THE STUDY OF BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES AND RELATED SEDIMENT FLUXES: THE IOC-BSRC PROJECT PROPOSAL Could such a project idea be developed into an EC FP Integrated Project proposal with participation of research institutions from the BS riperian and EU countries?

Project justification: Why is there a need such a project ? (1) Severe ecological degradation: intense eutrophication, change in phytoplankton community structure & food web, decrease in biodiversity & fish stocks, thus economic well being of 160 M people adversely affected. (2) Understanding of biogeochemical processes & their rates, fluxes of nutients & POC by multidisciplinary studies is essential for ecosystem forecasting

Main Objectives: (1)Multidisciplinary investigation of biogeochemical processes and related sedimentary fluxes, their spatial and temporal variability in different layers of the water column and sea floor sediments (2) Reconstruction of the past biogeochemical cycles and the rate of processes using sediment cores, with a view towards ecological forecasting.

Work packages (methods & main activities) (i) Study of particle flux in water column by use of sediment traps and water column sampling: Analysis of sediment trap material and their nutrient and POC flux using radiotracer techniques. (ii) Study of aerosol fluxes: wet and dry deposition at aerosol stations with simultaneous time-series satellite monitoring. (iii) Study of suspended matter fluxes using satellite observations: information on circulation dynamics and organic productivity. (iv) Study of palaeo-organic fluxes to obtain long records of pre-antropocene period (v) Study of nutrient fluxes at sediment/water interface on shelf areas. (vi) Biogeochemical modelling: coupling of biogeochemical processes with physical circulation and chemistry in the oxic, suboxic and anoxic water column.

Outputs - Deliverables (i) A better understanding of biogeochemical processes and related nutrient and sediment fluxes and their dynamics in different layers of the water column and on the sea floor. (ii) Determination of the paleofluxes (organic carbon, carbonate, and detrital siliciclastic matter), their rates and cyclicity at decadal to millenial time scales, and their relation to the past climate changes. (iii) Accumulation rates and effects of anthropogenic fluxes in biogeochemical processes. (iv) Estimation of nutrient and other fluxes at sediment/water interface, which is important for computing the total budget of the nutrients and their contribution to primary production in the basin as a whole as well as in the coastal zone. (v) Establisment of dynamic model(s) that couple biogeochemical cycles with physical circulation and chemistry, and their use in ecological forecasting.

Project strategy The project should establish relations and cooperation with other previous and ongoing regional programmes, such as Black Sea GOOS, GIPME, JGOFS, GEF-BSEP, and with NATO and IAEA projects.

Implementation of the project The project will be implemented on the basis of six different work packages (WP): (1) Sediment trap (2) Aerosol (3) Remote sensing (4) Database (5)Study of fluxes at sediment/water interface, (6)Modeling. Each WP will managed by WP Coordinator for implementing and coordinating the tasks, collecting data and reporting all results to the Project Coordinator. The Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination.

Financial requirements (Total for three years) Cost (Euro ) 1.Twelve sediment traps and six mooring equipment for the six sediment trap stations300, Aerosol samplers and precipitation samplers and establishment of five stations100, Operational costs of the sediment trap and aerosol stations300, Two international cruises (10 days each)120, Water column sampling in shelf areas (seasonal two years) 100, Personnel training programmes for sediment trap and aerosol sampling, and workshops 80, Data collection and analyses, overhead payments 1,000,000 _________________________________________________________ TOTAL 2,000,000