Das Projekt "Sub project: Holocene climate dynamics and biogeochemical cycles in the Mediterranean Sea (HOBIMED)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Institut für marine Ökosystem- und Fischereiwissenschaften, Centrum für Erdsystemforschung und Nachhaltigkeit (CEN) durchgeführt. We propose to study the mechanisms leading from deglacial and Holocene climate change to changed biogeochemical cycling in the Mediterranean Sea. We concentrate on this basin because it is a semi-enclosed ocean basin with very large amplitude reactions in the physical circulation regime to variations in the hydrological balance. The past variability of biogeochemical processes and marine ecosystems of this ocean is documented in the form of organic-rich sapropels that occurred at northern hemisphere insolation maxima. In order to understand the sensitivity of the Mediterranean Sea to high- and low-latitude climate forcing and to gauge the range of response to expected global change, we will model the Mediterranean Sea at times of the last deglaciation and climate extremes in the Holocene, including the transition into sapropel S1, the interruption of sapropel formation around 8.2 kyr BP, and reventilation during the Holocene Climate Optimum. Our Dual+ concept will be realized by the validation of global and regional Earth system model experiments with available and new proxy data from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The aim of these experiments is to understand and quantify the relative role of the different forcing mechanisms and time scales involved in generating a state with stagnant and anoxic deepwater in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Das Projekt "International Action for Sustainability of the Mediterranean and Black Sea EnvirOnmeNt (IASON)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg durchgeführt. Under the 2003 EU Greek presidency, cooperation with Balkan countries on environmental issues was identified as a priority of the EU/Balkan Action Plan. Large-scale co-operation is essential for effective action in the vulnerable Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal zones. During the last 50 years both areas suffered major changes; as semi-enclosed basins, both Seas are ultra-sensitive to anthropogenic stress and to climate change. An EU Presidency Conference on Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean/Black Sea (May 2003), revealed major gaps in management structures, scientific strategies and identified a diversity of environmental issues to be resolved through priority-focused RTD cooperation. Yet, while pressure on the resources of the two seas increases and the potential impact of climate change on coastal and deep-sea resources remains unknown, the two seas have never been jointly studied as systems of interacting basins and ecosystems. The proposal outlines collaboration and clustering schemes involving environmental, economic and scientific organisations in Mediterranean, Black Sea and other EU nations, in order to create synergies in networking and exchanges at several levels, addressing for the first time the system of interconnected basins as one, based on the integration of, both horizontally and vertically, natural scientists and economists. These will: 1) Create an international, interdisciplinary platform coordinating the region's scientific potential in order to prepare RTD projects, based on a Science Plan for the region, securing sustainable development; 2) Focus on natural and anthropogenic pressures exerted upon the functioning of the ecosystem; 3) Reinforce RTD capacity by setting up an environment/resource monitoring network in the light of existing observation networks of different scopes. Prime Contractor: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Anavyssos, GR.