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Greek scientists (below) prepare to deploy sediment traps to collectparticles for carbon analysis. Above, an instrument used to collect watersamples at various depths is recovered during the cruise. |
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URI, Greek scientists collaborate on oceanographic study
When URI President Robert L. Carothers signed a memorandum of understanding in 2002 with George Chronis, president of the Helenic Centre for Marine Research in Greece, their aim was to foster collaboration on marine science research. That document paved the way for the first joint oceanographic research program between the two institutions this year to study carbon flux in the Mediterranean Sea.
The project, called FACTS (Fluxes in the Aegean of Carbon and Thorium Study), is part of a National Science Foundation funded study that also includes research in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
“This project gives new life to the collaborative agreement signed in 2002 and holds great promise for further joint expeditions in the future. We are grateful to Dr. Moran for his leadership,” Carothers said.
Participating in the study were URI Professor S. Bradley Moran and Research Associate Roger P. Kelly and several colleagues from the Helenic Centre. The scientific team conducted a study of carbon fluxes in the South Aegean Sea with the goal of producing a comparative study of the sinking rate of particulate organic carbon using sediment trap and radioisotopic methods.
The FACTS project was initiated when Evangelos Papathanassiou, director of oceanography at the Helenic Centre, invited Moran to present his research ideas in September 2003. A second research cruise is being planned for the spring of 2005, and the Greek scientists will also sail with Moran’s group aboard the URI research vessel Endeavor in 2005 between Narragansett and Bermuda.
“Following the success of this first expedition and the overall planning, we can certainly say that this initiative provides greater possibility of joint research between the two institutions in the future,” said Papathanassiou. “We feel that this collaboration has much more to offer both of us working together for a common cause.”
The scientific team is experimenting with new and existing measurements of Thorium-234 combined with organic carbon and specific organic compounds in the upper ocean to test models of carbon export, given the chemical, physical and biological differences that exist in different parts of the world ocean.
“This research has an important bearing on a number of national and international carbon cycle research programs,” said Moran.
This first collaboration has already expanded beyond the carbon flux project. Moran is co-leading a multinational European Union project that aims to establish transnational and multidisciplinary cooperation networks to treat and protect the Mediterranean and Black Sea maritime basins.
By Lisa Cugini
