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IV. Symposium on
Data, Information and Knowledge on the Environment and for Renewable
Energy
Dr. Jean-Marie
Martin
Director, Environment Institute
Joint Research Center / European Commission (EC)
21020 ISPRA (VA)- Italia
Fax : + 39 0332 789 222
Phone : + 39 0332 789 834
Email : jm.martin@jrc.it
WWW : http://www.jrc.org
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Dr. Jean-Jacques
Royer
INPL/CRPG/ENSG
Computer Science Department
Rue du Doyen Marcel Roubault, B.P. 40 (EI)
54501 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France
Fax : + 33 3 83 59 64 60
Phone : + 33 3 83 59 64 27/35
Email : royer@ensg.u-nancy.fr |
Theme
IV-1: Issues in Geo-Spatial Data for Major Natural Disasters
– Dr. A. Kiremidjian (US) and Dr. F. Sabetta (Italy)
Data required in seismic
hazard analysis are varied and come in different forms and quality.
Such data include earthquake event occurrence, local soil, geological
and ground motion recordings. These data are necessarily spatially
distributed requiring the use of two- or three- dimensional geographic
information systems and other visualization tools. Considerable
difficulty exist in generating databases that are homogeneous in
time and space, or can be reduced to formats that can be used in
seismic hazard model parameter estimation. Similarly, the outputs
of seismic hazard analysis are often geospatially distributed data
that require geographic information systems and database management
systems for storage and display.
In the session papers
will be presented that address issues of acquiring, handling and
integrating seismological and geological data that need to be
resolved in generating databases for seismic hazard analysis.
In addition, methods for displaying the original geospatial data
as well as outputs from seismic hazard analysis also pose a challenge
and solutions used to date can be very informative. The session
will have five to six papers focusing on issues of data homogeneity
in time and space, uncertainty in spatial distribution, simple
as well advanced techniques of data overlays and integration,
extraction of three dimensional information from two dimensional
data, and the generation of seismic hazard information useful
to wide audiences.
Theme
IV-2: Integrated Environmental Monitoring in Industrial
Areas J-P Nordvic, A.C. Lucia, N. Mitchison
Environmental risk management
is one of the challenges for our modern industrial society as demonstrated
by recent environmental disasters. Environmental risk evaluation
and simulation play an important role in engineering projects and
applications such as underground storage for nuclear waste disposals,
oil, ground water quality, etc. However, reference data available
in the literature for environmental diagnosis, especially for characterizing
fluid transportation, diffusion or soil/rock interaction, dispersion
in ocean are relatively scarce. The goals of this Session are to
cover various aspects of environmental management including long
and short term effects and to foster a better understanding in risk
evaluation procedure. Specific attention will be paid to the following
subjects :
- Remediation of
contaminated soils (toxic metals, PAH, pesticide)
- Coastal remediation
and sea pollution (sewage, industrial rejection, wastes, oil)
- Evaluation of the
fragility of complex ecological systems
- Environmental modeling
and rehabilitation
Modeling contaminant
behavior in the natural environment
- Effect of contaminated
drainage on groundwater quality
- Ecological monitoring
using GIS
Efforts to reduce toxic
emissions reflected in European and national policies are generally
linked to international commitments. Presentations and case studies
on strategies for quality control of water rejections, sewage
and soil pollution in industrial areas are welcome. The balance
between economic development and rational use of natural resources
is of great importance and models based on "favorable" strategy
for contaminant usage in human activity with the minimum possible
ecological damage will be appreciated. This Session is expected
to stimulate discussions on data and knowledge necessary for optimizing
the environmental risk management from the point of view of economics,
ecology and benefit versus cost optimization.
Theme
IV-3: Environmental Data Integration – Dr. David Stanners
(European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Bridging The Gap:
Information for Action
The ‘Gap’ which needs
bridging is between the data/ information available and
that needed for ‘sound and effective’ environmental policymaking.
The ‘Bridging the Gap’ conference in 1998, concluded:
‘At present some
of the systems for monitoring and gathering information about
the environment in European countries are inefficient and wasteful…
there is therefore a pressing need to update and rationalize the
systems for monitoring and gathering information about the environment
throughout Europe. Streamlining such systems could release resources…
better directed to improving information on policy relevant and
topical subjects.’
The current reporting
system is largely the product of an environmental policy agenda
characterized by "end of pipe" approaches to point sources
of pollution that are controlled by "command and control
" policies. Whilst this has been successful in some areas, there
is now a recognized need to move towards the integration
of environmental policies into economic sectors, to tackle diffuse
sources of pollution, and to broaden the range of policy measures.
This shift in the environmental agenda needs to be supported
by an appropriate monitoring and reporting system, from one that
is mainly designed for compliance reporting on directives
or regulations, to one designed for assessment reporting.
Environmental monitoring
(e.g. of air and water quality), modelling (e.g. of air emission
estimates and outlooks/scenarios) and statistics (e.g. on waste
and water use) programmes are established in countries for many
purposes (local, national, international) but are expensive and
take a long time to put in place. So this refocused reporting
system needs to be developed now, in parallel with the production
of the sector integration strategies. However some limitations
occurs in the practice while recommendations are made, for instance
in the European countries, the EEA Reporting Obligations Database
is an important analytical tool to support a streamlining process.
Integrated assessments
are now recognized as increasingly important and the EEA, in its
reports (e.g. Environment in the European Union at the Turn of
the Century) has made the best use of existing data but found
it lacking in many areas. The challenge we face therefore is to
re-configure programmes which deliver data that meet simultaneously
the compliance and policy assessment needs of policymakers in
the most cost-effective way. Progress is being made. For example,
the same air emissions data are used for meeting simultaneously
the needs of international conventions, sectoral reporting mechanisms,
EEA indicator reports and environmental outlooks. On water, links
are being made between data for EEA indicators and reporting under
the proposed Water Framework Directive.
On research, higher
priority should be given to plugging gaps in the areas of models,
scenarios and indicators.
The objectives of this
Session are to depict the state of the art and define the future
directions for research and development in this area both from
theoretical, developer and practitioner points of view.
Submitted abstracts
include:
Integration of Environmental
Data: A Fuzzy Set Approach
A Salaski. University of Kiel, Germany
Methodology for Integrating
Remote Sensing, Environment and Social Sciences
Dr. Liu Chuang, China
Linking environmental
and socio-economic information
David Heath: EUROSTAT
The role of uncertainty
and sensitivity analysis in data integration
Andrea Saltelli: JRC Ispra
Bridging the gap: Information
for Action
David Stanners: European Environment Agency
Theme
IV-4: Water Resources – Dr. J-M. Martin (JRC-EI, European
Commission)
The demand for water continues
to increase, bringing greater pressures on the world's freshwater
resources. Some regions are currently experiencing considerable
shortages reinforced by recurrent droughts in some parts of Africa,
thus emphasizing the dangers of over-utilization of a dwindling
resource. As world population increases, so does consumption per
capita; pollution of surface water and groundwater deteriorates
and climate change threatens. This situation will inevitably worsen
making water resources a potential source of conflict in some parts
of the globe. Ironically, in contrast to this scarcity outlined
above, many parts of the world are subjected to floods. Indeed,
flooding is responsible for the largest death toll and destruction
of all natural disasters. The goals of the Session aim to bring
together some of the most active and well known scientists and practitioners
involved in all aspects of water resources. It will provide a forum
for both the theoretical and applied contributions, with special
emphasis on :
- Water in Ecosystems
and Global Atmospheric Evolution
- Space and Earth
Remote Sensing and Regional Environmental Changes
- Accessing Geoenvironmental
Data for Ecotoxicological Issues
- Variability and
scarcity of water resources in developing countries
- Regulation of large
water systems (Canada, Europe, …)
- Protection of the
resource and policy
- Regional sharing
of water in Europe and other part of the world (Central Europe,
Mediterranean situations, ….)
This Session will discuss
the state-of-the-art of these important fields and will define
future directions for research and development and for real-world
remediation. The Session will consist of invited talks, short
papers and posters on the following topics : global water balance,
water management, water pollution (pesticides, heavy metals, fertilizers),
underground contaminations, hydrological cycle, hydrogeological
data, but also related aspects such as numeric modeling of long
and short term pollution, quality control, environmental impact
assessment, remediation, impact of scarcity of water on sustainable
economic and regional development.
Submitted abstracts
include:
Water Resources Protection
in Gas Industry, Russia
G. Akopova, N Popadko, All Russian Scientific Research Institute
of Natural Gases and Gas Technologies (VNIIGAS)
Theme
IV-6: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) – Dr. Arwyn
Jones (JRC-EI, EC)
Over the past decade,
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become an increasingly
important research and development area and are crucial for a number
of activities of the Information Society. The major reason for the
success of GISs is that they offer more and new functionality to
map producers and map users in comparison with traditional paper
maps. They provide a powerful set of tools for monitoring, acquiring,
organising, storing, retrieving, transforming, analysing, extracting
of knowledge and displaying of available spatial multivariate data.
There are however some limitations to the success of the GIS. They
include:
- The lack of advanced
interfaces which will enable end-users to use the information
highway easily and efficiently;
- Standardisation
of database connections together with web facilities;
- Most GISs are 2D,
while the real world is 3D. What are the conceptual implications?
What are the needs?
The objectives of this
Session are to produce the state of the art presentation and to
identify the future directions for research and development in
the GIS, from the theoretical, development and practitioner points
of view. The Session aims to define guidelines for the best practice
in user interface development accounting for the new technologies
of the information revolution, to decipher the future trends in
GISs taking into account Web technology and to raise stimulating
discussion on future evolution in GIS systems and concepts when
using 3D data, including geometric and topological representations.
Submitted abstracts
include:
Gateway to the Earth-Transforming
Our Understanding of the Environment
Barbara J. Ryan, US Geological Survey
An Application of the
Turning-Bands-Simulation Method for the Modelling of Environmental
Data
Prof. Barbara Namyslowska-Wilczynska, Prof Arthur Wilczynski-University
of Technology, Poland
Remote Data Access
between 3D Geoscientific Visualization Tools and a Geo- Database
Kernal System
Martin Breunig and Serge Shumilov, University of Bonn
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Theme
IV-7: Global Cross Border Pollution: Industrial and Natural
Disasters – Dr. J.C. Oppeneau (ADME, France)
Ecotoxicology is associated
with important industrial or natural disasters. Global circulation
of pollution, such as bioatmospheric exchanges can reach numerous
environmental sites located in nearby countries. Such transborder
pollution (marine, atmospheric industrial release, gaz, water)
require special planning in order to react more or less rapidly
in appropriate ways.
Topics that may be
discussed include:
- Global evaluation
methodology
- Suitable criteria
for data exchange
- Coordination schemes
and interactive levels of action
- Time/Distance correlation
factors
- Difficulties encountered
- Need for data integration
- General governmental
regulations (normalisation, certification, monitoring and security
systems)
- European and International
regulations (security magins)
- Case studies:
- Global/regional
pollution
- Transnational
pollution case
- Industrial ecology:
- Industrial use
of side products and wastes
- Elimination and
neutralisation of waste matter
Submitted abstracts
include:
The Role of Data and
Information in Preventing Major Chemical Accidents
G.Thyagarajan, COSTED
Theme
IV-9: Urban Air Quality and Human Exposure – Dr. D. Kotzias
(JRC-EI, European Commission)
The session aims at
identifying the needs for an efficient air quality assessment
and management taking total human exposure (indoor/outdoor) into
account. In order to do this all essential methodologies needed
for an exposure based urban air quality assessment should be considered,
from sources identification, micro-environmental and personal
monitoring to the development of modelling tools for the analysis
of data, the assessment of abatement scenarios and the development
of measures. Important points to be addressed will be:
- Development of criteria
for air quality standards taking total human exposure into account
- Identification of
urban areas exposed to high pollutant concentrations
- Evaluation of future
air pollution through short and medium term forecasts
- Development of emission
reduction scenarios
- Harmonisation and
validation of urban air quality models
Specific studies on
urban and con-urban air quality monitoring will provide information
on the current status of air pollution in Europe and elsewhere
and will show practical aspects and results of an efficient air
quality management due to the implementation of air quality policies.
Within this frame urban planning is one of the key factors. In
the past many problems associated with air pollution in cities
have been solved and/or avoided due to the improvements in infra-structure,
when eliminating and/or reducing urban traffic and the creation
of limited traffic zones. Another question remains still open,
on how urban green influences air quality and whether emissions
from urban trees influence photochemical oxidant formation under
particular weather conditions in cities.
Submitted abstracts
include:
Think Local, Act Global:
The need for Integrated Modelling for Urban Pollution
Andreas N. Skouloudis, Joint Research Centre European Commission,
Ispra, Italy
EXPOLIS Database for
Multi Centre Air Pollution Exposure Data Collection and Management
Otto Hänninen, KTL- Air Hygiene, Kuopio, Finland, Erik Lebret,
RIVM, Bilthoven, the Netherlands, Matti Jantunen, EC/JRC, ISPRA
A Way Forward to Harmonized
Air Quality Data
A. Borowiak, F. Lagler, M. Gerboles, E de Saeger, EC JRC, ISPRA
Theme
IV-10: Energy Sources for the Future: Fossils, Fission
and Renewable Energy
The aim of this Session
is to provide a state of art presentation of the energy problem,
to investigate sources of energy and to endeavour to identify
the future impact on the environment.
The following topics
are suggested:
- World Energies-Past
and Future Trends
- Potential Sources
of Energy on the Earth: New and old resources oil, gas, methane
hydrate, coal, nuclear,…
- Global Energy demands
and economic impacts
- Scenarios for future
energy supplies
Other suggested topics
are welcome.
Theme
IV-11: Gas Hydrates: Role in Past and Future – Prof. F.A.
Kuznetsov (Russia)
Natural gas hydrates occur
world-wide in polar regions associated with onshore and offshore
permafrost, and in ocean sediments along continental margins at
depths greater than one hundred meters provided, bottom waters are
sufficiently cold. The shallowness of the gas hydrates zone of stability
makes them vulnerable to surface disturbances (warming of ocean,
drop in sea-level, increase or decrease of the polar ice-cap, oceanic
circulation). Consequently, gas hydrates may have played a significant
role in modifying the composition of the atmosphere during ice ages.
This Session aims to depict the state of the art in the following
topics :
- gas hydrates as
natural fossil fuel resource potential;
- world-wide estimation
of reserves in gas hydrates;
- role of gas hydrates
as a submarine geohazard;
- gas hydrates potentiality
of "greenhouse" feedback in climate forcing and their effects
on global climate change (glaciation and deglaciation);
- the global C cycle
with and without gas hydrates;
The thermodynamic conditions
of stability or metastability, the past and current P-T world-wide
conditions at the bottom of the sea, and the time scales involved,
among others conditions, make the estimation of world-wide reserves
difficult. Different aspects need to be critically evaluated in
order to understand the significance of gas hydrates in the natural
world. The expected contributions would cover all aspects of the
problems including thermodynamic studies, stability of gas hydrates,
experimental results, reference databases, global C cycle, role
in climate forcing, but also specific examples, methods of exploration,
estimation of the global reserves and technology for exploitation.
It is expected to foster progress in international co-operation
in this most stimulating scientific area involving several disciplines.
Submitted abstracts
include:
Chlorine Stable Isotopes
Provide Estimates on Hydrate Abundance in a Submarine Gas-hydrate
Field and Possible Hints on the Chlorine Source
Reinhard Hesse, McGill University, Per K. Egeberg, Agder College,
Norway, Shaun Frape, University of Waterloo, Ontario
A Gas Hydrate Database
developed for the Internet.
J. Klerkx et al., Russia
Seismic inprints of
the Gas Hydrates in the Black sea and Mediterranean Sea.
G. Cifci, M. Ergum, D. Dondurer, Dokuz Eylul Univ. Turkey.
Natural Gas Hydrates-Present
and Future Iouri F. Makogon, Texas A&M University
Data Activity Related
to Natural Gas Hydrates in Russia
Fedor Kuznetsov, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy
of Sciences
Geological, Geochemical,
and Geophysical Data Files, Concerning Submarine Gas Hydrates
V. Soloviev and G. Gherkashev-VINIIO Keangeologia, St. Petersburg,
Russia
Estimation of Distribution
of Gas Hydrate and free gas from log and seismic Data
Umberta Tinivella, Flavio Accaino, Angelo Camerlenghi, OGS, Trieste,
Italy
Theme
IV-12: Geothermy: An Alternative Source of Energy – Dr.
J.J. Royer (France)
The energy demand increases
worldwide bringing greater pressures on the traditional fossil
sources. Our modern society reacts by concrete actions in structural
changes (energy saving policy, ecotaxes, new low energy technology)
and research programs on alternative sources for energy. Among
others, Geothermy (*1) is considered as one of the most promising
alternatives for the future because of its enormous potentiality
at large scale. In some geothermal active areas (Island, New-Zealand,
Mexico, ...) it is already a major source for heat and electricity.The
session aims to bring together some of the most active and well
known scientists and practitioners involved in all aspects of
geothermy. The
objectives of this Session are to draw the state of the art and
define the future directions for research and development in the
Geothermy, both from theoretical, developer and practitioner point
of views.
Submitted abstracts
include:
An Equivalent Porous
Media Approach for Geothermal Reservoirs: Application to Heat
and Mass Transfers Modeling of the Soultz Geothermal Doublet
P. Audigane and J.J. Royer, France
Characterising the
Soultz Geothermal Reservoir Using Microseismicity
J.J. Royer, P. Audigane and S. Shapiro, France
The Closed Geothermal
Heat Exchanger System-An Independent Concept for Geothermal Energy
Production from Deep Reservoir Rocks
Björn Legarth, Helmut Wolf, Technical University Berlin.
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(*1) The
heat flow through a 10kmx10km square at the Earth surface is equivalent
to 7MW.
Theme
IV-13: Renewable Energy and Environmental Issues: Needs,
Opportunities and Perspectives of the New Millennium – Dr. H.
Ossenbrink (JRC-EI, European Commission)
The renewable technologies
have to manage large amounts of complex data coming frequently from
incoherent sources of information, such as meteorology, infra­structure
or socio-economy. For instance, in Photovoltaic and Wind-energy,
data-processing facilities are under development for continuously
predicting the available energy resources every 5 minutes /1 hour
/6 hours /24 hours, in order to allow supply management at utility
control centers. The objective of the Session is to give an overview
of the state of the art and the current achievements of the major
renewable sources of energy. It intends to foster a better understanding
of useful heterogeneous database and information systems required
to estimate present and future potentials, indirect ecological impact,
substainability and management of energy resources including the
following :
- Achievement and
State of the Art in Photovoltaics and Solar energy, Wind energy,
Biomass, Combustion battery and Hydroelectricity ;
- Assessment of renewable
potential ;
- Prospective in the
developing world, emerging countries and GS and OECD countries;
Important open questions
will be debated, such as :
- How many people
on the planet are really without electricity and what are the
future trends?
- How to collect data
to measure the societal impact of having access to electricity
or other basic services which electricity can facilitate (clean
water, quality light, health services, communication, education)
- How do we process
data to know how many roofs in Europe face South and present
potential sites for Photovoltaics?
- How to process data
to access off shore windenergy potential?
- Supply side management
of renewable energies;
- Using latest information
and communication technology to sell "Green Electrons"
- Taking inventory
of Bio-mass resources and their quantitative impact on CO2
reduction
- Processing data
on environmental impact of photovoltaic materials processing
and recycling;
- Defining International
Standards for performance and quality of renewables;
The Session will consist
of invited talks, short papers, round tables and posters.
Round
Table Discussion IV-A: World Energy Perspectives: The Future
of Energy is not Written
Will green house gas emissions
produce climate disasters? Will fossil energy resources be curtailed
in the middle of this century? These questions are part of the central
debate of our modern society. In the past number of years, several
energy crises reminded us brutally of the importance of oil. Concrete
actions include structural changes in energy demand (energy savings
and fuel substitution) as well as pollution control policies and
technical measures. Alternative sources of energy have been investigated,
some of them for diversification, others for a better environment.
Important new hydrocarbon reservoirs, such as methane hydrate, have
been discovered recently, while new green technologies have been
suggested as a substitute for the future. The aim of this Session
is to provide a state of art presentation of the energy problem,
to investigate possible sources of energy for the 3rd millennium
and to endeavour to identify the future trends and side effects
on the environment.
The following topics
are suggested:
- World Energies -
Past and Future trends
- Potential sources
of Energy on the Earth: new and old resources oil, gas, methane
hydrate, coal, nuclear, ..
- Global energy demands
and economic impacts
Other suggested topics
are welcome.
Different aspects need
to be critically evaluated to simulate possible scenarios for the
future energy demands of the forthcoming century, to evaluate global
environment impacts and, consequently, to foster structural changes
in energy demand. Critical presentations addressing different aspects
of the problem will be welcome. A constructive debate is expected
in this most important area.
Round
Table Discussion IV-B: Water Issues : Resources and Redistribution
– Dr. J.M. Martin (EI/JRC/ISPRA, Italy)
Sustainable Water Resources
Assessment : TheMulti-Disciplinary Moselle Basin Project (France).
J.M. Cases, J.P. Schmitt, L. Palfner and J.J. Royer
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