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EUREKA PROJECT > 5460 WEBAIR-2
CYPRUS
Web and 3G mobile phone based air quality management: particulates, public health, co-benefits.
WEBAIR-2 will follow-up on E!3266 WEBAIR, extending scope and IT technologies employed to (1) particulates (PM10/2.5) emission modelling and public health, (2) CO2/GHG emissions, energy efficiency and the co-benefits between Kyoto targets and air pollution, and (3) use of 3G mobile phone technology.
Status > ANNOUNCED - 21-Jun-2011 Technological Area Market Area Start Date > 10-Jul-2011 Duration > 24 Months Participating countries > CYPRUS, CROATIA, AUSTRIA, IRAN | Main contactCyprus University of Technology Dr. Charalambos Chrisostomou > Head of Research, International and Public Re Organisation type > University |
Project Description
WEBAIR-2 will follow-up on E!3266 WEBAIR for urban and industrial air quality management, by extending the application scope and IT technologies employed to (1) particulates (PM10/2.5) emission modeling and public health, with emphasis on the political controversial concepts of local traffic reductions by various regulatory and economic instruments; (2) CO2/GHG emissions, energy efficiency and the co-benefits between Kyoto targets (and the emerging follow-up commitments from Copenhagen) and "classical" air pollution, as regulated, for example, in 2008/50/EC, based on a distributed, bottom-up approach to emission control using the directly measurable air pollutants as a direct validation instrument, and (3) use of 3G mobile phone technology for personalized health related information, warnings and exposure reports e.g., for Asthma patients. WEBAIR-2 addresses several target groups of users as subscribers: - institutions (competent authorities) responsible for the implementation of the most recent, consolidated Air Quality Framework Directive 2008/50/EC - public administrations (cities, communities) that deal with the implementation of the Kyoto protocol and follow-up agreements and thus have an active interest in the optimization of emission control strategies; this, for particulates, specifically includes urban, regional and traffic planners; - all entities (public, industrial, commercial) that have considerable energy demands, and thus an obvious interest in energy efficiency - and the associated co-benefits from emission reductions of conventional air pollutants; - institutions and individuals that have (public) health concerns related to respiratory diseases that can be affected by high levels of air pollution. Technically, WEBAIR-2 expands the basic air quality modeling technology (web-based client server) developed in E!3266 WEBAIR in several ways: (1) Particulates PM10 and PM 2.5, dynamic modelling of particulates emissions from: (a) natural surfaces (dust) dynamic entrainment with high-resolution temporal data (2min resolution) for wind speed, using a non-linear threshold function of speed together with soil properties (humidity) and activity data (agricultural practices); (b) traffic, as a function of road surface vehicle fleet composition and speeds, estimating both combustion (especiallr from diesel engines) and mechanical (abrasion) contributions; (c) construction activities with emphasis on temporal patterns (activity planning using distributed access and editing possibilities) and surface mining; (d) large scale synoptic validation including long-range transport at a European scale (EMEP) combining three level nesting of simulation with remote sensing data (AOT) (e) public health effects (dynamic non-linear exposure, in-door pollution). (2) Kyoto targets, co-benefits: non-linear multi-criteria emission control optimization using (directly measurable) ambient concentration as criteria together with emissions, emission reductions, and energy savings, validated with measurable air pollutants (NOx, SO2, CO, PMx) to provide a bottom-up assessment of CO2/GHG emission reductions and associated energy savings, co-benefits from air quality improvements; (3) 3G mobile communication: extending the web-based architecture to support: (a) mobile access with high-resolution touch screen SmartPhones to customized web content; (b) SMS/MMs based personalized (location aware) subscription-based reporting, alerts and alarm, personal exposure history, etc. for individual subscribers from sensitive target groups (respiratory diseases, asthma), implemented with a real-time rule-based expert systems technology for both scheduled and event-based communications (e.g., exceedance of user defined threshold values in the now-casts or forecasts). These functions will be offered as "added value" on-line services (SaaS) in a PPP (public-private partnership) model together with, and in extension of, the basic air quality model based management tools of WEBAIR (E!3266).
Technological Development Envisaged
Model based air quality assessment and management is well established as a research method. Its use for public information and participation, awareness building, policy making, or personalized information services and individual decision support however, is very limited. Data availability and quality, and the considerable uncertainty in estimating source terms (emission) and weather driven fate and transport phenomena, pose severe limits to its routine application. At the same time, key areas of urban air quality management such as a number of traffic reduction strategies (speed reductions, selective, vehicle type dependant closing of urban areas for traffic "Umweltzonen", selective road pricing, based on these simplistic concepts, are highly controversial, and unproven in their effectiveness. Due to the political sensitivity of individual mobility, the design of effective, cost efficient and proven strategies is essential. This includes also a better source apportionment, i.e., the clear identification of local (and thus directly controllable) contributions versus long-range transport, which requires different, and often international, strategies in the case of trans-boundary transport. For emission control strategies, considerations of criteria beyond simple emission reduction targets (ambient concentratione, population exposure, co-benefits including CO2/GHG/energy efficiency) are rare despite related policy objectives (e.g., 2008/50/EC).
Main contactCyprus University of Technology Dr. Charalambos Chrisostomou > Head of Research, International and Public Re Organisation type > University |
Contribution to project
CUT main contribution is the remote sensing and environmental monitoring knowledge and experience as an input to the project. The remote sensing data (primarily aerosol optical thickness, AOT) from several satellite platforms (e.g., MODIS) will be used for large-scale synoptic validation of the particulate modeling, with emphasis on long-range transport phenomena. Other applications of remote sensing data include the determination of land use and land cover (e.g., for surface mininf activities, or areas of limited vegetation and bare, erodible soils) and soil moisture as one of the determining factor of soil erodibility by wind. In collaboration with the Cyprus Institute for Public Health (CII) and the programme on Environment, Lifestyle and respiratory Diseases, CUT will contribute to the aspects of (1) indoor air pollution and the closely related (2) population exposure and public health impacts.
Expertise
The Cyprus University of Technology is a newly established state university in Cyprus that has already established all necessary infrastructures and through funding from government, European Commission, and industry, aims to offer prestigious programmes of study, conduct high level research, interact with and make a significant contribution to society and idustry in Cyprus. The Remote Sensing & Geo-informatics Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering and GEomatics has been established on 2007 with substantial and high-tech resources such as: GPS units with a reference station, laser scanner, PDA, 3 field spectro-radiometers (GER1500 & SVC 1024), 2 sun-photometers Microtops II, 1 CIEMEL sun-photometer, LIDAR System, PM10 & PM2.5 sampler, photogrammetric stations etc. A field spectroscopy lab has been already established consisting of 3 field spectro-radiometers, calibration lab (calibration sphere etc.). The Lab has the APOLLO LEICA software that enables efficient management of large amount of geographical data. The following softwares have been already acquired for the lab needs: ARCVIEW, MAPINFO, ER MAPPER, ERDAS IMAGINE, AUTOCAD, MAPCIVIL, REVIT etc. The main research activities of the lab are in the following areas: use of geo-informatics and satellit remote sensing for environmental surveillance studies (air pollution, water resources, coastal managment, water quality, irrigation management, meteorology, floods, climate changes etc.)
Main contactATLANTIS CONSULTING CYPRUS LTD MR. CHARALAMBOS PANAYIOTOU > MANAGING DIRECTOR http://www.atlantis-consulting.eu Organisation type > SME |
Contribution to project
The team proposed has well qualified experts from diverse but related fields ensuring the successful completion of the work, significant transfer of know-how between members and especially to ATLANTIS and the CYPRUS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (CUT), as well as subsequent utilisation of the proposed technology. ATLANTIS will address the area of air quality data collection and processing and air quality modelling issues in CYPRUS, while CUT will provide the capacities required in order to develop the specific set of remote sensing tools needed.
Expertise
ATLANTIS CONSULTING CYPRUS LTD is a private company specialising in environmental management and impact assessment. Among others the company has been involved in several strategic projects for the Cyprus Government as well as EU funded projects including a project for the establishment of the air quality now casting and forecasting system for the Competent Authorities in Cyprus, the government funded project "Establishment of Sustainable Management Policy for the Development of the mineral wealth of Cyprus" where ATLANTIS was responsible for establishing an environmental policy, the Risk Assessment of the Amiantos Asbestos Mine, and several EIAs including air quality impacts from projects. Recently ATLANTIS participated in an EIA project for the removal of rocket fuels from military sites in Ukraine, where ATLANTIS personnel was responsible for the air quality risk assessment. Lastly the company has participated in two EUREKA funded research projects (AIDAIR and WEBAIR) for the development, testing and implementation of integrated air quality management models.
Main contactAir Quality Control Company (AQCC) Dr. Yousef Rashidi > Managing Director Organisation type > SME |
Contribution to project
AQCC is the leading company in Iran working on air quality. In WEBAIR-2, AQCC will, in collaboration with the Meteorological Service of Iran, develop, implement and test a dust forecasting and warning system (TPS, PM10, PM2.5) at national and urban levels with dynamic boundary conditions at a continental scale (about 3 - 4,000 km horizontal extent of the largest model domain). This will integrate, based on the common tools, models, and methods developed in WEBAIR-2, - meteorological forecasts (three level nesting from continental to local scale) using prognostic 3D simulation models such as MM5 and WRF; - dynamic emission modelling (a non-linear threshold model) based on land cover, soil type and soil moisture, and activity levels, using 2 minute resolution wind speed estimates from the prognostic meteorological model wind fields; - particulate transport, deposition and re-suspension modeling using CAMx; - a real-time communication component using a web server, eMail, and SMS to distribute alerts and warnings on forecasted high concentrations of dust. Activities will also include estimations of indoor air pollution, and public health impacts.
Expertise
AQCC is the leading company in Iran working on air quality. AQCC maintains a network of monitoring stations, a range of modeling tools including operational forecasting including meteorological forecasts, and a public web server for air quality data and forecasts for the Greater Tehran Area (GTA), see: http://air.iran.ir. AQCC also works as consultant for other cities, regions, and industries including related fields such emission control, project specific measurement campaigns, and noise monitoring. AQCC is also a participant in the pre-cursor project E!3266 WEBAIR where it hosts a case study of Tehran, with emphasis on traffic generated air pollution and its control.
Main contactOIKON D.O.O. INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED ECOLOGY DR SC. ZDRAVKO SPIRIC > SCIENTIFIC MANAGER Organisation type > SME |
Contribution to project
Our expertise in environmental assessment, monitoring and modeling, data aquisition, compilation and transfer, remote sensing data processing, GIS, etc. will contribute to set up working test cases with real time data, that will be our main project contribution. Appropriate cities/communities for the test case implementation will be selected based on data availability and end user support. Potential test-cases for urban and regional air quality are Sisak and Zagreb.
Expertise
1) Program and project management services (overall life-cycle project management; advisory and technical support for EU or globally funded tenders) 2) Environmental Protection (reports, studies, assessments, monitoring) 3) Industrial Ecology (reports, studies, assessments, design and supervision) 4) Environmental Medicine (research, ecotoxicology, bioindication) 5) Renewable Energy Resources (reports, studies, resource assessments) 6) Nature Protection (reports, studies, assessments, research, inventories, monitoring) 7) Natural Resource Management (forestry, game management and agriculture: management plans, inventories and assessments) 8) Landscape Architecture (analysis, planning, design, visualisation) 9) IT and GIS (consulting, application development, implementation and support, training) 10) Remote sensing and Telemetry (aerial/satellite, analysis, training) 11) Geophysical and Environmental modelling (weather forecasts, hydrodinamics, air quality, water quality, geostatistics, spatio-temporal modelling, raster GIS)
Main contactESS - ENVIRONMENTAL SOFTWARE & SERVICES GMBH
DR. KURT FEDRA > DIRECTOR Organisation type > SME |
Contribution to project
ESS will act as the lead partner, coordinating the project development, but also providing a number of key technologies, tools, and components for the intended product and services: (1) Operation of the underlying WEBAIR model system including the basic emission inventory, meteorological forecasts (MM5/WRF) and basic air quality models (CAMx, AERMOD) and development of the interfaces for the integration of new development; (2) Development of main components of the dynamic particulate emission model as a non-linear threshold function of wind speed with corrections for land cover, soil type, dynamic soil moisture. (3) Implementation of the generic multi-objective optimization framework, based on results from the INCO-CT 2004-509091 project OPTIMA, including a data base on emission control technologies expanded for CO2/CO2e, GHG, and energy use and efficiency. (4) Integration of 3G mobile communication, low-resolution client devices (touch-screen SmartPhones with resolution between 680*400 to 800*480), and an rule-based SMS/MMS gateway.
Expertise
ESS GmbH specializes in Integrated Environmental Information and Decision Support Systems that combine environmental sciences, economics, and socio-political aspects with advanced information and communication technology. Application domains include urban and industrial air quality, emission control and energy efficiency, water resources, climate change impacts, adaptation, mitigation, EIA/SIA, technological and environmental risk, sustainable urban and regional development and ICZM, technical training and distance learning. Applied systems analysis, artificial intelligence and ICT provide the methodological basis for our environmental applications, information and multi-criteria decision support systems (see also: http://www.ess.co.at) A small, yet multi-disciplinary project team designs, develops, and deploys and supports customized and innovative IT based solutions (eConsulting, SaaS) for a broad range of environmental management problems. We also provide background research, data analysis, installation, training and continuing support including operational mirrors or fully web based outsourcing solutions with customized support and maintenance options, world wide in collaboration and partnership with numerous institutions. ESS supports user groups ranging from technical specialists and decision makers to the general public with active stakeholder involvement and participatory decision support tools. Our strength is the smooth integration of environmental sciences, applied systems analysis and operations research, engineering and socio-economic analysis, with state-of-the-art information technology: simple web-browser based access, embedded training components and AI, high-performance cluster computing: we make computers work hard for you.