Objective
The aim of GEODYME is to acquire physical and chemical data to detect changes of deep-water characteristics, i.e.
temperature, salinity, nutrient, oxygen and trace-metal
content, and to improve modelling of fluxes together with
climatic and environmental evolutions. GEODYME is justified by previous analysis of data showing changes in physical and
chemical characteristics of deep water in the Western
Mediterranean Basin. Since marine data from the area are
scarce and concentrated in the Algero- Provencal basin,
published results only constitute first approximations.
The proposal concerns:
1) the monitoring of western deep-water characteristics;
2) the improvement of the models by the integration of
boundary conditions from the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas;
3) the quantification of biological transfers and new
production, as well as of their expected evolutions.
Contemporary changes of climate and environment have a clear impact on the physical and chemical characteristics of the
deep sea. Moreover, Mediterranean dynamics, due to significant isolation from the Atlantic Ocean, facilitate the
quantification of the driving forces, changes in heat and
water budgets or evolution of anthropic pressure (number of
inhabitants and standard of living), at a basin scale. They
prove that the Mediterranean Sea is an ideal test area for
evolution studies.
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
06238 Villefranche Sur Mer
France
Participants (4)
29682 Roscoff
13007 Marseille
19100 La Spezia
15784 Zographos, Athens