Objective
Biological effects of nitrogen inputs to marine ecosystems are extremely difficult lo predict. The productivity of marine planktonic ecosystems are generally considered to be limited by the availability of nitrogen compounds. The atmospheric deposition of nitrogen compounds is a large terrestrial input, although in many near coastal waters riverine inputs, which occur predominantly in the winter will also be large. The atmospheric nitrogen load is directly available for algae growth, which makes this contribution more significant since a large fraction of the run off contributes nitrogen fixed to biological material. The contribution of atmospheric inputs to coastal eutrophication problems is now beginning to be recognised in a number of areas around the world. Given that atmospheric emissions of nitrogen compounds are continuing to increase world wide, this problem can be expected to grow.
The coastal zones are the areas of most concern around Europe in terms of problems with algal blooms and other eutrophication phenomena. Increasing input of nutrients to the coastal waters will result in algae blooms in summer/early autumn. These blooms will be followed by oxygen depletion due to decay of the algae when the growth season is over. To understand this danger, the full magnitude and seasonality of nutrient inputs must be described, including the effect of extreme events such as high atmospheric deposition episodes which, while small in overall annual budget terms, may be able to trigger algal blooms under nutrient depleted summer conditions.
In the proposed study on Atmospheric Nitrogen Inputs into the Coastal Ecosystem (ANICE), we focus on atmospheric inputs of nitrogen compounds (HNO3, NO3- NH3 and NH4+) into the sea and the governing processes that are specific for coastal areas. The Southern North Sea will be studied in ANICE as a prototype. Because the processes are described by physical equations and chemical reactions, as opposed to empirical relations, the results can also be applied to other regional seas like the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic continental shelf area and the Baltic.
ANICE is a combination of experimental and modeling work, involving a close collaboration between experimentalists and modelers to their mutual benefit. An interesting feature of the ANICE project is the use of two models. One will be used to estimate atmospheric inputs of nitrogen to the total North Sea, the other enables detailed studies of the coastal area. The combined modeling effort is expected to lead to a major improvement of the final result, i.e. an estimate of atmospheric inputs into the North Sea, that can be used in effect studies. The models are complementary because of the different scales, the different mixing schemes and the different initialisations. The overall aim of the ANICE project is to improve model tools available for estimating atmospheric nitrogen deposition to sea. The model evaluation domain is the southern part of the North Sea. Special emphasis will be on the chemical and physical processes governing the transformation and deposition of nitrogen compounds to sea in coastal waters. The impact of atmospheric nitrogen on coastal ecosystems will be assessed.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology phycology
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- natural sciences chemical sciences
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems coastal ecosystems
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
2509 JG DEN HAAG ('S-GRAVENHAGE)
Netherlands
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