Oil Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea: An Overview

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Many Sources

<p><span>Oil pollution can enter the marine environment from many sources including land, shipping, and oil installations. It can have significant impacts on the marine environment that, depending on the type of oil, can last for prolonged periods of time. Monitoring oil pollution in the Mediterranean Sea region has been conducted using both aerial and satellite surveillance. This presentation will provide an overview of the sources and volumes of oil entering the Mediterranean, identify impacts on the marine ecosystem in general terms, and will review surveillance activities in the region, including cooperative activities undertaken by regional and EU agencies, for example. </span></p> <p> </p>

scholarly journals Implementation and validation of a new operational wave forecasting system of the Mediterranean Monitoring and Forecasting Centre in the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 2675-2695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michalis Ravdas ◽  
Anna Zacharioudaki ◽  
Gerasimos Korres
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Environment Monitoring ◽  
Marine Research ◽  
Forecasting System ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Marine Environment Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Service ◽  
Wave Forecasting

Abstract. Within the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), an operational wave forecasting system for the Mediterranean Sea has been implemented by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) and evaluated through a series of preoperational tests and subsequently for 1 full year of simulations (2014). The system is based on the WAM model and it has been developed as a nested sequence of two computational grids to ensure that occasional remote swell propagating from the North Atlantic correctly enters the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean model has a grid spacing of 1∕24∘. It is driven with 6-hourly analysis and 5-day forecast 10 m ECMWF winds. It accounts for shoaling and refraction due to bathymetry and surface currents, which are provided in offline mode by CMEMS. Extensive statistics on the system performance have been calculated by comparing model results with in situ and satellite observations. Overall, the significant wave height is accurately simulated by the model while less accurate but reasonably good results are obtained for the mean wave period. In both cases, the model performs optimally at offshore wave buoy locations and well-exposed Mediterranean subregions. Within enclosed basins and near the coast, unresolved topography by the wind and wave models and fetch limitations cause the wave model performance to deteriorate. Model performance is better in winter when the wave conditions are well defined. On the whole, the new forecast system provides reliable forecasts. Future improvements include data assimilation and higher-resolution wind forcing.

scholarly journals The culturable mycobiota associated with the Mediterranean sponges Aplysina cavernicola, Crambe crambe and Phorbas tenacior

2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Bovio ◽  
Estelle Sfecci ◽  
Anna Poli ◽  
Giorgio Gnavi ◽  
Valeria Prigione ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Marine Fungi ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Fungal Communities ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Satellite Analysis ◽  
First Time

ABSTRACT Marine fungi are part of the huge and understudied biodiversity hosted in the sea. To broaden the knowledge on fungi inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea and their role in sponge holobiont, three sponges namely Aplysina cavernicola, Crambe crambe and Phorbas tenacior were collected in Villefranche sur Mer, (France) at about 25 m depth. The fungal communities associated with the sponges were isolated using different techniques to increase the numbers of fungi isolated. All fungi were identified to species level giving rise to 19, 13 and 3 species for P. tenacior, A. cavernicola and C. crambe, respectively. Of note, 35.7% and 50.0% of the species detected were either reported for the first time in the marine environment or in association with sponges. The mini-satellite analysis confirmed the uniqueness of the mycobiota of each sponge, leading to think that the sponge, with its metabolome, may shape the microbial community.

Trends in productivity and biomass yields in the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem during climate change

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 57-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos I. Stergiou ◽  
Stylianos Somarakis ◽  
George Triantafyllou ◽  
Kostas P. Tsiaras ◽  
Marianna Giannoulaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Biomass Yields ◽  
Large Marine Ecosystem ◽  
The Mediterranean

scholarly journals First Record of the Lessepsian Migrant Smith's Cardinalfish Jaydia smithi Kotthaus, 1970 (Pisces: Apogonidae) from Syrian Marine Waters

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
Firas A. Al-Shawy ◽  
Murhaf M. Lahlah ◽  
Chirine S. Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Ballast Water ◽  
First Record ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Marine Waters ◽  
Environment Changes ◽  
Lessepsian Species ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time

Five individuals of Smith's cardinalfish Jaydia smithi were collected from Ibn-Hani area, Lattakia, Syria on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Their morphometric and meristic characteristics are reported. There are several factors which assisted this specimen to reach this area of the Mediterranean; some of these factors might be the marine environment changes and the ballast water. This study reports that Smith's cardinalfish Jaydia smithi, a member of Lessepsian species was found in Syrian marine waters for the first time.

scholarly journals Distributions of the carbonate system properties, anthropogenic CO<sub>2</sub>, and acidification during the 2008 BOUM cruise (Mediterranean Sea)

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 2709-2753 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Touratier ◽  
V. Guglielmi ◽  
C. Goyet ◽  
L. Prieur ◽  
M. Pujo-Pay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Total Alkalinity ◽  
Carbonate System ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Deep Waters ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
System Properties

Abstract. We relate here the distributions of two carbonate system key properties (total alkalinity, AT; and total dissolved inorganic carbon, CT) measured along a section in the Mediterranean Sea, going from Marseille (France) to the south of the Cyprus Island, during the 2008 BOUM cruise. The three main objectives of the present study are (1) to draw and comment on the distributions of AT and CT in the light of others properties like salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen, (2) to estimate the distribution of the anthropogenic CO2 (CANT) in the intermediate and the deep waters, and (3) to calculate the resulting variation of pH (acidification) since the beginning of the industrial era. Since the calculation of CANT is always an intense subject of debate, we apply two radically different approaches to estimate CANT: the very simple method TrOCA and the MIX approach, the latter being more precise but also more difficult to apply. A clear picture for the AT and the CT distributions is obtained: the mean concentration of AT is higher in the oriental basin while that of CT is higher in the occidental basin of the Mediterranean Sea, fully coherent with the previous published works. Despite of the two very different approaches we use here (TrOCA and MIX), the estimated distributions of CANT are very similar. These distributions show that the minimum of CANT encountered during the BOUM cruise is higher than 46.3 μmol kg−1 (TrOCA) or 48.8 μmol kg−1(MIX). All Mediterranean water masses (even the deepest) appear to be highly contaminated by CANT, as a result of the very intense advective processes that characterize the recent history of the Mediterranean circulation. As a consequence, unprecedented levels of acidification are reached with an estimated decrease of pH since the pre-industrial era of −0.148 to −0.061 pH unit, which places the Mediterranean Sea as one of the most acidified world marine ecosystem.

scholarly journals Effects of Currently Used Antifouling Booster Biocides on Green Fluorescent Proteins in Anemonia Viridis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Batuhan Ünver ◽  
Gulsen Akin Evingur ◽  
Levent Cavaş
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Antifouling Paint ◽  
Green Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Anemonia Viridis

Abstract Some of the antifouling booster biocides affects the marine ecosystem negatively. The booster biocides which are resistant to degradation are accumulated in the sediment of the oceans. One of the sedentary organisms in the Mediterranean Sea is Anemonia viridis. The aim of this study is to show the toxicities of common biocides such as irgarol, seanine-211, zinc omadine, and acticide on the fluorescence by GFPs of A.viridis. The decreases in the fluorescence intensities of the GFP were measured within different booster biocide concentrations. The results show that fluorescent intensities of GFP proteins decreased more than 50 percent when they are exposed to different concentrations of irgarol, zinc omadine, acticide. In conclusion, ecosystem health should be prioritized when new antifouling paint compositions are proposed. From the results, it seems that A.viridis can be considered as a vulnerable organism and also it is sensitive to booster biocides within self-polishing antifouling paint formulations.

scholarly journals Indigenous versus Lessepsian Hosts: Nervous Necrosis Virus (NNV) in Eastern Mediterranean Sea Fish

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Lampert ◽  
Ran Berzak ◽  
Nadav Davidovich ◽  
Arik Diamant ◽  
Nir Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Nervous Necrosis Virus ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Necrosis Virus ◽  
Marine Aquaculture ◽  
The Mediterranean

Viruses are among the most abundant and diverse biological components in the marine environment. In finfish, viruses are key drivers of host diversity and population dynamics, and therefore, their effect on the marine environment is far-reaching. Viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER) is a disease caused by the marine nervous necrosis virus (NNV), which is recognized as one of the main infectious threats for marine aquaculture worldwide. For over 140 years, the Suez Canal has acted as a conduit for the invasion of Red Sea marine species into the Mediterranean Sea. In 2016–2017, we evaluated the prevalence of NNV in two indigenous Mediterranean species, the round sardinella (Sardinella aurita) and the white steenbras (Lithognathus mormyrus) versus two Lessepsian species, the Randall’s threadfin bream (Nemipterus randalli) and the Lessepsian lizardfish (Saurida lessepsianus). A molecular method was used to detect NNV in all four fish species tested. In N. randalli, a relatively newly established invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea, the prevalence was significantly higher than in both indigenous species. In S. lessepsianus, prevalence varied considerably between years. While the factors that influence the effective establishment of invasive species are poorly understood, we suggest that the susceptibility of a given invasive fish species to locally acquired viral pathogens such as NVV may be important, in terms of both its successful establishment in its newly adopted environment and its role as a reservoir ‘host’ in the new area.

Basin scale dissolved oxygen interannual variability of the Mediterranean Sea: Analysis of long-term observations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolia-Maria Mavropoulou ◽  
Vassilios Vervatis ◽  
Sarantis Sofianos
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Mediterranean Ecosystem ◽  
Biogeochemical Processes ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
The Mediterranean

&lt;p&gt;The Mediterranean Sea is characterized by a combination of long-term trends and climatic shifts known in the literature as &amp;#8220;transients&amp;#8221;, that impact the biogeochemical processes. &amp;#160;We focus on the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, as it is an essential oceanic parameter for the marine ecosystem functioning. Dissolved oxygen distribution in the ocean interior is controlled by air-sea interaction processes, ocean circulation patterns, and biological effects. Understanding the related mechanisms and the variability of the above processes requires systematic oceanographic measurements over long periods and at high spatial resolution. Taking advantage of the Mediterranean monitoring systems, we can examine the sensitive physical and biogeochemical processes in the Mediterranean ecosystem. In this study, we investigate and combine all available data of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen over the period 1960-2011 (taking into consideration the scarcity of the available DO observations during the last years). In order to receive a direct and accurate evaluation of the interannual changes in the Mediterranean Sea, we constructed a gridded dataset interpolated into 1/8&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#959;&lt;/sup&gt; x 1/8&lt;sup&gt;&amp;#959;&lt;/sup&gt; grid using Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA). At the surface layer, the solubility-driven changes determine the dissolved oxygen concentration. In deeper layers, the interannual variability is more related to dynamical processes that may involve dense-water convection, biological consumption or mixing, rather than temperature trends. The observed changes in minimum/maximum oxygen zones are mostly related to abrupt shifts. The attribution of the observed variability involves complex physical and biogeochemical processes as well as anthropogenic activities and requires further analysis using modeling techniques and available operational tools.&lt;/p&gt;

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