ECOSIM -
Ecological and
environmental monitoring
and simulation system
for
management decision
support in urban areas
Keywords: Urban Environmental, Management, Air and Water QualityEcological and environmental monitoring and simulation system
for management decision support in urban areas
Application site: Berlin, De; Athens, Gr; Gdansk, Pl
Website: http://www.ess.co.at/ecosim
Context
Environmental decision support systems for urban
areas are used to varying levels across Europe. This
depends on the level of technological sophistication,
the significance of environmental pollution and the
level of environmental awareness. Many large urban
areas have networks of environmental
measurement stations and databases. These are
normally confined to a single environmental domain
or sub-domain (e.g. air, ground water, coastal water)
and are incorporated in relatively simple
management decision support systems. A number of
m a t u re computer models are also normally
confined to single domains.
In order to enable the compilation of an accurate picture of the state of the environment or changes to it, integrated environmental management decision support systems are needed. This integration is primarily one of coupling data and models between the various environmental domains and sub-domains. These systems will allow integrated quantitative and qualitative analyses of the environment in urban and industrial areas, for historical analysis, prediction of trends and for planning issues.
Objectives
The project builds a model-based information and
decision support system for urban environmental
management. It integrates data acquisition and
monitoring systems, GIS, and dynamic simulation
models in a flexible client-server architecture based
on standard protocols . HPC models are
implemented on parallel machines.
The system is based on state-of-the art scientific methods and information technology.
Additional objectives are:
- a tool easy to use for administrators, planners, engineers and decision makers
- a tool that is cost-efficient by using a flexible architecture that minimises investments requirements by allowing more expensive components, such as high-performance computing equipment but also specific expertise, to be shared over the internet.
The main product is the generic ECOSIM Server and the underlying generic client-server architecture together with a set of generic and partly specific environmental simulation models, implemented and tested in three case studies covering a range of climatological, environmental and technological conditions. The specific benefit of this system is that the integration component allows the use of complicated models in a day-to-day operational condition, without involving the user in a specific implementation of the models (i.e. specific hardware and software models, computer capacity, great know-how on the model).
The elements of the system include:
- A flexible client-server implementation for distributed and decentralized use of information resources
- Communication architecture based on the http protocol which is used to integrate real-time data acquisition from monitoring sites, as well as optional high-performance computing resources such as supercomputers or workstation clusters. The scalability of applications over a wide range of performance requirements is also considered:
- Multi-media user interface design to support an intuitive understanding of results
- Integration of GIS with data bases, monitoring results, and spatially explicit simulation modelling
- Embedded rule-based expert systems for logical modelling and user support.
Technical characteristics
The system consists of an integrated data base
management module for emission inventories,
meteorological and air quality data and is linked to
on-line monitoring systems.
A suite of simulation and optimisation models are present for air quality i.e.REGOZON (multi-layer dynamic photochemical), DYMOS (3D dynamic photochemical), MUSE (multi - layer dynamic photochemical), MEMO (Mesoscale atmospheric model); for coastal water quality i.e. POM (3D coastal flow and water quality);and for groundwater quality i.e. HELP (vertical landfill hydrology), MODFLOW (3D groundwater flow ), MTD-3 (groundwater quality).
The basic System Framework consists of:
- Object data bases including time-series analysis and monitoring network integration. The time-series data for air quality and meteorology include the linkage to on-line monitoring stations, and statistical analysis functions. The values of emission inventories are present for a range of different source types and pollutants
- Graphical and menu driven user interface with hypertext
- Help- and explain functions
- Embedded GIS and spatial data analysis. Geographic background data, including administrative divisions, land use and land cover, satellite imagery and aerial photography are managed with the embedded GIS. Spatial data are displayed in the GIS and used as input data for models, orography (DEMs), and population data
- Model post-processing and analysis (e.g., for compliance)
- An embedded rule-based expert system simplifies the task of estimating unmeasured emissions
- A range of numerical environmental simulation models, ranging from simple but fully interactive scoping models, to multi-layer forecasting models and ultimately fully 3D dynamic simulation models.
As hardware requirements the ECOSIM is currently supported for UNIX servers (SUN Sparc/Solaris). For an ECOSIM server, a minimum of 64 MB RAM and 128 MB swap space is recommended. For a typical installation, about 2 GB disk space is required; disk space requirements depend on the amount of geographical data (in particular satellite images) and monitoring data. A graphics resolution of 1280*1024 (256 simultaneous colours) is required.
Transferability
Designed to support the implementation of
European Directives, ECOSIM offers a generic
solution applicable across Europe. ECOSIM
architecture supports multiple languages as a data
driven option. The systems is useful for
environmental management and decision support
for large cities which need to comply with the Air
Quality Framework Directive or for environmental
consultants and industry.
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The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
