Overview
Established by the European Commission in 1993 through the Marine Science and
Technology (MAST) program, the Mediterranean Targeted Project I (MTP I, 1993-1996) and
the MTP II (1996-1999) represent a major effort in the understanding of the Mediterranean
Sea today (both Western and Eastern basins).
The objective of the MTP II - MATER (MAss Transfer and Ecosystem Response) is to study and
to quantify the triggering and controlling mechanisms of mass and energy transfer between
the different compartments (land - sea, sea-atmosphere, water - sediment, living - no
living, pelagos - benthos), in contrasting trophic environments (from eutrophic to
oligotrophic) of the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the ecosystem response to such a
transfer.
This program is designed to assess the processes at various time and space scales, from
the entire basin down to the local scale, and from inter-annual variations to daily
processes .
The project gathers 58 research groups from 10 EU Member States and
3 non-EU States.
From 1996 to 1999, 108 cruises (representing more than 1000 days of ship time)
have been carried out, 130 long time series collected and 254 main
scientific equipments have been used to collect in situ data. These data
have been processed in the scientific laboratories and in the archiving centers,
according to international methods and standards. As a result, a wealth of new multidisciplinary data are released.
In addition, information on cruises, moorings and instruments have been compiled
and disseminated, all along the project
implementation.
The corresponding important data management task has been performed by a dedicated data management structure according to the
requirements of the European MAST
Code on Data Management.
Scientific Tasks
Task I: Seasonal and interannual variability of the general circulation
 | I.1 Analysis, from Satellite remote Sensing and historical data, of the Structure
and the variability of the basin scale circulation
|
| I.2 The functioning of the Mediterranean Sea circulation
|
| I.3 Realistic estimates od Advection and diffusion
|
|
I.4 Air-Sea interaction studies
I.5 Functionning of the Major Strait |
| I.6 Model intercomparison |
Task II: Water mass formation processes and thermohaline circulation
| II.1. Intermediate
Water formation |
| II.2. Deep
Water Formation |
| II.3. Observation
of the Thermohaline Circulation |
| II.4. Modelling
of the Thermohaline Circulation |
Task III: Subbasin scale circulation and mesoscale dynamics
Task IV: Processes controlling particles dynamics
Task V: Biotic and abiotic processes controlling biogeochemical fluxes
|
V.1. Production in the Photic Zone |
|
V.2. Transformation Processes of key biogeochemicals during transfer |
|
V.3. Characterization of Settling particles |
Task VI: Benthic response to downward fluxes and sedimentary records
|
VI.1. Faunal Responseand Early diagenesis of Organic matter |
|
VI.2. Sediment composition and past Fluxes
Task VII: Ecosystem studies |
To implement these tasks, the work is organized in five scientific
workpackages and a data management workpackage.
Project Organisation
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