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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
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


 

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.

_________________________

(*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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This page last updated September 15, 2000