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ANNEX 5 (Ref. § 5.26a) |
OSPAR CONVENTION
FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT OF THE NORTH
MEETING OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING COMMITTEE (ASMO)
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Terms of Reference for an OSPAR Workshop on
approaches for adjustment and trend analysis of waterborne and atmospheric
inputs
Background
1. The Joint Assessment and Monitoring Programme (JAMP) requires periodic assessments of temporal trends and (where relevant/feasible) spatial distribution for nutrients and hazardous substances where periodic sampling and analysis is undertaken for example under RID and CAMP (JAMP products EA-2, EA-7, HA-1 and HA-5). Trend assessments of RID and CAMP data were last carried out in 2005; a next assessment is due by 2009. These assessments form a building block for the OSPAR Quality Status Report in 2010.
2. In preparing the 2005 RID data assessments, OSPAR applied and revised JAMP Guidance on input trend assessment and adjustment of loads, and had used and further developed the software programme “RTrend” through a workshop held in Dresden in 2004. In the 2005 CAMP data assessment, a modified EMEP trend tool was used. As a result of the 2005 RID and CAMP data assessments, INPUT 2005 had agreed there was still scope for improvement of the software “RTrend” and its manual but that the package should be accepted as the present state of the art and should be used in the next RID assessment in 2009, and that its adjustment for a possible use on CAMP data should be further investigated. To support this work, OSPAR 2005 had endorsed terms of reference for a second OSPAR workshop which had been planned to take place in May 2006 and had later been cancelled.
3. These terms of reference are based on the experience from, and conclusions of, the 2005 RID and CAMP data assessments, the arrangements agreed by ASMO and OSPAR since 2005 for further work on RTrend as assessment tool for RID and possibly CAMP data and advice prepared by ICES to OSPAR in 2005 and 2006 on the use of RTrend as assessment tool.
1. Objective
4. The objective of this workshop is to support the preparation of assessments by 2009 of temporal trends in RID and CAMP data for nutrients and selected hazardous substances to the OSPAR maritime area (JAMP products EA-7 and HA-5) as contribution to the QSR 2010.
5. RID and CAMP provide OSPAR with actual load data for waterborne and atmospheric inputs of nutrients and hazardous substances. The efficient normalisation of the data to river flow (RID) and meteorological conditions (CAMP) are important steps in the assessment to take account of interannual variability and are likely to be important in determining the effectiveness of measures at source within the OSPAR catchment area.
6. The workshop’s objective is to support this by:
a. identifying the needs for improvement of RTrend for the 2009 trend assessment of RID data;
b. assisting in the preparation of initial data products to support the RID data assessment panel in the review of data sets;
c. preparing proposals for achieving a joint assessment of RID and CAMP data.
2. Activities
7. The activities of the workshop should be directed to provide advice and recommendations to OSPAR on the need for improvement of RTrend for regional assessments and the potential and needs for joint assessment of RID and CAMP data.
8. The specific activities to be carried out by the workshop are:
a. to bring
together users and statisticians to support the application of RTrend in the
trend assessments;
b. to discuss the experience gained by the Contracting Parties through application of the RTrend software during their preparation of national 2005 RID data for submission to OSPAR. This should be done with particular focus on experiences gained in the trend analyses undertaken with adjusted and unadjusted loads on a monthly and an annual basis;
c. to
evaluate RTrend and its applicability in supporting effective trend assessments
by OSPAR in 2009 of RID data, taking into account experience in the use of
other existing methods;
d. to prepare and evaluate data products on RID data for 1990 – 2005 and to prepare advice to the RID data assessment panel on:
a. the availability of reliable and complete data for the OSPAR regions and sub-regions;
b. how to tackle, from a statistical point of view, data below limits of detection;
c. the feasibility of further sub-divisions of the maritime area into smaller sea areas;
e. to review existing methods for meteorological adjustment of atmospheric inputs and evaluate the potential for extending RTrend to include meteorological adjustment methods and the need for other statistical tools for the assessment of trends in CAMP data. This should take into account method 3a used in the 2005 CAMP data assessment and the aim of enabling a joint evaluation of RID and CAMP data in 2009;
f. to review the JAMP Guidance on input trend assessment and adjustment of loads to make documentation and thus the use of RTrend more user friendly.
9. Based on the outcome of the activities in § 8, the workshop should prepare advice and recommendations on:
a. any further actions required to improve RTrend for the 2009 RID data assessment;
b. the actions required for extending RTrend, or developing statistical tools, to enable a joint evaluation of CAMP data with RID data in 2009;
c. proposals for amendments to the JAMP Guidance on input trend
assessment and adjustment of loads.
3. Organisation
Participants
and lead person
The workshop is open to participants nominated by
OSPAR Contracting Parties and Observer Organisations, and to members of
relevant ICES Working Groups and Committees.
The lead person for the workshop is Anders Grimvall (SE), Department of Mathematics, Linköping University, SE – 581 83 Linköping, Sweden. e-mail: angri@mai.liu.se
Time schedule
ASMO 2007: ASMO to be invited to endorse the Terms of Reference for the workshop
30 June 2007: OSPAR to agree that an OSPAR workshop is held
October 2007[1]: Workshop
November 2007: Data products to RID Assessment Panel
INPUT 2008: Report on the workshop outcome to INPUT by the
[1] Proposed dates for the workshop are 2-3 October or weeks 42/43. The final date is subject to confirmation.