Overcast sky condition prevails on and influences the biometeorology of the tropical Andean Páramos

Clouds play a major role in modulating the biometeorological processes. We studied the influence of cloudiness on four biometeorological variables:daily air temperature(Tair), relative humidity(RH),reference evapotranspiration(ETr),and photosynthetic active radiation(PAR), recorded at four sites of Andean Páramos in southern Ecuador during 2.5 to 5.5 years. First, we quantified both the cloud cover percentage(Cloud%) creating cloud masks over the visible bands of Landsat 7 images and the sky condition(K_(T)) using the records of solar and extraterrestrial radiation. Second, we estimated KTfrom Cloud%. Finally, we quantified T_(air), RH, ET_(r), and PAR under clear, cloudy, and overcast K_(T) and their dependence on KT. The average Cloud% ranged between 65%–76%, and KTcorroborated the prevailing overcast sky(between 55% and 72.5% of the days) over the páramos. The proposed model performed well in the sites of calibration(R^(2)= 0.80;MBE = 0.00;RMSE = 0.05) and validation(R^(2)= 0.74;MBE =-0.07;RMSE = 0.11). The overcast sky diminished T_(air)(≤ 10℃), ET_(r)(≤ 1.6 mm day-1), and PAR(4 MJ m^(-2)day^(-1)) and increased RH(≥ 88%),while the variables showed the opposite behavior during the uncommon clear sky(≤ 5.5% of the days).Thus, mostly the dynamic of RH(R^(2)≥ 0.62), ETr(R^(2)≥ 0.85), and PAR(R2≥ 0.77) depended on K_(T). Hence,the prevailing overcast sky influenced the biometeorology of the páramos.

Phase-field modeling of fracture for quasi-brittle materials

This paper addresses the modeling of fracture in quasi-brittle materials using a phase-field approach to the description of crack topol-ogy.Within the computational mechanics community,several studies have treated the issue of modeling fracture using phase fields.Most of these studies have used an approach that implies the lack of a damage threshold.We herein explore an alternative model that includes a damage threshold and study how it compares with the most popular approach.The formulation is systematically explained within a rigorous variational framework.Subsequently,we present the corresponding three-dimensional finite element discretization that leads to a straightforward numerical implementation.Benchmark simulations in two dimensions and three dimensions are then presented.The results show that while an elastic stage and a damage threshold are ensured by the present model,good agreement with the results reported in the literature can be obtained,where such features are generally absent.