Comparative analysis of TMPA and IMERG precipitation datasets in the arid environment of El- Qaa Plain, Sinai.. [DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0]

<p>The replenishment of aquifers depends mainly on precipitation rates, which is of vital 19 importance for determining water budgets in arid and semi-arid regions. El-Qaa Plain in Sinai 20 Peninsula is such a region which experiences a constant population growth. The local water budget 21 equilibrium is negatively affected by relatively frequent light rain events. This study compares the 22 performance of two sets of satellite-based data of precipitation and in situ rainfall measurements. The 23 dates selected refer to rainfall events between 2015 and 2018. For this purpose, 0.1° and 0.25° spatial 24 resolution TMPA (TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis) and IMERG (Integrated Multi-25 satellitE Retrievals for GPM) data were retrieved and analyzed, employing appropriate statistical 26 metrics. The best-performing data set was determined as the data source capable to most accurately 27 bridge gaps in the limited rain gauge records, embracing both frequent light-intensity rain events 28 and rarer heavy-intensity events. With light-intensity events the corresponding satellite-based data 29 sets differ the least and correlate more, while the greatest differences and weakest correlations are 30 noted for the heavy-intensity events. The satellite-based records best match those of the rain gauges 31 during light-intensity events, when compared to the heaviest ones. IMERG data exhibit a superior 32 performance than TMPA, in all rainfall intensities.</p>

Mapping monthly rainfall erosivity in Europe

Rainfall erosivity as a dynamic factor of soil loss by water erosion is modelled intra-annually for the first time at European scale. The development of Rainfall Erosivity Database at European Scale (REDES) and its 2015 update with the extension to monthly component allowed to develop monthly and seasonal R-factor maps and assess rainfall erosivity both spatially and temporally. During winter months, significant rainfall erosivity is present only in part of the Mediterranean countries. A sudden increase of erosivity occurs in major part of European Union (except Mediterranean basin, western part of Britain and Ireland) in May and the highest values are registered during summer months. Starting from September, R-factor has a decreasing trend. The mean rainfall erosivity in summer is almost 4 times higher (315MJmmha^-1h^-1) compared to winter (87MJmmha^-1h^-1). The Cubist model has been selected among various statistical models to perform the spatial interpolation due to its excellent performance, ability to model non-linearity and interpretability. The monthly prediction is an order more difficult than the annual one as it is limited by the number of covariates and, for consistency, the sum of all months has to be close to annual erosivity. The performance of the Cubist models proved to be generally high, resulting in R² values between 0.40 and 0.64 in cross-validation. The obtained months show an increasing trend of erosivity occurring from winter to summer starting from western to Eastern Europe. The maps also show a clear delineation of areas with different erosivity seasonal patterns, whose spatial outline was evidenced by cluster analysis. The monthly erosivity maps can be used to develop composite indicators that map both intra-annual variability and concentration of erosive events. Consequently, spatio-temporal mapping of rainfall erosivity permits to identify the months and the areas with highest risk of soil loss where conservation measures should be applied in different seasons of the year.

Reply to the comment on "Rainfall erosivity in Europe" by Auerswald et al

Recently, in the Auerswald et al. (2015) comment on "Rainfall erosivity in Europe", 5 criticisms were addressed: i) the neglect of seasonal erosion indices, ii) the neglect of published studies and data, iii) the low temporal resolution of the data, especially of the maximum rain intensity, iv) the use of precipitation data instead of rain data and the subsequent deviation of the R-factor in Germany and Austria compared with previous studies, and v) the differences in considered time periods between countries. We reply as follows: (i) An evaluation of the seasonal erosion index at the European scale is, to our knowledge, not achievable at present with the available data but would be a future goal. Synchronous publication of the seasonal erosion index is not mandatory, specifically because seasonal soil loss ratios are not available at this scale to date. We are looking forward to the appropriate study by the authors of the comment, who assert that they have access to the required data. (ii) We discuss and evaluate relevant studies in our original work and in this reply; however, we cannot consider what is not available to the scientific community. (iii) The third point of critique was based on a misunderstanding by Auerswald et al. (2015), as we did indeed calculate the maximum intensity with the highest resolution of data available. (iv) The low R-factor values in Germany and the higher values in Austria compared with previous studies are not due to the involvement of snow but are rather due to a Pan-European interpolation. We argue that an interpolation across the borders of Austria creates a more reliable data set. (v) We agree that the use of a short time series or time series from different periods is generally a problem in all large-scale studies and requires improvement in the future. However, because this affects countries with a rather low variability of the R-factor in our study, we are confident that the overall results of the map are not biased. In conclusion, the Pan-European rainfall data compilation (REDES) was a great success and yielded data from 1541 stations with an average length of 17.1years and a temporal resolution of <60min. However, a Pan-European data collection will never be complete without the help and supply of data from its users. Thus, we invite the authors of the comment to share their data in the open REDES to help build even better rainfall-erosivity maps at regional or European scales.

Rainfall erosivity in Europe

Rainfall is one the main drivers of soil erosion. The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as rainfall erosivity. Rainfall erosivity considers the rainfall amount and intensity, and is most commonly expressed as the R-factor in the USLE model and its revised version, RUSLE. At national and continental levels, the scarce availability of data obliges soil erosion modellers to estimate this factor based on rainfall data with only low temporal resolution (daily, monthly, annual averages). The purpose of this study is to assess rainfall erosivity in Europe in the form of the RUSLE R-factor, based on the best available datasets. Data have been collected from 1541 precipitation stations in all European Union (EU) Member States and Switzerland, with temporal resolutions of 5 to 60 min. The R-factor values calculated from precipitation data of different temporal resolutions were normalised to R-factor values with temporal resolutions of 30 min using linear regression functions. Precipitation time series ranged from a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 40 years. The average time series per precipitation station is around 17.1 years, the most datasets including the first decade of the 21st century. Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) has been used to interpolate the R-factor station values to a European rainfall erosivity map at 1 km resolution. The covariates used for the R-factor interpolation were climatic data (total precipitation, seasonal precipitation, precipitation of driest/wettest months, average temperature), elevation and latitude/longitude. The mean R-factor for the EU plus Switzerland is 722 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1), with the highest values (>1000 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1)) in the Mediterranean and alpine regions and the lowest (<500 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1)) in the Nordic countries. The erosivity density (erosivity normalised to annual precipitation amounts) was also the highest in Mediterranean regions which implies high risk for erosive events and floods.

Ets-1 is up-regulated together with its target gene products matrix metalloproteinase-2 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in atypical and anaplastic meningiomas

AIMS

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a pivotal enzyme system involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and are considered to be important in the development and invasion of human tumours. Little is known about the regulation of MMPs in meningioma development and prognosis. The transcription factor Ets-1 is the main regulator of several MMPs, including MMP-2 and -9. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the expression of Ets-1, MMP-2 and -9 and the malignant potential of meningiomas.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Seventy-four meningiomas of different histological grades were investigated immunohistochemically. Up-regulation of Ets-1, MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression was observed in atypical and anaplastic meningiomas. Invasive meningiomas showed increased immunohistochemical expression of these proteins compared with non-invasive meningiomas. We also observed a correlation between the expression of Ets-1 and of its target genes MMP-2 and MMP-9.

CONCLUSIONS

Ets-1 may be involved in the transcriptional regulation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 as well as in the invasive process in meningiomas. Evaluation of these expressions might be of prognostic value for meningiomas.

Decreased C4 complement component serum levels correlate with the degree of emphysema in patients with chronic bronchitis

Patients with COPD who fulfill the diagnostic criteria of chronic bronchitis have been shown to exhibit lower serum levels of complement components C3 and C4 than healthy subjects, and this may indicate sustained complement activation as a result of recurrent respiratory tract infections. Since activation of complement leads to influx of inflammatory cells into the lung parenchyma with subsequent release of elastases and oxidants that cause damage to elastic lung tissue, we postulated that there might be a quantitative relationship between complement consumption and degree of elastic tissue destruction. In this study, we tried to investigate possible correlations between serum levels of C3 and C4 and degree of emphysema among patients with COPD of the bronchitic type. We studied 20 patients with chronic bronchitis aged 68+/-1 years (mean+/-SEM) without significant fluctuations of serum C3 and C4 levels over a 3-month period by performing detailed lung function tests, recording of emphysema score in chest radiogram, and the incidence of infective exacerbations during the past 3 years. Measured C3 and C4 serum levels were 124+/-9 and 28.5+/-2 mg/dL, respectively, lower than the respective levels in control subjects (141+/-3 and 39+/-2 mg/dL, respectively). Significant correlations were observed between levels of C4 and (1) incidence of respiratory tract infections during the past 3 years (r=-0.747, p<0.001), (2) radiologic emphysema score (r=-0.936, p<0.001), and (3) various functional indexes, such as midexpiratory flow rate, percent of predicted (r=0.629, p<0.01), forced expiratory flow rate at 50% of vital capacity, percent of predicted (r=0.606, p<0.01), residual volume/total lung capacity ratio (r=-0.651, p<0.01), and the exponential constant of static pressure-volume curve (r=-0.606, p<0.01). These results suggest that patients with chronic bronchitis with the lowest levels of C4 are those experiencing more frequent respiratory infections, tend to have more signs indicative of emphysema in their chest radiograph, have a more prominent small airways dysfunction and gas trapping, and present a greater defect in lung elastic recoil.

Relationship between immunoglobulin levels, tuberculin hypersensitivity and radiological extent of disease in Greek patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Greek patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, who were studied before receiving any form of treatment, tended to have elevated immunoglobulin (Ig) levels in the IgG and IgA, but not the IgM, classes. This is in agreement with the findings of the majority of studies on immunoglobulin levels in other countries. The levels of IgA were particularly associated with the extent of disease and were significantly higher in smear-positive than in smear-negative patients. There was no significant relationship between the intensity of tuberculin sensitivity and immunoglobulin levels except for a weak tendency for patients with high IgA levels to have small skin reactions to tuberculin.

Relationship between immunoglobulin levels, tuberculin hypersensitivity and radiological extent of disease in Greek patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Greek patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, who were studied before receiving any form of treatment, tended to have elevated immunoglobulin (Ig) levels in the IgG and IgA, but not the IgM, classes. This is in agreement with the findings of the majority of studies on immunoglobulin levels in other countries. The levels of IgA were particularly associated with the extent of disease and were significantly higher in smear-positive than in smear-negative patients. There was no significant relationship between the intensity of tuberculin sensitivity and immunoglobulin levels except for a weak tendency for patients with high IgA levels to have small skin reactions to tuberculin.