Articles

• History of the meteorological observatoions in Debrecen

  1-5

  Sándor Szegedi

  Views:

  31

  Debrecen was among the first cities in Hungary where meteorological observatories were established, although the weather station of our University was put into operation 80 years ago, Meteorological observations have a much longer history in the city. In the present paper history of the meteorological observations and stations worked in the city has been reviewed with special emphasis on the meteorological observatory of the University of Debrecen.

  30

• Connection between the potential wind energy and the windy days

  6-24

  Károly Tar

  Tamás Tóth

  Kornél Rózsavölgyi

  Views:

  33

  Preliminary wind climate information are required for the selection of the sites of energetic wind measurements. Optimal locations of wind energy projects, where the amount of utilizable wind energy can be forecasted with a good approach, can be determined using GIS and statistical methods. Anyhow, it is necessary to elaborate methods what make posible to gain data for the wind potential of a given location on the base of measured data. Monthly number of windy days can be such predictor if its basic statistical parameters and its connection to the monthly mean wind power can be determined. This latter one can be substituted by the area under the curve of the function fitted to the hourly averages of the cubes of the wind speeds. A regression modell is fitted to the monthly number of windy days and areas under the curve, on the base of time series of 7 Hungarian weather stations and the error of the modell is determined. On this base, the modell is extrapolated to a 35 years long period. The area under the curve proportional to the monthly mean wind power calculated on the base of the monthly number of windy days show a significant decreasing trend in 4 Hungarian weather stations.

  18

• Examinations on the air quality in Berehove (Beregszász, Ukraine) between 1997 and 2007

  25-33

  Géza Papp

  Views:

  38

  First results of the examinations on the air quality in Beregszász (Ukraine) are presented in the present paper. Data sets of air quality monitoring network in Beregszász were provided by the Beregszász township office of National Health Service of Ukraine. Monitoring network consists of five stations in the industrial residential and recreational districts of the town. Measurements were carried out between 1995 and 2007 in the heating and in the non heating seasons. Spatial and seasonalű distributions of SO2, NO2 and particulate matter were analyzed using the Student t-test.

  24

• Spatial and temporal pattern of soil pH and Eh and their impact on solute iron content in a wetland (Transdanubia, Hungary)

  34-45

  Zoltán Szalai

  Views:

  41

  Land mosaics have direct and indirect influence on chemical reaction and redox condition of soils. The present paper deals with the relationship between some environmental factors (such as soil and vegetation patterns, micro-relief, water regime, temperature and incident solar radiation) and the pH, Eh of soils and solute iron in a headwater wetland in Transdanubia, Hungary. Measurements have been taken in four different patches and along their boundaries: sedge (Carex vulpina, Carex riparia, three patches and two species), horsetail (Equisetum arvense), common nettle (Urtica dioica). The spatial pattern of the studied parameters are influenced by the water regime, micro-topography, climatic conditions and by direct and indirect effects of vegetation. The indirect effect can be the shading, which has influence on soil temperature and on the incident solar radiation (PAR). Root respiration and excretion of organic acids appear as direct effects.. There have been measured individual pH and Eh characteristic in the studied patches. Soil Eh, pH and solute iron have shown seasonal dynamics. Higher redox potentials (increasingly oxidative conditions) and higher pH values were measured between late autumn and early spring. The increasing physiological activity of plants causes lower pH and Eh and it leads to higher spatial differences. Although temperature is an essential determining factor for Eh and pH, but our results suggest it rather has indirect effects through plants on wetlands.

  85

• Agricultural sector, rural environment and biodiversity in the Central and Eastern European EU member states

  46-64

  Jaan Liira

  Tsipe Aavik

  Oliver Parrest

  Martin Zobel

  Views:

  27

  During the second half of the 20th century, agriculture and the rural environment diverged in Western and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). CEE countries itself are heterogeneous in the respect of land use intensity and history. In the current review we focus on the comparison of the agricultural sector and threats on biodiversities of EU new-member countries from Central and Eastern Europe and the old EU(15) member states. The clustering of countries revealed groups distinguished according to the level of their economic productivity, discriminating mostly among eastern and western European countries. CEE countries sub-divided according to geographic region, including also some old members of the EU. Within the western cluster, two large sub-clusters became evident according to economy affected by altitudinal and climatic differences. Partly because there are still areas where the intensity of land use remained low, the biological diversity in many regions of Central and Eastern Europe has remained high. However, loss of extensively used habitats, the restoration on intensive agriculture, reforestation with exotic species and urbanization are major threats to nature in CEE countries. The estimated variability among CEE countries is caused by different historical and cultural backgrounds of those countries. Due to the complexity and geographical diversity of driving forces, there remains much uncertainty in the possible impacts of particular factors on land use. This complexity and diversity have to be considered when planning economic as well as ecological means for developing the agricultural sector and conserving biodiversity in the future of CEE countries.

  117

• Interferences between the ecological network and urbanized areas in Poland

  65-77

  Iwona Zwierzchowska

  Views:

  27

  This paper presents spatial relations between Polish urban areas and valuable habitats and links between them composing the country’s ecological network. The quantitative analysis for 891 towns and cities was conducted using GIS techniques based on cartographic vector data and statistical data. Valuable habitats and links between them, such as national parks, landscape parks, CORINE biotopes sites, wildlife corridors linking NATURA 2000 sites and ECONET areas, can be found in 72% of Polish towns and cities. The proportion of artificial surfaces in those areas is different depending on the size of a town or city and its location. Urban areas with the highest index of presence of valuable habitats and links between them are concentrated in the south of Poland, where settlement network is most dense. However, in the case of those areas the proportion of artificial surfaces interfering with the ecological network is lower than Poland’s average, being 16%. The pressure of anthropogenic land cover extending onto the country’s ecological network is most conspicuous in urban areas with a population of at least several dozen thousand residents where the average developed area is 20.8% of their total area. The danger for the continuity of the nature system is best seen in the north western Poland, where artificial surfaces interference in towns and cities is largest. The analysis performed identified 82 towns and cities, in which the preservation of the continuity of the ecological network should be a priority in spatial management because of a higher than average index of the presence of valuable habitats and links between them and large proportion of artificial surfaces in those areas.

  24

• Challenges of municipal waste management in Hungary

  78-85

  Zoltán Orosz

  István Fazekas

  Views:

  35

  Aims, tasks and priorities of medium term development plans of national waste management were defined in the National Waste Management Plan, which was made for the period of 2003–2008 in Hungary. Supporting of the European Union is indispensable for carrying out of plan. The most important areas are related to the developing projects of municipal solid waste treatment (increasing the capacity of landfills, accomplishment of the infrastructure of selective waste collection, building of new composting plants). The national environmental policy does not focus sufficiently on the prevention of waste production. Due to the high expenses of investment and operation the energetic recovery and the incineration of municipal solid waste do not compete with the deposition. We inclined to think that the waste management of Hungary will be deposition-orientated until 2015. The main problems to the next years will be the lack of reprocessing industry of plastic and glass packaging waste. The high number of to-be-recultivated landfills and the attainability of necessary financial sources are also serious problems. There are many questions. What is the future in national waste management? How can we reduce the quantity of dumped waste? What are challenges of national waste management on the short and long term?

  289