PREDICTIVE MODELING OF BUCHAREST URBAN SYSTEM DYNAMICS AND QUANTIFICATION OF ANTHROPOGENIC AND CLIMATE FACTORS IMPACTS THROUGH SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND BIO-GEOPHYSICAL IN-SITU DATA
Summary
The project aims at: developing interlinked and verified predictive modeling tools for anthropogenic and climatic stressors impact on urban ecosystems assessment with an application for metropolitan area Bucharest, Romania, by environmental spatio-temporal changes analysis at the local and regional scale and in global context at the level of Romania; quantification of specific urban environmental biogeophysical parameters from biogeophysical in-situ monitoring data, satellite remote sensing (multispectral, multiresolution and multitemporal) data, their integration as input for data and metadata basis for spectral, statistic and physical/climatic developed models as analytic methods needed by urban processes modeling.
Project will provide a comprehensive evaluation framework of Bucharest urban and periurban system, by predicting environmental features changes (air, water, soil, vegetation) and spatio-temporal dynamics of urban infrastructure. For the major regime shifts identification during the last 30 years, research will be based on biogeophysical parameters extracted from time-series satellite remote sensing data (Landsat MSS, TM, ETM, NOAA AVHRR, MODIS, SAR ERS, Ikonos and Quickbird).
Regional climatic/ecological models validated and upgraded will be used to assess ecosystem current state and trends during next 50 years due to changes in climate and anthropogenic forcings.
Project will provide advanced integrated methods for urban environment impact assessment, predict urban structure in disturbed ecosystems, explore specific actions to be taken for restoration of urban ecosystem integrity.Such researches are of great novelty in frame of global changes, being useful to define strategies for urban environment conservations and restoration.
The innovative character of project is reflected in the merging of new geospatial technologies with geophysics and natural sciences for impact analysis for a sustainable scientific management through environmental policies.
