EurOCEAN 2000 - Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee

INFORMATION SOURCES AND DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS FOR
COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT : FUTURE PROSPECTS AND
CURRENT LIMITATIONS FOR CONSULTING LOCAL
OPERATIONAL MODELS
Kurt Duwe 1 , Catherine Freissinet 2 , Markku Virtanen 3 , Cedric Bacher 4 , Riitta Niemelä 5 ,
Ingeborg Nöhren 1 ,Ramiro Neves 6 , Adelio Silva 7
1 HYDROMOD Scientific Consulting, Wedel, Germany; 2 SOGREAH, Echirolles, France;
3 Environmental Impact Assessment Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, Finland; 4 CREMA
l’Houmeau, L’Houmeau, France; 5 ARGES Environmental, Vaasa, Finland; 6 Instituto Superior
Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal; 5 Hidromod Lda., Oeiras, Portugal
INTRODUCTION
European coasts are unique in a very real economic sense as sites for port and harbour facilities
but they are also rich and diverse ecosystems. The combination of freshwater and salt water in
coastal estuaries creates some of the most productive and richest habitats on earth. Furthermore
the coasts are highly valued and greatly attractive as sites for resorts and as vacation
destinations.
The existing different interests comprising sustainable protection and the economic use of the
coastal and shelf environments require the long-term predictive capability of coastal zone
evolution. An important prerequisite are general improvements of forecast ability of
operational systems.
In the framework of the OPCOM project methods and techniques for continuous monitoring
and operational forecasting for coastal waters were applied based upon existing operational
model systems. These models could provide important improvements to the current state of
affairs in continuous monitoring, operational forecasting, and integrated coastal management
(including risk assessment), in short: helping to protect our precious coastal environment.
PROJECT METHODOLOGY AND TASKS
The primary objective of the OPCOM project (Operational Modelling for Coastal Zone
Management) is to improve methods and techniques for continuous monitoring and operational
forecasting in coastal waters by using already existing operational model and monitoring
infrastructure to address needs and quality standards of interested first users. The individual
technical and scientific tasks of the project may be outlined as:
‰ A. Site-specific investigations on coastal management aspects to define user requirements:
Improvement of coastal management and monitoring practice by analysing operational
data and model results and defining user requirements on model and monitoring systems in
four OPCOM key pilot studies for different hydrographic regimes and coastal management
objectives.
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