The DYNAMO Project: An Introduction

Abstract. European concerns about the consequences of anthropogenic impacts on environmental quality have led to the establishment of various dynamic modelling approaches through which the consequences of impacts over time can be assessed. Similarly, throughout Europe, there has been extensive collection of regional data on "environmental capital" resulting in the production of wide area mapping of environmental quality (soils, land use etc). The aim of the DYNAMO was to integrate data and models, specifically; (1) to enhance the existing process based models to evaluate the impacts of multiple drivers of environmental change; (2) to evaluate these models at intensively studied (and manipulated) catchments and stands; (3) to scale up in time from observations collected over several years to predict the long term impacts over decades, and (4) to scale up in space from the individual site level to regional, National and European scale. The project aims to develop and enhance regional modelling approaches so that European scale impacts of acidic deposition, land use (forestry practices) and global change can be determined without compromising process level understanding of ecosystem function. The DYNAMO project contributes to the EU TERI (Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Initiative) framework of the Environment and Climate Programme of the European Commission.