The geographer and climatologist Gordon Manley produced a monthly temperature reduction for Durham University Observatory from 1801 to extend the series back from the start of meteorological observations at the Observatory in the 1840s. He produced his extended series shortly before he died in 1980, and left it in a provisional state, with limited notes regarding his construction of the monthly means based on temperature observations from sites around the North East of England. Papers that Manley left have been examined to ascertain how he arrived at his reduction, and his methods have been fully documented and analysed. Errors in the derivation of his monthly means have been corrected, and methods that he used refined to improve their accuracy. New techniques for the reduction of means from archived data have been studied. A selection of these were implemented to improve the accuracy of the new series, and further temperature observations that Manley did not use in his version have been evaluated and introduced. Observations from South Cave, near Hull, from 1794, and from Brandsby, near York, from 1784, provide the extension of the record back from 1801. Substantial sets of monthly means from Braithwaite, near Keighley, and Jesmond, near Newcastle upon Tyne, in addition to shorter sets from other sites around the North East of England and the Borders, have been incorporated into the reduction from 1801 to improve the representativeness of Manley's series. The completed series, from January 1784, has been analysed and compared with other temperature series for the British Isles, and the potential for a daily version of the monthly series has been investigated, based upon the data sources currently available.

A thesis submitted to the faculty of science, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2017. / Water resource monitoring plays a pivotal role in a number of sectors such as determining sustainable abstraction and use of water, determining the feasibility of development projects in relation to water, and developing systematic strategies for efficient overall management of the water resources. It has been observed by a number of scholars and policy makers that through periodic monitoring of water resources, valuable data can be collected which can then provide information sufficient to determine trends and develop predictive models. It is only when sound and reliable data is available that informed decisions about sustainable and efficient use of water resources can be made. Despite the importance of water resource monitoring, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in South Africa, are not effectively and adequately monitoring the quantity and quality of water resources. Part of the reason for this state of affairs has been the absence of clearly defined roles, policies, strategies and responsibilities and a combination of these factors have resulted in significant fragmentations in the institutional structures mandated to manage water resources. Using expert sampling, interviews with key informants and other purposively chosen participants, revealed the challenges in the changing political landscape of South African water resource monitoring many of which were further reiterated in the focus group discussions. The identified challenges served as entry points that would improve water resources monitoring and enable decision makers to make sustainable management decisions. It is suggested that water resource monitoring programmes could be used as a tool for sustainable water resource monitoring in South Africa. However, climate change and urbanization bring about a certain level of complexity, uncertainty and conflict as the water landscape of water resources changes continuously. The impact of the above phenomena cannot be measured as current monitoring systems are not functioning optimally. Furthermore, monitoring programmes are not being used to their full potential due to governance challenges. This is due to conflicting roles that the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) plays in the water sector i.e. policy developer, supporter and regulator, which in turn confound the roles and responsibilities of its employees. Moreover, it was found that five major challenges impede the formation of a comprehensive water resources management system namely; lack of financial resources, lack of skilled human resources, poor governance structure, ineffective stakeholder engagement – ‘working in silos’ and inefficient data management. More importantly, it was found that sustainability of monitoring programmes relies on human and economic investment. The main recommendations made include institutional reform and enabling legislation which form the basis upon which any development efforts can be pursued to achieve sustainable water resource monitoring. In addition, capacity building and strengthening is recommended as another way to help build sustainable resource management institutions which include skills and institutional memory transfer from the experienced players to the younger and newer employees. The creation and/or optimization of water resource monitoring databases is one of the viable ways for sustainable water resource management to be realized. Furthermore, research can be conducted to assess the challenges in water resource monitoring and provide sustainable solutions; with the aim of quantifying the impact of policy reforms in the water sector. And finally, research can be done on how effective regulation and co-operative governance for water sector can be achieved in South Africa through participatory processes that are aimed at developing priority water research questions. Keywords: water resource monitoring, institutional framework, integrated water resource management, water governance. / GR2018

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This study presents a prototype of a deployable unit for automated surface weather observation, named Estação Mesomóvel, which is mounted on a tripod and portable in a small vehicle, allowing its installation in the path of oncoming convective storms. With a high frequency data sampling strategy, the Estação Mesomóvel is capable of monitoring adequately mesoscale surface features produced by convection. The challenges and solutions found during the conception of the prototype are discussed, as well as the results from the data comparison experiments conducted between the Estação Mesomóvel and an automated surface weather station from the operational network. The operation of the Estação Mesomóvel in storm interception mode is presented in the context of the weather analysis and forecasting strategies used, the deployment logistics, and the atmospheric data obtained in the field. Results from the analysis of the collected data showed the capability of the Estação Mesomóvel in sampling the evolution, at high frequency, of convective phenomena at the meso-g scale, such as gust fronts, cold pools, mesohighs and high precipitation rates, which are typically poorly represented by the synoptic-scale surface observing network. This investigation showed the feasibility of conducting storm interception in Brazil with the goal of collecting high-quality atmospheric data for scientific purposes. / Neste trabalho é apresentada a Estação Mesomóvel, que consiste no protótipo de uma unidade tática de observação meteorológica automática de superfície, montada sobre tripé e transportável em um veículo de pequeno porte, podendo assim ser instalada na trajetória de tempestades convectivas. Com sua amostragem em alta frequência, a Estação Mesomóvel é capaz de monitorar de maneira adequada circulações de mesoescala produzidas pela convecção. São apresentados os desafios e as soluções encontradas durante a concepção deste protótipo, e também os resultados de comparações feitas entre as medições da Estação Mesomóvel e de uma estação da rede operacional de observação em superfície. A operação da Estação Mesomóvel em modo de interceptação de tempestades é discutida em termos das estratégias de análise e previsão de tempo empregadas, da logística de deslocamento, e dos dados atmosféricos obtidos em campo. Resultados da análise dos dados coletados pela Estação Mesomóvel mostraram sua capacidade de amostrar a evolução, em alta frequência, de fenômenos convectivos da escala meso-g, como frentes de rajada, piscinas de ar frio, mesoaltas e altas taxas de precipitação, que tipicamente é mal representada pela rede de observação de superfície em escala sinótica. Esta pesquisa demonstrou que é factível realizar no Brasil a coleta de dados meteorológicos com qualidade científica através da estratégia de interceptação de tempestades convectivas.