The infrastructure was created to respond to the need to create a coordinated and shared system, at European level, that will network the excellence of European research on the river-sea continuum. The ultimate aim is to improve knowledge of the dynamics of these systems and to define management regimes that guarantee good ecological functionality and sustainability.
Why DANUBIUS-RI?
Coastal-fluvial areas, particularly in Europe, are generally characterised by high dynamics and variability of physical, chemical, sedimentological and biogeochemical properties, and high ecological complexity. They are also heavily affected by pressures from human activities, at local, regional and global levels, and characterised by high environmental risk. Understanding the dynamics that regulate their functioning is essential for their proper management and cannot overlook an integrated and interdisciplinary approach that combines purely terrestrial, fluvial and marine fields of study with the various disciplines inherent to the environmental and socio-economic spheres.
What are its objectives?
DANUBIUS-RI was created to integrate the best European scientific and technological knowledge, to create a network of knowledge and infrastructures by capitalising on existing realities, and thus maximising the efficiency of the investment.
The aim is to improve knowledge and to define practices for the sustainable use of the river-sea continuum, which will ensure its good health, also taking into account the evolution of the demand for goods and services by society and the environmental variability, in the long and short term. In parallel, DANUBIUS-RI aims to contribute to the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals and support European environmental policies.
How is the DANUBIUS-RI infrastructure organised?
The DANUBIUS-RI infrastructure is coordinated in Romania, involves 16 EU countries and networks a set of study sites, interdisciplinary survey tools (experimental, modelling, data processing), methodologies, harmonised data and researchers, and their wealth of experience, to form an interdisciplinary platform to promote research, education and training on the ecological-socio-economic processes that characterise the river-sea continuum.
DANUBIUS-RI is a distributed infrastructure, consisting of:
- a Hub, in the Danube Delta in Romania, seat of the lead-partner;
- four nodes, located in four different countries (Observational-UK, Analysis-Germany, Modelling-Italy, Impacts-Netherlands) providing knowledge, services, data, new data storage systems, to in-situ research facilities;
- a data centre (in Romania)
- a technology transfer centre (Ireland)
- an e-Learning site (Spain);
- 12 Supersites: study sites, areas on the river-sea continuum, located in different European countries.
The Italian Supersite is the site of the 'Po Delta and North Adriatic Lagoons'.
The scientific questions dealt with by the DANUBIUS-RI infrastructure:
What characteristics does a healthy river-sea system have in the Anthropocene?
How does the river-sea system change under multiple pressures?
How do these changes propagate upstream and downstream of the river-sea system?
How do these changes affect the health of ecosystems, their functions and services?
How do we balance the objectives of sustainability, use and development and protection?
How to define management systems that guarantee these objectives?
What does OGS do
OGS is involved in the activities of the Italian Supersite of the Po Delta and Northern Adriatic Lagoons, it provides interdisciplinary expertise (ecological, socio-economic, geophysical, biological, biogeochemical, genomic), different cognitive and working methodologies (experimental, modelling, networking). It shares data, modelling tools and analysis methodologies in the field and in the laboratory.