Objectives: High resolution (in time and/or in space) monitoring programmes from the Channel-PSS combines different types of biological observations across the region and will be used for demonstrating new shared products to support/complement eutrophication assessments as defined by EU Directives and Regional Sea Convention. These products should help to provide a final classification when there is some doubt about pressure/impact relationship for a given assessed eutrophication area.
Action Lead and other Partners (with contact persons): IFREMER (Lefebvre, Devreker), DELTARES (Blauw), CEFAS (Collingridge, Creach), CNRS (Artigas), VLIZ (Debusschere, Mortelmans)
JS3 Platforms included: FerryBox: Thalassa (IFREMER); RV Cefas Endeavour (Cefas); Buoys: SMILE (IFREMER, CNRS), SCENES (IFREMER), WARP TH1 and WEST GABBARD (CEFAS), Thornton (VLIZ); Fixed Station MAREL-Carnot (IFREMER); Additional infrastructure: low-resolution monitoring by R/V.
Other data sources and external partners for implementation: SIMM/ODATIS data portal (coastal and offshore MSFD specific data) for data within Fr Marine Regions, ICES Database, VLIZ Database. External partners: OFB, Fr, (Vincent), French Water Agencies.
Overall timetable of action: Dec 2020 – Aug 2022.
Description of action: The action will communicate with MSFD Descriptor 5, OSPAR Eutrophication and WFD, aggregation, and integration methods. It will contribute to data integration (in situ, satellite, modelling). The Action will provide a comparison of assessment results between EU Directives and Regional Sea Convention and between countries (transboundary issue). It will interact with policymakers and stakeholders towards better assessment and management plan definition working groups. It will contribute to the development of new metrics, thresholds, and reference values.
Best practices used or developed: Work based on existing assessment methodologies (such as the MSFD Good Environmental Status assessment, the OSPAR Common Procedure) and ongoing development under specific national and EU research projects.
Data flows: MSFD data flow.
Data QC routines: QC from MSFD-supporting monitoring programmes.
Data management issues: MSFD data management (from national to regional level).
Expected results: Contribution to the optimisation and implementation of existing eutrophication assessment procedures with emphasis on procedure harmonization, data sharing, and integration, shared transnational assessment results providing a good basis for management plan issues.
Users of results: MSFD/OSPAR/WFD and scientific communities, stakeholders, society at large.
Dissemination of results: MSFD/OSPAR/WFD specific reports; accessibility to Fr reports via Archimer; contribution to MSFD/OSPAR/WFD Working Groups.
Links: Links to the Bay of Biscay, GoF PSSs (shared products => contribution to a pan – European approach as needed for Directives and Regional Sea Convention implementation).
Links to EC PSS Actions#2 Riverine input to the North Sea and the English Channel, #3 Harmonized observations of plankton biomass, diversity and productivity dynamics, #5 Intercomparison of phytoplankton distribution using data integration, #6 Identification of Observational Gaps, #8 Support to EU directives and ecosystem management.
