Das Projekt B1 'Allometrie und Raumbesetzung von krautigen und holzigen Pflanzen' ist Teil des Sonderforschungsbereiches 607 Wachstum und Parasitenabwehr und befindet sich bereits in der vierten Phase des seit 1998 laufenden Forschungsprojektes. Bisher wurde im Projekt B1 die Allometrie als Resultat der pflanzeninternen Steuerung der Allokation untersucht. Auf Individuenebene wurden Allometrie und ihre Veränderung für verschiedene Baumarten in verschiedenen ontogenetischen Stadien untersucht. Auf Bestandesebene wurden die self-thinning-Linien von Yoda und Reineke für krautige bzw. holzige Pflanzenbestände analysiert. Bisherige Allometriebestimmungen erbrachten für diese Arten zwar ähnliche Größenordnung aber auch charakteristische Unterschiede, die Ausdruck spezifischer Strategien der Raumbesetzung und -ausbeutung widerspiegeln. Die bisher vereinzelten Auswertungen sollen in Phase IV in eine übergreifende Analyse (versch. Arten, ontogenetische Stadien, Konkurrenzsituationen, Störfaktoren) der Allometrie auf Pflanzen- und Bestandesebene münden.
Die Erkennung von Veränderungen der Landbedeckung der Erdoberfläche auf der Basis von satellitengestützten Fernerkundungsdaten ist seit Jahrzehnten ein sehr aktives Forschungsfeld. Das Ziel des Landschaftsveränderungsdiensts ist es, freie Copernicus-Satellitendaten für eine automatische Ableitung von Landbedeckungsänderungen zu nutzen und diese Informationen regelmäßig für einzelne Landschaftselemente (z.B. für Waldgebiete, Wasserflächen, Landwirtschaftsflächen usw.) über einen Web Service bereitzustellen. Copernicus Daten eignen sich aufgrund der hohen zeitlichen (ca. 3-5 Tage, je nach Sensor) und mittleren räumlichen Auflösung (ab 10m) ideal für eine regelmäßige bundesweite flächendeckende Analyse der Landbedeckung. Um eine hohe Bearbeitungsleistung zu erreichen wird die 'Copernicus Data and Exploitation Platform - Deutschland' (CODE-DE) für die Datenverarbeitung und -analyse genutzt. Es können aktuelle und konsistenteste Informationen über Landdeckungsänderungen abgeleitet werden, um kontinuierlich Geodaten in einer einheitlichen Qualität zu pflegen (siehe Abbildung 1). Andererseits können die gewonnenen Informationen genutzt werden, um statistisch relevante Geoinformationen zur quantitativen Beschreibung der UN-SDG-Indikatoren zu extrahieren. Die 2015 verabschiedete Agenda 2030 mit 17 Entwicklungszielen (SDG) und 169 Unterzielen verknüpft das Prinzip der Nachhaltigkeit mit der ökonomischen, ökologischen und sozialen Entwicklung. Die Umsetzung erfordert einen soliden Überprüfungsmechanismus. Dieser soll durch eine regemäßige nationale Erfassung von ca. 200 definierten UN-SDG-Indikatoren erfolgen, mit dem Ziel Fortschritte zu monitoren und die Politik zu informieren.
The aim of the current research is to identify regional sources and trans-boundary flow leading to the observed salinity of Lake Tiberias (LT) -also known as the Sea of Galilee or Lake Kinneret-, and its surroundings, which is considered the only natural surface fresh water reservoir of the area. The current study will include all sources of brines in the Tiberias Basin (TB) with specific emphasis of the relationship between the brines from the Ha'on and Tiberias Regions (HTR).The tasks will be achieved by a multidisciplinary approach involving: (i) numerical modelling of density-driven flow processes (i.e., coupled heat and dissolution of evaporites), (ii) hydrochemical studies, supplemented by investigations of subsurface structures.(i) Numerical modelling will be carried out by applying the commercial software FEFLOW® (WASY, GmbH) complemented with the open source code OpenGeoSys developed at the UFZ of Leipzig (Wang et al., 2009). The final goal is to build a 3D regional-scale model of density-driven flow that will result in: (1) revealing the different interactions between fresh groundwater and natural salinity sources (2) elucidate the driving mechanisms of natural brines and brackish water body's movements.(ii) Hydrochemical study will include major, minor and, if possible, rare earth elements (REE) as well as isotope studies. The samples will be analysed at the FU Berlin and UFZ Halle laboratories. Geochemical data interpretation and inverse modelling will be supported by PHREEQC. Hydrochemical field investigations will be carried out in Tiberias basin and its enclosing heights, i.e. the Golan, Eastern Galilee and northern Ajloun in order to search for indications of the presence of deep, relic saline groundwater infested by the inferred Ha'on mother-brine. The current approaches will be supplemented by seismic and statistical data analysis as well as GIS software applications for the definition of the subsurface structures. The key research challenges are: building a 3D structural model of selected regions of TB, adapting both structural and hydrochemical data to the numerical requirements of the model; calibrating the 3D regional-scale model with observational data. The results of this work are expected to establish suitable water-management strategies for the exploitation of freshwater from the lake and from the adjacent aquifers while reducing salinization processes induced by both local and regional brines.
ARROWS proposes to adapt and develop low cost autonomous underwater vehicle technologies to significantly reduce the cost of archaeological operations, covering the full extent of archaeological campaign. Benefiting from the significant investments already made for military security and offshore oil and gas applications, the project aims to demonstrate an illustrative portfolio of mapping, diagnosis and excavation tasks. ARROWS approach is to identify the archaeologists requirements in all phases of the campaign, identify problems and propose technological solutions with the technological readiness levels that predict their maturation for exploitation within 3-5 years. The individual technologies are then developed during the course of the project using agile development method comprising rapid cycles of testing and comparison against the end user requirements. To ensure the wide exploitability of the results the requirements are defined and the solutions are tested in two historically significant but environmentally very different contexts, in The Mediterranean Sea and in The Baltic Sea. Both immediate, low risk and long term, high risk developments will be pursued. In particular: - Fast a low cost horizontal surveys of large areas using customised AUVs with multimodal sensing. - Fast and low cost semi-automated data analysing tools for site and object relocation - High quality maps from better image reconstruction methods and better localization abilities of AUVs. - Shipwreck penetration and internal mapping using small low cost vehicles localising using fixed pingers. - Soft excavation tool for diagnosis and excavation of fragile objects. - Mixed reality environments for virtual exploration of archaeological sites. - Monitoring of changes via back-to-the-site missions. The ARROWS consortium comprises expertise from underwater archaeology, underwater engineering, robotics, image processing and recognition from academia and industry.
Fire is an important ecological factor of disturbance in African tropical ecosystems, driving vegetation dynamics and regulating nutrient cycling and biomass. The significance of wildfires for future environmental processes is underlined by recent projections of global warming, which predict more frequent and more intense extremes of natural events. Particularly in East Africa, where population growth and natural resource exploitation are among the highest in the world, strategies for sustainable economic development will have to deal with environmental changes at regional to continental scales. Understanding such complex responses to global change requires long-term records, since only they provide a way to observe the response of ecosystems to large-magnitude environmental change on decadal and longer time scales. We use high-resolution charcoal data from lake-sediment cores to reconstruct past fire/climate/human interactions in East Africa, aiming in particular 1) to understand how the fire regime influenced vegetation dynamics during the last millennia in savannah-type and sub-humid tropical ecosystems, 2) to test whether changes in fire regime are coupled with episodes of past climatic extremes inferred from the available sedimentological data, and 3) to detect early human deforestation and the timing of increased fire frequencies beyond its natural variability. Additionally, we will apply novel techniques such as molecular markers (benzene polycarboxylic acids, BPCAs) to complement the standard sedimentary approaches to reconstruct Holocene fire history. The proposed research addresses new, highly relevant questions for today's key issue of sustainability (economic development, natural resource management, adaptation of vulnerable communities to global change). Additionally, it will contribute with new high-quality data to ongoing multi-proxy research concerning the magnitude, frequency, and rates of past climate change in equatorial East Africa. Finally, the project will contribute to our understanding of tropical ecosystem functioning and its interaction with regional, cultural, and economic systems.
ROBUST DSC aims to develop materials and manufacturing procedures for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSC) with long lifetime and increased module efficiencies (7Prozent target). The project intends to accelerate the exploitation of the DSC technology in the energy supply market. The approach focuses on the development of large area, robust, 7Prozent efficient DSC modules using scalable, reproducible and commercially viable fabrication procedures. In parallel with this objective, more fundamental research, employing new materials and device configurations, will target increasing the efficiency of labscale DSC to 14Prozent. Progress on labscale devices will be fed directly into module development. The approach is based on the use of innovative low-cost materials, scalable manufacturing techniques, predictive device models and in-and outdoor lifetime testing. A sound and scientific understanding of the basic procedures to manufacture the cells and a thorough knowledge of the fundamental processes in the cell are important tools for our success. The partnership consists of: two SMEs (Orionsolar and G24i) that are committed to large-scale production of DSC, one industry (Corning) that has proven experience on inorganic frits for sealing of a variety of applications, three research institutes (ECN, IVF, FISE) with expertise in the field of long-term testing, up-scaling and module fabrication and four academic partners, world leaders in both new materials and concepts, and in fundamental research on cell function and modelling (EPFL, IMPERIAL, ICIQ, UAM). We anticipate that this project will result in the demonstration of a new scalable, low cost, photovoltaic technology. It will therefore form the basis of a potentially substantial business opportunity aiming at developing a new solar cell product with cost and payback characteristics strongly advantaged over existing technologies.
Objective: Changes in climatic conditions, land use practices and soil and sediment pollution have large-scale adverse impacts on water quantity and quality. The current knowledge base in river basin management is not adequate to deal with these impacts. Austere is both integrating and developing knowledge to resolve this and disseminating it to stakeholders. In the water cycle, soil is a key element affecting groundwater recharge and the chemical composition of both subsurface and surface waters (the latter is additionally affected by sediments). The proper functioning of the river-sediment-soil-groundwater system is linked to key biogeochemical processes determining the filter, buffer and transformation capacity of soils and sediments. Austere aims at a better understanding of the system as a whole by identifying relevant processes, quantifying the associated parameters and developing numerical models of the groundwater-soil-sediment-river system to identify adverse trends in soil functioning, water quantity and quality. The modelling addresses all relevant scales starting from micro-scale water/solid interactions, the transport of dissolved species, pollutants as well as suspended matter in soil and groundwater systems at the catchments scale, and finally the regional scale, with case studies located in major river basins in Europe. With this integrated modelling system, Austere provides the basis for improved river basin management, enhanced soil and groundwater monitoring programs and the early identification and forecasting of impacts on water quantity and quality during this century. Austere is committed to the dissemination and exploitation of project results through structured workshops, dedicated short courses, and the active participation of consortium partners in national and international conferences. A peer review panel supervises the quality and direction of the project.
The research projects of PMOD/WRC aim at understanding the terrestrial radiation budget and the influence of the Sun on the terrestrial climate. The latter is in the central focus of today's world-wide climate research and is termed 'Space Weather' if the emphasis is on short term events and it is termed 'Space Climate, if climate implications are investigated. From the point of view of the activities of PMOD/WRC, the most interesting aspect of research in solar physics is that the radiance output of the Sun itself is variable. The goal of solar physics research at PMOD/WRC is therefore, to advance our understanding of the origin of these variations in order to be able to reconstruct the solar influence on the climate in the past. The SNF grant supports: A) Interpretation of data from active space experiments: Presently, there are two active space experiments built by PMOD/WRC: VIRGO on SoHO since December 1995, which is still operational, and SOVIM on the ISS since February 2008; B) Preparing for the scientific exploitation of the upcoming space experiment LYRA/PROBA2 and PREMOS on PICRAD (with launch in 2009); C) Investigating the origin of the solar radiance variability in the UV by exploring the lower chromosphere with helioseismological methods. Since 1996 the space experiment VIRGO/SoHO is monitoring the Total (TSI) and spectral Solar Irradiance. The homogeneous VIRGO data provide a crucial element in the construction of the TSI composite and thus, VIRGO provides a key observation to investigate the influence of the Sun on the terrestrial climate. The PMOD/WRC is involved in three new space missions that continue the observations of total and spectral solar irradiance: SOVIM on the ISS since February 2008 and with launch in 2009 LYRA on PROBA2, and PREMOS on PICARD. SOVIM on the ISS continues to monitor total and spectral solar irradiance with instrumentation similar to VIRGO/SOHO. Together with the two other experiments SOLSPEC and SolACES on the same platform, which observe the spectral irradiance from the EUV to the near infrared, our knowledge of the spectral redistribution during TSI changes will be improved and provide a sound basis for understanding of solar irradiance variability. LYRA/PROBA2 observations will be used for a climate-chemistry model that was developed at PMOD/WRC as part of an ETH-funded Poly-project. When LYRA data become available we will use a special middle atmosphere version of this CCM model, SOCOL-I, for now-casting the state of the upper atmosphere as reaction to the UV irradiance as observed by LYRA/PROBA2. This now casting is primarily aimed at testing our understanding of the chemical and dynamical processes induced by the variable solar UV irradiance, but if successful, our now casting product is a welcome additional input for space weather applications. Until the launch of PROBA2, this subproject is aimed at preparing the computer model for its operational use.
The contribution of geothermal energy is a key factor to the successful achievement of the objectives of the European Commission concerning the development of renewable and sustainable energy. The concept of Unconventional Geothermal Resources and in particular Enhanced Geothermal Systems examines ways of increasing the potential of geothermal power generation through (i) exploring new types of reservoirs for heat exchange (Hot Dry Rock, supercritical fluids..), (ii) enlarging the extent of productive geothermal fields by stimulating Geothermal energy for all permeability, (iii) enhancing the viability of current and potential hydrothermal areas by stimulation technology and improving thermodynamic cycles. The main objective of the proposed action is the co-ordination of the present research and development initiatives for Unconventional Geothermal Resources and Enhanced Geothermal Systems, from resource investigation and assessment stage through to exploitation monitoring. The Co-ordination Action will provide (1) an updated framework of activities concerning geothermal energy in Europe, including the integration of scientific and technical know-how and practices, the evaluation of socio-economic and environmental impacts; (2) the definition of innovative concepts for investigation and use of Unconventional Geothermal Resources and Enhanced Geothermal Systems; groups of expects will present a Best Practice Handbook; (3) a scientific and technical European Reference Manual including the information and dissemination systems developed during the Co-ordination Action. The links established between research and development teams, national development programmes, industrial partners and international agencies will be used to promote the geothermal energy as a major renewable and sustainable source of energy and to propose innovative high.level medium- to longer-term research projects.
Objective: The Project objective is the development of a low cost and high efficiency air-conditioning system based on CO2 (R744) as refrigerant fluid. Methods to assess performance, fuel annual consumption and environmental impact will be identified and they will constitute a first step for EU new standards. The EU, as Greenhouse Gas emission reduction measure, proposed the ban for Mobile Air Conditioning systems of fluids having a Global Warming Potential lower than 50 (i.e. R-134a and R-152a) with complementary measures - e.g. measurement of the MAC fuel consumption - This represents a challenge and an opportunity for OEMs and Mobile A/C Suppliers. The CO2 - R-744 when used as a refrigerant - is the favourite candidate to replace the R-134a. Besides safety, reliability and efficiency, the present estimated additional cost, ranging from 70 up to 150 Euro with reference to the low priced car systems, represents a obstacle. The lower priced vehicles constitute up the 70Prozent of the present EU car market, this number will rise up to the 80Prozent with the EU enlargement. A low cost and high efficiency R 744 MAC will support the EU efforts reducing the resistance to the approval of the HFC ban, allowing a rapid diffusion of the new system with the related environmental benefits and making the EU industries more competitive. The consortium composition - 2 major OEMs, 4 suppliers and three acknowledged excellence centres - makes the risk acceptable assuring an effective exploitation. Finally the Project gathers the most skilled European scientists and engineers in this specific field, so high level scientific and technical know how are expected to be produced as well as scientific advances in the dynamic system modelling. This will contribute to strengthen EU industries position in other domains (e.g. domestic air conditioning). The BCOOL project forms a cluster with the project named TOPMACS,focused on innovative adsorption mobile air conditioning systems...
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