Monitoring Program Design - Coastal Lagoons: Ecosystem Processes and Modeling for Sustainable Use and Development - page 304

In contrast, modeling is a relatively new method rooted in engineering, especially
its modification as computer modeling, which aims to simulate the behavior and
response of water conditions to external and internal impacts. Monitoring is very
useful for making an environmental assessment, while modeling is applied for an
impact assessment. Modeling predicts trends and effects of future actions (see
Chapter 6 for details).
This chapter first discusses what monitoring is and describes its various aspects.
The relationships between monitoring and modeling as complementary tools for
current water quality management are presented.

7.1.1 D EFINITION OF E NVIRONMENTAL M ONITORING

Monitoring has been defined by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
as “ the process of repetitive observing for defined purposes, of one or more elements
of the environment, according to prearranged schedules in space and in time and
using comparable methodologies for environmental sensing and data collection .” 1
Implicit in this definition are a number of points:

• The purposes for undertaking monitoring vary, but it is understood that
information is collected for a defined purpose, and not simply because it
is available.
• Information gathering is undertaken following a prearranged schedule,
which identifies frequency of sample collection, locations, and what infor-
mation is collected.
• Monitoring involves repetitive, continuous sampling, resulting in a series
of three-dimensional, cross-sectional, longitudinal, lateral, and temporal
data.

• Sampling, storage, preservation, and analysis must be done systematically,

utilizing compatible methodologies following rigorous procedures, to
ensure that information is comparable.

Monitoring is distinguished from data collection by its long-term, continuous
nature. Data collection efforts are sometimes referred to as short-term monitoring,
but it is important to maintain a distinction from monitoring, because monitoring
generally has different objectives than data collection.
Every environmental monitoring program should contain the following
components:

• Monitoring guidelines (for sample collection, storage, preservation, and
analysis)
• Quality assurance program (procedure of calibration and comparability
of results)
• Data formats (for preparing data and relevant information for a data bank)
• Data bank (for storage and processing of data)

Monitoring is usually followed by environmental assessment, which is an
indispensable step in decision making. Monitoring and research are very often