Sandra Oliveira

Perception of temperature and wind by users of public outdoor spaces: relationships with weather parameters and personal characteristics

We aim to understand the relationship between people’s declared bioclimatic comfort, their personal characteristics (age, origin, clothing, activity and motivation, etc.) and the atmospheric conditions. To attain this goal, questionnaire surveys were made concurrently with weather measurements (air temperature, relative humidity, solar and long-wave radiation and wind speed) in two open leisure areas of Lisbon (Portugal), during the years 2006 and 2007. We analysed the desire expressed by the interviewees to decrease, maintain or increase the values of air temperature and wind speed, in order to improve their level of comfort. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the quantitative relation between preference votes and environmental and personal parameters. The preference for a different temperature depends on the season and is strongly associated with wind speed. Furthermore, a general decrease of discomfort with increasing age was also found. Most people declared a preference for lower wind speed in all seasons; the perception of wind shows significant differences depending on gender, with women declaring a lower level of comfort with higher wind speed. It was also found that the tolerance of warmer conditions is higher than of cooler conditions, and that adaptive strategies are undertaken by people to improve their level of comfort outdoors.

Advances in Remote Sensing and GIS applications in Forest Fire Management: from local to global assessments

The conceptual definition of a fire risk assessment system should include the most relevant components associated to the fire process. Fire occurrence factors have been traditionally classified in three groups: Fuels, Heat source and Oxygen. In the case of wildland fires, heat source is mostly related to the starting of the fire (fire ignition), and can be further divided in natural-caused (lightning, volcano eruption) and human-caused. Oxygen is needed for combustion, and it is mostly related to fire propagation, being the critical parameters wind speed, direction and slopes. Fuels are both related to fire ignition (the drier, the more likely to ignite) and propagation (the more fuel load available, the more energy will be released and favour further ignition). Fuel moisture is associated to short-term weather factors, topographic conditions and soil characteristics, while fuel load and geometrical properties are related to climate, soil and land use patterns. In addition to these factors, fire risk assessment should also consider the potential damages caused by fires, which are very much dependent on fire characteristics (energy released, residence time, flame length, etc.). Following these ideas, a comprehensive fire risk assessment system has been developed within the Fireglobe project (www.fireglobe.es), funded under the Spanish Program for Science and Research. To implement the proposed risk framework, the first phase focused on the generation of risk factors for the whole Spanish Iberian territory (both the Canary and the Balearic islands were not considered at this stage). Human factors, lightning probability, fuel moisture content of both dead and live fuels, and propagation have been considered. Additionally, fire vulnerability has been assessed by analyzing values at risk and landscape resilience. Once the variables were generated, the fire risk model was defined by integrating the input variables using statistical and physical approaches. Finally, the validation has been performed using fire statistics derived from the fire seasons of 2010 and 2011.

Mapping wildfire vulnerability in Mediterranean Europe: testing a stepwise approach for operational purposes

Vulnerability assessment is a vital component of wildfire management. This research focused on the development of a framework to measure and map vulnerability levels in several areas within Mediterranean Europe, where wildfires are a major concern. The framework followed a stepwise approach to evaluate its main components, expressed by exposure, sensitivity and coping capacity. Data on population density, fuel types, protected areas location, roads infrastructure and surveillance activities, among others, were integrated to create composite indices, representing each component and articulated in multiple dimensions. Maps were created for several test areas, in northwest Portugal, southwest Sardinia in Italy and northeast Corsica in France, with the contribution of local participants from civil protection institutions and forest services. Results showed the influence of fuel sensitivity levels, population distribution and protected areas coverage for the overall vulnerability classes. Reasonable levels of accuracy were found on the maps provided through the validation procedure, with an overall match above 72% for the several sites. The systematic and flexible approach applied allowed for adjustments to local circumstances with regards to data availability and fire management procedures, without compromising its consistency and with substantial operational capabilities. The results obtained and the positive feedback of end-users encourage its further application, as a means to improve wildfire management strategies at multiple levels with the latest scientific outputs.

Territorial Resilience and Flood Vulnerability. Case Studies at Urban Scale in Torino (Italy) and Porto/Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

This paper presents the implementation in QGIS of spatial informations for two case studies in Italy and Portugal by the conceptualization proposed in MOVE (Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability assessment in Europe, www.move-fp7.eu). The chosen areas are in Turin (Italy) and Porto – Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal). The conceptual model MOVE describes territorial vulnerability along three dimensions: exposure, susceptibility and lack of resilience. Each dimension can be described through a variety of indicators, such as physical, social, economic, cultural and others. A set of 59 variables to include in the analysis was drawn from the spatial informations available in publicly accessible databases. In addition to the indicators already presented in similar studies, the assets of cultural and historical heritage are introduced. Because of a rather complex measurement and research work, all indicators were standardized and mapped in the European grid (1 km x 1 km). Finally, maps of exposure, susceptibility and lack of resilience were obtained, from which it was possible to draw the maps of the local variation of flood vulnerability. The enphasis is on local variation because maps result from normalization of variables into a local range. Therefore, maps show local variability of vulnerability and can not be referred to either a national or European standard scale. The latter will be possible if further research identifies appropriate ranges for each indicator, representative for larger areas. The procedure, however, shows clearly how urban inequalities translate in inequalities in flood vulnerability and resilience. In this sense, if adopted to simulate the effects of planning, this procedure could help in designing more resilient territories.

International scientific conference on “Bioclimatology and natural hazards”

Travelling to the Slovak Republic, one of the new (since 2004) member-states of the EU, was a very pleasant surprise. From the point of view of human and natural ecology, this country of about 49,000 km2 and 5.4 million inhabitants is constituted by two main regions: the Tatra Mountains (where the forest is the primary resource) and the lowlands of the Danube plain (a fertile farming region that produces wheat, barley, potatoes, sugar beet, fruit, tobacco and grapes)3. The capital, Bratislava (located close to the border with Austria and just over 50 km away from Wien and Hungary), is the main entrance point to this country. The International Conference on “Bioclimatology and Natural Hazards” took place on September 17-20, 2007, and was organized by the Faculty of Forestry of the Natural Environment Department, Technical University of Zvolen (the only faculty in Slovakia that provides advanced training in the field of wood processing). Zvolen itself is a very nice town of about 45,000 inhabitants located in central Slovakia, with a history of more than 760 years. Although the foundation of its Castle, known as the Deserted Castle, dates back to the 10th century, the rise to town status did not occur until 1243, when King Belo IV granted royal town privileges to Zvolen. The historical influence of the Hungarian empire is manifest in the current structure of the population of Zvolen: although more than 80% are Slovaks, 11% originate in that ethnic region. In the 19th century, L’udovit Stur became the first member of the Hungarian Parliament to represent Zvolen. He actively sought to advance the causes of the national liberation of the Slovaks, the recognition of the Slovak language and the granting of equal civil rights to the Slovak nation as a whole (http://eng.zvolen.eu). The aim of the conference was to “discuss exclusively recent research developments in the interactions between meteorological, climatological, hydrological and biological processes in both atmosphere and soil” (from the conference flyer). The plenary sessions took place in the building of the Technical University, whereas the remaining ones were

O 18º Congresso Internacional de Biometeorologia (ICB2008)

Realizou-se entre 22 e 26 de Setembro de 2008, em Toquio, no Japao, o 18.o Congresso Internacional de biometeorologia (ICb2008). Este Congresso realiza-se de tres em tres anos, e organizado pela Associacao Internacional de biometeorologia e pretende essencialmente promover o encontro entre investigadores das mais diversas especialidades no dominio da biometeorologia/bioclimatologia, que estuda a relacao entre os seres vivos e as condicoes atmosfericas. Contribui igualmente para a partilha e discussao dos metodos e tecnicas utilizados e dos resultados obtidos ao longo dos 3 anos anteriores. Este ano, o tema geral escolhido para o Congresso foi “Harmony within Nature”, considerando a diversidade existente nas relacoes entre as sociedades humanas e a Natureza, evidentes na cultura, na civilizacao e nos costumes locais de cada area. Abarcando um dominio cientifico vasto e com uma forte componente de interdisciplinaridade, o Congresso de biometeorologia reuniu contributos das mais diversas areas cientificas – desde a Geografia a Medicina, passando pela zootecnia e Agricultura. As sessoes foram divididas por temas de acordo com as caracteristicas das comunicacoes propostas (bioclimatologia humana, turismo, bioclimatologia animal, poluicao do ar, clima urbano, etc.). Para alem das apresentacoes orais e em poster, decorreram tambem simposios de abertura para cada um dos temas e foi organizado um Special Joint Symposium, em conjunto com o Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, com o intuito de discutir os problemas relacionados com as mudancas globais, intitulado “O papel da biometeorologia na ciencia da sustentabilidade”. O grupo de Climatologia do Centro de Estudos Geograficos da Universidade de Lisboa participou neste congresso com 3 comunicacoes orais (em que o orador foi o primeiro autor) e 3 posters: Comunicacoes Orais: – Oliveira S, Andrade H, Alcoforado M-J – Assessment of the bioclimatic comfort in different outdoor public spaces of Lisbon. – Andrade H, Alcoforado M-J, Oliveira S – Relations between personal characteristics and bioclimatic comfort.