Periodic Reporting for period 1 - S2S-Future (SIGNAL PROPAGATION IN SOURCE TO SINK for the FUTUre of earth Ressources and Energies)
Période du rapport: 2020-04-01 au 2022-03-31
Today Earth’s surface is the domain of complex interactions between humans and their physical, chemical and biological environments, including sediments. These sediments have been produced, transported and deposited on the Earth’s surface for a period of at least 4 billion years. Sediments contain geological resources (water resources, energy, aggregates, metals…) or may be a storage for different human wastes (CO2, nuclear, chemical) that are of primary importance for the development of humankind. The objective of this S2S-FUTURE ITN is to better predict the location, structures (heterogeneities) of the sediments and their mineralogical/physical properties (grain-size distribution, porosity, permeability, etc.). This will be achieved by full integration of the sedimentary system in space and time, from the upstream source of sediment to the downstream sink of sediments, known as the source-to-sink system (S2S), to meet the Planet’s needs in times of important and rapid global climate and societal changes.
Highlights:
• A strong European network of 12 academic and 10 industrial groups (enlarged since the beginning of the project);
• An ambitious training programme consisting of three major training events (summer institutes – around one month per year) taking place in northern Spain (“Dragonstone”), Norway-Switzerland (“Factory”) and Namibia (“Inside Africa”), with Tech-Labs and Soft-Labs, held by both academics and industrials;
• The development of new and innovative concepts, tools and numerical models for the prediction of sediments (reservoir and seals);
• An ambitious legacy of the project, consisting of the knowledge transfer to the industry and the creation of perennial yearly European summer school as well as of the S2S web portal.
Highlights:
• A strong European network of 12 academic and 10 industrial groups (enlarged since the beginning of the project);
• An ambitious training programme consisting of three major training events (summer institutes – around one month per year) taking place in northern Spain (“Dragonstone”), Norway-Switzerland (“Factory”) and Namibia (“Inside Africa”), with Tech-Labs and Soft-Labs, held by both academics and industrials;
• The development of new and innovative concepts, tools and numerical models for the prediction of sediments (reservoir and seals);
• An ambitious legacy of the project, consisting of the knowledge transfer to the industry and the creation of perennial yearly European summer school as well as of the S2S web portal.
The S2S-FUTURE has made significant progress since the beginning of the project in April 2020, despite it has been heavily affected by the Covid sanitary crisis (cancellation or postponement of field studies, delay in accessing data or samples, closure and/or restriction to academic and industrial buildings, travel bans). Consequently, the work of the 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) has been delayed by 3 to 6 months.
Nevertheless, the network has managed to organise an exceptional training programme titled “Dragonstone”, consisting of one week of remote training, two weeks of field work and one week of onsite training by the industrial partners. The project leaders have succeeded in sharing a common culture with the ESRs (1) in analysing complex systems using high-level geological tools (including subsurface data) and (2) in using open access numerical tools of Earth surface processes (FastScape coordinated by J. Braun GFZ). The second large training event is ongoing (May/June 2022), and will provide the ESRs with technical and soft skills to accelerate their research, write and present their results, consolidate their profiles and develop concrete plans for their future. In addition, the ESRs will visit modern, active, smaller-scale S2S systems in Norway and Switzerland.
Despite mainly online interactions, the network succeed (1) to create an homogenous group of ESRs, who organised a dedicated conference session at the European Geosciences Union 2022 and (2) to have dynamic scientific exchanges within the work packages “Slow” (impact of long-term events on S2S systems), “Rapid” (impact of short-term climatic events on S2S systems), “Human” (impact of human activities on S2S systems) and “Model”, as well as fruitful interactions between these work packages.
All hired ESRs are in the writing process of their first scientific articles.
Nevertheless, the network has managed to organise an exceptional training programme titled “Dragonstone”, consisting of one week of remote training, two weeks of field work and one week of onsite training by the industrial partners. The project leaders have succeeded in sharing a common culture with the ESRs (1) in analysing complex systems using high-level geological tools (including subsurface data) and (2) in using open access numerical tools of Earth surface processes (FastScape coordinated by J. Braun GFZ). The second large training event is ongoing (May/June 2022), and will provide the ESRs with technical and soft skills to accelerate their research, write and present their results, consolidate their profiles and develop concrete plans for their future. In addition, the ESRs will visit modern, active, smaller-scale S2S systems in Norway and Switzerland.
Despite mainly online interactions, the network succeed (1) to create an homogenous group of ESRs, who organised a dedicated conference session at the European Geosciences Union 2022 and (2) to have dynamic scientific exchanges within the work packages “Slow” (impact of long-term events on S2S systems), “Rapid” (impact of short-term climatic events on S2S systems), “Human” (impact of human activities on S2S systems) and “Model”, as well as fruitful interactions between these work packages.
All hired ESRs are in the writing process of their first scientific articles.
The project progress has gone even beyond the original plan in certain aspects, namely concerning the project legacy. The main legacy is planned to be the creation of the perennial yearly European summer school open to both academics and industrials. The “Dragonstone” training programme was the “crash” test of what might be this European summer school and the programme has proved to be a remarkable success based on participants’ evaluations. Additionally, a series of professionally made videos have been released and made public, focussing on ITN promotion, students’ research promotion and key concepts of S2S for both academics and industrials. Furthermore, additional videos will be recorded during the forthcoming training programmes and will mainly focus on the ESR findings and the scientific aspects of the training/field work.
The project leaders are in the process of extending the network to other academic and industrial partners, in order to create a large group of researchers and engineers using S2S concepts and numerical models. The main challenge is to convince industrials who are far from these concepts (e.g. aggregate and geothermal companies) to use them for the prediction of the location of new sands resources or for better understanding of the reservoir characteristics. However, this has been almost achieved.
The next step is the writing of popularization articles open to the other disciplines of Earth Sciences and to general public, in the language of each European country concerned with local applications.
The project leaders are in the process of extending the network to other academic and industrial partners, in order to create a large group of researchers and engineers using S2S concepts and numerical models. The main challenge is to convince industrials who are far from these concepts (e.g. aggregate and geothermal companies) to use them for the prediction of the location of new sands resources or for better understanding of the reservoir characteristics. However, this has been almost achieved.
The next step is the writing of popularization articles open to the other disciplines of Earth Sciences and to general public, in the language of each European country concerned with local applications.