High Elevation Energy and Water Balance:the Roles of Surface Albedo and Temperature

Observation and modeling of the coupled energy and water balance is the key to understand hydrospheric and cryospheric processes at high elevation.The paper summarizes the progress to address this aspect in relation with different earth system elements,from glaciers to wetlands.The energy budget of two glaciers,i.e.Xiao Dongkemadi and Parlung No.4,was studied by means of extended field measurements and a distributed model of the coupled energy and mass balance was developed and evaluated.The need for accurate characterization of surface albedo was further documented for the entire Qinghai Tibet Plateau by numerical experiments with Weather Research and Forecast(WRF)on the sensitivity of the atmospheric boundary layer to the parameterization of land surface processes.A new approach to the calibration of a coupled distributed watershed model of the energy and water balance was demonstrated by a case study on the Heihe River Basin in northwestern China.The assimilation of land surface temperature did lead to the retrieval of critical soil and vegetation properties as the soil permeability and the canopy resistance to the exchange of vapour and carbon dioxide.The retrievals of actual Evapo-Transpiration(ET)were generated by the ETMonitor system and evaluated against eddy covariance measurements at sites spread throughout Asia.As regards glacier response to climate variability,the combined findings based on satellite data and model experiments showed that the spatial variability of surface albedo and temperature is significant and controls both glacier mass balance and flow.Experiments with both atmospheric and hydrosphere-cryosphere models documented the need and advantages of using accurate retrievals of land surface albedo to capture lan-atmosphere interactions at high elevation.

Growth and Development Responses of Tobacco (<i>Nicotiana tabacum</i>L.) to Changes in Physical and Hydrological Soil Properties Due to Minimum Tillage

Minimum tillage is a soil conservation practice involving a reduction in soil disturbance and topsoil compaction, which could minimize environmental impact of the tobacco cultivation system. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the development and growth responses of Nicotiana tabacum and the changes in the physical and hydrological soil properties after the application of two different treatments: minimum tillage (MT) and conventional tillage (CT). MT did not cause any pronounced differences in the crop yield compared to CT, instead it positively affected the physical and hydrological soil properties and the plants’ vegetative growth. Under MT, the soil showed a higher structural stability than CT with significantly lower compaction values. With MT the soil showed a higher capacity to maintain and store water during the drought periods, evidenced by soil moisture values significantly higher than CT. Tobacco on MT showed a good response, significantly prolonging the vegetative growth stage which at harvest determined a higher stem height, greater number of leaves and longer internodes.

An Operational Hydro-Meteorological Chain to Evaluate the Uncertainty in Runoff Forecasting over the Verbano Basin

The development and implementation of a real-time flood forecasting system with a hydro-meteorological operational alert procedure during the MAP-D-PHASE Project is described in this paper. This chain includes both probabilistic and deterministic forecasts. The hydrological model used to generate the runoff simulations is the rainfall-runoff distributed FEST-WB model, developed at Politecnico di Milano. The observed data to run the control simulations were supplied by ARPA-Piemonte. The analysis is focused on Maggiore Lake basin, an Alpine basin between North-West of Italy and Southern Switzerland. Two hindcasts during the D-PHASE period are discussed in order to evaluate certain effects regarding discharge forecasts due to hydro-meteorological sources of uncertainties. In particular, in the June convective event it is analysed how the effect of meteorological model spatial resolution can influence the discharge forecasts over mountain basins, while in the November stratiform event how the effect of the initial conditions of soil moisture can modify meteorological warnings. The study shows how the introduction of alert codes appears to be useful for decision makers to give them a spread of forecasted QDFs with the probability of event occurrence, but also how alert warnings issued on the basis of forecasted precipitation only are not always reliable.

Starman: An Innovative Alternative to the Traditional Tripod-The Advantages of a Design Approach in the Project of a Functional Accessory for the Music Industry

The music industry is related to various services:record companies,music publishers,recording studios,authors,performers,management,radio,television,digital music services,music retail,live music events,music merchandising,music schools…Design for the music industry,therefore,includes products of many categories:musical instruments,stage accessories,speakers,amplifiers,control systems,bags,stands,and many more.The project of a new speaker stand thus becomes an opportunity to demonstrate the advantage of a design approach in a functional field,which is usually not design-oriented.The design research generated an innovative patented stand,safer,without clutter inside,and with greater attention to aesthetic value.

Innovation: An Intersection Point between Design, Economics, and Sociology

The deep connection between Design and Innovation has its origin from the meaning and from the interpretation of these two terms.This is more significant if we apply a cross-disciplinary point of view to read the contemporary scenario where processes related to product design innovation are developed.Design is not only what teachers and professionals intend about it:it is very important,at the same time,the meaning of design for the“outside world”,for users,customers,buyers,…According to its positive perception,society and economy now confers the Design discipline a leading role,but it can reasonably be expected that,at the same speed of its development,the importance of Design could one day start to decrease.The methodology used in the present article is an etymological analysis,associated with a lecture of what experts mean about Design and Innovation.A case study and the didactical experience of the author supported the conclusion.

Design between Architecture and Structure: Case Studies of Pilot Interventions on Italian Monumental Buildings

Two case studies,referring to historic Italian buildings housing city halls,provide an opportunity to investigate the design of non-standard elements aimed at protecting masonry vaults,with particular reference to the preliminary works prior to the actual structural restoration work.There is in fact a phase in which it is a priority to secure the vault to avert possible risks to the users of that portion of the building.This phase is temporarily intermediate between the detection and aggravation of injuries and the renovation and consolidation project.Although these are provisional works,they are intended for buildings that are often public and therefore intended for a wide range of users,such as schools,offices or monumental buildings.In analyzing traditional techniques and systems used in similar cases,the possibility of developing evolutionary aspects with respect to,above all,simple shoring techniques emerged.In these areas,hybrids between a structural and architectural project,it is possible to reconcile static requirements with architectural techniques of space management,attentive to the quality of the interior and the integration of the provisional work with the reference context.