On Tuesday 24 September, representatives from the water sector (market, government and knowledge institutions) gathered for the DigiShape day in Delft. Under the motto “The Netherlands is the best-monitored delta in the world”, we discussed new data-driven solutions to the challenges of our delta. The focus was on developing use cases that contribute to a widely accessible data lake, filled with existing and new monitoring data.
Summary
The session started with presentations by Gert-Jan Schotmeijer about Delta Enigma and Peter Thijsse and Patrick Gorringe about LandSeaLot. This was followed by an interactive part in which we discussed possible use cases and a concluding presentation by Michiel Blind about the financing possibilities of the TKI Delta Technology.
Delta Enigma – Gert-Jan Schotmeijer (Deltares)
Delta ENIGMA is a large scientific research infrastructure that will be set up over the next 10 years in the Dutch delta area (rivers, estuaries and coast) by the DANUBIUS-NL consortium. The following partners are participating in the Danubius-NL consortium: Utrecht University (coordinator), University of Twente, Delft University of Technology, Wageningen University, NIOZ, Deltares and Geological Survey of the Netherlands (part of TNO).
The NWO project aims to take biogeomorphological research to the next level by providing a unique infrastructure to understand how organisms, currents, waves, wind and sediment together form the delta landscape, including during extreme events.
Delta ENIGMA will turn the Dutch Delta into a world-leading ‘supersite’ for research into delta biogeomorphology under climate change. This will be achieved through the realization of a distributed delta-scale observation and research facility that focuses on four main objectives:
- Unravelling the biogeomorphological processes that build deltas, in an integrated perspective on the coupled river-estuary-coastal system;
- Moving delta biogeomorphology into the era of big data as a crucial step in the development of a new generation of predictive models;
- Quantification of the importance of extreme events in the biogeomorphological shaping of deltas under climate change;
- To lay the groundwork for better management of deltas worldwide, including the application of nature-based solutions that should be rooted in a deep system understanding.
Seven work packages
These four main objectives are achieved through seven work packages. In his presentation, Gert-Jan Schotmeijer (Deltares) further highlighted work package 7 on the ICT backbone. The starting point of FAIR data management and alignment with existing standards play a major role in this. Gert-Jan ended with a call for input from the role of data producers and data consumers respectively in order to make DeltaEnigma an even greater success. Subsequently, the attendees were challenged to create a DigiShape use case or even proposition.
LandSeaLot – Peter Thijsse (Maris) en Patrick Gorringe (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute)
LandSeaLot is a recently started EU project with the aim of reducing the “observation gaps” in the land-sea interface (especially Deltas). The approach consists of testing and applying more cost-efficient monitoring methods (sensors) in practice, improving models, and integrating these new data and models into regional data products. The monitoring data comes from satellites, traditional monitoring and research data, and the cost-efficient data from citizens (sailors, fishermen) and citizen scientists.
The project, in which 20 partners from 12 countries work together, aims to gain more accurate insight into the dynamic interactions between land and sea through satellites, in-situ measurements and citizen science. This is supported by numerical simulations to better understand how terrestrial and marine habitats influence each other. The project will run for four years, until 2028, and will test different methods, develop metadata and data models and vocabularies to improve data integration, and demonstrate this in the LandSeaLot Integration Labs.
Of great importance in limiting the observation gaps are the rapidly emerging, cost-efficient sensors to increase the observation capacity in under-observed areas. These technologies can complement existing monitoring networks, especially in coastal and shelf areas where data is often scarce. This not only promotes scientific insights, but also policy strategies for sustainable management. Citizen science plays a crucial role in this project, with the aim of supporting the EU’s goal of having 20% of marine data collected by citizens by 2025. By developing a centralized marketplace and best practices (for the application of the sensors), as well as working on metadata and data standards and FAIR data, LandSeaLot hopes to realize a widely supported and efficient observation strategy that meets the needs of various stakeholders.
Use cases
After these presentations, the participants worked in groups on concrete use cases around the themes discussed that could be taken up within Digishape in the coming years. More on this later.
TKI Delta Technology (TKI DT) – Michiel Blind
At the end of the meeting, Michiel Blind, director of the TKI Bureau Deltatechnologie, explained that the TKI invests almost 5 million euros annually in public-private partnership (PPP) projects that focus on the challenges in delta technology. These projects contribute to the implementation of the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda for Agriculture, Water and Food, with goals such as “Safe Delta” and key technologies. By stimulating innovation and acting as a matchmaker between entrepreneurs and knowledge institutions, TKI Delta Technology ensures that effective and sustainable measures are made available to keep the delta safe and liveable. Under the credo ‘business at the wheel’, Michiel explicitly calls on the business community to participate.
