BOEM Releases Final Environmental Report as New England Wind Nears Approval

BOEM released its latest environmental impact study as it moves forward with the approval of offshore wind farms (file photo)

PUBLISHED FEB 26, 2024 2:40 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

The U.S. offshore wind energy sector continues to develop momentum as the Biden administration continues forward with its clean energy agenda. In the latest development, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project offshore Massachusetts. This month, BOEM completed this review as well as approved the construction plan for Empire Wind, and defined the Oregon offshore wind area.

Today’s announcement highlights the time involved in the review process which several projects have now completed. The first lease for the site originally known as Vineyard Wind South was awarded in 2015 but in 2021 was transferred by Avangrid to Park City Wind and renamed New England Wind. The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement closed a year ago. 

BOEM has completed the process and will publish the final statement at the end of this week. They note that they considered 776 comments received when developing the Final EIS for this project. The final environmental impact statement (Final EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the activities laid out in the New England Wind project’s construction and operations plan and reasonable alternatives.

The agency will now complete its final review and plans to issue a record of decision on whether to approve the project no earlier than April 2024. If the project is approved, the record of decision will also identify any conditions of approval.  

The New England Wind project is located about 20 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and about 24 nautical miles southwest of Nantucket. BOEM estimates the proposed project would generate up to 2,600 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes. Park City, submitted a two-phased project plan that includes up to 129 wind turbines, with up to five offshore export cables that would transmit electricity to onshore transmission systems in the Town of Barnstable and Bristol County, Massachusetts.

Rhode Island in October 2023 approved the first phase of the project as a small portion of the export cable would pass through the state’s waters. The first phase calls for 804 MW provided from 84 turbines.

BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein emphasized that this release demonstrates the administration’s steady progress toward attaining its clean energy goals. The Department of the Interior has approved the nation's first six commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects with both South Fork Wind and Vineyard Wind recently starting to generate power. BOEM has held four offshore wind lease auctions, including the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. BOEM also advanced the process to explore additional opportunities for offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Maine, the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore Oregon and the Central Atlantic coast.

BOEM previously said it remains on track to complete reviews of at least 16 offshore wind energy project plans by 2025, representing more than 27 gigawatts of clean energy

Massachusetts and Crowley Move Forward with State’s Second Wind Port

Salem's wind port facility will open in 2026 and can support floating and fixed-bottom turbines (Crowley Wind Services)

PUBLISHED FEB 26, 2024 7:33 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

Massachusetts in partnership with Crowley Wind Services is moving forward with the effort to redevelop an industrial site in Salem into the state’s second wind port. In addition to expanding capacity to support the development of the state’s wind programs, they envision it as a regional center that will be one of the few sites able to support the construction and installation of floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.

Crowley purchased the property in the historic city of Salem in 2022 as part of the plan to transform the site of an oil- and coal-fired power plant into a wind port facility.  They have been working since 2022 to transform the site of a former plant and lay the foundation to support the wind port development. The power plant closed in 2014.

Massachusetts’s state economic development agency dedicated to accelerating the growth of the clean energy sector, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) acquired 42 acres on Salem Harbor as the next phase in the development. Five acres, including the port’s existing deep-water berth, were transferred to the City of Salem.

“Adding the Salem Port to its portfolio, along with the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal and the Wind Technology Testing Center, will further elevate Massachusetts as a global leader in the offshore wind industry. This partnership with the City of Salem and Crowley will deliver another port built specifically for offshore wind,” said Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.

Crowley’s Wind Services business unit will start construction in 2024, strengthening the site infrastructure to accommodate heavy machinery and equipment. The project also includes the construction of a second state-of-the-art ship berth and the upgrade of the city berth. They will also oversee the implementation of dredging activities to enhance the harbor channel. The port is projected to open in 2026.

Crowley will manage the site redevelopment and improvements and then serve as the terminal operator, entering into a lease agreement with MassCEC for the ongoing utilization of the property as an offshore wind marshaling port with priority for offshore wind projects serving Massachusetts. The City of Salem has leased the berth and its acreage for the same purpose. Besides operating vessels and terminals, Crowley will provide supply chain management, construction engineering, and project management services, and operations and maintenance solutions.   

Massachusetts’s first dedicated offshore wind port is the New Bedford Wind Commerce Center, which is also owned and operated by MassCEC. The terminal is unique in that it is a multi-purpose facility designed to support the construction, assembly, and deployment of offshore wind projects, as well as handle bulk, break-bulk, container shipping, and large specialty marine cargo. It is currently leased to Vineyard Wind, one of the first large offshore wind farms under construction in the United States.

The MassCEC Wind Technology Testing Center, located in Charlestown, Massachusetts,?provides a full suite of certification tests for turbine blades up to 90 meters in length. It uses the latest wind turbine blade testing and prototype development methodologies to help the wind industry deploy the next generation of land-based and offshore wind turbine technologies. 

 

Chinese Carmaker's Ro/Ro Arrives in EU, Delivering New Competition

Image courtesy BYD

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 2:25 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Chart-topping Chinese EV manufacturer BYD has completed its first in-house ro/ro shipment to Europe. On Tuesday, the brand new BYD Explorer No. 1 arrived at a pier in Bremerhaven carrying 3,000 competitively-priced electric cars for the European market.

Explorer No. 1 is owned by Japan's Taihei Kaiun and operated by London-based Zodiac Maritime. The Chinese-built ship is LNG dual-fuel powered and can carry up to 7,000 cars at a time (though far less than that on its maiden voyage).

BYD is committed to solving a global bottleneck in ro/ro capacity by taking seaborne transport in-house. For the long term, it is creating a reduced-ro/ro supply chain by setting up car factories in the same regions as its customers. It is in various stages of planning for new manufacturing plants in Thailand, Hungary, Brazil and Mexico. If it launches a Mexican factory, it could be able to use the Trump-era United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to access the American market.

BYD is making a splash with tent-pole ultraluxury models, and the most expensive appear designed to compete more with Ferrari than with Cadillac. The BYD Yangwang brand's $230,000 supercar can go from 0-60 mph in 2.4 seconds, rivaling a top-end Tesla, and it has all the curves of a two-seat European supercar. 

At the bottom rung, its cheapest electric commuter car sells for less than $14,000 new. It is designed to compete head-to-head with gasoline-fueled cars on price, and is selling well in overseas markets (370,000 sold last year). Auto industry analysts view BYD and its compatriots as an existential threat to North American carmakers, which have struggled to turn a profit on EVs.

 

Activist Investor Sues CMB Over “Misleading Information” in Euronav Offer

An activist shareholder filed suit in New York charging false information as the latest challenge in Alexander Saverys' effort to makeover Euronav (file photo)

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 4:10 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

An activist investor group filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with CMB’s U.S. offer to purchase all outstanding ordinary shares of Euronav held by U.S. investors. The offer was launched two weeks ago as a mandatory step in the consolidation of Euronav as a company majority held by CMB after the completion of the settlement agreement with Frontline.

In brief statements, CMB and Euronav confirmed they had become aware of the suit filed by certain funds managed by FourWorld Capital Management. The group which is headquartered in the U.S. and has offices in Germany has been registered since 2016 as an advisor in the U.S. reporting on its regulatory filing in March 2023 that it advises 18 clients and has more than $800 million under management. The group describes itself as “focusing on event-driven investment opportunities with particular focus on tax, legal and regulatory catalysts,” and has a history of taking activist positions against corporations including during transactions such as the CMB is currently conducting with Euronav.

FourWorld alleges in the complaint that among other things, that CMB violated U.S. securities law by disseminating materially false and misleading offering materials relating to the U.S. offer. The complaint seeks, among other relief, an injunction restraining CMB from completing the U.S. offer, and an award of damages in an unspecified amount.

“CMB believes that the suit is without merit and intends to vigorously defend against the suit,” the group said in its statement while Euronav confirmed that it is not a party to the suit. 

FourWorld appears to have made its investment or begun to increase its stake in Euronav from just under the 1 percent threshold for mandatory disclosure to 2.41 percent currently held. CMB believes the advisory firm acquired at least 3,133,334 shares for a total price of at least $55.8 million. They believe the share purchase was timed to after the closing of the CMB.TECH acquisition on February 8 and the launch of the share offering by CMB on February 14. The offering is running through March 15, with CMB encouraging investors who believe in its vision for decarbonization not to sell shares and to remain an investor.

CMB reiterated the merits of the agreement with Frontline which sold 24 tankers and ended the arbitration. After months of a stalemate over the management of the tanker company, CMB agreed to acquire the shares of Euronav held by Frontline and in exchange agreed to sell Frontline tankers from Euronav’s fleet. After completing the transaction, CMB held 49 percent of Euronav’s shares and under Belgian law was required to launch an offer at the same price for the remaining shares.

The Saverys family communicated a clear vision of diversification and decarbonization through a focus on ammonia and hydrogen for the future of Euronav. Further, they state CMB’s sale of CMB.TECH to Euronav was on “arms’ length terms and conditions” reviewed by the shareholders and the independent directors. “The sale prices were fair to Euronav and its shareholders,” CMB asserts.

In these types of activist shareholder lawsuits, the companies have the choice of settling, or in some cases, they proceed to court for a lengthy process. 

 

Transatlantic Rower Found Dead in His Boat

Family of Michael Holt / GoFundMe

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 5:37 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

A transatlantic solo rower has been found dead in his boat, days after falling ill mid-voyage. 

Michael Holt, a Welshman with Type I diabetes, had undertaken the row for a charity challenge. Years before, he had injured both shoulders and had had extensive reconstructive surgery, making a long-distance row a unique personal challenge.

Holt departed Gran Canaria on January 27. On February 20, as he transited off the coast of Cape Verde, Holt told his support team on shore that he had fallen ill, perhaps from a reaction to antibiotics. He decided to abort his voyage and head for the nearest land - São Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands, 300 nautical miles to the south of his position. At that time, he intended to get to shore under his own power.

In the days that followed, he ceased communicating with his shore support team, and his family worked with authorities in Cape Verde to arrange for a rescue. It took time to find a good samaritan vessel that could divert to assist. The crew of the fishing vessel Noruego agreed to divert on February 24, but was about one days' sail away. 

On arrival on the evening of February 25, the crew of the Noruego found Holt dead in his boat's cabin, the family said in a social media update.

"We have been working tirelessly to get help to Michael over the past four days but have found it incredibly difficult to do so," family members said in an online update.

In a statement, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said that it is supporting Holt's family and is in contact with authorities in Cape Verde. 

The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $25,000 for repatriating Holt's remains.

"As a type 1 diabetic, [his voyage] was both groundbreaking and incredibly inspiring. It also brought with it an increased element of risk. He took considerable measures to limit any issues (a 12v fridge built into his boat for his insulin, automatic blood monitoring in his arm, 24-hour telephone support, etc.), but the risk was such that he was uninsurable. When you operate in the most extreme end of the possible, this is common," the family explained.  

 

EU to Investigate French Subsidies to La Méridionale and Corsica Linea

The subsidy contracts to CMA CGM's ferry operator La Méridionale and Corsica Linea are being reviewed (La Méridionale file photo)

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 6:12 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into the subsidies being provided to two French ferry companies, La Méridionale, which was recently acquired by CMA CGM Group, and Corsica Linea. France contends the subsidies are critical because the ferry services provide a vital public service for passengers and freight to the island, but the EU has strict rules that government public subsidies.

Under the EU State aid rules on public service compensation, companies can receive a state grant for the extra cost of providing a public service. This enables member states to grant aid for the provision of public services, but the EU keeps tight controls to ensure the companies are not overcompensated and fair competition remains. 

In December 2022, France awarded a total of five contracts to Corsica Linea and La Méridionale for passenger and freight services from Marseilles to ports on Corsica. The compensation for the two firms is approximately $925 million for the service between 2023 and 2030. 

La Méridionale is the older of the two firms operating since 1931 and today with for RoPax vessels on routes to Corsica and Tanger. CMA CGM acquired the firm in May 2023 which was having financial difficulties committing to revitalize the operation. Recently they ordered two new ferries to be built in China for the service.

Corsica Linea, also a French company, was started in 2016 for service from Marseilles to Corsica, Algeria, and Tunisia. They currently run two ferries and six combination cargo vessels.

The EU Commission reports it wants to assess whether the public service compensation granted to the two companies is in line with EU State aid rules. They are requesting additional information looking at the provision of RoRo freight services to determine if as provided in the contracts it is justified as a public service under the rules. They are also looking at the availability of commercial services or the launch of commercial services from neighboring ports. 

The investigation will seek to confirm the procurement process and that the contracts are justified by a public service need. France, as well as other interested parties, have the right to submit comments as part of the investigation process.

 

Ukraine's Hard-Won Grain Corridor May Shut Without More U.S. Support

WFP/USAID

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 8:34 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

Despite Ukraine's success in striking back against the Russian Navy, the progress it has made in securing the western Black Sea could be reversed if the United States does not provide more arms soon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a new interview. 

Ukraine's maritime trade has gone through severe ups and downs since the start of the Russian invasion two years ago. In the first months of the war, a Russian naval blockade shut down all merchant traffic to Ukraine's busy Black Sea ports, which historically handled the vast majority of the country's grain exports. Over the summer of 2022, the UN and Turkey negotiated a deal with Russia to partially lift that blockade, but only for approved ships, and only for grain export cargoes. 

Russia abandoned this Black Sea grain deal in July 2023, suspended its security guarantees, and attacked Ukrainian grain terminals with long-range missiles and drones. Undeterred, Ukraine hit back at the Russian Navy with a wave of missile and suicide drone attacks, destroying or sinking multiple vessels in a matter of months. 

This defense strategy has effectively forced the Russian surface fleet out of the western reaches of the Black Sea, according to UK intelligence. In September 2023, with war risk reduced by Ukraine's defenses, bulkers returned to Odesa to load grain - this time, without Russia's permission. 

This unilateral security corridor has allowed Ukraine to export about 30 million tonnes of grain so far, and exporters should be able to ship the entirety of the 2023 crop - a sea change from the situation in 2022. But the corridor depends upon deterring the Russian threat to commercial shipping, and that requires a regular flow of Western armament. 

After two years of funding Ukraine's defense, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is blocking a $60 billion aid package for Kyiv, aligning with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The interruption in funding is already affecting the front lines in Ukraine, and in an interview with CNN, Zelensky said that the maritime corridor will also be at risk if aid is not restored soon. 

"I think the route will be closed," he said. "To defend it, it's also about some ammunition, some air defense, and some other systems."

 

Survey Stumbles Upon 120-Year-Old Steamship That Was Lost With All Hands

SS Nemesis (State Library of New South Wales, Mitchell Library)

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 8:45 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

The mystery of a steamship that was lost off Australia some 120 years ago has finally been resolved. In a development that is expected to give closure to the families of the ship's 32 crew members, authorities in Australia announced the discovery of the wreck of the SS Nemesis, an iron-hulled steamship that was lost at sea in 1904 after being caught in a storm.

The story of the Nemesis is harrowing. On July 9, 1904, the vessel sank off Sydney in a sudden storm. All 32 crewmembers died in the sinking, and the residents of nearby Cronulla Beach endured shocking scenes when bodies started washing ashore. The wheel, hatches and other floating wreckage were also recovered, but the ship’s location remained unknown.

“Around 40 children lost their parents in this wreck and I hope this discovery brings closure to families and friends connected to the ship who have never known its fate,” said Penny Sharpe, NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage.  

Built in 1881, the steamship was originally a passenger vessel but was converted and operated as a coal carrier. Nemesis departed Newcastle on her final day, loaded with a cargo of coal for Melbourne. She ran into a southerly gale shortly after departure and was last sighted off Wollongong; she was never seen again for more than a century. 

Nemesis has now been identified about 14 nautical miles off the coast in 160 meters of water. A remote sensing company, Subsea Professional Marine Services, first located the wreck by accident in May 2022. The firm stumbled across the site while trying to locate cargo containers lost off the coast of Sydney.  

Subsea undertook an initial inspection of the site using a remotely operated vehicle before reporting the uncharted wreck to Heritage NSW, which petitioned Australia’s national science agency CSIRO to gather further data.

CSIRO's research vessel Investigator was able to conduct a detailed seafloor mapping and camera investigation of the wreck while on a transit voyage from Hobart to Sydney in September last year. Using the vessel’s sonar, the team was able to first map the wreck site and surrounding seafloor in high resolution. Then, using an underwater drop camera system, they recorded details of Nemesis' structures, including some of the internal spaces.

With the discovery of the wreck, the authorities intend to find the family members of the lost crew, half of whom were from the United Kingdom and the rest from Australia and Canada. The video imagery collected by CSIRO will also be “stitched together” to create a 3D model of the wreck for further investigations.

There may be many more discoveries to come. The New South Wales coast's waters are believed to contain more than 200 shipwrecks, and only 105 have been found.

CRIMINAL CAPTALI$M

Freight-Forwarding Insiders Charged With Smuggling Tobacco Into Australia

This cigarette brand is only found in the illegal trade in Australia, according to authorities (ABF/AFP)

PUBLISHED FEB 27, 2024 9:19 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

A logistics professional and five accomplices have been charged with trying to smuggle $10 million worth of cigarettes into Australia, and authorities believe that the scheme was connected to a Middle Eastern crime syndicate. 

Australian authorities will allow a handful of cigarettes over the border duty-free - but not millions of them. The Australian Border Force says that agents in Victoria discovered a cargo of 10 million illicit cigarettes that arrived on a ship from Vietnam on February 3, leading to a series of arrests this week. 

Two people charged in the scheme had access to shipping data systems, the ABF alleged, and they manipulated records for the consignment in an attempt to hide it. The fact that logistics insiders were arrested made this bust different, authorities said, and it could be disruptive to smugglers' operations. 

One of these men is accused of planning and arranging the importation, and allegedly accessed freight forwarding systems to set up and conceal the shipment. He stands accused of "using trusted insiders with knowledge of the transport and freight logistics industry" to smuggle the tobacco consignment. 

A second man was employed in logistics and allegedly helped the syndicate to pick up and move the cargo. The other three were accused of related offenses for illicit distribution of tobacco. Several of the men are believed to be linked to a Middle Eastern organized crime syndicate, which is suspected of being behind a series of illicit tobacco imports into Victoria. 

The illicit cigarette trade is a multibillion-dollar enterprise in Australia, and it costs the government millions in unpaid tax revenue. 

"This type of crime corrupts people in trusted positions [in logistics] . . . and there's no doubt that there's others out there," a police official told reporters at a press conference Tuesday. "We're going to continue to investigate." 

Top image: Marco Verch / CC BY 2.0 

Energy Trader Convicted of Bribing Officials in a Developing Nation

Court case illustrates the profit potential of small bribes in the energy-trading business

Public domain / Pixabay

PUBLISHED FEB 26, 2024 7:02 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

A U.S. federal jury has convicted a former Vitol trader of bribery and money laundering in connection with a sprawling scheme to secure contracts in Latin America. 

Javier Aguilar, formerly employed by trading house Vitol, has been convicted of bribing officials at Petroecuador and laundering money for bribe payments in Ecuador and Mexico. He denies the charges, and his lawyers claim that he was set up by a former executive at Vitol.

The jury found that over the course of 2015-2020, Aguilar and his co-conspirators bribed Ecuadorian officials to obtain a $300 million fuel oil contract. Since Petroecuador has restrictions on contracts with private firms, the deal was arranged through a Middle Eastern state-owned enterprise, and the paid-off Ecuadorian officials made sure that this firm won the contract.

Aguilar also allegedly bribed two officials with Mexican state energy firm Pemex, paying $600,000 to obtain a supply contract for ethane gas worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Court documents illustrate the profound financial incentives for committing bribery in the energy-trading business. The court found that over the course of the scheme, Aguilar had arranged to pay just $1 million in bribes in exchange for a $500 million book of business for Vitol. Seven of Aguilar's co-conspirators have agreed to forfeit $63 million in ill-gotten earnings - a massive 60-fold profit on a $1 million bribery expense. 

Aguilar faces a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison. According to Bloomberg, his bail has been set at $2 million and he has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor until the sentencing hearing. 

Vitol settled with the Department of Justice in a related case in 2020, and it agreed to pay $160 million in penalties. Competitor Gunvor has also acknowledged that it faces an inquiry in connection to alleged corruption in Ecuador. 

 

Diamonds are a chip's best friend

Highly precise optical absorption spectra of diamond reveal ultra-fine splitting  

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KYOTO UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

HIGHLY PRECISE OPTICAL ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF DIAMOND REVEAL ULTRA-FINE SPLITTING  

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CREDIT: KYOTOU/NOBUKO NAKA

Kyoto, Japan -- Besides being "a girl's best friend," diamonds have broad industrial applications,  such as in solid-state electronics. New technologies aim to produce high-purity synthetic crystals that become excellent semiconductors when doped with impurities as electron donors or acceptors of other elements.

These extra electrons -- or holes -- do not participate in atomic bonding but sometimes bind to excitons -- quasi-particles consisting of an electron and an electron hole -- in semiconductors and other condensed matter. Doping may cause physical changes, but how the exciton complex -- a bound state of two positively-charged holes and one negatively-charged electron -- manifests in diamonds doped with boron has remained unconfirmed. Two conflicting interpretations exist of the exciton's structure.

An international team of researchers led by Kyoto University has now determined the magnitude of the spin-orbit interaction in acceptor-bound excitons in a semiconductor.

"We broke through the energy resolution limit of conventional luminescence measurements by directly observing the fine structure of bound excitons in boron-doped blue diamond, using optical absorption," says team leader Nobuko Naka of KyotoU's Graduate School of Science.

"We hypothesized that, in an exciton, two positively charged holes are more strongly bound than an electron-and-hole pair," adds first author Shinya Takahashi. "This acceptor-bound exciton structure yielded two triplets separated by a spin-orbit splitting of 14.3 meV, supporting the hypothesis."

Luminescence resulting from thermal excitation can be used to observe high-energy states, but this current measurement method broadens spectral lines and blurs ultra-fine splitting.

Instead, Naka's team cooled the diamond crystal to cryogenic temperatures, obtaining nine peaks on the deep-ultraviolet absorption spectrum, compared to the usual four using luminescence. In addition, the researchers developed an analytical model including the spin-orbit effect to predict the energy positions and absorption intensities.

"In future studies, we are considering the possibility of measuring absorption under external fields, leading to further line splitting and validation due to changes in symmetry," says Université Paris-Saclay's Julien Barjon.

"Our results provide useful insights into spin-orbit interactions in systems beyond solid-state materials, such as atomic and nuclear physics. A deeper understanding of materials may improve the performance of diamond devices, such as light-emitting diodes, quantum emitters, and radiation detectors," notes Naka.

###

The paper "Spin-Orbit Effects on Exciton Complexes in Diamond" appeared on 26 February 2024 in Physical Review Letters, with doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.096902

About Kyoto University
Kyoto University is one of Japan and Asia's premier research institutions, founded in 1897 and responsible for producing numerous Nobel laureates and winners of other prestigious international prizes. A broad curriculum across the arts and sciences at undergraduate and graduate levels complements several research centers, facilities, and offices around Japan and the world. For more information, please see: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en

---

JOURNAL

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.096902 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Spin-Orbit Effects on Exciton Complexes in Diamond

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Feb-2024

Projected climate change scenarios augur the disappearance of the Balearic boxwood

This species, common in eastern Andalusia, is able to trap moisture from the fog and convey it to the ground, making it a valuable tool in times of drought

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA

 

IMAGE: 

THE RESEARCHERS JOSÉ LUIS QUERO AND ESTEBAN HERNÁNDEZ ESTEBAN NEXT TO A BALEARIC BOXWOOD

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CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA

This species, common in eastern Andalusia, is able to trap moisture from the fog and convey it to the ground, making it a valuable tool in times of drought.

The Balearic boxwood (Buxus balearica) a species that in recent years has reduced its extension and that is found on the Iberian Peninsula in very arid areas, such as Malaga, Granada and Almeria, has a special capacity: it condenses fog moisture of on its leaves, causing the drops to fall to the ground, thereby reaching basins and aquifers. In this way, the Balearic boxwood can be of use against drought by providing an extra supply of water. However, future climate change scenarios calculated until the end of the 21st century warn of the disappearance of the Balearic boxwood in the southeast of the peninsula, so it is necessary to implement conservation programs averting these scenarios.

This is what a research team at the University of Cordoba's Department of Forestry Engineering states in an article published in the journal Diversity, as does a doctoral thesis by UCO researcher Yalberiy Labarca. In the three scenarios they have calculated ―for 2040, 2050 and 2100― the Balearic boxwood tends to disappear due to a reduction in advection fog, "an ecometeorological phenomenon that facilitates the presence of Balearic boxwood in its last stronghold," in the words of José Luis Quero, a UCO researcher and co-director of the thesis.

This phenomenon, which the Phoenicians were familiar with, and called taró, is a kind of frequent microprecipitation in summer formed when a warm inland wind, called a terral, interacts with cool air from Alboran Sea. When the terral ceases, it blows sea air back into inland areas of the Peninsula, transporting the sea's cold moisture. "This advection fog is fundamental because the boxwood is thirsty, like all plants in summer, and it turns out that in the summer this fog, which is quite frequent, gives it the ability to condense water and survive," explains Professor Esteban Hernández Bermejo, co-director of the thesis.

In addition, advection fog not only benefits the Balearic boxwood, but also the other species near it, since the boxwood has formed communities where there is a high concentration of biodiversity and in which the species provide society with different benefits. According to Hernández Bermejo, "conserving the Balearic boxwood in Andalusia means putting the spotlight on one of Andalusia's greatest centers of biological biodiversity."

In future climate change scenarios, however, advection fog will be reduced. This means a reduction in an extra source of water for a plant that did not originate in a dry climate, but rather a wetter one. The reduction of this fog is coupled with other threats to biodiversity, such as the excessive extraction of water for tropical crops in the area, and the presence of invasive emerging species (such as a moth that is already decimating Buxus sempervirens, a cousin of the Balearic boxwood, but more common, and widely used in gardening). In this scenario, the Balearic boxwood will tend to disappear. "In the future, the plant is going to be severely threatened. Not only by reductions in the taró, but also because by usage changes," says Quero.

Due to this situation, the team points to the need to implement conservation programs, both in the natural settings where the plant grows, and by conserving seeds in dormant sites. These two types of programs will strengthen their populations and protect their natural habitat. To this end, the team has expanded the collections of the Royal Botanical Garden of Cordoba's Plant Germplasm Bank by including 31 new samples from different locations, and has verified that the material preserved is representative of the genetic variety existing in Andalusia. The Bank holds a large number of seeds from different plants, and José Luis Quero, also its scientific director, hopes that its collections will serve to facilitate research that will support the conservation of the species.

The study, which also examined the habitat, forms of propagation and uses associated with the boxwood, has identified two distinct habitats in which the plant lives. The first of these is characterized by taró and occurs at an elevation of around 200-500 meters. The second habitat is identified by the orographic fog that also appears as a consequence of the movements of air layers, but when a mass of humid air reaches a mountain, therefore occurring at around 800-1,200 meters.

With its study the team aims to save a forgotten and underused species, using it in an innovative way in order to deal with climate change. Therefore, in addition to focusing on the Balearic boxwood, it has also focused on another drought-resistant species with the ability to condense fog moisture and that, although waning, is found in Morocco: the argan; a little-known and barely used species in Spanish agriculture, they studied its ecological demands, what will happen to it if measures are not taken, and how to facilitate its propagation.

References:

Hernández-Bermejo, J.E.; Labarca-Rojas, Y.; Herrera-Molina, F.; Quero, J.L.; &Hernández-Clemente, R. Recovery of Neglected Species with Cloud Water Micro Condense Capacity as a Response to Climate Change: The Case of Sclerophyllous Boxwoods of Buxus balearica Lam. in the Southern Spanish Mediterranean. Diversity 15, 1184. (2023) https://doi.org/10.3390/d15121184. 

Labarca-Rojas, Y., Hernández-Bermejo, J.E., Herrera-Molina, F; Hernández-Clemente, M & Quero, J.L. Assessing argan tree (Argania spinosa (L.) skeels) ex-situ collections as a complementary tool to in-situ conservation and crop introduction in the Mediterranean basin. Trees 37, 567–581 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-022-02367-0. 

Labarca-Rojas, Y., Hernández-Bermejo, J.E., Quero, J.L.&Herrera-Molina, F. Bioclimatic habitat limitations for argan trees (Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels) in Northern Africa and Spain. Reg Environ Change 22, 14 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-021-01869-w. 

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JOURNAL

Diversity

DOI

10.3390/d15121184. 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

ARTICLE TITLE

Recovery of Neglected Species with Cloud Water Micro Condense Capacity as a Response to Climate Change: The Case of Sclerophyllous Boxwoods of Buxus balearica Lam. in the Southern Spanish Mediterranean