About
Use Cases
The Egyptian pilot will take place at the Benban solar farm dealing with energy management and production planning optimisation, exploiting the sensors information combined with the modelling infrastructure. Thus, 1) the solar radiation measurements will be used for the harmonisation with the real power production, for data assimilation to solar energy models and for forecasting purposes, 2) the wind speed and direction will be used for the dust forecasting and load estimation, 3) the PM for comparison with the dust modelling and for air quality quantification aspects and 4) the temperature and relative humidity for the solar panels efficiency, operation optimum conditions and maintenance alerting. Additionally, real power and energy productions will be used for validation of the observational and modelling approaches. The result will be a dedicated energy management system for the Benban solar project and also a more generalised model capable to be replicated and applied at any solar farm across Egypt and beyond.
The Cypriot pilot includes the evaluation of the performance of existing operational models of the Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) with the inclusion of the additional data generated from CiROCCO Pilot 1. In addition, the Cypriot Pilot aims to study the interaction between an already congested environment, such as the case of the Municipality of Idalion through DIMOS (due to the anthropogenic activity), in relation to an additional burden due to the DDS. The lessons learned from this pilot can be transferred to similar areas in Cyprus and elsewhere in eastern Europe. Forecasting forms the best-performing meteorological model, and they will be used for the establishment of an early warning dissemination system for DDS that will be adopted by the relevant regulatory authority in Cyprus (DIMOS and the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance - MLO). The early warning system will be made available through internet website and a mobile application.
Deliblato sands is an isolated complex of sandy masses in Serbia's northern region; the area is characterised as an environmentally sensitive area to degradation due to the unbalanced and unsustainable human activity pressure, management intensity, vegetation cover and vegetation quality, climate, and soil properties. The sensing network and provided services of CiROCCO will be use to tackle these problems with the main goals to: a) indicate the sensitivity and fragility of Deliblato sands to land degradation processes, b) assess the impact of air pollution, and c) monitor the ecological balance and stability of the area using available data on soil, climate, vegetation, and management system in combination with the in-situ CiROCCO environmental observations.
Tabernas badlands in AlmerÃa constitute one of the most extensive badland landscapes in semi-arid south-east Spain and one of the driest areas in Europe. For this pilot, two experimental sites, Balsablanca and Llano de los Juanes, have been selected as ideal for CiROCCO’s purposes, as they are part of a network of experimental observatories in several dryland environments around Almeria province in south-east Spain. This network is currently operating within the greater FLUXNET network. Currently, the operating equipment and sensors are capable of measuring air temperature, soil temperature, wind speed, humidity, amount and distribution of precipitation, and solar radiation. Additionally, parameters to deduce the source and behaviour of biogenic and non-biogenic aerosol particles exchanges between soil-vegetation and atmosphere in drylands from an integrated perspective are also measured. The new sensor network to be offered by CiROCCO will expand the observed parameters, where Ozone, and PM2.5 and PM10 will be the key data. More specifically, the new sensors network will support the understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of biogenic and non-biogenic aerosol sources and sinks, as well as their formation and transformation processes in the atmosphere, including the radiative effects on climate (non-biogenic particles), human-health and biodiversity effects (biogenic particles), aiming to also address climate change effects and, biodiversity and ecosystem degradation.