Mapping the dynamics of the Lagunas de Ruidera wetland (Spain) using remote sensing

Author(s):  
Eulogio Pardo-Iguzquiza ◽  
David Pulido-Velazquez ◽  
Antonio-Juan Collados-Lara ◽  
Leticia Baena-Ruiz

<p>Wetlands protect and improve water quality, store floods, maintain surface water during dry periods and provide valuable habitats for wildlife. However, wetlands may be very sensitive to climate change and appropriate monitoring works and modelling activities are needed in order to design sustainable management strategies. In this work we aim to analyze the dynamics of the Lagunas de Ruidera wetland (Spain) for the period 1984−2015. We applied the supervised classification method to LANDSAT satellite images (missions 5, 7 and 8) with a spatial resolution of 30 m and a temporal resolution of around 16 days. In this case study two different water bodies in terms of surface reflectance have been detected. Both zones have been considered for the calibration of the water detection algorithm through a non-steady threshold. We have also analysed daily surface reflectance data from MODIS (MOD09GQ) to complete the temporal dynamic of the wetland. We obtained some correlations between surface reflectance of LANDSAT and MODIS but the efficiency to detect water surfaces of the second is considerably lower due to its 250 m spatial resolution. The results show a minimum and a maximum wetland surface of around 2.7 and 6.3 km² for the considered period. We have also analysed the relationship of the wetland surface with precipitation and aquifer discharge (obtained from a groundwater flow model). For the mean year at monthly scale, the maximum correlation between the wetland surface and precipitation is obtained for a lag of one month. The wetland surface has a similar monthly trend to the aquifer discharge and the maximum correlation is obtained without lag.</p><p>This research has been partially supported by the SIGLO-AN project (RTI2018-101397-B-I00) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Programa Estatal de I+D+I orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad) and by the GeoE.171.008-TACTIC project from GeoERA organization funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.</p>

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Laura Pérez ◽  
Juan Espeche ◽  
Tatiana Loureiro ◽  
Aleksandar Kavgić

DRIvE (Demand Response Integration Technologies) is a research and innovation project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program, whose main objective is unlocking the demand response potential in the distribution grid. DRIvE presented how the use of digital twins de-risks the implementation of demand response applications at the “Flexibility 2.0: Demand response and self-consumption based on the prosumer of Europe’s low carbon future” workshop within the conference “Sustainable Places 2020”. This workshop was organized to cluster and foster knowledge transfer between several EU projects, each developing innovative solutions within the field of demand response, energy flexibility, and optimized synergies between actors of the built environment and the power grid.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Katsavrias ◽  
Ioannis A. Daglis ◽  
Afroditi Nasi ◽  
Constantinos Papadimitriou ◽  
Marina Georgiou

<p>Radial diffusion has been established as one of the most important mechanisms contributing the acceleration and loss of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt. Over the past few years efforts have been devoted to provide empirical relationships of radial diffusion coefficients (D<sub>LL</sub>) for radiation belt simulations yet several studies have suggested that the difference between the various models can be orders of magnitude different at high levels of geomagnetic activity as the observed D<sub>LL</sub> have been shown to be highly event-specific. In the frame of SafeSpace project we have used 12 years (2009 – 2020) of multi-point magnetic and electric field measurements from THEMIS A, D and E satellites to create a database of calculated D<sub>LL</sub>. In this work we present the first statistics on the evolution of D<sub>LL </sub>during the various phases of Solar cycle 24 with respect to the various solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices.</p><p>This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme “SafeSpace” under grant agreement No 870437.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-255
Author(s):  
Konstantinos CHARISI ◽  
Andreas TSIGOPOULOS ◽  
Spyridon KINTZIOS ◽  
Vassilis PAPATAXIARHIS

Abstract. The paper aims to introduce the ARESIBO project to a greater but targeted audience and outline its main scope and achievements. ARESIBO stands for “Augmented Reality Enriched Situation awareness for Border security”. In the recent years, border security has become one of the highest political priorities in EU and needs the support of every Member State. ARESIBO project is developed under HORIZON 2020 EC Research and Innovation program and it is the joint effort of 20 participant entities from 11 countries. Scientific excellence and technological innovation are top priorities as ARESIBO enhances the current state-of-the-art through technological breakthroughs in Mobile Augmented Reality and Wearables, Robust and Secure Telecommunications, Robots swarming technique and Planning of Context-Aware Autonomous Missions, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), in order to implement user-friendly tools for border and coast guards. The system aims to improve the cognitive capabilities and the perception of border guards through intuitive user interfaces that will help them acquire an improved situation awareness by filtering the huge amount of available information from multiple sources. Ultimately, it will help them respond faster and more effectively when a critical situation occurs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana M. Mancho ◽  
Guillermo García-Sánchez ◽  
Antonio G. Ramos ◽  
Josep Coca ◽  
Begoña Pérez-Gómez ◽  
...  

<p>This presentation discusses a downstream application from Copernicus Services, developed in the framework of the IMPRESSIVE project, for the monitoring of  the oil spill produced after the crash of the ferry “Volcan de Tamasite” in waters of the Canary Islands on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April 2017. The presentation summarizes the findings of [1] that describe a complete monitoring of the diesel fuel spill, well-documented by port authorities. Complementary information supplied by different sources enhances the description of the event. We discuss the performance of very high resolution hydrodynamic models in the area of the Port of Gran Canaria and their ability for describing the evolution of this event. Dynamical systems ideas support the comparison of different models performance. Very high resolution remote sensing products and in situ observation validate the description.</p><p>Authors acknowledge support from IMPRESSIVE a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821922. SW acknowledges the support of ONR Grant No. N00014-01-1-0769</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>[1] G.García-Sánchez, A. M. Mancho, A. G. Ramos, J. Coca, B. Pérez-Gómez, E. Álvarez-Fanjul, M. G. Sotillo, M. García-León, V. J. García-Garrido, S. Wiggins. Very High Resolution Tools for the Monitoring and Assessment of Environmental Hazards in Coastal Areas.  Front. Mar. Sci. (2021) doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.605804.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Holzwarth ◽  
Martin Bachmann ◽  
Bringfried Pflug ◽  
Aimé Meygret ◽  
Caroline Bès ◽  
...  

<p>The objective of the H2020 project “Copernicus Cal/Val Solution (CCVS)” is to define a holistic Cal/Val strategy for all ongoing and upcoming Copernicus Sentinel missions. This includes an improved calibration of currently operational or planned Copernicus Sentinel sensors and the validation of Copernicus core products generated by the payload ground segments. CCVS will identify gaps and propose long-term solutions to address currently existing constraints in the Cal/Val domain and exploit existing synergies between the missions. An overview of existing calibration and validation sources and means is needed before starting the gap analysis. In this context, this survey is concerned with measurement capabilities for aerial campaigns.</p><p>Since decades airborne observations are an essential contribution to support Earth-System model development and space-based observing programs, both in the domains of Earth Observation (radar and optical) as well as for atmospheric research. The collection of airborne reference data can be directly related to satellite observations, since they are collected in ideal validation conditions using well calibrated reference sensors. Many of these sensors are also used to validate and characterize postlaunch instrument performance. The variety of available aircraft equipped with different instrumentations ranges from motorized gliders to jets acquiring data from different heights to the upper troposphere. In addition, balloons are also used as platforms, either small weather balloons with light payload (around 3 kg), or open stratospheric balloons with big payload (more than a ton). For some time now, UAVs/drones are also used in order to acquire data for Cal/Val purposes. They offer a higher flexibility compared to airplanes, plus covering a bigger area compared to in-situ measurements on ground. On the other hand, they also have limitations when it comes to the weight of instrumentation and maximum altitude level above ground. This reflects the wide range of possible aerial measurements supporting the Cal/Val activities.</p><p>The survey will identify the different airborne campaigns. The report will include the description of campaigns, their spatial distribution and extent, ownership and funding, data policy and availability and measurement frequency. Also, a list of common instrumentation, metrological traceability, availability of uncertainty evaluation and quality management will be discussed. The report additionally deals with future possibilities e.g., planned developments and emerging technologies in instrumentation for airborne and balloon based campaigns.</p><p>This presentation gives an overview of the preliminary survey results and puts them in context with the Cal/Val requirements of the different Copernicus Sentinel missions.</p><p>This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 101004242.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. e419
Author(s):  
Janina Lulek ◽  
Emilia Jakubowska ◽  
Sharon Davin ◽  
Aleksandra Dumicic Dumicic ◽  
Grzegorz Garbacz ◽  
...  

Open Research Biopharmaceutical Internships Support (ORBIS) is an international, Horizon 2020 project funded by Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) programme. Six academic institutions and four pharmaceutical companies from seven countries cooperate with the aim to improve the preclinical pathway of medicine development through increased Research and Development (R&D) productivity, especially focusing on processes and technologies which address the challenge of poor drug bioavailability. The RISE scheme supports secondments, meaning that early stage and experienced researchers are sent to consortium partner institutions to advance studies on pharmaceutical preformulation, dosage forms and drug delivery systems and methods of biopharmaceutical evaluation. The ORBIS project enables secondees to gain news skills and develop their competences in an international and intersectoral environment, strengthening the human capital and knowledge synergy in the European pharmaceutical R&D sector.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Anagnostou ◽  
Sotiris Tasoulis ◽  
Aristidis G. Vrahatis ◽  
Spiros Georgakopoulos ◽  
Matthew Prina ◽  
...  

AbstractPreventive healthcare is a crucial pillar of health as it contributes to staying healthy and having immediate treatment when needed. Mining knowledge from longitudinal studies has the potential to significantly contribute to the improvement of preventive healthcare. Unfortunately, data originated from such studies are characterized by high complexity, huge volume and a plethora of missing values. Machine Learning, Data Mining and Data Imputation models are utilized as part of solving the aforementioned challenges, respectively. Towards this direction, we focus on the development of a complete methodology for the ATHLOS (Ageing Trajectories of Health: Longitudinal Opportunities and Synergies) Project - funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, which aims to achieve a better interpretation of the impact of aging on health. The inherent complexity of the provided dataset lie in the fact that the project includes 15 independent European and international longitudinal studies of aging. In this work, we particularly focus on the HealthStatus (HS) score, an index that estimates the human status of health, aiming to examine the effect of various data imputation models to the prediction power of classification and regression models. Our results are promising, indicating the critical importance of data imputation in enhancing preventive medicine’s crucial role.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Pulido-Velazquez ◽  
Leticia Baena-Ruiz ◽  
Denitza Voutchkova ◽  
Birgitte Hansen ◽  
Klaus Hinsby ◽  
...  

<p>In order to assess the anthropogenic impacts on groundwater quality we generally need to identify the natural conditions or Natural background levels (NBLs) within groundwater systems, which are used as references to assess the evolution of the contamination status. This information, in addition to the threshold values (TVs), which are derived from NBLs and based on specific criteria values for legitimate water uses and the environment (terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems), is required to appropriately assess of the chemical status of groundwater in accordance with the European Water Framework Directive and to analyse and propose potential measures where they are required.</p><p>In literature, different methodologies are available to assess NBLs and reference TVs for different geochemical substances based on the available measurements of groundwater salinity (e.g. based on probability plots). In this work we analyze and compare three previously proposed methods for derivation of chloride NBLs, which is a conservation solute and is closely related to salt water intrusion in inland and coastal aquifers. We discuss and compare their applicability in pilots located in different settings (southern /northern European / Mediteranean/ North Sea /Baltic Sea) covering different typologies (detrital, karstic, fissured aquifers) and management issues (overexploitation, land use and land cover changes, etc). We perform sensitivity analysis to different constraints applied to remove samples affected by human activity (Nitrate and the brackish saline constraints) in the assessment of NBLs. Finally, based on this analysis, we propose a general approach for derivation of NBLs that could be applied to any of the tested pilots as well as other similar settings in Europe.</p><p> </p><p>This research has been partially supported by the SIGLO-AN project (RTI2018-101397-B-I00) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Programa Estatal de I+D+I orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad).</p><p>This work has been partially supported by the GeoE.171.008-TACTIC and GeoE.171.008-HOVER projects from GeoERA organization funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.</p>


Author(s):  
Harry van Bommel

This chapter discusses the strengthening of ties between the EU and Israel during the breakdown of Oslo as well as during other fruitless peace initiatives. Shortly after the Oslo process began, the EU and Israel initiated negotiations on broadening their cooperation. This led to the signing of the EU–Israel Association Agreement in 1995. As well as economic cooperation, which was established as early as 1975 in a cooperation agreement, this new treaty included other areas, such as scientific and technical research. In more recent years the relationship between the EU and Israel has been deepened further. In 2014 the EU and Israel signed the Horizon 2020 scientific cooperation agreement, which gives Israel equal access with EU member states to the largest-ever EU research and innovation program. In itself, there is nothing wrong with the deepening of economic, scientific, cultural, and political relations between countries. However, the deepening of relations between the EU and Israel means indirect support for the Israeli occupation and the policy of expanding the settlements.


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