model can help increase the accuracy of population estimation across various spatial scales and explain several interactions populations (Walther et al., 2002; Faborg, 2014). Previous studies have demonstrated that habitat destruction and fragmentation caused by urbanization can affect the viability of species in habitats due to reduced fertility and mobility, but papers on the selection of conservation areas can increase the viability of multi species according to the changing surroundings are insufficient. Therefore, this study analyzed the possibility of multi species surviving in the habitat using a meta population model for conservation area scenarios and analyzed the effect of habitat pattern changes on each population from various perspectives.

In order to analyze the survival probability of multi species in habitats by conservation area scenario, (1) setting the 15 virtual habitat spaces within 160ha, (2) Big & Small conservation scenarios considering habitat area, connection, and connection, (3) collecting and estimation of migration rate, home range, dispersal distance for biological species for analyzing the possibility of extinction by population. Finally, the change in the population of each population during period t was analyzed using the meta population model.

Overall, when the Big Conservation area was applied, the probability of extinction of all species was low, followed by the Big+Connectivity scenario. In addition, the probability of survival was similarly derived in the Small scenario and the Connectivity scenario. However, the preferred conservation scenarios for each classification population group were different depending on the conservation scenario. In particular, birds had a high probability of extinction in the small scenario, while small mammals had a low probability of extinction. Through this study, the effect on the change in the number of multi species according to the conservation area scenario was analyzed, which is expected to be used to evaluate the validity and effectiveness of setting up a conservation area in the future.

How to cite: Kim, E. S., Mo, Y. W., Kim, J. Y., and Lee, D. K.: Analysis of survival probability on multiple species using metapopulation model, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9397, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9397, 2022.

Agricultural ecosystems provide essential services mainly through food, feed, fiber and consequently income but they also contribute cultural, supporting and regulating services. In turn, farming can adversely affect ecosystem services, especially those from natural ecosystems, if farming practices are unsustainable.

Recently, a Sustainable Agriculture Matrix (SAM; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.08.015) of indicators across environmental, economic, and social dimensions has been developed by an international research team to coherently quantify the sustainability of countries’ farming systems globally. The focus was on indicators that can be tracked over time and relate to performance to facilitate analyzes of synergies and trade-offs. At present, this indicator system is being co-evaluated with stakeholders in ten countries within an international consortium including Austria, to elicit stakeholders’ appraisal of the framework’s applicability in their specific geographical and socioeconomic context and eventually co-design a revised matrix based on stakeholders’ requirements.

A first workshop has shown that most indicators from the environmental dimension are useful for stakeholders in the Austrian context, but some need further refinements. Biodiversity, for example, is only considered via land cover change whereas threats to (agro-)biodiversity in Austria and the EU foremost occur in-situ. The economic dimension is ranking second in its usefulness for Austrian stakeholders with few indicators such as food loss being of little relevance. The indicators presently included in the social dimension are least relevant as they cover aspects such as land rights, undernourishment, and rural poverty, which do not pose major issues in Austria and more broadly the EU.

General concerns of stakeholders are the directionality of indicator ratings and their scope which is in part considered too narrow. E.g., high government expenditure for agriculture is considered positive in the matrix regardless of its purpose and may cause dependencies. Human nutrition is only included via undernourishment and soil nutrient status solely as surplus, whereas in both cases also the other extreme may be adverse. Accordingly, a bell-shaped indicator and rating would be favored in such cases. A general requirement was expressed for an additional context dimension. Governance arrangements and the overall socioeconomic situation are so far deliberately not included due to the focus on performance in the existing SAM. Yet, indicators describing such framework conditions can be essential to interpret synergies and trade-offs and the effectiveness of policy measures aiming at achieving SDGs. Beyond the evaluation of existing indicators, the stakeholder process yielded comprehensive suggestions for additional indicators, covering biodiversity, research and education, self-sufficiency, as well as various aspects of resilience and stability. Overall, the co-evaluation with stakeholders highlights that only few globally defined indicators are readily applicable in a regional context where consideration of local conditions and specifics is vital.

The proposed revisions are now being matched with available data across geographic scales to revise the matrix and perform further analyses on trade-offs and synergies. This will also include further context information to facilitate the evaluation of policies, ultimately allowing for improved policy-making to attain agricultural sustainability. Results will be further co-evaluated iteratively with stakeholders to eventually produce a globally applicable indicator system.

How to cite: Folberth, C., Sinabell, F., Schinko, T., and Hanger-Kopp, S.: Co-evaluating and -designing a Sustainable Agriculture Matrix for Austria in an international context, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9474, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9474, 2022.

Research dealing with three-dimensional structural data of forests or vegetation is increasing. LiDAR-based research to detect biodiversity (LaRue et al. 2019) is growing, through using structural data such as analyzing heterogeneity, distribution, and height in forest structures (Matsuo et al. 2021) or identifying rugosity (Gough et al. 2020). For example, the technology to detect canopy structures is linked with the GEDI technology, leading to structural diversity mapping on a wide scale and further to β-diversity. (Schneider et al. 2020) Meanwhile, most connectivity studies so far have been conducted on two-dimensional surfaces, and resistance value-based studies on species data, topography and vegetation structure, and habitat quality have been performed. In this study, we try to detect changes in the space distribution pattern of species due to anthropogenic intervention through lidar-based 3D structural data. Through structural heterogeneity, the connectivity at the landscape level is analyzed, and for this purpose, it can be compared with the traditional diversity evaluation method through a verification process based on species data. By detecting the impact on species in advance in the impact assessment stage, this study intends to present a methodology that can function as a forestry and conservation decision-making support tool in combination with ICT-based monitoring technology.

How to cite: Kim, J. Y., Lee, D. K., and Kim, E. S.: Detection of Habitat Heterogeneity Changes Using Laser Scanning Data Targeting Birds, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9476, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9476, 2022.

Fire regimes form an integral part of terrestrial biomes in the Mediterranean region as they provide essential disturbances which change the structure and function of plants that favour Mediterranean type climates. Fire is inextricably linked to such ecosystems and cannot be excluded from them. However, the intensification of human activities in Greece, coupled with increasingly unpredictable wildfires has created huge imbalances and jeopardised the ecological integrity of ecosystems. Expansions into the wildland urban interface, rural abandonment, and the focus on fire suppression are increasing the vulnerability and flammability of the Greek environment. The duality of fire is delicate, both at local and national level, catastrophic wildfires singe deeply on landscapes and economies, social burns can take just as long to heal. In Greece, this is further exacerbated by the burgeoning socio-economic and political complexities that have catalysed the current ineffective and unsustainable fire management strategies. Damages from wildfires affect ecosystem services which can lead to a reduction in human wellbeing. Understanding the interactions between ecosystems and humans through environmental valuation is key to implementing effective policy. This study uses economic valuation methods in the form of a choice experiment to elicit public preference for a wildfire management policy in Crete. A survey was deployed around the island, with respondents asked about their preferences between different management strategies. The policies outlined in the survey are made up of the following attributes: risk of fire, agricultural production, landscape quality and post-wildfire damage mitigation. Results from this study indicate a positive preference by the public for a new proposed policy. The findings from this study can be used for decision making in Crete and other similar southern European environments by providing metrics for appropriate wildfire management.

How to cite: Misal, H., Kountouris, I., Voulgarakis, A., and Rovithakis, A.: Eliciting public preferences for wildfire management policies in Crete, Greece, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9542, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9542, 2022.

The concept of ecosystem services (ES), as a set of components of the natural capital that provide products and services directed to humans, was born around the middle of the last century, reaching a more systematic definition in the early 2000s with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA, 2005). This issue is implicitly linked to popular research topics, such as climate change,  population well-being, fight against hunger in the world and has undergone a significant increasing interest from scientific research since the SDGs subscription, defined in the 2030 Agenda.

With the thrust of the investigation into this new branch, various tools have been created aimed at dealing with ecosystem services, not only from a qualitative point of view but in quantitative terms. The present work aims to analyze the applicability of a specific SE quantification software for vegetation, based both on the use of meteorological data and on the acquisition of field data and capable of returning outputs relating to the main components: environment (air quality), soil (use and cover) and water (quality and quantity of water runoff, with a focus on vegetation hydrology). The combination of this eco-hydrological model with a monetary ES evaluation is also interesting: although the economic model considered is particularly simple and therefore characterized by a non-negligible standard error, it is important to underline the direct and spontaneous association between SE and monetary quantification considered by the software, unlike how at the end of the last century the economic value of nature was still neglected.

Finally, the main results of a ES quantification project in an Italian urban context will be discussed, underlining  the environmental improvement to the surroundings and the social benefits for the population.

How to cite: Busca, F. and Revelli, R.: Ecosystem services, monetary value and social sphere: a specific-vegetation software suite on a urban-scale project, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11996, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11996, 2022.

Social learning is increasingly used to address environmental challenges including sustainable farming. How sustainable agricultural knowledge is co-produced, shared and used between farmers, scientists and government is important for building capacity and trust for sustainability in stressed socio-ecological communities worldwide. However, such understanding is largely lacking in developing economies. This research presents the findings from analysis of smallholder farmers’ social learning in three agricultural regions in China. Combining an existing social capital framework with questionnaires (Q) and interviews (I) with farmers (Q n=632; I n=30) and officials (Q n=77, I n=64), we demonstrate how farmers access and share farming knowledge through bonding, bridging and linking networks. In two regions, family bonding was the dominant learning pathway while linking networks to access ‘formal knowledge’ from government (or scientists) were limited. However, in the third region, government played a more important role in farmers’ knowledge sharing and acquisition processes. In all regions, learning from researchers was largely absent. Key suggestions about ways to enhance use of multiple forms of knowledge are provided. First, this study highlights the need for a more locally and socially embedded approach to facilitate enhanced farmers’ knowledge exchange and learning, to then build trust and capacity to help better address pressing local environmental challenges. Second, we show how social dynamics research can usefully inform knowledge exchange plans for collaborative, international development science, so that it can be best suited to local contexts, to optimise research impacts, capacity building and avoiding of mismatches. 

How to cite: Zheng, Y., Naylor, L. A., Wang, W., Stanton, A., Oliver, D., Munro, N., Chng, N. R., Waldron, S., and Peng, T.: Social capital in stressed social-ecological systems: understanding social learning in agricultural communities in China to aid environmental policy and practice, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12354, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12354, 2022.

The Kigezi highlands, southwestern Uganda, is a mountainous tropical region with a high population density, intense rainfall, alternating wet and dry seasons and high weathering rates. As a result, the region is regularly affected by multiple natural hazards such as landslides, floods, heavy storms, and earthquakes. In addition, deforestation and land use changes are assumed to have an influence on the patterns of natural hazards and their impacts in the region. Landscape characteristics and dynamics controlling the occurrence and the spatio-temporal distribution of natural hazards in the region remain poorly understood. In this study, citizen science has been employed to document and understand the spatial and temporal occurrence of natural hazards that affect the Kigezi highlands in relation to the multi-decadal landscape change of the region. We present the methodological research framework involving three categories of participatory citizen scientists. First, a network of 15 geo-observers (i.e., citizens of local communities distributed across representative landscapes of the study area) was established in December 2019. The geo-observers were trained at using smartphones to collect information (processes and impacts) on eight different natural hazards occurring across their parishes. In a second phase, eight river watchers were selected at watershed level to monitor the stream flow characteristics. These watchers record stream water levels once daily and make flood observations. In both categories, validation and quality checks are done on the collected data for further analysis. Combining with high resolution rainfall monitoring using rain gauges installed in the watersheds, the data are expected to characterize catchment response to flash floods. Lastly, to reconstruct the historical landscape change and natural hazards occurrences in the region, 96 elderly citizens (>70 years of age) were engaged through interviews and focus group discussions to give an account of the evolution of their landscape over the past 60 years. We constructed a historical timeline for the region to complement the participatory mapping and in-depth interviews with the elderly citizens. During the first 24 months of the project, 240 natural hazard events with accurate timing information have been reported by the geo-observers. Conversion from natural tree species to exotic species, increased cultivation of hillslopes, road construction and abandonment of terraces and fallowing practices have accelerated natural hazards especially flash floods and landslides in the region. Complementing with the region’s historical photos of 1954 and satellite images, major landscape dynamics have been detected. The ongoing data collection involving detailed ground-based observations with citizens shows a promising trend in the generation of new knowledge about natural hazards in the region.

How to cite: Kanyiginya, V., Twongyirwe, R., Kagoro, G., Mubiru, D., Kervyn, M., and Dewitte, O.: Understanding natural hazards in a changing landscape: A citizen science approach in Kigezi highlands, southwestern Uganda, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2024, 2022.

Human life in cities is already affected by climate change. The effects will become even more pronounced in the coming years and decades. Next-generation of city climate services is necessary for adapting infrastructures and the management of services of cities to climate change. These services are based on advanced weather forecast models and the access to diverse data. It is essential to keep in mind that each citizen is a unique individual with their own peculiarities, preferences, and behaviors. The base for our approach is the individual specific exposure, which considers that people perceive the same conditions differently in terms of their well-being. Individual specific exposure can be defined as the sum of all environmental conditions that affect humans during a given period of time, in a specific location, and in a specific context. Thereby, measurable abiotic parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, pollution and noise are used to characterize the environmental conditions. Additional information regarding green spaces, trees, parks, kinds of streets and buildings, as well as available infrastructures are included in the context. The recording and forecasting of environmental parameters while taking into account the context, as well as the presentation of this information in easy-to-understand and easy-to-use maps, are critical for influencing human behavior and implementing appropriate climate change adaptation measures.

We will adopt this approach within the frame of the recently started, EU-funded CityCLIM project. We aim to develop and implement approaches which will explore the potential of citizen science in terms of current and historical data collecting, data quality assessment and evaluation of data products.  In addition, our approach will also provide strategies for individual climate data use, and the derivation and evaluation of climate change adaptation actions in cities.

In a first step we need to define and to characterize the different potential stakeholder groups involved in citizen science data collection. Citizen science offers approaches that consider citizens as both  organized target groups (e.g., engaged companies, schools) and individual persons (e.g. hobby scientists). An important point to be investigated is the motivation of citizen science stakehoder groups to sustainably collect data and make it available to science and reward them accordingly. For that purpose, strategic tools, such as value proposition canvas analysis, will be applied to taylor the science-to-business and the science-to-customer communications and offers in terms of the individual needs.

How to cite: Dietrich, P., Ködel, U., Schütze, S., Schmidt, F., Schütze, F., Bonn, A., Herrmann, T., and Schütze, C.: Possible Contributions of Citizen Science in the Development of the Next Generation of City Climate Services, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2929, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2929, 2022.

Picture Pile is a flexible web-based and mobile application for ingesting imagery from satellites, orthophotos, unmanned aerial vehicles and/or geotagged photographs for rapid classification by volunteers. Since 2014, there have been 16 different crowdsourcing campaigns run with Picture Pile, which has involved more than 4000 volunteers who have classified around 11.5 million images. Picture Pile is based on a simple mechanic in which users view an image and then answer a question, e.g., do you see oil palm, with a simple yes, no or maybe answer by swiping the image to the right, left or downwards, respectively. More recently, Picture Pile has been modified to classify data into categories (e.g., crop types) as well as continuous variables (e.g., degree of wealth) so that additional types of data can be collected.

The Picture Pile campaigns have covered a range of domains from classification of deforestation to building damage to different types of land cover, with crop type identification as the latest ongoing campaign through the Earth Challenge network. Hence, Picture Pile can be used for many different types of applications that need image classifications, e.g., as reference data for training remote sensing algorithms, validation of remotely sensed products or training data of computer vision algorithms. Picture Pile also has potential for monitoring some of the indicators of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Picture Pile Platform is the next generation of the Picture Pile application, which will allow any user to create their own ‘piles’ of imagery and run their own campaigns using the system. In addition to providing an overview of Picture Pile, including some examples of relevance to SDG monitoring, this presentation will provide an overview of the current status of the Picture Pile Platform along with the data sharing model, the machine learning component and the vision for how the platform will function operationally to aid environmental monitoring.

How to cite: Sturn, T., See, L., Fritz, S., Karanam, S., and McCallum, I.: Extending Rapid Image Classification with the Picture Pile Platform for Citizen Science, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4168, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4168, 2022.

Last year, the Institute for Soil Sciences, Centre for Agricultural Research launched Hungary's first citizen science project with the aim to obtain information on the biological activity of soils using a simple estimation procedure. With the help of social media, the reactions on the call for applications were received from nearly 2000 locations. 

In the Hungarian version of the international Soil your Undies programme, standardized cotton underwear was posted to the participants with a step-by-step tutorial, who buried their underwear for about 60 days, from mid of May until July in 2021, at a depth of about 20-25 cm. After the excavation, the participants took one digital image of the underwear and recorded the geographical coordinates, which were  uploaded to a GoogleForms interface together with several basic information related to the location and the user (type of cultivation, demographic data etc.).

By analysing digital photos of the excavated undies made by volunteers, we obtained information on the level to which cotton material had decomposed in certain areas and under different types of cultivation. Around 40% of the participants buried the underwear in garden, 21% in grassland, 15% in orchard, 12% in arable land, 5% in vineyard and 4% in forest (for 3% no landuse data was provided).

The images were first processed using Fococlipping and Photoroom softwares for background removing and then percentage of cotton material remaining was estimated based on the pixels by using R Studio ‘raster package’.

The countrywide collected biological activity data from nearly 1200 sites were statistically evaluated by spatially aggregating the data both for physiographical and administrative units. The results have been published on various platforms (Facebook, Instagram, specific web site etc.), and a feedback is also given directly to the volunteers.

According to the experiments the first citizen science programme proved to be successful. 

Acknowledgment: Our research was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH; K-131820)

Keywords: citizen science; soil life; soil health; biological activity; soil properties

How to cite: Árvai, M., László, P., Takáts, T., Kovács, Z. A., Takács, K., Mészaros, J., and Pásztor, L.: Life in undies – Preliminary results of a citizen science data collection targeting soil health assessement in Hungary, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5094, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5094, 2022.

Citizen science is often heavily dependent on software tools that allow members of the general population to collect, view and submit environmental data to a common database. While several such software platforms exist, these often require expert knowledge to set up and maintain, and server and data hosting costs can become quite costly in the long term, especially if a project is successful in attracting many users and data submissions. In the context of time-limited project funding, these limitations can pose serious obstacles to the long-term sustainability of citizen science projects as well as their ownership by the community.

One the other hand, distributed database systems (such as Qri and Constellation) dispense with the need for a centralised server and instead rely on the devices (smartphone or computer) of the users themselves to store and transmit community-generated data. This new approach leads to the counterintuitive result that distributed systems, contrarily to centralised ones, become more robust and offer better availability and response times as the size of the user pool grows. In addition, since data is stored by users’ own devices, distributed systems offer interesting potential for strengthening communities’ ownership over their own environmental data (data sovereignty). This presentation will discuss the potential of distributed database systems to address the current technological limitations of centralised systems for open data and citizen science-led data collection efforts and will give examples of use cases with currently available distributed database software platforms.

How to cite: Malard-Adam, J., Harms, J., and Medema, W.: Distributed databases for citizen science, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5147, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5147, 2022.

During the last decades, countless seismic sensors have been deployed throughout the planet by different countries and institutions. In recent years, it has been possible to manufacture low-cost MEMS accelerometers thanks to nanotechnology and large-scale development. These devices can be easily configured and accurately synchronized by GPS. Customizable microcontrollers like Arduino or RaspBerryPI can be used to develop low-cost seismic stations capable of local data storage and real-time data transfer. Such stations have a sufficient signal quality to be used for complementing conventional seismic networks.

In recent years Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (INVOLCAN) has developed a proprietary low-cost seismic station to implement the Canary Islands School Seismic Network (Red Sísmica Escolar Canaria - RESECAN) with multiple objectives:

• supporting the teaching of geosciences.
• promoting the scientific vocation.
• strengthening the resilience of the local communities by improving awareness toward volcanism and the associated hazards.
• Densifying the existing seismic networks.

On Sept. 19^th 2021, a volcanic eruption started on the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma. The eruption was proceeded and accompanied by thousands of earthquakes, many of them felt with intensities up to V MCS. Exploiting the attention drawn by the eruption, INVOLCAN started the deployment of low-cost seismic stations in La Palma in educational centres. In this preliminary phase, we selected five educational centres on the island.

The project's objective is to create and distribute low-cost stations in various educational institutions in La Palma and later on the whole Canary Islands Archipelago, supplementing them with educational material on the topics of seismology and volcanology. Each school will be able to access the data of its station, as well as those collected by other centres, being able to locate some of the recorded earthquakes. The data recorded by RESECAN will also be integrated into the broadband seismic network operated by INVOLCAN (Red Sísmica Canaria, C7). RESECAN will be an instrument of scientific utility capable of contributing effectively to the volcano monitoring of the Canary Islands, reinforcing its resilience with respect to future volcanic emergencies.

How to cite: García-Hernández, R., Barrancos, J., D'Auria, L., Domínguez, V., Montalvo, A., and Pérez, N.: RESECAN: citizen-driven seismology on an active volcano (Cumbre Vieja, La Palma Island, Canaries), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5571, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5571, 2022.

Only a few of the increasing number of citizen science projects set out to determine the projects impact on diverse learning outcomes of citizen scientists. However, besides pure completion of project activities and data collection, measurable benefits as individual learning outcomes (ILOs) (Phillips et al. 2014) should reward voluntary work.

Within the citizen science project „TeaTime4Schools“, Austrian students in the range of 13 to 18 years collected data as a group activity in a teacher guided school context; tea bags were buried into soil to investigate litter decomposition. In an online questionnaire a set of selected scales of ILOs (Phillips et al. 2014, Keleman-Finan et al. 2018, Wilde et al. 2009) were applied to test those ILOs of students who participated in TeaTime4Schools. Several indicators (scales for project-related response, interest in science, interest in soil, environmental activism, and self-efficacy) were specifically tailored from these evaluation frameworks to measure four main learning outcomes: interest, motivation, behavior, self-efficacy. In total, 106 valid replies of students were analyzed. In addition, 21 teachers who participated in TeaTime4Schools, answered a separate online questionnaire that directly asked about quality and liking of methods used in the project based on suggested scales about learning tasks of University College for Agricultural and Environmental Education (2015), which were modified for the purpose of this study. Findings of our research will be presented.

How to cite: Wawra, A., Scheuch, M., Stürmer, B., and Sanden, T.: Analysis of individual learning outcomes of students and teachers in the citizen science project TeaTime4Schools, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6970, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6970, 2022.

Already sensitive because of its geology (seismic-tsunamic risk) and its interface between arid and temperate ecosystems, the Mediterranean Basin is being transformed by climate change and major urban pressure on resources and spaces. Lebanon concentrates on a small territory the environmental, climatic, health, social and political crises of the Middle East: shortages and degradation of surface and groundwater quality, air pollution, landscape fragmentation, destruction of ecosystems, erosion of biodiversity, telluric risks and very few mechanisms of information, prevention and protection against these vulnerabilities. Further, Lebanon is sorely lacking in environmental data at sufficient temporal and spatial scales to cover the range of key phenomena and to allow the integration of environmental issues for the country's development. This absence was sadly illustrated during the August 4th, 2020, explosion at the port of Beirut, which hindered the effective management of induced threats to protect the inhabitants. In this degraded context combined with a systemic crisis situation in Lebanon, frugal  innovation is more than an option, it is a necessity. Initiated in 2021 within the framework of the O-LIFE lebanese-french research consortium (www.o-life.org), the « Seismic and air monitoring observatory  for greater Beirut » (SMOAG) project aims at setting up a citizen observatory of the urban health of Beirut by deploying innovative, connected, low-cost, energy-efficient and robust environmental and seismological instruments. Through co-constructed web services and mobile applications with various stakeholders (citizens, NGOs, decision makers and scientists), the SMOAG citizen observatory will contribute to the information and mobilization of Lebanese citizens and managers by sharing the monitoring of key indicators associated with air quality, heat islands and building stability, essential issues for a sustainable Beirut.

The first phase of the project was dedicated to the development of a low-cost environmental sensor enabling pollution and urban weather measurements (particle matters, SO2, CO, O3, N02, solar radiation, wind speed, temperature, humidity, rainfall) and to the development of all the software infrastructure, from data acquisition to the synoptic indicators accessible via web and mobile application, while following the standards of the Sensor Web Enablement and Sensor Observation System of the OGC and to the FAIR principles (Easy to find, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). A website and Android/IOS applications for the restitution of data and indicators and a dashboard allowing real time access to data have been developed. Environmental and low-cost seismological stations (Raspberry Shake) have been already deployed in Beirut, most of them hosted by Lebanese citizens. These instrumental and open data access efforts were completed by participatory workshops with various stakeholders  to improve the ergonomy of the web and application interfaces and to define roadmap for the implantation of future stations, consistently with  most vulnerable populations identified by NGOs and the current knowledge on the air pollution and heat islands in Beirut.

How to cite: Cornou, C., Drapeau, L., El Bakouny, Y., Lahoud, S., Polikovitch, A., Abdallah, C., Abou Chakra, C., Afif, C., Al Bitar, A., Cartier, S., Fanice, P., Fenianos, J., Guillier, B., Khater, C., and Khoury, G. and the SMOAG Team: Seismic and air monitoring observatory for greater Beirut : a citizen observatory of the "urban health" of Beirut, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7164, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7164, 2022.

Water quality in the rivers and tributaries of the Brantas catchment (about 12.000 km²) is deteriorating due to various reasons, including rapid economic development, insufficient domestic water treatment and waste management, and industrial pollution. Various water quality parameters are at least measured on monthly basis by agencies involved in water resource development and management. However, measurements consistently demonstrate exceedance of the local water quality standards. Recent claims presented by the local Environmental Protection Agency indicate that the water quality is much more affected by the domestic sources compared to the others. In an attempt to examine this, we proposed a citizen science campaign by involving people from seven communities living close to the river, a network organisation that works on water quality monitoring, three government agencies, and students from a local university. Beginning in 2022, we kicked off our campaign by measuring with test strips for nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate on weekly basis at twelve different locations from upstream to downstream of the catchment. In the effort to provide education on water stewardship and empower citizens to participate in water quality management, preliminary results – the test strips, strategies, and challenges - will be shown.

How to cite: Pramana, R., Houser, S., Rini, D., and Ertsen, M.: Citizen science for better water quality management in the Brantas catchment, Indonesia? Preliminary results, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7323, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7323, 2022.

Available quality-checked institutional meteorological data is often not measured at locations of particular interest for observing specific small-scale and meso-scale atmospheric processes. Similarly, institutional data can be hard to obtain due to data policy restrictions. On the other hand, a lot of people are highly interested in meteorology, and they frequently deploy meteorological instruments at locations where they live. Such citizen data are often shared through public data repositories and websites with sophisticated visualization routines.  As a result, the networks of citizen meteorological stations are, in numerous areas, denser and more easily accessible than are the institutional meteorological networks.  

Several examples of publicly available citizen meteorological networks, including school networks, are explored – and their application to published high-quality scientific papers is discussed. It is shown that for the data-based analysis of specific atmospheric processes of interest, such as mesoscale convective disturbances and mesoscale atmospheric gravity waves, the best qualitative and quantitative results are often obtained using densely populated citizen networks.  

Finally, a “cheap and easy to do” project of constructing a meteorological station with a variable number of atmospheric sensors is presented. Suggestions on how to use such stations in educational and citizen science activities, and even in real-time warning systems, are given.  

How to cite: Sepic, J., Vranic, J., Aviani, I., Milanovic, D., and Burazer, M.: Citizen science - an invaluable tool for obtaining high-resolution spatial and temporal meteorological data, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7916, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7916, 2022.

Among the greatest constraints to accurately monitoring and understanding climate and climate change in many locations is limited in situ observing capacity and resolution in these places. Climate behaviours along with dependent environmental and societal processes are frequently highly localized, while observing systems in the region may be separated by hundreds of kilometers and may not adequately represent conditions between them. Similarly, generating climate equity in urban regions can be hindered by an inability to resolve urban heat islands at neighborhood scales. In both cases, higher density observations are necessary for accurate condition monitoring, research, and for the calibration and validation of remote sensing products and predictive models. Coincidentally, urban neighborhoods are heavily populated and thousands of individuals visit remote locations each day for recreational purposes. Many of these individuals are concerned about climate change and are keen to contribute to climate solutions. However, there are several challenges to creating a voluntary citizen science climate observing program that addresses these opportunities. The first is that such a program has the potential for limited uptake if participants are required to volunteer their time or incur a significant cost to participate. The second is that researchers and decision-makers may be reluctant to use the collected data owing to concern over observer bias. This paper describes the on-going development and implementation by 2DegreesC.org of a technology-driven citizen science approach in which participants are equipped with low-cost automated sensors that systematically sample and communicate scientifically valid climate observations while they focus on other activities (e.g., recreation, gardening, fitness). Observations are acquired by a cloud-based system that quality controls, anonymizes, and makes them openly available. Simultaneously, individuals of all backgrounds who share a love of the outdoors become engaged in the scientific process via data-driven communication, research, and educational interactions. Because costs and training are minimized as barriers to participation, data collection is opportunistic, and the technology can be used almost anywhere, this approach is dynamically scalable with the potential for millions of participants to collect billions of new, accurate observations that integrate with and enhance existing observational network capacity.

How to cite: Shein, K.: Linking citizen scientists with technology to reduce climate data gaps, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10634, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10634, 2022.

The 2019-2020 bushfire season (the Black Summer) in Australia was unprecedented in its breadth and severity as well as the disrupted resources and time dedicated to studying it.  Right after one of the most extreme fire seasons on record had hit Australia, a once-in-a-century global pandemic, COVID-19, occurred. This pandemic caused world-wide lockdowns throughout 2020 and 2021 that prevented travel and field work, thus hindering researchers from assessing damage done by the Black Summer bushfires. Early assessments show that the bushfires on Kangaroo Island, South Australia caused declines in soil nutrients and ground coverage up to 10 months post-fire, indicating higher risk of soil erosion and fire-induced land degradation at this location. In parallel to the direct impacts the Black Summer bushfires had on native vegetation and soil, the New South Wales Nature Conservation Council observed a noticeable increase in demand for fire management workshops in 2020. What was observed of fires and post-fire outcomes on soil and vegetation from the 2019-2020 bushfire season that drove so many citizens into action? In collaboration with the New South Wales Nature Conservation Council and Rural Fire Service through the Hotspots Fire Project, we will be surveying and interviewing landowners across New South Wales to collect their observations and insights regarding the Black Summer. By engaging landowners, this project aims to answer the following: within New South Wales, Australia, what impact did the 2019-2020 fire season have on a) soil health and native vegetation and b) human behaviours and perceptions of fire in the Australian landscape. The quantity of insights gained from NSW citizens will provide a broad assessment of fire impacts across multiple soil and ecosystem types, providing knowledge of the impacts of severe fires, such as those that occurred during the Black Summer, to the scientific community. Furthermore, with knowledge gained from reflections from citizens, the Hotspots Fire Project will be better able to train and support workshop participants, while expanding the coverage of workshops to improve support of landowners across the state. Data regarding fire impacts on soil, ecosystems, and communities has been collected by unknowing citizen scientists all across New South Wales, and to gain access to that data, we need only ask.

How to cite: Ondik, M., Ooi, M., and Muñoz-Rojas, M.: Insights from landowners on Australia's Black Summer bushfires: impacts on soil and vegetation, perceptions, and behaviours, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10776, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10776, 2022.

High air pollution concentration levels and increased urban heat island intensity, are amongst the most critical contemporary urban health concerns. This is the reason why various municipalities are starting to invest in extensive direct air quality and microclimate sensing networks. Through the study of these datasets it has become evident that the understanding of inter-urban environmental gradients is imperative to effectively introduce urban land-use strategies to improve the environmental conditions in the neighborhoods that suffer the most, and develop city-scale urban planning solutions for a better urban health.  However, given economic limitations or divergent political views, extensive direct sensing environmental networks have yet not been implemented in most cities. While the validity of citizen science environmental datasets is often questioned given that they rely on low-cost sensing technologies and fail to incorporate sensor calibration protocols, they can offer an alternative to municipal sensing networks if the necessary Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) protocols are put in place.

This research has focused on the development of a QA/QC protocol for the study of urban environmental data collected by the citizen science PurpleAir initiative implemented in the Bay Area and the city of Los Angeles where over 700 purple air stations have been implemented in the last years. Following the QA/QC process the PurpleAir data was studied in combination with remote sensing datasets on land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index, and geospatial datasets on socio-demographic and urban fabric parameters. Through a footprint-based study, and for all PurpleAir station locations, the featured variables and the buffer sizes with higher correlations have been identified to compute the inter-urban environmental gradient predictions making use of 3 supervised machine learning models: - Regression Tree Ensemble, Support Vector Machine, and a Gaussian Process Regression.

How to cite: Llaguno-Munitxa, M., Bou-Zeid, E., Rueda, P., and Shu, X.: Citizen-science urban environmental monitoring for the development of an inter-urban environmental prediction model for the city of Los Angeles, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11765, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11765, 2022.

Routine monitoring of soil chemistry is needed for effective crop management since a poor understanding of nutrient levels affects crop yields and ultimately farmers’ livelihoods.¹ In low- and middle-income countries soil sampling is usually limited, due to required access to analytical services and high costs of portable sampling equipment.² We are developing portable and low-cost sampling and analysis tools which would enable farmers to test their own land and make informed decisions around the need for fertilizers. In this study we aimed to understand attitudes of key stakeholders towards this technology and towards collecting the data gathered on public databa