In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein Verfahren zur Ermittlung der Schutzfunktion der Grundwasserüberdeckung für das oberste, zusammenhängende, in der Regel weiträumige Grundwasserstockwerk, das für Grundwassererschliessungen nutzbar gemacht werden kann, beschrieben.
Das Fachinformationssystem Boden (FISBO) ist Bestandteil des übergeordneten Bodeninformationssystems. Die Hauptfunktion besteht in der Datensammlung, -pflege und -auswertung. Profil-, Horizont- und Labordaten werden in Datenbanken verwaltet.
Das Projekt "STEREO: An operational model of the effects of stock structure and spatio-temporal factors on recruitment" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Zentrum für Meeres- und Klimaforschung, Institut für Meereskunde (IfM) durchgeführt. STEREO is an EU-funded project which is joined by 6 partners from 5 countries: UK, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Germany. The overall objective of STEREO is to improve the methodology for determining limit reference points for the biomass of exploited fish stocks. Limit reference points set boundaries which are intended to constrain harvesting within safe biological limits, and are integral components of the decision making process in fisheries management. STEREO will produce an operational scheme for refining spawning biomass and recruitment data by integrating biological, spatial and temporal information on the stock, with the aim of reducing the uncertainty associated with biological limits. The methodology will be developed for cod and haddock stocks around Iceland, Norway and in the North Sea as case studies. The main goal of STEREO is to produce a model of stock composition and distributional effects on the reproductive output of cod and haddock. One sub-module of this stock composition model is a particle tracking model for egg and larval dispersal which needs input data on circulation and hydrography. The Institute of Oceanography, University Hamburg, is the responsible task leader for the hydrodynamic modelling around Iceland, Norway and in the North Sea. In order to provide the particle tracking model with input data, our institute applies a three-dimensional circulation model (HAMSOM) to the northeast Atlantic and a one-dimensional mixed-layer model to the areas around Iceland, Norway and Scotland.
Das Projekt "A census of viruses through the drinking water cycle" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), Institut für Virologie durchgeführt. Waterbome viruses have a high but so far underestimated public health significance. In water monitoring and surveillance regulations, virus detection is until now not mandatory. This is reflected in the methodological repertoire available. To date, methods for detecting the various types of viruses in different types of waters (waste water, surface water, groundwater, drinking water) are insufficiently sensitive. Some of the most important waterborne viruses like noroviruses can only be detected by PCR methods. In the case of waterborne virus outbreaks, underlying circumstances and causes frequently cannot be clarified in the absence of reliable detection methodology. The same would apply to acts of biological crime or terrorism. It is thus of utmost importance to further develop methods for sensitive and reliable virus detection in different types of waters which are technically easy to accomplish in a short time, provide a sufficient concentration of a large range of viruses in a mall volume, have a high virus recovery rate, will not be too costly, and will deliver reproducible results. In this proposal methods for concentrating large volumes of water by which a large spectrum of viruses can be simultaneously detected in water samples will be developed in cooperation with individual project partners. After successful development and testing in the lab, the methods will be evaluated for its use in different waters and water treatment steps for quantitative and qualitative virus analysis.
Das Projekt "Upwind: Development of Improved Wind Turbine Noise Prediction Tools for Low Noise Airfoil Design" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik durchgeführt. The noise regulations of various countries urge wind turbine manufacturers to reduce the aerodynamical noise emission of their turbines. To reduce the greenhouse gas emission, wind energy has been put in a very front position. EWEA estimates 12percent of worlds energy may come from wind turbines by the year 2020 (approx. 1,260,000 MW). This means wider deployment of wind turbines, at lower wind speed sites i.e. close to people & transmission lines. To reduce the transmission cost between production site and customer, onshore installations are still a cheaper solution. One of the biggest barriers for developing onshore turbines is the noise which has a negative impact on people's daily life. Thus, the goal of developing onshore wind turbines is to design silent wind turbines and silent wind farms and at the same time have a good aerodynamic efficiency. Noise emitted from an operating wind turbine can be divided into two parts, mechanical noise and flow induced noise. Mechanical noise can sufficiently be reduced by conventional engineering approaches but flow-induced noise is more complex and need more focus. The noise mechanisms associated with flow-induced noise emission have different sources. These are, inflow turbulence noise, tip noise, laminar boundary layer separation noise, blunt trailing-edge noise (BTE) and for turbulent boundary-layer trailing-edge interaction noise (TBL-TE). Acoustic field measurements within the European research project SIROCCO showed that the TBL-TE noise is the most dominant noise mechanism for modern wind turbines. Thus, accurate prediction and reduction of the TBL-TE noise is the main focus of the acoustics airfoil design methods for wind turbine rotor blade. For developing 'silent' airfoils, a routinely design fast, less expensive and accurate prediction methodology is desired. In this respect, simplified theoretical model would be the first candidate, and therefore the main goal is development of an accurate and efficient noise prediction model for the low noise wind turbine blade design.
Das Projekt "PROVIA (Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation) Guidance" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von GCF - Global Climate Forum e.V. durchgeführt. PROVIA is a global initiative which aims to provide direction and coherence at the international level for research on climate change vulnerability, impacts and adaptation (VIA). Towards this end, PROVIA is revising the IPCC Technical Guidelines (1994) and the UNEP Handbook (1996) to produce guidance on tools and research methodologies for VIA.
Das Projekt "Integrated Health, Social and Economic Impacts of Extreme Events: Evidence, Methods and Tools (MICRODIS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von evaplan GmbH durchgeführt. Recent events such as the Pakistan earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the European heat waves of 2003 reveal the vulnerability of societies to extreme events. The goal of this project is to strengthen prevention, mitigation and preparedness strategies in order to reduce the health, social and economic impacts of extreme events on communities. The objectives of the MICRODIS project are to strengthen the scientific and empirical foundation on the relationship between extreme events and their impacts; to develop and integrate knowledge, concepts, methods and databases towards a common global approach and to improve human resources and coping capacity in Asia and Europe through training and knowledge sharing. This integrated project involves 19 partners from Asia and Europe, including research, policy and ground roots institutions. The outputs will include an evidence-base on impacts, field methodologies and tools for data compilation, impact models, and integrated vulnerability assessments. It will also strengthen standardised data collection of extreme events and their impacts at local, regional and global levels. Prime Contractor: Université Catholique de Louvain; Louvain-la-neuve; Belgium.
Das Projekt "Aalborg Commitments Tools and Resources (ACTOR)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von ICLEI - Local Goverments for Sustainability, Europasekretariat GmbH durchgeführt. The Aalborg Commitments were adopted by the delegates to the June 2004 Aalborg+10 Conference with the intention that these clearly targeted actions will support European local governments in their implementation of the Aalborg Charter agreed at the 1994 Aalborg Conference. The initial commitment by signatory local governments is to undertake a baseline review within 12 months and then to enter into a local target-setting process in consultation with citizens and stakeholders in order to develop within 24 months a local programme of action under the ten Commitment themes. The evolution of the Aalborg process has been taking place at the same time as the European Commission has been preparing the Urban Thematic Strategy (UTS). This is one of seven Thematic Strategies, which together comprise the European Community's 6th Environment Action Programme. The EU has agreed that the theme of sustainable development should underpin all EU actions and this, therefore, is the key organising principle for the UTS. The SSP Fourth Call for Proposals outlines the following the core objective for 3.5. Task 5 as the 'Development of a set of guidelines and tools for signatories to the Aalborg +10 Commitments agreed in June 2004'. ACTOR will therefore have as its principal aim the development of a web-based innovative Toolkit, and a Training Package to support and assist Aalborg Commitments signatories to make efficient and effective progress. This Toolkit will include a comprehensive package of materials that can be provided to new towns and cities once they have signed the Commitments. In association with the Toolkit, the project will involve the design of Training Package on the methodology and operationalisation of the Aalborg Commitments. The Project will actively involve Signatory local authorities and the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign Networks in developing and testing the Toolkit and Training Package. Prime Contractor: University of Northumbria at Newcastle; Newcastle Upon Tyne; United Kingdom.
Das Projekt "Development of macro and sectoral economic models aiming to evaluate the role of public health externalities on society (DROPS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Energiewirtschaft und Rationelle Energieanwendung durchgeführt. The project aims to provide a full-chain analysis related to impact of health protection measures related to priority pollutants as identified by the Environment and Health Action Plan (EHAP), to support the development of cost effective policy measures against pollution related diseases and their wider impacts. The project will achieve this through extending and further developing existing methodologies, models and data to provide an impact-pathway-based model for evaluation of the role of public health externalities on society. The model will be made operational for the selected compounds. Specifically, the objectives are related to the following pollutants: ozone, heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, arsenic, nickel, lead), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and indoor air pollution. Since a number of these compounds is carried on particles, PM may be used for some analyses. Main deliverables from the project will include evaluation of a number of emission scenarios using a cost-benefit analysis and incorporating macro-economic modelling. A coherent set of methodologies covering the indicated priority pollutants will be developed and applied in this evolution. The project objectives will be achieved in 7 work packages. WP 1 will extend current policy-relevant emission scenarios to cover all the targeted pollutants or pollution situations, and will provide data on costs of measures. WPs 2 and 3 will review latest research and incorporate information on dose/exposure/concentration - response relationships for health and non-health benefit endpoints of the targeted pollutants. They will also provide monetary valuation data. Based on WPs 1-3 and on macroeconomic analyses done in WP6, WP 4 will develop an integrated tool for the cost benefit assessment, which will be implemented in WP5. WP5 will also expand datasets created in WPs 1-3 and 6 with environmental information, to provide coherent input into the modelling. Prime Contractor: Norsk institutt for Luftforskning; Kjeller; Norway.
Das Projekt "Fate of 17-ethinylestradiol in the aqueous environment and the associated effects on organisms" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von RWTH Aachen University, Institut für Umweltforschung, Biologie V, Lehrstuhl für Umweltbiologie und -chemodynamik durchgeführt. Introduction: In aquatic systems, the bioavailability of a compound is dependent on numerous factors such as partitioning between water, different organisms and solids, biotransformation and food web transfer. This project dealt with the fate of an important environmental xeno-estrogen, 17-ethinylestradiol (EE2), in the aquatic environment. Therefore, the kinetics of EE2 in indicator species representing the different trophic levels of an ecosystem were assessed. As primary producers, green algae (Desmodesmus suspicatus) were selected. The water flea Daphnia magna and larvae of the midge Chironomus riparius were introduced as primary consumers of the water phase and the sediment, respectively. Finally, water as well as dietary uptake of EE2 were investigated in a target species and secondary consumer: zebrafish (Danio rerio). Methodology: In a first series of experiments, uptake of 14C-labelled EE2 (14C-EE2) from the water phase and elimination by the different organisms were investigated over time. In a second test series, both primary consumers were fed 14C-EE2 spiked algae in order to study bioaccumulation. Uptake of 14C-EE2 by chironomid larvae after water and sediment spiking was compared, including sediments of different composition. In a third series of experiments, male fish were short term (48 h) exposed to 14C-EE2 through different routes: by water exposure (WE) and by dietary exposure (DE) via both contaminated daphnids and chironomid larvae. Distribution of 14C-EE2 in the fish was studied by measuring the amount of radioactivity (RA) in the different fish tissues. Additionally, the effect of EE2 on the vitellogenin (Vtg) induction in male fish was compared after WE and DE in a long term (14 d) experiment. The RA in liquid samples was quantified by means of liquid scintillation counting (LSC). Solid samples were subjected to combustion in a biological oxidiser, trapping (14)CO2, measured with LSC. Water and organism extracts were analysed by means of HPLC with a radiodetector, except for algae extracts that were subjected to TLC. Metabolites were identified with GC-MS, high resolution LC-MS and enzymatic hydrolysis followed by HPLC with radiodetection. Metabolites, detected in the water phase, were tested for estrogenic activity by means of YES and ER-CALUX assays. Results: Accumulation and effects: Of the four organisms mentioned above, bioconcentration of 14C-EE2 was highest in the algae. Whereas the growth rate of D. subspicatus was significantly affected at high EE2 concentrations compared to unexposed algae, EE2 had no acute effects on D. magna and C. riparius. Daphnids showed a higher bioaccumulation potential after exposure via spiked algae. For chironomids, water exposure was the predominant uptake route. The presence of sediment lowered the bioavailability of 14C-EE2 to the larvae after both water and sediment spiking. Nevertheless, uptake was higher when the nutritional quality of the sediment was better. Etc.