project

User-friendly shell improves applicability of PROBE-dunes

Currently the PROBE model offers a user-friendly method to conduct ecohydrological calculations in the ‘inlands’. With this project, a new version is being made within the same accessible shell of WaterVision Nature – of which PROBE is part – for application in the coastal dunes.

PROBE-dunes ecohydrological model

Water utilities in the Dutch coastal dunes are not only responsible for the production of clean drinking water, they are also tasked with managing nature in their domains as well as possible. The task derives, among others, from the European Birds and Habitats Directives (Natura 2000).

To support nature management and policy, more than ten years ago the PROBE model was developed for the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen and implemented in an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This was followed by a similar version for the Noord-Hollands Duinreservaat, which was also used in an EIA. Two years ago, another version became available for the dune area of Dunea which – in contrast with the first two versions – took into account the climate-robust factors drought-stress and oxygen-stress. These factors are partly dependent on the temperature and on the amount of captured precipitation and solar radiation on the slopes. In a more scientific research project, a unidimensional version of this model was built, which replicated the succession of soil and vegetation as a function of the climate and atmospheric deposition. This is the PROBE-dunes model.

Soon also available within WaterVision Nature

The development of PROBE for the dunes has been replicated in the rest of the Netherlands. There is now one national ‘inland’ version which is already being implemented in several areas. At the initiative of STOWA, this model was recently incorporated into a user-friendly shell: WaterVision Nature.

Within this project, PROBE-dunes is being incorporated within the same shell as the ‘inland’ version.

PROBE-dunes: easier to apply

The incorporation of the program into a user-friendly shell makes it easier to apply for others. The targeted users are the national government, provinces, Water Authorities and land managers.