Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in XXVI International Symposium "Modern Technologies, Education and Professional Practice in Geodesy and Related Fields" with a Special Session for Young Scientists and Students and Exhibition

11.2016

On 03-04 November 2016 the XXVI International Symposium "Modern technologies, education and professional practice in geodesy and related fields" was held in Sofia, Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria.

The International symposium was organized by the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria, under the auspices and in close cooperation with eminent international geodetic and others organizations. The main topics of the symposium were modern technologies in the field of Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Cartography, Earth Observation, Land management, GIS, Education and Professional practice.

This year ReSAC participated with two presentations:

1. Mapping and assessment fresh water and grassland ecosystems condition and their services in Bulgaria;
   2. Mapping flood risk and flood hazard for East Aegean River Basin Directorate.

The first report presented ReSAC participation in two projects financed by the program BG03 "Biodiversity and Ecosystems" and co-financed with the funds of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009-2014 (EEA Grants):

• FEMA Project: Freshwater ecosystem services mapping and assessment in Bulgaria
• Assessment and mapping of GRASSLAND ecosystems condition and their services in Bulgaria

The project objectives, by developed and approved methodologies are about mapping and assessment of the freshwater (rivers and lakes) and grassland ecosystems condition and ecosystems services in Bulgaria, situated outside Natura 2000 network.

The second report presented ReSAC participation, in a consortium with other organizations in the project "Mapping flood hazard and flood risk in East Aegean River Basin Directorate (EARBD) in Bulgaria". The project is a second step of implementation of the Flood Risk Directive in Bulgaria, namely preparation of the flood hazard and risk maps. It is focused on analyzing 31 areas with significant potential flood risk with a total length of 1078 km. in the rivers and 19 reservoirs for which a scenario for dam break and dam overflow was modeled.

Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC Conducted a Second Training Course within the FEMA Project

06.2016

On 28.06.2016, in the conference room, in the office of ReSAC, 9 Kokiche Str., Lozenets, Sofia, a second training course on "Practical knowledge and skills for using open source GIS applications and Web-based GIS" was held within the project "Freshwater Ecosystem Services Mapping and Assessment in Bulgaria (FEMA)", financed under the BG03 "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services", under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area.

All participants in the seminar received certificates for participation in the training course.

Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC Conducted a Training Course within the FEMA Project

06.2016

On 20.06.2016, in the conference room, in the office of ReSAC, 9 Kokiche Str., Lozenets, Sofia, a training course on "Practical knowledge and skills for using open source GIS applications and Web-based GIS" was held within the project "Freshwater Ecosystem Services Mapping and Assessment in Bulgaria (FEMA)", financed under the BG03 "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services", under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area.

The objectives of the meeting-seminar were:
1. Training of representatives of the partners in the project aiming to acquire practical knowledge and skills for working with open source GIS applications;
2. Introduction to the options of WEB-based GIS platforms for publishing, distribution and editing of spatial data;
3. Coordination of methods to determine the necessary parameters/indicators (defined in the methodology) for freshwater ecosystems assessment and freshwater ecosystem services assessment;
4. Discussion and choice of ways to fill the above parameters in the database.

The training was conducted by a team of specialists from ReSAC. The partners were acquainted with both the options and functions of desktop open source GIS applications, used for creation and processing of spatial data, as well as open source Web GIS applications used for development of Web GIS module of the project.

Additionally, an overview of some of the most popular open source GIS applications, their specifications and functions, was made.

The freshwater ecosystem database and the ways of filling attributes for the ecosystem types, indicators for condition and services, were discussed.

Within the one-day seminar, issues for the project development, coordination in the efforts for collecting information for the ecosystem condition and their services, exchange of experience, synchronizing the activities and their coordination, were discussed.

All participants in the seminar received certificates for participation in the training course.

ReSAC Successfully Fulfilled a Project for Mapping Flood Risk and Flood Hazard for East-Aegean River Basin Directorate, Bulgaria

03.2016

Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC, Bulgaria in a consortium with other organizations finished the project for Mapping flood hazard and flood risk in East Aegean River Basin Directorate (EARBD) in Bulgaria. The project was a second step in implementation of the Flood Risk Directive in Bulgaria, namely preparation of the flood hazard and risk maps. The project was focused on analyzing 31 areas with significant potential flood risk with a total length of 1078 km. in the rivers and 19 reservoirs for which a scenario for dam break and dam overflow was modeled.

The territory of the EARBD is almost 1/3 from the territory of Bulgaria. The second largest river in the country flows here – Maritsa River which is a transboundary river for Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. The other important rivers also transboundary are Arda River, which takes the water from the East Rhodope Mountain and Tundzha River – both of them tributaries to Maritsa.

For very short time frame from the beginning of May 2015 the project consortium performed activities on preparatory actions for analysing the areas with significant flood risk, more than 2000 cross section measurements, hydraulic (1D and 2D) and hydrologic modeling in order to assess the flood hazard.

ReSAC was involved in the aforementioned steps supporting the consortium with GIS analyses, cross section distribution, data processing for modeling, preparation of DEM from topographic maps in scale 1:5 000 and cadaster information.

The main responsibility of ReSAC was focused on assessing the flood risk within the 31 areas of the project. National data for population, economic infrastructure, land use, cadaster, critical infrastructure, cultural heritage, protected areas etc. were processed in a way to allow assessing the flood risk in accordance to the Flood Risk Directive of the EU.

As a result of the project more than 5300 maps in scale 1:10 000 and 1: 5 000 for flood hazard and flood risk were produced and delivered to the East Aegean River Basin Directorate and to the stake holders and interested users.

ReSAC was also responsible for preparation all the GIS databases containing the in-situ data, source data and final project results databases. ReSAC produced the database which the River Basin Directorate will directly report to the EC in relation to the Directive together with the GIS layers to be integrated in WISE.

The project was a continuation of the activities and professional expertise ReSAC provides to the specialized governmental authorities in the past several years related with disaster management and especially these related with the Flood Risk Directive. ReSAC as a center of excellence supports the Ministry of Environment and Water and River Basin Directorates in the implementation of the Directive since 2011 with the Preliminary Flood Hazard and Risk Assessment for Danube Region River Basin Directorates (DRRBD), in 2012 with the Determination of the Areas with Significant Potential Flood Risk for DRRBD and participation in the Danube FloodRisk Project with preparation of Flood Hazard and Risk Maps for Bulgarian Sector of Danube River and training of the local users and stakeholders.

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in Project "GRASSLAND"

01.2016

Project "GRASSLAND - Assessment and mapping of GRASSLAND ecosystems condition and their services in Bulgaria"

The project is financed by Programme BG03 "Biodiversity and ecosystems", and co-financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (FM of EEA 2009-2014) with contract № D-33-90/03.09.2015, concluded between Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (IBER-BAS) and Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW).

Duration: 2015.09.03 – 2017.04.30

Thematic area: Biodiversity, Describe and evaluate the grasslands, Environmental management

Beneficiary: Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER – BAS)

Partners: Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC, Bulgarian Society for Protection of Birds - BSPB, Biosphere Consult Ltd.

The project aims to ensure an opportunity to explore various issues related to the availability of grassland ecosystems, combined with the long-term preservation of their potential. The project will contribute original information about the grasslands outside the Natura 2000 network, about their distribution, biophysical parameters and capacity for commercial use. Hence we will directly contribute to the sustainable management of grasslands in Bulgaria. The collected and processed information will be fed into the National Information System on Biodiversity to establish a reliable source for monitoring changes and implement adequate conservation measures.

More information about the project: www.grasslands-ecoservices-bg.eu

Participation of Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC in Project "FEMA"

01.2016

Project FEMA - Fresh water ecosystem services mapping and assessment in Bulgaria"

The project is financed by Programme BG03 "Biodiversity and ecosystems", and co-financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (FM of EEA 2009-2014) with contract № D-33-87/27.08.2015, concluded between Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (IBER-BAS) and Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW).

Duration: 2015.08.57 – 2017.04.30

Thematic area: Biodiversity, Water management, Environmental management

Beneficiary: Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER – BAS)

Partners: Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC, Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe – branch Bulgaria (REC Bulgaria), Club "Economika 2000"

The main goal of the project is the assessment of the freshwater ecosystems in Bulgaria by following the national methodology for assessment and by developing maps corresponding to the technical requirements of the National Information System for Biodiversity in freshwater basins, which are located outside the Natura 2000 network and/or other protected areas. The overall goal of the project is to improve the integration of biodiversity into sectoral policies, in particular in the management of water resources, including an assessment of ecosystem goods/benefits and services that freshwater ecosystems provide to people and society.

More information about the project: www.freshwater-ecoservices-bg.eu