Peculiar COVID-19 effects in the Greater Tokyo Area revealed by spatiotemporal variabilities of tropospheric gases and light-absorbing aerosols

This study investigated the spatiotemporal variabilities in nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), ozone (O3), and light-absorbing aerosols within the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan, which is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. The analysis is based on total tropospheric column, partial tropospheric column (within the boundary layer), and in situ observations retrieved from multiple platforms as well as additional information obtained from reanalysis and box model simulations. This study mainly covers the 2013–2020 period, focusing on 2020 when air quality was influenced by the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Although total and partial tropospheric NO2 columns were reduced by an average of about 10 % in 2020, reductions exceeding 40 % occurred in some areas during the pandemic state of emergency. Light-absorbing aerosol levels within the boundary layer were also reduced for most of 2020, while smaller fluctuations in HCHO and O3 were observed. The significantly enhanced degree of weekly cycling of NO2, HCHO, and light-absorbing aerosol found in urban areas during 2020 suggests that, in contrast to other countries, mobility in Japan also dropped on weekends. We conclude that, despite the lack of strict mobility restrictions in Japan, widespread adherence to recommendations designed to limit the COVID-19 spread resulted in unique air quality improvements.

MinION Nanopore Sequencing Accelerates Progress towards Ubiquitous Genetics in Water Research

In 2014, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) introduced an affordable and portable sequencer called MinION. We reviewed emerging applications in water research and assessed progress made with this platform towards ubiquitous genetics. With >99% savings in upfront costs as compared to conventional platforms, the MinION put sequencing capacity into the hands of many researchers and enabled novel applications with diverse remits, including in countries without universal access to safe water and sanitation. However, to realize the MinION’s fabled portability, all the auxiliary equipment items for biomass concentration, genetic material extraction, cleanup, quantification, and sequencing library preparation also need to be lightweight and affordable. Only a few studies demonstrated fully portable workflows by using the MinION onboard a diving vessel, an oceanographic research ship, and at sewage treatment works. Lower nanopore sequencing read accuracy as compared to alternative platforms currently hinders MinION applications beyond research, and inclusion of positive and negative controls should become standard practice. ONT’s EPI2ME platform is a major step towards user-friendly bioinformatics. However, no consensus has yet emerged regarding the most appropriate bioinformatic pipeline, which hinders intercomparison of study results. Processing, storing, and interpreting large data sets remains a major challenge for ubiquitous genetics and democratizing sequencing applications.

Observational data from uncrewed systems over Southern Great Plains

Uncrewed Systems (UxS), including uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and tethered balloon/kite systems (TBS), are significantly expanding observational capabilities in atmospheric science. Rapid adaptation of these platforms and the advancement of miniaturized instruments have resulted in an expanding number of datasets captured under various environmental conditions by the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility. In 2021, observational data collected using ARM UxS platforms, including seven TigerShark UAS flights and 133 tethered balloon system (TBS) flights, were archived by the ARM Data Center (https://adc.arm.gov/discovery/#/, last access: 11 February 2022) and made publicly available at no cost for all registered users (10.5439/1846798) (Mei and Dexheimer, 2022). These data streams provide new perspectives on spatial variability of atmospheric and surface parameters, helping to address critical science questions in Earth system science research. This paper describes the DOE UAS/TBS datasets, including information on the acquisition, collection, and quality control processes, and highlights the potential scientific contributions using UAS and TBS platforms.

A Succession of Cloud, Precipitation, Aerosol, and Air Quality Field Experiments in the Coastal Urban Environment

Within this context, fundamental questions regarding the life cycle of convective clouds, aerosols, and pollutants have brought together a diverse, integrated, and interagency collaboration of scientists to collect and analyze measurements, in the Houston, Texas, area, from the summer of 2021 through the summer of 2022, with subsequent modeling studies to address these important research objectives. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Facility and Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Program, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Physical and Dynamic Meteorology Program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Tropospheric Composition Research and Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Programs and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are collaborating on a joint set of field campaigns to study the interactions of cloud, aerosol, and pollutants within the coastal, urban environment. Measurement platforms to be deployed: (a) Stony Brook University Weather Truck including dual-polarization X-band phased array radar (ESCAPE), (b) NCAR C-130 aircraft (ESCAPE) (photo credit: C. Wolff), (c) Pandora Spectrometer (TAQ) (photo credit: B. Swap), (d) ARM Tethered Balloon System (TRACER), (e) ARM Mobile Facility (TRACER), (f) C-Band ARM Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (TRACER), (g) Baylor University–University of Houston–Rice University Mobile Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ, TRACER), (h) Johnson Space Flight Center Gulfstream V aircraft (TAQ). Measurement platforms to be deployed: (a) Stony Brook University Weather Truck including dual-polarization X-band phased array radar (ESCAPE), (b) NCAR C-130 aircraft (ESCAPE) (photo credit: C. Wolff), (c) Pandora Spectrometer (TAQ) (photo credit: B. Swap), (d) ARM Tethered Balloon System (TRACER), (e) ARM Mobile Facility (TRACER), (f) C-Band ARM Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (TRACER), (g) Baylor University–University of Houston–Rice University Mobile Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ, TRACER), (h) Johnson Space Flight Center Gulfstream V aircraft (TAQ). Measurement platforms to be deployed: (a) Stony Brook University Weather Truck including dual-polarization X-band phased array radar (ESCAPE), (b) NCAR C-130 aircraft (ESCAPE) (photo credit: C. Wolff), (c) Pandora Spectrometer (TAQ) (photo credit: B. Swap), (d) ARM Tethered Balloon System (TRACER), (e) ARM Mobile Facility (TRACER), (f) C-Band ARM Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (TRACER), (g) Baylor University–University of Houston–Rice University Mobile Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ, TRACER), (h) Johnson Space Flight Center Gulfstream V aircraft (TAQ). On the ground, multiple fixed and mobile radar systems (Fig. 1a) will be used to track convective cells and perform multi-Doppler analysis for the derivation of velocities within the convective systems over the course of their life cycle.

SIGNIFICANCE. STOP ILLICIT HERITAGE TRAFFICKING WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The inability to prevent or eliminate illicit trafficking of cultural goods is not limited to failed-state environments or any specific part of the globe. While the antiquities market denies that this illicit trade is a widespread phenomenon, the international community and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) overwhelmingly recognize the problem indicating that organized crime is involved at all stages. Nowadays, web platforms play host to groups dedicated to illegal archaeological excavations and Illicit trade of cultural goods. Looters have the freedom to connect online with potential buyers around the world. At the same time, social media platform monitoring in search of criminal activities conducted by LEAs is poor due to the lack of expertise, efficient tools to scan the massive amounts of data, and funds. The COVID-19 crisis has compounded the problem by driving more and more dealers and buyers online – where they are discovering that by joining certain unmonitored groups, they can enter the illegal market with ease. The EU funded SIGNIFICANCE project (Stop Illicit heritaGe traffickiNg wIth artiFICiAl iNtelligenCE) has been designed to boost LEAs investigation capabilities in monitoring online illegal activities on social media platforms, the web and the dark web for the identification of cultural property crimes, exploiting Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning algorithms for guaranteeing the successful prosecution of perpetrators unveiling criminal networks.

EFFECT ASSESSMENT OF LARGE-SCALE EVENTS VIA SPATIOTEMPORAL APPROACH

Together with rapid development of location-based services and big-data platforms especially in urban areas, huge amount of spatiotemporal data are collected without properly used;on the other hand, state-of-the-art quantitative policy effect assessment techniques usually require panel data as input. To solve both issues, this paper follows the following approach: obtaining panel data by aggregating spatiotemporal data and feeding them to the effect assessment module. With the help of high-performance computing techniques which are able to deal with huge amount of data, we build framework Aggr-analysis which applies clustering algorithms to shrink the raw data set and find associations between different data sets via co-location analysis. Finally, we prove the effectiveness by an example: analysis of resident activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. We apply Aggr-analysis to process the share-bike usage data and POI (Point Of Interest) data in Beijing, then obtain the panel data required by DID (Difference-in-Differences) method. Supplemented with environmental data, we conclude the net effect of the COVID-19 breakout on society and economy - the pandemic has reduced the overall resident mobility by 64.8% within two months.

Reflecting on research produced after more than 60 years of exclosures in the Kruger National Park

Herbivores are a main driver of ecosystem patterns and processes in semi-arid savannas, with their effects clearly observed when they are excluded from landscapes. Starting in the 1960s, various herbivore exclosures have been erected in the Kruger National Park (KNP), for research and management purposes. These exclosures vary from very small (1 m2) to relatively large (almost 900 ha), from short-term (single growing season) to long-term (e.g. some of the exclosures were erected more than 60 years ago), and are located on different geologies and across a rainfall gradient. We provide a summary of the history and specifications of various exclosures. This is followed by a systematic overview of mostly peer-reviewed literature resulting from using KNP exclosures as research sites. These 75 articles cover research on soils, vegetation dynamics, herbivore exclusion on other faunal groups and disease. We provide general patterns and mechanisms in a synthesis section, and end with recommendations to increase research outputs and productivity for future exclosure experiments. Conservation Implications: Herbivore exclosures in the KNP have become global research platforms, that have helped in the training of ecologists, veterinarians and field biologists, and have provided valuable insights into savanna dynamics that would otherwise have been hard to gain. In an age of dwindling conservation funding, we make the case for the value added by exclosures and make recommendations for their continued use as learning tools in complex African savannas.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Cody shares his message as AWRA 2020 President. She explains that the year started on a high note featuring editions Infrastructure Resilience and Geospatial Water Technology, but quickly turned as AWRA and its members switched to survival mode as COVID-19 hit early last spring. The AWRA culture embraces shared research and information, networking, and camaraderie, or - "community, conversation, and connection" - through in-person conferences, membership platforms, IMPACT and their award-winning Journal - the journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). Moreover, she offers her gratitude for the continued support of AWRA Members during this difficult year and to all their volunteers.

Spatial Variability of the ‘Airbnb Effect’: A Spatially Explicit Analysis of Airbnb’s Impact on Housing Prices in Sydney

Over the last decade, the emergence and significant growth of home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, has coincided with rising housing unaffordability in many global cities. It is in this context that we look to empirically assess the impact of Airbnb on housing prices in Sydney—one of the least affordable cities in the world. Employing a hedonic property valuation model, our results indicate that Airbnb’s overall effect is positive. A 1% increase in Airbnb density is associated with approximately a 2% increase in property sales price. However, recognizing that Airbnb’s effect is geographically uneven and given the fragmented nature of Sydney’s housing market, we also employ a GWR to account for the spatial variation in Airbnb activity. The findings confirm that Airbnb’s influence on housing prices is varied across the city. Sydney’s northern beaches and parts of western Sydney experience a statistically significant value uplift attributable to Airbnb activity. However, traditional tourist locations focused around Sydney’s CBD and the eastern suburbs experience insignificant or negative property price impacts. The results highlight the need for policymakers to consider local Airbnb and housing market contexts when deciding the appropriate level and design of Airbnb regulation.