Integrated Technologies for Environmental Monitoring and Information Production

This book presents the proceedings and the outcomes of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Integrated Technologies for Environmental Monitoring and Information Production, which was held in Marmaris, Turkey, between September 10- 14, 200 I. With the contribution of 45 experts from 20 different countries, the ARW has provided the opportunity to resolve the basic conflicts that tend to arise between different disciplines associated with environmental data management and to promote understanding between experts on an international and multidisciplinary basis. The prevailing universal problem in environmental data management (EDM) systems is the significant incoherence between data collection procedures and the retrieval of information required by the users. This indicates the presence of problems still encountered in the realization of; (1) delineation of objectives, constraints, institutional aspects of EDM; (2) design of data collection networks; (3) statistical sampling; (4) physical sampling and presentation of data; (5) data processing and environmental databases; (6) reliability of data; (7) data analysis and transfer of data into information; and (8) data accessibility and data exchange at local, regional and global scales. Further problems stem from the lack of coherence between different disciplines involved in EDM, lack of coordination between responsible agencies on a country basis, and lack of coordination on an international level regarding the basic problems and relevant solutions that should be sought.

Inhalt
I Introduction.- Integrated Data Management: Where are We Headed?.- The Conversion of Data into Information for Public Participation in Decision Making Processes.- Challenges in Transboundary and Transdisciplinary Environmental Data Integration in a Highly Heterogeneous and Rapidly Changing World.- Information Technology and Environmental Data Management.- II. Objectives and Institutional Aspects of Environmental Data Management.- Information-Integration-Inspiration.- Ocean Teacher: A Capacity Building Tool for Oceanographic Data and Information Management.- III. Design of Data Collection Networks.- Environmental Monitoring Time Scales: From Transient Events to Long-Term Trends.- Regional Streamfiow Network Analysis Using the Generalized Least Square Method: A Case Study in the Kizilirmak River Basin.- Automated Water Quality Monitoring in Water Distribution Networks.- Entropy-Based Design Considerations for Water Quality Monitoring Networks.- IV. Statistical Sampling.- Uncertainty in Environmental Analysis.- Physics of Environmental Frequency Analysis.- Assessment of Outliers in Statistical Data Analysis.- V. Physical Sampling and Presentation of Data.- Modern Data Types for Environmental Monitoring and Water Resources Management.- Assessing the Applicability of Hydrologic Information from Radar Imagery.- Integrated Satellite ¡ª Airborne Technology for Monitoring Ice Cover Parameters and Ice-Associated Forms of Seals in the Arctic.- VI. Environmental Databases.- Integrated Application of United Kingdom National River Flow and Water Quality Databases for Estimating River Mass Loads.- Integrated Multidisciplinary Marine Environmental Databases.- Regional Environmental Changes: Databases and Information.- Environmental Health Indicators in Europe: A Pilot Project.- VII.Data Processing, Analysis and Modeling.- Downscaling of Continental-Scale Atmospheric Forecasts to the Scale of a Watershed for Hydrologic Forecasting.- Upscaling Surface Flow Equations Depending Upon Data Availability at Different Scales.- Integration of Intelligent Techniques for Environmental Data Processing.- Integrated Use of Monitoring and Modeling in Water Resources Research.- Spatially Distributed Prediction of Water Deficit Periods.- VIII. Remote Sensing and GIS.- DBMS/GIS Applications in Integrated Marine Data Management.- The Use of Satellite Remote Sensing Data in Numerical Modeling of the North Pacific Circulation.- Application of GIS Technology in Hydrometeorological Modeling.- Satellite Observation of Aral Sea.- Remote Sensing of the Lacustrine Environment: Data Sources and Analysis.- IX. Transfer of Data into Information.- From Data Management to Decision Support.- Urban Drainage, Development Planning and Catchment Flood Management ¡ª GIS Contrasts in the U.K..- Metadata as Tools for Integration of Environmental Data and Information Production.- Perspective Decisions and Examples on the Access and Exchange of Data and Information Products Using Web and XML Applications.- X. Conclusions and Recommendations.- Conclusions and Recommendations.- List of Abbreviations and Acronyms.