General Problems of Environmental Monitoring System Design for Environmental Security of European Energy Supply Infrastructure

Abstract

This paper deals with the main scientific problems of environmental monitoring, such as integration, representativeness and adaptability of monitoring systems and risk assessment. The main problem of integration is to develop an optimized pattern for the monitoring system: the data collecting net (DCN) should combine certain types of measurement units, such as automatic control stations monitoring geological processes, monitoring stations controlled by regular manual checking, mobile control by vehicles or helicopters, and remote control. Integrated control stations are very important for overcoming the problem of integration. The problem of representativeness can be solved based on two approaches: (1) Revealing the landscape pattern of the area under control using the technique of landscape indicators; (2) Detecting water migration flows by remote sensing data interpretation and digital terrain model (DTM) analysis. The solution to the problem of adaptability of monitoring systems is having an adaptive pattern to the system design. System adaptability results from (1) its ability to change the pattern of data acquisition and the operating mode, according to changes in the environment; (2) changes in the number of control stations; (3) changes of the set of control parameters; (4) changes in observation frequency and data processing procedures. An algorithm for changes of observation frequency is offered. The paper shows that the risk assessment subsystem is an obligatory part of the monitoring system for environmental security of energy supply infrastructure. It is shown that quantitative risk assessment for, say, damage to an engineering structure can be more effective using methods involving determining a mathematical morphology of the landscape.