Suchergebnisse

The implementation of marine spatial plans as required by the Directive on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) of the European Union (EU) poses novel demands for the development of decision support tools (DST). One fundamental aspect is the need for tools to guide decisions about the allocation of human activities at sea in ways that are ecosystem-based and lead to sustainable use of resources. The MSP Directive was the main driver behind the development of spatial and non-spatial DSTs for the analysis of marine and coastal areas across European seas. In this research we develop an analytical framework designed by DST software developers and managers for the analysis of six DSTs supporting MSP in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The framework compares the main conceptual, technical and practical aspects, by which these DSTs contribute to advancing the MSP knowledge base and identified future needs for the development of the tools. Results show that all of the studied DSTs include elements to support ecosystem-based management at different geographical scales (from national to macro-regional), relying on cumulative effects assessment and functionalities to facilitate communication at the science-policy interface. Based on our synthesis we propose a set of recommendations for knowledge exchange in relation to further DST developments, mechanisms for sharing experience among the user-developer community, and actions to increase the effectiveness of the DSTs in MSP processes.

Abstract. Addressing coastal risks related to sea storms requires an integrative approach
which combines monitoring stations, forecasting models, early warning systems,
and coastal management and planning. Such great effort is sometimes possible
only through transnational cooperation, which becomes thus vital to face,
effectively and promptly, the marine events which are responsible for
damage impacting the environment and citizens' life. Here we present a
shared and interoperable system to allow a better exchange of and elaboration on
information related to sea storms among countries. The proposed integrated web
system (IWS) is a combination of a common data system for sharing ocean
observations and forecasts, a multi-model ensemble system, a geoportal, and
interactive geo-visualisation tools to make results available to the general
public. The multi-model ensemble mean and spread for sea level height and wave
characteristics are used to describe three different sea condition scenarios.
The IWS is designed to provide sea state information required for issuing coastal
risk alerts over the analysed region as well as for being easily integrated
into existing local early warning systems. This study describes the
application of the developed system to the exceptional storm event of
29 October 2018 that caused severe flooding and damage
to coastal infrastructure in the Adriatic Sea. The forecasted
ensemble products were successfully compared with in situ observations. The
hazards estimated by integrating IWS results in existing early warning systems
were confirmed by documented storm impacts along the coast of Slovenia,
Emilia-Romagna and the city of Venice. For the investigated event, the most
severe simulated scenario results provide a realistic and conservative
estimation of the peak storm conditions to be used in coastal risk management.