Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Model Input in SEAMLESS
The Seamzones are used in SEAMLESS as the most spatially detailed specific
combination of weather and soil characteristics. These biophysical data for
Seamzones are used directly as model input for:
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Biophysical modelling of agricultural activities and environmental externalities.
Some key variables here are data on soil thickness, carbon content and texture
and time series of daily values on temperature and rainfall (see also Chapter 4
of this topic).
Bio-economic farm type modelling: the biophysical data on soil and climate are
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used together with rotation restrictions as constraints to define feasible sets of
crop rotations within a given region (see also Chapter 5 of this topic).
Meta-modelling to ensure consistency between farm type level and market level
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modelling. The climate and soil data are used to extrapolate supply responses of
farm types from regions, where bio-economic modelling is carried out to other
regions within the entire European Union (see also Perez-Dominguez et al.
2009
for the EXPAMOD model).
The flow of information between these different levels of modelling is ensured
because the models are applied always to Seamzones or to aggregations of Seamzones
(climate zones or NUTS2 regions).
Discussion and Conclusions
Agri-environmental Zones
The AEnZ is a new typology and does provide a dedicated and consistent
framework for agri-environmental modelling in Europe. The zonation is detailed
enough to cover the wide spectrum of bio-physical environments in Europe and
also simple enough to present modelling results. AEnZ is a hierarchical and flexible
subdivision of the European landscape into 238 relatively homogeneous units from
an agronomic perspective. The AEnZ is based on 12 environmental zones, seven
topsoil organic carbon content classes and an Agri-mask that consist of three
classes. From the 238 classes of the AEnZ, 82 classes referring to the Agri-mask 0
(75.8% of EU27+) are described in terms of land cover, climate and biophysical
parameters.
A PCA of several soil parameters revealed that organic carbon content in the
topsoil explained most of the variation. Therefore, this variable was selected as the
variable to differentiate between soils within EU27+.
A review of environmental typologies resulted in the selection of the EnS as a
basis for the AEnZ typology. The EnS is a statistically robust environmental
classification of sufficient detail, used in several EU projects and published in
