scholarly journals OSPAR Ecological Quality Objectives: the utility of health indicators for the North Sea

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 1392-1397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Heslenfeld ◽  
E. Lisette Enserink

Abstract Heslenfeld, P., and Enserink, E. L. 2008. OSPAR Ecological Quality Objectives: the utility of health indicators for the North Sea. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1392–1397. Committed to the ecosystem approach to management, OSPAR has accumulated 15 years of experience in developing a conceptual framework for ecological indicators and objectives, and in applying the framework to the North Sea as a test case. These Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs) have become a model for the implementation of the new European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. We describe the history of EcoQO development, its current status, and future needs. We also present our positive and negative experiences in developing the approach, and conclude that regional sea conventions and marine research institutes in Europe should join forces to accelerate the development of ecosystem indicators and objectives, using existing concepts.

Author(s):  
Ann Muggeridge ◽  
Andrew Cockin ◽  
Kevin Webb ◽  
Harry Frampton ◽  
Ian Collins ◽  
...  

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques can significantly extend global oil reserves once oil prices are high enough to make these techniques economic. Given a broad consensus that we have entered a period of supply constraints, operators can at last plan on the assumption that the oil price is likely to remain relatively high. This, coupled with the realization that new giant fields are becoming increasingly difficult to find, is creating the conditions for extensive deployment of EOR. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, status and prospects for EOR technologies. It explains why the average oil recovery factor worldwide is only between 20% and 40%, describes the factors that contribute to these low recoveries and indicates which of those factors EOR techniques can affect. The paper then summarizes the breadth of EOR processes, the history of their application and their current status. It introduces two new EOR technologies that are beginning to be deployed and which look set to enter mainstream application. Examples of existing EOR projects in the mature oil province of the North Sea are discussed. It concludes by summarizing the future opportunities for the development and deployment of EOR.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arthur Bourassa ◽  
Tove Husby ◽  
Rick Deuane Watts ◽  
Dale Oveson ◽  
Tommy M. Warren ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
P. E. P. Norton

SynopsisThis is a brief review intended to supply bases for prediction of future changes in the North Sea Benthos. It surveys long-term changes which are affecting the benthos. Any prediction must take into account change in temperature, depth, bottom type, tidal patterns, current patterns and zoogeography of the sea and the history of these is briefly touched on from late Tertiary times up to the present. From a prediction of changes in the benthos, certain information concerning the pelagic and planktonic biota could also be derived.


Clay Minerals ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Pearson

AbstractClay mineral abundances in Mesozoic and Tertiary argillaceous strata from 15 exploration wells in the Inner and Outer Moray Firth, Viking Graben and East Shetland Basins of the northern North Sea have been determined in <0·2 µm fractions of cuttings samples. The clay assemblages of more deeply-buried samples cannot be unambiguously related to sedimentary input because of the diagenetic overprint which may account for much of the chlorite and related interstratified minerals. Other sediments, discussed on a regional basis and related to the geological history of the basins, are interpreted in terms of clay mineral provenance and control by climate, tectonic and volcanic activity. The distribution of illite-smectite can often be related to volcanic activity both in the Forties area during the M. Jurassic, and on the NE Atlantic continental margin during the U. Cretaceous-Early Tertiary which affected the North Sea more widely and left a prominent record in the Viking Graben and East Shetland Basin. Kaolinite associated with lignite-bearing sediments in the Outer Moray Firth Basin was probably derived by alteration of volcanic material in lagoonal or deltaic environments. Some U. Jurassic and L. Cretaceous sediments of the Inner Moray Basin are rich in illite-smectite, the origin of which is not clear.


1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Hampson ◽  
Terje Hansen ◽  
H. Jakubowicz ◽  
John V. Kingston

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-219
Author(s):  
Eike-Christian Heine

The Kiel Canal (built between 1886 and 1895) connects the North Sea and the Baltic for seagoing vessels, yet, being 100 km long, about 10 m deep and 100 m wide, it also divides a landscape. This finding is the starting point for analysing the effects of infrastructure that facilitates communication and exchange but also produces obstructions and rivalries. This article explores the ambiguous effects this piece of infrastructure had on politics, technology, labour, trade and military strategy. The ‘deep ditch’ also had severe environmental consequences that were palpable until well into the twentieth century. By considering both the ‘positive’ and the ‘negative’ of the waterway, the narrative of ‘connect-and-divide’ avoids the still-too-often told affirmative story of transport infrastructure. Instead, it and opens the outlook to a multi-faceted history of transport infrastructures.


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