Annual report 2008 - Resources and climate

• Launch of Geocenter Denmark - new professor to strengthen climate research
• Introduction
• Databanks and information
  • Storage, quality assurance and presentation of geological knowledge and data
    • Popular science about Greenland in English
      • A look at Mother Earth in her nakedness
      • Geological stories direct to the Danish public
      • Geodata in a European perspective
      • Extended and more user-friendly access to data on wells and water
  • Water resources
    • Procuring knowledge to permit optimal management of our water resources
      • New tools for assessing future water resources
      • Water cycle under scrutiny
      • Development of new sensors to monitor drinking water
      • Assessment of the effect of climate on pesticide leaching
      • Climate and water resources in the North Sea region
  • Energy resources
    • Procuring of knowledge for continued exploration and exploitation of energy resources in Denmark and Greenland
      • CO₂ storage in Europe
      • Lots of geothermal energy
      • New surveys of the oil geology in North-East Greenland
      • D.Sc. in oil-forming coals
      • Progress in the Continental Shelf Project
  • Mineral resources
    • Creating the scientific basis for targeted and environment-friendly exploitation of mineral deposits in Greenland and Denmark
      • Geological mapping and new mineral finds
      • Marketing Greenland's minerals
      • Conclusion of successful public diamond surveys
      • New book about the fold mountains of North-East Greenland
      • Marine raw materials in Denmark
  • Nature and environment
    • Identifying processes leading to the current climate and environment situation in Denmark and the North Atlantic in particular
      • Renewable energy from the ice sheet
      • Glacier-induced earthquakes reveal the dynamics of the ice
      • Reconstruction of the state of the aquatic environment
      • Monitoring earthquakes
      • Monitoring the Greenland ice sheet
  • Glimpses of the year
    • News 2008
      • International Geological Congress
      • Award of the Danish Geology Prize
      • New mineral named after geologist from GEUS
      • Specialist support for the best possible management of water resources
      • Participation in the UN Climate Conference COP14
  • GEUS around the world
    • Knowledge building in developing countries through research and consultancy
      • Building oil expertise in Vietnam
      • Handbook on sustainable small-scale mining
      • Research into arsenic in the groundwater in Vietnam
      • Marketing the mineral potential of Yemen
  • Key figures
  • Organisation

The 2008 Annual Review provides a brief insight into a challenging year during which the significance of geoscience for society has received a lot of international attention.

In 2008, GEUS found its place in the new Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy, while also maintain ing close cooperation with its primary stakeholders, the Ministry of the Environment, the Greenland Home Rule and the Ministry of Science, Tech nology and Innovation.

Climate change and its possible effects have impacted both the scientific and political agendas. At GEUS we have focused on the areas in which we can contribute to research-based decisions. We have advised on water, ice, nature and renewable energy, and we have also worked with fossil-fuel resources, as these are still an important part of energy production and security of supply.

Work in Denmark on preventing flooding and securing the groundwater resource has aroused great interest in GEUS' model calculations of the water cycle, while in the energy field there has been focus on the possibilities of geothermal heat and storage of CO2. Monitoring of Greenland's ice sheet is progressing well and with a great deal of outside interest.

The possibility of oil/gas resources in Greenland and the Arctic has attracted international interest. Therefore, in 2008 GEUS launched a long-term programme in North-East Greenland to reveal the area's hydrocarbon potential.

Interest in minerals in Greenland has also been extensive for most of 2008, but the financial crisis has temporarily toned down activity. Work by GEUS and the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum to develop areas and arouse interest in mineral exploitation continues, however.

The "yes" from Greenland in the referendum in November 2008 on self governance is expected to lead to new cooperation agreements between GEUS and the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum which, in line with recommendations from the Self Governance Commission and existing agreements be tween the Danish government and the Greenland Home Rule, will establish a long-term, continuous and promising collaboration to the benefit of both parties. Mapping the continental shelf in five areas as the basis for Danish territorial claims has put the work of GEUS into a new international context and attracted overwhelming international interest from the public and many organisations who want information about the project and about the Convention of the Law of the Sea.

In 2008, GEUS expanded its participation in international collaboration. GEUS is now represented on the board of EuroGeoSurveys and it has set up a project unit with four other surveys to form The North Atlantic Geoscience Group which will gather research expertise on the North Sea/North Atlantic. International project work, especially with the Third World has also grown, and new partners have formally applied to work with GEUS, including the China Geological Survey (CGS).

In 2008, the Nordic countries hosted the International Geological Congress in Oslo, with 6,000 delegates. GEUS had a leading role for Denmark in planning the Congress, and the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard, was a key guest on the climate day.

During its initial year, Geocenter Denmark has developed well, with several joint projects and improving national and international influence. The Center also established a joint professorship in climate research, to which Prof. Jörn Thiede, previous director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, was appointed.

On the financial side, we are pleased to report that in 2008 GEUS was granted access to basic funding from the globalisation pool on an equal footing with universities. We hope that this development will continue.

2008 has been a challenging year, both organisationally and financially, but GEUS has emerged successful from these challenges. We are looking forward to 2009, confident that growing international cooperation and recognition of GEUS as an important research institution with activities of special interest to society will establish a stable financial foundation for the institution.