BOOMS will conduct Ocean Health Impact Assessments that utilize the results from the
science case studies and other
work packages to transfer science in to solutions for society; working together with scientific, agency, policy and commercial early adopters.
The overall lead for this work package (WP5):
Dr Jose A. Fernandes
Study 1: Application to improvement of understanding of dynamic models
The objective of this study is to utilise data in numerical modelling for societal benefit through the use of such models for future projections, short-term forecasts, or validating hindcasts. This will be in collaboration with the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) using the
MIT DARWIN Model.
The study will:
- Compare dynamic ecoregions generated from ocean colour, with variations in plankton composition.
- Compare the model outputs against ecoregions as revealed by the in situ dataset assembled for BOOMS.
- Initially focus on dynamic optical classification.
This work will be led by
Dr Shubha Sathyendranath (PML), working with
Dr Stephanie Dutkiecz (MIT)
Study 2: North Atlantic, Tropical and South Atlantic fisheries and human impacts
Food security and climate change are transboundary issues strongly interlinked that require coordinated management. There are ambitious objectives to protect at least 30% of the sea with Marine Protected Areas.
This study will analyse the impacts of fishing and related issues such as shipping and ship emissions with high biodiversity areas by trophic level (seascapes) and address what conservation or management actions can be taken to reduce human impact in seascapes.
The study will focus on the North Atlantic, Tropical and South Atlantic.
This work will be lead by
Dr Jose A. Fernandes (AZTI)
Study 3: Dynamic seascapes and top predators
Large marine mammals are under threat from intensifying anthropogenic activities such as pollution and bycatch. Identification of areas for conservation is important to mitigate negative impacts on these species.
This impact case study will evaluate the effect of using different dynamic seascapes products on the models for top predators distributions in the North Atlantic to define Ecologically and Biologically Significant marine Areas (EBSA).
This work will be lead by
Dr Isabel García Barón (AZTI)