Is the human population a large-scale indicator of the species richness of ground beetles?

Aim Positive regional correlations between biodiversity and human population have been detected for several taxonomic groups and geographical regions. Such correlations could have important conservation implications and have been mainly attributed to ecological factors, with little testing for an artefactual explanation: more populated regions may show higher biodiversity because they are more thoroughly surveyed. We tested the hypothesis that the correlation between people and herptile diversity in Europe is influenced by survey effort

Large scale underground energy storage for renewables integration: general criteria for reservoir identification and viable technologies.

The increasing integration of renewable energies in the electricity grid contributes considerably to achieve the European Union goals on energy and Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions reduction. However, it also brings problems to grid management. Large scale energy storage can provide the means for a better integration of the renewable energy sources, for balancing supply and demand, to increase energy security, to enhance a better management of the grid and also to converge towards a low carbon economy. Geological formations have the potential to store large volumes of fluids with minimal impact to environment and society. One of the ways to ensure a large scale energy storage is to use the storage capacity in geological reservoir. In fact, there are several viable technologies for underground energy storage, as well as several types of underground reservoirs that can be considered. The geological energy storage technologies considered in this research were: Underground Gas Storage (UGS), Hydrogen Storage (HS), Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), Underground Pumped Hydro Storage (UPHS) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES). For these different types of underground energy storage technologies there are several types of geological reservoirs that can be suitable, namely: depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, aquifers, salt formations and caverns, engineered rock caverns and abandoned mines. Specific site screening criteria are applicable to each of these reservoir types and technologies, which determines the viability of the reservoir itself, and of the technology for any particular site. This paper presents a review of the criteria applied in the scope of the Portuguese contribution to the EU funded project ESTMAP – Energy Storage Mapping and Planning.

Study of different atmospheric environments associated to storms development in the Madeira Island

The study aims to improve the understanding about different atmospheric environments leading to the development of storms associated with heavy precipitation in Madeira Island. For this purpose, four main goals have been considered: 1) To document the synoptic and mesoscale environments associated with heavy precipitation. 2) To characterize surface precipitation patterns that affected the island during some periods of significant accumulated precipitation using numerical modelling. 3) To study the relationship between surface precipitation patterns and mesoscale environments. 4) To highlight how the PhD findings obtained in the first three goals can be translated into an operational forecast context. Concerning the large scale environment, precipitation over the island was favoured by weather systems (e.g, mesoscale convective systems and low pressure systems), as well as by the meridional transport of high amount of moisture from a structure denominated as “Atmospheric River”. The tropical origin of this moisture is underscored, however, their impact on the precipitation in Madeira was not so high during the 10 winter seasons [2002 – 2012] studied. The main factor triggering heavy precipitation events over the island is related to the local orography. The steep terrain favours orographically-induced stationary precipitation over the highlands, although maximum of precipitation at coastal region may be produced by localized blocking effect. These orographic precipitating systems presented different structures, associated with shallow and deep convection. Essentially, the study shows that the combination of airflow dynamics, moist content, and orography is the major mechanism that produces precipitation over the island. These factors together with the event duration act to define the regions of excessive precipitation. Finally, the study highlights two useful points for the operational sector, regarding the meridional water vapour transport and local effects causing significant precipitation over the Island; RESUMO: O estudo procura melhorar o entendimento sobre os diferentes ambientes atmosféricos que favorecem o desenvolvimento de tempestades associadas com precipitação intensa na ilha da Madeira. Nesse sentido foram definidos quatro objetivos: 1) Documentar os ambientes sinópticos e de mesoescala associados com precipitação intensa; 2) Caracterizar padrões de precipitação na superfície, em eventos de elevada precipitação acumulada, utilizando modelação numérica; 3) Estudar as relações entre os padrões de precipitação e ambientes de mesoescala; 4) Mostrar como tais resultados podem ser utilizados num contexto operacional de previsão do tempo. Em relação a ambientes de larga escala, verificou-se que a ocorrência de eventos de precipitação intensa sobre a ilha foi favorecida por sistemas meteorológicos, assim como pelo transporte meridional de humidade por meio de estruturas atualmente denominadas Rios atmosféricos. Neste último caso é de destacar a origem tropical de humidade, no entanto, o seu impacto na precipitação sobre a Madeira durante os 10 invernos estudados [2002-2012] não foi tão elevada. O principal fator que favorece os eventos de precipitação intensa está relacionado com a orografia local. O terreno complexo da ilha favorece a ocorrência de precipitação estacionária induzida orograficamente sobre as terras mais altas, embora a precipitação nas zonas costeiras possa ser produzida por um efeito localizado de bloqueio. Estes sistemas orográficos precipitantes apresentaram diferentes estruturas, associados a convecção pouco profunda e profunda. O estudo mostra que a combinação entre as características do escoamento, a quantidade de humidade, e a orografia são os condimentos essenciais para o desenvolvimento da precipitação sobre a ilha, atuando de maneira a definir as regiões de precipitação excessiva. Por fim, o estudo destaca dois pontos que podem ser úteis na previsão do tempo operacional, ligados a larga escala e aos efeitos locais, os quais podem levar ao desenvolvimento de tempestades e precipitação intensa sobre a ilha.