The fourth edition of the European Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications (geoENV IV) took place in Barcelona, November 27-29, 2002. As a proof that there is an increasing interest in environmental issues in the geostatistical community, the conference attracted over 100 participants, mostly Europeans (up to 10 European countries were represented), but also from other countries in the world. Only 46 contributions, selected out of around 100 submitted papers, were invited to be presented orally during the conference. Additionally 30 authors were invited to present their work in poster format during a special session. All oral and poster contributors were invited to submit their work to be considered for publication in this Kluwer series. All papers underwent a reviewing process, which consisted on two reviewers for oral presentations and one reviewer for posters. The book opens with one keynote paper by Philippe Naveau. It is followed by 40 papers that correspond to those presented orally during the conference and accepted by the reviewers. These papers are classified according to their main topic. The list of topics show the diversity of the contributions and the fields of application. At the end of the book, summaries of up to 19 poster presentations are added. The geoENV conferences stress two issues, namely geostatistics and environmental applications. Thus, papers can be classified into two groups.
This volume contains forty-one selected full-text contributions from the Fourth European Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, geoENV IV, held in Barcelona, Spain, November 2002. The objective of the editors was to compile a set of papers from which the reader could perceive how geostatistics is applied within the environmental sciences. A few selected theoretical contributions are also included. The papers are organized in the following sections: Air pollution and satellite images, Ecology and environment, Hydrogeology, Climatology and rainfall, Oceanography, Soil science, Methodology. Applications of geostatistics vary from particle matter analysis, land cover classification, space-time ozone mapping, downscaling of precipitation, contaminant transport in the subsurface, aquifer reclamation, analysis of Iberian hare or phytoplankton abundance, coastal current patterns, to soil pollution by heavy metals or dioxins.At the back of the book nineteen posters presented at the congress are included.
The combination of full texts and posters provides a picture of the tendencies that can presently be found in Europe regarding the applications of geostatistics for environmentally related problems. The audience include: after four editions the "geoENV Congress Series" has established itself as a 'must' to all scientists working in the field of geostatistics for environmental applications. Each "geoENV Congress" covers the developments which have occurred during the preceding two years, but always with a highly applied focus. It is precisely this focus on the applications to environmental sciences which makes the "geoENV" volumes unique and of great interest and practical value to geostatisticians working both in academia and in industry.
