| projects-391 |
807109 |
HyKinetics |
An innovative axial turbine for conversion of hydro-kinetics energy to electricity for river applications. |
H2020 |
H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017 |
SMEInst-09-2016-2017 |
2018-02-01 |
2018-07-31 |
Completed |
€ 000 071 429.00 |
"HyKinetics project deals with the optimization, ""on-field"" testing and commercialization of an innovative 3-blades axial hydropower turbine, specifically designed for application on rivers and able to competitively exploit the hydro-kinetics energy of the water flows without the need of upside barriers. This means that, differently to existing solutions, HyKinetics is applied for zero-head installations, i.e. without any fall or dam required, and it is characterized by a very low impact thanks to:-) the slow rotation of blades (no impact on the fluvial fauna). The small dimension of the blades in respect to the rotational radius avoids abnormal waves and undercurrents.-) the turbine is not fixed to the river bed but anchored on the river bank (no drilling needed but floating barge easily removable, no impact on the river bed);-) Energy supply and distribution systems are fully immersed, while on the surface there are only the parts needed for maintenance (no visual impact).The innovative blades shape allows:-) a very low water cut-in speed (1 m/s), leading to an increase of the turbine yearly productivity (up to 4,000 kWh/kW);-) an unparalleled conversion efficiency, with a power coefficient Cp up to 40%.The solution has been validated thanks to the testing of a first 20 kW prototype, installed on the Po river (the longest river in Italy) and tested for 1 year. Authorization procedure for the installation was simple thanks to the low environmental and visual impact of the solution, making easier the solution replicability.The Feasibility Study is conceived to achieve the following outcomes:• Validate the technical feasibility of HyKinetics technology, by selecting the MVP power and optimizing the supply chain.• Validate the business opportunity, with the involvement of the key players of the value chain, developing a customer validation for fixing the market price and quantifying the market share, selecting the best Business Model for market uptake." |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/807109 |
Rivers and estuaries' |
| projects-392 |
729624 |
SmartRAIN |
SmartRAIN: an IoT-based solution for real time rain mapping |
H2020 |
H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017 |
SMEInst-12-2016-2017 |
2016-06-01 |
2016-11-30 |
Completed |
€ 000 071 429.00 |
SmartRAIN is our patented image-processing technology for measuring rainfall intensity from images shot during rain events. It is the core of an integrated IoT system which transforms imaging devices, like surveillance IP cameras (SmartRAIN Nodes) and smartphones (SmartRAIN Sentinels), into “eyes” for seeing, gauging and communicating rain intensity in real-time. SmartRAIN Nodes are non-dedicated, existing video cameras, typically owned by public agencies. A plugin developed by WaterView for the cameras of the main manufacturers is installed on the devices, giving them the pre-processing functionalities and connecting them to the cloud-based engine of SmartRAIN.SmartRAIN Sentinel is a mobile app which involves citizens in rainstorm sensing by simply sharing photos shot with their devices. The app also provides personalized alerts via push notifications, based on the current position of the user and the flow of real time rain data coming from other Sentinels, Nodes and traditional rain gauging systems.A balanced mix of Sentinels and Nodes provides our customers (public bodies in charge of civil protection duties, entities that own or manage transport infrastructures, agencies that own or manage rain gauging networks, managers of urban drainage systems, etc.) with a real-time rain gauging service which achieves spatial resolutions up to ten times greater than traditional rain gauging networks, at a comparable cost. Increasing the density of traditional rain gauging networks would importantly enhance the quality of real-time representations of rain events; feed forecasting models with better data; enable the implementation of optimal stormwater management strategies; improve the safety of urban and transport infrastructures; reduce the costs of unmanaged events.The project aims at outlining the technical features of SmartRAIN and defining effective marketing strategies, based on the outcomes of market surveys and customer/user analyses. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/729624 |
Urban water' |
| projects-393 |
683043 |
RESPONDER |
Resolving subglacial properties, hydrological networks and dynamic evolution of ice flow on the Greenland Ice Sheet |
H2020 |
ERC-2015-CoG |
ERC-CoG-2015 |
2016-10-01 |
2022-09-30 |
Completed |
€ 002 443 800.00 |
The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at a growing rate and has since 2010 caused sea level rise of 1 mm/year. The most severe changes occur in the drainage basins of marine-terminating glaciers, which flow rapidly and drain 88% of the ice sheet. The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the widespread acceleration of these glaciers in recent years was a response to interaction with the ocean and unrelated to basal lubrication of ice flow; yet, observations have since shown that many of these glaciers respond to the growing volume of surface meltwater, which reaches the bed when surface lakes drain. This basal lubrication mechanism is unknown, but exhibits contrasting control on ice flow at the coast and in the interior where surface melting increasingly forms lakes. This lack of vital knowledge is a major source of uncertainty in the current generation of ice sheet models used to predict sea level change.The fundamental goal of RESPONDER is to understand how hydrological networks at the base of the Greenland Ice Sheet evolve over seasons and over multiple years, and how this evolution impacts on ice flow in the interior and at the coast. The project has the following aims:AIM 1 is to identify glaciological ‘hotspots’ and sites for subglacial access drilling and borehole exploration by tracking hydrological pathways beneath Store Glacier, a large marine-terminating glacier in Uummannaq Fjord, using novel geophysical imaging techniques and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).AIM 2 is to observe and quantify the hydrological networks of Store Glacier while measuring basal slip and strain within ice with probes and sensors installed in boreholes drilled at ‘coastal’ and ‘interior’ targets.AIM 3 is to predict the co-evolution of ice flow and hydrological networks in the Store Glacier drainage basin, and assess the vulnerability of the Greenland Ice Sheet, by integrating field observations in state-of-the-art ice sheet models. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/683043 |
Snow and ice', 'Coastal waters' |
| projects-394 |
641811 |
IMPREX |
IMproving PRedictions and management of hydrological EXtremes |
H2020 |
H2020-WATER-2014-2015 |
WATER-2a-2014 |
2015-10-01 |
2019-09-30 |
Completed |
€ 007 996 848.00 |
IMproving PRedictions and management of hydrological EXtremesFor a better anticipation on future high impact hydrological extremes disrupting safety of citizens, agricultural production, transportation, energy production and urban water supply, and overall economic productivity, prediction and foresighting capabilities and their intake in these strategic sectors need to be improved. IMPREX will improve forecast skill of meteorological and hydrological extremes in Europe and their impacts, by applying dynamic model ensembles, process studies, new data assimilation techniques and high resolution modeling. Novel climate change impact assessment concepts will focus at increasing the realism of relevant events by specific high resolution regional downscaling, explore compounding trans-sectoral and trans-regional risks, and design new risk management paradigms. These developments are demonstrated in impact surveys for strategic economic sectors in a set of case studies in which local stakeholders, public organizations and SMEs are involved. A pan-European assessment of risk management and adaptation strategies is applied, minimizing risk transfer from one sector or region to another. As a key outreach product, a periodic hydrological risk outlook for Europe is produced, incorporating the dynamic evolution of hydro-climatic and socio-economic processes. The project outreach maximizes the legacy impact of the surveys, aimed at European public stakeholder and business networks, including user-friendly assessment summaries, and training material.The project responds to the call by targeting the quality of short-to-medium hydro-meteorological predictions, enhancing the reliability of future climate projections, apply this information to strategic sectoral and pan-European surveys at different scales, and evaluate and adapt current risk management strategies. With its integrative approach, IMPREX will link current management decisions and actions with an emergent future. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/641811 |
Urban water', 'Rivers and estuaries', 'Snow and ice', 'Groundwater', 'Water reservoir', 'Lake', 'Wetlands', 'Coastal waters' |
| projects-395 |
647570 |
ESTUARIES |
Estuaries shaped by biomorphodynamics, inherited landscape conditions and human interference |
H2020 |
ERC-2014-CoG |
ERC-CoG-2014 |
2015-12-01 |
2021-05-31 |
Completed |
€ 002 000 000.00 |
ESTUARIES are shallow coastal water bodies with river inflow shaped by biomorphological processes, with patterns of channels and shoals, sand/mud flats, tidal marshes, vegetated banks and peat. Development was influenced by early Holocene landscape that drowned under sealevel rise, and by human interference. Estuaries harbour highly productive natural habitats and are of pivotal economic importance for food production, access to harbours and urban safety. Accelerating sealevel rise, changing river discharge and interference threaten these functions, but we lack fundamental understanding and models to predict combined effects of biomorphological interactions, inherited landscape and changing drivers.We do not understand to what extent present estuary planform shape and shoal patterns resulted from biomorphological processes interacting with inherited conditions and interference. Ecology suggests dominant effects of flow-resisting and sediment de/stabilising eco-engineering species. Yet abiotic physics-based models reproduce channel-shoal patterns surprisingly well, but must assume a fixed planform estuary shape. Holocene reconstructions emphasise inherited landscape- and agricultural effects on this planform shape, yet fossil shells and peat also imply eco-engineering effects.My aims are to develop models for large-scale planform shape and size of sandy estuaries and predict past and future, large-scale effects of biomorphological interactions and inherited conditions.We will significantly advance our understanding by our state-of-the-art eco-morphological model, my unique analogue landscape models with eco-engineers and a new, automated paleogeographic reconstruction of 10 data-rich Holocene estuaries on the south-east North Sea coast. We will systematically compare these to modelled scenarios with biomorphological processes, historic interference and inherited valley geometry and substrate. Outcomes will benefit ecology, archeology, oceanography and engineering |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/647570 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Coastal waters' |
| projects-396 |
887867 |
lidBathy |
Nearshore bathymetric inversion from lidars during extreme events |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2019 |
MSCA-IF-2019 |
2021-03-01 |
2023-08-31 |
Completed |
€ 000 220 958.88 |
The coastal science community currently lacks insights into the rapid morphological evolution of sandy beaches during extreme events. Sediment exchanges occurring between the subaerial and subaqueous regions of the beach are poorly understood, which is explained by the difficulty in measuring the seabed elevation under broken waves with sufficiently high spatial and temporal resolution. The lack of datasets which capture beaches morphological evolution limits the development of accurate numerical models for the morphological evolution of beaches and hence our capacity to predict their long-term evolution. To overcome these challenges, this project will develop lidBathy, a bathymetric inversion tool which uses high-resolution 2D lidar scans of surf zone waves. Lidar scanners have the unique capacity to directly measure both the intertidal beach topography and the sea surface elevation at high spatial (O(cm)) and temporal (O(s)) resolution. Long-range lidar and bathymetric data collected at Narrabeen (Australia) and the Field Research Facility (Duck, N.C.) will be used to validate lidBathy. Lidar data collected at these two sites during past storms will be used to create an unprecedented dataset of beach morphological evolution, in both the subaerial and subaqueous regions, during extreme events. This project will characterize sediment exchanges occurring between the swash and the surf zones by studying the role of surf zone wave properties, water levels, swash statistics and time-varying beach slope. This will provide the first study into the response of the beach system to extreme events at high spatial and temporal resolution at the two most heavily monitored sites worldwide. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/887867 |
Coastal waters' |
| projects-397 |
658863 |
SEDiLINK |
Sediment linkage between land, river and sea: evaluating impacts of historic mining on sediment quality in the coastal zone |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2014 |
MSCA-IF-2014-EF |
2015-07-01 |
2017-06-30 |
Completed |
€ 000 183 454.80 |
Monitoring datasets available to evaluate past mining impacts on catchment and coastal environmental quality are severely limited in temporal extent presenting a major hindrance to effective decision making for management of legacy pollution to achieve the goals of the EU Water Framework Directive and Mining Waste Directive. The “Sediment linkage between land, river and sea: evaluating impacts of historic mining on sediment quality in the coastal zone” (SEDiLINK) research project will develop an innovative sedimentological approach to overcome these important challenges and close this substantial knowledge gap. The SEDiLINK approach will bring together established techniques (e.g. Pb-210 geochronology) with new approaches in evaluating riverine ecosystems (e.g. Pb isotope fingerprint) and deliver an integrated toolkit for evaluation of mine waste impacts. The extensive metal mining history of Tamar River Basin and coastal zone, southwest UK, offers an ideal test-bed in which to develop the novel and powerful SEDiLINK approach for wider application in other EU contaminated fluvial and coastal ecosystems requiring longer term remediation legacy pollution. Through developing this tool, the candidate will gain new scientific and technical skills in cutting edge isotopic fingerprinting techniques working with multidisciplinary and multinational groups in UK and Spain, developing and complementing her previous knowledge in radiotracer applications. This period of advanced training and mobility will underpin maturation and independence as a leading EU researcher. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/658863 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Coastal waters' |
| projects-398 |
834329 |
SEDILAND |
Sediment regime disturbance of river catchments in a changing land cover context: Geoenvironmental and population dynamics |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2018 |
MSCA-IF-2018 |
2019-09-01 |
2022-01-26 |
Completed |
€ 000 160 932.48 |
In a globally changing world, sediment regime disturbance has emerged as a dominant actor in the modification of river catchments. The sediment regime refers to the sediment budget (amount, type and timing of sediment inputs, outputs and storage) of a river system. Studies of sediment regimes in medium and heavily land cover modified catchments are scarce to the extent that even the likely direction of change of sediment yield compared to background conditions is unknown. Without understanding the changes in the sediments inputs of rivers we are potentially missing half the story. The main and novel research questions within the SEDILAND project are: how (and how rapidly) land cover changes impact on the sediment regime of a river catchment and ultimately on the river channel morphology?; Is there a critical tipping point that guarantees the reversibility of the sediment regime disturbance to a pre-developed scenario?; and if not, how can we assist in fostering a better environmental and territorial management in catchments that preserve natural processes (flow and sediment regime)?. These questions will be tackled thanks to the collaboration between IPE and IHE. These institutions are world authorities on assessing changes on land cover, sediment regime and population dynamics. In turn, the applicant has a broad knowledge in the field of Geoenvironmental Processes. The applicant will be trained in leadership, management, funding, supervision and communication skills. Jointly this team is in a position to push the boundaries of sediment regime disturbance knowledge far ahead, with the ultimate intent to allow the applicant to train through research and become an independent researcher in Europe. This MSCA addresses two of the H2020 Societal Challenges: “Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy”, and “Climate action, Environment, Resource efficiency and Raw materials”. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/834329 |
Rivers and estuaries' |
| projects-399 |
725955 |
GEOSTICK |
Morphodynamic Stickiness: the influence of physical and biological cohesion in sedimentary systems |
H2020 |
ERC-2016-COG |
ERC-2016-COG |
2017-05-01 |
2023-01-31 |
Completed |
€ 002 581 155.00 |
Our coasts, estuaries, & low-land river environments are some of the most sensitive systems to sea-level rise & environmental change. In order to manage these systems, & adapt to future changes, we desperately need to be able to predict how they will alter under various scenarios. However, our models for these environments are not yet robust enough to predict, with confidence, very far into the future. Moreover, we also need to improve how we use our understanding of modern environments in reconstructing paleo-environments, where significant assumptions have been made in the way in which relationships derived from the modern have been applied to ancient rocks. One of the main reasons our models, & geological interpretations, of these environments, are not yet good enough is because these models have formulations that are based on assumptions that these systems are composed of only non-cohesive sands. However, mud is the most common sediment on Earth & many of these systems are actually dominated by biologically-active muds & complex sediment mixtures. We need to therefore find ways to incorporate the effect of sticky mud & sticky biological components into our predictions. Recent work my colleagues & I have published show just how important such abiotic-biotic interactions can be: inclusion of only relatively small (<0.1% by mass) quantities of biological material into sediment mixtures can reduce alluvial bedform size by an order of magnitude. However, this is just a start & there is much to do in order to advance our fundamental understanding & develop robust models that predict the combined effects of abiotic & biotic processes on morphological evolution of these environments under changing drivers & conditions. GEOSTICK will deliver this advance allowing us to test how sensitive these environments are, assess if there are tipping points in their resilience & examine evidence for the evolution of life in the ancient sediments of early Earth and Mars. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/725955 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Coastal waters' |
| projects-400 |
794698 |
LandFlux |
Quantifying landslide activity and contribution to sediment fluxes with cosmogenic radionuclides and grain-size distributions |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2017 |
MSCA-IF-2017 |
2018-06-01 |
2020-05-31 |
Completed |
€ 000 159 460.80 |
Landslides are a primary erosion process in steep landscapes and are among our most deadly and damaging geohazards. However, it is extremely difficult to constrain long-term or past rates of landslide activity, which prevents accurate predictions of their activity in the face of climate change. This project aims to develop and apply a new methodology to quantify long-term landslide activity and contribution to sediment fluxes. To achieve this goal, I will integrate two growing research lines that have identified signatures of landslide activity: grain-size distributions and cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) concentrations, which I will integrate in a numerical model. We will exploit, for the first time to our knowledge, the differences in depth production profiles between CRNs (14C and 10Be), using the 14C/10Be ratio to infer erosional depth-provenance and track erosional processes. We will sample grain-size distributions, and 14C and 10Be concentrations across different grain sizes, in landslide deposits and river sediments within catchments with excellent published constraints on landslide activity in Italy and New Zealand. We will develop a new Matlab numerical model, which will be calibrated using our new data, to determine landslide rates and fluxes using CRN and grain-size data, hence creating a tool that can be used to predict long-term or past landslide activity in other areas where good constraints are not available. This project has the potential to expand the uses of CRNs to include erosional depth-provenance. Furthermore, being able to infer long-term and past landslide rates would be a major step forward in how we tackle landscape evolution and landslide hazards. This project will be developed at the GFZ Potsdam (host) and ETH Zurich (secondment), bringing together outstanding infrastructures and researchers, and offering the best possible environment for my training and networking, which will in turn enhance my future career opportunities. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/794698 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Soil erosion' |
