The British Geological Survey (BGS) is developing integrated environmental models to address the grand challenges that face society. Here we describe the BGS vision for an Environmental Modelling Platform (BGS 2009), that will allow integrated models to be built and describe case studies of emerging models in the United Kingdom. This Environmental Modelling Platform will be founded on the data and information that BGS holds. This will have to be made as accessible and interoperable as possible to both the academic and stakeholder decision making community. The geological models that have been built in an adhoc way over the last 5-10 years will be encompassed in a National Geological Model which will be multi-scaled, beginning with onshore United Kingdom and eventually including the offshore continental shelf. The future will be characterised by the routine delivery of 3D model products from a multi-scaled and scalable 3D geological model of the UK which can be dynamically updated. The deployment of this model will generate further significant requirements across the Information and Knowledge Exchange spectrum, from applications development (database, GIS, web and mobile device), data management, information product development, to delivery to a growing number of publics and stakeholders.There is now a growing realisation in the environmental and social sciences that to address the grand challenges that face the world a whole system approach is required. These challenges including climate change, natural resource and energy security and environment vulnerability raise multi-and transdisciplinary issues that require integrated understanding and analysis. Not only must we model the whole physical Earth system, bringing together climate, ecological, hydrological, hydrogeological, and geological models to name but a few, we must link them to socio-economic models. Model fusion may well be the only adequate way to provide the necessary coupled processes framework through which predictions and planning or management decisions can most appropriately be made.A scoping study (Giles et al 2010) assessed the current situation and made some preliminary recommendations in order to create a more integrated and semantically harmonized future in environmental modelling. The only viable option is a 'linked models' approach which enables models to pass parameters between each other at runtime. This solution can bring together the best and most appropriate scientific models and allows the various scientific disciplines to continue the development of their current models. This linking approach is also relevant for integrating models that have been largely built and optimised individually, with appropriate configuration. The European Union has funded multi-national, multi-disciplinary research into 'linked modelling', using the Open Model Interchange (OpenMI) standard. This software used, in conjunction with critical underpinning activities such as data management, semantics and ontologies, understanding of uncertainty and vi...
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is responsible for managing a major geoscience data archive on behalf of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Much of this geological data was captured during the 1990s and early 2000s using now obsolete software and data formats. This data asset remains an important resource for the NDA and the wider scientific community. The NDA wishes to ensure the data remain accessible and usable for many decades into the future. BGS has been working closely with Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), a wholly owned subsidiary of the NDA, on a programme of data management and digital continuity measures to ensure the long-term usability of the data. This paper describes some of the challenges and outlines the approaches we have taken to address these issues.
The discipline of Integrated Environmental Modelling (IEM) has developed in order to solve complex environmental problems, for example understanding the impacts of climate change on the physical environment. IEM provides methods to fuse or link models together, this in turn requires facilities to make models discoverable and also to make the outputs of modelling easily visualized.The vision and challenges for IEM going forward are summarized by leading proponents. Several case studies describe the application of model fusion to a range of real-world problems including integrating groundwater and recharge models within the UK Environment Agency, and the development of ‘catastrophe’ models to predict better the impact of natural hazards. Communicating modelling results to end users who are often not specialist modellers is also an emerging area of research addressed within the volume. Also included are papers that highlight current developments of the technology platforms underpinning model fusion.
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