1. Policy brief no.4 | March 2013
FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN DATA & POLICY
IN THE BLACK SEA CATCHMENT
Earth Observation in the Black Sea
catchment
The enviroGRIDS project aims to gather,
store, distribute, analyze,
visualize and
disseminate crucial
information on the
environment of the
Black Sea catchment
in order to increase the
capacity of decision-makers and
other interested stakeholders to use it
for development of most relevant
management options. It is building a state
of the art Grid-enabled Spatial Data
Infrastructure (G-SDI) as a component of the Global
Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) An
targeting the needs of the Commission on the online
Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (BSC)
and the International Commission for the Protection of Questionnaire was
the Danube River (ICPDR). developed in order to get
information from the project partners on
available datasets and observation systems at
What are the data and observation gaps ? different scales: local, national, regional and
A gap analysis was performed to identify the list of global. In total, information about 162 datasets
existing datasets and observation systems within the and 30 observations systems covering the
Black Sea catchment and to assess their level of Black Sea catchment was received. This
compatibility with the international standards of information was supplemented with an
interoperability (deliverable D2.6). The gap analysis extensive Internet search. All collected
allows identifying areas where further efforts are information was analyzed in order to produce
needed to reinforce existing observation systems in cross-tables showing the availability of identified
this region. The gap analysis was undertaken by the datasets and observation systems for the end-
BSC and ICPDR with contributions from all project user and project needs.
partners. Generalized data and observation systems The analysis of the identified datasets and
requirements were formulated on the basis of end- observation systems against the project
user needs (primarily BSC, ICPDR) as well as the requirements revealed spatial and temporal
project requirements. gaps in data coverage, gaps in observation
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2. systems, problems with data accessibility,
compatibility and interoperability.
enviroGRIDS data requirements
The general aim of the project is to build capacities in
the Black Sea region modern Earth Observation
systems and environmental data processing and
sharing. The main outputs of the project is the Black
Sea catchment Observation System targeting both
decision-makers and citizens.
Another aim of enviroGRIDS is to develop integrated
scenarios of climatic, demographic and land cover
changes using the Metronamica model (RIKS 2005).
Several datasets were gathered at the best possible
spatial and temporal resolutions to meet the objectives EnviroGRIDS is also exploring through several
of this part of the project. case studies the potential impacts of
environmental changes on so-called GEO
(GEO 2005) Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs):
ecosystems, biodiversity, agriculture, health,
energy and disasters early warning. These case
studies increased significantly the number and
type of datasets needed by the project.
The enviroGRIDS project end-users are
International organizations dealing with
environmental issues in the region; National
authorities responsible for themes of
enviroGRIDS; Local authorities and Scientists.
From the first category of international
organizations listed above, the Black Sea
Then, enviroGRIDS needed data to use the Soil &
Commission (BSC) and the International
Water Assessment Tool (SWAT, Arnold et al. 1998),
Commission for the Protection of the Danube
which is a river basin scale model developed to
River (ICPDR) are considered as the main end-
quantify the impact of land management practices in
users of the project.
large, complex watersheds. It performs simulations
that integrate various processes such as hydrology,
climate, chemical transport, soil erosion, pesticide BSC data requirements
dynamics, and agricultural management. The model The mission of the BSC is the implementation
can use a daily to sub-hourly time step, and can of the Convention on the Protection of the Black
perform continuous simulation for a 1- to 100-year Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention,
period. 1992), its Protocols and Strategic Action Plan
(SAP) for the rehabilitation and protection of the
Black Sea. The primary geographical scope of
the Bucharest Convention is the Black Sea
itself. However, its SAP covers pollution
sources from coastal area and encourages
Black Sea coastal states to implement
depollution at the Black Sea catchment level.
The new Protocol on the Protection of the
Marine Environment of the Black Sea from
Land-Based Sources and Activities also applies
to pollution emissions originating from land-
based point and diffuse sources, which reach
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3. the marine environment through rivers or other transboundary water management in the
watercourses; inputs of polluting substances Danube River Basin.
transported through the atmosphere; and activities The ICPDR is a transnational body, which has
that may directly or indirectly affect the marine been established to implement the Danube
environment or coastal areas. Considering the above, River Protection Convention. The ICPDR is
the whole Black Sea catchment is an area of interest formally comprised by the Delegations of all
to the BSC with respect to implementation of its Contracting Parties to the Danube River
mission. Protection Convention, but has also established
The activities of BSC are concerning the following a framework for other organizations to join.
transboundary problems: In 2000, the ICPDR has also been nominated
• Eutrophication/Nutrient Enrichment; for the implementation of the transboundary
• Chemical Pollution, including Oil; aspects of the EU Water Framework Directive
• Changes in Marine Living Resources, (WFD). The work for the successful
Overfishing; implementation of the EU WFD is therefore high
• Biodiversity Changes/Habitats Loss, including on the political agenda of the countries of the
Alien Species Introduction; Danube river basin district.
• Climate Change. Today national delegates, representatives from
In order to carry out the activities on a regular basis highest ministerial levels, technical experts, and
BSC has established following Advisory Groups (AG): members of the civil society and of the scientific
• AG on pollution monitoring and assessment community cooperate in the ICPDR to ensure
(PMA); the sustainable and equitable use of waters in
• AG on control of pollution from land based the Danube River Basin.
sources (LBS); Since its creation in 1998, the ICPDR has
effectively promoted policy agreements and the
• AG on development of common methodologies
setting of joint priorities and strategies for
for integrated coastal zone management (ICZM);
improving the state of the Danube and its
• AG on environmental safety aspects of shipping
tributaries. This includes improving the tools
(ESAS);
used to manage environmental issues in the
• AG on conservation of biological diversity (CBD); Danube basin, such as:
• AG on environmental aspects of the management • the Accident Emergency Warning System,
of fisheries and other marine living resources
• the Trans-National Monitoring Network for
(FOMLR); and
water quality, and
• AG on information and data exchange (IDE).
• the information system for the Danube
AGs of BSC have Focal Points in each Black Sea
(Danubis),
country, which are responsible for collection of data
• DanubeGIS.
and information in area of their responsibility and
The main goals of the ICPDR are summarized
reporting them on an annual basis to the Commission
below:
via its Permanent Secretariat (BSC PS). The reported
data and information, which are obtained in the • Safeguarding the Danube’s Water
framework of the Black Sea Integrated Monitoring and resources for future generation,
Assessment Programme (BSIMAP), are used for • Naturally balanced waters free from excess
periodical assessment of the State of Environment nutrients,
(SoE) of the Black Sea (annually and every 5 years for • No more risk from toxic chemicals,
changes and trends); Transboundary Diagnostic • Healthy and sustainable river systems,
Analysis (every 5 years) and assessment of SAP • Damage-free floods.
implementation (every 5 years). The different bodies of the ICPDR are:
• The Ordinary Meeting Group: taking the
political decisions,
ICPDR data requirements
• The Standing Working Group: providing
The ICPDR works to ensure the sustainable and
political guidance,
equitable use of watershed freshwater resources in
the Danube River Basin. The work of the ICPDR is • The Technical Expert Groups: preparing
based on the Danube River Protection Convention, the technical background documents.
the major legal instrument for cooperation and
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4. Technical Expert Groups are the backbone of the Finally, the Danube-Black Sea Joint Technical
operation and the success of the ICPDR. They are Working Group co-ordinates the work of the
formed by national experts from the Contracting ICPDR and the International Commission for
Parties and representatives of the observer the Protection of the Black Sea, particularly
organizations. Seven Expert Groups deal with a aiming to reduce nutrient inputs into the Black
variety of issues - from policy measures to reduce Sea.
water pollution to the implementation of the EU Water
Framework Directive. Generalized data requirements
All technical work within the ICPDR is carried out by The amount of different data types required by
the Expert Groups. These Expert Groups are essential the project and project end-users is very large.
to the operation of the ICPDR, and rely upon the Moreover, requirements to spatial and temporal
inputs and contributions of national experts from the resolution of each kind of data are also very
Contracting Parties and from the Observers. The diverse, so a gap analysis with respect to each
ICPDR Expert Groups are focusing on: data type would be time consuming and
• River Basin Management impracticable.
• Pressures and Measures Hereby we undertook an attempt to generalize
• Monitoring and Assessment the data requirements that are most important
• Flood Protection for the project and its end-users. The
• Public Participation generalized data requirements are presented in
• Strategy the table below.
Generalized enviroGRIDS data requirements
Data theme / category Spatial Resolution Temporal resolution
GIS satisfying project requirements and user
needs, i.e. including detailed watersheds, At least 1:200000 Most recent
protected areas, land use etc.
DEM 30m Most recent
Land cover /use 1km, 300m, 100m since 1990
Soil 1km
Population Administrative data downscaled at 1km since 1990
Meteorology (in situ) All existing stations in Black Sea catchment Daily
Meteorology (remote sensing) 0.25° Daily
Hydrology All existing stations in Black Sea catchment Daily
Stations in coastal waters of Black Sea countries and
Oceanography (in situ) Quarterly
in open sea
Oceanography (remote sensing) Whole Black Sea Daily
All industrial and municipal sources in Black Sea
Pollutants discharges Monthly
catchment
Pollutants emissions Per enterprises or administrative units monthly
According to monitoring
Pollutants in water, sediments and biota Black Sea
program
River water quality All existing stations in Black Sea catchment monthly
Stations in coastal waters of Black Sea countries and
Sea water quality quarterly
open sea
Climatic data (climatic stations) All existing stations in Black Sea catchment Daily
monthly, daily
Climatic data (remote sensing) Best available (1x1km)
(depending on data)
River biology Best available quarterly
Marine biology Best available quarterly
Biodiversity Best available quarterly
Invasive species Point observation date
Agriculture Administrative units yearly
Disasters Best available permanent monitoring
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5. Results from the gap analysis however for the rest of the Black Sea catchment
the problem persists.
The datasets reported by project partners cover the With respect to the river basins of the Black Sea
nine GEO Societal Benefits Areas. Most identified Catchment:
datasets are related to the Water, Ecosystems, and • The Danube river basin has the best data
Climate SBAs, while the least covered SBAs are coverage. Data are available on all scales:
Energy, Weather and Health. global, European, regional and national;
The methods for accessing data are various: direct • The large river basins of Ukraine (Dnepr,
Internet links, ftp, e-mail, CD. The datasets of Dniester, Bug) seem to have rather
country scale are usually not accessible online and acceptable data coverage, however due to the
have to be requested via e-mail from data holders. lack of access to data it is difficult to assess
The variety of formats for data storage, as well as their completeness;
absence of online access to the data hamper the • For the large river basins of Russia (Don,
data exchange and appear to be a significant gap Kuban) and Turkey (Kizilirmak, Yesilirmak)
for the datasets at country scale. project partners did not report any dataset.
In the Questionnaire project partners reported This is identified as a significant gap in data,
national datasets only for four countries around the particularly taking into account that these river
Black Sea. A large spatial gap in national data basins are important for the project end-users
coverage remains. This gap is partly covered by and decision-makers: they cover large
available regional and European scale datasets territories populated by millions of people and
containing data from Danube basin countries, have important socio-economic value for
these countries.
River basins in the Black Sea catchment with least data availability for the project (brown shading).
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6. The analysis of available data confirmed the regional datasets more easily available. The BS-
assumption that for most required data exist at OS is based on a modern Spatial Data
least at one of the spatial scales. The analysis Infrastructure (SDI), which is interoperable with
also confirmed that the accessibility of data is one the international GEO (GEO 2005) and the
of the main problems. The data of global and European INSPIRE (EU 2007) standards and
European scale are mostly free, while access to framework. The situation at the global, European
the data on regional and national level is usually and regional scale is quite satisfactory. This
limited or restricted. For such data categories as follows from the fact that there are already many
climatic, hydro-meteorological, agricultural, and datasets at these scales registered in the GEOSS
pollutants discharges data of required spatial and portal, but this is not the case for data at the
temporal resolution are not accessible, which is country scale.
considered as a significant gap, because these SDI can clearly improve the situation of data and
data are crucial for running and calibrating models metadata exchange among partners and beyond.
such as SWAT. The project decided therefore to concentrate its
capacity building efforts through courses
The enviroGRIDS Spatial Data dedicated to high-level decision makers capable
Infrastructure (SDI) of changing national data policies in one hand,
The Black Sea catchment Observation System and to technicians capable of setting new local
(BS-OS) built by enviroGRIDS aims at filling some SDI needed to register existing data and metadata
of the identified data gaps by making national and services into GEOSS and INSPIRE.
Reinforcing regional data sharing through web services
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7. All stakeholders in the Black Sea region are now
strongly encouraged to make available their
metadata and data available through the BS-OS
using the following web services:
• CSW allows to share metadata
• Web Mapping Services (WMS) transform
spatial data into dynamic maps created on
request as images that are published on the
Internet without making the raw data
available
• Web Feature Service (WFS) allow to share
vector data itself with all its geometric
features and related attributes
• Web Coverage Services (WCS) allows a
client to access raster datasets.
The Black Sea catchment Observation gSWAT allows users to calibrate the SWAT
System components hydrological model on the GRID.
portal.envirogrids.net
The Geoportal allows users to search, discover,
and access data sets in the Black Sea catchment.
eGLE implements both a user interface, and the
tools for the development, the execution and the
management of teaching materials.
GreenLand generates and executes on the
GRID workflows for instance to process satellite
images.
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8. such as GEOSS and INSPIRE, as well as
metadata catalogues from selected projects.
Unlike in the Danube countries, the gaps in data
availability for large areas of the Black Sea
catchment within Russia, Georgia and Turkey
cannot be covered with datasets available in the
European union.
In order to further improve Earth Observation in
the Black Sea region, the following actions are
recommended:
• Improve the compatibility of existing datasets
and observation systems with INSPIRE and
GEO standards of interoperability,
• Identify and federate national observation
systems, services, and responsible agencies
Bashyt is a Collaborative Working Environment in all countries of the Black Sea catchment in
(CWE) on the web that builds on complex order to elaborate recommendation on filling
"physically based" hydrological, land cover and data gaps at country level,
ocean models to support decision makers through • Encourage countries (e.g. Georgia, Bulgaria)
a user-friendly Web interface. that are not yet members of GEO to join this
organization,
• Enhance networks of data acquisition in each
region/country,
• Publish the information on available datasets
at the enviroGRIDS portal as the entry-point
to discover data and metadata within the
Black Sea catchment.
Conclusions
The large amount of datasets relevant to the
project and end-users data need has been
identified at different scales from national to
regional, European and global. At the same time,
it was found that access to data in many cases is
limited or restricted, particularly at national level,
so the data accessibility appears to be the main
Some enviroGRIDS recommendations problem preventing effective data usage.
The issue of data accessibility is of primary With respect to the data and observation systems
importance. Even the access to project partner’s needs of the main end-users, the gap analysis
data can be limited or restricted. In general, it is concluded that:
recommended to elaborate appropriate data BSC:
policies favoring free data access and exchange • There are significant gaps in availability of
for non-commercial purposes. marine environment data from water column,
The metadata catalogs and portals are key sediments and biota resulted from gaps in
gateways to discover data. The enviroGRIDS corresponding observation / monitoring
geoportal allows discovering datasets relevant to systems. It is unlikely that these gaps can be
the project and end-users data needs. It is covered within the enviroGRIDS, since the
harvesting the content of other metadata catalogs project is focused mainly on the catchment
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9. area rather than on the Black Sea water The project tried to show the best practices on
body. SDI development, on data and metadata portals,
• There are gaps in data on pollution loads to and on useful applications for citizens and
the Black Sea from land based sources, decision makers. The beauty, interest and unique
including rivers, identity of the Black Sea region well disserve a
• Observation system to monitor pollutants state-of-the-art system to preserve its value and
deposition from atmosphere is missing. assess its vulnerability to global changes. Let’s
ICPDR: hope that the effort of the enviroGRIDS project will
• Most of required data are available at the contribute to convince more data owners that
regional (Danube) or European scales, sharing their data is good for the future
• There are gaps on availability of data on development of the Black Sea region, and
pollutants deposition from atmosphere. therefore for themselves as well. By sharing its
SWAT: data, regional and national institutions become
• Some of required data (DEM, land cover, more visible thanks to the efforts of the Global
soil, population) are available at regional to Earth Observation System of Systems.
global scales, however,
• Data from weather and river stations are Relevant enviroGRIDS deliverables
rather scarce;
D2.6 Gap analysis
• Access to the data on pollution discharges D2.10 Spatial Data Infrastructure: GEOSS, INSPIRE
and water quality, particularly in non-EU and UNSDI
counties, is limited or restricted; D3.5 Proposed demographic scenario analysis and
• The spatial resolution of crop yield data from overview of driving forces and justification, model
open sources of global scale may be not input parameters and allocation rules.
satisfactory, while access to more detailed D3.6 Proposed climatic scenario analysis and overview
national agriculture data is limited or of the more relevant driving and its justification,
model input parameters and allocation rules.
restricted.
D3.7 Proposed land cover scenario analysis and
overview of the more relevant driving and its
The analysis of available datasets revealed the justification, model input parameters and allocation
problem of data compatibility at different scales. rules.
For example, global and European datasets for D3.8 Outputs from Spatially explicit combined
land cover are not compatible in terms of land scenarios.
cover categories. Similar problem exist between D4.11 Calibrated water quantity and quality model for
datasets of country scale and other scales. BSC, with impacts of scenarios
Resolving this problem may require significant D6.4 First implementation of the BSC-OS portal
D6.8 National GEO committees
efforts, particularly when it is necessary to
D7.12 Policy makers involvement report
combine data from different scales.
Combining data from different scales is directly Selected references
linked to the issue of correspondence of datasets Arnold, J.G. et al. 1998. Large area hydrologic
and observation systems to INSPIRE and GEO modeling and assessment, Part 1: Model
interoperability standards. The fact, that most of Development. JAWRA Journal of the American
reported national datasets are not accessible Water Resources Association 34: 73-89.
through the Internet and do not have relevant EU 2007. Directive 2007/2/EC of the European
metadata available, points to the absence of such Parliament and the Council of 14 March 2007
correspondence. establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information
In conclusion, the aim of the enviroGRIDS project in the European Community (INSPIRE). Brussels:
14.
to build capacity on Earth Observation Systems
GEO 2005. Global Earth Observation System of
through improved data collection, management, Systems 10-Year Implementation Plan Reference
storage, analyses and dissemination is more than Document: 209.
ever a necessity in the Black Sea catchment. Giuliani, G. et al. 2011. Grid-enabled Spatial Data
Infrastructure for environmental sciences:
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10. Challenges and opportunities. In: Future Generation
Computer Systems.
Giuliani, G. et al. 2011. Sharing Environmental Data
through GEOSS. In: International Journal of Applied
Geospatial Research.
Gorgan, D. 2012. Software Platform Interoperability
Throughout EnviroGRIDS Portal. In: IEEE Journal of
Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and
Remote Sensing.
RIKS 2005. The Metronamica modelling framework:
model descriptions. Model documentation.
Maastricht: Research Institute for Knowledge
Systems.
Rouholahnejad, E. et al. 2012. A parallelization
framework for calibration of hydrological models. In:
Environmental Modelling & Software. 2012.
Selected websites
enviroGRIDS project: www.envirogrids.net
GEO/GEOSS: www.earthobservations.org
INSPIRE: inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu
BSC PS: www.blacksea-commission.org
ICPDR: www.icpdr.org
METRONAMICA:www.metronamica.nl
SWAT: swatmodel.tamu.edu
Search enviroGRIDS data portal
http://www.envirogrids.cz
View enviroGRIDS on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/user/envirogrids
Join enviroGRIDS on LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3374617
www.envirogrids.net
Follow enviroGRIDS on Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/envirogrids
enviroGRIDS consortium
UNIGE/UNEP, Switzerland; AZBOS, Ukraine; ARXIT,
Switzerland; BSC PS, Turkey; BSREC, Bulgaria;
CCSS, Czech Republic; CERN, Switzerland (Int.);
CEU/ACWC, Hungary; CRS4, Italy; DDNI, Romania;
DHMO, Ukraine; EAWAG, Switzerland; Geographic,
Georgia; ICPDR, International Organization; IGAR,
Romania; IHE, The Netherlands (UN); INHGA,
Romania; ITU, Turkey; IBSS, Ukraine; MEF, Turkey;
NIMH, Bulgaria; ONU, Ukraine; ANTEA, Belgium;
SPSU, Russian Federation; TNU, Ukraine; UAB, Spain;
UMA, Spain; UTC, Romania; USRIEP, Ukraine;
VITUKI, Hungary.
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