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Despite the current high level of safety and the efforts to make passenger ships resilient to most fire and flooding scenarios, there are still gaps and challenges in the marine emergency response and ship evacuation processes. Those challenges arise from the fact that both processes are complex, multi-variable problems that rely on parameters involving not only people and technology but also procedural and managerial issues. SafePASS Project, funded under EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, is set to radically redefine the evacuation processes by introducing new equipment, expanding the capabilities of legacy systems on-board, proposing new Life-Saving Appliances and ship layouts, and challenging the current international regulations, hence reducing the uncertainty, and increasing the efficiency in all the stages of ship evacuation and abandonment process.

Microplastics are substrates for microbial activity and can influence biomass production. This has potentially important implications at the sea-surface microlayer, the marine boundary layer that controls gas exchange with the atmosphere and where biologically produced organic compounds can accumulate. In the present study, we used large scale mesocosms (filled with 3 m3 of seawater) to simulate future ocean scenarios. We explored microbial organic matter dynamics in the sea-surface microlayer in the presence and absence of microplastic contamination of the underlying water. Our study shows that microplastics increased both biomass production and enrichment of particulate carbohydrates and proteins in the sea-surface microlayer. Importantly, this resulted in a 3% reduction in the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the underlying water. This reduction suggests direct and indirect impacts of microplastic pollution on the marine uptake of CO2, by modifying the biogenic composition of the sea’s boundary layer with the atmosphere.

The documents in these folders represent part of the qualitative data collection documentation. Research has been performed in Flanders (Belgium) in 2016 and 2017. Involved stakehodlers were flemish sugar beet farmers, processors as well as other value chain members. Though, the main stakeholders involved were farmers. The raw data cannot be published. Anonymized interview transcripts and focus group transcripts exist. However, as indicated in the informed consent, farmers did not agree to the raw data being published. The codes that resulted from data analysis are in this folder. Interview questions differed slightly from farmer to farmer as follow up questions may have been posed if needed. First interviews were performed, then focus groups were conducted and finally a workshop was organized. The qualitative reserach followed the research strategy and plan determined by the SUFISA project. On the project webpage (https://www.sufisa.eu/) more information can be found.

This is the English version of the informed consent that has been used for staekholder interactions. Similar forms have been used for focus groups and workshops.

Data refer to export fluxes of carbonate produced by calcifying phytoplankton (coccolithophores), and coccolith-CaCO₃ percent contribution to total carbonate flux across the tropical North Atlantic, from upwelling affected NW Africa, via three ocean sites along 12°N to the Caribbean. Sampling was undertaken by means of a spatial array of four time-series sediment traps (i.e., CB at 21°N 20°W; M1U at 12°N 23°W; M2U at 14°N 37°W; M4U at 12°N 49°W; Guerreiro et al., 2021) collecting particle fluxes in two-week intervals, from October 2012 to February 2014, allowing to track temporal changes along the southern margin of the North Atlantic central gyre. Auxiliary PIC (Particulate Inorganic Carbon) data from NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group (https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov) are also provided for the sediment sampling period at all four trap sites. Particle flux data (mg/m²/d) of CaCO₃, organic matter, particulate organic carbon (POC), biogenic silica (bSiO₂) and unspecified residual fraction are provided for sediment trap site CB.

Comparison of the equatorial upwelling system, the northern coastal upwelling system of the Gulf of Guinea and the tropical Angolan upwelling system.

We report the results of an aquaria-based experiment testing the effects of suspended particles generated during potential mining activities, on a common habitat-building coral species in the Azores, Dentomuricea aff. meteor. Corals were collected from the summit of Condor Seamount (Azores, NE Atlantic) at depths between 185-210 m in August 2014. Coral fragments were maintained in 10-L aquaria and exposed to three experimental treatments for a period of four weeks at the DeepSeaLab aquaria facilities (Okeanos-University of the Azores): (1) control conditions (no added sediments); (2) suspended polymetallic sulphide (PMS) particles; (3) suspended quartz particles. PMS particles were obtained by grinding PMS inactive chimney rocks collected at the hydrothermal vent field Lucky Strike. Both particle types were delivered at a concentration of 25 mg L-1. The putative effects of PMS particles were evaluated through measurements of the coral physiological responses at the levels of the organism (oxygen consumption, ammonium excretion), tissue (bioaccumulation of metals) and cell (enzyme activity and gene expression).

Physical oceanography variables and carbon remineralisation (juveniles/adults of Cyclothone species and Argyropelecus hemigymnus) were analysed during the BATHYPELAGIC cruise (North Atlantic, June 2018). This dataset contains the depth, temperature, and conductivity which were recorded from surface to a maximum depth of 2000 m using a SeaBird SBE 25plus CTD equipped with a Seabird-43 Dissolved Oxygen sensor and a Seapoint Fluorometer. Values of numerical abundance, biomass, specific ETS activity, specific respiraton and respiration flux data analyzed from Northwest Africa (20° N, 20° W) to the South of Iceland are presented. A. hemigymnus specimens were collected using a ''Mesopelagos” net (5 x7 m mouth opening, 58 m total length) equipped with graded-mesh netting (starting with 30 mm and ending with 4 mm) and a multi-sampler for collecting samples from 5 different depth layers. However, Cyclothone specimens were collected using the Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS-1 m²) zooplankton net with a 0.2 mm mesh size and with several nets for collecting samples from 8 different depth layers. The Mesopelagos catches were sorted out and identified on board to the lowest possible taxon, and specimens selected for Electron Transfer System (ETS) analyses were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen for later analysis in the laboratory. MOCNESS samples were preserved in 5% buffered formalin, and specimens were sorted out later in the laboratory. Stomiiforms respiration in the meso- and bathypelagic zones of the ocean were estimated along the transect. Abundance, biomass, specific ETS activity, specific respiration and respiration are given by layer between e.g. 100 m and 1000 m depth (MOCNESS net, 1900–1600 m, 1600–1300 m, 1300–1000 m, 1000–700 m, 700–400 m, 400–200 m, 200–100 m and 100–0 m; Mesopelagos, 1900–1200 m, 1200–800 m, 800–500 m, 500–200 m and 200–0 m).