| projects-081 |
705408 |
WATER DROP |
Droughts and Water Scarcity in the EU: Economic Impact, Adaptation, Policy Implications and Integrated Assessment Modelling |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2015 |
MSCA-IF-2015-EF |
2016-10-01 |
2019-05-01 |
Completed |
€ 000 168 277.20 |
Drought risks and water scarcity are expected to intensify as a result of human-induced climate change. Some areas in Europe, notably the Mediterranean countries are more prone to prolonged drought spells than others. Understanding and properly measuring the overall and sector-wide economic impact of those episodes at the geographically most disaggregated level is of crucial importance for the design of disaster risk management instruments and other policy-related issues. At the same time, it becomes necessary to assess whether this response varies over time. In other words, we need to know whether we are somehow adapting to climate change. Adaptation in the context of climate change is a concept that raises many questions: empirical estimates are scarce and highly desired by scientists and institutions like the IPCC; how this adaptation mechanism can be embedded into economic models of climate change is also an unresolved issue. I will try to address both in this project.The objective of my research is twofold: on the one hand, obtain quantitative measures of the economic impact of droughts and test for the existence of adapting behaviour and, on the other hand, respond the demands of the IPCC that urge for progress in the integration and modelling of adaptation into climate-economy models. To do so, in a first stage I will apply econometric techniques envisaged by the new climate-economy literature to regional, European-wide data to obtain estimates of the economic consequences of droughts and unveil potential adapting behaviour. Then, I will resort to sophisticated climate-economy models, like CGE and IAM models, to shed light into the modelling of adapting behaviour under deterministic and stochastic scenarios. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/705408 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Reservoirs' |
| projects-082 |
870504 |
HYPOS |
HYdro-POwer-Suite |
H2020 |
H2020-SPACE-2018-2020 |
DT-SPACE-01-EO-2018-2020 |
2019-12-01 |
2022-11-30 |
Completed |
€ 002 397 120.00 |
Hydropower as the world’s largest source of renewable energy still has a high unused potential to be explored in times of a changing global energy policy. The economic and ecological evaluation of new hydropower developments rely on a number of environmental conditions, such as key hydrological parameters. For example, the major drivers of the reservoir storage capacity over time, reservoir life time, and also a major driver of the operations costs are directly related to the sediment regime and sediment trapping. HYPOS is catalyzing innovation with an operational service for appropriate environmental and economic investment planning and monitoring based on Earth Observation (EO) technologies and modelling for the Hydropower industry.The to developed online accessible Decision Support Tool will provide essential assets for hydro power managers, planners and decision makers in their work. The subscription portal brings together high-quality satellite based measurements for historic time periods, actual current monitoring, up-to-date modelled hydrological parameters, with nowcasting on various orderable levels of detail and available in-situ data for integrated baseline and environmental impact assessments.The service significantly contributes on a trans-national as well as a global scale, with the requirement of independent, standardized and consistent information over a wide range of different water bodies and spatial scales. Substantial Blue Footprint analysis are enabled based on sophisticated and state-of-the-art algorithms and methodology featuring sustainable long-term monitoring solutions. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/870504 |
Water reservoir' |
| projects-083 |
949516 |
IVORI |
New Insights on the Snow Cover: From Snowflakes to Ice Sheets, in Seconds to Centuries. |
H2020 |
ERC-2020-STG |
ERC-2020-STG |
2021-02-01 |
2027-01-31 |
On going |
€ 001 799 252.00 |
Snow is a pillar of the Earth’s climate system, affecting all its components with critical impacts for Nature and human societies. Perennial snow evolves to firn and ice, providing unique records of the past climate. Yet today no snow model adequately simulates relevant snow variables worldwide, not to mention their inability to represent firn processes and snow/permafrost interactions. I argue that this is because current models focus on a limited number of physical processes and none suitably consider snow microstructure. IVORI’s goal is to build a microstructure-based model encompassing all the relevant snow and firn physical variables. Drawing on advanced observations of snow and firn, the proposal has three objectives: (1) Understand the role of water vapour transport in snow and its subsequent impacts on the ground thermal regime governing permafrost evolution; (2) Understand how initial changes in surface snow microstructure are transferred deeper into the firn and affect ice core records; (3) Determine the contributions of snow-climate feedbacks, triggered by changes in the albedo and insulating capacity of snow to the past and future of snow cover and ground temperature. To this aim, I will build a microstructure-based model, with a novel physics core, unifying the evolution of snow and firn. IVORI will also deliver unprecedented season-long observations of snow microstructure in the Arctic, Alps and Antarctica using X-ray tomography. These observations will significantly advance our understanding of the physical processes involved and be used for a thorough evaluation of the model. The model will provide a reliable assessment of snow-climate feedbacks in a changing climate and a rigorous appraisal of the modelling uncertainties. When completed, this work will pave the way for crucial advances in our understanding of glaciers, ice sheets and past climate through ice core records, with many fallouts for sea ice and permafrost evolution. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/949516 |
Snow and ice' |
| projects-084 |
795348 |
WoodJam |
WoodJam—Sediment dynamics of instream wood jams and managed installations |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2017 |
MSCA-IF-2017 |
2018-08-27 |
2020-08-26 |
Completed |
€ 000 195 454.80 |
Natural flood management practices, including engineered logjam installations, can slow floodwaters in upstream catchments, promoting infiltration and reducing flood severity. In order to reduce flood damages and prepare for an expected increase in severe floods due to climate change, the EU Water Framework Directive encourages the use of engineered logjams and other natural flood management interventions. It is necessary to consider the effects of channel-spanning engineered log jam installations, which are the most common, on stream hydrodynamics and sediment scour and retention in order to guide management interventions and accurately assess the implications of natural flood management projects. The proposed project objectives will fill existing knowledge gaps related to the quantification of logjam-induced sediment storage and flow resistance, in addition to the prediction of the length over which an engineered logjam influences the downstream river channel. WoodJam will experimentally investigate the impact of jam geometry and spacing on sediment storage and develop a method to assess the porosity of a jam without disassembly. Experimental studies conducted in sediment flumes at Cardiff University will be related to observations of existing natural flood management projects in the UK and Germany, with design and management recommendations transferred to environmental resource managers through discussion and policy documents. Hydraulic modelling studies will identify methods to represent common engineered logjam designs in 2D flood modelling tools, validated by experimental results. These methods will enable accurate modelling of natural flood management project effects. The project approach will provide an innovative approach by uniting CU expertise in LW hydraulics and modelling with Dr. Follett’s previous experience investigating flow and sediment transport through porous obstructions (Professor Heidi Nepf, MIT). |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/795348 |
Rivers and estuaries' |
| projects-085 |
101033236 |
SED-RUNS |
Soil Erosion under extreme rainfall events: Detecting and modelling using a Radar-Runoff-Nowcasting-System |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 |
MSCA-IF-2020 |
2022-04-01 |
2024-03-31 |
Completed |
€ 000 171 473.28 |
Soil erosion by water is one of the most widespread forms of soil degradation in Europe which annual cost for agricultural productivity loss is estimated to be around €295 million. Under global change soil erosion due to rainfall is dramatically increasing, for the most part because of an increasing of the frequency of extreme, localised events.This project aims to understand and quantify this effect using ground-radar rainfall monitoring and hydrological modelling at regional scale (Tuscany region, Centre Italy). In hydrological phenomena, such as intense surface runoff, flooding, and soil erosion, the spatiotemporal extent plays a crucial role in the development of the processes. This component defines the impact and the evolution of the phenomenon, especially in extreme rainfall events. Therefore, an approach directed to refine as much as possible the knowledge of these dynamics is recommended both for monitoring and modelling level.Using an approach based on statistical analysis of ground-radar rainfall data and modelling, this project aims to: 1) quantify on historical data the spatiotemporal distribution of extreme rainfalls / runoff and soil erosion over the last 10 years, 2) build a platform to model runoff and soil erosion in the extreme events in real-time, 3) acquire data for calibration/validation of the model and implement new methods for monitoring, 4) simulate in real-time runoff and soil erosion issue of extreme rainfalls integrating the current regional-warning-system for extreme climatic events. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101033236 |
Rivers and estuaries', 'Urban water' |
| projects-086 |
759639 |
COLD |
Climate Sensitivity of Glacial Landscape Dynamics |
H2020 |
ERC-2017-STG |
ERC-2017-STG |
2018-01-01 |
2023-12-31 |
Completed |
€ 001 499 308.00 |
How do erosion rates in glacial landscapes vary with climate change and how do such changes affect the dynamics of mountain glaciers? Providing quantitative constraints towards this question is the main objective of COLD. These constraints are so important because mountain glaciers are sensitive to climate change and their deposits provide a unique history of Earths terrestrial climate that allows reconstructing leads and lags in the climate system.The climate sensitivity of mountain glaciers is influenced by debris on their surface that impedes ice melting. Theoretical models of frost-related bedrock fracturing predict that rates of debris production are temperature-sensitive and that its supply to mountain glaciers increases during warming periods. Thus a previously unrecognized negative feedback emerges that lowers ice melt rates and potentially buffers part of the ice retreat due to warming. However, the temperature-sensitivity of debris production in glacial landscapes is poorly understood. Specifically, we lack robust erosion rate estimates for these landscapes, which are key for testing models of frost-related bedrock fracturing.Here, I propose an innovative combination of new tools that capitalize on recent developments in cosmogenic nuclide geochemistry, landscape evolution modelling, and planetary-scale remote sensing analysis. I will use these tools to quantify headwall erosion rates in mountainous glacial landscapes and to gauge the sensitivity of mountain glaciers to variations in debris supply. Expected results will provide a basis for assessing the impacts of global warming, for improved predictions of valley glacier evolution, and for palaeoclimate interpretations of glacial landforms. COLD will focus on glacial landscapes, but the inverse modelling approach I will develop is applicable to any landscape on Earth and has the potential to fundamentally transform how we use cosmogenic nuclides to constrain Earth surface dynamics. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/759639 |
Snow and ice' |
| projects-087 |
657533 |
EMoGrIS |
Ecological Modelling of the Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Ecosystem |
H2020 |
H2020-MSCA-IF-2014 |
MSCA-IF-2014-EF |
2016-01-01 |
2017-12-31 |
Completed |
€ 000 142 720.80 |
Glaciers and ice sheets contain distinct ecosystems and are very vulnerable to the ongoing climate change, with potentially significant impacts. However, predictions of future glacier ecosystem change are virtually impossible due to the lack of a theoretical framework of glacier and ice sheet ecosystems that would enable their mathematical modelling. The principal aims of the proposed fellowship are to provide a theoretical framework of the microbe-dominated supraglacial (glacier surface) ecosystem of the Greenland Ice Sheet and to develop a tool for prediction of the future change of the ecosystem, and to establish the Greenland Ice Sheet as a model ecosystem for studying microbial biogeography and diversity patterns. This will be achieved through developing a conceptual model of the system, its mathematical formulation, verification and validation, and subsequent simulations of future climatic scenarios. Furthermore, a sampling strategy will be developed allowing direct testing of relevant ecological hypotheses such as the diversity-productivity relationship. A two-way knowledge transfer is a key feature of this project: The Fellow will take advantage of the expertise of the Supervisor and the Department in ecological theory and modelling, while transferring his knowledge of glaciers as microbe-dominated ecosystems to the Department. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/657533 |
Snow and ice' |
| projects-088 |
641931 |
CENTAUR |
Cost Effective Neural Technique for Alleviation of Urban Flood Risk |
H2020 |
H2020-WATER-2014-2015 |
WATER-1a-2014 |
2015-09-01 |
2018-08-31 |
Completed |
€ 003 532 121.25 |
The project will develop a radically new market ready approach to RTC of sewer networks with the aim of reducing local flood risk in urban areas. Existing RTC pilot projects (e.g. Vienna, Dresden, Aarhus) are characterised by complex sensor networks, linked to centralised control systems governed by calibrated hydrodynamic modelling tools and fed by radar rainfall technology. Such systems are expensive and complex to install and operate, requiring a high investment in new infrastructure, communication equipment and control systems. In contrast, this proposal will develop a novel low cost de-centralised, autonomous RTC system. It will be installed, tested and demonstrated in a number of pilot study catchments. This RTC system will utilise data driven distributed intelligence combined with local, low cost monitoring systems installed at key points within existing sewer infrastructure. The system will utilise mechanically simple, robust devices to control flow in order to reduce flood risk at vulnerable sites. This system will be informed and governed directly by sensors distributed within the local network, without the need for an expensive hydrodynamic model or real time rainfall measurements. This system will deliver many of the benefits of RTC systems, whilst avoiding the high costs and complex nature of extensive sensor networks, centralised control systems, communications systems and infrastructure modifications. It is anticipated that such a system will be of significant benefit to operators of small to medium sized sewer networks. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/641931 |
Urban water' |
| projects-089 |
870353 |
G3P |
Global Gravity-based Groundwater Product |
H2020 |
H2020-SPACE-2018-2020 |
LC-SPACE-04-EO-2019 |
2020-01-01 |
2022-12-31 |
Completed |
€ 002 923 502.50 |
Groundwater is one of the most important freshwater resources for mankind and for ecosystems. Assessing groundwater resources and developing sustainable water management plans based on this resource is a major field of activity for science, water authorities and consultancies worldwide. Due to its fundamental role in the Earth’s water and energy cycles, groundwater has been declared as an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) by GCOS, the Global Climate Observing System. The Copernicus Services, however, do not yet deliver data on this fundamental resource, nor is there any other data source worldwide that operationally provides information on changing groundwater resources in a consistent way, observation-based, and with global coverage. This gap will be closed by G3P, the Global Gravity-based Groundwater Product. The G3P consortium combines key expertise from science and industry across Europe that optimally allows to (1) capitalize from the unique capability of GRACE and GRACE-FO satellite gravimetry as the only remote sensing technology to monitor subsurface mass variations and thus groundwater storage change for large areas, (2) incorporate and advance a wealth of products on storage compartments of the water cycle that are part of the Copernicus portfolio, and (3) disseminate unprecedented information on changing groundwater storage to the global and European user communities, including a European use case as a demonstrator for industry potential in the water sector. In combination, the G3P development is a novel and cross-cutting extension of the Copernicus portfolio towards essential information on the changing state of water resources at European and global scales. G3P is timely given the recent launch of GRACE-FO that opens up the chance for gravity-based time series with sufficient length to monitor climate-induced and human-induced processes over more than 20 years, and to boost European space technology on board these satellites. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/870353 |
Groundwater' |
| projects-090 |
870344 |
WaterSENSE |
Making SENSE of the Water value chain with Copernicus Earth Observation, models and in-situ data |
H2020 |
H2020-SPACE-2018-2020 |
DT-SPACE-06-EO-2019 |
2020-01-01 |
2024-06-30 |
Completed |
€ 001 999 174.86 |
Shortages of freshwater will be one of the most pressing problems in feeding the world this century. To optimize use of available water it is important to distribute it wisely over the various competing interests, in particular agriculture, which is responsible for 70% of all freshwater use. Irrigation is currently often unsustainable, while groundwater reserves are becoming depleted and many places in the world are suffering water shortages. Action is therefore required now to use space and in-situ monitoring systems, to create a better sense of water availability and optimise use across the planet. WaterSENSE will provide water-availability and mapping services for any place in the world at different time and space resolutions, based on integrated Copernicus data, hydrological models and local data. The results of these services will be open access so as to further develop value-adding services. WaterSENSE itself will deliver the essential value-added service of monitoring compliance of local water use against water rights and regulations (‘water auditing’). The first application will be in the multi-climate Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, followed by validation in South Africa and the Netherlands. Consortium partners already provide water-availability and water-auditing services in the latter two countries. Novel research in the project will develop scalable information services, based on advanced big-data processing algorithms, to determine variables such as evapotranspiration, irrigation water use, rainfall and soil moisture, as well as machine learning to allow automatic data processing and reduce uncertainty in the hydrological variables determined. DIAS services for data provision, as well as cloud hosting and processing of computational services, will be developed and implemented. Existing successful partnership models will be refined to ensure service providers in the water value chain achieve healthy business development. |
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/870344 |
Urban water', 'Groundwater' |
