• European Marine Science
• Other research productsclose
• Open Access close
• European Commission close
• EC|H2020 close
• GB close
• English close
• European Marine Science close

In the field of ocean observing, the term of “observatory” is often used without a unique meaning. A clear and unified definition of observatory is needed in order to facilitate the communication in a multidisciplinary community, to capitalize on future technological innovations and to support the observatory design based on societal needs. In this paper, we present a general framework to define the next generation Marine OBservatory (MOB), its capabilities and functionalities in an operational context. The MOB consists of four interconnected components or “gears” (observation infrastructure, cyberinfrastructure, support capacity, and knowledge generation engine) that are constantly and adaptively interacting with each other. Therefore, a MOB is a complex infrastructure focused on a specific geographic area with the primary scope to generate knowledge via data synthesis and thereby addressing scientific, societal, or economic challenges. Long-term sustainability is a key MOB feature that should be guaranteed through an appropriate governance. MOBs should be open to innovations and good practices to reduce operational costs and to allow their development in quality and quantity. A deeper biological understanding of the marine ecosystem should be reached with the proliferation of MOBs, thus contributing to effective conservation of ecosystems and management of human activities in the oceans. We provide an actionable model for the upgrade and development of sustained marine observatories producing knowledge to support science-based economic and societal decisions. Refereed 14.A Manual (incl. handbook, guide, cookbook etc) 2018-09-07

We used a multibeam echosounder (Reson7125) front-mounted onto the ROV Isis (Dive D333, DY081 expedition) to map the terrain of a vertical feature marking the edge of a deep-sea glacial trough (Labrador Sea, [63°51.9'N, 53°16.9'W, depth: 650 to 800 m]). After correction of the ROV navigation (i.e. merging of USBL and DVL), bathymetry [m] and backscatter [nominal unit] were extracted at a resolution of 0.3 m and different terrain descriptors were computed: Slope, Bathymetric Position Index (BPI), Terrain Ruggedness Index, Roughness, Mean and Gaussian curvatures and orientations (Northness and Eastness), at scales of 0.9, 3 and 9 m. Using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the terrain descriptors enabled to retrieve 4 terrain clusters and their associated confusion index, to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of the terrain. This approach also underlined the presence of geomorphic features in the wall terrain. The extraction of the backscatter intensity for the first time considering vertical terrains, opens space for further acquisition and processing development. Using photographs collected by the ROV Isis (Dive D334, DY081 expedition), epibenthic fauna was annotated. Each image was linked to a terrain cluster in the 3D space and pooled into 20-m² bins of images. A Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrix was constructed from morphospecies abundances. This enabled to test for differences of assemblage composition among clusters. Few species appeared more abundant in particular clusters such as L. pertusa in high-roughness cluster. However, nMDS suggested differences in assemblage composition but these dissimilarities were not strongly delineated. Whereas the design of this study may have limited distinctive differences among assemblages, this shows the potential of this cost-effective method of top-down habitat mapping to be applied in undersampled benthic habitat in order to provide a priori knwoledge for defining appropriate sampling design.

Gordon & Betty Moore FoundationGordon and Betty Moore Foundation [5596]; Canada Research Chairs FoundationCanada Research Chairs; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant [747946]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia I.P. Portugal (FCT); Direcao-Geral de Politica do Mar (DGPM) [2/2017/001-MiningImpact 2]; FCTPortuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyEuropean Commission [CEECIND005262017, UID/MAR/00350/2013, IF/01194/2013, IF/00029/2014/CP1230/CT0002, Mining2/0005/2017]; RF State Assignment [0149-2019-0009]; Horizon 2020 Agricultural Interoperability and Analysis System (ATLAS) projects [678760]; JM Kaplan Fund; National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [OCE 1634172]; JPI Oceans project Mining Impact -Environmental Impacts and Risks of Deep-Sea Mining Aug 2018-Feb 2022 (NWO-ALW) [856.18.001] info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

These datasets were used to describe the diversity, ecology and role of non-scleractinian corals on scleractinian cold-water coral carbonate mounds in the Logachev Mound Province, Rockall Bank, NE Atlantic. Cold-water coral carbonate mounds, created by framework-building scleractinian corals, are also important habitats for non-scleractinian corals, whose ecology and role are understudied in deep-sea environments. In total ten non-scleractinian species were identified, which were mapped out along eight ROV video transects. Eight species were identified as black corals (three belonging to the family Schizopathidae, one each to the Leiopathidae, Cladopathidae, and Antipathidae and two to an unknown family) and two as gorgonians (Isididae and Plexauridae). The most abundant species were Leiopathes sp. and Parantipathes sp. 2. Areas with a high diversity of non-scleractinian corals are interpreted to offer sufficient food, weak inter-species competition and the presence of heterogeneous and hard settlement substrates. A difference in the density and occurrence of small vs. large colonies of Leiopathes sp. was also observed, which is likely related to a difference in the stability of the substrate they choose for settlement. Non-scleractinian corals, especially black corals, are an important habitat for crabs, crinoids, and shrimps in the Logachev Mound Province.

Much of our understanding of Earth's past climate states comes from the measurement of oxygen and carbon isotope variations in deep-sea benthic foraminifera. Yet, major intervals in those records that lack the temporal resolution and/or age control required to identify climate forcing and feedback mechanisms. Here we document 66 million years of global climate by a new high-fidelity Cenozoic global reference benthic carbon and oxygen isotope dataset (CENOGRID). Using recurrence analysis, we find that on timescales of millions of years Earth's climate can be grouped into Hothouse, Warmhouse, Coolhouse and Icehouse states separated by transitions related to changing greenhouse gas levels and the growth of polar ice sheets. Each Cenozoic climate state is paced by orbital cycles, but the response to radiative forcing is state dependent.

Glider vehicles are now perhaps some of the most prolific providers of real-time and near-real-time operational oceanographic data. However, the data from these vehicles can and should be considered to have a long-term legacy value capable of playing a critical role in understanding and separating inter-annual, inter-decadal, and longterm global change. To achieve this, we have to go further than simply assuming the manufacturer’s calibrations, and field correct glider data in a more traditional way, for example, by careful comparison to water bottle calibrated lowered CTD datasets and/or “gold” standard recent climatologies. In this manuscript, we bring into the 21st century a historical technique that has been used manually by oceanographers for many years/decades for field correction/inter-calibration, thermal lag correction, and adjustment for biological fouling. The technique has now been made semi-automatic for machine processing of oceanographic glider data, although its future and indeed its origins have far wider scope. The subject of this manuscript is drawn from the original Description of Work (DoW) for a key task in the recently completed JERICO-NEXT (Joint European Research Infrastructure network for Coastal Observatories) EU-funded program, but goes on to consider future application and the suitability for integration with machine learning. Refereed 14.A Sea surface salinity Subsurface salinity TRL 8 Actual system completed and "mission qualified" through test and demonstration in an operational environment (ground or space) Manual (incl. handbook, guide, cookbook etc) Standard Operating Procedure 2019-12-03

High-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) records derived from the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C ice core covering Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 9e - 12a (~330 - 450 ka BP). The majority of the CO2 data were measured at an average temporal resolution of ~300 years using a novel dry-extraction device called the Centrifugal Ice Microtome (CIM) employed at Climate and Environmental Physics (CEP), Physics Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland. Additional 33 data points were measured at the Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France using the Ball Mill dry-extraction system. The CH4 data were measured at both CEP and IGE, improving the temporal resolution of existing data previously published by the same laboratories to ~350 years on average. These ice core records are complemented by high-resolution planktic and benthic stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) records from the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1385 located on the Iberian Margin off the coast of Portugal (Shackleton Site) covering MIS 9e - 11c (~330 - 410 ka BP). All marine sediment data were measured at an average temporal resolution of ~150 years at the Godwin Laboratory of Palaeoclimate Research, University of Cambridge, UK.

The number concentration of cloud particles is a key quantity for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions and describing clouds in climate and numerical weather prediction models. In contrast with recent advances for liquid clouds, few observational constraints exist regarding the ice crystal number concentration (Ni). This study investigates how combined lidar–radar measurements can be used to provide satellite estimates of Ni, using a methodology that constrains moments of a parameterized particle size distribution (PSD). The operational liDAR–raDAR (DARDAR) product serves as an existing base for this method, which focuses on ice clouds with temperatures Tc<-30 ∘C. Theoretical considerations demonstrate the capability for accurate retrievals of Ni, apart from a possible bias in the concentration in small crystals when Tc≳−50 ∘C, due to the assumption of a monomodal PSD shape in the current method. This is verified via a comparison of satellite estimates to coincident in situ measurements, which additionally demonstrates the sufficient sensitivity of lidar–radar observations to Ni. Following these results, satellite estimates of Ni are evaluated in the context of a case study and a preliminary climatological analysis based on 10 years of global data. Despite a lack of other large-scale references, this evaluation shows a reasonable physical consistency in Ni spatial distribution patterns. Notably, increases in Ni are found towards cold temperatures and, more significantly, in the presence of strong updrafts, such as those related to convective or orographic uplifts. Further evaluation and improvement of this method are necessary, although these results already constitute a first encouraging step towards large-scale observational constraints for Ni. Part 2 of this series uses this new dataset to examine the controls on Ni.

This data set includes hydrographic and pore water and core incubation silicic acid concentration and isotope measurements, sediment Si-HCl and Si-Alk contents and isotope measurements, and pore water nutrient, major, and trace element concentrations measured in the fjords Ameralik Fjord and Nuup Kangerlua (Godhäbsfjord) in southwest Greenland. Data was collected during a research expedition, R/V Tulu 2019, in September 2019, as part of ERC funded (678371) project ICY-LAB (Isotope CYcling in the LABrador Sea) and Royal Society funded (RGF\EA\181036) project Biogeochemical Cycling in Greenlandic Fjords. Temperature and salinity data derived from CTD rosette casts were recorded at station AM10 in Ameralik Fjord and station GF-inlet in Nuup Kangerlua. Fjord water sampling was carried out at 2 stations (AM10 and AM12) in Ameralik Fjord and station GF-inlet in Nuup Kangerlua using Towfish and Niskin bottles for near surface and sub surface samples, respectively. For bottle samples, temperature and salinity were measured using an EXO3 Multiparameter Water Quality Sonde. Fjord sediments were collected by a large bore sediment corer (Aquatic Research Instruments) at station AM10a in Ameralik Fjord and station GF-inlet in Nuup Kangerlua. Pore waters were extracted from the sediment cores using Rhizon samplers and core incubation experiments were carried out following the methodology of Hammond et al. (2004, doi:10.4319/lom.2004.2.146). Sediment reactive silica was leached using a sequential extraction method from Michalopoulos and Aller (2004, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2003.07.018) and Pickering et al. (2020, doi:10.1029/2020GL087877).

The Climate SPHINX (Stochastic Physics HIgh resolutioN eXperiments) project is a comprehensive set of ensemble simulations aimed at evaluating the sensitivity of present and future climate to model resolution and stochastic parameterisation. The EC-Earth Earth system model is used to explore the impact of stochastic physics in a large ensemble of 30-year climate integrations at five different atmospheric horizontal resolutions (from 125 up to 16 km). The project includes more than 120 simulations in both a historical scenario (1979–2008) and a climate change projection (2039–2068), together with coupled transient runs (1850–2100). A total of 20.4 million core hours have been used, made available from a single year grant from PRACE (the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and close to 1.5 PB of output data have been produced on SuperMUC IBM Petascale System at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching, Germany. About 140 TB of post-processed data are stored on the CINECA supercomputing centre archives and are freely accessible to the community thanks to an EUDAT data pilot project. This paper presents the technical and scientific set-up of the experiments, including the details on the forcing used for the simulations performed, defining the SPHINX v1.0 protocol. In addition, an overview of preliminary results is given. An improvement in the simulation of Euro-Atlantic atmospheric blocking following resolution increase is observed. It is also shown that including stochastic parameterisation in the low-resolution runs helps to improve some aspects of the tropical climate – specifically the Madden–Julian Oscillation and the tropical rainfall variability. These findings show the importance of representing the impact of small-scale processes on the large-scale climate variability either explicitly (with high-resolution simulations) or stochastically (in low-resolution simulations).