Das Projekt "Hin zu einem funktionierenden Vorhersagesystem fuer den Nordatlantik und die europaeischen Kuestenbereiche" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Stiftung Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung e.V. (AWI) durchgeführt. Objective: The objective of TOPAZ is to implement a preoperational monitoring and forecasting system for the North Atlantic, the Nordic Seas and the Arctic. The system will use a state of the art coupled ocean circulation and marine ecosystem model and assimilate observations available in near real time from satellites and in situ observation programs. Sophisticated data assimilation methods will be used to assimilate the observations. Regional models will be nested into the large scale Atlantic model, to properly resolve the processes in the European coastal zone. Unique is the use of a single model by all participants I which ensure a focus on system development. Further, during a real time operation experiment the system will be used to predict mesoscale currents in support of offshore deep-water oil Production to market the TOPAZ system to an identified user group. Prime Contractor: Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center; Bergen/Norway.
Das Projekt "Untersuchung der Aenderung des Kohlenstoffgehaltes durch Ships-of-Opportunity" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Kiel, Institut für Meereskunde durchgeführt. Objective: A prototype North Atlantic ocean CO2 observing system of regular basin-wide surface pCO2, atmospheric CO2 concentrations and related measurements using ships of opportunity will be established. Existing observations of ocean CO2 will be used to inform the interpolation of these data to the entire ocean basin. We will use recent advances in the understanding of gas exchange to reliably estimate flux from pCO2 observations. CAVASSOO will provide greatly improved estimates of the uptake of CO2 by the North Atlantic, how this varies regionally, seasonally and from year to year. These will be used to improve estimates of European and North American terrestrial (vegetation) sinks, using atmospheric inverse modelling techniques. The combination of basin-wide observation and modelling in this project will help to reconcile the differing estimates of the net CO2 flux over Europe and North America, an important element in the EU' s response to the Kyoto agreement. Prime Contractor: University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences; Norwich/UK.