Tuesday, March 17, 2020

pollution » traces of human activity

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/coronavirus-pollution.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage




Watch the Footprint of Coronavirus Spread Across Countries

As the new coronavirus shuts down countries around the world, the impact can be seen from space.
A satellite that detects traces of human activity — tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks, fossil fuel burned in power plants and other industrial activities — shows striking reductions in pollution across China and Italy since the outbreak first started.
Both countries have taken unprecedented measures to limit the movement of people in the hope of slowing or even containing the spread of the disease. Even in South Korea, which has put more modest restrictions on the movement of its citizens, pollution appeared to fall.
“It’s the first time in history we’ve seen something like this,” said Marco Percoco, an associate professor of transportation economics at Bocconi University in Milan, referring to the speed and the size of the pollution declines in Italy and China.

More NO2 emissions
December 2019 to March 2020
December 2018 to March 2019
Milan
Milan
Venice
Venice
Florence
Florence
ITALY
ITALY
Rome
Rome
Mediterranean
Sea
Mediterranean
Sea
Each frame in this video represents a 20-day composite of nitrogen dioxide concentrations from mid-December through mid-March. Source: Sentinel-5P satellite data processed by Descartes Labs

Northern Italy

Italy is facing the largest coronavirus outbreak outside of China, with nearly 30,000 illnesses and 2,100 deaths reported so far.
Early cases were clustered in the north, where the outbreak has been especially severe, but the disease has continued to spread throughout the country.
In early March, the government imposed emergency measures restricting the movement of roughly 16 million people throughout northern Italy, including major cities like Venice and Milan. Bars, restaurants and other gathering places were closed, and citizens were asked to avoid all unnecessary movement. Soon after, similar restrictions were extended countrywide.
The impact of those restrictions can be seen in pollution readings gathered by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite. The images show that emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a gas closely linked to vehicle exhaust, are considerably lower across northern Italy compared to the same time period last year. The region regularly struggles with wintertime smog.
The satellite data was analyzed for The New York Times by Descartes Labs, a geospatial analysis group.
In a separate analysis made public this weekend, researchers from Bocconi University reported a “sizeable” decline in several types of air pollution in Milan during the lockdown, including nitrogen dioxide levels and particulate matter pollution, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels that is highly damaging to human health.
“It is clear people are not moving by cars,” said Dr. Percoco, an author on the study, noting that vehicle emissions are a major source of particulate matter and other pollution in Italian cities. Few people are on the streets, he said, with many Italians staying home to avoid the virus.

More NO2 emissions
December 2019 to March 2020
December 2018 to March 2019
Beijing
Beijing
SOUTH
KOREA
SOUTH
KOREA
Seoul
Seoul
Tokyo
Tokyo
JAPAN
JAPAN
CHINA
CHINA
Wuhan
Wuhan

China and South Korea

The drop in pollution was even starker in China, where the new coronavirus was first detected. The largest emissions reductions were seen surrounding the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province.
Chinese officials put the region on lockdown in late January, following the Chinese New Year holiday, and have only recently begun relaxing restrictions to allow workers in key industries to return to their jobs. That includes public transportation workers and those involved in making medical supplies and other necessities.
The unprecedented lockdown, which barred the movement of nearly 35 million people, caused widespread economic disruptions, including a slowdown in manufacturing and electricity generation.
Pollution across the region plunged accordingly.
“What we saw in China was a very rapid effect,” said Joanna Joiner, an atmospheric physicist at NASA. The agency’s own analysis found that nitrogen dioxide emissions over eastern and central China were significantly lower during January and February this year compared to what is normal for the period.
Every year, pollution dips across the country during the weeklong Lunar New Year celebration, as factories shut down and people stay home from work. (The holiday falls in late January or early February each year). But usually, emissions rebound as the country reopens for business. This year, they stayed at lower levels for weeks.
A smaller decrease in nitrogen dioxide pollution can also be seen in South Korea, around the capital, Seoul. The South Korean government did not bar the movement of its citizens but encouraged strict social distancing by closing down schools and universities, asking people to work from home and canceling large gatherings.
The social distancing measures, as well as an increasing number of people in self-quarantine, appear to have had an impact on air pollution, said Minwoo Sun, a coordinator at the Global Air Pollution Unit of Greenpeace East Asia. But further analysis is needed to fully understand the depth of coronavirus’ impact on South Korea’s air, he added.
As more countries shut down life as usual to slow the spread of coronavirus, we may see further drops in pollution around the world, Dr. Joiner said.
“We’re seeing changes in human behavior, in how people are moving around and how they’re using fuels,” she said. “Pollution won’t hide from the satellite data. It’s going to tell us what’s going on.”




best books 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/books/review/podcast-10-best-books-2019.html?te=1&nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20191129?campaign_id=69&instance_id=14159&segment_id=19177&user_id=9af9e2f18ab3f5672a30424efef996e7&regi_id=9635869020191129



For the second year in a row, editors at The New York Times got together for a live taping of the podcast to discuss the Book Review’s list of the year’s 10 Best Books. (If you haven’t seen the list yet and don’t want spoilers before listening, the choices are revealed one by one on the podcast.)
“These are books that we think will endure, that will be looked at and read and consulted and referred to well after the year in which they were named,” says Pamela Paul, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, as part of her introductory remarks about what the editors look for in their selections.
In addition to the 10 Best Books, the editors discuss on this episode some of their favorite works from the year that didn’t make the list. Here are those additional books the editors discuss:
We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

TEMPO para TRABALHOS MANUAIS

The fLIPADOS Team
developed a new work on the OCTOPUS format
with 3 different versions of
VPL = Vantag.Paik.London
Vantag's delegation to Paik's exhibition in London
being a multi-city delegation means that one version will go to Póvoa de Varzim,
another to Figueira da Foz and the last one to Porto



















MASHING esclarecido






Caros participantes no curso RISCONTROL na GSC:


Ora cá temos o assunto esclarecido… agora que temos mais tempo L

…|…

Em inglês existem as duas palavras como sinónimos

MUSH = MASH

e como substantivos, querem dizer uma massa ou papa

e como verbo

To mush ou to mash (tendo depois o gerúndio MUSHING ou MASHING)

significam amassar, esmagar

Vejam os anexos, p. f. onde se desenvolve o tema e se indicam as fontes consultadas.

…|…

Portanto, o amigo do Ernesto era inglês ou estagiou em Inglaterra. J

E, como confirmado ao telefone há pouco, é hoje que o Ernesto tem o trator na Gateira e vai assim poder…

FAZER MASHING


…|...

Não convém confundirmos isto com outros temas como:

Mushing » » poder ser corridas com trenós puxados por cães, na neve


e

Mashing » » poder estar ligado à mistura de cereais para produzir cerveja



São ambos significados verdadeiros mas que não interessam nada para o nosso tema

de AGRICULTURA em locais turísticos


Afinal a língua inglesa também é traiçoeira.



Obg


Jorge Cardoso

Riscontrolo – Consultores Económicos, Lda.
Rua Calouste Gulbenkian, 223 / 4050-145 PORTO / PORTUGAL
riscontrol@vantag.eu / skype: riscontrol / tel: +351.22 609 0996  
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