EnviroGRIDS: Building Capacity for a Black Sea Catchment Observation and Assessment System supporting Sustainable Development

EnviroGRIDS is building a data-driven view of Black Sea catchment that feeds into models and scenarios to explore its past, present and future. The outputs of the projects will provide spatially explicit data and knowledge to nourish and promote the Group on Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), as well as the European INSPIRE directive establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe to support Community environmental policies, and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.
 
EnviroGRIDS will particularly target the needs of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (BSC) and the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in order to help bridging the gap between science and policy.

The project aims at:
•    Building the capacity of scientists to assemble such a GEOSS system in the Black Sea Catchment;
•    The capacity of decision-makers to use it;
•    And the capacity of the general public to understand the important environmental, social and economic issues at stake.

One of the main expected scientific outputs of the project is an hydrological model of the full Black Sea catchment calibrated with observed climate and hydrology with predictions for the future.