Article
Environmental Sciences
Berhanu Y. Wondmagegn, Jianjun Xiang, Keith Dear, Susan Williams, Alana Hansen, Dino Pisaniello, Monika Nitschke, John Nairn, Ben Scalley, Blesson M. Varghese, Alex Xiao, Le Jian, Michael Tong, Hilary Bambrick, Jonathan Karnon, Peng Bi
Summary: This study examined the impact of heatwaves on emergency department (ED) presentations and costs in Adelaide, South Australia during the warm seasons of 2014-2017. The results showed that heatwaves significantly increased ED presentations and costs, with tailored interventions for vulnerable populations suggested to reduce the health impacts and cost burden.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Mohammad Reza Jangi, Azar Zarrin, Abbas Mofidi, Abbasali Dadashi-Roudbari
Summary: This research investigates the spatiotemporal variations and trends of heatwaves in different climate zones over Iran. The study found that different climate zones in Iran have different responses to heatwaves. All aspects of heatwaves have been increasing, especially in the recent decade.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sharon L. Campbell, Tomas Remenyi, Grant J. Williamson, Dean Rollins, Christopher J. White, Fay H. Johnston
Summary: This study found that heatwave events in Tasmania were associated with increased demands on ambulance services, particularly for the elderly (over 65 years old), young children (5 and under), and regions with higher socio-economic disadvantage.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Lucinda Coates, Jonathan van Leeuwen, Stuart Browning, Andrew Gissing, Jennifer Bratchell, Ashley Avci
Summary: Heatwaves are the most destructive natural hazard in Australia in terms of loss of life. A study analyzing heat-related fatalities from 2001 to 2018 found that a majority of deaths occurred indoors, particularly in older buildings. While there was no consistent trend in the number of fatalities, certain years saw higher numbers of deaths, with a predominance of male fatalities. Risk factors for heatwave deaths included age, socio-economic status, social isolation, geographical location, disabilities, medication use, and lack of air conditioning.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Jiangdong Liu, Hang Dong, Mengmeng Li, Ying Wu, Chunlin Zhang, Jinjian Chen, Zhou Yang, Guozhen Lin, De Li Liu, Jun Yang
Summary: This study comprehensively assessed the impact of heatwaves and their characteristics on public health in China under various climate change scenarios. The results showed that heatwave-related excess mortality will continue to increase in the future, with intensity being the main factor of concern. The duration of heatwaves was found to have the largest mortality burden among all characteristics.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYGIENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
S. Flores-Larsen, F. Bre, M. Hongn
Summary: This study compares existing models and proposes a novel method for detecting heatwaves that can have a significant impact on the indoor environment. Through analysis of heatwaves in Buenos Aires over a 15-year period, the study quantifies the impact on indoor overheating and establishes suitable thresholds for classification.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Y. T. Eunice Lo, Dann M. Mitchell, Ross Thompson, Emer O'Connell, Antonio Gasparrini
Summary: Heatwaves pose a serious threat to human life. Statistical models developed in epidemiology can be used to monitor heat-related deaths in near real time. This method can be employed in England to accurately estimate the mortality impacts of heatwaves and can be applied by health agencies elsewhere for reliable near-term forecasts.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Oceanography
Anna Maggiorano, Ming Feng, Xiao Hua Wang, Liz Ritchie, Clair Stark, Frank Colberg, Jim Greenwood
Summary: The study focused on the strong marine heatwave event induced by the 2012/2013 Ningaloo Nino on Australia's North West Shelf, with a particular emphasis on the roles of air-sea heat flux and ocean circulation. Results showed that positive horizontal advective heat flux anomaly in December 2012 played a crucial role in the development of the marine heatwave, while a decrease in negative heat advection and vertical mixing cooling in January-February 2013 maintained the high-temperature anomalies.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Jinghua Wei, Bin Wang, Jing-Jia Luo, Chao Li, Chaoxia Yuan
Summary: Australia has experienced an increasing number of heatwave events in recent decades. This study examines the synoptic features of summer heatwaves in Australia from 1950/1951 to 2019/2020. The heatwaves are categorized into four types based on their occurrence in specific regions: East Australia, North Australia, West Australia, and Southeast Australia. The results show that anomalous anticyclones at the 500 hPa level are responsible for heatwaves in each subregion, but the specific mechanisms differ. The study also highlights the importance of anomalous temperature advection and atmospheric heat budget in triggering and sustaining heatwaves.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Sharon L. Campbell, Carina C. Anderson, Amanda J. Wheeler, Stephen Cook, Tim Muster, Fay H. Johnston
Summary: Extreme heat and poor air quality caused by landscape fires are a growing concern worldwide due to anthropogenic climate change. This study aimed to understand the impacts of these environmental conditions on vulnerable population groups in the tropical city of Darwin, Australia, and identify gaps in policy and infrastructure to improve their lives and health. The findings may also provide guidance for other regions facing similar challenges.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kelley De Polt, Philip J. Ward, Marleen de Ruiter, Ekaterina Bogdanovich, Markus Reichstein, Dorothea Frank, Rene Orth
Summary: Heatwaves are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity due to climate change and have significant impacts on both society and nature. However, the lack of a common definition and consideration of different time scales for heatwaves hampers the study of their impacts. In this study, the societal response to heatwaves in Germany is analyzed using health and public attention metrics, and it is found that heatwaves induce the strongest response at durations between 2 weeks and 2 months. It is also shown that heatwave duration affects societal response independently of temperature. This research highlights the importance of considering the time scale when analyzing heatwaves and provides a basis for future studies on climate extremes.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Amy E. Peden, David Heslop, Richard C. Franklin
Summary: Extreme weather events can lead to significant losses in terms of human lives, economy, and infrastructure. As the climate changes, heatwaves, droughts, and floods are becoming more frequent and severe, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.
Article
Environmental Studies
Irfan Ahmad Rana, Laila Sikander, Zainab Khalid, Adnan Nawaz, Fawad Ahmed Najam, Sibghat Ullah Khan, Ayman Aslam
Summary: Climate change has led to a significant increase in urban temperatures, resulting in more frequent heatwaves. This study proposes a localized heatwave vulnerability index that considers exposure, sensitivity, and capacity to assess vulnerability. The findings highlight that households in informal settlements are more vulnerable to heatwave impacts due to limited coping capacities.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REVIEW
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Silvana Flores-Larsen, Celina Filippin, Facundo Bre
Summary: The concept of thermal resilience in building design has gained increasing relevance in recent years. However, there is a lack of case studies analyzing the thermal resilience against heat waves in passive and free-running buildings. This paper aims to improve current overheating metrics by analyzing the thermal resilience of a bioclimatic office building in an arid region of Argentina. The results show that the existing metrics cannot fully describe the daily behavior of the building, and propose two new additional metrics taking into account solar radiation and the previous thermal history of the building.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Review
Biophysics
Melanie Strathearn, Nicholas J. Osborne, Linda A. Selvey
Summary: The study found that in regions with hot, humid summers, low-intensity heat events may increase mortality, but the impact on morbidity is unclear. Limited studies suggest that emergency department presentations and ambulance dispatches increase during low-intensity heat events in these regions. Further research using consistent parameters is needed to better understand the impact of low-intensity heat on morbidity and mortality.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
John Boland, Sleiman Farah, Lei Bai
Summary: Accurately forecasting the output of wind and solar systems is crucial for increasing the penetration of renewable energy on the grid. While there has been extensive research on solar and wind resource forecasting, there is still a lack of focus on system output forecasting, particularly in dealing with the concept of clear sky output and conditionally changing variance.
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Mina Rouhollahi, David Whaley, Josh Byrne, John Boland
Summary: Energy-efficient dwellings play a crucial role in urban energy conservation, and the allocation of residential trees can effectively mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. This study evaluates the impact of different parameters of residential tree planting on the building-surround relationship and proposes an optimal arrangement. The results suggest that deciduous trees save energy bi-seasonally, and the addition of evergreen trees can further enhance energy conservation without negative effects on building thermal response.
ENERGY AND BUILDINGS
(2022)
Article
Thermodynamics
Ji Wang, Martin Belusko, Hesam Semsarilar, Michael Evans, Ming Liu, Frank Bruno
Summary: The study focused on the performance optimization of a CO2 heat pump system on a dairy farm for heating and cooling, with an emphasis on the impact of interstage pressure. Numerical simulations were used to determine the optimal system operating pressures by considering various parameters.
ENERGY CONVERSION AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Hussain Shahzad, Baden Myers, Guna Hewa, Tim Johnson, John Boland, Harsha R. Sadhpare
Summary: This study investigated the impact of storage capacity on the performance of kerbside leaky well systems, using continuous simulation methods and hydrological analysis to determine the potential benefits of distributing stormwater storage volume as a kerbside infiltration system in the catchment area.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Mawloud Guermoui, Said Benkaciali, Kacem Gairaa, Kada Bouchouicha, Tayeb Boulmaiz, John W. Boland
Summary: A new hybrid learning approach is proposed for multi-hour global solar radiation forecasting, with experimental results showing its superiority in prediction accuracy and outperforming benchmarking models.
NEURAL COMPUTING & APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hussain Shahzad, Baden Myers, Guna Hewa, Tim Johnson, John Boland, Hassan Mujtaba
Summary: This article investigates the harmful effects of stormwater discharge on receiving water bodies and focuses on the efficacy of distributed curbside leaky well systems in improving stormwater quality. The results suggest that the limited storage capacity of current systems only leads to minimum reduction in pollutant transport. The study also raises concerns about the potential increase in pollutant concentration in runoff outflows from Australian residential catchments if infill development policies are not followed.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Mina Rouhollahi, David Whaley, Monica Behrend, Josh Byrne, John Boland
Summary: A significant shift towards consolidating residential neighbourhoods has had a dramatic impact on the Australian national urban tree canopy benchmark. Previous tree planting strategies in densely settled residential suburbs are no longer sufficient for environmental and energy conservation goals. A review of original research conducted over the past two decades has led to a better understanding of the relationship between trees and the built environment. This review establishes potential tree allocation parameters for urban energy conservation within the constraints of residential landscapes.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
H. Shahzad, B. Myers, J. Boland, G. Hewa, T. Johnson
Summary: Distributed infiltration systems can significantly reduce runoff flowrate at catchment scale, but their impact on runoff volume reduction is not significant. Curbside infiltration systems can effectively decrease runoff volume for storms with runoff flowrates below 100 L/s.
Article
Thermodynamics
Soheila Riahi, Martin Belusko, Tim Lau, Ross Flewell-Smith, Michael Evans, Frank Bruno
Summary: This study compared the hydrothermal performance of different channel types and configurations and found the optimal design for a printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) using computational fluid dynamics. By validating the model with experimental conditions, the researchers determined the best channel combination and operating parameters to enhance the power generation effectiveness of concentrated solar power plants.
APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Krishantha Kodithuwakku, Jianyin Huang, Casey L. L. Doolette, Sean Mason, John Boland, Enzo Lombi, Niklas J. J. Lehto, Peter R. R. Teasdale
Summary: The availability of soil nitrogen for plant uptake can be affected by various soil factors, and conventional extraction techniques may affect the measurement of plant-available N concentrations. The diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) technique can overcome these limitations and has been successfully used to estimate the plant-available fractions of nutrients in soils. Therefore, evaluating the use of DGT for measuring NO3- and NH4+ in different soils and examining the factors affecting the plant-availability of these ions in soils is important.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mark Carey, John Boland, Gunnar Keppel
Summary: The species-area relationship (SAR) is commonly studied in ecology and can be expressed as either a semi-log or power-law relationship. This study introduces a new model that smoothly transitions between the two forms. Applying this model to 100 datasets, it was found that the power-law form was preferred in 68% of comparisons, both forms were supported in 40% of cases, and an intermediate model best explained the data in 44% of cases. This research demonstrates the utility of a simple intermediate SAR model.
ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING & ASSESSMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Mark Carey, John Boland, Gunnar Keppel
Summary: This study compares the performance of models adjusting or substituting for island area with measures of habitat diversity, island age, and resource availability. The results show that weighting island area by habitat diversity and resource availability improves statistical significance and model fits, while weighting by island age does not. Therefore, it is recommended to consider climate, topography, and geology when studying biodiversity patterns on islands, rather than relying solely on island area as a proxy.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Yanting Yin, Raihan Rumman, Madjid Sarvghad, Stuart Bell, Teng-Cheong Ong, Rhys Jacob, Ming Liu, Ross Flewell-Smith, Shane Sheoran, John Severino, Martin Belusko, Frank Bruno, Geoffrey Will, Theodore A. Steinberg, David A. Lewis, Gunther G. Andersson
Summary: This article explores the corrosion mechanisms of stainless steel in containers for thermal energy storage using phase change materials, such as carbonates and chlorides. The study provides insights into the degradation of these steel alloys and contributes to the selection of materials for solar thermal energy storage.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Tesfa Gebrie Andualem, Stefan Peters, Guna A. Hewa, John Boland, Baden R. Myers
Summary: Urbanization and changes in land use have significant impacts on urban catchments. This study used high spatial resolution imagery to examine the changes in land use and land cover (LULC) in the highly urbanized Dry Creek catchment in Adelaide, South Australia. The findings showed that urban development has led to an increase in built-up areas and a decline in grass cover. Moreover, urbanization has intensified impervious area coverage, affecting surface runoff.
APPLIED WATER SCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Environmental Studies
Tesfa Gebrie Andualem, Guna A. Hewa, Baden R. Myers, Stefan Peters, John Boland
Summary: Soil erosion and sediment transport have significant consequences for agriculture, water quality, and stream channels. Understanding these processes and their interactions is crucial for assessing environmental impacts. This review aims to identify a suitable model for catchment-scale soil erosion and sediment transport. The study considers various model selection processes and acknowledges the limitations and uncertainties associated with these models.
