Objective The North-West European shelf is one of the world's largest and its waters belong to the best studied areas of this kind. The area represents an important transit region for dissolved and particulate matter stemming from major European rivers. Extended research cruises, combined with a number of numerical models, have produced a high level of knowledge. The combined data sets of this area provide one of the most detailed sets of observations ever undertaken in any shelf sea. However due to the large scale and the strong variability of the phenomena involved, present knowledge still has a fragmentary character. No insight exists into the long term evolution of the shelf system and no reliable estimates are available regarding the net retention or release of matter. To tackle these questions at an appropriate scale and to exploit and co- ordinate European preeminence in shelf sea research there is a strong need from the various research groups to start an integrated project in this area. This is the challenge of the NOWESP project. The objectives can be summarized in the following three points: - to quantify the biogeochemical fluxes, such as the fluxes of nutrients, plankton, carbon, and the transport of organic and inorganic particulate matter, including their biological and chemical modifications. - to estimate their variabilities and trends. - to understand the nature of shelves as a link between land and ocean. NOWESP will integrate and analyze existing European data sets. From these integrated data sets the project aims to make an assessment of the fluxes of energy and matter, as well as their variability. Because the North-West European Shelf, and especially the North Sea, is an intensively investigated area and possesses a large number of monitoring networks, comprehensive hydrographic and chemical-biological data sets are available in the NOWESP countries. These will be made available for the purposes of NOWESP. NOWESP contributes to fulfil the need for data integration at the Community level and the particular needs of several member states to obtain more knowledge about the fluxes of the various constituents over the shelf and especially in the North Sea. NOWESP provides a state-of-the-art of present-day knowledge on shelf fluxes in the North-West European Shelf and clarifies the priorities of further field measurements and model developments from the viewpoint of fluxes. Programme(s) FP3-MAST 2 - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of marine science and technology, 1990-1994 Topic(s) 0102 - Biogeochemical cycles and fluxes Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT PUBLIC WORKS AND WATER MANAGEMENT Address Kortenaerkade 1 2500 EX Den haag ('s-gravenhage) Netherlands See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (17) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all BALTIC SEA RESEARCH INSTITUTE Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address 15,seestrasse 15 18119 Rostock /warnemunde See on map FEDERAL MARITIME AND HYDROGRAPHIC AGENCY Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address Bernhard-nocht-strasse 78 20359 Hamburg See on map Havforskningsinstitutett Norway EU contribution € 0,00 Address 5024 Bergen-nordnes See on map Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) France EU contribution € 0,00 Address Centre de brest 29290 Plouzane See on map Institut d'Hygiène et d'Epidémiologie Belgium EU contribution € 0,00 Address 100,gulledelle 1200 Bruxelles See on map Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Belgium EU contribution € 0,00 Address 2,w. de croylaan 3001 Heverlee See on map NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address Bidston observatory L43 7RA Birkenhead See on map Netherlands Institute for Sea Research Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address 1790 AB Texel, den burg See on map SIR ALISTER HARDY FOUNDATION FOR OCEAN SCIENCE United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address Citadel hill, the laboratory PL1 2PB Plymouth See on map Links Website Opens in new window STICHTING MATHEMATISCH CENTRUM Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address 413,kruislaan 413 1090 GB Amsterdam See on map STICHTING WATERLOOPKUNDIG LABORATORIUM (WL/DELFT HYDRAULICS) Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address 185,rotterdamseweg 185 2600 MH Delft See on map THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address Abercromby square L69 3BX Liverpool See on map Technische Universiteit Delft Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address 132,julianalaan 2600 AJ Delft See on map UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX I France EU contribution € 0,00 Address Avenue des facultés 33405 Talence See on map UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address Troplowitzstrasse 7 22529 Hamburg See on map UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address Budesstrasse 55 20146 Hamburg See on map University of Dublin - Trinity College Ireland EU contribution € 0,00 Address Trinity college 1 Dublin See on map