JRC begins Black Sea project
A major oceanographic campaign led by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has begun in the Black Sea.
The project provides the opportunity for scientists and researchers to analyse biological and optical features of a strategically important maritime region.
The Black Sea’s geographical location – with shores belonging to Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey, as well as the influence of major rivers including the Danube – is of significant political and economic importance.
The project validates satellite data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sentinel-3 satellite, which was launched in February within the EU earth observation programme Copernicus. It is a collaborative project between institutes from the UK, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Turkey.
Data collected through seawater sampling will be essential to the quantification of the concentration of optically significant constituents in seawater through satellite observations – mostly phytoplankton, chlorophyll, non-living particles, and dissolved coloured organic matter.
The results will be relevant to the assessment of shifts in the Black Sea pelagic ecosystem and will support EU legislation (i.e. Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014) on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. Furthermore, the project will help the development of indicators for good environmental status related to Descriptor 2 (non-indigenous species) for the Black Sea Region according to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which refers to improved marine protection.
Planned aboard the Akademik Research Vessel of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, with ship-time supported through the EU-funded Eurofleets 2 programme and by the European Space Agency, the project is mostly restricted to areas of Romania where the Danube enters the sea.
Eurofleets has been funded by the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the predecessor to Horizon 2020. Horizon 2020 sets the JRC’s objectives in supporting succesful investment in research and innovation.
