Environmental informatics

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Environmental informatics (EI) is a developing field of science that applies information processing, management, and sharing strategies to the interdisciplinary field of environmental science.[1] Applications include the integration of information and knowledge, the application of computational intelligence to environmental data, and the identification of the environmental impacts of information technology. EI helps scientists define information processing requirements, analyze real-world problems, and solve those problems using informatics methodologies and tools.[2]

As EI has continued to evolve, several other definitions have been offered over the years:

  • "an emerging field centering around the development of standards and protocols, both technical and institutional, for sharing and integrating environmental data and information."[3] - Biosphere Data Project, University of California - Berkeley, 2004
  • the application of "[r]esearch and system development focusing on the environmental sciences relating to the creation, collection, storage, processing, modelling, interpretation, display and dissemination of data and information."[4] - Natural Environment Research Council, 2014

History

Environmental informatics emerged roughly around the late 1980s in Central Europe.[2] For example, in 1986 Germany's Gesellschaft für Informatik (Society for Computer Science) created the technical committee Informatik im Umweltschutz (Computer Science in Environmental Protection) dedicated to "the whole spectrum of subjects related to informatics in environmental protection."[5] The group is still active as of 2014, set to host it's 28th International Conference on Informatics for Environmental Protection.[6] Since Informatik im Umweltschutz's inception, other groups there and in other regions of the world were created, including The International Environmetrics Society (TIES, founded in 1989[7]) and the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs, founded in 2000[8]), as well as conferences like the International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems (ISESS, founded in 1995[9]).

Application

Environmental informatics can help tackle problems and tasks such as the following[10][11]:

  • the acquisition and application of remote sensing data from optical, thermal infrared, and microwave instruments targeting the atmosphere, vegetation, and the ocean
  • the estimation of aerosol load in the atmosphere
  • the gauging of influence of trace gases, aerosol, and clouds on the weather and climate
  • the analysis of geographical features for urban and regional development
  • the modeling and assessment of ecological environments
  • the development and optimization of mathematical algorithms for environmental modeling

Further reading


External links

Notes

This article reuses a couple of elements from the Wikipedia article.

References

  1. ↑ Hilty, L. M.; Page, B.; Radermacher, F. J.; Riekert, W. F.; Avouris, N. M. (ed.) (1995). "Chapter 1: Environmental Informatics as a New Discipline of Applied Computer Science". Environmental Informatics. Springer. pp. 1–11. ISBN 9789048145386. http://www.springer.com/environment/environmental+management/book/978-0-7923-3445-3. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Page, B.; Wohlgemuth, V. (2010). "Advances in Environmental Informatics: Integration of Discrete Event Simulation Methodology with ecological Material Flow Analysis for Modelling eco-efficient Systems". Procedia Environmental Sciences 2: 696–705. doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2010.10.079. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187802961000112X. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  3. ↑ Kada, Kathryn; Lussier, Steve. "Biosphere Data Project - What is Environmental Informatics?". University of California - Berkeley. Archived from the original on 11 December 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20041211010311/http://dream.sims.berkeley.edu/biosphere/eimore.html. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  4. ↑ "NERC - Research areas". Natural Environment Research Council. http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/application/howtoapply/topics/. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  5. ↑ Geiger, Werner (22 April 1996). "General Information about the Technical Committee 'Computer Science in Environmental Protection'". Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. Archived from the original on 26 July 1997. https://web.archive.org/web/19970726002709/http://www.iai.fzk.de/Fachgruppe/GI/allgemeines.eng.html. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  6. ↑ "EnviroInfo 2014". University of Oldenburg. http://www.enviroinfo2014.org/. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  7. ↑ "TIES - History". The International Environmetrics Society. 19 September 2013. http://www.environmetrics.org/history.html. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  8. ↑ "iEMSs - Medalists, Fellows and ECREs". International Environmental Modelling and Software Society. http://www.iemss.org/society/index.php/medallists-fellows-and-ecres. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  9. ↑ "ISESS – International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems". International Environmental Modelling and Software Society. http://www.iemss.org/society/index.php/isess. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  10. ↑ Kokhanovsky, Alexander (January 2014). "Grand challenges in environmental informatics". Frontiers in Environmental Science 1 (5). doi:10.3389/fenvs.2013.00005. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fenvs.2013.00005/full. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
  11. ↑ "Journal of Environmental Informatics". International Society for Environmental Information Sciences. http://www.iseis.org/jei/. Retrieved 03 June 2014. 
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