The project "An Integrated System for the Complex Research and Monitoring of the Environment in the Danube River Area”, REXDAN (project code: 127065) has as a main result the creation of the REXDAN Research Infrastructure where complex interdisciplinary research is carried out in the field of smart specialization: Energy, environment and climate change.
The REXDAN Research Infrastructure has two components: a research vessel and a research centre, with a total of 18 laboratories. The REXDAN research vessel undertakes research activities in: chemistry, biology, physics, environmental science, ecology, bathymetry, topography, atmospheric chemistry, sustainable development, related to water, sediments, soil, air, biodiversity, bathymetry, hydromorphology and covers a wide geographical area (2000 km of the Danube navigable sector including wide coastal areas).
The REXDAN Research Infrastructure contributes directly to increasing research performance through international cooperation with European and international research teams and supports scientific innovation at “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galați.
The technical and scientific novelty of the project lies in:
- multidisciplinary research activities and methodological qualitative integration of extensive aquatic ecosystems in the largest EU river basin, on an area covering 2000 km of the Danube navigable sector;
- a highly-specialized original and complex scientific approach of chemical, physical, biological and biodiversity factors by using statistically calibrated interdisciplinary algorithms, which will lead to new concepts (e.g. the global water quality index - GWQI) accessible to non-specialists, After validation, the GWQI will be suggested as a major parameter to be used at the EU level in the classification of surface waters according to the categories specified in the Water Framework Directive.
- an autonomous research vessel which will host up to 10 researchers, thus making it possible for experts from different countries to participate in multiple, successive or parallel research projects for longer periods of time;
- the possibility to assess the impact of hydrotechnical works carried out for maintaining channel navigability on the biodiversity (migratory species of ichthyofauna and birds);
- permanent and mobile observation systems which will allow the monitoring of climatic parameters (continuously) and of atmospheric composition (periodically) in an area where such measurements are sporadic or non-existent. The continuity of these measurements is essential for determining events caused by climate change.
The holistic research proposed by REXDAN corresponds to the Joint Strategy for the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive which recommends the interconnection of methods and targets large-scale research in important basins in the EU. The REXDAN infrastructure has clearly European and international dimensions.
Address: Domnească Street, no. 47, Galați, Romania