National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark

NERI, the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser or simply DMU) was an independent research institute under the Ministry of the Environment. It was created in 1989 by merging the existing laboratories of the Environmental Protection Agency, which covered marine, freshwater and air pollution, soil ecology and analytical chemistry, with the Danish Wildlife Research, under the Ministry of Agriculture. The laboratories were physically located on Risø, in Silkeborg and on Kalø. In 1995, Greenland Biological Research laboratory was added. NERI was detached from the Ministry in 2007 and merged into Aarhus University as a separate unit with largely unchanged tasks and responsibilities. On 1 July 2011, NERI was reorganized, renamed and lost status as a separate entity. The research departments were divided between the Department of Bioscience and the Department of Environmental Science, while the secretariat and coordination of consultany services to the Ministry of Environment was placed in Danish Centre for Environment and Energy (DCE).

NERI participated in a large number of national and international research programmes, and also in scientific working groups, commissions, and organizations under such bodies as the European Union and the United Nations. NERI also undertook scientific consultancy work and monitoring of nature and the environment as well as applied and strategic research. NERI’s primary task was to establish a scientific foundation for environmental policy decisions. All tasks were transferred to and continues in DCE and the two research departments.

Departments within NERI

By the reorganisation in 2011, NERI was organised in the following research departments:

  • Department of Policy Analysis
  • Department of Atmospheric Environment
  • Department of Marine Ecology
  • Department of Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology
  • Department of Arctic Environment
  • Department of Terrestrial Ecology
  • Department of Freshwater Ecology
  • Department of Ecology and Biodiversity

Department of Atmospheric Environment (ATMI)

NERI monitors air pollution in Denmark and Greenland, and works with mathematical atmospheric dispersion models[1][2] to describe transport, transformation and deposition of air pollutants. The models range in spatial resolution from local air pollution in a single street, to both nationwide and global air pollution. NERI compiles Danish emission inventories as part of Denmark's obligations in accordance with international conventions.

NERI also participates in many international collaboration networks within the field of air pollution, and it hosts websites for several such networks.

NERI's Department of Atmospheric Environment (ATMI) has a staff of over 65 scientists and researchers who conduct work within the following fields:

  • Monitoring and mapping of the air quality in Denmark and the Arctic.
  • Research, development and application of atmospheric chemical dispersion models.
  • Studying air pollution scenarios and prognoses as well as air pollution from vehicular traffic.
  • Studies, analyses, and models for the transport, transformation and fate of toxic air pollutants.

See also

References
  1. Turner, D.B. (1994). Workbook of atmospheric dispersion estimates: an introduction to dispersion modeling (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 1-56670-023-X. www.crcpress.com Archived 2007-11-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Beychok, Milton R. (2005). Fundamentals Of Stack Gas Dispersion (4th ed.). author-published. ISBN 0-9644588-0-2. www.air-dispersion.com



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