Sindre Langaas

Norwegian Institute for Water Research | NIVA · Section for Water and Society

Mariussen MS, Strøm V, Valseth ÅA, Vennemo K, Bjorbækmo MFM, Chen W, Furuseth IS, Bekkby T, Berg PR, Saesin P, Staalstrøm A, Walday MG, Kaste Ø, Ruus A, Hess-Erga O-K, Langaas S. 2023. Mulighetskartlegging for kystbaserte næringer i Viken – Indre Oslofjord og Drammensfjorden. Vista Analyse Report 2023/11. ISBN 978-82-8126-623-0. https://www.vista-a...

Alna is an urban watercourse in the immediate area of almost 200,000 inhabitants within Oslo municipality. The watercourse has great value for biodiversity, recreation and public health in the Groruddalen area. At the same time, the environmental status is moderate and poor in large parts of the watercourse, and there is great need for restoration...

Throughout the European Union (EU), high concentrations of nitrates and pesticides are among the major polluting components of drinking water and have potential long-term impacts on the environment and human health. Many research projects co-funded by the European Commission have been carried out, but the results often do not influence policy makin...

Abstract The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a pioneering piece of legislation that aims to protect and enhance aquatic ecosystems and promote sustainable water use across Europe. There is growing concern that the objective of good status, or higher, in all EU waters by 2027 is a long way from being achieved in many countries. Through questionn...

People are dependent on the ocean and coasts and their resources for their survival and well-being. Coastal ecosystems of the Nordic countries, such as kelp forests, blue mussel beds, eelgrass meadows and shallow bays and inlets, provide a number of supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services to both the local communities...

Water information systems (WIS) are being developed for countries, international river basins and the European Union (EU), partly as a result of the requirements specified in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The issue of whether and how these information systems should be integrated into the European Commission's water information system for...

We address issues connected with international river basin management and the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). By creating a register of River Basin Districts established under the WFD, we show that the number and area of international River Basin Districts are significant. Further, we present an assessment of international cooperation and water...

This study gives a first indicator-based assessment of the differences and similarities between the River Basin Districts (RBDs) established under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The RBDs are intended to be the management units for water resources within the EU. Yet, limited harmonized or easily comparable data currently exists for this new...

Problems of arsenic contamination have been reported from a large number of aquifers in various parts of the world. Especially in Bangladesh, the presence of arsenic in groundwater has been the major environmental health catastrophe that has affected the source of safe water not only for drinking but also for irrigation purposes. The unavailability...

Consistent and relevant information on the status of water systems is indispensable for rational and cost-effective water management. This statement has general validity for all types of river basins, but is particularly relevant for transboundary water regions. Information is used to support decision-making and to evaluate the effects of water res...

The role of environmental information in solving the transboundary river basin issues and water management is discussed. Environmental information is also used in transboundary policy and decision making. The Register of International Rivers (RIR) defines international river basins as the area that contributes hydrologically to a first order stream...

In this article the number and geographical extent of prospective international River Basin Dis- tricts (RBDs), identified according to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), are deter- mined, and the plans and ambitions for international cooperation examined. Further, for illus- trating varying approaches in the identification of and cooperation...

This report contains seven case studies that describe and examine the role and use of environmental information in transboundary river or lake basin policy-making and management. The case regions studied are the Bug River, Neman River, Elbe River, Odra River, Spanish-Portuguese Rivers, Lake Constance, and Lake Neusiedl. Issues addressed are who des...

This paper reviews three readily available cartographical databases (DBs), the Digital Chart of the World (DCW), the World Vector Shoreline (WVS) and 30 Arc-Second DCW Digital Elevation Models (DEM) all originating from the US Defense Mapping Agency (DMA). These are presumed strong candidates as cartographical data sources for strategic needs at se...

This interdisciplinary paper reports the results of a study into the costs and benefits of eutrophication reduction in the Baltic Sea. A large multidisciplinary team of natural and social scientists estimated nutrient loadings and pathways within the entire Baltic drainage basin, together with the costs of a range of abatement options and strategie...

A method for quantitative assessments of spatial accuracy and completeness for line data sets is suggested and explored. Data sets of higher accuracy are used for the assessments. The method utilizes only generally available GIS operations. It works by establishing a number of buffers of increasing width around the lines. For each width, the maps a...

We estimate the nitrogen retention capacity of natural wetlands in the 1.7 million km2 Baltic Sea drainage basin, using a wetland GIS data base. There are approximately 138,000 km2 of wetlands (bogs and fens) in the Baltic Sea drainage basin, corresponding to 8% of the area. The input of nitrogen to natural wetlands from atmospheric deposition was...

We present a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of the large-scale drainage basin of the Baltic Sea. A set of GIS map layers were created and used to generate information on the current landscape characteristics and population distribution patterns in the drainage basin. Such data can be generated at the 92 meso-scale subdrainage basins,...

To be able to utilise geographical data for analysis, one should know something about the quality of the data. In present geographical data standardisation proposals (SDTS, CEN TC287), several aspects of geographical data quality have been described, such as lineage (data collection and processing history), spatial accuracy, attribute accuracy, com...

There is an increasing degree of sophistication associated with describing the qualities of spatial data. Completeness is one data quality component that is included in both the US Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) and the European standard under development within the framework of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). While both st...

To be able to utilise geographical data for analysis, one should know something about the quality of the data. In present geographical data standardisation proposals (SDTS, CEN TC287), several aspects of geographical data quality have been described, such as lineage (data collection and processing history), spatial accuracy, attribute accuracy, com...

A method for quantitative assessments of spatial accuracy and completeness for line data sets is suggested and explored. Data sets of higher accuracy are used for the assessments. The method utilizes only generally available GIS operations. It works by establishing a number of buffers of increasing width around the lines. For each width, the maps a...

This paper reviews three readily available cartographical databases (DBs), the Digital Chart of the World (DCW), the World Vector Shoreline (WVS) and 30 Arc-Second DCW Digital Elevation Models (DEM) all originating from the US Defense Mapping Agency (DMA). These are presumed strong candidates as cartographical data sources for strategic needs at se...

Our AVHRR volcano and fire data are in agreement with Setzer and Verstraete, showing that when channel 3 saturates the digital number (DN) recorded is greater than zero. The radiance at which this occurs varies within a single radiometer, and from platform to platform. It appears that non-zero saturation has affected all the thermal channels on all...

There is an increasing degree of sophistication associated with describing the qualities of spatial data. Completeness is one data quality component that is included in both the US Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) and the European standard under development within the framework of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). While both st...

Using a Geographic Information Systems approach to analyse the Baltic Sea drainage basin allows us to rationally merge economic and ecological data and thus aid in developing efficient coastal management policies. The objective of this study is to develop a model which can estimate population density within the Baltic Sea drainage basin area. The t...

Ten years ago Dozier presented a bispectral model for the detection of sub-resolution high temperature features in NOAA AVHRR satellite images. This model builds on Planck's law and theoretically derives brightness temperatures and fractions of sub-resolution fields of high temperatures, such as wildfires, using AVHRR channel 3 and 4 thermal data....

Quantitative data on fire regimes from the world's savannas have previously been difficult to obtain due to logistical and scientific reasons. This study addresses the issue for Senegal and The Gambia, West Africa. A bispectral satellite image based method for fire detection has recently been improved and made semi-automatic to provide information...

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Bushfires have been defined as uncontrolled fire occurring in the rural landscape (Cheney 1981). They occur in the three major ecological zones of Senegal; the Sahelian, Sudanian, and Guinean zones of northern, central and southern Senegal respectively, and mainly in pastoral ecosystems. Almost all are set intentionally or accidentally by the local...