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Cruise proposal for ship time onboard R/V Poseidon. Eastern Boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) are well known to be highly productive regions. Water from deeper layers is brought to the surface and transports high loads of nutrients and trace gases (e.g. CO2, N2O) and water that is low in oxygen. Due to their geographical location in the tropics/subtropics enough light is available to start strong biological productivity. While water masses move away from the coast to the open ocean trace gases as CO2 and N2O are released to the atmosphere while oxygen is taken up. At the same time CO2 is consumed by biological production and oxygen is produced. Due to this high productivity surfactants are building up at the sea surface. This surface micro layer (SML) is known to dampen air-sea gas exchange. Here we propose to deploy a drifter in a fresh upwelled water parcel in order to follow the water parcel for a time period of 15 days. During this time an extensive measuring program will be conducted consisting of continuous measurements of trace gases in the upwelling patch and the overlying atmosphere, direct flux measurements of CO2, regular determination of the SML and measurements of the physical conditions of the water parcel. This sampling strategy will enable us to unravel the different biological, chemical and physical processes in the upwelling parcel and foster our knowledge about the impact of EBUS on global scales.

Pericles once affirmed “He who rules the seas rules the world”. This statement has been considered a reality in global governance. From the past until now, though it may seem less relevant, with the increased importance of space technology, the argument still holds. The seas still remain the fundamental venue for trade, economic growth, natural resources, wealth and military mobility. With power slowly shifting from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, where most of the world’s population is concentrated, the need for revival of the Atlantic is essential for its continued relevance. The Atlantic Ocean, whose margins separated between 175 and 90 million years ago, is the youngest of the world oceans. Its margins are the cradle where most of international trade has taken place throughout modern history. Lately, it has also been the new frontier of developments in economic exploration of natural resources. Currently, the Atlantic is at a crossroads moment - There is a coastal State dependency on the ocean, since 90% of trade is conducted through sea routes. The maritimisation of the Wider Atlantic economies has gained strength, as coastlines have expanded their role in the production of national wealth, resulting from trade, hydrocarbon resources, fisheries, heavy industries and ever expanding coastal cities. Nevertheless, the increasing and spread of the negative impact of these activities on the Triangle Atlantic marine environment as well as on safety and security evokes policies to address such dependencies, revise national and international law on the issue and review the possible disputes and claims. This is particularly true in Africa, where there are growing disputes over maritime delimitation, which may lead to the escalation of maritime conflicts, despite UNCLOS regulations. Yet UNCLOS also faces some controversies regarding its interpretation and application. Challenges for the ocean: Trends Toward a New Environmental Era for the Oceans (The Project) acknowledge that Wider Atlantic nations have been taking ownership of the challenges with a steady effort to control its destiny, through resilience, cooperation and institutionalization. Accordingly, the Project presents tools to the countries to face the legal aspects of sustainable development and geopolitical challenges which can be developed accordingly the sponsor interest or adapt to the local priorities. Moreover, it is possible to sponsor and implement separately each topics of the Project.

The ambition of AtlantECO is to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework for providing knowledge-based resources to design policies, support decisions making and engage with citizens to encourage responsible behaviour to manage the Atlantic system and protect its Ecosystem Services (ES) provision. The aim of AtlantECO is to determine the structure and function of Atlantic microbiome in the context of ocean circulation and presence of pollutants, e.g., plastics, to assess its role in driving the dynamics of Atlantic ecosystems at basin and regional scales; its potential of being used as a sensor of ecosystem state and the mechanisms by which it drives the provision of five ES. This is key to improve our predictions on future provision of ES in the basin and to favour the establishment of a sustainable Blue Growth strategy for an All-Atlantic community. To realise this vision, AtlantECO has four objectives which are to 1) Assess dynamics of Atlantic marine ecosystems, their ES provision and the interplay of both with socio-economic activities; 2 increase knowledge and data on microbiomes, plastics, the plastisphere and carbon fluxes that support ecosystems at basin scale using best practices and integrative sampling strategies, novel genomics, imaging and biogeochemical methods, bioinformatics and modelling approaches; 3) Assess and predict the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors on ecosystem status and dynamics and ES provision, identifying their drivers and role on tipping points, assessing their changes in recovery of ecosystem structures, functions and services, and developing eco-socio-economic models to predict future trajectories and 4) Deploy a systemic strategy to build capacity and transfer knowledge for a seamless engagement between science, industry, policy, and society. To achieve these objectives AtlantECO brings together experts and pioneers from Europe, South America and South Africa with the relevant resources, knowledge and experience.

This Open Proposal "asset" is published with a CC-BY license, and available for "off shelf" use in EU Proposals seeking to cluster concurrent HorizonEU projects, with similar research, stakeholders engagement, outreach and impact objectives. The "asset" includes copy-paste Task description, a budget that can be adapted to needs, a ToR Terms of Reference and a suggestion of Standing Agenda priorities, as well as a mechanism for easy implementation as part of any WP WorkPackage on Coordination & Management contract. Success stories of the this CLUSTERING effort as implemented in support of the #AllAtlantic Ocean Research Alliance (Galway Statement, Belem Statement), will be added with time in follow-up versions of the document. The overall objective of the CLUSTERING effort are: OPTIMISE RESEARCH SYNERGIES at operational level (e.g. field campaigns, sampling, co-delivery of deliverables); COMBINE OUTREACH EFFORT & RESOURCES with stakeholder engagement, to increase awareness reach; REDUCE stakeholder FATIGUE by jointly targeting same stakeholders in a more coherent way Support the CSA Coordination Support Action that coordinates the cluster of projects. TASK DESCRIPTION (off-shelf, copy-paste for any proposal): (see full Open Proposal MISSION ATLANTIC 10.5281/zenodo.4916510) Task 10.4 Clustering Activities with Concurrent Programs(insert under WP WorkPackage on Coordination & Management, as a separate task) This task supports synergies across concurrent Atlantic projects to: reduce stakeholder fatigue, coordinate ship of opportunity; enhance dissemination and exploitation activities; align science priorities. In coordination with the specific CSA (Coordination Support Action), the task lead will create maintain an All-Atlantic CLUSTER of implementing project managers (role and ToR detailed in attachment) made up of project beneficiaries, volunteer experts from relevant concurrent projects funded by HorizonEU CLUSTER2, 5, 6 (and open to USA, Canada and South Atlantic national funded projects with overlapping research priorities on #AllAtlantic Ecosystem-Based Management, and IEA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment). Additionally, the coordination team will engage concurrent projects Leads on Dissemination & Exploitation to join the project key Stakeholder Scoping Workshops, and the project's annual meetings to align DEP and exploitation strategies, and pool effort and resources to optimize achieving common Expected Impact on end-users of common interest. Partners involved in Shared Infrastructure consortia (list partners within transnational access to ships & research platforms) will assist in optimizing joint cooperation in field activities, common use of berth space, joint sampling activities and co-delivery of research deliverables (include relevant Letter of Support for credibility). Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for the task will be number of joint communication & exploitation products and activities, targeting end-users of common interest. Outcomes of all "clustering" activities will inform the Steering Committee and refine the Dissemination, Exploitation, Communication strategy. Lead Partner: Partners: Duration: Month1-60 MECHANICS of IMPLEMENTATION: The CLUSTER meets for 45 min online, once per month (adjust frequency as needed), and is ad-hoc attended by EC Project Officer and CSA AANCHOR Coordination Team (to be replaced by follow up CSA Team). A list of joint actions provoked by the CLUSTER is attached in the joined presentations to this document. All Minutes, ToR Terms of Reference, Presentations, Letters of Lobbying to concurrent ERA-NETS and Partnership are on an open shared drive. BUDGET: Equivalent to 90 min per month, preparation and attendance, for the duration of the project, times the average monthly rate of the person representing the project in the CLUSTER. Implementaiton of joint actions, should already be budgeted with WP on Dissemination, Exploitation, Communication, or the R&D WorkPackages.