Juan Carlos Santamarta

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Verified

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• PhD Civil&Forestry Eng. (UPM)
• Professor (Full) at University of La Laguna

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of viticulture in the Tacoronte-Acentejo Designation of Origin was the primary goal of this research, aiming to examine and quantify the environmental impacts generated by viticulture and winemaking processes. Data for the investigation were collected through tailored questionnaires administered to viticulturists and w...

Groundwater is a critical resource in the Canary Islands, requiring a comprehensive understanding and effective management of these water resources. Hydrogeological modelling provides essential geoscientific insights for the identification, protection, and sustainable utilization of these resources. This is particularly crucial for volcanic islands...

Emerging pollutants (EPs) are contaminants detected in water bodies that lack thorough prior investigation, resulting in limited regulatory frameworks for their control. This poses a significant threat to regions heavily reliant on groundwater for agriculture, drinking water, and other essential uses. The Canary Islands, particularly El Hierro and...

Water tunnels play a crucial role in managing groundwater resources on volcanic islands, where freshwater availability is limited and highly sensitive to climate change impacts. However, hydraulic interferences between water tunnels and surrounding aquifers often lead to unintended drawdowns, reduced efficiency in water resource utilization, and ec...

Sustainable management of water resources in insular aquifers is a major challenge due to the special vulnerability of these territories to climate change. Therefore, it is very important to develop tools that help to understand the water resources of these regions. Currently, 3D geological models provide data on the geometric properties of geologi...

Groundwater resources on volcanic islands are vital for societal and economic development, especially due to their scarcity and reliance on agriculture and tourism. This study examines the hydrogeological and hydrochemical processes shaping groundwater quality in volcanic islands, focusing on El Hierro Island (Canary Islands, Spain). The findings r...

(Pags. 106-110) El cambio climático, el crecimiento demográfico y la creciente demanda amenaza los recursos hídricos en las Islas Canarias. Para proteger el recurso y desarrollar estrategias integrales y sostenibles, es necesario disponer de modelos predictivos para evaluar el balance hídrico a largo plazo. La plataforma SICMA Canarias ofrece proye...

In recent decades, the need to quantify and understand water resources in drylands, such as insular volcanic systems, has grown, along with the obligation to assess how climate change might impact them in the future. These resources are constrained not only by climatic, geographic, and geological factors, but also by increasing demand from agronomi...

Islands, due to their limited territory, are also limited in the resources available to them for the development of regular life. Spain can be included here, with an archipelago that is itself an outermost European region—the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands have unique characteristics due to richness in groundwater and the use of desalination to...

The Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of East Africa, have a longstanding historical connection to the fishing sector. Despite its cultural and ecological significance, the sector’s social, economic, and sustainable dimensions remain underexplored. This research contextualises the fishing industry in the Canary Islands and evaluat...

After floods, landslides are the most damaging geohazard in Spain regarding economic losses. In the Canary Islands, rockfalls and landslides are mainly triggered by meteorological phenomena, such as severe precipitations and wind, as well as dilation resulting from solar radiation. Understanding information such as location, frequency, event type,...

Communication was a vital component for AGEO project, as it enabled the Consortium to engage with the stakeholders and raise awareness about geohazards and how to react to them. Bidirectional communication was established with the public, receiving feedback on how to improve the citizens’ preparedness towards geohazards.

The Canary Islands are a radon-prone volcanic territory in Spain. The radon gas concentrations in the enclosed areas must be considered in terms of human health. Measurements of radon in the selected tunnel structures of Gran Canaria and Tenerife are taken to evaluate radon gas activity and possible harmful effects on workers if the advised radon c...

The Canary Islands, an outermost Spanish territory in the Atlantic Ocean, are renowned for their subtropical climate and significant tourism. However, substantial areas are designated for environmental protection, notably the Anaga Rural Park in Tenerife, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which is the focus of this study. This research investigates the i...

SICMA-Canarias is an innovative and open-access platform that enables the consultation of current, past, and future climatic conditions in the Canary Islands with a unique resolution of 100 metres by 100 metres. Developed within the framework of the European ARSINOE project, SICMA-Canarias combines advanced climatic data with predictive models exte...

La gestión sostenible de los recursos hídricos en islas volcánicas es un desafío debido a la variabilidad climática y la limitación de fuentes de agua dulce. Los acuíferos de estas islas, que almacenan agua subterránea en formaciones geológicas, son cruciales para el abastecimiento de agua de la población e industria. Este artículo analiza la regul...

Due to their genesis, volcanic rocks present some singularities that make their geotechnical characteristics significantly different from other, more common types of rock masses, such as sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The formation mechanisms of volcanic rocks are varied, rapid and generally high energy. These processes give this type of rock g...

The Canary Islands, an archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean and part of Spain, comprise seven main islands: Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote. These islands are characterized by diverse geographical and climatic conditions, significantly influencing the availability and quality of groundwater...

Wildfires induce changes in soil and vegetation composition, significantly impacting the hydrological cycle and altering future runoff and infiltration patterns. Ash residue on the ground can infiltrate the subsoil along with water, leading to modifications in groundwater hydrochemistry. Climate change and summer heatwaves can create favourable con...

El proyecto GENESIS de la convocatoria Horizonte Europa misión HORIZON-MISS-2023-CLIMA-01-02, pretende abordar los desafíos del cambio climático en las pequeñas islas de la región Macaronesia y ultraperiféricas mediante soluciones innovadoras basadas en la naturaleza (NbS). Desarrollando tecnologías como galerías secas para drenaje de aguas de lluv...

This research is framed in behavioral economics. This area tests the orthodox assumptions that individuals are rational, self-interested and possess all freely available information, and. Behavioral economics plays an important role for policymakers in areas such as environmental protection. We observe that despite being very concerned about enviro...

Debido a la importancia crítica del agua dulce en las Islas Canarias, es esencial comprender y gestionar adecuadamente sus recursos hídricos. En la actualidad, la modelización de los sistemas acuíferos proporciona una valiosa información geocientífica para su identificación, protección y uso sostenible. Mediante un procedimiento de modelización geo...

El proyecto SAGE4CAN tiene como objetivo demostrar el potencial de la energía geotérmica somera (EGS) como una solución clave para abordar el cambio climático, centrándose en las Islas Canarias como un sistema de control accesible. Para lograr esto, el proyecto se enfoca en evaluar los recursos de EGS, desarrollando una metodología mejorada para es...

RESUMEN: El agua dulce en acuíferos costeros e insulares es un recurso valioso cuya disponibilidad está fuertemente condicionada por la heterogeneidad geológica. Más del 80 % de la superficie terrestre es de origen volcánico, sin embargo, el efecto de los diques volcánicos en la geometría de la interfaz salina que separa el agua dulce del agua de m...

Palabras clave: La Palma, erupción volcánica, impactos hidroquímicos, agua subterránea, modelización geoquímica, interacción agua-roca. Resumen La reciente erupción en 2021 del volcán Tajogaite en la isla de La Palma (Islas Canarias), supuso la necesidad de evaluar los posibles impactos hidroquímicos en los recursos hídricos subterráneos. Este estu...

Este documento presenta pautas para medir el gas radón en túneles y obras subterráneas de las Islas Canarias. Proporciona orientaciones para proteger al personal contra el radón en su puesto de trabajo, reduciendo la exposición y los riesgos para la salud. Los mapas de radón en España identifican áreas con predominancia de rocas ígneas intermedias...

Increasing energy production through renewable sources is a challenge for islands. This paper investigates the potential of hydropower as a renewable energy source for islands in the Macaronesia region, which includes the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde. Ecological transition towards renewable energy sources is crucial for these isl...

Volcanic tourist caves are a highly demanded resource by both eco-tourists and sun and beach tourists. Thera are six official touristic caves in the Canary Islands: “Cueva del Llano” (island of Fuerteventura), “Cueva del Viento” (island of Tenerife), “Cueva de Los Verdes” (island of Lanzarote), “Jameos del Agua” (island of Lanzarote), Volcanic Tube...

An assessment and mitigation framework for uncertainty in modeling resilience against climate change hazards and other compound hazards is developed and applied. It considers the various sources of uncertainty across the different models and modelling approaches that are exploited by the ARSINOE project for its nine case studies. Uncertainties and...

Plain Language Summary In our study, we explored the popular volcanic caves in the Canary Islands, a hit among those who love ecotourism and geotourism, and also among beachgoers looking for something different to do on their vacation. These six caves, all managed by the island’s local authorities, offer a unique adventure but come with their own s...

Water quality in natural reserves is paramount for preserving biodiversity, maintaining ecological balance, and safeguarding ecosystem health. The Villafáfila Nature Reserve, a protected lagoon complex that is recognized as a pivotal wetland in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula is facing increasing threats from contaminants of emerging con...

The abandonment of industrial waste frequently leads to acid drainage affecting groundwater and severely impacting the environment or urban infrastructure. The severe impacts of the acid drainage are related, besides the extremely low pH reached in the affected waters, to the subsequent mobilization and spread of toxic heavy metals such as As, Fe,...

This communication outlines the research framework of the NATALIE project, emphasizing the application of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to address pressing climate change challenges across three distinct case studies in the Canary Islands-Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Fuerteventura. The primary focus is on utilizing NBS as transformative measures to b...

The Canary Islands constitute an archipelago of Spain, also being a European outermost region composed of eight islands. Overall, these islands face a high risk of experiencing the impacts of climate change, particularly rising sea levels, floods, temperature increases, and a decrease in water resources, factors that significantly affect the daily...

Freshwater in coastal and island aquifers is a valuable resource whose availability is strongly conditioned by heterogeneity. More than 80 % of the Earth's surface is of volcanic origin, but the effect of volcanic dykes on the geometry of the saline interface that separates freshwater from seawater is still underexplored. This paper analyses the im...

The SAGE4CAN project focuses on investigating the shallow geothermal potential of the Canary Islands. During the project execution in 2021, the Tajogaite volcanic eruption took place. This eruption resulted in the deposition of lava flows, totaling approximately 200 million cubic meters, with temperatures ranging between 400 and 900°C. Remarkably,...

The present study focuses on emerging pollutants (EPs) in groundwater, an understudied category with unclear regulatory guidelines regarding their impact on water resources. Regions heavily reliant on groundwater, crucial for agriculture, drinking, and other purposes, face heightened risks of EP contamination. The case study focuses on El Hierro (C...

Due to the critical importance of groundwater in the Canary Islands, it is essential to understand and properly manage the water resources of these regions. Modelling of aquifer systems now provides valuable geoscientific information for their identification, protection and sustainable use. By means of a geological modelling procedure, using the Ge...

The island of El Hierro is the smallest and youngest island in the Canary archipelago.It has been recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2000, and it has a population of approximately 10,000 inhabitants. The aim of this study was to determine the amount of CO2 emissions absorbed by the forest stands of the island of El Hierro and compare it...

The increasing amount of plastic litter worldwide is a serious problem for the environment and its biodiversity, ecosystems, animal and human welfare and the economy. The degradation of these plastics leads to microplastics (MPs), which have been reported for the first time in groundwater in the Canary archipelago. This research investigates the pr...

Volcanic islands face unique challenges in protecting and managing their water resources due to their small size, limited freshwater availability, and vulnerability to natural hazards. The recent 2021 eruption of the Tajogaite volcano on La Palma Island in the Canary Islands, Spain, raised concerns regarding the potential impact on groundwater hydr...

Emerging pollutants (EPs) include a wide array of chemical compounds, as well as some microorganisms, which presence was unknown or unmeasurable until recently, or have recently started to be considered a threat towards the environment or animal and human health. No clear or homogeneous regulations exist for their measurement or control, and effort...

Slope movements are one of the natural hazards that most affect volcanic islands and often cause alarm to society, as they produce considerable material losses, affect communications and basic community services and, on occasion, involve the loss of human lives. Based on the classification of geotechnical units of the Canary Islands and the charact...

El cambio climático se ha consolidado como uno de los mayores desafíos globales que enfrentamos en la actualidad, afectando a comunidades de manera diversa y profunda. Al mismo tiempo, la Agenda 2030 de las Naciones Unidas ha establecido los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) como una hoja de ruta integral para abordar problemas interrelacion...

The islands, due to their geographic condition of limited territory, are also limited in the resources available to them for the development of regular life. Spain counts with an archipelago that is itself an outermost European region, the Canary Islands, with unique characteristics due to its richness in groundwater and the use of desalination to...

The Canary Islands are an archipelago belonging to Spain, which is, in turn, divided into two provinces. The eastern province is the closest to the Sahara Desert, with the island of Fuerteventura being only 100 km from the African coast. Additionally, Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the Canary archipelago and one of the islands where the dese...

Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) introduces cost recovery as an instrument aligned with the 'polluter pays' principle, aiming to contribute to the overall well-being of water bodies. In this regard, this research focuses on application of the cost recovery method in the context of the Canary Islands (Spain). The study provides a com...

Integrar el régimen hidrogeológico en el cálculo del potencial teórico y técnico de la energía geotérmica somera en las Islas Canarias, es el principal objetivo del proyecto SAGE4CAN. Es un proyecto innovador en su aproximación al problema, ya que se considera por primera vez la renovabilidad del recurso y, por tanto, la sostenibilidad. Promoviendo...

Unregulated sewage discharge into the sea poses a considerable danger to marine ecosystems, with coastal regions being particularly vulnerable to this because of the impact of tourism. This issue is amplifed during the summer season, as the Balearic Islands are a heavily frequented destination. This study aims to determine the water quality in fve...

Purpose This study aims to diagnose the perception, knowledge, awareness and position of the bioeconomy in university education and research. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted at universities in Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal (n = 464). The questionnaire consisted of open-ended, dic...

The primary purpose of this guide is to introduce teachers of non-computer science courses to the specifics of ATML. This handbook presents an approach slightly modified from the original ATML to make it more useful for teaching courses related to the bioeconomy, that is, courses that are interdisciplinary in nature. Interdisciplinary teaching pose...

The design of a geothermal heat pump system and geothermal heat exchangers to replace conventional cold and heat production systems in a winery on the island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain), taking into account its active volcanic geological peculiarities, is presented in this work. Firstly, a study was carried out to estimate the cold and hea...

The Sierra de Lújar, located in the south of Granada (Spain), hosts one of the few currently active underground fluorite mines in Spain. Considering that high concentrations of radon gas, which is the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco, can occur in underground workplaces, the concentration of radon gas inside a fluorite underground...

Geothermal energy comes in many different forms depending on the specific conditions of the resource. For example, in volcanic areas (such as the Canary Islands) or with subduction of tectonic plates, deposits of water/steam of very high energy and temperatures (150°–350 °C) are sometimes produced, known as high enthalpy resources. Due to their hig...

Sustainable bioeconomy is one of the concepts that makes it possible to achieve the EuropeanGreen Deal. A similar understanding of the term bioeconomy gives the opportunity tosimultaneously take proportionate actions leading to the implementation of the SustainableDevelopment Goals in EU countries. Parallel understanding of the concept of bioeconom...

The Canary Islands are an archipelago made up of eight islands, where the existence of quality water resources is vital to meet the demand for tourism, the population’s needs, and the maintenance of the agricultural sector. This has generated in the islands an excellent knowledge of groundwater and high development of other techniques to obtain dri...

Floods are risks arising from natural phenomena such as torrential rainfall over short periods or rising sea levels. In limited territories, like islands, these phenomena reduce geographical space and have severe environmental and economic consequences. The Canary Islands (Spain) is a territory where numerous floods have occurred throughout history...

Comprender la importancia de la huella ecológica en el turismo: Los participantes deben comprender por qué es esencial abordar la huella ecológica en el sector turístico de Canarias y su impacto en el entorno natural..Explorar la huella hídrica en el turismo: Comprender qué es la huella hídrica y cómo se relaciona con la industria turística en Cana...

La isla de El Hierro es la más pequeña y más joven del archipiélago de Canarias. En el año 2000 fue declarada Reserva de la Biosfera y, a partir del año 2014 cuenta con el proyecto denominado la Gorona del Viento, que se trata de una Central Hidroeólica que pretende abastecer de energía 100% renovable a toda la isla. Con respecto a la demanda hídri...

Agriculture in the Canary Islands has greater limitations than in the rest of Spain due to the cultivation areas being geographically limited and the abrupt orography of the archipelago. As a result, in certain situations, tillage of the land is more complex and costs increase. This study focuses on the island of Tenerife and aims to identify the d...

The Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago, where the greatest water demand comes from agriculture. Being an outermost European region that receives a large number of tourists per year, the need for greater food sovereignty becomes more important. It is vital to undertake studies on the water footprint (WF) of the main crops, in order to identify...

The integral urban water cycle of the Balearic Islands (Spain) is composed of desalination plants, extraction wells, water distribution networks, treatment plants and sewerage systems. This article presents the results of the carbon and water footprint of each of the islands that form the Balearic archipelago, finding differences between those isla...

Secondary volcanic hazards (SVH) are not usually considered in volcanic hazard analysis, nor are they specifically included in volcanic risk management plans. However, SVH may cause more damage than primary volcanic hazards (PVH). The magmatic unrest on El Hierro Island in 2011–2012 is a perfect example of how SVH can be one of the leading causes o...

The ARSINOE project is part of the H2020 programme and aims to provide natural resource managers with adaptation strategies to accommodate the new conditions imposed by the climate, as well as the socio-economic impacts caused by the escalating climate migration crisis. Because climate change is a complex process and is linked to other challenges,...

Contaminated groundwater is a serious problem in developed countries. The abandonment of industrial waste may lead to acid drainage affecting groundwater and severely impacting the environment and urban infrastructure. We examined the hydrogeology and hydrochemistry of an urban area in Almozara (Zaragoza, Spain); built over an old industrial zone,...

Freshwater in coastal and island aquifers is a valuable resource whose availability is strongly conditioned by heterogeneity. More than 80 % of the Earth's surface is of volcanic origin, but the effect of volcanic dykes on the geometry of the saline interface that separates freshwater from seawater is still underexplored. This paper analyzes the im...

Extreme precipitation events are expected to become more frequent in the coming years due to climate change, which together with the continuous development of cities and surface sealing that hinder water infiltration into the subsoil, is accelerating the search for new facilities to manage stormwater. The Canary Islands (Spain) are taking advantage...

Due to their genesis, volcanic rocks present some singularities that make their geotechnical characteristics significantly different from other more common types of massifs, such as sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The formation mechanisms of volcanic rocks are varied, rapid, and, in general, of high energy. These processes give this type of rock...

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and, in particular, recharge by direct injection into the aquifer through wells or boreholes allows for a series of very interesting solutions to solve various technical and environmental problems related to management of the urban water cycle. These problems include the overexploitation of water resources, marine int...

Hazard refers to the probability of occurrence of a process (rockfall) with a given level of intensity or severity within a given time period and a specific area. For its evaluation, it is necessary to know the following aspects: where and when the processes occurred in the past, their intensity and magnitude, and the frequency of occurrence. The e...

Heterogeneity of volcanic materials that constitute the Canary Islands (Spain) means that mining work in water galleries excavated on these islands, drilling into the terrain for many kilometres, is very challenging. They are composed of materials that vary significantly in terms of cohesion, ranging from very consolidated to loose and highly unsta...

Solar photovoltaic energy is increasingly positioned as an excellent renewable energy source to be implemented in energy communities. However, studies on photovoltaic potential are still required in order to enhance the clean energy transition in energy dependent systems, such as oceanic islands. This work is a study of photovoltaic potential of pu...

Emerging pollutants (EPs) are substances present in wastewater that have not been studied, previously, leading to ambiguity in regulations for their presence in water resources. Territories that are highly dependent on groundwater resources are at a high risk of suffering the consequences of EP contamination due to their dependence on good quality...

El agua es un recurso estratégico fundamental para garantizar el desarrollo económico y social de cualquier región. En este sentido, se hace imprescindible una gestión racional de este recurso como única forma de garantizar su aporte constante. La necesidad de gestionar este bien de forma sostenible cobra especial importancia en entornos con factor...

Background When planning the use of available water resources and the hydraulic infrastructures needed to make them available to irrigators, it is important to know the water consumption of the different crops. In addition, it is interesting to know the agricultural practices used in each place, since cultural practices in agriculture have an impor...

Insularity presents several challenges in the development of Europe’s outermost regions. In the case of the Canary Islands, one of these challenges is waste management, which faces a series of difficulties inherent to territorial disparities, including land use and availability, a high percentage of protection, a large number of annual tourists and...

Ports have played a significant role in the touristic development and further economic growth of Italy. It is the country with the highest number of berths among the nations in the Mediterranean Sea; over time, Italy has created ports with a range of functions. Therefore, it is of vital importance to evaluate the potential pollutants generated from...

In the Canary Islands, there is a long tradition of optimizing water resources, to make the most of the available water for agriculture on all the archipelago’s islands. Each island has developed different systems of capturing water from the natural terrain and diverting it to crops. These systems have been especially successful on the islands of F...

Carbon dioxide emissions linked to the transport sector are of particular relevance on islands. In the case of the Canary Islands, there is a high level of tourism, with tourists who generally travel in rented vehicles upon arrival in the archipelago. In addition, mobility of the local population in the islands is also always growing. Thus, transpo...

La agricultura es una parte integral de la vida humana, de la que difícilmente podría prescindir la humanidad. Sin embargo, los enfoques modernos e insostenibles de la agricultura crean estrés para la naturaleza en forma de aumento de la erosión, pérdida de biodiversidad o escasez de agua, que pueden llevar a la pérdida del equilibrio de la natural...

A high concentration of fluoride in groundwater poses a risk to human health. One of the best-known problems related to excess fluoride in drinking water is dental fluorosis. The characteristic composition of volcanic rocks in oceanic islands tends to present high concentrations of fluoride in groundwater discharge in springs. This study investigat...

Thermal recycling occurring in groundwater heat pump systems is a major cause of efficiency loss in groundwater heat pump systems and its understanding is critical for systems design. However, the response of the systems performance to these phenomena is not easy to predict given that a negative feedback is created, as the rejected heated/cooled wa...

Las Islas Canarias son un territorio volcánico español propenso a la acumulación de gas radón en interiores, es por ello por lo que se recomienda la medición de la concentración de este gas en viviendas y centros de trabajo. En este artículo se recogen las mediciones de radón realizadas en unos túneles seleccionados de las islas de Gran Canaria y T...

Water galleries are mines that seek to supply drinkable and irrigation water from the aquifer, in order to meet the demand for water in the Canary Islands. This sort of work entails a series of health risks in the form of gases. This document compiles three different studies on the gases that can be found in water galleries in the Canary Islands, h...

In the Canary Islands, there is a wide spectrum of volcanic rocks with different properties to be used in public works. The aim of this study is to analyse the physical-mechanical properties of all the volcanic rocks present in the Canary Island archipelago in order to determine their suitability for use in maritime construction works. The great va...

Perched aquifers represent significant unexploited groundwater reserves in volcanic islands and contain valuable freshwater resources. These water reserves provide critical resources to indigenous populations suffering water scarcity. Groundwater discharged from a perched aquifer into two adjacent (14 m) springs in the volcanic summits constituted...

The city of La Laguna is one of the largest urban areas of the Canary Islands archipelago, located on the volcanic island of Tenerife (Spain), whose energy demand results in a large carbon footprint due to the typical fossil fuel dependency of oceanic islands. In 2019, La Laguna joined the initiative under the new Climate and Energy Pact and has be...

The Canary Islands have a water culture tied to the exploitation of their groundwater by means of wells and water galleries. However, the growth of tourism, the increase in the local population and the development of agriculture have led to the emergence of new ways of obtaining water, such as the desalination of seawater. The presence of these des...