Empowering Underground Laboratories Network Usage in the Baltic Sea Region

Author(s):  
Eija-Riitta Niinikoski ◽  

<p>In the Baltic Sea region, there are world leading science organisations and industrial companies specialised in geophysics, geology and underground construction. There are also several highly interesting underground laboratories (ULs), research mines and test-sites,  that are not utilised to their full potential.</p><p>Six of these facilities cooperate within the Interreg Baltic Sea Region program funded project, Empowering Underground Laboratories Network Usage (EUL) [1]. Underground facilities have been established into existing or historical mines, research tunnel networks or as a dedicated underground laboratory for a specific purpose. The EUL project continues in 2021 the work of the Interreg funded Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network (BSUIN) [2], that ended in December 2020. While the BSUIN project concentrated on characterising the underground facilities and operational settings, the EUL project works on testing, validation, and enhancing previously created practices, tools, and approaches. During the EUL project, the emphasis is put on identifying the global user segments of underground facilities, the effectiveness of marketing of ULs and created network, now known as European Underground Laboratories Association, and customer relations management from the first contact to the realisation of the project.</p><p>The underground laboratories participating in BSUIN and EUL projects are Callio Lab (Pyhäjärvi Finland), ÄSPÖ Hard Rock Laboratory (Oskarshamn, Sweden), Ruskela Mining Park (Ruskeala, Russia), Educational and research mine Reiche Zeche (Freiberg, Germany), Underground Low Background Laboratory of the Khlopin Radium Institute (St.Petersburg, Russia) and the Conceptual Lab development co-ordinated by KGHM Cuprum R&D centre (Poland).</p><p>One of the main objectives of EUL project is to test the developed business and service concepts for the established network of underground laboratories and for the individual laboratories. Testing ensures the functionality of laboratory service concepts and customer relationship management processes for commercial and non-commercial users.</p><p>Another main objective is to test and develop the web-based tool (WBT). Users from partner and associative organisations and underground laboratories (Uls) will test it from their perspectives. The feedback helps to steer the tool into the more user-friendly and more purposeful direction for the potential customers and the underground laboratory managers to use.</p><p>To reach new customers and understand different possible customer segments, a big data analysis of users of ULs world-wide will be conducted. Also marketing the network and underground laboratories will be tested and best marketing strategies identified.</p><p>Main target groups are the ULs, their users and potential customers (companies and researchers). Another target group is regional development agencies that will be informed about the business possibilities in ULs so that they can provide information to potential customers looking for business opportunities.</p><div> <p>In this paper, the EUL project's first outcomes will be discussed reflected to the BSUIN project. The BSUIN and EUL projects are funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Progamme.</p> <p>[1] Empowering Underground Laboratories Network Usage, www.bsuin.eu, 18 Jan 2021</p> <p>[2] Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network, www.bsuin.eu, 18 Jan 2021</p> </div>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari Joutsenvaara ◽  

<p>The Baltic Sea region hosts numerous underground facilities or underground laboratories (Uls). The Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network (BSUIN) there are six such facilities, all unique in their characteristics and operational settings, e.g. located in existing or historical mines, research tunnel networks or as a dedicated underground laboratory for a specific purpose. BSUIN project concentrates on the making the Uls more accessible for current and new users,  helping the Uls to understand their infrastructural challenges and possibilities, and through joint marketing to attract a broader spectrum of users into their facilities.</p><p>The underground laboratories participating in BSUIN are Callio Lab (Pyhäjärvi Finland), ÄSPÖ Hard Rock Laboratory (Oskarshamn, Sweden), Ruskela Mining Park (Ruskeala, Russia), Educational and research mine Reiche Zeche (Freiberg, Germany), Underground Low Background Laboratory of the Khlopin Radium Institute (St.Petersburg, Russia) and the Conceptual Lab development co-ordinated by KGHM Cuprum R&D centre (Poland).</p><p>We will present the overview of the project, key outcomes, findings and recommendations for underground laboratories in general. The key outcomes of the project for the individual underground laboratories consist of characterisation of the structural, geological and operational environments together with information on the governing legislation and authorities for the underground sites. Underground risks and challenges in the underground working environment have been documented to help the further development of the individual underground laboratories. Service designs were developed together with the ULs to enhance user support and to attract a broader spectrum of users.  To help users with innovation and innovation management the variety of the innovation services was documented to be used as bases for the future operational development of the ULs. To support the marketing, coordinate activities and develop the cooperation an umbrella organisation European Underground Laboratories association (EUL) will be established to carry on the work started in BSUIN.</p><p>The Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network, BSUIN, is funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. </p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Ohlsson ◽  
Jari Joutsenvaara ◽  
Marcus Laaksoharju ◽  
Eija-Riitta Niinikoski

<p>Baltic Sea Underground Innovation Network, BSUIN, consist of six participating Underground Laboratories (ULs) located in countries surrounding the Baltic Sea [http://bsuin.eu]. The BSUIN is a three-year project funded by the EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. </p><p>The aim of the BSUIN project is that the participating ULs will find new or expand the current use of underground laboratories to enhance the power of innovation and regional development. The project focus on the characterisation of the geological and technical settings of the ULs, health and safety issues, and various aspects to build and support innovation and the formation of a permanent network of Underground Laboratories.</p><p>The BSUIN ULs consist of old mines or purpose-built underground facilities. The ULs are used for research concerning e.g. environmental, geoenergy, geotechnology, physics, material science and natural sciences. Education, events, tourism and farming is also activities hosted by ULs.</p><p>We will present the underground laboratories of the BSUIN network:</p><ul><li>Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Oskarshamn, Sweden [http://www.skb.com/research-and-technology/laboratories/the-aspo-hard-rock-laboratory/],</li> <li>Forschungs- und Lehrbergwerk - Research and Eduction Mine "Reiche Zeche", Freiberg, Germany [http://www.besucherbergwerk-freiberg.de/],</li> <li>Callio Lab in Pyhäsalmi mine, Pyhäjärvi, Finland [calliolab.com/callio-lab],</li> <li>KGHM S.A. mining company, Poland, together with their research organisation KGHM CUPRUM which proposes the construction of ULs located in one of the KGHM’s deep copper [http://www.cuprum.wroc.pl/],</li> <li>The Low-Background underground laboratory of Khlopin Institute, St Petersburg, Russia [http://www.khlopin.ru/en/],</li> <li>Ruskeala Marble quarry and Geopark in Sortavala, Karelia, Russia. [http://ruskeala.info/en].</li> </ul>


Author(s):  
Evgenia Salin ◽  
Jeremy Woodard ◽  
Krister Sundblad

AbstractGeological investigations of a part of the crystalline basement in the Baltic Sea have been performed on a drill core collected from the depth of 1092–1093 m beneath the Phanerozoic sedimentary cover offshore the Latvian/Lithuanian border. The sample was analyzed for geochemistry and dated with the SIMS U–Pb zircon method. Inherited zircon cores from this migmatized granodioritic orthogneiss have an age of 1854 ± 15 Ma. Its chemical composition and age are correlated with the oldest generation of granitoids of the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt (TIB), which occur along the southwestern margin of the Svecofennian Domain in the Fennoscandian Shield and beneath the Phanerozoic sedimentary cover on southern Gotland and in northwestern Lithuania. It is suggested that the southwestern border of the Svecofennian Domain is located at a short distance to the SW of the investigated drill site. The majority of the zircon population shows that migmatization occurred at 1812 ± 5 Ma, with possible evidence of disturbance during the Sveconorwegian orogeny.


Author(s):  
Anneli Adler ◽  
Almir Karacic ◽  
Ann-Christin Rönnberg Wästljung ◽  
Ulf Johansson ◽  
Kaspars Liepins ◽  
...  

AbstractThe increased demand for wood to replace oil-based products with renewable products has lifted focus to the Baltic Sea region where the environment is favorable for woody biomass growth. The aim of this study was to estimate broad-sense heritabilities and genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions in growth and phenology traits in six climatically different regions in Sweden and the Baltics. We tested the hypothesis that both bud burst and bud set have a significant effect on the early growth of selected poplar clones in Northern Europe. Provenance hybrids of Populus trichocarpa adapted to the Northern European climate were compared to reference clones with adaptation to the Central European climate. The volume index of stemwood was under low to medium genetic control with heritabilities from 0.22 to 0.75. Heritabilities for phenology traits varied between 0.31 and 0.91. Locally chosen elite clones were identified. G×E interactions were analyzed using pairwise comparisons of the trials. Three different breeding zones for poplars between the latitudes of 55° N and 60° N in the Baltic Sea Region were outlined. The studied provenance hybrids with origin from North America offer a great possibility to broaden the area with commercial poplar plantations in Northern Europe and further improve the collection of commercial clones to match local climates. We conclude that phenology is an important selection criterion after growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Liinamo ◽  
K Matinheikki-Kokko ◽  
I Gobina ◽  
A Villeruša

Abstract In the future, health promotion would require developed strategies that lead to stronger cross-sectoral cooperation. Cross-sectoral cooperation enables the integration of fragmented resources and competencies, which benefit service solutions for urban health. Healthy Boost “Urban Labs for Better Health for All in the Baltic Sea Region”, funded by the EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region -program, aims to develop the Model for cross-sectoral cooperation, which will be tested in the cities of the Baltic Sea Region during 2020-21. The self-assessment tool for cross-sectoral cooperation was developed, and the self-assessment among the nine cities in seven countries from the Baltic Sea Region was conducted in 2019. The results indicated to what extent the staff (n = 329) in the cities have recognized the cross-sectoral cooperation for health and wellbeing as strategically crucial in their policies, communication, and in the design of their organizational functions. The daily practices were evaluated in terms of how systematically cities have implemented cross-sector actions for health and wellbeing. The biggest challenges for cooperating across sectors for the cities were coordination and systematic identification of the community needs for health promotion. The cooperative actions were less systematic than expected in the strategic approach. The variation among respondents' assessments was high within the cities that lead to a conclusion about existing gaps in coordination, communication, and leadership of cross-sectoral work within the cities. The Likert type self-assessment measurement was statistically reliable in both strategic and operational dimensions of cooperation. Key messages Evaluation and measurements are needed to identify cross-sectoral actions to health and well-being. The evidence-based Model developed in the Healthy Boost project will guide partners towards systematic cross-sectoral cooperation processes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petri Tapio ◽  
Vilja Varho ◽  
Hanna Heino

AMBIO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Repka ◽  
Anne Erkkilä-Välimäki ◽  
Jan Eiof Jonson ◽  
Maximilian Posch ◽  
Janne Törrönen ◽  
...  

AbstractTo assess the value of the environmental benefits of the Sulphur Emission regulation (SECA) that came into force in 2015, changes in depositions of SOx and NOx from ship exhaust gas emissions were modelled and monetized for the Baltic Sea region for the years 2014 and 2016. During this period, the total deposition of SOx in the study area decreased by 7.3%. The decrease in ship-originated SOx deposition from 38 kt to 3.4 kt (by over 88%) was translated into a monetary value for the ecosystem impacts of nearly 130 million USD, according to the EcoValue08 model. This is less than the modelled health benefits, but it is not insignificant. For NOx, there was no decreasing trend. The exceedance of the critical loads of SOx and NOx was also estimated. The effect of Baltic shipping on the exceedance of critical loads of acidification after SECA is very small, but Baltic shipping still has a considerable effect on the exceedance of critical loads for eutrophication.


2019 ◽  

Since prehistoric times, the Baltic Sea has functioned as a northern mare nostrum — a crucial nexus that has shaped the languages, folklore, religions, literature, technology, and identities of the Germanic, Finnic, Sámi, Baltic, and Slavic peoples. This anthology explores the networks among those peoples. The contributions to Contacts and Networks in the Baltic Sea Region: Austmarr as a Northern mare nostrum, ca. 500-1500 ad address different aspects of cultural contacts around and across the Baltic from the perspectives of history, archaeology, linguistics, literary studies, religious studies, and folklore. The introduction offers a general overview of crosscultural contacts in the Baltic Sea region as a framework for contextualizing the volume’s twelve chapters, organized in four sections. The first section concerns geographical conceptions as revealed in Old Norse and in classical texts through place names, terms of direction, and geographical descriptions. The second section discusses the movement of cultural goods and persons in connection with elite mobility, the slave trade, and rune-carving practice. The third section turns to the history of language contacts and influences, using examples of Finnic names in runic inscriptions and Low German loanwords in Finnish. The final section analyzes intercultural connections related to mythology and religion spanning Baltic, Finnic, Germanic, and Sámi cultures. Together these diverse articles present a dynamic picture of this distinctive part of the world.


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