Climate and aridity measures relationships with spectral vegetation indices across desert fringe shrublands in the South-Eastern Mediterranean Basin.

Mediterranean regions are hot spots of climate change, where the expected decrease in water resources threatens the sustainability of shrublands at their arid margins. Studying spectral vegetation indices' relationships with rainfall and potential evapotranspiration (PET) changes across Mediterranean to arid transition zones is instrumental for developing methods for mapping and monitoring the effects of climate change on desert fringe shrublands. Here we examined relationships between 17 spectral vegetation indices (VIs) and four climate and aridity measures, i.

Can spatial patterns along climatic gradients predict ecosystem responses to climate change? Experimenting with reaction-diffusion simulations.

Following a predicted decline in water resources in the Mediterranean Basin, we used reaction-diffusion equations to gain a better understanding of expected changes in properties of vegetation patterns that evolve along the rainfall transition between semi-arid and arid rainfall regions. Two types of scenarios were investigated: the first, a discrete scenario, where the potential consequences of climate change are represented by patterns evolving at discrete rainfall levels along a rainfall gradient. This scenario concerns space-for-time substitutions characteristic of the rainfall gradient hypothesis.

Night-time ground hyperspectral imaging for urban-scale remote sensing of ambient PM--modal concentrations retrieval.

Retrieval of aerosol loading in vertical atmospheric columns is a common product of satellite and ground instruments that measure spectral extinction of solar radiation throughout the entire atmosphere. Here we study ground hyperspectral imaging of artificial light sources as a complementary method for retrieving fine aerosol concentrations along quazi-horizontal ambient open paths. Previously, we reported hyperspectral measurements of the aerosol optical thickness in the 500-900 nm range over urban-scale distances (180 m to 4 km), measuring the extinction of radiation emitted from a halogen source.

Combining analytical hierarchy process and agglomerative hierarchical clustering in search of expert consensus in green corridors development management.

Environmental management and planning are instrumental in resolving conflicts arising between societal needs for economic development on the one hand and for open green landscapes on the other hand. Allocating green corridors between fragmented core green areas may provide a partial solution to these conflicts. Decisions regarding green corridor development require the assessment of alternative allocations based on multiple criteria evaluations.