| Life: | 2018-2021 |
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| Name: | Circulación inducida por el sifón térmico y salino y su influencia sobre la dinámica de las proliferciones de algas nocivas en el Mediterráneo |
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| Code: | CTM2017-83774-P |
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| Acronym: | SifoMED CTA 050 |
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| Abstract: | Harmful algal blooms (HABs) constitute a current scientific
problem, in which physical-biological interactions play a fundamental role. Due
to its influence on the sun and beach tourism sector, beach proliferations are
also a major socioeconomic problem in a community such as the Balearic and
other Mediterranean climate zones. SifoMED is a multidisciplinary project that
seeks to explain the dynamics of massive proliferations of dinoflagellates
occurring in shallow, semi-enclosed and protected areas of the Mediterranean
coast. In these areas HABs are developed in very coastal areas and conditions
of stability of the water column. There is evidence of the generation of
circulation patterns produced by the heating differences in shallow,
semi-enclosed and with a bathymetric gradient. Although this mechanism, called
'thermal siphon', could be dominant in the dynamics of these zones, its
implications in the development and maintenance of PANs are unknown. In an
innovative way, we also suggest that the diffusive contributions of groundwater
that have been documented in many coastal areas of the Mediterranean can also
produce circulation patterns in these areas. We call saline siphon to this
effect, since it shares physical bases similar to those of the thermal siphon.
Our starting hypothesis is that, in the absence of more intense processes, the
convective circulation produced by the thermal and saline siphon, and its
competition with other forcings, such as wind, could be determinant for the
dynamics of the phytoplankton proliferations occurring in the shallow and
semi-enclosed waters, since it modulates the renewal of coastal waters and,
therefore, modifies the relationships between cell growth and advection losses.
The importance of this process in the horizontal retention and transport
mechanisms of phytoplankton has been obviated to date. SifoMED will analyze the
characteristics of the thermal and saline siphon from the experimentation in
laboratory tanks and simple models of transport of particles and solutes. This
theoretical approach allows to isolate the process from other more complex
interactions that occur on the coast. In addition, SifoMED will study the
feedback processes that can arise between the thermal siphon and the changes in
the absorption of irradiation produced by the vertical migrations of the
dinoflagellates, as well as the coupling between the vertical migrations and
the variations of the turbulence produced during the diurnal stratification of
the water column. During the project, a series of observation campaigns will be
carried out to calibrate, verify and evaluate the relative importance of this
process in the modulation of coastal flowering. The importance of the thermal
and saline siphon could have implications in other aspects of the littoral
ecosystem, such as the transport of pollutants or the patterns of
self-recruitment and settlement of the larval phases of organisms such as
invertebrates and fish larvae. The inclusion of this process in coastal
circulation models could improve its predictive capacity of coastal dynamics. |
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Related staffRelated departmentsMarine EcologyRelated research groups
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