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CLIMSEAS Project

New data collection

Contact

 

Scientific coordinator

Elena Roget correu

Web contents manager

Anna Drou correu

New data collection


Work package number

4

New data collection

 

Objectives

1) By means of task-oriented in-situ measurements (meteorological, hydrophysical, chemical and palaeoenvironmental) in the selected “model” regions, obtain the specific data needed to understand the key physical processes.

Generally, enclosed seas, which are the focus of this project, have been well covered by recent and historical data, except for the rapidly changing Aral Sea environment, for which in-situ data was lacking during most of the 1990s, and which is still covered sparsely. Moreover, much of this information will be re-assembled and revisited within the WP3 package. However the existing data only refer to the general oceanographic characterization of the inland seas and their variability, leaving, considerable gaps in the process of determining the specific key processes governing their response to climate change impacts. Focal parameters may vary for the individual seas.

2) For the Aral Sea, estimating the net evaporation rates as a function of the meteorological parameters is likely to imply fine scale measurements of the stratification in the near-surface layer, as well as those of the ionic salt composition of the water.

3) In the Caspian Sea, one of the principal climate change agents is the fluvial discharge from the Volga River. Therefore, the vertical mixing at the base of the upper, freshened layer, as well as the slope cascading, is of primary importance.

4) In the Black Sea, one of the key processes is the horizontal mixing and shelf-deep sea exchanges by eddies shedding from the Rim Current. Therefore, the dynamical properties of such eddies are subject to a detailed field investigation. The sea-going data collections within the project will be organised accordingly.

5) We also intend to take a few short core samples in places with high sedimentation rates and low instrumental data coverage and reconstruct past vegetation and climate changes from pollen analyses, Pb210 chronologies, and changes in sediment facies.

Description of work

Task 4.1: Data collection from Aral Sea

4.1.1) This field expedition, planned for the autumn of 2010, will carry out fine structure profiling of the water column in the western and eastern basins of the Large Aral Sea, attending physico-chemical parameters. The water sampling campaign will also encompass both basins, and subsequent analyses of the ionic salt composition will be done in the laboratory of the Shirshov Institute. The equipment will be delivered from Moscow to the investigation site by all-terrain vehicles through the city of Nukus (Uzbekistan), and the field base of the expedition will be organised at the Aktumsuk meteorological station, on the western shore of the western basin. Inflatable motorboats will be used for the measurements and sampling. Sediment cores will also be collected.

4.1.2) Processing and analysis of the data by the participating groups. Analysis of the data has information relevant to work packages 5, 6 and 7.

Task 4.2: Data collection from the Black Sea

4.2.1) This field experiment is tentatively scheduled for the autumn of 2011. It will mainly focus on investigating the properties of anticyclonic eddies responsible for transferring the climatic signal from the shelf across the continental slope into the deep basin south of the Rim Current. The R/V Ashamba belonging to the Shirshov Institute and based in the city of Gelendzhik will probably be used for this purpose. Short cores will be collected, focusing not only on reconstructing climatic change but also on disentangling climate change and human impact (pollution and invasive species).

4.2.2) Processing and analysis of the data by the participating groups. Analysis of the data provides reliable information to work on work packages 5, 6 and 7. The short cores will focus not only on reconstructing climatic change but also on disentangling climatic change and human impact.

Task 4.3: Data collection from the Caspian Sea

4.3.1) This cruise is provisionally scheduled for 2012. The mechanisms transferring the climatic signal from the Volga mouth through the shallow northern Caspian into the deep Central basin, as well as those responsible for the vertical mixing in the presence of buoyant continental discharges, will be in the focus of this expedition. The cruise will be taken on the R/V Rift, which belongs to the Shirshov Institute and is based in the city of Astrakhan.

4.3.2) Processing and analysis of the data by the participating groups. Analysis of the data provides information relevant to work on work packages 5, 6 and 7. The groups are also expected to have a comprehensive understanding of the history of sea level and climate change in recent times, as a means of distinguishing the impact of humans from natural system changes.

 

Deliverables

D4.1 A new set of specialised hydrographic data from the Aral Sea. Sediment cores. Cruise report.

D4.2 A new set of specialised hydrographic data from the Black Sea. Sediment cores. Cruise report.

D4.3 A new set of specialised hydrographic data from the Caspian Sea. Sediment cores. Cruise report.

 


Researchers involved

T4.1: (SIO: P. Zavialov, V. Pelevin, I. Goncharenko, V. Kremenetskiy); UdG: R. Roget, I. Bastida Phd1; UBRUN: S. Leroy, P. Collins, S. Kershaw,

T4.2: (SIO: P. P. Zavialov,V. Kremenetskiy, V. Pelevin, I. Goncharenko); UdG: E. Roget / J. Planella. ULIV: F. Marret, J. Bloemendal; UBRUN: S. Kershaw, TBA

T4.3: (SIO: P. Zavialov, L. Merklin, E. Ivanova); UBRUN: S. Leroy, P. Collins, K. Arpe

Names of the people responsible at the host institutions for the different Russian teams that will participate in the campaigns without receiving funding for this activity – although the funds for other activities in which they will participate within the programme are required – are shown in brackets.