Wetlands&Science

GIS Day is playing a powerful role in creating geographic awareness everywhere in the world.  More than 80 countries are participating in holding local events such as corporate open houses, hands-on workshops, community expos, school assemblies, and more. Since 1999 GIS Day has been celebrated in Estonia. There are many interesting events organized on the day: conference, teachers computer lab with GIS courses, exhibition of companies and GIS related institutions, map contest, sightseeings to exhibitions by National Library of Estonia etc. This year I made presentation on the conference on topic "Mapping and modelling wetlands with GIS"   GIS Day is a good opportunity to show the usability and usefulness of GIS science to the public and especially to high school students and teachers. Presenting at GIS Day in National Library. Photo by Aivo Vard

From 26th of August to 1st of September I attended EcoSummit 2016 in Montpellier, France.  EcoSummit 2016 focused on the ecology of terrestrial ecosystems and all habitats that are integrated within those ecosystems, including river networks, wetlands and coastlines, as well as on fragile ecosystems that are more likely to suffer the consequences of climate change and anthropogenic pressure. With agriculture being intensified we need to grow awareness of the need to preserve and use sustainably world resources.   John Phillip Gripe giving a talk about functional ecology   I had the chance to present a new take on my work at the conference in the track “Small-Scale Green Infrastructures to Mitigate Degradation of Agricultural Landscapes” on: “Identifying feasible wetland locations in catchments using LiDAR” LiDAR provides highly detailed information on the topography. In wetland ecosystems, the soil moisture is strongly correlated with the topography and co...

I had the opportunity to attend four day course on uncertainty in modelling with PEST which was followed by 1,5 day workshop from 4th of April to 8thod April in Christchurch.   The course was led by Dr. John Doherty, the developer of PEST. Course was very intensive hands-on modelling and performing uncertainty analysis. The course gave very useful and practical knowledge about modelling and related issues. The 1.5 day was attended by 30 water resource scientists and managers from regional authorities, universities, research organisations and consultancies to better understand the reasons why predictions made by environmental models are often accompanied by wide margins of uncertainty.  Workshop presentations were given by Chris Daughney (GNS Science), John Doherty (Watermark Numerical Computing), Linda Lilburn (Landcare Research), Graham McBride (NIWA), Stephen McNeill (Landcare Research), Catherine Moore (GNS Science/ESR), David Scott (ESR), Shailesh Kumar Singh...

The New Zealand Hydrological Society ( NZHS ) aims to promoting hydrological research, promoting education in all aspects of hydrology, disseminating information through the publication of a scientific journal, newsletters, and other appropriate means. The 2015 NZHS annual conference was themed ‘From Data to Knowledge’ and the society’s mission is to further the science of hydrology and its application to the understanding and management of New Zealand's water resources. I had the chance to present my latest work in the conference track “Monitoring and Data Management” on: “Identifying small-scale wetlands using orthophotos, satellite imagery and LiDAR” Wetlands play a key role in controlling flooding and non-point source pollution. In New Zealand, it has been estimated that over 90% of the former wetland area has been lost within a century and a half and there is an ongoing trend on wetland ecosystems. This increases the need for detailed identification and assessment of wet...