Forest fires are one of the most dangerous natural hazards, especially when they are recurrent. In areas such as Galicia (Spain), forest fires are frequent and devastating. The development of fire risk models becomes a very important prevention task for these regions. Vegetation and moisture indices can be used to monitor vegetation status; however, the different indices may perform differently...

We evaluated the influence of pack stock (i.e., horse and mule) use on meadow plant communities in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in the Sierra Nevada of California. Meadows were sampled to account for inherent variability across multiple scales by: 1) controlling for among-meadow variability by using remotely sensed hydro-climatic and geospatial data to pair stock use meadows with similar...

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) has been identified as one of the major C sinks in the global carbon cycle, of which the exact size and spatial distribution are still difficult to determine quantitatively. Estimation of the amount of SOC present using remote sensing is mostly based on the overall decrease in reflectance in the solar reflective part of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, moisture c...

A simple model using once-daily upper-air values in the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis database estimates seasonal mass balance at two glaciers in southern Alaska, one in western Canada, and one in Washington substantially better than any of several seasonally averaged, large-scale climate indices commonly used. Whereas sea level pressure and sea surface temperature in the Pacific exert a strong influenc...

The impact of Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) upon extreme rainfall in southern China was studied using the Real-time Multivariate MJO (RMM) index and daily precipitation data from high-resolution stations in China. The probability-distribution function (PDF) of November–March rainfall in southern China was found to be skewed toward larger (smaller) values in phases 2–3 (6–7) of MJO, during whi...

Numerous biometeorological indices have been developed to account for the thermal stresses encountered by the human body in varying ambient environments. The models from which these indices have been devised are often based on fundamental physics and incorporate factors such as the fluxes of heat and moisture from bare skin, the influence of clothing on these fluxes, and the impacts of radiant ...

Palm oil is one of the major fats and oils produced and traded in the world today. It forms an important ingredient in the diet of many people in West Africa. The quality of palm oil is mostly determined by the fatty acid, moisture and impurity content, and bleachability. This study examined the quality of palm oil produced at cottage industry level in Ghana with a view to improve its quality t...

Lightning fire is the dominant natural disturbance of the western mixedwood boreal forest of North America. We quantified the independent effects of weather and forest composition on lightning fire initiation (a detected and recorded fire start) patterns in Alberta, Canada, to demonstrate how these biotic and abiotic components contribute to ecosystem dynamics in the mixedwood boreal forest. We...

in some conditions, to avoid deterioration and field losses of soybean seeds (glycine max merr.) from weathering at end of the season, farmers start to harvest seeds with a high moisture content and so, careful post-harvest drying would be required to maintain the physiological quality of seeds. response surface methodology (rsm) was used to optimize the operating conditions of soybean seed dry...

Different heat-moisture levels were applied to native starches from different cultivars of sweet potatoes available in Sri Lanka (Wariyapola red, Wariyapola white, Pallepola variety, Malaysian variety and CARI 273) to study the digestibility level. Samples were treated with 20, 25, and 30% moisture at 85°C and 120°C for 6 h and in vitro starch digestibility was tested with porcine pancreatin en...