On December 11th, a mooring line containing autonomous sensors for the continuous measurement of oceanographic variables in the Mediterranean Sea was deployed in the Strait of Gibraltar. The installed devices will register physical and biogeochemical properties in the Mediterranean water outflow that leaves the basin through the Strait on its way out to the North Atlantic.
The continuous monitoring of these properties is allowing to evaluate the response of the Mediterranean Sea to climate change and it is part of the research activities that Ecosystem Oceanography Group carries out in this relevant oceanographic node from more than a decade ago.
The maintenance of the mooring in the GIFT time series is conducted in collaboration with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) and researchers of the GOFIMA group of the University of Malaga.
Acquisition of equipments has been funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through (EQC2018-004285-P) and will contribute to the H2020 European project COMFORT (Our common future ocean – quantifying coupled cycles of carbon, oxygen, and nutrients for determining and achieving safe operating spaces with respect to tipping points), in which Emma Huertas is Principal Investigator of the CSIC. The project will provide s upport for the next IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report and will increase confidence in climate change projections.
