426
N.J. Brown et al.
all, over 300 scientists are involved in the core programme and associated special topics over
the six year (1994 -1999) life of the study.
ITE scientists and, in particular, their GIS specialists, have extensive experience
with collaborative projects. Developments such as the DOE Core Model (Parr and Eatherall,
1994) have paved the way to encouraging collaboration through sharing of data and
construction of GIS based analysis techniques. LOIS is the most ambitious collaboration
attempted in the UK between terrestrial, freshwater, marine, atmospheric and geological
scientists (NERC, 1994).
Linking disciplinary studies, examination of fluxes through distinct geographic
regions and the coupling of data and models has been encouraged by development of easily
used interfaces to GIS. These developments are described in this chapter.
LOIS
LOIS is a six-year programme to quantify the exchange, transformation and storage of
materials between the land and the deep ocean and determine how these parameters change
in time and space. Scientific research within the BIOTA programme concentrates on the
inter-tidal zone but must also address influences from both the land and sea.
Fig. 1 shows the relationships of the environmental zones that are of interest to
LOIS. The flux of materials will have implications for the variability of ecological,
geochemical and geomorphological processes that are being studied within LOIS. Spatial
scales vary from the effect of tube worms on sediment stability to the topography of the
Continental shelf and associated land masses. The processes that are investigated range from
individual storm events of a few hours to the evolution of the coastline over the last ten
thousand years
The primary objectives of LOIS are (NERC, 1994):
to estimate the contemporary flux of momentum and materials (sediments,
nutrients, contaminants) into and out of the coastal zone, including transfers via
rivers, coasts, groundwater, the atmosphere and the shelf-ocean boundary;
to characterize the key physical and biochemical processes which govern coastal
morphodynamics and the functioning of coastal ecosystems, with particular
reference to the effects of variations in sediment supply and inputs of pollutants;
to describe the evolution of coastal systems from the Holocene to now in response to
changes in climatic conditions, changes in relative sea-level and the impact of
human activities;
to develop coupled land-ocean models to simulate the transport, transformation and
fate of materials in the coastal zone, and provide the basis for predicting
hydrological, geomorphological and ecological conditions under different
environmental scenarios for the next 50 - 100 years.
The main products of LOIS research are to be:
N.J. Brown et al.
all, over 300 scientists are involved in the core programme and associated special topics over
the six year (1994 -1999) life of the study.
ITE scientists and, in particular, their GIS specialists, have extensive experience
with collaborative projects. Developments such as the DOE Core Model (Parr and Eatherall,
1994) have paved the way to encouraging collaboration through sharing of data and
construction of GIS based analysis techniques. LOIS is the most ambitious collaboration
attempted in the UK between terrestrial, freshwater, marine, atmospheric and geological
scientists (NERC, 1994).
Linking disciplinary studies, examination of fluxes through distinct geographic
regions and the coupling of data and models has been encouraged by development of easily
used interfaces to GIS. These developments are described in this chapter.
LOIS
LOIS is a six-year programme to quantify the exchange, transformation and storage of
materials between the land and the deep ocean and determine how these parameters change
in time and space. Scientific research within the BIOTA programme concentrates on the
inter-tidal zone but must also address influences from both the land and sea.
Fig. 1 shows the relationships of the environmental zones that are of interest to
LOIS. The flux of materials will have implications for the variability of ecological,
geochemical and geomorphological processes that are being studied within LOIS. Spatial
scales vary from the effect of tube worms on sediment stability to the topography of the
Continental shelf and associated land masses. The processes that are investigated range from
individual storm events of a few hours to the evolution of the coastline over the last ten
thousand years
The primary objectives of LOIS are (NERC, 1994):
to estimate the contemporary flux of momentum and materials (sediments,
nutrients, contaminants) into and out of the coastal zone, including transfers via
rivers, coasts, groundwater, the atmosphere and the shelf-ocean boundary;
to characterize the key physical and biochemical processes which govern coastal
morphodynamics and the functioning of coastal ecosystems, with particular
reference to the effects of variations in sediment supply and inputs of pollutants;
to describe the evolution of coastal systems from the Holocene to now in response to
changes in climatic conditions, changes in relative sea-level and the impact of
human activities;
to develop coupled land-ocean models to simulate the transport, transformation and
fate of materials in the coastal zone, and provide the basis for predicting
hydrological, geomorphological and ecological conditions under different
environmental scenarios for the next 50 - 100 years.
The main products of LOIS research are to be: