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Port EnvironmentAl infoRmation colLector

Exploitable results

Ports are highly affected by ocean conditions and pollution events nearby. Moreover, European legislation is also requesting better information. A remote and continuous monitoring of a wider geographical area is a key aspect for improving the understanding port environment phenomena, as well as anticipating risk situations that will affect the port. There are a large number of systems in place to gather relevant geo-information data, mainly meteorological, water quality, oceanographic and pollution related. However, it is clear that the systems used presently are in-situ sensors and are mainly used to gather specific data within or near the port area. Improving information flow by increasing the number of in-situ sensors deployed is a costly investment strategy. Space data is seriously underused by port authorities due to different obstacles, although it space data is becoming more and more available appears that EO data is able to provide valuable information in areas near the coastline. At the same time, projects such as the FP6 IP Mersea focus on the delivery of oceanographic products exploiting space data and model innovation. These data products are very relevant to Ports. PEARL (Port enviromental information collector) is an international project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (2002- 2006). PEARL seeks to address the above issues by developing a port environmental management system enabling the optimal exploitation of space and in situ data products. Pearl aims at providing, for the first time, a platform focusing on ports and their environmental problems for user friendly access of in situ and space data and models, and their efficient combination. First, a profile of port authorities and their environmental needs which has been prepared giving an insight into the status of the potential European port market in terms of core profile information, based on a survey of 26 ports. This profile aims to provide a summary and simple analysis of the port market (circa 2005). It is clear that there is a broad range of ports across Europe, with large variations in size, location and trade activities. Each port has its own specific identity. It should be noted that the sample chosen is representative of European ports and is not exhaustive. The aim has been to select as representative a sample as possible, for the purposes of this study. The main findings were that; most were publicly owned; estuaries and rivers were the main geographic locations; port areas varied significantly reflecting the diverse range of ports; and general cargo was the most popular commodity handled. Regarding port business size; the most common total annual tonnage was between 5 and 15 million; the majority of ports handle less than 250 thousand TEUs annually; half of the ports carry less than 1 million passengers annually; and turnovers are very varied with an average of 68 million euros annually. To cover this diversity, PEARL platform needs an element of scalability to allow for smaller ports to benefit from the system as well as the larger ones. This has been a key consideration, taken into account in the design of the platform from the beginning. From the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the interview responses there are a number of general conclusions that may be drawn. The parameters of turbidity (and sediment processes), meteorological data (particularly wind), water quality, currents, oil spill and air quality were foremost in the environmental management requirements of ports. Four of these parameters are all contained within the top 10 environmental issues for ports reported in the ESPO Environmental Survey of 2005. Key environmental data parameters that stand out as meeting definite needs, and also fit well the exploitation of EO data, are wave climate data and the sharing of all types of single point data from ports in close proximity to each other. If an EO service for wave data in the approaches to ports were made available, then a rapid uptake by a number of ports would be likely, as this is an area of great importance. The potential to provide wide area data which is calibrated by ports in close proximity also fits very well into the potential of the PEARL platform technology. This could allow for the strengths of the platform to be fully exploited, and for national and international cooperation in combining, managing and disseminating enhanced port environmental data for the benefit of all involved. Additionally the costs of obtaining the EO data could be shared among the ports instead of paying individually, resulting in significant economic savings. In terms of the desirability of the PEARL platform 48% the port interviewee's rated the market potential for the PEARL platform to be 'strong' or 'very strong'. This desirability was a positive response that increased during the validation campaigns when users saw the platform in operation. Participants from the ports were informed of the progress of the project, and invited to provide feedback. This feedback is very valuable to ensure that the platform is designed to meet the potential market's needs. The PEARL project was acknowledged during the validation campaigns as a valuable initiative towards the direction of exploring the potential for complementing in-situ data that is currently collected by the ports with EO data sets and applications. The aim is to create added value and to assist in daily port operations and port environmental management. The selected EO data sets and applications that were used within the PEARL prototype demonstrated that satellite information can indeed have a valuable contribution towards that direction. In order to derive some overall conclusions regarding the value of EO data applications at ports also other experiences that can be encountered worldwide in various projects and initiatives should be taken into consideration. Actually, in some ports already some experience is available in using satellite information for port environmental management. Synthesising the ports' feedback during the PEARL validation campaigns and the existing experience in the field of applying satellite information to port environmental and operational management the following overall conclusions can be derived: 1. Satellite data provides valuable additional information for port environmental management: - it can offer continuity of data by filling up the gaps in information; - it adds another level of insight and it contributes the larger scale overview that in combination with detailed in-situ data collection can facilitate the interpretation of the causal chain of environmental damage; - it gives a quick check in practice on calculating environmental damage from port operations (e.g. about the size of the plume of disturbed water during dredging activities - practical experience in Australia). 2. EO data can be seen as complementary to in-situ monitoring data systems. EO data provides information at a different often broader and more strategic level that the in situ systems. The interpretation of satellite information may contain a degree of uncertainty and therefore has to be combined with in situ information for verification purposes (e.g. identification of oil spills). 3. EO imagery could deliver additional information and assist on the sustainable management of the logistic chain and in particular the sea leg of it. Here however cooperation is needed between ports and other authorities involved in environmental management of the seas. 4. The costs of EO data are quality (e.g. resolution) dependent. The more detail is requested the higher the costs involved. Detailed satellite pictures are relatively expensive but depending on the costs of the operation could be nonetheless an efficient and additional way for monitoring and control (e.g. for controlling dredging operations during a port development project). 5. Possibilities for data and cost sharing can occur where EO imagery is useful for different parties. Imagery of larger areas (e.g. the North Sea) could be of interest for more users and sharing of data could therefore bring the costs per user at an acceptable level. Parties with an interest in EO data sharing could be ports but also parties with a wider interest in environmental data such as national and international environmental authorities, EC agencies, and port umbrella organisations (e.g. ESPO, ABP, Ecoports). In addition, the sharing of environmental data would improve the cooperation between the ports and between the ports and the above mentioned organisations and enhance the efficiency in data handling. Users can then be brought together and share a range of otherwise retained or not accessible information. 6. Pictures from smaller areas, such as seaports, are relatively more expensive and will normally have only one interested user (the port authority or the environmental authority). The costs will be relatively high compared to in situ measurement. Depending on the costs of the project involved these costs can however be seen as acceptable. For example in the case of high cost port expansion plans that need dredging activities and that need a thorough measuring and monitoring system connected with environmental permits satellite pictures could deliver worthwhile additional information. Summarising, the PEARL prototype can be seen as a valuable step towards the integration of EO data to existing port environmental monitoring systems. PEARL offered the technical solutions in bringing data originating from different sources together in a common and user friendly interface. The parallel visualization and management of data demonstrated its added value to daily port environmental management. Some challenges still remain and need further investigation such as the optimal application of EO data for operations in the area under the responsibility of the port authorities. The decisive factor in ports decision to invest on a system driven by the PEARL concept would depend on the cost and added value ratio of the offered product or service. Towards improving this ratio, the possibilities for cooperation, cost and data sharing between ports and other parties such as national and international environmental authorities, EC agencies, and port umbrella organisations (e.g. ESPO, Ecoports, Puertos del Estado in Spain) need to be investigated. Cooperation in information exchange could contribute to the management of sustainability in the logistic chain.

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