Applications of Systems Analysis in Solving Problems Related to Environment

Abstract

The paper presents presuppositions and examples of application of the systems analysis methodology in the environmental problems. The examples come from the activity of the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, but are quite typical for other institutions working in the system research area. Having presented some basic system analysis tools, two cases involving model-based analysis are shortly outlined: air transportation of pollutants and their impact on nature and human health, and wastewater treatment modeling. Then some research projects connected with the global climate change are described in more details. They deal with solving the problems of high uncertainty in greenhouse gases inventories, which have to be coped with in checking compliance and in permits trading, as well as with processing the greenhouse gases emission time series to extract knowledge and parameters useful for further modeling.