GeoDIAMETRIS

Olive oil production is one of the most important activities in the wider Mediterranean region with the annual production exceeding 2600 x 10³ tones, whilst Greece to third world after Spain and Italy. The beneficial properties of olive oil on human health are known since antiquity. However the production/process of may cause significant environmental problems since olives processing produces large amounts of solid waste and wastewater with high organic load and rich in inorganic constituents. The methods of the geo-informatics, including geophysical, chemical surveys and satellite remote sensing, find application in resolving various environmental problems as well as, in supporting the target groups (regions, prefectures, municipalities and environmental companies) to sustainable manage such problems. The analysis of satellite images and the combined use of geographical information systems can provide a sufficient and detailed spatial analysis at various scales.

The main objectives of GeoDIAMETRIS are the following:

• Carry out initial registration of all the olive oil mills in operation in Crete to record the current status of the waste disposal sites.
• Geo-informatics/GIS and Satellite Technologies/Remote Sensing will be applied for the recognition/localisation of places of deposition of wastes from olive mills with the ultimate goal of the automatic/semi-automatic recognition of the waste disposal areas .
• To select representative areas of olive oil mills waste disposal for a pilot implementation of integrated geoinformation technologies.
• Soil and water samples will be collected periodically to determine the physicochemical parameters of the subsoil in selected disposal sites.
• Monitoring of the pollution through time-lapse geophysical techniques
• Introduction of the bio-geophysical methods in Greece through the development of quantitative relationships between the geophysical/chemical parameters and the waste / waste degradation processes.
• Development of an automatic warning system for the continuous environmental control for the early detection of pollutants leaching in the subsoil.
• Determination of potential solutions through sensitivity analysis and risk assessment Dissemination of project's results and achievements through workshops, conferences and publications.

GeoDIAMETRIS is 100% financed by the Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning" under the framework of NSRF 2007-2013.

Official project website:

geodiametris.ims.forth.gr