PROGRAM

2005 WSEAS International Conference on ENVIRONMENT,
ECOSYSTEMS and DEVELOPMENT (EED ‘05)

Venice, Italy, November 2-4, 2005

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Keynote Lecture I

Professor D. H. Staelin

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, USA

Generic Issues in Remote Sensing Retrievals: Examples from Passive Microwave Satellite Sensing of Precipitation

Remote sensing yields estimates of environmental parameters based on intercepted radiation. The broad underlying physical and mathematical principles of remote sensing are illustrated here in the context of passive microwave remote sensing of the atmosphere and of precipitation. The topics addressed include system architecture, retrieval architecture and methods, data compression, image processing, data fusion, and sensor design. Recent progress in the area of precipitation retrievals using polar-orbiting and geostationary millimeter-wave imaging spectrometers is highlighted.

Keynote Lecture II

Dr.  K. D. Klaes

Head of the EPS Support Science Team in the MET Division at EUMETSAT

The EPS/Metop System as a contribution to Operational Meteorology and Earth System Monitoring

The EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) is the European contribution to the joint European/US operational polar satellite system (Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS)). It covers the mid-morning (AM) orbit, whereas the US part continues to cover the afternoon (PM) orbit. The future EUMETSAT satellites of this new polar system are the METOP (METeorological OPerational Satellite) satellites, jointly developed with ESA. They will deliver high-resolution sounding and also high-resolution imagery in global coverage. Three METOP spacecraft are foreseen for a sun synchronous orbit in the 9:30 AM equator crossing (descending node). They will provide polar data from 2006 onwards. The EPS programme is planned to cover 14 years of operation. This paper will give an overview on the EPS mission and the products and services provided to users.
The EPS Programme comprises the space segment indicated above with associated launch services and a full ground segment. The space segment is developed in co-operation by EUMETSAT and the European Space Agency (ESA), and also the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The launch of the first Metop satellite is planned in the second quarter of 2006. The Metop-1 Programme includes the development of some payload components as the GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment), ASCAT (Advanced Scatterometer) and the GRAS (GPS Radio Occultation Sounder), which are in the heritage of successful research missions. Further components of the Metop payload are an AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer), and the Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) package, composed of HIRS-4 (High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder), AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit - A) and MHS (Microwave Humidity Sounder). MHS is an EUMETSAT development. It replaces the AMSU-B instrument in the ATOVS suite, while NOAA provides the ATOVS and AVHRR instruments. These instruments assure the continuity to the ATOVS suite flown on the NOAA-KLM satellites. The IASI instrument is new technology, developed by CNES and provides high spectral resolution bounding capabilities in the infrared.  All these components support operational meteorology and climate monitoring, and hence provide a contribution to Global Earth System Monitoring.

Keynote Lecture III

Professor C. G. Helmis

Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics, National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, Greece

A SODAR-based study of the mean and turbulent characteristics of the vertical structure of the marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer

In the recent years, the study of the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL) has been the topic of main interest for Atmospheric Physics. The Coupled Boundary Layers Air-Sea Transfer Experiment in Low Winds (CBLAST-Low) project aims to the understanding of the air-sea interaction and the coupled atmospheric and oceanic boundary layer dynamics at low wind speeds. As part of the CBLAST-Low experiment, extensive ground-based measurements on Nantucket Island, MA, USA, were performed during summer 2003. The main objectives of the measurements were to study the mean and turbulent vertical structure of the MABL and to evaluate mesoscale models, such as the Navy’s operational forecast model, COAMPS.
A suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments designed to fully characterize the changing boundary layer properties was deployed in the CBLAST-Low Nantucket experimental site. This instrument suite includes an Acoustic Radar (SODAR) system to measure the vertical profiles of the horizontal wind speed and direction, the vertical (w) and the two horizontal wind components (u) and (v), the standard deviations of the three wind components, the momentum fluxes of the wind components ( and ) and the atmospheric static stability, at 30 minutes interval, with a vertical resolution of 40 m and a range up to the height of 800m. Also two meteorological masts, equipped with fast and slow sensors at four different levels, provide information on the mean wind, temperature, and relative humidity and the momentum, sensible heat and latent heat fluxes.
In this invited talk a review regarding MABL will be given and the main objectives of the experimental campaign with results of the study of the structural characteristics of the mean and turbulent MABL will be presented. The measurements of the mean wind, turbulence variances and fluxes from the SODAR revealed the variation of the boundary layer stability and turbulence characteristics in response to the background flow. Also large values of the momentum fluxes at higher levels were estimated, presumably associated with the shear forcing near the very frequently developed marine low-level jet (wind maximum). The SODAR measurements, with high time and space resolution, and the other relevant measurements from this experimental campaign give information in order to understand the momentum transport and the TKE balance of the jet-related boundary layer under different meteorological conditions.

Keynote Lecture I

Professor A. Perdikoulis

University of Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal

Dynamics in Urban Planning: Examples from Practice

What chances of success do we expect to have if we suggest interventions in a city, when we have no clear idea of its function? How many “diagnostic studies” are static, and reveal merely un-related facts? How do we all share the same assumptions for “the way things work” in a particular city?
Starting with J.W. Forrester’s Urban Dynamics (1969), the field of System Dynamics has demonstrated a special way of thinking about urban systems: analytic, exploratory, experimental, dynamic, model-based, and crossdisciplinary. Along the years, many scientists and practitioners have produced similar work, which is now coming to a mature stage as an alternative methodology for urban planning.
This presentation illustrates the core innovation of the System Dynamics methodology of urban planning — i.e. dynamic urban models — and their advantages and hidden costs. The target audience is people who plan, or help to plan, for a community at the city or municipal scale — respecting the size variations that may be involved.

The three examples of dynamic urban models are selected from three typical urban planning issues:

1.        Transportation: Problems of traffic congestion and air quality

2.        Water: Problems of water stock depletion and quality

3.        Housing: Housing needs and provisions

All three examples present the special feature of “structure and function diagrams”, which allow the planners to:

·         express their problems clearly, explicitly marking resources, actors, and their dynamic relations

·         express and share their assumptions clearly

·         understand, and even debate the origin of the registered problems (linear processes? feedback loops?)

·         dicover, share, decide on, and mark their (common) objectives clearly

·         explore options for, and develop possible action (policy scenarios) that might be capable of reaching the set objectives

·         simulate those scenarios to judge their absolute or relative capability and/ or efficiency

To create and use successfully dynamic urban models requires some training to become familiar with key notions such as causality, abstraction, feedback, and delays. The System Dynamics methodology for urban planning includes this knowledge, and much more. Thus, however different or unconventional, the new methodology constitutes an alternative with clear advantages, worth any urban planner’s attention.

Keynote Lecture II

Dr. Hashem Akbari

Leader of the Heat Island Group
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Keynote Lecture III

Professor Martin van den Toorn

Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, HOLLAND

DESIGN IN A CULTURE OF MOBILITY
Towards a new space typology in landscape architecture

SPECIAL SESSION: Urban Environment and Sustainable Development 

Chair: Prof. Wen-Zer Lin 

SESSION: Planning and Sustainable Development 

Chair: Prof. J. Krope 

Thursday, November 3, 2005

SPECIAL SESSION: Urban and Rural Landscape 

Chair: Prof. J. Georgi 

SESSION: Regulation, Policies and Economy 

Chair: Prof. J. Georgi, Prof. J. Krope 

Friday, November 4, 2005

SESSION: Renewable Energies and Quality Control 

Chair: Prof. J. Georgi 

SESSION: Environmental Information Analysis 

Chair: Prof. A. Lazakidou, Prof. J. C. Quadrado