Category: weather

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Low-Pressure and Sahara Dust from 7/27 to 7/28

For the last two days, a low-pressure zone and a layer of sand (dust) from the Sahara have been interacting in a harmonious dance.

Goes16 image for July 27 at 18:00 UTC
source : https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/sector.php?sat=G16&sector=taw
Forecast of total Sahara dust in the air column of the SKIRON model for July 27 at 18:00 UTC
source : https://forecast.uoa.gr/en/forecast-maps/dust/north-atlantic

The Sahara dust limits the development of cloud structures in the low-pressure area and its convective movements, with progressive weathering visible on the animation. The depression favours the transport of the layer of dust towards North America.

The presence of Saharan dust in the atmosphere of the North Atlantic has many negative effects on health, in particular by reducing air quality with the presence of fine particles and bacteria. It also impacts the environment with a strong greenhouse effect which favours heat waves and drying of the air which modifies the frequency and the quantity of rainfall.

Conversely, the presence of particles modifies atmospheric dynamics, in particular cyclogenesis. In an atmosphere overloaded with sand, convection is limited or even stopped, cyclones have less favourable conditions to form.

The presence of large quantities of sand from the Sahara modifies our understanding of meteorology in the North Atlantic but also of the current and future climate. Years with large concentrations of Sahara dust disturb our perception of climate change.

Animation of Goes16 satellite images from Wednesday, July 27 to Thursday, July 28, 2022
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World Meteorological Day 2022

March 23rd World Meteorological Day, this year’s theme is “Early Warning and Early Action”.

Meteorology is a relatively recent observational science. The technical progress made it possible after the Second World War (1950) to enter another dimension using remote sensors such as satellites and radio and then internet communicating sensors which allow the entire earth to be observed in real-time. Weather events can be monitored remotely from space or via sensors located in inaccessible areas.

A second revolution, that of digital (1970) made it possible to numerically simulate the ocean, the atmosphere and the ground over several days very quickly. Numerical weather forecasts are available every day for several weeks and therefore alert before extreme events: heatwave, snowstorm, sandstorm, torrential rain, extreme wind, hurricane, etc.

Despite these new capacities and their constant improvement, we remain weak in terms of the ability to adapt to extreme events, the causes of which we still have difficulty rigorously defining. Meteorology is not about the effects of risks, but about their origin: hazards.

Technologies, as in many other sciences, tend to make us forget that the size or form of digital information and data is not important, only their reliability counts and the people to analyse them.

On this world day TCGNRG invites you to ask yourself about the human resources available in your region to monitor weather phenomena, you will understand why forecasts are so inaccurate and so often wrong.

#WMO #WMD #WorldWeatherDay #Weather #Climate #Hydrology #LackOfResources #TCGNRG

Read More https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/world-meteorological-day/world-meteorological-day-2022-early-warning-early-action

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Water Resource Notebook of Guadeloupe

The Caribbean Geophysical and Numerical Research Group is proud to announce the publication of the first notebook on the water resource of Guadeloupe edited by OREC Guadeloupe (Regional Energy & Climate Observatory) named « LA RESSOURCE EN EAU ET LE CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE » (WATER RESOURCE AND CLIMATE CHANGE)

This document is the fruit of the collaborative work of the technical committee of the water resource of the Regional Climate Expert Group of Guadeloupe composed by ten members form University of Antilles, BRGM (French Geological and Mining Research Office), IPGP-OBSERA (Earth Physic Institute of Paris – Observatory of water and erosion in the French West Indies), INRAe (French National Institute of Agronomic Research and Environment), Flè Kawbon (Carbon Flower -Design Office-), Office de l’Eau Guadeloupe (Water Office of Guadeloupe), TCGNRG and supervised by OREC Guadeloupe (Mrs Cynthia Bonine and Amélie Belfort).

The writing of the document has been committed to Jean-François Dorville et Romain Rochette who could not go to the end of this project by lack of time.

The document is intended for institutions and the general public. It inventors the available resource, presents the climatic projections and theirs expected effects but also the possible actions to mitigate them.

The document is composed of 40 pages, 22 illustrations, 4 tables and 20 pictures. It is organized in four parts:

  • A presentation of climate of Guadeloupe and its main features
  • An inventory of the water resource, mainly those which benefit from an administrative following.
  • A presentation of the climate prevision, mainly those which come from C3AF up to 2080 (IPPC RCP8.5 scenario), and their expected effects on the water resource and their usage.
  • A presentation of levers of action, means and methods available to mitigate the future effects

The document if freely downloadable in French on that link : Cahier_de_l_eau

A long abstract will be available soon

TCGNRG hopes that it will become a reference in the Caribbean area. We still available to answer to any questions on the field (contact@tcgnrg.com)

YouTube link of the video of presentation (in French with subtitle) : YouTube

Link to press article

RCI Guadeloupe (13/11/2020) : https://www.rci.fm/guadeloupe/infos/Environnement/Un-cahier-pour-comprendre-la-ressource-en-eau-et-le-changement-climatique-en

France Antilles Guadeloupe (11/11/2020) : https://www.guadeloupe.franceantilles.fr/actualite/environnement/un-webinaire-sur-la-ressource-en-eau-en-guadeloupe-et-le-changement-climatique-580152.php

France Antilles Guadeloupe (17/11/2020): https://www.guadeloupe.franceantilles.fr/actualite/environnement/nos-enfants-devront-apprendre-a-economiser-l-eau-580483.php

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National French Air Quality Day (9/18/2019)

France is celebrating its National Air Quality Day on 18 September under the auspices of the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition.

The quality of the air to a minimum of three essential elements :

  • we live permanently in the atmosphere, apart from short passages in liquid media, between 0 and 15km above the surface of the water (atmospheric boundary layer), our skin and most of our mucous membranes are in permanent contact with the air and these compounds;
  • we must inhale at least 10 to 30 thousand litres of air in a day to produce the energy needed for life using available oxygen;
  • High concentration and diversity of fine particles and airborne molecules in air mostly composed by nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%) and other gas.
Sketch of Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Human activities, geological (volcanism), meteorological (sand haze) and biological (fermentation of wet packed algae) in amount of other can perturb air quality over more or less long period.
In order to qualitatively and quantitatively assess quality of the air in which we move and we breathe, index have been put in place.
It is based on the determination of a value or a colour indicating the quality compared to a normal air or the risk related to particular particles or molecules.

In front of the considerable number of particle, the indices group several sees all the pollutants.
The atmospheric index (ATMO index) used in France takes into account Ozone (O3), Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide NO2 and PM10 (particle up to 10 micrometres in diameter). Future evolutions predict the use of PM25.

Value of pollutants concentration used to compute ATMO Index

The information of the air quality must be correlated with our behaviour.
Placed in a rubbish bin all aware human being will seek to extract itself quickly, except special mission. An atmosphere of poor quality should be avoided.

It is therefore unfortunate that the information on atmospheric indices is not clearly required to avoid immediate risk behaviours such as smoky plumes from charcoal smokers (a large producer of fine particles) or run along roads and motorways at the end of the day at busy times.
Talking about situations that are not palpable enough (i.e., not visible or too far away) does not allow the conceptualization of pollution, makes the notion too abstract and does not allow the acceptance of behaviour that has a strong impact on lifestyles and the economy. But ensures a better, healthier, more peaceful and less violent life.

Information, especially the one which was worked to produce index, means something and must be understood and accepted. TCGNRG participates in this understanding and awareness with the help of adapted training, advices and atmospheric modelling and human behaviour, do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Atmospheric Index at worldwide scale  : https://waqi.info/fr/

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# JamGreenDesal Blog #4

Ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level : sustainability is an important concept developed those last thirty years when limits of our resources have been clearly identified (i.e., fossil fuel, minerals, sand, freshwater).

#JamGreenDesal presents in this fourth post how our freshwater resource is distributed and how modern life can impact it. Current situation with Climate Change and effective global warming as European countries which have experiencing higher temperature since modern methodology this summer (UK 38.5°C, France 46°C) push to figure out what will be our freshwater next month, next season and next century.

The sustainability of your provision in freshwater will depend of our usage and also the production. Green desalination can be part of the solution.

#GreenEnergy #EnergyNeed #RenewableEnergy #FreshWater #Desalination #ClimateChange #DrinkableWater #water #Cleanwater #AlternativeEnergy #Potablewater

A survey is still running to better understand relation between Jamaican and Freshwater, and how Jamaican consumed and manage freshwater. If you have 5 minutes and reside or have resided in Jamaica please help us and answer to the survey on this link

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#JamGreenDesal Blog #1

Some news : The Jamaican Green Desalination Project (#JamGreenDesal) was officially launch in its public phase. This project is a collaboration between UWI Mona and TCGNRG. Led by Zachary Williams through his MPhil. More information are available on the official webpage

This project try to build the tools to design Desalination Plant powering by Renewable Energy (i.e., solar, wind, wave)

In parallel a survey is running to better understand relation between Jamaican and Freshwater. If you have 5 minute and reside in Jamaica please help us and answer to the survey on this link

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2CE4qNqlVrc5sp3uxKOlZx4khx4jwfT-LVzd8c3ajuvypQg/viewform?usp=pp_url

Freshwater usage survey in Jamaica
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Publication on analyse of Ozone (O3) and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) concentration in atmosphere

Map of the study area Plocoste et al. 2018

TCGNRG recently published in collaboration with the University of the Antilles (Campus of Guadeloupe) an article on air quality in the center of the archipelago of Guadeloupe

Abstract
This paper presents a study on ground-level ozone (O3), nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) concentrations, and their variabilities in the ambient air of three sites of a tropical archipelago that is moderately urbanized. Statistical analysis was performed on a quite complete (>80%) set of 5 years of measurements (2008–2012). There are few studies on those pollutants and their seasonal behavior in the Caribbean area, where pollution level and cities configuration are different from megacities. Analyses are focused on pollutant variations at the scale of the day, the week, and the seasons, using hourly data.
The observations show that NO x concentrations are more elevated during the wet season, whereas O3 concentrations are higher in the dry season. Amplitudes of ozone cycles are strongly influenced by meteorological conditions (temperature, global radiation, and wind speed) and prevailing levels of NOx.
An ozone weekend effect is detected with the highest amplitude in the city, where anthropogenic activity is the lowest during the weekend. Due to the nature and the origin of pollutants, NO x shows higher variability than O 3 in the time series. Our results evince the need for continuous measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in order to better quantify their contribution in O3 formation in an insular context where numerous natural sources have been identified.

Implications
Statistical analyses of observed NOx and O3 concentrations for 5 years for a typical low industrialized site of the Caribbean area have been done. Air quality for those components is correct based on the standards of the World Health Organization, pollutant source spatial distributions, and level of industrialization. Observations show the same patterns as in megacities but also a strong impact of weather conditions and road traffic. Behaviors of O3 cannot be fully explained without VOCs monitoring. Localization and type of AQS should be reconsidered to improve the accuracy of concentrations of the pollutant and better understand their behaviors.

Where to get it
The article is available on the website of the editor Taylor & Francis
For more information please contact us at : contact@tcgnrg.com

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