The HarmonIT research project is supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme and contributing to the implementation of the Key Action “Sustainable Management and Quality of Water” within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development. The aim of the program is to set a Europe standard for mathematic model coupling. The new standard (OMI - Open Modeling Interface) will enable the model users to couple models from different model providers. Since the OMI standard is an open standard any model provider will be able to create models that complies with the standard and couple these models to existing legacy models.
In the light of the implementation of the European Waterframework Directive, WFD Integrated catchment management and hence integrated catchment modeling there will be an obvious need for OMI.
DHI is already providing a number of modeling systems that will facilitate integrated catchment management (e.g. MIKE SHE, MIKE BASIN, MIKE 11), where models from different domains, e.g. river flow, ground water flow, water quality processes, are coupled into an integrated modeling system. Even though these modeling systems will be adequate to handle many problems rising demand for tailored systems is seen.
Such systems could involve coupling between DHI models and economic models or coupling between DHI models and hydrological models that for technical or historical reasons are preferred for a specific location. In order to meet this demand DHI has in the context of the EU funded project HarmonIT initiated a cooperation with among others Delft Hydraulics and Wallingford Software where an European standard for model coupling will de defined.
The HarmonIT project started in January this year and will be completed in four year from now.
Read more about the HarmonIT project on the HarmonIT web site www.HarmonIT.org.
For more information on DHI's role in HarmonIT please contact Jan Børge Gregersen (jbg@dhi.dk),