The project aims at achieving a better understanding of the processes that drive or limit the response of grassland systems in a world of increasing atmospheric pCO2. We will test the hypothesis that the previously shown increase in below-ground allocation of C under elevated pCO2 provides the necessary energy excess and will stimulate free-living N2 fixers in a low N grassland environment. The project thus aims at assessing the occurrence and importance of free-living N2 fixers under elevated pCO2 and identify the associated microbial communities involved in order to better understand ecosystems response and sustainability of grassland systems. This project had the last opportunity to obtain soil samples from a grassland ecosystem adapted to long-term (10 year) elevated atmospheric pCO2 as the Swiss FACE experiment. The project aims to identify the relevant components of free-living diazotrophs of the microbial community using 15N stable isotope - DNA probing.
The project main goal is to contribute to our understanding of tsunami processes in the Euro-Mediterranean region, to the tsunami hazard and risk assessment and to identifying the best strategies for reduction of tsunami risk. Focus will be posed on the gaps and needs for the implementation of an efficient tsunami early warning system (TEWS) in the Euro- Mediterranean area, which is a high-priority task in consideration that no tsunami early warning system is today in place in the Euro-Mediterranean countries. The main items addressed by the project may be summarised as follows. The present Europe tsunami catalogue will be improved and updated, and integrated into a world-wide catalogue (WP1). A systematic attempt will be made to identify and to characterise the tsunamigenic seismic (WP2) and non-seismic (WP3) sources throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region. An analysis of the present-day earth observing and monitoring (seismic, geodetic and marine) systems and data processing methods will be carried out in order to identify possible adjustments required for the development of a TEWS, with focus on new algorithms suited for real-time detection of tsunami sources and tsunamis (WP4). The numerical models currently used for tsunami simulations will be improved mainly to better handle the generation process and the tsunami impact at the coast (WP5). The project Consortium has selected ten test areas in different countries. Here innovative probabilistic and statistical approaches for tsunami hazard assessment (WP6), up-to-date and new methods to compute inundation maps (WP7) will be applied. Here tsunami scenario approaches will be envisaged; vulnerability and risk will be assessed; prevention and mitigation measures will be defined also by the advise of end users that are organised in an End User Group (WP8). Dissemination of data, techniques and products will be a priority of the project (WP9). Prime Contractor: Alma Mater Studiorum-Universita di Bologna; Bologna, Italy.
Aquifers are the main source of water in most semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin. As a result of over-exploitation hydrologic deficits of varying acuity prevail in these areas. Seawater intrusion and pollution have been identified as the primary factors for quality degradation. Further deterioration can be expected based on trends in the precipitation regime attributed to climate change. The objective of this project is to identify alternative sources of water and to investigate the feasibility, both environmental and economic of their utilization. Alternative water sources to be artificially recharged comprise: surface water runoff, treated effluent, and imported water. Furthermore, brackish water bodies, present in many aquifers could be utilised after desalination. The project structured into eight work-packages comprehensively addresses all issues related to the problem: expected precipitation rates, recharge and water budgets, identification of potential alternative water sources and technologies for their utilization, development of tools for the management of groundwater resources under artificial recharge conditions, aquifer vulnerability assessment, characterization of the unsaturated zone, and mixing effects. Four test sites have been selected for practical application of the approach. Substantial field testing, integration of technologies and findings to ensure optimal implementations of aquifer recharge alternatives, quantification of socio-economic impacts and development of dissemination platform are planned. Finally a carefully designed project management shall drive and accompany the project execution in order to ascertain consistency and efficiency.
In contrast to their advances in other areas, weather forecast models have not been successful in improving the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast during the last 16 years. One reason for this stagnation is the lack of comprehensive, high-quality data sets usable for model validation as well as for data assimilation, thus leading to improved initial fields in numerical models. Theoretical analyses have identified the requirements measured data have to meet in order to close the gaps in process understanding. In field campaigns, it has been shown that the newest generation of remote sensing systems has the potential to yield data sets of the required quality. It is therefore time to combine the most powerful remote sensing instruments with proven ground-based and airborne measurement techniques in an Intensive Observations Period (IOP). Its goal is to serve as a backbone for the SPP 1167 by producing the demanded data sets of unachieved accuracy and resolution. This requires a sophisticated scientific preparation and a careful coordination between the efforts of the institutions involved. For the first time, the pre-convective environment, the formation of clouds and the onset and development of precipitation as well as its intensity will be observed in four dimensions simultaneously in a region of sufficient size. This shall be achieved by combining the IOP with international programs and by collaboration between leading scientists in Europe, US and other countries. Thus, the IOP is a unique opportunity to make Germany the setting of an international field campaign featuring the newest generation of measurement systems such as scanning radar and lidar and leading to outstanding advances in atmospheric sciences.
The project will contribute to better measure, model, and predict the processes leading to earthquakes, andslides, submarine slides, and tsunamis, and their effect in terms of hazard. The target area is the rift of Corinth,well known for its exceptional activity with respect to these hazards. This work will focus on the western end of the rift, close to the cities of Patras and Aigion, where the risk is highest. We will study the short term seismic hazard with methods involving seismology, geodesy, geophysics, and geochemistry. In addition to strong motion analysis and prediction, transient processes (seismic swarms, 'silent' earthquakes, fluid transients) will be studied, for a better modelling fault mechanics and earthquake preparation processes. In addition to the existing monitoring arrays and data base, specific new instrumentation will be built. Near-real time alarms systems for significant earthquakes will be developed and tested. For the long term seismic hazard, the seismic potential of active faults will be assessed on land and offshore. For submarine slope failures, places of past and future potential slumps will be mapped, and complemented by marine sediment coring and dating on selected places. Scenarios of slope failure and of coseismic displacement of the sea floor will be the inputs for tsunami modelling. The latter will be implemented using the existing high resolution bathymetry for modelling of the wave run up. Early warning alarms will be developed and tested. For landslides, the main objective is to monitor and model the perturbation of the sliding of a well documented active landslide, in response to ground shaking from local earthquakes. Continuous GPS, seismic and tilt monitoring, and repeated advanced geodesy, will quantify sliding rates and constrain first order models. The feasibility of alarm systems will be studied. Prime Contractor: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sismogénèse, Department de Sismologie; Paris; France.
Assessment of the state of archival, museum and library collections is a task of utmost importance. Depending on the type and size of a collection, surveying may also be one of the most demanding tasks in terms of the necessary resources. It is usually done using simple physical and chemical tests, often destructive, in order to reveal the collection condition, the general conservation needs and in order to plan preservation activities. As testing of a single item should take as little time as possible, the information obtained is usually only rudimentary. By providing a near-infrared-spectroscopic instrument prototype, the end-users will be provided with a powerful survey tool allowing reagent-less multi-component low-cost analysis of items. As the technique itself has recently found the way into industry as an in-line production control tool, and as a number of preliminary experiments have already been performed, the risk of its implementation for the purpose is low. Furthermore, the spectra can be taken non-destructively in a matter of minutes, then analysed using advanced statistical methods and as the result, data important for the preservation officer and policy maker may be provided, such as material composition and chemical state in a user-friendly software interface. The tool will be tested in seven collections, thus demonstrating the relevance of the developed approach. The involvement of an SME, a university lab and two libraries, three archives, and two museums, i.e. seven end-users, ensures an efficient and directed dissemination both of knowledge and of the developed technology. Surveying is indispensable in the sustainable impact assessment especially of protection treatments, and is the basis of all planning in collection management, so the project is highly relevant to Task 3 of the work programme. Prime Contractor: Univerza v Ljubljani; Ljubljana; Slovenia
Under the 2003 EU Greek presidency, cooperation with Balkan countries on environmental issues was identified as a priority of the EU/Balkan Action Plan. Large-scale co-operation is essential for effective action in the vulnerable Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal zones. During the last 50 years both areas suffered major changes; as semi-enclosed basins, both Seas are ultra-sensitive to anthropogenic stress and to climate change. An EU Presidency Conference on Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean/Black Sea (May 2003), revealed major gaps in management structures, scientific strategies and identified a diversity of environmental issues to be resolved through priority-focused RTD cooperation. Yet, while pressure on the resources of the two seas increases and the potential impact of climate change on coastal and deep-sea resources remains unknown, the two seas have never been jointly studied as systems of interacting basins and ecosystems. The proposal outlines collaboration and clustering schemes involving environmental, economic and scientific organisations in Mediterranean, Black Sea and other EU nations, in order to create synergies in networking and exchanges at several levels, addressing for the first time the system of interconnected basins as one, based on the integration of, both horizontally and vertically, natural scientists and economists. These will: 1) Create an international, interdisciplinary platform coordinating the region's scientific potential in order to prepare RTD projects, based on a Science Plan for the region, securing sustainable development; 2) Focus on natural and anthropogenic pressures exerted upon the functioning of the ecosystem; 3) Reinforce RTD capacity by setting up an environment/resource monitoring network in the light of existing observation networks of different scopes. Prime Contractor: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Anavyssos, GR.
Objectives: The PASAD project aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of sustainable rural development. Its major objective is to draw a more comprehensive picture of the rural economy through integrating various determinants of rural development and several methodologies, which allows the evaluation of linkages and interaction effects. Decreasing soil fertility implies decreasing yields over time and hence lowers the real incomes of already poor farmers even further. Sustainability in agricultural production depends on various interdependent aspects that require integrated analytical approaches to address the complexity involved. Smallholder production of food crops in poor countries is particularly vulnerable to hazards that are related to (i) production technologies as well as (ii) factor and commodity markets. The former aspect includes appropriate input use and land management, while the latter particularly considers rural labor markets, intermediate input markets, and commercial output markets. In this context, the project focuses on three crucial aspects, namely (i) institutional and other determinants to foster the degree of commercialization of agricultural small-scale produce, (ii) alternative occupational choices in rural labor markets with respect to agricultural and non-agricultural employment, and (iii) biophysical aspects concerning soil-conserving production technologies. The main hypothesis is that all three aspects need to be addressed sufficiently and simultaneously in order to promote sustainable smallholder agricultural production that is able to contribute to overall economic growth and development and, consequently, to food security. Methodology: The project follows an interdisciplinary approach, which combines several methodologies within economic and social sciences: Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling, Bio-economic household modelling, Household and labor force survey analysis, Institutional analysis, GIS-based spatial econometrics.
Climate change over the next 100 years will likely have a range of direct and indirect effects on the natural and material environment, including the historic built environment. Important changes will include alterations in temperature, precipitation, extreme climatic events, soil conditions, groundwater and sea level. Some processes of building decay will be accelerated or worsened by climate change, while others will be delayed. The impacts on individual processes can be described, but it is difficult to assess the overall risk posed by climate change using currently available data . Linking global changes to the response of material surfaces of archaeological and historic structures remains a challenge. The objectives of the NOAH'S ARK Project are: - To determine the meteorological parameters and changes most critical to the built cultural heritage. - To research, predict and describe the effects of climate change on Europe's built cultural heritage over the next 100 years. - To develop mitigation and adaptation strategies for historic buildings, sites, monuments and materials that are likely to be worst affected by climate change effects and associated disasters. - To disseminate information on climate change effects and the optimum adaptation strategies for adoption by Europe's cultural heritage managers through a conference and guidelines. - To provide electronic information sources and tools, including web-based Climate Risk Maps and a Vulnerability Atlas for heritage managers to assess the threats of climate change in order to visualize the built heritage and cultural landscape under future climate scenarios and model the effects of different adaptation strategies. - To advise policy-makers and legislators through the project's Policy Advisory Panel. The results will allow the prediction of the impact of climate and pollution on cultural heritage and investigation of future climate scenarios on a European scale.
This Specific Support Action concerns the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform. The SSA will provide the organisational, management and scientific support necessary to facilitate the process of the Technology Platform in order to produce the deliverables: Vision Document, Strategic Research Agenda and an implementation plan for the water sector in Europe. This is done by the Secretariat a delegation of members of the WSSTP Board, together with and on behalf of the Board. The three deliverables will be used as input for FP7. The mission of the WSSTP is: - to strengthen the competitiveness and the potential for technological innovation of the European water industry, of water professionals and research institutions through the development of a strategic science and research agenda, - to meet global challenges and regional demands of ensuring safe, secure and sustainable water supply for human societies and for the environment and sanitation services, within the framework of the available water resources. The WSSTP will contribute to the MDG's of the Johannesburg Summit and the European Union Water Initiative, through active participation of developing countries and of organisations that work in developing countries in the platform. The joint focus of the production of the three main is a very unique process of bringing together the various groups of stakeholders. The Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform will have a number of important measurable objectives, to which this SSA will contribute significantly: - The production of the abovementioned documents. - Contributing to the European industry competitiveness, by providing a multi-stakeholder framework. - Wide spread consultation on and dissemination of the results of the platform.
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