Das Projekt "AZV Project West Greenland" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Münster, Institut für Ökologie der Pflanzen durchgeführt. The AZV (Altitudinal Zonation of Vegetation) Project was initiated in the year 2002. On the basis of a detailed regional study in continental West Greenland the knowledge about altitudinal vegetation zonation in the Arctic is aimed to be enhanced. The main objectives of the project are: a) considering the regional study: characterize mountain vegetation with regard to flora, vegetation types, vegetation pattern and habitat conditions, investigate the differentiation of these vegetation characteristics along the altitudinal gradient, develop concepts about altitudinal indicator values of species and plant communities, extract suitable characteristics for the distinction and delimitation of vegetation belts, assess altitudinal borderlines of vegetation belts in the study area. b) considering generalizations: test the validity of the altitudinal zonation hypothesis of the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map ( CAVM Team 2003), find important determinants of altitudinal vegetation zonation in the Arctic, develop a first small scale vegetation map of entire continental West Greenland. Field work consists of vegetational surveys according to the Braun-Blanquet approach, transect studies, soil analyses, long-time-measurements of temperature on the soil surface and vegetation mapping in three different altitudinal vegetation belts (up to 1070 m a.s.l.).
Das Projekt "WTZ-Indonesia: An Investigation of General Circulation in the Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Zentrum für Meeres- und Klimaforschung, Institut für Meereskunde (IfM) durchgeführt. A bilateral scientific-technological cooperation (WTZ) with the Universitas Syiah Kuala, Darussalam - Banda Aceh, Sumatra / Indonesia. The focus of the project is the description and analysis of the physical aspects of the system Malacca Strait / Andaman Sea, namely the circulation, the mass transport and the interaction between both regions. In this project the well-established approach of numerical modelling will be employed. For initializing and for providing the models with boundary values, data sets will be used which are already available. The German partner will contribute to this task with personnel and instrumentation. The modelling will be performed on two scales. The larger scale will investigate the general circulation (summer and winter monsoon, long-term variability and flushing times of mass transport). The smaller scale will study fronts (tidal induced, density induced, variations of fronts in time and space).
Das Projekt "Processes determining biodiversity in both managed and unmanaged forest stands analysed in the Bavarian Forest, Germany" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität München, Fachgebiet Geobotanik durchgeführt. In this study important processes determining the compositional biodiversity of forest stands are investigated. The central goal is to find out the mechanisms leading to a certain biodiversity after natural and management disturbances. In the national park Bayerischer Wald experimental plots in forest stands with different disturbance regime are selected: - untouched for a long time, - Norway Spruce killed by bark beetle, - single tree selection silviculture - clearcut on small areas (up to 1 ha). Three important organismic groups are under study: beetles, fungi and plants. The first group is investigated by the Chair of Applied Zoology, the second by the Division of Systematic Botany. In the teaching unit Geobotany the effect of small scale soil disturbances on diversity of the ground vegetation is examined. Experimental plots of 0,5 m2 are digged up and the reaction of the vegetation is monitored for two years. Exposed mineral soil is a favourable site for germination and establishment for many species of the species pool. Thus soil disturbances may have a positive effect on species richness. The soil seed bank plays an important role for vegetation regeneration after disturbance. Therefore soil samples are taken and cultivated in a greenhouse. It is hypothesised that the soil seed bank is richer in seed and species number in managed forests than in those forests without direct human influence. To monitor seed rain we expose seed traps in the summer season. Light is an important trigger for the germination of species. Linking the reaction to soil disturbances under different light conditions to the biodiversity of the community helps to widen our understanding of the effect of disturbance regime on biological diversity. The comparison of unmanaged to managed forests enables us to contribute important aspects to the discussion on the effect of forest management on biological diversity.
Das Projekt "Large-scale and local control of severe weather: Towards adaptive ensemble forecasting (ADENS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Meteorologisches Institut durchgeführt. The development of high impact weather, like heavy precipitation or intense wind gusts, is partially controlled by the synoptic flow, and partially by processes on smaller scales. Likewise, the predictability, or forecast uncertainty, of such events is influenced by all these scales. The relative amount of uncertainty created on each scale will, however, depend on the meteorological situation. In the first phase of the project, a multi-scale ensemble forecasting system is being developed, that represents the various sources of uncertainty through a hierarchy of models with different resolutions and newly developed stochastic physical parameterizations. In the second phase, the multi-scale ensemble will be used to investigate sources of forecast uncertainty through experiments that track the upscale growth of small-scale perturbations and their impact on the balanced, large-scale flow. Variance analysis will be used to quantify the contributions of different scales to ensemble spread. Finally the potential for efficient sampling of uncertainty by adaptively choosing the ensemble configuration as a function of meteorological situation will be assessed.
Das Projekt "Leichte Solarpanele aus amorphem Silizium" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Physikalische Elektronik durchgeführt. Objective: New process route for lightweight, unbreakable and economically feasible solar panels on the basis of amorphous silicon. Results: From a number of canditates enamel-coated steel sheet as substrate and an organic barrier as protective layer was chosen as an alternative to the dual glass panels. Criteria were vacuum compatibility, surface rougness and insulating properties. This concept requires that the production order of the thin film solar cell is reversed into back electrode, active stack, front transparent electrode. Inverted processes and low temperature processes were investigated in parallel. Protection against damage due to permeating water was reduced with an improved organic barrier coating. Also, less vulnerable back electrode materials were studied. Fluorine doped tin oxide, tin-doped indiumoxide and aluminium-doped zinc oxide were studied. However, the best and most economical results were optained with ITO. For monolithic integration mechanical masking and laser scribing were investigated. Mechanical masking failed due to the uneveness of the enamel surface. Laser scribing is possible due to the diminished power need with each consecutive layer. Some concepts for better light capture (texturing, optical coatings) were investigated. Based on the inverted process route small scale and full scale panels were manufactured and tested. Ultimately, the full scale failed due to the built-up of stress which caused delamination and could not sufficiently be reduced. The panel costs of the new route proved very similar to the existing product, but required an additional investment in vacuum deposition equipment. Surprisingly, ITO with recycling proved to be the most cost effective transparent electrode material.
Das Projekt "Identifying Trade and Investment Barriers to the Effective Implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Leibniz Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH, Forschungsbereich Umwelt- und Ressourcenökonomik, Umweltmanagement durchgeführt. Bei der CDM-Studie handelt es sich um ein Projekt aus dem Bereich Klimaschutz. Diejenigen Länder, die sich im Rahmen des Kyoto Protokolls zur Reduktion ihrer Treibhausgasemissionen verpflichtet haben, können dies unter anderem durch Projekte erreichen, die in anderen Ländern durchgeführt werden. Für Projekte im Rahmen des Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) kommen hierfür hauptsächlich Entwicklungsländer in Frage. In einer ersten Testphase hat sich herausgestellt, dass einige Länder, vor allem afrikanische, nicht in CDM-Projekte einbezogen wurden. Um eine faire geographische Verteilung dieser Projekte zu gewährleisten, möchte die Europäische Kommission nun wissen, welches die wichtigsten Handelshemmnisse waren. Zusätzlich sollen Vorschläge gemacht werden, wie diese Hemmnisse überwunden werden können. Ein wichtiger Aspekt wird dabei die Untersuchung von sogenannten small scale projects sein. Für diese Projekte sind oftmals die Transaktionskosten (Kosten für die Suche nach geeigneten Partner, Verhandlungen, Zertifizierung der Emissionsreduktionen etc.) höher als der erwartete Nutzen, was ihre Durchführung verhindert. Eine Aufgabe des Projektes liegt in der Klassifizierung der Handelsbarrieren für verschiedene Länder und insbesondere in der Analyse von Transaktionskosten für CDM-Projekte. Desweiteren werden Nachhaltigkeitsindikatoren untersucht, die auf CDM-Projekte angewandt werden können und es werden Lösungsvorschläge zum Überwinden der Handelshemmnisse aufgestellt.
Das Projekt "Surface Semi-Geostrophic Dynamik: Vermischung von lokal nach nonlokal Dynamik" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Institut für Meereskunde durchgeführt. Empirische und numerische Studien zeigen, dass sich ein signifikanter Anteil der Dynamik im Ozean auf Skalen kleiner als der Mesoskala abspielt. Für die korrekte Parameterisierung der Vermischung in Klimamodellen ist es wichtig, die Eigenschaften dieser Dynamik und ihrer Rolle beim turbulenten Energietransfer, sowie bei der Vermischung von Wärme, Nährstoffen und Schadstoffen zu verstehen. In diesem Projekt streben wir an, die semi-geostrophischen Approximation zu benutzen, um die laterale Vermischung im Ozean aufgrund submesoskaliger Dynamik insbesonder durch an Rändern ereugten ageostrophischen Wirbeln zu untersuchen. In dieser Studie sollen numerische Experimente zur surface semi-geostrophic Turbulenz durchgeführt werden, um den advektiven und diffusiven Effekt der Wirbel auf passive Tracer zu analysieren. Verschiedene Experimente mit unterschiedlichen Rossby-Zahlen sollen durgchgeführt werden, um die Auswirkungen der Frontendynamik auf die Verteilung der Tracer zu untersuchen. Schließlich sollen die Ergebnisse mit anderen klassischen Turbulenzmodellen wie der surface quasi-geostrophic approximation verglichen werden.
Das Projekt "Policy Analysis for Sustainable Agricultural Development - PASAD" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bonn, Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung durchgeführt. Objectives: The PASAD project aims at contributing to a deeper understanding of sustainable rural development. Its major objective is to draw a more comprehensive picture of the rural economy through integrating various determinants of rural development and several methodologies, which allows the evaluation of linkages and interaction effects. Decreasing soil fertility implies decreasing yields over time and hence lowers the real incomes of already poor farmers even further. Sustainability in agricultural production depends on various interdependent aspects that require integrated analytical approaches to address the complexity involved. Smallholder production of food crops in poor countries is particularly vulnerable to hazards that are related to (i) production technologies as well as (ii) factor and commodity markets. The former aspect includes appropriate input use and land management, while the latter particularly considers rural labor markets, intermediate input markets, and commercial output markets. In this context, the project focuses on three crucial aspects, namely (i) institutional and other determinants to foster the degree of commercialization of agricultural small-scale produce, (ii) alternative occupational choices in rural labor markets with respect to agricultural and non-agricultural employment, and (iii) biophysical aspects concerning soil-conserving production technologies. The main hypothesis is that all three aspects need to be addressed sufficiently and simultaneously in order to promote sustainable smallholder agricultural production that is able to contribute to overall economic growth and development and, consequently, to food security. Methodology: The project follows an interdisciplinary approach, which combines several methodologies within economic and social sciences: Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling, Bio-economic household modelling, Household and labor force survey analysis, Institutional analysis, GIS-based spatial econometrics.
Das Projekt "Public health impacts from European alpine transit traffic" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bern, Institut für Sozial- und Präventivmedizin, Abteilung Internationale Gesundheit & Umwelt, Ressort Umwelt und Gesundheit durchgeführt. Background: Within the framework of MONITRAF, work package 5 deals with road traffic related effects on the alpine space from the sustainability point of view. Public health impacts will be evaluated among other topics. Established methods to quantify public health impact from road traffic exist for large scale assessments on a national base (e.g. trinational impact assessment study for Switzerland, Austria and France). Such assessments are done by transferring the results from large scale cohort studies on the exposure situation of the region of interest. Methodologically more demanding are small-scale impact assessments along the transit axis. The application of such established large scale assessments is methodologically questionable. However, an alternative method has not been recognized as a number of scientific questions have not been solved yet. Objectives: Main goal of the public health project is to coordinate ongoing studies on health effect from transit traffic: Department for Hygiene, Microbiology and Social Medicine, Innsbruck; Dr. Lercher: Brenner Basistunnel; Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Basel, Dr. Hazenkamp & Dr. Rapp: Gotthard Transitverkehr; Published health impact assessment studies of air pollution and noise will be analysed and applicability of the methods in the given context will be evaluated and the data prerequisite will be clarified. Available data which is needed for an impact assessment will be evaluated. Based on data availability and methodological considerations a method to assess public health impact from transit traffic will be proposed. Work steps: - To obtain an overview of ongoing research activities in Innsbruck and Basel (e.g. to organize a joint meeting). - To summarize published results from those ongoing studies and to give an overview of future results which can be expected. - Systematic literature search of traffic related health impact assessment studies and evaluation of their methodologies with respect to applicability within MONITRAF. - Evaluation of exposure concepts or indicator measurements which may serve as base for a health impact assessment study of air pollution (e.g. different kind of pollutant, long term mean levels, short term pollution levels, distance to the road, effect of air pollution intervention studies) - Evaluation of exposure concepts or indicator measurements which may serve as base for a health impact assessment study of noise (mean dB(A), variation, distance to the road, etc.) - Coordination of the module 'noise and air quality' of work package 5 with respect to the assessment of possible useful indicator measurements from a health effect perspective as well as the availability of such data. - To clarify the data availability for suitable health impact assessment study methods. - To propose a suitable method for a health impact study of alpine road traffic and design the study.
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