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Depth sections of two short sediment cores were analyzed in the Radioactivity measurements Laboratory at the University of Bremen by gamma spectrometry to determine the activities of natural and artificial gamma emitting radionuclides. The core chronology was based on a combination of two radiotracers, 210Pb and 137Cs, due to their suitable half-lives 22.2 and 30 years. A robust time-frame will enable to track the rapid changes in the sedimentation pattern of the Nile River along a S-N gradient observed in the cores GC and BC as a part of the project Rapid changes along the Israeli Mediterranean coast following the damming of the Nile and their influence on the Israeli inner shelf. In order to understand causes of recent sharp changes in sedimentation pattern on the inner Israeli shelf, dating of cores collected in the region is important.

In the framework of the EU-FP7 BACCHUS (impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding) project, an intensive field campaign was performed in Cyprus (March 2015). Remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS), ground-based instruments, and remote-sensing observations were operating in parallel to provide an integrated characterization of aerosol–cloud interactions. Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) were equipped with a five-hole probe, pyranometers, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors, and measured vertical wind at cloud base and cloud optical properties of a stratocumulus layer. Ground-based measurements of dry aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei spectra, and RPA observations of updraft and meteorological state parameters are used here to initialize an aerosol–cloud parcel model (ACPM) and compare the in situ observations of cloud optical properties measured by the RPA to those simulated in the ACPM. Two different cases are studied with the ACPM, including an adiabatic case and an entrainment case, in which the in-cloud temperature profile from RPA is taken into account. Adiabatic ACPM simulation yields cloud droplet number concentrations at cloud base (approximately 400 cm−3) that are similar to those derived from a Hoppel minimum analysis. Cloud optical properties have been inferred using the transmitted fraction of shortwave radiation profile measured by downwelling and upwelling pyranometers mounted on a RPA, and the observed transmitted fraction of solar radiation is then compared to simulations from the ACPM. ACPM simulations and RPA observations shows better agreement when associated with entrainment compared to that of an adiabatic case. The mean difference between observed and adiabatic profiles of transmitted fraction of solar radiation is 0.12, while this difference is only 0.03 between observed and entrainment profiles. A sensitivity calculation is then conducted to quantify the relative impacts of 2-fold changes in aerosol concentration, and updraft to highlight the importance of accounting for the impact of entrainment in deriving cloud optical properties, as well as the ability of RPAs to leverage ground-based observations for studying aerosol–cloud interactions.

Black and white photograph, showing a winter’s day at a deserted sea shore in Cyprus - Μαυρόασπρη κάρτ ποστάλ που απεικονίζει μια χειμωνιάτικη μέρα σε μια ερημική ακτή στην Κύπρο.

Black and white photograph, showing a winter’s day at a deserted sea shore in Cyprus - Μαυρόασπρη κάρτ ποστάλ που απεικονίζει μια χειμωνιάτικη μέρα σε μια ερημική ακτή στην Κύπρο.

A complete understanding of the mechanistic basis of marine ecosystem functioning is only possible through integrative and interdisciplinary research.This enables the prediction of change and possibly the mitigation of the consequences of anthropogenic impacts. One major aim of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ES0609 “Seagrasses productivity. From genes to ecosystem management,” is the calibration and synthesis of various methods and the development of innovative techniques and protocols for studying seagrass ecosystems. During 10 days, 20 researchers representing a range of disciplines (molecular biology, physiology, botany, ecology, oceanography, and underwa- ter acoustics) gathered at The Station de Recherches Sous-marines et Océanographiques (STARESO, Corsica) to study together the nearby Posidonia oceanica meadow. STARESO is located in an oligotrophic area classified as “pristine site” where environmental distur- bances caused by anthropogenic pressure are exceptionally low. The healthy P. oceanica meadow, which grows in front of the research station, colonizes the sea bottom from the surface to 37 m depth. During the study, genomic and proteomic approaches were integrated with ecophysiological and physical approaches with the aim of understanding changes in seagrass productivity and metabolism at different depths and along daily cycles. In this paper we report details on the approaches utilized and we forecast the potential of the data that will come from this synergistic approach not only for P. oceanica but for seagrasses in general. ESF COST Action (ES 0906) Seagrass Productivity: From Genes to Ecosystem Management